FAMILY OF CHARLES ERNST SCHMIDT

ST. ALPHONSUS CHURCH 1936 St. Alphonsus church on Jackson and Calhoun had been dedicated in February this same year 1874 and this was the first marriage celebrated there. It remained long enough to see the marriages of Laura Schmidt's great grandchildren. It was moved in 1961 to make way for a new church, and served another ten years as the parish hall. It was demolished in 1972 after nearly a hundred years of service.

Charles Ernest Schmidt and Laura Coyle were married in St. Alphonsus Catholic church on October 6, 1874. The parish record of marriages show: "....have contracted holy matrimony before me and before these witnesses; Mr. Charles E. Schmidt, son of Ernest Schmidt and Euphemia Schosser, and Laura Coyle, daughter of Mr. Francis Coyle and Magdalena Ougatte. Witnesses; A.L. Heffaer, V.L. Meunier, Louise Schmidt, Sophia Koehle," Father Meerschaert, Pastor.

In 1874 Genl U.S. Grant was president and the country was in a financial panic that would last for another four years. The New Orleans, Mobile & Chattanooga railroad had been in operation four years, but was not prospering. The steamboats were still running and they were not doing well either. Robert A. VanCleave was the Republican postmaster.

The first child was born in 1876; she was named Euphemia after her grandmother Schmidt, but was called "Effie". The county record of deeds show that on Feb. 8, 1877 Laura Schmidt bought from Edw. W. Clark a house and lot on the south side of Robinson St. 80ft. by 150 ft., lying 120ft. east of Washington, for $100. It was known as the White Hall house, and it was probably here that the first son was born on Oct. 6, 1877. He was called Frank Ernest after both grandfathers. White Hall remained there long enough for Laura's grandsons to remember that it was a well constructed house.

Six months later C.E. Schmidt bought the adjacent lot to the east, 90ft. X 150ft. for $180. These lots were opposite the railroad depot and would have had commercial value were it not for the financial panic. There was also a yellow fever epidemic locally in the summer of 1878. Father C. Van Queckelberge, a priest visiting from Pascagoula was a victim.

But life went on. A second son, Charles Theodore was born in 1879, and in 1881 Louis Victor arrived. In 1882 a second girl was born and named Magdalena for her grandmother Coyle. Emilia Dolores died in infancy in 1884. Dolores is the Spanish word for sorrows.

OUTLAW LOOT

Charles E. Schmidt and his young family lived for a while in an old house on this lot. Laura remembered the night when they agreed to let a search party take up the kitchen floor and dig for loot buried by the Copeland gang of outlaws that operated in the area. They thought they had a good clue but it wasn't.

WAX FAMILY

Sister Louise Schmidt married Anthony Wax. Their children were Louis, Edna, Ernest and Ella. "Tony" Wax operated a grocery store in Baton Rouge near the old state capitol, and rented rooms to the legislators. Louis Was was successful as a sawmill operator in Woodville, Mississippi.

DEED

This indenture made the eight day of May in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty between Albert Green and Mary Green his wife of the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, now residing in the city of New Orleans, of the first part, and Charles E. Schmidt and Laura Coyle Schmidt his wife, residing in the said town of Ocean Springs, County of Jackson and State of Mississippi, parties of the second part.

Witnesseth, that the said parties of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum of four hundred dollars ($400.00) lawful money of the United States, to them in had paid by the said parties of the second part, at or before the ensealing and delivery of these parents, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, and the said parties of the second part, their heirs, executors and administrators, forever aligned, remised, released and confirm, and by these presents, have granted, bargained, sold, aliened, remised, released and confirmed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, alien, remise, release, convey and confirm unto the parties of the second part and to their heirs and assigns forever.

All of lot number thirteen (13) in block number nineteen (19) in the said town of Ocean Springs, in the County of Jackson and state of Mississippi, according to a map of said town drawn by N. Calsmeig in 1854. The said log No. 13 is situated on the corner of Washington and DeSoto avenues, and has a front on Washington Ave. one hundred feet, and runs West between parallel lines along DeSoto Ave. three hundred and sixty three (363) feet to a strip of land known as the D. Goos or Brown tract.

