George Seth Guion
Birth: 1806 in Mississippi
Death: 30 OCT 1861 in Ridgefield plantation, Thibodaux, Lafourche parish, LA
Burial: Guion family plot, St. John's Cemetery, Thibodaux, LA
George Seth Guion
"An early lithograph of George S. Guion shows a handsome man with clear eyes and an intense, determined look on his face. It is an apt depiction of a man for whom three things were predominant in importance - his family, his faith, and the cause of education. By providing land for the building of St. John's in or about 1843 (no court record has been found showing the exact donation date), Guion left a legacy to Louisiana and to its citizens that remains important.
"Guion was born in Mississippi in 1806. His great-great grandson, George S. Guion, Jr., presently a resident of New Orleans, recounts that Guion was the grandson of John Isaac Guion, an officer in the American Revolution. Family history accounts state that the Guions, who were Huguenots, originally fled France to escape religious persecution, settling eventually in New Rochelle, New York. This New World town was an appropriate setting for their American home, the last Huguenot stronghold in France at La Rochelle having been razed by Cardinal Richelieu in 1629. The family name is prominent in New Rochelle's early history, and the Guion cemetery plot there is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
"One can only speculate as to the reasons for the migration of the Guion family to Mississippi, where George was born, and later to Louisiana. The Census of 1830 for Louisiana shows George Guion then living in Concordia Parish, located just across the Mississippi River from Natchez, where the bottomlands were exceptionally fertile and where apparently he was appointed a judge - a term of honor which was given him even after his move to Lafourche Parish.
"On April 29, 1831, at the beautiful home known as The Briars, in Natchez, Mississippi, Guion wed seventeen-year-old Caroline Lucretia Winder, a member of another well-known Natchez family (originally from Kentucky) whose brother, Van, was to achieve prominence in the Lafourche and Terrebonne region. Shortly after the marriage, Caroline Guion was given Ridgefield Plantation and its 1200 acres of land by her stepfather, John Davidson Smith, to which later George Guion would add several tracts, and which became the family home for the Guions and their descendants - including his daughter Caroline and her famous husband, Francis T. Nicholls - up to the mid-twentieth century.
"Guion became a sugarcane planter and "sugar maker," and by 1850 the census indicated his assets as having a value of $60,000. Equally important for the future of Thibodaux, he also began a process of expansion of the town by subdivision of lots on his property on the west side of Jackson Street, enabling entrepreneurs in the town to undertake numerous commercial and industrial ventures, as well as providing church and school locations and home sites for a number of the prominent early citizens.
"The census of 1850 shows that the Guions then had seven children, of whom George, Jr., at age eighteen, was the eldest, born in Natchez. Others included William, Harriet, Louisa, Julia, Ann, and Caroline, the youngest only age one. Guion's wife Caroline died on December 24, 1855, and is buried in the cemetery of St. John's. Within a few years Guion married again, to Rosina Christina Winder of Northampton County, Virginia, but the marriage lasted only a short time, due to the death of Rosina on January 2, 1860. This second wife also is buried in St. John's Cemetery.
"Guion became a close personal friend of Bishop Leonidas Polk, undoubtedly a major factor in motivating his generosity to the cause of the Episcopal church throughout the 1840s and 1850s. In addition to being the donor of the land on which St. John's and the cemetery were established, he also served a the chairman of the church's vestry - an office later replaced by that of Senior Warden - apparently from the time that the vestry was organized until shortly before his death.
"In the 1850s, Guion played an increasingly important role in the affairs of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, and he was a frequent delegate both to the annual conventions of the diocese and to the National Convention. In 1853, Guion was also on the university's charter committee and surely helped to select the site for the university on the Cumberland Plateau between Chattanooga and Nashville. Although the university archives do not show Guion as present for committee meetings prior to the Civil War, he did appear to take an active part. The war interrupted the plans for the school's opening, which did not occur until 1868, after the deaths of both Guion and Bishop Polk, who was the main founder of the University of the South.
