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'{{short description|American poet}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Julien de Lallande Poydras |image = Poydras.png |office = Delegate to the<br>[[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from the [[Orleans Territory]]'s<br>[[Orleans Territory's at-large congressional district|at-large]] district |term_start = March 4, 1809 |term_end = March 3, 1811 |predecessor = [[Daniel Clark (Louisiana politician)|Daniel Clark]] |successor = [[Thomas B. Robertson]] (Representative) |birth_date = {{birth date|1746|4|3}} |birth_place = [[Rezé]], [[Kingdom of France|France]] |death_date = {{death date and age|1824|6|14|1746|4|3}} |death_place = [[Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana]], U.S. |party = [[Independent politician|Independent]] }} '''Julien de Lallande (Lalande) Poydras''' (April 3, 1740 &ndash; June 23, 1824) was a [[French Americans|French American]] [[merchant]], [[Planter (American South)|planter]], [[financier]], [[poet]], [[educator]] and [[Politician|political leader]] who served as Delegate from the [[Territory of Orleans]] to the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] from 1809 to 1811. He was a catalyst in the promotion of [[Louisiana]] statehood and helped draft the state's first constitution. He served as the first [[President of the Louisiana State Senate]] from 1812 to 1813. ==Biography== He was born in [[Rezé]] (near [[Nantes]]), then in the [[Provinces of France|French province]] of [[Brittany]]. He served in the [[French Navy]] and was captured by the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] in 1760 and taken to [[England]]. He escaped on board a [[West Indies|West Indian]] [[cargo ship|merchantman]] to [[Saint-Domingue]], from which he emigrated to [[Louisiana (New Spain)|Spanish Louisiana]] in 1768. Poydras was a pioneer businessman, trading first as an itinerant merchant before establishing [[Retail store|stores]] in his domicile of [[Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana|Pointe Coupee Parish]]. He invested in [[real estate]], buying and selling [[Plantations in the American South|plantations]] and retaining some major properties for the cultivation of [[cotton]] and [[sugar cane]]. He built a number of structures during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including North Bend [[Plantation complexes in the Southeastern United States#Plantation house|plantation house]], in 1835, on [[False River (Louisiana)|False River]], and owned properties in New Orleans. Poydras wrote the first [[poetry]] ever published in [[Louisiana]] in 1779, in honor of Don [[Bernardo de Gálvez]]'s victory over British troops at the [[Battle of Baton Rouge (1779)|Battle of Baton Rouge]], popularly said to have been the only battle of the [[American Revolutionary War]] fought outside of the [[Thirteen Colonies]]. Poydras' reputation was that of an especially indulgent [[History of slavery in Louisiana|slaveholder]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Yves |first=Cléon|date= |title= Bombonnel, Aventurier Dijonnais Ou Sur La Piste Du Chasseur De Panthères|url= |location=Besançon |publisher=Neo Editions |page=54 |isbn=2-9513106-5-X}}</ref> Yet, while on business in [[Philadelphia]] in 1795, a major [[Point Coupee, Louisiana|slave rebellion]] began on his [[Alma, Louisiana|Alma Plantation]], spreading to several other area plantations. The conspirators, who evidence shows to have been urged on by white [[Jacobin]]-minded immigrants, were quickly apprehended and several were executed. Julien Poydras [[Will and testament|willed]] that his slaves and their offspring be freed 25 years after his death, and all were to be provided with [[life annuity|annuities]] in the meantime. Though his heirs supported his wishes, the time of the anticipated [[manumission#United States|manumission]] (1849) coincided with the growing [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist movement]]. Fearful of its consequences, the [[Louisiana State Legislature]] prohibited any manumissions, and Poydras' slaves remained in bondage until [[Union Army|Union troops]] entered Pointe Coupee Parish in connection with the [[Siege of Port Hudson]] in 1863 &mdash; an additional 14 years. Poydras served Louisiana as a U.S. Delegate during the [[Territory of Orleans|territorial period]] and subsequently in the [[Louisiana State Senate]]. He served in a number of community offices in Pointe Coupee, including the post of civil [[commandant]] (under Spanish rule), [[justice of the peace]] and [[church warden]].<ref>Costello, Brian J. ''The Life, Family and Legacy of Julien Poydras''. Baton Rouge: Franklin Press, 2001.</ref> After a long and active life, Julien Poydras died on his home plantation near [[Point Coupee, Louisiana]]. He was originally interred in Old St. Francis Cemetery. In 1891, his remains were reinterred on the grounds of the Poydras School in [[New Roads, Louisiana|New Roads]], when the old cemetery caved into the [[Mississippi River]]. <blockquote> OBITUARY of Julien Poydras 1824, on the 25th of June, at Point Coupee, Louisiana; JULIEN POYDRAS, esq. Mr. P. was a man of very large fortune, and magnificent disposition. He was the first Delegate in Congress, from the territory of Orleans. The act, which no doubt will do most honour to his memory, is the foundation of the Female Orphan Asylum, to which he devoted £100,000. Long after many celebrated names shall have been sunk in oblivion, the name of Julien Poydras will be remembered by the innocent creatures who, by his wise providence and humanity, shall have been sheltered against the misfortune and danger which result from misery, for a weak defenseless sex. By his will he left for a college at Pointe Coupee, 20,000 dollars. For marriage portions to poor girls of said parish, 30,000 dollars. To each of his god-sons and goddaughters, 5,000 dollars. For marriage portions to poor girls of the parish of West Baton Rouge, 30,000 dollars. To the Charity Hospital of New Orleans, his house on the Levee, between St. Louis and Conti streets, and his house in Bourbon street. To the Poydras Female Asylum, all his houses in [[Poydras Street]], and on the Batture. The remainder of his fortune goes to his family with the exception of some legacies to his friends.