Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 74

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 74

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In 1892 the school law was amended to require an annual county institute of five days, for each race, in each county. The State board of education organized a system of instruction at these in- stitutes ; which Chancellor Payne reported in 1893 was a typical one. It included a special training school at Oxford for the insti- tute conductors.

Superintendent Preston reported for 1892-93 that the total re- ceipts for education were $1,392,000, of which two-thirds was from State taxation. The receipts from the congressional land funds were about $80,000, from county levies, $66,386. The expendi- tures for the common schools were $1,192,844, equivalent to a levy of $7 on the thousand, much less than in the Northwest, but first in the South, and eighth among the States of the Union. The in- crease in population from 1880 to 1890 was less than 14 per cent., but the increase in school enrollment was 20 per cent., and in ex- penditures 50 per cent. As to average attendance, Mississippi had 1,775 children in average attendance while Indiana had 1,690. But in length of school term Mississippi had 51/4 months while the average in the United States was seven months.

Under the administration of Superintendent Smith five teachers' institutes were held in 1879, at Jackson, Brookhaven, Meridian, Okolona and Winona, aided by a contribution of $1,000 from the Peabody fund, by which Maj. Jed Hotchkiss, of Virginia, and Prof. H. H. Smith, of Texas, were secured as instructors. This was the beginning of the teachers' institutes in Mississippi. They were provided for in later State laws.

In 1891 a memorial signed by Bishop Galloway, Dr. Sproles, Major Millsaps, and other prominent citizens, was forwarded to

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the trustees of the Peabody institute asking that the State be re- instated as a beneficiary of the fund, having been dropped because the State had repudiated the old bank bonds in which the fund had considerable investments. In 1892, the trustees of the fund resolved to readmit Mississippi and Florida. Since then the fund has sustained the summer normal schools. There were nearly a thousand teachers in attendance on these schools in 1893, marking a new era.

In 1893 there were 58 town or city school districts maintaining advanced schools, and besides these 233 proprietary high schools, academies and colleges, with an attendance of nearly 23,000, and the five State institutions, with 1,300 students.

In 1894 Dr. J. L. M. Curry, general agent of the Peabody fund, visited the legislature, and his appeal resulted in the appropriation of $1,500 to support summer normals, whereupon he increased the Peabody donation to $3,000 a year. Colored teachers were amply provided for in 1894.

Superintendent Preston's summary of the first ten years under the law of 1886 showed an increase of nearly 70,000 in enrollment, and of 29 days in the length of session; an increase of over 1,000 in teachers; 2,400 school houses built, besides 48 in the town dis- tricts ; an increase of 70 per cent. in revenue; establishment of county institutes with 4,000 attendants; summer normals with 2,000 attendants; departments of pedagogy in two State institu- tions; a great elevation of professional spirit among the teachers.

The separate districts are an important feature. They maintain schools that include primary and high school education. They be- gan under the law of 1870 providing for cities of 5,000 inhabitants, but the privilege was gradually extended. There were eighty of these districts in 1902. The girls' school at Brandon is the Female college, established by Miss F. A. Johnson in 1865; the Columbus school is the Franklin academy; the Natchez school was estab- lished in 1845, mainly through the efforts of Alvarez Fisk; the Summit school is a Peabody school, formerly receiving $1,000 a year from that fund; the Vicksburg school was opened in 1845, with the famous author, Dr. J. G. Holland, as its principal about 1850; nearly all the districts maintain separate schools for colored children, the Natchez building for that purpose costing $30,000, and several of the schools are provided with valuable libraries and apparatus, the Meridian school having a library of 5,000 volumes.

In Superintendent Whitfield's report for 1901-3 he said: "As a rule our terms are too short, the compensation received by our teachers for a year's work is too small for them to make the prep- arations to be skilled in their work, and our schoolhouses in the main are uncomfortable and poorly equipped. As long as we have four and five months school sessions and pay our teachers $25 or $30 a month, or $125 to $130 for a year's work, out of which they must pay their board, etc., we cannot hope to have those teachers with that training necessary to make them quali- fied to give our children the training they so much need. :

