Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 115

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 115

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).

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There are 80,511 acres of cleared land and much of the balance is timbered with pine, various kinds of oak, hickory, poplar, beech, ash, black-jack, and sweet and black gum and cypress on the bot- toms. The soil produces cotton, corn, wheat, oats, sweet potatoes, peas, and most of the fruits and vegetables. Extensive pasturage is to be found and the live stock of the county is valued at $438,- 782. A good deal of attention of late years has been paid to breed- ing a good grade of work horses. The climate and health of the county are very good, and the school and church privileges of the region are reported good. Numerous small mills and factories are in operation, but none are of any great importance.

The following statistics, taken from the United States census for 1900, relate to farms, manufactures and population :- Number of farms 2,262, acreage in farms 240,567, acres improved 80,511, value of the lands and improvements, exclusive of buildings $711,- 220, value of buildings $313,430, value of the live stock $438,782, total value of products not fed to stock $755,504. Number of man- ufactures 57, capital invested $97,908, wages paid $18,687, cost of materials used $58,557, total value of products $147,332. The pop- ulation in 1900 was whites 9,694, colored 3,925, total 13,619, in- crease of 1,559 over the year 1900. The population in 1906 was estimated at 15,000. Land values have increased rapidly in the last 5 years and have more than doubled in that length of time. Arte- sian water has been found in various parts of the county. The total assessed valuation of real and personal property in Webster county in 1905 was $1,344,101 and in 1906 it was $1,504,970, which shows an increase of $160,869 during the year.

Weeks, a postoffice of Attala county, 9 miles west of Kosciusko, the county seat, and 3 miles north of Sallis, the nearest railroad station.

Weems, a hamlet in the southeastern part of Jasper county, on the New Orleans & North Eastern R. R., 38 miles southwest of Meridian, and 21 miles from Enterprise. Heidelberg is its nearest banking town. Weems is 10 miles southeast of Paulding, the county seat. Population in 1900, 42.

Weir, an incorporated post-town and station of Choctaw county, on the Aberdeen division of the Illinois Central railroad, six miles southwest of Ackerman, the nearest banking town. It is located in a fine farming and stock raising region. It has a money order postoffice, and 4 rural mail routes emanate from here. Population in 1900, 91; in 1906 the population was estimated at 300. A large saw mill and a fine cotton gin are located here.

Welford, a postoffice of Greene county.

Wellman, a hamlet of Lincoln county, 10 miles south, southeast of Brookhaven, the county seat, and nearest banking town. It has rural free mail service from Bogue Chitto.

Wells, a post-hamlet of Attala county, 6 miles north of Kosciu- sko, the county seat, and nearest railroad and banking town. Pop- ulation in 1900, 29.

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Wells, Guilford Wiley, was born in Livingston county, New York, February 18, 1840. After graduating in law from Columbian college, Washington, he served in the Union army during the war, and was mustered out as lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed United States attorney for the northern district of Mississippi, and in 1875 was elected to the 44th congress as an Administration Re- publican.

Wenasoga, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Alcorn county, near the Tennessee boundary line, and a station on the Southern Railway, 6 miles northwest of Corinth. Population in 1900, 43.

Wesson, a thriving city in the extreme southern part of Copiah county, nine miles north of Brookhaven. It is an important man- ufacturing and shipping point on the Illinois Central R. R., and the seat of the Mississippi Cotton and Woolen Mills, which only partially utilizes the fine water power of the place. This plant was first established in 1871 and has developed into what was said in 1892 to be the largest industry of the kind in the South. These mills have an excellent reputation and their product goes into nearly every State and Territory of the Union. The product is of great variety, and includes cassimeres, jeans, doeskins, tweeds, linseys, flannels, wool and cotton knitting yarn, cotton rope, cotton warp, yarn, cottonades, flannelettes, gingham plaids, cheviots, checks, plaids, stripes, hickory, brown sheeting, shirting, drilling, eight ounce osnaburgs, ticking for feathers and mattresses, sewing thread, sewing twine for bags and awnings, wrapping twine, honey comb towels, awning, balmoral skirts, etc. The plant is equipped with an excellent system of water works, has an immense cotton warehouse, with a capacity of 1,000 bales of cotton, and storage capacity for two million pounds of wool. In 1904 it manufactured 3,737 bales of cotton. Among the other industries of the place are an oil mill and two cotton gins. The Bank of Wesson was estab- lished here in 1893 with a capital of $30,000. The Enterprise, a Democratic weekly newspaper, was established in 1899, and is owned and published by W. W. Robertson. The city is lighted by electricity, has a telephone system, two hotels, eight churches, and an excellent school; it has a prosperous and law abiding popu- lation. The land on which the city is built is rolling and of a high altitude, being about 500 feet above sea level.

