Louisiana Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana 1882 Vol 1
Chapter XXIV
David Cohen Labatt was born in Mecklenburg, N.C., August 15, 1826. His father Abraham C. Labatt, a native of South Carolina, was one of the founders and first settlers of Cheraw, S.C . from whence he removed to Jacksonville, N.C. The of the little town was given by Abraham C. Labatt, who was appointed postmaster at that place by President Andrew Jackson. He married Caroline, daughter of Samuel Hyams of Charleston, S. C. and a sister of Lieutenant-Governor Hyams of Louisiana. They resided at Mecklenburg until 1830, when they immigrated overland to New Orleans. There Abraham C. Labatt established a large wholesale dry goods house, and in 1830 removed to the second municipality, and was the pioneer merchant in that section of the city. He is still living, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years, at Galveston, Tex., making his home with his son, Hon. H. J. Labatt, a prominent attorney there, and ex-member of the Texas Legislature. David Cohen Labatt is the eldest of a family of fourteen children. He was but four years of age when he came with his parents to Louisiana. He was carefully educated under the instruction of a private tutor and the watchful guidance of his mother, to whose careful training and sound teachings he owes much for the success which has attended hi
At the age of fourteen years he entered Jefferson College, then under the care of Dr. Ingalls, a graduate of West Point, and one of the leading educators of the South at that time. There he had as classmates many whose names now stand high in the affairs of the state. Among others were George Eustus, Jr., afterward Mr. Labatt's law partner, and Judge Alfred Roman, of New Orleans. His college life was suddenly interrupted by a serious accident to his father, which threw the young student, thus early, up on his own resources. He returned to the city of New Orleans, and there accepted a position as bookkeeper with the firm of E. J. Hart & Co. opening for them their first set of books. His admiration for the late Judah P. Benjamin, and his relation to Governor Hyams, induced him to adopt the legal profession. The choice of that pursuit in life for which they may be best fitted place upon young men a responsibility of great importance, for at that time a mistake means much to him who would succeed. That great care was used by Mr. Labatt in making his selection is manifest by the great ability which has marked his labors at the bar, and the eminent success which has attended his effects. He began reading Law under the tuition of Issac Wightman Smith, then a leading and noted attorney at the Louisiana bar. While attending a course of lectures at the University of Louisiana he was induced by Judge's Thomas B. Moore, federal judge of Kentucky, to come to Frankfort, and there take a course of study under his instruction. There he was associated in his legal studies with George W. Vest, United States senator from Missouri, and was soon joined by a number of his friends and acquaintances from New Orleans, including George Eustis and H. J. Leovy, who afterward won distinction at the Louisiana bar, and Edward Bermudez, now oldest justice of Louisiana. With great diligence he pursued his studies at Frankfort for two sessions, spending fourteen hours everyday at hard study. He then returned to New Orleans, and became a student returned to New Orleans, and became a student at the first course of lecture's given in the law department of the University of Louisiana, and graduated from that institution in 1848, receiving the first diploma conferred upon a graduate by that department. The department was at that time presided over by Judge J. H. McCaleb, Randall Hunt, Christian Roselius and Judge H. A. Bullard, all men of the highest standings and ability as lawyers. While pursuing his studies at the university, Mr. Labatt was elected an enrolling clerk of the legislature in 1848, and reported that session with credit. With the money thus earned he purchased the nucleus for his law library. These volumes are still to be seen in his office, and he looks with such pleasure upon these old friends and reminders of his earlier struggles. Immediately following his admission to the bar he was elected by his old preceptor, Isaac Wrightman Smith, who on account of ill health was retiring from the bar, to be his agent and representative. He thus entered upon the practice of his profession in New Orleans, where he has remained in active practice ever since, with the exception of the time spent in the war, and having been associated at different times with George Eustis, Thomas J. Semmes, Governor Hyams, B. F. Jones, and Julius Aroni. As an attorney Mr. Labatt has won a distinction rarely if ever excelled. He has devoted his attention to civil and commercial law, and has made himself their master, and in which he is justly recognized as an authority. His arguments before the court are marked by a clearness and logic which seldom fails to convince. In 1846 he entered the service of the United States in the war with Mexico, as a member of the fifth Louisiana regiment under the command of Col. Bailey Peyton, and served three months. In 1861, when the war-cloud burst in all its fury over our land, he, being a strong Southern sympathizer and loyal to his cause, offered his services to the confederate government as a member of the Fifth Louisiana volunteers, and was commissioned captain and quartermaster, and assigned to a position on the staff of Col. T. G. Hunt, and later to a similar position on the staff of Brigadier General McLaws but was obliged, after a year's hard service on the peninsula under the command of General Magruder, to resign on account of ill health. Up on the back of his resignation, General Magruder wrote that his retirement was "a loss to the public service." When the city of New Orleans fell into the hands of the federal forces, under General Butler, Mr. Labatt refused take the oath of allegiance and was forced to leave the city with his family, and was allowed to take but ten days rations. After along and tiresome journey, during which time one of the children was killed and another one died from exposure, the little band of refugees found shelter at Wilmington, N. C. There he again joined the confederate service, and was appointed to a position on General Whiting's staff, serving until the close of the war, when he was taken prisoner by the forces of General R. B. Hayes, but was soon afterward paroled.
