1925 Biography - Robert L. Randolph

Robert Lee Randolph, M. D., signally honored his native State of Louisiana both by his sterling character and by his distinguished achievement in his exacting profession. He was in every sense one of the foremost physicians and surgeons in Central Louisiana at the time of his death, January 14, 1921, and his home city of Alexandria, as well as the entire community of Rapides Parish, manifested a deep sense of personal loss and bereavement when he was called from the stage of life's mortal endeavors, his death having resulted from an attack of pneumonia.

Doctor Randolph was favored in ancestral heritage of distinguished Americanism, and his character was the positive expression of a strong, loyal and noble nature. The Doctor was born in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, November 19, 1862, and thus he was fifty-eight years of age at the time of his death. He was a son of Col. E. G. and Mary E. (Thompson) Randolph, both of whom were born in South Carolina, as representatives of honored Colonial families. Colonel Randolph came from South Carolina to Louisiana and settled in Bossier Parish in the year 1852, and in 1875 he removed with his family to Fairmount, Grant Parish, where he became the owner of one of the largest and best plantations in that section of the state. He served as a gallant soldier in the Mexican war and also as an officer of the Confederate forces in the Civil war, in which he was colonel of a Louisiana regiment. Colonel Randolph continued his residence in Grant Parish until his death, and his widow, who long survived him, was venerable in years when she too passed away.

William Randolph, great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir, was colonel of a Virginia regiment mm the War of the Revolution, and the paternal grandfather of Doctor Randolph was a soldier in the War of 1812. The Randolph family, of sterling English origin, was founded in Virginia in the early Colonial period of American history, and has given to the nation many distinguished citizens, as one generation has followed another on to the stage of life's activities. The French strain of lineage that was claimed by Doctor Randolph was through his paternal grandmother, who was a representative of the Bulephant family, her father having come with the French soldiers from France to participate in the war of the American Revolution, so that along two lines was Doctor Randolph eligible for affiliation with the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, in which he held active and appreciative membership, as did he also in the United Confederate Veterans.

The higher academic education of Doctor Randolph was acquired in the University of Louisiana, in which he was graduated, and thereafter he was graduated in the medical department of Tulane University. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine he continued in the active practice of his Profession until the time of his death-a period of more than thirty years of earnest and able service in behalf of his fellow men. He made the City of Alexandria the central stage of his professional work during these years, and his faithful stewardship and benignant personality endeared him to all classes of citizens. His deep and abiding human sympathy transcended mere sentiment to become an actuating motive for helpfulness, and self-sacrificing devotion to his profession marked his entire active career. He gained special high reputation as a diagnostician, and in this line he was frequently called into consultation by his professional confreres, in New Orleans and other places in the state. Concerning him the following appreciative words have been written:

"He was master in his art, and to his knowledge of medicine he added an intuitive faculty. He entered the sickroom with confidence and hope, and carried and communicated an atmosphere of courage to poor sufferers in the grip of disease. His patients included all classes of people, high and low, rich and poor, and they all bore testimony to his intense loyalty, to his generosity, in connection with which he brought to bear all he knew of medicine and also a personal tenderness in the treatment of each case. This drew to him in life a great number who not only admired hut also loved him." Compassion and sympathy were ever with this distinguished and loved physician, and his fine mind and line soul found ample field for objective stewardship that marked him alike as a distinguished physician and surgeon and as the guide, counsellor and friend of humanity.

Doctor Randolph was actively identified with the Rapides Parish Medical Society, the Louisiana State Medical Society, the Southern Medical Association and the American Medical Association. He was a loyal advocate and supporter of the cause of the democratic party, as is also his widow, and he was affiliated with Oliver Lodge No. 84, Free and Accepted Masons, and Alexandria Lodge No. 546, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was characteristically loyal and public spirited as a citizen, but had no desire for political office, though he served a long period of years as a valued member of the board of health of his native state.

At Cheneyville, Rapides Parish, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Randolph to Miss Elizabeth Barstow, who was born at that place and who is a daughter of Calvin J. and Mary Stella (Smith) Barstow, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana. Calvin J. Barstow became one of the representative planters of Rapides Parish, here served as president of the police jury for a long term of years, and he was Parish assessor at the time of his death. Mrs. Randolph gained her youthful education in the schools of Cheneyville and New Orleans, and her gracious personality has made her a popular figure in the social and cultural affairs of her home city of Alexandria. She has membership in the Colonial Dames, by eligibility along both paternal and maternal lines. Mrs. Randolph has been active and influential in connection with civic affairs in Alexandria. While in charge of Ralph Smith Park, this city, she supervised the planting of its trees and shrubbery and was concerned in its general development. As a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy she was director from Louisiana in connection with the erection by this organization of the monument on the Shiloh battlefield, and she did effective service also in raising funds for this laudable purpose. In the World war period Mrs. Randolph had charge of the local canteen service, aided in organizing Red Cross work in three parishes, and she was instant in helpful service at various military camps, both in connection with the epidemic of influenza and in supplying food to the young men recruited for service. She has served as a member of the board of directors of the Louisiana state organization of the Colonial Dames, and as a descendant of William Brewster, she has membership in the Mayflower descendants. Her eligibility for membership in the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution is fortified through thirty-two different ancestral lines.

In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Doctor and Mrs. Randolph: Leocadie became the wife of Hobart E. Hare, of Jacksonville, Florida, and the one child of this union is Hobart E., Jr. After the death of Mr. Hare, his widow became the wife of John F. Kerper, and they reside in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Mr. Kerper is associated with the oil industry. Mary Beverley is the wife of John Frank Carroll, engaged in the lumber business at Alexandria, Louisiana, and they have two children, Elizabeth Lee and Mary Beverley. Annie White, the next younger daughter, is the wife of William E. Wilbur, who is engaged in the automobile business at Eldorado, Arkansas, their two children being Barbara Anne and Constance Celeste. Dorothy Graves became the wife of Richard Atwood, who died of influenza while in military service in connection with the World war. Mrs. Atwood later became the wife of Byron McAdams, who is associated with business enterprise in Alexandria, in the mercantile establishment of his father, and they have a daughter, Dorothy Randolph. Constance Graves Randolph, youngest of the children, remains with her widowed mother in the home at Alexandria.

Note: The sketch is accompanied by a black and white portrait of the subject.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, Volume 2, pages 325-326.