<ref>History of Louisiana. {{full citation needed|date=April 2015}}</ref> In Pointe Coupee the legacy has been diverted to educational purposes, but in West Baton Rouge it continues in its original use [1941]. Poydras himself was a bachelor. It is said that, when he came to Louisiana, he owned little more than the pack on his back and, as the girl he loved was too poor to furnish a dowry, it was impossible for them to marry.<ref>Louisiana Writers Project. ''Louisiana: a Guide to the State''. New York: Hastings House, 1941.</ref> </blockquote> ==Legacy== Among the philanthropic works during his lifetime, Julien Poydras founded the Poydras Asylum in New Orleans, originally a home for female orphans. The community transitioned to nursing care for elderly females but now accommodating persons of both genders. The Poydras Home has expanded in recent years to a continuing care retirement community complete with Independent, Assisted Living, Nursing Care and an Adult Day Program on its historic Magazine Street campus. One of Julien Poydras's more unusual [[bequest]]s was for dowries of indigent brides in [[Pointe Coupee Parish|Pointe Coupee]] and [[West Baton Rouge Parish]]es. Legend attributes Julien's lifelong single status to the inability of his fiancée's family to provide the usual [[dowry]] in order for them to marry. Although the dowry fund in Pointe Coupee Parish was combined with the educational fund, the dowries continued to be issued on an annual basis at least until 1982 in West Baton Rouge Parish, each year's brides receiving an equal share of the interest accrued on the principal during the year.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/25/garden/dowries-survive-in-louisiana-town.html Dowries Survive in Louisiana Town], 25 March 1982, ''[[The New York Times]]'', retrieved 06 December 2015.</ref> One of the main streets of the [[New Orleans]] [[Central Business District, New Orleans|Central Business District]] has been named [[Poydras Street|Poydras]] ever since Julien Poydras owned property there. There is an elegant residential thoroughfare in [[New Roads, Louisiana|New Roads]] called Poydras. A succession of New Roads Schools were named for the philanthropist: Poydras College, Poydras School of New Roads, Poydras Academy, and Poydras High School. The latter, built in 1924, is now home to the Julien Poydras Museum and Cultural Center, a project of the Pointe Coupee Parish Historical Society.<ref>Costello, Brian J. ''The Life, Family and Legacy of Julien Poydras''. Baton Rouge: Franklin Press, 2001.</ref> There is also a town in [[St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana|St. Bernard Parish]] called [[Poydras, Louisiana|Poydras]]. As is often the case with well-known persons, much of what was printed concerning Julien Poydras for nearly two centuries has proven, upon scholarly examination, to be legendary at best. An exhaustive search of primary source materials by one of Louisiana's most prolific historians and authors, [[Brian J. Costello]], resulted in the publication of ''The Life, Family and Legacy of Julien Poydras'' in 2001. It remains the principal scholarly work on Poydras. ==References== {{Reflist}}<!--added above categories/infobox footers by script-assisted edit--> ==External links== {{CongBio|P000493}} * Eshelman-Lee, Julie. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110708203359/http://pdf.creolewest.com/CWPPubLAPurchase.pdf ''The Louisiana Purchase: A Dramatic Change for Point Coupéeans 1803-1815'']: p.&nbsp;61-5. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20141028153019/http://www.knowla.org/entry/1890/%26view%3Darticle Image of Julien Poydras in Alma Plantation article, ''KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana''] *{{Find a Grave|7207186}} {{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{s-bef|before=[[Daniel Clark (Louisiana politician)|Daniel Clark]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Delegate to the [[List of United States Representatives from Louisiana|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from the [[Orleans Territory's at-large congressional district]]|years=1809–1811}} {{s-aft|after=[[Thomas B. Robertson]]|as=U.S. Representative}} {{s-end}} {{Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Poydras, Julien de Lallande}} [[Category:1740 births]] [[Category:1824 deaths]] [[Category:18th-century French male writers]] [[Category:18th-century French poets]] [[Category:American male poets]] [[Category:American slave owners]] [[Category:Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from the Territory of Orleans]] [[Category:French emigrants to the United States]] [[Category:Members of the Territory of Orleans Legislature]] [[Category:Military personnel from Nantes]] [[Category:Poets from Louisiana]] [[Category:Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana]] [[Category:Territory of Orleans]]'