Matthew & Amret (Bass) Girlinghouse Family



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Matthew ("Matt") Joshua Girlinghouse was the first child born to
Christian Henry Girlinghouse and Joanna Croom. He was born on
Wednesday, January 22, 1862 in Manifest, Catahoula Parish,
Louisiana. Christian died when Matt was only about five or six
years old, leaving Matt and his brothers without a father. Joanna
Girlinghouse raised her four boys at Manifest, Louisiana on the
land that their father had inherited from his uncle, Christian
Rosbeck. At the age of 22, on Thursday, February 7, 1884, Matthew
J. Girlinghouse married his neighbor, fifteen year-old Amret
Bass.  Matt and Amret were married at her home. Amret Bass was
born on January 14, 1866 at Jonesville, Catahoula Parish,
Louisiana. She was the eldest daughter of Esaw Bass and Margaret
McCarthy. Amret was called "Ammie" by many of her relatives.

Matt's difficult upbringing without a father probably played a
large part in his psychological makeup, for as an adult Matthew
was reported to have been a cruel, short tempered alcoholic with
a chip on his shoulder. Matt was very headstrong and independent,
as well as resourceful, having high ideals. One had to be careful
around him not to say the wrong thing, as he was quick to snap
back, taking offense. Like his mother, and for that matter many
of the residents of rural Catahoula Parish were rough characters.

Matt's father, like Amret's father, had fought in the Battle of
Vicksburg during the Civil War. In fact, the company in which
Christian Girlinghouse was inlisted and the company in which Esaw
Bass was inlisted merged together into one company at that
battle. Christian and Esaw met each other at the Battle of
Vicksburg, not knowing, of course, that someday they would be in-
laws. Christian apparently invited Esaw to move from Mississippi
to Catahoula Parish, Louisiana after they finished their service
in the war. It's a safe bet to say that had it not been for the
Civil War, our branch of the Girlinghouse family wouldn't exist!

On September 25, 1885, Carrie Ella Girlinghouse was born to Matt
and Amret. She was their first child, born at their home in
Manifest. Matt's mother, Joanna, who was a mid-wife, delivered
Carrie, as well as most, if not all of the others that were to
follow. Nearly two years later, on June 21, 1887, Matt and
Amret's first son was born whom they named Judge Newman
Girlinghouse. Then nearly two and one half years later, on
November 30, 1889, Matthew Joshua Girlinghouse, Junior was born.
They called him "Mattie."

Matt and Amret's first house was on a slight hill in Manifest,
not far from the cemetery in which Matt's father had been buried.
On March 15, 1890, Matthew and two of his brothers, Newman and
Christian, Jr., bought two tracts of land containing 160 acres
and 80 acres from James M. Kirby, Sr. for $1000.00. The land was
located just Southwest of Jonesville, Louisiana off of what is
now Highway 84 (Section 7). Then four years later on October 11,
1895, Matthew, Newman and Christian sold both tracts of land to
John A. Hudspeth for $700.00. Nearly two years after Mattie was
born, almost like clockwork, Matt and Amret's fourth child,
Mellisa ("Mallisie") Girlinghouse, was born. She was named after
a Choctow Indian woman who was a friend of the family. Her name
was originally spelled "Molisa."

After Mellisa's birth, Amret contracted erysipelas, an acute,
infectuous skin disease. The rapidly spreading red inflamation
started in her feet, spread to her hips, and then jumped to her
breasts. Amret's breasts had to be lanced, so she was unable to
breast-feed Mellisa and the children that followed. Just thirteen
months elapsed between Mellisa's birth and the birth of Matt and
Amret's fifth child, Lizzie Girlinghouse, who was born on October
12, 1892. Nearly three years later, Amret gave birth to William
Ezekiel Girlinghouse on August 12, 1895. He was called "Zeke" for
short. Zeke was the only one of Matt and Amret's children who was
not delivered by Matt's mother, as Joanna was sick at the time of
Zeke's birth. About a year and a half later, on March 7, 1897,
John Christopher Girlinghouse was born.

In about 1898, they sold their first house and moved a short
distance down and across the road. Their house was quite
spacious, with a large porch all across the front of the house.
The Girlinghouses also owned an upright piano, which they kept in
the living room. Matt and Amret each had their own separate
bedrooms on either end of their rectangular shaped house. Both of
their end bedrooms had fireplaces in them. Later in her life,
Mellisa joked about how her parents had somehow managed to
rendezvous regularly in one of their two bedrooms, because they
wound up with a houseful of children.

