Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 35

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 35

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 city was made the seat of a revenue district, and Dr. John F. Carmichael was appointed collector in 1799. Natchez was incor- porated in 1803 (Hutchinson's Code, 94), and Gov. Claiborne made the following appointments in March of the same year: Samuel Brooks, mayor ; Peter A. VanDorn, marshal ; John Girault, Samuel Neil and Joseph Newman, aldermen. Paul Martel was appointed French consul in 1806, but the duties of the office were performed by Paul Vermonnet until 1810, when Martel finally arrived. In 1808 Jonathan Davis was appointed surveyor of the port. Alexan- der Baillie was collector of the port at Natchez, before 1807, when suit was brought by Seth Lewis, attorney for the United States, against him and his bondsmen, William Dunbar and Edward Tur- ner. Mayor Brooks represented to Governor Holmes in March, 1811, that a "banditti of armed rioters" had committed outrages in Natchez, and Capt. David Becket was ordered to aid the sheriff with his militia company.

The letters of John A. Quitman in 1822 give an interesting pic- .

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ture of life in and about Natchez. "Natchez is a bustling place. The streets are lined with carriages, drays and wagons. The rush to the river is incessant. Every hour we hear the roar of the can- non, announcing the arrival and departure of steamers. Hundreds of arks or flatboats, loaded with the produce of the western States, even from the interior of Pennsylvania, here line the landing for half a mile, often lying five tier deep. Under the hill vice and infamy are rampant and glaring, and the law almost powerless. Day and night the orgies of blackguardism and depravity are enacted without shame and restraint. The Sabbath is there particularly a day of profanation and debauchery. The gam- bler, the bully, the harlot reign triumphant, and little jurisdic- tion is taken over their atrocities. . The planters

live profusely; drink costly port, madeira and sherry, after the English fashion, and are exceedingly hospitable. . . Your coffee in the morning before sunrise; little stews and sudori- fics at night, and warm footbaths if you have a cold; bou- quets of fresh flowers and mint juleps sent to your apartment ; a horse and saddle at your disposal; every thing free and easy and cheerful and cordial. . . Clothing is usually made to order in Philadelphia, of the most expensive materials and most fashionable cut. Our beaux here mostly patronize Wat- son and his average charge is $100 a suit. We have few mechanics, except carpenters, masons and gin-wrights. There is not a shoemaker in Natchez. Our shoes come from the North, boots from Paris, and cost from $10 to $14. Extravagance and expense become familiar."

In 1829, the Southern Galaxy, of Natchez, in humorous rejoinder to the lament of the National Intelligencer, of Washington, D. C., over the demise of the Natchez Ariel, a remarkable newspaper, said : "How long it is since the gentlemen of the Federal city made the discovery that Natchez was in the 'country.' Why, Messieurs, it is an incorporated city, with its mayor and council-Churches, as many, too, as there be in said Metropolis-Court House and Jail-Masonic Hall-Theatre-Circus (locomotive)-Orphan Asy- lum-Societies, learned and unlearned, charitable and uncharitable. Our commerce, too, almost equals that of the Tiber (unclassically, Goose Creek). Our exports are more than four millions of dollars; our imports fall but little short of the same amount. Natchez, too, is a port of entry, and Uncle Sam, a whimsical dog, took it into his head one day to give us a Light House, which, by the bye, his worthy collector of customs located directly in front of the city."

A stock company held the boards at the Natchez Theatre in the winter of 1828, and in February the elder Booth and his company played for nine nights. Booth was followed by Forrest. See "Powers, Tyrone." The Female orphan asylum, founded in 1816, was supported by the ladies, who, in 1828, expended nearly a thou- sand dollars upon its maintenance, in addition to donations of cloth- ing.

