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 61

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 61

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

397

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

both the chapter and commandry. He is the oldest living member of the Carrollton lodge. Judge Marshall is a man who gives character to a community; he is a philanthropist; he has a keen sense of right and wrong, and as a public servant gave entire satisfaction. The most elegant hospitality is always dispensed in his home, and as a citizen he stands with few peers and no superiors.

Levin R. Marshall (deceased), one of the wealthy bankers and business men of Natchez, formerly, was born in Alexandria, Va., on the 10th of October, 1800; was the son of Henry Marshall, who was a native of Maryland, but who spent his latter years in Virginia. The elder Marshall was of English parentage and he was of the same family as the distin- guished Chief Justice Marshall. Levin R. received a good practical education and when about seventeen years of age went to Mississippi, located in Woodville, where he was soon made cashier of the United States bank at that place. While there, and in 1826, he married Miss Maria Chotard, daughter of the celebrated John Marie Chotard (see sketch.) She was born in Mississippi territory in 1807 and died in Natchez in 1834. She was the mother of four children, all deceased but Hon. George M. Marshall, of Natchez. Mr. Marshall after- ward married Mrs. Sarah E. (Elliott) Ross, widow of Isaac Ross and daughter of Dr. Elliott. The latter came to Port Gibson at an early day and spent the balance of his days as a suc- cessful physician and a prominent citizen. His wife's maiden name was D'Evereux. She was a native of the Emerald isle and a sister of John D'Evereux, who was an officer in the English army and who, after the Irish troubles, was under Robert Emmett and served in a very satisfactory way to Ireland. For this he was banished from the country and after a short time in Baltimore, Md., he went to South America, where he was made a general under General Bolivar, serving in the Bolivian army. After this he was pardoned by the English government and allowed to return home, and there spent the closing scenes of his life in peace and quiet. He made frequent visits to his relatives and numerous friends at Natchez, but made his permanent home in his native county. By his second marriage Mr. Marshall became the father of eight children, only two of whom survive: Josephine E., wife of J. R. Ogden of New York, and Stephen Duncan Marshall, who was born in Natchez, educated principally in New York, and who married Miss Catharine Maria Calhoun in 1872. She was a native of Natchez and a daughter of the late Dr. Gustavus Calhoun, a Pennsylvanian by birth but a pioneer of Natchez, where he died. Mrs. Calhoun is still living at Natchez and is quite aged. Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Marshall are prominent members of the Episcopal church. As a financier and general business man Levin R. Marshall was probably not excelled in the Southwest. He began for himself with no capital, but by his untiring indus- try and excellent business ability he became a leader in financial circles in the palmiest days of Natchez. He began his career at Woodville and, as before stated, he became cashier of the United States bank. In 1831 he removed to Natchez and became cashier of the United States bank there. He was afterward instrumental in establishing the Commercial bank at Natchez, of which he served as president for a number of years. He also followed merchandising quite extensively and was at one time connected with the commission house of J. B. Byrne & Co., of New Orleans, also the commission house of Marshall, Reynolds & Co., at Natchez. He became the owner of extensive sugar and cotton plantations, and soon after removing to Natchez he erected a magnificent suburban residence one mile south of the city, it being known as Richmond. He passed his time alternately between that place and Westchester county, N. Y., and his death occurred in the last named place on the 24th of July, 1870, after a long and useful life. He was one of the class of men singled out by nature to show what a man can do when he sets his mind on

898

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

accomplishing a certain object. He was a self-made man, and what he accomplished in the way of this world's goods and personal achievement was wholly due to his own good fighting qualities. He was all that goes to make up a true, noble and generous man. His widow still occupies the old Richmond house and is eighty-eight years of age. She is an accomplished and much esteemed lady and has been a prominent member of the Presbyterian church for many years.

