Union Parish

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

In the late 1830s, prominent local settlers Peter J. Harvey, John Taylor, Col. Matthew Wood, Philip Feazle, Daniel Payne, Stephen Colvin, and Mills Farmer of upper Ouachita Parish Wiley Underwood petitioned the Louisiana Legislature for the creation of a new parish. Created by the legislature on May 13, 1839, it was given the name Union, supposedly because Daniel Webster stated, Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable. By the 1850s, settlers streamed into the parish from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Most came by steamboat, landing at a point on the Ouachita River, which became known as the Alabama Landing since many Alabamians arrived there. Agriculture always dominated the Union Parish economy, evolving from cotton and corn in the 1840s to the 1950s to cattle, timber, and poultry today.