James H. Ingraham thus described his approach to the city by

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boat from New Orleans, in 1835: "The loud and startling report of a cannon in the bows of the boat, making her stagger and tremble through every beam, is the signal that our port is in sight-a pile of gray and white cliffs with here and there a church steeple. a roof elevated above its summit, and a light-house hanging on the verge. At the foot of the bluffs are long, straggling lines of wooden buildings, principally stores and storehouses; the levée is fringed with flatboats and steamers, and above all, tower majestically the masts of two or three ships. The whole prospect from the deck presents an interesting scene of commercial life and bustle. But this is not Natchez. The city proper is built upon the summit level, the tops of whose buildings and trees can be seen from the boat, rising higher than the cliff." He noted that the character of "Natchez under the Hill," notorious throughout the United States, "in wretched rhyme and viler story," had been somewhat improved since the establishment there of respectable mercantile houses and an excellent hotel. The road up, cut on a gentle incline along the side of the cliff for a quarter of a mile, afforded a sensa- tion of mountain climbing. "The city proper consists of six streets, at right angles with the river, intersected by seven others of the same length, parallel with the stream. The front, or first parallel street, is laid out about 100 yards back from the verge of the bluff, leaving a noble green esplanade along the front of the city. From this place the eve commands one of the most extensive prospects to be found on the Mississippi." From the parade each street was entered by rude bridges spanning a brick aqueduct of large dimen- sions, which had been constructed along the whole front of the city, but was then in a neglected condition. Ingraham's entire narra- tion is of interest, (The Southwest, by a Yankee). He declared there was as much style and fine dressing as in Philadelphia, and certainly more than in New Orleans. The principal edifices were the Agricultural bank; the Masonic hall, the first story of which was used as an academy, the only one in the State; the theater, at the edge of the town ; the court house, a fine large square building. opposite the Presbyterian church with its clock tower; the Episco- pal church in the southeast part of the town, surmounted by a vast dome; Parker's hotel, on one of the front squares, a handsome, costly, three story building, largest in the town; the Mansion house, less of a family and more of a traveller's hotel.

"Natchez is about 400 miles from the ocean-but about to be- come a great seaport, by the aid of steam vessels ascending the current of the Mississippi, towing up ships. The State of Missis- sippi now exports about 225,000 bales of cotton." Niles Register, July, 1833. In the same season 1837-38, 38,000 bales of cotton were loaded at Natchez on ships for Liverpool, and 3,500 for Boston. The steamship "Natchez," built at Brooklyn, was completed in July, 1838, and arrived at Natchez in August, greeted with great enthusiasm.

Let us now glance for a brief space at some of the many stately, ante-bellum homes within and without the city, evidencing a degree

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of luxury and refined taste during the first half of the last century to be found nowhere else in the South. Some of these old homes are century old, and most of them are surrounded by broad acres, embellished with wide, sweeping lawns, drives, gardens and noble shade trees. A majority of them are characterized by the simple, yet beautiful lines of colonial architecture, embracing solid walls of masonry built to withstand the ravages of time, broad verandas supported by classic columns, and lofty interiors, the envy of mod- ern architects. About two miles east of Natchez, stood Concord, the fine old residence of three Spanish governors, Gov. Grand Pré, Gov. Gayoso, and the last representative of the authority of Spain, Gov. Estevan Minor, whose descendants were long in pos- session of the stately home. Concord was built in 1789, but now lies in ruins-the work of the fire fiend. The property now belongs to Dr. Stephen Kelly of New York. Dunbarton, home of the Dunbar family, was distant ten miles from town on the Liberty road; it was erected in 1804, and about it cluster many memories of historic interest. The silver-tongued Seargent S. Prentiss was a tutor here after his arrival in the State, and it was afterwards the home of Col. J. F. H. Claiborne, the historian, whose wife was a Miss Dunbar. When the old home was destroyed by fire in 1884, an irreparable loss was sustained in the destruction of Col. Clai- borne's second volume of the "History of Mississippi," just ready for the press. Another old home near Natchez is Somerset, which has been in the hands of the Chotard family for more than 80 years. The house is approached by a beautiful drive which winds through a magnificent grove of trees, while the house itself is adorned with an unusually long and wide gallery. The dignity of the home is further enhanced by a charming interior, filled with costly bric-a-brac, china and antiques, and the portraits of three generations of the family. It is a place to delight the antiquarian. Just without the town is Richmond, home of the Marshalls, built by L. R. Marshall early in the last century, and still intact. The Nutt residence, Longwood, although never entirely finished by its builder before the war, Mr. Haller Nutt, is a noble conception of Moorish design, and stands in the midst of a large park. On the Woodville road about two miles from town stands the lovely villa of Glenburnie, whose broad expanse of lawn is approached by a shaded drive. It was formerly the home of Capt. Geo. Ralston and is now in possession of Mr. Bulkly. Opposite is Elmscourt, the beautiful Merrill home, very quaint in design and suggesting an Italian villa. On the same road are Glenwood, formerly the home of Mr. Albert Dunbar: whilst nearer town is Inglewood, the old Calhoun home, which has been in the family for generations. In the same vicinity is old Gloster. enshrouded in trees, the home of Winthrop Sargent, first territorial governor of Mississippi; in the quiet little graveyard hard by is the final resting-place of Gov. Sargent and Seargent S. Prentiss. Forest, Sir William Dunbar's stately mansion. eight miles out in the country, is another victim of the ruthless fire-fiend. The vine-clad columns remain to attest

