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 80

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 80

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).

A. K. Northrop, D. D. S., Pass Christian, Miss., was born in St. Mary's parish, La., July 27, 1839, and is a son of Daniel and Christina (Knight) Northrop, natives of New Jer- sey and Louisiana, respectively. The father was a merchant, and removed to Louisiana in 1835, locating at Franklin, where he died of yellow fever in 1839, He had two sons, the

515

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

Doctor being the only surviving one. The mother was married, a second time, to John Hueston, editor of the Baton Ronge Gazette. Mr. Hueston was killed in a duel with L. C. Le Branch, a difference in political opinion being the cause of the encounter. By the sec- ond union two sons were born: J. C. Hueston, of the New York Times, and John Hueston, who was wounded and died in the Civil war. The widow now resides at Baton Rouge. Tlie Doctor was educated at Baton Rouge, and was graduated from the Baltimore Dental college. He engaged in the practice of his profession, and for several years was one of the most prominent dentists along the coast. When there was a call for men to go out in behalf of the South, he enlisted in company E, Third Texas regiment, and served until hostilities ceased. He was third lientenant, and was promoted to the position of captain. In 1867 he came to Mississippi, and as before stated, was successfully engaged in the practice of his profession, having his headquarters at Pass Christian. In 1873 he abandoned dentistry for mercantile pursuits, and has since carried on the business with great profit. He keeps the best stock of goods in Pass Christian, and has won a large patronage in that place and the surrounding country. He also deals in real estate, and has made some heavy transactions in that line. Dr. Northrop has also been identified with the politics of the county, having been county treasurer four years, and sheriff for the same length of time, and a member of the national democratic convention held in St. Louis in 1888. He was mayor of the town for two years, and has always taken an active interest in the growth and prosperity of the place. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was largely instrumental in the erec- tion of the Masonic hall at the pass. He is also a member of the American Legion of Honor. Dr. Northrop was married April 20, 1867, to Miss Helena Elmer, of Biloxi, Miss. They are now the parents of six sons and two daughters: A. E., J. D., Guy, George, James, Newton, Christina and Ruby. They are members of the Episcopal church. Dr. Northrop owns some good property in Pass Christian, and is in good circumstances.

Col. William Lewis Nugent, attorney at law, Jackson, Miss., is a native of Louisiana, and was born at East Baton Rouge parish, December 12, 1832, and is the son of John and Ann (Lewis) Nugent. The elder Nugent was born in the county of Westmeath, Ireland. He came to the United States when a lad of seventeen years, locating at Philadelphia, where he was employed as a clerk in the mercantile house of a Quaker. Two years later he was sent by his employer to Washington, Miss., to open up a branch house, where he continued in charge until he was twenty-one years of age, when the business was transferred entirely to him. Mr. Nugent successfully carried on this business until the year 1831, when he sold out and invested in a sugar plantation in Baton Rouge parish, which he operated two years, when he removed to Opelousas, La., where he reared his family. Mr. Nugent died in Jack- son, Miss., in 1873, at the advanced age of eighty-five years. His wife was a native of Louisiana, and was the daughter of Judge Seth Lewis, a prominent lawyer of that state, and Nancy Hardeman, who was a native of Tennessee. The early life of William L. was com- mon to that of most planters' sons. At the age of eight years he was placed in the state school at Opelousas, where he pursued his studies until he was fifteen years of age. At this period he was sent to Centenary college, Mississippi, where he was graduated in 1852. In August of that year Mr. Nugent removed to Greenville, Miss., where he continued to reside until 1872. For the first three years he was engaged as a private tutor. He then took up the study of law, reading in the office of A. F. Smith, and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1856. He immediately opened an office and began the practice of law, which he continued with marked success until the breaking out of the war. He was then appointed inspector- general of the state. From this position he resigned in 1862, and entered the Confederate

