My Matthews-McFaddin Family History

Notes from the McFaddin-Matthews family bible, copyright 1886.

 

MARRIAGES:

Alice Theresa Duffie married Thomas James McFaddin on 1/31/1858 in the vestibule in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans because she was a devout Catholic and he was a Presbyterian. The priest refused to marry them at the altar.

Manton McFaddin was their only son; he married Alma Prather--they were married in Hempstead County, Arkansas on September 20^th, 1889 by clerk of court R.M. Jones

Miss Ellen McFaddin of Lafayette, LA and Otis Matthews of Lafayette, LA were married on the 28^th day of November, 1907, in the presence of R.D. Montgomery: Thanksgiving day at 7PM; married by Reverend Kendrick, a Baptist minister in Lafayette. Their Golden Anniversary was in 1957.

Alma Prather McFaddin (1871-1941) remarried  Robert Donat Montgomery (1869-1943) in ….and had 2 children: Annie Montgomery and Ruth Montgomery.

Alma Faye Matthews to Roland Heard Bourque: March 29, 1934 in Bogalusa, LA.

Dorothy Mavis Matthews to Henry Gabriel Vautrot: September, 21, 1939 in New Iberia, LA.

Robert Elmo Matthews married Alice Faye Allen: April 14, 1984 in Butte La Rose. Divorced 1986.

Henry Gabriel Vautrot, Jr to Barbara Ann Johnson: August 18, 1962 at First Methodist Church, Lafayette, LA.

BIRTHS:

Manton McFaddin born in 1858. Manton McFaddin died 10/11/1892. His father was Thomas James McFaddin.

 

Alma Prather (1871-1941) remarried Robert Donat Montgomery (1869-1943).

1.       Annie Montgomery (10/3/1897- 2/4/1904)

2.       Ruth Agnes Montgomery (3/16/1900 – 10/13/1973)

3.       Marvil (3/20/1902 -5/20/1960) married J. H. DiCarlo (rail road engineer)

a.       Charles Ned LaCoste (10/13/1917 – 4/13/1973)

4.       Alvin (5/25/1904 – 9/5/1986)

a.       Alvin Joseph

5.       Walter (10/18/1906-4/29/1907)

6.       Blanche Effie (3/10/1908) married Robert Daniels (Shreveport/Baton Rouge—Daniels’ Battery Company)

(he committed suicide by the pool)

a.       Dixie Daniels married Mr. Taylor (live in Dedham Springs)

b.      Robert Montgomery Daniels  (live in Dedham Springs)

 

Miss Ellen McFaddin born August 19^th, 1890 at Hope, Arkansas. Her parents were Manton McFaddin and Alma Prather.

Mr. Otis Matthews, SR born February 11^th, 1882 at Morgan City, LA.

Manton Otis Matthews born Monday, January 11^th 1909 at 2PM in Lafayette. (Lafayette Swim team); he died Sunday, October 6, 1935 from liver cirrhosis at the age of 26.

Anna Lee Matthews born Monday, November 6^th, 1911 at 11AM in Lafayette.

Alma Faye Matthews born Saturday, Feb. 15^th, 1913 at 3:30AM in Lafayette.

Dorothy Mavis Matthews born Wednesday, July 28^th, 1915 at 4:30AM in Lafayette.

Otis Matthews, JR born Monday, August 20th, 1923 at 4:15AM in Lafayette.

Robert Elmo Matthews born Thursday, November 10^th, 1937 at 7AM in Lafayette.

Roland Matthews Bourque was born Thursday, September 24^th, 1937at 8:30AM at the Matthews home. The 1^st grandchild, son of Alma Faye and Roland Heard Bourque, who passed away July 26^th, 1945 in New Orleans at the age of 33.

Henry Gabriel Vautrot, JR was born August 13, 1940 at 8:35AM at the Church Point Sanitarium.

Henry Gabriel Vautrot, III was born February 14^th, 1963 in Lafayette, LA.

 

DEATHS:

Manton McFaddin died 10/11/1892.

Roland Heard Bourque passed away July 26^th, 1945 in New Orleans at the age of 33 from tuberculosis. He was the husband to Almay Fay Matthews ( she died July 3, 1943)

Otis Matthews died March 29, 1965 of “uremic poisoning”. He was born on 2/1/1882 and worked for the railroad.

Ellen Marie McFaddin Matthews died December 29, 1972. She was wife to Otis Matthews.

