1925 Biography - Cyrus J. Bogan

Cyrus J. Bogan has shown marked initiative and constructive resourcefulness in the developing of his representative general insurance business in his native City of Baton Rouge, and he was one of the gallant young men who represented Louisiana in overseas service in the World war.

Mr. Bogan was born in Baton Rouge on the 24th of February, 1893, a son of James D. Bogan, who likewise was born in this city, the date of his nativity having been February 16, 1868, he being a son of the late James Bogan, who passed his entire life at East Baton Rouge Parish, where he was born in 1832 and where his death occurred in 1902. His entire active life was one of close and successful association with plantation industry and he gave loyal service as a soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war. His wife, Eliza, was a resident of East Baton Rouge Parish all her life. The Bogan family was early established in Louisiana, and the lineage traces back to staunch Scotch-Irish origin.

James D. Bogan was reared in East Baton Rouge Parish, where his early experiences were those gained in connection with the activities of his father's extensive plantation enterprise. As a young man he was for some time engaged in the general contracting business, and be has been a prominent figure in real-estate development in Baton Rouge and its suburban districts, and in other parts of his native parish. He is still a leading exponent of the real-estate business, with residence in the City Oz Baton Rouge. He is a stalwart supporter of the principles of the democratic party, and is a zealous member of the First Presbyterian Church of his home city, as was also his wife, whose death occurred in April, 1904. Mrs. Bogan, whose maiden name was Clara E. Sharp, was born in the state of Illinois. Of the children Cyrus J., of this review, the eldest; Samuel S., who is associated with his father in the contracting business, was in service during two years of American participation in the World war, he having been assigned to the aviation department and having been stationed in 1)0th Louisiana and Texas Clara Belle, who died in June, 1916, at the age of twenty years, was at the time a senior in Silliman College at Clinton, this state; Thaddeus is associated with the general contracting branch of his fathers business, and in the World war period he was in service in the United States Navy two and one- half years; Elizabeth is the wife of Marion T. Tatum, a merchant at Gloster, Mississippi; and Douglas, Eliza and Harvey died 1n infancy.

Cyrus J. Bogan profited by the advantages of both public and private schools in Baton Rouge, where he was graduated in the high school as a member of the class of 1911. For two years thereafter he was here employed as a clerk in die Rosenfleld Department Store. and he then became bookkeeper in the electrical establishment of W. C. Joubert. A year later he engaged independently in the confectionery business at Plaquemine, where he remained until 1913. Within the ensuing year he traveled extensively through the states of the Middle West and Northwest, and upon his return to Baton Rouge he here became a mechanic in the employ of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana. He was thus engaged at the time when, March 29. 1917, he enlisted for service in connection with the World war. He remained at Camp Nicholls, New Orleans, until the following August, as a first-class private, and he was then assigned to the First Louisiana Infantry at Camp Beauregard, near Alexandria, where he remained until August, 1918. He was advanced to the office of sergeant in the One Hundred and Fifty-sixth United States Infantry, Thirty-ninth Division, and with this command initiated his overseas service. With his regiment he landed at Brest, France, in September, 1918, and the command was given station assignment near St. Florent. Mr. Bogan attended the Officers Training School at Langres, and the armistice brought the war to a close ere he completed his training for the office of lieutenant. In November, 1918. he was sent to a classification camp at Le Mans, where he remained one month, and he passed the next thirty days at St. Aignan. He then went with the Forty-first Division to Pont le Voy, but three weeks later was transferred again to St. Aignan. In July, 1919, he sailed for the home land, and at Mitchell Field. Long Island, New York, he received his honorable discharge in the following month. After his return to Baton Rouge he resumed his position with the Standard Oil Company but in October of the same year he here engaged in the general insurance business, in which he has since continued with unequivocal success, his Offices being at 225 Main Street. He is also secretary and treasurer or the People's Building & Loan Association and of the Hogan Realty Company, of Which his father is the president. He has membership in the same political party and the same church as does his father, and in the Masonic fraternity he is now (1924) junior deacon of St. James Lodge No. 47, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Washington Chapter No. 57, Royal Arch Masons. He is affiliated also with Capital Lodge No. 29, Knights of Pythias, and the American Legion. Mr. Bogan is one of the loyal and progressive young business men of his native city, and is here an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. He Was married to Miss Josie Claire Huguet, daughter of Mrs. M E. Huguet, of the City of Baton Rouge, on March 4, 1924. They reside at 21271 Cherokee Avenue, Baton Rouge.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from A History of Louisiana, by Henry E. Chambers, published in 1925, volume 2, pages 114-115.