516

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

army as a private in company D, Eighteenth Mississippi, Col. P. B. Starke commanding. One of the principal engagements, while in this service, was at the battle of Franklin, Tenn., April 10, 1863, under Van Dorn. During the summer of this year he was promoted to the rank of captain, assigned to the adjutant-general's department, and ordered to report to Brig .- Gen. S. W. Ferguson. He served in this capacity until the early part of 1865, when, upon the petition of officers and men, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the Twelfth Mis- sissippi cavalry. He was ordered west by General Beauregard to pick up the scattered men belonging to the command, and while out on this duty the surrender of the Confederacy was made. The war being over Colonel Nugent returned to his home in Greenville, and once more engaged in the peaceful occupation of the law. In 1872 he removed to Jackson, Miss. and became associated with W. and J. N. Yerger in the practice of his profession. His reputation as an able lawyer had preceded him, and he entered at once upon a lucrative practice. In 1875 he formed a copartnership with T. A. McWillie, under the firm name of Nugent & McWillie, which continues. Colonel Nugent was united in marriage November, 1860, to Eleanor, daughter of A. F. Smith. The issue of this marriage was one child, Eleanor, now the wife of Robert Somerville, of Greenville, Miss. Mrs. Nugent died December, 1865. Colonel Nugent was married the second time, February 25, 1870, to Aimée, daughter of John S. and Cecile Webb, of Alabama. To this union five children have been born: Cecile, Aimée, William L., Louis C., and Bessie W., all of whom are living at home. Colonel Nugent is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In politics he is a democrat.

This sketch would be incomplete without noting some of the personal characteristics of the subject. In form Colonel Nugent is tall, with a graceful, military bearing. His eyes are gray and beam with intellectual brightness, while his countenance, which is winning, is expressive of truth and goodness. He is a firm friend, a genial companion and a charitable neighbor. He was a firm believer in the right of secession and in the Confederacy, but since that question has been settled through the arbitrament of the sword he is a loyal and patriotic citizen of the Union. In one so gifted and versatile as Colonel Nugent it is diffi- cult to draw a line, or to determine in which professional excellence he is most distin- guished. He was endowed by nature with a mind of the finest quality, comprehensive, active, analytical and tenacious. The great powers of reason, imagination and memory are in perfect equipoise, and each the ready and faithful ally of the others. His collegiate edu- cation was more thorough than that of most students, for the reason that he studied for the acquisition of knowledge, and with little reference to the class distinctions that he won. His professional studies were pursued in the same spirit and were attended with the same results. His great purpose was the mastering of the science of law, and he has come about as near its attainment as any jurist ever did. It is difficult to imagine anything in the wide field of professional effort beyond the scope of his powers. This remarkable capacity is supplemented by an equally remarkable and untiring industry. Indeed, the form in which the admiration of his professional brethren is most frequently expressed presents the idea of rare efficiency and indefatigable labor. He works with the greatest celerity and works all the time. Even the manual portion of his labors partakes of these character- istics. He writes with unusual facility, and in the longest, most difficult and com plex pleadings he rarely erases or interlines a word. He has practiced in all the courts known to our law system with great success, and the litigation in which he has taken part has been of an important nature. In the United States circuit and district conrts, both at Jackson and at Oxford, and in the circuit, chancery and supreme courts of the state, he has

517

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

long been a leading practitioner. He has also appeared from time to time with credit to the profession before the supreme court of the United States. Colonel Nugent is equally able both at law and in equity cases. One who heard him for the first time addressing the court would be apt to underrate his powers before a jury, for it is rarely the case that excellence in both branches are united in one person, yet his listener would be soon undeceived. No juryman ever listened to his advocacy of a cause who was not influenced by his legal argu- ments and logical reasoning. While making little pretension to oratory his language is a "well of pure English undefiled," and his expressions are so apt, his conceptions so clear, accompanied in the delivery by an electric-like energy, employing at the same instant both the flash and the stroke, that it becomes quite impossible to withstand their effect. He has the power of gathering all the facts of a cause in the grasp of his mind and retaining them for use at exactly the right point in his argument, and the manner of their employment is so just and their disclosed relation to each other so manifest, and yet so original and strik- ing, that his arguments to the jury are often a revelation to those who have given the closest attention to the evidence. This is a much rarer faculty than is generally supposed. Indeed, it is really one of the attributes of genius. Colonel Nugent's briefs in the Missis- sippi reports disclose his fine style as a law-writer. They cover a period extending from the close of the late war to the present time, and these, with his pleadings, might be taken as models of composition by students of the profession. If it is true that a good bar makes a good bench, and that the labors of a lawyer largely contribute to the accuracy of the judge, then Colonel Nugent is in no small degree connected with the grand structure of Missis- sippi jurisprudence. He is yet in the meridian of his powers and is wholly engrossed by the calls of an extensive and lucrative practice, a great part of which relates to railway and other corporations. In association with his brethren of the bar he is ever courteous and considerate, and while faithful at all times to clients his high standard for the proprieties of the profession would prevent him from taking undue advantage of any laches that might be committed by opposing council. This is a quality that is not as common in the pro- fession as it ought to be. Colonel Nugent is ever respectful and courteous to the court and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all the judges before whom he has practiced.

