I’ve grown a little skeptical of historic newspaper obits for centenarians. From my experience, once people hit 90 down on the bayou, they tended to exaggerate just how old they were.
Case in point: Marguerite Anne Trahan Blanchard.
Marguerite was lauded as the “oldest resident of Terrebonne” when she died just before the year 1902 turned into 1903. It’s possible that she was.
What’s not possible is that she was 103, as the “Houma Courier” newspaper claimed. She was a mere 95 when she died.
Marguerite was born in Lafourche Parish on Aug. 10, 1807 a little over a year after her parents, Etienne Trahan and Anne Daigle, married. At age 20, she married Alexis Blanchard and raised a large family.
By the time she died in 1902, she was a matriarch. It’s possible that she didn’t know how old she was. A lot of people born in 1807 never learned how to read or write. Maybe she lost track.
Certainly, she lived a long and full life, even if she didn’t make it to 103.
louisianagenealogygirl 