USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III > Part 8
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Brashear, Joseph N., a lawyer of Port Gibson, Miss., was born in Claiborne county, Miss., Aug. 1, 1865, and is the son of Joseph N. and Martha (Garrett) Brashear. Mr. Brashear was educated at Chamberlain-Hunt academy, the normal school of Valparaiso, Ind., and Cumberland university of Lebanon, Tenn. He was graduated from the latter institution in 1892 with the degree of LL. B., and located at Port Gibson for the practice of his profession. Mr. Brashear served one term as superintendent of education of Clai- borne county, and was elected mayor of Port Gibson in 1905. He is a member of the Episcopal church and is a Mason and Knight of Pythias. In 1899 he was married to Cornelia Taylor, daughter of James P. Taylor of Claiborne county.
Bridewell, John Thomas, the present mayor of Wesson, Copiah county, has been prominent in public and civic affairs in his native State and is a veteran of the Confederate service in the Civil war. He was born in Port Gibson, Claiborne county, Miss., May 17, 1843, and is a son of Owen and Elizabeth (Rhodes) Bridewell, the former of whom was born in Missouri and the latter in Kentucky.
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Mr. Bridewell completed his youthful education in Oakland col- lege, at Oakland, Claiborne county, Miss., and when the Civil war broke out he promptly tendered his services in defense of the cause. of the Confederacy, but was rejected as being physically ineligible. A ·week later, however, he enlisted as a private in a company or- ganized by Capt. Andrew J. Lewis in Port Gibson, and he proved his valor and fidelity as a soldier, remaining in the service until the close of the war. He was at Port Hudson during the siege of that place, serving with the First Alabama heavy artillery, to which he had been assigned. He was captured March 7, 1864, and was there- after held in the Federal prison at Camp Douglas, Chicago, until the war terminated. He received his parole May 28, 1865, having been second sergeant of his company when captured. He returned to his home in Mississippi and for some time was engaged in the operation of a sawmill and in the general lumbering business. He then took up his residence in the city of Vicksburg, where he ren- dered effective service as deputy sheriff of Warren county, also being elected county assessor. In 1878 when deputy sheriff of Warren county, the sheriff left, because of the yellow fever epi- demic, leaving Mr. Bridewell in complete charge of affairs. Mr. Bridewell nursed many people, among the number having been Mayor R. F. Beck (deceased) and Bishop Galloway. There were between 8,000 and 9,000 cases of fever, and 1,138 deaths. From Vicksburg he removed to Copiah county, where he has since continued to make his home. He served three terms as justice of the peace in this county, and in 1904 he was elected mayor of Wes- son by a most flattering majority. He is a stalwart Democrat and has frequently been a delegate to county, district and State conven- tions of the same. He holds membership in the United Confederate Veterans and the Masonic fraternity and he is honored as one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of the county and as a man of inviolable integrity. In 1883 Mr. Bridewell was united in marriage to Miss Clara Hopper, daughter of David Hopper, of Warren county, and they have these children: Herbert, of Vicksburg; Ben Willis, of Warren county ; L. Abb ; Earle ; Clara ; Thomas Darracot ; Walter and Harry Payne, all at home except the first two. Mr. Bridewell and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Mr. Bridewell is superintendent of the Sunday-school in which he has been interested for several years.
