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MACARTY, Augustin, mayor of New Orleans. Born, New Orleans January 10, 1774; son of Augustin Guillaume de Macarty and Jeanne Chauvin, direct descendant of Don Esteban Miró (q.v.), Spanish governor of Louisiana, 1785-1792. Prominent landowner in New Orleans and St. Bernard parishes; plantation bordered Andrew Jackson’s (q.v.) 1814-1815 Rodriguez Canal defense line against the British, his mansion serving as the general’s field headquarters. Elected mayor of New Orleans, September, 1815, without opposition; reelected 1816 over Ferdinand Percy, 813-87 and again in 1818 over Nathan Morse and Joseph Roffignac, 354 to their 222 and 69. Created city’s first board of health, 1817; began laying of cobblestone streets in same year; improved police security and authorized beginning of city’s first waterworks by Benjamin Latrobe (q.v.) in 1819; ensured city support for completion of John Davis’s (q.v.) Théatre d’Orléans. Retired without seeking reelection, May, 1820; failed in bid for city council, 1824. National Republican and Whig. Never married, though linked for half century to Céleste Perrault, free woman of color. Died, New Orleans, October 16, 1844. J.G.T. Sources: Marie L. Badio et al v. Francesco Teo, 6 La. Ann. 130 (1854); New Orleans Daily Delta, December 31, 1854; New Orleans Louisiana Gazette, August 22, September 7, 25, 1815; Succession Records, Orleans Parish, Second District court, 1844.
MACARTY, Eugene, writer, pianist, singer, and orator. Born, New Orleans, 1821. Studied music at conservatory of Paris; piano student of J. Norres. Some writings published in newspapers—La Tribune and L’Union. D.D.C. Sources: Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes, Our People and Our History, trans. and ed. by Dorothea Olga McCants (1973); Charles B. Roussève, The Negro in Louisiana: Aspects of His History and His Literature (1937); Edward Larocque Tinker, Les Ecrits de langue française en Louisiane au XIXe siècle (1932).
MACARTY, Juan Bautista (also Jean-Baptiste), merchant, planter. Born, New Orleans, March 7, 1750; son of Barthélémy Daniel de Macarty and Françoise Hélène Pellerin. Son of a French colonial officer, he entered militia service in 1777, rising to the rank of captain in 1793. Beginning as a small wholesale merchant, in the 1770s, by 1784 was one of New Orleans’ leading merchants. After 1790 developed extensive contacts with American merchants in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Favorable family connections aided his success. His sister Marie Céleste Eléonore was the wife of Gov. Esteban Miró (q.v.), and his brother’s daughter, Marie Delphine, married Intendant Ramón de López y Angulo. Married Héloïse Charlotte Fazende. Children: Louis Barthélémy (Louisiana secretary of state, 1812-1816); Edmund, and Marie Céleste (b. 1785). From land purchased in 1778 and other land grants obtained in 1795 he established a magnificent plantation on land formerly owned by Nicolas Chauvin de La Frénière (q.v.). Died, New Orleans, November 10, 1808. B.C. Sources: Judicial records of the Spanish cabildo, Louisiana State Museum #178803061; Robert Smith and Nicolas Low Papers, Special Collections Division, Tulane University; New Orleans Genesis, VII; John G. Clarke, New Orleans, 1718-1812 (1970); Herman de B. Seebold, Old Louisiana Plantation Homes and Family Trees (1941); Stanley Clisby Arthur, Old Families of Louisiana (1931; reprint ed., 1971).
MCCALEB, E. Howard, jurist. Born, New Orleans, December 25, 1897; son of Elodie Barrière and E. Howard McCaleb, Sr. Education: public schools of New Orleans; Warren Easton High School; Ferrell’s School for Boys; Staunton Military Academy, Va.; Washington and Lee Law School, graduated 1919; studied state civil law under father’s tutelage. Married Louise Marion Wright of New Orleans, 1920. Children: E. Howard III, and Marion Wright. Was an infantryman during World War I. Admitted to the bar, 1920; practiced in father’s law firm, 1920-1924; assistant United States attorney for eastern district for seven months in 1925; returned to private practice; appointed judge of Court of Appeals for Orleans Parish, 1936-1941; served as associate justice of the state supreme court, 1941-1943; elected to that court in 1946 and reelected in 1960; chief justice from 1971 until his mandatory retirement in 1972; was first New Orleanian to serve as chief justice since 1922. Member: Pickwick Club; New Orleans Country Club; Sons of the American Revolution; Staples Chapter of Washington and Lee University; honorary member, Order of the Coif of Tulane University; Phi Alpha Delta and Delta Tau Delta fraternities. Died, October 30, 1978; interred Garden of Memories Cemetery, New Orleans. J.B.C. Sources: Biographies of Louisiana Judges (1965); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, November 1, 1978.
MCCALEB, Samuel, soldier, politician, planter. Born, Pendleton District, S. C., 1782; son of William McCaleb and Ann McKay. Arrived in Natchez District, 1797, and in Feliciana, 1799. Captain, West Florida Rebellion, 1810. Married Sarah Smith prior to 1813. Incorporator St. Francisville Public Library, 1816; justice of the peace, 1824; member first board of trustees, College of Louisiana, Jackson, La., 1825; member Louisiana legislature, 1826-1828; treasurer, West Feliciana Parish, 1828. Removed to West Baton Rouge Parish to operate sugar plantation. Died, 1843. E.K.D. Sources: Elrie Robinson, Early Feliciana Politics (1936); West Feliciana Oath Book; House Journal.
MCCALEB, Theodore Howard, jurist. Born, Cold Springs Plantation, Claiborne County, Miss., February 10, 1810; son of David McCaleb and Matilda Farrar. Education: Phillips Exeter Academy; Yale University (did not complete curriculum); studied law under Rufus Choate of Salem, Mass., 1830. Removed to New Orleans, 1832, to take control of his late brother’s law practice. Married, 1832, Agnes Bullitt, of New Orleans, daughter of William Bullitt and Octavia Pannell. Five daughters; one son. Judge, U. S. District Court of Louisiana, 1841-1846; judge, U. S. District Court for Eastern Louisiana, 1847 to January 1861; gained notoriety as judge in the sensational trial, June 1850, of Cuban filibuster Narciso López (q.v.). Resigned post upon Louisiana’s secession from the Union. Active in Whig party; featured speaker at memorial services in honor of Henry Clay at New Orleans, January 1853 and April 1856. Educator: member of first law faculty, University of Louisiana (now Tulane University); professor Admiralty and International Law, University of Louisiana, 1847-1864; president of the collegiate faculty, University of Louisiana from June 25, 1850 to June 25, 1853. Died, Hermitage Plantation, Claiborne County, Miss., April 29, 1864; interred Hermitage Plantation. C.A.B. Sources: Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896; Dictionary of American Biography, XI; Goodspeed’s Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892); Dora J. Bonquois, “The Career of Henry Adams Bullard, Louisiana Jurist, Legislator, and Educator,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXIII (1940); Francis P. Burns, “Henry Clay Visits New Orleans,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVII (1944).
MCCAUSLAND, Robert, soldier, planter. Born, County Armage, Ireland, July 20, 1773. Arrived America, 1791. Volunteered U. S. Army under Gen. Anthony Wayne. Arrived Feliciana, ca. 1795. Established plantation, 1798. Married (1) Martha Davis, ca. 1800; married (2) Margaret Chinn, sister of Thomas W. Chinn (q.v.), May 6, 1820. Major, Third Regiment, Army of West Florida, 1810; member, Louisiana legislature, 1812-1814; member, first police jury, Parish of Feliciana, 1811-1814. Brigade commander, Battle of New Orleans, 1815. Died, April 11, 1851; interred McCausland Cemetery, West Feliciana Parish. E.K.D. Sources: Powell Casey, Louisiana in War of 1812 (1963); Mae E. Haase, “Robert McCausland,” Louisiana Genealogical Register, XVIII, No. 1 (1971) (March, 1971); St. Francisville, La., Time Piece, June 20, 1811.
MCCLEERY, James, attorney, educator, congressman. Born, Mecca Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, December 2, 1837. Attended Oberlin (Ohio) College, 1859 and 1860. Served in the Union Army during the Civil War; commissioned second lieutenant of Company A, Forty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1861, first lieutenant in 1862, captain in 1863, and major in 1865, lost his right arm at the Battle of Shiloh; was wounded at Stone River, December 31, 1862. Entered the regular army as captain in the Forty-fifth Infantry, 1866, and subsequently received the brevets of major and brigadier general of volunteers. Retired, December 15, 1870, and settled in St. Mary Parish, La., purchased a plantation. Practiced law, and was connected with the Freedman’s Bureau in North Carolina and Louisiana. Removed to Shreveport, La.; appointed superintendent of public education for the Fourth Division, comprising ten parishes. Elected as a Republican to the Forty-second Congress and served from March 4, 1871, until his death while on a visit in New York City, November 5, 1871; interred Christian Church Cemetery, Cortland, Ohio. J.B.C. Source: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950).
MCCRADY, John, artist. Born, Canton, Miss., September 11, 1911; son of Rev. Edward McCrady, Episcopal church rector and dean of Philosophy Deptartment, University of Mississippi at Oxford, and Mary Tucker McCrady. Removed to Greenwood, Miss., 1912, Hammond, La., 1917, Lake Providence, La., 1926, and Oxford, Miss., 1928. Attended the University of Mississippi, 1930-1932. Studied art informally at the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts in the summer of 1931 and at the New Orleans Art School of the Arts and Crafts Club in 1932. Won a national scholarship to attend the Art Students’ League of New York in 1933, and returned to New Orleans in the next year where he began to paint the blacks and rural and religious subjects for which he became famous. Married, September 11, 1938, Mary Basso, sister of the writer Hamilton Basso (q.v.). One daughter: Mary Tucker McCrady (b. 1941). Major article about McCrady with works reproduced in Life magazine in 1937. Named outstanding new regional painter of 1938 by Time Magazine. Won Guggenheim Fellowship in 1939. One of his works chosen to represent Louisiana at New York World’s Fair of 1939. Exhibited in major museums and art galleries. Received commissions for advertising projects and murals in major buildings. Opened the John McCrady Art School in New Orleans, 1942. Died, New Orleans, December 24, 1968; interred St. Louis Cemetery III. J.T.M. Sources: Keith Marshall, John McCrady, 1911-1968, New Orleans Museum of Art; Keith Marshall, John McCrady Memorial Exhibition, October 5-18, 1969, Downtown Gallery; New Orleans Item, October 24, 1932; obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 25, 1968.
MCCRORY, Cecil C., planter, soldier. Born, Hope Villa Plantation, Ascension Parish, La., November 23, 1880; son of Jackson McCrory. Education: local schools; Baton Rouge High School; Louisiana State University, B.S., Mechanical Engineering; M. S., Electrical Engineering. Commandant of cadets, LSU, 1902-1906, and assistant professor of Mathematics, 1903-1906. Married Estelle Buffington Bullion, daughter of Octavius Alonzo Bullion. Six children. Appointed state adjutant general by Gov. Ruffin G. Pleasant (q.v.) and served 1916-1919. Effected reorganization of National Guard. During World War I served as head of the National Draft System. Resigned as adjutant general and returned to farming at Hope Villa, 1920. Campaign manager for Frank P. Stubbs, gubernatorial candidate, 1920. Became county agent for Caldwell Parish, 1927; transferred to Caddo Parish and served there for fifteen years. Died, Hope Villa, December 9, 1944; interred on his plantation. TAG, LA Source: Author’s research.
MCCUNE, Annie, madam. Born 1845. So-called “queen” of the Shreveport red-light district. Arrived in Shreveport at the end of the Civil War as a camp follower. She acquired a sizeable estate, a top line of credit at her bank and a respected position in the community. She was an art patroness and had a reputation as a philanthropist. Died, June 13, 1920, of an attack of pneumonia following the amputation of her left leg due to a gangrenous foot. P.L.M. Source: Goodloe Stuck, Annie McCune, Shreveport Madam (1981).
MCCUTCHEN, Samford B., banker. Born, Columbus, Ga., July 1834; son of Mark McCutchen and Pamela Brown. One of Shreveport’s earliest private bankers. Educated, public schools of Louisiana. After the Civil War he became a bookkeeper in the private banking house of Ben J. Johnson (q.v.). In 1886, he and associates organized Commercial National Bank, and he became its vice-president. He later helped organize the American National Bank. Was leader in developing Shreveport’s street railway system and served 15 years on the Caddo Parish School Board. Married, December 2, 1869, Amelia Ford. Children, Marcus A., Samford B., Bessie F., Mertis, and one who died in childhood. Member, First Methodist Church. Died, July 18, 1913. P.L.M. Sources: J. Fair Hardin, Northwestern Louisiana (1939); Lilla McLure and J. Ed Howe, History of Shreveport and Shreveport Builders (1937); Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana (1890).
MCDERMOTT, Bryan, planter and soldier. Date and place of birth unknown; son of John McDermott and Mary Byrne (O’Bryan) of Ireland. Arrived Feliciana District, Spanish West Florida, prior to 1795. Married Ann Hutchins, daughter of Anthony Hutchins and Ann White of Natchez, July 31, 1799. Alcalde (magistrate) Second Division, District of Feliciana, 1806; captain of militia, 1808; appointed civil commandant by West Florida Convention, November 22, 1810; member first police jury of parish of Feliciana, 1811-1815. Died, 1819; interred West Feliciana Parish. E.K.D. Sources: West Feliciana Parish Court Records; Time Piece, St. Francisville, June 20, 1811; American State Papers; Diocese of Baton Rouge Church Records.
MCDERMOTT, Charles, pioneer aeronautical engineer. Born 1808; son of Patrick McDermott and Emelie Ozenne. Education: father, a mechanic and builder of flour mills, who settled at Bayou Tunica, West Feliciana, 1795; graduated Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, ca. 1820. Became practicing physician West Feliciana, 1830. Produced prototype flying machine, 1840-1842. Moved to Arkansas, ca. 1843; granted U. S. Patent #133046 for “Improvement in Apparatus for Navigating the Air,” November 12, 1872. Died, 1884. E.K.D. Sources: W.P.A. Translations, Spanish Archives; New Orleans Daily Picayune, October 26, 1842; George M. Lester; New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 9, 1944.
MCDONALD, John Madison, businessman. Born near Sugartown, La., ca. 1875. Married Olivia Seaman, also of Sugartown. Children: Jesse, Benny, William, George, John, Archie, Joshua, Bessie, Lou, Lottie, and Lettie. Dealt in real estate, financier of numerous businesses including corporations and automobile agencies, and financed political campaigns at both state and local levels; bondsman for state highway development and public education during Great Depression. Member of the Masonic Lodge (Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite). Died, DeRidder, La., June 2, 1943; interred Sugartown. A.P.M. Sources: John Madison McDonald and Archie McDonald papers; interview with Mrs. Pernemia Cowan McDonald Tucker, April 26, 1983.
MCDONOGH, John, businessman, planter, educational philanthropist. Born, Baltimore, Md., December 29, 1779; son of John and Elizabeth Wilkins McDonogh. Apprenticed to a Baltimore merchant at age seventeen; sent to New Orleans in 1800 as merchant’s agent; began his own successful business; began purchasing large tracts of land in Louisiana and Florida; elected a director of the Louisiana State Bank in 1806; enrolled in a volunteer corps called Beale’s Rifles during the Battle of New Orleans; unsuccessful candidate for the United States Congress in 1818; withdrew from society and moved to one of his plantations near New Orleans called McDonoghville. Widely regarded as a miser and eccentric; lived in simple style, giving much attention to the education and moral training of his slaves; devised a plan whereby his slaves became profit-sharing workers which enabled them to buy their freedom; in June 1842, about eighty of them were sent to Liberia on a ship provided by the American Colonization Society. Owned brickyards and plantations but made most money as a real estate speculator, merchant, and factor for other planters; was a pioneer in the use of farm machinery, flood control, and “scientific” farming. The great object of his life was the education of the poor. At the time of his death he had accumulated a fortune in excess of $3 million; the orphan asylum of New Orleans and the colonization society were each bequeathed $100,000 in his will; profits from his investments were divided between the cities of Baltimore and New Orleans for educational purposes; the McDonogh Institute near Baltimore was opened in 1873; by January 1, 1899, twenty-eight schools had been erected in New Orleans and two at McDonoghville; statues to his memory were erected in Baltimore and in Lafayette Square in New Orleans. Died, New Orleans, October 26, 1850; interred McDonoghville cemetery; remains removed to Baltimore in 1860 and reinterred Greenmount Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: William Allan, Life and Work of John McDonogh (reprint ed., 1983); The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1907); David C. Roller and Robert W. Twyman, eds., The Encyclopedia of Southern History (1979).
MCENERY, John, politician. Born, Petersburg, Va.,, March 31, 1833; son of Henry O’Neil McEnery and Caroline H. Douglas; brother of Samuel Douglas McEnery (q.v.). Removed with family to Monroe, La., 1835. Education: Hanover College, Indiana; received law degree from University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), New Orleans. Married, 1856, Mary G. Thompson of Monroe. Six children. Practiced law in Monroe; served on Ouachita Parish Police Jury. Appointed by President Buchanan registrar of the State Land Office at Monroe, 1857. Civil War service: captain, Company B, Fourth Battalion, Louisiana Infantry; promoted to rank of major, March 1862; promoted to rank of lieutenant colonel, May 20, 1862; fought in Virginia and the Carolinas. Elected judge, 1865, Twelfth Judicial District, Confederate Louisiana, never exercised functions. Elected to state legislature, 1866; thrown out by Gen. Philip Sheridan (q.v.), 1867. Democratic and Liberal Republican candidate for governor, 1872. Took oath of office and acted as governor until his administration was overthrown by Federal authorities in 1874. Practiced law in New Orleans and Washington, D. C. Died, New Orleans, March 28, 1891. A.W.B. Sources: The National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1892-1906), X; Alcée Fortier, Louisiana, 3 vols. (1914); New Orleans Daily Picayune, March 29, 1891.
MCENERY, Samuel Douglas, lawyer, politician. Born, Monroe, La., May 28, 1837; son of Henry O’Neil McEnery and Caroline H. Douglas; brother of John McEnery (q.v.). Religion: Catholic. Education: Spring Hill College, Ala.; Charlottesville, Va.; and State and National Law School, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Civil War service: one of founders of volunteer company, Pelican Grays, which became part of the Second Louisiana Regiment; commissioned a lieutenant in the provisional army of the Confederacy in Virginia, 1862; commander of Confederate training camp at Trenton, La. After the war, taught school in Monroe, passed the Louisiana bar examination and began legal practice, 1866. Married Elizabeth Phillips, June 27, 1878. Children: Charles Phillips, Dr. Douglas W., and Jane. Political career: active in the Democratic party in Reconstruction and late nineteenth century in Louisiana, served as lieutenant governor of Louisiana, 1880-1881, became govenor of Louisiana upon death of Louis A. Wiltz (q.v.) in 1881, was elected for a term of his own as governor in 1884 and served until 1888. Appointed associate justice on the state supreme court in 1888 for a twelve-year term. Lost the gubernatorial election of 1896 in which the Anti-Lottery forces elected Murphy J. Foster (q.v.). Elected U. S. senator and served from 1897 until his death. As governor, worked for levee building and flood control, promoted new business and industry in Louisiana. The World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition of 1884-1885 was an ill-fated project to foster trade. Public institutions and education suffered from lack of state funding under the McEnery administration, and the influence of the Louisiana Lottery on state officials had become the major issue in politics by the end of his term. All McEnery correspondence was destroyed by him and few private papers remain to document his career. Died, New Orleans, June 28, 1910; interred Metairie Cemetery. J.J.J. Sources: William Ivy Hair, Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest in Louisiana Politics, 1877-1900 (1969); Lawrence F. Kennedy, comp., Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Miriam G. Reeves, The Governors of Louisiana (1972); Robert Sobel and John Raimo, Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, 4 vols. (1978), Vol. I; New Orleans Daily Picayune, June 29, 30, 1910.
MCFARLAIN, Andrew Doyle, founder of Jennings, La. Born, St. Mary Parish, La., August 31, 1853; son of James McFarlain and Abigail Hayes. Philanthropist, entrepreneur, rice farmer, businessman, gambler, he was prominent in local affairs, both social and political. Merchant, first postmaster, built and operated first hotel, first brick building, was the first brick manufacturer, was at one time mayor of Jennings. Married, 1873, Margaret Humphries of Calcasieu Parish, daughter of Jefferson Humphries and Mary Hebert. Children: Claude D., Durell, Durelia, Mary A., Julia, James, William, Andrew D., Gladys, Jerome, and Leta. Served 4 years as deputy sheriff and a similar time as constable, though he never sought office. Served as director of first bank. Catholic. Andrew, Doyle, and McFarlain streets, Jennings, named for subject. Died, Jennings, May 12, 1914; interred Greenwood Cemetery. G.M. Source: Author’s research.
McGEE, Dennis, Cajun fiddler. Born, January 26, 1893, Eunice, La. Career: Taught to play fiddle by neighbors in Anse des Rougeaux, near Eunice; worked intermittently as a musician for over seventy-five years, often surviving as a field-worker and full-time barber; performed with influential black Creole accordionist Amédé Ardoin and with McGee’s brother-in-law, fiddler Sady Courville; made several pioneer Cajun recordings in New Orleans between 1929 and 1930; in 1936 recorded in New Orleans at St. Charles Hotel for Victor’s Bluebird label; on retirement as barber McGee appeared at folk festivals and helped to restore pride in traditional Cajun music and culture; awarded title of “Honorary Dean of Cajun Music” by University of Southwestern Louisiana shortly before his death, “in recognition of his contribution as a musician, teacher, and living archive”; his fiddling heavily influenced generations of younger Cajun musicians. Died, 1989. S.K.B. Sources: Barry Jean Ancelet, Cajun Country (1991); Barry Jean Ancelet, Cajun Music: Its Origins and Development (1989); Barry Jean Ancelet and Elemore Morgan, Jr., The Makers of Cajun Music / Musiciens cadiens et créoles (1984); John Broven, South to Louisiana (1980); Ann Allen Savoy, ed. and comp., Cajun Music: Reflection of a People, Vol. 1 (1984); see also Shane K. Bernard, “A Biographical Sketch: Dennis McGee,” Louisiana History 34 (1993).
MCGEHEE, John Burruss, churchman and agriculturist. Born, Bowling Green Plantation, Wilkinson County, Miss., January 22, 1836; son of Edward McGehee, planter and promoter/builder of West Feliciana Railroad, 1828-1842. Education: University of Virginia. Married Catherine E. Stewart, 1839; removed to Woodlawn Farm, West Feliciana Parish, La., 1858. Civil War service: Company C., Louisiana Cavalry. Resumed planting after Civil War and boldly abandoned all-cotton, one-crop agricultural system, 1878; experimented with grasses in restoring waste land as part of crop diversification system development; developed rust proof oats; was first to commercially produce seed of lespedeza striata, 1880. Established St. John’s Episcopal Church, Laurel Hill, West Feliciana Parish, now a parochial mission of Grace Church, St. Francisville, 1873. His Sunday School became model for Diocese of Louisiana; a forty-year veteran delegate to Diocesan Council and its authority on canon law; prepared circular urging General Convention of Episcopal Church, USA, to move toward ecumenism, 1886; saw his ideas incorporated in Lambeth Quadrilateral, 1888. As president and only stockholder of West Feliciana Railroad sold pioneer line to Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, 1891. Died, February 11, 1913; interred Bowling Green Cemetery, Wilkinson County, Miss. E.K.D. Sources: St. Francisville True Democrat, Silver Anniversary Edition, 1917; Louis Tucker, Clerical Errors (1943); Hodding and Betty Werlein Carter, So Great A Good (1955); Parish Register, Grace Church, St. Francisville.
MCGINTY, Garnie William, academic. Born near Ringgold, La., April 5, 1900; son of Alonzo Eugene McGinty and Maude Leshe. Education: local schools; Louisiana College; Louisiana Normal College (now Northwestern State University), B.A.; Peabody College, M.A.; Vanderbilt University; University of Chicago; University of Texas, Ph.D.. Student Army Training Corps during World War I. Principal of elementary schools in Red River, Claiborne and Pointe Coupée parishes and of a high school in De Soto Parish. College teaching included Western Kentucky State University, Louisiana Normal College, Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, and Montevallo (Ala.) University. Head of Social Sciences Department at Louisiana Tech for 35 years. Acting president of Northwestern State University for one year. Appointed professor emeritus; McGinty Chair of History established by Louisiana Tech University. President of Louisiana Historical Association and North Louisiana Historical Association, honorary life member of latter. Published 40 essays and articles, 50 book reviews and five books. Among his books, A History of Louisiana was used as a college text for 20 years. Listed in Who’s Who in Education, Dictionary of International Scholars and Men of Achievement. Teaching career spanned 50 years. Married, July 15, 1932, Zoé Heard of Ruston, La. No children. Died, 1984. P.C.C. Sources: Garnie W. Mcginty, A Twig of the McGinty Family Tree (1979).
MCGOWEN, Norris Cochran, businessman known as “the father of the natural gas industry in the Gulf South.” Born, Chicago, Ill., December 1, 1890. Removed to Shreveport, 1913. On February 1, 1914, joined the Palmer Organization which in 1930 became part of United Gas Corp. Key figure in welding some fifty companies into this corporate giant. In 1940 responsible for the location in Shreveport of the headquarters of United Gas as well as its wholly owned subsidiaries, United Gas Pipeline Co. and Union Producing Co. President of United Gas, 1940-1955, chairman of the board, 1955-1966. Retired 1966. Two years after his retirement, United and Pennzoil merged as Pennzoil United. During World War II, member of the Petroleum Industry War Council; for fifteen years chairman of the Natural Gas Reserves Committee of the American Gas Association. Active church member dubbed a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and a Knight of St. Gregory the Great. Many civic honors. Twice president of the Louisiana State Fair Association. Supported many youth activities: State Junior Livestock Sale, 4-H Clubs, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, YMCA, YWCA, and the Shreveport Recreation Department. In 1961, received the “Partner in 4-H” award at the National 4-H Club Conference in Washington, D. C. Married, two children, a son Norric C. McGowen and a daughter, Mrs. Claude G. Rives. Died, Shreveport, August 18, 1969. M.A. Sources: Shreveport Times, August 19, 1969; Shreveport Journal, August 20, 1969.
MACHECA, Joseph P., businessman, lynching victim. Born, Louisiana, ca. 1843, of Sicilian parentage and adopted in infancy by a Maltese named Macheca. Wealthy, influential in the New Orleans Italian community, owner of a shipping line, participant in the Reconstruction “Battle of Liberty Place”; active in local political affairs and in riverfront conflicts, including the Provenzano-Mantranga feud. Alleged to be the leader of a conspiracy to murder Police Chief David C. Hennessy (q.v.). Lynched, March 14, 1891, in the Parish Prison mob scene following Hennessy’s assassination. B.L. Source: Richard Gambino, Vendetta … (1977) (with extensive bibliography).
MCILHENNY, Edward Avery, explorer, naturalist, author, planter, businessman. Born, March 29, 1872; son of Edmund McIlhenny and Mary Eliza Avery. Education: Wynbam’s Institute, Alton, Ill., 1885-1887; Holbrook, Ossining, N.Y., 1887-1890; and Lehigh University, 1890-1892. In school, McIlhenny developed remarkably varied interests in natural science to which he devoted his life, and for which he became internationally famous. His extensive travels commenced when he left Lehigh to join Robert Edwin Peary’s expedition to northern Greenland in 1892. From 1897 to 1899, McIlhenny headed an expedition to gather ornithological specimens at Point Barrow, where his group rescued 105 men, including novelist Jack London, wrecked on Sea Horse Shoal. His interest in the Arctic region resulted in his publication of a dictionary of Eskimo dialects. McIlhenny’s father owned the Avery Island salt mines and Tobasco Sauce plant, located eight miles from New Iberia, over which Edward is said to have ruled as a manorial lord upon inheriting title to the estate. The salt mine, pepper plantation, and sauce factory, employed more than seven hundred at the time of his death. At Avery Island, in a paternalistic manner, McIlhenny personally tended even to the medical needs of the workers; he also collected flora and fauna from throughout the world to cultivate and conserve with scientific distinction. He is credited with perserving from extinction indigenous wildlife, notably the heron and egret through ingenious construction of bamboo nests. Avery Island thus developed as an exotic botanical garden with an Oriental emphasis and a wildlife refuge of international reputation. Meanwhile McIlhenny became a nationally prominent figure in conservation movements, supporting movements of President Theodore Roosevelt and Gov. Newton C. Blanchard (q.v.) to establish state conservation commissions in 1907. Named federal game warden; and was a life member of the Museum of Natural History. In cooperation with the Russell Sage Foundation, he contributed to the establishment of vast areas of the state’s southwestern gulf coastal marsh as a wildlife refuge. McIlhenny’s many published writings reflect the diversity of his interest; most notably, Autobiography of an Egret (New York, 1939); Life History of an Alligator (Boston, 1935); and Befo’ De War Spirituals (Boston, 1933), the last reflecting his interest in Negro music and folklore. He wrote extensively on other wildlife species and conservation methodology. In addition, he was an expert and innovative photographer; his negative and photographic collection relating to flora and fauna reportedly was one of the largest private collections in the world at the time of his death. In 1900 McIlhenny married Mary Matthews of New Orleans. Children: Rosemary, Pauline, and Lelia. Died, Avery Island, August 8, 1949; interred in the family cemetery. M.J.S. Sources: Rosemary Eckard Bernard, “Ned and the Egret: A Biography of the Youth of Edward Avery McIlhenny” (M.A. thesis, University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1969); Saturday Review, January 15, 1966; New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item, February 27, 1983; Who’s Who in America, 1936-1937; obituary, Times-Picayune, August 9, 1949; Papers, Special Collections Division, Louisiana State University.
MCKELLAR, Reuben Neil, mayor of Shreveport. Born, Kickapoo, Tex., 1855; son of E. D. McKellar and Susan Miller. Removed to Shreveport at an early age. Spent his school vacations clerking in his father’s store. At age 20 he served the Democratic executive committee and within two years became its treasurer. In the 1880s he served on the Shreveport city council and as chairman of its improvement committee. Began grading streets using teams and men from his own plantation because the city did not have the equipment. Was Shreveport’s mayor, 1896-1900, and began paving the streets with the use of convict labor. He sold the dirt graded from the sites to the railroad, obtaining funds for beautifying Shreveport’s first park. He also built the city’s first storm sewer. As commissioner of streets and parks, 1922-1930, he was instrumental in providing a park for blacks. Married, 1882, Theo Hamilton, daughter of Dr. D. B. Hamilton. Two children: Edwin D. and Mary B. Member, Masons and Elks. Died, May 11, 1933. P.L.M. Sources: Lilla McLure and J. Ed Howe, History of Shreveport and Shreveport Builders (1937); Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana (1892).
MCKENZIE, Charles Edgar, businessman, congressman. Born, Pelican, De Soto Parish, La., October 3, 1896. Education: public schools of Monroe, La.; Louisiana State University. Volunteered for service on the Mexican border in 1916 with the Louisiana National Guard; during the First World War was mustered into the federal service on April 1, 1917, as a sergeant in the First Louisiana Infantry; commissioned a second lieutenant in the 156th Infantry, serving overseas in the Thirty-ninth and Eighty-ninth divisions, June 1918 to September 1919. Married Carrie Jack Perry of Perryville, La., March 17, 1918. Children: Eleanor, Jane, Barbara, and Charles E., Jr. Engaged in oil drilling and as an oil operator at Wichita Falls and Burkburnett, Tex., 1919-1921; returned to Monroe in 1921 and engaged in the oil, gas, finance-brokerage, trucking, and insurance businesses; also agricultural pursuits. Served as executive assistant director, Louisiana Department of Highways, 1940-1942; director of planning, housing, and aeronautics in the Louisiana Department of Public Works in 1942 and 1943. Member, Methodist church; the Masons; and the American Legion, serving as past commander, Louisiana Department, 1927-1928, and past national executive committeeman, 1929-1931. Elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-eighth and Seventy-ninth Congresses (January 3, 1943-January 3, 1947); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1946. Resumed supervision of his business enterprises. Died, Monroe, June 7, 1956; interred Riverview Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Congressional Directory, 79th Congress (1946).
MACKIE, Amanda Lemon Kelly, businesswoman. Born, Baton Rouge, December 25, 1891; daughter of Willie Lemon and Emma Jules Lemon. Education: local schools; Alcorn College, Alcorn, Miss. Married, November 18, 1948, Thomas Mackie of Lindsey, La., son of Thomas Mackie, Sr., and Martha Mackie. No children. Active in Mu Zeta Chapter of Zeta Amicae, Baton Rouge; Bonnette-Harrison Post No. 502 of the American Legion; Counselor for Bayou Girls’ State; Gamma Sigma Sigma, honorary advisor. Member: Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church, Baton Rouge. Removed to Chicago, 1925-1928, railroad employee. Removed to Scotlandville, 1928. First black woman in Scotlandville to operate a grocery store; chief accountant for her husband’s incorporated bus line from Scotlandville to Baton Rouge; established the first dry-cleaning, pressing plant and laundry in the community. Died, Baton Rouge, January 11, 1979; interred Southern Memorial Gardens. R.J.S. Sources: Beverly A. Vincent (niece); family Bible; Arthenia Bates Millican, “Mrs. Amanda Kelly Mackie: A Lady to Remember,” Scotland Press, April 13, 1980.
McILHENNY, Edmund, banker, pepper sauce inventor/manufacturer. Born, October 15, 1815, Hagerstown, Md.; son of John McIlhenny and Anne Newcomer. Educated locally. Married Mary Eliza Avery, June 30, 1859, in Baton Rouge, La. Children: Sarah Avery (1860-1948); Dudley Avery (1861-1862); Edmund (1865-1866); John Avery (1867-1942); Mary Avery (1870-1954); Edward Avery (1872-1949); Rufus Avery (1876-1940); Paul Avery (1877-1962). Career: Arrived in New Orleans, 1841; served as bookkeeper, liquidating creditor, and agent for Bank of Louisiana; purchased for himself bank’s branches at Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Donaldsonville, Opelousas, and St. Francisville, 1857; amassed real esÂtate holdings in several Louisiana parishes; left New Orleans during Civil War for the Avery family plantation at Petite Anse Island (now Avery Island), La.; assisted with the island’s strategically important salt quarrying operations; fled to Texas with Averys from 1863-1865 after salt quarries became target of Union attacks; served in the Confederate commissary office at Galveston, Tex., and later in the Confederate paymaster’s office, District of Texas; on returning to Louisiana in 1865, McIlhenny tried unsuccessfully to return to the troubled New Orleans banking industry; around 1866, he began to experiment at Avery Island with producing hot pepper sauce made from aged red pepper, vinegar, and salt; bottled it at first only for friends, intending to call it “Petite Anse Sauce”; in 1868, he began to produce his pepper sauce commercially, choosing “Tabasco” as his trademark; patented formula and method of prepaÂration in 1870; by 1872 grocers in major United States cities marketed Tabasco sauce; first exported sauce to Europe in 1874. Died, November 25, 1890, Avery Island, La.; interred, family cemetery, Avery Island, La. His descendants continue to operate the McIlhenny Coompany. S.K.B. Sources: E. McIlhenny Papers, McIlhenny Co. Archives, Avery Island, La.; McIlhenny Co., The 100-Year History of Tabasco (1968); New Orleans Daily Picayune, obituary, November 30, 1890.
McILHENNY, John Avery, businessman, soldier, politician. Born, October 29, 1867, Avery Island, La., to Edmund McIlhenny and Mary Eliza Avery. Educated by tutors at Avery Island; Holbrook’s Military Academy, Sing Sing (Ossining), N.Y.; Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; and Tulane. Married Anita Vincent Stauffer of New Orleans. Children: John Stauffer “Jack”; Walter Stauffer (1910-1985). Career: On father’s death oversaw Tabasco brand pepper sauce operations with his mother; joined Theodore Roosevelt’s 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry (“The Rough Riders”), Troop F, on May 19, 1898, participating in battles of Las Guasimas and San Juan Hill, Cuba; claimed to have saved Roosevelt from sniper’s bullet; promoted by Roosevelt for “gallantry in action”; discharged as second lieutenant, Troop E, SeptemÂber 15, 1898; entered politics, serving in Louisiana House of Representatives, 1900-1904, state senate, 1904-1906; although a Democrat, supported Roosevelt during his campaigns of 1904 and 1912; Theodore Roosevelt appointed him a United States Civil Service commissioner, November 30, 1906; retained post under Taft and Wilson; appointed president of United States Civil Service Commission, June 12, 1913; appointed financial advisor to Haiti during United States occupation, January 27, 1919; clashed with Haitian president Dartiguenave over economic issues; suspended Dartiguenave’s salary, causing a diplomatic crisis and inviting private criticism from the United States State Department; resigned October 11, 1922, to retire to Washington, D.C.; purchased a farm on October 18, 1926, near Charlottesville, Va. McILhenny was debilitated by a series of heart attacks by late 1930s. Died, NovemÂber 8, 1942; interred, Arlington National Cemetery. S.K.B. Sources: Shane K. Bernard, “Soldier, Patriot, Christian, Gentleman: A Biographical Sketch of John Avery McIlhenny,” Attakapas Gazette, (1993); Robert Debs Heinl, Jr., and Nancy Gordon Heinl, Written in Blood: The Story of the Haitian People, 1492-1971 (1978); Albert Nelson Marquis, ed., Who’s Who in America, vol. 10, 1918-19, s.v., “McIlhenny, John Avery”; New Orleans Times-Picayune, November 10, 1942; Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders (1905); Hans Schmidt, The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934 (1971); see also Shane K. Bernard, “A Biographical Sketch: John Avery McIlhenny,” Louisiana History 34 (1993).
McILHENNY, Walter Stauffer, soldier, businessman. Born, October 22, 1910, Washington, D C; son of John Avery Mcllhenny and Anita Vincent Stauffer. Studied civil engineering at University of Virginia. Career: Worked as an engineer, Continental Oil Company, 1930s. Joined Marine Corps Rifle Team, earning honors as marksman; called to active duty at beginning of World War II, serving 31 months in the western Pacific as a member of the B Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Division, Fifth Marines; landed in first attack wave at Guadalcanal; saw action also at New Britain and at Peleliu, Palau Islands; received numerous citations, including Navy Cross (“for extraordinary heroism” during a Guadalcanal frontal assault), Silver Star (“for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” in the Solomon Islands), and two Purple Hearts; left active duty in 1945 with the rank of major. Subsequently went to Avery Island, La., for executive training in family business, Mcllhenny Company, serving as chairman and president, 1949-85; oversaw sales reorganization and marketing campaign that expanded worldwide popularity of Tabasco brand pepper sauce; upon retirement from Marine Corps Reserve received honorary promotion to brigadier general; co-founder, trustee, and president emeritus, Marine Military Academy, Harlingen, Tex.; served on the United States Olympic Rifle Committee; trustee, National Wildlife Federation; hunted big game in Africa, Asia, and North America. Died, June 22, 1985, Lafayette, La.; interred, family cemetery, Avery Island, La. S.K.B. Sources: “Walter S. Mcllhenny Makes Tabasco Sauce in Milieu of Old South,” The Wall Street Journal, January 10, 1975; Chicago Tribune, June 24, 1985; The MMA [Marine Military Academy] Journal, August 1985; New York Times, June 24, 1985; The Valley Morning Star (Harlington, Texas), June 24, 1985; William Standring, “Tabasco Mac,” Marine Corps League (Spring 1996).
