Dictionary G
GAINES, Edmund Pendleton, soldier. Born, Culpepper County, Va., May 20, 1777; son of Elizabeth Strother and James Gaines. Appointed ensign of Infantry of Tennessee, 1797; commissioned lieutenant in U. S. Army, 1797; surveyed road from Nashville, Tenn., to Natchez, Miss., 1801-1804; arrested Aaron Burr near Mobile, Ala., in 1807 while in command of Fort Stoddert; commissioned major in 1812; served as colonel in 1813; adjutant general in command of Fort Erie, 1813; as brigadier general successfully defended Fort Erie against superior British forces in August, 1814; breveted major general August 15, 1814; awarded CongresÂsional Medal of Honor; commissioned to treat with Creek Indians in the South, 1817; fought in Creek and Seminole wars; placed in command of Eastern Department; led successful campaign against Black Hawk, 1832; in command of Fort Jesup and Camp Sabine in Louisiana, 1836; commander of the Department of the West, 1839, with headquarters in New Orleans; deprived of his command in 1846 for illegally sending volunteers to Texas during Mexican War; successfully defended himself in court martial trial. Married (1) Frances Toulmin; (2) Barbara Blount; and (3) Myra Clark (q.v.); the latter in 1839. No children; spent last ten years of his life as litigant in wife’s lawsuit against the city of New Orleans and elsewhere in the Mississippi Valley. Died, New Orleans, June 6, 1849. Interred Mobile, Ala. J.B.C. Sources: Who Was Who in America, 1607-1896Â (1967); Nolan B. Harmon, Jr., The Famous Case of Myra Clark Gaines (1946); J. Fair Hardin, “Fort Jesup, Fort Selden, Camp Sabine, Camp Salubrity, Four Forgotten Frontier Army Posts of Western Louisiana,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVI (1933); New Orleans Daily Picayune, obituary, June 7, 1849.
GAINES, Myra Clark Whitney, litigant. Born, New Orleans, June 1805; daughter of Daniel Clark (q.v.) and Marie Julie (Zulime) Carrière. Central figure in a lengthy and expensive series of suits and countersuits in which confirmation of her claim to be the only legitimate child of Daniel Clark and Zulime Carrière would make her heir to a vast fortune in money and real estate in New Orleans and elsewhere in the Mississippi Valley. For nearly sixty years, 1834 to 1891, her case and its attendant cases were continuously before the courts. U. S. Supreme Court, seventeen times; Louisiana Supreme Court, at least five times. One of the most celebrated cases in the history of U. S. jurisprudence, only garnered a sum of $576,707.92 to the Gaines estate from the city of New Orleans when it was finally over in 1891. Her life and this case has been the subject of much study. Married, (1) William Wallace Whitney, September 13, 1832; (2) Maj. Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines (q.v.), 1839. Children: William Whitney, Jr.; Rhoda Whitney; Julia Whitney. Died, New Orleans, January 9, 1885; interred St. Louis Cemetery I. P.D.A. Sources: Nolan B. Harmon, Jr., The Famous Case of Myra Clark Gaines (1946); Mel Leavitt, Great Characters of New Orleans (1984); Perry Scott Rader, “The Romance of American Courts, Gaines vs. New Orleans,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVII (January, 1944).
GAINNIE, François, soldier, planter. Born, New Orleans, 1791; son of René Urbain Gainnié of France and Jeanne Marguerite (dit Manette) Sarde of New Orleans. Married, May 29, 1826, Desirée Lalande de Ferrier, daughter of Louis Lalande de Ferrier and Marie Hyacinthe Arnoult. Served during War of 1812 as first lieutenant of the Fourth Regiment, Louisiana Militia, known as Morgan’s Fourth. In 1823, became commander of Fourth Regiment. Elected to state legislature, took seat on January 1, 1827. Promoted, 1829, to rank of brigadier general of First Louisiana Brigade. Elected, 1830, an alderman of the city of New Orleans. Thereafter retired from public life and removed to plantation on Red River near Cloutierville. Died in a duel with Gen. Pierre Bossier (q.v.) in Natchitoches Parish, September 18, 1839. Duelists used rifles at forty paces. TAG, LA Source: Author’s research.
GALASSO, Michael, violinist, concertmaster. Born, Tulsa, Okla., August 15, 1922. Education: graduate of Eastman School of Music, Rochester, N. Y.; received B.M., M.M. and D.M.A. degrees, studying with Howard Hansen and violin with Jacque Gordon. Received Performer’s Award in violin at Eastman and served as concertmaster of Eastman School of Music Symphony. Performed in Rochester Philharmonic for 5 years working under Eric Leinsdorf and Leonard Bernstein. Appeared as guest artist with several orchestras throughout the country. Performed with the Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra and the New Orleans Opera Orchestra, performed as concertmaster of the Jackson, Miss., Opera Association Orchestra, and the Biloxi, Miss., Concert Association Orchestra. Taught at Hochstein School of Music in Rochester, 1946-1947; taught violin and orchestra at New England Music Camp in Oakland, Me., summer 1948; taught at Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, 1948-1963, also serving as concertmaster of the Baton Rouge Symphony during this time; associate professor of Music, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 1963-1965. Was a founding member of the Festival Arts Trio at LSU. Worked with young people as conductor of the Baton Rouge Youth Orchestra and as conductor for the Louisiana and Mississippi All-State High School Orchestras. From 1961-1965 conducted the Baton Rouge Little Theatre Orchestra for the summer musicals. Married Michaela Loose, also a musician. Children: Michael John, Paul, Marianne, David, and Mark. Died, December 8, 1965, after performing as solo artist with the Baton Rouge Symphony, playing the Bruch Violin Concerto. M.S.W. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, November 28, 1965; December 10, 1965; Baton Rouge State-Times, December 9, 1965; interview with his widow, March 31, 1986.
GALLEHER, John Nicholas, third Episcopal bishop of Louisiana. Born, Washington, Ky., February 17, 1839; son of a merchant. Education: local schools; University of Virginia, 1856-1858; read law in the office of Beatty and Bush, Thibodaux, La. Baptized St. John’s, Thibodaux, by the Reverend T. R. B. Trader, ca. 1858; confirmed by Bishop Leonidas Polk (q.v.). Taught school, Lake Providence, La., ca. 1860. Civil War service: enlisted Confederate Army, Buckner’s Guards, cavalry, Bowling Green, Ky., 1861. Captured at Fort Donelson, 1861; exchanged 1862; served on General Buckner’s staff, Army of Tennessee, 1862-1865, rising to the rank of colonel. Studied law in the office of Hayes and New, New Orleans, ca. 1865; and with Col. R. W. Wooley in Louisville; attended Brockenborough Law School, Lexington, Ky. Law partner with Col. R. W. Wooley in Louisville, ca. 1867. Studied theology privately in Louisville and at General Theological Seminary, New York, N.Y. Ordained: deacon, Louisville, June 7, 1868, by Bishop Cummins; priest, New Orleans, May 30, 1869, by Bishop J. P. B. Wilmer (q.v.). Assistant minister, Christ Church, Louisville, 1868; rector, Trinity Church, New Orleans from January 6, 1869, to September 1871; rector, Johns Memorial Church, Baltimore, Md., November 1871-October 1873; rector, Zion Church, New York, N. Y., October 1873-January 1880. Elected bishop of Louisiana, November 12, 1879; consecrated Trinity Church, New Orleans, February 5, 1880. Episcopate characterized by capable administration, expansion of ministry to the black population; expansion of the Children’s Home. Celebrated fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Diocese of Louisiana, Christ Church, New Orleans, April 28, 1888. Married Charlotte Barbee, daughter of John Barbee, Louisville, 1868. Children: John R., Alice (Mrs. Davis Sessums), Paul, Clarkson, and Charlotte. Stricken with valvular disease of the heart in Louisville in 1889. Died New Orleans, December 7, 1891; interred Galleher family tomb, Louisville. P.C.L. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, December 8, 10, 11, 1891; The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, XI (1906); Herman Cope Duncan, The Diocese of Louisiana: Some of Its History, 1838-1888 (1888); Hodding Carter and Betty Werlein Carter, So Great a Good: A History of the Episcopal Church in Louisiana and of Christ Church Cathedral, 1805-1955 (1955).
GALLIER, James, Jr., architect. Born, Huntingdon, England, September 25, 1827; son of James Gallier, Sr. (q.v.) and Elisabeth Tyler. Emigrated with parents to New York City, 1832. Education: Long Island and, later, in Mississippi at primary and college preparatory schools operated by Rev. Dr. Hawks; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1844-1848. In 1849 succeeded to his father’s architectural firm in New Orleans. In partnership until 1858 with John Turpin, and from 1858-1868 with Richard Esterbrook as designers/builders of a number of significant structures in New Orleans, among which: Leeds Iron Foundry (“Gothic” revival, 1852); Lavinia Dabney House (1856-1857); Mechanics Institute (1856-1857); Gallier House (1857-1859); French Opera House (1859); Luling Mansion (Louisiana Jockey Club, 1865); Gates and Gatehouses of New Orleans Fairgrounds Race Track (1866). Private in Captain Greenleaf’s Company (Orleans Light Horse Louisiana Cavalry, Confederate). Married Josephine Aglae Villavaso of St. Bernard Parish, La., January 29, 1853. Children: Elizabeth Leonie (b. 1853), Josephine Blanche (b. 1856), Françoise Josephine (b. 1858), Jeanne Clemence (b. 1860). Died, New Orleans, May 16, 1868; interred St. Louis Cemetery III. J.B.** Sources: Ursuline Convent, Marriages, Vol. III (1845-1853); Ursuline Convent, Baptisms, Book IV; New Orleans Daily Picayune, May 17, 1868, April 13, 1876; December 10, 1906; Archives of Gallier House Museum, 1132 Royal Street, New Orleans, La.
GALLIER, James, Sr., architect. Born, Ravensdale, Louth County, Ireland, July 24, 1798; son of Thaddeus and Margaret Taylor Gallier. Educated in local schools; apprenticed in the building trade; studied architectural drawing at School of Fine Arts, Dublin. Married (1) Elizabeth Tyler, 1823, Shropshire, Ireland. Worked briefly in Ireland and England; migrated to New York City, 1832; published American Builder’s General Price Book and Estimator (1833). Removed in 1834 to New Orleans; 1835 commission for St. Charles Exchange Hotel built his reputation; favored Greek Revival style; designed and/or built Merchants Exchange, old and new Christ Church, St. Patrick’s Church, Commercial Exchange (later Masonic Temple), and Municipal Hall (old New Orleans City Hall, now Gallier Hall); design for Ashland Plantation attributed to him; failing sight caused retirement in 1849. Married (2) Catherine Robinson of Mobile, Ala., 1850, in Charleston, S. C.; spent remainder of life traveling; owned home on Lake Constance, Switzerland. Published autobiography, 1864. Perished with wife, October 3, 1866, on steamer Evening Star in hurricane off Cape Hatteras. Marble cenotaph in St. Louis Cemetery III designed by son, James Gallier, Jr. (q.v.) in his memory. J.B.C. Sources: James Gallier Autobiography (1864; reprint ed., 1973); William R. Cullison III, Architecture in Louisiana: A Documentary History (1883).
GALVEZ, Bernardo de, governor. Born, Marchavariaya, Spain, July 23, 1746; son of MatÃas de Gálvez and Josefa Gallardo Madrid. Military service: lieutenant in Spanish forces during Hispano-Portuguese fighting, 1762; promoted to rank of captain, Regiment of Coruña; accompanied his uncle (the visitor-general of New Spain) to Mexico, ca. 1769; second in command during a campaign against the Apache, April 1769; named commander of Nueva Vizcaya and Sonora, ca. 1770; led numerous expeditions against the Apache, 1770; procured leave of absence and entered French Regiment of Cantabria; returned to Spain, 1775; participated in the Spanish invasion of Algiers, 1775, and was wounded; promoted to lieutenant-colonel and attached to the military school at Avila. Appointed governor and intendant of Louisiana, September 19, 1776; assumed office January 1, 1777. As governor: worked to reduce English smuggling in Louisiana; secretly provided assistance to Patriot cause through New Orleans agent (Oliver Pollock, [q.v.]); harbored James Willing and his band of American raiders, 1778; when Spain declared war against England, 1779, Gálvez mobilized Louisiana’s military forces; seized Manchac, Baton Rouge and Natchez, 1779; Mobile, 1780; and Pensacola, 1781. As a result of these victories, Spain secured East and West Florida through the Treaty of Paris, 1783. Returned to Spain, 1783, to confer with colonial authorities regarding Louisiana. Promoted to rank of major general, 1784; named captain general of Louisiana and the Floridas, 1784; commisisoned viceroy of New Spain, 1785. Married, 1777, Félicité de St. Maxent (q.v.) the widow of Jean-Baptiste Honoré Destréhan (fils). Two daughters: Matilda Bernarda Felipa Isabel Juana Felicitas y Fernanda (q.v.), and Guadalupe (born in Mexico; died as a child). One son: Miguel. Died, Tacubaya, Mexico, November 30, 1786; interred Mexico City. C.A.B. Sources: John Walton Caughey, Bernardo de Gálvez in Louisiana, 1776-1783 (1972); Dictionary of American Biography, VII (1946); Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896 (1967).
GALVEZ Y ST. MAXENT, Matilda, second countess of Gálvez and marquise of Sonora. Born, New Orleans, 1778; eldest daughter of Bernardo de Gálvez (q.v.) and Félicité (Felicitas) St. Maxent (q.v.). Spent earliest years playing in the house of the intendant, MartÃn Navarro (q.v.), while her father was absent fighting in the wars of the American Revolution. Navarro relates that she took chocolate with him every morning and assisted at the novena. Accompanied parents first to Cuba when father was promoted to captain-general and then on to Mexico City when he became viceroy. Following father’s death in 1786, Matilda accompanied her mother to Madrid in 1787. Married an Italian noble, Raymundo Capece Minutolo. When her mother died ca. 1800 followed by her brother Miguel, she inherited the family titles, countess of Gálvez and marquise of Sonora. B.C. Sources: Spain. Archivo General de Indias, Papeles procedentes de Cuba, legajo 83; Eric Beerman, “The French Ancestors of Félicité de St. Maxent,” Revue de Louisiane, VI (1977).
GAMOTIS, Alphonse J., watercolorist, druggist. Parents names unknown. Born New Orleans, March 9, 1842. Married Polymnia Durel; children’s names unknown. Active as druggist, 1867-1918. Painted local landscapes, mostly on small canvasses, mainly as a hobby with no formal training. Exhibited at Southern Art Union, 1882, Wagener’s Gallery, 1882, and the “Creole Exhibit Art Gallery” at the North-Central-South American Exposition, 1885-1886. Member the Artists’ Association of New Orleans; exhibited at the First Annual Exhibition of the Artists’ Association, 1886, the Second Annual Exhibition, 1887, and the Ninth Annual Exhibition, 1894. Described as an “amateur” artist, his watercolors in style resemble the manner of the Artists’ Association “school,” which included such artists as Molinary, Walker, Blanchard, Poincy, Livingston, Boyle, and others. Died, New Orleans, Janaury 6, 1919; interred St. Louis Cemetery II. K.F. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987); Morton M. Goldberg Auction Galleries, Inc., The Annual Louisiana Purchase Auction, Catalogue (1985); Sterns Auction Exchange, Armand Hawkins Collection, Catalogue (1916).
GANDOLFO, Henri, preservationist, historian. Born, New Orleans, La., ca. 1897; son of Louis R. Gandolfo and Louise Marchand. Graduated from Warren Easton High School of New Orleans, 1914. Subsequently drafted into the United States Army during World War I; attained the rank of sergeant. Upon returning from the service Gandolfo began what would be a seventy-two-year career at Metairie Cemetery; retired, 1987. Consider one of the foremost historians of New Orleans cemeteries, Gandolfo was particularly knowledgeable of Metairie Cemetery and the lore that accompanied its occupants. He wrote the definitive history of the cemetery, entitled Metairie Cemetery: A Historical Memoir (1982). Grandolfo frequently lectured to clubs and school groups, and led guided tours of several local cemeteries for many years. He was extremely active in the preservation of New Orleans cemeteries and played a leading role in the Save Our Cemeteries organization, as well as in the Louisiana Landmarks Society, the Friends of the Cabildo, Louisiana Historical Society, and the Society of the War of 1812. Gandolfo received the Jefferson Davis Medal from the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the National History Medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was elected to life membership in the Friends of Tulane Library. Died at a brother’s home in Daphne, Ala., July 17, 1990; interred in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, La. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 19, 1990.
GARDERE, Fergus, businessman, plantation manager, politician. Born, New Orleans, October 2, 1817; son of François Gardère (q.v.). Education included attending the first college established in New Orleans. Married Emilie Toledano (d. 1850). An accountant in the commission house of John A. Merle & Co., New Orleans. 1838, removed to Baton Rouge, employed as an accountant in the state treasurer’s office; 1843, returned to New Orleans and resided on the west bank where he was connected with his family’s sawmill and brick works; 1850 to 1862, served as state senator in the Louisiana legislature, representing the west bank senatorial district; 1852 member of the Louisiana constitutional convention; 1861, as a member of the Louisiana secession convention, Fergus Gardère voted against secession, but when war came gave his unqualified support to the Confederate cause; 1866, moved to Chatsworth Plantation, just below Baton Rouge, which he managed until his death. Died, Manchac, La., October 28, 1894; interred St. Louis Cemetery I. H.C.P. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, October 30, 1894; November 4, 1894; Baton Rouge State-TImes, June 28, 1976; July 5, 1976.
GARDERE, François, businessman, plantation owner and politician. Born, Bordeaux, France, June 21, 1792. Emigrated to the United States with his father in 1806; settled in New York and later in Philadelphia. Married Elizabeth Rivière in 1812, and then removed to New Orleans shortly after Louisiana was admitted to the Union. Located in Baton Rouge; selectman of its town council, 1822-1823; active in the civic life of the town and was a leader in the movement to establish the Baton Rouge College which was opened in 1822. Served as state treasurer of Louisiana from 1828 to 1843. Returned to New Orleans in 1831, and built the residence at 905 Esplanade Ave. Acquired a large tract of land on the west bank across from New Orleans, in what is now Gretna and Harvey, wherein 1835 he was operating a sawmill and brick manufacturing business. In 1866, he bought Chatsworth Plantation, apparently at a tax sale, located at Manchac, La., on the east bank of the Mississippi River, just below Baton Rouge; developed originally by Fergus Peniston, adopted son of Fergus Duplantier, Chatsworth for many years produced large crops of sugar cane. Died, New Orleans, November 12, 1871; interred New Orleans, St. Louis Cemetery I. H.C.P. Source: Baton Rouge State-Times, June 28, 1976; July 5, 1976.
GARDINER, Lessley V. P., jurist. Born, near Sunset, La., August 30, 1901; son of Marie Simon and Dr. C. A. Gardiner. Education: received early education in Bristol, La.; St. Charles College, Grand Coteau, La.; Catholic University, Washington, D. C.; Loyola University, New Orleans, law degree, 1924. Married (1) Florence Finch in New Orleans, July 3, 1928. Married (2) Norma Summers of Opelousas. Children: Florence, Lessley, Jr., and Eloise; three stepdaughters by second marriage. Practiced law in New Orleans, 1924-1935; attorney for state fire marshall, 1929-1933; special assistant attorney general in the New Orleans office; same capacity in Baton Rouge, 1935; served as attorney general, 1939-1940; practiced law, St. Landry Parish, 1940-1944; state senator, 1944-1948; appointed judge of Twenty-seventh Judicial District, 1948; reelected in 1954 and 1960; retired in 1972; managed family cattle farm in Sunset; owned Chretien Point Plantation together with his brothers and sisters. Member, national, state, and local bar associations; Council of Louisiana Law Institute; Louisiana District Judges Association, Lions Club, Opelousas Chamber of Commerce, Evangeline Area Council Boy Scouts of America, Indian Hills Country Club. President, Louisiana Yambilee; chairman, Cerebral Palsy Drive; board of commissioners, St. Landry Parish Hospital. Died, August 24, 1976; interred St. Charles Cemetery, Grand Coteau. J.B.C. Sources: Biographies of Louisiana Judges (1965); James M. Thomson, ed., Louisiana Today (1929); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obituary, August 25, 1976.
GARDNER, Franklin Kitchell, soldier. Born, New York City, JanuÂary 29, 1823; son of Charles K. Gardner, New York politician, journalist, and military author. Education: graduated from the United States Military Academy in the remarkable class of 1843, which provided some fifteen Civil War generals, including himself and Ulysses S. Grant. During the Mexican War fought alongside Grant and Lee and was awarded two brevets for gallantry. Also involved in the expedition against the Mormons. Became a Louisianian by virtue of his marriage to Marie Celestine Mathilde Mouton, daughter of Louisiana governor and U. S. senator Alexandre Mouton (q.v.) of Vermilionville (Lafayette) and the sister of Confederate Gen. Alfred Mouton (q.v.). When war broke out between the states, Gardner deserted his post with the regular army and accepted a commission in the Confederacy as colonel of infantry. Rose from rank of brigadier general after Shiloh to major general after heading a brigade during Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky. Most notable achievement was during the summer of 1863, when he, as commander of the invested Confederate garrison at Port Hudson on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, held out for some forty-three days against the besieging army of Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks (q.v.), surrendering it to a vastly superior Union Army only after starvation decimated his ranks, and the fall of Vicksburg rendered his position untenable. As a captive he was one of the “Immortal Six Hundred” placed within range of Confederate batteries during a Federal assault at Charleston. After the war he retired to the life of a sedentary planter on the banks of Bayou Vermilion at Lafayette. Died, April 29, 1873. D.C.E. Sources: Ezra Warner, Generals in Gray (1959); Howard C. Wright, Port Hudson: Its History from an Interior Point of Review (1863; reprint ed., 1961); Lafayette Advertiser, May 3, 17, 31, 1863; and the Vermilionville, Louisiana Cotton-Boll, April 30, 1873; May 14, 1873.
GARIC, Jean-Baptiste (Juan Bautista), royal notary. Born in France, ca. 1718; son of J. Garic. Received an advanced education in law. Began practice as a notary and attorney in New Orleans, 1739. Enjoyed a profitable career as an attorney for numerous plaintiffs prior to 1763. While returning to Louisiana via Haiti, March 1763, was shipwrecked on Pine Island off Cuban coast. Rescued by an English vessel he reached New Orleans several months later. That same year he received 7,000 livres as settlement of his father’s estate. Named clerk of the French Superior Council, May 1763, and royal notary to replace Augustin Chantalou. Became first clerk of the Spanish cabildo when it was established by Gov. Alejandro O’Reilly (q.v.) in 1769 and served as official notary to the governor. Married EstefanÃa de Gaion (Gollon). Children: Francisco (François) (b. 1773), Eulalie, and Céleste. Member of the board of the New Orleans Charity Hospital; made substantial contributions towards its support. Reasonably prosperous by the 1770s, purchased a house on Conti Street and owned nine slaves. Died, New Orleans, December 11, 1779. B.C. Sources: Acts of Juan Garic, Books 1-12 (1739-1779), Orleans Parish Notarial Archives; G. Lugano, trans. and ed., “Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXIV (1941); XXV (1942).
GARLAND, Edward “Montudi,” jazz musician, string bass. Born New Orleans, January 9, 1895(?); other sources say 1885. Last survivor of Kid Ory’s Storyville Band, Creole Jazz band and Sunshine Orchestra. One of the first New Orleans musicians to take the music “up the river” to Chicago. Joined King Oliver (q.v.) in 1916 for a five-year hitch which took him to California. Then worked off and on with Kid Ory (q.v.) until Ory left for Chicago in 1925. Led his own group in Los Angeles until rejoining Kid Ory in 1944 and remained until 1955. Freelanced and worked with Joe Darensbourg and Andrew Blakeney. Appeared with Blakeney in the 1966 film Hotel. Played in Young Men of New Orleans (1969). In 1971 Garland returned to New Orleans to play with Kid Ory for the Jazzfest. In 1974, he played again at the Jazzfest and went on a national and European tour. He was forced to return to California in 1977 because of ill health. Died January 22, 1980, Los Angeles. Interred Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, Calif. H.C. Sources: New Orleans States-Item, obituary, January 25, 1980; New Orleans Times-Picayune , January 29, 1980; Second Line, (Winter, 1977); John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz (1972); Charles Claghorn, Biographical Dictionary of American Music (1973).