"Guion also gave his time and fortune to the cause of education in Thibodaux. The town records show that on April 22, 1847, Guion donated a lot fronting on Jackson Street, at the corner of Clinton Street (now Tenth), of dimensions 110 feet by 215'9", for the construction of a school. A two-story brick building was constructed at a cost of $3,000. Named Guion Academy, its 150 students age six to sixteen were segregated by sex. This first public school in Thibodaux remained in existence until well into the twentieth century, when it was replaced by a larger facility built on the corner of Goode and Seventh streets.
"As a fateful Civil War approached, Guion took the position of immediate secession and supported not only Louisiana's removal from the Union but also the inclusion of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana in a newly formed "National Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America." Shortly after his election to the Louisiana Senate, however, Guion died on October 30, 1861. In its glowing eulogy, an unidentified newspaper bemoaned the loss "of one of our most valuable citizens, and one of our most influential men," one who "general demeanor was composed and dignified," and who in "his manners as well as in his character … was a model of the true Southern gentleman."
"George Seth Guion is buried in the Guion family plot in St. John's Cemetery."
[Source: "The Remarkably Neat Church in the Village of Thibodaux, An Antebellum History of St. John's Episcopal Church" by David D. Plater.]
"George Seth Guion was the son of Maj. Isaac Guion of the United States army in the Revolutionary war, and native of New Rochelle, N. Y. He took part with Wolfe in the capture of Quebec in 1759. He held a commission as captain, signed by George Washington, and was afterwards made major. Being well educated, he had a thorough knowledge of French, and frequently interpreted for the French officers who were helping the Continental forces. He was present at and took part in the siege of Yorktown. When Jefferson effected the Louisiana purchase, he was one of the officials who came south in connection with the transfer. It was through this that the family became identified with the South.
"George Seth Guion spent his youth near Natchez, Miss., where he was born. He had 3 brothers, 2 of whom were officers in the United States army, Capt. Walter of the topographical engineers, and Lieut. Frederic Guion. A third brother was Judge John I. Guion, a prominent lawyer and judge, and at one time governor of Mississippi. George Seth Guion was appointed by Gov. Isaac Johnson of Louisiana as parish judge, and lived for a number of years at Vidalia, opposite Natchez. Later he moved to Lafourche parish, and acquired property, which afterwards became a sugar plantation, and on which the remainder of his life was spent, and where he died Oct. 8, 1861."
[Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, pp. 756-758. Edited by Alcee Fortier, Lit. D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.]
Father: Isaac Guion
Marriage 1 Caroline Lucretia Winder b: ABT. 1814
Married: 29 APR 1831 in The Briars, Natchez, MS Children
Ann Guion
George Guion , Jr.
Harriet Guion
Julia Guion
Louisa Guion
William Guion
Lewis Guion b: 8 AUG 1838 in Thibodaux, Lafourche parish, LA
Caroline Zilpha Guion b: 21 JUN 1840
Marriage 2 Rosina Christina Winder
Married: ABT. 1857
Birth: 1806 in Mississippi
Death: 30 OCT 1861 in Ridgefield plantation, Thibodaux, Lafourche parish, LA
Burial: Guion family plot, St. John's Cemetery, Thibodaux, LA
George Seth Guion
"An early lithograph of George S. Guion shows a handsome man with clear eyes and an intense, determined look on his face. It is an apt depiction of a man for whom three things were predominant in importance - his family, his faith, and the cause of education. By providing land for the building of St. John's in or about 1843 (no court record has been found showing the exact donation date), Guion left a legacy to Louisiana and to its citizens that remains important.
