Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I, Part 60

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 60


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Garland, a village in the central part of St. Landry parish, is situated on the Southern Pacific R. R. about 12 miles north of Opelousas, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice, and is a trading and shipping point of some importance.


Garland, Rice, jurist, was a native of Virginia. He received an academic education, studied law and was admitted to the bar. He began practice at Opelousas, La .; was elected a representative from Louisiana to the 23d Congress as a Whig, in place of Henry A. Bullard, resigned ; was reelected to the 24th, 25th and 26th Con- gresses, serving from April 28, 1834, to July 21. 1840, when he re- signed to accept the appointment of judge of the supreme court of Louisiana.


Garnishment .- In cases of attachment, if the creditor knows or suspects that a third person has in his possession property belong- ing to his debtor, or that he is indebted to his debtor, he may make such person a party to the suit, by having him cited to de- clare on oath what property belonging to the defendant he has in his possession, or in what sum he is indebted to such defendant, even when the term of payment has not yet arrived. Where the plaintiff has already recovered judgment, and applies for a writ of fieri facias against the defendant, if he has reason to believe that a third person has property or effects in his possession, or under his control, belonging to the defendant, or is indebted to him, he may cause such third person to be cited to answer, under oath, such interrogatories as may be propounded to him touching the said property and effects or such indebtedness. After proceedings the garnishee may be condemned to deliver up such property as may be found in his hands belonging to the defendant, or to pay such amount as he may be indebted to him, to a sufficient sum to satisfy plaintiff's claims.


Garyville, a village in the central part of St. John the Baptist parish, is a station on the line of the Louisiana Railway & Naviga- tion company and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. It has an international money order postoffice, express office, telegraph station and telephone facilities, and being located in one of the richest parishes in the state, is a shipping point for large quanti- ties of vegetables and fruit to the New Orleans market. .


Gassler, a post-village in the northern part of Acadia parish, is situated on the Southern Pacific R. R., about 15 miles northwest of Crowley, the parish seat. It is in one of the largest rice districts of the state, has a rice mill. express office, telegraph station and telephone facilities, though in 1900 had a population of only 20.


Gates, a post-hamlet in the southwestern part of Livingston par-


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ish, is situated near Colyell creek, about 12 miles northeast of Wit- ten, the nearest railroad station, and the same distance southwest . of Springville, the parish seat.


Gay, Edward J., financier and member of Congress, was born at Liberty, Bedford county, Va., Feb. 3, 1816. His family removed to Illinois in 1820, and 4 years later to St. Louis, Mo. For several years he studied under a private teacher in Bellville. Ill .; attended Augusta college in Kentucky in 1833-34; returned to St. Louis, and was engaged in commercial affairs from 1838 to 1860. From St. Louis he removed to Louisiana, where he became interested in manufacturing and planting ; was prominently connected with the erection of the merchants' exchange building at St. Louis, and first president of the Louisiana sugar exchange of New Orleans. In 1884 he was elected to the 49th Congress as a Democrat, and re- elected to the 50th and 51st Congresses. He died on May 30, 1890.


Gayarre, Charles Etienne Arthur, lawyer, legislator and historian, was born in New Orleans, Jan. 9, 1805, of distinguished Spanish and French ancestry. Don. Estevan Gayarre came to Louisiana with Ulloa in 1766 as royal comptroller and commissary. When Ulloa was expelled from the colony Don Estevan and his young son, Juan Antonio, remained, and the latter distinguished himself in the campaigns of 1779-80 under Gov. Galvez, after which he was appointed contador real at Acapulco, where he died. His widow and her three sons returned to New Orleans, where one son, Carlos, married the youngest daughter of Étienne de Boré (q. v.), and this couple became the parents of the historian. In 1825 Charles Gayarre graduated at the College of Orleans, and though but 20 years of age he opposed so vigorously some of the provisions of the criminal code prepared for the state by Edward Livingston that the code was not adopted. He then went to Phila- delphia, Pa., where he studied law with William Rawle. a cele- brated jurist, and in 1828 was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar. The following year he was admitted to practice in Louisiana and opened an office in New Orleans. In 1830 he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature and was one of the committee appointed by that body to prepare an address to the French people on the revolution of July. 1830. Upon the expiration of his term in the legislature he was appointed attorney-general, and in 1833 was made presiding judge of the city court of New Orleans. On Jan. 12, 1835, when only three days beyond the age limit required by the constitution, he was elected to the United States senate, but on account of ill health did not take his seat. About this time he went to France for medical treatment and remained in Europe until 1843. In 1844 and again in 1846 he was elected to the legis- lature, and in the latter year was also appointed secretary of state by Gov. Isaac Johnson, holding that office until 1850. While abroad he had access to archives, public and private, and secured copies of important documents bearing on the history of Louisiana. Through the influence of Gov. Mouton, supplemented by his own energetic efforts, the legislature appropriated $1.000 for the pur-


