Old Time Occupations

In 1975 Polly Morris wrote about the old time occupations in St. Tammany Parish, naming those who were engaged in a variety of jobs that no one even knows about today. Here's the article. Click on the image to enlarge the view. 

Here is the text from the above article:

Polly Morris Tells About Old-Time Occupations

August 20, 1975

BY POLLY MORRIS 

Mention old time occupations to an old timer and he will immediately tell about the lumbering operations... of loggers, and ox carts, and sawmills like that owned by A. D. and L. W. Crawford that sawed 20,000 feet a day.

They will also mention the village smithy, John Parisy of Covington or Joseph Baham of Madisonville, who not only shoed horses but could be talked into repairing a farm implement or a wagon. They might even speak of August Vergez, who was a wheel wright and made wagons and other vehicles, and specialized in "fine painting" of carriages. Or of Ab. Blattner, proprietor of a saddlery and harness shop. 

No doubt they would mention H. Cornibe, S. F. Phillips, and Strobe and Warren who rented and boarded horses, rented rigs and hauled baggage or freight, and had a sidelines that was a by-product of the, trade. They were undertakers, embalmers, and some advertised funeral supplies and a hearse.

Many of these old time businesses are barely alive today, but others are almost obsolete. Like the coffin makers and basket weavers and the whooping crane. For example, the Folsom firm of Wallis and Core had a gin and a grist mill. At Madisonville a William Schleigh ran a rooming and boarding house, and Mrs. 0. Combel of Covington advertised "private boarding," and "excursion dinners a specialty."

On the Alexius estate outside of Covington, G. C. Alexius planted 2 acres to Vetiver. He estimated this crop as worth $200 per acre. Today very few people know that vetiver is an aromatic grass, distant relative to sugar cane and sorghum, and that its sweet•smelling roots were used in the manufacture of perfume.

Moss-picking is an almost obsolete occupation, yet at one time it was a mainstay of many people. It was in demand for padding in saddle blankets, furniture and horse collars. It was needed for stuffing cushions and dolls. The mattresses of the beds on swank steamboats was filled with the wiry stuff. Moss pickers with long hooks traveled the bayous in bateaus, pulling moss from trees overhanging the bayous. Sometimes they followed clogging operations, getting moss easily from the treetops left lying in the forest.

The picking was the easy part. It must also be bedded down and dampened until the outer layer rotted and fell away. This took weeks in the summer and months in the winter.After the hairs were stripped, it 'was hung out on wires to drip dry. After which It was cleaned, baled, and sold as "Spanish Hair."

One crop brought pilgrimages to St. Tammany Parish to see acres upon acres of fluffy pale pink snow. These were the blossoms of the Tung trees, a Chinese import. They were lovely to look at but they bore a poisonous fruit called a Tung nut. These nuts were valuable because contained an oil that was used in quick-drying paints and varnishes. Now petroleum products have replaced tung oil and only remnants of the orchards remain. 

Also replaced by fossil fuel products was the waxmyrtle candle. A priest in old New Orleans had found a way to extract the wax from the myrtle and make tapirs that were, it is said, smelly and smokey. Paraffin was a better substance, so the waxmyrtles in St. Tammany Parish grow wild, and very profuse.

At one time salt works were a very profitable business. During the Civil War blockade, salt sold for as high as 515 a bushel. There were artesian wells that emitted brine, and this was put into shallow pans to let the water evaporate, leaving the salt. This industry too went by the wayside. when modern mining methods made salt much quicker and cheaper.

At one time a field near Abita Springs was covered with Easter lilies. They grew

250,000 to a half acre, and looked like a dream. They literally were. The dream of Peter Chopin, a New Orleans florist who crossed the Louisiana Creole lily with the Japanese ginganteum. He experimented patiently for 10 long years before he produced the perfect blossom. Hopes ran high for this beautiful flower; so in demand on special occasions. Abita Springs seemed the ideal place to grow the lily and Chopin's bulbs were planted in the area. Now not a single lily Is yet alive. They all died in the freeze of 1915.

