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NASH, Charles Edmund, congressman. Born, Opelousas, La., May 23, 1844. Attended public schools. A bricklayer by trade. During Civil War enlisted, 1863, as a private in the Eighty-second Regiment, U. S. Volunteers; promoted to rank of sergeant major; lost a leg at Fort Blakely in Alabama and was honorably discharged; appointed night inspector of customs in 1865. Elected to Congress as a Republican, November 1874; served on Education and Labor committees. Louisiana’s only black congressman during Reconstruction. Unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1876. Postmaster, Washington, La., from February 15, 1882, to May 1, 1882. Died, New Orleans, La., June 21, 1913; interred St. Louis Cemetery III. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); Joe Gray Taylor, Louisiana Reconstructed (1974).
NASH, Christopher Columbus, politician, a leader in the Colfax Riot. Born, Sabine Parish, La., July 1, 1838; son of Valentine Nash and Mary Anderson. With outbreak of Civil War, volunteered for the Sabine Rifles, rising to rank of lieutenant in Company A, Second Louisiana Infantry, under Stonewall Jackson. Spent last eighteen months of war as a prisoner on Johnson’s Island. After war settled in Grant Parish, 1869, and became involved in politics. Elected sheriff as a Democrat, he led a company of white men to retake Grant Parish Courthouse which had been seized by armed blacks. These events culminated in a shootout on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, generally known as the Colfax Riot. Married Malinda Williams, daughter of Richard B. Williams of Montgomery, La. C.W. Sources: Milton Dunn, Christopher Columbus Nash (1925?); Mabel Fletcher Harrison and Lavinia McGuire McNeely, Grant Parish, Louisiana: A History (1969); Manie White Johnson, “The Colfax Riot of April, 1873,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XIII (1930).
NATHAN, Moses, rabbi, theologian. Nathan maintained a close personal relationship and intellectual exchange with Unitarian leader Theodore Clapp (q.v.) during the 1840s and 1850s. When the latter frequently engaged in public theological disputes in the local press, particularly against fundamentalist Trinitarians, Nathan supplied Clapp with additional knowledge and guidance in the matter of Old Testament literal interpretation. T.F.R. Source: Timothy F. Reilly, “Religious Leaders and Social Criticism in New Orleans, 1800-1861” (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Missouri at Columbia, 1972).
NAVARRO, Adélaïde de Blanco, planter. Born, New Orleans, 1768; daughter of the intendant, Martín Navarro (q.v.), and Francisca Genoveva. Although Navarro never married Francisca, he recognized Adélaïde as his natural daughter and allowed her to use “De Blanco” in her name after the name of his mother’s family. Education: Ursuline Convent in New Orleans. Married Louis George Demarest (q.v.), July 2, 1785. Brought as her dowry an estate valued at 6,000 pesos, a gift from her father. Children: Félix Martín (b. 1788), Gilbert Ursin Pierre (b. 1789), Symphrosie Adélaïde (b. 1791), Michel Adélard (b. 1793), Marie Clarisse (b. 1795), Marie Zeide (b. 1799), Marie Alix (b. 1810) and Edouard (b. 1813). Through the influence of her father she obtained two lucrative land grants, the first of 2,000 arpents on the west side of Vermilion Bayou on July 20, 1786, and the second in 1790 of 1,200 arpents on Côte Blanche Island. She maintained an extensive correspondence with her father after his retirement from Louisiana in 1788. Following his death in Madrid in 1793 she began a fourteen-year court battle to gain her share of his estate. Her husband, armed with her power of attorney left New Orleans in late 1799 and did not return until 1807. During his absence, she managed the family plantation. In 1806 she inherited additional urban New Orleans real estate from her maternal grandmother. Finally in 1807, her husband reached an out-of-court settlement with the widow of Navarro’s brother. As her share of her father’s estate she received 28,219 pesos consisting of 7,397 pesos in silver and the rest in jewelry and securities held by Alguer Balanguer and Company in Havana. The couple used these funds to construct an elegant plantation house on their properties along Bayou Teche. Died in childbirth, December 8, 1813; interred in a small cemetery near Franklin, La. B.C. Sources: American State Papers, Public Lands (Duff Green Ed.); Division of the Estate of Martín Navarro, La Coruña, Galicia, August 14, 1807 (copy in possession of author); Judicial Records of the Spanish Cabildo, Louisiana State Museum, no. 79904271; Marriage Book 2, St. Louis Cathedral Archives, New Orleans; Baptismal and Death Records, St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church, St. Martinville, Louisiana; Succession #94, Parish of St. Mary, Franklin, Louisiana; Acts of Rafael Perdomo, Book 7 (1786), p. 147, Orleans Parish Notarial Archives.
NAVARRO, Felix Martín Antonio, intendant (chief financial officer) of Spanish Louisiana. Born, La Coruña, Spain, November 20, 1738; son of Vicente Navarro and Catalina Blanco. Career Spanish civil servant; apprentice in the Contaduria Principal of Galicia, Spain, 1752-1765; assigned to Royal Treasury Office in Louisiana, 1766-1770; contador of Louisiana, 1770-1779; alcalde mayor of New Orleans, 1778; intendente of Louisiana, 1779-1788; returned to Spain and advised king and council of ministers on Louisiana matters as intendente de ejército, 1788-1790; retired, 1790-1793. Advocate of economic stability and prosperity in Spanish Louisiana and successfully maintained the finances of the colonial government in good order. Author of memorials in 1780 to the Spanish king which recommended free trade and increased population as a means to economic development. Oversaw government-sponsored experimentrs in planting of flax, hemp, and tobacco. Amassed in Louisiana a large personal fortune based on the slave trade and real estate. Never married, but recognized Adelaïde de Blanco Navarro (q.v.) as his natural daughter. Died, Madrid, May 26, 1793. L.T.C. Source: Brian E. Coutts, “Martin Navarro: Treasurer, Contador, Intendant, 1766-1788” (Ph. D. dissertation, Louisiana State University, 1981).
NEBLETT, Henry Martin, planter. Born, Petersburg, Va., 1838; son of Sterling Neblett and Anne McFarland of Virginia. Education: public schools; attended University of Virginia four years; graduated in medicine from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Served as assistant surgeon of Ninth Virginia Cavalry in Civil War. Removed to St. Martin Parish, La., 1867; owned and operated Mossland Plantation and sugarhouse (later known as Ruth Plantation). Married Anne Wilkins, daughter of Benjamin Wilkins and Sarah Overton in 1871. Daughter Sarah (Sally, Sadie) married (1) Francis Frederick Carter, (2) Robert Donlon, both of Lafayette, La. Served two terms as mayor of Breaux Bridge. Died 1905; interred Lafayette. G.C.T.† Source: Author’s research.
NEILD, Edward F., architect. Born, December 3, 1884; son of George F. Neild and Elizabeth Moss. Education: Tulane University School of Engineering, graduated 1906. Traveled extensively in Europe to study architecture and applied arts. Practiced architecture alone, 1908-1934. From 1934 until his death in 1955 he was the senior partner of Neild-Somdal Associates. Designed Japanese relocation centers for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers at Rohwer and Jerome, Ark., during World War II, the U. S. post office and courthouse at Alexandria and the courthouses in Baton Rouge, Phoenix, Ariz., and Shreveport. Among many other public buildings in Louisiana, he designed the Louisiana State Exhibit Building and Veterans Administration Hospital in Shreveport. While touring Louisiana, President Harry Truman was so impressed with the Caddo Parish Courthouse, he contacted Neild to design the Jackson County, Mo., building, serve as consulting architect for the rehabilitation of the White House and serve as architect for Truman’s Presidential Library in Kansas City, Mo. In 1948, he was among twenty distinguished architects made fellows of the American Institute of Architects. Married Ethel Land, December 17, 1907. Children: Edward, Jr., and Elizabeth. Died, Kansas City, July 6, 1955. P.L.M. Sources: New York Times, July 7, 1955; New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 7, 1955.
NEITZEL, Robert S., museum curator. Born, Falls City, Neb., May 8, 1911; son of Robert Allen and Meeker Cain. Education: University of Nebraska, A. B., 1934; postgraduate work, University of Chicago, 1934-1936. Married Gwendolyn Singletary Thomas, September 6, 1941. Children: Sarah C. and Stuart A. Archeology superintendant, University of Tennessee-TVA, 1936-1938; Louisiana State University, 1938-1941; expediter C. E., Alexandria, La., 1941-1943; livestock farmer, Marksville, La., 1843-1950; museum curator, archeologist, Louisiana Parks Commission, Marksville, 1954-1957; archeologist American Museum of Natural History, N.Y.C., 1958; faculty archeologist, University of Georgia, 1958-1960; state archeologist, chief curator, Mississippi State Museum, Jackson, 1960-1967; survey archeologist, National Park Service, Mississippi and West Virginia, 1967; retired, 1967; anthropology, Millsaps College, 1965-1966. Member, Society of American Archeology, Southeastern Archeology Conference, Southeastern Museum Council (past council member). Contributor of articles to professional journals. Included in Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, 1969. Made an Honorary Fellow of the Lower Mississippi Survey, November 12, 1981, Peabody Museum, Harvard University; 1975-1980, member of the Southern Archaeological Research firm and consultant. Member, Louisiana Archaeological Survey and Antiquities Commission, 1975-1979. Charter member, Louisiana Archaeological Society. Died, August 20, 1980, Marksville, La., interred Cushman Cemetery. S.G. Sources: Who’s Who in the South and Southwest (1969); Mrs. Gwendolyn Neitzel.
