Waldo, Benjamin Taylor

Submitted by Mike Miller

Waldo, Benjamin Taylor, lawyer, son of James Curtis and Mararet Mary (Woods) Waldo; born at New Orleans, La., Dec. 19, 1872; LL. B. Tulane university, 1892; alumni orator, 1897; as member of citizens committee and chairman of sub-committee took conspicuous part in successful effort to control yellow fever epidemic of 1905; organized the New Orleans Poll Tax association in 1907, and as its first president, inaugurated and conducted the campaign which raised the electorate of the city of New Orleans from 35,000 to above 52,000, consequently increasing the public school fund proportionately; has been counsel in much notable litigation; represented the state of Louisiana in the case of State vs. Snyder, in which the constitutionality and legality of the pure food and drug act was upheld by the supreme court; represented the state of Louisiana in the suit of State vs. Susslin, in which the paramount power of the state board of health in all health and hygienic matters was vindicated and maintained; represented the state in quarantine station transfer cases, under which the state was paid $100,000 intact for the lower Mississippi quarantine station; of counsel for the defense in case of State of Louisiana vs. Carondelet Canal & Navigation Co., in which the state sought to take away from the company, without compensation, the famous Carondelet Canal, the Old Basin and the Bayou St. John; married Edna Trist, daughter of Nicholas Philip Trist and Marie Tureaud Trist; children, Miss Burdette Trist Terrett-Waldo, Benjamin T. Waldo, Jr., and Ednard Trist Waldo.

Source: Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions,and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), p. 586. Edited by Alcee Fortier, Lit.D. Published in 1914, by Century Historical Association.