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 65

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 65

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

the gulf coast to the Rocky mountains, to the golden shores of California, has the fraud been rebuked in thunder tones. * * * These are the blows dealt by a solid South upon the cooler metal of the North that will arouse and weld its people into a unity of action and purpose as solid as that which inspired us during the bloody years of the Rebellion. Go on, gentlemen. 'Providence moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. '"

The following letter was received by Dr. Maybin from Governor Lowry:

DEAR DOCTOR :- I have carefully read your speech, which you had the kindness to send me, and if I am any judge, the matter is most excellent. Your description of our wrongs and sufferings could not fail to find a hearty response in the hearts of our people. The description of the moral and intellectual worth of the Southern people is certainly not overdrawn. The distinction drawn between the carpet- bagger and the good citizens of the North was most apt and a truth that our people should under no cir- cumstances forget. We need and want good people, representing all the various industries, to settle among us and become identified with us. The appeal to your hearers to preserve their political integ- rity could not be surpassed; indeed, this was the only safety for our prosperity; the defeat of the demo- cratic party would have entailed untold suffering on the people of the South, and at the same time revived and placed firmly in power the wreckers to whom we are indebted for all the wrongs and oppres- sions which you describe. I was equally impressed with the soundness of your views on agriculture; the correction mentioned must be adopted or poverty will be the result. Ou the whole your speech came up to the full measure of a good one, and I am only sorry that you could not have made it all over the state. With assurances of high regard, I am very truly your friend,

ROBERT LOWRY.

Doctor Maybin took an active part in politics from his early manhood, and during the reconstruction of his native state, being an ardent and zealous democrat, and being a states- rights man of the strictest construction, took the stump in Mississippi in 1875-6 in defense of her people and denounced the carpet-bagger and scalawag at every available opportunity until home rule was accomplished. Doctor Maybin never asked for or held office, feeling that the private station was the post of honor.

Judge Alonzo Gustavus Mayers' professional career embraces an eventful and interest- ing period of forty years. He was born in Winchester, Wayne county, Miss., March 6, 1821, a son of James Mayers, who was a native of Richmond, Va. He removed to Wayne county, Miss., early in life, where he married Miss Jane Cole and became a man of considerable local prominence, filling with ability nearly every office in the county. He died in 1834. Judge Mayers left home at the early age of fourteen years to make his own way in the world, at which time he had a very limited education and no means, but with the energy and determination that has since marked his career he began at once to seek his fortune and secured a position in a store at Quitman, and later at Garlandsville, in the mean- time availing himself of every opportunity for self-improvement. He began reading law with Judge Watts, at Garlandsville, and was admitted to the bar at Winchester before he was twenty-one years of age. Some time afterward he formed a partnership with his former preceptor with whom, however, he was associated only a short time. In 1844 he located at Raleigh, where he practiced until 1847, when he removed to Paulding and was associated with Judge Mounger until the death of the latter in 1851. During this time, in 1845, he was a candidate for district attorney in a strong democratic district and though a whig was defeated by only two votes. In 1852 he removed to Brandon (where he has since resided), and in 1860 formed a partnership with Ex-Governor Lowry, whose tutor he was and with whom he remained professionally associated for sixteen years. In 1876 Governor Stone appointed Mr. Mayers judge for the Eighth judicial district, to which he was reappointed by Governor Lowry in 1882 and in 1888. Notwithstanding his advanced age Judge Mayers is possessed of an excellent constitution and elasticity of step that might well be envied by

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many men a quarter of a century his junior. His mind is as clear, active and bright as in his early manhood, and his sound judgment and sagacity admirably fitted him for the responsible position of judge. He was presiding judge in the famous trial of Col. Jones S. Hamilton, charged with the murder of Roderick D. Gambrill, at the February (1888) term of the circuit court of Rankin county, which occupied forty-six days and created more excitement than perhaps any criminal case in the history of the state. Judge Myers was married in 1848 to Miss Elizabeth C. King, of Rankin county. Mrs. Mayers died in 1852, leaving two children who died that year, and in 1856 the judge married Miss Nancy L. Mc- Laurin, of Covington county, Miss., by whom he has four children: Mary, wife of Olin Green of Meridan; Daniel, a merchant of Brandon; Henry, an insurance agent of Union City, Tenn., and Miss Nannie. Judge Mayers is a conservative democrat, a prohibitionist and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.

