USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 68
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Eades, a postoffice of Attala county, about 18 miles northeast of Kosciusko, the county seat.
Eaglebend, a post-hamlet of Warren county, on the Mississippi river at Island No. 101, about 18 miles above Vicksburg. Popula- tion in 1900, 50.
Eaglenest, a post-hamlet of Coahoma county, and the terminus of the Helena branch of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. It is on Swan Lake, a pretty little sheet of water. The beautiful and stately home of Gov. James L. Alcorn was situated in the neigh- borhood, overlooking Swan Lake, and his remains, together with those of four of his sons, rest near the southern limit of the park surrounding the home. Eaglenest is about 10 miles northeast of Clarksdale. Population in 1900, 25.
Earlygrove, a post-hamlet in the northeastern corner of Marshall county, 15 miles north of Holly Springs, the county seat, and 6 miles west of Michigan City, the nearest railroad town. It has two churches. Population in 1900, 42.
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Earlyville, a postoffice of Attala county.
Earthquake of 1811-12. The earthquakes of 1811-12 that de- stroyed New Madrid, Mo., and made Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee, were less severe in Mississippi, but they did considerable damage along the Mississippi river. These earthquakes shook the whole western country. One of the worst occurred Dec. 15, 1811, at night, the shocks being felt about every 15 minutes. The river was thrown into convulsions, and a number of boats were lost. Muddy logs from the bottom of the stream were thrown to the surface and became so thick that they impeded the passage of boats. Great sections of earth along the river sunk, and islands were rent asunder and disappeared. Trees were twisted and lashed together. The earthquake was accompanied by a tremendous dis- tant noise, resembling thunder. These disturbances occurred at intervals for some time and were very alarming to the people. They ceased when the volcano of St. Vincent burst into activity.
Eastfork, a post-hamlet of Amite county, on the East Fork of the Amite river, about 10 miles northeast of Liberty, the county seat. Population in 1900, 30.
Eastman, a post-hamlet of Itawamba county, about 10 miles northeast of Fulton, the county seat. It has a money order post- office. Population in 1900, 21.
East Mississippi Female College. The East Mississippi Female College at Meridian was established by the M. E. Church in 1869. It received no State support and was a private school, where the students paid a tuition fee of $60 per year. In 1900, the total at- tendance in all departments was 380. There were three depart- ments, elementary, preparatory, and collegiate. The institution was in a thriving condition up to 1904, when it suffered a disas- trous loss by fire. Since that date the college grounds have been sold and the proceeds added to the productive endowment of Mill- saps college, at Jackson. (q. v.)
Eastside, an incorporated post-village of Jackson county. It is on the line of the Pascagoula Street Railway & Power Co., an interurban electric line running between Mosspoint and Pascagoula, formerly known as the Mosspoint & Pascagoula Railroad. Lum- bering is the chief industry. Population in 1900, 321.
Eastville, a postoffice of Lauderdale county, about 4 miles south of Meridian. Population in 1900, 35.
Eaton .- An extinct town in Lafayette county, which had an ephemeral existence 1836-1837. It originated in the effort to estab- lish a commercial center at a ferry on the Tallahatchie river, about 15 miles west of Oxford. (See Lafayette county.)
Eaves, a postoffice of Tishomingo county, about 8 miles north of Iuka, the county seat.
Ebenezer, an incorporated post-village in the southern part of Holmes county, 10 miles south of Lexington, the nearest railroad, and banking town. It was named by its early settlers for the Jewish city. It has three churches and a school. Population in
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1900, 170; population in 1906 was about 250. The town is sur- rounded by a rich farming country.
Echo, a postoffice in the southern part of Amite county, about 10 miles from Liberty, the county seat.
Eckles, a postoffice of Tate county, 9 miles northeast of Senato- bia, the county seat. Population in 1900, 31.
Ecru, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Pontotoc county, on the line of the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., 7 miles north of Pontotoc, the county seat. Population in 1900, 68, and in 1906 it was estimated at 400. It has several stores and a bank, a branch of the Merchants and Farmers Bank of Pontotoc, estab- lished in 1904. The Ecru Baptist is a monthly publication, estab- lished in 1906, and edited by Rev. T. A. J. Beasley. A large saw and planing mill plant is located here; also a fine Munger system cotton-gin. It boasts one of the best high schools in the county.
Eden, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Yazoo county, on the Illinois Central R. R., 12 miles north of Yazoo City. Popula- tion in 1900, 50.
