USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II > Part 118
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tious publications could do no permanent harm. "The people, will, after a while, determine right and act correctly ; for it is impossible the people at large can wish to remain deceived or to act wrong," and it were better that discontent should evaporate freely than be hidden to poison in secret. Regarding the criminal laws, he sug- gested that the penalties for duelling were too severe to be en- forced, and that more solemnity and formality in the trial of slaves for crimes involving the death penalty would better accord with the principles of the constitution and genius of government.
The opposition in the assembly began preparing a memorial to the president, against the reappointment of the governor, stating that "from the imperfect nature of our government we are made liable to abuse and oppression; therefore it is, that all the terri- tories have been so troublesome," and accusing Williams of "of- ficial criminality" in the following particular: "political apostacy, that he has forsaken his first political friends and principles and attached himself to the most violent Federal men and measures." The instances given were the removal of Green, territorial treas- urer ; Ellis, county judge, and Colonel Claiborne, of the Adams county regiment, the appointment in their places of a Federal- ist, a "monarchist", and a man who had drunk "success to Burr." The governor had also, said the memorialists, appointed an attor- ney-general who was an enemy to Jefferson; his aides were all Federalists; he had tried to have Federalists judges of elections ; he had himself said that "Burr was an honest and unfortunate man." The climax of "criminality" was, that when this memorial was announced, to be signed as soon as some members sick could return, the governor prorogued the assembly, December 24, until the next February. This was signed by Joshua Baker, president of the council, and Joseph Sessions, one other councilman, and by John Ellis, speaker, and four other representatives: Cowles Mead, Alexander Montgomery, Micajah Davis and William Snodgrass.
The assembly met in February, 1808, and on March 1st the gov- ernor dissolved it absolutely. He took the position that this dis- solution operated to end the council then in office, as well as the house of representatives. He informed the secretary of state that the council had been chosen from nominees of a legislature that was divided by faction to such an extent that it could not elect a delegate to Congress in a four months session; that he had con- vened the assembly to perform this duty as soon as he assumed office, and the election was then made only on his threat of disso- lution. He considered the council at fault because it was selected partly "with a view to embarrassment, opposition and disappoint- ment" to the hostile factions. "I do not believe that one-third of the citizens will vote at the next general election (1808) if they have not a prospect of a new council. At the last general election and those to fill some vacancies during the past summer, where there are six or seven hundred voters, from eighty to one hundred elected a member. Knowing the character of the council they would not turn out to the election, consequently those of similar
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dispositions were elected to the house of representatives. Noth- ing is more common than for the two houses to pass bills know- ing them to be in violation of the ordinance and laws of Congress, embracing popular objects, in order that the governor should be under the necessity of disapproving them and thereby afford them grounds to clamour. To give you an instance, they passed a bill apportioning the representatives in part of the Territory, although they had previously memorialized Congress on the subject, which the present session of Congress has acted on and granted."
Delegate Poindexter had failed to persuade both houses of Con- gress to extend the elective franchise, but a bill passed January 9, 1808, enabling the general assembly to apportion the representation in the house, and permitting an increase of the membership to twelve. At the same time the election of the delegate to Congress was committed to popular vote. Hand in hand with this greater recognition of American citizenship, came the ratification of the Choctaw cession of 1805, that President Jefferson had so long withheld, and the passage of a bill for the opening of a land office so that immigrants would at last have new land upon which to settle. This promised the removal of the Indians from the strip of country between the Natchez and Tombigbee settlements, and some sort of consolidation of the two "outposts of civilization" by intermediate settlements. The right of preemption, also, was ex- tended to actual settlers March 3, 1807. "I therefore hope," wrote Delegate Poindexter, in his announcement of these results, "that every fear, with respect to the justice of the government, towards our distant and isolated country, will be dispelled, and that these measures will inspire the most perfect contentment and satisfac- tion." (Claiborne's Miss., 364.)
