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 58

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 58

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The church in Mississippi is in the province of New Orleans, and the diocese of Natchez, which is coincident in its boundaries with the boundaries of the state. The bishop of the diocese is located at Natchez, whose beautiful cathedral is one of the prominent historical and architectural features of the city.

As the city of Natchez has always been the headquarters for Catholicity in the state, it may suggest some further features, for two years before the site was chosen for a city a per- manent mission had been established there. The priests located at this time were as follows: Father St. Cosme among the Natchez, Father Montigny among the Tensas, and Father Davion among the Tunicas. In 1702 Father Foucault was among the Yazoos, and was the. first martyr of the region, heing killed by his treacherous Koroas guides. Father Charlevoix visited the place in 1721, and found that for several years no priest had been there to replace the dead. In 1729 Father Du Poisson was the first victim of the great massacre, and these martyrs are remembered by three arrows in the coat of arms of the bishop of Natchez. From 1763 to 1783 under British rule, no mention of priest or church can be found .* In 1779 the new Spanish Governor Grandpré, re-established the services, and on April 11, 1788, the square included in Franklin, Rankin, State and Wall streets was bought for a parochial resi- dence, and a two-story frame church in the center of Natchez was erected, and three Irish priests arrived before 1790: Revs. William Savage, Gregory White and Constantine McKenna, the superior being Rev. Savage. Very soon, March 29, 1798, the clergy retired with the Spanish government, and on the theory of union of church and state, the property fell to the United States government. Natchez was under the Havana see in 1793, and later on of New Orleans and Baltimore. After the governmental change the first priest to return was Rev. F. Lennon, and in 1802 Father Boudin. In 1819, after several years of misfortune, a Kentucky priest arrived, and from 1820 to 1824 Rev. Maenhut was priest.

*Sketch of Catholic Church in Natchez, pamphlet of 1886.

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Other priests followed, but on December 28, 1832, the church building was destroyed by fire, and in 1838 Father Van de Velde was sent to make preliminaries for the establishment of an episcopal see, and the next year Father Brogard became pastor and remained until after his consecration in Baltimore. March 14, 1841, Bishop J. J. Chanche, the first Natchez bishop arrived, and the diocese, covering the state, began with two priests only and not a church in the state. His first services were at Mechanics' hall, and on February 24, 1842, there was laid the corner stone of the noble cathedral of St. Mary's. Among his earliest mission- aries to the central parts of the state were Rev. Father Francois, A. Desgaultiers, L. Mul- ler, S. H. Montgomery and G. S. Bohme. In 1849 several came, and among them was the Very Rev. M. F. Grignon. Bishop Chanche died July 22, 1853, after a service of years marked with great growth. His successor was Bishop Van de Velde, December 18, 1853, but the prevailing epidemic caused his death only two years later on November 13, 1855. He it was who began the college, besides increasing the mission. Bishop William H. Elder was his successor-a name very dear to the people of his church, and to the sufferers whom he relieved during the bloody scenes of war. On account of his refusal to comply with a military order in 1863 that public prayer should be offered for the president, and for the rebellious intents he. construed it to indicate, he was removed to Vidalia, but on petitions was released August 12 of that year. On January 30, 1880, he was appointed to the archiepiscopal see of Cincinnati, and was succeeded here by Bishop F. Janssens on May 7, 1881. The cherished work of this bishop has been that of education, and it is largely to his efforts that the schools before mentioned are in existence. After his promotion to the arch- bishopric of New Orleans, he was succeeded by the present incumbent-the Rt. - Rev. Thomas Heslin, D. D., who is too well and favorably known to need comment.