Buchanan, James Lacey, the efficient sheriff of Rankin county, is an honored veteran of the Civil war and has been long identified with industrial and civic interests in Mississippi, where he has main- tained his home from his early childhood, being now a resident of Brandon, the county seat, while he still gives a general supervision to his farm property in the county, being the owner of 340 acres. Mr. Buchanan was born in Sumter county, Ala., April 18, 1848, and is a son of John O. and Celestina (Lacey) Buchanan, the former native of South Carolina and the latter of Alabama, while they passed the closing years of their lives in Rankin county, Miss., the father having been a planter and general farmer by vocation. James
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L. Buchanan secured a good common school education and was reared to the life of the home plantation, to whose operation he was giving his attention at the time of the inception of the Civil war, when he joined the ranks of so many other of the loyal young men of the South and tendered his services in defense of the cause of the Confederacy, becoming a private in Company I, Sixth Mis- sissippi infantry, with which he served until the close of the war. He was in Adams' old brigade, Loring's division of Longstreet's corps, and had his full quota of arduous service, principally in skirmish and patrol duty. His command was with General John- ston at the time of surrender and he received his parole at Greens- boro, N. C. After his return from the war the youthful veteran turned his attention once more to the arts of peace, doing all in his power to uplift the wasted energies and prostrate industries of the South, and he became one of the successful agriculturists of Rankin county, devoting himself to the management of his plantation until his election to the office of sheriff of the county, in 1903, for a term of four years. Upon assuming the duties of his office he took up his residence in Brandon, where he has since ably administered the affairs of the shrievalty. He is a most earnest supporter of the Democratic party and its principles, and is affiliated with the United Confederate Veterans, and with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a col- lege fraternity. In 1870 Mr. Buchanan married Miss Fanny Grimes, whose death occurred in 1878, and on Feb. 13, 1885, he wedded Miss Martha Batte, daughter of Col. William H. and Virginia (Wilson) Batte, of Rankin county, her father having been a dis- tinguished officer in the Confederate army and also having served as a member of the State legislature of Mississippi. Of the children of Mr. Buchanan three are of the first marriage and five of the second, their names being here entered in order of birth: Minnie, Lacey, Leon, William, Emma, Samuel, Edmonia, and James.
Buckley, Ben C., who was a compara- tively recent acquisition to the personnel of the business men of Gulfport, Harrison county, with whose fortunes he promi- nently identified himself, made various in- vestments there, including the purchase of a fine newspaper plant, as he was the editor and publisher of the Gulfport Daily Times, which he made an effective exponent of local interests. He was long concerned in railroad work, holding posi- tions of marked trust, but showed equal facility in his new field of endeavor and was numbered among the valued citizens and influential business men of the thriv- ing city in which he cast his lot. He was a native of the State of Mississippi, having been born in Lawrence county, May 9, 1861, and being a son of James M. and Bethany (Craft) Buckley, the former of whom was born in Lawrence and the latter in Pike
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county, this State, where the respective families were established in an early day. The father of our subject was a valiant soldier in the Confederate ranks during the Civil war, serving through prac- tically its entire period, as a member of a Mississippi regiment. After leaving the public schools Ben C. Buckley entered Mississippi college, at Clinton, being a member of the class of 1877, and later he took a course of study in the Mound City commercial college, in St. Louis, Mo. After leaving school he became ticket agent for the Wabash railroad, at St. Louis and later was promoted to a position in the local office of the auditor of the same system. In 1882 he went to Texas as private secretary to James Waldo, traffic manager of the Houston & Texas Central railroad, and in the following year he accepted the appointment as chief clerk in the general ticket and passenger office of the Natchez, Jackson & Columbus railroad, at Natchez, Miss. In 1884 he went to New Orleans as claim agent for the New Orleans & North Eastern railroad, and in the following year he made another change, locating in Cincinnati as chief clerk in the general passenger office of the Queen & Crescent railroad. Shortly afterward the board of trade of that city, desiring to secure the services of an experienced and capable railroad man, tendered Mr. Buckley the office of manager of its traffic department, and he filled this position most acceptably for the ensuing two years, at the expiration of which he accepted a position in the office of Gen- eral McNulty, receiver of the Wabash railroad, in Chicago. His first newspaper work was done in Cincinnati, when he became police-court reporter on the Cincinnati Enquirer. In July, 1904, Mr. Buckley came to Gulfport, Miss., and identified himself with the Gulfport News, and in April, 1905, he effected the purchase of the business and plant of the Mississippi Times, a weekly publica- tion, and initiated the publication of the Gulfport Daily Times, in addition to the weekly edition, which he continued to publish until his death. The papers were maintained at a high standard and the enterprise proved a most successful one under the able control and management of Mr. Buckley. He had great faith in the future of Gulfport and had decided to make this his permanent home, while he made judicious investments in real estate and in connection with enterprises of industrial order. In 1905, he completed a fine resi- dence on the beach, providing one of the most attractive homes in the city. He was a stanch Democrat in his political allegiance. On Oct. 8, 1904, Mr. Buckley was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary Agnes Lewis, widow of George B. Lewis and a daughter of W. L. Johnston, a prominent planter of Clinton, Miss. She is a great- granddaughter of ex-Governor Leake, the third governor of the State of Mississippi. Mr. Buckley was a brother of the wife of ex- Governor Longino.
