ROME PHOTOS

Irvin ROME (1918-2000) is shown below left about 1919 with Mama (Elia ST. CYR, 1897-1975) and his sisters Gert (1917-1986, on left) and Ethel (1915-2000).

Irvin's parents, Edwin ROME and Elia ST. CYR, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1964 (below right), well before I met Linda ROME. "Daddy" was 75 at the time, and "Mama" was 66. I never did meet them; they died before I was married. Mama and Daddy didn't travel a lot, and I made my first trip to Destrehan in December 1978 for Christmas.

Elia's sisters Marie (ST. CYR) O'CONNOR (below left, left in the picture) and Palmyr ST. CYR are shown along with Marie's son Frank O'CONNOR about 1938, in Corpus Christi, Texas. I met Palmyr ("Na-Nan") ST. CYR and her husband Henry ("Shortie") WENDL on one of my visits to Louisiana. Palmyr and Henry married late in life and had no children. Edwin's mother was Francina ("Ma-Mere") DUHON, shown below center. Francina was born in 1857 and died 1950. Although the picture on the right is grainy and unclear, I include it because it illustrates one of my genealogical dead ends. This is Adele WELLS, Francina DUHON's mother, Edwin's grandmother, and Irvin's great-grandmother. Adele was born in 1822, daughter of Noel WELLS and Seraphine STAYER. Noel was born about 1779, almost certainly in Pennsylvania; I can find no records of his birth in Pennsylvania or elsewhere. Although there is some disagreement in the records, the names of Noel's parents are something like Enoch WELLS and Marie OMSTEAD. Enoch's name starts appearing in the records of St. John the Baptist Parish in 1784. Any help with this ancestor would be greatly appreciated. If there are any male descendants of Noel WELLS willing to submit a DNA sample, there is an active WELLS DNA project which could link the Louisiana WELLS family to other families in the country.

Irvin was the third oldest of 6 children of Edwin and Elia ST. CYR ROME. The children and their spouses were photographed about 1949 or so. The photo was cracked and faded when I got it, and Linda did her best to repair it, but it's still a bit fuzzy.

From left: Murlyn (1920-2007); Elia and Edwin; Ruth (1921-), who married Joseph Emile BLUM (1911-1978) in 1951; Gert (1917-1986) married Steve Erdelyi (1921-1992) in 1941; their daughters (on Steve's lap) are Diane (1945-2010) and Susie; Dorothy EMBSHOFF ROME (1920-1996) married Irvin ROME in 1942; Irvin (1918-2000, on the floor), Kearney (1924-1993), and Ethel (1915-2000), the oldest and the matriarch of the family when I met them. Ethel and Murlyn never married.

The ROME family was photographed in 1973 with Mama and Daddy. Back row: Gert, Kearney, Ethel, Elia ST. CYR, Irvin, Edwin ROME. Front row: Ruth, Murlyn.

Some of the older generation of ROMEs were pictured about 1974 (left). Standing: Lillian became a nun in the Sisters of Charity, Elia, Edwin. Seated: Stella (1893-1982) married Ralph COLLINS. Elia's sister Palmyr (Na-Nan, on the right) was photographed in the 1980s.

I welcome other ROME families to send photographs for inclusion on this site. The family of Cleophas ROME and Euphreme FOLSE is pictured below in 1904, in Bowie, Louisiana. Cleophas was born in 1854, and was a ggg-grandson of Johannes ROMMEL. Despite the difference in birth years (Cleophas was born in 1854, Irvin in 1918), Cleophas and Irvin were fourth cousins only one generation removed. This resulted from the fact that Irvin's grandfather Jean Edouard ROME was 59 when Irvin's father Edwin was born in 1889. Irvin was born 18 years after his grandfather died. In fact, none of Jean Edouard's grandchildren from his second family with Francina DUHON could have known him.