Document of the Month Pages
Begun in April of 2012, Document of the Month highlights interesting documents, photographs, and other images from the holdings of the Louisiana State Archives. This page features documents for the current year. To see documents for prior years, click on the links below.
2021 Documents
Pierre Caliste Landry (1841-1921)
(12/1/21) Born in slavery on the Prevost plantation near Donaldsonville, Pierre Caliste Landry is recognized as the first African American mayor in the United States. He was elected Mayor of Donaldsonville in 1868 and served a one-year term. Prior to that he founded two black schools, constructed a house for his family, and conducted a prosperous business, becoming an influential leader in the Black community, as well as in Ascension Parish. He served in various roles including lawyer, architect, judge superintendent of schools, juror, tax collector, president of police jury, parish school board, postmaster, and justice of the peace. In 1872, Landry ran for a seat in the State House of Representatives. With the help of Blacks and a significant number of white voters he won the election by a landslide. During his term in the House, he created numerous bills in support of African Americans, one of his more important victories came when his bill passed to establish New Orleans University, which became the third Black private college in Louisiana. In 1874 he was elected state senator where he served until 1880. During his term he was one of two black members to dine with President Ulysses S. Grant in 1875. Landry died 22 December 1921 in New Orleans. His death certificate indicates he was a widower, a clergyman, and the son of Rosemond Landry and M. Julian, both natives of Louisiana. It is on file at the Louisiana State Archives (Orleans Deaths, 1921, vol. 183, p. 475)
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Luther Egbert Hall (1869-1921)
(11/1/21)
Born in Bastrop in 1869, Luther Egbert Hall served as governor of Louisiana from 1912 to 1916. Prior to becoming governor, he served as a state senator, a district judge, and a state appellate court judge. During his term as governor, Hall supported reform efforts such as the non-partisan short ballot and a recall law to facilitate the removal of corrupt officials. He also helped make Louisiana the first Southern state to enact a workman's compensation law in 1914 and secured legislative approval for a commission form of government in New Orleans. After one term as governor, Hall returned to the judicial branch of government. From 1916 to 1917 he practiced law in New Orleans, then served as assistant attorney general in 1918. He was defeated in his bid for the U.S. Senate in 1918 and again in 1920 when he campaigned for the state supreme court. Just before his death, he was trying to have the latter defeat reversed. He died in New Orleans 6 November 1921. He was buried in Bastrop Cemetery. His death certificate is on file at the Louisiana State Archives (Orleans Deaths, 1921, vol. 183, p. 78).
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Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972)
(10/1/21) Mahalia Jackson was an influential African-American gospel music singer. She was born in New Orleans on the 26th of October 1911 to John Jackson, a carpenter, and Charity Clark, both natives of New Orleans, and was raised by a maternal aunt. As a child, she sang in the Baptist church choir. As a teenager, she moved to Chicago and began singing professionally, touring and singing at churches. She began her recording career in 1937 and rose to fame in the early 1950s. She became a regular performer on television shows and appeared in film, and sang at the 1961 presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the 1963 March on Washington. She died at the age of 60 in Illinois and was buried in Metairie, Louisiana. Her birth certificate is on file at the Louisiana State Archives (Orleans Births, 1911, vol. 144, p. 486).
