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 167

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 167

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MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

an oration more widely quoted and highly eulogized by the newspapers of the state, Memphis and New Orleans, than any similar effort before or since. It was also freely copied with favorable comment by the Wyoming press. In the administration of his office, Register Wilson discharged its important and difficult duties in such a manner as to receive merited commendation from President Cleveland, Secretary Lamar, Commissioners Sparks and Stock- slager and the Wyoming public, irrespective of party, and to provoke the criticism only of those whose hostility attested his personal integrity and absolute fidelity to official trust. Upon this subject the Laramie Sentinel, the oldest republican paper in Wyoming, said:

"Register Wilson possesses to an eminent degree the courage of his convictions. In the fearless discharge of duty it is natural that he should offend the landgrabbers and their organs; but the people will the more admire- him for the enemies he has made, and if he is the man we take him to be, he is proud of his enemies. He is just the man for the place. Honest, intelligent and courteous, upon bis induction to office he saw his way clearly laid down before him, and has pursued it, through criticism and slander, with a step that has never fal- tered and a courage that has never failed. And he is right-all honest men indorse an honest administration of the land laws."

Commenting on the changes incident to the election of a republican president, the Platte Valley (Wyo.) Lyre used the following language:

"In the case of Mr. Wilson, the man was found for the position, not the position for the man. Eminently capable, perfectly fearless, and always vigilant, the register of the Chey- enne land office has been a shield and buckler to the threatened rights and interests of the bona fide and honest Wyoming settler. Unhesitatingly accepting the gage of battle so impudently and aggressively thrown down by the powerful land robbers who had entrenched themselves on Wyoming soil, he has met and completely worsted them. To-day the name of Edgar S. Wilson is a terror to the Wyoming land sharks, however high their estate or masked their designs. For public duties well performed and public interests well defended, Mr. Wilson reaps throughout the territory the grand reward of grateful appreciation and hearty thanks. In accordance with the powerful decree of political preferment, Mr. Wilson may step down and out of the Cheyenne land office, but the memory of his name and works will forever abide in the heart and home of the Wyoming settler."

Upon the induction of President Harrison, Mr. Wilson, under date of March 4, 1889, notified the President by letter of his desire "to relinquish the official trust confided to me as a democrat by a democrat." His resignation was accepted subject to the appointment and qualification of his successor, which did not occur until the following September. Mr. Wilson immediately returned to Mississippi, where he re-embarked in journalism at the state capital. This new paper, the Commonwealth, at once became one of the leading journals of the state, exhibiting all of his early pluck, enthusiasm and devotion to the true principles of democratic government, coupled with a riper judgment and, perhaps, a more forceful and pungent style. He made of it all that could be expected or desired as an earnest, elevated and able champion of the public good. Its record was never stained by even the suspicion of a job, nor its columns prostituted to the purposes of selfish favoritism. Although respect- ful to opponents, it was always bold, and the divinity that doth hedge a king was no protec- tion against the scorpion lash it laid upon official misdoing. On November 4, 1890, the Com- monwealth was consolidated with the New Mississippian, Mr. Wilson's old paper, the title of the new paper being the Mississippian. Its management purchased the subscription list and good-will of the New Farmer of Winona, then the official journal of the state Farmers' Alliance. Of the papers thus merged, Mr. Wilson became, and is now, the editor-in-chief,

