Continuation of tree (2nd child of Onezime Pitre/Genevieve Lemoine); all known surname descendants:
9 Ugee Pitre b: 12 July 1900 Ville Platte, St. Landry, LA; d: 26 March 1978 Pasadena, Harris, TX
+ Isola Fontenot b: Abt. 1904 Ville Platte, St. Landry, LA; m: 24 October 1919 Ville Platte, Evangeline, LA; d: 11 September 1941 near Ville Platte, Evangeline, LA
10 Allen Pitre b: 28 March 1920 Ville Platte, Evangeline, LA; d: 15 July 1959 Clarksville, Red River, TX
*2nd Wife of Ugee Pitre:
+Earline Kenney (Duncan) b: 7 October 1908 Panama, Le Flore, OK; m: 12 February 1944 Harris, TX [Johnny/Dora Lamb]; d: 13 May 1974 Houston, Harris, TX
10 Darlene Pitree b: 28 March 1946 Harris, TX
+Danny B. Steffenauer b: Abt. 1946; m: 20 June 1976 Harris, TX (divorced 1978)
Notes for Ugee Pitre:
Census
- 1920 Ville Platte, Evangeline, Louisiana: Ujia Pitre 20 farmer/cotton & corn, wife Ezola 16
- 1930 Evangeline, LA: Izola L. Fontenot 26 farmer/general farm, Allen 9.
- 1940 New Caney, Montgomery, Texas: Ugee Petree 38 logging/sawmill, brother Arthur J. 33 logging/sawmill.
- 1940 Evangeline, LA: Isola L. Fontenot 36 farming/farm, son Allen Pitre 19 farmer/farm.
- 1950 Houston, Harris, TX: Eugene Pitree 59 painter/construction, wife Earlene 41, Darlene 4.
WWI Registration Records: Eugee Pitre, res. Ville Platte, b. 12 Jul 1900; rel. Onesime & Jenivra Pitre of VP; medium height/slender build, brown eyes & dark brown hair, 12 Sep 1918 Ville Platte.
WWII Records: Ugee Pitre, res. Ville Platte, mailing address Leary, TX; b. 12 Jul 1901 Ville Platte; contact Hursey Richard, Bunkie, LA; employer Lone Star Ordinance Plant, Texarkana; 5' 6", 128 lbs.; brown eyes, black hair, ruddy complexion, scar on left cheek & end cut off middle left finger; 16 Feb 1942 Bowie, TX
Death Certificate: Pasadena, Harris, TX - Southmore Hospital: Ugee Pitree, d. 26 March 1978, widower, b. 12 July 1890 Ville Platte, LA, age 87, carpenter-painter/construction; parents: Onzime Pitree & Geneiva Lemoine; never in armed forces; informant: Darlene Steffenauer (daughter); burial San Jacinto Memorial Park, Houston
Notes for Marie Ezola Fontenot:
Death Report: The Ville Platte Gazette (Ville Platte, LA), Thursday, 11 September 1941: Death of Couple near here found Murder-Suicide: Milton Vidrine Kills Isola Fontenot then takes own Life: Murder and suicide was the official version of a shooting south of Ville Platte Thursday night in which Milton Vidrine, 35, killed Isola Fontenot, 37, his common law wife, and then took his own life, according to Chief Deputy Asa Buller who was with Sheriff Parker Fuselier and Coroner T. H. Littell in the investigation of the case. The tragedy occurred at 8:30 Thursday night at their home some three miles south of Ville Platte. Vidrine was in ambush at the side of the building, and when the woman stepped out he shot her three times with a single barrel shotgun, the charges striking her in the back and chest. Vidrine then walked some two miles, during the process of which he met his nephew and explained to him what had happened. He also declared his intention of taking his own life. Shortly thereafter he placed the muzzle of the gun to his abdomen, touched off the trigger and knew no more. The woman is survived by one child; Fontenot by none. The couple was estranged at the time of the shooting, and the misunderstanding is believed to have resulted in the tragedy.
Allen Pitre:
- The Town Talk (Alexandria, LA), Monday, 4 November 1940: 28 Young Men enlisted here by Army, Navy - 14 go to Quartermaster Corps at Camp Beauregard: Accepted by the Army for 94th Anti-Tank Battalion, Fort Benning, Ga. included Allen Pitre, 20, son of Mrs. Isola Pitre, of Ville Platte.
- The Ville Platte Gazette (Ville Platte, LA), Thursday, 2 April 1942: Judge J. Cleveland Fruge announced that in order to curb the numerous burglaries committed in Evangeline Parish it was necessary to start imposing heavy sentences on anyone convicted or entering guilty pleas before him; he sentenced Allen Pitre, who entered a plea of guilty to the charge of burglary to a term of four years in the State Penitentiary. After being arrested Pitre confessed to breaking and entering the Evangeline Wholesale Grocery Company in Ville Platte and stealing numerous articles from the wholesale.
