Joseph A. Grace; Iberville Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Joseph A. Grace, of Plaquemine, is here serving efficiently in the dual office of clerk of the court and recorder of Iberville Parish, and he is a member of one of the influential families of this parish, adequate record concerning the family being given in the preceding sketch of this work, in the personal sketch of his brother, Albert L. Mr. Grace was born in Iberville Parish, on the 18th of February, 1863, and after receiving the advantages of private schools at Plaquemine he was for two years a student in St. Charles College at Grand Coteau, this state. He left college in 1884, and thenceforward until 1888 he served as deputy clerk and recorder of his native parish. He held the office of notary public from 1888 to 1892, and since the latter year, by reelection each successive four years, he has been retained in the office of which he is now the incumbent, that of clerk of the court and recorder of Iberville Parish, his present term expiring in 1928. He has been a stalwart supporter of the cause of the democratic party, and in addition to his other official services he held for nineteen months the office of justice of the peace. He is a trustee and zealous communicant of the Catholic Church of St. John the Evangelist, his wife likewise being an earnest communicant of this parish. Mr. Grace has held since 1905 the office of president of the Iberville Bank & Trust Company, is treasurer of the Lake Long drainage district of Iberville Parish, and also of the Bayou Bourbeux drainage district of the parish. Near the city he owns a fine tract of forty acres of land, and in the pleasant homestead on this place he maintains his residence. He is the owner also of other real estate in this parish. Mr. Grace was secretary of the Iberville Parish draft board in the World war period, was president of the parish chapter of the Red Cross, and was active in the advancing of all local patriotic measures, in which connection he delivered many public addresses in his home parish, in forwarding the drives in support of the Government war loans, Red Cross work, etc. January 18, 1891, recorded the marriage of Mr. Grace and Miss Mary Rhorer, who was born in Rapides Parish, in 1866, and whose death occurred in 1900. Mrs. Grace is survived by two children: Mary Elizabeth is (1924) a student in St. Michael's Convent, in St. James Parish, and Agnes Virginia is attending St. Basil's Academy, at Plaquemine, On the 5th of June, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Grace and Miss Harriet Kirby Smith, daughter of Thomas Kirby Smith and Elouise (Hickman) Smith, both of whom are deceased, the father having been a successful cotton planter in Grant Parish. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 228, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.