USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III > Part 19
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where he remained during the rest of his. term of office. He has long been prominent in the political affairs of Mississippi and has rendered effective service in the party cause. He is affiliated with the United Confederate Veterans and the Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks, and holds membership in the Baptist church, as did also his first and second wives. In 1857 Captain Cromwell was married to Miss Laura Binion, daughter of Col. Martin Binion, of Alabama, and she died within the progress of the Civil war, as did also their two children. In 1870 was solemnized the marriage of the captain to Miss Sallie Ellis, daughter of Dr. James B. Ellis, a prominent physician of North Mississippi. Mrs. Cromwell was summoned to the life eternal in April, 1902, her death occurring at the family home, in West Point. Of the five children of the second marriage, three are living: Edwin B., who is now in the employ of the American Tobacco Company, having his headquarters in the city of Memphis and having the management of a territory in which seventeen men work under his supervision; William B., who is city marshal of West Point; and Ellis, who is now a revenue collector in the city of Manila, Philippine Islands. At the time of the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, Ellis Cromwell was captain of the military company at West Point, Miss., which office he retained when the command was mustered into the United States service as Company A, Second Mississippi infantry. At the age of twenty-one years he was senior captain in his regiment, which was stationed at Jacksonville, Fla., its services not having been re- quired in Cuba. After the cessation of hostilities the members of the command received their honorable discharge, at Columbia, Tenn. Capt. Ellis Cromwell later went to the Philippine Islands, under appointment as first lieutenant in the Thirty-ninth United States volunteer infantry, having command of his company much of the time while it was in active field service. He was later ap- pointed a tax collector in the city of Manila, where he is now serv- ing as government revenue collector, as already stated.
Crump, Frank Locke, the able and pop- ular proprietor of the Collins hotel, at Collins, Covington county, is a scion of a family whose identification with the annals of Mississippi dates back seventy years, both of his parents having come here from North Carolina, their native State. He was born in Grenada county, Miss., June 2, 1853, and is a son of James and Ann (Kendall) Crump, both of whom passed the closing years of their lives in Grenada county, where the father took up his residence in 1835 and where he was for many years successfully engaged in farming. Frank L. Crump secured a good common school education and early began to assume the prac- tical responsibilities of life, being variously engaged until 1886, in
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which year he established himself in the general merchandise busi- ness at Parsons, Grenada county, where he built up an excellent trade, there remaining until 1903, when he closed out his interests and came to Collins, where he erected the Collins hotel, which is a commodious, well arranged and well equipped hostelry, and which he conducts with so much of care and discrimination as to make it a favorite stopping-place of the traveling public, his trade being of the best class. He holds the esteem and good will of those who have visited his attractive hotel and enjoyed its excellent accommo- dations. Politically Mr. Crump is a stanch Democrat and the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows claims him as a member. Feb- ruary, 1881, witnessed the marriage of Mr. Crump to Miss Dorcas Kendall, daughter of George W. Kendall, a well known resident of Grenada county, and she was called to the eternal life in the winter of 1890, having become the mother of five children, all of whom are living except the eldest, Selwyn, who died in 1895, at the age of twelve years. The other children are Homer, Annie Laurie, Roland and Spencer. On Dec. 26, 1894, Mr. Crump married Miss Lillian T. Sledge, daughter of George W. and Mary (Turner) Sledge, of Montgomery county, Miss., and they have two children-Floy, born May 18, 1898, and Lilliam, born May 16, 1903.
