LEON LOCKE By Jerry Harrison INDIVIDUAL RECORD FOR LEON LOCKE - LOCKE1.PAF 13 Apr 1998 Page 1 of 4 ===================================================================== NAME: Leon LOCKE SEX: M BIRTH: 4 Jan 1869 PLACE: Locke's Mill,Oxford,Maine CHR: PLACE: DEATH: 5 Apr 1934 PLACE: Lake Charles,Calcasieu Parish,Louisiana BURIAL: 6 Apr 1934 PLACE: Graceland Cemetery,Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish,Louisiana RIN: 17843 AFN: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PARENTS: 1) James Bradford LOCKE [CIVWAR]-7278 - Sophia DOUGLASS-15424 Biological -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPOUSE(S): MRIN NAME MARRIAGE SEAL-TO-SPOUSE ---------- -------- -------------- ----------------------------------- 5760 Frances E. KING-17847 7 Nov 1889 INDIVIDUAL RECORD FOR LEON LOCKE - LOCKE1.PAF 13 Apr 1998 Page 2 of 4 ===================================================================== NOTES: INDIVIDUAL: He had been mayor of three cities in which he resided: Fulton, Kansas, Walnut, Kansas and Lake Charles, Louisiana. His parents moved to Kansas while he was an infant (Obituary, New York Times, April 6, 1934). The family was enumerated Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1910 and 1920 (U.S. Census). They resided at 201 Allan Street, Lake Charles, Louisiana. LCWAP, April 13, 1934: LEON LOCKE, WHO MADE HISTORY FOR STATE, DIES Guiding Spirt of Intracostal Canal Development SERVED AS MAYOR OF THREE CITIES Former Legislator Succumbs to Illness of Several Months' Duration (From Thursday's Daily, April 5) Leon Locke, 65, former Lake Charles mayor, the organizing power in intracoastal canal development in Louisiana, and former legislator of Louisiana, who wrote history on the state statutes, died at the Locke residence, 201 Wilson avenue, at 6:45 this morning, after an illness lasting since last August. Partially recovered from his illness of last summer, Mr. Locke was stricken critically last Thursday and failed to rally. His health first began to fail in 1930, during his term as mayor. Shocked at the death of his predecessor, Mayor J.A. Trotti today ordered the flag at city hall at half mast and asked all offices at city hall to close during the funeral services. Funeral services will be held at the residence at 4 o'clock Friday afternoon, with Rev. G.B. Hines oficiating (sic) and J.E. Hixson and Sons in charge. Mr. Locke had the distinction of serving as mayor each (sic) of the three cities in which he resided. The family moved from Maine to Kansas when Leon was one year of age. When 27, he was elected mayor of Fulton, Kansas, serving two terms, and later served Walnut, Kansas, as mayor two terms before moving to Lake Charles in 1903. He was mayor here from 1929 to 1933. Power in Intracoastal Mr. Locke brought his personal enterprise and genius to bear upon some of the state's vital commercial and political problems. His name was conspicuously identified with that great transportation improvement, the Intracoastal canal of Louisiana and Texas. He was the organizing power of the Intracoastal Canal association, and from the first was active in its management as vice president. Through his efforts, headquarters of the association were at Lake Charles for many years. Mr. Locke was born January 4, 1869, at Locke's Mill, Oxford county, Maine, son of James and Sophia (Douglass) Locke, both of the pioneer stock of Massachusetts and Maine. In 1870 the family moved to Kansas. He grew up in that state, attended common schools, and as a youth studied and experimented in chemistry, and at the age of 15 was a registered pharmacist. When he was only 17 he taught chemistry for a time. For 20 years he was in business as a druggist in Kansas. For a number of years, the demands upon his time in public enterprises seriously interfered with the private business. Member of Legislator INDIVIDUAL RECORD FOR LEON LOCKE - LOCKE1.PAF 13 Apr 1998 Page 3 of 4 ===================================================================== From 1908 to 1916 Mr. Locke was a member of the Lousiana legislature, being chairman of the committee on education from 1908 to 1912, and chairman of the powerful appropriations committee of the hous from 1912 to 1916 in Gov. L.E. Hall's administration. Mr. Locke was a leading figure in the Good Government league, the efforts of which resulted in the election of Gov. Hall and the defeat of the New Orleans ring. Mr. Locke was a member of the special tax commission in 1912 and of the employers' liability commission from 1914. Among subjects which interested him particularly were education and taxation. Author of the famous Locke anti-race track gambling bill, Mr. Locke won wide favor throughout the state through this law. The bill violently opposed in the legislature, however, its passage in many features rivaling the anti-lotter legislation. The bill passed the senate by a majority with not a vote to spare. Mr. Locke was appointed by Governor Parker as a member of the Louisiana tax commission for the term 1920 to 1929, but resigned in 1924 to give closer attention to his private business. The late legislator was active in national as well as local and state affairs. Campaigned for Bryan A democrat, he made a speaking campaign