Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III, Part 105

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 938

USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III > Part 105

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remained thus employed until 1893, when he located in Greenville, where he became manager of the office and business of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, a position which he retained for five years, at the expiration of which he established himself in the insurance business, in which he has met with marked success, as representative of well known and reliable fire and life insurance companies. He is a Democrat in his political proclivities and takes much interest in local affairs of a public nature, being a loyal and public-spirited citizen. Mr. Wells chose as his wife a native of his home State, having been united in marriage to Miss Effie Lamb, who was born and reared in Hinds county, Miss., a daughter of Theophilus Lamb. Mr. and Mrs. Wells have three children, namely: Emma, Arthur, and Howard S.

West, Gen. Absalom Madden, deceased, late of Holly Springs, and for many years a leading figure in the political, commercial and mili- tary life of Mississippi, was born on a plantation near Marion in 1818. On both sides he was descended from a line of American pioneers and patriots. The family first became citizens of this continent about 1613, when John West settled in the colonies. It is a unique distinction in the West family that of all the colonial governors sent to this country by England, Thomas West alone, commonly known as Lord Delaware, left the impress of his name upon the country. He died at the head of the bay named after him. Francis West, grandfather of General West, was a soldier in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war. At the battle of King's Mountain he fell severely wounded and would have doubtless succumbed to his wound but for the bravery of Miss Neskell, who carried him from the field and tenderly nursed him back to health. Subsequently Miss Neskell became Mrs. West. Anderson West, father of General West, was born in South Carolina, but early in the Nineteenth century he removed to Tennessee and in 1817 to Alabama, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits on a plantation near Marion. He married Miss Olivia Tubb, also a native of the Palmetto State. The father was always prominent in political affairs, having been a State's Rights man in 1836 and later in life an ardent Whig. When Perry county was organized he was made its first sheriff and at the time of his death was one of the best known men of Alabama. General West's educational advantages were limited to the district and sub- scription schools, which he attended until his fifteenth year. He was always a prolific reader, and being inherently of a patriotic nature most of the reading of his early days was along the lines of civil government and American history. It was in 1837 that he first became identified with Mississippi life, settling in that year on a farm near Holly Springs. Ten years later he was elected as the candidate of the Union Whig party to a seat in the lower house of the State legislature, and at once took rank as a leader in debate and as a care- ful, earnest worker in committee. After ten years of service in the house of representatives he was elected and then re-elected, in what was formerly an overwhelmingly Democratic district, to the State senate. When Mississippi seceded, General West became one of its most useful citizens in the organization of troops, having been ap-

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pointed a brigadier-general. His usefulness was brought into requisi- tion by the Confederate government later, and at one time he held the three offices of paymaster-general, quartermaster-general and com- missary-general. At the general's request the legislature of the State appointed a committee to audit and examine the books and papers of the general's work. The committee consisted of a lawyer and two practical business men and in accordance with their report the general made a final settlement with the State, the only one made. In 1864 he was called to the presidency of the Mississippi Central railroad. This line had been used and destroyed by the belligerents during the war, but by the energy and will-power of its new head it was rebuilt and put in running order. The task was all but hopeless when he undertook it, and his success in it did him more credit than could anything else. Without the least solicitation on his part he was elected over two able lawyers to a seat in the lower house of the United States congress, but like others of his Southern colleagues he was refused a seat in that body. At the Philadelphia fair of 1876 he was chosen by appointment of Gov. John M. Stone to deliver an address, his subject being "Mississippi-Her Growth and History." That same year he was chosen one of Mississippi's presidential electors on the Tilden and Hendricks ticket. When the Mississippi Central road became a part of the Illinois Central system General West retired from an active participation in the commercial and financial world, and would have been pleased to have left the field of politics, but upon the urgent solicitation of his friends and neighbors he allowed them to elect him unanimously to a seat in the State senate. The National party, assembled in convention in Indianapolis on May 29, 1880, gave him without opposition the nomination for vice-president of the United States and four years later the Anti-Monopoly party tendered him the same nomination. In 1876 he became attached to the National Labor party and held to their views the rest of his life. In 1845 Gen- eral West was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Glover, a daughter of John Oliver Glover of Alabama. The Glover family have been prominent in all the wars of the United States, in both houses of the United States congress and in all State and national affairs. Four sons and two daughters of the eight children born to General and Mrs. West survive. Olivia is the wife of W. T. McCarty of the State of Kansas. A. M. West, Jr., is a graduate of the State University of Mississippi and of the University of Virginia, and received high honors when he was given the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the Philadelphia medical college. He is now actively engaged in the practice of medi- cine in Memphis and is professor of chemistry in the medical college in that city. Edgar is also a graduate of the State university, and is now a prominent and influential citizen of Grenada, having repre- sented that county in the State legislature. Benjamin G. is now stationed at Memphis as the business agent of the State Alliance. Carrie W. is Mrs. Lemuel Augustus Smith, Sr., of Holly Springs; and Charles is overseeing the management of what was part of the general's plantation near Durant. At the close of the war General West brought his family to Oxford to secure for his children the school