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the beauty of the architecture. Still other country homes, typical of the proud old aristocracy of the region, and over whose descrip- tion did space permit one would fain linger, are those of the Met, calfe's, Gillespies, Jenkins, the Bennetts, the Williams; Cherry Grove, the home of James Surget; Laurel Hill, once the home of Doctor Mercer, and now descended to Mr. James Butler, with its beautiful Gothic chapel built to commemorate "a father's love for his only daughter;" Auburn, the stately brick and stone mansion of Mr Stephen Duncan; Woodlands, ample in proportions, and with wide-spreading galleries, long in the possession of the Turner family, and now owned by Mr. E. H. Ratcliff ; stately Ashburn, built by Mr. Austin Williams in 1835 and burned in 1874, but re- membered for its fine great hall, beautiful staircase and its perfect symmetry ; Linden, home of the Connor's, surrounded by over ninety feet of pillared veranda and set in the midst of handsome grounds; The Briars, the unpretentious but comfortable home of the Howells, now owned by Mrs. Irving; it was here that Jefferson Davis wooed and married Miss Varina Howell; Arlington, on the edge of the town, and approached by a winding avenue of water oaks, was the former home of Judge S. S. Boyd and famed for its paintings and fine old library; it is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Wm. Benneville Rhodes; Llangolan, built by Gen. Dahlgren and commanding a wide sweep of country; Melrose, the former home of Mrs. Mary T. McMurran, now owned by Mr. George M. Kelly; Devereux, the beautiful old home of Mrs. Bayard Shields; Homewood, owned by the Balfour family, and Landsdowne, the G. M. Marshall home. Thus the list of stately old country homes might be extended almost indefinitely. The same is in a measure true of the many beautiful city homes, numbers of them replete with historic interest. Only a bare mention of a few of them will be attempted-these the older ones. Ravenna, the comfortable and artistic old home of Mr. Oren Metcalfe; the old Fisk mansion, successively owned by Robert Fisk, Henry Chotard, G. M. Davis, and the grandson of the latter, Mr. George Kelly; now, consider- ably enlarged, it is the seat of the well known Stanton College, a school for young women ; Stanton Hall, built by Frederick Stanton in ante-bellum days, and now owned by his granddaughter, Mrs. Andrew G. Campbell, is a handsome and luxurious home; Rosalie, suggesting in its name old Fort Rosalie, is the fine brick home of Mr. S. E. Rumble, overlooking the bluffs; Magnolia Vale, home of R. F. Learned, and the only one in Natchez beneath the bluffs, is unsurpassed by any in the beauty of its lawns and gardens ; the former home of Dr. F. A. W. Davis, now owned by his daughters, with its extensive grounds and beautiful garden ; the Towers, well set back from the road, and very quaint in architecture, is the for- mer home of Mr. John Fleming, now owned by Captain and Mrs. Buck; The Burn, the Walworth home : Dr. Stratton's home, Sun- set-Lodge ; Melmont, the home of Mr. S. McDowell, set in spacious grounds amid a lovely grove; and the handsome old residence of Mrs. E. M. Britton constructed of stuccoed brick with Ionic col-

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umns reaching to the second story; it was built by Mr. Thomas Henderson; also Dunleith, one of the handsomest mansions in Natchez, surrounded by beautiful grounds, and now the residence of Mr. Joseph N. Carpenter.