In 1867, after a stay of two years in Baltimore, he returned with his family to New Orleans, and resumed the practice of his profession. Those days were a golden harvest for Louisiana lawyers. During the war, when the defense of the states had been the all-absorbing topic, justice had been neglected, and when peace resigned once more, the courts of the state were crowded with intricate questions for adjustment. Then again, there were many perplexing questions arising from the war which called for legal consideration. Many of those were in regard to the relation borne by the Negro population to their former masters and owners and furnished cases for which there was no precedent. It was then that the men of ability became conspicuous, and the careful training and varied learning of Mr. Labatt placed him most prominently before the people. Unprejudiced, dispassionate and farsighted, he had the courage from the first to accept the situation, and accord to the colored race their rightful privileges, and from the interest he has taken in their welfare and advancement he is today the recipient of marked respect by African race.
In 1849, he married Miss Elizabeth House of Baltimore, and of this union there are still surviving two sons and four daughters. One of these sons, Leon L. Labatt, is a well-known attorney, and is associated with his father in practice. In religious sentiments Mr. Labatt is of the Hebrew faith, and while not a strict conformist, he takes great pride in the history of his race and linage, upon which he is well informed. He is a democrat of the old Jeffersonian type. A close student and a vigorous and forcible writer, he has from time to time contributed many able articles on important political questions to the journals of the day. Upon constitutional questions he has also contributed a number of able articles, four of them were upon the unconstitutionality of the "Force bill" lately before congress, and they attracted widespread attention. For several years he served as administrator of the University of Louisiana, and upon several occasions he has lectured before the law department of the same. For one year he served as chairman of the examining committee of the supreme court of Louisiana. He is an ardent lover and student of the science and philosophy of the law, and is as devoted to the pursuits of his profession as when he first entered that field as a student. He entertains great reverence for the wisdom of the ancient civil law of Rome and France, and has studiously investigated the events of history that produced such an imperishable body of jurisprudence. As a lawyer, his remarkable versatility, his quick perception and unfathomable resources make him the clients favorite and the defendant's foe. Clearness logic and aptness of illustration are his pre-eminent characteristics, and his success as a lawyer is due in no little measure to his wonderful power of endurance, which se em to be almost enexhaustible. In the practice of his profession he is noted for courtesy and frankness, seeking no advantage over his adversary and courting no favor from his judges! His tenacity of purpose has won from his adversaries the remark that he only begins to fight after he has lost his case. As a civilian few can command the endless resources of his learning or excel him in the extent of his reading. The black letter of a century age, the ancient lore of departed nations, are all attainable from the rich storehouse of his fertile intellect. In person he is of pleasing appearance, his silver hair and beard giving him a distinguished look. Although he is well advanced in years time has passed him by with a light hand. He is an interesting conventionalist his varied impress his listeners at the same time. He has carefully watched the growth and development of New Orleans, ever leading a helping hand to all public enterprises, and is now known as one of the old residents of the city. Both he and his family are widely and favorably known in social circles, in which they have been leaders for many years. Looking back over the past Mr. Labatt can trace his progress, step by step, in tokens that awaken admiration and esteem, and at the sunset of his life can leave his descendants that greatest of legacies - a record over above suspicion, and upon whose bright escutcheon there is no stain.
