Coignet, Joseph Alfred Octave;  Lafourche Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller


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Coignet, Joseph Alfred Octave, of Thibodaux, Lafourche parish, lawyer, was
born in Lafourche, Sept. 28, 1878.  His father, Guillaume A. Coignet, a native
of France, emigrated to Lafourche parish with Jean Baptiste Coignet,
grandfather of the subject of this sketch.  They located in Lafourche and
engaged in the planting business.  Guillaume A. Coignet, who was 11 years of
age when he came to this country, was reared and educated in the parish
schools.  At the death of his parent he succeeded him in the ownership of the
Coignet plantation.  During the Civil w
ar (1861-1865), he was a member of the
Louisiana State militia.  He died at Thibodaux in 1895, aged 64 years.  After
receiving a primary and grammar education in private schools, and attending
Thibodaux college, Joseph A. O. Coignet entered Spring Hill college, near
Mobile, Ala., in 1893, graduating 5 years later with the degree of B. A.; and
in 1900 was honored with the degree of M. A. from Spring Hill college. 
Returning to Thibodaux after graduation, Mr. Coignet was appointed deputy
clerk of court of Lafourche parish, serving from 1898 to 1901, meanwhile
studying law, and following the courses in the law department of Tulane
university, from which he graduated in June, 1902.  Since that time he has
been practicing his profession in his native parish.  A stanch Democrat,
always taking active part in all political campaigns, Mr. Coignet achieved
deserved popularity, and was often given proof of the esteem and confidence of
his fellow-citizens by being elected to public offices.  At the age of 26
years, in 1904, he was elected to the state senate, and had the distinction of
being the youngest member of that branch of the legislature, and the youngest
ever sent from his senatorial district.  Although serving but 1 term in the
senate, Mr. Coignet was a member of several weighty committees--the health and
quarantine, judiciary, rai
lroads, elective qualifications, and constitutions. 
Until 1908 he was secretary of the Lafourche parish democratic committee, and
was its chairman until July, 1914, when he became chairman of the organization
committee of the Progressive party for the parish of Lafourche.  He is a
member of the Elks and of the Knights of Columbus.  In Dec., 1904, Mr. Coignet
married Miss Marie Antoinette Ducrocq, a native of France who had come to
Louisiana to visit her brother, Dr, H. L. Ducrocq, now residing in Lafayette
parish.  Mr. and Mrs. Coignet have 4 children:  Marie Antoinette,  Alfred, 
Gerard, and  Henry.  The family is Roman Catholic.

Source:  Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), p. 107. 
Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical
Association.