USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. III > Part 91
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
Street, Harry Norwood, M. D., of Gloster, Amite county, Miss., is one of the representative members of the medical profession in his native county. He was born March 18, 1868, at Street, that county, a place named in honor of his family, and is a son of Thomas Park and Kate (Norwood) Street, the former of whom was likewise born in Amite county, and the latter in the State of Louisiana. The doctor's father was a prominent and influential citizen of Amite county, where he had large plantation and business interests. He was a loyal soldier of the Confederacy in the war between the States and represented his county in the State legislature for one term. After due preliminary discipline Dr. Street entered Chamberlin Hunt academy, at Port Gibson, Miss., where he was a student for one year. He then entered the medical department of Tulane university, in the city of New Orleans, in which institution he was graduated April 1, 1890, and from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. He forthwith engaged in the practice of his profession in his native place, where he remained until February, 1892, when he took up his residence in Gloster, which has since remained his professional headquarters and from which he controls a large and representative practice. He is recognized as one of the able physicians and surgeons of this section of the State and is identified with the American medical association, the Mississippi medical association, and the Amite county medical society. He is a member of the board of trustees of the State insane hospital and is local surgeon of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley railroad. By virtue of this incumbency he holds membership in the American Association of Railway Sur- geons. The doctor is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and holds membership in the Presbyterian church. On Sept. 13, 1892, Dr. Street was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Robinson, daughter of Lee B. Robinson, of Centerville, Miss., and they have two children, namely: Thomas Norwood and Helen Kate.
Sullivan, Will Van Amberg, of Oxford, is one of the representative members of the bar of Mississippi and is an ex-member of the United States senate, in which he admirably upheld the honors and prestige of his native commonwealth. Mr. Sullivan was born in that section
785
BIOGRAPHICAL
of Montgomery county, Miss., which was formerly included in Carroll county, and is a son of Hon. Isaac Sullivan, M. D., and May (Clarke) Sullivan. Dr. Sullivan was born in Raleigh district, N. C., where he received his earlier educational training, having attended the State university, at Chapel Hill, and having prepared himself for the work of his chosen profession by thorough courses of study in Bellevue Hospital medical college, New York city, and the Phila- delphia medical college. He took up his residence in Carroll county, Miss., about 1838, and became one of the honored and influential citizens and leading physicians and surgeons of the north central section of the State, having continued in the active practice of his profession for many years. He served as a member of the State senate and was a member of the secession convention of 1861, as a Union Democrat. He died in 1877, at he age of sixty years. His paternal grandfather was a loyal soldier in the Colonial army during the War of the Revolution. His wife, who survived him by a number of years, was of New England stock. The immediate subject of this review was afforded the advantages of the University of Mississippi and of Vanderbilt university, Nashville, Tenn., in which he was gradu- ated in 1875, a member of the first class graduated in the law depart- ment, from which he received the first diploma issued, having been but seventeen years of age when he thus secured his degree of Bachelor of Laws and having been admitted to the bar by special enactment, as he was below the required age. In 1875, shortly after his grad- uation, Mr. Sullivan located in Austin, Tex., where he began the practice of his profession. In 1877 he returned to Mississippi and established himself in practice at Oxford, where he has since made his home and where he has gained much distinction in his profession, his practice extending into the State and Federal courts in this and many neighboring States. He was a member of the Democratic national committee in 1896, in which year he was nominated for congress in his district, taking his seat March 18, 1897. In the following year, however, he was appointed, by Governor McLaurin, to succeed Gen. E. C. Walthall in the United States senate; later in the same year he was elected to this office at a primary election by the people of Mississippi, thus serving as a member of the senate in both the fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth congresses, and his term expiring March 3, 1901. He was active in securing the payment of Southern claims for property taken or destroyed during the Civil war. He stanchly upheld the policy of the Mckinley administration and endorsed the Spanish-American treaty which gave Porto Rico and the Philippines to the United States, realizing that the acquiring of these countries would greatly aid in extending the markets for Southern products. He takes a lively interest in the political affairs of his native State and is unwavering in his allegiance to the Demo- cratic party. Mr. Sullivan's first wife, whose maiden name was Belle Murray, was a niece of Gen. Patton Anderson, prominent in the Confederate service. She died in 1899, and he later married Mrs. Marie (Newman) Adkins, daughter of Dr. Henry G. Newman, of Washington, D. C., and a niece of Bishop Newman, a distinguished prelate of the Methodist Episcopal church.
