USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III > Part 87
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tion of Mr. Langston is made in this publication. Mr. Smith is the owner of some of the best real estate in Shelby, and his plantation is one of the extensive and valuable places of the county. In politics he is aligned as a supporter of the Republican party, and he has served as a member of the board of supervisors of Bolivar county, where he is held in high esteem as a citizen and progressive business man. He is affiliated with the Knights of Honor. On May 29, 1864, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Laurien McGhee, of Tennessee, and they have six children, namely: Illa May, Charles H., George W., Mamie W., Robert and Estella.
Smith, Edwin Phillips, proprietor of the Klondyke hotel, at Hatties-" burg, and also owner of a large amount of other valuable real estate in Perry county, has had a somewhat eventful career, and is one of the well known and highly popular citizens of Hattiesburg. He was born in Monticello, Jasper county, Ga., May 24, 1854, and in the same town were born his parents, Lieut. Andrew J. and Emily (Phil- lips) Smith. Lieutenant Smith served two years with the army of Virginia and after receiving his honorable discharge came to Mis- sissippi and re-enlisted, in the command of General Forrest, and he thus continued to be identified with the cavalry arm of the Confed- erate service until the close of the war. He accumulated a valuable landed property in Mississippi and here both he and his wife continue to make their home, honored by all who know them. Edwin P. Smith is indebted to the schools of Georgia and Mississippi for his youthful educational discipline, and when a young man his spirit of adventure led him to go to New Mexico, where he became largely interested in the cattle business, which he learned most thoroughly, having served a due novitiate as a cowboy on the range and having been successful in his operations within the twenty-two years of his residence on the western frontier. In 1897 he returned to his old home in Hattiesburg, Miss., for the purpose of supervising his exten- sive real estate interests here. On one of his most eligibly located lots-corner of Main and Railroad streets-he erected in that year the Klondyke hotel, the first hotel in the town to offer to the traveling public modern facilities and accommodations in the matter of hotel entertainment. He gave his personal attention to the management of the hotel for one year, at the expiration of which, in 1899, he leased the property and sojourned for one year in Europe, in company with his family. In April of 1904 he and his family again went abroad, remaining another year, and upon his return to Hattiesburg Mr. Smith resumed the active management of his fine hotel property and business, and this, with the supervision of his real estate and capitalistic interests, places ample demands upon his time and atten- tion. The hotel is maintained at a high standard in all departments and enjoys merited popularity with the traveling public, as do also the genial proprietor and his gracious wife, who renders valuable assistance in the practical management of the hotel. In politics Mr. Smith renders allegiance to the Democratic party and fraternally is identified with the Masonic order. On Sept. 23, 1897, he was united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth Hooge daughter of Elijah Allen, of
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Burslem, Staffordshire, England. They have one daughter, Made- line.
Smith, Sydney McCain, is engaged in the practice of his profession in his native town of Lexington and is recognized as one of the able and successful members of the bar of Holmes county, of which he is a representative in the lower house of the State legislature at the present time (1906). He was born in Lexington, April 9, 1869, and is a son of Thomas W. and Sarah A. (West) Smith, the former having been born near Holly Springs, Marshall county, this State, and the latter having been born at Lexington, a daughter of John W. West, who was a prominent citizen of Holmes county. Thomas W. Smith was a loyal soldier of the Confederacy during the Civil war, having enlisted in 1862, when but fifteen years of age, as a private in Com- pany A, Thirty-eighth Mississippi infantry, with which he remained in active service until victory rested upon the Union arms. He and his wife are now residents of Lexington. After completing the cur- riculum of the common schools of Lexington, Sydney McCain Smith entered the law department of the University of Missis- sippi, where he completed the prescribed technical course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1893, receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws and forthwith being admitted to the bar of his native State. He initiated the practice of his profession by locating in Yazoo City, where he remained for a short interval, at the expira- tion of which he returned to Lexington, where he built up a large and representative professional business, being a member of the firm of Smith & Tackett and his associate being Walter P. Tackett. This partnership was dissolved Sept. 23, 1906, when Mr. Smith was ap- pointed by Governor Vardaman to the district judgeship of the Fourth Judicial circuit for a term of four years, in which capacity he is now acting. In 1899 Judge Smith was elected to represent Holmes county in the legislature of the State, making an excellent official record and being chosen as his own successor in 1903. He is an uncompromising adherent of the Democratic party and he is iden- tified with the four York-rite bodies of the Masonic fraternity, as well as the Mystic Shrine, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pyth- ias also. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist church. On April 9, 1896, Judge Smith was united in marriage to Miss Martha Leigh Smith, daughter of John C. and Matilda(Cox) Smith, of Crystal Springs.