Chapter XXIV
David Cohen Labatt was born in Mecklenburg, N.C., August 15, 1826. His father Abraham C. Labatt, a native of South Carolina, was one of the founders and first settlers of Cheraw, S.C . from whence he removed to Jacksonville, N.C. The of the little town was given by Abraham C. Labatt, who was appointed postmaster at that place by President Andrew Jackson. He married Caroline, daughter of Samuel Hyams of Charleston, S. C. and a sister of Lieutenant-Governor Hyams of Louisiana. They resided at Mecklenburg until 1830, when they immigrated overland to New Orleans. There Abraham C. Labatt established a large wholesale dry goods house, and in 1830 removed to the second municipality, and was the pioneer merchant in that section of the city. He is still living, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years, at Galveston, Tex., making his home with his son, Hon. H. J. Labatt, a prominent attorney there, and ex-member of the Texas Legislature. David Cohen Labatt is the eldest of a family of fourteen children. He was but four years of age when he came with his parents to Louisiana. He was carefully educated under the instruction of a private tutor and the watchful guidance of his mother, to whose careful training and sound teachings he owes much for the success which has attended hi
At the age of fourteen years he entered Jefferson College, then under the care of Dr. Ingalls, a graduate of West Point, and one of the leading educators of the South at that time. There he had as classmates many whose names now stand high in the affairs of the state. Among others were George Eustus, Jr., afterward Mr. Labatt's law partner, and Judge Alfred Roman, of New Orleans. His college life was suddenly interrupted by a serious accident to his father, which threw the young student, thus early, up on his own resources. He returned to the city of New Orleans, and there accepted a position as bookkeeper with the firm of E. J. Hart & Co. opening for them their first set of books. His admiration for the late Judah P. Benjamin, and his relation to Governor Hyams, induced him to adopt the legal profession. The choice of that pursuit in life for which they may be best fitted place upon young men a responsibility of great importance, for at that time a mistake means much to him who would succeed. That great care was used by Mr. Labatt in making his selection is manifest by the great ability which has marked his labors at the bar, and the eminent success which has attended his effects. He began reading Law under the tuition of Issac Wightman Smith, then a leading and noted attorney at the Louisiana bar. While attending a course of lectures at the University of Louisiana he was induced by Judge's Thomas B. Moore, federal judge of Kentucky, to come to Frankfort, and there take a course of study under his instruction. There he was associated in his legal studies with George W. Vest, United States senator from Missouri, and was soon joined by a number of his friends and acquaintances from New Orleans, including George Eustis and H. J. Leovy, who afterward won distinction at the Louisiana bar, and Edward Bermudez, now oldest justice of Louisiana. With great diligence he pursued his studies at Frankfort for two sessions, spending fourteen hours everyday at hard study. He then returned to New Orleans, and became a student returned to New Orleans, and became a student at the first course of lecture's given in the law department of the University of Louisiana, and graduated from that institution in 1848, receiving the first diploma conferred upon a graduate by that department. The department was at that time presided over by Judge J. H. McCaleb, Randall Hunt, Christian Roselius and Judge H. A. Bullard, all men of the highest standings and ability as lawyers. While pursuing his studies at the university, Mr. Labatt was elected an enrolling clerk of the legislature in 1848, and reported that session with credit. With the money thus earned he purchased the nucleus for his law library. These volumes are still to be seen in his office, and he looks with such pleasure upon these old friends and reminders of his earlier struggles. Immediately following his admission to the bar he was elected by his old preceptor, Isaac Wrightman Smith, who on account of ill health was retiring from the bar, to be his agent and representative. He thus entered upon the practice of his profession in New Orleans, where he has remained in active practice ever since, with the exception of the time spent in the war, and having been associated at different times with George Eustis, Thomas J. Semmes, Governor Hyams, B. F. Jones, and Julius Aroni. As an attorney Mr. Labatt has won a distinction rarely if ever excelled. He has devoted his attention to civil and commercial law, and has made himself their master, and in which he is justly recognized as an authority. His arguments before the court are marked by a clearness and logic which seldom fails to convince. In 1846 he entered the service of the United States in the war with Mexico, as a member of the fifth Louisiana regiment under the command of Col. Bailey Peyton, and served three months. In 1861, when the war-cloud burst in all its fury over our land, he, being a strong Southern sympathizer and loyal to his cause, offered his services to the confederate government as a member of the Fifth Louisiana volunteers, and was commissioned captain and quartermaster, and assigned to a position on the staff of Col. T. G. Hunt, and later to a similar position on the staff of Brigadier General McLaws but was obliged, after a year's hard service on the peninsula under the command of General Magruder, to resign on account of ill health. Up on the back of his resignation, General Magruder wrote that his retirement was "a loss to the public service." When the city of New Orleans fell into the hands of the federal forces, under General Butler, Mr. Labatt refused take the oath of allegiance and was forced to leave the city with his family, and was allowed to take but ten days rations. After along and tiresome journey, during which time one of the children was killed and another one died from exposure, the little band of refugees found shelter at Wilmington, N. C. There he again joined the confederate service, and was appointed to a position on General Whiting's staff, serving until the close of the war, when he was taken prisoner by the forces of General R. B. Hayes, but was soon afterward paroled.
