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Dorothy MATHERNE - Oral History Tape
Note from Glen PITRE: The official project was named “Memories of Terrebonne”. Glen
PITRE was project director. “We were funded by The Terrebonne Parish Council, the
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and Library of Congress”. This interview was
conducted by Glen PITRE, an associate of Cote Blanche Productions, recorded on April
29, 1983.. Transcribed by Phillip CHAUVIN Jr.
Oral history tape # 146
[Start by saying your name, when you were born and where you were born.]
I am Dorothy FOOLKES MATHERNE,{d. 5 Jun 2002, bur. Magnolia Cem., Houma, LA,
widow Henry Paul MATHERNE b. 26 Jan 1908, d. 26 Dec 1976 bur. Magnolia Cem.,
Houma, LA d/o John E. FOOLKES & 2nd m. Alberta SANFORD}. I was born in
Houma, on the corner of Goode and School Streets in 1906 {now “Terrebonne Folk Life
Culture Center”, 317 School Street}. My family has lived there since the time of my
great-grandmother. My great-grandmother was Odelia CHAUVIN FIELDS {b. 17 Oct
1817, d. 15 Oct 1901}. Her husband was John H. {Haywood} FIELDS {b. ca. 1816, d.
25 Jun 1854, s/o William FIELDS & Elizabeth MILLS}. At the time of his death, they
were living in the home, on the corner of Goode and School Streets. She was left there
with seven daughters {Bernice Emee, Albina, Marie, Sarah, Josephine Melasie, Elise
“Elizabeth” Alba & Mary}. These daughters were of various ages and were very much
interested when the Yankees came to Houma. They went across Bayou Terrebonne to
the William WRIGHT home visiting {their sister Sarah FIELDS w/o. William WRIGHT,
m. 30 Dec 1861 s/o Holden WRIGHT & Sarah GRIFFIN}. When they came back across
Main Street, they found Yankee Soldiers riding into Houma on horseback. They were
very much frightened and ran across the court square, into the house. Various things
happened, but one of the things was that, the Yankees confiscated a young pig my
grandmother {Elise “Elizabeth” Alba FIELDS} had. To think, at that time there were
pigs, in the middle of Houma. They confiscated it and my grandmother was very much
upset, cause the pig meant a great deal to her. She sent one of the girls across, where the
Yankees were camped, in the courthouse square. Actually in a part of the building, we
remember as the “Little Red Courthouse”. She made herself heard enough, that the pig
was returned to my grandmother. One of the ladies {Josephine Melasie FIELDS m.
Thomas P. SHERBURNE }married one of the young men that came from that particular
encampment. We later found out that he had been born in Vermont. They did move
away from Houma. My grandmother [m. Edmond J. FOOLKES 6 Jul 1868} reared all of
her children there and when one of her daughters was widowed, she came back to live in
the house. That is how we ended up being in the house. We were the children of that
particular union. We inherited the house from my great-grandmother. Odelia died in {15
Oct}1901. She was about 87 years old, and lived in that house until then. Her daughter
reared her family there. My father, {John Edgar FOOLKES b. 4 Nov 1871, d. 24 Sep
1952 m. 1st Helena WISE ca. 1897, m. 2nd Albertha Dorthea SANDFORD 30 Jun 1902}
being the eldest member of the family, looked out after everybody, and he ended up
there.
[The FIELDS family once lived in Lake Fields?]
[Interviewer Glen PITRE] – {Transcribed by Phil CHAUVIN Jr.} - Corrections by Marcie CAVALIER.
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Dorothy MATHERNE - Oral History Tape
Yes, I am sure. There are many FIELDS in the parish now. I really don’t know, but I think we
are connected. I don’t know how I fit into that picture. I know his name was John H.
