USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 47
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Coar's Springs. The first county seat of Copiah county, 1823- 1824. (See Copiah county.) It was located about five miles east of Hazlehurst, and is now extinct.
Coat, a post-hamlet in the southeastern part of Simpson county, on the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., about 12 miles from Mendenhall. There is a good saw and planing mill plant here ; population about 100.
Cobbs, a post-office of Lincoln county.
Cobbville, a post-hamlet of Madison county, one mile east of the Illinois Central R. R., and four miles north of Canton, the county seat. Population in 1900, 25.
Cocke, Stephen, chancellor of the state, 1845-51, was a native of East Tennessee, and when quite young, in 1818, accompanied his
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parents to Columbus, Miss., where his father made his home and served as agent for the Choctaw Indians. His education was such as could be obtained in this situation, fitting him to be clerk of the agency and afterward clerk of the circuit court. He became a lawyer, and in the opinion of Reuben Davis, was a lawyer of great ability but destitute of any power of oratory, and personally of lovable character. He was honored with the rank of general in the State militia. In 1834 he was elected to the State senate from Monroe, Lowndes and Rankin, and in that body he defended in a memorable manner the right of the new counties to represen- tation in 1835. (Lynch, Bench and Bar, 167-24).
Cockrum, a post-hamlet of DeSoto county, 12 miles east south- east of Hernando, the county seat and nearest railroad and bank- ing town. It has two churches. Population in 1900, 93.
Codes and Statutes. The first code of Mississippi laws was the Digest of Judge Harry Toulmin (q. v.) accepted by act of Feb- ruary 19, 1807, which provided that after October 1, 1807, all the laws of the governor and judges and general assembly of the Ter- ritory, and all statutes of England and Great Britain, not contained in the said volume of statutes, should cease to have effect in the territory. Edward Turner was appointed by the legislature in 1815 to make a new compilation and his "Statutes of Mississippi Territory," as completed contained the laws in force up to 1816. Poindexter's code was authorized by acts of 1821-22, was com- pleted in May, 1822, and adopted, in 122 chapters. "Modeled some- what after the Virginia code of 1819, by Benjamin Watkins Leigh, it was done with great ability." A notable feature of this code is the abolition of estates tail; it also includes "our anti-commercial statute, which has been introduced into every subsequent revi- sion," making all written obligations assignable and permitting the original defenses to be raised against the assignee. (Mayes.) In 1833 P. R. R. Pray was authorized to make a revised code, and he completed a volume of statutes (See Pray) that was considered too great a departure from time honored intricacies, and was re- jected. Instead, a volume of statutes 1823-38, was published by order of the legislature, entitled "Revised Public Laws, 1838", and in 1839 appeared Alden and Van Hoesen's "Revised Statutes." Howard and Hutchinson's digest of the laws was prepared in 1839 by Volney E. Howard and Andrew Hutchinson, on the basis of Poindexter's code and the statutes just mentioned, and though adopted, was criticised for the omission of some statutes. Mr. Hutchinson began in 1843, on his own motion, the preparation of
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a code that should be complete, and gave five years to the work. His plan was not a revision, nor a reprint, but all laws were printed in the text or cited in the references, covering the period 1798 to 1848. By authority of the legislature John I. Guion, C. S. Tarpley and John D. Freeman were appointed to examine the work, and upon their favorable report the code received the sanction of the governor's proclamation, as evidence of the laws.
Under an act of March 1, 1854, the supreme court appointed a commission to revise the laws, composed of William L. Sharkey, Samuel S. Boyd and Henry T. Ellett. Boyd resigning, his place was taken by William L. Harris. The commissioners reported a code in 1856, and it was adopted as the code of 1857, at a special session of the legislature. "The code was a most excellent one. The criminal code has perhaps not been excelled by any in the United States." (Mayes.) This code was like Poindexter's, in that it revised and enacted the law, and superseded all prior stat- utes.
The constitutional convention of 1865 appointed R. S. Hudson, E. J. Goode and William Hemingway to revise the statutes.
