Comparison of Four Great-Grandmothers

This post will do what no grandchild should do, analyze and compare grandmothers. The analysis and comparison of Velma Mary Carrow Provost’s great-grandmothers is statistical only, not a comparison of character, personality or affection. The analysis and comparison is presented for understanding that the four women born about 100 years ago were real people who had real families and lives.  

Birth and Death 

Name	Birth	Date of Death	Age at Death
Julienne Azelima Patin Walker	09 Feb 1821, St. Martinville, Louisiana[1]Rev. Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records (Hebert Publications: Rayne, Louisiana, 1997), 2b:733.	16 Jan 1896[2]Julian Azelema Walker, James H. Walker family record book, 1847-1978, Louisiana State University – LSU Libraries, Special Collections, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.	74
Adelaide Delaune Boudreaux	Abt. 1822[3]1860 U.S. census, Assumption Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Attakapas Canal, p. 163, dwelling 391, family 384, Gerome … Continue reading	possibly after 1900 but before 1910	About 78
Melanie Toups Apple Dooley Pierce	Abt. 1831 baptized 26 August 1839 at the age eight at St. John’s Cathedral in Lafayette[4]Rev. Donald J. Hebert. Southwest Louisiana Records, 47 vols. (Eunice, Louisiana, 1976), Vol. 3, p. 631. Citation reads “Toups, Melanie (Ambroise & Marie Baudouin) bt. 26 … Continue reading	after 1880 and before 1900[5]1900 U.S. census, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 98, Seventh Ward, p. 21, dwelling 262, family 262, Chapman Pierce household; National Archives and … Continue reading	60s
Adele Ordonot Carrow	06 May 1834, Thibodaux, Lafourche, Louisiana,  baptized at St. Joseph Church, July 6, 1834[6]Rev. Donald J. Hebert, South Louisiana Records: Church and Civil Records of Lafourche-Terrebonne Parishes, 1:417 (Cecilia, Louisiana, 1978).	18 Nov 1920[7]Find A Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/100307577/odele-adelina-caro : viewed 5 February 2022, memorial 100307577, Odel Adelina ”Adele” … Continue reading	86

• Julienne Azelima Patin Walker was the eldest of Velma Mary Carrow Provost’s great-grandmothers having been born in 1821.  From this point on, Azelima will be the name used for this great-grandmother.
• Sometime in 1822, Adelaide Delaune Boudreaux was born next.   
• Melanie Toups Apple Walker Pierce was born in 1831 and Adele Ordonot Carrow was the youngest, having been born in 1834. 

• Azelima died in 1896 when she was seventy-four. She lived twelve years as a widow. 
• Adelaide probably died after 1900 and she lived to be at least seventy-eight years. She was a widow for over thirty years. 
• Melanie died in her sixties, before 1900. 
• Adele died in 1920 when she was eighty-six years old, having been a widow for thirty-two years. 
• There is a chance that Velma and her sister Billie (Willy Lee Therese Carrow Provost) met their great-grandmother, Adele. 