While the larger religious bodies are the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Cumber- land Presbyterians, Protestant Episcopalians, Christians (commonly called Campbellites, after their great leader), and Roman Catholic, there are numerous other smaller churches and miscellaneous religious and reformatory bodies that deserve mention. In the northern part of the state is a considerable body of the Associate Reformed Presbyterians, and also numbers of the Primitive Baptists, whose strict tenets have won them the sobriquet of Hard Shell among the uninitiated. To the south are some Seventh Day Adventists, and scattered here and there in the state some English Lutherans. Here and there are a few Congregationalists also, but their work is chiefly among the colored people and of an excellent character. One mission of the Latter Day Saints exists. Jewish synagogues also may be found in the leading cities.

Among other religious societies are the Young Men's Christian association, the Young Women's Christian association, the Woman's Christian Temperance union, the King's Daughters and the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, their relative size being estimated in this order. The temperauce movement has been distinctive enough to warrant a separate sketch of that. The largest of the others, the Young Men's Christian association, was not very vigorous until the year 1887, when the first state convention was held at Colum- bus, on March 25-29. Annual conventions have been held since at Greenville, Meridian, West Point and Natchez, and several associations have been organized through the state, a few of which have women's auxiliaries.

The state has five hundred and thirty-nine thousand seven hundred and three white people, and the above refers chiefly to religious activity among them; but the state has seven hundred and forty-seven thousand seven hundred and twenty colored people, and two thousand one hundred and seventy-seven Indians and Chinese, and the religious life among them, while

EAST MISSISSIPPI INSANE ASYLUM, MERIDIAN.

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crude and not unmixed with superstition in the mass, has made rapid strides in improvement in the last decade. Previous to the war the slaves were attached to the churches of their masters, and at service usually had seats in a gallery to the rear. Many masters secured preachers to minister to their slaves, and many an old "uncle," with his old "missus" to read and interpret the Bible, held services on the plantation in the "quarters." As the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches were the largest, the great mass of the colored people, who were thus interested, were organized separately iu those denominations after the war, and those now embrace by far the greater part of the church membership among them. In the larger educational centers, where an educated ministry are used, the service is not far below that of many white churches among the laboring classes of Northern states, but in the country, where the old "uncle" still holds forth, the scenes are often as ludicrous as they are sad, and the interpretations of the Scriptures take on the wonders of the Arabian Nights' Entertainment, yet withal their rapid progress gives large hopes for the future, as they are the subject of the interest and efforts of every religious body in the United States, as well as of the white churches of their own state.

The Woman's Christian Temperance union. In 1881 Miss Frances E. Willard, pres- ident of the National Woman's Christian Temperance union, left the first Woman's Christian Temperance union footprint made on Mississippi soil. Miss Willard was then on that grand pilgrimage-the most heroic ever attempted-to every town in the United States numbering ten thousand inhabitants. Constrained by an overmastering pity for human blight and weakness to preach a gospel men did not wish to hear; to meet limp fingers, hearts frost- bitten by indifference, custom, prejudice, conservatism outraged by a woman's public speak- ing-all braved for the sublime faith in everybody's noble soul, if it could only be gotten at, that-

"She who most believes in man, Makes him what she believes" --

thus it was that the Woman's Christian Temperance union introduced itself to Missis- sippi, "coming up," as Miss Willard said in a personal letter, "forlorn enough, all alone, from New Orleans; taking tea with Mrs. Judge Sharkey in Jackson, to whom I had a letter; speaking to a small audience, convened, I think, by a Good Templar, and leaving on the night train for Georgia. Nothing came of that, to human vision."

In 1882 Miss Willard, accompanied by her private secretary, Miss Anna Gordon, invested the month of January in Mississippi. It rained the whole month, with that lavish prodigality for which the South is famed; and "surely," as Miss Gordon remarked, "their work ought to grow and the seed to sprout, for it was literally sown under water." Quoting from the above mentioned letter, Miss Willard says: "I came by invitation of Judge J. W. C. Watson, of Holly Springs, one of the ex-Confederate senate, a graduate of the University of Virginia, and one of La Fayette's attendant guards when he visited the Old Dominion. This good and earnest Presbyterian elder and temperance man had kindly welcomed me, I think, on that pioneer trip in 1881, and visited Lake Bluff, near Chicago, the following sum- mer, inviting us to make this visit, he paying traveling expenses and providing entertain- ment. He was circuit judge and made my engagements in his own district, at Holly Springs, Grenada, Oxford, Water Valley, etc., and taking Anna and me to the capital, where I spoke before the legislature, Rev. Dr. C. K. Marshall presiding, and making me altogether at home by his noble, brotherly words. He was a good friend always. I have been enter- tained in his Vicksburg home, and earnestly lament his loss to every good cause. Colonel Inge, of Corinth, was speaker of the house that winter, and through him and his wife we X

