1925 Biography - William A. Mecom

William Alonzo Mecom, M. D. To properly realize the marvelous improving changes that have been brought about in a comparatively short the in some parts of Franklin Parish, the development of the pleasant town of Wisner may be cited. In 1906, when Dr. William Alonzo Mecom, leading physician and surgeon at Wisner, prominent in its present-day affairs and large property owner, chose this place for his home and field of professional work, he had clearer vision than some of his professional associates. Wisner at that the was but a railroad village of a half dozen unpretentious structures, but its setting was in the midst of a fertile country and attractive surroundings, and the young pioneer physician was one who foresaw that it was only the capital and directing energy that have since been supplied that were needed to bring this section into the richly producing area, and make of Wisner the progressive business center that it is today. Doctor Mecom has borne his full part in furthering all these developing agencies.

William Alonzo Mecom was born in the hill district in the northwestern part of Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, March 5, 1872, son of William H. and Elizabeth (Arledge) Mecom, the former of whom was born in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, and the latter in Alabama. They were the parents of seven sons and two daughters, all of whom were given as fair educational advantages as were possible at the time, and all were reared in comfort but not in luxury. The father has been a soldier in the Confederate army and was so seriously wounded in the thigh at Shiloh that a perceptible limp accompanied his walk throughout the rest of his life. He was a farmer and sawmill man, frugal and industrious, and in his own neighborhood was respected and esteemed and occasionally served in local offices. The father of Doctor Mecom died at the age of sixty-five years and his mother when aged fifty-four. Of his brothers, M. L., the eldest, who is active in politics, has been clerk of the Caldwell Parish courts for many years; V. H., a physician and surgeon, who is associated with his brother, William Alonzo, in the practice of medicine, is also in the drug business at Wisner; F. H., a physician and surgeon at Slagle, Louisiana, is one of the leading stockholders in the Louisiana Central Lumber Company; J. I., is in the lumber business at Spur, Texas; H. S. is in business in Arkansas; and Philip is United States district attorney at Shreveport, Louisiana.

In boyhood Doctor Mecom and his brothers attended school in the home neighborhood, the sessions sometimes being held in churches and sometimes in log houses, but later he enjoyed better advantages as he came under the instruction of Prof. J. W. Deeson, a well known educator at Arcadia. His hopes early turned to medicine a career, but it required much close managing and self-denial to enable him to put aside anything for his medical education, although he taught school and clerked in a store and was active other ways. Finally, when he realized that he could not accomplish what was practically impossible under the circumstances, he bethought him of his helpful eldest brother and from him secured the capital that carried him for two years through the Memphis Hospital School of Medicine, and then through Tulane University, from which he was graduated in 1901. In 1903, and at various times since, Doctor Mecom has returned to Tulane for post-graduate work, from the first specializing to some degree in surgery and also preparing for a country practice.

After completing his medical course Doctor Mecom established himself in practice at Columbia, in Caldwell Parish, where he remained until 1906, when he made an important and favorable change, in that year coming to Wisner. He had been impressed with the fertility of the land surrounding the hamlet and saw reason to believe in its future development, as has come about, and the few residents gave him the heartiest of welcomes, for at all times the lack of an experienced medical man right at hand, capable and resourceful, is deplorable. Doctor Mecom at once became what he has continued to be ever since, one of the most important citizens of Wisner. He owns considerable valuable property in the town and large planting interests adjacent.

Doctor Mecom married Miss Sadie Bridger, daughter of C. C. Bridger, of Belleview Plantation, Caldwell Parish, a lady who has been of much assistance to her husband, although not a graduate nurse. She is an active Sunday school worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which body she has belonged since girlhood, and is deeply interested in charitable and welfare movements when they are needed at Wisner.

Doctor and Mrs. Mecom have two fine sons, Wilber E. and Russell S., the former of whom is a graduate of the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, and will complete his education at Tulane University. The younger son is a student in the Mississippi University at Oxford. Doctor Mecom is a member of the Masonic fraternity. On occasion he expresses his political preferences but has never been politically active beyond the necessary claims of good citizenship and has never accepted any public office except that of president of the school board, in which he served twelve years, retiring then because of press of professional duties. He belongs to various medical organizations and public-spirited bodies, and is favorably known professionally and otherwise all through this section of the state.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, page 288.