Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 88

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 88

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eight. Between the two state rooms was a saloon forty by eighteen feet, large enough for 100 passengers.

Before 1830 the Ohio and Mississippi became literally covered with steamboat fleets, and they were also soon found on every deep tributary of these streams. In 1834 the number of steamboats on western waters was 230, and in 1844, 450. Their average bur- den was 200 tons each, making an aggregate of 90,000 tons, which at $80 per ton, was $7,200,000. By the official returns of 1842 it appears that the whole steamboat tonnage of the United States was 218,994 tons, divided as follows: Southwest 126,278 tons, North- west 17,652 tons, Seaboard 76,064 tons. From which it appears that two-thirds belonged to the West, and more than one-half to the Southwest. The steamboat tonnage of the Mississippi val- ley (1842) exceeded by 40,000 tons the entire steamboat tonnage of Great Britain (1834). In 1840-42 the best boats could make the voyage from Natchez to New Orleans, a distance of 285 miles, in 22 hours, at a speed of more than 12 miles per hour against the current of the Mississippi. The same boats would run from New Orleans to St. Louis in four days and a half, against the impetuous current, above Natchez ; or at the rate of 9 miles per hour the whole distance of nearly 1,200 miles. (Monette). After 1844 the most magnificent steamboats in all the west were built at St. Louis, and were veritable floating palaces. As illustrating their carrying capacity, we read that in January, 1846, the splendid steamboat Maria, from St. Louis, arrived at New Orleans with the enormous load of 4,058 bales of cotton.

In 1836 and 1837 the burning of steamboats on the river was very frequent. The Ben Sherrod racing with the Prairie Belle off the mouth of Homochitto, May 9, 1837, caught fire from her own furnaces, and burned so rapidly that out of two or three hun- dred passengers only forty escaped to the shore. A public meet- ing at Natchez, presided over by General Quitman, demanded the prevention of racing, and denounced the outrageous conduct of the captain of the burned steamer. The cost of the passenger trans- portation from Natchez to Pittsburg, 1,700 miles, was $33 including board, in 1835.

Four general classes of men came to be recognized in connection with the steamboat traffic; the proprietors, navigators, operators, and deckhands. The upper ranks of the steam-packet business furnished the West with many fine types of men. "The typical captain of the first half century of steamboating in the West was a man any one was glad to number among his friends and ac- quaintances. But between the pilot house and the deck lay a gulf-not impassable, for it was frequently spanned by the worthy- deep and significant. Until the Civil War 'deckoneering' was, largely, the pursuit of whites. A few plantation owners rented out slaves to steamboat owners, but negroes did not usurp the profes- sion until they were freed. This was contemporaneous with the general introduction of steam railways." (Hulbert).

Not only did the War 1861-5 put an end to the days of the "deck-

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oneering" of white men, and to the "coasting" trade of the flat- boats, but it also marked the passing of the old gambling days in the steamboat business. For more than thirty years the steamboats had been infested by a swarm of sporting men which almost lived upon the Ohio-Mississippi boats. Opulent southern planters trav- eled largely by steam packets and were a source of immense reve- nue to these card-sharps. Gambling, like drinking intoxicants, im- plied no social ostracism, and men of national reputation whiled away the long hours of leisure on the voyage by indulging in games of chance. Thousands of dollars were often wagered in a single night in games between the gamblers and rich planters. Boat- owners were at last compelled to prohibit all such pastimes to re- establish the reputations of the river boats.

Probably no interest in the Mississippi valley suffered so much from the effects of the war as did steamboating, especially at the South. On the cessation of hostilities, those who survived and had saved their boats, or could build or buy others made a determined effort to re-establish themselves in the business, and many were soon doing a flourishing business. But in the meantime the war had given their natural enemy, the railroads, a great impetus, and river transportation began to wane. Under the fierce competition of the constantly expanding railroad lines, the steamboat business on the Mississippi and the smaller rivers, is but a fraction of its for- mer volume.

Steel, a hamlet in the northeastern part of Scott county, about 10 miles north of Forest, the county seat, and nearest railroad and banking town. The postoffice here was recently discontinued, and it now has rural free delivery from Harperville. Population in 1900, 40.

