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 160

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 160

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familiar with the duties of that office, and to say that he has followed in his father's foot- steps is bestowing upon him the highest praise. He is courteous and genial in disposition, and by the many people whose acquaintance he has made in his public capacity he is uni- versally esteemed and admired.

Gen. Absolom Madden West was born in Alabama in 1818. His parents were natives of the Palmetto state, and his grandparents were from North Carolina. His grandsires were both Revolutionary soldiers, one of whom fell bleeding at King's mountain and was carried from the field by a young woman, who took him home to her parents, where she nursed him back to health. After the war they were married, and from this union General West is descended. The family, however, were Americanized about 1613, when John West, brother of the then governor of Virginia settled in the colonies, and from whom most of the name descend. It is not a little singular that of all the colonial governors Thomas West (Lord Delaware) alone impressed his name upon an American state. West Point still preserves the family name, and Delaware the title. He died at the mouth of the bay which bears his name. General West received a limited education in such schools as were pro- vided by private enterprise in a new and undeveloped state. His irregular educational advantages ended in his fourteenth year, but, impelled by a love of knowledge, he read much, and being an ardent patriot, most of his time was devoted to works bearing upon the origin and structure of our government and the wants and necessities of the people. In the year 1837 he settled on a farm in Mississippi, and has continued his identification with an interest in agriculture to the present day, and by his success has shown himself to be one of the most practical and efficient farmers of his adopted state. In 1845 he married Miss Carrie O. Glover, of Alabama, a young lady of superior mind and rare literary attainments, who proved a helpmeet indeed in all the relations of life, and to her the General is greatl indebted for his gradual advancement in public usefulness and confidence. In politics he was a Union whig. In 1847 he was elected to the legislature by an unprecedented majority, where he soon took rank as a thinker and debater with the leading members of the house. He was twice elected to the senate in a democratic district over a worthy and honorable opponent. After secession, and under order of the state, he was appointed a brigadier-gen- eral and ordered to organize a brigade, which he did with great alacrity. His practical usefulness rendered necessary the employment of his services by the state, and indirectly by the Confederate States, in various departments. He was appointed quartermaster-general, paymaster-general and commissary-general, holding all three offices at the same time. He was also charged with the duty of providing salt for families of Confederate soldiers and the indigent families of the state, and putting the works under a skillful manager, manu- factured salt with great rapidity.

No man in the state shared so largely the contidence of the governor for practical usefulness as did General West, notwithstanding they had always been on opposite sides in politics. At the instance of General West the legislature provided for the appointment of a commission, consisting of one lawyer and two practical business men, to examine and audit the books and papers of his several officers. General West made a final settlement with the state in accordance with the report of the commissioners, squaring up his accounts with the state. His was the only final settlement made during the war by any state officer. In 1864 General West was called to the presidency of the Mississippi Central railroad com- pany. This road was used and destroyed alternately by the belligerent armies during the war, and at its close the road bed was a wreck. General West, with that will-power which has always characterized him, brought all his energies to bear to rebuild the road bed and to

