Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Dunbar Rowland
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Madison, Wis. : S.A. Brant
Number of Pages: 1020

USA > Mississippi > Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II > Part 11

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).

The levee organization in 1905 is as follows: Yazoo-Mississippi Delta levee district commission : H. H. Hopson and O. H. John- son, Coahoma county ; Will Polk and S. A. Withers, Tunica; J. R. Baird, Sunflower; W. S. Barry, Leflore; R. V. Powers, Yazoo; D. G. Pepper, Holmes; L. Marks, Quitman; W. P. Conner, De Soto; George M. Murphy, Tallahatchie; M. Gillease, Y. & M. V. railroad company. Mississippi Levee district commission: J. C. Brooks, Bolivar; J. T. Atterbury, Washington; W. H. Barnard, Sharkey ; J. S. Walker, Washington ; W. H. Fitzgerald, Washing- ton. Palmyra levee district commission : L. Page, A. B. Curvil- lion, Robert Wade, W. S. Lovell, A. M. Fultz. Tallahatchie river levee district : C. B. Vance, J. S. Goff, W. W. Perkins, Aaron Greenwall, L. H. Shuford.

The Mississippi River Commission, and the U. S. government engineers envolved a theory for the building of levees and the protection of the lands from inundation, which they have carried out in practice for nearly half a century. It was declared "to be a law of nature that if a stream of running water is confined to cer- tain limits or the channel be contracted, the velocity of the cur- rent increases and, with the increased velocity, a scour takes place which in ordinary cases deepens the channel." It was estimated in 1861 that the cost of "the proper and absolute protection of the alluvial lands along the Mississippi river from Cairo to the Gulf" would be about $17,000,000, and the value of the existing levees were about $9,000,000-though, as we have seen their probable cost was more than twice that amount. Wm. Dunbar Jenkins thus attacks the theory on which the U. S. engineers have worked. "An expenditure of over $50,000,000 has since been made on levees, the levees are still incomplete and the work of enlarging, raising and strengthening them and of closing the basins must go on as long as the floods overtop the present levees or crevasses occur. The expected scour has not taken place," he declares, "and to get results the continual dredging at an additional expense must go on as long as the appropriation lasts. We have seen the 'parallel straight jetty' system tried for fifty years and it has proven a failure. The course of the Mississippi river is not straight, -it is made up of a series of alternate curves or bends; it seems therefore that what the river 'wants to do naturally' is to assume a serpentine, or S shape-then why not let it do so and use curved jetties in place of parallel or straight jetties? Where a bend forms in the river, the deepest water or natural channel is invariably found on the concave side, the convex side being either a sand-bar or gradually sloping bank with shallow water : therefore, we have to deal with but one side in improving the channel (the concave side) thereby lessening the expense about one-half, protecting that side or 'holding the bank' and giving nature a chance to do the rest. This is known as the 'one jetty system' or Haupt system.

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A single curved jetty, on one side of the stream, will train the outflow of the river to a single channel of ample capacity and will in time build a natural bank on the opposite side, automatically adjusted to the requirements of the stream-a reverse curve on the opposite bank in the next bend will serve to preserve the align- ment, the channel swinging gently from side to side."

It has been shown that the restraining of the river from spread- ing over the alluvial plain, and banking it within narrow limits tends to place the surface of the floods at higher and higher levels. The continual increase in the height of levees is necessary, not because of greater floods, but because of the closer confinement of the waters. Figures of the height of levees often show a great increase over the former ones, but in many cases the increase is due to the position on the flood-plain. The caving away of the high alluvial banks has forced the building of levees on the ground of the back slope of the flood-plain. Where a levee 5 feet high met the demands in 1874, now a 17-foot levee is needed; the top of the levee, however, is not much higher than before, while the bottom is 10 feet lower.

An objection to levees often advanced is, that the prolongation of the delta by deposition of sediment, will cause an ultimate rise of bed and a future necessary increase in the height of levees. This objection has been answered by calculations which show that in 100 years the flood height at New Orleans will rise an inch from this cause.

The location of levees is a serious problem. In the eight years subsequent to 1866, 107.5 miles out of 800 miles of levee caved in in the State of Mississippi. The immediate banks are not in gen- eral, a safe foundation, as undercutting is possible. The levees must always present to the flood a smooth front, sharp salients being avoided. Where caving is excessive, a double system of em- bankments is recommended.

