St Martin-East Baton Rouge County Louisiana Archives Biographies.....Guilbeau, Preston April 30, 1865 - 
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Mike Miller http://www.usgwarchives.org/~archreg/vols/00004.html#0000912 October 7, 2006, 3:10 pm

Author: Henry E Chambers

Preston L. Guilbeau, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, made wise provision in creating 
the office of state supervisor of vocational agricultural schools, and equally 
great consistency has been shown in the selection of Mr. Guilbeau for this 
position, in which he is giving characteristically adept and constructive 
administration, his offices being on the sixth floor of the Reymond Building, 
in the capital city of Baton Rouge.

Mr. Guilbeau was born at Breaux Bridge, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, April 30, 
1865, a son of Honore P. Guilbeau and grandson of Placide Guilbeau, the latter 
having been a son of Jean Guilbeau, who established his residence on Bayou 
Carencro, in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, in 1755, and who there erected a 
substantial house that is still standing and in excellent state of 
preservation.  The fine old homestead is now occupied by Ernest Guilbeau, a 
great-grandson of the Jean Guilbeau who came to Louisiana from Acadia in 1735, 
and who was born and reared in that province.  The Guilbeau stock imigrated to 
America from St. Malo, France, coming over with the first French explorers.  
Jean Guilbeau, a man of character and ability, became an extensive planter and 
ranchman of the early days of Louisiana.  During the War of the Revolution he 
raised a company of Louisiana volunteers and offered his services to the 
American authorities.  They were accepted and he gave gallant service to that 
cause.  Placide Guilbeau was born at the old homestead ~ Lafayette Parish in 
1800, and died there ~in 1865.  He well upheld the honors of the family name, , 
both as a citizen and as a successful planter and ranchman.  As other planters 
of Louisiana, he also became a large slaveholder.  He married Julie Cornier, 
also of Lafayette Parish, in 1818.  Out of this union were born seven sons, 
Jean, Durelle, Valerie, Alphonse, Honore, Edmond and Adolphe, and two 
daughters, Clementine and Edmonia.

Honore P. Guilbeau was born on Bayou Carencro, in Lafayette Parish, in the year 
1832, and his death occurred at Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, in 1914. was 
graduated from St. Charles College, at Grand Coteau, Louisiana, and later was 
graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania.  After 
thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine, he moved to Breaux Bridge, 
Louisiana, and practiced his profession from 1856 until the close of his long 
and useful life.  In addition to his earnest and able professional services in 
his community he also became a large planter, as well as a successful business 
man of large and important local interests.  He was a staunch democrat and a 
great adherent of state rights.  When the Civil war broke out he tendered his 
services to the Confederate government and rendered distinguished services as a 
surgeon throughout the war.  Doctor Guilbeau wedded Miss Ann Elizabeth Thomas, 
who was born and reared in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, the date of her 
nativity having been 1837.  At the present tune she is still living in Breaux 
Bridge and is now one of the venerable and loved citizens of Louisiana.  From 
the union of Doctor Guilbeau and Miss Thomas ten children were born, five boys, 
Arthur St. John, Willie, Braxton, Preston and Frank, and five daughters, Ida, 
Hermine, Valentine, Marie Louise and Gladys.  Two of the boys, Willie and 
Braxton, and one of the girls, Hermine, died in early childhood.  .Arthur St. 
John, eldest of the children, became a leading physician and surgeon in his 
native parish, and continued in active practice in Breaux Bridge until his 
death in 1916.  He married Marie Louise Richard and had five children, Braxton, 
Stanley, Beulah, George and May.  Ida is married to Mr. G. W. Martin, a leading 
surgeon Of St. Landry Parish.  To them were born twelve children, six boys, 
William, Wade, Edwin, Franklin, Jeffries and Lennard, and six girls, Hermine, 
Jeanne, Evelyne, Leona, Wenona and Georgie.  Of these, Jeffries and Wenona died 
in early childhood.  Two of the other boys, Lieutenant Edwin and Lennard, died 
during the World war while doing service in the armies of the United States.  
Preston L., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth.  Frank T. married 
Caralie Rousseau, of St. Martinsville, and has five children, one son, Waldeck 
T., and four daughters, Lucie, Monita, Lolitta and Odette.  Valentine is 
married to Remy Angelle, a banker and large planter of Breaux Bridge, and has 
five children, two boys, Willie and Roy, and three girls, Heloise, Cecile and 
Helen.  Marie Louise is the wife of Dr. A. J. Dauterive, who is engaged in the 
practice of dentistry in Breaux Bridge.  Doctor Dauterive is also a large owner 
of stock in various corporations in his home town.  Gladys is the wife of 
Philip Hickey, and had four children, three sons, Philip, Jr., Honore and 
Preston, and one daughter, Audrey, who died when eleven years old.  Mr. Hickey 
is now a banker and oil mill manager in Forrest City, Arkansas.

