Changes

Elam graduated from the [[Episcopalian]]-affiliated private Sewanee University in Sewanee, [[Tennessee]]. He worked as a journalist in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], and [[Oklahoma]], before he returned to Mansfield, where he studied law privately and organized the DeSoto Abstract Company. He founded the newspaper, the ''Mansfield Progress'', which merged with the ''Mansfield Enterprise,'' of which he became the editor. On June 25, 1912,  he married the former Margaret Taylor, daughter of Johnetta Morgan and James Taylor of [[Nashville]], Tennessee and Cleburne, [[Texas]], respectively. Their children were Joseph Barton, III (born 1914), Johnetta (born 1915), Mary Stewart (born 1917), and Margaret Taylor (1919-1977).<ref name=bio/>​

Elam graduated from the [[Episcopalian]]-affiliated private Sewanee University in Sewanee, [[Tennessee]]. He worked as a journalist in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], and [[Oklahoma]], before he returned to Mansfield, where he studied law privately and organized the DeSoto Abstract Company. He founded the newspaper, the ''Mansfield Progress'', which merged with the ''Mansfield Enterprise,'' of which he became the editor. On June 25, 1912,  he married the former Margaret Taylor, daughter of Johnetta Morgan and James Taylor of [[Nashville]], Tennessee and Cleburne, [[Texas]], respectively. Their children were Joseph Barton, III (born 1914), Johnetta (born 1915), Mary Stewart (born 1917), and Margaret Taylor (1919-1977).<ref name=bio/>​

​

​

Elam was the [[mayor]] of Mansfield from 1914 to 1920, in which capacity he was the president of the Louisiana Mayors Association, now the Louisiana Municipal Association. He founded and edited the periodical, ''Louisiana Municipalities''. He was a chairman of the Louisiana State Democratic Central Committee. He was employed by [[Standard Oil]] in Louisiana in the land development division. He was the secretary of the Louisiana-Arkansas Division of the [[trade association]], the United States Oil & Gas Association, then known as Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association. Elam was affiliated with [[Kiwanis International]] and was a communicant of the [[Episcopal]] Church.​

Elam was the [[mayor]] of Mansfield from 1914 to 1920, in which capacity he was the president of the Louisiana Mayors Association, now the Louisiana Municipal Association. He founded and edited the periodical, ''Louisiana Municipalities''. He was a chairman of the Louisiana State Democratic Central Committee. He was employed by [[Standard Oil]] in Louisiana in the land development division. He was the secretary of the Louisiana-Arkansas Division of the trade association, the United States Oil & Gas Association, then known as Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association. Elam was affiliated with Kiwanis International and was a communicant of the [[Episcopal]] Church.​

 

He died in [[Shreveport]] and is interred at Highland Cemetery in Mansfield.<ref name=bio>''The Shreveport Times'', October 25, 1935; ''Mansfield Enterprise'', obituary, October 29, 1935.</ref>​

He died in [[Shreveport]] at the age of fifty-seven and is interred at Highland Cemetery in Mansfield.<ref name=bio>''The Shreveport Times'', October 25, 1935; ''Mansfield Enterprise'', obituary, October 29, 1935.</ref>​

 

After her husband's death, Margaret Taylor Elam, moved her children to the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]] so they would be near [[Louisiana State University]]. Their daughter, also named Margaret Taylor Elam, married the attorney Richard Harmon Drew, Sr., of [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], whom she met at LSU and who was later the Webster Parish member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972 and 1978. One of their three children, Elam's grandson, is Harmon Drew, Jr., of Minden, a judge since 1998 of the Louisiana Circuit Court of Appeal for the Second District, based in Shreveport.​

After her husband's death, Margaret Taylor Elam, moved her children to the capital city of [[Baton Rouge]] so they would be near [[Louisiana State University]]. Their daughter, also named Margaret Taylor Elam, married the attorney Richard Harmon Drew, Sr., of [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], whom she met at LSU and who was later the Webster Parish member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1972 and 1978. One of their three children, Elam's grandson, is Harmon Drew, Jr., of Minden, a judge since 1998 of the Louisiana Circuit Court of Appeal for the Second District, based in Shreveport.​

 

==References==​

==References==

{{reflist}}​

{{reflist}}​

​

​