FIELDS. One of the girls was a Mrs. { Josephine Melasie} SHERBURNE. I think she
was the one who married the Yankee. In the 1880 census, she was serving as the Post
Mistress. I am not sure if he had been appointed Post Master and at his death, she was
allowed to finish the term. I am not sure of that. She later married a Mr. {Andrew
Francois} CHANFREAU, her 2nd marriage.
[You were born in that house?]
I was born in that house and grew up in that house.
[When you were a little girl, how was everything different from now?]
About the House?
[About the neighborhood.]
After the Civil War, the little red courthouse, was in the process of being built. When the
soldiers were there, the jail was behind. There was a 10 foot wall around the jail. It was
a square building, At the top of the wooden wall, there was cement, with broken bottles
put in the top of it. As time went by, we could often hear the prisoners singing songs,
talking and such things. Once or twice they had a hanging. One particular time, we were
kind of curious, and tried to listen, when the trap door would fall. It was a colored man, I
think. He had murdered some one, and they hung him.
[How old were you then?]
I was about 10 or 12 years old. There was a bandstand in the court square, in front of the court
house. There were bands playing, about twice a week. On Sundays and on one week
night. Everybody turned out, to sit on the benches in the court square and listen to the
music. Mr. {Frank} FABREGAS’S band, and many families took part in it. {Dorothy’s
brother Edmund’s wife’s sister, Annie Laura CHAUVIN, m. Martin Leo FABREGAS,
s/o Frank FABREGAS & Conception PEREZ} They provided the music, that was very
enjoyable, by the young people, and the old people too, for that matter.
[Who was Mr. FABREGAS?]
He was known as Professor {Frank} FABREGAS and he owned the music store, that is down
there on Main Street today. He had quite a family, and they were all very musical and
took part in the band, as they grew up. They carried the music store on too.
[Where was the railroad station?]
We think of it as the “Depot”. It was down---. We now have an extra street. There was a canal
that ran from Bayou Black to Bayou Terrebonne, I think it was built as a logging canal to
bring logs in for the cypress lumber companies.
[Was it Barataria Canal?]
Yes. We had to cross a bridge to get to the “Depot”, located right on the other side of the canal.
I can remember as a child, they often had excursions that came from New Orleans. There
would be an early train in the morning and people would go meet their friends and
relatives, to spend a day. Late in the afternoon, they would all board the train, to go back
to New Orleans. In those days, everybody traveled on horses and in buggies, and a few
automobiles, not too many. It was exciting when horses would be frightened and start
backing toward the canal. That was a very exciting time. There were hotels on Main
Street, they had the Commercial Hotel and several other hotels on Main Street. They
usually had one of them long buggies, pulled by a team of horses, to meet all the trains
[Interviewer Glen PITRE] – {Transcribed by Phil CHAUVIN Jr.} - Corrections by Marcie CAVALIER.
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Dorothy MATHERNE - Oral History Tape
that came. The Houma branch had two trips a day. One early in the morning, it went
back at noon, and another in the afternoon, that went back in the evening. It was two
round trips a day to Schriever.
[These excursions were each day of the week?]
No, usually on Sundays. They provided a lot of company, for the people of the town. Across the
street from my house was where the school was located. It went from School Street to
Verret Street and from Church to Goode Street. On the end toward Verret Street was the
old “Hook and Ladder Hall”. It had been used for school classes at times. The back had
an extra room, in there, for school. There was a large yard and then an old house, that
faced Church Street and had a porch across the front. There were but four rooms in the
building. I did go to school in that building.
[Was it Lawton School?]
I did go to Lawton School, but it wasn’t that one, and it was not until after I was in the sixth
grade. Lawton School was on Main Street, on the far end of town. This school was only
known as the old Houma School, it was part of the Terrebonne Parish schools. At that
time the high school was back on Academy Street. It was where Houma Elementary is
today. It was torn down a couple of years ago. Later they tore down the school buildings
across the street and the first Terrebonne High School was built. The building remained
there, until the courthouse annex was built. I was teaching at the Houma Elementary
school, when the courthouse was built. It was early in my teaching career. I taught in the
building, that faced Grinage Street. I taught in that building, until I moved to the
Terrebonne High School, on Main Street. I believe that was in 1940. I stayed there until
they opened the Junior High School, just behind the high school, on St. Charles Street. I
retired in 1961.
