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 169

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 169

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E. H. Wiygul is a well known planter, whose postoffice address is Boland, Itawamba county, Miss. He was born December 9, 1827, a son of Alfred and Nancy (Mayfield) Wiygul. His parents were natives of Tennessee, and both were members of the Methodist church. Of their eleven children the subject of this notice was the eldest. He got his education over pine, as he was denied the privilege of school facilities, and by perseverance obtained a good business education, and was married July 3, 1857, to Miss Elizabeth C. Conwill, who was born in South Carolina October 22, 1832, a daughter of J. G. and Mary (Shumpert) Conwill. She was one of twelve children who lived to maturity. Joseph A. was educated in Missis- sippi and has taught school since 1879. He was married October, 1883, to Miss Tabitha Monts, who was born March 25, 1866, and has had five children, three of whom are deceased. Mr. Wiygul is located on a farm near his father's plantation. He is a Mason and a member of the Farmers' Alliance. Politically he is of the democratic faith, and his first vote for president was cast for Samuel J. Tilden. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. William E. was elected county treasurer of Itawamba county in 1883 and held the office two terms. He took the place of his recently deceased brother, E. R. Wiygul, in the mercantile firm of Wiygul Brothers, general merchants, and lives in Net- tleton, Miss. J. A. Wiygul now lives in Nettleton, Miss., and is interested with his brother, W. E., in business. Elbert Riley, a merchant of Nettleton and a member of the firm of Wiygul Brothers, died recently at his residence in Nettleton. His death was a gloriously victorious one, and he said he was going home to glory, and besought his family and friends to meet him in the sweet bye and bye. Starting a poor boy, he had accumulated a good property for a young man, for he was yet in his twenties and single. Dora A. married J. D. Springer, of Itawamba county, and has three children. John P. married Miss Lillie M. Tally, daughter of M. Tally, of this county. Nancy M. graduated at the industrial institu- tion of Columbus, Miss., and with James M. and Isaac G., is a member of her parents' household. Mary E., Amanda M., and J. M. and Henderson B. are deceased. Mr. Wiygul is a democrat, politically, but has never aspired to any official positions, though he has been offered offices of honor, which he has declined, preferring to be with his family on the farm, teaching them the importance of an agricultural life, though his children have been so well educated as to prepare them for any walk of life. He cast his first presidential vote for Martin Van Buren. He is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Farmers' Alliance. He and his wife are communicants at the Methodist Church South, upon the services of which his children are regular attendants. He has lived on his present homestead since 1834. He located in this county at a time when the playmates of his boyhood were Indians and the country was full of wild game. He lived through the period of settlement and development to see civilization firmly planted where, at his coming, the wilderness covered a large extent of territory. He is honored as the oldest settler of this part of the county. To the work of development he has been a liberal contributor, both of his influence and of his means. No man in the county is more deserving of the high respect which is paid him than is Mr. Wiygul.

Hon. Thaddeus A. Wood, an attorney of Clarke county and a well-known resident of Quitman, was born in Lauderdale county, March 13, 1852. He was the fourth child in a family of six children born to James H. and Mary (Smith) Wood. His father was a native