Edgar, a postoffice of Lincoln county, about 15 miles southeast of Brookhaven, the county seat. Population in 1900, 25.
Edinburg, a post-village in the eastern part of Leake county, on the Pearl river, about 60 miles northeast of Jackson, and 12 miles from Carthage, the county seat. It has a money order post- office, a church, and an academy, the Edinburg High School. Pop- ulation in 1900, 123.
Edith, a postoffice in the southeastern part of Greene county, about 8 miles south of Leakesville, the county seat and nearest railroad town.
Edna, a post-hamlet of Marion county, on the Pearl river, about four miles south of Columbia, the county seat.
Edsville is a post-hamlet of Holmes county, about 8 miles north of Durant. Population in 1900, 17.
Education, see School System, Public.
Edwards, an old, incorporated village of Hinds county on the Alabama & Vicksburg R. R., 26 miles by rail west of Jackson, 18 miles east of Vicksburg, and one mile from the Big Black river. Vicksburg is the nearest banking town. The region about it is a good cotton and vegetable growing section. It was named for Dick Edwards, the owner and proprietor of the Edwards House, Jackson. Much cotton is shipped from this point annually. It has three churches, a good high school, and a colored school, the Southern Christian Institute. The Echo, a Democratic weekly established in 1900, D. B. Bell, editor and publisher, is issued here. Population in 1900, 586.
Edwards, Benjamin W., a native of Kentucky, reached manhood during the War of 1812 and served as a soldier in the Canadian campaigns under Harrison. On the conclusion of the war he mar- ried, and passed ten or twelve years at a farm home, until his wife died, when he came to Mississippi. Settling at Jackson, he began the study of law, but received a letter of invitation from his brother,
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Haden Edwards, immigration agent in Texas, under the Mexi- can republic, and proceeded to that region, in the spring of 1825. He went to the city that Moses Austin had founded, and conferred with that famous pioneer on the policy of the conquest of Texas by peaceful settlement ; also visited his brother Haden, in charge of the settlements in the Nacogdoches region, known as Edwards' Grant, returning thence to Mississippi. Going again to Nacog- doches, after a brief absence, he found opportunity for exercise of all his resources, in support of his brother, whose authority was assailed by the native Mexicans. About the time that the gov- ernment of the Mexican States of Texas and Coahuila annulled the grant to Edwards, the Edwards brothers and H. B. Mayo made an alliance with the Indians, north of Nacogdoches, who were under the leadership of the famous Cherokee chief, Richard Field, and John Dunn Hunter, a remarkable personage, born and reared among the Wabash valley Indians, who possessed strange powers of fascination, had traveled widely and had been lionized at Lon- don, and other cities. The Edwards party proclaimed the re- public of "Fredonia," unfurled a flag at Nacogdoches, and parti- tioned the country between the white and red people, in pursuance of their treaty of confederation, Dec. 21, 1826. Maj. Edwards was chief of the general committee of independence. His address of January, 182?, on being made commander in chief, declared that he had formed a treaty with representatives of twenty-three na- tions of Indians, in alliance with the Comanche nation. On being advised of all this Moses Austin, whose policy was to keep peace with the Mexican republic, sent an embassy to "the Nacogdoches madmen," as he called them, and when this failed, he called upon his colonists to take up arms and march against the Fredonians. "They are no longer Americans," he said, "for they have forfeited all title to that high name by their unnatural and bloody alliance with Indians,-they openly threaten us with Indian massacre and the plunder of our property." Maj. Edwards and H. B. Mayo is- sued an address to the people of the United States, asking immi- gration and assistance. Some preliminary military encounters went favorably to Edwards, but on the approach of the forces under Col. Austin his strength rapidly melted away. Some of the Fredonia soldiers were captured, and Maj. Edwards, with a score that were left, crossed the Sabine into the United States Jan. 31, 1827. He wrote a letter from Natchitoches to Ahumada, the Mex- ican general, thanking him for the amnesty granted to his fol- lowers in their struggle for freedom, to which Ahumada responded that everybody under the Mexican government was free, and he would have done well, if aggrieved, to seek redress in a constitu- tional manner. The failure of the Edwards grant operated se- riously to check emigration from the United States. Maj. Edwards returned to Mississippi. In 1837 he was one of the Democratic candidates for governor of Mississippi, but he died before the elec- tion, and in consequence, the Whigs also having two candidates, A. G. McNutt was elected governor-one of the most far-reaching
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political events in the history of the State. H. S. Foote said of Maj. Edwards: "Endowed with uncommon strength and solidity of mind, he was simple and practical in his views, both of men and things, above most of his contemporaries; yet they were ever un- der the control of enlightened reason and refined benevolence." He was extensively acquaintd with books and human nature, was a graceful and dignified public speaker, participated in public transactions of great importance in Mississippi with credit, and was altogether of such a nature as to hold the admiration and con- fidence of his associates. During the Texas revolution he pre- sided at various public meetings in Mississippi in aid of the move- ment, accepted a commission in the army, and was organizing a regiment when news came of Houston's victory.
