Julien Poydras

Julien de Lallande (Lalande) Poydras (April 3, 1740 – June 23, 1824) was a French American slaveowner, 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 served as the first President of the Louisiana State Senate.

He was born in Rezé (near Nantes), 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 Spanish Louisiana in 1768.

Poydras was a pioneer businessman, trading first as an itinerant merchant before establishing stores in his domicile of Pointe Coupee Parish. 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 during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including North Bend plantation house, in 1835, on False River, and owned properties in New Orleans.

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