USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III > Part 102
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and policies of the Democratic party, in whose local councils he is an active factor. He holds membership in the Baptist church, while his wife is a Presbyterian, and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, as well as the Kappa Alpha college fraternity. At Steen's Creek, Rankin county, Miss., Oct. 17, 1898, General Williams was united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Gaston, of Jackson, this State, and they have one child, Annie Jane. Mrs. Williams is a daughter of Charles Leroi Gaston and Jane Gaston, her paternal ancestors having been Scotch who immigrated to America in 1570. The maternal ancestors also came to America from Scotland.
Williamson, Benjamin Alexander, cash- ier of the Pearl River bank, at Columbia, Marion county, is a native of Mississippi and a scion of an old and honored family of the fair Southland. He was born in Covington county, this State, July 30, 1866, and is a son of Albert and Josephine (Leggett) Williamson, both of whom were likewise native of that same county, where they were reared to maturity and where their marriage was solemnized. The father is living and a well known and honored resident of Scott county, Miss. Albert Williamson went forth to defend the cause of the Confederacy when the Civil war was inaugurated, serving throughout the entire period of the great internecine conflict and proving a loval and valiant soldier. He was mustered into the service in April, 1861, as a member of Capt. Hugh McLauren's company of 105 men, and was selected flag- bearer of his company. Owing to some difficulty in securing the necessary arms and other equipments the company was soon reor- ganized and was consolidated with Captain Norman's mounted company. At a later period Mr. Williamson became a member of a company from Covington county which was commanded by Capt. V. L. Terrell, who was succeeded by Capt. John Pope, in whose com- mand Mr. Williamson continued to serve until the close of the war, having in the meanwhile held the offices of orderly sergeant and commissary sergeant. Captain Pope's company was with Brecken- ridge, in Adams' brigade, in a number of the minor engagements incidental to the operations around Baton Rouge, La., and up through the State of Mississippi during the siege of Vicksburg and during the time when Sherman made his raid through the State. The company was later transferred to Mabry's brigade, which saw active service in the northern portion of Mississippi and in Tennessee and Ken- tucky. In this connection Mr. Williamson participated in engage- ments at Harrisburg, Guntown and Corinth, Miss .; Perryville, Ky .; Johnsonville, Nashville, and Franklin, Tenn., and Selma and Pickens- ville, Ala., in which last mentioned place the company finally stacked
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its arms. At one time Mr. Williamson was honorary major of Com- pany B, Fourth Mississippi regiment, Stark's brigade, Gen. Buford Forrest's division of cavalry in the Tennessee army. He was an expert rifleman and was often detailed with others as a sharpshooter. He is still in possession of his old Sharp rifle, which he carried during the great struggle and which is now an interesting relic of the "lost cause" whose bitter animosities have been softened by the gentle benefices of time, though the younger generation in the "new South" can not be unmindful of the self-abnegating service of those who so loyally fought for and supported the cause of the Confederacy during the dark days of the greatest civil war known in the annals of history. Benjamin A. Williamson, the immediate subject of this sketch, se- cured his early educational training in the public schools of Coving- ton and Scott counties and supplemented the same by a thorough course in the commercial department of the University of Kentucky, at Lexington. His boyhood days were passed on the farm, and as a youth he devoted considerable attention to teaching, in which vocation he was successful. In 1888 he was employed as salesman for John P. Richardson & Brother, in Washington county, and in the following year was appointed station agent for the Valley rail- road at Avon Station. Thereafter he was employed for a decade as bookkeeper and general accountant in various commercial houses in Scott and Hinds counties, while in 1901 he became bookkeeper and assistant cashier of the Commercial bank of Brookhaven, Lincoln county. In 1904, when the Pearl River bank was organized in Col- umbia, Mr. Williamson was elected its cashier, and he has since had executive charge of its counting rooms and has shown excellent administrative ability. The bank is incorporated and has an author- ized capital of $50,000, while its officers are as follows: F. A. May, president; A. H. Ball, vice-president, and B. A. Williamson, cashier. The bank occupies a handsome two-story building of pressed brick and stone, the same having been erected and equipped for the spe- cific use of the bank before the opening of the business. Mr. William- son is a stanch adherent of the Democratic party, and fraternally is identified with the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, and Masons. On March 30, 1892, Mr. Williamson was united in marriage to Miss Nannie Nicholson, daughter of Thos. W. and Martha (Bustin) Nicholson, of Scott county, and the children of this union are four in number, namely : Thomas Lamar, Wydelle, Benjamin A., Jr., and Albert.