Marriage 

Name	Date of Marriage	Age at Marriage	Husband	Age at Marriage
Azelima	24 Sep 1846, Lafayette Parish, Louisiana[8]Rev. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 1811-1830, 2:386. James’s name was recorded as Jean Walker.	25	James H. Walker	31[9]James H. Walker, James H. Walker family record book, 1847-1978, Louisiana State University – LSU Libraries, Special Collections, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Adelaide	28 Dec 1841, Thibodaux, Lafourche, Louisiana[10]”Louisiana Parish Marriages, 1837-1957,” database with images, FamilySearch, Acts of Marriage (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-YX9Q-XK?cc=1807364 : 12 December … Continue reading	17	Jerome Boudreaux	30[11]Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records 1804-1819 (Baton Rouge: Diocese of Baton Rouge), 3:119. Citation “BOUDREAUX, Carlos Geronimo (Josef Maria and Ana Josefa DUGAT) bn. 31 July 1809 bt. 4 … Continue reading
Melanie	After 1 June 1850[12]1850 U.S. census, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Western District, p. 435, dwelling 55, family 55, Peter G. Apple household; National Archives and Records … Continue reading  About 1856[13]1860 U.S. census, Vermillion, Louisiana, population schedule, Western District, p. 16, dwelling 137, family 137, William Douly household, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm … Continue reading About 1866[14]1870 U.S. census, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Abbeville, p. 95, dwelling 747, family 717, Joseph Pierce household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm … Continue reading All marriages in Vermillion Parish	20  About 26  About 36	Peter Apple  William Dooley  Joseph Pierce	About 29[15]1850 U.S. census, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Western District, p. 435, dwelling 55, family 55, Peter G. Apple household; National Archives and Records … Continue reading  About 40[16]Rev. Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records 1819-1825 (Rayne, Louisiana, Hebert Publications, 1997), 2-B:302. “DOOLEY, William (William DOWLEY – inhabitant at La petite ance &  … Continue reading About 48[17]1870 U.S. census, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Abbeville, p. 95, dwelling 747, family 717, Joseph Pierce household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm … Continue reading
Adele	26 Jan 1852, Houma, Terrebonne, Louisiana[18]Rev. Donald J. Hebert, South Louisiana Records: Church and Civil Records of Lafourche-Terrebonne Parishes, 3:124.	17	Jean Carrow	23[19]Parish register for Plounez 1823-1833, Archives départementales des Côtes d’Armor, image 189 of 377, folio 15, act 28.

Azelima was twenty-five years old when she married widower James H. Walker in Lafayette in 1846. He was about six years older than she. By 1839, Adelaide was seventeen years old when she married widower Jerome Boudreaux in Assumption Parish, Louisiana. Jerome was about thirteen years older than Adelaide. Melanie first married when she was about nineteen years old. Her first husband, Peter Apple, died around 1854, leaving her with three children. She then married widower William Dooley. After he died in 1865, she married a third time to Joseph Pierce. All her marriages were in Vermillion Parish and her husbands were at least nine years older than she. As was Adelaide, Adele was seventeen when she married John Carreau (Carrow) in Houma, Louisiana. John was about six years older than Adele. 

Children

Name	Age at first birth	Number of children	Childbearing years
Azelima	26	8	1847 and 1859[20]James H. Walker family record book, 1847-1978, Louisiana State University – LSU Libraries, Special Collections, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Adelaide	18	10	1840 and 1858
Melanie	21	8	1852 to 1868
Adele	20	14	1852 to 1879[21]1900 U.S. census, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 25, Second Ward, p.15, dwelling 274, family 289, Mrs. Jean Caro household; National Archives and … Continue reading

• Azelima had at least eight children between 1847 and 1859 and four stepchildren. She was twenty-six years old when she had her first child and thirty-eight when she had her last child. 
• Adelaide had at least ten children between 1840 and 1858 and two stepchildren. She was eighteen years old when she had her first child and thirty-six when she had her last child. 
• Melanie had at least eight children between 1852 to 1868 from three different husbands. She was twenty-one years old when she had her first child and thirty-seven years old when she had her last child. 
• Adele had at least fourteen children between the years 1852 to 1879. She was twenty years old when she had her first child and forty-four when she had her last child. 

• Of Azelima’s eight children, at least one child died before she did. 
• Of Adelaides’ ten children, one died as a young child, and one died in the Civil War. 
• None of Melanie’s children died before she did. 
• Four of Adele’s fourteen children died before she died, one as a child and three when Adele was over sixty-three years old.  

Residence

(All locations are in Louisiana)

(All locations are in Louisiana)

• Azelima moved around St. Mary and Iberia parishes throughout her life.  
• Adelaide lived in Assumption Parish until she was in her forties when she moved to St. Mary, Parish. 
• Melanie lived most of her life in Vermillion Parish.  
• Adele Ordonot seemed to have stayed in Terrebonne Parish throughout her life. 