Maj. R. J. Nugent's parents, John and Ann (Lewis) Nugent, were natives respectively of Ireland and Louisiana. The father came to the United States about 1810, located first in Philadelphia, Penn., and later in Washington and Adams counties of that state, where he fol- lowed merchandising. In 1831 he moved to Louisiana, engaged in planting, and after the war passed the remainder of his days with his children. His death occurred in Jack- son, Miss., in 1873. The maternal great-grandfather came to Mississippi in 1770, and set- tled on Black river. His son, Seth Lewis, became a prominent lawyer and was appointed supreme judge in 1800. He afterward went to Louisiana, was appointed probate judge, and died in that state about 1844. Maj. R. J. Nugent was born in Louisiana in 1834, and of the family of children born to his parents he was fourth in order of birth. He comes of old Welsh and Irish stock. He secured a liberal education in a college in Louisi- ana, and when a stripling of sixteen went to New Orleans, where he engaged in clerking. There he remained until 1862, and then entered the Confederate army in the Louisiana guards, as lieutenant of one of the companies. After the fall of New Orleans he went to Richmond, and was appointed to go to Louisiana and open the salt mines at New Iberia. He was subsequently attached to Morton's division, under General Taylor, and was in the battles of Banks' campaign as commissary. He was sent as a bearer of dispatches to Rich- mond by General Buckner, and was at Chester, S. C., at the evacuation of Richmond. He

518

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

worked his way to Washington, S. C., and joined President Davis. After the war he engaged as bookkeeper in New Orleans, remained there for some time and then went to Washington county, Miss., and thence to Bolivar county, where he has since resided. He is the owner of fourteen hundred acres of land, Reville and Arcadia plantations, and is one of the foremost planters of the county. He was married in 1859 to Miss Coralie Smith, of Mississippi. She was a descendent of an old and honored family, and a relative of Jefferson Davis' family. Her death occurred in 1867, and she left three children: Ann, Mary Coralie and R. J., Jr. In 1884 Major Nugent was elected a member of the town board, was re-elected in 1890, and is the present incumbent of that position. He is an upright, conscientious and most highly respected citizen, not only in Bolivar county, but in the entire Yazoo delta. He is active in politics, but is no office seeker.

Maj. E. F. Nunn, farmer and stockman, Shuqualak, Miss. John Nunn was born in Georgia on Christmas day, 1796. He was married to Miss Jane Tubb, of Tennessee, and afterward followed planting for many years, although later in life he was engaged in mer- chandising. He emigrated to Noxubee county, Miss , in 1835, and purchased land from the government. He died in 1873. His son, E. F. Nunn, was born in Perry county, Ala., in 1826, and his early life was spent on a farm in that state. When but nine years of age he removed with his father to Noxubee county, Miss., where he attended the common schools at intervals. He engaged in farming on his own account at the age of nineteen years, and in 1849 he was married to Miss Mary Louise Anderson, of Winston county, Miss. He continued planting until the Civil war opened, when he went out as captain of a home com- pany, which later formed a part of the Third Mississippi battalion, Hardcastle commanding. He saw his first fighting on Shiloh's bloody battlefield. Afterward his battalion was organized into the Thirty-third Mississippi regiment, with Hardcastle still commanding. After the battle of Perryville his regiment became the Forty-fifth Mississippi, commanded by Col. John D. Williams, of Tupelo, Miss., with Mr. Nunn as major. Major Nunn was in almost every engagement of Johnston's campaign before Atlanta, and later with Hood at Franklin. At that place he lost a hand almost on the spot where General Cleburne fell. At this time he was captured, taken to Nashville, and after a month's stay was taken to Fort Dela- ware, where he remained two months before he was exchanged. At the close of hostil- ities he engaged in planting and merchandising at Shuqualak, Noxubee county, Miss., and other points. Major Nunn is identified with all that goes to constitute the solid advance- ment of the state. He owns and operates ten thousand acres of land, principally in Noxubee county, and is engaged in milling, merchandising and stockraising. He is breeding Jer- sey cattle, fine horses and mules. He is a man of fine taste, as his registered cattle and other fine stock indicate. The Major is a Missionary Baptist. His marriage resulted in the birth of four children, two of whom died in infancy. A promising daughter, Miss Alice, died in 1889. Only one now survives, Miss M. Lillian. Major Nunn was a member of the legislature of 1877. As a business man he stands among the foremost, and indeed in every department of life he has built for himself a character which will reflect credit on his posterity. Those who know him best love to tell of his coolness and unquestioned bravery on the bloodiest fields. The Major's health has not been of the best for the past few years, and in obedience to medical advice he has, to a great extent, retired from active business.

