Cambon, Henry

Submitted by Mike Miller Cambon, Henry, well-known business man and popular citizen of New Orleans, was born at New Orleans, La., April 18, 1862; son of Sylvester J., Sr., and Mary (O'Sullivan) Cambon, the former of whom was a native of Paris, France, and the latter of Dublin, Ireland. Sylvester J. Cambon, Sr., the father, came to America and located at New Orleans when yet a young man, embarking in business as an importer. Later he became, in association with his business partner, one of the largest wholesale merchants of the Crescent City, and was interested in banking, as well as having various other important connections and associations in the city and throughout the adjacent territory. He remained in active management of these interests during a period of about 30 years and then removed to the country to assume personal supervision of his large interests in sugar planting. His death occurred a few years later as a result of exposure to which he subjected himself in paying off his employes [sic] at a time when he was too ill to have done so, he made a large gift to the French government at the time of the Franco-German war, and was in turn designated by the French republic for signal honors. He was one of the most interesting figures of Louisiana life during the past generation, and is elsewhere specifically referred to in this work, which article the reader should examine. (See Sylvester J. Cambon, Sr.). In the course of his very complete education, Henry Cambon, the subject of this sketch, attended Romain's private school at New Orleans, where he was a classmate of the late distinguished Prof. Alceé Fortier of the faculty of Tulane university. Upon his graduation from this school Henry Cambon entered Spring Hill college, conducted by the Jesuit order at Mobile, Ala., and in this institution was a classmate, respectively, of John Wogan, Charles and George Theard, George Sarpy, and others from New Orleans, who have since become distinguished in various lines of endeavor. He remained a student of this latter institution during a period of 6 years, and upon completion of the courses of study undertaken during that time, entered Yale college, where his studies were interrupted and terminated by the untimely death of his father as above related, and he was obliged to return home to assume the management of the father's large estate. He removed the family from Union plantation to Grand Caillou plantation, in Terrebonne parish, the better to direct the operations of the sugar-planting interests of the estate. From thence he went to Iberia parish, remaining 5 years on Grand Côte plantation, better known as Week's island; then removed to St. John the Baptist parish, on the Union and San Francisco plantations, until 1909. In 1908 his family returned to New Orleans, and have remained resident in the latter city since that date. Mr. Cambon is a member of the Catholic church, and is affiliated with the republican party, in the activities of which he has at all times taken an especially lively interest and prominent part in discharging the obligations of citizenship. June 5, 1885, Mr. Cambon was married to Miss Ernestine Millet, a daughter of Adelard and Josephine (Bacas) Millet, of St. John the Baptist parish. To their union 6 children have been born, namely: Sylvester, Rita, Etienne, Dominique, Raoul and Lucy. Sylvester, the first-born, died of diphtheria when 2 years old.

Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 499-500. Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.