GARLAND, Henry L., attorney, politician. Born, St. Landry Parish, La., September 27, 1826; son of Rice Garland (q.v.) of Albermarle, Va., and Céleste Lastrapes. Education: Franklin College; University of Virginia. Studied law in the office of Caleb L. Swayze and attended law lectures in the city of New Orleans. Started law practice at Opelousas in 1848. Married, October 28, 1852, Julia Bullard, of St. Landry Parish, daughter of Henry Adams Bullard (q.v.) of Massachusetts, and Sarah Keiser. Children: Marie Céleste, Virginia, Henry L., Jr., Robert Lee, and Charles F. Civil War service: organized a St. Landry Parish company for the Confederate States of America; rose to rank of captain; field operations were mainly in Tennessee and at Shiloh. After war, resumed law practice, member of the Louisiana legislature, as well as other political and civic offices. Acquired extensive real estate in St. Landry Parish. Died, Opelousas, December 27, 1908; interred St. Landry Cemetery, Opelousas. K.P.F. Sources: Opelousas Daily World, 150th Anniversary Edition; St. Landry Parish Probate #6350; Wiliam H. Perrin, Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical (1891; reprint ed., 1971).
GARLAND, Rice, congressman. Born, Lynchburg, Va., ca. 1795; son of Rice Garland and Elizabeth Austin Hammer. Education: pursued an academic course; studied law. Admitted to the bar and commenced practice. Removed to Opelousas, La., in 1820 and continued practice of his profession. Married Céleste Lastrapes, daughter of Jean Henri and Céleste Boisdoré on December 29, 1826, and had several children, one of whom, Henry (q.v.). Elected as a Whig to Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Henry A. Bullard (q.v.); reelected and served from April 28, 1834, to July 21, 1840, when he resigned to accept an appointment as judge of the Louisiana Supreme Court, in which capacity he served, with residence in New Orleans, until 1846. Removed to Brownsville, Tex., 1846, and continued the practice of law until his death in that city in 1861; interred Brownsville. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984).
GARLAND, Robert Lee, attorney, civic leader, politician. Son of Henry L. Garland (q.v.) and Julia L. Bullard. Education: local schools; Manhattan College, New York City; Tulane Law School. Married, April 26, 1903, Helen Hession. Children: Alice, Harry, Helen, Henry, Julie, Mercedes, Patricia, and Robert Lee, Jr. After law school, active in father’s law practice. St. Landry Parish district attorney, 1896. Active leader of St. Landry Parish Democratic party. Member: Opelousas Chamber of Commerce; Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Louisiana Bar Association; and Opelousas Rotary Club. Died, Opelousas, November 16, 1939; interred St. Landry Cemetery, Opelousas. K.P.F. Sources: Garland Family; St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, La., VI, 285; Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984); Beaumont Enterprise , October 7, 1925; Opelousas Daily World, Historical Supplement, 1976; William H. Perrin, ed., Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical (1891; reprint ed., 1971); St. Landry Parish District Court Minutes, September 1, 1896.
GARREAU, Armand, writer. Born, Cognac, France, September 14, 1817; son of Louis and Marie Dumontet. Education: probably at Lycée Henri IV (Paris); studied law. Married, November 24, 1838, Marie Anaîs Boraud. Six children. Emigrated with family to New Orleans ca. 1840 and opened a private school for boys. Journalistic career: contributed articles to New Orleans Revue de la Semaine; publisher, New Orleans Le Democrite, October-November 1848; fought a duel with an actor because of drama review in Le Democrite; editor, Revue de la Semaine, 1848; publisher, La Revue Louisianaise, ca. 1849; member, St. Martinville Creole staff, 1849; returned to France, late 1849; editor and publisher, Narrateur Impartial (Barbezieu, France), 1850-1851; forced by French government to suspend publication; publisher of magazine Légendes et Chroniques de l’Angoumois, de la Saintonge et des provinces limitrophes(1854-1857); returned to New Orleans, 1858, and reopened school. Literary career: author of 4 novels: Louisiana ((1849); Ogine (1852); Mauson maudite (1852); and Leudaste (1861); one poem: La Dindonnade de Saint-Martinville (1849); many literary articles and short stories, including: “Le Nègre maron,” Bras coupé,” “Un Jour de noces,” “Naida”; two unpublished plays: “Le Couronal,” and “Michel le braçonnier.” Civil War service: conscripted into Confederate state militia; private?, Co. G, Fourth Regiment, Second Brigade, First Division, Louisiana Militia. Died, New Orleans, March 29, 1865. C.A.B. Sources: Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896 (1967); Lionel C. Durel, “Creole Civilization in Donaldsonville, 1850, According to ‘Le Vigilant,'” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXX (1948); Edward Larocque Tinker, Les Ecrits de langue française en Louisiane au XIXe siècle (1932); Andrew Booth, comp., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands (1920).
GARRIGUES DE FLAUGEAC, Antoine Paul Joseph, soldier, politician. Born, Montfaucon, France, September 5, 1780; son of Marie Jeanne Sabrejon and Jean Charles Garrigues. Married Marie Louise Fontenot, daughter of Louis and Marie Fontenot, August 7, 1805, in Opelousas, La. Children: Marie Louise Irma (b. 1806), Adolphe (b. 1808), Claire (b. 1809), Celeste (b. 1812), Eugénie Antoinette (b. 1819), Julie Estelle (b. 1821). Volunteer in (French) Army of Italy, 1800; infantry officer in Saint-Domingue. Arrived in New Orleans, January, 1805; commissioned as a land surveyor in Opelousas; brigadier general of the state militia, 1812; elected to the state senate, 1812; fought in the Battle of New Orleans; commended by Gen. Andrew Jackson (q.v.) in an address made in New Orleans following the victory; served in the senate for eighteen years; retired from public office; was serving as a state representative at the time of his death. Died, at home, June 25, 1845; interred St. Landry Church Cemetery, Opelousas. J.B.C. Sources: Opelousas Daily World, 250th anniversary edition, June 12, 1970; Ellen Roy Jolly, “Louisiana’s Forgotten Hero,” Attakapas Gazette, XVII (1982); Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984).
GARRISON, Earling Carothers (changed to “Jim” in 1946), district attorney, lawyer, solider. Born, Dennison, Iowa, November 21, 1921. Parents divorced when he was three years old; his father subsequently moved to Arizona and had little contact with his former family; mother settled family in Chicago and then New Orleans. Education: received a law degree and an Master’s degree in civil law from Tulane University. Garrison joined the United States Army at age nineteen, 1940; served during World War II as an artillery spotter pilot on the European front; later his unit assisted in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. Garrison briefly worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Pacific Northwest before rejoining the service during the Korean War; upon leaving the Army, Garrison served for eighteen years in the National Guard. Returned to New Orleans, established a private law practice and worked as an assistant district attorney, 1954-1958. Garrison was elected Orleans Parish district attorney, 1961. As district attorney Garrison launched a vigorous campaign against crime, attacking prostitutes, honky-tonk bars, and strip clubs; he criticized New Orleans police for being lazy and soft on crime. When he assailed eight local criminal court judges for not authorizing funds for investigation of organized crime and suggested this “raised interesting questions about racketeer inflences,” they collectively sued him for defamation of character; the United States Supreme Court decided in favor of Garrison, November 23, 1964, ruling that a citizen’s right to criticize public officials was “the essence of self-government.” During his second term as district attorney, Garrison attacked an even bigger opponent by launching his own investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy begining in 1966, an investigation that eventually brought the only charges every filed in connection with the murder. Garrison had prominent New Orleans business man Clay Shaw arrested in 1967, but Garrison eventually lost the conspiracy trial two years later. Garrison’s controversial grand theories about the Kennedy assassination bought him world-wide fame; movies and many books have focused on the investigation, two of these books were written by Garrison himself: A Heritage of Stone (1970) and On the Trail of Assassins (1988). Elected to a third term as New Orleans district attorney, 1969. Charged with accepting bribes and conspiring to protect illegal gambling interest, 1973; subsequently acquitted, but defeated for reelction four months later. Ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the state supreme court, before reentering private law practice; elected to a ten year term on the fourth circuit court of appeals, 1978; reelected, 1988, but forced to resign due to ill health, November, 1991. Wrote a novel, The Star-Spangled Contract, and made cameo appearences in several movies set in New Orleans. Died, New Orleans, October, 20, 1992; interred, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. J.D.W. Sources: James DiEugenio, Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba, and the Garrison Case (1992); New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 22, 1996.
GARY, Charles Joseph, civic and business leader. Born near Rayne, La., December 12, 1911; son of Clement Gary and Marie Babineaux. Education: local schools; University of Southwestern Louisiana (formerly Southwestern Louisiana Institute), majored in agriculture. Married Marie Mercedes Champagne (b. 1907) of Breaux Bridge La., August 24, 1941; daughter of Jean-George Champagne (1877-1954) and Laurence St. Germain (1885-1909). Children: Marie Evelyn (b. 1946) and Robert Charles (b. 1950). Active in agricultural, business, educational and civic affairs of Breaux Bridge and the surrounding area. Developed and led the drive for funds to build a community hospital in the Fourth Ward of St. Martin Parish, which was named Gary Memorial Hospital in his memory and honor. Gary Street in Breaux Bridge named in his honor. A member of St. Bernard Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus (3rd and 4th degrees), the Lions Club and the Breaux Bridge Volunteer Fire Department. Died, Breaux Bridge, November 4, 1967; interred St. Bernard Catholic Mausoleum. L.P.C. Source: Gary family papers.
GASSLER, Francis Leon, clergyman. Born, Lucerne, Switzerland, December 9, 1864; son of Xavier Gassler and Anna Stopfer. Education: Gymnasium in Engelberg, 1884-1888; University of Innsbruck, Austria, 1888-1890; University of Freiburg, Switzerland, 1890-1892; and completed ecclesiastical studies at Cincinnati, Ohio, 1893. Ordained June, 1893; offered services as a missionary in Louisiana. Gassler’s first pastoral assignment was at Iota, La., 1894-1909. Then followed similar appointments to Annunciation Church, New Orleans, 1909-1921, and to St. Joseph’s, Baton Rouge, 1921, where he was esteemed as both civic and church leader. He was vicar general, 1913-1918 and became dean at the time of his Baton Rouge assignment. Archbishop James H. Blenk (q.v.), S. M., also named him vicar for religious and Archbishop John W. Shaw (q.v.) recommended him for the papal honor of domestic prelate. First task in Baton Rouge was the enlargement of St. Joseph’s Church. Supervised construction of Our Lady of the Lake Hospital near the capitol grounds; invited the Brothers of the Sacred Heart to administer and staff Catholic High School adjoining St. Joseph’s; was among the first in the area to broadcast Sunday liturgies. Wrote copiously on the development of the church in Louisiana, including a history of St. Joseph’s Church. Died, January 17, 1944; interred Roselawn Cemetery, Baton Rouge. F.M.U. Sources: Naven O. Couvillon, History of St. Joseph’s (1953); Gassler Papers, in both the New Orleans and Baton Rouge diocesan archives; Roger Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (1939).
GASTRELL, Alfred Thomas, merchant and building contractor. Born, London, England, September 21, 1846. Arrived Cincinnati 1862 with brother Henry and enlisted in Union Army, serving until wounded 1864 near Natchez. Arrived West Feliciana Parish, La., ca. 1872, and established hardware store in Bayou Sara, expanding to roadwork and building. Married Harriet Eliza Cockrell, daughter of silversmith Samuel Cockrell, December 9, 1884. Responsible for repairing Civil War damage to Grace Episcopal Church, St. Francisville, La., 1892. Built classical store now museum of West Feliciana Historical Society, 1895. Died, New Orleans, August 11, 1921; interred Metairie Cemetery. E.K.D. Sources: Myrtle Gastrell Miller, Hattiesburg, Miss.; Grace Church Records; West Feliciana Parish Public Records.
GATES, Alfred, businessman, church leader. Born, Stillwater, N.Y., July 27, 1803; son of William Buckminster and Mollie Bettis Gates, grandson of Benjamin Gates a “Minuteman” of 1775 and Revolutionary War soldier. Married Amoret Cossit, daughter of Sterling and Susan (Smith) Cossit at Marcellus, N. Y., August 3, 1826. Children: Frederick Larned (q.v.), Susan Cornelia (1829-1891), Virginia (1835-1835), Maria Adele (1836-1906), Alfred Sterling (1842-1918). Captain of the first passenger boat on the Erie Canal; removed to Syracuse and Liverpool, N. Y.; then to Baton Rouge, La., 1829; captain of steamboats on the Mississippi River running between New Orleans and St. Louis. Removed to Franklin, La., 1848, engaging in the lumber manufacturing industry; operated the first sawmill on Bayou Teche at Franklin; also operated a steamboat. Whig in politics; became a secessionist. When Civil War began, sawmill dismantled, property confiscated by the federal government. Ardent churchman, member of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Franklin; senior warden, member of vestry. Builder of the “Gates House” (1853) in Franklin. Died Franklin, La., January 10, 1874; interred, Franklin Cemetery. A.A.G. Sources: Gates Genealogy, Descendants of Alfred Gates, Appendix I; Mrs. H. Harrell Dinkins, Jr., A Summary History of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Franklin, La.; St. Mary Chapter Louisiana Landmarks Society, Tour of Historic Homes; “The Gates House,” Attakapas Gazette, V (1970); William Henry Perrin, ed., Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical (1891; reprint ed., 1971).
GATES, Frederick Larned, soldier, businessman, attorney, jurist, legislator. Born, Syracuse, N.Y., July 8, 1827; son of Alfred (q.v.) and Amoret Cossit Gates. Education: Baton Rouge local schools; answered call to arms Mexican War, mustered into service May 9, 1846, as infantry private; honorably discharged as corporal. Graduated from law department University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), 1851; admitted to the bar. Married November 16, 1854, at St. Martinville, La., to Maria Louisa Moseley (b. 1833), daughter of Eldridge Newsom and Elizabeth (Denson) Moseley. Children: Cornelia Barnard, Horatio Palfrey, Frederick, Amoret, Walter Moseley, Alfred. Located at McKinney, Tex., 1859. When Texas seceded, enlisted March 10, 1862, as private, Company K, Sixteenth Regiment, Texas Cavalry, CSA; appointed adjutant Sixteenth Regiment; shortly thereafter captain Company K, 16th Regiment Texas Cavalry, CSA; was in engagements to repel Banks from Louisiana; badly wounded in bloody battle at Pleasant Hill, La., April 1864; honorably retired April 1865. Located at New Iberia, La., 1865; elected to Louisiana legislature, 1865; shortly thereafter appointed judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District Court; resided in Franklin, La., 1878, removed to New Iberia engaging in the cotton seed oil industry. May well have been the first person to use refined cotton seed oil in his household to replace lard; his manufacturing complex had its own electric light plant. Spearheaded the formation of New Iberia’s first electric light company of which he was president; was one of the founders and first president of the Building and Loan Association, which subsequently became Iberia Savings and Loan Association. One of the leaders in the establishment of the Peoples National Bank of New Iberia, served as executive officer until elections, when he became vice-president; in 1884 he was elected judge of the Twenty-first Judicial Court. In 1883, he was appointed member of the commisison in charge of the construction of the old courthouse. Died, New Iberia, La., May 25, 1897; interred St. Peter’s Catholic Cemetery, New Iberia. A.A.G. Sources: Gates Genealogy, Descendants of Alfred Gates, Appendix I, p. 21; William Henry Perrin, ed., Southwest Louisiana Historical and Biographical (1891), reprint ed., 1971); Official Records, Iberia Savings and Loan Association; Official Records, Peoples National Bank of New Iberia; District and Iberia Parish Court Records; Service Records, U. S. Army; Service Records, Confederate States Army; Historical Marker at 514 E. Main St., New Iberia, La.
GATHRIGHT, Zebulon Pike, early resident, councilman, and postmaster of Brashear (now Morgan) City. Born, Jackson County, Ga., September 25, 1813; son of William M. Gathright, Sr. Removed to St. Mary Parish, La., in 1840s; resident manager for A. B. Seger at Ramos, La., while Seger promoted New Orleans, Opelousas, and Great Western Railroad. Gathright built in 1855 one of the first residences and in 1856 a grocery “emporium” on the town site of what was to be Brashear City, incorporated in 1860. Immediately after Civil War, served three years on Brashear council which had to cope with the problem of virtually rebuilding the village after Union occupation. Postmaster in 1867. Married, 1849, Charlotte Ann Stansbury, daughter of Alfred Stansbury and Amie DeRouen. Children: Leona (b. 1851), Cornelia (b. 1853), Lora (b. 1855), Emma (b. 1857), a son (b. 1859), Ella (b. 1861), and Caroline Ida (b. 1863). Charter member of local Masonic lodge. Died, Morgan City, March 26, 1877; interred Walter Cemetery. L.K.L. Source: Gathright Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
GAUDIN, Juliette, co-foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family, 1842. Born, 1808; daughter of Pierre and Thérèze Sainte LaCardonie Gaudin. During childhood, removed with family to New Orleans from Cuba. Her father was an educator and opened a school for “free boys of color” in New Orleans. She started her work among her race with Sister St. Mathé in 1826. Juliette became a member of the Ursuline nuns in 1836. Died, 1887. F.J. Source: Sister Audrey Marie Detiege, Henriette DeLille, Free Woman of Color, Foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family (1976).
GAUTHIER, Anatole Charles, banker. Born, St. Martinville, La., September 17, 1880; son of Homer Gauthier and Alida Melancon. Education: private tutors, business course, banking course Southwest Louisiana Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana). Started banking career as assistant cashier of the Commercial Bank of St. Martinville; served as cashier for twenty-three years. Became cashier, 1933, of St. Martin Bank and Trust Company upon its organization; became executive vice-president, 1949. Later, chairman of the board and served in that capacity until death. Married, October 28, 1914, Agnes Rousseau of Breaux Bridge, La., daughter of Jules Rousseau and Clémence Bulliard. Children: Marie Louise (b. 1916), Inez (b. 1918), Annette (b. 1921), Isabelle (b. 1922), Gertrude (b. 1924), Anatole, Jr. (b. 1925), Lawrence (b. 1926), Michael Denis (b. 1929), and Thérèse (b. 1931). Member, St. Martin Parish School Board; member, city council; chairman, Red Cross Relief Committee (following flood of 1927); director, Southwestern Clearing House Association. Charter member, Knights of Columbus Council 1276; charter member, Woodmen of the World camp; trustee, St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church. Died, April 27, 1973; interred St. Michael’s Cemetery, St. Martinville. . H.E.D. Sources: Interview, Inez Gauthier, daughter of Anatole C. Gauthier; Ellis Arthur Davis, ed., The Historical Encyclopedia of Louisiana (1937); William E. Skaggs and J. B. Lux, eds., Louisiana Business and Professional Directory (1955?); St. Martinville Teche News, obituary, May 3, 1973.
GAY, Andrew Hynes, planter, businessman. Born, St. Louis, Mo. September 25, 1841; son of Lavinia Hynes and Edward James Gay I (q.v.). Removed to Iberville Parish, La., with family, 1852. Civil War record: enlisted, August 26, 1861; private, Company A, First Louisiana Cavalry; taken prisoner, November 1864; released April 1865. Married (1) Mary Dickinson (d. 1872) of Bayou Grosse Tête. Children: Anna Marie, who married Charles J. McClung; Lavinia, who married Allen Weaver; Mary Sue, who married Albert Doolittle; and Andrew H., Jr., who married Irene Cannon and managed Union Plantation. Married (2) Lodoiska Clement, June 6, 1876; one son: Edward J. Gay II (q.v.). Managed family’s St. Louis Plantation and E. J. Gay Planting and Manufacturing Company; member, Atchafalaya Levee Board; president, Iberville Parish Police Jury; member, Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Died, November 29, 1914; interred Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo. R.C.P. & J.B.C. Sources: Andrew B. Booth, comp., Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Commands (1920); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, November 30, 1914; author’s research.
GAY, Edward James I, planter, businessman, politician. Born, Liberty, Va., February 3, 1816; son of John Henderson Gay and Sophia Mitchell Gay. Removed with parents to Illinois, 1820, and St. Louis, Mo., 1824, where father established mercantile business. Education: private instruction and attended Augusta College, Ky. Engaged in commercial affairs, 1838-1860. Married, October 22, 1840, Lavinia Hynes (1821-1891), daughter of Andrew Hynes and Ann Erwin, at grandfather’s plantation near Nashville, Tenn. Children: Andrew Hynes (q.v.); Sophia M. (b. 1843), who married Philip A. Crow of St. Louis; Mary Susan (b. 1845), who married Lawrence L. Butler; Anna Margaret (b. 1855), who married Andrew Price (q.v.) and Edward J. Gay, Jr. (b. 1850). Upon death of father-in-law, Gay assumed control of Hynes property in Louisiana. Removed with family to Louisiana in 1856. Built, 1858, new plantation home and renamed plantation St. Louis Plantation. A planter, mercantilist, founder of Henderson Sugar Refinery, builder of Merchants Exchange Building in St. Louis. First president of the Louisiana Sugar Exchange. Elected to Congress as a Democrat, served in House of Representatives from 1885 until his death. Died at St. Louis Plantation, May 30, 1889; interred Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo. R.C.P. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); author’s research.
GAY, Edward James II, planter, politician, United States senator. Born near Plaquemine, La., May 5, 1878; son of Lodoiska Clement and Andrew H. Gay (q.v.); grandson of Edward James Gay I (q.v.). Education: Pantops Academy, Charlottesville, Va.; Lawrenceville (N. J.) School; Princeton University, graduated 1901. Engaged in sugar production and cultivation of various agricultural products on family plantation. Married Gladys Fenner, daughter of Carrie Payne and Judge Charles E. Fenner [I] (q.v.) of New Orleans, 1909. Children: Edward J. III, Charles F., Andrew P., Carolyn, and Gladys. State representative, 1904-1918; United States senator, 1918-1921; delegate to Democratic National Convention, 1904 and 1920; member of electoral college, 1941 and 1945. President: Edward J. Gay Planting and Manufacturing Company, Lake Long Drainage District, and American Sugar Cane League; state director, National Recovery Act and National Emergency Council; member, state board of finance, Louisiana Farm Council, Atchafalaya Levee Board, Louisiana State University board of supervisors, Boston Club, and Presbyterian church. Died, December 1, 1952; interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. J.B.C. Sources: Edwin Adams Davis, The Story of Louisiana (1960); Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, obituary, December 2, 1952.
GAY, George, artist. Parents’ names unknown. Date and place of birth unknown. Names of wife and children unknown. Painted in oils mostly coastal landscapes of the New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., vicinities; active from the 1880s through the early 1890s. Exhibited at the 1884 World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition. Probably a “Sunday painter” who created canvasses for his own pleasure, his work reflects the influence of the nineteenth-century “Louisiana Landscape School.” Two of his canvasses are in the collection of the Louisiana State Museum. Died 1914. K.F. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987); Louisiana Art Commission Galleries, Artists Who Flourished in Louisiana in the Past (1965).