After the passage of the preemption law of 1808, "a rage for similar settlements in Orleans Territory" seized the people of Natchez district, and settlements were made across the river with, said Governor Williams, unexampled rapidity. These settlements were generally made on the high and fertile lands north of Red river, along the Mississippi, Tensas, Boeufs and Ouachita rivers, where, in many places, a plantation could be cleared by setting fire to the grass and cane. This may be taken to mark the begin- ning of westward emigration from Mississippi, when hardly a fourth of the area of the present State, itself, was open to settle- ment.
Governor Williams was nominated by President Jefferson for a second term, and commissioned of date March 14, 1808. An elec- tion of a new house of representatives was held in July, and the opponents of the governor secured a majority, Adams county electing Ferdinand L. Claiborne, William B. Shields and Cowles Mead to lead the fight. At the same time George Poindexter was elected delegate to succeed himself. The house was convened in September, and there was a great debate upon the proposition to nominate men for a new council. The motion to do so was made by Mr. Bullock, and supported by Henry, Smith and Downs.
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Mead objected, declaring it absurd to suppose that the governor could remove the council appointed by the president. Shields and Hunter spoke in the same strain. Delegate Poindexter, being present, was asked for his opinion, whereupon he said that he had not lately talked with the president about the acts of the governor, as the governor had misrepresented him, but he had been reliably informed that though Mr. Jefferson had said, "Is it possible that the governor will undertake to vacate my commis- sions," he also said, "I suppose by the ordinance he has the power." Mead thereupon declared he would not give up his opinion for any- body ; that the governor had committed the most flagrant violation of the rights of the people; that the president was affected by a "Sun pain ;" that Madison, the secretary of state, was "a weak, debilitated man;" the whole conduct of the general government was "inimical to the best interests of the Territory." Shields sug- gested "a new declaration of independence." The motion carried by the support of Claiborne and others opposed to the governor, and thereupon nominations for the council were made as follows: Washington : John Flood McGrew, John Hanes; Jefferson: Jacob Stampley, Thomas Calvit; Wilkinson: Joshua Baker and James Lea; Adams: Alexander Montgomery, Joseph Sessions; Claiborne : Daniel Burnet, Francis Johnston. These were all opposed to the governor, as the house stood about seven to five in opposition. Cook declared he did not know who Johnston was; it was denied that he was a citizen or a landholder; but the majority refused to make any change. Johnston, a captain in the regular army, settled that dispute by dying in the following February. The house of representatives, the same month, resolved that the courts be requested to suspend writs of execution during the continuance of the embargo.
Beverly R. Grayson was removed from office as auditor of pub- lic accounts, clerk of the supreme court, and justice of Adams county, October 7, 1808. Parke Walton was appointed auditor, but the governor was compelled to make a formal demand before the records of the office were turned over. In the same month he removed Theodore Starke, his former appointee as clerk of the circuit court of Adams county, and appointed James Dunlap. The court (Rodney and Leake) ruled that such action was not within the powers of the governor under the Ordinance of 1787. The governor thereupon issued a proclamation that Starke was not authorized to perform the duties of the office. Writing to the sec- retary of state, he said that notwithstanding his very great respect for the judiciary, he did not "for a moment hesitate to declare my total disregard to the opinions and decision of the judges on this occasion, and shall continue to act accordingly until otherwise advised from a superior tribunal, and one competent to take cog- nizance of and control the executive and superior department of this government."
Delegate Poindexter introduced a bill in Congress to deprive the governor of the right to dissolve the general assembly, but
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A
Troop of Georgia insisted that the ordinance of 1787 was a com- pact not to be trifled with, and the bill was killed.
While the appointment of a new council was pending, the reg- ular time of meeting passed. Consequently the governor called a session on the first Monday of February, 1809. His address at the opening of this session was a plea for tolerance of the differences of men of "thinking, and manner of doing the same thing, though intended to effect similar objects. These differences ought not always to be attributed to improper motives. Men more fre- quently differ when acting under the influence of correct princi- ples, and proper motives, than otherwise." He embraced the first opportunity in his second term to address the assembly to say that he was not "insensible some acts of my administration have been disapproved of even by those to whom I am immediately re- sponsible," but he felt conscious that all he had expected at the beginning of his administration had been fulfilled, except that he had held office longer than he expected; and that all his acts had been for the good of the people, and he was not disposed to think that disapprobation or legal opposition to his acts were based on motives less pure. After a discussion of the foreign rela- tion, that had caused great hardship to the people on account of the embargo and warfare at sea, he again recommended support of education, militia and roads. The public debt due the Territory January 1st, he said, was $11,185.34, of which sum $2,848 remained in the hands of delinquent officers, leaving only a little over $6,000 actually due.
