Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II, Part 107

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Mississippi > Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II > Part 107

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F. L. Riley, Jr., son of F. L. Riley, Sr., was born in Simpson and reared in Lawrence county. After receiving a preparatory education in the common schools, he entered Missis- sippi college in 1884, where he received the degree of A. B. in 1889, taking first honors in a class of nine. He received the degree of A. M. in June, 1891. While in college he was editor-in-chief of the Mississippi College Magazine, and first lieutenant of the Mississippi College Invincibles. During the four and one half years of his college life he never received a demerit or a reproof from any member of the faculty of that institution. Immediately after graduation he was employed as principal of Hebron high school, and since that time has successfully conducted the affairs of that institution. He was married to Miss Fannie Leigh in July, 1891. She was born in Cleburne, Texas, but when quite young, owing to the death of her parents, made her home with her aunt, Mrs. M. L. Powell, in Grenada, Miss. She graduated at the Central Female institute in 1886. After graduating she taught in this institution two sessions. For the last two sessions she has been teaching music in the Hebron high school. Mr. Riley is a democrat, being a member of the democratic executive committee of Lawrence county. He is a very talented and promising young man, with a bright future before him, if his life be spared.

In reviewing the pioneer history of Carroll county, the name of Benjamin Roach is found as early as 1835, in which year he located near Carrollton; the town then consisted of a few houses, as it had but recently been laid out, and the time since it had been made the county-seat had not long passed. Mr. Roach made his home with Col. John L. Irwin, for three years, and one year of that time he was tutor to the Colonel's children. He next came to Carrollton and started a tannery, and did a large business for six years; in connection with this he carried on the manufacture of boots, shoes and saddles, attracting a fine pat- ronage in this line of trade. Disposing of his manufacturing interests, he went to the country and engaged in farming, but in 1852, he returned to town and re-embarked in the mercantile trade, to which he has since devoted his time and energies. Mr. Roach is a native of Davidson county, N. C., born October 30, 1812; he was reared and educated in the county of his birth. John Roach, his father, was also a native of North Carolina; he was a man of good abilities, and had an unusually fine education for the time in which he lived; he was a surveyor by profession. The Roach family are descendants from English ancestors. John Roach married Margaret Miller, a native of North Carolina, and of Ger- man lineage. Benjamin Roach, their son, was married in Carroll county, Miss., September 6, 1838, to Nancy Ann Goodson, who was born in Hinds county, Miss., and is a daughter of James and Elizabeth Goodson. She died March 26, 1885, mourned by all who had known her. She was the mother of four sons and four daughters: Elizabeth, the wife of Joseph H. Lawrence, of Hinds county, Miss .; Margaret, wife of D. Mayes, of Oxford, Miss .; Ellen, wife of Dr. T. H. Matthews, of Carrollton, Miss .; Nannie, wife of M. Russell, of

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MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

Canton, Miss. ; the sous were Thomas J., who was a soldier in the Confederate army, and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; B. F., a merchant of Carrollton; James L., deceased leaving a wife and four children; and Charles B., who died at the age of seventeen years. Mr. Roach is a member of the Baptist church, and has been clerk of the same church for fifty years, his accomplishments in the way of penmanship well fitting him for that office. He also belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and is a royal and select Master Mason; he has served as secretary of his lodge for thirty years.

