Taking part in the history of St. Charles Parish

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 27, 2001

LEONARD GRAY

PHOTO: Leon C. “Sonny” Vial III, a Hahnville attorney, examines a photograph of his grandfather, Leon Vial Sr., who helped establish the Vial political dynasty in St. Charles Parish. (Staff Photo by Leonard Gray) The Vial family has guided, influenced and affected St. Charles Parish in practically every aspect for more than 80 years – and still has a strong hand in events today. Two its members, Leon C. “Sonny” Vial III and Dr. David Jerry Vial, recently recalled their family history. The earliest mention of the Vial name dates back to 1651 in Ternay-en-Dauphine, a town 10 miles south of Lyon, France, according to family documents. The earliest Vials in southeast Louisiana were Charles Francois Leon Vial, born 1813 in Lyon, and his wife, Marie “Lise” Richard, born 1806 in Paris. They married in 1833 and sailed to Mexico City. Due to the outbreak of war four years later, they uprooted and arrived in New Orleans on Feb. 11, 1839. By 1850, the family was located near the present-day Edgard and by the 1870 census, were located in Boutte. He died in 1873, his wife in 1895. Both were buried in Edgard. Although the couple had six children, with many of their descendents still living in St. Charles Parish, the progeny of Louis Adolphe Vial (1842-1910) had the most political influence. He married Louise Bossier in 1860 and they had eight children, including Leon Charles (born 1878) and Richard John (born 1883). As a teen-ager, Leon C. Vial worked in the Clerk of Court office of John Baptiste Martin, which brought him in close contact with the Martin family, as well as immersed him in the hotbed of parish politics. He married Celeste Martin, J.B. Martin’s daughter, on Jan. 28, 1902. Leon’s sister, Leonide Mary, married J.B. Martin on Oct. 7, 1903. The marriage between Leon Sr. and Celeste, however, was not a long one. After the birth of Inez in December 1902, Leon Jr. in April 1904, Marguerite in 1906, Delores in 1908 and James Percival in 1909, Celeste Martin Vial died in 1913. Three years later, Leon Sr. married Marguerite Marie Keller in 1916 and they had two additional sons, Lester in 1918 and Charles in 1919. “My grandfather was a sheriff, assessor, state representative and delegate to the 1921 state constitutional convention,” said his grandson, “Sonny” Vial. Dr. Jerry Vial recalled that when Leon Sr. first came to the state House, a baby’s bottle was placed on his desk, as the youngest representative serving at that time. “During those days, the sheriff was the boss,” recalled Sonny, and one of his accomplishments was spurring the construction of sidewalks along River Road, from Hahnville to Ama. He also ran several businesses, including one making cypress cross-ties for the railroad. That lumber association also led to the construction of his magnicent house on the downriver side of Hahnville along River Road, not far from the site of Gen. Richard Taylor’s Fashion Plan-tation. In fact, Sonny said, the house is often mistaken for Fashion, despite the fact the original Fashion Plantation was destroyed by invading troops in 1862. This house, though, was built in 1919 of massive cypress timbers. A major renovation in 1978 added steel beams and further preserved it for the future. However, all was not rosy in St. Charles Parish. A political feud erupted between the Vial and Martin families. Both were heavily involved in the school system, with J.B. Martin Jr. serving as superintendent for 32 years, beginning in 1912 and Richard Vial Sr. serving as school board president for many years. Leon Sr. died on Feb. 4, 1939, the result of a sudden heart attack while enjoying a meal at his son Jimmy’s house next door. He had also suffered from a bad back for many years, Dr. Jerry Vial said. Leon Sr.’s widow, Margue-rite, ran unsuccessfully to complete the unexpired term, but it was won instead by Ralph Dubroca. This, though, kept the office in the family, since Leon Sr.’s granddaughter, Shirley, was the wife of Ralph Dubroca Jr. Leon Jr., born in 1904, was the heir apparent and though he was a Catholic lay brother with the Order of the Sacred Heart, the ties of family called him back. During World War II, he worked at Avondale Shipyard as a pipefitter, and he ran for sheriff in 1944 and won. One of the first things Leon Jr. accomplished was the establishment of a municipal water system for the parish and also spurred the establishment of St. Charles Parish Hospital. The sheriff’s office in the mid-1940s was quite different from today. He had one official vehicle, a black Mercury coupe. As the Vial-Martin feud died down, the Vial-Dufresne feud snowballed, which soon sharply divided the parish. Edward A. Dufresne Sr., who lived in neighboring Esperanza Plantation, yearned for a political career and ran for sheriff against Leon Jr. twice but was unable to oust the firmly-entrenched Vial. “There was always a ticket,” Sonny remembered, with massive political rallies at the Pan-Am refinery and at Ashton Plantation. “They would come to him with whatever problems they had,” Sonny said of his father. “He was God-fearing and generous.” However, politics drained him physically and emotionally, a fact which always kept Sonny from ever running for sheriff. “I saw the misery daddy went through. I never got that interested in politics.” He entered LSU at age 16, served four years as an Air Force fighter pilot and finished Tulane Law School in 1958. He later served as parish attorney during the previous Laque administration. He did also once toy with the idea of running for district judge but decided against it. His brother, Dr. David Jerry Vial, entered LSU at age 16 and pursued a career in medicine. He served in the Navy and now serves as parish coroner. The Vial influence dimmed somewhat in 1964 with the election of Edward A. Dufresne Jr. to clerk of court. This launched “Little Eddie” and his political career continues today, serving as a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, Richard John Vial Sr. served many years with the school board and his son, Richard Jr. “Dick” Vial, served as superintendent for many more. And the influence of the Vial family continues toward the century mark. Sonny’s cousin, Mary Ann Vial Lemmon, is now serving as a federal judge. She is the daughter of James Percival Vial, brother of Leon Jr. On the local level, attorney Manina Dubroca is a great-granddaughter of Leon Vial Sr., as is her sister, Jara Roux, associated with United Way of St. Charles Parish. Parish administrator Timothy Vial (born in 1959) has served in that capacity for 20 years. He is the son of Sidney Joseph Vial, a brother of Leon Jr., and first cousin of Judge Mary Ann Lemmon, Sonny Vial and Dr. Jerry Vial. The Dufresne-Vial feud was buried forever with the 1994 marriage of David Vial (son of Dr. Jerry Vial) and Debra Dufresne (daughter of Edward Dufresne Jr.) “I adore her very much,” Dr. Vial said of his daughter-in-law, who proudly used the name Debra Dufresne-Vial. Even today, Sonny will encounter people who tell him they voted for his father, which never fails to gratify him. “Politics has been good to us, but I didn’t see the glory of it.” Nonetheless, St. Charles Parish would be unrecognizable without the Vial family.