The Nutt, or Knut, family. Arms: Party per fesse az. and erm. a pale counterchanged, three pheons ar. crest, on a chapeau gu. turned up erm. a pheon or between two wings expanded ar. The name of this family comes down from Scandinavian history and means a knot (Dutch, Knopp, a button or knot). The first king of Denmark of that name derived

519

MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

his name from the fact that he was found an infant in the woods of Holstein, with a silk scarf tied around him, and in the knot a gold ring. They were the Danes who over- ran southern and eastern England in the great Danish invasion. At the time of King Ed- ward the Confessor, some forty odd lordships are recorded in Domesday as belonging to Knut, or Cnut. One is thus recorded: "Rainald Canut ten de rege 1. hid. in Chipeha Tochi tenuit T. R. E. Tra. e. i. Ibi. II. bord hnt dim Car. 7 VXX. 31. aoc pwti. 7 dimid molin redd. XV. fol. Tot ualuit 7 ual PXX. Solid." The parish of Knutstede (Knut's place) contains about one thousand acres. The church is an ancient Gothic building. The court is remarka- ble for two magnificent stone Gothic windows, and for the enormous oak pillars inside the hall, which are equally remarkable for their carving, as well as the dais in the baronial hall. It anciently belonged to a family of Knuts or Nutts. English heraldry first mentions them in County Kent; arms, a pheon ar. on a shield az. Thence in London, and next in County Essex. Knutstede in County Kent is now called Nursted. John Nutt, son of Thomas Nutt, of London, was clerk patron and parson of Berwick, and rector of Bexhill, County Essex. He was at that time worth half a million dollars. His son, William Nutt, was the emigrant to Virginia.

In 1666 William was high sheriff of Northumberland county, Va., and in the following year the colonel of the county. By his wife, Eliza, he had issue, Richard, who married Ann, daughter of William Downing, and had issue, Richard, who married Elizabeth Smith, and had issue, Richard, who married Alice Routh, and had issue, Richard, who married Elizabeth Rawlings, and had issue, Rush. the founder of the family in Mississippi. Having an inde- pendent turn of mind, Rush Nutt turned his back on the cock-fighting and fox-hunting pas- times of his people and fitted himself for the practice of medicine, in Philadelphia, under Dr. Rush, and became not only his friend, but also the friend of David Rittenhouse and Benjamin Franklin. After taking his degree he returned home and married, but was called upon to mourn the death of his wife six months later. Soon after this he started on horse- back for the West, and in time reached Jefferson county, Miss., settling in the old town of Greenville, now wiped out, where he began practicing his profession. He soon purchased a large plantation near Rodney, called Laurel hill, and assisted in building the first brick church at that place, and afterward educated several young men for the ministry and medi- cine. His views were far ahead of the times in which he lived. He was industrious and enterprising, and, being a patron of education, was one of the three men who founded Oak- land college, since changed to Alcorn university. Between 1833 and 1838 he made a tour of Greece, Turkey, Syria, the Holy Land and Egypt, being the first American to visit those regions, and was accompanied by his eldest son, Rittenhouse. After his return to his native land, he devoted his time to scientific studies and writing, and upon his death left valuable manuscripts.

