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David I. Garrett, present district attorney of the Fourth judicial District, is
a resident of Monroe, a veteran of the World war, having been an officer in the
famous Sixth Regiment of the Marine Corps, and represents the third generation
of the Garrett family in the law profession in Louisiana. Garrett is one of the
distinguished names in the law and civic history of the state.
David I.
Garrett was born at Monroe, November 15, 1893, son of Franklin and Lela E.
(Johnson) Garrett. His grandfather, Col. Isaiah Garrett, descended from a
prominent Virginia family, came from Tennessee to Monroe in the years before the
Civil war. He was an honor graduate of the West Point Military Academy, and a
delegate from Ouachita Parish to the Louisiana Secession Convention at New
Orleans. Exercising his privilege as a delegate, he refused to sign the
secession ordinance. For many years he enjoyed a high position as an attorney.
Franklin Garrett, a native of Monroe and a graduate of the University of
North Carolina, served as a useful captain in the Confederate army in the war
between the state's and afterwards attained distinction as a practicing attorney
at Monroe. He was for a number of years a member of the State Board of Education
and is remembered as one of the founders of Monroe's school system. Captain
Garrett died in 1896. His widow is still living and is a member of a prominent
Ouachita Parish family. She is a descendant of the Ball family of Virginia,
which included the mother of George Washington, and she has membership in the
Daughters of the American Revolution.
David I. Garrett was educated in
the Monroe City High School, graduated from Tulane University at New Orleans in
1914, being president of the student body for that year, and took his law degree
at the Louisiana State University in 1916. He had about one year of experience
as practicing attorney at Monroe before America entered the great war.
Early in 1917, the president of the Louisiana State University having designated
him as specially qualified for service in the United States Marine Corps, he
joined that organization and was commissioned a lieutenant at Paris Island,
South Carolina. In the spring of 1918 he went overseas with the marines,
becoming part of the Second Division, and saw active service in the greatest
engagements in which the expeditionary forces of America were engaged including
Belleau Wood, Soissons, St. Mihiel, Champagne and the Argonne. His abilities and
service brought him deserved promotion to the rank of Captain. He was executive
officer of the American Patrol on the Rhine in the Army of Occupation. Captain
Garrett had two years of active service, coming home and receiving his honorable
discharge in 1919.
He immediately resumed his law practice at Monroe, and
in 1920 was elected district attorney of the Sixth Judicial District (now the
Fourth). This district comprises Ouachita and Morehouse parishes. In 1924 he was
re-elected without opposition. His service as district attorney has been one of
vigorous and fearless enforcement of the law. He is also engaged in the practice
of civil law, being a member of the law firm of Newton, Garrett & Newton.
Captain Garrett married Miss Lessie Madison of Bastrop, daughter of Hon. H.
Flood Madison. They have one son, David I., Jr.
Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, page 232.
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