Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I, Part 29

Author: Fortier, Alcee, 1856-1914, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Association
Number of Pages: 1294


USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 29


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philosophy, ancient and modern history, logic, and rhetoric. The original act of establishment provided for a board of trustees for the college, to consist of the following public officers: The gover- nor (Henry Johnson), and the members of the supreme court (George Mathews, François Xavier Martin, and Alexander Foster), together with 28 private citizens. The history of the institution covers a period of 18 years, during which it had an annual average attendance of between SO and 100 students. The institution was organized and began its work in Dec., 1826, with a faculty of 3 members, between 30 and 40 preparatory students, and numerous students coming forward to take up the work of its academic de- partment. The first president was Mr. Gird, a graduate of West Point. As in the case of all early state colleges provision was made for the gratuitous instruction of such indigent pupils as might care to attend the college. The attendance had grown to between 50 and 60 by 1830, and the institution was reported to be in a pro- gressive and flourishing condition. In 1831 the report shows over 80 students and 4 college buildings. That the institution was well provided for at this time is shown by the fact that its gross income from state aid, sale of books and stationery, tuition fees, and private donations, was in excess of $15.000. It then had a faculty of 5 mem- bers and a chaplain. The last report for the college in 1844 item- ized its resources as follows: Commodious buildings. $70,000: library, 1,600 volumes, $4,000; cabinets and collections, $1,500; 140 acres of land, $2,500: apparatus. $2,010; founder's donations, in money, $20,000, in land and town lots, $10,000. In 1843 the college had only 46 students, and like the other state colleges, Jefferson and Franklin, was fast going down hill. In 1845 the state decided to cease its support of all three institutions, let rivalries die out, and gain a fresh start. Indeed, the year 1845 marks the end of the so-called beneficiary period in state education, extending from 1803 to 1845, and the rise of the public school system proper. The state appropriated to the College of Louisiana an estimated total of $260,- 000 during its existence. In 1845 an act was passed to sell the college, and it passed into the hands of the Methodist denomination, to be known henceforth as the Centenary college of Louisiana.


College of Orleans, which was the first institution of learning to be organized in the Territory of Orleans, was the outgrowth of an early attempt by the legislative council of the territory to institute a university, which was to be the head of a complete educational system, including preparatory schools or academies, public libraries, one in each county of the territory, and all under the supervision and control of a single board of regents. The scheme was in many respects an ideal one, save that the board of regents was given too much of a political complexion, and the funds for the support of the various schools were to be provided from the profits of two lottery franchises. The early legislative aets pertaining to the col- lege referred to it as the "university." though the university idea was never realized. The original act was modified from time to time by the legislature, and it was finally wise enough to make a direct


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appropriation from the state treasury for the support of the college in New Orleans. This, together with private aid, and the dona- tion of the needed grounds and buildings by the corporation of New Orleans, gave the institution a promising start. As early as 1806, in his message to the legislature, Gov. Claiborne strongly advocated the modern system of a general tax for the support of the schools of the territory, and the legislature of the next year revoked the lottery appropriation, though resort was again made to lottery ap- propriations at a later period. Says Fay, in his History of Educa- tion in Louisiana, referring to some of the effects of Claiborne's recommendation : "P'assing over some previous tinkering with the university act, we find in an act of April 9, 1811, some new provi- sions of importance. The state made an appropriation out of her treasury of $39,000, for a college and schools in the territory-$15,- 000 for the college in New Orleans, and a sum not to exceed $2,000 each for schools in the remaining counties. It was provided that 50 indigent children should be taught gratis in the college, for which an annual sum of $3.000 was set apart, while the county academies were to receive $500 each. These new provisions contain a sounder financial policy than the old haphazard resort to lottery support, and beneficiary education is for the first time formally introduced. We may not conclude, however, that lottery appropriations were abandoned, for by the act of Feb. 13. 1813, the University of New Orleans was again authorized to raise $50,000 by a lottery. But state appropriations to this cause were also continued, and on March 6, 1819, the stated appropriation from the treasury was raised to $4,000 annually. In 1821 the annual appropriation was further in- creased to $5,000. and the administrators (the act abolished the re- gents and appointed a board of 9 administrators in their place) were , empowered to raise a sum of $50.000 which the regents had some- how failed to raise. How. or for what purpose, the act does not specify ; it was doubtless the lottery appropriation mentioned above. In 1823 a further source of revenue was provided for the College of New Orleans by the license of six gambling houses at $5,000 each, one-fourth, $7.500, to be the share of the college. This sum was in the following year reduced to $7,000 by a new scale of apportion- ment of this fund. In 1825 the annual appropriation of $5,000 was withdrawn in favor of the College of Louisiana (q. v.), but $3,000 more was allowed from the gambling license fund." This left the institution with an annual income of $10,000, but showed all too clearly the hostility of the legislature. as all specific appropriations from the state treasury were now cut off. The end came on March 31, 1826, when the college was formally given up, and was replaced by a central and 2 primary schools.


