History: St. Tammany Memoir, St. Tammany Par., Washington Par., La. File prepared and submitted by Sherry Sanford (SSanf51819@aol.com) Date: Oct. 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------ ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Biographical And Historical Memoirs of Louisiana", Vol. II The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1892 The parish of St. Tammany contains 915 square miles. The entire parish is heavily timbered, the principal forest growth being pine, of good quality, though in the river and creek bottom, magnolia, beech, oak, hickory, gum, ash, cypress, dogwood and holly are found. Along the coast of Lake Ponchartrain there are large tracts of live oak. The soil of the bottom lands is similar to that of the lands lying along all the small creeks and bayous throughout the state. The pine lands have generally a surface soil of sandy loam. The nearness of St. Tammany to the markets of New Orleans and the cheapness of transportation makes this parish a fine site for almost any industry. Prior to the war all the paving bricks, and a large portion of the building bricks used in New Orleans, were manufactured in this parish, and this industry is still maintained to a considerable extent. Silk growing may be very pleasantly and profitably conducted here. All varieties of the mulberry tree thrive, and the worms are not liable to disease. In the vicinity of Covington, are many fine mineral wells and springs. The Abita springs, three miles from Covington, are the resort of a large number of invalids, and many of the wells of Covington have acquired a reputation by their numerous cures. Some of the earliest of these settlers were John Castonquat, who settled in 1795; John Spell, 1798; Joseph Slatte, 1799; the Coopers located in 1800 and 1801; William Wilson, in 1802; William W. Collins, 1803; Matthew Robertson and Joseph Cutterer, 1804; Wiley Robertson, Mary C. Loyd, John Vernon, David Robertson, Renez Baam, Gronow Floyd, Joseph Dyche, Lott Ridgdell, Leonard L. Marbury and others came in 1806. In the year 1808 a number of new claims were located, among them were those of Allen Hader, William Berry, John Sardin, David Gains, Abner Junkin, Isaac Evans and James Bennett. Collin Sanders, Jemima Smith, Moses Jordan, Peter Baden and Henry Day came in 1808; John, Charles and William Galloway, Jesse Barker, Lawrence Stecker, Peter Bankston, Charles Roberts, Gideon Yarborough and Z. Barrow established themselves in the territory in 1809; Burrell an dJesse McClendon, Luke and James Lea, David Glover, John Mitchell, John Brinkley, Fred Rester and Matthew Bond established claims in 1810. In 1811 Elijah H. Hornsby, John Williams, Shadrach McClendon and John Talley located claims; John Wax, Leonard Hornsby, John Bankston, John and William Wheat, John Wootan and Elisha Harrell came in 1812. As a parish St. Tammany was organized in 1811, and Hon. Thomas C. Warner was made first parish judge. The first courthouse for the parish was erected in what was then called Claiborne, situated on the east side of Bouge Falaya, opposite Covington. In 1869 a considerable area of the territory of St. Tammany was used in forming the parish of Tangipahoa, yet the population of the remainder (5,586) was greater than the population of the whole in 1860. At the last report of the superintendent of education there were twenty-two white and thirteen colored public schools, employing thirty-seven teachers. At the same time there were five white and two colored private schools, each well attended. Covington was first incorporated under the name of Wharton, but by an act of the legislature of 1816, the name was changed to Covington. With the end of slavery, the brick and lumber business almost ceased and people were forced to turn their attention to cultivating the soil. About 1856 it was observed that some of the wells and springs in and around Covington possessed medicinal qualities. Since then the town has been the resort of invalids, not only the water by the climate and atmospheric conditions being conducive to health. The town has a population of nearly 1,000 persons and is incorporated. It is the seat of justice for the parish and contains the courthouse and jail. Mandeville, the second largest town in St. Tammany, is situated on the coast of Lake Ponchartrain, has a population of about 300 and is a shipping point of some importance. Madisonville has 200 inhabitants.