NELSON, Ira S., horticulturist. Born, St. Joseph, Mo., February 12, 1911; son of Catherine Shriever and Thomas Norris Nelson. Education: public schools of St. Joseph; Iowa State University, B. S., 1935, M. S., 1940; did graduate work at Cornell University and the University of Missouri. Married Barbara Furnas. Children: Martha, Leah, Catherine, and James. Joined faculty of Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana), Lafayette, La., 1941; in charge of the All-American Selections’ trial testing grounds for roses at the University; the Louisiana Society for Horticultural Research provided funds for his three-month botanical expeditions to South America in 1954 and 1958; found varieties of amaryllis unknown in North America; brought back over 900 bulbs of various flowers, shrubs, and ornamental plants; received the National Council State Garden Club’s Silver Seal in 1958 for introduction of “amaryllis evansiae”; was cited in 1965 by the All-American Selections for his outstanding service in the judging of roses; his greenhouse at USL received worldwide attention in journals and the news media. Member, Louisiana Iris Society, First Presbyterian Church. Died, November 14, 1965; interred Lafayette Memorial Gardens Cemetery. A memorial, consisting of a planted area and a fountain in the Greenhouse Conservatory at the USL Horticultural Farm, was dedicated to him, March 12, 1968. J.B.C. Sources: Lafayette Daily Advertiser, obituary, November 15, 1965; March 13, 1968; February 6, 1959; June 1, 1958; March 25, 1956; Dixie Roto Magazine, November 2, 1952; December 5, 1954.
NELSON, John, planter. Born, North Carolina, May 31, 1793; son of Thomas Nelson. Removed with family to Tennessee, ca. 1800. A veteran of the War of 1812. Served as deputy sheriff of Rutherford County, Tenn., and deputy marshal of Tennessee. Married (1), 1824, Nanie Edwards, daughter of Owen Edwards of Rutherford County. Seven children. Farmed in Rutherford County until 1837, then removed to Davidson County, near Nashville. Removed to Mississippi, 1842, after death of wife. Removed to Thibodaux, La., 1845; entered planting partnership with son-in-law, Andrew J. Donelson; together, they purchased Villa Rose and Acadia plantations. Married (2), 1848, Maria Robinson (d. 1853). Two children. From Donelson’s death, 1858, to 1875, Nelson operated both plantations. The Civil War and its economic aftermath caused Nelson to sell both plantations in 1875. Served in the Louisiana legislature after the Civil War. Died, Thibodaux, La., August 3, 1877; interred St. John’s Episcopal Church Cemetery. D.D.P. Source: Author’s research.
NELSON, Louis, jazz trombonist. Born in New Orleans, September 17, 1902; son of well educated parents. His mother, a descendant of runaway slaves, was a mathematician and musician. A graduate of the Boston Conservatory, Nelson’s mother gave him his first musical instruction. His father was an itinerant physician. Grew to manhood in Napoleonville, La. At the persuasion of Lawrence Hall, a Donaldsonville, La., trombonist, Nelson switched from alto horn to trombone in the early 1920s. Studied with Claiborne Williams, a Thibodaux, La. band leader. First job was with Joe Gabriel’s Band in Thibodaux; he soon performed with Kid Harris’ Dixieland Band, The Original Tuxedo Orchestra, Kid Rena’s Band. Nelson also occasionally played with pick up groups for dances. He performed regularly at the New Orleans Country Club and Southern Yacht Club, whose clientele was white, while reserving Monday and Tuesday nights for the Pythian Temple, and Bull’s Aids and Pleasure Club. During the Depression he worked with the WPA, both playing music and doing manual labor in New Orleans City Park. In 1931 he was with Mike DeLisle’s Hollywood Orchestra; Nelson then spent several years with Sidney Desvigne’s Orchestra, occasionally performing on the riverboats Capitol and Madison. By now his own style of delivering the melodic line, using a number of stock phrases, had developed. He volunteered for military service, and played in the Navy Band during World War II. In 1944, Nelson joined Kid Thomas Valentine’s Band, supplementing his musical income with odd jobs. Played regular sessions from 1950s at Larry’s Art Store on St. Peters Street, which later became Preservation Hall. During the 1950s Nelson made three trips to Japan with George Lewis, recording there on the King and Victor labels. In September, 1961, he played with a combo for the opening of a New Orleans gas station. Nelson was a regular at Preservation Hall and is included in Noel Rockmore’s Preservation Hall Portraits (1968). He performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival from 1969, and toured with Percy Humphrey’s Joymakers in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1981 Nelson received an National Endowment for the Arts grant to play and lecture in public schools. On tour to Japan, Europe, South America, and Australia he especially inspired younger players. One of the five trombones Nelson owned was given him by a Japanese band. He was included in the “Legends of Jazz” touring group. In the late 1980s his own “All Star” band played at the Palm Court Jazz Cafe. Among his recordings are Jazz at Preservation Hall (Atlantic label), Kid Thomas at Moulin Rouge (1955), Louis Nelson Big Four (1963), and others on the Riverside label with Humphrey and Thomas (1966). Nelson is described as both a “gut-level” and a mellow tone player and “fiercely independent.” He excelled equally at playing melody, harmony, vamping and tailgating. Jazz historian Dick Allen considered Nelson “the last link to the original tailgate style.” His personal philosophy was to concentrate, read accurately, and play from the heart. Nelson was preparing for a ninth trip to Japan just before his death on April 4, 1990, resulting from injuries sustained in a New Orleans car accident. After a jazz funeral, he was interred in Providence Park Cemetery, New Orleans, La. A.K.S. Sources: Jazz Journal, Vol. 30 (1977); William Carter, Preservation Hall Music from the Heart (1991); Barry Kernfeld, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Vol. II (1988); New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 6, 13, 1990; New York Times, March 30, 1979; John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street (1972); Bill Russell, New Orleans Style (1994); Samuel B. Charters, Jazz New Orleans 1885-1963 (1963).
NERING BOGEL, Philip Hendrik, alias Baron de Bastrop, land developer. Born, Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, November 23, 1759; son of Conraed Laurens Nering Bögel and Maria Nering Bögel, née Krayvanfer. Married, April 28, 1783, Georgine Wolffeline Françoise Lijcklama à Nyeholt. Five children. Enlisted Dutch cavalry, served in Zutphen garrison, discharged sometime before 1782. Collector general of taxes, Dutch province of Friesland, 1782-1793; charged in 1793 with embezzlement; fled the country to avoid arrest; while a fugitive, changed his identity and assumed the title of Baron de Bastrop. Reached Louisiana in September 1795; claimed to be a refugee from the French Revolution; following example of Marquis de Maison Rouge, petitioned Governor Carondelet (q.v.) for permission to establish a colony of refugees along the Ouachita River; contract with government finalized June 21, 1796; Bastrop obliged to settle 500 families but attracted only 99 individuals. Funding suspended in 1797; government approval of project withdrawn in 1800. In 1799, Bastrop sold his interest in the 144 league concession to Col. Abraham Morhouse (q.v.) of Kentucky. Entered into several business ventures in Kentucky, 1799-1805. Migrated to Texas in September 1805. In December 1820, interceded with Spanish government on behalf of plan of Moses Austin (q.v.) to colonize Texas with Anglo-Americans. Served as intermediary between provincial government and Austin’s colony, 1820-1824. Member of legislature of Coahuila and Texas, 1824-1827. Died, Saltillo, Mexico, February 23, 1827. C.A.B. Sources: Charles A. Bacarisse, “Baron de Bastrop,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, LVIII (1955); R. Woods Moore, “The Role of the Baron de Bastrop in the Anglo-American Settlement of the Spanish Southwest,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXXI (1948); Jenny 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 Grants,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XX (1937).
NEUSER, William, artist, portrait, landscape, and banner painter and restorer. Born in Germany, January 1833. Educated in the medical profession. Immigrated to the United States, 1852; removed to New Orleans, 1853, licensed to practice his profession. By 1856, had opened a studio specializing in portrait, landscape, and banner painting. Continued working in New Orleans at least until 1866, after which he established a studio in Baton Rouge. In 1868, he exhibited a copy of Rosa Bonheur’s Horse Fair in the Department of Fine Arts at the Second Grand State Fair. By 1869, back in New Orleans painting portraits which he continued until death, by which time he was considered an acknowledged master of portrait painting in the South. In November 1885, he completed a painting of the residence of S. B. McConnico, director general of the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, to be hung in the latter’s Creole Department. Married Clara C. Legendre. One child, Clara Louisa Schucardt (b. 1871). Died, New Orleans, September 30, 1902. C.S.B. Source: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987).
