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 151

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 151

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They are among the largest and most successful planters in Wilkinson county. Law- rence T. is the only one of the brothers who is married. His wife was Miss Mary Ellen Holmes, a finely educated and talented lady, eminently fitted, by virtue of her intelligence, grace, ease and dignity, to do the honors of her beautiful home. She is a charming and gracious hostess, and is highly esteemed in social circles for her conversational powers and her winning manner, which inspires ease and confidence in her presence. She is the daughter of Capt. Richard Holmes, of Natchez. Mr. and Mrs. Ventress have a beautiful little daughter, Charlotte E., now five years of age, and a son, Lawrence T., Jr., born May 6, 1891, in whom their hopes and affections are centered. Lawrence T. Ventress was elected a member of the board of supervisors in 1887, and re-elected in 1889 and 1891. During this time he has served as president of that body. William P. S. was elected to the state legislature in 1891. At an early day Major Trask built the first story of the now palatial residence occupied by the Ventress family. This building was raised one story, and an observatory added just before the war. This is one of the most beautiful, attractive and costly of Southern homes, and is provided with a fine billiardroom, spacious halls, library, parlors, drawing and sleeping rooms, and lighted with gas, and in this abode of refinement and good taste hospitality of the most generous and truehearted, yet unostentatious description, is extended to all.

Newet J. Vick. The Vick family has been prominent in the history of Mississippi since the year 1806, at which time, or a little before, Newet Vick, the grandfather of the subject of this

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sketch, became a resident of Jefferson county. This gentleman, like his father before him (Thomas Vick), was a Virginian, and when just in the vigor of early manhood removed to Raleigh, N. C., where, for a short time, he was engaged in merchandising. The state of Mississippi next became his home, but after residing near Washington for some time he came to near what is now the city of Vicksburg, where he purchased a large tract of land, his plantation taking the name of Open Woods. He also purchased a body of land fronting the Mississippi river, including, for the most part, what is now Vicksburg, seven miles distant from Open Woods. He came to this state as a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and being a man of excellent parts and of original and intelligent views, there was strong talk among his neighbors of his making the race for the governorship of Mississippi, and he was urged to stand for the nomination, but he would not allow his name to go before the convention, for he was very much averse to coupling the gospel with politics. He was warmly welcomed in high social circles, as a business man was quite successful, and was an esteemed minister of the gospel. Mississippi at this time was not specially lawless, being mostly settled by citizens from Virginia, and their families, trained to the usages of old society, though subsequently Vicksburg and other river towns earned an unenviable reputa- tion from the misdeeds of floating or transient characters. The first Methodist Episcopal conference ever held in the state was at his residence on the Open Woods plantation. He died of what was believed to be yellow fever in 1818, at the age of forty-seven years, having lived a most useful and truly Christian life. To Open Woods he was accompanied by his relative, Foster Cook, a civil engineer and afterward planter, whose son, Colonel Cook, a venerable octogenarian, is still living. Thomas and Burwell Vick, brothers of Newet J. Vick, came to Mississippi about the same time as himself, or perhaps before, the former (Uncle Tommy, as he was familiarly called) living to be a very old man. He was noted throughout this section for his generosity, kindness and nobility of heart, and the affection, good will and respect which were bestowed upon him by all were fully merited.

He became a well-to-do planter, but his wealth was not selfishly hoarded for his own benefit, but was lavished freely in behalf of those less fortunate than himself. Burwell Vick has descendants now living who are large landowners: Captain John Willis, at Pan- ther burn, and Mrs. Dr. Phelps, at Nitta Yuma, neighboring stations to Anguilla, on the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas railroad, owning all property outside the depot belongings, although Nitta Yuma has been recently laid off into town lots, a few of which have been sold. Newet Vick was married in Virginia to Miss Elizabeth Clark, a very handsome, accom- plished and amiable lady, and when they attempted the journey to Mississippi they traveled overland to the Muscle shoals of the Tennessee river, in northern Alabama, where Mr. Vick built a flatboat, on which they embarked and floated down to a point below Natchez, making their first settlement in Jefferson county. Mrs. Vick died within a few hours of her hus- band, also of that dreaded scourge, yellow fever. They left a family of twelve children, the eldest of whom, a daughter, was not more than eighteen years of age. All lived to maturity, and two members are still living: Mrs. Dr. C. K. Marshall, wife of an eminent divine of the Southern Methodist Episcopal church, lately deceased, and Mrs. E. F. Ander- son, both of Vicksburg, each of whom has now a daughter living with her, Anne and Willie. The eldest son of this family was John Wesley Vick, the father of the immediate subject of this sketch, who was born in Jefferson county, Miss., March 1, 1806. He died on the 2d of March, 1888, in extreme old age, being at the time of his death eighty two years and one day old. The formation of an internal tumor, due to a fall, was the immediate cause of his death, while for a year or more he had been in an enfeebled condition after an attack of

