James W. Garrett, Rapides Parish Louisiana
Submitted by: Suzanne Shoemaker

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Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana
The Southern Publishing Company, Chicago & Nashville,  1890

JAMES W. GARRETT, merchant, Lena, La.  

Mr. Garrett is one of the prosperous merchants of Rapides Parish, and by his
superior management and rare business ability and efficiency he has done not a
little to advance the reputation the county enjoys as a commercial center. 
His parents, William O. and Marinda (Lamden) Garrett, were natives of
Tennessee and South Carolina, respectively, the father a planter of Alabama,
and both members of the Missionary Baptist Church.  The mother is now residing
in Winn Parish, La.  James W. Garrett was born in Alabama in 1832, and when
twenty years of age removed to Mississippi, where he was engaged in
carpentering for some time.  He removed to Louisiana in 1861, and one year
later enlisted in Company F, Twenty-seventh Louisiana Regiment Infantry.
He operated principally at Vicksburg, Miss.  In October, 1862, he was
injured in a railroad accident and sent home on thirty days' furlough.  He
was at home at the time of the surrender on expired furlough.  After this
he taught school for a short time and from 1869 to 1886 was engaged in
planting, four miles west of Lena, in Natchitoches Parish, where he
remained until the last mentioned date and then located in Lena, where he
has since been successfully engaged in mercantile pursuits.  He is a Mason,
a member of Robertsville Lodge.  In 1856 he married Miss Susannah, daughter
of Elijah and Tolitha (Phillips) Edwards, and the result of this marriage
was ten children-three sons and seven daughters-one son and five daughters
now living.  The parents of Mrs. Garrett were born in Georgia and died in
Mississippi.