Hicks Family, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Oct. 2005
Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives.

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THE HICKS FAMILY

BY JIM PERRIN, Local Historian

Near the beginning of 1888 William Hicks decided to move his young family from New 
Orleans and chose rural east Ponchatoula to start a new life.  William was born 27 
July 1858 in Paris, Henry County, Tennessee.  As a young man he moved from Paris to 
Fort Worth, Texas, where he worked briefly as the political editor of a Fort Worth 
newspaper, The Advance.  About 1883, William left Fort Worth and moved to New 
Orleans and began to work as a clerk for the Southern Express Company.  He boarded 
at the home of Mrs. Philo Goodwyn at 179 Girod Street in New Orleans, where he met 
and courted Mrs. Goodwyn's attractive and well-educated daughter, Anna "Annie" 
Salter Morse.  Annie and William were married 9 Sept. 1884 at the Carondelet Street 
Methodist Church and afterwards continued to reside at the Goodwyn home in 1885 & 
1886. 

Annie was born 29 March 1863, at the home of her aunt, Mrs. Eliza Morse Parham, 
near Amite, LA, in what was then St. Helena Parish (now Tangipahoa Parish).  
Annie's father, Alexander Gallatin Morse died when she was only four years old and 
her mother Amanda Fitzallen Dortch Morse married secondly to Rev. Philo M. Goodwyn.  
Annie lived with her family in New Orleans, except for the time she attended 
Whitworth College in Brookhaven, MS, a Methodist school for ladies.

Sometime around the beginning of 1888, William and Annie decided to move from the 
city to the country to improve Will's health.  William had breathing problems, and 
he was dissatisfied with his job in New Orleans since he had to work nights and 
could not see his wife and baby daughter. 

William purchased a hundred acre tract of country land 20 February 1888 from James 
Tucker.  This property was located about four miles east of Ponchatoula.  The 
outstanding surface feature of the property was an oblong mound rising about fifty 
feet above the surrounding flat lands.  William and Annie made their home on the 
crest of this mound called the Sandhill.  Also on the crest of the hill and a bit 
to the north of the family residence was the one-acre Wells-Tucker Burying Ground, 
which was later expanded and called Sandhill Cemetery. 

William and Annie were devout Methodists and members of the Wesley Chapel Methodist 
Church located a few miles east of their home.  William was appointed superintendent 
of the Wesley Chapel Sunday School 1 Jan. 1890, and was licensed to preach 1 Sept. 
1894.

William entered into several business enterprises.  He and Annie operated a chicken 
farm on Sandhill, which he nicknamed "Hicksburg."  He was the secretary and 
treasurer of the White Farmers Association in Ponchatoula, which bought large 
quantities of strawberries from local farmers for shipment to distant markets.  
Besides these activities, William worked as a part time newspaper reporter, and 
general accountant.  He audited the local school's accounts (Howes School) in 1911 
and 1912, and served on the local selective service board during World War I.  He 
operated a general merchandise and feed store in the early 1920's on the corner of 
Fifth and Pine streets in Ponchatoula.  He and Annie moved into the town of 
Ponchatoula and resided on Pine Street near his store.  William was also in charge 
of the area Federal Farm Loan Association.

William was stricken with a severe pain in his left shoulder 24 May 1930.  He 
complained of this pain to Annie, and was unable to lie comfortably.  Tossing about 
in his bed until he fell out of bed onto the floor and was dead of heart failure 
when Annie reached his side.  William was buried May 26 in the Sandhill cemetery 
near his old home site.

Annie had received a college education at Whitworth College and she taught her two 
children at home.  She was an active member of the Methodist Church in New Orleans, 
later at Wesley Chapel east of Ponchatoula, and lastly at the Methodist Church in 
town.  She taught Sunday School for a time and was a long-time member of the 
Missionary Society for the church.  Annie died 3 Oct. 1940 at Ponchatoula and was 
buried next to William at Sandhill Cemetery.

William and Annie had two children: Annie Elizabeth Hicks, b. 23 June 1885, m. 
Morris Jules Perrin; and James Alexander Hicks, b. 19 Oct. 1886, m. Julia Dausin 
of Madisonville, LA.  William and Annie Hicks, newcomers to this area in 1888, 
found the community they had sought and lived the rest of their lives in our 
Ponchatoula.

 Anyone with comments, questions, or additional information about Ponchatoula's rich 
heritage may call Jim Perrin at 386-4476