John Dominic Morlas

1865 - 1923  (57 years)

• Name	John Dominic Morlas  [1]
  Birth	25 Aug 1865	New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	14 Feb 1923	New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana   [1]
  Burial	Metairie Cemetery (Lake Lawn Metairie), New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana
  Notes	Owner of La Bella Creole Dairy. Bennie Zahn wrote, in the January 9, 2000 issue of THE TIMES-PICAYUNE (Living, Section E, page 7), that "The property was originally acquired in the late 1800s by John Morlas who made the purchase with silver dollar coins collected from wealthy customers on his milk route. The family legend is, that whenever he was given a silver dollar in payment for milk and cream, he tossed it onto the top of the armoire in his bedroom. When this property which adjoined the Tulane (University) tract was put on the market, he gathered all of the silver coins, counted them and found that he had $8,000, enough to buy the property. After his death in 1923, his wife, Lucine Roquevert Morlas, sold part of the tract, about 3,800 feet long with a depth varying from 100 to 140 feet, for $100,000 for the then proposed St. Vincent Infant Asylum. Within a year, the property was resold for $165,000 to men who had successful experience in local developement and who started immediately to beautify the ground. Today the property is called Versailles Boulevard and extends from Claiborne Avenue to Fontainebleau Drive."
  Person ID	I184	Strong Family Tree
  Last Modified	17 Aug 2014

  
  

  Father	Jean-Marie Morlas,   b. 14 Nov 1846, Laas, Gers, France d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Caroline Maria Holmes,   b. Jan 1841, New York d. 7 Jun 1901, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age ~ 60 years)
  Marriage	Bef 1862
  Family ID	F188	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Lucine Roquevert,   b. 28 Jan 1869, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 16 Feb 1946, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 77 years)
  Marriage	28 May 1888	St. Stephen's Church, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana   [1]
  Children	1. Leontine Josephine Morlas,   b. 19 Jan 1889, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 20 Feb 1972, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 83 years)   2. John Louis "Bebe" Morlas, Sr.,   b. 22 Jan 1891, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 27 Nov 1963, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 72 years)   3. Clothilde Marie Morlas,   b. 27 Dec 1893, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 2 Oct 1938, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 44 years)   4. Estelle Augustine Morlas,   b. 12 Oct 1895, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 6 Jan 1976, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 80 years)   5. Lucine "Lucille" Genevieve Morlas,   b. 20 Aug 1897, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 24 Dec 1969, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 72 years)   6. Louis August Morlas,   b. 17 Apr 1899, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 27 May 1964, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 65 years)   7. Eugenia "Jenny" Catharine Margaret Morlas,   b. 15 Jan 1900, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 28 Dec 1978, Bay Saint Louis, Hancock County, Mississippi (Age 78 years)   8. Juliet Theresa Morlas,   b. 20 Dec 1901, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 4 Feb 1985, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 83 years)   9. Leon Joseph Morlas,   b. 19 Oct 1903, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 6 May 1976, Gulfport, Harrison County, Mississippi (Age 72 years)   10. Josephine Marguerite Morlas,   b. 13 Apr 1905, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 6 Sep 1983, McAlester, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma (Age 78 years)   11. Leopold "Paul" Victor Morlas,   b. 14 Nov 1907, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 21 Feb 1971, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 63 years)   12. Vivian Anna Morlas,   b. 22 Mar 1909, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 29 May 2000, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana (Age 91 years)   13. Eleanor Cecelia Morlas,   b. 17 Apr 1911, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana d. 3 Feb 1986, Jefferson, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana (Age 74 years)
  Photos		Morlas Family Reunion, New Orleans, 1987 Over 120 family members were present for this reunion, most of them descended from John Dominic Morlas and Lucine Roquevert of New Orleans
  Albums		Morlas Siblings & Cousins Reunions (9) Held in New Orleans starting in 1927
  Family ID	F176	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	9 Dec 2006

  
  

• Event Map		Birth - 25 Aug 1865 - New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana Marriage - 28 May 1888 - St. Stephen's Church, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana Death - 14 Feb 1923 - New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana Burial - - Metairie Cemetery (Lake Lawn Metairie), New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos		Morlas Dairy, 2220 Calhoun Street, New Orleans According to Simone Morlas of Marrero, the Morlas family home and Dairy in this photo "were shared by Bertrand Morlas Sr. (born in France) and his nephew, John Dominic Morlas (born in New Orleans), and their families." Between the two families they had 19 children--some of whom are shown in this 1898 photo. A few years later, they each opened their own dairies, Bertrand operating "The Calhoun Dairy" from the 3200 block of that street and John Dominic operating "La Belle Creole" on the 6300 block of South Claiborne.
  		Morlas, John Dominic Husband of Lucine Roquevert B. 1865 New Orleans D. 1923 New Orleans He saved the tips he received delivering milk, eventually accumulating enough open his own Dairy, La Belle Creole, in New Orleans.

  
  

  Headstones

  Morlas Mausoleum, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans This mausoleum was erected in the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans at the death of John Dominic Morlas in 1923. It also became the final resting place of his wife, Lucine Roquevert, and their children: John Louis & wife Antoinette (Trapani) Morlas, Clothilde & husband Leon Bordes, Estelle & husband August Trapani, Louis & wife Lenora (Christoffer) Morlas, Leopold "Paul" & wife Olie (Roberts) Morlas, Vivian & husband Eugene Schoenfeld; as well as the resting place of several of John Dominic's grandsons; John Louis (I) Morlas Jr., Bertrand C. Morlas, John Louis (II) Morlas Jr., Sylvan "Brother" Bordes and Eugene "Jim" Schoenfeld, Jr. More so than any city this side of Paris, New Orleans is renowned for its historically significant and ornate necropolises. One of the parish's most unique "Cities of the Dead" is the eerily beautiful and diverse Metairie Cemetery. Built over the old Metairie Race Course, the cemetery was founded by Charles T. Howard. According to legend, when Howard was not allowed to join the country club that owned the track, he vowed it would become a cemetery. Many other famous Louisianans are interred here, in structures ranging from Gothic crypts to Romanesque mausoleums to Egyptian pyramids

  
  

• Sources

  [S479] Zahn, Bennie Jay--The Families Pene Roquevert Morlas (Privately Published; New Orleans, LA 1992) , updates and corrections issued periodically.