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160. Jack Edward BOUCHER
was born on Jun 27 1919 in Murphysboro, Jackson Co., IL. He died on Jul
4 1996 in Centralia, Marion Co., IL. Jack died at about 10:00 P.M. in the evening
as his wife and daughter were lovingly preparing some fried chicken and chicken
and dumplings (which were his favorite) for him. Jack had been very, very ill
for about 9 months, having pneumonia several times in that period as well as
having his cancer start up again and get very bad. Doctors had tried about everything
on him in the last few months, and nothing seemed to help stop the cancer. He
was buried on Jul 8 1996 in Tower Grove Cem.-Murphysboro, Jackson Co., IL. Jack
was buried in Lot #2. He actually was buried by mistake in the wrong grave,
but then was moved to the right one a few weeks after. "Here are a
few things that I was told about Raphael and his descendants, that only I know.
My mother, Josephine Nogier Boucher, Bertha Morgan Williams and Aunt Jennie
Sorrels are the persons that told me these things.
They took my mother to live with her grandparents (Raphael and Frances)
after her mother died. She was only 8 years old and had never seen either one
of them, and could not speak french. French was all they spoke. In the evenings,
Raphael would sit by the fireplace and rock and would motion for my mother to
come over and she would crowd up on his lap and he would rock her until she fell
to sleep. This was the only comfort she had those days. Frances bought her shoes
on a straight last. There was no left or right shoe and the idea was to wear
them on each foot and they would not get out of shape. She had to go across
Kincaid Creek to go to school and there was no bridge. The kids had to cross
on a log. Frances told her if a storm washed the log away to go back and ask
someone to stay the night.
My father told me that if they ever broke a piece of farm machinery, they
would take the pieces to Raphael. Most of the time Raphael could make a new
one that would fit. He would also shoe all the horses nearby.
Raphael had a big red dog. It got rabies one time and would run from the
corner of the house to the barn and then the granary, snapping at everything
it was near. It bit their cow which then had to be shot.
Raphael liked his wine, and when times were good, there would be 4 bottles
on the dinner table - a red sweet and a red sour, a white sweet and a white sour.
As times got harder, there would be only one or two. Mother said that many
times for supper there would only be a plain boiled potato and a dish of peanuts.
My mother learned to speak french and she spoke it like a Frenchman and
not like a high school freshman. She went to New Orleans once and when she returned,
all she talked about was getting to speak french when she was there.
Sometimes Raphael would drink too much. If he got drunk on wine, everything
was fine and dandy, but if he got too much whiskey, he was mean. I was told
by another cousin, that when Raphael came to America, he brought another woman
with him, paid her fare from France to New York, but she left him when they got
to New York.
Soon after going to live with them, he had my mother help plant corn. He
would walk down the row and dig a small hole and she would drop 3 seeds and he
would go back and cover them up. Mother was tired and wanted to quit, but Raphael
said they would go on as long as she had seeds in her bucket. When they came
to the end of the row, mother
poured all except a few into one hole. She never thought about all of them sprouting
up in a few days, and then she would be caught!
Her room was upstairs in the log cabin and snow would blow in. In the morning,
there would be a set of tracks leading from the stairs to her bed and back.
Frances had come to check to see if she was OK.
Mt. Joy church was the only social spot for young people to come to. Raphael
forbade mother to go there. Mt. Joy was protestant and the Finot's were catholic.
That was the start of their problems and trouble and so mother ran away from
home. She went one half mile down the road to Cyrus and Addie Boucher, where
mother got a job as a hired girl. It is ironic, that Raphael and Frances were
both buried in the cemetery at Mt. Joy Lutheran Church.
After my grandmother (Stephanie) died, the oldest son, Joe, borrowed a horse
and rode to Elkville to tell Zella Finot Morgan and family. Green Morgan loaned
him a saddle and he rode on to tell Raphael. Stephanie is buried in an unmarked
grave in DuQuoin and was
the mother of 17 births. Some born dead, some lived a short time, but only 7
lived to be adults."
These are the recollections of Jack Edward Boucher. Jack has spent many,
many hours researching his family lines and we owe a great debt of gratitude
to him for preserving much of his family history. He has put to paper a lot of
information on his Boucher family as well. His dear wife, Joann has helped him
a great deal, and will continue to finish some of his work that he had started.
He was married to Joan Cevern SCHUMM on Feb 3 1946 in Mt. Vernon, Jefferson Co., IL.