'Drauzin Angelle' (
December 25,
1871 -
December 19,
1958) was a
farmer and a
politician in
St. Martin Parish in south
Louisiana. As the chief
deputy sheriff from
1924 until his death, Angelle became a
Democratic power broker in his largely rural
sugar-producing parish.
Angelle was born in the Fifth Ward of St. Martin Parish to Jean-Baptiste Angelle and the former Arthemise Dupuis (pronounced DEW PWEE). He was twice married. With the former Aminth Guidry, he had a daughter, Mozella. He wed the former Agnes Guidry on
March 27,
1894, and they had eight children, including
Robert Joseph "Bob" Angelle (
1896-
1979), who would serve as mayor of
Breaux Bridge, a St. Martin Parish community, and in the
Louisiana House of Representatives from
1934-
1964. He was
Speaker of the House from
1957-
1960.
Drauzin Angelle's only elected position was as a
constable of the Fifth Ward, a position that he held from
1914-1924, when he became the chief deputy under Sheriff
Wade O. Martin, Sr., and continued in that capacity after Martin was elected to the
Louisiana Public Service Commission in
1932. Angelle remained chief deputy under a number of sheriffs. The sheriffs ran for reelection every four years, but Angelle as the power behind the sheriff remained chief deputy throughout three decades. Angelle was known as the organizer of "The Old Faction" and the "Father of the Fifth Ward".
Angelle was tied to the
Long faction of Louisiana politics, as was Sheriff Martin, Sr. However, in the late 1950s,
Wade O. Martin, Jr., the Louisiana secretary of state quarreled with
Governor Earl Kemp Long, who obtained legislative passage of bills to strip Martin, Jr., of much of the jurisdiction of his office. Drauzin Angelle died about the time of the Long-Martin rivalry.
He is interred in St. Joseph
Catholic Cemetery in
Cecilia, a town in northern St. Martin Parish.
References
★ "Drauzin Angelle", ''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'', Vol. 1 (1988), p. 15