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were invited to Corinth. I have been in Natchez, Meridian, Fayette and several other Mis- sissippi towns, but most of all enjoyed the convention at Crystal Springs, where you were present. On that trip we had a meeting at Jackson, making three in all, and this time in a church. That showed decided gains, and I verily believe it was Presbyterian at that."

It was in the good old Methodist church, that has always helped those women; but Rev. Dr. Hunter, the well beloved pastor of the Presbyterian church at Jackson for more than thirty years, was in the pulpit, and Mr. Charlton Alexander, a Presbyterian elder, intro- duced Miss Willard. Rev. Drs. W. C. Black and C. K. Marshall, of the Methodist church, were also in the pulpit. Miss Willard spoke to an overwhelming, enthusiastic and represent- ative audience of Jackson.

On January 19, 1882, Miss Willard made an address in Oxford. Sixteen ladies gave their names to form a W. C. T. U., and the number was soon increased to thirty-six. Mrs. A. P. Stewart was elected president, and was virtually state president (this being then the only union in Mississippi) till November 20, 1883. At that date Miss Willard and Miss Gor- don came to Corinth, wishing to organize a state W. C. T. U. Colonel Inge, Rev. Dr. Steel, Rev. J. A. Bowen and others took the matter in hand and advertised it as freely as possible. In the afternoon and evening of that day Miss Willard made two addresses. That night the state W. C. T. U. was formally organized, with Mrs. F. E. Steele, of Corinth, president. The following are the minutes of that convention: The next morning Miss Willard made another address, and the Corinth local union was formed, with Mrs. Dr. T. Wilson as president. Mrs. Steele explains that this first state organization had its officers all from Corinth because but one lady from outside that town was present. Mrs. Steele also states: "It seemed almost impossible to arouse the women. We sent out an organizer and partly formed several unions, but they soon fell through for lack of help and information. In the summer of 1884, I heard of Mrs. M. E. Ervin, of Columbus, and appointed her to represent Mississippi in the national W. C. T. U. convention at St. Louis.

At the instance of Miss Frances E. Willard, of Chicago, president of the Women's National Christian Temperance union, a large meeting was held at the Methodist Epis- copal Church South, in Corinth, November 20, 1883, for the purpose of organizing a State Woman's Christian Temperance union. The object of the meeting was explained by Miss Willard, prayer offered by Rev. Amos Kendall, Colonel Inge was elected chairman and Rev. Eugene Johnson secretary of the meeting. Committees were appointed as follows: On credentials-Rev. I. D. Steele, Miss Anna Gordon and Mrs. S. E. McCord. On plans and constitution-Dr. N. C. Steele, Elder M. Kendrick, Rev. R. Young, Mrs. N. S. Moore, Mrs. W. G. Kimmons, Mrs. T. D. Duncan and Miss Anna Gordon. On nomination of officers- Col. J. D. Bills, Col. C. W. McCord, J. M. Martin, Mrs. J. E. Gift, Mrs. W. M. Inge, Mrs. T. B. Hale and Mrs. Kirk Hall. After some routine business and short addresses the convention adjourned till the following morning at nine o'clock. A mass meeting was held at night in the Cumberland Presbyterian church, at which time and place Miss Willard deliv- ered an able and heartily appreciated address to a crowded house of listeners.