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re-equip the same with sufficient rolling stock, etc. His success was regarded as the crown- ing glory of his life. Without his solicitation the people elected him to congress over two able lawyers, but congress refused to seat him and his colleagues, as it did all others at that time. In 1876 he was appointed by Governor Stone to deliver an address upon the growth and history of the state of Mississippi at the International exhibition at Philadelphia. The address, which was one of the ablest productions of that memorable occasion, was delivered July 10. In the same year he was an elector for the state at large on the Tilden and Hen- dricks ticket, and his speeches, founded in the great idea of reform, were able, convincing and eloquent. After the purchase of the Mississippi Central railroad by the Illinois Central railroad company, General West retired from active life, but was soon after elected to the state senate by an unanimous vote of the people of his district. The national party in convention assembled at Indianapolis, Ind., on May 29, 1880, unanimously nominated him for vice president of the United States and the anti-monopoly party nominated him for the same high office in 1884. It is a note- worthy fact that during his eventful life his integrity has never been questioned nor has he ever been sued. In 1876 he identified himself with the National Labor union, and has ever since held to its principles and objects with unfaltering fidelity. He has always been the friend of the poor, and a bold, fearless defender of the rights of the people. His views are broad and natural, with no sectional animosity or race hatred. In 1837 General West set- tled in Holmes county, and at the close of the war removed to Oxford for school privileges. In 1870 he located in Holly Springs, Marshall county, and there he has since resided. Since being a resident of this county he has represented it in both branches of the state legislature and served as chairman of the committee of state and Federal relations in the house of 1890. He declined to be a candidate for the constitutional convention, continued farming from choice, and declined all professions to devote himself to planting, of which he is very fond. He has ever been the farmer's friend. The family homestead is one of the handsomest in the state; seventeen acres surround it, on which he raises fruit and flowers, a large space being devoted to the latter, of which he has many choice varieties. His chief occupation since moving to town has been of a literary character, writing on politics, and studying history and biography. He has a large plantation of twenty-five hundred acres in Holmes county, seven hundred acres cleared and occupied by his sons, Benjamin G. and Charles. Mrs. West died July, 1889; she was a member of the Methodist church. To General and Mrs. West were born four sons and two daughters living, and two died in infancy: Olivia is the wife of W. T. McCarty, lawyer of Kansas; A. M., Jr., professor of chemistry in the Medical college at Memphis; Edgar, a prominent citizen of Grenada, having represented that county in the legislature; Benjamin G., now stationed in Memphis as the business agent of the State Alli- ance of Mississippi; Mrs. Carrie W. Smith; Charles, on the place near Durant, and Sidney Y., deceased. A. M., Jr., and Edgar are both graduates of the State university and the former of the University of Virginia. He also graduated at the Philadelphia Medical college, closing his collegiate career with high honors. He is now a practicing physician of prom- inence in Memphis, Tenn. General West's father, Anderson West, removed to Tennessee early in the century and from there to Alabama in 1817, where he was engaged in planting near Marion. On the organization of Perry county he was elected its first sheriff and later held various other county offices. In connection with his planting interests he was also engaged in merchandising, and was a man of great energy and business qualifica- tions. He was quite an active politician, was a state's rights man in 1836 and later a whig. He died a well-known man. General West is a natural orator, generous to a fault, impul- sive and sanguine in temperament, a selfmade man and also self educated. He has always

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been prominent in all things for the good of Holly Springs or the state or nation. He has a distinguished and commanding appearance, possessing strong mental as well as physical powers. His complexion is rather dark, his eyes bright and piercing, and he has a broad, intellectual looking head.

M. M. West, a native of Copiah county, Miss., was born in 1844, a son of James M. and Mary A. (Simms) West. The father was born in Georgia December 25, 1801. He was left an orphan at an early age, and was reared partly in Georgia and partly in Mississippi. He was twice married; first to a Miss Taylor, by whom he had five children, two of whom are now living: Eleanor, wife of Clinton Atkinson, and Nancy E., wife of Bellfield Simmons. Mrs. West died in 1836, and in 1839 Mr. West again married a Miss Mary A. Simms, a native of Louisiana. This lady was born in 1826, a daughter of Jose and Sarah Simms, both of them being natives of the same state in which their daughter was born. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. West by this second marriage: Maud, Phillip, Matthew M., Albert, Sarah, wife of A. B. C. Patrick, and Jose. The father was a farmer and a prac- ticing physician of the botanical school. He was not a graduate of any college, but he was a diligent student and a firm believer in the efficacy of nature's remedies. He was a snc- cessful practitioner of more than fifty years, principally in Copiah county. He and wife were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was for a number of years' a steward and trustee. He died February 12, 1889, his wife following him August 22, of the same year. Matthew M. West was educated in the common schools, and at the age of seventeen years enlisted in company D, of the Twelfth Mississippi volunteer infantry, in which he served until the close of the war, participating in the battles of Seven Pines, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spottsylvania Courthouse and in the fighting before Peters- burg and just preceding the surrender at Appomattox, taking part also in many minor engagements. At the battle of Seven Pines he received a gunshot wound in the neck which disabled him for seven months. At the battle of Gettysburg he received a wound in the leg. Returning home after the war he engaged in agricultural pursuits and in milling. Locating on his present place he began with eighty acres for a farm; he has now increased his landed possessions until he has a plantation of four hundred and eighty acres. He plants corn and cotton and raises stock sufficient for all domestic nse. At the time of locating here he became the owner of a steam saw and gristmill, which he still operates. In 1871 he married Mary E. Simms, a native of Louisiana, who was born in 1856. They have eight children living, and have lost two by death: Olivia, Walter, Margaret, Verner, Allsie, Pierce and Payne (twins), Mary, Martin and Dudley C. Mr. and Mrs. West are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, Mr. West being recording steward and superintendent of the Sunday- school. Mr. West is a member of the Smyrna Sub-Alliance, of the Farmers' Alliance, of which he is lecturer. He is of medium hight, strongly built and of a fine personal appear- ance. Politically he is a democrat, and has always taken an active part in all political ques- tions, and his social standing is high.