- News Democrat and Leader (Russellville, KY), Thursday, 29 September 1949: Allen Pitre, operator of Pitre's Concessions at the State Fair, was sued for $2,500 by Ray Thomas, an employee. Thomas claimed Pitre bit a hunk out of his neck during a difference of opinion on the division of gate receipts.
- The Selma Times Journal (Selma, AL), Tuesday, 22 November 1949: Amateur Nights at Walton Theatre (included) Cecil Pressley will aid Allen 'Frenchy' Pitre in bringing tricks of magic.
- Chronicle Star the Moss Point advertiser (Pascagoula, MS), Friday, 2 February 1951: Summary: Three men, including Allen Pitre, were being held in the county jail on suspicion of stealing the car they were in. The driver, Andrew James York, 25, was charged. The other two, Allen Pitre and Donald Patrick Flynn, claimed to be hitchhikers who did not know the car was stolen.
- The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, FL), Saturday, 25 January 1958: (photos of detectives with stolen goods) Part of the loot - Lakeland, Jan. 24 - Lakeland detectives examine nradios, television sets and other appliances allegedly taken from a local store by six Tampa men. Some of the loot was recovered from as far away as Biloxi, Miss., and Houston, Texas. Of the men charged in the thefts, Allen Pitre is still at large; William Delany and Edwin Maki are awaiting trial; Herb Winburn, Jack Wright and John Garrity have been tried and sentenced. A Tampa woman, Peggy Goff, was sentenced to a year for concealing some of the stolen property.
- Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), Tuesday, 4 March 1958: A small, slim carnival worker has been arrested in connection with the recent theft of the $20,000 firearms burglary of a local sporting goods firm, it was announced by Chief of Police Shirley S. Arrighi and Sheriff Bryan Clemmons yesterday. They identified the man, who was booked for burglary and theft in the parish jail, as Allen Pitre, 38, of Tampa, Fla. Steinberg's Sporting Goods Store at 832 St. Philip St., was burglarized over the weekend of Feb. 8-10. Pistols, shotguns and other types of firearms, plus an assortment of merchandise, were stolen. Among the loot was an $1,100 four-barrel shotgun. Pitre was arrested here early on the morning of Feb. 15 by Officers S. Jackson and F. Bickham. On the way to the station Pitre tried to escape in his car. While fleeing from his vehicle, officers saw him toss a paper bag under a nearby vehicle. Detectives said they found in the bag a fully loaded .38 caliber S&W pistol bearing the serial number of one of the stolen guns that was taken in the Steinberg burglary. Joe Lipsey, owner of the store, identified the gun, as well as several other items found in Pitre's possession. Detective Lt. Malcolm Ballard and Deputy George LeBlanc of the sheriff's office were assigned to the burglary, said to be the biggest one ever pulled here. Pitre told them he bought the pistol and the other stolen items from an unknown man in a Lake Charles bar the day before he was arrested here. It was also learned that the car he was driving had been stolen in Lakeland, Fla. Among the stolen items recovered on him were five pair of gloves, three pair of khaki pants, a pair of socks and a pair of pliers, a traveling clock and two boxes of cartridges. Detectives said the pants and socks Pitre were wearing had also been stolen from Steinberg's. LeBlanc and Ballard investigated the Lake Charles aspect of the case and said they learned Pitre had spent some $500 in the same bar in which he said he bought the items for $20. Detectives said they recovered a radio, also stolen in the burglary, from a Lake Charles woman. Pitre had told them he gave her the radio and a pistol, but she denied it. The woman was not held. They later learned that another woman in Shreveport had seen the pearl-handled .22 caliber pistol after it was in the other woman's possession. Pitre is being held in the parish jail on charges of burglarizing the sporting goods store. He is also wanted in Florida for burglary, grand larceny and auto theft. Pitre is reported to have served an earlier sentence in Angola for burglary. Also investigating the case were Detectives Roy Bergeron and L. W. Hewitt. Both Arrighi and Clemmons stressed that investigation of the case is still continuing.
- State Times Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), Monday, 23 June 1958: Allen Pitre pleaded not guilty to burglarizing Steinberg's sports store at 823 St. Philip St., Feb. 9 when $20,000 worth of firearms was stolen. Pitre's trial was set for July 8. [In January 1959, a 12-man jury took less than 30 minutes to find Allen Pitre innocent of the burglary charges.]