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and he has made the Mississippian's name so widely known, and its public usefulness so fully recognized, that it hardly needs further mention. It was made the official organ of the Farmers' Alliance of the state, with the understanding, however, that it would suffer no dic- tation from that body touching its political course as a democratic paper, and when it became evident that the alliance leaders were going to insist upon an active support of the sub-treas- ury scheme and other heresies set out in the Ocala platform, the managers of the paper promptly severed all official connection with the alliance. In the stirring canvass of the pres- ent summer (1891) for the seats in the United States senate to become vacant on the expira- tion of the terms of Hons. J. Z. George and E. C. Walthall, it has been a tower of strengtli to the opponents of the wild and visionary schemes of financial reform by which the people are sought to be allured from the plain teachings of common sense and experience, and for the victory won it is entitled to credit in no small degree. On this subject the Raymond Gazette, the oldest and most conservative journal of the commonwealth, while the senatorial campaign was at its hight, said: "The Mississippian was the first paper in the state to assault the sub-treasury, and it never quailed under circumstances that would have blanched the cheek and struck dumb the heart of many a journalist. It declined to be coerced into a support of the sub-treasury by a powerful secret organization, assuming a political phase, stating it would speak its conscience, 'though hell itself should gape, and bid it hold its peace.' No braver words were ever spoken, especially when it is considered that it staked its very existence in defense of its principle. In the fight now raging, its white plume ever nods in the forefront. It is the idol of the state democracy. Edgar S. Wilson is a brilliant Mississippian. His devotion to democracy is a passion. His hostility to the sub-treasury is as sincere as his opposition is powerful." As a paragrapher, Mr. Wilson is particularly strong and incisive, and his political adversaries know the danger of this sharpshooting no less than that of the general and more sweeping onslaught of his leaders. The response by Mr. Wilson on behalf of the press to the address of welcome at the press convention in Yazoo city, in May, 1891, has been widely commended for strength of thought and elegance of dic- tion. As a speaker his manner is forcible and impressive, but by no means lacking in grace. Mr. Wilson is a man of wide general reading, as well as practical information, and is a constant student. His acquaintance with the best authors, particularly Shakespeare and the other great English classics that have enriched and molded that noblest of tongues of men, is particularly full and accurate. His personal acquaintance with the public men of the day in his own state and the country generally is large, and the estimation in which he is held commensurate with his force of character, influence and knowledge of governmental affairs. In person he is large and sturdy of frame, with a massive head and a large, bright, steel-gray eye, expressive of every passing emotion. He is a devoted family man and domes- tic in his tastes, devoting much of his leisure to the culture of his young olive branches, of whom there are four- two boys and two girls-named respectively: Elizabeth, Edgar S., Jr., Joseph Buckley and Bethany Craft.

Samuel J. Wilson, Anding, Yazoo county, Miss. Joseph Wilson was a native of east Tennessee, and was there married to Lucinda Cook. He removed to Lawrence county, Ala., and thence to Mississippi in 1836, and settled in Kemper county. At the end of one year he went to Neshoba county, Miss., where he was engaged in agriculture until his death in 1864. His son, Samuel J. Wilson, is the eldest of nine children. He was born, June 26, 1831, in Lawrence county, Ala. ; went to Mississippi with his parents in 1836. When he had arrived at the age of twenty-one years he bade adieu to the roof that had shielded him through child- hood, and went out into the world for himself. He had a small amount of capital, and by judi-

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cious investments he has accumulated a considerable estate. He owns six hundred and twenty acres of land and has placed under cultivation two hundred and fifty acres. He was united in marriage, January 5, 1854, to Miss Caroline Kelly, a native of Alabama, aud a daughter of Albert and Permelia Kelly, of Tennessee. Three children are the result of their union: Francis P., Joseph B. and Albert K. When the late Civil war broke out Mr. Wilson, with the loyalty of true citizenship, went into the service. He enlisted in company A, Thirty- seventh Mississippi volunteer infantry, and was with this regiment until 1864, when he was captured; he was carried to Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill., where he was held until the decla- ration of peace. He participated in the battles of Iuka and Vicksburg, and was in several engagements in Georgia. After the close of the war, a large part of his property having been invested in slaves, by their freedom his financial condition was wrecked, like that of many others. He then removed to Yazoo county, where he has since lived. He and his family are members of the Missionary Baptist church. Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party, and he is a member of the Farmers' Alliance. He is one of the men who have helped to make Yazoo county what it is to-day, and his record as a citizen is above reproach. His maternal grandparents are of Irish birth. Their names are James and Margaret J. Cook.

