USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III > Part 49
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Jones, William B., is a representative business man of Holmes county and is now cashier of the Bank of Tchula, of which he is also a leading stockholder. He is a member of one of the old and honored families of this county, where he was born Jan. 8, 1849, and is a son of Henry K. and Seignora (Archer) Jones, both of whom were native of the State of Virginia. Both families were early founded in the Old Dominion State, where they were prominent and influential in the colonial days as well as after the Revolution, in which various representatives took part. The father of the subject of this review became one of the successful and influential planters of Holmes county, Miss., and here he and his wife continued to reside until their death. William B. Jones was afforded the advantages of the common schools of Holmes county and was reared to maturity on the home plantation. In 1865 he took a position as clerk in a mercantile establishment and he continued to be thus engaged until 1870. He
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then engaged in the same line of enterprise on his own responsibility, in this county, and he built up a large and prosperous business. He continued to be actively identified with the same until 1897, when he disposed of the business and assumed the office of cashier of the Bank of Tchula, of which he was one of the organizers. He has been liberal and progressive as a business man and as a citizen, and has ever commanded the confidence and esteem of the people of his native county. In political matters he is found arrayed as a loyal supporter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party; he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife are communi- cants of the Protestant Episcopal church. On April 3, 1872, Mr. Jones was united in marriage to Miss Mary G. Meade, daughter of Richard E. and Fanny F. (Smith) Meade, of Holmes county. To Mr. and Mrs. Jones were born nine children, namely: William B., Jr., Virginia M., Henry K., Seignora B., Charles J., James M., Anna S., Frank A., and Letchford G. William B., Jr., married Anna F. Jones and they have one son, William B. (3d); Virginia M. is deceased; Henry K. married Louisa Poursine and they have one son, Robert S .; Seignora B. is the wife of Dr. Oliver H. Swayze, of Yazoo City; Anna S. is deceased. The wife of the subject of this review is a direct descendant of Col. Thomas Tabb and Gen. Everard Meade, both of whom were gallant soldiers in the Continental army during the War of the Rev- olution. Thomas Tabb was born in Amelia county, Va., Feb. 27, 1710, and he became one of the richest planters and merchants of the colony and one of its influential citizens. He was representative of Amelia county in the house of burgesses from 1748 until his death. He took part in the early colonial wars and rose to the rank of colonel. He married Rebecca Booker, and their daughter, Mary Marshall Tabb, married Robert Bolling. Of this latter union was born Thomas Tabb Bolling, who married Seignora Peyton; their daughter, Frances Cook Bolling, married Richard Everard Meade, and they had a son, Richard Everard, Jr., who married Fanny F. Smith. Richard E. and Fanny F. (Smith) Meade became the parents of Mary Gordon Meade, wife of the subject of this review. Everard Meade, great- great-grandfather of Mrs. Jones, entered the Continental service at the opening of the War of the Revolution. On March 8, 1876, he received his commission as captain in the Second Virginia battalion, and was afterward promoted to the rank of general, continuing in active ser- vice until the cause of independence was won. He signalized his zeal and patriotism by exhausting his patrimony in defraying the expenses and assuming the payment of the troops under his command. Gen- eral Meade married Mary Thornton, and their son, Richard Everard, married Fanny C. Bolling. Richard E. (3d) a son of this couple, married Fanny F. Smith and they became the parents of Mrs. Jones, wife of him to whom this article is dedicated.
Kaye, Augustus W., proprietor of the Kaye Steam Bottling Works, of Meridian, in connection with which he conducts a finely equipped natatorium, is one of the representative young business men of this thriving city. Mr. Kaye was born in Anchorage, Jefferson county, Ky., April 8, 1870, and is a son of Augustus W. and Virginia (Nock)
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Kaye, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky, where the father was a leading representative of the medical profession. He came to Mississippi in the eighties and here continued in the practice of his profession for a number of years, while he passed the closing years of his life, retired from active labors, in the home of his son Sam, at Columbus, Miss. He died in 1892, his wife having preceded him to the life eternal. Augustus W. Kaye completed his educational discipline in Louisville, Ky., and there he initiated his business career by engaging in the collecting business, while later he was em- ployed as a salesman in a mercantile establishment in Chicago, Il1. In 1894 he located in Tupelo, Miss., where he owned and operated an ice factory and bottling works until 1901, when he located in Mer- idian and established the Kaye Steam Bottling Works. He has made the enterprise a very prosperous one, and in 1903 he expanded its scope by the construction of a fine public natatorium, the swim- ming pool being 27x45 feet in dimensions, four feet deep at one end, with a maximum depth of eight feet at the other end. The con- struction is of cement throughout and this is one of the finest swim- ming pools in the South, while it receives an appreciative supporting patronage. Mr. Kaye is a stockholder in the Union Bank and Trust Company, and in politics is a Democrat. On June 31, 1898, Mr. Kaye married Miss Eunice A. Williams, daughter of Harrison A. and Emma A. (Harrison) Williams, of Louisville, Ky., where the former died in 1881 and the latter in 1887. He was a lineal des- cendant of John Adams, second president of the United States, and she was a descendant of Gen. William Henry Harrison. Mr. and Mrs. Kaye are the parents of the following children-Mary, Oliver, Eunice and Agusta.
