John Ardis Cawthon
Encyclopedia
John Ardis Cawthon was an educator and regional historian
from Ruston
in Lincoln Parish
in north Louisiana
, who was affiliated with Louisiana Tech University
from 1939–1940, 1948, and from January 12, 1954, until retirement on May 31, 1972. Cawthon was a frequent contributor to North Louisiana History
, which named its John Ardis Cawthon Memorial Printing Fund in his honor.
to James Alexander Cawthon (1878–1961), a native of the McDade community, and the former Maggie Mae Dance (1878–1968), originally from nearby Webster Parish
. He was named for a family friend, John Houston Sibley, and the Reverend H. Z. Ardis, a pioneer Baptist
minister who had taught at the early Mount Lebanon College in De Soto Parish
. He hence shared his father's initials, "J. A." He was first home-schooled by his mother, who had attended Athens Academy in Claiborne Parish
. From the fifth through the eighth grades, Cawthon attended the one-room school in the Koran community of south Bossier Parish. The family then relocated to Doyline
in south Webster Parish, where John Cawthon completed high school.
James and Maggie Cawthon married in 1905 in Athens
in southern Claiborne Parish. Cawthon had a brother, James Dance Cawthon (1915–2011) of Shreveport
, who taught briefly at Springhill High School in Springhill
in northern Webster Parish before he began a long career in the accounting department of the United Gas and Pennzoil
companies. James Dance Cawthon, who served as the business administrator for a decade of the First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport, also did some historical writing which was published by the North Louisiana Historical Association
. Cawthon had two sisters, Maggie Lee McIntyre (1911–2007) of Doyline, a state social work
supervisor from 1935 to 1976, based in Minden
, and Miss Annis Ella Cawthon (1909–1999), a former educator in Springhill
. In 1950, Annis Cawthon was elected president of the Webster Parish Classroom Teachers Association. She later taught mathematics at Louisiana Tech from 1959-1974.
Cawthon's parents and sisters are interred at Doyline Cemetery. All of the Cawthon siblings graduated from Louisiana Tech.
Cawthon studied English
and history and received his Bachelor of Arts
in secondary education from Louisiana Tech and his Master of Arts
from Louisiana State University
at Baton Rouge
. He taught in Webster Parish high schools during the 1930s at Cotton Valley
(1934–1935)) and Sarepta
(1935–1939). In the 1939-1940 year, he taught at the A.E. Phillips Laboratory School on the Louisiana Tech campus, recruited for that position by Professor Phillips himself. From 1940-1942, Cawthon was a member of the faculty at Northwestern State University
(then known as Louisiana Normal
) until he was conscripted at the age of thirty-five into the United States Army
during World War II
. He served in Europe
in the Education-Orientation Division of the armed forces. In 1974, some three decades after the event, he wrote the article, "A School Teacher Gets Drafted," in North Louisiana History.
After the war, Cawthon returned briefly to Northwestern and then left to study for his Ed.D. (since recognized by the National Science Foundation
as equivalent to a Ph.D.
) at the University of Texas at Austin
. His major professor, J.G. Umstattd, had worked with him during the war at the Biarritz American University in France
.
article "Letters of a North Louisiana Private to His Wife, 1862-1865."
In 1955, he wrote for the Arkansas Historical Quarterly the article entitled "George W. Dance", a biography of one of his own kinsmen, George Washington Dance, a native of Oglethorpe
, Georgia
, who spent his life primarily in Claiborne Parish just south of the Arkansas
state line. Cawthon writes: "Referred to as poor whites from the hills, by the plantation owners on the big rivers, George Dance and his kind were not considered worthy of historical record. . . . The unpretentious George Washington Dance, however, wrote news articles for the Claiborne Parish weekly newspaper and compiled a history book. He expressed amazement at the progress of a wonderful nation, which he and his neighbors believed they had helped to produce."
In 1948, Cawthon and the former Eleanora Albrecht (born December 6, 1917), a native of Mission Valley in Victoria County
some 135 miles west of Houston
in south Texas
, received their Doctor of Education degrees from UT at Austin
, some twenty-four hours after they were married at her Lutheran Church in Mission Valley. Eleanora had also studied under Dr. Umstattd subsequently assisted Cawthon in the preparation of his 1965 book The Inevitable Guest: Life and Letters of Jemima Darby, based on letters by friends and relatives in North
and South Carolina
to Miss Darby, John Cawthon's great-great-great aunt.
