Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III, Part 6

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 6

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and the latter of Irish extraction. Dr. Bishop was granted excel- lent educational advantages, having pursued his higher studies in both the University of Mississippi and the Southwestern Presby- terian university, at Clarksville, Tenn. He finally entered the medical department of Vanderbilt university, Nashville, Tenn., where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1879, duly securing his degree of Doctor of Medicine and coming forth well fortified for the work of his chosen profession. In the same year he entered active practice, in Pike and Lawrence counties, and in 1885 he took up his residence in Monticello, where he has since maintained his home and where he has built up an excellent profes- sional business. He is a stanch adherent of the Democratic party but has never sought or held office of a specifically political order. In 1889, he was elected superintendent of education for Lawrence county, and the estimate placed upon his services in this connection is best shown in the fact that he remained incumbent of the office ten consecutive years, and that in 1903 he was again elected to the office, after an interim of about three years. The educational system of the county owes much to Dr. Bishop and the status of the schools is such as to reflect credit upon the county and its popular and able superintendent of education. Dr. Bishop is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, is a member of various medical associations, and both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. On Dec. 15, 1881, he was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Larkin, who was born and reared in Lawrence county, being a daughter of Frank and Mary (Kegan) Larkin. They have one child : Maude Marrable.

Benjamin, Philip U., is one of the rep- resentative business men of the city of Natchez, where he has a wholesale and retail business and is agent for the Pabst Brewing Company, of Milwaukee. He is an ex-member of the board of alder- men of his native city and has ever shown a loyal interest in all that has concerned the welfare of the community. He was born in Natchez, Feb. 1, 1864, and is a son of Samuel L. and Betty (Netter) Benjamin, both of whom were born and reared in the province of Alsace, Ger- many. The father immigrated to America in 1855 and soon afterward became a resident of Mississippi. He lived for a time at Port Gibson, when he removed to Natchez in the sixties. Here he engaged in the mercantile business. The subject of this sketch was afforded the advantages of the schools of his native city, and after leaving the same he became identified with local mercantile interests. In 1890 he engaged in business on his own responsibility and he has built up a large and prosperous enterprise. Mr. Benjamin is a loyal ad- herent of the Democratic party and for six years he represented

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the third ward on the board of aldermen. Within this period he was a valued and efficient member of the committee which had charge of the building of new school and engine houses and also of the com- mittee which negotiated the purchase of the city water works. He has been a member of the city fire department for the past twenty years. He is identified with the Natchez Cotton Exchange, the Natchez Promotive League, and the Natchez Mardi Gras Associa- tion. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Benjamin is well known and enjoys marked popularity in his home city.

Berryhill, William A., M. D., of Eupora, is one of the best known, most successful and most popular physicians and surgeons of Webster county, where he controls a very large practice. He was born in Greensboro, Webster county, in the section which was then a portion of Choc- taw county, Aug. 29, 1859, and is a son of William H. and Mary (McDowell) Berryhill, both of whom were born in Alabama. The father was a valiant soldier of the Confederacy, having been a member of the Forty-third Mississippi infantry, and he was killed in the battle of Nashville, in 1864, having been a suc- cessful planter in Choctaw county prior to the war. Dr. Berryhill received the advantages of the common schools of his native county, and his preparation for his exacting profession was secured through study under private preceptors and through a course of study in the Memphis Hospital medical college, in Memphis, Tenn. In 1899 he began the practice of his profession in Eupora, and here his success has been unqualified, so that his practice is one of lucrative order, while he holds the uniform confidence and esteem of the people of the community. He is a Democrat in his political pro- clivities, and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Wood- men of the World, and he and his wife are members of the Meth- odist church. On March 2, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Berryhill to Miss Julia Pierce, daughter of Wesley and Julia (Bargainier) Pierce, of Alabama, and of this union has been born one son, Ira Wesley.

Birmingham (J. W.) & Company are leading contractors and builders of Greenville, Miss. The firm was organized on Jan. 1, 1906, succeeding the Greenville Manufacturing Company, by J. W. Birmingham and C. E. Couty. The firm does a general contract- ing and building business and also deals in building material. It operates in Greenville and surrounding country and does a large business. The general offices are located at No. 211 Main Street, in Greenville.

