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 93

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 93

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all by the genial host, whether they are guests of the hotel or not, and traveling men find his hotel especially satisfactory and homelike. This hotel, under its present efficient management, is one of the most desirable places from Memphis to New Orleans, for Mr. Piazzo caters to the taste of the public, and gives all to understand that it is his pleasure so to do. He is accounted one of the most progressive men of Vicksburg, for few, if any, have done more toward build- ing up and helping to sustain the reputation of the place as a thriving and progressive city than he. He is always to be found among the leaders in charitable and public enterprises, but does not confine his charities entirely to Vicksburg, as the poor of other cities can testify. He has never sought any office at the hands of his fellow-citizens, and his time is fully occu- pied with his hotel and other interests. He was married in 1877 to Miss Katie Botto, a native of Vicksburg, but of Italian and Irish parentage. Mr. and Mrs. Piazzo are the parents of the following children: Effizia, Mary, Louise, Katie and Vincent, Jr. The entire family are members of the Catholic church, of Vicksburg. Mr. Piazzo is a son of A. Piazzo, who was a wine manufacturer and merchant of his native land, in connection with which he carried on the grocery business, although he made a specialty of handling fine wine. He died about 1854, leaving the following children fatherless: John P., who resides in his native land; Nathaniel, who is engaged in the saddlery and carriage business in Vicksburg; Joseph, a farmer at Crystal Springs, Miss .; Frank and Louis, grocers of this city, and Mary, who is in Italy, and the subject of this sketch.

M. Pickett, Redmondville, has for many years been identified with the history of Yazoo county, and the following space will be devoted to a brief sketch of his personal career. He was born in Sicily Island, La., November 29, 1812, and is the youngest in a family of nine children. His parents, William and Mary (King) Pickett, were natives of South Carolina. The family is descended from English ancestors, who emigrated to America and settled in Virginia. The father came with his family to Mississippi in 1807, making the journey by a flatboat down the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers to Franklin county; there he and his wife spent the remainder of their days with the exception of a few years passed in Sicily Island, La. Mr. Pickett received his early education in the primitive log schoolhouse with a dirt floor and slab seats. At the age of fourteen years he was sent to Franklin, Tenn., and afterward to Danville, Ky., and finished his education at the University of Virginia. He then took up agriculture in Franklin county, Miss., which he continued until 1839. On Christmas eve of that year he arrived on the plantation which he has made his home since that time; it then covered nine hundred acres, the greater portion of which he opened to cultivation; he At the added to the first purchase until he owned at one time seven thousand acres. beginning of the Civil war he owned one hundred and ninety-six slaves, and livestock enough to carry on his farm. He raised meat and provisions for two hundred and twenty-five people, and milked as many as sixty-four cows. The plantation was one of the best improved in the county, and was carried on in the most systematic and approved manner. Eight hundred and thirty bales of cotton were produced annually, and fifteen thousand bushels of corn. Owing to ill health, Mr. Pickett was unable to enter the Confederate service. He now owns about twenty-five hundred acres of land. He was married at Jackson, Miss., in 1844, to Miss Jane E. Clark, a daughter of Gen. William and Louisa (Lanier) Clark. Mrs. Pickett was born in Pitt county, N. C. Two sons were born of this union, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Pickett was taken from this life in December, 1879. Ten years later, in the month of December, Mr. Pickett was again united in marriage to Miss Harriet Amanda Rucker, a daughter of Col. John W. Rucker, of Tennessee. He has always taken an active interest in the politics of his county. He is a member of the Christian church, while his wife belongs

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to the Baptist church. They are both people of unusual attainments, and of refined, culti- vated tastes. Mr. Pickett is a widely traveled man, having visited almost every portion of the United States. He has witnessed the development of the South from the destruction of the war to its present advanced position, and takes a just pride in the courage of the Southern spirit.

