USA > Mississippi > Hancock County > Historical account of Hancock county and the sea board of Mississippi > Part 2
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 lady called for a light. The late John B. Toulme, then a youth, courteously handed his cigarette, and she discharged the cannon amidst the plaudits of our people.
A number of our young men, led by Mr. Toulme, who knew the route through the marshes and bayous, went in pirogues with their rifles, and took part in the defense of New Orleans.
In those days this city was but a small village with no commerce, resorted to merely as a summer retreat. Pearlington was the com- mercial point. It had been laid out on a metropolitan scale, cov- ering, I believe, near a section of land, and it had been visited by the legislature, then sitting in Columbia, in 1821, who were sumptu- ously entertained, and went away with the most favorable impres- sions. Pearl River, from a point 20 miles below Columbia, to Monticello, was settled by wealthy planters, chiefly from South Carolina, who sent their cotton down in barges, shipped it to New Orleans on schooners, and brought back their supplies. This made Pearlington lively and prosperous, and many distinguished families resided there.
.
-
10
In the whole county we had many cultivated and influential citizens-such men as Gen. Nixon, Col. Strong, Judge Louis Daniel, Col. Stewart, Gen. Peter Joor, Hon. Win. Haile, Willis H. Arnold, Hon. Noel Jordan, Elijah Carver, Judge Morgan, Moses Cook. Isaac Graves, Pierre Saucier. John B. Toulme, Judge J. C. Monet, John Martin, Major Samnel White, Leonard Kimball, Jacob Seal, Elijah and Win. Lott, Daniel and John Burnet, Thomas Brown, Judge Wingate, Capt. John Bradford, Nicholas Mitchell, William and Joseph Wheat, Sidney Lenoir, Major Cleveland, Asa Russ, W. J. and Thomas Poitevent, Hon. Ben. Leonard, S. Thomas Randall, Dr. R. Eager, H. and R. Carre, Dr. R. Montromery. J. W. Ro- berts, Judge Benjamin Sones, David Move, George Holleman, Capt. Geo. Sheriff, D. S. Dewees, Felton Conly. John L. Armstrong, Francois Netto, A. H. Hersey, Judge C. B. Beverley, W. W. Frier- son, Jordan Smith, Peyton Lee, Geo. Moore, George Marse, Judge Winningham, Dr. C. A. Calhoun, E. F. Spence, Charles Litchfield, Wm. Boardman, B. Bourne, M. A. Thompson, A. W. Cameron, Jesse Cowand, Jack Lizanna, Lonis Spotorno, W. A. Whitfield, Alex. Bookter, Cader Colly, F. G. Casanova, J. B. Mitchell, S. J. Favre, T .. A. Mitchell. Win. and Hiram Smith, A. M. Slaydon, Capt. Stocker, J. J. Bordages, Conrad Hoffman, James A. Ulman, Green Wootan, Joseph Martin. Charles Frazer, Ozanne Favre, Stephen and John Moody, James Johnston, Robert Carr. Dr. Leonard, Luther Russ, Christian Koch, John Orr, Judge Stephen Meade, Redding Byrd, D. C. Stanley, Captain Cuevas, Dimitry Canna, Alexander Dimitry, Col. Hoyt, Alex. F. Cameron, repre- sentative men of whom any county may be proud.
If Pearlington is no longer a cotton port, owing to the re- moval of planters from Pearl River to the central portion of the State, it has become one of the most important points for the saw- ing and shipping of lumber in the South. The mills at that place and its immediate vicinity employ many steam and sailing vessels, coastwise and to foreign ports, and over 600 hands in their various branches of business. The four mills, with four circular saws and three gangs, cut an average of 90,000 feet of lumber per day. Allowing 260 working days per year this would make 23,400,000 feet.
Poitevent & Favre sawed most of the lumber used in the construction of the N. O. & M. R. R. and its numerous bridges. Within the last few months they have shipped over 1,000,000 feet to northern, western and foreign ports, and they have supplied for the jetties 1000 round and square pikes, 700,000 feet 3-inch
11
plank for sheet piling, 2,600,000 feet mattrass strips, 35,000 feet wall timber, 215,000 feet promiscuous lumber.