"Guion was born in Mississippi in 1806. His great-great grandson, George S. Guion, Jr., presently a resident of New Orleans, recounts that Guion was the grandson of John Isaac Guion, an officer in the American Revolution. Family history accounts state that the Guions, who were Huguenots, originally fled France to escape religious persecution, settling eventually in New Rochelle, New York. This New World town was an appropriate setting for their American home, the last Huguenot stronghold in France at La Rochelle having been razed by Cardinal Richelieu in 1629. The family name is prominent in New Rochelle's early history, and the Guion cemetery plot there is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
"One can only speculate as to the reasons for the migration of the Guion family to Mississippi, where George was born, and later to Louisiana. The Census of 1830 for Louisiana shows George Guion then living in Concordia Parish, located just across the Mississippi River from Natchez, where the bottomlands were exceptionally fertile and where apparently he was appointed a judge - a term of honor which was given him even after his move to Lafourche Parish.
"On April 29, 1831, at the beautiful home known as The Briars, in Natchez, Mississippi, Guion wed seventeen-year-old Caroline Lucretia Winder, a member of another well-known Natchez family (originally from Kentucky) whose brother, Van, was to achieve prominence in the Lafourche and Terrebonne region. Shortly after the marriage, Caroline Guion was given Ridgefield Plantation and its 1200 acres of land by her stepfather, John Davidson Smith, to which later George Guion would add several tracts, and which became the family home for the Guions and their descendants - including his daughter Caroline and her famous husband, Francis T. Nicholls - up to the mid-twentieth century.
"Guion became a sugarcane planter and "sugar maker," and by 1850 the census indicated his assets as having a value of $60,000. Equally important for the future of Thibodaux, he also began a process of expansion of the town by subdivision of lots on his property on the west side of Jackson Street, enabling entrepreneurs in the town to undertake numerous commercial and industrial ventures, as well as providing church and school locations and home sites for a number of the prominent early citizens.
"The census of 1850 shows that the Guions then had seven children, of whom George, Jr., at age eighteen, was the eldest, born in Natchez. Others included William, Harriet, Louisa, Julia, Ann, and Caroline, the youngest only age one. Guion's wife Caroline died on December 24, 1855, and is buried in the cemetery of St. John's. Within a few years Guion married again, to Rosina Christina Winder of Northampton County, Virginia, but the marriage lasted only a short time, due to the death of Rosina on January 2, 1860. This second wife also is buried in St. John's Cemetery.
"Guion became a close personal friend of Bishop Leonidas Polk, undoubtedly a major factor in motivating his generosity to the cause of the Episcopal church throughout the 1840s and 1850s. In addition to being the donor of the land on which St. John's and the cemetery were established, he also served a the chairman of the church's vestry - an office later replaced by that of Senior Warden - apparently from the time that the vestry was organized until shortly before his death.
"In the 1850s, Guion played an increasingly important role in the affairs of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, and he was a frequent delegate both to the annual conventions of the diocese and to the National Convention. In 1853, Guion was also on the university's charter committee and surely helped to select the site for the university on the Cumberland Plateau between Chattanooga and Nashville. Although the university archives do not show Guion as present for committee meetings prior to the Civil War, he did appear to take an active part. The war interrupted the plans for the school's opening, which did not occur until 1868, after the deaths of both Guion and Bishop Polk, who was the main founder of the University of the South.
"Guion also gave his time and fortune to the cause of education in Thibodaux. The town records show that on April 22, 1847, Guion donated a lot fronting on Jackson Street, at the corner of Clinton Street (now Tenth), of dimensions 110 feet by 215'9", for the construction of a school. A two-story brick building was constructed at a cost of $3,000. Named Guion Academy, its 150 students age six to sixteen were segregated by sex. This first public school in Thibodaux remained in existence until well into the twentieth century, when it was replaced by a larger facility built on the corner of Goode and Seventh streets.
"As a fateful Civil War approached, Guion took the position of immediate secession and supported not only Louisiana's removal from the Union but also the inclusion of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana in a newly formed "National Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America." Shortly after his election to the Louisiana Senate, however, Guion died on October 30, 1861. In its glowing eulogy, an unidentified newspaper bemoaned the loss "of one of our most valuable citizens, and one of our most influential men," one who "general demeanor was composed and dignified," and who in "his manners as well as in his character … was a model of the true Southern gentleman."