Richard D. West, horticulturist, Durant, Miss., was one of nine children born to his parents, Nathaniel and M. A. (Sanders) West, his birth occurring in Pickens county, Ala., near Bridgeville in 1837. The father was born in the Palmetto state in 1803, was reared and educated there, and was there married to Miss Sanders, also a native of that state. By occupation Mr. West was a farmer, although in connection he carried on the carpenter's trade, and at an early date he moved to Alabama, then in 1857 to Mississippi, settling in Carroll county. He there engaged in farming and died in 1889. Mrs. West had died in 1879. Their family consisted of seven sons and two daughters, all of whom grew to mature years,

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and all of the sons were in the Confederate army: W. J. was first lieutenant of the Forty second Mississippi and was killed at the battle of the Wilderness; N. C. was in the Thirtieth Mississippi, and is now a planter of Carroll county; B. F. served in the Forty- second Mississippi with his brother, was wounded at the battle of the Wilderness and died from his wounds two months later; G. W. was brigade surgeon in the trans- Mississippi department; J. D. was a private in the Fifth Alabama, and was killed at the battle of Chancellorsville; and F. B. was in the Thirtieth Mississippi and was killed in the battle of Murfreesboro in January, 1862. The two daughters are: Miss J. F. West, residing with our subject, and Mrs. W. Boon (deceased wife of John W. Boon). Rich- ard D. West passed his youthful days in Carroll county, where he received his educa- tion, and first enlisted in the Fourth Mississippi infantry in 1861, serving in that for two years. He was in the fights at Vicksburg, Forts Henry and Donelson, and was taken pris- oner at the last named place. He was held for seven months at Camp Morton, Indianapolis, and after being discharged rejoined his regiment, participating in the battles of Baker's Creek and Vicksburg. At the last mentioned place he received a flesh wound in the shoulder, which disabled him for six weeks, after which he joined the Twenty-eighth Mis- sissippi cavalry and was with that until the close of the war. He was in the fight with General Forrest at Kenesaw mountain, was also at Atlanta and received a scalp wound in that engagement, but was not disabled. He was discharged at Lexington, Ala., and retired to Carroll county, Miss., where he followed planting for several years. He moved to Durant in 1877 and settled on his present property. He engaged in cotton planting up to 1884, opened up his place, and in that year began strawberry culture in a small way. He now has twenty acres devoted to berries and has a fine pear orchard of five hundred and fifty four-year old trees. He also has out some choice plum, apple and peach trees. He culti . vates other small fruit and vegetables and is making a success of this business. He has eighty-seven acres, nearly all in a fine state of cultivation, and has a good residence. He was married in Holmes county, in 1876, December 20, to Miss Mary E. Lockhart, a native of Holmes county, and the daughter of Thomas Lockhart. She died on June, 1, 1890, leaving two children: Cora Belle and Vernon R. Mr. West is a Master Mason, a member of the Knights of Honor and the Alliance. He and sister are members of the Baptist church.