50-III
286
MISSISSIPPI
Barry, William S., of Greenwood, Leflore county, one of the leading planters and cotton-seed oil manufacturers of Mississippi, is a member of the bar of the State and is a man of liberal views and progressive ideas, while his marked initia- tive and administrative powers are indi- cated in the important industrial and capi- talistic interests which he controls. He is the son of the late Gen. William S. Barry, one of the most distinguished citizens of the State of Mississippi, and as an individual memoir of the honored father is incorporated in this volume, it is not necessary to re-enter the ancestral or personal data in the present connection. William S. Barry (2nd) was born in Columbus, Lowndes county, Miss., and was afforded the advantages of a home of distinctive culture and re- finement, besides the best of opportunities in the way of concrete education, having been a student in the University of Mississippi and also in the University of Virginia. He took up the study of law and finally completed a course in the law department of the University of Virginia, while later he took a post-graduate course in that famous old institution. In 1884 he was admitted to the bar of Carroll county, and thereafter he was engaged in active practice in Leflore county for a period of eight years, but he now devotes his attention to the supervision of his large agricultural and industrial interests. He has been prom- inently identified with the cotton-seed oil business for a number of years and is president and the heaviest stockholder in the operating companies of three mills in the State. He is the owner of a mag- nificent landed estate of approximately 10,000 acres and in his cotton fields he gives employment to about 1,500 negroes. He is also the owner of valuable realty in Greenwood, including his fine modern residence. He has well upheld the honors of the distin- guished name which he bears and is one of the representative and highly esteemed citizens of his native State. A stalwart advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, in whose faith he was reared, he was elected in 1887 to represent his county in the State legislature, but he has held aloof from other official preferment, save that implied in serving in minor offices. He is at the present time president of the Yazoo Levee Board. He is a Knight Templar Mason and is also identified with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Mystic Shrine and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On May 25, 1882, in Huntsville, Ala., Mr. Barry was united in marriage to Miss Bernice S. Steele, who was born and reared in that city, being a daughter of Col. Matthew W. Steele, who was one of the leading citizens of that section. One son was born to . them-William S. (3rd). Mrs. Barry died March 17, 1898. On September 12, 1906, Mr. Barry was married in Montgomery, Ala.,
787
BIOGRAPHICAL
to Miss Josie F. Hallonquist, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Laurent B. Hallonquist.
Barry, William S., Sr., was one of the distinguished and honored citizens of Mississippi, which represented his home throughout the entire period of his life, and his reputation in public affairs far transcended local limitations and perme- ated the history of the nation whose most- exalted order of citizenship he so ably stood exemplar. In what was then the little village of Columbus, Lowndes county, Miss., Gen. William S. Barry was born Dec. 10, 1821, being the first white child born in the village. His father was a native of Virginia and was of stanch Irish lineage. The early educational ad- vantages of the subject of this memoir were of excellent order, and after the requisite academical preparation he was sent to Yale col- lege, in which celebrated institution he was graduated about the year 1845. On his return to Columbus he began the study of law under the direction of able preceptors, and he soon attracted atten- tion by the earnestness of his application, the courtesy of his manners, the polished fluency of his language, and by the remark- able eloquence which he displayed in a debating society composed of the best speakers and most intelligent men of the town. Con- cerning his career the following quotations from a history of the Bench and Bar of Mississippi, by James D. Lynch, are consistently entered : "Upon obtaining his license, Mr. Barry began the practice of law in copartnership with Judge J. S. Bennett, and soon mani- fested a brilliancy of talent and a rare aptitude for his profession which furnished flattering indications and promise of future emi- nence, but, becoming weary of professional monotony, he retired from the bar in 1847 and settled as a planter on his farm in Oktib- beha county. Here, however, his talents soon commanded notice, and in 1849 he was elected from that county to a seat in the lower house of the State legislature, and was re-elected in 1851. While in the legislature Mr. Barry participated actively in the promotion of all the leading measures of his party and in the discussion of the exciting questions of that period, in which his manly bearing and oratorical powers commanded much respect and influence. In 1852 he removed to that portion of Sunflower county afterward included in the county of Leflore, and in 1853 he was elected to a seat in the national house of representatives. While in congress Mr. Barry was noted for his alertness and penetration and for his skill and eloquence in debate. He took strong grounds in opposition to the party denominated 'Know-Nothings,' and in his speech on 'Civil and Religious Toleration,' delivered in the house of representatives on Dec. 18, 1854, he exposed the policy and principles of that party in a lucid, searching and, effectual manner. He contended that a
.
