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 86

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 86

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MEMOIRS OF MISSISSIPPI.

six years later the present firm was established. He and his brother do an annual business of over $40,000 and are live, energetic men. Mr. Parker is well and favorably known all over the county and is an excellent financier. He is progressive and liberal in his support of all public enterprises of a laudable nature. He is also the owner of two thousand acres of land in different tracts, and is well respected for his many qualities as a business man, citizen and member of society. In 1866 he married Miss Martha A. Clark, a native of what is now Grenada county, and the daughter of Zenas A. and Ann Clark, natives of Tennessee and Virginia respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Clark removed to Grenada county, Miss., at a very early date and there the father passed the life of a planter and was also a real-estate speculator. His death occurred in 1865 and his wife's in 1863. To Mr. and Mrs. Parker were born four interesting children. Mrs. Parker died in 1884. She was a worthy member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Parker's second marriage occurred in 1884, to Miss Laura Clark, sister of his first wife, who has borne him one child, a son. Mr. Parker is one of the oldest settlers of Graysport and one of its best citizens. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, Graysport lodge (now defunct) No. 289, and was secretary of the lodge for a number of years. This lodge was chartered a few years after the war and was in oper- ation for ten or twelve years. Mr. Parker is also a prominent member of the Presbyterian church.

Among the prosperous planters of Yazoo county is Robert A. Parker, Craigs, Yazoo county, Miss., who has resided here since 1874. He was born in Holmes county, Miss., in 1848, and is a son of Peter A. Parker, who was one of the earliest settlers of the state, and one of the largest and most successful planters. He died in 1890, at the age of eighty years; he was a citizen of Holmes county at the time of his death, and had been a resident fifty years. Robert A. passed his schooldays in Holmes county and at Oxford university, from which institution he was graduated in 1870. During the last few months of the war he was in the service of the state, where he proved himself capable and efficient. In 1871 he entered the ranks of the schoolteacher, and for four years at Ebenezer, Holmes county, Miss., he was devoted to the schoolroom. In 1878 he purchased the plantation on which he lives in Yazoo county, to which he had removed four years previously. He cultivates six hundred acres of land, the principal crops being corn and cotton; of the latter he produces three hundred bales annually. He takes an active interest in the politics of the county and now holds the office of magistrate. All movements of a benevolent and philanthropic character have found in Mr. Parker a ready and sympathetic supporter, and much of the improvement and advance- ment of his community are due to his efforts. He is an ardent admirer of the Spring creek valley, and considers it one of the most salubrious and delightful spots in which to dwell.

Col. Elisha A. Parrish, a planter of Yalobusha county, was born in Williamson county, Tenn., 1824. He was the son of Matthew F. and Priscilla E. (North) Parrish, natives of Virginia. "The former was born in May, 1789, the latter September 20, 1792. They moved with their parents to Williamson county, Tenn., where they were married June 10, 1812, and where Mr. Parrish died May 30, 1830. In 1837 the family came to Yalobusha county, but about 1845 Mrs. Parrish returned to Williamson county, where she died in 1846. She was a daughter of Elisha North, a native of Virginia but an early settler of Williamson county, Tenn., at a time when the county was little more than a vast canebrake, becoming a well- known settler and dying prior to 1837. He was of English descent. His wife was Rhoda Reese, who died when our subject was a small boy. Colonel Parrish's grandfather, Joel Parrish, was of French descent, but was born in Virginia, and was another of the pioneers of Williamson county, Tenn., where he became a planter of considerable prominence and