"George Seth Guion is buried in the Guion family plot in St. John's Cemetery."
[Source: "The Remarkably Neat Church in the Village of Thibodaux, An Antebellum History of St. John's Episcopal Church" by David D. Plater.]
"George Seth Guion was the son of Maj. Isaac Guion of the United States army in the Revolutionary war, and native of New Rochelle, N. Y. He took part with Wolfe in the capture of Quebec in 1759. He held a commission as captain, signed by George Washington, and was afterwards made major. Being well educated, he had a thorough knowledge of French, and frequently interpreted for the French officers who were helping the Continental forces. He was present at and took part in the siege of Yorktown. When Jefferson effected the Louisiana purchase, he was one of the officials who came south in connection with the transfer. It was through this that the family became identified with the South.
"George Seth Guion spent his youth near Natchez, Miss., where he was born. He had 3 brothers, 2 of whom were officers in the United States army, Capt. Walter of the topographical engineers, and Lieut. Frederic Guion. A third brother was Judge John I. Guion, a prominent lawyer and judge, and at one time governor of Mississippi. George Seth Guion was appointed by Gov. Isaac Johnson of Louisiana as parish judge, and lived for a number of years at Vidalia, opposite Natchez. Later he moved to Lafourche parish, and acquired property, which afterwards became a sugar plantation, and on which the remainder of his life was spent, and where he died Oct. 8, 1861."
[Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, pp. 756-758. Edited by Alcee Fortier, Lit. D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.]
Father: Isaac Guion
Marriage 1 Caroline Lucretia Winder b: ABT. 1814
Married: 29 APR 1831 in The Briars, Natchez, MS Children
Ann Guion
George Guion , Jr.
Harriet Guion
Julia Guion
Louisa Guion
William Guion
Lewis Guion b: 8 AUG 1838 in Thibodaux, Lafourche parish, LA
Caroline Zilpha Guion b: 21 JUN 1840
Marriage 2 Rosina Christina Winder
Married: ABT. 1857
George Seth Guion
Birth: 1806 in Mississippi
Death: 30 OCT 1861 in Ridgefield plantation, Thibodaux, Lafourche parish, LA
Burial: Guion family plot, St. John's Cemetery, Thibodaux, LA
George Seth Guion
"An early lithograph of George S. Guion shows a handsome man with clear eyes and an intense, determined look on his face. It is an apt depiction of a man for whom three things were predominant in importance - his family, his faith, and the cause of education. By providing land for the building of St. John's in or about 1843 (no court record has been found showing the exact donation date), Guion left a legacy to Louisiana and to its citizens that remains important.
"Guion was born in Mississippi in 1806. His great-great grandson, George S. Guion, Jr., presently a resident of New Orleans, recounts that Guion was the grandson of John Isaac Guion, an officer in the American Revolution. Family history accounts state that the Guions, who were Huguenots, originally fled France to escape religious persecution, settling eventually in New Rochelle, New York. This New World town was an appropriate setting for their American home, the last Huguenot stronghold in France at La Rochelle having been razed by Cardinal Richelieu in 1629. The family name is prominent in New Rochelle's early history, and the Guion cemetery plot there is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
"One can only speculate as to the reasons for the migration of the Guion family to Mississippi, where George was born, and later to Louisiana. The Census of 1830 for Louisiana shows George Guion then living in Concordia Parish, located just across the Mississippi River from Natchez, where the bottomlands were exceptionally fertile and where apparently he was appointed a judge - a term of honor which was given him even after his move to Lafourche Parish.
"On April 29, 1831, at the beautiful home known as The Briars, in Natchez, Mississippi, Guion wed seventeen-year-old Caroline Lucretia Winder, a member of another well-known Natchez family (originally from Kentucky) whose brother, Van, was to achieve prominence in the Lafourche and Terrebonne region. Shortly after the marriage, Caroline Guion was given Ridgefield Plantation and its 1200 acres of land by her stepfather, John Davidson Smith, to which later George Guion would add several tracts, and which became the family home for the Guions and their descendants - including his daughter Caroline and her famous husband, Francis T. Nicholls - up to the mid-twentieth century.
