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 148

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 148

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MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

ing home he soon afterward located in Union county, where he practiced his profession with considerable success until 1877, when he returned to Mobile and finished his course, graduating in the spring of 1877, with the degree of doctor of medicine. After this he again took up the practice of medicine in Union county, where he remained until the spring of 1880, when he came to Tishomingo county and located near Bay Springs. He built up an extensive practice and had a reputation among the people of being one of the most successful physicians in the county; while in the profession he was regarded as being a man of much ability and undoubted skill. He was married, in 1872, to Miss Mattie A. Rogers, a daughter of Hugh Rogers, who has borne him nine children, five sons and four daughters: Carrie L., Myrtle V., Roxie N., Humbert A., Robert R., Lucien Q. C. L., Clara Ann, Henry L. and James S. The Doctor is the owner of two hundred and forty acres of land, eighty acres of which are under cultivation. He pays very little personal attention to planting, however, his practice consuming his entire time. Though he is in no sense a practical politician, he takes a keen interest in all movements inaugurated for the benefit of his fellow-citizens. He has never been an aspirant for any official position, but, as a matter of convenience to his neighbors, he has for the past six years acted as postmaster of Tynes postoffice, which was named in his honor. The farmers' movements attracted his attention to a great extent, and he was the organizer and first president of the first wheel organized in Mississippi, of which he was at the head for two terms. He has always been a liberal contributor to schools, churches and all laudable enterprises, and is regarded as a useful and helpful citizen, whose presence in the community is a benefit to its general interests and an aid and encouragement to its citizens.

CHAPTER XXI.

A FEW SPECIAL NOTICES, U.

PECIAL sketches in this work would be incomplete without mention of Alfred Augustus Ulman of Waveland, Miss., who has given a greater impetus to the man- ufacturing interests of the state than any other one man. He was born in New Orleans, La., December 19, 1846, and is the son of James A. and Ellen (McDonald) Uman. His father was born in Boston, Mass., and came to New Orleans in 1836, where he was a con- tractor and builder for some years. In 1848 he removed to Bay St. Louis, Miss., where he car- ried on the same business. He has been prominently identified with the history of the place since his residence, there began. For a number of years he was mayor of the place, and has also served on the board of supervisors. Having more than attained his three score years and ten, he has retired from active business pursuits, and leads a quiet life at the Bay. His wife was a native of Ireland. They reared a family of two sons and three daughters, of whom Alfred A. is the eldest. He was but five years of age when his parents

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removed to the place. He was educated at St. Stanislaus college, and early in life started out to seek his fortune. His first enterprise was a blacksmith shop and a blackingbrush factory; he carried on this business for some years. He served in the latter part of the Civil war under General Forrest. He was but sixteen years of age. When the war was over, in- stead of yielding to despondency, he promptly began prospecting for the future. He went North, and after a thorough examination of the great industries of that section, returned to his home, fully convinced that the natural advantages of the South were superior to those of the North, and that the employment of the same means would insure similar results. Buoyed by this inspiration, he threw into the enterprise all his energies, and the end of the beginning was the woolen mills at Ulmanville, which are located within the corporation of Waveland. The spacious warehouses, the business offices, the extensive stores, and the operatives' cottages are models of convenience and taste. The factories are furnished with modern machinery, and the product of the looms finds a ready market throughout the South. When the woolen mills were established, a general store and sawmill were also put into operation, and the whole is conducted with an exactitude and harmony of which no common man is master. Mr. Ulman was elected mayor of Waveland in August, 1890. He adheres to the principles of the democratic party, and was a delegate to the convention of the state for 1891. In 1890 he was a delegate to the constitutional convention. He is vice president of the Homestead Building and Loan association, and was one of the originators of the Gaslight and Ice factory. In fact there is no home enterprise of importance that has not felt a strong impetus from his touch. He is the largest individual taxpayer in Hancock county, owning a vast amount of land and real estate. Mr. Ulman is a man of many fine traits of character; he is generous and charitable, and his friends are the masses. He is deeply appre- ciative of the loyalty of his operatives, which he has rewarded by liberal gifts and the kindest consideration. He was married in 1873 to Miss Emma Nicholson. He is a devout member of the Catholic church.

