USA > Mississippi > A history of Mississippi : from the discovery of the great river > Part 53
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
When Vicksburg had grown to be a city and magnificent steam- boats were borne upon the bosom of the great river, and as the early settlers passed away, their places in the learned professions, banking circles, mercantile and other pursuits, were filled by persons of learning, ability, enterprise and business methods,
596
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
and the few survivors of the days of yore point with pride to the founding of the city, its then restricted resources and hard- ships, and its present imposing proportions and commercial im- portance. The city now has four banks, two cotton compresses, two cotton seed oil mills, two sash factories and planing mills, two foundries, three Episcopal churches, one of which is for colored people ; two Methodist churches, one large Catholic church, and a convent school for girls and another for boys called the "Brothers' School;" one church for each of the Baptist and Presbyterian denominations, all handsome and imposing build- ings, besides a number of churches for the colored people. The city has two daily papers, one of which is an afternoon paper. It has gas and electric lights, two new large and commodious hotels, one of which has recently been completed, and the other is nearly finished ; each of these hotels have all modern improve- ments. The place has a large and handsome cotton exchange. The city has a splendid system of water works, and has fine pub- lic schools, with large and commodious buildings for each race, white and colored. It has also a most efficient fire brigade, with three steam engines, hook and ladder companies, etc.
The banks have abundant capital and the merchants are active, intelligent and progressive and enjoy first-rate credit in the great commercial marts of the country. It is constantly growing and extending its business operations and is increasing its prosperity. It is the largest city in the State.
The towns in addition to Vicksburg are Bovina and New Town.
The principal streams are the Mississippi, Yazoo and Big Black rivers, also Long, McNutt and other lakes.
The railroads are the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas ; the Vicksburg and Meridian, recently changed and now called the Alabama and Vicksburg; and the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific.
Warren county has 91,793 acres of cleared land; average value per acre $14.18 ; total value, including incorporated towns and cities, $4,351,769.
The population as shown by the census of 1890 : whites, 8,643; colored, 24,516; total, 33,159.
SENATORS.
REPRESENTATIVES.
IS20 Heniy D. Downs.
Jas. Gibson.
1821 William Willis.
Francis Griffin.
1822 Ralph Regan.
Jacob Hyland.
1823-'25 Thomas Freeland.
Jas. Gibson.
597
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
IS26 Thomas Freeland.
1827 Harden D. Runnels.
1828-'29 Henry W. Vick.
1830 Henry W. Vick.
1831 John I. Guion.
1833 John I. Guion.
1835 Eugene Magee.
1836
1837 1838 Thos. J. Green.
1839 T. J. Green,
1840 T. J. Green. 1841 T. J. Green.
1842-'43 John I. Guion.
1844 John I. Guion.
1846 John I. Guion.
1848 Wm. A. Lake.
1850 J. E. Sharkey.
1852 J. E Sharkey.
18544 A. H Arthur.
1856-'57 A. H. Arthur.
1858 A. H. Arthur.
1859-'60-'61 C. L. Buck.
1861-'62 C. L. Buck.
· 1865 Chas. Swett.
· 1866-'67 Chas. Swett.
1870-'71 A. Mygatt, T. W. Strin- ger.
1874-'75 C. E. Furlong.
1876-'77 T. C. Catchings, C. E Furlong.
1878 Warren Cowan, C. E. Fur- long. 1880 Warren Cowan, G. K. Bir- chett.
1882 Warren Cowan, W. R. Spears.
1884 Martin Marshall.
1886 Geo. M. Batchelor.
188S Geo. M. Batchelor.
1890 Patrick Henry.
Henry W. Vick. Jas. Gibson.
Wm. L. Sharkey.
Albert G. Creath.
Gibeon Gibson.
Wm. Vick. Wm. Vick.
S. S. Prentiss, T. J. Green.
S. S. Prentiss, T. J. Green.
Egbert J. Sessions, J. Gwinn, J. M. Chilton.
Egbert J. Sessions, Robt. Garland, B. S. Springer. John I. Guion,
A. C. Downs, P. W. Tompkins, Jacob S. Yerger.
P. W. Tompkins, John M. Chilton.
E. J. Sessions, J. Nailor, J. S, Yerger.
J. E. Sharkey, M. Emanuel.
D. B Nailor, E. Mason.
E. G. Marble, R. K. Arthur.
Thos. A. Marshall, E. G. Marble.
