Laura Walker – two of three

My Great-Grandmother

Laura and David Carrow (son of Cyprien Carrow and Louise Boudreau)^[1]Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, (Franklin, Louisiana), baptism record, unspecified volume, Marcel Carrow, 27 April 1878, digital image from 1953 microfilm, supplied 19 October 2021 by Diocese … Continue reading went to the New Iberia Courthouse with their fathers Cyprien Carrow and William Walker, and Peter Moriarty, brother-in-law of Laura, to file their marriage license on 15 August 1899. Nine days later they married on 24 August 1899 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Jeanerette.^[2]Marriage License Mr. David M. Carrow and Miss Laura Walker, 24 August 1899, original privately held by of Sindi Broussard Terrien. Also St. John the Evangelist, (Jeanerette, Louisiana), marriage,  … Continue reading The marriage license and the church wedding certificate were signed by Laura and David, their fathers, and Peter Moriarty. How did Laura and David meet? Were they introduced by friends or family? Maybe they met at church. Laura just happened to be two and one half years older than David.

By 1900, David and Laura were living in the Eighth Ward of Jeanerette in a house.^[3]1900 U.S. census, Iberia, Louisiana, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 38, Jeanerette, p.10, dwelling 195, family 196, David Carrow household; National Archives and Records … Continue reading  David’s parents and younger brothers and sisters also lived in Jeanerette.^[4]1900 U.S. census, Iberia, Louisiana, p.15, dwelling 318, family 318 (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4120180_00960?pId=17848290 : viewed 22 October 2021). David was probably working with his brother at a sash, board and door factory. The couple’s first child and son Carrol was born 17 January 1901^[5]Rev. Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records Church and Civil Records, Volume 33 – Supplement Mixed Records (1903-1953) (Baton Rouge, LA, Claitor’s Publishing Division). … Continue reading when Laura was twenty-five. Carrol was about three years younger than his aunt Pearl, his father’s youngest sister.  

Second child Velma, my grandmother, was born 14 October 1903.^[6]Velma Mary Carrow delayed certificate of birth, image from original that is now missing, 9 October 1962; privately held by Sindi Broussard Terrien. Also, St. John the Evangelist, (St. John the … Continue reading The first silent movie in New Iberia was shown in 1905 at an opera house.^[7]The History of New Iberia, Glenn R. Conrad, September 3, 1932-June 4, 2003 (http://www.cityofnewiberia.com/site403.php); this webpage is now defunct. Did Laura and David get to see any of the movies or go to any of the performances at the opera house? 

Around 1906 a family photograph was taken of David, Laura, Carrol, and Velma. David must have been making enough money that they could afford to take the photograph. Laura was wearing a wide-banded ring on her left hand, so David may have provided a wedding ring.  

Did Laura bake her own bread, or was she so busy with raising a family that she went to LeJuene’s Bakery for French bread and ginger cake? At the time, it was called the “Old Reliable Bakery” and was within walking distance. The bakery still stands and is operating with the same recipes on Main Street since 1884. https://lejeunesbakery.com/pages/newspaper-articles .

Two of Laura’s sisters died in 1907.^[8]Mary Birdie Moriarty Dartez, “Memories, Memories, Days of Long Ago…”, 28 January 1983; p. 2; privately held by Sindi Broussard Terrien. Eleonora Walker Moriarty died 19 June 1907 in childbirth complicated by mumps. The child was stillborn. She was twenty-nine and left four children.  Then six weeks later, Melanie (May) Walker Ewing died in childbirth complicated by typhoid fever.^[9]Dartez, “Memories, Memories, Days of Long Ago…”, p. 2. She was between sixteen and eighteen years old. Laura must have named her daughter Nora Mae after her sisters as Nora Mae was born soon after their deaths on 16 October 1907.^[10]Rev. Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records Church and Civil Records (1907) Volume 39 (Rayne, Louisiana, Hebert Publications), Text reads CARO, Nora May Louisa  (David & Laura WALKER) … Continue reading Other children would be named after members of David’s family—his mother Louise Boudreaux, his brother Willie, and sister Mary. 

Still in Jeanerette, by 1910 Laura’s family is well underway–Carrol, Velma, Nora Mae, and Mary Louise. David was working at a local grocery store; and Laura, no doubt, was keeping house. They lived in a house that they owned on Church Street. Carrol and Velma went to school.^[11]1910 U.S. census, Iberia, Louisiana, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 24, Jeanerette,  p. 21A, dwelling 34, family 34, David Cario household; National Archives and … Continue reading 

Did Laura spend Saturday evening ironing their Sunday best clothes? Maybe Carrol or Velma had to shine the family shoes. Imagine Laura dressing the children in their freshly ironed clothes for Sunday Mass, David donning his suit and tie (David’s grandchildren said he was a snappy dresser) and Laura placing her hat on her head just so before walking to St. John the Evangelist, not too far from their home. Carrol would be pulling a younger sister’s hair and wishing that he had a brother instead of so many sisters. Afterwards they would meet at the home of one of the grandparents for a Sunday dinner where there would be chaos with people talking over each other but laughing and lots of children running around. David’s father and brothers and sisters who lived together were nearby on Henkle Street.^[12]1910 U.S. census, Iberia, Louisiana,  p. 1A, dwelling 8, family 8, Cyprien Caro household; (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/31111_4329976-01437?pId=174087595 : … Continue reading Laura’s parents also lived nearby with two of her brothers and her sister Luvinia Bourgeois, a widow with seven children at 141 Church Street.^[13]1910 U.S. census, Iberia, Louisiana,  p. 7B, dwelling 23, family 23, William Walker household; (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/31111_4329976-01428?pId=9175907 … Continue reading  They all lived together in a rental house. With Laura’s older sister living so close, did they help each other out with the children? Did they do laundry together on Mondays?  