MCLEAN, James Vernon “Jim”, journalist. Born, Dallas, Tex., August 19, 1914; son of Eugene Clifton McLean and Viola Pearl McLean (his mother’s maiden name). Education: public schools in Texas, Tennessee, and Florida; attended University of Miami. Reporter, Miami News, 1937-1944; U. S. Army, assigned to Stars and Stripes in Germany, 1944-1946; civilian editor, Stars and Stripes, European edition, Altdorf, Germany, 1946-1948; reporter, Associated Press, Jackson, Miss., 1948; day editor, Associated Press, New Orleans bureau, 1949-1951; capitol correspondent, Associated Press, Baton Rouge, 1951-1966. Married, July 19, 1958, Edythe Abbott Gelpi of Baton Rouge. Stepchildren: Phillip and David Gelpi. Died, Baton Rouge, June 13, 1966; interred Denham Springs, La., cemetery. J.F.* Sources: Robert Sheldon and Laura Perry Kates, Jim McLean, Louisiana’s Wire Service Ace, LSU School of Journalism Research Bulletin, Volume 1, No. 8; Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, obituary, June 14, 1966; Baton Rouge State-Times, obituary, June 14, 1966; telephone interview, Edythe Abbott Gelpi Scholar, widow, March 2, 1987.
MCMAIN, Eleanor Laura, social worker, educator. Born near Baton Rouge, March 2, 1866; daughter of Jacob West McMain and Jane Josephine Walsh. Education: local schools, Baton Rouge; University of Chicago; Columbia University Studied settlement house movement at Graham Taylor’s Chicago Commons and Jane Addams’ Hull House. Taught sociology, Sophie Newcomb College, New Orleans. Worked in free kindergarten training school, later known as Kingsley House, local settlement house sponsored by Trinity Episcopal Church; appointed director, 1901, a position held until her death. Established first playgrounds as member of New Orleans Playground Committee; director, Milne Home for Girls, 1904. Chosen in 1923 by the National Federation of Settlement and Neighborhood Centers to organize in Paris, the l’Acceuil Franco-Américaine, a settlement house founded by the American wife of a French general. Unmarried. Member: Episcopal church. Member of numerous national and local organizations including: Orleans Parish Anti-tuberculosis League (founder, 1906); Day Nursery Association; Women’s League (founder and first president, 1906); Tenement House Association; Council of Social Agencies. Awarded Times-Picayune Loving Cup, 1920. Died, New Orleans, May 12, 1934; interred Magnolia Cemetery, Baton Rouge. Eleanor L. McMain Magnet Secondary School, New Orleans, named in her honor. R.M.J. Sources: Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (1971); Robert Meyer, Jr., Names Over New Orleans Public Schools (1975); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, May 13, 1934.
MCMICKEN, Charles, merchant. Born, Bucks County, Pa., ca. 1788. Arrived in Feliciana 1808, operated, mercantile business, St. Francisville, 1811-1835; served in Feliciana Troop of Horse, Battle of New Orleans, 1815. Incorporator, St. Francisville Public Library, 1816; incorporator Baptist church, 1823; owner of much St. Francisville real estate. Unmarried. Died, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 30, 1858. E.K.D. Sources: Lislet’s Digest; West Feliciana Parish Records; Powell Casey, Louisiana in the War of 1812 (1963).
MCNAIR, Robert H., Presbyterian lay leader and businessman/benefactor. Born in Kentucky, ca. 1790. Arrived in New Orleans in 1815; later became a ruling elder of off-beat Second Presbyterian Church, whose New England-born pastor was the Rev. R. L. Stanton (q.v.), an active but discreet abolitionist. Circumstantial evidence suggests that McNair may have been a secret supporter of abolitionism through financial and strategic design. McNair was a strict Presbyterian of Calvinist principles, who led a very private life. He died in the 1849 yellow-fever epidemic, a misfortune which was followed by Stanton’s departure from New Orleans. T.F.R. Source: Timothy F. Reilly, “Robert L. Stanton, Abolitionist of the Old South,” Journal of Presbyterian History, LIII, No. 1 (1975).
MCNAMARA, Thomas Emmett, businessman, politician, civic leader. Born, Orange, Tex., October 28, 1888; son of Michael McNamara and Mary Catherine Hagendoarn. Education: local schools; Tyler Commercial College, Tyler, Tex., taught business administration at the college. Removed to DeQuincy, La., 1910, employed Gulf Coast Railway Lines; employed Hammons and Cash, contractors, 1912. Married, February 18, 1911, Mary Catherine McFerran, of DeQuincy, La., daughter of John McFerran and Mary E. Truett. Children: Mary C. (b. 1912), Hazel (b. 1914), Dennis (b. 1916). Removed to Beaumont, Tex., 1918, then to Deweyville, Tex., 1919, associated with P. E. Hammons Co., Inc. and Sabine Tram Logging Co., Inc. Removed to DeQuincy, 1921, manager DeQuincy Wholesale Grocery Co.; operated National Department Store, 1921-1970. Active in Democratic party: alderman-at-large, 1928-1934; member, Calcasieu Parish School Board, 1932-1944; member DeQuincy Sewer Board. Member: Catholic church; Woodmen of the World; Chamber of Commerce; Rotary Club. Died, DeQuincy, March 17, 1970; interred Rigmaiden Cemetery. G.S.P. Sources: DeQuincy News, April 8, 1932; obituary, March 19, 1970; Lake Charles American Press, March 18, 1970; Beaumont Enterprise, March 19, 1970; DeQuincy Journal, March 25, 1970; McNamara family papers.
MCNEESE, John, merchant, attorney, educator. Born, New York City, July 4, 1843; son of William McNeese and Mary Beechman. Education: local schools, Baltimore, Md.; University of Louisiana (now Tulane University). Civil War service: First Maryland Infantry, served four years of war. After the war removed to Menard, Tex., to regain health. Became district clerk, Menard County, November 1872. Removed to Louisiana, 1873, driving a herd of cattle to New Orleans. Failing in this venture, he opened a singing and writing school in Calcasieu Parish. Read law under Judge G. A. Fournet; later, earned a law degree from Tulane University, 1887. In 1888, elected secretary of Calcasieu Parish School Board and ex officio parish superintendent. Inaugurated night school for adults, a central high school for the parish in Lake Charles; a normal institute for the training of teachers; pioneered in classroom supervision and school consolidation; established agricultural clubs. President, Louisiana Teachers Association, 1911. Married, 1876, Susan Bilbo of Lake Charles, daughter of William Bilbo. Five children: three sons (one of whom was Oswald [q.v.]) and two daughters. Active in the Democratic party. Member of the Presbyterian church. McNeese State University named for subject. Retired in 1913. Died, June 2, 1914; interred Orange Grove Cemetery, Lake Charles. D.J.M. Sources: T. R. Ratcliffe, “McNeese of Calcasieu,” McNeese Review, I (1948); Rodney Cline, Education in Louisiana: History and Development (1974).
MCNEESE, Oswald, adjutant general of Louisiana, 1912-1916. Born, Lake Charles, La., October 18, 1880; son of John McNeese (q.v.) and Susan Bilbo. Education: local schools; attended Louisiana State University. Became assistant cashier of Lake Charles National Bank. Appointed a first lieutenant in First Louisiana Infantry, 1903, eventually rose to rank of major in Louisiana National Guard. In World War I, commissioned a major in the 173rd Infantry Brigade of the Eighty-seventh Division, becoming assistant chief of staff. Served in France. After war, commissioned a lieutenant colonel of Infantry Officer Reserve Corps and was designated as eligible for general staff duty. Subsequently made assistant chief of staff of the Eighty-seventh Division, Organized Reserves. From 1932-1936, served as chief of staff, Thirty-first Division, G-1 Personnel, War Department General Staff. A member of the Joint Army and Navy Selective Service Committee that formulated the proposed law and regulations for manpower procurement through Selective Service, later adopted by the War Department when Selective Service became effective in 1940. Also served as chief of the Regulation and Planning Division of the National Guard Bureau; was chairman of the War Department General Staff of the National Guard Committee; and was also on Joint National Guard and Organized Reserve Committee. Executive of the Second Military Area, Seventh Corps Area Service Command, Omaha, Neb., until retirement, August 9, 1942. E.J.C. Source: Author’s research.
MCSHANE, Andrew James, businessman, politician, mayor of New Orleans. Born, New Orleans, January 2, 1865; son of Bernard McShane and Rose Fitzpatrick. Education: local parochial schools. Business: hide merchant, New Orleans. Married, April 4, 1918, Agnes Burns of New Orleans. One daughter: Rose Mary (b. 1921). Active in reform politics; New Orleans fire commissioner, 1896-1904; mayor, New Orleans, 1921-1925. Retired, May 4, 1925. Died, New Orleans, April 17, 1936; interred Metairie Cemetery. E.F.H. Source: Edward F. Haas, “Andrew James McShane,” in Melvin G. Holi and Peter d’A. Jones, eds., Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors (1981); John S. Kendall, History of New Orleans (1922); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, April 18, 1936.
MCTYEIRE, Holland Nimmons, clergyman, editor-author, and colonizationist. Born, Barnwell County, S. C., July 28, 1824. Education: Cokesbury School; Randolph-Macon College, Va., A. B. degree, 1844. Between 1845 and 1850, he served as pastor in Williamsburg, Va., Mobile and Demopolis, Ala., and at Columbus, Miss. After transferring to the Louisiana Conference, McTyeire resided in New Orleans between 1850 and 1858, where he was first stationed at Felicity Street Church, and also at the Wesley, Soulé and Winans chapels. The latter congregations were comprised of slaves and free persons of color who were denied black leadership. In 1851, McTyeire was chosen editor of the New Orleans Christian Advocate, a denominational weekly which supported African colonization, the religious indoctrination of slaves, and the cause of evangelical Protestantism. Nativism and anti-Catholicism were also frequent themes. In 1858, he became editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate after leaving New Orleans. During the latter years of the Civil War, he took refuge in Montgomery, Ala., his loyalty to the South intact. In 1873, he was appointed president of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, by the school’s founder, Cornelius Vanderbilt. The author of several articles, books, and pamphlets, McTyeire’s best known work is his History of Methodism (1884). Died, February 15, 1889; interred Vanderbilt campus. T.F.R. Sources: “McTyeire, Holland Nimmons,” National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1898); Timothy F. Reilly, “Religious Leaders and Social Criticism in New Orleans, 1800-1861” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1972); “McTyeire, Holland Nimmons,” Dictionary of American Biography.
MCWATERS, James Alexander, planter, soldier. Born, Rapides Parish, La., ca. 1820. Educated in Maryland. Became a planter in Rapides Parish. Married Martha E. Flint ca. 1843. Three children. Mexican War service: private, Company E, Third Louisiana Infantry Regiment; private Capt. Ben McCulloch’s Rangers. Civil War service: captain, Company G, Second Louisiana Cavalry; lieutenant colonel, Second Louisiana Cavalry. Killed in skirmish on Bayou Teche, January 14, 1863. A.W.B. Source: George M. G. Stafford, The Wells Family of Louisiana and Allied Families (1969; reprint ed., 1976).
MADUELL, Charles René, physicist, author. Born, New Orleans, February 2, 1918; son of Charles René Maduell, Sr. (1890-1967) and Louise Thelma Viosca (1895-1977). Education: Beauregard School; Rugby Academy; Loyola University of New Orleans; Louisiana State University, graduated 1940. During World War II used training as a physicist to design components of radar equipment and, on his return to civilian life, continued work as a physicist. Later was employed by Charity Hospital, New Orleans, and remained on its staff as a radiation physicist until his retirement. Editor ,New Orleans Genesis, March 1972-January 1980. Married, March 4, 1941, Lola Rita Legier, daughter of Octave Joseph Legier and Yvonne Marie Laudumiey. Children: Charles René Maduell III; Mrs. Andrée M. Wagner, and Mrs. Delores Rita Elliot. Died, May 2, 1980. A.D.F. Sources: Excerpted from a memoriam prepared by Jack Belsom of New Orleans; New Orleans Genesis.
MAËS, Pierre Joseph, colonial merchant and surveyor. Born, St. Amand, St. Martin Parish, in “French Flanders,” ca. 1758; son of Jean Baptiste Maës and Geneviève Victoire Gillart. Maës first appears on record in Louisiana on June 27, 1786, and was an active participant in frontier life for fifteen years thereafter—appearing as a rifleman in the Natchitoches infantry (1787-91), as a sindic (1793-01), and as a surveyor (1793-1801). In the frontier’s Jacobin turmoil of 1795—the “Ghost” Revolt—Maës’s support of the Spanish Crown put him at odds with prominent young planters of the area, who immortalized him in one of their infamous revolutionary songs. Comparing him to a servant who cleans pots and pans, they threatened: “Oh, mister scullion from the barroom, thinking yourself as wise as Medusa—insolent fellow, who measures our lands against our wills—the measure of your shoulders will be taken by the Ghosts.” After losing his sight (and thereby leaving northwest Louisiana without a surveyor to validate land grants), Maës returned to France with his family, residing in Nantes in July 1810 and December 1829. On June 27, 1786, Maës wed at Natchitoches, Marie Anne Dartigaux, the young widow of Jean Jacques David; she died February 26, 1797, having borne him four children: Pierre Joseph, Jr. (b. 1787; d. after July 1810), Jean Baptiste (b. 1789-d. 1793), Marie Geneviève Agathe (b. 1791), and Louise Josephine (b. 1794). On August 22, 1799, at Natchitoches, Maës married Marie Conand (Widow Jean Baptiste Dartigaux), by whom he had no children; an 1809 procuration from Nantes, France, states that Marie Conand was still his wife. E.S.M. Sources: Natchitoches Church Registers, Books 3, 4, 4-B, and 15; Grave marker of Marie Anne Dartigaux, American Cemetery, Natchitoches; 1787 Census of Natchitoches, Legajo 201, Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, Archivo General de Indias, Seville; Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches Colonials: Censuses, Military Rolls, and Tax Lists, 1722-1803 (1981): 47, 64, 71, 78, 80, 98, 113; unprobated will of Pierre Joseph Maës, August 27, 1799, folder 724, Melrose Collection, Northwestern University Archives, Natchitoches; Docs. 2557, 2946, 4035, 4309, and (especially) 3859 (sub-procuration of Pierre Joseph Maës Jr., 1810), French Archives, Natchitoches Clerk of Court’s office; memorial of Louis Metoyer [re blindness of surveyor], Opelousas Notarial Records Collection, Louisiana State Archives; and Land File B1953, Louisiana State Land Office, Baton Rouge; Katherine Bridges, “The Fort of Natchitoches: Two Maps From Spain,” Louisiana Studies, 151-54 (which mistakenly gives 1825 as Maës year of removal to France).
MAES, Urban, surgeon, pioneer in battlefield surgery. Born, New Orleans, October 12, 1878. Education: Tulane Medical School, graduated 1900. Professor of operative surgery, Tulane University, 1906; assistant professor of Clinical and Operative Surgery, 1913. In World War I, he was chief of the surgical services of Base Hospital No. 24, taking a team of surgeons and a field station to the battle lines for the first time in Army history, and demonstrating that mortality from wounds could be immensely reduced by quick surgery. Tulane professor of Clinical Surgery, 1922. Head, Louisiana State University surgical department, 1932-1947, when he became professor emeritus. Senior visiting surgeon, Touro and Charity hospitals, 1910-1932; consultant in surgery and president of the medical staff of Touro, 1930-1932. Senior consultant at the Veterans Administration Hospital, 1947. Vice president, American Surgical Association; vice president, Society of Clinical Surgery; member, founders group of the American Board of Surgery and the American College of Surgeons. Married Gertrude Adamson. One child, Robert Adamson Maes (b. 1910). Died March 15, 1954; interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. C.C.K. Sources: obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 16, 1954; editorial, March 17, 1954.
MAESTRI, Robert Sidney, politician, businessman, mayor of New Orleans. Born, New Orleans, December 11, 1899; son of Francis Maestri and Angele Lacabe. Education: public and parochial schools; Soulé College of Commerce. Business interests: furniture, real estate, financial securities, New Orleans. World War I service: United States Army. Married, August 18, 1938, Hilda Bertonier of New Orleans. One child: Hilda Roberta (b. 1942). Active in Democratic party; endorsed gubernatorial candidacy of Huey P. Long (q.v.) in 1928; member, Louisiana Democratic Association; Louisiana commissioner of conservation, 1929-1936; mayor of New Orleans, 1936-1946; leader of Long faction in Louisiana after the death of Huey Long; implicated in Louisiana Scandals of 1939, but not indicted. Municipal administration noted for financial responsibility, concern for the people and machine politics. Defeated by deLesseps S. Morrison (q.v.) in New Orleans mayoralty election of 1946. After a brief political reemergence in 1950, retired to his business affairs, New Orleans. Member: Catholic church. Died, New Orleans, May 6, 1974. E.F.H. Sources: Edward F. Haas, “New Orleans on the Half-Shell: The Maestri Era, 1936-1946,” Louisiana History, XII (1972); “Robert S. Maestri,” in “Administrations of the Mayors of New Orleans, 1803-1936” (typescript compiled and edited by Works Progress Administration, New Orleans, 1940, New Orleans Public Library).
MAGEE, Augustus William, army officer, filibuster. Born, Boston, Mass., 1789. Education: graduated third in class, United States Military Academy, 1809. Served under Gen. James Wilkinson (q.v.) in an artillery regiment stationed at Baton Rouge. Transferred to Fort Claiborne, Natchitoches, participated in numerous police actions in the Neutral Ground. Turned down for promotion, became involved in the schemes of the Mexican revolutionaries, and on June 22, 1812, resigned his commission to become colonel and co-commander with the Mexican revolutionary Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara (q.v.) of a Texas filibustering expedition; after occupying Nacogdoches on August 12, the filibusters moved on La BahÃa, where they were themselves beseiged by royalist forces. Became seriously ill during campaign and died February 6, 1813, most likely a victim of malaria. R.C.V. Sources: Julia Kathryn Garrett, Green Flag Over Texas: A Story of the Last Years of Spain in Texas (Dallas, 1939); Francis Bernard Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, I (1903); Harris Gaylord Warren, The Sword Was Their Passport: A History of American Filibustering in the Mexican Revolution (1943).
MAGNY, Louis Xavier, artist, lithographer, publisher. Born, Avignon, France, 1800. Wife born ca. 1822, also in France. Children: Louise (b. 1838, Louisiana), Marie (b. 1850, Louisiana). First listed as lithographer in New Orleans, 1847; brother Risso Magny, born Thore, Vaucluse, France, also artist who produced some lithographic work with his brother; Risso Magny died June 24, 1850; lithographs by X. Magny include sheet music covers, view of St. Louis Cathedral, view of Baton Rouge; known to have lithographed political cartoons and portraits; described as a “spirited caricaturist.” Died, New Orleans, July 15, 1855. P.O. Sources: 1850 Census; obituary, New Orleans Bee, July 16, 1855; obituary, Risso Magny, Louisiana Courier, June 24, 1950; The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987).
MAGRUDER, Allan, U. S. senator. Born in Kentucky, 1775. Education: local schools, studied law. Legal career: admitted to Kentucky bar, 1796; practiced law at Lexington, 1796-ca. 1805; practiced law at Opelousas, La., 1806-1812, 1813-1822. Political career: appointed federal land agent, Opelousas, July 8, 1805; dismissed apparently because of alcoholism, 1806; delegate to constitutional convention, 1812; elected to committee to draft the Louisiana constitution of 1812; was one of two delegates who presented the constitution to the president, 1812. Member, U. S. Senate from November 18, 1812, to March 3, 1813. Died, Opelousas, April 16, 1822. C.A.B. Sources: Charles Gayarré, History of Louisiana, IV (reprint ed., 1974); Clarence E. Carter, ed., The Territorial Papers of the United States, IX (1940); Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896 (1967); Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950).
MAGRUDER, W. H. Nathaniel, educator. Born near Church Hill, Jefferson County, Miss., December 31, 1815; son of James T. Magruder and Elizabeth A. Magruder. Educated at home by parents and private tutor; Jefferson College [preparatory school], Washington, Miss.; Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., graduated 1836. Married, November 22, 1837, Mary Bangs of Hartford, Conn., daughter of Rev. Heman Bangs. Twelve children, six of whom reached maturity, including Benjamin D. (b. 1838), associate justice of Illinois Supreme Court. Cotton planter, Warren County, Miss., 1837-1841. Member, first board of trustees, Centenary College; on original Centenary faculty (professor of Latin and Greek), at Brandon Springs, Miss., 1841-1845, and Jackson, La., 1845-1850. Opened classical preparatory school in Jackson, La., 1850; removed to Baton Rouge, 1855, where (except for 1862-1865) conducted the Collegiate Institute until 1889. Many of his students were later prominent citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi. Elected state superintendent of public instruction, 1861; re-elected 1863. Superintendent of State Institute for the Blind, Baton Rouge, from 1889 until his death. Awarded honorary LL. D., University of Mississippi, 1885. Life-long member, Methodist church; prominent in several benevolent orders in Baton Rouge. Died, Baton Rouge, March 9, 1900; interred Magnolia Cemetery. W.M.D. Sources: W. Magruder Drake, A Short Account of the Life and Character of the Late W. H. N. Magruder, LL.D. … [1913]; Goodspeed Publishing Co., Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892); New Orleans Picayune, March 10, 1900; Baton Rouge Advocate, March 10, 1900; Drake and Magruder family letters.
MAHAFFEY, Thomas Clayton, businessman. Born, New Washington, Pa., May 16, 1858; son of Thomas Mahaffey and Harriet Woodford. Removed to Louisiana in 1885, settled first in Mermentau, then in Jennings in 1886 and opened a general store. Married Lettie F. Wildman, 1887. Children: Raymond J. (b. 1888), Alice Mae (b. 1890), Claire C. (b. 1892). Active in early Jennings city government; member of Congregational church. In 1904 built four-story, 100-room, brick-construction Mahaffey Hotel which was known as the best between Houston and New Orleans on the Southern Pacific Railroad; however, two fires ended its existence, the last of which was in 1917. Engaged in many different enterprises in the Jennings area including general merchandise store, real estate, insurance, and oil. Was a member of corporation connected with drilling and discovery of the first oil in Louisiana in 1901. Died, Jennings, April 13, 1952. T.F.M. Sources: Mahaffey family papers; Jennings Daily News.
MAISOUNABE, Jean-Baptiste Léon, missionary. Born, Diocese of Bayonne, France, May 10, 1805. A priest and professor of theology when he entered the Society of Jesus in 1832. Appointed, May 30, 1847, first superior of the New Orleans Mission of the Lyons Province; wanted New Orleans Mission to be American and tried to insure that schools would not simply be transplanted French colleges. Received a state charter, 1847, for “La Société Catholique d’éducation religieuse et littéraire” which remains in its English form the corporate title of the Jesuit New Orleans province. Bought land, June 1848, on corner of Baronne and Common streets as a site for the Jesuit College of the Immaculate Conception (parent of Jesuit High School), opened February 7, 1849; and Immaculate Conception Church (Jesuits), opened August 15, 1857. Against the advice of Bishop Blanc (q.v.) went to New Orleans, August 1848, to aid the victims of yellow fever; caught fever and died, September 12, 1848. L.A.N. Source: Albert Biever, The Jesuits in New Orleans and the Mississippi Valley (1924).
MALLARD, Prudent Francis, cabinetmaker, merchant. Born, Sèvres, France, 1809; son of Peter Nicholas Mallard of Edinburgh, Scotland, and Michael Louise Oger of Paris, France. Educated in Paris. Immigrated to New York, 1829; settled in New Orleans sometime in 1830s; opened store on Royal Street in 1838. Married, 1838, Augustine Andrée Beltran, daughter of Joseph Beltran and Barbara Barrios Beltran. Moved store 1841, to corner Royal and Bienville streets; said to have owned ships with which he imported mahogany and rosewood from South and Central America and exported his own furniture to Europe. Announced liquidation of business, 1874. Died, August 6, 1879; interred Metairie Cemetery. P.O. Sources: Maud O. Ronstrom, “Seignoret and Mallard, Cabinetmakers,” Antiques, August, 1944; New Orleans Bee, July 24, 1874; Rousseau/Mallard family papers, The Historic New Orleans Collection; Louisiana Courier, March 20, 1837.
MALLARD, Robert Quarterman, clergyman. Born, Walthourville, Liberty County, Ga., September 7, 1830. Education: University of Georgia, B. A., 1850; Columbia Theological Seminary, graduated 1855; D.D., Southwestern Presbyterian University. Married (1) Mary Sharp Jones. Children: Mary J. Mallard, Charles C. Mallard, Mrs. W. K. Seage. Married (2) Ama Witherspoon. Pastorates: Walthourville, Ga., 1856-1863; Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, 1863-1866, during the last year a prisoner-of-war; Prytania Street Presbyterian Church, New Orleans, 1866-1877. This pastorate terminated by illness, upon recovery he became pastor of the Napoleon Avenue Presbyterian Church of New Orleans, 1879-1903. Served as moderator of the Synod of Mississippi at Canton, Miss., 1874. The Synod of Louisiana was not organized until 1901, and the Louisiana churches were included in the Synod of Mississippi until then. He also served as moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the United States meeting at Memphis, Tenn., in 1896, the highest office in the Presbyterian church. Editor of the Southwestern Presbyterian from 1891 until his death. A prolific writer on religious and secular themes. Author of books on plantation life in the old South: Plantation Life Before Emancipation and Montevideo-Maybank: Plantation Life of Charles C. Jones, Sr. Died, March 3, 1904; interred Lafayette Cemetery, New Orleans. W.D.L. Sources: E. C. Scott, Ministerial Directory of the Presbyterian Church, U. S., 1861-1941 (1950); Louis Voss, Presbyterianism in New Orleans (1931); Penrose St. Amant, A History of the Presbyterian Church in Louisiana (1961).
MALLET, Pierre-Antoine, explorer. Born, Montreal, Canada, ca. 1704; son of Pierre Mallet and Madelaine Tuvée Du Fresne. Married Louise Dupré; two sons: Pierre and Antoine. As a young man, Mallet entered the fur trade and resided at Detroit. In 1734, he migrated to the Illinois Country accompanied by his younger brother Paul. In May, 1739, the Mallet brothers and six companions set out from Fort de Chartres, Illinois, to explore an overland route to Santa Fe; following the Missouri River and the South Fork of the Platte River through modern-day Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado, the party reached New Mexico, where they were arrested by Spanish authorities on July 22, 1739. After nine months in custody, the Mallets and their associates were released, and they subsequently made their way to the Arkansas Post, thence to New Orleans. In 1741, Mallet led another expedition to Santa Fe, with André Fabry de la Bruyère (q.v.), but after wintering in present-day Oklahoma the party returned to New Orleans. During the 1740s, Mallet was actively trading at the Arkansas Post. Mallet’s third attempt to reach the interior provinces of New Spain from Louisiana, in 1750, received official sanction from the governor of Louisiana; following the Arkansas River route to Taos, the party reached the Pecos River, where they were arrested in November, 1750; Mallet and three companions were taken to El Paso and subsequently transferred to Mexico City, where they were interrogated in June and July, 1751. Mallet disappears from the historical record while imprisoned in Mexico City, but some accounts suggest that he was later transported to Spain, where he died. R.C.V. Sources: Mallet journal, 1739-1740, Archives Nationales; Pierre Margry, ed., Découvertes et établissement des français dans l’ouest et dans le sud de l’Amérique septentrionale (1886) 4:455-462; Donald J. Blakeslee, Along Ancient Trails. The Mallet Expedition of 1739 (1995).
MALONE, Sister Stanislaus (Catherine), religious, pioneer nurse, educator. Born Catherine Malone, near Marysville, Calif., December 24, 1863; daughter of Francis Malone and Brigid Collins. Raised by Daughters of Charity in Virginia City, Nev. Entered Daughters of Charity on November 15, 1883, at Virginia City; received early professional and religious training at Mount Hope Retreat House and Emmitsburg novitiate in Maryland; received religious habit as a Daughter of Charity in May, 1884. Assigned briefly to St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore before her assignment to Charity Hospital in New Orleans, September 10, 1884. Made first profession of vows on November 21, 1888. Among Charity Hospital’s first graduation class of nurses, December 12, 1895, and one of the state’s early registered nurses. Studied operating room techniques under Dr. Nicholas Senn in Chicago. Named supervisor of Charity’s operating rooms, 1889. Served as Sister Servant (superior) of Charity Hospital community of Daughters of Charity, 1914-1944. Influential in establishment of Charity’s school of anesthesia, 1916, and affiliation of school of nursing with Louisiana State University, 1932. Recipient of honorary doctorate of science from Loyola University, July 30, 1936, and Times-Picayune Loving Cup, January 13, 1945, for her humanitarian work for the needy and indigent and her contribution to the development of Charity Hospital. Died, Charity Hospital, June 8, 1949; interred Soniat Cemetery, New Orleans. C.E.N. Sources: Eddie Doherty, Sister Stanislaus: A Nun with a Gun (1960); Sister Vincentine Lancaster, D.C., Katie Malone (1963); Archives of the Daughters of Charity, Marillac Provincial House, St. Louis, Missouri (information courtesy of Sister Patricia Garland, D.C.); Catholic Action of the South, August 6, 1936, June 9, 1949.
MALONE, Wex S., attorney, educator. Born, Asheville, N.C., November 17, 1906. Married Helen L. Jeffress; two children. Education: B. A., University of North Carolina, 1928; juris doctor, University of North Carolina, 1931; L.L.M., Harvard University, where he was a recipient of the Sidney Fairchild Scholarship, 1933. Taught law at the University of Mississippi, 1931-1932, 1935-1939. Member, legal department, Irving Trust Company, 1933-1934; associate, Reed, Hoyt, and Washburn law firm, 1934-1935. Joined the Louisiana State University Law School faculty in 1939. Faculty editor of the Mississippi Law Journal and the Louisiana Law Review. Worked as senior attorney, Federal public housing program, 1942-1945. Nationally recognized as a leading authority in the field of torts. The Louisiana legal profession considered his book, Louisiana Workmens Compensation Law and Practice (1951) as the definitive work on this controversial subject. Revised editions of the work, entitled Workmens Compensation Law and Practice, were issued in 1980 and 1994. Published Torts in a Nutshell Injuries to Family Social and Trade Relations in 1979. Cases and Materials on Workers’ Compensation and Employment Rights appeared in 1980. Educational honors: received the American Trial Lawyers Association Award of Merit for scholarly contributions in the fields of personal injury and workmen’s compensation, 1964; awarded the first Distinguished Faculty Fellowship by the Louisiana State University Foundation, 1965; named Boyd Professor of Law, 1966; recipient, Award of Distinction, University of North Carolina Law School, 1969; recipient, William L. Prosser Award, 1976. Organizational honors: president, Association of American Law Schools, 1967; president, Order of the Coif (national legal honor society), 1963-1966; chairman, Torts Round Table Division of the Association of American Law Schools; first chairman, Southern Law Review Conference. Visiting professor at University of Southern California (1951), Stanford University (1955-1956), Rutgers University (1952-1953), Northwestern University, University of Texas, University of Chicago, University of California, and the University of Michigan. C.A.B. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, May 10, 1974; Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate, November 21, 1976; Baton Rouge State Times, December 30, 1966; Directory of American Scholars, 6th ed. (1974): 4:274.
MALONEY, Paul Herbert, congressman, businessman. Born, New Orleans, February 14, 1876; son of Patrick Joseph Maloney and Margaret Delap (Woods). Education: local public schools; Mrs. Ashe’s Private School, Pass Christian, Miss. Member of the Louisiana National Guard, 1895-1898. Married, December 20, 1899, Adaline Gertrude Lecourt. Two children: Paul Herbert and Margaret Delap (Mrs. Fernand C. Gandolfo, Jr.). Business career: Employed as an office boy for a drayage company, 1893; president of the company, 1916; prominent New Orleans businessman for half a century; involved with a linen supply company, headed his own trucking and storage company and automobile dealership. Active in New Orleans Democratic politics; member, Louisiana house of representatives, 1914-1916; member of the New Orleans Levee Board, 1917-1920; member of New Orleans Democratic political machine, Old Regulars; city commissioner of public utilities, 1920-1925. Narrowly defeated by Martin Behrman (q.v.) in city mayoral election of 1924; supported Huey Long (q.v.) in run-off for governor in 1928; delegate to Democratic National conventions in 1924, 1928, 1932, and 1936; served as a Democrat in United States House of Representatives, 1931-1940; resigned to become United States Internal Revenue collector for New Orleans district, 1941-1942; administrator, United States Savings Bonds, state of Louisiana, 1941-1942; elected to the Seventy-eighth and Seventh-ninth congresses, 1943-1947; first Louisiana congressional delegate to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee; re-entered private business. Member: Episcopal church; Mason (past potentate of Jerusalem Temple); Elks Club; New Orleans Trades Association. Died, New Orleans, March 26, 1967; interred Metairie Cemetery. L.V. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Hodding Carter, ed., The Past as Prelude: New Orleans, 1718-1968 (1968); obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 27, 1967; Who Was Who in America, V; T. Harry Williams, Huey Long (1969).
MANAGAN, William Henry, lumberman, church leader, philanthropist. Born, Tioga County, Pa., September 22, 1864; son of Thomas Jefferson Managan and Harriet Bisby. Education: local schools; Mansfield State Normal, Mansfield, Pa. Taught in Tioga County schools. Removed to Orange, Tex., 1888, clerk in lumber mill. Removed to Westlake, La., 1889, employee lumber company. Married, October 2, 1889, Matilda East, of Williamsport, Pa., daughter, John Calhoun East and Lucy Henderson Satterlee. Children: W. H., Jr. (b. 1894), Clarence (b. 1895), Ralph (b. 1897), Luther (b. 1901), Lucille (b. 1904). With partner acquired employer’s lumber company, 1906. Removed to Lake Charles, 1920s. Member: Baptist church; active Louisiana Baptist Convention, president, 1911-1912; active Southern Baptist Convention; trustee, past president Louisiana College board; trustee Baptist Bible Institute, 1917-1934; Irish Historical Society; past president, Lake Charles Rotary Club; Calcasieu Deep-Water Committee; director, Peavy-Byrnes, Peavy-Wilson and Peavy-Moore Lumber Companies, Shreveport, La.; director, Murray Brooks Hardware Co., Lake Charles. Pioneer in promoting Calcasieu Parish school system. Died, Lake Charles, May 20, 1934; interred Magnolia Cemetery, Westlake, La. G.S.P. Sources: Lake Charles American Press, May 21, 1934; “Baptist Builders in Louisiana” (1934); Managan family papers.
MANN, James, congressman. Born, Gorham, Me., June 22, 1822. Political career: member, Maine house of representatives, 1849-1850; member, Maine senate, 1851-1853; treasurer, Cumberland County, Me., 1862-1863; later customhouse official, Portland, Me.; treasury agent, New Orleans, 1867-1868; seated in the House of Representatives as a member from Louisiana, July 18, 1868. Civil War service: major serving as paymaster, Union Army. Died, New Orleans, August 26, 1868; interred Eastern Cemetery, Gorham, Me. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, August 27, 1868; Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); Joe Gray Taylor, Louisiana Reconstructed (1974); Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896 (1967).
MANN, William D., merchant, politician. Born in Ohio in 1815. Lived in Iowa before removing to antebellum Baton Rouge, where he became a fairly prosperous ice merchant. Opposed secession and did not serve in the Confederate service. In 1864, was elected to the state constitutional convention, where he headed the Committee on General Provisions. A few months later he was elected by an almost unanimous vote, 1,900 out of 2,000 votes, from the Third District to the U. S. Congress. Congress, however, refused to seat the delegation from the occupied areas of Louisiana. During the war, he became a Republican and supported emancipation of the slaves and the education of blacks. He continued his backing of the party after the war and in 1869 was appointed assessor of Internal Revenue at Mobile, Ala. J.A.B. Sources: Manuscript Census Returns, Baton Rouge, 1860; Peyton McCrary, Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction: The Louisiana Experiement (1978); John D. Barnhard, ed., “Reconstruction on the Lower Mississippi,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review (1934); American Year Book, 1869 (1869).
MANNING, Thomas Courtland, lawyer, politician, jurist. Born, Edenton, N. C., September 14, 1825; son of Joseph Manning and Sarah Houghton Long. Educated in Edenton public schools; University of North Carolina; studied law. Married Mary Louisa Blair, January 18, 1848. Children: three daughters, one son. Military service in the Confederate Army, rising from rank of lieutenant to that of brigadier general. School teacher in Edenton; law practice, Edenton, 1848-1855; law practice, Alexandria, La., 1855-1861, 1865-1872. Member, Louisiana secession convention, 1861; appointed adjutant-general of Louisiana, 1863; associate justice, Louisiana Supreme Court, 1864-1865, 1882-1886; appointed U. S. senator by W. P. Kellogg (q.v.), 1876, not recognized; chief justice, Louisiana Supreme Court, 1877-1880; envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Mexico from August 30, 1886, to September 21, 1887. Active in the Democratic party; delegate Louisiana State Democratic Convention, 1872; presidential elector, 1872 and 1880; delegate to Democratic National Convention, 1876. Honorary LL.D., University of North Carolina, 1878; trustee of Peabody Educational Fund. Died, New York, October 11, 1887; interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. T.D.S. Sources: Dictionary of American Biography, XII; National Cyclopedia of American Biography, IV; Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, I (1892; reprint ed., 1975); James M. Callahan, American Policy in Mexican Relations (1932); U. S. Dept. of State, United States Chiefs of Mission, 1778-1973 (1973).
MANOUVRIER, George Philippe, composer of music. Brother of Julius Manouvrier (q.v.); became partner of Emile Johns, Emile Johns & Co. “for the sale of Stationery, Music, Piano Fortes and all kinds of Musical Instruments,” 1830. Later became U. S. ambassador to Pernambuco. P.O. Sources: 1840 Census; Louisiana Courier, December 14, 1830; Opelousas Daily World, October 3, 1982; Report of the Eleventh Congress, Copenhagen, 1972, Vol. I.
MANOUVRIER, Julius, lithographer. Born, Bremen, Prussia, February 10, 1816; son of Pierre Joseph Manouvrier. Wife Josephine (b. 1824), native of Indiana. Children: Charlotte (b. 1853), Josephine (b. 1858), Paul (b. 1859), Julia (b. 1863). Arrived in New Orleans in 1835; established lithographic business, 1837; in business until ca. 1872; partnerships included François Chavin, ca. 1842-1844, Perez Snell, ca. 1846-1852, John Boehler, ca. 1861-1865, and Dionis Simon, 1864-1876; first known lithograph published New Orleans City Directory for 1838; known for producing maps and views of New Orleans. Died, New Orleans, August 23, 1875. P.O. Sources: 1860 Census; 1870 Census; obituary, New Orleans Daily Picayune, August 24, 1875; Opelousas Daily World, October 3, 1982; The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987).