[You said you were born in what year?]
1906.
[Do you remember the flu?]
I very well remember the flu epidemic. I must have been about twelve. During the war, as
children we collected magazines, papers and old tires. We did not have trucks or
anything, so we usually had to roll the tires up to the Court Square, to make the collection
point. I think it was during that time, the flu epidemic came along. We were just
beginning to be girl scouts, we did our part, where mothers made soup kitchens, where
many families made pots of soup. The jars had to be washed and scalded. The soup was
put in the jars, and we were given a list of names. The little wagon that the boys had, we
delivered the soup around to different families, and other foods, that people could use.
So many people were ill. When we did this, we all had to wear a little gauze mask.
When we went to the houses to talk to the folks, we were supposed to do it from a
distance, but always took the precaution, to prevent the spread of the flu.
[Did you catch it?]
Yes, eventually I did. I took sick just about the time “Armistice Day” came. I remember that. I
had gone to take part in the parade. We weren’t old enough to be a scout, but were
allowed to be a group, that was doing some things, the older girls were doing. The Elks
provided a huge flag, and we marched in this parade with bands and such, and the girls
held along the sides of the flag and ends, to stretch the flag. We marched in that way.
[Armistice Day?]
[Interviewer Glen PITRE] – {Transcribed by Phil CHAUVIN Jr.} - Corrections by Marcie CAVALIER.
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Dorothy MATHERNE - Oral History Tape
The first Armistice Day. The day the bells all rang. Every church bell just rang for hours. We
were all so happy that the first world war was over.
[Where were you for the second world war?]
At that time I was teaching school, at the elementary school. It was about the time I moved to
the high school. We did many things, trying to sell war bonds, and such as that. I was
pretty well filled up, with school work, at that time. We tried to help families with the
Red Cross work and such as that. I made the usual Red Cross bandages and that sort of
thing.
[What was it like when World War II was over?]
It was not as great a celebration, they was not making so much noise about it. We were mighty
happy when it was over. It was not the kind of celebration that went on at the end of the
first world war. Maybe it was because I was young and it seemed a bigger racket. It was
a little more restricted.
[When was Main Street paved?]
I do not recall, I was away at school about that time. I don’t think it was done all at the same
time. It was done gradually. They started toward the Main Street end and worked back
to Bayou Black. There was a time when there was a bridge on Main Street, where the
bayou goes to Bayou Black, and the boys used to go swimming there. The canal was not
completely filled, at one time, but gradually over time.
[Do you remember the moss gin across the bayou there?]
I can’t say I remember that.
[Did you get gas to the homes in Houma?]
You mean natural gas? Yes, we had a gas well in our back yard. It was after gas had been
discovered in the Lirette field, down Bayou Terrebonne. The gas was brought in, but
later we lost out on that gas. My father and Mr. J. B. BOUDREAUX put down a gas well
in our back yard, right in the middle of Houma. We used it very shortly. When they
were building the new courthouse building, we thought that when they drove the pilings,
it seemed to disturb the gas. They hadn’t had it, for just a few months and it was gone.
In the back yard, there is still an old valve, that you will find there. It is cut off, but it is
still there. I used it with a pipe on the top for a bird feeder.
[Did they drill it themselves or had some one do it for them?]
They used a tripod, and drilled it themselves. It was not too deep.
[Your father was a game warden?]
My father was by trade a machinist and had a machine shop. On the corner of Goode and School
Streets. My great-grandmother lived there. Later when my father and my grandmother
traded a piece of property, he operated a cotton gin there, at one time.
[At that location?]
On the corner of Goode and School. It really was School Street. The house hasn’t changed.
