Etienne J. Caire

Étienne Joseph (E. J.) Caire was born in 1868 in Edgard, Louisiana, as the son of French immigrant Jean Baptiste Caire (1823-1879) and the former Fėlicie (Burcard) (1841-1911), an American of French descent. His father Jean B. Caire came to Louisiana in 1842 from France. Étienne attended the former Jefferson College in Convent,[1] a census designated place and the seat of government of St. James Parish, Louisiana.

In his working career, Caire operated what he named as the E. J. Caire & Company store, a business begun by his father in Edgard. His father had originally called it "Caire's Landing," as it was located at a riverboat landing. In 1860, Jean Caire had adapted a brick structure, built in 1850, for the store. He later added a wooden structure, and used the brick building as a warehouse. The store attracted business from local and regional residents, and customers riding on passing riverboats. Jean Caire died at age 55, when his son Étienne was only ten years old.

His mother kept the business going until Caire was old enough to take it over. They developed a multi-purpose general store, including a pharmacy, a dry goods store, and a hardware store. Caire later developed it as an early department store. For a time, the store also operated as the pay station for area sugar cane tenant farmers and sharecroppers. After many changes in venue, it closed in the middle 1970s.[2]

In 2001, the buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places. Surviving Caire family members want to convert the two buildings into a museum. The former store is located on a stretch of River Road in Edgard that also contains the historic St. John the Baptist Parish Courthouse and St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.[2]

Caire was a trustee of the church and active in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He was a grand knight of the Catholic men's organization, the Knights of Columbus. In 1922, he established the Jesuit retreat program for Catholic laymen called Manresa, which was located in Convent, Louisiana. In 1929, Pope Pius XI declared Caire a Knight of St. Gregory.[1]

In addition to operating the store, E. J. Caire was one of the state's leading sugar cane planters.[3] He frequently took over ownership of failing plantations.[2] Caire was also president of the Bank of St. John and the Bank of Ascension, as well as a director of the former Hibernia National Bank in New Orleans.[1]

Caire had joined the Republican Party in Louisiana, although the great majority of whites belonged to the Democratic Party in those years. During the Reconstruction era, the Republican Party was made up both black and white members, as well as former free people of color, who were mixed race. Following the passage of a new state constitution in 1898, which raised barriers to voter registration, most blacks in Louisiana were disenfranchised for decades into the late 20th century. The much smaller party consisted mostly of whites.

As Caire became more successful in his businesses, he was approached to run for office in 1928. The state Republican Party planned to run a full slate of Republicans for statewide office, for the first time since Democrats had regained power after Reconstruction. They nominated Caire to run for governor.

Other candidates for office included John E. Jackson, a New Orleans lawyer for lieutenant governor (he later became party chairman in the state) [4] against Democrat Paul N. Cyr, a dentist from Jeanerette in Iberia Parish. Judson M. Grimmet of Shreveport ran for secretary of state, J. A. Peyrefitte of New Orleans for state treasurer, John P. Conway of New Orleans for state auditor, U. G. Neuhauser (1864-1941) of Slidell for register of the state land office, Mary Ann "Molly" Hans Janssen (1875-1945) of New Orleans[5] for state education superintendent against incumbent Democrat T. H. Harris, and E. J. Rodrigue (1878-1970) of Assumption Parish against Democrat Harry Wilson for state agriculture commissioner.[6]

Caire polled 3,733 votes (4 percent) of the ballots cast in the 1928 general election compared to the overwhelming 96,941 (96 percent) for the Democratic populist Huey Pierce Long, Jr.[7] Long had already become known for his flamboyant, popular oratory while serving as a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

One of Caire's grandsons, Dr. Warren Francis Caire (born January 1934), later recalled that his grandfather often talked about the gubernatorial race: "He would recall the story with sincerity, but we all knew that he knew he had no chance of beating Huey."[8]

Caire was the last Louisiana Republican Party gubernatorial candidate for twenty-four years. In 1952, popular World War II General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the victorious Allied Forces in Europe, ran as the Republican candidate for President of the United States. With his candidacy proposed, the Louisiana Republicans decided to support a candidate for governor. Harrison Bagwell, a Baton Rouge lawyer, carried the party's banner in the general election against Democrat Robert F. Kennon, a judge from Minden in Webster Parish in North Louisiana.[9] But Louisiana was still part of the Solid South, and an overwhelmingly Democratic state among most voters who were allowed to vote. (Disenfranchisement still kept most blacks out of politics.) Bagwell polled 4 percent of the vote, in a low-turnout contest.[10]

Caire and his wife, the former Laura Hymel (1869-1941), are entombed at the St. John the Baptist Cemetery in Edgard, along with two of their children, Étiennette Marie Caire (1889-1970), and Dennis F. Caire (1899-1974).

Another son, the late Sidney Caire, Sr., married and had twelve children, including his father's namesake grandson, E. J. Caire, II (1921-2012). Caire, II, graduated from Loyola University New Orleans, and served as a United States Navy aviator in World War II. He was a long-term resident of Metairie in Jefferson Parish. He and his wife, the late Inez Sylvia Songy, had seven children.[11]

Another grandson, Gerard Walton "Ton" Caire (born April 2, 1931), kept the Republican Party tradition. An attorney, he lives in St. John the Baptist Parish[12] and was a judge of the 40th Judicial District Court.[8] Judge Caire in 1986 ordered former State Senator George T. Oubre, a Democrat from St. James Parish who ran unsuccessfully in 1971 for state attorney general, to represent John Francis Wille pro bono in a murder case because of Oubre's conviction for bank fraud.[13]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana – has a photo of E. J. Caire & Co. store, "Caire's Landing."

• "Etienne J. Caire". findagrave.com.