Under an act of legislature in 1870 Governor Alcorn appointed commissioners to revise and codify the laws of the State. He named J. A. P. Campbell, Amos R. Johnston and Amos Lovering, who presented a printed draft or dummy of their code to the legis- lature of 1871, and during that session it was considered and adopted. This code had to deal with the fact of the inefficiency of juries being increased by the admission of the freedmen to that function. Governor Alcorn recommended that the powers of juries should be limited to the utmost extent short of their fundamental right over questions of fact. He praised certain reforms in the interest of expedition, saying "the principle of judgment by default is but an assertion of the wise jurisprudence that stops short at any delay save that necessary to give accusation and defense a fair opportunity." This code proposed to dispense with the "deed" as an instrument of conveyance of land, substituting a writing, "signed and delivered," which the supreme court disapproved in its recommendations to the legislature. A further simplification proposed was the abolishment of the common law writ of error, leaving the ordinary form of appeal.
By an act of February, 1878, the legislature authorized J. A. P. Campbell to codify the laws, and his work was, after some amend- ment, adopted March 5, 1880, and became operative as the body of general laws, November 1, 1880. Governor Stone said that "the
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eminent ability and large experience of the distinguished jurist who has made the revision and the zeal with which he has devoted himself to the task, render it quite certain that the work, as it comes from his hands, is as nearly perfect as it can be made." Prominent features of the code were the simplification of the regis- tration laws, reformation of the revenue laws, and modifications of the judiciary laws to enlarge the efficiency of the Chancery courts, secure more definiteness and uniformity and cheapen liti- gation, affecting the system in all its grades. It is likely that if it had not been for the constitutional division of law and equity courts, Judge Campbell would have altogether removed the cum- brous and burdensome survivals of ancient procedure. It also emancipated married women from all disability in dealing with their own separate property ; amended the lien law so as to put a stop to the excessive mortgaging of crops in advance, and proposed a method of raising the standard of intelligence in juries. This code was in the main modeled upon the code of 1857, which had been called "the model code" of the State. In the political canvass of 1881, following the adoption of the code in 1880, it was discussed by the press and orators, "and though the attack upon it promised at first to be severe and angry, I believe it soon resulted," said Governor Stone, "that the work was upon the whole an admirable one." The objections made were to election laws, the exemption laws, the liquor laws, and the laws regulating the relations of land- lord and tenant.
The constitutional convention of 1890 provided for a commis- sion to aid the legislature by drafting such general laws as were necessary and proper to put in operation the provisions of the con- stitution, and conform the existing laws thereto. The governor appointed Robert H. Thompson, George G. Dillard and Robert B. Campbell as this commission, and they prepared a new code of laws, which was submitted to the legislature of 1892, adopted and published as the "Annotated Code," 1892.
An act approved March 19, 1904, required the appointment of a commission of three, one from each supreme court district, to pre- pare an annotated code, including the general laws of the State, the constitutions of the United States and Mississippi, and anno- tations of the opinions of the supreme courts of the United States and Mississippi. Governor Vardaman appointed A. H. Whitfield, of the supreme court; T. C. Catchings, of Vicksburg, and W. H. Hardy, of Hattiesburg. This commission completed its work in 1905 and the code was submitted to the legislature of 1906 for
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adoption. The commission recommended quite a number of changes in the Code of 1892, but most of them failed of adoption.
Cofer, a post-hamlet in the western part of Pontotoc county, about 14 miles west southwest of Pontotoc, the county seat. Pop- ulation in 1900, 26.
Coffadeliah, a hamlet in the eastern part of Neshoba county, 10 miles east of Philadelphia, the county seat. The postoffice was discontinued in 1905 and mail now goes to Cushtusa. Population in 1900, 90.
Coffeeville, one of the two seats of justice of Yalobusha county, was first settled in 1830. It is an incorporated post-town on the I. C. R. R., 15 miles northeast of Grenada. The first board of police for the county, met at Hendersonville, four miles south of Coffeeville, March 27, 1834. Hendersonville aspired to be the county seat, but the location of Coffeeville was nearer the center of the county and was selected for that honor. Says Capt. L. Lake, who lived at Hendersonville in 1834: "Hendersonville then went down and ultimately lost its name, being absorbed in a farm known as 'Oakchickamau,' which was owned by Franklin E. Plummer. The names of this farm and of the county seat, Cof- feeville, were later associated together in a stanza of poetry writ- ten by one E. Percy, an editor who settled at Coffeeville at an early date. Becoming very much incensed against the citizens of Coffeeville, he moved away, and afterwards wrote the following piece of doggerel :
"Upon a hill near Derden's Mill There is a place called Coffeeville ; The meanest town I ever saw Save Plummer's town, 'Oakchickamau.'"
