Nicolosi, Joseph

Submitted by Mike Miller

Joseph Nicolosi, who is established in the successful practice of law at Plaquemine, judicial center of Iberville Parish, is one of the popular and representative younger members of the bar of his native parish. He was born at White Castle, Iberville Parish, on the 17th of December, 1893, and is a son of Louis and Mary (Liuzza) Nicolosi, the former of whom still resides at White Castle and the latter of whom died in that attractive little city in the year 1896, she having been born in New Orleans in 1872. Of the two children Joseph, of this review, is the elder, and the younger, Frances, remains at the paternal home.

Mrs. Mary Nicolosi was the daughter of Nunzia Liuzza, of Centessa Entellina, Italy, who immigrated to this country in about 1863 and resided in New Orleans for over forty years, where he married and reared his family. He was there engaged in the business of importing and wholesaling lemons.

Louis Nicolosi was born at Bisacquino, Italy, in the year 1864, and was reared and educated in his native land, where also he learned the trade of shoemaker. In 1883 he came to the United States and settled in the city of New Orleans, where he engaged in the work of his trade and where he gained more than passing prominence in the use of his exceptional musical talent. He is credited with having been one of the first musicians to introduce the mandolin in New Orleans and gained distinction as a skilled performer on that instrument, and he is proficient also on other string instruments and in the playing of the clarionet and the snare drum. After hiving twelve years in the Louisiana metropolis and shortly after his first marriage, Mr. Nicolosi removed to White Castle, where he developed a prosperous business in the conducting of a shoe Store and repair shop. He retired from this line of enterprise in 1904, and has since conducted at that place a general merchandise business. He has become the owner of a considerable amount of real estate at White Castle, and is one of the substantial and highly esteemed citizens of his community. He is a democrat in political adherency, is president of the local organization of the Immaculate Conception Association, an Italian benevolent organization, and is affiliated with White Castle Lodge No. 257, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Eight years after the death of his first wife Mr. Nicolosi wedded Miss Anna Lungaro, a native of Italy, and they have two children, Michael and Mary, the former being, in 1924, a student in the Louisiana State University, at Baton Rouge and the latter in the high school at White Castle.

Joseph Nicolosi was graduated from the White Castle High School as a member of the class of 1915, and he then entered the law department of the Louisiana State University, in which he completed the prescribed curriculum and was graduated as a member of the class of 1918, his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws having been virtually coincident with his admission to the Louisiana bar on the 3d of June of that year. For three years thereafter he maintained his residence and professional headquarters at White Castle, and he then removed to the city of Plaquemine, judicial center of the parish, where he maintains his office in the Postoffice Building and where his professional success attests alike his ability and his personal popularity. He is loyally aligned in the ranks of the democratic party, and as a lawyer he is serving as official attorney to the sheriff and tax collector of Iberville Parish. While a resident of his native place he was a director of the Merchants & Planters Bank until its merger with the Bank of White Castle.

In the Masonic fraternity he still maintains affiliation with White Castle Lodge No. 257, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he passed various official chairs, up to and including that of senior warden, and he is a member also of White Castle Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. In his present home city he is a popular member of Plaquemine Lodge No. 1398, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His name still appears on the roster of eligible young bachelors in his native parish.

A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 320, by Henry E. Chambers. Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.