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Bethea, John Jefferson, M. D., one of the leading representatives of the medical profession in Covington county, is estab- lished in practice at Seminary, where his success has been on a parity with his distinctive skill and ability as a physician and surgeon. Dr. Bethea was born in Westville, Simpson county, Miss., Feb. 1, 1863, and is a son of John A. and Millie (Smith) Bethea, both of whom were born in South Carolina, whence they came to Mississippi when young. The father be- came a successful farmer of Simpson and Lawrence counties, but died in Seminary, Miss., Aug. 28, 1904, in his eighty-sixth year. His wife is now residing with Dr. Bethea. The Doctor is of French descent, his paternal ancestors emigrating from France in 1750 and locating in South Carolina. His ancestors were in the Revolutionary war and in the War of 1812. After doing careful and effective work as a student in the public schools of his native county, Dr. Bethea determined to prepare himself for the medical profession. With this end in view he was matriculated in the med- ical department of Tulane university, in the city of New Orleans, where he made an excellent student record and was graduated as a member of the class of 1889, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the preceding year, upon examination before the Mississippi State board of medical examiners, he had been admitted · to practice and had initiated his professional labors in Richmond, Covington county. Holding the highest possible standard in con- nection with the responsible duties devolving upon the physician and surgeon, Dr. Bethea has availed himself of every possible means of furthering his knowledge of the medical science, and, in addition to personal investigation and research and the reading of the best periodical and standard literature of the profession, he has taken post-graduate courses in the medical department of his alma mater, Tulane university, and in the New Orleans Polyclinic, giving special attention to diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. The Doctor continued in practice at Richmond until 1900, in which year he took up his residence in Seminary, where he has built up a fine practice and where he commands unqualified esteem as a physician and as a citizen. He is stanchly arrayed as a supporter of the prin- ciples and policies of the Democratic party, is a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Woodmen of the World, while in a professional way he is identified with the medical societies of his county and State. On Jan. 1, 1890, Dr. Bethea was united in marriage to Miss Mollie Watts, daughter of Francis M. and Martha Watts, of Covington county, and they have seven children, namely: Ada, Stanford Ernest, John Emmett, Lowah, Bertha May, William Francis and George Grady.

BIOGRAPHICAL

Best, Richard, a successful planter and honored citizen of Leland, Washington county, is also a veteran soldier of the Confederacy, in which he served with marked valor. In both the paternal and maternal lines he is descended from an- cestors who came to America in the Colonial era of our national history, and representatives of both families were found enrolled as patriot soldiers in the Continental army during the War of the * Revolution. Mr. Best was born in Al- lendale, Barnwell county, S. C., on July 19, 1841, and is a son of Orsamus and Martha P. (Bryan) Best, the former native of Barnwell county and the latter of Beaufort county, S. C. Richard Best was reared to maturity in his native commonwealth and was there afforded his early educational training, which was supplemented by a course in Bethany college, Va. He was a youth of twenty years at the time of the inception of the Civil war, and his loyalty to the institutions and cause of the South showed itself in no equivocal way, since he promptly enlisted in Company E, First South Carolina infantry, and after the second battle of Manas- sas, in which he was a participant, he was promoted first lieutenant of his company, in which office he served thereafter in the long and arduous military operations in which his command was in- volved. Among the principal engagements in which he took part were the following: Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Hanover Junc- tion, Cold Harbor, siege of Petersburg, and the assault on Fort Harrison. After the conclusion of his military career, Mr. Best returned home and he continued his residence in South Carolina until 1897, when he came to Mississippi and located in Washington county. He is a firm adherent of the Democratic party and fra- ternally is identified with the Masonic order and the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity. On March 13, 1861, Mr. Best was united in marriage to Miss Clio L. Bignon, daughter of Dr. John E. Bignon and Harriet A. (O'Bannon) Bignon, of Barnwell, S. C., and they have eight children, namely: John E., Maude C., Richard B., Jen- nings O'Bannon, Orsamus P., William J., Hattie L., and Clio L. Mrs. Best died in 1884.