Another Cawthon work of local history, since out-of-print, is Ghost Towns Of Old Claiborne, which notes the lack of information available on the ghost town
of Russellville, named the seat of Claiborne Parish in 1828. The parish government is now based in Homer
. Cawthon's relative George W. Dance said on the moving of the courthouse: "When the courthouse moved, the glory departed. The village is now an old worn-out field."
Here is a listing of other Cawthon articles, written after his retirement from Louisiana Tech and published in North Louisiana History, formerly The Journal of the North Louisiana Historical Association:
Cawthon's last work is entitled "E. H. Bolin, School Man of Webster Parish," Louisiana History in Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter 1984: 41-48. Bolin was a school board member from Doyline and the father of future State Representative
and Judge
James E. Bolin
.
For most of his careet at Louisiana Tech, Cawthon was the secondary education department head.
extraction, was from 1955-1988 the Louisiana Tech placement services director, though the position had various titles over the years. She is a former president of the Ruston Business and Professional Women
's Club. She graduated in 1936 from the two-year Victoria College
in Victoria
, Texas. She received her three degrees from UT in 1938, 1939, and 1948, respectively. Elenora and John Ardis Cawthon married in 1948, spent the summer of that year at Louisiana Tech, and then accepted faculty appointments from 1948-1954 at Arkansas Tech University
in Russellville
, Arkansas
. (Coincidentally, he had written about the ghost town of Russellville, Louisiana.) Cawthon was an education professor at Arkansas Tech, and Eleanor was the director of teacher education there. One of his first publications there was "The Curriculum: Secondary Schools" in The Encyclopedia of Educational Research.
The couple returned to Ruston in 1954 to accept their terminal faculty appointments. They lived in a white house on the edge of the Tech campus. Eleanora remained in the house for fifteen years after her husband's death, At the age of eighty-one in 1999, she returned to Mission Valley to become a working cattle
rancher, which had also been her father's occupation.
In 1984, Mrs. Cawthon deposited their family and professional papers dating back to 1827 to Louisiana Tech Special Collections. In 1994, Mrs. Cawthon completed an oral history
about the careers of her husband as well as herself for Louisiana Tech Special Collections. Eleanor Cawthon is also a former appointed member of the Louisiana State University
Board of Supervisors, having served in that capacity after her retirement from Louisiana Tech. In 2003, she was honored by Tech with its "Distinguished Service Award."
Eleanor Cawthon resides in Victoria County, Texas, where she is active in the Lutheran Church. Daughter Elisabeth Albrecht Cawthon Saunders (born 1957) is a professor of history at the University of Texas at Arlington
in Tarrant County
. Elisabeth is married to John Stephen Saunders (born 1954), and the couple has two children. They reside in the Dallas
suburb
of Coppell
.
John A. Cawthon is interred at the Lutheran Cemetery in Mission Valley, Texas.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
from Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
in Lincoln Parish
Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Lincoln Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Ruston. In 2004, its population was estimated to be 42,382...
in north 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...
, who was affiliated with Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
from 1939–1940, 1948, and from January 12, 1954, until retirement on May 31, 1972. Cawthon was a frequent contributor to North Louisiana History
North Louisiana History
North Louisiana History is an academic journal published twice annually in Shreveport, Louisiana by the North Louisiana Historical Association .-History:...
, which named its John Ardis Cawthon Memorial Printing Fund in his honor.
Background
Cawthon was born in south Bossier ParishBossier Parish, Louisiana
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, a 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish.Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War...
to James Alexander Cawthon (1878–1961), a native of the McDade community, and the former Maggie Mae Dance (1878–1968), originally from nearby 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....