Before that I think he has some other kind of business there. They had a forge in it. I
was small, he had a machine shop. I did not remember the gin. I do remember the
machine shop. He had a great big lathe and drill press and all those things. In later years,
I think it was about in 1929, he was asked to serve as “oyster commissioner”. He began
to work for the Department of Conservation. He worked for many years. Eventually he
was termed a “game warden”, instead of oyster commissioner. When he first started they
were having a great deal of trouble with people who would shanghai the boats and take
[Interviewer Glen PITRE] – {Transcribed by Phil CHAUVIN Jr.} - Corrections by Marcie CAVALIER.
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Dorothy MATHERNE - Oral History Tape
their loads of oysters. They were having a lot of trouble. Dr. JASTREMSKI was the one
who recommended him, and other people also. So he went around and had a terrible
experience, with a man, in which the man was shot. He had to shoot him. After that,
they sort of calmed down and he became the “game warden”, for Terrebonne Parish. He
rarely served in Lafourche and Assumption parishes. Sometimes, he went to other
parishes, to help somebody else out, on particular occasions.
[They were shanghaiing oyster boats?]
Maybe, it was more of a bully. A man would make the people, load up their oysters, and he
would come in with them. He would go with a gang and take the oysters from the
rightful owner of the reef. They had to put up with it or else. They could do nothing
about it. It was just a particular gang that got started and the oyster commission figured
they could stop that, once and for all. It would correct the whole thing, which it did.
[Was this in the 20’s?]
It was before the 20’s, I think. I say it was in 1929 I was wrong about that. I wasn’t that old. I
remember when my father had this terrible experience. It was a family experience as
well. I was not in high school, it must have been before then. I was in grade school,
when this happened. He became the “game warden” and had many interesting
experiences, throughout his term of office. It was long before 1929.
[Did he talk about the cotton gin much?]
I never knew very much about it, I was quite young, and I don’t remember the cotton gin at all,
but it was there. He didn’t do a great deal of work with it. I don’t think it was successful
as a cotton gin. You had to go out and get a number of planters to plant the cotton and
somebody else was ahead of him. They had gotten the people to sign with their gin.
Somebody else went into it in a partnership, and they had a falling out and the man had
the contracts, so there was not enough cotton planted for him to gin. He knew the
mechanical side of it and the other man was to do the work, with the planters and such.
[Was there a competing gin?]
I think there must have been, but I am not sure of that.
[What kind of stuff, did he work on in his shop?]
As a machine shop, he did a lot of sugarhouse work. This was before the time of standardized
machinery, and when the sugarhouses broke down, he would sometimes be able to repair
them, by making a piece. Otherwise, it took months to send to Pennsylvania or some
other place, where these pieces may have been built. He would make the pieces to take
care of the problems. Sometimes he worked night and day, for two or three days, to get it
finished. Sometimes the delivery problems were terrible, they didn’t have the drays.
They would have to use drays, with teams of mules to get it, where it was needed. He did
lots of that. He served as a sugarhouse engineer, on several Plantations, in the parish.
[He watched over them?]
He was actually the engineer. Sometimes the machines were not working properly, he would go
and get everything straightened out. Sometimes before grinding, he often went and get
the sugarhouse ready for grinding. Make sure all things were working properly.
[How did he learn that?]
My father was an apprentice that lived in New Orleans. His mother went to New Orleans when
he was quite a young man. He apprenticed himself to the Murphy Foundry, in New
Orleans. He served his apprenticeship and came out as master machinist. When he
[Interviewer Glen PITRE] – {Transcribed by Phil CHAUVIN Jr.} - Corrections by Marcie CAVALIER.
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Dorothy MATHERNE - Oral History Tape
completed his course. he came back to Terrebonne, to do work on machinery. He was
always interested in boat machinery and sugarhouse machinery and eventually in
automobiles. He liked machinery and that is how he came to work with machinery.
[Did he make oyster tongs?]
