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 96

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 96

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Armead Price was born in Mississippi in September, 1840, the second in a family of eight children born to Washington and Frances (Harris) Price, a history of whom is given elsewhere in this work. Armead Price was educated principally in Oxford, Miss., but after the death of his father, and when only a small boy, he went to North Carolina and made his home with an uncle, after which he attended Chapel Hill college in that state and an educa- tional institution of Lebanon, Tenn. After attaining manhood he returned to Oxford, and took up the study of law in the University of Oxford, and would have graduated in 1861, had not the war come up. He dropped his books when the first alarm sounded, enlisted in the Confederate service and was sent to Pensacola, Fla., where he remained twelve months. At the end of this time he returned to Oxford, but soon after joined the Eleventh Mississippi infantry, and was sent directly to the front, being in the seven days' fight in front of Rich- mond, being also in the engagements of Gettysburg and Sharpsburg. In the last engage- ment he was wounded, being shot through the leg below the knee, and after remaining in the hospital a few days he was removed to a private residence, where he was cared for until he was able to return to his home in Oxford. Upon recovering he returned to his command in Virginia, with which he remained until the surrender of General Lee, when he was taken to Fort Delaware, where he was kept for some time, not reaching his home until October, 1865. The University of Oxford being about broken up, he did not again resume his legal studies, but engaged in farming, and in November, 1865 was married to Miss Sallie G. Slate, a

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daughter of Peterson James and Henrietta (Delbridge) Slate. She and her parents were born in Virginia, Mr. and Mrs. Slate being also married there. When Mrs. Price, who was their eldest child, was one year old, they removed to Lafayette county, Miss., in 1844, and here afterward became the parents of eight more children. The Slates were of English descent, the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Price having come to America from England. During the Revolutionary war, he acted as courier for General Washington, and was among the very earliest settlers of Virginia. They are a long-lived race and the grandfather Slate lived to be ninety years of age. The marriage of Mr. Price resulted in the birth of seven children: Manfred (deceased), Nellie, Manfred, Walter (deceased), Prentiss, Fannie and Blanche. Mr. Price, by hard work and good management, became the owner of thirteen hundred acres of land, six hundred of which are under cultivation, and was perfectly contented to pursue the even tenor of his way without aspiring to any office. He was very domestic in his tastes and much preferred a quite life with his family to the honors of public life. He was refined in his tastes and was regarded by all as a high-minded gentleman. He was an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was very generous in the use of his means, contribut- ing liberally to schools, churches, etc. His death, which occurred January 20, 1880, was deeply regretted by his numerous friends, and Lafayette county lost one of her most worthy citizens and successful planters. Mrs. Price and five children survive him, and since the death of her husband she has been quite successful in the management of her business affairs, and has given her children good educational advantages. Prentiss took a commercial course in Ledden Commercial college of Memphis, Tenn., and has been employed by the Merchants' Bank of Grenada, Miss., for about one year. His health then began to fail him and he quit the bank and is now in the Indian territory, in charge of a trader's post. Manfred took a course in the Jackson (Miss.) Commercial college, one daughter is attending school at Oxford, and another is in the Grenada Collegiate institute. Mrs. Price and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and move in the highest social circles. They have one of the loveliest homes in Lafayette county, and their residence is surrounded by grand old oak trees and beautiful and ornamental evergreens.

Among the most progressive and prosperous residents of Oxford, Lafayette county, Miss., is Mr. Bem Price, cashier of the Bank of Oxford. He was born in this county, March 8, 1850, and is the fifth of a family of nine children. The parents, Washington and Frances Bushord (Harris) Price, were natives of the state of North Carolina. The paternal grandfather, Thomas Price, settled in Wake county, N. C., about one hundred years ago, where he mar- ried Rebecca Robertson. To this union there were born three sons and two daughters, and the lands upon which he settled have been occupied continuously by his descendants up to the present time. Washington Price, the eldest, born October 17, 1803, removed from North Carolina to west Tennessee, near Jackson, where he married Frances B. Harris, in February, 1837, and soon thereafter removed to the southeast portion of Lafayette county, Miss., where he became an extensive and successful planter. In addition to his agricultural pursuits he carried on other important interests. He erected a number of the business buildings in Oxford and with Maj. Paul B. Barringer, built the University hotel, which became the most popular in the place, and continued until burned by the Federal troops, in 1862, with all the rest of the business property of the town. He was also prominent in securing the sub- scription to the Mississippi Central railroad. He was a man of strong and vigorous mind, active, enterprising and energetic. Having been educated at Chapel Hill, N. C., his tastes and fondness for books were afterward evinced in the collection of a library, regarded at one time the finest in the county. In politics he was a whig of the strongest persuasion. While