NEVILLE, Julian, businessman, acting state auditor. Born in Pennsylvania in 1813. Removed to New Orleans in 1835 and by 1860 worked as an auctioneer; possessed personal property of $3,000, including two slaves, and was married and had two children. Before the war he was a Whig and opposed secession, and after the city’s 1862 occupation by the Federals, Gen. Benjamin F. Butler (q.v.), with whom he was on friendly terms, appointed him to head one of three especially created city bureaus, the Bureau of Streets and Landings. At that time he belonged to a faction of Conservative Unionists favoring retaining the state Constitution of 1852 with, at the worst, an amendment providing for compensated emancipation. In 1864, he ran for state auditor on their ticket, and although his faction lost the election, in June 1865, he was appointed acting state auditor by Gov. J. Madison Wells (q.v.) to replace A. P. Dostie (q.v.), whom Wells deposed. By the summer of 1866, along with Wells, both of whom were disillusioned with the political behavior of the returning Confederates, he favored recalling the constitutional convention of 1864 and the adoption of black suffrage to protect and strengthen the unionists politically. Nothing is known of him after this period. He probably was one of several wartime unionists who dropped from the political scene with the rising influence of the carpetbaggers. J.A.B. Sources: U. S. Congress, House, New Orleans Riots of July 30, 1866 (1867); Gerald M. Capers, Occupied City: New Orleans Under the Federals, 1862-1865 (1965); James Parton, General Butler in New Orleans (1863); Joe Rose Ficklen, History of Reconstruction in Louisiana (1910); Henry Clay Warmoth Papers (UNC); Manuscript Census Returns, New Orleans, 1860.
NEWCOMB, Josephine Louise LeMonnier, philanthropist. Born, Baltimore, Md., October 31, 1816; daughter of Alexander Louis LeMonnier and Mary Sophia Waters LeMonnier. Educated at home and abroad. After her mother’s death and her father’s business failure (1831), lived with older sister, Eleanore Ann Henderson, in New Orleans where she completed her education. Married, 1845, wealthy wholesale merchant Warren Newcomb (1814-1866). Lived alternately in Louisville, site of husband’s firm; New Orleans, and New York. Firstborn son died in infancy. Only surviving child, a daughter, Harriott Sophie (1855-1870). Inherited a fortune on her husband’s death in 1866 and devoted herself to her daughter. When Sophie died in 1870, she became a grief-stricken recluse. However, she recovered and devoted herself to philanthropy. Gave money to many worthy causes, particularly hospitals and education. In 1886 she decided to donate $100,000 to found a coordinate college for women to be associated with Tulane University in New Orleans, the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, in memory of her beloved daughter. During the next years she frequently visited New Orleans, eventually making the city her legal residence; took a strong interest in Newcomb during her visits and made a series of donations to the school for improvements and expansion, amounting to several hundred thousand dollars. Her will, contested unsuccessfully by relatives, made the university her residuary legatee, a bequest which amounted to some $2,700,000. Member, Christ Church (Episcopal). Died, New York City, April 7, 1901; interred Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. P.B. Sources: Dictionary of American Biography; Notable American Women; John P. Dyer, Tulane: The Biography of a University, 1834-1965 (1965); Brandt V. B. Dixon, A Brief History of H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, 1887-1919 (1928).
NEWELL, Edward D., pioneer, planter. Born, North Carolina, February 22, 1810. Educated, La Grange College, Alabama. With brother, Thomas M., entered business at Grand Gulf, Miss. Removed with brother to Tensas Parish, La., 1834. Married Celia Ann Dorsey (b. 1815). Children: John David Stokes (q.v.), Lou, Annette, Elizabeth, Tensora, and Edward H. With brother, Thomas, opened up and settled area known as Newell’s Ridge; reputed to have purchased 30,000 acres of public land. Active in Democrtic party; member and president, Tensas Parish Police Jury; served, 1857-1861, state senate; elected to secession convention, 1861, voted for secession. With brother Thomas invented the Newell Cotton Press. With other individuals, purchased printing press to establish Tensas Gazette, 1852. Died, June 10, 1888, Cypress Plantation, Tensas Parish. G.R.C. Sources: Goodspeed, comp., Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892); Frederick W. Williamson and Lillian Heron Williamson, Northeast Louisiana … (1939); Tensas Parish Library.
NEWELL, John David Stokes, attorney, planter. Born, Port Gibson, Miss., 1837, eldest child of Edward D. Newell (q.v.) of North Carolina, a Tensas Parish, La., pioneer, and Celia Ann Dorsey, a native of Tensas Parish. Education: University of Virginia, law degree, 1859, University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), civil law degree, 1860. Established law practice, St. Joseph, La. Married Nannie Newell, a first cousin, July 1864; four sons, J. D. S. Newell, Jr., Cecil E. Newell, Carroll Harper Newell, and Edward T. Newell. Civil War service: joined Tensas Cavalry, 1861; fought at Shiloh, Boonville, and Tenmark, Tenn., Corinth and Iuka, Miss.; rose to rank of captain, Company F, McNeill’s Regiment of Louisiana Cavalry; commanded in all engagements along Red River. After war returned to cotton planting at Cypress Plantation and resumed practice of law. Founder of town of Newellton, named in father’s honor. Interested in public education; named president of school board in 1866 and again in 1892, held position at time of death. Died, St. Joseph, La., March 5, 1899; interred Vicksburg, Miss. G.R.C. Sources: Goodspeed, comp., Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892); New Orleans Daily Picayune, March 6, 1899.
NEWMAN, Isidore I, businessman, philanthropist. Born Kaiserslautern, Rhenish Bavaria, February 28, 1837; son of Jacob Neumond and Clara Kohn. Immigrated to U. S., 1853, arriving penniless in New Orleans. Earned enough to pay for his brothers’ (Henry and Charles) passage to America. Together, established Newman Brothers, a cotton brokerage business, Harrisonburg, La. Business failed. Removed to New Orleans and became bookkeeper in investment firm of Henry Stern. After Civil War began to finance small enterprises; would shortly become an important figure in Southern financial circles. During financial panic of 1873 advanced cash to city of New Orleans so that it could meet its payroll. In 1877 helped organize the New Orleans Stock Exchange and was for many years its president. After constitutional convention of 1879, helped state government fund its debt, and between 1880 and 1885 did the same for New Orleans through his firm Isidore Newman and Son. Financed street railways in several Southern cities, department stores (e.g. Maison Blanche), and industrial developments. Although always involved in philanthropic activities his greatest concern was developing the Isidore Newman Manual Training School to turn out skilled laborers. In 1903 endowed the New Orleans Jewish Childrens’ Home for this purpose. Awarded the Daily Picayune Loving Cup, 1903, for his efforts. Also assisted in the expansion and beautification of Audubon Park, built the Home for Incurables and helped to develop Touro Infirmary. Married Rebecca Keiffer of Port Gibson, Miss., in 1868. Children: Jacob, Hartwig, Edgar, Julian, Clara, Meriam, Marie. Died, New Orleans, November 30, 1909. E.N. Source: The Story of Louisiana (1960); Alcée Fortier, History of Louisiana (1904); Leo Shpall, The Jews of Louisiana (1936); The Israelites of Louisiana ([1904]); Ruthie Frierson, Founder’s Day Address, Newman News (April, 1982); Eddy S. Kalin, Founder’s Day Address, February 28, 1976, MSS. in the Newman School Archives, courtesy Theodore Cotonio; Newman’s speech is in the New Orleans Times-Democrat, March 1, 1907.
NEWMAN, Isidore II, businessman, philanthropist, civic leader. Born, New Orleans, August 29, 1906; son of Edgar Newman and Elsa Schwartz; grandson of Isidore Newman I (q.v.). Education: Isidore Newman Manual Training School; Tulane University, B. A. Married (1), 1931, Anna Pfeifer (1908-1956) of New Orleans. One child: Edgar Leon. Married (2), 1970, Colette Morrow. Began career in stock brokerage firms, then went to Schwartz Bros. Wholesale Dry Goods of New Orleans. In 1932 joined the staff of Maison Blanche, a New Orleans department store founded by his grandfather, where his uncle Herbert J. Schwartz (q.v.) was president. Entered U. S. Army, 1942, rose to rank of lieutenant colonel and chief of procurement for Transportation Corps, an experience beneficial to his later career. After war, returned to New Orleans; from 1949-1963 served as president of Maison Blanche. In 1963, removed to New York to serve as president of City Stores Corporation, the parent company of Maison Blanche. Retired, March 1, 1975. President, New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, 1953; vice chairman, Louisiana Sesquicentennial Celebration, 1953; vice president, International Trade Mart; director, Hibernia Bank; director, New Orleans Public Service; director, New Orleans Tidewater Development; vice-chairman, board of directors, Isidore Newman School; member, board of administrators, Tulane University; member, board of directors, Greater New Orleans Educational TV Foundation; founding member, National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Was instrumental in the eventual construction of the Greater New Orleans Bridge and the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet; promoted and worked for a public TV station for New Orleans. Returned to New Orleans, 1975; went to Paris in 1979 to argue for a world exposition in New Orleans before International World Fairs Committee, result was the 1984 Louisiana World’s Fair. Died, New Orleans, January 23, 1981. E.N. Sources: New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, January 24, 1981; Newman News, (Summer, 1981), p. 1; Who’s Who in America; The Story of Louisiana (1960).
