Isaiah Garrett (1812-1874) and Narcissa Grayson Garrett (1816-1890)

The Garrett family is one of Monroe's most well-known families. They contributed much to our local history and their names still grace buildings and roads throughout the Parish.
     The patriarch of the family, Isaiah, was born in the town of Franklin, TN September 16, 1812. His birthplace would later be the site of the Battle of Franklin during the Civil War. In 1816, Isaiah's parents moved to Saline County, MO, from which state he was appointed to West Point. He became a graduate of that famous academy in 1833. Isaiah's sight was defective, so he resigned his military commission in 1834 and moved to Ouachita Parish. Garrett was interested in the legal profession, so in 1835 he obtained his license to practice. He went into practice with Judge E.K. Willson, one of the most distinguished lawyers of North Louisiana. Garrett's law office on South Grand Street, is still standing today and is considered one of Monroe's oldest buildings.
     Shortly after moving to Monroe, Isaiah met and fell in love with a charming lady by the name of Narcissa Grayson. Narcissa's father, Col. Thomas Grayson, was a compatriot of Daniel Boone and moved to Caldwell Parish in 1813. The Graysons were one of the founding families of Caldwell Parish. The town of Grayson was named in honor of the family. Thomas approved of the young lawyer courting his youngest daughter, and so, Isaiah and Narcissa were married in Ouachita Parish on May 10, 1836. The couple were the parents of eleven children; five of whom lived to maturity.
     An incident in the life of Narcissa and Isaiah, illustrates the limited medical knowledge of the early 1800's. In February of 1844, Isaiah and Narcissa took a trip to New Orleans to hear the great orator and Congressman Henry Clay speak. With them on the trip were their three year old son Frank and his nurse. After a delightful time in the city, the couple and several others from Ouachita decided to take the trip back home to Monroe on board the steamboat Buckeye. Isaiah refused to retire to his room until the boat had left the Mississippi river. Narcissa placed her son on the lower berth and lay down on the upper berth. Some time between three and four o'clock in the morning, Narcissa was jarred awake by a collision. It felt as if the ship had run into the bank. In reality, the Buckeye had collided with the steamboat DeSoto. Isaiah came back to his cabin, collected the family and began making his way to the bow. Narcissa was swept away by the current and became separated. She was later rescued. Frank had been separated from Isaiah by the crowd, but was found floating on a mattress by a family friend. Isaiah was later found half drowned, but alive. Only after Narcissa was rescued and placed by a fire did she feel her left wrist in excruciating pain. It was later determined that her wrist bone had split during the accident. A year after the accident when her hand did not improve it was amputated by a doctor in New Orleans. The operation was before the use of chloroform, so Narcissa endured the procedure awake.

     Isaiah retired from law in 1857 to his estate called Lindwood. He had a reputation of being an honest, upright citizen and everyone thought well of him. It was that reason why, in 1861, he was called to represent Ouachita in Louisiana's Secession Convention. Garrett lobbied hard as a cooperationist, and warned the convention that it would be a long and bloody war if Louisiana seceded. He was one of only seven men that refused to sign the ordinance of secession. Garrett returned to his beloved Lindwood and prepared for war.
Because of his vision, Isaiah could not serve the Confederacy as a soldier, but he served in other ways. Two sons were sent to serve the Confederacy. Isaiah became chairman of the state military board. After his service there, he returned to Ouachita and established a private hospital for wounded and sick Confederate soldiers all the way to the end of the war.
     After the Civil War, Isaiah came out of retirement and practiced law again. He became a well-known Democrat and fought against Reconstruction right up until his death. In early May of 1874, Isaiah and his friend Henry Dobson were riding down DeSiard Street in a two-horse buggy. The horses took fright and made for the river at head-long speed. Mr. Dobson saw a vacant lot and steered the horses into it. While turning the buggy, it overturned in the lot, throwing Dobson and Garrett on the ground. Garrett landed on his head. Dobson recovered, but Garrett lingered in a coma for three days. On May 7, surrounded by friends and family, Isaiah breathed his last. He was buried in Monroe's Old City Cemetery. Narcissa survived Isaiah by sixteen years and was buried beside him. There they continue to rest over one hundred years later.

