Baptismal Record:
[OLV-1, 105]
Noted living with parents [Walter and Emily M. Gautier] in 1900 Federal Census: Jackson County, Mississippi -- Roll T623/812, Image #290, Enumeration District #44, Beat #4, East of line dividing Ranges 7 & 8, Sheet #12A, House #212, Family #212, enumerated June 21, 1900, by Charles E. Pabt.
Noted living with parents [Walter and Emily Gautier] in 1910 Federal Census: Jackson County, Mississippi -- Roll T624/744, Image #101, Enumeration District #64, Beat #4, East of Range line dividing ranges 7 and 8 west, Sheet #17B, House #291, Family #291, enumerated May 7, 1910, by Alfred E. Lewis.
Found:
Residence: 39563 Moss Point, Jackson, MS
Born 5 Feb 1884
Died Jun 1980
Issued: MS (Before 1951)
[Social Security Death
Index]
Found: PAGE 70
It was a gay era. These were the carefree days of
boat racing. There were regular races on the beach front and on the lake.
These
were more or less practices, though. The big races were held in Biolxi,
between
Ship Island and the Coast. When Pascagoulans had tuned up their champion
sailboats, they took them over to Biloxi and entered the keen competition.
And
often times they won. But there was one famous race held in Pascagoula. It
came
on September 8, 1900, a time when cat-boat races were beginning to take a
back
seat to motorboat races. In these last days of the cat-boat a question began
to
be raised about which had been the fastest of them all. Folks in Pascagoula
had
no doubt that it was the fabulous "Adelaide" built by Fernandez
[sic--Fernando]
Gautier and winner of many a medal over the years. But folks from Biloxi to
Bay
St. Louis were staking their money on the newly-built "Lady Florence," which
was setting records everytime she entered the waters. On the fateful day, a
strong September wind was blowing so hard the race was almost called off.
But
too many people had come too far and had too much money in the betting. The
winner's purse was only $500 but the real money was being wagered on the
sidelines. The shore was lined with thousands of screaming spectators when
the
two boats set sail. A special platform had been constructed for the judges
and
the dignitaries. Pascagoulans went wild when the "Adelaide," piloted by
James
Gautier got off to an early lead. But they groaned when she almost flipped
over
and the "Lady Florence" pulled ahead. It had already been decreed that if
either boat capsized, the survivor was the automatic winner. Then the
"Adelaide" pulled back even and on across Pascagoula Bay the two boats
raced,
manned by the most skillful crews on the Gulf Coast. The waters were rocky
and
so rough that some bets were being made that neither boat would finish the
race. In the end, it was the "Adelaide" that pulled ahead just as they
crossed
the finish line and won the day for Pascagoula. Celebrations were held all
through the night as the victors elaborated on the contest. The next day,
news
came that Galveston had been destroyed by a hurricane from which Pascagoula
had
only gotten the side effects. Ten years later, a new kind of race had
developed
and Mobile held its first motorboat race. It was won by this same James
Gautier
and his little brother, Hermes, as they guided their newly- constructed
boat,
"The Emily" to victory.
[PASCAGOULA, SINGING RIVER CITY, Jay
Higginbotham,
Gill Press, Mobile, August, 1967]
Found: PAGE 113
Then the boys came back. [James] Donovan Gautier
came back wearing a bronze star. He had been at Bataan, forced on the
infamous
Death March and was a Japanese prisoner for more than three years. There
were
others who returned: Dick Abbey, James Ira Grimsley, Walter Gully, Charles
Ford, Tom Kell, Lonnie Watts, Wilbur Dees, Marby Penton, Robert Farnsworth,
Duell Hewlett, Tom Leatherbury, John Dupont, Johnny Green, Quinn and Newton
Gautier, Frank Canty, Jr., Pete Cox, Calvin T. Bolding, Jr., and some sixty
others. But Stova Firth didn't come back. Neither did Billy Canty or Joe
Shepherd. These and several other Pascagoulans had given their lives for
their
country.
[PASCAGOULA, SINGING RIVER CITY, Jay Higginbotham, Gill Press,
Mobile, August, 1967]
James Donovan Gautier, Sr. completed a WWI Civilian Draft Registration
Card
(Ancestry.com -- 1999).
Completed a WWI Civilian Draft Registration Card
(USGENWEB -
abstracted by Raymond H. Banks).