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dengue, or "break-bone" fever, from which he never recovered his wonted vigor. He was reared in Warren county, where he spent the greater portion of his life, except while away from home at school. He received his initiatory training in the schools of Warren county, but finished his education in Transylvania college, of Lexington, Ky., and in the University of Virginia. He would have graduated in a short time at the university, well up in his classes, and while in that institution was one of the captains of the cadets. He was called home by the necessities of business. After some time he purchased land at Mount Albon, near Vicksburg, on which he resided a number of years, engaged in planting. He purchased the land comprising the Anguilla plantation about 1840, at which time but little of the land had been cleared, but he was very successful in his business operations and rapidly devel- oped this property, so that at the opening of the Civil war he was the owner of two thou- sand four hundred acres of land in one body, nearly one-half of which he had succeeded in reducing to a fine state of cultivation, eight hundred acres more being cleared and put under cultivation since 1880. This land was kept under one management until 1886, with the exception of the land now owned by Junius Parham, which was sold some few years before. Besides this land, at different times he owned several other tracts, including his home place, known as Mount Albon plantation, near Vicksburg, already referred to, on which is erected a fine brick residence, the residence which he built in Vicksburg being still one of the finest in the city, and is now the home of his daughter, Mrs. "Dr. S. D. Robins, whose husband has chargeof the United States and Mississippi State hospital service, besides railroad and other corporation practice. He was the owner of about two hundred slaves and was considered a very wealthy man, but, like other members of his family, he was generous and charitable, giving freely of his wealth to churches, schools and charitable and public enterprises. The lot on which the present Methodist Episcopal church of Vicksburg now stands, one-fourth of a square, was contributed by him, and many other enterprises which tended to the build- ing up and improvement of the city found in him a most liberal patron. While the original company was organized for the building of the Memphis & Vicksburg railroad, now a part of the great Huntington system, he was its last president, and, owning a majority of the paid-up stock, he sold the franchises, which were finally bought by Northern capitalists, and by them the road was constructed in 1880 and 1881, stipulating in the sale that the road should pass through Anguilla and a depot be there maintained. In the will of Newet Vick it was stipulated that the present site of Vicksburg should be laid out in town lots and divided among his children. Thus Newet Vick was the founder of the place, and it was left to his children to develop the city, they being the sole owners of the land on which Vicks- burg now stands. Newet Vick's will became the subject of a rather notable litigation respecting the title to certain valuable tracts in the young city of Vicksburg, which involved an interesting construction of law, and was decided by a bare majority of the supreme court of the United States, being argued by that celebrated orator, S. S. Prentiss, and other legal luminaries. Of this decision The Life and Times of Sergeant Smith Prentiss speaks as follows:

The 17th day of June, 1845, was, so far as Mr. Prentiss' pecuniary condition was concerned, the day of doom. To comprehend this we must now take up the dropped stitch in the thread of our narrative and return to 1837, when, the reader will remember, Prentiss had by the decision of the supreme court of Mississippi recovered the commons in front of Vicksburg, valued then at from $100,000 to $350,000. On these he had put up large and extensive huildings, estimated to be worth $100,000. It will he remem- hered that in that case the title of Vick's daughters came into the question collaterally, and the opinion of the court was that they had no interest in the two-hundred-acre tract reserved for the city in Vick's will. It will be remembered further that the city of Vicksburg claimed the commons partly in virtue of the

