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 32

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 32

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MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

The Presbyterian church of Baldwyn was organized November 23, 1872. The constitu- ent members were A. Cox, Mrs. N. T. Cox, Mrs. M. A. Stevenson, A. G. Wescott, John Stev- enson and W. M. Cox. The present membership is about fifty. The pastor is Rev. J. H. Gaillard, who is concerned in the organization of the church.

Shannon, Lee county, was laid out in 1858, by G. F. Simonton, and named in honor of Col. E. G. Shannon, and is favorably situated on the line of the Mobile & Ohio railroad. The first building was erected for a store, by John M. Simonton, and goods were sold from it by Simonton & Buchanan, general merchants. Soon afterward other stores were built, and Shannon became quite a trading point. The population is four hundred and fifty.

The Methodist Episcopal Church South, at Shannon, was organized about 1869, with Rev. E. B. Plummer as pastor. The members numbered seventeen-seven males and ten females. The house of worship was erected about 1872, at a cost of about $1,000. The present pastor is Rev. C. P. Barnes. The members number seventy five.

The Baptist church at Shannon was organized about 1867, with about seventy members, with Rev. William Thomas as pastor. A frame church was built about 1873, and dedicated by Rev. J. R. Graves. It has a seating capacity of five hundred. The church numbers about sixty-five members, and is under the pastoral care of Rev. T. H. Padgett, of Tupelo.

The Cumberland Presbyterian church at Shannon was organized at an early day, at a place near by, and soon after moved to Shannon and erected a frame building with a seating capacity of five hundred.

Palmetto Lodge No. 152, A. F. & A. M., organized at Palmetto Church, west of Verona, before the war, and transferred to Shannon about 1868 or 1869. It has a membership of twenty-five.

Shannon Graded institute was chartered in the spring of 1890, has a frame building 40x80 feet, two stories high, employs five teachers, and has an attendance of from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five students. The house is situated on a beautiful hill, is well ven- tilated and is the best seated and equipped school building in the county. It was built by subscription through the efforts of Prof. W. T. Foster, the principal. This gentleman is a native of Tennessee, and has been a successful educator for thirteen years.

Five miles southwest of Baldwyn is Bethany, a small trading point. Here was organized the Associate Reformed church of Bethany, on Saturday, June 5, 1852, agreeable to an order of the Associate Reformed presbytery of Alabama, by Revs. H. H. Robison and J. L. Young, assisted by ruling elders Maj. Robert McBryde, Alexander Foster and Hugh Wiseman. The following persons became members of the church by certificate: Thomas Bryson and wife, Mrs. Martha Bryson, Miss Jane Bryson, Miss Elizabeth A. Bryson, Miss Mary Bryson, Miss Eliza Bryson, Miss Emily Bryson, Hampton Bryson, Samuel Bryson and wife, Mrs. Jane Bryson, David Lemmon and wife, Mrs. Martha Jane Lemmon, Mrs. Margaret O'Shields, and Mrs. Margaret I. Young, from Providence church, Laurens district, S. C .; James Turner and wife, Mrs. Nancy C. Turner, John Watt and wife, Mrs. Sarah Watt, and Mrs. Martha E. McGee, from Generostee church, Anderson district, S. C .; John K. Crockett and wife, Mrs. Rachel Crockett, from Ebenezer church, Tippah county, Miss. Besides these white persons, four colored members were at the same time received, viz .: Lunnon, Patience and Joseph, servants of Rev. J. L. Young, from Providence church, Laurens district, S. C., and Nelly, servant of John Watt, from Generostee church, Anderson district, S. C. There was at that time a total membership of twenty-five persons, twenty-one being whites and four colored. Thomas Bryson, Samuel Bryson and John K. Crockett were elected ruling elders. Thomas

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Bryson had been ordained a ruling elder at Providence, S. C. Samuel Bryson and John K. Crockett were ordained on June 5, 1852.

