Joseph Barton Elam
Joseph Barton Elam (June 12, 1821 - July 4,1885) was a two term Democrat congressman from Louisiana.
Elam was born in Hempstead County, Arkansas to William Jefferson Elam, an educator from Virginia. The family moved to Coryell, Texas in 1823 where a brother, Charles Wheaton Elam, was born. In 1826, they relocated to Nachitoches, Louisiana where a sister, Mary Jane Elam, was born. By 1833, the family moved to Fort Jessup, Louisiana, the United States furthest west outpost at that time, where William Jefferson Elam tutored the officers' sons. Another brother, John Waddill Elam was born there in 1833.
Elam was educated at Fort Jessup. Later, he read law under the tutalege of his cousin John Waddill in Alexandria, Louisiana. Waddill helped the kidnapped freeman Samuel Northup to obtain his freedom in court proceedings in 1853. (See Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a slave) Elam was admitted to the bar in October, 1843, and began his practice in Alexandria, Louisiana. He moved to Sabine parish and settled in Many, Louisiana in 1844.
He was elected to the Sabine Parish Police Jury in 1844 and in 1845 was its President. Elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives from Sabine, Elam served two years from this area.
He helped establish the court system in DeSoto Parish and made the first court appearance as an attorney in the parish court of DeSoto on August 7, 1843. In 1847, Elam drafted the Articles for incorporation for the town of Mansfield, Louisiana and was its first Mayor in 1856. [1] He was elected to the Louisiana House of Representative from DeSoto Parish.
Elam was elected a Delegate to the Confederate Constitutional convention in 1861. He signed the Louisiana Ordinance of Succession in January of 1861. He served two terms in the state legislature during the civil war and was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1864 and 1865. He served until the passage of the Reconstruction legislation by Congress. [2]
During Reconstruction, the Radical Republicans took control of Louisiana. Elam was unable to retain his house seat through this period. In 1870, Elam stopped a riot by speaking to and calming a crowd after an election was taken from him and did the same in 1872. [3] The Wheeler Adjustment passed by Congress in March, 1875 did not allow Elam to take his Louisiana House of Representative seat for the 1874 election. [4]
In 1877, Elam he was elected to the Forty-fifth Congress and was reelected to the Forty-sixth Congress representing the 4th Congressional District. [5] In 1881, he returned home to practice law in Mansfield and died on July 4,1885.
Sources
- A History of Louisiana, Henry E. Chambers, the American Historical Society, Inc., (1925)
- Louisiana, Alcee Fortier, Southern Historical Association, (1909)
- Biographical Dictionary of Louisiana, Louisiana Historical Society, (1988)
- Biographical History of Northwest Louisiana, Southern Press, (1889)
- 1850 United States Census, Sabine Parish, Louisiana
- 1860 United States Census, DeSoto Parish
- United States Congressional Record 1877-1881
- Twelve Years a Slave, Solomon Northup
- La. Acts of the Leg. 1847
- Journal of the Confederate Congress, Vol. 7, pgs. 14-15,1864.
- DeSoto Parish Clerk of Court records
- Sabine Parish Clerk of Court records
- Edge of the Sword: The Ordeal of Carpetbagger Marshal H. Twitchell, LSU Press, (2004)
References
- ^ Act No. 128 General Assembly of Louisiana 1847
- ^ Official Journal of the House of Representatives, State of Louisiana, 1861-1865
- ^ Biographical history of Northwest Louisiana
- ^ Handbook of Politics for 1876, Edward McPherson, Solomons & Chapman, 1876, p. 200
- ^ Biographical Directory of the United State's Congress, pgs. 197, 201