LAFOURCHE PARISH BIOGRAPHIES
EDWARD DOUGLAS WHITE.
Well versed in all that pertains
to the theory and practice of law,
with a judicial mind and a valuable
experience on the supreme bench of his
own state, Edward Douglas White is not
likely to disappoint the expectations
of his friends as associate justice of
the United States Supreme Court. Mr.
White was born in Lafourche parish,
Louisiana,
November 3, 1845. He was educated at
Mount St. Mary's, near Emmitsburg,
Md., at the
Jesuit
College
in New Orleans,
and at Georgetown College, District of
Columbia.
During the Civil war he served in the
Confederate army, and in December,
1868, was licensed by the Supreme
Court of Louisiana to practice law. He
soon gained a reputation as an
accomplished lawyer and as a public
speaker of much force and influence.
In 1874 he was elected state senator,
and served in that capacity until
1878, when he became judge of the
Louisiana Supreme court. In 1888 he
was elected United States senator as a Democrat
to succeed James B. Eustis, taking his
seat the following year. President
Cleveland appointed him associate
justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
in February, 1894, to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Hon. Samuel
Blatchford. Justice White's legal
training and practice has been
principally under the code of
Louisiana, which is an
adaptation of the French code, and
which is derived from the Roman law
rather than from the common law of
England, which
lies at the basis of the law practice
and judicial decisions of all states
except
Louisiana. It
is believed that the business of the
Supreme Court will be facilitated by
the acquisition of a judge who is also
familiar with the French and Roman
systems of law. Mr. White is a scholar
in more than the legal sense of the
word.
[Source: Famous American Men and
Women: Edited by Stanley Waterloo,
John Wesley Hanson; Publ. 1896;
Transcribed and submitted by Andrea
Stawski Pack.]
WHITE, Edward Douglass,
jurist: b. parish of Lafourche, La.,
Nov. 3, 1845. He was educated at Mount
St. Mary's College,
Md., and at the
Jesuit College in
New Orleans,
and during the War of Secession served
in the Confederate army. He
subsequently studied law and was
admitted to the Louisiana bar in
December, 1868. He was state senator
in 1874, associate justice of the
supreme court in
Louisiana in 1878, and United States
senator in 1889-94. While still a
member of the senate he was appointed
an associate justice of the United
States Supreme Court.
[Source: THE SOUTH in the Building of
the Nation Volume XI; Edited by James
Curtis Ballagh, Walter Lynwood Fleming
& Southern Historical Publication
Society; Publ. 1909; Transcribed and
submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack]
COIGNET, JOSEPH ALFRED OCTAVE,
state senator of
Louisiana, was born Sept.
28, 1878, near
Thibodaux, La. He received a thorough education;
graduated with the degrees of A. B.
and A. M. from Spring Hill college of Mobile,
Ala.; and finished in law at Tulane law university of New Orleans, La. He has attained
prominence as a successful lawyer; in
1898-1900 was deputy-clerk of court
for Lafourche county parish,
La.; and has
filled various other positions of
trust and honor. He is a member of the
Louisiana state senate for
the tenth district for the term of
1904-08; is the youngest member of the
present state senate; and resides in
Thibodaux.
La.
[Source: Herringshaw's American
Statesman and Public Official
Yearbook: 1907-1908; By Thomas William
Herringshaw; Publ. 1909; Transcribed
by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
EWING, FAYETTE CLAY, trustee of
university of the South, was born May
28, 1862, in La Fourche Parish, La. He
was educated at the University of the
South; attended the
University
of
Mississippi; and in
1884 graduated from
Jefferson medical college.
He is a successful physician of
St. Louis,
Mo.; and makes a specialty of the
ear, nose and throat. He has been
laryngologist of the Missouri Baptist
sanitarium; aorist of the Methodist
Episcopal home of St. Louis; and is co-editor of The
Laryngoscope. He is a fellow of the
British rhinological, laryngological
and ontological association. He is
trustee of the University of the
South; and resides in
St. Louis, Mo.
[Source: Herringshaw's American
Statesman and Public Official
Yearbook: 1907-1908; By Thomas William
Herringshaw; Publ. 1909; Transcribed
by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
Coignet, Joseph Alfred Octave,
state senator of
Louisiana, was born Sept.
28, 1878, near
Thibodaux, La. He received a thorough education;
graduated with the degrees of A.B. and
A.M. from Spring Hill college of Mobile,
Ala.; and finished in law at Tulane law university of New Orleans, La. He has attained
prominence as a successful lawyer; in
1898-1900 was deputy-clerk of court
for Lafourche county parish,
La.; and has
filled various other positions of
trust and honor. He is a member of the
Louisiana state senate for
the tenth district; is the youngest
member of the present state senate;
and resides in Thibodaux, La.
[Source: Progressive Americans of the
Twentieth Century:By The Progressive
Publishing Co.;
Publ. 1910;
Transcribed and submitted by Andrea
Stawski Pack.]
NICHOLLS, Francis Tillon,
jurist and soldier: b. Donaldsonville,
La., Aug. 20,
1834. He was trained for the army at
West Point. He was
graduated in 1855 and served as second
lieutenant in the Seminole War in
Florida. He
was then stationed for a time at Fort
Yuma, Cal. Resigned in
1856, and practiced law at
Napoleonville,
La., till the War of Secession
broke out. He was captain of a company
of infantry which he raised. When the
company was assigned to the Eighth
Louisiana regiment of infantry, he was
made colonel. Fought at the battle of
Manassas (Bull Run), but
was then transferred to
Taylor's
brigade of Ewell's division. He was in
Jackson's
Shenandoah campaign. At the battle of
Winchester
he lost his left arm in a charge; was
captured, but soon exchanged.
Meanwhile the Fifteenth Louisiana had
been organized, and he was made
colonel; but before he joined it, he
was made brigadier-general, and
assigned, October, 1862, to command
the Second Louisiana brigade under Jackson. At
Chancellorsville, May 2,
1863, his left foot was torn off by a
shell. He was incapacitated for active
service, but commanded the post at
Lynchburg, and in 1864 was
made superintendent of the conscript
bureau of the trans-Mississippi
Department, with headquarters at Marshall, Texas.
After the war he was a leader in the
fight against "carpetbag" rule. He was
elected governor of
Louisiana
in 1876, and again in 1888. In 1892 he
was appointed justice of the state
supreme court by Governor Foster and
was chief justice till 1904, when, by
a provision of the constitution of
1898, the eldest associate justice
succeeded him. He is still an
associate justice.
[Source: THE SOUTH in the Building of
the Nation Volume XI; Edited by James
Curtis Ballagh, Walter Lynwood Fleming
& Southern Historical Publication
Society; Publ. 1909; Transcribed and
submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack]
GT Transcription Team
