07/07/2024
It was an absolute pleasure to be able to share the ancestral Carlin family home with some of its present day descendants.
Thank you Judy Willoughby for sharing your thoughts below from your visit to Arlington Mansion.
Photos from my visit Wed June 26 to my paternal ancestors home built in 1830 in Franklin, St Mary Parish, Louisiana.
Arlington Mansion was built by Honore Carlin in ca 1830. Honore Carlin is my paternal 4th great grandfather.
Honore gave his son Euphrasy Carlin the property in the 1830s with the understanding that he could live there in the home he currently was living for the remainder of his life. (I am hoping to somehow go through deeds one day. Family Search has access but you have to be at their family library to access them. Both my Hudgens and Carlins would have deeds I would LOVE to go through! Anyone want to sponsor sending me to Louisiana for a week so I can research? 😉)
Anyway, Honore (4th gr grandfather) had a daughter Henrietta (3rd great grandmother) Carlin (my 3rd great grandmother) who married her 1st cousin Leufroy Carlin. They had my 2nd great grandmother Emily Marguerite Carlin who married Holder H Hudgens. Henrietta Carlin Carlin married Holder's brother John L Hudgens who had come with him to Louisiana. They had 2 sons who married 2 of Euphrasy's daughters. SO I have a deep multi tangled connection to the Carlins of Arlington and Franklin.
This was a thrill to walk the halls and grounds of the home my 3rd and 4th great grandparents walked, lived and played. To look out at the same Bayou Teche that they saw. The huge live oak trees who's circumference suggests they were there way back then as well. Y'all I just can't describe the feeling of all that! For my family tree researcher heart and mind, it was AMAZING!
Now for the funny story. I had been told by some friends who had been associated with the house from a previous owner and her event business that there were some "unexplained" happenings that had occurred from time to time and couldn't rule out there were "visitors" in the house from long ago. (ghosts)
When we pulled up to the house, lawn care workers were there and some painters. The manager was on the porch and welcomed us. I started telling her who I was and how I was connected to the Carlins. All of a sudden, the front door opened on it's own! We laughed and I said "Oh it's my relatives welcoming me home". We went inside where it was cooler to wait for Mary Kathy who was meeting us there. Stella was unable to make the trip. (Next time though!) While waiting there, the postman pulled up with packages. When Domnique went to open the door, it would not unlock for her to open to get the packages! Again I laughed that now that I was inside my ancestor's home, they weren't going to let me out! 😂Domnique said it was unusual bc she had not had that happen before. Then as we were leaving after our visit and my wandering the
taking photos, she went to close the door and the handle fell completely off! She looked at me and we just laughed. My ancestors were telling me not to leave and/or the door was always open to family! 😉
It is a beautiful home and I am so happy it has been preserved/restored by so many caring owners throughout the years. The new owner is hoping to get a marker from the Louisiana State Historical Register to go with the National Historic Register plaque. There is a conflict in dates but we think we got it figured out and the house was indeed built in the 1830s as thought. The 1861 date was when some remodeling was done by Euphrasy. If and when the Louisiana State marker is placed, the owner said she would let me know so I could come back as a descendant of the original owners. I am READY to go...NOW!
Just had to share the story and photos of this amazing day!
