William Putnam Sevier

William Putnam "Buck" Sevier, Jr.
Mayor of Tallulah, Madison Parish, Louisiana
In office March 14, 1947 – July 1, 1974
Preceded by	Thomas Hugh Montgomery
Succeeded by	Adell Williams
Personal details
Born	(1899-10-13)October 13, 1899 Madison Parish, Louisiana, USA
Died	September 4, 1985(1985-09-04) (aged 85) Tallulah, Madison Parish
Resting place	Silver Cross Cemetery in Tallulah
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Martha Boney Sevier (married 1927-1983, her death)
Relations	Andrew L. Sevier (cousin) Henry Clay Sevier (cousin) Andrew Jackson Sevier
Children	Richard Putnam Sevier Dorothy Hamilton Elliott Nancy Sherrill Pirone
Parents	Ada Shadbourne Graves and William Sevier, Sr.
Residence	Tallulah, Louisiana
Alma mater	Tallulah High School Louisiana State University
Occupation	Banker
Religion	Episcopalian
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army balloon observer
Battles/wars	World War I

William Putnam Sevier, Jr., known as Buck Sevier (October 13, 1899 – September 4, 1985)^[1][2] 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,^[3] the mayor of Tallulah, the seat of government of Madison Parish in the delta country of northeastern Louisiana.

He is a great-great-grandson of the Tennessee pioneer and governor John Sevier, for whom Sevierville in Sevier County, Tennessee, is named. He was a cousin of State Senator Andrew L. Sevier and State Representative Henry Clay Sevier, both from Tallulah.^[4]

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 in 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 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.^[5]

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 people 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.^[5] Sevier was the president of the Louisiana Bankers Association in 1961-1962^[6] and vice president of the American Bankers Association in 1963-1964. He was a director of the Standard Life Insurance Company of Jackson, Mississippi.^[5]

Sevier first served three terms as an alderman in Tallulah. His combined service of forty-one years as an elected official is a record for longevity in Louisiana. Even the twenty-seven-plus years as mayor alone remains a record in the state.^[5] 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.^[7]

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, a business partner of Jefferson Davis, the 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, who was residing in Midland, Texas, at the time of his father's death, and twin daughters, Dorothy Hamilton Elliott, later of El Dorado, Arkansas, and Nancy Sherrill Pirone, later of Lexington, Kentucky.^[4]

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.^[1]

Sevier kept a 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, an event for which Sevier had been in the stands.^[5]

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

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. ...

"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. ...^[8]

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

References