Changes

{{Infobox officeholder  

{{Infobox officeholder  

|name=Richard Maxwell Drew

|name=Richard Maxwell Drew

|office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative for Claiborne Parish

|office=[[Louisiana]] State Representative<br>for Claiborne Parish

|term_start=1848

|term_start=1848

|term_end=1850

|term_end=1850

| birth_date=July 26, 1822

| birth_date=July 26, 1822

| birth_place=Overton community<br>Near [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]]<br>Then part of Claiborne Parish

| birth_place=Overton community<br>Near [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]]<br>Then part of Claiborne Parish

| death_dat=July 11, 1850 (aged 27)

| death_date=July 11, 1850 (aged 27)

| death_place = Overton community<br>Now [[Webster Parish, Louisiana|Webster Parish]]

| death_place=Overton community<br>Now Webster Parish

| resting_place=Overton Cemetery<br>

| resting_place=Overton Cemetery<br>

Cenotaph at Minden Cemetery

Cenotaph at Minden Cemetery

| occupation=Attorney]]

| occupation=[[Attorney]]

| spouse=Sarah Jessie Cleveland Drew

| spouse=Sarah Jessie Cleveland Drew

| children=[[Richard Cleveland Drew]]

| children=[[Richard Cleveland Drew]]

| relations=Thomas Stevenson Drew (brother)<br>

| relations=Thomas Stevenson Drew (brother)<br>

[[Harmon Caldwell Drew]] (grandson)

[[Harmon Caldwell Drew]] (grandson)<br>

[[[R. Harmon Drew, Sr.]] (great grandson)

[[R. Harmon Drew, Sr.]]<br> (great grandson)<br>

[[Harmon Drew, Jr.]] (great-great grandson)

[[Harmon Drew, Jr.]]<br> (great-great grandson)<br>

| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]}}

| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]}}

==Biography==

==Biography==

Drew was a son of Newitt (or Newett) Drew and Sarah A. Sally Maxwell Drew,  natives of Southampton County[,[Virginia]], who later moved to[Wilson County, [[Tennessee]]], and then northwestern Louisiana. Richard Maxwell Drew was born in his father's Overton community on [[Dorcheat Bayou]] near [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], [[Louisiana]], the [[county seat|seat of government]] of Webster Parish. The community was subsequently obliterated by [[yellow fever]]. Drew's brother, [[Thomas Stevenson Drew]], who was twenty years his senior, became the [[governor of Arkansas]] in 1844.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theus50.com/arkansas/governors.php|title=State of Arkansas Governors|publisher=theus50.com|accessdate=June 11, 2011}}</ref><ref name=arkenc>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=100|title=Thomas Stevenson Drew|publisher=''Encyclopedia of Arkansas''|accessdate=June 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>Other sources list Thomas Drew as the third Arkansas governor because Drew's predecessor, [[Samuel Adams (governor)|Samuel Adams]], was not "governor" but the "acting governor" from April 29 to November 5, 1844, through Adams' previous role as president of the Arkansas State Senate.</ref> Thomas S. Drew was the namesake of Drew County, [[Arkansas]].<ref name=arkenc/><ref name=rmdrew>{{cite web|url= http://www.mindenmemories.org/Drew%20Family.htm|title=Richard Drew Carey (1934-2013), The Drew Family of Minden, Louisiana|publisher=mindenmemories.org|accessdate=June 5, 2011; material no longer accessible on-line}}</ref><ref>Mindenmemories.org and Mindenmemories.net were a combined large social, cultural, and historical website operated from Bellaire, [[Texas]], by Sherry Gresham Gritzbaugh, a 1955 graduate of [[Minden (Louisiana) High School|Minden High School]]. The website had historical articles on the major families involved in the settlement of Minden and Webster Parish, Louisiana.</ref>

Drew was a son of Newitt (or Newett) Drew and Sarah A. Sally Maxwell Drew,  natives of Southampton County, [[[Virginia]], who later moved to[Wilson County, [[Tennessee]]], and then northwestern Louisiana. Richard Maxwell Drew was born in his father's Overton community on [[Dorcheat Bayou]] near [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], [[Louisiana]], the [[county seat|seat of government]] of Webster Parish. The community was subsequently obliterated by [[yellow fever]]. Drew's brother, Thomas Stevenson Drew (1802-1879), who was twenty years his senior, became the [[governor]] of [[Arkansas]] in 1844.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theus50.com/arkansas/governors.php|title=State of Arkansas Governors|publisher=theus50.com|accessdate=June 11, 2011}}</ref><ref name=arkenc>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=100|title=Thomas Stevenson Drew|publisher=''Encyclopedia of Arkansas''|accessdate=June 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>Other sources list Thomas Drew as the third Arkansas governor because Drew's predecessor, Samuel Adams, was not "governor" but the "acting governor" from April 29 to November 5, 1844, through Adams' previous role as president of the Arkansas State Senate.</ref> Thomas S. Drew was the namesake of Drew County, [[Arkansas]].<ref name=arkenc/><ref name=rmdrew>{{cite web|url= http://www.mindenmemories.org/Drew%20Family.htm|title=Richard Drew Carey (1934-2013), The Drew Family of Minden, Louisiana|publisher=mindenmemories.org|accessdate=June 5, 2011; material no longer accessible on-line}}</ref><ref>Mindenmemories.org and Mindenmemories.net were a combined large social, cultural, and historical website operated from Bellaire, [[Texas]], by Sherry Gresham Gritzbaugh, a 1955 graduate of [[Minden (Louisiana) High School|Minden High School]]. The website had historical articles on the major families involved in the settlement of Minden and Webster Parish, Louisiana.</ref>