Preston L., of this sketch, received his elementary education in the public and 
private schools in his native parish, St. Martin.  In 1880 he entered the 
University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, and pursued his studies there 
for four years.  In 1887 Mr. Guilbeau entered the agricultural department of 
the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College at Baton 
Rouge, Louisiana.  He graduated from the above institution with the degree of 
Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1891.  His intellectual horizon was 
further broadened by a course in the law department of Tulane University of 
Louisiana, from which he graduated as a Bachelor of Laws in 1893.  He was 
admitted to practice at the bar the same year.  After practicing law for two 
years he retired from the profession on account of defective eyesight.  After 
his retirement he accepted the position of superintendent of the St. Martin Oil 
Works, a large corporation domiciled in the Town of St. Martinville.  His term 
of service with the above corporation was continued for nineteen years.  When 
the operation of this and other cottonseed oil mills was stopped, as a result 
of the boll weavil, Mr. Guilbeau, in 1911, became a teacher of agriculture at 
Ebenezer, in Acadia Parish, his services there continuing two and one-half 
years.  For one year following he accepted the same work at Carencro, Lafayette 
Parish.  In 1914 he resigned this latter position to assume the office of which 
he has since continued an efficient and valued incumbent, that of state 
supervisor of vocational agriculture, with executive headquarters, as well as 
residence, in the City of Baton Rouge.

Mr. Guilbeau has always been a staunch democrat, and active in the councils of 
that party.  While at the State University he became a charter member of the 
Kappa Sigma, Greek letter fraternity.  He is affiliated with Albert Rosseau 
Lodge No. 301, A. F. and A. M., of St. Martinville, Louisiana.  At different 
times he also held memberships in Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen.  He is an active member of the Louisiana State Teachers' 
Association, the Nationa1 Society for the Advancement of Vocational Education, 
and of the Society of the Directors and Supervisors of Agriculture for the 
Southern States, besides which he holds membership in the Louisiana 
Agricultural Teachers' Association, and is specially influential in its council 
and service.  In addition to his attractive home in Baton Rouge, on College 
Avenue, Mr. Guilbeau is the owner of well improved property in St. Martin and 
Lafayette parishes.

May 22, 1894, recorded the marriage of Mr. Guilbeau and Miss Blanche Broussard, 
daughter of the late John D. Broussard and Anastasie (Gonsoulin) Broussard, who 
passed their entire lives in Louisiana and who were representatives of old 
French families of this commonwealth.  John D. Broussard was a substantial 
planter of Iberia Parish, and was the father of a large family.  Two of his 
sons; Robert F. and Edwin S., served their country as senators of the United 
States.  Mrs. Guilbeau's education was acquired in the school of the state and 
in the Catholic institution located in New Iberia, both she and her husband 
being members of the Catholic Church.  Out of this union of Mr. Guilbeau and 
Miss Broussard were born six children, four girls and two boys.  The eldest of 
the children, Helen, was graduated from the teachers' department of the 
Louisiana State University, and is now employed as teacher of home economics in 
the Junior High School, Baton Rouge.  The second daughter, Julia, likewise a 
graduate of L. S. U., is married to Dewey Olinde, a wholesale merchant of New 
Roads, Louisiana.  Manette was graduated from the same institution, and is 
married to John Hebert, principal and agriculturist in one of the large high 
schools of the state.  At the present time they have one son, John. Jr.  Robert 
F. is now a student of dentistry at Tulane University.  Henrietta, also a 
graduate of the Louisiana State University, is a teacher of French in the 
Slidell Highs School.  The youngest, Henry, is a member of the 1927 class of 
the State University, and is considered one of the best all-round athletes in 
Louisiana, being a leader in the athletic affairs of the university, where he 
is active in baseball, football, basket ball and track athletics.


Additional Comments:
A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 282-283, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published 
by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.


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