Dr. Joseph C. Robert, a physician of Centerville, Miss., is a native of Beaufort district, S. C., and is the second child and eldest son born to the marriage of William H. Robert and Georgia W. Clark, the former of whom was a native of the same district and the lat- ter of Columbia, S. C. William H. Robert was born July 15, 1821. He was the son of James Jehu and Phoebe (Mckenzie) Robert, natives of South Carolina and of Savannah, Ga., respectively. James Jehu Robert (who was familiarly known as Deacon Jehu), was the son of John and Elizabeth (Dixon) Robert; John Robert was the son of Jacques and Sarah (Jaudon) Robert, both of whom were natives of South Carolina; Jacques Robert was the son of Pierre and Judith (Videaunt) Robert; Pierre was the son of Rev. Pierre Robert (who was born near Basel, Switzerland), and Jean (Bayer) Robert (also a native of Switzerland). The father of Rev. Pierre Robert was Daniel Robert, of Saint Imier, Switzerland, whose paternal ancestors were from Wales. His wife was a Huguenot lady whose Christian name (Marie) only is known. Daniel Robert was born about the year 1625. One of his sons, Pierre Robert (mentioned above), was a minister. He was born in 1655, and being exiled by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, he came with other Huguenots to South Carolina in 1685 and settled near the Santee river. Of his presence there, Ramsey, the historian of South Carolina, makes prominent mention. He was pastor of the church at Santee from 1685 to 1715. He is mentioned by the Presbyterian his- torian, Rev. Dr. Howe, as a Waldensian pastor of Piedmont. The French colony on the Santee is thus described by Lawson, who visited them from England in 1700. He says: "They lived as comfortably as any planters in these Southward parts of America." He commended them for their temperance, industry and brotherly affection. "They are all of the same opinion of the Church of Geneva, there being no difference among them respecting the punctilios of their Christian faith. There is a happy and delightful con- cord in all other matters throughout the whole neighborhood, as kindred, everyone making it his business to share in the misfortunes and rejoice in the advance of the others of the community." Rev. Pierre Robert died in 1715, leaving three children: Pierre, Jean and Elias. Pierre, the eldest son, was born at Basel, Switzerland, in 1680, and came with his parents to South Carolina in 1685, and married Judith Videaunt in 1706. He died in March, 1731, leaving four children: Captain Pierre, Jacques, Madeline and Elizabeth (who married Elias Jaudon, a prominent man in the public affairs of the South Carolina colony). Jacques Robert, the second son, was born April, 1711, was married to Sarah Jaudon in 1735, and died in 1774. He left seven children: James, Peter, Elizabeth, John, Elias, Sarah and Judith. John Robert, the fourth child, was born in July, 1742, married, April 19, 1770, Elizabeth Dixon, a granddaughter of Landgrave Smith, and died February 24, 1826, leaving nine children: Mary H , Elizabeth Ann, John H., Thomas S., William H., James Jehu, Benjamin N., Sarah D. and Lucia. James Jehu, the sixth child, was born in November, 1781, and in 1802 he married Charlotte Lawton, by whom he had seven children: Thirza, Benjamin J., Joseph T., Eliza J., Alexander L., Sarah H. and Benjamin J .; and by his second marriage (in 1817 to Phobe Mckenzie) he had twelve children: Law-

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

rence J., William H., Milton G., Adaline E., Juliana E., Charlotte H., Alexander J., Francis W., Richard F., J. Story, Benjamin F. and Edward A. The father of these chil- dren was a man of wealth and education, was highly religious and well respected. He was famous for his hospitality and generous disposition, and was prominent in everything he undertook. He was deacon of the Baptist church in Robertville, S. C., for thirty years. Of his nineteen children, thirteen lived to be grown, and at his death, in 1852, twelve were yet living.

The first wife was descended from Landgrave Thomas Smith, of England. She was born in 1788, and died in 1817. Her husband, James Jehu Robert, was descended from the same Thomas Smith on his mother's side. The second wife was born in 1797, and died in 1854. She was a woman of sterling Christian character, and was the granddaughter of Dr. George Mosse, deacon of the Baptist church at Savannah, Ga. William H., the second child of the second marriage, was born July 15, 1821, near Robertville, S. C., where he was reared. He was educated at South Carolina university. He started in business as a planter, and was married in 1840, becoming a Baptist minister about 1844, at his native town. He moved to Georgia in 1851, where he was pastor of the first Baptist church of

By first marriage:

Thirza Benjamin J. Joseph T. Eliza J. Alexander L. Sarah H. Benjamin J.

By first marriage: Joseph C. William P.

Jean

Daniel 3 Pierre - Pierre

Elias

Pierre Jacques Madeline Elizabeth

James Peter Elizabeth John Elias Sarah Judith

Mary H. Elizabeth A. John H. Thomas S. William H. James J. Benjamin N. Sarah D. Lucia

By second marriage: Eloise E.

By second marriage:

Lawrence J. William H. Milton G. Adaline E.

Joseph C. . William H. James J. Sallie P.

Fannie R.

Henry H. Shelby A.

James Jehu

Juliana E. Charlotte H.

Alexander J.

Francis W. Richard F. J. Story Benjamin F. Edward A.