During the war, Tupelo and other points in Lee county witnessed many exciting scenes. Early in 1862 the war drew nearer and nearer to them. The battle of Shiloh was fought April 6 and 7, 1862. Corinth became a military camp, commissaries scoured the country, gathering up all the beeves and forage they could obtain. Hospitals were established at Guntown, and citizens brought sick soldiers to their homes and nursed them. This state of excitement continued till the last of May, when General Beauregard evacuated Corinth, and moved the Southern army to Tupelo. The retreat then became a visible reality to the people. Many of the blacks fled to the Federal lines. General Chalmers had a picket line at the church and along the Pontotoc road, and no one was permitted to pass without permission of the military authorities. And, to add to the troubles of the time, in January, 1863, the smallpox was brought into the neighborhood, and several good citizens died, among whom was Dr. Washington Agnew. The year 1863 may be termed the year of raids. As soon as the spring opened, raids from Corinth became common. There was a cavalry fight at Bir- mingham, on April 24, 1863. The next week another raid passed down the railroad, burn- ing the Guntown steammill, May 4, 1863. From that time on, raids were reported every few weeks in some part of the country. In consequence of them, the citizens were compelled to hide their stock and valuables, to prevent them from falling into the hands of a foe as ruth- less as the Vandals of the middle ages. June 10, 1864, a battle was fought immediately around Bethany, which has been variously designated as the battle of Guntown, the battle of Tishomingo creek, the battle of Brice's crossroads and Sturgis' defeat. In the official medical history of the war the losses on both sides in this engagement are given as follows: Federals killed, two hundred and twenty-three; wounded, three hundred and ninety-four; missing, one thousand six hundred and twenty-three. Confederates killed, one hundred and thirty-one; wounded, four hundred and seventy-five.

Guntown, in Lee county, on the Mobile & Ohio railroad, has a population of three hun- dred. Shortly after the Revolutionary war an heir to a baronetcy in England, possessing the warlike name of Gunn, proved himself a tory of the most notorious stripe. Rather than live in commune with the creatures of a republic, he joined the Chickasaw Indians and became a chief. He married a fair daughter of the tribe, and by the marriage a lovely child was born, and Okalallah became the pride of the Chickasaw nation and was noted for her beauty, comeliness and modesty. Hence the name of Guntown.

In the early fifties a village was started on nearly the highest point between Cairo and Mobile, and in 1855 D. N. Cayce arrived, bought a plantation, opened a store and made things hum. There were two stores on his arrival, and Guntown grew until about half a dozen establishments were doing business, when the war clarion sounded. D. N. Cayce was a Tennesseean, who located at Fulton, Miss., in 1842, and moved therefrom merely to invest, and maintained his home at Fulton, where he died about three years ago, deeply regretted. He had been a power in the land, owning several plantations and several stores, but always eschewed official ambition.

His son, J. M. Cayce, was born in Lawrence county, Tenn., and studied at the celebrated Emory and Henry college, Virginia. When his father purchased the Guntown properties he was made overseer, and with this region he has been prominently identified ever since.

The town of Fayette, the seat of justice of Jefferson county since 1825, was incorporated in 1842. Its first mayor was J. B. Carpenter, its first clerk G. A. Guilminot, its first council

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M. C. Dixon, R. H. Truly, Thomas Devenport. Its present mayor is W. F. Faulk, its pres- ent clerk Henry Key, its present council George D. Forman, James McClurg, Jr., S. Hirsch.

The town contains three churches, viz .: Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian and Chris- tian. Its schools are the Fayette female academy, the boys' high school and the public or free school. There are within its borders the following brick buildings: The courthouse and jail, three churches, the female academy and five business houses. The courthouse was erected in 1881 at a cost of $15,000. The jail cost $10,000.

The Fayette academy was chartered in 1827 through the efforts of Gov. Cowles Mead. The Rev. Mr. Sanford and wife were the first principals. In 1858 the charter was amended and collegiate power given, its name being changed to the Fayette Female college. This institution has a large two-story brick building, nicely located on a rise of ground in the eastern part of the city.

The first Baptist church in Jefferson county was established by Rev. Richard Curtis, Jr., near the south fork of Coles creek in 1798. It was called Salem. He (Rev. Curtis) was at one time with one of the members of his church, named Stephen De Alvo, a converted Span- iard, banished from the territory by Gov. Gayoso De Lemos. The Fayette Methodist Epis- copal church was organized about 1825 by Rev. John C. Johnson. The present pastor is Rev. Ralph Bradley. The number of members is eighty-five. The denomination had an organization in the county as early as 1802, meeting at the old Spring Hill church, four miles south of Fayette. The organization was effected by Rev. Tobias Gibson, and is still kept up. The society at Fayette has a large and commodious house of worship, a brick building erected in 1829. The first Presbyterian church in the county was organized in 1804 by Rev. Joseph Bullen, of Vermont, who was sent as a missionary to the Chickasaw Indians in the year 1800. The Fayette Presbyterian church was organized December 9, 1854; its first pastor, Henry McDonald; first clerk, J. H. Darden. The original membership was thirty-three. The present pastor, W. B. Bingham; the present clerk, P. K. Whitney; the present membership, fifty-eight. A good Sunday-school is kept up. The house of worship is a good brick structure. There is regular preaching twice each month. The Christian church of Fayette was organized March 29, 1851, by Rev. J. T. Johnston, of Kentucky, and has a brick house of worship. Among the original members were David Darden, John P. Darden, James Stowers and John D. Burch. The present pastor is Rev. Philip Vawter.

