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 64
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road. This bill, after having passed both houses, was vetoed by General Quitman, who was then governor of the state of Mississippi, but after a hard struggle the bill was passed over his head. During all this time Captain Matthews' efforts to push this bill through were inde- fatigable, and it was largely due to him that the charter was secured when it was. In 1851 he helped to establish and became a stockholder in The Southron, a weekly paper pub- lished at Holmesville, and the first democratic paper of the county. For the ensuing year he was engaged as managing editor of the paper and resigned this to accept the position of probate clerk, to which he had been elected in 1852. Afterwards he was elected circuit clerk and took charge of both offices till the year 1860, when he devoted his attention to his profession till the war cloud burst which had been hovering so long over the horizon. On April 15, 1861, he was mustered into the service of the state as captain of the Quitman guards, which he himself had organized. This company was mustered into the Confeder- ate service May 27, 1861, and was known as company E, of the Sixteenth regiment, Mis- sissippi volunteers. This regiment was attached to the Army of Northern Virginia, under the command of General Ewell. Captain Matthews served with this company in all of its engagements until January 1, 1864, when he was transferred to the department of trans- Mississippi, under Gen. E. Kirby Smith, and was placed on special duty on account of dis- abilities incurred in the hard service he had seen. He surrendered at Shreveport, La., July, 1865. Upon his return to his old home in Pike county he resumed the practice of law, and in 1868 he removed with his family to Magnolia, and from there he moved again to Summit, in 1871, where he formed a law partnership with H. Q. Bridges. In 1875 he was elected justice of the peace, serving until 1887. In 1888 he gave up his law practice, being appointed county superintendent of education, which position he held for two years. In July, 1887, he was also appointed notary public, which position he still holds. June 9th, 1849, he married Carrie J. Ellzey, a native of Pike county, Miss., and a daughter of William Ellzey, a prominent planter here. They have four offspring: Ida B., now Mrs. C. H. Hosmer, of Summit; George D., messenger of the Southern Express Company, and resides at New Orleans; Mamie E., who is married to H. C. Dunn and resides at Macomb City; and Eugene W., the eldestchild, who was accidentally killed at Indian Bay, Ark., in 1879. Captain Matthews has been a member of the Masonic order since 1854; is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F. and is serving his second term as D. D. G. M. of the tenth district of Mississippi.
John B. Mattingly is a coal merchant and president of the Home Insurance company and of the Hill City Electric Light company. He was born in the city in which he is now residing in 1844, being the eldest child born to Austin D. and Mary (Bobb) Mattingly, who were born in Kentucky and Mississippi respectively. The maternal grandfather, John Bobb, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., and came to Mississippi at an early day, settling at Natchez, where he engaged in contracting and building. After remaining in that city for a short time he came to Vicksburg, and here followed the same calling, erecting the marine hospital, besides many other of the handsome structures of the city. He was the owner of a good brickyard, being the first manufacturer in his line in the city, and this, as well as his build- ing operations, brought him in a substantial income. He in later years retired to a small plantation near the city, upon which he died, in 1863. Austin D. Mattingly was reared and educated in the state of his birth, but in 1823 came to Mississippi, and for some time was engaged in teaching at Washington, near the city of Natchez. He soon removed to Vicks- burg, and first engaged in the manufacture of shingles, then in lumber, and afterward established a sawmill, which for a time was one of the largest in the state. In 1855 he began planting in the upper part of the county, and as his plantation was large his business
