William Akers Family, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Nov. 1999
Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives.

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HISTORIC PONCHATOULA
Influential early families

By JIM PERRIN
Special to The Times
(Part One In A Series)
William Akers

An early settler and prominent citizen of nineteenth century Ponchatoula, William
Akers was born 20 Oct. 1808 in Mississippi.  His mother was of English stock
having been born in what was then the state of Massachusetts, which was later
seperated to form the state of Maine, and his father was of Irish descent.  William
married Margaret Richardson of Livingston Parish and they had several children: 
Thomas M. Akers, state representative and mayor Ponchatoula, born about 1836, 
d. 10 March 1906, m. Minerva Tucker, dau. of Spencer Tucker, and left many 
descendants; William Samson Akers, b. about 1838, served in the 7th La. Inf., C.S.A.,
died at the Battle of Front Royal, VA, in 1862; Gaston Raoul Akers, b. about 1840,
m. Alice Rogers, d. 11 Feb. 1893, left several descendants; Martha Akers, b. about
1842; Samuel Edward Akers, born 1 March 1844, d. 19 Oct. 1901, m. Caroline P.
Threeton, dau. of Jacob Threeton and Mary Tucker;  John M. Akers, b. 10 May 1848, 
d. 13 June 1915.

William Akers married secondly on 6 June 1850 to Julia C. Vinyard, b. 26 Nov. 1833 in 
Amite Co., MS, d. 12 May 1897, and they had children: Mary Ellen Akers, b. 21 Oct. 1852, 
d. 2 Feb. 1937, m. Charles H. Haight, and left many descendants including long-time
Ponchatoula mayor William R. Haight; and James Clark Akers, b. 21 Feb. 1855, d. 12 Jun 
1924 at New Iberia, LA, left several descendants.

William Akers moved to the present Ponchatoula area in 1839 and acquired a tract of 
land for farming.  He also became a timberman using his slaves and other laborers to
haul the virgin pine timber of the area to the sawmill by teams of oxen.  William
bought and sold many town lots in the early 1850's when the new settlement of
Ponchatoula was surveyed and established.  Akers home was located just west of the
original corporate limits of Ponchatoula.  During the Civil War Akers suffered
economic losses as the invading Yankees looted Ponchatoula and stole dozens of his
beef cattle, hogs, sheep, and oxen.  Three of his sons served in the rebel army and one
died in battle in Virginia serving under Stonewall Jackson.

After the war Akers served as a police juror in the parish government, and was later 
elected mayor of Ponchatoula. 

In the 1880's Akers reported that he owned about 300 acres of land, of which 70 acres
was in cultivation and the rest was forested.  He was a leader in the temperance 
movement, an early leader and long-time member of the local Masonic Lodge, and was
very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church (south).  William Akers died 3 June
1889 at Ponchatoula and was buried in the Wetmore Cemetery west of Ponchatoula.

Anyone having information, photographs, or documents on the people, places and 
events that have shaped our community are invited to communicate with the 
author, Jim Perrin, at 14187 Randall Ave., Hammond, LA 70403