788
MISSISSIPPI
secret political association was dangerous to the rights of the people and to the stability of the government, and that a person might as well owe allegiance to a foreign sovereign and be ready to obey his commands as assume obligations to any society of his countrymen which might place him in collision with his own gov- ernment ; that the most beautiful and soothing effect of civilization, the loveliest influences of our institutions, have been to mollify preju- dice against those outside our borders, and to bring the whole family of nations, as it were, into a common brotherhood. At the expira- tion of his term in congress, Mr. Barry declined a re-election and resumed the practice of his profession in Columbus, in copartnership with Thomas Christian, Esq. This firm continued with an increas- ing command of business until 1855, when the political admirers of Mr. Barry would no longer dispense with his abilities in the arena of politics, and he was again induced to come forth from the retire- ment of professional life; and in the midst of the fierce political contest of that year he became the leader of the Democratic party in his section of the State. He was again elected to the legislature and was made speaker of the house, over which he presided with an energy and ability that fully comported with his reputation. From this time Mr. Barry became absorbed in the contemplation of the great question of disunion, whose rapid approach his sagacity now foresaw; and as it rolled its huge proportions to the brow of the political horizon, he became more and more convinced that, though beast it might be, it was far preferable to that 'monstrum horrendum, informe ingens' of northern fanaticism whose ravages threatened the destruction of every southern interest and southern right ; he therefore boldly and firmly embraced the alternative, and on taking his seat as a delegate from the county of Lowndes in the Mississippi secession convention of 1861, he was immediately chosen the president of that body. In this convention were assembled, par excellence, the wisest and best men of the State, and the lofty bear- ing and sublime attitude maintained by Mr. Barry as its presiding officer gave a dignity, steadfastness and solemnity to its proceed- ings full worthy of the momentous event. So impressed was he with the importance of the occasion and the great object which had been achieved, it is said, that it was with the most powerful mani- festations of the mingled feelings that throbbed and swayed within his bosom, with faltering voice and tearful eye, that he announced the decision of the convention-that Mississippi was no longer a member of the Federal Union but a sovereign and independent State. It is said that he never again used the pen with which he signed the ordinance of secession but carefully laid it away with its half-delivered ink, and left it to his only son, a namesake, with the injunction that it should be preserved as an heirloom in the family. Mr. Barry was not a disunionist per se and had used his best endeavors to stay the storm, so long as he considered such effort consistent with manhood and honor. If as a member of the Charles- ton convention of 1860 he seceded with others from that body, it was for the purpose of procuring the nomination of a person for
789
BIOGRAPHICAL
the presidency who would possess the confidence of the southern people and whose character would give assurances that would allay their excitement and discontent ; and with this view he participated actively in the nomination of Breckinridge and Lane in the sub- sequent convention at Baltimore. Mr. Barry was chosen by the Mississippi convention as one of the seven delegates to the con- vention to the southern States at Montgomery, and was afterward elected a member of the provisional congress of the Confederate States, but as soon as the war was fairly begun he conceived that his duty was in the field, and, having obtained authority from President Davis to raise a regiment for the war, he resigned his seat, returned to Mississippi, and in the spring of 1862 organized and mustered into service the Thirty-fifth regiment of Mississippi infantry. This regiment was led by Colonel Barry through some of the bloodiest scenes of the great struggle, and he was regarded as one of the best volunteer officers in the Confederate army. His. regiment took an active part in the conflicts with the army of Gen- eral Grant in Mississippi and in the defense of Vicksburg, where it was surrendered. It subsequently shared in the Georgia campaign and participated in the battles around Atlanta. In the beginning of the expedition of General Hood, Colonel Barry was wounded, at Altoona, and rejoined his regiment in the vicinity of Mobile, where he was captured in the assault on Fort Blakely, April 9, 1865. As an officer, Colonel Barry was characterized by an unswerving de- votion to duty, a courage which knew no odds or disparity, a cool- ness which no danger