Dictionary B
BADGER, Algernon Sidney, police superintendent and government official. Born, Boston, Mass., October 28, 1839; son of John Baton Badger and Sarah Payne Sprague. Education: Milton Academy, Milton, Mass. Civil War service: Sixth Massachusetts Infantry (one of the first Union Army volunteer units) later Twenty-sixth Massachusetts Infantry, with which he came to New Orleans as lieutenant; enlisted in 1863 in the First Louisiana (Union) Cavalry and commanded Company D; rose to rank of lieutenant colonel and was brevetted colonel in 1865 for “faithful and meritorious service” in the Mobile Campaign; wounded in a skirmish at False River, La., 1864. After war, served as clerk in Fourth District Recorders Court in New Orleans; entered the Metropolitan Police, ca. 1868, appointed superintendent, May 4, 1870; seriously wounded September 14, 1874, at the Battle of Liberty Place, resigned from force, 1875. Served as state tax collector in the Fourth District of New Orleans, ca. 1875-1878; postmaster at New Orleans, 1878-1879; collector of customs at New Orleans, 1879-1885; special deputy, customs service, ca. 1889-1890; appraiser of merchandise at New Orleans, 1890-ca. 1893 and ca. 1900-1905. Married (1), April 30, 1872, Elizabeth Florence Parmele (d. 1880), daughter of Frederick F. and Jane Parmele. Children: Sidney (b. ca. 1873), Frederick Parmele (b. ca. 1874), John Algernon (b. 1876) and Harry (b. 1877). Married (2), September 9, 1882, Blanche B. Blineau, daughter of John Blineau and Amelia Dechamps. Children: George Chester (b. 1883) and Marion (Mrs. C. E. Benton Wells, b. 1885). Life member, National Encampment, Grand Army of the Republic; deputy commander, Department of Louisiana and Mississippi, Grand Army of the Republic, 1886, 1891, 1892; past grand commander, Knights Templar of Louisiana; member, Corinthian Lodge of Masons, Knights of Pythias, Mechanics Fire Co. #6, and the Episcopal church. Died, New Orleans, May 9, 1905; interred Metairie Cemetery. W.E. Sources: National Cyclopedia of American Biography, (1900); Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892); Compiled service records of volunteer Union soldiers who served in organizations from the state of Louisiana; New Orleans City Directories, 1867-1905; U. S. Census for Louisiana, 1880, 1900; New Orleans Times-Democrat, May 17, 1890, obituary, May 9, 1905, May 10, 1905; New Orleans Daily Picayune, obituary, May 10, 1905; New Orleans Item, May 9, 1905.
BADINS, Louis, Jacobin leader, physician, poet. Native of Montpelier, France. Removed to Martinique as a young boy, then to New Orleans. Arrested in Natchitoches and parolled in 1794 for Jacobin agitation. While returning to New Orleans later that year, he proclaimed, before the Avoyelles commandant, that Louisiana would soon become a French possession. Arrest avoided only through intercession of a Jacobin priest. Incident caused an outpouring of pro-French sympathy in Avoyelles Post. Moved to Ouachita Post in 1796 and established himself as a planter, poet, and physician. Military career: appointed major, Fourth Regiment, Orleans Territorial Militia, December 17, 1805. C.A.B. Sources: Ernest Liljegren, “Jacobinism in Spanish Louisiana, 1792-1797,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXII (1939); C. C. Robin, Voyage to Louisiana, 1803-1805, trans. by Stuart O. Landry (1966); Clarence E. Carter, ed., The Territorial Papers of the United States (1940), IX; Frederick Williamson and Lillian Herron Williamson, Northeast Louisiana: A Narrative History of the Ouachita River Valley and the Concordia Country (1939).
BAGERT, Bernard J., judge. Born, New Orleans, February 13, 1913; son of Joseph M. Bagert and Louise Betpouey Bagert. Graduated from the Loyola University Law School in 1935; practiced law until 1956, except for a stint of military duty in the United States Coast Guard from 1942-1946. Bagert was appointed Orleans Parish criminal district judge, July 9, 1956, a position he held until December 31, 1972. In 1967, Bagert was a member of a three-judge panel that decided, under the impetus of Bagert, that the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office had enough evidence to bring New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw to trial on conspiracy charges to assassinate president John F. Kennedy. (Shaw was later acquitted.) In 1970, Bagert removed himself from the trial of fifteen Black Panthers arrested following a gun battle with New Orleans police at the Desire Housing Project; Bagert was the owner of the Uptown building where the Panthers had made their headquarters. He was re-elected in 1972, but was unable to serve out the term. Died, September 7, 1982. N.P.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 8, 1982; “Bernard J. Bagert, Sr.,” Biography of Louisiana Judges (1971).
BAILEE, Edith Browne, civic leader. Born, Marietta, Pa. Removed with family to New Orleans at age 2. Education: New Orleans. First woman stenographer in New Orleans. For several years, she worked as a society editor and special writer. First woman to sit in a state constitutional convention. Leader in D.A.R., U.D.C. and other clubs. Was a primary factor in the movement resulting in the creation of a juvenile court in Shreveport. Worked for the establishment of Shreve Memorial Library. Married, 1890, William Adare Baillee. P.L.M. Source: Lilla McLure, History of Shreveport and Shreveport Builders.
BAILEY, Bryant W., journalist, politician. Born, 1866. Education: few months spent in Winn Parish schools. Active in Democratic party, 1888-1890. Active in Populist party: attended Populist state and national conventions, 1897; edited Winnfield Comrade, 1890-1894; owner, editor of the Comrade, 1894-1898?. Political career: unsuccessful Populist candidate for Congress from the 4th District, 1894; unsuccessful Populist candidate for Congress, 1896; only Populist delegate to 1898 state constitutional convention; refused to sign the 1898 constitution. Vice president of Bank of Winnfield. Died, February 5, 1961. C.A.B. Sources: Lucia Elizabeth Daniel, “The Louisiana People’s Party,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVI (1943); William Ivy Hair, Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest: Louisiana Politics, 1877-1900 (1969).
BAILEY, Joseph, soldier, engineer. Born, Pennsville, Ohio, 1825. Education: local schools, Illinois. Married Mary Spaulding, 1846. Business career: lumberman in Wisconsin, 1847-1861. Civil War service: organized a company of the Fourth Wisconsin; mustered into service, July 2, 1861; elected captain; served with distinction at battles of New Orleans and Port Hudson; rose to rank of major, May 30, 1863; lieutenant colonel, July 15, 1863; colonel, May 3, 1864; designed and supervised construction of a dam to permit the Federal fleet to negotiate the rapids above Alexandria during the Federal retreat through North Louisiana (1864); promoted to rank of brigadier general, June 7, 1864; participated in the Mobile campaign; commissioned brigadier general, November 10, 1864; brevet major general, March 13, 1865. Resigned from the army, July 7, 1865. Political career: elected sheriff, Vernon County, Mo., 1866. Killed, March 21, 1867, near Nevada, Mo., in the line of duty; interred Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Scott, Kan.. C.A.B. Sources: G. P. Whittington, “Rapides Parish, Louisiana: A History,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XVIII (1935); Ezra Warner, Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders (1964) Dictionary of American Biography.
BAILEY, William B., journalist, politician. Born, Vermilionville (present-day Lafayette), La., July 29, 1839; son of William Bailey of Tennessee and Sarah Clark of St. Landry Parish, La. Apprenticed to printer. Married Nella Queen, March 19, 1866. Children: Clara (b. 1867, died in infancy); Cornelia (b. 1868); Louise Geralde (b. 1872). Civil War service: enlisted in Girard Artillery, C.S.A., June 18, 1861; saw action in Seven Days’ Battle, fighting around Harper’s Ferry, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Battle of the Wilderness; captured by Federal forces, September 9, 1863; held prisoner until June 1864; subsequently served in Lee’s army until Appomattox; after war walked home from Virginia, reaching Vermilionville, June 26, 1865. Co-founder of the Lafayette Advertiser, which published its first issue September 22, 1865; sole proprietor and editor, 1868-1893; outspoken opponent of U. S. Army’s support of local Republican administrations, advocated immigration and internal improvements, deplored postbellum violence. Active in Democratic party: mayor of Lafayette, 1884-1892; appointed by Gov. Murphy J. Foster (q.v.) to fill Emile Creighton’s unexpired term as clerk of the district court. Died, Lafayette, July 27, 1896. C.A.B. Sources: William Henry Perrin, ed., Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical (1891; reprint ed., 1971); Goodspeed’s Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892); Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, Vols. VIII-XIX; obituary, Lafayette Weekly Advertiser, August 1, 1896.
BAILLIE, Pierre, sergeant second class, Mulatto Militia; syndic of the First Ward, Iberville Coast, 1796. Born, Louisiana, 1749; cited as the first free man of color and the second man to purchase property from Sieur Bertrand Gravier in Faubourg Ste. Marie, New Orleans. D.N.K. Sources: Document 2855, October 7, 1791, Louisiana Historical Center Judicial Archives, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans; Jack D. L. Holmes, Honor and Fidelity (1965); “Some Documents Relating to the Batture Controversy in New Orleans,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXIII (1940).
BAILLIO, Gervais, politician, planter. Born, Bayou Rapides, La., June 19, 1811; son of Pierre Baillio, fils, and Magdelaine Emelie Lacour. Education: preparatory school, Bardstown, Ky.; Harvard University, 1831-1833. Married Sarah Rebecca Leonard, born Rapides Parish, La., November 23, 1817, daughter of William Leonard. Children: Gervais, Jr. (b. 1833;) Sarah Leonard (b. 1836); Pierre IV (b. 1838); Amélie Céleste (b. 1841); Albert Gallatin Phelps (b. 1842); Sosthène Auguste (b. 1844); Octavia (b. 1846); Ferdinand Baldwin (b. 1848); Emma Moore (b. 1849); William Leonard (b. 1858). Active Whig party, 1840-1852; Know-Nothing party, 1856; Democratic party, 1860-1889. Parish judge, Avoyelles Parish 1840-1851; president, Rapides Parish Police Jury 1860-1865?; member, board of directors, Louisiana State Seminary of Learning 1852-1860; supervisor of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning 1860. Planter along Bayou Robert 1833-1840, 1851-1889. Died, Alexandria, June 1, 1889; interred Rapides Cemetery, Pineville, La. C.A.B. Sources: Walter Prichard, ed., “A Tourist’s Description of Louisiana in 1860,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXI (1938); G. P. Whittington, Rapides Parish: A History (n.d.); Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana (1890); Catherine Baillio Futch, The Baillio Family (1961).
BAILLY-BLANCHARD, Arthur, diplomat. Born, New Orleans, October 1, 1855. Education: Lavender’s College, New Orleans; in Paris and Dresden, Germany; law department, University of Louisiana (Tulane). Businessman in New Orleans, 1875-1878; assistant editor of a New Orleans newspaper; private secretary to U. S. minister to France, 1885; secretary to Bering Sea Tribunal of Arbitration; secretary to Ambassador John W. Foster, Russia, 1897; assistant secretary to U. S. delegation to Hague Peace Conference; secretary of Hague Conference, 1907; secretary of embassy, Paris, 1909-1912; secretary of embassy, Tokyo, 1912-1914; minister resident and consul general, Haiti, from May 22, 1914, to September 26, 1921; special duty at State Department, 1923-1925. Died, Montreal, Canada, August 24, 1925, apparent suicide. T.D.S. Sources: Beckles Willson, America’s Ambassadors to France (1776-1927) . . . (1928); U. S. Dept. of State, United States Chiefs of Mission, 1778-1973; obituary, New York Times, August 25, 1925.
BAINES, George Washington, clergyman, great-grandfather of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Born, Raleigh, N. C., October 20, 1809. Married Melissa Ann Butler of North Carolina, 1840. Moved family to Mt. Lebanon, La., 1844. Member and first minister of Saline Baptist Church of Christ (now Old Saline Baptist Church). Church constituted September 7, 1844, by Baines, Bean and John Burnett. Baines’ last service in Saline Church, August, 1848. Helped organize, December 29, 1844, and served as first pastor of Minden Baptist Church. Served as third minister of Mt. Lebanon Church. Served as moderator of Red River Baptist Association. Assisted in organization of North Louisiana Baptist Convention, 1848. After minister at Mt. Lebanon removed to Texas and became president of Baylor College. G.L.B. Sources: Saline Church Record Book (1844); Major De Pingre, A History of the First Baptist Church, Minden, La. (1969).
BAIRD, Absalom, soldier. Born, Washington, Pa., August 20, 1824. Graduated from U. S. Military Academy, 1849; prior to Civil War fought Florida Seminoles, stationed on Texas frontier, and taught at West Point. Staff officer, Eastern theater, 1861-1862; division commander (brigadier general), Western theater, 1862-1865. Superintendent of Freedmen’s Bureau in Louisiana, from November 1865 to September 1866; military commander of Louisiana, May-September 1866. Reverted to major, 1866; inspector general of various army departments, 1866-1885; inspector general of the army, 1885-1888. Retired in latter year as brigadier general. General Baird’s unpreparedness, absence of foresight and poor sense of timing enabled a race riot to break out in New Orleans on July 30, 1866. Thirty-eight persons died and 146 were injured. (General Baird blamed New Orleans police for the debacle.) In his other role as head of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Louisiana, Baird’s performance was less controversial and generally creditable. Died, Relay, Md., June 14, 1905. M.T.C. Sources: Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Blue . . . (1964); H. A. White, The Freedmen’s Bureau in Louisiana (1970); J. G. Dawson III, Army Generals and Reconstruction: Louisiana, 1862-1877 (1982).
BAIRD, Samuel T., jurist, congressman. Born, Oak Ridge, Morehouse Parish, La., May 5, 1861. Education: private tutors, attended Vincennes University, Indiana; read law; admitted to the bar in 1882 and began practice in Bastrop, La. District attorney of the Sixth Judicial District, 1884-1888. Married, December 13, 1883, Sallie B. Taylor. Two children. District judge of the Sixth Judicial District, 1888-1892; resumed the practice of law in Bastrop; member, state senate 1896; delegate, Democratic National Convention at Chicago in 1896; elected as a Democrat to Congress and served from March 4, 1897, until his death in Washington, D. C., April 22, 1899; interred Christ Church Cemetery, Bastrop. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Nicholas R. Murray, Morehouse Parish, La., 1869-1900 (1981).
BAKER, Joshua, military governor of Louisiana. Born, Mason County, Ky., March 23, 1799; son of Col. Joshua G. Baker (1763-1816), a member of the 1799 Kentucky constitutional convention, a member of the Mississippi Territory’s legislative council (1805-1808), and an officer in the Mississippi territorial militia, and Susannah Lewis (1768-1813). Removed with parents to St. Mary Parish, La., 1810. Married (1) Frances Asheton “Fanny” Stille (1809-1831) of Natchez, Miss., daughter of Capt. James Stille and Margaret Cyrilla Watts, the widow of former Governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos (q.v.). Children: Anthony Wayne (b. 1826), Margaret C. (b. 1828), and Carolina Lewis (d. 1861). Studied law at Litchfield, Conn., 1820s; later admitted to bar in Kentucky and Louisiana. Married (2), December 22, 1832, Catherine F. Pullon. Two children. Education: Private tutors; U. S. Military Academy (West Point), was graduated in 1819. Returned to Louisiana ca. 1820 and became an engineer and builder; continued to function as such throughout the antebellum period despite subsequent change in vocation; built the 1850 St. Mary Parish courthouse. Active in Democratic party; parish judge, St. Mary Parish, 1829-1832. Later served in state senate and on State Board of Public Works. Opposed secession, 1861, and remained a Unionist throughout the Civil War. Elected to U. S. Congress from Union-occupied Louisiana, November 1863, but refused to travel to Washington and take his seat. Supported Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction policies; appointed military governor of Louisiana by Gen. Winfield S. Hancock (q.v.), January 1868; held post until succeeded by Henry Clay Warmoth (q.v.), July 13, 1868. During tenure in office, was little more than a figurehead for Union military authorities. Shortly after taking office, notified Hancock that state government was bankrupt, prompting the general to take stringent measures to account for all state funds. Assistant state engineer, 1875. Subsequently suffered financial reverses and retired to daughter Margaret’s (Mrs. John P. Van Bergen) home in Lyme, Conn. Died, Lyme, Conn., 1886. C.A.B. Sources: Alcée Fortier, ed., Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedia Form, 2 vols. (1909); Joseph G. Dawson III, Army Generals and Reconstruction: Louisiana, 1862-1877 (1982); Walter Prichard, Fred B. Kniffen and Clair A. Brown, eds., “Southern Louisiana and Southern Alabama in 1819: The Journal of James Leander Cathcart,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVIII (1945); Hazel C. Sockrider, “Extracts from the Attakapas Gazette,” Attakapas Gazette, IV (1969); Goodspeed Publishing Co., Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, 2 vols. (1892); James Haskins, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (1973); Willie Malvin Caskey, Secession and Restoration of Louisiana (1938); Carl A. Brasseaux, Glenn R. Conrad, and R. Warren Robison, The Courthouses of Louisiana, 2nd ed. (1980); Donald J. Hebert, comp., Southwest Louisiana Records, vols. I-IV; Mary Elizabeth Sanders, Records of Attakapas District, Louisiana, vol. II; Mary Elizabeth Sanders, Selected Annotated Abstracts of St. Mary Parish Louisiana Court Records, vols. I-III (1972, 1973, 1978); Jack D. L. Holmes, Gayoso: The Life of a Spanish Governor in the Mississippi , 1789-1799 (1965).
BAKER, Page Mercer, journalist. Born, Pensacola, Fla., February 23, 1840; son of James McCutcheon Baker of Pennsylvania, a naval veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, and Ann Eliza Mercer of Baltimore. Education: local schools. Removed to New Orleans, 1858; traveling salesman for hardware firm, McCutcheon, Howell & Co. Civil War service: volunteered, 1861; served in Virginia; transferred to Washington Artillery. Spent last year of war in Confederate Navy, assigned to the ironclad Tuscaloosa. After war, returned to New Orleans and engaged in many business pursuits, including insurance. Entered the field of journalism, 1868, largely owing to influence of elder brother, Marion, then city editor of the Daily Picayune. As a reporter, became active in the struggle to free the state from Radical rule. In 1870 was one of the committee of 100 Louisianians who went to Washington, D. C., to protest to President Grant the military policy being pursued by the federal government in Louisiana. In 1872, one of several individuals who founded the New Orleans Herald, a short-lived venture. Shortly thereafter, joined with Dan Byerly to establish the New Orleans Bulletin, which is alleged to have fostered the organization of the White League, leading to the riot of September 14, 1874. Soon after, subject retired from journalism because of ill health and death of his partner. Reentered journalism, 1880, as managing editor of the New Orleans Times, and continued to serve in that capacity after consolidation of the Times and the New Orleans Democrat in 1881. Continued as editor and manager of the Times-Democrat until death, bringing the paper to the zenith of its success. Always encouraged young writers, including Lafcadio Hearn (q.v.), who dedicated his first book to subject. Originated the Doll and Toy Fund later continued by the Times-Picayune. Married (1) Constance Fell (d. 1889), of New Orleans, daughter of Peter B. Fell. Married (2) Mary Fell, sister of first wife. One child, Constance. Died, New Orleans, May 28, 1910; interred Metairie Cemetery. G.R.C. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, May 29, 1910; Fayette Copeland, “The New Orleans Press and the Reconstruction,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXX (1947); New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 25, 1937.
BAKER, William H., artist, portraitist. Born, probably in New York, 1825. Baker was brought up in mercantile pursuits, while devoting his spare time to art. In 1848 he opened a studio in New Orleans as a portraitist and artist, having recently arrived from Nashville, Tenn. At some point he became associated with Enoch Wood Perry, Jr. Baker continued his practice in New Orleans until 1861, though records indicate he was an intinerant painter—working in New Orleans in the winter and in the North in the summer. For example, in December, 1851, a newspaper ad reveals that he had returned recently, and in 1854 he spent some months in the North, while in the summer and fall of 1855 he left to visit the celebrated galleries of France and England. Similarly an article from 1858 reveals that he had been residing in New Orleans in the winter and spring for several years. Around 1865 Baker removed to New York and exhibited at the National Academy in 1866, 1869, and 1871. In 1869 he removed to Brooklyn and became principal of the Free School of Design of the Brooklyn Art Association until his death. Died, Brooklyn, N. Y., March 29, 1875. C.S.B. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987).
BALDERRAMA, Andrés de, Spanish colonial officer; naval lieutenant commanding the Spanish packetboat El Volante, running between New Orleans and Havana. Carried plea of Governor Ulloa (q.v.) for funds to Havana, June 1768. Returned to New Orleans, July 1768, and commanded the Volante during the New Orleans rebellion of October 1768, as well as during Ulloa’s subsequent flight from the colonial capital. C.A.B. Sources: John Preston Moore, Revolt in Louisiana: The Spanish Occupation, 1766-1770 (1976); Lawrence J. Kinnaird, ed., Spain in the Mississippi Valley, 1765-94: Translations of Materials from the Spanish Archives in the Bancroft Library (1949).
BALDWIN, Albert, businessman, civic leader. Born, Watertown, Mass., April 7, 1834; son of Jacob Baldwin and Martha Payson Bruce. Married (1) Rhoda Griffin, 1855; she and infant son died of yellow fever in New Orleans, 1858. Married (2) Arthémise Bouligny (b. 1846), great-granddaughter of Francisco Bouligny (q.v.). Children who reached maturity: Henry Fay (b. 1864), married Sarah Vairin; Albert, Jr. (q.v.), married Helen Hardie; David Gilmore (b. 1868), married Mathilde Seixas; Alice (b. 1871), married Nugent Beverly Vairin; Gustave Bouligny (b. 1877), married Lillian Legendre; Arthemise Bouligny (b. 1878), married Maj. Gen. William Ottman. Removed to New Orleans as a young man in 1858 and entered business. Founder and president of A. Baldwin & Co. Hardware. President, New Orleans National Bank; vice-president, Times-Democrat Publishing Co.; director: Union Ferry Company, American Brewing Company, National Rice Milling Company, Gullet Gin Company, New Orleans Waterworks Company, New Orleans Street R. R. Company, Sun Life Insurance Company, and Standard Guard Chemical Manufacturing Company, among others. Member: Boston Club; an organizer of the Rex organization and the fourth Rex; a founder and commodore of the Southern Yacht Club. Actively supported Sophie Wright (q.v.) in her educational endeavors. Died at Baldwin Lodge, north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, April 21, 1912. G.D. Sources: Family papers and newspaper obituaries.
BALDWIN, Albert, Jr., businessman, civic leader. Born, New Orleans, October 7, 1866; son of Albert Baldwin (q.v.) and Arthemise Bouligny. Education: University of Louisiana (Tulane). Married, February 25, 1890, Helen Hardie (b. 1868), daughter of John T. Hardie (q.v.). Children: Alice Hardie (b. 1891), Albert (b. 1893), Alma (b. 1897), and John (b. 1899). President of New Orleans National Bank; president, A. Baldwin & Co., Ltd.; president, Gullet Gin Co.; president, New Orleans Water Supply Co.; secretary-treasurer, Salmen Brick and Lumber Co.; vice president and treasurer, Times-Picayune Publishing Corp.; director, Union Ferry Co., Illinois Central Railroad Co., director, Texas and Pacific Railroad Co., vice-president, Public Library Board of New Orleans. Member, Boston Club; several carnival organizations. Mason. Died, New Orleans, March 11, 1915. G.D. Sources: Family papers and newspaper obituaries.
BALDWIN, John, philanthropist, founder of Christian schools, inventor, industrialist. Born, Bransford, Conn., October 13, 1799; son of Joseph and Rosanna Melroy Baldwin. Married Mary Dunn Chappell, 1828; removed to Berea, Ohio, farm. Seven children. Founded grindstone industry; devised uses of water and steam power; built sawmills, gristmills, railroad; promoted development of Berea. Made fortune; invested largely in Methodist schools: Baldwin University, Berea, 1846; Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas, 1859. Bought Darby Plantation, St. Mary Parish, La., 1867; founded Baldwin Seminary; helped Freedman’s Society secure land and establish Godman’s School; later became Gilbert Industrial School, Gilbert Academy, moved to New Orleans; became part of Straight University, which combined with Dillard University After 1934, original plant operated by Sager-Brown Foundation as school and home for orphan and local blacks. Founded Baldwin Boys’ High School and Baldwin Girls’ High School in Bangalore, India, for children of Methodist missionaries. Had Puritan upbringing: opposed slavery, alcohol, tobacco; favored Christianity, education of women, poor, minorities. Operated plantation, sugar mill, sawmill, Baldwin, La., until death December 28, 1884; interred grounds of Darby House; body later moved to Berea, Ohio. J.C.D.†Sources: A. R. Webber, Biography of John Baldwin, Sr. (1925); Virginia Gatch Markham, John Baldwin and Son Milton Come to Kansas: An Early History of Baldwin City, Baker University and Methodism in Kansas (1982).
BALFA, Dewey, Cajun musician, cultural activist and preservationist. Born, March 20, 1927. Attended public schools through the fourth grade. He developed a distinctive musical style, taking the “back porch” music that earlier generations had played and refined his fiddling technique while preserving the music’s emotional intensity. Following a landmark appearance at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, Balfa returned to Louisiana convinced that Louisiana’s Cajun heritage should be preserved. Balfa later performed Cajun music throughout the United States, Canada, and France, gradually introducing into his music the high harmonics sounds that he had heard on the festival circuit. He appeared at the Smithsonian’s Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C. Helped establish the Louisiana Folk Foundation with backing from the Newport Folk Festival and the Smithsonian Institution. He lectured on Cajun culture and music at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, and at the University of California at Los Angeles through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Received the National Heritage Award from the National Endowment of the Arts, 1982. Throughout his musical career, he maintained a “day job,” working at various times as an offshore oilman, the operator of a discount furniture store, and a school bus driver. Through his activism, he helped launch Louisiana’s French Renaissance. He greatly influenced most young Cajun musicians who grew to maturity between the mid-1960s and 1990s. Through his musical tours, he established greater awareness about Cajun culture in other parts of the United States. He was also a moving force behind the establishment of a Cajun music repository at U.S.L. Died, Moosa Memorial Hospital, Eunice, La., June 17, 1992. R.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 18, 1992; Barry Jean Ancelet, The Makers of Cajun Music (1984); interview with Barry Ancelet, February 1998.
BALFA, Rodney, Cajun musician (guitar), singer. Born, Bayou Grand Louis, Evangeline Parish, La., 1934. Member of the internationally known Balfa Brothers Band; recorded from 1960s through 1970s; active on international folk festival circuit, including performances at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife and the Library of Congress Folk Concert series (Washington), the National Folk Festival (Wolftrap Farm); the Mariposa Folk Festival (Toronto), the Newport Folk Festival, festivals in France and Canada, many others; subject of films and television documentaries, including “The Good Times Are Killing Me” (PBS), “Spend It All” and “Blues des Balfa” (Flower Films). Died, near Bunkie, La., 1979. B.J.A. Source: Author’s research.
BALL, J. P., pioneer black journalist. Editor of Vidalia Concordia Eagle (1873-1890); publisher of Concordia Eagle (1879-188?). C.A.B. Sources: Robert Dabney Calhoun, “A History of Concordia Parish, Louisiana,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XVII (1934); T. N. McMullan, comp., Louisiana Newspapers, 1794-1961: A Union List (1965).
BALLARD, Edith Loeber, physician, medical activist. Born, New Orleans, August 8, 1875; daughter of Frederick Loeber, M. D., and Catherine Humbrecht Loeber. Education: St. Simeon’s Select School in New Orleans; debut in New Orleans, 1898; teaching degree from Louisiana State Normal School in Natchitoches; Cornell University, B. A., 1905, and M. D., 1907. Internship two years Bellevue Hospital. Practiced in New Orleans. Tulane University’s Board overrode the medical faculty to appoint E. Loeber and [Mary] E. Bass (q.v.), 1911. Active in various medical and social activities, until marriage on July 23, 1912, to Marshall Ballard (q.v.), editor (1907-1947) of the New Orleans Item. Gave up fulltime practice of medicine to raise family. Children: three daughters and two sons. Residence in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and New Orleans. Edith Loeber Ballard demonstrated an acute social conscience combined with intellectual and political skills. Throughout her life she worked for reform within her own time frame. She raised money, entertained, lobbied legislators, trained nurses, and championed the poor. Died, at a daughter’s residence, New Orleans, December 23, 1948. J.P.M. Sources: New Orleans Item, December 23, 1948; New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 24, 1948; John Wilds, Crises, Clashes and Cures (1978); John Duffy, ed., The Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana (1962); Duffy, Tulane University Medical Center . . . (1984); and the records of medical and social societies of New Orleans and Hancock County, Mississippi.
BALLARD, Marshall, journalist, chemist. Born, Baltimore, Md., 1879. Education: Baltimore public schools; Baltimore College of Pharmacy; Johns Hopkins University, B. S., Chemistry. Began newspaper career almost accidentally on Baltimore Evening News. Removed to Norfolk, Va., to work on the Norfolk Dispatch, owned by classmate James M. Thomson. Removed to New Orleans, 1907, after Thomson bought the New Orleans Daily City Item. Renamed the New Orleans Item with Ballard as city editor. Served in that capacity for forty years, and established credentials as a progressive crusader. Met future wife, Dr. Edith Loeber (q.v.) while helping a group of women organize the Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children. Married Edith Loeber, July 23, 1912. Five children, including Samuel and Marshall, Jr. Through paper, conducted a twenty-five-year campaign against a “levees-only” theory of flood control; ultimately successful. Wrote the anti-Klan platform for successful gubernatorial candidate Henry Fuqua (q.v.). A staunch opponent of Huey P. Long (q.v.). Maintained a chemistry lab at his country home in Bay St. Louis, Miss. Died, New Orleans, March 24, 1953; interred Lafayette Cemetery I. G.R.C. Sources: James M. Thomson, Louisiana Today (1939); New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 25, 1953.
BANKS, Nathaniel Prentiss, soldier, politician. Born, Waltham, Mass., January 30, 1816. Education: local schools. A machinist by trade; editor of a weekly newspaper; clerk in the customhouse in Boston. Studied law; admitted to bar and practiced in Boston. Member, state house of representatives, 1849-1852, served as speaker for two years; member, state constitutional convention, 1853; elected to Congress as representative, served from March 1853 until resignation, December 24, 1857; Speaker of the House from February 2, 1856, to March 3, 1857; governor of Massachusetts from January 1858 to January 1861. Removed to Chicago, Ill.; vice president of Illinois Central Railroad. Entered Union Army as major general of Volunteers, May 16, 1861. Defeated by Stonewall Jackson in the ShenandoahValley and at Cedar Mountain, Va. Succeeded Gen. Benjamin Butler (q.v.) in command of Union forces in Louisiana, November, 1862. Conducted first Red River Campaign to Alexandria, spring 1863. Laid siege to Port Hudson, La., May-July, 1863. Accepted surrender of Port Hudson, July, 1863; received thanks of Congress. During second Red River Campaign, defeated by Gen. Richard Taylor (q.v.) at Sabine Crossroads (Mansfield), April 8, 1864. Built Bailey’s Dam on Red River to rescue Union fleet of Adm. David Porter (q.v.) trapped in river by low water. Superceded by Gen. E. R. S. Canby (q.v.). Mustered out, August 24, 1865. Returned to Massachusetts; elected to Congress and served in the House from December 4, 1865, to March 3, 1873; defeated in election of 1872. Elected to Congress and served in the House from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1879; failed for renomination. United States marshall, 1879-1888. Elected to Congress and served in the House, March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1891; unsuccessful for renomination. Died, Waltham, Mass., September 1, 1894; interred Grove Hill Cemetery. B.G. Sources: Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Directory of the United States Army (1965); George Henderson, Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War (1898); Ezra Warner, Generals in Blue (1981); Dictionary of American Biography (1928); Fred. H. Harrington, Fighting Politician, Maj. Gen. N. P. Banks (1948); George Winston Smith, “The Banks Expedition of 1862,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVI (1943); Richard Hobson Williams, “General Banks’ Red River Campaign,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXXII (1949); Biographical Directory of the American Congress (1950).
BANKS, Thomas, banker, financier, developer. Born, Thomas Leach, Chester, England, ca. 1778; son of John and Mary Leach. Upon coming to the United States changed name to Thomas Banks and was residing in New Orleans prior to 1810. Served in Capt. Thomas Beales Company in the War of 1812, ran a boarding house for sailors, and began investing in merchant ships and real estate. By the 1820s he was part owner of a steamboat line and became closely associated with Samuel J. Peters (q.v.) and James H. Caldwell (q.v.) in developing the English-speaking Faubourg St. Mary in rivalry to the Creole French Quarter in New Orleans. Built the four-story City Hotel, 1832, and Banks Arcade, 1833, an imposing three-story multipurpose structure with a glass covered central mall connecting shops, meeting rooms, offices, and a hotel. Here were held meetings in favor of the Texas Revolution which Banks supported. Prominent in banking, insurance, and financial circles, and one of the wealthiest men in New Orleans, Banks nevertheless suffered financial reverses following the Panic of 1837. In 1842 while serving as alderman for the Second Municipality, he petitioned for bankruptcy and retired from business, eventually repaying his creditors. Banks and his wife Charlotte Fogerty (1780-1849) had no children. Died, March 14, 1854; interred Lafayette Cemetery, New Orleans. R.S.J. Sources: John Chase, Frenchmen, Desire, Good Children (1949); Henry Rightor, ed., Standard History of New Orleans (1900); Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Vols. I-III; Administrations of the Mayors of New Orleans, New Orleans City Archives; New Orleans Bee, October 14, 1835; obituary, March 15, 1854; Gibson’s Guide and Directory (1838); Orleans Parish Succession Records, No. 7552.
BANKSTON, Francis Marion, attorney, politician. Born, November 20, 1841, near Hammond, La. Civil War service: second lieutenant, Company C, Miles’ Louisiana Legion, 1862-1863; second lieutenant, Company C, Gober’s Louisiana Regiment Mounted Infantry, 1864-1865. Studied law at University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), graduated 1868. Practiced as an attorney in Tangipahoa Parish. Served one term as parish assessor. Elected district attorney for the Twenty-first Judicial District but died before taking office. Died, January 24, 1886. A.W.B. Sources: Edna B. R. Vacher, Genealogy of the Andrew Bankston Family (1947); Andrew Booth, comp., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands (1920).
BARANCO, Beverly V., civic and political leader. Born, Baton Rouge, 1869; son of Beverly V. Baranco, Sr. and Sarah Gordon. Education: local schools, Straight University, New Orleans. For years served as grand master of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows of Louisiana; deputy grand master of the National Order of Odd Fellows of the United States. He was instrumental in the construction of the Odd Fellows Temple on North Boulevard in Baton Rouge and the only black notary public in the city for many years. Quite active in the Black and Tan faction of the Republican party in Louisiana, he led it for over a decade in seeking participation in party politics for those of his race. Baranco served as delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention in 1920 as well as later ones. Also served as deputy grand master of the Masons, and president of the People’s Life Insurance Company of Louisiana. Instrumental in getting the first black high school in Baton Rouge and the first Rosenwald School in Louisiana. Married, 1889, Anna Mirando of Baton Rouge, daughter of Raymond and Sydonie Mirando. Children: Raymond (q.v.), Sarah Leone, Inez, Ruth, Beverly V., Vera, Anna, Noel. Member: Bethel AME Church on Hypolite Street. Died, Baton Rouge, October 30, 1933; interred Magnolia Cemetery. C.V. Sources: Mrs. A. B. Chavis, New Orleans, (daughter, interviewed June 21, 1984); Baton Rouge State-Times, October 30, 1933.
BARANCO, Raymond, physician, civic leader. Born, Baton Rouge, September 29, 1890; son of Beverly V. Baranco, Jr. (q.v.) and Anna Mirando. Education: local schools, Baton Rouge; Baton Rouge College; Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn. Medical director of Southern University and A & M College Medical Infirmary, 1914-1958. World War I: served as first lieutenant. Founded and directed the work of the Good Samaritans, an organization which each Christmas collects funds and toys for needy black children. Married, December 16, 1912, Blanche Daigre of Baton Rouge, daughter of Robert G. and Edith Purnell Daigre. Children: Delores, Melba, Raymond M., Jr., Joseph S., and Robert G. Served as president, Louisiana Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association, active in the Southwest Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association, St. Agnes Council of the Knights of Peter Claver; chairman, District Health and Safety Committee of the Istrouma Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Member, board of directors, Family Counseling Service; American Legion, the Louisiana Education Association; the John A. Andrew Chemical Society of Tuskegee Institute; the Tri-Beta Biological Society; the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Past president, Tri Delta Mu honorary Medical Fraternity; Capital City Elks Lodge; the Original Illinois Club; the Bonanza Club; and the Bunch Club (of New Orleans). Member: St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church. Died, Baton Rouge, December 19, 1958; interred National Cemetery, Baton Rouge. Later reinterred family plot, Magnolia Cemetery, Baton Rouge. C.V. Sources: Baton Rouge State-Times, December 20, 1958; interview with daughter, Mrs. Delores Washington, Baton Rouge; and brother, B. V. Baranco, Jr., Baton Rouge.
BARBARIN, Louis, jazz musician. Born, New Orleans, October 24, 1902; son of brass band leader Isidore Barbarin. Received his first drum kit from his brother Paul. Studied drumming under Louis Cottrell, Sr. Launched his musical career in 1918, when he substituted for his brother at a performance in Tom Anderson’s bar. Made his first recording for the Columbia label in the 1920s; these recordings were never released. Unlike his brother Paul, who gained national notoriety by recording with the likes of Joseph “King” Oliver (q.v.) and Louis Armstrong (q.v.), Louis Barbarin established a name for himself in New Orleans, where he performed with John Robichaux, Buddy Petit, Ernest “Punch” Miller (q.v.), and George Lewis. Performed with Eddie Pierson and Harold Dejan aboard steamboats on Lake Pontchartrain during the 1930s. A member of Oscar “Papa” Celestin’s (q.v.) Orchestra in the 1940s and early 1950s. Following Celestin’s death in 1954, he remained with the band, which had come under the leadership of Eddie Pierson and Albert French. The remnants of Celestin’s band endured into the early 1980s, with Louis Barbarin a fixture on drums. Helped revive the Onward Brass Band in the 1960s. Frequently performed at Preservation Hall, New Orleans, late 1981. Forced by deafness to retire from music, 1982. At the time of his retirement, he was considered the dean of New Orleans’ jazz drummers. Died, New Orleans, May 12, 1997; interred, Mount Olivet Cemetery, New Orleans, following a jazz funeral. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 14, 1997; Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album, 3rd ed. (1984).
BARBE, Alfred Michael, jurist, philanthropist, civic leader. Born, Lake Charles, La., January 29, 1878; son of Charvais Barbe and Clara Pujo. Education: local schools; St. Louis College (now St. Mary University), San Antonio, Tex.; Tulane University, law degree. World War I service: 335th Field Artillery, rose to rank of captain, discharged with a record of meritorious service. Elected judge of the 14th Judicial District in 1912 and served until 1917, at which time he volunteered for service in World War I. An organizer and director of the Lake Charles Bank and Trust Co. (now Gulf National Bank). Became trustee, 1934, of the Harrison C. Drew estate, served in this position until shortly before his death. As trustee, he was in charge of establishing two manual training schools for Lake Charles youths. Never married. Member of the Catholic church. Alfred M. Barbe High School named for subject. Died, Lake Charles, July 25, 1965; interred Sallier Cemetery. D.J.M. Source: Obituary, Lake Charles American Press, July 26, 1965.
BARBOT, Alphonse, Confederate naval officer. Born, Louisiana. Civil War service: lieutenant, U. S. Navy, 1861. Reported by superior officer to be “disaffected” and under court martial, April 25, 1861; commissioned second lieutenant, Confederate States Navy, March 5, 1862; commander, floating battery, Battle of New Orleans, April, 1862; stationed aboard C. S. S. Arkansas, 1862; transferred to C. S. S. Atlanta, 1862; was serving as second lieutenant aboard Atlanta when vessel was captured by U. S. S. Weehawken, June 17, 1863; at time of capture, was commanding Atlanta’s forward batteries; released by Federal forces, late 1863; commissioned first lieutenant, provisional navy, January 6, 1864; recommended by Lt. Gen. W. J. Hardee for duty aboard Confederate torpedo boats, November 7, 1864; executive officer (first lieutenant) aboard ram C. S. S. Fredericksburg, November 27, 1864; acting commander of Fredericksburg, February 19, 1865. C.A.B. Sources: George T. Ness, Jr., “Louisiana Officers of the Confederate Navy,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVII (1944); Dept. of the Navy, Civil War Naval Chronology, 1861-1865, 5 parts (n.d.); Andrew B. Booth, comp., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Commands (1920); Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series I, XXXV; Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, IV; XI; XII; XIV; XVI; Series II, I.
BARDE, Alexandre, journalist, author, historian. Born in the arrondisement Saint-Gaudens, Haute-Garonne, Auregnac, France. Barde and a priest, Father Antoine Megret (q.v.), came to Louisiana in 1842 aboard the vessel Thelma. Barde resided in New Orleans until 1844, when he fled to St. Martinville as a result of a yellow-fever epidemic. For a livelihood he tutored at various plantations until he took up journalism, writing plays, poetry, drama, and book-length manuscripts. Over the years he was either editor, writer, owner or associated with several prominent newspapers in Louisiana, including Le Villageois in Marksville, Le Drapeau in Donaldsonville, Le Courrier of Opelousas, the Revue Louisianaise, Courrier de la Louisiane, Renaissance Louisianaise, L’Avant Coureur de St. Charles, Meschacébé, and several publications in St. Martinville. Barde is best known for his classic and controversial L’Histoire des Comités de Vigilance aux Attakapas, published in 1861, which vividly describes the lawlessness then prevailing in South Louisiana and the vigilante committees established to deal with the problem. He was appointed official historian for the various committees, and was present during many of their adventures. Barde served briefly as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War. He died unmarried in his 52nd year at Moreauville, La., November 1869. D.C.E. Source: Alexandre Barde, The Vigilante Committees of the Attakapas (1981).
BARES, Basile, pianist, composer. Born, New Orleans, January 2, 1846. A Creole of Color, his studies in piano were under Eugene Prévost (q.v.), director of the Orleans Theater. Employed by Perrier’s music store, New Orleans, he represented the firm on business trips to Paris. In 1867, he peformed at the Paris Exposition. His works for piano are primarily salon pieces representative of the music styles in vogue during the period. Died, ca. 1908. A.E.L. Sources: Charles Edwards O’Neill, “Fine Arts and Literature: Nineteenth-Century Louisiana Black Artists and Authors,” in Louisiana’s Black Heritage (1979); Rodolph Lucien Desdunes, Our People and Our History . . . (1973); James M. Trotter, Music and Some Highly Musical People (1879).
BARHAM, Charles Emmett “Cap”, attorney, businessman, politician. Born, Kimbleton, near Dubach, La., September 26, 1905; son of John Robert Barham and Leola Fowler. Education: Dubach schools; Louisiana Normal College, Natchitoches (Northwestern State University), graduated 1927. Taught school at Dubach one year and enrolled at Louisiana State University Law School, LL. B. degree, 1931, and began the practice of law in Ruston. Married Carice Helen Hilburn. Children: Charles C. and Robert E. Served in the Louisiana senate, 1948-1952, representing the Twenty-ninth District (Lincoln and Union parishes). Served as lieutenant governor, 1952-1956; was the only candidate on the Hale Boggs gubernatorial ticket to be elected. Credited with establishing the office of Louisiana lieutenant governor as independent from the governor’s office. One of the first six men inducted into the Northwestern State University Hall of Fame, 1969. Died, February 23, 1972; interred Greenwood Cemetery, Ruston. B.H.G. Sources: Ruston Daily Leader, February 24, 1972; Charles C. and Robert Barham, Ruston, La.; files, Kilpatrick Funeral Home, Ruston, La.
BARHAM, Lillian Pipes, civic leader. Born, Oak Ridge, Morehouse Parish, La., October 13, 1878; daughter of Alexander Sebastian Pipes, Jr., and Nancy Elizabeth Pinson of West Feliciana Parish, La. Married Thomas Eugene Barham, Oak Ridge, La., November 20, 1901. Children: Mary Elizabeth (b. 1902), Garnett Erle, M. D. (b. 1904), William Thomas (b. 1906), Sadie Files O’Neal (b. 1908), Eugene Alexander, rear admiral, U. S. Navy (b. 1911), Allen Carpenter (b. 1913). Large landowner. Member: Oak Ridge Baptist Church, Order of Eastern Star, The Pierian Club, General Federation of Women’s Clubs, Abram Morehouse Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and organizing senior president, Prairie Jefferson Chapter, Children of the American Revolution. Died, February 11, 1966; interred Oak Ridge Baptist Cemetery. M.N.N. Source: Family records.
BARHAM, Robert Erle, merchant, farmer. Born, Oak Ridge, La., September 8, 1882; son of William Thomas Barham and Ada Cabeen. Education: Oak Ridge school; Georgetown College, Ky., B.S., 1902; National Business College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Married, June 22, 1917, Emma Shepard of Plano, Tex., daughter of Joseph William Shepard and Mary Catherine Haggard. Children: William Shepard, Robert Erle, Jr., Catherine, and Theodore Shepard. Upon death of subject’s father in 1919, subject became manager of Barham Co., Inc., a general merchandise store in Oak Ridge. He was a planter whose interests included a cotton gin, sawmill, and livery stable. Active in Democratic party and community affairs. Member: Baptist church, trustee; Tau Theta Kappa, Brookville Lodge 161 F & AM; El Karubah Shrine; Morehouse Parish School Board. President, Bank of Oak Ridge. Died, Oak Ridge, April 5, 1960; interred Oak Ridge Baptist Cemetery. C.B. Source: Glen Greene, History of the Baptists of Oak Ridge.
BARHAM, Thomas Eugene, businessman, postmaster. Born, Prairie Mer Rouge, Morehouse Parish, La., February 21, 1877; son of William Thomas Barham and Ada Gardner Mott. Education: local schools; Georgetown College, Georgetown, Ky., and Eastman College of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Married Lillian Pipes (q.v.) of Oak Ridge, La., November 20, 1901. Children: Mary Elizabeth (b. 1902), Garnett E., M. D. (b. 1904), William Thomas (b. 1906), Sadie Files O’Neal (b. 1908), Rear Admiral Eugene A., USN Ret. (b. 1911), Allen Carpenter (b. 1913). Landowner and planter; president, Morehouse Parish School Board for twenty-five years; served as postmaster of Oak Ridge, La., for 20 years. Member, Oak Ridge Baptist Church; Brookville Masonic Lodge #161. Died, February 26, 1958; interred Oak Ridge Baptist Cemetery. M.N.N. Source: Family records.
BARKDULL, James D., doctor, alienist. Born in Ohio, he joined the gold rush to California in 1849 before settling in Louisiana in 1854. In 1857, Barkdull was appointed superintendent of the State Insane Asylum at Jackson, Louisiana; he was the first physician to act as superintendent in the history of the Jackson Asylum (founded 1847). Over the next eight years, Barkdull advocated “moral therapy” as treatment for patients at the Jackson Asylum. This program consisted of various physical and intellectual activities such as farm and sewing work, carriage rides, religious congregations, and access to copious reading material. Barkdull’s therapy, however, did not adhere to “the use of . . . handcuffs, muffs, or other relics of a barbarous age” allegedly used by previous administrations. His career was abruptly ended when Barkdull was shot and killed by a Federal soldier in the town of Jackson in 1865. N.P.W. Sources: Elizabeth Wisner, Public Welfare Administration in Louisiana (1930); Stanford Chaillé, “A Memoir of the Insane Asylum of the state of Louisiana at Jackson,” New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, 13 (1856-1857); [Goodspeed’s] Historical and Biographical Memoirs of Louisiana, 3 vols. (1892); Documents of the Legislature of the State of Louisiana (1858-1862), Reports of the Board of Administrators of the Insane Asylum at Jackson.
BARKER, Danny, musician, historian, educator. Born, New Orleans, Louisiana, January 13, 1909; son of Moses and Rose Barbarin Barker. His grandfather Isidore Barbarin and uncles Louis (q.v.) and Paul Barbarin were legendary early jazz musicians. Played the guitar, later the banjo, and occasionally sang vocals. Married Louise “Blue Lu” Dupont, January 1930. Resettled in New York City. Worked with the best jazz musicians in the country including Fletcher Henderson, Joseph “King” Oliver (q.v.), Charlie “Bird” Parker, and Chick Webb. He struck up a particularly close friendship with Ferdinand J. “Jelly Roll” Morton (q.v.). Made several raunchy, risqué records with his wife in the 1930s. Later enjoyed an extended tour with Cab Calloway’s Orchestra and appearances with such musical legends as Louis Armstrong (q.v.), William “Count” Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, and Billie Holiday. Returned to New Orleans in 1965 and began a crusade to preserve the legendary sounds of traditional jazz. Wrote several books and often lectured on the history of jazz. Worked as assistant curator of the New Orleans Jazz Museum. Founded the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band and the New Orleans youth organization “Danny’s Kids” in an effort to get children off the streets. Declared a Master of Jazz by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991 and enshrined in the American Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993. Performed publicly for the last time at Preservation Hall on December 31, 1993. Died in New Orleans, March 13, 1994; body lay in state at Gallier Hall before being interred in St. Louis Cemetery No. 2. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 5, 1991, March 14, 1994, March 16, 1994; Danny Barker, A Life in Jazz (1986); Jack Buerkle and Danny Barker, Bourbon Street Black (1973).
BARNETT, Alfonso Lynn, photographer. Born, Iowa, August 22, 1865; son of Eli Barnett (q.v.) and Louisa Cook. First wife unknown. Married (2) Ethel May Nelson (b. 1918). One son: Harold Lynn (1923-1950). Photography studio in Lake Charles; came to Crowley, La., in 1908 to run Barnett studio when father and brother went to Salem, Ore. Died, Crowley, March 3, 1959. A.M. Source: Author’s research.
BARNETT, Eli, photographer. Born near Indianapolis, Ind., May 4, 1841; son of William Barnett and Mary Allen. Married, 1864, Louisa Cook, daughter of Joseph and Mary Cook, Madison County, Iowa. Four sons: Burriett Allen (1876-1956), Edwin Everett (b. 1869), Alfonso Lynn (q.v.), and Ora (died in infancy). 1888 removed to Jennings, La.; wife died there in 1890. 1897 settled in Crowley, La., with son B. A. and started a photographic studio under Barnett name which lasted until 1972. First building destroyed by fire in 1904, rebuilt. Went to Salem, Ore., in 1908 with son B. A., but returned permanently in 1913. Acquired a national reputation for excellent outdoor photography. Member: Friends Church. Died, Crowley, August 1, 1927; buried Evangeline, La. A.M. Source: Author’s research.
BARNETTE, Chris Thomas, attorney, jurist, pioneer in juvenile justice. Born, Arcadia, La., April 20, 1905; son of Judge William C. Barnette and Eula Yarborough. Education: local schools; Centenary College, 1925; Louisiana State University Law School. Married Emily Sue Cupples, June 15, 1929, daughter of Sarah A. Casselberry and Harvey Robert Cupples. Children: Ruth Ann (b. 1930), Emily Jane (b. 1934), Clara Sue (b. 1940). Judge, Caddo Parish Juvenile Court, 1939-1964; judge, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, New Orleans, 1964-1971; judge, Caddo District Court, 1974; judge, First Circuit Court of Appeals, Baton Rouge, 1975. President, National Council of Juvenile Court Judges, 1953; chairman, board of directors, National Juvenile Court Foundation, 1961. Chairman and member, Louisiana Youth Commission, 1951-1971. George Freeman Award for outstanding contribution to social welfare by Louisiana Conference of Social Welfare, 1967; Meritorious Service Award by National Conference of Juvenile Court Judges, 1964. Member of Noel Memorial Methodist Church; Layman of the Year, Louisiana Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, 1962; board of trustees, Centenary College, 1952; longtime member, board of directors of the Methodist Children’s Home, Ruston; Centenary College Alumni Hall of Fame, 1972; numerous honors from Kiwanis Club and P.T.A. Died, 1982. A.O.H. Sources: Barnette family papers and clippings from Shreveport Times and Shreveport Journal.
BAROUSSE, Homer, businessman, politician. Born, Church Point, La., September 25, 1849; son of Jean Barousse of Labarthe Suard, France, and Caroline Fontenot Barousse of Church Point, La. Education: private schools, Washington, La. Married, 1869, Emélie Daigle, daughter of Theodore Daigle and Evelina Fox. Children: Oscar, Homer, Jr., Maurice, Laurent, Felix, Bertrand, Fernando, Noel, Lydia, Lelia. Founded a school in Church Point, 1875. Proprietor, Barousse General Store, destroyed by fire in November 1911, rebuilt soon afterwards. Member: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church; charter member, Council 2504 Knights of Columbus, December 2, 1923. Founder, Commercial Bank & Trust, Church Point, 1902. Active in the Democratic party: member, first Acadia Parish Police Jury, and served 1886-1898; first chairman, Acadia Parish Democratic Executive Committee, 1886-1894; first mayor of Church Point, 1893-1894; state senator, 1894-1896, 1900-1932, member, committees on Internal Improvements, Parks & Public Buildings, Capital and Labor, and Banks and Banking. Known as the “Silent Man of the Louisiana Legislature,” “Sphinx of the Senate.” Signer of the Round Robin that ended the impeachment trial of Huey P. Long, 1929. Died Church Point, May 28, 1936; interred Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Cemetery No. 1. G.L. Sources: Gary Lavergne, “Homer Barousse: Portrait of An Acadia Parish Politician,” Attakapas Gazette, XI (1976); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, May 29, 1936; New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 29, 1936.
BARR, Daniel Clay, clergyman. Born, DeKalb County, Ala., July 18, 1852; son of Matthew Alexander Barr of South Carolina and Nancy L. Turrentine of Georgia. Education: at home, Rev. J. F. Marshall, tutor; Atlanta (La.) Insitute. Married, October 13, 1865, Elizabeth Ann Hardy Goodwin of Montgomery, La. Children: Alexander (b. 1877), Mattie Eula (b. 1879), Rowena Belle (b. 1881), Lizzie Aber (b. 1883), John Sawyer (b. 1885), William Roberts (b. 1887), Florence (b. 1889), Charles Samuel (b. 1891), Bessie Anna (b. 1893), Minnie (b. 1895), Roberta (b. 1898). Member, Methodist church, local preacher, 1869, Louisiana Conference (forty-two years active service); superintendent, State Training School, Monroe, 1910-1914; ordained deacon, 1886, elder, 1888. Appointed pastor in Summerfield, Vernon, Downsville, Lisbon, Oak Ridge (fourteen years), Rayville, Bastrop, Harrisonburg, Winnsboro, Mangham, Tallulah, and Bonita. Superannuated, 1925; lived with daughter, Mrs. W. O. Files, in Oak Ridge and continued preaching for eleven years. Accompanied President Theodore Roosevelt in a bear hunt in Tensas Swamp. Claim of most marriages, most baptisms of babies, and most funerals conducted not challenged in North Louisiana. Thirty ministers among the thousand friends at subject’s funeral. Died, Monroe, November 20, 1936; interred Oak Ridge Baptist Cemetery, Oak Ridge, La. M.N.N. Sources: New Orleans Christian Advocate, July 12, 1931; August 13, 1931; November 26, 1936; December 3, 1936; Records, Oak Ridge United Methodist Church Archives; Annual of Louisiana Conference, 1936; Monroe Morning World, July 12, 1931; Alma Fulton Kellum, Family of Matthew Alexander Barr and Nancy Turrentine Barr (1969).
BARRET, Thomas C., attorney, politician. Born, Nacogdoches, Tex., March 31, 1860; son of W. W. and Mary Barret. Education: University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.; Tulane University; Louisiana State University. Settled in Shreveport in the 1880s and became an attorney, having among his law partners, Newton C. Blanchard (q.v.). Became involved in real estate speculation and developed much of the prestigious Fairfield Avenue area. Married, 1886, Lillian Hollingsworth of Shreveport, daughter of Col. James M. Hollingsworth, a Confederate officer, planter, and Democrat leader. Four children: Lillian, Thomas, Hollingsworth, and William. A Democrat, served on Caddo Parish School Board, Caddo Parish Treasurer, Louisiana senator, 1896-1912; president pro tem of the Louisiana senate; lieutenant governor of Louisiana, 1912-1916. Member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Shreveport. Barret Place named for him. Died, Shreveport, 1922. A.S.T. Sources: Lilla McLure and J. Ed. Howe, History of Shreveport and Shreveport Builders (1937); Hollingsworth B. Barret Papers, LSU-Shreveport Archives.
BARRETT, Emma “Sweet Emma,” jazz pianist/singer. Born in New Orleans, La., March 25, 1898; one of ten children born to Captain William B. Barrett, a Civil War veteran, and Emma Kennedy. One son, Richard A. (“Barqi”) Alexis, fathered by Richard Alexis; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren. Early childhood spent in Dorgenois Street neighborhood, where musicians frequently congregated. Began playing with bands at age twelve. Took piano lessons with Professor William Nickerson (q.v.), but did not learn to read music. Though opinionated, cantankerous, and brutally candid in later life, Barrett was known early on as “Sweet Emma, the bell gal,” named so for her congenial, accommodating on-stage disposition and the jingling bells attached to red garters worn for performance. Joined Oscar “Papa” Celestine’s (q.v.) Original Tuxedo Orchestra, 1923; Gus Ridgley’s band, 1925-36, concurrently playing with John Robichaux, A. J. Piron, and Sidney Desvigne. Barrett had an uncanny ability to cross chord (transÂpose). Used a straight back chair, playing from the wrists with a strong sound, a “blunt, pile driver attack.” Played society parties and night spots (Happy Landing and Old Absinthe House, 1950s). First recognized outside New Orleans after an appearance on Art Ford’s television show over WNTA, 1958. Lived frugally, disliked physicians, flying, and being photographed; kept money in a red purse which she always carried on stage; packed her own food when traveling and often nibbled crackers at performances. Played at Preservation Hall after its 1961 opening, formed own band there, and despite paralyzing stroke in 1967 continued playing from a wheel chair, using right hand only. Though handicapped, Barrett rarely missed a performance. Toured abroad in mid-1960s and played at Disneyland with her band, 1964. Band personnel included: Percy and Willie Humphrey, Jerry Greene, Jim Robinson, Josiah “Cié” Frazier, Marvin Kimball, Alcide “Slow Drag” Pavageau (q.v.), Emanuel Sayles. Cameoed in two films: The Cincinnati Kid, 1965; and Un homme qui me plait, 1969. Appeared in Royal Orleans Hotel for Heart Fund Jazz Band Jamboree, March 1968. Landmark recordings: “Sweet Emma the Bell Gal” (Riverside, 1961); “Sweet Emma Barrett and Her New Orleans Music” (SouthÂland, 1963); “Sweet Emma and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band” (live performance, Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, 1964). Tunes on Riverside label: “Bill Bailey,” “Chinatown,” “Down in Honky Tonk Town,” “The Bell Gal’s Careless Blues,” “I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jellyroll,” “Just a Little While to Stay Here,” “Tishomingo Blues,” “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Died, New Orleans, January 28, 1983. A.K.S. Sources: New Orleans Times Picayune, January 30, 1983; William Carter, Preservation Hall Music From the Heart (1991); Barry Kernfeld, ed., New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, (1988), Vol. 1; Noel Rockmore, Preservation Hall Portraits (1968); Bill Russell, New Orleans Style (1944); Samuel B. Charters, Jazz New Orleans 1885-1963 (1963).
BARRETT, John Augustus, funeral director, politician. Born, Algiers, Orleans Parish, La., October 31, 1865; son of Micheal [sic] John Barrett and Johanna Kirby. Education: New Orleans Public schools, Western College of Embalming, Iowa City, Iowa. Employed by V. & A. Meyer Cotton Dealers; clerk, Southern Pacific Railroad Company; owner, real estate firm and funeral undertaking establishment. President, Directors’ Association of Louisiana for several years; member, city council of New Orleans for four years, representing the Fifteenth Ward, 1904-1908; chairman of campaign committee of state Democratic ticket of Judge N. C. Blanchard (q.v.) for governor, 1904. President, seven years, of Young Men’s Social and Benevolent Association; filled all the chairs of the Halcyon Lodge No. 66, Knights of Pythias, representative to the Grand Lodge several times. Member, board of managers of Orange Camp No. 9, W.O.W.; prominent member of A.O.U.W.; secretary, 1895-1896, junior warden, 1902, of the Saints John Masonic Lodge No. 153, F & A.M.; Catholic. Married, October 30, 1895, Imogene Isabella Cassidy of New Orleans, daughter of John Cassidy and Jane Henderson Bruce. Children: twins, John Bruce (q.v.) and Michael Kirby (b. 1896), John Augustus, Jr. (b. 1897), Imogene (b. 1899), Helen (b. 1901), O’Neill (b. 1903), Cassidy Francis (b. 1906), Wilson Joseph (b. 1908), Viola (b. 1912). Died: October 18, 1921, New Orleans; interred Metairie Cemetery. C.M.B. Sources: J. A. Barrett family records; birth certificate, marriage certificate, and death certificate, New Orleans Vital Records; Dr. C. V. Kraft, The Herald, Vol. XIII, special edition; marriage certificate, Holy Name of Mary Church, Algiers, La.; obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune and Algiers Herald; Louisiana census, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910.
