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Julien de Lallande Poydras papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS-1158

Scope and Contents

This collection contains letters between W. S. Hoole and David Erdman concerning an original poem written by Julian Poydras in 1779 while in Louisiana. The poem is also within this collection and was suppose to be "a lost " poem by Poydras.

Dates

  • 1779

Creator

Biographical / Historical

Julien de Lallande (Lalande) Poydras (April 3, 1740 – June 23, 1824) was a French American merchant, planter, financier, poet, educator, and political leader who served as Delegate from the Territory of Orleans to the U.S. House of Representatives. 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.

He was born in Rezé (near Nantes), Pays-de-la-Loire, France. He served in the French Navy and was captured by the British in 1760 and taken to England. He escaped on board a West Indian merchantman to Saint-Domingue, from which he emigrated to Spanish Louisiana in 1768.

Poydras was a pioneer businessman, trading first as an itinerant merchant before establishing stores in his domicile of Pointe Coupee Parish. He invested in real estate, buying and selling 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 home on 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 Galvez's victory over British troops at the Battle of Baton Rouge, popularly said to have been the only battle of the American Revolutionary War fought outside of the Thirteen Colonies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julien_de_Lallande_Poydras

Extent

0.02 Linear Feet (2 items)

Language of Materials

English

Overview

Correspondence between W. S. Hoole and David Erdman concerning an original poem written by Julian Poydras in 1779 while in Louisiana

Physical Location

W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, University Libraries Division of Special Collections, The University of Alabama

Provenance

Unknown

General

To provide faster access to our materials, this finding aid was published without formal and final review. Email us at archives@ua.edu if you find mistakes or have suggestions to make this finding aid more useful for your research.
Title
Guide to the Julien de Lallande Poydras papers
Status
Completed
Date
April 2016
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Box 870266
Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0266
205.348.0513