1892 Biography - Amedee Constant Delambre

Amedee Constant Delambre, a prominent planter of East Feliciana parish, on what is known as the "General Felix Huston" place, is a native of France, born in 1821, in the department of Pas de Calais. He was the third of four children born to Phillip Constant Delambre, a descendant of noble and wealthy parentage, and who served with distinction in the army of Napoleon L. and as captain in the guard of Murat, but finally losing the bulk of his fortune in the political storms which followed the downfall of Napoleon at Waterloo. The subject of this sketch was obliged to commence life for himself at an early age with limited means; having evinced talents for natural history, botany, landscape drawing, etc., while at school, he, on leaving the parental roof, employed himself under distinguished professors of horticulture in Paris; as a result he was awarded in 1848 the highest diploma given for all sections of horticulture by the Royale Societe de Horticulture of Paris. Thus qualified, he met with highly remunerative employment in Paris and vicinity. Soon thereafter, however, meeting with Bienvienu Roman, ex-governor of Louisiana, who was visiting Paris, he became imbued with the enthusiasm of that distinguished gentleman over the advantages to be derived by the pursuit of his profession in Louisiana, and he decided to leave France. Arriving in New Orleans with his wife, he readily found, under the patronage of his friend, a wide field for action. Unfortunately, however, his profession, appreciated as a fine art in France, was met here with little remuneration or consideration. Sorely disappointed, but not discouraged, he resorted to other business for a livelihood. A few years later, after undergoing with his wife many trials and hardships, he became proprietor of an establishment for the manufacture of copper and tin ware, and gun-smithing in the town of Jackson, La. This proving also a meagerly paying business, he abandoned it in 1857 and engaged in farming until the breaking out of the late Civil war, after which, wishing to resume agricultural work, he established himself on the Huston place, situated on the east side of Thompson's creek or Rio de la Feliciana, as it was called by the first settlers of this country, near its mouth or outlet into the Mississippi river, about two miles from the historic town of Port Hudson. Devastated as this place was by war, for it had formed a portion of the battle grounds of the memorable siege of Port Hudson, its spacious and beautiful buildings with their surrounding improvements were swept away, leaving nothing left to mark the extent of its former grandeur save the long double row of dilapidated cotton-wood cabins which had once served as "home" for the Huston slaves, standing forlornly across one section of the neglected grass-grown field. Mr. Delambre set to work in the face of many stubborn difficulties, but with that indomitable will and energy which had hitherto characterized him, he worked unflinchingly and was rewarded with success in the undertaking. Here he was left a widower with one child, a boy named Amedee Constant, for himself, who died in 1884 at the age of nineteen years. Mr. Delambre was married in 1870 to his present wife, Miss Love Knox, who was born and raised in this parish and a daughter of Henry Hanna Knox, the youngest son of John Knox and his wife, Agness Hanna, natives of South Carolina, and notwithstanding her education was materially interrupted by the reverses of the war, she is a woman of superior intellectual capacities, rendering steady and valuable assistance to her husband throughout his extensive business career during their twenty-two years of married life. To the Huston place they have added by purchase an adjoining farm of 800 acres, making for themselves one of the largest and finest cotton plantations of the parish, well and handsomely improved and under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Delambre also engages quite extensively in the raising of fine stock. He is a member of the North American Holstein Fresian cattle association, keeping on his grounds some of the finest Holstein cattle in the country. He also makes a specialty of Percheron horses, the latter being the only ones of the kind raised in the parish. Mr. and Mrs. Delambre are the parents of six children: Henri Eugene, Phillip Constant, Jules, Alma, Lucy and Constance. Phillip Constant died at the age of eleven years and eleven months; he was killed by the accidental discharge of his own gun while out bird hunting; Henri Eugene has been in attendance at the Jefferson college in St. James parish, but is pursuing his studies at home at present; while Jules is a cadet at La. State university and A. and M. college; Alma is under charge of the St. Joseph sisters at their convent in Baton Rouge; Lucy and Constance, just entering school, are placed in charge of Miss Hannah Raynham, principal of Kernan Collegiate institute, Slaughter, La. Mrs. Delambre and her family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, while Mr. Delambre is of the Catholic persuasion. They are much esteemed in this parish and hold a high place in society.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, published in 1892, volume 1, pages 374-375.