Crum, William A., a pioneer citizen of Hickory Flat, Miss., was born in Tipton county, Tenn., in 1837. He is descended from noble lines of pioneers on both sides. His paternal grandfather, David Crum, was of Buncombe county, N. C., and his father, Eli Crum, came to Mississippi in 1837, locating on the place where the sub- ject of this memoir now resides. Here the father died in 1860 at the age of fifty-four years. His mother was Rachel Ayres, and the maternal grandfather, Moses Ayres, was a pioneer of that part of Tippah county which is now Benton county, coming in 1837 from Hardman county, Tenn. William A. Crum was reared on his father's farm and has never known any other home. He received his educational advantages in the schools of the vicinity, and after school days he settled down to farming. When the sombre cloud of war was ascending the horizon, Mr. Crum enlisted as a private in the Seven- teenth Mississippi infantry of the Confederate army, and partici- pated in all the engagements in which his regiment was concerned until the battle of Gettysburg, in which action he was severely wounded and incapacitated for further survice. After the cessation of hostilities, when it became necessary for the Southern States to frame and adopt new constitutions, Mr. Crum was a representative of Tippah county in the convention which drew up the constitution later endorsed and adopted by the people of the State. Politically he has always been a devout and ardent advocate of the principles
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of Thomas Jefferson and as the representative of the Democratic party of Benton county, he served in the State legislature of 1876 and 1877, and for four successive years he was mayor of Hickory Flat. Shortly after the close of the war he studied law and was admitted to the bar, and for ten years engaged in the active prac- tice of that profession. In 1864 he was ordained as a minister of the gospel of the Christian church and has been a local preacher of that faith ever since that time, most of his ministerial labors having been in northern Mississippi. On June 28, 1855, Mr. Crum married Miss Mary M. Smith, a native of Jackson county, Ind., and a daughter of John Smith, born in Kentucky, who came to what is now Benton county from Indiana in 1839. Her paternal grand- father, William Smith, entered the Continental army during the Revolutionary war when but fourteen years of age, and served six years. To Mr. and Mrs. Crum were born nine children : Cleopatra, the eldest, is Mrs. C. E. Smith of Memphis, Tenn .; Rachel is the wife of J. T. Armour of New Albany, Miss .; William E. is a min- ister of the gospel at Hickory Flat, Miss. ; Charles Lee, an attorney of New Albany, represented Union county in the State legislature from 1896 to 1900; Sarah E. married W. H. Cox, Jr., of Hickory Flat, Miss. ; Lou E. is the wife of J. T. Wall, also of Hickory Flat; and Martha C. is Mrs. G. W. Calthorp of the same place. On June 28, 1905, Mr. and Mrs. Crum celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. At the celebration there were present seven children, thirty-seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Cullens, Clarence S., has passed his en- tire life in Union county and is now chancery clerk of the same, maintaining his home in the thriving village of New Albany, with whose industrial and civic upbuilding he has been prominently iden- tified. He was born in Union county, which was then a part of Pontotoc county, in the year 1861, and is a son of Dr. Frederick W. and Susan (Holdrich) Cullens. Dr. Cullens was born in Georgia, whence he came to Union county, Miss., in 1858, locating in Wallerville, where he still resides engaged in the active practice of his profession, being one of the repre- sentative physicians and surgeons of the county and being seventy years of age (1906). He was a loyal soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war, having been a lieutenant in Company B, Forty-first Mississippi infantry, with which he served during the entire course of the great conflict between the States. His wife is a native of South Carolina, being a daughter of George and Jennie (Finley) Holdrich, who came to what is now Union county, Miss., when she was a child. The subject of this sketch secured his education in the common schools of his native county and in the University of Mississippi, which institution he attended in 1879-80, making good
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use of the opportunities there offered and having been a member of the Delta Psi fraternity. Since leaving school he has been continu- ously concerned with agricultural pursuits in Union county, where he was also engaged in the general merchandise trade for a number of years. He still owns and supervises the operation of his well improved plantation. In 1899 he was elected clerk of the chancery court of Union county, giving a most admirable administration of the office and being elected as his own successor in 1903, without opposition. As president of the Business Men's League of New Albany, he has done much to forward the interests of the town, whose population has practically doubled within the past five years, and he has given a generous co-operation to all enterprises and measures which have tended to conserve the progress of his attrac- tive home city. Mr. Cullens is a strong adherent of the Democratic party and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, including the Mystic Shrine, and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and Knights of Honor. In 1890 he was united in marriage to Miss Rena M. Cornelius, daughter of J. V. and M. A. Cornelius, the former a well known citizen of Wallerville, and they have two children-Helen and Nora.