For years men slashed pine trees and collected pine gum from living tree. Now few "bleed" trees, because it is easter to cut them down and send them to the pulpmill. Yet there to a high price for pine gum, and the living tree can produce 8 times more rosin and turpentine than the cut tree. And even after it has been bled for several years, it is still marketable for lumber or pulpwood. With the same amount of rosin and turpentine to be extracted by the cooking process.

Today the emphasis is on speed and convenience. A local idiom expresses it perfectly. "Forget about the mules. Just load the wagon." Trucks and automobiles go faster, modern machinery moves more logs, and who wants to dig vetiver roots, wash them, dry them, and put them in the linen closet. An aerosol can is handy. . . so the old occupations die away. Slowly but very very surely.

Links of interest:

Moss

Moss-Picking and Processing

Tung Oil Industry's Headstart

Naval Stores: Rosin and Turpentine

1947 Covington High Football Team

Here's the 1947 Covington High Football team:

Click on the image above for a larger view.

Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Mid-1980's

Here's a couple of pictures with names of the Covington area chamber of commerce board of directors for 1986 and 1984. Click on the images for a larger view. 

And from a decade earlier, in 1972, here is what the chamber was all about in an article from Pathways Magazine. Click on the image below to enlarge.

Madisonville Mardi Gras - 1973

Here are some photographs from the 1973 Mardi Gras celebration in Madisonville. Click on the images to make them larger. 

Firefighters To The Rescue

As part of a safety demonstration, a firefighter smashes a car window to show high school students how long it takes to get accident victims out of a wrecked car. The event took place a few years ago at the Safe Driving for Teens conference which was held at Pelican Park in Mandeville every so often. 

Nighttime Drive Through Covington

These blurry jagged images are the result from a nighttime drive on Boston Street in Covington with the shutter on the camera held open for several seconds. If you look closely you can see the illuminated Goodyear sign in front of Blossman Oil. Click on the images to make them larger. 

100 Years Ago This Week

What was going on 100 years ago this week? The following link is provided by the Library of Congress and its Chronicling America service. CLICK HERE for a link to the St. Tammany Farmer edition of November 25, 1916. Some of the headlines are A Farmer Who Visited Stock Show and Saw Things, Julia O'Berry of Pearl River Won First Place in Parish Girls Canning Club Competition, and J. Louis Smith Making Fine Cane Syrup At A Profit. 

Click on the images below for a larger view. 

Below you will find several advertisements from the Nov. 25, 1916, edition. 

Ringing The Bell At CHS

When the commemorative bell tower was finished at Covington High School and the dedication ceremonies were over, dozens of people, alumni, community leaders, young folks, and older folks all lined up to give a rope a tug. They wanted to take part in the ringing of the bell that was rescued from the disastrous 1970's fire. The bell ringing lasted nearly an hour, as people enjoyed memories of friends, classmates, and events across the decades at Covington's only high school. 

 

 

 

 

 

The bell that was saved from the fire and now lives in its own tower.

 

Early Morning Checking the Traps

Here's a picture taken off the Mandeville lakefront in 1973 of some early morning fishermen checking their crab traps.

Covington's Early History

The following article came from a 1972 edition of Pathways Magazine. Click on the images below for a larger version. 

 

The Early Years of Madisonville Elementary

Here is some information about the early years of Madisonville Elementary, taken from a 2008 Powerpoint presentation. 

The Rosenwald School

The original school buildings were known as the Rosenwald School.  The main classrooms and office building opened for children in 1959.  The cafeteria was a building previously located on the site since 1957. The principal was Professor Wilcox who was followed by Mrs. Sarah Gaines.  

Mrs. Gaines and her husband, Alvin, were also teachers of the 7th grade.  Mrs. Gaines reports that the bathrooms were outside and that there was a pump for water. Mrs. Gaines was principal through spring of 1968 school year.

The original buildings were closed after the 1967-68 school year. During that time the main school building was empty.  Items such as doors, windows, removable supports and fixtures were vandalized and burglarized.  

