Moyse, Hermann

Submitted by Mike Miller

Hermann Moyse, one of the able and popular younger members of the bar of Baton Rouge, is junior member of the law firm of Cross & Moyse, and of his partner, T. Jones Cross, a veteran member of the bar of the capital city, specific mention of whom is made in the preceding sketch.

Mr. Moyse was born at St. Gabriel, Iberville Parish, Louisiana, September 11, 1891, and is named in honor of iris paternal grandfather, the late Hermann Moyse, who was born in Nancy, France, where he passed the major part of his life, he having been a resident of the City of Paris. France, at the time of his death, in the spring of 1891.

Simon Moyse, father of him whose name initiates this review, was born at Nancy, France, August 25, 1853, and there he was reared and educated. In 1872, as a youth of seventeen years, he came to the United States and established his residence at Donaldsonville, Louisiana, where he became a successful merchant. In 1881 he established himself in the general merchandise business at St. Gabriel, and since 1916 he has been one of the leading retail merchants in the City of Baton Rouge, where he is vice president of the incorporated mercantile concern bearing the title of Sommers, Incorporated. He is aligned loyally in the democratic party, and he and his wife are active members of Congregation B'nai Israel. Mrs. Moyse, whose maiden name was Flora Joseph, was born in the Province of Lorraine, France, March 4, 1857. Harriet, eldest of the children, is the wife of Leopold Sommer, president of Sommers, Incorporated, Baton Rouge; Jeanne is the wife of Gabriel Kahn, secretary and treasurer of Sommers, incorporated; Carrie is the wife of Max Mansberg, assistant manager of the Krauss Company, New Orleans; Ike resides at Baton Rouge and is a civil engineer by profession; Hermann, of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; and Stella is the wife of Edward K. Hirsch, M. D., of Baton Rouge.

Hermann Moyse is indebted to the public schools of St. Gabriel and New Orleans for his earlier educational discipline, and for seven years he was a student in the Louisiana State University, from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1910, and in the law department of which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1912, his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws having been deputy of the Southern District of Louisiana Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

A chapter in the life history of Mr. Moyse that shall ever stand in evidence of his loyalty and patriotism is that which records his gallant service as a soldier in the World war, and special consistency attended this service by reason of his ancestral connections in France. On the 6th of May, 1917, he became one of the earliest Louisiana volunteers, and was sent to Fort Logan H. Roots, Little Rock, Arkansas, where he entered the First Officers Training Camp and where he won, August 15, 1917, his commission as a second lieutenant of infantry. On the last day of that month he was assigned to the Thirty-second Division at Waco, Texas, and on the 4th of the following month there received commission as first lieutenant. In January, 1918, Mr. Moyse went overseas as a member of the advance party of the Thirty-second Division, and in this division he served as a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Infantry until July 31, 1918. He was for two months in the trenches of the Alsace sector, and while participating in the Aisne-Marne offensive he was severely wounded, July 21, 1918, when he was shot through one of his lungs and suffered the loss of two toes, which were shot off by a machine gun. Thereafter he was confined in hospital until November 8, 1918, from which date forward to April 20, 1919, he was in service as assistant to the adjutant general of the Service of Supply at Tours, France. He returned home with the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Infantry, and at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, he received his honorable discharge May 21, 1919. He was commissioned a captain in the Reserve Corps of the United States Army, and this rank is his at the present the. Captain Moyse received from the United States Government its highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross, and from the French government the Croix de Guerre, with palm. The Captain maintains the deepest of interest in his old comrades, and that his popularity among them is unstinted needs no further evidence than [has] been soon followed by his admission to the bar ~ the 11th of September, 1912. At the University he became a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and held various offices in his class, besides which he was president of tire University Athletic Association in 1911-12. Since his admission to the bar he has made a record of excellent achievement in his profession, and is a member of one of the leading law firms of Baton Rouge, with offices in the Roumain Building.

Elected as a candidate on the democratic ticket, Mr. Moyse has represented East Baton Rouge Parish in the State Legislature since 1921, his term expiring at the close of 1924. In 1916-17 he was a member of the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State Normal School at Natchitoches, and since 1919 he has been a valued member of the Board of Supervisors of the State Colony and Training School at Alexandria. He and his wife are active members of Congregation B'nai Israel, and he is treasurer and a director of the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce. He is affiliated with the East Baton Rouge Parish Bar Association, is vice president of the Louisiana State Bar Association, and is a member of the American Bar Association.

Mr. Moyse is a member of St. James Lodge No. 47, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; is past exalted ruler of Eaton Rouge Lodge No. 490, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and at the time of this writing, in 1924, he is serving as district statement that he is now (1924) serving as commander of the Louisiana Department of the American Legion.

September 30, 1920, recorded the marriage of Captain Moyse and Miss Rosalie Gottlieb, daughter of Joseph and Rebecca (Hahn) Gottlieb, of Baton Rouge, where Mr. Gotthieb is president of the Union Bank & Trust Company. Mrs. Moyse was graduated from the Louisiana State University, as a member of the class of 1918 and with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Captain and Mrs. Moyse have a fine little son, Hermann, Jr., born August 3, 1921.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 335-336, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.