"Officers for the state union: President, Mrs. N. C. Steele, Corinth, First congressional dis- trict; vice president, Mrs. W. M. Inge, Corinth, First congressional district; vice president, Miss Lizzie Watson, Holly Springs, Second congressional district; vice president, Mrs. Dr. Slack, Friar's Point, Third congressional district; vice president, Mrs. Octavia Wofford, Okolona, Fourth congressional district; vice president, Mrs. Mary Hoskins, Lexington, Fifth congres- sional district; vice president, Mrs. Neilson, Natchez, Sixth congressional district; vice presi- dent, Mrs. C. B. Galloway, Jackson, Seventh congressional district; recording secretary,

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Miss Mamie Caldwell, Corinth; treasurer, Mrs. Kirk Hall, Corinth; corresponding secretary, Mrs. S. E. McCord, Corinth; superintendent of temperance literature, juvenile work and publications, Mrs. N. Steele, Corinth."

Mrs. Ervin says: "When I received Mrs. Steele's letter in October I had never heard of the state organization. I replied that I was the Lord's and He could send me wherever he willed in His service. I had ever regarded this glorious work as a vine of His own plant- ing. It had been dear to me since the 'Crusade days' when a 'shut-in' invalid. I had crept to the closet many times a day to pray with those who were going into the saloons to pray. Although I had less than a week's notice, 'I will direct thy work in truth' was a proven promise, and I went."

A state convention had been called to meet at Winona, Miss., two days after the national convention. Owing to the illness of her private secretary Miss Willard failed to meet her appointment but sent Mrs. C. B. Buell, national corresponding secretary, and Mrs. Sallie F. Chapin, superintendent of Southern work. A local union had been formed at Columbus and Mrs. M. E. Ervin elected to represent it at Winona. Lifted skyward on the afflatus of the great St. Louis meeting, these three sisters entered Winona. Doors were all open for delegates. Speakers were ready, but where was the convention? Rev. L. E. Hall, of Shubuta, and Mrs. Ervin represented the whole state! Even the president, Mrs. Steele, was absent, detained by sickness in her home. There was a rousing time anyhow, for Mrs. Chapin's tragic eloquence and Mrs. Buell's sledge-hammer logic brought out crowded houses and applied power at their end of the lever raised Mississippi up into range of vision. Mrs. M. L. Wells, of Tennessee, gave six weeks of pioneer service this year to Mississippi, organizing many unions that still hold up a brave standard. Governor St. John also visited the eastern portion of the state in 1884; he was heartily welcomed and the pro- hibition banners he set up then have never been furled, nor will be till they have signaled the destruction of the liquor traffic from the dome of the state capitol.

In September, 1885, the state held its first delegated convention at Meridian. Nine- teen local unions had paid state dues that year and seventeen were represented in convention. On account of failing health Mrs. Steele had resigned the state presidency immediately after the annual meeting at Winona; by her appointment Mrs. M. E. Ervin acting as president.

At Meridian the following state officers were elected: Mrs. M. E. Ervin, president; Mesdames S. F. Clark of Shannon, A. E. Harper, Fayette, vice presidents; Mrs. M. M. Snell, corresponding secretary; Miss Jimmie Petty, Meridian, recording secretary; Mrs. F. E. Steele, Corinth, treasurer.

Annual conventions have been held since at Jackson, Columbus, Natchez, Crystal Springs, Oxford, Brookhaven. Mrs. Ervin resigned at Natchez and Mrs. Lavinia S. Mount was elected president. Mrs. Chattie Beall of West Point and Mrs. M. J. Quinche of Oxford have served the state as vice presidents; Mrs. Helen R. Garner of Columbus, Mrs. E. C. Hurlbutt of Meridian and Mrs. Vic Gambrell of Brookhaven, as corresponding secretaries. Mrs. Chattie Beall, Mrs. M. L. Hood, of Tupelo, and Miss Zelle McLaurin, of Meridian, as treasurers. Mrs. L. S. Mount, Miss Madge Montgomery, of Stockville, as recording secretaries.