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dedication by the administrator, Mr. Lane. No sooner had the court decided that the city of Vicksburg was not entitled than a new question sprang up in the minds of the daughters of Mr. Vick. Rev. John Lane, who had married one of them, had moved iuto the state of Louisiana. The other sisters were resi- dents of the state of Tennessee. Being thus residents of different states they could bring suit against the parties claiming the commons in the United States court. Accordingly, as early as 1838, Rev. John Lane and wife and some of the other daughters of Newet Vick filed their bill on the equity side of the circuit court of the United States for the Southern district of Mississippi, setting out the will, the administration of Lane, the payment of all the debts, the sale of the town lots, and that the commons were still left; that the complainant's were entitled to a partition of them, or a sale and division of the proceeds, etc., and pray- ing for a construction of the will. To this suit Prentiss and others were made parties. Some of the defendants answered the bill and concurred in the prayer for division; others concurred generally, and prayed that their parts might he allotted to them. But the parties made defendant as cendes, to wit, Pren- tiss, etc., demurred to the bill. The cause being set down for hearing on this state of preparation, the court, in June, 1842, sustained the demurrer and dismissed the bill. From this decree the complainants appealed to the supreme court of the United States. In law phrase, they, Prentiss, etc., demurred to the hill, or, in other words, they said, admitting all the bill alleges, it is evident from the face of the will that the four sons alone of Newet Vick are entitled to this two-hundred-acre tract, the daughters are not at all entitled to it or interested in it, and that the will had been so construed by the supreme court of Mississippi. The reader will perceive, therefore, that the question now presented before the court was very different from the one presented in the case heretofore described, although the same elements entered into the discussion. There the question was: Did Newet Vick dedicate the commons in his life- time, or did Lane do it under proper authority? Both these questions were decided against the city. But in this case the naked, bold question was: Did Newet Vick in his will devise this two hundred acres to his sons exclusively, or to his sons and daughters? If the latter, then the daughters were entitled to uine shares of it. The third clause, as will he seen by reference to it, gives to each of his daughters one equal proportion with his sons and wife, of all of his personal estate as they come of age or marry, and to his sons an equal portion of said personal estate as they come of age, together with all his lands, all of which lands were to be appraised, valued, and divided when Westley arrived at twenty-one years of age; the said Westley having one part, and the son William having the other part, of the tracts unclaimed by the wife Elizabeth, and the son Newitt to have, at her death, the one she had chosen to occupy. Hartwell was to keep the part he already had in possession. IIad this clause stood alone the question would have been beyond doubt, but the fourth clause, after appointing the executors, etc., wishes-that is, directs-his executors to remember the town lots hereafter to be laid off on the aforementioned two hundred acres of land, should be sold to pay his debts or other engagements, in preference to any other of his property, " for the use and benefit of all his heirs" (interlined in the will). The fate of the cause hung upon the construction of these two clauses. The demurrer was sustained in the court below, and Lane appealed to the supreme court. Hon. Benjamin Hardin, of Kentucky, represented the complainants' appellants and John J. Crittenden the defendants'. The reporter says: "This is one of the cases which was argued during his unavoidable absence, and, although he is enabled to give Mr. Hardin's argument, he regrets that he could not furnish Mr. Crittenden's. Of the eight judges, Story was absent and Nelson had not taken his seat. Of the six who presided, four, that is, McLean, Wayne, Catron and Daniel, held that the fourth clause entitled the daughters to share equally with the sons in the two-hundred-acre land tract, while two of the judges, to wit, Mckinley and Chief Justice Taney, held to the contrary. Judge McLean delivered the opinion of the court, and the critical reader will observe that the reasoning of the court is sustained in one part by the hypothetical interlineation of the little word "and " before the interlined words in the will, " for the use and benefit of all my heirs." And Justice McKinley, in his dissenting opinion, com- ments with cautious words of judicial severity against this hypothetical interlineation, " I deny the power of the court, in such a case as this, to add the word ' and.'" He held that all the lands passed to the sons under the third clause of the will, unmodified by the interlined words of the fourth clause, and that the will, having been adjudicated by the supreme court of Mississippi, was res adjudicatn. The above synop- sis shows upon what slight circumstances sometimes hang not only the fate of great cases in law, but also the destiny of men. Had Story and Nelson been upon the bench, the court might have stood four to four, and thus the complainant's cause might have been lost, as it requires a majority to overrule a decision of the court below. As it was, the decision of the court below was reversed and the case sent back.