James A. Ulman, Bay St. Louis, Miss., was at one time one of the most active business men of Hancock county, but he has retired, and is now enjoying the fruits of his labors. He was born in Boston, Mass., in 1819, and is a son of Melchi and Martha (Smith) Ulman, natives of England. The parents were early settlers of Massachusetts, where they passed their last days. The father was a mechanic by trade. They reared a family of nine children, three of whom are living: Mary A., resides in Cambridgeport, Mass., and is now eighty - two years of age; Maria J., lives in the same place, and James A., the subject of this sketch. He was reared and educated in Boston, and was trained to the occupation of a builder. At the age of twenty years he went to New Orleans, La., and soon made a place for himself among the best known builders and contractors of the South. He had large contracts in Louisiana and Texas, and was very successful in all his dealings. In 1848 he removed to Bay St. Louis, Miss., and two years later he brought his family, and has since made it his home. He has put up a vast number of buildings in the surrounding territory, which will be a monument to his industry and ability for years to come. During his residence in the South, Mr. Ulman has passed through many trying periods. In the epidemics that have at different times swept the South, he has nursed the sick and buried the dead; the latter office he has performed unaided when there were none to help. During four years of the war he was at Selma, Ala., when he was in the state service. Since his residence in Bay St. Louis he has been prominently identified with the public affairs of that place. He was mayor for several terms, and was appointed mayor by Governor Ames for a short time. In 1852, 1853 and 1854 he was a member of the board of supervisors, and did most efficient service to his

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county. In 1845 Mr. Ulman was married in New Orleans to Ellen McDonald. They have five children living: A. A., Clara A., Rosabella, Mary E., and James A. The father is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was master of his lodge for a number of years. Mrs. Ulman died in 1889.

S. R. Upshaw, Craigs, Miss., was born in Holmes county, Miss., in 1856, and is a son of Samuel W. and Margaret A. (Terrall) Upshaw, natives of Virginia. The father removed with his family to Holmes county about the year 1845, and engaged in farming, and to some extent in the mercantile trade. He then disposed of his commercial interests, and devoted himself exclusively to agriculture. He died in 1865, but the mother still survives. They reared a family of ten children, seven of whom are still living. Young Upshaw grew to manhood in the midst of husbandry, receiving but a limited education. The common school had not then reached its present advanced development, and many a lad of pioneer days was but poorly equipped for the battle of life, so far as literary attainment was con- cerned. At the age of nineteen years he began life for himself, hiring out on a plantation; he has always been industrious and economical, and was enabled to save a considerable amount from his wages. In 1885 he was married to Mrs. Betty Upshaw, widow of W. E. Upshaw, a brother of our subject. Mrs. Upshaw is a daughter of Thomas and Adaline (Hill) Singleton, and upon her mother's side is connected with one of the earliest families of Yazoo county and one of much prominence in South Carolina. Mr. Upshaw now owns, on Silver creek, a fine farm of four hundred acres in cultivation, and as much more in timber. It is one of the best improved plantations in the county; he has a pleasant dwelling house; his tenant houses and barns are neat and in good repair, and all his surroundings are indica- tive of the thrift and wise management of the owner. In the cultivation of his lands he employs all the modern improvements in machinery, and reaps abundant harvests.

Mrs. Elenora C. Urquhart was born on Lake Washington, in Mississippi, in 1838, to John A. and Sarah Steen (Jefferies) Miller, the former of whom was born in Georgetown, Ky., and the latter in Mississippi. Mr. Miller came to this state at the age of seventeen years, and after a time engaged in banking in Natchez, later removed to New Orleans, La., where he was in the coffee business for a number of years, at the same time following the occupa- tion of a planter in that state, a calling he continued until his death, which occurred at his home, Lelna plantation, in 1875, at which time he was the owner of a large estate. His father was John Miller, a native of Kentucky, a planter by calling, who lived and died near Georgetown, in his native state. The Millers are of German descent and possess the thrift, perseverance and energy characteristic of the German people. The maternal grand- parents were James and Priscilla (Shelby) Jefferies, the town of Shelbyville, Ky., being named for the latter's family. She died near Port Gibson, being the owner of a large plantation at the time of her death. Mrs. Urquhart was reared principally in this state, for some time attending school at Port Gibson, being afterward a student at Patapsco institute, near Baltimore, Md., from which institution she was graduated at the age of seventeen years. She was married in 1859 to William Urquhart, a cotton merchant of New Orleans, and from the time of her marriage until the death of her husband, was a resident of that city, with the exception of two years during the war, which they spent in Europe. His father, David Urquhart, was born in New Orleans, he and his wife becoming the parents of ten children: David, who died in New Orleans when a lad; Anna, who married Baron De Boigne, and is now residing in Paris, France; Emma, Rosalie and Eloise, who died in Paris, France, and were buried in Pere la Chaise cemetery, of Paris; Georgine was married to Robert McLane, minister to France under Cleveland, having formerly been minister to China and Japan GGG