Judge R. R. West, Hernando, Miss., who has been closely connected with the political history of De Soto county for many years, was born in Perry county, Ala., January 16, 1818, and is the son of William and Mary (Howard) West. There were eleven children in the family, of whom he is the sixth. His father moved from Alabama to Mississippi in 1837, and located in Marshall county, where he engaged in planting, and spent the greater portion of his remaining days. He died in White county, Ark., at the residence of his son, W. C. West, in 1856. The paternal grandfather was William West, who was of English lineage. John Howard, the maternal grandfather, was of Irish extraction. The Judge passed his youth in Alabama, and there received his education; his advantages in this direction were meager enough, but a life of varied experience has developed his many qualifications. He remained with his father, assisting in the support of the family, until he was twenty-one years of age. He then started out in life for himself. He has been engaged in many different occupations, and his career has been dotted with many changes. He was first a clerk in a dry goods store for Dr. J. D. McCray for one year. He then went to eastern Texas, and worked for a company of civil engineers for two years. At the end of that period he returned to Mississippi, and was united in marriage to Miss N. J. Roberts, a native of North

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Carolina, and a daughter of John and N. J. (Jeffress) Roberts; her father came from North Carolina, and the mother was born in Virginia. Of this union nine children have been born, only two of whom are living: John B. is editing the Tate County Record at Senatobia, Miss. ; Mary E., is the wife of A. M. Lauderdale, of Hernando, a teacher by profession. After his marriage Judge West dealt for a time in livestock, and then had the charge of a blacksmith shop. He had some experience in bookkeeping, and when in 1855 he was elected to the office of clerk of the probate court he discharged his duties with great efficiency for five years. He was then elected judge of the same court, and acted in this capacity for three years, and for two years he was engaged in general practice of law. He next invested in a mercantile business, but disposed of this and gave one year to agriculture. At this time he returned to Hernando, and was elected clerk of the chancery court in 1875, and is the present incumbent of that office. The Judge belongs to the Masonic order. In all the public offices which he has held he has preserved the strictest integrity of character, and no man stands higher than he in the estimation of the people of De Soto county. His first wife, Mrs. N. J. (Roberts) West, died in 1878, and in 1879 he married Miss America (Mecca) C. Clark, who is still living, and is a consistent member of the Christian church, and a superior woman. She was the daughter of Thomas C. and Sarah Clark. Her father was of English and Irish extraction, and his forefathers were Virginians in Revolutionary times, and removed thence to Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, in the order named.

Thomas J. West, Water Valley, Miss. The gentleman whose history is here outlined is the senior member of the firm of T. J. West & Co., and has a business career older than that of any other business man in the city. He has survived the shock of Civil war, and the still greater strain of the confusion of the financial crisis that swept over the country by the famous policy of the government in resumption. He has steadily maintained a reputation for strict business habits, and deep integrity of character. Mr. West was born in Madison county, Tenn., in 1827, and is a son of George West, a native of Maryland, whose parents came from Scotland to America before the Revolutionary war. The father was a soldier in that conflict, and died in the service, leaving a wife and one child, George West. The mother was married, a second time, to a Mr. Hubbard, by whom she had two children. George West passed his youth in North Carolina, and received his education in the common schools. He was apprenticed to learn the tailor's trade, which he followed until his marriage. He then engaged in farming and in 1827 he removed to Tennessee, locating in Madison county. In 1841 he came to Missis- sippi, making his home in Lafayette county until his death, which occurred in 1860. Politically he affiliated with the whig party. He did service in the War of 1812. He was a member of the Baptist church, and a man of considerable means. He was married to Lucre- tia Childress, who was born in Georgia in 1789, and died in 1847. She was a daughter of Thomas Childress, who served in the Revolutionary war, and was one of a family of ten children. She became the mother of ten children, four of whom are still living: John M., Holman F., James H. and Thomas J. (the subject of this notice.) In the beginning of his business life he was a clerk in a country store, where he remained until 1858; he then removed to Water Valley and engaged in the mercantile trade. At the present day few young men would have the courage to make the beginning which he did. His first year's salary was only $100, but he managed to save the most of that, and with this capital he embarked in business. By energy and close attention he soon gained a foothold, and is now doing a business of $40,000 a year, handling upward of twelve hundred bales of cotton. Mr. West was married in 1855 to Miss Telitha Boydston, a native of Yalobusha county, Miss., and a daughter of the Rev. John P. Boydston. The father was a native of Ten-

