USA > Mississippi > Pike County > Pike county. Mississippi, 1789-1876: pioneer families and Confederate soldiers, reconstruction and redemption > Part 10
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A few of the abler classes of citizens began to bring in pianos. The violin, the guitar, banjo and flute had come in with the march of the fife and drum and quills. In the moonlight nights around the hotel would cluster old and young to listen to the strains of music and soft sweet voices of charming girls and women. All over the. county beautiful plantation homes were coming to the front. Up and down the Bogue Chitto, from Judge Hoover's, on either side, to Dillontown; out on the Tangipahoa, the Topisaw, Sweetwater, Silver Creek, Magees Creek and the Bahala, the charm of rural life was exem- plified with an industrious hum and prosperous conditions. Peace and plenty, happiness and contentment, prevailed everywhere.
Early in the forties John D. Jacobowsky came in from Prussia, settled in Holmesville and opened a mercantile business, being asso- ciated with Joseph Hart, who married his sister, Susan, and later on with Jake Hart, his nephew, who married Pauline Hilborn, sister to Ben. Hilborn.
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Pincus Morris, Mike, Mary, Sarah, Hannah, and Bertha were children of Joe Hart and Susan Jacobowsky.
Hyman, Meyer, Isaac and Simon Lichenstein were residents of Holmesville and occupied a store on the corner opposite that of Jacobowsky and Hart, the latter being on the same block and con- nected with the hotel building. Across the street from Jacobowsky and Hart was the store of Dr. George Nicholson, who owned that block, upon which his residence stood, since occupied by Robert Bridges.
From the little log hut occupied by Kline as a grocery the Cali- fornia House sprung into life, which was constructed into a first-class barroom, owned by Lemuel J. Quin.
Parham B. Williams, who married Miss Brent, a sister of John A. Brent, and who was elected sheriff in 1848, lived in a pretty two-story house in the upper part of town called Sandy Hook. Across the street from him was the residence of Mr. McCarley, who married a sister to Williams' wife, the mother of John and George McCarley.
On the place settled by Thomas Ellzey in Holmesville, afterwards owned by Dr. James M. Nelson, and latterly by Twist, opposite the old Peter Quin place, a well was dug thirty feet below the surface and a large cypress log was reached. It was discovered that on this log a fire had been built, which was indicated by the charred remains on top of it and the fragments of wood used in building the fire. The log was cut through and the well completed. This circumstance indi- cated that ages ago the charming hammock upon which the town of Holmesville was built was once a cypress swamp or lagoon.
Below town at a point where a slough made out on the western side of the river, a rock dam was constructed to raise the height of the water in this slough. Just above the junction with its river below a mill was built over it by Sparkman and Arthur, which was run by a large undershot wheel. Rev. Bryant Louis became the owner of this mill. He subsequently took Owen Conerly as a partner, who afterwards became sole owner, and constructed a framed dam across the main river opposite the mill in 1857 or 1858, the foundation of which is there yet. This writer, as a boy, pulled the trigger of the
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battering ram that sent the piling of that dam down through the gravel, an inch a lick. It was a long, tedious job, but it was a lasting one. This mill was purchased by William Guy, and subsequently went to decay, but the frame foundation across the river is still preserved.
William Zeigler, who married Miss Mcclendon, sister of Stephen Mcclendon, was one of the older settlers of Pike and lived in Holmes- ville on the block north of the home of Dr. George Nicholson. Due east of Zeigler was the home of the Lichensteins; on the same block was the home of R. H. Miskell (Captain Dick), the postmaster.
E. H. Pezant kept a grocery store in a building adjoining the Cali- fornia House; then came John T. Lamkin's law office and Dr. Wallace's drug deparment.
South of the Lichensteins was the home of the Widow Sparkma 1, wife of Reddick, the hotel builder. East of her was Josh Bishop ai d his father, who owned Nancy, a faithful negro woman, who was his housekeeper and who after the death of the old man and Josh kept the home and raised and educated Josh Bishop's only two children, "Sis" and her brother John. She earned a support for herself and these two helpless orphans by taking in washing. She was well respected, and sent Sissie and her brother to Sunday-school and church and the very best social gatherings. She was childless herself ai d devoted her life to the support and education of these two whi e children of her young master Her grave and her last resting place may be forgotten, but in after time if these lines should chance 10 fall beneath the eyes of the descendants of Johnnie and Sissie Bishop, a responsive voice will echo back to the little cabin in Holmesville where lived and died this good-hearted black mammy. "God bless Nancy Bishop."