MANSHIP, Charles Phelps, journalist. Born, McComb, Miss., November 28, 1881; son of Belmont Phelps and Luther Manship. Began newspaper career as college correspondent for the Jackson, Miss., Daily News while a student at Millsaps College; worked as a reporter for the Jackson paper in 1899; city editor, 1902-1905. Married Leora Douthit of Anderson, S. C., November 9, 1904. Children: Charles P., Jr., and Douglas. Removed to Baton Rouge, and worked as city editor for the Baton Rouge Times, 1905-1909. Associate editor and business manager, Baton Rouge State-Times, 1909-1917; editor and publisher, 1917-1947; publisher of Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, 1925-1947; owned two Baton Rouge broadcasting stations: WJBO established in 1933 and WBRL established in 1941. Director, Louisiana and Arkansas Railroad; Gulf States Utilities; Baton Rouge Broadcasting Company, Louisiana Fire Insurance Company; president of Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, 1941-1943; delegate-at-large to Democratic National Convention, 1924; area director, American Red Cross Flood Relief, 1927; associate director of the United States Office of Censorship in London, England, 1944; director, American Newspaper Publishers Association, 1944; member Kappa Alpha fraternity, the Elks, and Rotary club. Organized the charitable organization, Good Fellows. Died, January 27, 1947; interred Magnolia Cemetery, Baton Rouge. J.B.C. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, obituary, January 28, 1947; Who Was Who in America (1950).
MANSHIP, Charles Phelps, Jr., newspaper owner/publisher/editor, television and radio pioneer. Born, Baton Rouge, August 13, 1908; son of Charles Manship, Sr. (q.v.), and Leora Douthit. Married Paula Garvey, August 27, 1938. Education: attended Sewanee Military Academy and Louisiana State University, before receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri, 1930; M. B. A., Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1932. Career: worked in New Orleans as a reporter for the Baton Rouge State-Times and as an advertising assistant, with the New Orleans Times-Picayune, 1932-1934; returned to Baton Rouge to work in the advertising department of the State-Times and Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, 1934; Manship worked at various positions for his family’s two Baton Rouge newspapers for the rest of his life, except for a stint in the United States Navy during World War II, 1942-1945. Manship served as the papers’ general manager, 1938-42 and became the papers’ publisher upon his father’s death in 1947. He was also a fixture at the family’s radio and television stations; he helped establish radio station WJBO in December, 1934 and was later instrumental in the founding of television station WBRZ. Manship was secretary-treasurer for the Baton Rouge Broadcasting Company and the Louisiana Television Corporation; president of Capital City Press; director of the International Trade Mart, Gulf States Utilities, Louisiana National Bank, Capital Building and Loan company; advisory board member, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. Member: Kappa Alpha fraternity, East Baton Rouge Library Commission, the International House, Baton Rouge and New Orleans Rotary clubs, Baton Rouge Country Club, Baton Rouge City Club, Country Club of Louisiana, Boston Club, Society of Professional Journalists; president, Southern Newspaper Publishers Association; chairman, East Baton Rouge chapter, American Red Cross. Honors: honorary alumnus of Tulane University, 1966; Pete Goldsby Award from the Baton Rouge Advertising Group, 1974; Good Citizenship Award from the Daughter of the American Revolution, 1976; Presidents’ Award from the L.S.U. Foundation, 1984; honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from L.S.U., 1986; elected to the L.S.U. Alumni Hall of Distinction, 1988. A generous benefactor of Louisiana State University, the university’s Manship School of Mass Communication was named in his honor. Died, Baton Rouge, September 14, 1994; interred, Magnolia Cemetery, Baton Rouge, La. J.D.W. Sources: Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, volume 10 (1967-68); Baton Rouge Advocate, September 15, 1994.
MANY, Anna, educator. Born, New Orleans, April 1, 1886; daughter of John L. Many and Elizabeth Estelle Conover. Education: Newcomb College, B. A. degree, 1907; Phi Beta Kappa, 1907; Tulane University, M. A. degree, 1913; Tulane University, honorary LL. D., 1955. Professor of Mathematics, Newcomb College. Served in Europe with Newcomb Relief Unit, 1919; counselor to women, 1921-1951; dean of Newcomb College, 1951-1953; only graduate of Newcomb College to serve as dean. Anna Many Lounge in Newcomb Women’s Center dedicated March 12, 1976; portrait in lounge painted by Ella M. Wood. Died, New Orleans, September 15, 1976. L.C.H. Sources: John P. Dyer, Tulane: The Biography of a University, 1834-1965 (1966); Mrs. Peter W. Many, interview; Office of Alumnae Affairs, Newcomb College; Mrs. W. Randolph Page, interview.
MARAVICH, Peter Press “Pistol Pete,” athlete. Born June 22, 1947, Aliquippa, Pa.; son of Press Maravich and Helen Gravor Montini. Came to Louisiana State University with father who coached basketball there, 1967-1972. At time of death, still held sixteen NCAA records established during his varsity career, 1968-1970, and was the all-time college basketball scoring leader with 3,667 points in 83 games. He had one of the top-ten career scoring averages (24.2) in NBA history while playing with the Atlanta Hawks (1971-1974), New Orleans Jazz (1975-1979), Utah Jazz (1980), and Boston Celtics (1980). Married Jackie Elliser of Baton Rouge. Children: Jaeson and Joshua. In 1982, Maravich became a born-again Christian, and spent the last five years of his life speaking about his faith and running basketball camps that emphasized faith as well as the sport. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, May 5, 1987. Died, Pasadena, Calif., January 5, 1988; interred Resthaven Garden of Memory, Baton Rouge. H.C. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, January 6, 1988; State Times, January 9, 1988; Pete Maravich and Darrel Campbell, Heir to a Dream (1987); Bill Gutman, Pistol Pete Maravich (1972); Who’s Who in Basketball.
MARCELLO, Carlos (born Calogero Minacori), Mafia boss, “tomato salesman.” Born in Tunisia, February 6. 1910; son of Scilians Giuseppe Minacori and Luigia Farrugia Minacori (names later anglicized to Joseph and Louise Marcello). His father worked on a sugar plantation below New Orleans at the time of his son’s birth, then sent for his family eight months later. Family settled in Algiers, La., across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, where the family grew vegetables to support themselves. Marcello moved into a two dollar a week apartment in the French Quarter at age eighteen. Plotted a grocery store robbery which was to finance a later bank robbery, 1929-30. Was the only subject arrested and convicted of the grocery store robbery despite not being present at the crime, May, 1930. Sentenced to nine-to-fourteen years of hard labor at Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola); paroled and pardoned by Gov. O. K. Allen (q.v.) at the request of a state legislator, after having served only four years. After working for one year with his father, Marcello opened a bar in Gretna, La., and a liquor store in Algiers. Arrested with four others for selling twenty-three pounds of marijuana to an undercover federal agent, March, 1938. Plead guilty and sentenced to one year and one day; served sentence in the federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga. Went to work for the Jefferson Music Company, a distributor of jukeboxes, pinball machines, pool tables, and illegal slot machines, 1939. In the early 1940s Marcello became connected with New York City mobster Frank Costello, and in 1945 the two opened the swank Beverly Country Club, which operated three dice tables, three roulette wheel and a number of slot machines. Marcello opened a second casino, the Old Southport, in 1948. On April 30, 1947, Silvestro “Silver Dollar Sam” Corollo, the alleged mob boss of New Orleans, was deported from the United States and it was decided five days later that Marcello would take over as head of the New Orleans operation. Marcello appeared before the United States Congress as part of a 1951 investigation into organized crime, repeatedly taking the fifth amendment, for which he was convicted of Contempt of Congress and sentenced to six months in federal prison. An appeals court overturned that conviction, but a change in emigration laws made his earlier marijuana conviction a deportable offense. It took eight more years, but three months after Robert Kennedy was sworn in as attorney general of the United States, Marcello was deported to Guatemala, April 4, 1961; returned after only two months, under mysterious circumstances. Continuous attempts have been made to link Marcello to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, but no direct evidence of involvement has ever surfaced. In the fall of 1966, Marcello was arrested along with twelve others Mafia figures while at lunch in New York city and charged with consorting with known criminals; subsequently acquitted. When he returned from New York he allegedly struck a federal agent at the New Orleans airport, an offense for which he eventually served six months in the Federal Medical Center at Springfield, Mo. Subsequently lived a quiet life until he was charged with and convicted of attempting to bribe a federal judge in the Louisiana “Brilab” investigations, 1981. Began a ten-year sentence in federal prison, 1985; his conviction was overturned in 1989. “Retired” after his release from prison. Over his lifetime, Marcello amassed lifetime land holdings in Jefferson and St. Charles parishes valued at over thirty million dollars, a remarkable legacy for a self-described “tomato salesman.” Died, Metairie, La., March 2, 1994; interred in an undisclosed location. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 3, 1993; Damon Barbat, “Carlos Marcello : An Analysis of a Career in Organized Crime” (Ph.D. dissertation, Sam Houston University, 1982).
MARCHAND, Sidney Albert, attorney, author. Born, Geismar, La., December 5, 1887; son of John Alcide Marchand and Lorena Gertrude Carver. Education: Louisiana State University School of Law. Married, Alexandria, La., 1916, Mary Edward. Three children: one son, two daughters. Elected as state representative, 1912. Served second term in state house of representatives, 1928-1933, at the same time serving as mayor of Donaldsonville, La. Served a second time as mayor when named to fill the unexpired term of his son, Sidney Marchand, Jr., who died in 1956. Author of many books, several on Ascension Parish and several on genealogy. Died, Donaldsonville, March 16, 1972. A.D.F. Sources: Genealogical Research Society of New Orleans; Donaldsonville Chief.
MARCIACQ, Jean Louis, editor, publisher. This mysterious Frenchman, was possibly an exile from turmoil and revolution in France and/or the French Caribbean. First appears in Louisiana records as founder, with free man of color Armand Lanusse, and publisher of L’Album Littéraire: Journal de jeunes gens, amateurs de littérature (New Orleans, 1843), a short-lived journal of works mostly by free men of color. Marciacq directed a school for free black children in New Orleans during the 1840s. Operated a printshop at the corner of St. Anne and Condé streets, ca. 1845. Published Les Cenelles, Louisiana’s first printed collection of African American poetry, 1845. Co-owned, published, and edited at Donaldsonville, La., Le Vigilant, a daily French-language Whig newspaper. The paper actually began publication on September 28, 1845 and it is probable that Marciacq and J. N. Terrio were the founders. Marciacq bought out his partner, Terrio, August 8, 1849. From his editorials we know Marciacq was a Whig who urged Louisiana planters to diversify crops, promoted higher taxes to fund public schools for the poor, advocated flood relief, and although vehemently anticlerical, aspired to be a churchwarden. The state charged Marciacq with libel, February 19, 1850; found not guilty, November, 1850. Marciacq became a naturalized United States citizen under the jurisdiction of the court before which he was accused of libel, February, 23, 1950. Marciacq was once again administering a school in New Orleans during the early 1850s. Edited Le Pilote de Plaquemines, a weekly bilingual (French and English) newspaper around 1858. Abandoned journalism and operated a small spice store in New Orleans, 1858. Little more is known of this elusive champion of French Romanticism. J.D.W. Sources: Edward Laroque Tinker, Les Ecrits de Langue Française en Louisiane (Paris, 1932); Tinker, Bibliography of French Newspapers and Periodical in Louisiana (1933); Caryn Cossé Bell, Revolution, Romanticism, and the Afro-Creole Protest Tradition in Louisiana, 1718-1868 (1997); Florence M. Jumonville, Bibliography of New Orleans Imprints, 1764-1864 (1989); Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXXI (1948), pp. 981-994; Ascension Parish Civil Records, Collection #P88-240, series #41, “Minute Book of the Forth Judicial Court (1845-1859),” Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge, La.
MARGIL DE JESUS, Antonio, mission founder. Born, Valencia, Spain, August 18, 1657. Entered the Franciscan order, April 22, 1673. Volunteered for mission service among Indians of America, arriving in Vera Cruz, June 6, 1683; stationed at the College of Santa Cruz de Queretaro. Preached and founded missions in Yucatán, Costa Rica, and Guatemala and named the Apostle of Guatemala. Appointed first guardian of the new missionary college of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas in 1706. Accompanied Domingo Ramón expedition to Texas and Louisiana in 1716, founding six missions, five in Texas and San Miguel de Linares de los Adaes, near present-day Robeline, La. Died, Mexico City, August 6, 1726. A.P.M. Sources: C. E. Castañeda, Our Catholic Heritage, II (1936); William H. Oberste, The Restless Friar, Venerable Fray Antonio Margil de Jesus, Missionary to the Americas (1970).
MARIGNY DE MANDEVILLE, Bernard Xavier Philippe de, planter, land developer, politician. Born, New Orleans, October 28, 1785; son of Pierre Philippe Enguerrand de Marigny de Mandeville and Jeanne Marie d’Estréhan des Tours. Aide-de-camp to Gov. William C. C. Claiborne (q.v.) during Battle of New Orleans. Married (1), May 28, 1804, Mary Ann Jones, daughter of Evan Jones and Marie Verret. Married (2), 1810, Anna Mathilde Morales, daughter of the former Spanish intendant, Juan Ventura Morales (q.v.). Children: (first marriage), Gustave Adolph and Prosper François, husband of Céleste d’Estréhan; (second marriage), Jean Bernard Xavier (q.v.), husband of Sophronia Claiborne, daughter of the governor; Marie Rosa (b. 1813), wife of Francisco Sentmanat; Marie Angela (b. 1817), wife of the Swiss consul, Frederick Jean Peschier; Armand; and Mathilde (b. 1820), wife of Albin Michel de Grilleaud, son of the French consul. Subdivided his plantation in New Orleans in 1806, creating the Faubourg Marigny. During 1820s acquired land in St. Tammany Parish, adjoining his family plantation, Fontainebleau. Subdivided this property, 1834, and sold off the lots to form the town of Mandeville. Served on the New Orleans city council, 1812-1835; the Third Municipality council, 1836-1840 and 1842-1843; in the Louisiana senate, 1818-1821; member, Louisiana constitutional conventions, 1812 and 1845; Orleans Parish register of conveyances, 1843-1855. Candidate for governor, 1824 and 1828. Credited with introducing the game of craps to America. Author of Reflexions sur la campagne du General André Jackson en Louisiane (1848) and Thoughts upon the Foreign Policy of the United States (1854). Died, New Orleans, February 3, 1868; interred St. Louis Cemetery I. Memorialized by Marigny and Mandeville streets, St. Bernard Avenue, Mandeville, La., and Fontainebleau State Park. W.E. Sources: Michel V. DeJan [Ialeske-Chata], Mandeville (A Historical Compendium) (1918); Samuel Wilson, Jr. et al., New Orleans Architecture, vol. IV, The Creole Faubourgs (1974); Stanley C. Arthur, ed., Old Families of Louisiana (1931); Work Projects Administration, comp., Administrations of the Mayors of New Orleans (1940); Edward L. Tinker, The Palingenesis of Craps (1933); Adrian D. Schwartz, Sesquicentennial in St. Tammany (1963); Jane Lucas DeGrummond, “Cayetana Susana Bosque y Fangui, ‘A Notable Woman,'” Louisiana History, XXIII (1982).
MARIGNY DE MANDEVILLE, Jean Bernard Xavier de, planter, soldier. Born, New Orleans, 1811; son of Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville (q.v.) and Mathilde Morales, daughter of Juan Ventura Morales (q.v.). Graduated, French military academy at St. Cyr. Lieutenant in French cavalry; fought a duel, retired, and returned to the United States. Operated father’s plantation. Married Sophronia Claiborne, daughter of Gov. W. C. C. Claiborne (q.v.) and Cayetana Susana Bosque y Fangui (q.v.). Three children. Commissioned colonel, Tenth Louisiana Infantry Regiment, July 22, 1861; resigned, July 23, 1862. Returned to planting after the war. Died, 1890. A.W.B. Source: Grace King, Creole Families of New Orleans (New Orleans, 1921); Jane Lucas DeGrummond, “Cayetana Susana Bosque y Fangui, ‘A Notable Woman,'” Louisiana History, XXIII (1982).
MARKS, Samuel Fleming, soldier, politician. Born in Georgia, 1804. Removed to Louisiana at early age and settled near St. Francisville. Raised a company of volunteers in East and West Feliciana parishes and fought in Florida in the war against the Seminole Indians. Rose to rank of major. Served, 1846, in the United States Army in its war with Mexico, attaining the rank of colonel. From 1850 to 1856 held the office of state auditor. In 1856 he was appointed postmaster of the city of New Orleans. Served with the Confederate Army from the onset of the Civil War until its close, thereafter made home in Morgan City and Franklin, La. Elected mayor of Morgan City, taking office in January 1867 and serving for two years in that post. One son, Frank, by his first wife whom he married in St. Francisville. By second wife, a daughter, Kate, who became Mrs. Farley O’Brien of Morgan City. In 1860 married Ledocia Aubun and they had three children: Samuel, who drowned at age 12, Molly who became Mrs. Bettison, and Lucy, who married George Watkins of Berwick, La. Died, Morgan City, October 11, 1871; interred Willow Grove Cemetery, Berwick.. L.K.L. Sources: Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXV (1942); XXVI (1943); Bowman family papers, Morgan City Archives.
MARMILLION, Edmond B., planter, builder of San Francisco plantation house. Born, St. John the Baptist Parish, La., March 12, 1803; son of Françoise Haydel and Pierre Marmillion. Married his first cousin, Jeanne Antoinette Bonzonier Marmillion in New Orleans. Children: Pierre Edmond, Antoine Valsin, and Charles. Died at his plantation in St. John the Baptist Parish, March 3, 1856; interred St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Cemetery, Edgard, La. M.G.K. Source: Henry W. Krotzer, Jr., Restoration of San Francisco; family notes of Norman Marmillion.
MARQUETTE, Jacques, clergyman, explorer, missionary. Born, Laon, France, June 1, 1637; son of Nicolas and Rose de la Salle Marquette; studied for novitiate, Nancy, France, 1655; studied philosophy at Pont-à -Mousson, 1656-1657. Arrived in America, 1666; became Roman Catholic missionary among Ottawa Indians in French colony of Quebec. Active among Huron and Illinois tribes, 1666-1671; wintered among Indians at Sault Ste. Marie, 1668-1669; founded mission of St. Ignace on Straits of Mackinac, 1671; explored Mississippi River with Louis Joliet (q.v.) as far south as mouth of Arkansas River, 1672-1673. At mission of St. Francis Xavier at De Père, 1673-1674; moved to Kaskaskia, Ill., 1675; died on way back to Sault Ste. Marie. Several cities and counties, a railroad, a university named in his honor. Died near mouth of Marquette River, May 18, 1675; interred St. Ignace Mission on the north shore of Straits of Mackinac. J.B.C. Source: Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896 (1967).
MARQUIS, Pierre, major conspirator in the Revolt of 1768. Born, Neufchâtel, Switzerland, ca. 1725; son of Rodolphe Marquis of Neufchâtel and Marie Louise Rognor of Verrières, Switzerland. Educated in Switzerland, he entered military service, became lieutenant in the Fourth Company of Halwill’s Swiss Regiment; assigned to Louisiana. Married, 1762, Constance Volante, daughter of Grégoire Volante, a former captain in the Swiss Regiment, and Marthe Chauvin, a native of St. Louis. Marquis used his wife’s share of her father’s estate to purchase a large plantation south of New Orleans in partnership with his brother-in-law, Pascalis de la Barre (q.v.). On October 29, 1768, the French Superior Council promoted Marquis to the rank of colonel and gave him command of two companies of German and Swiss militia. Following the expulsion of Ulloa (q.v.), Marquis was elected to the expanded French Superior Council. It was Marquis, along with Julien Jérôme Doucet (q.v.), who may have been the author of the seditious “Memorial to the Inhabitants of Louisiana.” Marquis advocated the creation of an independent republic for Louisiana. Accused and convicted of being a major conspirator in the 1768 revolt, Marquis was executed by a firing squad, October 25, 1769. His wife remained in Louisiana later marrying Chevalier Vincent de Morant. B.C. Sources: Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXIII (1940); Acts of Andrés Almonester y Roxas, Book 2, p. 39, Orleans Parish Notarial Archives; J. Preston Moore, Revolt in Louisiana (1976); Bill Barron, The Vaudreuil Papers (1975).
MARRERO, John, jazz musician. Born, New Orleans, ca. 1897; son of William Marrero and Jeannette Frazier. Father, Billy, and brothers, Lawrence (q.v.), Eddie, and Simon (q.v.) were also musicians. Played guitar and piano; speciality, banjo. Played with original Tuxedo Orchestra during the early 1920s, also with Sam Morgan, Buddy Petit, and A. J. Piron. Went to New York with Joe “King” Oliver (q.v.), ca. 1929. Died, New York, ca. 1940-1941. J.F.T. Soruces: Al Rose and Edward Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album (1984); unpublished material, Tulane Jazz Archive.
MARRERO, Lawrence Henry, jazz musician. Born, New Orleans, October 24, 1900; son of William Marrero and Jeannette Frazier. Born into a musical family, learned especially from father and older brother, John (q.v.). Played string bass, bass drums in parades, guitar and especially banjo. Began playing professionally at seventeen; worked with Wooden Joe Nicholas, Paul Barnes, Kid Rena, Chris Kelly, Buddy Petit, John Robechaux, Bush Hall. Recorded with Bunk Johnson (q.v.). Toured with the George Lewis Ragtime Jazz Band, 1935-1955. Married, Elouise Butler. At least six children: Myrtle, Elouise, Janet, Alice, Paul, Lawrence Henry, Jr. Died, New Orleans, June 6, 1959; interred Mt. Olivet Cemetery. J.F.T. Sources: John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street (1972); Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album (1984); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, June 8, 1959; unpublished material, Tulane University Jazz Archive.
MARRERO, Simon, jazz musician. Born, New Orleans, ca. 1897; son of William Marrero and Jeannette Frazier. Musical family included father, Billy, and brothers, John (q.v.), Lawrence (q.v.), and Eddie. Played bass drum, helicon, sousaphone; speciality, string bass. Played with Kid Rena’s band, early 1920’s; also with Buddy Petit and A. J. Piron; recorded, 1927, with original Tuxedo Orchestra of Papa Celestin (q.v.). Played with Joe “King” Oliver (q.v.) in New York early 1930s. J.F.T. Sources: Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album (1984); unpublished material, Tulane University Jazz Archive.
MARSHALL, Henry, planter, Confederate congressÂman. Born, Darlington District, S. C., 1805; son of Adam Marshall and Mary Gregg. He and his descendants played a significant role in the development of the Shreveport area, especially during the nineteenth century. Attended Union College and while an underclassman there walked from Philadelphia to Society Hill, S. C. Removed to Louisiana in the 1830s and settled in DeSoto Parish where he developed his plantation, Land’s End. A member of the Louisiana senate and also a member of the state secession convention. He was a member of the provisional congress and the first regular congress of the Confederate States of America. Married, May 16, 1832, Maria Harriet Taylor. Children: Mary T., Thomas T., Henry A., William M., Maria, Sarah, Fanny, Emma, and Martha. Died, July 13, 1864. P.L.M. Source: Marshall-Furman Manuscript Collection, Louisiana State University-Shreveport Archives.
MARSTON, Bulow Ward, planter. Born Clinton, La., November 10, 1841; son of Henry Marston and Abbie F. Johnson. Education: private schools in Clinton; Kentucky Military Institute, Frankfort. In school when Civil War began, but organized a company at Memphis and became its captain; wounded at Shiloh and was sent to Shreveport where he served on the staff of Gen. E. Kirby-Smith (q.v.). Settled on Ashland Plantation after the war where he lived for fifteen years; lived on Star Point Plantation for thirty years and then on Ninock Plantation. Was a leader in the fight against the boll weevil; served in the state senate for four years; owned steamboats and fought high rates on cotton shipping from Shreveport to New Orleans. Married (1), 1867, Mary Josephine Morse, daughter of Peabody A. Morse and Virginia Sompayrac. Married (2), September 10, 1891, Mattie Owens. Children surviving him: James Marston, B. W. Marston, Jr., and Mrs. Abbie McClellan. Died, June 13, 1917. P.L.M. Source: Author’s research.
MARTEL, Barthélemy Amédée, judge. Born, St. Landry Parish, October 7, 1814, son of Marie Louise Chachere and Barthélemy Martel of St.-Domingue. Married (1) Elise Fontenot (d. 1842), October 14, 1841; married (2) Eleonore Chachere (d. 1868), February 12, 1850; married (3) Emma Boutte, November 5, 1868. With John A. Spence, who was the editor and publisher, founded the Calcasieu Press , June of 1855. Fifteenth judicial district judge, 1857-1864. During the Civil War, Martel was a Union sympathizer, and in late March 1864, he was asked by Federal Major Gen. William B. Franklin to gather “a large body of men known as jayhawkers—more than 1,000.” Died, February 5, 1900. N.P.W. Sources: Carl A. Brasseaux, “Ozémé Carrière and the St. Landry Jayhawkers, 1863-1865,” Attakapas Gazette XIII (1978); Donald J. Hebert, ed., Southwest Louisiana Records: Church and Civil Records I (1974); II (1974); IV (1976); V (1976); VIII (1977); XXXI (1983); William Henry Perrin, ed., Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical (1891).
MARTEL, Louis J. Alphonse, clergyman. Born, St. Romuald, Quebec, Canada, September 28, 1884; son of John Baptist Martel and Mathilde Chartre. Education: local schools; Villanova Prep School, Villanova, Pa.; St. Monica International Augustinian College, Rome, Italy. Ordained Augustinian priest, Rome, Italy, 1913. Removed to Chicago, Ill., 1913, teacher, St. Rita High School, 1913-1918. Removed to Muscle Shoals, Ala., 1918, chemist, U. S. nitrate plant, 1918-1920. Removed to Villanova, Pa., 1920, chemistry lab instructor, Villanova College, 1920-1922. Removed to San Diego, Calif., 1922, founder and teacher, St. Augustine High School, 1922-1926. Removed to Opelousas, La., 1926, assistant pastor, St. Landry Church, 1926. Removed to Iota, La., 1927, pastor, St. Joseph’s Church, 1927-1933. Removed to Eunice, La., 1933, pastor, St. Anthony’s Church, 1933-1955. Named domestic prelate, 1940. Removed to Quebec, 1956. Died, Quebec, December 7, 1959; interred St. Romuald, Province of Quebec. J.L.F. Sources: Donald J. Hebert, History of St. Anthony Parish, Eunice, Louisiana, 1902-1983 (1983); obituary, Eunice News, December 10, 1959.
MARTIN, François Xavier, jurist, historian, businessman. Born, Marseilles, France, March 17, 1762. Educated at home by the family priest who taught him Latin, Italian, and English. Entered his uncle’s business in Martinique; the business failed after the uncle returned to France. Aged 20 and destitute, went to Newbern, N. C., and became a printer’s helper, then published his own newspaper, school books, and journals of the general assembly. Learned and practiced the law under William Gaston, congressman and North Carolina supreme court justice, and published a history of North Carolina in 1827, seventeen years after leaving the state. Appointed judge of the Superior Court of the Mississippi Territory in 1809, then 1810 appointed judge of the Superior Court of the Territory of Orleans. Appointed the first attorney general of Louisiana in 1813; judge of the state supreme court, 1815-1846. Published Digest of Territorial and State Statutes, Report of the Decision of the Supreme Court, and A History of Louisiana. Elected president of the Louisiana Historical Society. In 1817 elected to the Academy of Marseilles; LL. D. degree by the University of Tennessee, and LL. D. degree by Harvard University, 1841. Developed jurisprudence in Louisiana. Died, December 10, 1846; interred New Orleans. A bachelor, known as a stern judge, devoted to law, grew blind in last years and dictated his decisions. W.H.A. Sources: Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XIX (1936); Edwin Davis, The Story of Louisiana, I (1960).
MARTIN, Ignatius André, photographer. Born, Grand Coteau, St. Landry Parish, La., May 26, 1878. Married, November 10, 1902, Livia Louise Broussard in New Iberia. Children: Carroll, Ignatius, and Genevieve. Began his photographic career with F. F. Carter in Lafayette. Moved to New Iberia where he photographed from 1895 to 1945. In early days of career, traveled around the bayous in a boat outfitted as a studio. Left between 1500 and 1600 negatives. Photographic work continued by son, Carroll. Died, New Iberia, July 11, 1952. M.A. Source: Anne Peterson, “Louisiana Photography: An Historical Overview, 1880-1940,” in Herman Mhire, ed., A Century of Vision: Louisiana Photography, 1884-1984 (1986).
MARTIN, James M. “Captain Jim,” politician, law officer, white supremacist. Born, Greenwood, La., August 17, 1846; son of George W. Martin and Elizabeth Whitworth. Married Mary Alice Guynemer, January 1, 1873. Eleven children, four of whom died in childhood. Career: Ca. 1862-1865, private, Co. G., Third Louisiana Cavalry (C.S.A.); after war returned to Caddo Parish, joined White League and Knights of the White Camellia; detained in New Orleans federal prison in connection with his white supremacist activities; elected Caddo Parish policy jury, 1878; served as chief deputy sheriff, Caddo Parish, 1880-94; returned to farming and later appointed U.S. marshall, western district (La.); subsequently served as city marshal, Shreveport, La. Died, Shreveport, June 25, 1903; interred Forest Park Plantation, near Greenwood, La. S.K.B. Sources: Lilla McLure and J. Ed Howe, History of Shreveport and Shreveport Builders (1937); Shreveport Times, obituaries, June 25, 26, 27, 1903; Nicolas Russell Murray, Caddo Parish, Louisiana: 1838-1900, Part II, Indexed Marriage Records (n.d.); Viola Carruth, Caddo: 1000, A History of the Shreveport Area (1970); see also Shane K. Bernard, “A Biographical Sketch of James M. ‘Captain Jim’ Martin, Louisiana History 35 (1994).
MARTIN, John B., Jr., physician, dermatologist. Born, October 18, 1906; son of John Baptist Martin, Sr. (q.v.), and Leonide Vial. Education: Hahnville High School; Louisiana State University; Tulane University Medical School, M. D., 1933. Interned Charity Hospital, 1933-1934. General practioner, St. Martin Parish, 1935-1941; resident in Dermatology and Syphilology, Louisiana State Medical Center, Charity Hospital, June 1941-June 1942. Military service: captain, Medical Corps, U. S. Army, Foster Field, Texas; assistant post surgeon, Matagorda Peninsula Bombing Range from June 14, 1942 to February 3, 1946. Dermatologist, Lake Charles, 1947-1975. Established J. B. Martin, Jr., Award at W. B. Williamson American Legion Post. Member: Roman Catholic church; Knights of Columbus; Phi Rho Sigma Fraternity, American Medical Association; Louisiana State Medical Society; Academy of Dermatology, Calcasieu Parish Medical Society; Lake Charles Country Club; numerous civic organizations. Died, April 19, 1975; interred Holy Rosary Cemetery, Taft, La. M.L.M. Sources: Records of schools, military, organizations, family Bible, and other family papers.
MARTIN, John B., Sr., educator, musician. Born, August 31, 1881; son of John Baptiste Martin and Celeste Triche. Education: New Orleans Boys’ High School; Louisiana State University, 1902. Married, October 7, 1903, Leonide Marie Vial, daughter of Louis Adolphe Vial, farmer, and Louise Clotilde Bossier. Six children: Helen (b. 1905), John, Jr. (q.v.), Minerva (b. 1908), Louis (b. 1910), Frederick (b. 1913), Roy (b. 1915). Teacher, newsman, editor of St. Charles Herald, 1902-1913. Superintendent public schools St. Charles Parish, 1913-1944. Consolidated public schools; established first two high schools in parish, Hahnville and Destrehan, opened September, 1924; pioneered visual education in schools; organized the first white and the first black bands in the parish; discovered and taught music to the renowned jazz musician “Papa” Celestin (q.v.). J. B. Martin Junior High School named in his honor, 1968. Member, Roman Catholic church; Knights of Columbus; Holy Name Society; Kappa Sigma Fraternity; American Red Cross (25 years); board of directors, Luling-Hahnville Bank (now Bank of St. Charles); draft board, World War II; Manresa Retreat House; National Educational Association; Louisiana Teachers Association; National Teachers Association. Died, Hahnville, January 15, 1955; interred Holy Rosary Cemetery, Taft, La. M.L.M. Sources: St. Charles Herald; New Orleans Times-Picayune; parish records; family Bible; and other family papers; Ellis Arthur Davis, ed., The Historical Encyclopedia of Louisiana (1941).
MARTIN, Marie-Désirée, writer. Born near Bayou Lafourche, September 8, 1830. A few months later, family removed to St. James Parish, La., where father, Joseph Martin dit Barnabé died of cholera. Brought up by a rigidly religious mother, reluctantly entered the novitiate of the Sacred Heart on July 27, 1846. Took the veil, July 22, 1850. Taught in Sacred Heart schools at Manhattanville, N. Y., and in Cuba. On July 17, 1873, left the convent to go live with her brother Michel at Grande Pointe. Founded a small girls’ school and raised money to build the church Saint Vincent de Paul de la Grande Pointe (consecrated 1874). Wrote Les Veillées d’une soeur, ou Le Destin d’un brin de mousse (1877). Died, Grande Pointe, November 9, 1877. M.A. Source: Author’s research.
MARTIN, Robert, attorney politician, businessÂman. Born, Breaux Bridge, La., March 6, 1853; son of Simeon Valery Martin and Marie Françoise Célima Deblanc. Education: local schools; Louisiana State University, B.S.; read law under Judge Alcibiades DeBlanc (q.v.), and admitted to Louisiana bar. Practiced law, St. Martinville, La., until 1930. Married, April 25, 1878, Gabrielle Bérard, daughter of Balthasar Bérard and Artemise LeBlanc. Children: Joseph James (b. 1881), Claude Chester (b. 1882), Willis Patrick (b. 1886), Marie Louise (b. 1892), and Ruth (b. 1894). Member of State Board of Education. Founder of Bank of St. Martinville, 1893, president of bank, 1893-1929. State senator, 1896-1900, authored Act 162 of 1898 which established Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute, now University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, La. Member of first board of trustees of that institution (1899-1908) and served again from 1923-1931. Martin Hall on USL campus named in his honor. Member of St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church, St. Martinville, La. Died, St. Martinville, March 28, 1932; interred St. Michael Cemetery. J.G.B. Sources: Author’s research.
MARTIN, Robert Campbell, planter, politician, militia officer. Born, Bertie County, N. C., March 25, 1813; son of Peter Boyd Martin and Janet Bryan. Education: attended schools in Raleigh, N. C., and Philadelphia, Pa. Removed to Louisiana, 1832. Married, April 9, 1835, Mary Winnifred Pugh, daughter of Dr. Whitmell Hill Pugh (q.v.) and Mary Bryan Hill of Assumption Parish. Children: Mary Janet (b. 1836); Robert Campbell, Jr. (b. 1839); William Whitmell (b. 1840), killed at Vicksburg; Peter Boyd (d. 1842); James Bryan (b. 1844); and Thomas Pugh (b. 1846). Purchased Albermarle Plantation, 1840; brigadier general of Louisiana militia, 1846-1862; state senator, Lafourche Parish, 1846-1856; member of secession convention, personally opposed secession but nevertheless voted in favor of secession ordinance. After Civil War held various jobs before returning to manage Albermarle Plantation. Died, July 4, 1881, Albermarle; interred Madewood Cemetery. M.J.F. Sources: Martin-Pugh Collection, Ellender Memorial Library Archives, Nicholls State University.
MARTIN, Wade Omer, politician, planter, educator. Born, Arnaudville, La., March 4, 1885; son of Dr. G. W. Martin and Ida Guilbeau. Education: local schools; Louisiana State University; founder of the Demeter Club, organizer of Dramatic Club, editor of Gumbo and assistant-editor of Reveille. Worked for U. S. Department of Agriculture; later a teacher and coach; managed a large plantation; operated a sawmill. Served as sheriff, St. Martin Parish, 1912-1920, 1924-1932. Elected public service commissioner, 1932. Served as chairman of Commission until his death, 1956. Served as vice-president and president of the National Association of Railway and Utilities Commission, 1942-1944. Well known for his interest and work in flood control. Between 1930 and 1956 served as chairman of Louisiana Flood Control and Waterway Conservation; chairman, State Convention on Postponement of Taxes on Flooded Lands; vice president, Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association and its representative before the congressional Committee on Flood Control; chairman, National Commission on Use of Waterways; chairman, Vermilion Navigation Association; co-founder and director, Intracoastal Canal for Louisiana and Texas; director, Southwest Valley Flood Control Association; member, State Rehabilitation Committee of the State Planning Commission and of the National Resources Committee. Represented Louisiana, 1937, at the Congress of the Comité de la Survivance Française, Quebec; awarded degree of Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa by Laval University. Married Alice Mills, daughter of Patrick Mills and Justine Fanguy, April 24, 1907. Children: Leona Martin (Mrs. James Guirard (b. 1908); Wade O. Martin, Jr. (b. 1911), long-time Louisiana secretary of state; Dr. Murphy Martin (b. 1913), long-time public health director, parishes of St. Martin, Iberia, Lafayette; Jeanne Martin (Mrs. Douglas Svendson, b. 1915). Member, St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church, St. Martinville, La.; Knights of Columbus. Died, August 10, 1956; interred St. Regis Cemetery, Arnaudville. J.C. Sources: St. Martinville Teche News; Jeanne Castille Files; interviews with family members and family papers.
MARTIN, Wade O., Jr., attorney, Louisiana secretary of state. Born, Arnaudville, La., April 18, 1911; son of Wade O. Martin and Alice Mills. Married Juliette Bonnette, October 25, 1938; six children: Wade, III, David, Gregory, Wallace, Merle, and Marcelle. Education: B. A. degree from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana), 1932; Bachelor of Law degree, Louisiana State Univesity, 1935. Served as state assistant attorney general, 1935-40. Maintained a private law practice, 1940-44. Louisiana secretary of state, 1944-1975. Legislation he sponsored included numbering candidates in primary elections (1952) and making payments to survivors of law enforcement officers killed while on duty (1964). He helped establish the Louisiana Archives and Records Commission (1956) and the Louisiana Tourist Development Commission (1964). From 1944-1956 Martin was also state commissioner of insurance; chairman of Louisiana Insurance Rating Commission, and state custodian of voting machines. Martin was active in the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. He was on the advisory panel of Elections Clearinghouse Division of the Federal Elections Commission and on the National Advisory Commission for the American Automobile Association, he chaired the Louisiana Central Gulf Division Advisory Panel. He served on the Atchafalaya Basin Commission and on the board of Council for the Development of French in Louisiana. He was active in the Knights of Columbus and Woodmen of the World. He received a honorary LL.D. from Louisiana State University. After 1975 Martin raised sugarcane, freshwater shrimp, and crawfish on his farm in St. Martin Parish. He died August 6, 1990; interred in St. Francis Regis Cemetery. Arnaudville, La. I.B.T. and N.D.F. Sources: Vertical File, Louisiana Room, Dupré Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana; Lafayette Daily Advertiser, August 7, 1990; New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 7, 1990; Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, August 7, 1990; Who’s Who in the South and Southwest (1963-64), 8:537.