GAYARRÉ, Charles Etienne Arthur, historian, politician. Born, Boré Plantation, near New Orleans, January 9, 1805; son of Carlos Gayarré and Marie Boré, daughter of Jean Etienne Boré (q.v.) and Marie Marguerite Destréhan. Educated: College of Orleans; studied law under William Raude at Philadelphia, 1826-1828. Married, ca. 1843, Annie Sullivan Buchanan. Legal career: admitted to Philadelphia bar, 1828; began legal practice in New Orleans, 1829. Political career: active in Democratic party: member state legislature, 1830; deputy state attorney general, 1831; presiding judge, New Orleans city courts, 1832; elected to U. S. Senate, 1835; unable to assume office because of ill health; sought medical treatment in France, 1835; returned to Louisiana, 1844; elected to state legislature from New Orleans, 1844; state attorney general, 1846-1853; obtained an appropriation of $2,000 for the acquisition of original documents from Spain, 1847; unsuccessful independent candidate for Congress from New Orleans, 1853; after defeat, joined Know-Nothing party. Declined position as U. S. undersecretary of State. Active in Know-Nothing party: One of six Louisiana delegates to national Know-Nothing convention at Philadelphia, 1855; was refused admission because of his Catholic faith. Active Democratic party: supported secession, 1861; proposed the arming of slaves for the defense of the Confederacy at an assembly held at Osyka, Miss., 1863; delegate from Louisiana’s Union Democratic party to the national unity convention at Philadelphia, 1866; unsuccessful candidate for the U. S. Senate, 1867. Member: Catholic church; Louisiana Historical Society, 1860-1888. Publications: Address of Charles Gayarré, to the People of the State, on the Late Frauds Perpetrated at the Election Held on the 7th November, 1853 (1853); Address to the People of Louisiana on the Subject of Parties (1852); Aubert Dubayet; or, the Two Sister Republics (1882); The Creoles of History and the Creoles of Romance . . . (1885); Discours addressé à la legislature, en refutation du rapport de Mr. Livingston sur l’abolition de la peine de mort (1826); Dr. Bluff in Russia; or, the Emperor Nicholas and the American Doctor . . . (1865); The Early History of Louisiana (1880); Essai historique sur la Louisiane (1830-1831); Fernando de Lemos. Truth and Fiction. A Novel (1872); The Financial and Political Condition of Louisiana (1874); Histoire de la Louisiane (1846-1847); History of Louisiana (1854-1866); Influence of the Mechanical Arts on the Human Race (1854); A Lecture on Oaths, Amnesties and Rebellion (1866); Louisiana: Its Colonial History and Romance (1851-1852); Philip II of Spain (1866); Romance of the History of Louisiana: A Series of Lectures (1848); The School for Politics: A Dramatic Novel (1854); ed., A Sketch of General Jackson: By Himself (1857). He also published numerous articles in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly, Southern Bivouac, and Harper’s Magazine. Died, New Orleans, February 11, 1895. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, February 11, 1895; Henry P. Dart, ed., “Autobiography of Charles Gayarré,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XII (1929); John Smith Kendall, “The Last Days of Charles Gayarré,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XV (1932); W. Darrell Overdyke, “History of the American Party in Louisiana,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XVI (1933); Grace King, “Charles Gayarré: A Biographical Sketch,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXXIII (1950); Louisiana Union Catalog (Baton Rouge, 1959).
GAYARRÉ, Estevan, contador. Born, Isava, Navarre (Spain), 1727; son of Domingo Gayarré. Served in the Infantry of Granada from November 1, 1741, to December 1, 1751. Wounded at the Battle of Campo de la Madonna de Holma in Piamonte, 1744. Travelled in the Levant. His discharge papers describe him as 5′ 4″ tall with brown hair and eyes and a pockmarked complexion from a bout with smallpox. On January 1, 1752, he was named to establish the Unica Real Contribucción in La Coruña, Galicia. Soon after, married MarÃa Cochar. Children: Juan Antonio (b. 1752) and MarÃa Andred. Became royal official with the ContadurÃa of Galicia, October 1, 1762. Named contador de guerra y hacienda of Louisiana with a salary of 1,200 pesos, June 10, 1765. Accompanied by his son, arrived in Louisiana March 5, 1766, with the first expedition of occupation. After five years of service during which he established the basis for sound accounting practices in the new colony he requested retirement due to ill health. After retiring, March 29, 1771, on half salary, he returned to La Coruña, where he found himself the sole supporter of his wife, her nieces, and several orphaned children. Spent the remaining years of his life sending a host of petitions in support of his numerous family. Died, La Coruña, February 15, 1799. B.C. Sources: Gayarré Collection, Department of Archives and Manuscripts, LSU; Spain. Archivo General de Indias, Audiencia of Santo Domingo, legajo 2574, #204.
GAYLE, Arthur Leo, businessman, rancher, civic leader. Born, Pointe Coupée Parish, La., February 22, 1882; son of James Franklin Gayle and Cecilia Tessier. Education: local schools; Louisiana State University. Married, April 9, 1910, Susan Gedge, of Vallejo, Calif., daughter William Kelly Gedge, and Ada Rhorer. Children: William (b. 1913), Arthur (b. 1916), Willis (b. 1922), James (b. 1925). Active in the Democratic party; president, Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association for several years; chairman, board of Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry; a founder of Southwest Livestock Show and Rodeo; one of the founders of McNeese Junior College of LSU (now McNeese State University), Gayle Hall on McNeese campus named for subject. President, Lake Charles Association of Commerce. Member, Episcopal church; Mason; Shriner; Benevolent Knights of America; Knights of Pythias; Rotary Club. President, Kelly, Weber & Co. Died, February 7, 1966; interred Graceland Cemetery, Lake Charles. D.J.M. Source: Obituary, Lake Charles American Press, February 7, 1966.
GAYOSO DE LEMOS Y AMORIN, Manuel Luis, governor. Born, Oporto, Portugal, May 30, 1747; son of Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos y Sarmiento and Theresa Angelica de Amorin y Magallanes. Possibly educated at Westminster College, England. Entered Spanish Army 1771, promoted to rank of lieutenant colonel 1786. Named first governor of Natchez district, 1787. Married (1), ca. 1787, Theresa Margarita Hopman y Pereira (d. 1790). Children: Manuel Gayoso Hopman (b. 1788), Henriqueta (b. 1789). Arrived Louisiana 1789, successfully administered the Natchez district until 1797, although Spain had ceded the Natchez territory to the United States under a treaty signed in 1795. Married (2), April 23, 1792, Elizabeth Watts (d. 1792) of the Natchez district, daughter of Stephen Watts and Frances Assheton. Married (3), 1796 or 1797, Margaret Cyrilla Watts, sister of second wife. One child: Fernando (b. 1797). Appointed governor-general of Louisiana and West Florida 1797. Worked to strengthen the defenses of the Spanish territory. Personally charming, popular with the Anglo-Americans in Natchez and with the French in New Orleans, fluent in English and French, entertained extravagantly; known as a fair and able administrator, a natural diplomat. Died, New Orleans, July 18, 1799, probably of yellow fever; interred beneath the altar of St. Louis Cathedral. J.F.T. Sources: Jack D. L. Holmes, Gayoso: The Life of a Spanish Governor in the Mississippi Valley, 1789-1799 (1965); Clayton Rand, Men of Spine in Mississippi (1940).
GENIN, John, portraitist and landscapist. Born, Lyons, France, 1830. Education: France; studied under Leon Bonnat in Paris. Removed to New Orleans in 1865. Returned to Paris frequently to further his study of art. Mainly a portrait painter but also painted landscapes. Painted portrait of his first wife, dated 1875. Genin painted many family portraits, the four children of C. Mehle, 1875, and Antoine Alciatore’s eight children, 1877. After 1870, he also painted portraits of deceased persons from photographs. Remarried after the death of his first wife, ca. 1882, Delphine Murr of New Orleans. Two sons. He did some conservation work, notably, he restored the painting of St. Francis in St. Louis Cathedral. He became ill in February 1895; visited Bay St. Louis in hope of regaining his health. Died, October 19, 1895. K.W.H. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclpopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987).
GENOIS, Charles, mayor of New Orleans. Born, New Orleans, 1793. Jacksonian Democrat and champion of division of New Orleans into separate municiplities, accomplished in 1836. City councilman, 1824; business leader active on bank and internal improvements boards. Elected mayor 1838 by vote of 1,838 to 1,048 over Whig L. U. Gainnié (q.v.). Administration crippled by effects of Panic of 1837, despite heroic efforts to shore up city finances; successful, however, in long-needed reform of city police; defeated in second-term bid by Whig William Freret (q.v.), 1840. Never married. Died, New Orleans, August 30, 1866. J.G.T. Sources: New Orleans Argus, May 27, 1833; New Orleans Louisiana Advertiser, December 22, 1826; New Orleans Louisiana Courier, October 8, 1832; April 7, 1840; Succession Records, Second District Court, 1846-1880.
GERAGHTY, James Farrell, clergyman, librarian, archivist, ecclesiastical administrator. Born, Saint Paul, Minnesota, July 8, 1916; son of James Joseph Geraghty and Margaret Kathryn Farrell. Education: B.A., Saint Thomas College, Saint Paul, Minnesota; graduate studies, Saint Paul’s Seminary, Saint Paul, Minn.; M.A., Library of Science, University of Minnesota. Ordained to priesthood at Saint Paul Cathedral, Saint Paul, Minn., January 29, 1944. Served as pastor and associate pastor, Archdiocese of Saint Paul, 1944-68. Librarian, associate professor, archivist, University of Southwestem Louisiana, 1968-80. Appointed founding archivist, Diocese of Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana 1978-83. Incardinated Diocese of Lafayette, August 25, 1983. Vice-chancellor/archivist, Diocese of Lafayette, 1983-90. Chancellor/archivist, Diocese of Lake Charles, Louisiana 1984-86. History Task Force representative, Louisiana Catholic Conference. Wrote numerous monthly articles that were printed in the Lafayette diocesan newspaper. Died, March 30, 1990; interred Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist, Lafayette, Louisiana, April 1, 1990. B.A.C. Sources: Lafayette Daily Advertiser, March 31, 1990; April 1, 1990; Archives, Diocese of Lafayette.
GETTY, Fred I., inventor, manufacturer. Born, Geneva, Ohio, April 15, 1862; son of Fred Getty, Sr., a Union soldier. Married school principal, Amy Boone Hutts, of Readville, Mo., in 1915, in Jennings, La. No children. Raised an acre of onions at age thirteen and financed self thereafter. Worked in machine shops from age fifteen. In 1883 became toolmaker for Illinois Watch Company in Springfield; designed size 16 thin model watch which revived firm’s trade. In 1898 at his own shop in Chicago designed the winning battery-operated clock for the Paris World Fair. Sold patent for $7,500. In July, 1902, moved to Jennings, organizing Chicago-Jennings Company for manufacturing tools for oil industry. Designed and patented strainer for oil wells still widely used. Getty Manufacturing Co. during World War II converted one million 155 mm shells and rifled gun barrels. Member, Odd Fellows Lodge sixty years. An original member, Jennings Male Chorus. Died, Jennings, July 17, 1946; interred Greenwood Cemetery. M.P.* Sources: Jeff Davis Parish News, July 18, 1946; obituary, July 23, 1946; Getty Family Papers.
GIBAULT, Pierre, clergyman, missionary in Upper Louisiana. Baptized, Montreal, Canada, April 7, 1737; son of Pierre Gibault and Marie St. Jean. Education: Seminary of Quebec; ordained priest, 1768. Sent by Archbishop Jean-Olivier Briand as vicar general to Illinois country, 1768. Itinerant missionary priest in various villages of Illinois country, 1768-1784; assisted George Rogers Clark with conquest of Illinois country, 1778-1779; priest at Vincennes on the Wabash, 1784-1792; priest at New Madrid, Upper Louisiana, 1792-1802; devoted, energetic, a heavy drinker. Died 1802; interred New Madrid. C.J.E. Sources: Joseph P. Donnelly, “Pierre Gibault and the Critical Period of the Illinois Country, 1768-78,” in John Francis McDermott, ed., The French in the Mississippi Valley (1965); Carl J. Ekberg, Colonial Ste. Genevieve (1985).
GIBBONS, Charles Nevitt, architect, builder. Born in Maryland (later District of Columbia), 1805 of Anglo-Irish parents. Carpenter/builder in Louisville, Ky., 1832. Married Catherine Ann Glass of Louisville, January 17, 1832. Arrived in West Feliciana Parish, La., ca. 1846, it is said at behest of Robert C. Wickliffe (q.v.), governor of Louisiana; designed and built wings of Center Building, East Louisiana State Hospital, Jackson, 1847-1848; designed and built Grace Episcopal Church, St. Francisville, 1858-1860; designed and built houses in West Feliciana Parish and Wilkinson County, Miss., 1850-1860; supervised construction of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church, St. Francisville, and carved front doors, 1871-1873. Police juror, West Feliciana Parish, 1875-1879. Died July 16, 1880; buried Potters Field, St. Francisville. E.K.D. Sources: Louisville City Directory; correspondence with Evelyn Robb Mulhall; West Feliciana Oath Book; ELSH Center Building application to National Register of Historic Places; Grace Church Records.
GIBSON, Dennis Alfred, libarian, historian. Born, Silsbee, Tex., 1938; son of Mr. and Mrs. Dennis A. Gibson, Sr. Married Dolly Miller, of Abbeville, La.; two daughters: Aubrin Wynn and Allison Mitchell. Education: B. S. Degree, Physical Education, Centenary College; M. S. degree, Springfield College, Springfield, Mass.; M. S., Library Science, Louisiana State University. Career: school teacher in Hawaii, California, and Kaplan, La.; associate professor of Library Science and reference librarian, University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1966-1981. Gibson’s historical publications include: An Index to Louisiana Place Names Mentioned in the War of the Rebellion (1975); A Guide to the Microfilm Collection of Early Louisiana State Records, 1731-1803 (1970); Index to State Land Claims for the Colonial Period (1975); and most significantly The Vigilante Committees of Attakapas (1981), an edited translatation of the Alexander Barde’s 1861 first-hand account of vigilantism in southwestern Louisiana. At U.S.L., Gibson, served on the university’s publications committee and the communications committee; he represented the university on the board of trustees for the Bayouland Library System. Was an active member of the Louiaiana Library Association, serving as parliamentarian, 1978-1979; chair, Subject Specialist Section’s Publication Committee; member, Library Development Committee and the Advisory Council. Gibson was president of the Alumni Association of Louisiana State University’s Graduate School of Library Science and of the library section of the Louisiana Conference of Colleges and Universities; he served on the nominations committee of the Southwestern Library Association and of the Society of Southwest Archivists. He was secretary-treasurer of the Attakapas Historical Association; president and member, board of directors, Vermilion Historical Society. Died, November 8, 1981. D.C.M. Sources: Louisiana Library Association Bulletin (Winter, 1982); director’s personnel files, Dupré Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana.
GIBSON, John, journalist. Born, New York City. Removed to New Orleans, July 1816. Published and edited New Orleans Argus, 1825-1833; Louisiana Advertiser, 1833-1835; True American, 1835-1841. Secretary, council of the second municipality of New Orleans, 1836-1839. Died, Tampico, Mexico, November 1, 1847. F.M.J. Sources: Charles F. Youngman, “Historic Sketch of the True American”; obituary, New Orleans Commercial Bulletin, November 10, 1847.
GIBSON, Randall Lee, attorney, congressman, United States senator. Son of Tobias Gibson (q.v.) and Louisiana Hart. Education: Live Oak Plantation and schools of Terrebonne Parish, La., and Lexington, Ky.; Yale College, 1849-1853, class orator; graduated from Law Department, University of Louisiana, 1855. Travel and study in Europe; attaché to the American embassy in Madrid. Lawyer and sugar planter in Thibodaux and Lafourche Parish. Civil War service: aide-de-camp to Gov. Thomas O. Moore (q.v.); captain, First Regiment, Louisiana Artillery; colonel, Thirteenth Regiment, Louisiana Infantry; fought at Shiloh, Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga; rose to rank of brigadier general; participated in campaigns of Atlanta and Nashville; defended the Spanish Fort near Mobile. After war, practiced law in New Orleans. Married, January 25, 1868, Mary Montgomery of New Orleans. Children: Montgomery, Tobias, and Preston Johnston. Elected to U. S. House of Representatives, 1872; but denied his seat. Elected again by the First District of Louisiana, seated in 1875 and reelected in 1877, 1879, and 1881. Served in U. S. Senate, 1883-1892. Influential in Compromise of 1877; legislation for construction of jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi River; creation of the Mississippi River Commission. Supporter of sugar industry, silver commission, and federal aid to education; secured the federal barracks in Baton Rouge for the first campus of Louisiana State University. Chosen by Paul Tulane (q.v.) in 1881 to establish university in New Orleans; designed the administration and academic programs of Tulane University with his kinsman, William Preston Johnston (q.v.), Tulane’s first president. President, Tulane Board of Administrators, 1882-1892. Member, boards of Peabody Education Fund, Smithsonian Institution, Howard Memorial Library of New Orleans Died, Hot Springs, Ark., December 15, 1892; interred Lexington, Ky. M.G.M. Sources: Dictionary of American Biography (1946); New Orleans Times-Democrat, December 15, 1892; New Orleans Daily Picayune, December 16, 1892; Gibson Letters, William Preston Johnston Collection, Tulane University Library; Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of Randall Lee Gibson; Arthur M. Shaw, William Preston Johnston … (1943); Joe Gray Taylor, Louisiana Reconstructed, 1863-1877 (1974); Joy Jackson, New Orleans in the Gilded Age: Politics and Urban Progress, 1800-1896 (1969); John P. Dyer, Tulane: The Biography of a University, 1834-1965 (1966); Donald Eugene Dixon, “Randall Lee Gibson of Louisiana, 1832-1892” (M. A. thesis, Louisiana State University, 1973).
GIBSON, Tobias, planter, politician. Born near Natchez, Miss., October 27, 1800; son of Rev. Randall Gibson and Harriet McKinley Gibson. Married Louisiana Breckinridge Hart (1803-1851) of Spring Hill, Woodford County, Ky., 1827; the daughter of Nathaniel and Susanna Preston Hart. Children: Susanna Hart Preston Gibson (1828-1830); Sarah T. Gibson (1830-1907); Randall Lee Gibson (q.v.); William Preston Gibson (1833-1865); Hart Gibson (1835-1904); Claude Gibson (1837-1866); Tobias Gibson, Jr. (1838-1904); John McKinley Gibson (1840-1880); Robert B. Gibson (1845); and Louisiana Hart Gibson (1848-1877). Purchased a large plantation in Terrebonne Parish, La., in 1828; credited with naming the town of Houma. Maintained homes in both Lexington, Ky., and at Live Oak Plantation near Houma. Friend of Henry Clay and other Whig politicians of the day. Served on various Terrebonne Parish governing bodies and the police jury. Served in the Louisiana state legislature, 1865-1867. A founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in Tigerville (now Gibson), La. Died at Live Oak Plantation, February 7, 1872; interred Lexington, Ky. A.M.M. Sources: Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of Randall Lee Gibson; William Elsey Connelley and E. M. Coulter, History of Kentucky, Vol. III (1922); William Barrow Floyd, Matthew Harris Jouett: Portraits of the Ante-Bellum South (1980); Donald Eugene Dixon, “Randall Lee Gibson of Louisiana, 1832-1892” (M. A. thesis, LSU, 1971); Gibson Family Papers, Lexington, Ky.; Helen Emmeline Wurzlow, I Dug Up Houma, Terrebonne, 6 vols. (1984).
GIL Y BARBO, Antonio, frontier merchant and rancher. Born at Los Adaes in the Spanish province of Texas, 1729. He rose to a position of local prominence as a frontier trader and as the proprietor of a sizable ranch, El Lobanillo, located to the west of Los Adaes between the Sabine and Neches rivers. When the Spanish government, in 1773, closed the Los Adaes settlement and ordered the removal of its inhabitants to San Antonio he provided leadership for the exiles. The uprooted settlers refused to remain at San Antonio and due to Gil y Barbo’s efforts obtained permission to return to East Texas. He subsequently led them on a trek which ended in 1779 with permanent settlement at Nacogdoches. Despite charges against him of participation in illicit trade, he was appointed lieutenant governor and civil and military captain of militia at the new post. Similar accusations continued to plague him and led to his banishment from Nacogdoches in 1802. After several years of residence in his native region near the abandoned site of Los Adaes, Spanish authorities allowed him to return to East Texas where he died in 1809. J.L.M.* Sources: Herbert E. Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century (1915; reprint ed., 1970); Carlos E. Castañeda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas, 1519-1936, Vol. IV (1939; reprint ed., 1976); Walter Prescott Webb, ed., The Handbook of Texas, vol. I (1952); Colonial Documents, Melrose Collection, Archives Division, Eugene P. Watson Memorial Library, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana.
GILBERT, Charles Barber, artist, designer. Born, Orange, Tex., August 25, 1899; son of Lucius Wilmot Gilbert and Lillian Barber. Family removed, 1901, to Donner, Terrebonne Parish, La. Education: local schools; Bingham Academy, Asheville, N. C.; Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Va., B. E. degree; Parson’s School of Design, New York. World War II service: major, Camouflage Division, Corps of Engineers. Studied and painted in New York, France, and Italy; instructor in painting and graphic design at Cooper Union, New York; did mural painting in private residences, clubs, S. S. America; designed etched glass panels for ballroom and a luxury suite of S. S. United States. A romantic realist painter, worked in oil, tempera and gouache; paintings exhibited throughout country in 1940s and 1950s; some oil paintings and water colors, and the four etched silver and gilt panels from the luxury suite of the S. S. United States, on display as part of the permanent collection of The Terrebonne Museum, Houma, Louisiana. Unmarried. Died, Thibodaux, La., January 10, 1970; interred St. John Episcopal Church Cemetery. F.W.W. Source: Author’s research.
GILLESPIE, Clayton C., journalist. In 1858, he succeeded Holland N. McTyeire (q.v.) as editor of the New Orleans Christian Advocate, regional Methodism’s weekly newspaper. With Gillespie as its new editor, the Advocate quickly assumed an unqualified hostility toward Northern abolitionism, African colonization, Negro preaching, and political ambivalence at home. Before its “southernization,” the newspaper had held moderate to liberal views on the aforementioned subjects. T.F.R. Sources: Timothy F. Reilly, “Religious Leaders and Social Criticism in New Orleans, 1800-1861” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Missouri at Columbia, 1972).
GILMER, Elizabeth Meriwether, see DIX, Dorothy
GILMER, James Blair, planter. Born in Kentucky; grew up in northern Georgia; removed to Plain Dealing, Bossier Parish, La., in early 1830s. Developed thirteen Red River plantations from southern Arkansas to just south of Shreveport; owned Red River steamboats; manufactured leather for shoes and harnesses and manufactured cotton material, farm tools, wagons and farm vehicles. Lived on his plantation “Orchard” in north Bossier Parish. Married, Eliza Lewis. Children: Mary, Mattie, Eliza. Died, Cuba, 1856; interred Montgomery, Ala. A.S.T. Source: Lilla McLure and J. Ed Howe, History of Shreveport and Shreveport Builders (1937).
GILMORE, Robert Craig, music educator and bandsman. Born Beechgrove Plantation (West Feliciana Parish), November 10, 1909, son of Matthew William Gilmore and Catherine Percy. Trained as player of cornet, horn, tuba, and trombone. Bachelor of Music (1934) and Master of Music (1942) from Louisiana State University, where he performed with the “Louisiana Kings;” Doctor of Education (1957) from Teachers’ College, Columbia University. Married Jeanne LeBlanc 1938. Two daughters: Catherine Van Zanten and Margaret Gilmore. Music educator and supervisor in Louisiana public schools 1935-44; state supervisor of music, 1944-46; professor of lower brass, University of Southwestern Louisiana 1946-71. Band adjudicator, choral/orchestra/band conductor, workshop clinician, holder of various offices in Music Educators National Conference and Louisiana Music Educators Association (its first Hall of Fame inductee). Directed musical group La Compagnie Louisianaise on European tour 1990. Publications: articles in music journals, music reviews, and two volumes of French folk songs, Chantez La Louisiane (1970) and Chantez Encore! (1977), co-authored with Jeanne Gilmore. Professional affiliations: Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Pi Kappa Lambda, American Musicological Society, Music Teachers National Association, and American Guild of Organists and Choirmasters. Died, Lafayette, La., September 24, 1995. A.K.S. Sources: interview with Gilmore family, personal vita, Lafayette Daily Advertiser obituary, September 25, 1995.
