Bio: James W. Atkins, Bossier Parish La
Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville,  1890

Submitted by: Suzanne Shoemaker



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     JAMES W. ATKINS, of the general mercantile firm of J. D. & J. W. Atkins,
who are also planters at Knox Point, La., was born in Neshoba County,
Miss., in 1860, and is a son of Judge Joseph W. and Eleanor J. (Savage)
Atkins, natives of Tennessee and South Carolina, respectively.  They were
married in Mississippi, and in that State Mr. Atkins passed form life, a
worthy member of the Methodist Church, and a successful planter.  He was in
public life for many years and held nearly all the county offices,
including judge of the county court, and during the Rebellion was a colonel
in the commissary department.  His father, William Atkins, died in
Tennessee when he was a small boy, and he was then taken to Virginia, and
was reared in that State.  Judge Atkins was a Royal Arch Mason, and is
still survived by his widow who is a worthy m ember of the Methodist
Episcopal Church.  James W. Atkins was the ninth of their fourteen
children, ten of whom are living, and his early education was received in
the common schools, but graduated in 1880 from T. A. Ledden's Commercial
College, of Memphis, Tenn., after which he at once came to Knox Point, and
for three years clerked for his brother, J. D., who had been a merchant of
that place for several years.  In 1883 they became associated in business,
and have since conducted affairs under the firm name of J. D. & J. W.
Atkins.  James W. came to this parish with no capital and no mercantile
experience, and began business on a small scale, but from time to time they
have increased their business until they now have the most extensive and
complete establishment of the kind on Red River.  In 1889 they handled
about 3,300 bales of cotton, and did a business which amounted to $75,000.
Besides this, J. W. and another brother, J. B., own a large plantation in
Red River Parish, where they also operate and own a large store under the
firm name of J. B. & J. W. Atkins.  James W. Atkins was married in 1883 to
Miss Lucy, daughter of James W. Elmore, a Virginian, but who is now living
at Friar'' Point, Miss., a wealthy planter.  Mr. and Mrs. Atkins have two
little children-- boy and a girl.  They attend the Methodist Church, of
which they have been members for some time.