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of South Carolina, and was born about 1812, being a son of Reese Wood, and he removed to this state about 1852, locating at Lauderdale county, having previously married in South Carolina, and to him were born the following named children: James D., Mar- tha J., John R., Francis and Lee. Before coming to Mississippi Mr. Wood located for a time in Alabama. He died in Smith county in 1867, where he had been for some years a resident. He was a planter, a Free Mason, a democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. The mother of our subject was born in South Carolina, in 1807. She was a daugh- ter of Dempsey Smith, a well-known planter and slaveowner of that state. Before her marriage to Mr. Wood she had been married to Mr. Hill, by whom she had six children, the eldest two of whom died in infancy; the others were: Thomas T., Elam, William H. H. and Mary. She died in Pulaski county, Ark., in 1887, having been long a consistent mem- ber of the Baptist church. William H. H. Hill was a prominent physician of Sylvania, Smith county, and a graduate of the New Orleans medical college, who had a successful career and amassed a considerable fortune. Lee Wood, brother of T. A. Wood, is also a successful and well-known physician of the same place, and is a graduate of the Nashville Medical college. James is a wealthy planter residing in Arkansas. The boyhood, youth and young manhood of our subject were spent in Smith county. In 1867 he removed to Arkansas, where he lived till 1877. He was educated at Jacksonville college in Arkansas, and was a student there in 1873. In 1874 and 1875 he attended the Sylvania institute, and in 1876 he was again a student at Jacksonville college. Later he entered the South- western university at Georgetown, Tex., where he remained during the years 1877, 1878 and 1879. Returning to Mississippi in the last mentioned year, he taught school at Sylvania in 1880, and at Quitman in 1881. He studied law under Maj. Samuel Terral, of Quitman, in 1881-2, and was duly admitted to the bar. Mr. Terral having been appointed judge, Mr. Wood remained in his office and took charge of his large practice. September 29, 1886, Mr. Wood was married to Miss Anna L. Hassell, a daughter of John and Mary (Hunter) Has- sell, who was born in Choctaw county in 1867. Her father and mother were natives of Ten- nessee, the latter being a graduate of Columbia college, Tennessee. Her family moved to Mississippi in 1883, and located at Heidelberg, in Jasper county. Mrs. Wood was educated at Martin college. She has borne her husband two children: Mary, who died in infancy, and Florence, who is living. Mr. Wood's career as a legal practitioner, which has extended through the past nine years, has been a markedly successful one. In 1887 he was elected to the state senate of Mississippi. In addition to his legal and miscellaneous practice he has upon his hands the legal business of the Enterprise Manufacturing and Development com- pany, having been appointed attorney for that corporation. He is a man of great public spirit, and has done his full share toward the advancement of the general welfare of the community. He is a member of the Baptist church, and his wife is a member of the Presby- terian church.

Hon. Thomas H. Woods, associate justice of the supreme court of Mississippi, is a native of Kentucky. Born in the quiet town of Glasgow, Ky., in 1838, the first ten years of his life were passed there. In 1848 his father, Rev. Hervey Woods, removed from Glas- gow, Ky., to Kemper county, Miss., where Justice Woods received a common-school educa- tion, and where he resided until the winter of 1871-2, when he removed to Meridian, Lauder- dale county. The promise of his youth warranted his father in sending him to Williams college, Massachusetts, and during his term of two years in that college he demonstrated clearly his strength of mind and endurance of physical powers. On returning to Mississippi, he turned his studies directly to law and in the winter of 1859-60 was admitted a member

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of the bar. With all the hope and pride of a young lawyer he determined to begin profes- sional life among a people who knew his father and himself, and accordingly established his office at De Kalb, the seat of justice of Kemper county. Little time was given to assert his claim to prominence among his seniors of the bar. Within a year he was chosen a representative of Kemper in the historic convention of 1861. Within a year the Confed- eracy of the Southern states called all men to arms, and among the very first to respond to this loud, deliberate, daring call, was the young advocate of De Kalb. No commission urged him to enter the army, for his military career commenced as private in the first military company raised in Kemper county for the Confederate service. He did not sub- sequently seek promotion, but as virtue brings its own reward, slowly but certainly his per- sonality rose above influence, and by gradual promotion he attained the rank of captain in his old company before Appomattox decided the fortunes of war. Singularly fortunate in being permitted to carve his own way upward in the military scale, he was equally fortunate in escaping the prison and the soldier's grave. A serious wound, received at Malvern Hill during the terrible combat at that point, is the reminder of the perils through which he passed and of the manner in which he answered the bugle calls to battle for rights and customs which he believed inalienable. He was earnest in the constitutional convention of 1861-he was the youngest member of that body-earnest in following the lessons which the convention inculcated, and earnest as a soldier of that western army which it brought into existence; he was always and everywhere faithful. It is not a matter for surprise to learn of the esteem and honor which waited on him in the years since the war. Immediately after his discharge from the army he was chosen attorney for the Third Mississippi district to fill a vacancy, and in 1866 was elected for a full term. His administration was forcible to such a degree that no guilty man escaped, criminals feared the law for that reason and good men learned to admire its rigorous administration. The rule of the carpetbaggers now commenced, the zealous attorney was ousted under their forms of law, and a reign of legalized terror instituted. The victors claimed the spoils in word and deed. In 1869, when he was nominated for the state senate by the unanimous democratic voice of his district, the new forms of law militated against his election and he went down with the other democratic can- didates. Everywhere the Federal bayonet and the negro enforced the law after the system of the Moors and Saracens. They were evil days in Mississippi, but the shadows were pass- ing and intolerance was marching toward its end. He was elected district attorney in 1871, for the full term, and eclipsed his record as such in 1865 and 1866. The district was cleared of ruffians and desperadoes and the law, as administered by him, taught men to control their tempers and observe the rules of civilized life. In 1875 he' was re-elected dis- trict attorney and the record of exact justice was not only maintained, but also extended until 1876, when he resigned the office to devote himself to his practice. Success followed success, and a few years brought him to that high position which his day dreams as a young lawyer in 1860 pictured for his future. In 1882 he was chosen representative in the legisla- ture almost by acclamation. From the point of view of himself and friends, it was an honor dangerous to accept, and during the session he every day denounced his own folly in accept- ing the honor. In 1885 he declined the office of United States district attorney, offered by President Cleveland, and in other affairs showed a decided disinclination to seek public office. In 1889 Governor Lowry appointed him judge of the supreme court, to fill an unex- pired term, and he became chief justice on going on the bench by operation of law. In 1891 Governor Stone reappointed Judge Woods for the full term of nine years. Since 1889, in common with his associates on the bench. he has bent his energies to reflect the glories of