Anna Lee Matthews: Wednesday, October 9^th, 1912 at 12:30PM at the age of 11 months, 3 days.

Otis Matthews, JR: Sunday, May 10, 1925 at 3:30AM (died on Mother’s Day).

Manton Otis Matthews: Sunday October 6, 1935 at 10:15AM at home, age 26 years, 8 months, 25 days. (food poisoning)

Alma Faye Matthews: Saturday, July 3^rd, 1943 at 6:25PM at St. Ann’s Clinic; age 30 years, 6 months; she was buried on July 4^th at 5pm.

Robert Elmo Matthews was born on November 10, 1927.

Robert Elmo Matthews: March 7, 1993 at age 65 at 5AM in Butte LaRose, LA.

Dorothy Mavis Matthews Vautrot died on Saturday, March 16, 1996 at age 80. She was a Lafayette High School graduate; and she graduated from Methodist Hospital of Houston nursing program in 1935. She was an RN for over 51 years.

Henry Gabriel Vautrot, Sr:  September 9^th, 1947 at 6:20PM in Church Point; age 66.

Henry Gabriel Vautrot, Jr:  Friday, May 2^nd, 2008 at 10:10PM in Lafayette, LA at age 67.

Henry Gabriel Vautrot, III: Sunday, November 11, 1984 at 3:12AM in Baton Rouge, LA at age 21.

MEMORANDA:

In a newspaper article, it was reported that “Otis Matthews, age 27, was accidently shot in the face while fishing. He was employed for Southern Pacific Railroad. He was accidently shot while fishing with Robert Montgomery (his step-dad)—Bayou Vermillion. Shot by a young blacksmith named Ayres who was squirrel hunting. The doctor was Dr. H.L. Ducrocq. May 11, 1909.”

Matt Bourque and dad have the same grandparents: Otis Matthews and Ellen McFaddin; their mothers (Alma Fay and Dorothy Mavis Matthews, respectively ) were sisters—making them 1^st cousins.

Ellen McFaddin (Matt’s grandmother): aristocratic looking, very good cook (roast, stuffed with green peppers) regal; dressed well; kind; active in church; liked to play cards. Very clean (dust behind beds); patient. Good cook. Good wife, mother. Gracious. Sweeping carport on Templeton Drive, had chest pain, Dot took her to hospital.  Went back to Hope, Arkansas several times to visit with Dorothy. Her promise with Otis—“our house would always be open and welcoming to visitors.” Lived on corner of Magnolia and 8^th street. Diapers washed by hand in a big blue tub; man from circus knocked on door, asked to borrow the tub to exchange for circus tickets (Ida worked for Otis and Ellen). Diapers removed, tub used by circus; they all went to circus. The lemonade was out of the blue diaper tub. It was returned.

Otis Matthews (my great grandfather) had 2 brothers named Ed [Port Arthur, TX] and Guy [High Island, TX]):  quiet. Worked on rail road. Matt brought him a glass container with lunch in it at the switch officers station, as a kid. Called him “Popee”.  The land was from President Lincoln for service of Captain Matthews for service in Union Army. Liked to play cards. Enjoyed retirement. Repaired the fence with old paint can. Died of uremic poisoning; not very robust. Lean. Smoked. Made  Matt smoke a cigarette. Read the newspaper. Closer to HG than to Matt.

HG Vautrot Sr (a Catholic) would drive from Church Point to the old Matthews family home (Otis’ on Magnolia and 8^th Street in Lafayette) every Sunday to have a chicken dinner [lunch], then take little Matt and HG (my dad) to a movie at the Royal Theatre for 10 cents to see a western. Grandma Dorothy would take little Matt and HG  to the Methodist Church (in Church Point) after Mr. H.G. Vautrot, Sr. (a Catholic). Mr. Vautrot (my grandfather) was stocky, fair skinned, balding; his funeral was in the home and was full (school was closed). He was on the school board, very well respected, very well-dressed with coat and tie. Ida Martin was the maid, tough, nice, scars on her arms.

Matt Bourque writes to me:

“Your great grandfather Otis Matthews was an avid baseball fan & I can recall him taking me (Uncle Matt) to some games. His great grandfather maybe great, great grandfather, not sure which ? ..was Capt. Matthews, of the Union Army (hence the land-grant from President Lincoln ) and after the War, as a steamboat captain based out of Morgan City, he  was the  first to navigate a steamboat up the Vermilion River to Lafayette. I can also recall my Grandfather Otis Matthews & Uncle Robert teaching me & your Father how to swim in the Vermilion River.”