MARTIN, Whitmell P., chemist, attorney, jurist, congressman. Born near Napoleonville, La., August 12, 1867; son of Robert C. Martin, Jr., and Margaret Littlejohn. Education: attended local public schools and was privately tutored; Louisiana State University, graduated 1888. Professor of chemistry at Kentucky Military Institute, 1889-1890; chemist for the Sugar Land Refinery, Texas, 1890-1891; studied law at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va., 1891-1892. Was admitted to the bar in 1892 and began practice in Napoleonville, La. Removed to Thibodaux, La., the same year and continued the practice of law. Superintendent of schools for Lafourche Parish, 1894-1900. Married in 1896 to Amy Williamson of De Soto Parish, daughter of Judge George Williamson and Mary Marshall. Children: Whitmell Pugh, Jr.; Amy (Mrs. Donald Taber); Marshall Leigh; and Robert Campbell. District attorney of the Twentieth Judicial District, 1900-1906, and judge of the same district, 1906-1914; elected as a Progressive to the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth congresses, and as a Democrat to the Sixty-sixth and to the five succeeding congresses, and served from March 4, 1915, until his death in Washington, D. C., April 6, 1929. Interred St. John’s Episcopal Cemetery, Thibodaux. J.B.C. & M.J.F. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Official Congressional Directory, 68th Congress (1923); obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 7, 1929.
MARTIN, William Littlejohn “Litt”, businessman, preservationist. Born, Albermarle Plantation, Assumption Parish, La., May 22, 1895; son of Robert Campbell Martin III and Ellen Young. Education: Napoleonville schools; Louisiana State University, graduated 1915. World War I service, lieutenant, U. S. Army. Married, October 24, 1922, Virginia Lockett Lanier, daughter of James Lanier and Lelia Monnot of New Orleans. Children: Virginia Lanier (b.1923); Ruth Whitmell (b. 1925); and Marion Young (b. 1932). Co-owner with brother Charles of Martin’s Garage; trustee of finance, town of Thibodaux, 1930-1945; after retirement in 1959 began to collect historical materials and photographs of Bayou Lafourche region, and promoted popular interest in it; donated large body of research materials to Nicholls State University. Member Presbyterian church. Died, Thibodaux, August 5, 1965; interred St. John’s Episcopal Cemetery. M.J.F. Sources: W. L. “Litt” Martin Collection, Ellender Memorial Archives, Nicholls State University.
MARTINA, John Joseph “Oyster Joe,” athlete. Born, New Orleans, July 8, 1889. Right-handed pitcher. Entered professional baseball in 1910 with Savannah in the South Atlantic League. After playing for other minor league teams traded to New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern League and had outstanding win-loss record from 1921-1928. In 1924 pitched in 24 games for Washington Senators, his only major league experience. Left organized baseball after 1931 season. Holds the minor league record for most batters struck out, 2770. Married Loretta Mae Vitter. Two children. Salesman with the American Brewing Co. until his death. Died, New Orleans, March 22, 1962; interred Greenwood Cemetery. A.W.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 23, 1962; Society for American Baseball Research, Minor League Baseball Stars (1978).
MARTINEAU, Harriet, intellectual, writer. Born, Norwich, Norfolk, England, June 12, 1802. Series of anecdotes and dialogues illustrating the principles of political economy established Maritneau as a professional writer of force and foresight. She included New Orleans in her visit to the United States, 1834-1836; a visit which inspired three books: Society in America (1937); How to Observe; and Retrospect of Western Travel (both 1838). In Retrospect … , she describes in detail her impressions of New Orleans, its customs, and inhabitants. A very opinionated woman, she espoused the abolitionist movement and supported a utopian system of economics. Her works about America, though popular in England and widely read there, made her extremely unpopular with Americans. Some of her other works include Illustrations of Political Economy (25 vols., 1832-1834); The History of the Thirty Years’ Peace, A. D. 1816-1846 (1849), and her Autobiography (3 vols., 1877), published posthumously. Never married. Died, Ambleside, Westmorland, England, June 27, 1876. P.D.A. Sources: The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, VI (1983); Harriet Martineau, Retrospect of Western Travel, 2 vols. (1838); Harriet Martineau, Society in America (1962).
MARTINET, Louis A., state representative, attorney, civil rights advocate, medical doctor, newspaperman. Born in Louisiana, December 28, 1849; son of a free woman of color and a Frenchman. Married Lenora Miller; two children. Educated in New Orleans and graduated from Straight University Law School and New Orleans University Medical Department. Served in the Louisiana state house of representatives from St. Martin Parish, 1872-1875. A successful attorney, he was admitted to practice in the United States District Court, Eastern District in 1885. Founded the New Orleans Crusader, first a weekly, then a daily, 1890. For almost a decade, this uncompromising voice for civil rights would be in the vanguard of the fight against segregation in the Louisiana. He was especially vocal in his opposition to the separate street car bill, Act 111 of 1890. He was a member of the Citizens’ Committee (Comité des Citoyens). Organized in 1890, the Citizens’ Committee filed the test case that culminated in the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court ruling of 1896. Martinet inspired the organization of the Louis A. Martinet Society, an association of African American attorneys in New Orleans. Died, New Orleans, June 11, 1917. C.V. Sources: Charles Barthelemy Rousseve, The Negro in Louisiana: Aspectsts of His History and Literature (1937); Charles Vincent, A Centennial History of Southern University and A & M College, 1880-1980 (1981); Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes, Our People and Our History, translated and edited by Sister Dorothea Olga McCants, (1973); Charles Vincent, Black Legislators in Louisiana During Reconstruction (1976).
MARY ADRIAN, Mother, religious. Born Catherine Collins in Castlefreke, County Cork, Ireland, July 7, 1880. Entered the Marianite order May 23, 1898; professed vows August 30, 1899; provincial assistant and treasurer at Holy Angels; superior and principal at St. Peter and Paul School, New Orleans; St. Basil Academy, Plaquemine; St. Charles Academy, Lake Charles, and Immaculate Conception Academy, Opelousas. Provincial superior of the Marianite Sisters of the Holy Cross, 1952-1958. In 1952 began making plans and raising money to build Our Lady of Holy Cross Novitiate and Provincial House; buildings finished and dedicated in 1960 on land donated in 1947 by Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Norman. Died, December 31, 1965; interred mausoleum of the Provincial House, New Orleans. M.L.D. Sources: Marianite Sisters of the Holy Cross, Marianite Centennial in Louisiana, 1848-1948 (1948); obituary from Marianite Archives, New Orleans.
MARY XAVIER, Mother; religious. Born Margaret Mary Haggerty in New Orleans, July 6, 1874. Entered the Marianite order September 16, 1893; professed vows August 28, 1895; taught music in Marianite parochial schools; was superior and principal at Holy Name of Mary in Algiers, La., and St. John Academy in Franklin; was local Superior of Holy Angels Academy, New Orleans, before assuming office of provincial superior in 1932, an office she held until 1952. Furthered education in Louisiana by staffing twenty-four Marianite schools; founded: Sacred Heart, Ville Platte, in 1938; Holy Name of Mary, New Orleans, in 1940; St. Joseph, Lower Coast Algiers; St. Agnes and St. Christopher, New Orleans, in 1941; St. Mary of the Angels, New Orleans, in 1946; and Little Flower, Arnaudville, in 1947. Influenced the Archdiocesan Confraternity of Catechetical Schools to establish a branch at Holy Angels to help educate teachers of religion in 1936; St. Joseph Hall, built to house the nuns at the Academy was completed in 1937; sent the first Louisiana Marianite missionaries to East Pakistan in 1946. Produced numerous pageants in New Orleans to help fund foreign missions; accepted, for her order, a forty-acre tract of land donated by Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Norman in 1947. Our Lady of Holy Cross Novitiate and Provincial House was completed on that land in 1960. Died SepÂtemÂber 16, 1965; interred mausoleum at Provincial House, New Orleans. M.L.D. Sources: Marianite Sisters of the Holy Cross, Marianite Centennial In Louisiana, 1848-1948 (1948); obituary from Marianite Archives in New Orleans.
MASSAN, Balthazar, conspirator in the Revolt of 1768. Born, France, ca. 1720. Entered military service, becoming a lieutenant in 1740. In 1751 he became commander of one of the French companies stationed in Louisiana and subsequently a knight of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis. Married Marie Carrière, a native of France. One child. With the aid of his wife’s dowry he purchased a plantation at Pointe Ste. Anne, on the left bank of the Mississippi, south of New Orleans adjoining the property of the Ursuline nuns. This he worked principally for lumber and grazing with the aid of ninety slaves. In 1766 became a member of an expanded French Superior Council. In the summer of 1768 journeyed to Pensacola with Noyan brothers to gauge attitude of British to revolution in the colony. His house was used for meetings of the conspirators of 1768 and following the expulsion of Ulloa (q.v.) he acted as treasurer of the rebels. Despite his prominent role in the revolt and actions before and after the expulsion of Ulloa, Massan escaped death, being sentenced to ten years in prison in Cuba. After only a year in the Cuban presidio he was released in December 1770 and seems to have returned to France, where he was joined by his wife. B.C. Sources: David Ker Texada, Alejandro O’Reilly and the New Orleans Rebels (1970); John Preston Moore, Revolt in Louisiana (1976); Jacqueline K. Voorhies, Some Eighteenth Century Louisianians (1973); Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXV (1942); XXVI (1943); Acts of Joseph Fernández, Book 1, pp. 80, 84, Orleans Parish Notarial Archives (OPNA); Acts of Andrés Almonester, Book 4, p. 176, OPNA; Albert Robichaux, Louisiana Census and Militia Lists (1973).
MATAS, Rudolph, physician, surgeon. Born, Bonnet Carré, St. John the Baptist Parish, La., September 12, 1860; son of Dr. N. H. Matas and Teresa Jorda Matas. Education: schools in Paris, Barcelona, and Brownsville (Tex.); Soulé College, New Orleans; Literary Institute of St. John, Matamoros, Mexico, graduated, 1876; University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), M. D., 1880; Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., LL. D., 1915; University of Pennsylvania, Sc. D., 1925; University of Alabama, 1926; Tulane University, 1928; Princeton University, 1928; University of Guatemala, M. D., honoris causa, 1934. Edited the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, 1883-1885; devised the “Matas Operation” for the suture of aneurism, 1888-1902; senior surgeon, Charity Hospital, 1894-1928; professor of surgery, Tulane, 1895-1927; chief senior surgeon, Touro Infirmary, 1905-1935. Member of American Medical Association and vice president, 1920, 1932-1933; chairman of AMA surgery section; received first AMA distinguished service award, 1938. Founding fellow, American College of Surgeons; vice president, 1913, 1920; president, 1924-1925. President of the International Society of Surgury, 1936-1938. In 1926 received the Henry Bigelow Medal of the Boston Surgical Society, the highest award for general surgery. The Matas Medal, established in 1933, is the highest award for vascular surgery. Addressed the delegates to the International Surgical Congress, Brussels, 1938, in four languages: French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. Received two orders of Spanish knighthood; title of chevalier of the French Legion of Honor; citations from Cuba, Belgium, and Venezuela. Held honorary memberships in surgeons societies of Great Britain, Italy, Poland, France, Denmark, Spain, and Greece. Married Adrienne Goslee Landry (1860-1918), of New Orleans, January 20, 1895; no children. Bequeathed his library to Tulane and included an endowment fund of one and a half million dollars. The medical library at Tulane’s downtown location was dedicated and named for him, November 29, 1937. Died, September 23, 1957; survived by stepson, Dr. Lucien H. Landry; interred Metairie Cemetery. J.P.M. Sources: Isidore Cohn and Hermann B. Deutsch, Rudolph Matas, A Biography of One of the Great Pioneers in Surgery (1960); Who’s Who in America, 1954-1955 (1954); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, September 24, 1957.
MATHER, George [II], planter. Born, New Orleans, 1783; son of James Mather (q.v.) and Frances Sophia Mather. Education, unknown, but literate. Married, June 21, 1809, at St. John the Baptist Church, Edgard, La., Joséphine Françoise Aurore Trudeau (1786-1874), daughter of Zenon Trudeau (q.v.) and Eulalie Delassize. Children: Jacques (b. 1811); Joséphine Françoise Ann Mather (b. ca. 1812), married Augustin Marius Tureaud; George Zenon Mather (1814-1858), married Josephine Aurore Trudeau (a cousin); James Valery (1817-1842), married Mary Scallan; Alexander (1819-1848); Charles (b. 1820), married Louisa Walsh; Louis Joseph (1823-1902), married (1) Mary Pierce, and (2) Mary Elizabeth Lyons; Louisa (1827-1871), married John Samuel Wallis (q.v.). In 1815, then a resident of East Baton Rouge Parish, purchased Belle Alliance Plantation (St. James Parish), to which he added additional lands between 1815 and 1837. Owned property in East Baton Rouge Parish and inherited property from bachelor uncle, George Mather (the elder) at Bayou Sara. Appointed clerk, Seventh District, Superior Court, Territory of Orleans, April 10, 1811. Member of Perfect Union Lodge #29, New Orleans. In 1810, Philip Hickey (q.v.) and Mather became involved through their lodge affiliation in premature attempt to overthrow Spanish dominion at Baton Rouge; part of the movement that brought the West Florida parishes into the Territory of Orleans. Catholic. Died, Belle Alliance Plantation, May 26, 1837; interred St. Michael’s Cemetery, Convent, La. L.A.W. Source: Author’s research.
MATHER, James J., merchant, politician, planter. Born, Coupland, Northumberland, England, ca. 1750; son of Peter and Eleanor Mather. Emigrated to America, ca. 1776. Established mercantile firm with George Morgan in 1776; later in business with Arthur Strother. Acquired extensive land holdings in Southeast Louisiana. Appointed to Louisiana Legislative Council, 1804 and again in 1806; judge, county of Lafourche, 1805; and mayor of New Orleans, March, 1807. Reappointed annually as mayor through 1812. Resigned in May, 1812, probably due to bad health. Retired to estate in St. James Parish. Trustee, College of Orleans; director, Orleans Navigation Co., 1808-1810. Married Frances (?). Five children: James; George (q.v.); Ann, wife of Philip Hickey (q.v.); Frances Sophia, wife of Abner L. Duncan; and Isabel, wife of William Wykoff. Protestant. Died, St. James Parish, October 7, 1821; interred St. Michael’s Cemetery, Convent, La. W.E. Sources: Clarence E. Carter, ed., Territorial Papers of the United States, Vol. IX, The Territory of Orleans (1940); Marie M. Campbell, Nostalgic Notes on St. James (1977); Work Projects Administration, ed., Administrations of the Mayors of New Orleans (1940).
MATHEWS, George, jurist. Born near Staunton, Va., September 21, 1774; son of George Mathews, Sr., a governor of Georgia, and Ann Paul. Removed with family to Georgia, 1785. Returned to Virginia, 1792, to complete education; completed studies at Liberty Hall in Lexington, 1795. Returned to Georgia and commenced study of law with brother John. Removed to Augusta, 1798, and finished law studies with George Walker. Admitted to the bar, 1799; practiced in Georgia until 1805 when named judge of the Territory of Mississippi by President Jefferson. A year later, transferred to the Territory of Orleans as judge of the superior court. When Louisiana entered Union (1812), appointed a justice of the state supreme court; became presiding judge in 1813, a position held until death. Married twice: (1) Sarah Carpenter of Mississippi. One child, a daughter. (2) Harriet Flower, daughter of Samuel Flower (q.v.) and Mary Carpenter. One child, a son. Died, Bayou Sara, La., November 14, 1836; interred Flower Cemetery, Greenwood Plantation, West Feliciana Parish. E.K.D. Sources: Butler family papers, Louisiana State University Archives; Anne Butler Hamilton, St. Francisville, La.; Alcée Fortier, Louisiana, 3 vols. (1909); Charles Watts, “Discourse on the Life and Character of the Hon. George Mathews,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, IV (1921); Louise Butler, “West Feliciana: A Glimpse of Its History,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, VII (1924).
MATHEWS, William Rosier, pathologist, diagnostician. Offered histological expertise comparable to that which could be obtained in Rome, Paris, London or New York City. Born, Washington County, Ala., November 4, 1896. Education: University of Alabama, B. S., 1923; University of Arkansas School of Medicine, M. D., 1929; internship, Shreveport Charity Hospital, 1929-1930; advanced training in pathology, Cornell University, 1930-1932, and Memorial Hospital, New York City, at intervals from 1932-1939. Academic appointments: instructor in Pathology, University of Arkansas School of Medicine, 1925-1927; clinical professor emeritus of Pathology, Confederate Memorial Medical Center, Shreveport, 1967-1980; staff pathologist, Shreveport Charity Hospital (later Confederate Memorial Medical Center and Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport); staff pathologist and consulting pathologist for all Shreveport hospitals, and many hospitals in East Texas, South Arkansas, and Louisiana. Honors and memberships: Diplomate, American Board of Pathology; Fellow, College of American Pathologists; member, Louisiana Society of Pathologists, Shreveport Medical Society, Louisiana Medical Society, American Medical Association, Southern Medical Association, American College of Physicians. Author of numerous articles published in local and national medical and surgical journals. Died, Shreveport, August 16, 1980. E.B.R. Source: Author’s research.
MATHIESON, Farquhar, businessman. Born, 1815. Clerk for the firm of Henderson and Gaines, New Orleans. Member, Protection Hose Fire Co. Suggested the idea of a relief association to aid yellow-fever epidemic victims. First president, Howard Association, 1837. A.W.B. Sources: Edwin L. Jewell, Jewell’s Crescent City Illustrated (1873); Flora B. Hildreth, “The Howard Association of New Orleans, 1837-1878” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 1975).
MATTHEWS, Joseph Revill, mayor of St. Francisville, La. Born, Alverda Plantation, Pointe Coupée Parish, La., September 29, 1869. Removed to St. Francisville, 1892; mercantile clerk, 1892-1897. Married Eudolie Brooks, daughter of Oran Dewey Brooks (q.v.), June 14, 1899. Cashier, Bank of West Feliciana, 1897-1912; clerk of police jury and parish treasurer, 1909, 1917-1959; mayor of St. Francisville, 1922-1946. Member, Grace Episcopal Church, Feliciana Lodge No. 31, F & AM. Died September 22, 1959; interred Grace Church Cemetery, St. Francisville. E.K.D. Sources: St. Francisville Democrat, September 24, 1959; Henry E. Chambers, History of Louisiana, II (1925).
MAXWELL, Leon Ryder, singer, composer, educator. Born, Medford, Mass., September 15, 1883. Education: Tufts College, B.A., 1904, Phi Berta Kappa, M. A., 1905; and the New England Conservatory in Boston where he studied theory with L. R. Lewison and composition with Anton Beer-Walbrunn. Studied voice in Munich with Ludwig Hess, in Florence with Isidore Braggiotti, in Paris with A. Dubville. Removed to New Orleans, 1909, as voice teacher at Newcomb College; director, Newcomb School of Music, 1910-1953. Wrote program notes for the New Orleans Philharmonic Society and Symphony Orchestra, 1913-1926. President, Louisiana Music Teachers’ Association, 1913-1915. President, National Music Teachers’ Association. Composed orchestral, vocal and piano works as well as string music. Co-authored, with Leo R. Lewis, The Assembly Praise Book (1910). Married Ruth Nottoge, December 25, 1909. Died, New Orleans, October 28, 1956. M.A. Sources: Louis Panzeri, Louisiana Composers (1972); Waldo Selden Pratt and Charles N. Boyd, eds., Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. American Supplement (1928); New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 29, 1956.
MAXWELL, Samuel Washington, businessman, civic leader. Born, Wooster, Ohio, July 3, 1873; son of James Thomas Maxwell and Mary Electa Rouston. Education: local schools; Wooster College, Wooster, Ohio. Married, October 23, 1902, Katherine Couch, of Cleveland, Ohio, daughter of Edgar Couch and Jane Ruth Elliot. Children: Virginia (b. 1903), Adrienne (b. 1910), John Edgar (b. 1912). Employed McCollander and Hunt Hardware Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Removed to Sulphur, La., 1902; corporate secretary, Union Sulphur Co., 1902-1931; secretary, Brimstone Railway and Canal Co., 1902-1931; Gray Estate, 1931-1936; executive secretary, W. T. Burton Industries, Inc., 1936-1953. Married, January 27, 1928, Ernie Pryor McCasland. Member: Methodist church; Chamber of Commerce; Sulphur Masonic Lodge 424, the Consistory and Shrine; past worshipful master, Vinton Masonic Lodge. Died, Sulphur, September 3, 1953; interred Graceland Cemetery, Lake Charles, La. G.S.P. Sources: Sulphur Southwest Builder, obituary, September 7, 1953; Maxwell family papers.
MAY, Thayer T., lumberman. Born, Evansville, Ind., January 14, 1905; son of Ida Gibson and Frank May. Married Patricia Roberts, of Liverpool, England, January 7, 1942. Children: Thayer T., Jr. (b. 1931, by previous marriage), Farnsworth Richard (b. 1943), and Marilyn (b. 1945). Learned various phases of lumber business in family company, May Brothers, in Memphis, Tenn. Removed to Louisiana and established a sawmill at Eunice, under the name, Eunice Band Mill, Inc. (later renamed May Brothers); operations were expanded to include Garden City plant in 1930, and another at Haslam, Tex., in 1940; manufactured hardwood lumber for furniture and other wood products; also engaged in oil well drilling services in Louisiana and other Southern states. Died, February 12, 1947. J.B.C. Source: The Story of Louisiana (1960).
MAYBERRY, Emma Nesbitt, educator, first head of Women’s Industries Department, Southern University. Born, Montgomery, Ala., in the first or second decade after Reconstruction. Education: elementary grades in a private school in Montgomery, entered State Normal, later called State Teachers College in Montgomery, transferred and graduated from Tuskegee Institute; special work in Home Economics at Teachers College, Columbia University. Married H. C. Mayberry. Active in civic, professional, and social activities. Teaching career: Summer Normal Department of Baton Rouge College (under the presidency of Joseph S. Clark), 1910-1911; public school system of Lafayette, La.; director of girls, Topeka Industrial Institute, Topeka, Kan., instructor of Women’s Industries (temporary), March 1914, permanent head of Women’s Industries, June, 1914. Mayberry Dining Hall named in honor of subject. R.J.S. Source: John Brother Cade, The Man Christened Josiah Clark, Who as J. S. Clark, Became President of a Louisiana State Land Grant College (1966).
MAYO, Sara Tew, physician. Born, Vidalia, La., May 26, 1869; daughter of George Spencer Mayo. Education: Milwood Institute, Jackson, La.; Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1898. Practiced medicine in New Orleans. Founder of the Dispensary for Women and Children. Received Picayune Loving Cup, 1910, for service among poor women and children of New Orleans. Member: American Medical Association, Orleans Parish Medical Society, Louisiana State Medical Society. Also on staffs of Touro Infirmary, Baptist Hospital. Died, New Orleans, March 7, 1930; interred Metairie Cemetery. P.D.A. Sources: Who’s Who in Louisiana and Mississippi (1918); John Duffy, ed., The Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana, 2 vols. (1958, 1962); obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 8, 1930.
MAZUREAU, Etienne, attorney, state official. Born, La Rochelle, France, 1772. Education: attended school until age thirteen; employed by a law firm. Enlisted in the navy, 1793; was a purser on a frigate during the war with England, 1794; sent to Spain in a legal mission for the French government; acquired knowledge of Spanish laws and language; practiced law in Cádiz; inspector of agriculture in French Guiana, 1799. In Paris when Directorate fell; imprisoned for anti-Bonaparte statements; sailed for New York upon release. Removed to New Orleans, March 1804; admitted to Louisiana bar, 1805. With Moreau-Lislet (q.v.),Derbigny (q.v.), and Livingston (q.v.), won a judicial decision insuring the recognition of Roman civil law in Louisiana. Appointed attorney general, 1815, and reappointed twice; represented New Orleans’ Second District in the legislature, 1823 and 1824; was one of incorporators of Jefferson College in St. James Parish, 1831; delivered the eulogy for Judge George Mathews (q.v.) in January 1837; a Whig party delegate to the state constitutional convention in August 1844; was lauded for his character and ability in the 1847 publication, Sketches of the Bench and Bar. Died, New Orleans, May 25, 1849. J.B.C. Sources: Dictionary of American Biography, XII (1933); Henry P. Dart, “Mazureau’s Oration on Mathews,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, IV (1921); Simone de la Souchère Deléry, “Some French Soldiers Who Became Louisiana Educators,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXXI (1948); New Orleans Daily Picayune, obituary, May 25, 1849.
MEADE, George Peterkin, sugar refiner. Born, Cumberland, Md., December 26, 1883; son of Rev. Philip N. and Sarah (Rannells) Meade. Education: New York University, B.S., 1905; postgraduate work University of Michigan, summer 1914; New York University, Chemical Engineering, 1921, Doctor of Engineering, 1955. Honorary Doctorate of Science, Louisiana State University, 1954; Tulane, 1970. Married Eleanore Felicia Hussey, August 7, 1912. Worked in many sugar refining jobs, coming to Louisiana in 1909 to work for Colonial Sugars Co. Served as manager, 1928-1956, board of directors, 1950-1959. Internationally known in chemical and sugar analysis conferences. Member, Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council, president, St. James Parish School Board, 1932-1956. Fellow AAAS, American Institute of Chemists, Herpetologists League, New York Academy of Sciences, American Chemical Society, Louisiana Engineering Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, New York Zoological Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, Alpha Chi Sigma. Democrat, Episcopalian. Died, October 22, 1975. M.S.W. Sources: New York Times, October 25, 1975; New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 24, 1975; Who Was Who in America, with World Notables, vol. VI: 1974-76 (1976).
MEADORS, Mary Catherine Carlisle, businesswoman, civic leader. Born, Aberdeen, Miss., December 1, 1888; daughter of Amos Scott Carlisle and Josephine Magoline Young. Education: local schools; Rust College, Holly Springs, Miss.; Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. Professional career included business manager at Southern University, 1920-1953, and owner-operator of Scott’s Bluff Morticians from its beginning in 1932 until her death. She assisted many needy students with her personal funds; in the early years, she made her place of business available for meetings of black voter groups and “was the only black woman who went with the first Committee of Blacks to the City-Parish Government to ask for street lights, black-topped streets and closed sewage in Scotlandville.” Married Hudson L. Meadors. Member, Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church; served on the board of trustees. Active in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, American Legion Auxiliary, Eastern Star, YMCA, founder of the Educators of Yesteryear, and sponsor of the Scott’s Bluff Dodgers, a Little League local baseball team. Died, Baton Rouge, March 17, 1982; interred Southern Memorial Gardens. C.V. Sources: Baton Rouge State Times, March 18, 1982; Obsequies; Charles Vincent, A Centennial History of Southern University and A & M College, 1880-1980 (1981).
MEADORS, William Fletcher Moreland, attorney. Born, Columbia, Tenn., April 20, 1894; son of James Green Meadors and Lela Moreland. Education: local schools, Homer, La.; Louisiana State University. World War I service, first lieutenant. Married, April 28, 1918, Mary Lee Hefley of Homer, La., daughter of George B. Hefley and Minnie Martin. Children: Mary Wilkes (b. 1919), William (b. 1920), Ann (b. 1925), George (b. 1929). Mayor of Homer; district attorney, Second Judicial District of Louisiana; board of governors for Louisiana State Bar Association; elder in Presbyterian church; moderator of Laymen’s Association of Red River Presbytery; practiced law in Homer beginning in 1924. Died, Homer, La., January 20, 1965. B.A.G. Source: Author’s research.
MEADOWS, James Lloyd, educator, politician, businessman. Born, Merryville, La., March 13, 1904; son of Samuel Jefferson Meadows and Molly Hennigan. Education: local schools; Louisiana State University. Married, September 22, 1927, Levilla Carter of Greensburg, La., daughter of Henry Clay Carter and Fannie Watson. Children: Jerry Jay (b. 1931), and James Lloyd, Jr. (b. 1941). Active in Democratic party; teacher in Tensas Parish schools, 1926-1927; principal, Fields, La., Beauregard Parish, 1927-1937; St. Helena Parish superintendent of schools, 1937-1948. Member, Baptist church; St. Helena Lodge 76 F&AM; director, St. Helena Parish Council on Aging. Died, September 22, 1978; interred Greensburg Cemetery. I.B.T. Source: Author’s research.
MEEKER, Samuel Flower, physician, farmer, politician. Born, West Feliciana Parish, October 6, 1836; son of Moses Lyons Meeker and Mathilda Flower Finley. Married Elizabeth Compton at West Feliciana Parish, August 1, 1866. Children: Mathilda Lyons (b. February 10, 1868), Elizabeth Compton (b. January 11, 1873), Samuel Flower (b. February 24, 1875), Harriet Amelia (b. October 27, 1876), Joseph Henry (b. January 27, 1880), John Lyons (b. February 21, 1882), Louis Howard (b. June 21, 1883), and Eloise Hanlon (b. August 8, 1883). Educated at Oakland College of Mississippi, 1856; medical degree from the University of Louisiana, April 1859. Maintained a medical practice in the Louisiana communities of Meeker, Bayou Boeuf, and Lecompte. Served as a private in Company H of the 8th Regiment of the Louisiana Volunteers, Confederate Army; discharged as a surgeon (June 6, 1865). Engaged in planting in Lecompte, 1865-1869. Member of the Louisiana legislature (1884-96), Rapides Parish Democratic Executive Committee (1886), Rapides Parish Health and Quarantine Committee (1886); Rapides Parish health officer (1896). Member, Rapides Parish Medical and Surgical Association (1883-1894). Died of grippe at Home Place Plantation, February 12, 1899; interred in Compton Cemetery, Lecompte, La. J.D.W. Sources: Nancy Jo Texada, The Research and Romance of Medicine: Rapides Parish, Louisiana Medical History and Physician Biographies (1995); The Southern Publishing Company, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana (1890).
MEGRET, Antoine Désiré, clergyman, founder of Abbeville, La. Born in the Sommes area of France. Wrote articles for the famous French journal, L’Avenir, until it was condemned by the Holy See. Removed to New Orleans, La., in 1842; sent by bishop to St. John the Evangelist Church in Vermilionville, now Lafayette, La. Helped found L’Union, a religious, political, scientific, and literary magazine; wrote articles for that paper condemning the actions of the trustees of St. John’s who were seeking complete control of church affairs and finances; was verbally and physically attacked by them; refused to say Mass at St. John’s; devoted his time between his parish in Lafayette and outlying missions after the trustees were voted out in 1844. Bought land, 1845, on Bayou Vermilion above Perry’s Bridge; began a mission church, St. Mary Magdelen, at La Chapelle which was later renamed Abbeville. At his request the Sisters of Mt. Carmel came to Lafayette and opened Mount Carmel Academy in 1846. Offered to donate part of his land in Abbeville if parish seat were located there; filed suit against parish after election located seat at Perry’s Bridge; asked $10,000 in damages for breach of contract. Died, December 6, 1853, of yellow fever; interred Abbeville and reinterred Lafayette where St. John’s Cathedral now stands. Town of Abbeville, as platted by Reverend Megret was incorporated in 1850; permanent establishment in Abbeville of the seat of justice for the parish of Vermilion was approved March 3, 1854, three months after his death J.B.C. Sources: History of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana (1983); Roger Baudier, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (1939).
MENARD, Charles M., clergyman. Born, Lyons, France, April 20, 1817. Emigrated to United States in 1837; studied in seminaries in Missouri and in Plattenville, Assumption Parish, La. Ordained to priesthood, January 20, 1842, and assigned to duty as vicar of St. Joseph’s Church, Thibodaux, La. Celebrated his first Mass on February 2, 1842, at the beginning of a fifty-four-year ministry as assistant and pastor—his first and only assignment. The boundaries of the area served by the priest of St. Joseph extended from Labadieville, La., to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atchafalaya River to the boundaries of the present-day Jefferson Parish. To serve his flock Father Menard was always on the move, principally on horseback. On these mission journeys he would say Mass, administer the Sacraments and give catechism lessons, mostly in private homes and public buildings. The visible fruits of his labor were churches, rectories, chapels and the Catholic schools of Thibodaux. A roll call of the church parishes and chapels he founded includes St. Philomena, Labadieville; St. Mary’s Nativity, Raceland; St. Andrew Chapel (Holy Savior), Longueville-Lockport; St. Francis de Sales, Houma; St. Lawrence, Chacahoula; Choupic Chapel and school; Chackbay Chapel; St. Charles Chapel and school; Sacred Heart, Montegut; St. John the Evangelist Chapel and school; and St. Bridget, Schriever, La. For these accomplishments he was known as the “Apostle of the Bayou Lafourche area.” Buried some of the victims of the Last Island catastrophe, 1856. During Civil War set up a hospital for the Confederate wounded and witnessed the capture and occupation of Thibodaux by Federal troops. Established a public library in 1869. Instrumental in having a brick sidewalk constructed from the town limits to the church for the convenience of the parishioners. St. Joseph Brass Band was sponsored by him to furnish music for church and community functions in Thibodaux and surrounding areas. Father Menard retired from active ministry in May 1895, because of ill health. Died, January 7, 1896; interred St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Thibodaux. P.D.U. Sources: Weekly Thibodaux Sentinel, May 11, 1895; January 11, 1896; Charles M. Menard, “Annals of the Church in St. Joseph, 1845-1895;” Microfilm copy in the Archives Division, Ellender Memorial Library, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, La.
MENARD, John Willis, educator, journalist, politician. Born, Kaskaskia, Ill., April 3, 1838, of French Creole ancestry; reportedly the grandson of Illinois’s first state lieutenant-governor, Col. Pierre Menard. Married a woman named Elizabeth; children: Willis, Mary, and Alice. Attended school in Sparta, Ill., and Iberia College, a Presbyterian institution in Ohio. Appointed to a clerkship in Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., spring of 1862; was reportedly the first African American to hold such a position. Selected by the commissioner of emigration to “investigate and report on the feasibility of plan to colonize blacks in Belize;” after the report “nothing further was ever done.” Lived in Jamaica, 1863-1865; moved to New Orleans, 1865. Became active in Louisiana politics; appointed inspector of customs and later commissioner of streets. Published a newspaper initially called the Free South, later the Radical Standard. In the fall of 1868 he was elected on the Republican ticket to fill the unexpired term of Congressman James Mann of the Second District, who had died in late August, 1868. A three-man contest evolved and, although Menard had more votes, the lower house of Congress refused to seat him and the seat remained vacant until March 4, 1869. All three men however were given $2,500 an amount equal of their salary if they had been seated. Thus Menard became the “first Negro elected to the U. S. Congress” as well as “the first Negro to Speak in the U. S. Congress.” In 1871, he moved to Jacksonville, Fla., where he worked as a post office clerk, served in the legislature, wrote poetry, and published the Southern Leader newspaper. He eventually moved to Washington and accepted a position in the census office, summer of 1889. Died, Washington D.C., October 6, 1893; interred in Harmony Cemetery. SOURCES: Edith Menard, “John Willis Menard: First Negro elected to the U. S. Congress, First Negro to Speak in the U. S. Congress: A Documentary,” Negro History Bulletin, 28 (1964); Bess Beauty, “John Willis Menard . . . ,” Florida Historical Quarterly, LIX (October, l980); National Anti-Slavery Standard, May 11, 1867; John W. Menard, Lays in Summer Lands (1870); Willard B. Gatewood, Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite, 1880-1920 (1990). C.V.
MENKEN, Adah Isaacs, actress, poetess. Born, Milneburg, a New Orleans suburb, June 15, 1835; Jewish in faith; much confusion and contradiction surrounds last name—given name was Adah Bertha; father’s last name probably Theodore; he died around 1837. Mother remarried a man probably named Josephs; he died in 1853. Adah was a child prodigy; studied the classics, became literate in French, Hebrew, German and Spanish, could sing and dance and was mentally brilliant; said to have translated the Iliad at age twelve. In later years, wrote poetry and was a promising sculptor. Married, April 3, 1856, Alexander Isaacs Menken, an orchestra conductor. Debuted as actress, March, 1857, at James Charles’ theater in Shreveport, playing Pauline in The Lady of Lyons. First New Orleans appearance, August 29, 1857, at Crop’s Gaiety playing Bianca in Fazio. Soon began playing the leading southern and western cities. Debuted in New York, March 1, 1859; San Francisco, 1863; London, 1864; Paris, 1866. Received acclaim as an actress on both sides of the Atlantic. Her four marriages and the divorces involved her in much notoriety. Collapsed while rehearsing in Paris. Died shortly thereafter on August 10, 1868. Interred Paris. K.H. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, September 13, 1868; January 25, 1937; New York Times, August 1868; Adah Isaacs Menken, “Notes of My Life,” ed. by Austin Daly on September 6, 1868—not considered reliable but provides colorful reading; Edwin James, Biography of Adah Isaacs Menken (1881); Richard Northcott, Adah Isaacs Menken (1921); Bernard Falk, The Naked Lady (1934); Allen Lesser, Enchanting Rebel (1947).
MENTZ, Ezra Bradford, attorney, politician. Born, Murray, Wells County, Ind., ca. 1846; son of Dr. James Sutton Mentz. Enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War; mustered out 1864 at Brashear, now Morgan City. Sheriff of St. Mary Parish, 1869-1870, following assassination of Sheriff H. H. Pope in Franklin, October 1868. Studied law at Straight University, New Orleans, LL. B., 1879; same year became judge in St. Mary Parish and school director for the town of Franklin; removed to Morgan City to continue practice of law, elected mayor, January 1883, served until December 1884 when resigned. Married (1) Anna Cooley of New Orleans, September 23, 1876; married (2) Amelia Margaret Griffith, ca. 1886. Children: Mary Mentz Warren (b. 1888), Amelia Mentz Billingsley, and Eliza Mentz Allen. Relocated in Port Arthur, Tex., ca. 1902; then Houston, Tex., ca. 1906. Died there, June 1911. Member of the Knights of Honor and the Houston Bar Association. L.K.L. Sources: Donald J. Hébert, comp., Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984); Attakapas Register, September 30, 1876; Mentz Family File, Morgan City Archives.
MERCHANT, Washington Bartholemew, attorney, notary public, realtor. Born in Mississippi, ca. 1843/1844. Appointed to town council of Brashear, La., (now Morgan City), 1867, elected in 1869, resigned to serve on parish police jury and to accept commission from State Board of Education as member of Brashear School Board. Named public administrator for St. Mary by Governor Warmoth (q.v.), 1870. Offered but declined office of mayor of Brashear in 1870; district attorney of Third Judicial District, 1875, and 1877, served until 1880; returned to council of Brashear in 1875, same year commissioned assistant state engineer by Governor Kellogg (q.v.). Married Emma E. Stansbury, daughter of Edwin Stansbury and Mary Collins. Children: George Washington (b. 1865) and Laura Partlow (b. 1868). Died in New Iberia, La. L.K.L. Sources: Donald J. Hébert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984); Merchant Family File, Morgan City Archives.