Causes of breaks in levees include : a. "Insufficiency in height. The criterion for height has been the highest known water-mark. The increased construction, as has been shown, demands higher and higher levees. Crevasses have been common occurrences ; and as the efficiency of levees increases and crevasses become less the rule. the standard height will be attained.

b. "The stirring of a full river into action by the winds. The March floods, accompanied by high and persistent winds, are much dreaded." Owing to its elevation above the Gulf, there is no tide in the Mississippi, and its level is affected by winds, more than by other causes.

c. "Unsoundness or faulty construction. Here may be placed insecure or treacherous foundations and injudicious cross-sections.

d. "Maliciousness. There have been recorded-strange to say- breaks that result from a desire for revenge. because of a private hostility against a wealthy planter. Again, landowners, under the threatening break and destruction of their own property, have re- lieved the strain by opening the levees on the opposite bank. The

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swampers, who in the dry season cut timber for the market, and who have depended on the overflow to raft their logs, have claimed that the levees were injurious to their business. Breaks have been attributed to these men.

e. "Burrowing of animals." Crawfish, rats, etc.

The problem of improving this great highway is a national one, and whether the "Outlet system," the "Waste-wier," the "Reser- voir," the "parallel jetty," or the "one jetty system," each of which has been advocated by eminent engineers, shall afford the ultimate solution, the teeming population and the fertile lands along the lower reaches of the Father of Waters are entitled to permanent protection from the annual floods so destructive to life and prop- erty.

Leverett, a post-hamlet of Tallahatchie county, 9 miles south of Charleston, the county seat, and nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 30.

Lewis, Clarke, of Cliftonville, Miss., was born in Madison coun- ty, Ala., Nov. 8, 1840. He early removed to Mississippi, and after attending Summerville institute, taught school, and then entered the Confederate army in 1861. He served through the war, and re- sumed teaching in 1865. He afterwards became a planter, and was elected to the State legislature in 1877. In 1888 he was elected to the 51st congress, and served till 1893.

Lewis, Daniel. (See Lewis, Seth.) Daniel Lewis, Jr., married a Miss Fairchild at Sheffield, Mass., and with her and their son, Archibald, accompanied the Lyman colony (q. v.). In 1799 his widow married Richard Carpenter, and after his death she married Gen. George Matthews, of Georgia. She died in 1803, near Wash- ington, Miss. Says J. F. H. Claiborne : "From Daniel Lewis Sr .. and wife, are descended the Guions, Mellens, Peytons, Sages, and many other prominent families in Mississippi and Louisiana. ma- ternally of the same stock with Sir William Pepperell, General Prescott, of Bunker Hill, Prescott the historian, Chief Justice Mel- len, S. S. Prentiss, Judge Parsons, etc."

Lewis, Seth, was a descendant of a London merchant who took refuge from religious persecution in Connecticut. Daniel, father of Seth, was a farmer in Massachusetts. Seth was born October 14, 1764. In 1774 the parents, having suffered financial misfor- tune, migrated to West Florida, taking with them their three sons and four of their daughters. The youngest of these. Sarah, at a later date married Maj. Isaac Guion, and was mother of one of Mississippi's governors. The Lewis family reached New Orleans by sea early in 1775, and taking boat up the river began a settle- ment on the banks of the Big Black, in the wilderness. Their

privations were severe; the father died of fever in June and the mother in September. The children found refuge with the neigh- bors, some miles distant, until the elder brother, Daniel, gathered them together. In 1777 they moved to Natchez, where Daniel went into business. In 1778, one of the brothers, Asahel, joined Willing's command, (q. v.) and was taken prisoner at Manchac

