ROMAN, Andrew Bienvenu,
ROMAN, Andrew Bienvenu, governor of Louisiana, was born in Opelousas, La., March 5, 1795,
of Creole parentage. He was brought up on his father's sugar plantation in St. James
parish and was graduated at St. Mary's college,
Baltimore, Md., 1815. In 1816 he purchased a sugar plantation in St. James
parish. He was a representative for St. James in the Louisiana
legislature for several years after 1818, and was speaker of the house for four
years. He was subsequently parish judge until 1830, and
governor of the state, 1831–35. As governor he was instrumental in the founding
of Jefferson college, the clearing of the water courses of the state for
navigation, the draining of swamp lands and building levees, the incorporation
of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, and the formation of a state
agricultural society. He was again governor of the state, 1838–41; a member of
the constitutional conventions of 1845 and 1852, and of the secession convention
of 1861. He was one of the three provisional commissioners sent to Washington in
1861 to effect a peaceable separation of the states; refused to take the oath of
allegiance to protect his property when Louisiana fell
into the hands of the Federal army, and after the war was recorder of deeds and
mortgages in New Orleans. He died suddenly on Dumaine street, New Orleans, Jan.
26, 1866. |
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