W. W. Carloss

William W. Carloss (May 1833 – August 1, 1900)^[1] was a Democrat who served from 1874 to 1878 in the Louisiana House of Representatives as the first member ever of the newly created Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana.^[2]

However, little is known of Carloss's time in Louisiana except for his service as a first lieutenant and captain in the Confederate States Army, particularly in May 1863, less than three months after his first marriage. He fought in the Siege of Port Hudson near Baton Rouge and was believed to have been mortally wounded. He soon recovered but surrendered to Union forces on July 8.^[1][3]

In March 1863, Carloss married in Bossier Parish the former Emma A. Stewart,^[1] and the couple had three children, Robert A., Virginia W., and Theodosia Carloss.^[1][4] After Emma's death, he married in 1877 during his last year in the Louisiana House Mary F. Parks (1833-1909), not in Louisiana but in Lafayette County in southwestern Arkansas. He earned his livelihood as a farmer.^[1]

John Sidney Killen, a farmer and cattleman in first Claiborne Parish and then Webster Parish after its creation in 1871, was in office that year. From 1873 to 1874, the representative for Webster Parish was Clarence Pratt. J. J. Carter succeeded Carloss in the House^[2] and was subsequently a mayor of Minden from 1891 to 1893.^[5]

Carloss is interred at Little Rock National Cemetery. His wife Mary is buried at Wilson Cemetery in Lewiville in Lafayette County. Her grave marker mentions that she was Carloss's wife.^[6]

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