John Wesley Vick was married in the year 1827 to Miss Maria Brabston, a native of Mississippi, and a member of a well-to-do family, descendants of which are still living

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around Vicksburg. She died in 1832, having borne three children-two sons and oue daughter: Thomas Vick, the eldest, was a graduate of the Military Academy of Kentucky, and of Center college of Danville. He became a physician of considerable prominence, and for some time was employed as surgeon on board a United States steamer. He traveled quite exten- sively in Europe, and during the great Civil war of this country he first served in the capacity of captain of a volunteer company, later as colonel of a regiment, and after- ward as brigadier-general of the Louisiana militia. Before and after the war he turned his attention to sugar planting in Louisiana, also practicing his profession, and in 1867, after escaping the perils of battle, while making a business trip on board the steamer Carter, it blew up, and he is supposed to have been killed, as he has never since been heard from. He was last seen at about one o'clock at night, reading a paper. Prior to the war he had so improved his inheritance as to have a large property, which, for the most part, was lost by the business calamities incident to that great conflict. He never married. He was very popular and well liked, for his many noble qualities could not fail to win him many warm friends. Hartwell O. Vick, another son, was a planter on the Sunflower river, where he resided until 1880, during which year, being overtaken by sickness on a business trip, he stopped at Vicksburg, where he died, a single man. Harriet, the daughter, a bright and beautiful child, died at the age of nine years. Mr. Vick's second marriage was to Miss Letitia Booker, a daughter of Judge Booker, a prominent politician of Kentucky, and to this union one daughter was born, Letitia, who first married James R. Downs, of Mississippi, by whom she became the mother of two sons: Alfred and James R., both of whom are residents of Chattanooga, Tenn., and were educated in Kentucky, and in the law department of the University of Michigan. Alfred is a member of the law firm of Marchbanks, Taylor & Downs, and is a very promising young attorney. Both he and his brother are married, and each have two children. James R., Jr., is a broker, and he and his brother own large tracts of land in Washington county, Miss. After the death of their father, their mother was married to Col. John Cowan of Danville, Ky., an ex-lieutenant- colonel of a Kentucky regiment of the Union army, that participated in the siege of Vicks- burg, where he was wounded in the foot. His wife died in April, 1880. She was a most devoted wife and mother, a highly cultured and refined lady, and possessed grand and noble traits of character. After the death of his second wife, Mr. Vick was married to the mother of the immediate subject of this sketch, her maiden name being Catherine Barber. She was born and reared in Danville, Ky., and was a sister of Lewis G. Barber, who is a professor in Central university of Kentucky, and James Barber, a prominent attorney and banker of Maysville, that state. She bore Mr. Vick six children. Kate, the eldest, is a highly accom- plished woman, and is now traveling in Europe. She owns a part of the Anguilla planta- tion, on which she has nearly one hundred acres devoted to fruit, which is being added to from time to time, fifty acres being a pecan orchard. She was the first to attempt fruit raising on Deer creek, in Sharkey county, but as her venture proved successful, others have attempted it, and now the owners of Anguilla have all large orchards, except one. Martha D. is the wife of R. Perry, a merchant of Russellville, Ky., by whom she has two children, Wesley and Kate. Mary Ellen is the wife of O. S. Robins, a prominent attorney and real estate agent of Vicksburg, by whom she has two daughters, Mamie and Fannie. Amanda is the wife of Dr. S. D. Robins, and lives on the old home place in Vicksburg. She has three children: Vick, Kate and Amanda. Wesley Vick died at the age of three years, and Newet J. is the youngest of the family, and is the only male member of the Vick family that is now living. The mother of these children died in 1867, at the age of forty-nine

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years, a firm believer in the Presbyterian faith, although a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, by mutual consent of the Presbyterian and Methodist Episcopal churches. Mr. Vick was a leading member of the last named church, and for a great many years before the war was Sunday-school superintendent.

