Aladin
LeBlanc – A Typical Petits Habitants – an Eye-witness Account
as Observed and Related by His Grandsons
Rufus J. LeBlanc, Jr. and Paul L. LeBlanc
(or as we were affectionately known to Grandpa and Grandma)
‘Tit Rufe and ‘Tit Paul
Aladin LeBlanc and Aurore Nunez LeBlanc were typical "petits habitants" or
subsistence farmers. They farmed about 95 acres in 3 different areas around
Bayou Tigre as shown on Figure 1 and were members of the Bayou Tigre Community - the major settlement in this area of Vermilion Parish until the
railroad was built in Erath in 1892. Aurore and Aladin were married in 1900 at
the turn of the 20th century - photo taken shortly after they were
married.
The farm was centered around the intersection of present day Jude Road and W.
Aladin Street [current-day address is 2939 Aladin Rd.] southeast of Erath. Aladin was really quite a remarkable person.
He only finished the 3rd grade in school and had never learned how to read or
speak English until the mid-1920’s. His youngest son said that, starting about
1926, when he would get home from school he would give his father reading
lessons on the front porch with the newspaper in English, which, he himself was,
at that time, just learning in school.
Aurore never learned English at all. She was a beautiful Cajun woman as seen in
the picture and probably stood 5’11” tall, judging by her stature standing next
to her spouse who was 6’1”. The Spanish ancestors in Aurore’s blood-line were
from Galiza, Spain. Aladin was a person who was truly self-sufficient and very
proud of his land and homestead which he took great pains to keep looking neat
at all times including landscaping with flowering trees, flower beds, and a
white picket fence (Figure 2). The gravel-surface driveway leading up to the
house and one-car wooden garage was lined with live oak trees (Figure 3) which
had been transplanted from the banks of Bayou Tigre which was located in the
rear of his property.
‘Tit Rufe’s Story
Major crops grown on the small farm depended on varying market prices, however,
a typical year’s crops would have been as illustrated on Figure 1. He was a
simple dirt- farmer and grew cotton, corn for feed stock, sugar cane, and at
times rice in the approximately 45 acres of fields south of Bayou Tigre. These
fields were topographically down-gradient and could be irrigated with surface
water from the bayou which is the reason that rice was restricted to these
fields. He never owned a tractor and prepared and maintained the fields with a
plow drawn by a team of two mules. The mules were shone and the plow and other
farm implements were maintained and built in his own blacksmith shop located
behind his one-car garage (Figure 3). All harvesting was done by hand by
day-laborers who were paid prevailing rates. A wooden shack was provided by the
back fields if workers needed to stay overnight. In the front pastures near the
gate was a sugar cane derrick and scales to load and weigh the sugar cane wagons
before bringing the crop in to the refinery in Erath. The derrick was “powered”
by Tony the mule.
Since cash money was only obtained once a year at harvest time, it was important
to have other means available for the necessities of life and welfare of 4
growing children. He had beef, hogs, chickens, milk, eggs, a vegetable garden, 7
types of fruit trees (even oranges), grapes, a fig tree, and two pecan trees
which were planted in different areas around the house and barnyard (Figure 3).
There were 2 peach trees because peaches grew so well in the climate. Note in Figure 3 that the orange tree (labeled C in the drawing) was sheltered from the
cold winter north-winds by being planted in the southeast corner of the house.
The 2 pecan trees and large fig tree were planted outside of the barn yard to
provide shade for the livestock in the summers. Along the entire length of the
western fence line were blackberry bushes. In addition to this bounty of food,
he had a friend just down the road who lived on Bayou Tigre that owned his own
shrimp boat, so he could also barter for fish, shrimp and crabs. Whatever the
family needed that he didn’t grow on the farm, he would bring extra eggs in to
his oldest son, C.B. LeBlanc, at his small grocery store in Erath on Kirbe
Street and barter for the staples Aurore needed in her kitchen like coffee,
flour and sugar.
Aladin and Aurore had 3 sons and 1 daughter – C.B., Gladus, Annie, and Rufus.
There were also 10 grandchildren in the family. C.B., the oldest son, owned a
small corner grocery store on Kirby Street in Erath. Gladus was a traveling
salesman for Singer sewing machines for a while before joining the Merchant
Marine. Annie’s husband was employed with Southern Pacific Railway and her
family moved from town to town along that companies’ route until finally winding
up in California. Rufus, the youngest of the family, and father of the two
authors, was the only family member to go to and complete college and moved his
family to Houston, Texas after accepting a job with Shell Oil Company in Houston
in 1947.
It was a very rare occasion in their life when Aladin and Aurore left the State
of Louisiana in 1950 to visit their youngest son in Houston and see the new
house that he had just built. The son, C.B., drove them to Lafayette and they
boarded the Southern Pacific “Sunset Limited” for the trip to Houston. During
the week that they stayed in Houston, Aladin used his farmer’s skills to help
his son and grandson plant the yard in St. Augustine grass. The following
summer, Rufus, Sr. borrowed a small trailer from a neighbor and brought back 4
small live oak trees from the banks of Bayou Tigre to plant in their yard in
Houston. He always said “By damn if my kids have to grow up in Houston, at least
they will grow up in Louisiana shade”.
