Felix McCloe: First Black Justice of the Peace in Ouachita Parish

I stumbled across this little tidbit of lost Ouachita Parish history earlier this month. On the front page of the News-Star, April 8, 1921, Was the headline, “FORMER SLAVE, OFFICE HOLDER IN “WAR DAYS” SUCCUMBS HERE: Felix McCloe, Justice of Peace in Reconstruction Era, Dies in Ouachita“. Now you have my attention! I won’t type out the whole thing, since the language is offensive to modern sensibilities. Here are the highlights.

Felix was born in Ouachita parish enslaved on the plantation of Judge Louis Lamy. Judge Lamy gave him a piece of land to live on and he lived there until he died. After the Civil War, in 1868 he was elected justice of the peace in Ward 3 which is the West Monroe area. He was the first of his race in history to hold that office. He then was elected constable in 1876, serving for eight more years. It seems he was highly respected in the community. I found the following article in the Telegraph about him.

Ouachita Telegraph, November 12, 1875, page 2

Chief Justice Felix McCloe, colored Justice of the Peace for the 3rd ward, is a model judicial officer. Rain, or shine, he skips over a mile to his office every day, and expounds the law to all seekers with a gravity and clearness not to be enjoyed in any other court of the parish.

I found his death certificate in the State Archives. It states he was buried in the “Colored Cemetery” which would be Magnolia Cemetery.