His writings cover a number of scientific studies and show a mind of great thought and investigation. The manuscripts are still preserved by the family and will, when revised, be published. Learned men who have seen them compare them with the writings of Humboldt and Darwin. He turned his mind to agriculture and scientific study, and applied analytical chemistry to discover the plant foods, both those required by the plant and those found in the air and soil. He was so successful in this that after cotton had utterly failed, as a crop, as indigo had already done, he took the big Mexican plant and joining it with the Egyptian, produced a plant that became known as the Little Mexican cotton, the Petit Gulph, or Nutt, and from which all the cotton comes that is now raised in the United States to-day, except Sea Island cotton. He was married in Jefferson county, Miss., to Miss Eliza Ker, a daughter of

520

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

Judge David Ker, the founder and first presiding professor of Chapel Hill college, North Carolina, and judge of the supreme court of Mississippi territory, having been appointed by Mr. Jefferson. To their union several children were born: Rittenhouse married Miss Ellen Rowan, of Adams county, and left a family; Mary married Dr. Hugh Lyle, an Englishman by birth and an eminent physician; David died unmarried; Haller attended lectures at the University of Virginia and graduated in medicine in Louisville, and he was especially profi- cient in the dead languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin. After the death of his father he was left guardian of his younger sisters, who were named Sarah, Eliza and Margaret, when he devoted his attention to agriculture, and became one of the most extensive planters of that section. He owned large estates in Louisiana and conducted his planting operations on scientific principles, thus securing large and fine crops, which commanded the best prices in the market. In connection with his father he had taken the crude Whitney gin and made it so perfect that from 1838 till the close of the war there was no improvement made. Follow- ing his father's steps in reasoning out natural causes and effects, he applied himself so assiduously to agriculture that he produced two or three times the amount of yield per acre more than his neighbors, and obtained eighteen to twenty per cent. per pound more for his cotton. He raised about thirty-five hundred bales of cotton a year. When a young man he acted as justice of the peace, as a favor to the neighbors, and for some years before his death served as president of the police jury of Tensas parish, La., and practically controlled and managed all the affairs of the parish. He was a student, and left behind him a large and choice library of standard works. During his lifetime he was a frequent contributor to the magazines of the day, both in Europe and the United States. His writings would fill volumes.

In numerous other instances he was ahead of the time in which he lived. In 1840 he was married to Miss Julia Augusta Williams (see sketch of Williams family) and in 1853 purchased the property near Natchez called Longwood. Here he began the erection of a magnificent residence which, although still uncompleted, is one of the loveliest of Southern homes. It is oriental in style. Mr. Sloan, of Philadelphia, was the architect. It is four stories and a basement in hight, surmounted by a domed cupola, that carries its apex to a hight that in 1860 exceeded the top of any church spire in Philadelphia, and in shape is octagonal, all the rooms being large, lofty and imposing. They center around a rotunda running up over one hundred feet and give a diameter to the building of one hundred feet. The finishing touches were being made in 1861 when the war broke out, and had this not put a stop to the work the building would have been completed in a few months. It occupies the site of the house in which Prentiss died. From the cupola can be seen a magnificent stretch of country in all directions, a fine view of the river being had for many miles. Mr. Nutt died in 1864, leaving his widow with a large family of children to care for during the turbulent and unsettled times of the war, and nobly did she perform the duties that were laid upon her shoulders. The family were Union during the war, and their losses amounted to several millions of dollars, their plantation being laid waste, and ruin left in the wake of tramping armies. Mrs. Nutt, knowing her husband's desire was to give to his children the advantages of a good education, set earnestly to work to fulfill his wishes and, although often at a great sacrifice to herself, she overcame all difficulties and they were given the advantages of the best schools of the South, and showed their appreciation of their worthy mother's efforts by applying themselves diligently to their books and becoming honorable men and women. They are all well established in life. Their names are as follows: Mary Ella resides with her mother; Haller is a planter; John Ker married Mary Worthington and

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 80

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