1925 Biography - Alfred D. St. Amant

Alfred D. St. Amant, student, scholar, business man, is the managing owner of one of the leading general insurance firms of Baton Rouge. As an insurance man his success has been phenomenal, for within five years of its beginning his office has secured its full share of the insurance on Private property of the city and virtually all of the desirable publicly owned property including the entire Louisiana State University, Southern University, State School for the Deaf, and State School for the Blind, besides other minor institutions.

Such success as is above recorded is not surprising when one knows the stock from which the subject of this sketch sprung. On his mother's side he is a direct descendant of pioneer stock of Virginia and Alabama, his great- grandfather, Col. Isaac Parker, having been one of the founders of the Republic of Texas and one of the makers of its constitution. His mother, who was Lucy Halle, of Texas, not only bears all the marks of refinement to which a long line of cultured ancestry entitle her, but is a writer of verse of more than ordinary poetic quality.

On his father's side there is not so much of the poet or statesman as of the trail maker and warrior. One of the earliest records in the old St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans is that of the marriage on April 13, l722, of Jean Francois Daspit de Saint Amant and Marie Françoise Du Buisson, Jean Francois having left France after informing his parents, Jean Daspit (de Saint Amant) and Dominique Daspit, nee Bougilliere, that he refused to follow the time honored custom of the oldest son of each branch of that family becoming a priest. From this early identification with the history of Louisiana in its very early Colonial days the family has occupied, through one branch or another, a leading place in private enterprise and public service, all the while characterizing itself with a quiet, modest attitude of practically never seeking public office or favor, though always standing ready to serve.

This attitude is exemplified by Pierre Daspit de St. Amant (born 1723), son of the above referred to couple, whose services and distinction are a matter of record and of his son, Major Alexis Alexandre St. Amant (born 1761), who with others of Colonial military experience organized and trained the young state militia, and as major brought his troops through the battle of New Orleans after they had been mustered into the United States Army for that purpose, retiring to private life on March 9, 1815, after that service was completed.

It is interesting to note that Major Alexandré St. Amant's son, Venance, the grandfather of Alfred D. St. Amant, was one of the pioneer physicians of Ascension Parish and that Alfred D. St. Amant's father, Francois Alfred St. Amant, was one of the pioneer Mississippi River pilots and captains, his later years being spent in charge of the ferry boats operating at Baton Rouge.

Alfred D. St. Amant was born November 3, 1882, in Lovelady, Texas, though he was reared and educated in Baton Rouge, his parents having moved to Louisiana in 1884. Besides a public school education he holds the degree of Bachelor of Science as well as Master of Arts from the Louisiana State University.

His early work was the result of the desire to serve, so characteristic of his ancestors, i.e., school teaching. As a public school teacher he was principal of several leading high schools of the state, though in his early career he was called to the State Normal School, where for six years he was in charge of the social science department. The last position he occupied was that of professor of history and economics in the University of Florida at Gainesville.

It was in his early days as an educator, while teaching at the North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College in Raleigh, that he married Miss Lucy Clifton Andrews, direct descendent of Sir John and Sir Richard Hawkins (see Ency. Brit.), and of Gov. William Hawkins (N. C., 1811-1814) and Gov. Daniel F. Fowle (N. C., 1889-91), her grandfather. Besides these she numbers among her close cousins such figures as Gov. Robert B. Glenn (N. C., 1905-09) and John Sharpe Williams.

To this union there were six children born, namely: Augusta Ford, Alfred D., Jr., Margaret Lucy, Thomas Harris, Philemon Andrews and Francis Chester. In fact the opportunity for better providing for and training these future citizens proved the deciding factor in causing the subject of this sketch to enter commercial fields.

During the great war Mr. St. Amant, not perfectly qualified in age and physique for military service, was selected by the United States War Department as director of war aims courses and assigned to the University of Florida to instruct the soldiers in training there. It was at the signing of the armistice in 1918 that he was engaged as professor of history and economics by that institution.

While to a stranger Alfred D. St. Amant may seem an unusually quiet and unobtrusive person, those who know him best say that he possesses a fund of knowledge equaled by few with whom he comes in contact, an ability at conversation which immediately gives him the floor when he cares to speak, a style of writing which is unusually easy to read, and fighting qualities which would cause an opponent to consider long before forcing an issue.

Besides several bulletins and pamphlets on various public questions (see "Popular Control," 1914) Mr. St. Amant has written a number of poems, though the latter were never offered to the public except in a few cases and then not signed by the author.

In addition to two brothers, Chester Phillips St. Amant, of Baton Rouge, and Samuel Edgar St. Amant, of New York, and one sister, Mrs. G. Thomas McQuillen, of Long Beach, California, Mr. St. Amant has many relatives in Louisiana, particularly in Ascension Parish at Gonzales, St. Amant and Donaldsonville. All of these are noted for their leadership in public service, though in only One case has any of them sought public office. Suffice it to say that in this case, that of Albert Sidney St. Amant, assessor of Ascension, he has not only been repeatedly successful but usually is unopposed for the office.

Mr. St. Amant is a member of De Soto Lodge Independent Order of Odd Fellows, St. James Lodge No. 47, Free and Accepted Masons, and Washington Chapter No. 57, Royal Arch Masons, while he and Mrs. St. Amant are members of Naomi Chapter No. 38, Order Eastern Star. At the time of the writing of this sketch their eldest daughter, Auguste Ford St. Amant, occupies the office of worthy advisor in Assembly No. 3, Order of the Rainbow.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 241-242.