GILMORE, Samuel Louis, Jr., author, poet, editor. Born, New Orleans, September 24, 1891; son of Samuel L. Gilmore, Sr. (q.v.), prominent lawyer and congressman, and Martha Frazer Nolan of St. Elizabeth Plantation in Ascension Parish; brother of Martha Gilmore Robinson. Education: local schools; Columbia University. Served in World War I. A prolific writer, articles and poetry appeared in local and national publications including The New Yorker. Contributor to Best Poems of 1923-27, and The American Caravan, A Yearbook of American Literature. Associated editor of The Double Dealer, New Orleans literary journal published, 1921-1926. Playwright and author of Vine-Leaves and Flowers of Evil. Included in Sherwood Anderson & Other Famous Creoles: A Gallery of Contemporary New Orleans. Member: Catholic church. Unmarried. Died, New Orleans, September 29, 1972, interred Metairie Cemetery. B.R.O. Sources: The American Caravan, A Yearbook of American Literature (1927); Best Poems of 1923-27 (1924-1928); Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Poets; The Who’s Who of American Poets (1938); Frances Jean Bowen, “The New Orleans Double Dealer, 1921-1926: A Critical History” (Ph. D. dissertation, Tulane University, 1954); Louis Gilmore, Vine Leaves and Flowers of Evil (1959); Sherwood Anderson & Other Famous Creoles: A Gallery of Contemporary New Orleans, drawn by W. M. Spratling and arranged by William Faulkner (1926); New Orleans Times-Picayune, November 29, 1959; obituary, September 30, 1972.
GILMORE, Samuel Louis, Sr., attorney, congressman. Born, New Orleans, July 30, 1859; son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gilmore. Education: private tutors; Central High School, New Orleans, graduated, 1874; Seaton Hall College, South Orange, N. J., graduated 1877; University of Louisiana (now Tulane University) law department, graduated, 1879. Married Martha Frazier Nolan, daughter of John T. Nolan of Elizabeth plantation near Donaldsonville, La., 1887. Children: Martha and Samuel Louis, Jr. (q.v.). Admitted to the bar, 1880, and began practice with his father in New Orleans. Assistant city attorney, 1888-1896; Democratic presidential elector, 1892; city attorney, 1896-1909. Delegate to Democratic National Convention, 1908. Elected to Sixty-first Congress and served from March 30, 1909, until his death in Abita Springs, La., July 18, 1910. Interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); New Orleans Daily Picayune, July 19, 1910.
GIRAULT, Louis C., artist. Business career: importer of Havana cigars, 1870; cigar and tobacco dealer, 1871-1873; cooper, 1874-1883; clerk, 1885; clerk to state assessor, 1886; cigar merchant, 1887-1890. Career as artist: active in New Orleans, 1870-1894; exhibited three landscapes, Lilienthal’s Art Gallery, 1883; member, Artists’ Association of New Orleans, exhibiting in group’s First Annual Exhibition, 1886; exhibited six watercolors, Second Annual Exhibition, 1887; participated in fourth, fifth and seventh annual exhibitions; worked as a professional artist, 1890-1893. P.M. Sources: New Orleans City Directory, 1870-1894; The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987).
GIRARD, Crow, attorney, civic leader. Born Vermilionville (present-day Lafayette), La., July 27, 1861; second of four children of Michel Eloi Girard, Jr., and Maxime Crow Girard. He was educated at local schools; Webb School of Bellbuckle, Tenn.; graduated from the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), Law School, 1884; subsequently joined his father’s law firm. Girard was prominent in all aspects of Lafayette community life. Helped organize and served as president of both First National Bank and the Bank of Lafayette; member, the board of directors, People’s Cotton Oil Company; Lafayette Building Association, for which he served as legal advisor; Home Building and Loan Association; and Lafayette Brick and Tile Company, of which he was treasurer and assistant manager. Girard and his mother donated the twenty-five acre site upon which the Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (now the University of Southwestern Louisiana) was constructed and the land for Girard Park located adjacent to the university. Member, board of trustees, Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute for many years; on the building committee of the first brick school to be built in Lafayette. As a lifelong member of the Methodist Church, he served as chairman of the board of stewards; frequent delegate to the annual State Conference of Methodist Churches. A thirty-second degree Mason; he held many offices in his Masonic Lodge. Member, Knights Templar. Died, August 6, 1947; interred Protestant cemetery, Lafayette, La. B.S.C. Sources: Quintilla Morgan Anders, Early Families of Lafayette, Louisiana (1969); Georgia Clark, “Mr. Crow Girard and Mrs. Maxim Girard: Important Contributors to Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute” (1968); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, August 6 and 7, 1947; United States Census of 1900.
GIRARD, Michel Eloi, politician, philanthropist, civic and business leader. Born, Lafayette, La., ca. 1896; son of Percy Girard and Lelia Singleton Girard. Married Ruth Stodghill of Rayville, La., fall, 1924. Education: attended local schools; B. S., Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. Enlisted in the United States Army and served eighteen months in France during World War I as an artillery captain. Worked in the produce and nursery business, land development, and in 1952 was elected to the state senate for the Fifteenth District, serving one term during Gov. Robert Kennon’s (q.v.) administration. In the senate he recommended legislation barring state officials from conducting business with the state. Following a family tradition, Girard was an unfailingly generous supporter of the University of Southwestern Louisiana; he donated land, oil interests, and cash grants to the institution’s colleges of Engineering and Agriculture, Speech Department, School of Music, Art Museum, Foundation, and Alumni Association; cited by the University of Southwestern Louisiana Alumni Association Board of Governors as outstanding alumnus for 1973, only the second individual to receive this honor in the university’s history. Member, First United Methodist Church of Lafayette. A thirty-second degree Mason, Hope Lodge No. 145, Lafayette. He was also a member of other Masonic organizations; served on the Lafayette Parish School Board; first president, Lafayette Parish Council on Aging. Died, December 22, 1974; interred Protestant cemetery, Lafayette, La. B.S.C. Sources: Quintilla Morgan Anders, Early Families of Lafayette, Louisiana (1969); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, October 6, 1969, February 25, 1971, November 11, 1973, December 23, 1974; New Orleans TimesPicayune, March 28, 1952.
GIRARD, Roberta Kennedy, civic leader, Born into a pioneer Lafayette, La., family, June, 1875; the youngest of four children born to Col. Hyder A. Kennedy and Elizabeth Richardson Kennedy. Married Crow Girard in 1898 and returned to Lafayette; no children. As a child moved to New Orleans, where she attended public schools and Sophie Newcomb College. Charter member, Woman’s Club of Lafayette (1897), the second woman’s club to be organized in the state, and Aletheian Club (organized 1909). Served for several years as parliamentarian for the Louisiana Federation of Women’s Clubs; prominent organizer and first president of the Louisiana Legislative Council, comprised of fifteen federated state organizations. Instrumental in obtaining legislation establishing the Colony and Training School for the Feeble-Minded at Pineville, La. Served as secretary of the Louisiana Conference, Woman’s Missionary Society; worked with the Society throughout the state. The Lafayette Business and Professional Women recognized Girard as woman of the year in 1959 for her lifelong devotion to education, civic, religious, and youth work,. She was instrumental in organizing the Lafayette Area Parent-Teacher Association, 1919; served as parliamentarian, Louisiana State Parent-Teacher Association for a number of years. Sunday school teacher, Davidson Memorial Methodist Church, Lafayette, for sixty-three years. Died, March 5, 1967; interred, Protestant cemetery, Lafayette, La. B.S.C. Sources: Quintilla Morgan Anders, Early Families of Lafayette, Louisiana (1969); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, October 11, 1959; March 6, 1967; U.S. Census for 1900.
GIROD, Nicolas, mayor of New Orleans. Born, 1747, in French Savoy; migrated to Spanish Louisiana in the late 1770s with brothers Claude François and Jean François; prospered as commission merchant and owner of extensive property in New Orleans, especially in the burgeoning “American” quarter. Defeated James Pitot (q.v.) for mayoralty, September 12, 1812, by vote of 859 to 461. War of 1812 severely limited Girod’s hopes for material growth of the city, his leadership being channeled largely into relief of economic hardship attendant upon the war and in vigorous support of the campaign of Andrew Jackson (q.v.) against the British, particularly by provision of military supplies and protection against internal subversion. Reelected mayor, September 5, 1814, over Augustin Macarty (q.v.), 309 to 286; resigned office September 4, 1815, to salvage his waning personal finances; served as city alderman, 1824-1825, and as church warden of the St. Louis Cathedral; linked to the alleged plot to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena in the early 1820s, supposedly offering refuge to the emperor in his building complex still standing as the “Napoleon House.” Jacksonian Democrat. Never married, no children. Died, September 1, 1840; bequeathed fortune of several hundred thousand dollars to various close friends and New Orleans charities, but legal challenges severely reduced the estate’s value. J.G.T. Sources: Henry Castellanos, New Orleans As It Was (1895; reprint ed., 1978); John S. Kendall, History of New Orleans, 3 vols. (1922); New Orleans Bee, September 2, 1840.
GLADDEN, Adley Hogan, soldier. Born, Fairfield District, S. C., October 28, 1810. Worked as a cotton broker in Columbia, S. C. Fought in one of the Seminole Wars in Florida. Appointed postmaster of Columbia by President John Tyler. Elected major of the Palmetto Regiment and served in Gen. Winfield Scott’s army in the Mexican War. Became commander of his regiment when the lieutenant colonel and colonel were killed. Led his men in battle at Belen Gate and was severely wounded. After war, removed to New Orleans. Accepted the rank of lieutenant colonel, First South Carolina Infantry, when his native state seceded. Resigned to serve as a member of the Louisiana secession convention. Appointed colonel, First Louisiana Regular Infantry, February 5, 1861, and ordered to Pensacola, Fla. Promoted to rank of brigadier general, September 30, 1861. Led his brigade at the Battle of Shiloh, Tenn., and mortally wounded April 6, 1862. Died, Corinth, Miss., April 12, 1862; interred Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Ala. 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 , 13 vols (1899).
GLASS, Mary, convicted murderer. Born, North Carolina, 1743. Married John Glass, a deserter from the British army. They owned a small farm near Baton Rouge, on False River. In the most gruesome criminal case of the entire colonial period, Mary was arrested February 10, 1780, for the murder of Mary Emily Davis, a fifteen-year-old orphan. At the ensuing trial, numerous witnesses testified that Mary beat, bruised, and tortured the girl to death on or about December 20, 1779. Mary was convicted in Baton Rouge and transferred to New Orleans for execution. On July 26, 1781, she was executed by hanging in the public square of the city. Her husband, John, for his complicity, was sentenced to a five-year prison term in the fortress prison of San Juan de Ulua. B.C. Source: Heloise Cruzat, et al., trans. and eds., “Trial of Mary Glass for Murder,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, VI (1923).
GLASSELL, Ashton, contractor. Born, Belcher, La., February 18, 1898; son of Annie Grey Currie and John Glassell. Educated, public schools, Belcher and Shreveport; Louisiana State University; Southern Presbyterian University. Began career as a planter, operating Dixie Planting Co. Became interested in building construction. In Shreveport contracted old Shreve Memorial Library, Municipal Auditorium, YMCA, First Presbyterian Church. Original contractor for buildings on Barksdale Air Force Base, England Air Force Base, and Fort Polk. Charter member, Shreveport chapter, Associated General Contractors; member, Chamber of Commerce President’s Club; president emeritus, Louisiana Association of Council on Aging; founding board member, Caddo Council on Aging. Married Wesley Drane of Clarksdale, Tenn., May 6, 1919. Children: Frances Elliott, Wesley Drane, and Ashton. Died July 4, 1985. P.L.M. Source: Author’s research.
GLENK, Robert, chemist, museum curator. Born, Esslingen, Germany, ca. 1871. Married Clara Theresa Israel, Philadelphia, May 11, 1904. Education: graduate, Central High School, Philadelphia, Pa.; degree in pharmacy, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy; B. S., Louisiana State University, 1899; post-graduate work, University of Pennsylvania. Chemist and vice-president, Green Chemical Company, 1891-1897; chemist, Louisiana sugar experiment station, present-day Audubon Park, New Orleans, 1899-1905; curator, Louisiana State Museum, 1905-1935; curator of natural sciences, Louisiana State Museum, 1935-1940; executive director, Louisiana State Museum, 1940-1948. Glenk was commissioner and organizer of the Louisiana exhibit for the 1905 World Exposition in St. Louis; this exhibit became the nucleus of the Louisiana State Museum, which he, along with William Stubbs, founded and organized in 1905-1906. Glenk also served as commissioner from the state to the Lewis and Clark Centennial Commission, the Jamestown Tercentennial Commission, and the Panama Pacific International Exposition. He was superintendent of the agriculture division of the Louisiana State Fair. Author of numerous articles on various scientific topics. He was editor of the Natural History Survey Bulletin of the Louisiana State Museum and wrote the annual report of the Louisiana Society of Naturalists from 1914 to 1917 and the biannual report of the Louisiana Commission to the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1916. Member: New Orleans Association of Commerce, American Chemical Society, American Association for Advancement of Science, American Dialect Society, Wisconsin Archaeological Society, American Association of Museums, National Geographic Society, Round Table Club, Louisiana State University Sugar School Alumni Association, and the Civic Commission of New Orleans for the Restoration of Historic Sites; corresponding secretary, Louisiana Historical Society; secretary, Louisiana Society of Naturalists. Died, New Orleans, April 2, 1950; interred, Metairie Cemetery, Metairie, La. J.D.W. Sources: John Smith Kendall, History of New Orleans (1922), 3: 919; New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 4, 1950.
GODBOLD, Edgar, academic, Baptist leader. Born, Auburn, Miss., December 2, 1879; son of Thomas R. and Mary S. Godbold. Education: Auburn High School; University of Chicago; Mississippi College, B. S. and M. A. degrees; LL.D. awarded by Howard Payne College and Mississippi College. Principal, Lawrence County (Miss.) High School, 1905-1906; professor, Biology, Mississippi College, 1906-1912, Louisiana College, 1913-1918; secretary, Louisiana Baptist Education Commission, 1912-1918. Overseas service, World War I, 1918-1919. Corresponding secretary, Louisiana Baptist State Mission Board, 1919-1923; president, Howard Payne College, 1923-1929; general superintendent, Missouri Baptist General Association, 1929-1942; president, Louisiana College, 1942-1951 (president emeritus with fund-raising responsibilities, 1951-1952). Married (1) Irene Coleman, 1909. Married (2) Lucie T. Yates, 1940. Successful fund raiser for Louisiana College. President, Louisiana Baptist Convention, 1950-1952. Died, November 21, 1952; interred Forest Lawn Cemetery, Pineville. L.S.* Sources: John Pinckney Durham and John S. Ramond, Baptist Builders in Louisiana (1934); Oscar Hoffmeyer, Jr., Louisiana College—75 Years: A Pictorial History (1981).
GODCHAUX, Charles, businessman. Born, New Orleans, January 8, 1869; son of Leon Godchaux (q.v.) and Justine Lamm. Education: New Orleans schools; Philips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N. H. Married Bonita Hiller, May 24, 1889. Two daughters. President, Godchaux Sugars, Inc., 1919-1953; chairman of the board, Godchaux Sugars, 1953-1954; director, Leon Godchaux’s Clothing Co., Ltd.; trustee of Touro Infirmary; trustee Jewish Children’s Home; a founder of International House; a founder of New Orleans Mid-Winter Sports Association; president, Whitney National Bank. Died, New Orleans, October 23, 1954; interred Metairie Cemetery. G.R.C. Sources: Who Was Who in America, 1951-1960; New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 24, 1954.
GODCHAUX, Elma, author. Born, Elm Hill Plantation near Napoleonville, La., November 30, 1896; daughter of Edward and Ophelia Gumbel Godchaux. Education: Sophie Newcomb, Wellesley and Radcliff colleges, B.A., 1917. Married 1916. One child: Charlotte (b. 1919). Returned from East to New Orleans in 1933; published short stories in Harper’s and Atlantic Monthly and novel Stubborn Roots (1936). Died, March, 1941; interred Metairie Cemetery. M.D.F. Sources: Times-Picayune, obituary; letter from daughter.
GODCHAUX, Frank Area, Jr., business executive. Born, Abbeville, La., December 27, 1901; son of Frank Area Godchaux, Sr., and Agnes Putnam Godchaux. Married Mary Laurence Ragland, December 21, 1925; three children. Education: Woodburg Forrest School, 1920; Vanderbilt University, 1924, quarterback on the Vanderbilt football team. Career: served in various capacities at Louisiana State Rice Milling Company/Riviana Foods, including vice president, 1929-36; president, 1936-67; chairman of the board and executive committee, 1967. Active in Rice Millers Association; on several committees, advising federal government about rice production and milling from Agricultural Adjustment Act to War Production Board to Office of Price Administration, 1934-1947. Managed family owned lands in Vermilion Parish; very concerned with improving cattle stock. Active leader for Evangeline Area Boy Scouts, Southwestern Louisiana Midwinter Fair Association, Louisiana Stock Show, South Louisiana Camellia Society, and Abbeville Chamber of Commerce. Director, Bank of Commerce and Trust, Crowley, La., and of C. B. Ragland and Company, Nashville, Tenn. Member and officer of Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association, Louisiana Aberdeen-Angus Association, and United States Aberdeen-Angus Association. Nationally ranked amateur golfer in the 1920s. Died November 4, 1978; interred in Graceland Cemetery, Abbeville, La. I.B.T. Sources: Who’s Who in America, 1960-61; Louisiana State Rice Milling Company Records/Godchaux Family Papers, Southwestern Archives and Manuscript Collections, Dupré Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana.
GODCHAUX, Frank Area, Sr.; businessman. Born, Abbeville, La., November 29, 1879; son of Gustave Godchaux and Katherine Area Godchaux. Married Agnes Putnam, March 20, 1901; one child: Frank A. Godchaux, Jr. Education: college preparatory training at Centenary College and Chamberlain-Hunt Academy; Vanderbilt University, where he was quarterback of football team. Career: managed two rice mills in Abbeville, La., 1911; combined with others in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and California to form Louisiana State Rice Milling Company, which became largest rice milling company in the United States. Godchaux was a pioneer in marketing and packaging rice for home consumers. He was a major influence in the Southern Rice Council and the Rice Millers Association, which served as the lobbying organizations of the rice milling industry. Owned several farms in Vermilion Parish; active in developing purebred Aberdeen Angus herds; promoted tick eradication campaign. Community activities: strongly supported Episcopal Church; Boy Scouts of America (received Silver Beaver Award in 1948); and Vermilion Parish Library. Served on Vanderbilt Board of Trustees, after 1932; president, Vanderbilt Alumni Association. Director, Public Affairs Research Council; Louisiana chairman, National Conference of Christians and Jews. President, Louisiana State Board of Education, eight years during the 1940s. Under Godchaux’s leadership, the state board of education extended the length of a public school education from eleven to twelve years. Died July 3, 1965; interred, Graceland Cemetery, Abbeville, La.. I.B.T. Sources: Godchaux Family Papers/Louisiana State Rice Milling Company Records, Southwestern Archives and Manuscripts Collection, Dupré Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana.
GODCHAUX, Jules, businessman. Born, New Orleans, July 11, 1872; son of Leon Godchaux (q.v.) and Justine Lamm. Education: Philips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H., 1888; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1892. Married Cora Dorothy Tanner. No children. Vice-president in charge of operations, Godchaux Sugars, Inc., Raceland, Louisiana. Chariman of the board, Raceland Bank & Trust Co.; president, Luling-Hahnville Bank. Honorary life member, Louisiana Engineering Society; a founder of the American Sugar Cane League. Died, New Orleans, July 5, 1951; interred Hope Mausoleum. G.R.C. Source: Author’s research.
GODCHAUX, Leon, planter, sugar refiner and businessman. Born, Herbeville, France, June 10, 1824; son of Paul Godchaux and Michelette Lazard. Removed to New Orleans, 1840. Opened the forerunner of Godchaux’s Clothing Store in New Orleans, 1844. Married Justine Lamm, 1854. Children: Eddie, Leonie (Mrs. Gus Mayer), Paul, Blanche (Mrs. Leon Fellman), Jules (q.v.), Anna (Mrs. David Danziger), Emile, Walter, Charles (q.v.), Albert. Started the central factory idea to refine sugar from his plantations—one in Reserve, La., and others in Napoleonville, La., and Raceland, La. Named his sugar refineries Godchaux Sugar Co. Owned mercantile establishments. Established Elm Hall, the first central sugar refinery in the sugar belt. Donated land for Leon Godchaux Grammar School and Leon Godchaux High School. Died, New Orleans, May 18, 1899. M.G.K. Sources: River Parish Focus, Vol. I, No. 12, May, 1979; Jean M. Eyraud, A History of St. John the Baptist Parish with Biographical Sketches (1939); Family notes of Leon Godchaux II, June 23, 1982.
GOENTGEN, Johann Georg, teacher, librarian, founder of Germantown, La., commune. Born, Bornheim, Germany, August 18, 1791; son of a pastor, Jonathan Gottlieb Goentgen. Education: attended the gymnasium in Frankfurt until 1808; studied at Jena and Berlin universities for four years; earned degrees in theology and philosophy. Joined a Masonic lodge in 1818; taught school and was librarian of the city of Frankfurt in 1822. Married Magdalena Heuser, daughter of Anna Maria and Johann Gottfried Heuser, 1826. Became disciple and advisor to Count de Leon (q.v.), a religious mystic; came to American in 1831 as secretary to de Leon; lived in ; communes in Pennsylvania for two years; removed to Louisiana in 1833 with his millenial disciples who reaffirmed his millenial mission at Natchez, Miss. on November 22, 1833.; after De Leon’s death in 1834, moved followers to Claiborne Parish, La.; received homestead grants near present city of Minden; founded colony, first called Dutchtown and renamed Germantown, 1835. Spiritual leader of the commune until his death on October 7, 1858; interred Germantown. Colony disbanded in 1871. K.J.R.A. & J.B.C. Sources: Manuscript collection of Karl J. R. Arndt; see Arndt, George Rapp’s Harmony Society, 1785-1847 (1965); Pauline Jennings, “Elisa Leon: First Lady of the Germantown Colony,” North Louisiana Historical Association Journal, VIII (1977).
GOFF, Dorothy Dell (stage name Dorothy Dell), beauty queen, singer, actress. Born, Hattiesburg, Miss., January 13, 1914; daughter of Elbert L. Goff and Lillian Davis, a descendant of Jefferson Davis. Goff was a close friend of Dorothy Lamour (q.v.). Moved with her family to New Orleans, La., 1929. Lived in a “simple wooden house on Perrier street.” Education: attended Sophie B. Wright Girls’ High School and the Napoleon Street Methodist Church Sunday school. Despite her short association with New Orleans, Dell was consistently identified as a former New Orleanian during her meteoric stage and screen career. Won the Miss New Orleans, Miss America, and Miss Universe beauty pageants, 1930. Toured the country briefly with Dorothy Lamour in Fanchon and Marco’s vaudeville troupe, September-December, 1930. Replaced Ruth Etting as a star in the Ziegfeld Follies review, 1931; became nationally famous for singing the popular “Cigars, Cigarettes” song. Subsequently signed with Paramount Movie Studio. Starred in three motion pictures: Wharf Angel (with Victor McLaglen), Little Miss Marker (with Shirley Temple and Adolphe Menjou), and Shoot the Works. Debuted the popular song “With My Eyes Wide Open I’m Dreaming” in Wharf Angel. Died in an automobile accident near Pasadena, Calif., June 8, 1934; her body lay in state in New Orleans and was accorded full millitary honors by the Timothy Lynch Post of the American Legion, which had sponsored the Miss New Orleans contest won by Goff; interred, Handsboro, Miss. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 10, 13, 1934; Al Rose, Born in New Orleans: Notables of Two Centuries (1983); Dorothy Lamour and Dick McInnes, My Side of the Road (1980).
