Echoes From The Attic and Poems, WILSON HOME, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Don Johnson, Feb. 2001
Typed by Belford Carver
Written by by Edna F. Campbell
Copyrighted by Edna F. Campbell
With special thanks to her family for permission to use her works.

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WILSON HOME - STATELY WOODEN STRUCTURE IN HAMMOND

The stately wooden framework edifice, the home of Dr. and Mrs. Ralph W. Wilson, is 
located at 607 North Spruce Street.

Constructed of choice materials, the house was built by James McCarroll, a 
prominent lumberman, for a family home.  He also had a cottage constructed across 
the street for his mother, Mrs. L. R. (Katie) Henderson.  His sisters, now living 
in Hammond, are Mrs. W. H. Brent Sr., and Mrs. James A. Gatlin, and his 
sister-in-law, Mrs. Thomas O. McCarroll.  The latter lives on the Old Covington 
Highway on the McCarroll estate grounds.

The spacious white two-story Wilson house is the former residence of Mrs. Wilson's 
parents, Dr. and Mrs. Valmond Joseph Gautreau, who purchased the property from the 
Will Carters in 1927.  Dr. Gautreau was widely known as a physician in this 
section.  He began his medical practice in French Settlement and later moved to 
Hammond, in the 1920s.  For many years he had the practice of the McCarroll Lumber 
Mill at Frost.When the mill closed, he engaged in the drug business in Albany 
while at the same time continuing his medical practice in Livingston and in the 
four parishes.

In addition to Mrs. Wilson, the former Elaine Gautreau, there are two other 
daughters, May, Mrs. Richard Price; and Gloria, Mrs. Max F. Brumfield; also a son, 
Valmond Joseph Gautreau Jr.

When the McCarroll family moved to Holden in the early 1900s, the house was 
purchased by Will Carter.  It was here that Hodding Carter, author, publisher and 
Pulitzer Prize Winner spent his youthful years, along withhis sister, Corinne, 
his brother John and his parents.  The Carters also lived for many years in the 
old family residence located on Happywoods Rd.

Hodding Carter who lived in this house during his boyhood days, has deep roots in 
Hammond.  One of the nine books which he has written, "Where Main Street Meets the 
River" received inspiration in Hammond.  He was educated in Hammond schools, and 
had his first venture as a newspaper editor with his printing the "Hammond Daily 
Courier," a morning edition.  His editorial writings led to the highest honor in 
journalism, the Pulitzer Prize.  He spent about four years here during the 
depression period with the newspaper career.  From time to time he has returned 
to address various groups, including the Louisiana Press Women in 1965, and the 
graduating class of 1923, of which he was a member.

(From ECHOES FROM THE ATTIC, IV, 1969, by Edna Campbell)

(Pic of Ralph Wilson Home)

(Ms. Pat Benton, staff member of the Tangipahoa Parish Tourist Commission,
Hammond, purchased the home from the Wilson family in 1996.  She sold it to Chip 
Songy in 2000, who is the current owner and is doing extensive remodeling to it. 
Dr. Wilson (Sr.) died in 1982.  He was head of the Department of Accounting at 
Southeastern Louisiana University for a number of years. His son, Ralph Jr., is a 
Hammond dentist.  BEC 1/22/01)