Family background

Azelima was born into French families that had been in Louisiana as early as 1727, the Patins, Bossiers, Mayeus and Decouxs.^[39]Glenn R. Conrad, “November 12, 13, 1724 Census of the German Villages Located on the Mississippi River Above New Orleans,” The First Families of Louisiana (Baton Rouge, … Continue reading Her Acadian ancestors (the Guidrys and the Babins) arrived in Louisiana around 1765.^[40]Pierre Guidry and his wife Claire Babin were recorded in the 1770 census of Ascension. Robichaux, Albert J., Jr., Colonial Settlers Along Bayou Lafourche (Harvey, Louisiana), p. 7. Pierre Guidry … Continue reading 

Adelaide’s family was pure Acadian, having arrived in Louisiana in 1785.^[41]Tim Hebert, “Passenger List for La Ville d’Archangel,” Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History (http://www.acadian-cajun.com/ship6.htm : viewed 16 December 2021). Her father Alexandre Delaune fought in the Battle of New Orleans.^[42]“War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files,” database and images, Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/307849761 : accessed 3 December 2021); image of abstract card for … Continue reading Her grandmother, Marie Anne Part, lost her mother when British soldiers bludgeoned her to death and scalped her. Her story will be told another day. 

Melanie’s Toups family arrived in Louisiana as early as 1724.^[43]Neil J. Toups, The Toups Clan and How it all Began (Lafayette, Louisiana: Neilson Publishing Company, 1969), p. 34. Her Baudoin family arrived prior to 1770’s.  

Adele’s Ordonot French family arrived in Louisiana from France in the very early 1800s. Adele also had Acadian grandparents, Joachim-Jacques Blanchard and Marie Magdelaine Templet who arrived in Louisiana in 1785.^[44]Tim Hebert, “Passenger List for La Ville La Bon Papa,” Acadian-Cajun Genealogy & History (https://www.acadian-cajun.com/ship1.htm : viewed 12 February 2022).

Civil War

Azelima’s son, Ursin, served in the Confederate Army near Franklin, Louisiana, without injury from 1864 until the surrender.^[45]Ursin Walker, (Co. A, Louisiana, 7th Louisiana Calvery) Iberia, Louisiana, pension no. 3536, Louisiana, U.S., Confederate Pensions, 1898-1950, Ancestry.com, digital images … Continue reading Azelima’s husband signed an Oath of Allegiance in 1868, stating that he had not engaged in the rebellion against the United States.^[46]St. Mary Parish, Clerk of Courts, Oaths of Allegiance, 1868, No. 2966, James Walker; digital image, FamilySearch.com, image 174 of 272 … Continue reading

Adelaide lost her son, Adelard, in Vicksburg during the Civil War.^[47]Compiled service record, Adelard Boudreau, Pvt., Co. B, 1 Louisiana H. Art’y.; Civil War; Record Group 109: Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate … Continue reading

Adelaide’s husband died between 1860 and 1870. Melanie’s second husband William Dooley died around 1865. Evidence has not been found that points to involvement in the Civil War for the reason of their deaths.

Other interesting facts

• Azelima was named after her aunt and godmother, Julienne Guidry. 
• Adelaide was named after her father’s sister Adelaide Delaune. 
• Adele was named after her mother’s sister, Adele Blanchard. 

All the great-grandmothers were baptized into the Catholic faith and had their children baptized in the Catholic faith.  

• More than likely, Azelima spoke French and English. Her children spoke English, but with her family background being solidly French and Acadian, it is highly likely that she was bi-lingual. Like many bi-lingual grandmothers, you can imagine her speaking the language her grandchildren did not understand when she wanted to say something in front of them that she did not want them to know, like where the candy was stashed or the Christmas presents were hidden.
• Adele spoke French. 
• Melanie probably spoke English as other members of her family spoke English. 

None of the great-grandmothers were able to read and write.

Three of the four great-grandmothers had names that began with the letter A. 

The next post will be the biography of Marie Aspasie Guidry Patin, Azelima’s mother.