12. Carmen Breazeale
Transcript
David Dollar: Hello, once again. In case you've just joined us, David Dollar today on Memories, visiting with Ms. Carmen Breazeale. Ms. Breazale, we thank you for your taking time out and visiting with us today. Carmen Breazeale: I'm very glad to do it, and particularly nice since you could come up to the office. David Dollar: Well good. And it's no problem at all. Glad to. Why don't we start things off like we normally do, by you giving us a little family background and all. Where you come from. Carmen Breazeale: Well, [inaudible 00:00:24] 87 years old. David Dollar: 87. My goodness. Carmen Breazeale: And members of my family, on my father's side of the family, been in Natchitoches since 1716. David Dollar: My goodness. Carmen Breazeale: First stock, anybody that's from around here was sent from France to be positioned for St. Denis and his wife at the fort, St. Jean Baptiste. And at present time, the 8th generation of the family is living in Oakland, the family home, my paternal grandmother's. David Dollar: My goodness. Carmen Breazeale: I've lived here always. David Dollar: Sounds like all the Breazeales have, huh? Everybody is around. Goodness. Carmen Breazeale: And I was asked the other day how long I had been connected in any way with the Red Cross. I'm the executive secretary of the parish chapter now. I started doing volunteer work in 1914, with the Red Cross, and kept it up until about 1957, just volunteer work. I served as chapter chairman. And I was very fortunate in having recognition in the Southeastern area, and also committees from the national organization. David Dollar: Nice. You were born on Oakland here? Carmen Breazeale: No, my grandma. David Dollar: Your grandmother was. Carmen Breazeale: My paternal ... No, I was around here in town. And I was born in the home of our present mayor. New mayor, Tom [inaudible 00:01:49] home, which was an old family home. And my mother and father lived there when they were first married. David Dollar: What were your parents doing at the time? Carmen Breazeale: My father had just started the Natchitoches Enterprise. He had started doing it for the, fight the Louisiana Lottery Law, which he didn't approve of. He also had a plantation. He had held quite a few public offices. And he had been superintendent of schools and different things of that kind. And my mother, who had been born and raised in ... Born in New Orleans. She wasn't raised there, because her parents died when she was very young. And she came to live with an older married sister. And the interesting thing, that a lot of people are interested in, she started school at the old Sacred Heart Convent here. Then she went over to Mansfield Female College. And from there she went to a school in Kentucky, that was particularly a music school, because she was [inaudible 00:02:44]. And at the age of 17, she had her masters degree. David Dollar: My goodness. Sounds like she had a busy life. Carmen Breazeale: She did have a very busy life. David Dollar: Very productive. Carmen Breazeale: Particularly very busy life, because my father died very young, and left my mother widowed with four children. And the oldest one was not seven years old when he died. David Dollar: She was busy even after she got her masters. Golly, gee. Carmen Breazeale: And as in those days, ladies didn't work. David Dollar: Of course. Carmen Breazeale: But she, very much, at first, to the family's distress, she took over the newspaper, the business. And ran it by herself until 1913. And in 1913, I had graduated from Northwestern [inaudible 00:03:25] in 1907. And I taught four years at the state, and then I taught two years at [inaudible 00:03:33] at what they call the model school, in those days. David Dollar: We had a model school here? Carmen Breazeale: Instead of the training school, they called it the model school. David Dollar: Model school. Carmen Breazeale: Because it was a model school for training teachers. David Dollar: I see. Carmen Breazeale: And I taught up there for a couple of years. And then in 1913, went down in the [inaudible 00:03:50] 1913, and took over the ... David Dollar: The newspaper. Carmen Breazeale: Running the office, the business, and [inaudible 00:03:55], and just the whole thing. David Dollar: I want to ask you. One thing you brought up. Was that the lottery law you were talking about? Carmen Breazeale: The Louisiana Lottery Law. My father did ... I don't know too much about it. David Dollar: Tell me about that a little. I never knew we had a- Carmen Breazeale: They had a lottery law there, and he didn't approve of it at all. David Dollar: I never knew we had [crosstalk 00:04:09]. Carmen Breazeale: Now, there had been several papers before that in Natchitoches. There's quite a