Florent Edouard Simon (or Edward Simon; May 26, 1799 – 1866) was a justice of the
Louisiana Supreme Court from January 1, 1840, to March 19, 1846.
Born in
Tournai, in the province of
Hainaut,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
he studied at the
University of Louvain, and studied
civil law at
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.
[''Celebration of the Centenary of the Supreme Court of Louisiana'' (March 1, 1913), in John Wymond, Henry Plauché Dart, eds., ''The Louisiana Historical Quarterly'' (1922), p. 117.] Following the annexation of Belgium to Holland,
Simon emigrated to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1817, and from there to
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, where he went into the
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
business.
He moved to
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 ...
, settling at
St. Martinville.
There, he was encouraged to finish his legal studies by his friend Felix Grima, a judge of the state.
After retirement from bench, became a
sugar planter.
He was the first of five consecutive generations of Louisiana judges, and his great-grandson,
James Dudley Simon, also served on the Louisiana Supreme Court.
References
1799 births
1866 deaths
People from Tournai
State University of Leuven alumni
Justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court
19th-century American judges
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