Bufkin, Charles W., M. D., one of the leading medical prac- titioners of Perry county and vice-president of the Citizens' bank, of Hattiesburg, merits consideration in this work as one of the rep- resentative members of his profession in his native commonwealth. He was born in Paulding, Jasper county, Miss., Sept. 28, 1855, and
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is a son of Frank L. and Sarah (Caraway) Bufkin, both of whom were born and reared in Perry county, this State, while the father devoted his attention throughout the greater part of his life to the vocation of farming. The common schools afforded Dr. Bufkin his preliminary educational discipline, and in preparing himself for the work of his profession he entered the medical department of the University of Alabama, in Mobile, where he completed the pre- scribed technical work and study and was graduated in 1880, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. To still further fortify himself he has since done effective post-graduate work, having taken a course in Bellevue Hospital medical college, in New York city, in 1885, and in the New York Polyclinic in 1900. Soon after his gradua- tion the doctor located in Paulding, Miss., and in that, his native city, he continued in practice for fifteen years, gaining the same high measure of popular confidence and esteem in a professional way that he had previously enjoyed in a personal sense in the com- munity. In 1894 he came to Hattiesburg, where he has well main- tained his prestige, controlling a large and representative practice. He is a valued member of the medical societies of his county and State, and is also enrolled as a member of the American medical association. In his political allegiance he is a stanch Democrat, both he and his wife are members of the Methodist church, and he is affiliated with the local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. As a citizen he is liberal, pro- gressive and public-spirited, and he has closely identified himself with the civic life of his city, and is one of the principal stockholders in the Citizens' bank, of which he is vice-president. On Jan. 12, 1881, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Bufkin to Miss Corinne Heidelberg, daughter of Thomas H. and Lucinda (Morgan) Heidel- berg, of Jasper county. They have one daughter, Lily, who is now the wife of James S. Love, of Lumberton, Miss.
Burril, Erastus S., an enterprising citi- zen and landholder of Gulfport, Harrison county, was born in the village of Cas- novia, Muskegon county, Mich., Nov. 22, 1849, and his is the distinction of having been the first white child born in the embryonic village in the midst of the great lumber district of the Wolverine State, his parents, Ezra N. and Eliza (Fellows) Burril, natives of Ohio, having been numbered among the sterling pio- neers of Muskegon county, which was practically unreclaimed from the forest wilderness at the time when they located there, while Indians outnumbered the white settlers at the time when their son Erastus was ushered into the world. Owing to the conditions and exigencies of time and place the early educational advantages of Erastus S. Burril were somewhat limited, but in the primitive schools of northern Michi-
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gan he laid the foundation of that broad fund of knowledge which he was later to gain in the great school of experience. His youth- ful days were passed in the arduous labors incidental to clearing land from the virgin forest and putting the same under cultiva- tion, while he also found employment in connection with the great lumbering industry in his native State. He finally became the owner of a farm, to whose cultivation he devoted his attention for a number of years, after which he sold the place and established a general store at Grant Station, Newaygo county, Mich., having purchased land and platted a town, selling a number of lots and being practically the founder of the village mentioned. For nine years he was engaged in the drug business at Grant Station, Mich., and in 1888 he came to Mississippi and located in Perry county, where he engaged in the real estate business and supervised the locating of timber lands for Delos A. Blodgett, of Grand Rapids, Mich., one of the leading lumber operators of the Union up to the time of his death, and he also did similar service for many others who sought investment in timber lands in Mississippi, his intimate knowledge of lumber values making him especially well equipped for the selection of such lands. He continued his residence in Perry county until 1900, when he located at Bond, Miss., until 1901. In April of that year he came to Gulfport, purchasing land in the Standard Land Company's addition to the town and there erect- ing the first house. He has also acquired other valuable property in and near the city, and he is engaged in the drug and general merchandise business, having a well appointed establishment. On Oct. 14, 1875, Mr. Burril was married to Miss Josephine A. Baker, daughter of Andrew and Clarissa (Holbrook) Baker, of Ashland, Newaygo county, Mich., in which county she was born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. Burril have ten children, namely: Ella May, Melvin E., Edwin J., Lysle E., Clara E., Alice A., Ida May, William, Frederick, and Benjamin Burke. In April, 1906, Mr. Burril made an extended trip to Central and South America, his purpose being to investigate timber and mineral lands for investment. He found Columbia to excel in timber and minerals and if the title to the land is found to be perfect, he and a company he represented will pur- chase 2,800,000 acres.
