“Yankees on the River!!!!”

February 16, 2023

The Importance of the Sugar Plantations of East Ascension Parish.

Along the Eastern Bank of Ascension Parish, now covered with petrochemical plants, lie some of the richest lands for growing cane sugar that were once tilled to feed sugar to a hungry world.  These lands were settled first by the Houma Indian tribe and used as hunting grounds. As the French developed the lands north of New Orleans in the early 1800s, some of the wealthiest families in the United States settled this area to capture the wealth of the fertile lands for sugar production. 

These families brought with them labor, both hired and slave to run these plantations.  Hired labor saw to the organization to get the crops planted and harvested by the slaves.  Slaves made brick from the land and built sugar production mills, which they ran to make the refined sugar and export it out on the Mississippi River to New Orleans.  The built large plantation homes for their masters whom directed the their toil, and expanded the business of sugar to become one of the most profitable businesses in the U.S. by the late 1850s.  Several of these plantations stand today.

Robert “Mark” Conger is a native Louisianan from Plaquemines Parish.  He graduated from  Louisiana State University where he earned a B.S. in Geology in 1982, a M.S. in Environmental Science, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences in 2003.  He is the author of more than a dozen professional technical papers in the fields of geology and environmental remediation. With over 40 years of professional experience, he is employed by BASF Corporation in Ascension Parish as an Environmental Expert.  
Over 30 years ago, after discovering a steamer trunk containing Civil War era letters left by his grandmother. He researched his family history and genealogy from clues in these letters and uncovered 28 direct ancestors that served in the Confederate Army, in both the eastern and western theaters of action. The cache of handwritten letters were mostly from his great, great grandfather, who was a partisan ranger of the 2nd Texas Partisans. Mark  is a member of Henry Watkins Allen Camp in Baton Rouge.
Mark has recently completed a family history of his father’s family which will soon be published, entitled, “The Last Conger of Wood County, Texas”. He and his wife, Laurina, live in Ascension Parish and have four children and two grandchildren.  

Place: Drusilla Seafood, 3482 Drusilla Lane  http://drusillaplace.com/
Meeting Time: 6:30 pm Doors open, Meeting begins 7:00 pm, End 8:30 to 9:00pm.
Meeting Cost: $30.00 includes meal, tax, tip,  and fun. 
Reservations: Please make a reservation(s) to attend this meeting by Tuesday February 14.
Late Reservations: Welcomed and appreciated.
Contact: John Potts (225) 937-2782, or [email protected] 
Book Raffle: There will be a selection of books or items. $1 per ticket or 6 tickets for $5.
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