There is no city indebtedness; the assessed valuation of property in Wesson is $1,038,000; the tax rate is 71/2 mills; population in 1900, 3,279, and was estimated in 1906 at 3,500.

Wesson Tornado. In April, 1883, a tornado swept across a part of the State, destroying much property and causing loss of life at Wesson and Beauregard.

West, A. M., was born in Alabama in 1818; was educated in pri- vate schools : became a planter in Holmes county in 1837; married Carrie O. Glorer, of Alabama, in 1835; was elected to the legisla- ture as a Whig in 1847, and afterwards to the State senate. He was opposed to secession, but after the State left the Union, was made brigadier-general of State troops; was quartermaster general, pay-

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master general and commissary general. He became president of the Mississippi Central railroad in 1864. At the close of the war this road was a wreck, the rolling stock unfit for use, and the com- pany without money. The rebuilding of the road, under such cir- cumstances, was his greatest work. He was president of the Mis- sissippi Valley company, composed of Northern capitalists, who founded McComb City (see Railroads) ; was president of the State board of Centennial commissioners, 1876, and delivered at Philadel- phia an able address on the history of the State. He was an elector for the State at large on the Tilden ticket in 1876; was the nominee of the National party for vice president of the U. S. in 1880. and of the Anti Monopoly party in 1884. He removed to Holly Springs after the war, where he died.

West, Cato, was a native of Fairfax county, Va., and of an in- fluential family. He married a daughter of Thomas Green, and after emigrating to Georgia, came with Green and his sons to Natchez district in 1782. The lands he claimed in later years were 1,500 acres granted by the Spanish government in 1789, and 246 acres against which there was the adverse British claim of Col. Augustine Prevost, all on Cole's Creek. He was among the promi- nent inhabitants in 1797, when he was chosen as a member of the first committee, which made a convention with Governor Gayoso. He was opposed to the appointees of the Adams administration, Commissioner Ellicott and Governor Sargent, but accepted from the latter the office of lieutenant-colonel commanding the militia of the northern district, known as Pickering county, and served in 1798-99. Subsequently, however, he was a leader of the opposition to Governor Sargent and of the movement for securing the privi- lege of a delegate to congress, and was chairman of the committee of 1799, whose memorial to congress was known as "the petition of Cato West and others." Upon the expiration of the term of John Steele, as secretary of the Territory, he was appointed to that office by President Jefferson, and commissioned after confirmation by the senate March 3, 1803. When Governor Claiborne left the Territory to assume the administration of the province of Louisiana, in December, 1803, Col. West became acting-governor, which function he exercised until Governor Robert Williams assumed office in 1805. He was a candidate for delegate in December. 1804, to succeed William Lattimore, and was also a candidate for ap- pointment as governor. In 1806 Mr. West was president of the Franklin society, which established Franklin academy at Green- ville.

West's Administration. Col. Cato West, secretary of. the Mis- sissippi Territory, began to exercise the functions of the governor upon the absence of Governor Claiborne, who left Washington town in November, and the Territory in December, 1803.

The United States land office was opened at Washington Decem- ber 1, 1803, bringing to the Territory Thomas Rodney of Delaware and Robert Williams of North Carolina, commissioners on land titles, and Edward Turner, register. Rodney was also appointed

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Territorial judge. The officials for Washington county were sta- tioned at Fort Stoddert. (See Land Office). For several years these officials heard the evidence brought forward to substantiate the land claims of those inhabitants whose titles were defective.