good many interesting things about that. But he took over and published the Natchitoches Enterprise. And [crosstalk 00:04:21]- David Dollar: Was he successful in getting the lottery law stopped? Carmen Breazeale: Yes, they changed a good many of the laws right there and then. I don't know enough about it, because that was before I was born. David Dollar: Mm-hmm (affirmative). That's right. Carmen Breazeale: It was a year before I was born. David Dollar: Yeah, that's a little early I suppose. Carmen Breazeale: Then, he had just run the paper about four years when he died. And I stayed at the office, due to my mother's ill health. In 1951, I sold the paper, and I went up to the Chamber of Commerce for secretary manager of it. So my whole life, practically, has been doing things in public. And the nice thing about it is things that I liked and enjoyed doing. David Dollar: That's great. Sounds good. Carmen Breazeale: I had the privilege of being the president, for the nine years of its existence, of what we called the Community Welfare League. And the first thing we did, and [inaudible 00:05:10] was kind of interested in this, was we, the river bank on the East side of the river, they allowed any and all kinds of billboards and advertisements put up. And when you get to Front Street, the first thing you saw was a billboard advertising Bull Durham tobacco. I was president, and Mrs. Henry Jordan was secretary treasurer. And we went before the city council, with one or two others of our members, and got them to pass an ordinance prohibiting billboards on the river bank. Which was really one of the first things we done to beautify Natchitoches and the river bank. David Dollar: [crosstalk 00:05:50] Carmen Breazeale: And that was one of the things I've always treasured in having a part in. And I also am a charter member of the Historic Association. David Dollar: I guess you should be with the family background that you've got. Carmen Breazeale: I also had the privilege. I've been an officer ever since it started. I started out being secretary, and then treasurer, and then I was president for eight years, and I've been first vice president ever since. And one of the most interesting things I do in connection with the Historical Association is I do the publicity [inaudible 00:06:26] publicity for that. David Dollar: That sounds great. I tell you what. I want to get back to this in just a second. We need to take a little commercial right here. I want to talk some more about the historical side of Natchitoches, though. David Dollar and Ms. Carmen Breazeale today on Memories. We'll be right back after a message from our sponsor, People's Bank and Trust Company. Hello, once again. In case you're just joining us, David Dollar visiting with Ms. Carmen Breazeale today. She's had a busy life, and a busy family, going back, I think you said, in Natchitoches, all the way to about 1716, right? Sounds like you've got your roots pretty firmly planted here. Carmen Breazeale: He was the first, it was Jean-Pierre Prudhomme, and he was the first doctor ever sent over here. He had been a doctor to the king, and he was sent over by the king of France to help St. Denis. He was given this large tract of land, and Oakland Plantation is the family home. And is under eight generations. One of the things that interested me so much is we have so many of the instruments that he brought over from France. David Dollar: You still have those? Carmen Breazeale: They're down in the museum, in Oakland Plantation. David Dollar: Wow. I'll be. Carmen Breazeale: And one of them is an electric contraption for giving the shock treatment for mental cases. The inside of the little oblong box [inaudible 00:07:52] is a little silver plate, with engraved on it what it is to be used for. And when I was quite young, they still had the wires extending from the side, and you could grasp the little handles, where they took a crank to generate the electricity. David Dollar: They would crank the electricity? Carmen Breazeale: And you had to turn it up. You could crank it enough. David Dollar: I'll be. Carmen Breazeale: And when I was young, we could ... See, that's a long time ago. There was still enough, you could generate enough electricity to feel a little tinkle. David Dollar: Mm-hmm (affirmative). A little tingle, a little pop. Carmen Breazeale: They can't do that no more. However, there are any number of his instruments on display down in the basement of the main house of the Oakland Plantation. And when we have our fall tours here, that always creates a great deal of interest. David Dollar: Oh, I'm sure it does. That sounds great. Carmen Breazeale: I always get a kick out of that, because I go down and stay there the two days of anything, and showing them the different