In 1867, after a stay of two years in Baltimore, he returned with his family to New Orleans, and resumed the practice of his profession. Those days were a golden harvest for Louisiana lawyers. During the war, when the defense of the states had been the all-absorbing topic, justice had been neglected, and when peace resigned once more, the courts of the state were crowded with intricate questions for adjustment. Then again, there were many perplexing questions arising from the war which called for legal consideration. Many of those were in regard to the relation borne by the Negro population to their former masters and owners and furnished cases for which there was no precedent. It was then that the men of ability became conspicuous, and the careful training and varied learning of Mr. Labatt placed him most prominently before the people. Unprejudiced, dispassionate and farsighted, he had the courage from the first to accept the situation, and accord to the colored race their rightful privileges, and from the interest he has taken in their welfare and advancement he is today the recipient of marked respect by African race.
In 1849, he married Miss Elizabeth House of Baltimore, and of this union there are still surviving two sons and four daughters. One of these sons, Leon L. Labatt, is a well-known attorney, and is associated with his father in practice. In religious sentiments Mr. Labatt is of the Hebrew faith, and while not a strict conformist, he takes great pride in the history of his race and linage, upon which he is well informed. He is a democrat of the old Jeffersonian type. A close student and a vigorous and forcible writer, he has from time to time contributed many able articles on important political questions to the journals of the day. Upon constitutional questions he has also contributed a number of able articles, four of them were upon the unconstitutionality of the "Force bill" lately before congress, and they attracted widespread attention. For several years he served as administrator of the University of Louisiana, and upon several occasions he has lectured before the law department of the same. For one year he served as chairman of the examining committee of the supreme court of Louisiana. He is an ardent lover and student of the science and philosophy of the law, and is as devoted to the pursuits of his profession as when he first entered that field as a student. He entertains great reverence for the wisdom of the ancient civil law of Rome and France, and has studiously investigated the events of history that produced such an imperishable body of jurisprudence. As a lawyer, his remarkable versatility, his quick perception and unfathomable resources make him the clients favorite and the defendant's foe. Clearness logic and aptness of illustration are his pre-eminent characteristics, and his success as a lawyer is due in no little measure to his wonderful power of endurance, which se em to be almost enexhaustible. In the practice of his profession he is noted for courtesy and frankness, seeking no advantage over his adversary and courting no favor from his judges! His tenacity of purpose has won from his adversaries the remark that he only begins to fight after he has lost his case. As a civilian few can command the endless resources of his learning or excel him in the extent of his reading. The black letter of a century age, the ancient lore of departed nations, are all attainable from the rich storehouse of his fertile intellect. In person he is of pleasing appearance, his silver hair and beard giving him a distinguished look. Although he is well advanced in years time has passed him by with a light hand. He is an interesting conventionalist his varied impress his listeners at the same time. He has carefully watched the growth and development of New Orleans, ever leading a helping hand to all public enterprises, and is now known as one of the old residents of the city. Both he and his family are widely and favorably known in social circles, in which they have been leaders for many years. Looking back over the past Mr. Labatt can trace his progress, step by step, in tokens that awaken admiration and esteem, and at the sunset of his life can leave his descendants that greatest of legacies - a record over above suspicion, and upon whose bright escutcheon there is no stain.
