Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 33

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 1032

USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II > Part 33

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Mont Helena, a postoffice of Sharkey county, on the Yazoo. & Mississippi Valley R. R., 3 miles north of Rolling Fork, the county seat. Population in 1906, 40.

Monticello, the capital of Lawrence county, is located on the west bank of the Pearl river, 50 miles south southeast of Jackson. It was made the county seat of Lawrence county on March 1, 1815, and was named for the famous home of President Jefferson. Monti- cello was once an important business point, and a political center of note. It has given the State two of its governors, Gov. Lynch and Gov. Runnels; also a secretary of state, a state auditor, two circuit judges, and one congressman. The vice-chancery court was held here prior to 1854. S. S. Prentiss was here first licensed to practice law. The legislature at one time selected Monti- cello for the State capital, but rescinded its action 24 hours later and located it elsewhere. A branch of the Illinois Central R. R. extends from Brookhaven to Monticello. There are several stores and a bank, good churches and schools. The Lawrence County Press, a local weekly established in 1888, is owned and edited by Joseph Dale. The town lies in the yellow pine region of the State, and cotton and corn are grown in considerable quantities in the sur- rounding country. It at one time had steamboat connection with New Orleans and Jackson. Population in 1900, 155, and in 1906 the population was estimated at 500. There are good prospects that another railroad will be built through Monticello soon.

Montpelier, a post-village of Clay county, located on Sand creek, about 16 miles northwest of Westpoint, the county seat and nearest banking town. Mantee, on the M. J. & K. C. R. R., 6 miles west, is the nearest railroad town. It has a money order postoffice. Popu- lation in 1900, 121.

Montrose, a post-hamlet of Jasper county, on Tallahoma creek, and on the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., about 36 miles southwest of Meridian, and 13 miles from Paulding, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, an express office, a bank, several stores, three churches, a school, a saw mill and a cotton gin. The Bank of Montose was established in 1905. The Jasper County Review, a Democratic weekly, is published here, Rev. W. W. Moore

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being its editor. The population in 1906 was estimated at 500, a gain of 350 over the census returns for 1900.

Moore's Bluff, an extinct town of Lowndes county, was on the west side of the Tombigbee river, 5 miles above Nashville, and was an important shipping place for cotton. It had two com- modious brick warehouses and in its prosperous era shipped thou- sands of bales of cotton annually, some of which came all the way from the counties of Oktibbeha and Choctaw. The road leading west from this point followed an air line for eight miles and was known as the "Cotton Road." "During the shipping season, this road was thronged with wagons loaded with cotton and plantation supplies." (Lowndes county sketch, Love.) The chief merchant and warehouseman of the town was Nelson Goolsby. The final decay of the town was caused by the building of the Mobile & Ohio railroad, which largely diverted traffic from the river and created new trade centers.

Mooretown, a hamlet in the western part of De Soto county, on Hurricane creek, an affluent of the Coldwater river, 7 miles west southwest of Hernando, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 30.

Mooreville, a post-hamlet of Lee county, 9 miles east of Tupelo, the county seat, and nearest railroad and banking town. It has an academy, three churches and two lodges, Masons and Woodmen of the World. Population in 1900, 54.

Moorhead, an incorporated post-town in the eastern part of Sun- flower county, 9 miles east of Indianola, the county seat, at the junction of the Southern and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley rail- roads. The town was founded in 1898 by Chester H. Pond, who in- vested largely in the wild lands of the vicinity. It has steadily grown, and its population in 1906 was estimated at 700. Among the important industrial enterprises of the town are a large cotton factory, a cotton-seed oil mill, a stave and heading plant, and a mill for the manufacture of persimmon wood into shoe lasts and shuttles. Moorhead is arranging to install a fine electric light and water works system, and a large brick and tile-drainage plant is now (1906), in course of construction. It is provided with express, tele- graph and telephone facilities, has four churches, good schools for both white and colored, and a negro college supported by northern people. The Bank of Moorhead was established here in 1904 as a branch of the Grenada Bank, which institution has a capital and surplus of $315,000. Wm. E. Stevenson is the local manager at Moorhead. A large amount of cotton is shipped annually from this point, and the lands about the town are as fertile as any in the Delta. They are being rapidly settled by both northern and southern men, and as a consequence the town has an enviable future.

Morancy, Honore P. "The most important person about Walnut Hills, when the Americans settled there, was Honore P. Morancy, planter, merchant, postmaster. He and his brother, when small boys, had been saved when the massacre in St. Domingo occurred.

