John Nelson Whitehead; Winn Parish, LA Contributed by Greggory E. Davies 120 Ted Price Lane Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** John Nelson Whitehead The Whiteheads came from Alabama. J. G. Whitehead was the father of our subject. He was a farmer and came from Alabama in 1850. He married Miss Martha Mixon in 1844, Mr. Whitehead died in Winn Parish April 3, 1893, and his wife in Catahoula Parish, March 6, 1900. John Nelson was born in Alabama November 18, 1848, but coming to Louisiana in 1850, most of his life was spent here. He was educated in the common schools and at a time when school advantages were meager, but he was observant and is now a wise man with a good knowledge. He is what the world calls a success. He is a farmer and is proud of it. He magnifies his calling. He began farming in 1870 and here in Winn Parish he has succeeded most admirably, having acquired a neat competency. He married Miss Rebecca Patton and they have eight children. He is of Methodist family and is of strictest integrity and has lived in frugality and industry. He supplies the very best object lesson for Winn Parish and north Louisiana. He has demonstrated the feasibility of intensive farming and the use of machinery here. He removed the stumps from his farm and improved it into a very high state of cultivation. He made tremendous crops on what was considered our poorest land. We are of the opinion that this interview and the facts in it should yield thousands to our people. The untold wealth that resides in our soil has never appeared to even our most observant. Mr. Whitehead, after trying it, thinks our country has wonderful possibilities. His motto: "Onward and upward, observing the Golden Rule." (The above article was copied from The Guardian newspaper, Vol. XXVII, No. 8-9, published September-October, 1907, at Winnfield, LA. This newspaper is on file at the Watson Memorial Library, Cammie Henry Archives, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, LA., and was submitted by Greggory Ellis Davies, Winnfield, LA.)