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under Buchanan. He was also minister to Mexico when the war began, being afterward a mem- ber of congress from Maryland, and still later filled the position of governor of that state; Robert was a sugar planter in Louisiana, and is now deceased; James also followed the same occupation in that state, and is now deceased; Angelica, also deceased, married Henry Living- ston, a native of New York; William, the husband of the subject of this sketch, comes next in order of birth; and David, the latter being now a retired cotton merchant of New Orleans. Mrs. Urquhart inherited her father's home, and has lived on it since 1875. She is the third of four daughters, the eldest of whom, Martha Priscilla, married F. A. Metcalfe, a native of Mississippi, of which state he was also a planter; Sarah Hannah married William Stirling, a planter of Louisiana, and Mary Georgiana married C. H. Smith, a native of Missouri. Mrs. Urquhart bore her husband six children: Sadie Steen, wife of J. B. Ferguson, a native of Kentucky; now living in Kansas City, Mo .; William, who is located near Bristol, Tenn .; Eloise, wife of McDuffin Hampton, a son of Gen. Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, who now resides in Bristol, Tenn., a civil engineer; Corinne, wife of William Griffin, a lawyer in Greenville; John, who died in Kansas City, Mo., in 1890; and George, who is in Bristol, Tenn. Mrs. Urquhart and her children are members of the Episcopal church, and are highly esteemed wherever they have made their home. She is the owner of two thousand acres of land, one thousand two hundred acres of which are under cultivation, three hundred of which have been opened under her direction, and on this place she has put about $10,000 worth of improvements, her home being now a beautiful and comfortable one. She makes a charming and entertaining hostess, for all who enter within the portals of her home are made to feel welcome. She has always endeavored to make her home a happy one for her children, and that she has succeeded is abundantly testified in the warm affection and honor they bear her.

S. T. Ussery is a planter who, in his operations, displays those sterling, characteristic and honorable principles so necessary to a successful career in any calling. He was born on the 2d of November, 1848, to Samuel and Mary D. (Shotwell) Ussery, both natives of South Carolina. The father removed to Tennessee about 1820, and after remaining there two years came to Mississippi, and entered and purchased about two thousand acres of land. Although he began life a poor man, before the war he paid tax on nearly $75,000 worth of property. He was a practical business man throughout his life, never following any occupation but farming, and died in 1878. He had four sons who served in the Confed- erate army during the war. One died at Danville, Ky., and another, who held the rank of lieutenant, was killed at Jonesboro, Ga. S. T. Ussery attended the common schools near his home until he was about twenty years of age, attending mostly during the winter months, at the end of which time he began planting for himself. His father gave him one hundred and sixty acres of land, loaned him a mule for one year, and boarded him for the same time. With heart and soul he entered upon his work and at the age of twenty-three began dealing in mules, buying and selling in Tennessee and St. Louis, and continued to carry on this busi- ness until he attained his twenty-eighth year, when he gave up this -calling. He sold one year for J. P. Brownloe, on commission, in Missouri. During the one winter that he followed this calling he made considerable money, his operations as a stockdealer and planter being also prosperous. Of the nine hundred and forty acres of which he is now the owner, he has five hundred acres under cultivation, and on this land is a fine artesian well one hundred and forty-five feet deep, which throws a stream of water one and one-half inch in diameter. There are also good springs on the place. Mr. Ussery has just completed a dwelling house at a cost of $2,500 and a barn that will shelter forty head of mules, both of which buildings are among the best and finest in this part of the state. Formerly Mr. Ussery operated a saw-