BARRETT, John Bruce, master machinist. Born, New Orleans, August 13, 1896; son of John Augustus Barrett (q.v.) and Imogene Isabella Cassidy. Education: New Orleans public schools. Employed by New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board, Algiers Iron Works, Algiers Dry Docks and Federal Barge Line. Member, Catholic church; Knights of Columbus, Crescent Chapter No. 3; held all the chairs in the Saints John Masonic Lodge No. 153 F. & A.M., Worshipful Master, 1947; Eastern Star St. John Chapter No. 35; St. John Chapter No. 98 R.A.M.; Democratic party. Married, December, 1921, Carmen Elizabeth Vanderlinden of New Orleans, daughter of Joseph Jules Vanderlinden and Anna Eliza Cayard. Children: Carmen Marguerite (b. 1923), Ralph Bruce (b. 1926). Died, August 24, 1958, New Orleans; interred Metairie Cemetery. C.M.B. Sources: J. B. Barrett family records; birth certificate, marriage certificate (Book No. 46, folio 9W), and death certificate (58 05971), New Orleans Vital Records; Trinity Lutheran Church, New Orleans, La.; Saints John Chapter Masonic Lodge, No. 153, F. & A.M.; obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune and New Orleans States; Louisiana Census, 1900, 1910.
BARRETT, Micheal [sic] John, businessman, politician. Born, County Cork, Ireland, March 1840. Immigrated to the United States about 1856 and settled in New Orleans, where he became a U. S. citizen, 1866. Civil War record: private, Capt. James H. Low’s Company G, First Regiment, Third Brigade, commanded by Col. J. M. Putman; enlisted March 5, 1862; captured near close of the war and remained a prisoner of the Union forces, being confined in Algiers at the Belleville Foundry and released at the end of the war. Served as New Orleans State Tax Collector of the Fifth District under Gov. Francis T. Nicholls. Head officer of assistant recorder, city of New Orleans. Democratic representative from Algiers to Louisiana state conventions. Member: Catholic church; volunteer fireman; Algiers Branch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians; Washington Benevolent Association; the Catholic Knights of America, Branch No. 352. Married, November 4, 1860, Johanna Kirby, of Limerick, Ireland; daughter of Daniel Kirby and Catharine Quinlan. Children: John Augustus (q.v.), Dennis M. (b. 1869), Johnanna Grace (b. 1871), Viola (b. 1874), Genevieve V. (b. 1875), Daniel John (b. 1877), Myra Catherine (b. 1879), May A. (b. 1882), Florence C. (b. 1885), Juanita B. (b. 1888). Died, January 23, 1903, New Orleans; interred St. Patrick Cemetery I. C.M.B. Sources: M. J. Barrett family records; National Archives, Veterans Records, Washington, D. C., No. 46712027; Succession No. 69795; marriage records from St. Theresa of Avila Catholic Church and New Orleans Vital Records; original tax collector and assistant recorder receipts; death certificate, Volume 129, p. 133, New Orleans Vital Records; obituary, New Orleans Daily Picayune, New Orleans Times-Democrat, New Orelans Daily States, and the Algiers Herald, January 24-25, 1903; Louisiana census, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900.
BARRIÈRE, Michel Bernard, priest. Born in Bordeaux, France, and was an ordained priest at the time of the French Revolution. Due to the anti-clerical nature of the revolution, Barrière fled to North America, arriving in Baltimore, Md., during the 1790s. Bishop John Carroll subsequently appointed him to the Kentucky country, but after a short time there, Barrière chose to move on to New Orleans. He left Louisville in April 1794 and sailed down the Mississippi River, until he was arrested in Spanish Louisiana. Upon his release, Vicar-General Patrick Walsh of New Orleans appointed Barrière to the Attakapas church (now St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church of St. Martinville). He arrived at the Attakapas church on March 8, 1795, and served there until November 1, 1804, later becoming the pastor of St. Landry Catholic Church of Opelousas. The establishment of St. John the Evangelist Church on December 20, 1821, in what would become the town of Vermilionville, led Bishop Louis Guillaume Dubourg of New Orleans to appoint Barrière to this station. Here he served until the winter of 1824, when he decided to return to Bordeaux. Barrière died shortly after his arrival in France, sometime in 1825. N.P.W. Sources: Roger Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (1939); Charles L. Souvay, “Rummaging Through Old Parish Records: An Historical Sketch of the Church of Lafayette, La., 1821-1921,” St. Louis Catholic Historical Review III (1921); Mary Malone Wyche, “Attakapas Apostle,” Vertical File, Dupré Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana.
BARROW, Abram Feltus, physician, politician. Born, Highland Plantation, West Feliciana Parish, La., September 13, 1868; son of John Joor Barrow (q.v.) and Eleanor Eliza Barrow. Education: Bethel Military and Classical Academy, Virginia; Louisiana State University; Tulane Medical School, graduated 1889. Married Camilla Leake, December 10, 1892; served on State Board of Medical Examiners, 1894-1907; operated private sanitarium, St. Francisville, 1910-1918; alderman, St. Francisville, 1907; mayor, 1908-1912; member, West Feliciana Parish School Board, 1916-1924, succeeded by wife who served until 1942; Louisiana state senate, 1912-1916; State Democratic Central Committee, 1905(?)-1925. Military service: Surgeon, First Regiment Louisiana Guard Infantry, 1905; captain, Medical Corps, U. S. Army, Camp Logan, Tex., September-December, 1918. Member: Grace Episcopal Church; Feliciana Lodge #31, Free and Accepted Masons; Odd Fellows. Died, June 22, 1928; interred Grace Church Cemetery, St. Francisville. E.K.D. Sources: Oath Books, West Feliciana Parish; St. Francisville True Democrat, Silver Anniversary Edition, 1917; Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana . . . (1925).
BARROW, Alexander, attorney, planter, U. S. senator. Born near Nashville, Tenn., March 27, 1801; son of Wylie Macajah Barrow and Jane Grier. Education: U. S. Military Academy, 1816-1818; studied law. Married Mary Ann Barrow, daughter of Bartholomew Barrow and Bethier Brantly. Children: Alexander II, Wylie Macajah, and Jane. Legal career: admitted to bar, 1822; practicing attorney, Nashville, 1822; practicing attorney, West Feliciana Parish, La., 1822-?; abandoned legal practice to become a planter, early 1820s. Active in Whig party: state representative, 1833-1838; elected to U. S. Senate, 1840; served U. S. Senate from March 4, 1841 to December 29, 1846; opposed Texas annexation. Died, Baltimore, Md., December 29, 1846; interred private cemetery, Afton Villa, West Feliciana Parish. C.A.B. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896; Journal of the House of Representatives, 1833-1839.
BARROW, Bennett Hilliard, planter. Born, Highland Plantation, Feliciana Parish, La., October 21, 1811; son of William Barrow and Pheraby Hilliard who emigrated from North Carolina to Feliciana, 1800. Education: private tutors. Married (1) Emily Joor (d. 1845), daughter of Gen. John Joor and Emily Richardson of Wilkinson County, Miss. Children: James, John Joor (q.v.), Emily Caroline, Bartholomew, Clifford Bennett, Amanda Rosalie, Hilliard Bat, and Emily Ruffin. Married (2) Nancy Joor (d. 1888), sister of first wife and widow of William Haile. Children: Albert, Anna Eliza, and Martha Aliena. Inherited his father’s plantation at age 16. Barrow’s plantation diary, dating from 1836 to 1846, edited and published by Edwin Adams Davis. During this decade Barrow served as police juror, overseer of a road district, and overseer of the poor of West Feliciana Parish. Died, May 29, 1854; interred Highland Plantation. E.K.D. Sources: Edwin Adams Davis, Plantation Life in the Florida Parishes of Louisiana, 1836-1846 . . . (1943); William Barrow Floyd, The Barrow Family of Old Louisiana (1963).
BARROW, Charles Mathews, politician. Born, June 6, 1847; son of Robert Hilliard Barrow, Jr., and Mary Eliza Barrow. Education: at home. Enlisted as private, Company F., Woods’s Cavalry, C.S.A., October 12, 1863; transferred to Forrest’s Cavalry, paroled in Alabama, May 12, 1865. Married (1) Anna McNairy, widow of James Reeve, May 25, 1869. Married (2) Flora Koerner, after 1904. Leader in overthrow of carpetbag regime in West Feliciana Parish, La., 1874-1877. Elected clerk, Seventh Judicial District Court (later Fifteenth Judicial District), 1876-1884; elected sheriff, West Feliciana Parish, 1885-1892. Member, Grace Episcopal Church, St. Francisville. Died, August 27, 1930; interred Grace Church Cemetery, St. Francisville. E.K.D. Sources: William Barrow Floyd, The Barrow Family of Old Louisiana (1963); Andrew B. Booth, comp., Louisiana Confederate Soldiers . . . (1920); Oath Book, West Feliciana Parish; Grace Church Register; Letter from C. M. Barrow to Fanny Z. Lovell Bone, cited in Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XIV (1931); Grace Church Register.
BARROW, John Joor, planter, politician. Born, Highland Plantation, West Feliciana Parish, La., July 2, 1833; son of Bennett Hilliard Barrow (q.v.) and Emily Joor. Education: private tutors; Bolmer’s School, Westchester County, Pa.; Kentucky Military Institute; University of Virginia; Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Became sole owner of Highland Plantation, 1859. Married (1) Olivia Ruffin Barrow (1836-1859), November 8, 1855. Children: Bennett Livy Barrow and Elwyn John Barrow. Married (2) Eleanor Eliza Barrow (1833-1891), sister of first wife, August 11, 1862. Children: T. J. Bird, John James, Abram Feltus (q.v.), Olivia Ruffin, Eleanor Eliza, Margaret Leake, and Eleanor Jennie. Enlisted as captain, Company I, Eleventh Louisiana Infantry, C.S.A., August 11, 1861, wounded at Shiloh, resigned 1862. Elected to Louisiana legislature, 1871; sheriff, West Feliciana Parish, 1877-1880; served in Louisiana senate, 1888-1890. Died, Pass Christian, Miss., May 24, 1890; interred Highland Plantation. E.K.D. Sources: William Barrow Floyd, The Barrow Family of Old Louisiana (1963); Senate Journal; Oath Book, West Feliciana Parish.
BARROW, Martha Hilliard, see TURNBULL, Martha Hilliard Barrow
BARROW, Robert Ruffin, planter, canal builder, businessman. Born, Residence Plantation, Terrebonne Parish, La., February 28, 1858; son of Robert Barrow, Sr., and Volumina Hunley. Married, June 28, 1880, Jennie Lodiska Tennent. Children: Volumina (d. 1882); Irene Felicity (b. 1883); Robert Ruffin III (b. 1885); Zoe Gayoso (b. 1886); Jennie Tennent (b. 1888); and Hallette Mary (b. 1892). Operated Myrtle Grove and Roberta Grove plantations, Terrebonne Parish; completed the Barataria and Lafourche Canal; invested in various interests in Louisiana. Resided in New Orleans. Died, New Orleans, March 24, 1926. M.J.F. Source: R. R. Barrow Papers, Ellender Memorial Library Archives, Nicholls State University.
BARROW, William Ruffin, planter. Born, Natchez, Miss., December 21, 1800; son of William Barrow and Pheraby Hilliard. Education: private tutors. Married Olivia Ruffin Barrow, daughter of Bennett Barrow and Martha Hill, May 9, 1822. Ten children but only five lived to maturity: Rosalie, Amanda, Olivia Ruffin, Eleanor Eliza, and William Ruffin, Jr. Built Greenwood in 1830 (designed by James Hammon Coulter [q.v.]), Louisiana’s most famous Greek Revival home until it burned, 1960. Political career: Louisiana legislature, 1839-1841; member, Louisiana secession convention, 1861. Died, March 22, 1862; interred Highland Plantation, West Feliciana Parish. E.K.D. Source: William Barrow Floyd, The Barrow Family of Old Louisiana (1963).
BARROW, Willie Micajah, Confederate soldier, writer. Born, St. Francisville, La., July 14, 1843; son of Willie Micajah Barrow, Sr., and Cordelia Johnson. Education: private tutors; Jefferson College; Mississippi Military Institute; Louisiana State Seminary. Civil War service: enlisted as private, Company F, Fourth Louisiana Infantry; captured at Battle of Shiloh, April 17, 1862; imprisoned at Camp Douglas, Chicago, August 1862; released September 1862; re-enlisted; served in Tennessee and Georgia, 1862-1863. Writing: published diary an important source of information for routine and outlook of Confederate soldiers. Died, Dalton, Ga., December 14, 1863, of dysentery. C.A.B. Sources: Andrew B. Booth, comp., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands (1920); Wendell Holmes Stephenson, ed., “The Civil War Diary of Willie Micajah Barrow, September 23, 1861-July 13, 1862,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XVII (1934).
BARRY, Eliza, child martyr of public school prayer. Born, New Orleans(?), 1847. Thirteen-year-old Eliza was perhaps the first Louisiana student to be punished for refusing to join in a public school Bible reading in New Orleans in 1850. In an angry reaction, her Irish-Catholic father blamed the spirit of Know-Nothingism (American Party) in the city for what he termed “tax payer supported religious intolerance.” T.F.R. Source: “Schools in the Second Municipality,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, October 5, 1850.
BARTH, Joseph Edward, Jr., internationally famous float designer. Born, New Orleans, 1926. Married Jean Wilkinson; two children: Barry and Joseph “Cookie” III. Graduate of Warren Easton High School, New Orleans; and John McCrady Art School, New Orleans. Following completion of art school, Barth worked in commercial, art, interior design, and theatrical scenery. Became interested in Mardi Gras during the Great Depression. After World War II, worked for Cutall Advertising Studio. Later established his own float design company. Supplemented his income by painting playground signs and theatrical backdrops and producing stage designs for the New Orleans Recreation Department. He also designed interiors of cocktail lounges Spangenberg Studios. Worked for Blaine Kern Artists, then the Crescent City’s leading float design company, for ten years. Joined Barth Brothers, Inc., a carnival floats design and production company founded by his children, in 1975. Worked for Barth Brothers, 1975-1994. Taught float design and construction methods at Delgado Community College, New Orleans, 1991-1996; instructor, float production, Kenner, La., Mardi Gras Museum. Inducted into the Warren Easton High School Hall of Fame, 1994. Died, New Orleans, October 28, 1996; interred, New Orleans. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 30, 1996.
BARTLETT, Myron Napier, historian, journalist. Born, Macon, Ga., 1836. Education: University of Louisiana, graduated1858. Admitted to the bar in Georgia. Published the Atlanta Confederacy. Removed to New Orleans in 1860 and worked for the Crescent. Served as a private and corporal in the 3rd Company, Washington Artillery, during the Civil War. After the war returned to New Orleans and worked for the Southern Star, Crescent, Bulletin, and Times. Wrote A Soldier’s Story of the War (1874) and Military Record of Louisiana (1875). Purchased the Homer Claiborne Advocate and edited it. Died, Homer, La., 1876. A.W.B. Sources: Napier Bartlett, Military Record of Louisiana . . . (reprint ed., 1964); Edwin R. Jewell, Jewell’s Crescent City Illustrated (1873); The South in the Building of the Nation (1909), Vol. XI.
BARTON, Edward Hall, physician. Born in Virginia. Education: University of Pennsylvania. Arrived in Feliciana Parish, La., ca. 1820; opened medical practice and established hospital and surgery unit; aroused ire of community by autopsying yellow-fever victim in effort to learn more about disease. Incorporator and member of first vestry Grace Episcopal Church, St. Francisville, 1827. Removed to New Orleans, 1838. Named professor on first faculty of Medical College of Louisiana, 1834; member, Board of Charity Hospital and Medical Board of Censors, 1836; dean, Medical College of Louisiana, July 1836-June 1840; elected Fellow of the Physico Medical Society, 1838; member, first board of trustees, University of Louisiana, 1847; early member, American Medical Association, 1848-1857; president State Medical Society, 1851-1854; author of medical treatises, 1830-1853; Sanitary Conditions in New Orleans (1853) decried current medical practices in treatment and prevention of yellow fever; his statistical records formed the basis of reliable predictions of epidemics but was discounted by community. Died, 1857, in North Carolina. E.K.D. Sources: John Duffy, ed., The Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana (1958-1962); E. A. Fossier, “Charles Aloysius Luzenberg, 1805-1848: A History of Medicine in New Orleans during the Years 1830 to 1848,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVI (1943); William D. Postell, Annals of Medical History, Third Series, Vol. IV (September, 1942); West Feliciana Parish Public Records; Register Grace Church.
BARTON, Seth, attorney, jurist, public official. Born, Baltimore, Md., December 8, 1795; son of Seth Barton, Baltimore shipping merchant, and Sarah Emerson Maxwell. Classical education in Baltimore. Uncertain military record, had title of colonel. Law practice in Alabama and New Orleans, partner of Judah P. Benjamin (q.v.). Married three times. Married (3) Isabel Astaburruaga of leading Chilean family, in 1848, basis of significant international dispute with the Catholic church and Chilean government. Supported Polk with letters under pseudonym “John Randolph of Roanoke” in 1844 campaign, rewarded with political appointments; solicitor of the federal treasury, 1845-1847; chargé d’affaires, Chile from May 27, 1847, to May 22, 1849. Died, New Orleans, 1850, of yellow fever. T.D.S. Sources: Henry Clay Evans, Jr., Chile and Its Relations with the United States (1927); National Cyclopedia of American Biography, XIII (1906); U. S. Dept. of State, United States Chiefs of Mission, 1778-1973.
BARTUS, Alexander, clergyman. Born, Tisza Dob, Hungary, April 4, 1892. His father came to America and worked in the mines in Ohio until he could send for his wife and children in 1901, then after a year they all removed to Louisiana, near Hammond, where there was a Hungarian settlement. The boy Bartus worked in the sawmill with his father, and learning English rapidly, served as interpreter and bookkeeper. To that point his schooling was slight, perhaps three or four years in Hungary and America. When he joined the Hungarian Presbyterian Church in 1910 and volunteered for the ministry, he had a lot of education to make up. Enrolled in Bloomfield College in New Jersey that year, spent six years in the college, was out a year, and then three years in Bloomfield Seminary. Ordained to the Gospel ministry in 1920. After a year as evangelist in Aurora, Ill., he returned to be pastor of his home church in 1921, where he remained until his retirement in 1967. Married Goldie Szekely in 1921. Children: Margaret, Alex, Goldie (Mrs. W. B. Hudson, Jr.), Louis, Joseph, Eugene. Sent them all through college on the profits from twenty acres of strawberries. Never receiving much salary, he was a farmer, on forty acres of his father’s and twenty of his own. Headed United Givers’ Fund, was a bookkeeper for the Albany Farm Bureau, FHA County Commissioner for Livingston Parish, and district supervisor for the Feliciana Soil and Water Conservation District. In 1951 The Progressive Farmer chose him as Rural Minister of the Year in Louisiana. He taught at Albany High School for eleven years, and was managing editor of the Albany News. In the 1940s there was no nursing home in Livingston Parish, the Bartus family started one. When the state required a qualified administrator, Bartus took the course at Louisiana State University at the age of 78, and graduated. Died, May 2, 1977. W.D.L. Sources: E. D. Witherspoon, Jr., Ministerial Directory of the Presbyterian Church, U. S., 1861-1975 (1975); James W. Anderson, “Alexander Bartus, Strawberry Preacher” (unpublished mss., Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 1982); Penrose St. Amant, A History of the Presbyterian Church in Louisiana (1961).
BASS, Charles Cassedy, physician, medical scientist, medical administrator. Born, Carley, Miss., January 29, 1875; son of Isaac Esau Bass and Mary Eliza Wilkes Bass; brother of Mary Elizabeth Bass (q.v.). Education: Columbia (Miss.) High School; Wyatt’s Business College, Jackson, Miss.; Tulane University School of Medicine, M.D., 1899. Private practice for five years in Columbia, Miss. Interest in newly emerging scientific basis of disease in his medical practice propelled him into academic medicine. Studied at Johns Hopkins; returned to New Orleans to head up the laboratory of clinical medicine. At Tulane, worked in clinical microbiology, clinical medicine, and experimental medicine from May 23, 1907, to September 1922, when he became dean of the School of Medicine. Retired as dean, January 29, 1940, but continued on as Emeritus W. R. Irby Professor of Experimental Medicine. Bass conducted medical research in parasites, malaria, nutritional diseases, and dental care. Member, Association of American Physicians, 1916; fellow of the American College of Physicians, 1920; president, Society of Tropical Medicine, 1917; president, the Society of Clinical Investigation, 1925. Died, New Orleans, August 29, 1975. J.P.M. Sources: The Charles Cassedy Bass Papers, Special Collections, Howard Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University; George Burch, Transactions of the Association of American Physicians, LXXXIX (1976); various editions of Who’s Who in America; American Men and Women of Science, editions 3-10; Southern Medicine, LXIII (1975); New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 29, 1975; Orleans Parish Medical Society Bulletin, XLVI (1975); Times-Picayune, August 30, 1975; “New Orleans as a Medical Center” (1930); “On the Occasion of the Naming of the Rudolph Matas Medical Library,” New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, XC (1938); John Duffy, The Tulane University Medical Center (1984); Duffy, ed., The Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana (1962).
BASS, Mary Elizabeth, physician, educator. Born, Carley, Miss., April 5, 1876; daughter of Isaac Esau and Mary Eliza Wilkes Bass; sister of Charles C. Bass (q.v.). Education: Columbia (Miss.) High School, 1893; normal schools in Texas and Mississippi, and taught in both states; Woman’s College of Pennsylvania, M.D., 1904. Began practice of medicine in New Orleans with her sister Cora Bass in 1904. Helped found the New Orleans Teaching Dispensary for Women and Children. Many firsts as a woman physician in New Orleans and Louisiana. Teaching appointments at Tulane Medical School from December 11, 1911, to August 31, 1941. Concentrated on pathology and clinical medicine. Diplomate of the American Board of Pathology, and Fellow, American College of Physicians. Encouraged students and exerted leadership to emphasize proper roles for women in medicine. Published several scientific papers. Active in numerous professional organizations. President, American Medical Women’s Association, 1921-1922; founder of a historical column in their journal; and recipient of their Elizabeth Blackwell Centennial Medal in 1953. Founded the Elizabeth Bass Collection on Women in Medicine at the Rudolph Matas Medical Library of Tulane University. Died, January 26, 1956. J.P.M. Sources: The Mary Elizabeth Bass papers, and the Women in Medicine Collection, the Rudolph Matas Medical Library, Tulane University Medical Center.
BASSO, Hamilton, journalist, novelist. Born, New Orleans, September 5, 1904; son of Dominick and Louise Calamari Basso. Education: New Orleans public schools; Tulane University, graduated 1926. Newspaper reporter, New Orleans Tribune, 1927; later with the Item, Times-Picayune; copywriter Fitzgerald Advertising Agency, New Orleans; associate editor, The New Republic, 1935-1937; contributing editor Time magazine, 1942-1943; associate editor, The New Yorker, 1944; recipient of Southern Authors Award, 1939. Member, Weston, Conn., School Board, resided Weston after leaving New York in 1944. Member, National Institute of Arts and Letters Club. Member, Players. Author: The World from Jackson Square (with Etolia Simmons Basso, 1948); The Green Room (1948); The View from Pompey’s Head (1954); The Light Infantry Ball (1959); A Quota of Seaweed (1961); also, Angels and Relics and Beauregard: The Great Creole. Editor: Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, 1952. Married Etolia Simmons of New Orleans, June 2, 1930. One son, Keith Basso. Died, New Haven, Conn., May 13, 1964. C.C.K. Sources: Who’s Who, 1962-63; obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 14, 1964.
BASTROP, Baron de, see NERING BOGEL, Philip Hendrik
BATES, Fred W., geologist. Born, New Haven, Conn., August 19, 1911; son of Clifford Bates and Katherine Westerman. Married Katherine Smith; five children. Education: B. S. in Mining Engineering, Princeton University, 1933; graduate work in Micropaleontology and Petroleum Geology, University of Oklahoma, 1934-35. Moved to Lafayette, La., 1937. Registered professional geological engineer and certified petroleum geologist. Employed by Geophysical Research Corporation and Continental Oil Company before forming independent consulting firm of Bates and Cornell. On the Geology faculty at both Princeton and University of Southwestern Louisiana. He was a qualified expert for the American Arbitration Association. Member, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers, and Society of Sigma Xi. He was an honorary life member of Lafayette Geological Society. He served as director and president of U.S.L. Foundation; director, First National Bank of Lafayette; treasurer, Evangeline Area Boy Scouts of America; and president, Lafayette Airport Commission. Died, April 24, 1988; interred, Lafayette Memorial Cemetery and Mausoleum. I.B.T. Sources: obituary, Lafayette Daily Advertiser, April 26, 1988.
BATT, Harry J., amusement park owner, philanthropist. Born, New Orleans, June 20, 1903; son of Mary Aline Grant and John William Batt. Education: Danneel Elementary; Warren Easton High School. Married Marguerite Spraul, New Orleans, September 2, 1924. Children: Harry J., Jr., and John Batt. Career: became general manager of the firm, Playland, Inc., in 1930; directed operations of Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park, first located near the mouth of Bayou St. John and at its present location on Elysian Fields Avenue and Lakeshore Drive; co-director of Seattle World’s Fair, 1962; staged the Miss New Orleans and Miss Louisiana beauty pageants at the amusement park; directed the installation of a model railroad at St. Louis Zoo in 1963; helped organize the New Orleans Recreation Department; instrumental in establishing a burn center at Charity Hospital; active in raising funds for victims of multiple sclerosis, the Crippled Children’s Hospital, and the New Orleans Council of Jewish Women; contributed to the City Parks’ Storyland section. Member, International House, New Orleans Chamber of Commerce education committee, Housing Authority of New Orleans, Salvation Army, Variety Clubs International, International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions; chairman, board of managers of Delgado Museum (now New Orleans Museum of Art); director, National American Bank; honored in 1976 by Young Men’s Business Club for annual outing he sponsored for poor children at the amusement park; received Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award from the art museum in 1976; reigned as king of the Louisiana Society of the Washington Mardi Gras ball, 1972. Died, Hong Kong, November 5, 1977; interred Metairie Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, November 6, 1977; family research by Harry Batt, Jr.
BAUDIER, Joseph Roger, historian, Creole chronicler, journalist, editor, educator, Catholic lay leader. Born, New Orleans, July 30, 1893; son of Jean Alexandre Baudier II and Louise Angela Baudier. Orphaned at age six and reared by Mariana Clementine Lamothe (1817-1908), who filled his childhood with Creole stories and traditions. Education: attended St. Philip’s School in French Quarter, 1898-1906; St. Anthony College (seminary), Santa Barbara, Calif., 1909-1913. Elementary teacher at St. Francis Orphanage, Watsonville, Calif., 1913-1918; military service with Eighth Division, U. S. Army, 1918-1919. Clerk for Southern Pacific Railroad in New Orleans, 1919-1927; commercial artist, free lance writer, and trade journal and religious editor, including The Mixer, 1927-1934; associate editor, 1932-1941, and editor, 1941-1949, of Catholic Action of the South; trade journal editor, including The Dough Boy, and first appointed historian of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, 1949-1960. Married Mary Mabel Demarest of New Orleans, April 19, 1922. Children: Mary Mabel; Joseph Roger, Jr.; and Ann Marie. Major books: The Catholic Church in Louisiana (1939); The Eighth National Eucharistic Congress (1941); Anchor and Fleur-de-Lis: Knights of Columbus in Louisiana, 1902-1962 (with Millard Everett, 1965); and many major historical supplements of Catholic Action of the South. Authored more than 50 monographs and innumerable articles on Catholic parishes, organizations, and institutions in Louisiana. Major trade journal series included history of sanitation in New Orleans (The Southern Plumber, 1930-1932) and history of bread-making customs of Indians of the Southwest (The Mixer, 1932). Organizer and first secretary, 1932-1934, of Louisiana State Bakers Association. Authored weekly column, “Historic Old New Orleans,”—a major source of Creole traditions, folklore, and beliefs—in Catholic Action of the South (January 15, 1933, to November 12, 1960). Active in Knights of Columbus, Catholic Committee of the South, Archconfraternity of St. Ann, Associated Catholic Charities, and Holy Name Society. Handled publicity for numerous Catholic events and organizations, 1925-1960. Vigorous proponent of workers’ rights and staunch supporter of Archbishop Joseph Rummel (q.v.) in desegregation efforts. Helped design monstrance used in 1938 Eucharistic Congress and exhibited at 1984 Louisiana World Exhibition. Honors: Knight of St. Gregory (1943); France’s Palmes Academiques (1949); honorary LL.D. from Notre Dame Seminary (1958). Died, New Orleans, November 12, 1960; interred St. Louis Cemetery III. C.E.N. Sources: Baudier Collections in Archives of the Archldiocese of New Orleans; Baudier Family Papers; personal research notes for biography of Joseph Roger Baudier (in preparation).
BAUDUIT, Agnes Leonie, educator. Born, New Orleans, October 31, 1884. Education: New Orleans public schools; pursued an education curriculum at Southern University Normal, University of Chicago, University of Illinois, University of California and Tuskegee Institute. Also studied supervision methods at the University of Chicago and observation and supervision methods at the University of California. Before joining New Orleans Public School System in February 1908, taught school in St. James Parish, La. Remainder of her career in New Orleans; taught at Bayou Road, 1908-1911, and Thomy Lafon, 1911-1914; served as principal at Daneel No. 2, 1914-1921, and McDonogh No. 6, 1921-1950. With others, advocated establishing in-service training programs; departmentalizing primary grades; establishing student councils. Encouraged the establishment of a dental clinic, centralized library, a remedial reading program, and a visual aids program. Died, New Orleans, September 3, 1950; interred St. Vincent Soniat Cemetery. F.J. Source: Robert Meyer, Jr., Names Over New Orleans Public Schools (1975).
BAUER, Charles E., journalist, newspaper publisher, jurist. Born, San Michel, La. (across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge) November 17, 1859. Married in 1899. Children: Charles Dunn, Philip Lamar, William Cecil, and Lucille. Moved at a young age to Baton Rouge, where he lived with an aunt, Salome Braunig. Attended Millwood Institute, Baton Rouge, and Louisiana State University, 1877. At age nineteen, published his first newspaper, The Baton Rouge Weekly Advocate; followed by The Dispatch, the anti-lottery organ of Baton Rouge, early 1880s. After brief stays in Birmingham, Ala., Chicago, Ill., and Denison, Texas, Bauer returned to Baton Rouge in the early 1890s; subsequently served as a reporter for The Weekly Advocate and later as editor of The Bulletin. Served for many years as the Baton Rouge correspondent for the New Orleans Times-Democrat. Appointed city judge in 1900 to fill an unexpired term. Later served as chief clerk, state land office; deputy clerk, clerk of court’s office, Baton Rouge; minute clerk, Nineteenth Judicial District Court; member, Land Inventory Commission. Retired in 1930, but remained active in the Baton Rouge community until his death. Died, Baton Rouge, June 25, 1959. J.D.W. Sources: Baton Rouge State-Times, June 25, 1959.
BAUER, Nicholas, educator. Born, New Orleans, July 22, 1877. Education: local schools; Tulane Univeristy, B. S., 1897; master’s degree, 1899. Senior chemistry professor at Boys’ High School, 1900-1908; assistant superintendent of Orleans Parish Schools, 1901-1923. Superintendent of Orleans Parish Schools, 1923-1942. Active in civic affairs; served as secretary of the Louisiana Teachers’ Association, 1901-1915; president, 1915-1916. A charter member and director of Isaac Delgado Trade School. As superintendent of education, launched a ten-year expansion program (1927-1936) resulting in construction of at least nineteen new schools. Awarded the Times-Picayune Loving Cup for 1936 for outstanding civic service. Married (1) Ethel Champerlain and (2) Edna Kane. One child, Ethel, by first marriage. Died, March 4, 1946; interred Metairie Cemetery. G.R.C. Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 5, 1946.
BAUTTE, Hippolyte-Prudent de, journalist, author. Born in Normandy, France, 1821. Educated in Paris. Editor of the newspaper, Le Corsaire. Imprisoned for publishing inflammatory republican articles. Immigrated to Louisiana, 1848. Wrote a weekly column in La Revue Louisianaise under the pseudonym Prudent d’Artlys. Assistant editor of L’Echo National. When both L’Echo and La Revue disappeared, became editor-in-chief of La Presse des Deux Mondes. Married Arthemise Landry from St. Mary Parish, La. Removed to Lucy, La., 1853. Founded a newspaper, Le Meschacebe which he sold in 1857. In 1854 founded the Journal de la Côte in Donaldsonville. In 1859 bought a Marksville newspaper which he renamed Le Pelican. Voluminous output of articles in La Revue Louisianaise, L’Echo National, La Presse des Deux-Mondes, Le Champion (Donaldsonville), Le Pelican (Marksville). Novels published serially in Le Meschacébé (Les Pauvres Garçons and Washington et Napoleon, both in 1855); in the Donaldsonville Vigilant (La Chemise sanglante ou la Louisiane publicaine, 1851), the Napoleonville Pionnier (La Negresse du Diable), the Donaldsonville Drapeau (La Famille Gorgone, 1858), and the Marksville Pelican (Le Pirate de La Fourche, Gaston, Haidee). An historical drama Boston et Washington also published in Le Pelican. Two dramas Les Brigands du Bayou Lafourche and La Mort de Porthos performed in Donaldsonville on September 7 and October 14, 1851, respectively. Active in state and local politics, caught cold at a Democratic party meeting and died of pneumonia, October 19, 1861. M.A. Sources: Edward Larocque Tinker, Les Ecrits de langue française en Louisiane au XIXe siècle (1932); Auguste Viatte, “Complement à la bibliographie d’Edward Larocque Tinker,” Revue de Louisiane, III (1974).
BAYLEY, George Willard Reed, engineer, surveyor, politician. Born, New York, ca. 1812. Service as engineer: assistant state engineer, 1849-1861; chief engineer, New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad, 1855-1857, 1866-1869; division engineer, New Orleans, Mobile and Chatanooga Railroad, 1870-1873; chief engineer, Louisiana Levee Company, 1875-1876; first assistant and resident engineer, jetties project at the mouth of Mississippi River, 1875. Service as surveyor: surveyed Red River to determine feasibility of navigation above Natchitoches, 1849; surveyed boundary between Pointe Coupée, West Baton Rouge, and Iberville parishes, 1849; surveyed route for New Orleans, Opelousas, and Great Western Railroad between Algiers and Brashear City, 1852-1853; official surveyor for City of New Orleans, 1864-1865. Professional activities: appointed by Louisiana Levee Company as its representative to the national Levee Commission of Engineers, 1874; addressed the American Society of Civil Engineers on subject of levees, 1875; named one of seven Louisiana delegates to Interstate Levee Convention, 1875. Service, public health: longtime advocate of sanitation improvements in New Orleans; member of Louisiana State Board of Health, 1874-1876. Active in Democratic party: state representative from Tenth District of New Orleans, 1875-1876. Organizational: Member, New Orleans Mechanics’ Society, 1866-1867; charter member, New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, 1875; charter member, New Orleans Pacific Railroad Company, 1875; member, board of directors, New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad, 1864. Died, New Orleans, December 14, 1876. C.A.B. Sources: Walter Prichard, ed., “A Forgotten Louisiana Engineer: G. W. R. Bayley and His ‘History of the Railroads in Louisiana’,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXX (1947); C. W. S. Hartley, “Sir Charles Hartley and the Mouths of the Mississippi,” Louisiana History, XXIV (1983).
BAYNE, Thomas Levingston, attorney. Born, Clinton, Ga., August 24, 1824; son of Charles Bayne and Elizabeth Bowen. Married, December 22, 1853, Anna Maria Gayle (1835-1879), daughter of Gov. John Gayle of Alabama. Six children reached maturity: Mary Aiken (b. 1855); Charles Bowen (b. 1861); Edith (b. 1863), married George Denègre (q.v.); Thomas, Jr. (b. 1865); Amelia Elizabeth (b. 1868), married Stanhope Jones (q.v.); and Hugh Aiken (b. 1870). Education: Yale University, B. A., 1847; read law in firm of Slidell & Clark, firm later Clark & Bayne, later Bayne, Denègre & Bayne, later Denègre, Leovy & Chaffe, now Chaffe, McCall, Phillips, Toler & Sarpy. Enlisted in Washington Artillery, 1862; wounded at Shiloh; later lieutenant colonel, C.S.A., stationed in Richmond as chief of Bureau of Foreign Supplies. After war, rebuilt law practice; leader in New Orleans bar; vice president, American Bar Association. Active in civic affairs; particularly interested in assisting veterans and ridding the city of carpetbag rule. Died, New Orleans, December 10, 1891. G.D. Sources: Newspaper articles and family papers compiled by Hugh A. Bayne (unpublished), deposited in Yale University Library.
BAYNE-JONES, Stanhope, physician, medical administrator, brigadier-general. Born, New Orleans, November 6, 1888; son of Samuel Stanhope Davis Jones, M. D. (d. 1894) and Amelia Elizabeth Minna (d. 1893). Family changed his last name to Bayne-Jones in 1905. Education: Etta Finney’s school, 1899; Rugby Academy, 1899-1902; Dixon Academy, Covington, 1902-1905; Thacher School, Ojai, Calif., 1905-1906; Yale University, 1906-1910; Tulane University School of Medicine, 1910-1911; University of Chicago, summer 1911; Johns Hopkins University Medical School, 1911-1914; M. D., 1914, first in his class. Intern in medicine, Anoca Hospital, Panama Canal Zone, June-September, 1912; Johns Hopkins Hospital, house officer in medicine, 1914-1915; assistant resident pathologist, 1915-1916; work in bacteriology and immunology with Hans Zinsser, Department of Bacteriology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, 1916; Rockefeller Fellow in Pathology, assistant resident in Pathology, Johns Hopkins University Medical School, 1916-1917; M. A., Johns Hopkins University, 1917. From reserve first lieutenant to active duty as captain, Army Medical Corps in World War I: served with the British Expeditionary Forces in France and Belgium, 1917; British Military Cross, October, 1917; Italian front, October 1917-March 1918; American Expeditionary Forces, March-December, 1918; November 9, 1918, Croix de Guerre, and promoted to rank of major; sanitary inspector in Germany, November 1918-May 1919; discharged Camp Dix, N. J., Silver Star with two Oak Leaf Clusters. Associate in Pathology and Bacteriology, Johns Hopkins University Medical School, 1917-1919; associate in Bacteriology, 1919-1920; associate professor of Bacteriology, 1920-1923. Married Nannie Moore Smith of Baltimore, June 25, 1921. Went to Europe for study of laboratories and bacteriology in London, Paris, Brussels, Stockholm, and Copenhagen, June-December, 1923. Professor of Bacteriology and department chairman, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 1923-1932; director, Rochester Health Bureau Laboratories, 1924-1932; visiting professor of Bacteriology, University of Chicago, summer, 1929; professor of Bacteriology, Yale University School of Medicine, 1932-1947; master, Trumbull College, 1932-1938; dean, Yale University School of Medicine, 1935-1940. National Research Council, Committee on Biological Warfare, 1941-1946; Committee on Scientific Manpower Personnel, and Committee on Pathology, 1941-1942; Advisory Committee on Biological Warfare for the Secretary of War, 1941; director, Commission on Epidemiological Survey, Board for the Investigation and Control of Influenza and Other Epidemic Diseases in the Army, Office of the Surgeon General, Medical Department, U. S. Army, 1941-1942. Active duty, February 11, 1942, as lieutenant colonel, Office of the Surgeon General, U. S. Army; promoted to rank of colonel, August 28, 1942; administrator of the Army Epidemiological Board from February 1942; assistant chief, Preventive Medicine Service from May 1, 1942 to January 1, 1944; thereafter deputy chief; director of the United States of America Typhus Commission from August 21, 1943, until relieved from active duty, May 16, 1946; special mission to England, 1943 and Egypt, 1944. Promoted to rank of brigadier-general, February 25, 1944; November 28, 1945, USATC Medal; December 1945, Distinguished Service Medal, and Order of the British Empire; civilian director, USATC from May 16 to June 30, 1946. Separated from the Army, September 4, 1946. After a brief return to Yale after the war, 1946-1947, to administer research and edit Cancer Research, Bayne-Jones became president, Joint Administrative Board of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, 1947-1953. Retired to Washington, D. C., in 1953. For a decade and a half actively consulted with the nation’s military and civilian leaders. Member, Commission on Financing Hospital Care, 1951-1954; Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, 1953-1965; Technical Director of Research, Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army, 1953-1956; Army Scientific Advisory Panel, 1954-1963; Advisory Scientific Board, Walter Reed Institute of Research, 1954-1960; Board of Visitors, Tulane University, 1954-1965; survey of the Tulane University School of Medicine, 1955-1956; board of governors, Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical and Preventive Medicine, 1952-1970; chairman, Advisory Editorial Board, History of Preventive Medicine in World War II, Medical Department, U. S. Army, 1955-1970; member, Corporation of Yale University, 1955-1956; DHEW Secretary’s Consultants on Medical Research and Education, 1957-1958; Committee to Visit the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 1958-1966; National Cancer Advisory Council, 1959-1961; and Board on Cancer and Viruses, 1960-1961; both agencies of the National Cancer Institute. U. S. Public Health Service Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, 1962-1964; National Citizen’s Commission on Internatioal Cooperation, 1964-1965. Served as president of: the Society of American Bacteriologists, 1929-1930; the New York Association of Public Health Laboratories, 1929-1930; the American Association of Immunologists, 1930-1931; the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists, 1940-1941. Other professional activities: Science Advisory Board, Chicago Century of Progress Exposition, 1931; Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry, American Medical Association, 1931-1935; Board of Scientific Advisors, the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research, 1937-1947; U. S. Public Health Service Surgeon General’s Committee on Fundamental Cancer Research, 1937-1938; Board of Scientific Advisors, International Health Division, Rockefeller Foundation, 1939-1941; board of directors, Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, 1939-1954; advisory medical board, Leonard Wood Memorial (American Leprosy Foundation), 1939-1957. Received numerous honors and awards of distinction: Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Chapter of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, 1914; American Philosophical Society, 1944-1970; Charles V. Chapin Memorial Award in public health, Rhode Island Medical Society, May 14, 1947; James D. Bruce Memorial Medal in preventive medicine, American College of Physicians, March 30, 1949; The Passano Award, for extraordinary service to science as an educator and administrator, June 10, 1959; Decoration for Outstanding Civilian Service, Department of the Army, June 29, 1965; Honorary Member of the United States Services Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, October 24, 1966. Editor of the Yale News as an undergraduate, Bayne-Jones brought a particularly disciplined mind to writing and scholarship. He published more than eighty-seven articles and chapters, and four books: Man and Microbes (1932); Hans Zinsser and Stanhope Bayne-Jones, A Textbook of Bacteriology, 7th ed. (1934); Joseph Jones, M. D., 1833-1896 (1958); The Evolution of Preventive Medicine in the United States Army, 1607-1939 (1968). During retirement worked on various medical history projects at the National Library of Medicine and Walter Reed Hospital, and elsewhere. Died, February 20, 1970; interred Arlington National Cemetery. Brigadier General Stanhope Bayne-Jones is memorialized in Louisiana by the naming of the Army community hospital at Fort Polk for him on August 12, 1983. J.P.M. Sources: The Stanhope Bayne-Jones Collection, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland; Harris D. Riley, Jr., “Doctors Joseph Jones and Stanhope Bayne-Jones: Two Distinguished Louisianians,” Louisiana History, XXV (1984), 155-180.
BAYON, Jerome, printer, newspaper publisher. Born, New Orleans, 1807; son of Gilbert Bayon and Adelaide Souty. Married Julie Félicité D’Aquin of New Orleans (marriage contract dated September 11, 1828). At least three children: Adele (d. 1837), Jules (1833/1834-1864), Henry. Employed as printer, 1824-1830; part owner, New Orleans Bee, 1830-1831; sole proprietor and publisher, New Orleans Bee, 1831-1839; founded and published the Louisianian, 1839-1840; printed Le Propagateur Catholique, 1842-1843; published Louisiana Courier, 1843-1849. Followed various occupations, including customs official and appraiser, 1850-1880. Died, New Orleans, February 18, 1880; interred St. Louis Cemetery II. F.M.J. Sources: Charles R. Maduell, Jr., Marriage and Family Relationships of New Orleans, 1820-1830 (1969); New Orleans Bee, February 3, 1837, July 8, 1864; obituary, February 19, 1880; New Orleans city directories.
BEACH, John Parsons, composer. Born, Gloversville, N. Y., October 11, 1877. Studied piano with Clayton Johns, George W. Chadwick, and Charles Martin Loeffler at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Taught piano at Northwestern Conservatory, Minneapolis, 1900-1904, then in New Orleans, 1904-1907, and Boston. Went to Europe where he studied composition with André Gédalge and piano with Harold Bauer, in Paris: piano with Gian Francesco Malipiero in Asolo, near Venice. Many compositions including an opera, Pippa’s Holiday (performed Paris, 1915). Used New Orleans themes in a number of works including: a ballet, Mardi Gras (performed in New Orleans, February 15, 1926); an orchestral work, New Orleans Street Cries (performed Philadelphia, April 22, 1927, Leopold Stowkowski conducting), and songs, New Orleans Miniatures: Esplanade, in an Ursuline Convent, Balcony Lyric, Place d’Orleans, Masques, Envoy (Published by Wa-Wan Press, Newton Centre, Mass., 1906). Died, Pasadena, Calif., November 6, 1953. M.A. Sources: Louis Panzeri, Louisiana Composers (1972); Baker’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
BEADLE, Elias R., clergyman, journalist. Northern-born, ca. 1820. Beadle served as a city missionary among the poorer white and black residents. Edited local Presbyterian weekly newspaper, the New Orleans Protestant, 1844-1846, which emphasized a rigid doctrinal approach, social commentary, and an anti-Catholic bias. Later, served as a co-editor of the New Orleans Presbyterian, 1847-1850, which was also concerned with African colonization, as well as local religious and social issues. Left New Orleans about 1852. T.F.R. Source: Timothy F. Reilly, “Religious Leaders and Social Criticism in New Orleans, 1800-1861” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Missouri at Columbia, 1972).
BEALL, William Columbus, businessman, philanthropist. Born, Winn Parish, La., December 23, 1862; son of William Thomas Beall and Rebecca Smith. Married, October 3, 1880, Sarah Frances Curry, daughter of Alexander Travis Curry and Martha Fort. Children: James Edward (b. 1881); Wilkin Lafayette (b. 1883); Mary Elizabeth (b. 1887); William Alexander (b. 1891); Frances Ollie (b. 1894); Lela Virginia (b. 1896); and George Dewey (b. 1899). Baptist deacon for more than 40 years. Member of Committee of Fifteen that established Louisiana College, 1906. Governing board of Louisiana College, 1906-1941. Generous benefactor of Louisiana College. ApÂproximately 60 direct descendants or spouses of descendants students at Louisiana College, six of these eventually serving on full-time faculty or staff. Died, Pineville, La., June 5, 1941; interred Greenwood Memorial Park. L.S.* Sources: Vernon Beall (grandson); biographical sketches by Mary Beall Holmes (daughter), and Elaine Holmes Brister (granddaughter).
BEARB, Eddie, Cajun musician. Born at Bristol, La., August 27, 1915; son of Cajun accordionist Victorien Bearb and Emma Miller. Married Evie Miller; four children: Robertha, Emma Lou, Russell, and Rodney. This self-taught musician began playing accordion at the age of ten. Launched his professional career by playing at house dances in 1929. Subsequently formed The Bristol Ramblers. Over the course of his long musical career, Bearb performed with the following artists: Dalton Venable, Joseph Venable, Cliff Miller, Cleduse Mire, Wallace Guidry, Clarence Freeman, Jimmie Veza, Adus Broussard, Mason Menard, “Blackie” Dartez, Freddie Hanks, Willis Miller, Noah Bourque, Elton Cormier, Preston Meaux, and Nolan Dugas. Performed at numerous fundraisers. Bearb influenced many young Cajun musicians, who imitated his traditional Cajun accordion style. Died at Doctors’ Hospital, Opelousas, La., January 8, 1990; interred, St. John Berchman Catholic Church Cemetery, Cankton, La. J.H.B. Sources: Peggie R. Bearb; Elton “Bee” Cormier (from an interview by Russell Bearb).
BEATTIE, James, clergyman, teacher, and bookseller. Born near Dumfries, Scotland, December 3, 1803. Emigrated to New York at age 19; completed education in South Carolina and Georgia where he studied under Rev. Dr. Thomas Goulding and Rev. B. M. Palmer, Sr. Later arrived in New Orleans by way of Mobile, where he taught school and opened a bookstore. Twice married; one daughter, three sons. In January, 1838, he was ordained an elder of the First Presbyterian Church; began a city mission in his house in 1845 which eventually was re-organized into the Third Presbyterian Church. Beattie’s sermons were evangelical and avoided the refinements of speculation and theological inquiry. Between 1850 and 1860 he preached in Connecticut and New York until his Southern sympathies brought him back to New Orleans where he served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church during the wartime absence of the regular pastor, B. M. Palmer (q.v.), son of Beattie’s boyhood mentor. Later, Beattie served as city missionary in the Carrollton district. In 1884 he retired to the North for reasons of health. Died, Saybrook, Conn., June 2, 1885. T.F.R. Source: Minutes of the Synod of Mississippi at the Fifty-sixth Annual Session, held in New Orleans, November 10th to 13th, 1886 (1886).
BEATTY, Guy, journalist. Born, Marion, N. Y., December 8, 1867; son of Roland Beatty and Eleanor Holmes. Married (1) Bernardine Pratt of Delavan, Ill. Child: Mrs. Charles L. Martin, of Lake Charles. Married (2) Florence Wasey of Lake Charles, La. Child: Mrs. Frank Harmon, of Lake Charles. Started in journalism as a printer in Delavan, Ill., 1882. Entered newspaper business, Lake Charles, 1894. Associated with J. F. Reed in publishing the weekly Lake Charles Press; paper became Lake Charles Daily Press, February 8, 1895. In the fall of 1909 Beatty and Reed negotiated to consolidate with the Lake Charles Daily American, published by J. B. Watkins. New paper became the Lake Charles American Press, January 7, 1910. Beatty then became sole owner of the newspaper. Operated the newspaper as its publisher until his death. Began publishing, 1934, the Rice News, a weekly journal devoted to agriculture. Died, Lake Charles, August 14, 1943. T.S. Source: Lake Charles American Press.
BEAUBOIS, Nicolas Ignace de, missionary. Born, Orléans, France, October 15, 1689. Entered Society of Jesus, October 20, 1706. After theological studies in France, assigned, 1719, to work among Canadian Indians; first superior of the Jesuit Louisiana mission; negotiated with French colonial officials for a Jesuit residence in New Orleans; bought from Bienville a plantation near the city which was to support the Jesuit missionaries among the Indians; in 1726 instrumental in bringing the Ursulines to New Orleans; far-sighted and dynamic administrator; promoted friendly relations with the Indians; managed a model plantation using free and slave labor to grow oranges, figs, and cotton; pioneered the cultivation of sugarcane; proposed a canal to link Bayou St. John with the city; lacked tact, pushed colonial officials too hard resulting in his recall to France, 1735. In France, continued to be an agent and fund raiser for the American mission. Died near Avignon, France, January 13, 1770. L.A.N. Source: Charles E. O’Neill, article in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
BEAULIEU, see CHAUVIN DE BEAULIEU
BEAUMONT, Joseph, poet, composer, barber. Born, New Orleans, 1820. Barber on Dauphine Street; first president, “The Free Friends,” an association for men of color, founded February 4, 1860. Died, 1872. D.D.C. Sources: Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes, Our People and Our History, trans. and ed. by Dorothea Olga McCants (1973); Charles B. Roussève, The Negro in Louisiana: Aspects of His History and His Literature (1937); Edward Larocque Tinker, Les Ecrits de langue française en Louisiane au XIXe siècle (1932).
BEAUREGARD, Bartolomé, merchant. Born, 1727, La Grève, France; son of Simon Toutant Beauregard and Marie Landrian. Emigrated to New Orleans, ca. 1750. Operated merchant firm in partnership with brother Jacques, 1750-1792. Performed various secret assignments for Spanish governor during American Revolution. Died, New Orleans, March 29, 1792; interred St. Louis Cemetery I. L.T.C. Source: Beauregard Family Papers, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University.
BEAUREGARD, Elias Toutant, commandant of Spanish forts. Born, June 17, 1759, New Orleans; son of Marie Magdeleine Cartier and Jacques (Santiago) Beauregard. Married Marie Félicité Durel, daughter of Cecile LeBrun and Jean Baptiste Durel, in New Orleans, 1782. Children: Marie Madeleine Félicité, Marie Rose, Barthélémy, and Manuel. Career: was sent to the Upper Missouri on a trading expedition for his father’s mercantile business, 1779; first served Spain as a member of the New Orleans Company of Carbineers in the Mobile campaign of 1780; was a captain in the Louisiana Infantry Regiment, March 1, 1781; appointed by Gov. Esteban Miró (q.v.) as first commandant at Los Nogales (now Vicksburg, Miss.), April 1791; cooperated with Spanish agents in seeking peace between Choctaw and Creek Indians; reported on all vessels descending the river and served as a courier protector by sending messages up and down the river; was judge of civil and criminal cases; laid the groundwork for the Nogales Conference and signed the Treaty of Nogales, October 28, 1793; replaced as commandant from June 23, 1794; was commandant of the post at San Fernando (now Memphis, Tenn.), May-September 1795; was in New Orleans during yellow-fever epidemic of 1796; returned to Los Nogales as commandant from June 23, 1796 to March 23, 1797; listed in 1798 as a captain, Seventh Company, Second Battalion of the Louisiana Infantry Regiment; lived in New Orleans for a time; removed to Baton Rouge and laid out that part of the city known as Beauregard Town. Thrown from a horse during a military review. Died as a result of the accident, December 3, 1809. J.B.C. Source: Jack D. L. Holmes, “Three Early Memphis Commandants: Beauregard, Deville DeGoutin, and Folch,” West Tennessee Historical Society Papers, XVIII (1964).
BEAUREGARD, Pierre Gustave Toutant, Confederate general and influential figure in postwar Louisiana. Born, Contreras Plantation, St. Bernard Parish, La., May 28, 1818; son of Jacques Toutant-Beauregard and Hélène Judith de Reggio. Education: local schools; “French School” in New York City; U. S. Military Academy, 1834-1838; commissioned second lieutenant in Corps of Engineers. Married (1), September 1841, Marie Laure Villeré (d. 1850), daughter of Jules Villeré, Plaquemines Parish sugar planter, granddaughter of Jacques Villeré (q.v.), second governor of Louisiana. Children: René, Henry, and Laure. Mexican War service: engineer on staff of Gen. Winfield Scott; received brevet, August 1847, for gallantry at Battle of Contreras; wounded twice in Battle of Mexico City; again breveted, September 1847. After war, returned to Louisiana in service of Corps of Engineers; promoted to rank of captain, March 1853; chief engineer for New Orleans during remainder of decade. Unsuccessful candidate in 1858 New Orleans’ mayoral race. Married (2), 1860, Caroline Deslonde, daughter of André Deslonde, St. James Parish sugar planter, sister of Mrs. John Slidell. Became superintendent of West Point, January 23, 1861; resigned, January 28, 1861. Civil War service: appointed brigadier general (Confederacy’s first), February 1861; assumed command at Charleston, S. C., ordering bombardment of Ft. Sumter on April 12; commanded army under Gen. J. E. Johnston at Battle of Manassas (First Bull Run), June 1861; second in command to Gen. A. S. Johnston (succeeded to command upon Johnston’s death), at Battle of Shiloh, April 1862; after retreat to Corinth, Mississippi., turned command of army over to Gen. Braxton Bragg (q.v.), June 1862; given command of coastal defenses in Georgia and South Carolina, September 1862-April 1864; defeated Gen. Benjamin Butler (q.v.) at Drewry’s Bluff, Va., May 1864; directed defense of Petersburg, Va., June 1864, where his command was merged with Gen. R. E. Lee’s; given command of Military Division of the West (extending from Georgia to Mississippi River), October 1864; served as second in command to Gen. J. E. Johnston in Carolinas during last months of war. After war, declined commands in Rumanian and Egyptian armies; active in political effort to end Republican control in Louisiana; president of New Orleans, Jackson and Mississippi Railroad, 1866-1870; president of New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, 1866-1876; supervisor of Louisiana Lottery, 1877-1893; appointed adjutant general of Louisiana 1879; contributed article, “The Battle of Bull Run,” to Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, November 1884; elected commissioner of public works of New Orleans, 1888. Beauregard Parish and Camp Beauregard (near Pineville) named for subject. Died, New Orleans, February 20, 1893; interred Metairie Cemetery, tomb of the Army of Tennessee. W.S. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, obituary, February 21, 1893; Dictionary of American Biography; Official Records of the War of the Rebellion; Jon L. Wakelyn, Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy (1977); Goodspeed, Memoirs of Louisiana, Vol. I; Alcée Fortier, Louisiana, Vol. I (1909); T. Harry Williams, P. G. T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray (1955); Hamilton Basso, Beauregard: The Great Creole (1933); Alfred Roman, The Military Operations of General Beauregard . . . (1884).
BEAUVAIS, Arnaud Julie (sometimes mistakenly rendered Armand), planter, politician. Born, Pointe Coupée Post, Spanish Louisiana, September 6, 1783; youngest child of Pierre Charles St. James Beauvais and Marie Françoise Richer. Bought family plantation of eleven arpents frontage on the Mississippi River in Pointe Coupée County from widowed mother, 1806. Appointed justice of the peace, May 16, 1810. Married Louise Delphine Labatut of New Orleans, January 24, 1811; no children. Appointed one of three administrators of the public schools of Pointe Coupée Parish, 1811. President of the church wardens of St. Francis Catholic Church, 1819-1834. Practiced law, 1810s and 1820s. Merchant, 1820s. Supporter of John Quincy Adams in national matters in 1820s. Louisiana house of representatives, 1814-1816, 1819-1822; served on Election Committee, Committee on Propositions and Grievances, and Select Committee on the Militia; speaker of the house, 1820-1822. Louisiana senate, 1823-1829, 1833-1834; Committee on Revisions and Unfinished Business and Audit Committee; president of the senate, 1827-1829. Acting governor of Louisiana from October 6, 1829, to January 14, 1830. Unsuccessful candidate for election to the governorship, July 1830. Appointed one of five commissioners of the Poydras Education Fund, 1830. Stockholder in Consolidated Association of Planters of Louisiana (a bank chartered by the Louisiana legislature), 1829-1837. All property sold at sheriff’s auction in 1839 as an insolvent debtor. Removed to Bayou St. John, Orleans Parish, 1840. Died, Orleans Parish, November 18, 1843. J.F.G. Sources: Joseph Tregle, “The Governors of Louisiana: Armand Beauvais, 1829-1830,” Louisiana History, XXII (1981); Le Courrier de la Louisiane, November 18, 1843; Pointe Coupée Parish Courthouse records; Orleans Parish Courthouse records; Journal of the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-1831; Journal of the Louisiana Senate, 1827-1834; Original Records, Diocese of Baton Rouge.
BECHET, Sidney, jazz artist. Born, 1897; praised for his genius in playing the clarinet and soprano saxaphone. As indicated in his autobiography, Treat It Gentle, the Bechet household was musical and so was the family heritage. By 1908, playing blues with Bunk Johnson (q.v.) in the Eagle Band (Buddy Bolden’s old group). In 1917 he toured Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois with the Brice Stock Co. In 1918 he joined the Will Marion Cook’s Southern Syncopated Orchestra and toured New York and Europe in 1919 where he played at the Royal Philharmonic Hall in London. Cook’s orchestra disbanded there, but Bechet and Benny Payton formed a small group and continued to play in London. There he was heard by Edward, prince of Wales, and often by the famous Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet who praised his work and called him an “artist of genius,” and described his blues as “admirable equally for their richness of invention, their force of accent, and their daring novelty and unexpected turns. Classic early Bechet recordings were “Wildcat Blues,” and with Louis Armstrong (q.v.), he recorded “Texas Moaner Blues,” “Mandy Make Up Your Mind,” and “Cakewalking Babies.” Worked briefly in 1923 with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Late 1925 he joined a Paris-bound show called the Revue Nègre which starred Josephine Baker. Toured Russia, 1926, and was also made American representative to a World’s Fair of Music in Frankfurt, Germany, at Beethoven Hall. By 1933 he recorded “Dear Old Southland,” “Characteristic Blues,” ‘”Blackstick,” and “When the Sun Sets Down.” In 1949, Bechet removed to France where he became a celebrity. There he married German-born Elizabeth Ziegler. Died, Paris, May 12, 1959. E.J.S. Sources: Martin Williams, Jazz Masters of New Orleans (1967); George Hoefer, “The Blue Bechet,” RCA Victor Vintage Series, 1966.
BECKER, Rudolph F. III, lawyer, judge. Born, New Orleans, September 10, 1934; son of Judge Rudolph Becker, Jr., and Mildred R. Myatt. Married Patricia McGee; two daughters: Diane Catherine and Pamela McGinn. Education: graduated, Culver Academy high school; B. A., Tulane University, 1956; LL.B., Tulane University School of Law, 1958. Achieved the rank of captain in the United States Navy. Career: assistant district attorney for Orleans Parish, 1962-1964; private law practice, 1964-1972. Elected to fill the vacancy created by his father’s death on the Orleans Criminal District Court, Division E, December 23, 1972; reelected, 1976, 1985. Elected to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, 1988; served in that position until his death. Member: American and Louisiana bar associations; American Judicature Society; American Judges Association; executive committee, Louisiana District Judges Association. Died, New Orleans, August 30, 1991. J.D.W. Sources New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 31, 1991; Biographies of Louisiana Judges (1985).