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Caesar Carpenter Antoine (1836-1921)
(9/1/21) The third of three Black Republicans to serve as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, Caesar Carpentier "C.C." Antoine was born in New Orleans to Petro Carpentier Antoine and Mary Garroa. In 1862 after the Union capture of New Orleans, he raised a company of Black soldiers composed of both enslaved and free men of color, who joined the Northern forces as Company I, 7th Louisiana Militia. After the war, Antoine entered into politics in New Orleans, but relocated to Shreveport in 1866. He was elected as State Senator in 1868 and in 1872 , he advanced to the lieutenant governor's office by popular vote, serving first under P.B.S. Pinchback, Louisiana's only governor of African descent, who was sworn into that position for thirty-five days between the impeachment of Governor Henry Clay Warmouth and the inauguration of William Pitt Kellogg. Antoine ran for reelection in 1876. Although the Republican ticket was declared the winner, the Democratic candidate for governor dismissed the results of the election and seized office by force. Antoine returned to Shreveport part-time. He ran a business and speculated in real estate. He died there 12 September 1921 at the age of 85 and was buried in Flournoy. His death certificate is on file at the Louisiana State Archives (Statewide Deaths, 1921, vol. 17, #8595)
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Henry Otis (1839-1891)
(8/1/21) Born in 1839 in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, Henry Otis was founder and president of the Otis Manufacturing Company, an importer of Mexican, South American, and Central American woods. Shortly after the Civil War, he moved from Massachusetts to New Orleans where he built a box factory. As his business grew, he expanded into lumber, saw milling, and hardwood importing. According to his obituary in the Picayune, the Otis Manufacturing Company was one of the largest steam box factories in the south. His wife was Susana M. Thomas, whom he married in New Orleans in 1869. They had six children, four sons and two daughters. His son, Frank, succeeded him as head of the company. His death certificate is on file at the Louisiana State Archives (Orleans Deaths, 1891, vol. 100, p. 22). He was buried in Metairie Cemetery.
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Stud Horses (1821)
(7/1/21) Two hundred years ago, stud horses running at large were apparently a big problem in St. Landry Parish, so much so that the Parish Police Jury passed a resolution prohibiting them from running loose in a large swathe of land in the eastern part of the parish. Any stud horses two years or older could be taken up by freeholders, who would then notify the owner. If the owner did not come and take the horse or castrate him, the person who took the horse was authorized to castrate him and turn him loose. The resolution was passed 2 July 1821 and signed by George King, President of the Police Jury. A copy of the document is found in a collection entitled Genealogical Society of Utah Microfilm: 1766-1929 (P1985-4), Reel 17, on microfilm at the Louisiana State Archives.
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Murphy James Foster (1849-1921)
(6/1/21) Murphy James Foster served two terms as Governor of the State of Louisiana from 1892 to 1900. He was part of the codification of Jim Crow to separate blacks and whites in daily life. He was partly responsible for limiting voting rights in the Constitution of 1898 to literate men who owned property and to men whose grandfather or father had been registered to vote in 1867, effectively disenfranchising most black voters. Foster called out the state militia in New Orleans to break a labor union strike with military force. He passed legislation establishing the forerunner of Louisiana Tech and built temporary camps to house flood victims. Foster was re-elected in 1896 with the help of somewhat questionable returns from north Louisiana, but to his credit, the governor ended the prison lease system and regulated railroads whose practices hurt agriculture in Louisiana. Foster faced the beginnings of the populist revolt against the democrats, but joined the populists in opposing the Louisiana Lottery, which finally abandoned the state during his term. The Louisiana Legislature elected Foster to the U.S. Senate the day after his term as governor ended. President Woodrow Wilson later appointed him collector of customs in New Orleans. Foster died on his plantation near Franklin on the 12th of June 1921. His death certificate is on file at the Louisiana State Archives (Statewide Deaths, 1921, vol. 14, #7116). His parents were Thomas Jefferson Foster and Martha Murphy.
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Robert Andrew Hart (1858-1939)
(5/1/21) Robert Andrew Hart held numerous public offices in Baton Rouge including mayor from 1898 to 1902. He was generally believed to be the wealthiest man in the city, having accumulated most of his wealth from real estate holdings. During his term in public office, he was an advocate for schools, roads, sewers, and other improvements. In his private life, he contributed to numerous charities and was responsible for sending many students through the state university. Towards the end of his life, his health and vision were failing, but according to one newspaper article, there was no indication of what he would do the morning of May 25th, 1939. According to his death certificate, he died from a "pistol wound of the head (suicide)." He was 80 years old. He was buried in Baton Rouge's Magnolia Cemetery in the plot with his parents, Samuel Hart and Sophie Martin. He never married, and only his nieces and nephews survived him. His death certificate is on file at the Louisiana State Archives (Statewide Deaths, 1939, vol. 15, #6333).
