| Searching for Euly | ||
| Parents: Victor Amede Michot Rosalie A. Pellerin Nativity: Children: Residence:
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 This stone is the closest I will ever come to my great-great-grandmother. Our search starts where all searches should - with what we know. Unfortunately, my great-great grandmother died over 20 years before my mother was born. My mother is a fabulous source of interesting tidbits of information about the relatives and I think it is an absolute tragedy that she could not have known this lady. Something tells me she would have had many stories to tell. Our starting point comes from notes my mother took when asking her father about the family back in the 70s. Mom's maternal great-grandmother, he said, was Eulalie Corinne Michot. She was a french woman from Louisiana. She married "Toufile" (as he spelled it for her) Santo Domingo also from Louisiana. They lived in Moss Point, Mississippi (East Side) for many years as at least two of their children were born in Moss Point: Amelia & Leon. And as did most of the people in my family, she had a nickname: the family affectionately called her "Euly". However, even my grandfather had only limited information about the lady as he himself would never have known her. Federal Census information gives us a few more clues. According to the 1880 United States Census, we find 'Theophile & Corinne Santos' living in Scranton, Mississippi. (Scranton was part of what was to later become Pascagoula, MS) Both Theophile & Corinne list both parents' birthplaces as Santo Domingo. Corinne's occupation is listed as 'keeping house' while Theophile is listed as a 'hack driver'. All four children are listed with the following names: "Lizzie D." "Lydia" "Leon" and "Amelia". I am speculating that the peculiar spelling of what should be Mary Elizabeth by the age in the census comes from a nickname. (Or maybe something erroneous - imagine that! errors in census information....) The 1900 United States Census finds Corinne Santo Domingo living on Telephone Street in Scranton, Mississippi and a widow. Her occupation is listed as 'seamstress' and her household includes two of her children and a grandchild. Her divorced daughter, Leda works as a day laborer and stays with her mother along with her four year old son, Forest Gager. Her son Leon, the fireman, is also staying with her according to the census and is still unmarried at the age of 33. All that remains for me today is a very badly worn headstone at the Old Spanish Fort Cemetery (Krebs Cemetery) in Pascagoula, MS. You can still read the inscription but mostly by feeling with your fingers as you strain to read: "Corinne Santo Domingo May 6, 1838 Oct 10, 1914". The stone itself is not quite where it belongs from what I can tell - sitting alone as if discovered in another pile of dislodged markers and then set aside to inspect. And so the story is left to be continued before it has even been told.... -- A. J. T.
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