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There is only one other State besides Mississippi that has failed to make some provision for the training of the great mass of its rural teachers. . One of the greatest needs of the State at this time is a number of well-distributed free rural high schools. Under our present laws public high schools can be maintained only in the towns, and I am glad to report that practically all of our town schools have moderately well-equipped high school departments but less than 10 per cent. of the children of the State live within the bounds of these districts. I am satisfied that every member of the legislature will agree with me when I say that the school-houses of Mississippi in the main are a disgrace to the State. Reference to the statistics contained in this report will show that over 50 per cent. of the children enrolled are in average at- tendance ; the reason why the average attendence is not. better is that the houses are uncomfortable, both in winter and summer. Something should be done to make more effec- tive the office of county superintendent. As it is now, the salary is so small that competent men cannot be secured for their full time. . As is known to your honorable body the public school curriculum is one of the very lowest in the United States." Superintendent Whitfield argued forcibly that only through edu- cation of the people could it be expected that the profits arising from the recent great increase in development would remain in, and benefit the State. He noted the success in 1903 of the summer school for teachers at the State university, attended by over 800. This summer school was begun in 1893, and considerably developed in 1900-02 through the generosity of Mrs. Fanny J. Ricks, of Yazoo City, and in 1903 the General Education Board (Peabody fund) donated $2,500 to duplicate what was donated by the University, the State superintendent, and the $2,000 from Mrs. Ricks. The resources of the State appropriation and the Peabody fund permit- ted an extension of most county institutes to two weeks. A com- mittee appointed by the State Teachers' association had made an exhaustive report covering every phase of the subject of public education. The State Superintendent, aided by several prominent educators and citizens had made a campaign for better education, and a livelier sentiment was reported. "Over thirty counties are now levying taxes for longer school terms and better schools." Under the present law this tax has to be levied every year in order to give permanence to the school systems of the various counties," and this local tax, voted by the people, could not exceed the max- imum fixed by the legislature.

In his last report the superintendent says: "During the last few years the State has made substantial progress in an educational way; yet, in length of terms, preparation of teachers, curriculum, houses and equipments, we are far behind the more progressive States and countries. In some sections of the State public sentiment has not yet advanced to the point where it recognizes that the school interests are the paramount interests of the State. The problem of our schools is the supply of teachers."

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He again strongly urged the establishment of a normal college, particularly adapted to the needs of the country districts, and the peculiar conditions of the State, and the promotion of rural high schools, specifically at least an agricultural high school to carry out the work of the experiment stations.

The enrollment of the school year 1904-05 was 169,507 white, 205,601 colored, (outside of the separate districts) with an average attendance of 93,375 white and 110,686 colored. In the separate districts the enrollment was 29,796 white, 18,837 colored, average attendance 20,806 white, 10,353 colored. Total for State, 199,293 white, 224,438 colored, average attendance 114,781 white, 121,039 colored. There are 4,188 white schools taught outside of the separ- ate districts, and 2,892 for negro children. One thousand teachers are employed in the separate districts, and 8,330 outside. The average monthly salary of white teachers in the separate districts is $54; in the other districts, $36; of colored teachers a little over half the same. Average length of school term in separate districts 165 days, in others 129. The expenditure for education, outside of the separate districts, is about $7 for each white child and $2 for each negro child; in the separate districts, $12.75 for each white child and $3.50 for each negro child.

The revenues of the last year, outside of separate districts were, balance on hand, $361,000 ; from distribution of State tax $1,110,- 851; polls, $305,596; Sixteenth section fund, $147,765; Chickasaw fund, $60,000; County levy, $156,000; and smaller items making a total of $2,170,648. The separate districts had a revenue of $750,- 000, of which the largest items were $237,374, city levy, and $164,- 863, State distribution. The total revenue for the State was $2,- 921,784, of which practically all was paid by taxation, as the so- called funds are all debts of the State treasury. The disbursements were $2,329,311.

Schooner, a postoffice of Chickasaw county.

Scobey, an incorporated post-town in the southwestern part of Yalobusha county, on the Memphis Division of the Illinois Central R. R., 13 miles north of Grenada, and 11 miles west of Coffeeville, one of the county seats of justice. Oakland is the nearest banking town. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 146. Two public cotton gins are located here.