BECNEL FAMILY, planters, St. John the Baptist Parish, La. Thomas Becnel, son of William and Elizabeth Lang Becnel of London, England. Married Catherine Brou, daughter of Pierre and Marguerite Boyer Brou of New Orleans, April 4, 1742. Children: Pierre Antoine (bap. 1745), Thomas (bap. 1749), and Marguerite Elizabeth (bap. 1751). Pierre Antoine married Magdelaine Haidelle (Haydel); at his death on August 14, 1790, the surviving children were Pierre, Maximillien, Drozin, Lézin, Félicité, Emérante, Clarice, and Séraphine. Pierre Clidament Becnel married Magdelaine Gesira (Desirée) Brou. Evergreen Plantation house was built, ca. 1830, by either Pierre or Michel Becnel; surrounded by 2,500 acres of sugarcane producing land, it remained in the Becnel-Brou family for sixty years. The house, garçonnières, pigeonniers, kitchen, office, carriage houses and the privy are all of Greek Revival design. The plantation was bought by Mathilda Gray (q.v.) in 1946; the restoration, with Richard Koch (q.v.) as architect, has preserved Evergreen as one of the most complete plantation complexes in Louisiana. J.B.C. Sources: Glenn R. Conrad, Saint Jean Baptiste des Allemands (1972); Irma Centanni, “Index of Marriages, St. John the Baptist Church,” New Orleans Genesis, X (1971); Joseph A. Arrigo and Cara M. Batt, Plantations (San Francisco, 1983), plate 17; J. Wesley Cooper, Louisiana: A Treasure of Plantation Homes (1961).
BEDEAU, MYRTHEE alias Mari Isabella Duclotte, free quadroon woman sold into slavery. Born, Haiti, 1814; daughter of Ismene Bedeau of Haiti. Somehow seized and sold in Louisiana as slave with her son Paul for $1200 in 1834 to Labrouche Dussin. Sued for her freedom 1838 in Orleans Parish Court. While suit pending sold to Frederick Charles, f.m.c., and Theodule Picou. Charles, learning she might be free, refused to pay her purchase price. The parish court granted her freedom and Charles was excused from payment. J.K.S. Sources: Dussin v. Charles and Picou, 1 Rob. (La.) 195 #4514, New Orleans, December 1841; Duclotte v. Charles, Parish Court, Orleans, #13821, 1838.
BEER, William, librarian, bibliographer. Born, Plymouth, England, May 1, 1849; son of Gabriel and Harriet (Ferguson) Beer. Education: local schools; Brussels, Belgium; studied medicine, Paris, France, 1872-1877; College of Physical Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, graduated in Mining Engineering, 1879. In business, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1879-1884. Emigrated to Canada, then to U. S. in 1884; travelled and worked in mining engineering in several states. Director of Topeka, Kan., Public Library, 1890. Removed to New Orleans, 1891. Director and major developer of Howard Memorial Library, 1891-1927; jointly chief clerk (director) of New Orleans Public Library, 1897-1906, completing the consolidation of the Fisk Free & Public Library with the Lyceum Library. Unmarried. Author of over eighty articles in books, encyclopedias, library and historical journals including Louisiana Historical Quarterly, Library Journal, Architectural Art and Its Allies, Mississippi Historical Society Publications and American Historical Review. Served on editorial board, Louisiana Historical Quarterly, 1922-1927. Member of numerous bibliographic, library and historical societies, including Cottonian Library, Plymouth, England (board of directors, 1869-1871), Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society (secretary), Louisiana Historical Society, American Library Association, Bibliographic Society of America, same of England, American Folklore Society, Grolier Club of New York. Member of Round Table and Pickwick clubs of New Orleans, Louisiana Lodge No. 102, F. & A. M. Died, New Orleans, February 1, 1927; interred Masonic Cemetery. C.B.H. Sources: Joe W. Kraus, William Beer and the New Orleans Libraries (1952); Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. XI; Louisiana Historical Quarterly, X (1927); XI (1928); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, February 2, 1927; Beer Papers, New Orleans Public Library
BEGNAUD, Peter Lee “P. L.”, journalist, businessman, civic and religious leader, rural mail carrier. Born, Breaux Bridge, La.; son of Lessin Begnaud and Louisa Singleton of St. Martin Parish. Publisher and owner of the Valley of the Teche newspaper, 1895-1903; owner of Lee’s Theater. Winner of Y.M.B.C. civic award, St. Bernard Catholic Church trustee, Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus. Married Germaine Richard, January 25, 1896, Breaux bridge, La., daughter of Edgard Richard and Celimine Domengeaux. Children: Paul (b. 1897), Madge Germaine (b. 1899), Mae Jean (b. 1901), Grace Ann (b. 1903), Wesley Adam (b. 1904). Prominent in church affairs; secretary, town council; member, Breaux Bridge band ca. 1915. Died, Breaux Bridge, La., October 6, 1957. J.M.G. Sources: Jeanne Castille, Breaux Bridge, La.; Willis A. Pellerin, Country Boy: A Success Story (1978); Attakapas Gazette, XVI (1981).
BEGUE, Elizabeth Kettenring, restauranteur, culinary artist. Born, Bavaria, Germany, 1831. Arrived New Orleans, 1853. Married (1) Louis Dutrey; (2) Hypolite Bégué. With Dutrey, a Creole butcher, opened, 1853, “Dutrey’s Place” at 207 Old Levee (now 823 Decatur), catering mainly to butchers in French Market who ate a light breakfast at dawn and came to the restaurant for a leisurely second breakfast. Managed the restaurant after Dutrey’s death in 1875, and changed the name to H. Bégué’s Exchange after she married Hypolite Bégué, another butcher. Her “second breakfast” served promptly at 11 a.m. and without a menu, included a variety of red wines, French bread, soup, meats, fish, cheeses and café noir into which brandy was poured and burned. In 1885 “the French Market breakfast” gained national attention when tourists visiting the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition held in New Orleans dined at Bégué’s and returned home praising its notable cuisine. Sunday at Bégué’s became a meeting place for intellectuals, poets, statesmen, scientists and businessmen from New Orleans as well as from other American cities and abroad. In later years, rheumatism forced her to use crutches but she continued to supervise all food preparation. Died, New Orleans, October 19, 1906. B.R.O. Source: obituary, New Orleans Daily Picayune, October 20, 1906.
BEHAN, William J., soldier, businessman, politician, mayor of New Orleans. Born, New Orleans, September 25, 1840; son of John Holland Behan and Katherine Walker. Education: University of Louisiana (now Tulane University); Western Military Institute, Nashville, Tenn. Married, June 7, 1866, Katie Walker. Children: two daughters. Civil War service: Enlisted in Washington Artillery, 1861, rose to rank of major, C.S.A. Engaged in wholesale commission business in firm of Zuberbier and Behan. Aided in organizing and commanded the Crescent White League which stormed customhouse, September 14, 1874. Named major general of Louisiana National Guard then and served in that capacity until elected mayor of New Orleans, 1882. As mayor, was a serious and effective reformer to the dismay of his “Ring” supporters, who in 1884 defeated him. Served in state senate, 1888-1892. Switched from Democratic to Republican party owing to sugar tariff dispute, 1894; unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor, 1904. Leader in state Republican party until death. Commander of United Confederate Veterans, 1889-1901. Died, New Orleans, May 4, 1928; interred Greenwood Cemetery. M.T.C. Sources: M. G. Holli and Peter d’A. Jones, eds., Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors, 1820-1980 (1981); Joy J. Jackson, New Orleans in the Gilded Age (1969).
BEHRMAN, Martin, politician, mayor of New Orleans. Born, New York City, October 14, 1864; son of Henry and Frederica Behrman. Family removed to New Orleans, 1865; parents died while Martin still a teenager. Married Julia Collins, 1887. Wholesale grocery salesman until 1888; deputy city assessor, 1888-1892; clerk of New Orleans city council, 1892-1896; member, board of education, 1892-1906; state senator, 1904. Mayor of New Orleans, 1904-1920, 1925-1926. Behrman was a colorful turn-of-the-century urban “boss”, more attuned to patronage than to progress. A capable if conventional machine politician, Behrman lived a scandal-free private life and was enduringly popular as shown by the length of his service as mayor. Died, New Orleans, January 26, 1926. M.T.C. Sources: M. G. Holli and Peter d’A. Jones, eds., Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors, 1820-1980 (1981); John R. Kemp., ed., Martin Behrman of New Orleans: An Illustrated History (1981); George M. Reynolds, Machine Politics in New Orleans, 1897-1926 (1936).
BEL, John Albert, industrialist, banker, civic leader. Born, New Orleans, December 1, 1857; son of John Ernest Bel and Della Delphine McLean of New Orleans. Education: local schools. Married, December 17, 1879, Della Moeling Goos, of Lake Charles, La., daughter of Daniel Johannes Goos (q.v.), Lake Charles sawmill owner, and Katherine Moeling. Children: Ernest (b. 1880), Marie (b. 1882), Willie (b. 1888), Katherine (b. 1892), Della (b. 1896). Democrat. Owner, J. A. Bel Lumber Co., built fleet of ocean-going tugs to ship lumber via the gulf; advocated dredging of Calcasieu River to make Lake Charles a seaport; operated a barge line between Lake Charles and Sabine Pass. Director and president, Calcasieu Bank; president, Calcasieu National Bank. Member: Catholic church. Died, Lake Charles, December 30, 1918; interred Orange Grove Cemetery. D.J.M. Sources: Family tree compiled by Della Bel Krause; obituary, Lake Charles American Press, December 31, 1918.
BELDEN, James G., physician, state treasurer. Born, western New York, 1822. Counted among his relatives a prominent nephew, lexicographer Noah Webster. Education: graduated from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, then practiced for a few months in Hartford, Conn., and Mobile, Ala., before removing to New Orleans in 1848. By the beginning of Civil War, had a thriving homeopathic practice, a wife eleven years younger than himself from New York, and two sons, who would later also follow medical careers. Although according to one account he became a slaveholder and by “feeling and adoption” a Southerner, he nonetheless opposed secession, cooperated as little as possible with Confederates, welcomed Federal occupation of the city in 1862, and during the war became a Republican. He was rewarded for his loyalty in 1864, being nominated and elected state treasurer on the Moderate Union ticket headed by Gov. Michael Hahn (q.v.), which he held until 1866 when he returned to his medical practice. Following the war, he remained a Republican and supported Grant in 1868; he served at one time as treasurer and president of the Southern Homeopathic Association, and during the epidemic of 1878 was president of the Homeopathic Relief Association. In 1876, due to his wartime loyalty, he received a $1,000 claim from the Southern Claims Commission for a barge commandeered during the Civil War by Federal forces. Died, New Orleans, 1897. J.A.B. Sources: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892); Manuscript Census Returns, New Orleans, 1860; Joe Gray Taylor, Louisiana Reconstructed, 1863-1877 (1974); Consolidated Index of Claims Reported by the Commissioners of Claims . . . 1871 to 1880 (1892).
BELEURGEY, Claudin, also known as Claudius Beleurgey and as Cornelius Beleurgey; printer, journalist. Probably published Charleston, S. C., Patriote Français, 1795, and Georgetown, S. C., Gazette, 1801; with Jean Renard, published New Orleans Télégraphe, et le Commercial Advertiser, 1803-1804, and served as “printers to the municipality” during French interregnum; sole proprietor of Télégraphe, 1804-1811; pursued printing career in New Orleans as late as 1822. F.M.J. Sources: Douglas C. McMurtrie, Early Printing in New Orleans, 1764-1810 . . . (1929); Edward Larocque Tinker, Bibliography of the French Newspapers and Periodicals of Louisiana (1933); New Orleans city directories, 1807-1823.
BELISLE, John G., editor, publisher, author. Born in Missouri. Married Daisy Bostick Robinson Belisle. Children: John Milton (q.v.), Byron, Thelma, Maybelle, Willie, Ira, Anthony, Zita, Mary Jo. Entered the printing business at age 13 working in a print shop in Joplin, Mo.; mastered every job in the printing business; employed by Leo Vandegaer, owner of The Sabine Index, as its publisher in 1901; published in 1912, History of Sabine Parish, Louisiana. Died, May 13, 1931. Two sons: Milton and Byron published The Sabine Index until their deaths. J.H.P. Sources: Centennial Edition, The Sabine Index, September 6, 1979; article by Alice Wagly Belisle.
BELISLE, John Milton, editor, publisher. Born, Waxahachie, Tex., March 19, 1899; son of John G. (q.v.) and Daisy Belisle. Married Alice Wagley, February 4, 1918. Children: Dorothy, Mildred, Hannah. Served four years on the Many (La.) Town Council, 1933-1937; as mayor of Many, 1937-1953. Active in Boy Scouts; charter member and president, Sabine Parish Chamber of Commerce; member, Louisiana house of representatives, 1952-1960; member, Louisiana Press Association and National Editorial Association; acquired an interest in the Sabine Index in 1931 and became sole owner a few years later; was editor and publisher for 28 years. Member, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; served the church in the capacities of counselor, branch presidency, district president, superintendent of M.I.A., president of Shreveport Stake from 1958-1961. Died, Many, February 24, 1961; interred Many Cemetery. J.H.P. Source: Sabine Index, March 3, 1961.
BELL, Andrew J., educator. Born, Bardstown, Ky., December 5, 1865. Although he did not enter school until his family moved to Louisville when he was about twelve years old, a wealthy family later sponsored his study at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. His father “had been a slave” on the plantation of young Andrew’s patrons. He studied for one year at the Conservatory and probably would have remained longer if he had not decided to marry on February 14, 1888. Supported his family by teaching music and serving as the organist at St. Augustine’s Church in Louisville. Wife died 1900. Became a school teacher, 1903. In 1905, removed to Palmetto, La., to teach in a school headed by Father Pierre Oscar Lebeau (q.v.). Became a member of the faculty at old Southern University in 1908, and when it closed in 1913 he became a public school teacher. For the next twenty-eight years he taught at Marigny, McDonogh No. 6, and Thomy Lafon schools. Retired in 1941. F.J. Source: Robert Meyer, Jr., Names Over New Orleans Public Schools (1975).
BELL, Thomas Fletcher, attorney, jurist. Born, Lancaster County, Va., 1836. Removed with family to Missouri. Education: University of Missouri and Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tenn. Established law practice in Kansas City. Military experience: Confederate Army. Married (1) Sallie H. Ross. Children: Goodwyn and James. Married (2) Mary Cornelia (Buckelew) Culp. Children: Sallie, Wilbur, and Thornton. After Civil War began law practice in Shreveport. Served as adjutant general of state national guard, ca. 1888-1900; secretary, Caddo Parish School Board, 1881-1909; and superintendent of Shreveport schools. Judge, First District Court, 1903-1912. Died, November 14, 1912. S.S. Source: Lilla McLure and J. Ed Howe, History of Shreveport and Shreveport Builders (1937).
BELLECHASSE, Joseph Deville de Goutin, militia commander, politician. Born, New Orleans, June 11, 1761; son of Marie Jeanne Caron and Joseph Deville de Goutin. Married Adélaïde Lalande Dalcour, daughter of Adélaïde Olivier Devezin and Esteban Lalande Dalcour, October 4, 1797, in New Orleans. Career: entered Spanish service as a soldier, 1775; appointed a cadet in the Louisiana Infantry Regiment, 1778; fought during Spanish attacks on British posts at Fort Bute (Manchac) and Baton Rouge, 1779, at the siege and capture of Mobile, 1780, and at the battle of Pensacola, 1781; remained in West Florida during establishment of Spanish government there; commissioned lieutenant of the Fifth Company, Third Battalion of the regiment, 1786; joined the 1789 expedition led by Vicente Folch (q.v.) against runaway slaves; remained at Mobile and Fort San Esteban until 1792; joined the Mississippi squadron in command of the galley, La Felipa, 1793; promoted to rank of lieutenant of grenadiers in the First Battalion, 1794, in New Orleans; followed Folch as commandant of San Fernando (now Memphis, Tenn.), 1796-1797; appointed captain and commander of the post of New Feliciana, 1798; retired from the military and engaged in business enterprises in New Orleans and on the German Coast; appointed colonel in command of the militia companies reorganized by Pierre Laussat (q.v.), 1803; was commander of militia at the transfer of the colony to the United States; elected in 1805 as an alderman and city recorder in the municipal council of New Orleans; president of the city council, recorder, and justice for the Orleans Territory, 1806; member of the legislative council of the territorial General Assembly, 1806-1807; president of the legislative council, 1810; appointed to the administrative council of New Orleans Charity Hospital, 1811; member, first constitutional convention, 1812; named an executor in the 1813 will of his business associate, Daniel Clark (q.v.); his written depositions aided Clark’s daughter Myra Clark Gaines (q.v.) in her court battles. Removed to his sugar plantation in Matanzas, Cuba, 1814; was a lieutenant colonel of the Spanish infantry in Matanzas, May 8, 1830, probably indicating his last years were spent under the flag he had served for most of his active career. J.B.C. Sources: Jack D. L. Holmes, “Three Early Memphis Commandants: Beauregard, Deville DeGoutin, and Folch,” West Tennessee Historical Society Papers, XVIII (1964); Perry Scott Rader, “The Romance of the American Courts: Gaines vs. New Orleans,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVII (1944); Alice Daly Forsyth, ed., Louisiana Marriages, Volume I (1977).
BELLISLE, François Simars de (spelling varies), French colonial soldier in Louisiana, 1719-1763. Son of mayor of Fontenay-le-Comte, France; commisisoned as a sous-lieutenant in 1719; sailed from La Rochelle, France, on August 14, 1719, aboard the Maréchal d’Estrées, which ran aground on southeast coast of Texas; proceeded overland with four shipmates who died while searching for nearest French settlement; captured by Attakapas Indians and enslaved for eighteen months; rescued by Assinais Indians who had carried his written appeal for help to Juchereau de St. Denis (q.v.); arrived, Natchitoches, February 10, 1721; wrote a detailed account of his ordeal; accompanied Bénard de La Harpe (q.v.) to Bay St. Bernard (the area of his captivity) in August 1721; sent to Missouri to construct a post there; wounded in 1734 during an expedition against the Chakchiumas Indians near the Yazoo River. Received following promotions during colonial military service: lieutenant, 1733; aide-major at New Orleans, 1735; captain, 1740; major-commandant of New Orleans, 1752; awarded Cross of St. Louis in 1755. Left in command of New Orleans by Governor Kerlérec (q.v.) in 1756 and 1759; cited for insubordination on October 9, 1759; informed of his dismissal by the king in June 1762. Died, March 4, 1763; his widow requested a pension and indemnity from the governor; all requests for indemnity were set aside; son, François Scimars de Bellile was commandant and judge of the German Coast, 1770-1782. J.B.C. Sources: Vincent Cassidy and Mathé Allain, “Simars de Belle-Isle among the Attakapas (1719-1721),” Attakapas Gazette, III (1968); Marc de Villiers du Terrage, The Last Years of French Louisiana, trans. by Hosea Phillips, ed. by Carl A. Brasseaux and Glenn R. Conrad (1982); Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe, The Historical Journal of the Establishment of the French in Louisiana, trans. by Joan Cain and Virginia Koenig, ed. and annot. by Glenn R. Conrad (1971); Elizabeth Becker Gianelloni, comp., Calendar of Louisiana Colonial Documents, Vol. III: St. Charles Parish (1965); Henri Folmer, “De Bellisle on the Texas Coast,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XLIV (1941).
BELLOCQ, Ernest J., photographer. Born, New Orleans, 1883; son of Marie Aldige and Paul Bellocq; brother of Rev. Leo M. Bellocq, S. J. Operated studios in New Orleans, 1909-1932, including locations at 840 Conti Street, 157 Baronne Street, 608 Canal Street, and 818 Ursulines Street. Achieved posthumous fame with the publication of Storyville Portraits, a selection of portraits that Bellocq made of prostitutes in the famed red-light district of New Orleans. The movie Pretty Baby (1978) is based on that part of his life. Died, October 3, 1949; interred St. Louis Cemetery III, New Orleans. J.H.L. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 4, 1949; Storyville Portraits (1970).
BELTON, Acie Julius, Born, Converse, Sabine Parish, La., ca. 1916; son of George and Lena Ann Belton. Married Sallie Brown; one son, Wesley Julius Belton. After service in the United States Army during World War II, Belton moved to Baton Rouge in 1946 and became one of the areas earliest civil rights leaders. A founding member of the Second Ward Voters League, he served as the group’s president and launched a voter registration campaign to encourage African Americans to vote. Between 1946 and 1949, the number of black voters in East Baton Rouge Parish swelled from 137 to more than 2,000. Along with several other black leaders, Belton organized the Federated Organization for the Cause of Unlimited Self Development (FOCUS), an organization designed to obtain jobs for African Americans in public agencies. Belton was also a member of the board of directors of the United Defense League, the organization that led the 1953 Baton Rouge bus boycott. Belton first ran for the school board in 1960 and after seeking that office in several elections, won the seat in 1970. He served on several state and city biracial committees, which oversaw the hiring of black employees. In 1980, Governor David Treen appointed him to the State Parole Board, and in 1988, he became a member of Baton Rouge’s Metro Council. Worked for many years at the Exxon oil refinery in Baton Rouge. Died, Baton Rouge, October 14, 1995; interred Southern Memorial Gardens, Baton Rouge, La. M.H. Sources: Adam Fairclough, Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972 (1995); Baton Rouge State Times and Morning Advocate, February 16, 1991; Baton Rouge Advocate, October 19-20, 1995; A. P. Tureaud to Dorthea Combre, April 4, 1962, A. P. Tureaud Papers, Amistad Research Center, New Orleans, La.
BELUCHE, Renato (René), seaman and privateer, admiral in the Venezuelan navy. Born, New Orleans, December 15, 1780; son of René Beluche and Rosa (Rosalie) Laporte. Master of several merchant vessels out of New Orleans; using the alias Pierre Brugman, he was captain of the French privateer L’Intrepide when it was seized by United States officials at New Orleans in 1810, released, and subsequently wrecked off Cat Island. Commanded privateer Spy under United States letter of marque during War of 1812; cruised the Gulf of Mexico under commissions from the rebel government at Cartagena in La Popa. Narrowly avoided capture by United States forces which raided the Barataria Bay rendezvous in September, 1814, and was among those Baratarians who enlisted in the American forces defending New Orleans against the British invasion of 1814-1815; he commanded one of the 24-pounders in Battery No. 3 at Chalmette. Returned to privateering in association with Simon Bolivar and participated in the rebel naval victory at Lake Maracaibo in 1823. Married (1) Marie Magdeleine Victoire Milleret, whom he abandoned and was divorced from in 1822, and (2) Maria Beaudri Espicoti, his longtime mistress. In 1824 Beluche settled in Puerto Cabell and resumed the practice of merchant shipping. In 1836 he fought on the losing side in a revolt against the Venezuelan government and was exiled for nine years; returning to Puerto Cabello and the naval service, he helped put down the revolt of 1848-1850. Died, October 4, 1860, and in 1963 the Venezuelan government reinterred Beluche’s remains beside the statue of José Gregorio Managas in Caracas. R.C.V. Sources: Isidro A. Beluche Mora, Abordajes, Biografia Esquematica de Renato Beluche (1960); Jane Lucas De Grummond, Renato Beluche: Smuggler, Privateer, and Patriot, 1780-1790 (1983); Records of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Ft. Worth; St. Louis Cathedral Archives, New Orleans; Archivo National de Colombia, Bogata (Correspondia Military).
BENARD DE LA HARPE, Jean-Baptiste, explorer. Born, St. Mâlo, France, ca. 1683. Arrived in Louisiana, August, 1718, received a commission from the Company of the Indies to establish a trading post on the upper Red River for the purpose of initiating commercial ties with the Spaniards and Indians. Departed New Orleans, December 1718, and ascended Red River to vicinity of Texarkana, Tex., where he built the Nassonite Post among the Caddo Indians. In summer 1719 he conducted an overland reconnaissance of the Arkansas River country in present-day Oklahoma before returning to New Orleans, from whence he embarked for France in August, 1720. In August, 1721, was dispatched on a mission to re-claim La Salle’s “Bay of St. Bernard” on the Texas coast, which resulted in an unsuccessful attempt to establish a French post at Galveston Bay; after returning to Biloxi, in December, 1721, once again journeyed to the Arkansas River country, intending to open new trade routes to the southwest, but was forced to turn back because of supply problems. Returned to France in 1722, where he was discharged by the Company of the Indies, and never returned to Louisiana. La Harpe was the author of the Journal historique concernant l’etablissement des français à la Louisiane, which some historians have incorrectly attributed to Jean de Beaurain, and which was published by A.-L. Boimare (q.v.) at New Orleans and Paris in 1831; and the Journal du voyage de la Louisiane fait par le Sr. Bénard de La Harpe et des découvertes qu’il a fait dans la party de l’ouest de cette colonie (MS in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1720); these contain excellent commentary and descriptions of early 18th century Louisiana; excerpts of La Harpe’s Louisiana journals appear in Pierre Margry’s Découvertes et établissements des françsais dans l’ouest et dans le sud de l’Amérique septentrionale (1614-1754) (1886). R.C.V. Sources: Mildred Mott Wedel, “J. B. Benard, Sieur de La Harpe: Visitor to the Wichitas in 1719,” Great Plains Journal, X (1971); and “The Benard de La Harpe Historiography on French Colonial Louisiana,” Louisiana Studies, XIII (1974); Glenn R. Conrad, ed., Historical Journal of the Establishment of the French in Louisiana (1971); MSS in Archives Nationales and Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
BENDEL, Henri, fashion designer, philanthropist. Born, Vermilionville (now Lafayette), La., 1868; son of William Lewis Bendel, an Austrian, and, Maria Plouska. Started a millinery business in Houma, La. There, met a New York society girl, Miss Lehman, whom he married. At her urging he moved to New York in 1899, and opened a small millinery shop on Ninth Street. Eventually he became president of Henri Bendel, Inc., a women’s specialty house, first located on 5th Avenue. When he moved his store to 57th Street, other design houses followed suit, making 57th “La Rue de la Paix of New York.” In June 1923, gave 45 percent of his company’s stock to his employees. He had already distributed $250,000 among them. Died, March 22, 1936. Wife died two years after their removal to New York. He never remarried and left no children. M.A. Source: New York Times, March 23, 1936.
BENEZECH, Edward P., soldier. Born, New Orleans, September 17, 1894; son of Henry Benezech and Camille Felullon. Married Violet Herkinder. Three children. Enlisted in Washington Artillery, Louisiana National Guard, December 1915. Served on Mexican border, World War I & II. Commander, Washington Artillery, 1939-1941. Died, New Orleans, May 13, 1967; interred St. Louis Cemetery III. TAG, LA Source: Military records, Jackson Barracks Library, compiled by Mary B. Oalmann, military historian.
BENJAMIN, Edward Bernard, businessman, philanthropist. Born, Little Rock, Ark., November 18, 1897; son of Emanuel V. Benjamin and Rachael Goldsmith. Education: Isidore Newman School, New Orleans, graduated with honors; Harvard University, A. B., magna cum laude, 1918; University of Rochester, Ph. D., 1960. Harvard R.O.T.C., 1917; World War I, army; commander, Callendar-Fleming American Legion Post 23, New Orleans. Married, October 19, 1921, Blanche Sternberger of Greensboro, N. C., daughter, of Emanuel Sternberger, a leading industrialist of Greensboro, N. C., and Bertha Strauss. Children: Edward B., Jr., W. Mente, Jonathan. Began in employ of family interests, 1919. President: E. V. Benjamin Co., Inc.; Bay Chemical Company; Myles Salt Co.; Maginnis Cotton Mills; Benjamin Minerals, Inc. Founder and president, Starmount Co.; Friendly Center, Inc.; Valley Road Corp.; Starmount Forest Country Club, Greensboro, N. C. Director, Grayson Foundation; president, Benjamin Fund. Director, North Carolina Human Betterment League; Duke University Medical Cancer Center; U. S. Coast Guard Academy, 1969-1971. Visiting committee, Harvard’s Departments of Biology and School of Music. Member, export advisory committee, U. S. Department of Commerce, 1946; New Orleans Welfare Committee, 1930-1932. Member, organizing committee, New Orleans Community Chest. National director, Morality in Media. Director, vice president, New Orleans Opera Association. President, Olympic Sailing Association of the Southern Yacht Club; Community Concert Association, New Orleans, 1960-1968. Chairman, organizing committee, first president, Cultural Attractions Fund Greater New Orleans, 1960-1961. Founder Newcomb Nursery School, Metairie Park Country Day School. Founder-trustee (with wife) Sternberger Children’s Hospital (later Guilford Welfare Center). Founder Louisiana Land and Royalty Owners Association. Donor Benjamin Awards for Restful Music at Eastman School of Music and Julliard; commissions for compositions through New Orleans Symphony. Author: The Larger Liberalism (1918); The Restful in Music (1970); contributor, articles on religion, sociology, economics, music, yachting, horse breeding. Owner Starmount Stable; breeder of Kentucky Derby, Preakness winner, Cannero II. Clubs: Round Table, Southern Yacht, New Orleans Country, Metairie Country, carnival organizations, New Orleans; Greensboro City, Greensboro County; Turf and Field, Saratoga Golf and Polo Club, New York; Royal Thames Yacht Club, Landsdowne Club, London; Royal Danish Yacht Club, Copenhagen. Died, New Orleans, March 17, 1980; interred Greensboro, N. C. B.R.O. Sources: Edwin Adams Davis, The Story of Louisiana, Vol. II, (1960); obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item, March 17, 1980; Who’s Who in America, 1978-1979 (Chicago, 1980); Edward Bernard Benjamin, The Larger Liberalism (1918); Edward Bernard Benjamin, The Restful in Music (1970).
BENJAMIN, Judah Philip, attorney, politician, businessman, planter, Confederate cabinet member. Born, St. Thomas, B.W.I., August 6, 1811; son of Philip Benjamin and Rebecca de Mendes. Attended Yale College, 1825-1827. Removed to New Orleans, 1828. Married, 1833, Natalie St. Martin. Elected to Louisiana legislature, 1842; Louisiana constitutional convention, 1845; United States Senate (as a Whig), 1852 and 1859. Organized Jackson R.R. (later I.C.R.R.), 1852. First Confederate attorney general, February-September 1861; secretary of war, September, 1861-March, 1862; secretary of state, March 1862-April, 1865. In all these capacities remained the most trusted adviser to Confederate president Jefferson Davis (q.v.), and was one of only three men to serve in the Confederate cabinet throughout the war (the others were John Reagan and Stephen Mallory). Throughout his service Benjamin was often, and unfairly, villified by members of Congress and the military. Benjamin went to Great Britain following the collapse of the Confederacy and was admitted to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn, 1866. Between 1866 and 1883 he practiced law brilliantly and successfully before English courts. Retired to Paris, France, where he died, May 8, 1884. M.T.C. Sources: David C. Roller and Robert W. Twyman, eds., The Encyclopedia of Southern History (1979); Robert D. Meade, Judah P. Benjamin . . . (1943); Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896 (1963).
BENNETT, David Maunsel, planter, merchant, surveyor. Born, Eldred Bend (later Bennettville), near Cheneyville, La.; son of Ezra Bennett and Sarah Providence Eldred. Married Sarah Ophelia Pearce. Children: Sarah Ophelia, Mary Virginia, Susie, and Paul Jones. Civil War service: captain in Boone’s Battery; swam Mississippi River to escape being captured at Port Hudson. Survey maps of area contained in three volumes reflect skills in cartography. Evergreen planter and surveyor after the war. Died, June 13, 1884; interred Bayou Rouge Baptist Church Cemetery, Evergreen, La. S.E. Sources: Maunsel Bennett Papers, private collection; Ezra Bennett Collection, Louisiana State University at Alexandria; Ezra Bennett Collection, private collection; George Bennett Collection, Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge; George Mason Graham Stafford, Three Pioneer Rapides Families (1946).
BENSON, Herbert Allen, architect, civic leader. Born, New Orleans, September 1, 1888; son of Jean-Baptiste Benson and Rosalie Olivia Leininger. Attended local schools until age 12. Married, June 12, 1913, Lena Cohn, daughter of Robert Cohn and Rose Lakowski. One daughter: Juesselyn Rose (b. 1916). Entered employ of architect Emile Weil as office boy; rose to position of vice-president of Weil’s architectural firm, known as Emile Weil, Inc. After March 1, 1933, practiced profession under own name. Alone or with other architects designed National Bank of Commerce Building, Whitney Bank Building, Saenger Theater, Tulane Stadium, California Building, Saratoga Building, International House, and many others. Original member of the Vieux Carré Commission, chairman for eight years. An organizer of New Orleans Mid-Winter Sports Association, secretary, two years; vice-president, two years, president, 1938 and 1939; chairman, 1940-1961. Commander of Civilian Defense during World War II. Past master, Alpha Home Lodge, No. 72, Free and Accepted Masons. Died, New Orleans, July 2, 1961; interred Metairie Cemetery. G.R.C. Sources: J. F. Hyer, comp., The Story of Louisiana (1960); New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 3, 1961.
BENSON, May E., creator of the “Pines.” Born, Leavenworth, Kan.; daughter of Laura Abels and Cass Friedberg. Education: Kansas schools; St. Louis High School; private schools in Chicago. Her efforts in establishing “Pines” tuberculosis treatment center are credited with bringing down the rate of the disease. She began her campaign against tuberculosis in 1913, when she was asked to take charge of the annual sale of Christmas Seals. She was first president of the Shreveport Tuberculosis League in 1915. Married, 1907, Meyer Benson. P.L.M. Source: Lilla McLure and J. Ed Howe, History of Shreveport and Shreveport Builders (1937).
BENTLEY, Emerson, journalist. Born, Columbiana County, Ohio, July 15, 1850. Removed to Louisiana ca. 1864 as a printer; editor of the St. Landry Progress, 1869; owned, edited, and published the Attakapas Register in Franklin, La., 1871-1873; represented St. Mary Parish in the General Assembly; later held the position of Division Superintendent of Public Education for the Third District before establishing permanent residency in New Orleans, where he was editorial writer for the New Orleans Chronicle and president of the New Orleans Typographical Union while working for the New Orleans Republican. Married, 1871, Joan Pursell of Carrollton. Six children. Member of the Kenilworth Lodge, Knights of Pythias, business manager of the New Orleans Southwestern Christian Advocate, organ of the Methodist Episcopal church. Died, New Orleans, September 25, 1889; interred Carrollton Cemetery. L.K.L. Sources: Morgan City Archives, Jolley Family Papers; Obituary in Morgan City Free Press, September 26, 1889.
BENTLEY, Joseph A., lumberman, banker, hotel builder. Originally from Pennsylvania. Operated a sawmill business in the pine forest of East Texas before moving to Central Louisiana in 1891. Purchased a sawmill adjacent to the Red River in Cotile with his partner, E. W. Zimmermann, in 1892; established two lumber companies and a mill town which boasted 188 houses, a utility and fire-control system and a company store for its 600 workers; lived and labored eighteen hours a day with employees. Bentley Lumber Company eventually possessed 90,000 acres of virgin pine, all of which were denuded by 1962; Enterprise Lumber Company was organized in 1903 and operated until 1923. Completed construction on the Bentley Hotel in downtown Alexandria, La., in 1908 (the renovated hotel reopened in 1985). An organizer of the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company, which at the time was the largest in Central Louisiana; owned the first automobile in the area; liked to fish; member of the Presbyterian church; never married. Died, June 10, 1938; interred Williamsport, Pa. P.K.B. & J.B.C. Sources: Patsy K. Barber, Historic Cotile (1967); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, June 11, 1938.
BENTLEY, Linden Edward, newspaper publisher, editor, politician. Born, Lynchburg, Columbiana County, Ohio, September 18, 1852; son of Dr. Thomas Moore Bentley and Ruth Ann McMillan; brother of newspaper publisher Emerson Bentley (q.v.). Married (1) Ella Donnaud, 1874; one son, Granville Donnaud Bentley, and one daughter, Ella Bentley, who married historian Stanley C. Arthur; married (2) Ada Hamilton, 1904. Bentley’s family moved to Jefferson, Wis., 1857. Bentley’s father enlisted as a surgeon of the Fourth Wisconsin Infantry of the Union Army and came to New Orleans with General Benjamin F. Butler’s (q.v.) forces in 1863; he sent for his family, March of 1865, before contracting yellow fever in 1867. Attended commercial school in New Orleans to learn the printer’s trade. Established, with his brother Emerson, the St. Landry Progress, 1868; resettled in Ascension Parish and established the Donaldsonville Chief, September, 1871; edited and published the Chief until he removed to New Orleans in 1909; later founded the St. James Sentinel at Convent, La. A founder of the Louisiana Press Association (LPA) in 1880, he served as that organization’s first secretary, a position he held for twenty-five years. Bentley was also: second vice-president, 1886, first vice president, 1895-1896, and president, 1897; made an honorary lifetime member of the LPA by unanimous vote, 1932. Bentley, a Republican, held several local offices in Ascension Parish during Reconstruction including tax collector, clerk of court, police juror, acting mayor of Donaldsonville, member of the town council, and school board member. Served for twenty-seven years as deputy collector of customs for New Orleans, 1903-1930. Member: Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of United Workmen, National Federal Employees Association, National Customs Service Association; national supreme director, Knights of Honor of America. Died at Donaldsonville, March 5, 1944; his body was cremated. J.D.W. Sources: Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana (1925), 3:181; clippings, vertical file, microfilm #13, Lower Mississippi Valley Collection, Louisiana State University Library.
BENTON, Blanche, nurse, assistant pastor. A native of New Orleans. Received a nursing degree from Coinson School of Practical Nursing. Her religious credentials were from the R. R. Wright School of Religion, an extension of Campbell College of Jackson, Miss. She served as assistant to the pastor of Payne Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church, New Orleans. She was a chaplain at Orleans Parish Prison, a board member of the New Orleans chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a member of the Payne Memorial Church Society. Children: Theodore, Walton, and the Rev. Valson Benton. Died, New Orleans, June 6, 1982; interred Belgrove Cemetery, Kenner, La. J.B.C. Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 12, 1982.
BERANGER, Jean, colonial sea captain. Commanded ships trading in the Gulf of Mexico for the merchant Gachet, the Crozat Company, and the Company of the West (later called Company of the Indies); memoirs of 1697-1722 recount conditions in the French colonies and include navigation information; made numerous voyages to supply settlements with food, soldiers, laborers, and concessionaires. Commissioned by Bienville (q.v.) in August 1720 to explore Bay St. Bernard as a possible settlement site; returned in November with map of the bay and coastline and a dictionary of the language spoken by Indians of the area; captained the Subtile on a return voyage to the bay with La Harpe (q.v.) and Bellisle (q.v.) in August 1721; compiled addition to Indian language dictionary; claimed discovery of a harbor at Chandeleur Island; navigated ships upriver to New Orleans on three occasions thus helping to establish that city as a seaport. J.B.C. Sources: Paulette G. Martin, ed. and trans., “Jean Beranger: Memoir on Louisiana, 1697-1722” (unpublished manuscript); Jean-Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe, The Historical Journal of the Establishment of the French in Louisiana, trans. by Joan Cain and Virginia Koenig, ed. and annot. by Glenn R. Conrad (1971); Glenn R. Conrad, trans. and ed., Immigration and War, Louisiana, 1718-1721; from the Memoir of Charles Le Gac (1970).
BERARD, Jean-Baptiste, pioneer, planter and Revolutionary War patriot. Born, ca. 1737, Grenoble (Dauphine) France. Removed to the Attakapas Post ca. 1764. Married, ca. 1769 Anne Broussard, native of Acadia. Six children: Adélaïde (b. 1770), Christine (b. 1771), Jean-Baptiste (b. 1773), Alexandre (b. 1775), Camille (b. 1777), Achille (b. 1788). Served as sindic générale of the Attakapas Post, 1772-1794; served under General Bernardo de Gálvez (q.v.) during the American Revolution; became a wealthy planter having large holdings in the area which became part of St. Martinville, La. Died, St. Martinville, October 7, 1821. W.Z.B. Sources: St. Martin Parish Courthouse Estate No. 270, St. Martin Original Acts, 16-39; Attakapas Gazette, X (1975), XIX (1984); Glenn R. Conrad, comp., New Iberia: Essays on the Town and Its People (1979).
BERGERON, Alphé, Cajun musician (accordion), singer, bandleader (the Veteran Playboys), and composer. Born, Pointe Noire, Acadia Parish, La., August 8, 1912. Instrumental in the Cajun music revival after World War II; recorded from the 1940s through 1970s. Died, October 15, 1980, Pointe Noire, La. B.J.A. Source: Author’s research.
BERGERON, Roland Joseph, Jr., politician and businessman. Born, St. Bernard Parish, ca. 1920. Married Helen Tirres; three sons: William T., Todd A., and Roland J. III. Attended Joseph Maumus High School; graduated from Delgado Community College. Served in the 78th Infantry Division, United States Army, during World War II; awarded the Purple Heart for injuries sustained at Remagen Bridge, Germany. Established and managed Bergeron Industries, one of Louisiana’s largest barge-building establishments; Bergeron’s firm constructed the modern steamboat Natchez. Political career: elected to the St. Bernard Democratic Executive Committee, 1964; chairman, St. Bernard Water District No. 2, ca. 1964; member, St. Bernard Parish Police Jury, 1968-1980; vice president and president of the police jury. Died, Chalmette Medical Center, December 6, 1996. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 9, 1996.
BERJOT, Marie Eugène, physician, writer, painter. Born in Valence, France, April 22, 1816; son of Vincent Berjot and Jeanne Bray. Claimed to be the godson of the Marquis de Lafayette. Probably educated at the University of Paris Faculty of Medicine. Probably served as medical officer in French Army in Algeria. Married, two children who did not survive him. First visit to United States: 1838. First recorded presence in New Orleans: 1869. First wife died; second marriage, July 28, 1884, to Fannie Reinack (1846-1927), French-born daughter of Valentin de Reinack and Babetha Daniel. No children. Practicing physician; published treatise on mesmerism, Manuel historique, élémentaire et pratique de magnétisme animal … (1858). Author of thirteen short stories (“Histoire d’une vieille femme,” “Episode de la Révolution de 1830,” “Un Voyage à la Nouvelle Orléans,” etc.) and one poem in French, published mainly at his own expense. First prize for best historical painting in the United States at the Fifth Grand State Fair of Louisiana, December 2, 1871. Died, New Orleans, November 26, 1898; interred Metairie Cemetery. B.S.O. Sources: Naturalization petition; New Orleans city directories; marriage license; marriage certificate; New Orleans Daily Picayune, December 3, 1871; obituary, November 28, 1898; will; epitaph.
BERMUDEZ, Edouard Edmund, jurist. Born, New Orleans, January 19, 1832; son of Joachim Bermudez and Emma Troxler. Education: Boyer’s Academy; Spring Hill College, B. A., 1851; read law in Kentucky under federal judge Thomas B. Monroe, 1852; University of Louisiana, LL. B., 1853; St. John’s College (Fordham, N. Y.), LL. D. (date unknown). Married Amanda Elizabeth Maupassant, January 1853. Children: Edward J., Ferdinand, Alzira, and Jeanne (only known names). Career: admitted to bar, 1853; practiced law, New Orleans, 1853-1861; 1867-1880. Civil War service: private, Company E, New Orleans Guards Regiment, Louisiana militia, 1862. Political career: delegate to Louisiana secession convention, 1861; signed secession ordinance; assistant city attorney, New Orleans, 1865-1867; chief justice, Louisiana Supreme Court, 1880-1892. Died, New Orleans, August 22, 1892. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, August 23, 1892; Louisiana Reporters, 1880-1892; Andrew B. Booth, comp., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers (1920); Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896.
BERNAL-JIMENEZ, Miguel, composer, organist, musicologist, educator. Born, Morelia, Mexico, February 16, 1910. Studied music in Morelia, then at the Pontifico Instituto di Música Sacra in Rome, 1928-1933, where he was the first student to be graduated with three diplomas: masters in musical composition, concert master at the organ, and doctor in Gregorian chant. In 1936, appointed director of the Escuela Superior de Música Sagrada of Morelia. Founded the monthly Schola Cantorum which he edited until 1953. Toured Mexico and the United States as organist. A specialist of sacred music, he studied Mexico’s colonial music. Removed to New Orleans, 1947, as choral director; member, board of the New Orleans Symphony and professor at Loyola University. Dean, Loyola School of Music, 1954-1956. Prolific composer, wrote symphonic and choral works, keyboard and sacred music, film music, and several pedagogical treatises. Died, Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, where he was teaching a course in sacred music, July 26, 1956. M.A. Sources: Charles Panzeri, Louisiana Composers (1972); H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie, eds., The New Grove Dictionary of American Music (1986); New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 27, 1956.
BERNARD, François, artist, portraitist. Born in France, ca. 1812. Husband of Victoire (b. 1822). Children: May (b. 1857), Charles (b. 1862). A pupil of Paul Delaroche, Bernard was painting portraits in New Orleans by 1856. Apparently he was invited to New Orleans by a group of sugar planters. Records indicate that he was an itinerant painter, working in New Orleans during the winter months, while leaving during the summer. During the Civil War he painted works of Louisiana scenery. Between 1866-1872 he was firmly established in New Orleans as a painter of portraits and photographs. In 1868 he exhibited in the Octagonal Hall at the Second Grand State Fair of the Mechanics’ and Agricultural Fair Association of Louisiana, and in the following year for the Third Grand State Fair he won a silver medal for best head in oil. In 1874 or 1875 he went to Peru. C.S.B. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987); 1870 U. S. Census, reel 521.
BERNARD, Simon, soldier, military engineer. Born, Dole, France, April 22, 1779. Education: Polytechnic school. Officer in the French Corps of Engineers. A protege and aide-de-camp to Napoleon. Named field marshall of France, 1814. Brigadier general in army of Louis XVIII during Restoration. Returned to Napoleon’s side at Waterloo, 1815. Invited by President Monroe to join U. S. Corps of Engineers as breveted brigadier general, served in the Corps, 1816-1831. Was chief designer of the “Monroe System” of coastal fortifications from Louisiana to Maine. Inspected, 1816, the Delta and Gulf Coast area with his aide Guillaume Tell Poussin and Col. Joseph G. Totten for establishment of fort system. Construction began, 1819, Forts Pike, Macomb, Jackson and Livingston upon the principles of Sébastien Vauban (1632-1707), French military engineer. “Bernard Forts” in Alabama were Morgan, Gaines and in Florida McRae, Pickens and Barrancas. Returned to France, 1831. French minister of war, 1834-1839. Died Paris, 1839. B.G. Sources: “Bvt. Maj. General Simon Bernard,” William H. Carter, Professional Memoirs, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army (1913); American State Papers: Military; Willard B. Robinson, American Forts: Architectural Form and Function (1977).
BERNSTEIN, Arnold, businessman, politician. Born, Montgomery, Grant Parish, La., May 2, 1884; born into a prominent Central Louisiana family, his father fought for the Confederacy. Married Corinne Steinau; no children. Resided with his family on a plantation across the Red River opposite Montgomery in Natchitoches Parish. Educated in public schools of Grant and Winn parishes, and at Soulé Business College, New Orleans. Worked as a grocery boy at E. J. Gamble Company, Natchitoches, La., 1894. Arrived in Monroe, La., to work as an insurance agent, 1896; local representative, New York Life Insurance Company, 1905-1911; representative, Equitable Life Insurance Company, 1911-1923. Elected to the Monroe city council and served 1915-1919; mayor of Monroe, 1919-1937. His administrations oversaw tremendous growth due largely to oil and natural gas revenues; the school system of Monroe expanded from one central school to six under Bernstein, a system of paved streets was completed, and a modern sewerage and drainage system was established. Bernstein, a champion of flood relief, served as president of the Tensas Basin Flood Control Association for many years. Member: Monroe Rotary Club, Lotus Club of Monroe, and Temple B’Nai Israel. At the time of his death on December 21, 1937, he had the longest service record (in terms of consecutive terms) among the state’s mayors. Interred in the Jewish Cemetery, Monroe, La. J.D.W. Sources: clippings, vertical file, microfilm #13, Lower Mississippi Valley Collection, Louisiana State University Library.
BERNSTEIN, Ernest Ralph, businessman, mayor of Shreveport. Born, Baton Rouge, October 23, 1868. Education: Thatcher Institute, Shreveport, with Ph. G. from Chicago Institute of Pharmacy. Figured prominently in commercial, financial, fraternal, and civic circles. Vice president of Louisiana and Northwest Railroad; president, Bernstein-Lanford Co.; president, Oakdale Land Co.; managing director, Interstate Electric Co. Director, North Shreveport Realty Co.; chairman of the board, Collum-Walker, Inc.; owner, Bernstein Bros. Investments. City councilman for 3 terms. Mayor of Shreveport in 1906 and 1907. One term on Caddo Levee Board. Chairman of board, Shreveport Charity Hospital; an organizer of Louisiana State Fair; a colonel on staff of Gov. Huey Long (q.v.). Married, March 18, 1908, Fannie Hirsch of Vicksburg, Miss. Children: James H. and Ernest R., Jr. Member of B’Nai Zion congregation; Thirty-third Degree Mason; member: Shriners, Odd Fellows, Red Men, Woodmen of the World, Elks. Officeholder in many of these organizations. Member, Shreveport Country Club. Died, May 5, 1932. P.L.M. Source: J. Ed Howe, comp., Shreveport Men and Women Builders (1931).
BERQUIN-DUVALLON, Pierre-Louis Berquin, dit, writer. Born in the parish of l’Anse-a-Veau in Saint-Domingue, November 13, 1769. Fled to Baltimore at the time of the slave revolution. Arrived in New Orleans, 1800, with a few slaves which he had trouble introducing into the colony. Travelled through Louisiana taking notes. Bought from Alexandre Haraney a plantation on the Tchoupitoulas Coast, where he completed his book. Went to France in 1801 and published Vue de la colonie espagnole du Mississippi ou des provinces de la Louisiane et Floride Occidentale en 1802 par un observateur résidant sur les lieux (Paris, 1803), a rather jaundiced view of Louisiana which aroused the ire of Creole society. John Davis translated an abridged version under the title Travels in Louisiana and the Floridas in the Year 1802 (1806). Published also: Recueil de poésies d’un colon de St-Domingue (1802); Aspasie, Tragédie en 5 actes (1804); Aurélien et Astérie, ou Les malheurs des préjugés (1804); Sentiments des colons de Saint Domingue envers leur monarque et leur patrie (1814); De Saint Domingue, consideré sous le point de vue de la Restauration prochaine (1814); Voeux des colons de Saint Domingue … (1814); Lettre d’un colon de Saint-Domingue … en réponse aux revocations anti-coloniales … (1814). M.A. Sources: Edward Larocque Tinker, Les Ecrits de langue française en Louisiane au XIXe siècle (1932); Auguste Viatte, “Complément à la bibliographie d’Edward Larocque Tinker,” Revue de Louisiane, III (1974); Joseph Sabin, Dictionary of Books Relating to America (1869).
BERTRAND, Charles Claude, merchant, planter. Born, Couches-les-Mines, France, June 16, 1815; son of surgeon Charles Benigne Bertrand and Marie-Jeanne Gaudriot, whose father Charles Gaudriot served as mayor of that same commune. Bertrand eschewed the practice of medicine which his family had followed for generations, emigrated to Louisiana aboard the Concord in 1837, and settled at Cloutierville, Natchitoches Parish, after a two-year residency in the parish of St. James; operated a leading mercantile firm at Cloutierville for nearly a half-century. Married, March 3, 1842, Marie Florentine Rachal (b. 1823), daughter of Louis Rachal and Marie Eloise St. André. Returned to Couches, 1851, with family, to seek medical help for his ailing wife. After her death from tuberculosis on May 31, 1855, Bertrand returned to Louisiana to settle permanently at Cloutierville. Despite his status as an alien, he suffered heavily at the hands of the Union Army in the course of the Red River Expedition of 1864. The burning of his home and mercantile store (the only edifices destroyed at Cloutierville by the Federals) marked the upper limit of a ten-mile swath of burned homes left in the wake of the Federal army between Cloutierville and Monette’s Ferry; and the suit which he subsequently initiated against the government of the United States is a chronicle of wartime activity in lower Natchitoches Parish. In post-war Louisiana, Bertrand retired to the plantation that he owned jointly with his only surviving son, and occasionally returned to France to oversee his interest in the family’s vineyards. Children: Charles Denis (b. 1843); Louis François (b. 1846; died in childhood); Appolinaire (b. 1849; died in childhood); Joanna Eloise (b. 1850; died in childhood), all of whom were born at Cloutierville. Christine Henriette (b. 1853), married Joseph A. Charleville (q.v.); Francine Anna (b. 1855), married Thomas Norris; these girls were born at Couches-les-Mines. A Catholic. Died on his plantation on Little River, December 30, 1891; interred St. Jean-Baptiste Parish Cemetery, Cloutierville. G.B.M. Sources: Charles Bertrand Collection, Louisiana State University Archives, Baton Rouge; Bertrand v. United States, Claim No. 345, French and American Claims Commision, Record Group 76, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D. C.; Registers 6, 7, 8, 11, and 12, Parish of St. François des Natchitoches; Baptismal Book I and Burial Book I, Parish of St. Jean-Baptiste de Cloutierville; Succession 72 and 429, Office of the Clerk of Court, Natchitoches; Bible of Harriet Bertrand Charleville, in possession of writer; Elizabeth Shown Mills and Gary B. Mills, Tales of Old Natchitoches (1978).
BERWICK, David, planter, businessman, civic leader. Born, Berwick Plantation, St. Mary Parish, La., April 18, 1818; son of Joseph Wallace Berwick (q.v.) and Ellen Comstock. Settled on Bayou Salé near Centerville, where he operated “Home Place” and several other sugar plantations. Married, June 3, 1835, Louisa Garrett of Bayou Salé, daughter of John Joshua Garrett, Bayou Salé planter, and Phoebe Armstrong. Ten children, five of whom lived to adulthood: Louisa (b. 1836), Joseph J. (b. 1838), Oscar Dudley (b. 1842), Adalicia (b. 1847), and Mary (b. 1858). Active in the Democratic party; served on police jury committees concerned with elections, education, and roads; active in the movement to bring the railroad from New Orleans through St. Mary to the west. Died, Bayou Salé, November 13, 1874; interred Garrett-Berwick Cemetery. M.J.F. Sources: Franklin Planter’s Banner, August 12, 1847; May 4, May 11, June 8, August 8, November 9, 1848; November 1, 1849; February 7, 1850; February 6, May 17, July 19, August 2, 1851; February 21, July 31, 1852; July 28, 1853; Mary Elizabeth Sanders, “The Garrett Family of St. Mary Parish,” Attakapas Gazette, XVIII (1983).
BERWICK, Dudley, lumberman, conservationist. Born, St. Mary Parish, La., March 23, 1870; son of Oscar D. Berwick, sugar planter, and Adelaide Donegan. Education: privately and in local schools; Magruder Preparatory School, Baton Rouge; University of Alabama. Sugar chemist and lumber company employee, St. Mary Parish, 1889-1907. Married, January, 1904, Martha Prescott Baillio, of Rapides Parish, La., daughter of Sosthène Auguste Baillio, Rapides planter, and Emma Moore Baillio. No children. Removed to Eunice, La., 1907, lumber company owner. Mayor of Eunice, 1919-1921; Louisiana Commissioner of Conservation, 1923-1925. Member: Episcopal church; Woodmen of the World. Died, Eunice, December 23, 1954; interred Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Pineville, La. J.L.F. Sources: Emma Philastre, The True Story of Eunice, Louisiana (1973); Eunice News, obituary, December 30, 1954; Opelousas Daily World, July 29, 1982; Anna C. Burns, A History of the Louisiana Forestry Commission (1968).
BERWICK, Joseph Wallace, planter. Born, Berwick Plantation, St. Mary Parish, La., March 19, 1783; son of Thomas Berwick (q.v.) and Eleanor (Helen) Wales/Wallace. War of 1812 service: sergeant, St. Mary Parish Fourteenth Regiment. Married (1), April 1807, Ellen Comstock, daughter of William Comstock and Rachel Aldrich of Assumption Parish. Children: David (q.v.), Celestine Cambray (b. 1810), Nathan (q.v.), Helene/Elenor (b. 1814), and Joseph, Jr. (b. 1817). Married (2), May 10, 1820, Nancy Bryan Ashlock, daughter of Christopher Bryan/O’Brian, Sr., and widow of Samuel Ashlock. Died, Berwick Plantation, November 23, 1852. M.J.F. Sources: Morgan City Review, September 5, 1931; Powell A. Casey, Louisiana in the War of 1812 (1963); Berwick Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
BERWICK, Nathan, planter, politician, civic leader. Born, Berwick Plantation, St. Mary Parish, La., ca. 1812; son of Joseph Wallace Berwick (q.v.) and Ellen Comstock. Settled on Bayou Salé near Centerville, operated a sugar plantation. Married (1), January 26, 1837, Susan Rochel, daughter of William Rochel and Susan Mixer of St. Mary Parish. Children: Clarence Comstock (b. 1848), Beverly Rochelle (b. 1845), Horace Mixer (b. 1849), and Florilla (b. 1840). Married (2), June 20, 1854, Olivia Knott Robertson, daughter of Richard L. Robertson of New Orleans. One child: Olivia Robertson (b. 1855). Married (3), ca. 1862, Catherine Colton. Children: Emilius (b. 1863), David (b. 1865), and Nathan (b. 1869). Active in Whig party on local and state level; member, Louisiana senate, 1847-1849; member, St. Mary Parish Police Jury, 1852-?; Brashear City (later Morgan City), city councilman and assessor, 1869; served on St. Mary Parish Police Jury elections, roads, and public health committees; active in movement to bring a railroad from New Orleans through St. Mary Parish to the west. Member: Masons. Died, Bayou Salé, October 5, 1869. M.J.F. Sources: Franklin Planter’s Banner, September 20, 1845; July 9, 1846; August 12, September 2, October 28, 1847; July 20, 1848; November 1, 1849; February 7, 1850; February 27, May 17, 1851; January 17, March 13, March 27, April 24, September 4, September 11, October 9, October 30, 1852; February 3, April 28, July 21, July 28, August 18, 1853; Town of Brashear, Council Proceedings, 1865-1876; Berwick Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
BERWICK, Thomas, pioneer, surveyor, planter. Born, Pennsylvania, ca. 1740. Probably came to the Attakapas District in 1779 with Malagueño settlers led by Francisco Bouligny (q.v.). Married Eleanor (Helen) Wales/Wallace of Dublin, Ireland. Children: Mary (b. 1769), Thomas II (b. 1771), Cambria (b. 1773), Agnes Imogene (b. 1776), Eleanor Bridget (b. 1778), Elmer (b. 1780), Joseph (q.v.), Rebecca W. (b. 1784), and Ann Dawson (b. 1787). Supervised construction of Spanish settlement of New Iberia; royal surveyor, Opelousas and Attakapas District; invested in tanneries and shoe shops in New Iberia area. Town of Berwick and Berwick Bay named for subject. Died, Opelousas, ca. January 1792. M.J.F. Sources: Gilbert C. Din, “Lieutenant-Colonel Francisco Bouligny and the Malagueño Settlement at New Iberia, 1779,” Louisiana History, XVII (1976); Glenn R. Conrad, “Friend or Foe? Religious Exiles at the Opelousas Post in the American Revolution,” Attakapas Gazette, XII (1977); St. Martin Parish Original Acts, Vols. II-III; Berwick Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
BETHARD, Henry Washington, businessman. Born near Jena, La., February 26, 1871; son of George W. Bethard and Mary Augusta Virginia Clark. Education: Jena Seminary, Jena, La., where he received a teacher’s certificate. From the late 1880s to mid-1890s a hunting and fishing guide at the Pine Top Hotel, which was owned by his parents and located at White Sulphur Springs, Catahoula Parish, La., a popular resort of the late nineteenth century. Married Fanny Martin (1874-1963), February 16, 1898, Natchez, Miss., daughter of Steven W. Martin and Mary Elizabeth (Hoblestoker) Disch. Resided at Harrisonburg, La., where the antebellum home in which they lived is a local landmark. He was employed at the Harrisonburg State Bank and became a vice president of the bank. Established, 1917, the H. W. Bethard Insurance Agency, which he owned and operated until his death. Tax assessor of Catahoula Parish, 1924-1928. Elected to the board of directors of Catahoula Bank, formerly the Harrisonburg State Bank, in 1926 and served until his death. Member, Methodist church. Children: Henry William, Mary Mildred, Cecilia, Marie Camille, Buatt Martin, Joseph Eugene Ransdell, Frances Elizabeth and Mamie Etta. Died, Harrisonburg, La., December 17, 1957; interred Harrisonburg Cemetery. A.Y.B. Source: Welcome to Harrisonburg, La., Incorporation Centennial, 1827-1972 (1972); Roster of Officials of the State of Louisiana Elected during the Year 1924.
BETHARD, Henry W., Jr., attorney. Born at Jonesville, La., on December 2, 1898; son of Henry W. Bethard, Sr., and Fannie Martin. Married Shirley Ann Edgerton at Coushatta, November 7, 1923. Children: Henry W. Bethard III, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1960-1964); Shirley Ann Bethard (Mrs. Tyler G. Hegenwald). Earned a Bachelor of Laws degree, Loyola University of the South School of Law, 1919. Member, Student Army Training Corps, World War I. Practiced law in Harrisonburg, La., where he was also mayor and editor of The Catahoula News, 1920-21. Joined the firm of Nettles and Bethard, Coushatta, La., 1921. Practiced law in Coushatta from 1921 until his death. With his son, Henry W. Bethard III, organized the firm of Bethard and Bethard at Coushatta, 1948. Organized the Coushatta Chamber of Commerce, 1924. Charter member and president, Coushatta Lions Club. Chairman, board of directors, Bank of Coushatta. Vice president, executive committee, Louisiana Levee Board Association. Chairman, board of commissioners, Louisiana State Library. Member, Democratic party, Methodist Church. Died at Coushatta, January 1, 1961; interred Springville Cemetery, Coushatta. A.Y.B. Sources: The Story of Louisiana, 4 vols. (1963), 4:239-40; Red River Parish Heritage Society, Red River Parish: Our Heritage (1989), 89-91.
