Kirkland, Louis

Louis Kirkland, sheriff of West Baton Rouge Parish, La. Like many men who have become distinguished in the localities in which they reside, Mr. Kirkland started at the foot of life's ladder and by his own unaided efforts has climbed to the top. His youth gave no hint of the metal of which he was made, and it was only contact with the business affairs of life after he had attained manhood that developed his latent resources and called into action the powers of his mind. He was born on Kirkland plantation, six miles below Baton Rouge, on the 21st of August, 1846, one of three children born to Vincent and Pauline (Hebert) Kirkland, the former of whom was born in Augusta, Ga. The state of his birth afforded him his rudimentary education, and after he had reached man's estate he came to Louisiana and for some time resided in East Baton Rouge. He afterward settled on the plantation which took his name, and besides the attention with which he bestowed upon his estate, he also followed the calling of a civil engineer. Here his mental powers, and public spirit soon led to his election to the office of parish clerk of the courts, a position he acceptably filled for fourteen years, after which he became state engineer under Governor Herbert. He was a lifelong democrat and died in 1853 of yellow fever at the age of forty-nine years. [he died on Sep 11, 1915  in Stamford, Connecticut and is buried in St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Cemetery in Brusly]

His grandfather was a native of the land of thistles and oatmeal, but his father, Richard H. Kirkland, was an American by birth and died in St. Helena parish. The mother of the subject of this sketch died in 1878 at the age of seventy-one years. Louis Kirkland in his youth found ample guidance in his mental growth in the schools of his native parish, and under the able tutelage of Professor Magruder of East Baton Rouge. While in school he gleaned much useful knowledge in the fields of learning, and put this knowledge to a practical use when it became necessary for him to take upon himself the burdens and duties of life.

Soon after leaving school came secession and war and Mr. Kirkland at once offered himself as a private in the ranks. He became a member of Lake Providence cadets, or the Fourth Louisiana infantry, commanded by W.H. Allen, who was afterward governor of Louisiana, but a short time afterward was transferred to a company organized in West Baton Rouge, but which belonged to the same regiment. In the fierce and disastrous battle of Shiloh his command took an active part, and he was also in the engagements at Fort Hudson, Grierson raid, the siege of Vicksburg with J.P. Johnston, Mobile, all the engagements of the Atlanta campaign and the battles of Franklin and Nashville. At the latter place he was captured and sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, where he was kept in captivity until the month of March, 1865, when he was sent to Richmond and there exchanged. He walked from the boundary of North Carolina to Atlanta, before he could secure transportation home. He returned home to find that through the devastating influences of the war the generous sheaf of his father's toil had been scattered, but with characteristic energy he set to work to retrieve the losses thus brought about, and as a natural consequence began following the calling to which he had been reared, that of planting. He is a part owner of the Stone Wall and Kirkland plantations, the latter plantation being restored to its old-time prosperity under his able management.

Mr. Kirkland has always been a democrat of uncompromising stripe and throughout his public career has worked in the interests of that party. The first office that he held was that of police juror of the Second ward in 1868, but this was followed in 1878 by election to the office of sheriff, at which time he had no opposition. He is by nature and experience admirably fitted to successfully discharge the duties encumbent upon this office, for he is courageous, persevering and a lover of justices and right. The duties of recorder are also combined with that of sheriff. Mr. Kirkland is rapidly advancing in the honors of the meritorious orders of the A.F. & A.M. and the Knights of Pythias, and he is a member of the militia company at Brusly Landing, which has been named in his honor. He won for his wife Miss Mary Hebert, a daughter of Lovinski Hebert of this parish, and their marriage was celebrated on the 1st of February, 1868, and has resulted in the birth of three sons and one daughter. The family are members of the Catholic church.

Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana; Chicago; The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1892