The election of 1804 was the occasion of a memorial to Secre- tary West, stating that the subscribers exercised the right of peti- tion regarding a public grievance. "We allude to the late election held for the county of Adams. The intrigues and the frauds prac- ticed in the county of Adams on that occasion deprived the consti- tutional electors of Adams and Wilkinson counties of their repre- sentatives in the legislature. The legitimate voters are completely disfranchised. A system corrupt in the extreme was openly planned and executed, derogatory to the citizens of the Territory, injurious to their interests, and fraught with evils too heavy to be patiently endured." The fraud complained of was the giving of deeds to fifty acres of land to anybody who would agree to vote for certain candidates, by which means "upwards of one hundred persons who so far from having any interest had not even a residence in our Territory; persons who were merely floating through the com- munity to some other port," were permitted to vote. This is sug- gestive of the origin of the modern word, "floater." "If such eva- sions of the constitution be sanctioned," said the memorialists, "a few wealthy freeholders with their cart loads of hired voters will - usurp the power and give the laws to the Territory."

In August, 1804, the justices of the peace of Adams county (Sam, uel Brooks, John Henderson, Ferdinand L. Claiborne, James Ter- rall, James Neilson) represented to the acting-governor that the jail of Adams county was not sufficient for the safe-keeping of the prisoners confined or who might be confined, "and as the recent circumstances which have happened require a force or guard suf- ficient to guard said jail or prison, and whereas the jailor or sheriff's accounts are not passed by the courts of the Territory, we the un- dersigned humbly pray that your excellency will order a guard to attend the said jail," etc. The Territorial treasurer, Abner Green, reported in November, 1804, that the collection of revenue under the act of 1803 had been "extremely partial." In the counties of Adams and Jefferson the taxable property had been listed under the law "and the amount of tax from Adams county is $5,393.74, which has been collected and paid into the treasury, and the sum of $1,- 817.48 has been returned from the county of Jefferson ; of this sum $1,336 has been paid." Wilkinson had paid in $700 out of $868.40 assessed, and Claiborne $448.41 out of $474.14 assessed, but in those two counties the assessments had not been made under the last act of the assembly. From the county of Washington there was no return.

Acting-Governor West addressed the general assembly when it convened, December 4, 1804. He said the act for the inspection of cotton was not yet in force, except at Natchez; the new public buildings for Adams county were in a state of forwardness, but the justices of the county court having declined to levy a tax to pay

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for them, it would be well for the legislature to come to the relief of the builders. "A marriage act is greatly wanted, the inconven- ience to those citizens residing at a distance from the seat of the executive who have occasion for marriage license is considerable, for the mode by publication few are willing to resort to." (Divor- ces at this time were granted by the general assembly, only, by special act.) A better act for the government of slaves was man- ifestly demanded. The "gaol of Jefferson county having been lately demolished," prompt steps to secure the erection of a new prison were recommended (See Territorial Legislature). Of this session Governor Williams, then present on the land commission, wrote in 1808: "The present council was raised from a nomination made by nine representatives, two of whom were admitted and held their seats in consequence of the improper conduct of the sheriff against two who had a clear and considerable majority of the whole votes; that nomination when made was so influenced by party vote that principle was totally disregarded. To such a pitch did that assem- bly carry opposition to each other, that it rose after a session of near four months, without performing one of its most important and constitutional duties."

In October, 1804, the act of congress went into effect creating the Territory of Orleans, of which Governor Claiborne was made gov- .ernor, terminating his association with the administration of Mis- sissippi Territory. Robert Williams, one of the land commissioners, was appointed governor of Mississippi Territory, and took office May 13, 1805. (See William's Adm.)