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actively engaged in the duties and responsibilities of citizenship that promised more than ordinary success, he was cut off in his prime, in the year 1855; his wife died in 1856. They were both honored members of the Old School Presbyterian church. There were born to this union nine children: Huldrick, Armead, Grosswald, Ethboll, Relbue, Bem, Anna, Manford and an infant daughter who died unnamed. Grosswald and Manford also died in early childhood. Bem Price was thus left an orphan at the early age of five years. After the death of his parents, he, with the remaining four brothers and one sister, was taken to Wake county, N. C., where he lived with an uncle for nearly ten years, receiving his education from a private tutor. In 1865, with three brothers and a sister (one brother having died while at Hillsboro, N. C., attending school), he returned to Lafayette county and went to live in the old home. He was occupied on the farm until he reached his majority, attending two sessions of school in the meantime. In 1871 he embarked in the mercantile trade in partnership with Paul B. Barringer and Thomas L. Harris, under the firm name of Harris, Price & Barrin- ger, in Oxford, Miss., which business continued until the latter part of 1875, when it was dissolved by consent of all partners. Then with Charles Roberts he organized the Southern bank, at Oxford, with a paid-up capital of $50,000, he being elected cashier. The Southern bank was in successful operation for two years, when its affairs were wound up by mutual con- sent, and the building erected by them for their use was sold to and is now occupied by the Bank of Oxford. Mr. Price was then engaged in operating with his private funds until 1880. In June of that year he was elected cashier of the Bank of Oxford and treasurer of the Uni- versity of Mississippi, and in 1886, secretary of the board of trustees of the university, which positions he still holds. He now owns one thousand acres of his father's old plantation and other valuable real estate in the county and town. He was one of the promoters and organ- izers of a number of banking institutions in the state, all of which are in successful operation, and is now a large stockholder and director in them. It will quickly be recognized that he is a man of much more than ordinary business talent, and that he has made the most of his opportunities, preserving in all of his dealings a character of highest honor. Mr. Price was united in marriage in November, 1876, to Mary Delle Bowles, a native of this state and county, and a daughter of James R. Bowles. Mr. Bowles was born in Virginia, his father being a pioneer from that state to this. Mr. and Mrs. Price are members of the Old School Presbyterian church.

Angus M. Price, a prominent planter and miller, residing and doing business two miles southwest of Shubuta, in Wayne county, Miss., was born near Frost Bridge, in that county, in 1854. He is he youngest of ten children born to and reared by Allen and Effie (McDon- ald) Price. His father, who was a son of David Price, was born in South Carolina in 1815, and became a planter and removed to Wayne county in 1836, locating at Frost Bridge, where he has come to be a large landholder and a prominent citizen. Mr. Price's mother was a native of South Carolina and became the wife of Mr. Price in 1835. Soon after, they immi- grated to Mississippi, where they were among the pioneers. Of their union were born the following children: William, who served during the late war and died soon after in Clarke county; Malcolm, also a soldier in the Confederate service, who died during the war; Quillie, who died in infancy; George, who died in the Confederate service at Columbus, Miss .; Catherine E., now Mrs. Dr. Evans, of Clarke county; John, who is a planter of Wayne county; Maggie, now Mrs. Howard and residing in Wayne county; Joseph, of Clarke county, who is the inventor and patentee on a mill-dress; Anna, who married Mr. William Price, and who died soon after, and Angus M., the subject of our sketch. His parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and his father was identified with the Masonic order. He