The physicians of Jefferson county, in the order of their advent, have been Drs. J. H. Duncan, Key, Thomas H. Young, Farrar, B. F. Fox, James Brown, William C. Walker, Thomas Walton, Penquite, E. J. H. White, A. K. McNair and R. C. Love.

Jefferson lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 14, was chartered in 1821. Among the charter mem- bers were Thomas Reed, J. C. Fletcher and others. The present noble grand is James McClure, Jr. J. A. Donald is secretary. The membership is twenty-five, and the lodge is in a good financial condition.

Thomas Hines lodge No. 5S, F. & A. M., was chartered April 12, 1843. John H. Dun- can was first worshipful master, the first senior warden was Philip O. Hughes, the first junior warden Isaac Dunbar." The charter members were Philip O. Hughes, J. H. Duncan, Isaac Dunbar, S. B. McLeod, Charles West, Thomas M. Nash and Chesley S. Coffey.

The officers of this lodge in 1890 were: Charles Cooper, W. M. : G. D. McNair, S. W. : C. E. Robertson, J. W. ; J. J. Robertson, S. D. ; James McClure, Jr., J. D. ; James McClure, treasurer; Henry Key, secretary; T. J. Key, S. & T. The membership was forty-one. The organization is strong financially, owning a hall and lot and having money in the treasury.

Fayette lodge No. 1389, Knights of Honor, was chartered in October, 1879. The charter

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members were: Ben Eiseman, Henry Key, William Thompson, C. M. Eiseman, W. L. Stephen, O. H. McGinty, F. Krauss, C. Cooper, S. Heildron, I. B. Stewart, E. M. Keyes, W. L. Guice, R. H. Truly, G. W. Rembert, M. Eisman, N. Eilbott.

Fayette lodge No. 404, Knights and Ladies of Honor, was chartered April 9, 1889. The official members were: W. D. Torrey, protector; T. L. Darden, past protector; William Gohazen, vice protector; Mrs. M. I. Key, secretary; L. R. Harrison, treasurer; C. W. Whitney, guide.

The old childhood home of Jefferson Davis was at old Greenville, the old county seat of Jefferson county, where he lived with an elder brother. Aaron Burr was arrested on the banks of Coles creek, in this county. Buena Vista plantation, owned by General Taylor at the time of his election to the presidency, is located on the Mississippi river, eight miles below Rodney. General Jackson was married at the residence of and by Thomas Green, near old Fort Gayoso. General Gayoso first resided in this county.

The Rodney Gazette, published at Rodney by Thomas Palmer, Thomas J. Johnson editor, politically whig, was established in 1830. The Fayette Watch Tower was estab- lished at Fayette in 1839 by William B. Tebo, editor and proprietor. The Fayette Times was published in 1858 by J. H. King. The Jefferson Journal was started in 1862 by Andrew Marschalk, Jr. The Fayette Chronicle was established by W. A. Marschalk in 1865. In 1870 he sold the paper to B. B. Paddock and F. H. Cully, and Mr. Paddock became its editor. In 1872 he sold it to R. H. Truly.

Flora McDonald, celebrated in romance as the savior of Charles Edward after the bat- tle of Culloden, resided at Fayette for a time.

Harriston, located at the junction of the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas, the Natchez, Jackson & Columbus railroads, northeast of Fayette, contains six general stores, one drug store, two hotels, one newspaper, three saloons, two livery stables, three lodges and one church building, a frame structure now in course of erection, to cost $2,000. The secret societies mentioned are the Knights of Pythias, the American Legion of Honor and the Order of Railroad Sectionmen. The postoffice was established in January, 1885; Mrs. M. L. Jones was first postmistress. The office is now in charge of Mrs. E. B. Hammond. Griffin & Patton are the publishers of a bright and newsy local paper, which was established in the fall of 1890. The town was incorporated in 1886 with James M. Love as mayor and John Gillis and C. H. Gates as members of the town board.

July 4, 1864, a fleet under General Ellett, landing at Rodney, sent a detachment of troops through this county in search of cotton. They met four companies of Confederate cavalry at the crossroads near Dr. Coleman's place, now known as Clifton. A brief but sharp engagement took place and the Federals were driven to their boats, with slight loss. The Confederates lost four killed and several wounded. Major Morman led the Confed- erates.

