Melanie (Melina) Toups Apple Dooley Pierce

My Third Great Grandmother

Daughter of Ambroise and Marie Baudoin 

Wife of Peter G. Apple, William Dooley, and Joseph Pierce 

Mother of Henry Terrazin, Marie Adeline, and Sarah Elizabeth Apple (April, Appel), Philomene Camilla, William, and Laura Amanda Dooley; and Chapman and Thomas Pierce 

When I first met my great-great-great grandmother, Melanie Toups several years ago, we did not really connect. She did not have a lot to say at first. Maybe she did not want to be known and was hiding from me. I persisted in getting to know her so I could introduce her to you. Well, I was in for a surprise. Admittedly, it was only within the last few weeks that more of her story has come to light. I think since she learned descendants other than me are interested, she has decided to talk. Following is what Melanie has told me about herself.

By the time Melanie Toups was born to Ambroise Toups and Marie Baudoin, the Toups family had already been in Louisiana over one hundred years, arriving in 1721.^[1]Neil J. Toups, The Toups Clan and How it all Began (Lafayette, Louisiana: Neilson Publishing Company, 1969), p. 34. (Surprise #1) Melane was born around 1830 and was baptized 26 August 1839 at the age eight at St. John’s Cathedral in Lafayette^[2]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 (Surprise #2) which began keeping church records in 1821.^[3]Stanley LeBlanc, thecajuns.com, “SWLR [SW Louisiana Records] by Father Hebert – List  of Abbreviations, Names of Church Parishes and Dates Records … Continue reading Most Catholic children were baptized within months, if not days, after they were born as were most people in southwestern Louisiana at that time. Surely, her parents were not debating whether they would raise her in the Catholic Church since her older brothers and sisters had been baptized. More than likely, the family was not living near a church and circumstances were the reason Melanie’s baptism took place so long after her birth. Maybe she was sick when a priest was holding Mass and she could not travel. 

Melanie’s parents may have been first cousins. (Surprise #3) Her mother, Marie Baudoin was the daughter of Pierre Baudoin & Marguerite Toups, and her father Ambroise Toups was the son of Gaspard Toups and Genevieve Ambroise. Marguerite Toups and Gaspard Toups may have been brother and sister. Melanie’s parents married 22 February 1808 in St. Martinville.^[4]Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 1756-1810, 1:31, 550. Marie Baudoin was the daughter of Pierre & Marguerite Toups and Ambroise Toups was the son of Gaspard and Genevieve … Continue reading She had at least six brothers and four sisters. There is a story in the Abbeville Meridional that suggests that Ambroise, Melanie’s father, was killed in a duel in 1854 (Surprise #4), but since her mother was a widow in 1850, there was a mistake somewhere in the story.^[5]“Apple Family Reunion is held in Abbeville,” Abbeville Meridional (Abbeville, Louisiana) 10 Dec 1987, Page 5, cols. 1 & 2; Newspapers.com … Continue reading

As of 1 June 1850, Melanie lived with her widowed mother and her brothers Pierre, Darmas, Therosin and younger sister Emelia. The family lived in the Western District Ward 7 of Vermilion Parish. Her brothers were laborers and all over twenty years old. No one in the household could read or write.^[6]1850 U.S. census, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Western District, p. 434 & 435, dwelling 52, family 52, Widow Ambroise Toups household; National Archives and … Continue reading The surrounding neighbors were from New York, Kentucky, New Jersey, Mississippi, Austria, Scotland, and Germany. The neighbors had occupations other than farming and labor such as clerk of the court, teacher, mail carrier, merchant, and wheelwright.  

Melanie was twenty years old and single but there was a man living nearby who caught the eye of Melanie or it may have been that Melane caught the eye of the older man. Sometime after 1 June 1850, Melanie married Peter Apple, a cooper from Pennsylvania.^[7]Peter Apple lived in dwelling 55 and Melanie’s family lived in dwelling 52. 1850 U.S. census, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Western District, p. 435, dwelling 55, … Continue reading (Surprise #5 – I thought she had been married only to William Dooley, then I learned of another husband who turned out to be her third husband and Peter Apple was her first husband – Wow!) 

