HUCKABY, Grover O., Red River, then E. Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller



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Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and
Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 209-210.  Edited by Alcée
Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.

Huckaby, Grover O. (also spelled Huckabay), superintendent of the Louisiana
State School for the Blind, at Baton Rouge, is a native of Louisiana.  He was
born on a farm in Red River parish, July 3, 1884, and is a son of Morgan
Pinckney C. and Martha Ellen (Turnbow) Huckaby.  His father was born in
Florida, from which state he came with his parents to Louisiana when he was
but 6 years of age.  His father, Jackson Huckaby, settled in Red River parish
and there Morgan Pinckney Huckaby grew to manhood, and there he has always
resided, devoting his life to the pursuit of farming.  He is now past 67 years
of age.  He married Martha Ellen Turnbow, who was born in Arkansas, and was
the daughter of William Marion Turnbow a native of Georgia.  She died in 1910. 
The name Huckaby is of Danish origin, but the progenitor of the family in
America was English born, and came to this country many years ago, and settled
in South Carolina.  Representatives of the family removed to Georgia and
thence to Florida.  There were born unto the parents of Grover C. Huckaby 15
children, of whom 11 grew to maturity and the following survive:  Mrs. Ida
Huckaby Loftin,  Charles Clement,  Grover C.,  Glendon T., and  Marion C. 
Grover C. Huckaby was reared on the farm in his native parish, and there
learned the lessons of industry and resourcefulness, which have influenced his
course in life, and characterized his endeavors both as a student and a
teacher.  He received his early scholastic training in the public schools.  As
beneficiary cadet from Red River parish, he entered the Louisiana State
university, from which institution he graduated in 1907 with the degree of
bachelor of arts.  A short time previous to his graduation Mr. Huckaby became
a member of the faculty of the Louisiana State university, and for 1 year
taught mathematics.  The winning of a Rhodes scholarship in Oxford university,
England, enabled him to realize his ambition for a higher education.  He left
for England in Sept., 1908, and spent three years abroad.  In Oxford
university he specialized in social sciences making original studies of the
race problem.  During vacations he toured European and Oriental countries
studying social problems and visiting historical places of note.  Returning to
the United States in 1911, Mr. Huckaby accepted the position of assistant
principal of the Baton Rouge high school.  A year later he became principal of
the high school of Shreveport, La.  This position he resigned to accept the
superintendency of the Louisiana State School for the Blind, to which he was
elected in the summer of 1913.  As superintendent of this school, Mr. Huckaby
has inaugurated many changes which have resulted in needed repairs and
remodeling of the different buildings, making the institution thoroughly
sanitary, and the surroundings conducive to the health, comfort and pleasure
of the pupils.  In addition to these material improvements resulting under his
direction, the standard of educational work has been raised, the institution
in general taking on new life, form and energy.  Mr. Huckaby has also been
identified with sociological movements and is a leader of thought and
progress.  He is one of the organizers of the Southern Sociological congress,
and is a member of the race problem committee of this organization.  He is a
member of the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography, of the
International Congress of School Hygiene, of the London Geological
association, and of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and
Ireland. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason.  In 1911 Mr. Huckaby married
Miss Anita Dalton Jones, the daughter of Dr. Philip H. Jones, of Baton Rouge.