While my connection to the Tisdales was tangential - I was a dental patient of Dr. Walter Tisdale's - the family's contribution to our community was significant. As my earlier column explained, Dr. Tisdale (1933-2025) was the son of Cynicus "CD" Tisdale (1898-1988) and wife Edith Wood Tisdale (1897-1975). Both were laid to rest in the Hezekiah Magee Cemetery in Washington Parish. All my life I knew that family friends R. W. "Dick" and Marilyn Richardson were quite close to the Tisdales. This was through the Woods. Edith Tisdale was the daughter of Delos Charley Wood and wife Mary Ellen Pierce Wood and notably the sibling of Nora Wood Richardson, who was Mr. Dick's mother.
Research revealed that Cynicus Tisdale was the son of Walter Irving Tisdale (1865-1955) and wife Carolyn Elizabeth Tullos Tisdale (1872-1962). Returning to my preeminent resource on Bogalusa - friend John Gallaspy's terrific book "'The City That Refused to Die' Bogalusa's first hundred years" - I learned they arrived here, early "come here's," around 1906 or 1907. Walter Tisdale was born in Osyka, Mississippi, where his father Nathan was on the mend after being seriously wounded in the Battle of Mobile. The family later relocated to Algiers, Louisiana, where Nathan found work "as a carpenter and cooper on steam ships navigating the Mississippi." Mr. John noted that a cooper, a craftsman, repairs barrels and casks used on the vessels.
By age fourteen, Walter struck out making his own way in the world, doing some farming, teaching, and clerking in area stores. Once he was introduced to saw mills, he landed in Louisiana, the north central region. He married Carolyn in 1889, and the couple lived in a log cabin Walter constructed in LaSalle Parish. Then, according to Mr. John, he invested in the Urania Lumber Company of Henry Hardtner, also in LaSalle Parish. The timber industry was underway.
Surviving the era of typhoid fever, the Tisdales left, with six surviving children - one infant daughter had died - for South Mississippi in 1906. Daughter Beulah Tisdale, who was two at the time and who became a well-known educator in Bogalusa, wrote a mesmerizing, first-hand account of the Tisdales during this time period. Filled with local history, it is a treasure. And exactly as Mr. John wrote, "I would not think of changing a single word." So, the narrative of Beulah Tisdale follows, just as Mr. John relayed it in his fantastic book:
"Mama and Papa left Urania on the Wednesday after Easter Sunday in April 1906. Cousin Benjie Pendarvis and Cyrus drove the wagon through the country when they moved from Urania. It took about 13 days to come on account of streams. Streams were too high and could not be forded. They moved to McNeil, Mississippi. Papa's intention was to start up a sawmill - but a storm came through and ravaged the timber.
Bogalusa was started May 1, 1906. We moved to Bogalusa in 1907. Mom and Pop and family stayed in Hotel one night - before Pop and boys left the next morning in wagon. Mom and girls stayed all day and night again at Hotel. Papa and the boys drove "Old Jim," the horse, over with a load of berries, beds, quilts, etc. They ferried across the Pearl River and camped in a swamp on the river that night. [Richardson's landing.] The stove and lumber were shipped from McNeil. Mama and girls came on the train to Bogalusa by way of Slidell, changed trains in Slidell - no depot in Bogalusa - and were brought in a hack from Livery Stable to Mr. J. P. Richardson's home. Had a make-shift of a place - a sort of field house used at (as) Depot. Papa drove up in the afternoon and they spent the night there. The place they were to stay was not available when they arrived so Mr. L.T. Richardson gave them a part of his office building until they could find better. Papa built the barn on the land he had bought from Mr. L.T. Richardson on Columbia Road. We lived in a barn until house was finished. Papa and boys built the present home on S. Columbia Street with lumber from Virgin Pine timber Papa had sent from Miss. (Lumber he had sawed himself at a little saw mill he owned for a while in Miss.) The land includes 8 acres - from highway back to branch on the East. Irving was born in Bogalusa June 14th 1909.
Mama and Papa helped organize the Second Baptist Church about 1908. They were Charter Members. Papa joined the Masonic Lodge (Center Lodge #244 F and A.M.). He was initiated May 22, 1909. Passed Jan. 22, 1910 and was Raised Oct. 8, 1910. Pop died Mar. 12, 1955. The church was called The Sec. Baptist and was located on Main St. The Sunday school and a revival were held in the Old Ray Store on Main St. about middle of west side of street. Thelma and I went to school in the Church house for our first 4 years. Later Irving went there for his first year or two.
In 1922 the Ward Schools were built, one in Richardson town on Long Ave. Irving finished the 4th grade in this school. Mr. I.N. McClendon was Principal. Irving liked him very much. Thelma and I started teaching in that school in 1927-28."
The children of Walter and Carolyn Tisdale prospered. As Beulah revealed, she and Thelma were teachers in Bogalusa. As I mentioned last week, brothers Cynicus and Damon went into pharmacy, operating the City Drugstore. Irving wed Hughlene Mitchell, and they settled in Tennessee with children Tony and Marilyn.
Naomi Tisdale wed Steve Sylvest of Franklinton, where they settled. They had children Elbert Lafferty, Harold, Richard, Ray, and Ruth. Ray Sylvest, married to Bronis Magee, was a prominent Franklinton resident, and they were the parents and in-laws of my very good friends Steve and Debra Sylvest. Digressing, Steve was one of our first friends, together with our Pastor Dr. Ken Schroeder, to the hospital the evening my mother suffered the medical calamity twenty-six years ago.
Mr. Ray and Ms. Bronis also were the parents of Walter Sylvest (wife Telisa) and Bambi Sylvest. Interestingly, Elbert's middle name Lafferty comes from old Dr. Lafferty as my father called him. He saved Elbert and mother Naomi in 1920 when she presented with appendicitis. Sadly, Cyrus died at a young age.
