John P. Hird, Philadelphia, PA., then Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000




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John P. Hird.  A prominent figure in life insurance circles in the 

South for a quarter of a century was the late John P Hird of 

Shreveport.  He possessed the full range o powers and talents that 

comprise admirable equipment for the great and difficult profession 

of insurance.  He had a thorough training as a banker and financier, 

was esteemed and trusted by men generally, possessed a large following

of loyal friends, was himself an excellent judge of men, and an 

executive, and consequently built up a tremendous volume of business 

for one of the largest and oldest of American insurance companies.



He was born in Philadelphia, July 19. 1852, of Irish parents.  

Reared and educated in the schools of that city, as a young man 

he went to Texas and spent some years in the mercantile and banking 

business.  It was in 1896 that he entered the profession of life 

insurance, and in 1902, at Fort Worth, Texas, he opened a branch 

office of the New York Life Insurance Company as agency director.  

When twenty of the old line companies left Texas in 1907, due to 

adverse legislation, Mr. Hird was requested to take charge of the 

Nashville, Tennessee, office of the company as agency director.  

He was at Nashville until November, 1910, when, as a result of death 

in the ranks of the directors and consequent changes, he came to 

Shreveport to take charge of the branch office.  He remained in that 

position until his death, on July 16, 1923.  In each of these offices 

he displayed great ability as an organizer and builder, and his name 

stood high on the records of the New York Life insurance Company as 

a producer.



Mr. Hird was an enthusiastic democrat, was much interested in politics 

generally, but himself never ran f or office nor accepted an 

appointment.  He felt satisfied to discharge to the full extent of his 

powers the obligations and privileges of American citizenship.  He was 

a devout Catholic, active in the Knights of Columbus, holding the 

positions of grand knight of the Shreveport Council and faithful 

navigator of the Fourth Degree and district deputy.  He was also a 

member of the Elks and the Civitans.  Mr. Hird married in Texas Miss 

Clarissa Dills, who survives him.



NOTE:  A signed photograph/painting accompanies this narrative in the 

referenced source.



A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 107-108, by Henry E. Chambers.  

Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.