| 1795 March 5 |
Born near Opelousas, son of Jacques Etienne Roman from Grenoble, France and Marie Louise Patin. His family later moves to St. James Parish and establishes a sugar plantation. |
| 1815 | Graduates from St. Mary College in Baltimore, Maryland. |
| 1816 | Marries Aimee Françoise Parent. They will have 8 children. |
| 1818 | Elected to the state House of Representatives at age 23. |
| 1822 | Becomes Speaker of the Louisiana State House of Representatives until 1826 |
| 1826 | Parish Judge in St. James Parish |
| 1828 | Again elected to the Louisiana House and is Speaker during the constitutional crisis following the death of P A C Bourguignon Derbigny. |
| 1830 | Elected governor as a Whig candidate. {His competitors in the race are: the flamboyant Bernard Marigny, Duralde, son-in-law of Henry Clay, and Jacques Philippe Villere.) Roman is much better educated than his opponents. Results of this election: Roman 3,638; Hamilton 2,701; Beauvais 1,478; David Randall 463. |
| 1831 January 31 |
Takes office during a time of storms, floods, depression and epidemics. During these years of vigorous economic growth yellow fever will kill 5,000, the number of banks in the state rise from 5 to 11, Canal Bank builds the New Basin Canal and the Pontchartrain Railroad begins locomotive service in 1832. The penitentiary system is established, the College of Jefferson opens in St. James Parish and the College of Franklin opens in St. Landry Parish. The Louisiana Agricultural Society is organized with Roman as its first president. The South Carolina nullification controversy moves Roman and most of Louisiana to back Andrew Jackson’s stand on national authority. The old Charity Hospital building on Canal Street is used as the State House, while 611 Royal is used as the official residence of the governor after the state government returns from Donaldsonville. |
| 1835 | Loses Senate race to young Alexander Mouton. |
| 1838 | 1838 Wins election to return him to the governor’s office. His opponent is Denis Prieur, the self-indulgent Jacksonian mayor of New Orleans who lives openly with his quadroon mistress. Beats Prieur 7,590 votes to 6,782. Democratic ranks have been shaken by the Panic of 1837. |
| 1839 February 4 |
Roman retakes the governor’s office stressing education and civic improvements.
During this administration comes the first practical impetus on a public education system. 600 volumes of Gayarre’s Historical Essay on Louisian are purchased and distributed among the parishes. Appropriations allow copying of parish archives on Louisiana colonial history.
Roman creates the Office of State Engineer and advocates opening the passes at the mouth of the Mississippi River. He is the president of the New Orleans Drainage Company which drains the swamps behind the city. He is the Citizen’s Bank leader which remains stable in these times of panic, issuing the famed Dixie ten dollar bills. The state penitentiary opens in Baton Rouge. Also the Clinton to Port Hudson Railroad which aids the cotton industry and an experimental farm in St. James Parish. |
| 1840 | State abolishes imprisonment for debt. |
| 1841 | Roman vetoes several new bank charters during the most volatile economic period (1841-1842) in Ante-bellum Louisiana. |
| 1842 | The Bank Act of 1842 replaces the earlier easy credit system with a sounder, more restrictive policy. |
| 1845 | Delegate to the state constitutional convention. |
| 1848 | Goes to Europe as an agent for Citizens Bank and Consolidated Association of Planters for an extensions of bonds. |
| 1852 | Delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1852. |
| 1861 | As a delegate to the Louisiana Secession convention Roman opposes disunion. He is chosen along with John Forsyth and Martin J. Crawford to negotiate a peaceable separation, but Secretary of State Seward refuses to meet with them. |
| 1866 January 26 |
Dies while walking down Dumaine Street ten months after the end of the war. He had just accepted an appointment to the office of City Recorder of Deeds and Mortgages from governor James Madison Wells. Devastated by the war he has lost all of his wealth and property. |