Rev. William Winans, D. D. (deceased), was one of the most illustrious divines in the entire South. He was born near Braddock's grave, Penn., November 3, 1788, and at two years of age he was left to the sole care of his mother, having three sisters and a brother, all older than himself. The sisters were Elizabeth, Martha and Asenath, and the brother Obediah, all of whom married and reared families. From his autobiography and from a diary kept by himself from 1808 are gleaned the following facts: "My mother was poor and depend- ent upon the labor of her own hands, with the slight assistance of her older children. She was, I believe, the most industrious human being I ever knew. I scarcely ever saw her unoccupied, day or night. She usually lulled me to sleep at night with the sound of her Scotch wheel, and aroused me in the morning with the bustle of housekeeping occupations. We never wanted bread to eat nor raiment to wear; and, besides this, our careful mother taught, or had us taught, to read. By some means, I do not know how, my brother, four years older than myself, learned to write, and from him I learned enough, by dint of persevering application, to write in a plain, artificial manner. This is the amount of the education I received, except that, when I was abont eighteen years old, I received instruction in arith- metic during fifteen and a half days. This enabled me to return the obligation conferred upon me by my brother in teaching me caligraphy, as I initiated him in the science of figures and calculations. When I was two years old my mother removed to Ten-mile creek in Greene county, Penn., where she remained some seven years, and then removed to George's creek, Fayette county, Penn., near Union Town. Here we continued until I was sixteen years old and then removed to Clermont county, Ohio, where I remained until I entered the itinerant ministry in the Methodist Episcopal church. While in this county I united with the church. My excellent mother was sincerely pious, long before I was born, and she dili- gently imparted pious and moral instruction to her children as soon as their minds could receive it. There were, however, quickenings and accessions to the strength of the impression so made upon my mind by the preaching of the gospel at sundry times and by various ministers. When eight or nine years old I heard Valentine Cook and James Smith and was deeply impressed, so that I earnestly desired to be a Christian. But during the following six or seven years my associations were as bad as any ont of the infernal regions, and led me into many vicious liabits. Dancing, Sabbath breaking, card playing, and even drunkenness, were vices in which I frequently indulged with keen and increasing relish. I lived in the

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vicinity of large iron works and was employed in them; and in those days, the characters of those employed were perhaps unparalleled for wickedness. In 1803 or 1804 a young man, named Davidson, came to my mother and proposed to make her house a preaching place on the circuit. He prayed with us with great fervor and unction and left an appointment to preach; but severe affliction prevented him from doing it and I never saw him again. His manner, his conversation and his prayer made a deep and lasting impression upon my mind and heart. Soon after Simon Gilespie, James Hunter, William Knox, Thornton Fleming and Anderson Hemphill successively preached at my mother's house, and formed a small society, of which I was a member. In 1805 we removed to Ohio, and I took with me the proper voucher of my membership in the church. But the dissipating influence of immigra- tion and a protracted separation from the ordinances of religion had brought me into so care- less a state, that when I had an opportunity to claim my membership in the church I declined doing so, under a conscientious presumption that I was unfit for the relation. My love to the church and my desire to become a Christian continued, however, and I was, perhaps, as punctual as any member in attending the means of grace, including love feasts and class meetings. This continued till Christmas day, 1806, when I was shut out of love feast by John Collins, a preacher whom I revered more than all others. Determined that I would not again be excluded from love feast, my certificate of membership being a nullity, I joined the church that same day on trial. I was sincerely desirous to be a Christian, but not very earnest in my efforts to that effect till March, 1807. Then I became truly penitent and sought diligently in the bitterness of soul for pardon. On Easter Sunday, March 29, at a prayer meeting at night, and when I was leading in prayer, God spoke peace to my soul and wrought a wonderful change in my whole moral nature, shedding His love abroad in my heart. I was soon after appointed class leader, and on the 29th of August received license to exhort. I first made an attempt to preach in a private house, my mother and all the rest of her family in the congregation, on, I think, the 6th of June, 1808. The presence of my family, my mother especially, embarrassed me more than would that of the president and congress have done. I have not dared to preach on the same text again, though I have written a sermon on it. It was Ephesians v: 8. On the 27th of August, 1808, I received license to preach, and immediately entered upon the work of the itinerant minister, though not formally admitted into it till the following October. My first regular appointment was the Limestone circuit, including Augusta, Washington and Marysville, and, before the year expired, by a uniting of the Limestone and Fleming circuits, Flemingsburg in Kentucky." He preached his first funeral sermon at Washington, that of Mrs. Mary Magruder, daughter of Eliza and John Dunbar, son of Joseph Dunbar, Esq. His first marriage ceremony was performed while on this circuit, May 16, 1810. "My second appointment was to the Vincennes circuit, Indiana. This circuit included all the settlements on the Wabash and White rivers, from the Indiana line to the Ohio river. I went to this circuit October 17, 1809, and left it October 23, 1810. I was the second preacher appointed to this circuit, and during the whole year never saw an itinerant preacher, and had but little assistance from local preachers, of whom there were three on the circuit. Here my acquaintance with President Harrison commenced, and I was enjoying his hospitality at the time of his council with Tecumseh, which mnet on the lawn before Harrison's door. This council was held between two men, than whom few have lived who were more patriotic, wise or brave. They viewed the matter in debate (a late land sale to the United States by the Miami tribe) from different standpoints, and both honestly believed they were defending the right. Tecumseh had spoken very ably from 10 A. M. till 2 P. M. (his speeches being twice interpreted), and Harrison had spoken by way of introduction ten

