Biogaphy of David I. Garrett; Ouachita Parish, Louisiana

Submitted by Mike Miller
Source:A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 232, by Henry E. Chambers.  
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925. 



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David I. Garrett, present district attorney of the Fourth judicial
District, is a resident of Monroe, a veteran of the World war, having
been an officer in the famous Sixth Regiment of the Marine Corps, and
represents the third generation of the Garrett family in the law
profession in Louisiana.  Garrett is one of the distinguished names in the
law and civic history of the state.

David I. Garrett was born at Monroe, November 15, 1893, son of Franklin
and Lela E. (Johnson) Garrett.  His grandfather, Col. Isaiah Garrett,
descended from a prominent Virginia family, came from Tennessee to Monroe
in the years before the Civil war.  He was an honor graduate of the
West Point Military Academy, and a delegate from Ouachita Parish to the
Louisiana Secession Convention at New Orleans.  Exercising his privilege
as a delegate, he refused to sign the secession ordinance.  For many years
he enjoyed a high position as an attorney.

Franklin Garrett, a native of Monroe and a graduate of the University of
North Carolina, served as a useful captain in the Confederate army in the
war between the state's and afterwards attained distinction as a practicing
attorney at Monroe.  He was for a number of years a member of the State
Board of Education and is remembered as one of the founders of Monroe's
school system.  Captain Garrett died in 1896.  His widow is still living
and is a member of a prominent Ouachita Parish family.  She is a descendant
of the Ball family of Virginia, which included the mother of George Washington,
and she has membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution.

David I. Garrett was educated in the Monroe City High School, graduated from
Tulane University at New Orleans in 1914, being president of the student body
for that year, and took his law degree at the Louisiana State University in
1916.  He had about one year of experience as practicing attorney at Monroe
before America entered the great war.

Early in 1917, the president of the Louisiana State University having
designated him as specially qualified for service in the United States Marine
Corps, he joined that organization and was commissioned a lieutenant at Paris
Island, South Carolina.  In the spring of 1918 he went overseas with the
marines, becoming part of the Second Division, and saw active service in
the greatest engagements in which the expeditionary forces of America were
engaged including Belleau Wood, Soissons, St. Mihiel, Champagne and the
Argonne.  His abilities and service brought him deserved promotion to the
rank of Captain.  He was executive officer of the American Patrol on the
Rhine in the Army of Occupation.  Captain Garrett had two years of active
service, coming home and receiving his honorable discharge in 1919.

He immediately resumed his law practice at Monroe, and in 1920 was elected
district attorney of the Sixth Judicial District (now the Fourth).  This
district comprises Ouachita and Morehouse parishes.  In 1924 he was 
re-elected without opposition.  His service as district attorney has been
one of vigorous and fearless enforcement of the law.  He is also engaged
in the practice of civil law, being a member of the law firm of
Newton, Garrett & Newton.

Captain Garrett married Miss Lessie Madison of Bastrop, daughter of 
Hon. H. Flood Madison.  They have one son, David I., Jr.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 232, by Henry E. Chambers.  
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925. 

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