Simeon B. Newman, C. L. Buck. David Gibson, C. L. Buck, Jas. C. Newman.
W. C. Sinedes.
W. C. Smedes, W. A. Lake.
W. H. Johnson, F. R. Turley.
D. A Cameron.
D. A Cameron.
C. A. Foster, C. S Langdon, C. P. Head, P. P. Barrow, A. Johnson.
1872-'73 P. B. Barrow, A. Mygatt. H. C. Carter, W. H. Mallory, I. D. Shadd, G. E. Hasey, C. W. Bush.
W. W. Edwards, G. W. Chavis, I. D. Shadd, G. E. Hasey, G. M. Boyd.
J. L. Hebron, Ham C. Carter, W. W. Ed- wards, Jno. P. Hogan.
Martin Marshall, W. C. Pegram, J. W. Good- rum.
Jas Gibson, Jr., S. T. Fortson, W. R. Spears, W. R. Billingslea.
Jas. Gibson, W. W. Edwards. J. W. Bourne, M. Coates.
T. M. Miller, A. W. Brien, M. Coates.
I .. W. Magruder, H. C. McCabe, D. H. Alverson.
L. W. Magruder, Murray F. S.nith, J. H. Brabston.
L. W. Magruder, T. G Birchett, J. H. Brabston.
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Was organized January 29th, 1827, and so called in honor of the father of his country.
Among the early settlers in Washington county were the brothers Turnbull, Robert J. and Andrew, with their cousin, Dr. Charles Turnbull, South Carolinians ; the brothers, Andrew and
598
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Ambrose Knox, Col. Wade Hampton, the son of Major-General Wade Hampton, and his two sons, General Wade Hampton, the present Senator from South Carolina, and his brother Christopher Hampton, also South Carolinians ; Thomas B. Kershaw, of the same State ; Captain Henry and Edward P. Johnson, of the his- toric Johnson family of Kentucky ; George W. and Junius Ward, Thomas B. and Elisha Warfield, also Kentuckians ; General McAllister and James W. Mccutchen ; the Cox brothers, Alfred, John G., Phillip and Seth, all of whom were born in Mississippi ; Howell Hinds, the son of General Thomas Hinds, the soldier in command of Mississippi troops at the battle of New Orleans, who was so highly complimented by General Jackson in general orders ; Col. Henry W. Vick, and his nephew, Captain John Wil- lis, who commanded a company in the famous First Mississippi Regiment in Mexico ; Robert Carter, and his brother Alfred G., Henry T. Irish, Dr. John L. Chapman, the Dudley's, Wm. Brad- ley, John A. Miller, Benjamin Smith, long a citizen of Claiborne county, and his daughter Francis, who inherited his princely estate, and subsequently married Alexander C. Bullet, the distinguished journalist of New Orleans ; Albert Metcalf, a member of the his- toric Metcalf family in Kentucky ; William A. Scott, the son of Governor Abram M. Scott; the Eggs,' the Boyce's, David Sug- getts, William Griffin, Stephen Jackson and his brother; Major William Hunt, the father of the present William E. Hunt, for many years sheriff of the county ; William R. Campbell, Samuel Worthington, Isaac Worthington and Dr. William Worthington, William R. Perkins, William B. Prince, in honor of whom Prince- ton, the former county site, was named; Harvey Miller, Jeffrey James, Abram F. Smith, Benjamin Roach, William Blanton, a portion of whose plantation is now occupied by the present city of Greenville ; Hon. Jacob S. Yerger, who for years was the able and popular judge of the river district, was the father of William G. Yerger, one of the most prominent lawyers in the Yazoo and Mississippi Delta ; has represented Washington county in the State Senate and was a delegate to the Constitutional Con- vention of 1890; Robert P. Shelby, D. Hardeman, Dr. William H. Hammett, a brilliant and showy man, who became probate judge of the county, and subsequently a Representative in Con- gress, and Andrew J. Paxton, the younger brother of the late Wm. H. and Major Alexander M. Paxton, a nephew of the late Alexander G. McNutt, and one of the Representatives of Wash- ington county in the late Constitutional Convention. Any refer-
599
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI,
ence to settlers and citizens of Washington county would be incomplete without that of the late Col. Wm. A. Percy, a resi- dent of the thriving city of Greenville, and for years prior to his death, in January, 1888, the most prominent figure in the Yazoo and Mississippi Delta. He was an Alabamian by birth, though his father was a native of Natchez, Mississippi. Colonel Percy was a graduate of Princeton, and of the law department of the Uni- versity of Virginia. He entered the Confederate service as Cap- tain of the first company which left the county, subsequently served on the staff of Gen. John S. Bowen, during the siege of Vicksburg, and was later chief of artillery. At the close of the war he resumed the practice of law and soon took rank with the ablest members of the bar, the firm of which he was senior mem- ber receiving probably a