Captain Michael Dempsey - Jena, Louisiana

Richard Hiram Perez-Cruet, New Orleans, LA - August 20, 2002

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Captain Michael Dempsey, was born in County Cork, Ireland, in September 1822, and immigrated to America sometime late in the 1830s. After living several years with relatives in New York and Rhode Island, he travelled south in 1840 to fight the Seminole Indians in Florida, who at that time were at war with the United States. He is seen here with his wife, my great, great grandmother, the former Eveline B. Cockerham, on the occassion of their 50th wedding anniversary in 1902.

Captain Dempsey also participated in the Mexican War of 1846 in Texas, before finally settling in the small rural community of Jena, in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, around 1850. There he raised a large family and became a well-known farmer and planter. The local Masonic hall, Michael Dempsey Lodge No. 327, F & A. M. No. 327, was named in his honor sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Captain Dempsey was also a member of the first Board of Directors of the Jena Seminary organized and chartered in 1890. If you have additional information, please let me know.

Click here to read an Autobiographical Letter witten by Captain Dempsey in 1874 to his cousin James, still living in Ireland.

Click here to read a 1929 newspaper article from the local Jena newspaper concerning Captain Dempsey's Masonic affiliation and political opinions. Click here to see the Dempsey Family Tree.

Captain Dempsey is buried with his wife, several of his children, and other relatives in the Dempsey family cemetery near Jena, Louisiana. May God bless him and all of his descendents.

If you have any additional information, please email rick_perez@hotmail.com

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