Sieur de. French governor of Louisiana, b. in Montreal, 23 Feb., 1680: d. in France in 1765. He was a son of Charles le Moyne, and the third of four brothers (Iberville, Serigny. Bienville, and Châteauguay,) who played important parts in the early history of Louisiana. Bienville, while a lad on board the French ship " Pelican," was severely wounded in a naval action off the coast of New England. In 1698  Iberville set out from France to found a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, taking with him his brother Bienville, and Sauvolle. The first settlement was made at Biloxi, where they arrived in May, 1699, and erected a fort with twelve cannon. Sauvolle was left in command, while Bienville was engaged in exploring the surrounding country. Iberville, who had returned to France, came back with a commission appointing Sauvolle governor of Louisiana. 

 In 1700 Bienville constructed a fort fifty-four miles above the mouth of the river. Sauvolle died in 1701, and Bienville succeeded to the direction of the colony, the seat of which was transferred to Mobile, fn 1704 he was joined by his brother Châteauguay, who brought from Canada seventeen settlers. A ship from France brought twenty women, who had been sent out by the king to be married to the settlers at Mobile. Iberville soon after died ; troubles arose in the colony, Bienville  quarreled with La Salle, the royal commissioner, was charged by him with various acts of misconduct, and on 13 July. 1707 was recalled; but his successor dying on the voyage from France, Bienville retained the command. Meanwhile, in 1708, the attempt to cultivate the land by Indian labor having tailed, Bienville proposed to the, home government to send negroes from the Antilles to be exchanged for Indians, at the rate of three Indians for two negroes.

 In 1709 and 1710 the colony was reduced to famine. In 1712 the French king granted to Antoine Crozat for fifteen years the exclusive right to trade in Louisiana, and to introduce slaves from Africa. On 17 May, 1713, Cadillac was sent out as governor, bringing with him a commission for Bienville as lieutenant-governor. Quarrels arose between them, and the governor sent Bienville on an expedition to the Natchez tribe, hoping that he would lose his life. But Bienville succeeded in inducing the Natchez to build a fort for him, in which he left a garrison, and returned to Mobile, 4 Oct., 1716.. On 9 March, 1717, Cadillac was superseded by Epinay. and Bienville received the decoration of the cross of St. Louis. Crozat surrendered his charter in 1717, and Law's Mississippi company was formed the same year, its first expedition arriving in 1718, with a commission for Bienville as governor. He now founded the city of New Orleans. War breaking out between France and Spain, Bienville took Pensacola. placing Châteauguay, in command. In 1723 the seat of government was transferred to New Orleans.

On 16 Jan.. 1724, Bienville was summoned to France, to answer charges which had been brought against him. He left behind him the "code noir," which remained in force till the annexation of Louisiana to the United States, and much of it was incorporated in the law of the state.. This code regulated the condition of the slaves, banished the Jews, and prohibited every religion except the Roman Catholic. On 9 Aug., 1726. he was removed from office, and Chateauguay was also displaced' as lieutenant-governor, and ordered back to France. Bienville remained in France till 1733, when he was sent back to the colony as governor, with the rank of lieutenant-general. In 1730, 1739 and 1740 he made unsuccessful expeditions against the Chickasaw Indians, in consequence of which he was superseded, and in 1743 returned to France.

LORRIS MAY WIMBERLY, SR.

Lorris May Wimberly, Sr. (March 4, 1898 — May 2, 1962), was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1928-1940 and again from 1948-1956. A native and resident of Arcadia, the seat of Bienville Parish in north Louisiana, Wimberly was House Speaker from 1936-1940, 1950-1952, and from May 14-July 10, 1956. He was also the state highway department director during the 1940s and headed the Department of Public Works from 1956-1960. He was a member of the powerful Long political faction which dominated the state during most of Wimberly's public career.

Wimberly was born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Rush Wimberly, I. Rush Wimberly was a member of the Louisiana House from 1900-1908, the Louisiana State Senate from 1908-1912, and was thereafter a judge. Wimberly graduated from Arcadia High School. He made his living as a cattleman and farmer and was affiliated with the former Daniel, Bryan, and Turner Insurance Agency in Arcadia.

He was twice married. From his union to Jessie Faye Sherard (June 6, 1899 — July 25, 1934) was born a daughter, Faye Wimberly Mary (born 1921). She married the late Richard M. Mary, Sr. (born 1922), of Baton Rouge. After the death of his first wife, Wimberly in 1936 married the former Dorothy Knox (December 25, 1911 — November 1981) of Baton Rouge. From that union came Lorris M. Wimberly, Jr. (born 1946), a United Methodist minister. Wimberly had two grandsons: the half first cousins Richard Mary, Jr. (born 1951) and Lorris Knox Wimberly (born 1975), both of Baton Rouge.

Wimberly supported state-funded textbooks, a plank in the original Huey Pierce Long, Jr., platform. The textbooks proposal was first advanced by the Longite John Sparks Patton of Claiborne Parish, adjacent to Bienville Parish, who was later a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Wimberly's first stint as Speaker occurred when Longite Speaker Allen J. Ellender of Houma, the seat of Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana, was elected to the United States Senate. Wimberly served as the choice of Governor Richard Webster Leche of New Orleans (1936-1939), when Leche was forced to resign amid scandals known as the "Louisiana Hayride". From 1939-1940, Wimberly continued as Speaker under Governor Earl Kemp Long, who had succeeded to the top position from the lieutenant governorship with the departure of Leche.

Long called Wimberly back as Speaker — in Louisiana, the governor chooses the House speaker — in the middle of his second term in 1950. Governor Robert F. Kennon replaced Wimberly as Speaker in 1952 with his choice, conservative state Representative (and later lieutenant governor) Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock of Franklin, the seat of St. Mary Parish in south Louisiana. Long recalled Wimberly as Speaker only briefly in 1956 before naming him to head public works.

Long and Wimberly supported James Houston "Jimmie" Davis for governor in the 1959 Democratic runoff primary. Davis had north Louisiana roots, though he lived for years in Baton Rouge. He defeated then New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr. Long had been an unsuccessful candidate in the 1959 primary for lieutenant governor, the post ultimately having gone to Aycock. Wimberly did not seek office that year, as he was completing his tenure at public works.

While he was in the legislature, Wimberly represented only Bienville Parish. Prior to 1968, all parishes had at least one seat in the legislature regardless of population. The last member to represent only Bienville Parish was Len Lacy of Castor, who served from 1964-1968. Grave of Lorris Wimberly in Arcadia, Louisiana

Wimberly is interred beside his first wife in Arcadia Cemetery near the Bienville Parish Courthouse.

Wimberly was a cousin of D. C. Wimberly, a World War II prisoner of war and later an educator in Bienville and Webster parishes.

BACK

All data on this website is © Copyright 2008 by Genealogy Trails with full rights reserved for original submitters.