Add to this the turn-out from the mills at Log-town and Gainesville-all conducted on a large scale, by men of enterprise and capital ; and the value of the brick and the tar, resin, tallow, beeswax, honey, wool, hides, peltry, staves, shingles, fruit, etc., shipped via Pearlington, and you may form some idea of the value of its commerce
The bar in this county has always been particularly strong: Gen. Prav, Hon. John Henderson, Richard Stockton, R. W. Webber, Thomas B. Reed, Hon. George Adams, Robert H. Buckner, Wm. Vannerson, Buckner H. Harris, Van-Tromp Crawford, W. A. Stone. of Pike, che "patriarch of the bar," D. W. Hurst, Gen. Daniel Adams, Gen. D. C. Glenn, Col. John H. Lamkin, E. Safford, Prof. H. F. Johnson, our lamented fellow-citizen, J. C. Monet, Col. J B. Deason, S. H. Terrell, Charles A. Smith, W. A. Champlin, Roderic Seal, D. B. Seal, T. J. Humphries, W. G. Henderson, George Wood, Elliott Henderson, and others, now practicing here, make a brilliant array of legal learning, eloquence and moral worth.
Gen. Pray was from Maine, a State which gave us the illus- trious Prentiss and the lamented Judge Sam'l A. Boyd, of Natchez. Like most young New Englanders preparing for a profession, Pray probably took a school while reading law. In a curious book called the "History of the County of Westchester, New York," vol. 1, p. 67, there is an account of a monument in the cemetery of the Dutch Keformed Church, at Peekskill, to the memory of Lieut. George McChain, with an inscription by P. R. R. Pray. It is written with much taste, and exhibits a severely clas- sical and cultured mind. He came South, intending to settle in New Orleans, having a partiality for the civil law; but on account of his health, was induced, by the advice of Gen. Ripley, to estab- lish himself at Pearlington.
Lands were held in West Florida by twenty-two different tenures, according to Sir Win. Dunbar, who had resided in the district under three governments, and had himself surveyed the most important grants.
1. Lands granted by the British Government, and not abandoned by the grantees, or their representatives, and have been cultivated.
2. Lands granted by mandamus by British government, without condition of oceu- pancy, and which never have been occupied by the grantees or their agents.
3. British parents from provincial Governors, with condition of certain improve- ments within three years, to be forfeited by non-performance, and which lands have not been occupied.
1. The last description of lands once occupied, but since abandoned.
.
---- --
-
12
5. Spanish grants by letters patent, or mandamus lands.
6. Spanish grants on lands formerly granted by British Governors, but never occu- pied by the British patentees, they not residing in the district.
7. . The last description, with this difference, that the patentee, although he never occupied his land, was a resident in another part of the Colony, who, upon resisting this new grant of his land by petitions to the Spanish Governor, was overruled for non-occu- pancy and improvement. agreeably to the conditions of the British grants, and reiterated Spanish proclamations to the same effect.
8. Spanish grant: upon lands which were vacant during the British government.
9 Lands purchased at public sale of the Spanish government, which lands had been declared forfeited by an insurrection in favor of the English, soon after the post of Natchez had been surrendered to the Spaniards. And this included British mandarinus grants and patents by the British governors of . West Florida
10. Lands for which warrants of survey had been obtained prior to the ratifica- tion of the Spanish treaty, but which could not be patented until after that date.
11. Lands of the above description, but never patented, the proprietor holding the warrant of survey, and plot, and certificate of the district surveyor prior to the treaty.
12. Land for which warrants of survey were obtained before the treaty, but sur- veyed and patented after the treaty.
13. Lands for which warrants of survey were obtained prior to the treaty, but sur- veyed after the treaty, and not patented.
14. Warrant of survey and patent obtained since the treaty, but during the exercise of the Spanish jurisdiction, as agreed in an instrument between the American commis- sioners and the Spanish authorities.
15. Warrant of survey. with plot and certificate of the district surveyors obtained since the treaty, but no patent.
16. Warrant of survey obtained before the treaty, and improvement thereon, but the land not surveyed.
17. Warrant obtained since the treaty, with improvement and actual occupation, but no survey.
18. Warrant before the treaty, without improvement or survey.
19. Warrant since the treaty, without improvement or survey.
20. Improvement by houses, crop, stock and actual occupation, without authority by warrant or otherwise.
21. Improvement and crop without residing on the land, and without warrant.
22. Improvement and occupancy, and verbal permission of the Spanish Governor. with surveyor's certificate.
Here then are twenty-two conflicting classifications covering the lands of West Florida and the Mississippi Territory, and each one big enough to bear a hundred law-suits. No wonder the law- yers came to this country in crowds, and the very ablest of the profession.
The Hon. John Henderson-afterwards U. S. Senator-associa- ted himself with Gen. Pray. Most of you remember him-his courtly demeanor-his severe logie-his inexhaustible argumenta- tive faculty-his great and generous efforts and sacrifices for the liberation of Cuba.
