William Wright Heard was the 32nd Governor of 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...

 from 1900 to 1904.

Early life

Heard was educated in a local school in Union Parish. In years to come, he remembered the challenges of educating children that rural residents met. Education was one of his major concerns for the residents of the state; hence, as governor, he formed the first Louisiana State Board of Education.

Heard married the former Isbella E. Manning on December 3, 1878. The couple had seven children, including, Louisiana Belle, Manning, William Wright Heard, Jr. and Alma, who died as a toddler.

Public service

In 1884, Heard was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives

Louisiana House of Representatives

The Louisiana House of Representatives is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana. The House is composed of 105 Representatives, each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people . Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of...

 representing Union Parish. After a single 4-year term, Heard was then elected to the Louisiana Senate in 1888 for a 4-year term. In 1892, Heard was elected the Louisiana state auditor

State auditor

State auditors are executive officers of U.S. states who serve as auditors and comptrollers for state funds....

 where he served for two terms of 8 years. As a protege of the outgoing incumbent governor, Murphy James Foster, Sr.

Murphy J. Foster

Murphy James Foster, Sr. , was a Louisiana politician who served two terms as the 31st Governor of Louisiana from 1892 to 1900.Early and personal life...

, he was controversially hand-picked by Foster to succeed him at the Democratic convention of 1900. He was considered a Silver Democrat with Populist

Populist Party (United States)

The People's Party, also known as the "Populists", was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1891. It was most important in 1892-96, then rapidly faded away...

 tendencies.

At the general election, he defeated two Republicans

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 running on separate tickets, both of whom received less than 22% of the vote in total following the mass-scale disenfranchisement of Black voters via Jim Crow laws. Reflecting this was the dramatic decline in voting, from a post-Reconstruction high in the 1896 statewide election of over 203,000 votes down to only 76,000 by 1900. Not until 1940 would more than 200,000 voters participate in a general election for governor. This 1900 election also marked the last time Republicans would have any real presence in the legislature until the 1960s.

Heard was inaugurated governor on May 8, 1900, and held this office until May 10, 1904. His term was fairly low-key compared to other colorful and dynamic personalities that held that office and he was considered to be a "bureaucratic" governor. His lieutenant governor was Albert Estopinal

Albert Estopinal

Albert Estopinal, Sr. , was a sugar cane planter from St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, who served as a Democrat in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature between 1876 and 1900 and in the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st congressional district from 1908 until his...

, a planter and outgoing state senator

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...

 from St. Bernard Parish

St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana

St. Bernard Parish is a parish located southeast of New Orleans in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Chalmette, the largest city in the parish. As of 2000, its population was 67,229. It has been ranked the fastest-growing county in the United States from 2007 to 2008 by the U.S....

. As state banking commissioner, Heard named Lee Emmett Thomas

Lee Emmett Thomas

Lee Emmett Thomas was an attorney and banker who served as the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, from 1922–1930. He was also from 1912–1916 the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives.-Background:...

, like Heard a native of Union Parish. Thomas was thereafter the mayor 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....

, 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...

 from 1922-1930 and had also served as Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representative from 1912-1916.

It was during Heard's term that the discovery of oil was made by W. Scott Heywood

W. Scott Heywood

Walter Scott Heywood, known as W. Scott Heywood , was a member of the Louisiana State Senate who earlier headed a family-owned company which struck the first oil well in Louisiana on September 21, 1901 near Jennings in Jeff Davis Parish.Heywood was born in Cleveland, Ohio. As a young man, he...

 and Associates of what is now Jeff Davis Parish, then part of Calcasieu Parish

Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana

Calcasieu Parish[p] is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Lake Charles. As of 2010, the parish population was 192,768...

. This company completed Jennings Oil Company Number 1, Jules Clement, at Evangeline on September 21, 1901. This was the start of the vital Louisiana oil and gas industry. Coupled the wealth of this industry with the rise of forestry and the earlier discovery of Sulfur, the state was sent on a new wave of economic growth. Eventually, Louisiana became one of the major American producers of oil and natural gas in addition to a center of petroleum refining and petrochemicals manufacturing, as the state remains to this day, augmented by offshore drillings.

The Louisiana Revised Statutes specify that the Governor of the State of Louisiana shall determine the design of the official state seal. To standardize a design for the seal, Governor William Wright Heard instructed the Secretary of State in 1902 to use a seal described as:
"A Pelican

Pelican

A pelican, derived from the Greek word πελεκυς pelekys is a large water bird with a large throat pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae....

, with its head turned to the left, in nest with three young; the Pelican, following the tradition in act of tearing its breast to feed its young; around the edge of the seal to be inscribed 'State of Louisiana'. Over head of the Pelican to be inscribed 'Union, Justice', and under the Pelican to be inscribed 'Confidence'."
The description of the seal included the motto, which Gov. William Heard had chosen: Union, Justice, Confidence. This seal was adopted on April 30, 1902.

Two other noted achievements of Heard's term were forming the State Prison System, thus eliminating private contracted prisons. He also was instrumental in forming the State Department of Pest Control, thus trying to control the hated cotton weevil.

Serving in public office most of his early life, William Heard became a banker in New Orleans after his single term as governor.

Heard is interred at Metairie Cemetery

Metairie Cemetery

Metairie Cemetery is a cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road .-History:This site was previously a horse...

 in New Orleans.

Lineage

William Wright Heard, like a gubernatorial successor, Ruffin Pleasant

Ruffin Pleasant

Ruffin Golson Pleasant was the 36th Governor of Louisiana from 1916–1920, who is remembered for having mobilized his state for World War I...

, was born in the near the rural community of Shiloh in Union Parish

Union Parish, Louisiana

Union Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Farmerville....

 north of 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...

. He was the son of Stephen Southard Heard and Mary Ann Wright. They are buried at Fellowship Baptist Church Cemetery in Dubach

Dubach, Louisiana

Dubach is a town in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 800 at the 2000 census. Dubach High School, located centrally in the town, is noted for fielding good athletic teams in basketball and often defeats teams from much larger towns and cities...

 along with other allied members of the Heard family. Coming from a long lineage of southern pioneers, his ancestors included John Stovall, Owen Griffin, John Anderson and Charles Heard, all Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 patriots. Stephen Heard RS, one of the first governors of 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...

, was also from this noble line. As with most members of his family, he was 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...

.

External links

• State of Louisiana - Biography
• Cemetery Memorial by La-Cemeteries