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They were sent to the United States by Stephen Girard or his agents, and, having no kindred, were received on their arrival at Baltimore and educated by Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Honore came to Louisiana, taught school in Opelousas, settled first at Walnut Hills, and subsequently became an extensive planter at Milliken's Bend. His brother, Emilius, settled at Walnut Hills as a physician, but died long since." (Claiborne's Mississippi, p. 535.)

Morgan, James Bright, was born in Lincoln county, Tenn., March 14, 1835, and moved with his parents to DeSoto county, Miss., in 1845. He was admitted to the bar at Hernando in 1857, and was soon elected probate judge. He entered the Confederate army as a private, and left the service as a colonel. After the war he was again elected judge, and was member of the State senate in 1876- 78. In 1878 he was appointed Chancellor, and served four years. In 1884 he was elected to the 49th congress, and served till 1891. He was murdered on a railway train June 18, 1892, as the outcome of a difficulty with John Foster, an attorney of Hernando.

Morganton, a hamlet of Itawamba county, 10 miles south of Fulton, the county seat. The postoffice here was discontinued in 1905, and it now has rural free delivery from Smithville, in Monroe county.

Morriston, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Perry county, 9 miles north northeast of Hattiesburg, the nearest railroad, tele- graph, express and banking town. Population in 1900, 65.

Morrow, a postoffice of Lauderdale county, 9 miles north of Meridian.

Morton, an incorporated post-village in the western part of Scott county, on the Alabama & Vicksburg R. R., 34 miles east of Jackson, and 12 miles west of Forest, the county seat. It was given the maiden name of the wife of Col. E. W. Taylor. It has two churches, a high school, a bank, which was established in 1904, a grist mill and cotton gin combined, ten or fifteen business houses, and two good hotels. Its population in 1906 was estimated at 500.

Moscos, a post-hamlet of Covington county, on the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., 6 miles east of Williamsburg, the county seat. Collins is the nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 56.

Moscow, a post-hamlet of Kemper county, 10 miles southwest of Dekalb, the county seat. Population in 1900, 30.

Moseley, a post-hamlet of Rankin county, 10 miles east of Brandon, the county seat. Pelahatchie is its nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 25.

Moselle, a post-hamlet in the southern part of Jones county, on the New Orleans & North Eastern R. R., 10 miles south of Ellis- ville, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 73.

Moses, a post-hamlet in the north-central part of Kemper county, 5 miles northwest of Dekalb, the county seat. Population in 1900, 65.

Moss, a postoffice in the southern part of Jasper county.

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Moss Point, an incorporated post-town of Jackson county, at the mouth of the Escatawpa river, 4 miles north of Pascagoula, the county seat. The Pascagoula Street Railway and Power Company, an interurban electric road, connects it with Scranton and Pasca- goula. It is an important manufacturing point, and has a number of large steam saw mills, several planing mills, a foundry, lath and shingle mills, a machine shop, etc. A branch of the Scranton State Bank was established here in 1892, and a branch of the Merchants and Marine Bank of the same place in 1899. The town is pros- perous and growing rapidly. Population in 1900 was 1,900, which has been materially increased since that date, and was estimated at 3,000 in 1906.

Mott, Christopher H., was born in Livingston county, Ky., June 22, 1826, and reared at Holly Springs, Miss., was educated at St. Thomas hall, and Transylvania university, Ky., studied law under Roger Barton, and was a partner of L. Q. C. Lamar in 1850-61, and represented Marshall county in the legislature of 1850. He began his military career as first-lieutenant of the Marshall Guards, Company I of the First regiment, Mississippi rifles, in the war with Mexico, 1847-48, being then hardly more than a boy. Subse- quently, while probate judge, he was sent on a special mission to California by the United States government. In 1860 he organized a company, of which he was captain, in the State army, and was appointed one of the four brigadier-generals under Maj .- Gen. Jef- ferson Davis in January, 1861. This rank he resigned to accept election as colonel of the 19th Miss. Inf., which he and Lamar raised and with which he went on duty in Virginia in the summer of 1861. In the first important battle of the campaign before Richmond, at Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, he was shot dead while leading his reg- iment in a charge against the Federal position. He had been pro- moted to brigadier-general, but had not received his commission. The legislature in 1864 appropriated $600 for his widow, Sallie Mott, in payment of his services as brigadier-general in 1861.