Cunningham, Claude Earnest, editor and publisher of The Newton Record, and a valuable member of the board of trustees of the East Mississippi insane hospital, is one of the popular and prog- ressive newspaper men of the State and is fully appreciative of the value repre- sented by the well conducted newspaper in every community, so that he has given much care and labor to making his paper rise to the high plane upon which it now rests, and is one of the highly esteemed citizens of Newton county. Mr. Cunning- ham is proud to claim Mississippi as the place of his nativity, having been born in the historic old town of Brandon, Rankin county, on March 1, 1873, and being a son of the late and lamented Robert E. and Rebecca (Shelton) Cunningham, the former of whom was born in Noxubee county, Miss., and the latter in Brandon, Miss., of which place they were residents at the time of their demise. The father was one of the honored and prominent citizens of that section of the State, while there stands to his credit the record of faithful service in behalf of the Confederacy during the Civil war, in which he went forth as a member of the Camden Rifles, which was a detachment of that brilliant Eighteenth Mississippi regiment doing service in the army of Northern Virginia. The mother was a woman of high literary tastes and talents, and was a frequent contributor of prose and poetry to the press of the State. Claude E. Cunningham was a student in the public schools of his native town and in the Brandon female college, of the same place, while he learned the mysteries of
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the printing business in Brandon, becoming a skilled compositor and also familiar with the details of newspaper work. In Decem- ber, 1901, Mr. Cunningham located in Newton and established The Record, which is published on Thursday of each week, as a six- page, all-home-print paper, being especially advanced in covering the local field and upholding local interests and also standing forth in stalwart advocacy of the principles of the Democratic party, in whose ranks Mr. Cunningham is a recognized leader in his section. He is an appreciative member of the Mississippi press association, of which organization he is vice-president, and in his residence town enjoys unqualified popularity in both business and social circles. In 1904 he was chosen a member of the board of trustees of the East Mississippi insane hospital, and he takes a deep interest in the affairs of the institution.
Culley, Benjamin L., M. D., is recog- nized as one of the representative phy- sicians and surgeons of Mississippi and is established in the active practice of his profession in the city of Jackson. He was born in Madison county, this State, Feb. 19, 1853, being a son of De- Vando and Mary D. (Patteson) Culley, both of whom were native of Kentucky, whence the former came to Mississippi in 1832, locating in Hinds county, whence he later removed to Madison county, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits and where he passed the remainder of his life. He died in 1898, at the venerable age of eighty-four years, his wife having passed away in 1896, at the age of seventy-six years. The father was a brick mason by trade and followed this vocation some time after coming to Mis- sissippi. He was one of the first merchants of Clinton, this State, which was at that time the largest town in the commonwealth. Later, as a planter, he was very successful, and was a man of prominence and influence in his community. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church and was a Democrat in his political pro- clivities. He entered the Confederate service at the time of the Civil war, but owing to ill health was found ineligible for active duty in the ranks. Dr. Culley remained on the home plantation until he was about twenty years of age, having in the meanwhile been afforded the advantages of the local schools and the academic school located at Fannin, Rankin county. For two years he was employed in a drug store at Madison Station, and within this interval he took up the study of medicine, having determined to prepare himself for the medical profession and relying upon his own resources in providing for his technical education. In 1876 he was matriculated in the medical department of the University of Louis- ville at Louisville, Ky., where he was graduated in 1878, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine and standing seventh in the
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honor class of ten members. He then located at his old home, in Madison county, where he met with excellent success in his profes- sional work, there continuing in practice until 1887, when he re- moved to Jackson, where he has built up and maintained a large and representative practice. He keeps fully abreast of the ad- vances made in all departments of his profession and is identified with the American medical association, the Mississippi State med- ical association and the Hinds county medical society. He was assistant secretary of the State association for several years, and has contributed a number of papers on the occasion of its meetings. He also received appointment as a member of the National Legis- lative Council, for the promotion of proper medical legislation throughout the Union. He is vice-president of the Jackson Sani- torium and a member of its board of directors. In his practice he makes a specialty of obstetrics and diseases of women. The doctor gives his allegiance to the Democratic party and is affiliated with the Knights of Honor and the Ancient Order of United Work- men, for both of which he is medical examiner. He and his wife are devoted members of the Presbyterian church and he was prom- inently concerned in promoting the organization of and in estab- lishing the church of this denomination on the west side of Jackson, being personally identified with the First Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder. In 1880 Dr. Culley was united in marriage to Miss Lucy F. Fontaine, who was born in Kentucky, and they have three children : Percy F., Massena L., and John C.
