USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 31
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Governor Johnstone resigned after three years, and Montford Browne, lieutenant-governor, assumed the duties of the office De- cember 17, 1766. John Elliot was appointed governor in the fol- lowing July, but he committed suicide, either before or soon after his arrival. His commission, it appears, recited the original north boundary of the province, the 31st parallel. Browne continued to act as governor until 1770, making his residence mainly at Mobile. "and was constantly urging on the home government to intercept some of the Mississippi river Indian trade by building a road from Natchez to Mobile. Browne finally left the province after a duel with one man and calling out two others, who apologized. He intended challenging others, but was bound over to keep the peace." (Hamilton.) Afterward he was governor of the Ba- hamas. He had a plantation at White Cliffs, on the Mississippi, and leaving there in 1777, to go to his government of the Bahamas, met William Bartram at Pearl island. By the exertion of Haldi- mand's influence, Elias Durnford, the provincial surveyor, was acting governor in January, 1770, and until the arrival of Peter Chester, who was commissioned as governor, March 2, 1770: If
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Chester arrived before 1772, he made no land grants until the latter year.
Philip Livingston was secretary of the province under Chester in 1772-73 and 1776-78; Alexander McCullough in 1774-75; and Elihu Hall Bay in 1779-81. Daniel Clark was clerk of the council at one time, and Francis Poussett at another. E. Rush Wegg was attorney-general.
Chester's commission, under the great seal, as "captain-general and governor-in-chief in and over our province of West Florida, in America, and all other our territories dependent thereon," de- fined the province of West Florida as bounded, "to the northward, by a line drawn due east from the mouth of the Yazoo river, where it unites with the Mississippi, due east to the Apalachicola."
It was under this authority, at least subsequent to the commis- sion to Chester, that Stuart made a treaty with the Indians for the establishment of the boundary of Natchez district, which was marked upon the trees of the wilderness not very long before the Spanish invasion. In the midst of the confusion of the latter event, the goods sent as compensation to the Indians found some other destination.
Military land grants had been made in the Mississippi region as early as 1768, but the granting of lands by the governor did not indicate much activity until after Chester had been in office about two years.
In the same year Stuart persuaded the Cherokees to grant the extension of Virginia to the Holston and Kenawha rivers. Daniel Boone made his first trip into Kentucky in 1769. At this time the settlements were permanently established on the Watauga and Holston rivers, and John Sevier began to be a power in the West. Wheeling was founded in 1770.
Such was the situation when the British government began to encourage immigration to West Florida. "Those emigrating from the western parts of North Carolina and Virginia could advance by land to the Holston, and there commence their voyage in flat- boats and barges, which they must build, out of the forests, at Long Island, in the Cherokee nation. The point of destination in West Florida was the upland region in the vicinity of the Walmut hills, of Natchez, Bayou Sara and Baton Rouge. (Imlays's Amer- ica.) West Florida was a land of peace when to enter Kentucky and Ohio was a challenge to death. It is deserving of mention also, that in 1772, when this migration began to be considerable, the northern frontier was suffering the memorable "starving year."
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The exports about 1772 were principally derived from the In- dian trade, which came into Mobile by packhorse and canoe. Prob- ably the most important items were indigo and hides, but we also find, says Hamilton, timber and lumber, staves, peltry, cattle, corn, tallow, bear's oil, tar and pitch, rice, tobacco, myrtle wax, salted wild beef, salted fish, pecans, sassafras and oranges." Cot- ton was discussed as a crop of the future, though the "industrious Acadians," says Romans, were making all their necessary clothing from this staple, and Krebs, the planter at "Pasca Oocooloo," had a rude machine for cleaning his cotton of seeds.
William Dunbar, one of the early settlers in 1773, stopped trad- ing on the: Ohio, came down the river in one of the rude boats of that day, and selected a tract of land near New Richmond, as the English called Baton Rouge, the ancient village of "Red Sticks" or war Indians. Sailing for Pensacola he obtained permission from the governor to settle, and thence he sailed to Jamaica, where he bought a lot of negroes just from Africa. With these he re- turned by way of Pensacola, Mobile and the lake route.