Steele, John, first secretary of the Mississippi Territory, was a native of Virginia, born about 1755. He was a line officer during the war of the Revolution, and at the battle of Germantown was shot through the body. Before coming to Mississippi in 1798 he had served on the executive council, and when appointed to the office of secretary was a member of the commission, with George Walton and Alfred Moore, to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee Indians. During a great part of his official term as secretary he was in feeble health, but he seems to have performed a good deal of service, among other duties visiting the distant Tombigbee set- tlement. His failure to read and approve the laws of the first gen- eral assembly, in special session, 1801, may have been due, partly, to other reasons than health. He was then acting governor, a duty he performed from April until November, 1801. Governor Clai- borne was expected to arrive in time for the regular session of the assembly. His term expired May 7, 1802, but he continued to be a citizen of the Territory, living at his plantation which he gave the name of Belvidere. In 1804-05 he was a member of the house of representatives, and in various ways he was honored all through the Territorial period. Finally he was a member of the constitu-

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tional convention of 1817, but he did not long survive that date, dying at Natchez, far advanced in years and unmarried.

Steele's Administration. After the departure of Governor Sar- gent in the spring of 1801 and until the arrival of Governor Clai- borne in the latter part of November, Secretary John Steele was acting governor, apparently without any supervision from either the outgoing or incoming governor. Claiborne was appointed May 25, to fill a "vacancy existing," but the administration was not his until his arrival. The main event was the first session of the general assembly. (q. v.) Secretary Steele called this first ses- sion, May 26, 1801, to meet in July, and he addressed the two houses at their meeting, congratulating them upon the event. The assem- bly responded, welcoming his expression of a spirit of conciliation. "We reciprocate, sir, your congratulations upon the dawn of free- dom and safety under laws emanating from the people through their immediate representatives, and anticipate the advantages re- sulting from the exercise of powers so essential to the happiness of a free people, and which have been withheld from the inhabitants of the Natchez. That this extension of privilege will be used and exercised in a becoming and judicious manner, with a scrupulous regard to the laws of the superior government, we trust there can be no doubt." They deplored the absolute veto power of the gov- ernor, but hoped it would be exercised wisely ; regarded the judi- ciary of the Territory as inefficient in operation, but the revision of laws was to be handled cautiously ; to the Secretary's expression that the militia laws were "in almost a total state of inexecution," they responded that this condition would likely continue "unless the people are permitted (at least) to recommend their officers for appointment."

Secretary Steele returned to the assembly, from his home at "Belvidere," without his assent, the resolutions presented to him by Banks, West and Stampley, for the change of the seat of gov- ernment from Natchez to the town of Washington. He gave as his reasons that the acts of congress contemplated that Natchez was the capital, and, in any case, the change proposed was too important to be effected by mere resolution.

The grand jury of Pickering county in November expressed regret that "the late infirm state of health of the Hon. Colo. John Steel has so far rendered him incapable of acting in his official capacity as to read or sign the laws lately passed by our legislature, and fondly hope from his recovery and the expected arrival of a new governor that this obstacle is now removed." The grand jury also gave a glimpse of conditions by deploring that there were no laws to repress "Sabbath breaking, swearing, drunken- ness and other enormities;" that "the frequent escapes of Felons from the Goal of the County of Adams is truly alarming," that pun- ishments were inadequate, and that "it is high time for such per- sons after repeated and aggravated offences to be cut off from society as pests and disturbers of the public peace ;" that a number of orphan children were permitted to run at large without a master

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or protector ; that a court of equity was needed, from "alarming circumstances lately taken place in the courts," evidently referring to the rulings on Spanish land titles.

Steens, a hamlet in the eastern part of Lowndes county, on Floating Turtle creek, and a station on the Southern Railway, 8 miles northeast of Columbus, the county seat and nearest banking town. It has a money order postoffice, and one rural route emanates therefrom. Population in 1900, 26.

Steiner, a post-hamlet of Sunflower county, 12 miles north of Indianola, the county seat, and nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 21.

Stella, a postoffice of Kemper county, 7 miles southwest of De- kalb, the county seat. It is situated on Pawticfaw creek, 25 miles north of Meridian.