William Mills Wood Farmer (1840-1883)

William Wood Farmer, Jr. was born the son of William Wood, Sr. [A Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana.  The town of Farmerville, LA was named for him.] and Pamela Ann Mixon Mason Farmer. His original middle name was Mills in honor of his father's father, but in 1861 he changed it to Wood in memory of his father. He never married. He apparently dated an Emily Tew but it didn't work out. Sallie Garrett [daughter of Isaiah and Narcissa] wrote a letter to her brother dated September 9th, 1860 in which she said, "I believe Emma Tew's and Mr. Farmer's attachment has ceased. I think as he generally does he was only coqueting with her." When he died, William was buried in the Monroe Cemetery. His grave is not marked. On an 1886 Plat Map for the Monroe City Cemetery, the W.W. Farmer plot was plot #80, which was located where the two avenues in the cemetery meet (near the Purvis/Stevens marker and flag pole).

W.W. Farmer Plot, Old City Cemetery

The Monroe Bulletin
Wednesday, April 18, 1883
Page 3, Column 1
Judge Farmer's funeral took place Sunday evening at 4 o'clock from Grace Episcopal Church to the Monroe Cemetery. The church was filled with friends. Rev. Mr. Prosser officiated. The pall bearers were L.D. McLain, Dr. T.O. Brewer, W.G. Kennedy, Dr. T.Y. Aby, F.Y. Dabney, W.T. Atkins. The floral tribute was beautiful and plentiful.

The Monroe Bulletin
Wednesday, April 18, 1883
Page 3, Column 2
Judge W.W. Farmer.
Judge William Wood Farmer died at his residence in Monroe, at 3 o'clock a.m., last Saturday, the 14th of April. Life's fitful fever is over at the early age of 43 years and 15 days.
Judge Farmer was the only son of ex-Gov. Farmer, and was born in Union parish on the 29th of March, 1840. He graduated at Centenary College in 1858 with first honors. He read law with Morrison & Purvis and was licensed by the Law College of New Orleans in 1861.
The war found him an ardent sympathizer with the South, and he joined Dreux's battalion [Co. D, 1st Special Battn.] and served the first term of his enlistment as a private. In 1862 he was chosen captain of a company that became a part of Morrison's regiment [Co. H, 31st LA Inf.]. He was engaged in all the battles preceding the investment of Vicksburg and was among the prisoners of that memorable surrender.
He formed a law partnership with Col. C.H. Morrison [note: This is William's brother-in-law Charles Henry Morrison, married to his sister Fannie] in 1865 and continued it with great success until Morrison died and his health failed in 1875. He was a member of (t)he lower House of the State Legislature in 1880 and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He was chosen by that assembly Judge of the Second Circuit and resigned. In 1881 he gave up the judgeship and resumed the practice of the law.
Judge Farmer's mind was large, his perception quick and his reasoning bordered upon intuition. There was no plodding — a case stated was covered by an opinion. His reading was extensive, his memory tenacious and the collation of the authorities was all that was necessary to confirm his conclusion. He was honest and had a supreme contempt for Quirk, Gammon & Snap practice. Whenever a client had a case to make he found in Farmer a lawyer unremitting in his exertions to secure his rights. He never made an effort to mislead a court by suppressing evidence, garbling authorities or toadying his views to judges in private. He rested upon the law and the evidence as they were written and his urged them with a force that every adversary dreaded.
As Judge of the Second Circuit he was laborious beyond his strength. He heard argument patiently, examined evidence closely, read authorities carefully and decided conscientiously. We have it from him that he made no law while in the ermine; that he was merely its interpreter, no matter at times of its distastefulness.
Judge Farmer never married, and a name that will ever be remembered in Louisiana with honor is now extinct. His nearest relation is Farmer Morrison, a nephew and an orphan, a lad of eight years. "Gone forever! Such men always die too young; but their example lives after them, and so molds and shapes coming events that the order of affairs is tending ever to a higher and a more just public control, is carving a pathway through the darkness of the past to a brighter, more hopeful and peaceful future. In losing him the State has lost an able defender, and good men an admirer, and ourself one of the best of friends and the safest of advisers."