Williamson, Robert W., of Greenwood, Leflore county, is one of the Nestors of the bar of Mississippi, being ex-chancellor of the Fifth district and ex-judge of the Fourth judicial circuit, while he is still engaged in the practice of his profession in Greenwood. Judge Williamson was born near Murfreesboro, Rutherford county, Tenn., Jan. 11, 1832, and is a son of George W. and Edna (DeJarnatt) Wil- liamson, the former of whom was born in Virginia, in 1804, while the latter was born in Tennessee, in 1809. Ludi Williamson, grand- father of the judge, was likewise a native of Virginia, where the family was founded in the early colonial era, and he removed with
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his family to Tennessee about 1811, becoming one of the pioneers of Rutherford county, while the DeJarnatt family was also early established there, having come from Virginia. George W. William- son removed with his family to Mississippi in 1834, locating in that portion of Carroll county which is now comprised in Grenada county, where he became a successful planter and influential citizen and where he continued to reside until his death, in 1884, while his loved and devoted wife passed away in 1888. They became the parents of two sons and four daughters who attained maturity, and four of the children were living in 1905. Judge Williamson received liberal educational advantages at Union university, a Baptist institution in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he was graduated in 1852. During the following year he was engaged in teaching in Grenada, Miss., and he then began the study of law under the preceptorship of C. P. Sheppard, one of the strongest members of the Mississippi bar at that time. Judge Williamson was admitted to the bar in December, 1854, and thereafter was engaged in individual practice in Carrollton for two years, at the expiration of which he entered into partnership with Hon. James Z. George, who was United States senator from Mississippi from 1881 until 1897, and they were associated promi- nently with the important legal business of Carroll county until 1871, though in the meanwhile Judge Williamson had gone forth to do yeoman service in the ranks of the Confederate army. On April 19, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Eleventh Mississippi infantry, with which he remained one year, having been promoted captain of his company at Corinth. He then returned home and joined the Thirtieth Mississippi infantry, from which he was transferred to the Twenty-ninth, in which he became captain of Company F, while later he was made colonel of the Twenty-fourth regiment, this being Walthall's brigade which was consolidated into one regiment. He continued in command of his regiment thereafter until the close of the war, having been involved in many of the great battles of the conflict and having proved a gallant and faithful soldier and able commander. He was wounded in the engagement at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and also at Resaca, Ga., but was not long incapacitated on account of his injuries, though the wound received on the latter occasion caused him to lie in a serious condition for some time. He was also in the battle of Perryville where his horse was shot from under him. In 1871 Judge Williamson removed from Carrollton to Winona, Montgomery county, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession about four years. There also Governor Stone appointed him chancellor of the Eleventh chancery district of the State, and he served on this bench for twelve years. In 1888 he located in Greenwood, where he has since maintained his home. Here, in 1890, Governor Stone appointed him to the bench of the Fourth judicial district, and he served in this office six years, since which time he has given his attention to the private practice of his profession. He has dignified and honored the State through his able services both as a jurist and a lawyer, and is well known through- out the commonwealth of Mississippi, while the local bar accord to
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him marked veneration and esteem. He was originally a Whig in politics, but has long been numbered among the stalwart Democrats of the South, while in a fraternal way he has been identified with the Masonic order since 1854, and is also a member of the Knights of Honor. He and his family are valued members of the Baptist church, his identification with which dates back three decades. On Feb. 27, 1866, in DeSoto county, Miss., Judge Williamson was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary E. (White) Howze, who was born in Ruth- erford county, Tenn., being a daughter of Robert and Ann White. By her first marriage Mrs. Williamson has one son, Arthur R. Howze, and the children of Judge and Mrs. Williamson are five in number, namely: Annie, the wife of F. Barksdale; George W., a resident of Poplar Bluff, Mo .; Edna, the wife of James A. Howze, of Webster Grove, Mo .; Mary W., unmarried, and Robert W. (a daughter), now Mrs. B. H. Brown.