MERCIER, Charles-Alfred (generally known as Alfred), scholar, physician, author. Born, McDonoghville (near New Orleans), June 3, 1816; son of Jean-Baptiste Mercier and Marie-Héloïse Leduc; brother of Armand Mercier (q.v.). Education: Lycée Louis-le-grand, Paris, France. After graduation, entered law school in Paris but shortly became fascinated with Latin and Greek literature. While still in Paris, 1840, published a story in verse, La Rose de Smyrne, and the next year L’Ermite du Niagara, a mystery play, appeared. Traveled extensively throughout Europe (1840s), publishing a drama, Heroch Edesias. Following the Revolution of 1848, completed his medical studies and returned to New Orleans; practiced there for the next four decades. In France during Civil War; pleaded for French aid for Confederacy. Opposed institution of slavery, but believed fervidly in Southern independence and worked tirelessly for the Confederate cause. After war, resumed medical practice and continued to publish. Le Fou de Palerme appeared in 1873, and in 1876 he founded, along with brother Armand and Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard (q.v.), l’Athénée Louisianais, a society to promote French literature in Louisiana. Later works, Émile des Ormiers and a drama Fortunia met with high acclaim. Most memorable book, however, was L’Habitation Saint-Ybars, a moving evocation of plantation life in antebellum Louisiana. This work, based largely on his own youth and experience, gained him a lasting place in Louisiana literature. Married. Three children. Died, New Orleans, May 12, 1894; interred New Orleans. J.H. Sources: John Maxwell Jones, Jr., Slavery and Race in Nineteenth-Century Louisiana-French Literature (1978); Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Studies (1894); Edward L. Tinker, Les Écrits de langue français en Louisiane au XIXe siècle (1932); Robert Bush, “Louisiana Prose Fiction, 1870-1900” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Iowa, 1957); New Orleans Daily Picayune, May 14, 1894.
MERCIER, Jules-Placide-Armand (generally known as Armand), physician, civic leader, arts patron. Born, New Orleans, August 30, 1813; son of Jean-Baptiste Mercier and Marie-Héloïse Leduc. Educated in Europe. At the age of sixteen, together with younger brother Alfred (q.v.), entered the Lycée Louis-le-grand in Paris. Mother accidentally perished at sea on her way to France to visit sons. Upon graduation from the Paris Medical School under the celebrated Valpeau, returned to New Orleans, married Marie-Antoinette Corrine Smith, had several children, and began surgical practice that spanned half a century. As a surgeon, he originated numerous procedures, the most innovative of which was to disarticulate the bone without lesion to the facial nerve. He was a member of the board of aldermen of Charity Hospital and a charter member of the Medical Society of Louisiana. Passionately interested in politics (among his in-laws were Pierre Soulé, [q.v.], and Mayor Denis Prieur, [q.v.]), classical music, philosophy and French literature. For work in establishing l’Athénée Louisianais, of which he was the first president, government of France named him Officier de l’Instruction Publique (1881). Devoted to the Confederate cause, one of his closest personal friends being Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard (q.v.). Like brother Alfred, was an agnostic of sometimes anti-clerical views. Died, New Orleans, September 7, 1885. J.H. Sources: Comptes rendus de l’Athénée louisianais, II (January 1, 1878); Louisiana Historical Quarterly, various issues; Higginbotham family archives.
MERRICK, Caroline Elizabeth Thomas, suffragist, temperance leader. Born, Cottage Hall Plantation, near Jackson, La., November 24, 1825; daughter of David Thomas and Elizabeth Patillo Thomas. Educated at home. Married Edwin Thomas Merrick (q.v.) in 1840; attorney and planter, who was twice elected chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court; author of several legal treatises. Children: David, Laura Ellen, Clara, and Edwin Thomas, Jr. During early years gardened, managed household, and helped run plantation; after family removed to New Orleans in 1856, active in philanthropic and cultural organizations. Spent Civil War at Myrtle Grove Plantation, while Judge Merrick held court in Opelousas and Shreveport. Returned to New Orleans at war’s end. After death of eldest daughter in 1878, became more immersed in charity work; began to work to remove legal disabilities of Louisiana women, with full support of her husband. Worked closely with Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon (q.v.), writer and suffragist. They and Dr. Harriette Keating, a New York suffragist, addressed the 1879 Louisiana constitutional convention on behalf of women’s rights. In 1892 founded a political study club for women, the Portia Club, which became part of a state woman’s suffrage association in 1896. Served as president of that organization, 1896-1900. Continued to work and speak for suffrage on state and national levels throughout her life. In 1882 became president of the New Orleans branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. After death of her younger daughter in that year, threw herself into organizing a state W.C.T.U. in 1883, which she led for ten years. Associated and corresponded with such women’s leaders as Frances Willard, Susan B. Anthony, and Carrie Chapman Catt. In later years wrote sketches, stories, and an autobiography. Member, Methodist church. Died, New Orleans, March 29, 1908; interred Metairie Cemetery. P.B. Sources: Caroline E. Merrick, Old Times in Dixie Land: A Southern Matron’s Memories (1901); Barbara Sicheiman et al., Notable American Women (1980); Dictionary of American Biography (E.T. Merrick sketch); Merrick family papers, The Historic New Orleans Collection.
MERRICK, Edwin Thomas, jurist. Born, Wilbraham, Mass., July 9, 1808; son of Thomas Merrick and Ann Brewer. Orphaned and raised by an uncle in Springfield, Mass. Education: Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass., 1827-1832; while at Academy began to study law under William Knight; removed to New Lisbon, Ohio, in 1832 and completed legal studies under uncle, Alonzo L. Brewer. Admitted to bar in Ohio, 1833, and later established legal practice at Carrollton, La.; returned to Ohio and entered into legal partnership with William E. Russell after assuming control of Alonzo Brewer’s law office, 1834; removed to Louisiana, established partnership with James H. Muse and opened law office in Clinton, La., 1838; obtained instruction in Louisiana civil law, 1838; admitted to Louisiana bar, 1839; removed to New Orleans, 1855. Married, December 3, 1840, Caroline Elizabeth Thomas (q.v.), Cottage Hall Plantation, East Feliciana Parish, La., daughter of David Thomas, a veteran of the Battle of New Orleans. Four children, including Edwin Thomas, Jr., an attorney who joined his father in firm of Merrick & Merrick after Civil War. Active in Whig party: elected judge of the Seventh Judicial District, 1845; elected to state supreme court, 1846; elected chief justice of state supreme court, 1855. Opposed secession but served under the Confederate regime; after Union capture of New Orleans moved court first to Opelousas and later to Shreveport; reelected chief justice in 1863 and served until 1865. Following war, refused oath of allegiance and was disbarred; eventually pardoned and readmitted to Louisiana bar, joining firm of Race & Foster. House in New Orleans, confiscated by Union forces during war, also restored. Litigated several appeals from Louisiana before the U. S. Supreme Court during Reconstruction. Authored The Laws of Louisiana and Their Sources (1871). Died, New Orleans, January 12, 1897. C.A.B. Sources: Carmen Lindig, The Path from the Parlor: Louisiana Women, 1879-1920 (1986); Dictionary of American Biography, XII; Warren M. Billings, ed., The Historic Rules of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1813-1879 (1985); Alcée Fortier, ed., Louisiana, Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedia Form, 2 vols. (1909).
MERRITT, Minnie Mae Ridley, educator. Born in Claiborne Parish, La, December 15, 1909; daughter of Jim Ridley and Minnie West Ridley. Married: James Merritt. Educated in Claiborne Parish public schools, professional elementary education certificate, Louisiana State Department of Elementary Education, September 4, 1940; B. S. degree, Grambling College, August 26, 1948. Career: served as librarian and taught elementary classes and language arts for over thirty years at various public schools in Claiborne Parish, including Friendship (1936-37), Moreland (1937-40), St. John (1940-53), Mount Sinai (1953-54), and Woodson High School, formerly known as Haynesville Negro High School (1954-63). She worked tenaciously and assiduously in her quest for commitment to educational excellency. Served as Sunday school superintendent of Homer #2 Church of God in Christ. Died, October, 1963; interred Forest Grove Cemetery, Homer, La. SOURCES: Claiborne Parish School Board; Registrar’s Office, Grambling State University; Mrs. Willie B. Carter; Mr. Wiley G. Carter; Mr. A. D. Williams. D.D.C.
MERRY, John, alias Jean-Marie, a Negro resident of Illinois. Arrested in St. Louis in 1826 as a slave of André Chexnaider of New Orleans. Successfully sued for his freedom in Missouri in 1826. Two years later visited New Orleans, where he was again seized and reduced to slavery by Chexnaider, who claimed he was “addicted to running away.” Sued for his freedom in the First Judicial Court of New Orleans and was declared free. Although born of a slave mother, he was born in the Northwest Territory after passage of the 1787 ordinance which outlawed slavery in that territory. Decision affirmed by Louisiana Supreme Court. J.K.S. Source: Merry v. Chexnaider, 8 Mart. (La.) N.S., 699 #1877, Eastern District (New Orleans), March 1830.
METOYER, Augustin, plantation owner. Born Nicolas Augustin Metoyer, January 1768; son of Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer and Marie Thérèse Coincoin (q.v.). Given freedom by his father on August 1, 1792. Married, August 22, 1792, Marie Agnes Poissot. Nine children. Founder of the Isle Brevelle colony of gens de couleur libre in 1795, Augustin Metoyer was a wealthy landowner. A large slaveholder, most of the slaves freed on the Isle Brevelle were freed by Metoyer. His wealth, based on agriculture, allowed him to borrow from and lend money to the numerous white planters of the region. As master of Yucca Plantation and patriarch of the Metoyer family, he gave land for the Chapel of St. Augustine (completed July, 1829), built by brother Louis Metoyer (q.v.) with furnishings supplied by the community. Died, December 19, 1856. A.E.L. Sources: Gary B. Mills, The Forgotten People: Cane River’s Creoles of Color (1977); MSS. 182, Cane River Collection, The Historic New Orleans Collection.
METOYER, Claude Thomas Pierre, colonial merchant and planter. Born, La Rochelle, France, March 12, 1742; son of Nicolas François Metoyer and Marianne Drapron. In the mid-1760s, Metoyer and a friend from La Rochelle ventured to the Louisiana outpost of Natchitoches, where they opened a shop in competition with at least fifteen other “sellers of alcoholic beverages and owners of cabarets.” Both prospered, invested regularly in land and slaves, and within two decades became leading Red River planters. While Metoyer remained a bachelor throughout these years, he ignited a scandal by renting a slave woman (Marie Thérèse dite Coincoin, q.v.) by whom he fathered ten children. Called to account in 1776 by a new parish priest, who threatened to seize and sell Coincoin for the benefit of the colony’s hospital, Metoyer evaded penalty with the assistance of her owner (Marie des Neiges Juchereau de St. Denis de Soto [q.v.], daughter of Natchitoches’s revered founder), and the post commandant (Athanase de Mézières, the owner’s brother-in-law [q.v.]). Amid their machinations, Metoyer secretly freed the mother and her nursing infant, but not the children already born to them. The liaison formally ended in 1788, when Metoyer married Marie Thérèse Eugénie Buard, widow of Pierre’s friend Pavie, on October 13. In a settlement with Coincoin, Metoyer conveyed to her a slave and a small corner of his land. As their sons matured, each was assisted in some fashion and all took his name, although Pierre never acknowledged his paternity. With his public reputation shielded by denial, Metoyer rose from the rank of a militia private in 1772 to the marèchal de logis (quartermaster) in the 1780 company that Governor Bernardo de Gálvez dispatched to Mobile amid the American Revolution, to company standard bearer in 1791. By 1791, also, he was church sindic (in which capacity, ironically, he brought charges against religious transgressors), and he held that post for much of the next decade. Metoyer died at Natchitoches, September 30, 1815, leaving (to his legitimate offspring) one of Red River’s largest fortunes. By Marie Thérèse dite Coincoin (who died about 1816), Metoyer was the father of Nicolas Augustin (twin, b. 1768, founder of Church of St. Augustine on Isle Brevelle; q.v.); Marie Suzanne (twin, b. 1768), Louis (b. ca. 1770, founder of famed Melrose Plantation on Isle Brevelle; q.v.); Pierre (b. ca. 1772); Dominique (born 1774); Eulalie (b. 1776); Antoine Joseph (b. 1778); Marie Françoise Roselie (b. 1780); Pierre Toussaint (b. 1782); and François (b. 1784). By Marie Thérèse Eugenie Buard (who died February 6, 1813), Metoyer was the father of Pierre Victorin (b. 1789); Marie Thérèse Elisabeth (b. 1790; wife of Louis Narcisse Prudhomme); and François Benjamin (b. 1794). Both sets of offspring—in disparate ways—would dominate Cane River society, economics, and politics over the two centuries that followed. SOURCES: 1742 baptismal registrations, Church of Notre-Dame de La Rochelle, Archives Départementales de la Charente-Maritime, La Rochelle; Gary B. Mills, The Forgotten People: Cane River’s Creoles of Color (1976); Gary B. Mills, “Coincoin: An Eighteenth Century ‘Liberated’ Woman,” Black Women in United States History, Darlene Clark Hine, ed. (1990); Gary B. Mills, “A Portrait of Achievement: Nicolas Augustin Metoyer, f.m.c.,” Red River Valley Historical Review, 2 (1975): 332-48. Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches, 1729-1803: Abstracts of the Catholic Church Registers (1977); Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches, 1800-1826: Translated Abstracts of Register Number Five (1980); and Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches Colonials: Censuses, Military Rolls, and Tax lists, 1722-1803 (1981), numerous entries; “Copie du Contrat de Mariage Entre Metoyer et Thérèze Buard Passed Le 10 8bre 1788,” an “original copy” held by the contracting parties and preserved by descendants, photocopy provided to author in 1991 by descendant Wayne Martin, Houston, Texas; unprobated testament of Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, February 26, 1783, Acts of Leonardo Mazange, no. 7 (January 2-April 7, 1783), New Orleans Notarial Archives. Probated will of Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, folder 728, Melrose Collection, Northwestern State University Archives, Natchitoches; Metoyer family plot, American Cemetery, Natchitoches. G.B.M.
METOYER, Louis, freed slave and planter. Born ca. 1770 as slave of Marie des Neiges Juchereau de St. Denis (q.v.); son of Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, a French merchant, and of Marie Thérèse dite Coincoin (q.v.), a De Soto slave. Purchased by his father as a child, Louis enjoyed quasi freedom for many years prior to his official manumission in 1802. In 1795 he had been the recipient of a royal grant of 1,372 arpents of land in the Isle Brevelle area of Natchitoches Parish. An astute businessman, as were both his parents, he rapidly expanded his holdings, while successfully waging an on-going legal battle to retain possession of his land against the counterclaim of a prominent white colonist. By 1830, he and his brother Augustin Metoyer, f.m.c. (q.v.), vied for the rank of eighth-largest slaveholder in this agriculturally rich parish (the sixth and seventh-largest being their white half-brothers who had inherited the paternal fortune). Tradition also credits Louis (together with brother Augustin) as being a co-founder of the Church of St. Augustine de l’Isle Brevelle, the third oldest Catholic church in Northwest Louisiana. Married, February 9, 1801, Marie Thérèse Le Comte (born December 1783 on Cane River as the French-Indian daughter of Marie Thérèze, a Caneci slave belonging to Ambroise Le Comte’s neighbor Mathias Le Court [q.v.]). Child: Jean-Baptiste Louis Metoyer (b. 1800). He is additionally said to be the father of four children who were born into slavery but were subsequently manumitted. At his death on March 11, 1832, the ex-slave Metoyer left an estate in excess of a hundred thousand dollars. The central grounds of his plantation, now known as Melrose and held in trust by the Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches, was in 1975 declared a National Historical Landmark. G.B.M. Sources: Gary B. Mills, The Forgotten People: Cane River’s Creoles of Color (1977); Elizabeth Shown Mills and Gary B. Mills, “Slaves and Masters: The Louisiana Metoyers,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly, LXX (September, 1982).
MEYER, Adolph, planter, soldier, congressman. Born, Natchez, Miss., October 19, 1842. Attended local schools and University of Virginia, but entered Confederate service before graduation. During Civil War attained rank of adjutant general. After war returned to Natchez and engaged in cotton planting in nearby Concordia Parish, La. Engaged in banking in New Orleans. Elected colonel, First Regiment, Louisiana National Guard, 1879; appointed by Gov. Louis Wiltz (q.v.) brigadier general of Louisiana National Guard, 1881. Elected to the U. S. House of Representatives as a Democrat and served from March, 1891, until his death. Married Rosalie Jonas, 1868, daughter of Abraham Jonas of New Orleans and sister of U. S. Senator Benjamin Franklin Jonas (q.v.). Died, March 8, 1908, New Orleans; interred Metairie Cemetery. TAG, LA Sources: Military records, Jackson Barracks Library, compiled by Mary B. Oalmann, military historian; Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950).
MEYER, Joseph Fortuné, potter. Born, Province of Alsace, France, February 18, 1848. Immigrated to America with father, François, at age nine. Family settled in Biloxi, Miss., where the elder Meyer established a pottery, in which young Joseph, working as an apprentice to his father, learned the craft. Meyer moved pottery to New Orleans after Civil War and operated it jointly until the elder Meyer died, December 29, 1870. Joseph continued to operate pottery for another fifteen years. When Ellsworth and William Woodward established the New Orleans Art Pottery, 1885, Meyer hired, one year later, to run it. While still at the Art Pottery, Meyer and assistant and protege, George Ohr, (q.v.), also informally helped Woodwards set up Newcomb College’s ceramic department, 1891. Later Meyer and Ohr joined staff of Newcomb pottery, 1896. Meyer became and remained the head potter at Newcomb until retirement, 1928, throwing, glazing, and firing virtually all of the famous pieces the Newcomb women decorated. Meyer and wife, Felicie L. Pineau, had no children, but adopted orphaned daughter of housekeeper. Meyer, after retirement, lived in New Orleans with his daughter and her husband, James F. Walther. Died, New Orleans, March 16, 1931. J.J. Sources: Susanne Ormond and Mary E. Irvine, Louisiana’s Art Nouveau: The Crafts of the Newcomb Style (1976); Tulane University Archives; New Orleans City Directories; interviews with family members and associates.
MEZIERES, Henry Philippe (de), merchant, planter, politician. Born, Campti, La., July 15, 1839; son of Noël (de) Mézières, a manumitted slave, by his free-born wife Marie Osite Trichel. Privately educated, Mézières began his career as a laborer, invested an inheritance in real estate, and established himself as a leading merchant of Campti by the onset of the Civil War. He appears to have served in one of the two units of non-white militia who saw home-guard duty in the course of the war but were not permitted to join the regular ranks of the Confederate Army. Under the Republican regime of the Reconstruction era, the Mézières family figured prominently, with Henry Philippe being appointed, 1873, as clerk of the parish court. His two terms of office earned him the approbation and support not only of his party but also that of the white opposition. However, he was ousted in the subsequent “redemption” of Louisiana from Radical Republican control; and, like most nonwhites along Red River in postbellum Louisiana, his fortunes thereafter dwindled. Married (1) Rosalie Lauve, a free woman of color, June 23, 1864. Married (2) Mary Winan, July 10, 1900. Died, Campti, April 23, 1910. E.S.M. Source: Elizabeth Shown Mills, “(De) Mezieres-Trichel-Grappe: A Study of a Tri-Caste Lineage in the Old South,” The Genealogist, III (1983).
MICKLE, Joe J., educator. Born, Cleburne, Tex., June 23, 1898; son of Georgia Ella and Joe J. Mickle, Sr. Education: Memphis, Tex., schools; Clarendon College, 1915-1917; Southern Methodist University, B. A., 1919; Columbia University, M.A., 1920; Columbia University School of Business Administration, M.B.A., 1921; Tokyo Language School, 1921-1922. Certified Public Accountant, 1927. Married, June 6, 1921, Maida Works of Amarillo, Tex., daughter of Judge and Mrs. F. P. Works. Children: Maida (b. 1923), Margaret (b. 1924). Professor of Accounting and Foreign Trade, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan, 1923-1930; business manager and member of board of trustees, Kwansei Gakuin University, 1930-1941. Associate executive secretary of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, New York, 1941-1945; delegate to Study Conferences of the Commission on a Just and Durable Peace, Federal Council of Churches, 1942, 1945. President, Centenary College of Louisiana, 1945-1964. Directed an ambitious campus construction program which included the erection of thirteen buildings and presided over the college as its enrollment more than doubled. Member: Methodist church; Rotary Club International. Died, Shreveport, June 15, 1965; interred Forest Park Cemetery. S.S. Source: Shreveport Journal, May 3, 1945; obituary, June 16, 1965; interview with Mrs. Joe J. Mickle, Jr., July 25, 1986.
MIDDLETON, James Monroe, physician, civic leader. Born, Simpkinsville, Ala., September 2, 1866; son of John G. Middleton. Education: attended Southern University, Greensboro, Ala.; medical school, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. Married (1) Lethia L. Smith (d. 1911), January, 1881. Children: Fisher, Lilburne Leigh, James Monroe, Jr., Marguerite, Joel Silby, Ruth, and Leella. Married (2) Beatrice Olive Buvens, December 30, 1914. Children: Mary Elizabeth, Charles Tolar, William Fore, and Robert Champman. Member, first town council of Many, La., for twenty years; was president of the Sabine Parish Board of Health; opened the first drug store in Many; helped organize the Sabine State Bank and served on its board of directors for twenty-two years; director, first telephone company which linked Many to Lake Charles; director, Louisiana Insurance Company, Shreveport. Superintendent of Sunday School of the Methodist church in Many for thirty-two years and a steward in the church for twenty-eight years. Practiced medicine in Many and Sabine Parish from 1890 until his death. Died, June 4, 1944. J.H.P. Sources: Article by Leella Middleton, Sabine Index, Centennial Edition, September 6, 1979.
MIDDLETON, Troy Houston, soldier, educator, thirteenth president of Louisiana State University. Born, Georgetown, Copiah County, Miss., October 12, 1889; son of John Houston Middleton and Katherine Louise Thompson. Education: local school, Bethel, Miss.; Mississippi A & M College (later Mississippi State University), 1904-1909. Enlisted as a private, U. S. Army, 1910; commissioned second lieutenant, infantry, 1912. Married, January 6, 1915, Jerusha Collins of Galveston, Tex. Two children: Troy, Jr. (b. 1922), and Bernice Collins (b. 1926). First lieutenant, 1916; captain, 1917; major-colonel, 1918. At age 29 was youngest colonel in American Expeditionary Force to France, World War I. Commanded both Thirty-ninth and Forty-seventh Infantry regiments in combat. Reverted to captain in peacetime army, 1919. Student, instructor, Infantry School, Fort Benning, Ga., 1919-1923; major, 1920. Student, instructor, Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., 1923-1928. (According to Middleton’s biographer, F. J. Price, “Through the four years Middleton taught from 1924 to 1928 came almost all the men who were to command divisions in Europe in World War II. At one time … every corps commander in Europe had been a student under Middleton at the Command and General Staff School.” Heading the list of Middleton’s former students was later Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, who ranked first in the Leavenworth class of 1925-1926. Student, Army War College, Washington, D. C., 1928-1929. Battalion commander, Twenty-ninth Infantry, Fort Benning, 1929-1930. Commandant of cadets, Louisiana State University, 1930-1936. Lieutenant colonel, 1935, Philippine Islands, 1936-1937. Retired from army, returned to Louisiana State University as dean of administration, vice-president, 1937-1942. Re-entered U. S. Army, served as commanding general, Forty-fifth Infantry Division (Sicily), VIII Corps (France, Belgium, Germany), in World War II, and 1945-1951. Retired as lieutenant general. Comptroller, LSU, 1942-1945; president, 1951-1962; president emeritus, 1962-1976. Died, Baton Rouge, October 9, 1976. M.T.C. Souces: F. J. Price, Troy H. Middleton (1974); The Simon and Schuster Encyclopedia of World War II (1978); Middleton Collection, Troy H. Middleton Library, LSU.
milbuRN, Rodney, athlete. Born, Opelousas, La., May 18, 1950; son of Mary Milburn. Married Betty Comeaux; children: Rodney III, Felacia, Russel. Established two Louisiana track records—13.9 seconds in the 120-yard high hurdles; 19.0 seconds in the 180-yard low hurdles—during his junior year (1967-1968) at J. S. Clark High School at Opelousas in the late 1960s. Named to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association All-State Track and Field Team after his junior season. During his senior year (1968-1969), he established a new national record for high hurdles—13.5 seconds in the 120-yard high hurdles. Co-recipient of the Outstanding Track Man selection on the all-state team after his senior year. Attended Southern University on a track scholarship, 1970-1973. Ranked by the international sports media as the world’s best hurdler, 1971-1973. In 1971, became the only athlete to win his event in the NAIA, NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, and AAU championships; over the course of his career, Milburn won three national collegiate hurdles titles and four AAU national championships. Finished first in the 110-meter high hurdles competition at the 1971 Pan American Games. Won a gold medal for the 110-meter high hurdles at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany; set an Olympic record and a world record in the event with a time of 13.24 seconds. Other world records established by Milburn in the high-hurdles: 50-yard, 5.8 seconds; 55-meter, 6.8 seconds, 60-yard, 6.7 seconds; 120-yard, 13.0 seconds. Awards: named World Athlete of the Year by Track and Field News, 1971; awarded the Jim Corbett Award as Louisiana’s oustanding amateur athlete, 1971, 1973; member, NAIA, United States Amateur Track and Field, and Louisiana Sports halls of fame. While a college athlete, developed the “double-armed lead” style of hurdling which is now widely used by hurdlers throughout the world. Competed as a professional athlete in the International Track Association, late 1970s. Played football briefly for the Shreveport Steamers of the World Football League. Sought reinstatment as an amateur athlete in order to compete in the 1980s Olympics. Ranked fifth in the world in the early 1980s. Retired from athletics, 1983. Track and Field coach, Southern University, 1985-1987. Employed by Georgia Pacific, 1988-1997. Died in an industrial accident at a Georgia Pacific paper mill’s bleach plant near Port Hudson, La., November 11, 1997; interred, Greenville Chapel Cemetery, Opelousas, La. SOURCES: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, November 13, 1997; Lafayette Daily Advertiser, November 14, 1997; Jerry Byrd, Louisiana Sports Legends: The Men and Women of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame (1992); Jim Calhoun, ed., Louisiana Sports Record Book (1971); Bob Remy, Louisiana Sports Encyclopedia (1977); Opelousas Daily World, November 13, 1997; Hall of Fame web pages, United States Amateur Track and Field Association World Wide Web site; information provided by the Southern University Sports Information Office. C.A.B.
MILES, Elizabeth Mary Landreaux Pajaud “Lizzie,” jazz and blues singer. Born, New Orleans, La., March 31, 1895. Lizzie Miles became one of the most famous singers to emerge from New Orleans. She cut her musical teeth playing in the cabarets in New Orleans, Bucktown, and Algiers with the bands of Joseph “King” Oliver, Edward “Kid” Ory, A. J. Piron, and Manuel Manetta. Between 1910 and 1920, she frequently toured the South singing “classic blues” (blues songs sung by female singers with a jazz band) on the minstrel circuit. In 1921 she moved to New York and the next year began to record as a blues singer. Miles was very active throughout the 1920s, touring both in America and Europe and recording with top musicians such as King Oliver and Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton. Around 1931 illness and the declining popularity of the classic blues forced her into an early retirement. In 1935 she resumed her career, singing with Paul Barbarin in New York before moving to Chicago. In 1942 Miles retired again, only to return to the stage during the New Orleans jazz revival of the 1950s. She toured extensively and became famous for her vocals in the Creole patois. She recorded seminal New Orleans versions of “Bill Bailey” and “Baby, Please Come Home.” Died, New Orleans, La., March 17, 1963. K.S.F. Sources: Daphne Harrison, Black Pearls (1988); Barry Martyn, liner notes to Lizzie Miles, American Music AMCD-73; Derrick Stewart-Baxter, Ma Rainey and the Classic Blues Singers (1970).
MILHET, Jean, New Orleans merchant, conspirator in the Revolt of 1768. A native of France, the younger brother of Joseph (q.v.), Jean was a prominent merchant in New Orleans. Married Luisa Cheval. Two daughters. Census of 1766 shows him residing in New Orleans with his family and 12 slaves. In October 1764 the Superior Council selected Milhet to carry their petition to France protesting the cession of Louisiana to Spain. Despite audiences with former governor Bienville (q.v.) and the Duc de Choiseul (q.v.), Milhet’s mission was a failure. Returned to New Orleans, 1767. Arrested August 19, 1769. Accused of conspiring against the Spanish crown. At his trial witnesses testified that he had publicly spoken out against Spanish commercial decrees, that he had approved the “Memorial” and that he had led a group of militia into the plaza on the day Ulloa (q.v.) was ousted and pursued the César, the vessel carrying Ulloa to the Balize. Despite being charged as a conspirator, he escaped execution, being sentenced to six years imprisonment in a Cuban jail. Family connections led to his release in December 1770 and his repatriation to France, where his wife and familly joined him. Died ca. 1780. As late as 1782 his family was still petitioning for a return of his sequestered estate. B.C. Sources: Acts of Andrés Almonester y Roxas, Book 1, p. 185, Orleans Parish Notarial Archives; John Preston Moore, Revolt in Louisiana (1976); David Ker Texada, Alejandro O’Reilly and the New Orleans Rebels (1970); Voorhies, Some Eighteenth Century Louisianians (1973).
MILHET, Joseph, merchant, lieutenant in the French militia, major conspirator in the Revolt of 1768. Married Marguerite Catherine Wiltz, daughter of Johan Wiltz and Marie Dohl, natives of Saxony and settlers on the German Coast. Two daughters, the second of whom, Catherine, later married Pierre Georges Rousseau (q.v.), Spanish naval officer. Little is known about Joseph’s career prior to the 1768 revolt. He may have been in partnership with his youngest brother Jean (q.v.), one of New Orleans’ richest merchants. Milhet in company with Nicolas La Frénière, fils (q.v.) and Foucault (q.v.) was part of a delegation sent to meet Alejandro O’Reilly (q.v.) after his arrival at the Balize in July of 1769. He was arrested August 19, 1769, and charged with sedition for having incited the militia to rise against the Spanish governor. Convicted, he was executed by firing squad on October 25, 1769. His widow remarried Jacinto Panis in 1777. B.C. Sources: Acts of Andrés Almonester y Roxas, Book 2, p. 4, Orleans Parish Notarial Archives; Raymond J. Martinez, Pierre George Rousseau: (1964); David Ker Texada, Alejandro O’Reilly and the New Orleans Rebels (1970); John Preston Moore, Revolt in Louisiana (1976); Jacqueline K. Voorhies, Some Eighteenth Century Louisianians (1973).
MILLER, Cincinnatus Heine, see MILLER, Joaquin
MILLER, Ernest “Punch”, jazz musician. Born, Raceland, La., June 14, 1894. After serving as a bugler in World War I, Punch returned to New Orleans, played with Kid Ory (q.v.), then joined Jack Carey’s popular band. In the 1920s became a trumpet and blues king. In 1927 left New Orleans and made Chicago home for 20 years. Traveled with dance bands led by Jelly Roll Morton (q.v.), Fate Marable and others. Returned to New Orleans in 1956. Appearance helped lead to Preservation Hall’s development. Recorded on Century, Folkways and Icon labels. A few months before his death, made a documentary movie for AKA of London. Toured U. S and Japan. New Orleans Jazz Festival termed him “an immortal of jazz.” Died, New Orleans, December 3, 1971. H.C. Sources: New Orleans States-Item, obituary, December 6, 1971; John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz (1972); Second Line, Winter 1972; Noel Rockmore, Preservation Hall Portraits (1968); Samuel B. Charters, Jazz: New Orleans, 1885-1963 (1963).
MILLER, Henry Carleton, attorney, jurist. Born, Covington, La., 1828; son of S. W. Miller, a lawyer, and Eliza Dulay-Bach Kirk, a native of South Carolina. Education: private schools, studied law, admitted to Louisiana bar, practiced law in New Orleans. Married (1) Louisa Knox of St. Landry Parish. Married (2) Laura Clement of Iberville Parish. Three children by each marriage; only son, Branch. Served as U. S. district attorney before Civil War and in same capacity for Confederate government. After war, formed law partnership with E. W. Huntington, but later joined firm of Lea, Finney, and Bradford. Outspoken opponent of Louisiana Lottery. Dean, Tulane Law School, lecturer on Admiralty and International law. Appointed associate justice, Louisiana Supreme Court, February 1, 1894, to succeed Judge Charles Parlange (q.v.). Died, New Orleans, March 4, 1899. G.R.C. Sources: “The Louisiana State Lottery Co.,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVII (1944); Henry Rightor, Standard History of New Orleans, Louisiana (1900); New Orleans Daily Picayune, March 5, 1899.
MILLER, J. D. “Jay,” record producer. Born at Iota, La. 1922. Married Georgia Sonnier. Five children. Career: Miller began performing as a guitarist in the 1930s, but worked as an electrician during and after World War II before combining these interests as a record producer and engineer. Best known for recording and producing area bluesmen, particularly Slim Harpo, Lazy Lester, and Lightnin’ Slim. Miller also did significant production work with Cajun and Swamp Pop groups at his Master Trak studio in Crowley. A prolific composer (over 400 of his songs have been recorded), Miller’s biggest single was the million selling “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels.” This song was a number one hit for Kitty Wells in 1952, making her a superstar and opening the field to other female country western singers. His Nashville connections meant that he could secure national distribution and exposure for the Louisiana artists he recorded. Miller’s blues productions of the 1950s and ’60s are classics of the genre. Many are still available today via American and European reissues. In later years he continued to work with scores of local recording artists. Miller was honored with gold and platinum records for his work on national recording artist Paul Simon’s Graceland album. Died in Crowley, La. March 24, 1996; interred at Woodlawn Mausoleum, Crowley, La. M.S.F. Sources: The Best of Excello Records, vol. 1. Rhino R4 70896; John Broven, South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous (1983); Mike Leadbitter, Crowley, Louisiana Blues, Bexhill-on-the-Sea: Blues Unlimited (1968); Legendary Jay Miller series, Flyright Records, Crawley, West Sussex, England. “Obituaries: J. D. Miller, Music Producer, 73; Wrote ‘Honky Tonk Angels,'” New York Times, March 25, 1996.
MILLER, James F., military mayor of New Orleans. Born, Hollis, Me., October 13, 1831. Education: Bowdoin College, graduated 1856; studied law under Fesenden V. Butler. Civil War service: lieutenant colonel as military aide to Maine governor, Israel Washburne, in charge of Union troop recruitment; captain and aide to Gen. George F. Shepley (q.v.), military governor of Louisiana. Appointed secretary of state under Shepley’s administration; military mayor of New Orleans from February 1, 1863, to February 3, 1864. Transferred from Louisiana to serve as assistant adjutant general of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina under Benjamin Butler (q.v.) until July 16, 1864, when he retired. State legislator in Maine, 1865-1866. Died, December 12, 1873. J.L. Sources: Gerald Capers, Occupied City: New Orleans Under the Federals, 1862-1865 (1965); John S. Kendall, History of New Orleans (1922); MSS. biographical catalogue, Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine.
MILLER, Joaquin, pen name of Cincinnatus Heine (or Hiner) Miller, poet. Born, Liberty, Ind., September 8, 1837. Removed West with his parents; grew up in California with miners, gamblers, and Indians. Education: Columbia College, Eugene, Ore.,1858-1859; admitted to Oregon bar, 1860. Owned a pony express, a newspaper, and was county judge in Canyon City, Ore., 1862-1866. Took pen name from Mexican bandit, Joaquin Murrieta (ca. 1832-1853). First book of poetry appears 1868. Travelled to England, 1870, where his flamboyant style caught English imagination. Most noted work, Songs of the Sierras (1871), was published in England, not considered seriously in the U. S. Was given to exaggeration and literary posing. Visited New Orleans twice: in 1884, he submitted articles about the activity at the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition site prior to opening, in which he attempted to correct popular opinion in the North and East concerning politics and racial problems in Louisiana, and encouraged visitors to see Louisiana. These articles for Eastern newspapers created interest in Louisiana and its scenic beauty. Honored at several dinner parties while in New Orleans where he read his poetry. Through friendship with Julia Ward Howe, supervisor of the Women’s Department of the Exposition, he became an unofficial sponsor of that department. Resided at the home of George Washington Cable (q.v.), 1313 Eighth Street, during this visit. In 1897 he returned to New Orleans to visit old friends and give lectures. He lectured on the Sierras and the West with stereopticon views, readings of his poems, and songs. He also gave a lecture entitled, “Some Lessons Not Learned in Books” which covered his visits to Oxford, Bonn, and Heidelberg, his Japanese students in California, cited notable historical figures worth imitating, and recommended the Sermon on the Mount as a statement of man’s worthiest goals. Married (1) Theresa Dyer. Two children. Married (2) Abbie Leland, 1883. Died, Oakland, Calif., February 17, 1913. P.D.A. Sources: The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, VI (1983).; Arlin Turner, “Joaquin Miller in New Orleans,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXII (1939); Dumas Malone, ed., Dictionary of American Biography, XII (1933).
MILLER, John Fitz, businessman, planter. Born, Philadelphia, Pa., ca. 1780; son of John F. Miller, Sr., and Sarah Wessel. Lived in Norfolk, Va., and New Orleans, La., before establishing himself at New Iberia. Acquired “Butte a Peigneur” or “Pine Island” (now Jefferson Island) in 1833. Throughout 1830s acquired several thousand acres near New Iberia. Cultivated sugarcane and operated sugar mill. With John C. Marsh of New Iberia, operated a rum distillery. Was involved in the Sally Miller (q.v.) case which involved a young German immigrant being sold into slavery. As a woman, Sally Miller sued for her freedom which was restored by the Louisiana Supreme Court. Together with other prominent antebellum planters formed the Attakapas Jockey Club Association, ca. 1835. Renowned for his racetrack and guest facilities at Jefferson Island where thoroughbred horses were raced. Said to have planted hundreds of orange trees on the island, thus giving it the name “Orange Island,” a name it retained until bought by actor Joseph Jefferson (q.v.) and renamed Jefferson Island. Never married. Left his considerable estate, part of which had once belonged to Daniel Clark (q.v.), to his niece Cordelia Wheeler Lewis who was later involved in litigation with Myra Clark Gaines (q.v.) over title to the land. Litigation resolved by compromise. Died, New Iberia, December 3, 1857; interred Rosehill Cemetery. G.R.C. Source: Glenn R. Conrad, comp., New Iberia: Essays on the Town and Its People, 2nd ed. (1986).
