Biographies

KINDERMAN, Henry

The above [now to the right] is an illustration of one of the principal business houses on DeSiard street, that of Henry Kindermann, the popular family grocery merchant. The building was erected in 1873 on the site of a large wooden store burned down the same year, has a front of 44 feet with a depth of 100 feet, and is provided with an elevator and a cellar. The cost of erection was $7,500.

A brief sketch of the business career of Mr. Kindermann will not be amiss in this connection.

Henry Kindermann came from Prussia in 1855, landing at New Orleans. He had, in cash, only one Prussian thaler -- about 70 cents -- and of a knowledge of the English language, none. Neither had he any relatives, or any acquaintances in this country, but was, in sober truth and stern reality, a stranger in a strange land. But Henry had determination, and was willing to take anything, as he has expressed it, that would offer itself to him in the way of honest work. He had $2.00 advanced to him in New Orleans to go out on the Jackson railroad in search of work. Four miles from Ponchitoula station Kindermann found employment on a farm at $6.00 a month, at which he worked five months longer, and then returned to New Orleans to work in a store.

In December, 1857, Mr. Kindermann came to Monroe, and was employed as a clerk by Mr. E. S. Austin. The year following, he embarked in business for himself with a capital of $150, doing a grocery business, in which he was "boss," clerk, drayman, and porter. His first year's sales amounted to perhaps $1,000. But energy and strict attention to business brought custom, and Kindermann began rising, not rapidly, but by steady steps, and at the outbreak of the war was comparatively prosperous. Not being a citizen, either by birth, or naturalization, he returned to Germany during the war, not wishing to enter the army, or to remain and engage in business speculations, opportunities to do which were then abundant.

The war closing, Mr. Kindermann returned, and, with Mr. J.G. Sanders, again embarked in business. In 1867, Mr. K. purchased the lot upon which the building shown in the engraving stands, and erected thereon a wooden storehouse. It was then away out on DeSiard street, and stood alone. There was not then another business house on that street, proper, from grand street to the woods -- or, rather, the cemetery, then the limit of the street -- and now there are thirty, or more. Kindermann's foresight and the city's development, it would seem, were members of the same conspiracy. The wooden building was destroyed by fire in May, 1873. In November following, Kindermann's present store (which is, also, his residence where he is comfortably at home) was erected. Mr. Kindermann has been steadily and quietly attending the wants of his customers and the demands of trade since the erection of his new house, losing none of his energy or his urbanity, nor abating in push and vim a particle since the days when he would sell a few articles and trundle them to his customer's home in a wheelbarrow. In fact, he will do it now, although his annual sales cannot fall far short of $25,000. In business, he is liberal, just and accommodating; as a citizen, he is public-spirited and enterprising, but very retiring; and as a neighbor or friend, large-hearted, charitable and steadfast. The TELEGRAPH might say more; it could not say less of a citizen whose career in business in this city for a number of years has earned for him the esteem and confidence of all who know him.

Source and Contributor: Unknown

SANFORD, Emily Elizabeth

Emily Elizabeth Sanford was born 1832 in Knox Tennessee. She married 25 July 1845 to William L. Collett. They had 3 children.

1. Mary Olivia Collett who married James Muse Dabbs
2. Eurilda Collett who married twice - A. B.Hardy and Capt. William Speller Rhodes,
3. and only son, William L. Collett, Jr. is listed in 1900 census as married 11 years but no wife listed on the Madison County Census for him.

No buriel site found for Mary Olivia Collett. Eurilda Collett and William Rhodes are buried in the Old Monroe City Cemetery. William Collett is buried in Bastrop, Louisiana.

After Collett's death, Emily Elizabeth married Byrd Ferrell Miller (28 May 1819 - 11 July 1871) on 1 Mar 1869 in Monroe, Louisiana and had a son Byrd Ferrell Miller, Jr. age 6 months on the Ouachita Parish 1870 Census. In 1870 Emily Elizabeth was 38 and Mr. Miller 50. The following year Byrd Ferrell Miller died leaving Emily Elizabeth with a young son. Byrd Ferrell Miller was buried in the Island Cemetery (Bartholemew Cemetery) on the banks of the bayou just North of Sterlington.

Emily Elizabeth married W. W. Grace 4 Aug 1873 in Ouachita Parish. The groom was 45 and the bride 41. She and Mr. Grace lived only months after their marriage. Emily Elizabeth died Nov 1873 Ouachita Parish Louisiana. The 1880 census listed Byrd Ferrell Miller, Jr, age 10 living with his father's younger brother, Elias Miller, in Terrebonne Parish.

Eurilda had at least 5 daughters.

1. Emma Hardy born in Morehouse Parish, Bastrop 1 Mar 1870 Died 5 Dec 1944 in Bastrop and is buried in Monroe City Cemetery. She married George Collett Tisdale 1920 in Bastrop.