"Guion became a sugarcane planter and "sugar maker," and by 1850 the census indicated his assets as having a value of $60,000. Equally important for the future of Thibodaux, he also began a process of expansion of the town by subdivision of lots on his property on the west side of Jackson Street, enabling entrepreneurs in the town to undertake numerous commercial and industrial ventures, as well as providing church and school locations and home sites for a number of the prominent early citizens.
"The census of 1850 shows that the Guions then had seven children, of whom George, Jr., at age eighteen, was the eldest, born in Natchez. Others included William, Harriet, Louisa, Julia, Ann, and Caroline, the youngest only age one. Guion's wife Caroline died on December 24, 1855, and is buried in the cemetery of St. John's. Within a few years Guion married again, to Rosina Christina Winder of Northampton County, Virginia, but the marriage lasted only a short time, due to the death of Rosina on January 2, 1860. This second wife also is buried in St. John's Cemetery.
"Guion became a close personal friend of Bishop Leonidas Polk, undoubtedly a major factor in motivating his generosity to the cause of the Episcopal church throughout the 1840s and 1850s. In addition to being the donor of the land on which St. John's and the cemetery were established, he also served a the chairman of the church's vestry - an office later replaced by that of Senior Warden - apparently from the time that the vestry was organized until shortly before his death.
"In the 1850s, Guion played an increasingly important role in the affairs of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, and he was a frequent delegate both to the annual conventions of the diocese and to the National Convention. In 1853, Guion was also on the university's charter committee and surely helped to select the site for the university on the Cumberland Plateau between Chattanooga and Nashville. Although the university archives do not show Guion as present for committee meetings prior to the Civil War, he did appear to take an active part. The war interrupted the plans for the school's opening, which did not occur until 1868, after the deaths of both Guion and Bishop Polk, who was the main founder of the University of the South.
"Guion also gave his time and fortune to the cause of education in Thibodaux. The town records show that on April 22, 1847, Guion donated a lot fronting on Jackson Street, at the corner of Clinton Street (now Tenth), of dimensions 110 feet by 215'9", for the construction of a school. A two-story brick building was constructed at a cost of $3,000. Named Guion Academy, its 150 students age six to sixteen were segregated by sex. This first public school in Thibodaux remained in existence until well into the twentieth century, when it was replaced by a larger facility built on the corner of Goode and Seventh streets.
"As a fateful Civil War approached, Guion took the position of immediate secession and supported not only Louisiana's removal from the Union but also the inclusion of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana in a newly formed "National Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America." Shortly after his election to the Louisiana Senate, however, Guion died on October 30, 1861. In its glowing eulogy, an unidentified newspaper bemoaned the loss "of one of our most valuable citizens, and one of our most influential men," one who "general demeanor was composed and dignified," and who in "his manners as well as in his character … was a model of the true Southern gentleman."
"George Seth Guion is buried in the Guion family plot in St. John's Cemetery."
[Source: "The Remarkably Neat Church in the Village of Thibodaux, An Antebellum History of St. John's Episcopal Church" by David D. Plater.]
"George Seth Guion was the son of Maj. Isaac Guion of the United States army in the Revolutionary war, and native of New Rochelle, N. Y. He took part with Wolfe in the capture of Quebec in 1759. He held a commission as captain, signed by George Washington, and was afterwards made major. Being well educated, he had a thorough knowledge of French, and frequently interpreted for the French officers who were helping the Continental forces. He was present at and took part in the siege of Yorktown. When Jefferson effected the Louisiana purchase, he was one of the officials who came south in connection with the transfer. It was through this that the family became identified with the South.
