LANDRY CHARLEVILLE, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana Submitted by: Gaytha Carver Thompson Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville, 1890 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** LANDRY CHARLEVILLE Landry Charleville is an influential business man of Cloutierville, Natchitoches Parish, La., his birth occurring in the town in which he now resides June 10, 1827, being a son of John Baptiste and Aurora (Rachal) Charleville, the former of whom was born in St. Louis, Mo., about 1802, and the latter in Natchitoches Parish, La., in 1810. The father came to this State and parish in 1825, making the entire trip on horseback, and was here married soon after to Miss Rachal, who bore him a family of thirteen children, ten reaching maturity, and two sons and two daughters now living. The father of these children, who was a son of Joseph Charleville, a native of Tennessee, died of yellow fever in 1853, having been a farmer throughout life, leaving at the time of his death an estate valued at $25,000. His widow survives him, and has remained a widow since his death. She is now past eighty years of age, and makers her home with her son Landry. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch moved from New Orleans to St. Louis, No., when that place contained only two houses, and near that city he subsequently died in 1849. His wife's maiden name was Victoria Verdon, and she also was a native of New Orleans. Her mother, who was a very wealthy lady, was the owner of a line of keelboats, upon which she made several trips to St. Louis, each trip occupying about three months and being devoted to carrying merchandise to that city. Her husband came to this country from France. Following is a copy of a notice of the death of Mr. Charleville's grandmother: "Died, on Friday, January 16, 1863, at 7 o'clock P. M., at the residence of her grand daughter Mrs. Eliza O'Flaherty, Vicotria Charleville, aged eighty two years and ten months. She died a true Christian, and was universally beloved. Mrs. Charleville was the widow of Joseph Charleville, formerly a well known citizen, who deceased eighteen years since. She was born in St. Louis, and lived there all her life, of course, witnessing strange mutations in appearance of the city, and great changes in its social aspects and in the governments to which it has been subjected. She had seen French and Spanish lieutenant governors, and lived under all the Presidents of the American Republic, who thus figured in its annals. She was a lady of estimable character, and leaves a numerous family of children, grand and great grandchildren to lament her loss." Landry Charleville's maternal grandparents were Louis Julian and Melanie (Lavespere) Rachal, both of whom were born in the parish of Natchitoches, La. In 1837 Landry Charleville was sent to St. Louis to attend school, and there he remained a student in an establishment managed by David H. Armstrong (who afterward became a United States Senator) for one year, after which he secured a position in a store, and as early as seventeen he was doing a small grocery business in the above mentioned city. Later he resumed clerking, and thus continued until the latter part of the Mexican War, when he resigned his position and entered the United States service in the company commanded by Capt. Koskiloski. After four months' service the war closed and he was discharged at Fort Leavenworth and went back to St. Louis, where he resumed clerking. A year later he engaged in business for himself as a manufacturer of, and dealer in, clothing, and in March 1850, he came to Cloutierville, La., where he remained six months, returning at the end of that time to St. Louis, were he remained until 1853, engaged chiefly in the clothing business. In that year he returned to Cloutierville, returning once more to St. Louis the following year, where he purchased a clothing house on the corner of Washington Avenue and Third Street. In 1856 he sold out and spent a short time in Kentucky, after which he again came back to that town and opened a wholesale and retail grocery store on Broadway, in what is known as the Llewellyn building. In the latter part of 1858 he established a grocery at Montgomery, La., the following year being spent in traveling throughout Texas and Louisiana. He again engaged in business at Montgomery, and upon the breaking out of the Civil War he entered the Confederate army in Capt. Phillip's company, Whart Adams' cavalry, composed of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama men, but after the battle of Shiloh he retired from active service on account of his age and entered the Louisianan State service, occupying a position in the treasury department, where he remained until hostilities ceased. During this time he was also extensively engaged in buying and selling negroes and cotton, and after the war closed he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Cloutierville, to which his attention has since been given, much of his time being also devoted to dealing in land and live stock. In this line he does the most extensive business in Natchitoches Parish, and his general mercantile establishment is very largely patronized. His business transactions have been attend with good results, and his is now the owner of several tracts of valuable land. Mr. Charleville was married March 4, 1850, to Miss Pauline Du Prey, who died in 1887, having borne five children, all of whom are deceased. Mr. Charleville is a Democrat, politically, and is one of the most active and enterprising business men and public spirted citizens in this parish.