At this time the emigration to West Florida began to be greatly ' increased by the troubles between the thirteen colonies and the British government, which, as they increased in bitterness, per- suaded many to seek a refuge in the wilderness, or under the Brit- ish flag.
To the same cause is to be ascribed the founding of the great trading house of Panton, Leslie & Co., at Pensacola. This house was able, through an alliance with Alexander McGillivray, to maintain a great deal of British supremacy, throughout the Span- ish occupation which followed.
"The colonial administration was controlled by the home gov- ernment through the privy council, sitting at St. James. This body was what was left of the feudal royal council after courts and par- liament had developed into separate institutions, and its powers were limited to commerce and the colonies. Its committee, the board of trade [the "lords of trade," or, "his majesty's commis- sioners of trade and plantations"], which made commercial regu- lations, went to pieces in consequence of an attack by Edmund Burke in 1780, and its Mobile acts were among the last."-(Ham- ilton.) These acts were in regard to such matters as cutting weeds : in the streets, driving cattle in town faster than a walk, and car- rying fire about uncovered.
The judicial system of the colony embraced magistrates of petty jurisdiction, and a chief justice or superior court at Pensacola, with
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jurisdiction over the whole province. "All cases, over a magis- trate's usual jurisdiction, were tried before it. Persons charged with murder at Natchez and other remote points were sent to Pensacola for trial."
"As in the Atlantic colonies there was also a Council and an an Assembly ; the council, composed in part of other officials such as Terry, Blackwell, Livingston, Charles Stuart, Lorimer and Durnford, made the land grants, superintended the Indians, reg- ulated commerce, roads, pilots, elections, and, when they could, military posts. With the true British love of local self-govern- ment there were general assemblies almost from the start. Thus we know of one in 1766, another in 1767, and so on, and ultimately the assembly and the governor quarreled quite as was the case in the east. The electoral boroughs or precincts varied from time to time, being at first Mobile and Pensacola with six members each, and Campbell Town with two, but in 1771 the writ was with- held from Campbell Town because it was almost deserted. From that time there was trouble, the origin of which is not quite clear. Chester explained it to the home government by saying that the people at Mobile did not want an assembly at all for fear this would regulate the Indian trade and thus prevent their traders from sell- ing rum to the Indians, and that the Mobile members seldom at- tended the assembly anyhow. Whatever may be the truth of this, there was also dissatisfaction over the apportionment and term of the representatives."-(Hamilton, Colonization of the South.)
See American Revolution. The result was that there was no assembly permitted until 1778, when the Mississippi settlements were of such importance that the province was divided for legis- lative purposes into four districts: Pensacola, Mobile, Manchac and Natchez, each with four members. The present Mississippi gulf coast was a dependency of Mobile.
Toward the last West Florida appears as three distinct settle- ments, Pensacola, the military headquarters and stronghold, and strongly British in sentiment; Mobile and its vicinity, where the French predominated, and the river colony from Manchac to the Yazoo, which was American "second-growth," but with little sym- pathy for the revolution. "The settlements did not extend far into the interior. Alabama river still drained Indian territory through- out almost its whole extent, Fort Tombecbeé was abandoned, and white settlers were few above McIntosh's bluff. The coast was Anglo-French, but the long stretch between the Tombigbee and the Mississippi was occupied as of old by the Choctaws, whose
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nearest town toward Mobile was Yowanee, with a thriving trade. The north boundary was about the line of Vicksburg, Meridian, Montgomery and Columbus, but practically all except the coast was occupied by Indians, more or less friendly, supervised from Mobile or Pensacola, and among whom McGillivray and Strothers from the one place, and Panton, Leslie and Company from the other, did a growing business." (Hamilton, Colonization of the South.)
In 1778 there was much talk of British and Indian expeditions from West Florida and Detroit. Hamilton moved out from De- troit and occupied Vincennes. Col. Campbell, sailing from New York, joined with a force from East Florida under Gen. Prevost, and captured Savannah in the last days of 1778, and soon occupied all the little Georgia colony. After this, Campbell was put in com- mand of West Florida, with headquarters at Pensacola. His mil- itary force was a portion of the Sixteenth regiment, "almost worn out in the service," German recruits, Agent Stuart's "rangers," and such militia as could be raised among the settlers and refugees. For his assistance a regiment of grenadiers from Waldeck, popu- larly known as "Hessians," and some provincial royalist companies organized in Maryland and Pennsylvania, arrived at Pensacola early in 1779. In August they were forwarded to the Mississippi, in response to the urgent calls of Lieutenant Dickson, who ob- served signs of Spanish hostility.
