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==Background==

==Background==

Sevier was a great-great-grandson of John Sevier, a [[Tennessee]] pioneer and first [[governor]] of that state. He was a cousin of state Senator Andrew L. Sevier and state Representative Henry Clay Sevier, both also from Tallulah.<ref name=roots/>​ He was born near the end of the 19th century on a plantation in southern Madison Parish, the eldest child of William Sevier, Sr. (1868-1943), a native of Thomastown in Leake County  in central [[Mississippi]], and the former Ada Shadbourne Graves (1877-1955). His maternal Graves grandparents were large landowners and planters prior to the [[American Civil War]]. As a child, Sevier took the nickname "Buck", but later tried to discourage its use. Most people still called him Buck as an adult. In 1916, he graduated from the [[Segregation|segregated]] Tallulah High School. (It has since beendesegregated, relocated and renamed Madison High School.)

Sevier was a great-great-grandson of John Sevier, a [[Tennessee]] pioneer and first [[governor]] of that state for whom the city of Sevierville is named. He was a cousin of state Senator Andrew L. Sevier and state Representative Henry Clay Sevier, both also from Tallulah.<ref name=roots/>​ He was born near the end of the 19th century on a plantation in southern Madison Parish, the eldest child of William Sevier, Sr. (1868-1943), a native of Thomastown in Leake County  in central [[Mississippi]], and the former Ada Shadbourne Graves (1877-1955). His maternal Graves grandparents were large landowners and planters prior to the [[American Civil War]]. As a child, Sevier took the nickname "Buck", but later tried to discourage its use. Most people still called him Buck as an adult. In 1916, he graduated from the [[Segregation|segregated]] Tallulah High School. (It has since beendesegregated, relocated and renamed Madison High School.)

He attended [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] with hopes of becoming a lawyer. He was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. His studies were interrupted by [[World War I]], when he served as a balloon observer.  He never completed legal studies but returned to Tallulah in 1922. He worked at the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] experiment station there, which was established to try to develop ways to protect [[cotton]] growers from the pervasive boll weevil, which was destroying crops throughout the South.  This station developed products and processes for crop dusting from airplanes.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url= http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/bios/sevierwp.txt|title=William Putnam Sevier, Jr., Mayor of Tallulah, Madison Parish, Louisiana|publisher=rootswebancestry.com|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> Hundreds of flights took off from the Tallulah Airport as they worked on the best methods to dust the crops. Delta Dusters, a company that developed here to carry out crop dusting, was the origin of Delta Airlines.​

He attended [[Louisiana State University]] in [[Baton Rouge]] with hopes of becoming a lawyer. He was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. His studies were interrupted by [[World War I]], when he served as a balloon observer.  He never completed legal studies but returned to Tallulah in 1922. He worked at the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] experiment station there, which was established to try to develop ways to protect [[cotton]] growers from the pervasive boll weevil, which was destroying crops throughout the South.  This station developed products and processes for crop dusting from airplanes.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url= http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lamadiso/bios/sevierwp.txt|title=William Putnam Sevier, Jr., Mayor of Tallulah, Madison Parish, Louisiana|publisher=rootswebancestry.com|accessdate=July 24, 2013}}</ref> Hundreds of flights took off from the Tallulah Airport as they worked on the best methods to dust the crops. Delta Dusters, a company that developed here to carry out crop dusting, was the origin of Delta Airlines.​