NEWMAN, James T., physician, academic. In 1871 he was appointed dean of faculty and professor of Surgery at Straight (Dillard) University. During Reconstruction, Newman was considered one of the most influential black educators in Louisiana. However, he failed in his attempt to establish a first-rate medical school in New Orleans. T.F.R. Sources: Joe M. Richardson, Christian Reconstruction (1986); John W. Blassingame, Black New Orleans: 1860-1880 (1973).
NEWSHAM, Joseph Parkinson, attorney, businessman, congressman. Born, Preston, Lancashire, England, May 24, 1837. Received an academic education. Immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled in Monroe County, Ill., in 1839. Employed in a mercantile establishment for two years; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1860 and commenced practice in Edwardsville, Ill. Served during the Civil War in the Union Army on the staffs of General Frémont and General Smith; adjutant of the Thirty-second Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Infantry; wounded at the Battles of Chickasaw Bayou and Vicksburg; resigned on account of disabilities incurred in action, July 4, 1864. Removed to Donaldsonville, La., in 1864; clerk of the Fourth Judicial District Court. Admitted to the Louisiana bar in 1865 and practiced law in Donaldsonville. Removed to St. Francisville, La., in 1867; member of the constitutional convention in 1867 and 1868; upon the readmission of the state of Louisiana to representation was elected as a Republican to the Fortieth Congress and served from July 18, 1868, to March 3, 1869. Established the Feliciana Republican in 1869; successfully contested the election of Michael Ryan to the Forty-first Congress and served from May 23, 1870, until March 3, 1871; was not a candidate for renomination in 1870. Planter and merchant in St. Francisville until 1913, when he retired from active business pursuits. Died, St. Francisville, October 22, 1919; interred Grace Church Cemetery. J.B.C. Source: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950).
NEWTON, Cherubusco, attorney, congressman. Born, Greensburg, La., May 15, 1848; son of Nancy Wright and Daniel Newton, who was a state representative in 1858 and a state senator, 1866-1868. Education: attended private schools in Bastrop; La.; State Seminary of Learning at Alexandria, La., graduated 1869. Taught school; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1870 and commenced practice in Bastrop, La. Married Amanda Cason in 1879. Children: F. C., Sterling, T. C., and Cherubusco, Jr. Member, Methodist Episcopal church. Served in the state senate, 1879-1883; member of the judiciary committee; opposed the state lottery measure. Declined a judgeship in 1885. Elected as a Democrat to the Fiftieth Congress (1887-1889); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1888. Resumed the practice of law in Bastrop for several years, and then removed to Monroe, La., where he continued the practice of law until his death on May 26, 1910; interred New Cemetery, Bastrop, La. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (1971); Goodspeed, Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana (1892; reprint ed., 1975); New Orleans Daily Picayune, obituary, May 27, 1910.
NICHOLAS, Robert Carter, planter, U. S. senator. Born, Hanover, Va., 1793; son of George Nicholas, first attorney general of Kentucky. Served in the War of 1812 as captain and major. Attended William and Mary College, 1816-1817. Removed to Louisiana and became a sugar planter in Terrebonne Parish, 1820. Married Susan A. Nicholas. Children: Caroline, Wilson, Mary Isabella, and Margaret. Elected as a Democrat to the U. S. Senate to fill vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator-elect Charles E. A. Gayarré and served from January 13, 1836, to March 3, 1841; secretary of state of Louisiana from March 24, 1843, to February 7, 1846, when he resigned. Superintendent of public instruction in Louisiana, 1851. Died in Terrebonne Parish, December 24, 1857; interred St. Louis Cemetery, New Orleans. J.B.C. Sources: Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949 (1950); Donald J. Hebert, South Louisiana Records, Lafourche-Terrebonne; Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography, (1900).
NICHOLLS, Edward Church, jurist. Born, Cornwall, England, ca. 1746; second son of Cecilia Church and John Nicholls. Education: Jesuit College of St. Omers in France; although destined for the priesthood, was called home when college closed in 1762; disinherited by his family because of his refusal to continue his theological studies; sailed to America and settled in Upper Marlboro, Prince George’s County, Md. Married Williamina Hamilton, daughter of Martha Craufurd and Robert Hamilton. Children: Robert, Thomas C. (q.v.), David, and Martha. Career: taught school, read law and was admitted to the bar. Removed to New Orleans early in 1804 where he was sure his knowledge of the French language would insure his success; appointed by Governor Claiborne (q.v.) as clerk of the governor’s court and as civil commandant and judge of the County of Attakapas on May 1, 1805; his family joined him there and they made their home in New Iberia, La., for several years. Removed to Donaldsonville, La., where he died at age 66, October 24, 1812. J.B.C. Sources: “The Nicholls Family in Louisiana,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, VI (1923); Glenn R. Conrad, comp., New Iberia: Essays on the Town and Its People, 2nd ed. (1986); New Orleans Louisiana Gazette, obituary, November 5, 1812.
NICHOLLS, Francis Tillou, attorney, soldier, governor, jurist. Born, Donaldsonville, La., August 20, 1834; son of Thomas Clark Nicholls (q.v.) and Louisa Hannah Drake. Grandson of Edward Church Nicholls (q.v.). Education: Jefferson Academy, New Orleans; U. S. Military Academy at West Point, graduated 1855. Served in the war against the Seminoles. Resigned his commission in the U. S. Army in 1856 and began the practice of law in Napoleonville, La. Civil War service: captain, lieutenant colonel, K.F.S., Eighth Louisiana Infantry In 1862 appointed colonel of the Fifteenth Louisiana Regiment; brigadier general, commanding the Second Louisiana Brigade, lost left arm at first Winchester battle, October 15, 1862; lost a leg at the second battle of Fredericksburg. After the war, resumed law practice in parish. Married, April 26, 1860, Caroline Zilpha Guion, daughter, of George Seth Guion and Caroline Lucretia Winder. Children: Francis Welman (b. 1863), Caroline Winder (b. 1865), Louisa Josephine (b. 1868), Harriet Guion (b. 1870), Virginia McDaniel (b. 1873), Margaret Guion Lawton (b. 1875), Elizabeth Guion (b. 1877). Elected governor in 1876 and again in 1888. During his first administration he worked to rid the state of carpetbag rule. During his second administration he was instrumental in defeating the Louisiana Lottery Company which was struggling to obtain an extension of its charter. Appointed by President Grover Cleveland to the Board of Visitors for West Point. In 1892 appointed chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Died, Ridgefield Plantation, January 4, 1912; interred St. John’s Episcopal Cemetery, Thibodaux, La. S.R. Sources: Miriam G. Reeves, The Governors of Louisiana (1962); Roy Clashan, American Governors and Gubernatorial Elections, 1775-1975 (1975); anonymous member of the Louisiana Historical Society, “The Nicholls Family in Louisiana,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, VI (1923); unpublished biography of Governor Nicholls by Evans Casso.
NICHOLLS, Thomas Clark, jurist. Probably born in Maryland, ca. 1790; son of Williamina Hamilton and Edward C. Nicholls (q.v.). Removed to Louisiana with family in 1805; read law in office of brother-in-law, Nathan Morse; received his license to practice in 1809 when he was 18 years of age. Married: Louisa Hannah Drake in June of 1814. Children: Robert W., Edward F., Lawrence D., Thomas C., Josephine Williamina, who married William W. Pugh (q.v.); and Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls (q.v.). Career: opened a law office in Opelousas, La., then moved to New Orleans; during invasion of Louisiana by British forces joined the Orleans Volunteers and took part in the battles of December 23, 1814, and January 8, 1815. Removed to Donaldsonville, La.; was appointed district judge in 1836; in 1840 wrote a memoir of his family’s journey from Maryland to the Attakapas country; served as presiding judge of the court of errors and appeals, 1843-1846; elected first president of the Louisiana State Temperance Association. Died 1847; interred St. John’s Episcopal Cemetery, Thibodaux, La. J.B.C. Sources: “The Nicholls Family in Louisiana,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, VI (1923); Lyle Saxon, Old Louisiana (New Orleans, 1950).