GOFORTH, William, pioneer physician, statesman, jurist. Born, New York City, 1766; son of Judge William Goforth, Sr., and Catherine Meeks. Studied medicine under Dr. Joseph Young and Dr. Charles McKnight. Traveled with a brother-in-law down the Ohio River, settling at Washington, Ky., 1788; subsequently married the daughter of Rev. William Wood; practiced medicine in Washington for eleven years. Moved to Columbia, Ohio, 1799; practiced medicine out of Cincinnati. Goforth instructed during this period Daniel Drake, who eventually went on to outshine his teacher. Goforth was commissioned surgeon-general of the Ohio militia, June, 1804. After seven years as the leading physician in Ohio, Goforth removed to Louisiana, 1807. Resided on fifty-five arpents of land that he owned in Lafourche Interior Parish. Appointed parish judge, 1808; served as a delegate to the convention that drafted the first state constitution for Louisiana, 1811; served as a surgeon in a volunteer regiment during the Battle of New Orleans, December, 1815-January, 1816. Returned to Cincinnati in May of 1816; during the eight month voyage up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, Goforth contracted a liver disease that took his life on May 12, 1817. J.D.W. Sources: Cecil Morgan, The First Constitution of the State of Louisiana (1975); Ronald R. Morazan, Biographical Sketches of the Veterans of the Battle of Orleans, 1814-1815 (1979); Dictionary of American Biography (1946), 7:361.
GOLDSBURY, Asa C., evangelist. A free Negro, Goldsbury may have been a native of New Orleans. He headed the “First African Church of New Orleans,” perhaps the city’s first all-black religious body. He was eventually forced into a six-month period of silence under penalty of a local law restricting the activities of colored persons. Before Goldsbury’s death around 1831, his church numbered a respectable membership of 87 persons. 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).
GOLDSTEIN, Moise Herbert, architect, artist. Born, New Orleans, ca. 1882. Education: Tulane University, B. S., Engineering, 1902; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, M. S., 1905; studied at Academy of Rome. Began architectural practice with MacKenzie & Goldstein, 1906; then MacKenzie, Goldstein & Biggs, 1907; joined Diboll, Owen and Goldstein, 1908-1914; DBA Moise H. Goldstein, 1915-1947; Goldstein, Parham and Labouisse, 1947-1961. Retired 1961. Outstanding buildings: National American Bank Building (1928); Times-Picayune Building, Lafayette Square; Moisant International Airport; Dillard University complex (1930-1958); Temple Sinai (1929); Willow Street facade, Sugar Bowl Stadium, Tulane University (1937); married students apartments, Tulane University (1959); WDSU studios (1948); McDonogh No. 39 Elementary School (1952); New Orleans Civic Center, including City Hall (1960), State Office Building (1958), Civil Court (1958), New Orleans Public Library (1958); supervised construction of Audubon Park’s St. Charles Avenue entrance gates, with revisions of Olmsted design (1922), and designed buildings for Merz Memorial Zoo (Audubon Park, 1934). Also designed numerous residences. Career in art: began painting ca. 1906 during travel in Europe. Exhibits: joint show with William Woodward, Arts and Crafts Club, 1925; AIA exhibit at A & C Club, 1938; retrospective show, with wife, Stanley Thomas Hall, 1966. Married Lois Goetter. Children: Louis A., Moise H., Jr., Mrs. Aaron Stern. Died, New Orleans, December 28, 1972. Moise H. Goldstein Scholarship Fund established in memoriam at Tulane University School of Architecture. P.M. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987); New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 29, 1983, December 30, 1972, April 10, 1938, May 14, 1936, April 8, 1925; New Orleans Art School Year Book (1926); Samuel Wilson, Jr., A Guide to Architecture of New Orleans, 1699-1959 (1959); Alcée Fortier, Louisiana (1909).
GOLDSTEIN, Walter, academic, composer. Born, New York City, May 3, 1882. Education: Tulane University, B. A., 1902. Studied piano in New Orleans with Otto Weber, in New York with Alexandre Lambert, and in Paris with Harold Bauer. Studied theory and music history with Leonard McWheed at Columbia University. Taught piano and harmony at Newcomb College, 1911-1953. Married Charlotte Sessums, daughter of Bishop Davis Sessums (q.v.). President, New Orleans Music Teachers’ Association, the Louisiana Music Teachers’ Association. Wrote program notes for the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra. Arranged and edited sacred songs of C. Otto Weber. Composed the Newcomb Alma Mater and with Marten Ten Hoor, the Tulane fight song: “Roll on, Tulane.” Died, New Orleans, July 24, 1955. M.A. Sources: Louis Panzeri, Louisiana Composers (1972); New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 26, 1955.
GOLDSTON, Christopher “Happy”, jazz drummer. Born, New Orleans, NovemÂber 27, 1894. Started with Amos Riley’s Tulane Orchestra before World War I. Played with Golden Leaf Orchestra. Onward Brass Band and the W. P. A. Brass Band. Was a regular member of Papa Celestin’s Tuxedo Orchestra after World War II for more than fifteen years. Wife Katie; son Charles. Died, New Orleans, March 17, 1968. H.C. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, March 19, 1968; Samuel Charters, Jazz, New Orleans, 1885-1963 (1963); Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz, A Family Album, rev. ed. (1964).
GOLSAN, Florence Fischer, politician. Born, July 1, 1890; daughter of Joseph Lindsey Golsan and Emma Bakewell. Deputy clerk of court, West Feliciana Parish, La., 1918-1927; elected clerk of court, 1927, the first woman in Louisiana elected to public office after universal suffrage enacted; re-elected until 1964 when she retired. Died, June 6, 1972; buried Grace Church Cemetery, St. Francisville, La. E.K.D. Sources: Oath Book, West Feliciana Parish; Grace Church Register.
GOLSAN, Joseph Lindsey, politician. Born, Alabama, August 21, 1854; son of J. H. Golsan and Mary Broadnax. Education: public schools; Henry College, Va.; Auburn University, graduated 1872; University of Virginia, 1873; studied law privately in New Orleans, admitted to Louisiana bar, 1877. Established law practice, St. Francisville, La., 1877. Magistrate, town of St. Francisville, 1878-1880; member, Louisiana house of representatives, 1880-1884. Married Emma Bakewell, daughter of the Reverend Alexander Gordon Bakewell, 1881. Daughter: Florence Fischer Golsan (q.v.). District attorney, Fifteenth Judicial District, 1884-1892; judge, Thirteenth Judicial District, 1892-1904; mayor, St. Francisville, 1904; distirct attorney, Twenty-fourth Judicial District, 1904-1912; judge, Twenty-fourth Judisical District, 1912-1916; district attorney, Twenty-fourth Judicial District, 1916-1920; judge, Twenty-fourth Judicial District, 1920-1924; district attorney, Twentieth Judicial District, 1924-1930. Member and vestryman, Grace Episcopal Church, St. Francisville. Died, June 18, 1936; interred Grace Church Cemetery. E.K.D. Sources: Oath Book, West Feliciana Parish; Grace Church Register; St. Francisville Democrat, June 20, 1936.
GONZALES, Joseph, Jr., businessman, politician. Born, Ascension Parish, La., 1862; son of Joseph Gonzales, Sr., and Marchand Gonzales. Married Félicie Bourgeois, February 9, 1888; five daughters. From a prominent Ascension Parish family, Gonzales founded the town that bears his name. Settled what would become the town site in 1887, acquiring 120 acres of land, on part of which he open a small store; later operated a cotton gin near the same location. Instrumental in obtaining for the area a post office and railroad station, both named after him. Formally established the town of Gonzales, incorporated 1920; subsequently served as first mayor until 1938. Served for twelve years on the Ascension Parish Police Jury; one term in the state house of representatives, 1908-1912. Member, board of directors, South Louisiana State Fair Association for twenty years. Died, Gonzales. La., April 21, 1940; interred, St. Theresa Catholic Church Cemetery, Gonzales, La. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 21, 24, 1940.
GOODRICH, Charles, clergyman, religious critic. Of northern birth, ca. 1805. Provoked a major debate within New Orleans’ Protestant community when he wrote a discourse in 1844 which challenged the credentials of all Protestant ministers outside the Episcopal church, since none had been ordained by a diocesan bishop. Goodrich’s contention that four-fifths of New Orleans’ clergy was “unchurched” received a scholarly rebuke from a contemporary, Rev. R. L. Stanton (q.v.), pastor of the local Second Presbyterian Church. T.F.R. Sources: R. L. Stanton, Mr. Stanton’s Reply to Mr. Goodrich; Brief Notice of a “Series of Letters,” Entitled “Episcopacy Maintained,” Addressed to the Rev. R. L. Stanton by Charles Goodrich, Rector of St. Paul’s Church, New Orleans; In a Letter to Rev. Charles Goodrich (1845), passim. See especially pp. 13-15. Timothy F. Reilly, “Religious Leaders and Social Criticism in New Orleans, 1800-1861” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Missouri at Columbia, 1972).
GOOS, Daniel Johannes, businessman, civic leader. Born, Island Foëhr, Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark (now West Germany), March 23, 1815. Married, March 26, 1846, Katherine Barbara Moeling, of Neustadt Hardt, Germany, daughter of Elias Moeling and Anna Maria Garig. Children: Daniel (b. 1846), Barbara (b. 1847), Elmina (b. 1849), Rosalie (b. 1850), Madora (b. 1852), Ema (b. 1853), Fredriche (b. 1855), Georgeanna (b. 1857), Christian (b. 1859), Katarina (b. 1860), Della (b. 1862), Frederick (b. 1864), Walter (b. 1865), Albert (b. 1866), Anna (b. 1868). Civil War service: His lumber schooners became blockade runners operating from Lake Charles to Galveston and other ports of the gulf. Engaged in mercantile business in Ocean Springs, Miss., before coming to Lake Charles, La., in 1855. Established a sawmill in area north of Lake Charles called Goosport. Shipped lumber to Galveston and other gulf ports, and Germany. Calcasieu timber used in building the Kiel Canal in Germany. Brought many German families to Lake Charles after the Civil War to work in his sawmill. Member: Lutheran church. Died, Lake Charles, May 19, 1898; interred Goos Cemetery. D.J.M. Source: Goos family papers.
GORDON, Charles J., physician. Born, Fayette, Miss., February 25, 1873. Removed to Sicily Island, La., as a doctor in 1898. Served the community for 44 years. Married, June 25, 1902, Eva Chisum of Sicily Island (1883-1955), daughter of Thomas Jefferson Chisum and Catherine Smith Chisum. Four children, three surviving to adulthood: Eva Gordon (Vaught), Dorothy Gordon (Tillinghast), and Frances Gordon (Selser). Died, December 4, 1942. S.C.H. Source: Author’s research.
GORDON, Jacob (pseud. of Maksymilian Jatowt), traveler, memoirist. Born in Poland, ca. 1825. Participated in a Polish uprising in 1846 and was forcefully conscripted by the Russians, but escaped. In 1848 captured and sent into penal military service at Orenburg and Uralsk. Tsar Alexander II extended him clemency by assigning him to earn an officer’s rank with the regular Russian troops fighting in Crimea in 1855. Fled to Germany and then to the United States, became an American citizen. Lived in New Orleans in years just before Civil War. Operated briefly a school of mathematics for boys. Departed in 1861. Eventually returned to Poland. Wrote about 10 books of memoirs and travels in Polish, including Podróz do Nowego Orleanu (Trip to New Orleans), 1867, in which he describes his acquaintances, teaching, and life in that city. Died, Lwów, Poland, 1895. L.S. Sources: Ladislas J. Siekaniec, The Polish Contribution to Early American Education, 1608-1865 (1976); Stanislaw Zielinski, Maly Slownik Pionierów Polskich . . . Ilustrowana Encyklopedja Trzaski, Everta i Michalskiego; Wielka Encyklopedja Powszechna PWN.
GORDON, Jean M., civic leader, suffragette. Born, New Orleans, May 27, 1867; daughter of George H. Gordon and Margaret Galiece; sister of Kate M. and Fannie R. Education: Jackson Public School and Peabody High School. Active member of Charity Organization Society and the Equal Rights Association, Women’s Conservative League; director, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Seamen’s Church Institute, the Society for Mental Hygiene, the State Colony and Training School; president, Milne Asylum of Destitute Orphan Girls (feebleminded), 1900; first factory inspector of New Orleans, 1907; president, Southern Child Labor Association; president, Women’s State Suffrage Association; organized the first day nursery at Kingsley House; worked to establish tuberculosis hospital at Gentilly; awarded, 1921, Times-Picayune Loving Cup for opening Milne House. Died, New Orleans, February 24, 1931; interred Metairie Cemetery. R.E.M. Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 25, 1931.
GORDON, Kate, civic leader, feminist. Born, New Orleans, July 14, 1861; daughter of George H. Gordon and Margaret Galiece; sister of Jean M. (q.v.) and Fannie R. Education: attended New Orleans schools and was graduated from Miss Shaw’s private academy. In 1896, helped form, and was first president of, Era Club which worked for women’s rights; merged Era Club with older feminist Portia Club to form the Louisiana Woman Suffrage Association which she headed from 1904 to 1913; waged successful campaign for admission of women to full four-year course in Tulane School of Medicine; helped secure inclusion of tax suffrage for women at the 1898 Louisiana constitutional convention; headed the New Orleans Women’s Sewerage and Drainage League in 1899 that implemented Louisiana women’s tax suffrage; cited as a major force in ensuing successful water and drainage bond election. A pioneer worker against tuberculosis in the South, she helped organize the Louisiana Anti-Tuberculosis League in 1906, and, in 1916, as vice-president of the New Orleans Anti-Tuberculosis League, helped found the city’s first tuberculosis hospital. Corresponding secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1901-1909; second vice-president, 1910-1913. In 1913, helped organize and became president of the Southern States Woman Suffrage Conference that campaigned unsuccessfully for state suffrage for white women. From 1916 to 1918 she led an unsuccessful Louisiana campaign to secure suffrage for Louisiana white women. Died, New Orleans, August 25, 1932. B.H.G. Sources: B. H. Gilley, “Kate Gordon and Louisiana Woman Suffrage,” Louisiana History, XXIV (1983); Kenneth R. Johnson, “Kate Gordon and the Woman Suffrage Movement in the South,” Journal of Southern History, XXXVIII (1972); New Orleans Daily Picayune, March 25, 1898; November 13, 1913; August 25, 1932; Era Club Minutes, November 14, 1914.
GORDON, Smith W., physician, politician. Born along Bayou Rapides, August 3, 1833; son of Smith Waddell Gordon and Melissa Wells. Married Marguerite M. Long at Rapides Parish, La., ca. 1857; children: Fanny (b. ca. 1861), William (b. ca. 1870), Smith (b. ca. 1875), and Frances Zacherie; three other children died young. Received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, March, 1855. Established a medical practice in Rapides, 1856. Served in the Confederate Army as 1st lieutenant in Capt. Leroy Stafford’s (q.v.) company, 9th Regiment, Louisiana Volunteers. Served as surgeon general of Louisiana (1866), Rapides Parish health officer (1888), delegate to the state Democratic convention (1872). Member, board of directors, Bayou Rapides Navigation Company (1860), Rapides Parish Liberal Reform Committee (1872), Rapides Parish Medical and Surgical Association (member, 1883-?; vice-president, 1885; president, 1890-1893), Rapides Parish Planters and Farmers Club (1887), Rapides Parish Agricultural Association (vice president). Died at Alexandria, La, January 26, 1909; interred in Rapides Cemetery, Pineville, La. J.D.W. Sources: Nancy Jo Texada, The Research and Romance of Medicine: Rapides Parish, Louisiana Medical History and Physician Biographies (1995).
GORDY, Minos T., attorney, politician. Born, St. Mary Parish, La., September 29, 1865. Education: public schools of Franklin, La.; Rugby Academy, Franklin; graduated, Louisiana State University, 1883. Clerked in stores in Abbeville and Franklin and studied law. Graduated Tulane Law School, 1889; practiced law in Abbeville. Appointed district attorney in 1890; reelected in 1892 and 1896. Member of constitutional convention of 1898. Elected district judge in 1900. Returned to private practice, 1904. Married Laura C. Haynes, April 28, 1896. Four children. Mason, Episcopalian. Died, Abbeville, La., August 8, 1926; interred Graceland Cemetery. A.W.B. Sources: Alcée Fortier, Louisiana, 3 vols. (1914); Vermilion Historical Society, History of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana (1983).
GORDY, Robert P., painter. Born, Jefferson Island, La., October 14, 1933; son of John Gordy and Laura Pegues. In 1940 removed with family to New Iberia. Became a friend of Weeks Hall (q.v.) who encouraged him and initiated him into the world of art. 1951-1955, studied at the Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana) and Louisiana State University, M. A. in painting, 1956. Taught at SLI, 1956-1959; Iberia Parish public schools, 1960; Sterling College in Kansas, 1962, the Putney School in Vermont, 1963, the University of New Orleans, 1965, and Loyola University of the South, 1967. Settled in New Orleans, 1964. Numerous one-person exhibitions and participation in many collection exhibitions in American museums and galleries, including the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Gallerie Simonne Stern in New Orleans; the National Collection of Fine Arts and the Pyramid Galleries in Washington, D. C.; the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Arts in Winston Salem; The University Art Museum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, Texas; The University Art Museum, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, La.; and the Brooklyn Museum, the Phyllis Kind Gallery, the New Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Also exhibited in London. Paintings and prints in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; The Museum of Modern Art in New York; the New Orleans Museum of Art; the Fort Worth Art Center; the Wichita Art Museum; National Collection of Fine Arts in Washington; and the Oklahoma Art Center. Died, New Orleans, September 24, 1986; interred New Iberia, La. M.A. Sources: Gene Baro, Robert Gordy Paintings and Drawings, 1960-1980 (1981); New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 24, 1986.
GOREAU, Nelson Goram, inventor. Born, New Orleans, 1880; son of Virginia Torr and Louis Goreau. Education: attended local public schools, chiefly Jackson Boy’s School. Best known as inventor of first tankless instantaneous automatic coil water heater which was manufactured in the early 1920s under the trade name Go-Ro; organized and financed Go-Ro, Inc., a factory on Carrollton Avenue, New Orleans, which made and distributed the gas water heater. Began career by formulating and manufacturing an industrial metal polish; invented a water filter which embodied a fundamental discovery in the field of thermodynamics; designed an electric automobile engine which was tested with the aid of William B. Gregory (q.v.); perfected a compact, perfectly balanced, automobile diesel engine which was used in World War II for small-boat fleets patrolling the United States shoreline; designed a snare-principle surgical device used in tonsillectomies; created a prototype device to inflate a collapsed lung; helped finance early research for a commercial use for bagasse and for the dehydration of bananas; served a term on the Mississippi River Commission; was an early advocate of cuts to straighten the river as a practical approach to flood control. Married Anna Wilson of Denison, Tex. Children: Theodore Nelson, Alice Frances, Mary Martha, Anna Wilson, and Laurraine Goreau, who was a newspaper columnist and wrote a biography of Mahalia Jackson (q.v.). Died, July 7, 1972; interred family plot, Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans. J.B.C. Sources: John S. Kendall, History of New Orleans (1922); Alcée Fortier, Louisiana (1914); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, July 8, 1972.
GORMAN, Jacob Allen, dentist, orthodontist. Born, Raleigh, N. C., June or July 19, 1875; son of John C. Gorman, a printer and Confederate soldier, and Emily J. Bushall. Married Edith Peake, October 10, 1900; three daughters. Education: graduated from high school in Washington D. C.; D.D.S., Dental School of Columbian University (now George Washington University), 1895; special studies at the Angle School of Orthodontia, New London, Conn., 1903. Private dental practice, AsheÂville, N. C., 1898-1907. In 1907 he moved to New Orleans, where he became the first dentist in the South to practice exclusively orthodontics; also became the first doctor in the city to make and read x-rays of his own patients. One of six founding members of the Loyola University School of Dentistry, 1915; he held the chair of orthodontia and dental x-ray there for six years. Founded Lookout Mountain Camp for Boys at Mentone, Ala., 1927. Member: Asheville Dental Society, American Medical Association, National Dental Association, American Association of Orthodontists, Louisiana State Medical Society; president, North Carolina Dental Society, 1902; lifetime member and president, New Orleans Dental Association; charter member and president, Southern Society of Orthodontists; associate, Orleans Parish Medical Society. Active in several fraternal and Masonic organizations. The American Journal of Orthodontics called Gorman “the Father of Orthodontics in the South,” November 1951. Died, New Orleans, April 18, 1964; interred, Hope Mausoleum, New Orleans, La. J.D.W. Sources: Alcée Fortier, Louisiana. . . in Cyclopedic Form (1914), vol. III, 183; New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 19, 1964.
GORMLEY, Francis Thomas “Tad,” trainer, athletic coach. Born, Cambridge, Mass., December 23, 1883. Trained to be a boxer at a young age, but he quickly dedicated himself to the instruction and training of other athletes. Trained J. C. Lorden and Timothy Ford, both of whom won the Boston marathon, 1903, 1906. Moved to New Orleans as director of physical training for the Young Men’s Gymnastic Club, a forerunner of the New Orleans Athletic Club, 1907. Coached track and field at Tulane University, 1914-1916; coached track (1916-1928) and basketball (1921-1923), Louisiana State University, 1916-1928; track, basketball, and boxing, Loyola University, 1928-1938. Appointed assistant United States Olympic track coach and trainer, 1932. Athletic director, New Orleans’ City Park Stadium, 1938-1965. Trained numerous Olympic track and field athletes, as well as, Olympic boxers Eddie Flynn and Dennis Flynn, and featherweight champion Jimmy Perrin. In 1912 organized an informal track meet, “The Gormley Handicaps,” held every Sunday morning in New Orleans during track season until his death in 1965, at which time City Park Stadium was renamed in his honor. Inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, 1968. Died, New Orleans, December, 1965; interred, St. Mary’s Cemetery, New Roads, La. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 6, 1965; Jerry Byrd, Louisiana Sports Legends (1992); Sally Reeves, et. al., Historic City Park New Orleans (1982).
GOTTSCHALK, Louis Moreau, pianist, composer. Born, New Orleans, May 8, 1829; son of Edward Gottschalk and Aimée Bruslé. Early musical training in New Orleans, later in Paris under Charles Hallé and Camille Stamaty (piano) and Pierre Maleden (composition). First concert in Paris, April 2, 1845. Opus #1 published the following year. Professional debut, Paris, April 17, 1849, followed by concerts in Switzerland, Spain, and, in 1852, New York (Niblo’s, February 11, 1853). Concerts in New Orleans and Cuba, 1854-1855. Love affair with journalist Ada Clare began 1855; their son, Aubrey, born May, 1857 (d. 1868). Toured Caribbean, 1857, Brazil, 1858, Martinique and Guadaloupe, 1859, and participated in gigantic concert in Havana’s Tacon Theatre, February 17, 1860. Toured northern states during Civil War and, in 1865, California. Thence to South America: Peru, Chile, Argentina, settling temporarily in Montevideo. In 1869 gave concerts in Brazil where he died (Rio de Janeiro), December 18, 1869, after an attack that August of yellow fever. Interred, Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. First American composer to win worldwide acclaim and recognition for his compositions, many of which were based on Creole or native melodies. J.B.** Sources: Vernon Loggins, Where the Word Ends: The Life of Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1958); St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, La., Marriage and Baptismal Records.
