Interview with Ms. Iona Bourg II

Accession No.: 
ON1-007

00:00:30 - Talking about the Popes; High school in Franklin went to Rome to sing for the Pope;
00:01:30 - Looking at photographs; Photo of Compton Frère; He died in his 30s;
00:06:00 - Moved from Florence to Baldwin; Her and her sister worked in Lafayette;
00:07:45 - Donna talks about meeting Jerry Bourg;
00:08:30 - The Patouts; Jules and Dennis Burguiere;
00:11:35 - Map of Côte Blanche area; List of plantations: Cypremort, Alice B (?), Ivanhoe, Florence, Côte Blanche, Glenco, Choupique;
00:12:35 - Lived on Florence plantation; Her sister's husband did a lot of fishing in Marsh Island;
00:14:00 - She hates the word "Cajun" because "Acadian" is such a beautiful word; Reasons "Cajun" stuck;
00:15:50 - Her mother's ancestors came from Nova Scotia; They settled near Oxford plantation;
00:17:30 - Hurricanes ruining nearby beaches; She is not interested in the beach anymore;
00:21:00 - Donna shows Iona pictures of her grandchildren;
00:22:30 - Her sister died when she was 93 years old; Her dad was 73 years old and her mother was 98 years old when they died;
00:24:45 - She worked her whole life; She retired and moved into the retirement home; They tried to get her to be a secretary at the retirement home;
00:26:30 - Grinding season; Happens in the fall; They harvest the sugarcane and bring it to the sugar mill; They grind it; They would have sugar house parties; Blackstrap molasses;
00:28:00 - The sugarcane was weighed before it was processed; Weather can affect how much sugarcane is harvested;
00:30:00 - Farming; Risks involved with farming; She doesn't want to see soybeans replace sugarcane;
00:32:15 - She doesn't remember Mr. Dennis going into the store; Her father's job at Florence; They had an engineer at the mill; They had to know everything about the machinery; Jerry's son, G.P., has an agricultural engineering degree;
00:34:35 - Her sister, Irene, weighed sugarcane; They had a separate building and she worked the scale and recorded weights;
00:35:30 - Not many sugar mills left;
00:36:15 - Depression era; They always had food, but she thought she would never see money again; Her first job after the Depression was with the Caffery's; Secretary work; She learned a lot of words during this job;
00:38:30 - John Caffery and Admiral King went to the naval school together; Right before D-Day, Admiral King visited the Caffery's;
00:39:15 - Columbia plantation; The store is still there, but she isn't sure if the sugarcane factory is still there; The Caffery's probably knew Jules Burguieres;
00:40:50 - Story about an auditor from New Orleans;
00:42:20 - Burning the sugarcane fields; She can't remember if they burned the fields when she was at the plantation;
00:43:00 - Smell of sugar mills; Smell depended on the sugarcane; Sugar parties; Someone would give a tour and explain the sugar mill;

Media Type: 
Audio
Collection: 
Onebane, Donna
Subject: 
Louisiana; Cajuns; Oral history; Plantation life;
Creator: 
Donna McGee Onebane
Recording date: 
Friday, July 15, 2005
Coverage Spatial: 
Lafayette, LA
Publisher: 
Center for Louisiana Studies
Rights Usage: 
All rights reserved
Language: 
English
Meta Information
Duration: 
00:44:34
Cataloged Date: 
Monday, October 28, 2019
Digitized Date: 
Monday, December 5, 2005
Original Format: 
Audio--Minidisc
Digital Format: 
Audio
Bit Depth: 
24 bit
Sampling Rate: 
96 kHz
Storage Location: 
Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore - Drawer 25 Row 1