BEZOU, Henry Charles, clergyman, Catholic school superintendent, historian. Born, New Orleans, April 28, 1913; son of André Ralph Bezou and Lydia Marie Bouligny. Education: St. Aloysius College, 1929; St. Joseph Seminary, near Covington, La., 1932; degrees from Notre Dame Seminary, New Orleans, 1934 and 1938; Master’s degree from Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C., 1947. Ordained into the Catholic priesthood by Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel in ceremonies held at St. Louis Cathedral, April 2, 1938. Bezou subsequently served in various capacities at several South Louisiana churches including as assistant priest, Sacred Heart Church and Mission, Montegut, La., 1938-1942; head of the normal school, Houma, La., 1940-1942; assistant priest, St. Charles Church, Lafourche, La., 1942-1943; assistant priest, St. John the Baptist Church and Our Lady of Lourdes Church, both located in New Orleans. Despite his lack of experience in school administration, Bezou was appointed superintendent of New Orleans’s Catholic schools, 1943; served in that capacity until 1968. Named papal chamberlain with the title very reverend monsignor, 1949. Bezou acted as the liaison officer to the archbishop during the turbulent civil rights period and oversaw the desegregation of the New Orleans archdiocesan schools in 1962. He also served as pastor of several New Orleans churches: St. Patrick, 1951-1965; Our Lady Star of the Sea, 1965-1967; St. Francis Xavier, 1967-1983; pastor emeritus, St. Francis Xavier, 1983-1989. Through St. Patrick’s Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Bezou promoted and helped found the Ozanam Inn, New Orleans’ largest and most active shelter for homeless and indigent persons, ca. 1952. Bezou served as spiritual director of the Ozanam Inn, 1955-1965. An ardent Francophile, Bezou was awarded the Palmes Académiques by the French government, 1949; and named a chevalier of the Legion of Honor, 1954; he was a member of the official welcoming parties that greeted French presidents Charles de Gaulle and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. Bezou was a participant in the 1955 White House Conference on Education; president, Jefferson Parish Historical Society; member, regional advisory board, American Red Cross; board member, Council for the Development of French in Louisiana. Member: American Catholic Historical Association, Foreign Policy Association, National Catholic Education Association, New Orleans Symphony Society, Louisiana Society for Crippled Children, Community Chest, United Fund, several state and local advisory committees. Awarded honorary doctorates from Loyola University (1952) and Notre Dame Seminary (1970); recipient of the Senator Allen J. Ellender Memorial Alumni Award from Brother Martin High School (1974). A productive historian, Bezou was the driving force behind the ground-breaking parish history, St. Patrick’s of New Orleans, 1933-1958 (1958), to which he contributed a preface and two essays. He authored several other parish histories, including Lourdes on Napoleon Avenue (1980), Tent to Temple: The Story of St. Philip Neri Parish, Metairie, Louisiana (1985), and his most widely cited work, A Tongue of Land to Pasture (1973), a history of Metairie, La., for which he was awarded a commendation by the American Association for State and Local History; he also wrote a handbook for Catholic school education. Died, Metairie, La., August 15, 1989; interred, St. Louis Cemetery No. 3. J.D.W. Sources: Charles Dufour, et. al., St. Patrick’s of New Orleans, 1833-1958 (1958); Who’s Who in the South and Southwest (1959); New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 16, 1989; misc. clippings supplied by the New Orleans Clarion Herald.
BEZOU, James Francis, leader of Franco-American affairs. Born, New Orleans, 1910; son of André Ralph Bezou and Lydia Marie Bouligny. Education: Pinac’s Institute; St. Aloysius College; St. Joseph Seminary; Soulé College; Loyola University, New Orleans. Married, 1942, Rosalie Julie Lococo. Children: Jacques F., A. Raoul, Pierre B., Mrs. Juliette B. Bishop, Mrs. Denise B. Garretson, Mrs. Andrée B. Carter. Worked in import-export commerce; credit manager, Emile Schulingkamp Co. Chancellor, Belgian Consulate General, New Orleans, 1952-1969; as official lectural of L’Alliance Française, 1964, gave illustrated presentations on New Orleans and Louisiana in Brussels, Antwerp, and Liege. Host to Gen. Charles de Gaulle as well as many other French dignitaries visiting New Orleans. President, 1949-1974, Athénée Louisianais, a literary and cultural society organized in 1876 by New Orleans French-speaking community. Executive vice president, New Orleans area chapter of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL). Board of directors, program director, Foreign Relations Association of New Orleans. Vice-president, Society of the War of 1812 of Louisiana and Founders of New Orleans. Contributor of articles on New Orleans and Louisiana to national publications. Translated from French into English many articles on jazz and Robert Goffin’s Horn of Plenty: The Story of Louis Armstrong. New Orleans correspondent and business agent for France Amérique, le Journal Français des Etats-Unis; owner, L’Union Française. Awarded: French Ministry of Education’s Palmes Academiques, 1949; Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, 1960; promoted to rank of Officier des Palmes Academiques, 1968; second American to receive Prix de la Couronne Française, 1970. Member: Catholic church. Died, New Orleans, August 20, 1974; interred St. Louis Cemetery III. B.R.O. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, April 9, 1964; Crescent City Credit Courier: New Orleans Credit Women’s Club (n.d.); Robert Goffin, Horn of Plenty: The Story of Louis Armstrong, trans. by James F. Bezou (1947); New Orleans States-Item, October 9, 1969; obituary, August 21, 1974, New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 21, 1974.
BIEGEL, George H., businessman, politician. Born, New Orleans, May 20, 1852; son of Michael Biegel (q.v.) and Catherine Hoffman. Married, March 15, 1877, Caroline Heinrich of Ponchatoula, La. Children: Michael (b. 1880), Henrietta (b. 1882), Georgiana (b. 1887), Irene (b. 1891), George (b. 1897). Was elected town secretary, Ponchatoula, August 12, 1872, established the Biegel Hotel; active in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church; named postmaster, October 25, 1881; Caroline named postmistress, May 20, 1889. In 1912, was in New Orleans and managed South Eastern Land Agency. Died, New Orleans, January 2, 1924. E.B.K. Sources: Census records, Bible records, Ponchatoula Thru the Years.
BIEGEL, Michael, businessman, politician. Born, Bavaria, Germany, 1824. Married Catherine Hoffman of Dormstadt, Germany. Children: George (q.v.), Eliza (b. 1854), Henry (b. 1856), Madeline (b. 1859), Mary (b. 1865). In 1852 was a shoemaker in New Orleans. Appointed by Gov. Henry C. Warmoth (q.v.) to serve on organization committee for town of Ponchatoula, La. Later elected as alderman, also served as secretary. Appointed postmaster, May 23, 1876. Died, September 14, 1876. E.B.K. Sources: Census Records, Bible records, Ponchatoula Thru the Years.
BIENVENU, Charles Thimecourt “C.T.,” businessman, civic and religious leader, politician. Born, St. Martinville, La., March 29, 1887; son of Thomas Thimecourt Bienvenu and Lucie Maraist. Education: local schools, early graduate (1908) of Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana). Married, December 22, 1910, Leola Durand of St. Martinville, daughter of Gilbert J. Durand and Lelia Simon. Children: C. Thomas (b. 1911), Ethel May (died in infancy), Roland G. (b. 1917), Leonard P. (b. 1923), Millard J. (b. 1927), Leola M. (Sister Mary Roland, b. 1930). Member: St. Martin de Tours Church; Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus; St. Martin Parish School Board, 35 years, serving as president, 1935-1944; past president and life member of Louisiana School Board Association; helped to organize St. Martin Bank and Trust Co. in 1933 and served on board of directors until his death; president St. Martin National Farm Loan Association (now St. Martin Parish Federal Land Bank Association), 1940-1964; charter member of St. Martinville Rotary Club, president, 1943, founder of the “Christmas Basket” project; Mardi Gras King Rotary VII (1953); Woodmen of the World, Cottonwood Camp No. 134; instrumental in establishing Longfellow-Evangeline State Park, Louisiana’s first state park (1934); appointed to Louisiana Parks and Recreation Commission, 1951-1956; youth leader; nurseryman; amateur horticulturist and private zoo keeper. Died, January 20, 1964, St. Martinville; interred St. Michael’s Cemetery. L.R. Sources: St. Martinville Teche News, files and obituary, January 23, 1964; Diploma, Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute; Bienvenu family papers.
BIENVENU, Laizaire Epiphany, journalist. Born, St. Martinville, La., January 10, 1874; son of Martial Bienvenu and Elodie Broussard. Education: local schools. Co-founder of the Weekly Messenger newspaper in February 1886 (now known as Teche News); served as editor and publisher until retirement in 1935. Married, May 10, 1893, Leoncia Tertrou of St. Martinville, daughter of Pierre Louis Tertrou and Marie Cora Beslin. Children: Louis Lawrence (b. 1899); Clay Anthony (b. 1900); Inez Marie (b. 1903); Ralph Roch (b. 1905); Marcel Martin (b. 1907); Genevieve Gertrude (b. 1909); Marie Thérèse (b. February 12, 1912); Corrine Cecile (b. 1914); Rita Rose (b. 1915); Margaret Vida (b. 1917); Annabelle Valentine (b. 1919); Claudia Helen (b. 1921). Member of the Woodmen of the World. Died, St. Martinville, November 26, 1953; interred St. Michael’s Cemetery. H.C.B.* & L.R. Source: Author’s research.
BIENVENU, René Joseph, academic. Born, Colfax, La., March 19, 1923; son of René J., Sr., and Corrine Wells Bienvenu. Education: local schools; Louisiana State University, B.S., 1944, M.S., 1949; University of Texas, Ph. D., 1957; also studied at University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, and Radioisotope Technological Program at Oak Ridge Institute for Nuclear Studies. Married, January 28, 1948, Catherine Nelken, of Natchitoches, La., daughter of Sylvan W. Nelken, dean of Administration, NSU, and Lennie D. Nelken. Three children: Patricia Bienvenu Franklin, Elizabeth Bienvenu, and Steven N. Bienvenu. Faculty member and administrator at NSU twenty-seven years before becoming president. Chairman, Department of Microbiology, 1960-1967; dean, College of Arts and Sciences and Science and Technology, 1967-1977. President of NSU, 1977-1983. Authored numerous articles for scientific and scholarly journals. Died, Shreveport, January 27, 1983; interred Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, La. M.D.F. Sources: Natchitoches Times; Catherine N. Bienvenu.
BIENVILLE, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de, French explorer, administrator, governor. Born, Montreal, Canada, February 23, 1680; eighth of eleven sons of Charles Le Moyne and Catherine Tierry (Primot). Spent youth on the family’s extensive Canadian holdings, and later joined elder brother, Iberville (q.v.), in the king’s service on the expedition of settlement that arrived in Louisiana in 1699. Explored the lower Mississippi and was instrumental in establishing settlements on the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi, including New Orleans. Served in Louisiana as commandant and was governor between 1701-1713, 1718-1724, and 1733-1743. These years of colonial service brought him few rewards and insurmountable problems that included: the indifference of the home government; the colony’s constant drain on the French treasury; the dearth of population; the dual system of government that pitted governor against commissaire and ensnarled the colony’s government; and a protracted series of Indian wars. He requested retirement in 1740 and returned to France in 1743. Died, Paris, March 7, 1768. C.E.D. Sources: Grace King, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville (1892); Glenn R. Conrad, ed., Readings in Louisiana History (1978); Charles E. O’Neill, “Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville,” Dictionnaire Biographique du Canada, III; Charles E. O’Neill, “The Death of Bienville,” Louisiana History, VIII (1967).
BIEVER, Albert H., clergyman. Born in Luxemburg in 1859; entered the Society of Jesus in 1875 at Grand Coteau, La. Studied philosophy and theology at Stonyhurst and St. Beuno’s, England; ordained a priest, member, Society of Jesus; gifted in languages, preached in French and German as well as English. Assigned, 1898-1904, to Jesuit church on Baronne St., New Orleans where he was a noted preacher; risked his life in the yellow fever epidemics to minister to the sick; in 1904 the story has it that the Jesuit provincial, Fr. William Power, gave him a nickel for carfare and told him to go uptown and start a university; what was to become Loyola University had inauspicious beginnings but by 1912 a university charter had been obtained from the state; by 1913 with the help of the Marquette Association, its Ladies’ Auxiliary, Mrs. Louise Thomas, and Kate McDermott he had raised money for Marquette and Thomas Halls and the Church of the Most Holy Name of Jesus; 1913-1921 preached missions and retreats throughout the South; one technique was to perform a chemical experiment with appropriate sounds and colors to draw a crowd; used magic lantern slides to illustrate his discourses; 1921-1931 worked at Baronne St. and supervised the construction of the new church in the exact style of its predecessor. Died, 1934. L.A.N. Source: Thomas H. Clancy, ed., Our Friends (1978).
BILLINGS, E. C., jurist. Born, Hatfield, Mass., December 3, 1829; son of Hepzibah D. Partridge and Israel Billings. Education: attended Welliston Seminary; Yale College, graduated 1853; studied law at Cambridge University. Married Emily Stanford Armstrong in New Haven, Conn., 1874. Worked for another law firm before opening own office. Removed to New Orleans, La., in 1865 for health reasons. Appointed, January 10, 1876, by President Grant, to the federal judgeship of the Eastern District of Louisiana; appointed judge of the Fifth Circuit Court, January 24, 1881, by President Hayes; ruled in favor of the Louisiana State Lottery Company in 1879. Decided, in 1883, in favor of Myra Clark Gaines (q.v.) in her suit against the city of New Orleans. Member: Republican party, Congregational church. Died, December 1, 1893, New Haven, Conn.; interred there. J.B.C. Sources: Judges of the United States (1983); John S. Kendall, History of New Orleans (1922); New Orleans Daily Picayune, obituary, December 2, 1893.
BIOSSAT, Eugene René, first mayor of Alexandria after Reconstruction. Born, Alexandria, La., December 14, 1819. Appointed postmaster, 1862; parish treasurer, police juror, trustee, and twelve years served as councilman for Second Ward of Alexandria. For thirty-five years he was owner, general manager, and editor of the Louisiana Democrat. Married Virginia Tronchin, born New York City, March 27, 1829. Children: Edward Antoine (b. 1848), married Ella Jones; Eugene Abenarth (b. 1851); Marie Eugenie (b. 1854), married James Waters; Henry Louis (b. 1856), married Sally Smith Flannery; Thomas Moore (b. 1858), married Mary Eliza Rushing, daughter of Dr. Stephen Harris Rushing; Mary Agalice (b. 1860), married W. P. Marsh; John Davidson (b. 1861), married Martha Cruikshank; Helene (b. and d. 1865) and James Fish (b. 1867). Died, Lafayette, La., June 15, 1906; interred with his wife and several children and grandchildren in Rapides Cemetery, Pineville. Subject’s picture hangs in Alexandria’s City Hall. S.B.A. Sources: U. S. Census, Rapides Parish, 1840-1870, L.D.S. Microfilm #855256; obituary, E. R. Biossat, Louisiana Democrat; correspondence with descendants; Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XVIII (1935); George Mason Graham Stafford, Three Pioneer Rapides Families, A Genealogy (1946); Reprint of the Rapides Parish Section of Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana with Newly Compiled Name Index. Index compiled by Benjamin E. Achee (1975).
BIOSSAT, François Armand, steamboat agent, merchant, general collector of cotton at Cotile (now Boyce) before Civil War. Born, Colfax, La., April 6, 1822. Married Annette Abby Allen, granddaughter of Lt. Gov. Simeon Martin of Rhode Island and daughter of Capt. Noah Henry Allen, U. S. Naval Rep. to Pensacola, Fla., in Natchitoches, February 8, 1842. Children: six died in infancy and interred in Rapides Cemetery. Four remaining: Mary Louise (b. 1844), married Dr. Robert Walker Beers; Harriet Martin (b. 1846), married Edward L. Pierson; Henry Antoine (b. 1848), married Martha Laulette Hunter, daughter of Benjamin Kitchen Hunter; and François Antoine, Jr. (b. 1852), murdered in 1876 at Cotile Landing. Died, Boyce, La., December 20, 1880. S.B.A. Sources: D.A.R. membership numbers 453251, 144294, 82953, 589653; Patsy K. Barber, Historic Cotile (1967); Walter Marvin Hunter, The Hunters of Bedford Co., Virginia (1975); Records of Annette Beers of Robeline, La., 1933; Records of Susan Abby (Biossat) Ford; and Records of Martha L. (Hunter) Biossat; U. S. Census, Rapides Parish, 1850.
BISLAND, Elizabeth, journalist, novelist. Born, Fairfax Plantation, St. Mary Parish, La., February 11, 1861; daughter of Dr. Thomas S. Bisland and Margaret Brownson. Religion: Episcopal. Educated at home. Her father, a sugar planter, served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army. During the Civil War, the Bisland family moved to Natchez. Their plantation was used by both Confederate and Union armies as headquarters and suffered considerable damage from several skirmishes. After the war, returned to Fairfax. But eventually, her family abandoned it. While still a young girl, became a reporter and later literary editor for the New Orleans Times-Democrat, under the pen name B. L. R. Dane. Was the founder and first president of the New Orleans Women’s Club, created to advance the cause of working women. Made the acquaintance of Lafcadio Hearn (q.v.), also a reporter in New Orleans at that time, and remained one of his main friends and mentors throughout his lifetime. Removed to New York City in late 1880s. Married Charles W. Wetmore, New York, October 6, 1889. Became associate editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine and was best known for traveling around the world in an attempt to beat Nellie Bly in shattering the eighty-days travel record of Jules Verne’s character Phineas Fogg. Lost this race, but wrote a book about her adventures, A Flying Trip Around the World (1892). Other books: A Candle of Understanding (1902); The Secret Life (1907); Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn (1907); At the Sign of the Hobby Horse (1908); Seekers in Sicily (1909); and The Case of John Smith (1916). Died, Charlottesville, Va., January 6, 1929; interred Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City, N.Y. J.J.J. Sources: Harry Hansen, ed., Louisiana: A Guide to the State (rev. ed., 1971); Joy J. Jackson, New Orleans in the Gilded Age (1969); Herman de Bachelle Seebold, Old Louisiana Plantation Homes and Family Trees (1941); Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, A Woman of the Century (1893); New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 1, 1930, August 26, 1984; New Orleans Daily Tribune, January 8, 1929.
BISSO, William A. “Billy,” towboat and ferry company owner, member of the New Orleans Commission Council, member of the state senate, Old Regular leader in New Orleans. Born, New Orleans, August 1873; son of Joseph Bisso and Mary D. Damonte. Educated in local public schools. Married Cecilia LeBreton in New Orleans, 1897. Children: Cecilia Bisso Slatten and William A. Bisso, Jr. Career: Became a licensed river pilot, 1905; inherited the family business, the Bisso Towboat Company in 1907 upon his father’s death; formed the New Orleans Coal Company, 1908; merged it into the Bisso Towboat Company, 1922. Member, New Orleans City Commission, 1908-19l2; state senate, 1912-1920; 14th ward leader for the Old Regulars, 1920s-1950s. Was a supporter of New Orleans mayors Martin Behrman (early 1920s), T. Semmes Walmsley (l929-l936), and Robert Maestri (1936-1946). Died, New Orleans, July 2, 1963. G.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 3, 1963; New Orleans States-Item, July 3, 1963; Rosemary James, The Bisso Towboat Company (1990); the Daily Shipping Guide, July 30, 1991; and the T. Harry Williams Oral History Collection, Hill Memorial Library, Louisiana State University.
BLACK GOLD, legendary racing horse. Born, 1921; foil of Useeit and Black Toney; owned by Al Hoots. Debuted at the New Orleans Fairgrounds as a victorious two-year-old, January 8, 1923; subsequently won nine of eighteen races as a two year old. Black Gold was the only thoroughbred to ever win four derbies. In 1924, he first captured the Louisiana Derby; then came from fifth place to win the fiftieth anniversary running of America’s most prized horse race, the Kentucky Derby; subsequently won the Ohio Derby by ten lengths; and finally came from forty lengths behind to win the Chicago Derby. Black Gold’s Kentucky Derby win came before that race’s largest crowd to date, some 80,000 spectators, and earned $52,775 for his owner. Black Gold was ridden by the legendary jockey J. D. Mooney and trained by Harry Webb. He won eighteen of his thirty-five starts and finished in the money nine other times for career earnings of $110,503. Several books and even a full-length motion picture have told the story of Louisiana’s most celebrated racing horse. After proving unsatisfactory as a stallion, Black Gold was brought out of retirement in 1927; he finished his last race at the New Orleans Fairgrounds on “three legs and courage,” having broken his left foreleg with a sixteenth of a mile remaining in the race; subsequently killed because of his injury, January 18, 1928; interred in the infield of the Fair Grounds, a white pyramid surrounded by a hedge and border of colorful flowers mark his grave. For many years the Black Gold Stakes was held at the Fairgrounds in his honor. J.D.W. Sources: Bob Remy, Louisiana Sports Encyclopedia (1977); Jerry Byrd, Louisiana Sports Legends (1992).
BLACKBURN, John Nelson, clergyman. Born, Athens, Ala., July 14, 1875. Education: Southwestern Presbyterian University, A.B., 1899, B.D., 1901. Married Stella Daft Horner of New Orleans, December 1, 1914. Received D.D. from Blackburn College in 1944, served as moderator of the Synod of Louisiana in 1933. Went to Houma, La., in 1901, and served that church until his retirement in 1948. A pioneer home missionary in the bayou country. For some years he and Rev. C. M. Atkinson were probably the only white non-Catholic clergymen in a hundred square miles; from Centerville to New Orleans and Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. B. M. Palmer urged him to “go out there and stay.” He intended to remain three months, and spent the rest of his life. He was responsible in large measure for the growh of Presbyterianism in the area. Died, Houma, July 31, 1971. W.D.L. Sources: E. C. Scott, Ministerial Directory of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. (1950, 1975); Louis Voss, Presbyterianism in New Orleans (1931); Penrose St. Amant, A History of the Presbyterian Church in Louisiana (1961).
BLACKBURN, William Jasper, journalist, Unionist, scalawag. Born, Randolph County, Ark., small-farming region with few slaves, July 24, 1820. Educated at home by his mother and at Jackson College, Columbia, Tenn. Lived in Little Rock and Fort Smith. Printer and editor by profession. Removed to Minden in Claiborne Parish about 1848 and established Minden Herald; Herald boldly condemned caning of Charles Sumner by Preston Brooks in 1856. Relocated in the parish in 1859 and established the Homer Iliad which was suppressed by the Confederates in the Civil War. Important Republican politician during Reconstruction: member of Constitutional Convention of 1867-1868; member of U. S. House of Representatives, July, 1868 to March, 1869; parish judge of Claiborne for four years; state senator, 1872-1876. Son Solon B. also active in local Republican affairs. Removed to Little Rock, Ark., 1880, published Arkansas Republican, 1881-1884, and Free South, 1885-1892. Died, Little Rock, November 10, 1899; interred Mount Holly Cemetery. T.T. Sources: Ted Tunnell, The Crucible of Reconstruction: War, Radicalism and Race in Louisiana, 1862-1877; Biographical Director of the American Congress, 1774-1971; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography.
BLACKMAN, Wilbur Fisk, politician, jurist. Born, Harris County, Ga., December 10, 1841. Family removed to Claiborne Parish, La., 1851. Education: private schools; Homer College, Homer La., graduated 1861. Civil War service: second lieutenant, Company A, Ninth Louisiana Infantry Regiment, July 1861 to April 1862; adjutant, Twenty-eighth Louisiana Infantry Regiment, May 1862; assistant adjutant general, staff of Gen. Henry Gray, April 1864 to May 1865. Practiced law in Homer after the war. Married Ellen M. Wells, September 27, 1867. Four children. Elected to the Louisiana house of representatives from Claiborne Parish, 1865; state senator, 1868-1872. Removed to Alexandria, La., 1873. Elected district judge and served 1876-1879; served again 1882-1892. Served on Third Circuit Court of Appeals, 1892-1900. Elected Thirteenth Judicial District judge in 1900 and reelected through 1916. Delegate to Democratic National Convention in 1900. Mason, Elk, Episcopalian. Died, Alexandria, April 28, 1923. A.W.B. Sources: Clement A. Evans, ed., Confederate Military History (1899), Vol. X; Alcée Fortier, Louisiana (1914), Vol. III; J. Fair Hardin, The Courts of Appeal of Louisiana and Their Judges (1927).
BLACKMAR, Armand Edward, music publisher, composer, merchant. Born Harmon Edward Blackmar, Bennington, Vt., May 30, 1826; son of Reuben Harmon Blackmar and Amanda Cushman. Removed to Cleveland, Ohio, 1836. Probably received early musical instruction in singing schools and church choirs; graduated Western Reserve College, Cleveland, 1845. Taught music at Huntsville, Ala., and Jackson, Miss.; professor of music, Centenary College, Jackson, La., 1852-1855. About this time changed given name to Armand. Returned to Jackson, Miss., ca. 1856, to open piano and music store; established second store, Vicksburg, Miss., and took into partnership brother, Henry Clay Blackmar (b. 1831), 1858; moved principal business to New Orleans, 1860, and began publishing music as well as selling sheet music and musical merchandise. H. C. Blackmar ran additional stores, Augusta, Ga., 1862-1864, and New York, 1868. Subject operated music store in San Francisco, 1877-1880; resumed music sales and publishing in New Orleans until death. Composed music, frequently using pseudonyms including Armand, A. Pindar, Ye Comic, Ducie Diamonds, A. E. A. Muse, A. Noir, A. Schwartz, S. Low Coach. Author of Harmony Simplified and Made Clear (1888). Died, New Orleans, October 28, 1888; interred Greenwood Cemetery. F.M.J. Source: Paul Richard Powell, “A Study of A. E. Blackmar and Brother, Music Publishers, of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Augusta, Georgia: With a Check List of Imprints in Louisiana Collections” (M.L.S. thesis, Louisiana State University).
BLAKE, John J., banker. Born, Many, La., October 3, 1885; son of John J. Blake and Elizabeth Buvens. Education: St. John’s Catholic School, Many; St. Charles College, Grand Coteau; St. Johns College, Shreveport. Worked in the J. M. Middleton drug store later purchasing the drug store; owner and manager of a mercantile business. Went into the People’s State Bank of Many in 1914; became president of bank, 1934, a position held for fifty-two years. Organizer and charter member, Many Lions Club; member, Zwolle Council, Knights of Columbus; Fourth Degree General Assembly Knight of Columbus. Died, December 27, 1966; interred St. John’s Catholic Church Cemetery, Many, La. J.H.P. Source: Centennial Edition, Sabine Index, September 6, 1979.
BLAKEMAN, Benjamin Anthony “Benny,” politician and civic leader. Born, Morgan City, La., April 12, 1910; the fifth of eleven children born to Louis Reid Blakeman, Morgan City’s chief of police (1910-1918, 1924-1938), and Clara Bonner. Education: graduated, Morgan City High School, 1928. After high school, worked for the Texas Company for approximately one year. Subsequently worked for the Western Auto Sales Supply Company as a salesman; assistant manager, Western Auto Stores in Beaumont, Houston, and Port Arthur, Tex.; manager, Western Auto branches at Lafayette and New Iberia, La.; manager, Western Auto branch, Beaumont, Tex., ca. 1940. Resigned position as store manager to become chief criminal deputy sheriff, St. Mary Parish, May 1940. Entered military service, 1942; subsequently trained at Fort Benning, Ga. Assigned to overseas duty, October 1944. Served in Company B, 12th Armored Division, 7th Army, with the rank of second lieutenant. Wounded in action, January 16, 1945; awarded the Purple Heart. Discharged with the rank of first lieutenant, Camp Shelby, Miss., April 1946. Chief criminal deputy sheriff, St. Mary Parish, 1946-1952. Clerk of court for St. Mary Parish, 1952-1984. Secretary and chairman, St. Mary Parish Democratic Central Committee; chairman, St. Mary Parish Chapter, American Cancer Society; president of the Louisiana Shrimp Fair and Festival for thirty-five years. Member: Morgan City Elks Club, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, St. Mary Golf and Country Club, Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Died, Morgan City, May 19, 1997. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 20, 1997; The Story of Louisiana (1960), 3:187-188.
BLALOCK, Alice Grundy, educator. Born, Marshall, Tex., late nineteenth century; daughter of Felix Grundy and Lucinda Dixon. Education: public schools, Marshall, Tex.; Wiley College, Marshall, Tex., B. A.; Columbia University, M. A., 1947. Was a Jeanes Teacher in Beauregard Parish, 1919-1920; taught, Caddo and Avoyelles parish schools; taught teacher education at Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute (now Grambling State University) from 1929 until retirement in 1953. Developed follow-up services in teacher education; supervisor, Grambling’s Rural Education Program. Married Leo A. Blalock, 1938. Chairperson of the Committee on Elementary Education, Louisiana Colored Teacher’s Association (later the Louisiana Education Association). Organized, Conference for Elementary Teachers at Grambling College (now called the Blalock Conference). Member and Sunday school teacher, Lewis Temple CME Church; member, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Died, Marshall, Tex., January 26, 1970. S.F. Sources: Doris D. Carter, “Alice Grundy Blalock: A Portrait of Love,” Journal North Louisiana Historical Association, (Fall, 1982); The Alice G. Blalock Silver Jubilee Conference Program, Grambling State University, October 20-24, 1975; Grambling State University Hall of Fame: Third Annual Enshrinement Program, September 26, 1982; oral histories.
BLANC, Antoine, clergyman, prelate. Born, Sury-le-Comtal, France, October 11, 1792; son of Laurent and Jeanne (Pinand) Blanc. After studies in humanities, entered Grand Seminary of St. Irenaeus, Lyons, for philosophy and theology. Ordained priest for the Diocese of Lyons, July 22, 1816, voluntering for missionary work in Louisiana, 1817. First worked in Indiana missions with headquarters at Vincennes, Ind.; was assigned to Natchez, Miss., and then to Pointe Coupée Parish, La., ministering the entire civil parish along with West Feliciana Parish. Named pastor of St. Joseph’s, Baton Rouge, 1826, he was vicar-general to Bishop Leo de Neckère (q.v.) whom he succeeded, after being diocesan administrator nearly two years, as ordinary, 1835. Consecrated November 22, St. Louis Cathedral; convoked clergy of state on following day, stressing in his discourse education and evangelization. He arranged for return of Jesuits to Louisiana in 1837 when St. Charles College at Grand Coteau was established; provided for the same religious to reestablish themselves in New Orleans, 1847, when the Church and College of the Immaculate Conception on Baronne Street were founded for pastoral and educational work in the city. Opened in 1838 Seminary of the Assumption, Plattenville, La. Made rounds of entire state by river packet, pirogue, carriage, horseback and afoot, founding churches, chapels, and mission stations as resources and manpower allowed. Gravely distracted in pastoral work by Nativism and Know-Nothingism of which, as a native Frenchman, he was prime target. Founded in 1842 first diocesan paper, Le Propagateur Catholique, which, among its other editorials, defended the status of the bishop amid altercations with marguilliers or church wardens. Louisiana Supreme Court adjudicated in bishop’s favor after litigation which followed series of squabbles fomented by wardens in early 1840s. Elevated to rank of archbishop, July 19, 1850, and received the pallium in ceremonies at St. Patrick’s Church, New Orleans, February 16, 1851. Attended First Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1852; was present in Rome for proclamation of dogma of Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1854. Made an assistant at Pontifical throne, 1854. Convened and presided over First and Second Provincial Councils of New Orleans, 1856 and 1860. Before his death, he had seen the Louisiana clergy rise from twenty-eight to ninety-two, founded forty-seven new parishes, established two colleges in addition to seminary, nine academies, a Catholic hospital, two orphanages, a home for delinquent girls, and numerous schools staffed by men and women religious recruited from abroad. Instrumental in establishing Diocese of Natchitoches, July 2, 1853. Died, June 20, 1860; interred in crypt under sanctuary of St. Louis Cathedral. H.C.B. Sources: Roger Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (1939); Joseph Bernard Code, Dictionary of the American Hierarchy, 1789-1964 (1964); “Archdiocese of New Orleans Centennial Supplement,” Catholic Action of the South, XVIII, No. 44 (October 5, 1950).
BLANQUE, Jean, lawyer, statesman, state legislator. A native of Béarne, France, Blanque arrived in Louisiana with his cousin, Pierre Clément Laussat, aboard the French frigate Surveillant, March 26, 1803. Married Delphine Macarty, (the recent widow of Don Ramon de Lopez y Angula, who had been consul general for Spain in Louisiana); she would later marry Dr. Nicolas Lalaurie and assume lasting infamy as Madame Lalaurie of “Haunted House.” Was a member of the delegation that met the American commissioners Gen. James. Wilkinson (q.v.) and William C. C. Claiborne (q.v.) two miles above New Orleans and escorted them into the city; remained in Louisiana after the territory’s transfer to the United States. Blanque became a naturalized United States citizen and was one of three French-born members of the convention that drafted the first Louisiana state constitution during the winter of 1811-1812; one of the five members on the drafting committee, his role in the convention was very significant. Elected and served in the state house of representatives. Appointed to the committee for public defense in New Orleans, Blanque played an active role in the battle against the British. Blanque had extensive connections to Jean Laffite (q.v.) and the Baratarians; he hand delivered from Laffite to Governor Claiborne the intelligence reports concerning British troop movements and reportedly later hid Jean Laffite and his brother Pierre (q.v.) at either his Royal Street home or on his large plantation below the city. Died, New Orleans, 1816. J.D.W. Sources: Cecil Morgan, The First Constitution of the State of Louisiana (1975); Stanley Clisby Arthur, Jean Laffite, Gentleman Rover (1952).
BLANCHARD, Albert Gallatin, educator, soldier, engineer. Born, Charlestown, Mass., September 10, 1810. Education: graduated, United States Military Academy, West Point, 1829, twenty-sixth in a class of forty-six. Served in Third U. S. Infantry Regiment on the frontier; promoted to rank of first lieutenant, October 30, 1836. Resigned October 1, 1840. Removed to New Orleans and became a merchant and schoolteacher. Director of Louisiana’s public schools, 1843-1845. Organized and elected captain of an independent company of Louisiana volunteers, May 15, 1846, and served in Mexican War. Appointed major, Twelfth U. S. Infantry, May 27, 1847; discharged honorably, July 25, 1848. Returned to New Orleans and taught school until 1850. Worked as a civil engineer and railroad executive, 1854-1861. Elected colonel, First Louisiana Infantry Regiment, April 25, 1861, and took his unit to Virginia. Promoted to rank of brigadier general, September 21, 1861, and commanded a brigade at the Battle of Seven Pines, May 31 to June 1, 1862. Assigned to command camp of conscription and instruction at Monroe, La., June 21, 1862. Relieved of command, February 11, 1863, and held no more important positions. Was in North Carolina toward the end of the war. Worked as a surveyor and engineer, 1866-1870. Deputy surveyor for the city of New Orleans, 1870-1878. Became assistant city surveyor, 1878, and served until his death. Died, New Orleans, June 21, 1891; interred St. Louis Cemetery I. A.W.B. Sources: Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Gray … (1959); Mark M. Boatner, III, The Civil War Dictionary (1959); Clement A. Evans, Confederate Military History (1899), Vol. X.
BLANCHARD, Anselme, administrator. Born, May 18, 1741, in France; son of René Blanchard and Marguerite Teriot. Captain of militia, New Valenzuela (Lafourche District) 1785; appointed Acadian Commissioner of exiles brought by Spain from France to Louisiana and West Florida, 1786; settled Acadian families on Bayou des Ecores (Thompson’s Creek), District of Feliciana. Captain, Third Company, First Battalion Louisiana Militia, New Feliciana, 1792-1794; commandant, 1794-1800. Died, April 1, 1800; interred near Thompson’s Creek. E.K.D. Sources: W.P.A. Translations Spanish Archives; Oscar William Winzerling, Acadian Odyssey (1955); Jack D. L. Holmes, Honor and Fidelity … (1965).
BLANCHARD, Blanche Virginia, artist, harpist, singer, actress, poetess. Born, New Orleans, 1866; daughter of Capt. Dawson A. Blanchard; granddaughter of Maj. Gen. Albert Gallatin Blanchard (q.v.). Married Charles Milo Williams. Children: Milo Blanchard Williams and Lavinius La Salle Williams. Early education in music, drama and the arts at the Academy of the Daughters of Charity and St. Joseph’s Academy, both in Emmetsburg, Md. At the latter was awarded in instrumental music a premium of distinction, the highest honor. Later moved to Washington, D. C., studying painting under Andrews at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1888. Also copied paintings at the Corcoran and befriended President Grover Cleveland, of whom she painted an official portrait for the White House. Developed a soprano voice and sang and played the harp in concerts in Boston, Baltimore, and Washington. After returning to New Orleans studied with Charles Giroux and William Aiken Walker, thus becoming active in their artistic circle. Walker and other artists spent many evenings in the Blanchard home, and Giroux intermittently lived there. Similarly, after her marriage, the Williams’ residence became a focal point for art and music in the city. Throughout her life was an extensive collector of art. Early member of the Artists’ Association of New Orleans and in later years with her husband organized and directed the Literary and Musical Club of New Orleans. In 1884-1885 participated in the Exhibit of Woman’s Work in the Louisiana State Department at the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition. Beautified the pulpit of St. Alphonsus Church in 1890. Died, New Orleans, December 6, 1959. C.S.B. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987); New Orleans Daily Picayune, April 23, 1894; New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 7, 1959.
BLANCHARD, Cary Hansford, planter, politician. Born, Virginia, 1805; son of Thomas and Amy Wood Newton Blanchard. Arrived in Cotile, near Alexandria, La., in the 1820s with mother, brothers Alfred and Edward, and sister Georgiana. Purchased land on Bayou Jean de Jean; with brother, Alfred, was involved in the famous Sand Bar duel at Natchez, Miss., in 1827. Elected state representative, 1840. Trustee, Rapides Female Seminary, 1852; served as syndic for Cotile Ward; was one of the principle planters of Rapides Parish; colonel in the state militia; plantation, Roselawn, burned by Union soldiers, 1864. Married four times: (1) Mary G. Overton who died shortly after the marriage; (2) Ellen Evans Dexter (d. 1855); (3) Frances Amelia, daughter of Elizabeth and Robert A. Crain. Children: Carey Edward, Frank, Henry, and Newton Crain Blanchard (q.v.); (4) Emma Gainnie Hickman. Died, October 26, 1861. P.K.B. Sources: Patsy K. Barber, Historic Cotile (1967); Goodspeed, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana (1890).
BLANCHARD, Newton Crain, attorney, politician, governor. Born, Rapides Parish, La., January 29, 1849; son of Carey H. Blanchard (q.v.) and Frances Amelia Crain. Education: private schools; Louisiana State Seminary of Learning; University of Louisiana (now Tulane), LL. B., 1870. Married (1), December 16, 1873, Mary Emma Barret, daughter, of Capt. William Barret and Mary Katherine Smith. Two children: James Ashton Blanchard (b. 1874), Mary Ethel Blanchard (b. 1877). After death of first wife, July 27, 1907, married (2) Charlotte Tracy, January 29, 1909. One child, Newton Crain Blanchard (b. 1911). Began practice of law in Shreveport, 1871; elected chairman, Democratic Committee of Caddo Parish, 1876; delegate, Louisiana constitutional convention from Caddo Parish, 1879; elected to United States House of Representatives, 1880 and served until 1893. Appointed to unexpired term of Edward Douglas White (q.v.) in U. S. Senate, 1893, held the seat until 1897. In 1897 appointed associate justice, Louisiana Supreme Court and served in that capacity until 1904 when elected governor. While governor, the legislature created a state reform school, a state department of forestry, and a board of charities and correction. Reduced the appointive powers of the governor, worked with the newly created board of equalization to reduce state and local taxes, and was instrumental in upgrading public education. President, Louisiana constitutional convention, 1913; delegate to four Democratic National conventions. Served on the board of directors, City National Bank of Shreveport; and was a member of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce. Died, June 22, 1922; interred Greenwood Cemetery, Shreveport. S.R. Sources: Miriam G. Reeves, The Governors of Louisiana (1962); Roy Clashan, American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1975 (n.d.).
BLANPAIN, Joseph, planter, cattleman, contractor, Indian trader. Born, Mons, Flanders, 1698. Married Maria Anna Lambrote (possibly Lambert) in Mississippi. In New Orleans perhaps as early as 1727; contracted to build a sawmill and a dovecote. Acquired land in New Orleans, below Chapitoulas, at Bayougoula, at Cannes Brulées. After departure of his wife in February, 1731, increasingly involved in Indian trade. Became fluent in eight Indian languages, especially Attakapas dialect; between December, 1738, and January, 1744, in partnership with Jean Joseph Le Kintrek dit Dupont (q.v.) for trading in the Attakapas and Opelousas districts for pelts, horses, and other goods. By October, 1738, combined various tracts to form a plantation of 45 arpents frontage at The Houmas; in course of his trading, served the French colonial administration in reconnaissance activities. In 1745, searched for the Chevalier Grenier and survivors of the shipwrecked La Superbe. Established a trading base at Natchitoches, reaching out to the Spanish capital at Los Adaes for cattle and other goods; took as common law wife an Indian slave, Marguerite Mercier, by whom he had two children, Louis Joseph (bapt. 1751); and Thérèse (bapt. 1756). In June, 1754, on orders from Governor Kerlérec (q.v.), led trading expedition to extend French influence among the Attakapas tribes in the Trinity Bay region of the Texas Gulf Coast; attempted to establish a base on the lower Trinity River, in competition with the illegal trading interests of Spanish Governor Barrios y Jáuregui; arrested with his companions on October 10, 1754; conveyed to Mexico City; died in prison on February 6, 1756. Incident provoked the Spanish establishment of the presidio of San AgustÃn de Ahumada at the site of his arrest at Orcoquisac and the related mission of Nuestra Señora de la Luz in 1756. H.W.G. Sources: Records of the French Superior Council of Louisiana, 1729-1766, many of which are abstracted in the Louisiana Historical Quarterly, volumes IV-XX; French Land Grants, 1753-1769, Special Collections, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University; Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records, Vol. 2 (1770-1803); Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches, 1729-1803 (1977); Marc de Villiers du Terrage, The Last Years of French Louisiana, trans. by Hosea Phillips (1982); Bill Barron, ed., The Vaudreuil Papers (1975); Mathé Allain and Vincent H. Cassidy, “Blanpain, Trader Among the Attakapas,” Attakapas Gazette, III (1968); Mrs. Stephen Roy Campbell, Nostalgic Notes on St. James Parish Then and Now (1977); Herbert Eugene Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century … (1915; reprint 1970); Carlos E. Castañeda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas, 1519-1936, Vol. IV (1939; reprint ed., 1976); Bexar Archives Translations, Volume 28, Barker History Center, University of Texas, Austin, Tex.
BLENK, James Hubert, clergyman, educator, prelate. Born, Neustadt, Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, August 13, 1856; son of James Marcus and Catherine (Witteman) Blenk. Removed to New Orleans as a boy with his parents, who were non-Catholics. At age 12, decided to become a Catholic; was instructed by Redemptorists at St. Alphonsus Church but received first communion at St. Louis Cathedral in 1869. Shortly afterwards, attended Redemptorist College, Ilchester, Md., but in time returned to study in Louisiana at Jefferson College, Convent, La. Having decided to join the Society of Mary, went to the Marist House of Studies, Belley, France; made novitiate at Ste. Foy of Lyons; the Catholic University of Ireland, Dublin; and became a professed Marist on September 24, 1879. After ordination to priesthood on August 16, 1885, became a member of the faculty of Jefferson College, 1885-1891, then its president, 1891-1896. Appointed pastor of Holy Name of Mary Church, Algiers, also serving the archdiocese as chairman of the board of studies for the Catholic Winter School of America. In 1897, auditor and secretary in the apostolic delegation for Cuba and Puerto Rico as well as sub-apostolic delegate to Cuba. In 1899, elected to the see of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The archbishop of New Orleans, Placide L. Chapelle (q.v.), consecrated him on July 12 in St. Louis Cathedral. Upon the death of Chapelle, Bishop Blenk was named his successor, receiving the pallilum or insignia of his office, April 24, 1907. A gifted educator, Blenk fostered schools at all levels, established the first Archdiocesan School Board, and appointed in 1906 the first archdiocesan superintendent of schools (Fr. Leslie J. Kavanagh [q.v.], founding pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, New Orleans). Blenk re-opened the preparatory seminary at St. Benedict, La., and laid the groundwork for the eventual establishment of Notre Dame Seminary, New Orleans, by his immediate successor. He sought to raise the standards of Catholic education by making St. Mary’s Dominican College, New Orleans, the diocesan normal school. He encouraged the beginnings of both Loyola and Xavier universities; organized a board of Catholic charities and Catholic youth activities. A strong organizer, introduced the Federation of Catholic Societies and the Federation of Holy Name Societies; promoted Knights of Columbus councils and circles of St. Margaret’s Daughters, among other groups. Through his initiative, religious communities of men and women, notably Mother Katharine Drexel’s Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the Josephites, and the Holy Ghost Fathers intensified their Louisiana ministry among blacks. For at least six years, Blenk suffered from cardiac problems but kept up his round of activities. Died after a heart attack, April 20, 1917. The funeral took place in St. Joseph’s Church since the Cathedral, which he had planned to renovate, was then considered unsafe for occupancy. H.C.B. Sources: Roger Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (1939); Joseph Bernard Code, Dictionary of the American Hierarchy, 1789-1964 (1964); “Archdiocese of New Orleans Centennial Supplement,” Catholic Action of the South, XVIII, No. 44 (October 5, 1950).
BLOM, Frans, mesoamerican archaeologist. Born in Denmark, August 9, 1893. Education: University of Copenhagen, Harvard University. Director, Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University, 1926-1941. Led numerous archaeological expeditions to Mexico and Central America. Especially notable was the John Geddings Gray Memorial Expedition of 1928 to Chiapas, Guatemala, and the Yucatan. Married: Mary Thomas of New York, 1932; divorced 1938. In 1941, removed to Mexico doing free-lance archaeological work, writing and guiding tours. Married Gertrude Duby (b. 1901), ca. 1944. In 1950 established a research center/home (Na Bolom), dedicated to the study of the Lacondon Indians, in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico. Author of numerous works on mesoamerican archaeology; Tribes and Temples with Oliver LaFarge (1926-1927) is the only published report of his expeditions. Died, San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, June 24, 1963. A.E.L. Sources: Robert L. Brunhouse, Blom, Maya Explorer (1976); Prudencio Moscoso Pastrana, Franz Blom en San Cristobal de las Casas; San Cristobal de las Casas: Editorial “Fray Bartololme de las Casas,” A. C. 1980; Diccionario Porrua de Historia, Biografia y Geografia de Mexico, 4th ed. (1964).
BLUNT, A. Rayford, clergyman, politician. Born, Thompsonville, Ga., 1837. Lived in Natchitoches, La., 1853-1878. Married; three children. Pastor of a 500-member Baptist church; president of the Baptist Association of his district. Member, Louisiana house of representatives, 1870-1872; member, Louisiana senate, 1872-1876; member, school board of Natchitoches Parish; president, Natchitoches Parish Republican Central Committee. Master Mason. Participant in the black migration movement of the 1880s. Died, February 19, 1905. R.E.M. Sources: Senate Reports, 45 Cong., 3 sess., No. 855, 131-138; Charles Vincent, Black Legislators in Louisiana During Reconstruction (1976).
BOARMAN, Aleck, attorney, politician, jurist. Born, Yazoo City, Miss., 1839. Removed with parents to Shreveport, 1845. Education: local schools; Kentucky Military Institute, Frankfort, Ky.; University of Kentucky, 1860. Civil War service: Caddo Rifles of the First Louisiana Volunteers, rose to rank of captain. In 1866 began practice of law in Shreveport. Married, 1902, Frances Capin, of St. Louis, Mo. No children. Active in Republican party; mayor of Shreveport, from May 7, 1866, to August 8, 1867; city attorney of Shreveport, 1868-1872; candidate for lieutenant governor of Louisiana, 1872; member, United States House of Representatives from December 3, 1872 to March 3, 1873; judge of Louisiana’s Tenth Judicial District, Shreveport, 1877-1880; United States district judge for the Western District of Louisiana, Shreveport, from May 19, 1881 to August 30, 1916. Died, Loon Lake, N.Y., August 30, 1916; interred Oakland Cemetery, Shreveport. A.S.T. Sources: J. Fair Hardin, Northwestern Louisiana: A History of the Watershed of the Red River, 1714-1937 (1939); obituary, Shreveport Times, August 31, 1916; Shreveport Journal, August 31, 1916.
BOATNER, Charles Jahleal, attorney, congressman. Born, Columbia, La., January 23, 1849; reared by uncle, Isaac H. Boatner. Eucation: completed preparatory studies; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1870 and practiced law in Harrisonburg, La. Married, 1870, Frances R. Mayo, daughter of Judge Oren Mayo of Concordia Parish. Children: Mark Sterling, Oren Mayo, Charles J., Anna, and Josephine. Member, state senate, 1876-1878. Removed to Monroe, La.; elected as a Democrat to Congress and served from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1895; election to Fifty-fourth Congress contested, won the seat and served from June 10, 1896, to March 3, 1897; did not seek reelection. Removed to New Orleans and resumed the practice of law. Died, New Orleans, March 21, 1903; interred Monroe Cemetery, Monroe, La. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, March 22, 1903.
BOBE-DESCLOSEAUX, Jean-Baptiste-Claude, administrator. Born, Versailles, France, in late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. Worked in French Ministry of Marine, 1722-1728. Sent to Louisiana in 1739 to fill the post of comptroller of the navy; stationed at Mobile. In the 1740s served as acting commissary of the navy in place of an ailing official. After the commissary’s death, applied for and was eventually named to the post of commissary of the navy. Served for many years on the Superior Council of the colony. Work for the navy took him to other settlements of the colony. Stationed at New Orleans in the latter part of his colonial service. When he first came to Louisiana, he left his wife Marie Jacquinot de Lorme and two sons in France, but family joined him in later years. A French army officer who died while on duty in the Illinois country was listed as “Desclozeaux” in Governor Vaudreuil’s correspondence of July 28, 1750, and may have been his son. One of his sons who is definitely identified was Jean-Arnould-Valentin Bobé-Descloseaux who remained in Louisiana after his father was recalled to France in 1762. This son served the French government and became ordonnateur in 1769 after Spanish rule had been established. He was ordered to carry French records back to France in 1772, but drowned at sea when the Marie Thérèse, the ship on which he was traveling, was wrecked. The records he was carrying were also lost. Another son, Joseph Guillaume Stanislas Bobé-Descloseau, a government clerk in Versailles, survived his parents and brothers. Subject’s death date is unknown. J.J.J. Sources: Bill Barron, ed., The Vaudreuil Papers (1975); Dunbar Rowland and A. G. Sanders, eds., Mississippi Provincial Archives, French Dominion, IV, V (revised and ed., Patricia Kay Galloway, 1984); New Orleans Genesis, XXVI (1987).
BOCAGE, Peter, musician (violin, trombone, banjo, xylophone, cornet), of Haitian descent, was born in Algiers, La., July 31, 1887; son of Paul and Camille Bocage. Brothers Henry (tuba and double bass) and Charles (banjo, guitar, singer) were also professional musicians. Married Pearl Yates; children: Edwin, Delores, and Myrtle. Bocage’s first formal cornet study was with Professor Brookhaven. By 1904 he was playing violin with Tom Albert’s band, then other instruments with Eagle Band (1905-6). He appeared with the Superior Orchestra (1907) and later with Gilbert Frank’s Peerless Orchestra. Bocage worked in Storyville with Oscar “Papa” Celestin (q.v.) (1910-13) and Joseph “King” Oliver (q.v.) (1915). Between 1910 and 1915, Bocage also appeared sporadically with the Onward, Tuxedo and Excelsior brass bands, Henry Allen, and on Fate Marable’s riverboat S.S. Capitol. From 1915-28 Bocage performed with A. J. Piron’s Society Orchestra. He recorded and played at the Cotton Club in New York, 1923-24. Around 1928 he formed the Creole Serenaders, which disbanded in 1939. In 1940 he played with Louis “Big Eye” Nelson, began selling insurance for Hypolite Charles (q.v.), and recorded with the Zenith Brass Band. He was with Sidney Bechet at Boston’s Savoy Café in 1945. From 1949-54 he played at Mama Lou’s in New Orleans; In 1955-56 Bocage performed at Jefferson City’s Buzzard’s Hall. After 1960 he was with the Eureka Brass Band and a performer at Preservation Hall. Among the first Southern musicians to play jazz professionally, Bocage was noted for his light swinging style and respected for his fine musicianship. As policy coordinator for bandsmen at Preservation Hall, he was called “leader of leaders.” Bocage composed “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” with A. J. Piron; “New Orleans Wiggle” with Clarence Williams; and “Bouncing Around,” “Mamma’s Gone, Goodbye,” and other popular tunes. Served as arranger for musical groups led by Piron, who featured his “Purple Rose of Cairo.” Memorable recordings include “New Orleans Wiggle,” “Mamma’s Gone, Goodbye” (Victor, 1923); “Sud Bustin’ Blues,” “West Indies Blues” (Columbia and Okeh, 1923); “Kiss Me Sweet” and “Bouncing Around” (Okeh, 1923); “Do Doodle Oom,” “West Indies Blues” (Victor, 1924); “Ghost of the Blues,” “Bright Star Blues” (Columbia, 1924); “Louisiana Swing,” “Sittin’ on the Curbstone Blues” (Okeh, 1924); “Hilarity,” “Frog Legs,” “Entertainer’s Rag,” “West Indies Blues,” and “Society Blues” (Riverside, 1960); a 1961 album for Riverside titled “New Orleans Living Legends, Peter Bocage with his Creole Serenaders.” Bocage died in Algiers, La., December 3, 1967; interred in St. Bartholomew Cemetery. A.K.S. Sources: Times-Picayune, DecemÂber 6, 1967; Samuel B. Charters, Jazz New Orleans 1885-1963 (1963); Noel Rockmore, Preservation Hall Portraits (1968); William Carter, Preservation Hall Music from the Heart (1991); Dave Dexter, The Jazz Story from the ’90s to the ’60s (1964); Bill Russell, New Orleans Style (1944); New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, I, (1988).
BODENHEIMER, Jacob M., physician. Born, Shreveport, January 28, 1883; son of Emanuel M. and Bertha (Levy) Bodenheimer. Education: Shreveport public schools; Louisiana State University, B. A.; Tulane University, M. D.; interned one year at Shreveport Charity Hospital. Prominent local doctor, contributed substantially to several medical journals on various subjects. Began practice, Shreveport, 1906; resident physician, Shreveport Sanitarium. Served as bacteriologist and chemist for Shreveport Board of Health, 1908-1912. Married, November 19, 1919, Lucille Weil Levy, of Evergreen, La., daughter of Gus and Omega Levy. Children: Elias and Bertha Omega. Held offices in Shreveport Medical Society, Louisiana Medical Society, and Tri-State Medical Society. Director, Federated Charities and Hepzibah Home. Assistant regimental surgeon, 351st Infantry, 88th Division of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. One of originators of the “Better Babies Contest” of the Louisiana State Fair, a model for other states. 32nd Degree Mason and Shriner. Member of B’nai B’rith and B’nai Zion Congregation. Died, Shreveport, June 16, 1965; interred Greenwood Cemetery. P.L.M. Source: J. Fair Hardin, Northwestern Louisiana: A History of the Watershed of the Red River, 1714-1937 (1939).
BOGAERTS, John Baptist(e), clergyman. Born, at Olmen, Belgium, December 29, 1840. Studied at Seminary of Malines; ordained subdeacon at Malines; received order of diaconate and priesthood in New Orleans, November 4, 1863. Arrived on Good Friday, April 3, 1863; immediately named pastor of St. Joseph’s, Gretna; completed construction of church and built combination school-rectory. Named pastor, July 15, 1871, of St. Henry’s, New Orleans. Before becoming rector of St. Mary’s Archbishopric Church (l’Evêché) and chancellor of the archdiocese in 1891. Appointed 1889, vicar general by Archbishop Francis Janssens (q.v.). Upon Janssens’ death (June 9, 1897), selected as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, holding that post until installation of Archbishop Placide L. Chapelle (q.v.), February 1898. Assumed the pastorate of St. Ann’s Church, New Orleans, May 1901. With Fr. Joseph Koegerl, was instrumental in having Benedictine Fathers transfer site of their seminary activities from Gessen in Tangipahoa Parish to more salubrious location in St. Tammany Parish. Died, New Orleans, June 28, 1925; interred St. Joseph Abbey Cemetery, St. Benedict, La. H.C.B. Sources: Archives, Archdiocese of New Orleans and of St. Ann’s (personal scrapbook); Roger Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (1939).
BOGAN, Robert A., fire chief. Born, Baton Rouge, December 20, 1890. Married Ethel LeBlanc; one son and three daughters. Education: graduate of St. Vincent’s Academy and Draughon’s Business College. A lifelong Baton Rouge resident, Bogan began his firefighting career at age twenty with the Schloss No. 5 Volunteer Company located at the corner of Main and 17th streets. In 1918 he became “a part time paid” chief and one of only four paid Baton Rouge fireman; served as chief of the Baton Rouge fire department for forty years until his death. Under his guidance, the Baton Rouge fire department grew from a small volunteer agency to one employing over 250 men with eleven stations. During World War II, Bogan served as Civil Defense coordinator for firefighting in the state. He joined the Louisiana Fireman’s Association in 1914, serving as its president for nine years, 1927-1936; he was instrumental in the establishment of the organization’s annual fire school, which was held in Baton Rouge each year. Bogan received many honors during his long tenure, including being selected to serve on president Harry Truman’s National Fire Prevention Committee, and being elected president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs; he was a long time member of the East Baton Rouge City/Parish Planning Commission. Died, June 29, 1959; East Baton Rouge City/Parish offices were closed for half a day in his honor; interred, Roselawn Memorial Cemetery, Baton Rouge, La. J.D.W. Sources: Baton Rouge State Times, June 30, 1959; clippings, vertical file, microfilm #13, Lower Mississippi Valley Collection, Louisiana State University Library.
BOGGS, Thomas Hale, attorney, congressman. Born, Long Beach, Miss., February 15, 1914; son of William Robertson Boggs and Claire Josephine Hale Boggs. Education: Tulane University, B. A., 1935, LL. B., 1937. Married, January 22, 1938, Corinne Morrison (Lindy) Claiborne, of Brunswick Plantation, La., daughter of Roland Claiborne and Corinne Morrison. Children: Barbara Rowena (Mrs. P. Sigmund, Jr.), Thomas Hale, Jr., Corinne M. (Mrs. S. V. Roberts). Active in the Democratic party: U. S. Representative, Second District of Louisiana, 1941-1943 and 1947-1972. Served on House Ways and Means Committee and Joint Economic Committee and chairman, Sub-committee on Foreign Economic Policy; assistant majority leader, 1962-1970, majority leader, 1971-1972. Second World War service: entered as ensign, Navy, 1943, released as lieutenant commander, 1946. General practice of civil law, 1943 and 1946. Member: Roman Catholic church; Phi Beta Kappa; Omicron Delta Kappa; Beta Theta Pi; American, Louisiana, and New Orleans bar associations; American Judicature Society; International Association of Ports and Harbors; New Orleans Chamber of Commerce; American Legion; Amvets, Knights of Columbus, general manager of Tulane University Alumni Association, 1939-1940; Family Service Society of New Orleans; Congressional Club. Missing while on a flight in Alaska, October 16, 1972. Declared dead by an Alaskan court. Honored in a memorial Mass, St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, January 4, 1973. Succeeded in Congress in 1973 by his wife Lindy. J.B. Sources: Who’s Who in American Politics, 1971-1972 and 1975-1976; Who’s Who in America; New York Times, October 17, 1972; January 5, 1973; New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 17, 1972; January 5, 1973.
BOIMARE, Antoine Louis, bookseller, merchant, printer, and first bibliographer of Louisiana. Born, Paris, France, October 13, 1796; son of Jean Louis Boimare and Françoise Moret. Arrived in New Orleans ca. 1820; operated book store (also sold other items), reading room, and circulating library, ca. 1823-1842; added printery, 1827-1832; published newspaper, Le Passe Tems, 1827-1829; some imprints produced in partnership with Benjamin Buisson (q.v.), 1828-1830; arranged for printing in France of Bénard de La Harpe’s Journal historique de l’établissement des français à la Louisiane, 1831; experienced financial difficulties which may have led to bankruptcy, 1834; traveled frequently to and from France, 1822-1845. Departed for Paris in 1845 and probably never returned to New Orleans; operated shop in Paris until at least 1868. Married Elizabeth Emilie St. Amand (1800-1867), daughter of Sylvain St. Amand and Elizabeth Emilie Trépagnier, October 31, 1822. Children: Michel Louis (b. 1823), Francisque Marie (1825-1888), Antoine Sylvain (1828-1829), August Antoine (1829-1856), Antoine (d. 1872), Hector (b. 1833), Louis (b. 1834), Emilie (b. 1836), Alexandre (1840-1841), M. B., one other child (name unknown, d. 1833); Francisque, also known as François or Francis, continued to reside in New Orleans after subject’s final departure and operated bookstore. Died, Paris, France, 1875. Subject compiled first bibliography of works about Louisiana, Notes bibliographiques et raisonnées sur les principaux ouvrages publiées sur la Floride et l’ancienne Louisiane (1853). F.M.J. & F.P.B. Sources: Stanley Clisby Arthur, Old Families of Louisiana (1931); Simone de la Souchère Deléry, Napoleon’s Soldiers in America (1972); Edward Larocque Tinker, Boimare: First and Still Foremost Bibliographer of Louisiana (1931); New Orleans city directories; New Orleans Bee, January 20, 1835; January 8, 1888; New Orleans Daily Picayune, December 29, 1868; Louisiana Courier, March 21, 1825; Louisiana Division of Vital Records, birth and death certificates of Francisque Marie (Francis) Boimare; Archdiocese of New Orleans, Archives, marriage certificate of Antoine Louis Boimare and Elizabeth Emilie St. Amand; State Civil Acts of Paris, birth certificate of Antoine Louis Boimare; Serge Boimare to Frank P. Boimare III, letters, 1983-1987.