Robert "Bobby" Daniels, son of Blanche Montgomery Daniels, & Robert Daniels married Linda Gayle Norman of Natchez (MAY have been Jackson?) MS.

Ruth "Nannie" Montgomery, half-sister of Ellen McFaddin Matthews, daughter of  Robert Montgomery & the widow Alma McFaddin, first married a Mr. Lacoste & they had one son =  Charles Ned Lacoste, who married Virgie ______ ? of Plano, Texas. They lived in Lafayette, not far from the Old Matthews Farm & had no children, but adopted a daughter-- Linda , who I believe lives in Houston .  It has always "whispered"   in the Family that Linda was the out-of-wedlock child of Barbara Ellen DiCarlo daughter of Marvel Montgomery  DiCarlo & Mr. Joseph  DiCarlo.  Later , Barbara Ellen ("Ellen"' named after Ellen McFaddin Matthews)  Dicarlo married Leddrew Cowart & had several children ..including Little Drew & Little Marvel.

Ruth "Nannie" Montgomery's second husband was Mr. J.R. Munn of Galveston ,Texas.  They had no children but adopted a daughter-- Marzella. She was a sweet, BEAUTIFUL girl who strongly resembled the late movie actress--Ava Gardner.

"Nannie" Montgomery Munn was a champion bowler & went to bowling tournaments all over the U.S.

 

Dorothy Mavis Matthews was born on Wednesday, 7/28/1915 at Lafayette, Louisiana married on 3/21/1939 at New Iberia, Louisiana by Judge J. S. Power to Henry Gabriel Vautrot, who was born in Leonville, LA on 4/8/1881.

Alma Faye Matthews

Born: 2/15/1913 in Lafayette, LA
Died:   Saturday, July 3, 1943 in Lafayette, LA from leukemia at St. Anne’s clinic at 6:25pm.
Married to
Roland Heard Bourque, married March 29, 1934 at Bogalusa, LA
Born: Oct. 16,1911  
Died:   July 26, 1945   in New Orleans, LA from Tuberculosis.

Family Bible record of deaths:
Anna Lee Matthews died as a child on October 9, 1912 at 12:30PM  at the age of 11 months and 3 days.
Manton Otis Matthews died Sunday, October 6, 1935 at 10:15AM at home at the age of 26 years, 8 months and 25 days.
Henry Gabriel Vautrot, age 66, died on 9/9/1947 at 6:20PM in Church Point, LA. His wife, Dorothy Matthews Vautrot, was 32 yrs. old. Death certificate: immediate cause of death was “Acute Cardiac Dilatation” due to “Chronic Valvular Heart Disease.”
Otis Matthews died March 29, 1965.
Ellen Marie McFaddin Matthews died 12/29/1972.

Victor Vautrot was born 8/16/1976 to his parents:
H.G. Vautrot, Jr and Barbara Ann Johnson.
H.G. Vautrot, Jr was born in 8/13/1940 to his parents in Acadia Parish at the Church Point Sanitarium:
H.G. Vautrot, Sr (b. 4/8/1881 in Leonville, LA; d. 9/9/1947) and Dorothy Mavis Matthews.

H.G. Vautrot, Sr was baptized on July 1881 at St. Leo’s Church in Leonville. Son of Francois Louis Vautrot and of Marie Dalila Rayon

Dorothy Mavis Matthews Vautrot (married name, my paternal grandmother) was born 7/28/1915 in Lafayette, LA. Her NSDAR #688,798.

Dorothy Mavis Matthews was born on 7/28/1915 at Lafayette, Louisiana married on 9/21/1939 at New Iberia, Louisiana in St. Martin Parish by Judge J. S. Power to Henry Gabriel Vautrot, who was born in Leonville, LA on 4/8/1881.

Dorothy Mavis Matthews’ parents were:

Otis Matthews (b. 2/1/1882 in Morgan City, LA, d. 3/29/1965 in Lafayette and
his 1^st wife Ellen Marie McFaddin; they married 11/28/1907 in Lafayette, LA
 
Ellen Marie McFaddin (b. 8/19/1890 in Hope, Arkansas, d. 12/29/1972 in Lafayette, LA) was the daughter of:

Manton Charles McFaddin (11/29/1858 in Hope, Arkansas-10/11/1894 in Lafayette, LA) and his 1^st wife Alma Narcissus Prather (1/27/1869 in Verona, Mississippi-2/9/1941 in Lafayette, LA); they married 9/18/1889.