Mrs. Elizabeth Bickham, widow of Thomas Bickham, of Washing- ton Parish, lived in the southern part of town. She was the mother of Dr. Benjamin Bickham, of Hinds County, and of Louis C. Bickham, who was elected sheriff in 1859, former deputy under Robert Bacot; also Benton and Alexander Mouton Bickham and Mary, who married Dr. Hillory Quin; Sarah, who married Dr. Germany, and Hannah,
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who married Richie Quin. Louis Bickham, the sheriff, married Mar- garet Lindsey, daughter of B. B. Lindsey, a millwright.
William Monroe Quin, who owned a large cotton plantation about eight miles west of town, once known as Quin Station, owned a resi- dence and lived across the street from Mrs. Bickham, now owned and occupied by Dr. Lucius M. Quin. This residence was built by Red- dick Sparkman. Next to him, on same block, was the home of Jacobowsky and Hart, afterward Wm. A. Barr. East of this, on Carroll Srteet, was the old home of Tom Guinea, then James A. Fer- guson and Owen Conerly. At the foot of the ridge, on the west and south of the old Liberty road, was the residence of John S. Lamkin, lawyer, who married Bella Tunison, of Monticello. On the other side was the Baptist Church, and further north the residence of S. A. Matthews, a native of Ohio, who married Caroline, daughter of William Ellzey. Next to him, and facing the courthouse square, was the home of John T. Lamkin, the lawyer from Georgia, who bought it from Wm. A. Stone in 1839. His wife was Thurza A. Kilgore. Crossing Leatherwood while on his way to Holmesville he met with an accident and lost all the money he had, $too in gold, in the creek, which was never recovered. At his time the movement for volunteer reinforce- ments for the army in Mexico was commenced, and he was one of the number.
At the foot of Main Street, near the river, two men from Virginia, Horatio and Asa Wingo, club-footed twins, lived, built a hotel, bar- room and tenpin alley. Horatio married Miss Brent and Asa Mrs. Guinea. They were rough men and great fighters, and they were always in it side by side together. Their deformed feet necessitating perfectly round shoes, and their weight thrown on the ankles made it difficult to stand still, and in walking they had to be supported by sticks, good-sized hickory clubs, which they used in their personal encounters.
The Finches came to Pike County from Georgia in the early fifties. There were four brothers of them, James A., John, William and Milus. They settled on Varnal at the old Burkhalter place, where the Holmes- ville and Columbia road crosses. William and Milus joined the Quit-
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man Guards and both of them died in the Confederate service. James and John subsequently settled at Holmesville. John Finch was the father of James, Jr., Joseph and Thomas. Being left a widower, he married Sally Sandifer, daughter of Jackson Sandifer of Magees Creek, and sister of Joe and Wallace.
A peculiar circumstance happened shortly after the Civil War which caused young James Finch to be sent to the penitentiary on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon with intent to kill, of which he was not guilty. ' He got into an altercation with an ex-slave named Prime Ball during which Ball was stabbed in the jaw with a pocket-knife. After serving awhile in the State peni- tentiary Finch made his escape and came home, but eluded arrest. There was a man named Doan, who had come in from Arkansas and married Widow Ballew, formerly Miss Brent. Doan was present at the altercation between Finch and the negro, Ball and while Finch was eluding arrest he was taken sick and on his death-bed confessed under oath, in the presence of legal officers, that he himself had stabbed Ball in the jaw, reaching over Finch's shoulder during the altercation. He was a friend to Finch and promised when the trial came that he would clear Finch of the charge, but failed to do so With Doan's confession and a petition signed by all the prominent men of the county, Finch walked into the Governor's office at Jackson and stated his case. The Governor requested him to call again at 4 P. M., which he did, received his pardon and returned home.
The knife-blade run into Prime Ball's jaw was broken off in it and remained in the jaw for two years, causing an enlargement of the jaw and a running sore, which demanded the skill of a surgeon when the blade was discovered.