Dr. James Pipes, a planter of Natchez, and a descendant of one of the pioneer families of Adams county, where his birth occurred on Sandy creek in 1835, is a son of Lewis and Mary (Holmes) Pipes, both born in Adams county, the father in 1800 and the mother in 1801. The parents were married in 1821, settled in the woods on Sandy creek, and opened a large farm on which they lived until 1858, when they removed near Natchez on St. Catherine's creek on Oak Ridge plantation, where his death occurred in 1869. His wife died in 1882. She was a member of the Methodist church for many years. Mr. Pipes was a self-mude man, started with nothing, and became very wealthy although like others he lost heavily dur- ing the war. At one time he owned several valuable plantations, viz .: The home plantation, Franklin, Pinelog, Smithland, Anchorage and Pine Ridge, the latter his birthplace. He raised on an average fifteen hundred bales of cotton per year for a few years prior to the war, and was a man of industry and economy. At one time he was a member of the board of supervisors. Of his father, John L. Pipes, it is not known whether he was a native of Adams county or not, but at least he was one of the pioneers. He lived and died on Pine Ridge plantation, and was also a prominent planter. He was of Scotch-Irish origin. He reared a family of three sons and three daughters :. David, Levi, John L., Jane, Mary and Eliza, all now deceased. Grandfather John Holmes was also an early settler here, if he was not born in this county. He married a Miss Ford, and was a wealthy and prosperous planter. He was the father of ten sons and seven daughters, of whom our subject's mother was the last to die. Dr. James Pipes was the ninth of twelve children-six sons and six daughters-and he and his youngest brother, Lewis, are the only ones now living. Three brothers were in the army: Hon. Charley was first in the Jefferson Davis legion, in the Virginia army, afterward lieutenant of artillery in Sander's battery in Mississippi, etc. He became a wealthy planter, a successful lawyer of Vidalia, and served about four years as sheriff and taxcollector of Con- cordia parish, holding that office at his death. He was at one time a member of the Missis- sippi legislature, and was a popular and successful official. He was educated at Oakland col- lege and at the University of Virginia. Lewis, who is now a well-to-do planter of Natchez, was educated at Centenary college and at the University of Virginia. During the war he served in Breckinridge's guards in the Tennessee army. Dr. James Pipes was also educated at Centenary college and the University of Virginia, and in 1858 graduated from the medical department of the University of Tennessee, but never devoted much of his time to his profes- sion, preferring the life of a planter instead. He resided on his plantation and operated it extensively and very successfully until recently, when he removed to Natchez on account of the ill health of his wife, who is an invalid. He owns a fine plantation consisting of one thou- sand seven hundred and forty acres in Warren county, and a residence in Natchez, principally the result of his own good management. He is a member of the Knight of Honor, Bluff City lodge No. 1145, and both he and wife are members of the Episcopal church. He was married in 1869 to Miss Mary Wright, a native of Washington, Miss., born in 1839, and edu- cated in that city. They have no children. Mrs. Pipe's parents were natives of Adams county, where they spent all their days. Mr. Wright was a successful planter of Washing- ton, and died in 1841. His wife died in July, 1889. She was a daughter of Dr. Daniel Rawlings, who, after marriage, came from Maryland to Adams county at a very early period.

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He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, was a frequent contributor to various jour- nals, and was a prominent physician and planter. He was quite well off. In June, 1861, Dr. Pipes joined the Adams troop as sergeant, and served all through the war in the Vir- ginia army, fighting first at first Bull Run, then Chancellorsville, Antietam, Gettysburg, seven days' fight around Richmond, and many others in Virginia. Just before Lee's surren- der he was sent with Gen. Wade Hampton into North Carolina, and fought at Bentonville. He was with his regiment at every roll call, and was slightly wounded at Brandy station. He surrendered with General Johnston, and then returned home.