Stephensville, a hamlet of Sunflower county, situated on Porters Bayou, 6 miles north of Indianola, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town. It has a money order postoffice.

Sterling, or Okatibbee Station, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., is a hamlet of Lauderdale county, 5 miles by rail south of Meridian. It has rural free delivery from Meridian. Population in 1900, 23.

Stewart, an incorporated post-town in the eastern part of Mont- gomery county, and a station on the Southern Railway, 18 miles east of Winona, the county seat, and 12 miles west of Eupora. Kil- michael is the nearest banking town. It has a money order post- office. Population in 1906, 200.

Stewart, Duncan, first lieutenant-governor of Mississippi, Octo- ber 7, 1817, to January 5, 1820, was a son of William Stewart, who emigrated from Scotland, to North Carolina, about 1730. Patrick, one of the sons of William, was a royalist officer during the revo- lution. Duncan was an officer in the Continental army. He mar- ried Penelope, daughter of Col. Tignal Jones, of North Carolina. About 1797, he and a brother James moved to Tennessee, where Duncan was honored with election to the legislature. About 1808 he removed to Wilkinson county, Miss., where he became a wealthy planter. He held the office of surveyor-general as well as lieu- tenant-governor. He died at the age of sixty years.

Tignal J., his eldest son, was a member of the legislature, prom- inent in securing the legal rights of married women. He married a daughter of Peter Randolph, Federal judge, and had two daugh- ters. James A., second son, married another daughter of Judge Randolph, and they had seven children. Charles Duncan, the third son of Duncan, married a daughter of Judge Black, afterward United States senator, and became a planter in Pointe Coupee par- ish. His son, John Black Stewart, was a famous author under the name of "Archibald Clavering Gunter," author of "Mr. Barnes of New York," and other works. Catherine, fourth child of Governor Stewart, married Judge Harry Cage. Her two sons were in the Mexican war and the Civil war, Duncan Stewart Cage as col- onel, Albert Cage as captain. Eliza, the youngest child of Governor Stewart, married Col. W. S. Hamilton.

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Stockdale, Thomas Ringland, was born in Green county, Penn., February 28, 1828, son of William Stockdale and Hannah McQuaid. After the hard life of the farmer boy in those early days, he entered college and graduated from Washington and Jefferson college in 1856. In the same year he came to Mississippi, and, after teaching four years, in 1858 he became a student at the university where he graduated in law in 1859. He entered on his profession at Holmes- ville at once, but in 1861 enlisted in the Confederate service as a private. He was promoted to the rank of colonel, and was paroled from Forrest's army in May, 1865. In 1867 he married Fannie Wicker, of Amite county, and they made their home in Summit. Col. Stockdale was a law partner of Judge Hiram Cassidy for twelve years. He was a member of the national Democratic convention in 1868, and was presidential elector in 1872 and in 1884. In 1886 he was elected to the 50th congress, and served till 1895. He was appointed in 1896 to fill out an unexpired term in the Supreme Court, and served till May 1897. He died at Summit, Miss., Jan- uary 8, 1899.

Stockton, Richard, Jr., a native of New Jersey, was educated at Princeton, taking first honors, before he came to Mississippi to practice law. "He was an eminent lawyer and man of ability." says Lynch, and "remarkably modest and unassuming in his man- ners." He had the rank of colonel on the staff of Governor Leake, who appointed him judge of the First circuit and of the supreme court, in August, 1822, to succeed Bela Metcalf, resigned, and was elected by the legislature in the following December. There was in that period in Mississippi as in other States and in the United States as a whole, great jealousy of the legislative body toward the courts, particularly in regard to the right of the court, now ad- mitted, to pass upon the constitutionality of session acts. At this period also, the legislatures in the new States were straining the rules of justice in behalf of debtors, as was, no doubt, desirable, although there was a dangerous tendency toward a general repu- diation and nullification of contracts and compacts, which it was the duty of the courts to check.

