George Eustis Sr.

George Eustis Sr. (October 20, 1796 – December 22, 1858) was Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1838. He was also one of the founders of the Pontchartrain Railroad and a benefactor of the University of Louisiana, now Tulane University.

Not to be confused with George Eustice.
George Eustis Sr.
Secretary of State of Louisiana
In office
1832–1834
GovernorAndre B. Roman
Preceded byGeorge A. Waggaman
Succeeded byMartin Blache
Attorney General of Louisiana
In office
1830–1832
GovernorJacques Dupré
Andre B. Roman
Preceded byAlonzo Morphy
Succeeded byEtienne Mazureau
Personal details
Born(1796-10-20)20 October 1796
Boston, Massachusetts
Died22 December 1858(1858-12-22) (aged 62)
New Orleans, Louisiana
Resting placeFirst Church in Jamaica Plain Cemetery, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
42.30976°N 71.11594°W / 42.30976; -71.11594
Political partyWhig
Spouse(s)
Clarisse Allain
​
(
m. 1825; his death 1858)
RelationsWilliam Eustis (uncle)
Children6, including George Jr., James
ParentsJacob Eustis
Elizabeth Saunders Gray
EducationHarvard College (1815)
Known forFirst Justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana

Early life

George Eustis was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 20, 1796 to Jacob Eustis (1759–1834) and Elizabeth Saunders Gray. He attended and graduated from Harvard University in 1815.

Career

In 1815, he was appointed as private secretary to his uncle, William Eustis, who was then serving as Minister to the Netherlands. Having begun studying law while in the Netherlands, Eustis settled in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1817, completed his studies, and was admitted to the bar.

A Whig, Eustis served three terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives in the 1820s. He was Louisiana Attorney General from 1830-1832, and from 1832 to 1834 he was Secretary of State. As Secretary of State he helped establish Medical College of Louisiana, which received its charter in 1835.

From 1838 to 1839, Eustis was a Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. He was a delegate to Louisiana's 1845 constitutional convention, where he secured approval for establishment of the University of Louisiana. The University received its charter in 1847, and he was ex officio President of the original Board of Trustees.

In 1846, Eustis became the first Chief Justice of Louisiana Supreme Court, and he served until the court was reorganized in 1852.[1]

Personal life

On April 18, 1825 Eustis married Clarisse Allain (1800–1876),[2] the daughter of Valérien Allain and Céleste (née Duralde) Allain. She was the granddaughter of François Allain, a native of Brittany, France who emigrated to Louisiana after serving in the French Army in 1745 at the Battle of Fontenoy.[3][4] Clarisse was the niece of Julie (née Duralde) Clay and John Clay, the brother of Henry Clay,[5] and Marie Clarisse Duralde (1779–1809), who married William C. C. Claiborne (1773/5–1817), Governor of Louisiana.[3] Her uncle, Martin Duralde Jr. (1785–1848) married Susan Hart Clay (1805–1825), the daughter of Henry Clay.[6] They were the parents of:[7][8]

  • George Eustis Jr. (1828–1872), a member of the U.S. House of Representatives who married Louise Morris Corcoran (1838-1867), daughter of William Wilson Corcoran.[9]
  • Allain Eustis (1830–1936), who married Anais de Saint Manat (b. 1832)[3]
  • Marie Mathilde Eustis (b. 1831), who married, Charles E. Johnston of Allerton Hall, Liverpool,[3] on September 11, 1856.[8][10] Johnston's sister, Eliza Fanny (1836–1890), was married to Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield (1820–1894).[11]
  • John Gray Eustis (b. 1833)
  • James Biddle Eustis (1834–1899), a United States Senator and Ambassador to France who married Ellen Buckner (1836–1895).[12]
  • Celestine Eustis (1836–1921)

Chief Justice Eustis died in New Orleans on December 22, 1858. His remains were taken aboard the steamship Cahawba for the trip north so they could be interred in the family tomb in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, a fact noted by Richard Henry Dana Jr. author of the celebrated Two Years Before the Mast. Dana was traveling on the same vessel, as described in his 1859 work To Cuba and Back.[13]

Descendants

His granddaughter, Louise Mary Eustis (1867–1934), was married to noted polo player Thomas Hitchcock Sr. (1860–1941).[14]

His grandson through his son Allain, George Patrick Eustis (1860–1927), was the maternal grandfather of William Wayne McMillan Rogers III (1933–2015), better known as actor Wayne Rogers.[15]

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References
Notes
  1. "Dictionary E - Louisiana Historical Association". Lahistory.org. Archived from the original on 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  2. "EUSTIS, George, Sr". www.lahistory.org. Louisiana Historical Association. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  3. King, Grace Elizabeth (1921). Creole Families of New Orleans. The MacMillan Company. pp. 446–447. Retrieved 15 May 2017. Anais eustis.
  4. Arthur, Stanley Clisby; Huchet de Kernion, George Campbell (June 1, 2009). Old Families of Louisiana. Genealogical Publishing Com. ISBN 9780806346885. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  5. Clay, Henry. The Papers of Henry Clay. Volume 7: Secretary of State, January 1, 1828-March 4, 1829. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813130506. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  6. The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer, Vol. 42. Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer Company. March 13, 1909. p. 163. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  7. Clark, John Spencer; Morse, John Torrey (1835). Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society | October, 1915 - June, 1916 | Volume XLIX. Boston: The Society. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  8. Eustis, Henry Lawrence (1878). Genealogy of the Eustis Family. David Clapp & Son. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  9. "LOUISE MARY EUSTIS MARRIED.; THE HAPPY BRIDEGROOM IS THOMAS HITCHCOCK, JR., OF THIS CITY". The New York Times. 28 August 1891. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  10. MARRIAGES. The Economist | Economist Newspaper Limited. November 1, 1856. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  11. Foster, Joseph (1881). The Baronetage and Knightage | Volume 2 of The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of the British Empire for 1881. Nichols and Sons. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  12. Times, Special To The New York (10 September 1899). "DEATH OF JAMES B. EUSTIS; Ex-Ambassador to France Expired Last Night at Newport. HIS DISTINGUISHED CAREER Served in the Confederate Army on Gen. Magruder's Staff and Was Fourteen Years in the Senate". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  13. Dana Jr., Richard Henry (1859). To Cuba and Back: A Vacation Voyage. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 249.
  14. Times, Special To The New York (2 April 1934). "MRS. HITCHCOCK SR. DEAD OF IRJIJRIES; Noted Horsewoman Victim of Paralysis Due to Fall in Hunt at Aiken". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  15. Dabney, Richard (November 8, 2006). Birmingham's Highland Park. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781439617496. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
Sources
Legal offices
Preceded by
Alonzo Morphy		 Attorney General of Louisiana
1830–1833		 Succeeded by
Etienne Mazureau
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