Natchez is further embellished with many fine old church edi- fices. The Presbyterian church was erected in 1829; its architec- ture is simple, massive and dignified; has a clock in the church tower, and has a deep gallery running around three sides; Strat- ton Chapel, of classic design, is a noteworthy modern addition. Trinity Episcopal church was built in 1825; its style of architecture is simple in design, but substantial and dignified. The Roman Catholic Cathedral is of old Gothic architecture and was erected in 1841. The Methodist church is a large substantial building on Jefferson street, built of brick. The Baptist congregation, a large and growing one, will soon have a structure of more ample propor- tions. Another handsome church edifice is the Temple B'Nai Israel. There are also a number of colored churches. Among the eleemosynary institutions of Natchez are a well conducted hospi- tal, supported by the State, county and city, and three homes for orphan children-two Roman Catholic and one Protestant, the lat- ter, as we have recorded, was organized in 1816, and made a state institution in 1821. The city is amply provided with educational facilities. In addition to Stanton College, already mentioned, there are two large Roman Catholic schools, seven private schools, and an up-to-date system of public schools. The city has recently completed a fine brick building for white children at a cost of $35,000 ; it also supports a good school for colored children. Nat- chez College is a colored institution. Only six miles from Natchez is Jefferson Military College (q. v.) combining the dignity of age and the vigor of youth.

Modern Natchez boasts a first-class opera house, equipped to accommodate the best of traveling companies; also three clubs, all admirably housed-the Elks, Standard, and Prentiss; the hotel accommodations of the city are also ample and first-class in every particular. Generally speaking, the city is possessed of all the conveniences which go to make up the modern, metropolitan city. It has two progressive newspapers, The Democrat, a morning paper, and The Evening Bulletin ; there are two commercial bodies, the Cotton and Merchant's Exchange, and the Progressive League, which are active in furthering the commercial interests of the city. Five large banking institutions with a combined capital of $625,000 minister to the financial needs of the city. Its transportation wants are amply provided for by three railroads now in operation: The Yazoo & Mississippi Valley, a part of the Illinois Central system; The New Orleans & Northwestern R. R., recently purchased by the Gould system : The Natchez. Red River & Texas Ry .. now in operation to the Black river. The Gould system is rapidly com- pleting its line along the west shore of the Mississippi, and the surveys of the proposed Natchez & Gulf R. R. are complete. These in time will add to the already excellent railroad facilities

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of the city. Natchez is the home port of four steamboat lines and all through boats on the river make the port of Natchez. There is a good street car service with six miles of track, which is being rapidly extended. There are also excellent systems of water works and sewers, with mains 13 miles long and a capacity of 2,500,000 gallons; also three fire companies, furnished with every modern equipment. Two express companies; two telegraph companies, and a long distance telephone with an extensive local exchange, are other modern utilities. The cotton industry of the city is enormous; it annually handles 90,000 bales of the staple, and a proportionate amount of the by-products, utilizing two compresses, two cotton seed oil mills, two modern gins, and a delinting mill. There are also two large cotton mills. Other important manufac- turing enterprises, which enter into the industrial makeup of the city are, an ice plant with a daily capacity of 80 tons; a modern saw-mill; two sash, door, and blind factories; a planing mill, two large, modern brick yards; a gas plant; two electric light plants ; two lumber yards, and a foundry and boiler factory. Natchez has twenty wholesale houses doing an annual business of over $15,000,- 000; and, with the exception of Vicksburg, is the largest whole- sale city in the State; two hundred and twenty-five retail stores supply every want of its citizens.

The total assessed valuation of property in Natchez is $4,565,- 483; the city tax levy is 16 and 1% mills : the total indebtedness is $396,034. $320,000 of which is a subscription to the 6 per cent. bonds of the N. O. & N. W. Ry. The population of Natchez in 1900 was 12,210, and a population of over 15,000 was claimed in 1906. Its lofty elevation and fine natural drainage make Natchez one of the healthiest cities in the land.

Natchez District, Boundary. As noted elsewhere. the district of Natchez was one of the two areas to which the British government acquired title by treaty with the Indians during the West Florida period. "About the year 1778," according to a manuscript left by Col. Anthony Hutchins, "the survey of the line of Natchez district was made. The surveyors commenced running this line, accord- ing to agreement, but arriving at the Stony spring [Rocky spring. in Claiborne county], about twelve miles east of the Grindstone ford on Bayou Pierre, the Indians perceived that the course they were going would take from them their favorite ball ground on the bank of the Yazous. They refused to proceed any further. The surveyors suspended the work, and after both parties made representations to Governor Chester. he agreed that the Indians should have their wav. They took the surveyors to the Yazous, and made them set their course from the point they selected, about six leagues up the river, to strike the former line at the Stony Spring, where they had left off. The goods to pay for this land arrived and were delivered to agents who. taking advantage of the war that broke out between the English and the Spaniards, gave but a small part to the Indians, who have ever since com- plained."

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In 1790 the boundary was the subject of negotiation between the Indians and Spanish, at the Treaty of Natchez.

