Avoyelles County Louisiana Archives Biographies.....Lafargue, Walter S December 26, 1878 - 

**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Mike Miller http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00004.html#0000912 September 24, 2006, 11:15 am

Author: Heny E Chambers

Walter S. Lafargue.  The cause of education in Lafourche Parish has received 
great impetus through the splendid work of Walter S. Lafargue, who has occupied 
the position of superintendent of schools since 1906, and who has been 
identified with school work at Thibodaux for a quarter of a century.  Mr. 
Lafargue has devoted his life to his calling, in which he has reached a 
position of recognized prestige, having been president of the Louisiana State 
Teachers' Association in 1922 and 1923.

Mr. Lafargue was born at Marksville, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, December 26, 
1878, and is a son of Judge Adolph J. and Annie Winn (Irion) Lafargue.  His 
grandfather, Adolph Lafargue, was born in France, and as a young man immigrated 
to the United States, becoming an instructor on the faculty of Jefferson 
College at Convent, Louisiana.  Later he moved to Marksville, where he became 
identified with editorial and journalistic work, establishing the Marksville 
Villager, which he Published for a number of years.  He never lost his interest 
in educational work, however, and was the founder of a college ,at Marksville 
to which are sent the youths belonging to the wealthy and influential families 
of that part of Louisiana.  The students of this school once had the honor of 
being addressed by the celebrated Pierre Soule, former United State's senator 
from Louisiana.

Adolph J. Lafargue, father of Walter S., was born at Marksville, in 1855, and 
spent his entire life in that community, dying January 24, 1917.  A graduate of 
Jefferson College, at Convent, he became one of the leaders of the Avoyelles 
Parish bar and was known far and wide for his power of oratory and as a writer 
of fertile thoughts and splendid diction.  During his younger days, from 
the '80s until 1896, he was the fighting editor of the Marksville Bulletin, and 
in this capacity made a reputation as a writer of the most finished and 
scholarly articles, giving him a prominent position among the publicists of 
those stirring times.  For a number of years prior to being admitted to the bar 
he served as clerk of the court of Avoyelles Parish, and from 1896 until 1904 
was a member of the House of Representatives of Louisiana.  He was district 
judge of Avoyelles Parish and of the judicial district of Louisiana composed of 
the parishes of Natchitoches, Rapides and Avoyelles.  Judge Lafargue married 
Miss Annie Winn Irion, daughter of the late Judge Alfred B. Irion, former 
United States congressman representing the Sixth Congressional District of 
Louisiana.  She was born in 1859, at Marksville, where her death occurred in 
1887.  Judge and Mrs. Lafargue were the parents of the following children: 
Walter S., of this review; Edwin L., an attorney, whose death occurred at 
Marksville when he was forty-two rears of age; Dr. Alvin H., a physician and 
surgeon of Sulphur, Louisiana; Sidney E., assistant cashier of the Exchange 
Bank of Shreveport, Louisiana; Irion Alfred, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, highway 
construction engineer for the State of Louisiana Highway Department, who was in 
the United States Army service for three years, first seeing service on the 
Mexican border, and later being machine gun instructor at Camp Gordon, Georgia, 
with the rank of second lieutenant: Vally K., of Sulphur, Louisiana, identified 
with the sulphur mines at that place, a veteran of three years of service in 
the World war, who participated in many major offensives, including St. Mihiel, 
Argonne Forest and Chateau Thierry, and whose company was cited five times for 
gallantry in action; and Annie, who is unmarried and makes her home with her 
mother.

Walter S. Lafargue attended the public schools of Marksville and graduated from 
the Marksville High School as a member of the class of 1896, following which he 
pursued a course at the Louisiana State Normal College at Natchitoches.  
Following his graduation therefrom, in 1900, he became assistant principal of 
the Thibodaux College, retaining that post until 1906, when he was appointed 
superintendent of public schools of Lafourche Parish.  In 1909 he received the 
reappointment to this office, and every four years since has been chosen to 
retain his position.  His offices are situated in the Court House, and under 
his supervision are forty schools, 150 teachers and 6,000 scholars.  Mr. 
Lafargue was president of the Louisiana State Teachers' Association in 1922 and 
1923, and is still a member of that body, as he is also of the National 
Educational Association, of which association he was the representative in 1922 
and 1923, when he held the office of executive chairman for Louisiana.  In his 
political allegiance Mr. Lafargue is a democrat. He belongs to Cypress Camp No. 
369, Woodmen of the World, and since 1922 has been head consul of this 
fraternal order for the State of Louisiana.  His comfortable residence is 
situated on West Seventh Street, and in addition thereto he is the owner of 
other valuable real estate at Thibodaux and elsewhere in Lafourche Parish.  
During the World war he served as chairman of a number of the drives in the 
parish.

On August 7, 1906, Mr. Lafourche was united in marriage with Miss Lula Isabel 
Beauvais, a daughter of Ernest and Mary (Evans) Beauvais, the latter of whom 
still resides at Thibodaux, while the former, now deceased, was for forty-five 
years station agent of the Southern Pacific Railway Company at Schriever, 
Louisiana.  Mrs. Lafargue attended Mount Carmel Convent at Thibodaux.  To Mr. 
and Mrs. Lafargue there have been born four children; Hubert Adolph and Mary 
Evans, who are students at the local high school; Elaine Lucille, who died at 
the age of four years: and Lloyd Alfred, attending the graded school.


Additional Comments:
A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 388-389, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published 
by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.



File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/avoyelles/bios/lafargue29gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/lafiles/

File size: 6.5 Kb