USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III > Part 21
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Cayce, Newman, a representative lawyer of Lowndes county, being engaged in the practice of his profession at Columbus, ren- dered loyal service in defense of the Confederacy during the Civil war, while he has ever been loyal as a citizen and true to the interests of the section in which he has passed his life. He was born at Fulton, Itawamba county, Miss., and is a son of D. N. and Matilda (Geasten) Cayce. His father was born in Lawrence county, Tenn., and removed from that State to Mississippi in 1840, and his principal vocation during his active career was that of merchandising. He was an old-line Whig in his political pro- clivities and was prominent and influential in public affairs. He served for some time as colonel in the State militia, and both he and his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. Both died in Fulton, that State. They became the parents of five children. Newman Cayce is largely self-educated, having at- tended the public schools in his boyhood and youth and his quick- ened ambition having led him to apply himself diligently to study at night and such other times as he could render service to himself in the amplifying of his fund of knowledge. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil war he manifested his intrinsic loyalty to the cause of the South by enlisting, in 1861, as a member of the Iuka Rifles, with which he served during practically the entire course of the great conflict, having been in the eastern army of Virginia one and one-half years and in the western army during the re- mainder of his long and faithful service. In May, 1865, he received his discharge, having risen to the position of first lieutenant of his company. After the close of the war, Mr. Cayce went to Memphis, Tenn., where he was engaged in the real estate business two years. He then returned to Mississippi and located in Guntown, where he held a position as bookkeeper one year, after which he engaged in farming in Itawamba county one year, in the meanwhile devot- ing careful attention to the study of law, principally at night. In 1872, upon examination, he was admitted to the bar of the State. He has since devoted his attention principally to the work of his profession, in which he has been successful and has won much prestige, having been engaged in practice in Columbus since 1897. In politics he is a stalwart in the camp of the Democratic party, and was circuit judge, serving four years. He now controls a representative practice and is one of the prominent and honored citizens of Lowndes county. Mr. Cayce has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity for the past twenty-five years, and was worshipful master of his lodge for two years. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. He is a member of the board of trustees of Vanderbilt university, at Nashville, Tenn. In December, 1868, Mr. Cayce was united in mar- riage to Miss Fannie Graham, and they have three daughters- Elizabeth W., who is the wife of Rev. Thomas Dorsey, presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal church at Winona, Miss .; and Mabel G. and Lillian S., who still remain at the parental home.
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Chaney, William I., A. M., M. D., of Rolling Fork, is one of the honored and venerable representatives of the medical profession in Sharkey county, and though he is nearing the age of four score years, he is still engaged in active practice and in appearance and actions gives no indication of his advanced age. He is admirably fortified in the sciences of medicine and surgery and has kept in close touch with the advances made in the same. As a citizen he commands unequivocal confidence and esteem and his is the distinc- tion of having rendered loyal service to the Confederacy in the war between the States. Dr. Chaney was born at Port Hudson, La., Jan. 28, 1828, and is a son of Thomas Y. and Emily M. (Johnson) Chaney, both of whom were likewise native of Louisiana, the former having been born in East Louisiana parish and the latter in La Fourche parish. The father was an extensive planter and was a civil engineer of distinctive ability. He was absolutely the first settler of Sharkey county, Miss., where he took up his residence in 1826. He named the bayou Rolling Fork, and from this the county seat later took its name. He came to the county in company . with Stephen Howard, the United States surveyor in chief, and was so favorably impressed that he here secured a large tract of land, which he developed into a fine plantation. He passed the remainder of his life on his homestead there, where he died July 5, 1835 ; his widow passed away June 7, 1868. Dr. Chaney secured his preliminary education principally in private schools and under the direction of private tutors, and he then entered Princeton uni- versity, New Jersey, in which he completed the classical course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1852, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1855 he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of New York, in which he had ably completed the required curriculum. He received this degree March 