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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name= Myrtis Lucille Gregory Methvin |office=Mayor of Castor, Bienville Parish, Louisiana |term_start=1933 |term_end=1945 |birth_da..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name= Myrtis Lucille Gregory Methvin
|office=[[Mayor]] of Castor, Bienville Parish, [[Louisiana]]
|term_start=1933
|term_end=1945
|birth_date=May 2, 1895
|birth_place=Ethel, Attala County<br>[[Mississippi]]
|death_date=August 8, 1977 (aged 82)
|death_place=Castor, Louisiana
|resting_place=Gwin Memorial Cemetery in Mangham in Richland Parish
|spouse=DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Sr. (married 1923-1975, his death)
|children=Two daughters and a son,
[[DeWitt T. Methvin, Jr.]]
|relations=Judge Mildred Methvin (granddaughter)
|party= [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]}}
'''Myrtis Lucille Gregory Methvin''' (May 2, 1895 – August 5, 1977) was the second woman to serve as [[mayor]] of a community in [[Louisiana]]. The [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Methvin served consecutive terms as mayor of Castor in Bienville Parish from 1933 to 1945.
The first woman mayor in Louisiana was [[Lula Wardlow]], a [[Methodist]] [[clergy]]woman and the mayor of Montgomery in Grant Parish from 1926 to 1930.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-w/|title=Wardlow, Lula|publisher=''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'': Louisiana Historical Association|accessdate=May 22, 2020}}</ref>
==Biography==
===Early life===
Myrtis Gregory was the oldest of four children born to Elijah Milton "Lige" Gregory (1864-1937) and the former Anna Sweatt (1872-1958) in Ethel near Kosciusko in Attala County in central [[Mississippi]]. Elijah and Anna married in 1892.
Myrtis lived as a girl with her family in Natchez, a port city on the [[Mississippi River]] until her father moved the family c. 1908 to Mangham in Richland Parish south of [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]], Louisiana. There he opened a store on the main highway in Mangham.
===Marriage and family===
In Mangham, Myrtis met DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Sr. (1894-1975), also a Mississippi native who had moved to Mangham to work as a railroad agent. Myrtis married DeWitt Methvin in 1923 in the First [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church in Mangham. They lived for several years in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] in Rapides Parish in central Louisiana. They had a son and two daughters. Their son, [[DeWitt T. Methvin, Jr.]], was an [[attorney]] in Alexandria, where he practiced law for more than a half-century.
==The Castor years===
The Methvins relocated to Castor in 1929, where they remained until their deaths. DeWitt, Sr., was engaged in selling timber to the Alexandria-based Roy O. Martin, Jr., company and its sawmill in the Roy community south of Castor. Methvin also operated his own portable sawmill.<ref name=dtmjrbio>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012034600/http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0001.htm|title=DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Jr.|publisher=genealogy.com|accessdateMay 22, 2020}}</ref>
Not long after their arrival in Castor, Myrtis Methvin had a dispute with a neighbor, Henry Rufus "Hal" Lacy, Sr., over his cow invading and eating produce in her vegetable garden. She "jailed" the cow until Lacy agreed to keep the animal confined to his own property. Methvin's success in handling Lacy prompted citizens to urge her to run for mayor, a position to which she was elected in 1933.<ref>Mary K. Hamner, "Castor Women Take Politics Seriously (1930-1940)," ''Bienville Democrat/Ringgold Record,'' Arcadia and Ringgold, Louisiana, September 28, 2006.</ref>
DeWitt Methvin, Sr., was elected as a short-term member of the Bienville Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body.
The Methvins are interred at Gwin Memorial Cemetery in Mangham.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Methvin, Myrtis}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Mississippi]]
[[Category:Women]]
[[Category:Mayors]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]
|name= Myrtis Lucille Gregory Methvin
|office=[[Mayor]] of Castor, Bienville Parish, [[Louisiana]]
|term_start=1933
|term_end=1945
|birth_date=May 2, 1895
|birth_place=Ethel, Attala County<br>[[Mississippi]]
|death_date=August 8, 1977 (aged 82)
|death_place=Castor, Louisiana
|resting_place=Gwin Memorial Cemetery in Mangham in Richland Parish
|spouse=DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Sr. (married 1923-1975, his death)
|children=Two daughters and a son,
[[DeWitt T. Methvin, Jr.]]
|relations=Judge Mildred Methvin (granddaughter)
|party= [[Democratic Party|Democrat]]}}
'''Myrtis Lucille Gregory Methvin''' (May 2, 1895 – August 5, 1977) was the second woman to serve as [[mayor]] of a community in [[Louisiana]]. The [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Methvin served consecutive terms as mayor of Castor in Bienville Parish from 1933 to 1945.
The first woman mayor in Louisiana was [[Lula Wardlow]], a [[Methodist]] [[clergy]]woman and the mayor of Montgomery in Grant Parish from 1926 to 1930.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/dictionary-louisiana-biography-w/|title=Wardlow, Lula|publisher=''A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography'': Louisiana Historical Association|accessdate=May 22, 2020}}</ref>
==Biography==
===Early life===
Myrtis Gregory was the oldest of four children born to Elijah Milton "Lige" Gregory (1864-1937) and the former Anna Sweatt (1872-1958) in Ethel near Kosciusko in Attala County in central [[Mississippi]]. Elijah and Anna married in 1892.
Myrtis lived as a girl with her family in Natchez, a port city on the [[Mississippi River]] until her father moved the family c. 1908 to Mangham in Richland Parish south of [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]], Louisiana. There he opened a store on the main highway in Mangham.
===Marriage and family===
In Mangham, Myrtis met DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Sr. (1894-1975), also a Mississippi native who had moved to Mangham to work as a railroad agent. Myrtis married DeWitt Methvin in 1923 in the First [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church in Mangham. They lived for several years in [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] in Rapides Parish in central Louisiana. They had a son and two daughters. Their son, [[DeWitt T. Methvin, Jr.]], was an [[attorney]] in Alexandria, where he practiced law for more than a half-century.
==The Castor years===
The Methvins relocated to Castor in 1929, where they remained until their deaths. DeWitt, Sr., was engaged in selling timber to the Alexandria-based Roy O. Martin, Jr., company and its sawmill in the Roy community south of Castor. Methvin also operated his own portable sawmill.<ref name=dtmjrbio>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012034600/http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0001.htm|title=DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Jr.|publisher=genealogy.com|accessdateMay 22, 2020}}</ref>
Not long after their arrival in Castor, Myrtis Methvin had a dispute with a neighbor, Henry Rufus "Hal" Lacy, Sr., over his cow invading and eating produce in her vegetable garden. She "jailed" the cow until Lacy agreed to keep the animal confined to his own property. Methvin's success in handling Lacy prompted citizens to urge her to run for mayor, a position to which she was elected in 1933.<ref>Mary K. Hamner, "Castor Women Take Politics Seriously (1930-1940)," ''Bienville Democrat/Ringgold Record,'' Arcadia and Ringgold, Louisiana, September 28, 2006.</ref>
DeWitt Methvin, Sr., was elected as a short-term member of the Bienville Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body.
The Methvins are interred at Gwin Memorial Cemetery in Mangham.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Methvin, Myrtis}}
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Mississippi]]
[[Category:Women]]
[[Category:Mayors]]
[[Category:Democrats]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]