The house of representatives, in the session of 1825, required the sergeant at arms to notify the judges of the supreme court to appear at the bar of the house and show cause why they should not be removed from office in consequence of their decision in rela- tion to an act extending further relief to debtors. The committee on the subject called Judge Stockton before it, who made a state- ment of facts. In the case of Cochrane and Murdoch vs. Benjamin Kitchen, and sureties, judgment had been rendered on a note, and execution issued and levied, and thereupon the sheriff, under the act of the legislature, had sold the goods on one year's credit, taking new sureties and releasing the original ones. Stockton cited the constitution of the United States and the State, and the opinions of the courts in other States on the same sort of ex post facto laws, but the legislators contended that the supreme court went too far in fining the sheriff $100 for carrying out an act of legislature. On

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the same day Judge Stockton resigned. There was no personal feeling in the matter. He was elected attorney-general of the State at the same session, (Jan. 25, 1826) and he held this office until his death in 1827, dying, says Lynch (Bench and Bar, 92- 99) in a duel at New Orleans.

Stokely, a postoffice of Coahoma county.

Stokes, a postoffice of Madison county.

Stone, a postoffice in the north-central part of Neshoba county, 6 miles north of Philadelphia, the county seat.

Stone, John Marshall, deceased, was born near Milan, Gibson county, Tenn., April 30, 1830; son of Asher and Judith (Royall) Stone, natives respectively of Pittsylvania and Halifax counties, Va. Asher Stone, who died in Carroll county, Tenn., Sept. 20, 1841, was the son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Whitworth) Stone, of Pittsyl- vania county, Va .; Isaac Stone was the son of William Stone, who served during the Revolution in the Virginia State troops. William was born in 1845 and was the son of Joshua Stone, the first Amer- ican settler of the family. He resided in Prince Edward county, Va., where he reared a large family, some of whom migrated to Kentucky and other Southern states. Judith, mother of John M. Stone, was the daughter of Richard Royall, of Halifax county, Va., whose wife was Fannie Royster, daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. When John Marshall Stone was eleven years of age, his father died, and the family moved to Henderson county, Tenn., where the young son attended the common schools and labored in the support of his mother and her nine children, left in straightened circumstances. This condition was relieved by the bequest of a grandmother in 1846.

John M. Stone began his career as a teacher in the common schools of Tennessee. After teaching for a short time he came to Mississippi and accepted a clerkship in the store at Eastport, a village near Iuka. In 1855-61 he was agent of the railroad at Iuka. When the state seceded from the Union, early in 1861, he entered the service of the Confederate States as captain of the Iuka Rifles, assigned as Company K to Colonel Flakner's Second regiment, in Virginia. On April 16, 1862, he was elected colonel of the regiment. As senior colonel he frequently commanded Davis' brigade, with particular distinction at the Wilderness, where he was highly praised by General Lee and other officers.

He was wounded several times during the war, but never seriously. Near the close of the war he came home for a brief furlough, and while returning to the service was captured by Gen- eral Steadman at Salisbury, N. C., and sent to Johnson's Island, where he remained a prisoner until July 25, 1865. After the war he returned to Iuka and quietly took up the duties of a citizen, which he performed as heroically as he had those of war. His military record had been very brilliant, a fact that served to deepen the admiration with which his friends regarded him. In the important State election of 1869, preparatory to the beginning of the Alcorn administration, he was elected to the state senate for a term of

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four years. Being reelected in 1873, Colonel Stone served as sena- tor through the period of negro domination. When the democratic party gained a majority of the legislature of 1876, and it was de- termined to impeach Ames and Davis, Stone was elected president pro tem. of the senate by acclamation, with the understanding that he would become governor. Beginning his service as chief execu- tive March 29, 1876, he served by virtue of election in 1877, to Jan- uary, 1881, and being again elected in 1889 he served from January 13, 1890, to January 20, 1896, by virtue of an extension of term by the constitutional convention. Between his terms as governor he was a railroad commissioner by appointment in 1886. In 1896 he became president of the Merchants' bank at Jackson, Miss. When a vacancy occurred in the presidency of the Agricultural and Me- chanical college, occasioned by the resignation of General S. D. Lee, he accepted the position which he filled with ability until his death at Holly Springs, March 26, 1900. He is buried at Iuka, and is survived by his widow, whose devotion to his memory is most marked and beautiful. On May 2, 1872, he married Mary Gillim Coman, a daughter of James M. and Elizabeth Jordan (Mason) Coman of Athens, Ala., who came to Mississippi in 1848, settling near Iuka. Mrs. Coman was a daughter of Capt. William Mason of Halifax county, Va. Gov. and Mrs. Stone became the parents of two children, James Marshall and Mary Elizabeth, both of whom died in infancy.