Matt Girlinghouse and two of his brothers, Newman and Christian,
worked together most of the time, cutting timber and making
staves for barrels and kegs. Newman owned and operated the stave
mill where they would make the staves which they joined together
to make large kegs, mostly used for storing whiskey. This stave
making business of theirs kept them away from home some of the
time. Mellisa recalled that they chopped the trees down with axes
rather than using a cross saw. Matt's sons helped in the timber
business when they were old enough. While away from home, Matt
kept in contact with Amret and his family by mail. Two hand-
written letters have survived which give us clues to what it was
like for Matt and his brothers while working out of town. In a
letter dated November 18, 1893, Matt wrote, "We are having bad
weather now for hauling. We have 2000 staves to haul out yet and
when we get them hauled we will start for home. We have lost all
our work and labor on that stave company. I went to Monroe but I
could not find the devil; he scip out from Monroe the morning I
got there. The staves was throwed  in the yard and I could not
swear to my staves. So I then waited for the evening train.
Coming south there was a wreck above Monroe and I had to wait
till 12 o'clock at night. Got to Alexandria 4 o'clock." Then in a
letter dated December 5, 1893, Matt wrote: "We are try[ing] to
get through this week and will start for home next week. We only
have two men in camp now. I had a lawsuit and it was decided last
Saturday and I won it and got damages from Mike Swanson so I will
close. We can't possibly get home before the 18th or 20th; we
will be there by that time."

At home the Girlinghouse family also farmed their land. They grew
cotton, sugar cane, corn, potatoes, peanuts, watermelons, etc.
They raised cattle, and had as many as fifteen cows to milk every
morning and evening. They also raised chickens, hogs and other
livestock. The Girlinghouse family always had plenty to eat. They
were somewhat self-sufficient, growing and raising all the food
that they needed, as most people in rural areas did in those
days. Matt made syrup from the sugar cane they grew, and Amret
would often make syrup cake, which she would take out into the
field for the children to eat during their break. The children
worked in the field all morning, took a break around 10:00 or
11:00 when they would usually have some syrup cake and something
to drink. Then at noon they would go in for lunch. They would
take just enough time to eat their food and wash the dishes, and
they would return to the field. The Girlinghouse children spent
most of their time working in the field. Matt did most of the
tilling, plowing, and planting while most of the children
harvested. When the boys were old enough, they helped Matt with
the plowing and planting. Mellisa recalled how the cotton bushes
got so tall that the children could virtually hide in the cotton
field.

In the yard by their house was a well with a small rooftop over
it, and a wheel on it with which to lower and raise the bucket.
On the north side of the house they had three persimmon trees,
and in back of the house, down a little walkway toward the marshy
lowland, they had a little "refrigeration" house. A thick layer
of sawdust, used as insulation, completely lined the inside walls
and floor of this little building, which helped to maintain a
fairly cool temperature inside. Upon opening the door, even in
the hot summertime, a cool fog was visible inside. Their milk and
other perishable foods were stored in there. Matt and his family
shared this little sawdust house with William, Emma and Joanna
Girlinghouse, who lived next door. The containers of milk that
were kept in the refrigeration house were topped with large
wooden lids. Amret also kept her butter churn in the little
house. Nearby they had a smokehouse in which they would store
their meats. When they would kill a calf to eat, they would
pickle the meat that they wanted to store and they would hang it
in the smokehouse.

Saturdays were special because after a hard morning's work in the
field, they would all take the afternoon off to go fishing in a
nearby creek. The Girlinghouses loved to fish, and they enjoyed
their frequent fish fries.

Matt and Amret's eighth son, Rodney Girlinghouse, was born just
over two years after John, on July 29, 1899. According to the
1900 Federal Census of Catahoula Parish, Amret had given birth to
ten children, but only eight were living by 1900. This indicates
that Amret had apparently given birth to two stillborn infants
prior to the turn of the century, although this was not commonly
known in the family. Two years after Rodney was born another son
was born, and he was named Quitman Esau Girlinghouse, born on
October 14, 1901. A little over two years later, on January 1,
1904, Matt and Amret's tenth child was born. He was named Tollie
Girlinghouse. Fairly consistently, Amret gave birth to a baby
about every two years. Having separate bedrooms did not slow them
down in the least!

Especially around the turn of the century, Matt was often away
from home and ran around with a Choctow Indian friend of his.
They went everywhere by horseback, and it was common in those
days for men to carry a pistol. It is said that Matt and his
friend had a secret whiskey still in the area. Matt would often
come home drunk. Matt's children feared him, especially when he
was drunk. He was a very strict man and had a terrible temper.
Matt's children actually avoided him because on many occasions
they would unsuspectingly become the victims on whom he would
vent his rage. But if he called for one of them, they were quick
to respond. Obviously he was a cruel tyrrant who demanded his
way. He would often sit on the front porch of the house, twisting
his handlebar mustache, reading and rereading a newspaper while
the children were out in the field working.