8 of that year and in the following June the degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Princeton university. He then took a position as interne in the city hospital of New York city, where he remained one year and where he gained valuable clinical experience, and in 1856-7 he took an effective post-graduate course in the Med- ical university of Paris, France. After his return to the United States, he accepted a position as ship surgeon on the United States mail steamers between New York city and Liverpool. He held this position three years and then returned to his home at Rolling Fork, where he has since been continuously engaged in active prac- tice save for the period of his service in the Civil war. In March, 1861, he became assistant surgeon in Company A, Fourth Louisiana infantry, commanded by Henry W. Allen, who later became gov- ernor of Louisiana. He took part in the many engagements in which General Allen's command was involved, including those of Vicksburg, Farmington, Shiloh and Baton Rouge. He was also with the forces commanded by Gens. W. S. Featherstone and Stephen D. Lee the last week in March, 1863, when the attempt to flank Snyder's Bluff was made by the Federal forces under Porter and Sherman and when the Confederates to the number of only
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about 2,200 drove back the Union infantry and marine forces to the number of nearly 15,000 men, thus saving Vicksburg from cap- ture by the Federal armies. The city did not capitulate until four months later. Dr. Chaney personally witnessed the initiation of the famous fight, which was opened by the Confederate forces under command of Lieutenant Morgan, of the Twenty-second Mississippi, and by reason of his familiarity with the surrounding country the doctor was detailed as chief guide of the scouting party whose sharpshooters picked off many a Union soldier while creeping up almost under the guns of the enemy, who had elevated their field pieces to miss the brow of the bank when firing from their gun- boats ranging up and down the river. When the doctor discovered the enemy coming up Deer creek for the purpose of flanking Snyder's Bluff, he at once sent a dispatch to General Heber, com- manding the fortifications at Snyder's Bluff, and this officer at once sent four regiments, under General Featherstone and Lee, to stop the advance, which herculean feat was effected by the greatly in- ferior force. It was thus entirely due to the dispatch mentioned that Vicksburg did not fall in March instead of July, 1863. Dr. Chaney was raised to the full rank of surgeon and continued in service until the close of the war, when he returned to Rolling Fork and resumed his interrupted professional work. He also did valiant work in reviving the prostrate industries of the South and has con- secutively been identified with agricultural interests during the long intervening years. He is the owner of 1,000 acres of valuable land in Sharkey county, and gives a general supervision to the same. He is well known throughout this section of the State and through his able and kindly ministrations in his humane profession he is endeared to many of the representative families of Sharkey county. He is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party, is a member of various medical associations, and is affiliated with the United Con- federate Veterans. On Jan. 28, 1864, Dr. Chaney was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Barnard, daughter of William T. and Sarah (Chaney) Barnard, of Sharkey county, and their only child, a son, died in infancy in 1864. Mrs. Chaney passed into the life eternal in 1867 and the doctor remains a widower.
Covington, John J., is one of the representative business men of Coffeeville, Yalobusha county, where he has a well equipped gen- eral store, controlling an excellent trade. He was born in Meri- wether county, Ga., Feb. 11, 1849, being a son of John B. and Eliza- beth (Bailey) Covington, both of whom were born in Wadesboro, Anson county, N. C. They removed from the old North State to Georgia, where they remained until 1860, when they removed to Mississippi and took up their residence in Coffeeville, passing the remainder of their lives in Yalobusha county. The subject of this sketch was reared to manhood in this county, in whose schools he completed his early educational training, and in 1901 he engaged in the general merchandise business in Coffeeville, where he has met with distinctive success. He was formerly identified with agricul- tural pursuits and is well and favorably known in this section. He
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is liberal and public-spirited as a citizen and gives a stanch sup- port to the cause of the Democratic party. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. On Jan. 16, 1877, Mr. Covington was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Williams, daughter of Louis and Nancy. E. (Bradstreet) Williams, of Yalobusha county, where the widowed mother still resides, Mr. Williams having met his death while serving as a soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Covington have ten children, namely : John I., Nancy E., Emma C., Martha L., Maida I., Louis B., Clara I., Delton B., Elijah J. and William W.