Atlanta, from 1852 to 1854. He filled the chair of mathematics at Cherokee Baptist college at Cassville, Ga., for two years, and was pastor of the Baptist church at Marietta, Ga., for two years. He was president of the Southern Female college at La Grange, Ga., for several years, and during the latter part of the war was appointed missionary to the Confederate troops. After the war he went to Little Rock, Ark., where he became pastor of the First Baptist church. He has been recently living in Denison, Tex., and was there engaged in ministerial work. Georgia W. Clark, his first wife, was born in Columbia, S. C., December 22, 1822, and died in 1870. She was the daughter of John W. and Mary (Roach) Clark, of Columbia, S. C. She was finely educated, and was a model Christian mother. To her marriage were born eight children, five of whom lived to be grown, and four of them are yet living: Eloise E., married Rev. Charn'er T. Scaife, of South Carolina, and died in 1872; Joseph C., the subject of this sketch; William H., who is now a druggist of Denison, Tex. ; James Jehu, a prominent physician of Hillsboro, Tex., and Sallie P., who married J. W. Whitaker, of Wilkinson county, Miss. The father of these children was married the second time to Mrs. Power, nee Miss Lea, of Alabama, a lady of marked intelligence and piety, a sister-in-law of Gen. Sam Houston, of Texas. She died January 24, 1891. Dr.

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MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

Robert, the subject of this sketch, was born in 1844; was reared in Georgia, and was educated at the Cherokee Baptist college and at the Georgia Military institute. In 1862 he became a mem- ber of company E, Fourth regiment, Georgia infantry, and was afterward commissioned a lieutenant in the Confederate provisional army. At the close of the war he studied medicine, and graduated at the Nashville Medical college, Nashville, Tenn., in 1868. He then went to Arkansas where he practiced his profession for five years; then moved to Wilkinson county, Miss. (1873), locating in Centerville in 1874, where he has since resided and practiced his profession. He was married in March, 1870, to Miss Rebecca Whitaker of this county, who was born in 1849, and died in 1877, leaving a family of two children: Joseph C., now in the senior class of the Agricultural and Mechanical college of Mississippi, and William Pierre, of the United States Naval academy at Annapolis. The Doctor's second marriage was in January, 1879, to Fannie Harris, daughter of H. J. Harris, a prominent Methodist minister of this state. She was born in 1842 in Mississippi, and has borne her husband four children : Fannie R., Henry H., Shelby A. and James Jehu. Mrs. Robert is a member of the Method- ist church, and Dr. Robert is a member and deacon of the Baptist church of Centerville.

In the midst of the failures and disasters of life it is a real pleasure to review the career of a man whose efforts have finally been crowned with success. Charles Roberts is an Amer- ican by adoption, having been born in Plymouth, England, November 24, 1831. He was educated in the land of his birth, and did not emigrate to the United States until 1852. He spent six years in the East and the state of Ohio, and in 1858 he came to Mississippi, making a permanent settlement in Oxford. Since that time he has taken rank among the most pro- gressive citizens of the town. At the outbreak of the Civil war he abandoned his business and entered the Confederate service. He was in Stanford's battery for two years, and par- ticipated in many a hard-fought battle. Among the most important are: Perryville, Mur- freesboro and Chickamauga. He was offered at the end of two years a position in the quar- termaster's department, and served as acting brigade quartermaster until the close of the

war.

He then returned to Oxford and was the first to resume business there.

He erected a

business building on the ruins of the former town, the business portion of which had been destroyed by the Federal soldiers. He soon won a very large patronage, and for many years past has been one of the leading merchants of the county. He has always taken an active interest in the young men in his employ, impressing on them that capacity and integrity was all the capital a young man required to insure success in life. He has three dry goods stores in the state, located at Oxford, Durant and Gunnison. These enterprises are in a flourish- ing condition, and the managing partners are all young men, selected on his theory that capacity and integrity are equivalent to capital. From 1878 to 1883 he was out of business in Oxford, and during that time was in New Orleans engaged in the cotton trade in the firm of Varden, Hawkins & Roberts. In 1875 he was one of the organizers of the Southern bank of Oxford. He is now president of the Merchants' and Farmers' bank of Oxford, and is vice president of the Bank of Yazoo City. He has assisted in the organization of many of the banks of Mississippi, and is a stockholder in seven different banking institutions. In 1854 Mr. Roberts was married, but this union was of short duration as his wife soon after- ward died. He was married a second time to Miss Maggie McKee of Yazoo county, and this wife died in 1890, leaving four children. The Roberts home is one of the finest and most complete in the state. It is artistically furnished, surrounded by well-kept grounds, which are shaded by majestic water-oaks. Among other blessings, Mr. Roberts has always enjoyed the best of health, and is now in the prime of a vigorous, well-ordered manhood. He is a selfmade man in every sense of that term, having come to America without any means

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

except that capital with which he had been endowed by nature. In the war he lost all that he had accumulated previously, and like so many other sons of the South, had to begin the struggle of life over again. He now pays taxes on thirty-seven thousand acres of land. Mr. Roberts has been a member of the Presbyterian church for the past twenty-five years.