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died at a comparatively early date. His wife was Susannah Maury, a native of Virginia, who survived him but a few years. Eight children were born to them. Colonel Parrish is the sixth in order of their birth. The eldest and the youngest two are buried in Tennessee and the rest removed to this county, and all except Colonel Parrish are dead. Our subject was educated principally in Williamson county, Tenn., but he has supplemented his common- school education with a large amount of general information acquired by practical contact with the world. He began for himself as a planter at about the age of twenty. He was first married in 1853 to Catherine Jones, a native of Alabama, where her father died during her girlhood, she coming with her mother to Panola county. She died in 1860, having been for a long time a member of the Baptist church. In 1867 he married Mary Susan, daughter of John N. and Sarah Ann Herron; the former was born in Will- iamson county February 23, 1815, and the latter was born in Greene county, Ala., April 13, 1814, both coming with their parents to Mississippi, where they were married Novem- ber 6, 1838, when they removed to Tallahatchie county, where they were engaged in planting until 1853. Then they removed to Coffeeville because of its superior educational advantages, keeping a hotel there until 1860. In the year last mentioned they removed to a farm eight miles northeast of Oakland, where Mr. Herron died in June, 1863. His wife was so unfortunate as to lose her eyesight soon after, and she died March 14, 1881. Both were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, though she had formerly been of the Old School Presbyterian faith. She was a daughter of Alexander Shaw, who was born in Ire- land about 1774 and was orphaned when a little boy. He stole his passage to America and located at Charleston, S. C., where he learned the cabinetmaker's trade and married a Miss Harden. Thence he removed to Greene county, Ala., and about 1834 he came to Yalobusha county. Afterward he moved to Lafayette county and thence to De Soto county, where he died a wealthy planter in 1860. He was three times married. His first wife, Mrs. Herron's mother, died in Lafayette county. Mrs. Parrish's father was once treasurer of Yalobusha county and was in other respects a prominent man. His father was Andrew Herron, a native of North Carolina, and was among the pioneers of Williamson county, Tenn. He removed, in 1834, to Lafayette county, Miss., where he died. He was of Irish descent and was a planter during most of his life. His wife, who was Mary Ann McAllister, died at Seguin, Tex., about 1858. Mrs. Parrish was born in Lafayette county November 10, 1841, and has borne her husband five children, three of whom are living: Epper S. (who received her education at Oxford and McMinnville, Tenn., and later was a student at the Clara Conway, Memphis, Tenn.), Robert, Isam and John Herron. Since 1852 Colonel Parrish has resided on his present plantation, three miles northeast of Oakland, which consists of two thousand seven hundred acres of well-improved and highly productive land. This fine property he has acquired by his own efforts, for he is one of the self-made men of this county. Dur- ing the war he was a member of the sixty days' regiment attached to Alcorn's brigade. He ranked as second lieutenant and saw considerable service in Tennessee and Kentucky. At the expiration of his term of enlistment his regiment was disbanded at Columbus, Ky. He found himself in such poor health that he did little military service afterward, though he was for a short time afterward in a militia organization. He has for many years been a member of Oakland lodge No. 82, A. F. & A. M. He and his wife are devout and consistent members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, with which his sons are also connected. Colonel Parrish is a man above reproach, widely known and respected. He is one of the few residents of the county who serve as a connecting link of Yalobusha county of the present and Yalobusha county of the pioneer days. He is energetic, enterprising and public-

The Goodshred Pub. Co Clac 12.

Stephen Thrasher CH

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spirited, a man devoted to his home and home interests. Justly proud of his family he spares no pains to make their home pleasant, and affords his children the best educational facilities obtainable.

David W. E. Parsons, planter, Canton, Miss., the youngest of three children born to D. C. M. and Dorcas L. (Harold) Parsons, owes his nativity to Missouri, his birth occurring in Pike county on the 20th of November, 1845. He was reared and educated in Mississippi, finished his schooling at Central academy, Madison county, and later started out as a planter, which occupation he has continued to follow up to the present time. He is now the owner of one thousand acres of land, six hundred acres of which are under plow. In 1862 he enlisted with Harvey's scouts and was with the same for about eighteen months. He was then transferred to Wirt Adams' regiment, cavalry, and remained with this until the close of the war. He was not in any of the regular engagements, but as he belonged to a scouting party he of course did a great deal of fighting that is not mentioned in history. Mr. Parsons is one of the county's most practical and enterprising citizens. He contributes liberally of his means to all public enterprises of a laudable nature, and has the respect of all. He was first married in 1867 to Miss Mattie Southerland, a native of Mississippi, and the daughter of John A. and Eliza Southerland, natives also of that state. Mr. and Mrs. Parsons' union was blessed by the birth of two children: Cora D. and Annie E. Mr. Parsons was married, the second time, in 1874, to Miss Mary Dinkins, who was born in Mississippi, and whose parents, James A. and Margaret Dinkins, were natives of North Carolina and Missis- sippi, respectively. The second marriage resulted in the birth of seven children: Mollie M., Mary, John R., Lillie, D. C. M., Maggie and James. Mr. Parsons' parents were natives respectively of Virginia and Kentucky. The father was a prominent character in Missouri, and was sent to the state legislature from Pike county of that state in 1842. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1845, he was a candidate for congress, but died before the election. He was in the Black Hawk war and was among the pioneers of Missouri.