. He was named for a family friend, John Houston Sibley, and the Reverend H. Z. Ardis, a pioneer 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...
minister who had taught at the early Mount Lebanon College in De Soto Parish
De Soto Parish, Louisiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 26,656 people, 9,691 households, and 6,967 families residing in the parish. The population density was 29 people per square mile . There were 11,204 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
. He hence shared his father's initials, "J. A." He was first home-schooled by his mother, who had attended Athens Academy in Claiborne Parish
Claiborne Parish, Louisiana
Claiborne Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Homer and as of 2000, the population is 16,851.-History:The parish is named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne....
. From the fifth through the eighth grades, Cawthon attended the one-room school in the Koran community of south Bossier Parish. The family then relocated to Doyline
Doyline, Louisiana
Doyline is a village in southwestern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 841 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area....
in south Webster Parish, where John Cawthon completed high school.
James and Maggie Cawthon married in 1905 in Athens
Athens, Louisiana
Athens is a village in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 262 at the 2000 census.The Pilgrim's Pride poultry hatchery in Athens was designated for closure early in 2009, along with other company businesses in nearby Arcadia in Bienville Parish, Choudrant in Lincoln...
in southern Claiborne Parish. Cawthon had a brother, James Dance Cawthon (1915–2011) of 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....
, who taught briefly at Springhill High School in Springhill
Springhill, Louisiana
Springhill is a city in northern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,439 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in northern Webster Parish before he began a long career in the accounting department of the United Gas and Pennzoil
Pennzoil
Pennzoil is an American oil company founded in Los Angeles, California in 1913. In 1955, it was acquired by Oil City, Pennsylvania company South Penn Oil, a former branch of Standard Oil. In 1963, South Penn Oil merged with Zapata Petroleum; the merged company took the Pennzoil name. During the...
companies. James Dance Cawthon, who served as the business administrator for a decade of the First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport, also did some historical writing which was published by the North Louisiana Historical Association
North Louisiana Historical Association
The North Louisiana Historical Association was organized in 1952 to in its own words "encourage an appreciation and understanding of the history of North Louisiana."-History:...
. Cawthon had two sisters, Maggie Lee McIntyre (1911–2007) of Doyline, a state social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
supervisor from 1935 to 1976, based in 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...
, and Miss Annis Ella Cawthon (1909–1999), a former educator in Springhill
Springhill, Louisiana
Springhill is a city in northern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,439 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
. In 1950, Annis Cawthon was elected president of the Webster Parish Classroom Teachers Association. She later taught mathematics at Louisiana Tech from 1959-1974.
Cawthon's parents and sisters are interred at Doyline Cemetery. All of the Cawthon siblings graduated from Louisiana Tech.
Cawthon studied English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and history and received his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in secondary education from Louisiana Tech and his Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
at Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
. He taught in Webster Parish high schools during the 1930s at Cotton Valley
Cotton Valley, Louisiana
Cotton Valley is a town in central Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,189 at the 2000 census. It is located some twenty miles northwest of the parish seat of Minden.-Overview:-Municipal matters:...
(1934–1935)) and Sarepta
Sarepta, Louisiana
Sarepta is a town in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area....
(1935–1939). In the 1939-1940 year, he taught at the A.E. Phillips Laboratory School on the Louisiana Tech campus, recruited for that position by Professor Phillips himself. From 1940-1942, Cawthon was a member of the faculty at Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University, known as NSU, is a four-year public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the University of Louisiana System.NSU was founded in 1884 as...
(then known as Louisiana Normal
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
) until he was conscripted at the age of thirty-five into the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He served in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the Education-Orientation Division of the armed forces. In 1974, some three decades after the event, he wrote the article, "A School Teacher Gets Drafted," in North Louisiana History.
After the war, Cawthon returned briefly to Northwestern and then left to study for his Ed.D. (since recognized by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
as equivalent to a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
) at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
. His major professor, J.G. Umstattd, had worked with him during the war at the Biarritz American University in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Historical publications
In 1944, Cawthon, while still in the Army, published in the since defunct Mississippi Valley Historical Review the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
article "Letters of a North Louisiana Private to His Wife, 1862-1865."
