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My Old New Orleans Family

260 years in French Louisiana

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  • About
  • Haiti/Dominican Republic
  • Nova Scotia
    • Goodbye, K-man (pg.1 of 4): Road trip to Nova Scotia
    • Goodbye, K-man (pg.2 of 4): Chasing the Fundy tide and other forces of nature
    • Goodbye, K-man (pg.3 of 4): campsite finder extraordinaire
    • Goodbye, K-man … (pg.4 of 4)
  • French Cajun Louisiana
    • Breaux Bridge
      • Breaux Bridge (pg.1 of 5): A 19th cent. Cajun sugarcane farm
      • Breaux Bridge (pg.2 of 5): My grandmother’s Cajun ancestors
      • Breaux Bridge (pg.3 of 5): Remnants of a 19th century Cajun homestead on Bayou Teche
      • Breaux Bridge (pg.4 of 5): Changes come to 20th century Cajun ways
      • Breaux Bridge (pg.5 of 5): Chênes Brûlée, a found-art piece
    • Thibodeaux
      • Coffee, a Kitten, and Poison Ivy Everywhere: a Thibodeaux Assemblage Sculpture
      • Moss in the Mattress, History on the Wall: a Thibodeaux Assemblage Sculpture
      • Two Verandahs and an Ice Box: a Thibodeaux Assemblage Sculpture
      • Thibodeaux/Azor Succession #2859, 1890s Breaux Bridge, La.
      • Thélèsphore Thibodeaux, a Black Creole family hero on post-Civil War Bayou Teche
      • The Thélèsphore Thibodeaux house, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana
      • The Thibodeaux sculpture so far (Sept.2014 – Aug.2015)
      • The Thibodeaux Assemblage Sculpture; Progress Through 3 Years of Upheaval
    • Charenton
    • Lake Charles
      • We’re back! – Digging for pennies and finding diamonds
      • Leaving Cajun Country for Lake Charles: 1907-08
  • New Orleans
    • “Tisolay’s Favorite Things” – my last drawing for my grandmother
    • Broken Violin at Sea
    • Thanks, Dad, from the Tuxedo Cats
  • Spain
    • Spanish Balearic Islands “category”
      • Henrietta, Rosello’s tomb and Aunt Nans
      • Mama Sitges
      • Papa Sitges’ Meerschaum Pipe
    • Canary Islands

Lake Charles

First week: Tiwazzo and the girls go shopping

by Laura Stella Sitges

Tiny shops of fresh handmade things to big dept. stores, and lake views, breezes, and passing schooners every block… and saloons

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First week: J Euclide’s walk to his new job

by Laura Stella Sitges

Optimism of a new job, curiosity about town life, exposure to different cultures, and the responsibility for taking your family away from the security of a family farm

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1907-1910 in 511 Moss St, the forgotten period

by Laura Stella Sitges

Reconstructing a picture of a childhood from lost memories and mysterious secrecy: the ethnographic value of a 1907 Sears catalog

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The Route Home, 1907 – part 2 of 2

by Laura Stella Sitges

Oyster stew 10¢, a piano with teeth, peacocks screaming, a crane chasing children, Jean Lafitte, Haley’s comet, and the Hutchins/Reid clan. *whew*

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The Route Home, 1907 – part 1 of 2

by Laura Stella Sitges

Danish Foehr Island seafarers, orphans finding their way, a Tennessee lawyer who owned the town’s first bath tub(and let neighbors use it), a dancing bear…and Judge D.J. Reid

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Leaving Cajun Country for Lake Charles: 1907-08

by Laura Stella Sitges

Tisolay never wanted to talk about Lake Charles or her childhood. She was punished for speaking French in school. But Lake Charles gave her her music, which saved her, that and her big sister Carmen. And thus, the search for puzzle pieces begins.

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We’re back! – Digging for pennies and finding diamonds

by Laura Stella Sitges

  JOY!… The site’s arduous resurrection has finally happened. Wasting no time, I’m gonna dive right … Read more

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About me:
Welcome! My name is Laura Stella Sitges, and I am a native New Orleanian, the last of an old New Orleans family that has been in French and Spanish Louisiana since 1761, a family as interesting as the city that made us. I am a historian, artist, anthropologist, renovator of historic architecture, and writer, as well as a pianist and a chef, all of which is rooted in the unique culture of New Orleans.

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About the blog:
I have long been writing about my magical grandmother, who could flirt with a stick of furniture. But Hurricane Katrina made me realize that, as an only child of an only child of an only child, with no children of my own, the remarkable collection of old family documents, photos, heirlooms and stories that has come down to me will get washed away like so many New Orleans families' memories did, if I don't document them.
So as I sense myself slowing down, I pass them along to you... with affection.

Yes, you're in the right place. Little has changed beside the name, which is no longer applicable. DIYFASP is phasing out its interaction with the public's found-art projects to focus solely on the family's story and the artistic expression that aids in the telling of it.

Table of Contents

  • _____ Category . . . Breaux Bridge
    • Thibodeaux/Azor Succession #2859, 1890s
    • The Thelesphore Thibodeaux house
    • The Thibodeaux Sculpture So Far
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.1 of 5
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.2 of 5
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.3 of 5
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.4 of 5
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.5 of 5
  • _____ Category . . . Nova Scotia
    • Goodbye, K-Man, pg.1
    • Goodbye, K-Man, pg.2
    • Goodbye, K-Man, pg.3
    • Goodbye, K-Man, pg.4
  • _____ Category . . . New Orleans
    • Tisolay’s Favorite Things
    • Irv’s Archaeological “P”
    • Broken Violin at Sea
  • _____ Category . . . Haiti/Dom.Rep.
    • Daddy’s Bell
  • _____ Category . . . Spain
    • Henrietta, Rosello’s Tomb and Aunt Nans
  • About
  • Lake Charles
  • Spain
  • Nova Scotia
  • _____ Category . . . Breaux Bridge
    • Thibodeaux/Azor Succession #2859, 1890s
    • The Thelesphore Thibodeaux house
    • The Thibodeaux Sculpture So Far
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.1 of 5
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.2 of 5
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.3 of 5
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.4 of 5
    • Breaux Bridge, pg.5 of 5
  • _____ Category . . . Nova Scotia
    • Goodbye, K-Man, pg.1
    • Goodbye, K-Man, pg.2
    • Goodbye, K-Man, pg.3
    • Goodbye, K-Man, pg.4
  • _____ Category . . . New Orleans
    • Tisolay’s Favorite Things
    • Irv’s Archaeological “P”
    • Broken Violin at Sea
  • _____ Category . . . Haiti/Dom.Rep.
    • Daddy’s Bell
  • _____ Category . . . Spain
    • Henrietta, Rosello’s Tomb and Aunt Nans
  • About
  • Lake Charles
  • Spain
  • Nova Scotia

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