BIOGRAPHIES CALCASIEU FRANCES C

BIOGRAPHIES CALCASIEU

FRANCES CHAVANNE
Born in Orange, Texas, in 1861, Mr. Chavanne has lived in Calcasieu parish since 1866, when his parents settled here. He has spent 20 years of that ,time in Lake Charles. Here he attended the city schools and clerked in his father's general store at the corner of Ryan and Broad streets. In 1884 he began the bakery business for himself in the building now occupied by the Pacific Express Co. Until 1889, he successfully conducted this business, but in that year sold out and took a trip to Kentucky and Indiana 15 with the view of finding a favorable location for business. He could be satisfied with nothing but Lake Charles, however, and returned here. His father having died, he ran his mother's shoe store for four years, when he again began the bakery business. He is located in the Chavanne ' block, on Ryan street, where he may be found with the freshest and best of bread and pastry, as well as a full line of fancy groceries. He conducts a cash business, and is satisfied with small profits when they thus become certain. The Chavanne bakery is becoming more popular every day, and it deserves its popularity. In 1894 Mr. Chavanne was married to Miss Mabel Mudgett, of Oberlin, formerly of Iowa.

O S DOLBY
Prof. Dolby is a Lake Charlesite of six years' standing, having come here in August, 1889. He is a native of Lucas county, Ohio, where he was born in 1857. The greater portion of his life, however, has been spent in Michigan, whither his parents removed in 1865. After graduating from the district schools of Monroe county, Mr. Dolby attended Hillsboro college, Michigan, graduating with the class of 1884. Upon leaving he engaged in school teaching for four years in the same state, when, in 1888, he came to Louisiana. His first location was a professor in the Mt. Lebanon university, where he remained until the fall of 1889. Coming to Lake Charles, he established a private school, but upon the building of the central school building, and the better development of the public school system in our city, he was chosen superintendent of city schools in 1890. This position he resigned In the following year, and shortly afterward entered the real estate business. He has made a success of this venture, having transferred many thousand dollars' worth of property during the past three years. At present Prof. Dolby is largely interested in irrigation, and is president of the Riverside Land & Irrigation Co., Ltd. This company has in operation near Jennings the second largest irrigation plant in the south.

PATRICK CROWLEY
His honor, the mayor of Lake Charles, is now holding that office by virtue of his third election. In the fact of this simple statement, it were useless to speak of his popularity as public officer. It is not out of place, however, to say that he found the city with practically no sewerage, and with streets and sidewalks which required a vast amount of labor to render them creditable to a city of the pretensions of Lake Charles. In spite of the rapid growth of the city, necessitating the almost constant opening of new streets, Mayor Crowley has accomplished the feat of giving his city good streets, good drainage and rapidly improving sidewalks. This has been done at such a cost that the finances fti the city are in a better condition than ever before. Mayor Crowley has been a resident of Lake Charles line 1879, in which year he came here in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railway Co., with which company he occupied the position of roadmaster for several years. At the termination of his engagement with them, he opened a saloon business near the depot, and conducted it for a number of years. At present he is engaged in the laundry business, and is the proprietor of one of the best steam laundry plants in the state

J G FOURNET
Mr. Fournet is one of the brightest young attorneys at the Lake Charles bar. Born in St. Martin's parish in 1878, his father, Judge G. A. Fournet, removed to L a k e Charles in 1880, where Joe entered the Lake Charles Select School under the tutorship of Mr. Drolla, now an attorney at law in New Orleans. In 1884 he won a medal for scholarship from this school. In 1888 he entered Tulane University, where he graduated in the class of 1889. For a year after graduation he taught school in Cameron and Calcasieu parishes, meanwhile studying law during spare moments. In 1891 he entered the law office of Capt. D. B. Gorham as a student, and remained with him for a year. In 1892 he entered the Tulane law school, and graduated in 1893. Returning to Lake Charles, he opened an office, and within less than a year was chosen city attorney, which position he satisfactorily filled for a year. In January of this year Mr. Fournet formed a partnership with Mr. R. P. O'Bryan, an attorney of recognized ability. The office of the firm is in the Bryan building, at the corner of Ryan and Court streets. They are perfectly reliable, prompt and courteous, and they handle their full share of the legal business of Calcasieu and Cameron parishes.

LEWIS B KIRKMAN
Born fn Kentucky in 1856 at the town of Kirkmanville, which was named in honor of his father, Mr. Kirkman worked on a farm in that state until he had attained his majority, when he removed to Texas and became a clerk in a grocery store. In 1883 he was married to Miss Letitia Lansford and in the same year removed to Lake Charles where he has since continued to reside. For several years Mr, Kirkman engaged in contracting and building and in the transfer business until elected policeman in which capacity he served for three years. In the last city election in April of the present year he was elected by a large majority to the office of city clerk and treasurer. Mr. Kirkman came to Lake Charles with but ten dollars in his pocket but with the energy and business ability for the display of which our city has always offered the best of facilities, he has accumulated a considerable amount of property in which are included several handsome residences in the city. Mr. Kirkman enjoys an enviable reputation as a businessman and popularity as a public officer second to none In the parish.