December 14 the governor wrote the secretary of state that the accumulation of business, and the necessity to attend the public sale of lands in Madison county, prevented him from going to North Carolina on private business, and that perhaps no man ever made a greater sacrifice than this for the public service. March 3, 1809, he notified the assembly that he should not "continue to act as governor of the Mississippi Territory after this day; and in order that my successor may come into office under the most fav- orable circumstances which the nature of the case will admit of, and meet the full suffrages of the people in their representative character, unbiased by the various motives and dispositions under which the representation constituting the present general assem- bly may have been influenced; and inasmuch as a great portion of the citizens of this Territory has no share in the present repre- sentation, I do therefore dissolve the present general assembly of the Mississippi Territory."
On the next day, Thomas Jefferson retired from the presidency. and one of his last appointments, ratified by the senate just before the close of his term, was of David Holmes, of Virginia, to be governor of the Mississippi Territory. It was understood by the governor and secretary in Mississippi that an appointment was to be made, and Secretary Williams, writing March 4, giving no- tice of the governor's retirement, said he would not urge the imme- diate necessity of the appointment of a successor, "from a thorough
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persuasion that the general government has already taken the necessary measures to meet this case."
Williams, Thomas Hill, was born in North Carolina about 1780, and received a liberal education; he afterwards became a lawyer. He was clerk for Rodney and Robert Williams, the land-claim com- missioners, in 1803, and in 1805 was appointed register of the land office at Washington, M. T., being commissioned March 3d. June 1 he was also appointed secretary of the Territory, an office he did not desire, but accepted temporarily on account of the trouble between the governor and the late secretary, Cato West. He acted as governor in the absence of Robert Williams, April 22, 1806, until July 3d, when Cowles Mead succeeded him as secre- tary. After the governor returned in January, 1807, Mead became hostile, and Register Williams was again appointed secretary, June 1, 1807. Upon the governor's resignation, he was again act- ing governor from March 4th, 1809, until the arrival of Governor Holmes about the first of July. He had charge of the opening of the first Choctaw purchase to settlement, and advertised the first sale of public lands at Washington, the second Tuesday of Janu- ary, 1809. He was appointed collector of the port of New Orleans in February, 1810. He had not yet accepted in June, but it appears that he paid little or no attention to the office of secretary after the arrival of Governor Holmes.
In 1817 he was a citizen of Mississippi Territory and was elected one of the United States senators by the first State legislature. He took his seat December 11, 1817, and served, by reelection, until March 3, 1829. Afterward he removed to Tennessee, where he died, in Robertson county, about 1840.
Williamsville, a post-hamlet in the eastern part of Grenada county, about one mile south of the Yalobusha river, and 16 miles east of Grenada, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 60. It has a cotton gin, a church and an excellent school.
Willing, a postoffice of Copiah county.
Williston, a post-hamlet of Leake county, near the south bank of the Pearl river, 7 miles east by north of Carthage, the county seat. Population in 1900, 20.
Willmore, a postoffice in the northwestern part of Copiah county, on Bayou Pierre, 18 miles distant from Hazelhurst, the county seat.
Willows, a postoffice of Claiborne county, 12 miles northeast of Port Gibson, the county seat. Hermanville is its nearest bank- ing town.
Wilmot, a postoffice and station of Washington county, on the Deer creek branch of the Southern railway, and on Deer Creek, 8 miles south of Leland, the nearest banking town.
Wilsonville, a post-village in the eastern part of Claiborne county, one mile north of Bayou Pierre, and 14 miles east of Port Gibson, the county seat. Hermanville station is the nearest railroad and banking town.