Oh no, I don’t think he did anything like that. He worked more on motors and was prepared with
the proper machinery, for doing those things. He was very familiar with Terrebonne
Parish. Even as a young boy, he knew the bayous and coastline. He knew those sort of
things. He was the oldest of his family and his father was ill. When he was 14 or 15, he
had to do many things, in his father’s last few years of illness. As a young man, he would
have not been, otherwise doing.
[Do you speak French?]
No.
[Did your father speak French?]
No. He did not speak French, but he understood French. His grandmother, my greatgrandmother, never spoke anything but French to him. He understood her. He was very
fond of her, and they lived in her home. He never spoke French, but it was amusing to
him many times, when he arrested people, down on the bayous, some of the families,
particular the women folks, would cuss him out in French. He knew all they were saying,
but he never let on, that he did understand it. They thought he didn’t understand French,
but he did.
[Did the people he arrested know he didn’t speak French?]
He understood, but never spoke it. His sister spoke it very well. He only had the one sister, and
she could take care of herself very well, with the French. I never heard my father say
more that what I would know, like “bon soir” or “bon jour” or such words.
[What you are saying is that he did not –
End of recording on Tape # 146, begin Tape # 147.
[start out as a “Game Warden”?.]
He started out with the Oyster Commission. They were having trouble with people stealing other
people’s oysters. Conservation was a new thing. I understand that Louisiana was one of
the first states to have a Department of Conservation. It was a new idea and people did
not understand about it. People had been shooting ducks and game, whenever they chose
to do so, and did everything else when they chose to do so. It was difficult to pass a law
and try to get all these people, who lived down the bayous, to understand they had to
observe seasons, when they had done this all their lives. When they felt like eating
ducks, they went out and got them. It took time to learn all these things, about seasons
for fishing and other things. When he started, it was just oysters. A lot of people could
see that they got protection, where they could not protect themselves. They got used to
having an officer protect them. It was just a matter of educating people, to understand
these laws. It was not necessary easily learned, by some people. In the meantime, they
began to put courses in the schools, where children learned about the laws and the
reasons for them. How some game were renewable, if you took care of them, and what
happened if you did not.
[Did he go out by himself?]
[Interviewer Glen PITRE] – {Transcribed by Phil CHAUVIN Jr.} - Corrections by Marcie CAVALIER.
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Dorothy MATHERNE - Oral History Tape
Yes, the first trip, he went down on one of the state boats and two or three state people went with
him. The man would not come out of his camp. It was down in Bayou Lafourche, I
think. He wouldn’t come out of his camp and so my father had to go up to the camp. He
climbed up a ladder to get up there. The man told one of his brothers, to get a shotgun.
As my father came on top of the porch, the man came out, and meant to strike him, with
his gun. As he lifted the gun, my father shot with his pistol, from his hip. The man was
injured, so they put him on the state boat, to try to bring him to a doctor, but he died from
the incident. He died before they got him to where they were trying to bring him. It was
a horrific thing and I know it was a terrible experience, for my father. The man had
frightened other officers off, before. The rest knew he would take care of what ever he
had to do. They were more willing, when he said “put your gun down and show me what
you have in your hunting bag”. They grew to recognize him and accept it, as time went
on.
[How did people come to accept it?]
I suppose Dr. JASTREMSKI was involved with the Pelican Lake Oyster Company. He was very
interested, as he was interested in getting the oysters. Other people had tried and things
had happened, and it didn’t work out. So finally they thought he could do it. He
probably had a reputation of being pretty cocky, when he started doing it.
[Was he a big man?]
Not particularly, he was about an average size man. He just had a way about him, and he was
very familiar with the whole parish. His father, at one time even said, he knew before he
went to New Orleans to the foundry, for the machinist training, he ran a sort of trading
cart up and down the bayou. He knew people all over the parish. He was very well
known and knew a lot about the parish. I suppose that was a help. Several people
recommended him and Dr. {Leon} JASTREMSKI was one very influential, in getting
them to try him. They finally persuaded him to do it and he did. As things went on, he
got interested in it. It took a very long time to get over that first bad incident.