BOISBRIAND, see DUGUE DE BOISBRIAND, Pierre Sidrac
BOISRENAUD, Marie-Françoise de, early Louisiana educator, a protégé of Mme Françoise Athénais de Montespan. Selected to escort a group of twenty-three girls from an orphanage at Rochefort sent to Louisiana in 1703 on the Pélican to be wives of the colonists at Dauphin Island. The Pélican arrived at its destination in July, 1704, and shortly thereafter the girls all found husbands among the settlers. Mlle de Boisrenaud apparently hoped also to find a husband for herself and she later wrote a letter to Pontchartrain (q.v.) complaining that Major Boisbriant (q.v.), commander of the garrison at Dauphin Island, would certainly have married her if Bienville (q.v.) had not interfered and dissuaded him. Because she would marry no one else, Bienville wanted to have her sent back to France. A memoir of Louis XIV in 1707, however, instructed De Muy, then governor of Louisiana, to permit her to remain if De Muy found her useful as a teacher of the colonists’ children in religion and other matters. Mlle de Boisrenaud remained in Louisiana for nearly twenty-five years giving religious instruction to Indian children and educating the daughters of the colonists. In June, 1728, she wrote to the Council of the Marine stating that she was now weighed down by infirmities and unable to continue her work and praying that the Council provide for her return to France, where she might await death more tranquilly. The records do not show whether her prayer was granted. Date of death is unknown. K.B.J. Sources: Dunbar Rowland and Albert G. Sanders, eds., Mississippi Provincial Archives, French Dominion, III (1932); Richebourg Gaillard McWilliams, trans. and ed., Fleur de Lys and Calumet (1953); Marc de Villiers du Terrage,, Histoire de la Fondation de la Nouvelle Orléans (1917); Régine Marie Ghislaine Hubert-Robert, L’Histoire Merveilleuse de la Louisianne français (1941); Alcée Fortier, A History of Louisiana (1904; reprint ed., 1966).
BOISSEAU, Alfred, painter, art teacher, art dealer, daguerreotypist. Born, Paris, France, February 28, 1823. Studied under Paul Delaroche in France. His appearance in New Orleans is indicated by an ad in January, 1845, for portrait painting. Another ad in the winter of 1845-1846 reveals that he may have been an itinerant painter, working in the South in the winter and in the North during the summer. Exhibited works at the Salon in Paris from 1842 to 1848, and possibly travelled between France and the United States during these years. In 1847 painted Indians Walking Along a Louisiana Bayou. His Marche d’Indiens de la Louisiane, presumably the same work, and La Creole and Le Barbier Nègre shown at the 1848 Salon. In 1849 and 1852 exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the American Art Union, respectively, both in New York City. Between 1852 and 1860 established in Cleveland, Ohio, working as a painter, art dealer, restorer, painting and drawing teacher, daguerreotypist, and photographer. Seems to have worked in Louisiana during this time span, because of two portraits of Donaldsonville residents dated 1849 and 1859. Latest extant works date from 1865. C.S.B. Source: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987).
BOLDEN, Charles “Buddy”, musician, band leader. Born, New Orleans, September 6, 1877; son of Westmore Bolden and Alice Harrison. Legendary figure in the origins of jazz in New Orleans; called “the first man of jazz” by his most meticulous biographer. Got a comparative late start in music, choosing the cornet and receiving first formal if elementary lessons in 1894 at age 17. Playing dances and parties, picnics and outings, Bolden’s fame grew; music provided primary income after 1900. Was regular at Lincoln and Johnson parks, and Odd Fellows and Funky Butt halls. Played the cornet with exceptional power, adding extra touches, flourishes, or embellishments to songs which, if controversial, helped give birth to a new form in music. Popularity was at its peak in 1905. Then the beginning of the end: fits of depression or insanity began in March 1906; the band broke up due to Bolden’s inconsonance. In the spring of 1907, impoverished and incoherent, was remanded to the House of Detention at his mother’s request. Assigned to the Insane Asylum of Louisiana at Jackson in April, he was committed on June 5, 1907. Bolden would spend the remaining twenty-four years of his life there, peaceful if increasingly irrational. Died, November 4, 1931, of “cerebral arterial schlerosis;” interred Holt Cemetery, New Orleans. D.W.M. Sources: Donald M. Marquis, In Search of Buddy Bolden (1978); Samuel B. Charters, Jazz: New Orleans, 1885-1963 … (1963); Jack Buerkle and Danny Barker, Bourbon Street Black … (1973).
BOLEY, Alice Almira, academic. Born, West Monroe, La., July 21, 1890; daughter of Marion Francis Boley and Susan Goldsby. Education: Baton Rouge College; Southern University; Columbia University Teacher’s College, New York; University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Teacher, public schools of Ouachita and Calcasieu parishes; instructor, Southern University, 1916-1942; principal, Southern University Laboratory School, 1942-1958. Active in civic and social groups; member, Association of College Women, Louisiana Teachers Association, Southern University Alumni Association and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Established the Clark Chapter of the National Honor Society at the Southern University Laboratory School; Y-Teens’ “Mother of the Year” Award, even though no children of her own; the Southern University Award for Service, 1957, and in February, 1964, one of four individuals honored by Magnolia Triangle Women’s Group as early pioneers who made significant contributions to the development of Southern University. Member, Trenton Baptist Church, West Monroe, La. Alice Almira Boley Dormitory (A. A. Boley Hall) named for subject. Died, West Monroe, La., July 28, 1968; interred Hasley Cemetery. R.J.S. Sources: The Bulletin, a collection of “Daily Bulletins” by A. A. Boley, collected by Mrs. S. Slaughter; Baton Rouge Morning Advocate; Baton Rouge News Leader; and Mrs. Dorothy W. Newman, Professor of English, Southern University and the niece of A. A. Boley.
BOLFA, Will, Cajun musician (violin), singer, composer. Born, Bayou Grand Louis, Evangeline Parish, La., October 31, 1917. Member of the internationally known Balfa Brothers Band; recorded extensively from 1960s through 1970s; active on international folk festival circuit, including performances at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife and the Library of Congress Folk Concert series (Washington), the National Folk Festival (Wolftrap Farm), the Mariposa Folk Festival (Toronto), the Newport Folk Festival, festivals in France and Canada, many others; subject of films and television documentaries, including The Good Times Are Killing Me (PBS), Spend It All, and Blues des Balfa (Flower Films). Died, Bunkie, La., 1979. B.J.A. Source: Author’s research.
BOLLES, Edwin Cortlandt, clergyman. Born, Hartford, Conn., September 19, 1836. Graduated, Trinity College, Hartford, 1855; later became a Universalist clergyman and noted authority on microscopy. Succeeded Parson Theodore Clapp (q.v.) after the latter’s removal to Louisville, Ky., 1856. For the next two years, led the city’s only Unitarian congregation before removing to Boston. During the 1870s, lectured on microscopy at St. Lawrence University and Tufts College in addition to his religious work. T.F.R. Sources: James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, I (1898); Timothy F. Reilly, “Religious Leaders and Social Criticism in New Orleans, 1800-1861” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Missouri at Columbia, 1972).
BOLLMAN, Justus Erich, physician, adventurer, author. Born, Hoya, Hanover, Germany. Education: University of Göttingen Medical School. Medical career: practicing physician at Carlsruhe and Paris; fled to England, 1792; practicing physician, Vienna, 1792. Led unsuccessful attempt to rescue Marquis de Lafayette (q.v.) from a Vienna prison, 1792; captured and spent one year in jail. Immigrated to U. S., 1796; later served as U. S. consul at Rotterdam; commercial agent at Santo Domingo; U. S. Indian agent at Natchitoches, La.; became an agent of Aaron Burr (q.v.), 1805; arrested as a Burr conspirator, 1806; released by order of John Marshall, 1807; testified as a defense witness, Burr trial, 1807. Practicing physician at New Orleans, 1808-1810?. Published three books, 1811-1816. Removed to England, 1816. Died, Jamaica, December 9, 1821. C.A.B. Sources: Clarence Carter, ed., The Territorial Papers of the United States, IX (1940); Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896, rev. ed. (1967); James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, I (1898).
BOLTON, Elsie Elizabeth McLundie “Peggy,” civic and cultural leader. Born, Chattanooga, Tenn., August 19, 1917; daughter of Elizabeth Griffiths and Archibald Stevenson McLundie. Graduate of Stephens College; attended Louisiana State University. Married Robert H. Bolton, Alexandria, La., April 14, 1939. Children: Robert H. Bolton, Jr., of Princeton, N. J., Mrs. Robert C. Hassinger of New Orleans, and Mrs. James K. Jennings, Jr. of Houston, Tex. Founded Alexandria Museum in 1977, first president, later served as chairman; awarded the first Elizabeth McLundie Bolton Golden Circle Award for excellence in the Arts by Alexandria Museum board of trustees; received a special congressional citation for outstanding service to the nation, state and community, first recipient ever in Louisiana’s Eighth Congressional District. Organizer and first president, Historical Association of Central Louisiana; received Alexandria Junior League’s Award as Outstanding Sustainer; the Harnet Kane Award presented by the New Orleans Chapter of the Landmarks Society for person who has done most for a better understanding of historic Louisiana; Alexandria Civic Oscar Award given by Alexandria Daily Town Talk for outstanding achievement in area of community service and betterment; Historic Preservation Award given by Foundation for Historical Louisiana, Baton Rouge; Individual Preservationist Award from Louisiana Preservation Alliance; president, Louisiana State Museum Board, the first woman and first non-resident of New Orleans ever to hold this position; member, Advisory Council, New Orleans Museum of Art; member, President’s National Council on Historic Preservation, an original founder, board member, and vice president of Louisiana State Museum Foundation; member, state review committee, National Register of Historic Places; board member of Old State Capitol Associates, Baton Rouge; vice chairman, State Arts Council; president and chairman of board, Kent Plantation House; board member, Alexandria Historical and Genealogical Library; board member, Anglo American Art Museum; Baton Rouge; received Alexandria Lions Club Good Citizenship Award, donated two sculptures, “Moses” and “John the Baptist,” by Charles Umlauf to Louisiana College and sculpture “Angels” by Lyn Emory to Emmanuel Baptist Church. Member, Emmanuel Baptist Church. Died, March 22, 1987; interred Greenwood Memorial Park, Pineville, La. Posthumous recognition from Louisiana Association of Museums, Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism, and Historical Association of Louisiana. R.H.B. Source: Author’s research.
BOLTON, George Washington, merchant, banker, politician. Born, DeKalb County, Ga., September 15, 1841; son of Elisha P. and Eliza Burbridge Bolton. Removed with parents, 1857, to Shiloh, Union Parish, La. Education: father’s private school in Shiloh. Civil War service: enlisted, 1861, Company E, 12th Louisiana Infantry; served until end of war, attaining rank of sergeant. After war, taught one year in Shiloh; then engaged in mercantile business in Winnfield, La. Married, 1868, Tennessee Wade (b. 1850 in Arkansas), daughter of business partner, Dr. A. Wade. Children: James Wade (q.v.), George G., Frank P., James Porter, Roscoe, Bertha, Ida, Lottie, Albert, and George W., Jr. Head of mercantile business, Pineville, La., 1869-1900; delegate to state constitutional conventions, 1879 and 1898; state representative, 1888-1894; speaker of the house, 1894; organizer and president, Rapides Bank, 1888-1912; chairman, 1912-1931; first president, 1900, Louisiana Bankers Association; member, Executive Council of American Bankers Association; member, Rapides Parish School Board; delegate, 1904, Democratic National Convention; president of firm that built Murray Street bridge over the Red River; first president of Executive Board of Louisiana Baptist Convention; an organizer of Emmanuel Baptist Church, first Baptist church in Alexandria-Pineville; served as grand high priest of the Grand (Masonic) Chapter of the State of Louisiana. Bolton Avenue, Alexandria, named in his honor. Died, Alexandria, La., 1931; interred Mount Olivet Cemetery, Pineville. R.H.B. Sources: Author’s research; Alcée Fortier, Louisiana, III (1914); Goodspeed, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana (1890).
BOLTON, James Calderwood, banker. Born, Alexandria, La., April 17, 1899; son of James Wade Bolton (q.v.) and Mary Esther Calderwood. Education: local schools; Culver Military Academy; B. S.; Wharton School of Finance and Commerce; University of Pennsylvania, 1920. Served with U. S. Army, World War I. Member, credit department, National Bank of Commerce, New York City, 1921-1922. Married, April 10, 1924, Frances Sample, daughter of Samuel Guy Sample and Sarah Emma McCrory of Shreveport. Children: Mary Eleanor (b. 1927) and Frances McCrory (b. 1928). Associated with Rapides Bank & Trust Company, Alexandria, 1922-1974, assistant cashier, 1922-1925; vice-president, 1925-1936; president, 1936-1955; chairman, board of directors, 1956-1974. Director, Delta Cotton Oil and Fertilizer Co., Jackson Miss.; Louisiana Board of Public Welfare, chairman, 1952-1956, 1960-1964; Alexandria Civil Service Commission, chairman, 1944-1970; Louisiana State University Foundation, president, 1964-1965. Instrumental in founding of Louisiana State University at Alexandria. LSU-A library named for subject. Active in Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, president, 1930-1931; chairman, industrial development division, 1965-1974; Louisiana Bankers Association, president, 1933-1934; American Bankers Association, president, state banking division, 1935. Member: Baptist church; executive board of Louisiana Baptist Convention, 1928-1953; Louisiana Baptist Foundation, president, 1948-1959; Oliver Masonic Lodge No. 84; Kiwanis Club. Died, Alexandria, September 10, 1974; interred Greenwood Memorial Park. A.D.J. Source: Author’s research.
BOLTON, James Wade, banker, civic leader. Born, Winnfield, La., August 4, 1869; son of Tennessee Wade and George Washington Bolton (q.v.). Married (1), 1893, Annie White (d. 1895); married (2) Mary Esther Calderwood, October 21, 1896. Children: James Calderwood (q.v.), Robert Harvey, and Mrs. Charles L. Brown. President, Rapides Bank in Alexandria, 1912-1936; president, Louisiana Bankers Association, 1916-1917; member, executive council of American Bankers Association, 1920-1923; member, board of trustees for Peabody Institute, Nashville, Tenn.; member, original advisory board of New Orleans branch of Reconstruction Finance Corporation; representative from Rapides Parish on Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee; member, board of trustees of Baptist Hospital, Alexandria, and president, 1929-1931; member and treasurer, executive board of Louisiana Baptist Convention; member, Emmanuel Baptist Church and served as president of its board of trustees; chairman, building committee that constructed first brick church; a York Rite Mason and served as master of Oliver Lodge #84 F&AM; member, Shriners and Elks clubs; president, Rapides Parish School Board for eighteen years and a member for thirty years; under his leadership the school system served as model for the state; established student loan fund to educate future parish teachers. Bolton High School named in his honor. Died, February 18, 1936; interred Mount Olivet Cemetery, Pineville, La. R.H.B. Sources: Author’s research; New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, February 19, 1936.
BONAPARTE, Napoleon, soldier, administrator, emperor of the French. Born, Ajaccio, Corsica, August 15, 1769. Son of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino. Education: French military schools. Rose to rank of general in the last days of the French Revolution. Under the Directory, became commander of the Army of the Interior, won victories and conducted peace terms with surrounding countries. With former director, Sieyès, effected a coup d’état in 1799, establishing the Consulate composed of three consuls. As first consul, Bonaparte encouraged Spain to retrocede Louisiana to France by the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso (1800). Planned to revive and expand France’s colonial holdings, but changed his mind when American interest in New Orleans and the state of the French treasury was made apparent to him. Authorized the sale to the United States of not only New Orleans, but also the vast area of land which became the Louisiana Purchase. When the sale was completed April 30, 1803, the U. S. acquired more than 1,000,000 square miles of territory for about $15,000,000. While still first consul, instituted many administrative reforms, including completion of a codification of French civil law. This Code Napoléon organized the French law upon which Louisiana civil law is based. Became emperor on December 2, 1804, and conquered nearly all of Europe. After a series of defeats, was forced into exile twice, the final exile on the island of St. Helena in October, 1815. Married (1) Joséphine Tascher de La Pagerie de Beauharnais, March 9, 1796, divorced 1810; married (2) Marie-Louise of Austria, April 1, 1810. Children: Adopted Josephine’s two children; one child by Marie-Louise, Napoleon François Joseph Charles (b. 1811). Died, St. Helena, May 5, 1821; interred there; exhumed, 1840, reinterred under the dome of the Invalides in Paris. Figures in a few Louisiana legends. P.D.A. Sources: Charles L. Dufour, Ten Flags in the Wind (1967); Harry Hansen, ed., Louisiana: A Guide to the State, rev. ed. (1971); The New Encyclopaedia Britannica Macropaedia (1983).
BOND, James, farmer, politician. Born near Tangipahoa, La., January 31, 1862; son of William Bond and Nancy Simmons. Removed to West Texas in 1880s. Returned to Louisiana and in 1888 bought about 250 acres in St. Helena Parish near Pine Grove. Married Ella Eudora Quinn, November 17, 1892, daughter of Lewis Jackson Quinn and Elizabeth Eudora Finn. Children: Eunice Estelle (1893-1970), Christena Alice (1894-1972); Lewis Dewwit (1896-1960); Thomas Milton (1899-1969); William Byron (1900-1976); Myrtle and Myrtis (b. 1903), twins; Henry (1904-1905); Lilah Ruth (b. 1907); James Hunter (b. 1911); Elizabeth Euldora (b. 1913). Active in politics: member, St. Helena Parish Police Jury, 1916-1920; member, Louisiana house of representatives, 1932-1936. Member, Shiloh Baptist Church, near Pine Grove. Member, Greensburg Masonic Lodge. Died, July 19, 1947; interred Shiloh Baptist Church Cemetery. I.B.T. Sources: Family Bible, police jury records, and information from two of his children: Lilah Ruth Bond Mitchell and James Hunter Bond.
BOND, Nathaniel W., jurist. Born, New Orleans, 1892. Education: local schools; Tulane University Law School, graduated 1913. Married Mary Helen Behrman, daughter of Mayor Martin Behrman (q.v.). Children: two daughters. Secretary to Congressman Garland Dupré (q.v.); member of state legislature, 1914-1918; city attorney for New Orleans; judge of the district court, 1934-1947. Sworn in as associate justice, Louisiana Supreme Court, June 2, 1947. A Roman Catholic. Died, New Orleans, February 18, 1948; interred Metairie Cemetery. G.R.C. Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 19, 1948; June 3, 1947.
BONIN, Elmore F., businessman, politician. Born, St. Martinville, La., February 4, 1904; son of Luke Bonin and Blanche Durand. Education: local schools; Southwestern Louisiana Institute, B. S., 1924. General mercantile business and farming interests. Married, June 4, 1928, Gertrude Steckler, daughter of Joseph Steckler, New Orleans seed and feed merchant, and Pauline Muller. Three children: Elmore, Jr. (b. 1930), Joseph (b. 1936), Margaret (b. 1942). Active in Democratic party; member, St. Martinville City Council, 1930-1942; St. Martin Parish School Board, 1942-1952; president, St. Martin Parish School Board, 1951-1952; Louisiana state senator, 1952-1956, 1960-1961; member, St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church parish. In 1960, introduced legislation changing the name of Southwestern Louisiana Institute to University of Southwestern Louisiana. Bonin Hall on USL campus named for subject. Died, Lafayette, Louisiana, December 6, 1961; interred St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery, St. Martinville. J.S.B. Source: Bonin Family Papers.
BONNET, Marie Marguerite, novelist. Born, New Orleans, February 14, 1865; daughter of Jean François Bonnet. Little information is available on her life. Said to have traveled extensively, she was the author of ten or more books for young people. Removed to Pennsylvania in the 1920s, living at Reading part of the latter years of her life. Her works include: Sweet William (1890); Little Marjorie’s Love Story (1891); Prince Tip-Top (1892); My Lady (1894); A Child of Tuscany (1895); Pierette (1896); A Little House in Pimlico (1898); Tales of an Old Chateau (1900); Bernardo and Laurette (1902); Clotilde, A Story of Old New Orleans (1903). D.H.B. Sources: Lucian Knight, ed., Biographical Dictionary of Southern Authors (1929); Albert G. Alexander, “Louisiana Writers, 1875-1900” (M.A. thesis, George Peabody College, 1931).
BONTEMPS, Arna Wendell, poet, author, critic, a leader of the 1920s “Harlem Renaissance.” Born, Alexandria, La., October 13, 1902; son of Paul Bismark Bontemps, a brick mason, and Marie Carolina (Pembroke) Bontemps, teacher. Education: public schools of Los Angeles; San Fernando Academy, 1917-1920; Pacific Union College, 1923; University of Chicago, M.A. in Library Science, 1943. Married Alberta Johnson, 1926. Children: Joan Marie, Paul Bismark, Poppy Alberta, Camille Ruby, Constance Rebecca, and Arna. Positions: Harlem Academy of New York, 1924-1931; Shiloh Academy in Chicago, 1935; library director, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, 1943-1965; teacher, University of Chicago, 1966-1969; visiting professor, Yale University and curator of the James Weldon Johnson papers, 1969-1972. Fellowships: Julius Rosenwald, 1938 and 1939; Guggenheim Fellow, 1949. Recipient: Alexander Pushkin poetry prize, 1926. Publications: God Sends Sunday (1931); Drum at Dusk (1939); We Have Tomorrow (1945); Story of the Negro (1948); Story of George Washington Carver (1954); 100 Years of Negro Freedom (1961); Black Thunder (1968); Anyplace But Here (1966); ed., American Negro Poetry (1974); comp., Great Slave Narratives (1969); ed., The Harlem Renaissance Remembered (1972); comp., Hold Fast to Dreams (1969); et al., eds., The Poetry of the Negro, 1746-1949 (1949). Plays: When Jack Hollers; St. Louis Woman. Memberships: American Library Association Council, 1953-1955; American Association of University Professors; PEN; Author League of America. Died, Nashville, Tenn., June 3, 1973; funeral at Fisk University Chapel. C.T. Sources: Current Biography (1946); Facts on File, XXXIII, no. 1712 (August 19-25, 1973); New York Times, June 6, 1973; Who’s Who in Library Service (1955).
BONZANO, Maximilian Ferdinand, physician, minter, administrator. Born, Ebingen, Germany, March 22, 1821; son of Nicholas Antonio Bonzano. Education: Ebingen, including some college studies. Arrived in New Orleans, 1835, working first in a printing office as a roller boy and then as printer, which provided opportunity to master the English language. Within a few years became a druggist apprentice and then pharmacist. In 1843, started study of medicine at Charity Hospital, where upon graduation he was appointed a visiting physician. In 1848, President James K. Polk appointed him melter and refiner of the New Orleans mint; later he was appointed assayer, and remained in that position until the Civil War. Morally opposed to slavery. Also opposed secession and refused to serve the Confederacy. After destroying “all the coining dies” at the mint, he fled to New York City and remained there until the capture of New Orleans by Union forces. Returning to New Orleans in June 1862 as superintendent of the mint, Bonzano soon became engaged in efforts to bring Louisiana back into the Union. After restoring the mint facilities, he accepted an additional post as acting lighthouse engineer and inspector, a position he retained until 1872. He was elected from his district as a delegate to the state’s 1864 constitutional convention, where he chaired the committee on emancipation and personally wrote the ordinance which freed Louisiana’s slaves. The state’s first Republican convention elected him as a delegate to that party’s 1864 national convention. Later that year, in September, he was elected to Congress from the First Congressional District of Louisiana, but Congress refused to seat the state’s delegation. Shortly thereafter President Lincoln appointed him commissioner of the direct tax for Louisiana, a position he kept only a few months. After the war he supported congressional reconstruction and the Republican party. He turned down an offer of President Grant in 1869 to become one of the state’s collectors of internal revenue. In 1872, he chaired the state’s Republican electoral college and the following year received an appointment as surveyor-general of the port of New Orleans, giving up that position in 1874 to become superintendent of the mint until the mint was reduced to an assay office in 1875. After the extension of silver coinage in 1878 and the reinstatement of the mint, Bonzano, at his own request, took the position of coiner, and for awhile also served as melter and refiner, retiring in 1883. That same year he was defeated as the token Republican nominee for state treasurer. Bonzano, always a bachelor, lived out the remainder of his life, surrounded by the latest inventions and scholarly works, on a plantation in St. Bernard Parish, the site of the Battle of New Orleans, in a mansion which had served as the headquarters of Gen. Andrew Jackson (q.v.). J.A.B. Sources: Goodspeed, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892); Diary and Correspondence of Salmon P. Chase (1903); Jessie A. Marshall, ed., The Private and Official Correspondence of General Benjamin F. Butler … (1917).
BOOKER, James Carroll III, musician. Born December 17, 1939, New Orleans; son of James Carroll Booker, Jr., a former dancer-turned-Baptist-minister, and Ora Cheatham Booker, an operatically trained gospel singer. He began playing the blues on piano at the age of four; also studied classical piano until he was twelve. At eleven years of age, Booker began playing blues and gospel organ on New Orleans radio station WMRY. His musical career almost ended in 1949, when he was struck by an ambulance. The morphine administered after his accident was the precursor for Booker’s later use of heroin and alcohol. In 1953 he form a band, Booker Boy and the Rhythmaires, and recorded his first single “Doing the Hambone.” His first hit was an organ instrumental “Gonzo,” 1960. Toured with such major recording artists as Joe Tex, B. B. King, and Little Richard. Played on stage and in recording sessions with Wilson Pickett, Lloyd Price, Shirley and Lee, Roy Hamilton, Bobby “Blue” Bland, B. B. King, Ringo Starr, Maria Muldaur, Huey Smith, the Coasters, and the Doobie Brothers. Served a one year-jail sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for heroin possession, 1967. Entered Southern University in 1969, but quickly dropped out to returned to touring. Booker left New Orleans for New York City during the early 1970s and annually toured Europe during the middle part of the decade, playing mostly in West Germany, France and Switzerland. Booker returned to New Orleans by the late 1970s and was a regular performer at music clubs such as Tipitina’s, the Maple Leaf and Snug Harbor; Booker was also a major attraction at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. His syncopated keyboard style, which incorporates elements of the rocking blues, ragtime, boogie-woogie, jazz, and classical music, had a major influence in New Orleans’s Rhythm and Blues music. Booker was famous for his flamboyant stage persona and unconventional performances. He often performed in satin capes, a salt-and-pepper wig, and a rhinestone-studded eye patch. Between songs, he often lectured his audiences about the meaning of life; these lectures were frequently punctuated with rhythmic cadences about drugs, alcohol, incarceration at Angola, and his paranoid fears about the Central Intelligence Agency. Other times, he simply sat silently in a stony haze. Proclaimed himself the “Piano Prince of New Orleans,” “the black Liberace,” and “the Emperor of Ivory.” Died while waiting for service at the New Orleans Charity Hospital, November 8, 1983. R.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 3, 1983, July 24, 1983, November 9, 1983, November 11, 1983; The New York Times, November 10, 1983; Jason Berry, et al., Up from the Cradle of Jazz, 1986.
BOOTH, Andrew Bradford, businessman. Born, Scott County, Ky., May 4, 1844. Family removed to Baton Rouge, 1848. Education: public and private schools; graduated from The Academy (prep school), Baton Rouge, April 1861. Civil War service: private, Company K, Third Louisiana Infantry Regiment, August 1861 to January 1864; sergeant, Company H, 22nd Louisiana Consolidated Infantry Regiment, January 1864 to May 1865. Opened a country store in March 1866 and named the town Hope Villa in 1870; sold this business in 1881. Married (1) Emma L. Brown, 1866; four children. Married (2) Emma E. Burnett, 1886; four children. Member, East Baton Rouge Parish Police Jury. Removed to New Orleans in 1886. Operated a commercial agency business, 1886-1895; in real estate and insurance after 1895. Organized the Public Belt Railroad Association in New Orleans, 1888. Major in the state national guard, 1908-1912. Commissioner of Military Records, 1915-1922; completed compilation and publication of Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands, 3 vols. (1920). Methodist; member, Louisiana Historical Society; Woodmen of the World; Mason; United Confederate Veterans. Died, 1923. A.W.B. Sources: Clement A. Evans, ed., Confederate Military History (1899), Vol. X; John S. Kendall, History of New Orleans (1922).
BORAH, Wayne G., lawyer, jurist. Born, Baldwin, La., April 28, 1891; son of Charles Frank Borah and Fannie Thomas. Married Elizabeth Pipes, April 25, 1936; one son, one daughter. Educated at Philip Exeter Academy, N.H., 1908-1910; Washington and Lee University and University of Virginia, 1910-1913; law degree, Louisiana State University School of Law, 1915. Admitted to Louisiana bar, 1915. Partner in a private law firm, 1915-1923, except for service in the United States Army during World War I, 1917-1918; assistant United States attorney, 1923-1925; United States attorney, 1925-1928; judge, United States District Court for Eastern Louisiana, 1928-1949; judge, United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, 1949-1956. Borah was one of the youngest judges to ever serve on the federal bench. Member: Boston Club, New Orleans Country Club; King of Carnival, 1946. Died, New Orleans, February 6, 1966; interred, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, La. J.D.W. Sources: Who’s Who in the South and Southwest (1950-52); New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 21, 1966; Baton Rouge State Times, February, 7-8, 1966.
BORE, Jean Etienne, planter, politician. Born, Kaskaskia, Illinois country, December 27, 1741; son of Louis Boré and Céleste Thérèse Carrière de Mont Brun. Educated in France, 1745-?. Became a musketeer in the King’s Household Guard. Returned to Louisiana in 1768 but removed again to France in 1770. Commissioned a captain of the Second Company of Cavalry of the Mousquetaires Noirs. Returned to Louisiana in 1776, settled in St. Charles Parish; exchanged this property in 1781 for a plantation above New Orleans which includes present-day Audubon Park. Married, November 5, 1771, in Paris, Jeanne Marguerite Marie Destréhan des Tours. Children: Jeannne Marguerite Marie Isabelle (b. 1773), married Barthélémy François LeBreton; Françoise Elisabeth (b. 1775), married Pierre Foucher; Jeanne Marie (b. 1777); Marie Elizabeth (b. 1783), married Charles Gayarré (q.v.). Cultivated indigo until 1794 by which time repeated failures of the crop had almost bankrupted Louisiana’s agricultural enterprises. Invested his capital in the production of sugarcane, a crop which had been almost abandoned in Louisiana because of the constant danger of frost damage before harvesting. In 1796, using techniques perfected by Antonio Mendez and Antoine Morin, his plantation produced the first large-scale commercial quantities of granulated sugar and opened a new era in Louisiana agriculture. Appointed justice of the peace, 1784-1786; junior judge, 1784, by the cabildo; appointed mayor of New Orleans, 1803-1804; led unsuccessful campaign for immediate statehood, 1804. Appointed to Legislative Council for Territory, 1804 (refused to serve); elected to same position, 1805-1806; speaker pro tem, 1806; appointed to police jury, Orleans Parish, 1807. Served on Committee of Benevolence to aid Cuban refugees, 1809. Member: Roman Catholic church. Died, New Orleans, February 2, 1820; interred St. Louis Cemetery I. C.B.H. Sources: Dictionary of American Biography (1929), Vol. II; René J. LeGardeur, “The Origins of the Sugar Industry in Louisiana,” in The Center for Louisiana Studies, Green Fields: Two Hundred Years of Louisiana Sugar (1980); William Stubbs, Sugar Cane: A Treatise on the History, Botany and Agriculture of Sugar Cane … (1898); Clarence Edwin Carter, comp. and ed., Territorial Papers of the United States, Vol. IX: Territory of Orleans, 1803-1812 (1940); Works Progress Administration, Biographies of the Mayors of New Orleans (1939); Archdiocese of New Orleans Archives, St. Louis Cathedral Baptism Books, Vol. VII, p. 1; Louisiana State Museum, Spanish Judicial Records; New Orleans Public Library, Orleans Parish Civil Court Records, Will Book 3; Orleans Parish, Notarial Acts of Carlos Ximenez, Pierre Pedesclaux; obituary, Courrier de la Louisiane, February 4, 1820.
BORELLA, Marcellus, clergyman. Born, Lombardy, Italy, ca. 1795; came to America with several other priests as volunteers from Europe in 1816. Travelled with Bishop Louis DuBourg (q.v.) on his visitations in the Diocese of Louisiana in 1821. Later appointed assistant pastor to Father Gabriel Isabey at St. Martin de Tours and assumed the pastorate upon Fr. Isabey’s death in July 1823. Was instrumental in converting many of the Negro slaves to Catholicism. After unsuccessful attempts to raise money during his lifetime, he bequeathed his entire estate, $16,000.00, for the construction of the present church which was begun in 1837, but not completed until 1844. Died January 21, 1836. His body was originally interred in the cemetery but, as a tribute to his generosity, it was exhumed and placed under the main altar when the church was constructed. M.B. Sources: American Catholic Quarterly Review, XIV (July, 1899); Roger Baudier, Catholic Church in Louisiana (1939); St. Martin Parish files.
BORME, Jean-Louis-Cesaire, dit Provençal, soldier, planter, Indian trader, interim commandant, Poste St. Jean-Baptiste des Natchitoches. Born, Parish of St. André, Pignans, in the province of Provençe, France, March 10, 1721; son of Joseph Bormé and Anne Ronne (or Roubièrre), the latter from Puget, France. Arrived in the Louisiana colony ca. 1744-1745 as a soldier in the company of César de Blanc (q.v.), stationed at Natchitoches. In 1753 a church warden, elder marguillier, of the parish of St. François, a post he was to fill at least until 1759. Upon transfer of colony to Spanish dominion, appointed captain of the reserve forces. From 1762 to 1785 served for extended periods as interim commandant of the post, not without incurring the jealousy of younger officers. Bormé extensively involved in trade with western Indians. Appointed official trader within the Yatasi Nation in 1771 and served in that capacity for at least three years. Married, at Natchitoches, August 17, 1750, Marie Elisabeth Clémence Denes (b. between 1729 and 1732; d. 1804), daughter of the engineer Jean-Baptiste Denes and Marie Elisabeth Dumont. Children: Emanuelle Clémence (b. 1751), Louis André (b. 1753); and François Xavier (b. 1756). Died, Natchitoches, January 28, 1787. E.S.M. Sources: Registers 1 to 4-B, 5, 15, Parish of St. François des Natchitoches; Vaugine to Miró, March 20, 1782, July 8, 1782, and November 13, 1782, Legajo 195, Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, Archivo General de Indias, Seville; Recapitulation of the French Troops Maintained in Louisiana, Doc. LO 299 (1745), Vaudreuil Papers, Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California; 1787 Census of Natchitoches, Legajo 201, PPC-AGI, in Elizabeth Shown Mills, comp., Natchitoches Colonials: Censuses, Military Rolls and Tax Lists, 1722-1803 (1981); Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches, 1729-1803, Abstracts of the Catholic Church Registers of the French and Spanish Post of St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches in Louisiana (1977); Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches, 1800-1826; Translated Abstracts of Register Number Five of the Catholic Church Parish of St. François des Natchitoches in Louisiana (1980); Libro Primero de Confirmaciones de Esta Parroquia de Sn. Luis de la Nueva Orleans: Contener Folios y de Principio al Folio 1, Consigne Hasta g Dios No Senor … Ea Servido Confirmacions (1967); Herbert Eugene Bolton, trans. and ed., Athanase de Mézières and the Louisiana-Texas Frontier, 1768-1780 (1914).
BOSQUE Y FANGUI, Cayetana Susana, third wife of W. C. C. Claiborne (q.v.). Born, New Orleans, August 7, 1796; daughter of Felicidad Fangui of New Orleans and Bartolomé Bosque (1759-1810), native of Palma, Majorca. He was a wealthy merchant and ship owner who built the house at 617-621 Chartres Street, New Orleans, today known as the Bosque House. Married (1) W. C. C. Claiborne (q.v.), the 37-year-old governor of Louisiana, November 8, 1812. Children: Sophronia Louisa (b. 1812) and Charles Claiborne (b. 1814). Lived in Paris with the children after Claiborne’s death in 1817; returned to New Orleans in the early 1820s. Married (2) John Randolph Grymes (q.v.), December 1, 1822. Children: Marie Angeline (called Medora), John Randolph, Jr. (b. 1826), and Athenais. Separated from Grymes, 1835, and removed to New York; built a villa on Staten Island from which she launched her daughters on the marriage market. Sophronia married Jean Bernard Xavier Marigny de Mandeville (q.v.), April 12, 1835, St. Mary’s Church, New Orleans; Medora married Sam Ward, wealthy New York banker, 1843; Athenais married German banker, Baron von Hoffman, 1855. After that wedding, Susana sold her Staten Island estate and sailed to Europe with Medora, Sophronia, and their children. Lived in Paris where she was described at age seventy as beautiful, clever, distinguished, elegant, hot tempered, and a fascinating raconteur. Died in Paris. Her obituary in the New Orleans Democrat, August 7, 1881, reported, “She was the famous beauty and belle of the Territory of Louisiana. . . .” J.B.C. Source: Jane Lucas DeGrummond, “Cayetana Susana Bosque y Fangui, ‘A Notable Woman,'” Louisiana History, XXIII (1982).
BOSSIER, Pierre Evariste Jean-Baptiste, soldier, planter, politician. Born, Natchitoches, La., March 22, 1797; son of François Paul Bossier and Catherine Pélagie Lambre. Became a cotton and sugar planter on his plantation, Live Oaks, on the Cane River in Natchitoches Parish; was a general in the state militia; entered politics as a Democrat and was a state senator from 1833 to 1843. Elected to the U. S. House of Representatives and served from March 4, 1843 to April 24, 1844. Member; Roman Catholic church. Bossier Parish named in his honor. Died, Washington, D. C., April 24, 1844; interred Catholic cemetery, Natchitoches. A.S.T. Sources: David Colvin, “Bossier’s Forgotten Man,” Shreveport Times, October 24, 1965; J. Fair Hardin, Northwestern Louisiana: A History of the Watershed of the Red River, 1714-1937 (1939); J. Fair Hardin and Phanor Breazeale, eds., “A Young Lawyer of Natchitoches of 1836: The Diary of William S. Toumey,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XVII (1934); John Ardis Manry Papers, LSU-S Archives; Clifford P. Reynolds, comp., Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1961; Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches, 1729-1803 (1977).
BOSSU, Jean-Bernard, marine, author. Born, Baigneux-les-Juifs, France, September 29, 1720; son of Claudine Thibault and Jean Bossu, a surgeon. Finished school at age sixteen and entered army, joining the Regiment of Poitou; a lieutenant in the Regiment of the Dauphine during the Italian wars; wounded in 1744; transferred from the land forces to the marines in 1748; commissioned as a lieutenant and trained troops for overseas duty. On December 26, 1750, sailed for Louisiana; assigned to Fort de Chartres in the Illinois country, served for six years; adopted by the Arkanças (Quapaw) Indians. Returned to France in 1757 for health reasons. Back in Louisiana in May 1758, ordered to go to Mobile to take supplies to Fort Toulouse; became friendly with the Alibamu Indians. Recalled to France in 1762 because of involvement in Kerlérec (q.v.)-Rochemore (q.v.) controversy; charged with libel by Kerlérec and jailed in the Bastille from April 1 to May 24, 1768; exonerated and granted a captain’s pension, a gratuity, and the Cross of St. Louis. In 1768 a compilation of his letters was published under the title of New Travels to the Western Indies. Made a third trip to Louisiana, 1770-1771. Second book, New Travels in North America, published in 1777; his observations contribute to a better understanding of American Indians and our understanding of colonial Louisiana. Spent his last years in Aisey-le-duc, France, seeking support for a home for disabled marines. Died, Montbard, France, May 4, 1792; interred Montbard. J.B.C. Sources: Jean-Bernard Bossu, New Travels in North America, trans., ed. and annot. by Samuel Dorris Dickinson (1982); Marc de Villiers du Terrage, The Last Years of French Louisiana, trans. by Hosea Phillips, ed. by Carl A. Brasseaux and Glenn R. Conrad (1982).
BOSWELL, Connee, singer. Born, New Orleans, December 3, 1907. Connee, together with her sisters Martha and Vet (Helvetia), formed a popular trio called the Boswell Sisters, 1929. They had previously played in the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra, but the recording successes of their trio took them on a tour of Europe in 1933 and again in 1935. Married Harry Leedy, 1936(?). Connee, though confined to a wheelchair by polio, went on to become a star in several Hollywood musicals and through many duets recorded with Bing Crosby on the Decca label. Her sisters retired from show business in 1936. Connee appeared on radio and television with entertainers such as Perry Como, Steve Allen, Arthur Godfrey, and Frank Sinatra. Died, New York City, October 10, 1976; interred Ferncliff Cemetery, Ardsley, N. Y. P.D.A. Sources: Al Rose, Born in New Orleans (1983); obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 11, 1976.
BOSWORTH, Abel Ware, merchant, planter. Born, Skawhegan, Me., July 21, 1816. Removed to Mobile, Ala., as a young man and operated an ice business. Married Rachel Matilda Weir, 1845; five children. Removed to New Orleans, 1845. Established an ice business in the Crescent City. Elected major, Crescent Infantry Regiment, March 5, 1862, and fought in Battle of Shiloh; promoted to rank of colonel of his regiment, October 27, 1862. Left out as commander at reorganization of his regiment in November 1863. Appointed colonel, Consolidated Crescent Regiment, April 1864, and commanded the unit until the end of the war. President, Crescent City Ice Co., 1865. Vice president, Mutual National Bank. Unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New Orleans, 1882, on the Independent and People’s parties’ tickets. Became a planter on Bayou Teche, near Jeanerette. Died on his plantation, October 11, 1885. A.W.B. Sources: Obituary, New Orleans Times-Democrat, October 12, 1885; obituary, New Orleans Daily Picayune, October 12, 1885; Joy Jackson, New Orleans in the Gilded Age … (1969).
BOUANCHAUD, Hewitt Leonidas, attorney, politician. Born, Poydras Plantation, Pointe Coupée Parish, La., August 19, 1877; son of Joseph Alcide Bouanchaud (q.v.) and Eugénia Hébert Bouanchaud. Education: Poydras Academy; Louisiana State University; and Tulane University, LL.B., 1902. Practiced law in New Roads. Married (1) Emma Campbell Kearney 1905; three children. Married (2) Eustatia Morrison, one child. Elected to state house of representatives, 1908; re-elected 1912, 1916, and 1920; became speaker of the house in the latter year. Elected lieutenant governor, 1920; president, constitutional convention of 1921. UnsucÂcessful candidate for governor against Henry L. Fuqua (q.v.) in 1924. Elected district attorney, Eighteenth Judicial District, 1929, and served until 1936. Retired to resume law practice, farming, and cattle raising. Died, New Roads, October 17, 1950. A.W.B. Sources: Alcée Fortier, ed., Louisiana … (1914), Vol. III; Judy Riffel, ed., A History of Pointe Coupée Parish and Its Families (1983); Dave H. Brown, A History of Who’s Who in Louisiana Politics in 1916 (1916).
BOUANCHAUD, Joseph Alcide, attorney, planter, politician. Born, Pointe Coupée Parish, La., August 16, 1838; son of Pierre Bouanchaud and Charlotte Saizan Bouanchaud. Education: local tutors; attended college at Elizabethtown, Ky. Married (1) Amelia Hébert in 1860; four children. Married (2) Eugénia Hélène Hebert in 1871; eight children, one of whom was Hewitt Leonidas (q.v.). Deputy clerk of court, Pointe Coupée Parish, until 1861. Civil War service; enlisted June 20, 1861, as first lieutenant, Company A, Pointe Coupée Artillery Battalion; promoted to rank of captain of company, June 21, 1862; served until the end of the war. After the war became a planter in his native parish. Clerk of court, 1866-1868; parish judge, 1868-1879. Practiced law until his death. Died, New Roads, August 7, 1886. A.W.B. Sources: Alcée Fortier, ed., Louisiana (1914), Vol. III; Judy Riffell, ed., A History of Pointe Coupée Parish and Its Families (1983); Pointe Coupée Banner, August 14, 1886.
BOUANCHAUD, Lamartine, businessman, sheriff. Born, New Roads, Pointe Coupée Parish, La., June 24, 1872; son of Judge Alcide Bouanchaud and Eugenia Hébert, brother of Lieut. Gov. Hewitt Bouanchaud. Married (1) Olivia Samson and (2) Blanche Roy, 1902; two sons and four daughters. Attended local private school, but was largely self-educated. A founder of the Bank of New Roads in 1899, he personally opened the doors and greeted the first customers; served as the bank’s cashier from its opening until 1912; later executive vice president until 1939 when he became president of the bank. Elected mayor of New Roads, served 1902-1912; ran unsuccessfully for parish sheriff, 1908; elected sheriff, 1912; subsequently elected to ten consecutive terms before his death in office, November 15, 1951. At his death he was believed to be the oldest sheriff in the country, both in age and years of consecutive service (thirty-nine). Interred in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, New Roads, La. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, November 16, 1951; Baton Rouge State Times, November 16, 1951.
BOUDOUSQUIE, Antoine, printer. Born, France, eighteenth century. Married Perrine Trépagnier of New Orleans (marriage contract dated May 6, 1769). In New Orleans by 1764; served as royal printer and printer of the cabildo, 1777-1781, may have operated press in 1764 or earlier, although no Boudousquié imprints of that date are known, working with or antedating Denis Braud (q.v.); latest known item bearing subject’s imprint, 1782. F.M.J. Sources: Samuel Joseph Marino, “The French-Refugee Newspapers and Periodicals in the United States, 1789-1825”; Douglas C. McMurtrie, Early Printing in New Orleans, 1764-1810 (1929); Douglas C. McMurtrie, Louisiana Imprints, 1768-1810 (1942).
BOUDOUSQUIE, Charles, impresario. Born, New Orleans, February 29, 1814 [sic]; son of Norbert Boudousquié and Marie Thérèse Héloïse de Chouriac. Succeeded Pierre Davis as director of the Théâtre d’Orléans (ca. 1853). Instrumental in construction of the new French Opera House, which opened December 1, 1859, and which he managed until the outbreak of the Civil War. Appointed notary public, September 26, 1865. Married, May 29, 1858, soprano Julie Calvé (q.v.). Children (adopted): Marie (Leduc) and Charles Paul (Leduc) Boudousquié. Died, New Orleans, August 23, 1866; interred St. Louis Cemetery II. J.B.** Sources: Tagliche Deutsche Zeitung, November 2, 1853; New Orleans Daily Picayune, April 17, 1859; New Orleans Times, August 25, 1866; Daily Picayune, August 26, 1866; Daily Southern Star, September 28, 1865; St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, La., Baptismal Book 7 (1811-1815); Annunciation Church, New Orleans, La., Marriage Register I; St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, La., Cemetery Records (April 1860-June 1871).
BOULIGNY, Dominique (full name: Charles Joseph Dominique Bouligny), soldier, politician, U. S. senator. Born, New Orleans, October 4, 1773; son of Francisco Bouligny (q.v.) and Marie Louise Le Sénéchal d’Auberville. Appointed cadet in the Louisiana Infantry Regiment, of which his father was then lieutenant colonel, March 1786. Promoted to sub-lieutenant, October 1787; lieutenant, December 1795. Commanded a galley (gunboat) in the Mississippi Squadron; second in command and interim commandant during construction of Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas (present-day Memphis), 1795; in naval action against British warship at mouth of Mississippi, 1799. Became member of cabildo as regidor perpétuo, December 1800. After obtaining official permission in late 1802, married Anne Arthémise LeBlanc (1785-1848), daughter of Valérien Valentin LeBlanc and Marie Anne Bernoudy. Children: Francisco (b. 1803); Ursin (b. 1807); Sophie (b. 1807); Léontine (b. 1808); Modeste (b. 1810); Alfred (b. 1812); Gustave (b. 1814); Dominique Paul (b. 1815); Arthémise (b. 1817); Anne Odile (b. 1820); Adèle (b. 1823); Henry (b. ca. 1825); Charles Edouard (b. ca. 1827). Elected to the first territorial house of representatives, 1804; reelected, 1807; nominated for appointment to the legislative council, November 1805 and April 1806. Commissioned major in the territorial militia, October 15, 1805. Member, Committee for the Defense of New Orleans, 1814-1815; justice of the peace and ex-officio member of the Orleans Parish Police Jury. Elected United States senator, succeeding Henry Johnson (q.v.), served, 1824-1829. As senator, pursued to a satisfactory settlement claims by Louisiana citizens for losses in the War of 1812. A Whig and supporter of Henry Clay, was the first Louisianian in Congress to champion a protective tariff when he voted for the Woolens Bill, 1827, and again stood alone when he cast his vote for the Tariff Act of 1828, known to its opponents as the “Tariff of Abominations.” Continued as a Whig leader until his death in New Orleans, March 6, 1833; interred St. Louis Cemetery I. F.M. Sources: St. Louis Cathedral Vital Records; Archivo General de Indias, Papeles procedentes de Cuba, legajo 32; Jack D. L. Holmes, Honor and Fidelity … (1965); Jack D. L. Holmes, Gayoso … (1965); François Xavier Martin, The History of Louisiana … (reprint ed., 1963); Dunbar Rowland, ed., Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne (1917); Joseph G. Tregle, Jr., “Louisiana and the Tariff, 1816-1846,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXV (1942); Louisiana Gazette, September 20, 1805; September 25, 1807, September 20, 1814; obituaries, New Orleans Bee, March 6, 1833; Courrier de la Louisiane, March 9, 1833; New Orleans Genesis, I (1962).
BOULIGNY, Edgar, aviator, photographer. Born, New Orleans, January 3, 1880; son of Edgar John Bouligny (a grandson of Dominique Bouligny [q.v.]) and Lucie Marie Deléry. His adventurous career began when he was shanghaied at the age of 17 and taken to China. Later served in the U. S. Army, 1906-1912; with outbreak of World War enlisted in the French Foreign Legion (August 1914); in France and Belgium, wounded four times, probably the first American wounded during the war; transferred to the Lafayette Escadrille as an aviator, May 1917, and served in Serbia, Albania and Macedonia; transferred to the U. S. Army Flying Corps (October 1917), in which he served as a lieutenant until the Armistice. After a brief visit to New Orleans, returned to France in January 1919 to revisit and photograph the battlefields, photography being his hobby. Married in Paris in 1919 Odile Hubeau, a professional photographer born in Fresnes, a village north of Paris. No children. In partnership with wife, worked as a commercial photographer, first in Paris then in the United States. In 1931 removed to New Orleans. Died, New Orleans, May 18, 1931. F.M. Sources: St. Louis Cathedral Vital Records; New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 7, 1918; January 18, 1920; May 19, 20, 1931; obituary, May 19, 1931.
BOULIGNY, Francisco (full name: Francisco Domingo Joseph Bouligny), soldier, administrator. Born, Alicante, Spain, September 4, 1736; son of Juan Bouligny, a Spanish resident born in Marseilles, France, and MarÃa Paret. Secondary education at College of Orihuela. Appointed cadet in infantry regiment of Zamora, February 1758; stationed in Havana from 1763 to summer 1769, when he joined O’Reilly’s expedition to Louisiana. While the ships waited at the mouth of the Mississippi, went in a small boat to New Orleans to notify Aubry (q.v.), the former acting French governor, of O’Reilly’s arrival and to investigate and report on the city’s reaction (July 1769); served as interpreter at the subsequent trial of the insurrection leaders. Promoted to brevet captain and appointed adjutant of the newly formed Louisiana Battalion, November 1769. Married, New Orleans, December 27, 1770, Marie Louise Le Sénéchal d’Auberville (1750-1834), daughter of Vincent Guillaume Le Sénéchal d’Auberville (q.v.). Children: Marie Louise Joséphine (b. 1771); Dominique (q.v.); Rémy (1774-1776); Louis (q.v.); Céleste (1784-1787). Promoted to rank of full captain, October 1772. Accused of keeping unsatisfactory battalion records and suspended, December 1773; reinstated, April 1774. Visited Spain 1775-1776; in August 1776 submitted to Spanish government a lengthy Memoria describing the natural resources, population, and exposed position of the colony of Louisiana, and making recommendations for remedial action. This led to his appointment as lieutenant-governor of Louisiana in charge of new settlements, commerce, and Indian relations, November 1776, a position he held until 1780. Promoted to rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel, August 1777. In April 1779, under his authority over new settlements, founded New Iberia with settlers from Málaga, Spain. Bouligny Plaza in New Iberia commemorates this event. In August 1779 left New Iberia with 40 men to join the military force that Governor Gálvez (q.v.) had assembled at Plaquemine; participated in the capture of Fort Bute de Manchac and Baton Rouge, September 1779. Participated in siege of Mobile after visiting the fort under a flag of truce in an effort to persuade the British commander to surrender, 1780. At siege of Pensacola, 1781, led the assault on the outpost that had been breached, tearing down the enemy flag with his own hands, 1781. In 1783, as acting military governor in the absence of Miró (q.v.), directed the operations leading to the capture of the St. Malo (q.v.) band of runaway slaves. Appointed full lieutenant-colonel, July 1785. In command at Natchez to protect against a threatened attack from Georgia, 1785-1786. Appointed brevet colonel, August 1789. Promoted to rank of full colonel in command of the Louisiana Infantry Regiment, succeeding Pedro Piernas (q.v.), September 1791. Became acting governor for military affairs on death of Governor Gayoso (q.v.), served July-September, 1799. Promoted to rank of brigadier, September 1800. Died, New Orleans, November 25, 1800; interred St. Louis Cathedral. F.M. Sources: Bouligny-Baldwin and Dauberville-Bouligny Papers, The Historic New Orleans Collection; Kuntz Collection, Tulane; Gilbert C. Din, Louisiana in 1776: A Memoria of Francisco Bouligny (1977); Jack D. L. Holmes, “Dramatis Personae,” Louisiana Studies, VI (1967); Maurine Bergerie, They Tasted Bayou Water: A Brief History of Iberia Parish (1962); Alcée Fortier, A History of Louisiana, Vol. II (1904).
BOULIGNY, John Edward, congressman. Born, probably Plaquemines Parish, La., February 5, 1824; son of Louis Bouligny (q.v.) and Elizabeth Virginie d’Hauterive. Grew up in Jefferson Parish, and probably attended the local public schools. Attained prominence after the death of his older brother François Bouligny (1819-1857), who was mayor of Lafayette, Jefferson Parish, when it became the Fourth Municipal District of New Orleans in 1852 and elected recorder of the Fourth District in 1856. In 1859 elected to Congress from the First Congressional District as the only successful Louisiana candidate of the American (Know-Nothing) Party, which was firmly opposed to secession. On February 5, 1861, when news that Louisiana had seceded reached Washington, he made a speech on the floor of the House declaring his steadfast loyalty to the Union and his intention to serve out his term; was the only Southern congressman who remained in Washington after his state seceded. Married Mary E. Parker in Washington in 1861. No children. In late 1862 returned to New Orleans (then under Union occupation) to run for reelection, armed with a letter of recommendation from President Lincoln to Gen. Benjamin Butler (q.v.); failed to gain Butler’s support and was defeated. Returned to Washington. Died, Washington, D. C., February 21, 1864; interred Congressional Cemetery. F.M. Sources: Bouligny-Baldwin Papers, The Historic New Orleans Collection; St. Louis Cathedral Vital Records; L. C. Soulé, The Know Nothing Party in New Orleans (1962); Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln; Congressional Globe, February 7, 1861); New Orleans Daily Picayune, December 4, 1862; New Orleans Daily Delta, December 4, 1862; obituaries, New York Times and Washington Evening Star, February 22, 1864.
BOULIGNY, Louis (full baptismal name: Luis Mauricio Bouligny), soldier, planter, politician. Born, New Orleans, September 22, 1781; son of Francisco Bouligny (q.v.) and Marie Louise Le Sénéchal d’Auberville, and younger brother of Dominique Bouligny (q.v.). Entered the Louisiana Infantry Regiment as a cadet, September 1793; promoted to sublieutenant, April 1800; on patrol duty as a volunteer on the frigate La Luisiana, May and June 1797; as commanding officer at La Balize greeted Pierre Clement Laussat (q.v.), the French prefect, on latter’s arrival in Louisiana, March 1803. Resigned from the Regiment, March 1804. Appointed lieutenant in territorial militia, January 22, 1806. Elected New Orleans alderman, 1808. From 1811 to 1829, with his brother Ursin Bouligny, operated a plantation in Plaquemines Parish. Served in the Battle of New Orleans as member of Third Regiment, First Division, Louisiana Militia. Married in New Orleans, November 22, 1815, Elizabeth Virginie d’Hauterive (1800-1849), daughter of Louis Decomines d’Hauterive and Victoria Félicité Mayronne. Children: Marie Louise (1816); Elizabeth (1818); François (1819); Félix (1822); John Edward (q.v.); Fanélie (1827); Charles (1828); Octavie (1829); Joséphine (1831); Ernestine (1834); Louis Maurice Ernest (1836); Victor (1838); Amanda (1840); Félicie (1841). In 1829 bought from Gen. Wade Hampton (q.v.) a plantation in Jefferson Parish upriver from New Orleans. In 1831 sold half the plantation to Samuel Kohn and Laurent Millaudon and with them subdivided the land in 1833 as the Faubourg Bouligny (now the area of New Orleans between General Taylor and Upperline streets, bisected by Napoleon Avenue); sold remaining half interest in 1834. As Jefferson Parish state representative, in 1833 introduced and obtained passage of the bill incorporating the city of Lafayette (which became the Fourth Municipal District of New Orleans in 1852, now the Garden District) and supported the bill chartering the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad. Each of these measures hastened the development of that part of Jefferson Parish which eventually became uptown New Orleans. As early as 1832 was a member of the Jefferson Parish School Board; and as a state representative in 1842 introduced the bill providing for state support for the first Jefferson Parish school building. In addition to service in the state legislature, was a justice of the peace, and from 1840 to 1849 was recorder of mortgages for Jefferson Parish. Having become a resident of New Orleans when Lafayette, where he lived, became part of that city, he was several times elected to the Board of City Assessors. Died, New Orleans, January 10, 1862; interred St. Louis Cemetery I. F.M. Sources: St. Louis Cathedral and St. Mary’s Church vital records; conveyance and mortgage records, Plaquemines and Jefferson Parishes and New Orleans Notarial Archives; Dauberville-Bouligny Papers, Historic New Orleans Collection; Kuntz Collection, Tulane; Pierre Clement Laussat, Memoirs of My Life … (1978); Powell A. Casey, Louisiana in the War of 1812 (1963); Kathryn Claire Briede, “A History of the City of Lafayette” (M.A. thesis, Tulane University); New Orleans city directories; Louisiana Gazette, March 15, 1808; death notice, New Orleans Bee, January 11, 1862.
BOURG, Aubin, merchant, politician. Born, Assumption Parish, La., March 8, 1832. Educated, local schools. Removed to Terrebonne Parish, 1852. Married Elise Duroy, September, 1854. Children: Laura, Minnie, J. Charles, F. Xavier, Joseph, Nellie, Henry M., J. Conrad, Marie Ina Louise. Political career: deputy clerk, Terrebonne Parish, 1852-1855; sheriff, Terrebonne Parish, 1855-1861; clerk of district court, 1874-1876; parish treasurer, 1888-1892. Business career: merchant, Houma, La., 1861-1874; realtor, 1876-1892. Died, February 28, 1898; interred Houma. C.A.B. Sources: Donald J. Hebert, comp., South Louisiana Records, X (1982); Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892).
BOURGEOIS, Adam Livian, politician. Born, St. James Parish, La., March 25, 1831; son of Adam Livian Bourgeois, Sr. Married (1) Azadma Cheuet, native of St. James Parish, February 7, 1853. Four sons, six daughters. Married (2) A. Schexnaydre. Two daughters, three sons born of this marriage. Active Whig party, 1850s, Democratic party after the Civil War. Political career: parish treasurer, 1872-1874; president, St. James Parish Police Jury, 1874-1879; sheriff, St. James Parish, 1879-1896; voting delegate to the 1879 constitutional convention. Died ca. 1896. C.A.B. Sources: Henry Clay Warmoth, War, Politics and Reconstruction: Stormy Days in Louisiana (1930); Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892); Lillian C. Bourgeois, Cabanocey: The History, Customs and Folklore of St. James Parish (1957).
BOURGEOIS, Lillian C., educator, author, painter. Daughter of Adolf and Lelia Bourgeois of Rapidan Plantation, St. James Parish, La. Education: Tulane University. Principal of St. Rose School. Author of Cabanocey, (1957) a study of the history and culture of St. James Parish. Roman Catholic. Died, 1956; interred St. Michael’s Catholic Church Cemetery, Convent, Louisiana. M.D. Source: Author’s research.