The era of British West Florida actually closed with the Span- ish conquest, under General Galvez, which began with the capitu- lation of Baton Rouge and Natchez district, September 21, 1779, and closed in the suppression of the Natchez revolt under the British flag, in 1782. In the same year that many of the Natchez settlers fled through the wilderness to British protection at Savan- nah, the commissioners of the United States and Great Britain agreed on terms of peace. There was a secret understanding that if England was not compelled to recognize the Spanish conquest she should hold her West Florida up to the Yazoo line, but in the open treaty Great Britain recognized the boundary of the United States between the Mississippi and Chattahoochee rivers as the 31st parallel. Subsequently, in making peace with Spain and France, Great Britain found it necessary to submit to the Spanish conquest of West Florida and Minorca, and to cede East Florida in order to regain the Bahamas.
Britton, a hamlet of Wayne county. The postoffice was discon-
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tinued in 1905, and it has rural mail delivery from Waynesboro, the county seat.
Brock, a post-hamlet in the southeastern corner of Carroll county, about 20 miles south of Carrollton, the county seat. Popu- lation in 1900, 28.
Brooke, Walker, was born in Virginia, December 25, 1813, was educated at the State university, and studied in the school of Judge Tucker. After completing his law course he taught school two years in Kentucky, and then came to Mississippi to begin the practice of his profession, settling at Lexington, Holmes coun- ty. In 1840 he was married to Jane L. Eskridge, of Carroll county. In the law he attained prominence, and had a large practice. In politics he also took a leading place, as a champion of the Whig party. He represented the county in the lower house of the leg- islature in 1848, and in the senate in 1850 and 1852. After the res- ignation of Senator Foote, early in 1852, to become governor, Senator Brooke was elected by the legislature to fill the va- cancy. (See Senators, U. S.) His service in the United States senate was from March 11, 1852, to March 3, 1853. He was then the choice of the Union party. In 1861 he was a member of the Constitutional convention, representative of the same sentiment, and introduced a resolution to refer the question of secession to the popular vote. He bowed, however, to the will of the majority, and was held in such esteem that he was elected one of the dele- gates to the provisional congress at Montgomery for the purpose of framing the Confederate government. He was also a candidate for senator in the Confederate States congress, but was defeated by James Phelan. He died February 19, 1869, at Vicksburg, from the effects of choking while eating oysters with a party of friends.
Brookhaven, the county seat of Lincoln county, is an incorpor- ated city, and an important station on the Illinois Central R. R., 55 miles by rail south of Jackson, and 129 miles north of New Or- leans. The place was named by Col. Jayne who came there from Brookhaven, Mass. The railroad from Osyka to Brookhaven was completed in 1857, and, a short line prior to the War 1861-65, was completed to Jackson. Brookhaven was brought into prominence during the War as a large recruiting camp was established here until November, 1864. The city lies in the long leaf pine region of the State and in addition to its important lumber interests, it is also the largest cotton shipping point in the State south of Jackson. Among its industries are a cotton compress, ice, brick and mattress factories, a nail mill, a fertilizer factory, and two
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large lumber mills. The city owns and operates its own electric lighting and water works systems. The Commercial Bank was established here in 1887, and has a capital of $82,000; the Bank of Brookhaven was established in 1901, and has a capital of $50,000. There are three newspapers; the Leader, an independent semi- weekly, founded in 1883, and the Lincoln County Times, a Demo- cratic weekly, founded in 1885. B. T. Hobbs is editor of the former, and W. S. & L. H. Bowen are editors and publishers of the latter. The South Mississippian, a Democratic weekly, was established in 1905 with Butler & Weathersby, editors and pro- prietors. The city has five churches, an excellent graded school, and is the seat of the Whitworth Female College. The population in 1900 was 2,678; in 1906, it was 3,652 in Brookhaven proper, and will soon be about 7,000 when the city's limits are extended. The town has artesian water and is surrounded by an excellent farming country, especially for cotton culture. There are a number of first class mercantile establishments and two wholesale grocery and provision houses. The city is noted for its health, and is one of the highest points on the I. C. R. R. between New Orleans and Holly Springs. Its topography is peculiar in that its drainage extends in all directions, and its surface situation might be com- pared in shape to a turtle's back. Many fine homes are to be seen in the city and evidences of thrift and culture everywhere abound.
