Joseph Gonzales (politician)

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 starting in 1922 (when the city got the status of village). The city was named "Gonzales" after him.

Joseph “Tee Joe” Gonzales was born in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. He was the son of "Big" Joseph M. Gonzales (May 28, 1835, St. Amant, Louisiana - December 21, 1897) and Mrs Adorea Marchand Gonzales (-1890). His father was a soldier (serving in the Confederate Army from June 10, 1862, along with his brother John Alfred Gonzales), Captain of the New River Rangers, police chief (from 1866), and sheriff of the village (1886). Joseph M. Gonzales was a descendant of Spanish settlers from the Canary Islands who settled in Louisiana between 1778 and 1782.

In 1887 Tee Joe Gonzales opened a small shop in Gonzales and established its first post office, which was known as the Gonzales Post Office, and subsequently became Gonzales' 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 1906and was elected mayor of Gonzales City in 1922 (or 1928, according to the source), becoming the first mayor of the village.

Tee Joe ran the family business out of his little home, situated on the main street, and 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 1932, 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.

He married Marie Felicite Bourgeois Gonzales (1861 - 1949). The former mayor of Gonzales, Johnny Berthelot, is the great-nephew of Gonzales.

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