It must be remembered by the reader that this period of which I write Holmesville was the only town in the county. No other had been thought of. The circuit courts were held in the spring and fall every six months, and lasted two weeks, for the trial of civil and crimi- nal cases. The petit jurors, the grand jurors and the witnesses, liti- gants, curiosity seekers, sportsmen and lawyers from adjoining coun- ties brought great crowds of people to the courthouse. The hotels
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and boarding houses were unable to accommodate the crowds, ar d hundreds returned home at night or scattered out among friends n the vicinity.
Wm. R. Johnson had married Martha Sparkman, widow of Mr. Richmond, who succeeded Robert Ligon in the hotel, and these occat- sions were a boom for it-the California House, where Bob Wade d d the mixing, the Wingo Hotel, bar and tenpin alley. Court times we e lively occasions for Holmesville, and the term never ended without a general entertainment, of a delighted public, with wrestling, foot racing and fist fights. Without these, court weeks were not considered first-class occasions. Carroll Newman served as bailiff for many years, and his voice could be heard a mile. The juror who failed to answer his call was docketed five dollars.
During the fifties, when Judge McNair held the bench, the Holme ;- ville bar was composed of John T. Lamkin, Oscar J. E. Stuart, Hugh Murray Quin, William J. Bain, John S. Lamkin, Thomas Hoover, H. E. Weathersby and Thomas R. Stockdale; and the visiting lawye s were David W. Hurst, Hyram Cassidy, H. F. Johnson, District Attorney McMillan and Judge Vannison of Monticello and Bentonville Taylor of Covington. Thomas R. Stockdale entered the practice after two years' teaching of school in Holmesville. He was a native of Philadelphia, Pa., and a graduate of a Pennsylvania college.
At this time John T. Lamkin was the great criminal lawyer of South Mississippi. He knew every man in the county and was a friend to them all. Pike County jurors were usually men of moral excellence-crime was inexcusable. The killing of a human being must not be tolerated under any circumstances. This was the fiat of the people. The law of God said "Thou shalt not kill," "He who sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed." This was a principle that lived in Pike County; criminals knew it and they knew it would require a Napoleon to save them. Lamkin was a man of superior moral and magnetic influence, fine physical build, large, protruding eyes, eloquent, argumentative, forceful, convincing. He knew his jurors and he knew the power he must bring to bear upon them. When he failed to acquit one charged with murder or
d
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manslaughter the hangman's noose and the walls of the penitentiary were the visions that floated before the eyes of the culprits.
In . 1854 Frank Carr was charged with the murder of his father, who lived on the head of Leatherwood. There was an old-fashioned muzzle-loading squirrel rifle in the rack over the door of the house. Old man Carr had been away from home and came back at night intoxicated, and began abusing and whipping his wife, Frank's mother; Frank interceded. The old man reached for the rifle. No one knew it was loaded. Frank seized the gun and in the scuffle for the possession of it the piece fired and killed Frank's father. These are about the facts. Every effort was made in a legal way to save his life. He was condemned by a jury and was hung on a gallows erec- ted at the one-mile post on the old Liberty road west of Holmesville in the presence of a large gathering of people from the surrounding country, in 1856, while Robert Bacot was sheriff. The writer, then a fifteen-year-old boy, witnessed the execution. He did not then, nor does he now, believe that Frank Carr was criminal in the unfortunate killing of his father.
At the same time Bill Catchings, a negro, was hung on the same gallows with Carr for the murder of his master, Silas M. Catchings.
During Robert Bacot's term a man named Robertson was hung at the jail on the public square for the murder of "Calico" Williams. Williams' wife was indicted and convicted with Robertson and given a life sentence in the penitentiary.
At the hanging of Robertson he pleaded so hard that his life be spared the sheriff submitted it to a vote of the people present, but the majority with members of the police jury said that the law must be enforced. The sheriff then declined to spring the trap, and turned it over to his deputy, Louis C. Bickham, to perform the duty as ordered by the court.
In 1850 Dudley W. Packwood came to Pike County and settled at China Grove, on the old Ralph Stovall property, subsequently the home of Owen Conerly, Sr. He was born in New London, Conn., in 1792, and came to New Orleans in 1810, and was in Jackson's army at the battle of New Orleans. He subsequently removed to Coving-
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ton, La., and lived in Alabama, where his two sons, Samuel E. and Joseph H., were born.