In 1955, he wrote for the Arkansas Historical Quarterly the article entitled "George W. Dance", a biography of one of his own kinsmen, George Washington Dance, a native of Oglethorpe
Oglethorpe, Georgia
Oglethorpe is a city in Macon County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,200 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Macon County. It was named for Georgia's founder, James Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe was once one of the largest cities in Georgia, and by the 1850s, was tagged as...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, who spent his life primarily in Claiborne Parish just south of the Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
state line. Cawthon writes: "Referred to as poor whites from the hills, by the plantation owners on the big rivers, George Dance and his kind were not considered worthy of historical record. . . . The unpretentious George Washington Dance, however, wrote news articles for the Claiborne Parish weekly newspaper and compiled a history book. He expressed amazement at the progress of a wonderful nation, which he and his neighbors believed they had helped to produce."
In 1948, Cawthon and the former Eleanora Albrecht (born December 6, 1917), a native of Mission Valley in Victoria County
Victoria County, Texas
Victoria County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 84,088. Its county seat is Victoria. It is included in the Victoria, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:According to the U.S...
some 135 miles west 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 ...
in south 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...
, received their Doctor of Education degrees from UT at Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, some twenty-four hours after they were married at her Lutheran Church in Mission Valley. Eleanora had also studied under Dr. Umstattd subsequently assisted Cawthon in the preparation of his 1965 book The Inevitable Guest: Life and Letters of Jemima Darby, based on letters by friends and relatives in North
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
to Miss Darby, John Cawthon's great-great-great aunt.
Another Cawthon work of local history, since out-of-print, is Ghost Towns Of Old Claiborne, which notes the lack of information available on the ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
of Russellville, named the seat of Claiborne Parish in 1828. The parish government is now based in Homer
Homer, Louisiana
Homer is present day parish seat of Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, United States. The town was named after the Greek poet Homer and was laid out around the Courthouse Square in 1850 by Frank Vaughn. The present day brick courthouse, built in the Greek Revival style of architecture, is one of only...
. Cawthon's relative George W. Dance said on the moving of the courthouse: "When the courthouse moved, the glory departed. The village is now an old worn-out field."
Here is a listing of other Cawthon articles, written after his retirement from Louisiana Tech and published in North Louisiana History, formerly The Journal of the North Louisiana Historical Association:
- "Among the Tombs Bienville Parish," Vol. 7, No. 4, Summer 1976: 140-149
- "Among the Tombs Bossier," Vol. 4, No. 2, Winter 1973: 58-63
- "Among the Tombs Claiborne Parish," Vol. 5, No. 3, Spring 1974: 103-113
- "Among the Tombs De Soto Parish," Vol. 10, No. 1, Winter 1979: 8-12
- "Among the Tombs Jackson ParishJackson Parish, LouisianaJackson Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish was formed in 1845 from parts of Claiborne, Ouachita, and Union Parishes. In 2010, its population was 16,274. The parish seat is Jonesboro...
," Vol. 6, No. 1, Fall 1974: 12-21 - "Among the Tombs Lincoln Parish," Vol. 4, No. 3, Spring 1973: 90-94
- "Among the Tombs Morehouse Parish," Vol. 5, No. 1, Fall 1973: 10-13
- "Among the Tombs Natchitoches," Vol. 8, No. 3, Spring 1977: 114-117
- "Among the Tombs Ouachita Parish," Vol. 12, No. 1, Winter 1981: 42-49
- "Among the Tombs Shreveport," Vol. 6, No. 4, Summer 1975: 165-173
- "Among the Tombs Union ParishUnion Parish, LouisianaUnion Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Farmerville....
," Vol. 5, No. 2, Winter 1974: 68-72 - "Among the Tombs Webster Parish," Vol. 4, No. 4, Summer 1973: 134-140
- "Among the Tombs Winn ParishWinn Parish, LouisianaWinn Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its seat is Winnfield. In 2000, its population was 16,894.The parish has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
," Vol. 6, No. 2, Winter 1975: 74-80 - "The Doyle Saga, 1843-1981," Vol. 12, No. 4, Fall 1981: 147-155
- "Doyline School," Vol. 8, No. 5, Fall 1977: 185-186
- "Fredrick Miller, First White Man Buried," Vol. 7, No.1, Fall 1975: 27-30
- "Make a Joyful Noise," Vol. 9, No. 1, Winter 1978: 29-35
- "Nine Forks, Frontier Crossroads," Vol. 11, No. 3, Summer 1980: 3-10
Cawthon's last work is entitled "E. H. Bolin, School Man of Webster Parish," Louisiana History in Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter 1984: 41-48. Bolin was a school board member from Doyline and the father of future State Representative
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
and Judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
James E. Bolin
James E. Bolin
James Edwin Bolin, Sr. was an American jurist and politician who served as a judge of the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal and Louisiana Supreme Court as well as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in the northwestern part...
