LOUISIANA: Poydras' Brides

Sometime in the 18th Century, the heart of Julien Poydras was broken. This week Mmes Marjorie Goudeau Vessier, Elizabeth Thibodeaux St. Romain, Myrtle Peavy Ashley and 18 other Louisiana brides will profit from the sequel to his sorrow.

Julien Poydras, son of poor peasants at Nantes in France, loved a peasant girl. She had no dot, he had no money, and her parents took the French view of love without francs. Deprived of his intended, young Julien in 1768 took his heart to America, in Louisiana rose from peddler to owner of many acres and slaves. When he died, rich and unwed, in 1824, he bequeathed to the neighboring parishes of Pointe Coupée and West Baton Rouge $30,000 each, ". . . the interest ... to be employed in giving a dowry to all girls of the said parish who get married—the unfortunate always to be preferred."

Pointe Coupée eventually diverted its inheritance to building a school, but except in the Civil War years, West Baton Rouge annually had distributed the interest on Julien Poydras' money to dark, full-breasted Creole brides. Of the $2,400 or so paid each year, the poorest brides get the most. Just how much each receives is the secret of the three commissioners who administer the fund. Otherwise, jealousies might cloud the fame of Julien Poydras.