Clet Girard, Iberia Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller



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Clet Girard.  The Girard family has been one of substantial prominence in
Southern Louisiana for many generations.  They are a family that
originated in France, went from France to Canada when it was known as
New France, and the founders of the Louisiana branch of the family were
among those unfortunate people who were driven out of Canada by the
British.  The grandfather of Clet Girard of New Iberia, a wholesale grocer
and prominent citizen of that locality, was Jean Baptiste Girard, who spent
his life in St. Martin Parish, a farmer, cattle raiser and dealer.  He served
for a the as a Confederate soldier.  His wife was a Miss Barras, also a
native of St. Martin Parish.

Clet Girard was born in Iberia Parish, near Loreauville, March 29, 1880. 
His father is Alcee Girard, who was born in St. Martin Parish in 1857, was
reared there and as a young man moved to Iberia Parish, where he followed
farming and where he married.  For a number of years he conducted a
mercantile business, but since 1909 has been a resident of New Iberia.  He
was on the road as a traveling representative of the wholesale grocery
house of Jules Drefus & Company, and then for the firm of Renoudet &
Dietlein, but now conducts a general insurance business.  Since 1921 he
has been registrar of voters, and for four years was commissioner of
finance of New Iberia.  He is a democrat, a member of St. Peter's Catholic
Church and New Iberia Council No. 1208, Knights of Columbus.  Alcee
Girard married Emerite Provost, who was born in Iberia Parish in 1858 and
died at New Iberia in 1920.  To their marriage were born seven children: 
Euphenie, wife of Toutan O. Gonsoulin, a in the lumber industry, with
home at New Iberia;  Clet, the second child;  Anthony, a merchant at
Loreauville;  Rene, a mechanical engineer at New Iberia;  Rose, wife of
Otto Indest, connected with the Bertrand Lumber Company at New Iberia; 
Blanche, wife of Howard Lyles, a railroad Worker at New Iberia; and 
May, wife of Ralph W. Frame proprietor and publisher of the Weekly
Iberia.

Clet Girard was endowed with some of the commercial qualities of his
ancestry.  He attended public and private schools in Iberia Parish and New
Iberia, was graduated from the Soulé Commercial College at New Orleans
in 1898, and following that for six years had an interesting and highly
educational experience as private secretary to Congressman R. F.
Broussard at Washington.  His business career began with the Renoudet &
Dietlein wholesale grocery house at New Iberia, in whose service he
remained as bookkeeper and general utility man until January 1, 1924.  At
that date he became half owner and manager of Burke, Girard, Inc.,
wholesale grocers, with warehouse and offices on Bridge Street, and due
to the very energetic qualities of the owners and their popularity with the
trade in possession of valuable connections throughout all the commercial
territory adjacent to New Iberia.

Mr. Girard has filled a number of important responsibilities in his home
community, being for four years a member of the City Council of New
Iberia, and since his first election in 1920 has been a member and president
of the Police Jury of Iberia Parish, being reelected in the same capacity for
a second term of four years in 1924.  During the same period of time he has
been a member and vice chairman of the Iberia Parish Democratic
Executive Committee, being chosen for this post in 1924 for another four
years.  Mr. Girard is a member of St. Peter's Catholic Church; New Iberia
Council No. 1208, Knights of Columbus; New Iberia Lodge No. 554,
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Iberia Spanish Lake Club,
and the New Iberia Country Club.  His home, a very attractive residence, is
situated on Duperier Avenue, and he owns a farm of 190 acres a half mile
east of New Iberia, on the east side of the Teche, where he grows cane,
corn and rice.  During the World war he acted as chairman of a number of
drives for funds in the parish, and assisted with his efforts and resources in
all the patriotic movements,

He married at New Iberia, January 7, 1907, Miss Eva Berard, daughter of
Ernest and Amilda (Ross) Berard, now deceased.  Her father was a farmer. 
Mr. and Mrs. Girard have two children:  Clet, born January 15, 1910, and 
Richard F., born June 15, 1911.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 296, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published
by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.