THERIOT, (Hon.) Aurelie, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
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Hon. Aurelie Theriot, planter and president of the police jury, of Terre Bonne
parish, La., resides eleven miles southeast of Houma, on Bayou Dularge, and is
highly esteemed as a citizen.  He is a native of this parish, his birth
occurring on October 11, 1841, and was probably the first white child born on
the bayou.  His father, Michel Theriot, was also a native of Louisiana, born
in St James parish, and when a young man he went to La Fourche parish, where
he was married to Miss Seraphine Thibodeaux.  In 1839 he came to Terre Bonne
parish, established the first plantation on Bayou Dularge, when the country
was a perfect canebrake and wilderness, and here engaged in sugar planting
until his death.  He was a member of the police jury for a number of years,
was an honored and esteemed citizen, and it was due to his energy and
pers
everence [sic] that other settlers came here.  He was a soldier in the War
of 1812, was in the battle of New Orleans, and he was also a veteran m the
Mexican war, taking part in many of the most disastrous battles.  He was a
very successful planter and accumulated a great deal of wealth before his
death, which occurred in 1860, when sixty-seven years of age.  His wife died
in 1874 at an advanced age (seventy-seven years).  To their marriage were born
fourteen children--nine sons and five daughters--the mother living to see all
her children married and established in life.  Aurelie Theriot, the twelfth in
order of birth of the above mentioned children, passed his boyhood days in
attending school at Thibodeaux and at Spring Hill college, near Mobile.  He
abandoned his books in March, 1861, to enter the confederate army, and
enlisted in the Twenty-Sixth Louisiana infantry, as a private.  He
participated in the siege of Vicksburg, was wounded once at that place, and
although pronounced unfit for duty by the surgeon, served all the time.  He
was in New Orleans when the federals came to that city.  The war left Mr.
Theriot in very bad circumstances financially, but in 1866 he assumed charge
of the father's estate for the mother. In 1874 he purchased a half interest of
St. Michel plantation, where he now resides.  He has made sugar ever
y year
since the war, and is gradually extending his plantation interest.  He was
appointed by Governor McEnery as police juror of the Tenth ward, and was
reappointed by Governor Nicholls.  He was elected president of the police jury
in 1885, and has served in that position with honor and credit up to the
present time.  In 1866 he married Miss Editha Roy, daughter of D. Roy, of
Royville, La.  Mr. Theriot was born in La Fayette parish in 1847, and died
September 5, 1885.  They were the parents of eleven children, nine of whom are
living-three sons and six daughters.  On June 10, 1891, he contracted a second
marriage with Mr. Elda Darden, daughter of Capt. R. G. Darden, of La Fourche
parish, one of the most popular planters of that parish before the late war. 
The family are members of the Catholic church, and he is a member of the
Catholic Knights of America, being president of that order.  He is a democrat
and has ever taken an active part in politics.

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 418. 
Published by the Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.