John C. Pitchford, planter and merchant, Shoccoe, Miss., was born in Warren county, N. C., on the 26th of January, 1834, and was the eldest of fourteen children born to the union of Thomas J. and Matilda H. (Cheek) Pitchford, natives of the Old North state also. The father was quite a noted physician in his native state, and was also a prominent politician, serving as state senator for a number of years before the war. He died in 1883, and the mother in 1881. The paternal grandparents of our subject, Matthew and Elizabeth Pitch- ford, were natives of North Carolina, as were also his maternal grandparents, Robert T. and Mary A. Cheek. The Pitchford family is of Scotch-Irish origin. John C. Pitchford was educated in the private schools of North Carolina principally, attending school at Warrenton until seventeen years of age, and then entered the Baptist college at Wake Forest, where he graduated in 1855, taking first honors. He subsequently taught school, and continued this until 1861, when he began planting, and this has been his occupation since. He is the owner of one thousand two hundred acres of land, with four hundred acres under the plow, and in 'connection he is also engaged in merchandising, carrying a stock of goods valued at $600. Mr. Pitchford has made all his property by his own exertions, and is honored and respected by all who are intimately acquainted with him. Miss Harriet E. Day, who became his wife in 1861, was born in North Carolina, and was the daughter of W. H. and Mary B. Day, natives also of that state. The ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pitchford are named in the order of their births as follows: Robert L., Sterling, Lucy M., John C., Thomas J., William D., Annie L., Landon C. and Marshall N. Mr. Pitchford's sympathies were with the South during the Civil war, and in 1862 he enlisted in the Madison artillery, with which he remained until cessation of hostilities. He was in the following battles: Mine Run, Bris- toe Station, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Hanover Junction, Cold Harhor, Appomattox Court- house, and all the battles around Petersburg. He was dangerously wounded at the battle of Cold harbor, being struck three times in ten minutes, and was disabled for three months. In politics he is a democrat. He holds the offices of justice of the peace and postmaster, is public-spirited, and is a liberal contributor to all laudable enterprises such as schools, churches, etc. He has been unusually successful, and what he has accumulated in the way of this world's goods is the result of his own unaided efforts.

George Planchet, Bay St. Louis, Miss., was born at the Logis de Romefort, department de la Charente, France, May 28, 1840, and is a son of George Planchet, who did a large agricultural business. He was educated in his native land, at the college of La Rochefou- cauld. In 1859 he went to Angouleme city, and clerked there in a drygoods store until about the middle of the year 1860, and then went to Paris, where he also clerked in the same line of business until 1862. During this time he became familiar with the differ- ent lines of goods handled in the business, and went out as a traveling salesman. He was thus employed until 1870. During that year he entered the corps of the Mobilises, in the French army, and went through the Franco-Prussian war, ending his service in March, 1871. In October of the same year he sailed for America, landing at New Orleans

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December 24, 1871. He secured a situation in a drygoods store, which he held until May, 1872. In July of that year he came to Bay St. Louis, and established himself in the drygoods business. His long years of experience in the employ of other men and in his own business have been of incalculable use to him. He is a complete master of the details of the trade, and by close attention and industry he has accumulated a competency. He is treas- urer of the St. Joseph society, of the Catholic Knights of America, branch 486, and of the People's Building and Loan association of Bay St. Louis, and in all these positions he displays that excellent judgment and wise management that have characterized his private dealings. Mr. Planchet was married to Miss Louise Chiona, and they have had born to them four children. Besides his commercial interests he owns a considerable amount of property, and is in very comfortable circumstances.

