Printed in Daily Herald, Biloxi, MS on 10/3/1908:

"RAMON(sic) JOHN QUAVE"

"In his pleasant home in the little village of Seymour, looking out upon the waters of Back Bay and within a stone's throw of the spot where he was born, Ramon J. Quave at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon passed quietly to the beyond. He was surrounded by wife and loving children, and by friends and relatives who for the past two or three days have watched his life ebbing away and have almost hourly expected the end. Mr. Quave had been failing for the past six months and it was known for sometime that the end was near. This, however, did not lessen the anquish of loved ones who, when the end came, gave way to their sorrow. Ramon John Quave, had he lived unitl the eleventh day of this month, would have been fifty-seven years old. He was born in Seymour within a very short distance of the house in which he died, and during the whole of his life has dwelt on the Back Bay. His father was Pierre Quave, who was of Spanish descent, but was born on this coast. His father was in the confederate army and during the war died at Mobile. His mother was before her marriage, Miss Anna Mallett. The death of the father left the young boy Ramon with a widowed mother, brothers and sisters with little between them and direst poverty and his early life was one of struggle, as he had the whole family to support. It was a boon to him when he obtained the position of ferryman on Back Bay. This was years before the building of the present bridge. Later he was apprenticed to a man named Jacquemine, a ship builder. This trade he learned and then set up a ship yard of his own and built many boats on the shore of the bay. In 1888, he entered the merchantile business, opening a store near the bay with J. D. Mulholland as a partner. Later he bought out Mulholland's interest in the business, and conducted this store until illness unfitted him for any active life. He also engaged in sheep raising and accumulated a very considerable amount of real property on north Back Bay. He was first married to Miss Mary Thompson (married August 27, 1974). One child, now Mrs. Moses Seymour (Laura), was the result of this union. Sometime after the death of his first wife he was married to Miss Josephine Seymour. There were in all twelve children, eleven of whom are still living. They are Mrs. Moses Seymour, Lawrence, Emma, now Mrs. Adolph Santa Cruz, Maggie, now Mrs. Delmas Diaz, Esperance, now Mrs. Mat Moran, Lazaro, Madeline, Katy, Peter, Antoinette and Sophie. Randolph, the third eldest son, was killed about six years ago by falling from a horse. The death of his son very much saddened the remainder of Mr. Quave's life. He grieved over the loss and his relatives firmly believe that it was this that hastened his death. There is also one brother, Peter Quave, and three sisters, Mrs. William (Mary) Young, Mrs. William (Emma) Parker and Mrs. Theodore Borries. Mr. Quave might be called the father of Seymour, formerly Lazarus. To scores of the inhabitants he had been, if not a father, at least an elder brother, and the instances in which he had befriended them in the most substantial manner are past recounting. Many a man has gone to him in direct need and has been given help. He was almost as well known in Biloxi as in Seymour, while he had numerous friends in New Orleans. The stores in Seymour were closed all of yesterday and today the whole on Seymour and the Back Bay settlement are in mourning. He was an affectionate husband and father and was most dear to his family. The last rites of the Catholic church was administered before death. The funeral will take place at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon and interment will be in the family burying ground in Seymour."