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by the British loyalists and carried to Pensacola. The Tory sen- timent being strong at Natchez, Daniel, with the remainder of the family, moved to Plaquemine, La., and soon afterward he was drowned while going to New Orleans. Seth found it necessary to bind himself out as an apprentice with a tanner and shoemaker on the coast. While in this situation he learned French from his associates. This and some instruction in childhood, was all his schooling. But he had access to books, which he studied in leisure moments. At 21 years of age he and his sisters went to live at New Orleans, and he became clerk to a trader, who sent him to Ope- lousas, where he gained the friendship of an old French merchant, Duvolde, who took him as a partner, admitted him to his family, and gave him a place of honor in the community. When Duvolde retired from business, Lewis engaged in various occupations until at Natchez, in 1790, he undertook the sale of a flatboat load of goods at Nashville, Tenn., from Genevieve. At Nashville, he formed the acquaintance of Josiah Love, and began the study of law. He was married in 1793, to a daughter of Col. Thomas Harde- man. In 1795 he began the practice, was immediately successful, and was elected to the first State legislature. While preparing to return to Mississippi, for the sake of his health, the office of chief justice of the Territory became vacant, and he secured the ap- pointment from President Adams, May 13, 1800. Here he found an unpleasant situation. The wealthy and aristocratic men of the district, having adopted theoretically the politics of Mr. Jefferson, professed to be incensed at the appointment, by a Federalist presi- dent, of "a poor, ignorant shoemaker," as chief justice. On coming into the office he drew up. a law regulating the practice of the courts, adapted from the laws of Tennessee, as required by the United States laws, and united with the governor and Judge Bruin in passing the act. His persecutors proposed to have him im- peached for this. He also excited enmity by his independence as a judge. When the Jefferson party came into control in 1802, the Territorial legislature presented articles of impeachment and summoned him to appear before that body. In reply, he declared his innocence of all charges of misconduct, and said he was answerable to the congress of the United States, before which he was ready to appear. This ended the legislative proceeding. Af- ter congress had adjourned without action, Judge Lewis resigned his office, 1803. It had brought him the salary of $800 a year. In the course of his duties he visited the Tombigbee settlements, at stated periods, to hold court, riding through the Choctaw coun- try and fording the rivers. In 1803 he presented a petition to the general assembly praying that he be reimbursed for a horse stolen in the Indian country as he was returning from holding court in Washington district. At the next election, his enemies were gen- erally defeated by the people, and Col. Anthony Hutchins. the great leader of the anti-administration party, in his last illness called him to take charge of an important matter of litigation. He was also employed by two of the sons-in-law of Hutchins, Col.

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F. L. Claiborne and William Brooks, as counsel in the struggle over division of the property which followed the death of Hutchins, and Lewis arranged with George Poindexter, attorney of the other heirs, an amicable arrangement. In April, 1807, he was appointed attorney-general for the counties of the Natchez district, an office he resigned in 1808. In 1810, when he removed to Opelousas, Gov Claiborne, of Louisiana, offered him the place of parish judge of Attakapas. Under the State government, 1812, he was made dis- trict judge. During the time of the codification mania in 1820-25 he attacked the penal code proposed by Edward Livingston, and caused its rejection. This triumph, however, caused a renewal of the cry of "shoemaker," that embittered his life, for it actually estranged many from him. After 27 years as parish and district judge, he died Nov. 15, 1848. (Autobiography, Miss. Archives.) Judge Lewis was the first master of a lodge of Masons in Missis- sippi.

· Lewisburg, a post-hamlet in the east-central part of De Soto county, 10 miles east of Hernando, the county seat and nearest rail- road and banking town. It has three churches and a school. Population in 1900, 72.

Lexie, a postoffice in the southeastern part of Pike county, situated on McGee's creek, a tributary of the Bogue Chitto, 18 miles east of Magnolia, the county seat.

Lexington, the capital of Holmes county, is an incorporated post- town on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 12 miles west of Durant, and 62 miles north of Jackson. It is located in the hills, and is surrounded by a good agricultural district producing cotton, corn, oats, rye, Irish and sweet potatoes, strawberries, sugar cane and all garden trucks. It has a money order postoffice, and telegraph, express and banking facilities, a court house, nine churches and two schools. The Lexington Advertiser, a Democratic weekly, was established here in 1838. The Bank of Holmes County was founded in 1889, and has a capital of $40,000; the Bank of Lexington was founded in 1896, capital $40,000; the Bank of Commerce was founded in 1902, capital $40,000. The town has an electric lighting plant and three hotels. Among its present manufacturing enter- prises may be mentioned an oil mill, cotton compress, broom fac- tory, and saw mills. There is a city debt of $7,000 on railroad bonds; the assessed valuation of property is $1,000,000; the tax rate is 6 mills. Population in 1900, 1,516, an increase of about 500 over the census for 1890. The present estimated population is about 2,200.

Liberty, the county seat of Amite county, is an incorporated post- town, about 50 miles southeast of Natchez and near the west fork of the Amite river. A short branch road now connects it by rail with McComb, on the Illinois Central R. R. The town is located almost exactly at the geographical center of the county, and was selected as the seat of justice in 1809, the year the county was formed. It was incorporated in 1828. In 1863 the Federal troops destroyed the college buildings and burned much of the town.