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was correspondingly extensive until the opening of the war. During the Rebellion he served with General Cheatham's division as assistant commissary, and after the war he returned to Vicksburg and began work with Victor Wilson in the coal business, and soon became a part- ner and a short time after sole proprietor. He then built up the business known as Mat- tingly, Floweree & Co., afterward Mattingly, Son & Co. He was deeply interested in the prosperity of Vicksburg, and was usually one of the organizers of its numerous enterprises. He died July 6, 1889, and his wife in 1854. John B. Mattingly was educated in Bardstown, Ky., but left school in May, 1861, to enlist in the Confederate army, becoming a member of Wirt Adams' company and a participant in the battle of Shiloh. He was also in the engage- ments around Corinth, and was fighting Sherman during the latter's raids in and around Vicksburg. He was in the Georgia campaign; was with Hood in Tennessee; then came back to Mississippi, and was near Tupelo at the close of the war, but was paroled at Jackson. He was captured at Mechanicsville, but made his escape by jumping from a steamboat near Friar's Point and working his way, with great difficulty and many dangers, through the swamps back to the Confederate lines. After the war he began planting in the southern part of Warren county, continuing until 1878, when he moved to Vicksburg and engaged in business with his father, purchasing the interest of Mr. Floweree, the firm then becoming Mattingly, Son & Co. He is now in business with his son Walter, and the firm, which is doing a coal and milling business, is known as Mattingly & Son. Mr. Mattingly was one of the organizers of the Home Insurance company, of Vicksburg, in 1886, of which he was elected president; is president of the Hill City Electric Light company, which was organized in 1887 with a paid up capital of $25,000, and is one of the finest plants in the state; and has been otherwise interested in the welfare of the city, there being few industries which have not received his support. He made a faithful soldier, is a stirring and enterprising business man, and is a worthy and honorable citizen. He is prepossessing in personal appearance, and is courteous and agreeable in manners. In 1865 he was married to Miss Catherine Hullum, a native of this county and a daughter of B. S. Hullum, one of the early settlers and planters of this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Mattingly a family of seven children have been born, but only three are living at the present time: Walter, who graduated from the Montgomery Bell col- lege, of Nashville, and is now the electrician of the electric light company of Vicksburg; Mary, who is the wife of D. N. Road, of Yazoo county, and Irene. Mr. Mattingly and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a member of the K. of P., the K. of H. and the A. F. & A. M.
Hon. H. P. Maxwell was born on the farm on which he now lives, eight miles northwest of Ashland, the county seat of Benton county, the eldest son in a family of two sons and three daughters, born to Harrison P. and Charlotte (Mooman) Maxwell, natives of Kentucky and Virginia respectively, but who were married in Tennessee. The father immigrated to Mississippi at an early day and bought land of the Indians- a fact which entitled him to rank among the pioneers of this county. He was a brickmason by trade, but after locating in Mississippi he engaged in planting, which was his lifelong occupation. Prior to the war he was very successful, becoming owner of fourteen hundred acres of land and one hundred slaves. He was well and favorably known throughout the country, not alone as one of its earliest settlers, but as one of its most prominent citizens. He was a liberal contributor to schools, churches, and to all public institutions, and he and his wife were members of the Old School Presbyterian church. At the time of the war he was too old for military service, but for some time acted as agent for the Confederacy, buying up small arms through the country. He died in 1876, and his wife in 1884, at their old homestead where they lived all
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their married life, and upon which our subject was born and has lived until the present time. At the age of twenty-two H. P. Maxwell began life for himself as a farmer and planter. He was married in 1870 to Miss A. E. Treadwell, daughter of F. L. Treadwell, who bore him four sons: Harrison P. (deceased), Louis, Mooman T. (deceased), and Robert C. He was a member of the county board of supervisors for one term, and in 1886 his fellow-citizens still more strongly expressed their confidence in him by electing him to represent them in the state legislature. He is well and favorably known throughout this section of the state; is indus- trious, enterprising, honorable and a highminded gentleman; a most successful planter and a man of uncommon integrity. He and his wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyte- rian church, toward the support of which he is very liberal, as he has been for the support of other churches, as well as schools and other benevolent institutions. He is the owner of seven hundred and forty acres of land, four hundred of which are under cultivation. He is a member of the Knights of Honor, and he and his family rank high in social circles.