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mill for twelve years, during which time he marketed all his valuable timber, a fact which he now regrets very much, although the money which he thus obtained was very much needed, for, a short time prior to this, he had lost by fire in Columbia about thirty-six bales of cotton. He now has on his plantation a steam cottongin, which has a capacity of about three hundred bales of cotton a year, about sixty of which he controls as the product of his own land. Mr. Ussery is also quite an extensive raiser of mules, but does not give as much attention to rais- ing horses as formerly, for he finds they are not as remunerative as the mules. He has four- teen mule colts, which were foaled in the spring of 1890-91, and sired by a wellbred jack of which he and his brother are the owners. About 1881 he opened a mercantile establishment on his plantation. He carries a well-selected stock of general merchandise, which brings him in an annual sum of about $5,000. On account of his youth his service during the war was very slight, but he lent considerable aid in the way of collecting and driving stock for the use of the Confederate army. While our subject was visiting in west Tennessee Hood invaded middle Tennessee. Mr. Ussery followed in his wake with a beef supply. He received for his services $3,000 per day in Confederate money. In October, 1879, he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Nichols, a daughter of N. H. Nichols, a native of South Carolina, who was a well-to-do planter. This union resulted in the birth of two children: Mary Lena and Oscar Burdette. Mr. Ussery is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, but his wife is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He is the postmaster of Cherokee, the office being in his store, but is not interested in politics and has never been an aspirant for office.

CHAPTER XXII.

A GLANCE AT INDIVIDUAL RECORDS, V.

"N the commercial circles of Jackson county, Miss., is R. A. Vancleave, of Ocean Springs, who was born in Hinds county, Miss., June 9, 1840, and is a son of Jon- athan and Elizabeth (Rowland) Vancleave. The father was a native of Maury county, Tenn., born April 1, 1800. The mother, a sister of Dr. David Rowland, of Louis- ville, Ky., was born in Kentucky in 1805. They were married in Hinds county, Miss., in 1837, having settled there in 1825. Their families are of English, French and Scotch-Irish descent. Jonathan Vancleave was a grand-nephew of Daniel Boone. He was a very pros- perous planter, and was well known among the merchants and farmers of the county. He died in 1886. By his first marriage he had a large family, all of whom are deceased. Four children were born of the second marriage, two of whom are living: Mellison R., and R. A., the subject of this sketch. He spent his early youth in Hinds county, where he attended the common schools. He finished his education in Yazoo City, whither his father had removed. He remained under the parental roof until he had reached his majority, and then, in 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate service under General Price. He afterward joined

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the First Mississippi light artillery, and was taken prisoner at the fall of Vicksburg. He was soon paroled and spent three years in active service. In 1867 he removed to Ocean Springs, and engaged in the mercantile trade. In 1872 he was appointed postmaster and held the office nearly ten years. This position was petitioned for by the citizens without his own personal solicitation. In 1885 he was appointed by President Cleveland special agent of the general land office of the United States, and assigned to duty in Mississippi, witlı headquarters at Ocean Springs. The duties of this office were to protect the public timber lands. He held this office until 1889, when he was removed by President Harrison, and the office was filled by a republican. Mr. Vancleave is one of the oldest merchants at Ocean Springs, having carried on the business there for twenty-four years. He now has two sons, George A. and Robert A., Jr., associated in business with him. He established a postoffice at Vancleave in 1868; this place was named in his honor, and is located twelve miles north- east of Ocean Springs. He was married in 1865 to Miss Eliza R., a daughter of William Sheppard, a pioneer merchant of Yazoo City, Miss. Mr. and Mrs. Vancleave are the parents of seven living children: Fannie, the wife of Walter H. Covington; George A., Robert A., Jr., William S., Richard S., Sarah and June P. They have a beautiful residence, and are surrounded with all the comforts of life. Mr. Vancleave has a consin in Chicago, James R. B. Vancleave, who is a prominent man throughout the state of Illinois; he is the present city clerk.

Rev. J. H. Van Court was an early settler of the town of Natchez, Miss., coming from New Jersey about the year 1823, and for many years was a minister of the Presbyterian church and school teacher by profession. In disposition he was modest and retiring, but was earnest and indefatigable in his labors in the cause of the Master. His sincerity of pur- pose was manifested during the many years that he filled the position of clerk of the Presby - terian synod, and showed that he was a man of ability and popularity. He was married in this state to Mrs. Catherine (Smith) Swayzie, her father, Philander Smith, being a son of Rev. Jedediah Smith, who came to New Orleans from Massachusetts, with a family of ten sons. In the city of New Orleans, he was robbed of his library and much of his possessions by the Spaniards who were hostile to his religious views, and without them he started in an open boat up the Mississippi river to Natchez, this being in 1776, but owing to his advanced age, the exposures and hardships he was compelled to endure were too much for his strength and he sickened and died before he reached this place. Through his sons he has numerous descendants in this section, who are thrifty people, and who have been largely instrumental in developing and improving this section. Rev. J. H. Van Court turned his attention to planting, near Baton Rouge, La., after his marriage, but his latter years were devoted to teaching school. He died in this county, in 1867, his wife having been called to her long home in 1859; and their son, E. J. Van Court, was educated in Oakland college, from which he was graduated. He later turned his attention to the study of medicine and in 1853 graduated from the Medical university of Pennsylvania. He was married on May 25, 1870, to Miss Adeline B. Mitchell; a native of Adams county, and a daughter of Philo Mitchell and Varina (Stanton) Mitchell, both of whom are members of well-known families of this region. To Mr. Van Court and his wife four children have been born: Catherine S., E. J. Jr., Adeline Baker and David Benjamin Swayzie. The family are members of the Presbyterian church, and move in the highest social circles of Natchez. The paternal ances- tors of Mr. Van Court were of Holland descent, and originally came from the Island of Guern- sey to New Jersey, in 1710. E. J. Van Court has in his possession a testament, printed in the French, which was given to an ancestor of his, nearly two hundred years ago, and has descended to him.