In witness whereof, the said parties of the first part hereunto set their had and seal this day and year first above written.

Albert Green

Mary Germain (x) Green

Albert and Mary Green were black people. In the steamboat days before the railroad was built in 1870 this lot was in the outskirts of the village were black people lived.

The west 83 feet of the lot was lost when Church street was opened about 1900, and when the Brown line became obscure.

RAILROAD NAMES

The New Orleans, Mobile & Chattanooga railroad was not immediately successful. The paddle wheel steamboats were well established and the coast towns had grown up near the landing wharves. The new railroad was also threatened by toredos or shipworms which were eating away the pine pilling supporting the long bridges across Biloxi Bay and Bay St. Louis. Pressure treatment with creosote had not been developed.

The railroad was sold and renamed New Orleans, Mobile & Texas until 1880 when it was taken over by the Louisville & Nashville RR, which company was successful in developing the Mississippi Coast. But with the loss of its passenger trade in 1971 and the closing of the depots, the name L & N is no longer familiar.

DEATH CAME EARLY

Times were hard; the country was in another depression. The Schmidt's moved in with grandpa Coyle and Charles E. Found a job somewhere in Louisiana. About a year later, in 1886 he became sick and returned home. After a few days he died unexpectedly. He was 35 years old. The cause of death was either not known or not remembered. Laura was 29 and the children were 10, 9, 7, 5, and 4.

At that time there was no burial service in the town. All arrangements were made by the family. The time of the funeral was agreed on with the parish priest. Someone brought the sad news to the Pons relatives in Biloxi. Word was sent to a local carpenter to make a coffin, and probably he came to measure the body. A site was selected in the Bellande cemetery and arrangement was made with a grave digger. A local grocer was asked to lend his delivery wagon for the funeral. The body was washed and dressed, laid on a table and covered with a sheet on which were pinned sprigs of foliage.

At dusk friends and relatives arrived for the wake, which in this case was sad because of the sudden and untimely death. Generally wakes for the aged took on the aspect of a family reunion. The coffee pot was kept hot all night and there was much to talk about besides the deceased.

At the funeral the body was put into the coffin. After prayers and the sad departure, it was carried to the wagon which had been draped with black bunting. The horse was let by the bride and the pallbearers walked alongside. One or two carriages were hired from the livery stable for the family. Friends and relatives walked in slow procession first to the church and then out Calhoun street to the cemetery. Here the coffin was placed over the open grave for the final rites. The pallbearers lowered the coffin down and away forever. Here the emotions could no longer be restrained. With the family watching and weeping the pallbearers filled the grave.

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Laura and the children remained at the old home where they were welcomed because the Coyles were growing old; Frank was 74 and Magdalena 79. The next year the children attended the first school in St. Alphonsus parish. It was a two room building on the north side of Calhoun just east of the present rectory. There were 32 pupils, with the boys in one room and the girls in the other.

Laura Coyle attended school in this old house and remembered that the pupils were permitted to go up to the new railroad and watch the first train go through on Oct. 20, 1870

Frank E. Schmidt age 11 remembered this transaction. Frank Coyle took $800 from his hiding place and gave it to his daughter Laura who walked up Jackson avenue in a late afternoon to the Foster-McCall home to close the deal.

SHRIMP AND OYSTER PROSPERITY

In the eighteen nineties there was increasing prosperity in Ocean Springs. Canning of shrimp and oysters had proved successful in Biloxi, and two ice factories there made possible the shipment of raw oysters by railway express. Three or four shucking sheds in Ocean Springs gave seasonal employment to local fishermen, and these with cat boats seined for shrimp along Point aux Chenes for the Biloxi canneries. Others enjoyed this new prosperity by crossing the bay in pulling skiffs to pick up shrimp at the Barataria Canning Company at five cents a gallon.

RESORT PROSPERITY

Sunday and Wednesday excursion trains out of New Orleans revived the resort business along the Coast as far out as Ocean Springs. Ole hotels from the steamboat days were modernized and boarding houses were enlarged. More livery stables went into operation which made business good for the blacksmith shops where horses and mules were shod and wagon wheels re-tired.