Smith, Murray Forbes, has attained to distinction as one of the able members of the bar of Mississippi, being established in a representa- tive practice in the city of Vicksburg, and being also a member of the State senate, from the Twelfth district. He is a scion of families long identified with the annals of Southern history and claims the old North State as the place of his nativity, having been born at Milton, Caswell county, N. C., Jan. 17, 1850. In the same State was born his mother, Adeline (McGehee) Smith. His father, George Alexander Smith, was born at Dumfries, Va., and was a son of George and Delia (Forbes) Smith. He was a merchant and tobacco manu- facturer by vocation and his death occurred April 7, 1860, his wife
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having preceded him to the rest eternal. Murray F. Smith attended the Bingham school, at Oaks, Orange county, N. C., and thereafter continued his studies for a time in the historic old Washington and Lee university, at Lexington, Va., although he was not graduated. After leaving the university he studied law in the private law school of Hon. R. M. Pearson, at Richmond Hill, N. C., and he was admitted to the bar, by the supreme court of his native State, in January, 1872. After practicing for two years at Greensboro, N. C., where he served his professional novitiate, he removed to Vicksburg, Miss., where his success and prestige in both departments of his profession have been of the most unequivocal order, for he is recognized as an able and versatile trial lawyer and as a discriminating and safe coun- selor. He has been unswerving in his allegiance to the Democratic party and has taken a loyal part in public affairs of a political nature, his technical training and natural tendencies well equipping him for leadership. In 1888 he was elected to represent Warren county in the lower house of the State legislature; he was a member of the constitutional convention of 1890; and in 1896 was honored with the election as State senator from the Twelfth district, comprising Warren and Hinds counties, his term ending in January, 1900. His effective services in the senate again brought him into recognition as a candi- date, and Nov. 3, 1903, he was again elected floater senator for the same district, for a term of four years. He was a delegate from the State-at-large to the Democratic national convention of 1892 and is one of the party leaders in his section of the State. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and both he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Epis- copal church. On April 14, 1874, Senator Smith was united in mar- riage to Miss Kate Wilson, daughter of Victor and Jane (Patchell) Wilson, of Vicksburg, and they have five children: Victor Conway, Murray Forbes, Jr., Ada McGehee, Clarence Carroll, and Lomie Lee. Smith, William Hall, superintendent of education in Holmes county, residing in Durant, was born in Lamar county, Ala., Feb. 8, 1866, a son of F. W. and Martha J. (Brazil) Smith. The parents were both born in Lamar county, Ala., the father Dec. 21, 1837, and the mother May 20, 1845. The mother passed away in May, 1903. William H. Smith received a preparatory education in the schools of Clay county, Miss., and then fitted himself for a pedagogic career in the Iuka normal school, graduating at that institution in 1889. The first four years after the completion of his scholastic labors he spent in teaching in the public schools of Clay county. Then for a time he taught in Chester and for four years was principal of the Acker- man high school. After three years of the same work in Eupora, Webster county, he came to Durant and for six years served as prin- cipal of the city schools. In 1903 he was made county superin- tendent and has been the efficient and energetic incumbent of that office ever since. Under his able management the schools have attained a standard of excellency never before reached. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, but he has never allowed himself
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to become so involved in the meshes of party affiliation as to inter- fere in any way with the conscientious and systematic discharge of his other duties. Fraternally he is identified with the Free and Accepted Masons, and the Woodmen of the World. On April 7, 1889, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Emma C. Belk, a daughter of J. W. and Elizabeth J. Belk of Clay county, Miss. The children of this union are four in number-Carleton Grady, Mary Odell, William Leon and Francis Belk. The family are devout and conscientious members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, of the board of stewards of which the father is a member. He is also a teacher in the Sunday school of the Durant society.
