Biography of 	Demarest, Edward J. Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller september 2000

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Edward J. Demarest, the efficient cashier of the Louisiana State Lottery company, was born in
New Orleans, September 15, 1847, to John M. Demarest, who was a native of New Jersey but came
to New Orleans in 1832.  He died in 1880 at the age of sixty-five years, having been a
wholesale clothier and manufacturer of New Orleans and Newark, N. J., where he did an extensive
business for many years.  He was associated in business with a Mr. Alling, the firm name being
Demarest & Alling of New Orleans and Ailing & Demarest of Newark, N. J.  He held a number of
official positions and was assistant city treasurer under Adam Giffen and was also assistant
state treasurer after the war.  He was a director and secretary of the New Orleans City & Lake
Railroad company, and in early times was a member of the Old Volunteer Fire department.  He was
a member of the Firemen's Benevolent association and was at one time a member of the school
board.  He was a whig in politics, but after the war became a democrat.  He was married in New
Orleans to Frances A. Robitaille, of this city, but a native of Natchez, Miss.  She died in
1881, when fifty-seven years of age, having borne six children, of whom Edward J. was the
second.  His education was obtained in the schools of New Orleans, and when a lad of fourteen
years he became an employe in the banking house of M. Judson & Co, remaining with them until
their failure in 1867.  In 1868 he was tendered a position by Mr. Charles T. Howard in the
Louisiana State Lottery company, and for the last seven year's he has been its cashier, and is
also Mr. John A. Morris' confidential man.  He has discharged his obligations in a faithful and
able manner, having made thousands of people happy by distributing over $l0,000,000 in less
than one year's time, and his services are regarded by his employers as very valuable.  He is a
director in the New Orleans City & Lake Railroad company, and also in the Prytania Street
Market company, and was at one time a director in the New Orleans Insurance company and Jackson
Brewery.  He is a life member of the Southern Yacht club and the old Shakespeare club.  In 1878
he espoused Miss Victory Bredow, of this city, daughter of Gustav Bredow, a native of Germany,
who came to New Orleans when a boy of seventeen years.  Major Bredow entered the Confederate
service at the commencement and served through the Civil war as major of the Twenty-eighth
Louisiana infantry.  To Mr. and Mrs. Demarest five sons and four daughters have been born.  The
Demarest family originally came from France, and were early settlers of New Jersey.

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 1), p. 376.  Published by the
Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.