Mignon, Francois

Francois Mignon, a journalist and curator of buildings, gardens, and furnishings at Melrose Plantation, a working cotton and pecan plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana owned by Cammie Henry. Henry made the plantation into an artists' and writers' colony.

From the description of Francois Mignon papers, 1939-1970. (Louisiana State University). WorldCat record id: 237797154

Francois Mignon (given name Frank VerNooy Mineah) was born 9 May 1899 in Cortland, N.Y., to Walter Fish Mineah and Mary Ella Mineah. He later moved to New York City. He first visited Melrose in the late 1930s, planning to stay in Louisiana for six weeks, but his growing blindness and an invitation from Cammie Henry, who owned Melrose, convinced him to stay for what turned out to be more than 30 years. At Melrose, he worked as curator of buildings, furnishings, and gardens.

Melrose was a working cotton and pecan plantation, but it was best known in the period between the two World Wars as a writers and artists colony. Cammie Henry, who bought the plantation in 1899, restored its unique collection of African-inspired buildings she called the Yucca, Ghana, and Africa houses. These structures sheltered such authors as Lyle Saxon, James Register, Harnett Kane, Alexander Woollcott, and Rachel Field. Francois Mignon began writing his own weekly column for the Natchitoches Enterprise in the 1950s. His Plantation Memo was named best in state by the Louisiana Press Association from 1961 to 1963. Mignon wrote on a wide range of topics that reflected his interest in everything from Louisiana flora and fauna to ancient Greece. By 1971, when he was named Louisiana Writer of the Year by the Department of English at Louisiana Tech University, Mignon had renamed his column Cane River Memo. He received a special award from the Natchitoches Chamber of Commerce for his promotion of the Natchitoches area and was awarded the Lesche Creative Works Award by the Lesche Club of Natchitoches in 1980.

In addition to his writing, Mignon designed the gardens at Melrose and promoted the folk artist Clementine Hunter, who became the first African American woman to have a one-person show at New Orleans's Delgado Museum. Mignon himself created a series of commemorative plates depicting Natchitoches history and legend. Mignon devoted much of his professional and personal life to promoting and preserving the history of the Natchitoches area, including its unique plant life and architectural heritage.

From the guide to the Francois Mignon Papers,  , 1853-1980, 1939-1980, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)