Mason Pilcher Erwin, Washington Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller

************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm
************************************************
 



Mason Pilcher Erwin was born about the close of the war between the states,
in early life was a teacher, subsequently a merchant and for nearly twenty
years has been an active and public spirited citizen of Lake Charles,
interested in lumber manufacturing, insurance and a varied program of
affairs.

He was born on a farm near Franklinton, in Washington Parish, Louisiana,
September 1, 1865, son of James Andrew and Susan (Fisher) Edwin.  His
parents died in 1906, his father being aged seventy-nine and his mother,
seventy-three.  His father was a Confederate soldier, being captain of a
company, and for some years was a clerk of court in Washington Parish.  In
1870 he moved to St. Landry Parish and engaged in planting until about the
year 1902, when the old folks moved to Glenmora, Louisiana, to live with
their son, the subject of this sketch.  He was a local minister of the
Methodist Church and a member of the Masonic fraternity.

Mason Pilcher Erwin attended public and private schools and Spring Creek
Academy, where he bad the good fortune to be under the tutelage of Robert
Holmes Dabney, a graduate of Yale, and a most excellent teacher, 1882 to
1887.  In 1891-1892 he attended Jefferson Davis College at Minden, where be
finished the scientific and commercial course, receiving the degree
Bachelor of Pedagogy.  Six years of his early life were spent in school
work' as teacher in the schools of St. Landry Parish and Rapides Parish,
and as principal of the Franklinton Central Institute at Franklinton,
Louisiana, being regarded as one of the best teachers of the state.

Mr. Erwin was for nine years in a general mercantile business at Glenmora,
in the firm of Phillips & Erwin, and for six years was a member of Erwin
Brothers, general merchants at Oakdale.  From there he removed to Lake
Charles in 190, and in that year became one of the organizers and for
fourteen years, during its entire existence was secretary and treasurer of
the Lyons Lumber Company, which cut its last timber holding in 1921.  He
was one of the organizers and is a and direct-or of the American Mutual
Life Insurance Company of Lake Charles, and is also president of the
Caladia Production Company.  Since 1921 most of his time has been devoted
to looking after his extensive interests in bonds, oil and lumber
properties.

Mr. Erwin is not a public man, but is a member of the Lake Charles Country
Club, Coastal Hunting and Fishing Club and Lake Charles Association of
Commerce.  He married at New Orleans, August 18, 1915, Miss Jean Ida Barr,
of New Orleans.  Her parents were natives of Scotland.  Her father, Thomas
Barr, was a Union soldier in the Civil war, and for many years a ship
carpenter, contractor and builder at New Orleans.

NOTE:  A signed photograph/painting accompanies this narrative in the
referenced source.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), pp. 158-159, by Henry E. Chambers.
Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York,
1925.