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After the war, the town was rebuilt, and is now a prosperous little place of about 600 people. The Liberty Bank was established here in 1902 with a capital of $25,000. It has a male and female academy and one newspaper, the "Southern Herald," a Democratic weekly, established in 1866. J. W. Forsyth published the "Liberty Advo- cate" here for many years prior to the founding of the "Southern Herald." In 1871 the patriotic citizens of Liberty erected a shaft of Italian marble in honor of the 282 soldiers it sent forth a decade earlier to fight the battles of the Confederacy. This is the first monument erected in the South in honor of the Confederate dead. There is a large saw mill and manufacturing plant located here, a fine cotton ginnery, and brick works. When the railroad is ex- tended, the town will add to its already increasing population. A substantial hotel has recently been opened for business.

Libertyhill, a post-hamlet of Lafayette county, 16 miles east of Oxford, the county seat. Population in 1900, 22.

Libraries. The State library had its inception in the joint reso- lution of the legislature of 1817, authorizing the secretary of state to purchase for the State such books as the secretary of the Ter- ritory was required to purchase, "and also Mellish's map of the United States, Darby's map of the State of Louisiana, Arrow- smith's map of the world, four copies of Ludlow's new map of the State of Mississippi."

The State library was established by act of Feb. 15, 1838, but we find no records showing the name of the first librarian. Wil- liam Wing was librarian in 1841-42. The librarian in the early period of the office was also the custodian of the capitol.

The library was at first under the management of trustees, and the library committee of the legislature sometimes passed on the purchase of books. In 1848 the legislature called for a report of purchases in the previous four years, and the public documents of 1850 contain a catalogue, showing a considerable collection of legal works, court reports, and books on medicine, political economy, theology and church history, travel, biography, fiction, poetry, etc., the dryest part of which yet remain upon the shelves. A cat- alogue of the State library covers fifty-five closely printed pages of the House Journal in 1857. At that time the rules and regula- tions of the library required it to be open every day except Sunday during the legislative and court sessions. At other times it was to be kept open three days in each week.

The librarians after William Wing are as follows: James M. Lewis, 1842 to 1848; John W. Patton, 1848 to 1852; M. M. Smith, 1852 to 1854: James McDonald, 1854 to 1856; R. C. Kerr, 1856 to 1858: B. W. Saunders, 1858 to 1861: F. W. Johns, 1861; Marian Smith, 1866; John Williams, 1870; J. D. Worles, (negro,) 1870; I. N. Osborn, 1872 to 1876; J. B. Harris, for Mrs. Mary Morancy, 1876 to 1880; F. M. Shelton, for Mrs. Mary Morancy, 1880 to 1884; Frank Johnston for Mrs. Mary Morancy, 1884 to 1892; T. J. Bu- chanan for Miss Rose Lee Tucker, 1892 to 1896; Mrs. Helen D. Bell, 1896 to 1900; Miss Mattie Plunkett, 1900.

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In 1891 the State Library was, according to the New York World, "the second in value of its kind in the Union, the Massa- chusetts library only outranking it," having reference to its supe- riority as a law reference library.

The State library now contains about 60,000 volumes, including law reports and public documents. In volume V., Mississippi Historical Society publications, is a list of the libraries in the State with an estimate of the number of volumes from a publica- tion of 1893. The University of Mississippi library, the second in importance in the State, and the largest of general resource, was then reported at 13,000 volumes, (now about 20,000) ; the St. Stanislaus College at Bay St. Louis, 50,000; Mississippi College at Clinton, 2,200; Fisk Memorial Library at Natchez, 5,000; Holly Springs State Normal, 3,000. There are a considerable number of other libraries in the State containing from 1,000 to 2,000 vol- umes. One of the most successful public libraries in the State is the Ricks Memorial of Yazoo City.

Liddell, a hamlet in the southern part of Montgomery county, 8 miles east of Vaiden, the nearest railroad and banking town. The postoffice at this place was discontinued in 1905 and mail now goes to Vaiden.

Light, a postoffice of Rankin county, 14 miles east of Brandon, the county seat.

Lightsey, a postoffice in the northwestern part of Wayne county, 18 miles west of Waynesboro, the county seat.

Lilac, a postoffice of Montgomery county.

Lily, a postoffice of Attala county, 10 miles north of Kosciusko, the county seat.

Limerick, a postoffice of Yazoo county.

Lincecum, Gideon, was born in Hancock county, Georgia, April 1793, the son of Hezekiah Lincecum of French ancestry. He at- tended school in a log house in South Carolina; served in the war of 1812; was tax collector of his county; studied medicine and taught school on the boundary line of Georgia and the Creek country ; moved through 500 miles of wilderness to Tuscaloosa, Ala., with his wife and his father's family, then to the Tombigbee river country, building his cabin near the present site of Columbus.