In 1846, R. M. Drew married the former Sarah Jessie Cleveland. At seventeen, he was already practicing law. At twenty-three in 1845, he was a district judge in Claiborne Parish (prior to the establishment of Webster Parish),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://randolphcomuseum.org/Downloads/Drew%20Bio.pdf|title=The Bettis Family and the Settlement of Pocohontas, Arkansas|publisher=randolphcomuseum.org|accessdate=June 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.angelfire.com/ok/PeggyAGivens/DrewFamily.html|title=Drew Family of Virginia|publisher=angelfire.com|accessdate=June 11, 2011}}</ref> and a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1845.<ref name=rmdrew/> For the last two years of his short life, Drew was a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdftitle=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2024|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=August 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>The state of Louisiana erroneoulsy lists Representative R. M. Drew as "R. C. Drew," the initials of his son, who did not serve in the state House.</ref>

In 1846, R. M. Drew married the former Sarah Jessie Cleveland. At seventeen, he was already practicing law. At twenty-three in 1845, he was a district judge in Claiborne Parish (prior to the establishment of Webster Parish),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://randolphcomuseum.org/Downloads/Drew%20Bio.pdf|title=The Bettis Family and the Settlement of Pocohontas, Arkansas|publisher=randolphcomuseum.org|accessdate=June 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.angelfire.com/ok/PeggyAGivens/DrewFamily.html|title=Drew Family of Virginia|publisher=angelfire.com|accessdate=June 11, 2011}}</ref> and a delegate to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1845.<ref name=rmdrew/> For the last two years of his short life, Drew was a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership in the Louisiana House of Representatives, 1812-2024|publisher=Louisiana House of Representatives|accessdate=August 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>The state of Louisiana erroneoulsy lists Representative R. M. Drew as "R. C. Drew," the initials of his son, who did not serve in the state House.</ref>

Drew died fifteen days before his 28th birthday. His son, [[Richard Cleveland Drew]], and grandson, [[Harmon Caldwell Drew]], were subsequently judges of both the Webster Parish district court.  <ref>List of Webster Parish District Judges, ''Webster Parish Centennial Booklet, 1971", Webster Parish Police Jury publication</ref>  and the state circuit court, the only father-son combination thus far on the latter court.<ref name=famtree>{{cite web|url=http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/a/r/Richard-D-Carey/GENE1-0004.html|title=Descendants of William Caldwell|publisher=familytreemaker.genealolgy.com|accessdate=June 5, 2011}}</ref>  Judge R. C. Drew married Katie Roberta Caldwell, daughter of Thomas Stevenson Caldwell. R. M. Drew's great-grandson, [[R. Harmon Drew, Sr.]], was a municipal judge and a state representative. His great-great-grandson, [[Harmon Drew, Jr.]], serves on the same circuit court as did his grandfather and great-grandfather.<ref name=famtree/>

Drew died fifteen days before his 28th birthday. His son, [[Richard Cleveland Drew]], and grandson, [[Harmon Caldwell Drew]], were subsequently judges of both the Webster Parish district court.  <ref>List of Webster Parish District Judges, ''Webster Parish Centennial Booklet, 1971", Webster Parish Police Jury publication</ref>  and the state circuit court, the only father-son combination thus far on the latter court.<ref name=famtree>{{cite web|url=http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/a/r/Richard-D-Carey/GENE1-0004.html|title=Descendants of William Caldwell|publisher=familytreemaker.genealolgy.com|accessdate=June 5, 2011}}</ref>  Judge R. C. Drew married Katie Roberta Caldwell, daughter of Thomas Stevenson Caldwell. R. M. Drew's great-grandson, [[R. Harmon Drew, Sr.]], was a municipal judge and a state representative. His great-great-grandson, [[Harmon Drew, Jr.]], serves on the same circuit court as did his grandfather and great-grandfather.<ref name=famtree/>

Drew is interred at the abandoned Overton Cemetery off Interstate 20. The epitaph on his tombstone, which was damaged several years ago by a bulldozer  doing clearing work for the new I-20, reads: "His public and private virtues have survived his death and will endure when this dumb marble shall have faded."<ref>Inscription on R. M. Drew tombstone, Overton Cemetery, Webster Parish, Louisiana</ref><ref name=minmem>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.org/Overton.htm|

Drew is interred at the abandoned Overton Cemetery off Interstate 20. The epitaph on his tombstone, which was damaged several years ago by a bulldozer  doing clearing work for the new I-20, reads: "His public and private virtues have survived his death and will endure when this dumb marble shall have faded."<ref>Inscription on R. M. Drew tombstone, Overton Cemetery, Webster Parish, Louisiana</ref><ref name=minmem>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindenmemories.org/Overton.htm|

title=Overton|publisher=mindenmemories.org|accessdate=June 5, 2011; material no longer on-line}}</ref>In 2011, a [[cenotaph]] honoring Drew was erected at the Minden Cemetery.

title=Overton|publisher=mindenmemories.org|accessdate=June 5, 2011; material no longer on-line}}</ref>In 2011, a cenotaph] honoring Drew was erected at the Minden Cemetery.

==References==

==References==

[[Category:Attorneys]]

[[Category:Attorneys]]

[[Category:Politicians]]

[[Category:Politicians]]

[[Category:Judges]]

[[Category:Judges]]

[[Category:Democrats]]

[[Category:Democrats]]