‘Tit Paul’s Story
Our trips to Erath were along Highway 90, a 5 or 6 hour drive from Houston back
then. After a greeting at the Broussard house of my mother's parents on E
Broadway, Dad would drive me to the country. It was pitch black. The headlights
were on bright, and I always counted the number of rabbits that scooted across
the gravel road. I would spend most of the weekend on the farm while the rest of
the family stayed in town.
Aladin and Aurore's day would start pre dawn. Their rooster had already crowed
in the new day. Aurore had a fire pit outside the house next to a small wash
room. Aladin and she got a good fire going to bring a fairly large cast iron
pot to boil. This water was used as a "pre wash" for the soiled clothes that
were the day's laundry. I'm not sure if this water was transferred to the
machine used to wash the clothes, which was in a small shed next to the fire
pit. I remember it was quite an old machine with a manual set of wooden rolling
pins to press the excess water out of the clothes which of course were hung to
dry. Perhaps its function was as the rinse cycle.
Even though there was running water in the house, Aladin still maintained a hand
pumped water well near the fenced area for the chickens. I still remember the
rich taste of minerals from that water. I have to admit I still preferred
drinking from a hose. Not far from the well was a large fig tree which I enjoyed
sitting under for the shade it provided. It was infested with blue jays.
Harvested corn was kept to dry in a barn. It had been previously shucked. One of
the first chores I did daily was to pass the cobs through a hand operated device
that separated the kernels. I then had great fun throwing handfuls of corn out
for the waiting chickens. I used to always spend time in the mid afternoon
watching and listening as the clucking conversation got real excited. This was
the time the chickens were laying their eggs and I always thought they were
bragging or comparing notes as to their yield for the day. There was a long
sheltered structure built for the egg laying with panels separating each
chicken. This structure was elevated about four feet off the ground. I would
later collect the eggs and bring them in.
The sugar cane harvest was the most exciting thing for me to watch. Aladin had a
horse named Tony that would make the circular trips around the cane boom to
place loads of cane on the wagons that were pulled by tractor or mule to the
mill. That mill whistle was very loud, and you could smell the refining smells
like molasses from Aladin's farm. I wasn't of much help so I just chewed cane
all morning and watched.
One favorite plaything for me was an old rusted harvesting device in the
blacksmith shed. It had two wagon wheels, yoke and harness. It had long since
been used. There was a singular metal seat like that on a tractor. The device
pulled a set of raking type steel bands that were semicircular and sharp at the
end. I would pretend to operate the clutch and other levers, keeping my eye out
for hornets and mud dobbers that made nests there.
I made trips with Aladin to his son CB 's store. Grandpa always bought a
chocolate cake there when I was visiting. Those eggs were a great commodity for
him. This was before the days of inspections. For a period of time long before I
came to visit Aladin made trips to New Orleans to sell his produce.
On summer visits Aladin took me to cattle auctions in Abbeville. He took me to
fish from the closest bridge over Bayou Tigre with a cane pole and a cork
bobber. At least one time we purchased fish to bring home from his neighbor with
the boat because the catfish were not biting. I explored Bayou Tigre on every
visit. Aladin set traps on the banks to catch nutria. What a tough creature they
are. They would still put up a fight even in the clutches of those traps. I
hunted with the same 410 shotgun as my brother used, a gun from the Broussard
family on my mother's side. On more than one occasion I used it to put these
captured nutria out of their misery.
Aurore was a quiet woman who kept up the house. She would always call out for me
to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Probably a precaution against
a youngster wetting the bed! She made good strong coffee and administered warm
bourbon and honey whenever I came down with a cough that would keep them up at
night. On Sunday mornings our entire family gathered at this house for afternoon
supper prepared by Aurore. Aladin had me assist him that morning in picking and
killing the chicken for the meal. He got a kick out of the fact that I was so
squeamish at holding the hatchet to dispense with the bird. I always wondered at
how different this chicken tasted from what I ate in Houston. You can't get any
fresher than that. Our parents bought us baby chicks dyed in colors for Easter
in Houston for several years. We would watch them grow up in our back yard, but
eventually they retired to this farm in Erath where they no doubt earned their
keep and made it to the dinner table.
I spent many an hour on their front porch shown in the picture. There were
several rocking chairs there. There was an old radio that Aladin enjoyed
listening to Cajun country music on. It took some getting used to, as I was
brought up on big bands and rock and roll, but I came to tolerate it. Mostly
fiddle and accordion music with wailing vocals in French. Aladin also listened
to programs about agricultural news. The phone system in the country had a
different ring sequence for each house. My favorite object in the house was a
tapestry that hung in their living room. It was a scene in which a musketeer
type gentlemen was demonstrating his "skill" with his sword surrounded by a
crowd of men and women. He had pinned down a rooster right in the middle of the
back and had a very triumphant expression on his face. This piece was quite old
by my time.
It was always hard to say goodbye and leave the country and head back to
Houston. It had been a great escape.
FIGURES
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3 - General Layout of Farmhouse, Other Buildings, and Livestock Pastures. See Figure 1 For Location of This Drawing.
