1925 Biography - Thomas M. Ligon

Thomas Muse Ligon is one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of Baton Rouge, where he has held various positions of public trust, and where he now conducts a real-estate and commercial reporting business, besides which he is vice president of the Hammond-Baton Rouge Brick Company, a substantial industrial corporation. He is also serving as a notary public.

Mr. Ligon was born in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, December 21, 1870, a son of Lemuel T. Ligon, and a representative of a family that in past generations was one of prominence in connection with the ownership and operation of ocean vessels at Liverpool, England, whence came the first representatives of the Ligon family in America, settlement being made in and about Charleston, South Carolina, where tobacco trading became the chief interest of the pioneers of this family.

Lemuel T. Ligon was born in Pike County, Mississippi, in the Town of Holmesville, and the date of his nativity was January 27, 1840. He was a sterling and honored citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, at the time of his death, February 20, 1904. He was reared in his native county and came to East Baton Rouge Parish in 1866. Here he was identified with agricultural enterprise until his removal to East Feliciana Parish a few years later. In the latter parish his marriage occurred, and there he continued as a planter until 1882, when he returned to East Baton Rouge Parish and engaged in the same line of industrial enterprise, besides having become a general contractor. He was a democrat, and he and his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Mr. Ligon was a valiant soldier of the Confederacy during virtually the entire period of the Civil war, was a member of the Sixteenth Mississippi Infantry, took part in many engagements, including the battle of Gettysburg, and was for a short time held a prisoner of war at Point Lookout, Maryland. His wife, whose maiden name was Melvina A. Muse was born in East Baton Rouge Parish, September 1 1849, and died at Olive Branch, East Feliciana Parish, November 20, 1922. Of the children Thomas M., of this sketch, is the eldest; May Margaret is the wife of Robert S. Troth, a farmer near Zachary, East Baton Rouge Parish; Mary Elizabeth is the wife of William L. Douglas, who is a stock grower and agriculturist at Olive Branch, East Feliciana Parish; Lemuel D., a carpenter and builder by occupation, resides at Slaughter, East Feliciana Parish; Cooper died in childhood; Albert A. resides in Baton Rouge and is a notary public; Robert East died in childhood; and Eunice likewise died when young.

Public and private schools in his native parish and East Baton Rouge Parish gave to Thomas N. Ligon his early education, and he continued to be associated with the activities of his father's plantation until he was twenty years of age. Thereafter be clerked in stores in both East Feliciana and East Baton Rouge parishes for varying intervals until 1890, and from September of that year until October, 1896, he had management of the cotton and moss gin of E. Schloss & Company of Baton Rouge. From the latter year until 1903 he was engaged in the mercantile business, with a general store in Baton Rouge and another in Pointe Coupee Parish.

On the 1st of January, 1904, Mr. Ligon received from Gov. W. W. Heard appointment to the position of deputy registrar of voters for East Baton Rouge Parish, besides which he was simultaneously employed in the office of the parish assessor. On the 6th of December, 1904, he assumed the position of deputy clerk of the court of East Baton Rouge Parish, under T. E. McHugh, and in this office he continued his service until September 1, 1918, W. C. Young having in the meantime, in 1916, succeeded Mr. McHugh as clerk of the court. Since his resignation Mr. Ligon has held the office of notary public, to which he was appointed by Gov. R. C. Pleasant. The Hammond-Baton Rouge Brick Company, of which he is vice president, has its manufacturing plant at Baptist, Louisiana, on the Hammond & Eastern Railroad, and its office headquarters are at Hattiesburg, Mississippi. At Baton Rouge Mr. Ligon is local representative of the Birmingham Hollow Tile Company of Birmingham, Alabama, and also of the Southern Clay Manufacturing Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee. His offices in the capital city are established in the Singletary Building.

Mr. Ligon is a staunch advocate of the cause of the democratic party and has given yeomen service in its ranks. He is now serving as deputy state fire marshal, a position to which he was appointed March 21, 1921. He is affiliated with DeSoto Lodge No. 7, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

September 6, 1898, recorded the marriage of Mr. Ligon and Miss Irene Sanchez, daughter of Capt. Anthony R. and Mary (Hernandez) Sanchez, both of whom are deceased. Captain Sanchez gallantly served the Confederacy in the Civil war as captain of the Donaldson Canoneers, and for a number of years he was a captain in the police department of the City of Baton Rouge. His daughter, Irene, completed her education by attending St. Joseph convent. Mr. and Mrs. Ligon have seven children: Melva, a graduate of the Baton Rouge High School and of the Southwestern Louisiana Institute at Lafayette, was for a time a teacher and is now the wife of Robert A. Tessier, who is employed by the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana and who resides not far distant from Baton Rouge; Thomas is clerk in the shoe department of one of the large mercantile establishments of Baton Rouge; Lucille is the wife of Professor Francis J. Robichaux, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Louisiana; Lodo May is a student in the South-eastern Louisiana Institute (1924) and is a graduate of the Baton Rouge High School; Doris and are at the time of this writing students in :re Baton Rouse High School; and Benjamin is here attending the St. Joseph Parochial School.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 98-99.