Individual Details
Mary Catherine Hand
(July 7, 1867 - December 1, 1954)
1910 Census states Mary was born in Missouri and her parents were born in Ireland.
Sunday in San Antonio used to mean ice cream at Govreau's boarding house Series: Pasco County Centennial
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; May 10, 1987; FRANCES LEE GARRISON;
Full Text:
Copyright Times Publishing Co. May 10, 1987
Editor's note: Pasco County is 100 years old this year. In conjunction with the Centennial, the Pasco Times takes a look each Sunday at a page of Pasco history.
SAN ANTONIO - In the early 1900s when the young people of San Antonio heard the whistle of the Sunday morning train pulling into the station, they knew it would soon be ice cream time at St. Anthony House.
Mrs. Louis G. Govreau operated a boarding house where the fire department now stands. She called it St. Anthony House. She had an ice cream parlor in the house, and opened it on Sundays.
Mrs. Govreau arranged for a shipment of ice cream to be delivered by train each Sunday. The town's mailman, Mr. Alder, picked up the weekly order of ice cream for Mrs. Govreau on Sunday morning when he drove his horse and buggy to the train depot to pick up the mail. (In those days there were two mail deliveries each weekday and one on Sunday.)
By Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Govreau's home was full of children clutching their nickels for ice cream cones and young people who came for ice cream and socializing. Later in the afternoon, many of the young people would gather around the piano in the Govreau's family parlor to play and sing.
Mrs. Govreau's daughter, Madeline Govreau Beaumont, lives in San Antonio. She is the grandmother of the six members of the Beaumont Family Singers of San Antonio who along with their mother Margaret were honored in Tallahassee last week by Gov. Bob Martinez and the Florida Cabinet.
Madeline Beaumont recently recalled the times when her mother ran the ice cream parlor.
``Mama always ordered three flavors, usually chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, but sometimes she would get real exotic and get something like orange crush ice cream.`` Mrs. Beaumont said the younger children would be waiting when Mr. Alder brought in the freezers. No child was ever turned away because of lack of money, said Mrs. Beaumont.
When her mother was widowed in 1915, five of her 10 children were still at home. Their farm overlooking King Lake needed extensive fence repairs. A new law allowed livestock to roam freely, forcing those who grew crops to fence the animals out.
Government loans for farmers were made available but her application was turned down because, Mrs. Beaumont said, officials didn't think she could keep up with the work of farming.
Unable to keep the farm going and with five children to support, Mrs. Govreau opened the boarding house and ice cream parlor.
Mrs. Beaumont said there were as many as 20 roomers and boarders, depending on the season. They were mostly sugar cane workers and orange pickers doing seasonal work. ``Sometimes there were only five or six,`` she said.
Though there were plenty of chores to do such as cleaning and filling the kerosene lamps, Mrs. Beaumont said, ``all this time I was going to high school and having a good life. As most people were Catholic we always had services Sunday evening. We had a boys' band that played in the park after services. Then you could go out into the park to listen to the music and be with your friends.``
Mrs. Beaumont, author of San Antonio, Florida: The First 50 Years, published in 1981, notes that San Antonio was founded in 1881 as a ``Catholic Colony`` by Judge Edmund F. Dunne. Dunne was a former judge in Arizona who came to Florida for his wife's health. He also donated land for Saint Leo College's first monastery.
These settlements were in what was then Hernando County. Pasco County was carved out of the southern part of Hernando in 1887.
Sunday in San Antonio used to mean ice cream at Govreau's boarding house Series: Pasco County Centennial
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg; May 10, 1987; FRANCES LEE GARRISON;
Full Text:
Copyright Times Publishing Co. May 10, 1987
Editor's note: Pasco County is 100 years old this year. In conjunction with the Centennial, the Pasco Times takes a look each Sunday at a page of Pasco history.
SAN ANTONIO - In the early 1900s when the young people of San Antonio heard the whistle of the Sunday morning train pulling into the station, they knew it would soon be ice cream time at St. Anthony House.
Mrs. Louis G. Govreau operated a boarding house where the fire department now stands. She called it St. Anthony House. She had an ice cream parlor in the house, and opened it on Sundays.