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advantages offered there, and in 1870 removed to Holly Springs. He always kept an active and zealous interest in farming, and the agricultural interests of the State owe much to him for their present state of development. The homestead in Holly Springs is one of seventeen acres, and is really one of the most beautiful in the State. The plantation in Holmes county consists of 2,500 acres, of which more than 700 are cleared and under cultivation. Mrs. West was a devout and conscientious member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Her death occurred in July, 1889. After making his home in town the general devoted his time to literary pursuits, writing on politics and reading history and biography. General West was a splendid example of a self-made man. He was a man of fine business capacity, keen intellect and remarkable forensic ability. He will long be remembered as one of the most upright and thoughtful of Mississippi's statesmen.

Wheeler, William Anderson Scott, was born in Shieldsboro (Bay St. Louis), Miss., Sept. 6, 1852, and is a son of Elias Hewitt Wheeler who was born at Stonington, Conn., and, Jane Bein, of Glasgow, Scot- land, who resided in New Orleans, La. Elias Hewitt Wheeler is a descendant of the Wheeler's of New England and Vir- ginia and whose ancestors were among the Pilgrim fathers and were notably distin- guished in Colonial wars. He was a son of John Wheeler and Ann Borodel Denison of Stonington, Conn .; his mother being a de- scendant of Capt. George Denison, where the records of Massachusetts and Connec- ticut show he was not only a distinguished civilian but one of the most distinguished soldiers of Connecticut in her early settlement, his military services being on record in the Colonial Archives of that State, where his eminence is recognized and portrayed. A Coat- Armor was granted in 1585 to the Wheeler family of Warwick and Worcester and was borne by the Wheeler Pilgrim fathers in 1638. William Anderson Scott Wheeler, the immediate subject of this sketch is prominent in the business and social circles of Natchez, Miss., where he has resided since 1903, having formerly been a resi- dent of New Orleans, La., and Pensacola, Fla., where he was a promi- nent and progressive citizen.

Wildberger, Robert Henry, attorney-at-law of Clarksdale, was born in Memphis, Shelby county, Tenn., March 1, 1852. His father was John Wildberger, born in Switzerland in 1819. John Wildberger emigrated to America at the age of fourteen, going first to New Orleans where he stayed until 1840, and then went to Memphis, Tenn., where he married, in 1848, Caroline Cheek, born in Virginia in 1833. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted in the Confederate army as a lieutenant in the heavy artillery, but the following year was discharged because of defective vision. John

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Wildberger passed away in 1867, but his wife is still living. Robert H. Wildberger received his education in the Kentucky military institute near Frankfort, where he was graduated in 1871; from 1874 to 1882 he held the chair of natural science in that institution. Dur- ing that time he was commandant of the corps of cadets with the rank of major, and assistant inspector-general of the State militia. In 1893 he was admitted to the Mississippi bar, and since that time has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Clarksdale. In politics he belongs to the Democratic party, but aside from the position of alderman of Clarksdale, he has never held political office. His religious affiliations are with the Protestant Episcopal church, and he is the senior warden of St. George's church in Clarksdale. On April 14, 1892, he married Mrs. Idamay Wilson of Bolivar, Tenn. There are no children living. Mr. Wildberger is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Improved Order of Red Men, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity.

