Joseph Gonzales.
Founder of Town succumbs at 78.
The funeral of Joseph Gonzales, 78-years-old founder and first mayor of the Town of Gonzales, died near here while attending the funeral of a friend Saturday afternoon at about 4 o'clock. [confused sentence, possibly miscopied] Funeral services took place at St. Theresa Catholic Church Sunday evening and was [sic] attended by a very large crowd. Interment was in the Gonzales [i.e., St. Theresa] Church Cemetery. Born in the St. Amant community in 1862, he was the son of the late Capt. Joseph Gonzales, Sr., a civil war veteran and the first sheriff of Ascension Parish following [the] reconstruction period. Joseph Gonzales, Jr. came to the present site of the Town of Gonzales in 1887, entering the mercantile business here in that year. During the same year he was instrumental in getting a post office established here and in his honor the post office was given his family name. During his first year of residence here, Mr. Gonzales acquired more than 120 acres of land and it is on this tract that the Town of Gonzales now stands. A leading citizen of Ascension Parish, Mr. Gonzales served as a member of the Parish Police Jury for 12 years, as a member of the Democratic Executive Committee of Ascension Parish for many years, and as parish representative on the Democratic State Central Committee for four years. He was elected to the State Legislature for two more[?] terms, served on the New River Drainage District Committee, was a member of the Parish Board of Equalization for many years, and was a member of the Parish Board of Assessments for nine years. He was a prominent supporter of the South Louisiana State Fair. At the time of his death, [he] was a member of the board of directors of the fair association, having served for the past ten years.
It was in 1907 that the railroad was established by the old L. R. & N. [Louisiana Railway & Navigaton] Company at Gonzales, but the station was named "Edenborn," in honor of William Edenborn, president of the railway system. Mr. Gonzales, then a member of the state legislature, led a three-year fight which finally ended when the name of the railway station was changed to Gonzales in accordance with the name of the community post office. When Gonzales was incorporated as a town in 1920, Mr. Gonzales was named its first mayor and served in that capacity until 1936. Mr. Gonzales and his wife, the former Felicie Bourgeois of St. Amant, marked their golden wedding anniversary on February 9, 1938, [which was?] attended by prominent citizens from throughout the state. Mr. Gonzales is survived by his wife; five daughters, Mrs. H. E. Holliday of McComb, Miss., Mrs. John W. Tanner of Baton Rouge, Mrs. B. H. Andrews of of Lake Charles, Miss Fannie Gonzales of Gonzales, and Mrs. Maurice McKinley of New Orleans; one sister, Mrs. Andrew Little of Livingston Parish; one brother, Sims Gonzales of St. Amant, and a number of grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Active pallbearers: J. L. Thomassie, Ogden Gonzales, Alton Gonzales, Sheriff Lester Gonzales, and J. Paul Bourgeois.