.
For most of his careet at Louisiana Tech, Cawthon was the secondary education department head.
Eleanora A. Cawthon
Eleanora Cawthon, who is of GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
extraction, was from 1955-1988 the Louisiana Tech placement services director, though the position had various titles over the years. She is a former president of the Ruston Business and Professional Women
Business and Professional Women
Business and Professional Women's Foundation Business and Professional Women’s Foundation is an organization focused on creating successful workplaces by focusing on issues that impact women, families and employers. Successful Workplaces are those that embrace and practice diversity, equity and...
's Club. She graduated in 1936 from the two-year Victoria College
Victoria College
Victoria College is or was the name of several institutions of secondary or higher education, including:* [Victoria College, Chulipuram], Sri Lanka* Victoria College, Alexandria, Egypt* Victoria College in Victoria, Texas...
in Victoria
Victoria, Texas
Victoria is a city in and the seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 60,603 at the 2000 census. The three counties of the Victoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 111,163 at the 2000 census,...
, Texas. She received her three degrees from UT in 1938, 1939, and 1948, respectively. Elenora and John Ardis Cawthon married in 1948, spent the summer of that year at Louisiana Tech, and then accepted faculty appointments from 1948-1954 at Arkansas Tech University
Arkansas Tech University
Arkansas Tech University is a comprehensive regional institution located in Russellville, Arkansas, United States. The university offers programs at both baccalaureate and graduate levels in a range of fields. As of 2004, the University also operates a small satellite campus in the town of Ozark...
in Russellville
Russellville, Arkansas
Russellville is the county seat and largest city in Pope County, Arkansas, United States, with a population of 27,920, according to the 2010 Census. It is home to Arkansas Tech University and Arkansas Nuclear One, Arkansas' only nuclear power plant...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. (Coincidentally, he had written about the ghost town of Russellville, Louisiana.) Cawthon was an education professor at Arkansas Tech, and Eleanor was the director of teacher education there. One of his first publications there was "The Curriculum: Secondary Schools" in The Encyclopedia of Educational Research.
The couple returned to Ruston in 1954 to accept their terminal faculty appointments. They lived in a white house on the edge of the Tech campus. Eleanora remained in the house for fifteen years after her husband's death, At the age of eighty-one in 1999, she returned to Mission Valley to become a working cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
rancher, which had also been her father's occupation.
In 1984, Mrs. Cawthon deposited their family and professional papers dating back to 1827 to Louisiana Tech Special Collections. In 1994, Mrs. Cawthon completed an oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
about the careers of her husband as well as herself for Louisiana Tech Special Collections. Eleanor Cawthon is also a former appointed member of the Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
Board of Supervisors, having served in that capacity after her retirement from Louisiana Tech. In 2003, she was honored by Tech with its "Distinguished Service Award."
Eleanor Cawthon resides in Victoria County, Texas, where she is active in the Lutheran Church. Daughter Elisabeth Albrecht Cawthon Saunders (born 1957) is a professor of history at the University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington is a public research university located in Arlington, Texas, United States. The campus is situated southwest of downtown Arlington, and is located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. The university was founded in 1895 and served primarily a military...
in Tarrant County
Tarrant County, Texas
Tarrant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, it had a population of 1,809,034. Its county seat is Fort Worth. Tarrant County is the sixteenth most populous county in the United States and the third most populous in Texas. The county is named in honor...
. Elisabeth is married to John Stephen Saunders (born 1954), and the couple has two children. They reside in the Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Coppell
Coppell, Texas
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 35,958 people, 12,211 households, and 9,781 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,418.5 people per square mile . There were 12,587 housing units at an average density of 846.6 per square mile...
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John A. Cawthon is interred at the Lutheran Cemetery in Mission Valley, Texas.