James Emri Pierce, M. D., Washington Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Mike Miller ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ James Emri Pierce, M. D. The old family records pertaining to the ancestors of Dr. James Emri Pierce, a prominent citizen and physician and surgeon of many years' experience at Bogalusa, Louisiana, reach back to Colonial times and English settlers in South Carolina, with later removals to Mississippi and Louisiana. This family name has been honorably borne in America, and from one branch came a President of the United States. Dr. James Emri Pierce was born on his father's plantation in Washington Parish, Louisiana, not far from Varnado, August 6, 1867, third in a family of fourteen children born to his parents, George W. and Sarah Anna (Rester) Pierce. George W. Pierce was born in Washington Parish, in 1840, and was a son of Washington Augustus and Smithey F. (Thigpen) Pierce, the latter of whom was born in North Carolina. The grandfather of Doctor Pierce was born in Mississippi, but died in Washington Parish, Louisiana, where he had settled in early manhood as a farmer and blacksmith. Agricultural pursuits engaged the attention of the father of Doctor Pierce throughout a long and worthy life, and his death occurred in February, 1924, on his large estate near Varnado. He was a democrat in politics, and from his youth a member of the Baptist Church. He married Sarah Anna Rester, who was born in 1843 in Washington Parish, and died on the old homestead in 1921. They became the parents of the following children Washington A., who is a farmer near Varnado, Louisiana; Andrew J., who also is a farmer near Varnado; James Emri; Ira J., who is a farmer in Washington Parish; Viola, who is the wife of John A. Flynn, a farmer and timberman near Varnado; Hosea M., a farmer and lumberman, who died at the age of thirty-five years; Frances, who is the wife of Lewis Cram, a farmer in Washington Parish; Monroe, who is a farmer in Red River Parish, Louisiana; George, who is a farmer near Varnado; John, who operates a farm near his brothers; Noah R., a farmer, who died at the age of twenty-eight years; and Jesse, Hardy and Sirila, all now deceased, aged respectively, twenty-six, fourteen and four years. James Emri Pierce had private school instruction in his boyhood, later attended the public schools of Washington Parish, and in 1895, was graduated from the Franklinton High School. For the five following years he taught school, both in Louisiana and Mississippi, during this time doing some preparatory medical reading, and then entered the Memphis Medical College Hospital, from which he was graduated in 1902 with his medical degree, later supplementing with a post-graduate course in the medical department of Tulane University, New Orleans, from which he was graduated in 1904. Shortly afterward Dr. Pierce entered upon the practice of his profession at Bogalusa, where he still continues, in the enjoyment of a substantial practice and the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, both professionally and personally. Doctor Pierce married in Washington Parish, November 26, 1903, Miss Veola Schilling, who was born near Sunny Hill, Washington Parish, and died in 1905. They had one son, Jesse G., who died in infancy. His second marriage took place in Washington Parish, January 1, 1908, to Miss Mary E. Stafford, daughter of Stephen and Stacy (Corkern) Stafford, both parents being deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Pierce are members of the First Baptist Church of Bogalusa, in which he is a deacon. In political life, like older members of his family, Doctor Pierce has always been a democrat, but has never accepted any public office except that of coroner, in which he served Washington Parish for four years. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and is a member of the Washington Parish Medical Society, the Louisiana State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Southern Medical Association. He owns a fine modern residence and offices situated on the corner of Avenue G and Fifth Street, Pleasant Hill, Bogalusa, and has other valuable city real estate and additional property located at Isabel, Louisiana. A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 152, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.