Western Company. The monopoly of Crozat was terminated by its surrender. He had lost a large sum of money in the effort to make a profit from the exclusive trade privileges in Louisiana, granted him in 1712. When he was permitted to resign control of the colony in 1717, his charter still had ten years to run. The colony had been advanced but little under his private control, but France was not yet ready to resume direct control of it. She was suffering from a load of debt, which exceeded two thousand mil- lions of livres, an inheritance from the wars and extravagance of the reign of Louis XIV. John Law had just established his cele- brated bank in May, 1716, and now proposed to the regent, the Duke of Orleans, a credit system which should liberate France from the enormous burden of debt. Under the auspices of Law a new com- pany was formed in August, 1717, under the name of the Western Company, but was better known as the Mississippi company. The exclusive commerce of Louisiana and certain other extraordinary privileges were granted the company for the term of twenty-five years. The failure of Crozat to find gold and silver had largely un- deceived France concerning the reputed riches of the colony, but Law and his associates, and particularly the Western Company, took advantage of the wonderful advance of credits in France, to still farther strengthen their system by reviving the attractive tales of gold and silver in the Mississippi country. Even ingots of gold and silver were falsely exhibited in Paris as the products of Louis-

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iana. Here was tangible evidence of the fabulous wealth and re- sources underlying the Law monetary and credit system, which had now been adopted by the French government. The plan of the Western company was not unlike that of the British East India Company, and it possessed powers and privileges nearly equal. The Louisiana colony was made one of the important props of Law's system, and the enormous paper issues of his bank were partly based on the reputed gold and silver, the fur trade, and pro- ducts of the soil, of the great Mississippi Valley.

In addition to the exclusive trade of the great Province of Louis- iana, the company was given the following important privileges : The exclusive right to all the beaver, fat and dry, traded for by the inhabitants of Canada, from the 1st day of January, 1718, until and including the last day of December, 1742. (The contract made with Messrs. Aubert, Neret, and Gayot, on the 10th of May, 1706, for the trade in Beaver in Canada, expired in December, 1717.) It was given all the coasts, lands, ports, havens and islands of the province, after the manner they had been granted to Crozat (q. v.). It was authorized to make treaties with the Indian tribes; to declare and prosecute war against them in defense of the colony; to convey lands both by lease and in fee ; but settlers holding under previous grants, or actually engaged in cultivating lands without any special grant, were not to be disturbed in their possession. It could nominate and present men for the office of governor, and for commanders of the troops, and commission the latter subject to the king's power of removal; remove inferior judges and civil officers; build and equip ships of war; erect forts; levy troops ; raise recruits; open and work all mines of precious metals which might be discovered; and it was granted the use of all the forts, magazines, guns, ammunition, and vessels, pertaining to the prov- ince of Louisiana ; justice was to be administered according to the laws and statutes of the kingdom, particularly "according to the common law of the provosty and viscounty of Paris, which shall be followed in all the contracts the inhabitants shall pass, and no other law shall be allowed to be introduced to avoid variety." The company was also allowed to adopt a coat of arms to use on its seals, buildings, guns, vessels, and wherever it saw fit.

Among the obligations imposed on it was the stipulation to in- troduce into Louisiana during the term of its charter, 6,000 white persons, and 3,000 negroes; to use only vessels belonging to the company or to French subjects, in its trade, said vessels to be fitted out in the ports of the kingdom and manned with French crews, and bound to return to French ports; and to protect the colonists from Indian outrages. One clause of the charter was devoted to religion, and reveals the close union of Church and State: "Whereas, in the settlement of lands granted to the said company by these present letters, we have chiefly in view the glory of God, by procuring the salvation of the Indian savage and negro inhabitants, whom we wish to be instructed in the true re- ligion, the said company shall be bound to build churches at her

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expense in the places of her settlements, as likewise to maintain there as many approved clergymen as may be necessary, either as vicars, or under any other suitable title, to preach the holy Gos- pel, celebrate Divine service, and administer the sacraments under the authority of the bishop of Quebec, the said colony remaining as heretofore in his diocese, the livings of the vicars and other clergymen, maintained by the company, being in his gift and ad- vowson."

