Thomy lafon biography channel
Thomy lafon biography channel youtube.
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Born a free person of color in New Orleans, Thomy Lafon was the son of a Frenchman and a free woman of Haitian descent who had been born in Louisiana to a slave mother. Lafon’s father deserted the family when Lafon was a young boy.
Lafon was self-educated. By , when he was 32, Lafon was listed in the New Orleans City Directory as a merchant.
In , Lafon began to build his fortune from real estate and businesses.
Thomy lafon biography channel
His fortune in was estimated at $, making him at the time the wealthiest African American in the nation. Despite his wealth Lafon lived in a modest house at Ursulines Street.
Although a successful businessman, Lafon would be remembered for his Lafon founded the Lafon Orphan Boys’ Asylum and the Home for Aged Colored Men and Women.
He also donated to other charitable and religious organizations including the American Anti-Slavery Society, the Underground Railroad, the Catholic Institute for the Care of Orphans, New Orleans University, the Religious Order of the Holy Fami