Williamson, William L., may be con- sistently designated as one of the pioneer merchants of the comparatively newly founded town of Collins, one of the most alert and progressive municipalities of Covington county and one with whose upbuilding he has been most prominently identified, while he stands as distinctively one of its representative citizens. Mr. Williamson is a native of Covington county, and April 20, 1873, stands as the date of his birth. He is a son of James and Charity (Rogers) Williamson, both of whom were likewise born and reared in that same county, a fact denoting that the respective families were founded within its borders in an early day. James Williamson was a loyal soldier of the Confederacy dur- ing the Civil war, serving practically throughout the entire period of the great fratricidal conflict. He enlisted as a member of Com- pany A, Fourth Mississippi cavalry, his company being in command of Captain Norman, and later he became a member of Company B, commanded by Capt. Vernon Terrell. His regiment was a part of Major Stockdale's battalion, in General Forrest's brigade. The command was principally engaged in scouting and skirmishing in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, and Mr. Williamson participated in spirited engagements at Port Hudson, Harrisburg, Bolton's Depot and was in service along the gulf coast. He entered the army in November, 1861, and remained in service until May 14, 1865, when, with his command, he surrendered, at Selma, Ala., having witnessed the final defeat and prostration of the cause for which he had so bravely fought. He was corporal of his company during the greater portion of his term of service. After the war he returned to Covington county and again turned his attention to the arts of peace, whose victories are indeed no less renowned than those of war. Here he and his wife have since maintained their
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home, and are numbered among the representative pioneer citizens of the county. The public schools of Covington county afforded William L. Williamson the advantages which enabled him to lay a firm and adequate foundation for that broad fund of practical knowl- edge which has conserved his success as a progressive business man, while his strong grasp upon the technicalities covered in his course of study gained to him marked prestige and popularity as a teacher in the common schools. He was successfully engaged in teaching for four years, and in 1896 he was elected to the office of county superintendent of schools, in which capacity he gave a most accept- able and discriminating administration, remaining incumbent four years. Upon retiring from office, in 1900, he located in the embry- onic town of Collins and erected what was practically the first store in the town, the same being a temporary structure. In this building he opened a stock of general merchandise, and later he erected the substantial building which he now utilizes and in which is carried a complete and select line of general merchandise, the business being conducted under the firm name of W. L. Williamson & Company, and the trade of the concern being a large and constantly expanding one. Mr. Williamson is a Democrat in his political adherency, is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World, and both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. On Dec. 18, 1899, Mr. Williamson was united in marriage to Miss Mollie Stewart, daughter of James and Martha (Worthy) Stewart, of Covington county, and they have four children, namely : Onolia, Ruth, Myrtle and Paul.
West, George W., of Rolling Fork, is the able and popular incumbent of the office of circuit and chancery clerk of Sharkey county. He was born at Pine Bluff, Copiah county, Miss., Nov. 5, 1868, and is a son of Dr. George W. West, who was born in Richmond, Va., and who became one of the representative phy- sicians and surgeons of Mississippi, where he was in the active practice of his pro- fession for many years, in Copiah and Hinds counties. He died at Dry Grove, this State, in 1880, honored by all who knew him. When the Civil war was precipitated Dr. West tendered his aid in support of the cause of the Confederacy. He became captain of Company K, Thirty-third Mississippi infantry, and when this com- pany was assigned to another regiment he became its surgeon, in which capacity he continued to serve until the close of the war. His wife, whose maiden name was Eliza Wolfe, was born in Hinds county, Miss. They became the parents of nine children, whose names are here entered in order of birth: Judith H., Alice H., Fannie D., Sallie T., George W., Frederick N., Eliza D., Eve C., and Charles T. The subject of this sketch was but twelve years of age at the time of his