larger income than any other in the State. Exacting as were the demands of his profession he de- voted much of his time to the discharge of public duties, and the calls of his fellow-citizens always met a prompt response. While generally circumscribed by his section, public and private duties were arduous, but his superior administrative ability was equal to any emergency. Here was the very heart of what is known as the race question, involving at the time of a great crisis the peace of the State. Here was decided the stability of the levee system, upon which so largely depended the revenues and prop- erty of Mississippi. Of these questions Colonel Percy was the recognized leader and guide of his people. The political re- demption, the material development and the ultimate prosperity of the Delta was the central idea of his life. He was a pioneer and chief promoter of the railroads which at last entered and threaded Mississippi's fertile low country, and so wonderfully multiplied its comforts and wealth. Leading his people in that profound movement which resulted in the overthrow of base and alien rule in 1875, Colonel Percy was chosen to the Leg- islature and became one of the noted and influential members of that body. He was a member of the famous Impeachment Com- mittee. Of the next House of Representatives he was Speaker ; this was his only public office, though in the especial service of the levee interest he attended sessions of Congress, and Conven- tions, State, Commercial and National. He was delegate from the State at large to the National Convention of 1880.
The foregoing is a brief sketch of the "Grey Eagle of the Delta," as his admiring friends loved to call him. He possessed
€00
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
that highest of nature's gifts, personal magnetism, that drew to him people of all classes, creeds and conditions. At the time of Colonel Percy's untimely death he had taken such place in the minds of Mississippians that it was only a question of years when he would have been placed in high official station. How great would have been his success upon a broader field there are no means of judging, for he was equal to every occasion presented and to every obstacle encountered.
The first county site of Washington, after its organization, was wholly formed out of the territory previously embraced in Yazoo county, which was located at Princeton on the Mississippi river, with Lake Jackson in its rear.
After a few years the county site was removed to the town of Greenville, on the Mississippi river, a mile or more below the present site of the city of Greenville. It is worthy of remark that both the town of Princeton and the first town of Greenville have entirely disappeared. The great river has engulfed them beneath its remorseless waves, and no vestige remains to tell where people once lived and loved and were moved by human passions and human aspirations.
The present towns in the county are Greenville, having a pop- ulation of 8,000 or more. This is a distributive point, being im- mediately on the river with excellent railroad facilities. There is purchased and shipped from Greenville a large amount of cot- ton. There are in the city four banks, and it requires their com- bined capital to move the cotton, and at the same time supply required funds to develop the uncleared fertile lands. The city has a compress, oil and ice factories, electric lights, street rail- roads, etc. The other towns in the county are Leland, Arcola, Hollondale, Stoneville and Scota.
The principal streams and lakes are the Mississippi river on the west, Bogue Phalia and Sunflower rivers, Black Bayou, Deer Creek, Lakes Washington, Jackson and Lee.
The railroads traversing the county are the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railroad, with its branches or loops, and the Georgia Pacific with one branch.
Washington county has 212,548 acres of cleared land, the av- erage value of which per acre, as rendered to the assessor, is $13.28; total value of cleared lands, including incorporated towns and cities, $4,341,913.
The population, as shown by the census report of 1890 : Whites, 4,619 ; colored, 38,703 ; total, 43,322.
601
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
SENATORS.
1828 Honry W. Vick.
1829-'30 Henry W Vick.
1831 John I. Guion.
1833 John I. Guion.
1835 Eugene Magee.
1836 Eugene Magee.
1837-'38 Jas. D. Hallam.
1839 Felix Walker.
1840 Alfred Cox.
1841 Jas. M. Matlock.
1842-'43 Andrew Knox.
1844 Andrew Knox.
1846 Felix Labauve.
1848 J. J B. White.
1850 J. J. B. White.
1852 W. L. Johnston.
1854 W. L. Johnston.
1856 Peter B. Starke.
1857-'58 Reter B. Starke.
1859-'60-'61 Peter B. Starke.