White, James Monroe, was born in Law- rence county, Miss., Nov. 14, 1858, and was the third son of a family of six boys. His father, Capt. J. F. White, was a suc- cessful farmer and a public-spirited patri- otic citizen. He early advocated the di- versification of industries as the hope of سين النقي الساحة the South and took stock in the original Cotton Mills located at Wesson soon after the Civil war, but later withdrew his stock and invested in a factory at Beauregard, Miss., to manufacture lumber, furniture, sash, doors, blinds, etc., and in 1871 moved his family to that place. On April 22, 1883, the terrible cyclone which swept over that village, robbed Captain White of a loving Christian wife, a son, George, and about all he had accumulated of this world's goods. His wife was Sarah Emily, daughter of John J. Mikell, who came to Mississippi from Georgia in the early part of the century, and was one of the first settlers of Lawrence county. Captain White believed industrial training in some line to be one of the essential things in a boy's education. He would say, "Work will make the muscles grow, and keep the boys out of mischief." He thought that rest was most enjoyed when it followed honest work, and that the spending should come after, not before, the making. These ideas applied closely in the rearing of his boys coupled with the teachings of a Godly mother were the real formative influences which have been dominant in the life of the subject of this sketch. J. M. White got his early schooling in Beauregard, and he remembers very pleas- antly and gratefully his early teachers, among whom are Mr. Archie Fairly, Mrs. Mildred Waller Fairly, Mrs. Julia Thompson Chrisman, and Prof. John M. Girault. While yet a boy in school, he made his own pocket money by working in his father's factory on Friday

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afternoons and Saturdays; when not in school, was employed as a regular hand and became somewhat skilled in handling machinery. It was then that the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical college was for the first time opening its doors for the reception of students, and Mr. White entered that institution on money he had himself made, and during the four years he was in college, by his industry, met all of his college expenses. Mr. White had the novel experience during his first year in college of commanding the battalion, standing at his post during a severe epidemic of meningitis, while all of the superior officers had left college. He was an active member of the Young Men's Christian Association and his fellow students remember him as an enthusiastic member of the Philotechnic literary society. In the military department, the faculty relied upon him as a good officer and disciplinarian. He graduated as captain of Company D with distinction in every department of the college, having the full confidence and respect of president, faculty and students, and received the degree of Bachelor of Science. Two years later, the Master of Science degree was conferred upon him. At this time and for several years after he ate tutorial bread in his alma mater, first as instructor in the preparatory department and then as assist- ant in the department of English. In 1892, the board of trustees established a department of history and civics, and Professor White was put in charge. He did post-graduate work in Rutgers and in the University of Chicago. The college men who have most influ- enced his life are Gen. Stephen D. Lee and Dr. David L. Phares. Early in the nineties, when the State historical society was reorgan- ized, Professor White associated himself with it, and gave his support and influence to it by attending the annual meetings and contribu- ting several important papers to its publications, namely: "The Origin and Location of the Mississippi A. & M. College," "Territorial Growth of Mississippi," etc., etc. By legislative enactment approved March 2, 1900, an historical commission was authorized. He was named as one of the five members of this commission-the other members were Mr. F. L. Riley, of the University of Mississippi, Bishop Chas. B. Galloway, Jackson, Miss., Col. J. L. Power, secre- tary of State, Jackson Miss., and Rev. T. L. Mellin. The report of this commission in which some of Mr. White's historical researches are to be found, was made to Governor Longino in 1901, and consti- tutes Vol. 5 of the publications of the Mississippi historical society. The success of the work of this commission was a potent factor in the establishment of a State department of Archives and History by the legislature. Professor White was named as a member of the board of trustees of this new State department of which board he is still a member. In September, 1903, Professor White, to the regret of the college authorities and other prominent educators in the State, resigned his position as professor of history and civics in the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical college which he had filled with such credit and distinction. He moved to West Point, Miss., where he engaged in active business and is successful. He is a member of one of the strongest mercantile firms of his city, a promi-

