Cecile Amelie (LeBlanc) Simon (1900 - 1981)

Born 28 Oct 1900 in Donaldsonville, Louisiana

Ancestors

Wife of Morris Andrew Simon Sr. — married 13 Nov 1916 in Garyville, Louisiana

Descendants

Died 19 May 1981 at age 80 in Fairfield, Alabama

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Biography

Cecile Amelie LeBlanc, an Acadian descendant, was born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana in November 1900. Her father, Ellis LeBlanc and mother, Carlisle Gauthreaux moved to St. James Parish soon after Cecile was born, and their children attended school in Convent. When Ellis found work in the cypress lumber yards downriver, the family moved to Paulina to be closer to his work.

Cecile's future husband, Morris Simon and two of his brothers lived across the Mississippi River in Vacherie. They often crossed the river in small boats to work in the cypress yards. Years later she enjoyed telling about Morris courting her by crossing the river in the evening. She remembered that he could run up and down the steep levee when they were young. Cecile also remembered that her father Ellis was well-liked among the cypress cutters because he was the camp cook and fed them well.

Morris and Cecile married in November 1916 in Garyville, St John the Baptist Parish. By the time, the cypress lumber business was fading and the work crews were having to relocate, mainly to pulpwood paper mills. The newly-wed Simons moved to Braithwaite, below New Orleans, where the Westerveldt Paper Company had just built a new pulpwood mill on the Mississippi River. Morris and Cecile were among the first workers to live in company housing at Braithwaite, and that is where Cecile had her five children and raised them through childhood.

When the castastrophic flood of 1927 forced Westerveldt Paper out of Louisiana, the Simon family were among the first workers to help build and operate the new plant at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Cecile and Morris lived briefly in a log house on the outskirts of Tuscaloosa, then moved into their permanent home in West End, an older neighborhood formerly called New Town.

A devout Catholic, Cecile walked around a mile every day to and from St. John's Catholic Church in downtown Tuscaloosa. Neighbors remember her as a petite woman who could speak English only with a pronounced Louisiana French accent when she first arrived. She was an excellent cook, and kept jars of various red and white sauces ready to make delicious Louisiana dishes in minutes. Every morning she would make fresh yeast bread, and her house always smelled like a bakery. In the French tradition, she raised ducks in her back yard and prepared roast duck on holidays.

After Morris died, Cecile moved into a smaller apartment around the block from her house, which was still occupied by her son Minor and his family. When her oldest son, Morris Jr., became ill and crippled, Cecile took care of him in her apartment until he died; then she moved to Fairfield, near Birmingham, to live with her daughter Lois. Cecile (or "Emily" to some friends) died in 1981 at the age of 81.

Sources

• 1910 Federal Census, Louisiana, St. John the Baptist Parish, Police Jury Ward 6, ED 82, Roll T624_529, Page 36A, FHL microfilm1374542.
• 1930 Federal Census, Louisiana, Plaquemines Parish, Braithwaite, Police Jury Ward 1, District 1,Roll 815, p 2B, hh 35/36, ls 71-77.
• 1940 Federal Census, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County, Precinct 16, Alberta City, ED 63-37A, Sheet 12A, lines 17-22, hh 283.