East Baton Rouge News

Died on April 5, 1802 at his plantation in Baton Rouge Samuel Steer Esq. in the 63d year of his age.

Maryland Gazette, (Annapolis, MD) Wednesday, February 15, 1809; Issue [3240]; col B
MARRIED, on the evening of the sixth of January, at the house of his Excellency Governor de Grand Pre, at Baton Rouge, col. Samuel Fulton, to Miss Helen de Grand Pre, eldest daughter of his Excellency

Baton Rouge- As Baton Rouge is becoming famous in a history of a new state of west Florida, the following account of the origin of its name taken form "The History of Louisiana, or of the Western parts of Virginia and Carolina" by M Le Page Du Pratz published ( in translation from the French) at London in 1763 may not be entertaining. "The Baton Rouge is on the east side of the Mississippi and distant 26 leagues from New Orleans. It was formerly the grant of M Artaguette D'Iron it is there we see the famous cypress tree, of which a ship carpenter offered to make two pettyaugres one of sixteen and one of fourteen tons. Some one of the first adventurers who landed in this quarter, happened to say that tree would make a fine walking stick, and as cypress is a red wood, it was afterwards called Le Baton Rouge (The Red Staff) Its height could never be measured it rises to out of sight. The Supporter, (Chillicothe, OH) Saturday, January 19, 1811;

Not too many modern baseball fans may remember Buddy Myer, who died the other day in a Baton Rouge. La., hospital at 70. Buddy played 17 years of major league baseball during the '20s and '30s, all but one of those years with the Washington Senators. He had that one year with the Boston Red Sox. Buddy was a real fine guy. totally admired by those of us who covered portions of his career, among them Shirley Povich, Francis Stann, Jack Keller, Buck O'Neill, Dick McCann, Garrett Waters and myself. We all were moved indignantly when he was given so little national attention in 1935 when he won the American League's batting championship, beating out Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig and other celebrated hitters. He wasn't even sent in to pinch- hit in the All Star Game. The knock on Buddy at the time was that he hit only .349 in his big year. Today, if a fellow hits a hundred points lower, the breathless guy on the telecast will hail him as a fiercely dangerous guy at the plate. Buddy gave us all—his fellow players and those of us who were assigned to report on him—a touch of class. Which is more than can be said of a bunch of the spooks in the Hall of Fame. November 08, 1974 Brownsville, Texas

B ack to East Baton Rouge Page