[Did he do machinist work for people in town?]
No, I doubt that. He never did anything like that. Edmund do you remember? {asking her halfbrother Edmund John FOOLKES Jr. s/o Edmund John FOOLKES & 1st wife Helens
WISE, who was at original taping} I don’t think he did. He never did any machinist
work for the canneries. It was sugarhouses mainly, that he worked. He repaired boats
and machines and such as that.
[Where did he live then?]
Before the Thatcher Hotel was built, he lived on the corner of Court Street, it is called Bellanger
Street now, there was a family of CHAUVINS, but do not know before them. I know
they were not the first to live in that house.
[Houma must have been a rural place then?]
Houma had shell streets then. I can remember sticking splinters in my toes from running on the
plank sidewalks. I can remember when the concrete sidewalks were made, pavement we
call them. That was there for a long time. The ditches overflowed and frogs used to sing
in the ditches after big rains. Main Street was just shelled. It was very messy, after the
rain, and there was enough dirt in it. I can remember when the present City Hall was the
Bank of Terrebonne. The old “Opera House” was where the ex post office is located.
That building is being used for a restaurant, at this time. The old “Opera House” building
[Interviewer Glen PITRE] – {Transcribed by Phil CHAUVIN Jr.} - Corrections by Marcie CAVALIER.
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Dorothy MATHERNE - Oral History Tape
was there. Along side had been a meat market. Over that meat market was the City Hall,
at one time. The jail at that time was a separate building, from the old ”Red Courthouse”,
with the clock tower on it. The city jail was on Goode Street towards the bayou. It was
call the “Calaboose”, and it was a very small building. I think it was just made out of
sheet iron, as I recall it. The boats used to come right up to Goode Street. When the state
boat was here, it was parked right behind, what is called “City Court of Houma.” It was
the “Hyman Building”, the store was called the “Bargain Store”. A lot of boats tied up
there, even the school boat that brought children form Montegut and Chauvin, tied up
there. I remember when they used to Cordell boats up and down Bayou Terrebonne.
There were sailboats that would come, and they could Cordell them from the mouth of
Bayou Terrebonne to Houma. My grandfather {Edmund John Sr.} FOOLKES, died of
tuberculosis. My father thought it would help him to be on “Last Island”. They had a set
of flying horses and they went down for the summer season, to run the flying horses and
earn a little money. They stayed on the island for quite a while. During that time, he
passed away. They brought his body back to Houma on a boat, the “Peter Casano”, a
very well known sailboat. {Articles on the boat “Peter Casano”, are featured in “I dug Up
Houma”, Vol. 1 page 133 – 135 and Vol. 5, pages 98 – 111 by Helen Emeline
WURZLOW. It was built as a cypress hull sailing boat, and ended up as a tugboat with
Cenac Towing Company.} A number of different families owned it at different times.
End of recording.
{Notes from obituary};
Dorothy FOOLKES MATHERNE 96, a native and resident of Houma, died at 11:30 a. m.
Wednesday June 5, 2002. She is survived by three nieces, Helen FOOLKS WORD of
Austin, Texas, Marie FOOLKES HAMILTON of Houma and May FOOLKES
LEBOEUF of Houma, One Nephew John FOOLKS of Houma. She was preceded in
death by her husband Henry P. MATHERNE, he mother Alberta SANFORD FOOLKES,
her father John Edgar FOOLKES. One sister Hattie FOOLKES WERLING, one brother
Edmund John FOOLKES and one niece, Blanche FOOLKES HERRON. Burial in
Magnolia Cemetery, Houma, LA.
[Interviewer Glen PITRE] – {Transcribed by Phil CHAUVIN Jr.} - Corrections by Marcie CAVALIER.