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chase of two large volumes of documents, "now heirlooms of the Louisiana Historical society, which he was instrumental in reviv- ing." It was during his stay in France that he commenced the work of writing his "Histoire de la Louisiane," giving an account of the province under French domination, the first volume of which appeared in 1846 and the second in 1847. It was originally written in French, in order to preserve the exact text of the official docu- ments above mentioned. In 1847 the legislature made an appro- priation of $2.000 for the purchase of Spanish documents, and in 1854 Mr. Gayarre's volume on the Spanish Domination was pub- lished. The volume relating to the American Domination was completed during the Civil war, but was not published until 1866. In 1853 his name was considered for the appointment of minister to Spain, but the choice of President Pierce finally fell upon Pierre Soulé, though Mr. Gayarre for several years afterward contem- plated making a visit to that country in the interest of his his- torical research. The National Cyclopedia of American Biography says: "It was unfortunate for his own interests, and for those of literature, that his plan of going to Spain for some years was frus- trated by the outbreak of 1861. He might have preserved his hand- some fortune, which was lost in the war, and he would have added much to the sum of available human knowledge." After the war Mr. Gayarre published "Doctor Bluff," a comedy; "Philip II. of Spain :" "Fernando de Lemos, or Truth and Fiction ;" and its sequel "Aubert Dubavet, or The Two Sister Republics;" be- sides numerous contributions to reviews, magazines, etc. One of the most noted of these articles was that upon "The Southern Question," which was published in the North American Review in 1877, and about the same time he again took an active part in the reorganization of the Historical society of which he became the president.


Mr. Gayarre has been called "The Historian of Louisiana." It was to that work he gave the better part of his life, and his historical works will stand as a more enduring monument than any that could be erected of brick or stone. The greater part of his childhood was passed on the plantation of his grandfather. Etienne de Boré, 6 miles above New Orleans, and his recollections of those pleasant days have been charmingly preserved in his "A Louisiana Plantation under the Old Regime." He died on Feb. 11, 1895, and was buried from the old cathedral in which he had been christened by Father Antonio Sedella 90 years before.


Gayle, a post-village in the extreme southeastern part of Caddo parish, is a station on the Texas & Pacific R. R., about 12 miles southeast of Shreveport. the parish seat. It has an express office, telegraph station and telephone facilities and some retail trade.


Gayoso de Lemos, Don Manuel (commonly called Gayoso) sev- enth Spanish governor of Louisiana, was born in Spain about 1752. In July, 1792, being then lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of , Louisiana, he was appointed governor and commandant of the Natchez district, which position he held for about five years, dur-


