1925 Biography - Joseph S. Favrot

Joseph St. Clair Favrot, secretary of the Louisiana Tax Commission, is one of the popular citizens and state officials in his native city of Baton Rouge, and is a scion of one of the oldest and most distinguished French families of the 'ancién regime' in Louisiana. He is of the fifth generation in line of direct descent from Joseph Claude de Favrot, who was born in France, December 6, 1701, and who, as a member of the French army, came to Louisiana in 1732 with the earliest colonists. Here his death occurred in the year 1763. His father, Sir Joseph de Favrot, was an engineer of camps and frontier fortifications under Vauban, the celebrated French engineer, and was a brigadier general in the armies of Louis the Fourteenth, his seal showing the rank of count of the French court, and he was the constructor of the forts of Verdun when they were first erected. Pierre Joseph de Favrot, great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was born in New Orleans, July 16, 1749, and there his death occurred July 20, 1824. His wife, whose maiden name was Marie Francoise Gerard, was born September 12, 1763, and died April 12, 1842. Henri Bouvier Favrot, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in New Orleans, April 11, l799, and his death occurred December 24, 1881. He wedded Miss Marie Aurore Villars, who was born in New Orleans, on the 7th of September, 1809, and who passed to eternal rest on the 5th of February 1877. Representatives of this honored family were patriot soldiers in the 'War of the Revolution, and the War of 1812 received gallant soldiers from the same family, as did also the Confederate service in the Civil war, and the military prestige of the family name was upheld by Joseph St. Clair Favrot by his service as a soldier in the Spanish-American war, he having been elected, in 1906, secretary of the Spanish-American War Veterans' Fund Commission, besides which, by appointment in 1923, he was chosen provisional division commander of the United Spanish War Veterans of Louisiana and unanimously elected department commander at the encampment held in 1924. The year 1923 recorded also his appointment to the position of division commander of the Louisiana organization of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which position he still holds.

Joseph St. Clair Favrot was born at Baton Rouge on the 1st of August, 1872, and is a son of Joseph Claude Favrot and Eliza Theresa (Williamson) Favrot, the former of whom was born at Baton Rouge, March 19, 1846, and the latter of whom was born at Natchez, Mississippi, December 5, 1849. The death of the father occurred December 10, 1915, and that of the widowed mother on the 5th of April, 1919. Of the children of this union the first born, William, died in infancy; Joseph St. Clair, of this review, was the next in order of birth; Sidney and Claude died of yellow fever in 1878; Florence is the wife of Thomas Parish, who is a general contractor now residing in Texas, his business operations having extended into many sections of the United States; Lucile is the wife of Stewart Thomas who is in the employ of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana, with residence at Baton Rouge; Blanche is the wife of Leo Herbert, who is an engineer in the service of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, with residence and executive headquarters at Memphis, Tennessee; Joseph Claude, Jr.; is employed in his native city of Baton Rouge; Camille is the wife of William Lloyd, who is he associated with a leading laundry concern.

The late Joseph Claude Favrot maintained a home in Baton Rouge during his entire life, which was marked by high ideals and worthy achievements. He was a valiant soldier of the Confederacy through out the entire period of the Civil war, and after the close of this conflict he served many years as wharf master at the port of Baton Rouge. He is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the democratic party. He was a man of courtly presence, urbane, kindly and generous, and he commanded the high regard of all who knew him.

After a course in the Magruder Collegiate Institute at Baton Rouge, Joseph St. Clair Favrot continued as a student in Jefferson College at Convent,. St. James Parish, until 1888, when he returned to his native city and took a position with the Rouge News Publishing Company, and he continued his alliance with newspaper work in Baton Rouge, at varying intervals, for several years, besides having for a number of years a representative of the New Orleans Times-Democrat, in the capital City mainly.

Mr. Favrot promptly enlisted when the nation became involved in war with Spain, and was a member of Company E, First Louisiana Volunteer Infantry, with which he continued in service until the close of the war in Cuba. He has continuously maintained his home in his native city, is associated with many representative organizations in the city and state, and has been called upon to serve in various offices of public trust. In 1912 he was elected secretary of the Louisiana State Teachers' Examination Committee; in 1911 he became assistant secretary of the State Board of Equalization, and in 1913 he was advanced to the position of secretary; in 1917 he was elected secretary of the Board of State Affairs, and of this office he has continued the efficient and valued incumbent since that body was reorganized and constituted the Louisiana Tax Commission, by provision of the new State Constitution of 1921. On the 14th of August, 1916, at the request of the French government, President Wilson appointed Mr. Favrot consular agent of France at Baton Rouge, but in the following year he resigned this post, owing to his being in the service of the State Board of Affairs.

From 1921 until the early part of the year 1924 Mr. Favrot held the office of grand sachem of the Louisiana Reservation of the Improved Order of Red Men. He is affiliated with the Louisiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (National No. 34304, and State No. 369), at New Orleans; he holds membership in the Society of the War of 1812 at Philadelphia, and at Baton Rouge he is affiliated with Lee-Scott Camp, United Spanish War Veterans, and A. F. Boyd Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He is a member also of the Louisiana Colonials No. 72 at New Orleans, and in the same city is a life member of the Louisiana Association, U. S. D., 1776-1812. He is a member of Baton Rouge Council No. 469, United Commercial Travelers, is president of the Historical Society of East and West Baton Rouge Parishes, is a member of the Louisiana Historical Society, and is a member of the Society for the Preservation of Historical Tombs, at New Orleans.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 76-77.