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has been one of the most successful planters in this part of the country. He is a democrat in politics and in the highest degree public-spirited, and is interested in every movement per- taining to the good of the community and state. His mother died in Clarke county in 1870. Angus M. Price was reared and educated in Clarke county. He began life for himself in 1875 as a farmer, in which he was engaged exclusively until 1889. In that year he embarked in the mill business and is the owner of a sawmill, cottongin and gristmill, located on Eucutta creek, which affords good water power. This establishment has a capacity to turn out five thousand feet of lumber a day, twelve bales of cotton per day, and one hundred and fifty bushels of meal a day. He also has a plantation of one hundred and eighty acres of land, his home farm consisting of about fifty acres. He was married in 1876 to Miss Lizzie Seales, the daughter of Benjamin Seales, of Lowndes county, who was born in 1861 and who died August 8, 1891, having borne him six children: Allen, Benjamin, Minnie, Mary, Henry and Alma, all of whom are living. Mrs. Price was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. Price is also a member. Mr. Price, who has through life been a democrat, takes a deep interest in all national questions of importance. He has always been a liberal contributor toward the establishment of schools and churches, and has been prompt and gen- erous in his aid to all worthy objects. He is entitled to a certain amount of pride in the fact that he has been architect of his own fortune.

Dr. Daniel T. Price, one of the successful physicians of the county, is also engaged in farming and fruit-growing and is prominently identified with the growth and prosperity of Prentiss county. He is a native Mississippian, born in Tishomingo (now Prentiss) county, within three miles of Booneville, on the 23d of November, 1839, and is the son of Richard and Sarah (Eppes) Price, natives of Knox county, Tenn., where they were reared and mar- ried. The parents came to Mississippi in 1838, settled three miles northwest of what is now Booneville at a time when the country was very sparsely settled, and the father purchased wild land, paying $8 per acre for it. Other families came there the same year, among them being Thomas Eppes, brother of Mrs. Price, who had also been a resident of Knox county, Tenn. Mr. Price continued to reside on his farm for about five years and then sold out, mov- ing to a place south of Booneville, where he purchased land, now near the limits of Boone- ville, and there resided until his death in 1889, at the age of eighty-five years. He was a quiet, unobtrusive man and was universally respected. He was an old line whig in politics, later a democrat, and his first democratic vote was for James Buchanan. He was a man well posted on all the current topics of the day, a constant reader and at the time of his death could see to read, by aid of glasses, as well as in middle life. He was & member of the Methodist church. He was colonel of the militia of east Tennessee, and during the war enlisted for sixty days to assist General Alcorn in his campaign at Bowling Green, Ky., as a high private. He had two or three brothers in the early Indian wars. One brother, Daniel Price, was killed in Florida. He was captain of a company and had his head cut off and stuck up on a stake by the Indians. Mr. Price was the youngest of twelve children born to Edward and Sarah (Webb) Price, both natives of the Palmetto state. Edward Price and wife moved from South Carolina to Tennessee with an oxcart at an early day, settled in Knox county and there the father engaged in planting. He died in Knox county many years ago, but the mother lived to be eighty-four years old and died when the subject of this sketch was a boy. Richard Price's wife died in 1854, at the age of forty years. She was a mem- ber of the Methodist church. Their family consisted of twelve children, two sons and one daughter dying in childhood. The others were: Mrs. Judith Bracking, on the old home place; Mrs. Martha Patterson, near Aberdeen; Daniel T., subject; Mrs. Amanda Gresham,

