Clyde Vernon Ratcliff

politician member of the Louisiana State Senate

July 26, 1879 (age 73)

Liberty in Amite County in southwestern Mississippi

He represented the delta parishes: Tensas, Madison, East Carroll, and Concordia, a rich farming region along the Mississippi River in eastern Louisiana ranging from Vidalia to Lake Providence. The four parishes elected two senators at the time, and Ratcliff"s seat-mate was Andrew L. Sevier of Tallulah in Madison Parish. He owned the Elkridge Plantation near Newellton in northern Tensas Parish and also engaged in the management of plantation properties of the Davis family, descendants of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America. In 1930, Bonds Ratcliff succeeded William Mackenzie Davidson as the mayor of the parish seat of Saint Joseph, a position which he held until 1932. Bonds Ratcliff was thereafter the Tensas Parish clerk of court. Prior to his single-term election to the state Senate, which corresponded with the administration of Governor Jimmie Davis, who coincidentally owned farmland in Tensas Parish, Clyde Ratcliff served on the Fifth District Levee Board and as president of the Tensas Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body. Both Clyde and Bonds Ratcliff married daughters of the wealthy planter Douglass Muir, who died in August 1918. Clyde and the former Carrie Lou Muir (1883–1958), had four children, Mistress G. East. Thomas, Douglas Howard "Buddy" Ratcliff (1906–1984), Clyde Ratcliff, Junior. (1910–1977), and Virginia Ratcliff Wilkerson (1908–1974), the wife of James Clifton Wilkerson, Senior (1902–1955). Ratcliff died at home. After services at Newellton Union Church, he was interred at Legion Memorial Cemetery.

Clyde Vernon Ratcliff

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politician member of the Louisiana State Senate

Background

Ratcliff was born in Liberty in Amite County in southwestern Mississippi and reared thereafter in Adams County.

Education

He was educated at Jefferson Military Academy in Washington near Natchez in Adams County.

Career

He represented the delta parishes: Tensas, Madison, East Carroll, and Concordia, a rich farming region along the Mississippi River in eastern Louisiana ranging from Vidalia to Lake Providence. The four parishes elected two senators at the time, and Ratcliff"s seat-mate was Andrew L. Sevier of Tallulah in Madison Parish. He owned the Elkridge Plantation near Newellton in northern Tensas Parish and also engaged in the management of plantation properties of the Davis family, descendants of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America.

In 1930, Bonds Ratcliff succeeded William Mackenzie Davidson as the mayor of the parish seat of Saint Joseph, a position which he held until 1932.

Bonds Ratcliff was thereafter the Tensas Parish clerk of court. Prior to his single-term election to the state Senate, which corresponded with the administration of Governor Jimmie Davis, who coincidentally owned farmland in Tensas Parish, Clyde Ratcliff served on the Fifth District Levee Board and as president of the Tensas Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body.

Both Clyde and Bonds Ratcliff married daughters of the wealthy planter Douglass Muir, who died in August 1918. Clyde and the former Carrie Lou Muir (1883–1958), had four children, Mistress

G. East. Thomas, Douglas Howard "Buddy" Ratcliff (1906–1984), Clyde Ratcliff, Junior.

(1910–1977), and Virginia Ratcliff Wilkerson (1908–1974), the wife of James Clifton Wilkerson, Senior (1902–1955). Ratcliff died at home. After services at Newellton Union Church, he was interred at Legion Memorial Cemetery.

Membership

He was a charter member of Newellton Rotary International and a Methodist. Virginia Wilkerson was later a 19-year member of the Tensas Parish School Board.

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Clyde Vernon Ratcliff

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