Mama Said: : The Mostly True Story of the Begue Family of Louisiana and Mississippi

The author grew up listening to family stories that were handed down through generations like treasured pieces of needlework. In this book she records stories told by her mother, Vera Mary Begue Booksh. Mama tells of growing up in the part of New Orleans known as Algiers. She also tells stories passed down from her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents stretching back over 160 years. The Begue family had stories of lost fortunes and disinheritance, stories of larcenous lawyers and disreputable relatives, stories of mysterious apparitions and ghostly happenings. The stories give eye-witness snapshots of everyday life in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast area from 1840 to the middle of the twentieth century. The Begue family history extends back from Louisiana and Mississippi to the Pyrenees Mountains in France. Other branches of Vera Mary Begue's family tree stretch back to Germany, Denmark, Ireland and Spain. Their stories offer a look into the struggles of immigrants who came to the port of New Orleans in the mid-1800s seeking a new life.

Vera Booksh Zimmerman has spent more than half her life in Florida, but the home of her heart is still her birthplace, New Orleans. Transplanted from the banks of the muddy Mississippi River to the sandy shores of the Indian River Lagoon, she dug into the history of her adopted home. Over the last 35 years Vera also participated in several archaeological projects in central Florida, literally digging into the past. Art and history are her passions. She served on the Brevard County Historical Commission and was photo editor of their three volume History of Brevard County. She was editor and one of the writers for the third volume, Photographic Memories. She has also contributed illustrations and photos for those and other local books.