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nessee, and removed to Mississippi at an early day, where he followed the ministry; he died in 1871, at the age of seventy years. His wife's maiden name was Wilson, and to her were born four daughters and two sons. Mrs. West is the fourth child, and was reared in Yalo- busha county, and educated at the Oakland academy. Mr. and Mrs. West are the parents of six children: Eva S., Nellie T., Fred M., Alice M., William Thad. and Hugh J. When there was a call for men to go to the defense of their country Mr. West was found willing . and ready to leave his family and home interests. He enlisted in January, 1863, in the Eighteenth cavalry, under General Forrest. He had charge of the provisions and wagons; was in the battles of Fort Pillow, Harrisburg, Selma, Ala., and other smaller engagements. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which he has been steward since its organization at this place. He is a member of the Masonic order, and has been high priest of his chapter for a number of years. In addition to his commercial interests he finds time to give to agriculture, and he is one of the directors of the Water Valley bank.

Judge Thomas Jesse Wharton. It is a fact clearly established that a man's language is a part of his character, that his speech is an index to his mind and heart. It opens his character to the light and discloses his disposition, his temper and modes of thought. The Greeks were correct in their teaching, that as a man lived so would he speak. Ben Jon- son has said that no glass renders a man's form and likeness so true as his speech. His dis- conrse is an open window through which his soul can be seen. So it can be said of Judge Thomas J. Wharton, that distinguished citizen and eminent jurist of Mississippi, whose name stands at the head of this sketch. No person can pass an hour in conversation with him without feeling that he is in the presence of a gentleman of deep culture, pure thoughts and noble aspirations; one who is broad in his humanity, charitable and merciful. Judge Whar- ton was born at Nashville, Tenn., May 18, 1817, and is the son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Rice) Wharton, who were natives of Virginia, from Albemarle county. The elder Wharton was a lawyer by profession, and a highly educated man. He took a prominent part in the political affairs of Tennessee, to which state he removed in 1795, locating in Nashville. In fact, he was one of her leading and most honored citizens. He was a member of both houses of the state legislature, also both houses of congress, and retired from public life at the age of forty. This was when he was in congress, and during James Madison's administration. During his active professional life he had the largest practice of any lawyer in Tennessee, and accumulated a large fortune. He died in 1834, his widow surviving him but a few months. The Whartons were of Welsh descent. Judge Wharton attended the primary schools of Nashville and then entered the University of Nashville, where he was graduated with high honors in the fall of 1834. He began the study of law and was admitted to the bar of Mississippi, before the supreme court, in January, 1837, soon after opening a law office at Clinton, where he remained for six years, meeting with marked success in his pro- fession. From Clinton he removed to Raymond, where he continued his practice for six years, after which he located at Jackson, his present home. His younger brother, Francis A. R. Wharton, who studied law with him, was a partner from the time he was admitted to the bar (1842) until 1882, when Judge Wharton was appointed to the bench. He is now in practice at Raymond, Miss. In 1857 Judge Wharton received the nomination from the dem- ocratic party to the position of attorney general and was elected. In 1861 he was re-elected without opposition, and served until he was removed by Federal authority in the spring of 1865, under the reconstruction measures. He then resumed his practice, which he con- tinued with distinguished success until 1882, at which time he was appointed judge of the

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circuit court, of the ninth judicial district, by Governor Lowry. Before the expiration of his term the legislature passed an act retiring three circuit judges and five chancellors. The ninth district was merged into the eighth, which retired Judge Wharton, and he returned to his private practice. He was a believer in the right of the states to secede, and supported the Confederate cause with all the earnestness of his character, but when the cause went down and the Federal authority was again established he was active in the reconstruction of his state, and recommended strongly the adoption of the reconstruction measures. He was appointed by Governor Clarke one of the commissioners to Washington in behalf of the state to accept the reconstruction measures of the government. The reconstruction government adopted by the state was rejected by the Federal government and she was put under a pro- visional government. Judge Wharton regards the assassination of President Lincoln as the greatest calamity that could possibly have happened to the South next to the defeat of its cause. He was a great admirer of President Lincoln, and believes that in his death the South lost her best friend.

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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 160

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