MILLER, Julian Creighton, horticulturist. Born, Lexington, S. C., 1895. Married Caroline Stone Leichliter; children: Rodman B. and Julian C., Jr. Education: B. S., Clemson College; M. S. and Ph. D., Cornell University. Worked as a county agent and taught briefly at Oklahoma State College before joining the Louisiana State University faculty as a horticulturist in July, 1929. Head of Louisiana State University’s horticultural research program, 1929-1960; chairman, combined Horticulture Department and horticultural research program, 1960-1966. Obtained a $10,000 federal grant to establish a potato research program to revive Louisiana’s declining potato industry. Subsequently established breeding programs for stawberries, English peas, lima beans, snap beans, okra, onions, shallots, pumpkins, carrots, squash, hot peppers, sweet corn, and peaches; these programs resulted in the development of more disease-resistant Louisiana varieties of fruits and vegetables. Miller’s research impacted virtually all areas of Louisiana agriculture, but his work was particularly beneficial to the state’s strawberry and sweet potato producers. Introduced the Klonmore strawberry variety, which rejuvenated Louisiana’s strawberry industry. Was the first person to induce the sweet potato plant to flower and set seed in the continental United States. Developed the Louisiana cortisone yam variety, used to make the drug cortisone. Commended by the United States Quartermaster Corps for his work during World War II in developing dehydrated sweet potatoes. His reputation played an important roll in securing agricultural research grants for Louisiana. Honors: Progressive Farmer Magazine Awards: Man of the Year for Louisiana, 1940; Man of the Year for the South, 1947. Named Vegetable Man of 1957 by the National Vegetable Growers Association, 1957. Recipient, Louisiana State University Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award, 1966. Clemson University presented Miller with an honorary degree in 1961. Awarded a presidential commendation for his groundbreaking work in horticulture, February, 1971. Served as king of the Yambilee and the Strawberry Festival. President: National Society for Horticultural Science; American Potato Association. Honorary life member: Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation and the Southern Seedman’s Association. By the late 1960s, more than 200 of Miller’s former students held executive, teaching, or research positions in horticultural programs throughout the world. Upon retirement in 1966, the Louisiana Sweet Potato Association presented Miller with a check for $6,000 in appreciation for his research contributions. Died, Baton Rouge, April 13, 1971; interred, Baton Rouge. C.A.B. Sources: Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, December 12, 1957; April 14, 1971; Baton Rouge State Times, August 6, 1960; May 23, 1966; February 26, 1971.
MILLER, Sally, alias Salomi Muller, white indentured servant sold into slavery. Born, Saltzburg, Bavaria, ca. 1810; daughter of Daniel and Dorothea Miller. Came to Louisiana as a redemptioner in 1818 with her parents, a brother, Jacob, and a sister. Both parents and Jacob died shortly thereafter. Sold to John Fitz Miller (q.v.) as an indentured servant. Miller sold her as a Negro slave called Mary [also Briget] to Louis Belmonti in 1822. In 1844 she sued for her freedom. The Fifth District Court ruled against her but she won her freedom in the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1845. Relatives identified her by her appearance and a mole on the inside of her thigh. In 1849 John F. Miller (q.v.) tried to prove her a slave. In an elaborate case he tried to prove she had African blood, and that she had been coached to act and think as a German girl. He lost in the Fifth District Court and his appeal was dismissed by the supreme court. One child: John (b. 1830), mulatto. J.K.S. Sources: Miller v. Belmonti, 11 Rob. (La.) 339 #5623, New Orleans, May 1845; Miller v. Miller, 4 La. Ann. 354 #1114, #1024, New Orleans, May 1849; Louis Voss, “Sally Meuler [sic], the German Slave,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XII (1923).
MILLET, Albert, businessman, civic leader. Born, Lions, La., November 7, 1868; son of Adelard Millet and Josephine Bacas. Educated, private schools. Apprenticed at the age of 14 in his father’s undertaking and blacksmithing businesses. Co-owner of a cypress sawmill. Served as postmaster, Lions Post Office, 1910-1911. As a school board member, 1916-1932, helped develop the school system in St. John the Baptist Parish. Married, December 10, 1889, Honorine Perilloux, native of St. John Parish, daughter of Felix Perilloux, pioneer in the cooperage business, and Mérthé Froisy. Twelve children: Leopold (b. 1890); Edward (1892-1939); Bertha (1894-1981); Bernadette (b. 1896); Gilberta (b. 1898); Honorine (b. 1900); Gerard (b. 1901); Daniel (b. 1904); Elida (b. 1906); Odette (b. 1908); Donald (b. 1914); Lillie Mae (b. 1916). Active in the Democratic party. Member, Catholic church. Died, Lions, October 26, 1958; interred St. Peter Cemetery, Reserve, La. E.M.C. Sources: Jean M. Eyraud and Donald J. Millet, A History of St. John the Baptist Parish With Biographical Sketches (1939); obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 27, 1958; Lake Charles American Press, October 27, 1958.
MILLET, Clarence, artist. Born, Hahnville, La., 1897; son of Mathilda Madre and Theophile Millet. Education: New Orleans public schools; Art Students League of New York. Taught outdoor sketching at New Orleans Art School. Participated in WPA artists’ projects. Published illustrations in Stanley Clisby Arthur’s Old New Orleans (1937). Subject matter exclusively Louisiana landscapes and New Orleans street scenes. Exhibitions: annual exhibits at Delgado Museum; two one-man shows at Delgado Museum, 1925, 1929; part of group show at Montross Galleries, New York, 1929; one painting, New York World’s Fair, 1939; one-man show, Louisiana Art Project Gallery, 1941; memorial one-man exhibition at the Downtown Gallery for the Art Associates Guild, 1960, and at Louisiana State University, 1963. Exhibitions awarded twenty-three prizes. Works in collections of Library of Congress; Louisiana State University Library; University of Southern California; Louisiana State Gallery, Shreveport; City Hall, New Orleans; Municipal Art Gallery, Jackson, Miss.; Art Foundation, Corpus Christi, Tex.; Belhaven College, Jackson, Miss.; Kenner High School, Kenner, La.; Warren Easton High School, New Orleans. K.M. Sources: Friends of the Cabildo, Louisiana State Museum, 250 Years of Life in New Orleans: The Rosemond E. and Emile Kuntz Collection and the Felix H. Kuntz Collection (1968); Anglo-American Art Museum, The Louisiana Landscape, 1800-1969 (1969); Louisiana Art Commission Galleries, Artists Who Flourished in Louisiana in the Past (1965); Louisiana State University Library, Memorial Exhibition, Clarence Millet, ANA (1963); The Arts and Crafts Club, Bulletin of the New Orleans Art School (1929-1930); Daily Reveille, May 24, 1963; Item-Tribune, September 1, 15, 1929; Morning Tribune, March 6, 1929; New Orleans Item, January 27, 1921, July 31, 1955; New Orleans States and Item, August 24, 1959; New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 25, 1925.
MILLIKEN, Richard Allen, businessman, planter. Born, Waterford, Ireland, September 17, 1817. Immigrated with parents to Nova Scotia, 1830. Settled in New Orleans, 1842; established sugar brokerage. During Civil War, served on staff of Richard Taylor (q.v.); later placed in charge of Confederate copper mines at Burra-Burra, Tenn. On October 6, 1864, married Deborah Allen Farwell of Unity, Me., sister of U. S. Senator Nathan Farwell. Milliken reputed to have marketed one-third of Louisiana sugar production of the time. In 1872 became a planter with purchase of Unity Plantation. Later acquired Fairfield Plantation in Jefferson Parish, Scarsdale and Monplaisir plantations in Plaquemines Parish, Waterford Plantation in St. Charles Parish, Smithfield Plantation in West Baton Rouge Parish, Point Clear Plantation in Iberville Parish, and Staunton, Devron and Delacroix plantations in Orleans Parish, together totaling more than 13,000 acres of land. Milliken reputed to have been third largest sugar planter of his time. Accidentally struck by streetcar; died of injuries, May 28, 1896. Widow established Richard Milliken Memorial Hospital for Children in New Orleans. G.R.C. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, May 29, 1896; Henry Rightor, ed., Standard History of New Orleans, Louisiana … (1900); Alcée Fortier, ed., Louisiana … , III (1909).
MILNE, Alexander, businessman, philanthropist. Born, Fochabers, Scotland, 1742. Worked as a footman with the family of the Duke of Richmond and Gordon. Reportedly left for America when required to powder his red hair. Arrived in New Orleans in 1790, established a hardware business, profited extensively from his brickmaking business, especially during the rebuilding of New Orleans after the fire of 1788. Purchased large tracts of swampland on both sides of Bayou St. John and on the lakefront. Owned at one time much of the land on Lake Pontchartrain on which Milneburg was built. Died, 1838. Willed much of his estate to be used to set up asylums in New Orleans for orphan boys and girls and also to support asylums already in existence. J.F.T. Sources: Edna B. Freiberg, Bayou St. John in Colonial Louisiana, 1699-1803 (1980); John Smith Kendall, History of New Orleans (1922).
MIMS, Mary Williams, teacher, school principal, humanitarian, agricultural extension sociologist. Born near Minden, La., August 20, 1882; fourth daughter and fifth child of David Samuel Mims and Mary Eleanor Stewart. Received a Bachelor of Industry degree, Louisiana Industrial Institute (now Louisiana Tech University), 1902. Later received additional training at Sophie B. Wright School for Girls in New Orleans, and summer terms at George Peabody College, the University of Colorado, Louisiana State University, and several European institutes. Taught or served as principal at Gibsland High School, Ringgold High School, and Bienville High School, 1902-1922. Began new career as assistant home demonstration agent for the L.S.U. Agricultural Extension Service, 1922, rising to become the service’s first extension sociologist. In 1925 she instituted a program to organize rural communities, establishing economic, health, civic, and recreation guidelines. By 1940, over 1,000 Louisiana communities had organized, and she was invited to numerous European countries and almost every state in the country as a consultant for her community organization model. In the 1930s, she organized nineteen folk schools to encourage the rural communities to retain their heritage. Named Progressive Farmer “Woman of the Year,” 1941. Received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Centenary College. On her retirement, August 20, 1952, she became emeritus extension professor of Sociology. Given the Modisette Award by the Louisiana Library Association, 1957. Died November 24, 1967; interred in Minden, La., Cemetery. G.I. Sources: Garnie W. McGinty, Mary Williams: Teacher. Humanitarian and First Agricultural Extension Sociologist (1978).
MIRO Y SABATER, Esteban RodrÃguez, governor of Louisiana. Born, Catalonia, ca. 1744; son of Francisco Miró and Marian de Miró y Sabater. Education, unknown. Career before Louisiana: Cadet, 1760; served in the Portuguese campaign of 1762. First Battalion, Fixed Infantry Regiment, of the Crown of New Spain, 1767-1773, rising to adjutant major. Lisbon Infantry Regiment, 1773-1777, as adjutant major. Served in the Algiers campaign, 1774-1775, which ruined career of Alexandro O’Reilly (q.v.). Louisiana service: Posted to Louisiana as lieutenant-colonel, Louisiana Regiment, fall 1778. Married Céleste Eléonore Elisabeth Macarty, daughter of Bartolomé de Macarty and Francisca de Beleire y Pellerin of New Orleans, December 21, 1779. Daughter: Mathilde Ana Francisca (b. 1780). Aide-de-camp to Bernardo de Gálvez (q.v.), 1780-1781. Raised troops at Havana for Mobile campaign, 1780. Organized suppression of Natchez Rebellion, 1781. Promoted to rank of colonel and command of Louisiana Regiment, February 15, 1781. Interim governor from March 1, 1782, to December 9, 1785, while Gálvez was in Cuba. Appointed governor by decree of August 19, 1785. Took residencia of Luis de Unzaga y Amezaga. May 10, 1788, assumed duties of intendant as well as governor. Relinquished office to Baron de Carondelet (q.v.), December 30, 1791. Residencia taken, 1802-1805. Miró’s term as governor was noted for his efforts, on order from Madrid, to prevent U. S. occupation of land east of the Mississippi granted to U.S. under Treaty of Paris (1763). To this end he conspired with James Wilkinson (q.v.) and others to try to detach Kentucky from the U. S. He prevented U. S. land companies from occupying parts of what is now Mississippi (Bourbon County dispute, 1785; Georgia land companies, 1790-1791). He helped popularize the inoculation against smallpox; encouraged crop diversification after royal tobacco monopoly stopped buying Louisiana tobacco, 1790. A. P. Whitaker summarized his regime: “He gave Louisiana a mild and beneficent administration, encouraging commerce and agriculture, opposing the establishment of the Inquisition, and making every effort to restore New Orleans after the great fire of 1788. The construction of several notable public buildings was begun at this time.” His residencia concluded he was a “good and faithful minister, disinterested, exact and zealous in the carrying out of his obligations. He is worthy of the highest praises for his exactitude, diligence, and good services to the King and the republic.” Service after Louisiana: At court defending himself against various charges and advising on Louisiana affairs, 1792-1793. Promoted to rank of brigadier general, October 1, 1793. Active in war against First French Republic, 1793-1795, including service at Vergara, Guipuzcoa. Died June 4, 1795. P.E.H. Sources: Jack D. L. Holmes, “Introduction,” to document one, Documentos ineditos para la historia de Luisiana, 1792-1810 (1963); Caroline M. Burson, The Stewardship of Don Esteban Miro, 1782-1792 (1940); Arthur P. Whitaker, “Miro, Esteban Rodriguez, 1744-1795,” Dictionary of American Biography (1928-58).
MITHOFF, William, adjutant general of Louisiana. Born, Carrollton, a suburb of New Orleans, March 11, 1843; son of Hector William Mithoff, a German immigrant, and Emma Margaret Thompson of Bordertown, N. J. Education: public schools, New Orleans; Louisiana Military Seminary (forerunner of Louisiana State University). A lieutenant with New Orleans Volunteers, but, with outbreak of Civil War, enlisted in Second Indiana Regiment of Union Army. After war, appointed adjutant general by Gov. James Madison Wells (q.v.), July, 1865. Attended University of Louisiana (now Tulane University); received law degree, 1867. Married, September 10, 1869, Gertrude Hyman, daughter of Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice William B. Hyman (q.v.). Died, March 17, 1886; interred Arlington Cemetery. TAG, LA Source: Author’s research.
MITTELBRONN, François-Christophe, clergyman. Born, Department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Lorraine, France, October 8, 1827. Early seminary studies in France; exeat from Diocese of Nancy, May 3, 1849. Completed studies at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Assumption Parish, La. Ordained to priesthood at St. Mary Church, New Orleans, August 15, 1850. Served at Catholic parishes in Edgard, 1850-1851, New Iberia, 1851, and Abbeville, 1851-1852. Pastor of Pointe Coupée, 1852-1866, where he built first chapel at Chenal. Ardent Confederate who unsuccessfully tried to join Pointe Coupée Battery as chaplain; later arrested and briefly imprisoned by Federal troops at Barrow and Baton Rouge for blessing Confederate flags and regimental standards of departing Pointe Coupée troops. Pastor, 1866-1896, and pastor emeritus, 1896-1919, of St. Rose of Lima Parish in New Orleans. Honorary canon of St. Louis Cathedral, 1877. Died, New Orleans, July 7, 1919; interred St. Louis Cemetery III. C.E.N. Sources: Mittelbronn, Blanc, and Rousselon Papers, Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans; St. Rose of Lima Sacramental Records (death and burial); Roger Baudier, Centennial, 1857-1957, St. Rose of Lima Parish, La. (New Orleans, 1957).
MIXON, James E., forester. Born, New Orleans, 1912. Louisiana State Forester, 1947-1976. Served as state forest superintendent at Woodworth, La., and then as the agency’s chief of fire control. Mixon, noted for his salty outspokenness and flamboyant style, devoted his life to forestry. Developed public support for cause of forestry and transformed fledgling state agency into a highly skilled and efficient organization which did much for Louisiana forestry with fire control, pine seedling production, research studies, and forest management. Retired, 1976. Honors: Society of American Foresters (Gulf States Section) first award for the Outstanding Forester in Louisiana, 1960. Died, 1978. A.C.B. Source: Author’s research.
MOBLEY, Hardy, clergyman. During Reconstruction, the northern-based American Missionary Association appointed him to St. Paul Congregational Church, established in 1871, at New Iberia, La. Born a Georgia slave, Mobley had migrated north to Brooklyn, N.Y., before coming to Louisiana. His mission to New Iberia symbolized the attempt by some northern whites and blacks to replace religious fundamentalism and “purify” black churches of secularism. By 1875, Mobley had failed in his cause; a supportive minority within his congregation regarded him as a martyr. T.F.R. Sources: Joe M. Richardson, Christian Reconstruction (1986); Jacqueline Jones, Soldiers of Light and Love: Northern Teachers and Georgia Blacks, 1865-1873 (1980).
MODISETTE, James Oliver, attorney, library supporter. Born, Shongaloo, Webster Parish, La., July 27, 1881; son of H. H. Modisette and Anne Eliza Baughan. Education: Illinois College of Law, Chicago, LL. B. and LL. M. degrees. Married Zada McDowell. Five children. Began law practice in Jennings, La., 1908. Founder and first president, Jennings Rotary Club; served as Rotary district governor. Assisted in chartering Jennings Kiwanis Club. Grand exalted ruler of Elks; grand master, Odd Fellows; twice president of Business Men’s Club. Instrumental in development of Louisiana public library system. Headed the Louisiana Library Commission for fifteen years. Louisiana Library Association has annual awards named in his honor. Died, New Orleans, June 19, 1942, as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. C.F.L. Sources: Jennings Daily News, July 2, 1976; Hildebrand, As I Remember.
MOISANT, John Bevins, adventurer, aviator. Born, Kankakee, Ill., 1873, French-Canadian parents. Grew up in Chicago. With brothers bought a farm in California in the late 1880s. Removed to El Salvador about 1896; acquired with brother Alfred J., a sugar plantation which brought considerable wealth to all four brothers; involved also in banking and politics in Central America. Backed by President José Zelaya of Nicaragua in leading Nicaraguan troops into El Salvador in support of the revolutionaries there. Sailed for France. 1909, commissioned by Zelaya to buy an airplane. After seeing an air show, rented a workshop and built an airplane, attended Louis Blériot’s flying school, bought a Blériot XI-2. Flew first passenger flight over Paris. Flew first Paris-London flight, August 10 to September 6, 1910. Won Statue of Liberty race in New York, October 1910. With brother Alfred, formed first flying circus, the “International Aviators.” One known son: Stanley (b. ca. 1895). Died, Harahan Plantation near New Orleans, December 31, 1910, when thrown from plane he was landing. New Orleans International Airport formerly named Moisant Airport in his honor. Probably interred in California. J.F.T. Sources: Terry Gwynn-Jones, “The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Brash Johnny Moisant,” Smithsonian, XVI, no. 6; obituary, New Orleans Daily Picayune, January 1, 2, 1911; Dixie, Times-Picayune-States Roto Magazine, February 14, 1954.
MOISE, Harold A., lawyer, politician, jurist. Born, Natchitoches, La., AuÂgust 23, 1879; son of Mr. and Mrs. James Campbell Moise. Married Leigh Bres, 1903; children: Harold A., Jr., James, Alice Leigh, and Earnestine. Education: B. A. degree from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo., 1899; law degree from Tulane University, 1902. Political career: served in the state legislature, 1908-1912; delegate to the state constitutional convention, 1921; Orleans Parish civil district judge, 1937-1948; state supreme court justice, 1948-1958. Also served as assistant district attorney for Orleans Parish, chairman of the board of election supervisors of Orleans Parish, and as assistant attorney and general counsel for the New Orleans Levee Board and the New Orleans Dock Board. Died, New Orleans, September 16, 1958. J.D.W. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 29, 1958; Baton Rouge State Times, September, 27, 1958; Alcée Fortier, Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (1914).
MOISE, Theodore Sidney, artist, portraitist. Born, Charleston, S.C., November 20, 1808; son of Hyam Moise and Cecilia Wolfe. Initially worked as an accountant in a cotton factorage house for six or seven years, though he painted portraits for his own amusement. Opened his first studio in Charleston in 1835 and was immediately successful. Remained in South Carolina for several years before moving to Woodville, Miss., ca. 1841. In 1842 he was in New Orleans painting and exhibiting portraits with Trevor Thomas Fowler (q.v.). Ca. 1843 he formed a painting partnership with James Henry Beard. Although his studio was still in New Orleans in 1844, Moise painted throughout Louisiana and neighboring states, spending four years in Louisville and Frankfort, Ky., and one year in New York. Records indicate he was back painting in New Orleans by 1850 and until 1854 and again in 1858. In 1859 he formed a partnership with Benjamin Franklin Reinhart which was dissolved by the war when Moise joined the Confederate Army, serving as a major on staff of Gen. Paul Hébert. After the war returned to New Orleans where he continued painting until his death. In 1868 he and Victor Pierson won a gold medal at the Second Grand State Fair of the Mechanics and Agricultural Fair Association of Louisiana for best historical painting in oil for their work Life on the Metairie. Married Mathilde Vaughn (1825-1899). Children: James C. (b. 1849); Theodore S. (b. 1851); Edwin Evariste (b. 1854); Rev. Robert B.; Charles H. (Brother Ambrose, b. 1860); and Leonard H. (b. 1862). Died, Natchitoches, La., July 2, 1885. C.S.B. Sources: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987); 1870 U. S. Census, reel 519; New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 20, 1899; Judge James C. Moise, “Theodore S. Moise,” April, 1900, in Louisiana State Museum Scrapbook #100.
MOLAISON, John Jackson, Sr., jurist and civic leader. Born, Gretna, La., August 22, 1929. Married Mary Jane Catherine Barrios; children: John Jackson, Jr., and Jacques Louis. Education: graduated from Gretna High School; attended Louisiana State University; B.B.A. degree, Loyola University (New Orleans), 1960; law degree, Loyola University Law School, 1960. Admitted to the Louisiana bar, 1960. Served in the Air Force four years during the Korean War, 1950-1954. Practiced law in Gretna, La. 1960-1966. Judicial career: judge, Second Parish Court, Jefferson Parish, 1966-1995. Civic service: president, Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo, 1986. Member: American Legion Post 64, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Jefferson Parish Bar Association, Louisiana Bar Association, American Bar Association, St. Thomas More Law Club, David Crockett Steam Volunteer Fire Company No. 1. Died, Harvey, La., June 25, 1995. C.A.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 25, 1995; Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, June 28, 1995; Biographies of Louisiana Judges (1985), 166.
MOLINARY, Andrés, painter, art teacher. Born, Gibraltar, November 2, 1847; son of an Italian father and a Spanish mother. Married Marie Madeleine Seebold. Awarded a scholarship to study at the San Lucus Academy in Rome, where he trained under Valles and Alvarvery; later studied at the Academy of Seville. Traveled in Morocco and East Africa before returning to Gibralter. Molinary joined an uncle who was an importer at New Orleans in 1872. After traveling in Mexico and Central America, Molinary permanently settled in New Orleans, 1876. Painted portraits of several prominent New Orleans people (for a list of his portraits see Seebold, p. 28), as well as, landscapes and genre scenes. Molinary was a leading figure in the New Orleans art community during this period. As well as maintaining a studio at various locations, he served as a professor of art at the Southern Art Union, 1881-1882 and as an instructor of painting for the Artists’ Association of New Orleans, 1886-1887 and 1890-1891. Molinary had works exhibited at both of the institution’s where he taught, as well as, at the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, 1884-1885; a retrospective exhibit of his portraits was held at the Delgado Museum of Art in 1915. Molinary organized and founded several New Orleans area art organizations including the Cup and Saucer Club, the Southern Art Union, and the Artists’ Association of New Orleans; in addition to holding various offices in the aforementioned organizations, Molinary served on the executive committee of the Delgado Museum of Art, 1911-1915. Died, New Orleans, September 11, 1915. J.D.W. and P.B. Sources: Herman de Bachellé Seebold, Old Plantation Homes and Family Trees (1941); Patricia Brady, gen. ed., Encyclopædia of New Orleans Artist, 1718-1918 (1987).
MOLONY, Guy Ross, New Orleans police chief, soldier of fortune. Born, New Orleans, January 28, 1884; son of James D. Molony and Isabel Fisher. Married Alma Rost, ca. 1905; children: Isabel C. and Rita Molony Silva. Career: fought in the Boer War on the side of the British, 1900; worked with the U.S. Calvary to help the Philippines government put down a insurrection, 1902; joined with soldier of fortune Lee Christmas (q.v.), also of New Orleans, around 1910, in support of the successful Manuel Bonilla military coup in Honduras; this coup paved the way for the political and economic dominance of the United Fruit Company there; operated a military training school, also in Honduras; served in World War I as a major commanding the Artillery Battery C’s second batallion; named by reform Mayor J. Andrew McShane (q.v.) to head the New Orleans Police Department in 1920; resigned in 1925 to return to central America, where during the next thirty years, he operated a brewery, a rice mill, and an insurance agency; interrogated in the summer of 1934 in a live radio broadcast over a rumored plot to assassinate Huey P. Long (q.v.). Died, New Orleans, February 14, 1972. G.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 15, 1972; New Orleans States Item, February, 16, 1972; Washington Post, February 15, 1972; New Orleans Item, August 13, 1941; Thomas McCann, An American Company: The Tragedy of United Fruit (1976); Hermann Deutsch, The Incredible Yanqui: The Career Of Lee Christmas (1931); Lester D. Langley and Thomas Schoonover, The Banana Men: American Mercenaries and Entrepreneurs in Central America, 1880-1930 (1995); the Guy Molony Papers, Special Collections, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University.
MONETTE, John Wesley, physician, historian, antiquarian. Born in Virginia, April 5, 1803; son of Samuel Monette and Mary Wayland; he later added the final “e” to his surname. Married Cornelia Jane Newman, December 10, 1820; ten children, four of whom lived to maturity. The Monett family moved from Virginia to Chillicothe, Ohio, and later to Washington, Miss. Education: medical degree, Transylvania University, 1825. Practiced medicine at Washington, Miss., and earned recognition for his work during the yellow fever epidemic in Natchez, Miss., in 1841. His studies of the physical geography and antiquities of the Mississippi Valley resulted in a book, History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi, in 2 volumes, published in 1846; Monette spent a considerable amount of time in Louisiana and left detailed descriptions of the prehistoric Native American earthworks at Troyville, near Jonesville in Catahoula Parish. Near the end of his life, he established a home in Madison Parish, La., where he died, March l, 1851; interred in Washington, Miss. R.C.V. Sources: Author research.
MONNIER, Auguste Henri, mayor of Vermilionville. Born, Dombresson, Switzerland, February 26, 1830; son of Suzanne Amez-Droz and Henri-Louis Monnier. Immigrated to Vermilionville (now Lafayette, La.) with parents ca. 1833. Privately educated. Married Adèle Levêque, daughter of Philibert Levêque, February 22, 1853, Covington, La. Children: August, Jr. (1855-1914), married Elmire Theriot; Mathilde (1858-1884), married Lectorius Franques; Regina (1862-1931), married Emile Alline; Louise (1864-1933), married Pierre Guchereau; Eugene (1868-1939); Marie (1870-1946); Gabrielle (1873-1950), married Frank Dearborn; and Marie Bernadette, who died in infancy, 1876. Lived in New Orleans until after the Civil War. Removed to Vermilionville; was postmaster, 1866-1867 and 1881-1882; district court clerk, 1868-1876; mayor, 1873-1875. Member of the school board and city council. Died, February 21, 1882; interred St. John’s Cemetery, Lafayette. B.T.M. Source: Author’s research.
MONNOT, Aristide Louis, businessman, planter. Born, Assumption Parish, La., August 26, 1842; son of Charles Claude Monnot and Joséphine Bourgeois. Attended college at Bardstown, Ky.; completed studies in Paris. During Civil War, in Col. W. G. Vincent’s Second Louisiana Cavalry. Married, September 26, 1865, Eloise Eugenie Hudson, daughter of William Hudson and Elodie Faÿ. Children: Charles Louis and Louise. In October, 1865, Monnot entered general merchandise business in Jeanerette, La., succeeding his father-in-law. In 1877 he first engaged in sugar planting and in 1883 erected the Vaufrey Central Sugar Factory. A leader in the “central factory” system of sugar manufacture. Subsequently served on Iberia Parish Police Jury; president for four years; served on town council of Jeanerette. Died, Biloxi, Miss., August 7, 1904. G.R.C. Sources: New Iberia Enterprise, August 13, 1904; William Henry Perrin, ed., Southwest Louisiana biographical and Historical (1891; reprint ed., 1971); Alcée Fortier, ed., Louisiana … , III (1909).
MONROE, Frank Adair, attorney, jurist. Born, Annapolis, Md., August 30, 1844; son of Victor Monroe and Mary Townsend Polk. Reared in Kentucky. Education: attended Kentucky Military Institute, 1860, but left to join Confederate Army. Served in Kentucky infantry and Company C, First Louisiana Cavalry. Following war, removed to Pass Christian, Miss., studied law and, 1867, became member of Louisiana bar, practicing in New Orleans after removing there. Elected judge of district court in the 1870s and served as judge of Civil District Court, Orleans Parish, in the 1880s and 1890s. Appointed associate justice, Louisiana Supreme Court, March 1899. Named chief justice, April, 1914; retired from the bench, January 2, 1922. A lifelong Democrat, president of Association of the Army of Tennessee and of Camp No. 2, United Confederate Veterans. Married, January 3, 1878, Alice Blanc, daughter of Jules A. Blanc and Marie Inskeep Palfrey. Children: Frank, Jr., J. Blanc, Winder, William, James, Alice, Kate, Gertrude, Adele, and Marion. Died, New Orleans, January 16, 1927; interred Metairie Cemetery. G.R.C. Sources: Alcée Fortier, Louisiana … , III (1914); New Orleans Times Picayune, January 17, 1927.
MONROE, John T., mayor of New Orleans. Born, Dinwiddie County, Va., May 6, 1822. Family removed to Howard County, Mo., when John was a child. Before age 21, subject removed to New Orleans and became a stevedore. Married Rebecca I. Sheppard in September 1844. Elected assistant alderman, he later served as president of the lower board. Elected mayor of New Orleans, 1860. Ousted by Gen. Benjamin Butler (q.v.) in 1862 and imprisoned in Fort St. Philip and later in Fort Pickens, near Pensacola, Fla. Released in the summer of 1863 and lived in Mobile, Ala. Captured there in April 1865 but allowed to return to New Orleans. Re-elected mayor and seated in March 1866. Deposed in March 1867 by Gen. Philip Sheridan. (q.v.) Removed to Savannah, Ga., and died there February 24, 1871; interred Cypress Grove Cemetery, New Orleans. A.W.B. Sources: Mrs. Edwin X. DeVerges, “Honorable John T. Monroe: The Confederate Mayor of New Orleans,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXXIX (1951); John S. Kendall, History of New Orleans, 3 vols. (1922); Edwin L. Jewell, Jewell’s Crescent City Illustrated (1873).
MONTEGUT, Joseph, surgeon. Born, Armagnac, France, 1738. Education: La Rochelle where he obtained a diploma in surgery in 1758. Arrived in New Orleans, 1769; obtained a position at the Charity Hospital. Accompanied Spanish troops on expeditions against Baton Rouge and Mobile in 1780 and in 1781, named surgeon of the First Infantry Battalion. On March 1, 1781, named acting surgeon major of Royal Hospital to replace Juan Ruby. Married, 1777, Françoise Delisle Dupart. Children: Francisco Ramón José (b. 1780), Félicité (ca. 1783), Raymundo Juan (b. 1784), MarÃa (b. 1788), Catalina Innocencia (b. ca. 1790), MarÃa Manuela Amada (b. 1794). In addition to his work at the Royal Hospital, Montegut carried out an extensive private practice and was personal physician to many important Spanish colonials. From 1800-1803 he was absent in Cuba. Returning to New Orleans he was appointed to the board of administrators of Charity Hospital, March 25, 1813. Died, New Orleans, 1819. B.C. Sources: John Duffy, The Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana, I (1958) vol. I; Service records, AGI, PC, 565; Family portrait by Salazar at Louisiana State Museum; Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate, May 30, 1976.
MONTEGUT, Joseph Oswald, educator, planter, businessman. Born, Raceland, La., March 19, 1894; son of Elvina Haydel and Charles Ferdinand Montegut. Education: St. John the Baptist Parish schools; Jefferson College, St. James Parish; Louisiana State Normal College at Natchitoches, La., graduated 1913; Louisiana State University, B. S. degree; did graduate work at the University of Chicago. Married Marjorie Henry of Natchitoches, June 17, 1919. Children: John, Marjorie (Mrs. Alphonse Sutton), and Criswell. Principal of Leon Godchaux High School, 1920-1924. Served as superintendent of schools of St. John Parish, 1925-1958. Instituted physical education programs in all schools. During his administration St. John Parish achieved the distinction of owning one of the most modern and efficiently operated transportation systems in the state. Grand Knight of Knights of Columbus; member, Louisiana Teachers Association, Woodmen of the World; P.T.A.; National Education Association; Elks; Civitan; board of directors of the Federal Land Banks Association of Thibodaux, La. Was honorary deputy sheriff of St. John the Baptist Parish, 1971; honorary state senator, 1927; vice chairman of the board and first vice-president of the Riverlands National Bank of LaPlace, La.; secretary-treasurer, LaPlace-Woodland Gravity Drainage District, 1932-1952; secretary-treasurer, St. John the Baptist Farm Bureau, 1954-1972. President, St. John the Baptist Parish School Board, 1960-1976. Died, November 19, 1977, LaPlace; interred St. Peter’s Cemetery, Reserve, La. M.G.K. Sources: Jean M. Eyraud, A History of St. John the Baptist Parish with Biographical Sketches (1939); L’Observateur, November 24, 1977.
MONTEGUT, Lester J., educator, civic and religious leader. Born, Raceland, La., January 31, 1894; son of Charles Fernand Montegut and Elvina Haydel. Education: Reserve High School, Reserve, La.; Normal (now Northwestern State University); Louisiana State University, B.S., 1920. World War I service, 1916-1919: stationed at Texas A & M College. Professional career: principal of Moreauville High School, 1915-1916; taught in Donaldsonville; principal, Marksville High School, 1920-1921. Removed to St. Martinville; principal St. Martinville High School, 1923-1925; superintendent, St. Martin Parish Schools, 1925-1963. Married Carmen Bulliard, daughter of Edmond Bulliard and of Louise Barras. Children: Rita, Joan, and Lester J., Jr. Member, St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church; member, Knights of Columbus; member, American Legion; charter member, St. Martinville Rotary Club; member, St. Martin Parish Planning Board; chairman, Educational Committee, 1950; educational chairman, Acadian Bicentennial Celebration, 1955. Died, St. Martinville, November 24, 1977; interred St. Michael’s Cemetery. J.C. Sources: Family papers; St. Martinville Teche News, November 1977; May 1963; Our Acadian Heritage, Let’s Keep It (1961); retirement speech, May 10, 1963.
MONTELEONE, Antonio, businessman, hosteler. Founder of a four-generation family business, the Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans. Born in Italy, ca. 1855. Arrived in New Orleans a penniless boy, ca. 1870. By 1883 one of the city’s largest shoe manufacturers, employing about two hundred workers. Entered the hotel business ca. 1894; built the central part of the present hotel, a major landmark design by Toledano and Wogan, architects, in 1908. By this time he was involved in other businesses, including a brewery, truck farming, and banking. Died, July 21, 1913, while on a pleasure trip in Germany; interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. B.L. Sources: New Orleans Times-Democrat, March 28, 1891; New Orleans Daily Picayune, August 8, 9, 1913.
MONTET, Numa François, attorney, politician, congressman. Born, Thibodaux, La., September 17, 1892; son of Desire and Cecile Gauthreaux Montet. Education: local schools; Louisiana Normal (now Northwestern State University), Natchitoches; Tulane University, New Orleans. Taught school, Assumption Parish, 1909-1910. Began practice of law at Franklin, La., 1913, then practiced in Thibodaux, 1914. Married (1) Bobbie B. Jones of Tuscaloosa, Ala.. Children: Norma Lee, Edwina, and Forrest. Married (2) Virginia Blakeman of Morgan City. Became secretary-treasurer, town of Thibodaux, 1914; city attorney, 1915. Elected to Louisiana house of representatives, 1916, as a Progressive. Delegate to Democratic National conventions, 1924 and 1928. Unsuccessful candidate for attorney general, 1924. Acting prosecuting attorney, Twentieth Judicial District, 1925. Counsel, State Highway Commission, 1928-1929. Elected in 1929 to fill a vacancy in the United States House of Representatives. Re-elected in 1930, 1932, and 1934. Served on Military Affairs Committee. Early supporter of Huey P. Long (q.v.), but became vocal opponent. Active in 1935 effort to recruit anti-Long ticket for state elections prior to Senator Long’s assassination. Defeated for renomination in 1936. Resumed private law practice in Thibodaux. Roman Catholic. Died, Thibodaux, October 12, 1985; interred Thibodaux. W.R.S. Sources: The Story of Louisiana Illustrated, Volume II, Biographical (1960); Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Official Congressional Directory, 74th Congress, 2d Session (1936); obituary, New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item, October 14, 1985.
MONTGOMERY, Eurreal Wilford “Little Brother,” self-taught ragtime, blues, barrelhouse, and boogie pianist, singer, bandleader. Born, Kentwood, La., April 16, 1906, one of ten children born to Harper Montgomery and Dicy Montgomery. Married (2) Janet Floberg. Mongtomery’s parents and siblings all played a musical instrument or sang. His great grandmother, Olivia Montgomery, made him aware of train rhythms, later used in his music. At the age of five, Montgomery played by ear tunes picked up in his father’s honky tonk from such pianists as Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton (q.v.) and other itinerant players. After seventh grade education at Tangipahoa Parish Training School became a traveling pianist. First job in a Holton, Louisiana juke joint as singer/pianist. Developed blues style called “The Forty-Fours,” quasi-boogie with afterbeat in right hand. Continued to learn from other players, though never apt at reading charts, preferring to fake. In early 1920s toured throughout Louisiana, parts of Arkansas and Mississippi, playing one-nighters. By 1923 reputation established in New Orleans and Slidell, La. (with Leonard Parker’s band); led own band in Gulfport, Miss., 1924. Worked in logging camps, 1925; joined Buddy Petit’s band in Bogalusa, mid-20s. Worked with blues guitarists “Big Joe” Williams and Danny Barker (q.v.), 1926-27; played in sporting houses, dance halls, on truck beds, for juke dances, rent parties throughout Louisiana, traveling by train. Played with Clarence Desdune’s Joyland Revelers, 1928; recorded for Paramount at Chicago, 1929, accompanying Irene Scruggs, Minnie Hicks, “Ma” Rainey; for made recordings for Brunswick Records, 1931; and for Bluebird Records, 1933. Returned to New Orleans briefly, 1931. Led own traveling band, “Southland Troubadours,” based in Jackson, Miss., 1931-39. Recorded for RCA-Victor, 1935. In 1936 recorded eighteen sides at one sitting. Free-lanced in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi after 1939. Returned to Chicago, 1942, attracted by renaissance of old-time jazz. Played Carnegie Hall with Edward “Kid” Ory’s Band, 1948; worked with Franz Jackson’s band from 1950 into the 70s. Toured England, 1960, 1980; Europe, 1966, 1972; featured at Berliner JazzÂtage, 1974 and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, 1976. With singer Janet Floberg, he formed own recording label, FM Records (1967). Recorded approximately sixtytunes on Melotone, Paramount, and Bluebird labels between 1930-36, including a gospel album and twenty original songs, among them “No Special Rider Blues,” “Vicksburg Blues,” “Vicksburg Blues, No. 2,” (his signature song), “Louisiana Blues,” “Lake Shore Blues,” “Tantalizing Blues,” etc. An album for Columbia, entitled Little Brother, demonstrated his dry, agile piano technique and high, piercing, tremulous vocal style. Montgomery made his last recordings in 1982; in the early 1980s, he provided accurate oral history to interviewing jazz historians. His mastery of bass figures and subtle right-hand work was outstanding. Jazz writer/historian Rudi Blesh, in Shining Trumpets, describes his music as “haunted; sorrow sleeps uneasily in its tones; its revelry is preoccupied.” Died, Chicago, September 6, 1985. A.K.S. Sources: Karl Gert zur Heide, Deep South Piano: The Story of Little Brother Montgomery (1970); Giles Oakley, The Devil’s Music, A History of the Blues (1976); eds. Art Hodes and Chadwick Hansen, Selections from the Gutter (1977); Robert Santelli, The Big Book of Blues (1993); Eileen Southern, Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians (1982); New Grove Dictionary of American Music, vol. 3 (1986); New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, vol. 2 (1988).
