1925 Biography - William H. Pipes

William Henry Pipes, M. D., who is established in the successful practice of his profession in the City of Baton Rouge, with office at 47 Reymond Building, has given special attention to the study, diagnosis and treatment of tropical diseases as found during ten years' practice in the swamps and subtropical sections of Louisiana and occasional vim to Central America. He finds this information of especial value in his work as a general practitioner. The Doctor is a native son of Louisiana and a scion of a family whose name has long been associated with the annals of the fair old Southland. His paternal grandfather, David Pipes, was born near Natchez, Mississippi, and passed the closing years of his life on his fine homestead plantation, "Beech Grove," near Clinton, East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, in which section of the state he passed the major part of his life, he having been an extensive planter and having also conducted a general merchandise business. David Pipes married Mrs. Amanda Montgomery Collins (nee Dunn) who was born in Darling County, South Carolina, and who died on the home plantation mentioned above. John McKowen, maternal grandfather, was a licensed merchant at Castle Dawson, Ireland, and came to New Orleans early the nineteenth century and established a g mercantile and trading business at Jackson, Louisiana.

Dr. William Henry Pipes was born on the home plantation, Belleview, near Clinton, East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, March 16, 1878, and is a son of William H. and Sarah Elizabeth (McKowen) Pipes, the former of whom was born on "Beech Grove" Plantation, East Feliciana Parish, in the year 1840, and the Jackson, Louisiana, she having been somewhat more than seventy years of age at the time of her death, in 1909, at Nashville, Tennessee, and her husband having died July 2, 1892, on his home plantation, Belleview, near Clinton. William H. Pipes inherited a portion of the extensive landed estate of his parents, added to the area of his holdings and became the owner of a large and valuable plantation property near Clinton. He was a student in the University of Virginia at the inception of the Civil war, and his youthful loyalty to the Confederate cause was shown by his prompt enlistment for service in the Southern Army. He became a member 0f a Louisiana regiment, and later was transferred to a Tennessee regiment. He continued in active service until he was captured, and he was thereafter held as a prisoner on Johnson's Island- until the dose of the war, when he received his parole. He became one of the influential citizens of his native parish, his plantation estate including lands also in East Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupee Parishes, and he served as a member of the Louisiana Legislature. He had much of leadership in political affairs, was a stalwart advocate of the principles of the democratic party, and his inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem was indicated by his election to the office of state treasurer, in which he served from 1888 to 1892, and gave a careful and effective administration of the fiscal affairs of Louisiana. He and his wife were zealous members of the Presbyterian Church. Of the children the eldest is David M., who is a merchant and planter residing at Jackson, East Feliciana Parish. He has served as a member of both Houses of the State Legislature, was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1918, and has served as a member of the police jury of his home parish. Amanda M. is the wife of William W. Clendenin, formerly state geologist of Louisiana, now connected with the public school system of New York City, with residence at Mount Vernon, New York; Elizabeth Scott is the wife of Arthur George Elliott, vice president of the Corsicana National Bank, Corsicana, Texas; Dr. William H., of this review was the next in order of birth; John McKowen died at the age of eight years; Ruth Langford is the wife of J. P. Keller, M. D., of Nashville, Tennessee; and two children died in infancy.

As a boy and youth Doctor Pipes attended a private school at the home of Mrs. E. H. Fay a pioneer educator of Louisiana, who had served as state superintendent of education and principal of various colleges and had then retired to plantation life. In 1895 he was graduated from Chamberlain Hunt Academy, Port Gibson, Mississippi, and 'thereafter he was for one year a student in the literary or academic department of Tulane University, New Orleans, and for a similar period attended Centenary College at Jackson, this state. He next passed eighteen months as a student in the Southwestern Presbyterian University Clarksville, Tennessee, impaired health compelling his withdrawal from this institution, In 1899 he was graduated from Centenary College with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and thereafter he was for one year instructor in Blees Military Academy, Macon, Missouri, and for two years an instructor in Chamberlain Hunt Academy, in which he had previously become a student. In 1906 he was graduated in the Medical department of Tulane University, and spent three years in general practice at Torras, Pointe Coupee Parish; three years at Pointe a La Hache; next at Myrtle Grove, where he remained until 1917. He then subordinated all personal interests to the call of patriotism, when the nation became involved in the World war. At New Orleans he qualified for service in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, but he was never called into active service. He was engaged in practice a short time at Jackson, and then, in June, 1918, removed to Baton Rouge, where he has since been engaged in active general practice and where he has a representative clientage.

Doctor Pipes is loyally arrayed in the ranks of the democratic party, and is an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Kappa Alpha college fraternity, and has membership in the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce and the Baton Rouge Golf and Country Club. He is an active member of the East Baton Rouge Parish Medical Society, the Louisiana State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. In addition to his attractive home place in Roseland Terrace in the capital city, Doctor Pipes still owns his portion of his father's plantations.

September 22, 1916, recorded the marriage of Doctor Pipes and Mrs. Mary Kate Anderson (nee Butler), of Port Gibson, Mississippi, she being a daughter of the late Lord J. and Kate Coburn (Humphreys) Butler, both of whom died in Mississippi, the father having been a civil engineer by profession, beginning his career on the fortifications at Port Hudson. Mrs. Pipes completed her higher education by attending a private academy in the City of Memphis, Tennessee. Doctor and Mrs. Pipes have a winsome daughter, Sarah Humphreys.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 64-65.