It is needless to say that his was a prejudicial opinion, caused doubtless by disappointed ambition. The same author in describ- ing the origin of the old town says: "In 1834 the first court of Yalobusha county was held at Coffeeville, the newly established county seat. The court was presided over by Judge Matthew Clanton. At that time there was only one mercantile firm (J. and T. H. Jones), in the town. The land upon which the town was afterwards built was owned by D. M. Rayburn and Aurelius Mc- Creless, in one room of whose dwelling the first court was held. This town grew rapidly, absorbing the population of Henderson- ville. Yalobusha was then the most northern county in Missis- sippi, and Coffeeville was on the extreme northern limit of the
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white settlements in the State." Besancon, describing the place in 1838, says: "Coffeeville, the county seat, is situated in the cen- ter of the county. It contains a population of about two hundred inhabitants, and is distant about one hundred and fifty miles from Jackson. Coffeeville is situated on a very broken piece of land, though somewhat picturesque in its appearance, and is generally supposed to be healthy. It has a courthouse and county prison ; a church edifice belonging to the Methodist Episcopal denomina- tion. All the buildings are composed of wooden materials, and of quite an ordinary character. There are two hotels or taverns, and five stores in the town. There is a weekly paper pub- lished at Grenada and another at Coffeeville."
The town received its name in honor of General John Coffee, the celebrated Indian fighter, and it was incorporated by the Leg- islature in 1836. In 1839, the Coffeeville Academy was chartered. The same year its first wooden courthouse was replaced by a brick structure costing $25,000, which has in turn been replaced by the present fine brick structure costing some $25,000.
Coffeeville is now a town of 467 inhabitants according to the last census; and at present (1906) the population is estimated at 600. It has a good bank, three churches, good public schools, a Business Mens League, and it is said to be the best hill-town cotton market in the State for its size ; the average annual shipments amounting to 10,000 bales of the staple. A fine Munger system cotton gin plant, having a capacity of 50 bales a day, and a large cotton warehouse are located here. Before the purchase of the Chickasaw lands to the north, Coffeeville was the outpost of white settlements. It attracted many men of talent. Among lawyers such as E. C. Walthall, F. M. Aldridge, D. L. Herron, W. R. Barksdale, E. S. Fisher, R. H. Golladay and Dunbar Rowland lived in the town and practiced at its bar. Also Geo. H. Lester.
James D. Haile, the first white child born in the county, was born at Coffeeville. The first house built in the town was erected by Aurelius McCreless in 1830.
The town is supplied by excellent artesian water from a number of fine wells within its limits.
Coila, a post-hamlet in the south-central part of Carroll county, about 8 miles south of Carrollton, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 50.
Coke, a post-hamlet in the extreme southern part of Tishomingo county, about 24 miles south of Iuka, the county seat.
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Colbert, a post-hamlet of Marshall county, about 10 miles north- east of Holly Springs.
Colbert Family. Little is known about the origin of this fam- ily, which was so prominent among the Chickasaw Indians in the early days of Mississippi. A young Scotchman by the name of Colbert came among the Chickasaws of Tennessee, some time dur- ing the 18th century, and was the notorious leader of the so-called Colbert Gang. The records of Tennessee have little that is good to relate of him. His four half breed sons, William, George, Levi and James were all noted chiefs among the Chickasaws. William was known as Chooshemataha and lived a little south of old Mc- Intoshville, or Tocshish, which was south of the present town of Pontotoc, Mississippi. He was a celebrated fighter, and often led his people against their traditional enemies, the Creeks, and is said to have assisted General Jackson in his conquest of the same tribe. He highly prized the military coat presented to him by Jackson and donned it on state occasions until the time of his death. Under the treaty of Chickasaw Council-House in 1816, we read that Gen. Wm. Colbert was allowed an annuity of $100.00 for life.