Clark, John, founder of the town of Clarksdale, the county seat of Coahoma county, was born in Ashton, England, March 20, 1823, the fourth of ten children born to Hawkins and Elizabeth -(Jen- nings) Clark. While still in his child- hood, he came to America with his parents, who settled first in Canada, but who, in 1832, removed to Philadelphia, Pa., where the father followed his profes- sion of architect. In the fall of 1837 Hawkins Clark visited New Orleans, taking his son John with him. In the summer of 1838 the father died at New Orleans of yellow fever, leaving the son at fifteen years of age an orphan among strangers, as the mother, with the other children, remained in Philadelphia, where she died in 1880 at the ripe age of eighty-four years. John Clark was not doubtful, however, concerning his future. Of admirable habits, perfect self-control and enormous physical strength, he was a leader of men before he attained his majority. Young men of his type, even in those early days, commanded handsome salaries, and from the beginning he contributed to the education of his younger brothers and sisters. Shortly after the death of his father, he left New Orleans and came up the Mississippi river to Port Royal, then the principal town of Coahoma county, where he engaged in the timber business. He afterwards formed a partnership with Thomas F. Porter in the timber business, but this was soon terminated by the untimely death of Mr. Porter, who was succeeded in the firm by his brother, Edward D. During the next two years the firm of Clark & Porter did a prosperous business. At the end of that time the partnership was terminated, and John Clark turned his atten- tion to planting. He had acquired about 160 acres of land, where the town of Clarksdale now stands, and to this he added more from time .to time, until at the beginning of the Civil war he owned several hundred acres of land, upon which he built the house which his widow now occupies, and a number of slaves. Upon the out- break of hostilities, he enlisted in the Confederate army, but after a short service in the field, he was made tax-collector of his district. With his accustomed foresight, he had, at the beginning of the war,
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sent a considerable sum of money to Montreal, so that after the surrender at Appomattox he was able to restock his plantation ; and his untiring industry soon enabled him to repair the ravages of the war. In 1869 he opened a store, laid out the town of Clarks- dale and sold a few lots. Six years later a postoffice was established there and when, in 1883, the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas rail- road was completed through the little village, Clarksdale ex- perienced a boom. Lots were sold at an increase over former prices, the proceeds of which Mr. Clark invested in land until he became one of the largest land owners in Coahoma county. In addition to these interests, he erected and operated a saw-mill and two steam cotton gins; was one of the organizers and first president of the Clarksdale Bank and Trust Company, a director in the Clarksdale Brick and Manufacturing Company, a stockholder and director of the Compress Company, and in other ways took the leading part in the upbuilding of the town. In 1854 he married Eliza, daughter of Capt. James Alcorn (who came to Mississippi in 1844) and sister of James L. Alcorn, afterwards governor of Mississippi, and United States senator. To Mr. and Mrs. Clark were born ten children, of whom seven are living. John Clark's death occurred on July 23, 1892, at Saratoga, New York, where he had gone for his health. John Clark was the best type of the American frontiersman. The excellent home training of his early youth kept him entirely free from the. vices and excesses of his associates in the rough days of the lumber camp. He was a man of uncompromising honesty, of few words, of untiring industry, and endowed with a far-sighted sagacity and sound judgment which made men respect and trust him.
Clarke, Nathan L., M. D., is numbered among the able and popular representa- tives of his profession in the city of Meridian, where he controls a large prac- tice of the best order. He was born near Decatur, Newton county, Miss., Aug. 23, 1857, and is a son of Rev. Nathan L. and Evaline (Powell) Clarke, both natives of North Carolina. Both continued to reside in Mississippi until their deaths, the father having been in active service as a clergyman of the Baptist church for more than sixty years and having been a man of high intellectual attainments. For a number of years he was also editor of the Mississippi Baptist, published at Newton, as the organ of the church in that State. He took up his residence in Mississippi in 1830. Dr. Clarke secured his fundamental education in the com- mon schools of Newton county, completing a course in the high school at Decatur. He took up the study of medicine when a youth , and finally was matriculated in the Louisville medical college, Louisville, Ky., in which excellent institution he was graduated as
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a member of the class of 1883, duly receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine and coming forth well equipped for the onerous and exacting work of his profession. He began practice in his native county, where he remained until 1885, when he took up his residence in Meridian, where he has attained to marked pre- cedence as a physician and surgeon, his clientage being of a repre- sentative character. He has made a special study of the diseases of children and has been notably successful in this department of practice. He is held in high esteem by his confreres and has served as vice-president of the Mississippi State medical association and for two terms served as president of the Lauderdale county medical society. For five years he was president of the Meridian board of health, has acted as editor of the Mississippi Medical Monthly, and has always kept in close touch with the advances made in the sciences of medicine and surgery, holding high prestige in the ranks of the profession in his native State. Dr. Clarke was the promoter of the Mississippi medical college, of Meridian, Miss., the first med- ical college ever organized in the State and has been dean of that institution since its organization. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church, being prominent in the religious and social life of the city in which they make their home. On March 25, 1883, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Clarke to Miss Caroline Melton of Meridian.
