The William Edward Mount Family, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Sep 2006 Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ WILLIAM EDWARD MOUNT BY JIM PERRIN, Local Historian William Edward Mount, one of Ponchatoula's most affluent citizens of the early twentieth century, was born in September 1864 at Lock Haven, Clinton County, Pennsylvania to Randolph and Frances Mount. William's father was a sawyer in a lumber mill in that central Pennsylvania community. William grew up around lumber mills, and after his father moved the family to King William County, Virginia, in the early 1870's, William and his brother Robert L. Mount helped in their father's woodworking shop. William and his brother Robert decided to establish themselves in the lumber business in southern Louisiana. By 1900, William Mount had opened his own cypress lumber mill near Gibson, Louisiana, and his brother Robert was working as his mill foreman. William was very successful in the lumber business and was able to amass a sizeable amount of money. William married around 1892 to Lucille Allen of Bunkie, Louisiana. In 1914, William and Lucille left Gibson and moved to Ponchatoula. William purchased a large piece of land where the Ponchatoula-Springfield Road crosses the Ponchatoula River and in 1915 erected an impressive residence they called "Mount's Villa." William commissioned the New Orleans firm of Favot and Livaudis to design his new country home. The Mounts enjoyed entertaining and the story-and-a-half villa which they had constructed had seven rooms on the main floor featuring an impressive dining room. The upper floor featured a large billiards room, bedroom, and playroom, while the basement contained an office, walk-in vault, maid's quarters, laundry room, and walk-in cooler. Besides the main house the villa had the expected amenities such as a garage, smokehouse, and servant's cottage. Soon after his arrival in Ponchatoula, William began putting some of his money to work in the local economy. He invested heavily in the local Merchants and Farmers Bank, which was then located on the corner of West Pine Street and South Sixth Street. He served for a number of years as the bank president before the bank's failure during the Depression. He was also very active in the real estate market buying a number of valuable properties. When the census taker made his way along the Springfield Road in the summer of 1920, he visited Mount's Villa and recorded the information for William and Lucille Mount. Whoever suppled the information for William modestly told the census taker that William's occupation was that of a farmer. There were many farmers who lived on or near the Springfield Road in 1920, but only one who lived in an expansive and modern residence with a garage with the latest automobiles maintained by his servants. William was often called by others, "Ponchatoula's richiest man." William was a gentleman farmer as well since he owned a large steam operated sugar mill in the far rear of his Mount Villa estate, as well as a number of agricultural properties which were included in his real estate portfolio. In 1930, a census enumerator again visited the William Mount residence. William was then listed as a bank president and the household was greatly enlarged with the addition of two girls he and Mrs. Mount were raising. The two girls, both born in Mississippi, were listed as Clara B. and Ruby D. Mount. In addition, William and Lucille were also assisting in the care of Mary Ola and Lillie Hoover during those difficult Depression days. The Depression was an economic disaster of the Mount family. The Merchants and Farmers Bank, of which William was the president and largest investor, failed in 1933. Several other banks in the parish, as well as thousands of other banks across the nation, also failed before new banking laws were enacted by the Roosevelt administration. Compounding the loss of all his money and stock in the Merchants and Farmers Bank was the fact that his extensive portfolio of local and national stocks and bonds was now almost worthless. By the time of William's death almost a decade later his fortune was gone and his debts exceeded his assets when his succession was opened. William died 23 Sept. 1942 in a New Orleans hospital and was buried in the Wetmore Cemetery near his home. Through the friendship of Ponchatoula newspaperman George Goodman, William was buried in the Goodman family plot in the cemetery with a small concrete marker to mark the site. The son of a Pennsylvania sawmill worker, W. E. Mount had, through hard work and ingenuity, made a good life for himself and his fmaily. Although the Depression years took a severe financial toll on William's life style, his beautiful home, "Mount's Villa" just south of the Springfield Road, now owned by the Thomas Jackson famiy, is a lasting reminder of one of Ponchatoula's most influential figures of the early twentieth century. Anyone with questions, comments or suggestions for future articles, may contact Jim Perrin at 386-4476.