Lefebvre, Victor M., Sr.

Submitted by Mike Miller

Hon. Victor M. Lefebvre. By his character, his achievement and his loyal and effective stewardship this sterling citizen of Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, has signally added to the distinction of a family name that has long been one of no minor prominence in the annals of Louisiana history. Mr. Lefebvre, a former member of the Louisiana Senate, is president of the Atchafalaya Basin Levee Board, the jurisdiction of which extends from Donaldsonville, Louisiana, to Barbre Landing, on the Mississippi River, a distance of about 125 miles.

Victor M. Lefebvre was born in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, December 28, 1856, and there passed the period of his childhood and early youth. His early educational advantages were of excellent order, and that he is a man of scholarly attainments and liberal education has been due to the course of Study which he pursued in the historic old university at Pau, France, and to his appreciative application to study and reading in later years. He was about seventeen years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal to West Baton Rouge Parish, and in the passing years he became one of the extensive representatives of plantation industry in this parish, his retirement from the active management of his plantation estate having occurred in 1909, in which year he was elected to his present office, that of president of the Atchafalaya Basin Levee Board, in which connection he has given a most able and progressive administration.

Mr. Lefebvre has been a leader in the councils and campaign activities of the democratic party in this section of Louisiana, and characteristic loyalty and ability marked his constructive service as a member of the State Senate in the period of 1892-94, he having been representative of the senatorial district comprising Iberville and West Baton Rouge parishes. He served two years as sheriff of West Baton Rouge Parish, 1896-98, and resigned the office to become a member of the levee board of which he is now the president. He was a delegate from his parish to the Louisiana State Constitutional Convention of 1898. Mr. Lefebvre and his wife are zealous communicants of the Catholic Church, as members of the parish of the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in their home town of Port Allen, and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus.

Senator Lefebvre wedded Miss Elmire Charree, who was born in Iberville Parish, in 1862, and they have six children, concerning whom brief record is here entered: Emile J, is assistant cashier of the Iberville Bank and Trust Company, at Plaquemine. judicial center of Iberville Parish; Victor M, Jr., is the subject of a personal sketch on other pages of this publication; Charles S. resides at Port Allen and is in the employ of the levee board of which his father is president; Edward L., now in the employ of the railroad known as the Gulf Coast Line, like wise maintains his home at Port Allen, and he was in the military service of the nation during one year of the World war period; Albert H. likewise gave a year of military service in connection with the nation's participation in the World war, and gained the rank of sergeant, he being now a government levee inspector, with residence and headquarters at Port Allen; George R., who still retains his residence in the home city of Port Allen, is assistant superintendent of a sugar factory in Cuba, and in the World war period he was a member of the Student' Arm Training Corps at the University where he was a student at the time.

Emile M. Lefebvre, father of him whose name initiates this review, was born in the City of New Orleans, in 1824, and was an honored and influential citizen of West Baton Rouge Parish at the time of his death, in 1900, he having been one of the extensive planters of this parish. His first wife, who died in 1864, while they were residing in Iberville parish, bore the maiden name of Marceline Bossier and was born in St. John the Baptist Parish, in 1829. After the death of his first wife Mr. Lefebvre eventually contracted a second marriage, when Miss Olivia Gassie became his wife, she having passed her entire life in West Baton Rouge Parish.

Modeste Lefebvre, great-grandfather of the subject of this review, was born and reared in France, and he came thence from Honfleur to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he became the first wine merchant of the city and where also he had the distinction of organizing the first Masonic lodge, Perseverance Lodge No. 1, A. F. and A. M.

Victor M. Lefebvre, Sr., of this sketch, is the owner of valuable real estate at Port Allen, including his attractive home place, situated opposite the parish courthouse, and he maintains his office in the modern building of the Bank of West Baton Rouge.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 112-113, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.