NICHOLSON, Eliza Jane Poitevent Holbrook, poet, newspaper proprietor. Born, near Pearlington, Miss., March 11, 1849; daughter of lumberman William James Poitevent and Mary Amelia Russ. Fifth of eight children, but lived with an uncle and aunt, the Leonard Kimballs, as a result of mother’s ill health. Grew up on their farm near the Pearl River where her love of nature was reflected in poetry writing by age fourteen. Education: at home; Amite Female Seminary. Using the name “Pearl Rivers,” sent work to John W. Overall, editor of The South. His encouragement led to the submission of poems to such publications as the Home Journal in New York and the Daily Picayune and the Times in New Orleans. Poems appeared in an anthology by 1869. In 1870 accepted the post of literary editor of the Daily Picayune. On May 18, 1872, married the owner of the Picayune, Alva Morris Holbrook (q.v.), forty-one years older than Eliza. After his death in January, 1876, took over the joint position of editor-publisher and brought the paper from bankruptcy to financial success within the next twenty years. Married the business manager of the paper, George Nicholson (q.v.), a native of England, thirty-one years her senior, on June 27, 1878. Children: Leonard Kimball (b. 1881) and Yorke Poitevent (b. 1883). As editor-publisher of the Daily Picayune, turned the paper into a family publication featuring the society page, a young people’s section, comics, household and medical columns, advice to the lovelorn, and a literary section. Also championed such civic causes as free night schools and humane treatment of animals. Served as president of the Women’s National Press Association in 1884. Publication: Lyrics, a selection of poems (1873). Died, February 15, 1896, from influenza, ten days after the death of second husband; interred Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, La. J.J.J. Sources: Thomas E. Dabney, One Hundred Great Years (1944); James H. Harrison, Pearl Rivers, Publisher of the Picayune (1932); Notable American Women, 1607-1950, 3 vols. (1971); and New Orleans Daily Picayune, February 16, 1896.
NICHOLSON, George, journalist. Born, Leeds, England, May 22, 1820; son of Thomas Nicholson and Diana Allison. Immigrated to U. S. and New Orleans, 1842. Career with the Picayune began shortly thereafter as carrier. Promotions followed; appointed business manager of the paper shortly before Civil War. During war, often argued with Gen. Nathaniel Banks (q.v.) about Federal censorship policies. Subsequent to the death of Col. A. M. Holbrook (q.v.), owner of the Picayune, became a partner in the business, June 28, 1878. Married (1), in England, wife’s name unknown; children, 2 daughters and son, George, Jr. Married (2) Eliza Jane Poitevent Holbrook (q.v.), widow of A. M. Holbrook (q.v.) and owner of the Picayune; two sons: Leonard and Yorke. A member of most city exchanges and commercial bodies. Early member of Krewes of Rex and Proteus; supporter of Louisiana State Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; member, Pickwick Club. Died, New Orleans, February 4, 1896; interred Metairie Cemetery. G.R.C. Source: New Orleans Daily Picayune, February 5, 1896.
NICHOLSON, James William, mathematician, academic. Born, Tuskegee, Ala., June 16, 1844; son of Washington Biddle Nicholson and Martha Wafer. Removed with parents to Claiborne Parish, La. Education: Homer (La.) College, A. M., 1870; Polytechnic Institute of Alabama, LL. D., 1893; Tulane University, LL. D., 1904. Civil War service: Claiborne Rangers, Company B., Twelfth Louisiana Regiment; rose to rank of sergeant. After war, became teacher at Homer College. Also established and taught at Arizona Academy on Claiborne Parish. Married, July 30, 1876, Sallie Baker. Children: Gordon, Malcolm, Wilbur, Thera, and Lilburne. In 1877, became chairman of Mathematics, Louisiana State University. Wrote numerous textbooks on math, gained national acclaim for theorems such as his trigonometric circle. Served ten years as president of LSU. Served on board of stewards and as Sunday School teacher in Methodist church. One of the founders, 1883, president, 1892, and for many years chairman of the executive committee, Louisiana Education Association; president, Southern Education Association, 1903. Honorary doctorates conferred by Tulane and Auburn. Mathematics building at LSU named in his honor. American Legion Post and Nicholson Drive in Baton Rouge named for him. Died, Baton Rouge, 1917. P.C.C. Sources: Lilburne N. Daspit, ed., Stories in Dixie (1966); Who Was Who in America, vol., 1897-1942.
NICKERSON, Camille, academic, concert pianist, singer. Born, New Orleans, March 30, 1887; daughter of William Joseph and Aurelie (duConge) Nickerson. Education: Oberlin (B. A., M. A.); Juilliard; Columbia Teachers College. Teaching career included Nickerson School of Music (father’s school), New Orleans, 1916-1926; Howard University, 1926-1962; professor emeritus, School of Music, Howard University, 1962-1982. Concert appearances as pianist and organist in the South, 1916-1920; lecturer, recitals in Creole folksongs of Louisiana, 1941-1960; recitals in Europe; published arrangements of Creole songs. Founded B-Sharp Music Club, New Orleans, 1917; established Junior Department of Music, Howard University; organized Musicians Guild of Washington, D. C., with branch in Baltimore; chairman, Department of Music, Howard University, 1926-1962; president, National Association of Negro Musicians, 1935-1937; participant, Nickerson’s Ladies’ Orchestra, New Orleans, first female orchestra in Crescent City; collector, Louisiana Creole folksongs. Member, Pi Kappa Lamda; National Association of Negro Musicians; AAUP; advisory board, Fides Settlement Neighborhood House; Howard University Faculty Women’s Club, president, 1953-1959. Died, Washington, D. C., April 27, 1982. C.T. Sources: Who’s Who of American Women, 2nd ed. (1961); The Black Perspective in Music (1982), p. 230.
NICKERSON, William Joseph, music teacher, orchestra conductor, and violinist, was born in New Orleans, November 10, 1865. After studying with Professor L’Enfant of the New Orleans French Opera Orchestra, he opened a private voice and instrumental studio. Employed daughter Camille, his protégé, who later became professor of piano at Howard University and toured as “The Louisiana Lady.” His first wife, Camille’s mother, was Aurelie Duconge. Their sons Henry and Philip were also musicians. Another son, Dalton, was possibly the child of his second wife, Julia Lewis (1879-1908), a string player whom he married c. 1900-1903 and who helped Nickerson organize the Young Ladies’ Orchestra, the first of its kind in New Orleans. Professor Nickerson taught at Southern and Straight universities, while directing the Nickerson Orchestra and Concert Company, formed in the late 1890s. The orchestra performed regularly in New Orleans and other cities. One of its earliest large productions was an opera “The Chimes of Norway.” This twenty-five piece group played to a crowd of 5,000 at a Young People’s Congress in Atlanta in August 1903. Included in Nickerson’s 200 compositions was a martial song “The Colored Soldier Boys of Uncle Sam,” popular in World War I and sung frequently to boost moral of African American soldiers going overseas. Nickerson invented a piano-muffler and patented a mandolin attachment for the piano. He briefly taught both Emma Barrett (q.v.) and Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton (q.v.), providing them with a link between the more refined nineteenth century traditional styles and early jazz. He occasionally accompanied such popular recitalists as violinist Edmond Dédé (.q.v.). Nickerson died in New Orleans, February 7, 1928; interred in St. Louis Cemetery on Claiborne Street. A.K.S. Sources: John Blasingame, Black New Orleans, 1860-1880 (1973); Lester Sullivan, “Composers of Color of Nineteenth Century New Orleans,” Black Music Research Journal, 8 (1988); Doris McGinty, “Conversation with Camille Nickerson,” The Black Perspective in Music (1979); Anne K. Simpson, “Camille Nickerson, The Louisiana Lady,” Louisiana History, 37 (1995); New Orleans Times Picayune, August 14, 1903.
NINAS, Paul, artist, instructor. Born, Leeton, Mo., May 7, 1903. Education: local schools; attended Robert College, Istanbul, Turkey; Akademie de Bildenden Kunste, Vienna, Austria; Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, France, 1921-1925. Travelled and painted in Europe, northern Africa and West Indies where he owned a coconut farm. Expert draftsman, sculptor; worked in oils, ceramics, metals and enamels. First one-man show arranged in Paris by dancer, Isadora Duncan, 1926. Married, 1942, Grace Chavanne. One child: Paula (b. 1945). World War II service: U. S. Air Force, aerial photographer, 1942-1944. Art instructor: director Arts and Crafts School, New Orleans, 1932-1942. Instructor: painting, design, Sul Ross State Teacher’s College, Alpine, Tex., 1933; drawing, Tulane School of Architecture, 1946-1947; guest professor, University of Texas-Austin, 1949-1951. Board of directors, New Orleans Art Association. Mural commissions: carnival scenes, Delta Line ships: Del Norte, Del Sud, Del Mar; Louisiana cypress swamp scenes, Roosevelt (Fairmont) Hotel, New Orleans; U. S. Post Office, Henderson, Texas. Exhibited national art shows: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Municipal Art Show, New York; won honorable mention, Art Institute of Chicago; New Yorker magazine praised work shown at Contemporary Art Exhibition, 1939 New York World’s Fair. Paintings in permanent collections Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York; New Orleans Museum of Art. Died, New Orleans, January 14, 1964; cremated. B.R.O. Sources: New Orleans States-Item, obituary, January 14, 1964; New Orleans Times-Picayune, September 18, 1938; March 17, 1940; October 20, 1947; obituary, January 15, 1964; New Orleans Tribune, February 13, 1939.
