J. Ferdinand Hebert; Iberville Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller



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J. Ferdinand Hebert is chairman of the municipal council of his native city
of Plaquemine, Iberville Parish, and as such serves as mayor pro tem
whenever there is requisition for his interposition in this capacity.  He
is secretary of Plaquemine Lodge No. 1398, Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks, and is also manager of the local Elks Home and Club.

Joseph Ferdinand Hebert was born at Plaquemine, on the 2d of February,
1878, and is a scion of one of the representative French families that was
founded in Louisiana in the Colonial period of American history.  His
grandfather, Janvier Hebert, was born in Pointe Coupee Parish, this state,
but passed the major part of his life in West Baton Rouge Parish, where he
became a successful exponent of farm industry and where he remained until
his death, as did also his wife, whose family name was Comeaux.

Omer Hebert, father of him whose name introduces this sketch, was born in
Pointe Coupee Parish, in 1849, and died at Plaquemine on the 17th of
February, 1917.  Omer Hebert was reared on his father's farm in West Baton
Rouge Parish, and was a young man when he established his residence at
Plaquemine, where he was long in the employ of the Plaquemine Lumber and
Improvement Company, lumber manufacturers.  He retired from active business
affairs in 1907, and continued his residence at Plaquemine until his
death.  He was a loyal supporter of the cause of the democratic party, and
was a communicant of St. John's Catholic Church in his home city, as is
also his widow, Mrs. Hebert, whose maiden name was Aline Patureau, daughter
of Ferdinand Patureau, a native of France.  She was born in West Baton
Rouge Parish, in October, 1849.  Valentine, eldest of the children, resides
in New Orleans;  J. Ferdinand, of this sketch, is the next
younger;  Janvier resides at New Iberia and is a traveling salesman for a
leading wholesale drug house in New Orleans;  Joseph Omer is in charge of
the oil department for the Consolidated Companies, wholesale grocers at
Plaquemine;  Joseph Isadore is manager of the Thibodaux Wholesale Grocery
Company at Thibodaux, this being a branch of the Consolidated Companies at
Plaquemine.  After one year in the public schools of Plaquemine J.
Ferdinand Hebert here attended St. John's parochial school a few months,
and retired from school at the age of thirteen years, when he began work as
operator of the live rollers in the lumber mill of the Plaquemine Lumber
and Improvement Company, with which he remained one year, in the meanwhile
having been promoted to the shingle department.  He passed the ensuing six
months as shingle weaver at the Little Gin shingle mill of A. Wilbert Sons
Lumber and Shingle Company, and during the following four years he was
clerk in the Kearny drug store at Plaquemine.  He next passed three months
as a straw boss in a convict levee camp, and in 1895, during the grinding
season, he was for three months a clerk in a country store on the Augusta
Plantation in his home parish, he then purchased a half interest in the
Postell bakery at Plaquemine, but he sold his interest, five months later.  
In 1896 he was for six months clerk in the Frost Hotel at Thibodaux, and in 
1897, in the City of New Orleans, he learned the trade of barber.  From 1898 
until the autumn of 1923 he owned and conducted one of the leading barber 
shops at Plaquemine, and since October 1st of the latter year he has been 
manager of the home and club of Elks at Plaquemine, as well as secretary of 
the local lodge of this great fraternal order.

As a thoroughgoing democrat Mr. Hebert was elected a member of the City
Council in 1912, and his service has been continuous since that year.  He
was chairman of the council until 1924.  He was a member of the city
democratic executive committee in the period of 1908-12, and he is
secretary and treasurer of the fire department of his home city, besides
which he was one of the organizers and vice president of the Iberville
Building and Loan Association until April, 1925, and a director of the
Iberville Bank and Trust Company until April, 1925.  At that time he was
one of the organizers of the Citizens' Building and Loan Association, and
is secretary and treasurer and a member of the board of directors.  He is a
member of the board of directors of the Citizens Bank and Trust
Company.  Mr. Hebert is a member of the building committee in charge of the
erection of the fine new edifice of St. John's Catholic Church, a structure
to be completed in 1926, and he and his wife are zealous communicants of
this parish.  He is a charter member and a trustee of Plaquemine Council
No. 970, Knights of Columbus; holds the office of banker of Plaquemine Camp
No. 19, Woodmnen of the World, besides having membership in Hollygrove
Woodmen's Circle; he is a charter member and the present treasurer of
Plaquemine Aerie No. 1912, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and from the same was
a delegate to the silver jubilee assemblage of the national organization of
the Grand Acne held in the City of Denver in the summer of 1923.  He is
affiliated also with and holds the rank of past dictator of New Orleans
Lodge No. 477, Loyal Order of Moose.  At Plaquemine he owns his pleasant
home at 538 Main Street, as well as other local realty and similar property
interests in Baton Rouge and at Beaumont, Texas. He was appointed a notary
public in January, 1925, by Governor Henry Fuqua.  He was specially active
and influential in connection with local patriotic service in the World war
period, served on various committees, assisted in the drives in support of
Government war loans, Red Cross service, etc., and aided in the work of
making proper provision for the young men entering the nation's service.

March 19, 1900, recorded the marriage of Mr. Hebert and Miss Mary Edna
Melancon, daughter of Mark and Aline (Saurage) Melancon, the former of whom
was a successful farmer in Iberville Parish at the time of his death and
the latter of whom now resides at Plaquemine.  Genevieve, the only child of
Mr. and Mrs. Hebert, died in infancy.  Mr. Hebert was a member of the
Catholic Laymen Association and was a delegate from his parish to the state
meeting of that society held in the Town of Lafayette in 1923.  He has been
representative of his city at many state firemen's conventions held
throughout this state, and also represented his city at several state
meetings of the Woodmen of the World.  He is a member of St. Joseph's Union
of New York City.  He was president of the biggest Mardi Gras carnival ever
given in this city, in the year 1907, and was presented with a beautiful
gold-head umbrella by his admirers and friends that year. in the year 1909,
while treasurer of the Hope Hook and Ladder Fire Company No. 1, he was
presented with a beautiful gold badge by his admirers and friends for
faithful services.  Mr. Hebert was local correspondent of the Weekly
Iberville South for twenty years, and is now the Plaquemine correspondent
of the Baton Rouge (Louisiana) State Times, one of the leading newspapers
of Louisiana.

NOTE:  The referenced source contains a black and white photograph of the
subject with his/her autograph.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 235-236, by Henry E. Chambers.  
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.