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ing which time he made treaties with several Indian tribes. He was the agent of Gov. Carondelet in the negotiations with Wilkin- son, Innis and others, to secure the secession of the western country from the United States, and was one of the commissioners to settle the matter concerning the delivery of the posts in the territory ceded to the United States by the treaty of 1795. On June 14, 1797, he issued a proclamation to the people of his district, urging them to quietly and peaceably submit to the authority of His Catholic Majesty until the question of delivery was settled, while at the same time he was delaying the settlement by every possible means and trying to reinforce his garrisons. Soon after this he was forced to make concessions, which were ratified by Carondelet, whom he succeeded on Aug. 1, as governor-general of Louisiana and West Florida. Immediately upon his being inducted into the office he issued his Bando de buen Gobierno, though it contained nothing worthy of special notice, and soon afterward he sent to the commandants of the various posts a long list of instructions concerning land grants. Early in the year 1799 a misunderstanding arose between Gayoso and Morales, the intendant, and on the last day of January the latter wrote to his government, complaining of the governor's temper, his mode of thinking, and his extrava- gance. Again on March 31 he wrote, charging Gayoso with illegally assuming powers that rightfully belonged to the intendant. The misunderstanding grew until it was ended by the death of Gayoso on July 18, 1799. Morales reported his death as due to a "malig- nant fever, of the nature of those which prevail in this country during the summer, and the dangerous character of which was known only a few hours before it terminated fatally," and added, "The general had no time to lose in fulfilling the last duties of a Christian, and making his testamentary dispositions, and joining with me in a reciprocal pardon for our fallings-out."


Andrew Ellicott, the American commissioner to receive the sur- render of the posts in the ceded territory, says in his journal: "As the governor of an arbitrary monarch, he (Gayoso) was certainly entitled to great merit. It appeared. in an eminent degree, to be his pride to render the situation of those over whom he was ap- pointed to preside as easy and comfortable as possible ; and in a par- ticular manner he directed his attention to the improvement of the . country by opening roads, which he considered the arteries of com- merce. He was educated in Great Britain, and retained to a con- siderable degree, until his death. the manners and customs of that nation, especially in his style of living. In his conversation he was easy and affable, and his politeness was of that superior east which showed it to be the effect of early habit, rather than an accomplish- ment merely intended to render him agreeable. His passions were naturally so strong, and his temper so remarkably quick, that they sometimes hurried him into difficulties from which he was not easily extricated. It was frequently remarked of him that he was neither concerned in traffic, nor in the habit of accepting douceurs. which was too often the case with other officers of His Catholic


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Majesty in Louisiana. He was fond of show and parade, in which he indulged to the great injury of his fortune, and not a little to his reputation as a good paymaster."


Gayoso, following the example of Unzaga, Galvez and Miro, married a native of Louisiana, a Miss Watts, of New Orleans. While governor of the Natchez district he founded the town of "Natchez on the hill," the land being purchased and the town laid off under his personal direction. About 2 miles from the fort he built a mansion on his plantation, known as "Concord," much of the material for the house being imported from Spain. This.building remained standing until 1900, when it was destroyed by fire.


Geismar, a village in the western part of Ascension parish, is on the east bank of the Mississippi river, and is a station on the main line of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. It has a money order postoffice, express office, telegraph station and telephone facilities, and in 1900 its population was 93.


Genesee, a post-village in the southern part of Tangipahoa par- ish, is situated at the junction of the Illinois Central and the New Orleans, Natalbany & Natchez railroads, about 10 miles south of Amite, the parish seat.


Genêt, Edmond Charles, a French diplomatist, better known in America as "Citizen" Genet, was born at Versailles about 1765. His real name was Genest, and he was a brother of Madame Cam- pan, teacher of the three daughters of Louis XV. In Dec .. 1793, he was appointed envoy to the United States by the revolutionary government of France and arrived in Philadelphia the following spring. In the treaty of alliance with the king of France in Feb., 1778, the United States had pledged help to him in the defense of his West India possessions. Genet was received with enthusiasm by the people and soon claimed the assistance of the United States under the treaty. But the royal government, with which the treaty had been made. had been overthrown. The French republic was waging a war of aggression rather than one of defense. Under these circumstances Washington and his advisers decided the treaty was not binding, and a proclamation of neutrality was issued. Larned says: "The friendliness of Jefferson's party to France was so warm that neutrality became hard to preserve. Genet, misled by the enthusiasm of the welcome they gave him. imagined that the American people would overrule their government and allow him to push them into war." About 150 citizens of Louisiana had peti- tioned the French republie to take Louisiana under its protection. This, with the fact that the western people were dissatisfied with the attitude of Spain regarding the navigation of the Mississippi river, led Genêt to entertain the old dream of Gov. Miro of separat- ing Kentucky and Tennessee from the rest of the United States, and for that purpose sent agents among the inhabitants of that section to point out the advantages that would accrue to them by helping him to invade Louisiana, overthrow the Spanish authority there, and form an alliance with her under the protectorate of France. Chief among these agents was Auguste La Chaise, a


