Old Louisiana Plantation Homes and Family Trees

987 Pages·1941·94.956 MB·English

by  Herman de Bachellé Seebold

Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville, Founder of the City of New Orleans.
First Planter in Louisiana.
OLD LOUISIANA
PLANTATION HOMES
AND
FAMILY TREES
Herman de Bachelle Seebold, M. D.
In Two Volumes—Vol. I
PUBLISHED PRIVATELY
Copyright 1941
By Herman de Bachelld Seebold
Printed in United States of America
Pelican Press, Inc. - New Orleans
Affectionately Dedicated
To
MY WIFE
who has greatly aided me in the collecting of
the material for this work.
ACKOWLEDGMENT
rpHE author takes this opportunity of thanking the many families
he has come in contact with for the numerous courtesies
shown him while collecting material for this work. Their gener¬
osity in opening their homes with the same gracious hospitality
associated with old plantation days has been greatly appreciated.
These ante-bellum homes have intrigued me time and time
again when visiting them. Their before-the-war quaintness
spurred me to write of them and their owners. And I am glad
that I have undertaken the task of recording their past greatness,
as so many interesting old places have disappeared since this work
was started five years ago.
The author would like to offer a special word of thanks to
those who so generously gave of their time, and put at disposal
their treasured family books, family records frail with age, their
family miniatures, ancestral portraits and old letters and docu¬
ments. Others offered able assistance so that this work may be
authentic and of service to future students interested in the lore
of an age that is gone forever, even the memories of which are
rapidly vanishing.
Many of these plantation families have been lifetime friends
of our family, and it has made the task easier than it would have
been had I been a stranger in their midst; still I have considered
it a great privilege to be permitted to choose such material as was
found best suited for my purpose.
I wish to thank The Louisiana Historical Society for per¬
mission to reproduce portraits of members of distinguished old
Louisiana Families in their portrait Collection and for the priv¬
ilege of reproducing extracts from the “Historical Quarterly.” I
have also consulted freely “New Orleans As It Was” by Henry C.
Castellanos; ‘“New Orleans the Place and the People” by Grace
King; Gayarre’s “History of Louisiana”; Fortier’s “History of
Louisiana”; and the New Orleans Times-Picayune; the New Or¬
leans Daily States; and the New Orleans Item-Tribune.
I am indebted to Mrs. Thomas Sloo for permission to use her
Family Book to obtain data on the Bringier, Kenner, Brent, Minor,
Du Bourg, de Luzon, Trist and other branches of her family, for
use of Miniatures, daguerreotypes, photographs, ancestral por¬
traits, memoirs and other private papers of historical interest, for
my record of the Bringier Dynasty in Louisiana; to Mr. Trist
Wood for his great assistance in correcting data and arranging
branches of these families and of the many families to whom he
is related; also for the use of many of the reproductions of minia¬
tures, ancestral portraits, and other paintings in his extensive
collection of family data, family crests and eoats-of-arms, etc.;
also for data on the Trist, Taylor, Stauffer, Wood, and other
branches of his family; to Miss Tristy Bringier of Tezcuco Plan¬
tation for data on Bringier, Trudeau, Tureaud, and other branches
of the family and history of her old plantation home at Burnside,
La.; to Mrs. Sylvester P. Walmsley, Sr., and Sylvester P. Walm-
sley, Jr., for data on the Semmes, Knox, and Walmsley families
and photos, ancestral portraits, pictures of Knox Hall and Knox
Crest and coat-of-arms; to Mrs. Fernan Claiborne for permission
to reproduce the de Villere crest and coat-of-arms; to Mrs. A.
Sidney Ranlett, Sr., for data on the Ranlett family and family
photographs; to Miss Ethel Hutson, Secretary to the President of
the Delgado Art Museum of Art, for permission to use her article
on Ante-Bellum Artists, (Warrington Messenger, Sept. 1938);
also for data on the Artist Association of New Orleans, La.; to
Mrs. David Pipes, Sr., for data on the Pipes Plantation, the Pipes
family, the Fort, Stewart, and Randolph families, for photographs,
miniatures, daguerreotypes, etc., to be used in my article on the
above families; to Dr. Rudolph Matas for use of his article on the
late Dr. John Smyth; to Miss Nellie Farwell for data on the Milli-
ken and Farwell families, and pictures of her ancestral portrait
collection, miniatures, and daguerreotypes, and Farwell coat-of-
arms; to Messrs. Charles A. and F. Evans Farwell for data and
pictures of their families and homes; to Mrs. Henry Landry de
Freneuse for data on the de Freneuse, de la Vergne, de St. Paul,
Seghers, Schmidt, and Hinks families, also for the use of minia¬
tures, ancestral portraits, photographs, and the various crests and
coats-of-arms of the various branches of the family and homes; to
Professor Walter Prichard of the Louisiana State University, Ba¬
ton Rouge for use of extracts from his article on J. W. Dorr, in
the “Louisiana Quarterly”; to Miss Marguerite Renshaw of the
Howard Library, New Orleans, for assistance in research work;
to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dugue (de Livaudais) and Mrs. J. N.
