William Thomas Heflin, Grant Parish, Louisiana. B. 1868 Greggory E. Davies 120 Ted Price Lane Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Sheriff William Thomas Heflin Sheriff Heflin was born in Webster Parish, Louisiana, November 12, 1868, the son of Charles B. and Fannie Susan Laird Heflin. The father, Charles B., was born in Alabama and came to Louisiana before the war between the states. He served throughout the war as a lieutenant in Company B, Twenty-eighth Louisiana Infantry, taking part in many battles, including Vicksburg. Though he escaped wound during battle, while in Virginia, he was seriously injured by a falling tree limb. He had three brothers who also served in the Confederate army, Richard, James, and Charles. Charles was killed in the war. Charles B. Heflin established his home and business in Webster Parish, where the town of Heflin is now located, named in his honor. He operated a cotton gin and was in the planting and mercantile business. He served for eight years on the police jury and was a member of the democratic executive committee of Webster Parish. He was a Mason and survived to the age of eighty-two. He was married first to Fannie Susan Laird, who died in 1870, and his second wife was Sallie Bracken. Of the first marriage were Hattie, who married J. S. Bacon; M., who married W. M. Jones, Lida, who married W. W. McCoy, J. D., and William Thomas. The children of his second marriage were Maud, who married Henry Davis, H. J., who became a bank official at Minden and owned Minden Hardware Company, Pearl who died at age sixteen, and Clara, who died at age twenty. Sheriff William Thomas Heflin attended the best schools the village of Heflin afforded in his youth then entered Mt. Lebanon College and after that attended Jefferson Davis College where he studied business. At age eighteen he left home after having taught school in order to pay his way through college. He worked construction for the V. S. & P. Railroad and the Louisiana & North Western Railroad. He taught school at Pollock, Grant Parish, and went to work for the Big Creek Lumber Company and remained there in the commissary department at Pollock for four years then took the same position with J. M. Nugent . He worked four years with the Lee Lumber Company of Georgetown, Grant Parish. He came to Winnfield as a tie and timber inspector for the Louisiana & Arkansas Railroad where he continued for eighteen months, then went to work in the same capacity for the Tremont & Gulf Railroad, finally leaving their employment to engage in private business. He built up a large and substantial business dealing in ties and timber and became a director with the First National Bank of Winnfield. He was first elected sheriff of Winn Parish in 1916 and was known for his swift and fearless pursuit of criminals. He married Ella Jane Ball, daughter of E. M. Ball, of Sweet Springs, Texas. Sheriff and Mrs. Heflin were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Winnfield and they had four children; Charles Marshall, who served as a lieutenant in World War I and was attending veterinary college prior to the war; Vera Corrine, who married J. W. Fowler ; Eva M., who worked for the American Creosote and for many years with the Winn Parish Sheriff's Office; and Herman L. Sheriff Heflin was a Mason, Shriner, and belonged to the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks. (Source: Chambers' "History of Louisiana", published 1925. Submitted to USGENWEB by Greggory Ellis Davies, Winnfield, Winn Parish, Louisiana)