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the great old bar of Mississippi and present to the Union opinions and decisions equaling in words and logic any ever delivered in the English tongue. He it was who delivered the opinion in the Hemingway case in 1890, a production as literary as it is legal, abounding in beautiful ideas of justice and in language strong and irrefutable. A volume could be written on the life of this Mississippi jurist, each page of which would portray a man of intense convictions, well ordered ideas, logical, learned, soldierly, and withal genial and beneficent.

Dr. A. V. Woolverton, a practicing and prominent physician of Enterprise, Miss., was born in Broadalviu, Fulton county, N. Y., in 1828. He is a son of Dr. Asher and Jane (Kennedy) Woolverton. His father was born on the Hudson river in New York in 1779 and served in the War of 1812. He became a practicing physician, finally locating at Rochester, N. Y., where he died in 1851. He reared a family of eight children, of which our subject was the last in the order of birth. The mother was born in the same town as her hus- band, and died in Rochester about 1854. The children were named Dennis, Thomas, Stephen, Asher, Servius, Orpha, Samantha and Almira J. Dr. A. V. Woolverton's early life was passed in Rochester, N. Y. He received his early education in the state of his birth, and in 1851 came to Mississippi and located at Enterprise, Clarke county. In 1853 he entered the Medical college of the state of Louisiana at New Orleans, at which he grad- uated in 1854, establishing himself in the practice of his profession in Enterprise during the same year. He was married iu 1858 to Miss Cornelia E. Hand, of Clarke county, and a daughter of John F. Hand, who was one of the pioneers of the county, on one of the original purchases of land. Mrs. Woolverton was born in this county in 1841, and is one of a family of ten children. The maiden name of her mother was Sarah Everett, and one of her aunts was the first wife of Commodore Vanderbilt. Her parents were early settlers in this part of the county, where they became extensive planters and where they ended their days. Dr. and Mrs. Woolverton have had three children, whose uames are: Walter, who died in 1880 at the age of twenty-one; Stella, now Mrs. J. W. Dyes, of Enter- prise, and who has had children, whose names are: Christopher R., Almira and Walter; and Almira, who is living at home with her parents. In 1861 the Doctor became connected with the surgical department of the armies of the Confederate States, and served as assistant sur- geon in the hospitals during the war. He was at the siege of Vicksburg, and his duty called him often to the field of battle. He located in Enterprise after peace was declared and engaged in the practice of his profession, with which he combined, however, the duty of bookkeeper. He is everywhere recognized as a successful medical practitioner, who has the confidence of his patients and the respect of the general public. He is generous in his sup- port of public enterprises, and takes a special interest in schools, churches and all kindred institutions. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church, of which he is an official. He is a Royal Arch Mason. He has a pleasant home, about two miles south of Enterprise, which is one of the most hospitable in the country.

Thomas Worthington, planter, Leota Landing, was born in Leota, Miss., in 1855, and of the twelve children that blessed the union of Isaac and Ann (Taylor) Worthington he was the youngest in order of birth. The father and mother were originally from Kentucky and the paternal grandfather was also a native of that state and of a distinguished family. The maternal grandfather, Ben. Taylor, was lieutenant-governor of Kentucky and of a prominent family of that state. Isaac Worthington was educated in his native state, where his birth occurred in 1792, and was a soldier in the War of 1812. He came to Mississippi in 1825 and with his negroes made a permanent settlement at Leota, which he named himself, in 1829.