- The Paris News (Paris, TX), Thursday, 16 July 1959: Clarksville - Rain-drenched lawmen, armed and on guard, combed the underbrush on the southeast edge of Clarksville Thursday morning for a convicted killer whose companion was shot down early Wednesday evening. A deputy sheriff's shotgun blast, aimed low to wound the two Bowie County escapees, accidentally killed 33-year-old Allen Pitre, as he fell while fleeing along the Texas & Pacific Railway. His ex-con companion, 56-year-old Joe Carter, plunged into the underbrush and across Highway 82. Officers believe he is wounded in the leg. An intensive manhunt, hampered by heavy rains shortly after the shooting, continued all night with 20 to 25 Bowie and Red River County officers and Highway Patrolmen searching the vicinity where Carter fled. The incident occurred within a stone's throw of the east Clarksville city limits. Jittery citizens burned yard lights all night, a few didn't sleep at all and some left their homes when word spread that the suspect was on the loose in the area. But by morning, no trace had been found of Carter, who officers said had been convicted and served a sentence for murder in Louisiana. They didn't know if he was armed, but weren't taking any chances. Pitre, being held in Bowie County jail for Florida officers who extradited him on a felony theft charge, was apparently killed instantly. He took a pellet from a No. 4 Magnum shotgun shell in the lower left chest. Bowie Deputy Carl Elliott fired the fatal shot. He was alone at a roadblock where the English road crosses the T&P Railway when the two men approached him at 8:15 p.m. Elliott said he hollered for the men to halt, but that they ran. His first shot wounded Carter in the leg, he believes, and his second accidentally killed Pitre as the latter tripped and tumbled to the railway right-of-way. Elliott said he was aiming low to wound rather than kill them. Carter hit the underbrush, fled south across Highway 82 and into a thicket along a nearby creek. He lost his hat in the escape. Officers found it and used it for a blood hound scent Thursday morning. The whole incident began Sunday afternoon when Pitre and Carter broke jail at New Boston, county seat of Bowie. An officer there said a trusty may have turned them loose. Pitre, who had just served a sentence at the Federal Correctional Institute at Texarkana, had been turned over to Bowie authorities on release three weeks ago to be held for Florida authorities. Florida officers were en route to New Boston to pick him up. Carter, whom officers said had a long criminal record, was jailed two months ago on a charge of armed robbery after the sawed-off-shotgun holdup of a Texarkana service station. He took to the railroad after that 2 a.m. holdup, officers said, and walked 15 miles before being arrested. The two disappeared after the 3:30 p.m. jailbreak Sunday. Officers sought them but no trace was found until two homes were burglarized between New Boston and DeKalb. At one, they took food in a pillowcase. At the other, they ate a woman's prepared supper when she left it on the table to visit a neighbor. Both burglaries were in the vicinity of the railroad and between New Boston and Clarksville. Bowie officers came to Clarksville Wednesday to check on the possibility that they might be in that area. As Bowie lawmen and Red River Sheriff Slim Hulen conferred, word came in that a home on the Jim Francis place east of Clarksville had been burglarized. More food and a watch were taken. Officers grabbed the lead and immediately set up roadblocks and guards along the railway. The guard paid off at 8:15 p.m. when Deputy Elliott, alone at the intersection of English Road and the railway saw the two walking toward him. He hollered, they ran and the shooting followed. Elliott said he fired two shots with his sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun, and was near certain that Carter was wounded in the leg. A heavy rain that began 30 minutes after the shooting soaked officers as they sought Carter. They continued to probe the area all night. Bloodhounds from Longview were brought in Thursday morning. The hounds took up the scent in the area where officers searched Wednesday night just east of Clarksville, but lost the cold trail. They were being used in various other areas around Clarksville during the morning but more rain was falling. Officers theorized Thursday morning that Carter either was wounded and was holed up somewhere in the Clarksville area or wasn't hit by the shot and had evaded officers and left the area under cover of darkness Wednesday night and early Thursday. No weapon was found on the dead body of Pitre. Sheriff Hulen of Red River County commended the Bowie deputy for his actions, however, and verified the fact that the deputy was shooting low to avoid killing the two escapees. The two men had walked 42 miles from New Boston in three nights, apparently staying out of sight in the daytime. They were believed to have been following the railroad all the way. Carter was a native of Louisiana, Pitre from Florida, officers said. No disposition had been made of Pitre's body Thursday morning. It was at a Clarksville funeral home. Hulen thanked all the officers for their cooperation, Clarksville police, the Highway Patrol, Game Warden Charles Burnette and others joined Red River and Bowie officers. Gregg County Deputy Red Dossett brought the two bloodhounds into the hunt at 4 a.m. The dogs picked up a trail, circled and went to a knoll overlooking the scene of the shooting. Officers believe Carter watched the scene sometime after the shooting. Heavy rains forced a halt to the bloodhound work before 11 a.m. Thursday. The hunt was to be resumed when the rain slackened. Officers continued to patrol the area to keep him bottled up.
Back one generation to parents of Ugee Pitre
Items in RED verified from transcriptions in the following:
- Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records
- Southwest Louisiana Records: Church and Civil Records of Parishes of Acadia, Allen Beauregard, Cameron, Calcasieu, Evangeline, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, St Landry, St Martin, St Mary and Vermillion.
Some Louisiana deaths in RED taken from obituaries or the Louisiana Deaths collection (which includes spouses/parents).
Last updated: 4 October 2022.