The Group Photo

Aren't we cute?

Reunion - The Arrivals

The day finally arrived. On Friday, February 14, the Jensen Family began to arrive in Natchez, Mississippi.

John was the first to arrive, flying in from Annapolis, Maryland. I picked him up in the morning at the Jackson, Mississippi Airport. He stayed in the Angel Room at Chez Casey.









The second to arrive, also from Annapolis, were Paul and Lucy and their offspring, Katie, Alex, and Cameron - and Dax. They flew into Jackson and rented a car for the drive to Natchez - saving me from another 4-5 hour trip to Jackson and back. They all stayed at Chez Casey: Paul, Lucy, and Cameron in the Rose Room, Katie and Alex in the Garden Room, and Dax in the Magnolia Room.



Howard, Lori, Emily, and Mallori drove in from Lafayette, Louisiana - the shortest trip made. They stayed at the Eola Hotel, a little over a block down Pearl Street from Chez Casey.









I sweet talked (conned) John into driving to Jackson to pick up Carlea who came from New York. She stayed with her father in the Angel Room at Chez Casey.

Scott, Halane, Adele, and Maple were the last to arrive and made the longest trip by far - all the way from Vienna, Austria. They arrived at the Baton Rouge, Louisiana Airport and rented a car. Although Maple looks wide awake, you can tell Scott and Halane had not had much sleep in the past 48 hours. They stayed a block down Washington Street in a cottage which is part of the Wensel House Bed and Breakfast.

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.

Birth at Angola

I was born on February 19 1943 in Angola Louisiana. If you're not from Louisiana, that may seem like no big deal. However, when I tell people from Louisiana where I was born, they always react with some sign of shock. That's because they know that Angola is the notorious state penitentiary - and it's in the middle of nowhere, so there's no town of Angola. If you were born in Angola, you were born in the state pen. Usually, people don't want to embarrass me by asking why, so they just change the subject.

I was born during World War II, and my father (John Alexander Jensen) was overseas defending the country. During this time, my mother (Barbara Eileen Bolin Jensen) went to live with her parents (Dayton Cornelius Bolin and Emma Nettie "Det" Jackson Bolin).

Daddy in uniform

My grandfather was one of the first recipients of a degree in sugar engineering from LSU, which basically taught you to run a sugar cane factory, which converts sugar cane from the field into raw sugar which can be refined there or sent to a refinery. (I checked the LSU website and this degree is still offered, although as a minor under Biological and Agricultural Engineering.) This degree and experience allowed them to live in several tropical paradises, like South America, Cuba, the Virgin Islands, and South Louisiana.

Angola is on 18,000 acres about 60 miles north of Baton Rouge. Because it is surrounded on three sides by the Mississippi River, which would occasionally flood the land, it is some of the finest farming land in the South. In 1943, it was a huge sugar cane plantation. I say plantation because it was run very much like an antebellum plantation, where the prisoners served as the slaves. It was the only state prison in the country that made a profit for the state. Almost everything they needed was produced there, but the sugar cane made the money. My grandfather was in charge of the sugar cane factory there, and he and my grandmother lived on the grounds in a rather fine house, waited on by slaves (prisoners). Other than being isolated, it was a pretty nice life.

I was born in my grandparents' house. There was a doctor in attendance, but he didn't have much experience delivering babies. Needless to say, a baby was a big deal there, and I was lavished with attention by the entire population. I still have a bookcase that was made especially for me by one of the prisoners. I was referred to by all the inmates as "Miss Baby". My grandmother called me "Little Princess", which she did for the rest of her life. I lived in this royal atmosphere for three years. Many people say this early experience explains a lot about my personality!

Aren't I cute?

They say that when my father came back, I refused to let him sleep with my mother. After all, he was a total stranger. Apparently, I was not happy at all when I had to leave Angola. Later, when I became a grandmother, I appreciated how horrible it must have been for my grandparents to have me leave, after living with them for three years.