Frank Parsons, farmer and miller, resides five miles north of Brookhaven. He was born in Virginia in 1844, a son of Isaac and Sarah (Pugh) Parsons, both of whom were born and married in that state. His father was a farmer, mechanic and merchant, a son of Rob- ert Parsons and his wife, who was a Miss Wilbourne, whose parents were both born in Vir- ginia. Sarah Pugh, the mother of our subject, was a daughter of Robert and Pollie (Thomas) Pugh. Both of them were also natives of the Old Dominion. On his father's side Mr. Pugh is of English descent, and on his mother's side of Welsh descent. He removed to Ken- tucky with his parents when quite a young man, where his mother died. After about four years' residence in that state they removed to Ohio, where the father died. Frank Parsons is the fifth in a family of twelve children, seven of whom lived to maturity, and four of whom are yet living. The family originally consisted of six boys and six girls, and of this round dozen five died in infancy. The names of the remaining seven are: Robert R., who lives in Jones county, Miss., and has three children; Mollie, who is deceased, and left two chil- dren; Stephen, who is in South America; Rhoda (deceased), and for whom one child mourns; Frank, our subject; Virginia (deceased), and John W., who lives in Copiah county, where he is a prominent planter, and has four children. Mr. Parsons received a good English educa- tion in the common schools of Virginia. He removed from Ohio to Tennessee, and from there, in 1872, to Mississippi. He was married in Holmes county in 1874, to Miss Cornelia Gage, a daughter of M. and Patience W. (Sandress) Gage. Her father was a native of Mississippi, and her mother of Alabama, she herself- claiming Mississippi as the state of her nativity. Mrs. Parsons is the eighth in a family of twelve children. Of these Mary, now

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a widow, has one child; Matthew was assassinated in Holmes county; Jerry was killed in battle at fateful Gettysburg; George died young; Robert lives in Holmes county; Georgia (deceased) left two children; Louie lives in Holmes county; Anna E., wife of Judge Evans, lives at Enterprise with her family of two children; Cornelia, the wife of our subject; Charles, who lives with his two children at Brookhaven; Ada, now Mrs. Dabbs, of Clarke county, and Vir- gie G., who lives in Clarke county with her widowed sister Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Parsons have six children: Hazlett, who is living with the father and mother, as are also Frank, Anna B. and Sexton; two are dead: Virgie Lou and an unnamed infant. Mr. Parsons enlisted in the Union army June 12, 1862, in Seredo, Va., in company G, of the Fifth Virginia infantry, under the command of Colonel Ziegler. He served in the northern Virginia campaign, and was discharged on account of ill health in 1863. He was in the battle of Cross Keys, and in all of General Rosecrans' campaigns until his discharge. After the war he engaged in pho- tography and chemistry, filling for a time the position of chemist in an oil refinery in Mason county, Ky. During four years, while a resident of Tennessee, he was engaged in the manufacture of lumber. He removed to Mississippi, and worked for a time as a millwright. He purchased the place upon which he resides in 1875, and here he has established a planing- mill and general wood-working and machine shop, in which he carries on a large business. He is the owner of one of the most excellent vineyards in the state, and manufactures wine on a large scale. He is a stanch republican, and cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. He is a Master Mason, and a liberal and reliable supporter of religious and edu- cational interests, and of all measures tending to the public good, while his wife is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church.