Kelly, James A., deceased, of Meridian, was born in Lauderdale county, Miss., Feb. 24, 1855, a son of Duncan and Al- meda (Ainsworth) Kelly, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Georgia. The father removed from North Carolina to Alabama about 1845 and three years later settled in Lauderdale county. He was a planter all his life and a man who was always prominently identified with movements for the com- mon good. At one time he was elected to the State legislature, but the carpet bag government refused to let him take his seat because of some technicality. James A. Kelly received all his schooling in the Lauderdale schools and at an early age became interested in farming. All his life he was more or less identified with agricultural interests. In 1883 he came to Meridian and continued to make that city his home until his death, which occurred Aug. 20, 1905. He embarked in the furniture busi- ness upon his arrival and remained in that line until 1902, when ill health compelled him to dispose of his holdings. He was connected -
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with the street railway practically all the time he resided in Meridian, first when it was a horse car line, later when it was a dummy line and then with the moderate electric equipment of the road. He was a heavy stockholder in several of the Meridian banks and also in the New Beatrice Cotton Mills. In politics he was a Democrat, but never held nor aspired to office. Probably he was better known in the fraternal circles of the city than elsewhere, being a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, Knights of Pythias, a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. On Oct. 22, 1879, Mr. Kelly married Miss Fanny Hand- ley, daughter of John L. and Annie E. Handley, of Meridian. No children blessed this union. Mrs. Kelly's father is an old and re- spected resident of Meridian. He is a native of Kentucky who served throughout the Civil war as a member of the Confederate army.
Kelly, Jesse Robert, who is presiding on the bench of the Second district of. Harrison county, is one of the pioneers of the city of Gulfport, where he opened the second mercantile establishment rep- resented in the commercial history of the place, and he has been prominently and intimately identified with the rise and magnificent progress of the city, where he still maintains his home and where he commands unequivocal confidence and esteem as one of the influential citizens of the county. Judge Kelly was born in Newton, Newton county, Miss., Feb. 7, 1870, and is a son of William Lloyd Kelly, who was likewise born and reared in Newton, being a representative of one of the sterling old families of this commonwealth, and who served with marked loyalty as a soldier in the Twenty-first Missis- sippi infantry during the Civil war. He married Miss Josephine Peebles, who was born in Sumter, S. C., and of their nine children seven are living, the subject of this review having been the third in order of birth. Jesse R. Kelly received a good education in the public schools of his native place, and when twenty years of age he assumed a position as salesman in a general merchandise establish- ment in Newton, gaining valuable experience in the connection and eventually opening a store of his own. In 1896 he came to Gulfport, which then had but forty-three inhabitants, and, as before stated, he opened the second store in the town, continuing to be actively identified with mercantile pursuits here until 1900, when he disposed of his interests in the line. In 1901 he was elected judge of the sec- ond district of Harrison county, to fill an unexpired term, and in 1904, at the regular election, he was chosen as his own successor, receiving a most gratifying support at the polls, while in the nomi- nating convention he was chosen as a candidate on the first ballot, over seven opponents. His term on the bench will expire in 190S.