The W. C. T. U. has brought here Mrs. Caroline Buell, Mrs. S. F. Chapin, Mrs. Lydia Hoffman, Mrs. J. K. Barney, Mrs. Mary T. Lathrop, Mrs. Mary Reade Goodale, Mrs. M. L. Wells, Miss Anna Gordon; and Mother Wallace gave a month's work in the state. It is due to this brave old friend of women to say that nobody ever came at our call who so uni- versally won the people's heart, and great was the lamentation in Mississippi when the news of her recent violent illness was made public. Men, rather more than women, paid her

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homage, as might have been expected in a state which in a constitutional convention has brought the question of woman's enfranchisement, with an educational qualification, into open discussion and serious consideration; introduced by Hon. John Tewell and supported by such men as Gen. S. D. Lee, Judge J. B. Chrisman and Judge Woods, of the supreme bench.

The greater part of the public men of Mississippi favor woman's ballot, limited by an educational test. Every community has its advocates. That it is an open question in the state is perhaps due to the noble handling of the subject by Mrs. Zerelda Wallace in her progress through the chief towns, as well as to a universal habit of justice to women in the state's administration, as evinced by the perfect equality of men and women before the law respecting property.

The chief legal measures which the W. C. T. U. has influenced have been the removing of the liquor licenses from the public education fund; the raising of the age of consent from ten years to protection for a woman of any age; the making a woman eligible to the state office of librarian. Mrs. H. B. Kells was perhaps the first person to advocate the latter through the press, claiming that the person who discharged the duties of the office should be voted for as though an elector. Mrs. Mary Morancy, of Jackson, had filled the place for fourteen years, and by her superior qualification had made that of Mississippi the second state library in the nation.

The measure which has most universally received the support of the W. C. T. U. is scientific temperance instruction for the public schools. This department was adopted in 1885, and Mrs. H. B. Kells appointed superintendent. A bill was introduced into the legis- lature of 1886, which received sufficient support to be appended to an amendment of the educational laws, but it was lost in engrossment. The legislature of 1888 passed another bill by a unanimous vote in the senate and an overwhelming majority in the house. This bill was vetoed by Governor Lowry, on the ground that the teachers were not educated sufficiently to teach physiology with reference to the effects of alcohol and narcotics on the human system, and because the books would cost too much. In 1890 another bill was lost by a majority of two, owing to the fact that many members of the house were at home in the custody of la grippe. The subject, however, has been introduced into the highest grade of the public schools, and is taught probably in every county in the state, through the personal efforts of the superintendent with county superintendents of public instruction and teachers' institutes and with presidents of private schools and colleges and the state university.

No history of the Mississippi W. C. T. U. would be complete without mention of Mrs. Mollie McGee Snell, of Columbus, who has been identified with the temperance movement since its infancy in Mississippi. Her bold, incisive pen and fearless advocacy on the platform have done much to create sentiment, and hers is one of the best known names in the cause in the Southwest. When Mr. Jefferson Davis opposed constitutional prohibition just as Texas was about to vote on it, it was Mrs. Snell who most ably and successfully answered his arguments.

Nor would W. C. T. U. annals be complete without notice of W. H. Patton, of Shubuta, and Henry Ware, of Pass Christian. It was the former who sent Rev. L. E. Hall to Winona in representation of the prohibitionists of Mississippi in the convention which failed to con- vene at Winona. There has been no hour in which his brotherly hand has not grasped ours, in which it has failed to hold sympathy, cash, aid in every line, for the W. C. T. U. He has stood by us when no other man cared to face the music of public criticism. Friends have deserted, enemies have been converted, foes have been routed and have overwhelmed us, but through all the din of battle, persistent as fate, W. H. Patton has come out of the cloud

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of defeat, the tumult of triumph, serene and in steady step with the women who never know when they are defeated.

