My wife's great grandfather was Amos Shamp who lived in Melville in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I have been to the Methodist Cemetary and have found the Shamp family plot but most of the older headstones are no longer legible. Are there still descendents of the Shamp family in Melville? The last Shamp in Melville that I know of was Minnie LeBlanc Shamp who died in 1964. Please let me know if anyone knows more about the Shamp family in Melville. My personal email address is gbachman@cox.net.
Gene W. Bachman - gbachman@cox.net
Click for the larger image...
Click for the larger image...
* Census Note: * U.S. Federal Census records are divided into groups by state, then county, and in many cases by townships and enumeration districts as well. Enumeration districts are subdivisions used by census takers and other governmental representatives to further break down the geography of a given area beyond the county and/or township level. Browsing the census records by enumeration district allows a researcher to see their ancestor in context of their closest neighbors. You may learn additional information about your ancestor by observing their neighbors over a succession of several years.
Mrs. Minnie Shamp was a young girl at the time of the railroad construction and was interviewed for a 1955 newspaper article:
"When I first remember Melville," she said, "there was nothing there but Irishman's camps and the convicts working on the railroad. The Irishmen had contracted to build the road, and they worked convicts in those days. I remember when they were working on 'the dump,' the hill atop which Melville's rail is laid.
"I was living in Melville in '83, when the bridge was completed," she continued, "and I saw the first train go over. Up until then, they had built the railroad up to the river and transported the trains by boats across the river... Before the railroad went through, we used to travel from our place eight or 10 miles above Melville to Washington. There wasn't anything here but woods and those camp-huts where the Irishmen working on the railroad lived. Where the town is, there was a field, cleared and cultivated. The biggest part of the town was along the levee and at first there were only the commissaries for the convicts building the railroad. Gradually, men came and put up stores."
They also put up fish businesses and ice houses, and just before the turn of the century some 50 barrels of fish -- caught in the Atchafalaya and other nearby lakes and waterways -- were being shipped from Melville each day.
Descendants of John Worford Schamp
Generation No. 1
1. JOHN WORFORD SCHAMP was born in Ireland, and died Abt. 1891 in Melville, Louisiana. He married SARAH MITCHELL.
More About JOHN WORFORD SCHAMP:
Burial: Methodist Cemetary, Melville, Louisiana
Children of JOHN SCHAMP and SARAH MITCHELL are:
2. i. EDWARD WORFORD SHAMP, b. February 14, 1869, Melville, Louisiana.
3. ii. AMOS JOHN SHAMP, b. March 12, 1870, Rosen, (Maybe Ravenswood) Louisiana; d. February 05, 1908.
"The Shamp family lived in Melville and also across the river in Pointe Coupee parish where the communities were known as Red Cross and Ravenswood which are between Lottie and Morganza."
Generation No. 2
2. EDWARD WORFORD SHAMP (JOHN WORFORD SCHAMP) was born February 14, 1869 in Melville, Louisiana. He married MINNIE LEBLANC. She was born 1873, and died 1964 in Melville, Louisiana.
More About MINNIE LEBLANC:
Burial: Methodist Cemetary, Melville, Louisiana
Children of EDWARD SHAMP and MINNIE LEBLANC are:
1. WALTER O.3 SHAMP, b. December 27, 1889, Melville, Louisiana; d. January 18, 1962, Melville, Louisiana; m. JUANITA; b. January 04, 1897; d. June 08, 1962, Melville, Louisiana.
More About WALTER O. SHAMP:
Burial: Methodist Cemetary, Melville, Louisiana
More About JUANITA:
Burial: Methodist Cemetary, Melville, Louisiana
4. ii. EVIE SHAMP, b. October 16, 1892, Melville, Louisiana; d. March 23, 1986, Melville, Louisiana.
iii. EDDIE E. SHAMP, b. August 28, 1896, Melville, Louisiana.
iv. BURNICE S. SHAMP, b. June 01, 1901, Melville, Louisiana; d. March 09, 1913, Melville, Louisiana.