Egremont, a post-hamlet of Sharkey county, on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 2 miles south of Rolling Fork, the county seat and nearest banking town. Population in 1906, 40.
Egypt, a post-village in the eastern part of Chickasaw county, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., 9 miles south of Okolona, the nearest banking town, and 16 miles east of Houston, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, two churches, an academy, a broom factory, a Munger system cotton-gin and a grist-mill. Population in 1900, 100.
Elbow, a postoffice of Choctaw county, about 10 miles northwest of Chester, the county seat.
Elder, a postoffice in the southwestern part of Perry county, on the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., 24 miles south of Hattiesburg, the county seat.
Elder, William Henry, Bishop of Natchez, was born at Balti- more in 1819. It was the desire of his parents that he should look forward to the priesthood as his life work. He attended Mount St. Mary's college and then spent three years in the college of the Propoganda at Rome. In 1846 he was ordained, and, returning to this country, was for several years president and professor of the- ology at Mount St. Mary's. In this field of work he made an im- pression on many of the leaders of his church, by his unusual ability. January 9, 1857, he was selected for the see of Natchez, and May 3 received Episcopal consecration in the cathedral at Baltimore.
Bishop Elder went to work in his new field with zeal and energy. When the war broke out, with his few priests and the communities of sisters, he did all in his power to alleviate suffering. In 1864 the post commandant at Natchez issued an order requiring all clergymen to insert in their public worship a prayer for the presi- dent of the United States. Bishop Elder remonstrated. He con- tended that even congress had no right to make such an order, in- fringing the liberty of conscience. He said that no Catholic priest could obey it. Col. Farrar then arrested him. He was sent to Vidalia, but was released by order of Gen. Brayman, and an amica- ble arrangement made.
At the close of the war the Catholic church in Mississippi was.
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in a wretched condition. Bishop Elder went zealously to work, restoring, rebuilding and reorganizing. Much had been accom- plished, and prosperity was again in sight when the great yellow fever scourge of 1878 broke out. Again he went among the sick and dying, facing danger and doing all he could to alleviate suf- fering. He was stricken down, but recovered and was at his post again until the cessation of the fearful plague, during which he lost three of his priests and many of his sisters.
On the following year Bishop Elder refused the position as co- adjutor to the Archbishop of San Francisco, but in January, 1880, yielded to the command to go to Cincinnati and assume a duty be- fore which many had quailed-the administration of the diocese amid its financial wreck. He met great difficulties in his new field, but soon restored order. In 1882 he became Archbishop of Cin- cinnati and soon received the pallium. He died in 1904, leaving behind him a name that is cherished regardless of creed.
Eldorado, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Warren county, about 18 miles northeast of Vicksburg. Population in 1900, 50.
Eley, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Scott county, on Bal- cuta creek, a tributary of the Pearl river, about 15 miles northwest of Forest, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice. Popu- lation in 1900, 30.
Eliphaz, a postoffice of Tate county, on Arkabutla creek, about 9 miles northwest of Senatobia, the county seat.
Elise, a postoffice of Chickasaw county, 6 miles southeast of Houston, the county seat, and the nearest railroad and banking town.
Elizabeth, a post-hamlet of Washington county, situated at the junction of the Southern, and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railroads, 12 miles east of Greenville, the county seat. Leland is the nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 73.
Elizabeth Female Academy. This institution was founded at the town of Washington, near Natchez, in 1818, with the support of the Methodist church. It was chartered in 1819, the first girl's school to have that recognition in legislation. The academy was named after Mrs. Elizabeth Greenfield, who donated the lands and building. "For 25 years it did a noble work. In the decade 1819-49 its boarders increased in number from 28 to 63. The school was celebrated for the thoroughness of its work, and achieved its greatest reputation under the government of Mrs. Caroline V. Thayler, a lady of scholarly attainments and literary reputation, a grand-daughter of Gen. Warren, the hero of Bunker Hill." (Ad- dress by Chancellor Mayes, 1889.)