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minutes, and had entered upon the merits of the dispute in a second speech, when, upon the interpreter translating it into the Indian language, Tecumseh, who was sitting on the ground, sprang to his feet and said fiercely, 'That's a lie.' Immediately the Indians who were of his party also sprang up and as fiercely assented to his negative. I happened to be standing at the back of General Gibson's chair and heard him whisper to the officer in command of a guard of fifteen men, 'Have your men ready. Those fellows intend mischief.' (He had lived twenty years among the Shawnees.) The men were brought immediately in front of Tecum- seh and his confederates, with arms presented and ready for instant action. Had the Indians attempted violence all their chiefs would probably have fallen, as the guards were not more than five paces from them and covered them with their muskets. But for the presence of the guards I have no doubt there would have been a horrible massacre of the whites, as few of them had any arms, and as the Indians were well armed for close conflict, though without firearms. The 'Life of Harrison' does my gallantry more credit than it is entitled to. It represents me as going to the door to defend the women and children, whereas, in fact, I do not know that I thought of them. I had seen a musket, with a fixed bayonet, standing at the door, and thither I went that I might arm myself if a conflict ensued. The door was within a few feet of where the council was held. I came to Mississippi on horse- back from Vincennes via Shelbyville, Ky., the seat of the conference that year, and arrived at Port Gibson December 5, 1810. My fields of labor have been as follows, viz .: Claiborne, Wilkinson, Natchez and Claiborne, two years; New Orleans, 1813 and 1814; Natchez, Clai- borne and Wilkinson; local, five years, on account of ill health; Natchez circuit, 1821; Mis- sissippi district, four years; Washington station, Washington district, three years; missionary agent, three years; superannuated, 1833; New Orleans district, one year; Wilkinson, super- numerary, one year; Woodville station, one year; agent from New Orleans church, 1837; New Orleans district, one year; Natchez district, four years; New Orleans district, three years; agent for Centenary college, 1846; Natchez district, two years; Woodville district, agent for Centenary college; superannuated, four years. I have been a delegate to the general confer- ences nine times, and a delegate to the convention which organized the Methodist Episcopal Church South." While in attendance at the general conference at New York city he was the guest of Harper Brothers, and soon after 1846 was presented with a fine large family Bible, with their kind wishes. This work was profusely illustrated and a masterpiece of topography. A. B. Hyde, D. D., professor of Greek in the University of Denver, speaks of Rev. Will- iam Winans, D. D., in the story of Methodism as "the greatest of the Methodists of the Southwest. His gifted mother taught him to read well the two books, the Bible and Pilgrim's Progress. In the Southwest he was the right man for the region, and here for forty-five years he employed his wonderful energies of mind and body. His personal appearance was striking. In his later years he became feeble, yet when he could hardly sit upon a saddle, he would preach with wonderful power. A delegate to the general conference, on the sepa- ration of the Southern Methodists, he took a lively interest, being himself a slaveholder. He was very negligent of his dress, his collar without stock or cravat slouching about his neck. In this shellbark interior was a mind of strange energy, grasping and molding the most difficult of subjects and uttering itself in a rhetoric equal to that of our best writers." As a writer he issued a wide and choice circle of Biblical literature, including a volume of Discourses on Fundamental Subjects, an enduring monument (large octavo, about seven hundred and fifty pages), besides many fugitive publications. He would go miles to get a book he wanted to read, though his own library was large and comprised many rare and valuable works. They were of a choice selection and said to be one of the best in the South. He received the degree