Harriston, near Fayette, is a thriving village. Greenville, once the seat of justice, is now a cotton field, but there are those who can still point to the locality of the county buildings, the gallows and other landmarks.

Lying almost in the center of Claiborne county, occupying an advantageous and beauti- ful location in the midst of a fine cotton, corn, fruit, vegetables and grass-growing section, is found the pretty little city of Port Gibson, one of the state's oldest municipalities, as the county also is one of the oldest, having been organized in the beginning of the present century, or in 1802, on January 27. Port Gibson, the beautiful county seat of Claiborne

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county, was first founded and laid out by Samuel Gibson, Esq. ; who was a native of South Carolina, horn August 1, 1748. Mr. Gibson came to Mississippi in 1772, at the age of twenty-four, and first settled in what is now known as Jefferson county. The records in the national land office at Washington, D. C., show that in October, 1777, he obtained from the British authorities, then in power here, a grant of land on Boyd's (now Cole's) creek. He also acquired two tracts of land on St. Catharine's creek, in Adams county, one tract bearing date of 1784, the other 1788. He obtained from the Spanish government then established at Natchez, which had supplanted the British, a grant of eight hundred and fifty acres on the waters of Bayou Pierre. This tract covered the site of Port Gibson, since the first settlement of which, therefore, over ninety-nine years have passed. Mr. Gibson was the second man to penetrate so far from the river into the untrodden forest and wil- derness. All around him, and for an unknown distance to the east, stretched a trackless forest, inhabited only by savages and wild animals.

The pioneer who preceded Mr. Gibson to this neighborhood was Jacob Cobun (in all probability his father-in-law), who the year before, January 11, 1787, had located a Spanish grant of eight hundred acres near here, which land was subsequently held by Elizabeth and Ann Cobun, sisters of Mrs. Samuel Gibson, and lay three or four miles south of Port Gib- son, on Red Lick road.

When Mr. Gibson settled on the beautiful plateau of country now the site of Port Gib- son, it was an almost impenetrable forest, with a huge undergrowth of cane. Port Gibson was in its early days known as Gibson's Landing, but in 1803 an act was passed by the leg- islature, declaring the name should be changed to Port Gibson. At the same time the above act was passed by the legislature Messrs. Thomas White, Daniel Burnet, G. W. Humphreys and John McCaleb were appointed commissioners to buy two acres of land from Samuel Gibson, and to contract for the erection thereon of a courthouse, jail, stock, pillory and whipping-post. Accordingly two acres of land were purchased, the site of the present courthouse and jail, and Joseph Davenport undertook the erection of the public buildings. They were completed that winter, and in February, 1804, the justices held their first meet- ing in the new courthouse.

The first license to keep a public house (tavern) in Port Gibson was granted in July, 1803, to Moses Armstrong and Robert Ashley. Immediately after, Gibson's Landing, or Port Gibson, was chosen by the legislature as the county seat, people began to purchase lots from Mr. Gibson and to build.

The first sale was made July 10, 1803, to Frederick Myers, and the price paid was $115. It was lot No. 3, in square No. 8, and soon there was a brisk demand for lots, and by November, 1804, the village contained thirty houses, with a total population of about one hundred souls. In the early history of Port Gibson the pseudonym Gibson's Landing clung to it, but in the course of twelve to fifteen years the former name prevailed.

The first fire company in Port Gibson, so far as known, was a chartered organization incorporated by an act of the legislature passed January 26, 1821. The charter members were as follows: Amos Whiting, James Burbridge, Harvey Bradford, James Hughes, Orran Faulk, Tobias Gibson, Horace Carpenter, Cornelius Haring, John H. Esty, Benjamin Shields, George Lake, Alfred Faulk, A. G. Cage, W. R. McAlpine, Thomas Cotton, John L. Buck, Fieldner Offutt, James Maxwell, Joseph Briggs, David D. Downing.

The Bank of Port Gibson was incorporated in May, 1836. A company was organized under the name of the Grand Gulf & Port Gibson Exporting company, in 1829.

Previous to the war Port Gibson was noted far and wide for the wealth and culture of

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its inhabitants, as it was the home of a large number of Mississippi's most wealthy cotton planters. It still retains the reputation of being the home of a cultivated, refined and hos- pitable population, and is indeed one of the most charming little cities in the state, being a seat of learning of no mean importance, and containing a very superior citizenship, among which the social graces and amenities are assiduously cultivated.

