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Auguste- my great maternal grandfather- was a prominent and influential man in the Marksville area in the mid-1800s. These are some facts about his life.

 
Auguste was born in 1805 in the Alsace-Lorraine area of France, in the town of Laigneville, near Epinal, Department of Voges, and not far from the birthplace of Joan of Arc.

 
Auguste Voinche was a prominent merchant and landowner in Marksville. His old store in downtown Marksville is still visible today. He was also noted for donating all the land for the old Marksville Cemetery #1. A first-generation immigrant from Paris, France, and originally born and raised in the Alsace-Lorraine area of France, in the town of Laigneville, near Epinal, Department of Voges, and not far from the birthplace of Joan of Arc, he quickly set up business in and around Marksville after first coming into America via New York. He was the leading merchant and one of the wealthiest men of Avoyelles Parish in the mid-1800s. One history of the parish lists him as "the wealthiest man in Avoyelles Parish before the Rebellion." ("Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana.")

Voinche' was already married with two children when he and his young family embarked for the New World. His wife was Emelie Pochel, also born in France. They landed in New York in 1840, and the enterprising Frenchman set out to make his fortune in French Louisiana. He found it in Marksville, the center of the bayous, plains, and lush farmlands of Avoyelles Parish, hard by the Red, Mississippi, and Atchafalaya rivers.

 
Auguste Voinche' and Emelie Pochel (1st wife) had four children: 

Oden Voinche', born in 1828 in France.

Mary Voinche', 1836, France.

Marianne Voinche, 1842, baptized Cocoville, La. 

Alphonse Voinche', 1845.

 
Soon after arriving in Marksville, Auguste Voinche began buying real estate and went into retail. He soon became the leading merchant in the area. For years, the Voinche store was the leading business in Marksville. It was an impressive, four-story building facing the courthouse square. Voinche also owned a good part of the real estate of downtown Marksville.

 
Though wealthy, Auguste Voinche lost much of his property during the Civil War and Reconstruction. In early 1863, the hospital at Fort DeRussy was moved to Auguste Voinche's brick building in Marksville (top). This building is still in existence, across the street from the Courthouse. In 1864, a large quantity of cotton was removed from the basement of the building and carried to the Union gunboats at Fort DeRussy. Voinche's attempt to obtain reimbursement for that cotton resulted in over 2,000 pages of testimony, providing us with much insight into events at the Fort during its "Gunboat Station" period. This story is detailed in old court records and manuscripts. 

 
Auguste went to the gunboats Benton and Essex, requested permission to speak with the Union Captain, and demanded that his cotton be returned or compensated. He insisted he was neutral in the matter, being a French citizen. The Union sailors laughed at him and sent him on his way. After the war, a trial was held to investigate the matter, but he was never able to get his cotton or any compensation and was considered contraband. 

When St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church was built in 1869, he owned most of the property on the street and donated the site for the church and convent. During the Civil War, bales of cotton were stored in the basement of the Voinche store to await higher prices, and legend has it that the lower floor was used to hide cotton during the invasion of federal troops. The Voinche building is still standing and has undergone extensive rebuilding and remodeling. For more than a century, through the 1960s, Voinche's descendants continued in the retail business in various buildings along this block facing the square. 

 
At the end of the 20th century, the building needed extensive work, and efforts were underway to restore the premises.

Emelie Pochel died in 1867. Auguste Voinche remarried my great-great-grandmother Marie Louise Bordelon on 19 Jan. 1869. There were six children of this second marriage - one of which is my great-grandmother Marie Louise Josephine. 

 
Auguste Voinche' died on 8 Nov. 1885, almost on his 80th birthday. After his death, his widow Marie Louise Bordelon is believed to have remarried to a Patin.