"George Seth Guion spent his youth near Natchez, Miss., where he was born. He had 3 brothers, 2 of whom were officers in the United States army, Capt. Walter of the topographical engineers, and Lieut. Frederic Guion. A third brother was Judge John I. Guion, a prominent lawyer and judge, and at one time governor of Mississippi. George Seth Guion was appointed by Gov. Isaac Johnson of Louisiana as parish judge, and lived for a number of years at Vidalia, opposite Natchez. Later he moved to Lafourche parish, and acquired property, which afterwards became a sugar plantation, and on which the remainder of his life was spent, and where he died Oct. 8, 1861."
[Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, pp. 756-758. Edited by Alcee Fortier, Lit. D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.]
Father: Isaac Guion
Marriage 1 Caroline Lucretia Winder b: ABT. 1814
Married: 29 APR 1831 in The Briars, Natchez, MS Children
Ann Guion
George Guion , Jr.
Harriet Guion
Julia Guion
Louisa Guion
William Guion
Lewis Guion b: 8 AUG 1838 in Thibodaux, Lafourche parish, LA
Caroline Zilpha Guion b: 21 JUN 1840
Marriage 2 Rosina Christina Winder
Married: ABT. 1857
Birth: 1806 in Mississippi
Death: 30 OCT 1861 in Ridgefield plantation, Thibodaux, Lafourche parish, LA
Burial: Guion family plot, St. John's Cemetery, Thibodaux, LA
George Seth Guion
"An early lithograph of George S. Guion shows a handsome man with clear eyes and an intense, determined look on his face. It is an apt depiction of a man for whom three things were predominant in importance - his family, his faith, and the cause of education. By providing land for the building of St. John's in or about 1843 (no court record has been found showing the exact donation date), Guion left a legacy to Louisiana and to its citizens that remains important.
"Guion was born in Mississippi in 1806. His great-great grandson, George S. Guion, Jr., presently a resident of New Orleans, recounts that Guion was the grandson of John Isaac Guion, an officer in the American Revolution. Family history accounts state that the Guions, who were Huguenots, originally fled France to escape religious persecution, settling eventually in New Rochelle, New York. This New World town was an appropriate setting for their American home, the last Huguenot stronghold in France at La Rochelle having been razed by Cardinal Richelieu in 1629. The family name is prominent in New Rochelle's early history, and the Guion cemetery plot there is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
"One can only speculate as to the reasons for the migration of the Guion family to Mississippi, where George was born, and later to Louisiana. The Census of 1830 for Louisiana shows George Guion then living in Concordia Parish, located just across the Mississippi River from Natchez, where the bottomlands were exceptionally fertile and where apparently he was appointed a judge - a term of honor which was given him even after his move to Lafourche Parish.
"On April 29, 1831, at the beautiful home known as The Briars, in Natchez, Mississippi, Guion wed seventeen-year-old Caroline Lucretia Winder, a member of another well-known Natchez family (originally from Kentucky) whose brother, Van, was to achieve prominence in the Lafourche and Terrebonne region. Shortly after the marriage, Caroline Guion was given Ridgefield Plantation and its 1200 acres of land by her stepfather, John Davidson Smith, to which later George Guion would add several tracts, and which became the family home for the Guions and their descendants - including his daughter Caroline and her famous husband, Francis T. Nicholls - up to the mid-twentieth century.
"Guion became a sugarcane planter and "sugar maker," and by 1850 the census indicated his assets as having a value of $60,000. Equally important for the future of Thibodaux, he also began a process of expansion of the town by subdivision of lots on his property on the west side of Jackson Street, enabling entrepreneurs in the town to undertake numerous commercial and industrial ventures, as well as providing church and school locations and home sites for a number of the prominent early citizens.
"The census of 1850 shows that the Guions then had seven children, of whom George, Jr., at age eighteen, was the eldest, born in Natchez. Others included William, Harriet, Louisa, Julia, Ann, and Caroline, the youngest only age one. Guion's wife Caroline died on December 24, 1855, and is buried in the cemetery of St. John's. Within a few years Guion married again, to Rosina Christina Winder of Northampton County, Virginia, but the marriage lasted only a short time, due to the death of Rosina on January 2, 1860. This second wife also is buried in St. John's Cemetery.