Smythe, J. D., M. D., of Greenville, was born at Kosciusko, Attala county, Miss., Oct. 22, 1861. His ancestors on both sides were sol- diers in the American army during the Revolution. His great-great- grandfather, James Smythe, joined the forces under Washington at Philadelphia and served until he was captured by the British about 1779. For two years he was confined in the military prison at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. At the end of that time he succeeded in mak- ing his escape and rejoined the colonial army in South Carolina, where he remained until the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. After the war he married and settled in South Carolina, where he reared a family of seven sons. Dr. Smythe's maternal ancestors were South Carolinians, the male members of the family all being in the American army in the war for independence, some of them holding company and regimental offices. The paternal grandfather, Daniel Smythe, fought in the War of 1812 and the wars with the Creek Indians. Dr. Smythe is a son of D. L. and Emma B. Smythe, the former born in Calhoun county, Ala., Nov. 26, 1828, and the latter at Kosciusko, Miss., June 27, 1840. The father served in the Confederate army from 1861 to 1865 in Capt. James S. Smythe's cavalry company. He had two brothers who were medical officers in the Confederate service. The mother had three brothers in the Confederate army ; one a major, one a medical officer and one a pri- vate. D. L. Smythe was once sheriff of Attala county, and also once represented the county in the legislature. During the exciting period of reconstruction he was a fearless advocate of white suprem- acy. He died in 1895, honored and esteemed by the people for whom he had labored and fought to save. Dr. J. D. Smythe was educated at Kosciusko, attended Tulane university at New Orleans, La., and finished his professional education in New York. In 1887 he estab- lished himself in the practice of medicine at Kosciusko, but in 1889 removed to Greenville, where he has ever since been engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery. For seven years he was chief health officer of Washington county, and is now a member of the State board of health. He is a member of the American, the Mississippi State and the Tri-State medical associations and the Washington county medical society; was once honored by being elected vice-president of the State medical association, and is the examiner for a number of the leading life insurance companies. In political matters he is an unflinching Democrat, though he has never
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been an aspirant for public office. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Elysian club, in all of which he is deservedly popular, because of his fraternal spirit and general good fellowship. He has been twice married: first, on Dec. 24, 1883, to Miss Sallie J., daughter of Dr. James S. and Martha (Ward) Smythe, of Carthage, Miss., and second, on Sept. 2, 1905, to Miss Hebe G., daughter of Capt. W. F. and Nannie B. (Carter) Randolph, of Woodstock, Miss. His children by his first wife are James S., Sadie Lois, and Roscoe Lafayette.
Speakes, William A., is one of the exten -- sive plantation operators of the famous delta district of Mississippi, his fine landed estate being located in Bolivar county, where he also has other industrial and capitalistic interests of importance. He is president of the Bank of Benoit and is also identified with the general merchan- dise business. Mr. Speakes was born in Arkadelphia, Clark county, Ark., Sept. 5, 1855, and is a son of Samuel and Martha (Anderson) Speakes, the former of whom was born in Mecklenburg county, Va., and the latter in Social Circle, Walton county, Ga. At the time of the Civil war Samuel Speakes tendered his services in defense of the cause of the Confederacy, enlisting in an Arkansas regiment and making the record of a loyal and faithful soldier. He was a carpenter by trade and after the war continued engaged in contracting and building in Arkadelphia until his death, which occurred in 1869, his wife having passed away, in the same place, in 1864, and having been a devoted member of the Baptist church. William A. Speakes was afforded the advantages of the common schools of his native town, and his first occupation of a business nature was that of clerk in a general store. Later he became manager of a plantation, and eventually he engaged in the general merchandise business, having been iden- tified with this line of enterprise in both Bolivar and Benoit, Miss., in which latter place he still conducts a well equipped general store, controlling an excellent trade. In 1904 he was one of those chiefly concerned in organizing the Bank of Benoit, which was incorpor- ated with a capital of $25,000 and he has been president of the insti- tution from the start. In 1876-7 Mr. Speakes traveled through New Mexico, Arizona, California and other parts of the West, but he found no locality so inviting as the delta of Mississippi, to which district he returned in 1878, having since maintained his home there and now having an attractive residence in Benoit. He is the owner of 2,900 acres of fine cotton land, and has been very successful in his various business operations, attaining independence and prosperity through his own well directed efforts, and so ordering his course as to retain at all times the respect and confidence of his fellowmen. He is one of the popular and influential citizens of Bolivar county