One day in about 1904, Matt's oldest son, Judge, who was
seventeen years old, unintentional damaged a flower bush by their
house, and Matt came unglued. Reacting like a madman, Matt began
to beat Judge until he was bloody. Judge had worked side by side
with his father for several years, plowing the fields and making
barrel staves, trying to do his best, but Matt apparently could
not be pleased. This time Judge had finally had enough and
decided to leave home. He did not really have anywhere to go, but
he knew he had to leave. He first went to his uncle Newman
Girlinghouse's place at Sandy Lake to seek refuge. Newman told
him that he would not be able to stay there because Matt would
surely come after him. Judge still insisted on leaving home,
stating that if he returned home, Matt would kill him, or he
himself would wind up killing Matt. So Judge went out into the
work world to make it on his own. In the early 1900's there were
many Choctow Native Americans living in Catahoula Parish. The
Girlinghouse children were afraid of them because they had been
told that Indians would chase them, catch them and bite their
fingers off. Children will believe almost whatever they are told,
so when they saw an Indian, they would run and hide!

Although the Girlinghouse children generally had a difficult
upbringing, they did have times of having fun together. One of
Mellisa's granddaughters recalled her telling of an occasion when
the Girlinghouses bought some fireworks. After lighting a few
roman candles and watching them shoot into the sky, something got
into them and they began to chase each other around the yard,
firing roman candles at each other! Occationally, Matt and his
family would take a trip to visit Amret's parents, Esaw and
Margaret Bass, who lived near Jonesville. It was about a 15 to 20
mile ride which they travelled by ox cart. It took several hours
to get there, and they had to cross a river on the way. Esaw and
Margaret Bass had raised a houseful of children themselves, but
by this time most of their children were grown and had families
of their own.

In April of 1903, Carrie Girlinghouse married John Brannon at
Matt and Amret's home, out in the yard. John and Carrie started
their home in the town of Jena. In about 1905, Matt and Amret
sold their property in Manifest and the Girlinghouse family moved
to Eden, Louisiana (now known as Belah), about 20 miles away, but
they didn't stay there long. It was there, on March 15, 1906,
that Matt and Amret's eleventh child was born. She was named Emma
Katy Girlinghouse, and she went by the name "Katy." Mellisa
recalled the day that Katy was born. Apparently, Amret was down
by a small creek on their property and she was crying. Mellisa
and the others were out in the field working, and Mellisa spotted
her mother. Mellisa told her brothers and sisters that there was
something wrong with their mother. She had never seen her cry
before. They did not realize that their mother was about to have
a baby. Amret was always such a large woman, that it was not
obvious to them that she was nine months pregnant. As Mellisa
later put it, "If you heared it, you overheard it," refering to
finding out about a pregnancy. So, Mellisa went to see what was
wrong with her mother, and Amret began to explain to her what to
do. Matt was gone, as usual. Joanna Girlinghouse was there and
she took charge, instructing the girls in what to do, getting
ready for the birth. Before too long the baby was born. Mellisa
attended to the needs of her mother, helping in whatever way she
could. She recalled her grandmother Joanna explaining to her to
keep the slop jar hidden when she would empty it so that the
children would not see it. Like most women in that time period,
Amret would stay in bed for nine days after the baby was born.
The older girls did all of the housework then, and took care of
their mother while she was bedridden.

In 1907, the Girlinghouse family moved a few miles away to Nebo,
Louisiana, in the newly formed adjacent Parish of La Salle. That
year three of the oldest Girlinghouse children married and moved
away from home, leaving seven children in the Girlinghouse
household. Judge married Pinkie Francis in February, Mattie
married Mary Gallup in July, and Mellisa married Leonard Frazier
in September. On October 22, 1908, Archie Brannon Girlinghouse
was born to Matt and Amret. He was named after John Brannon's
brother, Archie. Then almost three years later, on August 21,
1911, their thirteenth and last child was born. He was named
Guvie Emmitt Girlinghouse.

The Girlinghouse children had just enough education to be able to
read and write. Mellisa, for instance, only had a third grade
education. There was too much work to be done in the fields and
there were so many children to help tend to, that education was a
luxury. While living in Nebo, Matt Girlinghouse owned and
operated a general store, where he sold various items, tools,
medicines, foods, etc. He had a leger book in which he kept all
the bookkeeping records for the store, as well as the charge
accounts of different people in the community. Rodney's grown
children recalled having read through the leger book when they
were children, noticing the inventory of goods that Matt kept in
his store.