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nent stockholder and director in the Citizens' bank, the Grenada Cotton Compress Company with headquarters at Grenada, Miss., a director and vice-president of the Gibson Grocery Company, West Point, Miss., and a director and vice-president of the Lamar Mutual Life Insurance Company, domiciled at Jackson, Miss. Mr. White is essentially a self-made man who has the courage of his convictions, and makes no compromise where a matter of principle is involved. He is noted for the even balance of his faculties, his careful, conserva- tive judgment, and the splendid poise of his Christian character; and for a number of years has been a consistent member of the Baptist church. In 1896, he was happily married to Miss Maryella Hearn of West Point, Miss., the elder of the two daughters of the late Syl- vanus L. Hearn by whom Mr. White was named as an executor of his large estate. Three children, Sara Ware, Frank Hearn and James M., have blessed this union.

Wilkinson, John D., M. D., of Jackson, Miss., is another of the sons of Mississippi who have attained to success and precedence in the exacting profession of medicine and surgery. He was born in Smith county, Miss., Jan. 9, 1864, and is a son of Duncan A. and A. Jane (Floyd) Wilkinson, the former of whom was born in Fayette county, N. C., in 1834, while the latter was born in Simpson county, Miss., in 1840. Dr. Wilkinson passed his youthful days on the home plan- tation, and his father was at that time struggling to recoup the losses which he had encountered as a result of the Civil war, in which he did valiant service as a member of a Mississippi regiment of the Confederate forces. After leaving the public schools Dr. Wilkinson entered the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical college, near Starkville, in which excellent State institution he was graduated in 1888, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. After a prelim- inary course of study in the medical department of the University of Tennessee, in Nashville, he took an examination before the State board of medical examiners at Meridian, Miss., after which he engaged in the practice of his profession in Simpson county. In 1894 he was formally graduated in the medical department of the University of Tennessee, which conferred upon him his degree of Doctor of Medi- cine, and in 1906 took post-graduate work in the New York Poly- clinic. For the past fifteen years Dr. Wilkinson engaged in practice in Simpson county, save for an interval of two years, during which he was engaged in the lumber business, after the completion of the Gulf & Ship Island railroad through this county. He was one of the best known and most successful physicians of the county. Dr. Wilkinson is now a resident of Jackson, Miss., where he is engaged in the drug business, being sole proprietor of the Wilkinson Drug Com- pany at 218 W. Capitol street. Dr. Wilkinson is a member of the various medical societies, including the American medical associa- tion, and fraternally is identified with the Masonic order and the Woodmen of the World. He is dealing somewhat extensively in real estate, and is the owner of a well improved farm in Simpson county, as well as other realty in this part of the State. He is a member of the directorate of the Magee bank, and is custodian of