Scooba, an incorporated post-town in the northeastern part of Kemper county, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., 41 miles north of Meridian, and 6 miles west of the Alabama line. Big Scooba creek, an affluent of the Tombigbee river flows a short distance to the south of the town. Scooba is an Indian word meaning "reed brake." Scooba lies near the northeastern prairie region of the State, and is surrounded by a good farming section. The Kemper Herald, a Democratic weekly, established in 1876, is published here. A. W. Struthers is the editor. The town has several good general stores, two saw milling plants, a fine Munger System cotton gin, five churches, three white and two colored ; a graded school and a bank, Bank of Kemper, established in 1904 with a capital of $25,000. The

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population in 1906 was estimated at about 600. During the first six months of 1906 three large brick business houses, eight dwell- ing houses and a large hotel containing 19 rooms were erected. One of the best livery barns in the county is located here. The Scooba postoffice is the third largest distributing office on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., between Mobile, Ala., and Jackson, Tenn., and the town has held its own with Meridian as a cotton market for the last twenty years.

Scotland, a postoffice in the extreme southeastern part of Talla- hatchie county, on Hurd creek, an affluent of the Tallahatchie river, about 15 miles southeast of Charleston, the county seat.

Scott, a post-hamlet of Greene county, situated on the Leaf river, about 14 miles southwest of Leakesville, the county seat. It is about 2 miles from the station of Leaf, on the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R. Population in 1900, 40.

Scott, Abram M., was a native of South Carolina, who settled in Wilkinson county before 1810, when he was appointed assessor. In 1812 he was collector of taxes. As a young Mississippian he had such prominence in 1812-13 that he was commissioned one of the captains in the First Mississippi regiment, United States volunteers, and served in this rank in the war with the Creeks. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1817, and represented Wilkinson county in the State senate in 1822, 1826 and 1827. He was a colonel on the governor's staff in 1822. In 1824 he was appointed sheriff. In 1831 he was elec- ted governor, receiving about one-third of the total votes, but having a small plurality over H. G. Runnels, the nearest of his four competitors. His administration and death are noted in a separate article. The State Rights Banner, of Jackson, announcing his death, spoke of him as "one of the best men, the most devoted public ser- vant. He fell a victim to his sense of public duty ; for nothing but the pressure and importance of official business has kept him in this place since the cholera made its appearance."

At his death he was 48 years of age. On his monument in the old graveyard at Jackson it is inscribed that "as a man he was honest, generous and brave; as a friend ardent, disinterested and sincere ; the stranger's patron and the poor man's friend; as a cit- izen he was orderly, active and patriotic; as a soldier daring, bold and energetic. He filled many important offices, always usefully, creditably and satisfactorily. He rose from one position unto another until he became the governor of the State, which office he filled when he died."

In his public papers are many admirable sentences, of which the following is an example: "Legislation should take enlarged views. A wise policy will rarely attempt any restraint on the pursuits of individual interest; but rather to awaken the inclination. Guard and watch over the interest of all, and leave every man to take his own track."

Scott's Administration. Governor Abram M. Scott was inaugu- rated in January, 1832, with Fountain Winston as lieutenant-gov-

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ernor. This was the year of the constitutional convention (q. v.) ; of the second Jackson presidential campaign; of the South Caroli- na nullification discussion, in which Senator Poindexter (q. v.) was a conspicuous figure ; of the Black Hawk war in the Northwest, in which Jefferson Davis served as a lieutenant from West Point, of the terrible cholera (q. v.) epidemic all over the United States; of revolutions and wars and rumors of wars throughout the world. There were three electoral tickets before the people in 1832, for Jackson and VanBuren, Jackson and Barbour, and Clay and Sar- geant. The reelection of Plummer to congress indicated that Mis- sissippi adhered to Jackson as opposed to Calhoun and Poindexter.

The prevailing spirit of revolution, evident in Mississippi as else- where, rendered some men ardent and hopeful of greater good to result from enlarged self-government, and others scornful and dis- posed to cling to the narrower ideals of the past. Governor Scott was one of the enthusiasts, viewing the year as the era of "a new term of political existence, unshackled by the prejudices, errors and forms which, in old communities, sanctified by time and strength- ened by habit, too often acquire the force and energy of nature." He regarded the new constitution as pushing popular rights to the "utmost verge."