Bills, John Daniel, of Corinth, has been prominent in the busi- ness, civic, official and military history of Mississippi, throughout whose confines his name is well known and highly honored, and he is entitled to special consideration within the pages of this work. Mr. Bills was born at New Albany, Union county, Miss., which was then a portion of Pontotoc county, March 2, 1839, and is a son of John and Susan (Powell) Bills, the former of whom was born March 23, 1791, and the latter May 24, 1799. His paternal grandfather, Daniel Bills, was a member of the Society of Friends, commonly designated as Quakers, and came from England to

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America in the colonial days. He served as commissary in the War of the Revolution. He married Deborah Denman, whose brother John was a gallant soldier in the Continental line, having met his death in the battle of Bunker Hill .. John Powell, maternal grand- father of the subject of this sketch, a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was a prominent figure in the Baptist church in North Caro- lina and his son Ransom was a member of the legislature of that State. John D. Bills completed a course of study in the academy at Ripley, Miss., and that he made good use of the advantages thus afforded him is evident from the success to which he attained as a teacher in the schools of his native State. He devoted his atten- tion to the pedagogic profession for five years and took up the study of law in the office of Green & Strickland, of Ripley, being admitted to the bar at the March term of the circuit court in Tippah county, in 1861, Judge John W. Thompson presiding. He had initiated the practice of his profession but soon abandoned the same to go forth in defense of the cause of the Confederate States. On March 26, 1862, he enlisted in Company B, Thirty-second Mississippi infantry. His regiment participated in but one battle up to the time of his capture, and he himself was not present at this engagement, having at the time been confined to the hospital with a severe attack of typhoid fever. Upon his recovery he rejoined his command, in · which he was promoted lieutenant and at once made secretary of the brigade examining board to examine newly elected officers as to their competency, and also judge advocate of the regiment. Later he acted as assistant inspector general on the staff of Gen. M. P. Lowrey. While thus serving he was captured by the enemy, a few days before the battle of Chickamauga, and he thereafter re- mained a prisoner of war until the close of the great internecine conflict, though General Lowrey made frequent efforts to effect his exchange. He was confined at Johnstons Island, Point Lookout and Fort Delaware, from which last place he was released in May, 1865. He has never abated his interest in his old comrades and is now (1906) commander of Albert Sydney Johnston Camp, No. 1164, United Confederate Veterans, at Corinth. After the war Mr. Bills taught school for one year-at Lebanon and Baldwyn, Miss., and he then engaged in the mercantile business, in which he has since continued, having built up a prosperous enterprise and being one of the leading merchants of the city of Corinth. He was estab- lished in business at Baldwyn, Prentiss county, until 1878, when he transferred his interests to the city of Corinth, with whose industrial and civic affairs he has since been prominently identified. He served as mayor of Baldwyn and also as a member of its board of aldermen, and in 1876 he was elected to represent his district in the State senate, succeeding Hon. John M. Stone, being re-elected for a second term and not becoming a candidate for a third. He has been a most uncompromising advocate of the cause of the Dem- ocratic party and in 1875 was president of the largest Democratic club in northern Mississippi, his record in this connection leading to his nomination and election to the State senate. While in the

BIOGRAPHICAL

legislature he made a high reputation as a parliamentarian and as a faithful and able legislator. He was chairman of the Democratic legislative caucus which nominated Gen. J. Z. George for the United States senate, and later he was urged to become a candidate for lieutenant-governor of the State, but declined the overtures. He was chairman of the temperance committee of Corinth in 1884, when the prohibition of the liquor business was effected in the city, and he was the leader of the temperance forces during the seven years' war waged by the liquor dealers in the courts and the legislature. His work in this line he considers the most important in his career and in the same he takes the greatest gratification. In recognition of his services the temperance folk of the city presented him with a fine gold-headed cane. He has served effectively as postmaster here during the second administration of President Cleveland. Mr. Bills has been a zealous member of the Baptist church for the past fifty-four years and was moderator of the Tishomingo Baptist association for ten years. For a number of years he was a trustee of the Corinth female college. On June 5, 1861, Mr. Bills was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Caldwell, a daughter of War- ren and Jane A. Caldwell, of Holly Springs, and following is a brief record concerning the children of this union: Luther William died in the summer of 1862; Mary is the wife of Claud J. Pound, of Corinth ; Lowrey is the wife of Robt. T. Estes, of this city ; Margaret is the wife of William D. Browning, of Cleveland, Ohio; and Annie remains at the parental home.