GRACE, Lucille Mae, first woman elected to statewide public office in Louisiana. Born, Plaquemine, La., October 3, 1900; daughter of Fred J. Grace, who preceded her as register of State Lands Office, and May Dardenne Grace. Education: St. Joseph’s Academy, Baton Rouge; Sacred Heart Convent, Grand Coteau; Louisiana State University, B. A., 1920. Elected secretary-treasurer of her freshman class at LSU, the first girl ever elected to such an office. During her college years began working as clerk in her father’s office and upon his death in 1931, was appointed to take his place by Gov. Huey P. Long (q.v.). She was elected to the office of register of state lands in her own right in 1932 and subsequently re-elected in 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948. She made an unsuccessful attempt at the governorship in 1952, but was re-elected register of state lands in 1956. Married Fred C. Dent in 1933. One son, Fred C. Dent, Jr. Member, Catholic church; UDC; DAR; Business & Professional Women’s Club, Phi Kappa Phi; patroness of Delta Zeta; member of the auxiliaries of various veterans’ organizations. Died, Baton Rouge, December 22, 1957; interred St. John’s Catholic Cemetery, Plaquemine. M.S.W. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, April 22, 1951; New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 23, 1957; Baton Rouge State-Times, December 23, 1957; Lucille Mae Grace file in Louisiana Room, LSU Special Collections.
GRAHAM, Evander McNair, jurist, political leader. Born, Coosa County, Ala., September 18, 1836; son of Thomas B. Graham and Isabella Graham. Removed to Downsville, Union Parish, La., with family, 1853. Education: attended Centenary College (Jackson, La.). Taught in public schools, Union Parish. Civil War service: Twelfth Louisiana Regiment, commander, 1865, with rank of lieutenant colonel; wounded at Franklin, Tenn., paroled May, 1865, at Greensboro, N.C. After war, admitted to bar, began legal practice in Vernon, La. Married, November 1865, Florence Townsend, of Talladega, Ala. Children: Robert (b. 1867), Mary (b. 1871), Bessie (b. 1875), Kathleen (b. 1878), John (b. 1880), Helen (b. 1883). Elected Jackson Parish judge, 1870; claimed election to Louisiana senate, 1872, from 19th District but not seated in Kellogg legislature. Removed to Vienna, 1873, leader of conservative movement against Republicans in Lincoln Parish; served as district judge, 1876-1884. Removed to Ruston, 1896. Prominent leader in Presbyterian church, in Masonic and Confederate veterans organizations. Member, board of trustees, Louisiana Polytechnic Institute (Louisiana Tech University). Died, Ruston, May 22, 1908; interred Greenwood Cemetery. W.Y.T. Sources: Graham Family Papers, Prescott Memorial Library, Louisiana Tech University; William Y. Thompson, “E. M. Graham, Early North Louisiana Leader: The Beginnings,” Louisiana History, XXII (1981); William Y. Thompson, E. M. Graham, Early North Louisianian (1984).
GRAHAM, George Mason, planter, soldier, “Father of Louisiana State University”. Born at the seat of “Lexington,” Fairfax County, Va., August 21, 1807; son of Elizabeth Mary Ann Barnes Hooe, widow of George Mason, Jr., eldest son of George Mason of Gunston Hall (author of the Virginia Bill of Rights), and George Graham, secretary of war in administration of President Monroe and later head of the United States General Land Office. Education: attended West Point, 1826 and the University of Virginia, 1828. Removed to Louisiana in 1828 to oversee family property in Rapides Parish. On October 2, 1834, married (1) the daughter of Richard Smith in Washington, D. C. After her death on December 9, 1835, married (2) Mary Elizabeth Wilkinson (d. 1855), daughter of Georgiana Amy Blanchard and Nathaniel Green Wilkinson, on September 7, 1847. Children: Donald G., Fergus R., Duncan J., and Amy Blanchard. Married (3), October 2, 1867, Caroline H. Stith; one child, Caroline Homoiselle Grabay. Active in state politics; in 1839, only Louisiana delegate on the Whig presidential nominating committee. Was a state leader of the Constitutional Union Party, an anti-secessionist group. Military career: organized, in 1846, and was major of Rapides Horse Guards (later Company E, Third Regiment, Louisiana Volunteers); cited for bravery at Battle of Monterey in the Mexican War; in 1853 elected brigadier general of the 11th Brigade of Rapides and Avoyelles parishes; from 1865 to 1868, was adjutant general of Louisiana. Career in education: superintended construction of the Seminary of Learning of the State of Louisiana (predecessor of Louisiana State University) at Pineville, 1855-1859; helped choose William T. Sherman (q.v.) as first superintendent; planned the literary, scientific, and military character of the seminary; elected first president of board of trustees, 1855; selected vice-president, board of supervisors, 1858; remained a board member for 30 years and has been called the “Father of LSU.” Built Tyrone Plantation on Bayou Rapides, 1842. Died, January 31, 1891, at Tyrone Plantation; interred Rapides Cemetery, Pineville. V.S.K. & J.B.C. Sourcss: George Mason Graham Stafford, contr., “The Autobiography of George Mason Graham,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XX (1937); James L. Barnidge, “George Mason Graham: The Father of Louisiana State University,” Louisiana History, X (1969); Walter L. Fleming, Louisiana State University, 1860-1896 (1936).
GRAHAM, James, notary, state auditor. Born, Dublin, Ireland, 1811; son of Col. John L. Graham. Removed to New York with parents and worked as printer’s assistant there and in Ohio. Removed to New Orleans in the 1840s and was editor of the True American, a Jackson Democratic paper; later was editor of the Louisiana Courier. Married Cornelia Neville, October 9, 1844. Three children. Wrote a biography of Revolutionary War general Daniel Morgan which was published in New York in 1856. Opposed to secession but continued his work as public notary under the Confederacy; supported the Federal military after the occupation of New Orleans in 1862; served as vice-president of the city’s Union Association and as secretary of the Free State General Committee; became a large stockholder and cashier of the New Orleans National Bank in 1863; appointed as the United States marshall for southern Louisiana in 1864; a founder of the Louisiana Republican Party; elected state treasurer on the Republican ticket of 1870; ran unsuccessfully for the same position on the fusion Liberal Republican ticket in 1872; was appointed register of the State Land Office in 1877. Died, April 3, 1878. J.A.B. Sources: Diary and Correspondence of Salmon P. Chase (1903); Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress; Andrew Johnson Papers, Library of Congress; Annual Report of the Secretary of State, State of Louisiana, 1877 (1878); Manuscript Census Returns, New Orleans, 1860; New Orleans Genesis, I (1962); New Orleans Daily Picayune, April 3, 4, 1878.
GRAND-PRE, Charles Boucher de, soldier, administrator. Born, New Orleans, 1754; son of Louis Boucher Grandpré and Theresa Gallard (natives of Canada). Joined New Orleans militia in 1769. Served as a lieutenant, 1769-1775. Transferred to the Louisiana Infantry Regiment in 1775; captain, 1775-1780; breveted lieutenant colonel, 1780-1782; captain of the grenadiers, 1782-1797; and colonel of the regiment, 1798-1808. Commanded a detachment of militia from Pointe Coupée in 1781 during the Natchez Rebellion. Served numerous terms as commandant: Pointe Coupée, 1773-1781; Natchez, 1782, 1786-1790; Ouachita (as lieutenant governor), in 1797. In 1798 he was appointed governor (commandant) of Baton Rouge, a position he maintained until 1808. Married Elena Price Paget, daughter of Price Paget and Maria Francisca Dufresne (of Illinois), April 1, 1784. Closely allied through marriage with Gayarré family and Cecilio Odoardo, the assessor general. Five sons: Carlos José, Enrique, Esteban, Felipe and Luis Antonio. Died, 1809. B.C. Souces: Spain. Archivo General de Indias, Audiencia de Santo Domingo, legajo 2606; Joja de Servicio Spain. Papeles procedentes de Cuba, legajo 161B; Acts of Juan Garic, Book 1, Orleans Parish Notarial Archives; Gayarré Papers, LSU Archives.
GRAPPE, Alexis, pioneer. Born in Dolet, France. Removed to Natchitoches Post in the 1730s; was a noncommissioned officer in the French marine garrison at Fort St. Jean-Baptiste de Natchitoches, where he served many years as translator in negotiations with Indian nations. A prominent figure at Fort St. Louis de Kadohadacho, the trading post on upper Red River near present-day Texarkana, Tex., until after the cession of Louisiana to Spain. Married Louise Marguerite Guédon, widow of Jean-Baptiste Besson and a native of Louisiana, on April 9, 1746. Children included Indian trader François Grappe (q.v.), and Marie-Madeleine Grappe (b. 1754), first wife of the trader Paul Bouet Laffitte (q.v.). Died, ca. 1776. R.C.V. Sources: Natchitoches archives; Natchitoches church records.
GRAPPE, François dit Touline, frontiersman. Born, Fort St. Louis, upper Red River Valley, near present Texarkana, Tex., December 4, 1747; son of Alexis (q.v.) and Marguerite Guédon Grappe. Father was army officer and Indian trader, mother a half-Indian. Subject grew up among Caddo tribe, became skilled interpreter and guide. Served Spanish and U. S. governments as such. Assistant to Dr. John Sibley (q.v.), Indian agent for Orleans Territory. Was guide and interpreter for Freeman-Custis expedition that explored Red River Valley, 1806. Subject also extensive rancher. Home at Grappe’s Bluff, few miles from Campti on Red River. Another large ranch along southeastern shore of Lake Bistineau, present Bienville Parish. Subject had great influence among Indian tribes of trans-Mississippi west. Caddo tribe granted subject and three mulatto sons vast tract of land along Red River, including much of present south Shreveport. Property subsequently swindled from Grappe heirs by unscrupulous Indian agent. Died, at home, August 2, 1825. P.C.C. Sources: Philip Cook, “François Grappe: Profile of a North Louisiana Creole” (Paper presented at 21st annual meeting of the Louisiana Historical Association, March 23, 1979, Natchitoches, La.).
GRAUGNARD, Jean-Baptiste Camille, planter, sugar manufacturer. Born, Faucon, France, November 27, 1855; son of Antoinette Caire and Casimir Graugnard. Emigrated to America at the age of 17. Education: received his early education in France; attended Christian Brothers College in Bay St. Louis, Miss., for two years. Received a mathematics prize. Married (1) Félicie Burcard Caire. One daughter: Antoinette. Married (2), 1912, Françoise Eugénie Burcard. Children: Camille (Mrs. Ellis Roussel) and Jean-Baptiste Casimir. Died, February 21, 1945, Edgard, La.; interred St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Cemetery. M.G.K. Source: Family notes of Mrs. Ellis Roussel, June 7, 1982.
GRAVES, James Q., surgeon. Born, Columbia, La., March 17, 1878; son of James Q. and Laura Blanks Graves. Education: local public schools; Louisiana Polytechnic Institute (now Louisiana Tech University), B. S., 1901; Tulane University, M. D., 1906; post graduate medical work, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, and Harvard. Married Alda Holloman, January 22, 1908; in Harrisonburg, La. Children: Helen Louise, Sue Quarles, Dorothy Elaine, Jeanne. Interned, Charity Hospital, Shreveport; practiced in Columbia, La.; established his practice in Monroe, La., 1910; maintained the Graves Medical Clinic as a general surgeon; staff member of St. Francis Sanitarium, 1913-1958; division surgeon for Missouri Pacific Hospital Association, 1947-1958; practiced medicine for fifty-two years. Special interest was farming; raised pecans, cotton, and cattle. Member, house of delegates of American Medical Association, 1928-1958; fellow, American College of Surgeons; state, tri-state, district, and parish medical societies; state surgical association; Masons; Kappa Sigma Phi; Rotary Club; Boston Club of New Orleans; First Methodist Church; Democratic party. Died, Monroe, November 10, 1958; interred Columbia. His name was placed in the Hall of Fame of Medicine in Louisiana by the Louisiana State Medical Society in 1969. J.B.C. Sources: The National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1965), XLVIII; Monroe Morning World, obituary, November 11, 1958.
GRAVIER, Bertrand, merchant, land promoter. A native of Bergerac, in the Dordogne, France. Went bankrupt in Bordeaux, where he was a merchant and on July 1, 1783, made an agreement with his creditors for the settling of his debts. Between 1784 and 1785 sailed for New Orleans. December 20, 1786, married Maria-Josepha Delondes (Deslande), widow of Andrés Raynard (André Renard) from whom he had inherited twelve arpents fronting the river from the Jesuits Plantation. In 1788, employed Carlos Trudeau (q.v.) to survey the land which he subdivided into some 600 lots as Faubourg Sainte-Marie, creating a public place (present-day Lafayette Square), and naming the streets: Magazine (for his storehouse); Camp (for the cabins of his slaves); St. Charles (for the Spanish king); Carondelet (for the Spanish governor); Baronne (for the governor’s wife); Philippa (today Dryades, for the governor’s daughter); and Royal Road (today Tchoupitoulas). After Maria-Joseph’s death, March 22, 1794, sold some lots to Nicolas Girod (q.v.), Julian Poydras (q.v.), and Jean-Baptiste Sarpy. Died New Orleans, 1797. M.A. Source: Francis P. Burns, “The Graviers and the Faubourg Ste. Marie,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXII (April, 1939).
GRAVOLET, E. W., businessman, politician. Born, New Orleans, La., March 11, 1919; son of Marceline Hingle and Ezikiel W. Gravolet, Sr. Education: Holy Cross High School; Loyola University, law degree, 1940. Married Grace Miller. Children: Daughters Kay and Gayle; step-son Austin Yawn III. Served in the Army Air Corps, World War II; assumed management of father’s seafood canning business, 1950; served in state house of representatives, 1948-1960; served in state senate, 1960-1968; president pro tem of senate, 1964-1968; represented Senatorial District Twenty-six which included Plaquemines, St. Bernard, and part of Jefferson parishes. Worked with Leander Perez (q.v.) in opposing integration of public schools; helped write and sponsor many grant-in-aid bills. Died, October 24, 1968; interred St. Thomas Catholic Church Cemetery, Pointe à la Hache, La. J.B.C. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, obituary, October 25, 1968; New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, October 25, 1968; research by librarians of Plaquemines Parish Public Library.
GRAY, Charles Sumner, musician, painter. Born, South Acton, Me., January 14, 1856; son of Dr. William Howard Gray and Mary Ann Capen. Education: South Acton schools; New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Taught school at Mandeville and Baldwin, La., in late 1870s. Married, 1881, Marie Pauline Guidry of Paincourtville, La.. Children: Eva (b. 1886), Charles Sumner, Jr. (b. 1890), Narcisse (b. 1895), and Peter (b. 1897). After marriage, he and wife taught music and held social gatherings and recitals at Gray’s Hall near their residence in Morgan City. Organized Morgan City’s first orchestra in 1895. Gray was noted for talent as a painter, specializing in oil portraits. Died, Morgan City, March 27, 1927; interred Morgan City Cemetery. L.K.L. Source: Gray Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
GRAY, Henry, planter, attorney, politician, soldier. Born, Laurens District, South Carolina, January 19, 1816. Education: South Carolina College. District attorney and state legislator, Mississippi. Removed to Louisiana, 1851, settled on Bienville Parish plantation, Brush Valley community. Continued law practice. Switched from Whig to Democratic party, associated with Judah P. Benjamin (q.v.). Democratic elector, presidential campaign, 1856. Elected to state legislature, 1860. Defeated for U. S. Senate by one vote, 1860. Civil War service: authorized by President Jefferson Davis ([q.v.] personal friend) to organize 28th Louisiana Infantry Regiment, commanding officer. Served with distinction in Teche and Red River campaigns. At Battle of Mansfield, given brigade and promoted to rank of brigadier general. Commanded troops in Red River District and Arkansas. Elected to Confederate Congress from northwestern Louisiana during last year of war. After war, returned to plantation and political career. Elected to state senate, one of leading orators. Retired from politics upon death of wife. Married Eleanora Howard. Children: Howard, Reuben (killed in Civil War), John, Eleanora Gibbs and Elvira Stothart. Died, home of daughter, Coushatta, La., December 16, 1892; interred Springville Cemetery. P.C.C. Sources: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana (1890); Eva Loe McDuffie, Liberty Hill-Brush Valley Friendship (1974).
GRAY, John P., academic. Born, Oklahoma City, Okla. Served as professor of Agronomy at Louisiana State University for 35 years; was a plant breeder and authority on forage and range crops; developed improved oat and soybean varieties and better production methods; his work won international recognition. Credited with being the first person in Louisiana to popularize and present the industrial and commercial value and uses of numerous soybean products. Went to Iran after retirement as a consultant in the soybean industry representing the International Executive Service Corps; also worked in Louisiana as a soybean consultant. A memorial fund was established at LSU in his name. Died, October twenty-five, 1966; survived by his wife, Thelma Pitre Samson Gray; one son, John P. Gray, Jr.; a step-son, Dr. Roland F. Samson. Interred Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church Cemetery, Westwego, La. J.B.C. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, obituary, October 26, 1966; November 28, 1966.
GRAY, Mathilda Geddings, heiress, philanthropist. Daughter of Mary Kirkman and John Geddings Gray. Marriage to Dr. William Franklin Brooks ended in divorce; no children. Assumed maiden name; inherited father’s oil fortune; Episcopalian. Member of American Legion Auxiliary, Daughters of the American Revolution, Orleans Club of New Orleans, Le Petit Salon, Phi Mu Society; permanent home in Lake Charles but also resided in New Orleans, New York, Antigua, and France. Restored the Gauche home on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans and Evergreen Plantation in St. John the Baptist Parish. Philanthropies: donated land, buildings, and furnishings for American Legion Home; land for a school in Vinton, La., and financial support for the John Geddings Gray School in Lake Charles, La.; financed archeology expeditions and textile exhibit for Tulane University; donated rice to France and England after World War II; built a hospital in Antigua, restored a church in Guatemala and financed a building at Jefferson Military Academy. Received Order of the British Empire, the Legion of Honor from France, and the Order of the Quetzal from Guatemala. Established the Mathilda Geddings Gray Foundation in 1968. McNeese University chosen to permanently house foundation art works, exhibit jewel collection, and develop education program. Died, June 8, 1971; interred Graceland Cemetery, Lake Charles. D.J.M. & J.B.C. Sources: Lake Charles American Press, obituary, June 9, 1971; New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, June 9, 1971.
GRAY, William Bailey, journalist, businessman. Born, Boston, Mass., November 7, 1842; son of Dr. William Howard Gray and Mary Ann Capen. In Civil War, enlisted in 1861 in Company G, Fifth Massachusetts Regiment and fought at Bull Run, in the seige of Richmond, and other major battles before being mustered out at the war’s end in New Orleans with rank of first lieutenant. Worked at railroading and acting profession and the printing trade before settling in Morgan City, La., in 1879. Founded in 1879 the Morgan City Free Press, renamed, 1890, the Independent Democrat, and in 1900, Rural Topics. Earned degree in pharmacy in Louisiana in 1883 and associated with father in Gray’s Drug Store, but continued in printing and publishing until death. Married, 1878, Marie Louise Markstein of Anna, Ill. Children: William Howard (b. 1879), Leroy Capen (b. 1885), Leonard Wise (b. 1887), and Philander Bailey (b. 1901). Notary public, member of Elks, Knights of Pythias, and Methodist church. Died, October 16, 1905; interred Morgan City Cemetery. L.K.L. Source: Gray Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
GREAT SUN (GRAND SOLEIL), Natchez chief. The Great Sun was the hereditary title of the principal religious and civil chief of the Natchez tribe; during the period of French-Natchez contact, 1700-1731, European accounts identify two Great Suns, both of whom commanded veneration and wielded great power within the Natchez society. In the Mississippian system (which Le Page du Du Pratz [q.v.] and other contemporary French observers incorrectly perceived as an hierarchical chieftainship), the Great Suns came from the Sun lineage through matrilineal succession, i.e. each Great Sun was succeeded by the son of his sister, known as “White Woman.” The first Grand Soleil known to history negotiated with Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville (q.v.) in 1700. In 1716, he was seized as a hostage by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (q.v.) in response to the murder of some French colonists. When war broke out between the Natchez and the French, Great Sun successfully negotiated a peace treaty in 1722; he died ca. 1727. Great Sun’s successor was the leader of the pro-British faction within the Natchez and led his people in an unsuccessful attempt to eradicate the French presence in Louisiana in 1729; after surrendering to the French, the last Great Sun of the Natchez was taken to New Orleans by the French and executed. R.C.V. Sources: Archives des Colonies, Archives Nationales; Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane (Paris, 1758).
GREEN, Thomas, attorney, soldier. Born, Amelia County, Va., January 8, 1814; son of Nathan Green, justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Education: Princeton College, Ky.; Jackson College, Maury County, Tenn.; the University of Nashville; studied law with his father. Fought in Texas Revolution; promoted to lieutenant for gallantry during the battle of San Jacinto; subsequently appointed aide-de-camp to Gen. Thomas Rusk with the rank of major. Returned to Tennessee in 1836 and continued law studies; returned to Texas in 1837; fought Indians; elected to the Texas Congress from Fayette County in 1840; served as clerk of the supreme court, first of the republic and later of the state of Texas from 1841 until 1861; secretary of constitutional convention of 1845. Mexican war service: commanded a company in the First Texas Rifles, the members of which distinguished themselves at the Battle of Monterey. Civil War service: commissioned colonel of the Fifth Texas Mounted Rifles, August 1861; distinguished himself at the Battle of Valverde, New Mexico Territory, in the capture of Galveston Island, Tex., and repeatedly under Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor (q.v.) in Louisiana; promoted to rank of brigadier general, May 20, 1863; in command of a division of cavalry for some time in Louisiana and Texas. Taylor requested his promotion to rank of major general; after participating in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, during the Red River campaign, Green was killed in action at Blair’s Landing, La., April 12, 1864, by a shell from a Federal gunboat. His body was taken to Austin, Tex., where it lay in state for several days in the hall of the House of Representatives; interred Oakwood Cemetery, Austin. L.L.H. Sources: Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders (1959); Mark M. Boatner, III, The Civil War Dictionary (1959); Mrs. Z. T. Fulmore, “Gen. Tom Green,” Confederate Veteran, XV.
GREENE, Allen, businessman, politician. Born, Walton County, Ga., May 23, 1818. Removed to Arcadia, Bienville Parish, La., ca. 1850 and subsequently to Vienna, Jackson Parish. Had large family, wife Mahala, and seven children: William, Mary, Charles, Jackson, Maty, Robert, and Loula. Prospered as merchant and owner of tannery, shoe factory, and sawmill. Anti-secessionist and pro-Unionist during Civil War era, although one son saw service in Confederate Army. Supported Republican cause in Louisiana during Reconstruction; in 1872, elected state senator from Nineteenth Senatorial District in disputed contest; in 1873, authored bill creating Lincoln Parish the politics of which he and sons dominated for several turbulent years; did not seek second term and retired from politics after Democratic sweep of 1876. Died, July 13, 1883, at Greenesboro, his home outside of Vienna. W.Y.T. Sources: Graham Family Papers, E. R. Hester Papers, Prescott Memorial Library, Louisiana Tech University; William Y. Thompson, E. M. Graham, North Louisianian (1984).
GREENE, Welcome Arnold, writer. Born, Rhode Island, ca. 1794. A Quaker visitor to New Orleans in 1823 and again in 1824, whose travel journals provide early accounts of passenger experience on sailing vessels and river steamboats as well as detailed commentaries on New Orleans, its waterfront, social conditions, religious and burial practices, people, buildings and politics. Died, December 5, 1870. B.L. Sources: Articles by M. M. Quaife in New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 16, 23, 1921; Alice E. Smith, ed., The Journals of Welcome Arnold Greene, Vol. II (1957).