Mound Bayou, an incorporated town in the eastern part of Boli- var county, is located on the main line of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railroad, 27 miles south of Clarksdale. It is the only town in the State, and probably the only one in the United States, in which all its citizens are negroes. The plan of this settlement originated with Isaiah T. Montgomery, who was born a slave on the plantation of Joseph E. Davis, near Vicksburg.

Mound Bayou has thirty-two mercantile establishments, three blacksmith and wagon shops, a newspaper, three doctors, one law- yer, a photographer, a harness shop, gin and saw mill, three gins, a restaurant and boarding house, and a bank organized March 8, 1904, with an authorized capital of $10,000, of which over $6,000 is paid in. The population of Mound Bayou in 1900 was 287, and its present population is estimated at over 1,000.

Mound City, a post-hamlet of Bolivar county, 10 miles southeast of Rosedale, the county seat and nearest banking town. Popula- tion in 1900, 57.

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Mount Carmel, a post-hamlet of Covington county, 12 miles west of Williamsburg, the county seat. Atwood, 6 miles southwest, on the Mississippi Central R. R., is the nearest railroad station. It has a church and a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 96.

Mount Nebo, a postoffice of Kemper county, 6 miles south of Dekalb, the county seat. Population in 1900, 45.

Mount Olive, a money order post-town, about 54 miles southeast of Jackson, on the Gulf & Ship Island R. R. It has a telegraph office, an express office, a high school, a local newspaper-the Tribune, established in 1900, and owned and edited by T. J. Walker. The Mount Olive Bank was established here in 1901 with a capital of $18,000. There are also two churches and an academy. Popula- tion in 1900, 246. The population in 1906 was estimated at 1,000.

Mount Pleasant, an incorporated post-town in the northern part of Marshall county, about 15 miles north of Holly Springs. It has two churches. Population in 1900, 139.

Mount Zion, a post-hamlet in the southern part of Simpson county, 12 miles south of Mendenhall. Population in 1900, 25.

Mudcreek, a postoffice of Pontotoc county, 7 miles west of Pon- totoc, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town. It has a Baptist church and a good school; also a Woodmen of the World lodge.

Muldon, a post-hamlet in the southwestern part of Monroe county, at the junction of the main line of the Mobile & Ohio R. R., and a branch of the same line which connects it with Aberdeen, 9 miles northeast. It has a church, a money order postoffice, and is an important cotton shipping station. Population in 1900, 75.

Muldrow, Henry Lowndes, was a native of Lowndes county, Miss., and a graduate of the classical and law departments of the University of Mississippi. He was admitted to the bar in 1859, entered the Confederate army in 1861, and surrendered at Forsythe, in 1865, as a colonel of cavalry. He served as district attorney in the sixth district from 1869 to 1871, and was elected to the State legislature in 1875. He was elected in 1876 to the 45th congress, and served from 1877 to 1885. He was first assistant secretary of the interior under Mr. Lamar, resigned in 1889, and resumed the practice of law in Starkville. He was a member of the Constitu- tional convention of 1890, and was appointed chancellor of the first district in 1899. Judge Muldrow died suddenly at his home in Starkville March 3, 1905.

Muldrow Station, a post-hamlet in the extreme northeastern part of Oktibbeha county, on Line creek, and a station on the Aberdeen branch of the Illinois Central R. R., 4 miles southwest of West- point, the nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 41.

Mullet, a post-hamlet of Greene county, 12 miles south of Leakes- ville, the county seat. Population in 1900, 20.

Mullonville, a postoffice in the northeastern part of Madison county, about 24 miles from Canton, the county seat.

Munfordville, Battle of. See Army of Tennessee.

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Murel, John A., the "western land-pirate," or negro stealer, was a native of Tennessee, and in the '30s was a famous character, much talked of and dreaded in Mississippi. His home was in Madison county, Tenn., when he became notorious. A pamphlet was published by Virgil A. Stewart in 1835 purporting to reveal the secrets of Murel and his confederates, from which it appears that there was a confederacy of men of great shrewdness, embrac- ing some men of law learning, for the stealing of negroes, and the harboring of runaways, the shipping of them to Texas or other dis- tant regions, and the sale at a great profit to the gang. So skillful were the operations of the gang, and so adroit their manipulations of the law, that slaveholders, when they suspected Murel of the loss of their slaves, were disposed to admit their loss as final with- out further effort at recovery. One method was to suggest to a discontented slave to run away and take refuge at a certain place, with one of the confederates. This person held him as a runaway, supposedly ignorant of where the negro came from. Presently. an advertisement appeared describing the runaway, and offering a re- ward. Thereupon the harborer of the negro assumed the status of a taker-up of the runaway, and in a sense, attorney-in-fact for the owner. Instead of returning the negro, he would choose to commit a breach of trust and transport and sell him. There was no remedy except by suit for the value of the slave, and no prop- erty could be found on which to levy.

