TRAHAN, John D., M.D., Lafayette Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller

Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions,
and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 436-437.  Edited
by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical
Association.



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Trahan, John D., M. D., of Lafayette, La., for 47 years a practitioner of
medicine, was born Dec. 27, 1842, in the parish of Lafayette; the son of
Edmond and Emilie (Ducharme) Trahan, both natives of Lafayette parish, and
descendants of French settlers of Nova Scotia who emigrated to southwestern
Louisiana in the latter part of the 18th century, and have been identified
with farming interests in Lafayette parish for many generations.  The
subject of this sketch was educated in the private schools of his native
parish.  At the age of 21, abandoning the drug business, in which he had
been engaged since leaving school, he enlisted in the Confederate army, as
private in Capt. Peco's independent cavalry, of the Trans-Mississippi
division, and after serving for a few months was transferred to the drug
department of the division, remaining in that occupation until the close of
the war, in June, 1865.  In the fall of that year he entered the medical
department of the University of Louisiana (now Tulane), graduating in 1867.
 Dr. Trahan has been actively practicing his profession in the parish of
Lafayette;[[ the son of Edmond and Emilie (Ducharme) Trahan, both a country
doctor,]] [note:  this seems to be a printing error in the original] there
were no rapid means of transportation as at present, nor was the parish as
thickly settled.  The town of Lafayette than had not more than 800
population.  The physician's zone of action extended for many miles, even
as far as Sulphur Springs, distant 75 miles from the town of Lafayette; and
most of the traveling was done on horseback.  During an epidemic of yellow
fever, in 1867, Dr. Trahan proved untiring in attending to the afflicted,
and in the course of his devoted ministrations, was one of the stricken,
but had the good fortune to escape the fate of so many of his
fellow-citizens.  In 1873-74 he was a member of the legislature.  In 1895
he was elected a member of the Lafayette city council, and in 1898 was
appointed on the board of Louisiana state medical examiners, serving 4
years.  He was in 1888 a member of the Louisiana State Medical society.
The Masonic order looks upon Dr. Trahan as one of its prominent brethren.
The marriage of Dr. Trahan and Miss Alice Larribeau, daughter of Louis
Larribeau, of New Orleans, occurred in 1868.  They have 3 daughters:
Misses Stella,  Haydee and  Rita Trahan; and 1 son, Anatole R. Trahan, M.
D., a graduate of the class of 1892, of Tulane medical college, and now
associated with his father in the practice of the medical profession.