LD. Baskett

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wife of W. G. C. Gresham; William E., farmer of Prentiss county; John T., undertaker and dealer in furniture, of Booneville; Oscar, a successful merchant of Tyler, Tex .; James J., at Hillsboro, Tex., engaged in merchandising, and Mrs. Sarah E. Burns, wife of the pres- ent county treasurer. Dr. D. T. Price supplemented a common-school education by attend- ing the academy at Rienzi. He commenced the study of medicine at the latter place in the fall of 1860 under Dr. J. M. Taylor, a leading physician of the place and now one of the most prominent in the state, and attended lectures at Richmond, Va., in 1864 and 1865. With the exception of the time he took lectures he served as hospital steward of the Twenty- sixth Mississippi regiment during the war. He attended lectures at Richmond, Va., by special permission from the secretary of war. He graduated from Jefferson Medical college in 1866 and came to Booneville, where he commenced practicing his profession. There he has continued since and is one of the leading physicians of the county. He is the present health officer of the county and stands in the front ranks of the medical fraternity. He was married to Miss Victoria McCrory, a native of Marshall county, Tenn., and the daughter of Robert and Nancy (Williams) McCrory, who came with their family to Mississippi in 1848. To Dr. Price and wife were born five children, four now living: Claude B., John W., R. C. and Robert G. The one deceased died unnamed. Claude B. is acting midshipman on the United States ship Baltimore, with headquarters at Washington, D. C. He was a graduate of the United States naval academy, at Annapolis, from the engineering division of the class of 1890, standing second in his class. During the four years he was in that institution he stood twenty-third in his class the first year, nineteenth the second year, twelfth the third year and second the last year in the engineering division of the class. The graduating class, according to a recent act of congress, is divided into the line and engineering divisions in order that each cadet in the last year's course may receive special instruction to better qualify him for his particular work or line of service. Mr. Price chose the engineering division and graduated in that division as above. He is now in his twenty-third year. John W. completed the course for the junior year at the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical college, and is now studying medicine with his father. He is past the junior year at the Agricultural and Mechanical college of Mississippi and will later attend the University of Vir- ginia. The other children are at home. Dr. Price and family enjoy a very pleasant home adjoining Booneville, where he is engaged in fruit-growing in connection with his practice. He is a member of the state horticultural society, in which he takes a deep interest. Politi- cally he is a democrat.

In the commercial circles of Yalobusha county, Miss., no name stands higher than that of George W. Price, proprietor of the Blue Front store of Water Valley, Miss. He was born in Pontotoc county, Miss., July 9, 1842, and is a son of John and Nancy (Ragland) Price, natives of Georgia. His father was born February 4, 1808, and his mother in March, 1810; they were married in Jasper county, Ga., February 9, 1831, and removed to Mississippi, set- tling in Pontotoc county. To them were born six children-two sons and four daughters. The father died April 2, 1872, honored and respected by all who knew him. His father, John Price, Sr., a descendant of the Prices of Virginia, was a very successful planter, and for many years a magistrate. After the death of his first wife, in 1845, he was married to Miss Tabitha Thomas, of Georgia, who died in 1876. The father and mother of Mr. Price were members of the Primitive Baptist church, of which Mr. Price's father was also a mem- ber. The eldest and first child of Mr. Price's father's family, born December 11, 1831, was named Julia Ann. She married Robert C. Hellum, and died October 19, 1855, leaving three children: John W., William Lewis and Mary Ellen Hellum, and her husband, who mar- MM