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and is distinctively public-spirited in his attitude. Mr. Speakes is a stanch supporter of the principles of which the Democratic party stands exponent, and is at the present time a member of the board of county supervisors; he was formerly a valued member of the Levee Board. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist church. In October, 1888, Mr. Speakes was united in marriage to Miss Blanche Trigg, daughter of William A. and Sabrina (Heard) Trigg, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Speakes have one son, Samuel Trigg Speakes, who was born in Arkadelphia, Ark., Aug. 25, 1889, and who is now attending Ouachita Baptist college, in that place. Spinks, John C., M. D., of Shubuta, Clarke county, is one of the best known physicians of this section of the State, where he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession for more than three decades. The doctor was born in Wilcox county, Ala., Aug. 29, 1831, and is a son of John and Margaret (Kelly) Spinks, the former of whom was born in North Carolina and reared in South Caro- lina, while the latter was a native of Georgia. Their marriage was solemnized in Wilcox county, Ala. They came from Alabama to Mississippi in 1834 and settled in Kemper county, where they passed the remainder of their lives, representative citizens of the community and worthy of the high esteem which was so freely accorded them. The father became a successful planter of Kemper county and he died there in 1861, having thus been spared the pain of witnessing the dire misfortune which the Civil war was to bring to his loved Southland. Dr. Spinks secured his fundamental education in the common schools of Kemper county, and he had the best of advan- tages in the matter of technical education, having been graduated in the medical department of the University of Louisiana, at New Orleans, in March, 1857, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Soon afterward he located in Fort Stephens, now Lauderdale county, Miss., where he was engaged in the practice of his profession until the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1861, he enlisted in Company F, Thirteenth Mississippi infantry, which was formally organized in Corinth, whence it was sent into Virginia, Dr. Spinks being at once detailed to the hospital service, while in 1863 he was appointed assistant surgeon and assigned to his original regiment, the Thir- teenth Mississippi, with which he served until the close of the war, his command having been with General Lee at the time of the sur- render, at Appomattox. After the war Dr. Spinks located in Kemper county, where he remained in practice until 1873, when he located in Shubuta, where he has ever since maintained his home and where he is dean of the profession which he has honored and dignified by his
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able services. He is a member of the medical society of Clarke and Wayne counties, as well as that of the State, and is one of the repre- sentative members of his profession in Mississippi. The doctor is a strenuous and uncompromising advocate of the cause of Prohibi- tion and has put forth most vigorous efforts to abate the liquor traffic in his State. He is a prominent and valued member of the Baptist church of Shubuta, having been identified with this denom- ination as a member since he was eighteen years of age, and he is now a deacon and assistant superintendent of the Sunday school in the home church. In a fraternal way he is a Royal Arch Mason. In April, 1866, Dr. Spinks was married to Miss Laura V. Hand, daugh- ter of Rev. T. J. Hand, M. D., who was engaged in the practice of medicine for a number of years, after which he entered the ministry of the Baptist church, being one of its distinguished clergymen in Mississippi. Dr. and Mrs. Spinks have four children: John P. is a dentist by profession and is engaged in practice in Shubuta; Mary is the wife of H. A. Morgan, of Alamogordo, N. M .; T. M. is a member of the faculty of the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical college, and P. E. is engaged in farming in Clarke county.
