Barret, Honorable Thomas C.,  Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000




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Barret, Hon. Thomas C., lieutenant-governor of Louisiana, is a splendid type
of self-made citizen.  He has been honored with many positions of public
trust, and has a place in the front ranks of the prominent and successful men
of the bar of Louisiana.  In every responsibility of life, public or private,
Hon.. Barret has acquitted himself admirably.  He has won public esteem as
much for the exemplary character of his private citizenship as for the value
to the interests of the people of his public service.  Thomas C. Barret was
born in 1860.  His father was W. W. Barret, a native of Virginia.  His
mother's ancestors were pioneers in the work of freeing Texas.  Their names
are perpetuated in the names of the towns and counties of that state, such as
Leander Smith, Thomas J. Rusk and others.  W. W. Barret, the father, was a
major of cavalry in the Confederate service and was among the last to
surrender with Kirby Smith's corps.  Mr. Barret took his law course at Tulane
university, New Orleans, then the University of Louisiana; was admitted to the
bar by examination before the supreme court in 1886 and has been a
practitioner at the Shreveport bar ever since.  Up to 1896 Mr. Barret held the
offices of treasurer of the Caddo parish school board, and parish treasurer. 
In that year he was chosen state senator from his district, and served in that
capacity continuously for sixteen years.  In 1908 Mr. Barret was elected
president pro tem of the State Senate.  He was a member of the port
investigation commission, which did so much for the import and export trade of
New Orleans; served for many years as chairman of the Senate's Finance
Committee, and was an important factor in bringing before the Interstate
Commerce Commission the question of removing the ban of Texas against
Louisiana commerce.  In the election of 1812 Mr. Barret was chosen
Lieut.-Governor.  He presides over the Senate by virtue of that important
office, and is a member of the important State Pardon Board.

Source:  Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 36-37. 
Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical
Association.