NIXON, James Oscar, journalist. Born, Fairton, N. J., 1822. Removed to New Orleans ca. 1840. Married Martha Inskip. Children: two daughters and one son, J. Oscar, Jr. Entered the clothing business with an uncle. Bought the New Orleans Crescent in 1854 and edited it. Allied with the Know-Nothing party. Chairman of the New Orleans board of aldermen, 1860-1861, and again in 1865. Member of the Southern Yacht Club, 1859. Appointed lieutenant colonel, First Louisiana Cavalry Regiment, September 11, 1861; captured at Big Hill, Ky., July 31, 1863; released from prison, 1865. Edited the Crescent until it folded in 1869. A founder of the Pickwick Club. Removed to Mississippi in 1870 but returned to Louisiana in 1880. Died, New Orleans, February 7, 1891. A.W.B. Sources: Fayette Copeland, “The New Orleans Press and Reconstruction,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXX (1947); New Orleans Times-Democrat, February 8, 1891; Howell Carter, A Cavalryman’s Reminiscences (1900).
NIXON, John Travis, printer, journalist, publisher. Born Colchester, Ill., July 6, 1867; son of Joseph Nixon of Newcastle on Tyne, England, and Susannah Mellor. Education: public school, Osage, Kan.; worked on farm; printer’s assistant, three years, Wellington, Kan. Removed to the South, 1885; worked on newspapers in Mobile, Ala., New Orleans, Alexandria, Patterson, and Washington, La. Started Monroe (La.) Evening News with partner, Julius Cheney, 1893. Editor, Rice Journal and Southern Farmer, Crowley, La., 1898. Secretary, Rice Belt Printing Co. which printed weekly Rice Belt News and Crowley Daily News, later consolidated with Crowley Daily Signal. Part owner and manager, Signal Printing Co., 1906-1909. Opened library in Crowley home as public reading room, 1899. Married, July 25, 1895, Leola White of Opelousas, La., daughter of the Reverend Henry O. White, Methodist minister, and Eliza Robinett. Children: Laurence (b. 1896), Dorothy (b. 1903), and Mildred (b. 1905). Member: Methodist church; National Amateur Press Association, 1894-1909, national editor, 1893, president, 1902; Pelican A. P. A., 1891; Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 10, Crowley Encampment No. 17, Rebecca Lodge No. 35, trustee IOOF Home, Crowley. Published History of the National Amateur Press Association, 1876-1900; published Odd Fellowship in Louisiana, 1853-1909. Served on Acadia Parish Board of School Directors, Joint School Committee. Public schools closed for funeral; no paper published. IOOF Lodge No. 135, Carson, La., named for subject. Died, Mobile, Ala., February 8, 1909; interred with IOOF ritual, Crowley Cemetery. M.N.N. Sources: Grace Moffett, Our Family Album; The National Amateur, XLI (1919); memorial issue, The Covenant, A Journal of Odd Fellowship, February 10, 1909.
NIXON, Leola Belle White, educator. Born, Holly Hill Plantation, near Big Cane, St. Landry Parish, La., December 12, 1869; first of eleven children of Henry Octavus White and Eliza Martha Robinett. Education: Lizzie Beauchamp School, Bastrop. La.; Lake Providence, La., private school; Webb School, Baton Rouge; Opelousas (La.) Female Institute; Peabody College, Nashville, Tenn.; Louisiana State University; Columbia University, New York. Married, July 23, 1895, John Travis Nixon (q.v.), journalist, son of Joseph Nixon and Susannah Mellor of Grand Bay, Ala. Children: Laurence Allan (b. 1896), Dorothy Leola (b. 1903), Mildred Eliza (b. 1905). Lived in several Louisiana towns: Patterson, 1895, New Orleans, 1896, Washington, 1898, Crowley, 1899-1922, Ruston, 1922-1945, Monroe, 1945-1958. Taught at Beeson School, Arcadia, 1890, governess, Haughton, 1891; Opelousas Female Institute, 1892-1894; Oak Ridge Public School, principal, 1909-1911; Crowley High School, 1911-1920; Lisbon High School, 1922-1923; Ruston High School, 1923, 1925-1940. Charter member, Louisiana State Public School Association, December 23, 1892. Superintendent, Odd Fellows Home, Crowley, 1920-1922. Charter member, League of Women Voters, Crowley, 1921. Member: National Amateur Press Association, 1891-1958; Fossils, Inc., 1951; Louisiana State Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Rebecca Lodge #35, Eastern Star, Crowley Woman’s Club, 1900-1922, Pierian Club, Ruston; organized Pierian Club, Oak Ridge, 1935; Welcome Book Club, Monroe; American Association of University Women; Epsilon State Delta Kappa Gamma, 1937; Methodist church, organist, teacher, life member United Methodist Women, 1951. President, Fifth District Louisiana Federation of Women’s Clubs. Louisiana Golden Rule Foundation Mother, 1948. Died, Monroe, La., June 21, 1958; interred Greenwood Cemetery, Ruston, La. M.N.N. Sources: Alumni Directory, Peabody College, 1909; Commission, Gov. R. G. Pleasant, October 10, 1917; Crowley Signal, December 8, 1921; Bastrop Clarion, May, 1948; Monroe Morning World, December 12, 1954, obituary, June 22, 1958, Louisiana Schools, September, 1958; family records, diaries, scrapbooks.
NOBLE, Jordan B., soldier. Born in Georgia in 1800, a free Negro. Removed to New Orleans in 1812. Joined the Seventh U. S. Infantry Regiment in 1813 as a drummer. Participated in the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. Leader of the free Negro community in New Orleans. Served as drummer with Louisiana volunteers in the Seminole War, 1836, and Mexican War, 1846. Received from Gen. Winfield Scott in 1860 a special medal for his service. A.W.B. Source: Roland C. McConnell, Negro Troops of Antebellum Louisiana (1968).
NOE, James Albert, businessman, politician, governor. Born, near Evans Landing, Harrison County, Ind., December 21, 1890; son of John M. and Belle McRae Noe. Education: county schools. World War I service: first lieutenant, 369th Infantry, in France. After war, returned to Louisiana. Married, May 7, 1922, Anna Gray Sweeney. Children: Gay (b. 1923); James Albert, Jr. (b. 1928); Linda McRae (b. 1936). Active in Democratic party; elected to state senate, 29th Senatorial District, Ouachita and Jackson parishes; 1932, floor leader for Huey Long administration; appointed lieutenant governor, 1934, replacing John B. Fournet (q.v.). Governor of Louisiana, January-May, 1936, following the death of Gov. O. K. Allen (q.v.). Returned to senate, served until 1940. Unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate, 1940 and 1959. Active in oil and gas industry, with operations in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, both as producer and overriding royalty owner. Owned and operated farms in Indiana and Ouachita and Tensas parishes, La., most notably, the Whitehall Plantation in Monroe. Founded WNOE-AM and FM radio stations in New Orleans, 1936; established KNOE-AM and FM radio stations, 1944, and KNOE-TV, 1953, in Monroe. Honorary LL. D. degree, Northeast Louisiana University, 1971. Died, Houston, Tex., October 18, 1976; interred Monroe, La. R.F.H. Sources: Who’s Who in America, 39th ed. (1976-1977); Miriam G. Reeves, The Governors of Louisiana (1972); New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, October 19, 1976; other biographical material in possession of James A. Noe, Jr.
NOLAN, Paul Thomas, college professor, playwright. Born in Rochester, N.Y., April 4, 1919; son of John J. and Anna Sweeney Nolan. Married Peggy Hime, June 1, 1947; three children. Education: Aquinas Institute (Rochester), 1933-37; B. A., Central Arkansas University, 1947; M. A., Tulane University, 1949; and Ph. D. in American and English Drama, Tulane University, 1953. Served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. Journalist in Arkansas, New Mexico, and Louisiana; worked as a reporter for the New Orleans Item. Taught at Central Arkansas University, 1947; Centenary College (Louisiana), 1948-54; Arkansas State University 1954-55; Southwestern Louisiana Institute, 1955-1960; and University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1960-88. Prolific author of plays, essays on drama, and biographies of playwrights. Awards: National Players Workshop, 1964; Deep South Writers’ Conference, 1965; playwrite award from Plays: the Drama Magazine for Young People, 1974. Named “Western Writer of the Year” in 1975. Became the first Edith Garland Dupré Honor Professor in Humanities at U.S.L., 1967. A founding board member and college co-ordinator of the Deep South Writers Conference. Died March 13, 1995; interred at Fountain Memorial Gardens, Lafayette, La. I.B.T. Sources: Vertical File, Louisiana Room, Dupré Library, University of Southwestern Louisiana; Lafayette Daily Advertiser, March 14, 1995.
NOLAN, Philip, adventurer, horse trader, and filibuster. Lent his name and not a little of his character to Edward Hale’s story, “The Man Without a Country.” Born, Belfast, Ireland, 1771. Arrived in Kentucky in 1788. Removed, 1790, to the Texas-Louisiana frontier. Protégé of Gen. James Wilkinson (q.v.). Nolan led four incursions into Spanish territory. Spanish authorities feared that he was the advance agent for an Anglo-American plot to seize provincias internas of New Spain; there can be little doubt that Nolan engaged in smuggling and was the first American to map Texas. Nolan was interviewed by Thomas Jefferson in 1799; the same year he married Frances Lintot in Natchez. Nolan’s ill-fated fourth expedition into Texas departed Natchez late in 1800 and arrived on the upper Brazos River a few months later; on March 22, 1801, the expedition came to an inglorious end when a force of Spanish regulars, militiamen, and Indians attacked Nolan’s camp, killing him and capturing all of his party. R.C.V. Sources: Edward Everett Hale, “The Man Without a Country,” and “The Real Philip Nolan” in Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, IV (1901); Grace King, “The Real Philip Nolan,” in Publications of the Louisiana Historical Society, Proceedings and Reports, 1917 (1918); Maurine T. Wilson, “Philip Nolan and His Activities in Texas” (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1932); Nacogdoches Archives, Bexar Archives; James Wilkinson, Wilkinson, Soldier and Pioneer (1935).