They had three children, Henry Terrazin, Marie Adeline, and Sarah Elizabeth.^[8]Baptisms of the children of Melanie Toups and Peter Apple (compiler translated surname as April) are recorded in Clement Bourgeois, Jr., compiled “Vol I Baptismal Register 1854-1858., St. … Continue reading Though St. Mary Magdaleine Catholic church was nearby, Melanie and Peter did not have the children baptized. (Surprise #6) Why was that? Was Peter not Catholic?

It is possible that Peter died from yellow fever in 1854.^[9]The Opelousas Courier (Opelousas, Louisiana) 11 November 1854, p. 2, col. … Continue reading Yellow fever had been in the area for at least a year. Father Magret, the priest serving St. Mary Magdaleine Catholic church and seventy-three other people were claimed by yellow fever.^[10]“Dates in Vermilion Parish History,” Clerk of the Court Vermilion Parish (https://www.vermilionclerk.com/history/ : viewed 21 November 2021). Regardless of how Peter died, he left Melanie with a decision to make about her status in society and how she and her children would survive.

Yellow Fever in Louisiana

With William Dooley recently widowed and living nearby, it was reasonable for Melanie Toups to marry him around 1856. She was probably twenty-four and he was about fourteen years older than she. William has been previously married to Marcelitte Broussard, who died around 1852.^[11]Rev. Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records Church and Civil Records, vol. 5 (Cecilia, Louisiana, 1976). Citation reads “BROUSSARD, Marcellite m. William DOULEY, Jr. d. … Continue reading He had at least four children by his first wife, Elizabeth, Caroline, Marie, and Joseph.

What was it like walking into another woman’s family? How did eleven-year-old Elizabeth, William’s oldest daughter, feel about having a woman coming into the home to replace her mother? What were Melanie’s thoughts about another man raising her children? How did the seven children get along in the beginning? Was the house big enough for all of them? 

Melanie’s first child by William was Philomena Camilla born in 1857. William, Jr., and Laura Amanda followed soon after. They were all baptized at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Abbeville.^[12]Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 1855-1860, 6:177. The citations read “DOOLEY, Philomene Camela (William & Melanie TOUPS) b. 17 Feb. 1857 (Abbeville Ch.:v.1, p. 147),” … Continue reading In fact, Laura had her three children by Peter baptized on 21 December 1858 when William was baptized at three months old.^[13]Clement Bourgeois, Jr., compiled “Vol I Baptismal Register 1854-1858., St. Mary Magdaleine Church. Vermilion Parish, LA,” The UsGenWeb Project Louisiana Archives … Continue reading 

There were many women involved in Melanie’s life besides her mother. Her brothers’ wives, Artemise Schexnayder, Ladoiska Nunez, and Josephine Landry and her sister Marie Rosella Petre all served as godmother to her children.^[14]Clement Bourgeois, Jr., compiled “Vol I Baptismal Register 1854-1858., St. Mary Magdaleine Church. Vermilion Parish, LA,” The UsGenWeb Project Louisiana … Continue reading Sarah J. Walker, a neighbor, was Camilla’s godmother, who was also the half-sister of the man Camilla would later marry.

Melanie’s Gaspard, Toups, and Baudoin cousins lived nearby in 1860. They all lived in the Western District of Vermilion Parish near Perry’s Ridge.^[15]1860 U.S. census, Vermillion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Perry’s Bridge, p. 16-17 dwelling 137, family 137, William Douly household; … Continue reading Melanie was running a household with nine children between the ages of sixteen and two: Melanie’s stepchildren Elizabeth, Caroline, Margaret, and Joseph; and Sarah, Peter, and Mary from her previous marriage; and her two children Camilla and William, Jr. Her husband was a farmer with real estate valued at $500 and other assets at $460. Melanie’s mother at age seventy-five lived nearby. Her brother Dalmas also lived nearby.^[16]1860 U.S. census, Vermillion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Perry’s Bridge, p. 16-17, dwelling 137, family 137, William Douly household; p. 17, … Continue reading

Three hurricanes came through southern Louisiana the summer of 1860. Many farms were devastated from the rain and flooding.^[17]Stanley LeBlanc, “Hurricanes, Floods and Fires in Louisiana History,” thecajuns.com (http://www.thecajuns.com/lahurricanes.htm : accessed 18 November 2021).  How badly was the Dooley family farm damaged? Sometime after that William Dooley died. Did William’s older children continue to live with Melanie until they married? 