BOUSTANY, Frem Sr., businessman and civic leader. Born in Dier el Kamar, Lebanon, January 12, 1903; son of Mr. and Mrs. Michel Boustany. Migrated to Lafayette, La., with other family members, 1920. Married Beatrice Joseph; three children. Worked in grocery and merchandise stores eventually establishing business with brothers Alfred and Francis. In 1947 Boustany bought an interest in Huval Baking Company; served as executive vice president and general manager until he became sole owner in 1962. In 1965 he bought the Bunny Bread Company plant in New Orleans; in 1976 Huval Baking Company merged with Flowers Industries, Inc. President, Tri-State Baking Association. Member, board of directors, Southern Bakers Association, American Bakers Association, and American Bakers Cooperative. Civic service started with relief help after 1927 flood. During World War II served on Lafayette Parish’s registration committee of Selective Service Board. Eventually he was on Louisiana Council of Naval Affairs. Boustany was an officer for the local chapter of the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, American Red Cross, and March of Dimes. He helped organize the Lafayette Young Man’s Business Club; charter member, Lafayette Kiwanis Club; president, Lafayette Community Chest, 1954. Member, board of directors, Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council, and American Bank and Trust Company, Lafayette. For over twenty years he chaired the Lafayette Municipal Auditorium Committee. He served on Lafayette Charter Commission, 1972. His charitable contributions included preservation of historical records at St. John’s Cathedral; financing University of Southwestern Louisiana’s Camellia Pageant in 1962; donating land for Women’s and Children’s Hospital; and endowing professorship in Home Economics at U.S.L. Awards include: Lafayette Civic Cup, 1962; King Gabriel XX (Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras Association), 1959; and dubbed Knight of Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre by Pope John Paul II, 1983. He was a fourth degree Knight of Columbus. Boustany was also interested in sports; he owned the Lafayette White Sox minor league baseball team (1930s) and served as President of the Evangeline League. A founder and board chairman, Evangeline Downs Race Track. Died November 28 1993. I.B.T. Sources: Vertical File, Louisiana Room, Dupré Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana; obituary, Lafayette Daily Advertiser, November 30, 1993.
BOWER, St. Clair Hayden, clergyman. Born Troy, Ala., March 16, 1907; son of Martin Vanclieve Bower and Mallie Hayden Bower. Married Annie Lou Whiten, May 25, 1932; one son: Calvin Martin Bower. Graduated from Troy High School, 1925; Newton Junior College, Newton, Ala., 1927. B. A., Howard College, Birmingham, Ala., 1929; Master of Religious Education, Baptist Bible Institute, New Orleans, 1932. Major, United States Army Air Corps Chaplains Corps, World War II. Served in India and Burma. Pastor, First Baptist Church, Krotz Springs, La., 1929-1933; First Baptist Church, Maringouin, La., 1930-1934; Calvary Baptist Church, New Orleans, 1934-1937; First Baptist Church, Welsh, La., 1937-1942; Port Sulphur Baptist Church, Port Sulphur, La., 1946-1949; and Northside Baptist Church, Lafayette, La., 1949-1963. Field secretary, Louisiana Baptist Convention, 1963-1973. Assistant to pastor, First Baptist Church, Lafayette, La., 1973-1983. Died, August 18, 1996, Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, Lafayette; interred Lafayette Memorial Park Peace Mausoleum. A.Y.B. Sources: Lafayette Daily Advertiser, November 28, 1970, August 29, 1996; Letter from Mrs. St. Clair H. Bower, August 16, 1997.
BOWERS, Charles Houma Dixon, physician, civic leader. Born, Houma, La., June 6, 1892; son of Rev. Frank B. Bowers and Margaret Jackson Bowers; one of nine children. Education: New Orleans University (now Dillard University), B.A., 1915; M. A., 1923; Meharry Medical School, M. D., 1919. Married Cassie Collins, 1920. Children: Mrs. Dee Ione Bowers Willoughby of Boston, Mass., Dr. Charles H. D. Bowers, Jr., of New Orleans. Positions: staff of Flint-Goodridge Hospital, 1919; chief of medical staff at Flint-Goodridge Hospital, 1938-1969; director of state and city venereal disease program; university staff physician, Dillard University, 1935-1969; admitting officer and director of Out-Patient-Clinics, Flint-Goodridge Hospital; president, Original Illinois Club, 1956-1958; volunteer service to the Louisiana Interscholastic Athletics Association, 1939-1969. Awards and memberships: Rosenwald Fellow at the Third Medical Division of New York University Bellevue Hospital; Meharry Medical College President’s Award for 50 years’ service; Sunbeam Bakery Award; Louisiana Coca-Cola Company’s Community Service Award for service to local young people; Distinguished Alumni Award, Dillard University, 1964; Blue Devil Sports Award, Dillard University; Churchman Award from First United Methodist Church; Omega Psi Phi Award, 1958, 1967; Orleans Parish Medical Society Award; Rosenwald Dubloon Award for Outstanding Historical Doctors; secretary, board of trustees of New Orleans University; first president, Dillard University Alumni Association, 1936; New Orleans University Alumni Association, 1935; New Orleans University Alumni Association, 1919-1930, secretary; New Orleans Medical Association; Louisiana State Medical Association; the Eagle Life Insurance Co., officer, 1930; Bunch Social Club, Alpha Alpha Boule Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity; Chi Delta Mu; Omega Psi fraternity; Original Illinois Club. Religion: Methodist. Member of First Street United Methodist Church of New Orleans, 1919-1969. Died, July 29, 1969. C.T. Sources: New Orleans University, Seventy Years of Service, New Orleans University (1935); “Dr. Bowers Gets Alumni Award,” Dillard Bulletin, XXX (December, 1964); Funeral Program Obituary, July 31, 1969; Dr. and Mrs. Charles H. D. Bowers, Jr., of New Orleans, La.
BOWIE, James “Jim,” frontiersman, folk hero. Born, Elliot Springs, Tenn., 1795 (according to some accounts, Burke County, Ga., 1796); fourth son of Rezin and Elve Ap-Catesby (Jones) Bowie. Family removed to Louisiana, 1802, living in Concordia and Catahoula parishes. Farmed and logged, Bayou Boeuf area, Rapides Parish. Removed to Opelousas, 1815. In 1819 formed partnership with brother, Rezin P. Bowie (q.v.), to speculate in lands and slaves, sometimes with assistance of Jean Laffite (q.v.). Established plantation near Thibodaux on Bayou Lafourche about 1824. Introduced state’s first steam mill for grinding sugar cane. Wounded in Sand Bar Duel near Natchez, Miss., September 18, 1827. According to legend, while recovering had weapon known as Bowie Knife designed with which he fought nineteen duels. Removed to Texas, 1828, and became large landholder. Married, April 22, 1831, Ursula MarÃa de Veramendi, daughter of Juan MartÃn Veramendi, vice-governor, Coahuila and Texas. Formed partnership with Veramendi to establish cotton mills in Saltillo. While searching for Lost Bowie Mine near San Saba River killed chief in sanguinary battle between 11 whites and 164 Indians, November 1831. Participated in Battle of Nacogdoches, August 1832, and escorted José de las Piedras’ troops from Nacogdoches to San Felipe. Removed to Louisiana following death of wife and two children from cholera, September 1833. Returned to Texas, 1834, as land agent for John T. Mason and proponent of Texas independence. Member of first Committee of Safety, Mina, May 7, 1835. Appointed colonel of revolutionary forces. Leader in Battle of Concepción and Grass Fight. Participated in siege of Bexar and capture of Gen. MartÃn Perfecto de Cós. Shared command of the Alamo with William B. Travis. Stricken with typhoid-pneumonia, February 24, 1836, and confined to cot. Killed by forces of Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna during fall of Alamo, March 6, 1836. Body burned by order of Santa Anna. N.H. Sources: Walter W. Bowie, The Bowies and Their Kindred … (1899; reprint ed., 1971); Charles L. Dufour, Ten Flags in the Wind … (1967); Joe B. Frantz, Texas, A Bicentennial History (1976); James T. De Shields, Border War of Texas … (1912).
BOWIE, Rezin P., planter, inventor of the Bowie Knife. Born, Logan County, Ky., September 8, 1793; son of Rezin and Elve Jones Bowie. With family removed to Louisiana, 1802. Between 1818 and 1821, with brothers James (q.v.) and John, was engaged in the contraband slave trade as an associate of the privateer Jean Laffite (q.v.), then based at Galveston Island on Texas coast; ca. 1819 the Bowie brothers formed a partnership to develop several Louisiana sugar plantations. Designed famous Bowie Knife, which was to become a favorite weapon of American frontiersmen, which his brother James made famous as a result of an altercation with the Rapides Parish sheriff on a sandbar opposite Natchez on September 19, 1827. Three times elected to the Louisiana legislature, Bowie was famed as an orator. Died, New Orleans, January 17, 1841. R.C.V. Sources: “Early Life in the Southwest—The Bowies,” De Bow’s Review, XIII (1852); J. Frank Dobie, “Bowie and the Bowie Knife,” Southwestern Review, XVI (1931).
BOWMAN, Elisha, missionary. Born, ca. 1780. Bowman is believed to have been the first Methodist missionary to enter New Orleans, 1805. However, his efforts were unsuccessful perhaps due to the opposition of local Episcopalians. After a brief period of preaching in the open air to a number of “drunken sailors and Frenchmen,” Bowman finally left the city. T.F.R. Source: Timothy F. Reilly, “Religious Leaders and Social Criticism in New Orleans, 1800-1861” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Missouri at Columbia, 1972).
BOWMAN, James Pirrie, planter. Born, Oakley Plantation, West Feliciana Parish, La., December 10, 1832; son of the Reverend William R. Bowman (q.v.) and Eliza Pirrie Barrow. Education: St. James College, Hagerstown, Md.; Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., graduated 1849; Yale University Medical School, A. B., 1851. Married Sarah Turnbull, daughter of Daniel Turnbull (q.v.) and Martha Barrow (q.v.), builders of Rosedown, West Feliciana Parish, April 9, 1857. Enlisted as private, Company I, Third Cavalry, C.S.A., 1861, rose to rank of lieutenant; resigned following Battle of Shiloh to become medical corpsman; paroled Gainesville, Ala., May 12, 1865. Resumed planting activities Rosedown Plantation. Member, board of administrators, Insane Asylum, Jackson, La., 1889-1900; member, West Feliciana School Board, 1879-1916, president, 1880-1912; member, Grace Episcopal Chruch, St. Francisville. Died, August 25, 1927; interred Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery. E.K.D. Sources: St. Francisville True Democrat, Silver Anniversary Edition, 1917; August 27, 1927; Oath Book, West Feliciana Courthouse; Andrew B. Booth, comp., Louisiana Confederate Soldiers … (1920); Register of Grace Church.
BOWMAN, William Robert, clergyman. Born, Brownsville, Pa., August 30, 1800; son of Jacob Bowman. Education: Washington College, Pa., graduated 1822; Theological School of Princeton University, 1825-1826; ordained deacon May 1826 and priest, 1827. Removed to Louisiana as missionary and while visiting sister Mary, wife of Henry Stirling, of West Feliciana Parish, La., called to Grace Church, March 31, 1827, two weeks after church chartered. Married Eliza Pirrie, widow of Robert H. Barrow, December 24, 1828. Among children was James Pirrie (q.v.). Active in formation of the Diocese of Louisiana. Died, August 30, 1835; interred Stirling Family Cemetery, Beechwood Plantation, West Feliciana Parish. E.K.D. Sources: Bowman Family Papers, Louisiana State University Archives; Grace Church Register.
BOYCE, Henry, attorney, jurist, planter. Born, Londonderry, Ireland, 1797; son of Frances and Peter Boyce. Education: read law in Rapides Parish, La., in 1818 with Alexander Porter (q.v.). Married (1) Irene Archinard in 1833. Children: Henry Archinard and Louise Frances Boyce. Married (2) Octavia _____, January 7, 1848. Children: Jane Delany, stepdaughter; sons: William, John, and Aaron; daughter: Mary Elizabeth Boyce. Career: admitted to Louisiana bar, 1820; practiced law in St. Martin Parish, La., 1824, and in Rapides Parish, La., 1824-1849. Appointed by President Taylor (q.v.) on May 9, 1849, as federal judge of the Western District of Louisiana. Elected to the board of Louisiana State Seminary near Pineville in 1865; elected, in 1865, as a representative and then as a United States senator from Louisiana, but state’s claim to any seat in Congress was denied in Washington, D. C. Operated extensive cotton and cattle production on 6,000 acres of land; his land was a conduit for both armies during the Civil War and all crops and buildings were burned; co-owned land in Natchitoches Parish with son-in-law, Powhaten Clark, a professor at the seminary, who married Louise Frances on May 14, 1862. Boyce’s interest in railroad expansion led to the formation of the Louisiana Central Steam Company and to his election as its president; extension of the railroad to Cotile Landing, near his plantation, was not completed by 1872; domicile of the company moved to New Orleans and a new president was elected. Continued to practice law in Rapides Parish until his death on his plantation, Ulster, on March 1, 1873; interred Rapides Cemetery, Pineville, La. In the 1880s the Texas and Pacific Railroad included Cotile Landing in its expansion; name of the landing was changed to Boyce in his honor. Many streets of the town named for Irish towns and cities. P.K.B. & J.B.C. Sources: Patsy K. Barber, Historic Cotile (1967); Mary A. H. Barnidge and Janice C. Oestriecher, comps. and eds., Rapides Cemetery … (1983); Walter Prichard, ed., “A Forgotten Louisiana Engineer: G.W. R. Bayley and His ‘History of the Railroads’,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXX (1947); George Purnell Whittington, Rapides Parish, Louisiana: A History (n.d.); Judges of the United States (1978).
BOYD, David French, soldier, academic, second president of Louisiana State University. Born, Wytheville, Va., October 5, 1834; son of Thomas Jefferson Boyd and Minerva Ann French. Older brother of Thomas D. Boyd (q.v.). Education: Pike Powers private school, Staunton, Va.; University of Virginia, graduated, 1856. School teacher in Louisiana, 1857-1860; professor of Ancient Languages and English Literature, 1860-1861, Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy (forerunner of LSU). Enlisted in Nineteenth Louisiana Infantry; rose from rank of private to major, C.S.A., 1861-1865. Saw service in eastern theatre and Trans-Mississippi Department. Superintendent, Louisiana Military Academy, 1865-1870. Married, 1865, Esther Gertrude Wright. Eight children. President, LSU, 1870-1880, 1884-1886; professor of Mathematics, 1886-1888; professor of Philosophy and Civics, 1897-1899. Headed private military academies in Virginia, 1880-1883; president, Alabama Polytechnic Institute at Auburn, 1883-1884; superintendent, Kentucky Military Institute, 1888-1893; professor, Ohio Military Academy, 1893-1894; professor, Michigan Military Academy, 1894-1896. Received LL. D. from LSU, 1890. David Boyd is credited with preserving the existence of LSU almost singlehandedly during the politically turbulent and financially lean years of the Reconstruction era, 1865-1877. Died, Baton Rouge, May 27, 1899. M.T.C. Sources: G. M. Reed, David French Boyd (1977); Dictionary of American Biography (1929), II; David F. Boyd Papers, Department of Archives and Manuscripts, LSU.
BOYD, Thomas Duckett, educator, seventh president of Louisiana State University. Born, Wytheville, Va., January 20, 1854; son of Thomas Jefferson Boyd and Minerva Ann French. Younger brother of David F. Boyd (q.v.). Entered Louisiana State University in 1868 at age 14; graduated with M. A. degree, 1872. Assistant professor of Mathematics; professor of History, English Language and Literature; commandant of cadets, Louisiana State University, 1873-1888; acting president, 1886. Married, 1882, Annie Fuqua. Six children. President, Louisiana State Normal School (now Northwestern State University of Louisiana), Natchitoches, 1888-1896. President, Louisiana State University, 1896-1927. Received LL.D. from Tulane University, 1897. Died, Baton Rouge, November 2, 1932. M.T.C. Sources: M. M. Wilkerson, Thomas Duckett Boyd (1935); Naitonal Cyclopedia of American Biography (1906), XIII; Thomas Duckett Boyd Papers, Department of Archives and Manuscripts, LSU.
BOYLE, Charles Wellington, artist, painter, teacher and curator. Born, Lewisburg, La., March 9, 1861. Married Bertha Foretich, November 25, 1912. Children: Charles W., Arion, and Douglas. Artistic inclinations demonstrated by age seven or eight. Had very little training outside of New Orleans, though he went to the New York School of Art and was advised by Robert Henri and Frank Vincent du Mond, both of the Art Students League of New York. This may have been during the summer of 1903, when a newspaper article reveals he was working in the studio of Chase, probably William Merritt Chase. Another article reveals that he went to New York City and Lynn, Conn., in the summer of 1904. In New Orleans, Boyle studied under Paul Poincy (q.v.) and Andrés Molinary. Boyle exhibited at the Creole Exhibit of the American Exposition during the North, Central, and South American Exposition of 1885-1886. A founder of the Artists’ Association of New Orleans, exhibiting frequently at the annual exhibitions between 1886 and 1902, when name changed to Art Association of New Orleans. Exhibited at the latter,1904-1911. Also taught the elementary class at the Artists’ Association’s School of Art for a number of years and was an instructor in the Ruston College Art Department, the Louisiana Valence Institute and Ferrels School for Boys, the latter two in New Orleans. Around 1900 began teaching in the Art Department at the Home Institute, remained there until 1911. In 1907 had a one-man show at Farish’s of works created during the preceding summer in the Teche country, and in 1909 spent a year painting in California, particularly on Catalina Island. In November, 1911 became the first curator of the newly formed Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, held the position until 1922, when he became the museum’s second director. Remained as such until his death. In 1919 had another one-man exhibit, this time at the museum. Boyle was a member of the National Arts Club of New York and Southern States Art League and served as chairman of the Art and Science Commission at the Louisiana State Fair. Died, New Orleans, February 9, 1925. C.S.B. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987); New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 10, 1925; W.P.A./Delgado Art Museum Project, Lives of New Orleans Artists.
BRACKENRIDGE, Henry Marie, author, jurist. Born, Pittsburgh, Pa., May 11, 1786; son of Hugh Henry Brackenridge, leader of the Whiskey Rebellion, Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice and prominent local poet and writer. Sent by father to Ste. Genevieve, Mo., to learn French, subsequently trained in classics and law by father and tutors in Pennsylvania. Admitted to Pennsylvania bar in 1806. Lived in Louisiana and Missouri, 1810-1814; practiced law; did investigative work in natural history. In 1811, participated in a fur-trading expedition up the Missouri River. Served as deputy attorney general, Territory of Orleans, 1811-1812 and a Louisiana district judge, 1812-1814. Removed to Baltimore, ca. 1816, and became vocal supporter of South American revolutionary movements. Appointed secretary of American diplomatic mission to South America, 1817. Travels in North and South America recorded in travel accounts. Judge, Western District of Florida, 1821-1832. Removed to Pennsylvania, 1832, and became land developer, establishing town of Tarentum, Pa. Active in Pennsylvania Whig party: served in U. S. Congress, October 1840 to March 1841. Member treaty commission with Mexico, 1841, Subsequently devoted life to literary pursuits. Major publications: Early Discoveries by Spaniards in New Mexico … (1857); A Eulogy on the Lives and Characters of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (1826); History of the Late War, Between the United States and Great Britain (1816); History of the Western Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania, Commonly Called the Whiskey Insurrection, 1794 (1859); Journal of a Voyage Up the River Missouri, Performed in Eighteen Hundred and Eleven … (1815); Recollections of Persons and Places in the West (1834); South America: A Letter on the Present State of That Country (1817); Views of Louisiana; Together with a Journal of a Voyage Up the Missouri River in 1811 (1814); Voyage to Buenos Ayres, Performed in the Years 1817 and 1818, by Order of the American Government (1820). Views of Louisiana often cited as one of the most important eyewitness accounts of early nineteenth-century Louisiana. Died, Pittsburgh, January 18, 1871; interred Prospect Cemetery, Brackenridge, Pa. C.A.B. ‘Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Henry Marie Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana, Together with a Journal of a Voyage up the Missouri River in 1811 (1814; reprint ed., 1962), dust jacket flaps; Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1900), I.
BRADFORD, David, pioneer. Born, Pennsylvania, 1755. Attorney in Washington, Pa.; a leader of Whiskey Rebellion (1794). Escaped capture and fled to Spanish West Florida; built flour mill, saw mill, distillery near Natchez 1796; prospered in flatboat trade to New Orleans; obtained Feliciana land grant 1796; established plantation now known as The Myrtles and built original part of house; after receiving pardon in Pennsylvania was joined in Feliciana by wife and family. Died, 1809; interred in what is now West Feliciana Parish, La. E.K.D. Sources: Bradford House Museum, Washington, Pa.; WPA translations of Spanish archives; West Feliciana Historical Society.
BRADFORD, James Morgan, journalist, printer, attorney, politician. Born, Virginia, 1777; son of pioneer printer John Bradford and nephew of Fielding Bradford. Printed newspaper with father at Frankfort, Ky., late eighteenth century. Removed to New Orleans shortly after Louisiana Purchase; bought printing plant, issued Orleans Gazette, December 20, 1804; official printer, Territory of Orleans, 1805-1809. Prominent in organizing Christ Church, New Orleans, 1805. Member, Mexican Association; hailed plan of Aaron Burr (q.v.) to capture Mexico and was arrested by Gen. James Wilkinson (q.v.), 1806. Enmity of William C. C. Claiborne (q.v.) brought loss of public printing, 1809. Purchased Bastrop land from Edward Livingston (q.v.), 1809. Removed to St. Francisville; employed by West Florida Convention to print ordinances, August 1810. Established the Time Piece, St. Francisville’s first newspaper, March 1811; pushed editorially for post office, annexation of West Florida to Mississippi Territory, and redress of West Florida grievances. Appointed deputy clerk of court, Parish of Feliciana, May 1811. Studied law; recommended for parish judgeship but ignored by Claiborne; admitted to Louisiana bar, March 2, 1812. Soldier and war correspondent, Battle of New Orleans, January 1815. Incorporator, St. Francisville Library Company, 1816. Ceased publication of Time Piece to become full-time attorney. Married Sophia Bradford (1791-1830), daughter of David Bradford ([q.v.], no kinship), May 1, 1818. Unsuccessful candidate for U. S. Congress, 1822. Incorporator, Baptist church, St. Francisville, 1823. Register of Public Lands, Greensburg District, 1822-1823. Police juror and codifier of parish ordinances, 1824. Member, first board of trustees, College of Louisiana, Jackson, La., 1825. Associated with Louisiana Journal, St. Francisville, 1824-1837. State printer, New Orleans, January-November, 1826. Returned to St. Francisville; town magistrate, 1829-1835. Author and publisher of Louisiana Justice (July 1827). Incorporator, Montpelier Academy, 1833. Founding member, West Feliciana Agricultural Society, 1833. Unsuccessful candidate for Congress, 1834. Died, September 12, 1837, of stab wounds received during a quarrel with John McDermott; interred West Feliciana Parish. E.K.D. Sources: Elrie Robinson, Biogaphical Sketches of James M. Bradford … (1938); Thomas P. Abernethy, The Burr Conspiracy (1954); Dunbar Rowland, ed., Official Letterbooks of William C. C. Claiborne (1917); West Feliciana Parish Records.
BRADFORD, Roark Whitney Wickliffe, journalist, author. Born, Lauderdale County, Tenn., August 21, 1896; son of Richard Clarence Bradford and Patricia Adelaide Tillman. Education: local schools. Served in army, 1917-1920. Married (1), 1920, Lydia Schorn of Columbia, Miss. Worked as reporter with several Southern newspapers; became night editor and then Sunday editor, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 1924-1926. Quit newspaper work after selling his first short story. Married (2), Mary Rose Sciarra of Indianapolis. Son: Richard (b. ca. 1932). Served as lieutenant with Naval Reserve, 1942-1946. Most of his writing based on stories heard as a child from rural blacks; used black dialect and black stereotypes. Works include: “Child of God,” O. Henry Award, 1927; “Ol’ Man Adam an’ His Chillun” (1928), adapted by Marc Connelly for the stage as “The Green Pastures,” Pulitzer Prize; “John Henry” (1930); “Three-Headed Angel” (1937). Died, New Orleans, November 13, 1948. Cremated, ashes dropped in Mississippi River. J.F.T. Sources: Lewis P. Simpson, “Roark Whitney Wickliffe Bradford” in Robert Bain, Joseph M. Flora and Louis D. Rubin, Jr., eds., Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary (1979); obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, November 14, 1948.
BRAGG, Braxton, soldier, planter. Born, Warrenton, N.C., March 21, 1817; son of Thomas Bragg and Margaret Crosland. Education: Warrenton Male Academy; United States Military Academy, West Point, graduated 1837, fifth in a class of fifty. Appointed second lieutenant, 1838, and captain, 1846. Served in the battles of Monterey and Buena Vista during the Mexican War and promoted to rank of lieutenant colonel. Married, June 7, 1849, Eliza Brooks Ellis, of Thibodaux, La. Resigned from U. S. Army, January 3, 1856. Became a sugar planter at Bivouac Plantation near Thibodaux, 1856. Elected to the State Board of Public Works, 1859. Appointed to the State Military Board, December 1860. Named major general and commander of the Louisiana State Army, January 1861. Appointed brigadier general in the Confederate Army, March 7, 1861, and assigned to commannd at Pensacola, Fla. Promoted to rank of major general, September 12, 1861. Commanded Second Corps, Army of the Mississippi, at the Battle of Shiloh, Tenn., April 6-7, 1862. Promoted to rank of full general, April 12, 1862. Led an expedition into Kentucky, August-October 1862, and defeated in the Battle of Perryville, October 7-8. His army was pushed out of Middle Tennessee after losing the Battle of Murfreesboro, December 31, 1862, to January 3, 1863. Attacked and defeated a Union Army at Chickamauga, Ga., September 19-20, 1863. Lost the Battle of Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga, Tenn., November 30, 1863. Relinquished command of his army, December 2, 1863. Assigned to the staff of Jefferson Davis, February 24, 1864, and directed the operations of all Confederate armies. Transferred to duty in North Carolina, November 27, 1864, and surrendered at Greensboro, April 26, 1865, as second in command to Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. Served as an engineer in Alabama and Texas after the Civil War. Died, Galveston, Tex., September 27, 1876; interred Mobile, Ala. A.W.B. Sources: Grady McWhiney, Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat (1969); Don C. Seitz, Braxton Bragg (1924).
BRAHNEY, Thomas M., Jr., jurist. Born, New Orleans, February 16, 1911; son of Thomas M. Brahney, Sr., and Rosalie Baillie. Married Winnifred Yochim; children: Thomas M. III, Linda Rose, and Terry. Education: attended Frank T. Howard and Samuel J. Peters grammar schools of New Orleans; graduated from Jesuit High School of New Orleans, 1929; LL. B. degree, Loyola University Law School, 1942. Admitted to the Louisiana bar and entered private practice, 1942. Subsequently served in the United States Navy during World War II. Discharged from the navy with the rank of lieutenant junior grade, ca. 1946. Following discharge resumed the private practice of law. Assistant United States attorney, May 1946-1949. Represented the Regular Democratic Organization on the New Orleans Commission Council, 1950-1954; city commissioner of institutions and health, 1950-1954. Campaigned unsuccessfully for mayor of New Orleans against DeLesseps “Chep” Morrison, 1954. Judge, Criminal District Court, Orleans Parish, 1957-1974. Ran unsuccessfully for civil district court judgeship, Orleans Parish, 1963. Retired, 1974. Member, New Orleans Bar Association, Louisiana Bar Association, Criminal Courts Bar Association, American Judicature Society, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Knights of Columbus, National Conference of Christians and Jews, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Died, Touro Infirmary, New Orleans, March 25, 1979; interred, Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans States-Item, March 26, 1979; Biographies of Louisiana Judges (1971), 144.
BRAKEFIELD, Joel Edward, clergyman, educator. Born, Lowry, S. C., August 17, 1873; son of Henry Alexander Brakefield and Cynthia Louanna Shedd. Educated Furman University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Married, 1906, Donna Greenlaw of Hazlehurst, Miss., daughter of Lawrence Dade Greenlaw and Dora Runnels. Children: Edward and Carol. Pastor of Baptist churches, Covington, Slidell, Bogalusa. Professor of Bible, Louisiana College, 1920-1945, professor emeritus, 1945-1953. Died, Pineville, February 21, 1953; interred Greenwood Memorial Park. L.S.* Sources: Carol Brakefield (daughter); Edward Brakefield (son); John Pinckney Durham and John S. Ramond, Baptist Builders in Louisiana (1934).
BRASHEAR, Walter, politician, physician, planter. Born, Prince George’s County, Md., February 11, 1776. Removed as a youth to Bullitt County, Ky. Education: attended Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky.; University of Pennsylvania, M.D., 1806. Performed first known successful amputation of a leg at the hip joint in Bardstown, Ky. Married, May 5, 1803, Margaret Barr, daughter of Robert Barr and Rebecca Tilton of Lexington, Ky. Children: three surviving to adulthood: Robert Barr (1806-1856), Thomas (?-1859), Frances Emily (1819-1895). Removed to Louisiana, 1809, landowner in St. Mary Parish; moved family in 1822 from Kentucky to Belle Isle, La., where he had built a home and sugar mill; later, operated sugar plantations on both sides of Berwick Bay. Donated, 1842, Tiger Island Sugar Plantation to his three children who developed portion of it into the town of Brashear. Active in Whig party; St. Mary Parish representative in state legislature, 1835-1845; state senator, 1845-1847; member, committee to supervise erection of new state capitol at Baton Rouge, 1846-1847; attended various parish and state Whig conventions, and presided over state convention which nominated Filmore to state Whig ticket. Member, Attakapas Medical Society and Louisiana State Medical Society. Morgan City, La., known 1850-1876 as Brashear City in his honor. Died, October 23, 1860, at Golden Farm Plantation, his home on the west side of Berwick Bay. M.J.F. Sources: Arthur Scully, Jr., James Dakin, Architect: His Career in New York and the South (1973); William Adams, The Whig Party of Louisiana (1973); Brashear Family Papers at Morgan City Archives.
BRAUD, Denis (Dionisio), printer. Native of Martinique. Arrived in New Orleans 1757, Louisiana’s first printer. Printed numerous treasury bills, notes and drafts. On the orders of Denis Nicolas Foucault (q.v.) printed the seditious “Memorial of the Inhabitants and Merchants of Louisiana,” on November 8, 1768. Although accused of conspiracy, he was released without trial. Braud was appointed to the first cabildo in 1769 when it was established, serving as receptor de penas y cámara (receiver of court fines). In 1773 he abandoned his position and secretly returned to France. His position was sold to Daniel Fagot for 1,202 pesos. B.C. Sources: John Harkins, “The Neglected Phase of Louisiana’s Colonial History: The New Orleans Cabildo: 1769-1903” (M. A. thesis, Memphis State University, 1977); David Ker Texada, Alejandro O’Reilly and the New Orleans Rebels (1970); “Official Proceedings Executed for the Vacant Office of Regidor of Fines,” Laura Porteous Collection, Louisiana State University Archives.
BRAY, Nathan H., clergyman. Born, Peterborough, England, April 29, 1809. Migrated to the United States in his early thirties. Entered the ministry in 1847 and was elected moderator of Sabine Baptist Association at its formation October 22, 1847, a position he held until 1871; was instrumental in organizing Sunday Schools in Sabine Parish; served as a missionary under the Domestic Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Louisiana Baptist Convention; helped organize the Vernon and Calcasieu Baptist associations; developed a liaison between the state Baptist organizations and Sabine Baptist Association. Was a member of the police jury, Sabine Parish, 1850; coroner of Sabine Parish for several years. Charter member of Anacoco and Slagle Masonic lodges. Died, Vernon Parish, La., 1875; interred Old Anacoco Cemetery. J.H.P. Sources: William Edward Paxton, History of Louisiana Baptists (1888); William A. Poe, Centennial Issue, Sabine Index, September 6, 1979; John G. Belisle, History of Sabine Parish (1912).
BREAUX, Agricole, pioneer, planter. Born, father’s plantation, Attakapas Post, La., March 11, 1788; son of Pierre Firmin Breaux (q.v.) and Marguerite Breaux, exiles from Acadia. Married, St. Martin de Tours Church, June 1, 1813, Scholastique Picou, daughter of Nicolas Picou and Scholastique Bourgeois. Children: Emile, Arthemise, Caliste, Elmire, Erasie, and Azélie. In 1827, Breaux donated to the parish administrator of schools a lot at the corner of present-day Bridge and Rees streets in Breaux Bridge to be used as the site of a public school, the first such school in the area. Died, on his plantation, the present-day site of Breaux Bridge, May 2, 1828. A year after Breaux’s death his wife began subdividing the plantation leading to the creation of Breaux Bridge. J.M.G. Sources: Grover Rees, A Narrative History of Breaux Bridge, Once Called “La Pointe” (1976); Gertrude C. Taylor, “A Village Called Pont des Breaux,” Attakapas Gazette, XIX (1984).
BREAUX, Amédé, Cajun musician (accordion), band leader, singer. Born, September 1, 1900; son of August Breaux (q.v.) and Mathilde Schexnayder. Recorded 1928-1934, including first recording of “Jolie Blonde” (Ma blonde est partie); performed with brothers Cléopha and Ophé as the Breaux Brothers Band. Died, Crowley, 1973. B.J.A. Source: Author’s research.
BREAUX, August, Cajun musician (accordion) and singer; instrumental in development of Cajun music repertoire at the turn of the twentieth century. Born, February 5, 1880, Rayne, La. Father of the Breaux Brothers, Amédé (q.v.), Cléopha and Ophé, and of Cléoma Breaux, wife of Joseph Falcon (q.v.), who were all among the first Cajun musicians to record in 1928. Died, ca. 1913, Rayne, La. B.J.A. Source: Author’s research.
BREAUX, Gustave A., attorney, politician. Born, Vermilionville (present-day Lafayette), La., December 28, 1828. Son of Aurelien Breaux and Modeste Bernard. Education: Norwich University in Vermont, graduated 1847; Harvard University Law School, graduated 1851. Served as clerk of Louisiana senate for one year. Admitted to Louisiana bar, 1852; became partner of Judge Charles Fenner (q.v.) in the firm of Fenner and Breaux, which later became Breaux, Fenner and Hall. Civil War service: colonel, Thirtieth Louisiana Infantry Regiment, March 1, 1862; dropped, February 1863; enrolling officer at Lake Charles, 1864-1865. After war, involved in sugar production in Lafayette Parish. Elected state senator in 1878 and again in 1884. Member, constitutional convention, 1879. Married (1) Emilie Locke (1836-1872), daughter of Samuel Locke and Emilina Guesdon, July 1, 1856. Married (2) Josephine Marr, December 24, 1874. Children: Modeste Emilina (1857-1933); Samuel Locke (q.v.); and Gustave Arvilien, Jr. (b. 1869). Member, Louisiana Educational Society, Louisiana Bar Association; president, New Orleans Jockey Club. Died, Oakbourne Plantation, near Lafayette., February 24, 1910. A.W.B. Sources: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, 2 vols. (1892), Vol. I; Andrew B. Booth, Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers … (1920), Vol. II; Gustave A. Breaux, The Acadian Breauxs of Louisiana and the English Lockes of New Hampshire (1947).
BREAUX, John (Jean), merchant, civic and religious leader. Born, Anse la Butte, St. Martin Parish, La., August 26, 1889; son of Honoré Breaux and Célimene Begnaud. Chairman, Red Cross Disaster Committee, St. Martin Parish, 1927-1976; charter member and president, Lions Club; chairman of projects for Erecting War Memorial and Our Lady’s Grotto; member, Cattlemen’s Association; member, St. Bernard’s Catholic Church and of its Usher Society and Holy Name Society; trustee, St. Bernard Church, 1962-1976; member, Band Booster’s Club; member and parade chairman, Breaux Bridge Centennial Celebration; member, Y.M.B.C. Honors: Recipient of Y.M.B.C. Civic Award, 1944; Papal Blessing, 1948; Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal, 1966; Father of the Year, 1970. Married (1) Ida Patin of Breaux Bridge. Children: Hazel, Jeanne, Clarence, Carmen. Married (2) Lydia Broussard, St. Martinville, December 26, 1946. Children: Anita (b. 1950), Agnes (b. 1952). Died, December 13, 1976; interred St. Bernard Church Mausoleum, Breaux Bridge. J.C. Sources: Family papers; interview with wife, Mrs. Lydia Breaux; taped interview with Mr. Breaux, 1975; Donald Hébert, comp., Southwest Louisiana Records, XX (1980).
BREAUX, Joseph Arsène, attorney, educator, businessman, jurist. Born, Bayou Goula, Iberville Parish, La., February 18, 1838; son of Margaret Walsh and John B. Breaux. Education: attended local private schools; Georgetown College, Kentucky, B. A.; University of Louisiana, law degree, 1859. Admitted to the bar and practiced law in Iberville Parish, 1859; published newspaper, The Weeky Magnolia, Plaquemine, 1861. Married, 1861, Eugenia Mille, daughter of Thomas Mille, planter of Iberville Parish. No children. Enlisted in the Confederate Army, September 24, 1862; captain, Thirtieth Louisiana Infantry, 1862; private and orderly sergeant, Second Louisiana Cavalry, 1862-1864; lieutenant and adjutant, Eighth Louisiana Cavalry, 1864-1865. Practiced law in Lafayette, 1865; superintended the distribution of food during yellow fever epidemic, 1867; removed to Abbeville, in 1868 removed to New Iberia; formed law partnership with William F. Schwing, 1875. Associated with the P. L. Renoudet Lumber Company of New Iberia in 1879; a founder and first president, New Iberia National Bank; member, and later superintendent, of the Iberia Parish School Board, 1880-1888. Elected state superintendent of public education, 1888; compiled school laws of state and court decisions relating to those laws; compilation published in 1889. Appointed associate justice of state supreme court, April 24, 1890, and chief justice, 1904; served as chief justice until retirement, 1914. Donated a large sum of money to Charity Hospital, New Orleans; administration building bears his name. Member of the board of Tulane University and Louisiana State Museum; member, Loyola Law School faculty, Louisiana Historical Society and United Confederate Veterans Camp No. 9. Catholic. Died, New Orleans, July 23, 1926; interred Metairie Cemetery. A.W.B. & J.B.C. Sources: Report of the Louisiana Bar Association for 1927 and 1928, XXVIII (September, 1928); Who’s Who in America, IX, (1916-1917); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, July 24, 1926; Walter Prichard, ed., “A Tourist’s Description of Louisiana in 1860,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXI (1938); Hubert Humphreys, “In a Sense Experimental: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Louisiana,” Louisiana History, VI (1965).
BREAUX, Lyon “Bébé,” Cajun musician. Born at Jennings, La., August 1, 1912; son of Joseph Breaux and Eugénie Guillot. Launched his career as a professional musician while still a teenager. Played at house dances as often as three times a week. This self-taught accordion player performed Cajun music for more than sixty years. Died at Lake Charles, December 4, 1992; interred at Consolata Cemetery. Inducted into the Cajun French Music Association Hall of Fame at Lake Charles, 1993. J.H.B. Sources: Lillian Breaux; CFMA Hall of Fame, Lake Charles, La.; Joseph H. Bergeron, “A Companion to Cajun Music” (forthcoming).
BREAUX, Nicholas Henry, businessman. Born, Attakapas Canal, Ascension Parish, La., December 23, 1880; son of Camille Breaux and Zelma Falterman. Education: local schools; scholarship to Jefferson College, Convent, La.; graduated Holy Cross College, New Orleans. Taught school in Napoleonville, La.; worked for lumber firms in the Atachafalaya Basin. Married (1) October 28, 1903, Lelia Talbot, daughter of Valmont Talbot and Corinne Adolph. Children: Ira (b. 1907), Evelyn (b. 1908), Vivian (b. 1909), and Camille (b. 1911). Married (2), January 18, 1921, Aline Talbot, sister of first wife. Children: Nicholas (b. 1922), Norman (b. 1923), Catherine (b. 1925), Gerald (b. 1928), and Marion (b. 1931). Formed Norman-Breaux Lumber Company of Morgan City, La., with Maurice Norman (q.v.), 1922. An organizer of Citizens National Bank (now First National Bank of St. Mary) in 1933 and its president from that year until his death. Roman Catholic. Member, Knights of Columbus. Died, Morgan City, April 9, 1959; interred Morgan City Cemetery. M.J.F. Sources: Gerald P. Breaux, A Breaux Family History (1980); Breaux Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
BREAUX, Pierre Firmin, pioneer. Born, Rivière aux Canards, Grand Pré, Nova Scotia (Acadia); son of Alexis Breaux and Marguerite Barillot. An American Revolutionary War patriot. Owned land in the area of present-day Breaux Bridge, originally granted by the Spanish government to Jean-François Ledée. The bridge connecting the east and west banks was named after Firmin and so was the town which rose at the site, Breaux Bridge. Breaux married, April 13, 1769, at L’Ascension (present-day Donaldsonville), La., to Marguerite Bro, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Bro and Marie Rose Landry of Acadia. Children: Marie Madeleine, Donat, François, Pierre Castel, Félicité, Jean-Baptiste, Marguerite Isabel, Scholastique, Modeste, Joseph, Agricole (q.v.) and Adélaïde. Died, near present-day Breaux Bridge, October 1, 1808. J.M.G. Source: Grover Rees, A Narrative History of Breaux Bridge, Once Called “La Pointe” (1976); Clarence T. Breaux, Du Loudunais à la Louisiane par la voie de l’Acadie … (1983).
BREAUX, Samuel Locke, broker, businessman. Born, New Orleans, La., February 13, 1860; son of Emelie Locke and Gustave Arvilien Breaux (q.v.). Education: St. Philip School, New Orleans; St. Stanislaus, Bay St. Louis, Miss.; Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va., graduated 1875. Married (1) Nina Williams (d. 1892), April 6, 1885. Child: Samuel Locke, Jr. Married (2) Nina Alica Rogers, April 19, 1894. Married (3) Etta M. Hargis. Worked for several rice and cotton factoring firms in New Orleans; headed own factoring business, 1896-1914; worked for other firms from 1914 to his retirement in 1933; president, New Orleans Board of Trade, 1898 and 1900; headed freight and transportation bureau of that board; leader in movements to obtain parity in freight rates for New Orleans; vice president, Pan American Life Insurance Company of New Orleans. Member, Young Men’s Gymnastic Club. Died, June 1, 1933; interred Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans. J.B.C. Sources: Alcée Fortier, Louisiana (1914); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, June 2, 4, 1933.
BREAZEALE, Phanor, attorney, politician, congressman. Born, Natchitoches Parish, La., December 29, 1858; son of Winter Wood Breazeale and Adeline Catherine Prudhomme. Education: attended private schools; removed to Natchitoches in 1877; studied law; appointed deputy clerk of the state supreme court; law department of Tulane University, graduated 1881. Admitted to the bar the same year, began practice in Natchitoches. Engaged in newspaper work, 1882-1884. Married, July 15, 1884, Marie Chopin, daughter of Dr. J. B. Chopin and Julia Benoist. Children: Marie, Gladys, Julia, and Katherine. President, school board of Natchitoches Parish, 1888-1891; district attorney, Tenth Judicial District, 1892-1900; member, state constitutional convention, 1898; elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives in 1899 and was twice reelected, serving until 1905; unsuccessful candidate for renomination, 1904. Resumed law practice in Natchitoches. Appointed, October 1908, member of a commission to codify the criminal laws of Louisiana and to prepare a code of criminal procedure. Presidential elector from the Eighth Congressional District, 1920 and 1924; was an elector for the state at large. A delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1908 and 1916 and represented his district as a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. A student of the history of Natchitoches, had articles published in Louisiana Historical Quarterly. Died, Natchitoches, April 29, 1934; interred Catholic Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); Stanley C. Arthur, Old Families of Louisiana (reprint ed., 1971); Louisiana Historical Quarterly, VII (1924); XVII (1941); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, April 30, 1934.
BREDEHOEFT, Walter Edward, businessman, civic leader. Born, Mena, Ark., July 21, 1910; son of Francis Edward Bredehoeft and Robbie Sartor. Education: local schools. Removed to De Quincy, La., 1927. Married, March 4, 1939, Velma Miller, of De Quincy, daughter of John W. Miller and Gracie Frances Hanchey. Salesman/branch manager wholesale grocery company; manager insurance and real estate company; sportswriter De Quincy News. Member: Baptist church; Masonic Lodge F & AM No. 279; Rotary Club, past president; Little League, past president; first president/chairman, De Quincy Housing Authority; district Democratic Executive Committee; recreation commission board. Died, December 28, 1977; interred De Quincy Memorial Park. G.S.P. Sources: Lake Charles American Press, December 29, 1977; obituary, De Quincy News, January 4, 18, 1978; Bredehoeft Family Papers.
BREEDLOVE, James Waller, soldier, politician, businessman. Born, Albermarle County, Va., ca. 1790. Served in War of 1812. Later removed to Tennessee where he formed a lifelong friendship with Andrew Jackson. Married (1) Maria Eliza Winchester (1793-1848), daughter of Gen. James Winchester. Seven children, four of whom grew to maturity. Married (2) Elizabeth Gill, in Newport, R. I., July 26, 1850 (she died shortly thereafter). Removed to New Orleans, ca. 1818; invested in several small merchant vessels. Befriended Stephen F. Austin (q.v.); served as Mexican vice-consul in New Orleans, 1829-1831. Served as collector, Port of New Orleans, 1830s; president of Atchafalaya Bank. Prominent leader of the Democratic party, 1840s. Backed American filibusterers in Cuba, 1850. Unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New Orleans, 1854, on the Independent Reform Ticket. Supported the Confederacy but did not serve in army. Died, New Orleans, January 11, 1867; interred Girod Street Cemetery. R.S.J. Sources: John S. Kendall, “Andrew Jackson’s Correspondence with James W. Breedlove,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, VI (1923); Chester Stanley Urban, “New Orleans and the Cuban Question during the Lopez Expeditions of 1848-1851,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXIII (1939); Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers, II; Ship Registers and Enrollments of New Orleans, Vols. I-III; New Orleans Daily Picayune, August 7, 1850.
BRENT, Joseph Lancaster, attorney, soldier, planter. Born, Charles County, Md., November 30, 1826; son of William Leigh Brent (q.v.) and Maria Fenwick. Education: Georgetown College, D. C., took degree in law. With father, removed to Louisiana, 1844, entered practice of law. Returned east with outbreak of Civil War; joined Confederate Army in Richmond, 1862; fought in Peninsula Campaign; promoted major of artillery; transferred to Louisiana with Gen. Richard Taylor (q.v.); promoted to rank of colonel; fought at Mansfield; commanded expedition resulting in capture of Federal gunboat Indianola. Promoted to rank of brigadier general, 1864, reputed to have been last person commissioned a general officer from Louisiana by President Jefferson Davis (q.v.). One of three Confederate commissioners named by General Kirby Smith (q.v.) to arrange for the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department; met with Union general E. R. S. Canby (q.v.) in New Orleans; terms of surrender signed May 26, 1865. After war, removed to Baltimore, Md., practiced law. Returned to New Orleans, 1870. Married, April 27, 1870, Rosella Kenner, daughter of Duncan Kenner (q.v.) and Nanine Bringier. Children: Nanine, married Thomas Sloo of New Orleans, and Duncan Kenner Brent. Became planter with father-in-law. Elected, 1887, first president of Louisiana Agricultural Society. Removed to Baltimore, 1890; practiced law there until death, November 27, 1905; interred Baltimore. G.R.C. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, November 28, 1905; John Winters, The Civil War in Louisiana (1963); George Mason Graham Stafford, General George Mason Graham of Tyrone Plantation and His People (1947); Lucia Elizabeth Daniel, “The Louisiana People’s Party,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVI (1943); The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (1896), Series 1, XLVIII, pt. 2.
BRENT, William Leigh, attorney, politician. Born, Port Tobacco, Md., February 20, 1784; son of Robert Brent and Dorothy Leigh. Education: on his father’s estate “Brentfield” and at Georgetown College, Washington, D. C., where he took a degree in law. Staunch supporter of Presidents Jefferson and Madison. Married (1), April 4, 1809, Maria Fenwick, a cousin, daughter of James Fenwick and Teresa Brent. Children: Robert James, James Fenwick, Maria, Henrietta, William, Jr., Sara Ann, Edward Cole, Joseph Lancaster (q.v.), Louisiana, Charles Vivian. Appointed, 1809, deputy attorney general for the Western District of the Territory of Orleans. Removed to St. Landry Parish, La. Appointed, 1812, second postmaster of St. Martinville; appointed, 1816, district attorney for St. Landry and St. Martin parishes; elected as a Whig to the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Congresses (1823-1829). After Congress, practiced law in Washington until 1844. Returned to St. Martinville, entered into law partnership with son, Edward. At age 63, fought duel to avenge the honor of second wife, Ann Thornton of St. Louis (m. February 2, 1846). Practiced law until death, in St. Martinville, July 3, 1848. Interred St. Michael’s Cemetery. G.R.C. Sources: Glenn R. Conrad, “William L. Brent: Jeffersonian Republican and Louisiana Politician,” Attakapas Gazette, XI (1976); George Mason Graham Stafford, General George Mason Graham of Tyrone Plantation and His People (1947); “Brent, William Leigh,” Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950).
BRES, Selina Elizabeth, see GREGORY, Selina Elizabeth Bres
BREVELLE, Jean Baptiste, Jr., colonial Indian interpreter, occasional government envoy, western explorer. Son of a Parisian-born soldier and a Caddo Indian known only as Anne. Born in 1734 at the Old (Upper) Caddo Village in present Oklahoma, about five hundred miles above the French outpost of Natchitoches, while the Natchitoches commandants maintained a small garrison amid the Grand Caddo. He was christened at Natchitoches on May 20, 1736, when his father brought his new family downriver to have his union blessed and his wife and son baptized. After the birth of a sister in 1738, nothing more is known of the mother. At the father’s death on January 25, 1754, at the Natchitoches post, he left his two children with a small amount of property in the care of well-placed friends. As a young man, Brevelle joined a party of youths from his mother’s tribe and roamed the West. Later, he served the commandants of Natchitoches and the governor of Texas as an emissary to various western tribes. As an old man, his knowledge of the Rockies, the Great Plains, and the silver mines of Colorado and New Mexico proved valuable to the United States as it sought to know, but feared to explore, the far reaches of the Southwest. His recollections are memorialized in President Thomas Jefferson’s 1806 report to Congress on exploration of the new Louisiana Territory. Like many young men on the Natchitoches frontier, Jean Baptiste built his financial stake on skins and furs that he converted to fertile Red River land and slaves. On July 14, 1760, he married Marie Françoise, daughter of the Natchitoches lieutenant Rémy Poissot. The censuses of 1766 attribute to him three arpents frontage on which he raised 800 pounds of tobacco in twists, thirty barrels of corn, twelve horses, ten cattle, and six pigs. The extant 1772 roll of the Natchitoches militia describe him as second corporal, aged 34, height 5′ 1,” serving a term of three years. As the Natchitoches post expanded, so did his plantation operation; with his well-to-do brothers-in-law, he opened new lands downriver from Natchitoches in the fertile stretch still known today as Isle Brevelle. On April 25, 1806, he died there at the home of his son-in-law Julien Rachal, with whom he lived his last six years. The thirteen children born to Jean Baptiste Brevelle, Jr. and his wife Marie Françoise Poissot were Marie Françoise (b. 1761; wife of Pierre Derbanne, q.v.), Marie Louise (b. 1765; wife of Julien Rachal, Sr.); Marie Hélène (b. and died 1766); Marie Hélène dite Céleine (b. 1767; wife of J. B. Gaspard Derbanne and Étienne LaCaze); Pelagie (b. 1769; wife of J. B. Barthélemy Rachal, fils à Louis), Balthazar (b. ca. 1771-72); unidentified son (b. 1773; died 1776); unidentified daughter (b. ca. 1775; buried 1782); Marie Elisabeth (b. 1777; wife of J. B. Anselme LaJeunesse); Jean Baptiste (b. 1779); Marie Thérèse (b. 1780; wife of Pierre LaCour, Jr., and Philippe Brosset); Marie Félicité (b. 1782; wife of Gasparite LaCour); and Marie Victoire (b. 1784; wife of Jean Baptiste Adlé). E.S.M. Sources: Natchitoches Parish registers, books 1-4B, 8, and 15; Message from the President of the United States Communicating Discoveries Made in the Exploring of the Missouri, Red River and Washita, by Captains Lewis and Clark, Doctor Sibley, and Mr. Dunbar (1806), 69, 79-81; Hunting contracts of J. B. Brevelle, docs. 357, 980, 987; 1772 militia roll, doc. 741; and succession of J. B. Brevelle, doc. 3390, all in French Archives, Clerk of Court’s Office, Natchitoches; various censuses and tax rolls of Natchitoches from Archivo General de Indias and elsewhere, in Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches Colonials: Censuses, Military Rolls and Tax Lists, 1722-1803 (1981); Testimony of Marie Louise (Brevelle) Grillet, sister of J. B., Jr., in Annals of Congress, 9th Cong. 1st Sess., 1805-06 (1852), 1211.
BRIAN, Benjamin Franklin, clergyman, politician. Born, East Feliciana Parish, La., November 29, 1833. Parents removed to Caldwell Parish when he was a child. Married Rosanna Roe, 1852. At least one child, Hardy Lee Brian (q.v.). Worked as a blacksmith and wheelwright. Civil War service: sergeant, Company C, Third Louisiana Cavalry, 1862-1865. Removed to Grant Parish in 1868. Entered Baptist ministry and served the church for fifteen years. Leader of Greenback movement in Grant and Winn parishes. Unsuccessful liberal, independent candidate for state senate in 1876 and 1878. Elected to state senate in 1879; served one term. Joined Louisiana Farmer’s Union and National Farmer’s Alliance in 1887. President, first state convention of the People’s (Populist) Party in Alexandria, October 1891. Elected to state senate as a Populist, 1892; served one term. Died, Pollock, La., October 26, 1896. A.W.B. Sources: Natchitoches Louisiana Populist, November 6, 1896; William I. Hair, Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest … (1969).
BRIAN, Hardy Lee, journalist. Born, Winnfield, La., 1865; son of Benjamin Brian (q.v.) and Rosanna Roe. Educated in local schools. Editor, Winnfield Comrade, 1890, the first Populist paper in the South. Secretary, Louisiana People’s Party, 1892. Elected to Louisiana house of representatives from Winn Parish, 1892. Removed to Natchitoches Parish in 1894 and started The Louisiana Populist; editor until 1899. Chairman, Louisiana People’s Party, 1896. Unsuccessful candidate for a seat in the U. S. House of Representatives, 1898. Died, Natchitoches, 1949. A.W.B. Source: William Ivy Hair, Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest … (1969).
BRIANT, Andrew Backus, businessman, politician. Born, Wetumka, Ala., April 4, 1842; father died 1849, mother died 1853 in St. Francisville, La., as family was en route west. Education: parish schools. Enlisted August 13, 1861, Company B, Hays Brigade, Seventh Louisiana Infantry, C.S.A., served in Jackson’s Valley Campaign and was at Gettysburg, twice captured (November 1863 to March 1864, May 1864 to February 1865) but in four years active duty neither wounded nor furloughed. Married Josephine Temple, 1868; alderman, St. Francisville, 1905-1912; mayor, 1912-1918, responsible for first water reservoir and improved protection levees. Vestryman, Grace Episcopal Church, 21 years; member Feliciana Lodge #31, Free and Accepted Masons; active in Confederate Veteran’s Association, parish police jury funded attendance at Gettysburg reunion. Died, February 28, 1918; interred Grace Church Cemetery, St. Francisville. E.K.D. Sources: Andrew B. Booth, comp., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers … (1920); Oath Book, West Feliciana Parish; St. Francisville True Democrat, March 2, 1918; Parish Register, Grace Church.
BRIANT, Pierre Paul, attorney, businessman, jurist. Born, Gonaïves, Saint-Domingue, February 21, 1776; son of François Briant and Marie Elizabeth Mozart-Palbrois. Served with the French army in Saint-Domingue, holding a commission as lieutenant and later as captain. Left Saint-Domingue for Jamaica in 1798, leaving there for New Orleans in 1800. Married (1), 1808, New Orleans, Françoise Arsène Seveignes. Children: George, Philippe, Pierre Paul, Ursule Elizabeth Helen, James Philippe, Virginia, Gabriel Antoine, Pauline, Mathilde, and Arsène. First wife died in 1826 and in 1829 or 1830 he married (2), a widow, Mrs. Duhamel. There were no children by this marriage. In 1808 removed to St. Martinville and opened a mercantile business. Granted a diploma as attorney-at-law and with a son-in-law, Alcibiades DeBlanc, practiced law in the district courts. Served as sheriff 1810-1816; served as district judge 1816 till 1845 or 1846 when his son by the same name replaced him. Member, constitutional convention, 1845. Named state senator from the parish of St. Martin and recorder in 1845. Served one year as senator devoting his time to the office of recorder which he retained until his death, July 22, 1853. D.S. Sources: Sylvia Norman Duncan, “Genealogy of François Briant,” in Donald J. Hebert, comp., Southwest Louisiana Records, rev. ed., Vol. II (1976).
BRIDGES, Wilson W., farmer, politician. Born, St. Helena Parish, La., March 7, 1887; son of John S. Bridges and Lutitia Womack. Education: local schools. Married, July 12, 1912, Cassie Bridges, daughter of Jack Bridges and Josephine Phillips. Children: James Sibley (b. 1913); Will Travis and Clarence Joseph (b. 1915); Mamie (b. 1917); Rucee (b. 1918); Etna Elaine (b. 1920); Minnie (b. 1921); Mattie (b. 1923); Murphy (b. 1925); Jack (b. 1927); Cassie Inez (b. 1929); Wilma (b. 1931); Charles (b. 1933); Bonnie (b. 1934). Constable, St. Helena Parish, 1928-1940; police juror, 1940-1944. Member pioneer family. Baptist. Died, May 3, 1966; interred New Zion Cemetery, northeastern section St. Helena Parish. I.B.T. Sources: Secretary of State’s Roster of Elected Officials; Bridges Family Papers; obituary, St. Helena Echo, May 7, 1966.
BRIGGS, Rufus Miller, pioneer, educator. Born, Tioga County, Pa., September 21, 1857. Education: schools of that state; B. A., Mansfield College. Removed to Jennings, La., August, 1886. Married Ida Belle Cooper, daughter of Samuel and Emma Cooper of Jennings, March 15, 1891. No children. Active in civic and political life of town. City clerk, 1889. Town council, 1903; member, city school board, parish police jury, parish school board. Began public school teaching, 1888, later operated private academy. Noted teacher of mathematics and penmanship. Vocal musician, organized Harmonica Society. Choir director, CongreÂgational Church. Also farmer, and operated “Briggs House” hotel in wife’s family home. Died, Jennings, July 12, 1937; interred Greenwood Cemetery. M.P.* Source: Jeff Davis Parish News, obituary, July 13, 1937.
BRINGIER, Marius Pons, planter, proprietor of White Hall Plantation. Born Emmanuel Pons Marius Bringier, at Lacardière, near Aubagne, Provençe, France, October 27, 1752; son of Pierre Bringier and Louise Agnés Arnoux. Married (1) Marie Françoise Durand (d. 1803), known as Françoise. Married (2) Marie Anne Roudanez, 1804. Left France ca. 1781 to seek his fortune in America; resided briefly in Martinique, where he owned a plantation in partnership with his brother Vincent; possibly stopped also in Cuba and Jamaica before arriving in Louisiana, ca. 1784. Acquired a plantation in Jefferson Parish but abandoned it because of frequent flooding. In 1785 purchased the Saumnier plantation in St. James Parish; by 1798 acquired four adjacent plantations as well, forming them into one great plantation, White Hall (Maison Blanche). Served in the provincial army. Children: Paul Louis (1784-1860), known as Louis; Françoise Bringier Colomb (1786-1827), known as Fanny; Louise Elizabeth Bringier Tureaud (1788-1863), known as Betzy; Michel Doradou Bringier (q.v.), known as Doradou; Françoise Laure Bringier Baron (b. 1792), known as Laure; Mélanie Elizabeth Bringier Simpson Wilson (1793-1863). Died, St. James Parish, La., April 23, 1820; interred St. James Churchyard. Many years later removed to the Bringier tomb in the Catholic cemetery, Donaldsonville, La. F.M.J. Sources: Trist Wood, unpublished notes, Trist Papers, The Historic New Orleans Collection; Grace King, Creole Families of New Orleans (1921; reprint ed., 1971); Herman de Bachelle Seebold, Old Louisiana Plantation Homes and Family Trees (1941).
BRINGIER, Michel Doradou, planter, owner of Hermitage Plantation, Ascension Parish, La. Born, December 6, 1789, allegedly at sea while parents were on a voyage; son of Marie Françoise Durand and Marius Pons Bringier (q.v.). Education: Paris, France. Married Louise Elizabeth Aglaé Du Bourg, June 17, 1812, in Baltimore, Md.; she was the daughter of Elizabeth Etiennette Bonne Charest and Pierre François Du Bourg, an adjutant general on the staff of Gov. W. C. C. Claiborne (q.v.) at the Battle of New Orleans. Children: Marius St. Colombe (b. 1814), Marie Elizabeth Rosella (b. 1818), Louise Françoise (b. 1820), Anne Guillelmine Nanine (b. 1823), Louis Amédée (b. 1828), Marie Elizabeth Aglaé (b. 1830), Louise Marie Myrthé (b. 1834), Anne Octavie Marie (b. 1839), and Martin Doradou (b. 1842). Given a plantation by his father as a wedding gift; first crops were indigo and tobacco; later the vast acreage was converted to sugarcane cultivation; named his plantation mansion, which was built between 1812 and 1814, the Hermitage, after the Tennessee home of Gen. Andrew Jackson (q.v.); bought Whitehall, the family plantation, 1821; sold in 1825, it was repurchased by his widow in 1848. Died, March 13, 1847, Memphis, Tenn.; interred family tomb, Catholic cemetery, Donaldsonville, La. Widow, Aglaé, died at Melpomène, the family mansion in New Orleans, June 4, 1878. The Hermitage was bought in 1880 by Duncan F. Kenner (q.v.), husband of Nanine Bringier. J.B.C. Sources: Herman de Bachelle Seebold, Old Plantation Homes and Family Trees, 2 vols. (1941); Jess DeHart, Plantations of Louisiana (1982); Marie Cruzat de Verges, comp., American Forces at Chalmette (1966).
