| Union Parish, Louisiana | |
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Union Parish Courthouse in Farmerville
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Location in the state of Louisiana |
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Louisiana's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | 1839 |
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| Named for | Union of American states |
| Seat | Farmerville |
| Largest city | Farmerville |
| Area - Total - Land - Water |
905 sq mi (2,345 km²) 878 sq mi (2,273 km²) 28 sq mi (72 km²), 3.06% |
| Population - (2000) - Density |
22,803 26/sq mi (10/km²) |
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 |
Union Parish (French: Paroisse de l'Union) is a parish (population 22,901 as of the 2005 census) located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Farmerville.
Union Parish is part of the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the Monroe–Bastrop Combined Statistical Area.
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In 1931, a monument was established at the Union Parish border with Union County, Arkansas, through the private efforts of former Arkansas Governor George Washington Donaghey (1856–1937), who was born in Union Parish and grew up in the border area before he moved as a teenager to Conway, Arkansas. As governor, he oversaw the construction of the state capitol building in Little Rock and brought about the establishment of the state health unit and its agricultural colleges. After his gubernatorial tenure, Donaghey, who felt a kinship to both states, commissioned a park on the land about the monument. Known for its intricate carvings and Art Deco style, the monument includes references to different modes of transportation in 1831 and 1931 and mentions Huey P. Long, Jr., whose educational program Donaghey admired. The land was not registered with the state parks offices in either state, timber companies cut trees thereabouts, and the monument was forgotten. In 1975, State Representative Louise B. Johnson obtained passage of a law to refurbish the monument. Resoration efforts were finally unveiled in 2009.[1]
The parish has a total area of 905 square miles (2,340 km2), of which, 878 square miles (2,270 km2) of it is land and 28 square miles (73 km2) of it (3.06%) is water.
Geographically north central Louisiana and more closely resembles Lincoln Parish, to which Union is deeply tied culturally, politically, and educationally. The Piney Hills Country is very different than the flat, hardwood delta lands of northeastern Louisiana.
| Union County, Arkansas | Ashley County, Arkansas | |||
| Claiborne Parish | Morehouse Parish | |||
| Union Parish, Louisiana | ||||
| Lincoln Parish | Ouachita Parish |
The border with Union County, Arkansas is rather unusual since the counties both share the same name. The only other instances in which two neighboring counties with the same name share a state border are Sabine County, Texas and Sabine Parish, Louisiana, Bristol County, Massachusetts and Bristol County, Rhode Island, Kent County, Maryland and Kent County, Delaware, and Escambia County, Alabama and Escambia County, Florida respectively.
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
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| 1900 | 18,520 |
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| 1910 | 20,451 | 10.4% | |
| 1920 | 19,621 | −4.1% | |
| 1930 | 20,731 | 5.7% | |
| 1940 | 20,943 | 1.0% | |
| 1950 | 19,141 | −8.6% | |
| 1960 | 17,624 | −7.9% | |
| 1970 | 18,447 | 4.7% | |
| 1980 | 21,167 | 14.7% | |
| 1990 | 20,690 | −2.3% | |
| 2000 | 22,803 | 10.2% | |
| 2010 | 22,721 | −0.4% | |
| Union Parish Census Data[2] | |||
As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 22,803 people, 8,857 households, and 6,412 families residing in the parish. The population density was 26 people per square mile (10/km²). There were 10,873 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile (5/km²). The racial makeup of the parish was 69.79% White, 27.95% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.26% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. 2.02% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 8,857 households out of which 31.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.30% were married couples living together, 13.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.60% were non-families. 24.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the parish the population was spread out with 25.70% under the age of 18, 9.10% from 18 to 24, 26.50% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 14.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 94.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.90 males.
The median income for a household in the parish was $29,061, and median income of a family was $36,035. Males had a median income of $30,494 versus $21,070 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $14,819. About 14.30% of families and 18.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.60% of those under age 18 and 17.70% of those age 65 or over.
Residents are assigned to Union Parish Public Schools.
Two governors came from the Shiloh Community in Union Parish:
Many facts concerning events in early Union Parish history come from the conveyance, probate, and lawsuit records on file in the Union Parish courthouse, as well as records of the United States Land Offices available in the National Archives. Other sources include:
1) Williams, E. Russ, Jr., Spanish Poste d’Ouachita: The Ouachita Valley in Colonial Louisiana 1783–1804, and Early American Statehood, 1804–1820, Williams Genealogical Publications, Monroe, LA, 1995.
2) Williams, E. Russ, Jr., Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana From 1785 to 1850: Organized into Family Groups with Miscellaneous Materials on Historical Events, Places, and Other Important Topics, Part Oe A – K, Williams Genealogical and Historical Publications, Monroe, LA, 1996.
3) Williams, E. Russ, Jr., Encyclopedia of Individuals and Founding Families of the Ouachita Valley of Louisiana From 1785 to 1850: Organized into Family Groups with Miscellaneous Materials on Historical Events, Places, and Other Important Topics, Part Two L – O, Williams Genealogical and Historical Publications, Monroe, LA, 1997.
4) Williams, Max Harrison, Union Parish (Louisiana) Historical Records: Police Jury Minutes, 1839–1846, D’Arbonne Research and Publishing Co., Farmerville, LA, 1993.
5) Union Parish Civil Suit #124D, Lawrence Scarborough to Sarah Scarborough his wife, 15 October 1829. Lawrence gives to his wife his legal right of "pre-emption" to land on Bayou d'Loutre. Specifically, Lawrence gave to his wife
"...anticipated by law an improvement on public land situated on the loutre..."
This proves that Scarborough had settled and made improvements on a tract of land in Union Parish by 1829. However, the records of the United States Land Office indicate that the land and improvements given to Sarah Scarborough were actually on Bayou Corney, not Bayou d'Loutre. The Loutre was some eight miles (13 km) northeast of the 200 acres (0.81 km2) of land Sarah Scarborough purchased at the Ouachita Land Office in Monroe between 1840 and 1843.
Written by Timothy Dean Hudson, 2007.
6) Luke H. Smith, Union Parish Louisiana Police Jury Minutes, Second Book, 22 July 1844 - Land Grant on 21 November 1846 at the Land office of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. Conveyance abstracts of court records of Union Parish, Louisiana in a book entitled "Some Slaveholders and Their Slaves" 1839-1865 by Harry F. Dill and William Simpson, pgs 74, 83, 89, 100, and 107
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