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the bond of its cashier. A loyal and ardent supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, Dr. Wilkinson is also deeply interested in public affairs aside from a partisan significance, and his progressive ideas have brought him recognition in an official sense. He was a member of the board of aldermen of Magee, and in 1903 he was elected to represent Simpson county in the State legislature, in which con- nection he did most effective service in promoting the interests of his district, as well as the State at large. On April 30, 1890, Dr. Wilkinson was united in marriage to Miss Bettie Ulmer, daughter of Adam and Fannie (King) Ulmer, of Simpson county, and they have five children, namely: Inez, Ulmer, D., Lulu Hester and John. Wilkinson, Moyse H., present judge of the circuit court of the Sixth judicial dis- trict, is one of the able lawyers and jurists of the southern part of the State, main- taining his home in Gloster, Amite county. He was born at Zion Hill, this county, Nov. 21, 1867, and is a son of Winston and Louisa (McMillan) Wilkinson, both of whom were likewise born in Mississippi, where they passed their entire lives, the father having been a prominent and influ- ential citizen of Amite county, where he was held in unqualified esteem, and having been a valiant soldier of the Confederacy in the war between the States. Judge Wilkinson availed himself of the advantages of the common schools of his native county, having been reared on the home plantation, and he supplemented this early training by entering Centenary col- lege, at Jackson, La., when twenty-one years of age. He was there graduated as a member of the class of 1890, with the degree of Bache- lor of Arts. Shortly afterward he was matriculated in the law de- partment of the historic old University of Virginia, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1892. In the same year he initiated the active practice of his profession at Gloster, where he has built up a large and important professional business, to which he gave his undivided attention until called to the circuit bench. His political attitude is shown in the stalwart support he accords to the Democratic party, in whose cause he has been an ardent work- er, having been presidential elector on his ticket in 1896. In 1903 he was appointed by Governor Longino, judge of the circuit court of the Sixth district and his record on the bench has been marked by discrimination and splendid judicial acumen. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias, and he holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, South. In 1894 Judge Wilkinson was united in marriage to Miss Evelyn Reed, daughter of Thomas D. Reed, of Meridian, Miss., and her death occurred the following year.

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Williams, Christopher H., holds prestige as one of the leading representatives of the bar of Yazoo City and is also president of the Bank of Yazoo City, one of the most substantial monetary institutions in the State. He was born in the city of Mem- phis, Tenn., April 19, 1859, and is a son of Col. Christopher H. and Annie L. (Sharp) Williams. Colonel Williams sac- rificed his life in the cause of the Confed- eracy. He enlisted as a private in the Twenty-seventh Tennessee infantry at the outbreak of the Civil war, and was elected colonel of his regiment, which he com- manded until his death. He was killed in the battle of Shiloh, after having shown himself a gallant and able officer. His wife died in 1859. Colonel Williams was a son of Chris- topher H. Williams, who was a prominent and influential citizen of Tennessee, of which State he was a representative in congress from the twenty-fifth to the thirty-second congress, inclusive, and was the leader of the Whig party, in the house. He was a grandson of Capt. John Williams, who commanded a company in the Conti- nental army in the War of the Revolution and who took part in the battle of King's Mountain, N. C. Christopher H. Williams, the immediate subject of this sketch, secured his preliminary education in the schools of his native city and then attended one session in the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tenn. After leaving this institution he was matriculated in the academic department of the University of Virginia, in which he was graduated in 1880. There- after he completed the prescribed course in the law department of the same historic old institution and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, in 1882. He forthwith took up his residence in Yazoo City, where he has since continued in the active practice of his profession, which he has honored by his able services and in which he has attained to marked precedence. In 1899 he was elect- ed president of the Bank of Yazoo City, the oldest bank in the county. It was organized in 1876, with a capital of $50,000, and its capital at the present time is $400,000, with surplus and undivided profits aggregating $75,000. Within his regime as chief executive the busi- ness of the institution has shown a remarkable growth, as is evident when reference is made to the fact that when he assumed the office the bank's capital was $130,000 and its surplus but $12,000. Mr. Williams is an ardent supporter of the cause of the Democratic party and has done effective service in its ranks. He is now (1907) a member of the National Democratic committee and is an active party worker in his State. He served as mayor of Yazoo City from 1884 to 1886 and gave a most progressive and satisfactory adminis- tration. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Zeta Psi college fraternity. On May 8, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Williams to Miss Sallie S. Cocks,

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III, Part 105

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association Number of Pages: 938

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 938