The stock of the company was divided into 200,000 shares of 500 livres each, to be paid for in any certificates of the public debt. The shares were made small in order that as many people as pos- sible might become interested in the company, and even foreigners were invited to take stock. The great Mississippi Valley was represented as the richest part of the world; "Pearls" said they, "could be fished there in abundance; the streams which watered it rolled on sands of gold, and that precious metal was found on the surface of the earth without any need of profaning its bosom." With this appeal to avarice, the company readily sold its shares. Immense grants of land were sold to the wealthy men of France at extensive prices. These lands were indeed immensely rich and fertile, but their greedy owners were more interested in the dis- covery of gold and silver, than in the cultivation of the soil. The stockholders at once flattered themselves with large profits, and the Directory soon declared a dividend of two hundred per cent. The delusion was now complete, and the stock rose to sixty times its value. In 1719 the Bank of Law became the Bank of France, and Law was looked upon as the greatest man of his age. In 1720 the public began to lose confidence in the system of Law, and when, in May, the value of his notes was reduced one-half by a decree which spelled bankruptcy, Law fled to England, and the credit system he had reared collapsed. It was a disastrous experience for the French people, but the Mississippi Valley received a tre- mendous advertisement, and a great impetus was given to the suc- cessful colonization of its territory.

From the 25th of October, 1717, to the 25th of May, 1721, a total of 7,020 persons were sent to the colony in 43 vessels. At the latter date there remained in the colony 5,240 persons, the others having deserted, returned to France, or died. Grants of land had been made and plantations opened upon the Yazoo, at Natchez, on Red river, above the Natchitoches; at Point Coupee; at the Tunicas; at Baton Rouge; at Bayou Manchac; at the Bayagoulas; at the Tchoupitoulas; at Cannes-brule; on the Black river; on the Pas- cagoula ; at the Bay of St. Louis and Old Biloxi; on the Ouachita ; at the Houmas; and one 16 leagues square, on the Arkansas, to Law, which he desired to erect into a great Duchy. Of course, with Law's failure, colonization was checked, and improvements largely ceased, upon many of the concessions. Some of the out- lying concessions, such as Law's were altogether abandoned and the colonists joined the people on the others. Comparatively few re- turned to France. The actual settlers now felt that they must

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shift for themselves, and began to apply themselves exclusively to the cultivation of the ground, and ceased the futile search for precious metals. Many, especially formed settlements on the allu- vial banks of the Mississippi, where, during the years 1718-20, Bienville had founded the city of New Orleans. In 1722, it became the capital of the colony. From 1718 on the slave trade was under full headway. Each year the company brought over from three to five hundred blacks, in compliance with the terms of its charter. These were distributed among the plantations, and soon formed an important element in the colony. They had become numerous enough in 1724 to call for special laws. Governor Bienville promul- gated the famous "Black Code" in that year, which remained in force for nearly eighty years with few alterations in Mississippi and other portions of the province.

In 1723 the Royal Indian Company succeeded to the rights of the Western Company in Louisiana. The financial crash which ensued when Law's credit bubble burst, had, as we have seen, checked colonization and improvements in the colony. Neverthe- less the company persisted in its plans, and many colonists contin- ued to arrive. Most of these were brought over at the expense of the company. They were largely drawn from the poor, mendicant and criminal classes. They formed the laborers sent to work the various concessions. Many were unfitted for farming, or any laborious life, and some returned to France to spread evil reports of the Mississippi. Nevertheless many stayed and the colony con- tinued to grow. On some of the plantations indigo was being suc- cessfully cultivated. The company enjoyed a monopoly of the tobacco trade in France, and drew much of its supply from Louis- iana. An especially good quality of tobacco was raised at Natchez, and the district was capable of raising all that was needed to sup- ply France. Says Dumont in his history of Louisiana: "The fer- tility of this country presented important objects of culture; that of tobacco alone sufficed to indemnify the French company for all its expenses in colonization, if, in consequence of the pride which had ruined it, it had not sought to extend its possessions and as- sume everywhere an air of sovereignty which never sits well on a company of merchants, whose attentions should be exclusively di- rected to the means of extending commercial relations and increas- ing the number of articles of trade. If the company, instead of building forts at excessive prices, keeping up considerable bodies of troops, raising buildings which only served to gratify vanity and give a vain idea of its greatness and power, and furnishing its agents every means of increasing the expenditure, had confined itself to the culture of articles of which they knew the importance, we should not now see all good citizens of France sighing over the failure of the attempts to establish a colony, whose fertility is ad- mired and importance felt."

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Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 115

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