Elkville, a post-hamlet in the southeastern part of Itawamba county, on Splunge creek, about 15 miles southeast of Fulton, the county seat. Population in 1900, 45.
Ellard, a post-hamlet of Calhoun county, 8 miles north of Pitts- boro, the county seat. Population in 1900, 40.
Ellen, a postoffice of Calhoun county.
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Ellett, Henry T., an eminent lawyer of Claiborne county, was elected to Congress over P. B. Starke to fill the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis (resigned in 1846). He took his seat Jan. 26, 1847, and served until March 3 following. He was associated with Judge Sharkey, in the years 1844-46, in making the Code of 1857; in 1854-62 was a member of the State senate; was elected to the High court of errors and appeals in 1865, and resigned Oct. 1, 1867. President Davis offered him the position of Postmaster- General in the cabinet of the Confederate States, but he declined. Judge Ellett moved to Memphis after the war, where he died in 1887, when delivering a welcome address to President Cleveland. In his memory the Mississippi Bar association adopted resolutions in 1888. A handsome oil portrait of Judge Ellett hangs in the Mis- sippi Hall of Fame.
Ellicott, Andrew, was born in Pennsylvania, Jan. 24, 1754, son of a Quaker who was one of the founders of Ellicott's Mills. When a young man his scientific attainments attracted the attention of Washington, Franklin and Rittenhouse. He was employed as a boundary surveyor by Pennsylvania before his removal to Balti- more, where he was elected to the legislature. In 1789 he was ap- pointed to survey the land between Pennsylvania and Lake Erie, and took occasion to make the first accurate measurement of Niagara Falls. Mr. Ellicott was appointed to run the Creek nation line in 1791, but did not go, that work being undertaken by his brother Joseph, known as the founder of the city of Buffalo. Con- sequently, the comments of Mr. Claiborne regarding his supposed association with the United States Indian agent, James Seagrove (Mississippi, p. 160), are quite as unjust to Ellicott as a repetition of the frontier gossip is to Seagrove himself. Andrew Ellicott was occupied in this period in running the western line of New York and the boundaries of the District of Columbia, and in laying out the avenues of the future city of Washington. In 1792 he was ap- pointed surveyor-general. In 1794 he negotiated with the Six Na- tions. He superintended the construction of Fort Erie in 1795, and laid out the town of Erie, Pa.
He was appointed commissioner on behalf of the United States for determining the boundary between the United States and the possessions of His Catholic Majesty in America, May 24, 1796; left Pittsburg Sept. 16, and arrived at Natchez, after many delavs by low water, ice, and Spanish opposition, Feb. 23, 1797. (See Ad- vent of the Flag.) At the conclusion of this work he was appointed secretary of the Pennsylvania land office. In 1812 he was made professor of mathematics at the United States military academy, which chair he held until his death. In 1817 he was sent to Mon- treal to make astronomical observations bearing on the execution of the treaty of Ghent. Mr. Ellicott died at West Point, Aug. 29, 1820.
A few days after arriving at Natchez Mr. Ellicott set up his clock and zenith sector and began observations to determine the latitude and longitude of that place. In the last days of March
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he noted: "From this time I was too much occupied in other con- cerns, occasioned by the different commotions in the country, to. attend to a regular series of observations till October." June 26 he removed the clock from his tent to a house where he went to reside, "but on account of the sickness which prevailed on the river, I removed in July with my people about seven miles into the country, and encamped, where I remained until the 27th of September and then returned to the village of Natchez." From Oct. 7 until the beginning of the following January he was sick with fever and able to take but a few scattered observations. He closed his observations at Natchez, June 21, 1798. As the result of these he gave the following: longtitude, 91° 29' 16" west of Greenwich ; latitude north, 31° 33' 48". His place of refuge in the country is marked by "Ellicott's spring," and the town of Wash- ington, which he then surveyed and platted.