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Judge Kelly has shown marked discrimination and mature wisdom in the handling of causes brought before him for adjudication, and his course in his official capacity has gained to him the stanch en- dorsement of the people. He is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Honor and the Woodmen of the World. Of those who were resi- dent of Gulfport at the time he located here, in 1896, he is one of only six who still retain their home here, so that he is properly desig- nated as a pioneer. On Oct. 31, 1900, Judge Kelly was married to Miss Lillian A. Platt, daughter of J. E. Platt, of Gulfport, and she passed to the life eternal Dec. 26, 1901. The only child, Lillian Ruth, died at the age of eight months. On Nov. 25, 1903, Judge Kelly consummated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Leila Weymouth Anderson, daughter of Capt. Henry E. Anderson, a prominent citizen of Stockton, Ala. Judge and Mrs. Kelly are prominent in the social life of the city, and their pleasant home is a center of refined hospitality.
Kelly, Robert M., the city assessor of Vicksburg, Miss., was born in Kelso, Dear- born county, Ind., Nov. 11, 1869, the son of Robert J. Kelly, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Susan J. (Dunn) Kelly, a na- tive of Dearborn county, Ind. He at- tended the country schools of Dearborn county until thirteen years of age when he moved with his parents to Harper, Kan. There he attended the normal school and business college of that place, afterward entering the office of Harper's Graphic where he learned the printer's trade. In September, 1890, he came to Vicksburg and connected himself with the Vicks- burg Herald, with which paper he remained until Dec. 6, 1900, when he was elected city assessor of Vicksburg to which office he was re- elected in 1904. Mr. Kelly is a member of the Catholic church and of the fraternal orders of the Woodmen of the World and Knights of Pythias, of which he is past grand chancellor of the State. He was married to Miss Annie McGuire, of Vicksburg, Dec. 24, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly have one child, Susie.
Kelso, Louis N., of Meridian, traveling freight agent for the Cin- cinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific railroad, commonly known as the Queen & Crescent, is a native of the fine old Hoosier State and a representative of one of its honored pioneer families. He was born in Switzerland county, Ind., Oct. 11, 1859, and is a son of William H. and Phoebe (Robinson) Kelso, both of whom were born and reared in Indiana, the former being a son of Judge Daniel Kelso, who was one of the distinguished members of the bar of Indiana in the early days, having maintained his home at Vevay, Switzerland county,
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and having served on the bench of the circuit court, while he was also a member of the State legislature and one of the framers of the constitution of that commonwealth. William H. Kelso was identi- fied with steamboat navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers during his entire independent career, having been captain on packet boats. Louis N. Kelso secured his educational discipline in Cincin- nati, Ohio, and in Moore's Hill college, Ind., and after leaving school he was clerk on an Ohio river steamboat. He began his railroad career in the office of the Ohio & Mississippi railroad in Cincinnati, and afterwards entered the freight department of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis railroad, in Kansas City. Later he was with the Southeastern Freight association, in Atlanta, Ga., Queen & Crescent route in Cincinnati, Southern railroad in the city of Wash- ington, and after one year's service became soliciting freight agent of the Queen & Crescent railroad at New Orleans, retaining this position two years and being then promoted to his present office of traveling freight agent, with headquarters in Meridian. The esti- mate placed upon his services is shown in the various promotions which he has won and the responsible offices which he has filled, and he is well and favorably known in railroad circles, especially in the South. He is a stockholder in the Southern bank, of Meridian, and other enterprises of that city. On March 2, 1890, Mr. Kelso was united in marriage to Miss Pearl Forst, of Louisville, Ky.
Kemper, Charles Pendleton, educator, was born in Harrisonburg, Va., Sept. 17, 1860, and is a son of Charles Joseph and Mary (Pendleton) Kemper. He was grad- uated from Bethany college, West Vir- ginia, with the degree of A. B. in 1877 .. and two years later was given the degree of A. M. From 1877 to 1879 he taught a private school in Fayette county, Ky., and from 1879 to 1881 took the law course of the University of Virginia. The follow- ing three years he taught in the Univer- sity of Kentucky and practiced law in Lexington, Ky. From 1884 to 1886 he taught in the Aspen Hill academy in Vir- ginia, and in the latter year founded the Louisa (Va.) Male academy, in which he was principal for two years. For the four years succeed- ing he was principal of the Transylvania high school of Illawara, La. In 1892 he organized and was principal of the Vicksburg (Miss.) high school and the following year was made superintendent of the Vicksburg city schools, which position he held until Sept. 1, 1906. In the fall of 1906 he engaged as a dealer in real estate, making a specialty of timber lands and plantations. On June 28, 1898, he married Margaret Hooke Shepherd of Wilkinson county, Miss. Mr. Kemper is a Democrat in politics.