Though most of the neighbors are from Louisiana in 1910, there are many families from Italy. There are even some families from Turkey and Russia.^[14]1910 U.S. census, Iberia, Louisiana, (ED) 24, Jeanerette,  pp.1A-11B. 

Laura was almost twenty-six when she had her first child. By the time she was thirty-five she had five children and she was almost forty when her last child was born, Marcus Gerard. He was born on Velma’s eleventh birthday.^[15]” U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947,” images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2238/images/44040_01_00019-01103?pId=19289642 : viewed 23 … Continue reading Daughter Willy Lee Therese (known as Billie as an adult) was born 21 March 1913 ^[16]Rev. Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records: Church and Civil Records, years, 47 vols (Cecilia, Louisiana: Rev. Donald J. Hebert, 1976) vol. 45, p. 99. Citation reads “CARROW, Willy Lee … Continue reading and was blessed with a name she did not like very much; so much so that when her husband had purchased a gravestone with her given name, she made him return it for one with “Billie” inscribed on it. Were Laura’s children born in the homes where they lived? Who helped her during those first few days with the newborns? Did her mother attend at the births? 

My mother, Emily Claire Provost Broussard Dobbs, granddaughter of Laura Walker, told me the following story she heard from her mother, Velma. Laura could be strict. One time Velma complained about going to Catholic school so as punishment Velma was not allowed to go to the “chapter” movie that weekend. Velma would have had to pay about seven cents to see a movie around 1915.^[17]DavidManual.com, “Inflation-Adjusted High For a Movie Ticket Was Hit in 1973,” (https://www.davemanuel.com/the-cost-of-a-movie-ticket-throughout-the-years-166/ : viewed 24 October … Continue reading

Another story that Emily Claire often told was about Marcus getting into trouble for some transgression and as Laura was spanking him, she misspoke in the heat of the moment saying “Marcus, when you call me, I’m gunna come?” instead of “Marcus, when I call you, you’re gunna come?”  Velma was laughing during this episode of discipline and was soon in trouble herself for being disrespectful. 

The United States entered World War I in 1917. At age forty and with only one eye, Laura’s husband was not drafted nor did he enlist. David was described as: Height – medium; Color of Eyes – brown; Color of Hair – grey; and it is noted that he had lost one eye.^[18]“World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6482/images/005152076_03818?pId=28038409 : viewed 21 … Continue reading Laura’s son Carrol was too young to register. 

Sometime before 1918, David lost an eye at a sawmill when a band broke. He also lost two fingers working in the sawmills. What did Laura think when she learned of her husband’s loss of an eye? Did she nurse him through his injuries? What happened to a family when such an injury occurred at a time with no health insurance or worker’s compensation? 

With David working as a machinist at the at the Baldwin Lumber Company in 1918, the family lived in Baldwin, Louisiana.^[19]“World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” images, Ancestry.com  Baldwin is about 9 miles southwest of Jeanerette. But the family returned to live in Jeanerette sometime after that. 

In 1920, David was a foreman at a sawmill. They lived on Druilhet Street. At sixteen Carrol worked as a night clerk at a depot. The girls went to school and Marcus was at home at age five^[20]1920 U.S. census, Iberia Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 25, Jeanerette, p. 11A, dwelling 209, family 200, David … Continue reading  Did Carrol have to turn his earnings over to his parents? At least one of Laura’s brothers, Whitney and his family, moved to Jeanerette and lived nearby.

Women were given the right to vote in 1920. Did Laura vote in the first historic presidential election? If so, who did she vote for? Warren G. Harding or James M. Cox?

Did she vote in the 1924 and 1928 elections? The first “talkie” move was released in 1927 and Mickey Mouse was featured in “Steamboat Willie” in 1928. Did Laura have a chance to see the movie before she died? 

The electric lightbulb was introduced in 1879 by Thomas Edison. When did Laura experience electricity in her home? She may not have had electricity in any of her rural homes of Louisiana. It is possible she did not have electricity in her home until she moved to Lafayette! Stories from my mother of her visits to Jeanerette in the 1930s and 1940s as a child describe homes that used kerosene lamps and had no indoor plumbing. Outhouses were used for the toilet which would, without a doubt, not be pleasant in the heat of summer or the cold of winter. 

To view additional photos and documents related to Laura Walker, visit the Mementos menu and select Laura Walker from the submenu.

Visit MyManyMothers.com next week to read the final post on Laura Walker. The following week’s post will feature Laura’s mother, Philomene Camilla Dooley.

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