2. Olivia Hardy born 1870 died 1918 and is buried in Monroe City Cemetery. She married a Bryan.

3. Mildred Hardy born 1973 Have no other information.

4. Adelia "Decie" Rhodes born 1876 Died at age 15 at Mansfield School for Women.

5. Annie Rhodes born 1881. Annie married Edward Briscoe Starsney. She lived in Swartz, La. and died in 1953. Annie is buried Monroe City Cemetery.

Source and Contributor: Unknown

WOOTEN, May B. (LEE)

The World for Women
Monroe Morning World, Thursday April 2, 1964 - 1B

[a 4-1/2" by 6-1/2" photo of Mrs. Wooten sitting at her ancestral desk at the age of 83 begins this newspaper article. The caption below the photo reads as follows:]

May (LEE) WOOTEN is pictured in a familiar pose at the ancestral desk, where she spends much of her time, engrossed in her hobby of genealogical research. The volume she is studying is one which she has personally compiled for her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, tracing all the family lines back through many, many generations. The handsome desk was purchased in 1831 by her husband's grandfather and grandmother, when they went by stagecoach to New York City on their honeymoon. It is one of the marvelous antiques which furnish the restored Lower Parqoud Plantation house, at 2111 South Grand, which has been Mrs. Wooten's home since 1919.

The Interesting World of Women
By Dottie Burns, World Society Editor

"Oh, my goodness! What are you writing there? Put that pencil down and let's talk. I want to know all about you."

And so it went during the delightfully refreshing but all too short morning hours spent in the very good company of Mrs. James R. Wooten, who at 83 is still so vitally interesting in everyone and everything about her.

May Burch Lee Wooten is a strong willed but ever gracious and captivating Southern lady and gentle woman whose own life loves and marvelous good humor have overflowed to enrichen the lives of her family, her friends and all who have had the good fortune to know her.

She is a legend in her own time, and it seems almost dishonest to attempt to capture her in anything less than the great American novel.

It isn't often that one is privileged to enter into those most private and hallowed halls of a family, who lives a daily dedication to its matriarch, so beloved is she by her children, her grand children and her great grandchildren. From the eldest to the very youngest, each has his own favorite tale, so filled with love, about "Mayna," the name by which this spirited and gallant woman is so fondly known. But the fun about these tales is that each is told as though speaking of a contemporary, so ageless is their "Mayna," whose own unselfish love has inspired this genuine devotion.

HERITAGE

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Lee, who families came to Louisiana from Virginia, Mrs. Wooten was born in Farmerville in February, 1881. A few years later the family moved to Old Trenton, which was later taken in by West Monroe.

After finishing at the old Parish schools, she attended college, graduating from North Texas College at Sherman, Texas. When this school later became part of Southern Methodist University, she was presented with her diploma from that institution.

In February, 1902, she became the young bride of James R. Wooten of Cuthbert, Georgia and moved to his family home. It was here that she became entranced with a whole new vestige of family history, which inspired her still active hobby of genealogy. She was completely fascinated with the beautiful antiques and family treasures that furnished the Wooten home, many of which were brought back to Monroe.

In Georgia, the Wooten's first child, Anna Lee Wooten, now Mrs. Elmer Slagle, was born. But Louisiana was in Mrs. Wooten's heart; it was home and it beckoned her back. And back she came, eager to bring up her children in the rich tradition and heritage of two fine old families.

In this she has been most successful, as her family will testify. The Wooten children, in addition to Mrs. Slagle, are the late John Lee Wooten of Shreveport and Maria Brooking Wooten, now Mrs. Melville C. Vaughan of Aurora, Ohio. She has six grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren.

BEAUTIFICATION

You, don't have to look very far to see the influence Mrs. Wooten has had on Monroe. It is in evidence in every direction in the planting which she inspired to beautify her city. First president of the first garden club of Monroe, the Monroe Garden Club, Mrs. Wooten led her fellow members on a drive to make Monroe the garden spot of Northern Louisiana. Among their noteworthy undertakings was the planting of the Magnolia trees, which still grace either side of Riverside Drive along the river. Known then as Riverfront, Mrs. Wooten remembers the drive as a rough dirt road filled with roots, but she was determined to substitute with the beauty of planting that which was taken away by the building of the levee.

The seawall on S. Grand Street was a thorn in Mrs. Wooten's side. Even if she had to admit that the wall was perhaps a necessity, she didn't have to admit that it was anything other than an eyesore. So with volunteer hollyhocks from her own lovely gardens and an admonition from C. R. Tidwell, Commissioner of Streets and Parks at that time, not to plant any trees or dig any deep holes, Mrs. Wooten proceeded to plant hollyhocks all along the wall on South Grand. Everyone was delighted. An idea was born and Mr. Tidwell organized the City Beautification Board, of which Mrs. Wooten was chairman for eight years.

Among the many other areas in the city, which have benefited from this board were the public plantings on Lee Avenue, St. John Drive, the old Post Office, Bernstein Park and the pine trees along Marie Place.

