Grandmother's Beginnings

William Wallace Jackson (1852 - 1906) of Doyline, Louisiana married Nettie Russ (1863 - 1933) of Ruston, Louisiana on January 28 1890 and lived in Doyline. They had five daughters, known locally as The Jackson Girls:

1. Mary Russie (born July 18 1891) who married Mr Watts (interestingly no date given). They had a daughter named Virginia, that I was supposed to look like. I was flattered because, although I never knew her, a picture I saw of her was very striking. For some reason, we never had any interaction with this family. I think she may have run off to get married (maybe she had to) and had very little interaction with her family after that.
2. Treby May (born August 9 1895) who married George Anders on December 27 1914. She had a son Jack who married Alice May and had, I think, four children. One, Jackie, was my age, and we went to LSU together. She had bright red hair, which was considered unattractive in those days - but in reality she was very attractive. Treby lived in Biloxi, Mississippi, and we used to visit her for beach vacations.
3. Mattie Pearl (Martee) (born September 30 1896) who married X M Charlet (a Catholic - unheard of in North Louisiana!) on April 23 1917 and lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They had two daughters named Margarite  and June. Margarite and her husband Dutch had a son Johnny, who was my age and also went to LSU with me. Margarite was most famous for leaving her family and becoming a "housekeeper" for a priest. June married a non Cathlolic (Ed) and her parents didn't go to her wedding. Uncle X was not popular among our generation because of his perverted sexual behavior - of course, we only shared this as adults.
4. Grandmother - Emma Nettie (Det) (born February 4 1898) who married Honey on October 15 1917.
5. Golden Cassyl (Casey) (born November 5 1906, almost 9 months after her father's death). She was named after two doctors who saved her life when she was born, Dr Golden and Dr Cassyl. She and Grandmother were close their whole lives. She was my mother's favorite aunt, and I was named after her - although fortunately, my first name was Madeleine and not Golden. We were both called by our middle name Cassyl, and we both eventually became known by Casey. She married Leonce LeBlanc, a sugar planter who was much older than she, and lived in Paincourtville, Louisiana. He was also a Catholic, but by this time, it was not considered so outrageous. They had only one child, Bette Ann, whom I looked up to my whole life. Both Aunt Cassyl and Bette Anne were blond, blue eyed, and beautiful - and never seemed to age. When my aunt was in her 70's, I swear she could still pick up men in a bar. Bette Ann married Charlton Bargeron and lives in Birmingham Alabama. They have two boys, Charlton Jr and Leonce (called Brother).

There was one boy named William Wallace Jr (born June 1 1900) and called Buddy. He married Irene Drury on August 2 1930 and had a daughter named Yvonne, who was a favorite of my Grandmother's. Not surprisingly after growing up around all those strong women, Uncle Buddy became an alcoholic and broke up his family, although he eventually sobered up and married a former nun (I'm not sure which came first).

I used to call my aunts the Magnolia Aunts, because they were raised mainly to look beautiful and be admired. Although they were all very bright and well educated for their time, none of them ever worked for a living - but they sure looked good and were great hostesses. And they were all characters! They were quite infamous in the small town of Doyline. They were the first to "bob" their hair - remember women never used to cut their hair - and they were the first family to have a car. If I keep this blog going long enough, some of their stories will definitely appear.

Jackson Girls: Cassyl, Treby, Grandmother, Russie, Martee (Date unknow, likely late 1950's or early 1960's)

NOTE: All the dates came from a Bible that Grandmother left me that belonged to her mother. There were no entries in it after Cassyl's birth (her marriage date is not recorded). However, in another handwriting, it has the date of Great Grandmother's death.