Joseph (José) Stonewall Gonzales, aka "Tee Joe" Gonzales or Joseph Gonzales (September 11, 1862 – April 20, 1940), was an American politician and businessman. He served as the first Mayor of modern Gonzales, Louisiana, serving between 1922 (when the city got the status of village) and 1936. In 1887 Gonzales founded the first post office of the city, the Gonzales Post Office. This post office gives its name to the city.

Family

Joseph "Tee Joe" Gonzales was born in Ascension Parish, Louisiana.Find a grave: Tee Joe” Gonzales
Created by Bobby Fortenberry He was the son of "Big" Joseph M. Gonzales (May 28, 1835,

St. Amant, Louisiana St. Amant (or Saint Amant) is an unincorporated community located in Ascension Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. This community has not been incorporated into a city or town. It is situated about 25 miles south-east of Baton Rouge. and 50 ...

– December 21, 1897) and Mrs Adorea Marchand Gonzales (−1890). His father was a soldier (serving in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

from June 10, 1862, along with his brother John Alfred Gonzales),

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the New River Rangers,Find a grave: Capt Joseph M. Gonzales
Created by Bev. police chief (from 1866),Bienmesabe: Nuevos pueblos formados por isleños de Louisiana
(in Spanish: New peoples formed by Isleños in Louisiana), posted by Manuel Hernández González in November 15, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011, to 19:43 pm. and

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

of the village (1886).City of Gonzales, Louisiana: History of Gonzales´s city
Joseph M. Gonzales was a descendant of Spanish settlers from the Canary Islands, who settled in Louisiana between 1778 and 1782. Settlers in Louisiana from the Canaries are known as Isleños.

Career

In 1887 Tee Joe Gonzales opened a small shop in modern-day GonzalesMay 6, 2008 – "Tee-Joe Gonzales Museum"
Retrieved in August 9, 2014, to 23:01 pm. and established its first post office,Bizier, Richard (1998).
Louisiana
Pelican Publishing Company. Page 164. which was known as the Gonzales Post Office, and subsequently became first postmaster. For this reason, a few years later, the Railroad Commission decided to change the name of the area from Edenborn to Gonzales, to match the post office name, and ordered the local railroad to change the name also. Tee Joe Gonzales subdivided the village in April 1906 and was elected mayor of Gonzales City in 1922 (or 1928, according to other sourceGonzales mayor leaving after 8th term in office
Posted by Annabelle Armstrong in December 30, 2008 to 12:01 am.), becoming the first mayor of the village.Baldwin, Jack (1999)
Baldwin's Guide to Museums of Louisiana
Pelican Publishing Company. Page 102. Tee Joe ran the family business out of his little home, situated on the main street. He and his brother bought land and sold it as smaller plots, and he encouraged policies that caused the growth of Gonzales. Gonzales retired as mayor of Gonzales in 1936, having been in office longer than any of the next seven mayors. Today, he is considered the best mayor in the city's history. Joseph Gonzales died in Gonzales on April 20, 1940, and he was buried in the town's Saint Theresa of Avila Catholic Cemetery.

Personal life

He married Marie Felicite Bourgeois Gonzales (1861–1949). The former mayor of Gonzales,

Johnny Berthelot John Alan Berthelot, known as Johnny Berthelot (born November 1951), is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 88, based in his hometown of Gonzales in eastern Ascension Parish near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. ...

(who governed Gonzales from 1984 until 2008), is the great-nephew of Gonzales.

Legacy

* The city he lived in was named "Gonzales" after him. * The Tee Joe Gonzales Museum is a museum opened to honor Tee-Joe and the Gonzales town in Gonzales, Louisiana. The museum was established in the little cottage he built on the banks of New River around 1910.

Notes

References

External links

Letter to Mr. Joseph Gonzales from Nicholls W Bowden of the Louisiana Highway commission
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzales, Joseph Louisiana Isleño people American people of Spanish descent People from Gonzales, Louisiana American businesspeople 1862 births 1940 deaths Mayors of places in Louisiana People born in the Confederate States