could perturb, and by a stern justice blended with kindness. He was greatly admired and beloved by his men, and they would have followed him into the mouths of the guns of Balaklava. Returning from the war, Colonel Barry retired to the seclusion of his home, and on being asked by a friend in what manner he employed his time, he replied that as far as he could he was living in a state of vacuity, that the present was all gloom and there was no promise in the future. His naturally feeble constitu- tion, which his heroic nature had sustained through the hardships and trials of war, became burdened with a despondency which in- duced a rapid decline of his health, and soon his friends beheld with silent sorrow and commiseration the ravages of the fatal malady that had fastened its inexorable grip upon his emaciated frame ; yet he maintained to the last that independence of spirit and sublime sentiment of patriotism which had been the ruling passion of his life. In answer to a solicitation made by the authorities of Yale college, a short time before his death, for a biographical report, he denominated himself 'originally a Democrat, then a States Rights man, during the war a conscientious rebel (so called), and at that time a pardoned, reconstructed Johnson man.' He reported himself 'practising law in Columbus, trying to gather from the wreck which the war made of all our fortunes whatever may be left, and to make a support for my family by my profession. As to religion ; by edu- cation, a Presbyterian ; by taste, an Episcopalian; in practice, nothing.' It has been said that all great passions are born in
790
MISSISSIPPI
solitude, that they are tamed and degraded by the common inter- course of society, and utterly lost and extinguished in public com- panies, crowds and assemblies; but here we have a brilliant light, kindled in the blaze of the forum, in the halls of legislation and in the smoke of battle, waning away and extinguishing itself in the damp of seclusion-the noblest passion that ever swayed the heart of mortal, mouldering in the rust of inaction and the canker of despondency. Colonel Barry saw no hope for his country, and that dread reflection obscured every light and cast the gloom of darkness over his existence. He died in Columbus, at the residence of his sister, Mrs. J. D. Bradford, on Jan. 29, 1868. Colonel Barry pos- sessed a superior order of talents, which rendered him at an early age an ornament to his profession and the idol of his party. His combined elegance of manner and eloquence of diction rendered him one of the most accomplished and popular orators of his day. It is said that his speech at Montgomery, in answer to the call of the people, on the day of the inauguration of President Davis, was more happily conceived, more eloquently delivered and more highly applauded than that of any other of the distinguished gentlemen who spoke on that inspiring occasion. As a lawyer he possessed all the qualities of a successful advocate. Full of sensational and perspective energy, his comprehension was rapid and his retort ready, while his logical powers were adapted to the most subtle and abstruse reasoning. His strong and lively imagina- tion, fine taste, faultless expression and elegant vein of humor, rendered him an interesting companion and a favorite of society- a circumstance which, so far as it allured him from the dull routine of professional life and from the monotonous path of professional distinction, to the dazzling arena of politics, was not conducive to that eminence which his genius had fashioned for him at the bar. Colonel Barry was unswerving in his adherence to the line of his duty he possessed a sublime reverence for justice and truth and abhorred duplicity and evasion in whatever garb they might be arrayed. His judgment was formed calmly and delib- erately, and he was always ready to defend his position by honest argument and logical illustration. While his disposition was ex- ceedingly amiable, he was scathing in his invectives against in- justice, fierce in his denunciation of wrong, and eloquent in the defense and advocacy of right. He was affectionate and sincere in his attachments and could see no fault in his friends. He was the soul of honor and knew no feeling of envy or sentiment of jealousy. Down to the end of time his name will glitter in the annals of Mississippi, in glaring association alike with the brightest days of its prosperity and the darkest hours of its adversity ; in the former he was an honor to its glory, and in the latter, the gloom of its gloom." Colonel Barry's most exalted attributes of character shone with purest light in the sanctuary of his own home, for as husband and father he was the incarnation of devotion and self-abnegation. . On Dec. 20, 1851. he was united in marriage to Miss Sally Fearn,
daughter of Dr. Thomas Fearn, of Huntsville, Ala. She survived
791
BIOGRAPHICAL
her honored husband by many years. He left surviving him an only son-W. S. Barry, Jr.
