User:Pobergman

Vaud Comeaux -
Descendant of Pierre Comeau an immigrant from Dijon, France in the 1500s to Acadia, Canada. When the great relocation of French by the British occurred in the 1750's, many of the French were sold as indentured servantts to the United States. Some settled in Massachusetts and the rest in New York and Pennsylvannia. The New York refugees made their way down to Louisiana to what is now known as St. James Parish just outside of New Orleans. Vaud Comeaux was a fourth or fifth generation descendent of those that came south to Louisiana. He was born March 16, 1892, the seventh son of Anja and Hilarion Comeau. Hilarion was also a seventh son and this led to many rumors and much conjecture about Vaud and his life story. During his day, some claimed that he had special powers to heal the sick and see into the future. The legend of the seventh son of a seventh son is an old one and that person is said to be "touched". In some cultures, he is said to be doomed to be a werewolf or vampire. In any event, he grew up surrounded by this type of influence and by the time he was in his teens, he had spoken of some dreams in which he saw a great storm, and when hurricanes followed, he was dubbed a local prophet. His brothers were farmers and oil workers in the 1920s. But Vaud was rumored to have joined a traveling road show called Tarbett and White Stock Company. Here he met Harley Sadler who later had a road show of his own. He took Vaud under his wing and it was here the seed for his own revival was planted. He learned from Sadler's charisma how to work an audience. His own leanings were towards the more dubious end even in these more scrupulous environs and he would often collude with a young girl, Annalina, to pick pockets of unsuspecting show goers while someone was tap dancing in the crowd. Annalina eventually became his wife and the two were eventually thrown out of the show together. Vaud took a different turn and became a snake oil salesman/charlatan preacher. And the two went from town to town all through Kentucky to Georgia and back down through Louisiana and Texas with their young son, Oren, with their traveling con act. In 1935 he was arrested in Lubbock, TX for administering a phony treatment to a man who died later that week. There is no record of him serving time and it is thought that he went on the lam after posting bail and remained wanted the rest of his life.

In 1939, Annalina became ill and they returned to his childhood home now owned by his older brother William. It was here that something changed in his life. It is unclear whether or not Annalina passed away here or not. Another rumor is that Vaud saved a town girl from drowning. By this time, he'd had another child, Victoria and the record shows that he began a revival type of show more rooted in spirituality than entertainment. He became a beacon to the poor areas of that part of the country. He traveled with a motley crew of misfits. Someone played a spinet piano, there was a German tuba player and he had at least two gospel singers. Vaud himself played banjo and guitar. He would go into these poor areas and preach and play music. He died penniless at age 54 in Baton Rouge, LA. He was known as "Vaud the Preacher" or just "Preacher".