Les Familles Bodin Newsletter
MAY 11, 2012
Travis
J. Callahan, Editor
11403
Wesley Road, Abbeville,
LA 70510
337-893-9134
E-mail
teejcee@cox.net
Bodin
web page http://tandeecal.com/page8.htm
Baldwin Community Center in Baldwin, LA.
What a great time of celebrating the Bodin family ! People
from several states attended including people from the East
& West coasts. Over a 100 people joined us to share a meal
and learn more about our family. Pictures will soon be added
to the album page and I have inserted a link below this
message.
Keep an eye on this space for more information.
Click
Here for the Bodin Newsletter Album.
http://tandeecal.com/bodinalbum.htm
Board Members at the April 21, 2012 reunion
front row Diana Callahan, Debra Bodin, Nordine Broussard, Irma Bodin, and Gaynell Barras
Back row C. Michael Bodin, Travis Callahan, Ivy Bodin, Wayne Bodin, Larry Bodin, and Paul Breaux
A LITTLE BRANCH OF THE BODIN TREE:
DESIRE BODIN AND MARIE CHALEMBERG BODIN
Just before landfall of Rita in 2005, my second cousin, Larry Robert Bodin, and family arrived for a couple week stay until they could return to their homes in Beaumont and Port Arthur. I had seen Larry perhaps six times before through the years and so we did not know each other well, but we had a great time those two weeks and became good friends. And Larry told me about the Bodin Family Reunion, which I happily attended in 2006 and 2010.
Being the oldest descendent of Desire and Marie (Mary) Chalemberg Bodin, and recalling some family history from my father, Tolbert Albert Greenwood, their grandson, and having taken a few notes from my “Auntie”, Valerie Clemence Bodin (Tolbert), their last surviving child, and taking advantage of LES FAMILIES BOUDIN/BODIN, here is a bit of history of this little branch of our family tree:
In the early 1890s south Louisiana had begun to recover from the Panic of 1873 and Reconstruction. The years after the Civil War were difficult along Bayou Teche. Desire Bodin, born in 1851 to Emile Bodin and Celestine Amelie Bourg, had lived his entire life within a few miles of his birthplace near Charenton. It is believed he married Marie Bourgeois in 1873, to whom one child, Joseph Bodin was born in 1882 (there was no mention of this in my family). If so, Marie must have died, as Desire was married to Marie Chalemberg, the mother of his other four children by the mid-1880s.
Auntie told me, and I took notes of this, that her father was Desire Bodin and her mother was Mary Schulemberg (no doubt Chalemberg), and that she and her siblings, Robert D. (Larry’s grandfather), Henry D., and Marie (Mary) Philomine Bodin (Greenwood), my paternal grandmother, were all born on a family plantation at Adeline, Louisiana. Robert D. Bodin, Larry’s grandfather, was born in 1885, Marie (Mary) Philomine Bodin, my grandmother in 1887, Valerie Clemence Bodin in 1890, and the baby, Henri (Henry) Desire Bodin in 1892.
Plantation life along the Teche was never easy on the men or women, but got tragically worse on May 25, 1893. Mary was washing the family clothes in a big black cast iron pot when her dress ignited and she burned to death, leaving a husband and four children (plus Joseph). The children were all too young for Desire to care for them and work on the plantation. Also, the Panic of 1892, the worst “depression” prior to the Great Depression made life even more difficult.
All were taken in by family members, some Bodin relatives and perhaps Mary’s family to raise. The children were taken in by different families. Robert and Joseph, being male and older, may have stayed near their father or others on the plantation, but the young girls, Mary and Clemence, and baby Henry were taken in by others. . The 1910 Census in Beaumont reflected that Henry, then aged 18, was an adopted son of Aladin Bodin and wife, Adarise Bodin. Aladin was a brother of Desire. Mary and Clemence no doubt lived near each other as they remained close and saw each other regularly.
Desire developed pneumonia after being drenched by a storm while on a fishing or hunting trip and passed away in 1902. A Joseph Bodin, perhaps his son, had died in 1899 at age 16. Desire was survived by Robert who was then 17, Mary 15, Clemence 12, and Henry 8. The economy was also suffering from another panic. The succession of Desire showed that his entire estate was about $500, not much to help four children. Mary and Clemence both related that in their teen years they went to mass at the church they had attended as children and the priest ran them to the pauper’s bench in the rear because the pew rent had not been paid. Both remained good Christians as Methodists, but never returned to the Catholic Church.
Over in Texas, a wildcat well called “Spindletop” became a fantastic gusher in 1902. Within a few weeks it was producing nearly 100,000 barrels of oil a day well more than all of the producing wells in the U.S. combined. This boom and the forest industries in east Texas provided opportunities for many Bodins and quite a few moved west to Texas.