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Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (1818-1893)
(4/1/21)
On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces commenced bombarding U.S. Army forces at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, marking the beginning of the American Civil War. Leading the attack was General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, a native of Louisiana and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. P.G.T. Beauregard, as he became known, served in the Corps of Engineers, and during the Mexican-American War, he built fortifications. Later, he was in charge of federal engineering projects in Louisiana. When Louisiana seceded from the Union, he resigned and was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. He participated in many campaigns and battles during the war. Afterwards, he had a successful career as an engineer and served as adjutant general from 1879 to 1888, among other positions. He died February 20, 1893, at 255 Esplanade Street in New Orleans. Cause of death was heart disease, insufficiency of aortic valve, and probably myocarditis. He was 74 years and ten months. His death certificate is on file at the Louisiana State Archives (Orleans Deaths, 1893, vol. 103, p. 738)
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Frank G. Yerby (1916-1991)
(3/1/21) Frank Garvin Yerby was an American writer best known for his 1946 historical novel, The Foxes of Harrow, a Southern historical romance. Born in Georgia in 1916, Yerby earned his bachelor's degree in English from Paine College and a master's from Fisk University. He served briefly as a professor of English at Southern University in Baton Rouge where he met Marcus Christian, a Louisiana writer and historian. Le Comité Board Member Audrey Nabors Jackson was a student of Yerby in his English class at Southern University Demonstration High School. She recalled that he was writing The Foxes of Harrow at the time and often discussed it with the class. This month's document is his marriage record to his first wife, Flora H. C. Williams. They were married in New Orleans 1 March 1941. The document indicates he was the son of Rufus G. Yerby and Willie Smythe, and Flora was the daughter of Leroy Williams and Flora Bousquet. The document is on file at the Louisiana State Archives (Orleans Marriages, 1941, vol. 55, p. 1316)
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Opelousas Bicentennial
(2/1/21) Although much controversy exists regarding the date of the establishment of Opelousas by Europeans, the date of its incorporation as a town is well established. An act of the Louisiana Legislature dated 14 February 1821 authorized all free white male persons above the age of 21 who had resided in St. Landry Parish one year preceding the passing of the act, and who were residing within a half mile of the court house, to meet and elect five persons for the purpose of serving on "The Board of Police of the town of Opelousas." The act sets for the mode of election, oath of officers, penalties for neglect by election superintendents, how to fill vacancies on the board, powers of the board, powers of the president of the board, and appointments of a constable, clerk, and treasurer. The act also divested the St. Landry Parish Police Jury of jurisdiction within the incorporated town limits. This month's document is the first page of the four-page act taken from the Acts Passed at the First Session of the Fifth Legislature of the State of Louisiana, published in 1821 in New Orleans. The Louisiana State Archives has a nearly complete set of these books.
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Jules Lion, Master Lithographer
(1/1/21) Jules Lion was a master lithographer in antebellum New Orleans. Born in Paris, France, around 1810, he came to New Orleans in 1836 or 1837 and produced a series of portraits of Louisianians which are still reprinted today. In 1840, he introduced the new daguerreotype process, the forerunner of photography, but went back to lithography. The 1850 census of New Orleans lists Jules Lyon, age 34, race not indicated, a portrait painter. In his household was Armantine Lyon, age 15, a mulatto. Biographies about him indicate that he was a free man of color. He died at the age of 56 at No. 507 St. John the Baptist Street in New Orleans on the 9th of January 1866. His death certificate, recorded under the name Jules Leon (Orleans Deaths, 1866, vol. 31, p. 124), is on file at the Louisiana State Archives.
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