Louisiana Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana 1882 Vol 1
Chapter XXIV
David Cohen Labatt was born in Mecklenburg, N.C., August 15, 1826. His father Abraham C. Labatt, a native of South Carolina, was one of the founders and first settlers of Cheraw, S.C . from whence he removed to Jacksonville, N.C. The of the little town was given by Abraham C. Labatt, who was appointed postmaster at that place by President Andrew Jackson. He married Caroline, daughter of Samuel Hyams of Charleston, S. C. and a sister of Lieutenant-Governor Hyams of Louisiana. They resided at Mecklenburg until 1830, when they immigrated overland to New Orleans. There Abraham C. Labatt established a large wholesale dry goods house, and in 1830 removed to the second municipality, and was the pioneer merchant in that section of the city. He is still living, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years, at Galveston, Tex., making his home with his son, Hon. H. J. Labatt, a prominent attorney there, and ex-member of the Texas Legislature. David Cohen Labatt is the eldest of a family of fourteen children. He was but four years of age when he came with his parents to Louisiana. He was carefully educated under the instruction of a private tutor and the watchful guidance of his mother, to whose careful training and sound teachings he owes much for the success which has attended hi
At the age of fourteen years he entered Jefferson College, then under the care of Dr. Ingalls, a graduate of West Point, and one of the leading educators of the South at that time. There he had as classmates many whose names now stand high in the affairs of the state. Among others were George Eustus, Jr., afterward Mr. Labatt's law partner, and Judge Alfred Roman, of New Orleans. His college life was suddenly interrupted by a serious accident to his father, which threw the young student, thus early, up on his own resources. He returned to the city of New Orleans, and there accepted a position as bookkeeper with the firm of E. J. Hart & Co. opening for them their first set of books. His admiration for the late Judah P. Benjamin, and his relation to Governor Hyams, induced him to adopt the legal profession. The choice of that pursuit in life for which they may be best fitted place upon young men a responsibility of great importance, for at that time a mistake means much to him who would succeed. That great care was used by Mr. Labatt in making his selection is manifest by the great ability which has marked his labors at the bar, and the eminent success which has attended his effects. He began reading Law under the tuition of Issac Wightman Smith, then a leading and noted attorney at the Louisiana bar. While attending a course of lectures at the University of Louisiana he was induced by Judge's Thomas B. Moore, federal judge of Kentucky, to come to Frankfort, and there take a course of study under his instruction. There he was associated in his legal studies with George W. Vest, United States senator from Missouri, and was soon joined by a number of his friends and acquaintances from New Orleans, including George Eustis and H. J. Leovy, who afterward won distinction at the Louisiana bar, and Edward Bermudez, now oldest justice of Louisiana. With great diligence he pursued his studies at Frankfort for two sessions, spending fourteen hours everyday at hard study. He then returned to New Orleans, and became a student returned to New Orleans, and became a student at the first course of lecture's given in the law department of the University of Louisiana, and graduated from that institution in 1848, receiving the first diploma conferred upon a graduate by that department. The department was at that time presided over by Judge J. H. McCaleb, Randall Hunt, Christian Roselius and Judge H. A. Bullard, all men of the highest standings and ability as lawyers. While pursuing his studies at the university, Mr. Labatt was elected an enrolling clerk of the legislature in 1848, and reported that session with credit. With the money thus earned he purchased the nucleus for his law library. These volumes are still to be seen in his office, and he looks with such pleasure upon these old friends and reminders of his earlier struggles. Immediately following his admission to the bar he was elected by his old preceptor, Isaac Wrightman Smith, who on account of ill health was retiring from the bar, to be his agent and representative. He thus entered upon the practice of his profession in New Orleans, where he has remained in active practice ever since, with the exception of the time spent in the war, and having been associated at different times with George Eustis, Thomas J. Semmes, Governor Hyams, B. F. Jones, and Julius Aroni. As an attorney Mr. Labatt has won a distinction rarely if ever excelled. He has devoted his attention to civil and commercial law, and has made himself their master, and in which he is justly recognized as an authority. His arguments before the court are marked by a clearness and logic which seldom fails to convince. In 1846 he entered the service of the United States in the war with Mexico, as a member of the fifth Louisiana regiment under the command of Col. Bailey Peyton, and served three months. In 1861, when the war-cloud burst in all its fury over our land, he, being a strong Southern sympathizer and loyal to his cause, offered his services to the confederate government as a member of the Fifth Louisiana volunteers, and was commissioned captain and quartermaster, and assigned to a position on the staff of Col. T. G. Hunt, and later to a similar position on the staff of Brigadier General McLaws but was obliged, after a year's hard service on the peninsula under the command of General Magruder, to resign on account of ill health. Up on the back of his resignation, General Magruder wrote that his retirement was "a loss to the public service." When the city of New Orleans fell into the hands of the federal forces, under General Butler, Mr. Labatt refused take the oath of allegiance and was forced to leave the city with his family, and was allowed to take but ten days rations. After along and tiresome journey, during which time one of the children was killed and another one died from exposure, the little band of refugees found shelter at Wilmington, N. C. There he again joined the confederate service, and was appointed to a position on General Whiting's staff, serving until the close of the war, when he was taken prisoner by the forces of General R. B. Hayes, but was soon afterward paroled.