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He had about fifteen hundred acres, but afterward bought more and cleared one thousand acres. He then bought an adjoining place with five hundred acres cleared. He was quite a prominent man and was elected to the office of judge of the county court. He died in 1855, an active mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church and the organizer of the same near Leota. His wife received her final summons in 1882. Their children were named as follows: Macie (married Cyrus R. Johnson), Theodocia (married Judge L. B. Valliant of St. Louis, Mo., now circuit judge in that city); William H. (married Miss Baldwin and lived and died at Enterprise, Miss.), Ben. T. (married Miss Mary Elly and both are now deceased), Isaac M. (married May Johnson and now resides in Chicot county, Ark.). The remainder of the children died in infancy. Thomas Worthington was reared in Washington county and graduated from the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., in 1877. He subsequently went to St. Louis, Mo., studied law for one year, but in 1878 began planting on his present place. He was married in 1883 to Miss Rosine Adams, of New Orleans, daughter of R. W. Adams, a merchant of that city. In 1886 Mr. Worthington erected his fine residence on his place and has now twelve hundred acres with nine hundred acres cultivated. He has a steam gin and all the modern improvements. He has a small orchard, but raises a good variety of fruit. He has a fine Percheron stallion, one of the best horses in the country, and is aiming to raise a good breed of stock. On his place the town of Leota has been built and the first merchants, Mott & Scarey, began business there in 1867. There are now twelve stores, postoffice, etc., and it is quite a thriving place. In 1858 Mr. Worthington's mother built a splendid brick mansion, which later, with six hundred acres of cleared land, caved in the river. To Mr. and Mrs. Worthington have been born three beautiful and interesting children: Annie, Henriette and Thomas, Jr. Mr. Worthington . has been a member of the board of supervisors and has been active in the welfare and improvement of the county, and is a member-elect to the legislature. His father and uncles were pioneers of the Lake Washington country and did much to develop Washington county in its early day. Their children, Mr. Worthington and his cousins, are among the prosperous planters and prominent citizens of the county at the present time. Mr. Worthington is a fine looking and intelligent gentleman.

E. H. Wray, who is engaged in the sawmill industry at Huntington, Bolivar county, Miss., is the son of Levi Wray, who was a native of Halifax county, Va., and who came to Madison county, Miss., when a young man. There he was soon married to Miss Julia Eleanor, a native of North Carolina, and the fruits of this union were seven children, E. H. being the second in order of birth. The father planted extensively, became very prosperous and his plantation on Bogue Chitto is still known as the Wray place. He moved to Law- rence county in 1858, and there his death occurred on the 9th of February, 1865. After this the family moved back to their former place of residence, and the mother died in Hinds county in 1879. She was a worthy and exemplary church member. The father was a Mason of high standing. The maternal grandparents of E. H. came to Madison county, Miss., in 1841, followed planting, and there both passed the remainder of their days. E. H. Wray began life for himself in 1879 by coming to Washington county, Miss., and engaging in the timber business for Edward Richardson. In 1882 he contracted to furnish pilings for the Mississippi river commissioners, and was thus engaged for three years, making considerable money in that time. In February, 1886, he came to Huntington, erected a first-class saw- mill, thoroughly equipped in every way, and has followed this business ever since. This mill has a capacity of twelve thousand feet daily, and saws principally for local trade and for most of the buildings erected in Huntington. In 1888 Mr. Wray bought his present residence, one of the many neat cottages of Huntington; also owns a business house and lot,

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and a house and lot in Moores. In April, 1888, he was married to Miss Lela Atkinson, daughter of William Atkinson, of Madison county. She is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church. Mr. Wray has served as mayor of Huntington, and filled that position in a creditable and satisfactory manner. He is pleasant and accommodating, and a very agree- able person to meet.