Poitevent & Favre. One of the most gratifying examples of business expansion pre- sented by the history of Hancock county, Miss., is that of the corporation known as the Poitevent & Favre Lumber company of Pearlington, Miss. It was established on a small scale in 1866, by the above mentioned gentlemen, and owing to their excellent business qualification it has become the largest plant of the South. They do a business of immense proportions, the annual product of their establishment amounting to forty million feet; their lumber being principally of pine, cypress and mahogany. They own nine forty-to-fifty-ton schooners, six large schooners and brigs, which ply between Mexico, Buenos Ayres, and other foreign ports; also one light-draught stern-wheel boat, running from Jackson, Miss., to New Orleans, employed in carrying cotton, and four tugboats of ten to seventy-five tons each. Their mill premises are equipped with an elaborate outfit of every description of machinery adapted to the requirements of their business, including a large amount of valuable special machinery; the mill is kept constantly running to its full capacity, and gives employment to about one hundred and fifty workmen, one hundred of whom are employed on their schooners and brigs, and the rest as lumbermen and in the sawmill. Their mill is a two-story structure, 300x82 feet; has brick floors, corrugated galvanized iron siding, slate roof; boiler shed, 65x75 feet, with slate roof; twelve steel boilers, forty-two inches in diameter and thirty feet long, and four flues. The mill proper cost $150,000, not including their finely equipped planing- mill, dry houses, wharves, etc. They own about ninety-five thousand acres of good timber land in Hancock county, Miss., and St. Tammany parish, La., which keeps their mill constantly supplied with the finest timber. They were the originators of the East Louisiana railroad, which they still own, but it is run under another corporation. Thirty additional miles of railroad were built to tap the Northeast railroad, and their road is now out of debt and paying a large profit. It was built with money made from the sawmill and vessels owned by Poitevent & Favre, who have never had occasion to regret the investment of their money for this purpose. Their trains run immediately from their mill to the city of New Orleans, there being also a daily train from Covington to that place. They keep in con- stant use eleven coaches, two baggage cars, four fast freight cars, eight ordinary freight cars, sixteen long cars of forty thousand pounds' capacity, three passenger and two freight engines, all of which are equipped with power brakes. These cars were built in New Orleans and are models in their way, four of the passenger cars being especially handsome. This road is one of the finest in the South, is largely patronized and has proven a very paying enter- prise. In addition to this they are the proprietors of three good retail stores, two being at Pearlington, and one on the line of their railroad at Florenville. John Poitevent, the senior member of the firm, was born in Mississippi in 1840 to William J. and Mary A. (Russ) Poitevent, natives of North Carolina, the father being a descendant of the French

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Huguenots. The paternal grandfather, John Poitevent, and the maternal grandfather, Samuel Ross, were both natives of the Old North state. William J. Poitevent came to Mississippi in 1835, and located in Hancock county, on the Pearl river. He was a steam- boat and sawmill man, and died in his adopted county in 1890, his wife being also deceased. Of a family of eight children born to them, seven are now living-four sons and three daughters: June, John, Adolph, Samuel, Mrs. Nicholson, Mrs. McAvoy, of St. Tammany parish, La., and Mrs. Lola Carter, wife of the clerk of the court of Panola county, Miss. Mr. Poitevent was reared in the county of his birth, and was partially educated in New Orleans. In 1862 he enlisted in the Commodore Holland navy, and served until New Orleans was taken by Butler, when he was sent to Norfolk, Va., thence to Mobile, Ala., at which place he remained one year. He then entered the trans-Mississippi department under Gen. Dick Taylor, remaining with him until the close of the war. He was acting master in the navy, and was wounded at Fort Derusa by a gunshot, receiving several flesh wounds. After the close of hostilities he engaged in sawmilling, with the above men- tioned results. He has had long experience in this business, and being a gentleman of superior executive ability the business has flourished under his skillful and experienced supervision. He takes a deep and abiding interest in everything that concerns the welfare of Hancock county, and it may be justly said that no enterprise in this section has added more to its importance as a manufacturing center than has the Poitevent & Favre Lumber company. He was married in 1866 to Miss Toomer, by whom he has two children, Mary and William. His second union was celebrated in 1877, Miss Mary Hansbrough becoming his wife, and the mother of his six children: Emily, John, Eads, June, Callie and Helouise. Mr. Poitevent is a member of the Knights of Honor.

G. W. Pollock is engaged in the sawmilling business, but also devotes much attention to planting, his home plantation being situated about four miles southeast of Brandon, Miss. He was born in the state in which he is now residing, on the 7th of August, 1861, and in Kemper county he was reared and educated, being an attendant of the public schools. He became familiar with the details of planting and milling while growing up, for his father fol- lowed these callings, and like the majority of sons, he followed in his father's footsteps. His plantation was admirably tilled, devoted to the raising of cotton and corn principally, and on this he has erected a fine sawmill, which brings him in a handsome sum annually, for the work which he does is strictly first class. He is pleasant, courteous, yet unassuming in man- ners, and being full of energy, pluck and perseverance, his future is bright with promise. He was married in 1889 to Miss Florence Robinson, a native of Mississippi. His father, L. B. Pollock, is a Mississippian by birth, born about 1836, and still devotes his attention to planting and milling. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., the Farmers' Alliance, and is a public-spirited and whole-souled gentleman. In 1860 he was married to Miss Josephine Hall, by whom he became the father of ten children-seven sons and three daughters. He and his wife are residents of Kemper county.

