Leonce L. LeBlanc, Assumption Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Leonce L. LeBlanc. Prominent among the men of Assumption Parish who have risen to positions of trust and responsibility through honest effort and inherent ability is Leonce L. LeBlanc, cashier of the Bank of Paincourtville. A member of an old honored and distinguished family of this locality he has passed his entire career, with the exception of about five years, at Paincourtville, and has not only established important connections in the business and financial world, but likewise has gained a substantial place in the esteem and confidence of the people of his community. Mr. LeBlanc was born at Paincourtville, Parish of Assumption, Louisiana, January 17, 1885, and is a son of Joseph E. and Camille (Dugas) LeBlanc. He belongs to a family which had its origin in France, whence it immigrated to the little colony of Acadia, in that part of Canada now known as Nova Scotia, a settlement that was founded in the year 1604. For a time the colony was slow in growing, and eighty years after its founding it had but 900 inhabitants, but thereafter colonization was more rapid and its inhabitants prospered. Then came the peace of Utrecht in 1714, whereby the colony was ceded to Great Britain, and the colonists, who refused to take the oath of allegiance to the British King, were driven from their homes, about 2,000 being scattered over New England, while 5,000 or more migrated to Georgia and Louisiana. Among the latter were the LeBlanc family, who found refuge and welcome in Louisiana, where the name has since been an honored one. Germain LeBlanc, the grandfather of Leonce L. LeBlanc, was born at Paincourtville, where he passed his entire life and was an extensive planter of sugar. His wife was Miss Helena Landry, who was born in the same community. Joseph E. LeBlanc, father of Leonce L. LeBlanc, was born in Assumption Parish, April 8, 1843, and here spent his entire life, dying in November, 1902. He was reared in his home community, and at the age of eighteen years, in 1861, enlisted in a Louisiana infantry regiment for service with the Confederacy during the war between the states. When peace was declared he returned to his home with the rank of first lieutenant, which had been won by gallantry and soldierly fidelity. When he resumed the vocations of peace he adopted the role of sugar planter and refiner, in which he rose to high place, being the organizer of Dugas & LeBlanc, Ltd., a concern which under his able management and direction grew to be one of the leading enterprises of its kind in the southeastern part of Louisiana. He was also a leading merchant of Paincourtville, and one of the organizers of the Bank of Napoleonville, of which he was president at the time of his demise. As a stalwart democrat he took an active part in the political affairs of his day, and for sixteen years was a member, representing Assumption Parish, of the Louisiana House of Representatives, and state senator for two terms. He was a consistent member of St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Church of Paincourtville. Mr. LeBlanc married Miss Camille Dugas, who was born July 2, 1845, at Paincourtville, where she still makes her home, and to this union there were born the following children: Marie, of New Orleans, the widow of Joseph U. Flose, a former oil operator, who died at Paincourtville in 1918; Robert F., president of Dugas & LeBlanc, Ltd., and of the Bank of Paincourtville; Lucille, the wife of Jean J. Rodrigue, a sugar planter of Belle Rose, Louisiana; Dr. Henry, a physician and surgeon of Paincourtville; Philip, a commercial traveler of Donaldsonville; Rosa, the wife of Alfred A. Landry, a merchant of Klotzville, this state; Theresa, the widow of H. Joseph Verret, who died in 1911 as deputy sheriff of Assumption parish, and she is now residing with her mother; Leonce L., of this review; Hon. Sam A., of Napoleonville, judge of the Twenty-second Judicial District of Louisiana; and Jules X., a planter of Barton, this state. Leonce L. LeBlanc acquired his early education in a private school at Paincourtville, after which he attended Jefferson College Convent for four years. He supplemented this training by a course at the Soulé Commercial College, New Orleans, from which he was graduated in 1903, and at that the became office manager for Dugas & LeBlanc, Ltd., for three years. His next venture was a partnership in the firm of Poise & LeBlanc, sugar brokers of New Orleans, but in 1911 he severed this connection to enter the Bank of Paincourtville as cashier, a position which he has retained to the present, he being the active head of this institution. The Bank of Paincourtville was opened for business in January, 1907, and has enjoyed a steady and healthy growth, gaining public confidence and retaining it. Its capital stock is $25,0O0, its surplus and undivided profits $30,000, and its deposits $250,000. The officers are as follows: Robert F. LeBlanc, Mr. LeBlanc's brother, president; E. J. Rogigue, vice president; and Leonce L. LeBlanc, cashier. Mr. LeBlanc is a democrat in his political allegiance, but has not sought public office. He belongs to St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Church of Paincourtville, and is a member of the board of trustees thereof. Fraternally he is affiliated with Assumption Council No. 1099, K. of C., of Napoleonville, of which he is now grand knight; and is a fourth degree knight of Chief Justice E. D. White, General Assembly, Thibodeaux, in addition to which he holds membership in Donaldsonville Lodge No. 1153, B. P. 0. E., and Mohawk Tribe No. 33, I. 0. R. M., Donaldsonville. In 1917 Mr. LeBlanc was extremely busy selling Liberty Bonds in the Paincourtville district, where he established an excellent record. Subsequently, during 1918, he served as Knights of Columbus secretary in the welfare service during the World war at Camp Hancock, Augusta, Georgia. Mr. LeBlanc is unmarried. NOTE: The sketch is accompanied by a black and white photograph/drawing of the subject. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 332-333, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.