Though the college never attained to the university rank, and was, in this respect, a disappointment to its friends, and though there was considerable friction in adjusting the curriculum to suit the opposing tastes of the Engish and French speaking populations, it nevertheless educated many useful citizens, many of its graduates becoming prominent lawyers, judges, legislators and business men.


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Its most distinguished graduate was Charles Gayarre, the brilliant historian of Louisiana. In his reminiscences he has written enter- tainingly of the old school. He tells us that instruction was given in the College of Orleans in Latin, French, Spanish, English, litera- ture and mathematics, and the courses in these branches were effi- cient ; Greek was not taught. Musie, dancing and fencing were also taught, but these were extras. The discipline enforced at the college he describes as very severe, and attributes his subsequent ill health to the rigorous life led there. Speaking of the indigent pupils in attendance, he laments the fact that they were under a social dis- qualification. He says: "There were generally in the College of Orleans only a few day scholars. They were youths who, generally on account of the poverty of their parents, could not afford to be full boarders. Most were admitted on half pay ; others did not pay at all, being sent by the board of regents, every member of which had the privilege to select a poor boy who, on the recommendation of his patron and on the assurance of his family being in destitute cir- cumstances, was entitled to be educated gratis. Those who were thus selected by the regents were designated as 'charity students' by those who had been more favored by fortune. This was un- generous and mean, but, alas, even children are not free from the blemish of upstart insolence." Mr. Gayarre has also, in his inimi- table style, given us portraits of some of the eccentric but polished and learned men among the teachers, such as Jules Davezac, a native of St. Domingo, and the first head of the school ; Rochefort, head of the collegiate department in Gayarre's day, expounder of the Latin classies and the histories of Rome, Greece and France- a poet, scholar and gentleman, and beloved of all the pupils; Tein- turier, the professor of mathematics, who combined his love for mathematics with that of natural history, and displayed his thrift by adding to his comfortable salary as professor of mathematics, the profits derived from his fine garden, and from his alien calling as a tuner of pianos; and finally Joseph Lakanal, the last president of the college, a former priest and professor of belles-lettres before the revolution of 1789 in France, who broke his priestly vows in 1791, was one of the regicides of the national convention of 1792, and later took a prominent and active part in the stirring years of the first republic and during the Napoleonic régime. Practically all traces of the old college have now disappeared, and its buildings have been demolished or devoted to other uses.


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Collinsburg, an old post-hamlet of Bossier parish, is a short dis- tance east of the Red river, about 20 miles north of Shreveport. It is one of the few old towns, not situated on a railroad, that has not .


become extinet since the war. Antrim is the most convenient rail- road station.


Collinston, a village of Morehouse parish, is situated in the south- ern part of the parish at the junction of the New Orleans & North- western and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railroads, about 7 miles southeast of Bastrop, the parish seat, and nearest banking town. This town is located in a rich agricultural district


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and is the supply and shipping point for a large cotton district. It · has a money order postoffice, express office, telephone and telegraph facilities, and in 1900 had a population of 150.


