CAPTAIN JOHN BAPTISTE DUMESTRE Senior
Former Steamboat and Ferryboat Captain
at his residence
Age 75 years


Widower of the late Mary Gugel.

Father of Blanche Dumestre Murphy, Helen Dumestre, Marie Catherine Edma Dumestre, Adelaide Glennon Dumestre Johnson, Olga Marie Dumestre Stauss, Alexis Cornelius Dumestre, John B. Dumestre Junior, and the late Mary Dumestre, and Irby Dumestre.

Son of Blanche Eulalie Bailly and Captain Alexis Dumestre.

Survived by two sisters: Clothilde Marie Dumestre and Marie Olivia "Mamie" Dumestre; and five brothers: Alexis Casimir Dumestre, Jules Pierre Dumestre, Emile P. Dumestre, Armand Dumestre, and Celestin Jules Dumestre.

He was preceded in death by siblings Blanche Ernestine Dumestre Mouledoux, Anaise Dumestre, Azema Mary Dumestre, and Joseph Pierre Dumestre.


He was captain of a Mississippi River ferryboat at Jackson Avenue in the 1880s, and with his father had operated a sidewheeler packet service between New Orleans and Bayou Lafourche landings. After retiring from his steamboat assignments, Captain Dumestre began a tobacco business, Louisiana Tobacco Company, and he traveled often for his firm. In 1882, he was president of the Davy Crockett Volunteer Company in Gretna, Louisiana.

He was a native of New Orleans and had been a resident of Gretna for 40 years before returning to reside with two of his daughters, Edma and Helen, in his native city.

Captain John B. Dumestre was Roman Catholic.


Interment in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, on Sunday, 6 October 1935.



Obituary and Death Notices published:

State Times
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Friday, 4 October 1935
Page 16, Column 1, "John Dumestre Dies in Orleans"


The Daily Herald
Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi Coast
Friday Afternoon, 4 October 1935
Page 6, Column 3, "Former Steamboat Captain Dies At 75"


The Times-Picayune
New Orleans, Louisiana
Saturday, 5 October 1935
Page 2, "Former Salesman, Boat Captain Taken By Death, John Dumestre of Gretna Dies" (with photograph) and "Deaths"


The Times-Picayune
Monday, 7 October 1935
Page 2, "Deaths"
Page 3, "Obsequies Are Held For J. B. Dumestre"