P. J. Maxwell, M. D., is a physician and surgeon whose reputation for skill and ability has become widespread. The first work he did as a practitioner of the healing art was as a surgeon in the Confederate army during the turbulent times of the Rebellion. He was born in Charleston, S. C., January 3, 1834, a son of William R. and Anna M. (Johnston) Maxwell, natives of South Carolina, and of English origin. His great-grandfather was born near Stirling in Scotland, and immigrated to America in the reign of George III., or about 1756. The lands he settled on, known as Jashey island, at the mouth of the Port Royal river, South Carolina, are now in possession of Hon. William Aiken. His grandfather, James Maxwell, was a graduate of the Edinburgh college, and finished his education in that institu- tion of learning in 1776. He became a wealthy planter of South Carolina, and died at Charleston, S. C., when in the prime of life, leaving two children, William R. and Sarah Pringle, both of whom are now deceased. William R. Maxwell was a rice planter on the Santee river, in Georgetown district, S. C., and in 1871 removed to Columbus, Miss., and died there some three years later. His wife died in 1866, having borne him five children who grew to maturity, three of whom are now living : Mrs. Wilson, William J. and Dr. P. J. The latter was reared in the Palmetto state, and received his education in Charleston. He began the study of medicine when quite young with Dr. W. M. Michel, and graduated from the Medical College of the State of South Carolina, at Charleston, in 1854. After attending the University of Philadelphia, Penn., for some time, he entered the Bellevue hospital of New York city, in which institution he acquired a practical knowledge of his profession. In October, 1858, he crossed the Atlantic to Europe and studied in the Hotel Dieu of Paris, France, remaining abroad eighteen months to perfect himself in his studies. He returned to his native land in time to witness the bursting of the war cloud that had so long hovered over the country. He immediately enlisted as a surgeon of the Charleston light dragoons, and served on the coast of South Carolina with that company. He was afterward trans- ferred to the twenty-fourth South Carolina regiment under command of Col. E. Capers, attached to Gist's brigade, Hardee's corps, of Bragg's army, following Joseph E. Johnston through his Georgia campaign, at the close of which he found himself in charge of a hospital in Columbus, Miss. At the battle of Jonesboro, Ga., late in the evening, a number of wounded were lying on the platform at the station, and the doctor was busily attending to them, when he came across a Federal soldier, an Irishman, who was bleeding to death. He set to work at once to stop the flow of blood by tying up the artery, and while so doing was tapped on the shoulder by a Federal cavalryman, who said, "You are my prisoner; " whereupon the Irishman remarked with an oath, "Leave the doctor
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alone, he is trying to save my life." The cavalryman, leaving his horse quite near, went into the station office, and the doctor, taking advantage of his absence, mounted his horse and made his escape. Notwithstanding bullets whistled thick, fast and furious in close proximity around him, he succeeded in reaching the Confederate lines and rejoining his regiment, much to their joy and surprise, as they had made sure of his having been captured. He returned to his old home at the close of the war to see what property the war might have left him, and soon returned to Columbus, in which place he settled permanently in 1866. He has built up a very large practice among the leading citizens of this section, and is considered by all to be an exceptionally skillful and successful medical practitioner and surgeon. He is a member of the American Medical association, the State Medical association and the Lowndes County Medical society. He has attained to the chapter in the A. F. & A. M., and for ten years has been treasurer in the Episcopal church. He has been and is a stockholder in nearly all the public institutions of Columbus. He owns many cottages and cabins in Columbus, besides other valuable property, all of which he has earned since coming to this city. He has been president of the Building & Loan associa- tion, in which he is a stockholder. He was married in 1865 to Miss F. N., daughter of John C. Ramsey, by whom he has one child, John Ramsey.
One of the best examples of what may be accomplished by perseverance and industry is to be seen in the career of W. L. Maxwell, druggist and grocer, who is now one of the prominent business men of Camden. He was born in Madison county, Miss., in 1838, and of the ten children born to his parents, Willis and Catherine (Cooper) Maxwell, he was third in order of birth. The parents were natives of Georgia and North Carolina respectively. They came to Madison county at quite an early day and both are still living, the father at the age of eighty-four and the mother at eighty years of age. Seven of their children are living in this county and are useful and law-abiding citizens. W. L. Maxwell entered the Confederate service in 1861, company G, Eighteenth Mississippi infantry, as a private, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, which position he held one year. He then resigned and joined Word's battery, light artillery, Poague's battalion, Third army corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and served one year in the battery. He was appointed to the medical department as hospital steward for the chief surgeon. At Appomattox he lost all his medicine, it being captured by the enemy, and after surrendering he returned to Camden, where he established a drug store. This business he has continued to follow and has added a general line of dry goods, etc. He takes an active part in politics, but has never aspired to any political position. He started in business on a borrowed capital of $1,000, but he is now out of debt, has a stock of goods valued at $3,500 and is the owner of three hundred acres of land with one hundred and fifty acres under cultivation. His marriage, which occurred in 1868 to Miss Fanny Thornhill, has been blessed by the birth of seven children: Willis A., in the dry goods business in Camden; Gus C., who conducts the drug store; Lillie, Kitty, Annie, Magruder and John (twins). Mrs. Maxwell is a worthy member of the Methodist church and an active worker in the same.
