Notes |
- I have edited the correspondence that remains from him and his wife. According to the 1880 census, he is a native, and his father was born in France, his mother in Cuba.
On his marriage record, he is named the son of "John DeGrange and Elisabeth."
in 1860, he is living with his wife in his father's household. Early notices about him that appear in newspapers, in the later 1860s, refer to his work with the Jackson Fire Engine company and then, later, as a representative in the state legislature in the late 1860s. He also seems to have been a Mason and a member of other similar social clubs.
In the 1870 Census, Joseph H. and Ellen are living in the 2nd Ward, with "Hy," or Henry, "Ned," "Jo," "Ben," and Isabella (who is 1 and 1/2). Ellen McMillan is also living with them at this point, aged 10. This is the year that Joseph travels to New York and Boston, as recorded in their correspondence.
The letters by and to JHDegrange include many back and forth to Ellen on a trip to New York and Boston. Enclosed in one from Ellen is a newpaper clipping which mentions "Mr. Jos. H. Degrange, recently a member of the firm of Montgomery Bros., and also a Representative in the State Legislature, left yesterday evening for the North on a trip which he intends to combine business and pleasure. We trust his combination may be eminently successful." It is enclosed in a letter dated June 1869.
In 1881, he was in the procession for the funeral of James Garfield as a member of the Washington Artillery, Company B.
Note in the New Orleans Item, 10 Nov. 1891, page 2:
"MUNICIPAL MATTERS: the Board of Fire Commissioners Organized.
There was an executive session of the new Board of Fire Commissioners last evening in the Mayor's parlor. Mayor Shakepeare [sic] presided over the meeting. There were present: Messrs. Wellman, Fisher, Kuhner, Reilly, Noel, Simpson, Barker, DeGrange, and Pitard.
After the meeting had adjourned it was learned that Mr. J.H. DeGrange, member at large from the upper district, was chosen acting president of the Board. "
On August 31, 1913, appears this note in The New York Times:
"Col. Joseph de Grange of New Orleans, who has been in the American Hospital at Neuilly [France] for several weeks and undergone two operations, has arranged to leave Paris for America with his daughter, Mrs. A.W. Mclellan, by the Imperator on Sept. 11."
His funeral was at 1709 Prytania. He and his wife are buried in the DeGrange tomb in Metairie Cemetery. [1]
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