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Kimbrough, Allan McCaskill, of Green- wood, judge of the Fourth judicial circuit of the State of Mississippi, is one of the representative members of the bar of Leflore county, where he has been en- gaged in practice for three decades, and he is also an extensive landholder and has other local interests of importance. Judge Kimbrough was born in Carrollton, Carroll county, Miss., Nov. 24, 1850, and is a son of Ormal L. and Charlotte Ann (Gray) Kimbrough, the former of whom was born in Sumner county, Tenn., in 1804, while his death occurred in 1881; and the latter of whom was born in Col- umbus, Miss., in October, 1825; she survives her honored husband and now resides in Carrollton, Miss., having attained the venerable age of eighty-two years. Her paternal grandfather was a Conti- nental soldier during the War of the Revolution. Ormal L. Kim- brough was a prominent member of the bar of the State, having been for many years engaged in practice in Carroll county, where he also owned and operated a large plantation. Judge Kimbrough availed himself of the advantages of the schools of his native town and then entered the literary department of the famous old Uni- versity of Virginia, at Charlottesville, while he also completed a course in the law department of the same institution. He served his professional novitiate in Carrollton, where he was in practice one year, at the expiration of which, June 19, 1874, he located in Greenwood, where he has ever since maintained his home and where he has advanced to the front rank of his profession and attained to pronounced official precedence. He served four years as county superintendent of public education, and he served as chancellor of the Seventh chancery district of the State from 1899 to 1903, having been appointed by Governor McLaurin, and upon his retire- ment from the chancellorship Governor Longino appointed him to his present position on the bench of the Fourth judicial circuit. In both branches of judicial service he has proved a most able and dis- discriminating official and his service on the chancery bench in particular gained to him unreserved endorsement on the part of the profession and public in general. He is a strong trial lawyer, is well grounded in the minutiæ of the science of jurisprudence and has that mature judgment which makes him so well qualified for the office of which he is now in tenure. He has been an active worker in the interests of the Democratic party, is a member of the Christian church, and is identified with the Knights of Pythias and the Wood- men of the World. Judge Kimbrough is vice-president of the First National bank of Greenwood and has large agricultural interests, owning 3,000 acres of land, the greater portion of which lies within the confines of Leflore county. On Nov. 10, 1880, was witnessed the marriage of Judge Kimbrough to Miss Mary H. Southworth, who
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was born and reared in Mississippi, being a daughter of Judge Hunter H. and Mary E. (Morgan) Southworth, the former of whom was pro- bate judge in an early day. Judge and Mrs. Kimbrough have these children : namely: Mary Craig, Orman L., William P., Sallie M., William M., Mabel S., Hunter, Allan McC., Jr., and Marmaduke.
Kimbrough, T. C., one of the able and prominent younger members of the bar of Clay county, is successfully established in the practice of his profession in West Point, where he is associated with Judge F. A. Critz, under the firm name of Critz & Kimbrough. He was born in Carroll- ton, Carroll county, Miss., Jan. 28, 1873, and is a son of T. A. and Jane Cameron (McKenzie) Kimbrough, the former of whom was born in Carrollton and the latter in Winona, this State, being repre- sentatives of old and honored families of Mississippi, while the lineage of each traces back to pure Scotch derivation. The paternal grandfather, Judge Marmaduke Kimbrough, was one of the first settlers of Carrollton, Carroll county; was a prominent Democrat and was several times mentioned by the party as a candi- date for governor. As an attorney he practiced law at Carrollton and served for some time as circuit judge. Of the Kimbrough family in Mississippi prominent representatives are Judge Bradley T. Kim- brough, of Oxford, and Judge Allan McCaskill Kimbrough, of Green- wood. The maternal grandfather, John Calhoun Mckenzie, who was a prominent Whig, was for many years sheriff of Carroll county, which at that time comprised what is now Carroll, Montgomery and Grenada counties. The maternal grandmother was a direct descend- ant of Gov. Reuben Runnels, of Mississippi. The father of the subject of this review was a valiant soldier of the Confederacy during the Civil war, having been sergeant in Company K, known as the Carroll Rifles, in the Eleventh Mississippi infantry, one of the most gallant regiments of the Army of Northern Virginia, with which he was in service during the long and turbulent era of the war, having been captured at Petersburg, Va., about one month before the sur- render of General Lee. The Eleventh Mississippi infantry was or- ganized at the beginning of the war, and Mr. Kimbrough enlisted at the organization of the regiment and took part in the First Man- assas and all the battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia under Gen. Robt. E. Lee. At Antietam he was wounded and he was twice wounded at the famous charge which the regiment made at Gettysburg. He is now a resident of Carroll county, where he is engaged in farming. Jane C. (Mckenzie) Kimbrough, mother of the subject of this review, died at Winona, Miss., in 1887. T. C. Kimbrough secured the best of educational advantages in his youth, and was graduated in the literary department of the University of Mississippi as a member of the class of 1895, receiving the degree of
