Lafayette-St Landry County Louisiana Archives Biographies.....Daigle, Francois 1826 - April 4, 1874
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Missy Ivey mivey64@yahoo.com January 16, 2013, 12:46 am

Source: The Lafayette Advertiser, Vermilionville, Lafayette Parish, LA, Saturday, April 11, 1874
Author: Friend

     HON. FRANCOIS DAIGLE.-The subject of this memoir whose untimely demise was
so generally deplored in this parish a few days ago, was born in the parish of
St. Landry in 1826. His ancestors were French, and together with the ancestors
of the largest and most influential families of Southern Louisiana, immigrated
to this country during the French possession of Louisiana.
     His paternal and maternal grandfathers, Chevalier Daigle and Laurent Dupre
were among the earlier settlers of the Opelousas district. Of Chevalier Daigle
were issued Joseph Daigle, the father of Francois Daigle and Caroline Daigle,
now widow Charles Martin of this parish.
     Joseph Daigle married Eliza, daughter of Laurent Dupre, but both died when
the subject of this sketch was but a lad of fourteen. Left without the
protection of a guardian, with scarcely the rudiments of instruction, of an
impulsive nature and a spirit singularly untamed, he engaged in a train of
youthful follies, which, fortunately were arrested upon his removing to the home
of his uncle, Charles Martin, where, under the firm but paternal control of that
good and virtuous man, commenced for Francois a life of usefulness, which,
later, endeared him so much to the inhabitants of this parish.
     At the suggestion of his uncle he entered as a clerk the store of Mr.
Hirsch, in the town of Vermilionville, where he became acquainted with Dr
Gouguet and Mr. Etienne Laure, men of intelligence and acquirements, who
inspired him with the desire of supplying the want of more liberal instruction.
Under their tuition, therefore, he began a course of study and persistent but
desultory reading, which, if it lacked the more solid elements of glossed
instruction, gave a zest and spriteliness to conversation which ever made him
the envied guest among his extensive acquaintances.
     At the age of twenty-four he married Leocade Boudreaux, and soon after his
marriage he entered business in his own name, and by close application,
diligence and judgement, he acquired a competence which enabled him to turn his
attention to the more congenial occupation of a planter, and success, the fruit
of judicious management, attended his efforts in his new avocation.
     At the close of the war he removed in the vicinity of Vermilionville, and
shortly after was elected to represent this parish in the State Legislature,
where he discharged the duties of his position with credit to himself and to the
entire satisfaction of his constituents.
     At the expiration of his term of office, he withdrew from public notice and
gave his whole attention to the building and embelishing of his new home, until
when called upon by the most influential men of this and of the parish of St.
Landry, he again came before the people as the Democratic candidate for the
State Senate in opposition to William Offutt, of St. Landry, a man of wealth and
consideration in that parish.
     In the heated and excited contest which ensued and terminated in his
election by a large majority-this parish giving him an almost unanimous vote-he
displayed a manliness of purpose, an uprightness of disposition, with manners of
conciliating, which commanded the respect, the esteem and in many cases the warm
friendship of his opponents. In the Senate where he was held with high esteem by
all parties for his acknowledged honesty, he unfortunately could take no active
part in the debates, on account of his imperfect knowledge and labored
pronunciation of the English language, although he exerted a wholesome influence
by his honest and candid course.
     In the last four years his health had gradually declined under the
insidious encroachment of diseases, but though prostrated in body, he enjoyed to
the closing scene of his life the full power of his mental faculties.
     Senator Daigle possessed much native talents, a sound judgment, an active
mind, versatility of parts, and an unexhaustible fund of spicy humor which
charmed and fascinated those who came in contact with him. He was a firm
christian, reared and bred in the Catholic faith, he sought in that communion in
the last hour of his dissolution, strength to bear meekly his sufferings and the
faith of a better world beyond the grave. A Friend.

From The Lafayette Advertisement
Vermilionville, Lafayette Parish, Louisiana
      
      

Additional Comments:
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH NOTES - Ancestry.com: "Southwest Louisiana, Deaths Index,
1840-1906", Francoise Daigle, d. 04 Apr 1874, Lafayette, Lafayette Parish,
Louisiana, age 46, FHL film no. 6010608.

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