Most Recent Edit: 28 April 2018

Elbert Nathaniel Lewis (Senior) is the first-born son of John H. Lewis and Leah Emily Williams Lewis. He was named after his grandfathers, Elbert Lewis and Nathaniel S. Williams. Similarly, his oldest sister was named after her two grandmothers. This naming convention was practiced by many migrating and lowly educated relatives in the 1800s.

Elbert was born in Elmwood, Vernon Parish, Lousiana, where his maternal grandfather was postmaster. In the mid-1890s, the family moved residence to the area along the border of Vernon Parish and Calcasieu Parish that surrounded and included a graveyard located between Flat Creek and Bundick Creek. The place was designated by the United States Postal Service as "Davis Mills," and Elbert's mother was a postmaster there (1901-1906) until the area was absorbed by the quickly growing village of DeRidder. The unnamed multi-family graveyard later was known for a few decades as Hopewell Cemetery, but since the 1930s has been known as Lewis Cemetery.

Much of Elbert's earliest education was at the Hopewell School funded and administered, for the most part, by his father's family in coordination with Calcasieu Parish officials, especially John McNeese. To continue his education beyond seventh grade, Elbert used funds from T.J. Carroll, to enroll at Louisiana Industrial Institute in Ruston, Louisiana, in January 1905. In May 1906 Elbert resigned from his formal education endeavors at LII and started working full-time in and near DeRidder. He was fond of T.J. Carroll's children, which included Lola Carroll, whom he wed on December 26, 1909, at First Baptist Church in Merryville, Louisana. They lived their entire married lives in the city limits of DeRidder, Louisiana, and their respective pioneer families played critical roles in the conceptual development and then the birth of Beauregard Parish in 1913. Elbert served on the first Grand Jury in Beauregard Parish.

In the 1920s, Elbert and Lola settled their residence on the corner of Pine Street and Second Street. Elbert worked for decades, as a bookkeeper, for Longbell Lumber Company, where his desk was located on the third floor of the Standard Building.

Both Elbert and Lola grew up in the late 1800s in homes that housed boarders who came and went after a few days, weeks, or months. Some boarders paid rent, but some did not. Elbert and Lola continued for decades the habit of housing boarders. The family still has Lola's bookkeeping records, starting with the carpenters who arrived during WWII (early 1940s) to build Camp Polk (later known as Fort Polk), and continuing until the 1980s.

In 1950, with assistance from his family, Elbert opened the Dairy Fresh eatery. On Opening Day over 1,000 Dandee Dogs were freely given away by the Dandee Dog franchise seller and demonstrated that the product had a promising future in DeRidder. Though the small business did a lot of business, it didn't make much money, because the kind-hearted Elbert regularly provided free or reduced-price meals to poor families. The author of this biography (SSL) often heard Elbert's wife and son recount the many times they saw Elbert talking with poor mothers, who then paid a discounted price for the meal for their families.

Elbert and Lola had three daughters -- Maurine. Agnes, and Mary. Their last-born child and only son was born more than 10 years later; he was named E.N.L. Junior but was called "Nathan" (sometimes "Nat").

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Author and editor: Samuel Staples Lewis (Elbert's grandson)