NOTES FROM JAY LEDOUX AUDIO TAPE

Tape made for Gercie Doucet Daigle

Some of Jay Ledoux’s ancestors were from the Pointe Noire community. Jay wrote a long history of his family it is very interesting with a lot of humorous stories. I wish I could locate of his descendants to request permission to print it and share it on the Internet. If anyone reads this and knows how to get in touch with the family please let me know.

Jay was born at Sweetlake in 1920. His siblings (their ages in 1920)

Adviel age 14 later married a BEAUGH.
Cecile age 11 also married a BEAUGH.
Elena age 7
Willie
Jim, Jr.
Evelina
Galould
Horace
Leopold
Hebert
Howard
Virginia
Lee

Jay's paternal grandmother was Melaze JEANISE.

THE MOVE TO SWEETLAKE, LOUISIANA

Jay and his family moved to Sweet Lake, south of Lake Charles in 1920s or 30s. Jay's cousin, Emile AGUILLARD remembered the move. (According to Jay, his father wasn't actually moving his belongings on this trip but went along to help. They moved later). The reason for the move was that the land in the Grand Coulee area was worn out. (This was before farmland was treated with commercial fertilizer)

Emile was the son of Homer AGUILLARD and grandson of Durel AGUILLARD, who died at age 100. Emile's mother Marie was Adam LEDOUX's paternal aunt, the daughter of August LEDOUX and Melazie JEANISE.

Emile remembers that the furniture and other belongings were loaded in five wagons (the livestock to be moved at a later date). He was only seven years old and was fearful of being left behind since he was driving the last wagon.

By the end of the afternoon the caravan made camp between Iota and Jennings. The roads were of dirt and after a heavy rain one of the wagons bogged in a low spot it took most of the teams to move the wagon. When camp was made Adam layed out a tarp on the ground and set a bottle of whiskey on one corner. Out of the woods came a man in a buggy. He eyed the whiskey so intently he drove his buggy into the bog. The trip from Grand Coulee to Sweetlake took three days.

EARLY SCHOOL AND TYPHOID EPIDEMIC

People in the community were extremely poor and could not have private schools. So educated men who wanted to come to US as immigrants and would lodge with residents in the community. They taught in French and sometimes recorded births, etc. A teacher (called the professor) lived with the LEDOUX family. He loved figs. Jay's father, Adam and his uncle Henry would climb the trees and drop the figs to the professor who had to catch them with his mouth.

There was a Typhoid emidemic in 1917. Jay's mother and her sister Cecile helped with the care of the sick. Aunt “Dule” was Adam LEDOUX’s sister and was married to Theodule MATTE. Their two children Willy and Aline contracted the fever. Uncle “Dule” whitewashed the barn and one or both were quarantined there. They were very close and would shout to each other telling each other of their love. Willy had become interested in a beautiful young teacher and Aline was to marry and before she died, she asked her sister Eula to marry her boyfriend Lorenza Matte.

Adam LEDOUX's neice, Alexina BEAUGH (dau of Oscar Olivia BEAUGH) was married 6 months when she died with the fever.

Jay's mother's uncle, Alcide LEBOEUF was married to Adam's father's sister. Alcide contracted typhoid fever but recovered from it. He was left with short-term memory loss. Aline was buried in her wedding dress at either Frey or Mowata cemetery. Harry Ledoux... [Alcide was the son of Eugene LeBoeuf & Adelaide Thibodeaux.]