Hon. George M. Marshall, representative of Adams county, and a prominent planter of the same, was born in Woodville, Miss., in 1830, and is the son of Levin R. Marshall and the grandson of Henry Marshall, who was a native of Maryland, but who spent the closing scenes of his life in the Old Dominion. Levin R. Marshall was born in Fauquier county, Va., in 1800, received a fair scholastic education, and when a young man left the par- ental roof to seek his fortune in the Southwest. He located first in Natchez, and then at Woodville, Miss., became cashier of a branch of the United States bank, and in 1826, while holding that position, he met and married his first wife, whose maiden name was Maria Chotard. She was a daughter of the celebrated John Marie Chotard, whose sketch appears in another part of this work. In 1831 Mr. Marshall removed to Natchez, became cashier of the branch of the United States bank there, and afterward was instrumental in establishing the Commercia. bank, of which he was the first president. He had previously engaged in mer- cantile pursuits, and was at one time prominently connected with the well known commission house of J. B. Byrne & Co., of New Orleans, and with the firm of Marshall, Reynolds & Co., commission merchants of Natchez. Mrs. Marshall died in 1834. To this union were born four children, Hon. George M. Marshall being the third in order of birth and the only one now living. Mr. Marshall took for his second wife Mrs. Sarah E. Ross (nee Elliott), a native of Maryland. She is still living. Mr. Marshall started in life in moderate circum- stances, and his vast estate was the result of his own efforts altogether. He owned extensive sugar and cotton plantations and at the time of his death, which occurred in West- chester county, N. Y., on July 24, 1870, he left one of the most valuable estates in Mississippi, besides a large estate in New York. For many years he was a leader in the financial circles of Mississippi, and much of the early enterprise and success of Natchez was due to his great ability as a financier and general business capacity. He was a man of firmness and great decision of character and his high sense of honor, his integrity and liberality of heart, won for him many warm friends, who honor and respect his memory. Hon. George M. Marshall received his earlier education in Jefferson college and finished at Princeton college, N. J., where he received the degree of A. M. In 1852 be mar- ried Miss Charlotte Hunt, a native of Jefferson county, Miss., born in 1831 and the daughter of David and Ann (Ferguson) Hunt, the father born in New Jersey in 1779, and the mother in Mississippi in 1797. David Hunt came to Mississippi when a boy with an uncle, Abijah Hunt, who was a native of New Jersey. At an early day the latter went to Ohio, thence to Mississippi territory, and there became one of the most exten- sive merchants and planters of the territory, owning large establishments and public gins at Natchez, Washington, Greenville, Port Hudson and Big Black. By his intelligence, enterprise and wealth he exerted a great social and political influence, and was a decided partisan of what was then known as the Federal party. He took an active part against George Poindexter, and as a result Hunt was challenged to fight a duel. This took place in Louisiana a short distance above Concordia, opposite Natchez, and Mr. Hunt received a wound in the abdomen which proved fatal in a few hours. His death occurred on June 8, 1811. David Hunt married, settled in Jefferson county, and became a very wealthy planter.

399

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

There he received his final summons in 1861. His widow followed him to the grave in 1874. Both were prominent Presbyterians. Mr. Hunt was intelligent, generous and warm-hearted in all his social relations and to everything pertaining to his town and county he was a public-spirited citizen. He was one of the founders of Oakland college, now Alcorn university. To Mr. and Mrs. Marshall were born seven children, three of whom survive: Ann Hunt, wife of Henry B. Gaither, of Natchez; Sarah E., wife of Theodoret Bartow, of Long island, N. Y., and George M., Jr. The two daughters were educated at Natchez and New Orleans, and the son received his education at Natchez and Baltimore, Md. Mr. Marshall resided near Natchez with his father until 1855, when he erected his fine residence, having already embarked in the planting industry in 1853. In the spring of 1862 he joined the Natchez southrons as a private and served in Chalmers's brigade, participating in the battle of Shiloh, but after a few months' service he was discharged on account of disability. Prior to the war he had served about five years as a member of the board of supervisors of Adams county, and about three years of that time he was president. In 1888 he was elected to represent his county in the state legislature and was reelected in 1890. During the sessions of 1888 and 1890 he was chairman of the committee on contingent expenses, and served as a member of the committee on appropriation and education. He has always been an active worker for his party, and for the advancement of the town and county, and has frequently been a delegate to state and other conventions. He was one of the two who were appointed by Governor Stone as delegates from his state senatorial district to attend the Southern state immigration convention held at Asheville, N. C., in December, 1890, but Mr. Marshall did not attend. He is a member of the Bluff City lodge No. 1145, Knights of Honor, and of Natchez lodge No. 3, Knights of Pythias. He and wife are quite prominent Episco- palians and he is one of the vestry of Trinity church, Natchez.