Albert Quitman May, Chancery clerk, Westville, Miss., was born on a farm within nine miles of Westville, Miss., on the 17th of June, 1857, and his father, William May. who comes of an old Kentucky family, is also a native of that state, born in Pike county. The father removed to Simpson county, Miss., when a boy and was there married to Miss Nancy Ross, the mother of our subject. After this he gave his attention exclusively to planting and is now a resident of this county. Prior to the war he was probate judge of Simpson county and held other offices of trust. He was an old school democrat and favored secession, but
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since the war he has steadfastly refused to accept any political honors. He is an active member of the Baptist church. Albert Q. May received his early education in the schools of his locality and at Westville, but later attended Mississippi college at Clinton. The two years following after leaving school he was engaged as clerk and bookkeeper in a general mercantile establishment at Harrisville, Simpson county, and while there he was elected sheriff (1881) being the youngest official for that position in the state. He declined to be- come a candidate for a second term and in the spring of 1884 he was appointed by Judge Mayers to fill the unexpired term of W. L. Drummond and was elected to that position by a special election ordered by the board of supervisors in May of that year. Mr. May was elected by an overwhelming majority, his popularity as a public official being evinced in that manner. In 1887 he was elected by an immense majority over a strong candidate and in the campaign of 1889 he came out as a candidate for state treasurer only two months before the election and made a very limited canvass. Under the circumstances he developed a greater strength than his friends had dared to anticipate, receiving a very complimentary ballot. Mr. May is a very popular young man and wields an enviable influence. He is at present a member of the democratic state executive committee. The strength developed by Mr. May and the esteem in which he is held by his large circle of friends, cause him to be looked upon as a most promising subject for future honors.
One of the leading residents of Biloxi, Miss., J. W. Maybin, M. D., is descended from a long line of English ancestors, many of whom have been prominent in the politics of the country. He was born in Natchez, Miss., October 12, 1837, and is a son of Lawrence and Caroline Maybin, natives of Tennessee and Mississippi respectively. His grandfather Alexander was a native of North Carolina and a member of the colonial congress from that state. He was a lawyer by profession and became one of the most eminent members of the bar. Lawrence Maybin, grandson, was a planter by occupation. He was one of the first settlers in Natchez and was elected a member to the legislature from Adams county, but from ill health did not serve. He was a man of wealth, owning a large amount of real estate, personal property and slaves. Dr. Maybin is the only child of his parents. He was reared on the plantation in Yazoo county and received his education at Centenary college, Miss., and at the University of North Carolina. At the age of nineteen years he began the study of medicine and was graduated from Jefferson Medical college, Philadelphia, in the class of 1856. He returned to Mississippi and located in Yazoo county, where he was at the break- ing out of the Civil war. In 1863 he served as a surgeon in the Eightieth Tennessee regi- ment and served until the end of the war. At the surrender of Atlanta he was in the hospital at Marietta, Ga., and remained there until the cessation of hostilities. When he returned to Yazoo county it was a discouraging prospect, indeed, and required all the bravery of heart and determination he could summon to take up again the pursuits of civilization. He resumed his professional work and superintended his planting until 1876, when he removed to Canton, Miss. He practiced there until 1880, going thence to Jackson, Miss. He resided there until 1882, when he came to Biloxi. Here he has established himself among the lead- ing practitioners of the county and has won a large and intelligent patronage. He was first married to Miss Mary Brien, one son being born of the union, William H. Maybin. Dr. Maybin was married a second time in 1876, being united to Miss Lee, a daughter of Dr. L. . C. Lee, of Grenada, Miss., a cousin to Gen. Robert E. Lee. Two children were born to the Doctor and his wife: Warren (aged fourteen years) and Willie (aged four years). William H. Maybin is a promising young lawyer of Biloxi, Miss. He was graduated from the Uni- versity of Oxford, Miss., in 1886, and later from the law department of the Tulane university.