The advent, a few years ago, of the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas railroad had the effect of placing Port Gibson in direct communication with the outside world, and served to stimulate its commercial and industrial activity to a gratifying extent, and since then its growth has been marked, steady and substantial. Its population in 1890 was one thousand six hundred, and new accessions are being received. The municipality embraces something more than one-half mile square, the streets being regularly laid out and well improved, while good sidewalks prevail. A profusion of ornamental trees shade the streets, giving the place a charming, home-like appearance, while the many beautiful residences indicate the wealth and cultivated tastes of the inhabitants. In the business portion are seen many large, sub- . stantial mercantile houses, some being modern structures of elegant architectural design; their heavy stocks showing plainly that a large and lucrative business is transacted. Inves- tigation only confirms this, and the merchants, as a class, are regarded as far above the aver- age in point of solvency and reliability. The corporation is also out of debt, and its warrants are worth their face value. The town handles, annually, from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand bales of cotton, and the receipts are increasing each season. The citizens have dis- played the most commendable zeal and activity in the efforts to locate industrial enterprises, and have now two very important ones in operation, namely, a cottonmill and a cottonseed oilmill, which are successfully conducted and add largely to the commercial and economical prosperity of the place.

Trade is principally confined to Claiborne county, and the cotton receipts reach fifteen thousand bales per annum. Some thirty-seven business houses, of different kinds, constitute the commercial world at present, and no line is, we learn, overdone; hence the merchants are prosperous and rate high in commercial circles.

As an educational center Port Gibson occupies a commanding position among Misissippi towns, and its female college and male academy are educational institutions which attract pupils from all parts of the state, as well as other states. There are also two public schools which afford ample educational facilities for the youth of both races, the scholastic term extending over a period of six months. In the important matter of educating its youth, Claiborne county is by no means remiss, as is shown by its seventy nine public schools, and the $10,000 annually paid for their support by the taxpayers.

That a Christian and moral people comprise the population is well attested by the fact that there are five white and three negro churches, the former Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Catholic and Christian, the latter being Methodist, Baptist and Christian. The principal civic societies are also represented and have flourishing, well attended lodges and well equipped halls. A very good and well arranged hall serves to accommodate dramatic troupes who visit the place during the theatrical season.

The location is a healthy one, the town site being rolling and allowing of perfect natural drainage. Water of excellent quality is obtained from wells and cisterns, and is abundant and pure at all seasons. As a consequence of these advantages, there is no danger of the outbreak of dangerous fevers and epidemics, and such ordinary diseases as prevail are easily controlled by the resident physicians. The city government is a safe and conservative one, and is vested in a mayor and five aldermen.

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MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

The First Methodist Episcopal church in Claiborne county, Miss., was organized in 1828; Hebron Methodist Episcopal in February, 1830; the Presbyterian church was organized in 1827.

The Masonic order was organized in Port Gibson, 1818, and was known as Washington lodge No. 17. Its charter was surrendered and a new charter was granted to Washington lodge No. 3, under which name the lodge still exists. Grand Gulf lodge No. 41 was char- tered February 6, 1840, under a dispensation granted January 10, 1839. Franklin lodge No. 5, I. O. O. F., was organized at Port Gibson January 12, 1848.

The first academy in the neighborhood of Port Gibson was the Madison academy. It was situated about three miles from Port Gibson, on land belonging to William Lindsay. The tract was afterward owned by Dr. Dorsey and now is the property of Mrs. Clara Pur- nell. On the 5th of December, 1809, the territorial legislature passed an act of incorpora- tion whereby "the school on the north fork of Bayou Pierre, in the neighborhood of Port Gibson, now under the direction of Henry C. Cox, is erected into an academy, hereafter to bear the name of Madison academy." By the same act the following trustees were appointed: Samuel Gibson, Thomas White, Stephen Bullock, Peter Lyon, Thomas Barnes, Ralph Regan, Allen Barnes, Waterman Crane, Daniel Burnet, Samuel Cobun, Edan Bra- shear, Andrew Mundell and Hezekiah Harman. The act provided that students of all denominations should enter the institution on an equality and be admitted to the same advan- tages. The trustees were authorized to raise by lottery, for the benefit of the academy, a sum not exceeding $2,000. In 1810 Mr. Lindsay gave the academy twenty-four acres of land, including the buildings in which the institution was established. It would seem, however, that it did not prosper, owing probably to the fact that its situation between the two forks of Bayou Pierre rendered it difficult of access during the frequent occurrence of high water. It is likely that there were a few boarders, but its chief patronage must have been from day scholars. At any rate, whatever the reason may have been, the legislature in 1814 authorized the trustees to remove the academy to a "more eligible site, not to be more than three miles from Port Gibson." There are no means of learning to what place- whether to Port Gibson or elsewhere-the school was removed, nor what its after-fortunes and fate were.

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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 32

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