Spinks, Edwin A., of Meridian, Miss., manager of the Yellow Pine department of American Hardwood Lumber Co., St. Louis, Mo., was born in Lauderdale county, July 10, 1875. He is the son of Enoch L. and Margaret F. (Shamburger) Spinks, both born in Lauderdale county, the father in 1843 and the mother in 1846. The father is a farmer, having followed that vocation all his life, except the four years he spent as a member of the Confed- erate army during the Civil war. Edwin A. Spinks received what educational ad- vantages the common country schools afforded during four months in the year, and at the age of seventeen left the farm and took up stenography, which he followed for a period of four to five years. At that time, having acquired at least a theoretical knowledge of lumber, he en- tered the business in a wholesale way and continued until 1904, when he was forced to retire on account of ill health. After a thorough recov- ery of health, Mr. Spinks again in 1906 entered the lumber field as man- ager of the Yellow Pine department of the American Hardwood Lum- ber Co., St. Louis, Mo.,, one of the largest institutions of its character in the country. Mr. Spinks, in addition to being an experienced lum- berman, is also a very successful life insurance underwriter, having written a large volume of business for the Mutual Benefit of New Jersey in 1906. He has a large field before him in which to exercise the sound business judgment and healthy ambition which have so rapidly put him in the front rank of Meridian business men.
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Stainton, JosephW., engaged in the real estate and insurance business in the city of Meridian, as a member of the firm of Bailey & Stainton, was born in Winston county, Miss., May 27, 1867, and is a son of David T. and Cebra A. (Rumbley) Stainton, both of whom were born and reared in Alabama. David T. Stainton came to Mississippi about 1860 and settled in Winston county, whence he removed to Neshoba county, while finally he took up his residence in Jones county, where he passed the closing years of his life, having been a planter by vocation. His wife died at Philadelphia, Miss., in 1884. Joseph W. Stainton secured such advantages as were afforded in the common schools and supplemented this by study in the Cooper insti- tute, at Daleville. Thereafter he was successfully engaged in teaching in the public schools of Mississippi about ten years, at the expiration of which, in 1892, he located in Meridian and assumed the position of bookkeeper in the wholesale establishment of Tom Lyle, becoming secretary and treasurer of the concern in 1902 and thus serving until 1904, in July of which year he severed his connection with the business and associated himself with C. W. Bailey in the real estate and insur- ance business. The firm handles city property and farm and timber lands in all parts of the State and are building up a large business in this line, while they are representatives of leading fire and life insur- ance companies. Mr. Stainton is the owner of valuable farm prop- erty, is a stockholder in the Bank of Philadelphia, Neshoba coun- ty, and in the Southern bank, of Meridian. Arrayed as a stanch supporter of the Democracy, Mr. Stainton takes a loyal interest in political and civic affairs, and he served as treasurer of Lauderdale county from 1899 to 1904. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights and Ladies of Honor, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Benevolent Knights of America, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church U. S. A. On Aug. 10, 1896, Mr. Stainton was married to Miss Mary C. McArthur, daughter of John G. and Mary E. (McKee) McArthur, of Meridian, the former of whom is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Stainton have four children: Robert Lafayette, David Gordon, Bessie Ursula, and Joseph W., Jr.
Stephens, George H., the genial and courteous cashier of the Bank of Shaw, was born at Paducah, Ky., May 21, 1862. His parents were James D. and Nancy C. (Bailey) Stephens, both natives of North Carolina. James D. Stephens was a soldier in the Union army, serving as a pilot on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He was in the engagements at Paducah and was pilot of the gunboat Essex when it was blown up by the Confederate batteries at Fort Donelson. After the war he continued his business as a pilot, and died in New
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Orleans in 1884. George H. Stephens received his education in the public schools of Paducah and Hickman, Ky. His first business venture was in lumber, dealing in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1892 he went into the mercantile business at Shaw, and in 1902 assisted in organizing the Bank of Shaw, capitalized at $30,000. He has held the position of cashier since the inception of the bank, and now the business of the institu- tion has become so great that he gives it his whole attention, having closed out his other business. In politics he is a Democrat and as such has been successively elected for many years to the town board of aldermen. His church affiliations are with the Presbyterian soci- ety of Shaw, and his wife is also an active worker in the same society. On Oct. 14, 1891, he married Miss Adelidia, daughter of John W. and Minnie Preuss of Paducah, Ky., and to this marriage three children have been born: Williametta, Ayleen and Vera. Mr. Stephens has been eminently successful in a business way.
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