Charles W. Partee, merchant and planter, Belen, Miss., who inherits French blood from the paternal and English from the maternal side of the house, was originally from Tennes- see, where his birth occurred on the 22d of March, 1845. His parents, Squire Boone and Martha A. (Douglass) Partee, were natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. The parents emigrated to Mississippi about 1848, located in Panola county, and there the father engaged in planting, which pursuit he followed successfully until his death in 1862. He was an honored citizen and held many positions of trust in his county. He was married twice, his first wife being a Miss Edwards, who bore him three children. Charles W. Partee, the fifth of seven children born to the second union, came to Mississippi with his parents when but three years of age, and was reared and educated in this state. He and a brother served through the Civil war. He enlisted as a volunteer in 1861 in company H, Twelfth Mississippi regiment, Sardis blues, a company organized at Sardis, and was in the second battle of Manassas, Seven Pines, and several battles in Mississippi. He surrendered at Gainesville, Ala., at the close of the war, and returned home, where he resumed his planting interests. This occupation he has continued since, and in connection is also engaged in mer- chandising. He is the owner of about two thousand four hundred acres of land, and has about six hundred acres under cultivation, all of which he has cleared in the last six years. He has a good business house, and carries a stock of general merchandise valued at about $3,500. He erected his residence in Belen in 1888. He was married in 1871 to Miss Lizzie Jackson, a native of Mississippi, and the daughter of James and Mary I. (Askew) Jackson, natives of the Bayou state. This union was blessed by the birth of the following children: Pattie Belle, Birdie, Charlie W., Carrie May, Nina Fontaine. Mrs. Partee died on the 10th of Janu- ary, 1891, and in her death the town of Belen, as well as her family, sustained an irreparable loss. She was not only the life of her home, but of the little town, and her name was a synonym for goodness. She was a devoted Christian, and spent much of her time in caring

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for the sick, and helping those in want and distress. Mr. Partee is a quiet, unassuming gentleman, and is one of the representative and substantial citizens of the county. He held the office of treasurer for some time, and discharged the duties incumbent upon this office in a very satisfactory manner.

Dr. I. P. Partin, of the firm of Thompson, Hyer & Partin, physicians and surgeons, of Meridian, Miss., was born in Lauderdale county, Miss., in the year 1852, a son of Charles P. Partin, who is also a practicing physician in Newton county, Miss., where he resides. Before the war he was postmaster in charge of an office in Lauderdale county, Miss., and major of the Thirty-sixth Mississippi Confederate regiment. He has three sons, of whom our subject was the second in order of birth, and is the one who has followed in the line of his father's footsteps professionally. Dr. I. P. Partin received his literary education in the counties of Lauderdale and Newton, and at an early age began to study medicine. He graduated at the medical college of Alabama, at Mobile, in the year 1886, and in 1887 formed a partnership with Dr. M. J. Thompson, which relationship he has since continued. He is a general prac- titioner and is highly esteemed as such. He is a member of the State Medical association and of the Lauderdale county Medical association, and was vice president of the latter asso- ciation in the year 1890. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Golden Rule, and the Knights of Honor. He was married in 1872 to Miss Martha J. Warren, a native of Lauderdale county, Miss. Of the children born to this union, three are living: Walter C., Charles E., and William F. One son, Albert S. is deceased. The Doctor and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The family take high rank in the county, and the Doctor himself is esteemed and respected throughout the community.

W. N. Pass is not only one of the prosperous merchants and successful planters of Gre- nada, Grenada county, Miss., but is vice president of the Merchants' bank and the Grenada Compress company, and is one of the directors of the Grenada Ice factory. He was born in Grenada, Miss., on the 28th of March, 1836, and is a son of John B. and Elizabeth (Ewing) Pass, natives of Georgia and Alabama, and born in 1802 and 1812, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Pass came to Mississippi in 1832, and settled in what is now Grenada, where Mr. Pass is credited with erecting the first brick building. He was also one of the first merchants. Sometime afterward he moved to the country near Grenada and engaged in planting, and there resided until his death, in April, 1865. Previous to the war he was the owner of large tracts of land and many slaves, but lost all during the struggle. He was a member of Masonic lodge No. 31, of Grenada, and was one of the county's leading citizens. He was familiarly known as Major Pass. Mrs. Pass followed her husband to the grave in the fall of the same year. They were Baptists in belief and liberal supporters but not members of any church. To them were born eight children, three sons and three daughters yet living. W. N. Pass, the third in order of birth of the above mentioned family, was reared in what is now Grenada county, and owns the property on which he was born. He quite recently erected a large brick building, two stories in hight, and with a number of large rooms and many offices. He served during the war in Colonel Stanford's battery as a private, and operated in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama, participating in all the battles of his brigade. He was paroled in Alabama at the close of the war, and returned to Mississippi, where he was engaged in merchandising in Providence for some time. In 1867 he went to Duck Hill, and from there to Grenada in 1868, where he has since resided. He is a self-made man, and what he has won in the way of this world's goods is wholly due to his own good fighting qualities. He is one of the class of men singled out by nature to show what a man can do