Cherry, James Gill, M. D., is one of the leading medical prac- titioners of Mount Olive, Covington county, is a native of Missis- sippi and served with honor as one of her volunteers in the Con- federate ranks during the Civil war. Dr. Cherry was born in Winston county, Miss., Aug. 8, 1843, being a son of James B. and Susan M. (Gill) Cherry, prominent and honored residents of that locality, where the father was a prosperous planter, having been born near Augusta, Ga., while his wife was born in South Carolina. Dr. Cherry passed his boyhood days on the home plantation, attend- ing the schools of the locality and later becoming a student in Cooper institute, near Daleville, Lauderdale county, an excellent school in its day. A youth of nineteen years at the outbreak of the Civil war, whose sequel was to be the prostration of the South, the patriotic ardor of the doctor led him to enlist in Company I, Four- teenth Mississippi infantry, with which he left Aberdeen, April 21, 1861, being with his command at Fort Donelson but escaping cap- ture. He then joined the Forty-third Mississippi infantry, with which he continued to serve until the war closed. He was in the battles of Iuka and Corinth, being wounded in the latter engage- ment, while he was again wounded during the siege of Vicksburg, where he became a prisoner of the enemy. He was granted a parole at that place and after his exchange was effected was with his regiment in the army of the Tennessee, serving throughout the Georgia campaign and through the Tennessee campaign, under General Hood, in 1864. His command surrendered at Greensboro, N. C., May 7, 1865, and the youthful defender of the "lost cause"
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arrived at his home on May 20. The fortunes of war had visited him most grievously, and it was an unkempt, worn and jaded youth who appeared at the old home, his financial reinforcement being represented in a single Mexican dollar, while his clothing was of meager quantity and very much the worse for the rough usage to which it had been put. The work of the farm and the art of teach- ing school occupied the attention of Dr. Cherry during the initial portion of the reconstruction period in the South, and in 1872 he entered the Louisville medical college, where he was graduated and received his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1873, having previously initiated his medical studies under private preceptorship. He was for six years engaged in practice in Bellefontaine, Choctaw county, Miss., passed the ensuing six years in successful practice at Dekalb, Kemper county, and thereafter was in Lumberton, Lamar county, and Poplarville, Pearl River county, his residence in these two places aggregating about fifteen years, at the expiration of which, in 1900, he located in Mount Olive, where his success has been pronounced, and where he stands high in the esteem of his profes- sional confreres as well as the general public. Dr. Cherry is an uncompromising Democrat but has never been a seeker of office, is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife are identified with the Cumberland Presbyterian church. April 4, 1872, witnessed the marriage of Dr. Cherry to Miss Melissa Mor- rison, daughter of D. D. and Christain Morrison, of Rockingham county, N. C., and they have six children: Ida, Inda, Alice, Eugenia, James Albert and Ella Emmette.
Cochran, Robert F., of Meridian, is one of the representative members of the bar of the State and is now judge of the Tenth judicial circuit of the State, comprising the counties of Clarke, Jasper, Noxubee, Neshoba, Kemper, Lauderdale and Wins- ton. He was appointed to preside on the bench of this circuit by Governor Varda- man. Judge Cochran was born near Daleville, Lauderdale county, Miss., and is a son of J. H. Cochran. His father was One of the extensive planters of that sec- tion prior to the Civil war and. was a man of prominence and influence in the com- munity, while his was the distinction of having served as the first sheriff of Lauderdale county. Judge Cochran was reared on the old home plantation, securing his basic educational discipline in the schools of the locality and supplement- ing this by a course in Cooper's institute, near Daleville, in which institution he was graduated. He thereafter devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits until after his marriage, but his ambition and his intellectual proclivities led him to seek a more harmonious field of endeavor, and he accordingly was matriculated in the law department of the University of Mississippi, in which he completed
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the prescribed course and was graduated in 1885, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, while he had the distinction of being valedic- torian of his class. He forthwith established an office in the city of Meridian, where he has since resided, and here he soon gained that definite and appreciative recognition to which his professional ability and fine talents so eminently entitled him, building up a large and lucrative practice and gaining a foremost position at the bar of the county. He rendered effective service as county attorney and also as city attorney, in which latter capacity he framed and secured the passage of the legislative acts authorizing the issuing of the municipal bonds of Meridian for the effecting of public im- provements of streets, and the constructing of sidewalks and the sewerage system. He has ever been a loyal supporter of the Dem- ocratic party, in whose cause he has been a vigorous worker, and he was a delegate to the national convention of the party in 1896. He has never sought or held office save his present one and those al- ready mentioned, and these are more particularly of professional than political nature. On the bench he has shown himself well equipped, having an essentially judicial mind and being reinforced by a thorough knowledge of the science of jurisprudence.