At the Fort Adams treaty in December, 1801, the region having been from 1779 to 1798 under Spanish government, Puck-shum- ubbee, as his name is given in the report, said that the old line began "at the Homochitto; thence northwest to Standing Pines creek ; thence, crosses the Bayou Pierre high up, and Big Black; thence, strikes the Mississippi at the mouth of Tallauhatche (Yazoo)." He said the land had been sold once before, before the coming of the American soldiers, but nothing paid, and he sug- gested that it would be just to give them compensation. It was agreed that the line should be resurveyed, but some disagreement arose about the starting point on the Yazoo, and General Wilkin- son took up the subject again at the treaty at Fort Confederation, in October, 1802, when the resurvey of the Mobile district was arranged for. The general wrote from the latter fort, October 17, 1802, "I experienced little difficulty in removing all obstacles to the reestablishment of the old boundary on the side of Natchez ; and, to remedy a defect which I have discovered in Purcell's line, I prevailed on the nation to authorize the chiefs of the Upper towns to make such alterations as may be found convenient and necessary." He started back at once, by horse, to the Yazoo, to begin the survey. Meanwhile the boundary was the subject of considerable correspondence on the part of Governor Claiborne, who reported in September, 1802, that the Choctaws were com- plaining that the settlers in the vicinity of Rocky Springs were get- ting on the Indian side of the line. John McKee, the Choctaw agent, believed there was danger of serious trouble if the settlers were not promptly removed. Consequently, Col. Daniel Burnet, of Jefferson district, was directed to order all settlers to keep at least one mile within the limits as supposed to be located, until a resurvey was made.

Not long afterward General Wilkinson began the survey, and from his camp wrote to Claiborne. November 11, 1802: "The mouth of the Yazoo, which is called for as the beginning of the old boundary, has, by a break of the Mississippi made through its banks, and the consequent desertion of its ancient bed, been shifted about six miles, which circumstance involves some difficulty with the Indian commissioners, and to this one more serious is added : the British surveyor left his east line entirely open, and. it would seem, five or six miles at the beginning of his south line. The Choctaws expect to see the old line and nothing less will satisfy them. It. of consequence, has become necessary for me to proceed to the Big Black river, in order to exhibit to them the marked trees, and from thence to retrace the line, back. as far as it can be discovered, after which I shall propose, on the ground of mu- tual accommodation. (and the proposition will be a fair and sound one) to continue the line to the first bluff on the Yazoo, above the inundations of the Mississippi and there to fix our beginning. Should I succeed, the United States will make a small acquisition,

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the Territory will be benefited, and the Indians will not be injured. In the promotion of this plan, I shall march for the Big Black as soon as I have closed this letter."

The general completed the survey at the national line, January 22, 1803, having been "somewhat perplexed to ascertain this boun- dary, which is not more obvious than an ordinary Choctaw trace. To ascertain my distance from the Mississippi, I shall measure Mr. Ellicott's traverse until I find some clear testimonial to satisfy me in this particular, and if not delayed by high waters I will reach Fort Adams the 27th or 28th."

Wilkinson's expenses, paid by the United States, were $2,155. He asked the governor to forward to Fort Adams, from the Indian goods at Natchez, the following as a reward to the Choctaw com- missioners and guides: "Three full trimmed long coats, blue and buff ; blue capots, red cuffs and capes ; five hats, three white watch- coats; six fine white shirts; four calico shirts; five pairs scarlet leggings, five blue flaps."

The district of Natchez, within the boundary line thus defined, was estimated at 2,031,800 acres. (Wailes, 1829.)

Natchez, District of. The Natchez district was of very great importance in the history of Mississippi because it was remarkably adapted to the necessities of the pioneer. The difficulties of open- ing a new country are so enormous that only the most favored spots can be utilized. Such was the region along the river, from Bayou Sara to the Yazoo river. It is a high and breezy upland, close to a great river that elsewhere had no limits put upon its destructive freaks in floodtime. The Natchez district was in com- parison to the rest of the country, as if it were a fertile abutment upon the ocean, where ships might anchor and load from the fields of grain. It contrasted sharply with the region beyond the river, where interminable swamps were hidden under immense forest trees, and gigantic vines. Of like forbidding nature, to the pio- neer, was the east shore of the river above the Walnut hills. These low lands were sometime to be of enormous value, but not until a great accumulation of wealth could be applied to them.

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Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 35

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