FINDING THEODORE

I have been searching for grandfather, Theodore Bayonne, since 1999 and was finally successful a couple of weeks ago.  I have the following documents for him in my files:  baptismal record, 1900 census,  reconstructed service record for WWI and a death certificate. 

Every now and then, I  search for my ancestors who lack adequate documentation.  Carrie Taylor, my grandmother and wife of Theodore, is one them.  I looked for Carrie that night and found her in a post of the 1949 City Directory for New Orleans. There he was, listed not as Theodore Bayonne, but as Ferguson F. Bayonne. He was using his middle name! I found six more listings in the New Orleans City Directories ranging from 1916 to 1956, five for Ferguson and one for Theo F.

When I was a little girl, Grandma Carrie told me that my grandfather did not like Noel, his given name, and he never used it. Many years later after I got hooked on genealogy, I found his baptismal entry in the Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records, 1886-1888, Volume 17, page 46. Man, as we called him, was  recorded as Noel Ferjus Theodore Bayonne. We knew him as Theodore but most people knew him as Ferguson. Theodore Bayonne is the name on his 1918 draft record and his death certificate.  He is identified as Faragard on the 1900 census, apparently a nickame which I concluded because he was born in December.

No other census records were found for Theodore, so the search goes on.

TAYLOR FAMILY: A CHOICE LOT OF SLAVES

My great-great grandfather, Nelson Taylor, Sr. and his family, were among the slaves sold after the death of slave holder Josias Gray beginning on December 19, 1842.  The family was not identified in the order, but they were named in the Probate Sale of Josias Gray December 19, 20 & 21st A.D. 1843.

"Negro man,named Nelson, age 30 years, his wife, Negro woman named Lethe age 30 years and her four children: girl named Mandy age six years, Little Nelson age four years, girl named Eliza age two years and girl named Malvina age six months were offered for sale to the highest bidder, adjudication to Henry H. Wall who sign hereto and John A. J. Hamilton - who sign as his security, both agreeing to comply with the terms (illeligible)     - adjudication of the sum of __? two thousand one hundred forty dollars."  transcription of the Probate Sale of Josias Gray, deceased , December 19,20 &21 A.D. 1843

 

above quote:  From Natchez to New Orleans CD, Slave, Slave Holders & Slavery in the Woodville Republican & Wilkerson Advertisers 1823-1849.

NELSON & OLIVIA LOFTEN

                                                               Nelson and Olivia Hyde Loften

I lived with Nelson and Olivia Loften in New Orleans to attend Booker T. Washington High School. My family moved to Metairie when I was in 5th grade and in order for me to attend a school in NOLA, I had to lived in the city.

My Dad used to take us to visit them when we were little. I did not know that I would be living with them to attend school. Olivia, also known as Sister, was sickly and spent a great deal of time in bed or a wheelchair.  I never knew what was wrong with her and we never talked about it.

Nelson was Grandmother Carrie's nephew.  He was born on January 16, 1891 in New Roads, Louisiana according to his Social Security application. His parents were Sarah Ann Taylor, sister of Nelson Taylor, Jr. and Hillery Loften.  Nelson was first noted on the 1900 U.S. Federal Census in the household of Nelson and Martha Morgan Taylor. He was listed as a grandson.

Olivia Edna Hyde was born on September 25, 1897 to Sarah Walker and Theophile T. Hyde in New Orleans. She married Nelson Loften on April 12, 1916.  They did not have any childen, but had a foster child named Delores. I don't know the date of her death but I remember her wake.

Olivia and her sister Florence, also known as Flossie, lived in a duplex. They shared this house and backyard, but were not speaking to each other when Olivia died. When Flossie learned of Olivia's death, she died of a heart attack. At that time, people held wakes in their homes. Olivia and Flossie's wakes were held together in Flossie's living room.  That stayed with me and I still have this picture in my head of the two feuding sisters in their coffins together in death but not in life.

Nelson died in October 1980. 

Photo courtesy of Michael Willis

AUGUSTUS AND ANNIE ELIZA ESTES GRAVE STONES

                                 MATHERVILLE CEMETERY, MISSISSIPPI

Left:  Augustus Estes, Born June 1837, Died March 12, 1906, 68 Yrs, 9Ms, 1 Day

Right: Annie Eliza Estes, Born May 23, 1842, Died May 4, 1904, 61 Yrs, 11 Ms, 12 Days

Lula Jones Estes

                                                                     Lula Jones Estes

Lula Jones was born in Langsdale, Clarke County, Mississippi to Dan and Eugenia Jones.  She is my great-great-grandmother and was married to Augustus Estes, Jr.

AUGUSTUS ESTES, JR.

                                                            Augustus "Gus " Estes, Jr.

Augustus "Gus" Estes, Jr. is my maternal great grandfather.  He was born in Langsdale, Clarke County, Mississippi about 1870 to Augustus Estes, Sr. and Annie Eliza Winn.  He was the third of eleven children. His siblings are: Arthur, Lela, Ada, Mary, Addie, Evaline, Georgia, Annie, Carrie and Ida. 

I never met my great grandfather and I do not have a date of death for him. He married Lula Jones and together they had three children: Willie, my grandmother, Robert, Eugenia and Edward. My mother, Augusta, was named after him. 

NACE HICKS, SR.



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.