GREENSLIT, Henry Vance, businessman, civic leader. Born, David City, Nebraska, 1903. Married Jence Bickham; four daughters: Ann “Greenie,” Diane “Sissy,” Henrietta “Henny,” and Virginia “Ginny.” Resided in New Orleans, 1932-1953. Organized Goodwill Industries of Greater New Orleans and served as the organization’s first president, 1947. Also served as president of Louise S. McGehee School, 1950-1951, and of Methodist Hospital, 1953-1954. Greenslit founded the Travelers Club Society. Member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Pickwick Club, and several Carnival organizations. Moved to Kentucky upon being named president of Southeast Greyhound Lines, 1953. Greenslit resided in Franklinton, La. for eight years prior to his death on October 12, 1988; interred, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, La. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 14-15, 1988.
GREER, Thomas J., labor leader. Born, Triplett, N. C., October 15, 1875. Removed to Terrell, Tex., in 1895. Served in Spanish American War. Married: Margaret May Adams of Dallas, Tex. Removed to Shreveport in 1906 where he became a member of Local 161 of the Journeyman Barbers International Union of America. Participated in the organization of the Louisiana State Federation of Labor (American Federation of Labor), Alexandria, La., April, 1912. Elected first president of the State Federation. Held that post until his death. Lobbied labor’s interests in the state legislature as a member of the Federation’s Legislative Committee. Assistant state labor commissioner, 1914 to 1916. During World War I member of Local Exemption Board for Caddo Parish, and Federal Director of the United States Employment Service in Louisiana. Member: Methodist Episcopal church, and Shreveport Lodge No. 63 of the Odd Fellows. Died, Shreveport, La., November 10, 1925; interred Odd Fellows’ Rest, Greenwood Cemetery. B.C.* Sources: Proceedings of the Louisiana State Federation of Labor (1926); Shreveport Times, November 11, 1925; Bernard Cook and James Watson, Louisiana Labor (1985).
GREGORY, Angela, sculptor, artist, educator. Born, New Orleans, La., October 13, 1903. Education: at age fourteen, attended Tulane University summer classes under the direction of painter William Woodward. Studied at New York State College of Ceramics. Attended Newcomb College art school, from which she graduated in 1925. Afterwards, she received a scholarship to study illustrative advertising from the Parsons School of Fine and Applied Arts, Paris, France. For two years, she studied at Grande Chaumière in Paris under the guidance of Antoine Bourdelle, a celebrated French sculptor. He was so impressed with her talent that he charged her no fee and gave her keys to his studio. Career: in 1928, after leaving Paris, she set up her own studio in her parents’ New Orleans home. At the age of twenty-five, she received her first commission for an architectural sculpture of the facade on the Criminal District Courts Building. Her other major works include: the historical panels in the Louisiana state capitol; a sculpture in the Hutchinson Memorial Building at Tulane Medical Center; a sculpture in McAlister Auditorium at Tulane University; portrait bust of Seymour Weiss (q.v.) at Delgado College campus; bas-relief murals for the Louisiana National Bank, Baton Rouge; a statue of St. Louis for the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Notre Dame Seminary; a statue of St. Fiacre for Christ Church Cathedral; and panels of Pope John XXIII’s life for the Dominican College Library. Gregory’s most famous sculptures are the monument to Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville (q.v.), founder of New Orleans (1950s), located at the St. Peter Street-Decatur Street split, and a statue of John McDonogh, New Orleans’ public school benefactor in Lafayette Square. She taught at Newcomb College, 1934-37; artist-in-residence and sculptor at the college, 1940-41; sculptor-in-residence and professor of art appreciation at St. Mary’s Dominican College, 1962-75; professor of art, 1975-76; emeritus professor 1976. She was the head of the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) of Louisiana in 1941. During World War II she was the assistant architectural engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers. Her works are exhibited at Salon de Tuileries, Paris; National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as well as in private collections in many museums. Gregory was also very active in historical preservation; she was a founding member and on the initial board of trustees of the Louisiana Landmarks Society, 1950. She served as the chairperson of the Gallier Hall Centennial Exhibit in 1950 and later served as one of the first coeditors of Preservation, the publication of the Louisiana Landmarks Society. Died, February 13, 1990, New Orleans. C.H.M. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 13, 1990; Mary Gehman and Nancy Ries, A History of Women and New Orleans (1988); Glenn B. Opitz, ed., Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers (1986); William Cullison III, The Louisiana Landmarks Society: The First Thirty Years (1980).
GREGORY, Selina Elizabeth Bres, artist, musician. Born, New Orleans, January 1, 1870; daughter of Elizabeth Adams and Jean-Baptiste Bres. Education: public schools; Newcomb College, New Orleans. Married, June 21, 1898, William Benjamin Gregory. Children: Elizabeth Gregory Ferriss, William Bres, and Angela. Founded the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Louisiana Engineering Society and served as its first president; founded Lend-a-Hand Club; active in the American Red Cross, the Needlework Guild of America, the Arts and Crafts Club, Le Petit Salon, the Alvin Callender Post of the American Legion. Member: First Unitarian Church, first class in pottery decoration at Newcomb College and credited with having decorated the first piece of Newcomb Pottery to be sold. Exhibited with the New Orleans Art Association and the Arts and Crafts Club. Died, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, November 6, 1953. M.A.D. Sources: Suzanne Ormond and Mary E. Irvine, Louisiana’s Art Nouveau (1976); obituary, New Orleans States; November 7, 1953; The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987).
GREGORY, William Benjamin, civil engineer, academic, inventor. Born, Penn Yan, N. Y., 1871; son of Mary Elizabeth Bush and Ezra Eugene Gregory. Education: Penn Yan Academy; Cornell University, graduated, 1894; post-graduate work in engineering, Cornell, 1907-1908. Married Selina Elizabeth Bres (q.v.) of New Orleans. Children: William Bres, Elizabeth and Angela (later, a sculptor and teacher at Newcomb College). Career at Tulane University: instructor in Drawing, 1894-1897; assistant professor of Experimental Engineering, 1897-1902; associate professor, 1902-1905; professor, 1905-1938; dean of engineering department, 1929; professor emeritus in Experimental Engineering and Hydraulics, 1938; was consulting engineer for the army after retiring in 1939; also consulting engineer for the Mississippi River Commission, the Louisiana State Board of Engineers, the Texas State Board of Water Engineers, and the Sewage and Water Board of New Orleans. Specialized in rice irrigation and drainage work; in 1905 the United States Department of Agriculture published his report, “Rice Irrigation in Louisiana and Texas in 1903 and 1904”. Held rank of major in the army engineers in France in World War I; awarded the Purple Heart; held a commission as colonel in the United States Engineers Reserve Corps. An expert in hydraulic engineering, he was consultant to the United States Army Engineers in hydraulic tests during construction of the Bonnet Carré Spillway, 1928-1929; his report, “Bayous [sic] Courtableau and the Teche and the Vermilion River in Their Relation to Flood Control, etc.” was published in 1929. Assisted in testing of an electric automobile engine designed by Nelson G. Goreau (q.v.). Was a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; awarded the Warner Medal in 1940 for distinguished work in hydraulic engineering. Life member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Louisiana Engineering Society; member of the French Société des Ingénieurs Civils. Was particularly known for two inventions: the “Tulane Pitot”, a tube for measuring water, an adaptation of which was used in most airplanes to measure speed, and a rice irrigation system with canals and laterals, eighty-five miles in length, which he designed with Merrill Bernard in 1934. Died, January 29, 1945. J.B.C. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, January 30, 1945; New York Times, obituary, January 31, 1945.
GREMILLION, Allen C., attorney, politician. Born, Crowley, La., 1929; son of Beatrice Watson and Curtis L. Gremillion. Education: Crowley High School, graduated in pre-law, University of Southwestern Louisiana; Louisiana State University, law degree. Married Judy Childers. No children. Served in the navy in World War II; practicing attorney in Crowley for 18 years; elected to Louisiana house of representatives in 1963; reelected in 1967; was a member of standing committees on conservation, game fish, and oysters, judiciary, and transportation and highways; was instrumental in passage of bill to provide additional funds for LSU Rice Experiment Station in Crowley; sponsored bill to establish a two-year LSU campus in Eunice; co-sponsored bills that created a loan program for college students and established the Southwestern Louisiana State School for Mentally Retarded Children in Iota. Member American Legion, Catholic church, chairman of the Acadia Parish Boy Scouts of America committee. Died, September 30, 1971; interred Woodlawn Cemetery, Crowley. J.B.C. Sources: Crowley Daily Signal, obituary, October 1, 1971; Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obitaury, October 1, 1971.
GREMILLION, J(ames) A(lbert), attorney, politician. Born, Marksville, La., 1884; son of Alfred Martin Gremillion and Hermentine Bonnette. Education: private school and Marksville High School; Tulane, graduated, 1905. Married Mary Cassidy. Children: John E., Charles C., Mrs. James H. Hains, Mrs. H. E. Ratcliff, and Lucille Gremillion. Served as law clerk for O. O. Provosty (q.v.), supreme court justice. Removed to Crowley, La., with his family in 1906; served as district attorney for the Fifteenth Judicial District from 1924-1936; was secretary of state, 1940-1944. Served as an attorney in the secretary of state’s office until his retirement in 1955. Died, Baton Rouge, August 5, 1967; interred, Roselawn Memorial Park. J.B.C. Sources: Corinne L. Saucier, History of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana (1943); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obituary, August 6, 1967; New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, August 6, 1967; Acadian Signal, February 7, 1925.
GREVEMBERG, Charles, planter. Born in the Attakapas District, La.; son of François Grevemberg and Euphrosine Louise Boisdoré; grandson of Jean-Baptiste Grevemberg, early settler and landholder, and Ann Judith Chenal. Education: New Orleans; Catholic. Married, June 6, 1815, Euphémie Fuselier, daughter of Agricole Fuselier and Christine Bérard. Children: Gabriel, Charlotte, Mathilde, Louis, Charles Alexandre, and Agricole. Purchased large plantation later known as “Albania” in St. Mary Parish, 1832; built plantation house ca. 1850 (not completed at time of death). Died on his plantation March 27, 1851; burial place unknown. G.C.T.†Sources: Author’s research.
GRIFFIN, Harry Lewis, academic. Born, Clarksburg, W. Va., October 11, 1883; son of the Reverend George D. And Frances Swiger Griffin. Taught at Fairmont, W. Va., high school, 1909-1911. Graduated from West Virginia State University, 1912; doctor of jurisprudence degree from University of Chicago, 1927; professor of History and Government, Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana), Lafayette, 1912-1922; dean, College of Liberal Arts, 1922-1953. Married Lucille Meridith Mouton, daughter of Helen B. Ballio and Alexandre Mouton, December 22, 1914. No children. Member: American Political Science Association, Louisiana Farm Chemurgic Council, Louisiana Teacher Certification Commission, Rotary Club, First Baptist Church, and several fraternities. President: Lafayette Mid-Winter Fair, Mardi Gras Association. Author of History of Louisiana (1923); and The Attakapas Country (1959). Died, November 25, 1967; interred St. John Cemetery, Lafayette, La. J.B.C. Sources: Who’s Who in America, Vol. XXVII, 1952-1953; J. Franklin Mouton, III, ed. and comp., The Moutons, A Genealogy (1978); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obituary, November 26, 1967.
GRIFFITH, John Keller, physician, congressman. Born, Port Hudson, La., October 16, 1882; son of William P. Griffith and Henrietta Williams. Education: local public schools, Louisiana State University; Tulane University Medical Department, graduated, 1907. Member of the academic fraternity Kappa Sigma and the medical fraternity, Phi Chi. Engaged in medical practice in 1907 at Slidell, La.; assistant superintendent, East Louisiana Hospital for the Insane, Jackson, La., 1909-1910; practicing physician, Slidell, 1910-1937; also interested in banking. Married Vivian C. Comfort, December 21, 1912. Children: John K., Jr. (b. 1918) and Carolyn V. (b. 1920). During First World War served as first lieutenant, Medical Corps. Elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth and Seventh-sixth congresses (January 3, 1937-January 3, 1941); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1940. A member of the Louisiana State Medical Society, the Lions Club, the Masons and Episcopal church. Served with the Milk Marketing Service of the Department of Agriculture at Slidell until his death there on September 25, 1942; interred Greenwood Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana (1925); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, September 26, 1942.
GRIFFITH, Llewellyn Colville, soldier, jurist. Born, Virginia. Organizer and captain of dragoons, West Florida Rebellion, September 1810. Elected a representative from Feliciana to Convention of West Florida Republic, November 1810; parish judge of Feliciana, 1813-1814; captain, Mounted Riflemen, Battle of New Orleans, 1815; postmaster, Thompson’s Creek, 1818. Unmarried. Died, October 1818. E.K.D. Sources: Stanley Clisby Arthur, The Story of the West Florida Rebellion (1935); Powell A. Casey, Louisiana in the War of 1812 (1963); West Feliciana Parish Records.
GRIGG, Ausie B., country musician and band leader. Born September 17, 1900, Bienville Parish, La.; son of Robert Crowder Grigg and Annie Jones. Educated at the Bear Creek, La., public school. From an early age, Grigg played bass fiddle, and in 1920, he formed a professional band with Virgil Greer and Till Caskey. By the mid-1920s the band evolved into a family affair with R.C. Grigg on fiddle, Ausie on bass, and sisters and brothers on guitars, mandolins, and piano. The group played mostly for social functions at schools and churches, store openings, and house parties. In 1928, the band began broadcasting over KWKH in Shreveport though the help of fiddler Foster Taylor. The band changed its name to the Taylor-Griggs Louisiana Melody Makers and recorded sides for Victor Records in 1928. These sessions were among the very few recordings made by a Louisiana string band before World War II. The band played in an excellent old-time style and their records sold well. Unfortunately for Grigg, the old string band music was going out of style. By 1932, the band had disbanded and Grigg joined Jimmie Davis’s (q.v.) band in Shreveport. Grigg recorded a session with Davis in Dallas, Tex., the same year and the two developed a vaudeville routine which they never performed. In 1935, he moved to Hébert, La., and the next year married Rilla Hébert and became a farmer. Though Grigg never realized his dream of life as a professional musician, he continued to play for local dances and his family. Died, Hébert, La., January 12, 1992. K.S.F. Sources: Author’s research; Monty Brown, “The Grigg Family and the Taylor-Griggs Louisiana Melody Makers,” Louisiana Folklife XII (1988); Tony Russell, “Music in Arcadia,” Old Time Music XXIV (1977).
GRIMA, Edgar, poet, essayist, attorney. Born, New Orleans, October 14, 1847. Educated Jefferson Academy, New Orleans. Public notary, 1869; admitted to the bar, 1888; practiced in New Orleans. President and founder of the Society of New Orleans Notaries. Numerous poems and essays in French published in the Comptes-Rendus de l’Athenée Louisianais. Died, September 18, 1939. M.A. Source: “Nécrologie,” Comptes-Rendus de l’Athenée Louisianais, September, 1939.
GRISAMORE, Silas T., businessman, politician. Born, Clark County, Ind., March 8, 1825. Education: local schools; Charlestown Academy, Charlestown, Ind. Removed to Louisiana in 1846; tutor, teacher, and plantation overseer, 1847-1849; entered mercantile business in 1849 and settled in Thibodaux. Helped organize Thibodaux Fire Company No. 1, 1859. Mayor of Thibodaux, 1860-1861. Civil War service: Company G, Eighteenth Louisiana Infantry Regiment, rose from rank of fifth sergeant to first lieutenant; captain and assistant quartermaster, Eighteenth Louisiana Infantry, August 1862-April 1864; major and assistant quartermaster, Mouton’s Infantry Division, April 1864-May 1865. Returned to mercantile business at Thibodaux; mayor, Thibodaux, 1865-1868; Lafourche Parish Police Jury, 1866-1892; Lafourche Parish School Board, 1876-1888. Co-editor Thibodaux Sentinel, 1869-1887. Member: St. John’s Episcopal Church; Independent Order of Odd Fellows; United Confederate Veterans. Died, Thibodaux, July 24, 1897; interred St. John’s Episcopal Cemetery. A.W.B. Sources: Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr., ed., Reminiscences of Uncle Silas: A History of the Eighteenth Louisiana Infantry Regiment (1981); Thibodaux Sentinel, obituary, August 28, 1897.
GRISHAM, Orin Medicus, attorney and civic leader. Born, Union Parish, May 28, 1866; son of Pickney Eugene Grisham and Violator Smith. Attended local schools, Ruston College, and Lebanon College. A.B. degree, University of Nashville, 1982; law degree, Cumberland University, 1896. Married, May 4, 1898, Daisy Asenath Emerson, daughter of Isaac and Mary Ann Emerson of Bolivar, Tenn. Two daughters: Marion Emerson and Mary Louise. Practiced law in Nashville until 1901. Removed to Winnfield, elected district attorney: thereafter formed partnership with R. W. Oglesby. Removed to Monroe, 1916, to become member of law firm of Stubbs and Theus. Later a partner in the firm of Theus, Grisham and Davis which subsequently became styled Theus, Grisham, Davis & Leigh. Legal practice focused on corporate and utilities law. Member: Baptist church, Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World, Masons, Elks, and Kiwanis. Died, Monroe, La., March 25, 1944. T.W.L. Source: Author’s research.
GROUCHY, Alexander P., Jr., businessman, politician. Born, New Orleans, March 23, 1870; son of Alexander Grouchy and Zoe Dupuy. Married Belle Jones; one daughter, Beverly Clark. Moved to Baton Rouge, La., at an early age, where he was educated at the McGuffey school and worked in his father’s hotel. Elected to the Baton Rouge City Council, 1910; appointed mayor of Baton Rouge, 1913; elected to that position in 1914 and served until 1920. Owner and manager of the Grouchy Hotel in Baton Rouge; later managed the Istrouma Hotel, the hotel most often frequented by state politicians of the day. Served many years as assistant secretary of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Exalted ruler of the Baton Rouge Elks Club, 1913-1920. Died, Baton Rouge, January 26, 1945; interred, Roselawn Cemetery, Baton Rouge, La. J.D.W. Sources: Baton Rouge State Times, January 27, 1945.
GRUNEWALD, Theodore, businessman, public servant. Born, ca. 1873. Began career in New Orleans at age of seventeen as a clerk in a music store; later owned and operated his own music store. Ventured into the hotel industry in 1893; in 1904 he opened the extravagant Grunewald Hotel at a cost of $2,500,000, later constructed a twenty-three story annex raising his investment cost to $7,000,000. Developed several enterprises in conjunction with the hotel, including a catering company, a laundry service, a parking garage, a restaurant, and a lavish nightclub, the Grunewald Cave. Sold off his interest in the hotel in 1924, at which time it became the Hotel RooseÂvelt. Also owned a mail-order company specializing in Southern pralines and a soft drink marketing business that stretched across the United States. Owned a warehouse and grocery business that supplied food to hotels and railroad lines. Built Mascot Farms in St. Bernard Parish, where he produced white leghorn hens, eggs, oranges, and vegetables; also owned a dairy that supplied much of New Orleans with milk. Appointed to the New Orleans Dock Board, August 28, 1925; resigned to become port director, December 6, 1928; forced out of that position by Gov. Huey P. Long, 1929; appointed director of public markets for New Orleans, July 22, 1931; oversaw the rehabilitation of the French Market and the clean up and installation of sanitary facilities in all of city’s public markets; retired as director of public markets in 1947. Returned to the hotel he founded over forty years earlier, when he became director of services at the Hotel Roosevelt, November 1948. Received numerous honors and participated in several professional, social, and civic organizations. Died, New Orleans, July 25, 1949; interred, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, La. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 26, 1949.
GRYMES, John Randolph, attorney, legislator. Born, Orange County, Va., December 14, 1786; son of John Randolph Grymes, Sr. Education: in law in Virginia. Arrived New Orleans, 1808. Appointed U. S. district attorney for Louisiana district (1811); with law partner, Edward Livingston (q.v.), served as counsel to Gen. Andrew Jackson (q.v.) during the Battle of New Orleans; resigned as U. S. district attorney to defend Lafitte brothers. Married, December 1, 1822, Cayetana Susana Bosque y Fangui (q.v.) of New Orleans, daughter of Bartolomé Bosque, wealthy merchant and ship owner, and Felicidad Fangui, and widow of William C. C. Claiborne (q.v.). Children: Marie Angeline (known as Medora), John Randolph, III (b. 1826), Athenais. Respected member of the bar, prominent in the affairs of the city; served in state legislature; legal counsel to Myra Clark Gaines (q.v.), among many others. Involved in several duels, enjoyed elegant living with a taste for gambling. Died, New Orleans, December 3, 1854. J.F.T. Sources: Stuart O. Landry, History of the Boston Club (1938); Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography, ed. by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske (1900); Jane Lucas De Grummond, “Cayetana Susana Bosque y Fangui, ‘A Notable Woman’,” Louisiana History, XXIII (1982); obituary, New Orleans Daily Crescent, December 4, 1854; obituary, New Orleans Daily Picayune, December 5, 1854; obituary, New Orleans Bee, December 4, 1854; Mrs. Grymes’ obituary, New Orleans Democrat, August 7, 1881.
GUARISCO, Victor, businessman. Born, Morgan City, La., December 28, 1879; son of Peter Guarisco and Rosalie Lenna who immigrated from Gibelina, Sicily, in 1884. Education: Sacred Heart Convent, Morgan City. Worked on father’s farm and in his bakery until 1926 when he acquired an interest in Riverside Shrimp Co., later purchasing remaining interests, and built the seafood plant from 15 to 400 employees. Became distributor for Standard Oil Co., now Exxon. In 1936 he was the first to produce cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp for nationwide markets. In 1936 established Twenty Grand Company with a war surplus steel hull which he converted to floating shrimp factory complete with refrigeration. Twenty Grand later expanded into offshore marine service and finally merged with Tidewater Marine, one of the largest marine service fleets in the world. Guarisco owned interest in Chotin-Pharr Towing Co.; in 1955 built the Offshore Oil Center; was involved in land development projects and member of group founding Atchafalaya Savings and Loan Company. In 1962 formed Gulf Marine Drilling Company to build offshore oil supply boats. Experimented successfully to find commercial uses for “trash” fish by processing into fish meal. Made lasting contribution to Louisiana through his promotion of navigable waterways. In 1956 was elected president of the Advisory Committee of Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District. Married, 1923, Rosalie Grizzaffi, daughter of Leo Luca Grizzaffi and Virginia Russo. Children: Rosalie Guarisco Versaggi (b. 1923); Virginia Guarisco Graf (b. 1924); Peter Victor Guarisco (b. 1927); Luke L. Guarisco (b. 1934); and Vickie Lynn Guarisco Kirkpatrick (b. 1942). Active in chamber of commerce, served as president. Member, Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Died, January 30, 1972; interred Morgan City Cemetery. L.K.L. Source: Guarisco Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
GUERRE, Louis F., soldier. Born, New Orleans, July 29, 1884; son of Charles and Josephine Guerre. Education: Lafayette High School; Louisiana State University. Married. Three daughters. Joined Louisiana National Guard, 1906, as a captain of Company B, headquarted in Bogalusa. Served in Mexican Border Conflict, 1916, and both World Wars. During administration of Huey P. Long (q.v.), served as head of state police. Commanding general, Sixty-first Infantry Brigade of Thirty-first (Dixie) Division. Commanding officer of Camp Claiborne, August 1944 to October 1945. After World War II, regional director of Veterans’ Administration. Member, American Legion, The Forty and Eight, Military Order of the World Wars, National Guard Association of the U. S. Died, New Orleans, August 21, 1966; interred Garden of Memories Cemetery. TAG, LA Sources: Military records, Jackson Barracks Library, compiled by Mary B. Oalmann, military historian; New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 22, 1966.