things. It makes it very interesting. I have in my home one of the family clocks. It's a ten foot high grandfather clock. And I have a companion French mirror with a gold leaf by the wall mirror [inaudible 00:09:04]. It came over by ... The family history is about 350 years of each one of them. David Dollar: My goodness. I don't see how you keep up with all that stuff. I tell you. I have trouble remembering my grandparents and great-grandparents, and now you're all the way back to France, 350 years ago. That's amazing. Carmen Breazeale: My father was interested, and my mother was very much interested, in historical things and events. And she always ... And I was thrown with her constantly. And she died in 1956. And she and I were together from 19 ... All the time. But [inaudible 00:09:40], I came back and taught since 1911. From 1911 to 1956, you'll absorb a whole lot, if you're interested. David Dollar: You've had a long history lesson, huh? Carmen Breazeale: I had a long, long history lesson. David Dollar: I'll tell you. No, that's great. Carmen Breazeale: [crosstalk 00:09:52]. One of the things that interested me so much is some of the old customs in Natchitoches. And there's one that I remember, having seen any number of times, that as far as I know, it has never been celebrated anywhere else. And that was the Easter Beef Parade. David Dollar: Easter Beef? Carmen Breazeale: The Easter Beef Parade. David Dollar: You better tell me about that one. Carmen Breazeale: A day or two before Easter, the different butchers in town ... We didn't have markets and things kind of like they have now. The different butchers in town would select the beef that they were going to slaughter for Easter. They shine them all up, and shine the horns, and put flowers around the horns, and a bell around the neck. And the parade would be led down Front Street by this old man, who was call Mr. [Tabor 00:10:36]. And he played what he insisted was not a violin, but was a fiddle. David Dollar: A fiddle. Carmen Breazeale: And he would go down, dancing down the street, and people ... When your butcher, whom you regularly got your beef came along, he would stop, and you could go out and show what part of the beef you wanted, and how much you wanted. David Dollar: Wow. Carmen Breazeale: And they would write it all down. And then just after the slaughter, then that beef was brought to you for you consumption. David Dollar: Well, goodness. Carmen Breazeale: That's one thing I wish they would start again, because it was very picturesque, and very, very unusual. David Dollar: I'm sure it was. Find a bunch of cows and a fiddle player, you could do it. Carmen Breazeale: Another very happy recollection I have is when the cotton boats would come up the river, during the season. And one of them was called the Scobol. David Dollar: Scobol. Carmen Breazeale: The Scobol. And it would stop at what is [inaudible 00:11:25] Street now, and we'd go down to the bank and get on, and ride the boat up as far as about to where the Chamber of Commerce is now. David Dollar: Oh, you got to ride it, huh? Carmen Breazeale: And one of the things that all the children lived for was getting a glass of lemonade from one the boat. David Dollar: Oh goodness. They had it on the boat there. Carmen Breazeale: For some reason, that lemonade was much better than any that you got anywhere else. David Dollar: I'll be. Goodness gracious. Ms. Breazeale, we're just about out of time. You've told us so much here I don't know quite what to pin down. We try to close the program, though, with a closing memory. Speaker 3: [crosstalk 00:11:56] David Dollar: And if you have something that you'd like to share with us at this time, or anything that stands out. That's really a silly question to ask you, I guess. Any one of the things you've told us could be a great one. Carmen Breazeale: I think the thing that stands out the most with me is that I'm very proud of the history of Natchitoches. Not only in my family, but all the history of Natchitoches, as a whole. And I think that we have a workflow opportunity right now to preserve that history and make grow through [inaudible 00:12:29], and the Louisiana [inaudible 00:12:31]. David Dollar: Right, right. Carmen Breazeale: And I hope it does. And I hope that all of us, listen, won't ever forget the Red Cross, and the things it has done, even recently in Natchitoches Parish. David Dollar: Right. Amen. We thank you very much for joining us, and for sharing all this with us. Thanks a lot.
Carmen Breazeale's family has lived in Natchitoches since the 1700s and has family living at Oakland Plantation. Has worked with the Red Cross as chapter chairman. She mentions that her father published the Natchez Enterprise and was against the Louisiana lottery law.