Thomas B. Reed came to Natchez, from Kentucky, in early life. He was a man of imposing, but haughty exterior, of com- manding manners, but not pliant or popular. His superior talents provoked envy, and the number of his enemies kept pace with his professional progress. Ho rose to the head of the bar; had no rival as an orator ; and in spite of ill-health and powerful oppo-
13
nents, he obtained a seat in the Senate of the U. S. He soon dis- tinguished himself there, but died in the prime of life. When At- torney General, he occasionally attended our courts.
Richard Stockton resided in Natchez-was from New Jersey- son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence- graduated at the head of his class at Princeton, began a brilliant career in Mississippi-was attorney general I believe-quarreled with a New Orleans gentleman at Stovalls Springs, in Marion county, and in the duel that followed, was shot through the heart.
Harry Cage, of an influential Tennessee family, settled in Wilkinson county, made a fortunate marriage, and by the influence of his wife's connections, became circuit judge. He was afterwards elected to Congress as the personal and political friend of President Jackson, but went off, like so many others, on the bank question, and lost his popularity. He and the famous Franklin E. Plummer were canvassing the pine-woods counties together, but on opposite tickets. Both were trained electioneerers. They stopped one -night with an aged couple, who had lots of children and grand- children living around. Just before going to bed, Cage went to the woodpile under the hill, cut a lot of wood, and brought it in for the old lady to make her fire with next day. He was warmly thanked, and fancied he had made a ten-strike. Next morning at daylight, he missed Plummer and the old lady, and on looking around he found her milking the cow, and Plummer holding the calf back by its tail !
When they stopped for dinner next day, there was a house full of little children. Cage kissed them all round, but Plummer took the baby from its mother's arms, tenderly laid it across his lap, turned up its little slip, and began to hunt for red-bugs! The mother was perfectly carried away ; and when she saw her husband coming from the field, she ran to meet him and teil him what a kind-hearted man they had in the house.
Cage lost his temper, and, when they mounted, said to Plum- mer : " Here we separate-you are too aggravating-and if we travel one day more together, you will tempt me to shoot you."
R. W. Webber was a Virginian : settled in Franklin county; was eccentric and somewhat dissipated, but had a mind capable of rapid concentration and the nicest discrimination ; clear as a sun- beam and cutting as the scimetar of Saladin. He too was cut off in the prime of life.
Judge Adams was a Virginian, immigrating from Kentucky, where be had been eminent at the bar. He became in Mississippi,
3
r
14
sucessively, Attorney General, U. S. District Attorney, and U. S. Judge for the District. When he resided here, he was a mighty Nimrod, and his exploits in the woods and on the water, are well remembered. He was the father of those gallant soldiers, Gens. Daniel and Wirt Adams, and father-in-law of that distin- guished lawyer, Gen. John D. Freeman, of Jackson, formerly At- torney General.
Robert H. Buckner. was a Kentuckian ; settled in Monticello. afterwards at Clinton; a man of peculiar manners. but of vigorous mind and extensive reading Became Chancellor of the State, a. position for which few men were better qualified, but died pre- maturely.
Wm. Vannerson, a Virginian, long domiciled in Natchez, afterwards for many years in Monticello. and died there recently at an advanced age. He was the humorist of the bar-the life . of the circuit -- but withal well-read in his profession, very acute, a thorough judge of human nature, very apt to throw an adversary off his guard with his jokes and his air of carelessness, but as quick as lightning to seize upon a weak point of his opponent. A man of noble heart.
Crawford was a Virginian, nephew of the celebrated Wm. H. Crawford of Georgia, and very much like him in his mental organ- ization. He settled in Amite; was elected Circuit Judge, and died in the prime of life.
Col. Lambkin was also a Virginian; resided in Pike, a man of impressive manners and vigorous intellect, a countenance beaming with the benevolence that warmed his heart. He, too, died when life had many attractions, and much to hope for.
Col. B. H. Harris-known to all our old citizens as "Buck " Harris -- is not dead, I believe and hope; he long since went to Texas, and is far enough to excuse me for violating my rule-not to comment on the living. He is a Georgian, of a family long eminent in professional and military annals in that State. A colony of them came early to Mississippi, bringing with them the family traits and talents, and becoming prominent and influential wherever they pitched their tents. Col. Harris was a man of marked char- acteristics-impetuous but generous, a sharp debater, a skillful tactician, and anywhere and at all times a hard man to head. No man ever left Mississippi with more friends and more good wishes.
Of D. C. Glenn, to this audience, it is almost superfluous to speak. He was one of us. He, like so many of our lawyers, was a Virginian, with the marked attributes of that manly and noble
--
.
