Blind Carpenter Serves Community and Country

It’s amazing what you can discover when searching for relatives in old newspapers. Old newspapers are a great source of information when doing genealogy. As you find facts about your family members and learn interesting things about their history, you will often discover details about local history. These details help to add flesh to the bones of the genealogical information you already have.

While researching my husband’s family tree, I discovered his great grandparents lived in Bossier City and raised their seven children here. When searching newspapers for info on the Vascoes, I also found information about Bossier City history through a letter he wrote to the editor of “The Planters Press.”

I discovered, like my husband, Great grandfather Joseph Norman Vascoe was a carpenter and a minister. Something we did not know until finding these details in old newspapers. These findings revealed that he loved his community, and they loved him. He moved to the village of Bossier City in 1924, a time when there were no paved roads here. In his letter to the editor, I discovered that he built his house at 310 Montgomery Street out of lumber from the old framed Bossier High School.

He was a self-employed carpenter who became blind in 1935, but that didn’t stop him from contributing to society. He joined the ministry in 1936 and continued to use his carpentry skills to benefit children in the community. To him, success meant “living the good life and helping as many people as you can.”

In one article, the writer described him as having a sunny disposition stating, “Though he is blind and almost deaf, Elder VASCOE radiates goodwill and cheer to all he meets throughout the year. Mr. VASCOE’S faith in the ultimate good of all he beholds is something for all of us to follow.”

After becoming blind, he could no longer do the level of carpentry work that he had before, so he turned his attention to building toys for children. Primarily he built dollhouses complete with electricity and toy wagons. He also made a miniature replica of Noah’s Ark and the log cabin where he was born.

Selling the toys he built helped support him and his family, but he also was quick to give them away, especially during Christmas time, for the benefit of poor children whose parents could not afford to buy them presents. His generosity was returned when the Shreveport Lions Club auctioned one of his wagons during an annual Christmas party for the blind one year. Those bidding on the wagon contributed the difference between their bid and the previous bid; the total collected was given to Vascoe.

During the Second World War, Vascoe gave old tools he no longer used and many household furnishings to the scrap metal drive during the Salvage for Victory campaign. He also raised chickens and vegetables and everything he could to “help our boys in the service.” He was passionate about doing his part to help the war effort, including buying war bonds. In one article, he told the reporter, “Let’s do everything possible to speed the end of the war and hasten the day of rejoicing when all are together and singing ‘Happy Days Are Here Again.’” As a man of peace and with a son and two sons-in-law in the Army, he looked forward to ‘when all are together again.’

There are some tips you should know when it comes to genealogy and family history research in newspapers. Depending on the time period, names were often listed as first and middle initials with the last name. When searching, try searching this way. Then try with first name, middle initial, and last name, and then just first and last. Some people go by their middle names, so it helps to also search by middle and last name. And, if you discover they had a nickname, then search using it, too.

When searching for women, you will want to search them using their husbands’ names with the ‘Mrs.’ prefix attached to it—of course, trying all combinations mentioned above. Sometimes, this can actually lead to learning the woman’s full name and possibly her maiden name if these are not known to you yet.

Also, you can search their home address, which can reveal property transfers and related information. It used to be common practice to include the person’s address when writing about them in the paper.

The Bossier Parish Libraries provide access to newspapers.com and one of our newest databases, HeritageHub, where you can explore your family history with the premier collection of U.S. obituaries and death notices for in-depth genealogical research from 1704 – today. HeritageHub helps you identify relatives, uncover new information, and potentially unknown family members. It includes in-depth coverage from all 50 states, hard-to-find content from the mid-1900s, and original obituary images. Access is available 24/7.

To explore your family history, check out our “History & Genealogy” page of our website, which you can locate under the “Resources” tab. For help, contact your local branch of the Bossier Parish Libraries or visit the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center. Can’t come in, call 318-746-7717 or email history-center@bossierlibrary.org with your request. Follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on Facebook, @bplhistorycenter on Tiktok, and check out our blog, http://bplhc.blogspot.com/.

By: Amy Robertson