In the list of the business establishments of Jackson, Miss., the insurance agency of Wharton & Roberts occupies a prominent position. H. C. Roberts, the junior member of the firm, was born near Edwards, Hinds county, Miss., in 1860, the youngest of three chil- dren born to Isaac and Martha (Todd) Roberts, the mother being the daughter of John Read, who was one of the earliest settlers of the county, and died at the age of eighty-four years. Isaac Roberts was a Mississippian by birth and spent the greater part of his life in Hinds county, in the progress and prosperity of which he was deeply interested. He was the owner of quite extensive plantation interests near Edwards, and prior to the Civil war was one of the largest planters in his section. In his latter years he was an invalid and died in July, 1874, at the age of eighty-four years, an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The maternal grandfather became the father of quite a large family, four of his sons serving in the Confederate army, Maj. Charles Read being a naval officer of considerable note. After the war he ran a vessel from New Orleans to Central America, his home being in the former place, where he held government offices. He died in 1890. John Read, another son, is now a Presbyterian minister in the Indian nation. William Read is a physician of Bryant, and another son, Joe, is a druggist of the same place. H. C. Roberts was educated in the University of Mississippi, but left school in 1881 and engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at Raymond with a brother, the firm name being J. W. Roberts & Co., which still continues to do the largest business of that place, a full supply of general merchandise and plantation supplies being kept constantly on hand. The stock which they carry amounts to about $15,000, and their annual sales equal $75,000 at least. In October, 1890, Mr. Roberts opened an insurance agency in Jackson, where they do fire, marine, life and accident insur- ance. The proprietors of this firm are business men of experience and sound judgment, and under their guidance the business has attained its present excellent proportions. Mr.

Roberts owns a plantation of one thousand acres near Raymond, of which four hundred acres are in a fine state of cultivation. Mr. Roberts is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and as a business man, possesses ability of a high order. On April 26, 1888, he was married to Miss Corabel Wharton, a daughter of F. A. R. Wharton, an early settler of Mississippi, and to their union, one little daughter has been born: Corabel.

Although young in years, Perry B. Roberts, stockman, Calhoun, is one of the pros- perous men of Madison county, Miss., and is engaged in the stock business at the present time. He was born in Iowa on the second of April, 1866, and was the second of three chil- dren born to Isaac P. and Margaret (Marr) Roberts, the father a native of New York state and the mother of Pennsylvania. The former was professor of agriculture in the Iowa State Agricultural college and has held several other important positions which he filled in a very creditable manner. Since 1873 he has been professor of agriculture in the Cornell university, Ithaca, N. Y., and is one of the prominent men of that state. His father was Edmond Rob- erts. The maternal grandparents, James and Mary Marr, were natives of Indiana. Perry B. Roberts was reared in York state and educated in Ithaca high school until seventeen years of age. He then entered the Cornell university in 1883, graduated from that institution four years later, and then came to Mississippi, where he has since been engaged in the stock business. He has three thousand acres of pasture and twenty-two hundred cattle, ranging all the way from calves to four year old steers. He does not raise, but buys and sells. He

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MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

pastures about one thousand or twelve hundred through the summer and then fattens four or five hundred during the winter for market. He raises his own feed of various kinds suit- able for fattening purposes, and thereby dispenses with the expense of buying his feed. He also handles sheep but not extensively, having about six hundred head last year. He has a trade all over the state, selling to butchers in different parts of the same, and he also ships to Chicago, New York and New Orleans. It pays better, however, to ship to points in the state and he makes that a specialty. He is a thoroughgoing, energetic young man and is justly deserving of success. He has a fine education and takes a great deal of interest in all modern literature.

Capt. Stokeley E. Roberts, of Fulton, Itawamba county, Miss., has a war record of which any man might well feel proud. In 1862 he enlisted at Columbus, Miss., in the Sec- ond Mississippi cavalry under Colonel Gordon, and was elected captain of one of the compa- nies composing that regiment. He did gallant service in the battle of Harrisburg, and in various other engagements and skirmishes in northern Mississippi and Alabama, and was paroled at Decatur, Ala., in the spring of 1865. He was born January 23, 1825, a son of John and Sarah (Multins) Roberts, both of whom are natives of Georgia. He was educated in the common schools of Itawamba county. In 1847 he married Elizabeth R. Spearman, a native of Mississippi and a daughter of Elijah and Sydney Spearman, both natives of Ten- nessee. To Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have been born thirteen children, eight of whom lived to maturity: Sarah E., Mary M., Ophelia A., Ada E., Ida, Zerah, Rubuster, Cleo; and Lafay- ette, J. E., Ella, Elijah A. and another unnamed, all deceased. Mr. Roberts is a democrat politically, and is a member of the Farmers' Alliance. He served as deputy marshal for four years. He and his wife and all his children are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He lives on a beautiful plantation, surrounded by all the comforts and most of the luxuries of life, and also owns a valuable farm of six hundred acres in Texas. As a citizen he stands deservedly high, having contributed his full share toward the development and improvement of the county, and takes a deep interest in all political questions, local, state and national.