MONTGOMERY, William A. “Uncle Bill,” politician, civic leader. Born, Loudan Plantation, Lafayette Parish, La., April 22, 1882; son of Samuel James Montgomery and Anna Breaux. Education: local schools; Lafayette High School; attended briefly Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana); New Orleans College of Pharmacy, 1903. Business career: pharmacist, Doucet Drug Store, 1904-1909; established Owl Drug Store, Lafayette, 1909; proprietor, Owl Drug Store, 1909-1949; member, board of directors, Lafayette Building Association, 1908-1949; president, Lafayette Building Association, 1922?-1949; president, Louisiana Homestead League; member, executive council, United States Building and Loan League. Political career: Active in Democratic party; member, Lafayette City Council, 1908-1920; president, Lafayette Parish Police Jury, 1920-1924; state representative, 1936-1940; member, State Board of Education, 1931-1940; member, Democratic Executive Committee, Lafayette, 1936. Civic organizations: president, Lafayette Rotary Club; member, Lafayette Chamber of Commerce; member, local Masonic order; treasurer of local commandery, Knights Templar; was an organizer of state Chamber of Commerce; chairman of Lafayette Zoning Commission; was an organizer of Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, 1919. As Lafayette city councilman, led movement to pave city streets; as state representative was instrumental in bringing a branch of Charity Hospital to Lafayette, 1937; secured $3 million capital improvements allocation from state legislature for Southwestern Louisiana Institute while state representative. Present University of Southwestern Louisiana chemistry building named for subject. Married Flossie E. Shackford, December 2, 1911, daughter of E. E. Shackford, superintendent of Lafayette branch office, Southern Pacific Railroad. Children: William A., Jr. (b. 1915); Ben J. (b. 1918); Samuel (b. 1926); Flossie I. (b. 1927). Died, March 2, 1949; interred Lafayette Protestant Cemetery. C.A.B. Sources: Lafayette Progress, April 18, 1953; Montgomery Family Scrapbook, in possession of Flossie I. Montgomery, Lafayette, La.; Lafayette Advertiser, August 24, 1952; Ellis Arthur Davis, ed., The Historical Encyclopedia of Louisiana, 2 vols. (1937).
MONTOUCET, Jacques, Cajun musician (accordion). Born, Grand Coteau, La., October 31, 1898; son of French blacksmith, Pierre Montoucet. Father of Don Montoucet. Died, December 4, 1953, Scott, Lafayette Parish, La. B.J.A. Source: Author’s research.
MOORE, Beatrice Hawthorne, politician, activist. Born, Dunkirk, Ind., September 16, 1898; daughter of Charles Hawthorne and Ora Alice Evans. Married Waldo Moore, one-time city editor of the Shreveport Journal, December 28, 1920. In 1907, Moore’s family moved to a rural area near Shreveport, La. Education: received a high school dipolma from St. Vincent’s Academy, a boarding school in Shreveport; teaching certificate, Louisiana State Normal School at Natchitoches (now Northwestern State University); earned a bachelor’s degree at age fifty-eight from the School of Social Science and Public Affairs at American University, Washington, D.C. Taught at Hope Street High School and Alexander Grade School, Shreveport, 1919-1920; later served as a substitute teacher in Caddo Parish schools. Served as president of the Parent-Teacher Association at her son’s school before unsuccessfully running for the Caddo Parish School Board, 1938. Elected on governor Sam Jones’ anti-Long ticket to the Louisiana state house of representatives in 1940; served one term, 1940-1944. She was one of the first two females ever elected to the state house of representatives. Moore enjoyed the additional distinction of having been the first female in the state elected to the legislature without having first succeeded her husband. She was also the first female in the state to chair a legislative committee and the first to have a law enacted. Championed education and equal rights for women. Active in Virginia political circles in the 1950s. Died, Shreveport, June 17, 1990; interred, Greenwood Cemetery, Shreveport. J.D.W. Sources: Louise B. Johnson, Women of the Louisiana Legislature (1986); New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 19, 1990.
MOORE, Bernie H., coach. Born, Jonesboro, Tenn., 1895; the youngest of fourteen children born to a Baptist preacher. Married Anna Moore; children: Bernie H., Jr., Mrs. David Condrin and Mrs. Carroll Ellis. Graduated from Carson-Newman College, where he played football and baseball; he also organized the college’s track team. Coach, Franklin County High School, 1917. Served in the United States military as a non-commissioned officer during World War I. Following his discharge, returned to high school coaching at LaGrange, Ga., Winchester, Tenn., and Bryan, Tex. Subsequently served briefly as an assistant coach at the University of the South and, for three years, was head football coach at Mercer College. Assistant coach, Louisiana State University, 1929. Appointed head track coach, L.S.U., 1930; head football coach, L.S.U., 1935; head football coach, 1935-1948. As head track coach, Moore’s teams won fourteen Southern or Southeastern Conference titles and one national title (1933). Moore compiled a record of 83-36-9 in football; his teams won the Southeastern Conference titles in 1935 and 1936, and appeared in the Cotton, Sugar, and Orange bowls, including Sugar Bowl berths in three consecutive years. Appointed commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, February 21, 1948; retired as commissioner in 1966. Member, National Football Foundation Hall of Fame, Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Died, Winchester, Tenn., November 6, 1967. C.A.B. Sources: Jerry Byrd, Louisiana Sports Legends (1992); Peter Finney, The Fighting Tigers, 1893-1993 (1993); Marty Mulé, Sugar Bowl: The First Fifty Years (1983); Lake Charles American Press, November 6, 1967; Daily Reveille, August 28, 1942; February 24, 1948.
MOORE, Clarence Bloomfield, archaeologist. Born, Philadelphia, Pa., 1852; son of a wealthy businessman. Education: A.B., Harvard University, 1873. After graduation, Moore travelled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, and South America before joining the family’s paper manufacturing business. Leaving business to pursue his interest in antiquities, he became associated in the 1890s with archaeological explorations in the southeastern United States sponsored by the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Moore carried out an extensive program of field work in Louisiana in 1908-1917, much of it conducted from his personal paddlewheel steamboat, the Gopher. Moore’s project focused on the Mississippi, Red, Atchafalaya, and Tensas river valleys, resulting in the identification of 104 prehistoric Native American sites in twenty-seven parishes; the reports of these investigations, which are remarkable for their interdisciplinary approach to Native American cultural history, were published in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and formed much of the basis for scientific archaeology in Louisiana between the two world wars. Moore died in 1930. R.C.V. Sources: Author research.
MOORE, James Blaine, educator, civic and religious leader. Born, Navasota, Tex., February 17, 1887; son of Jeff and Frances Moore. Education: local schools, Tuskegee Institute; with further studies at Hampton Institute (Virginia) and Bradley University. In 1929, served as the head of both the Mechanical and Maintenance departments of Southern University; from 1937 to 1955, served as treasurer of Southern Teachers and Parents Federal Credit Union. Married, August 19, 1914, Beulah E. Johnson of Atlanta, Ga. No children. Active civic leader with many accomplishments to his credit; religious leader and member of building committee of Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church. Died, Baton Rouge, September 27, 1959; interred Southern Memorial Gardens. N.R.S. Sources: Southern University (Baton Rouge) The Digest, October 10, 1959; Moore family papers.
MOORE, John, planter, jurist, congressman. Born, Berkeley County, Va., 1788; son of Lewis Moore and Rebecca Henshaw. Removed to Opelousas area of Louisiana ca. 1801 and to the Attakapas ca. 1804. Privately educated, “read law” in the office of Judge Joshua Baker. Married (1) Adelaide Demarest, daughter of Louis George Demarest (q.v.) and Adelaide Blanco Navarro (q.v.), in 1810. Children: Evelina, married (1) Willis Prescott, (2) William Offutt; and Adelaide, married Dr. James Leigh. Removed to St. Landry Parish in 1815, where he built Magnolia Ridge. Entered politics about 1816; served as justice of the peace in St. Mary Parish; represented St. Martin Parish in the state legislature, 1825-1834; St. Mary Parish judge in 1833. Married (2) Mary Clara Conrad, widow of David Weeks (q.v.), April 15, 1841. Removed to New Iberia and established residence at Shadows-on-the-Teche. Became active in Whig party and elected to Congress in 1842; served as delegate to national Whig party nominating convention in 1848; reelected to Congress, 1851; 1861, a delegate to Louisiana secession convention where he introduced Louisiana Secession Ordinance. President pro tem of Louisiana Confederate senate, 1864. Retired to The Shadows in New Iberia after the Civil War. Died, New Iberia, June 17, 1867; interred The Shadows. G.C.T.†Source: Gertrude C. Taylor, “John Moore: Planter, Politician, Husband, Father,” Attakapas Gazette, XIX (1984).
MOORE, Mary Evelyn, see DAVIS, Mary Evelyn Moore
MOORE, Thomas Overton, planter, politician, governor. Born Vineyard Hill, near Clinton, N. C., April 10, 1804; son of James Moore and June Overton. Removed to Louisiana, 1823, making home with maternal uncle, Walter H. Overton, on plantation in Rapides Parish. Managed uncle’s plantation; acquired own plantations, Mooreland and Emfield, Rapides Parish. Married, November, 1830, Bethia Johnston Leonard, daughter of William and Sara Leonard, who settled in Louisiana in 1803. Children: four sons who died in infancy; one daughter, Emma Jane. Active in Democratic party; member, Rapides Parish Police Jury; state house of representatives, 1847-1855; state senator, 1856-1860; governor, 1860-1864. Died, Emfield Plantation, June 25, 1876. A.D.J. Source: George P. Whittington, Rapides Parish, Louisiana: A History (1932; reprint ed., 1970).
MOORMAN, George, soldier, organizer of Confederate veterans’ organizations. Born, Owensboro, Ky., June 1, 1841; son of James H. Moorman and Sarah S. Talbot. Education: local schools; studied law under James Weir; later read law in Independence, Mo. As young man entered Confederate service in Missouri; carried out dangerous missions for Gen. Sterling Price and Gov. Claiborne Jackson; later, aide-de-camp to Gov. Thomas C. Reynolds, commander of Missouri Confederate forces; later, aide-de-camp to several Confederate generals, including Stephen D. Lee and N. B. Forrest; served in infantry, cavalry, and artillery, slightly wounded, taken prisoner four times; organized Moorman’s Mississippi Cavalry Regiment, 1864, promoted to rank of colonel; regiment surrendered at same time as Gen. Richard Taylor (q.v.). After war, settled in Canton, Miss. Married Helen Shackelford, daughter of chief justice of Mississippi Supreme Court. Sheriff, Madison County, Miss., 1866-1868. Removed to New Orleans, 1869. Engaged in various businesses. In 1882 removed to Mandeville, La.; appointed U. S. Marshal, New Orleans District, 1889; president, Louisiana Immigration Association; organizer of cavalry camp of Confederate veterans; organizer of Confederate cavalry reunions, 1888-1889. Among others, promoted reunions of all Confederate veterans—led to organization of United Confederate Veterans; appointed adjutant general and chief of staff, position held until death. First vice president, Louisiana Historical Association. Died, December 16, 1902; funeral from Memorial Hall, Camp Street, New Orleans; interred Army of Tennessee Tomb, Metairie Cemetery. G.R.C. Sources: Alcée Fortier, Louisiana … , 3 vols. (1909); New Orleans Daily Picayune, December 17, 1902; Herman Hattaway, “The United Confederate Veterans in Louisiana,” Louisiana History, XVI (1975).
MORALES, Juan Ventura, administrator. Born, Málaga, Spain, 1756; son of Juan de Morales Hidalgo and Ana Pérez de Mérida. Apprentice, ContadurÃa de Tabaco in Málaga. Arrived in Louisiana in 1776 to serve as personal secretary to Bernardo de Gálvez (q.v.). Accompanied Gálvez on all his expeditions. Narrowly escaped death in February, 1781, when his ship was captured by an English corsair and he was left naked on a deserted island. Contador for the Departments of New Settlements and Indians, 1781-1786. Returned to Spain, 1786-1787. Contador (comptroller) of the Army and Royal Treasury, 1796-1800. Acting intendant, 1785, 1796-1799, 1801-1803. Intendant of West Florida, 1803-1816. Intendant of Puerto Rico, 1816-1819. Elected alcalde (judge) of the New Orleans cabildo, 1783, 1791, and 1792. The longest serving Spanish official in Louisiana (twenty-seven years), Morales was an extremely zealous servant of the crown during his early career. Later in life he became extremely wealthy, and some say corrupted. He is remembered for suspending the American right of deposit in New Orleans in 1802, for “fraudulent” land sales in West Florida, for intrigue with Aaron Burr (q.v.) in 1804, and for the numerous controversies he had with Vicente Folch (q.v.), the governor of West Florida. Married, August 9, 1794, Marie Catherine Guesnon, daughter of Pierre Guesnon and Andrée Perrine D’Auville, widow of Manuel Joseph Ramos. They had one daughter, Anna Mathilde, who later married Bernard Xavier Philippe Marigny de Mandeville (q.v.). Died, Puerto Rico, SeptemÂber 7, 1819. B.C. Soures: Spain. Archivo General de Indias, Audencia de Santo Domingo, legajo 2583; Forsyth, Louisiana Marriages (1977); death notice in New Orleans Bee.
MOREAU-LISLET, Louis Casimir Elisabeth, jurist, politician. Born, Cap Français, Saint-Domingue, 1767. Educated in both law and languages in France. Removed to New Orleans about the time of the Louisiana Purchase when in his thirties. Married to Anne Philippine de Peters. One daughter. Adopted the name Lislet to distinguish himself from elder brother. In 1805, with Edward Livingston (q.v.), Pierre Derbigny (q.v.), and Etienne Mazureau (q.v.), won a judicial decision insuring the recognition of Roman civil law in Louisiana; published Explication des lois criminelles du territoire d’Orléans in 1806; was commissioned, with James Brown (q.v.) by the legislature to prepare a civil code; Digeste des lois civiles maintenant en vigueur dans le territoire d’Orléans was published in both French and English and formally adopted by the legislature, March 31, 1808. Was an attorney for the people in the Batture Controversy; participated in more than 200 cases before the state supreme court; served as a parish judge; became attorney general in 1817 but resigned to accept a state senatorship. Grand master of the Grand (Masonic) Lodge of Louisiana in 1818; translated Spanish laws and published The Laws of Las Siété Partidas Which Are Still in Force in the State of Louisiana (2 vols.) in collaboration with Henry Carleton in 1820; selected, with Derbigny and Livingston, to prepare a revised code; Civil Code of the State of Louisiana became operative in late 1825; continued as the representative of the Second District of New Orleans in the legislature; published, in 1828, A General Digest of the Acts of the Legislature of Louisiana, Passed from the Year 1804 to 1827, inclusive. Signed a proclamation on June 26, 1832, to oppose Nullification. Died, New Orleans, December 3, 1832; interred St. Louis Cemetery I. J.B.C. Sources: John T. Hood, Jr., “The History and Development of the Louisiana Civil Code,” Louisiana Law Review, XIX (1958); Dictionary of American Biography, XIII; Samuel Wilson, Jr., and Leonard V. Huber, The St. Louis Cemeteries of New Orleans (1963).
MORELAND, Mantan, actor. Born, Monroe, La., September 4, 1901. Appeared in eighty-seven motion pictures between 1937 and 1973. Best remembered for his portrayal of Birmingham Brown, Charlie Chan’s chauffeur, in sixteen movies between 1944 and 1949. Died, Hollywood, Calif., Sept. 28, 1973. C.A.B. Sources: Evelyn Mack Truitt, ed., Who Was Who on Screen:: Illustrated Edition (1984); Internet Movie Database, World Wide Web, December 26, 1997.
MOREY, Frank, planter, congressman. Born, Boston, Mass., July 11, 1840. Attended public schools. Removed to Illinois, 1857; studied law. Entered the Union Army in 1861 in the Thirty-third Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the Civil War, principally on staff duty, with the rank of captain. Removed to Louisiana, 1866, and engaged in cotton planting and the insurance business. Member of the state house of representatives, 1868-1869. Appointed a commissioner to revise the statutes and codes of the state; commissioner to the Vienna Exposition in 1873. Elected as a Republican to Congress and served from March 4, 1869, to June 8, 1876, when he was succeeded by William B. Spencer (q.v.), who contested the election. Removed to Washington, D. C., and died there September 22, 1890; interred Congressional Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); New York Times, obituary, SeptemÂber 23, 1890.
MORGAN, Andrew, jazz musician (clarinet and saxophone). Born, Pensacola, Fla., March 19, 1903. Wife, Audrey Brown Morgan. Children: Millie, Robert, Ulysses. Member, Axiom Masonic Lodge 216, Prince Hall Affiliation, Musicians Mutual Protective Union, Local 174-496, Young Men of Honor Benevolent Association. Affiliated with many brass bands of the area. First job was with Young Superior Brass Band in 1924. Played with Mike DeLay’s band, WPA Band and Kid Thomas’ band and with Kid Shiek’s Storyville Ramblers at Preservation Hall. Played in the area more than forty years. Died, New Orleans, September 21, 1972. H.C. Sources: Noel Rockmore, Preservation Hall Portraits (1968); New Orleans States-Item, obituary, September 22, 1972; Second Line, Fall, 1972; Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album (1984).
MORGAN, Charles, steamship and railroad tycoon. Born, Clinton, Conn., April 21, 1795; son of George Morgan and Elizabeth Redfield. Education: local schools. Removed to New York City, where he was employed as a retail grocery clerk. Married (1), July 5, 1817, Emily Reeves. Children: Emily Ann (b. 1818); Frances Eliza (b. 1823); Charles W. (b. 1825); Henry (b. 1827); Marie Louise (b. 1832). Married (2), June 24, 1851, Mary Jane Sexton, daughter of a New York merchant. As grocer, imported produce from West Indies and southern United States, which aroused his interest in shipping. Started first steamboat operation between Charleston and New York, beginning career as captain of industry equal in rank to Cornelius Vanderbilt; also began the first line between New Orleans and Galveston in 1836; owner and operator of steamship line from New Orleans and Brashear to various points on Gulf of Mexico. Revitalized railroad lines between Schriever and Houma; later extended his railroad lines to assist sugar planters in the transport of their products; interest in railroads and shipping helped to open up the Shriever-Houma-Brashear area to a degree which substantially assisted that area’s demographic and economic growth. His decision to make Brashear the terminus for his steamship line’s activity between the Louisiana and Texas coasts so improved the quality of life of the town that it was renamed Morgan City in 1876. Died, New York City, May 9, 1878; interred Greenwood Cemetery. C.C.C. Sources: William O. Scroggs, Filibusters and Financiers: The Story of William Walker and His Associates (1916; reprint ed., 1969); James P. Baughman, Charles Morgan and the Development of Southern Transportation (1968); Work Projects Administration, Louisiana Historical Records Survey, Inventory of the Parish Archives of Louisiana: No. 55, Terrebonne Parish; Morgan City Daily Review, March 27, 1984.
MORGAN, David Bannister, politician, soldier. Born, West Springfield, Mass., 1773. Married (1) E. Middleton; (2) Marie Constance Bahan, 1821. Arrived in Louisiana in 1803; served in the territorial legislature; member of the constitutional convention. Was in the legislature after state’s admission to the Union. Surveyor general of Louisiana and Mississippi; commanded the militia of those states at the Battle of New Orleans with rank of brigadier general. His letter written in defense of the conduct of the Louisiana Militia in the Battle of New Orleans printed in the Louisiana Historical Quarterly, 1926. Died, Covington, La., July 15, 1848; interred Madisonville, La. J.B.C. Sources: Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography, (1900); Marie Cruzat de Verges, ed., American Forces at Chalmette (1966).
MORGAN, Elemore Madison, photographer. Born, Baton Rouge, October 22, 1903; son of Loftus Elemore Morgan, a Canadian immigrant and medical doctor, and Lucia Aldrich, of Baton Rouge. Married Dorothy Golden of Abbeville, La. One son, Elemore Madison Morgan, Jr. Grew up on a farm outside of Baton Rouge. Education: Baton Rouge High School; attended Louisiana State University. Worked as an architectural draftsman, construction supervisor; owned first B. F. Goodrich tire agency in Baton Rouge; worked for architect A. Hays Town in Lafayette, then in Baton Rouge; farmed during World War II. Began serious work as photographer in early 1940s; first photographs published in the early 1940s in various magazines and Harnett Kane’s Bayous of Louisiana (1942); consultant for Frances Parkinson Keyes’ (q.v.) River Road; became full-time professional photographer at the end of World War II; photographed primarily for industry and architects in early years; began photographing for Louisiana Forestry Commission and Louisiana Forestry Association and its quarterly journal Forests and People; collaborated with Frances Parkinson Keyes on All This Is Louisiana (1950); with Ed Kerr on Five Days in Baton Rouge (1950); with Hodding Carter (q.v.) on John Law Wasn’t So Wrong (1952); with Anna Hong Rutt on The Art of Flower and Foliage Arrangement (1958); photographed and wrote The Sixties Ended It (1960); collaborated with Ed Kerr on The Lower Mississippi Valley (1960). Served as a consultant on several movies shot in Baton Rouge area, including Long Hot Summer; Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte; Hurry Sundown; Alvarez Kelly; Desire in the Dust. Since his death, his photography has continued to be published and shown; books include his own The Face of Louisiana, with text by Charles East (1969); Fred Kniffen’s Louisiana: Its Land and People (1968); William F. Rushton’s The Cajuns: From Acadia to Louisiana (1979); exhibitions include the “Louisiane Bien-Aimée Bicentennial Exhibition,” in Paris (1976); “Photography in Louisiana, 1900-1980,” in New Orleans (1980); “A Century of Vision: Louisiana Photography, 1884-1984,” in New Orleans and Lafayette (1986); numerous exhibitions at the Lafayette Natural History Museum, and various one-man shows including the Baton Rouge Gallery and University of Southwestern Louisiana. Photographs in permanent collections including New Orleans Museum, Historic New Orleans Collection, Louisiana State University, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Louisiana State Library, and Lafayette Natural History Museum. Died, Baton Rouge, April 10, 1966. B.J.A. Sources: Interview with Elemore Morgan, Jr., and author’s research.
MORGAN, George, merchant, Indian agent. Born, Philadelphia, Pa., February 14, 1743; son of Evan Morgan and Joanna Biles. Married Mary Bayard of Philadelphia, 1764. Eleven children. Partner in Pennsylvania merchant firm of Bayard, Wharton, and Morgan (from 1764). Removed to Illinois country to open trade with Indians, 1764; organized the Indiana Company, 1768; superintendent of western land office, Fort Pitt, 1776; attempted to open river trade between New Orleans and Pennsylvania, 1778; and, with support of Spanish ambassador Diego de Gardoqui, founded Mississippi River colony at New Madrid, 1780s. Retired to Washington, Pa. Died, March 10, 1810. L.T.C. Source: Max Savelle, George Morgan: Colony Builder (New York, 1932).
MORGAN, Lewis Lovering, attorney, politician, congressman. Born, Mandeville, La., March 2, 1876; a direct descendent of David B. Morgan (q.v.). Attended public schools; St. Eugene’s College, St. Tammany Parish, La.; graduated from the law department of Tulane University, New Orleans, 1899; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Covington, La., 1902. Married Lenora Cefalu. Two children. President, supervisors of election, 1900-1908; president, St. Tammany Parish School Board, 1904-1908; member, state house of representatives, 1908; resigned to become district attorney and served, 1908-1912; delegate, Democratic National Convention, 1912, 1928, 1936; delegate to the Democratic State Convention in 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Robert C. Wickliffe (q.v.); reelected to the Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth congresses and served from November 5, 1912, to March 4, 1917; was not a candidate for renomination in 1916. Resumed law practice in New Orleans and Covington. During World War II was chairman of the Red Cross for St. Tammany Parish. Unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1944. Member, Episcopal church. Died, New Orleans, June 10, 1950; interment Covington Cemetery, Covington, La. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971), pp. 1587-1588; Who’s Who in Louisiana and Mississippi (1918); New Orleans Times-Picayune, Obituary, June 11, 1950.
MORGAN, Philip Hickey, attorney, jurist, public official. Born, Baton Rouge, November 9, 1825; son of Thomas Gibbes Morgan, Baton Rouge lawyer, and Eliza Ann McKennan. Education: local academy; University of Paris, 1841-1846. Married Beatrice Leslie Ford, daughter of Judge James Ford of Baton Rouge, on May 22, 1852. Nine children of whom five survived childhood. First lieutenant, Mexican War. Law practice with his father in Baton Rouge, 1848 to 1853, law practice in New Orleans, 1853-1870s; judge, Second District Court of Louisiana, 1853-1857; U. S. district attorney, 1866-1867, not approved by the U. S. Senate; U. S. district attorney, 1869-1873; justice, Louisiana Supreme Court, 1873-1876; judge, International Tribunal, Alexandria, Egypt, 1876-1880; envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Mexico from January 26, 1880, to June 6, 1885; law practice, New York City, 1885-1900. Loyalist; called traitor during the Civil War. Fluent in modern languages, especially Spanish and French. Died, New York City, August 12, 1900; interred Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pa. T.D.S. Sources: Dictionary of American Biography, XIII; National Cyclopedia of American Biography, XIII; Fortier, Louisiana, III (1909); J. M. Callahan, American Foreign Policy in Mexican Relations (1932); U. S. Dept. of State, United States Chiefs of Mission, 1778-1973 (1973).
MORHOUSE (sometimes rendered MOREHOUSE), Abraham, land speculator. Son of Andrew and Phebe Herd Morhouse of Montgomery County, N. Y. Colonel, New York militia. Married (1) Abigail Young, 1790. Children: Andrew Y. and George Y. Met Baron de Bastrop (q.v.) in Kentucky in May 1799 and purchased interest in the Bastrop Spanish land grant in the Ouachita Valley; contracted to induce immigration to the area. Married (2) Eleanor Hook, September 19, 1799, orphan daughter of Joseph and Sophie Jones Hook of Baltimore, Md., who was a ward of the Chevalier D’Anemours. Children: Sophia, Charles Ferdinand, Eliza Cornelia, Anna Maria and Lucretia. Between 1804 and 1813 sold approximately one hundred portions of land to settlers; earned in this way the honor bestowed on him on March 25, 1844, when the state legislature formed Morehouse Parish. Died, Seltzertown, near Natchez, Miss. J.B.C. Sources: Jennie O’Kelly Mitchell and Robert Dabney Calhoun, “The Marquis de Maison Rouge, The Baron de Bastrop, and Colonel Abraham Morhouse, Three Ouachita Valley Soldiers of Fortune. The Maison Rouge and Bastrop Spanish Land ‘Grant’,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XX (1937); B. H. Gilley, ed., North Louisiana, Volume One: To 1865, Essays on the Region and Its History (1984).
MORIAL, Ernest “Dutch,” attorney, state representative, jurist, mayor of New Orleans. Born, New Orleans, OctoÂber 9, 1929; the son of Walter Morial and Leonie Morial. Married Sybil Haydel; children: Julie, Monique, Cheri, Jacques, and Mark (elected mayor of New Orleans, 1994). Educated in local schools, B. A., Xavier University, 195l; first black graduate of Louisiana State University’s law school, 1954. Career: served in the United States Army’s Counterintelligence Corps, 1952-1953; returned to New Orleans to work with civil rights pioneer A. P. Tureaud (q.v.) in attacking segregation through the courts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Became the first black elected to the Louisiana state legislature since Reconstruction, 1967; served on both the city’s juvenile court and Louisiana’s 4th Circuit Court of Appeals before winning election as New Orleans’ first black mayor in 1977. Reelected mayor in 1982. In 1987 he joined the New Orleans law firm of Brook, Morial, Cassibry, Fraiche, and Pizza, and was a Jesse Jackson delegate to the 1988 Democratic National Convention. At the time of his death on December 24, 1989, he was considered to be a frontrunner in New Orleans’ upcoming mayorial election. G.B. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 25, 1989, August 16, 23, 1981; Arnold Hirsch and Joesph Logsdon, Creole New Orleans: Race and Americanization (1992); Adam Fairclough, Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972 (1995); John Maginnis, The Last Hayride (1984); Ernest Dutch Morial Papers, Amistad Research Center, Tulane University; Records of the Ernest Morial Administration, Louisiana Collection, New Orleans Public Library.
MORPHY, Alonzo Michael, lawyer, state legislator, state supreme court justice. Born, Charleston, S. C., November 23, 1798; son of Diego Morphy and Louisa Peire. Married Louise Telcide Le Carpentier, February 20, 1829; four children: Edward (b. December 26, 1834), Paul Charles (q.v.) (b. June 22, 1837), Malvina (b. February 5, 1830), and Helena (b. October 21, 1839); the second son being the world renowned chess champion. Alonzo Morphy’s family removed to New Orleans while he was still a young boy. Graduated from the College of Orleans with “high honours;” subsequently studied law and was admitted to the Louisiana bar, 1819. Established a law practice at 61 Toulouse Street in New Orleans, 1820. Elected and served in the Louisiana house of representatives, 1825-1829; served as state attorney general, appointed January 20, 1829; served as a justice on the state supreme court, August 31, 1839-March 19, 1846. Also served as director, Citizens Bank, 1834; director, Bank of Louisiana, 1845; member of the board of managers and president of the Consolidated Association of the Planters of Louisiana, 1847. Died of apoplexy or “congestion of the brain” apparently brought on by a cut to an eye received from the large brim of a Panama hat, New Orleans, November 22, 1856. J.D.W. Sources: David Lawson, Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess (1976); Regina Morphy-Voitier, Life of Paul Morphy in the Vieux Carré of New Orleans and Abroad (1926); Louisiana Report, 133 (1913).
MORPHY, Paul Charles, international chess champion. Born, New Orleans, June 22, 1837; son of Alonzo Morphy, a New Orleans attorney who later became state attorney general and then a member of the Louisiana Supreme Court, and Thelcide Le Carpentier. Education: Jefferson Academy in New Orleans; St. Joseph’s College, Spring Hill, near Mobile, Ala., 1850-1854, honor graduate; studied law at St. Joseph’s until 1855, then entered law school at University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), graduated, 1857. Fluent in French, Spanish and German. Planned a legal career but chess intervened. Taught fundamentals of chess at age of ten by his father and by age twelve was leading chess player in New Orleans having defeated several famous players. Entered the first American Chess Congress at New York City in 1857 and soon recognized as the greatest American chess player. Play characterized by inventive moves, great power of analysis, remarkable memory and even temperment. His enthusiasm for chess greatly benefited the game. Invited to England in June, 1858, by British Chess Association; defeated first-rate players in England and then France—such as J. J. Lowenthal, St. Amant, Harrwitz, Mongredien, Lequesne, Journond, and Prof. Adolph Anderssen; recognized as the world chess champion and received much attention. Was such an excellent player that he could play blindfolded. Did not consider chess a career but in 1858-1860 was associated with Chess Monthly as an editor and with the New York Ledger where he wrote a column on chess in 1861. Tried unsuccessfully to practice law in New Orleans. In 1862, he went to Cuba and then to Europe but did not play in any tournaments. Returned to New Orleans in 1864 and played only a little chess the remainder of his life. Became mentally disturbed and eccentric; hated the sight of a chess board and could hardly speak of chess. Died unexpectedly, July 10, 1884; interred St. Louis Cemetery. K.H. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, July 11, 12, 1884; David Lawson, Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess (1976); C. A. Buck, Paul Morphy, His Later Life (1902); Frederick M. Edge, The Exploits and Triumphs in Europe of Paul Morphy (1859).
MORRIS, Agnes, educator, civic leader. Born, Dalton, Ga., June 20, 1861; daughter of Mrs. O’Neill. Education: local schools; Dalton Female College. In 1886, local public school teacher of 8th and 9th grade English, Latin, Algebra. Organized the Lesche Club, Browning Study Club, and Mother’s Club of Dalton. Employed, 1890, by Thomas Boyd to teach English and History at Louisiana State Normal School (now Northwestern State University), Natchitoches. Organized Natchitoches Cultural Club. In 1906, employed by State Department of Education to teach child hygiene; in 1912, employed by Dr. Oscar Dowling of the State Board of Health; director of the Bureau of Child Hygiene from 1912-1929—the first of its kind in the nation. Organized the New Orleans Business and Professional Women’s Club and the Louisiana Tuberculosis and Public Health Association. Died, January 3, 1933. R.E.M. Sources: Gordon E. Gillison, Louisiana State Board of Health: The Progressive Years (1976); Grace Agate, comp., Pioneer Women Teachers of Louisiana (1955?); New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 4, 1933; Carol Wells, “Agnes Morris,” Louisiana History, XXVII (1986).
MORRIS, Earl, businessman, politician. Born, Mt. Vernon, Tex., January 5, 1892. Educated locally. Worked at various jobs, including railroad. Stationed at Natchitoches. Served as cavalry sergeant, World War I. Returned to Natchitoches. Married Kathleen May of Ferriday, La., March 15, 1920. No children. Defeated in first bid for sheriff of Natchitoches Parish, 1936. Elected sheriff, 1944; served in that capacity until death. Died, Natchitoches, October 1, 1963; interred American Cemetery. G.R.C. Source: Natchitoches (La.) Enterprise, October 3, 1963.
MORRIS, James Craik, fifth Episcopal bishop of Louisiana. Born, Louisville, Ky., June 18, 1870; son of John Hite Morton Morris and Frances Craik Morris. Descended from Anthony Morris, founder of the Morris family of Philadelphia, Pa., and Dr. James Craik, physician-general of the American Army and friend of George Washington. Education: Louisville public schools; University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.; Louisville Law School; General Theological Seminary, New York, N. Y. Ordained: deacon, January 1896; priest, July 1896. Assistant to Dean Stuck, St. Matthew’s Church, Dallas, Tex., 1896-1898; curate, St. James’s Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1898-1901; dean, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Memphis, 1901-1916; rector, Grace Church, Madison, Wis., 1916-1920. Elected first missionary bishop of the Canal Zone, October 1919; consecrated February 5, 1920. Morris ministered to members of the U. S. armed forces, to civilian workers in the Canal Zone and in Panama to the San Blas Indians. Elected fifth bishop of Louisiana, St. James’s Church, Alexandria, May 14, 1930; installed Christ Church, New Orleans, October 28, 1930. An able administrator, Morris liquidated diocesan debts and the debt of the parishes was “substantially reduced.” Retired March 1, 1939, because of a “thrombosis.” Continued to perform occasional episcopal offices until the election of Bishop Jackson (q.v.) in 1940. Married, 1901, Edith Garland Tucker, Dallas, Texas. Children: Mary (Mrs. Howard B. Wells); Edith; and James Craik Morris, Jr. Died, Sewanee, Tenn., May 5, 1944; interred Sewanee. P.C.L. Sources: “Proceedings of the Special Session of the Council, 1930, for the Election of a Bishop,” Journal of the Ninety-Second Annual Session of the Convention of the Diocese of Louisiana (1930); Journal of the One Hundred and First … Convention of the Diocese of Louisiana (1939); Baton Rouge State-Times, May 5, 1944; New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 10, 1938; March 1, 1939; May 6, 1944; 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).
MORRISON, Benjamin Mann, banker, merchant. Born, Arcola, La., November 28, 1867; son of Robert Wilson Morrison and Henrietta Maria Mann, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. Robert and Henrietta Morrison were married in New Orleans, February 14, 1867. Morrison family lived first in Arcola and then removed to Hammond, La., where Robert Morrison went into merchandizing and purchased a square of land bounded by Church, Railroad, Oak and Robert streets which became known as the Morrison square. After early demise of Robert Morrison, widow became a teacher in a local school. Benjamin was educated in Hammond at a school operated by Mary L. Cable, sister of George Washington Cable (q.v.). He spent one year in Galveston, Tex., before returning to Hammond to work as a clerk for businessman, T. W. Kidder. In 1891 at twenty-four years of age, opened his own general mercantile store which he continued to operate for the rest of his life. It was a typical small-town store offering farm supplies, household utensils, groceries, all types of tools, sewing notions and materials, and at one time even mules. Morrison had a covered wagon in which to deliver orders of such widely differing items as sacks of raw bone meal and pints of fresh raspberries. When his store burned in 1902, rebuilt it and moved into the new building at the intersection of East Thomas and Cypress streets in 1904. In addition to the mercantile business, served as vice-president of Hammond State Bank and as a vestryman of the Grace Memorial Episcopal Church. Married, December 27, 1906, Florence Randolph Hobson of Greensboro, Ala., daughter of Judge James M. Hobson and the sister of Spanish-American War naval hero and congressman, Richmond Pearson Hobson. Children: Sally Pearson, James Hobson, and Margaret Williams. Died, January 7, 1927; interred Grace Memorial Episcopal Church Cemetery, Hammond. J.J.J. Sources: Alcée Fortier, ed., Louisiana, Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, 3 vols. (1914); typed manuscript on the Morrison family by Velma Rae Dunn in the Velma Rae Dunn Collection, Southeastern Louisiana University Archives and Special Collections; interview with the Hon. James H. Morrison on January 24, 1985; Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950).
MORRISON, DeLesseps Story, attorney, politician, mayor of New Orleans. Born, New Roads, La., January 18, 1912; son of Jacob Haight Morrison and Anita Olivier. Education: Poydras Academy; Louisiana State University, graduated 1932; Louisiana State University School of Law, graduated 1934. After graduation, became trial attorney with the National Recovery Administration in New Orleans; in 1935, began legal partnership with his half-brother Jacob Haight Morrison (q.v.) and T. Hale Boggs (q.v.). Active in the Democratic party; in 1939 helped to organize the People’s League of Independent Voters, New Orleans; member, Louisiana house of representatives, 1940-1946; leader, anti-Long faction. World War II service: United States Army, rose to the rank of colonel, awarded the Bronze Star, served in England, France, Belgium, and Germany. In 1944, won reelection to Louisiana legislature in abstentia. Married, October 3, 1942, Corinne Waterman of New Orleans. Three children: deLesseps Story “Toni” (b. 1944), Corinne Ann (b. 1948), John Randolph Waterman (b. 1957). After war, remained in the U. S. Army Reserve and attained the rank of major general; resumed political career; founder, Crescent City Democratic Association, 1946; mayor of New Orleans, 1946-1961. Municipal administration noted for street construction, improved drainage, creation of city recreation department, union passenger terminal-grade separation program (completed 1954), modern civic center complex (completed 1957), encouragement of new trade and industry, establishment of municipal office of international relations, implementation of home rule charter that created mayor-council form of government and enactment of comprehensive zoning ordinance. Police scandals, spoils politics, inadequate planning and weak leadership during the school desegregation crisis (September 1960) constituted negative features. Ambitious for political advancement, suffered three gubernatorial primary defeats (1956 to Earl K. Long [q.v.], 1960 to Jimmie H. Davis, 1964 to John J. McKeithen). Attained national acclaim, president, American Municipal Association, 1950; winner, La Guardia Award, 1953, associated with President John F. Kennedy; United States ambassador, Organization of American States, 1961-1963. Member: Catholic church. Died, near Cuidad Victoria, Mexico, May 22, 1964; interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans. E.F.H. Sources: Edward F. Haas, DeLesseps S. Morrison and the Image of Reform: New Orleans Politics, 1946-1961 (1974); Edward F. Haas, “DeLesseps S. Morrison and the Governorship: A Reassessment,” Louisiana Studies, XV (1976); Michael L. Kurtz, “deLesseps S. Morrison: Political Reformer,” Louisiana History, XVII (1976); Joseph B. Parker, The Morrison Era: Reform Politics in New Orleans (1974).