W. A. Pollock, banker at Greenville, Washington county, Miss., was born in Jefferson county, Va., in 1845. He was the eldest in a family of three children born to Addison G. and Martha E. (Graham) Pollock, both of whom were natives also of the Old Dominion. W. A. Pollock was educated at Oxford, Ohio, and at the age of twenty years, or in 1866, he engaged in business at Vicksburg as a cotton factor, continuing there for four years. In 1869 he came to Greenville, was engaged with the Levee board for one year, and during that time organized the first bank of the place. After a year or two he sold out, and in 1876 was the main mover in organizing the Bank of Greenville, of which he has been president ever since. In

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1886 he organized the Greenville Compress and Warehouse company, and is president of this also. In 1877 he erected his fine residence in Greenville, and this not only exceeds any in the town, but is one of the finest buildings in the state. It has all the modern improvements, and is a model of beauty, comfort and convenience. Mr. Pollock is most extensively engaged in planting, and is the owner of Lake Vista plantation, consisting of twenty- five hundred acres, with thirteen hundred acres under cultivation, and one of the best improved on the delta. He also owns Auburn plantation, in Washington county, consisting of five hundred acres, with three hundred and fifty acres improved; and Geneva plantation of fifteen hundred acres, with one-half under cultivation. He has made many and vast ini- provements on all. Mr. Pollock was married in 1870 to Miss Olive H. Bowen, a native of the Buckeye state, and a representative of a prominent family of that state. To this union have been born two children: Olive and Elise. Mr. and Mrs. Pollock are members of the Episcopal church. Mr. Pollock has been most active in promoting the welfare of Washington county, and since his residence here has been the moving spirit in almost every commercial enterprise. He has made a large fortune here, and contributes bounteously to all enterprises of a public nature. No man in the delta is held in higher estimation than Mr. Pollock, who is ever engaged in some good work for the people, and whose open-heartedness and generosity are fully appreciated by all. He is most pleasant and courteous in his manners, and has a host of warm friends.

Seth P. Pool is a well-to-do planter of Clay county, Miss., and has been a resident of the state since 1837. He was born in North Carolina December 26, 1818, to Philip and Anna (Winfrey) Pool of North Carolina, in which state they were born, reared, educated and married. Of fourteen children born to them only two are now living: Seth P. and Carrie A., wife of Mr. Beaver, a well-to-do and prosperous planter of Person county, N. C. Seth P. Pool is a strictly self-made man, for when he started out in life for himself it was at about the age of fifteen years, prior to which his educational advantages had not been of the best, and he never went to school more than six months all told. After coming to Mississippi he began working at the carpenter's trade but later turned his attention principally to plant- ing and is now the most extensive landholder in the county, the principal part of his land lying near West Point. He also owns the Central hotel, three first-class storehouses and a dwellinghouse in West Point. The wealth that he has so honorably gained is not selfishly hoarded, but is used generously in the support of worthy causes, and although he early learned to know the value of a dollar he does not count the cost when a friend is to be aided or in the purchase of anything that may add to the comfort and happiness of himself and wife. On the 14th of April, 1842, he was married to Miss Martha J. Hullomon, in what was then Lowndes, but is now Clay county, but their union has not been blessed by the birth of any children. Out of the kindness of their hearts they gave a home to Alice Hulsey, an orphan, and she is now the wife of Lemuel Crump. Mr. Pool and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church, and he has held the office of supervisor of the county six years, first while it was Lowndes county, and was the first supervisor after it was organ- ized as Clay county. He made a faithful and capable official, and in every relation of life has discharged his duties in a manner becoming an upright Christian gentleman.

John and Jacob Pope removed to Marion county, Miss., about the year 1812. All the older members of the family have passed away, but there is a large and prominent con- nection scattered throughout the Southern states. John Pope married Elizabeth Regan, and they had born to them seven children: Harriet became Mrs. Bridges, and was afterward married to John Erwin; Nancy S. married Felix Ford, he died and she married Samuel G. Foxworth;

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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 93

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