Collot, Jean Victor, a French general and explorer, was born at Chalons-sur-Marne about 1751. During the Revolutionary war he served on the staff of Marshal Rochambeau, afterward in the French army and as governor of the island of Guadeloupe. In 1796, at the suggestion of M. Adet, the French minister plenipotentiary to the United States. Gen. Collot made an extended trip through the Ohio and Mississippi valleys to procure information for the French gov- ernment. He arrived at New Orleans in November of that year, and Gov. Carondelet, believing him to be on some private mission inimical to Spain, had him arrested. sent him to the Balize, where he remained a prisoner for about two months, when he was per- mitted to embark for Philadelphia. The results of his investigations were published at Paris in 1826 in two large quarto volumes under the title of "Voyage dans le Nord d' Amerique en 1796." His ob- servations were chiefly of a military, political and geographical nature, and the work was illustrated with numerous maps, plans, etc. Gen. Collot passed down the Mississippi just before the evacuation of the posts in the. Natchez district by the Spaniards, and his com- ments regarding the people of that section are of interest. He says : "In this population may be distinguished three classes of emigrants ; the first is composed of those who first established themselves when this colony belonged to Great Britain : the second, of those com- monly called Tories or Loyalists, who, at the period of the Ameri- can revolution, took arms for the king of England, and who fled hither at the peace of 1783; the third class is composed of those who, since the peace, discontented with the Federal government, are come hither to form settlements, having purchased lands at a very small price. These three classes are absolutely divided in political opinions. The first is purely English ; the second is Aglo-American royalist ; the third is republican, but the weakest in number. They are, however, in general, agreed on all questions respecting the Fed- eral government, which they equally detest, and against which their hatred is carried to such a point, that if ever it should be their lot to form part of the United States when the limits are fixed, con- formable to the treaty between this government and Spain, they would transport themselves under the dominion of the latter, what- ever repugnance they might feel to live under a government which, in their opinion, gives no national character."


Colomb, a post-hamlet and station in the west-central part of St. James parish. is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi river and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., about 4 miles north of Convent, the parish seat.


Colquitt, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Claiborne parish, is situated near Corney bayou, about 10 miles east of Haynesville. the nearest railroad station and 14 miles northeast of Homer, the parish seat.


Colsons, a post-hamlet in the southeastern part of Union parish,


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on the Ouachita boundary, is situated on Bayou L'Outre, about 3 miles west of Sterlington, the nearest railroad station.


Columbia, the capital of Caldwell parish, is located on the west bank of the Ouachita river near the center of the parish. It is an old settlement and was made the seat of justice when the parish was organized in 1838. The first merchant was a Mr. Stokes, who opened a general store there some years prior to that time. The town was incorporated in 1867. In addition to the transportation facilities afforded by the Ouachita river. Columbia is on the line of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern R. R .. which makes it a convenient shipping point, and it has a volume of business as large as many towns three or four times its size. It has one bank, several general stores, drug and hardware stores, a newspaper, good schools and churches, and in 1908 the population was estimated at 500.


Columbus, a village in the southwestern part of Sabine parish. is near the Sabine river and about 8 miles northwest of Egypt, the nearest railroad station. It has a money order postoffice, and is a trading center for the neighborhood.


Colyell, a post-hamlet in the central part of Livingston parish, is about 4 miles southwest of Springville, the parish seat.


Comite, a post-hamlet in the eastern part of East Baton Rouge parish, is situated near Comite creek about 8 miles northeast of Baton Rouge, the parish seat and nearest railroad town.


Commercial Associations .- Within recent years the business men of almost every town and city in the state have formed themselves into an association having for its aims the advancement of local interests. These associations, which generally have taken the name of "Progressive Unions," are somewhat broader in their scope than the old boards of trade, chambers of commerce, and the various "exchanges," which reflected their benefits only upon their own members, whereas the progressive union aims to promote the gen- eral welfare of the community by securing the location of new manufacturing concerns, improving the educational and transporta- tion facilities, etc. Each of these associations or unions has pre- pared and distributed more or less "literature" calling attention to the merits and advantages of the particular town or city in which it is located, and in this way the resources of the state have been widely advertised.