Roussel for data on the Dugue de Livaudais, the Forstall, De
Dreux families, data on Home Place (Forstall) plantation, also
for permission to reproduce letters written by Louis Philippe King
of France to members of the de Marigny, and de Livaudais fam¬
ilies; to the late Mr. Leak of St. Francisville, La., for data on the
Union Officer buried in the Cemetery of St. Francisville, La.; to
Miss Eva Scott of the Shades Plantation for data on the Scott
family and plantation; to Mrs. Gardner Voorhees (Ninette Chre¬
tien) for data and photographs of the Chretien family; for data
on the Chretien plantation home at Chretien Point; to members
of the Chretien family formally at that place; to Mrs. Joseph Louis
Le Bourgeois for data on the Le Bourgeois and Lassasier families,
and histories with pictures of Belmont and Mount Airy Planta¬
tions; to Weeks Hall for data on “The Shadows” New Iberia; to
Dr. A. B. Fossier, Miss Clelie Labatut, Mrs. John Tobin and other
members of the family for data on the Labatut Plantation and
family pictures; to the D’Estrehan family for family data and
pictures; to the late Robert S. Landry for data on the Mizaine
plantation; to Mrs. Augustus H. Denis for data and crest and coat-
of-arms of the de Marigny family; to Mrs. Robert Ruffin Barrow,
Jr., for data and pictures of the Barrow, Perez, and other branches
of the family; to Mrs. Mary Barrow Collins for permission to
reproduce the portraits of her grandparents painted by Thomas
Sully; to the Sparks, Daspit, and Barrow families of Baton Rouge
and the Felicianas, also to Mrs. Livina Barrow Mays (Mrs. J. R.
Mays) of Rosedale, La., for data that aided me with the various
histories of the different Barrow mansions and plantations and
article on the BARROW DYNASTY in Louisiana; to Mr. Emile
Ducros, Louisiana Historian, for Authentic Notes on the de la
Ronde, Plantation mansion. Avenue of Oak trees, the de la Ronde,
Almonaster, de Pontalba, family and plantations in the St. Ber¬
nard Area, also the de la Ronde Crest and coat-of-arms; to Miss
Louise Butler (Louisiana Historian), the family of Judge Thomas
Butler, near St. Francisville, Mrs. Edward Butler, Sr., Misses
Sarah and Mamie Butler of the Cedars plantation, for their united
assistance in furnishing data for the various homes and families
and permission to use and reproduce family portraits, memoires.
miniatures, etc., and aiding in compiling THE BUTLER DY¬
NASTY in Louisiana; to Mr. and Mrs. Walter Charles Parlange
of Parlange Plantation Home, Point Coupee for data on their
old plantation home, the use of old family documents, records, of
the Parlange, de Lassus, de Luziere, Reynaud de Cuzot, de Vezin,
Van Vrandenburg, de Grand Pre, D’Herbigny (Derbigny) fam¬
ilies and a record of “River Lake” plantation, ancestral planta¬
tion home of Mr. Parlange’s grandparents the Denis family; to
Thomas Hewes family for data on the Pleasant View planta¬
tion and Hewes and Grymes families; to Mrs. Breaux for data on
Austerlitz Plantation; to Col. Henry Rougon for data on plantation
and pictures of home and garden; to Dr. and Mrs. L. R. de Buys
and other members of the family for data on the de Macarty,
Forstall families and plantations, the de Buys, Rathbone, Duggan
and Hicky families, pictures of many of the portraits painted by
the late Miss Edith Duggan, also for crests and coats-of-anns
of the de Buys, Rathbone, Forstall, Lopez families, and to repro¬
duce part of the portrait collection of the late Mrs. Rathbone de
Buys; drawing of the old plantation home of Col. Hicky (Hope
Estate); to Mrs. P. L. Howell, Curator of the Louisiana Histor¬
ical Assn., Confederate Memorial Hall, New Orleans; to Dr. E. D.
