GEORGE W. BOLTON Union Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Greggory E. Davies ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ George W. Bolton, prominent banker and financier of Alexandria, and one of the best known men of Louisiana, was born in DeKalb County, Ga., September 15, 1841. His parents were Elisha P. and Eliza Burbridge Bolton. The father, of English lineage, was a native of Georgia, in which state his father settled shortly after the Revolutionary War, coming from Virginia. The mother of George W. Bolton was also a native of Georgia, and was of Irish parentage. In 1857 Elisha P. Bolton removed from Georgia to Louisiana, and located at Shiloh, Union Parish, where he established a private school and became a well-known educator. He died at the age of 85 years, and his wife at 70. They were the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters, of whom six grew to majority, and three are still living. George W. Bolton was the fourth eldest and the third son. He was educated in his father's private school at Shiloh, and in 1861, when the Civil War came on, Mr. Bolton enlisted in Company E, 12th Louisiana Infantry. He gallantly served the cause of the Confederacy to the close of the war, attaining to the rank of second sergeant. At the Battle of Nashville he was wounded in the right arm and shortly afterwards captured and taken to Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, and later transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland, where he was paroled at the close of hostilities. He then returned to his father's home in Louisiana, entirely without means, traveling a portion of the way on the deck of a Red River passenger steamer. After spending a year in teaching at Shiloh, Mr. Bolton began his successful career as a merchant. He engaged in mercantile business at Winnfield, Winn Parish, with Dr. A. {Absalom} Wade. After three successful years at Winnfield, Mr. Bolton, in company with Dr. Wade and Mr. Thomas Milling, opened a branch establishment at Pineville, opposite Alexandria, Mr. Bolton removing to Pineville to take charge of the business, the business at Winnfield remaining in charge of Mr. Walling {probably should be Mr. Milling}. For one year the business was conducted under the firm name of A. Wade, and on the death of Dr. Wade was continued under the firm name of Milling & Bolton until the death of Mr. Milling in 1879, after which date Mr. Bolton continued the business on his own account until 1900, when he disposed of it, in order to give his exclusive time to his duties as president of the Rapides Bank. This bank was organized in 1888, when there were only five banks in Louisiana, outside New Orleans. Mr. Bolton was made the first president of the bank, and this position he held until 1912, when he retired and was succeeded by his eldest son, James W. Bolton. However, he was induced to remain actively connected with the bank as chairman of the board of directors. From its organization the Rapides Bank has prospered, and has long ranked among the largest and most successful banks of Louisiana. Its growth and prosperity have been largely due to Mr. Bolton's able financiering. For many years he has held conspicuous place among bankers of not only Louisiana and the South, but also the nation. He was one of the organizers of the Louisiana State Bankers' Association and for several years served as president of the association. He has long been identified with the American Bankers' Association, and for two terms of three years each he was a member of the executive council of this association. While mercantile and banking interests have claimed so great a part of his time and attention, Mr. Bolton has responded to the call of public duty. He was a delegate to, and a member of, the constitution convention of 1879 from Rapides Parish. This convention was called for the purpose of framing a constitution to better suit the conditions then existing and especially to provide for a more economical management of the affairs of the state than then prevailed under the carpet bag Republican rule. He was also a member of the constitutional convention of 1898. In both these conventions, the results of which were of far-reaching benefit to the state, Mr. Bolton took an active and foremost part, being a member of important committees in both. From 1888 to 1894 he represented Rapides Parish in the lower house of the legislature, and there rendered conspicuous service. During his first term in the legislature he was chairman of the committee on appropriation. In this capacity he was chiefly instrumental in putting the state finances on a solid basis, which for the first time after the Civil War brought the annual expenditures of the state within the limit of current receipts, and by this rule the finances of the state have since been governed. In the annals of the state this is a noteworthy achievement, and its accomplishment was a stupendous task, and required much work and able financiering, but Mr. Bolton proved equal to the difficult undertaking and thereby rendered exceptional service to the state. During his last term in the legislature Mr. Bolton was honored by being elected speaker of the house, and in this exalted position again displayed exceptional ability, meeting the most sanguine hopes of his many friends. In 1904 Mr. Bolton was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis, and was made a member of the committee to notify, at his home on the Hudson River, Judge Alton B. Parker of his nomination for the presidency. From early manhood, Mr. Bolton has been a member of the Masonic fraternity. He is a Knight Templar Mason, and has served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge and as Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Chapter of Louisiana. He has long been prominent as a member of the Baptist Church and in local affairs borne to commendable part of a public-spirited citizen. In 1868 Mr. Bolton married Miss Tennessee Wade, daughter of Dr. A. Wade. She was born in 1850 in Arkansas. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Bolton were born five sons and a daughter. Now living: James Wade, president of Rapides Bank; George F. of Lake Charles; Frank P., cashier of the Rapides Bank; James Porter, merchant at Lake Charles; Roscoe, in the insurance business at Alexandria, and Miss Bertha, accomplished in music. (Mr. Bolton also served on the Rapides Parish Police Jury and Rapides Parish School Board. The above biography was taken from Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cycolpedic Form by Alcee Fortier, Lit. D., Ed., Professor of Romance Languages in Tulane University, published in 1914; copied at the Winn Parish Library and submitted by Greggory Ellis Davies, Winnfield, La.) # # #