Parish of Caddo history

5, R. & S. M., was instituted U. D. January 6, 1801, with Emmett D. Craig, T. I. G. M.; John C. Elstner, D. I. G. M.; J. W, Jones, P. C.; T. P. Hotchkiss, B. Jacobs, George W. Kendall, Henry Levy and Vincent Ritchie, illustrious companions.

In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for fifteen million US dollars, which amounted to less than three cents per acre.

In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson appointed William C. C. Claiborne as governor of the Territory of Orleans, as Louisiana was known in its first years.

The first session of a civil court in Louisiana, outside of New Orleans, since the close of the war, was opened at Shreveport, August 21, 1805, by Judge Weems.

The word parish has ecclesiastical origins, and the territorial legislature's adoption of the term in 1807 denotes the strong influence of the Catholic Church on the French culture of the day.

In 1811 the first permanent settlements by English speaking people were made, near the present Claiborne-Webster line, as told in the history of Webster.

John Morrell, the maternal grandfather, was born in Massachusetts, and when a young man came to Louisiana and was married in Rapides Parish, settling afterward in Natchitoches, where he spent the rest of his days, having served in the War of 1812, being with Jackson at New Orleans.

Ardis, the senior member of the firm of Ardis & Co., was born in Edgefield District, S. C, February 3, 1828, his parents, Matthias and Louisa (Nail) Ardis, being also born there.

Edwards sold his claim to Angus McNeil on January 24, 1835, for $5,000, and in July of that year Jehial Brooks, an agent of the United States, reported satisfactorily on the transaction, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court.

In May, 1836, the United States surveyor found it to contain 634 acres and a fraction of an acre, and on May 27, 1836, the members who subsequently formed the town company joined McNeil in the ownership.

The first steamboat accident on the upper Red River brought into the courts was that of January 0, 1838, when Capt.

In 1839 the parish agreed to pay C. A. Sewall & Co. $300 per year as rent for clerk's and sheriff's office, and $25 per month to Davis & Howell for room in their house.

On January 22, 1840, the death of Mayor Sewall appears; Trustee Hunter was chosen chairman; Thomas I. Williamson was appointed captain of patrol, and also Seth Sheldon; W. F. Walmesley was appointed surveyor, vice Sterrett, resigned, and J. Clinton Beall, attorney.

John R. Smith was indicted for murder, but was found "not guilty." The fourth term was begun June 7, 1841, by Judge Campbell.

On May 10, 1843, the original town company was dissolved and a partition sale made of the property.

Doctor A. B. Booth was born in East Baton Rouge in January, 1844, and grew to manhood on his father's plantation.

Masonry at Shreveport dates back to 1845, when old Caddo Lodge No.

The first notice of pay for public printing appears in July, 1846, when H. J. G. Battle was allowed $50.

In February, 1850, Recorder John Young was authorized to remove the deed books to his brick office on Texas Street.

August J. Bogel remained in his native country until fourteen years of age, and in 1851 sailed for America, landing at New York.

Judge Jones was re-commissioned in March, 1852, but the April term was opened by Judge Bullard.

On April 19, 1853, the question of aiding the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas R. R. to the extent of $100,000 was carried by 211 votes for, against 154 votes contra, and in June the license question was introduced.

S. P. Helme, established, in 1854, two miles from Shreveport, had a building 112 x 50 feet, and seven cottages erected in the fall of that year.

In 1855, Shreveport was chosen as the parish seat.

In February, 1857, Father Pierre, formerly of De Soto Parish, came to Shreveport with the purpose of raising funds for the erection of a Catholic Church here.

The Night Guard was issued at Shreveport February 21, 1858, by J. M. A. Scanland & Co., with J. M. A. and W. H. Scanland and T. B. Steele, editors.

Herron Francis Jett, Reform Medical College, Macon, Ga., 1859.

The gap in the Southern Pacific Railroad, between Shreveport and Marshall, was closed July 28, 1860, and on the 29th the first train passed over the road.