He was a whig in politics, was a strong Union man in sentiment, and was much opposed to secession, although after the war was precipitated his sympathies, as was generally the case at the South, were naturally on the side of his neighbors and friends, although, per- sonally, he took no part in the struggle. His former slaves, having been kindly treated, came back home, as they called the plantation, and remained with him, so that being able to keep his place under cultivation his losses by the war, though great, were less than with many. He was a man with fine perceptions, was just and liberal in his views, was devoted to his home and family, and in the domestic circle was a model husband and father. He was a model host, for besides being hospitable and cordial, he was naturally kind, and had sufficient tact to at once put at their ease those who entered his presence, and to enable them to show themselves at their best. Newet J. Vick, whose name heads this sketch, was born at Vicksburg in the year 1858, and was reared in his native town, and at Anguilla plantation during the war, but was educated at Russellville and Danville, Ky., and in the Southern university of Greensboro, Ala., graduating from the last named institution, with the degree of A. M., in 1877. The same year, and also the year succeeding, he was offered the position of principal of the preparatory department in his alma mater, but pre- ferred other occupation. He graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor with the degree of LL. B. in the class of 1880, which numbered about one hundred and seventy-five, and was licensed to practice in that state. He settled on his present plantation in 1881, which, together with other parts of the Anguilla planta- tion, he has been managing, until of late he has begun to devote his attention largely to the raising of fruit, about ninety acres being now given to this enterprise; and is, moreover, engaged still in planting, and is considered one of the thrifty, progressive and successful planters of this section. He has an excellent store-building under rent in Anguilla village. The village of Anguilla was laid out adjoining his plantation by his father and was named after the plantation. The word Anguilla is understood to be derived from an island of that name which was early identified with the growth of cotton, and signifies, when translated into English, an eel. Mr. Vick is a finely educated gentleman; possesses, in an eminent degree, that courtesy for which the Southern people have become famous, and better than all, is a gentleman of excellent habits and reputation. He is unmarried, and the greater portion of the time makes his home in Vicksburg, where he has hosts of acquaintances and friends. Among the other children of the founder of Vicksburg may be mentioned his eldest child, Sallie, who married Judge Lane, appointed administrator to carry out the provisions of the will, whose descendants are now living at Vicksburg and vicinity; Lucy, who married Mr. Erwin, some years speaker of the Mississippi house of representatives; Eliza, the wife of Mr. Morse, one of the first merchants of Vicksburg; Matilda, who married Dr. McCray, a leading physician in early times; and among the sons, General William Vick, a popular planter and man of affairs, and Newet Holmes Vick, somewhat noted for his fine appearance and aptitude for business, who died on his plantation in Yazoo county, Miss., at the early age of thirty-six years.

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CHAPTER XXIII.

BRIEF NOTICES OF PROMINENT PERSONS, W.

EAR Macon, Jones county, Ga., July 6, 1810, John C. Wade was born. He is a son of Micajah and Sarah (McCormack) Wade, both natives of North Carolina, the for- mer being born in 1777, and the latter in 1785. Micajah Wade's parents were Benjamin and Amy (Jourdon) Wade, his father having been a son of Andrew Wade and they came from southern Virginia. Micajah was reared near Oxford, N. C., passing his early years on a farm, and, owing to his father's early death, received only a limited education. His father left a family of nine children-three sons and six daughters-all of whom grew to maturity. The sons' names were, Memucan, Charles and Micajah. The latter followed farm- ing all his life. He removed to Georgia in January, 1802, stopping in Hancock county, where he was married in 1803. About 1808 he removed to Jones county, Ga., and thence to Butler county, Ala., in January, 1819. Eleven children were born to him, named: James W., Benjamin J., Martha Ellen, John C., Benjamin D., William M., Rebecca E., Charles A., Augusta, Susan and Milton. In 1839 he removed to Holmes county, Miss., where he purchased a section of land and engaged extensively in planting. He was for a number of years a magistrate, serving in that capacity both in Georgia and Alabama. His wife was a finely educated woman, and he was thoughtful and studious, and made up for his lack of educational training by the acquisition of a wide range of general information. He was an energetic, pushing, thoroughgoing man, and at the time of his death, in 1848, left a con- siderable property. His wife died in 1844, both being members of the Methodist church, and he was a member of the Masonic fraternity. John C. Wade was reared and educated in Butler county, Ala., the schools there affording him a fair English education. Later he studied Latin for two years and gave considerable attention to the higher mathematics. At about the age of twenty, he began to read law in the office of James La Fayette Cottrell, with whom he remained about one year. In 1834 he was married to Miss Annie E. Tomlinson, who was a native of Mississippi, being born August 31, 1814. She was a daughter of Jacob and Eleanor (Graves) Tomlinson. Of this marriage were born the following named children: Byron L. F. (deceased), John A. (deceased), Micajah T. (deceased), Eleanor (deceased), Annie T. (deceased), Zorada (the wife of A. L. West, of Copiah county), Benjamin (deceased), William A. (deceased), Leonora J. (deceased) and Edward T. (a dentist living at Wesson). Mrs. Wade died July 24, 1851, having been for many years a consistent member of the Methodist church. After his first marriage, Mr. Wade engaged in merchandising at Pine Bluff, Copiah county, Miss., in which he continued three years. Later he taught school in Copiah county, until his election to the office of sheriff in 1845, when he located in Gallatin. At the expira-

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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 151

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