MORRISON, Jacob Haight attorney, preservaÂtionist, author. Born, New Roads, La., March 12, 1905; son of Eloise Yancy of Jonesville, La. (1876-1905) and Jacob Haight Morrison III (1875-1929). Educated in local schools; Louisiana State University, undergraduate degree; Tulane University, law degree. Married Mary Meek of McComb, Miss., July 4, 1938. No children. LSU reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and sports editor of the Baton Rouge State Times. In 1935, entered into law partnership with half-brother deLesseps S. Morrison (q.v.) and T. Hale Boggs (q.v.). Served on the Louisiana Board of Education in the late 1930s; a city notary in New Orleans for fifteen years. World War II service: U. S. Army, 1943-1945. After the war, practiced law in New Orleans for twenty-two years. Was in the vanguard of Vieux Carré preservation beginning in the 1940s, serving as president of the Vieux Carré Property Owners and Association, Inc. Authored the pioneer law text on preservation, Historic Preservation Law (1957). Member of Friends of the Cabildo, Patio Planters, Louisiana Council for the Vieux Carré, Louisiana Landmarks Society, Vieux Carré Restoration, Inc., and Gallery Circle Theater. Also a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In October, 1974, he and his wife received the Louise DuPont Crownshield Award for outstanding work in preservation. Member of the local, state, and national bar associations, Phi Delta Phi National Legal Fraternity, Sigma Delta Chi National Professional Journalism Fraternity, and the Catholic church. Died, New Orleans, December 4, 1974. Interred Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. J.B.C. Sources: Judy Riffel, ed., A History of Pointe Coupée Parish and Its Families (1983); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, December 5, 1974.
MORROW, Robert Louis, Sr., pharmacist, physician. Born, Arnaudville, La., August 20, 1917; son of Frank Penn Morrow and Eugenie Martin. Married (1) Ruth Grace Wilbert (1920-1990) of Plaquemine, La. daughter of John William Wilbert and Ruth Grace, December 28, 1939; children: Robert Louis Morrow, Jr., M.D. (b. 1943); Ruth Grace (Mrs. Paul Laporte), (b. 1945); John Michael (b. 1946); Patrick Craig, Sr. (b. 1948); Stephen Mark, Sr. (b. 1952); Harriet Catherine (Mrs. Michael Lofton) (b. 1953); Melissa Marie (Mrs. James Bienvenu) (b. 1955); Victoria Mae (Mrs. Eugene Gibert) (b. 1958); and David Penn (b. 1968). Married (2) Anita Bondi, daughter of Joseph S. Bondi and Vida Morrell of New Roads, La., in Lafayette, La. on July 23, 1994. Education: local schools, Arnaudville, La.; B. S. in Pharmacy, Loyola University, New Orleans, La., May 13, 1938; M. D., Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans, La., June 13, 1945; interned at Charity Hospital in New Orleans from July 1, 1945 through March 31, 1946; Doctor of Pharmacy, Loyola University, June 29, 1982. Played American Legion baseball as a left-handed pitcher during high school and college. In 1938 began practice in pharmacy which took him to Arnaudville, Lake Charles, Reserve and New Roads, La. Between 1942-1946 completed medical school, internship before entering the United States Army Air Corps as a captain. Established medical practice in Arnaudville on December 15, 1947, having purchased the St. Francis Clinic. Chose to return to his hometown to practice medicine because saw a need for a physician in the area. Known locally as “Dr. Bobbie.” He was in medical partnership with Dr. Earl Morrogh of Cecilia, La. for thirty-eight years. Instrumental in getting Hill-Burton funds for building St. Luke General Hospital in 1967; helped secure funding for the John Michael Morrow Nursing Home, 1984. Officially retired from private practice on August 1, 1988, yet continued to provide medical care to the residents of the John Michael Morrow Nursing Home until December 1996. Honored by the Arnaudville Town Council on August 13, 1988 for “40 years of devoted medical assistance to the citizens of the Arnaudville Community and surrounding area.” Served as first grand marshall of Arnaudville’s annual christmas parade in December, 1992. Received a fifty years of pharmacy practice certificate on July 19, 1988. Honored for fifty years of Medical Practice by the Louisiana State Medical Society in 1995, with their golden anniversary certificate. Was a charter member of the American Academy of Family Practice (1956-1996). Was a fifty-year member of the American Legion. Also a member of the Louisiana State Medical Society; Louisiana Academy of Family Practice; St. Martin, St. Landry, and Lafayette medical societies; staff member of Lafayette General Hospital and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitals in Lafayette, La. Served on the board of directors for St. Luke Hospital and John Michael Morrow Nursing Home through December, 1996. A Roman Catholic; member, Holy Name Society at St. Francis Regis Church; and Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus. Died, Lafayette, La., December 17, 1996; interred, St. Francis Regis Cemetery, Arnaudville, La. R.L.M. Sources: Family papers; Obituary from Capital City Press, December 17, 1996.
MORSE, Isaac Edward, lawyer, politician, diplomat. Born, New Iberia, La., May 22, 1809; son of Nathan Morse and Martha Craufurd Nicholls, daughter of Judge Edward Church Nicholls (q.v.). Education: in Elizabethtown, N. J., and Norwich, Vt.; Harvard University, graduated 1829. Studied law, was admitted to the bar and practiced in New Orleans and St. Martinville, 1835-1842. Served in state senate, 1842-1844. Served as a Democrat in Congress, 1844-1851; delegate to the Democratic National Convention, 1848; attorney general of Louisiana, 1853-1855; appointed by President Pierce, December 2, 1856, one of two special commissioners to New Granada (Colombia) to negotiate the transit of U. S. nationals across the Isthmus of Panama. Married, 1835, Margaretta Wederstrandt of New Orleans. Several children, among whom were Edward Malcolm, Charles Nathan, and Alexander Porter. Died, New Orleans, February 11, 1866; interred Washington Cemetery. G.R.C. Sources: Edward C. Morse, “The Morse Family in Louisiana,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, VII (1924); Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950).
MORSE, Walter D., merchant, local historian. Born, 1880, Williamsburg, Iowa; son of Lucius Lyman Morse. Father established Morse Hardware Co., Jennings, La., 1894. Continued father’s business. Supporter of Jennings civic and cultural endeavors. Sunday School superintendent of First Congregational Church (now Presbyterian). Authored The Birth of Jennings (1961). Married Mabel Parsons. Three children: Leighton, Norma M. (Merrit), and Dwight. Died, Pomona, Calif., December 17, 1965; interred Pomona. M.H.N.†Sources: Files, Jennings Carnegie Library; Jennings Daily News, December 12, 1961; December 24, 1965.
MORTON, Ferdinand J. “Jelly Roll,” jazz musician and composer. Born, New Orleans, September 20, 1885; son of Louise Monette and F. P. La Menthe; took name of Morton from stepfather. Education: attended public elementary school. Married Mabel Bertrand, November 1928, in Gary, Ind. Started on guitar in 1892 and on piano in 1895; from 1902 to 1915 played piano in bordellos in New Orleans’ Storyville. Left New Orleans permanently in 1915; traveled as a musician throughout the United States; was in California from 1917 to 1922; career as a recording artist began in Richmond, Ind., 1923-1924; principal source of fame was recording sessions for Victor under the name of Morton’s Red Hot Peppers, 1926-1930, in Chicago and New York; enjoyed greatest success in late 1920s; claimed to be “inventor” of jazz. Displayed his prosperity by wearing a diamond filling in a front tooth; fame ended abruptly in the 1930s. Ran a night club in Washington, D. C., in 1937; made twelve recordings on jazz history for Library of Congress in 1939; made a series of records in New York City, 1939-1940. Among his classic compositions were “The Jelly Roll Blues,” “King Porter Stomp,” and “Wolverine Blues.” Removed to Los Angeles, Calif., 1940. Died, Los Angeles, July 19, 1941; interred Calvary Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: Alan Lomax, Mister Jelly Roll (1950); Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album (1967); Leonard Feather, The Encyclopedia of Jazz (1955).
MOSS, James Alfred, author, army officer. Born, Lafayette, La., May 12, 1872; son of Thérèse Octavie Corney and Joseph Anderson Moss. Education: local public schools; Louisiana State University; United States Military Academy, graduated 1894. Never married. Commissioned a second lieutenant; saw action in Cuba, 1898, in the Philippines, 1899-1902, and in World War I, 1918-1919. Instructor, Department of Languages, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., 1906-1910; originated system of army correspondence and simplified system of muster, payroll, and other military forms, 1911-1912. Promoted through the ranks to lieutenant colonel, 1918; commissioned colonel in quartermaster corps, 1920; was editor of The Quartermaster Review, 1921-1923; chief of historical branch and assistant to quartermaster general until retirement, October 31, 1922. Awarded two brevets and the silver star for wartime campaigns; wrote and collaborated on numerous military manuals, 1914-1920; founded the United State Flag Association, April 10, 1924; originated observance of flag week, June 8-14 of every year; wrote ten books on the American flag and on the Constitution, 1923-1939. Resided in Washington, D. C., after retirement and was president of Altamont Corporation, vice president of Maddux, Marshall, Moss, and Mallory Incorporated, and District Hotel Corporation. Member, Military Order of Veterans of the Spanish-American Wars, Society of the Army of the Philippines, American Legion, Kappa Sigma, the Metropolitan and Army and Navy clubs of Washington, and the Roman Catholic church. Decorated by the French government with Order of the Black Star. Died, New York City, April 23, 1941. United States Army named a harbor boat in his honor, May 1942. J.B.C. Sources: The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, XXX; Who Was Who in America, 1897-1942; Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984).
MOUTON, Jean, early settler of Attakapas district, state representative, founder of Lafayette, La. Born, in Port Royal, Nova Scotia, 1755; son of Salvador Mouton and Anne Bastarache. Married Marie Marthe Bordat, June 23, 1783, at the Attakapas church (present-day St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville, Louisiana). After the Grand Dérangement, Mouton settled in St. James Parish, La., during the 1760s. Later moved to the Attakapas district, joining the post militia sometime before 1777. He acquired a land grant on both sides of Bayou Carencro on June 23, 1781, and soon became one of the largest land speculators in lower Louisiana. He donated land for a church (St. John the Evangelist) near the Vermilion River on March 21, 1822; after a state referendum to determine the town site of Vermilionville (present-day Lafayette), Mouton donated lands and a building for the establishment of the town, which was officially recognized by the state legislature in 1824. Mouton’s son Alexandre (q.v.) became the Louisiana’s first Democratic party governor. Died, Lafayette Parish, November 22, 1834. N.P.W. Sources: J. Franklin Mouton III, The Moutons: A Genealogy (1978); Lucien T. Martin and Melba B. Martin, Remember Us: Historical, Biographical, Pictorial (1987); Carl A. Brasseaux, Where Yesterday Meets Tomorrow (1990); and Harry Lewis Griffin, History of Lafayette (1936).
MOTHER LAURA, see O’BRIEN, Catherine
MOTIER, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roche-Gilbert du, see LAFAYETTE
MOUTON, Alexandre, governor, U. S. senator. Born in Attakapas County, now Lafayette Parish, La., November 19, 1804; son of Jean Mouton and Marie Marthe Bordat, both descendants of Acadian exiles. Married (1) Zelia Rousseau of Opelousas, granddaughter of Jacques Dupré (q.v.). Children: Marie Céleste, Jean-Jacques Alexandre Alfred (q.v.), Mathilde, Henriette Odeide, and Cecilia Arcade. Married (2) Emma Kitchell Gardner, January, 1842. Children: Ann Eliza, Charles Alexandre, Paul Joseph Julien, George Clinton, Marie, and William Rufus King. Education; local schools, Georgetown College, Washington, D. C., studied law under Charles Antoine and Edward Simon of St. Martinville, La. Admitted to the bar in 1825; later practiced in Lafayette Parish before turning to sugar cultivation on plantation within present Lafayette corporate limits. Member: Masonic order, Catholic church. Political career: early adherent of the Jacksonian cause; elected to state legislature, 1826; speaker, state house of representatives, 1831-1832; presidential elector, 1828, 1832, and 1836; reelected to state house of representatives, 1837; elected to U. S. Senate, 1837; served in Senate until election as governor, 1842; administration noted for support of 1845 constitutional convention, which established free-white manhood suffrage; left office, February, 1846. President, Lafayette Vigilance Committee, 1858; leader of Louisiana delegation to Democratic National Convention, 1860; elected to Louisiana secession convention, 1861; president, Louisiana secession convention, 1861; defeated in bid for election to Confederate Senate, 1861. President, Southwestern Railroad Convention, New Orleans, 1852. Died, near Lafayette, February 12, 1885; interred St. John’s Cemetery, Lafayette. J.G.T. Source: Author’s research.
MOUTON, Ashton J., businessman, politician. Born, Lafayette, La., October 16, 1916; son of Georgie McBride and Edwin Mouton, Sr. Educated, Mount Carmel Elementary and Cathedral High School, Lafayette; Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana), business administration degree, 1939. Married Stella Rose Dupuis, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. W. Dupuis, Sr of Youngsville, La., August 9, 1942. Children: Stella Rose, Ashton J., Jr., Carolyn Anne, and John. Administrative assistant in city office of finance, Lafayette, 1939-1941. World War II service: U. S. Army, 1941-1945. Began career in life insurance after the war. In 1948, elected Lafayette’s youngest mayor at age thirty-one; remained in office eight years. Became independent oil and gas lease broker, 1956. Various state-level appointments held: member of Mineral Board, 1950-1952; member of the Board of Tax Appeals, 1956-1958; commissioner of conservation, 1958-1960; collector of revenue, 1964-1970; director of hospitals, 1970-1971; administrative assistant to the director of Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, 1972; a supervisor of community affairs in the department of education, 1974. Began selling real estate in 1976 and was associated with a Lafayette agency from 1978 to 1988. Honored by the Louisiana Municipal Association and the Louisiana Municipal Review as one of the outstanding mayors in the state, March 10, 1955; candidate for lieutenant governor, 1963. Member, American Legion, Knights of Columbus, Mardi Gras Krewe of Gabriel, and the Roman Catholic church. Died, January 31, 1988; interred Lafayette Memorial Park Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obituary, February 2, 1988; March 7, 1948; March 11, 1955; November 17, 1963; June 22, 1970; Lafayette Founders Committee, Mayors of Lafayette, 1884-1980 (1979?).
MOUTON, Charles Homer, attorney, politician, jurist, lieutenant governor. Born, Lafayette Parish, La., December 8, 1823; son of Marie Julie Latiolais and Charles Mouton. Education: private schools; graduated from St. Charles College, Grand Coteau, La.; read law and admitted to the bar, 1844. Practiced in Lafayette, La., appointed district attrorney for the parishes of Lafayette, St. Landry, Vermilion, and Calcasieu. Elected to state senate; elected lieutenant governor, 1855; resigned that office and was elected district judge. Aide-de-camp to Gen. Alfred Mouton (q.v.) in Civil War. Thereafter practiced law in New Orleans, Lafayette, and St. Martin Parish; elected district attorney for St. Martin and Iberia parishes; resumed Lafayette law practice and was attorney for police jury. On December 13, 1848, married (1) Celimene Henriette Dupré (d. 1864), daughter of Marie Tonton Bérard and Lastie Dupré, grandÂdaughter of Gov. Jacques Dupré (q.v.). Children: Charles Kossuth, Louise, Julie, A. E., Andrew H., Orther C., Julian, and Josephine. Married (2) Emérenthe (Emerite) Olivier, daughter of Charlotte E. Bérard and Charles Maurice Olivier, in St. Martinville, August 8, 1867. Children: C. Maurice, J. Homer, Lucille, Philip, Jerome, Frank T., and Marie. Died, Lafayette, March 16, 1912; interred St. John’s Cemetery. J.B.C. Sources: J. Franklin Mouton, III, comp. and ed., The Moutons, A Genealogy (1978); Lafayette Advertiser, obituary, March 19, 1912.
MOUTON, Fernand, banker, state senator, lieutenant governor. Born, Breaux Bridge, La., October 18, 1877; son of Marie Anaïs Babin and Thomas Mouton. A farm laborer and mercantile clerk. Graduated from Draughn Business College, Nashville, Tenn. Removed to Lafayette, La.; sold insurance and operated tree nursery. Selected superintendent of New York Life insurance agency in Paris, France, 1903. Married, January 14, 1904, Sadie Louise Mouton, daughter of Maurice and Julie Adrienne Salles Mouton of Lafayette. Children: Welton P., Maurice, Louis F., James G., Eloise and Sadie Louise. In Paris, 1904; returned to Lafayette insurance business, 1905; director, People’s Bank and Trust, 1910; vice president, 1912; major stockholder, Consumer’s Cold Storage and Canning; member Home Building and Loan. Member, Lafayette city council; elected to state senate, 1912; appointed major on governor’s military staff, 1913; lieutenant governor, 1916-1920. Roman Catholic. Member, Knights of Columbus, Woodmen of the World and Elks Club. Died, July 24, 1945; interred St. John’s Cemetery, Lafayette, La. J.B.C. Sources: Alcée Fortier, Louisiana, pp. 112-15; Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obituary, July 24, 1945; J. Franklin Mouton, III, comp. and ed., The Moutons, A Genealogy, pp. 25, 29.
MOUTON, Jean Jacques Alexandre Alfred, planter, soldier. Born, Opelousas, La., February 18, 1829; son of Alexandre Mouton (q.v.) and Celestine Zelia Rousseau. Education: St. Charles College, Grand Coteau, La.; U. S. Military Academy, class of 1850. Married, February 7, 1854, Philomène Zelia Mouton (a second cousin) of Vermilionville (now Lafayette), La., daughter of Jean-Baptiste Sosthène Mouton and Marie Eugénie Latiolais. Children: Jacques Dupré (b. 1855), Zelia Rousseau (b. 1857), Charlotte Esmine (b. 1860), Emelia (b. 1862), and Cecelia (b. 1864). Commissioned second lieutenant, Seventh Infantry, U. S. Army, July 1, 1850, and resigned commission, September 16, 1850; civil engineer, New Orleans, Algiers, Attakapas and Opelousas Railroad, 1851; sugarcane planter, Lafayette Parish, 1852-1861; Louisiana State Militia: brigadier general, commander First Brigade, Fourth Division, 1855-1858, and commander Second Brigade, Fourth Division, 1859-1861; commandant, Comités de Vigilance, 1859; Lafayette Parish Police Jury, elected member in 1860; president pro tempore, December 1860 to March 1861. Civil War service: commissioned captain, Confederate States of America, March 16, 1861; founder, first commander, first colonel, October, 1861, Eighteenth Louisiana Regiment, Third Brigade, First Division, Second Corps, Army of the Mississippi; Battle of Shiloh, April, 1862, wounded in face. Promoted to rank of brigadier general, C.S.A., April 17, 1862; transferred to Trans-Mississippi Department, 1862, assigned command of Lafourche District; Bayou Lafourche campaign, 1862; Teche campaign, 1863; named commander of all forces south of Red River, April 15, 1863; Great Texas Overland Expedition, January, 1864; Red River campaign, 1864; commander of Second Division, Trans-Mississippi Department. Died, April 8, 1864, leading Confederate charge at Battle of Mansfield resulting in rout of Union forces and greatest single victory for C.S.A. west of the Mississippi River. Interred on the battlefield at Mansfield; reinterred, April 24, 1867, in St. John the Evangelist Cemetery, Lafayette. W.A. Source: Author’s research.
MOUTON, Marc Monroe, physician, politician, lieutenant governor. Born, Lafayette, La., 1890; son of Frank G. and Leontine Doucet Mouton. Educated, local schools, Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana); Tulane University, M.D., 1918. World War I service: Medical Corps at Fort Thomas, Ky. After Armistice, returned to Lafayette to practice medicine. Married, June 22, 1919; Alice Louis Campbell of Lafayette, daughter of William and Ellen Eastin Campbell. One child: Ellen Leontine (b. 1920). Democrat. Coroner of Lafayette Parish, 1924-1932; Lafayette city health officer, 1924-1928; lieutenant governor of Louisiana, 1940-1944. Active in Sam Jones’ efforts to reform Louisiana after the 1939 scandals. Great-grandson of former governor and senator Alexandre Mouton (q.v.) and grand-nephew of Gen. Alfred Mouton (q.v.). Died, Lafayette, August 21, 1944; interred St. John the Evangelist Cemetery. J.P.S. Sources: J. Franklin Mouton, III, The Moutons; Jerry Purvis Sanson, “A History of Louisiana, 1939-1945” (Ph. D. dissertation); New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 22-23, 1944.
MOUTON, Robert Louis, businessman, congressman. Born, Duchamp, St. Martin Parish, La., October 20, 1892. Removed with his parents, Jules J. and Theodora Ledoux Mouton, to Lafayette, La. Education: public schools; graduated from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana), Lafayette. Employed as a bank clerk, 1911-1912. Member, faculty of St. Charles College, Grand Coteau, La., 1915-1916. Served as aide to the general receiver of customs on the island of Haiti, West Indies, in 1916 and as collector of customs at Gonaïves, Haiti, March 1917 to April 1919. During the First World War enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps; served as an interpreter (spoke English, French and Spanish) and intelligence officer attached to the first squadron of the first Marine aviation outfit overseas, May 1918-January 1919. Returned to Lafayette and engaged in horticultural pursuits; owned and operated an azalea and camellia-japonica nursery at Lafayette; lectured throughout the country to garden clubs. Mayor of Lafayette, 1919-1927 and 1931-1935; postmaster, May 1929 to November 1930. Member, Marine Crops Reserve, with rank of captain. Delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Philadelphia, 1936. Elected as a Democrat to Congress, and served from January 3, 1937, to January 3, 1941; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1940. Resumed his horticultural and real-estate interests; organized and was first commander of Stanley Martin Post No. 69 of the American Legion; member of Elks and Knights of Columbus; Roman Catholic. Unmarried. Died, New Orleans, November 26, 1956; interred St. John the Evangelist Cemetery, Lafayette. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Congressional Directory, 75th Congress (1937); Henry E. Chambers, A History of Louisiana, III (1925); Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obituary, NovemÂber 26, 1956.
MOWER, Joseph Anthony, soldier. Born, Woodstock, Vt., August 22, 1827; son of Nathaniel Mower and Sophia Holmes. Education: common school, Lowell, Mass.; Norwich University, Vermont. Enlisted as private in Mexican War; discharged, July 1848. Married, June 1851, Betsey A. Bailey. Commissioned second lieutenant, U. S. Army, June 1855. Civil War service: twelve times cited for “conspicuous bravery”; achieved record of distinction during campaigns in Mississippi, 1862-1863, especially in siege of Vicksburg; as commander of Third Division, XVI Corps, led successful attack against Fort de Russy, near Marksville, La., March 1864; fought with Gen. W. T. Sherman (q.v.) in Atlanta campaign; afterwards, commander of XX Corps in Carolinas; brevetted major general, March 1865. After war, promoted colonel, Thirty-ninth Infantry, U. S. Army; became commander of Department of Louisiana, 1869. Died, New Orleans, January 6, 1870. W.S. Sources: New Orleans Daily Picayune, January 7, 1870; Dictionary of American Biography; Mark M. Boatner, The Civil War Dictionary; George P. Whittington, Rapides Parish, Louisiana (1932; reprint ed., 1970); Ludwell H. Johnson, Red River Campaign (1958); Official Records of the War of the Rebellion.
MOWER, Milo, civil-rights advocate, journalist. Born in France or possibly French West Indies, 1806. Lived in New Orleans, 1829-1830, where he founded and edited Le Liberateur, Louisiana’s only newspaper which pleaded the cause of the free Negroes. Mower, himself, was apparently a Caucasian. His short-lived French- and English-language newspaper, January to July, 1830, stressed equal rights for Louisiana’s free colored population and improved treatment of black slaves. A severe backlash ensued, causing Mower’s incarceration in 1830. Likely deported to France as an undesirable alien. His New Orleans newspaper may have provided a curious link between eighteenth-century French liberalism and America’s nineteenth-century anti-slavery movement. T.F.R. Sources: Edward Larocque Tinker, Bibliography of the French Newspapers and Periodicals of Louisiana (1933); Stephen B. Weeks, “Anti-Slavery Sentiment in the South,” Southern Historical Association Publications, II (1898); “The Liberalist,” Genius of Universal Emancipation, March-June, 1830; Timothy F. Reilly, “Le Liberateur: New Orleans’ Free Negro Newspaper,” Gulf Coast Historical Review, II (1986).
MOWRY, John, journalist. Born in Pennsylvania, 1777. Apprenticed to John Scull, Pittsburgh, Pa. Proprietor and editor, Louisiana Gazette, first New Orleans newspaper published entirely in English language, 1804-1813. Died, November 21, 1813, in eastern Pennsylvania, of wounds sustained during War of 1812. F.M.J. Sources: John Smith Kendall, “Early New Orleans Newspapers,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, X (1927); Charles F. Youngman, “Historic Sketch of the Louisiana Gazette, Etc., Louisiana State Gazette, from Charles Biddle, Pittsburgh, Pa., August 5, 1806 (MSS 81, The Historic New Orleans Collection).
MUGNIER, George François, photographer. Born in France, January 1, 1855; son of Jules Jacques Mugnier. Established in New Orleans by 1868. Married Imogine Torrey. Children: daughter Ruby Iona, and a son who died in childhood. Began career as a watchmaker, but switched to photography in 1884, operating a studio on Exchange Place in New Orleans. Achieved fame as a photographer of views and scenery, including the 1884-1885 World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans, and photographs of plantations and the surrounding landscape. Donated his negative collection to the Louisiana State Museum in 1930. Died, New Orleans, April 12, 1936. J.H.L. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 13, 1936; Mrs. Richard McCarthy, Jr., Mugnier; Lester Burbank Bridaham, Photographs by George François Mugnier (1880-1910) (1972); John R. Kemp and Linda Orr King, Louisiana Images (1975).
MULFORD, Clarence, soldier, planter. Born, Bridgetown, N. J., December 26, 1771. Entered U. S. Army and held commission for many years in First Regiment, U. S. Artillery; stationed at Fort Adams, Miss., 1805-1807; one of two lieutenants sent by Gen. James Wilkinson (q.v.) to capture Aaron Burr (q.v.) at the Tombigbee River, February 1807. Married Sarah Bingaman, widow of Stephen Cobb (d. 1819). Resigned from Army to manage plantation in West Feliciana Parish, La. Died August 20, 1841; interred Soldier’s Retreat Plantation, West Feliciana Parish. E.K.D. Sources: T. P. Abernethy, The Burr Conspiracy (1954); West Feliciana Parish Records.
MULLER, Salomi, see MILLER, Sally
MULLON, James Ignatius, clergyman, educator, editor. Born, Londonderry, Ireland, 1793. As a boy, immigrated to Maryland where he attended father’s school in Emmitsburg. Served in American Navy during War of 1812. Attended Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg and later became professor there. Removed to Cincinnati, June 1825, where ordained to priesthood, December 1828. Appointed first president of Catholic College in Cincinnati, September 1831, and editor of city’s first Catholic paper, October 1831. Transferred to New Orleans, June 1834; appointed pastor of recently established St. Patrick Parish, November 1834. Champion of Irish Catholic immigrants during Nativist outbreaks; vigorous defender (together with members of the Catholic Temperance Society) of Archbishop Antoine Blanc (q.v.) during dispute with St. Louis Cathedral churchwardens; promoter of Catholic parochial education; forceful preacher; outspoken defender of Confederacy and religious freedom during Butler occupation. Editor of newly established The Catholic Sentinel (1844). St. Patrick Church, first designed by Charles and James Dakin (q.v.) and completed by James Gallier, Sr. (q.v.), built during his pastorate. First Louisiana conference of St. Vincent de Paul Society established during his pastorate, August 12, 1852. Died, New Orleans, September 9, 1866; interred St. Patrick Church. C.E.N. Sources: Roger Baudier, “St. Patrick’s of New Orleans,” in Charles L. Dufour, ed., St. Patrick’s of New Orleans, 1833-1958 (1958); Baudier Historical Collection, Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
MUMFORD, Arnett William “Ace”, athletic coach, educator. Born, Buckhannon, W. Va., 1899; son of John W. and Victoria Mumford. Education: Summer High School, Parkerburg, W. Va.; Wilberforce University, B.A.; University of California, Los Angeles, M. A. Married Rose Verelle Hendricks of Taylor, Tex. Children: Gwendolyn (b. 1926), Irene (b. 1932) and Arnett, Jr. (b. 1941). Coaching career: Jarvis Christian College, Jarvis, Tex., 1925-1927; head coach, Bishop College, Marshall, Tex., 1928-1930, where he also coached baseball and basketball; 1930-1935, head coach, Texas College, Tyler, Tex., where he won two conference titles and one national title in 1935; head coach, Southern University, 1936-1962, where he compiled a record of 176 wins, 60 losses and 14 ties, as he directed the Jaguars to Southwestern Athletic Conference titles in 1946-1950, 1955 and 1959. He won the national titles in 1948-1950, shared the titles with four other teams in 1954, and won it again in 1960. The total coaching record, which stretches over thirty-six years and four institutions, lists 223 victories, eighty-one losses and twenty-four ties. In 1958, Mumford was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame, football coaches category, and in 1961 he was selected “Small College Football Coach of the Year” by the Football Writers Association of America. Member: Southwestern Athletic Conference, president, three years; the American Tennis Association, Gulf Coast Field Secretary; SWAC Track and Field and Tennis Championship Director; Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Association; Coaches Association of the NAIA; Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity; The National Athletic Association. Died, Baton Rouge, April 28, 1962; interred Southern Memorial Gardens. C.V. Sources: Southern University Archives; Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, May 2, April 30, 1962; obituary, April 30, 1962; Irene Tucker (daughter, telephone interview, September 13, 1982, Baton Rouge).
MUNSON, Joseph Jones, sugar manufacturer and inventor of the mechanical sugarcane harvester. Born, Jackson, La., March 20, 1889, son of Albert Galletin and May Adele (Lemon) Munson. Education: Louisiana State University, B. A., 1914, M. E., 1928; Nicholls State University, Ph. D. (honorary). Married Emma Lea Harvey, May 3, 1918. Child: Genevieve (Mrs. Morrell Feltus Trimble). With South Puerto Rico Sugar Co., 1916-1919; assistant engineer, then chief engineer Western Division Cuba Cane Sugar Corporation, 1919-1924. Professor of Physics, Louisiana State University, 1915, professor of Mechanical Engineering, Louisiana State University, 1924-1925, professor of Sugar Engineering, 1925-1927; responsible for designing and building Audubon Sugar Mill at Louisiana State University. With South Coast Sugar Corporation, Houma, 1927, first as general manager, 1927-1943, then president and chairman of the board, 1943-1970. Part owner and director of Terrebonne Lumber Company, 1937-1971; vice president, executive committee and director State Agricultural Credit Corporation; director, Citizens National Bank and Trust Co., Houma; director, Celotex Corporation. Member board of directors, Louisiana Sugar Exchange, New Orleans; president of American Sugar Cane League, U. S., 1949-1951; member of American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists; member Theta Xi, social fraternity; Boston Club, New Orleans. Member, ruling elder and chairman, board of trustees, First Presbyterian Church, Houma. His many inventions which in his lifetime revolutionized the sugarcane industry and gained for him the title “the Eli Whitney of the sugar industry” are: mechanical cane harvester, cane loader, mill journal bearings, crystallizer, hydraulic accumulator, vacuum pan, continuous centrifuge, sugarcane cleaner, clarifier, syrup process, mill roll grooving, turnplate for sugarcane mills. Died, March 18, 1971; interred Magnolia Cemetery, Houma. G.M.T. Sources: Who’s Who in America, Volume 33, 1964-1965; W. E. Butler, Down Among the Sugar Cane (1980); The Southerner (1944); Hyer Publishing Co., comp., The Story of Louisiana, III (1960); Houma Daily Courier, 150th Anniversary Edition; obituary, March 19, 1971; New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, March 19, 1971; editorial, March 20, 1971.
MURDOCK, John, soldier, taverner. Accompanied Philip Nolan into Texas, 1797; remained in Mexico and became fluent in Spanish. Arrived in New Feliciana, 1800; translator for crown, 1800-1810; agent for Kemper brothers and Senator John Smith, 1800. Lieutenant in militia and interim alcalde, 1803. Established tavern on Thompson’s Creek at Murdock’s Ford after West Florida Rebellion, 1810. Died, 1822; interred West Feliciana Parish. E.K.D. Sources: West Feliciana Parish Records; American State Papers; Noel Loomis, “Philip Nolan’s Entry into Texas in 1800,” in J. F. McDermott, ed., The Spanish in the Mississippi Valley, 1762-1804 (1974).
MURDOCK, Lloyd H., physician. Born, Cameron, Tex., November 23, 1908. Education: attended Rice Institute; Louisiana State University, M. D.; interned at Shreveport Charity Hospital in 1934. First five years of medical practice was at Converse, La., in association with Dr. W. G. Allen, founder of Allen Sanitarium. Began medical practice in Zwolle, La., 1938. Established the Sabine Clinic and Hospital at Zwolle, 1948. His practice extended over Sabine Parish and East Texas. Served with the U. S. Army Medical Corps, Seventh U. S. Army in Germany during World War II, earned the Airborne Badge in Holland, was at the Battle of the Bulge. Active in the Lions Club, Masons, Sabine Parish Medical Association. Served as coroner for Sabine Parish for many years. Married Mildred Allen. Children: Lloyd Allen Murdock and Charlotte Murdock Fleming. Died, May 23, 1970; interred Zwolle Cemetery. J.H.P. Sources: Sabine Index, May 28, 1970; Centennial Edition, September 6, 1979.
MURRELL, John, frontiersman. Born, Bladen County, N. C., 1784; son of Zachariah and Rebecca Murrell. Married, 1804, Margaret Sasser of Wayne County, N. C. Children: Joel W., Barney S., Martha Jones, John, Jr., Margaret Butler, Isaac, and Lee. In 1818 left home near Carthage, Tenn., with other families on keelboats bound for Red River Valley, southwest Arkansas. Due to unhealthy climate, left that area and moved to northwest Louisiana uplands, settling at site between present towns of Minden and Homer in future Claiborne Parish, La. First family to permanently settle in the region. As other families moved into area during 1820s an identifiable community emerged, first known as Flat Lick, later Allen’s Settlement. Established first school in the area, first religious services held in his home, first postmaster in North Louisiana uplands, father of first English-speaking child born in Northwest Louisiana above Natchitoches. Murrell home used as first courthouse when Claiborne Parish created, 1828. Died, Claiborne Parish, January 14, 1847; interred Murrell Cemetery. P.C.C. Sources: John Ardis Cawthon, “Ghost Towns of Old Claiborne,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, (1951); D. W. Harris and B. M. Hulse, The History of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana (1886); Allena Robinson Gould and Ruby Aldredge, The John Murrell Family Tree.
MURRELL, Val Howard, banker, civic leader. Born, Gainesville, Tex., January 12, 1892. Education: local schools; Harvard Graduate School. Instrumental in reorganization of three Shreveport banks, 1930-1932. President, Continental American Bank, 1930-1954. President, Commercial National Bank, 1932-1948. Married, January 19, 1916, Fay Clary of Hickory, Okla. Children: Val, Jr. (b. 1919), Jack C. (b. 1922). Active in Federated Charities, Red River Valley Association. Member of First Presbyterian Church, Masonic Lodge, El Karubah Shrine Temple. Retired 1954. Died, Shreveport, February 27, 1957; interred Forest Park Cemetery. J.C.M. Source: Author’s research.
MUSSER, John Herr, academic, physician. Born, Philadelphia, Pa., June 9, 1883; son of John Herr Musser, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, and Agnes Gardiner Harper. He was the last of six generations of physicians in direct descent, and the third of the same full name. Education: Pennsylvania Charter School, Philadelphia; University of Pennsylvania, B. S., 1905; and M.D., 1908. Internship, the University Hospital, 1908-1909; residency, Pennsylvania Hospital, 1909-1911. Practiced, Presbyterian Hospital and Philadelphia General Hospital, 1912-1914. Associate in Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, 1914-1920. Married Marguerite Hopkinson, January 7, 1911. Two children. During World War I, major in U. S. Army, serving one year in France. Retained colonel rank in medical reserve corps. Assistant professor, 1920-1924. Assistant editor, American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 1911-1920; and editor, 1920-1924. Removed to New Orleans, January 1, 1925, as professor of Medicine and chairman of the Department of Medicine. First full-time chairman of a clinical department at Tulane University. Served the University until his death. A Democrat and a Presbyterian, Musser held membership in several carnival organizations, the Boston Club, the Round Table, and the Metairie Country Club. President, 1929-1930, long-time member of the board of regents, and master, 1947, American College of Physicians; vice-president, American Medical Association, 1933; president, Louisiana State Board of Health in the reform administration of Gov. Sam Jones (q.v.), 1940-1942; consultant to the secretary of war on reorganization of the surgeon general’s office during World War II; editorial board of Archives of Internal Medicine; trustee, University of Pennsylvania; editor, New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, 1927-1947. He is memorialized at Tulane University Medical Center in a national internists organization of former students, the Musser-Burch Society. Died, New Orleans, September 5, 1947. J.P.M. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 5, 1947; Who’s Who, 1946-47; American Men and Women of Science, 6th edition (1948); Bulletin of the Orleans Parish Medical Society, XVIII (1947); a tribute by O. H. P. Pepper in Transactions of the Association of American Physicians, LXI (1948); Transactions of the American Clinical and Climetological Association, LIX (1948); Bulletin of the Tulane Medical Faculty, VII (1947); John Duffy, Tulane University Medical Center (1984).
MYLES, Beverly B., attorney, businessman. Born, Copiah County, Miss., 1855. Education: University of the South, B. A., 1874; University of Virginia, B. L., 1876. Never married. Attorney, Vicksburg, Miss., 1876-1884. Removed to New Orleans. Represented the legal department of V. & A. Meyer & Co. until 1891. At that time entered firm of Myles & Co., lessees of Avery Island salt mine and discontinued active practice of law. With brother, F. F. Myles, organized Myles Salt Co., Ltd., and began exploitation of salt deposit on Weeks Island. Became president of company in 1896 and served in that capacity for about thirty years, until retirement. Member, Boston and Pickwick clubs, Elks, Southern Yacht Club. After retirement removed to Port Gibson, Miss. Died, Port Gibson, November 5, 1930; interred there. G.R.C. Sources: Who’s Who in Louisiana and Mississippi … (1918); New Orleans Times-Picayune, November 7, 1930.