1925 Biography - Albert Ligon

Albert Ligon, who holds the office of notary public and who in this connection has built up a service that is one of the most comprehensive and important of its kind not only in Louisiana's capital city, but also in all of East Baton Rouge Parish, maintains his offices at 311 New Reymond Building in the City of Baton Rouge.

The Ligon family in England was one of prominence in the shipping trade centering at Liverpool, where its representatives in past generations owned and operated fleets of vessels. From that city came the first members of the family in America, and in and about Charleston, South Carolina, the Ligons became prominent and influential in the tobacco trade. From that historic old commonwealth representatives of the family removed to Mississippi, and from the latter state Louisiana gained its first settler of the name.

Lemuel T. Ligon, father of him whose name introduces this sketch, was born at Holmesville, Pike County, Mississippi, January 27, 1840, and was one of the highly honored citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, at the time of his death, February 20, 1904. He was reared and educated in his native county, and upon coming to Louisiana in 1866 he established his residence in East Baton Rouge Parish. Here he was engaged in farm enterprise a few years, and he then removed to East Feliciana Parish, where his marriage was solemnized and where he continued his plantation operations until 1882, when he returned to East Baton Rouge Parish and engaged in the same line of enterprise and also became a general contractor. He was aligned in the ranks of the democratic party, and he and his wife were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Ligon was a loyal soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, in which he was a member of the Sixteenth Mississippi Infantry. With this command he took part in many engagements, including the great battle of Gettysburg, and for a short time he was held a military prisoner at Point Lookout, Maryland. He married Miss Melvina A. Muse, who was born in East Baton Rouge Parish, September 1. 1849, and whose death occurred at Olive Branch, East Feliciana Parish, November 20, 1922. Of the children the eldest is Thomas M., of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work; May Margaret is the wife of Robert S. Troth, a farmer near Zachary, East Baton Rouge Parish; Mary Elizabeth is the wife of William L. Douglas, a stock-raiser and agriculturist at Olive Branch, East Feliciana Parish; Lemuel D., a carpenter and builder, resides at Slaughter, that parish; Cooper died in childhood; Albert is the immediate subject of this review; Robert East died in childhood; and Eunice died when young.

Albert Ligon was born on his father's plantation in East Baton Rouge Parish, and the date of his nativity was May 23, 1885. He remained on the home plantation until he was twenty years of age, and in the meanwhile did not fail to profit by the advantages of the public schools of his native parish. At the age noted he moved to Baton Rouge, and here he followed the carpenter's trade until 1906. For three years thereafter he held a position in the office of the Louisiana state commissioner of agriculture, where he had charge of the sending out of bulletins and the distribution of feed and fertilizer tags. While thus engaged he also attended night school and learned therein the art of stenography and typewriting, in which he became skilled. For ten years thereafter he held the position of stenographer for the law firm of Laycock & Beale, and he then, in 1920, opened an office and turned his attention to service as a notary public and to work pertaining to abstracts of titles to real estate. In each of these departments of his business he has developed a substantial enterprise and gained a representative clientage. His loyal adherency to the democratic party indicates his political convictions, and he is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and his wife is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, in Baton Rouge. Their fine home place, owned by them, is at 431 Pike Street, and Mr. Ligon also has other local investments in real estate.

Mr. Ligon is actively identified with the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce and the local Rotary Club, and is affiliated with St. James Lodge No. 47, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Baton Rouge Lodge No. 490, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He finds diversion and recreation through the medium of his membership in the Baton Rouge Golf & Country Club. He is a member also of the Louisiana Motor League, is secretary of the Leland Investment Company and is a director of the Union Homestead Association.

January 21, 1914, marked the marriage of Mr. Ligon and Miss Lillian Latil, daughter of Edgar and Mary E. (Kellum) Latil, the former of whom was a saddlemaker by trade and vocation, and a well known citizen of Baton Rouge at the time of his death, his widow being still a resident of this city. After her graduation from the Baton Rouge High School Mrs. Ligon was for a time a student in the University of Louisiana. She is popular in the social activities of the capital city, and has made her attractive home a center of gracious hospitality. Mr. and Mrs. Ligon have no children.

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