Robert, the oldest, married Noeline Gros and also moved to Texas. He was listed as a carpenter when he registered for the Selective Service (Draft Board) in 1917. He worked for the Gulf Refinery in Port Arthur from which he retired. He passed away in 1970. Their son, Vernon (1913 - 1994), married Evelyn Elouise Hollifield. They were the parents of my good friend and second cousin, Larry R. Bodin, who was born on November 17, 1947. Vernon also worked for refinery at Gulf until his retirement, and Larry worked as a sports reporter and at the refineries until his retirement. He now lives in Tennessee.
Mary, my grandmother, met and married Henry Boon Greenwood. He was a railroad worker located in New Iberia during sugar cane season when they met. I feel sure that Mary and Henry introduced Clemence to his good friend and another handsome railroader, Joe Tolbert. They were great friends and remained close through the years as both men worked as conductors for the railroad.
Clemence and Joe Tolbert married probably in New Iberia. They did not have children, but were “Auntie” and “Uncle Joe” to two generations of nephews and nieces and neighborhood children. Passengers on the Missouri Pacific trains from New Orleans to Houston also knew him as the very popular conductor, “Uncle Joe.” He took the first train over the Mississippi on the Rainbow Bridge at Donaldsonville in the 1930s. Their grandnephews and grandniece, being me, Roy, and Leilana, had many wonderful Christmases with Auntie and Uncle Joe and plenty of good Cajun food and great gumbo! She died in Austin in 1985 at age 96.
Mary and Henry Greenwood followed the railroad around western Louisiana and east Texas as the great timber companies “cut out” the great yellow or long leaf pine forests. They lived in Hornbeck, Leesville, DeQuincy, Newton, and Houston. Mary and Henry were the parents of three children: Roy Everett Greenwood born in Hornbeck (1910 - 1990), Tolbert Albert Greenwood born in Leesville (1912 - 1971), and Catherine Amelia Greenwood (Jeter) born in Newton (1917 - 1956). Mary died in Houston in 1940 of tuberculosis. Her children spent time during her many illnesses with Bodin relatives.
Roy Greenwood married Louise Tillery, a Mississippi girl. They lived in Orange, Austin, and Victoria, Texas. Uncle Roy worked for the school district in Austin and then as business manager for the Victoria schools until he retired to Austin. He and Louise were the parents of Roy Everett Greenwood, Jr., born in Orange on March 25, 1945 and a retired attorney still living in Austin.
My father, Tolbert Albert Greenwood, married Kathleen McMahon from Newton. They resided in DeQuincy, a rail center, where Dad was a conductor for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Mother learned to cook gumbo from Auntie and Mary and passed on the love of Cajun cooking to me. Dad died in 1971 at age 59. I was born October 10, 1941 and am retired attorney in Fort Worth.
Catherine Amelie Greenwood married Willie David Jeter. He was a coach, teacher and principal in west Texas. My parents were very close to the Jeters and we had several wonderful western vacations with them. They had one daughter, Leilani (Lani) Barbara Jeter, who was born in 1938 and died unexpectedly in 2003. Lani and I could talk for days on end about the good old days of growing up in the 40s during and after the war and many other great times. All of the Greenwood/Bodin cousins celebrated many wonderful holidays together.
Henry Desire Bodin also registered for the Draft in Beaumont in 1917. He was an unemployed glazier (one who installs or works with glass) and a sergeant in the Texas National Guard. Henry returned to the country of his ancestors to defend France from the Germans and was gassed in the trenches. He never recovered from the damage to his lungs. In the 1920 Census, he was listed as a patient at the U. S. Army Hospital at Whipple Barracks, Yavapai, Arizona, where he died of his wounds in 1920 or 1921. His little sister, Clemence, was the beneficiary of his government benefits.
At this time, Desire and Mary Bodin are survived by 3 great grandsons: Tolbert Lloyd Greenwood, Roy Everett Greenwood, Jr., Larry R. Bodin, 6 great-great grandchildren, and 10 great-great-great grandchildren. We are all proud members of a small branch of the Bodin Family Tree.
Wouldn’t it be great if we or our parents had taken notes, written a family history, or asked more questions of our parents and aunts and uncles so we would know more about our family history! Their generations saw the inception of the light bulb, automobile, airplane, telephone, radio, indoor plumbing, and motion pictures. And we, the next couple of generations, saw the beginnings of great advances in medicine and chemistry, television, atomic energy, space travel, innernet, computers, and fantastic advances in communications.
So, cousins, take the time to write your own personal histories and sit down with your parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles and take down their stories, because your children and theirs and generations to come will be happy to read the great stories and histories of their ancestors.