1861-'62 Peter B. Starke.
. 1865-'66-'67 W. S. Yerger. 1870 Wm. Gray.
1881 Wm. Gray.
1872-'73 Wm. Gray.
1874-'75 Wm. Gray.
1876-'77 Wm. Gray.
1878 W. S. Farish.
1880 W. S. Anderson.
1882 H R Jeffords.
1884 H. R. Jeffords.
1886 Wm. G. Yerger.
1888 Wm. G. Yerger.
1890 Joseph M. Jayne.
Wm. B. Prince.
P. A. Gilbert.
Claudius Gibson.
R. P. Shelby.
R. P. Shelby.
Alfred Cox.
Alfred Cox.
Alfred Cox.
S. R. Dunn.
S. R. Dunn.
R. P. Shelby.
D. W. Connely.
A. F. Smith.
A. K. Smedes.
T. J. Likens.
C. R. Bass.
Charles L. Robards.
A. F. Smith.
F. Valliant.
G. R. Fall.
J. L. Meares.
C. W. Clark, J. Morgan, Dr. Stites.
J. A Ross, J. Morgan, Dr. Stiles.
J. H Morgan, John D. Webster.
W H. Harris, J H. Morgan.
Wm. A. Percy, J. B. Young, S. A. Sander- lin Wm. A. Percy, Wade Hampton, Jr.
John W. Shields, Peter Mitchell.
W. W. Stone, Peter Mitchell.
S. M. Spencer, J. R. Parker, Gilbert Horton.
W. R. Trigg, J. T. Atterbury, Peter Mitch- ell.
R. B. Campbell, John T. Casey, W. H. Harris.
E. N. Thomas, John T. Casey, J. F. Harris.
WAYNE COUNTY
Was established in 1809, and was named in honor of General Anthony Wayne, who was a conspicuous figure among the pa- triots of the American revolution.
General James Patton, afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of the State ; William Patton, Joseph Patton, William Webber, and Zachariah Rogers located in what is now the county, three years before its organization, and Captain George Evans and John Evans came about the same time from Kershaw dis- trict, South Carolina, with pack-horses. The Slays and Sumralls came from Chesterfied district, South Carolina, two years later, and brought their belongings on pack-horses and in rolling hogs- heads. William Poe and Alexander Poe came from Chesterfield
REPRESENTATIVES.
602
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
district, South Carolina, in 1811, and brought their effects on pack-horses and rolling hogsheads. They have numerous de- merous descendants in Wayne and other counties in east Missis- sippi. They are honorable, upright people, favor law and order, and are in all respeets worthy citizens. Ata later day, but in the early settlement of the county, were Gen. William A. Lang, Wil- lis and Stephen Lang, John McRae, father of Governor John J. McRae; John H. Horn, Collins Horn, father of James A. Horn, former Secretary of State; General Thomas P. Falconer, State Senator from the Senatorial district in which he re- sided, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1832 ; the families of McCarty, Mclaughlin, Edwards, Chapman, Hen- dricks, Collins, Horn, Watts, Gray, Toole, Gordon, Cole, Grayson, Crosby, Hugh McLenden, Kelly, Warren, Jones, Brown, Howze, Falconer, Strickland, Lewis, Hutto, Barber, Keasly, Cook, Arrington, Harmon, Parker, Ivey, Odum, Hailes, Tibby, Clarke, Shepherd, Cooley, King, Bush, Wimberly, Davis, Colquohoon, James Mayers, a tailor by trade, father of Judge A. G. Mayers, who has been on the circuit court bench for fourteen years, and now the presiding judge of the eighth judicial dis- trict, and of Captain P. K. Mayers, who has been the greater part of .his life, and is now, a prominent journalist of this State, residing at Scranton. James Mayers was a native of Richmond, Virginia, his father an Israelite, After settling in Wayne county and working at his trade, because of his abilities he was ap- pointed and elected by the people justice of the peace, clerk of the court, sheriff and probate judge, and served in the several positions most acceptably. James Patton and Clinch Gray were delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1817.
Winchester, the county site, was for many years a flourishing village. It was on the most direct road from the Carolinas and Georgia, via St. Stephens, Alabama, to Natchez, on the Missis- sippi river. The county site was removed many years ago to Waynesboro, and there is now searcely a vestige of Winchester.