Brooklyn. An extinct town in Noxubee county which was located about eight miles east of the present town of Shuqualak, in the southern part of the county. The town was established by a business firm by the name of Loomis Brothers, in the belief that the Noxubee river was navigable for steamboats. This belief proved to be erroneous ; the Loomis Brothers suffered a disastrous loss by fire and moved away, and the town finally died, after an uncertain existence down to the time of the war between the States.
Brooklyn, a post-station in the southern part of Perry county, on the Gulf & Ship Island railroad, and on Black creek, an affluent of the Pascagoula river. It is located in the heart of the long leaf, yellow pine district, about 18 miles south of Hattiesburg. It has a money order postoffice and express office, 2 churches and a good school. Population in 1900, was 150.
Brooksville, an incorporated post-town in the northern part of Noxubee county, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R. It is nine miles by rail north of Macon, the county seat, and in the midst of a fine farming section. It has telegraph, telephone and express offices,
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a steam grist mill, 2 fine Munger system gins, and a brick manu- facturing plant. The Bank of Brooksville was established here in 1899 with a capital of $30,000. It has a good school, several churches, and a weekly newspaper, The Brooksville Voice, a Democratic weekly, established in 1899, W. G. Zwingle, editor. Population in 1900, 612. As the town is nicely located and a build- ing boom is in progress, the population is increasing at a rapid rate and in 1906 was estimated at 1,000. The town has in course of erection electric lighting and water works systems.
Brough, Chas. H. was born at Clinton, Miss., July 9, 1876. He resided in Utah for several years with his parents, but returned to Clinton to secure an education. He graduated at Mississippi Col- lege with the honors of his class in 1894. He then took a three years post graduate course in economics, history and jurisprudence at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. While there he was awarded the Fellowship in economics, and in June 1898 received his doctor's degree. After his return to the State Dr. Brough was engaged in educational work, and delivered many literary ad- dresses to high schools. He is an active member of the Mississippi Historical Society and contributor to its publications, also a mem- ber of the American Historical Society. He is now professor of economics in the University of Arkansas.
Brown, a post-hamlet of Perry county, about 14 miles each of Hattiesburg, the county seat.
Brown, Albert Gallatin, was born in Chester district, South Car- olina, May 31, 1813; when ten years old he came with his parents to Copiah county, Miss., and was there reared, receiving an edu- cation at the Mississippi and Jefferson colleges. Before he was of age he was qualified, through study with Ephraim G. Peyton, to gain admission to the bar and a partnership with his preceptor. As a boy he was enthusiastic in military matters and he was elected a brigadier-general of militia at nineteen years. He was admitted to practice in 1833, was married in 1835 to Miss Talia- ferro, who died a few months later. He was elected to the legis- lature in 1835, as a Democrat, though it was averred against him that his father Joseph Brown, was an old-school Federalist. At his first session he was chosen speaker pro tempore of the house. He was reelected for 1838-39. At the extra session of April, 1837, called on account of the bank troubles, he was voted for through many ballots for speaker, but was not an avowed candidate. In January, 1838, as committee chairman he reported in opposition to the National bank. A majority of his constituents, in the fall of
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1838, called on him to vote for a United States senator favorable to the National bank or resign. He did the latter, entered the canvass for reelection and was successful. With this prestige, he was nominated for Congress; A. G. McNutt being the nominee for
governor. The Democratic prospects were very gloomy, but Brown led his ticket to success. He served two years in Congress, 1839-41, advocating the independent treasury policy, and was prominent in the campaign of 1840 for VanBuren. January 12, 1841, he was married to Miss Roberta Young, of Alexandria, Vir- ginia, mother of his two sons. He declined renomination for Con- gress and was elected circuit judge, an office he held about two years. He was at that time considered as the most popular man in the State. In the summer of 1843, when just of sufficient age, he was nominated for governor. In the campaign he stood for the, repudiation of the Union bank bonds, and was opposed by George R. Clayton, Whig candidate, and the venerable Thomas H. Wil- liams, independent bond-paying Democrat. He received a major- ity of more than two thousand over both competitors, and the elec- tion was regarded as settling the Union bond question, regardless of the opinions of the Mississippi courts. His inauguration in Jan- uary, 1844, was an occasion of unusual brilliancy, the factions that had long been contending were now harmonized.