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ried again, died in 1863 while in service in the late war. The second, a daughter also, named Martha Jane, married Wilson or "Dock" Hellum, a brother of Robert C. Hellum. She was born September 22, 1833, and died May 4, 1860, leaving five children: Nancy, George W., Julia Ann, John T. and Robert Wilson Hellum; her husband, who was a member of company K, of the Seventeenth Mississippi regiment, died in the army at Richmond, Va., in 1864. The third daughter, Susan Caroline, was born August 6, 1835, and married Samuel T. Crimm, who was also a member of company K, of the Seventeenth Mississippi regiment, and died during the war (1862) at Richmond, Va .; she had three children by Mr. Crimm: Mary Ann, Rachel and Samuel T. She afterward married John F. Stewart, by whom she had five chil- dren. The family settled near Sherman, Grayson county, Tex., in 1878. The fourth daugh- ter, Mary Morgan, was born September 28, 1837, and married Henry Lynch in 1858, and he died near Atlanta, Ga., in 1864, a member of company E, of the First Mississippi cavalry. She had by him two children: Madora Tobitha and Mary V. Lynch. By her second hus- band, Hardy McGlaune, she had three children named Francis, Helen and George Washing- ton McGlaune. She and her husband removed to near Temple, Bell county, Tex., in 1878, where she died May 21, 1883. Dr. John Ragland Price, the fifth child and eldest son, was born September 16, 1839, and was educated at Sparta academy in Calhoun county, Miss. He was third lieutenant of company E, of the First Mississippi cavalry, and was wounded in the knee at Abbeville, Miss., and is a cripple for life. He married Miss Maggie Duncan, a daughter of Dr. M. I. Duncan, of Sarepta. He is a high Mason, and was county treasurer of Calhoun county, Miss., in 1869 and 1870. After the war he sold goods at Pittsboro and at Banner. Later he took up the practice of medicine, and has devoted himself to it during the past eighteen years, and is regarded as one of the leading practitioners of the county. He has had nine children, two of whom are dead. The eldest two, William Duncan and John Washington, are twins, and were born November 30, 1864; the second is a daughter, named Minnie; the others are named James, Eddie, Dale, Lou, Claude and Ruby. Dr. Price is the purchasing agent for the Alliance at Banner, Miss. One of his two sons, John Washington Price, is a candidate for county treasurer of Calhoun county. George Washington, the youngest of the family, was born July 9, 1842. To return to the gentleman whose history follows: He passed his early youth in the county of his birth, and received his education in the common schools, and in the academy at Sarepta, Calhoun county, Miss. In 1861, when there was a call for men to go to the defense of their country, he abandoned his private inter- ests, and enlisted in company K, of the Seventeenth Mississippi volunteer infantry, of Barks dale's brigade, for one year; he was soon made third sergeant; at the battle of Bull Run he acted as orderly sergeant, and at the battle of Yorktown he was made third lieutenant. He was soon promoted to be second lieutenant, and was finally made captain, but never received his commission on account of losing his right leg below the knee at Fredericksburg. He was wounded at the same time in the left foot, and was slightly wounded also at the bat- tle of Bull Run. He was afterward in many important engagements, and was again slightly wounded in the right thigh at the battle of Antietam, and in the battle of Fredericksburg. Of the twenty-eight men who were at the pontoon crossing below the market house, twenty- three were killed or wounded, he being one of the twenty-three, and receiving such serious wounds in the right leg and left foot that amputation was necessary, and, although the cap- taincy had been conferred upon him, he was unfit for the duties of the office. He had an arti- ficial limb made, and was able to take part later in several cavalry scouts, serving until the close of the war. The art of making artificial limbs has been brought to such perfection that Mr. Price has been enabled to supply the missing limb with such success that he suffers little

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inconvenience. While he was in a crippled condition at Harrisburg, he captured two prison- ers and two horses by himself.

After the close of the war he returned to Pontotoc county, but shortly went to Mem- phis, Tenn., where he engaged in the livestock business. After a time he came back to Pon- totoc county and embarked in the mercantile trade, and in 1866 formed a partnership with H. J. Ragland, his uncle, at Banner, Calhoun county, Miss. This relationship was ended by the death of Mr. Ragland in 1870. Mr. Price continued the business alone till 1873, at which time he came to Water Valley and formed a partnership with H. W. Rogers and A. Collum, the firm being known as Collum, Price & Rogers. Mr. Price retired and entered into busi- ness relations with Capt. W. A. Herring. Four years later the firm of G. W. Price & Co. was established, and did a large and successful business until the yellow-fever epidemic in 1878 swept over the South. After this a partnership was formed by Mr. Price with H. E. Wag- ner, who died. Four years later Capt. Z. D. Jinnings became a member of the firm, and Mr. Price finally sold his interest in the business to Z. D. Jinnings & Son. He then retired to his farm and followed agriculture for a time and merchandising at Belen, Quitman county, Miss. for two years. He then rented his land and returned to Water Valley, and in Febru- ary, 1890, established his present business. He carries a fine, fresh stock of general mer- chandise, and does a thriving business. Mr. Price was united in marriage to Frances Oregon Freeman, a daughter of Simeon Freeman, who was born in Jasper county, Ga., in 1808, and came to Mississippi in the early history of the state, and there reared a family of thirteen children. Mrs. Price grew up in Pontotoc county, and received her education at the academy of Sarepta, Calhoun county, Miss. She became the mother of five children: Guy Hartwell (aged sixteen years), Mary Ida (aged nine years), Frances C. (aged four years), Edgar E. (second child, who died at the age of fourteen years), and Elnora C. (first child, who died when but five months old). Mrs. Frances O. Price is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Honor. Mr. Price is a member of the A. O. U. W., of the Knights of Honor, and of the Knights and Ladies of Honor. In his political opinions he adheres to the principles of the democratic party. He is now the nominee for county treasurer. Mrs. Price is an earnest member of the Presbyterian church. The family is one of the leading ones of the county, and its members have the respect and esteem of the entire community.

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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 96

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