William Samuel Green, Hempstead, TX., then Calcasieu Parish, 
Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller


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William Samuel Green.  Picturesque careers among oil men are not 
uncommon.  What specially distinguishes William Samuel Green. of 
Vinton, is his ownership of the famous "Two Million barrel acre," a 
little plot of land that has produced about as much wealth as any similar 
area on the face of the globe.

William Samuel Green was born in Hempstead, Texas. September 17, 
l868, son of William and Lucy (Spence) Green, his father a native of 
Pennsylvania and his mother of Houston, Texas.  William Green was a 
soldier in the Union army during the Civil war.  After that war he came 
to Texas, and always retained the republican brand of politics, yet was 
so popular that he was elected sheriff and a member of the Texas State 
Senate.  He was a rancher and stock raiser and farmer, and a merchant 
after locating at Hempstead, where he died at the age of fifty-six.

William Samuel Green had only limited educational opportunities, and 
since the age of eighteen has been making his own way.  He learned the 
trade of printer, and followed that and other lines of business in Texas 
for a number of years.

It was in 1908 that he came to Vinton, Louisiana, and with two partners 
bought the one acre of ground in the center of an old rice held and also 
in the center of what was known as the Edgerly oil field.  From the 
heavy production of this procedure William Samuel Green was for the 
first the in his life possessed of more money than he had immediate use 
for.  The story has been frequently told of how he returned to his old 
community in east Texas, and kept an office open for a certain time of 
the day, and during office hours wrote checks to satisfy the creditors he 
had left behind, keeping his office open until no more creditors 
appeared.  After oil production practically ceased on the acre of land he 
bought out one of his partners, about l918.  Some four or five years 
later the marvelous one acre again came into production, and it has 
produced approximately half a million barrels in addition to its original 
flow.  Mr. Green, who has recently bought one of the beautiful old 
homes at Lake Charles, is a member of the Green Oil Company, the L. 
Seiss Syndicate, and has a large number of other interests, including 
farm lands, live stock and town real estate.  He has always been very 
liberal with his prosperity, has helped churches and contributed to 
every worthy movement in his community.

He has one son, William.  This son is a graduate of the Allen Academy 
of New Orleans and the Soule Business College there, also has good 
musical training, and for several ears has been closely associated with 
his father in the management of farm, stock raising and oil interests in 
Louisiana and Texas.

NOTE:  The sketch is accompanied by a black and white 
photograph/drawing of the subject.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 353-354, by Henry E. Chambers.  
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New 
York, 1925.