George Colbert, called Tootemastubbe by the Indians, lived on Wolf creek four miles south of Booneville, in what is now Pren- tiss county. He is said to have been the "most prepossessing of the Colbert brothers in appearance and manners. He was opposed to innovation, and an enemy to education, missions and whiskey." His family was composed of his wife, Shullechie, or Salechie, his two sons, Pitman and George, and a daughter, Vicy. It is the testimony of Cyrus Harris, governor of the Chickasaws in the In- dian Territory, and well acquainted with the Colberts, that he "was illiterate but had some influence and stood tolerably fair; talked very common English. His son, Pitman, had a very fair educa- tion." He moved to the Indian Territory with his tribe. His wife lived near the present town of Tupelo. Says Edwin G. Thomas: "In 1836 I attended the land sales at Pontotoc. The first night in the nation I stayed at Salechie (or Shullechie) Colbert's, four miles west of where Tupelo now stands. She was a woman well- fixed up, had a good house, and gave good fare." The author of "Some Chickasaw Chiefs and Prominent Men," in Vol. VIII, of the Miss. His. Soc. Publications, says: "In 1821 Alexander Dug- ger first became acquainted with the Indians at Cotton Gin. George Colbert lived near Harrisburg, in what is now Lee county, in a place afterwards owned by Shannon. Pitman Colbert lived
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with his father on the same place. They were very wealthy, work- ing 140 hands; had a large farm near Colbert's Ferry in Alabama. Vicy Colbert was an educated woman, and wealthy, as wealth was counted in those days. She owned three sections of land, all of which Col. Doxey sold to Wm. Duncan for $13,000. She lived south of the old Chickasaw King, though she lived for a while in the Cherry creek neighborhood. She went west with the Indians." In the treaty of Chickasaw Country, July 23, 1805, George Colbert is granted the sum of $1,000 at the request of the national council, for services rendered their nation and he was given a tract of land north of the Tennessee by the treaty of Chickasaw Council House, 1816.
Levi Colbert, or Itawamba mingo, was the best known and the most influential of the brothers. While he used broken English and was devoid of education himself, he seems to have believed in schools and gave all of his numerous sons an education. His title Itawamba, means "Bench Chief," and was given him as a re- ward for distinguished services rendered the tribe against their enemies the Creeks. Levi was a merchant. His sons were named Martin, Charles, Alex, Adam, Lemuel, Daugherty, Ebijah, Com- modore, and Lewis. His four daughters were called Charity, Mariah, Phalishta and Asa. We find his name mentioned in the treaty of 1816 with the Chickasaws as the recipient of $150 cash, and two forty acre tracts of land, two and one-half miles below Cotton Gin Port, on the Tombigbee river.
The youngest of the brothers was James Colbert, also called Major Colbert. He resided several miles to the south of Col- bert's Ferry, and was a man of some education. He is spoken of as quite civilized and estimable, making use of broken English. His children were not as well educated as Levi's. His three sons were named Joseph, James and Samuel, and his daughters were Tennessee, Molcy, Susan, Betcy and Matilda. Miss Nellie Bynum is a granddaughter of Tennessee. James Colbert received $100 by the treaty of 1816 with the Chickasaws, in common with several other military leaders among the tribe. G. S. Gaines, U. S. Factor at St. Stephens, knew the Colbert brothers, and declared them to be "all men of good sense and good principles." All the old Col- berts appear to have been men of ample fortune, rich in lands and slaves. Three stations on the old Natchez Trace, between the Choctaw line and the Tennessee river, were long known as James Colbert's, Levi Colbert's (Buzzard Roost) and George Colbert's.
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Coldbrook, a post-hamlet in the southern part of Yazoo county, about 16 miles south of Yazoo City, the county seat. Bentonia station, on the I. C. R. R., is the nearest railroad town.
Coldwater is situated two miles south of the Coldwater river in the northern part of Tate county, thirty-one miles south of Mem- phis. Its population in 1900 was 557, (estimated at 800 in 1906), and it is an important shipping point for cotton on the line of the Illinois Central railroad. The climate and soil here are well adapted to the growth of cotton, corn, all kinds of fruits and vege- tables, the different kinds of grasses, etc., but only cotton is grown for shipment. The value of the surrounding farm lands is from $5.00 to $15.00 an acre, according to location and improvements. Many of the farms are occupied and cultivated by their owners, while others are worked by negroes on the tenant system. Cold- water has 13 stores, 6 churches (3 for white and 3 for colored), an excellent public school building, hotel, livery stable, and a fac- tory engaged in the manufacture of cotton and corn planters and cultivators, especially adapted to this section, an oil mill, two cot- ton gins, an express office, and telegraph and telephone service. No saloons are to be found within the limits of Tate county. The Bank of Coldwater was established in 1903 with a capital of $10,- 000.