His candidacy for governor in 1843 was in support of the repu- diation of the Union bank bonds, which was almost the only topic of debate. His opponents pointed out that as a member of the legislature he had voted for the chartering of the Union bank, and in 1839 for a bill to compel Governor McNutt to issue the total $15,500,000 bonds contemplated by the charter. His attitude, and that of his supporters, in 1843, was that the issue of bonds was un- constitutional.
He had been active in the movement for popular rights, and in his inaugural address of 1844 he declared that experience had jus- tified the wisdom of electing the judges by direct vote. "If the sixty years of experience which we have had in the science of gov- ernment has demonstrated anything, it has shown that man is best governed when he governs himself. I would knock off the shack- les and give to freedmen liberty in its broadest sense. But I would extend the blessings of education to everyone, that everyone might read and understand the importance of using that liberty for their own safety and for the advancement of their country's glory. I cherish it, fellow citizens, among the most ardent wishes of my heart, that the day may yet come when every white adult in the
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State of Mississippi may at least be enabled to read and write. If my advice could avail anything, it would be freely given in favor of a general system of common schools, which should be open to all, and at which the poor should be educated gratis. That some such scheme combining at once the conventions and economy of the New England system, will be brought forward, I sincerely hope and believe."
In his inaugural address after his second election (1846) Gover- nor Brown said: "There is a feature in the character of this State which the historian cannot pass by in silence. It is the indepen- dence which marks her conduct. Determining for herself what is right, she fearlessly pursues the conviction of her own judgment, regardless of the opinions and conduct of others. She was the first to elect judges by the people ; she first established a purely metallic currency ; and amidst the taunts and jeers of friends and foes she first stood up in the face of the civilized world and refused to pay an unconstitutional debt contracted in her name. A State which thus pursues its own inclinations, and which has already invested its people with more power than any other in the Union, or per- haps in Christendom, should be the foremost in giving universal instruction to its people. An ignorant multitude excited by some fancied wrong and led by some daring and popular demagogue, may, in a single hour, commit breaches in the fabric of our gov- ernment which the wisdom and ingenuity of ages may not be able to repair. The educated masses are never phrenzied thus; appre- ciating the blessings of liberty, they will never commit excesses in its name. Then by every consideration of patriotism; by your love of liberty ; by the devotion which you bear to your offspring ; by the safety of your firesides, and the accumulated wealth of years of toil; by the holy religion of your fathers ; by all that you hold dear in this world or sacred in the world to come, I exhort you to spread the blessings of Education among the PEOPLE." He was reelected by an unprecedented majority in 1845. His mes- sages and addresses as governor were able state papers. Inspired by the resolutions of Virginia denying the authority of the United States to prohibit slavery in the territories, he announced his al- legiance to that doctrine in 1848, when governor, and consistently maintained it until 1861, so that he was, next to Jefferson Davis and John A. Quitman, the leading advocate of resistance to such national authority.
He stood for the repudiation of the Union bank bonds and the payment of the Planters' bank bonds; but his efforts in the latter
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direction were unavailing. In the "Administration" sketch is quoted one of his protests against breach of faith that is a delight- ful example of idiomatic, monosyllabic English.
Before the close of his second term as governor he was again elected to Congress, where he took his seat in January, 1848. He was reelected in 1849 and 1851, as a representative, and in January, 1854, appeared in the United States senate as the successor of Walker Brooke. In Congress he was one of the foremost and un- compromising advocates of the extension of slavery into the ter- ritories, and opposed the admission of California as a free State. He was the only State rights representative elected in Mississippi in 1851, and in the Mississippi State convention of that year, nearly every State rights delegate was from his district.
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