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when he sets his mind upon accomplishing a certain object. Since residing in Grenada he has been busily employed in merchandising, carries a general stock, and does an annual business of from $75,000 to $140,000. He is also quite extensively engaged in planting, owning large tracts of land, besides valuable property in Memphis, Tenn., and New Orleans, La. He owns five brick buildings in Grenada with other property in town and county valued at $65,000. He is one of the sharpest, shrewdest business men, and one of the oldest merchants of the place. He was married in 1881 to Miss Mollie Ragsdale, who was reared and educated in Grenada, and who is the daughter of George W. and Elizabeth (Berry) Ragsdale, natives of Mississippi. Mr. and Mrs. Pass' marriage has been blessed by the birth of two children- a son and daughter: Louis and Alma. Mrs. Pass is a member of the Episcopal church. Mr. Pass affiliates with the democratic party in politics, and socially is a member of the I. O. O. F. lodge, No. 6.

Dr. Benjamin F. Passmore, merchant and planter, Passonia, Madison county, Miss. Dr. Passmore's parents, Ellis Pusey Passmore and Hester A. Saunders, were born in Pennsyl- vania and Mississippi, respectively, and the fruits of their union were five children, of whom Benjamin F. was the youngest and is the only one living, the rest having died before maturity without issue. The father was a very prominent character in his day and represented Franklin county, Miss., in the state legislature in 1830. He was a very prominent physician also. His death occurred in 1839 .. His father, Ellis Passmore, Sr., was of English descent, and was a native of the Keystone state, and a member of the society of Friends. The mater- nal grandparents, Hugh Saunders and Nepsy Campbell, were natives of Wales and Scotland, respectively. Benjamin F. Passmore was born in Madison county, Miss., on the 13th of April, 1838, and was educated in the private schools of the same until seventeen years of age. He then entered the Mississippi college, at Clinton, remained there from 1854 until 1857, and would have graduated in 1858, but left school. In 1858 and 1859 he attended the Jefferson Med- ical college, Philadelphia, Penn., and in the last-named year and 1860 he attended the med- ical department of the University of Louisiana, graduating from the same in that year. Immediately afterward he began the practice of medicine in Madison county, Miss., where he has remained ever since and has a lucrative and extensive practice. He is quite a prom- inent character in the politics of Madison county, but has never held office. He is county lecturer for the Alliance of Madison county and is also a member of the state executive committee of the same. In 1890 he was president of the Board of Alliance exchange. Besides his profession, Dr. Passmore is engaged in merchandising and planting, and is the owner of three thousand acres of land, one thousand five hundred acres under cultivation. He is considered one of the most successful planters of the county and is a safe and reli- able business man. He has been a frequent contributor to the press on public topics, is one of the most prominent men of the Farmers' Alliance in the state, and has written some very able articles in opposition to the sub-treasury scheme promulgated by the National Alliance, over which the Alliance in Mississippi is now divided. He is strongly democratic in his political views. He is always ready and willing to give aid and countenance to all worthy enterprises for the public weal. His farm is in a fine state of cultivation and everything about the place indicates to the beholder that the owner is a progressive and thoroughgoing man. He began life for himself at the age of thirteen years with a small capital and had accumulated quite a fortune before the war. During that stirring period he lost a great por- tion of it, and in 1882 he had to begin anew, having made all of his property since that time. He was assistant surgeon and was in hospital service during the late war. Dr. Passmore was married March 13, 1863, to Miss Eleanor Jane Richey, a native of Clinton, Hinds county,

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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 86

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