Currie, Rev. Edward James, pastor of the First Presbyterian church at Hatties- burg and the popular and efficient super- intendent of education for Perry county, was born in Smith county, Miss., on April 27, 1855, and is a son of George W. and Pernicia (Coleman) Currie, both of whom were born and reared in Missis- sippi, being representatives of old and honored Scotch families of this common- wealth. On May 12, 1862, George W. Currie enlisted as a private in Company C, Eighth Mississippi infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, and he continued in the service until the fortunes of war brought defeat to the Confederacy and left to the world the lamentable history of a lost cause. He became second lieutenant of his company, and received his parole in April, 1865, after which he returned to his home in Mississippi, where the residue of his life has been devoted principally to the vocation of farming and merchandising. After completing the work of the public schools, including a course in the high school at Raleigh, Miss., Edward J. Currie was matriculated in the Southwestern Pres- byterian university, at Clarksville, Tenn., in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1889 and was ordained to the ministry
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of the Presbyterian church in July of the same year. His first church work was done at Mount Carmel and Mount Olive, both in Covington county, Miss., where he remained two years, at the ex- piration of which he assumed charge of the Presbyterian church at Greenwood, Miss., retaining this pastorate one year. In 1893 he accepted a call to the Presbyterian church at Hattiesburg, and has since remained in pastoral charge of the same, having accomplished an excellent work in vitalizing the spiritual and temporal work of the church and being held in high regard in the community, both as a clergyman and as a citizen. He is a man of high scholarship, is a forceful and earnest speaker and is one of the best known clergy- men of Perry county. Mr. Currie is a stanch Democrat in his polit- ical adherency, and in January, 1900, he assumed the office of super- intendent of education of Perry county, to which office he had been elected without opposition, while he has since been retained by consecutive re-election under the same conditions-the significance of which fact is prima facia. In a fraternal way he is identified with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias. On Jan. 23, 1879, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Currie to Miss Lucy H. West- brook, daughter of George H. and Elizabeth (Walker) Westbrook, of Smith county, where she was reared and educated. The children of this union are five in number, namely: George W., Lois, Jeannette, Ruth, and Edward J. Reverting to the pastoral and of- ficial labors of Mr. Currie, we may say that during his incumbency as pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Hattiesburg, its membership has been increased from sixty to more than 300, and that the church edifice has been enlarged and otherwise remodeled to meet the demands of the growing congregation and broadened work. As superintendent he has done much to systematize and expand the functions of the schools in his county, the number being about ninety. He has instituted a summer training school for teachers, has established the plan of holding teachers' associations quarterly in the county and has simplified and perfected the method of paying the instructors.
Callicott, P. T., a prominent pioneer merchant of Coldwater, Tate county, is one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of this section, conducting a large and well equipped general store, which represents an enterprise here established nearly forty years ago. Mr. Callicott was born in Marshall county, Miss., in 1846, and is a son of C. G. and Mary J. (Wooten) Callicott, both of whom were born in Alabama, whence they removed to Tennessee, from which latter State they came to Mississippi in an early day, the father becoming a prosperous planter. He is still living (1905). His devoted wife passed away several years ago. P. T. Callicott was reared on the homestead plantation and was afforded such edu- cational advantages as were accessible in the locality, while he has long been a resident of Coldwater, taking up abode here when the place was a mere hamlet and being one of the pioneer merchants of the town, as before stated. He established a general store here in 1866 and his business in the line is now the most extensive in the
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town, his trade being derived from a large surrounding district, while his long career as a business man has been so ordered and directed as to gain and retain to him the confidence and esteem of the people of the community. In politics Mr. Callicott is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and while he has never been a seeker of official preferment, his interest in his home city has led him to consent to serve the same as a member of the board of aldermen. In 1871 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Callicott to Miss Jennie P. Duty, who was born and reared in Mis- sissippi, being a daughter of William and Sarah Duty, the former a representative planter of Tate county. Mr. and Mrs. Callicott have two children-W. S., who is a traveling commercial salesman from the city of Memphis, Tenn., and Jesse P., who recently com- pleted a course in a dental college in the city of Louisville, Ky., and who is now engaged in the practice of his profession in Coldwater.