Edward Mayes, a prominent lawyer of Oxford, and chancellor and professor of law in the university of the state of Mississippi, was born in Hinds county, Miss., December 15, 1846. He is the youngest of a family of four children born to Daniel and Elizabeth (Rigg) Mayes. The father was a native of Virginia, but grew to manhood in Kentucky. After serving on the circuit bench and in the law professorship of Transylvania university, he removed to Jackson, Miss., and engaged in the practice of law; this was in 1839. Edward Mayes was' prepared for college at Jackson by the private schools, and in 1860 he became a student at Bethany college, Virginia, now West Virginia. He was driven home by the breaking out of the Civil war, and was employed as a clerk until the destruction of Jackson by the Federal troops in May, 1863. He was then engaged in teaching in Carrollton for three or four months. In April, 1864, he volunteered as a private in- company H, Fourth Mississippi cavalry, Confederate States Army, and served until the termination of the war. In October, 1865, he entered the freshman class of the University of Mississippi, and was graduated with the degree of A. B., taking the four years' course in three years. In 1869 he received the degree of B. L. from the same institution. In 1869-70 he taught in the university. May 5, 1869, he was united in marriage to Miss Frances Eliza Lamar, daughter of Prof. L. Q. C. Lamar, of the law department of the university, now Justice Lamar, of the United States supreme court, and granddaughter of Dr. A. B. Longstreet, second president of the university. In 1871 Mr. Mayes began the practice of law at Coffee- ville, Miss., but in May, 1872, he removed to Oxford, where he has since resided. In 1877 he was elected to the law professorship in the university, and has occupied that chair from that date until the present. Upon the reorganization of the faculty in August, 1886, he was elected chairman of the faculty by that body. In June, 1889, the office of chancellor hav- ing been reestablished, he was elected to fill it. Mr. and Mrs. Mayes are the parente of seven children: Mary L .; Lucius L., who died at the age of four months; Elizabeth L. ; Edward W., who died at the age of six years; Lucius L., Francis L. and Basil R. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are quite active in church work. Mr. Mayes was a member of the general conference held at St. Louis in 1890, and is lay delegate to the ecumenical conference of 1891. He is a member of the Knights of Honor, and was a member of the constitutional convention of 1890, serving as chairman of the com- mittee on bill of rights and general provisions.

George F. Maynard, attorney, Friar's Point, Miss. Mr. Maynard's parents, Decatur B. and Mary E. (Saunders) Maynard, were natives of Virginia and Alabama respectively, and descendants of old and very prominent families of those states. His paternal grandfather was a native of Virginia, received his final summons in that state, and was a prosperous