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of D. D. first from Baton Rouge college, La., and afterward from Randolph, Macon, Ga., Dr. Winans was the second Methodist preacher in New Orleans, going there during the struggle for liberty and renting a small room in which he taught school and held religious service evenings and Sundays. The firing of a gun for the cock fight was the hour his services on Sunday were to commence. He was afterward very intimately associated with Judge Edward McGehee in the building of the Carondelet Street church. He was also engaged in schoolteaching in Wilkinson county near the place of this settlement, where he taught for several years with a large attendance. In his diary kept by himself, dated 1808, is the system of shorthand used by him in taking notes and writing his sermons. He was the first elder commissioned in Mississippi, by Bishop R. R. Robert, bearing the private seal, at Pine Ridge, Miss., October 13, 1816. In the same diary are found the number of volumes he read and re-read, some of them as high as ten times, numbering one thousand three hundred and ten, with the number of pages one million three hundred and forty-four thousand five hundred and five, the Bible ninety-seven times, and the New Testament one hundred and ninety-four times up to within a short time before his death, well preserved on the fly-leaf of his Bible, with date of each reading, now in the hands of his son's family at Columbia, Mo. The number of miles traveled by him, mostly on horse-back, up to within five years before his death was one hundred and thirty-nine thousand eight hundred and fifty two, and the number of marriages performed one hundred and thirty-three, for which he received $1,853.25; the number of chapters read by him before he commenced the ministry of the gospel, from October 22, 1808, to 1811, was eleven thousand one hundred and seventy-two. He performed the marriages of many of the leading families of this county: Noland Stewart (of Louisiana), Judge Henry Cage (of this county), Judge H. F. Simrall, Judge McGehee (second marriage), J. W. Burruss, Hon. B. H. Drake, Judge James Walker and many others. He came to Wilkinson county in 1814 and settled the present home place, where he reared his family. Here he was married September 14, 1815, to Martha Du Bose, a native of South Carolina, born at Darlington April 20, 1797, and died March 22, 1862. She was a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Nettles) Du Bose, natives of the same place. Daniel was the son of Isaac of Dieppe, Normandy, and came to South Carolina in 1689, with his six sons and one daughter, the youngest of whom was Daniel, by whose union with Mary Nettles was born Martha, who became the wife of Dr. Winans. Elias, the living brother of Daniel, married Lydia Capers, by whose union was born Elizabeth, who married Stephen Miller, afterward governor and United States senator from South Carolina. Martha, the wife of the subject, was of a family of five children-four daughters and one son-all of whom grew to maturity and married. Elizabeth married Robert A. Shackleford, Margaret married John C. Richard- son, Mary N. married Dr. William Langley, and Martha married the subject of this memoir. Samuel Du Bose, the eldest child, married Jane Dick and settled in Alabama. Martha, wife of Dr. Winans, came to this territory with her mother in 1809 (she being a widow) and settled in the Midway neighborhood, where she reared and educated her daughter. She was a woman of sterling integrity and very devoted to her family, a good Christian mother and noble woman. She was beloved by all and very highly esteemed. By this union were born six children, four of whom lived to be grown, two of whom are yet living. The eldest, Mary S., married Mr. Isaac Wall, and is now living in Clinton, La., the mother of nine children, five of whom are yet living. The eldest daughter of Mrs. Wall, Sarah C., married W. F. Kernan, a prominent awyer of Louisiana, and now an ex-circuit judge of one of the judicial districts of that state. Mrs. Kernan was the eldest grandchild of Dr. Winans, and on one occasion, when he intro- duced little Sallie Wall to Henry Clay at Baton Rouge, he said: "This is my eldest grand-

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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 167

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