Dr. D E Lyons
Dr. Lyons was born in Calcasieu parish, and has resided almost all his life in this city. He attended the Lake Charles. city schools, and completed his literary education at the Kentucky State University. He attended the Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louisville, receiving his diploma as a physican in 1891. In 1893 he was chosen city physcian, and re-elected again this year as well as chosen city sanitary inspector. His term of office expires in the spring of 1897.

J B McMAHON

Dr. McMahon was born on May 6, 1861, at Newton, Texas, where he was educated and lived until he attained his majority. His father, David McMahon, a native of Kentucky, and a prominent lawyer and master mason, died in 1872. His mother, Mary McMahon, nee Whiteside, a native of Arkansas, still lives on the old homestead at Newton. Dr. McMahon moved to Merryville, in the northern part of this parish, in January, 1882, where, until the fall of 1883, he kept books for M. C. Frazer & Bro., who were extensively engaged in the mercantile and timber business. He matriculated for the fall session of 1883 at the medical college of Alabama. He attended three sessions of this institution, and the charity hospital and graduated on March 25, 1886. He immediately came to Lake Charles and began the practice of his profession. In December of the same year, he attended a post-graduate course of lectures in the medical college of Tulane University, at New Orleans; when he resumed his practice here. In October, 1888. Dr. McMahon was married to Miss Constance M. Barbe, of this city, the result of which union is one child.

ARSENE P PUJO New!!

PUJO, ARSENE P., United States congressman from Louisiana, was horn Dec. 16, 1801, near Lake Charles, La. Ho was educated at the public and private schools of Lake Charles; and since 1886 has followed the law as a profession. He was a member of the Louisiana constitutional convention of 1898. He was a member of the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth congresses from Louisiana as a democrat. He was a re-elected to the sixtieth congress from the seventh district of Louisiana for the term of 1907-09; and resides in Lake Charles. La.

[Source: Herringshaw's American Statesman and Public Official Yearbook: 1907-1908;

By Thomas William Herringshaw; Publ. 1909; Transcribed by Andrea Stawski Pack.] submitted by GT TRANSCRIPTION TEAM

SAMUEL PRICE WETHERILL
Lake Charles popular assessor and tax collector has resided in Calcasieu parish since 1876, in which year he settled at Vincent settlement, on the Calcasieu river. He was born in Grand Cheisnier, Cameron parish, where he resided until coming to this parish. His wife is the daughter of Nathaniel Vincent, of Vincent settlement. Mr. Wetherill engaged in farming and stock raising until June, 1892, when he occupied a deputyship under C. D. Welsh, the newly elected clerk of the district court. Upon the death of Mr. Welsh, Six months later, Mr. Wetherill remained in the office for six months after the installation of the new clerk, when he resigned and accented a positlon as salesman in the hardware store of Woolman & Beardsley, He filled this position until the city election of this year, when he was elected to his present office. During his three years reisdence at Lake Charles Mr Wetherill has made a host of friends, and since his election has proven himself an able and conscientious public officer.

GEORGE H WOOLMAN
Geo. H. Woolman, for several years a prominent and popular merchant of Lake Charles, is a native of Iowa, having been bom at Osceola, in that state in 1855. He is the son of Benjamin Woolman, and traces his ancestry to William Woottnan, who, with his son John, came from England and settled In New Jersey in 1678, as shown by a printed history of the family, covering the period from that date to the present, and now in the possession of Mr. Woolman. The religious faith of the family was for several generations that of the Quakers, or Friends, and one member became a famous preacher on that sect. Mr. Woolman had been here but a short time before he took a prominent position in business circles, in the hardware business, he has been associated in several firms of firstclass standing and large patronage. Until a few months ago he was the senior member of the firm of Woolman & Beardsley, but sold his interest to embark in his present enterprise, at the corner of Ryan and Pujo streets. It is "Woolman's corner" now. All the "boys" know where it is. They go there for their bicycles, fire arms, ammunition, fishing tackle, sporting goods, and the best cigars and tobaccos in the city. Mr. Woolman has sold a great many bicycles in Lake Charles, and the boys have learned that when he recommends a wheel it is sure to be a good reliable one. He makes a specialty of the Remington wheel, and says that the Remington means for bicycles what it means for fire arms — the standard of excellence. He confidently asserts that the Remington is the greatest foe to the repair shops, because Remington strength and durability keep them always in repair. Mr. Woolman has prospered in his southern home. He is a property holder in Lake Charles as well as in the parish outside of the city, and he has a delightful little home on Hodges street. (Lake Charles Daily Press Special Edition, 1895)

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