Tolbert Lloyd Greenwood
Fort Worth, Texas
February 11, 2012
Let me know if you
get married or have a child or take an interesting vacation. This is supposed to
be a newsletter after all.
Happy News
Our Interesting Members
I have asked our own Sister Janet Bodin to tell us in her own words the story of her life and I am proud to be able to pass this on to our members. This true servant of The Lord has led an interesting life of service to others as she obtained a superior education along the way to earning a Doctorate in Philosophy. She is a shining star in our family.
Our Nun’s Story
I
entered the Marianites of Holy Cross Congregation on
From
January of 1953 until 1961, I taught elementary school children in third,
fourth, sixth,
In
1961-66, I taught elementary school in
My
General Superior called me and told me she was keeping a promise to my Dad. She
had
In
1971, I was allowed to go to
From
1979-1982, I was in
From
1983-89, I taught philosophy at Our Lady of Holy Cross, always having an
additional
From 1889
to1994, I taught philosophy at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in
From 1994 to
2003, I taught philosophy to seminarians on
For so many
of the men, philosophy is truly a foreign subject. If they can grasp the meaning
of some of the important words they are encountering in their studies, they can
then learn the philosophy itself.
From 1994 to
2010, I was director of the Pre-theology Program which prepares seminarians to
enter
the
Currently,
beginning in earnest in
As
Marianites of Holy Cross, our mission of the
We aim to
love and serve God and to love and serve others whom we encounter on our Journey
from
Larry Bodin has recently returned from another trip to France. Watch this spot for his Journal of his travels.
We have recently been contacted by Cousin Mary Dugas who just discovered our web page. She sent the picture below.
Norbert Bodin and wife Melisse Veret and six of their children (Dennis, Dina, Jean-Charles, Flora, Marie-Cecile, and baby Robert Paul, the Grandfather of Mary Dugas.
Thank
you for paying your dues. Be sure to notify me when you change an e-mail or
postal address.
E-mail Address Changes
If
you change your e-mail address please let me know so I can change the e-mail
address book. If you have recently gotten a computer and can receive your
newsletter by e-mail please let me know. There are no charges for production of
the electronic version. My e-mail address is teejcee@cox.net
Help
!
Please send me any family
information that you can. I need material for the newsletter and actually
skipped publishing some of the newsletters for lack of material.
Postal Address Changes
If you move, PLEASE let me
know of your new mailing address. Every time we mail the newsletters we get some
returns due to the fact that someone has moved. You are too important for us to
miss
Dues
Dues
for the period April 2012 through April,
2014 are as follows:
Dues per family with
children 18 and over living at home for the two year period are $20.00 Dues for
individuals for the two year period is $10.00.
A large number of members
paid their dues at the 2012 reunion covering the period of 2012/2014. As a not
for profit association we do not want to build a large amount of money and that
is why the board cut the dues in half prior to
the reunion. We maintain only
enough money to pay for the next reunion and sometimes to supplement donations
for the printing and mailing of our newsletter.
Please make dues checks
payable to our treasurer, Gaynell B. Barras personally and not to the
association. Her address is 901 Lake Dauterive Rd Loreauville LA
70552-2007
You may also send dues to
Travis Callahan personally at 11403 Wesley Road, Abbeville, LA 70510 or
to Larry D. Bodin personally at 711 Main Street Franklin, LA 70538
We ask that you send dues
made out to these people personally since we do not have a checking account for
Les Familles Bodin and we have trouble cashing checks made out to the
association.
How to Order the Bodin Family Book
Larry Bodin advises that he has a few Bodin Books remaining.
Larry D. Bodin 711 Main Street Franklin, LA 70538
Phone
337-828-9536
Kenneth Broussard ( son of the Late Luella Bodin Broussard author of the Bodin
Book) has a few books left for sale. In the future, Kenneth expects to do an
upgrade on the book by adding new members
family info that was not in the original book.
Website - http://bodin-broussard.com/index/
Online form to submit family information - http://bodin-broussard.com/index/index.php/submit-family-info
Download form - http://bodin-broussard.com/Bodin%20Family%20Genealogy%20Information.docx
(form attached to send out by email.)
Forms can also be emailed to kenrb01@gmail.com
or sent through postal mail to:
Kenneth Broussard
PO Box 117
Vidor, TX 77670
Click below to visit
The Web Site of the Associations of Families Acadian
Editors
Note: I have been asked why I did not publish Stacy Bodin’s entire Hurricane
story at one time. The article is simply too long to put into a six page
newsletter. I am including the link to Stacy’s page here. From her
"Hurricane link" you can see all her storm pictures and stories.
This is a very
interesting page, from a very talented lady.
Click below for Stacy's Page