His stay in Natchez district was made unpleasant by his quar- rel with Anthony Hutchins (q. v.). Bitter things were said by each about the other. It is worth bearing in mind in this connec- tion that Ellicott's predecessor as the great astronomer and sur- veyor of his day was Thomas Hutchins, brother of the famous Natchez pioneer. Ellicott's attitude toward the Spanish command- ant, General Gayoso, was made the subject of remonstrance by the Spanish minister. But it is unsafe to base any judgment upon the diplomatic representations of that period, and the intensity, even venom, of the politics must be taken into account on both sides. The politicians were still fighting the war over again, and though Ellicott was a non-combatant, he took the trouble to unearth the war records of his enemies. He had the support of William Dun- bar, Daniel Clark, Stephen Minor, and other notable inhabi- tants. A fair reading of Ellicott's Journal and his correspondence as epitomized in American State Papers, Foreign Affairs, Vol. II, is essential in connection with the criticisms of Ellicott's public proceedings made by J. F. H. Claiborne, the brilliant historian of Mississippi, who was a grandson of Colonel Hutchins.
Peter J. Hamilton says, in his article, "Running Mississippi's South Line," "General Wilkinson accuses him of officiousness with the Spaniards and of gross immorality on board his boat on the river. It may be true, but Wilkinson is no reliable authority, although he ought to have been a good judge of rascality." The whole matter is mixed up with the politics of the period and the Wilkinson and Burr intrigues, as Ellicott made a discovery re- garding Wilkinson's Spanish pension. It was evidently of this phase of Ellicott that Capt. Guion wrote to Gen. Wilkinson in May, 1798: "He has very much lessened himself and sullied the commission given him, by his conduct before and since his arrival here. I did not believe it until I saw it, and considered it cal- umny." Guion did not criticise, in his correspondence, Ellicott's public service at Natchez, but expressed himself rather more forc- ibly than did Ellicott in disapprobation of at least two notable characters, conspicuous in the commotions. Surveyor Thomas-
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Freeman wrote to Guion soon after the survey of the line began : "My colleague E-t seems very much disposed to be on good terms with me, indeed he leaves nothing undone to convince me of it, only the continuance of his Dulcinea, which even his friend Minor cannot remove." Freeman afterward told his story in de- tail before the Wilkinson court martial, the besmirchment of El- licott being necessary to the defense of the general. It is printed in Wilkinson's Memoirs, II, No. 32, appendix.
In a private letter to the secretary of state, Aug. 3, 1799, Gov. Sargent wrote: "To your queries relative to Mr. Ellicott, &c., I have to reply, that I never heard of aught exceptionable in his public conduct as a commissioner in this country. Of the ex- penses of the business with which he is entrusted, I have not the smallest information. His private character has been marked per- haps by some traits disreputable, but I have myself been induced to believe they are derived from a weak fondness to his son." The astronomer was accompanied to Natchez by his son Andrew Au- gustus Ellicott, who was one of the surveyors of the line of de- marcation. According to Sargent, the father indulged the son in an attachment that was not creditable. William Dunbar, after an acquaintance with Ellicott for nearly 18 months, in Natchez and on the line, declared in his report to the Spanish government that he had the highest confidence in the scientific knowledge as well as veracity of Mr. Ellicott, and took the trouble to say that the three months he was with him on the survey were highly agree- able and marked by uninterrupted harmony. "And here let me not omit to mention with honor, the transcendent scientific tal- ents of my very particular friend, Andrew Ellicott, Esq., the American commissioner, to whose condescending and communi- cative disposition I am indebted for much pleasure, information and instruction."
Ellicott and Gayoso. Baron Carondelet "had determined not to deliver up to the United States the posts ceded by the treaty of 1795, until the failure of his last attempt to detach the Western country from the Union should be fully ascertained, for in case of success, of course the treaty would have been annulled by the dis- ruption of the American confederacy. Therefore, when the Span- ish authorities heard of the approach of Andrew Ellicott, who had been appointed under the treaty commissioner for the United States, they had recourse to every artifice to postpone the execu- tion of its stipulations." (Gayarre, III, 366. Also see Advent of the Flag.)
Ellicott and Philip Nolan, and the civilians of the party, leaving Lieut. McClary and his 25 soldiers at Bayou Pierre, arrived at Natchez in the afternoon of Feb. 24, 1797, and Nolan at once carried to Gayoso, the commandant, a note in which Ellicott formally announced his arrival "as commissioner on behalf of the United States for carrying into effect the third article of the treaty lately concluded between the said United States and His Catholic Majesty," and asked when he might present his credentials. Gay-
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