In September, 1861, this company was organized, with T. A. Sharp, captain; Thomas H. Triplet, first lieutenant; J. C. Kuney, second lieutenant, and H. E. Allen, third lieutenant.

In April, 1862, a meeting was held at Shreveport to consider the question of burning the cotton in the event of the Federals advancing on the town.

The blockade failing, he ran his boat in the service of the Confederate government until some time in 1863, when he sold the Trent, and was afterward appointed by Jefferson Davis as pilot of the gunboat Missouri, which had been built at Shreveport.

In 1864 cotton sold for $1.90 in New York City, and during the years of Civil War it sold as low as 20 cents.

Shreveport served as the capital of the state when Baton Rouge fell and was also the site of the last confederacy surrender in 1865.

S. R. Mallary, the last State prisoner confined in Fort Lafayette was released in April, 1866.

On January 27, 1868, " Special Order 203 " was entered and court opened by Judge Weems.

The Shreveport Medical Society was reorganized in 1870, but the members assembled in regular session only twice in the succeeding six years.

In January, 1857, authority to build a jail was given. It appears that A. J. Pickens, the radical president of the police jury at the beginning of 1871, refused to turn over to the newly appointed jury the minute books.

The only buildings over thirty years of age in existence at Shreveport in January, 1872, were those occupied by A. Weinstock on Texas Street and Green (Commercial) Alley; the two-story house on Texas Street, occupied by J. Caldwell; the house in rear, occupied by Mrs.

A modern event may be crowded into this little record of the beginnings of settlement, that is, the resolution of September, 1873, by the State Democratic Convention of Texas, approving of the proposition to annex Caddo and De Soto to Texas.

Yoakum, Finis Ewing, Texas Medical College, Galveston, 1874.

In 1875 the five companies were incorporated as a department, with John H. Jordan, president.

The first bale received in 1876 was on August 3.

The name of "B. C. White, clerk of former police jury,'' occurs under date January 1, 1877.

In August, 1878, there were nine quarantine posts established, and a guard put in charge of each to prevent the entrance of sick persons; the death of Marshall Page was made part of the record.

The fire of June 2, 1879, destroyed the Thenard store and other buildings belonging to Joseph Boisseau and the Gregg .& Ford building.

The fire of February 1, 1880, originated in the one-story brick building on Texas Street, between Market and Edwards Streets, occupied by Brewing's grocery and Seigle's dry goods store.

The merchants of Shreveport paid to the Red River Navigation Companies for freight in 1881, no less than $152,533.88, while the amount paid to the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company was $523,282.57, or a total of $675,816.45.

Among its past chancellors may be named H. H. Hargrove (who was chancellor commander in 1882), R. T. Vinson (the present mayor), and C. C. Cahn; and among its first members were A. A. Lyon and Zaeh Hargrove, W. J. Willoughby, S. Caldwell, H. Sour, L. and S. Wolf, S. Kline and A. Bercher.

The Louisiana State Fair and Shreveport Exposition was organized June 13, 1883, under the title, North Louisiana Agricultural and Mechanical Association.

In 1884 Albert Butler (Colored), of Caddo, raised the first bale, 420 pounds, and Cornelius Brown, the second bale.

The Shreveport Morning Journal was established in April, 1886, by Col.

Work was begun in August, 1887, by the contractors, McCarthy & Kerrigan, of Little Rock, and completed on the date given, R. N. McKellar, of the Cotton Exchange, assisted by Mrs.

In July, 1888, the S., L. & I. Co. was incorporated, with S. B. McCutcheon, president; F. G. Thatcher, secretary; H. Sour, treasurer; directors: S. B. McCutcheon, John S. Young, John R. Jones, M. L. Scovell, H. Zodiag.

Jackson and Joiner, of De Soto, sent in the first bale of the 1889 crop, on August 20.

On March 27, 1890, resolutions on the resignation of Mayor Currie were adopted.

An odd but interesting tale for those in the Dixie area is that oil was actually first found in Caddo Parish in 1902 on the property of Ellison Adger; however, Mr.

The first oil field in the area was discovered in 1905 around Caddo Lake.