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Winchester. The old town of Winchester was located in the eastern part of the county of Wayne, near the present railroad station of the same name. It was the county seat until 1867, and its old court house, built in 1822, is still standing. It had a beauti- ful site, covered with shade trees, not far from the Chickasawhay river, and a few miles north of the old road which ran from Geor- gia and the Carolinas to Natchez, via St. Stephens. Dr. Riley, in his sketch of this extinct town, Pub. Miss. His. Soc., Vol. V, page 378, states that the town was on this old thoroughfare, but Wil- liam Darby's map, 1817, shows Winchester several miles to the north of the road, on the Chickasawhay river. We are told that the "want of hotel accommodations" brought about the removal of the county seat to Waynesboro in 1867. A list of the early resi- dents of the town will be found in the sketch of Wayne county. The historian Claiborne, speaking of Gen. James Patton, the most distinguished resident of the old place, says: "He resided in Win- chester, then a beautiful village, which he made a center of po- litical influence, second only to Natchez. Judge. Powhatan Ellis and Judge John Black, who both became U. S. Senators, com- menced life there under his auspices, as did several other promi- nent men." The present town has two churches, a school, several stores, two saw mills, a grist mill, a cotton gin and a turpentine distillery. It has a population of 200.
Winchester, George, was a native of Massachusetts, educated at Harvard and a student of law under Judge Story. Coming to Mississippi he established himself at Natchez, and attained high standing in his profession. He was judge of the criminal court of Adams county ; was a candidate for judge of the supreme court in February, 1827, to succeed Hampton, but the vote was 19 to 16, for William B. Griffith. When the latter declined, the governor appointed Judge Winchester. But the legislature, at its next ses- sion, gave the office, by a majority of one, to Harry Cage. George Winchester for governor and A. M. Scott for lieutenant-governor, was the Whig ticket in 1829. He was elected to the State senate, in 1836, but resigned in April, 1837, upon the seating of twelve representatives not provided for in the apportionment law, a pre- vious senate having refused to recognize the house after a similar act. One of the foremost Whigs of the State, he was chairman of the committee that made the address of 1839, preparatory to the great campaign of 1840. In 1844 he was a representative of Adams county, but his politics, being a member of the party usu- ally in a minority, did not afford him many official honors. For his attitude in 1849, see Convention of that year. He was never married. Upon the occasion of his death the bar of Adams county, February 5, 1851, adopted resolutions testifying to his "calm, clear- sighted understanding," and endearing virtues as a man. Foote wrote of him: "He was not an orator; but he spoke always in refined and polished language, and with impressive kindness and urbanity. I do not suppose that a single word of personal incivil- ity, or of coarse revilement, ever passed his lips at the bar."
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Windham, a post-village in the extreme northern part of Jones county, 3 miles west of Mico station on the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., and 8 miles north of Laurel, the nearest bank- ing town. Population in 1900, 150.
Wingate, a postoffice and station on the Mobile, Jackson & Kan- sas City R. R., in the east-central part of Perry county. It is 3 miles southeast of New Augusta, the county seat. It has two large saw mills, several good stores and a good school. It has a population of 400.
Winona is the county seat and metropolis of Montgomery county. It is a handsome city of 2,455 inhabitants (census of 1900), and is growing at a rapid rate. During the decade, 1890- 1900, the increase in population was nearly 1,000, and the last five years has shown an even larger rate of growth, the population in 1906 being estimated at 3,500. It is possessed of excellent railroad connections, as the Illinois Central and the Southern railways cross at this point. Churches of several denominations are to be found here, and it supports a fine public school and two private schools. Its chief industries are a cotton seed oil mill, a cotton factory which is on a good paying basis, a brick and tile factory, a stave and heading factory, a large cotton compress, several public gins, and a spoke factory. It is the local market for the rich farm- ing country which surrounds it, and is an important shipping point for cotton, strawberries, etc. The city has an electric light, ice and water plant. There are three banks-The Citizens Bank, Bank of Winona and the Purnell Savings Bank. There is one weekly newspaper, "The Winona Times," edited and published by G. W. Williams. The county has recently erected a fine new court house here at a cost of $60,000. The graded schools of Winona rank among the very best in the State. A "Presbyterian Female College" will soon be in operation. The city debt of Winona is $65,000; assessed valuation of property $1,100,000; tax rate 2 per cent.