Charles Henry Robertson, Hernando, Miss., has lived in De Soto county since he was a child three years of age. He was born in Hardeman county, Tenn., December 19, 1839, and is the youngest of a family of eight children. His parents, Gen. J. C. N. and Mar- garet (Reagan) Robertson, were natives of Washington county, Tenn. The father was born in 1792, and was well and favorably known throughout Tennessee. He was brigadier-gen- eral of the state militia, and for fifteen years was sheriff of Hardeman county. He was a member of the constitutional convention of the state, and was afterward a member of the state senate. He removed to Mississippi in 1842, and settled in De Soto county, three miles from Hernando, and engaged in planting. There he passed the remainder of his days, his death occurring in 1880. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, holding an official position. He was grand master of the Masonic lodge of Tennessee for a number of years. His wife survived him, and is still living, at the age of ninety-five years. She was born in 1795. The paternal grandparents were George and Susan (Nelson) Robertson, both of whom lived to be very old. They were of Scotch extraction. The maternal grandparents were John and Martha (Black) Reagan, the former being a native of Ireland, and the latter of North Carolina. The Blacks were originally from England. Charles Henry Robertson was sent to the public schools of his own county, and was also a student at La Grange, Tenn. Soon after leaving school, in 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss Emma L. Caffey, who was born in Hernando, Miss., a daughter of Thomas Y. and Louisa (Hanks) Caffey. (See

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

sketch of T. Y. Caffey.) Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Robertson: Thomas Caffey, Charles Reagan, Emma L., John W. and Annie Bell. After his marriage Mr. Rob- ertson embarked in the mercantile trade, and has followed the business continuously ever since. When there was a call for men to go to the country's aid he enlisted in 1862, in company I, Twenty-ninth Mississippi volunteer infantry, and served as sergeant-major for two years. He was in the battles of Stone river and Chickamauga, and at Lookout mountain he was taken prisoner. He was sent to Rock Island, where he was held until the sur- render. After his release he returned to his home, and set about rebuilding his shattered fortunes. He has been successful in this effort, as he is now the owner of twenty-five hun- dred acres of land, two thousand of which are under cultivation. He also owns a half interest in the business of Robertson & Goodman, who handle $50,000 annually, and carry a stock valued at $10,000; they own their store building, which is worth $5,000. The people of De Soto county attested their confidence in Mr. Robertson by calling him to fill the office of treasurer, which he did for six years in a very satisfactory manner. He is a mem- ber of the Knights of Honor and of the I. O. O. F. fraternity. His wife is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Robertson takes a just pride in his career, and is well worthy of the high esteem in which he is held by the people of his county. He gives freely of his means for the benefit of the public, and no more loyal citizen can be found.

G. M. Robertson was born in Huntsville, Ala., in 1842. During the Civil war he served in the Confederate army under Bragg, Forrest and Wheeler, was captured at Franklin, and imprisoned at Camp Chase, Ohio. He came to Noxubee county, Miss., in 1866, and in 1870 was wedded to Miss Ophelia Herron. They have five children: G. J., John M., William M., S. Lyttleton and Mary. Mr. Robertson was engaged in the mercantile business for fifteen years, and at the same time farmed very successfully-owning at present about thirteen hundred acres of choice land. He makes a specialty of growing lespedeza striata and meli- totus alba. His sales from these two varieties of seeds, with the hay, aggregated $10,000 in the past five years. He contemplates the propagation of other grasses suited to the Southern climate. His hay and seed interests are very extensive, and his correspondence extends throughout the entire country south of, and including New York, Pennsylvania and Califor- nia. Mr. Robertson also pays some attention to stockraising on his Oak Lawn seed and stock farm, located at Deer Brook, eleven miles northeast of Macou, and six miles east of Brookville. He is a thoroughgoing, progressive business man. Socially he is genial and pleasant, and is highly esteemed by the citizens of his county.

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Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II, Part 107

Author: Goodspeed Brothers Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Goodspeed Brothers
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Goodspeed
Number of Pages: 1314