In 1867, after a stay of two years in Baltimore, he returned with his family to New Orleans, and resumed the practice of his profession. Those days were a golden harvest for Louisiana lawyers. During the war, when the defense of the states had been the all-absorbing topic, justice had been neglected, and when peace resigned once more, the courts of the state were crowded with intricate questions for adjustment. Then again, there were many perplexing questions arising from the war which called for legal consideration. Many of those were in regard to the relation borne by the Negro population to their former masters and owners and furnished cases for which there was no precedent. It was then that the men of ability became conspicuous, and the careful training and varied learning of Mr. Labatt placed him most prominently before the people. Unprejudiced, dispassionate and farsighted, he had the courage from the first to accept the situation, and accord to the colored race their rightful privileges, and from the interest he has taken in their welfare and advancement he is today the recipient of marked respect by African race.
In 1849, he married Miss Elizabeth House of Baltimore, and of this union there are still surviving two sons and four daughters. One of these sons, Leon L. Labatt, is a well-known attorney, and is associated with his father in practice. In religious sentiments Mr. Labatt is of the Hebrew faith, and while not a strict conformist, he takes great pride in the history of his race and linage, upon which he is well informed. He is a democrat of the old Jeffersonian type. A close student and a vigorous and forcible writer, he has from time to time contributed many able articles on important political questions to the journals of the day. Upon constitutional questions he has also contributed a number of able articles, four of them were upon the unconstitutionality of the "Force bill" lately before congress, and they attracted widespread attention. For several years he served as administrator of the University of Louisiana, and upon several occasions he has lectured before the law department of the same. For one year he served as chairman of the examining committee of the supreme court of Louisiana. He is an ardent lover and student of the science and philosophy of the law, and is as devoted to the pursuits of his profession as when he first entered that field as a student. He entertains great reverence for the wisdom of the ancient civil law of Rome and France, and has studiously investigated the events of history that produced such an imperishable body of jurisprudence. As a lawyer, his remarkable versatility, his quick perception and unfathomable resources make him the clients favorite and the defendant's foe. Clearness logic and aptness of illustration are his pre-eminent characteristics, and his success as a lawyer is due in no little measure to his wonderful power of endurance, which se em to be almost enexhaustible. In the practice of his profession he is noted for courtesy and frankness, seeking no advantage over his adversary and courting no favor from his judges! His tenacity of purpose has won from his adversaries the remark that he only begins to fight after he has lost his case. As a civilian few can command the endless resources of his learning or excel him in the extent of his reading. The black letter of a century age, the ancient lore of departed nations, are all attainable from the rich storehouse of his fertile intellect. In person he is of pleasing appearance, his silver hair and beard giving him a distinguished look. Although he is well advanced in years time has passed him by with a light hand. He is an interesting conventionalist his varied impress his listeners at the same time. He has carefully watched the growth and development of New Orleans, ever leading a helping hand to all public enterprises, and is now known as one of the old residents of the city. Both he and his family are widely and favorably known in social circles, in which they have been leaders for many years. Looking back over the past Mr. Labatt can trace his progress, step by step, in tokens that awaken admiration and esteem, and at the sunset of his life can leave his descendants that greatest of legacies - a record over above suspicion, and upon whose bright escutcheon there is no stain.