NOLAN, William McKinley, farmer, athlete. Born, Oak Ridge, La., October 22, 1899; son of Jesse Jones Nolan and Mary Frances Stokes. Education: Oak Ridge School; Mississippi College, Clinton, Miss. Married, March 10, 1928, Mildred Nixon of Ruston, La., daughter of John Travis Nixon (q.v.) and Leola White Nixon (q.v.). Children: John (b. 1929), William (b. 1931), Charles (b. 1938). Baseball player with independent Louisiana clubs of Bastrop, Mer Rouge, Monroe, Newellton, and Tallulah. Played in Delta League, Western League, and for South Atlantic League. Owner-manager, Oak Ridge Service Station, five years; farmer, forty-six years. Served as alderman, village of Oak Ridge, 1941-1959. Active in community projects. Softball coach. Member, Baptist church (deacon); Community Council; United Givers Committee; Lions Club; Ouachita Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America; Farm Bureau; Morehouse (Parish) Agriculture Committee; Mt. Gerzim Masonic Lodge No. 54; Brookville Lodge No. 161, F. & A.M. (50 year testimonial dinner); Future Farmers of America; Bastrop Daily Enterprise Good Neighbor Award, 1972. Died, May 6, 1978; interred Oak Ridge Baptist Cemetery. M.N.N. Sources: Glen Lee Greene, “History of the Baptists of Oak Ridge, La.,” Bastrop Daily Enterprise, December 29, 1972; May 8, 1978; Nolan family papers and pictures.
NOLAND, Iveson Batchelor, eighth Episcopal bishop of Louisiana. Born, Baton Rouge, La., September 10, 1916; son of Iveson B. Noland, Sr., and Camille Reynaud. Education: public schools, Baton Rouge; Louisiana State University, B. A., 1937; University of the South, B. D., 1940. Ordained deacon, St. James’s Church, Baton Rouge, November 30, 1939; priest, 1940. Served as curate, St. James’s Church, Baton Rouge, 1940-1941; rector, Trinity Church, Natchitoches (and temporarily priest-in-charge, St. Paul’s, Winnfield), 1941-1946; army chaplain, 1942-1945; served South Pacific theatre; rector, Church of the Holy Comforter, Charlotte, N. C., 1946-1949; rector, Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Charles, 1949-1952. Elected first suffragan bishop of Louisiana, St. James’s Church, Alexandria, May 14, 1952; consecrated October 1, 1952; declined election as bishop coadjutor of Montana, December 1955; elected bishop coadjutor of Louisiana, May 10, 1961, installed September 8, 1961; installed as eighth bishop of Louisiana, Christ Church Cathedral, New Orleans, November 17, 1969; first native of Louisiana elected to the episcopate. Episcopal ministry distinguished by strong ecumenism; improvement of race relations within the Episcopal church; active extension of youth work, and careful pastoral oversight of the diocesan clergy. Married Nell Burden of Baton Rouge, February 3, 1936. Children: Iveson (b. 1938), John (b. 1946), and Daniel (b. 1951). Killed in airline crash, New York, June 24, 1975. P.C.L. Sources: Churchwork, November 1955; Journal of the … Diocese of Louisiana, 1952, 1961; John Noland to Patrick C. Lipscomb, III, Baton Rouge, March 13, 1985; Shreveport Times, June 26, 1975; Baton Rouge State-Times, November 29, 1939; May 15, 1952; November 18, 1969; New Orleans Times-Picayune, October 2, 1952; telephone conversations of Patrick C. Lipscomb, III, with Mr. and Mrs. Iveson B. Noland, III, May 1985; and vertical newspaper file, Louisiana Room, Hill Memorial Library, LSU, Baton Rouge.
NOLTE, Vincent Otto, businessman. Born in Leghorn, Italy, ca. 1779, grew up in Hamburg, Germany. Came to New Orleans in 1805, and again in 1825 in company with Lafayette, acquainted with pirates and world notables, fought in the Battle of New Orleans. In a German dictionary of “famous German pioneers of progress, freedom and peace in North America,” he is listed as “banquier von New Orleans.” His memoirs, published in English translation shortly before his death, are an important resource for the history of politics, business and society in nineteenth-century Louisiana. They are generally recognized as the inspiration and model for Hervy Allen’s immensely popular 1933 novel, Anthony Adverse. Died, 1856. B.L. Sources: Funfzig Jahre in beiden Hemisphären, 2 vols. (Hamburg, 1854); Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres, or Reminiscences of a Merchant’s Life, by Vincent Nolte, late of New Orleans (1854); Herman Julius Ruetenik, Berühmte deutsche Vorkämpfer für fortschritt freiheit und freide in Nord-Amerika (1888); Memoires of Vincent Nolte. Reminiscences in the Period of Anthony Adverse, intro. by Burton Rascoe (1934).
NORIERI, August (Noriea), artist, portraitist, model maker, musician. Born in January or February, 1860. Studied under Andrés Molinary in 1880 and 1881 and had established his practice by 1884 which continued until his death. Remembered today mainly for his marine scenes, Norieri received little recognition during his lifetime and had difficulty selling his work. Exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1885; the Creole Exhibit Art Gallery in the North, Central, and South American Exposition in 1885-1886. Exhibited between 1886 and 1892 at the annual exhibitions held by the Artists’ Association of New Orleans, of which he was also a member. Died, New Orleans, July 11, 1898. C.S.B. Source: The Historic New Orleans Collection, Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists, 1718-1918 (1987).
NORMAN, Benjamin Moore, writer, publisher, bookseller. Born, Hudson, N. Y., December 22, 1809; son of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Norman. Inherited his father’s bookstore in Hudson and briefly operated a bookstore in Philadelphia before moving in 1837 to New Orleans, where he reentered the book selling business, briefly in partnership of “Norman and Steel,” then as operator of “Norman’s Book and Printing Office” in the 1840s and 1850s. Responsible for several significant publication between 1843 and 1851, including: “Rambles in the Swamps of Louisiana” Arthur’s Magazine (January, 1844); New Orleans Business Directory (1845-1846); “Two American Riddles” in Robert Gibbes Barnwell, ed., The New Orleans Book (1951). Also published two agricultural journals: Norman’s Monthly Supplement (1846-1847) and Norman’s Agricultural Almanac (1846-1848). Most notable, however, for publication of Norman’s New Orleans and Environs (1845), the first contemporary guide book to the city, which included an exquisite map by civil engineer Henry Mollhausen, tilted “Norman’s Plan of New Orleans and Environs.” Died near Summit, Miss., February. 1, 1860. J.D.W. Sources: Matthew J. Schott, ed., Norman’s New Orleans and Environs (reprint edition, 1976); The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, (1920), vol. 18.
NORMAN, Maurice E., politician, businessman, philanthropist. Son of Pieter Norman, who emigrated from Sweden before the Civil War, and Jeanette Hausman, of Patterson, La. Education: local schools; Louisiana State University. In 1900 was assistant cashier of the Bank of Patterson. In 1903 a founder of the First National Bank of Morgan City, La. Chairman of the board in 1924 when bank merged with the Bank of Morgan City to become the new Morgan City Bank and Trust Co. which he headed as president until his death. General manager, Wadell-Williams Lumber Co., incorporated in 1911, and president until his death of Norman-Breaux Lumber Co., which in 1922 was successor to Wadell-Williams. Norman-Breaux was at one time the largest producer of tupelo gum in the nation. Served as councilman of Morgan City, 1911-1920. In 1923, elected mayor, serving continuously until his death in 1931. He was at one time chairman of the Republican State Central Committee and president of the National Republican Club of Louisiana, running unsuccessfully for Congress from the Third Congressional District on the Republican ticket. Member, Morgan City Doric Lodge #205, F. & A.M. and a noble of Jerusalem Temple of the Mystic Shrine in New Orleans; member, Morgan City Lodge #1121, B.P.O.E., Evangeline Lodge #23, Knights of Pythias, and of the Lumbermen’s Club of New Orleans. Donated sites in Morgan City for Temple Shaare Zedek. Married Hilda Loeb, daughter of Morgan City pioneers Leopold Leob and Amalia Neuberger of Bavaria, Germany. Four children: Leah Norman Schreier (b. 1900), Peter Roussel (q.v.), Mildred Forgotston (b. 1905), and Dr. Will Dave (b. 1909). Died, July 28, 1931; interred Morgan City Cemetery. L.K.L. Sources: Norman Family Papers, Morgan City Archives; Morgan City Review, obituary, August 1, 1931.
