Christian Roselius (10 August 1803 near

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Germany – 5 September 1873 in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

) was a

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

lawyer.

Biography

His early education was limited to the elementary schooling. In July 1820, he left Germany on board the bark ''Jupiter'' for

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, having secured his passage by an

indenture An indenture is a legal contract that reflects or covers a debt or purchase obligation. It specifically refers to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, it is an instrument used for commercia ...

. He was then employed for several years in a

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

office. In 1825, with a partner, he established and edited the first

literary journal A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters ...

published in Louisiana. It was called ''The Halcyon'', and, failing to prove remunerative, was abandoned for the study of the law, Roselius supporting himself during this time by teaching. His legal studies were pursued in company with his friend, Alexander Dimitry, in the office of Auguste Devesac, beginning in December 1826 and terminating in March 1828, at which time he was admitted to practice by the

Louisiana Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Louisiana (french: Cour suprême de Louisiane) is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orlea ...

, consisting of Judges Martin, Matthews, and Porter. His love of the civil law became a passion, and soon placed him in the front rank and eventually at the head of the Louisiana bar. In 1841 he was appointed

Attorney General of Louisiana The office of attorney general of Louisiana (french: Procureur général de la Louisiane) has existed since the colonial period. Under Article IV, Section 8 of the Constitution of Louisiana, the attorney general is elected statewide for a four-yea ...

and served for a term of two years. During the same decade he was honored with an invitation to become the law partner in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison, ...

, which he, however, declined, preferring to remain in the South. ChristianRoseliusHouseBroadwaySideYard

For many years, Roselius was dean of the faculty of the University of Louisiana, and for the last 23 years of his life professor of civil law. An opponent of secession, he was offered the highest place in the reconstructed Louisiana Supreme Court, but he declined to accept the appointment unless the court should be secured from military interference.https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/Marx_Engels_Writings_on_the_North_American_Civil_War.pdf Roselius possessed one of the finest private

libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

in the South. It was particularly rich in the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, of which he was a constant reader, and in Shakespeariana, of which he was a devoted student. He conversed equally well in English, French, and German. His house and spacious grounds at Carrollton, a suburb of New Orleans, was noted for its generous hospitality, few persons of distinction visiting New Orleans during the last two decades of his life without being entertained by Roselius, who was a cheery and charming host. His hand and purse were always open to the unfortunate, and one of several visits to his native land was for the sole purpose of aiding some of his less prosperous kinsmen.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roselius, Christian Lawyers from New Orleans 1803 births 1873 deaths Southern Unionists in the American Civil War Tulane University faculty German emigrants to the United States Louisiana Attorneys General 19th-century American lawyers