William Putnam Sevier

{{Infobox officeholder
|name= William Putnam "Buck" Sevier, Jr.
|office=[[Mayor]] of [[Tallulah, Louisiana|Tallulah]], [[Madison Parish, Louisiana|Madison Parish]], [[Louisiana]]
|term_start=March 14, 1947
|term_end=July 1, 1974
|preceded=Thomas Hugh Montgomery
|succeeded=Adell Williams
|birth_date={{birth date|1899|10|13}}
|birth_place=Madison Parish, Louisiana, USA
|death_place=[[Tallulah, Louisiana|Tallulah]], Madison Parish
|death_date={{death date and age|1985|9|4|1899|10|13}}
|death_cause=
|residence=Tallulah, Louisiana
|resting_place=Silver Cross Cemetery in Tallulah
|spouse=Martha Owen Sevier (married 1927-1983, her death)
|children=Richard Putnam Sevier<br>
Dorothy Hamilton Elliott<br>
Nancy Sherrill Pirone
|parents=Ada Shadbourne Graves and William Sevier, Sr.
|relations=[[Andrew L. Sevier]]<br>
[[Henry Clay Sevier]]<br>
[[Andrew Jackson Sevier]]
|party= [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|religion=[[Episcopal Church in the United States|Episcopalian]]
|occupation=[[Banker]]
|alma_mater=Tallulah High School<br>
[[Louisiana State University]]
|branch=[[United States Army]] balloon observer
|battles=[[World War I]]
|footnotes=
}}
'''William Putnam Sevier, Jr.''', known as '''Buck Sevier''' (October 13, 1899 - September 4, 1985)<ref name=cemetery>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/cemeteries/smsasl.htm|title=Tallulah Cemeteries|publisher=rootsweb.ancestry|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=111719006|title=William Putnam "Buck" Sevier, Jr.|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> was the longest-serving [[mayor]] of a community in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Louisiana]]. Sevier was first an alderman and then from 1947 to 1974<ref>Exact dates confirmed by the mayor's office in Tallulah, Louisiana</ref> the mayor of [[Tallulah, Louisiana|Tallulah]], the [[county seat|seat of government]] of [[Madison Parish, Louisiana|Madison Parish]] in the [[River delta|delta]] country of northeastern Louisiana.

A great-great-grandson of the [[Tennessee]] pioneer and [[governor of Tennessee|governor]], [[John Sevier]], for whom [[Sevierville, Tennessee|Sevierville]] in [[Sevier County, Tennessee|Sevier County]], [[Tennessee]], is named. He was a cousin of [[Louisiana State Senate|State Senator]] [[Andrew L. Sevier]] and [[Louisiana House of Representatives|State Representative]] [[Henry Clay Sevier]], both from Tallulah.<ref name=roots/>

==Biographical sketch==

Sevier was born on a plantation in southern Madison Parish, the eldest child of William Sevier, Sr. (1868-1943), a native of [[Thomastown, Mississippi|Thomastown]] in [[Leake County, Mississippi|Leake County]] in central [[Mississippi]], and the former Ada Shadbourne Graves (1877-1955). His maternal grandparents were large landowners and plantation operators prior to the [[American Civil War]]. As a child Sevier gave himself the nickname "Buck" but later tried to discourage its use; most people though still called him "Buck". In 1916, he graduated from Tallulah High School, since relocated and renamed Madison High School. He then attended [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] with hopes of becoming a lawyer. He was a member of [[Sigma Nu]] fraternity and served in [[World War I]] as a balloon observer. He never completed legal studies but instead returned to Tallulah in 1922, where he was employed in the [[United States Department Of Agriculture]] experiment station established to protect [[cotton]] growers from the pervasive [[boll weevil]].<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url= http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/bios/sevierwp.txt|title=William Putnam Sevier, Jr., Mayor of Tallulah, Madison Parish, Louisiana|publisher=rootswebancestry.com|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref>

Soon he became a teller at Tallulah State Bank and remained with the institution for fifty-eight years until he was eighty, when he retired with the title of chairman emeritus. When Sevier began working for the bank, it employed only five persons and did not use electricity until after 5 p.m. All receipts were hand-posted. From the bank he witnessed the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]] and the [[Great Depression]], but the institution survives and has never closed its doors.<ref name=bio/> Sevier was the president of the Louisiana Bankers Association in 1961-1962<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lba.org/content.cfm?id=63|title=LBA Past Chairmen|publisher=lba.org|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> and vice president of the American Bankers Association in 1963-1964. He was a director of the Standard Life Insurance Company of [[Jackson, Mississippi|Jackson]], Mississippi.<ref name=bio/>