Cowan, Ludwell Blackstone, who died at his home in the city of Vicksburg, May 24, 1892, was a citizen of sterling character and a representative of old and honored families of the South. He rendered yeoman service as a soldier of the Confederacy during the war between the States, and in all the relations of life his course was characterized by integrity, honor and loyalty. His name well merits a place in this history of the State which he loved and which he honored by his life and services. Mr. Cowan was born near Florence, Lauderdale county, Ala., April 19, 1828, and thus was sixty-four years of age at the time of his death. He was a son of David and Nancy (Rector-Hanly) Cowan, and concerning the family gene- alogy and history, the following data have been made available. The original progenitors of the Cowan family in America immi- grated hither from Scotland early in the eighteenth century, and settled in Virginia and North Carolina. They were closely related to and intermarried with the Houston, Evans, Rector, Russell, Sevier and Anderson families of Virginia and North Carolina. The subject of this memoir was a cousin of Judge Fulton Anderson, a distinguished jurist and legist of Mississippi, and also of Hon. Sam Houston, of Texas fame. John Cowan, of Rockbridge county, Va., married Mary Houston and settled in what is now Sevier county, Tenn .- a section at that time a part of North Carolina. Their son Andrew married Martha Evans, who bore him several children, among whom was David, father of him whose name. initiates this
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review. David Cowan came with his family to Mississippi in 1828 and settled on a plantation north of the city of Vicksburg, where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives and where Ludwell B. was reared to maturity. Representatives of the Cowan family were participants in the War of the Revolution and also that of 1812, as well as the Civil war. Ludwell Blackstone Cowan attended the common schools in his youth and his education was broadened and matured in the practical school of experience and embellished by travel and by wide and appreciative reading. When the Civil war was precipitated on a divided nation he forthwith manifested his loyalty to the cause of the Confederacy, entering a Mississippi regiment in the artillery arm of the service. He continued with his command throughout the war, rose to the rank of lieutenant and was a gallant and faithful soldier. He took part in many engage- ments, including the battles of Champion Hills and Chickasaw Bluff, and was with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's command in the memorable and disheartening retreat before Sherman's greatly superior force in the famous march from Atlanta to the sea. He also served under General Hood in his most sanguinary campaign, and thus took part in the battles of Franklin and Nashville. Prior to the war Mr. Cowan had become one of the prosperous planters of Warren county, and after the close of the great conflict he re- turned to do his part in rebuilding the prostrate industries of that county. He remained on the plantation until 1869, and then re- moved to Washington county, where he was engaged in the same line of enterprise until 1875, when he took up his residence in the city of Vicksburg, where he thereafter lived practically retired until his death, in the meanwhile having traveled somewhat extensively in various sections of the Union. His beautiful old homestead, 110 East Crawford street, Vicksburg, is still occupied by his widow, who is the only surviving member of the immediate family circle. This fine old brick house, a typical Southern mansion, was erected a number of years prior to the Civil war, and during that conflict was for a time the headquarters of General Pemberton. This fact is indicated by a large brass tablet placed on the building in histor- ical commemoration. Mr. Cowan was an uncompromising adherent of the Democratic party and was affiliated with the Masonic fra- ternity, the United Confederate Veterans, and the Knights of Honor. On Feb. 15, 1860, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary F. Harris, who was born in Warren county, that State, July 31, 1840, and who is a daughter of Charles A. and Sarah B. (Cook) Harris. Her father was a prominent planter and honored and in- fluential citizen of that county. To Mr. and Mrs. Cowan were born two children-Walter Blackstone and Ludwell Price, both of whom are deceased. Mrs. Cowan is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and has long been a figure of prominence in the best social life of her home city.
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