1925 Biography - Hannis T. Bourgeois

Hannis Taylor Bourgeois, who is a skilled and certified public accountant, has built up a substantial and representative business in the City of Baton Rouge. where he maintains his office at 411 Roumain Building.

Mr. Bourgeois was born at Lutcher, St. James Parish, Louisiana, December 15, 1897, and is a scion of one of the old and honored families of that parish. There his grandfather, Theodore Bourgeois, passed his entire life and was closely associated with plantation industry throughout his active career, besides which he was a gallant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war. His wife, whose maiden name was Eugenie Laiche, likewise was born in St. James Parish, and there she continued to reside until her death.

Felix Bourgeois, father of him whose name initiates this sketch, was born in St. James Parish, in 1869, and there resided at Lutcher the greater part of his life, his death having occurred October 13, 1904. There he long had management of the local business of the Auheuser-Busch Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri. He was a democrat, was affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, and was a communicant of the Catholic Church, as is also his widow. Mrs. Bourgeois, whose maiden name was Stella Dicharry, was born at Convent, St. James Parish, December 29, 1868, and now resides in the City of Baton Rouge. Grandfather Florian B. Dicharry was a lifelong resident of Convent, Louisiana. He founded Le Foyer Creole, one of Louisiana's oldest newspapers, which newspaper is still in existence under the name of the Interim and is still being published by a member of the Dicharry family. Mr. Dicharry was one of the state's foremost architects, and St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Baton Rouge is and remains one of his crowning achievements. Grandmother, Mrs. Florian B. Dicharry (whose maiden name was Estelle Jourdan), is a descendant of an old family of France. One of her ancestors, Count Jean Baptiste Jourdan (born 1762-died 1833) at one time was a marshal of France. He entered the army at sixteen, and, after seeing service in North America, rose under the republic to the rank of a General of Division. In September, 1793, he obtained the command of the Army of the North, and on October 16 defeated the Austrians at Wattignies. In 1794 and 1795 he commanded the Army of the Meuse and Sambre, and with it gained the victory of Fleurus, on June 26, 1794, drove the Austrians back across the Rhine, took Luxemberg, and laid siege to Mainz. But on October 11, 1795, he was defeated at Hochst, and thus compelled to retreat over the Rhine. Crossing the river again in 1796, he penetrated as far as Bavaria, but was there beaten by the Archduke Charles at Amberg and Wurzburg; his discomfiture made him resign his command. In 1799 the Directory entrusted him with the command of the Army of the Danube; but he was again defeated by the Archduke Charles at Ostrach and at Stockach. The First Consul employed him in 1800 in the reorganization and administration of Piedmont; and on the establishment of the empire in 1804 he was made a marshal and a member of the Council of State. In 1806 he was nominated governor of Naples, and afterward accompanied King Joseph Napoleon to Spain as chief of his staff. Louis XVII made him a count in 1819. But his republican principles led him to enter heartily into the revolution of 1830. He died in Paris, November 23, 1833.

Felix Bourgeois is survived by three children, of whom Hannis T., of this review, is the eldest. Dudley J. resides in Baton Rouge and is employed as a gauger for the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana. He was a student in Jefferson College at the time of the World war, and there served as a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps. Nelson A. is traffic clerk in the Baton Rouge offices of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana.

In the public schools of his native town of Lutcher the educational discipline of Hannis T. Bourgeois included that of the high school, and in 1915 he was graduated in the commercial department of Jefferson College at Convent, St. James Parish. In the same year he assumed a clerical position in the employ of the Colonial Sugar Company at Gramercy, that parish, and six months later he became bookkeeper in the Baton Rouge offices of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana. He continued in this position until the nation became involved in the World war, when he promptly volunteered for military service, in May, 1917. He was sent to Leon Springs, Texas, and assigned to the Engineer Corps, in which he was transferred six months later to Corpus Christi, that state. In September, 1918, as a member of the Fifth Engineer Train, Seventh Division, he sailed for overseas service. With his command he disembarked at Brest, France, on the 13th of that month, and he soon afterward participated actively in the now historic St. Mihiel offensive. Later he was stationed at Boullionville, and his regiment escorted President Wilson on the latter's return voyage to the United States, on the government vessel "George Washington," after his participation in the great peace conference that followed the close of the war. Mr. Bourgeois landed in the Port of Boston, Massachusetts, February 21, 1919, and at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, he received his honorable discharge on the 28th of the following March.

After the close of his war service Mr. Bourgeois resumed his position with the Standard Oil Company, but on the 25th of January, 1920, he went to Greenville, Mississippi, and engaged in business as a public accountant. There he remained until June 1 of the following year, and he continued in similar service at Memphis, Tennessee, until the 15th of the following August. On the 1st of September of that year he opened his office in Baton Rouge, where he has since continued in the successful work of his profession, that of certified public accountant. He holds also the office of notary public. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, he is a member of the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with Baton Rouge Lodge No. 490, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and while a resident of Greenville, Mississippi, he there held membership in the Country Club and the Elysian Club. He is also a member of the American Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Louisiana Society of Certified Public Accountants and of Nicholson Post No. 38, American Legion.

His name still appears on the roster of eligible and popular young bachelors in the capital city of Louisiana.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 133-134.