The Graduating Class of 1965

Seated: James Gray, Blanche Lee, Kenneth Collins, Dee Dee Peterson, Middle Row:  Roy Baham, Priscilla Weedon, Sharon Guzman, Dennis Austin, Last Row, Sandra Cooper, Roger Sheridan, Eric Baham, Calvin McGary.  Priscilla Weedon is the sister of custodian Shirley Weedon and Sharon Guzman is the mother of para-professional Latonya Haynes both of Madisonville Elementary.

School Reopens

     With the population growth moving north and west of the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway, the St. Tammany Parish School Board of 1977-78 reviewed a feasibility study to reopen the Madisonville Rosenwald School as Madisonville Elementary School.  The Board and community recognized the need to move the kindergarten through third grade to its own facility and added four additional classrooms to the site. 

Ms. Patty Jones’ 1st grade class in 1984, Mr. Leroy James, Principal from 1978-1986

Madisonvillle Elementary PTO in 1978. Left to right: Patti Jones, Leona Glass, Debbie Lemons Morris, Peggy Graham Brewster, Marilyn Pelloat, Susie Stein, Pat Pelloat, and Leroy James.

According to Shelly Jones, a teacher at Madisonville Elementary, Mrs. Jean Emmert was principal of the school in 1988. There were eleven people on staff with one hundred fifty-six students. All grades ate together in the cafeteria. There was the main classroom building, cafeteria, gymnasium and two portables behind the old wing.  The parking lot was gravel. There was no slab. "We had a huge playground and field. The school mascot was the Mustangs," she said. 

Mrs. Jean Emmert: Principal 1986 through 1999

The Original Classroom Building

The main classroom building from the early days is still in use today.  Up until 2006 it also held administration offices and a teachers’ lounge. Today it houses some kindergarten, first grade and second grade classrooms in addition to speech and art.  An new addition to the building was made in 2006 when a new administration building was added. The new part of the building  includes the PTA workroom, conference room, and the teachers’ lounge.

The Old Cafeteria

The Old Library

Jenny Davis, a paraprofessional Madisonville Elementary, submitted this photo to the school for its Powerpoint presentation. 

"In the picture above are my father-in-law, James A. Davis and his grandsons Demille and Dylan Davis.  Demille and Dylan are students at Madisonville Elementary in the first and third grade.  My father-in-law is a lifelong resident of Covington and went to state funded welding school when it was located at the site where our school is today.  He went from February to August of 1976.  While there he constructed a bar-be-que pit.  He passed it on to my husband last year.  

My father-in-law says the welding school was part of the unemployment system, as he was newly out of the Marines and looking for work.  He remembers that he was paid $107 a week while he was learning the trade.  He welded for a while, and then later worked for St. Tammany Parish School Board, then the Post Office until he retired in 2005."

Covington High Photos -1918

All three of these photos were marked Covington High School - 1918. Click on the images to make them larger. 

Jaycees - 1972

The Jaycees were a very active group in Covington and Mandeville in the early 1970's. A number of top community leaders were members, and they were always doing something of benefit. Here are some photographs and an article from a 1972 issue of Pathways Magazine. 

Click on the images below for a larger look. 

Covington Grammar School Group

This group of Covington area residents are standing near the Jefferson Avenue building known Covington Grammar School as it was being constructed in the early 1910's. 

According to the writing on the back of the photograph, the ladies in black are, from left to right, Ethel Furey, Catherine "Katie" Furey, Isabella "Belle" Furey, and Jane "Jeanie" Furey Horrell. The child may be Miriam Horrell. The men were unidentified. 

Click on the image to make it larger. 

The school building went on to become Covington High School, Covington Middle School, Schoen Middle School, and then (and currently) the central office of the entire St. Tammany Parish School System, the C. J. Schoen Administrative Complex. 

Candlelight At The Cemeteries

In the 1970's Polly Morris of Lacombe wrote a number of fascinating articles about the history of St. Tammany Parish and the legends and traditions of the Lacombe area. I always enjoyed reading her articles, and here is one about the All Saints Day candlelighting ceremonies at the Lacombe graveyards. 

Click on the images to see them in a larger version.

 

 

See also:

History Theories About Cemetery Candlelight Ceremonies