He said in his message of January, 1833, to the first legislature under the new constitution :

"Representing a youthful and enterprising State, which, with a fearlessness of consequences and in a spirit of reform, characteris- tic of the age in which we live; throwing aside many of the received doctrines of the existing school of politics, and advancing boldly upon the field of experiment, in the organization of its government has pushed to its utmost verge the doctrine of popular rights, your duties will be equally delicate, difficult and important. Whatever difference of opinion may exist, in relation to the ex- pediency of the novel doctrines infused into the fundamental law of Mississippi, in your patriotism I have the best assurance, and in your wisdom the surest guarantee, that that efficiency and direction which is best calculated to advance the glory and prosperity of our country will be given to it." He urged the paramount duty of pro- viding for schools, the encouragement of agriculture by improve- ment of roads and all means of transportation, and regulation of the banks and currency.

The State was in an excellent financial condition. The receipts from November, 1831, to January, 1833, were $106,000; expendi- tures, $91,000. Political discussion, of the questions of protective tariff and nullification, occupied the legislature to a considerable degree, the opposition to Calhoun and Poindexter being led by the great Whig Mississippian, Adam L. Bingaman (q. v.).

The governor, referring to the Mississippi resolutions of 1829, in opposition to the tariff, said congress, notwithstanding the pro- tests of the South generally, had "persisted in this most injust and oppressive system, until one of the States, affording the purest patriots and most talented statesmen, has been induced to believe

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that no relief was to be expected, and has entered upon a course which seems to threaten the dissolution of the Union." He hoped congress would modify the obnoxious law. But in the campaign for reelection as governor which followed, he published a denial that he was a "nullifier." Auditor Hadley proposed that the South- ern States put a tax of fifty per cent. upon the sales of all articles manufactured in the United States, which were benefited by the protective tariff. "It would effectually shut out those articles from the Southern markets, without which the manufacturers of them could not long exist," and the market could be supplied by foreign made goods. (Journal of House, 1833, p. 60.) On the subject of the Indians the governor said: "The rapid emigration of the Choc- taws to their homes in the west will in a very limited time leave us in undivided possession of the territory acquired by contract from them by the general government."

At the same session the legislature authorized the sale of bonds to the amount of $1,500,000 for the basis of additional currency to be issued by the Planters bank, in confidence that the great prosperity of the State would make easy the payment of the bonds out of the bank profits. These bonds were sold to Northern capitalists at New York in August, at a premium of 13 per cent.

The new constitution adopted in October, 1832, provided that the governor and all officers, civil and military, should continue until superseded pursuant to the provisions of the constitution. Tem- porarily, the first legislature was elected in December following, to meet on the first Monday of January, and provided for an election of State and county officers on the first Monday of May, 1833, to serve until the succeeding general election, in November and after, as if they had been chosen at that general election. The legislature by act of March 2d, provided for the May election, also that the regular general election of State and county officers, members of legislature and congress, should occur on the first Monday of No- vember, and the day after, biennially. At the election of state officers in May, 1833, Governor Scott was defeated by Hiram G. Runnels, the vote being 6,675 to 6,117. Governor Scott continued in office, however, until his death.

The cholera, scattered along the Mississippi river, from New Orleans. to St. Louis, appeared at Natchez in March, 1833, and from the river towns it spread inland. Governor Scott remained at Jack- son to transact the public business, after many had fled, and was taken with the disease in the evening of June 12, 1833, and died at the home of Col. Grimball, at 11 p. m. The president of the sen- ate, Charles Lynch, was acting governor until after the time of the November election, when Governor Runnels took office as if he had been elected then. The succession of officers in this transi- tion period is difficult to ascertain, because laws and journals are missing. But the facts are as above stated. The State officers through this administration were the same as in the Brandon ad- ministration.

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Scott, Charles, chancellor of the State from 1853 to 1857, was born at Knoxville, Tenn., November 12, 1811. He was a son of Edmond Scott, for thirty years circuit judge of the Knoxville dis- trict; was a grandson of Maj. Joseph Scott, wounded at the battle of Germantown and afterward United States marshal of Virginia, whose brother Gen. Charles Scott, was famous in the Indian wars on the Ohio, and later governor of Kentucky. Chancellor Scott be- gan the practice of law at Nashville, but soon moved to Jackson, Miss., and became a partner of George S. Yerger, who married his sister. As chancellor he entered the decree in the famous case of Johnston vs. The State, asserting the liability of the State for the payment of the bonds of the Union bank, affirmed by the high court of errors and appeals, but overruled by the popular vote. In 1859 he removed to Memphis, but returned to Jackson, in 1861, de- termined to cast his lot with the State with which he had been so long identified. But he died at Jackson, May 30, 1861. He was grand master of the Mississippi grand lodge of Masons in 1850, and author of two books that were widely circulated in the frater- nity throughout the United States. He was deeply read in liter- ature, and was devoted to poetry and sacred literature; "a man of noble candor and knightly courtesy."