My great-grandmother, Laura Walker Carrow was a child of Reconstruction; my great-great grandmother, Camilla Dooley Walker was a child of the Civil War; but my great-great-great grandmother was an adult throughout the Civil War. She was living in an area of plantations and large farms where people were enslaved. The Dooley family associated with the James H. Walker family who had 18 people enslaved.^[18]1860 U.S. census, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, slave schedule, p. 4, Jas. Walker household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication … Continue reading

Melanie must have experienced a lot of anxiety during those four years of the Civil War. Skirmishes were taking place around the area she lived. She probably worried about soldiers, Union or Confederate, confiscating their food and animals. Was there enough food for all the children? Did they have enough clothes and shoes to wear? Did cousins or neighborhood men die in battle or return with horrible injuries? 

Melanie married a third time around 1866 to Joseph Pierce.^[19]“State of Louisiana, Parish of Vermilion 17th Judicial District Court, No. 978 Arvillien Guidry vs The Widow and Heirs of William Dooley,” The Meridional (Abbeville, … Continue reading How did they meet? Did Joseph participate in the Civil War? They had two children together, Chapman and Thomas. The Pierce family continued to live in Vermilion Parish in 1870.^[20]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 Camilla and William Dooley, Jr. were not living with Melanie.^[21]1870 U.S. census, Iberia Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, New Iberia, p. 66, dwelling 487, family 528, Joseph Dooley household; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm … Continue reading (Surprise #7) They may have been sent to live with their uncle Joseph Dooley in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, so they could attend school. Since Melanie could not read and write, maybe it was important to her that her children learned to do so.

Though Camilla went to live with her uncle, she married at age fifteen in 1872.^[22]St. Nicholas, (Lydia, Louisiana), marriage act, unspecified volume, William Walker & Philomene Camilla Dooley, 28 May 1872, digital image from 1953 microfilm, supplied 18 October 2021 … Continue reading Did Melanie attend the wedding? If she did, she had to travel at least thirty miles. I hope she was there.  

Henry Apple, Melanie’s son from her first marriage lived with Melanie and Joseph in Vermilion Parish in 1880. Her daughter Laura was living nearby with her husband Leonard Mallett. Mary Adeline, one of her daughters from Peter Apple, was married to David Choate and also lived nearby.^[23]1880 U.S. census, Vermilion, Louisiana, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 20, Ward 7, p. 6, dwelling 43, family 45, Josepth Pierce household, and dwelling 44, family 46, … Continue reading Oldest daughter Sarah was married to Pinkard Foster and living a little further away with children but still in Vermilion Parish.^[24]1880 U.S. census, Vermilion, Louisiana, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 20, Ward 7, p. 23, dwelling 164, family 166, Pinkard Foster household, National Archives and Records … Continue reading Henry would later marry the young lady who lived nearby, Rosebella Henry.^[25]“Apple Family Reunion is held in Abbeville,” Abbeville Meridional, (Abbeville, Louisiana) 10 Dec 1987, Page 5, cols. 1 & 2; Newspapers.com … Continue reading

More than likely, Melanie kept in touch with all of her children, even when they lived some distance away from her. At least two granddaughters were named after Melanie. Philomena, the daughter that was sent away to live with her uncle, named her youngest daughter after her mother and Sarah named one of her youngest daughters Melanie.^[26]1910 U.S. census, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 142, p. 2A, Police Jury Ward 7, family 20, Elizabeth Smith household; National Archives and … Continue reading

Melanie died before 1900 as she was not enumerated in the 1900 census and Joseph was described as a widower who lived with his son Chapman.^[27]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 Melanie survived the Civil War taking place in the area she lived and Reconstruction and gave birth to eight children who married and gave her many grandchildren. She lived a full life in the time she had.

My great-great-great-grandmother is less elusive but there will always be secrets that will never be known.  We all have them and should have them. But if you have any stories about Melanie that can be shared, please contact me.  

This ends the story of our many mothers who are not of Acadian descent. Next week I’ll begin introducing you to the other side of the Carrow-Walker family. David Marshall Carrow’s mother, Louise Boudreaux is first. In the coming weeks you’ll learn about our Acadian mothers. It is amazing how they survived one obstacle after another.