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merchant and a very wealthy man. The Maynard family is of Norman French descent and was among the early settlers of the Old Dominion. Decatur B. Maynard came to Missis- sippi with an elder brother (Magnus L.) and settled in Coffeeville. There Magnus married Miss Frances Saunders and later Decatur was wedded to her sister, Miss Mary E. Saunders, both daughters of George N. Saunders. This last named gentleman was a planter and pur- chased a tract of land near Friar's Point. This is still known as the Old Saunders place. He made extensive improvements and there received his final summons in 1875. He was a veteran of the war of 1812, was at the battle of New Orleans, and was a brave and patriotic soldier. He was also with General Jackson in the Indian war. He was a substantial and prosperous citizen. The Saunders.family is of Irish descent. His wife was a relative of Pres. William H. Harrison. One of his sons, Capt. B. F. Saunders, was a soldier in the Mexican war, and later filled the position of sheriff of Coahoma county. The captain lost his right arm in an accident while hunting, but raised a company at the outbreak of the Civil war, served as captain through the stirring scenes of the war and was noted for his bravery. He was an active citizen and a man highly esteemed for his many good qualities. He died at Asheville, N. C., in 1868. Decatur Maynard removed to Washington county (now Coahoma), Miss., soon after his marriage and later came to Friar's Point, where he was a land speculator and merchant, being one of the early merchants of that place. He could not enter the army on account of physical disability and after the war he did not take advantage of the bankrupt law but paid to Northern creditors $60,000 all of which he made after peace was declared. He had been ruined by the war and the freedom of the slaves. He was a tender and loving husband and father, and after his wife's death in 1873 he never recovered from the shock, but died of grief, it is said, the following year. He left a large estate but slightly encumbered, .and this his daughter cleared from all claims. Both Mr. and Mrs. Maynard were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and he was a most pious and devout Christian. He was of small stature and had quite a fair complexion. George F. Maynard, whose birth occurred in Friar's Point in 1853, was the sixth of eleven children borh to his parents. He was reared at Friar's Point, graduated at Emory and Henry college, Virginia, in 1875, and then taught school in order to obtain the means to take him through his law course. Three years later, or in 1878, he graduated in law at Mississippi university, Oxford, and in 1879 he began practicing at Friar's Point in partner- ship with E. M. Yerger. In 1880 he took a short course at the University of Virginia, and nine years later he formed his present partnership, Fitzgerald & Maynard. The firm own about three thousand five hundred acres of wild land. Mr. Maynard is president of the Friar's Point oilmill, is secretary and treasurer of the Friar's Point Building and Loan asso- ciation, and has assisted in organizing all the enterprises of the place. He is one of the rising lawyers of the state. He owns a plantation of six hundred acres with three hundred and fifty acres under cultivation at Burk station.

Col. Samuel Mills Meek was born in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Nov. 11, 1835, and graduated at the university of his native state in 1850. After leaving college he engaged in teaching for two years in the county of Oktibbeha, Miss., and afterward for one year filled the position of assistant to Prof. Thomas B. Bailey, now of the Agricultural and Mechanical college, of this state, in the Odd Fellows' Collegiate high school at Columbus, which he made his home, and where he now resides. Having adopted the law as his profession, Colonel Meek was admitted to the bar at Columbus in 1854. About this time, being an ardent, zealous democrat, he was chosen by his party elector for the county of Lowndes, and in con- junction with Capt. Thomas I. Sharp, who was his colleague, made a vigorous canvass against

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knownothingism. The ability he displayed at once gave him prominence, and his party attested its appreciation of his worth by nominating him, in 1858, for the position of district attorney of the sixth judicial district. In the race he was opposed by three or four popular and formidable competitors, but was elected by an overwhelming majority.

In 1856 he married Miss Mary L. Cannon, daughter of the late Col. William R. Cannon, who represented for several terms Chickasaw and Oktibbeha, then a senatorial district, in the state senate. When the war between the states came on, with true patriotic ardor Colonel Meek enlisted in the service of his section as a private soldier, though by virtue of his office he was exempt from military duty. He was at an early day promoted to a lieutenancy of infantry. Whilst holding this position he was, in 1862, re-elected district attorney. He preferred, however, to remain in the army, and was shortly afterward made lieutenant- colonel of a Mississippi regiment which was for a long while attached to Price's command, and which followed the fortunes of the army of the West from Bowling Green to Vicks- burg.

When the war closed he again pursued the practice of his profession, in all the branches of which he gained a high and enviable reputation. As a criminal lawyer he has been en- gaged in the prosecution and defense of more capital felonies than perhaps any man of his age in the state or county. In civil practice also he has been eminently successful. During the memorable campaign of 1872 Colonel Meek was a democratic elector, during which he espoused warmly and vigorously maintained the cause headed by Horace Greeley. During this campaign be made a thorough canvass of his district, delivering eighty-two speeches in behalf of the cause of reform and local self-government. Although a wheelhorse in the ranks of democracy, ever willing and ready to respond to any call, he has yet never sought a political office. In the summer of 1880, yielding to the urgent solicitations of friends, he allowed his name to be used as a candidate for congress in the First district. He was defeated in the convention after about four hundred ballots, and gave way gracefully, and to his credit it must be said never gave sign that he cherished any ill will toward any of his opponents and never displayed any of the acerbities of a foiled politician. Indeed, it can with truth be said that Colonel Meek possesses many noble attributes. Free as he is from petty jeal- ousies that so often dwarf the character of public men, he rejoices in the success of others when that success is attained through merit. In the arena of politics, as in that of law, he has never asked or claimed anything but an open field and a fair fight. Generous to a fault, his rivalry never exceeds the emulation of a noble mind; and after a contest is declared at an end he seeks to forget whatever of acrimony may have been engendered and to cherish only a desire to soothe the hurt feelings and wounded pride of his antagonists.