Gov. Stone was one of the most conspicuous figures in Mississippi during the Reconstruction period, and is cherished in the hearts of the people as one of the State's favorite sons. He was a man of strong convictions and manifested great independence of character when a principle was involved. As an evidence of this, in 1894 he considered the candidacy for the United States senate, but not hav- ing favored the remonetization of silver, to which his party was committed, he laid aside the ambition, though it was believed the nomination could easily have been his had he sacrificed his con- victions. He was broad-minded and magnanimous, and his pre- dominating characteristic was loyalty to duty both public and private. He was not of a nature to be confined to narrow limits, and impressed himself upon all phases of life with which he was associated. At the time of his death he held the position of major- general in the Mississippi Division, United Confederate Veterans, and in the general orders, a day later, Gen. John C. Gordon wrote:

"Conspicuous among these warriors in that titanic struggle is his heroic form, now leading a forlorn hope through the tangled wildwood of the wilderness, or breasting the leaden hail amid the death dealing storm of the Bloody Angle, or on the ebb and flow of the tide of battle at Gettysburg, or upon any and every part of those fateful fields, wherever an offering of courage could be made for his country's honor, or a libation poured out in its defense. Mississippi has been prolific of great men, and the pages of history are luminous with their illustrious names, but she will have none upon her shield purer, braver, or more resplendent than that of

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John Marshall Stone." (See Stone's Administration.) Gen. Stone was very prominently identified with the Masonic order and in 1889 was grand master in the state of Mississippi. He was a Knight Templar and at one time was commander of Mary Lodge at Corinth. He was also a member of the Knights and Ladies of Honor.

Stone's Administration, 1876-82. John M. Stone, as president pro tempore of the senate, became governor upon the resignation of Governor Ames, March 29, 1876. The legislature was then in ses- sion, and had been busied, since convening in January, with inves- tigation of all branches of the government, and the impeachment of Governor Ames and Lieutenant-Governor Cardozo. Three amendments to the constitution, adopted at the 1875 election, were embodied in the constitution, one of them permitting a great re- duction in the expense of the judiciary, but the payment of wit- ness fees in criminal cases by the counties instead of by the State, continued to be a great expense and evil. The office of commis- sioner of immigration and agriculture was practically abolished by reduction of the salary to a nominal sum. Special agents to investigate county tax returns were abolished, also the state board for equalization of taxes, the office of cotton weigher, etc., and the militia, practically, by the reduction of pay to five cents a day when on duty. The district printing law was repealed, abolishing a num- ber of newspapers thereby supported. The State publications were reduced to the least possible volume, though after a few years they were restored to the former size, at a greatly reduced ex- pense. Salaries of State officers and the judiciary were reduced. The appropriations for educational purposes were curtailed, includ- ing the reduction of the 4-mill teachers' tax, to two mills. In general the measures taken were for a sweeping reform of the whole financial and administrative system. "One cannot fail to see in this legislation the signs of a revolution. The legislature of 1876, the first controled by the tax payers after the inauguration of the re- construction policy, proceeded on the belief that the work of the carpet baggers was unworthy to stand. The majority of the Dem- ocratic members believed that much official corruption existed in the administration of the State government when they took hold. The most searching investigation was instituted in every depart- ment, which resulted in unveiling numerous frauds. The legisla- ture continued in session until April 15, a period of three and a half months, endeavoring to wipe out every trace of the old regime. and to restore the government to a 'systematic and economical' basis. Judged from the standpoint of its legislation alone. it de- serves to be ranked as one of the most important in the history of the State. There is little doubt that most of its legislation was wholesome and wise-certainly it was economical-and it had the result of restoring the confidence of the people in the government." (Garner, "Reconstruction," 412) "While the legislature was re- moving the carpet baggers from office and repealing the laws which they had enacted, many of them were preparing to emigrate. There

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Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 88

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