Among the legends surrounding the older family names of South Louisiana, is the well known story about the travels of Henrique A. Landry, also known as Henry Padrino Fabian Landry.

According to William Henry Theriot, great-great-grandson of Henry, the "Padrino Fabian" portion of Henry's name is a mis-representation from his baptismal records which were written in Spanish. The "Padrino" is Spanish for "godfather" and "Fabian" was Henry's godfather, as well as his step-brother.

The following is from a May 10, 1984 printing of The Houma Daily Courier, Houma, La. It is furnished by Jules B. Landry of Baton Rouge, also a great-great-grandson of Henry A. Landry.

The tale begins in St. James Parish in 1781 (some records show 1779) when Henrique was born the son of Pierre Landry and Marie-Joseph Landry.  After fleeing British rule in Nova Scotia, Pierre and Marie settled in St. James Parish.

Court records show that Henry Landry could neither read nor write. Like so many others of his time, an X was affixed on legal documents recorded by the clerk of court during that time testified to that fact.  Some of the records that Landry's mark is attached to are in French, English or Spanish, showing the various cultural hertiages of which South Louisiana can boast.

In 1795, Henry left St. James Parish by pirogue, traveling up the Mississippi River to Donaldsonville and then down Bayou Lafourche.  Paddling down the bayou, he reached Paincourtville, which means short-bread-ville, where he staked out a plot of land.   In 1797, he managed to get a land grant from Spanish authorities since Spain still ruled Louisiana and call the place Highland. Years later he would rename it Armelise Plantation, after his youngest daughter.

In 1805 Henry returned to St. James Parish to marry his childhood sweetheart, Scholastique Bergeron,daughter of Jean Baptiste Bergeron and Marie Foret, and they returned to raise "a large family". Children on record include Michel Henry, Murville, Armelise, Drosin,Jean Baptiste and Marie Melanie.

Landry died on August 10, 1856, when a hurricane destroyed the luxury resort Trade Wind Hotel on Last Island off the Louisiana coast.  The Hotel was to Louisiana in 1856 what Ft. Lauderdale is to the Gulf Coast today.  The large, rambling hotel was the mecca for wealthy Louisiana families in antebellum days.

During the spring and summer months, the hotel was full of guests who went there to escape the heat of the cities or the threat of yellow fever.  August 10th was the height of the tourist season and the hotel was filled with almost 300 guests.  The hurricane came ashore at about 3pm and less than two hours later over 200 guests and residents were dead and the hotel was a pile of rubble!

The destruction of Last Island was dramatized in 1889 by Lafcadio Hearn in the publication Chita and a factual account of the disaster was written by a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. R.S. McAllister of Thibodaux in 1891.