HICKS, Thomas A., Darlington, S. C., then St. Landry Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller


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THOMAS A. HICKS, ROSA.--Mr. Hicks was born in Darlington, South Carolina,
April 27, 1837.  He is the son of James E. and Mary Anna (Thomas) Hicks, both
of whom were natives of South Carolina.  James E. Hicks was a planter by
occupation.  His mother died when Thomas was a boy; he removed with his father
to Alabama in 1852, where his father died in 1857.

Thomas is the oldest of five children, and received his education in the
schools of South Carolina and Alabama.  On the death of his father, he turned
his attention to farming.  In 1860 he located in Mississippi.  Early in 1863
he joined the First Mississippi Infantry, in which he served until the close
of the war.  He was at Port Hudson, and in the Atlanta campaign; at the former
place he was taken prisoner.  When peace again was declared he located on the
Atchafalaya River, where he was engaged in farming until 1876, when he removed
to his present place of residence, where he operates a plantation.  He owns
from about five hundred to six hundred acres, upon which he raises chiefly
cotton.

As a planter and business man, Mr. Hicks has been very successful.  He has
been for a short while engaged in merchandise at Negro Foot, and subsequently
at Rosa.  In 1870 he was elected justice of the peace, which position he
filled with efficiency.  He has also served for two years as a member of the
police jury.

In 1871, he married Miss Cordelia A. Richard, and to this union have been born
five sons and two daughters, viz:  Arthur L.,  John,  Willery,  Mansil,
Elgee,  Julia and  Bessie.

Our subject is a prominent Mason, and has served as representative in the
Grand Lodge of this State.  Mr. Hicks expresses himself of the opinion, that
this is the garden spot of the world, and believing as he does he intends
making this place his permanent place of abode.

Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section, p. 49.
Edited by William Henry Perrin.  Published in 1891, by The Gulf Publishing
Company.