January 14, 1898

Joseph William Bocage died. Bocage was born on the island of St. Lucia in the French West Indies. His father, William Coit Bocage, owned a large sugar and coffee plantation, a mercantile, and a shipping business. He died at the age of twenty-one, when Bocage was an infant. Bocage moved to the United States with his widowed mother when he was three years old. Bocage set out to make his fortune at age sixteen, settling in Arkansas–primarily Pine Bluff (Jefferson County). He served as attorney for the Second Judicial District from 1844 to 1849 and as judge of the county court. He was a successful planter, lumberman, inventor, manufacturer, and building contractor. He is buried in Bellwood Cemetery in Pine Bluff.