Butler, Robert Morris, M. D., merits consideration in this work by reason of his standing as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of his native county. He is engaged in the active work of his profession at Liberty and controls a substantial gen- eral practice. He was born in Amite county, July 27, 1873, and is a son of Rowland W. and Janie (A'Day) Butler, both of whom were likewise born in this county. After a course in Liberty male and female college, Dr. Butler was matriculated in the Louisville med- ical college, in Louisville, Ky., where he was graduated in March, 1894, being duly accorded his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. He established an office in Liberty and here has suc- ceeded in building up a large and lucrative professional business, being indefatigable in his devotion to the work of his humane voca-
BIOGRAPHICAL
tion and enjoying unstinted personal popularity. He is health officer of the county at the time of this writing. In politics he sup- ports the men and measures for which the Democratic party stands sponsor, his religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias. He holds membership in the American medical association, the Mississippi State medical association and the Amite county medical society. On Feb. 19, 1896, Dr. Butler was united in marriage to Miss Mary Webb, daughter of William H. Webb, of Liberty, of whom specific mention is made in this work. Their children are Erbye Louise and Anse McLaurin.
Butts, Edward S., president of The American National bank of Vicksburg, has been continuously engaged in the banking business for many years and he is one of the influential and honored citi- zens of Vicksburg. He is a veteran of the Confederate service in the war be- tween the States and was appointed brigadier-general of Mississippi State troops by Gov. John M. Stone in 1876 and served four years in that capacity. Gen- eral Butts was born, reared and educated in Alabama, where he remained until 1856, when he went to New Orleans, thence coming to Vicksburg, where he was engaged in business at the beginning of the war between the States. He promptly manifested his loyalty and allegiance to the cause of the Confederacy by tendering his services as a volunteer soldier. Early in 1861 he enlisted in the Volunteer Southrons, be- coming a corporal in this company, which was sent to Richmond, Va., where it was mustered into the Confederate States service as Company A, Twenty-first Mississippi infantry, which was after- ward brigaded with the Thirteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Mississippi regiments, afterwards known as the Griffith-Barksdale- Humphreys brigade-a brigade which won imperishable renown, bringing perpetual luster and glory to the history of Mississippi volunteers. From corporal General Butts was promoted sergeant, later being advanced to the office of sergeant-major of his regiment, and finally being elected captain of Company H of his original com- mand. He served for some time in this capacity, proving a most able and popular commanding officer, and was then appointed assistant inspector-general on the staff of Gen. Benjamin G. Humphreys. In this office he served until the close of the war, having been present with his command at the surrender of General Lee at Appo- mattox, April 9, 1865, and having lived up to the full tension of the great struggle which eventuated in the defeat of the cherished cause of the southland.
After the close of his long and gallant service as soldier of the Confederacy, General Butts returned to Vicksburg and engaged in
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the banking business, eventually becoming president of the Vicks- burg bank, continuing in that capacity for many years. He is known as one of the astute, conservative and substantial representatives of banking interests in the State. He is a member of the directorate of the Vicksburg Savings bank and is president of the Vicksburg Gas Company. He is affiliated with the United Confederate Vet- erans, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Knights of Honor and is past master of Masons.
General Butts is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, and is senior warden of Holy Trinity parish, taking a zealous interest in all departments of church work.
In 1886 he was married to Miss Lucy Mccutchen and they have four children, namely: Evelyn T., Edward S., Jr., Lucius McC., and John Randolph.