In 1834 Murel was arrested for negro harboring, fined several hundred dollars, and in the absence of property, was sentenced to slavery for five years. He appealed to the supreme court, and was about to be set free, when Stewart became associated with him. Stewart claimed that after he had gained the outlaw's confidence, the plan was revealed of a general insurrection of slaves to take place on the night of December. 25, 1835, by which time Murel expected his clan of white men to be 2,000 strong. His purpose was simply to cause more bloodshed and destroy more property than any other robber who had ever lived, and he felt confidence in his success because half of his "grand council" were men of high stand- ing and "many of them in honorable and lucrative offices." This was the basis of a book that Stewart wrote and proceeded to sell through the country, creating a great panic and much bloodshed. The book contained a list of the members of the "Mystic Clan," in each of the slaveholding States, also what purported to be a narration by Murel of various robberies and murders he had been guilty of, in Mississippi mainly.

Murfreesboro, battle, see Army of Tennessee.

Murphreesboro, a post-hamlet of Tallahatchie county, 6 miles southeast of Charleston, the county seat and nearest banking town. Tillatoba is the nearest railroad station. Population in 1900, 56. Murphy, a postoffice in the southern part of Washington county, on Big Sunflower river, about 30 miles southeast of Greenville.

Murrah, William Belton, was born at Pickensville, Ala., in 1852. In 1874 he was graduated from the Southern university, at Greens-

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boro, Ala. In 1876 he joined the North Mississippi conference of the Methodist church, and served the churches at Oxford, Winona, and Aberdeen. In 1886 he became vice-president of Whitworth college at Brookhaven, which position he held until 1890. In 1887 the degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Centenary college, La., and in 1897 the degree of LL. D. by Wofford college, S. C. While Dr. Murrah was connected with Whitworth college, he was married to Beulah Fitzhugh, daughter of President L. T. Fitzhugh, of Whitworth college, later president of Belhaven college at Jack- son. When Millsaps college was established at Jackson, Dr. Mur- rah was elected president, which position he still holds, having re- fused several offers to go elsewhere. Dr. Murrah is considered one of the most successful college presidents in the South, and is a rep- resentative of his church at all the important councils, both in his country and abroad. In 1898 he declined the position of secretary of education of the Methodist church.

Murry, a post-hamlet of Tate county, 7 miles northwest of Sena- tobia, the county seat. Coldwater is its nearest banking town. It has a store, a church, and a cotton gin. Population in 1900, 37.

Music, a postoffice in the southwestern part of Smith county, 4 miles north of Mount Olive, on the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., and the nearest railroad and banking town.

Mussacunna, a postoffice of De Soto county.

Myles, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Copiah county, about 22 miles from Hazlehurst, the county seat. It is a station on the Natchez-Jackson branch of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 9 miles by rail south of Utica, the nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 31.

Myrick, a post-hamlet of Jones county, 13 miles northeast of Ellis- ville, the county seat. Population in 1900, 20.

Myrleville, a post-hamlet of Yazoo county, 12 miles southeast of Yazoo City. The population in 1906 was about 30.

Myrtle (Old). An early settlement in Tippah, now Union county. It was situated 2 miles south of the station of the same name, on the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham railroad. From an incident, which happened in the year 1857, at which time one Moses Parker was teaching school at this place, it was long called by the name of "Candy Hill." After the War of 1861-1865, it became a post- town and was given the name of Myrtle. Its business moved to the new town of Myrtle, after the building of the railroad, and the old settlement is now known as Avenell, a tiny settlement of about 20 inhabitants, with a postoffice and store. (See Union county.)

Myrtle, an incorporated post-village in the northwestern part of Union county, on the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham R. R., 8 miles northwest of New Albany, the county seat. It was named because of the abundance of myrtle trees in the vicinity. It has a money order postoffice, express office, and a bank, the Bank of Myrtle, established in 1904 with a capital of $10,000. Population in 1900, 165.

