This blog is for all of us who are related to the members of the Dupont-Ory-Edler families that lived at 2726 Dumaine Street, New Orleans, La., from 1903 to 1945.
I have been working on this aspect of the family history since I first asked a few questions of Aunt Nanan and Cousin Norma in 1965, when I was 16 years old.
When the 2005 floods hit my house, I thought I had lost everything in the toxic waters. Fortunately, an ice chest with all of the original documents in it survived, having floated around in the water for some three weeks until coming to rest on a chair in the dining room! So, since 2007 and my return home, I have been rebuilding documentation and transcribing stories -- recently finding stories that take one branch of the family back to the time of the Crusades!
Right now I am looking to replace certain photographs: (1) Ottomar Edler and Louise Ory, taken by photographers here in New Orleans, 1887 through 1903. They are greyish, and are set in a frame shaped like an arch. (2) Sepia photos of Rene, Ida, and Lucie from New Orleans photographers in the 1880s and 1890s. If you have something like this, could you send JPEG scans of any of it to me on Facebook?
About 2726 Dumaine Street: In severe storms earlier this year, 2010, tornado-like winds blew through Mid-City. The house itself, which had already been subjected to demolition by neglect and vandalism, collapsed (and I know who and where they live and I could say something terrible but what good would it do). The property now belongs to the Louisiana Recovery Association, and the lot will be put up for sale.
Fortunately, most of the pictures of all the houses from the family that were lost in the flood waters have been replaced, incredibly, with street views found through Google maps from 2007.
Let us pull together to make this an exceptional blog, and a great history of our family. Love to all!
Update: The project is going to get into full swing, with pictures, family stories, and incredible connections on the way. Check back often!
ReplyDeleteThis past Sunday I drove past the site of what is left of 2726. The back part of the structure that collapsed during the storm has been removed. all that is left is the front of the house and the framing into the first rooms on each side. I know where the people who own the property live, but it would do no good for me to get angry about it -- and go screaming at their front doorstep. These people are slum landlords; I checked their property ownership records and they are rather "dicey".
ReplyDeleteFolks, I don't know what you are afraid of if I want to make scans of family photos you might have. I am not going to steal them from you. Understand that the main photo archives I had in the house in 2005 was looted by a perverted neighbor who wanted to steal anything from me, just to make me angry. He wants a confrontation with me, so that he can call the police on me, claim that I made threats against him (and a lot of other lies), and have me sent to a mental hospital for a long, long time.
ReplyDeleteSo, please, if I ask if I can come to make scans of photos, understand that I am doing this not only for the family, but to keep myself out of either the loony hatch or jail. Thanks.
October 8, 2010: 2726-2728 has been bulldozed into oblivion by the City, with the ground filled in with a layer of river sand. It can definitely be said that the song of of the old Dupont-Ory-Edler house itself is done, but the songs that bespoke the wonderful spirit that dwelled in that house and was carried forth by Gaston, Juliette, Cecile, and Louise, continue on in their descendants.
ReplyDeleteThis business of logging in and passwords is "driving me sane".
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, Ida Edler-Dupont was a pianist in her own right, although apparently she stepped out of the limelight in which her daughters Juliette and Cecile stood in the 1930s on radio.
A lot of her sheet music seemed to tend towards what I would call "silent movie accompaniment", because that is what I have used it for myself. One would think that because she did not go into advanced studies as did Juliette and Cecile, that she would have played simpler pieces. Not so. The song "I'm Tired" is quite a tour-de-force, and the original sheet music has her autograph on the top of the front page!
Here it is over a century later, and of course the question is whether the musical ability that came down from Louise Ory-Edler through Ida Edler-Dupont to her children Gaston, Juliette, Cecile, and Louise, will continue down into another generation.
The first glimmer that the musical ability has reached a new generation is to be seen in Julian Bergez, the son of Rick and Sarah Bergez; Rick is the son of Richard Bergez, who is the son of Juliette Dupont. A very obvious sign that this is so is that he has the "piano hands" that can also be seen on the Dupont Four. He also has a sense of rhythm; he plays pat-a-cake with changes in tempo and volume with an actual intensity. The decision is to introduce him to lots of different types of music -- lots of classical, of course -- and see if he takes an interest in playing on a keyboard (no piano yet). If he does keep with the music, and he wants to become a rock star, that's fine. He has the music in him, and maybe, in time to come, through him, the music will continue on.