More About BURNICE S. SHAMP:
Burial: Methodist Cemetary, Melville, Louisiana
3. AMOS JOHN SHAMP (JOHN WORFORD SCHAMP) was born March 12, 1870 in Rosen, Louisiana, and died February 05, 1908. He married CATHERINA ELIZABETH SCHAFE, daughter of NICHOLAS SCHAFF and CATHERINE. She was born January 04, 1870 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and died July 16, 1911.
More About AMOS JOHN SHAMP:
Burial: Methodist Cemetary, Melville, Louisiana
Children of AMOS SHAMP and CATHERINA SCHAFE are:
i. ADDIE SHAMP, b. August 09, 1891.
ii. ELVIN WARFORD SHAMP, b. July 04, 1895; m. LOUISE.
5. iii. OTIS JOHN SHAMP, b. September 09, 1895, Melville, Louisiana; d. March 1972, Metairie, Jefferson, Louisiana.
iv. VIOLA SHAMP, b. September 18, 1897.
v. JESSE MARION SHAMP, b. January 03, 1900.
6. vi. HATTIE LOUISE SHAMP, b. April 05, 1903.
7. vii. ELEANOR ALINE SHAMP, b. January 15, 1906.
Generation No. 3
4. EVIE SHAMP (EDWARD WORFORD, JOHN WORFORD SCHAMP) was born October 16, 1892 in Melville, Louisiana, and died March 23, 1986 in Melville, Louisiana. She married RICHARD JONES.
More About EVIE SHAMP: Burial: Methodist Cemetary, Melville, Louisiana
Children of EVIE SHAMP and RICHARD JONES are:
i. CLYDE JONES.
ii. TILLIE JONES.
5. OTIS JOHN SHAMP (AMOS JOHN, JOHN WORFORD SCHAMP) was born September 09, 1895 in Melville, Louisiana, and died March 1972 in Metairie, Jefferson, Louisiana. He married RETA LALLY, daughter of JOHN LALLY and PHILOMENE LECLERE. She was born June 19, 1899 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Lived in Melville as a child. House in Melville was next to the Catholic Church.
6. HATTIE LOUISE SHAMP (AMOS JOHN, JOHN WORFORD SCHAMP) was born April 05, 1903. She married ? DUBOIS.
7. ELEANOR ALINE SHAMP (AMOS JOHN, JOHN WORFORD SCHAMP) was born January 15, 1906. She married JOHN BROCK, JR., son of JOHN BROCK and JIMMIE STEWART. He was born August 09, 1903.
Funeral services for Richard "Dick" Jones, 84, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 22, 2005, in St. Anthony Catholic Church in Krotz Springs with burial in St. Anthony's Mausoleum.
The Rev. Mark LeDoux will conduct the services.
Mr. Jones retired from Exxon pipeline in 1978 after 32 years of service. He was a member of St. Anthony Catholic Church in Krotz Springs and the Melville Masonic Lodge. He was a World War II veteran and served in the Army Air Corps.
Mr. Jones died at 8:40 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005, at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge.
He is survived by his wife, Gloria Reed Jones, of Krotz Springs; two sons, Don Jones and his wife, Amanda, of Baton Rouge, and Darrell Jones and his wife, Deborah, of Baton Rouge; and two sisters, Thelma Lee Jones, of Melville, and Alma Hasney, of Chalmette. He is also survived by three grandchildren, Donnie Jones, of Seattle, Mandy Jones and Darin Jones, both of Baton Rouge; and one step grandchild, Nevin Bretz, of Watson.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Richard and Evie Shamp Jones; one brother, Clyde Jones; and one sister, Etta Mae Armstrong.
Pallbearers and honorary pallbearers will be Don Jones, Donnie Jones, Darrell Jones, Darin Jones, Eddie Wiltz, Bill Wiltz, Arnold Wiltz, James Soileau, Claude Kaiser, Malcolm Gordon and Roy Reed.
The family requests visitation be from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. Saturday until time of the services.
Lafond Ardoin Funeral Home of Krotz Springs, 942-2638, is in charge of the arrangements.