On March 3. 1908, representatives of the commercial organiza- tions of Alexandria, Athens, Baton Rouge. Crowley. De Quincy. Eunice, Lafayette, Lockport, Minden, Monroe, New Iberia. New Or- leans, Ponchatoula. Shreveport. Slidell. Thibodaux and Winnfield met in New Orleans and formed a state association under the name of the "Louisiana Commercial Secretaries' Association," and adopted the motto of "Louisiana for Louisiana." Active membership in this association is confined to the secretaries of the various commercial organizations, though the presidents of such organizations are ad- mitted as honorary members. The objects of the association as set forth in the plan of organization are: 1-To encourage the industrial and commercial development of the whole state by cooperation in


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all matters affecting the interests of the state at large: 2-To exploit the advantages of the state; 3-To assist each other by interchange of ideas; by holding a state convention annually ; by encouraging the establishment of integral organizations throughout the state and securing their cooperation and membership in the association : 4-To give advice and information to one another, and to bring the individual secretaries of the commercial organiza- tions of the state into closer personal intercourse. After the adoption of this declaration of principles, the following officers were elected : M. B. Trezevant of New Orleans, president; E. W. Anderson of Monroe, first vice-president ; L. N. Brueggerhoff of Shreveport, second vice-president : J. W. Eckert of New Iberia, third vice-presi- dent ; H. A. Davis of Minden, secretary-treasurer. Since the organi- zation was formed other local progressive leagues or unions have joined the movement, which promises to become a potent factor in the development of the resources of Louisiana.


Committee of Defense .- At the meeting held at Trémoulet's coffee house on Sept. 15, 1814, when a British invasion of Louisiana was momentarily expected, a resolution was adopted to appoint a com- mittee of nine persons "to cooperate with the constituted civil and military authorities in suggesting means of defense, and calling forth the energies of the country to repel invasion and preserve domestic tranquillity." The committee appointed pursuant to this resolution consisted of Edward Livingston, Pierre Foucher, Du Suau de la Croix, Benjamin Morgan, George M. Ogden, Jean N. Destrehan, John Blanque, Dominique Bouligny and Augus- tin Macarty. Soon after their appointment the members of the committee got together and issued an address to the people of the state, the closing portion of which was as follows: "Beloved countrymen, listen to the men honored by your confidence, and who will endeavor to merit it : listen to the voice of honor, duty, and of nature! Unite! Form but one body, one soul, and defend to the last extremity your sovereignty, your property-defend your own lives and the dearer existence of your wives and children."


This address was signed by all the committee except Ogden and Blanque. It is not definitely known why it failed to bear their signatures, but it is a fact worthy of note that, when the enemy actually appeared. every one of the nine did his whole duty in re- pelling the invaders, and several of them received honorable men- tion in the report of the commanding officer. Gen, Andrew Jackson.


Common Schools .- (See School System, Public.)


Como, a post-village of Franklin parish, is situated in the eastern part, about 2 miles east of Cordill, the nearest railroad station, and 8 miles southeast of Winnsboro, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice and some retail trade. The population in 1900 was 45.


Concession, a post-village in the northern part of Plaquemines parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river and the New Orleans. Fort Jackson & Grand Isle R. R., about 11 miles south of New Orleans.


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Concessions First .- (See Land Grants.)


Concord, a post-hamlet in the southeastern part of Caldwell parish, is a station on the Ouachita & Northwestern R. R., about 8 miles southeast of Columbia, the parish seat.