GUEYDAN, Henri Louis, businessman, politician. Born, New Orleans, December 22, 1867; son of Amelie Montagne and Jean Pierre Gueydan (q.v.). Education: St. Mary College, Galveston, Tex., B. A., 1883; attended United States Naval Academy for two years. Married (1) Mercedes Alvarado, 1892, in Antigua, Guatemala. Children: Marie and Jeanne. Married (2) Amalia Arroyo, 1904, in Antigua. Children: Julia and Henri Pierre. Married (3) Lena Gardiner, January 24, 1920, in Bay St. Louis, Miss. Child: Louis Locke. Helped father in management of rice farms in Gueydan, La., until 1890; in charge of shipping at port of San José, Guatemala; developed own importing business; returned to Louisiana to manage family business in 1898; manager of the Jeanne Gueydan Dredge Company; president and manager of Nutro Rice Mill and Gulf Coast Warehouse; director, Bank of Gueydan; director and executive vice president, Rice Association of America; editor of newspaper, Gueydan News, until 1908; represented New Orleans at Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo., 1904; state senator, 1908-1912; unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor, 1912; state vice president of Intercoastal Association; secretary of the association in Washington, D. C.; proposed founding of International Trade Mart in New Orleans; served in orientation branch of United States War Department in World War II as instructor of French and Spanish; awarded medal for meritorious service; remained in Washington as foreign language instructor. Member, Louisiana Historical Society; Louisiana State Society; American Club of Guatemala. Died, April 26, 1952; interred Washington, D. C. J.B.C. Sources: The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, XXXIX; New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, April 30, 1952.
GUEYDAN, Jean Pierre, pioneer rice farmer, founder of Gueydan, La. Born, St. Bonnet, France, 1827. Immigrated to America in 1845. Married (1) Pepilla Ducommum (d. 1860). Married (2) Amelie Montagne, December 12, 1863, in New Iberia, La. Children: Marie Louise, J. L., and Henri Louis (q.v.). Organized the firm of Gueydan and Bodet in New Orleans; moved to Abbeville and dealt in cotton and cattle; returned to New Orleans after Civil War to operate wholesale business; moved business to Corpus ChrisÂti, Tex., in 1874; business, plus a sheep and goat ranch, established in San Diego, Tex., 1875; invented safety sheep shears; given credit for introducing cotton cultivation into South Texas; in 1884 bought 40,000 acres in Vermilion Parish, La., for twelve and one-half cents an acre; successfully sought farmers to migrate there; founded present town of Gueydan in 1896; induced railroad to construct branch to Gueydan; was a pioneer in building rice industry in the area; built the largest pumping plant then known, guaranteed to supply 50,000 gallons of water per minute; plant induced many farmers to settle there; became an American citizen. Died, September 20, 1900, while visiting in France; interred St. Bonnet. J.B.C. Sources: Henri Louis Gueydan’s biographical sketch of his father, written in 1940; Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984); Mildred Kelly Ginn, “A History of Rice Production in Louisiana to 1896,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXIII (1940).
GUIDRY, Alvin Joseph “Papit”, businessman. Born, Parks, La., June 5, 1928; son of Noé Guidry and Adélaïde Landry. Education: Breaux Bridge, La., schools; University of Southwestern Louisiana. Married Marie Yvonne Arceneaux, daughter of George Benoit Arceneaux and Corine Guidry of Acadia Parish. Began business career working for his uncle Adrienne “P. A.” Guidry; later went into nursery business for himself. Trustee of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Parks. Member: St. Joseph Council No. 4927, Knights of Columbus, first knight to be named Knight of the Year, 1965; FFA; 4-H Club. Vice-chairman, St. Martin Soil and Water Conservation District board of supervisors after its organization, May 23, 1968. Charter member, Louisiana Association of Nurserymen, Inc., a director for many years; served as treasurer, vice-president and president (1974-1976). Instrumental in initiating LAN scholarship program and leader in the promotion of home fruit and pecan orchards. Recognition of outstanding service and leadership to the nursery industry of Louisiana, 1976-1977. Parish chairman, Governor’s Beautification and Clean-Up Project of the State of Louisiana, 1975. Member, American Heart Association of Louisiana, Heart Fund Certificate of Appreciation, July 1, 1975. Breaux Bridge Lions Club, president; St. Martin Parish Farm Bureau, member; SLEMCO, board of directors; American Legion Award. Elected to board of directors, Farmers-Merchant Bank and Trust Co., January 1961 and served until his untimely death. Elected to St. Martin Parish School Board, served until 1980, president, 1974-1978. Died, Lafayette, La., May 20, 1981; interred St. Bernard Catholic Cemetery, Breaux Bridge. J.M.G. Sources: Marie Yvonne A. Guidry; genealogical charts; author’s research.
GUIDRY, Oscar, businessman, politician. Born, Prudhomme community near Church Point, La., April 5, 1897; son of Terville and Cora Savoy Guidry. Education: public school, Church Point. Owned, with his father, the T. & O Store (general merchandise) which was located in Prairie Hayes, seven miles northeast of Church Point. A veteran of World War I. Married Anita Horecky. Removed to Church Point in 1925. Children: Owen A., Nelda, John T., Betty Ann, and Donna. Member of the Acadia Parish School Board for 12 years and served three terms as president. Elected to the state senate in 1940 and served until 1956; was chairman of the finance committee and chairman of the highway commission. Vice-president and member of the board of the Guidry Funeral Home, vice-president of the board of directors of the Farmers State Bank and Trust Co., member of the board of directors of the Bank of Commerce and Trust, and a member of the Bayou Plaquemine-Wikoff Drainage Board; member of the Knights of Columbus. Died January 17, 1968; interred Church Point, La. J.B.C. Sources: Anita G. Guidry, La Pointe de l’Eglise: A History of Church Point, Louisiana, 1800-1973 (1973); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obituary, January 19, 1968.
GUIDRY, Sidney, Cajun musician. Born at Grand Bois, St. Martin Parish, La., June 1, 1922; son of Joseph Guidry and Eva Guidry. Married (1) Lena Angell, ca. 1945; children: Sidney, Jr., Earl, and Al-Paul. Married (2) Yvonne Robin, November 11, 1983. Guidry was a self-taught rhythm guitar player, vocalist, and songwriter. Started playing music at the age of eight; became a professional musician at thirteen. Worked with The Alley Boys of Abbeville, La., during the 1930s. Subsequently played with “Doc” Guidry and The Sons of the Acadians, a group later known as the Sons of the South. Returned to The Alley Boys shortly before World War II. These groups’ repertoires included music performed in Cajun and Western Swing styles. Recordings made with The Alley Boys were recorded in Memphis, Tenn., in 1939, and distributed by Vocalion Records. The recordings include: “Abbeville Breakdown,” “Tu a Pas Raison,” “Si Tu Te Sens Comme Moi,” “Jolie Petite Fille,” “Quel Espoire,” “Moi et Ma Belle,” “Jamais Laisser Pleurers,” “Est-ce Que Tu Pense Jamais ˆ Moi,” “Tu Ma Quitter Seul,” “Après Jongler ˆ Moi,” and “T’es Bonne Pour Moi Asteure.” Also recorded records for Decca Records at a Houston, Tex., studio. In 1939, Guidry and The Alley Boys developed a rudimentary sound system powered by an automobile battery. Had a weekly radio program on station KVOL in Lafayette, La., 1939. Served in the Marine Corps during World War II. Returned to full-time performing for a year or two following his return from the military service. Died at Lafayette, La., General Hospital, Lafayette, Louisiana, July 28, 1993; interred at St. Joseph Cemetery, Cecilia, La. J.H.B. Sources: Liner notes, “Cajun, Vol. 1, Abbeville Breakdown, 1929-1939,” CBS records; Joseph H. Bergeron, “A Companion to Cajun Music” (forthcoming). A complete discography can be found in Richard K. Spottswood’s Ethnic Music on Records, vol. 1, sect. 2, 7-8.
GUILLORY, Ernest Herman, attorney, politician. Born, Ville Platte, La., September 6, 1907; son of Olivrel Joseph Guillory (q.v.) and Laure Latour. Education: local schools; Louisiana State University; Cornell University; Tulane University, LL. B., 1931. Married, October 17, 1930, Edna Milton Brumfield of Bogalusa, La., daughter of Milton Tynes Brumfield and Melissa Jane Simmons. Children: Laura Jane (b. 1933), Edna Milton, Jr. (b. 1934). Appointed first district attorney, Thirteenth Judicial District, 1935, elected, 1936-1955. Phi Delta Phi, LSU; Board of Student Editors, Tulane Law Review, 1931; served on State Parks Commission, 1938-1948, chairman, 1940-1944; National Democratic Committeeman, 1944; president, Louisiana Cotton Festival and Fair Association, 1953. Member YMBC, Third Degree Knight of Columbus, Lions Club, Rotary Club. YMBC Civic Award, 1940. Died, Ville Platte, November 8, 1957; interred Sacred Heart Cemetery. J.G.B. Source: Author’s research.
GUILLORY, Isom Joseph, attorney, businessman, politician, jurist. Born, Mamou, La., May 22, 1890; son of Olivrel Guillory and Emma Josephine Tate. Education: local schools; Soulé College, New Orleans; St. Joseph’s College, Covington; Georgetown University, Washington, D. C.; Loyola University, New Orleans. Married, September 25, 1915, Marie Picou, of Thibodaux, La., daughter of Robert Picou and Malvina Bergeron. Children: Isom Joseph, Jr. (b. 1918), Heloise Marie (b. 1919), Evelyn Mae (b. 1920), Robert Kenneth (b. 1932). Public accountant, Eunice, La., 1907-1911. Removed to Ville Platte, La., 1913, court reporter, 1913-1914. Removed to Washington, D. C., 1914, private secretary to Congressman Lasislas Lazaro (q.v.), and clerk to the Enrolled Bills Committee of Congress, 1914-1918. R!moved to Eunice La., 1919, and began general practice of law. Removed to New Orleans, 1919, member of the firm of J. Y. Fauntleroy and Co., 1919-1927. Removed to Eunice, La., 1927, resumed private practice. Louisiana house of representatives, 1930-1934; Louisiana senate, Sixteenth Senatorial District, 1934-1936; judge, Twenty-seventh Judicial District, 1936-1940. Member: State Democratic Central Committee, 1944-1948; State Board of Education, 1948-1962; Tri-Parish Fair Association (president); Eunice Chamber of Commerce; Rotary; Woodmen of the World; Knights of Columbus; St. Anthony’s Catholic Church. President, Central Hardware Co.; board of directors, St. Landry Bank and Trust Co. Died, Eunice, October 13, 1971; interred St. Paul’s Cemetery. J.L.F. Sources: Edwin Adams Davis, The Story of Louisians (1960); Eunice News, obituary, October 19, 1971.
GUILLORY, Olivrel Joseph, attorney, businessman. Born, St. Landry Parish, La., March 21, 1875; son of Olivrel Guillory and Oreline Guillory. Education: area private schools; Evans Commercial College, 1894. Spanish-American War, 1898-1899 Company K, Second U.S.V.I., first sergeant, promoted to rank of post sergeant major; fought in Cuba in the Battle of Santiago. Married, November 26, 1901, Laure Latour, daughter of Emile Latour and Cora Roy of Ville Platte, La. Children: Lionel Hilliard (b. 1902), Joel Roy (b. 1905), Ernest Herman (q.v.), Joseph Yves (b. 1910), Anna Laure (b. 1914), Willie Mae Virginia (b. 1918). Lived in Eunice, La., where he operated O. Guillory and Sons hardware and farm implement business with father. Removed to Ville Platte, 1906, operated Evangeline Mercantile Company. Politically active in establishing Evangeline Parish. Served as first clerk of court of Evangeline Parish, 1911-1924. “Read” law and was admitted to the Louisiana bar, 1921. Operated Evangeline Title and Abstract Company with his four sons, 1924-1944. Died, Ville Platte, July 20, 1944; interred Sacred Heart Cemetery. J.G.B. Source: Author’s research.
GUILLOT, Eugène François, architect. Born, New York City, May 14, 1874; son of François Guillot and Sylvie Martin, natives of France and recent immigrants to America. Family removed to Grand Coteau, La., and then to New Iberia. Education: private tutor; Central High School, New Iberia; Tulane University, degree in architecture. Married, September 25, 1900, Lizzie Hains, daughter of Tobias Hains and Pauline Landry. Children: Eugene, Sylvia, Ruth, Lawrence, and Cecelia. Career as an architect-contractor spaned fifty years. Built numerous schools, stores, and homes in South Louisiana. Specialized in church construction and is said to have built approximately forty churches, including St. John the Evangelist, Lafayette; St. Genevieve, Lafayette; St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville; and St. Bernard, Breaux Bridge. Dubbed Knight of St. Gregory by Pius XII, 1941. Member, Knights of Columbus, Holy Name Society, Iberia Parish School Board; director, People’s Bank. Died, New Iberia, May 21, 1962; interred St. Peter’s Cemetery. G.R.C. Sources: Glenn R. Conrad, New Iberia: Essays on the Town and Its People (1979); Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984).
GUILLOTTE, J. Valsin, attorney, mayor of New Orleans. Born, Jefferson Parish, La., June 29, 1850. Family removed to New Orleans, 1855. Married Ezilba Bernard. Children: Leon V., William F., Edward V., Louis C., Mrs. Alcide LeBlanc, Mrs. Charles H. Gravois, and Miss Cecile Guillotte. Court clerk, 1874-1880; administrator of police and public buildings, 1880-1882; city comptroller, 1882-1884; mayor of New Orleans, 1884-1888; attorney, state senator, federal marshall, and New Orleans city employee off-and-on, 1888-1917. Chosen by his “Ring” associates to replace the too-honest Mayor W. J. Behan (q.v.), Guillotte demonstrated the opposite extreme—his administration was wracked with patronage excesses, neglected public services, an increase in crime, and virtually no leadership from city hall. Died, New Orleans, July 24, 1917; interred St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery. M.T.C. Sources: Melvin G. Holli and Peter d’A. Jones, eds., Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors, 1820-1980: Big City Mayors (1981); Joy J. Jackson, New Orleans in the Gilded Age (1969); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, July 25, 1917.
GUION, Walter, attorney, jurist, state attorney general, U. S. senator. Born, Ridgefield Plantation near Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, La., April 3, 1849; son of George Seth Guion, of Huguenot ancestry, and Caroline Lucretia Winder. Education: tutored at home until 1863; attended Jefferson College, Convent, St. James Parish, La., Removed to Assumption Parish in 1866; deputy clerk of court in 1870 and 1871; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1870 and practiced in the parishes of Assumption, Lafourche, and Ascension. Married Sue Webb, February 14, 1874. Judge of the Twentieth Judicial District, 1888-1892 and of the Twenty-seventh Judicial District, 1892-1900; attorney general of Louisiana 1900-1912. Appointed by President Wilson United States attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana in July 1913 and served until March 1917, when he resigned; resumed the practice of law in Napoleonville and Convent, La. Chairman, District Exemption Board, Division No. 2, Eastern District of Louisiana, and a member of the state council of defense during the First World War; appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Robert F. Broussard (q.v.) and served from April 22, 1918, until November 5, 1918, when a successor was elected; reengaged in the practice of law in New Orleans. Episcopalian. Died, New Orleans, February 7, 1927; survived by his wife and four children: Louise V. (Mrs. Frederick J. Foxley), George S., Sue W. (Mrs. E. M. Jackson), and Walter, Jr. Interred Metairie Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, February 9, 1927; Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana (1925).
GUIRAUD, Ernest, composer, teacher. Born, New Orleans, June 23, 1837; son of Jean-Baptiste Louis Guiraud (1803-ca. 1846) who won the Prix de Rome in competition with Berlioz in 1827 and emigrated to New Orleans in 1832. Went to Paris to study at age 12, but returned to New Orleans in 1852 for the premiere of his first opera, Le roi David. Returned to Paris in 1854. Studied at the Paris Conservatory under Marmontel and Halévy, where he was a classmate of Bizet. Won the Prix de Rome, 1859. Now best known for his arrangements of other composers’ works, such as that of Bizet’s second L’Arlesienne Suite, his orchestration of Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman, and especially for the recitatives he added to Carmen for its production in Vienna in 1875 which have become standard throughout the world. Also composed operas, suites, symphonic poems. Professor at the Paris Conservatory from 1876 until his death, taught Debussy and Dukas. Wrote Traité practique de l’instrumentation (1892). Died, Paris, May 6, 1892. L.I.W. Sources: E. Haraszti, “Guiraud, Ernest,” Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart; Henry A. Kmen, Music in New Orleans, the Formative Years, 1791-1841 (1966); Nicholas Slonimsky, ed., Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 6th ed. (1978).
GURLEY, Henry Hosford, congressman. Born, Lebanon, Conn., May 20, 1788. Educated, classical studies in local schools, Williams College, 1805-1808; later studied law. Legal career; admitted to bar and established legal practice at Baton Rouge. Active in Whig party: member of Congress from Louisiana, 1823-1831; resigned 1831; district court judge at Baton Rouge, 1831-1833. Died, Baton Rouge, March 16, 1833. C.A.B. Sources: William H. Adams, The Whig Party of Louisiana (1973); Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896 (1967); Joseph G. Tregle, “Louisiana and the Tariff, 1816-1846,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXV (1942).
GUSTE, William Joseph, attorney, civic and religious leader. Born, New Orleans, September 29, 1893; son of Edward Francis Guste and Delia Murray. Education: New Orleans public schools; Tulane University, A. B., 1913; LL. B., 1915. Married Marie Louise Alciatore, July 6, 1921. Children: William Joseph, Jr. (Louisiana’s attorney general), Roy Francis (attorney), Rev. Robert Ignatius, and Rev. (Placid) Jules Anthony. Admitted to Louisiana bar, 1915. Member: American, Louisiana, and New Orleans bar associations. Joined firm of Merrick, Gensler & Schwarz,1915, and continued with successor firms; at time of death, senior partner, Guste, Barnett & Little; clients included Housing Authority of New Orleans, National Bank of Commerce in New Orleans, and General American Transportation Company; authority on expropriation law. Instructor of law, Loyola University, 1922-1928. Active in assisting state and local government; advocate of slum clearance; member, New Orleans board of administrators for federal re-employment program, 1933; chairman, Louisiana Emergency Relief Administration, 1933-1937; founding president and later chairman, Louisiana Department of Public Welfare for Parish of Orleans; southwest regional president, National Association of Housing Officials, 1943; member of national board, 1944-1957, and national president, 1947-1948, National Housing Conference. Active civic leader; chairman, New Orleans Community Chest, 1931; head of New Orleans civil defense during World War II; president, Young Men’s Business Association; member, Pickwick Club; Phi Beta Kappa Active Catholic lay leader; secretary, Archdiocesan Union of Holy Name Societies; lay director, Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, New Orleans, 1939-1957; member, 1916-1957, Grand Knight of New Orleans Council 714, 1922-1924, Louisiana State Deputy, 1924-1927, and member of national board of directors, 1927-1951 of Knights of Columbus. Dubbed Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Pius XII, 1943. Died, London, England, August 4, 1957; interred Metairie Cemetery, August 9, 1957. C.E.N. Sources: Roger Baudier and Millard F. Everett, Anchor and Fleur de Lys: Knights of Columbus in Louisiana, 1902-1962 (1965); National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1906); New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 5, 1957; Catholic Action of the South, September 30, 1943, December 20, 1951, August 11, 1957.
GUTEKUNST, Charles Christian, businessman, politician. Born, Hork, Germany, January 14, 1848; son of Christopher Gutekunst and Frederica Gauss. Education: schools of Hork; entered college in 1862 and began the study of civil engineering, graduated in 1868. In 1870 went to France to study the canals, water, and railroad works, but his visit was cut short by the war between Prussia and France. Emigrated to Louisiana, landing in New Orleans, from there went to St. Martinville and later settled in Bayou Chêne before his return to St. Martinville. Married, February 10, 1874, Elouise Josephine Mendoza of St. Martin Parish, daughter of Joseph P. Mendoza and Marie Anne Stevens. Children: Caroline Josephine (b. 1875), Joseph (b. 1876), Godfrey (b. 1879), Octave (b. 1880), Simeon (b. 1882‚, Charlotte (b. 1885), Laura (b. 1888), Mary (b. 1891), Beatrice (b. 1894). Active in Democratic party, appointed justice of the peace and member of the police jury in 1882 for Second Ward. Held both offices until 1894. Represented his ward twice in state Democratic conventions. He was a civil engineer and was well known for his specialty, the Atchafalaya Basin. Died, St. Martinville, June 23, 1923; interred St. Martinville Protestant Cemetery. E.B.K. Sources: Family Bible, birth, death, marriage records.
GUTIERREZ, Joseph, farmer, politician. Born in Spain, 1843; son of Carlos Gutierrez and Maria Loporte. Educated in Spain. Arrived in New Orleans, January 11, 1858. Civil War service: private, Company D, 18th Louisiana Infantry; enlisted October 5, 1861, Camp Moore. Served under Gen. Alfred Mouton (q.v.). Taken prisoner at Battle of Lafourche, October 27, 1862. Captured and paroled at Labadieville on same date. Detached with Captain Sheppard, acting regimental quartermaster, August 30, 1863. Served to end of war. Removed to Vermilion Parish, La. Purchased large farm. Married, February 2, 1874, Lezima Trahan, daughter Maximilien Trahan and Marie Olive Landry, both of Vermilion Parish. Children: Joseph, Jr. (b. 1874), Carlos (b. 1876), Maximilien (b. 1878), Jean Orther (b. 1880), Celestine (b. 1883), Adolphe (b. 1884), Donatien (b. 1886), Fernand (b. 1888), Marie Juana (b. 1890). Served as constable of Ward 2 in which he lived. Member, Catholic church. Died, Vermilion Parish, August 4, 1890; interred Primeaux Cemetery, west of Erath. P.M.S. Sources: Charles R. Maduell, Jr., comp., Index of Spanish Citizens Entering New Orleans Between January 1840 and December 1865 (1966); New Orleans shiplists; Andrew B. Booth, Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands (1920; reprint ed., 1984); Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984); Abbeville Meridional, November 8, 1884; September 20, 1890; Louisiana, Secretary of State, Report, 1879, 1880s.
GUTIERREZ DE LARA, José Bernardo Maximiliano, Mexican revolutionary. Born, Revilla (Guerrero), Tamaulipas, Mexico, August 20, 1774. Merchant and blacksmith in the town of Revilla, early adherent to the revolutionary uprising led by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla; a lieutenant colonel in the insurgent army, volunteered to undertake a mission to the United States to seek assistance for the rebel cause. Arrived Natchitoches, August, 1811; carried a letter of introduction from the United States agent Dr. John Sibley (q.v.) when he went to Washington, D.C. Appears to have been well received by American officials; returned to Louisiana in March, 1812, and was co-leader, holding the honorary title of general, with the ex-United States Army lieutenant Augustus William Magee (q.v.) of an unsuccessful filibuster into Texas, after which he returned to Natchitoches with his family. While in Louisiana plotting another expedition, Gutierrez fought on the American side in the Battle of New Orleans. Continued his revolutionary activities from Louisiana; conspired with the French adventurer Louis Aury and Spanish republican Francisco Xavier Mina to overthrow the royalist government of Mexico; accompanied James Long on his abortive Texas filibusters of 1819 and 1820. Returned to Revilla after Mexican independence in 1824; elected governor of Tamaulipas, 1825; commandant general of the Interior Provinces, December, 1825, to late 1826; returned to private life in Revilla. Died, Santiago, May 13, 1841. R.C.V. Sources: Julia Kathryn Garret, Green Flag Over Texas (1939); Harris Gaylord Warren, The Sword Was Their Passport (1943); Gutierrez “Memorial” MSS in the Lamar Papers, University of Texas; Filibustering Expedition Against the Government of Spain, 1811-1816, MSS in the National Archives.
GUYENNE, Alexis F. Xavier de, missionary. Born December 29, 1696. Entered the novitiate at age 16. Came to Louisiana with Nicolas Ignace de Beaubois (q.v.), 1726. Sent to the Alabama tribe with whom he remained until 1720. Later ministered to the Arkansas, then to the Illinois, where he was superior. Died in the Illinois country, 1762. M.A. Source: Reuben Gold Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (1959).