In person Col. Meek is of majestic statue, standing, like Saul, a head and shoulders above his fellows. His countenance is of the cast that wins you on approach. Kindness, benignity and amiability shine forth in its every lineament and proclaims the friend of man. In his intercourse with others he brings much of the bonhomie so indicative of an open, candid and truly genial nature. Col. Meek is remarkable for his success in criminal cases. His reputation in this branch of his profession has extended beyond the limits of the state. No one, it is said, is more happy in selecting jurors than he, and he displays much tact in the management of delicate cases which oftentimes involve the life of his clients. In the style characteristic of him in the speeches he delivers, one would say he modeled after Burke, giving to the class of declamation the varnish and coloring of Curran and Phillips. In manner he has evidently carefully studied the examples of those three great men who have passed away from the stage of action; and he prefers their stately periods and lofty

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address to the buffoonery of modern foemen. As an advocate in the criminal branch of the law, to which he has devoted so much time and labor, and in which he has won so many bright and enduring laurels, he has probably not an equal, certainly not a superior in the Southwest. His native powers of mind, magnetic, and remarkably quick in their move- ments, seize the strong points of cases in which he is interested, or trials in which he is engaged, as they spring up in discussion at the time, and grasping with remarkable celerity and masculine force their weight and bearing where they may prove favorable or prejudicial to his clients, presents them with a strength, a vigor and a cogency, at the same time a clear- ness, which carries conviction to bench, jury and audience. In many respects he resembles the late Col. John T. Brady, of New York. In the case of the latter it has been said that no emergency ever arose to which he was not equal, and the more closely he was pressed the greater the resources he displayed and the readier, happier and stronger he appeared. The same can be said of Colonel Meek, and as with Mr. Brady, it can with truth be remarked of him the faculty of readiness in debate has contributed much to the brilliant success he has achieved.

In the management especially of difficult uncertain cases, Colonel Meek is justly regarded as one of the safest and most reliable lawyers in the South. His conception takes in at a glance all the difficulties likely to arise when an issue is joined, and enables him like a skill- ful general to be strong at every weak point. He rarely, if ever, no matter what the circum- stances may be makes blunders, and to this fact is largely due the reputation he enjoys. Colonel Meek belongs to a long line of distinguished ancestry. His grndfather on his father's side was a soldier in the American Revolution, and lost a leg at the battle of Cowpens. His father was a distinguished physician, for twenty years president of the medical board of the state of Alabama, and also a Methodist minister. His mother was a Miss McDowell, a native of Charleton, S. C., but a relative of the celebrated Virginia family of that name, Governor McDowell being her second cousin. His immediate family have all been dis- tinguished. Five brothers graduated at the University of Alabama, with high honors, one of them, Judge A. B. Meek, eminent as a poet, orator and statesman, is very well known throughout the country. His younger brother, B. F. Meek, LL. D., is now professor in the University of Alabama. His other brothers died before they were old enough to gain anything more than a collegiate reputation. Colonel Meek is now in the prime and vigor of manhood and we trust will live long to battle for the interest of his native section.

Colonel Meek has in his possession some rare relics, among which is a tomahawk said to have been owned by Pocahontas, who saved the life of John Smith in the seventeenth century. This was handed down by the Col. William S. Bollinger family, and Smithsonian institute of Washington, D. C., has offered a handsome price for it. This is without doubt genuine. Another relic is a pair of large fieldglasses which was presented by Louis Napoleon to the great cavalry leader Gen. N. B. Forrest, who used them during the Civil war. They were presented to Col. S. M. Meek by Gen. Forrest at his death.