In 1819 the government surveyed a road from Nashville, Tenn. to Natchez, which crossed the river where Columbus now stands. He went there to see what kind of a place it was; found a man with some goods in a flatboat ; bought the goods, built a house and opened a store. The legislature appointed him chief justice, with authority to appoint all the officers, of the new settlement. He was also appointed to lay off the town, which was located on school lands, and to lease the lots for 99 years. He appointed four other county justices and a county clerk ; organized a county court and appointed the county officers. He was also school commis- sioner and sold enough lots to bring $4,500-enough to begin building schools ; removed to Cotton Gin, and was in business there eight years. He lost his health; became destitute, and in 1830

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began the practice of medicine in the country; was successful; removed to Texas and settled near Houston April 1848. He died November 28, 1873.

Lincoln County was established quite late in the history of the State, April 7, 1870, and was named for President Abraham Lincoln. The county has a land surface of 574 square miles. It is located in the southwestern part of the State and the counties of Lawrence, Franklin, Copiah, and Amite, were divided to form its area. The original act defined its boundaries as follows: "On the east by R. line between ranges 9 and 10 east; on the north by T. line be- tween townships 8 and 9, except sections 3 and 4, included in the present corporate limits of the town of Wesson; and on the west by the present boundary line between the counties of Copiah and Jefferson ; on the south by the present boundary line between the counties of Copiah and Franklin, to a point one mile east of the point where said boundary line intersects the range line separating R. 5 from R. 6; thence due south to the township line, which sepa- rates T. 4 from T. 5; thence east along said township line to the commencing point." The act located the seat of justice at Brook- haven. Lincoln is bounded on the north by Copiah county, on the east by Lawrence county, on the south by Pike and Amite counties and on the west by Franklin and Jefferson counties. It is in the heart of the long leaf pine region and its timber has always con- stituted its most valuable asset. Brookhaven, on the Illinois Central R. R., is the county seat and largest town in the county. It has a population of 3,652 (1906), is an important industrial center, has several planing mills, foundries, machine shops, cotton gins, grist mill., etc., and is the seat of Whitworth Female College, founded in 1859, and one of the best female colleges in the State. Other towns of importance are Bogue Chitto and Norfield, and the little towns of Montgomery, Hartman, Thayer and Derby, all on the railroad. The Illinois Central R. R., runs through the center of the county from north to south and two short branches extend east from Brookhaven and Norfield, giving the county excellent rail transportation. Wesson, a manufacturing center of importance, is just across the northern border of the county, in Copiah, and is an important market for agricultural products in the northern part of Lincoln. Owing chiefly to her wealth of timber resources and to the prominence of the lumbering industry, Lincoln has passed the great majority of her sister counties in the total value of manufac- tured products, which had attained the very respectable total of $1,767,239 in 1900. The principal streams in the county are the Bogue Chitto, Amite, Homochitto and Bayou Pierre rivers, which with their tributaries are extensively used in logging operations. The general surface of the region is undulating-level on the bottoms. The soil is sandy loam on the ridges and fertile on the numerous bottoms. It produces cotton, corn, sugar-cane, rice, oats, peanuts, potatoes, all kinds of vegetables, fruits and melons. Church and school privileges in Lincoln are very good and the

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climate is mild and healthful. Brookhaven is 500 feet above tide- water at New Orleans.

The twelfth United States census for 1900, gives the following statistics for the county : Number of farms 2,316, acreage in farms 221,388, acres improved 87,007, value of the land exclusive of the buildings $883,050, value of the buildings $520,990, value of the live stock $498,584, total value of products not fed $961,807. Number of manufacturing establishments 89, capital invested $1,505,300, wages paid $281,103, cost of materials $962,359, total value of products $1,767,239. The population of the county in 1900 con- sisted of whites 12,341, colored 9,211, a total of 21,552 and an in- crease of 3,640 over the year 1890, while a safe estimate in 1906 would place the population at 25,000. The total assessed valuation of real and personal property in the county in 1905 was $4,629,015 and in 1906 it was $6,215,395, showing an increase of $1,586,380 during the year.

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Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Dunbar Rowland Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Madison, Wis. : S.A. Brant Number of Pages: 1020

Author: Dunbar Rowland
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Madison, Wis. : S.A. Brant
Number of Pages: 1020