Cameron, Benjamin F., of Meridian, superintendent of agents for the State of Mississippi for the Union Central Life Insurance Com- pany, and secretary of the board of trustees of the East Mississippi insane asylum, is a member of a family whose name has been iden- tified with the annals of Lauderdale county for nearly seventy-five years. His father, Daniel Cameron, was born in North Carolina, where he was reared to manhood, and in 1831 he came thence to Mississippi and settled in what is now Lauderdale county, whose organization was not effected until 1833. He became a successful planter and also conducted a mercantile business, while he was prominently identified with the public affairs of the county in the early days, having been one of the first tax collectors of the county and having commanded unqualified esteem in the community. He died on his home plantation in 1860. Mr. Cameron's wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth J. Donald, was born in South Caro- lina. Benjamin F. Cameron was born on the old homestead plantation in Lauderdale county, Miss., July 8, 1848, and was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, while he also assisted in his father's store, in the meanwhile availing himself of the advan- tages of the local schools of the period. He was a lad of thirteen years at the outbreak of the Civil war and was thus ineligible for service in the army, but four of his brothers went forth to do ef- fective battling for the cause of the Confederacy, being members of Mississippi regiments. As a young man Mr. Cameron secured a clerkship in a general store in the little village of Lauderdale, while later he removed to Meridian and engaged in the drug busi- ness, as senior member of the firm of Cameron & Sherman. In 1887 he engaged in the life insurance business, with which he has ever since been identified, while he has been very successful as an under- writer and administrative official, and for the past five years he has been incumbent of his present responsible position as manager of agencies in Mississippi for the Union Central Life Insurance Com- pany, whose business in the State has been largely augmented through his discriminating efforts. He is a member of the board of trustees of the East Mississippi insane asylum, at Meridian, being
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secretary of the board, and as a zealous worker in the ranks of the Democratic party he held preferment as secretary of the Demo- cratic executive committee of the Fifth congressional district of the State. He served several years as deputy sheriff of Lauderdale county, also holding the office of deputy circuit clerk for a time, while in Meridian he rendered excellent service in the administra- tion of municipal affairs in the capacity of president of the city council. He is a valued member of the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World, and is a citizen who has hosts of friends in the county of his nativity and present residence. On Feb. 19, 1884, Mr. Cameron was united in marriage to Miss Bettie Garner, daughter of Argy L. and Sallie E. (Burton) Garner, of Tuscumbia, Ala., and they have four children-Argy G., Allen William, Benja- min F., Jr., and Elizabeth.
Campbell, A. G., president of the First Natchez bank, is recognized as one of the representative financiers of Missis- sippi, and as one of the leaders in the banking circles of the South. He has attained to distinctive success in the domain of banking and that through his own native ability and his varied initia- tive and executive powers. Mr. Campbell, as the name implies, is of Scotch lineage, and he was born in the north of Ireland, July 31, 1849. In that same part of the Em- erald Isle were also born his parents, John and Martha (Little) Campbell, who came to the United States in 1852, at which time the subject of this sketch was but three years of age. The family located at Franklin, Williamson county, Tenn., and there the father continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits during the re- mainder of his life ; his wife also died in that county. A. G. Camp- bell was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and was afforded the advantages of the Franklin academy, of which his uncles, Andrew and Patrick Campbell, were principals; they were grad- uates of the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and became prominent and successful educators in the State of Tennessee. When about eighteen years of age Mr. Campbell left the farm and went to Nashville, Tenn., where he became a clerk in a grocery, at very nominal wages. In 1880 he assumed the position of bookkeeper in the Third National bank of that city, in which institution he laid the foundation for his broad and accurate knowledge of the varied details of the banking business. He had previously been bookkeeper for the grocery concern for some time. He continued an employe of the bank until it was consolidated with the Amer- ican National bank. About 1885 he was induced to engage in the banking business in Natchez, Miss., which was the home of his wife prior to their marriage, about a year previously. He accordingly organized the Bank of Natchez, which opened its doors March 4,
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