NORMAN, Peter Roussel, business and civic leader, patron of the arts. Born, Morgan City, La., August 6, 1903; son of Maurice E. Norman (q.v.) and Hilda Loeb. Education: Morgan City High School; Louisiana State University; Cornell University. President, Norman-Breaux Lumber Co., 1932-1950s. President of Atchafalaya Ship Channel Association; advisory member, Morgan City Public Library; active in Rotary, Scouting, Chamber of Commerce and Temple Shaare Zedek. An organizer of Morgan City Golf Club and the St. Mary Country Club; reigned as king of Morgan City Mardi Gras; director and senior vice president, First National Bank in St. Mary Parish. Married Mildred “Sunny” Gould (b. 1912) of Houston, Tex., November 17, 1937. Children: Frank (b. 1940), and Linda Friedman (b. 1945). Removed to New Orleans, 1960, trustee of New Orleans Museum of Art and patron of New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, New Orleans Repertory Theatre and Public Television WYES. With family large donor of land and gifts for schools, hospital, municipal auditorium, library, and parks in Morgan City. Died, New Orleans, September 29, 1975; interred Hebrew Rest Mausoleum. L.K.L. Source: Norman Family Papers, Morgan City Archives.
NORTHUP, Solomon, slave. Born, Minerva, Essex Co., New York, July 1808. Worked on family farm near Fort Edward. Married Anne Hampton, December 25, 1829. Laborer; farmer near Kingsbury and later Saratoga Springs. Kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. Worked on plantations in Rapides and Avoyelles parishes, La., under the name of Platt. Released January 4, 1853, after proving that he was a free black. Published his memoirs later that year. Returned to New York and worked as a carpenter at Glens Falls. Died, Glens Falls, prior to 1863. A.W.B. Source: Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, ed. by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon (1968).
NORTON, Mrs. J. W. (née Jessie Kirk), business school owner. President of Norton Business College. Helped organize the annual baby contest, 1908. President of Mothers’ Union. For four years she served as president of the Fourth District, Louisiana State Federation of Women’s Clubs. President of the Shreveport Business and Professional Women’s Club, which she aided in founding in 1919. Also served as president of the state organization. Director of the Y.W.C.A. Active in the Altrusa Club and the Era Club. Children, Will K. and L. Wesley. P.L.M. Source: Lilla McLure and J. Ed Howe, History of Shreveport and Shreveport Builders (1937).
NOYAN, Jean-Baptiste Payen de, planter, conspirator in the revolt of 1768. Born in Louisiana, ca. 1745; son of Gilles-Augustin Payen de Noyan, nephew of Bienville (q.v.), and Jeanne Faucon Dumanoir. Upon death of father, 1763, inherited with brother, an ensign in the French navy, and sister, Marie, the largest indigo plantation in Louisiana located at Chapitoulas. Their plantation, appraised at 204,930 livres in 1763, was one of the most splendid in the colony. Married Catherine de La Frénière, daughter of Nicolas Chauvin de La Frénière, fils (q.v.), December 2, 1767. Noyan was involved in numerous unsuccessful commercial ventures with his brother and Denis Foucault (q.v.), the French commissaire-ordonnateur. Accused of inducing Acadian settlers to march to New Orleans in October 1768 and of plotting the overthrow of Spanish Governor Ulloa (q.v.). Convicted and executed by firing squad October 25, 1769. B.C. Sources: “Records of the Superior Council,” Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XXVI (1943); Acts of Joseph Fernández, Book I, pp. 53, 75, Acts of Andrés Almonester y Roxas, Book 2, p. 89, Orleans Parish Notarial Archives; David Ker Texada, Alejandro O’Reilly and the New Orleans Rebels (1970); Kuntz Collection, Special Collections, Tulane University.
NUBLING, Maximillian, diarist, merchant. Born, Ulm, Saxe-Coburg. Nephew of Edward Dietrich Holl, who brought him to St. Francisville, La., in 1822 as store-clerk. Diary records local events from October 25, 1822, to August 18, 1826. Married Virginia Chisholm, Holl’s widow, February 3, 1829; amateur naturalist and intimate of J. J. Audubon (q.v.). Expanded business; ruined by Panic of 1837. Died, 1846. E.K.D. Sources: West Feliciana Parish Court Records; S. James Hintze, translator of Nübling Diary.
NUNEZ, Joseph, Jr., planter, rancher, politician. Born, Vermilion Parish, La., September 9, 1803; son of Joseph Nunez, Sr. (q.v.), and Marie Rose Richard. Educated locally. Married, ca. 1823, Marie Therzile Toups of Vermilion Parish, daughter of Ambroise Toups and Marguerite Baudouin. Children: Marie Eulalie (b. 1825), Marie Mélanie (b. 1826), Joseph Adrien (q.v.), Aurelien (b. 1831), Marie (b. ca. 1838). Elected to Lafayette Parish Police Jury (before creation of Vermilion Parish), March 7, 1836. Appointed by the jury as commissioner to handle cattle in Eighth District and on June 7, 1841, of unbranded cattle for the Fifth District. Served as president of the Vermilion Parish Police Jury in the mid-1840s. Died, Vermilion Parish, December 21, 1884; interred St. Mary Magdalene Old Catholic Cemetery, Abbeville. P.M.S. Sources: Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records, 33 vols. (1974-1984); Lafayette Parish Police Jury Minutes; Abbeville Meridional, December 27, 1884, June 2, 1944; William Henry Perrin, Southwest Louisiana, Biographical and Historical.
NUNEZ, Joseph, Sr., planter, rancher. Born in Galicia, Spain, ca. 1761; son of Sebastián Núñez and Mariá Godoy, natives of Spain. Educated in Spain. First noted in New Orleans, La., May 8, 1779, as soldier in Fourth Company, Fixed Spanish Infantry Regiment of Louisiana under command of Francisco Cruzat. Took part in Battle of Manchac and Baton Rouge in early September 1779 as member of First Company, Second Battalion of same regiment under Pedro José Favrot (q.v.) in successful action led by Gov. Bernardo de Gálvez (q.v.). Presumed to have lived in New Orleans until about 1800. Removed to part of St. Martin Parish now known as Vermilion Parish. Married, ca. 1802 Marie Rose Richard of same parish, native of St. Malo, France, daughter of Charles Richard and Cecilia Boudreaux, Acadian exiles in France. Children: Joseph, Jr. (b. 1803), Celestin (b. 1806), Claire Scholastique (b. 1810), Jean Sebastien (b. 1811). Registered his cattle brand in St. Martin Parish, August 10, 1804. Member Catholic church. Died, Vermilion Parish between 1840 and 1850; interred Perry, La. P.M.S. Sources: Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records; Robert Churchill, comp., S.A.R. Spanish Records; St. Martin Parish Conveyance Records; Brand Book for the Opelousas and Attakapas Districts, 1739-1888.
NUNEZ, Joseph Adrien, planter, rancher, politician. Born, Vermilion Parish, La., October 22, 1828; son of Joseph Nunez, Jr. (q.v.), and Marie Therzile Toups. Educated local schools. Married (1), June 12, 1848, Oliva Guidry of St. Martin Parish, daughter of Olivier Guidry, Jr., and Elizabeth Belzire of Thibodaux, La. Children: Elodie (b. ca. 1849), Elizabeth Belzire (b. 1851), Palmyre (b. 1853), Marie Clarisa (b. 1854), Adrien Hebrard (b. 1859), Eliza Marie (b. 1861), Marie Leocadie (b. 1863), Marie Paolita (b. 1867), Aurelien Winston (b. 1869). Married (2), December 11, 1876. Mary Lillie Breaux of Vermilion Parish, daughter (François Clet) Vilmond Breaux and Mary Ellen Caldwell. Children: Mary Ellen (Nellie) (b. 1880), Benjamin Caldwell (b. 1881), Mary Maude (Adrienne) (b. 1884), Mary Olga (b. 1888), Mary Orme Marguerite (b. 1893). Served intermittently for twelve years from early 1850s in Louisiana house of representatives and in the Louisiana senate, 1880-1884. Served under six governors. Owned Live Oak Plantation. Served as captain of Pont Perry Vigilance Committee, 1859. Donated $25,000 to help keep Louisiana Conservative legislature in session in 1877. Removed to Abbeville in late life. Member, St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church. Died, Abbeville, La., April 21, 1905; interred Old Catholic Cemetery. P.M.S. Sources: Donald J. Hebert, Southwest Louisiana Records; Wakeman W. Edwards, Historical Sketches of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana (1936); Proceedings, Louisiana Legislature; Alexandre Barde, Histoire des comités de vigilance aux Attakapas (1861); William Henry Perrin, Southwest Louisiana, Biographical and Historical (1891; reprint ed., 1971); Stuart Omer Landry, The Battle of Liberty Place (1955); Abbeville Meridional, August 26, 1905; January 3, 1880; “Vermilion Parish Long Ago,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, January 3, 1877; January 17, 1877; March 6, 1877; March 24, 1877; March 29, 1877; April 4, 1877.