Byrnes, Charles Ralston, secretary and manager of the People's Savings bank of Natchez, and vice-president of the Bank of Commerce, Natchez, Miss., was born Dec. 4, 1851, in Claiborne county, Miss. The residence of the Byrnes family in America dates from 1730, when Daniel Byrnes of the County of Wicklow, Ire- land, with his wife, née Rebecca Fitch, came to this country and settled in Phil- adelphia. A son, Daniel, of the first Daniel, married Dinah Hicklen and his son Joseph, born Dec. 16, 1769, married Rebecca Proud Clarke on April 15, 1795. To this union was born Robert Ralston Byrnes in 1796, and his son was Charles Ralston Byrnes, Sr., born in Claiborne county, Oct. 30, 1826. The last named was married at "Insmore" plantation, Claiborne county, on Sept. 18, 1850, to Cath- erine Priscilla Smith, a daughter of Benijah Osmund and Elizabeth (Forman) Smith, who was born Dec. 9, 1832, at Springfield planta- tion, Adams county, Miss. To Charles Ralston and Catherine Pris- cilla (Smith) Byrnes were born fourteen children, six of whom are still living: Charles Ralston, Jr., born Dec. 4, 1851, the subject of this sketch; Benijah Smith; Percy Shields; Robert Lee; Mrs. Florence Undine M. Caleb; and Augustus M. Caleb. Charles Ralston Byrnes, Sr., was a soldier in the Confederate service. Charles Ralston Byrnes, Jr., received his education in the private schools of his home county, under Duncan Green, son of Bishop Green. For a time he attended St. Stephens Academy at Vicks- burg, now out of existence. From the time of finishing school until 1881 he operated his father's plantation and then for five years managed a plantation of his own. In 1887 he removed to Natchez and engaged in the real estate business. This work continued to be his means of livelihood until 1892, when he took the agency of the Corbin Banking Company of New York. In July, 1902, he was one of the organizers of the People's Savings bank and the
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National Bank of Commerce of Natchez. He has been secretary and manager of the first named organization ever since its estab- lishment. This bank has paid a yearly dividend of eight per cent. ever since its incorporation. Mr. Byrnes is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Woodmen of the World. On Feb. 15, 1881, he married Helen Gillespie, daughter of Dr. Orrick and Helen C. (Gillespie) Metcalfe, of Natchez. Mrs. Byrnes was born at Fair Oaks plantation, Adams county, Miss., Oct. 19, 1861. Both of her parents are now dead. To Mr. and Mrs. Byrnes have been born four children : Charles Metcalfe, twenty-three years of age, a grad- uate in the medical department of Johns Hopkins university, Balti- more, Md., and has been elected as first assistant to the dean of the medical department at the University of Virginia; Annie Euster, died in her second year ; Helen Metcalfe, graduated in 1905 at Stanton college of Natchez, and continues studying music, art and French at the Industrial institute and college of Columbus, Miss. ; and Katherine Metcalfe, who graduated in 1905 from Stanton college, is now at the Maryland college, Lutherville, Md. From 1901 to 1905 inclusive Mr. Byrnes served as alderman from the fourth ward of Natchez. He has been eminently successful in his banking business, besides which he is largely interested in planting.
Bacot, Samuel Atkinson, secretary and treasurer of the William Atkinson & Bacot Company, of Osyka, is one of the prominent and successful business men of the younger generation in this section of the State and the concern in which he is a principal is one of the largest of the sort in southeastern Mississippi. Its trade ex- tends throughout Pike and Amite counties and into neighboring parishes in Louisiana. Mr. Bacot is a native of Pike county, having been born at Summit, March 13, 1865. He is a son of Dr. William and Myra Caroline (Atkinson) Bacot, the former of whom was born in Pike county, Oct. 13, 1832, and the latter in Columbia, Marion county, this State, where her father was a leading merchant. The paternal grandfather was a planter and merchant and served eighteen years as sheriff of Pike county. Dr. William Bacot was graduated in the Medical College of Louisiana, at New Orleans, and he was for many years one of the representative practitioners of Pike county. He lived retired for several years prior to his death, which occurred Dec. 11, 1901. His widow still resides on the fine homestead plantation, in Pike county. Concerning their children it may be here recorded that Junius Laban is engaged in business at Osyka; James Robert died in June, 1906; Anna Moore is the widow of Otis Vaught; the subject of this sketch was next in order of birth ; Willis Clinton likewise resides in Osyka; Ella is the wife of John W. Richmond; Myra Pet is the wife of Walter D. Vanado, who is engaged in the drug business in the city of New Orleans ; Ema S. is the wife of James H. Jones, of Jackson, Miss .; Jesse died in infancy ; and Alford resides with his mother on the home planta- tion, near Summit. After availing himself of the advantages of the Summit public schools, Samuel A. Bacot continued his studies for some time in Roanoke college, Salem, Va., and at the age of seven-
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