Judge Thomas Alexander Marshall is a Kentuckian by birth, born March 29, 1812, at Augusta, in which town he was reared and educated, graduating from Augusta college when eighteen years of age. His parents, Martin and Martha Battaile (Taliaferro) Marshall, were Virginians, and his grandfather, William Marshall, was a Baptist minister of considerable renown, who settled at Shelbyville, Ky., at a very early day. After finishing his literary education, Judge Thomas A. Marshall entered the clerk's office of Mason county, Ky., where he remained three years, and then began the study of law under Judge Key and his father, at Augusta, and was there admitted to the bar in 1835, his first law suit being tried before Jesse Grant, Esq., the father of the distinguished General Grant. In 1836 Mr. Marshall came to Mississippi on horseback, and had the distinction of being one of the few men of his class who did not carry arms. The February following his arrival he was admitted by the high court of errors and appeals, at Jackson, to practice his profession throughout the state of Mississippi, and as Vicksburg, at that time, was an inviting field for lawyers, he determined to make that city the field of his future operations. He entered the office of Harrison & Holt, who were the ablest and most extensive lawyers of the place, but after- ward formed a partnership with William C. Smeder, who was a noted attorney of Missis- sippi, their partnership being a very strong and able one. He devoted his life to his large law practice, but did not seek political preferment, his remarkable modesty, independence of character and contempt for the arts of the demagogue being distasteful to him. However he was elected to the state legislature on the Union ticket in 1851 by his numerous friends, and served throughout 1852. He was also elected to the secession convention of 1861 as a Union man-an unsought honor, but conferred upon him by the people of Warren county as the best exponent of their opposition to disunion. He was one of the thirteen members who

400

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

voted against secession, but when the war became inevitable his age and delicate health unfitted him for military service. After the capture of Vicksburg he was invited there by General Grant, who urged him to use his efforts to end the strife. Although Mr. Marshall, like all his family, was devoted to the Union, he submitted to the decision of his own people, and cast his lot with them. After the close of the war he returned to Vicksburg, and was a member of the reconstruction convention of 1865, being almost unanimously elected. He took the position that Mississippi had never been legally out of the Union, and was, there- fore, entitled to all the rights of states, and this view, advanced by him and other Southern- ers, and practically conceded by Chief Justice Chase, as much as the magnanimity of the conqueror, saved the South from the usual consequences of armed resistance to national authority. In 1844 Mr. Marshall married Miss Letitia, daughter of Maj. Anderson Miller, who was of a Kentucky family of Virginia descent, and was one of the pioneers of steamboat navigation of the Western rivers, and also in the cotton-seed oil manufacture, being at the time of his daughter's marriage United States marshal of Mississippi. After a long and successful career at the bar, Mr. Marshall's health gave way, and since 1873 he has been retired from the active duties of life. He has been an invalid for years, and his peaceful old age is cheered by the affection of his family and friends, who highly respect and honor him. Martin Marshall, his son, was born in 1846, and until 1862 was educated by private tutors. He then entered the military institute of Virginia at Jacksou, and in 1864 joined a cadet corps of Confederate troops, and was badly wounded at New Market in May, 1864. In 1865, at the close of the war, he began the study of law with his father, and in 1867-8 he attended the law university of Virginia, and began practicing in 1870, which calling has received his attention ever since. He has followed in his illustrious father's footsteps, and is one of the foremost attorneys of the state. In 1878 he was elected a member of the house of representatives, being on the judiciary committee, and in 1884 he was elected to the state senate. In 1871 he was married to Miss Ella Bush, of Hinds county, a daughter of John Bush, a pioneer of that county, and six children have blessed their union.

George Marshall is a Kentuckian by birth, born at Augusta, March 5, 1829, the seventh child born to Martin Marshall and Matilda B. (Taliaferro) Marshall, natives of Virginia, the former of whom was a distinguished lawyer and practiced his profession in Kentucky. He represented the county in which he lived in the state legislature of Kentucky for one term, and in that state passed from life in 1853, his wife's death having occurred in 1846. Her people were farmers. George Marshall came to Mississippi in 1850, and for a number of years lived with his brother in Vicksburg (the Hon. T. A. Marshall). He attended the common schools until fitted for college, after which he entered Augusta college, of Kentucky, where such eminent men as Tomlinson, Bascom, Trimbell, McCowan and Robbins were pro- fessors. After graduating from this institution he came to Vicksburg, where he read law with his brother, but never practiced. In 1855 he began planting, and followed this calling up to the breaking out of the war. Prior to this he had been a stanch Union man, but after the state of Mississippi had seceded he took up arms in defense of the Confederate cause, and in 1861 went to the front with Cowan's battery, with which he remained one year. He then became a volunteer on General Green's staff, soon after which he was appointed adjutant of the Ninth Mississippi cavalry, and took part in the battles of Vicksburg, Champion hill, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Franklin. In the latter part of the war he had charge of the courier department, so far as orders were concerned, from Sugsville to Demopolis, Ala. Upon being paroled by General Canby he returned to Mississippi and went into the real estate business in Vicksburg, where he remained two years. He then moved to his plantation on Big Black