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native of Louisiana, whose grandfather had come to the colony in 1723 as royal treasurer. In Georgia Gen. Elijah Clarke gathered together a considerable force, including a large number of Creek Indians, to aid Genet in his undertaking. But Kentucky had already been admitted into the Union as a state, Tennessee was looking for- ward to admission, and Genet's agents did not meet with the hearty response he had anticipated. Gov. Carondelet was prompt in strengthening his fortifications and mustering and organizing his forces ; the governor of Georgia issued his proclamation against the unlawful enterprise of Clarke; the determined interference of Presi- dent Washington prevented any demonstration on the part of the Kentuckians and Tennesseeans: and all these forces working to- gether checked the intrigues of Genet, whose conduct, in violation of the proclamation of neutrality, became so intolerable that the government of the United States was forced to demand his recall.


Geological Survey .- The published reports and observations relating to the geology of Louisiana may be divided into three periods. 1-From the beginning of the 18th century to the acqui- sition of the province by the United States. 2-From the time of that acquisition to the year 1892. 3-From 1892 to the present time. As early as 1722 Father Charlevoix, in making a map of the mouths of the Mississippi river, noticed that "the quantity of shoals and little islands that have been seen to form in the various mouths of the river during the past 20 years leave no doubt as to the man- ner and comparatively recent date of the formation of the lower delta region." Four years later Coxe mentioned certain "springs, pitts and lakes which afford a most excellent common salt." Du Pratz knew of "rock deposits out of which cities might be built." In 1773 Bartram started on a journey through the South, and in 1791 published an account of his travels in which he gave some opinions as to the geological formation of various sections through which he passed. Dunbar, in a report to the president of the American Philosophical society in 1801, tells of some fossil bones found west of the Mississippi, and in 1803 he sent to the same society a letter from Martin Duralde giving a description of the bones of an "elephant found in the country of the Opelousas." None of these reports pretended to give any connected or sys- tematic account of the geology of the country, but they serve to show that from the earliest settlement some attention was paid to the subject, particularly to the mineral deposits that might be utilized and to fossil remains.


Probably the first American to publish any observations on the geology of Louisiana was Amos Stoddard. In his "Sketches of Louisiana," published in 1812 he mentions the "five islands," the saline springs near Natchitoches and the lignite beds, and expresses his belief that during the 80 years from 1720 to 1800 "the land has advanced 15 miles into the sea." Darby, who wrote in 1816, de- scribes the five islands more completely than Stoddard. and also makes some extended observations on other geological features of the state. In 1821 Thomas Nuttall mentioned the existence of


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"ferruginous conglomerate resembling that of New Jersey," and in 1824 Commissioner Graham, in the reports of the general land office, goes into some details regarding the geology of the state. In 1832 Richard Harlan read a paper before the American Philo- sophical society on "Notice of Fossil Bones found in the Tertiary formation of the State of Louisiana." In this paper he gave the name of the animal, of which these bones formed part of the skele- ton, as the Basilosaurus (lizard like), and mentions Judge Bry's comments on the geology of northern Louisiana. The following year Morton took the view of Harlan and Bry that the fossil bones belonged to the Cretaceous era. Geologists and archaeologists all over the country joined in the discussion, which was for a time a live topic. About 1840 Talcott published a treatise on the "Mud Lumps at the Mouth of the Mississippi." On March 8, 1841, the legislature passed a resolution appointing as a committee J. L. Riddell of the New Orleans mint, Prof. Ingalls of Jefferson college, W. M. Carpenter of the Louisiana college, C. J. Forshey of Vidalia, . Josiah Hale of Alexandria, and V. Trastour of New Orleans, "to make researches and inquiries respecting the mineral wealth which the state promises to yield, and the probable expense and proper mode of conducting complete geological, topographical and scien- tific survey of the state." This committee was to report to the legislature at the next session, and on March 7, 1842, appropria- tions were made as follows: To W. M. Carpenter, $600; C. G. Forshey, $1,800; V. Trastour, $2,000. These sums were to be paid when the reports were printed and filed in the state library, to- gether with maps, mannscripts and specimens, but the records do not show that the reports were ever printed. De Bow's Review for May, 1850, speaks of a survey by Prof. Forshey, but the manuscript of the report was lost before it reached the printer.


