BROUSSARD, J. O., Lafayette Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller


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J. O. BROUSSARD, BROUSSARDVILLE.--J. O. Broussard was born in Lafayette parish
in 1847.  The Broussard family traces its origin to Gaurhept Broussard dit
Beausoleil.  This name was given him by his superior officers because of the
cheerfulness with which he always received their orders.  His commission as
captain, commandant of the Attakapas district, under the old French regime, a
copy of which appears on page 189, is now in the possession of J. O.
Broussard.  This commission bears the date of 1765.  He was the great ancestor
from whom the whole Broussard family in Louisiana is descended.  He became a
wealthy land owner and stock raiser in what is now Lafayette parish.  J. O.
Broussard is the son of Ursin Broussard, who is the great-great-grandson of
Gaurhept Broussard, above mentioned.  Ursin Broussard was an extensive and
successful planter during his lifetime.  Our subject's mother was Eurasie
Broussard, a daughter of Isidor Broussard.

J. O. Broussard is the youngest son of seven children.  He received a common
school education in the neighboring schools.  He began life as a merchant, and
this, in connection with farming later as he acquired property, he has
followed until the present.  He commenced merchandising near Broussardville
since 1877.  His plantations consist of three hundred acres of very fertile
land, which he cultivates principally in cotton.  He has on one of his
plantations a large cotton gin, and also a blacksmith and repair shop near his
store.  Mr. Broussard is one of Lafayette's most active and successful
business men.  He was married in 1878 to Miss Clemence Labbé, of the parish of
St. Martin.  Three children have been born to this marriage, a son and two
daughters, his little son bearing the  name of the old soldier Gaurhept, and
the only one known of that name in the Broussard family.

Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section, p. 204. 
Edited by William Henry Perrin.  Published in 1891, by The Gulf Publishing
Company.