401

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

river, where he has remained ever since, living the quiet life of a planter. Mr. Marshall came into possession of his plantation in 1855. It contains seven hundred acres, nearly all of which is fine bottom land in Hinds county. He has five hundred acres under cultivation, and although cotton is his principal crop he also raises some corn. Mr. Marshall was mar- ried in 1853 to Miss Harris, daughter of Dr. Hartwell Harris, of Virginia, the latter being a very early settler of Mississippi and becoming the owner of a large amount of real estate. To Mr. and Mrs. Marshall four children have been born: Leila, Thomas A., Elizabeth. C. and T. D. Leila and Thomas A. are deceased. Elizabeth became the wife of Hon. Marye Dabney, a prominent attorney of Vicksburg, of which city T. D. Marshall is a rising attor- ney, the latter having graduated from Oxford university with second honors. Mr. Marshall is very fond of field sports, and takes an eight or nine mile chase with his hounds almost daily, his vigor and energy being remarkable for one of his years. His residence, which is situated in a handsome grove of oak trees, is situated about one-half mile from Smith's Station.

E. J. Martin, president and general manager of the Progress Manufacturing company, of Meridian, Miss., was born in Clarke county of this state in September, 1851, the only child born to Norman and Eleanor (Chapman) Martin, the former a native of Georgia, aud the latter of Alabama. They were married in Mississippi, whither they had removed at an early day, she being his second wife. He was first married to Miss Anna Morrison, by whom he became the father of four sons and three daughters. He was a planter and stockraiser by occupation; was a plain, practical and successful planter, and prior to the Civil war was the owner of a large amount of land, and between seventy-five and one hundred slaves. He never aspired to any official position, but quietly pursued the even tenor of his way, and was highly respected by all who knew him. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died in Clarke county, Miss., in 1883, his widow (the mother of the subject of this sketch), who was a member of the Baptist church, breathing her last in Lauderdale county, in 1886. Only four of Mr. Martin's children are now living. E. J. Martin began making his own way as a planter after attaining his majority, and is still following this calling in connection with his manufacturing interests. He has been associated with the Progress Manufacturing company since its organization, the plant at that time being worth about $16,000. It has since so increased in value that it is now worth at least $40,000. Mr. Martin has been the president of the concern since 1888, and their cotton and hay presses, their engines and boilers are of admirable workmanship, and readily demonstrate the fact that none but skilled mechanics are employed in the establishment. They also do a general foundry and machineshop business and give employment to about fifty hands throughout the year. The annual business done amounts to about $100,000, is founded on a substantial basis, and bids fair to double its capacity in a short time. Mr. Martin has been a member of the city council two terms, is a conservative democrat, and has never participated in the political affairs of the county to any great extent. He was married in 1873 to Miss Jennie McLemone, of Lauderdale county, and by her is the father of four sons and two daughters: Louella, Percy, Edwin, Leon, Mary and Robert. Mr. Martin and his wife are members of the Baptist church, and socially he is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and the K. of P. fra- ternities. He is the owner of one hundred acres of land near Meridian, also considerable land in Clarke county, and is the owner of other valuable property. He has been liberal in con- tributing of his means to schools and churches, etc., and is a public-spirited and useful citizen. He is now devoting his time and energies to the successful management of the Progress Manufacturing company.

