J. M. S. Whittington; Rapides Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller

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J. M. S. Whittington.  The Whittington family has been specially 
conspicuous in Rapides Parish of Louisiana, where they have lived 
for ninety years.  One member of the family, himself a native of 
Rapides Parish, is J. M. S. Whittington, present United States 
marshal for the Western District of Louisiana, and a resident 
of Shreveport.

He was born at Alexandria, March 25, 1879, son of Judge W. W. and 
Emily W. (Walker) Whittington.  The Whittingtons came from England 
and settled on the eastern short of Maryland about 1760.  The great-
grandfather of the United States marshal was William W. Whittington, 
a native of Maryland, a prominent lawyer, serving as circuit judge 
for about thirty years.  His son William W. came to Louisiana about 
1835, locating in Rapides Parish, where he was a planter and lawyer. 
Judge W. W. Whittington was a native of Rapides Parish and for many 
years a leading attorney at Alexandria and on the bench.  His wife, 
Emily Walker, was a granddaughter of Gen. Joseph M. Walker, who 
served as governor of Louisiana from 1850 to 1853.  J. M. S. 
Whittington had a brother, W. W. Whittington, Jr., now deceased, 
who served as mayor of Alexandria, and another brother, G. P. 
Whittington, a leading member of the bar of that city.

J. M. S. Whittington was educated in the city schools of Alexandria, 
and in the Cherry Brothers Business College at Bowling Green, 
Kentucky.  For many years he was identified with lumber manufacturing, 
both in Louisiana and Texas.  In April, 1923, he was given a recess 
appointment by President Harding as United States marshal for the 
Western District of Louisiana, and later in the year received the 
regular appointment to this office by President Coolidge, his 
appointment being confirmed by the Senate January 8, 19z4.  The 
Western District of Louisiana comprises forty parishes.  Practically 
all the state except New Orleans and the extreme southeast corner.

While most of the other members of his family have been democrats, 
J. M. S. Whittington has for several years been one of the most 
influential figures in the republican party in Louisiana.  He was 
one of the delegates from the state to the National Republican 
Convention in Cleveland in 1924.  He married Miss Myrtle Dorothy 
Tharp of Macon, Georgia.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 260, by Henry E. Chambers.  
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and 
New York, 1925.