Chapter XXIV
David Cohen Labatt was born in Mecklenburg, N.C., August 15, 1826. His father Abraham C. Labatt, a native of South Carolina, was one of the founders and first settlers of Cheraw, S.C . from whence he removed to Jacksonville, N.C. The of the little town was given by Abraham C. Labatt, who was appointed postmaster at that place by President Andrew Jackson. He married Caroline, daughter of Samuel Hyams of Charleston, S. C. and a sister of Lieutenant-Governor Hyams of Louisiana. They resided at Mecklenburg until 1830, when they immigrated overland to New Orleans. There Abraham C. Labatt established a large wholesale dry goods house, and in 1830 removed to the second municipality, and was the pioneer merchant in that section of the city. He is still living, at the ripe age of eighty-nine years, at Galveston, Tex., making his home with his son, Hon. H. J. Labatt, a prominent attorney there, and ex-member of the Texas Legislature. David Cohen Labatt is the eldest of a family of fourteen children. He was but four years of age when he came with his parents to Louisiana. He was carefully educated under the instruction of a private tutor and the watchful guidance of his mother, to whose careful training and sound teachings he owes much for the success which has attended hi
At the age of fourteen years he entered Jefferson College, then under the care of Dr. Ingalls, a graduate of West Point, and one of the leading educators of the South at that time. There he had as classmates many whose names now stand high in the affairs of the state. Among others were George Eustus, Jr., afterward Mr. Labatt's law partner, and Judge Alfred Roman, of New Orleans. His college life was suddenly interrupted by a serious accident to his father, which threw the young student, thus early, up on his own resources. He returned to the city of New Orleans, and there accepted a position as bookkeeper with the firm of E. J. Hart & Co. opening for them their first set of books. His admiration for the late Judah P. Benjamin, and his relation to Governor Hyams, induced him to adopt the legal profession. The choice of that pursuit in life for which they may be best fitted place upon young men a responsibility of great importance, for at that time a mistake means much to him who would succeed. That great care was used by Mr. Labatt in making his selection is manifest by the great ability which has marked his labors at the bar, and the eminent success which has attended his effects. He began reading Law under the tuition of Issac Wightman Smith, then a leading and noted attorney at the Louisiana bar. While attending a course of lectures at the University of Louisiana he was induced by Judge's Thomas B. Moore, federal judge of Kentucky, to come to Frankfort, and there take a course of study under his instruction. There he was associated in his legal studies with George W. Vest, United States senator from Missouri, and was soon joined by a number of his friends and acquaintances from New Orleans, including George Eustis and H. J. Leovy, who afterward won distinction at the Louisiana bar, and Edward Bermudez, now oldest justice of Louisiana. With great diligence he pursued his studies at Frankfort for two sessions, spending fourteen hours everyday at hard study. He then returned to New Orleans, and became a student returned to New Orleans, and became a student at the first course of lecture's given in the law department of the University of Louisiana, and graduated from that institution in 1848, receiving the first diploma conferred upon a graduate by that department. The department was at that time presided over by Judge J. H. McCaleb, Randall Hunt, Christian Roselius and Judge H. A. Bullard, all men of the highest standings and ability as lawyers. While pursuing his studies at the university, Mr. Labatt was elected an enrolling clerk of the legislature in 1848, and reported that session with credit. With the money thus earned he purchased the nucleus for his law library. These volumes are still to be seen in his office, and he looks with such pleasure upon these old friends and reminders of his earlier struggles. Immediately following his admission to the bar he was elected by his old preceptor, Isaac Wrightman Smith, who on account of ill health was retiring from the bar, to be his agent and representative. He thus entered upon the practice of his profession in New Orleans, where he has remained in active practice ever since, with the exception of the time spent in the war, and having been associated at different times with George Eustis, Thomas J. Semmes, Governor Hyams, B. F. Jones, and Julius Aroni. As an attorney Mr. Labatt has won a distinction rarely if ever excelled. He has devoted his attention to civil and commercial law, and has made himself their master, and in which he is justly recognized as an authority. His arguments before the court are marked by a clearness and logic which seldom fails to convince. In 1846 he entered the service of the United States in the war with Mexico, as a member of the fifth Louisiana regiment under the command of Col. Bailey Peyton, and served three months. In 1861, when the war-cloud burst in all its fury over our land, he, being a strong Southern sympathizer and loyal to his cause, offered his services to the confederate government as a member of the Fifth Louisiana volunteers, and was commissioned captain and quartermaster, and assigned to a position on the staff of Col. T. G. Hunt, and later to a similar position on the staff of Brigadier General McLaws but was obliged, after a year's hard service on the peninsula under the command of General Magruder, to resign on account of ill health. Up on the back of his resignation, General Magruder wrote that his retirement was "a loss to the public service." When the city of New Orleans fell into the hands of the federal forces, under General Butler, Mr. Labatt refused take the oath of allegiance and was forced to leave the city with his family, and was allowed to take but ten days rations. After along and tiresome journey, during which time one of the children was killed and another one died from exposure, the little band of refugees found shelter at Wilmington, N. C. There he again joined the confederate service, and was appointed to a position on General Whiting's staff, serving until the close of the war, when he was taken prisoner by the forces of General R. B. Hayes, but was soon afterward paroled.
