The Jeddry Family at Baltimore in the Early 1900s

by Allie Guidry

After the deportations of 1755-1763 the Guédry families developed pockets of concentrations dependant on where various extended families were deported and where they eventually migrated. Areas to which Guédry families were deported included Massachusetts, North Carolina, Maryland and France. Those deported to North Carolina relocated about 1760 to eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and Maryland. A few members of the Guédry family remained in Acadia - either in hiding or held prisoner at Fort Cumberland, Fort Edward and Georges Island.

After the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 ending the French and Indian War, the Acadians could move to others areas if they were able to secure the necessary funding. Their two immediate goals were to reunite with extended family members and to resettle in French Catholic areas. The two primary French Catholic areas remaining in North America being Québec Province and Louisiana. Although Louisiana had been traded to Spain in 1762, it was still administered by France until 1766, the language of the people remained French for many more years and Catholicism was the state-required religion.

The family of Jean-Baptiste Guédry dit Labine in Massachusetts moved in 1766 to Québec province just north of Montréal in the area of Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan (Montcalm County).

Most Guédry families in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland migrated to south Louisiana between 1766 and 1768. At least one Guédry (Joseph Guédry), held prisoner in Acadia, migrated to south Louisiana in 1765. Another (Augustin Guédry) remained in Acadia and founded the town of Chéticamp (later called St. Alphonse) on Baie Ste-Marie in 1787.

Most, if not all, the Guédry families in France relocated to south Louisiana in 1785 - although at least one (Antoine Guédry) arrived in New Orleans a few years earlier.

At their new homes these Acadians remained isolated with little movement outside their settled areas. Families remained close knit and near each other. This condition remained until the mid-1800s in Canada and until the early 1900s in Louisiana.

In Québec and Louisiana land grants to the newly-arriving Acadians followed the path of the streams. Each grant would have a set number of arpents along the stream by a set number of arpents deep (perpendicular to the stream). In Louisiana this would typically be 4-6 arpents along the stream by 40 arpents deep. As a linear measurement, an arpent is approximately 192 feet. Initially, this was a large tract of land for an Acadian family, but as the sons began to reach manhood, the family land would be divided to provide needed farms for the adult sons and their families. They all needed stream frontage as the major communication and transportation route was the stream. So the stream frontage would be divided among the sons and each would get a strip of small frontage on the stream by 40 arpents deep. After two or three generations the narrow strips of land did not provide for adequate farming so the children would have to find land outside the family estate. Typically, in Québec they moved west and south to begin their farms. Thus we find the Guédry family of Saint-Jacquesde-l'Achigan migrating to Ontario, Michigan and Minnesota; however, by this time most had changed their surname from Guédry to Labine (LaBean in Michigan) or Guildry. In Louisiana the Acadians typically moved back from the streams as large planters purchased the family estates and roads were being built for transportation and commerce.

A second major factor forcing the Acadians to abandon their original lands was a major depression that hit lower Canada (including Québec and Nova Scotia) in the late 1830s and 1840s - especially hurting agriculture. To survive, men had to find jobs and these were few and far between in Canada. The maritime (fishing, shipbuilding) and emerging textile industries attracted many young Acadians and French-Canadians to the New England states - especially, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Typically, Acadians from Nova Scotia sought work in both the maritime industry and the textile mills while Acadians and French Canadians from Québec worked in the textile mills. This emigration to New England lasted until the early 1900s.

And so we find Charles Jeddry* in April 1910 at Noank, Groton Township, Connecticut with his wife Delma Boudreau - boarding at the home of William Mallet on Pearl Street. Noank was a small village just outside Mystic, CT. Married in 1908, they had one son John L. Jeddry, born on 9 March 1909 at Noank, CT. A shipyard carpenter, Charles was 28 years old and Delma was 21. ¹ Delma, the daughter of Ambroise Boudreau and Margaret Welsh, was born in Digby County, Nova Scotia on 22 August 1890. ^{2 , 3} Also from Digby County, Nova Scotia, Charles was born on 2 January 1876. ⁴

Still residing on Pearl Street in 1914, Charles and Delma experienced an almost unbearable tragedy. On 2 September 1914 three of their young children were seriously ill with cholera morbus. By the next day all three children had died and their fourth child John Louis Jeddry was in the hospital. He eventually survived the illness.

Working as a ship carpenter not only required changing jobs frequently, but also was dangerous. In November 1915 Charles was working for Basin and Construction Company in Long Island, CT. In March 1916 he reached a compensation agreement with his employer Pendleton Bros., Inc. of Noank, CT. Charles suffered severe cuts to the toes on his right foot on 21 February and received $7.50 weekly as compensation. In April 1916 Charles Jeddry had secured employment in Stamford, CT. ⁶

Charles Jeddry registered for the United States draft on 12 September 1918. At this time he was still a ship carpenter and was working for Coastwise Shipbuilding Company in Baltimore, MD. He and Delma were living at 1519 E. Clement Street in Baltimore with their son John Louis Jeddry. On 12 Sept 1918 Charles registered for the WWI draft. He had a medium height, medium build, brown eyes and black hair and no physically disqualifying defects. ⁴ Why Charles moved his family from Connecticut to Maryland between 1916 and 1918 is unknown. It does not appear that the job caused the relocation as he was able to find work in the shipbuilding industry in Connecticut from 1910 through 1916. Charles, Delma and their son John Louis may have come south with Delma's brother Angus Boudreau and his family. They both arrived in Baltimore at about the same time and both families lived at 1519 East Clement Street. Both men had been ship carpenters in the Noank, CT area.