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Bachelor of Arts. He completed his work of preparation for his chosen profession by entering the law school of Millsaps college, in the city of Jackson, Miss., where he completed the prescribed course and was graduated in 1897, securing the degree of Bachelor of Laws and being duly admitted to the bar of his native State, having served as clerk of the State railroad commission during the course of his studies. In 1898 he began the practice of law in West Point. He has gained distinctive success in his professional work, being known as a strong trial lawyer and able counselor and as one who is a de- votee and close student of his profession. The firm of which he is a member has a large and representative clientage, over several counties in northeast and central Mississippi. In politics Mr. Kim- brough is a stalwart Democrat and one of the leaders in the younger element of the party in the State. In 1900 he was a delegate to the national convention of his party, in Kansas City, Mo. He is identi- fied with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Eta chapter of the Sigma Chi at the University of Mississippi. On Aug. 21, 1901, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Kimbrough to Miss Lulu May Brothers, daughter of Dr. O. C. and Donie (Randle) Brothers, of West Point, Miss., and they have two sons: Thomas Brothers Kimbrough, who was born July 5, 1902, and Oscar Renan Kimbrough, born July 23, 1906.
Komp, George, proprietor of the Komp Machine Works at Hattiesburg, Perry county, is an expert machinist, and one of Hattiesburg's most progressive and re- liable business men, and has brought about a marked development in the in- dustry with which he is now identified, making the enterprise one of importance as bearing on the commercial prestige of the city.' He was born in the city of Louisville, Ky., on Oct. 24, 1864, and the same State figures as the birthplace of his parents, John B. and Martha Komp, who are now deceased. George Komp is in- debted to the public schools of Louisville for his early educational training and when seventeen years of age he entered upon an apprenticeship to the machinist trade with the Sulzer Vogt Machinery Company of Louisville, Ky. In 1888 he started a machine shop of his own in that city and the same was totally wrecked in the great cyclone which swept over that city in the following year. A short time after this disaster, which entailed a very considerable financial loss to him, Mr. Komp accepted a posi- tion with the Hegwold Machinery Company, of New Albany, Ind., as foreman of their machine shops, and in 1890, with such tools as he had been able to save from the wreck of his establishment, in Louisville, and with the financial assets of only about $1,000, he came to Hattiesburg, Miss., and effected the organization of the Hattiesburg Machinery and Car Manufactury Company. This business
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was entirely under his management, and operations were continued under this title until Sept. 2, 1901, when the title Komp Machine Works was adopted, Mr. Komp having purchased the outstanding stock of the concern, and having thus gained the full control of the prosperous business which had been built up through his able and indefatigable efforts, the establishment having become one of con- siderable importance. In the machine shop there are employed twenty-five skilled mechanics, the tools are all up to date, and the shop in general is among the best equipped in the State. In con- nection with the shop, there is a mill and machinery supply depart- ment, carrying a complete line of mill supplies, which is the largest of its kind in the State. Mr. Komp is one of the sterling business men of Perry county, and commands unqualified esteem in the com- munity, with whose civic and commercial interests he has thus identified himself. He is a trustee of the public schools, a director of the First National bank, a member of the Commercial club, of all which Hattiesburg is justly proud. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, and the Concatenated Order of Hoo- Hoos. On Oct. 24, 1893, Mr. Komp was united in marriage to Miss Lyllah Barnes, the accomplished daughter of E. Barnes, of Hatties- burg, Miss. Mrs. Komp was born in New York State, but her pa- rents came South when she was very young, she received her educa- tion, and graduated from the Ward seminary at Nashville, Tenn. They have three bright and promising children-Bertie E., George, Jr., and Frederick.
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