402

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

One of the brightest lights and ornaments in Mississippi journalism and one of the state's most widely and favorably known citizens is Edward L. Martin, editor of the Missis- sippian, a leading democratic journal published at Jackson, Miss. Mr. Martin is a native of Copiah county, Miss., where he first saw the light of day in 1861. Studious, ambitious and energetic, his youth was spent in the schoolroom and in work whereby he might acquire sufficient means to complete his education. He left the state university in 1879 with a splendid record for deportment and scholarship and after a few years spent in the railway service embarked in journalism, becoming joint owner with his brother, John H., of the New Mississippian of Jackson. He assumed the business management and by his personal popularity and untiring energy soon trebled its circulation and patronage. Though modestly conceding to his brother the control of the paper's editorial policy, his frequent valuable contributions to its columns and earnest sympathy with the cause of reform attracted gen- eral attention and favorable comment. He connected himself with the Independent Order of Good Templars and the Farmers' Alliance movement. As delegate from Mississippi he attended the international meeting of the former organization at Saratoga, N. Y., and enjoyed the distinction of being the youngest and tallest of six hundred members present from all quarters of the globe. He three times represented Mississippi in the national alliance and was chairman of the committee that framed that order's first platform of demands for national legislation. He has held the positions of respondent to the address of welcome, essayist and annual orator in the Mississippi press association, and was chosen to represent that body in the national editorial convention which met at San Antonio in 1888, at Boston in 1890 and St. Paul in 1891. He attended both the latter and was each time honored with appointment as member of the standing committee on legislation. His address at the St. Paul meeting on the subject of the country weekly, before one thousand journalists from every state of the Union, won for him at a single bound a national reputation, being univer- sally pronounced the most humorous and eloquent delivered on that occasion. Mr. Martin is the constant recipient of invitations to make alliance, temperance and political speeches and has made the annual literary address before no less than a dozen male and female col- leges of the state. His hight, commanding bearing, clear articulation, easy grace of manner, choice language and ringing musical voice have won for him the justly deserved sobriquet of the silver-tongued editor of Mississippi. Mr. Martin jocularly declares that he has never been a candidate for anything but matrimony, but nevertheless he has held the posi- tions of secretary of the legislature and the late constitutional convention, and is conceded to be the best public reader in Mississippi. No public convention ever assembles at Jackson without enlisting his services as secretary or reading clerk. As he is just entering his thirtieth year, the horizon of his life is bright with the rainbow of hope and promise. Mr. Martin has been recently chosen president, at a handsome salary, of the Gulf Coast Building and Loan association, with an authorized capital of $5,000,000.

Mississippi has had no son who at the early age of twenty-five achieved more signal success and widespread reputation as a litterateur and journalist than the subject of this sketch. Born in Pike county, Miss., in 1862, he developed a youthful precocity and love of learning that made him famous in that section of country before he reached the age of seven. In Shaksperean dialogue and recitation he was completely at home and participated in many public theatricals, in which he won lasting renown. His tastes and talents carried him, at the age of fifteen, into the newspaper business, and he went to the top at the first bound. In Westville, Brookhaven, Crystal Springs, Utica and other places he conducted papers of his own with unvarying success. At the age of twenty-two, with his brother E. L. Martin,

403

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

he purchased the New Mississippian, of Jackson, Miss., and assumed editorial control. His facile pen, at one time mirthful and humorous, at another bitterly sarcastic, again tender, pathetic and kind, and always brilliant and eloquent, moving the hearts and minds of men as with a magician's wand, soon attracted the attention of the state. His versatile genius burst upon them suddenly and with dazzling splendor, as though the sun, too impatient to ascend by regular gradations the heavenly horizon, should, without premonition, burst upon a startled and unexpectant world in all its meridian brilliancy and glory. Prison reform, prohibition, governmental reform, etc., found in him a bold, brilliant and uncom- promising champion. With one acclaim prohibitionists and others interested in the movements seeking to elevate humanity proclaimed him leader. He stumped the state for temperance and rendered invaluable assistance in reclaiming more than half its territory from the curse of the licensed saloon. As a speaker he united the wit and humor of Mark Twain, the strength of Edmund Burke and the flowery and impassioned eloquence of Prentiss. His addresses bore the polish of the cut diamond and shone resplendent with all the bright hues that mark its Inster. The State Press association had showered their honors upon his head and heaped them with profuse hand at his feet. In him were centered at once their hopes and pride. The tragic occurrence on May 1, 1888, in which he and his assailant, General Adams, both instantly lost their lives, spread a pall of gloom over the city and state. He was at that time a candidate for congress, with excellent promise of success. The funeral cortege to his old home at Brookhaven, fifty-five miles south on the Illinois Central railroad, was besieged with large crowds at every intermediate station. Floral tributes were presented by the ladies and temperance bands until the car could hold no more. Loving hands ten- derly laid him away in the city of the dead, and above his breast was inscribed in silver the words: "John H. Martin-1888-Pure and noble. He died as bravely as he lived."

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 61

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