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Nabers, Benjamin D., native of Tennessee, moved to Hickory Flat, Miss., where he held several local offices; was elected to the 32d congress as a Unionist, and served 1851-53; was the unsuc- cessful Whig candidate in 1853; moved back to Tennessee, where he was a presidential elector on the Bell and Everett ticket in 1860.

Nanachehaw, or Allen Station, a postoffice in the southern part of Warren county, on the Big Black river, and on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 18 miles south of Vicksburg. Popula- tion in 1900, 23.

Nancy, a postoffice of Clarke county, 12 miles southwest of Quitman, the county seat.

Nannye, a post-hamlet in the extreme southwestern part of Copiah county, 24 miles from Hazlehurst, the county seat. It has an excellent high school.

Napier, a postoffice of Jones county, 10 miles southwest of Ellis- ville, the county seat.

Napoleon, a hamlet in the southwestern part of Hancock county, on the Pearl river, 5 miles north of Pearlington, the nearest bank- ing town. The postoffice has been discontinued, and mail now goes to Huxford.

Narvaez, Panfilo de. The ill-starred expedition of Narvaez in 1527 concerns us inasmuch as it is thought that he may have trav- ersed the Mississippi coast line, and possibly made occasional land- ings thereon, in his efforts to escape from Florida to Mexico. With the remnants of his little band of 300 men, he reached the coast at a bay which Narvaez styled Bahia de Cavallos on the 31st of July, 1528. Here he set to work to build boats in which to escape from the inhospitable shores. Biedma in his narrative of De Soto's expedition says: "We recognized the spot on which he had built his smithy, and saw a great quantity of horses' bones scattered about." This point is believed to be the site of the present town of St. Marks on Apalachee bay. Here he embarked the miserable remnant of his troops, on September 22, 1528, in five frail boats and coasted west for thirty days, landing occasionally to obtain food and water, and meeting with fierce opposition from the na- tives of the coast. On October 31 they came to a "broad river pouring into the Gulf such a volume of water that it freshened the brine so that they were able to drink it; but the current was too strong for their clumsy craft. The boat commanded by Narvaez was lost and never heard of." Another boat was wrecked at the same point and the three others were thrown on the coast of west- ern Louisiana or eastern Texas. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, the treasurer of the expedition, and three others, were the sole sur- vivors, and finally, after years of wandering, reached the town of San Miguel in Sinaloa, April, 1536. The broad river of fresh water is supposedly the Mississippi.

Nashville was an important shipping point for cotton and was located on the east side of the Tombigbee, a few miles from the southern line of Lowndes county, on what was formerly known as Young's bluff. It was named for Abner Nash, an early pioneer

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of Eastern Lowndes, whose large and commodious residence near the place remained long after the merchants of the place had closed out their stocks and moved elsewhere. . The principal merchants were northern men, who became dissatisfied with the country, on account of the great overflow of the river in 1847, and sold out their stocks and moved away. There is now a public ferry at this point maintained by the county and known as Nash- ville Ferry, but the site of the town and the dwelling of Mr. Nash is now a cultivated field.

Nashville Convention. The Nashville convention was called by the Convention of 1849, (q. v.) at Jackson, Miss., to meet on the first Monday in June, 1850. It was proposed, said Gov. Foote in his inaugural address of 1852, "for the avowed purpose of con- sulting in a fraternal and patriotic spirit, for the general safety of the South, and the preservation of the Union from the dangers with which it was obviously menaced." The delegates chosen to represent Mississippi were: William L. Sharkey, A. M. Clayton, H. T. Ellett, G. T. Sturges, Joseph W. Matthews, T. J. Word, T. N. Waul, J. B. Cobb, H. C. Chambers, E. C. Wilkinson, George Winchester, D. H. Cooper; alternates, John I. Guion, A. Hutchin- son, W. R. Cannon, J. T. Harrison, H. R. Miller, J. D. Bradford, Reuben Davis, Charles B. Shepherd, W. R. Hill, Patrick Sharkey, David Hurst, Henry Mounger.

The convention did not seem to meet with general approval. It was declared in congress that the efforts to get up meetings in Virginia to send delegates almost entirely failed. Comparatively few newspapers freely approved it. In Georgia less than 4,000 people in all took part in choosing delegates. At Nashville, a county convention refused to elect delegates. Alabama sent mod- erate men.

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 33

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association Number of Pages: 1032

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 1032