In June of 1910, Mellisa's husband, a lumberjack, was killed by a
falling tree in Poluck, Louisiana where they were living.
Mellisa, pregnant with their second child, moved to Jena and
lived with John & Carrie Brannon.  In about 1911, they all moved
to Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, where John Brannon had been
raised. John, Carrie, their children, Mellisa and her children
all lived near Choupique Bayou. The next year, Mellisa met and
married Lazime Daigle, a south Louisiana Cajun.

Matt and Amret's marriage was not a good one, but they somehow
stuck with it. They were both tough, rugged and strong-willed
people. As an adult, Amret was a large, heavy set woman, much
like her own mother, Margaret (McCarthy) Bass. Amret was nearly
six feet tall, and had long dark hair which she usually pinned up
or tied in the back. She had a mean disposition, as had many
other members of the Bass family. Amret was a very serious
person, in contrast to her daughter, Mellisa, who loved to laugh,
have fun and tell jokes. Amret could not tolerate too much of
that kind of spirit.

When Matt was about 51 years old he began having problems with
his equilibrium and was losing his balance a lot. Of course,
being an alcoholic, his inebriation may have been the principal
cause. One day Matt fell and broke his leg. For some reason,
Amret refused to let a doctor set Matt's broken leg. Mellisa had
a hunch that Amret now had him at home where he belonged, and he
would no longer be able to go get drunk. Matt got weaker and
weaker and it was not long before he died. He died at his home in
Nebo, Louisiana at the age of 51 on February 13, 1913, and was
buried at the Girlinghouse Family Cemetery in Manifest. His
mother had preceeded him in death the previous year.

Amret Girlinghouse was left to raise the rest of the children
that still lived at home. Amret had been through a lot with Matt.
They had a rough life together. After Matt's death, Amret and her
younger children lived with Rodney and his family in Nebo. World
War I began in 1914. Mattie, Zeke and Johnny Girlinghouse
enlisted in the Army. The brothers trained at Camp Beauregard in
Alexandria, Louisiana. In a postcard written to his mother on
September 25, 1918, Zeke wrote: "[I'm] leaving Camp Beauregard
today and I am going [to] New Orleans, La. and will drop you a
letter just as soon as I arrive." Apparently Zeke, and presumably
Mattie and Johnny, set sail to Germany from New Orleans and
fought in the war there until the end. Mattie, however, did not
return alive, for he was killed near the end of the war. He was
apparently buried in Germany and his body was later returned to
Manifest for permanent burial. After the war, Zeke returned to
Nebo, and in March of 1920 he married Mattie's widow, Naomi
(Kees) Girlinghouse. In December of 1917, just prior to enlisting
in the Army, Johnny had married Naomi's sister, Blanche Kees,
whom he returned to after the war had ended.

The Girlinghouse family attended Nebo Baptist Church. They were
what is commonly known as "Primitive" or "Hardshell Baptists."
Over the years, several of the Girlinghouses were baptized in a
nearby creek, ironically called Devil's Creek. In about 1926,
Nebo Baptist Church was having a fund raiser in order to build an
addition to their little church house. Amret, along with several
other ladies of the church, volunteered to give their time to
piece together some quilts which they later raffled off. Amret
would go to the church in the morning, taking a sack lunch with
her for lunch, and would spend much of the day piecing together
the quilts. They charged ten cents to have people's names
embroidered on each square. When the quilts were completed, they
had a big raffle day. A large raffle wheel was constructed and
the donors' names were written in sections around the wheel.
Rodney Girlinghouse had the honor of shooting the spinning raffle
wheel with his gun, and whichever name was hit by the bullet
determined who the winners were. Among other animals on their
farm at Nebo, the Girlinghouses had pigs. One day one of their
sows had some baby pigs, and before the Girlinghouse's realized
it, the sow had eaten her little ones. Amret was furious when she
found out about it! She told her grandchildren to stay inside,
and she marched outside to the pig pin. She grabbed a fense post,
and proceeded to literally beat the sow to death! The children
watched from inside the house. Amret's granddaughter, Elsie
Girlinghouse, recalled the unforgettable sight of her grandmother
swinging the fense post, as her long dress swished back and forth
with every blow! Undoubtedly, they had ham on their table shortly
thereafter.

