Leon Sugar; Morehouse Parish, Louisiana

Submitted by Mike Miller

Thanks! Mike, for all the hard work and information
you contribute to the Morehouse Parish Archives.



**********************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
**********************************************
 

Leon Sugar, one of the leaders in the promulgation and
development of title and real estate law, is one of the
members of the profession who has always been engaged in large
affairs and yet who persistently conveys the impression that
his personality is greater than his performances.  His
creative identification with some of the important
jurisprudence of the state has brought to the realization of 
the public his masterly knowledge of the law, his deep.
penetration into their foundation principles and the broad and
high qualities of his mind abundantly able to apply them to
circumstances and affairs.


Born at Bastrop, Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, September 8,
1860, Leon Sugar was reared in his native city, and after he
had attained to manhood estate served for eight years as a
member of the police jury of that parish.  He is a son of
Solomon Sugar, a native, of Bavaria, who came to the United
States in young manhood, and entered the mercantile trade at
Homesville, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.  After some years of
successful business life in that community, he moved to
Bastrop, and there duplicated his former operations in the same
line, continued to reside there until his death, which occurred
when he was seventy years of age.  A man of unusual mentality,
he had the advantage of being highly educated, it having been 
the intention of his parents for him to enter the priesthood of
the Jewish faith and they had him educated to be a rabbi, but
he found his inclinations were in the direction of a business
life, so he did not carry out their wishes.  His broad and 
comprehensive training, however, gave him a grasp of affairs
which was of great value to him, and made him a man of
influence wherever he lived.  He married Matilda Foreheimer,
born in Wurttemberg, Germany, who came to the United States in
girlhood.  She too is deceased.  They had seven children born
to them, two of whom survive, Leon Sugar of this review being 
the fifth in order of birth.

Leon Sugar attended the country pay schools of his native
parish, and when he was fifteen years old, so intelligent was
he, that he was made a clerk in the postoffice at Bastrop, and
after serving for one year, was appointed to a clerkship in the
county recorder's office.  Ambition ruled this eager youth, and
he began reading law long before he reached his majority, and
as soon as he was of legal age he passed the state examinations
and was admitted to the bar in 1881.  For the subsequent
fourteen years he was engaged in a general practice at Monroe
and Bastrop, but in 1893 he came to Lake Charles, and since
then has become more and more identified with that branch of
his profession that specializes on politics and real estate
law, in which he is now a recognized expert.  He belongs to
Lake Charles Lodge No. 165, Free and Accepted Masons, of which
he is past master.

Mr. Sugar was married to Hattie Naff, born in Morehouse Parish,
a daughter of Jonathan Naff, formerly a planter, but now 
deceased.  Mrs. Sugar is very prominent in the Episcopal Church,
and in the social and club life of Lake Charles.  A lady of
considerable literary talent, she is a valued adjunct in
literary circles, and she and her husband are the center of a 
very congenial band of friends.  Mr. Sugar has long taken
considerable interest in historical matters and is now an
authority on the history of Calcasieu Parish and Southwestern
Louisiana.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 262, by Henry E. Chambers.
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago
and New York, 1925.