Thomas M. Meeks and J. T. Meeks comprise the firm of T. M. Meeks & Sons, promi- nent planters, merchants and sawmill men of Alcorn county, Miss. T. M. Meeks owes his nativity to Bedford county, Tenn. ; born June 30, 1829, and lived there until five years of age, when he came with his parents to Mississippi and remained there until nineteen years of age receiving his education. He then returned to Tennessee, remaining there five years. While there he was married, in 1852, to Miss Sophia A. Moore, daughter of Henry and Bethenia (Hill) Moore, both natives of the Old North state. Mr. Moore was a farmer, and followed that occupation in Tennessee until his death. The mother also died in that state.

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Both were members of the Christian church. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Meeks were born four children : William L., deceased; James W., deceased; Robert G., deceased, and J. T. Meeks. The latter married Miss Dona McPeters, a native of Mississippi, and the daughter of Robert and Hattie F. (Gains) McPeters; Mrs. McPeters being a direct descendant of old General Gains, who distinguished himself in the War of 1812 at New Orleans under General Jackson; Mrs. McPeter's father was a distinguished Methodist preacher in north Mississippi and Alabama. Robert McPeters was a native of Alabama. He was reared and educated there, and was a successful planter in that state until 1852. He then moved to Mississippi and opened a large plantation, which he ran successfully until his death, which occurred in 1861, and now lies buried in the Shiloh cemetery, in Alcorn county. His widow was remarried to W. R. Richardson, in 1870, a native of South Carolina. To J. T. Meeks and wife were born three children; Hubert E., Lula M., and T. De Witt. J. T. Meeks was educated at Henderson, Tenn., under the management of Rev. George Savage, now principal of the Southern Bap- tist university, of Jackson, Tenn.

Miss Dona Meeks was educated at the Female college at Corinth, Miss. In 1864 our subject, Thomas M. Meeks, enlisted in the Confederate army under Colonel Lowry, company B, Mississippi infantry from Mississippi. He went to Bowling Green, Ky .; then being discharged returned to Mississippi; then enlisted in the Seventh Mississippi Partisan rangers under Col. W. C. Falkner, and was in the battle of Iuka and Burnt Mills. He was in the retreat from Burnt Mills to Tupelo. He joined Van Dorn at Ripley and went to Poca- hontas, Tenn., thence to Corinth, Miss., and was in the battle at that place. He returned from there to Holly Springs on his retreat. He was in the battle at Davis' Ferry; return- ing from there he went to Hernando; from there he went to Grenada, Miss., then to Houston, from there to Oxford, then to Varona and from there to the state of Alabama. Then he returned to Mississippi. He was in the battle of Collierville, Tenn., and at Wyatt. He was also in the battle of Leaf river, and was in several skirmishes in north Mississippi and Alabama. He was discharged in 1865. Mr. Meeks is a democrat in politics, and socially he is a member of the Masonic order. He has been a member of the Missionary Baptist church ever since 1859, and his wife is also a member of that church. He has been post- master at Theo since 1879. He and J. T. Meeks (his son) now own three thousand six hundred acres of land, a sawmill and store, and have been successful in each occupation. He is one of the prominent men of Alcorn county, and is the son of Littleton and Millie (Morris) Meeks, natives of Franklin county, Ga, the father a prominent planter of his county, who at an early date moved from his native state to middle Tennessee, thence to Mississippi, and settled in Tippah county. He followed farming there for several years and then went to Arkansas, where his wife died. He afterward returned to Mississippi and died there in March, 1848. Both he and wife were members of the Primitive Baptist church.

He had been married three times, his first union being to Miss Susie Womick. They had three children: John W., Melissie and Minerva, all deceased. The mother of these children died about 1824, and Mr. Meeks' second union was to Miss Millie Morris, who bore him five children: Mary, Thomas M. (subject), Frances, Sarah, Nacy and James, all deceased but the subject of this sketch. The mother died in July, 1844, and is buried in Arkansas. Mr. Meeks' third marriage was to Mrs. Conner. His death occurred in 1848, and his wife followed him to the grave soon afterward. His parents were Nacy and Frances (Holt) Meeks, natives of Georgia, it is supposed. Nacy Meeks was a farmer and a Primitive Baptist minister. He was the father of ten children, of whom Littleton was second in order of birth: John, Littleton, Martin, James, Nacy, Josephus, Martha, Jane, Mary and Nancy, all AA

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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 65

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