Between the years 1840 and 1860 Diekison, Brown, Drake. Lyell and Ellett all added to the published account of the formation of the delta. In 1860 Raymond Thommassy published his "Géologie Pratique de la Louisiane." which was mainly a discussion of the delta region. All these investigations were made by students and scientists in their individual capacity, and were without official support or sanction. In his message to the legislature on Jan. 23, 1860, Gov. T. O. Moore deplored the fact that "not a dollar as yet had been expended for a geological survey." This would indi- cate that the appropriations made for the benefit of Carpenter, Forshey and Trastour in 1842 were never claimed by them. On March 28, 1867, the legislature appropriated $1,500 to pay Judge J. B. Robertson for making a geological survey, and in the same year Prof. E. W. Hilgard published in the American Journal of Science a "Summary of a late Geological Reconnaissance of Lou- isiana." In this summary he reviews the various terranes of the state. commencing with the youngest or Port Hudson group: the , Grand Gulf and Vicksburg groups ; the salines of north Louisiana, and the artesian wells of Calcasieu parish. The reconnaissance was made under the anspices of the Smithsonian Institution, and


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but 30 days were spent in actual field work. In 1869 the New Or- leans Academy of Sciences and the state board of immigration projected a second reconnaissance. Funds were raised by sub- scription and appropriated by the commissioners of immigration, the reconnaissance being made by Prof. E. W. Hilgard, state geolo- gist of Mississippi, and Dr. J. R. Walker and F. Scott Miller of the academy. The actual time of the reconnaissance was 28 days, during which time the three gentlemen traveled over 600 miles on horseback. In 1873 Prof. Hilgard published the account of this "Supplementary Reconnaissance," which dealt chiefly with the lignite beds and their under clays, and in 1881 he published some notes on the "Later Tertiary of the Gulf of Mexico."


Dr. F. V. Hopkins published in 1869 an account of the three trips into north Louisiana. His second report, in 1870, contained the first colored geological map of the state, and his report for 1871 was devoted to a general discussion of the newer formations. In 1885 L. C. Johnson was directed to investigate the iron ores of the state, and the results of his investigations were published in 1888.


The third period of geological research covers the work done under the direction of the agricultural experiment stations. In June, 1892, Dr. W. C. Stubbs, director of the stations, made a pre- liminary report on the geological and agricultural survey of the state as instituted by the stations. In this report he says: "Inci- dentally the geology of the state is being carefully studied, so as to locate each section of the state in its proper geological horizon. Especial attention is also being paid to the mineral resources of the state, particularly those which may be of agricultural value, such as phosphates, maris, gypsum, etc." The first surveys during this period were made by Dr. Otto Lerch, a graduate of Roslock university of Germany, and previously connected with the geo- logical survey of Texas, under the direction of Dr. Stubbs. In 1894 W. W. Clendenin continued the work commenced by Dr. Lerch, spending six months of each year in the university and the other six months in the field. In 1895 T. Wayland Vaughan, by permission of the director of the U. S. geological survey, published the "Stratigraphy of Northwest Louisiana," which dealt chiefly with the beds of the Cretaceous era. Since then the work has been continued under the direction of the experiment stations, and each succeeding report adds some new information concerning the geo- logical formations of the state.


Geology .- Measured by geological eras Louisiana is of recent formation. The deepest borings have failed to disclose any evi- dences older than the Mesozoic or Reptilian age, lience only three of the principal geologic periods-the Mesozoic, the Cenozoic and the Quarternary-are represented in the state. A recent writer on the subject says: "Only a few closing chapters of the world's history are here recorded, and these have been written by water, which is now, as ever, the great factor in landmaking in this state."




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