"Guion became a close personal friend of Bishop Leonidas Polk, undoubtedly a major factor in motivating his generosity to the cause of the Episcopal church throughout the 1840s and 1850s. In addition to being the donor of the land on which St. John's and the cemetery were established, he also served a the chairman of the church's vestry - an office later replaced by that of Senior Warden - apparently from the time that the vestry was organized until shortly before his death.
"In the 1850s, Guion played an increasingly important role in the affairs of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, and he was a frequent delegate both to the annual conventions of the diocese and to the National Convention. In 1853, Guion was also on the university's charter committee and surely helped to select the site for the university on the Cumberland Plateau between Chattanooga and Nashville. Although the university archives do not show Guion as present for committee meetings prior to the Civil War, he did appear to take an active part. The war interrupted the plans for the school's opening, which did not occur until 1868, after the deaths of both Guion and Bishop Polk, who was the main founder of the University of the South.
"Guion also gave his time and fortune to the cause of education in Thibodaux. The town records show that on April 22, 1847, Guion donated a lot fronting on Jackson Street, at the corner of Clinton Street (now Tenth), of dimensions 110 feet by 215'9", for the construction of a school. A two-story brick building was constructed at a cost of $3,000. Named Guion Academy, its 150 students age six to sixteen were segregated by sex. This first public school in Thibodaux remained in existence until well into the twentieth century, when it was replaced by a larger facility built on the corner of Goode and Seventh streets.
"As a fateful Civil War approached, Guion took the position of immediate secession and supported not only Louisiana's removal from the Union but also the inclusion of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana in a newly formed "National Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America." Shortly after his election to the Louisiana Senate, however, Guion died on October 30, 1861. In its glowing eulogy, an unidentified newspaper bemoaned the loss "of one of our most valuable citizens, and one of our most influential men," one who "general demeanor was composed and dignified," and who in "his manners as well as in his character … was a model of the true Southern gentleman."
"George Seth Guion is buried in the Guion family plot in St. John's Cemetery."
[Source: "The Remarkably Neat Church in the Village of Thibodaux, An Antebellum History of St. John's Episcopal Church" by David D. Plater.]
"George Seth Guion was the son of Maj. Isaac Guion of the United States army in the Revolutionary war, and native of New Rochelle, N. Y. He took part with Wolfe in the capture of Quebec in 1759. He held a commission as captain, signed by George Washington, and was afterwards made major. Being well educated, he had a thorough knowledge of French, and frequently interpreted for the French officers who were helping the Continental forces. He was present at and took part in the siege of Yorktown. When Jefferson effected the Louisiana purchase, he was one of the officials who came south in connection with the transfer. It was through this that the family became identified with the South.
"George Seth Guion spent his youth near Natchez, Miss., where he was born. He had 3 brothers, 2 of whom were officers in the United States army, Capt. Walter of the topographical engineers, and Lieut. Frederic Guion. A third brother was Judge John I. Guion, a prominent lawyer and judge, and at one time governor of Mississippi. George Seth Guion was appointed by Gov. Isaac Johnson of Louisiana as parish judge, and lived for a number of years at Vidalia, opposite Natchez. Later he moved to Lafourche parish, and acquired property, which afterwards became a sugar plantation, and on which the remainder of his life was spent, and where he died Oct. 8, 1861."
[Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, pp. 756-758. Edited by Alcee Fortier, Lit. D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.]
Father: Isaac Guion
Marriage 1 Caroline Lucretia Winder b: ABT. 1814
Married: 29 APR 1831 in The Briars, Natchez, MS Children
Ann Guion
George Guion , Jr.
Harriet Guion
Julia Guion
Louisa Guion
William Guion
Lewis Guion b: 8 AUG 1838 in Thibodaux, Lafourche parish, LA
Caroline Zilpha Guion b: 21 JUN 1840
Marriage 2 Rosina Christina Winder
Married: ABT. 1857
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