Blanton, Orville Martin, M. D., a pio- neer physician of Greenville, was born on the Blantonia plantation (now Green- ville), Washington county, Miss., July 22, 1828. He was a son of William Whitaker and Harriet Byron (McAllis- ter) Blanton, the former a native of Winsboro, S. C., the latter of Greensboro, Green county, Ga. Mrs. Blanton's father was a captain in the British army, under General Tarleton, in the American War of the Revolution, and was captured at the battle of Cowpens, S. C. After he had obtained his parole he married Miss Mary Smith of Dinwiddie county, Va., and in 1810 moved to the old town of Washington, near Natchez. In 1818 his daughter married William Whitaker Blanton and in 1828 went to live on the Blantonia plantation, where ten years later Mr. Blanton died. In June, 1841, she married Dr. Samuel Theobald, of Lexington, Ky., who died in Greenville in 1866. The plantation, originally consisting of 5,000 acres, became the site of Greenville. Mrs. Theobald died Jan. 23, 1888, at the age of ninety years. Her son, Dr. Orville Martin Blanton, the subject of this sketch, received his early education in Frankfort, Ky., and later at the Kentucky Military institute. His technical education was obtained at the

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Maryland Medical university of Baltimore. Though not regularly enrolled in the Confederate army, Dr. Blanton saw service in the siege of Vicksburg. He volunteered as surgeon to the First Louis- iana artillery, Maj. Harry Clinch commanding, and was with that battery during the greater part of the investment of that place. He was on duty when Farragut passed the batteries, and was recognized in the report of Gen. Martin Luther Smith for valuable services at the battery. Much as Dr. Blanton desired to enter the service, it was impossible, as the only physician in Greenville died soon after the siege of Vicksburg and it devolved upon him, as the only phy- sician in the town, to stay at home. A brother, W. C. Blanton, was a member of the Twenty-ninth Mississippi cavalry, Col. P. B. Starke commanding, and it was necessary for the doctor to see to the support of his brother's family as well as his own. Politically the doctor is a Democrat and has been a member of the city council. He is a member of Vicksburg lodge of Masons, No. 26, and of the Royal Arch chapter, No. 3, of Vicksburg. On Feb. 7, 1854, he married Martha Rebecca, daughter of Dr. George and Mary (Avery) Smith, of Live Oak, Warren county, Miss., and to that union have been born three children: Lola Angelique, Belle Orville and Georgia Greenway. Lola married John Dabney; Belle Orville became the wife of Dr. James Walker, and Georgia the wife of S. D. Finlay. Mesdames Dabney and Walker are now deceased. Mrs. Blanton died Sept. 14, 1897. She was a much beloved resident of Greenville, who had come to Blantonia planta- tion before the site of that plantation was dreamed of as a city. Her father's plantation on Walnut hills overlooks the battlefield of Chickasaw Bayou. In that fight Dr. Smith, although more than seventy years of age, rendered valuable service as a volunteer on the staff of Gen. Stephen D. Lee. Of late years Dr. Blanton has devoted his time to the overseeing of a large cotton plantation. He is a much respected and beloved citizen of the city which has grown up on the site of his old home.

Bonney, Nelson Peres, is one of the well known and able members of the newspaper fraternity in Mississippi, and is now the editor and publisher of the Summit Sentinel, in the thriving little city of Summit, Pike county. Mr. Bon- ney was born in Holmesville, this county, June 18, 1854, and is a son of Henry S. and Evelyn French (Adams) Bonney, the former of whom was born in Saco, Me., in 1822, and the latter in Boston, Mass., July 28, 1833, both being representative of old and distinguished New England fam- · ilies. Mrs. Bonney was of the celebrated Adams family of Massachusetts which furnished two presidents to the United States, and a number of representatives of the Bonney family held positions of public trust