G. L. Wrenn, planter, Gunnison, Miss., the youngest of six children born to Theodore and Elizabeth (Kirk) Wrenn, was originally from the Palmetto state, his birth occurring at Waxhaw settlement in 1838, and is of Danish extraction. The parents were natives of Vir- ginia and South Carolina, respectively, and the father came to South Carolina with his parents when but a child. He followed the occupation of a planter, and received his final summons in that state in 1838. He and wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The paternal grandfather, with others, established one of the first Methodist Episcopal churches in South Carolina at Waxhaw, and it was called Wrenn's Wesleyan chapel. It is now called Waxhaw church. G. L. Wrenn came to Mississippi in 1855, made his home with his uncle, J. C. Kirk and Mrs. N. R. Simmons until 1858, when he entered La Grange college, Tennes- see, and there remained until 1860. He enlisted as a private in McGehee's rifles, in June, 1861, was in the battles of northwestern Virginia with Generals Floyd and Lee, and then in the western army, under Gen. A. S. Johnston. He was captured at Fort Donelson, taken to Chicago, Ill., and there kept in confinement for seven months. He was exchanged at Vicks- burg, and afterward joined his command at Grenada, Miss. He was in all the battles around Atlanta, and was in the Tennessee campaign. He was taken sick at Tupelo, Miss., and was home on a furlough at the time of the surrender. The ensign of the regiment was killed at Fort Donelson. Mr. Wrenn served as color-bearer the remainder of the war. He was capt- ured the second time at Port Gibson, sent to Alton, Ill., and after being exchanged, joined the army at Resaca, Ga., to participate in the concluding engagements, as above stated. At the death of his aunt, Mrs. Simmons, in 1863, Mr. Wrenn inherited an interest in the Wax- haw plantation, and after returning from the war he bought other property. He purchased Hudson plantation in 1876, and this fine property, consisting of one thousand acres, with eight hundred acres under cultivation, he has cleared and otherwise improved until it is now called one of the finest in the delta. In April, 1886, Mr. Wrenn was united in marriage to Miss Nora W. Cousar, a native also of the Palmetto state, and whose people now reside at Chester, S. C. To this union was born one child, who died unnamed. Mr. and Mrs. Wrenn are members of the Methodist Church South. He is a member in good standing in the Masonic fraternity, has been a member of the levee board and the board of supervisors. He is rather large and fair, and is pleasant, genial and courteous. Mrs. Wrenn is handsome and refined, and one whose graces and virtues are well known. Mr. Wrenn is a thorough and most successful planter and his clean and well-improved fields, with the many neat tenant houses, remind one of the suburb of some large city, while his beautiful residence, erected near Gunnison in 1890, at a cost of $14,000, is built in artistic villa style, and with its graceful minarets and towers, attracts and pleases the eyes of all. The twenty commodious rooms are furnished in the best of style and with exquisite taste, and are finished in the natural wood and oil. They are well lighted from many large windows, the grates are ornamented with tile, and the highly polished halls reflect every object. This home is all that the heart of man could desire or that a refined and educated taste could wish. Aside from his large farming interests, Mr. Wrenn is the owner of a good steam gin and sawmill. .

J. H. Wright, vice president and manager of the Meridian National bank, Meridian, Miss., since its opening, is a native of New York state. His ancestors were among the early

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settlers of New England. His parents, John Sheldon and Amoret (Moses) Wright, are resi- dents of Palmyra, N. Y. His mother was a daughter of Zebina Moses, of Marcellus, N. Y. (See "John Moses, of Plymonth," pages 70-71. Ed.) This Moses family are descended from John Moses, who came from Wales in 1640. Possessed of a liberal education, Mr. Wright began his business career in the employ of the United Pipe lines, in Olean, N. Y., and Brad- ford, Penn., where for years his characteristic signature was seen on the face of orders for oil certifying the same as authentic and good in the market. In 1881 he married Mattie Wal- ler Hersee, of Buffalo, N. Y. He removed to Meridian, Miss., in 1884, and opened the Merid- ian National bank for Eastern and local capitalists. This is a strong concern, capitalized at $100,000, with a surplus and undivided profits aggregating $75,000. Its officers are: T. Wistar Brown, of Philadelphia, president; J. H. Wright, of Meridian, Miss., vice president; E. B. McRaven, cashier; and J. M. Jameson, assistant cashier. The directors are: T. Wis- tar Brown, J. H. Wright, B. F. Ormond, I. Marks, George S. Covert, A. B. Wagner, G. Q. Hall, W. W. Lowry and J. A. Wetherbee. Under Mr. Wright's management this institution has grown in favor from day to day.

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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 169

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