In her campaign to make Monroe a garden spot, Mrs. Wooten also arranged to have fourteen carloads of shrubbery shipped to her from the McIlhenny Jungle Gardens near New Iberia. Some of the most beautiful camellias, azaleas and evergreens in the city today came from those shipments, the first commercial shipment of its kind to Monroe.

GENEALOGY

Mrs. Wooten's favorite inside hobby, the perfect antithesis for her own lovely gardens, has been her work with genealogy. What started as a simple but avid curiosity about the many branches which made up her own family tree, became a hobby shared by the many people whose genealogy she undertook to trace. Many women in Monroe today are members of the D.A.R. or Colonial Dames because of Mrs. Wooten's untiring efforts in tracing their family lineage. "I'm a record hound," said Mrs. Wooten, who still spends a great deal of her time at her desk pouring over genealogical records. Recognized as an expert in this field and a member of the Institute of American Genealogy, Mrs. Wooten was often urged by her family to do this work as a business but she only scoffed at the idea. It was a hobby, something she had to give to those she loved, those whom she wanted to help.

PLANTATION HOME

Mrs. Wooten's interest in family traditions and history brought her to notice the old home on South Grand that had been built sometime in the very early 1800's by Hippolite Pargoud as one of two plantation homes for his sons, Jean Francois and Joseph Pargoud. The South Grand place, known as Lower Pargoud plantation, was built on property that was part of a Spanish land grant, received by Jacques Chole and John F. Girod and stretched from Apple to Thomas Streets. The property had passed to the Pargouds through their uncle Monsieur Girod.

When Mrs. Wooten first became interested in the home, it was in a bad state of repair, but the place fascinated her and she dreamed of restoring it in all its original beauty. Because, as she says, she had a most understanding as well as an intelligent and charming husband, her dream came true in 1919, and Lower Pargoud plantation house was hers. Its former beauty has been restored with very few changes. The walls and most of the wide planked floors, the windows and the shutters are those which Hippolite Pargoud put into the house 160 years ago. Constructed of hand-hewn cypress with a 50-foot gallery across the front looking towards the river, the home was originally built with the kitchen separate, as was the custom in most antebellum homes. The bringing of the kitchen to be part of the main structure is the only major change of the plan of the plantation home.

Here Mrs. Wooten lives today, sharing it with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Slagle. Here the Slagle children were privileged to know this great lady during all their growing up years, for the family moved in with "Mayna" when they were small.

Here Mrs. Wooten planned and built her lovely formal gardens, so fitting for this home, steeped in historical significance gardens filled with azaleas, camellias, magnolia fuscatas, sweet olives, huge trees and southern shrubs that thrive at her touch and give the true profusive beauty of age.

POLITICS

Mrs. Wooten declares she's a homebody now, not really caring to go forth from her beloved homestead. But that doesn't mean her mind is always at home where she is liable to be found at her desk, pushing genealogical books aside to write to her congressman or senator about issues of today, with which she keeps in daily contact.

Urged by her father who was a great believer in women's suffrage, Mrs. Wooten was Vice President of the Louisiana Suffrage Association and personally brought the late Senator Robert LaFollette Sr. of Wisconsin and Dr. Anna Shaw to Monroe to speak on behalf of votes for women.

Always vitally interested in politics with certain ideals and beliefs which she still feels it her duty to fight for and against by getting out to the polls, Mrs. Wooten took an almost violent interest of the late Miss Julia Wossman when she ran, unsuccessfully, for the state legislature and again, when former President Eisenhower made his first successful bid for the presidency.

Among Mrs. Wooten's other great interests during her active years in Monroe, was the organizing of the Fifth District Federation of Women's Clubs of which she was president.

She helped organize the first Cotillion Club, which was the predecessor of the Country Club here in Monroe, helping to put on the gala balls that marked the social seasons.

In the thirties, she accompanied her husband, who was then on the state highway commission when he went to Washington to get the franchise for the Louisville Avenue bridge. Wasn't it exciting? "You mean about the bridge?" she asked, "Oh, I don't know: I was too delighted to get to the Library of Congress to think about bridges across the Ouachita." Mr. Wooten was also postmaster of Monroe for many years.

In the early twenties, Mrs. Wooten even took a turn as a realtor, a business into which she more or less fell by chance, and she was most successful. But she gave up real estate and auction bridge, she declared, upon the birth of her first grandchild, so sure was she that something catastrophic was going to happen to this most precious of all jewels. Finally she wore herself out on the club work too and found that she was happy to stay at home with her gardens in good weather, her genealogical books in bad.

It was her life, and it had been and is a good life, filled with love for others and spiced with a generous helping of fun and foolishness that has always been part and parcel of this remarkable woman.

Note: Mrs. Wooten died June 30, 1968 in Monroe, Louisiana and is buried in Old City Cemetery, Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana.

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Contributed Dec 2006 by Hank Johns, a great-grandson of May B. (Lee) Wooten.

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