BRINSON, James, clergyman. Born near New Bern, N. C., 1761; son of Rev. James and Kezia Linton Brinson. Removed from Middle Tennessee to North Louisiana frontier, 1820, with several related families. Established the first Baptist churches in the hill country, including present parishes of Lincoln, Webster, Bienville and Claiborne. Moderator, Louisiana Baptist Convention, 1822 and 1827. Married, 1783, Patience Purser of North Carolina. Children: Mary Ann (Polly) Koonce, Enoch, Jesse, Josiah, Elizabeth Whitson, Hollen (Holly) McFarland, Sarah Ann (Sallie) Nelson, Philip, Keziah Martin Crow, Laurett Nelson and Mitchell Brinson. Died, September 5, 1831, either Bienville Parish or Claiborne Parish. Grave site undetermined. P.C.C. Sources: Robert W. Brinson, Here, There and Yonder: A Brinson Genealogy (n.d.); Glen Lee Greene, House Upon a Rock: About Southern Baptists in Louisiana (1973); William E. Paxton, A History of the Baptists of Louisiana … (1888).
BRISTOW, Gwen, historical novelist, journalist. Born, Marion, S. C., September 16, 1903; daughter of Louis Judson and Caroline Cornelia Winkler Bristow. Education: Judson College in Alabama; Pulitzer School of Journalism, Columbia University. Reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Wrote poems and short stories from an early age (her first published work was at age twelve). Married Bruce Manning, a journalist, in 1929. Together they wrote four detective novels: The Invisible Host (1930), The Gutenberg Murders (1931), The Mardi Gras Murders (1932), and Two and Two Make Twenty-Two (1932). Removed to Hollywood, 1934, where her husband became a screenwriter. She began to write historical fiction, producing the Plantation Trilogy (1937-1940). In these three novels, Deep Summer (1937), The Handsome Road (1938), and This Side of Glory (1940), meticulous research provides the realistic setting and events involving several generations of the fictional families she created. From the early settlement of the southern Mississippi Valley, through the Civil War, and up to the 1920s the author delineates characters from all classes, Indians, whites and blacks. The trilogy is her most significant achievement. She wrote other entertaining novels with historical settings: Jubilee Trail (1950), Celia Garth (1959), and Calico Palace (1970). A World War II novel, Tomorrow Is Forever (1943), was made into a movie in 1946. Other writings include: The Alien and Other Poems (1926) and Gwen Bristow: A Self-Portrait (1940). Making their home in California, the Mannings returned to New Orleans often. She died in California, August 17, 1980; interred Garden of Memories, New Orleans. D.H.B. Sources: Contemporary Authors; H. R. Warfel, American Novelists of Today (1951); Current Biography (1940); American Women Writers, Vol. I (1979).
BROOKS, Aubrey L., educator. Born, Aimwell, La., October 12, 1908; son of Rev. and Mrs. L. H. Brooks. Education: Louisiana Tech University, B. A.; Northwestern State University, M. A.; Louisiana State University. Married Thelma Mitchell of Simsboro, La.. Children: Patricia (b. 1939); Craig L. (b. 1945); and Nan (b. 1948). Forty-two years service to Catahoula Parish schools as teacher, coach, supervisor, and superintendent for thirty-two years, 1941-1973. AASA Executive Council of Louisiana Teachers Association Served two terms as president of Fifth District School Superintendents Association. Member: Rotary Club, Masonic Lodge, Member of Advisory Commission B.S.A., served as vice-chairman of board of trustees, Sicily Island Medical Center, from its inception in 1978 until his death in 1980. Deacon, Pine Hill Baptist Church, chairman of board of deacons, teacher of Men’s Bible Class (1948-1980), president of Brotherhood. Died, Sicily Island, La., May 7, 1980. S.C.H. Source: Author’s research.
BROOKS, Cleanth, Jr., educator, author, literary critic. Born, Murray, Ky., October 16, 1906; son of Cleanth Brooks, Sr., and Bessie Lee Witherspoon. Married Edith Amy Blanchard of New Orleans, Education: McTyeire School, McKenzie, Tenn.; B. A. degree, Phi Beta Kappa, Vanderbilt University, 1928; M. A., Tulane University, 1929; Rhodes Scholar, Exeter College, Oxford University, B.A. (Honors), 1931, B.Litt., 1932; Career: member English faculty, Louisiana State University, 1932-1947; Grey Professor of Rhetoric and English, Yale University, 1947-1975. A founder, with Robert Penn Warren, of the Southern Review, 1935; fellow, Library of Congress, 1951-1962; twice a Guggenheim Fellow, 1953, 1960; cultural attaché, American embassy, London, England, 1964-1966. Major publications included, Modern Poetry and the Tradition (1939), The Well Wrought Urn (1947), William Faulkner: The New Yoknapatawpha Country (1963), and three textbooks. Recognized as Jefferson Lecturer of the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1995, the highest award given in the humanities by the federal government. Numerous literary awards and honors. Died, Baton Rouge, La., May 10, 1994; interred, Roselawn Cemetery, Baton Rouge, La. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 12, 1994; Baton Rouge Advocate, April 3, 1988; May 11, 1994.
BROOKS, Oran Dewey, businessman. Born, Baton Rouge, October 16, 1845; son of Eri Brooks and Eleanor Cain. Education: public schools. Enlisted in Company B., First Louisiana Cavalry, C.S.A., September 1861; prisoner of war 1863-1865; paroled June 1865. Adventured in Pacific Northwest; returned to Louisiana. Married Anastasia Eudolie Tircuit of Pointe Coupée Parish, December 24, 1874. Entered drug business in St. Francisville, La., 1877. Active in United Confederate Veterans, two-term commander of Louisiana Department with honorary title of general. Member, board of aldermen, St. Francisville, 1898-1908; West Feliciana Parish School Board, 1900-1924; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Roman Catholic Church. Died, September 20, 1925; interred Grace Church Cemetery, St. Francisville. E.K.D. Sources: Andrew B. Booth, comp., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers … (1920); Grace Church Register; St. Francisville True Democrat, September 26, 1925; Oath Book, West Feliciana Parish.
BROOKS, Overton, congressman. Born, Baton Rouge, December 21, 1897; son of Claude M. and Penelope (Overton) Brooks. Nephew of John Holmes Overton (q.v.), U. S. senator. Education: public schools; Louisiana State University, law degree, 1923. Served overseas during World War I as an enlisted man in the Sixth Field Artillery, First Division, Regular Army, 1918-1919. Admitted to the bar in 1923 and began the practice of law in Shreveport. Married, June 1, 1932, Mollie Meriwether, of Shreveport, daughter of Minor Meriwether and Anne Finley McNutt of Shreveport. One child: Laura Anne. Served as United States Commissioner, 1925-1935. Elected to Congress as a Democrat from the Fourth District of Louisiana in 1936 and was re-elected twelve times. First vice-chairman of the House Science and Astronautics Committee and vice-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. President, National River and Harbor Congress. Member: Masons, Elks, American Legion, Kiwanis. Died, Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Md., September 16, 1961; interred Forest Park Cemetery, Shreveport, La. T.H. Sources: Shreveport Times, September 17, 1961; Mrs. Mollie Meriwether Brooks to the author, January 28, 1983; Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950).
BROUILLETTE, Joseph Walter, educator. Born, Avoyelles Parish, La., March 30, 1898; son of Romulus Marcelus Brouillette and Marie Blanche Laborde. Education: local schools; Louisiana Normal College, Natchitoches; Louisiana State University; George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn.; General Education Board fellow, 1931-1932. Military service: private, U. S. Army, 1918. Married, August 31, 1923, Thelma Brown of Cullomburg, Ala., daughter of John Thomas Young Brown, lumberman and merchant, and Queen Ella Bolton. Children: Joseph Walter, Jr. (b. 1925), Janice Lou (b. 1930), Jean Martha (b. 1934). Principal, elementary school, Glencoe, La., 1917; principal, Echo, La., 1919. Principal, Port Barre, La., 1928-1935; assistant superintendent and supervisor of instruction, St. Landry Parish, 1928-1935. Removed to Baton Rouge, 1935. Elementary state school supervisor, director of teacher education and certification, director of audio-visual instruction, associate supervisor of Negro education, Louisiana Department of Education, 1935-1940. Removed to Starkville, Miss., 1940. Director of teacher education, Mississippi State College, Starkville, Miss., 1940-1942. Removed to Baton Rouge, 1942. Resumed duties with Louisiana State Department of Education, 1942-1944; director, General Extension Division, Louisiana State University, 1944-1964. Associated with Mississippi Study of Higher Education and South Carolina Survey of Institutions of Higher Education, 1945-1946; special consultant, Louisiana Legislative Committee on Educational Survey, 1947-1948; F. O. A. educational consultant to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, 1954. Member: Louisiana Education Association, president, Elementary Department, 1926-1930; chairman, Research Committee, 1934-1935; Canada-United States Commission on Education, co-secretary, 1937; National University Extension Association, president, 1952-1953; American Association of Land Grant Colleges and State Universites, chairman, Council on General Extension, 1959; Southern Rural Life Council, served on executive committee; Phi Delta Kappa, Rotary. Co-author: Teaching Foreign-Speaking Beginners How to Read and Speak English (1925); A Comparative Study of the School Progress of Foreign-Speaking and English-Speaking Children in Early Elementary Grades (1925); Education and Rural Living in the South (1947). Managing editor: Educational Outlook, 1926-1935. Editor: Education in Louisiana, 1948. Brouillette Street, Port Barre, named for subject. Died, Baton Rouge, March 26, 1978; interred Resthaven Cemetery. J.L.F. Sources: Who’s Who in America, 1962-1963; Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, obituary, March 27, 1978; Brouillette family papers.
BROUSSARD, Edwin Sidney, attorney, U. S. senator; younger brother of U. S. Senator Robert Foligny Broussard (q.v.). Born near Loreauville, Iberia Parish, La., December 4, 1874; son of John D., planter, and Anastazie Gonsoulin. Education: public schools; Louisiana State University, graduated 1896. Taught schools in St. Martin and Iberia parishes, 1897-1898. A Spanish-American War volunteer: captain, Second Infantry Division, thereafter served as assistant-secretary to William Howard Taft’s Philippines Commission, 1899. Received law degree from Tulane University, 1901, practiced law in New Iberia, and served as prosecuting attorney, Nineteenth Judicial District, 1903-1908. Married Marie Patout, daughter of Felix Patout (q.v.) and Claire Taté, June 5, 1904. Children: Felix T., Edwin S., J. Dorville, George P. (q.v.), Eugene De B., and Marie Louise. Called “Coozan Ed,” he was descended from the earliest Acadian immigrants to Louisiana and, like his brother who represented the Acadian-French sugar belt in Congress 1897-1918, was identified between 1914 and 1916 with the Progressive party formed by Theodore Roosevelt. Associated with the political faction opposed to the New Orleans Democratic party machine organization, the leading issue in state politics in 1916, Broussard ran unsuccessfully with Parker (q.v.) on the Progressive party ticket for lieutenant governor in 1916. He was elected as a Democrat in 1920 to fill the Senate seat of his deceased brother, defeating Jared Y. Sanders (q.v.) and Donelson Caffery (q.v.). Broussard was identified as senator with strong advocacy of the sugar tariff and federal flood-control projects. An opponent of prohibition, he introduced bills in Congress to except beer and wine from the provisions of the prohibiton amendment to the U. S. Constitution. A Roman Catholic opposed by the Ku Klux Klan and New Orleans machine politicians, Broussard was re-elected in 1926 against Sanders with the support of Huey Long (q.v.), whose campaigning in South Louisiana significantly enhanced the latter’s appeal in that region. Although Broussard supported Long in his election to the governorship in 1928, Long later attacked Broussard as a political conservative and backed John H. Overton (q.v.) for the Senate in 1932. Overton’s victory over Broussard in the Democratic primary occasioned charges of massive election fraud on the part of the Long organization. In 1933-1934 Broussard tended to banking and financial affairs in New Iberia. Died, New Iberia, November 19, 1934; interred St. Peter’s Cemetery. M.J.S. Sources: T. Harry Williams, Huey Long (1969); obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, November 20, 1934; Congressional Directory.
BROUSSARD, George Patout, soldier, veterinary medicine researcher. Born, New Iberia, La., September 17, 1916; son of United States Senator Edwin S. Broussard (q.v.) and Marie C. Patout; nephew of U. S. Senator Robert F. Broussard (q.v.). Education: Washington, D. C.; New Iberia High School, Texas A & M. World War II service: activated June 29, 1941, first lieutenant, Fourth Corps, Fourth Field Artillery Battalion (Cavalry), Fort Bragg, N.C.; January 1942, South Pacific Task Force 6814, AMERICAL Division, New Caledonia; August 1944, Fort Sam Houston; October 1944, Army Air Force Regional Hospital SAACC, San Antonio, Tex.; discharged December 13, 1945, rank of major. Awarded Bronze Star, Guadalcanal and Coral Sea Campaign, Asiatic Pacific Theatre Ribbon. 1946 resumed practice, New Iberia. Married, June 21, 1947, Flora Thérèse Schwing of New Iberia, daughter of Anna Blanchet Schwing (q.v.) and John Elmer Schwing, local attorney, banker. Children: George P., Jr. (b. 1949), Edwin S., III (b. 1951), Thomas S. (b. 1953), Daniel S. (b. 1954), Kenneth J. S. (b. 1961), Benedict Jacques (b. 1963). Member: Boy Scouts Evangeline Council, Iberia Cultural Resources Association; American Veterinary Medical Association; Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association; Louisiana Veterinary Medical Board of Examiners; Iberia Cattleman’s Association (president); Attakapas Historical Association (vice-president); St. Peter’s Catholic Church. Veterinary research on diseases Anaplasmosis and Brucellosis. Died, August 30, 1977; interred with military honors Holy Family Cemetery Mausoleum, New Iberia. M.G.B. Source: Family papers.
BROUSSARD, Isaac A., politician. Born, 1857, Calcasieu Parish; son of Dosety Broussard and Elvina Lyons; removed to Lafayette Parish with widowed mother, 1870. Education: local schools. Active in Democratic party: sheriff of Lafayette Parish, 1888-1904; badly defeated in bid for reelection, 1904; shares with Carlo Listi longest tenure of office among all Lafayette sheriffs (16 years); administration noted for opposition to Regulators, 1889-1890, intimidation of Fusionist opposition, 1896, and capture and execution of Alexis and Ernest Blanc, notorious murderers, 1897. Married, November 13, 1890, Debbie Dougherty, one of the founders of First Baptist Church of Lafayette. Died, Lafayette, 1923; interred Protestant Cemetery. C.A.B. Sources: Sheriffs of Lafayette Parish, 1888-1976 (n.d.); Harry Lewis Griffin, The Attakapas Country … (1959), p. 140; William Henry Perrin, Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, (1891; reprint ed., 1971); Tombstone transcriptions, Lafayette Protestant Cemetery, Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana.
BROUSSARD, J. Dorville, politician, ferryboatman, soldier. Born, St. Martinville, La., December 27, 1833; son of Don Louis and Adela Broussard. Educated in parish schools. Operated a ferryboat between St. Martinville and Breaux Bridge until his marriage to Anastasie Gonsoulin in 1851. Sixteen children, eleven boys and five girls, including Congressman Robert F. Broussard. Served for fourteen consecutive years (1854-1868) as St. Martin Parish assessor and clerk of court. Resettled in Iberia Parish, where he served on the police jury for twelve years (1868-1880). Commissioned as a colonel in the Confederate Army, Broussard helped established fortifications on Lake Dauterive and Butte La Rose during the Civil War. Died, St. Martinville, La., October 15, 1905. J.D.W. Sources: St. Martinville, La., Weekly Messenger, October 21, 1905; Vertical File, Dupré Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana.
BROUSSARD, Jay, artist, director, Louisiana Department of Art, Historical and Cultural Preservation. Born, New Iberia, La., 1921. Married Emma Landry. Three sons. Studied engineering, then went to Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana) and studied art under Warren Robison. Became first art student there to be given a one-man show. During World War II rose from rank of private to personnel sergeant major in nine months. After war, employed at Jefferson Island salt mine. In 1947 became director of the Louisiana Art Commission, at that time the only such agency in the U. S.; was the state’s youngest department head. In 1973 became director of the larger agency formed when the Art Commission was combined with 13 other state agencies to form the Louisiana Department of Art, Historical and Cultural Preservation. Fought to keep art galleries on the second floor of the Old State Capitol to exhibit original art by Louisiana artists. President of Louisiana chapter of American Artists Professional League, the Southern Art Museum Directors Association and Southeastern Museum Conference; secretary of the first board of trustees of the Baton Rouge Arts and Sciences Center; member, American Association of Museums; Museum of Modern Art; American Federation of Art; Adult Education Association of Louisiana; Art Association of New Orleans. Active in Kiwanis Club, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America; state art chairman of the PTA six years; vice president Catholic Youth Organization; board member of Gulf States Camera Clubs Council; American Legion; AMVETS. Died, March 28, 1976, New Orleans; interred Memorial Park Cemetery, New Iberia. M.S.W. Sources: Baton Rouge State-Times, March 29, 1976; Broussard file in Louisiana State University Special Collections Library.
BROUSSARD, Joseph dit Beausoleil, Acadian pioneer. Born, Port-Royal, Acadia, 1702; son of Jean-François Broussard dit Beausoleil and Catherine Richard. Founded Boundary Creek settlement in Nova Scotia with brother Alexandre, 1740. After British forced Acadians into exile in 1755, acted as a leader of a small resistance group. Using guerilla warfare, this group held out until hunger and news of other French losses in Canada forced their surrender to the British in 1759. Held prisoner until 1764 when his name appears on a list of refugees sent to Saint-Domingue. He and his group went to Attakapas area of Louisiana in 1765. He is designated on a cattle contract dated April 4, 1765, as “capitaine commandant des Acadiens des Attakapas.” Married Agnès Thibodeau, September 11, 1725. Children: Jean-Grégoire (b. 1726), Victor (b. 1728), Raphaël (b. 1733), Timothée (b. 1741). Died, Attakapas District, La., October 20, 1765; interred near town named for family. P.D.A. Sources: William Faulkner Rushton, The Cajuns: From Acadia to Louisiana (1979); Bona Arsenault, History of the Acadians (1978); Bona Arsenault, Histoire et généalogie des Acadiens, 2 vols. (1965).
BROUSSARD, Lastie Odillon, Jr., banker, civic leader. Born, Abbeville, La., February 22, 1869; son of Lastie Odilon Broussard (q.v.) and Perpetué Mayard. Education: local schoools; St. Charles Jesuit College, Grand Coteau, La., B. A., M. A. Vermilion Parish teacher; tax collector, 1892-1894; superintendent, Vermilion Parish Public Schools; president and principal owner, Abbeville Wholesale Grocery Co., organized 1915; organizer and president, Southern Barry Brokerage Firm, New Orleans, La.; secretary-treasurer Abbeville Rice Mill and Abbeville Canal Company; secretary, Abbeville Building & Loan Association; owner, Broussard Insurance Co. One of the organizers of the Bank of Abbeville, president, 1907-1944; chairman of the board, 1932-1944. Recognized nationally for banking leadership. Member, American Taxpayers League, president, 1927 and 1938, and chairman of the board, 1938-1944. During World War I appointed head of the Vermilion Parish Liberty Loan and Food Conservation committees. One of the organizers of the Louisiana Bankers Association, secretary for sixteen years, president, 1918, chairman of executive committee, 1919-1924, member, executive committee, 1924-1944. Member, state constitutional convention of 1898, 1913, vice-president, 1921 constitutional convention. Member, Boston, Pickwick, Austin and Louisiana clubs, New Orleans, La. Married (1), 1891, Lenora Rainer. Children: Guy Rainer, married Henratha Moore; Blanche, married Thomas C. Nicholls, Jr.; Nona, married Thomas K. Martin. Married (2), 1914, Marjorie Bancroft, one child (adopted) Elizabeth Bancroft. Died, Abbeville, January 23, 1944. V.B.S. Sources: Obituary, Abbeville Meridional, January 29, 1944; Ellis Arthur Davis, ed., The Historical Encyclopedia of Louisiana (1937); Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana (1925).
BROUSSARD, Lastie Odillon, Sr., attorney, banker, politician. Born near Lake Simonet (Peigneur), Vermilion Parish, La., December 15, 1838; son of Augustin Broussard (1807-1885) and Marie Coralee Broussard (1812-1899), the daughter of Eloy Broussard and Marguerite Thibodeaux. Grew up on his father’s farm, leaving it in 1859 to clerk in an Abbeville drugstore. Served as deputy sheriff for two years then as sheriff, parish treasurer, and assessor for three years during the Civil War. Clerk of court, Vermilion Parish, for twenty-three years. In 1879 admitted to the bar. Entered into partnership, 1889, with Walter A. White and later founded law firm of Broussard, Kitchell and Bailey. Became mayor of Abbeville, and later state senator, representing the Thirteenth District from 1900 to 1904. According to the Abbeville Meridional, he was one of the few men who made a stand for a new order in Vermilion Parish in the aftermath of Reconstruction when lawlessness prevailed. Married, 1861, Perpetué Mayard, the daughter of Lufroid Mayard of Spain and Uranie Landry of Vermilionville (now Lafayette), La. Children: Odile, married William Cade; Odelia, married Rémy Broussard; Odelie, never married; Olive, married Dr. Robert Young; Ophelia, who died as an infant; Lastie Odillon (q.v.); Oliver, married Cecile Pechou; Octavia, married Dr. Joseph Villien; Ovide, married Paula Brasseaux; Onesia, married J. Felix Broussard; Olita, who became Sister Mathilde of the Carmelite Order; Otto, married Minnie Putnam; Otis, married Kathryn Rose Peters; Omea and Opta, died before adulthood. Died, Abbeville, March 31, 1911. V.B.S. Sources: Author’s research.
BROUSSARD, LeRoy, Cajun musician. Born in Rayne, La., June 8, 1921; son of Eulice Broussard and Clotilde Broussard. Married Verna Marie Broussard; children: Ronnie, Gerald, Ernest, Melinda Ann. Broussard was a self-taught accordion player, vocalist, and songwriter. Learned to play the accordion at the age of eight; began to perform professionally with Cajun bands at fifteen. Moved to Winnie, Tex., ca. 1931; returned to Louisiana in the early 1940s. Subsequently joined Chester Isaac “Pee Wee” Broussard and the Melody Boys. Later organized The Happy-Go-Lucky Band. In the mid-1940s, relocated to southeastern Texas, where he was a professional musician as well as manager of the B. O. Sparkle Club of Bridge City. While in Texas, Broussard introduced the now popular style of playing the Cajun accordion from a standing position. Moved to Louisiana in the late 1950s; subsequently became an employee of the City of Lafayette, La. Retired from the city work force because of a disability after fifteen years of service. Reorganized The Happy-Go-Lucky Band as The Lagniappe Gang, ca. 1978. Recorded an album entitled “LeRoy Broussard and The Lagniappe Gang” on the Kajun label, 1983. Died at Carencro, La., November 5, 1991; interred at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens, Lafayette. J.H.B. Sources: Gerald Broussard; C. J. Broussard; Joseph H. Bergeron, “A Companion to Cajun Music” (forthcoming).
BROUSSARD, Ray, jockey. Born, Abbeville, La., 1936 or 1937. Licensed to ride in Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Florida. First began racing on recognized tracks in 1953; in 1955, he won 117 out of 794 mounts with purses totaling $407,364. Broussard was for many years the first-call jockey for the vaunted stable of Mrs. Joe W. Brown, for whom he won the New Orleans Handicap on Tenacious (1958 and 1959), on Greek Star (1961), and on Green Hornet (1964). Broussard won the Louisiana Derby four times: on Master Palynch (1959), Admiral’s Voyage (1962), Blue Skyer (1966), and Clev Er Tell (1977). Broussard rode Tenacious to victory in three consecutive Louisiana Handicaps (1958-1960) and also won the race on Soy Numero Uno (1977). Called “one of the top riders to ever come out of Louisiana,” Broussard also had limited success in New York and New Jersey. Died, Bossier City, La., October 6, 1993. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 9, 1993.
BROUSSARD, Rita “Bruce,” Cajun musician. Born in Rayne, La., September 26, 1925; son of Euclide Broussard and Alice Cormier. His father taught him to play guitar. Began to perform professionally as a guitar player and vocalist in the 1930s. Over the course of his musical career, Broussard played with Aldus Roger and the Wandering Aces and Livaudais “Lee” Sonnier and the Acadian All Stars; Aldus “Popeye” Broussard; Laura Broussard; and Calvin Halloway. Made numerous recordings with Sonnier’s band. Perhaps best remembered for the “War Widow Waltz,” with vocals by Laura Broussard. Married (1) Laura Broussard; married (2) Inez Cormier. Children: Aldus, Amelia, Eva, Rita, Jr. Died at Rayne, La., December 15, 1991; interred in St. Joseph Cemetery #2, Rayne. J.H.B. Sources: Inez Broussard; “Fais DoDo Breakdown,” Flywright LP 609, liner notes by Bruce Bastin; Joseph H. Bergeron, “A Companion to Cajun Music” (forthcoming).
BROUSSARD, Robert Foligny, U. S. senator. Born, Mary Louise Plantation, Iberia Parish, La., August 17, 1864; son of John D. and Anastasia Gonsoulin Broussard; older brother of Edwin S. Broussard (q.v.). Education: local public and private schools; Georgetown University, Washington, D. C. Appointed night inspector of customs of the Port of New Orleans, July 1, 1885, assistant weigher and statistician, July 7, 1887. While in federal service studied law at Tulane University. Graduated 1889 and admitted to the bar. Elected prosecuting atttorney, Nineteenth Judicial District, 1892. Elected to the United States House of Representatives, 1896 and served, 1897-1915. Married Marette Applegate of New Orleans, 1898. Elected to the United States Senate, 1914 and served from 1915 until his death. A Democrat, he served on several committees in the House and Senate, was an active proponent of tariff protection for the Louisiana sugar industry. Was known affectionately among the Acadian French of southern Louisiana as “Couzan Bob.” Died, New Iberia, La., April 12, 1918; interred St. Peter Cemetery. W.R.S. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 … (1971); Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana, (1925); Alcée Fortier, Louisiana (1914); National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1900); Washington Post, obituary, April 13, 1918.
BROUSSARD, Valsin, founder of Broussard, La., planter, merchant. Born, Côte Gelée, Lafayette Parish, La., October 17, 1825; son of Don Louis Broussard and Anastasie Landry. Education: private tutors. Served as first postmaster of Côte Gelée from December 13, 1856 to June 22, 1866, and again from July 24, 1874, to September 19, 1881; Côte Gelée Post Office renamed Broussardville (now Broussard) in his honor on October 7, 1881. Leader in formation of Lafayette Parish Vigilance Committee in January 1859 at a time of ineffectual judicial system and rampant banditry and murder. “Donated land for a church and cemetery site, a private school site, a public school site, the right-of-way for a railroad, and the streets and ‘ruelles’ (alleys) for a town.” Built his home in 1877 which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 14, 1983. Married, May 3, 1858, Emma Montet of Côte Gelée, La., daughter of Pierre Leon Montet and Anne Divine Broussard. Children: Louis Alphonse (b. 1860), Hélène (b. 1863), Leonidas (b. 1866), Cécile (b. 1869), Clara (b. 1872), Carlos Valsin (b. 1874), Marie Alzire (b. 1877), Jean Romain (b. 1882). Member: Roman Catholic church. Died, Broussard, March 2, 1899; interred Sacred Heart Catholic Church Cemetery. P.M.S. Source: Author’s research.
BROUTIN, Ignace François, engineer, surveyor. Born in the 1680s or 1690s in La Bassée, Pas-de-Calais, France; son of Pierre Broutin and Michel de Mairée (or Michelle de Maire). Entered the French military service before 1713, and in 1713 drew up plans for the siege of Landau and Fribourg. In 1718 made a major survey of the province of Alsace. Was commissioned as a half-pay captain in the Saumur Garrison, Paris, 1719; in 1720 was commissioned by the Company of the West to go to Louisiana as an engineer under Chief Engineer Pierre Le Blond de La Tour (q.v.), and later under La Tour’s successor, Adrien de Pauger (q.v.). Married Marguerite Madeleine Le Maire (widow of François Philippe de Marigny), daughter of Pierre Lemaire and Marguerite Lamothe, September 26, 1729. Children: Ignace François, Jr., married Jeanne Marie Marthe Chauvin (who later married Augustin Macarty); Madeleine, married (1) François Xavier Delino de Chalmet and (2) Pierre Denis de La Ronde; Marguerite, married (1) Paul Rasteau and (2) Jean-Joseph Delfau de Pontalba. Helped Pauger lay out New Orleans until 1725 appointed commissioner of the Natchez region. Became acting chief engineer in 1727 after the death of Pauger which had occurred the year before. For political reasons was replaced by Pierre Baron in 1728, but was reinstated in 1732. Closely supervised the drawing of two plans of New Orleans by his draftsman, Gonichon, which were considered the best such maps of New Orleans to that time. Considered the first important architect/engineer in the Louisiana colony. Architectural works include: the barracks that flanked the Public Square (now Jackson Square, 1732), Fort St. Jean-Baptiste de Natchitoches (1733), and the Ursuline Convent (1745). Died, New Orleans, August 9, 1751. J.T.M. Sources: Samuel Wilson, Jr., Ignace François Broutin, Engineer of the King, Louisiana’s First Architect, reprinted from John Francis McDermott, ed., Frenchmen and French Ways in the Mississippi Valley (1969); Alice Daly Forsyth, ed., Louisiana Marriages, Volume I (1977).
BROWDER, Frederick Avery, politician. Born, Williamson County, Tenn. Arrived Feliciana, Spanish West Florida, 1808. Secretary, West Florida Convention, November 19 to December 6, 1810; appointed coroner, Parish of Feliciana by W. C. C. Claiborne, 1811; sheriff, Parish of Feliciana, 1823-1824; clerk of both parish court and Third Judicial District Court, 1811-1822; police juror, 1820-1824. Owner of St. Francisville Hotel, 1820-1826. Married (1) Sarah A. Collins, daughter of Bartlett Collins, 1810. Married (2) Isabella Henderson, daughter of John Henderson of Wilkinson County, Miss., 1817. Married (3) Harriet Butler, widow of Moses Hooks of Salisbury Hall, Wilkinson County, Miss. Died by drowning, 1831, Wilkinson County, Miss. E.K.D. Sources: West Feliciana Parish Records; Weeks Family Papers, Louisiana State University; Anglo-American Museum, LSU, Baton Rouge, La.
BROWN, Charles, abolitionist, slaverunner. Born, South Carolina, 1814. A free man of color, first became acquainted with the abolitionist movement during boyhood in Charleston. Removed to New Orleans, worked as a pastry cook, became a local agent for the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society. A visit to Oberlin College during a northern trip had apparently inspired his commitment. His checkered career as a slaverunner and hotel waiter ended abruptly in 1841 when he was hanged in a public execution for the murder of two white men during a robbery attempt in St. Louis, Mo. He was perhaps no older than 27. T.F.R. Source: A. B. Chambers, ed., The Confessions of Madison Henderson, Alias Blanchard, Alfred Amos Warrick, James W. Seward, and Charles Brown, Murders of Jesse Baker and Jacob Weaver, As Given by Themselves (1841).
BROWN, Donnell Adair, educator, artist, writer, international news correspondent, political cartoonist. Born, Taylor, Tex., April 5, 1899. Education: local schools, Marshall, Tex. World War I service: corporal, Fifty-fourth Ammunition Train, American Expeditionary Force. After war resumed education: Art Institute of Chicago, 1919; Art League of New York, 1924; Paris Académie de la Grand Chaumière; Académie André l’Hote in Paris, 1929; Centenary College of Louisiana, B. A., 1943. Married (1) Nelle Wick. One child, Mary Adair. Married (2) Velma Odom. City editor Marshall Morning News; staff member, The Shreveport Times; aviation columnist, North American Newspaper Alliance; managing editor, Staten Island Advance; staff member, Paris edition, Chicago Tribune; and political cartoonist, The New Masses. Art instructor, College of Marshall (East Texas Baptist College), 1932-1934; chairman, Art Department, Centenary College of Louisiana, 1934-1958. Regional painter: One-man showings in Paris, New York, Dallas, and Denver. Paintings and murals in Mark Twain Museum, Hannibal, Mo.; Witte Museum, San Antoinio, Tex.; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; Philadelphia Museum; Louisiana State University; Museum of Mississippi River; Meadows Museum; Centenary College; University of Texas; and East Texas Baptist College. Articles published in New Republic, The Southwestern Review, and the Ford Times. Died, Caddo Lake, May 1, 1958; interred Greenwood Cemetery, Marshall, Tex. S.S. Sources: Shreveport Journal, August 11, 1962; Shreveport Times, obituary, May 2, 1958; October 19, 1980; The Centenary College Conglomerate, May 9, 1958; Personnel File, Centenary College Archives.
BROWN, James, attorney, politician. Born near Staunton, Va., September 11, 1766; son of John Brown and Margaret Preston. Educated in the academy which became Washington and Lee University; graduated from William and Mary College. Married Miss Hart, sister of Mrs. Henry Clay, about 1791. Commanded a company in the 1789 Indian wars. Law practice in Lexington and Frankfurt, Ky., 1789-ca. 1804; secretary of state to Kentucky governor, 1792. Law practice, New Orleans, 1804-1823; named secretary of Territory of Orleans, October 1, 1804; district attorney in Louisiana. With Moreau Lislet (q.v.), prepared civil code for Orleans Territory, in English and French, A Digest of the Civil Laws Now in Force in the Territory of Orleans (1808) which remained fundamental until Livingston code. Served in 1812 Louisiana constitutional convention; U. S. senator from Louisiana, 1813-1817, 1819-1823, defeated for U. S. Senate, 1816. Envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to France from September 9, 1823, to June 28, 1829. Named a regent under 1805 act to establish a Louisiana University which did not materialize. Died of apoplexy in Philadelphia, April 7, 1835. T.D.S. Sources: Dictionary of American Biography; Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Beckles Willson, America’s Ambassadors to France (1776-1927) … (1928); U. S. Dept. of State, United States Chiefs of Mission, 1778-1973.
BROWN, Paul Marvin, banker, oilman, philanthropist. Born, Amite, La., November, 1893. Education: Centenary Academy (prep school), Centenary College, A. B., 1916; Southern Methodist University, A. M., 1917. Taught classical languages, Centenary, 1917-1918, before joining 114th Field Signal Battalion of the Signal Corps, American Expeditionary Forces in France. Married Willie Eleanor Cavett, 1918. Children: Charles Ellis Brown and Eleanor Brown Greve (Mrs. Bertrand). Stockholder and officer in Louisiana Bank and Trust Co. Served, 1935-1981, successively as president and general manager and board chairman of Bayou State Oil Co. Broad civic, charitable, and philanthropic interests: Masons, Knights Templar; Rotary Club; United Way; Shreveport Symphony; United Methodist church; Centenary College of Louisiana (chairman, board of trustees, twenty-five years). Together with wife established Brown Chair of English, presidential scholarships program, Ellis H. Brown Leadership Awards. Among major contributors to Warters Chair of Biology at Centenary. Public service: Shreveport Better Business Bureau; Selective Service Board (twenty-five years); member, first Louisiana Civil Service Commission (twelve years); organizer of Public Affairs Research Council (PAR); charter member Council for a Better Louisiana; trustee and executive board member, Gulf South Education; member, Louisiana Commission for Higher Education; member, Educational Committee, U. S. Chamber of Commerce. Honors: LL. D. Centenary College, 1966; O(micron) D(elta) K(appa) Leadership Fraternity (1949); first member Centenary College Alumni Hall of Fame; Monte Lemann Award for work on Louisiana State Civil Service Commission; Paul Harris Award (Rotary’s highest citation); United Way Community Service Award; Optimist Air Force Association Award for contribution to education; Liberty Bell Award by Shreveport Bar Association; Special Humanitarian Award by Shreveport Community Council; Shreveport Rose Society Award for service to the Society and the community. Died, September 7, 1981; interred Forest Park Cemetery, Shreveport. L.M. Sources: Walter Lowrey, Paul Brown Era at Centenary College (Shreveport, 1981); memorial resolution, Louisiana Bank and Trust Co., October 8, 1981; editorial Shreveport Times, September 9, 1981.
BROWN, Philip Rayfield III. pastor, civil rights activist. Born, New Orleans, October 7, 1917. Married Bertha Duckett; four children: Philip IV, Eleanor Miller, Norma West, and James. Served for some years as a United States letter carrier inspector. Pastor, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, 1948-49; Travelers’ Rest Baptist Church, 1959; Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, 1959-1997. He served as executive director of the Ouachita Multi-Purpose Community Action Program in 1966, and he was the president of the Monroe, La., chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1961-63. He received the most prestigious civic award, New Orleans, 1957, and he was man of the year for Monroe, 1970 and 1974. He was also named humanitarian of the year, 1972. Brown was very active in the fight against racial discrimination in Monroe and New Orleans. His activity in the church made him a highly visible figure in the community, and he used this position to promote civil rights, equality and his humanitarian beliefs. Died, Monroe, La., July 23, 1997. M.D.S. Sources: Shirelle Phelps, ed. Who’s Who Among African-Americans. 9th ed. (1993); Monroe News-Star World, July 25, 1997.
BROWN, Kennell Philip, physician, civic leader. Born, Jeanerette, La., January 29, 1926; son of Philip Harry Brown and Clara Patricia Guiberteau. Married Margaret Fox Bingham; children: Margaret Fox, Kennell Philip, Jr., Thomas Moore, Louise Bingham, and Ellen Marie. Graduated from Cameron Junior College, Lawton, Okla. Subsequently served in World War II. Attended Biarritz University, Biarritz, France, after the war.; subsequently graduated from the Tulane University School of Medicine. Operated a family practice at Jeanerette, 1952-1997. Civic service: president, Jeanerette Chamber of Commerce, 1954-1956; treasurer, Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival and Fair Association, 1955-1960; president, Iberia Parish Tuberculosis Association, 1959-1960; a founder and board member, Krewe of Andalusia; president, Iberia Community Concert Association; board member and president, Iberia Parish Cultural Resources Association; board member, Teche Museum of Iberia Parish. Honors: outstanding citizen of Jeanerette, 1955; named Mr. Jeanerette, 1960; king of Omardz Mardi Gras Ball (New Orleans), 1973; King of Andalusia, Krewe of Andalusia (Jeanerette), 1991. Lay minister and collector, St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, JeanerÂette. An avid genealogist, Brown published The Descendants of Nicholas Provost (1957). Member: Iberia Parish Medical Society, Louisiana State Medical Society, Louisiana Academy of General Practice, American Academy of General Practice, American Medical Association, Louisiana Academy of Family Practice, Society of the War of 1812, Sons of the American Revolution, Boston Club of New Orleans. Died, Jeanerette, November 13, 1997; interred Beau Pré Cemetery, near Jeanerette. C.A.B. Sources: New Iberia Daily Iberian, November 14, 1997.
BROWN, Richard “Rabbit,” songster, blues musician. Born, rural Louisiana or Mississippi, ca. 1880. A mysterious figure, almost nothing is known about the life of “Rabbit” Brown. Evidence from his recorded works and comparison of vocal styles with other songsters of his age seem to indicate that Brown was born in rural Louisiana or Mississippi and that he migrated to New Orleans in the 1890s as part of an influx of blacks into the city. He became a busker in the James Alley and Storyville sections of the city, making a living by singing in the streets, saloons, Lake Pontchartrain ferryboats, and on excursion trains to Baton Rouge. His broad musical repertoire drew on folk songs, Tin Pan Alley tunes, and “event songs.” Some of the events he described included the sinking of the Titanic (a ubiquitous theme in folk music), the murder of New Orleans police chief David Hennessy (“Downfall of the Lion,” now existing only in fragmentary form), a gangland murder that eventually led to regulation of the New Orleans saloons (“Gyp, The Blood,” now lost), and an account of kidnapping in Opelousas (“The Mystery of the Dunbars’ Child”). He recorded six songs in New Orleans on November 3, 1927, for the Victor label. One of those songs, the autobiographical “James Alley Blues,” lends credence to the belief that he was born in a rural area. His death date is the matter of controversy. He was long believed to have died in New Orleans around 1937, but recent evidence suggests that he died as early as 1929. K.S.F. Sources: Author’s research; Lemon Nash interview, Hogan Jazz Archive; Paul Oliver, Songsters and Saints (1984); Chris Smith, liner notes to The Greatest Songsters (Document DOCD-5003).
BROWN, William G., superintendent of education, civic leader. Born, Trenton, N. J., 1832. Educated in the West Indies. Served as superintendent of education, 1872-1876, during which time enrollment and integration of the New Orleans public schools reached its highest point during Reconstruction. Brown served in other capacities; member, board of trustees at New Orleans University; editor, New Orleans Louisianian, 1870-1872; treasurer, Cosmopolitan Insurance Association (1882); Berry Lodge No. 2 Masonic Order, and Knights of Bethany Commandery, No. 4, K. T. Died, New Orleans, May 14, 1883. C.V. Sources: John W. Blassingame, Black New Orleans, 1860-1880 (1973); Charles Vincent, Black Legislators in Louisiana during Reconstruction (1976); death notice, New Orleans Times-Democrat, May 15, 1883.
BROWNELL, Charles Richard, industrialist, philanthropist. Born, February 25, 1840; son of John W. Brownell and Lovina Sadler of New York. Reared on his father’s farm and educated in public schools in Allegan County, where he taught several terms before reading law and being admitted to the bar there. Retired from the practice of law to go into the lumber business in the white pine districts of Michigan. In 1886 removed to Louisiana to engage in the cypress lumber industry, forming a partnership with Robert M. Moore, which evolved into the Berwick Lumber Company which he headed as president. Organized, 1899, in Morgan City, La., Brownell-Drews Lumber Co., in which he and his son, Horace, and Gus Drews of Morgan City were stockholders. The company employed 150 people and had an annual output of 12,000,000 feet of lumber. A philanthropist, contributed to the welfare of whites and blacks, their churches and schools. Married (1) Clarissa Moon in Michigan. One son: Horace (1865-1934). Married (2), 1874, Fidelia M. Spencer of Lenawee County, Mich. No children. Member, Morgan City Masons, Eastern Stars, and Elks. Died, Morgan City, April 22, 1925; interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. L.K.L. Source: Brownell Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
BROWNLEE, Charles Henry, attorney, politician, businessman. Born, Algiers, Orleans Parish, La., January 23, 1853; son of John Brownlee (q.v.) and Mary Ann Spence. Education: local schools; Tulane University, LL. B. degree, 1891. Machinist and clerk of Boiler Department at Southern Pacific Railroad Company until 1886. Delegate to the Louisiana Democratic Convention, 1888. Clerk, Third City Court of New Orleans, 1888; reelected, 1892. Elected to clerkship in the appellate court, 1899. Member, Ancient Order United Workmen; The Essenic Order; Knights of Pythias; grand dictator of The Knights of Honour. Married in New Orleans, December 13, 1876, Ellen Agnes Connell of Cleveland, Ohio, daughter of John Connell and Maria Dunn. Children: Eleanor Spence (b. 1877), William John (b. 1879), Lillian Gertrude (b. 1881), Maria Louise (b. 1883), Charles Henry, Jr. (b. 1884), Florence Mary (b. 1890), Ruth Evelyn (b. 1892), Norman Edward (q.v.). Died, New Orleans, September 12, 1924; interred Metairie Cemetery. C.M.B. Sources: Birth #467, October 31, 1860, New Orleans Vital Records; Brownlee family bible and records; C. V. Kraft, ed., The Herald, Vol. XIII, special edition, p. 112; Marriage Book 9, folio 34 and Death Certificate #572, New Orleans Vital Records; New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 13, 1924; Lake Lawn Cemetery records and tombstone engraving, Metairie Cemetery, Section 92, Lot 133; Louisiana Census 1870, 1880.
BROWNLEE, John, politician. Born, Belfast, Ireland, January 22, 1818. Immigrated to the United States at age 13, and received his citizenship papers, October 1847. Confederate service: Company “B”, Ninth Regiment, First Brigade, Duvergé Guards, Parish of Orleans, Right Bank, Algiers Battalion, Louisiana Militia. Served as treasurer, Duvergé Guards. (This organization was also known as Capt. James T. Anderson’s Company, Algiers Battalion, Louisiana Militia). Married, Janaury 21, 1843, Mary Ann Spence of New York City. Children: Elizabeth (b. 1845), William Thomas (b. 1848), Edward (b. 1850), John, Jr. (b. 1851), Charles Henry (q.v.), Emma Louisa (b. 1859), Ella G. (b. 1862). Active in Democratic party; president, Orleans Parish Police Jury; justice of the peace; Orleans Parish comptroller of licenses; constable, Algiers, 1861; member, Saints John Lodge No. 153, F. & A.M., Masonic Lodge, served as senior deacon, 1862, secretary, 1865. Died, New Orleans, December 12, 1869; interred Odd Fellows Rest and Cemetery. C.M.B. Sources: C. V. Kraft, The Herald, Vol. XIII, special edition, p. 112; Gardner’s New Orleans Directory—Government of Algiers; family bible and family papers; Succession of John Brownlee, Petition No. 38051, Second District Court of Algiers, 5th District, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana; Civil War Record: Card no. 47011809, Veterans Records, National Archives, Washington, D. C.; Official records from Saints John Lodge No. 153, F. & A.M., Algiers, 5th District of New Orleans, La.; New Orleans Vital Records; Odd Fellow Rest and Cemetery Records and Vault #589 inscriptions; Louisiana census: 1850, 1860, 1870.
BROWNLEE, Norman Edward, musician, cemetery director. Born, New Orleans, February 7, 1896; son of Charles Henry Brownlee (q.v.) and Ellen Agnes Connell. Education: local schools. World War I veteran. Jazz orchestra leader “Brownlee’s Orchestra,” New Orleans, 1920-1930. Although best known as a Dixieland jazz pianist, he was also an outstanding bass-violinist, and his bass fiddle is in the New Orleans Jazz Museum. His memoirs deposited in the Jazz Archives of Tulane University. Recorded for Okeh and Columbia records, including two of his own compositions, “Peculiar” and “Dirty Rag.” Listed in Who’s Who in New Orleans Jazz. An early amateur pilot, 1925. President, Pensacola Federation of Musicians, Local No. 283. President of the “MOPS”—former professional musicians; secretary-treasurer of the musicians union. Member, Escambia Masonic Lodge No. 15, a York Rite and Scottish Rite Mason; a Shriner; Pensacola Rotary Club; Christ Episcopal Church of Pensacola. Married, in New York City, December 7, 1918, Irma Lee French of New Orleans, daughter of Henry David French (q.v.) and Matilda Louise Sutherland. Children: Norman Edward (b. 1920), Robert Henry (b. 1924), Henry French (b. 1931). Died, Pensacola, Fla., April 9, 1967; interred Bayview Cemetery. C.M.B. Sources: New Orleans Vital Birth Records, Book 1VL, folio 648; family records; Raymond J. Martinez, Portraits of New Orleans Jazz; MacMillan Dictionary of Biography, Index, 1981-1982 supplement, 2nd edition; Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz, A Family Album (1984); Marriage License Bureau, Manhattan, City of New York, City Clerk, Record No. 33445/1918; death certificate, Vital Records, Florida, No. 67-019912, 374; obituary, Pensacola News, April 10, 1967; New Orleans States-Item, April 14, 1967; New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 11, 1967; Howard Jacobs, “Remoulade,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 14, 1967; cemetery records and tombstone inscription
BRUENING, Augustine Joseph, clergyman. Born in Germany, August 24, 1879. Immigrated as a youth to the U. S.; attended St. Joseph’s College, Kirkwood, Mo., 1894-1900. Pursued philosophical and theological courses at Mt. St. Clement’s, DeSoto, Mo., 1901-1905. After ordination assigned, January 7, 1917, St. Henry’s, San Antonio, Tex. (1917-1918). Followed Archbishop John W. Shaw (q.v.) to New Orleans and served him in numerous capacities: secretary and vice chancellor from October 15 to December 31, 1918; chancellor from January 1, 1919, to December 31, 1923. He was also consultor, pro-synodal judge on the Metropolitan Tribunal, deputy for seminary in temporalities, building commission member. Best remembered for leadership in drive for funding the erection and endowment of Notre Dame Seminary, 1920-1921. Named pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, New Orleans, 1924. Named, 1938, domestic prelate. Died, January 20, 1944; interred St. Louis Cemetery III, New Orleans. H.C.B. Sources: Bruening Papers in Archdiocesan Archives; Registers of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, New Orleans, and Chancery documents.
BRUIN, Peter Bryan, soldier, planter, administrator. Born, Winchester, Va., 1756; son of Bryan Bruin and Elizabeth Humphreys. Education: local private school; College of Philadelphia, Pa. Revolutionary War service: rose to rank of brevet lieutenant colonel; wounded and captured at Quebec; later fought in New Jersey and North Carolina; wounded at Brandywine, fought at Germantown, served as aide-de-camp to Gen. John Sullivan, fought at Newport and in campaign against northern Indians in New York. Married, February 27, 1781, Elizabeth Edmonds (ca. 1759-1807) of Fauquier County, Va., daughter of Elias Edmonds and Elizabeth Miller. Six children: Elizabeth (1781-1857); Sophia (ca. 1787-1827); Maria; Matilda; Edmonds; Timothy (last two names may not be correct). After Revolutionary War owned plantation “Roscommon” located on Potomac River in Berkeley County, Va.; moved to nearby Bath, Va., and became a merchant. Emigrated to Spanish West Florida, 1788; plantation owner “Castle Bruin” Bruinsburg (Bayou Pierre), Natchez District; Spanish alcalde, syndic, colonel of Natchez militia, various dates 1788-1798; Mississippi territorial judge, 1798-1809. Participated in several notorious trials including the Aaron Burr hearing in 1807, resigned 1809. Owned large plantation on shores of horseshoe-shaped lake (Lake Bruin), Concordia Parish, La., lived there for some years, post-1807. Lake Bruin is undoubtedly named for him. Interred 1827, near Bruinsburg, Miss. W.S.C. Sources: William S. Coker, “Peter Bruin: Record as Soldier, Judge, Settler,” Miss. Sesquicentennial Edition Natchez Democrat (January, 1968); “Peter Bryan Bruin: Soldier, Judge and Frontiesman,” West Virginia History, XXX (1969); “The Bruins and the Formulation of Spanish Immigration Policy in the Old Southwest, 1787-88,” in John Francis McDermott, ed., The Spanish in The Mississippi Valley, 1763-1804 (1974); “Peter Bryan Bruin: Soldier, Frontiersman and Judge,” Vol. IV: The Spanish Borderlands Series (Pensacola, Fla., forthcoming); “Colonel Peter Bryan Bruin: Virginia, Spanish West Florida, and Louisiana Planter,” in R. Alton Lee, ed., Agricultural Legacies: Essays in Honor of Gilbert C. Fite (1986).
BRUNER, Warner Lee, educator, farmer. Born, Branch, Acadia Parish, La., November 22, 1895; son of John Lee and Ida Clark Bruner. Education: public schools; Louisiana State University, graduated 1921. World War I and World War II service; rose to rank of colonel, infantry. Taught vocational agriculture Breaux Bridge (La.) High School after World War I. Organized local National Guard company, called to active duty in 1940 as battalion commander, Second Battalion, 156th Louisiana National Guard. After World War II was director of Veterans’ Education and dean of men, University of Southwestern Louisiana. Owned and operated farm land in St. Martin and Acadia parishes; soil conservation district supervisor; member, town council, Breaux Bridge; director, Farmers-Merchants Bank. Married Cecile Gainnié of Thibodaux, La., daughter of Louis Raphael and Juanita Alberti Gainnié, August 15, 1923. Children: Warner L., Jr. (b. 1924) and Thomas G. (b. 1926). Died, Breaux Bridge, La., September 25, 1961; interred Catholic cemetery. J.M.G. Source: Bruner Family Papers.
BRUNIES, Merritt J., musician. Born, New Orleans, December 25, 1895. One of the jazz-playing Brunies brothers. Started with a family band in New Orleans’ Irish Channel. Moved on to Los Angeles, then Chicago where he achieved fame playing at the Friars Inn. The seven records he cut for Okeh and Autograph are among the rarest and most prized of collectors items. Moved South again in the late 1920s, settling in Biloxi, playing at many top night spots in southern Mississippi and Louisiana. Children: Raymond and Merritt H. Died, Biloxi, Miss., February 4, 1973; interred Lafayette Cemetery I, New Orleans. H.C. Sources: New Orleans States-Item, obituary, February 25, 1973; Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album, 3rd ed. (1984).
BRUNOT, Alice Magee, law librarian. Born, New Orleans, 1872; daughter of Alice Monroe Kimball and John J. Magee. Education: Dominican College, New Orleans. Married Harney Felix Brunot. No children. Began working as law librarian after college graduation; the 70,000-volume library was a scattering of legal reports before her arrival; received recognition for integrating of common law library and civil law library under the Napoleonic Code; had a working knowledge of common law practices in other states; was one of the leading authorities on state law libraries in the United States; was state law librarian for twenty-five years. Member: past president, National Association of State Libraries; vice president, American Association of Law Libraries. Died, Long Beach, Miss., June 24, 1956; interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. J.B.C. Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, June 25, 1956.
BRUNOT, Harney F., lawyer, state Supreme Court justice. Born in Catahoula Parish, La., October 8, 1860; son of Felix L. Brunot and Jennie Neely. Married Alice L. Laycock; at least two children: Joseph Laycock and Mary Elizabeth. Education: attended Christian Brothers College, Pass Christian, Miss.; Bachelors degree, Louisiana State University, 1880; law degree, University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), 1882. Began a private law practice in Baton Rouge, 1882; elected city attorney for Baton Rouge, 1882; served in that position until elected state district judge for the Baton Rouge area, 1896; served until defeated for reelection, 1904. Served as state printer, 1904-1906; elected once again to the state district court for the Baton Rouge area, 1906; served until June 4, 1923, when he assumed a seat on the state supreme court; retired from the state high court, December 31, 1936. Died, March 11, 1944. J.D.W. Sources: Alcée Fortier, Louisiana (1914), vol. 3:75-76; The Sesquicentennial of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1813-1963 (1963).
BRUNS, Henry Dickson, physician, educator, political activist. Born, Charleston, S. C., June 15, 1859; son of John Dickson Bruns and Sarah Dickson. Education: New Orleans private schools, University of Virginia, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa. Practiced in New York and New Orleans; surgeon-in-charge, eye department, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital; editor, New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal; founder, New Orleans Polyclinic; professor of Medicine, Tulane University, 1906-1919. Married, 1888, Kate Logan of Virginia and New York City, daughter of Gen. T. M. Logan, C. S. A., and Kate Virginia Cox Logan. Children: Logan T. (b. 1889), John Dickson (b. 1893), Henry J. (b. 1894), Thomas C. (b. 1902). Active in reform politics, advocate of women’s suffrage; member, Young Men’s Democratic Association; Anti-Lottery League; Ballot Reform League; Citizens’ League; delegate-at-large, constitutional convention of 1898; Good Government League; Honest Election League. Member: American OphthalÂmologiÂcal Society, Louisiana Medical Society (president, 1907), Phi Beta Kappa, Orleans Parish Medical Society, American Medical Association, National Municipal League, American Free Trade League, National Economic League, Sentinels of the Republic, University of Virginia Alumni Association, Colonnade Club, National Beagle Club of America, Rigolets Hunting and Fishing Club of New Orleans, Izaak Walton League of America. Died, May 19, 1933; interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. E.F.H. Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, May 20, 1933.
BRUNSON, Hugh Gordon, attorney, politician. Born, Prairie Hayes (near modern-day Eunice), La., February 20, 1900; son of Judge Otha Key Brunson (q.v.) and Mary Eva Young. Married Martha Elizabeth Ellis, November 24, 1925; one child: Hugh Ellis (b. 1927). Graduated from Eunice High School; Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute, 1920; Tulane University Law School, 1923. Admitted to the Louisiana bar, June 6, 1923. Practiced law in Eunice and Crowley, La. A gifted orator. Mayor of Crowley, 1928-1931; proposed plans to build a new city hall. Served as Rice King II of the Armistice and Rice Carnival Day, November 11, 1928. Member, Baptist church. Died, Crowley, May 8, 1931; interred, Old Crowley Cemetery. A.B.R. Sources: Dorothy B. McNeely, Crowley: The First Hundred Years (1987); Eunice News, May 15, 1931.
BRUNSON, Otha Key, jurist. Born, Edgefield, S. C., November 12, 1867; son of James Oscar Brunson and Fannie Emily Burton. Married Mary Eva Young (b. February 27, 1872), Opelousas, La.; children: James Houston (b. 1894), Lizzie Elizabeth (Milner), Hugh Gordon (q.v.) (b. 1900), Otha Key, Jr., Mary Cecilia (Reeves), Fannie Lou (Stanford), Benjamin Rutledge (b. 1907), Eva Viola (Sharpe), and William Childs (q.v.) (b. 1915). Career: surveyor; justice of the peace; elected to the Eunice, La., City Council, 1920; city judge, Eunice, 1922-1947. Deacon, First Baptist Church, Eunice. Died, Eunice, May 4, 1949; interred, St. Louis Cemetery, Eunice. A.B.R. Sources: Eunice News; Crowley Signal, August 26, 1893-December 28, 1895.
BRUNSON, William Childs, school administrator. Born, Prudhomme City, near Eunice, St. Landry Parish, La., OctoÂber 25, 1916; son of Judge Otha Key Brunson (q.v.) and Mary Eva Young Brunson. Married Justine Marie Hoyer, November 24, 1939; children: Cheryl Brunson (Dixon) and Janis Elaine Brunson (D’Benedetto). Education: local Eunice schools; B. A., Southwestern Louisiana Institute, 1939; M. A., Louisiana State University, 1947. Served in the United States Navy, 1945-46. Career in education spanned thirty-four years and included service as principal of Dutchtown, La., High School, 1939-45 and superintendent of Ascension Parish schools, 1967-73. Planned and supervised peaceful integration of Ascension Parish schools, late 1960s through early 1970s. Member: executive council, Ascension Parish Teachers Association; Louisiana Teachers Association; National Education Association; Louisiana Principals Association; National Association of Secondary School Principals; Louisiana State University Alumni Federation; Oak Grove Baptist Church; and Gautreau-Williams Post 81, American Legion. Chapter chairperson, Ascension Parish Red Cross, twenty years; president of the executive committee, United Givers Fund for Ascension Parish. Died, Riverview Medical Center, Gonzales, La., July 15, 1995; interred Oak Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Ascension Parish, La. A.Y.B. Sources: Baton Rouge Advocate, July 16, 1995; L’Acadien (SLI Yearbook), 1939; Letter from Mrs. Alma Brunson Reed, Eunice, Louisiana, August 26, 1997.
BRY, Henry, attorney, jurist. Born, Geneva, Switzerland, January 9, 1781; son of Isaac Henri and Julie Gabriella Robert Bry. Married (1), October 1, 1804, Mary Agnes Seuzeneau. Married (2), February 7, 1823, Nancy Tennille (Barlow). Children: Jane (b. 1805), Michael Henry (b. 1807), Eugene (b. 1808), Emelius (b. 1814), Julie Clemence (b. 1816), Hannah (b. 1823), Benjamin (b. 1825), James Audubon (b. 1827), Frank (b. 1830), Girard (b. 1832), Nancy (b. 1835), Melinda Tennille (b. 1838). Ouachita Parish jurist; register, U. S. Land Office, Monroe; member, Louisiana constitutional convention, 1811-1812. Jeffersonian, Whig. Catholic. Died, Monroe, November 30, 1854; interred, Mulberry Grove, now known as Layton Cemetery. M.S.L. Sources: Marshall Scott Legan, “Judge Henry Bry: Genevan on the Ouachita,” North Louisiana Historical Association Journal, III (1972); Frederick W. Williamson and Lillian Herron Williamson, Northeast Louisiana: A Narrative History of the Ouachita River Valley and The Concordia Country (1939); Ouachita Parish Conveyance Book A.
BRYAN, James Wesley, Jr., politician. Born, Lake Charles, La., March 11, 1874; son of James Wesley Bryan, Sr. (q.v.), and Delia K. Singleton. Education: Baylor, B.A., 1895; Yale, B.A., 1897. Married Lorena Kearse. Three children. Admitted to Louisiana bar, 1898. Removed to state of Washington. Entered politics, elected to Congress. Died, Bremerton, Wash., August 26, 1956; interred Bremerton. G.R.C. Source: Who Was Who in America, III, 1951-1956.
BRYAN, James Wesley, Sr., soldier, editor, politician. Born, Calcasieu Parish, La., December 28, 1834. Attended country school, when economic conditions permitted. Became a school teacher. In 1861 enlisted in Confederate Army, and organized four companies of infantry. Was elected captain of Company I, 28th Louisiana Infantry. The 28th Regiment took part in the Battle of Chickasaw and the siege of Vicksburg. Commanded the 28th Regiment during the siege, when Col. Allen Thomas, was promoted to rank of brigadier general. Became prisoner of war when the Vicksburg garrison surrendered on July 4, 1863. After war, returned to Lake Charles, resumed teaching and opened a general store. Elected first mayor of Lake Charles, July, 1868. Married, Delia K. Singleton, September 9, 1869. Eight children, one of whom was James Wesley Bryan, Jr. (q.v.). Became editor and proprietor of the Lake Charles Echo, 1871, a weekly newspaper, which he edited until March 14, 1890, when he sold the paper and retired. At various times he served as city councilman, police juror and a member of the Louisiana house of representatives. He was a charter member of the Lake Charles United Confederate Veterans post, and was active in the Masonic lodge. Died, June 17, 1897. T.S. Sources: Lake Charles Echo; Lake Charles American Press; William Henry Perrin, ed., Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical (1891, reprint ed., 1971).