15
1727491
race. His graceful manners, his winning courtesy-the almost womanly kindness of his nature, his handsome person, his silvery eloquence, his voice so musical, yet so grand in its highest notes and soft as an angel's whisper in its lowest intonations, his store of classical and legal learning, the high chivalry of his character-all these we all know, and fondly remember.
Nor can we, on this occasion, forget the venerable member of the bar, whom we have recently lost-the Judge J. C. Monet. Born in France, and brought up on the seas, he landed here some fifty years ago, with no knowledge even of our language. He turned his attention to the law-a profession which he soon mastered. He took a prominent and useful part in all our public concerns ; was often a member and very influential member of the legislature. and framed most of our local statutes ; he was the confidential ad- viser of most of us, and the universal reference on all disputed questions of settlements and boundaries. Had Providence prolonged his useful life, this imperfect historical address would have been much more worthy of the occasion.
If ever bar has been distinguished, we have been equally for- tunate in our judges. Hampton, Turner, Childs, Ellis, Cage, Sterling, Black, Willis, Harris, McNair, Hancock, Lechman, Chandler and McMillan, have all administered justice in this county, ably and impartially, and with no taint of dishonor at- taching to their names ; men of marked character and of high and noble attributes. Hampton resided on his plantation in Adams county ; a man of fortune ; an early immigrant from South Caro- lina, a sound lawyer, of irreproachable character. Edward Turner was a Virginian; came to Mississippi in 1801; resided chiefly in Natchez; was Register of the land office, clerk to the Legislature, Representative, Criminal Judge, Circuit Judge, Chancellor, Supreme Judge-in every position equal to its duties, untiring, conscientious, enjoying to the last hour of his useful life the confidence and esteem of the whole community. He was a large planter, and dispensed a genial and liberal hospitality with a courtesy rarely equalled. Joshua Childs was from one of the New England States, but had been an early adventurer and filibuster, in Texas. He was a drawling, tedious speaker, but a profound lawyer ; an inveterate joker ; full of anecdote; a confirmed, but very lively old batchelor, with many warm friends. He resided chiefly in Claiborne county. Powhattan Ellis was from Richmond, tinctured with the blood of Pocahontas-the most courtly and elegant, and finest looking man at the bar. Not at all brilliant, but solid, sensible, stately and
-----
16
imposing. A silent man, who always made others talk and was himself a patient listener. Politie and prudent ; mild and amiable; slow and indolent. No enemies. He became Circuit Judge, U. S. District Judge, Senator in Congress, and Minister to Mexico. Sterling was a Northern man, who settled in Winchester at an early day, and connected himself by marriage with a wealthy and influential family. He was an indifferent speaker, but well-read in his profession, and very sociable and popular. John Black was generally supposed to be of northern origin, but claimed to be a Virginian. He settled at an early period, in the old town of Monroe, Terry county, when Winchester and Monroe were con- trolling positions in the politics of the State. He was only an average speaker, but a shrewed lawyer. A fine looking man, a good talker, a pleasant companion, with many warm friends. He was elected to the Senate of the United States as a Jackson man ; went over on the Bank question ; was very much petted at Wash- ington by Mr. Clay, Watkins Leigh, Willie P. Mangun and others ; lost his position in Mississippi, and became a planter in Louisiana, where he prematurely died. Willie was a North Carolinian, raised chiefly in Claiborne county, a man of violent temper, stern, un- flinching, but of a high sense of honor, sensitive and generous. A plain but strong lawyer. He sickened here when holding his last court, and died at the house of Col. Leonard Kimball. He had for a week previous a presentiment of death, and predicted the hour when he would expire. McNair, was, I believe, a native of Covington county, of a Scotch family from North Carolina-a thrifty and upright and intelligent race. of which he was a fit representative. A fair speaker. of correct convictions that always impressed the jury. Intellectual, laborious. conscientious, just- one of the purest men I ever knew.
Fellow-citizens: I have now given you a rapid outline of our history, and recalled some of our prominent pioneers. This is an appropriate hour for such reminisences. At this very moment, delegates from every quarter of the Union, and representatives from all the nations of the earth, are assembled in Philadelphia, the birth-place of our INDEPENDENCE, to recall the struggles and perils, privations and sacrifices of our fathers for liberty and free government. Our countrymen have come together, to renounce forever the feuds of the past, and to proclaim eternal brotherhood !
On these shores, as you have seen, the soldiers of three na- tions have displayed the standards of their kings.
For ourselves we want but one, and will have no other !
And here, in the presence of ALMIGHTY GOD, with the spirits of our departed friends as witnesses, let us swear eternal fidelity to our Union and its flag :
F 814.168
4964
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.