Kincannon, Andrew Armstrong, presi- dent Mississippi Industrial Institute and College. Over obstacles that few could have surmounted, overcoming opposition at every step that would have daunted a less manly soul, Andrew Armstrong Kin- cannon has written his name large at the top of the roll of Mississippi educators. The very utterance of the name suggests the strength and resoluteness of him who bears it; and reminds those who have watched with admiration his steady, up- ward stride to State and national reputa- tion that the real strength of the man and the chief element of his success has been, not so much his vigorous intellect and clear insight into men and measures, important as these have been, but rather a great warm heart which has enfolded his State, and uniting with his indomitable will, has made to him no service too arduous, no sacrifice too great in behalf of the sons and daughters of Mississippi. Space permits a mere outline sketch of a life unusually full of beneficence and honors. Born in Noxubee county amid the gloom and disaster of the early sixties, educated in Lee county in the days of Reconstruc- tion, Revolution, and financial reverses, Andrew Armstrong Kin- cannon, the second son of a large family, early learned the lessons of self-help and self-denial, and reaped in youth both the curses and blessings of comparative poverty. The impress of both father and mother are easily discernible in his character, and his devotion to his parents and to his brothers and sisters has ever been strik- ingly manifest. From the Verona high school, he went to the State university ; and then, after teaching a year or two, to the Lebanon, Ohio, Normal University. At the university and in his difficult early years as teacher in his home town, he gave evidence of that execu- tive ability for which he has later become distinguished. Three val- uable years were spent as assistant professor of English at the Mis- sissippi A. & M. College under the immediate direction of that prince of English teachers, Prof. W. H. Magruder, and under the general supervision and friendly counsel of Gen. Stephen D. Lee, well termed the "father of industrial education in the South." In 1886 as superintendent of the Meridian public schools, A. A. Kin- cannon came into prominence as a leader in the educational awaken- ing and reorganization of the common schools of the State. He found in Meridian a single, disorganized, unequipped school; in ten years he added five schools and developed a popular, well articu- lated city school system. During this period, his influence in the State teachers' association and in county institutes was notably weighty in the promotion of various reforms; and naturally so, being as he was the founder and head of the first and largest city
792
MISSISSIPPI
school system in the State. It should be mentioned that in 1888 an epoch in his life was made when he was united in marriage with Miss Mary George Barksdale, daughter of William R. Barksdale of Grenada, Miss., and oldest grandchild of Senator J. Z. George. Thus added incentive to effort came into his life, and with it the sympathy and encouragement of a wife who has always entered fully into his plans and has often proved herself singularly wise and timely in her counsel. In 1895, after a brilliant canvass in which he triumphed over a political combination that seemed invincible, Mr. Kincannon was nominated by acclamation for State superintendent of educa- tion by the largest Democratic convention ever assembled in Mis- sissippi. In spite of the strong sentiment in the legislature of 1896 favoring a reduction of the common school fund, the appropriation committee recommending only $700,000, Superintendent Kincannon succeeded in inducing the legislature to increase the appropriation to $950,000 per annum, and secured also an increased appropriation for summer normals. Of the wholesome school laws that bear his impress, mention will be made of only one, the creation of the State board of examiners, generally conceded by the best authorities to be a wise statute. His reports as State superintendent of educa- tion to the legislature attracted wide attention on account of their excellence both in subject matter and in style. Favorable criticism was evoked from the leading school journals of the United States. While superintendent of education, Mr. Kincannon was also a director of the National educational association, serving in that capacity with Dr. W. T. Harris, Dr. Lane, Dr. Greenwood, and others of national reputation. He declined the chair of pedagogy in the State university, though urged to accept it by Governor Stone and prominent trustees of that institution. Meanwhile the In- dustrial Institute and College for the white girls of the State, having passed through years of internal discord and weakness of admin- istration had reached a crisis in its history ; apparently its end, unless a radical change in its management should be promptly in- troduced. Doubtful, indeed, if the legislature would appropriate funds for its support, as matters then stood, Governor McLaurin, Bishop Galloway, and other members of the board of trustees urged Superintendent Kincannon as a patriotic Mississippian to accept the presidency of the college and save the institution. With his plans for the public school system but beginning to be developed and ex- pecting no call to other work for years to come, Superintendent Kincannon reluctantly resigned his State office and accepted the presidency of the I. I. & C., having been unanimously elected by the board of trustees ; responding to the call of duty and the claims of the girls of Mississippi, as the board presented the case to him. The transformation at once wrought in the college, the doubling in a few years of its faculty and student body, the addition of build- ing after building and the ready response of successive legislatures to President Kincannon's eloquent appeals for funds to meet the increasing needs of the great institution, fondly proclaimed by Governor Vardaman and others, "the pride of the State," are facts
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.