East Feliciana Parish
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William Henry Pipes, M. D,, who is established in the successful practice of his
profession in the City of Baton Rouge, with office at 47 Reymond Building, has
given special attention to the study, diagnosis and treatment of tropical
diseases as found during ten years' practice in the swamps and subtropical
sections of Louisiana and occasional vim to Central America. He finds this
information of especial value in his work as a general practitioner. The Doctor
is a native son of Louisiana and a scion of a family whose name has long been
associated with the annals of the fair old Southland. His paternal grandfather,
David Pipes, was born near Natchez, Mississippi, and passed the closing years of
his life on his fine homestead plantation, "Beech Grove," near Clinton, East
Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, in which section of the state he passed the major
part of his life, he having been an extensive planter and having also conducted
a general merchandise business. David Pipes married Mrs. Amanda Montgomery
Collins (nee Dunn) who was born in Darling County, South Carolina, and who died
on the home plantation mentioned above. John McKowen, maternal grandfather, was
a licensed merchant at Castle Dawson, Ireland, and came to New Orleans early the
nineteenth century and established a g mercantile and trading business at
Jackson, Louisiana.
Dr. William Henry Pipes was born on the home
plantation, Belleview, near Clinton, East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, March 16,
1878, and is a son of William H. and Sarah Elizabeth (McKowen) Pipes, the former
of whom was born on "Beech Grove" Plantation, East Feliciana Parish, in the year
1840, and the Jackson, Louisiana, she having been somewhat more than seventy
years of age at the time of her death, in 1909, at Nashville, Tennessee, and her
husband having died July 2, 1892, on his home plantation, Belleview, near
Clinton. William H. Pipes inherited a portion of the extensive landed estate of
his parents, added to the area of his holdings and became the owner of a large
and valuable plantation property near Clinton. He was a student in the
University of Virginia at the inception of the Civil war, and his youthful
loyalty to the Confederate cause was shown by his prompt enlistment for service
in the Southern Army. He became a member 0f a Louisiana regiment, and later was
transferred to a Tennessee regiment. He continued in active service until he was
captured, and he was thereafter held as a prisoner on Johnson's Island- until
the dose of the war, when he received his parole. He became one of the
influential citizens of his native parish, his plantation estate including lands
also in East Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupee Parishes, and he served as a member
of the Louisiana Legislature. He had much of leadership in political affairs,
was a stalwart advocate of the principles of the democratic party, and his
inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem was indicated by his election
to the office of state treasurer, in which he served from 1888 to 1892, and gave
a careful and effective administration of the fiscal affairs of Louisiana. He
and his wife were zealous members of the Presbyterian Church. Of the children
the eldest is David M., who is a merchant and planter residing at Jackson, East
Feliciana Parish. He has served as a member of both Houses of the State
Legislature, was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1918, and
has served as a member of the police jury of his home parish. Amanda M. is the
wife of William W. Clendenin, formerly state geologist of Louisiana, now
connected with the public school system of New York City, with residence at
Mount Vernon, New York; Elizabeth Scott is the wife of Arthur George Elliott,
vice president of the Corsicana National Bank, Corsicana, Texas; Dr. William H.,
of this review was the next in order of birth; John McKowen died at the age of
eight years; Ruth Langford is the wife of J. P. Keller, M. D., of Nashville,
Tennessee; and two children died in infancy.
As a boy and youth Doctor
Pipes attended a private school at the home of Mrs. E. H. Fay a pioneer educator
of Louisiana, who had served as state superintendent of education and principal
of various colleges and had then retired to plantation life. In 1895 he was
graduated from Chamberlain Hunt Academy, Port Gibson, Mississippi, and
'thereafter he was for one year a student in the literary or academic department
of Tulane University, New Orleans, and for a similar period attended Centenary
College at Jackson, this state. He next passed eighteen months as a student in
the Southwestern Presbyterian University Clarksville, Tennessee, impaired health
compelling his withdrawal from this institution, In 1899 he was graduated from
Centenary College with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and thereafter he was
for one year instructor in Blees Military Academy, Macon, Missouri, and for two
years an instructor in Chamberlain Hunt Academy, in which he had previously
become a student. In 1906 he was graduated in the Medical department of Tulane
University, and spent three years in general practice at Torras, Pointe Coupee
Parish; three years at Pointe a La Hache; next at Myrtle Grove, where he
remained until 1917. He then subordinated all personal interests to the call of
patriotism, when the nation became involved in the World war. At New Orleans he
qualified for service in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, but he was
never called into active service. He was engaged in practice a short time at
Jackson, and then, in June, 1918, removed to Baton Rouge, where he has since
been engaged in active general practice and where he has a representative
clientage.
Doctor Pipes is loyally arrayed in the ranks of the democratic
party, and is an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge. He is
affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Kappa Alpha college fraternity,
and has membership in the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce and the Baton Rouge
Golf and Country Club. He is an active member of the East Baton Rouge Parish
Medical Society, the Louisiana State Medical Society, and the American Medical
Association. In addition to his attractive home place in Roseland Terrace in the
capital city, Doctor Pipes still owns his portion of his father's plantations.
September 22. 1916, recorded the marriage of Doctor Pipes and Mrs. Mary Kate
Anderson (nee Butler), of Port Gibson, Mississippi, she being a daughter of the
late Lord J. and Kate Coburn (Humphreys) Butler, both of whom died in
Mississippi, the father having been a civil engineer by profession, beginning
his career on the fortifications at Port Hudson. Mrs. Pipes completed her higher
education by attending a private academy in the City of Memphis, Tennessee.
Doctor and Mrs. Pipes have a winsome daughter, Sarah Humphreys.
Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 64-65.
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