Concordia Parish, one of the oldest in Louisiana, was one of the original 12 counties created by the territorial council Dec. 4, 1804. James Wilkinson was appointed judge of Concordia county and held the office from 1806 to 1808: James Houston was made sheriff, and held office for the same time. Vidalia became the seat of justice. In 1807 the legislature abolished the counties created in 1804 and erected 19 parishes, Concordia being the 13th created. Tensas and a part of Carroll parish were carved from the northern part of the parish as it was originally laid out. Concordia is situated in the eastern part of the state on the Mississippi river, and as now con- stituted is bounded on the north by Catahoula and Tensas parishes ; the Mississippi river forms its entire eastern boundary ; on the south it is bounded by Pointe Coupée and Avoyelles parishes, and on the west by Catahoula and Avoyelles, from which it is separated by the Black and Red rivers. One of the first magistrates in the territory, of whom any record has been preserved, was Don Joseph Vidal, civil commandant of Concordia, holding under his Catholic Majesty, the King of Spain. Don Nicholas Vidal and other commandants ruled here from the first occupancy of the country by Spain, until the formal transfer of Louisiana territory to the United States in 1803. At that time Fort Concord (now Vidalia) was the only settlement between Pointe Coupee and the mouth of the Arkansas river, on the west bank of the Mississippi. The settlement had a steady and rapid growth, as the people were peaceable, honest and industrious. During 1802 and 1803 grants were issued within the present bounds of Concordia to some 75 settlers, many of whom became active in the affairs of the territory and state. The census of 1810 shows that Concordia had attained a population of 2.886, over one-half of whom were slaves. The parish is drained by the Mis- sissippi river on the east, and by the Black and Red rivers and their tributary streams along its western and southern boundaries. It has an area of 707 square miles, and is one of the rich agricultural districts of the Mississippi delta. The formation is alluvial land and wooded swamps, which are heavily timbered with such varieties as cypress, oak, ash, gum. elm, hackberry, pecan, sycamore, cotton- wood and willow, the most valuable being cypress, oak and pecan. Only a comparatively small part of the timber had been cut up to a few years ago, and lumbering promises to be a source of great wealth in the future. The lands of the parish are well protected from overflow by levees, and the soil is exceedingly fertile, produc- ing cotton, corn. hay, potatoes, sugar-cane, sorghum, tobacco, alfalfa and all kinds of vegetables. Along the Natchez & Western R. R. truck farming has grown into an important industry, while fruits of various kinds, both large and small varieties, flourish in the kindly soil and climate of this favored region, and are exported to the nearby markets. Game of all kinds is plentiful in the forests. and fish of several varieties are found in the streams and lakes.


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Shipping and transportation facilities are excellent. The Natchez & Western R. R. runs west across the parish from Vidalia to Black River; the New Orleans & Northwestern R. R. enters the northern boundary near Clayton and runs southeast to Vidalia ; the Texas & Pacific R. R. traverses the entire eastern part of the parish north and south, and the steamboats on the Mississippi river touch at various points along the eastern boundary. Vidalia, the parish seat, is a flourishing town, situated on the Mississippi river and all of the railroads that enter the parish. Other important villages and towns are Fairview, Clayton, Ferriday, Armagh, Lamarque, Mabel, Monterey, Frogmore and Wildsville. The principal manufacturing industries of the parish are woodenware, syrup and canning fac- tories, and cotton compresses. The following statistics for Coneor- dia parish are taken from the U. S. census for 1900: Number of farms, 1,631 ; acreage, 152,800: aeres under cultivation, 65,998; value of land and improvements exclusive of buildings, $1,339,340: value of farm buildings, $392.500: value of live stock, $364,801 ; total value of all products not fed to live stock. $1.271,959; number of manu- facturing establishments, 43 ; capital invested, $294.651 ; wages paid, $42,439; cost of materials used, $180.598; total value of products, $321,110. The population of the parish in 1900 was 1,714 whites, 11.845 colored, a total of 13,559; a decrease of 1,312 since the year 1890.


Confederate Congress .- On Jan. 19. 1861, a committee of the Mis- sissippi legislature reported resolutions favoring the establishment of a provisional government for a Southern Confederacy. The other Southern States approved the plan, and on Feb. 4 a Confederate Con- gress met at Montgomery, Ala. This Congress was more in the nature of a convention, in which Louisiana was represented by John Perkins, Jr., Duncan F. Kenner. Charles M. Conrad, Alexander de Clouet, Edward Sparrow and Henry Marshall. The session of the Provisional Congress, provided for by the convention, began on Nov. 18. 1861, and continued until Feb. 15, 1862. The senators from Louisiana were Thomas J. Semmes and Edward Sparrow ; the repre- sentatives, Duncan F. Kenner. Charles Villere, Lucien J. Dupré. John Perkins, Jr., Charles M1. Conrad and Henry Marshall. The Confederate government was established under the "permanent con- stitution," on Feb. 18, 1862. Semmes and Sparrow continued as members of the senate during the entire existence of the Con- federacy, and the representatives in the Congress of 1863 were the same as in provisional Congress above mentioned. In 1864 a va- cancy occurred in the seat of Henry Marshall, but Villere. Conrad. Kenner, Dupré and Perkins continued to represent their respective districts until the Confederacy passed into history.




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