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father's death, and he thus began to depend largely upon his own resources at an early age. His individual efforts in a practical way were initiated in 1882, and he worked during the days and attended night school for some time, thus supplementing his rudimentary education, which had been secured in the public schools of Copiah and Hinds counties. In 1884 he became a clerk in the drug store of Dr. G. E. Ellis, of Utica, Miss., and he was thus engaged for two years, at the expiration of which, in 1885, he came to the delta district of the State as general salesman for B. Sinai & Brothers. In 1889 he went to Mounds, La., where he was employed two years in a general merchandise establishment, and in the meanwhile he acquired a thorough knowledge of bookkeeping, under the direction of a com- petent instructor. Later he was employed in mercantile establish- ments at Bogue Chitto and Egremont, Miss., and in 1894 he assumed the position of bookkeeper and manager of the plantations of Rev. George C. Harris, in Sharkey county. In 1899, at the solicitation of numerous friends, he became a candidate for the office of county sheriff, and he was duly elected. He assumed the duties of the office in January, 1900, and held the position one term. In 1903 further evidence of popular appreciation of his ability and fidelity was given in his election to his present office, as circuit and chancery clerk of the county, in which his administration has given unqualified satis- faction. He is an uncompromising adherent of the Democratic party and has done effective service in its cause. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, Knights of Pythias, and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church. On July 11, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. West to Miss Alice Baggett, daughter of John W. Baggett, of Rolling Fork, and she died in April, 1903, at the birth of her only child, Mary Elizabeth, who survives her. On Feb. 11, 1904, Mr. West married Miss Madeline Breard, daughter of Charles A. and Josie C. Breard, of Sharkey county, where Mrs. West was reared and educated.
Wright, Charles G., president of the Citizens' National bank of Vicksburg and head of the Wright Brothers Hardware Company of the same city, is one of the representative business men and citizens of Vicksburg. In 1882 he, with his brother, engaged in the hardware business, beginning operations on a very modest scale and from this nucleus built up the splendid business now con- ducted under the title of Wright Brothers Hardware Company, one of the leading concerns of the sort in this section of the State. The enterprise is both wholesale and retail in its ramifications and in the jobbing department controls an excellent trade in Missis- sippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.
Wiles, William Warren, of Yazoo City, Miss., was born in Yazoo county, Miss., May 1, 1861, and is the son of William W. Wiles and Jane (Anderson) Wiles, natives of Mississippi. Mr. Wiles' family immigrated to the State from Georgia and settled in Wilkinson county in 1820. He was educated at Mississippi college, Clinton, Miss., attending the school from 1876 to 1880. After leaving school
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he secured employment as clerk at Satartia, Miss., where he remained one year. He next engaged in farming which pursuit he followed seven years, when he connected himself with the Mutual Life Insur- ance Company for a number of years. He has served as justice of the peace and notary public, and is at present filling the offices of county administrator and deputy chancery clerk. Mr. Wiles is a member of the order of Woodmen of the World and Knights and Ladies of Honor. He was married Sept. 10, 1901, to Lizzie Daniel, daughter of George W. Daniel of Satartia, Miss. Mr. and Mrs. Wiles have three children-Ethelind, Natalie and Esther.
Wilson, Charles Angus, a leading citi- zen and representative planter and mer- chant of Ruleville, Sunflower county, was born at Vaiden, Carroll county, Miss., April 9, 1869, being a son of William F. and Martha (Collins) Wilson. In the same house which figured as the place of his nativity was also born his father, Nov. 7, 1847, and his mother was born in Pickens county, Ala., in 1848. Charles A. Wilson was reared in Montgomery county, where he attended the local schools, after which he completed a thor- ough course in Leddin's business college, Memphis, Tenn., in which he was gradu- ated in 1889. In 1893 he took up his residence at Ruleville and engaged in planting, in which he has met with unequivocal success. In 1901 the general merchandising firm of William F. Wilson & Sons was formed, the interested principals being his father, himself and his brother, James C. The firm carries on a general mercantile business, planting and cotton buying, and also operates a sawmill. Mr. Wilson is also vice-president of the Planters' Drug Company, of Ruleville; vice-president of the Ruleville Ginning Company; and president of the Ruleville Hardware Company. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Wilson married Miss Madie Brady, of Winona, Miss., and they have two children, Herman B. and Marie. The Wilson family is of Irish extraction and its first representatives in America were the brothers John and Solomon, who immigrated from the Emerald Isle and settled at Charleston, S. C., in the colonial days. There they engaged in the work of their trade, that of brick- laying, and both served as patriot soldiers in the War of the Revo- lution. The subject of this sketch is a direct descendant of John Wilson, one of these original American progenitors. Hugh Wilson, of Augusta, Ga., a son of said John, became the father of Capt. John Wilson, who was an officer of the United States army and who served under General Jackson. He had three sons and one daughter, and the three eldest were born in government forts. These children were: James W., Parmelia, O., Milton A. and Walter R. Captain Wilson finally resigned his commission in the army and settled in Pike county, Miss., where he was for a time engaged in planting.
