The Lacobee Name

As mentioned on the Lacobie name page, there's a branch of the family name that took to the Lacobee spelling of the name. In fact, I think the Lacobie spelling was a less common variant, at least judging from the census records of the mid- to late-1800s. I suspect that many of the family members were illiterate (my grandparents were, for example -- in both English and French!), so census takers and other officials would take whatever pronunciation they heard, and recorded their own spelling.

Anyway, recently I heard from a living member of the Lacobee family! Distant cousin Matt Berry has written me with a wealth of details -- he also happens to live near St. Ann's Cemetery, so is busily hunting to find where long lost Lacobee cemetery is located. Here's what Matt has to say about the cemetery, and the Lacobee branch of the family:

The Cemetery

Gloria McPherson, Justice of the Peace in Stonewall, La., is the daughter of Joseph Clifford Lacobee, a son of David and Mary Lacobee (see under Hillaire), is apparently the local expert on the location and status of this mysterious cemetery. Matt writes, " There are supposedly (17) graves out there. It's very grown up; actually it's in a patch of woods behind someone's house on an L-shaped piece of land (app. 2.25 acres) that the Catholic diocese owns. Gloria-Jean runs the family cemetery at St. Ann's and is fighting tooth and nail with the diocese to either gain control of the abandoned cemetery or for them to restore it. ... According to her, there was a church out in those woods started by a priest. Outdoor church, wooden benches, the works...anyway, I'm sure it was the early Lacobee / Lacobie family and other local Catholic families. ... as the story goes, there was a barn-raising (big drinking party) at some point, the priest and the congregation had a falling out, possibly over the barn-raising, and our little cemetery faded into wooded obscurity.

"Here's what I found at the abandoned cemetery: Joseph "Guiare" Lacobee, the one we are descended from, is buried there. His stone reads "Joseph C. Lacobee", Born 1801, Nacodogches, TX, Died 1886, Gloster, LA (a few miles down the road from Stonewall). Octavia, one of Houston Lacobee's daughters is buried there but her husband William Moreno is buried at the St. Ann's cemetery...strange. Houston (1849-1924) is buried at St. Ann's, Lewis (1857-1912?, need to verify) is also buried there...I believe these are the oldest members of the family buried at St. Ann's. From there on, most all of the Lacobee's and several Rambins, Lafittes, Prudhommes, and Middleton, etc. family members that married into Lacobee families are buried there. The back corner of St. Ann's is mostly the family of Houston Lacobee on down. The family farm wraps around behind the church and the side of it."

the Lacobee tree

Starting from David Lacobee (son of Houston Lacobee). Courtesy of Matt Berry

• David Lacobee (1876-1929) married Mary Brossette (1884-1942). had children:
  • Calvin Goutier 1904-19?? Mary's son by her first husband.
  • Emma Lucille (1906-1999) - "Aunt Cebe" (pet names from Matt; I should note that even in our family, our aunts and uncles also had different pet names, from their "real" name -- sometimes just a more french version of the name, but sometimes just plain different. Like, my mom, Gloria, was known as "Aunt Tim" to others; go figure that!)
  • Gertrude (1908-1992) - "Aunt Gert"
  • Henry Houston (1909-1971) - "Uncle Man"
  • Thomas David (1911-1972) - "Uncle Bud"
  • Mary Vee (1912-1987) - "Mama Veke"
  • William (1915-1982) - "Uncle Mack"
  • Joseph Clifford (1916-1996) - "Uncle Cliff"
  • Daniel Warren (1921-2002) - "Uncle Dub"
  • Loretta Beatrice (1924-) "Aunt Loretta", but "Me-Maw" and "Mama 'Retta" to the grandkids

Yes indeed, yet again we see that cajun families were often very large!!! Thanks, Matt, for providing all these details.