Sevier first served three terms as an alderman in Tallulah. His combined service of forty-one years as an elected official a record for longevity in Louisiana. Even The Twenty-seven-plus years as mayor alone remains a record in the state.<ref name=bio/>In his last term as mayor, Sevier worked alongside police chief [[Zelma Wyche]], the first African American in that position and known as "Mr. Civil Rights of Louisiana." Wyche also served a term as mayor from 1986 to 1990.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bVP7JyMGSaEC&pg=PA57&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=Onepage&q&f=false|title=Charles L. Sanders, "Black Lawman in KKK Territory"|publisher=''[[Ebony Magazine]]'', January 1970, pp. 57-64|accessdate=July 26, 2013}}</ref>

==Personal life and legacy==

In 1927, Sevier married Martha Fontaine Boney (1904-1983), daughter of Rena Cox and Richard Kinsey Boney, the owners of the Duckport Plantation in Madison Parish. Martha was the granddaughter of Owen B. Cox of [[Hinds County,
Mississippi|Hinds County]], Mississippi, a business partner of [[Jefferson Davis]], only president of the [[Confederate States of America]]. Owen Cox was the trustee of Davis' Civil War papers until they were confiscated in 1865 by the U.S. government. The Seviers had a son, Richard Putnam Sevier, born in 1931 in [[Vicksburg, Mississippi|Vicksburg]], Mississippi, who was residing in [[Midland, Texas|Midland]], [[Texas]], at the time of his father's death, and twin daughters, Dorothy Hamilton Elliott, later of [[El Dorado, Arkansas|El Dorado]], [[Arkansas]], and Nancy Sherrill Pirone, later of [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]], [[Kentucky]].<ref name=roots>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/articles/sevierfamily/sevierfamily.htm|title=Sevier Family of Madison Parish, Louisiana|publisher=rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=July 23, 2013}}</ref>

Sevier died a few weeks before his 86th birthday. He and his wife, Martha, who preceded him in death by two years, are interred at Silver Cross Cemetery in Tallulah, as are most members of the extended Sevier family.<ref name=cemetery/>

Sevier kept hunting camp on the [[Tensas River]] and had such interest in [[thoroughbred horse racing]] that his son-in-law, Dr. Thomas Pirone, placed a racing form in Sevier's coat pocket when he was buried. The form was from the 1973 [[Kentucky Derby]] won by [[Secretariat (horse)|Secretariat]], an event for which Sevier had been in the stands.<ref name=bio/>

In a 1974 "Baghdad on the Bayou" column of the ''Madison Journal'', editor Carroll Regan recalls Sevier's political clout:

<blockquote>
Election fever has hit Tallulah again, and it hardly seems that four years have passed since the last battle for municipal offices. ... Perhaps, though, the most unusual aspect of this race is that it'll be the first time in over 40 years that Mayor W. P. (Buck) Sevier hasn't offered himself for election. It would probably be hard for him to admit so soon, but we bet he'll miss the job before long. Tallulah and her people have always been first, last and always with him—a more loyal citizen she has never had. When elected mayor in 1946, he had already served as alderman for three terms. Well known in banking as well as political circles, he has made Tallulah a fine ambassador wherever he has traveled. His leadership will be missed, but his good citizenship, we are sure, will be with us always. ...<br>

"Character" is really not an apt description of Buck Sevier. "Legend" is more fitting. So great was the admiration for him that I don't think he ever had opposition for mayor, except maybe once in his early career. This carried over even when blacks started seeking public office. They didn't run against him either. No wonder. He was respected because he was fair to blacks as well as whites, both as a mayor and as a banker. ...<ref>Carroll Regan, "Baghdad on the Bayou", ''Madison Journal,'' February 1974</ref><blockquote/>

Upon Sevier's retirement, Tallulah voters chose its first African American mayor, Adell Williams, who served one term until 1978.

{{Portal|Biography|Louisiana|Politics}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{succession box
| before =Thomas Hugh Montgomery
| title =[[Mayor]] of [[Tallulah, Louisiana]]
William Putnam "Buck" Sevier, Jr.
| years = 1947-1974
| after =Adell Williams}}
{{succession box
| before=E. G. Coco of [[Moreauville, Louisiana|Moreauville]]
| title=President of the Louisiana Bankers Association
William Putnam "Buck" Sevier, Jr. of Tallulah
| years=1961&ndash;1962
| after=E. J. Beaullieu of [[Jeanerette, Louisiana|Jeanerette]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME =Sevier, Jr., William Putnam
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =Buck Sevier
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Louisiana mayor and banker
| DATE OF BIRTH =October 13, 1899
| PLACE OF BIRTH =[[Madison Parish, Louisiana]]
| DATE OF DEATH =September 4, 1985
| PLACE OF DEATH =[[Tallulah, Louisiana]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sevier, William Putnam}}
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Madison Parish, Louisiana]]
[[Category:American bankers]]
[[Category:Mayors of places in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Louisiana city council members]]
[[Category:Louisiana Democrats]]
[[Category:American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:Louisiana State University alumni]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel]]
[[Category:American military personnel of World War I]]