Burthe, Charles A.

Submitted by Mike Miller

Burthe, Charles A., prominently identified with the management of the wholesale grocery firm of H. T. Cottam & Co., Ltd., New Orleans, was born at New Orleans, La., Sept. 2, 1878; son of L. Andre and Nathalie (Chalard) Burthe, both of whom were born in the city of New Orleans, the former March 22, 1844, and the latter July 7, 1854. Gen. Andre Burthe, a paternal ancestor of the family, actively participated in the Napoleonic campaigns, during which he won such recognition for gallantry, loyalty and personal bravery that he was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor, the Grand Cross and the Iron Cross, and throughout the remainder of his career bore himself in keeping with these distinguished honors. In later life he took a prominent part in civil as well as military affairs, and in the course of these activities served as a member of the commission entrusted with adjusting the details of the Louisiana purchase. The paternal great-grand father, D. F. Burthe, took part in the military operations involved in the historic French revolution, at that time holding a lieutenant's commission in the French army. The paternal grandfather, Victor Burthe, was born in Paris, France, and in recognition of his patriotic services was decorated with the ''Croix de Juillet" for leading law school students in the coup d'etat of Louis Phillipe of France. After having come to America, and located at New Orleans, he was no less active in his service to the people among whom he was living than he previously had been in the land of his nativity. During the Civil war he served as a captain of the Orleans Guard, a body of men delegated to the difficult task of protecting property and the homes and lives of the people of New Orleans under the chaotic conditions attendant upon the general strife and turmoil of Civil war times. After the surrender he occupied the bench as a judge of the district court. In his social connections he served as president of the Boston club. L. Andre Burthe, father of the subject of this sketch, though born at New Orleans, was educated chiefly in France, where he attended the Saint Cyr military school, from which he graduated, afterward serving in the French army, with the rank of lieutenant. With his command he participated in the Mexican campaign. Later he returned to the United States and, like his eminent father, bore a prominent part in public affairs throughout the remainder of a very active and highly useful life. He died at New York, in the year 1893, but is at this time survived by his wife, who resides in the city of New Orleans. She is descended from a prominent family of French and Spanish origin. Charles A. Burthe, the subject of this sketch, was the second of two children born to his parents, the elder being now Dr. J. Leo Burthe, an eminent practicing physician of the city of New Orleans, elsewhere referred to in this work. In the course of his finished academic education, Charles A. Burthe passed 6 years in the city of New York --1888 to 1894 inclusive--where he graduated from high school. Following this, the young man returned to New Orleans and matriculated in Tulane university, from which excellent institution he graduated in due time. His education being now completed, in the year 1896 he entered the service of H. T. Cottam & Co., Ltd., wholesale grocers of New Orleans, in the capacity of a shipping clerk, and through the succeeding years has steadily advanced from one grade of employment to another--always upward--until today he occupies the important position of manager, and has the supervision and direction of the intricate internal organization of one of the city's largest and most important mercantile corporations, in which he also is a stockholder. The volume of business handled by this firm, wholesale exclusively, is very probably as large as that handled by any other one house in the South, in any line of business. Mr. Burthe also is a stockholder and member of the board of directors of the Klotz cracker factory. He is a member of the New Orleans Polo club, the Delta Duck club, City Park Gun club and Boston club.

Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 495-496. Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.