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He was married, May 23, 1888, to Miss Bulah Alvis. Dr. Maybin is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the I. O. O. F. He also belongs to the Episcopal church.
Dr. Maybin is a brilliant orator and a forcible speaker, as will be seen by the following extracts from Mississippi newspapers. The following extract is taken from the American Citizen : "On Friday evening, the 12th instant, a large and intelligent audience assembled at the courthouse to listen to the speeches of Hon. Robert Powell and Dr. J. W. Maybin, who had been elected by the Democratic club to entertain our citizens on that evening. The meeting was opened by the president of the club, Mr. J. M. Anderson, Sr., who briefly introduced Mayor Powell. The latter gentlemen made a few remarks in his own happy way. He appealed to his hearers to stand by the good old democratic party and its nominees, and fired a hot shot at all independent candidates. He was glad to see the ladies present, was glad to see the interest they manifested in the political welfare of our country. He said he must necessarily be brief, because he knew the audience was impatient to hear the gallant orator who would follow him. He then introduced Dr. Maybin. The fame of this gentle- man as a political speaker was known to many of his auditors, but none there were prepared for the brilliant effort that crowned the occasion. Commencing in a calm, silvery voice, the gifted orator carried his audience spellbound, as it were, to the very acme of delight. Long, loud, and deafening applause followed the words of wisdom and patriotism that fell from his lips. Time and again the noble speaker was compelled to pause in his impassioned utter- ances before the tumult of cheers that followed his lofty eloquence. After a time, which seemed only too short to his charmed hearers, the Doctor closed his address with a beauti- ful, poetic, and touching tribute to the fair daughters of the sunny Southland. As he retired from the rostrum, cries of 'Go on!' 'Go on!' proceeded from every side. Never have we seen an audience so completely charmed by the power of words. Later in the evening the speaker was serenaded at his residence. We but echo the universal wish of our citizens when we say we hope to hear Dr. Maybin again at an early day." The Canton Mail, in speaking of the same occason, alludes to Dr. Maybin as follows: "Dr. Maybin was then loudly called for, and, when the noise had subsided, began one of the most entertaining addresses it was ever our privilege to listen to. His language was chaste, and his utterances soul-stirring and eloquent. He fairly brought down the house in wild and enthusiastic applause, so great at times that it was almost impossible for him to proceed. Dr. Maybin proved himself on this occasion to be one of the best campaign orators in the democratic party. His address occupied about forty minutes' time, but his audience would have cheerfully listened to him for another forty minutes." The following extract we take from the Chicago Tribune : "The Canton (Miss. ) Mail contains a full account of a democratic meeting, in that town recently, at which Dr. J. W. Maybin made a speech, the spirit of which can be understood by the following extracts: 'In 1875 we awoke as from a death-like sleep, arose in our man- hood, wrenched from our benumbed limbs the great political hand-cuffs that bound our man - hood; our tongues became as the pen of ready writers, and by the help of Almighty God and the double-barreled gun and Colt's repeaters, we drove them back from our own sunny South to their own cold, heartless and selfish Northland. Last but not least of our demo- cratic sisterhood comes Ohio, the great state of Ohio, from whence comes the fraudulent president, Rutherford B. Hayes. Though Ohio has been on the wrong side of politics for many weary years, she is right to-day and appreciates as we do the outrage and wrong of placing a man in the presidential chair by corrupt and fraudulent means. She spurns the insult heaped on her and the American people. Yes, from the cold and frozen regions of Maine to the flowery groves of Florida, along the orange groves of Louisiana and
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