BIOGRAPHICAL

under the colonial government, while later were found numerous members of the family in public offices of importance as represent- ing popular choice under the republican government after the War of the Revolution. Peres Bonney, grandfather of the subject of this review, was born in the province of New Brunswick, Dominion of Canada, Nov. 26, 1797, his parents having emigrated from Scot- land to America in 1778. He married Miss Nancy Floyd, at Saco, Me., May 26, 1819. Henry Smith Bonney came to the State of Mis- sissippi when quite a youth and rode the overland mail between Holmesville and Liberty, having previously resided for a time in the State of Louisiana. In 1862 he went forth as a loyal soldier of" the Confederacy, enlisting as a member of Company E, Thirty-third Mississippi infantry, John T. Lamkin being captain of his company. He participated in the battles of Corinth and Jackson, Miss., and other engagements, continuing in active service until 1864, when he received his discharge. He was a man of high intellectual ability and distinct individuality, leaving an impress on the life and times of Mississippi, where he was long and prominently identified with newspaper enterprises, having been editor and publisher of the True Southerner and the Independent, at Holmesville; the Record, at Osyka; the Eureka Centralian, at Magnolia; and the Summit Sentinel, establishing the latter paper with Isaac C. Dick as partner. His pen was facile and sarcastic and he was known as among the best paragraphers in the State, his trenchant pen being feared by all opponents. He passed the closing years of his life in Summit, Pike county, where he died July 22, 1891. In 1850, in the city of New Orleans, La., he married Miss Evelyn French Adams, whose death occurred, in Summit, Miss., Dec. 28, 1890. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom six are living. Nelson P. Bon- ney passed his boyhood days in the strenuous and turbulent era of the Civil war, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the common schools of Mississippi, while he duly profited by the further privileges afforded in a home of genuine culture and refinement. He early became associated with the news- paper business, becoming an expert in the "art preservative of all arts," and he has been concerned in a number of journalistic enter- prises in his native State. In 1874 Mr. Bonney became associated with his father in the publication of the Summit Sentinel; in 1882 he was allied with Will A. Battles in publishing the Times and In- telligencer, in Summit, and in 1885 he entered into partnership with Sidney D. Persell in continuing the publication of the same paper. Thereafter he was again associated with his father in the publica- tion of the Summit Sentinel, whose plant and business he soon purchased, having been the sole owner and the editor and publisher of this popular and model country paper since 1885. The Sentinel voices in an effective way his opinions as to matters of public policy and in regard to local affairs, while it exerts no little influence in forwarding the interests of the Democratic party, of whose prin- ciples he is an able and uncompromising advocate. Mr. Bonney is one of the influential and valued citizens of Summit, and is at

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the present time a member of the board of school trustees and sec- retary of the board of health. He is a member of the directorate of the Bank of Summit. In a fraternal way he is identified with Summit Lodge, No. 93, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with the Knights and Ladies of Honor. On June 21, 1881, Mr. Bonney was united in marriage to Miss Alexine Jeanne Fourmigué, of New Orleans, a daughter of Jean and Rosalie (Bourdale) Four- migué, who were born in Vic en Bigorre, Hautes-Pyrenees, France. Mrs. Bonney was summoned to the life eternal March 8, 1901, at the age of 39 years, 5 months and 9 days. She is survived by four children, namely : Henry Rey, born in 1883; Oliver Nelson, born in 1885; Gladys Rosalie, born in 1889; and Alexis Alonzo, born in 1892.

Booth, Roswell Valentine, one of the representative members of the bar of the city of Vicksburg, is a citizen of prom- inence and influence, and is an honored veteran of the Confederate service in the war between the States, in which he made a gallant record. Captain Booth is a son of Stephen S. Booth, who was a son of David Booth, being the second in order of birth in a family of five children -three sons and two daughters. He was born in Surrey county, Va., May 24, 1809, and was reared and educated in the patrician Old Dominion. In 1833 he came to Mississippi, locating in Vicks- burg, and here for a few years he successfully pursued a mercan- tile business, but finally went down in the terrible financial mael- strom of 1837-the most disastrous, perhaps, in the history of the country. He thereafter engaged in farming, to which he devoted the residue of his life, with signal success, his death occurring June 11, 1893. He was the only member of his family who came to Mississippi, and his relatives are now to be found scattered throughout the Old Dominion, numbering in their ranks some of the best types of Virginian citizenship. Stephen S. Booth chose as his life companion Miss Ann Eliza Valentine, daughter of Roswell and Martha (Gibson) Valentine, the latter of whom was a daughter of Rev. Samuel Gibson, who, with his cousin, Rev. Tobias Gibson, was one of the pioneer Methodist clergymen in the territory of Mis- sissippi ; she was a cousin of the late Gen. and Sen. Randall Lee Gibson, of Louisiana, and was a woman of distinctive and brilliant culture and gracious presence. In speaking of her, in a conversa- tion with the subject of this sketch, the late distinguished senator, Hon. Henry S. Foote, said: "Your mother, sir, was the most talented woman I ever met in Mississippi." She died Nov. 22, 1890, in the seventy-first year of her age, deeply lamented by all who had come within the sphere of her noble and gracious influence. At "Oakley," the parental homestead, about eight miles east of the city

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III, Part 6

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