Jules Martial Burguières, Sr.
April 17, 1850 - October 1, 1899
In 1890, Jules, Sr., barely 40 years old, was a widower with eight children. On April 11, 1891, a little over 13 months after the death of his first wife, he married his deceased wife's first cousin, Ida Laperle Broussard. They had one child and named her Inez Ernestine Burguières. Two years later, in 1893, the couple and their nine children moved to New Orleans, settling at 2606 Prytania Street, a home that was described as "one of the most palatial establishments" in the city.2 In New Orleans, Jules expanded his business interests and co-founded Levert, Burguières & Company, Limited, a sugar factorage or marketing firm with Col. J. B. Levert. Jules recognized the distinct advantages in both producing and marketing sugarcane. Through the years, he became one of the foremost leaders of the sugar industry. In the final year of his life, his three plantations produced about 6,000,000 pounds of sugar.
Jules, Sr. was a member of a number of civic and business organizations throughout his life. He and Ida were good Catholics who attended Mass on a regular basis. They also participated in the New Orleans social scene. Jules was a member of the Boston Club of New Orleans, an elite men's club, and he belonged to two "secret" carnival organizations (Momus and Comus).
Jules Martial Burguières, Sr. died when he was 49 years old in 1899, with a net worth of almost a million dollars. He was buried in the family cemetery on Florence Plantation. Today, the cemetery still stands amid acres of sugar cane fields owned by his descendants. His wife, Ida, lived into her 80s and died in New Orleans on October 17, 1948.
Ida Laperle Broussard
1868 - October 17, 1948
Ida was born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, St. Martin Parish to Marie Ernestine Patout and Pierre Felix Broussard, descendants of one of the oldest and most respected Acadian families of Louisiana—the François Broussard family. Ida's mother, Marie Ernestine Patout, was the youngest child of Pierre Siméon Patout and his second wife, Pauline Napoleone Fournier. After Ida's parents died at a very young age, she and her four siblings were raised by her mother's sister, Flora Patout Schwing, who lived in New Orleans.
After her husband, Jules, died in 1899, Ida and her daughter Inez traveled regularly to Europe, where Ida purchased fine laces and antiques to sell at an antique store she had established on Royal Street in the French Quarter. Remembered as an independent thinker and a pioneer, Ida became the first New Orleans woman to volunteer for the Red Cross in France during World War I. Beginning in February of 1918, she served the Red Cross in France for nine months, volunteering in canteen and hospital work at St. Germain de Fosse and Paris. Upon her return, she gave a speech to the women of the Red Cross in New Orleans to inform them of how important their work was to the war effort. According to her granddaughters, Ida continued to serve the Red Cross throughout her life, devoting time each week to making bandages and assisting as needed.
She lived for a period with her daughter, her daughter's husband, Dunbar Christ, and their three girls at their home in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Ida was a devout Catholic who often attended daily Mass, frequently accompanied by her granddaughters when they were young. Ida passed away in 1948 in New Orleans, having outlived Jules by 49 years. Ida Broussard Burguières never remarried.
Children
Jules and Ida had one child.
- Inez Ernestine Burguières
2The City of New Orleans. The Book of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Louisiana and other Public Bodies of the "Crescent City." (1894). 97.