Coleman, a post-hamlet of Marshall county, 7 miles southwest of Holly Springs. Population in 1900, 22.
Coles, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Amite county, on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 6 miles by rail north of Gloster, the nearest banking town.
Coles Creek, a postoffice in the southwestern part of Calhoun county, about 12 miles southwest of Pittsboro, the county seat. Grenada is the nearest railroad town. Population in 1900, 27.
Coleville, a postoffice in the northern part of Chickasaw county, on Chuquatonchee creek, about 12 miles northeast of Houston, the county seat.
Collegehill, a post-hamlet of Lafayette county, about 4 miles north of Oxford, on the Illinois Central R. R .. It has a church and an academy, now closed. Population in 1900, 80.
Colleges. See University, State; Alcorn university, Agr. & Mech. College, Industrial institute and college, Normal college, also "Academies and Colleges," and various names of colleges.
Collins, a money order, post-town in Covington county, 5 miles east of Williamsburg, the county seat, and an important station on the line of the Gulf & Ship Island R. R. The Bank of Collins was
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established here in 1901 with a capital of $30,000; and the Mer- chants and Planters Bank was established in 1905. Population in 1906 was estimated at 1,500. The Collins Commercial, a weekly Democratic paper, is published here. The town contains several good stores, two large saw mills, churches and a school.
Collinsville, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Lauder- dale county, about 12 miles northwest of Meridian.
Collot's Visit. Jean Victor Collot, French explorer, born at Chalons-sur-Marne about 1751. He served during the Revolution- ary War on the staff of Marshal Rochambeau, was afterwards gen- eral in the French service and governor of Guadeloupe. M. Adet, Minister Plenipotentiary from France to the U. S., having pro- posed that he furnish him with a minute detail of the political, commercial, and military state of the western part of the conti- nent, Gen. Collot, in 1796 made an extended journey through the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi valleys in order to procure for him and his country the information desired. His extensive notes were published at Paris in 1826 in two large quarto volumes under the title of "Voyage dans le Nord d'Amerique en 1796." This work is illustrated with 36 large maps, plans and cuts, and the observations are chiefly military, geographical and political. As the journey of this French soldier down the Mississippi was made just prior to the evacuation of the Natchez district by the Span- iards, the following excerpt concerning the Natchez District is of interest : "At a quarter of a mile, on the left, from the fort, and on the sloping part of a small height in front of the river, is the town of Natchez, which contains about an hundred houses, built of wood, and painted of different colors. The town is surrounded by a great number of fine farms and orchards, displaying in every part a high state of industry and prosperity. The population of the Natchez district is reckoned at about ten thousand souls, of every sex and age.
This population furnishes two thousand militia, formed into companies, part of which, in the pay of Spain, is in actual service. Independently of this militia, there are also two hundred dragoons, volunteers, well mounted, and who could easily be increased to five hundred. In this population may be distinguished three classes of emigrants; the first is composed of those who first es- tablished themselves when this colony belonged to Great Britain; the second, of those commonly called Tories or Loyalists, who, at the period of the American revolution, took arms for the king of England, and who fled hither at the peace of 1783; the third class
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is composed of those who since the peace, discontented with the federal government, are come hither to form settlements, having purchased lands at a very small price.
These three classes are absolutely divided in political opinions : the first is purely English ; the second is Anglo-American royalist ; the third is republican, but the weakest in number. They are, however, in general agreed on all questions respecting the federal government, which they equally detest, and against which their hatred is carried to such a point, that if ever it should be their lot to form part of the United States when the limits are fixed, conformable to the treaty between this government and Spain, they would transport themselves under the dominion of the latter, whatever repugnance they might feel to live under a government, which in their opinion gives no national character."
This estimate of popular opinion was evidently based on the ideas of French and Spanish subjects.
Colon, a post-hamlet in the southern part of Newton county, on the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., about 16 miles from Decatur, the county seat. Population in 1900, 20.
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