Wayne county was in early day the residence of many men who filled important public trusts in the State, among whom may be named James Patton, John. A Gimbrall, John H. Mallory, John H. Rollins, John J. MeRae, Powhatan Ellis, Thomas A. Willis, Thos. S. Sterling, Thomas P. Falconer, James A. Horn, James MeDugald, Phillip H. Napier and John Watts.
A fort was erected at Winchester to protect the settlers against the Creek Indians, and General James Patton was elected
603
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
commander. The settlers had no fear of the Choctaws. Mark Cole and Marsh Crane were selected as scouts to watch and learn the movements of the Creeks in Alabama. In the per- formance of their duty, they brought the first news of the mas- sacre of Fort Miras, which occurred on the 30th day of August, 1813.
Fort Mims was the home of Samuel Mims, a gentleman of wealth, on Lake Tensaw, in the southern part of what is now Alabama. He had enclosed with upright logs an acre of ground contiguous to his house, and had prepared port holes a suita- ble distance for protection from the ground. The neighbors when alarmed by the approach of hostile Indians, resorted to this place for defence. The massacre is referred to in preceding pages.
The remains of the fort at Winchester are to be seen to this day.
The principal streams in Wayne county are Chickasahay River, Buckatunna, Ucutta, Cold Water, Yellow, Thompson's, Big and Red Creeks.
Waynesboro, the county site, is on the line of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad.
The county has a quantity of fine timber and much excellent lands, with a contented population.
There are 22,198 acres of cleared land in the county, the value of which, as rendered to the assessor, is $3.29 per acre. The total value of cleared lands, including incorporated towns is $119,848.
The Mobile and Ohio Railroad traverses the county from near Shubuta in Clarke to State Line.
The population of Wayne as shown by the census report of 1890: Whites, 5,769; colored, 4,041; total, 9,810.
SENATORS. REPRESENTATIVES.
1820-21 Howell W. Runnels. Josiah Watts.
1822 Bartlett C Barry.
S. W. Dickson, Josiah Watts.
1823 Bartlett C. Barry.
S. W. Dickson.
1825 Bartlett C. Barry.
Edward Gray, William Patton.
1826 William Dowsing.
Thomas Sterling, John H. Horn.
1827-28 Hamilton Cooper.
Thomas S. Sterling.
1829 Hamilton Cooper.
John Horn.
1830 Thomas S. Sterling.
John H. Horn.
1831 Thomas S. Sterling.
John A. Edwards.
1833 John McLeod.
John A. Edwards.
1835 Thomas P. Falconer.
Alfred Brown.
1836-37 Hanson Alsbury.
J. H. Horn.
1838-39 Frederick Pope.
Joseph Frost
1840-41-42 John Watts.
Joseph Frost.
604
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
1843
Joseph Frost.
1844-46 John H. Horn.
Joseph Frost.
1848-50-52 J. McAfee.
John West.
1854 - Graves.
Samuel H. Powe.
1856-57 S. B. Hathorn.
Samuel H. Powe.
1858 S. B. Hathorn.
1859-60-61 Robert McLain.
1861-62 Robert McLain.
R. M. Tindall.
· 1866-67 P. H. Napier. 1870 W. M. Hancock.
John West, Jr.
William Yeoman.
1871 John Watts.
William Yeoman.
1872-73 T. J. Hardy.
S. G. Gaines.
1874-75 T. L. Mendenhall.
-- Thompson.
1876-77 T. L. Mendenhall.
John F. McCormick.
1878-80 Stanley Gibert.
John P. Seabrook.
1882-84 James S. Eaton.
Alexander T. Powe.
1886-88 J. L. Morris.
J. R. S. Pitts.
1890 A. G. Ferguson.
D M. Taylor.
WEBSTER COUNTY
Was established April 6th, 1874. It was first called Sumner. The name was charged to Webster in 1882, in honor of the great ex- pounder of the Constitution, Daniel Webster. In the act crea- ting the county, authority was conferred upon the Governor to appoint five persons who should constitute a Board of Super- visors, charged with the duty of organizing the county. Au- thority was also given the Governor to appoint all county offi- cers, and at the same time requiring the new county to pay its proportion of the existing debt due by the counties out of which it was formed.
While the county yet bore the name of Sumner, M. A. Metts, was its first, and J. E. Bridges, its second State Senator After the change of name to Webster, S. M. Roane first repre- sented the county in the State Senate.