BRYAN, Mary Edwards, journalist, magazine editor, novelist. Born, Lloyd, Fla., 1838; daughter of John D. and Louisa Crutchfield Houghton Edwards. Education: at home by mother until age twelve. Family removed to Thomasville, Ga.; attended the Fletcher Institute, a boarding school. Married Iredell E. Bryan, Louisiana planter on Red River. One year later couple separated, and she returned to father’s home, where she began to write for the press, contributing both prose and verse to the Georgia Literary and Temperance Crusader. Was named literary editor of the Crusader, published in Atlanta, in 1859. Resigned and became a correspondent for the Southern Field and Fireside. Separation from her husband short-lived; he visited her often in Georgia, and she resided in Natchitoches, 1862-1875, editing the Semi-Weekly Times there and writing political articles, sketches, stories and poems. Had at least five children. Her novel The Mystery of Cedar Bay was serialized in 1868 in Scott’s Magazine of Atlanta. She was associate editor of Sunny South, a popular Atlanta weekly, from 1874-1884. In 1885, her first novel in book form was published; removed to New York City to become assistant editor of two magazines, Fireside Companion and Fashion Bazaar. Returning to Atlanta, she was editor of The Old Homestead, a monthly magazine. Author of at least nine novels, several set in Louisiana. Wild Work: The Story of the Red River Tragedy (1881) is a forcefully told story of carpetbag rule in Reconstruction Louisiana. Other works are Manch (1880); The Bayou Bride (1886); Kildee, or, The Sphinx of the Red House (1886); Munro’s Star Recitations for Parlor, School, and Exhibition (ed., by Bryan, 1887); My Own Sin: A Story of Life in New York (1888); Uncle Ned’s White Child (1889); The Ghost of the Hurricane Hills, or, A Florida Girl (1891); Ruth the Outcast (1891); His Legal Wife (1894); The Girl He Bought (1895); Nan Haggard, the Heiress of Dead Hopes Mine (1895); Poems and Stories in Verse (1895); Maple Leaf Amateur Reciter (1908); Bayou Tree (n. d.); A Fair Judas (n.d.); Fugitive Bride (n. d.); Her Husband’s Ghost (n. d.); His Greatest Sacrifice (n.d.); His Wife’s Friend (n. d.); Sinned Against (n. d.); Three Girls (n. d.). Died, Clarkston, Ga., June 15, 1913. D.H.B. Sources: Frances E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, A Woman of the Century (1893); Mary Forrest, Women of the South Distinguished in Literature (1861); Lizzie Carter McVoy, A Bibliography of Fiction by Louisianians and on Louisiana Subjects (1935); Edward T. James, ed., Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (1971); James S. Patty, “A Woman Journalist in Reconstruction Louisiana: Mrs. Mary E. Bryan,” Louisiana Studies , III, (Spring, 1964); American Women Writers, I (1979).
BRYAN, William, agent for the Republic of Texas. Born, Dutchess County, N. Y., ca. 1796. In 1815 he joined his brother Joseph Bryan in Pernambuco, Brazil, and entered into partnership with Joseph Ray, United States consul in that city, occasionally acting as vice-consul. In 1825 Bryan unsuccessfully sought the consulship in Pernambuco for himself. By 1834 he was in New Orleans as a commission merchant trading largely with Texas. He supported the Texas Revolution and was appointed general agent for Texas on January 16, 1836, while his partner Edward Hill became purchasing agent. He bought the schooners Brutus and Independence and the brig Pocket for the Texas navy, transported supplies, guns, and volunteers to Texas, and defrayed court costs in several cases of piracy against Texas vessels. Thomas Toby and Brother replaced him as representative for Texas in May, 1836, but he was reappointed Texas consul in New Orleans on December 26, 1838, and served in that capacity until the annexation of Texas except for six months, February-August, 1842. In 1841 he entered partnership with Archibald Austin. In 1843 he was secretly commissioned to sell the Texas navy but the ships sailed from New Orleans to engage a Mexican squadron before he could do so. By 1846 his claims on the Republic of Texas, amounting to $93,000, were fully repaid. R.S.J. Sources: Alma H. Brown, “The Consular Service of the Republic of Texas,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XXXIII (1930); John H. Jenkins, ed., The Papers of the Texas Revolution, II-IX; United States Department of State, Letters of Application and Recommendation during the Administration of James Monroe; United States Department of State, Dispatches from U. S. Consuls in Pernambuco; James F. Hopkins, ed., The Papers of Henry Clay, IV.
BUCH, Joseph Frederick, printer, musician, politician. Born, Lenexa, Kan., September 27, 1873; son of Elias Ephraim Buch and Mary Jane Shough. Elementary education in Illinois. Removed to Jennings, La., December 20, 1894. After apprenticing in newspaper work, established printing business, 1901, and took over keeping records for U. S. Weather Bureau, serving in that capacity for 50 years. Married Lulu Quigley in 1909. Children: Howard (b. 1910); Ellen (b. 1912); Beatrice (b. 1914); Gladys (b. 1916); Lula (b. 1918); Herbert (b. 1919); Ruby (b. 1922). Music teacher: 1906 became first band director in Louisiana public schools. Buch Boys Band was a tradition in giving weekly concerts on Main Street for public enjoyment. Received Hollywood Tom Breneman Good Neighbor Orchid in 1948 for his musical contribution through the band. Honorary Life Member, Association of Commerce; honorary member, Rotary Club; Knights of Pythias Lodge member; commissioner of finance, city of Jennings, 1932-1936. Member, United Brethren Church. Died, February 15, 1958; interred Greenwood Cemetery, Jennings. L.B.R.* Sources: Jennings Daily News, September 29, 1953; Beaumont Enterprise, March 10, 1955.
BUCHANAN, Junious “Buck,” professional football player. Born, Birmingham, Ala., September 14, 1940; son of steelworker. A multi-sport standout in high school; because of the limited number of scholarships available to black students in the late 1950s, Buchanan received only one college scholarship offer; an uncle had spoken to football coach Eddie Robinson of Grambling State University who agreed to give Buchanan a football scholarship without having even heard of the Birmingham star. In his senior year Buchanan was a member of the 1962 Grambling team that placed fourteen players in professional football; two of these athletes were later inducted into the National Football League (N.F.L.) Hall of Fame. In 1963 the Dallas Texans (soon to be the Kansas City Chiefs) made Buchanan the first player selected in the American Football League (A.F.L.) draft. Forsook the more established National Football League and signed with the Chiefs; star players like Buchanan forced the dominent N.F.L. to take the A.F.L. seriously and to merge with the junior league. In his N.F.L. career, Buchanan played in six A.F.L. All-Star games, two Pro Bowls, and two Super Bowls, helping the Chiefs defeat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV at New Orleans. He was named to three All-A.F.L. teams and led the Chiefs in quarterback sacks five times; he was the Chiefs’ captain and was voted the team’s most valuable player in 1965 and 1967. Buchanan missed only one game in his N.F.L. career. Retired in 1975 and became a defensive line coach with the New Orleans Saints, 1975-1976, and the Cleveland Browns, 1978; subsequently returned to Kansas City to operate a restaurant and lounge; opened a construction and advertising business in the early 1980s and served as president of the Kansas City Black Chamber of Commerce. Remained in the public eye, appearing in Miller Lite television commercials for several years. Inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, 1986, and the N.F.L. Hall of Fame, 1990. Considered perhaps the best college football player produced by Grambling State University. Buchanan once observed that he was proud of his professional football accomplishments, “but attending Grambling and playing under Eddie Robinson, is the highlight of my life.” Died of cancer, Kansas City, July 16, 1992. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 17, 1992; Jerry Byrd, Louisiana Sports Legends (1992).
BUCK, Carroll, attorney, assistant attorney general. Born, Evergreen, La., August 28, 1893; son of William Powell Buck and Sarah Ann Cappel. Education: local schools; Louisiana State University, LL. B., 1917. Removed to Amite, La., 1917, and entered the law office of Bolivar E. Kemp, Sr. (q.v.); shortly thereafter became a partner. Appointed assistant to Louisiana attorney general, 1948. Remained in the attorney general’s office until resignation, 1971. Member, Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Amite Rotary Club, a Master Mason of the Royal Arch Masons, Evergreen La. Chapter No. 189., chairman, Appeals Board of the Selective Service Board (World War II). Member, Louisiana Bar Association, the Twenty-First Judicial District Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Member, Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, Amite, La. Married Martina Hamilton Ellis, daughter of Robert S. Ellis, Sr. (q.v.), and Maud Addison Ellis. No children. Died, June 14, 1975; interred Ellis family graveyard, Amite, La. M.E.B. & C.B.W.P. Sources: La Commission des Avoyelles with Sue Eakin, Avoyelles, Crossroads of Louisiana … (1981); Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, Centennial, Official Souvenir Program, March 23-24, 1969; Personal Letters; Family Bible in possession of Robert Buck of Kinder, La.; family papers.
BUCK, Charles Francis, congressman. Born, Durrheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, November 5, 1841. Immigrated to the United States, 1852, with his parents who died in the yellow-fever epidemic of 1853 in New Orleans. Education: Fisk High School of New Orleans, graduated 1861; attended Louisiana State Seminary and Military Academy at Alexandria, La., assistant professor of Latin and Mathematics until the seminary closed. Studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1867 and commenced practice in New Orleans; gave up law practice for two years to travel as an actor. Resumed practice in New Orleans. Married Mary A. Weidner in 1870. Children: Charles F., Jr., Regina, Ida, Cora, and Nina. Member, school board of New Orleans; city attorney of New Orleans, 1880-1884; was a spokesman for the New Orleans German-American community; spoke French and German as well as English; was a Shakespearean scholar and active member of dramatic clubs of New Orleans. Member, Germania Lodge, grand-master of the state; a Thirty-third Degree Mason and a member of the Grand Council in Washington, D. C. Elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895-March 3, 1897); declined to be a candidate for reelection in 1896. Resumed the practice of law; unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New Orleans, 1896, and again in 1904. Member of the supreme court board of examiners for admission to the bar, 1898-1900. Died, New Orleans, January 19, 1918; interred Metairie Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 1950); John F. Nau, The German People of New Orleans, 1850-1900 (1958); John S. Kendall, History of New Orleans (1922); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, January 20, 1918.
BUCK, William Henry, artist, painter, restorer. Born, Bergen or Tromsoe, Norway, 1840. Married, April 29, 1865, Marie Louise Fortin. Children: Lawrence H., Amelie, and Mina. Immigrated to Boston but removed to New Orleans ca. 1860, working in the cotton business, until 1880. During this period studied painting with Ernest Ciceri (q.v.), Richard Clague (q.v.), Andrés Molinary, and Achille Perelli (q.v.). In 1869 won silver medals for best landscape in oil and best painting in watercolor as well as the award for best pastel painting at the Third Grand State Fair of the Mechanics’ and Agricultural Fair Association of Louisiana. At the Fourth Grand State Fair in 1870 received a diploma for best drawing in pastel. Exhibited frequently in New Orleans galleries, 1877-1885. Shared a studio with Andrés Molinary and Achille Perelli for a number of years, before opening his own in 1880. From then until his death, devoted himself solely to his art and also restored paintings and made pictures in cut paper. In 1880 was commissioned by the Association of the Army of Tennessee to make a painting of Jefferson Davis’ residence, Beauvoir. During 1884-1885 he exhibited in the Art Collection at the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition and 1885-1886 in the Creole Exhibit Art Gallery of the North, Central, and South American Exposition. He also exhibited at the First and Second Annual Exhibitions of the Artists’ Association of New Orleans in 1886 and 1887 respectively. Died, New Orleans, September 5, 1888. C.S.B. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987); New Orleans Daily Picayune, May 4, 1865; W. P. A./Delgado Art Museum Project, Lives of New Orleans Artists.
BUISSON, Benjamin, surveyor, architect, journalist. Born Pierre Benjamin Buisson, Paris, France, May 20, 1793; son of Jean-François-Claude Buisson and Marie Esther Guillotte. Attended Polytechnique, Paris, 1811-1813. Served in Sixth Artillery, Grand Army of France, 1813-1815. Arrived, New Orleans, 1817; established self as engineer (included surveying, architecture, and contracting); designed Custom House, 1819; organized corps of cannoneers, Louisiana Legion, ca. 1824; published and edited Courrier des Natchitoches, 1824-1825, and New Orleans Journal de Commerce, 1825-1829; operated printing business, 1827-ca. 1832 (in partnership with Antoine Louis Boimare [q.v.], 1828-1830); surveyor of Jefferson Parish, 1832-1856, and town of Lafayette (New Orleans); maintained interest in astronomy and wrote on that subject. Appointed to Committee on City Defense to protect New Orleans from Federal invasion and commanded 22nd Louisiana Volunteers during fall of city, 1862. Received Legion of Honor and St. Helena medal. Married Sophie Guillotte (1804-1855) of New Orleans, 1820. Six children, including Sophie, Benjamin, Jules, Albert (1848-1911). Author of Des Forces qui régissent le système solaire (1849), Instruction pour le service et manoeuvre de l’infanterie légère (1861). Died, New Orleans, May 31, 1874. F.M.J. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, December 14, 1911; James Beard, “A Soldier of Napoleon,” ibid., December 24, 1911; Edward Larocque Tinker, Les Ecrits de langue française en Louisiane au XIXe siècle (1932); Simone de la Souchère Deléry, Napoleon’s Soldiers in America (1972); Samuel Joseph Marino, “The French-Refugee Newspapers and Periodicals in the United States, 1789-1825” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1962).
BUISSON DE SAINT-COSME, Jean-François, clergyman. Baptized at Quebec, February 6, 1667, son of Michel Buisson de Saint-Cosme; entered Quebec Seminary, July 22, 1675; ordained priest, February 2, 1690. Pastor at Mines in Acadia. Among first three priests of Quebec Seminary commissioned for Mississippi Valley (letters patent, May 1, 1698); departed with Frs. François de Montigny and Antoine Davion for lower Mississippi Valley, July 16, 1698; missionary among Indian tribes including Natchez, Tamoroas, Tensas, and Chickasaws. In late 1706, descended Mississippi River with three French companions; all murdered by Chitimacha Indians on west bank of Mississippi River about two days journey above New Orleans (near Donaldsonville?). Only missionary to Indians killed in Louisiana. At Bienville’s insistence, murders avenged and tribe “reduced to wandering between the Mississippi and the seashore.” (Giraud). C.E.N. Sources: Roger Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (1939); Baudier Historical Collection, in Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans (includes material from archives of Seminary of Quebec); Marcel Giraud, A History of French Louisiana (1974); Charles E. O’Neill, Church and State in French Colonial Louisiana (1966).
BULLARD, Henry Adams, attorney, congressman, jurist. Born, Pepperell, Mass., September 8, 1788; son of the Reverend John Bullard and Elizabeth Adams. Education: Harvard College, A. B., 1807; A. M., 1810 (not officially conferred until 1836). Studied law in offices of Luther Lawrence and Peter A. Browne, 1810-1812; admitted to bar at Philadelphia, ca. 1812. Practicing attorney, Natchitoches, La., area, 1813-1819, 1823-1826; New Orleans, 1846-1850. Military service: accompanied José Alvarez de Toledo to Nacogdoches to establish a Texas independence movement; served as aide-de-camp to Toledo, 1812-1813; sent to San Antonio de Bexar to organize revolt; fought under Toledo at Battle of Medina, August 17, 1813; one of few rebel survivors; fled to Natchitoches. Married, October 24, 1816, Sarah Maria Kaiser of Natchitoches. Children: Henry Bass, Charles, Marianne, Virginia, and Julia Lawrence. Active in Whig party: district judge, 1819-1821; state representative, Natchitoches Parish, 1820-1823; president, Alexandria board of trustees, 1823-1826?; district judge, 1826-1830; member, U. S. House of Representatives, 1830-1834; associate justice, Louisiana Supreme Court, 1834-1846; acting Louisiana secretary of state, 1839; named to fill a vacancy in state house of representatives from Orleans Parish, July 1850; elected to fill unexpired congressional term of Charles M. Conrad (q.v.), September 30, 1850; member, U. S. Congress, 1850-1851. Writings: collaborated with Thomas Curry in compiling A New Digest of the Statute Laws of the State of Louisiana … (1842). Organizational: presided over inaugural meeting of the Louisiana Historical Society, May 9, 1835; addressed the first annual meeting of the Society, January 13, 1836; elected first president of the Society, reelected and served, 1847-1851; active in People’s Lyceum Society; member, New England Society of New Orleans, 1842-1849; president, Lyceum Society, 1842-1849; member, Louisiana State Colonization Society, 1835-1848; member, executive committee, Colonization Society, 1836. Teaching career: professor and dean, University of Louisiana Law School, 1847-1849; first professor of civil law in the United States. Member: Presbyterian church. Died, New Orleans, April 17, 1851; interred Girod Street Cemetery. C.A.B. Sources: G. P. Whittington, “Rapides Parish, Louisiana: A History,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XVII (1934); Walter Prichard, ed., “Henry Adams Bullard: First President of the Louisiana Historical Society,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XIX (1936); Dora J. Bonquois, “The Career of Henry Adams Bulliard, Louisiana Jurist, Legislator, and Educator,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXIII (1940); Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950).
BULLIARD, Joseph Alphonse Edmond, businessman. Born, St. Martin Parish, La., August 4, 1878; son of Adelma Bulliard and Angelle Castillo. Education: local schools. Established mercantile business in St. Martinville, La., 1898. Married, May 4, 1899, Louise Barras of St. Martin Parish, daughter of Arthur Barras and Uranie Lence. Children: Delia (b. 1900), Leo Joseph (q.v.), Carmen (b. 1902), Estelle (b. 1903), Edna (b. 1905), Thomas (b. 1907), Daniel (b. 1909), Aline (b. 1911), Robert (b. 1912). Founded Evangeline Pepper & Food Products; served as president and manager, 1912-1946; pepper product awarded Gold Medal of Excellence (1915 and 1917) Panama Exposition. Active in establishing Longfellow-Evangeline State Park in St. Martinville. Died, December 7, 1946, interred St. Michael’s Cemetery, St. Martinville. J.G.B. Source: Author’s research.
BULLIARD, Leo Joseph, businessman, politician. Born, St. Martinville, La., May 1, 1901; son of Joseph Alphonse Edmond Bulliard (q.v.) and Louise Barras. Education: local schools. Married, June 16, 1923, Louise Marie Dreyer, daughter of Henry Dreyer and Louise Lucy Camille of Jeanerette, La. Children: Leo Joseph, Jr. (b. 1924), Carolyn Aline (b. 1926), Fred Edmond (b. 1930), and Philip Richard (b. 1939). President and general manager, Evangeline Pepper & Foods Products. Mayor of St. Martinville, 1942-1951. Pioneer and promoter of general aviation in Louisiana, 1932-1951; nicknamed “Flying Mayor of Louisiana.” President, Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival & Fair Association, King Sucrose X, 1951. President Louisiana Municipal Association, 1951. First president, St. Martinville Rotary Club, 1936. Died, St. Martinville, La., October 4, 1951; interred St. Michael’s Cemetery. J. G. B. Source: Author’s research.
BULLITT, Alexander C., journalist, politician. Born, Louisville, Ky., 1802. Practiced law for several years; entered politics in support of Henry Clay. Arrived in New Orleans, ca. 1840; partner, Bullitt, Magne & Co., proprietors of bilingual (French-English) L’Abeille (the Bee), 1840-1844; edited English portion, 1840-1844; state printer, 1840-1841, 1843-1844; partner in Picayune, 1844-1849. Served as state legislator, 1846-1847, and member of city council, 1847-1848; supported Zachary Taylor (q.v.) in presidential election, 1848; followed Taylor to Washington to edit Washington Republican, 1849-1850. Retired from active participation but remained associated with Picayune, 1850-ca. 1861; traveled in Europe, 1850-ca. 1854; resided on plantation in Washington County, Miss., and townhouse in Louisville, Ky. Married twice, second time to Irene S. Williams, March 22, 1859; fathered at least one daughter (b. ca. 1865). Died, Louisville, Ky., June 6, 1868; interred Louisville. F.M.J. Sources: Thomas Ewing Dabney, One Hundred Great Years: The Story of the Times-Picayune … (1944) Fayette Copeland, Kendall of the Picayune … (1943); New Orleans Daily Picayune, June 9, 1868; New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 25, 1937; New Orleans Genesis, No. 1 (1962); New Orleans city directories.
BURBANK, Albert, musician. Born, New Orleans, March 25, 1902. Pupil of Lorenzo Tio, Jr. Started in the 1920s with Arnold de Pass’s Olympia Band. In the 1940s and 1950s joined Paul Barbarin at the Mardi Gras Lounge, Octave Crosby at the Paddock, and Kid Ory (q.v.) on the West Coast. Later played with Kid Thomas and Albert French and recorded for the Riverside series. During the early 1970s, a regular at Preservation Hall. Died, New Orleans, August 15, 1976; interred Rest Haven Memorial Park. H.C. Sources: New Orleans States-Item, obituary, August 19, 1976; John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz … (1972); Samuel B. Charters, Jazz: New Orleans, 1885-1963 (1963); Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz, A Family Album, 3rd ed. (1984).
BURBANK, Nathaniel, journalist. Born, South Parsonfield, Me., April 14, 1838. Education: public schools, York County, Me. At age 15 went to work as a printer and learned the trade working for the Morning Star of Dover, N. H. Removed to Boston at age 18; worked for the Boston Herald. Claimed to have known Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Greenleaf Whittier, and the Stowes. Civil War service: private, Company B, Fifteenth Massachusetts Infantry, 1863. Regiment ordered to New Orleans, 1863; promoted to lieutenant, Tenth United States Artillery; eventually appointed assistant adjutant general. Served under Generals Banks, Steadman, Sheridan, Rousseau, and Hancock. Remained in regular army several years after Civil War, ultimately attaining the rank of major. During postwar years, became interested in writing about conditions around him. Articles published in Boston Herald. After leaving army, went to work for New Orleans Republican, writing mainly about theatrical events. A few months before the Republican ceased printing, subject went to work for the Daily Picayune as managing editor succeeding George W. Lloyd. Subject served as managing editor and drama editor until death. Originated the column “Our Picayunes.” Is said to have published over 3,000 columns of original matter during his career. Married Ella Burbank, a distant relative. No children. Died on a streetcar while en route to his office, New Orleans, January 10, 1901; interred Metairie Cemetery. G.R.C. Source: New Orleans Daily Picayune, January 11, 12, 1901.
BURCH, George Edward, academic, physician, editor. Born, Edgard, St. John the Baptist Parish, La., January 10, 1910; son of George Edward Burch, M.D. (d. 1930), and Lottie Edith Monroe. Education: Edgard High School, graduated 1927; attended Tulane University, 1927-1929; Tulane School of Medicine, 1929-1933. Married Vivian Ann Gerard, September 16, 1932. Four children. Interned at Charity Hospital, New Orleans, 1933-1934; became a three-year clinical fellow in internal medicine at Tulane and Charity, as well as assistant, 1934-1935, and instructor, 1935-1942, in the department headed by John Herr Musser (q.v.). Received B. S. degree, Tulane University, 1935. During service as instructor, launched academic career by selection as a Commonwealth Foundation Fellow in cardiovascular research at the hospital of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, 1939-1941. In 1942 became assistant professor at Tulane; 1943, named associate professor. Four years later followed mentor as Henderson Professor and chairman of Department of Medicine, serving from October 7, 1947, to January 10, 1975. During that time he was physician-in-chief of the Tulane unit at Charity Hospital. Continued at Tulane as Emeritus Henderson Professor until his death. In other activities, served as captain, Louisiana National Guard, 1936-1940; captain, Medical Reserve Corps, U.S. Army, Tulane Base Hospital No. 23, 1940-1942. Editor, American Heart Journal for over 25 years; served on numerous editorial boards. Author of Hot Climates, Man and His Heart (1962). Other books on cardiology (1947), venous pressure (1950), spatial vector cardiography (1953), electrocardiography (1945, 1964, 1967), congestive heart failure (1954), digital plethysmography (1954), Clinical Measurement of Blood Pressure (1962), and Of Publishing Scientific Papers (1954) and Of Research People (1955). Pioneer work in using radioactive elements to study electrolyte turnover led to Gold Medal Award, American Medical Association, 1947. President, American College of Cardiology, 1968; membership on American Board of Internal Medicine, 1955-1962. After death awarded Scientific Achievement Award, American Medical Association. Died, New Orleans, April 15, 1986; cremated, ashes scattered over courtyard of Charity Hospital, New Orleans. J.P.M. Sources: Burch Papers, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland; Burch’s twelve books and over 800 published papers, Rudolph Matas Medical Library, Tulane University Medical Center; William C. Roberts, American Journal of Cardiology, LVIII (1986); Who’s Who in America, 1976-77; New York Times, April 23, 1986; Orleans Parish Medical Society Bulletin (May, 1986); John Duffy, The Tulane University Medical Center … (1984).
BURCH, J. Henri, educator, journalist, musician, politician. Born, New Haven, Conn., 1836; son of the Reverend Charles Burch. Attended Owega Academy, New York. Believed education and political leadership were the most important needs of freedom during Reconstruction. After attending one of the Garnet League’s abolitionist meetings, wrote an article in Freedmen’s Appeal, “urging northern educated blacks to go South.” Arrived in Baton Rouge, April 1868, and within two weeks headed the local black school until he was elected to the lower house of the legislature. Educated as a journalist and musician, demonstrated much diversity of ability. First served as a correspondent of the Republican Standard published at Carrollton. Working with P.B.S. Pinchback (q.v.) and many others, co-published The Louisianian in 1870. Purchased, 1871, the Baton Rouge Courier and edited and published it until the end of 1878 as The Grand Era. Married the widow of Oscar Dunn (q.v.) and became a Master Mason before his death from throat cancer, July 29, 1883. F.J. Sources: Roger A. Fisher, The Segregation Struggle in Louisiana, 1862-1877 (1974); Charles Vincent, Black Legislators in Louisiana during Reconstruction (1976).
BURGESS, Harmon T., politician. Born, Mansfield, La., 1919; son of Judge Hallie O. Burgess and Lettie Horn. World War II service: enlisted in army, December 1941; rose to rank of captain; discharged December 1945. Married Madeleine Barlett. Children: Mrs. Martha Hope Sanford, Mrs. Margaret Fae Billingsley, Harmon Thomas Burgess, Jr. Political career: sheriff, De Soto Parish, 1948-1964; served in Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Department, 1964-1977. Member: Presbyterian church; Masonic Lodge. Died, July 17, 1982; interred Highland Cemetery, Mansfield, La. C.A.B. Sources: Mansfield Journal, July 22, 1982; Louisiana Roster of Officials, 1948-1964.
BURGIN, Ruth, see ZIGLER, Ruth Burgin
BURKE, Edward A., politician, publisher. Ancestry and background obscure; claimed Kentucky as his birthplace (ca. 1840) but was probably from Ohio or Illinois. Entire life prior to 1865 a mystery, compounded by fabrications: pretending to have been a Confederate major, he may also have served in the Union Army—or in neither. Arrived in New Orleans as a common laborer after the war; as an opportunist par excellence soon achieved prominence in the city’s Democratic party. Managed the Democratic state campaign in 1876; was the leading spokesman for Louisiana’s whites in Washington, D. C., negotiations which ended Reconstruction in 1877. Political career after Reconstruction: allied himself with the corrupt Louisiana State Lottery Company; elected state treasurer 1878, served until 1888; recognized to be the behind-the-scenes leader of state government during Gov. Samuel D. McEnery’s administration, 1879-1888. Newspaper career: managing editor of New Orleans Democrat, 1879-1881, owned by Burke and Lottery interests, merged it with the Times to form the Times-Democrat, 1881, with Burke as publisher. Spearheaded the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, 1884-1885. Indicted, 1889, for embezzlements in state bonds totaling over $1,000,000, Burke fled to Honduras, successfully resisted extradition. Died and was interred somewhere in Honduras, 1928. W.I.H. Sources: James F. Vivian, “Major E. A. Burke: The Honduras Exile, 1889-1928,” Louisiana History, XV (1974); C. Vann Woodward, Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (1951); William I. Hair, Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest: Louisiana Politics, 1877-1900 (1969).
BURKE, Glendy, commission merchant, planter, banker. Born, Baltimore, Md., December 31, 1805; son of David Burke, a Baltimore shipping executive. Removed to New Orleans in 1826, worked for Abijah Fisk (q.v.) and within five years bought Fisk’s business. As a result of the Panic of 1837, amassed a debt of three million dollars which he paid off in ten years. By the 1850s became a millionaire for the second time with assets which included: commission merchant house, banking interests, sugar and cotton plantations, and one thousand slaves. A steamboat named for Glendy Burke served as the subject and title for one of Stephen Foster’s most famous songs. Political service: was elected to the city council of the Second Municipality; served two terms in the state legislature. Helped to create the first public-school system in Louisiana in the 1840s. Was a Whig and later a Know-Nothing. During the occupation of New Orleans by the Union Army, served briefly as chairman of the bureau of finance under Mayor Hugh Kennedy (q.v.) and as a temporary mayor of New Orleans for three weeks (June 8-June 28, 1865). Married (1) Czarina Eliza Rogers of Baltimore (d. 1842). Married (2) Annie Hooke of Havana, Cuba (d. 1854). Married (3) Victoria Catherine de Bolle of Philadelphia (d. 1904). Three children: Corneal, George B., and Mojesta, all of whom survived him. Religion: reared a Presbyterian, became an Episcopalian, and later a lay minister in the Church of the New Jerusalem (the Swedenborgian faith). Ruined financially as a result of the Civil War. Died, June 21, 1879; interred Girod Street Cemetery. Remains later moved to Hope Mausoleum in St. John Cemetery, New Orleans. J.J.J. Sources: “Gallery of Industry and Enterprise: Glendy Burke of New Orleans, Merchant,” DeBow’s Southern and Western Review, XI, O.S. (August, 1851); Melvin G. Holli and Peter d’A. Jones, eds., Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors, 1820-1980 … (1981); New Orleans Daily Picayune, June 22, 1879; Works Program Administration, “Administrations of the Mayors of New Orleans, 1803 to 1936” (New Orleans Public Library, 1940 typescript).
BURKE, Marty, amateur and professional boxer. Born, New Orleans, 1896. Boxing career: National AAU middleweight and heavyweight champion, 1896; sparring partner for heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, 1919-1926; fought 150 professional bouts in eleven years, including 1924 fight with Gene Tunney for light-heavyweight championship of the world. Business career: after retiring from the ring, became New Orleans contractor, real estate agent, and bar owner. Moved to California, 1948. Married. Children: Paul and Marty, Jr. Died, Palm Springs, Calif., September 18, 1978; interred St. Patrick Cemetery III, New Orleans. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans States-Item, September 19, 1978; New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 19, 1978.
BURKE, Walter James, attorney, politician, educator. Born, New Iberia, La., October 20, 1866; son of Pamela Cannon and James Lee Burke. Education: attended private schools in New Iberia; Spring Hill College, Mobile, Ala.; Tulane University, LL. B., 1889. Began practicing law in New Iberia, 1890. Married, February 4, 1890, Bertha Perry, a graduate of Dominican College, and daughter of Blanche Gary and Judge Robert S. Perry (q.v.) of New Iberia. Children: Roberta, Marjorie, Donald, Perry, Oliver, James, Katherine, Oran, Bertha, and Pamela. In the early 1890s was part of the Anti-Lottery movement. Board member, Central High School Association, New Iberia. Member of state constitutional conventions of 1898, 1913, and 1921. State senator, 1912-1916; appointed to draft first workman’s compensation law for the state and served on the tax commission. Member, the State Board of Education. Burke Hall, University of Southwestern Louisiana, named in his honor. In 1933 was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt to the advisory board of the Public Works Administration. Received a trophy from district bar association commemorating his fifty years of practicing law. Roman Catholic. Member, the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, and New Iberia Literary Club. Died, January 22, 1941; interred St. Peter’s Cemetery, New Iberia. J.B.C. Sources: Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana … (1925); Glenn R. Conrad, comp., New Iberia: Essays on the Town and Its People (1979); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obituary, January 23, 1941.
BURKE, William R., businessman, politician. Born, New Iberia, La., 1839; son of Irish immigrants William Burke and Ellen Lee. Educated in local schools. Began career as a carpenter; later entered into family’s livery stable business. During Civil War served in Company D, Eighteenth Louisiana Regiment under Gen. Alfred Mouton (q.v.), rising to rank of first lieutenant. After war, reentered livery stable business until 1886. Married Elise Bonin, October 28, 1867. No children. President, Iberia Parish Police Jury, 1877-1879. Served as treasurer and collector of New Iberia, 1879-1887. In 1877 elected secretary of parish school board. Served twenty years as parish superintendent of education. Together with Joseph A. Breaux (q.v.) created a modern educational system for Iberia Parish. Was the moving spirit behind the construction of Central High School (1896), said to have been the only brick school outside of New Orleans at the time. Died, New Iberia, December 30, 1902; interred St. Peter’s Cemetery. G.R.C. Sources: Glenn R. Conrad, comp., New Iberia: Essays on the Town and Its People (1979); New Iberia Enterprise, January 3, 10, 1903.
BURLEIGH, Edward G., attorney. Born, Whiteville, St. Landry Parish, La., December 16, 1893. Education: private school, Dubuisson Plantation; Whiteville School; St. Joseph College, Covington, La.; Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana); Louisiana State University Law School, LL. B., 1917. Married, June 4, 1917, Jennie Mae Porter. One child: Edward. Legal career: practicing attorney, Ville Platte, 1917; Opelousas, 1918-1967. Political career: member, Opelousas city council, twelve years; as councilman, led successful drive to establish South City Park, Opelousas. Organizational: member, American Bar Association, Louisiana Bar Association, St. Landry Parish Bar Association (president). Member: Methodist church; Opelousas Humble Cottage Masonic Lodge. Died, Opelousas, May 10, 1967; interred Bellevue Memorial Park, near Opelousas. C.A.B. Source: Opelousas Daily World, May 10, 1967.
BURNS, Edgar, physician. Born, Maud, Ala., 1895. Education: University of Southern Mississippi; Northwestern University Medical School, M. D., 1922. Teaching career: University of Tennessee medical faculty, 1924-1929; Tulane University School of Medicine, 1929-1966; chairman, urology division of surgery department, 1949-1960. Organizational: member, American Board of Urology, 11 years; vice-president, 1953; president, 1954-1955; president, American Urological Association, 1959; president, Southeastern American Urological Association, 1949; trustee emeritus of Alton Oschner Medical Foundation. Was one of the five co-founders of Oschner Medical Center, 1936. Married, Helen Whitaker. One child: Mrs. Burton Tremaine. Died, New Orleans, August 27, 1973. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans States-Item, August 28, 1973; New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 28, 1973.
BURNS, J. Patout, businessman. Born, New Orleans, May 11, 1909; son of James Henry Burns and Ida Claire Patout. Education: Jesuit High School, New Orleans; Loyola University, A. B., 1929. Married, November 10, 1938, Mary Theodosia Weber, daughter of Theodore Weber and Mary McNiff. Three children: James Patout Burns; Mary T. Burns, Theodore W. Burns. Business career: 1929-1941: traveling salesman; assistant manager in finance companies, New Orleans and Kansas City; salesman, Loose Wiles Biscuit Co.; owner, J. Patout Burns Firestone, 1940-1979; president, M. A. Patout and Son, Ltd.; majority owner, Iberia Oil Co., Inc. Political career: member, Iberia Parish School Board, 1960-1972; president, Iberia Parish School Board, 1963-1972; member, Iberia Parish Democratic Executive Committee, twenty-five years. Civic service: president, New Iberia Chamber of Commerce, 1950; co-founder, New Iberia Community Chest; president and charter member, Iberia chapter, United Givers Fund; member, Community Steering Committee of Iberia Parish; chairman, district organizations, Boy Scouts of America; member, Boy Scouts Court of Honor, 30 years; recipient Red Hat Award, Evangeline Area Council, B.S.A.; King Sucrose XXXII, Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival and Fair, 1973; honored by Sugar Cane Festival for service to Fair Association, 1981; king, Mystic Krewe of Iberians and Krewe of Andalusia. Member: Catholic church; Fourth Degree member, Knights of Columbus, Msgr. Langlois Assembly; recipient Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal from Pope Paul VI. Died, New Iberia, February 12 1982; interred Memorial Park Cemetery. C.A.B. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, February 13, 1982; New Iberia Daily Iberian, February 12, 1982; Louisiana Business and Professional Directory (Baton Rouge, n. d.), p. 281.
BURNSIDE, John, planter. Born, Ireland, ca. 1800. Immigrated to America in 1820s. Never married. Career: worked as salesman for Andrew Beirne, merchant, in Monroe County, Va.; partner of Oliver Beirne, son of Andrew, in mercantile business established in New Orleans in 1837; after Beirne retired in 1847, John Burnside and Company moved business to Canal Street. Began purchasing sugar plantations about 1852; Orange Grove and Houmas plantations were among the ten he owned in the state; retired from mercantile business in 1857; purchased mansion of James Robb (q.v.) in New Orleans, which later became one of first buildings of Newcomb College. Among the first former slaveholders to try sugar planting with paid labor; his success helped re-establish sugar industry. Died, June 29, 1881, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. Estate estimated at eight million dollars; Charity Hospital, Seamans Home, and six New Orleans orphanages were among legatees. Burnside, La., named for subject. J.B.C. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, June 30, 1881; New York Times, July 12, 15, 16, 1881; Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography (1900).
BURR, Aaron, soldier, attorney, politician, vice-president of the United States. Born, Newark, N. J., February 6, 1756; son of Aaron Burr, a prominent Puritan clergyman, and Esther Edwards. Education: Princeton graduated September, 1772; studied law thereafter. Officer in the Continental Army, serving with distinction in several campaigns, and for a time a member of General Washington’s official family, attaining rank of lieutenant colonel; resigned for reasons of health, March, 1779, and resumed his studies in the law. Admitted to the New York bar April, 1782, and embarked upon a career in politics: after serving in the New York legislature was sent to the United States Senate in 1791 as an anti-Federalist; defeated for Senate seat in 1797; ran for president in 1800 and was tied with Thomas Jefferson with seventy-three electoral votes; elected vice-president by the House of Representatives; near the close of his term as vice-president he ran unsuccessfully for the governorship of New York. Burr’s celebrated duel with his long-time professional and political rival Alexander Hamilton at Weehawken, N. J., on July 7, 1804, resulted in the death of the former secretary of the treasury and was also fatal to Burr’s political future, although he was able to complete his term of office. Throughout his career, Burr indulged in numerous intrigues, many of which involved the western states, Louisiana, and Mexico; he may have proposed the seizure of Spanish Texas and the Interior Provinces of New Spain as early as 1796, and in 1804 sought British assistance for a plot to separate the western states from the Union. He was also a conspirator with Gen. James Wilkinson (q.v.), with whom he developed a plot to invade the Spanish dominions contingent upon the outbreak of war between the United States and Spain over the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase. In August, 1806, Burr left on a western journey that took him to New Orleans; en route his activities aroused suspicion among Spanish and United States officials that he intended to carve out for himself a western empire at the expense of both the United States and Spain. Whatever Burr’s actual intent, his intrigues came to naught when he was betrayed by his erstwhile co-conspirator Wilkinson. The Jefferson administration, alarmed at Burr’s supposed separatist plot, caused him to be twice arraigned and tried in Kentucky on charges of instigating an illegal military expedition, but Burr was released for want of sufficient evidence. In December, 1808, Jefferson ordered Burr’s arrest for treason and high misdemeanor and the recalcitrant former vice-president was brought to Richmond for trial, where he was eventually acquitted. Beseiged by creditors and hounded by political enemies, Burr went into exile in Europe, where he continued his schemes, finally returning to New York and the practice of law in 1812. Burr’s conspiracy was the most formidable threat to the integrity of the Union prior to the Civil War and might well have succeeded but for the duplicity of Wilkinson. Died, Staten Island, New York, September 14, 1836, protesting to the end that he had never designed the separation of Louisiana and the western states from the Union. R.C.V. Sources: Walter Flavius McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy and New Light on Aaron Burr (1966); Thomas P. Abernathy, The Burr Conspiracy (1954); Matthew L. Davis, Memoirs of Aaron Burr, 2 vols. (1836-1837); Papers in relation to Burr’s Conspiracy, MSS in Library of Congress.
BURT, William G., soldier, planter. Born, Edgefield District, S. C., February 2, 1843. Volunteered for service in Civil War; private in Company C., First South Carolina Regiment; promoted to rank of first lieutenant and to lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-second Regiment of Infantry, part of Elliot’s Brigade; promoted in 1864 to full colonel; in command of his regiment at Appomattox. Removed to Bossier Parish, La., in 1866; became active in affairs of the Democratic party; was treasurer and president of the police jury and the agricultural society in the parish; appointed adjutant general by Governor Nicholls (q.v.) on November 13, 1888; served two years with rank of brigadier general. Married Minnie Belcher on January 25, 1872. Died, Bellvue, Bossier Parish, August 30, 1890. TAG, LA Source: Nicholas Russell Murray, Bossier Parish, Louisiana, 1843-1900 (1981).
BURTON, William Lafayette, businessman, philanthropist. Born, Bowling Green, Ky., October 1847; son of William H. and Louisa S. Burton. Self-educated. After the Civil War migrated to Mississippi and then to Louisiana. Entered cypress lumber business in the lower Mississippi Valley in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Married, 1874, Katharine Ella Childress, of Grenada, Miss. One child: William Waldo (1875-1914). Philanthropic endeavors: William Waldo Burton Memorial Home for Boys (1922); Drake’s Creek Baptist Church, Warren County, Ky., renamed (1909) Burton Memorial Baptist Church for his parents who were charter members; Episcopal and Catholic churches of Perry, Fla. (1917 and 1921); and Young Men’s Christian Association of Bowling Green, Ky. Died, May 8, 1927; interred Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N.Y. D.H. Sources: The Lumber Trade, XCI (May 15, 1927); minutes of the Burton-Swartz Cypress Lumber Company of Florida; personal interviews with Mrs. Morgan (Jane Whitney), Mrs. Georgia Lowe, and E. Porter Mitchell; Burton Family Papers in Tulane University’s Special Collections.
BURTON, William Thomas, philanthropist, industrialist, banker, oilman. Born, Orange, Tex., September 25, 1884; son of Judge John Guy Burton and Alice Evelyn Smith. Education: local schools of Orange County through the seventh grade. Married, November 16, 1904, Mary Ethel Lewis, daugther of Arthur Wallace Lewis, of Miami, Me., and Sally Burgess Austin of Lynchburg, Va. Children: Edith (b. 1905), Evelyn (b. 1908). Democrat. Established a mercantile business in Sulphur, La.; invested in barge and ferry transportation; shell dredging; rice farming; road construction; farming and milling of sugar; drilling for oil; donated truckloads of food and supplies to victims of 1918 hurricane; funded the construction of the first Sulphur High School stadium; made yearly contributions to Boys’ Village, the Boy Scouts, United Heart Fund, Southwest Louisiana Farm and Livestock Show; made gifts to McNeese State University to establish a computer center; funded the William T. and Ethel Lewis Burton Foundation awarding scholarships to deserving students in Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis parishes; gave funds to St. Patrick’s Hospital for the acquisition of isotope scanning and cobalt therapy equipment; gave funds to Calcasieu-Cameron Hospital to establish a nuclear medicine center; gave the land to build Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles; chairman, board of directors, Calcasieu-Marine National Bank. Honors: colonel and aide de camp to Governors James A. Noe, 1936, and Jimmie H. Davis, 1960. Named top Southwest Louisiana Citizen by the YMBC in 1969; Civic Service Award by Greater Lake Charles Chamber of Commerce, 1969; received Bishop’s Medal of Honor, 1970; received Apostolic Blessing from Pope Paul VI, 1970; awarded honorary Doctor of Laws by McNeese State University for financial and moral aid to youth in southwestern Louisiana. Member: Methodist church. Burton Coliseum named for subject. Died, Lake Charles, September 1, 1974; interred Graceland Cemetery. D.J.M. Sources: Lake Charles American Press, May 22, 1966; April 23, 1967; January 6, 1969; obituary, September 2, 1974; eulogy, September 8, 1974; The Calcasieu-Marine National Bank Scrapbook.
BUSH, Louis, planter, merchant, politician. Born, Iberville Parish, 1820; son of Reuben Bush and Marie Ludivine Brasset. At age 20 appointed clerk of court, Lafourche Parish, by Judge Thomas Nicholls (q.v.). Resigned to study law, practiced in Thibodaux in firm Beatty and Bush, later Bush and Goode. Senatorial delegate to secession convention from Lafourche and St. Charles parishes. Opposed secession, but with that minority, signed Secession Ordinance. At start of Civil War organized Lafourche Creoles company, 1861; elected major Eighteenth Louisiana Infantry, October 5, 1861; lieutenant colonel, April 16, 1862. Adjutant general on staff of Gen. Alfred Mouton, 1862-1863. Raised Seventh Louisiana Cavalry and commissioned colonel, March 13, 1864. Appointed presiding officer, military court, Shreveport, January 7, 1865. After war, returned to Thibodaux law practice until 1872. Removed to New Orleans, established Louis Bush & Sons, a sugar and molasses commission business. Opponent of federal Reconstruction policies. Elected to Louisiana house house of representatives, 1876, became speaker of house in Gov. Francis Nicholl’s (q.v.) first term. Active in Anti-Lottery League. Married (1) Josephine Gueno, June 5, 1845. Child: Louisa Ludivine. Married (2) Celeste Emeline Grisham, December 19, 1850. Children: John Louis, Reuben, Susanne, Celeste, and Henry Garland. Died, Palmyra, Wis., August 10, 1892; interred New Orleans. A.W.B. & G.R.C. Sources: Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr., Reminiscences of Uncle Silas: A History of the Eighteenth Louisiana Infantry Regiment (1981); Donald J. Hébert, comp., South Louisiana Records, 33 vols (1974-1984); Goodspeed, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892; reprint ed., 1975); Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVII (1944), XXVIII (1945); New Orleans Daily Picayune, August 10, 12, 1892.
BUTLER, Benjamin F., soldier, politician. Born, Deerfield, N. H., November 5, 1818; son of John Franklin Butler and Charlotte Ellison. Graduated Colby (Waterbury) College, Maine, 1838. Practiced law in Lovell, Mass., 1840-1893; Massachusetts house of representatives, 1853; Massachusetts senate, 1859; brigadier general of militia, April, 1861, marched Eighth Massachusetts to relief of Washington, D. C. First volunteer major general appointed by Lincoln, May 16, 1861. Became one of the most controversial generals in the war. Captured New Orleans, April, 1862, earned sobriquet “Spoons Butler,” for alleged corruption and an international reputation as “Beast Butler,” due to his equally unproven treatment of New Orleans women due to famous order #28. Replaced by Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks (q.v.), December, 1862. Unsuccessful as commander of the Army of the James. Relieved from command, January 1865. Served in U. S. House of Representatives, 1873-1875; 1877-1879. Governor of Massachusetts, 1882-1884. Greenback presidential candidate, 1884. Died, Washington, D. C., January 11, 1893. B.G. Sources: Hans Louis Trefousse, Ben Butler, the South Called Him Beast (New York, 1957); Dictionary of American Biography, III, 357; Ezra Warner, Generals in Blue (Baton Rouge, 1981), pp. 60-61.
BUTLER, Edward George Washington, soldier, planter, banker. Born, Mt. Pleasant, Tenn., February 22, 1800; son of Edward Butler and Isabella Fowler. Following father’s death in 1806 became, with brother, ward of Andrew Jackson (q.v.). Later, entered West Point; major (commander) of Corps of Cadets in senior year. After graduation, assigned to Fourth Regiment of Artillery, Boston; then, as first lieutenant, assigned to Baton Rouge. Later, aide to Gen. Edmund P. Gaines (q.v.), and adjutant general, Army of the West. Married, 1826, Frances Parke Lewis (1799-1875) at Woodlawn Plantation, Va. Children: Edward, Jr. (b. 1827); Eleanor Angela Isabelle (b. 1831), married George M. Williamson (q.v.); Caroline Swanwick (b. 1834), married William Barrow Turnbull; Lawrence Lewis (b. 1837). Resigned from army, 1831, acquired Dunboyne Plantation, Iberville Parish. Served as general of Louisiana militia and president of Bank of Plaquemine. Volunteered for service, Mexican War. Colonel in command of Third Louisiana Dragoon Regiment, which patrolled Rio Grande Valley from Gulf of Mexico to El Paso. After war, returned to Louisiana and plantation life. Removed to Pass Christian, Miss., 1868. Later, removed to St. Louis, Mo. Died at home of son, Lawrence, St. Louis, September 5, 1888. R.C.P. Source: Author’s research.
BUTLER, John “Picayune,” minstrel, banjoist, and busker. Born c. 1807 in the West Indies. Settled in New Orleans in the 1820s, making his way as a four-stringed street banjoist, playing, singing, and dancing for “picayunes” (small tips). He became well known between New Orleans and Cincinnati. Along with “Old Corn Meal” (real name unknown), Butler was a pioneer in minstrelsy, and in the 1830s he influenced the style of banjoists Thomas Rice and George Nichols who popularized his song “Picayune Butler Is Going Away.” Furnished the music for slave dances on plantations, wildly thumping the banjo with his body, a style in practice before this instrument was popular in minstrelsy. His repertoire included another of his songs “Picayune Butler Comes to Town” (printed in Phil Rice’s Correct Method for the Banjo, [1858], and Edward L. Rice’s Monarchs of Minstrelsy, [1911]) as well as the then current favorite Jim Crow and Juba songs and dances. Butler, a free man of color, taught dance and music, and possibly helped establish an African American theater in New York (1840s-1850s). On October 19, 1857, despite two broken strings, he almost won a banjo competition at the Chinese Assembly Rooms in New York, with 3,000 in attendance. Butler died in New York City, November 18, 1864. A.K.S. Sources: Eileen Southern, Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians (1982); Ann Charters, The Ragtime Songbook (1965); Robert C. Toll, Blacking Up (1974); Cecelia Conway, African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia (1995).
BUTLER, Melvin Arthur, educator, linguist, academic. Born, Monroe, La., May 2, 1938; son of James H. Butler, Sr., and Henrietta Wade Butler. Education: Carroll High School, valedictorian; Morehouse College, B. A., 1961, magna cum laude; University of Texas, M. A., 1962; University of Michigan, Ph. D., 1968; and the University of London. Active in professional, civic, and social activities. Chairman, Language Task Force for the Conference on College Composition and Communication; Affiliate Speaker for the same organization; member, National Council of Teachers of English, the College Language Association, the Conference on College Composition and Communication and the South Central Modern Language Association and member of numerous university committees. Graduate fellowships from Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Danforth Foundation and Southern University Education Foundation. Chairman, Department of English, 1969-1973. Publications in CLA Journal, Black Experience, Louisiana Education Association Journal and Desegregation and the Correctional School. Member, Antioch Baptist Church, Monroe, La. The Melvin A. Butler Black Poetry Festival named in honor of subject. Joined faculty at Southern University as assistant professor of English, 1965; professor and chairman of the Department of English at Southern University-Baton Rouge, 1969-1973. Died, Baton Rouge, 1973; interred City Cemetery, Monroe. R.J.S. Source: Verda M. Talton, secretary, Office of the College of Arts and Humanities, former secretary of Dr. Melvin A. Butler.
BUTLER, Pierce, academic. Born, New Orleans, January 18, 1873; son of James P. Butler and Mary Louise Harrison. Family removed to Natchez, Miss., the ancestral home. Education: private tutors; Tulane, A. B., 1892; The Sorbonne, Paris; Johns Hopkins University, Ph. D. Married, June 25, 1902, Cora Waldo. Children: Virginia Waldo, Pierce, and Mary Frances. Teaching career began as instructor in English, University of Texas, 1902. Moved, 1902, to Sophie Newcomb College and remained there until retirement, 1938. Dean of graduate faculty, 1913-1918; dean of Newcomb College, 1919-1938. Author of The Unhurried Years (1948), Laurel Hill and Later (an autobiography [1954]), Women of Medieval France (1907); comp., Materials for the Life of Shakespeare (1930), The Life of Judah P. Benjamin (1906), and Analytical Questions on Shakespearian Plays (1936). Contributor to The South in the Building of the Nation and numerous articles to scholarly journals. Member: American Historical Association, Modern Language Association, Louisiana Historical Society, Phi Beta Kappa (served as president of Louisiana Alpha chapter). Died, Oak Ridge, Tenn., January 16, 1955; interrred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. G.R.C. Sources: Who Was Who in America, III, 1951-1960; New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 17, 1955.
BUTLER, Robert Bruce, teacher, lawyer, politician, jurist. Born, Sandy Creek (near Baton Rouge), La., 1869. Married Agnes Hertz, July 7, 1898; children: Robert, Jr., Gladys, Lynden, Marion. Early education at Norvilla Collegiate Institute, St. Helena Parish; B. S. degree, Louisiana Normal (now Northwestern State University) at Natchitoches. Subsequently taught in Lake Charles public schools before becoming principal at Franklin High School (St. Mary Parish). Studied law in his spare time under Senator Donelson Caffery (q.v.). Admitted to the Louisiana bar, 1898, the same year he married and moved to Houma, La. Elected state representative, 1904, 1908, 1912; state senator, 1920; unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor, 1924. Appointed district judge, Seventeenth Judicial District, 1924; served as district judge for twenty years until his retirement in 1944. Remained a practicing lawyer until age 91. Very active in the Boy Scouts of America; widely recognized as the “Father of Scouting in Terrebonne Parish.” Member and president, Houma Rotary Club. Charter member, Unity League, Number 267. Butler was the oldest master mason in the state at the time of his death, February 8, 1965. J.D.W. Sources: Baton Rouge State Times, February 9, 1965; New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 9, 1965; Terrebonne Press, April 23, 1968.
BUTLER, Thomas, planter, jurist. Born near Carlisle, Pa., April 11, 1785; son of Col. Thomas Butler who was court-martialed by Gen. James Wilkinson (q.v.) for refusing to obey order to crop his hair, 1804. Education: common schools, studied law under uncle, Steele Semple, in Pittsburgh; admitted to Pennsylvania bar, March 24, 1806; recruited by Aaron Burr (q.v.) in Pittsburgh to join Mexican expedition and settle Bastrop Claim, August 1806. Arrived in Natchez, 1807. After Burr’s capture returned to Pittsburgh for brief stay. Returned to Mississippi Territory and received license to practice law, 1808; began law practice near Ft. Adams, Miss., November 1808; captain, Mississippi Territory Militia, 1810; removed to St. Francisville, January 1811; acquired land and established The Cottage Plantation, 1811; practiced before Seventh Superior Court, at St. Francisville; admitted to Louisiana bar, December 11,, 1812; appointed judge, Feliciana Parish, December 14, 1812, but declined to serve. Married Ann Ellis of Adams County, Miss., 1813; appointed judge, Thirty-fourth Judicial District, March 4, 1813; elected to Congress to fill a vacancy; reelected November 15, 1818, and served from March 4, 1819 to March 4, 1821; resumed planting at The Cottage; member first board of trustees, College of Louisiana at Jackson, La., 1825; incorporator and first senior warden, Grace Episcopal Church, St. Francisville, 1827; agent and president, Bank of Louisiana at St. Francisville, 1832. Died, St. Louis, Mo., August 7, 1847; interred The Cottage Plantation, West Feliciana Parish. E.K.D. Sourcess: Butler Family Papers, Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); Thomas P. Abernethy, The Burr Conspiracy (1954); Parish Register, Grace Church, St. Francisville, La.; William H. Nelson, A Burning Torch and a Flaming Fire: The Story of Centenary College of Louisiana (1931).
BUTTERWORTH, Eve Christine, see DIEBERT, Eve Butterworth
BYNUM, Wade H., banker, politician. Born, Baton Rouge, La., January 20, 1868; son of W. H. Bynum and Clara Adams. Married Bessie Randolph, Baton Rouge, July 10, 1893. Education: McGruder Collegiate Institute; B. A. degree, Louisiana State University, 1890. Subsequently became a bookkeeper with Hubbs Brothers retail grocery; entered the general fire insurance business, working for the firm of Bird and Bynum, 1893-1901. Cashier, Louisiana State Bank, 1901-1909; cashier, Louisiana National Bank, 1909; later served as a vice president of the Union Bank and Trust Company and with the City National Bank before becoming the president of the later. Served as mayor of Baton Rouge on two separate occasions, 1903-1910 and 1923-1940. Oversaw many important municipal projects and lead Baton Rouge during a period tremendous growth. Member of the local Elks Club and president of the Chamber of Commerce. Died, Baton Rouge, March 2, 1946; interred in Magnolia Cemetery, Baton Rouge. J.D.W. Sources: The Southern Editors Association, The Southerner: A Biographical Encyclopedia of Southern People (1944); clippings, vertical file, reel #14, Lower Mississippi Valley Collection, Louisiana State University Library.
BYRD, Clifton Ellis, educator. Born, Bath County, Va., December 14, 1859; son of John Thomas and Sarah Rebecca McClintic Byrd. Education: local schools; Augusta Military Academy, Fort Defiance, Va.; University of Virginia, 1882-1883. Taught school at Front Royal, Va., 1883-1889; was high school principal, Monroe, La., 1889-1892; high school principal in Shreveport, 1892-1900; city superintendent of schools, 1900-1906; president of Louisiana Industrial Institute (now Louisiana Tech University), 1906-1907; Caddo Parish school superintendent, 1907-1926; delegate to the Council of Education in Louisiana, 1913; member, Louisiana State Public School Teachers Association. Married Mattie McFee of Monroe in 1894. Children: Mary (b. 1895) and Clifton (b. 1897). A Democrat. Member, the Presbyterian church, the Masons, Elks, Rotary Club, and Sigma Nu fraternity. Died, February 26, 1926. P.K.B. & J.B.C. Sources: Clifton Ellis Byrd, dissertation, LSU, 1968; Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana (1925); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, February 27, 1926.
BYRD, Daniel Ellis, civil-rights leader, community activist. Born, Marvell, Phillips County, Ark., January 31, 1910; son of Fellow Emerson Byrd and Malinda Kendall. Religion: United Methodist. Education: public elementary and secondary schools of Gary, Ind.; attended Crane Junior College (now Roosevelt University) and La Salle School of Law, both Chicago, Ill. Resident of Marvell, Ark., 1910-1912; Gary, Ind., 1912-1929; Chicago, 1929-1934; New Orleans, 1934-1984. Married, 1937, Mildred Cage of New Orleans, daughter of Harry Cage and Johnnie Covington of Canton, Miss. One daughter, Carol-da Mille. Original member of Chicago (later Harlem) Globetrotters; insurance agent for Louisiana and Good Citizens Insurance companies; Prince Hall Masonic Lodge; executive secretary, New Orleans Branch NAACP, 1941-1942; executive secretary, Louisiana State Conference, NAACP, 1943-1948; field secretary for Southern States, NAACP, and later NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 1948-1978. President, New Orleans NAACP, 1941-1942; founding president, Louisiana State Conference, NAACP. Along with attorneys A. P. Tureaud (q.v.) and Thurgood Marshall won teacher salary equalization cases in more than a dozen parishes in Louisiana; recruited plaintiffs in school desegregation, public parks and playground, voter registration cases; organized selective buying campaign in 1947, to secure right for Negro women to try on hats and other garments before purchase; investigated Minden blow torch lynching in 1947, Louisiana’s last known lynching, recruited New Orleans’s first successful black police applicants; organized Louisiana Progressive Voters League, mentor of Medgar Evers, slain Mississippi civil rights leader, and James Meredith, first black student admitted to University of Mississippi. Died, March 18, 1984; interred St. Mary Cemetery, New Orleans. R.C. Sources: Daniel E. Byrd Papers, Amistad Research Center (New Orleans); New Orleans Branch NAACP Papers, Earl K. Long Library archives (University of New Orleans, New Orleans).
BYRD, Henry Roeland (stage name “Professor Longhair”), pianist, songwriter, performer, and recording artist. Born at Bogalusa, La., December 18, 1918. Grew to maturity in New Orleans. Married at least three times. Seven known children. Career: One of the most signifiÂcant musicians to come out of New Orleans, Professor Longhair played a unique and influential rhumba-boogie characterÂized by polyrhythmic compositions and idiosyncratic vocals. A pioneer of the city’s rhythm and blues scene, Longhair began playing as a child but didn’t record until he returned home from military service after World War II. His intermittent recording and stage caÂreers spanned five decades and influÂenced such important New Orleans piÂanists as Dr. John, Antoine “Fats” Domino, Allen Toussaint, and Huey “Piano” Smith. His most notable recordings include “Tipitina,” “Bald Head,” “Big Chief,” and “Go to the Mardi Gras,” the last being a virtual anthem of Carnival season. After enÂjoying an initial wave of popularity in the forties and fifties, Professor Longhair found employment outside music in the sixÂties, frequently working as a profesÂsional gambler. “RediscovÂered” in the 1970s, he played every New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival until his death on January 30, 1980. He made many European tours. Died in New Orleans, January 30, 1980; interred at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, New Orleans. Inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. M.S.F. Sources: John Broven, Rhythm & Blues in New Orleans. (1974); Jeff Hanusch, I Hear You Knocking: The Sound of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues (1985); Grace Lichtenstein and Laura Dankner, Musical Gumbo: The Music of New Orleans (1993); Stevenson Palfi, director, Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together (film/video, n.d.); Robert Palmer, A Tale of Two Cities: Memphis Rock and New Orleans Roll (1979); Professor Longhair, New Orleans Piano (Rhino Cd R2-722); Robert Santelli, The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia (1993).