Julien de Lallande Poydras

Who was Julien de Lallande Poydras?

Julien de Lallande Poydras was a French-American merchant, planter, financier, poet, educator and political leader who served as Delegate from the Territory of Orleans to the U.S. House of Representatives. He was a catalyst in the promotion of Louisiana statehood and helped draft the state's first constitution.

He was born in Rezé, Pays-de-la-Loire, France. He served in the French Navy, and was captured by the British in 1760 and taken to England. He escaped on board a West Indian merchantman to Saint-Domingue, from which he emigrated to Louisiana in 1768.

Poydras was a pioneer businessman of Louisiana, trading first as an itinerant merchant before establishing stores in his domicile of Pointe Coupee. He invested in real estate, buying and selling plantations, and retaining some major properties for the cultivation of cotton and sugar cane. He built a number of structures in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including North Bend plantation home on False River.