Frank Colvert, DeKalb Co, TN., then Caddo Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller Date: 1999-2000 ************************************************************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Frank Colvert. In harking back to the days of time pioneers, commisseration is frequently expressed for the lack in their lives of modern invention advantages, among which, then as now, few could surpass the telephone for practical purposes, and in its present state of development it has become an actual necessity. Its use has grown rapidly at Shreveport during the past few years, under the able management of Frank Culvert, manager here of the Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Company, under which name the Bell system is operated throughout time southern states. Frank Colvert, a veteran of the Spanish-American war and a brave soldier in the service of the United States for three years of his early manhood, was born in 1879 at Smithville, DeKalb County, Tennessee. In 1898 he volunteered for service in the Spanish-American war, and in 1899 went, as a member of Company D, Ninth United States Infantry, across the Pacific Ocean, reaching the Philippine Islands in time to take part in subduing the insurrection of that year, and later participating in the Boxer uprising in China. His term of enlistment expired in 1901, when he left the army and returned to his native land. In 1902 he entered the service of the Bell telephone system at Nashville, Tennessee, and his training and experience with this organization covers a period of twenty-three years. When Mr. Colvert first became identified with the business in which he is now recognized as an expert it was in the capacity of bookkeeper in the Bell telephone offices at Nashville, but very soon he developed such an interest in the practical and technical ends of the industry that he left the offices and entered the shops, where his training was very thorough along every line, including the building of switchboards, repairing and reconstruction work. He was so much interested that he made rapid progress. In 1909 he was transferred to New Orleans, and from that city to Jackson, Mississippi, as assistant to the district manager, and from there to Ruston, Louisiana, as manager. His next assignment was to Gulfport, Mississippi. as district manager; from there as district manager to Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and March 12, 1912, he came to Shreveport, where he has since continued as manager, proving able and efficient under all circumstances. He has four exchanges under his management, with a total of 12,000 telephones, which number is constantly increasing as people come more and more to appreciate the smoothly running service they can enjoy under his careful and capable management. Mr. Colvert necessarily devotes himself closely to his business and gives comparatively little time to other lines of activity. He is a member of the Shreveport Rotary Club, belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner. He married Maude Catherine Smith at Nashville on July 17, 1909, and their two children are Frances Lenora, aged twelve, and Burch, aged eleven. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 37, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.