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The town of Shuqualak is to be congratulated on her good hotels, among which, Central hotel, conducted by A. M. Van Devender, ranks prominent. To the traveler the name of Central hotel has about it the ring of a true and tried friend. The genial proprietor, Mr. Van Devender, was born in Kemper county, Miss., in 1844, and when but seventeen years of age he enlisted in the Confederate army, with Major Nunn of Shuqualak, Miss. (see sketch). He was in nearly all the engagements of the army of Tennessee and surrendered with Gen- eral Johnston in North Carolina. In 1867 he was married to Miss Magarah E. Kellis and became the father of nine children: Walter, Horatio, Willie, Addie, Carrie, Eugene, Lillie J., Ruth and John J., all living except the eldest. In 1883 Mr. Van Devender rented and opened to the public the Shuqualak East Side hotel at Shuqualak, Miss., and by rare man- agement became proprietor of this property, now known as the Central hotel. As a mana- ger of this enterprise he is a genuine success. Eight years ago he began the business with- out a dollar, under most unpropitious circumstances. To-day he is, by his energy, perse- verance and enterprise, an illustration of what may be done under adverse surroundings, with will power and industry for capital. Mr. Van Devender is in the highest degree a rep- resentative man of his vocation and therefore entitled to recognition in these pages. He has a son in the employ of the Western Union at Atlanta, Ga., who stands among the best of his profession. A daughter graduated at Shnqualak in the class of 1891. Mr. Van Devender was the son of Jacob and Elizabeth J. (Pace) Van Devender, the father born in Virginia in 1809, and the mother of Tennessee. Jacob Van Devender removed to Alabama in 1829, or 1830, and later to Noxubee county, Miss. There he was married in 1841.

It is truly said that a man can never be too wise or too learned to be a lawyer, for sooner or later, in the practice of his profession, his first and last resources will be called into action. Owing to this fact the profession of law has attracted the best talent of the country, and has brought into play the most brilliant talents, the most extensive knowledge and the strongest sentiments, moral, spiritual and material, of which humanity can boast. An instance of this is seen in Hon. H. S. Van Eaton who stands high with the bar in the state of Mississippi. He was born in the Buckeye state in 1826, being the eldest in a family of six children, but at the age of six years was taken by his parents to Morgan county, Ill., and was brought up on a farm near Jacksonville. He attended the common and subscription schools until he attained the age of sixteen years, at which time he entered the preparatory department of Illinois college at Jacksonville, and six years later graduated with honors in a class of seven. At this time the South possessed great attractions for him and here he determined to cast his lot. He soon came to Mississippi and near the town of Woodville became an instructor in a common school, which position he retained to the general satisfaction of the patrons of the institution, for five years. During this time he formed a taste for the study of law, and began laying a solid foundation for his present enviable legal reputation. After reading law with Judge Stanhope Posey, the then circuit judge of the district, he was admitted to the Mis- sissippi bar, this being in the year 1854. He at once opened an office in Woodville where, four years later, he formed a partnership with John P. Dillingham, a native of Maine and a man of no little legal ability. Their connection was very amicable and mutually satisfactory and lasted until the opening of the Civil war, at which time, as he had fully indentified him- self with the South, and admired and loved her people and institutions, he cast his lot with the Confederacy, becoming a private soldier in company K, Sixteenth Mississippi regiment. He served with credit and distinction in the engagements at Winchester, Cross Keys, Mal- vern Hill, the seven days' fight before Richmond, and Fredericksburg, the second battle of Manassas, where he received a flesh wound from a piece of broken shell, and one contusion

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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 148

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