Ten years ago, reporter Ken Booth wrote the definitive work on the biographies of all known Ouachita parish Sheriffs called “The Sheriffs of Ouachita”. It is now out of print, but you can see a copy at the Ouachita Parish Public Library. Here are the men who have served:
George Hook
Robert Kay
William Dawson
John Hughes
Hatch Dent
Jonathan Morgan
Alfred Grayson
John Williams
Thomas Scarborough
James Henry Stevens
James H. Brigham
Woodard Huey Coats
William Henry Dinkgrave
Able T. Norwood
Thomas White Phillips
James Huey Milling
James Madison Rogers
Marlow Covington Hardy
Robert Dortch
John H. Wisner (murdered in office)
Joseph H. Mitchell
Bernard “Benny” Hemkin Dinkgrave
George Byron Hamlet (our first African-American Sheriff)
Samuel Whited
Thomas Parker Richardson
Joseph Edward McGuire
William Thomas Theobalds
Isaiah Garrett, Jr.
David Andrew Johnston
John P. “Jack” Parker, Jr.
Thomas Arthur Grant
Milton Coverdale
Emmett Bailey Grant (the longest serving sheriff in our history)
Laymon Godwin
Charles L. “Chuck” Cook
Richard Lee Fewell
Royce Toney
Jay Russell
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 