GARRETT, Thomas, John and Edward, Caldwell Parish, La.
File prepared and submitted by Sherry Sanford [SSanf51819@aol.com]

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Biographical And Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, Vol. I
Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1892

Thomas, John and Edward Garrett, brothers, were born in
England.  Vested by the crown with large land grants n
the colonies of Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina,
they came to America early in the eighteenth century;
Thomas locating in Pennsylvania, John in Virginia and
Edward in South Carolina.  Thomas Garrett was twice married;
each wife bore him a son.  Thomas, Jr. issue of the first
marriage, was born December 12, 1721; he removed to northern
Virginia, where he resided on a part of the crown grant of
lands to his father until his death.  John, issue of the
second marriage of Thomas, Sr., became an extensive tobacco
manufacturer in Philadelphia.  Abel, fifth son of Thomas
Garrett Jr., married Nancy Davis, whose birthplace became
the historic battlefield of the first Bull Run in 1861.
>From this marriage were born six sons and four daughters.
Isaiah, the youngest son, was born near Franklin, September
16, 1812.  His parents removed in 1816 to Saline county, Mo.,
from which state he was appointed to the United States
Military academy, at West Point, whence he was graduated in
1833.  Owing to defective vision, after a brief service,
he resigned his commission in the army, and in 1834, became
a resident of Ouachita parish, La., and so continued until
his death.  Having studied law, he obtained license to
practice from the supreme court of the state in 1835,
entering into a partnership with Judge E.K. Willson, then
the leading lawyer of the north Louisiana bar, which
partnership continued while Judge Willson remained at
the bar.  Isaiah Garrett served a term as district attorney,
but his extensive practice precluded his holding office.
He early became renowned at the bar and continued one of
the leaders in the legal profession in Louisiana.  He
was a whig in politics so long as that party existed, and
with his wonderful popularity that he retained to his
death was an acknowledged power and made his influence
felt throughout Louisiana.  He was of fine physique -- six
feet one inch in height, broad-chested and erect, with
brown hair and grey eyes.  In 1845 he was a leading member
of the state constitutional convention.  He retired from
the active practice of the law in 1857 to his princely
estate of "Lindwood," eight miles below Monroe on the
Ouachita river, where he was residing when called by his
fellow-citizens to represent them in the memorable
session convention of 1861.  Sent by his constituents as
a co-operationist, he earnestly counseled deliberation,
warning the convention of the terrible results that would
ensue from precipitate action, predicting, when it was
resolved to separate from the Union, a long and bloody war.
He refused to sign the ordinance of secession adopted
by the convention, his constituency being opposed thereto.
He lived to witness his sad forebodings realized and to
mourn the spoilation and humiliation of the land of his
nativity -- his beloved South.  When the crisis came he
linked his destinies with those of his adopted state.  His
defective vision forbade active field service, but was
chairman of the state military board so long as state's
rights were observed.  He returned to reside in Monroe
and established a private hospital for sick and wounded
confederates, which was kept open till the close of the
war in 1865.  He resumed the practice of law at the close
of the war and soon acquired an extensive clientele,
resuming his position at the head of the north Louisiana
bar.  He took great interest in the "reconstruction"
problem and wielded a powerful influence against the
destructive efforts of radicalism; indeed he could
always be found fighting in the van on the side of the
right.  To this day his memory is reverenced as the safe
counsellor and true friend.  He died, surrounded by the
citizens of Monroe, in his home with his family on May
7, 1874.  His death resulted from a fall, having been
thrown from his buggy, the horses having taken fright
and run away.  Isaiah Garrett was united in marriage with
Narcissa Grayson, the youngest daughter of Col. Thomas
Grayson, of one of the first families of the Ouachita
district, May 10, 1836.  The Graysons came to America
about the middle of the eighteenth century from England
and settled in Virginia, where, January 1, 1770, Thomas
Grayson was born.  He was bold and adventurous, and
while quite young removed to Kentucky and joined Daniel
Boone, with whom he shared all the vicissitudes and
dangers of life on the border.  He married Sarah Stuart,
from North Carolina, of Scotch-Irish descent.  In 1813
Thomas Grayson removed with his family to Caldwell parish,
La., on the Ouachita river, where his home became the
most noted landmark of north Louisiana.  There were
thirteen children born to Colonel Grayson and his wife,
all but one of whom lived to mature age.  One of the sons,
Andrew J. Grayson, was a pioneer to California in 1849
and his name is identified with the history of that
state; he enjoys a national reputation and is known as
the Audubon of the West.  Narcissa Grayson's memory, as
the wife of Isaiah Garrett, is green in the hearts of
many; she was indeed a fit mate for her husband, mentally
and physically.  She was the acknowledged first lady
of Monroe during all those troublous years of internecine
strife.  Day and night she strove unwearied to aid the
Southern soldiers; she had two sons in the confederate
army.  She survived her husband sixteen years and died
in 1890.  She never recovered from the death of her
husband, whom she loved idolatrously, and she rests
next to him in the family lot in the Monroe cemetery.
It can truly be said of these two:  Their children
delight to call them blessed.  Their union gave birth
to a large family, only three sons and two daughters
reaching maturity.  Of these, two, Franklin the eldest,
and Isaiah the second son, reside in Monroe, one daugther
in Virginia, the wife of J.A. Bethune, the other in
Ouachita parish, the wife of W.R. Chambliss; the youngest
child and son, Thomas A. Garrett is a prominent lawyer
and citizen of Seattle, Washington.  Thomas studied law
under his brother Franklin and subsequently served as
judge of the parish of Ouachita; he was also for one
term of four years a member of the Louisiana legislature.
Isaiah, the second son, devoted himself to farming a
number of years after the war in which he served as
private, having entered the army a mere boy and gone
through the war in the Fourth Louisiana battalion,
which won renown on many fields under Johnston, Hood
and others.  He was recorder of Ouachita parish several
years and United States postmaster during Mr. Cleveland's
term as president, at Monroe, resigning after Mr.
Harrison had failed to relieve him, and now has charge
of the sheriff's office of Ouachita parish.