The "Coast Train" left Ocean Springs for New Orleans at six every morning but Sunday, and returned about six in time for supper. Punctilious people reset their clocks by the whistle blast of the departing Coast Train. This service encouraged prosperous New Orleanians to build elegant summer homes on the Coast, which added to the prosperity. It also encouraged Coast folks to go to New Orleans for the summer and winter shopping.

CITY GOVERNMENT

At the end of 1892 the town was incorporated and a provisional government was appointed to arrange the first election of a mayor, five aldermen, a treasurer and a marshal. One of the first activities of the new government was the improvement of principal streets by covering them with a layer of oyster shells four inches deep, which were gradually crushed by horse's hooves and wagon wheels.

About this time the first artesian well was put down and water smelling of sulphur was piped along the streets to those who could afford it. Some were fortunate enough to live near a hillside spring, but people generally depended on shallow wells about eight feet deep.

A business directory published in 1893 gives a good description of the main street: three general stores offering fancy and staple groceries, dry goods, notions and hardware; a saloon, a barber shop, three hotels, the post office, two meat markets and two drug stores. Just north of the Illing Hotel on Washington and Porter, Edward Illing operated a bakery. He advertised : "Fresh bread Dailey, Free delivery" Much more about this bakery later.

THE FORT BAYOU FARM

Three years after Frank Coyle passed on, Laura Schmidt bought one hundred and twenty seven acres of piney woods on the north side of Fort Bayou and on the east side of the county road that went north from the ferry crossing at the head of Washington Ave. Deed book 15, page 385 records that on Jan. 3, 1894 Laura Schmidt bought from John S. Hawkins the SE ¼ of the SW ¼, and the SW ¼ of the SE ¼ in section 18, and the NE ¼ of the NW ¼ in section 19, and also 7 acres not well defined along the county road. A quarter of a quarter is forty acres, so this description totals 127 acres.

A thousand feet or more back through the woods was a clearing which was an old seven room house, a weather beaten barn, the usual outhouses, a fenced pasture, a vegetable garden, a pig pen, and a shallow water well. The recorded price was $3,000.

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The Schmidt family was growing up. In this same year "Effie" and Vincent Beyer were married, Frank E. Was old enough to have a steady job. Laura, old Magdalena, young "Lena" and probably Charley and Louis vacated the old Coyle house and moved to the farm. Farm life was not new for Laura; she grew up on Frank Coyle's little farm back of his house on Jackson Ave. She knew how to milk a cow, churn butter, make cream cheese and buttermilk. She knew how to fatter a pig, and encourage a hen to "set", and when and how to plant vegetables. She could hitch-up a horse to a surrey and drive it to town.

A NEW BRANCH OF THE FAMILY

According to the marriage records of St. Alphonse parish:

"1895 on the 4th.of June I married Michael John Brady, son of James Brady and Annie, to Laura Coyle (first married to Schmidt) daughter of Francis Coyle and Magdalena Ougatte. Frank Schmidt and Alice Johnson." Aloise Van Waesberge, Paster

Mike Brady was from New York City. He was a veteran of the Civil War, after which he came south to follow railroad construction, and settled in Ocean Springs. In later life he received a veteran's pension from the federal government.

FORT BAYOU FERRY

To get to town from the Brady farm it was necessary to use Antonio Franco's ferry, which was a barge pulled across by a rope tied to both sides of the bayou. The ferry rates at this time were:

Antonio was a native of Portugal and was probably a friend of Frank Coyle, since they spoke a kindred language. Both died in the same year.

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Mike and Laura Brady remained on the farm long enough to see their children grown and married, and to visited by their grandchildren.

On February 20, 1913 Laura Brady and husband sold the farm to Lewis Wade and wife from up-north; the recorded price $2,000. The wad venture ended in tragedy two years later, and in another year or so, the old house was destroyed by fire. The piney woods moved in and took over.

During the building boom of the late nineteen sixties, most of this acreage became part Windsor Park and Windsor Porte subdivision, where an average house and lot sold for more than ten times the price of the entire 127 acres in 1894. The old farm house was located on the south side of what is now Hanover Drive, just west of David Davis street. The builder of the modern home there stated that in the site preparation, he saw evidence of the old foundation. The old oaks on this knoll are further evidence.