Mrs. Govreau arranged for a shipment of ice cream to be delivered by train each Sunday. The town's mailman, Mr. Alder, picked up the weekly order of ice cream for Mrs. Govreau on Sunday morning when he drove his horse and buggy to the train depot to pick up the mail. (In those days there were two mail deliveries each weekday and one on Sunday.)
By Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Govreau's home was full of children clutching their nickels for ice cream cones and young people who came for ice cream and socializing. Later in the afternoon, many of the young people would gather around the piano in the Govreau's family parlor to play and sing.
Mrs. Govreau's daughter, Madeline Govreau Beaumont, lives in San Antonio. She is the grandmother of the six members of the Beaumont Family Singers of San Antonio who along with their mother Margaret were honored in Tallahassee last week by Gov. Bob Martinez and the Florida Cabinet.
Madeline Beaumont recently recalled the times when her mother ran the ice cream parlor.
``Mama always ordered three flavors, usually chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, but sometimes she would get real exotic and get something like orange crush ice cream.`` Mrs. Beaumont said the younger children would be waiting when Mr. Alder brought in the freezers. No child was ever turned away because of lack of money, said Mrs. Beaumont.
When her mother was widowed in 1915, five of her 10 children were still at home. Their farm overlooking King Lake needed extensive fence repairs. A new law allowed livestock to roam freely, forcing those who grew crops to fence the animals out.
Government loans for farmers were made available but her application was turned down because, Mrs. Beaumont said, officials didn't think she could keep up with the work of farming.
Unable to keep the farm going and with five children to support, Mrs. Govreau opened the boarding house and ice cream parlor.
Mrs. Beaumont said there were as many as 20 roomers and boarders, depending on the season. They were mostly sugar cane workers and orange pickers doing seasonal work. ``Sometimes there were only five or six,`` she said.
Though there were plenty of chores to do such as cleaning and filling the kerosene lamps, Mrs. Beaumont said, ``all this time I was going to high school and having a good life. As most people were Catholic we always had services Sunday evening. We had a boys' band that played in the park after services. Then you could go out into the park to listen to the music and be with your friends.``
Mrs. Beaumont, author of San Antonio, Florida: The First 50 Years, published in 1981, notes that San Antonio was founded in 1881 as a ``Catholic Colony`` by Judge Edmund F. Dunne. Dunne was a former judge in Arizona who came to Florida for his wife's health. He also donated land for Saint Leo College's first monastery.
These settlements were in what was then Hernando County. Pasco County was carved out of the southern part of Hernando in 1887.
Events
| Birth | July 7, 1867 | Linn Township, MO | |||
| Marriage | November 17, 1886 | San Antonio, FL - Louis George Govreau | |||
| Census | 1910 | Wes;ey Chapel, Pasco Co., FL | |||
| Census | January, 1920 | San Antonio, Pasco Co., FL | |||
| Death | December 1, 1954 | San Antonio, FL | |||
| Burial | St. Anthony Cemetery, San Antonio, FL |
Families
| Spouse | Louis George Govreau (1860 - 1915) |
| Child | Ida Florence Govreau (1887 - 1953) |
| Child | Louis George Govreau (1890 - 1966) |
| Child | Mary Ethel Govreau (1891 - 1968) |
| Child | Michael Henry Govreau (1894 - 1972) |
| Child | William Francis Govreau (1896 - 1964) |
| Child | Rose Ellen Govreau (1898 - 1947) |
| Child | Norma Agnes Govreau (1902 - 1939) |
| Child | Sylvia Gertrude (O.S.U.) Govreau (1906 - 1925) |
| Child | Madaline Ita Govreau (1908 - 1992) |
| Child | Charles James Govreau (1910 - 1972) |
| Father | Michael Hand (1827 - 1903) |
| Mother | Rose Ellen Carroll (1832 - 1920) |
| Sibling | Thomas H. Hand (1853 - 1888) |
| Sibling | John Hand (1855 - ) |
| Sibling | Patrick Anthony Hand (1859 - 1941) |
| Sibling | Michael James Hand (1862 - 1891) |
| Sibling | William Matthew Hand (1864 - 1886) |
| Sibling | Francis Henry Hand (1869 - 1887) |
| Sibling | Peter Eugene Hand (1871 - ) |