1925 Biography - E. Pegram Flower

E. Pegram Flower, D. V. S., now devotes virtually his entire time and attention to his administrative service as secretary and executive officer of the Louisiana State Live Stock Sanitary Board, with office headquarters in the Louisiana capitol at Baton Rouge. The broad scope and many exactions of this important office led him to retire from the private practice of his profession, in the work of which he had successfully established himself.

Richard Flower, grandfather of Dr. Flower of this review was born in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, and passed the major part of his life in the city of New Orleans, where he established a Cotton. sugar and rice commission house that eventually gained precedence as the oldest and most important in that City. This business was founded by the firm of Flower & Carmack, and the title of the Concern later became Flower, Nalle & Company. Richard Flower was one of the representative citizens and business men of the Louisiana metropolis at the time of his death, and there occurred also the death of his widow, who passed away in the year 1922, she having been born in East Feliciana Parish in 1827. The maiden name of Mrs. Richard Flower Was Minerva Scott, and her father long served as judge of the District Court in East Feliciana Parish. The original American representatives of the Flower family came from England and settled in Virginia In the Colonial period of our national history.

Dr. E. Pegram Flower was born at Clinton, East Feliciana Parish, July 25, 1872, and is a son of Richard T. and Eustatia (Pegram) Flower, the former of whom was born near Jackson, that parish, on October, 1847, and the latter of whom was born at Clinton, that parish, in 1848. Richard T. Flower died In the city of New Orleans in November, 1904, his wife having there passed to eternal rest in the year 1900, their marriage having been solemnized in their native parish, where they were reared to maturity. Richard T. Flower was graduated from Christian College at Mobile, Alabama, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and as a young man he associated himself with business enterprise in New Orleans, where he became the executive head of the import department of the wholesale grocery house of Schmidt & Ziegler. He was a loyal supporter of the cause of the democratic party, and he and his wife were active communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He served as a soldier of the Confederacy during the last three years of the Civil war, and among the engagements in which he participated was the siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana. He had been affiliated with the United Confederate Veterans for many years prior to his death. Dr. E. Pegram Flower is the eldest in a family of eleven children: Jesse S. is engaged in the wholesale commission business in New Orleans; Richard H., of Baton Rouge, is now (1924) serving as the Louisiana assistant secretary of state ; Miss Julia maintains her home at Baton Rouge, as does also her next younger sister, Miss Minerva; Miss Eustatia is stenographer in the New Orleans offices of the Southern Pacific Steamship Company; Misses May and Clara reside in Baton Rouge, where the latter is secretary in the office of her brother, Dr. Flower of this sketch; Ethel is the wife of Anthony P. Kerr, head chemist in charge of the laboratory of the Louisiana State Experiment Station at the University of Louisiana, Baton Rouge; Iva is the wife of William B. Crowson, a progressive farmer and dairyman in East Baton Rouge Parish; and Sara is the wife of George C. Everett, president of the Everett School Supply Company at Baton Rouge.

The public schools of New Orleans afforded Dr. E. Pegram Flower his early education, and there he was graduated from the Boys' High School in 1890. For the ensuing four years he held a position with the firm of Flower, King & Putnam, wholesale commission merchants in the handling of sugar, rice and cotton, and he then left New Orleans and returned to his native parish, where he engaged in farm enterprise and in the conducting of a general merchandise business at Gurley. In the two years thus passed he continued his technical study and reading, and finally he entered the United States Veterinary College, Washington. D. C., in which he completed the prescribed curriculum and was graduated in 1899, with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery. In May of that year he established an office in Baton Rouge, where he continued in the successful private practice of his profession until 1914, when he found the work of his official position, that of secretary and executive officer of the State Live Stock Sanitary Board, of which he had become the incumbent in 1908, placed so heavy demands upon him that he found it expedient to eliminate his private professional activities.

Dr. Flower's political faith is that of the democratic party, and he and his wife are zealous communicants of St. James Church, Protestant Episcopal, he being a member of the vestry of this representative parish in the capital city. The Masonic affiliations of the Doctor are with St. James Lodge No. 47, A. F. and A. M.; Washington Chapter No. 57, R. A. M.; and Plains Commandery No. 11, Knights Templar. In his home city he is a member also of Capital Lodge No. 29, Knights of Pythias, and was formerly affiliated with and served as exalted ruler of the local lodge of Elks. He was president of the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association, and is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association. He gave eight years of service as treasurer of the Louisiana State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, and did much to make its work effective. In the capital city the Doctor owns his fine residence property, at the corner of Laurel and St. Hypolite streets.

On the 14th of October, 1901, at Baton Rouge, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Flower and Miss Maude Ogden David, daughter of Charles A. and Tracy (Fisher) David, the former of whom is a retired merchant residing at Baton Rouge and the latter of whom is deceased. Mrs. Flower was graduated from Belle Haven College, Jackson, Mississippi, and also from a seminary at Memphis, Tennessee, besides which she advanced her musical studies by attending the New England Conservatory of Music at Boston, where she specialized not only in piano but also in elocution. Dorothy David, the only child of Dr. and Mrs. Flower, was graduated from the University of Louisiana as a member of the class of 1923, and received the degrees of both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science.

Note: An autographed portrait accompanies this narrative in the referenced source.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 111-112.