In 1867, after a stay of two years in Baltimore, he returned with his family to New Orleans, and resumed the practice of his profession. Those days were a golden harvest for Louisiana lawyers. During the war, when the defense of the states had been the all-absorbing topic, justice had been neglected, and when peace resigned once more, the courts of the state were crowded with intricate questions for adjustment. Then again, there were many perplexing questions arising from the war which called for legal consideration. Many of those were in regard to the relation borne by the Negro population to their former masters and owners and furnished cases for which there was no precedent. It was then that the men of ability became conspicuous, and the careful training and varied learning of Mr. Labatt placed him most prominently before the people. Unprejudiced, dispassionate and farsighted, he had the courage from the first to accept the situation, and accord to the colored race their rightful privileges, and from the interest he has taken in their welfare and advancement he is today the recipient of marked respect by African race.
In 1849, he married Miss Elizabeth House of Baltimore, and of this union there are still surviving two sons and four daughters. One of these sons, Leon L. Labatt, is a well-known attorney, and is associated with his father in practice. In religious sentiments Mr. Labatt is of the Hebrew faith, and while not a strict conformist, he takes great pride in the history of his race and linage, upon which he is well informed. He is a democrat of the old Jeffersonian type. A close student and a vigorous and forcible writer, he has from time to time contributed many able articles on important political questions to the journals of the day. Upon constitutional questions he has also contributed a number of able articles, four of them were upon the unconstitutionality of the "Force bill" lately before congress, and they attracted widespread attention. For several years he served as administrator of the University of Louisiana, and upon several occasions he has lectured before the law department of the same. For one year he served as chairman of the examining committee of the supreme court of Louisiana. He is an ardent lover and student of the science and philosophy of the law, and is as devoted to the pursuits of his profession as when he first entered that field as a student. He entertains great reverence for the wisdom of the ancient civil law of Rome and France, and has studiously investigated the events of history that produced such an imperishable body of jurisprudence. As a lawyer, his remarkable versatility, his quick perception and unfathomable resources make him the clients favorite and the defendant's foe. Clearness logic and aptness of illustration are his pre-eminent characteristics, and his success as a lawyer is due in no little measure to his wonderful power of endurance, which se em to be almost enexhaustible. In the practice of his profession he is noted for courtesy and frankness, seeking no advantage over his adversary and courting no favor from his judges! His tenacity of purpose has won from his adversaries the remark that he only begins to fight after he has lost his case. As a civilian few can command the endless resources of his learning or excel him in the extent of his reading. The black letter of a century age, the ancient lore of departed nations, are all attainable from the rich storehouse of his fertile intellect. In person he is of pleasing appearance, his silver hair and beard giving him a distinguished look. Although he is well advanced in years time has passed him by with a light hand. He is an interesting conventionalist his varied impress his listeners at the same time. He has carefully watched the growth and development of New Orleans, ever leading a helping hand to all public enterprises, and is now known as one of the old residents of the city. Both he and his family are widely and favorably known in social circles, in which they have been leaders for many years. Looking back over the past Mr. Labatt can trace his progress, step by step, in tokens that awaken admiration and esteem, and at the sunset of his life can leave his descendants that greatest of legacies - a record over above suspicion, and upon whose bright escutcheon there is no stain.
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