in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio for Williams (sic) Jennings Bryan in 1908 under the directiion (sic) of the national democratic committee. As a speaker he was one of the most entertaining in the country and as a toastmaster at public dinners was without a peer. Mr. Locke was a lover of children and flowers, and on the lawn of his residence grew some of the most beautiful in Southwest Louisiana. His bearing was that of the typical Southern gentleman and he was rarely seen without his canes in the city. Many of these he fashioned himself, some from the orange trees that grew in his yard. Mr. Locke's private library of 3,000 volumes is one of the most valuable in the South. He was an avid reader of historical works and both classical and current literature and was recognized as a scholar of political science. He was author of the article in the New American Encylopedia on intercoastal and intracoastal canals. R. and H. Congress Mr. Locke was one of the organizers and directors since its inception of the National Rivers and Harbors congress and was recently apointed (sic) on the advisory commitee (sic) of this body. He was connected with Kelly, Weber and Company and the Powell Lumber company when he came to Lake Charles in 1903 and for 10 years was a partner of Plauche-Locke Securities. He was inactively connected with Hollins Insurance agency and Hollins Realty company at the time of his death. After his retirement as mayor, his health prohibited active work, though he still attended to his duties as secretary-treasurer of the Calcasieu navigation district. Mr. Locke served as secretary of the Lake Charles Board of Trade when N.E. North was president of that organization. In this capacity Mr. Locke called the meeting which resulted in the organization of the Inland Waterways association, of which he was named executive secretary. Mr. Locke was at one time a stockholder and business manager of the Lake Charles American, of which the late W.E. Krebs was editor. Married Miss King Mr. Locke married Miss Frances E. King Nov. 7, 1889. Mis King was the daughter of C.A. King, Methodist minister filing pulpits in Bath, Lewiston, and Augusta, Maine; Omaha, Neb., and Parsons, Wichita, Newton and Hutchinson, Kan. INDIVIDUAL RECORD FOR LEON LOCKE - LOCKE1.PAF 13 Apr 1998 Page 4 of 4 ===================================================================== Mr. Locke's paternal ancester (sic) William Locke, came to America with his aunt and uncle in 1632 and as a young man was one of the early settlers of Woburn, Mass. The family lived in that section for a number of generations and some of its representatives were with the Colonists who met the British on Lexington commons. Mr. Locke was a member of the Sons of the American Revolutiona and was distantly related to late President Calvin Coolidge. Through his mother, Mr. Locke was a descendant of Nathaniel Seegar, a Maine pioneer and patriot, who was captured by the Indians and escaped with a companion in a thrilling episode in the history of Maine settlements when they were a part of the parent colony of Massachusetts. James Locke, father of Leon Locke, was a soldier in the Civil War, serving with the Fifth Battery of Maine Volunteers. Mr. Locke is survived by his wife; one daughter, Miss Miriam Locke of Lake Charles, and one sister, Mrs. I.E. Clark of Walnut, Kansas. Mrs. Locke is the sister of Geo. M. King, Mrs. D. A. Kelly, and Mrs. Ida King Collette, all of Lake Charles. FINAL RITES FOR LEON LOCKE ARE CONDUCTED TODAY Services Held at Resident Of Former Mayor at 4 o'Clock (From Friday's Daily, April 6) Services for Leon Locke, 65-year-old former mayor of Lake Charles and Intracoastal canal leader who died Thursday were held at the family residence, 201 Wilson avenue, at 4 o'clock Friday afternoon, with the Rev. G. B. Hines, pastor of the First Presbyterian church officiating. Burial was in Graceland cemetery, with J.E. Hixson & sons in charge. Pallbearers were nephews of Mr. Locke: Jean M. King of Leesville, Ben King, Don Collette, Lewis Dunn, and Frank Kelly, all of Lake Charles, and Lawrence Locke of Tulsa, Okla. Mr. Locke was the organizing power of the Intracoastal Canal association and it was chiefly through his efforts as active vice president that the Louisiana section of the canal stands completed today. Mr. Locke had the distinction of serving Fulton, Kan., Walnut, Kan., and Lake Charles as mayor - each of the three cities in which he spent his adult life. He brought his enterprise and genius to bear upon some of the state's vital political problems when he was a member of the state legislature from 1908 to 1916 and a member of the state tax commision from 1920 to 1924. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Frances King Locke; one daughter, Miss Miriam Locke of Lake Charles; and a sister, Mrs. I.E. Clark of Walnut, Kan. Couthouse offices of the parish treasurer, clerk of court, assessor, and the sheriff will be closed at 3 o'clock this afternoon in respect to relatives and friends of Mr. Locke, it has been announced. Contributed by: Jerry Harrison Albuquerque, NM jroots@aol.com http://members.aol.com/jroots/locke.html ** ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************