One day, Amret was out in the chicken coop, collecting eggs from
the nests. She came upon one particular laying hen, and slipped
her hand under it to check for eggs. Suddenly, she jerked her
hand back, realizing that the chicken was sitting on a coiled up
snake. Her heart beating ninety-to-nothing, Amret stood back as
the snake quickly slithered away. Somewhat stunned, Amret looked
at the hen for a moment and then reacted in anger. She grabbed
the hen, and immediately wrang it's neck! "If that chicken is
stupid enough to sit on a snake," Amret said, "it doesn't deserve
to live!"

Amret was sometimes a rather mean woman, and when she would
become impatient with her youngest son Guvie, she would tend to
go a bit too far. Once, when Guvie was a young boy, Amret
threatened to kill him for misbehaving. Amret tricked him,
telling him that she was going to hang him and slit his throat,
and she began making a noose with some cord string. She tied the
string around his neck and tossed it over a rafter as if she was
going to raise him off the floor to hang him, and she held a Case
knife in her hand. This obviously got Guvie's attention. He was
terrified and began to beg her not to kill him. He, of course,
did not realize that a noose made of string could never hold him,
but he was afraid nonetheless. Amret agreed not to hang him if he
would behave himself.

Amret was a strict disciplinarian, and wouldn't put up with her
children's misbehavior or foolishness. She used anything she
could get her hands on --a board, a shingle, a stick, or any
other object within reaching distance that would do the trick --
to whip her misbehaving children. One day her son Johnny did
something that apparently merited a whipping, and Amret promised
him one. He told his brother Rodney that he was going to shorten
his whipping by faking his own death after a couple of blows.
Rodney spoiled it for him though, and told Amret about John's
plan. This knowledge made Amret even more angry, and when John
fell down as dead, she just kept hitting him with the board,
until John quickly realized that his trick wasn't working,
prompting him to attempt an escape!

At times, Amret was mistreaded by her youngest son, Guvie. It is
reported that he would sometimes get mad at her and beat her,
threatening to kill her. Amret was often afraid to be alone for
fear that he would show up and kill her. On a few ocassions she
would go outside to the garden which was between her place and
Rodney's place, and holler for Elsie (Rodney's oldest daughter)
to come spend the night with her, as she was afraid that he would
return to kill her. One time Guvie even beat up Amret's favorite
white horse to spite her. When Rodney heard about him beating up
Amret and the horse, he decided to take matters into his own
hands and discipline Guvie, so he got a board and beat him with
it. Amret knew that Guvie would try to kill Rodney, so she and
Bertha (Rodney's wife) hid the gun under the bed mattress. Before
long, Guvie stormed into the house, cursing and full of hatred,
searching for the gun. When he couldn't find it, he realized that
they had hidden the gun from him, so he left in a fury. Perhaps
the Biblical admonition to parents not to provoke their children
to wrath may have been one of Amret's shortcomings, as Guvie's
behavior toward his mother may have been a reaction to her
provocations.

In January of 1933, Amret became very ill with Influenza. Rodney
and Bertha Girlinghouse took care of her, but she worsened by the
day, and then on January 22, 1933, Amret Girlinghouse died at the
age of 67. Amret died on the very day on which her late husband
would have turned 71 years of age. Most of the children, who were
grown up by then, returned to Nebo for the funeral. Mellisa
helped to dress her deceased mother for the funeral and noticed
that there was a large black spot on her back. At the time, she
assumed that it was a cancer of some sort, although it was never
confirmed. It was probably a large mole. Some of her decendants
have had similar moles, including Mellisa in her old age, and it
has since been recognized as a hereditary condition.

Amret's body was buried next to Matt's, at the Girlinghouse
Family Cemetery in Manifest, Louisiana, the day after her death,
January 23, 1933.

A yearly family reunion began and continued in the years
following Amret's death. They had a yearly fish-fry in Nebo near
a creek, where the children could swim and have fun together.
During the 1960s the reunion dissolved, but in 1987 it was
started up again, this time at the Parish Barn in Jena,
Louisiana, on the last Sunday of each October. Most recently it
has been held at the VFW building by the Townsman Inn.

This text was taken with permission from Mr. Heddins's web site,
http://heddins.com

Compiled and written by Roland J. Heddins, copyright 2001. Much
of the information in this biography was obtained from his
grandmother, Mellisa (Girlinghouse) Broussard, and other
Girlinghouse relatives including Judge N. Girlinghouse, Bertha
(Barron) Girlinghouse, Elsie (Girlinghouse) Young, etc. As
further details come to light, this biography will be updated and
expanded. If you have any details to add or correct, please email
Roland at rjheddins@mail.com. No part of this biography may be
published (in print or on the internet) without permission. Thank
you.