Melvin W. Fisher, Iberia Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Melvin W. Fisher. Of the various agencies which contribute to the progress and development of a community, few are more potent than the press. The power of the press is a phrase that has been repeated so frequently as to have become trite, yet it carries with it a truth, for not alone does the local news sheet possess the power to assist the community, but in its columns reflects the character of the place. Thus are the people of New Iberia doubly fortunate in being represented by such a progressive and cleanly newspaper as the New Iberia Enterprise, the owner and publisher of which is Melvin W. Fisher. Mr. Fisher was born at New Iberia, Iberia Parish, February 17, 1873, and is a son of John and Martha R. (Stafford) Fisher. His grandfather, Marcus Fisher, was born in Germany, whence he immigrated to the United States in young manhood and settled at New Iberia, where he engaged in the manufacture of brick for many years. In the autumn of life he changed his residence to Washington, Mississippi, where his death occurred. John Fisher, his son, was born in 1834 at Natchez, Mississippi, where he was reared, and as a voting man learned the trade of saddler and harnessmaker. He was married in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, and shortly after that event removed to Patterson, Louisiana, where he served as postmaster. About 1857 he moved to New Iberia and engaged in merchandising, building up a large and profitable business. When the war broke out between the North and the South he entered the Confederate service and fought gallantly, also acting in the ordnance department. At the close of the struggle he returned to the duties of peace and resumed his mercantile operations, to which he later added activities as a "swamper," that is, in the timber and logging business, and likewise met with success in agricultural enterprises. For a number of years prior to his death he conducted a livery and sales stable and was so occupied at the time of his demise at New Iberia in 1912. Independent in his political views, he had friends in both the big parties, served several times as a member of the city council and was mayor of Iberia for three terms. Mr. Fisher married Miss Martha R. Stafford, who survives him as a resident of New Iberia, and who was born in 1848, in East Feliciana Parish. They became the parents of eight children: Luella, the wife of Julius Koch, a retired druggist of New Iberia; Melvin W.; Jake, an employe of the Southern Pacific Railroad, also residing at this place; John Edward, Sr., for the past twenty-five years expressman for the Southern Pacific Railroad at New Iberia; Jessie, who is unmarried and a resident of this place; Josie, the wife of Robert E. Freeman, bookkeeper for the Teche Wholesale Grocery Company, at New Iberia; Joel, a farmer of St. Martin Parish ; and Clara, the wife of Octave Renoudt, Jr., assistant manager of the Renoudt Hardware Store, at New Iberia. Melvin W. Fisher attended the public schools of New Iberia until he was twelve years of age, at which the he began clerking in stores. He was thus employed for four years, and was then given the opportunity of learning the printing trade in the office of the New Iberia Enterprise. Accepting this chance, he applied himself to mastering thoroughly every department of printing, and for the next eighteen years filled various positions, each of which gave him a more intimate knowledge of the art. At the end of the eighteen years Mr. Fisher became the owner, editor and manager of the publication, as well as being the owner of all the equipment and the plant situated on Main Street. This is the leading paper published in the parish, and since its establishment in 1886 has been the official organ of the parish. It is democratic in its policy, but it has been Mr. Fisher's endeavor to give unbiased news to his readers. He presents them with a well edited and well printed newspaper, interesting and reliable, and including timely editorials. Mr. Fisher is a democrat and a member and vestryman of the Church of the Epiphany. He is an honorary member of Iberia Lodge No. 39, Knights of Pythias; Iberia Lodge No. 554, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; New Iberia Tent No. 4, Knights of the Maccabees. He is the owner of a comfortable and attractive residence situated at East End, Iberia, in a desirable residential section, as well as other real estate. On February 17, 1896, Mr. Fisher married Miss Courtney Southwell, daughter of William and Ann Elizabeth (Hatborn) Southwell, both of whom are now deceased, Mr. Southwell having been an architect and builder. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fisher: M. Southwell, office manager of the New Iberia Enterprise, who attended Sewanee University, Sewanee, Tennessee, and at the time of the World war was a student at the Louisiana State University, where he became a member of the Students' Army Training Corps; Marcus C., bookkeeper for the Houston (Texas) Land Bank and Trust Company ; Frederick, a student in the New Iberia High School, and Martha, who is attending grammar school. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 289-290, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.