About October 1918 Charles and Delma welcomed a new child Anna Mae (Annie) to their family. ⁷ Less than seven months later Charles Jeddry died in Baltimore after a quarrel with his wife on Good Friday, the 18 ^th of April. He left home at that time and told Delma he would not return and would kill himself. He appeared to be deeply depressed. He died on 21 April and after being missing for more than a week a boat captain found his body floating in the harbor near the Coastwise Shipbuilding Company plant on 30 April. In his pocket was a box containing several bichloride of mercury tablets. The coroner ruled his death a suicide. ⁸ Could the tragic death of his three young children in September 1914 - only five short years earlier - have finally destroyed Charles' marriage and his life?

In January 1920 Delma Jeddry was a widow lodging with her young daughter at the home of John and Annie Vanmeter on Hull Street in Baltimore. She was working as an usher at the theatre. ⁷ Her son John Louis, ten years old and her only child to survive cholera morbus in 1914, was not living with her. Since her husband's death, Delma had moved from 1519 East Clement Street to Hull Street - about two blocks distant.

Delma Jeddry married Lewis H. Orr of Missouri in late 1923 or early 1924 and shortly afterwards the couple moved with her daughter Anna Mae Jeddry from Baltimore to Houston, PA where Lewis Orr worked at the local newspaper, The Daily Notes. ³ On 30 December 1924 the couple had their first child, a daughter Ruth. Sixteen months later on 24 April 1926 Lillian Orr was born. ¹⁰ In 1930 the couple was living on Grant Street in Houston, PA with their daughters Anna Mae Jeddry, Ruth Orr and Lillian Orr. Lewis Orr was still working in the printing business at The Daily Notes newspaper. ¹¹

During 1935 Delma Orr became ill and her condition worsened over the ensuing months. On 25 June 1935 she died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburg, PA leaving her husband Lewis, three daughters - Anna Mae Jeddry, Ruth Orr and Lillian Orr - and a son in Baltimore - John Louis Jeddry. ³ For burial she was taken back to Baltimore. Her funeral was held at the home of her brother Angus Boudreau at 1433 Hull Street with interment at Holy Cross Cemetery. ¹²

John Louis Jeddry, son of Charles Jeddry and Delma Boudreau, remained in Baltimore after his widowed mother married Lewis H. Orr about 1924 and moved to Houston, PA. He was 15 years old at the time. In 1928 - 1930 he was a machine operator (laster) in the shoemaking business and was a lodger at the Boys Home Society on Linden Avenue headed by George R. McCleary. ¹³

In early January 1933 John L. Jeddry and Eleanora Emma Born received a marriage license in Baltimore. They wed on 15 January. John continued his work with a shoe manufacturer. ¹⁴ John and Eleanora's first child, Delma Barbara Jeddry, was born on 8 October 1933 in Baltimore. Later three additional daughters - Marguerite (born 1936), Eleanor (born 1938) and Claire - and one son John Jr. joined the family. ¹⁵ Periodically, John and his family would travel to Houston, PA to visit his mother, sister and step-father.

With World War II approaching, John Louis Jeddry registered for the draft on 16 October 1940. Living in Towson, MD, he was a clerk for the Dixon-Bartlett Company, a wholesale dealer in shoes and boots in Baltimore. At this time he and Elenora had three daughters. John was 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 169 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. ^{1(b) , 16}

During World War II many household needs were rationed including sugar. In early April 1943 one of the Jeddry ladies lost her black patent leather pocketbook in Baltimore that contained Sugar Ration Books 6 and 7 and other valuables. These sugar ration coupons were for John Jeddry Jr., John Jeddry Sr., Delma Jeddry, Marguerite Jeddry, Eleanor Jeddry and Elenora Jeddry as well as John Stephen Talasky. The family lived on Ridgely Oak Road, Hamilton P.O., MD. They offered a reward for the return of their lost items. ¹⁷

Between 1943 and 1956 John Louis Jeddry and Elenora Emma Born Jeddry had separated. In 1956 Elenora E. Jeddry was living at 5439 Belle Vista Avenue in Baltimore and working as a machine operator for Black & Decker. John L. Jeddry was residing at 2915 Rosalie Avenue in Baltimore and working for the shoe manufacturer Dixon-Bartlett Company. Despite their separate residences, Elenora was listed as John's wife. ¹⁸

By January 1959 John and Elenora had divorced and John had married Mabel Mary Brandner. ¹⁹

On 29 January 1979 Anna Mae Jeddry Brailsford, wife of James A. Brailsford, former wife of Joseh Talodizicky (Talasky) and sister of John Louis Jeddry, died at Essex, MD. ²⁰

John Louis Jeddry's first wife Elenora Emma Born passed away on 26 November 1991 at Baltimore, MD leaving four daughters and a son John Jeddry Jr. After her divorce she had married Charles R. Ermer. ²¹ Shortly after Elenora's death, John Louis Jeddry died on 18 October 1993 at Essex, MD and was interred at the Baltimore Cemetery. His four daughters and son survived him. ²²

On 13 November 2001 Mabel Mary Brandner, the second wife of John Louis Jeddry, died at Essex, MD. She was interred in Baltimore Cemetery. ²³

Although Charles Jeddry had only one son (John Louis Jeddry) that survived beyond childhood and John Louis Jeddry had only one son (John Louis Jeddry Jr.), the Jeddry family blossomed after the second generation in the United States. John Jeddry Jr. married Ann "Nancy" Scheuerman and they had two daughters (Pam and Phyllis) and three sons (John L. Jeddry III, Mike and Steve). John Louis Jeddry Jr., born 21 December 1940, died in Baltimore on 13 April 2012. ²⁴ Today the Jeddry family remains vibrant in Baltimore and the surrounding communities with a growing number of Jeddry offspring.

* His surname is variously spelled Jeddry, Jeddrey and Jedrey in the records.