The principal towns in Webster are Walthall, the county site, named in honor of Major-General Edward C. Walthall; Greens- boro, Cumberland, Cadaretta, Monte Vista, Bellefontaine and Fame.
The streams are Big Black river, Horsepen, Lindsey, Spring and Calabuta creeks.
The Georgia Pacific railroad traverses the southern boundary of the county.
Webster has 93,772 acres of cleared land, average value per acre $3.19 ; total value, including incorporated towns, $336,119.
J. H. Horn.
fohn West.
1865 P. H. Napier.
R. M. Tindall.
605
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
The population as shown by the census report of 1890 : whites, 9,034; colored, 3,026 ; total, 12,060.
SENATORS. REPRESENTATIVES.
1875 M. A. Metts.
1876 M. A. Metts.
1877 M. A. Metts.
Samuel E. Parker.
1878 J. E. Bridges.
1879 J. E. Bridges.
1880 J E. Bridges.
1882 S M. Roane.
1884 S. M. Roane.
1886 J. W. Barron, H. L. Burkitt. J. E. Bridges.
1888 J. W. Barron, A. A. Mont- J. R. Nolen.
gomery.
1890 J. R. Nolen, A. A. Mont- G. W. Dudley. gomery.
WILKINSON COUNTY
Was established January 30th, 1802; carved out of Adams county and named in honor of Major-General James Wilkinson, commanding the United States army during the territorial era of Mississippi.
Among the early settlers of the county were Peter Smith, the father of Coteworth Pinckney Smith, who represented the county in both branches of the Legislature, was subsequently elected Judge of the High Court of Errors and Appeals, and was for some years prior to, and at the time of his death, its Chief Jus- tice. He has one son and one daughter living-the former, who bears the name of his father, a physician of high standing in Arkansaw City, and the latter, a young lady of rare culture re- siding in Jackson. John Dunkley, Thomas Kirkham, John L. Lewis, John Sapp and Judge Edward McGehee were early settlers; the latter a planter of large fortune and devoted to the Metho- dist church, of which he was an honored member. He donated to the church, subject to control of the conference, the attractive woodlawn and grounds at Woodville, upon which the Seminary is located. He was the owner of the noted woodlawn "Bowling Green," probably the handsomest in the State; it is one and a half miles in length and three-fourths of a mile in width and contains over eighty varieties of wood. Judge McGehec repre- sented the county as early as 1825. His son, Hon. George T. McGehee has also represented the county and was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1890. Wilkinson county was repre- sented in the Constitutional Convention of 1817, by George
606
HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
Poindexter, Abram M. Scott, Gerard C. Brandon, Daniel Wil- liams, John Joor and Joseph Johnson. The three first named have been mentioned in preceding pages. Archibald McGehee, Landon Davis, Hugh Davis, Patrick Foley, Doctor Cooper, the father of General Douglas Cooper, General William L. Brandon, Wm. and James A. Ventress, Nolan Stewart, the father of Hon. Jas. D. Stewart, who represented the county in the Legislature in 1850, and since the war was State Senator from Hinds and Rankin and subsequently Register of United States Land Office at Jackson by appointment of President Cleveland ; T. Jones Stewart, member of the State Senate, William Stewart, Hugh Connell, Wm. Stamps, Harry, Albert, C. C., and Pulaski Cage ; the first mentioned served as a member of Congress, and Hon. C. C. Cage was for some years circuit judge; William and Joseph Johnson, both of whom were members of the Legislature; John N. Evans, Frank Evans, George W. Carter, John Henderson, a member of the State Senate and subsequently a United States Senator; E. H. and Levin R. Wailos, Jerry Nolans, William Lind. sey, George B. and William Newell, William M. Tigner, Sir William Dunbar, a gentleman of scholarly attainments and scientist ; W. A. Richardson, Wm. Yerby, N. Liddell, Edward F. Farish, the father of Captain Wm. S. Farish, district attorney ; Gerard C. Brandon and Joseph Johnson were delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1832 ; William Haile, M. F. Degraf- fenreid, Thos. B. Ellis, T. B. Hadley, Alfred T. Moore and Pres- ton W. Farrar, served as State Senators; John Poindexter, John Sims, Col. Sample, Doctor Carmichael, Rev. Doctor William Winans, a distinguisned Methodist divine. Some years later were the Hooks family, H. F. Simrall, who represented the county in the Legislature, was Judge of the Supreme Court and for some years its chief justice.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.