Nace Hicks, Sr.
Nace Hicks was born in Bayou Maringouin, Louisiana to James Henry Hicks and Rachel Butler Hicks on March 1, 1875. Not much is known about his early childhood and I don't have many memories of my maternal grandfather because I was only eight years old when he died.
Nace Hicks was named after his great-grandfather, Nace Butler, by his granddaughter , Rachel Butler Hicks. Nace, his wife, Bibiana "Biby" Butler and 14 children were enslaved on St. Inigoes Plantation, a Jesuit plantation in St. Mary's County, Maryland. In November 1838, Nace, Bibiana, and their 14 children were sold by the Jesuits to pay the debt of Georgetown College and shipped downriver to two slaveholders, Jesse Batey and Henry Johnson, in Louisiana in November 1838. Nace and Bibiana Butler's oldest child, Nace, did not board the ship and there is no evidence that he saw his parents or his siblings again.
Nace Hicks was a carpenter by trade and prior to that he worked as a laborer in a sawmill. On June 3, 1920 he married Willie Estes of Mississippi. Willie's parents, Augustus "Gus" and Lula Jones Estes, moved to Fullerton, Louisiana where Gus was employed in a sawmill. Fullerton, is where Nace Hicks met Willie Estes and it is where their first daughter, Augusta, was born. Augusta Hicks is my mother.
The Hicks family was enumerated in New Orleans on the 1930 census. At this time the family consisted of four children: Augusta, Wilma, Marion and Gladys. Four more children were born between 1930 and 1938: Nace, Jr., Robertine, Onita, and Elois.
Big Daddy, as he was known to the Bayonne siblings, was a devout Catholic. No household chores, not even ironing clothes to attend church, were allowed. He donated his time and skills in building and repairing St. Monica Catholic Church and School. Nace built an altar with a place to kneel and pray in the corner of each classroom of St. Monica's Catholic Elementary School.
Nace Hicks died on February 21, 1950 of prostate cancer. It was Mardi Gras Day.