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He eventually removed to Copiah county, where he served as sheriff for a period of eight years. In the spring of 1832 his sons Milton A. and Walter R. were appointed by the government to survey and sectionize what is now Carroll county, and they proceeded from Co- piah county to take up the work thus assigned, being joined by the other members of the family in the autumn of the succeeding year and the family home being then established in the new county, where Capt. John Wilson passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1850. His son Milton A. married Jane Johnson, and they became the parents of fifteen children, concerning whom the following data are entered: Mary F. died at the age of sixteen years ; James W. now resides in Webster county, Miss .; John A. died in 1901, Ophelia P. is the widow of O. C. Caldwell and resides in Car- roll county; William F. is the father of him whose name initiates this sketch; Joseph S. resides in Carroll county; Thomas J. died in 1904; Mollie, who is deceased, first married Wallace DesMuke and after his death became the wife of Oren Thornton, who likewise is deceased; Madison F. is a resident of Carroll county; Celo B. died in 1887; Emma P. is the wife of Lewis Schultz of Lyons, Miss .; Addie B. became the wife of Henry Watson and is now deceased; Milton A. resides in Indianola, Sunflower county; and two children died in infancy, unnamed. William F. Wilson, the honored father of the subject of this sketch, removed from Carroll county to Mont- gomery county, this State, in 1871, and in the latter county he was successfully identified with the planting industry until his removal to Ruleville, in 1903, since which time he has been engaged in mer- chandising and planting in Sunflower county. Just before the re- moval of the family from Montgomery county a compact was formed between Mr. Wilson and his sons, by the terms of which all their business interests are to continue integral or polled during the life of the father. The firm of William F. Wilson & Sons was organized under this stipulation and exists today under the compact mentioned, all of the extensive business interests being mutual and each mem- ber owning an equal share. Mr. and Mrs. William F. Wilson became the parents of three children, namely: Charles A., the immediate subject of this article; James C., who was born in Carroll county, Jan. 26, 1871, and who is associated with his father and brother in business, as already intimated; and Mary Maude, who resides in Colorado Springs, Colo., being the widow of John H. Rule. In the maternal line these children can trace their ancestry in a direct line back to Sir William Bruce and the Camerons of Scotland. There are more than seven hundred immediate Wilson connections in Mississippi and not one has ever been convicted for crime of any sort.
Wilson, Hardy J., of Hazlehurst, Copiah county, has gained a position of prominence at the bar of his native county, where he has built up an excellent practice. He was born in Gallatin, this county, Nov. 17, 1871. and is a son of John M. and Mary E. (Lewis) Wilson, both of whom were born at Crystal Springs, this county, and both of whom are of English lineage. The father was a valiant soldier , of the Confederacy in the Civil war, having served as a private in
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the Sixth Mississippi infantry. After proper preliminary training in the public schools Mr. Wilson was matriculated in the University of Mississippi, from which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1896, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science. He then en- gaged in teaching in the public schools, having held the principal- ship of the graded school of Wesson and later that of Brookhaven and having continued actively in the pedagogic profession until 1900. In that year he entered the law department of Millsaps college, in the city of Jackson, this State, where he was graduated in the same- year, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, being duly admitted to the bar. On Aug. 1, 1900, he established an office in Hazlehurst, ( where he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his pro- fession, being known as a skilled trial lawyer and well fortified coun- sel and having a clientage of representative order. His political support is given unreservedly to the Democratic party and he is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias. On Nov. 24, 1897, Mr. Wilson was united in marriage to Miss Mamie E. Fairly, daughter of Dr. Alexander Fairly, of Mount Olive, Miss., and they have three children-Marie, John Alexander and Charles Dudley.
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