Winston, a post-hamlet in the extreme northeastern part of Winston county, on Jones creek, about 18 miles from Louisville, the county seat. Population in 1900, 31.
Winston County was established December 23rd, 1833, and was one of the numerous counties formed in that year from the terri- tory acquired from the Choctaws, by the treaty of Dancing Rabbit, in 1830. The county has a land surface of 577 square miles. It was named in honor of Colonel Louis Winston. The original act declared that it should embrace the following territory: Town- ยท ships 13, 14, 15, and 16 of ranges 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. By an act of the legislature in 1875, townships 15 and 16, range 10, and town- ship 16, range 11, were added to Choctaw county and about the same time the north half of sections 2 and 3, township 12, range 13, were taken from Neshoba county and added to Winston. It is situated in the east central part of the State in the so-called Yel- low Loam Region, and is bounded on the north by the counties of Choctaw and Oktibbeha, on the east by Noxubee county, on the
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south by Neshoba county and on the west by Attala and Choctaw counties. Shortly before and after its organization, a strong tide of emigration set in toward this section of the State from the older parts of Mississippi, and from the States of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, and by the year 1837 the population of the county was whites 2,193, slaves 959, and by 1840 the population had reached 4,650, including slaves. Some of the earliest settlers in the county were S. R. McClanahan, Jonathan Ellison, Wm. C. Coleman, Larken T. Turner, Henry Fox, Judge Felix M. Ellis, Judge of Probate, John H. Hardy, sheriff, Leroy H. McGowan, Josiah Atkinson, George W. Thomason, first county surveyor, Amos C. Morris, first sheriff, James Phagan, first Circuit clerk, James Bevill, first Probate Judge, and J. M. Field, Isaac Jones, John H. Buckner, Wm. McDaniell, Geo. B. Augustus, and Joseph Bell early members of the legislature from the county.
Louisville is the county seat named for Louis Winston and platted on a tract near the center of the county, donated by Jesse Dodson. It was on the great mail route from Nashville to New Orleans, and the terminus of five mail routes in the early days. Incorporated in 1836, it now contains a population of 1,200. Near here are the well known Chalybeate Springs, on section 3, twp. 15, range 12, said to possess valuable medicinal properties. Noxa- pater, Hathorn, Plattsburg, Fearns Springs, and Betheden are the largest settlements in the county outside the county seat. Until recently Winston county has been without railroad facilities; the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R. passes through the county from north to south and the line is now in operation from Mobile to Middleton, Tenn. Numerous small creeks, headwaters of the Pearl river, and a number of small streams, tributaries of the Noxubee river, provide every section of the county with water. The soil of Winston county is generally of a very fair quality-sandy on the hills, easy to cultivate, and, when fresh, very productive. The bottom lands on the streams are stiff and very fertile. The prod- ucts are cotton, corn, wheat, oats, field-peas, ground-peas, sweet and Irish potatoes, sorghum, ribbon-cane and rice. The uncleared portions of the land are well timbered with pine, the various kinds of oaks, poplar, gum, beech, walnut, cherry and cypress. Consid- erable attention is now being paid to the raising of live stock, many improved breeds of cattle, horses and sheep having been in- troduced. Quarries of lignite, silicate of alumina, and some good specimens of iron ore and bituminous coal have been found in the county. Some of the highest hills in the county are 1,500 feet above tide water in the Gulf of Mexico. Very little manufacturing is done in the county, though 30 establishments were listed by the last census, which have more than doubled within the last five years.
The following statistics, taken from the twelfth United States census for 1900, relate to farms, manufactures and population : Number of farms, 2,592, acreage in farms, 294,370, acres improved 98,319, value of land and improvements, exclusive of buildings
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