Fenner for data on the old Payne Plantation home, and Payne
Fenner home and families; to Senator Edward J. Gay for data
on the St. Louis Plantation and the Gay family and family pic¬
tures; to Dr. W. J. Owen for data on Nottaway Plantation; to the
Misses Smith for data on Asphodel Plantation and permission to
photo home; to the Le Jeune family for data on the old planta¬
tion home of the family in New Roads, La.; to Mr. J. Hereford
Percy and the family for data on Beechwood Plantation, the
Percy Family and kodaks of graves in Beechwood Cemetery; to
Mrs. John Smyth for data on the Sully and Smythe families, data
on Wavertree manor and plantation, Rosedown plantation with
histories of these places and pictures also for family portraits
and crests and coats-of-arms; to Miss Julia Sully of Richmond,
Va., for history of the Pocahontas picture, etc.; to Mrs. Mabel
Richardson for data and pictures of her grandparents plantation
and home, “Hickory Hill,” and family civil war record; to Miss
Lucy Matthews of “Oakley Plantation” for data on Oakley, history
of the fine collection of ancestral portraits by noted artists, data
on the Pirrie, Alston, Bowman and Matthew families, etc.; to
Mrs. Edwin Xavia de Verges for her great assistance in com¬
piling the record of the de Verges family and its branches, data
on the family plantations, family miniatures, daguerreotypes and
other portraits, pictures of Chateau Senlis and of the other ones
of the Almonaster and de Pontalba families, coats-of-arms of the
de Macarty, de Lino de Chalmette, de Cruzat, de Poupart, and
others of her family. The description of the de Verges Crest and
coat-of-arms; to Miss Marguerite Fortier of the Louisiana State
Museum for photographs of the Edmond Fortier plantation “Con¬
cession” known as the Keller Place, also for data on the Fortier
family; to Miss Laure Beauregard Larendon for data on the Beau¬
regard Reggio, and de Villere families and family photographs;
to the Stauffer family for data on their old plantation Home in
Metairie Lane; to Mrs. Helen Pitkin Schertz for data on her old
plantation home (Old Spanish Customhouse) record of the Pitkin
family in America, for photos of her home, garden and portrait
by Allen St. John; to Mrs. John F. Coleman for data on the Rouyer
de Villere, Lanaux, Rareshide, Baker, Poujaud de Jouvisy families
and crests and coats-of-arms of these families, and family photo¬
graphs, also for copy of painting of Conseil plantation owned by
Mrs. W. 0. Humphries; to the Walter Parker family for data on
their old plantation home and family with photographs, crest,
etc.; to Mr. and Mrs. Gustaf Westfeldt, Jr., for data on their old
plantation home (The Old Dugue de Livaudais Plantation), the
Westfeldt, Dugan and Monroe families and family and house
pictures; to Miss Edith Kernaghan for data on the D’Arensbourg
family and permission to use an ancestral portrait of the D’Arens¬
bourg family; to Mrs. Wilson Williams and Miss Doris Walker
for data on Kenilworth Plantation and Wilson family with photo¬
graphs, etc.; to Miss Louise Crawford for data on Kenilworth
Manor and the Bienvenu, and Crawford families; to the von Phul,
Cade, Soniat, du Fossat and Allain families pictures, records,
etc., of family and home; to Deleon “Belles, Beaux and Brains of
the Sixties”; the Frotscher and Koch families for data on the
Frotscher Plantation, the Koch home, and both families and pho¬
tographs; to Mrs. Grady Price (Miss Edith Dart) for data on the
Plauche family; to Mrs. William MacCormac Younge for poem on
“Molinary’s Grave”; to Mrs. Logan Perkins (Miss Elizabeth
Kell) for data on her family’s old plantation home “Point Clear,”
Madison Parish, La., and data on the family, also portrait; to Mrs.
Eugene Ellis for data on the Ellis family and Magnolia Planta¬
tion; to Mrs. T. L. Raymond for memoirs of her grandfather's
plantation and home “Evergreen,” Rapides Parish, La.; to her
sister Mrs. P. L. Girault, now of Chicago, Ill., for data on the
family and family pictures; to Mrs. Felix Larue for data on
General J. B. Levert; to Mrs. Andrew Stewart for data on the
family also of Oak Alley (Beau Sejour) plantation and home; to
the various branches of the Prudhomme family for data on the
family, the old plantation and home, family pictures and minia¬
tures, etc.; to Mrs. Cammie Henry for permission to visit her old
plantation garden and lower floor, the studios, and for picture of
home “Melrose Manor”; to Baron Albert deBeaulieu de Marcon-
nay of Manitou Springs, Colorado, for data on the various branches
of his family and pictures of the family and chateau; to Charles
Konzelman for data and pictures of his family; to Miss Vera Morel
for permission to use her drawing of Kenilworth Plantation
Manor; to Rev. Father Eck for history of St. Catherine’s Chapel,
False River; to Mr. Allan Wurtele for pictures of Ramsey Plan¬
tation home; to B. R. Foster of the Louisiana State Museum for
use of portraits for illustrations; to Mrs. O. LeBlanc and Mrs. H.
Lorio for aid in obtaining data; to Mrs. Flo Field for article on
Molinary; to Mrs. Adel Lebourgeois Chapin for extracts on “Their
Fruitless Ways” (Henry Holt & Co., N. Y.); and to many others
—some of whom are mentioned in this work—for information and
assistance in compiling this data.
Naturally in a work of this kind, in spite of great care and
thorough checking a few errors will creep in. Because of the
thousands of details, names, dates, etc., it is impossible to avoid a
few mistakes, also the spelling of names varies—even when spelt
by different members of the same family.
I therefore ask the reader's indulgence for such errors or
failings as this work contains. I will endeavor to correct such
mistakes in future editions.
Herman de Bachelle Seebold, M.D.