Manton Charles McFaddin was the son of:

Thomas James McFaddin (6/4/1830 in Salem, South Carolina – 6/17/1870 in Washington, Arkansas), who married his 2nd wife Alice Teresa Duffie on 1/31/1858 in New Orleans. She was born 7/13/1837 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; died 12/3/1912 in Longview, TX.

Thomas James McFaddin was one of the 12 children born to:

John Gamble McFaddin (b. 1806 in Salem, SC; d. 1861 in Washington, Arkansas) and his 1^st wife Martha Mills English (b. 1811 in Williamsburg County, S.C.; d. in Washington, Arkansas in 1878. They married on May 28, 1829 in South Carolina.

John Gamble McFaddin was the son of Captain John McFaddin (soldier in the War of 1812); Captain John McFaddin (b. 12/18/1782 in Salem, SC; d. 5/20/1827 in Salem, SC) was married to his 1^st wife Agnes Eliza Gamble (b. 7/4/1789 in Williamsburg CO, S.C.; d. 8/28/1817 in Sardinia, SC).

Captain John McFaddin was the son of “Colonel” Thomas McFaddin (b. 11/1759 in South Carolina; d. 11/8/1823 in South Carolina); in 1779, he married Sarah Witherspoon (born in 1762 in Sumter, S.C.; d. 1820 in Sumter, S.C.). Thomas McFaddin fought in the American Revolution under the leadership of the “Swamp Fox” General Francis Marion all across South Carolina against the British Red Coats.

Revolutionary War ancestor:

Buried in the McFaddin Family Cemetery at Sardinia, South Carolina.
Proof from Family Bible Records and S.A.R. application of my cousin Edward Fitzgerald McFaddin, National No. 78991, Arkansas State 416. Supreme Court Justice.
And proof from my grandmother Dorothy Mavis Matthews Vautrot, D.A.R. #688,798, application D.A.R. Galvez Chapter.

NOTES from Family records:

Ellen McFaddin Matthews is my great-grandmother.
She born August 19, 1890 in Hope Arkansas and died 12/29/1972 of “cardiac arrest and coronary atherosclerosis”.  When she died, her daughter, Dorothy Mavis Matthews and son Robert Elmo Matthews received money from: The Grand Lodge of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen” Lodge #300, Mitzpah Lodge.

Roland Matthews Bourque was born 9/24/1937.
 
Robert Elmo Matthews graduated from Lafayette High School in 1944 and then joined the US Army and served in the Pacific theater of war. He died at age 65.

Dorothy Mavis Matthews Vautrot died on Saturday, March 16, 1996 at age 80. She was a Lafayette High School graduate; and she graduated from Methodist Hospital of Houston nursing program in 1935. She was an RN for over 51 years.  

Thomas James McFaddin was the grandfather of my grandmother, Dorothy Mavis Matthews.  He was my father’s great-grandfather. He is my triple-great grandfather.  

Uncle Matt tells me: Captain Matthews was out of Morgan City. Not sure who he married, nor who his parents were.

He was a steamboat captain, and was the 1^st person to pilot a steamboat up the Vermillion River. One of his descendants was Otis Matthews (his son or grandson???). Otis Matthews had siblings: Roland (aka “Uncle Role”), he had no kids, never worked, had cattle and chicken; buried in Lafayette Protestant Cemetery. Lydia Matthews was another sibling. Ed Matthews was another sibling. The original Matthews land was on Templeton Drive, part of a huge land grant to Captain Matthews from President Abraham Lincoln.

Lydia out smarted Otis and Ed and Roland and got the largest portion of the inheritance. Lydia married a McDougal, and they had 2 daughters that lived in Baton Rouge.

Otis’ brother, Guy, lived in High Island, La and had a gas station; he ran a shrimp boat. He had kids: Guy Jr (same age as Uncle Matt) and Elsie. My father, HG Vautrot Jr and Uncle Matt used to ride on that shrimp boat, owned by Uncle Guy.

Protestant Cemetery: buried together are Alma Fay (Uncle Matt’s mom), Dorothy, and Robert Elmo. The other Matthews siblings are buried at a different section of the cemetery: the first row to the left: Manton Otis (M.O), Otis Jr, and Anna Lee.