Wiley W. Gahagan, M. D., Red River Parish, Louisiana
Submitted for the LA GenWeb Archives by Mike Miller, Nov 2001.

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Wiley W. Gahagan, M, D.  In the capacity 1 physician and surgeon Doctor Gahagan is an important 
factor in the community of Martin in Red River Parish.  He is also a farmer, is connected with 
several business enterprises, and a real leader in community progress.

He was born March 22, 1881, a son of Dr. William Walter and Annie (Smith) Gahagan.  His father, 
a native of Georgia, as a young man moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, studied medicine there, and 
engaged in practice.  Coming to Louisiana, he settled at Old Sparta, then at Coushatta, and 
finally at Black Oak, where he died in 1884.  During the war between the states he was a 
surgeon in the Confederate army.  He married Annie Smith in Red River Parish, where she was 
born.  She died in 1887.  Their children besides Doctor Wiley were: S. W., a farmer at Ashland, 
Louisiana;: Wesley P., who was formerly in business at Ashland and is now at Shreveport; Mrs. 
Leona Hall, widow of Dock Hall, of Red River Parish; and Annie, wife of W. D. Dupree, of Red 
River Parish.

Wiley W. Gahagan was three years old when his father died and six when his mother passed away, 
so that he grew up an orphan, living for eight years with his grandfather Smith in Bienville 
Parish.  While there he worked on a farm and attended school, and also attended school at Old 
Liberty. Red River Parish, and Ashland.  He did farm work, and at Ashland was employed in the 
store of David Williams for two years.  This David Williams was almost a parent to Doctor 
Gahagan, and gives him great credit for encouraging influences during his early life.  Saving 
his money, he became a partner in the business of Mr. Williams, this partnership existing 
three years, until Doctor Gahagan decided to study for a medical career.  He began his reading 
in the office of Dr. S. L. Joyner at. Ashland, and from there entered the Memphis Hospital 
Medical College, where he was graduated in 1911.  Since graduating he has carried on a 
successful medical practice with home at Martin in Ward Two of Red River Parish.  He is 
secretary-treasurer of the Parish Medical Society.  While never a seeker for public office, he 
has served as a member of the Parish Board of Health.

Doctor Gahagan married, in 1904, Miss Sudie Cole, daughter of J. H. Cole, of Ward Two, Red 
River Parish.  They have three sons: Russell E., born in 1906, now doing the preliminary work 
for law schools at the Louisiana State University; Henry Cole, born in 1908, a student in the 
Martin High School; and Harry, born in 1917.

Doctor Gahagan takes great delight in supervising the work and cultivation of a farm of one 
hundred acres.  He is also vice president of the Ed Lisso Company, Inc., at Coushatta, and is 
vice president of the Peoples Bank at Coushatta.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 361, by Henry E. Chambers.  Published by The American 
Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.

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