Franklin Garrett, the eldest surviving son of Isaiah
and Narcissa Garrett, was born in Monroe, La., on
November 6, 1840; was educated at the local schools
to nine years of age, then for two years attended
school in Liberty, Miss.  Returning to Monroe, he
continued to attend school until 1855, when he was
matriculated at Louisiana (now Jefferson) college in
the parish of St. James, remaining there a year; thence
in 1857 to Centenary college, at Jackson, La., where
he remained until the summer of 1859, when he matriculated
at the University of North Carolina, when he was
graduated in a class of over ninety with distinction
in June, 1861; entered the confederate army in the
Second Louisiana regiment soon afterward, serving on
the Virginia peninsula until his health was wrecked
in the spring of 1862, when he was discharged; resumed
service in the staff department of the Mississippi,
and subsequently the trans-Mississippi department of
the confederate army.  In 1864 was commissioned in
the staff department assigned to duty under Gen. P.O.
Hebert -- subsequently put in charge of the collection
of supplies to maintain a part of the Missouri and
other troops under General Price in northern Louisiana --
paroled at Natchitoches in June, 1865, with the rank
of captain; taught school in Monroe after the war
closed until November, 1865, when he became chief
clerk of the senate enrolling committee of the first
post-bellum legislature in Louisiana.  He studied
law two years under his father, and in March, 1868,
was admitted to practice by the supreme court of
Louisiana; at once became partner with his father,
the partnership continuing until the death of the
latter.  He was an active leader during all the era
of reconstruction from 1868 to 1876, and could at
any time have commanded the suffrages of his fellow-
citizens but devoted himself to his chosen profession.
He was attorney for Ouachita parish in 1877-78,
formulating many laws for the local guidance.  In
1880 was elected to represent Ward 3 of Monroe in
the city council and re-elected for three successive
terms, during which period he acted as city attorney
and drafted many of the laws that now are in force
in that city.  He was requested in 1880 to endeavor
to establish public schools in Monroe that shoud be
representative.  He devoted a number of years to
the task and finally evolved moded graded schools
wherein many children have been enabled to fit
themselves for the battle of life.  Starting with
only $63 in the school treasury in 1880, he retired
from active management of the schools in 1888
leaving available an annual revenue of nearly
$6,000 besides comfortable buildings, etc.  In 1888
he was again selected to represent Ward 3 in the
city council for two years, and in the same year
appointed by Gov. Francis T. Nicholls as the member
of the state board of public education for the
Fifth Congressional district and now occupies that
position; has been active in local and in state and
national politics as a democrat since 1868; is a
democrat of the strictest state's rights school,
and delights to witness the confusion of all the
so-called democrats who claimed that the "war"
settled adversely such doctrines in favor of the
republican destructiveness of centralization,
in the light of the recent demonstrations for
states' rights and individual liberty throughout
Kansas and the great Northwest.  Franklin Garrett
was married in Shelby county, Tenn., to Miss Agnes
M. Bond, October 20, 1869, and four children --
two daughters and two sons -- survive as issue of
the union; Mrs. Garrett died early in 1887.  In
the latter part of 1889 Mr. Garrett was married
to Miss Leila E. Johnston, of Alabama.  He is
six feet in stature, has dark hair and eyes and
weighs 215 pounds.