Henry Ware is one of the clearest thinkers in the South on prohibition questions. He is impervious to questions of expediency; he believes God leads in this cause, and that those who have enlisted under the god of battles must follow without questioning or attempts to change the plans of battle to suit the weak-kneed or non-combatants. He has furnished more money for prohibition than any man, perhaps more than any other hundred men, in the state. He says he believes in God and the good women, and he acts as if he did. Many a time the waves would have seemed too deep for the W. C. T. U. had it not been for the timely outstretching of his strong, full hand and his hearty "Sister, be of good cheer!" He is the best loved Roman of them all, and it will be a sad day in Mississippi when his venerable, obstinate, clear-thinking head no longer crowns the W. C. T. U. conventions.

One other work the W. C. T. U. has made successful. They own and publish, print and edit the strongest W. C. T. U. paper in the land. Now, in its fourth year, it is the organ of the Southern W. C. T. U., established at Waynesville, N. C. Mississippi is the strongest of the Southern state W. C. T. U. organizations, and has nearly doubled its number of unions since May 1. It believes in prohibition and no compromises. It has many warm friends and cordial enemies, whose persecutions have but taught it to bear burdens like good sol- diers. Using a strong figure for small trials, certainly the blood of the martyr has proved its seed as much as of the church: "In Christ it beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things." It loves Frances Willard, and believes her called of God to this work, and is raising up an army of young women to follow her, led to-day by Miss Belle Kearney, of Madison county, who is state organizer for the Y's .; a brilliant young woman, native born, who has already won her laurels, and of whom the world may expect to hear more.

The chrysanthemum is the chosen flower of the Mississippi union. The state motto is its inspiration :

"Give to the wind the fears, Hope and be undismayed. God hears thy sighs, He counts thy tears; He shall lift up thy head."

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CHAPTER XIII.

RECORDS OF FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS, M.

URING the year 1816, and on the 24th of June, John Mackey, one of the oldest citizens of Coahoma county, Miss., was born in South Carolina, being the second of ten chil- dren born to Thomas and Martha (Bowdon) Mackey, they being also natives of South Carolina. Theformer moved from his native state to Alabama, and at the end of thirteen years went to Tennessee, and fifteen years later came to Marshall, Miss., where he remained a worthy citizen and planter until his death, in 1864. His parents were Charles and Lydia (Isom) Mackey, the former being a Revolutionary soldier under Francis Marion, with whom he served through- out his entire campaign. He and his wife were each eighty-seven years of age at the time of their deaths. He was one of the leaders in the capture of a band of tories by Marion, at the time the latter painted the mouths of cannons on the logs of the breastworks. John Mackey's great-great-grandfather was an Irishman by birth, and was considered a rebel by the En- glish government and was compelled to flee the country. He was smuggled to America on board a sailing vessel. The maternal grandfather, Travis Bowdon, was a native of South Carolina. John Mackey was reared principally in Alabama, and was educated by his mother, who was a highly cultivated lady. At the age of twenty-five years he came to Mississippi and located where he now lives and engaged in planting. He has been honest and industri- ous, and is now the owner of six hundred acres of land, of which two hundred and sixty- seven are under cultivation. He is one of the oldest and most prominent citizens of the county, is well posted on the general topics of the day, and is an entertaining and intelli- gent conversationalist. Although he had never held an official position, he has always been a stanch democrat, and for some time he has been chairman of the democratic executive com- mittee. He was first married in 1838 to Mrs. Julia C. Moore, a native of Virginia, who was a Miss Adams prior to her first marriage. To this union one child was born: Henry N., who died in infancy. Mrs. Mackey died in 1839, and in 1847 Mr. Mackey took for his second wife, Miss Dorothea R. Cammack, native of Kentucky, and a daughter of Lomax and Dorothea (Robinson) Cammack, natives of Virginia and Kentucky respectively. This wife died in 1877, leaving five children, only one of whom is now living, John B. Mr. Mackey married a third time in 1882, but his wife lived only nine months after their union.

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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 58

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