J. Berry Sandefur was a merchant who served from 1920 to 1922 as the mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Minden

Minden, Louisiana

Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...

 in Webster Parish

Webster Parish, Louisiana

Webster Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Minden. In 2010, its population was 41,207....

 in northwestern Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

.

Sandefur was elected mayor in 1920 to succeed the two-term incumbent W. Matt Lowe

W. Matt Lowe

William Matt Lowe, known as W. Matt Lowe was a merchant and public official in the city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. During World War I and its aftermath, Lowe served two terms from 1916-1920 as mayor of Minden...

. He was himself succeeded in 1922 by Connell Fort

Connell Fort

Connell Fort was a businessman and newspaperman who served as the Democratic mayor of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in north Louisiana, from 1922 to 1926 and again from 1932 to 1934....

, who began the first of three nonconsecutive terms in the office.
The Webster Parish native was a Minden merchant and a Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

. He died in a hospital in Shreveport

Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....

. He is interred at Minden Cemetery

Minden Cemetery

The Minden Cemetery, located in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, United States, has graves dating from 1843, seven years after the founding of the city in 1836...

. Preceded in death by his wife, Edna M. Sandefur (August 27, 1863-August 26, 1921), he was survived by three daughters, Mollie S. Hough (1895-1989), wife of Ross Joel Hough (1897-1973), and Mrs. W.B. Harris, both of Minden, and Jimmie Naomi Harp (1906-1943), wife of L. L. Harp of Houston

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. There were also two sons, Dewey Sandefur and James C. Sandefur, both then of Shreveport, and seven grandchildren, one of whom, Ikie Willis Harp lived from 1929 to 1941 and is interred in the Sandefur plot.