DeSoto Parish, Louisiana; Biography: Louis M. Rambin - r515

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Submitted by Gaytha Carver Thompson
Typed by Trudy Marlow
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           Louis M. Rambin is a planter and police juror
         of Ward 7, De Soto Parish, La., and being a na-
         tive-born resident of the parish, he is widely known
         and highly respected.  He was born in 1837 to
         Francois and Mary Demase (De Soto) Rambin,
         who were born in Natchitoches and what is now
         De Soto Parish, respectively, the father being
         among the pioneer settlers of the latter place.
         He was a merchant and trader in San Antonio,
         Tex., some years, but afterward returned to De
         Soto Parish, La., his death occurring here in
         1852.  During the War of 1812 he was appointed
         a captain in  the Eighteenth Louisiana,  and
         served as a guard on the then frontier of West
         Louisiana.  His father was probably born in New
         Orleans, and he died in Natchitoches, being one
         of its first settlers and a very wealthy man.  He
         was a fine amateur musician.  The mother of the
         subject of this sketch died in 1854.  Her father,
         Marcel De Soto, was born in St. Landry Parish,
         and was at one time governor of the neutral terri-
         tory, or Riohonda District, in West Louisiana. He
         died in the parish which was named in his honor.
         Louis M. Rambin is the youngest but one of fif-
         teen children, and is one of two sons now living.
         He was reared on a farm, receiving such schooling
         as the country at that day afforded, and has spent
         all his life in this parish, being one of the oldest
         settlers now residing here.  At the opening of the
         Civil War he joined Company F, Ninth Louisiana
         Infantry (De Soto Blues), and fought in the Army
         of Virginia, at Fredericksburg, in the seven days'
         fight around Richmond, and many other engage-
         ments.  Soon after the battle of Fredericksburg
         he was in made sergeant of the commissary ordinance,
         and served in that capacity until March 1, 1865,
         when he was captured by Sheridan's army in the
         Shenandoah Valley, and was taken to Fort Dela-
         ware, where he was kept until June, 1865;.  He
         was in command of eighty men at the battle of
         Chancellorsville, whose duty it was to protect and
         assist Jackson's reserve artillery ordnance train.
         For that service he was retained in that position
         until captured.  While in the service he was mar-
         ried in Virginia in 1865, to Sallie G., daughter of
         Joseph and Margaret Young, natives of that State,
         where they spent their lives.  Mr. Young died in
         the Confederate army soon after the battle of Fort
         Donelson, in which he participated, and his wife
         died in 1868.  After the war Mr. Rambin re-
         turned to De Soto Parish, and in 1868 settled on
         his present farm of 360 acres, at which time but
         small improvements had been made.  His farm
         is situated about eighteen miles southeast of
         Mansfield, and he now has 100 acres cleared. In
         1876 he was elected justice of the peace, serving
         two years, and in 1877 he was appointed tax-col-
         lector, but at once resigned.  In 1879 he was
         chosen police juror of Ward 7, and has served effi-
         ciently ever since.  He is a member of the Farm-
         ers' Alliance, and in his religious views is a Cath-
         olic.  His union has resulted in the birth of thir
         teen children, five sons and five daughters of whom
         are living.