Scott County was organized December 23, 1833, and was named in honor of Abram M. Scott, seventh Governor of Mississippi. The act which established the county defined its boundaries as follows : "Beginning at the northwest corner of Jasper county, and running from thence north, with the line between ranges 9 and 10 east, to the line between the townships 8 and 9; from thence west with said line to the line between ranges 5 and 6 east ; from thence south with said line to the western boundary of the Choctaw nation ; from thence directly south, to a point directly west of the line, be- tween townships 4 and 5; and from thence east with said line to the place of beginning." February 8, 1838, the county was enlarged by the addition of "all that portion of territory lying east of Pearl river and the old Choctaw boundary line, designating the dividing line between the Indian and white settlements prior to the treaty of Dancing Rabbit creek, in 1830, from the point where the said boundary line crosses Pearl river, to the point where the same intersects the present western boundary line of the county of Scott." It is now a nearly square area of land in the center of the State, containing about 584 square miles of territory, and was one of the sixteen counties formed at the above time from the territory ceded by the Choctaws in the treaty of Dancing Rabbit, September 27, 1830. It is bounded on the north by Leake county, on the east by Newton county, on the south by Smith county and on the west by Rankin county ; the old Choctaw boundary line, treaty of Doak's Stand, October 18, 1820, forms part of the western boundary be- tween Scott and Rankin, and the Pearl river, in the extreme north- west corner separates it for a short distance from the county of Madison. The first members of the Board of Police for the county were John Dunn, President of the Board; James Russell, Wade H.

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Holland, Stephen Berry and Jeremiah B. White. The first sheriff was John Smith, the first Clerk of the Probate Court, Nicholas Finley, and Wm. Ricks, Sr., was the first Probate Judge, and served in that capacity for several years. Besancon's Annual Register, for 1838, gives the following list of county officers at that time: M. Patrick, E. Smith, J. L. Denson, J. Summers, J. Carr, members of the Board of Police; J. J. Chambers, Clerk of the Circuit Court; J. J. Chambers, Clerk of the Probate Court ; Wm. Ricks, Sr., Probate Judge; J. B. White, Sheriff, Assessor and Collector ; A. Eastland, Ranger and Coroner; M. D. Young, Treasurer; W. J. Denson, Surveyor. The original county seat was located at Berryville, about four miles southwest of Forest, but after the streets were laid out, it was abandoned within twelve months and the court house was removed to Hillsboro in the fall of 1836, where it remained for thirty years. (See Goodspeed's Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. 1, p. 244.) It was finally removed to Forest, on the Alabama & Vicksburg R. R., which is a thriving little town of 1,000 people and the center of trade for the region round about it for some distance. Some of the other towns are Harper- ville (pop. 130), noted for the excellence of its Collegiate Institute and schools; Morton (pop. 200) and Lake (pop. 236), situated on the railroad, and Pulaski (pop. 200), Ludlow, Norris and McDill. The Alabama & Vicksburg R. R. runs through the center of the county from east to west and affords an outlet for the products of the county. The numerous creeks in the northern and south- western sections are tributaries of the Pearl river, and those in the eastern and southeastern part are tributary to the Leaf river. Most of the county is undulating in character, with some level stretches on the creek and river bottoms, and some hilly portions. About one-third of the acreage is improved and the timber growth con- sists of long and short leaf pine, oaks, hickory, poplar, beech, red and sweet gum, etc. Scott county lies in the central prairie region of the State and the soil is extremely varied in character. Sandy in the hills, scattered patches of black prairie, pine and bottom lands. The "reed brakes" are very fertile and when properly drained and cultivated, produce from 50 to 80 bushels of corn to the acre. Considerable limestone and extensive beds of marl are found in the county, providing excellent fertilizers, which have been extensively applied at small cost. The last census reports an expenditure of $19,756 in the county for fertilizers for the year 1900. Much of the county is readily cultivated and the products are those common to the middle section of the State and the yield good. Fruits and vege- tables do well and it has all the requirements of a good stock country, as Bermuda and other grasses grow luxuriantly. Manu- factures have attained a small start; there is a large spoke factory near Lake, and a number of other manufactories elsewhere.

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 74

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