Dudley W. Packwood's father, Joseph Packwood, was a sea cap- tain during the Revolutionary War and served in the interest of the colonies against Great Britain. In a naval engagement he lost one of his eyes. His wife was Demise Wright.
Dudley W. Packwood's wife was Cathorine Elliott, born in 1803, eastern shore of Maryland, and daughter of Samuel Elliott. She sprung from the Waggaman family, mother's side, of the eastern shore. She and her husband were married in Covington, La., in 1817. Her parents died when she was very young. Dudley W. Packwood was a farmer and lived at China Grove until his death, aged seventy-six. His wife died in 1872.
Their elder son, Joseph H. Packwood, was a farmer and merchant and spent his life from 1850 to his death in 1900 at China Grove. He married Mary, daughter of Joseph Youngblood and Eliza Bickhan.
Samuel E. Packwood graduated at Centenary College in 1857, graduated at law in New Orleans in 1858, and began the practive in St. Francisville, La., and was living there at the outbreak of the Civil War. As he was not a member of any of the companies that went out from Pike County it would be proper to state here that he was a member of the 13th Mississippi of Barksdale's Brigade, Army Northern Virginia, which served with great distinction in the numerous con- flicts in Virginia, and participated in the battle of Gettysburg, Pa.
At the close of the war he resumed the practice of law in Holmes- ville, and after removal of the seat of justice to Magnolia made that place his home. He was a member of the State House of Representa- tives, 1874-1876, 1892-1894, and of the Senate 1884 and 1886.
Ballard and William Raiford, nephews of N. B. Raiford, also came to Magees Creek about 1850 and engaged in merchandising at China Grove. Ballard Raiford married Nancy, daughter of Henry B. Lewis, who lived in the Darbun neighborhood. William Raiford went to Amite County, married there and became identified with that county.
Dr. Booth, a young Englishman, came in about this time, married Sarah Magee and settled on Magees Creek in the Jesse Ball neighbor-
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hood, and he and Dr. William May became the physicians of upper Magees Creek.
Dr. James M. Nelson, from Tennessee, was one of the conferees of. Drs. Jesse Wallace and Hillory Quin and Nicholson at Holmesville.
In 1850 a cold wave passed over the country destroying the crops in the month of May. The previous year, 1849, was the great desrtuc- tive flood year. In 1855 a great drouth occurred, and the following year was the first time in the history of the county up to then that grain had to be imported for farm use.
Christian Fisher operated a shoe shop at the foot of Main Street in Holmesville and employed a force of Dutch shoemakers.
Henry Lotterhos kept a bakery and sold ginger cakes and beer. Afterwards moved to Summit.
William C. Alford operated a wagon shop on Main Street; George Brumfield a saddler's shop.
Henry Frances was a carriage maker and had his shop near the foot of the old bridge, and Tom Donahoe was one of his workmen.
Joe Page was a carpenter, and lived at the foot of the hill near the Masonic lodge. He married the widow of Henry Francis, who was a sister of the wife of H. S. Bonney.
In 1849 and 1850 a tempreance organization, known as the Sons of Temperance, was kept in a flourishing condition at China Grove.
In 1856 Sincerity Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, No. 214, was organized, with the following members: James H. Laney, Samuel F. Gard, John G. Leggett, Oscar J. E. Stewart, Owen Conerly, Cullen Conerly, William C. Alford, Benjamin Wright Leggett, Barney Lewis, William Hinson, Felix S. Campbell and P. Ballard Raiford; James H. Laney, Master; Samuel F. Gard, Senior Warden; John G. Leggett, Junior Warden.
Shortly after its organization under the charter, John T. Lamkin, John S. Lamkin, William A. Barr and William McCusker became members.
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
THE NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON & GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD.
In 1848 a railroad convention was held in the city of New Orleans, La., to consider the construction of a steam railway to penetrate Mississippi and to connect with other systems then in operation. William Ellzey and Ross A. Ellzey were sent as delegates from Pike County to the convention.
The question had been agitated for a number of years, but no definite route had been determined upon. There were three parties in the convention, favoring different routes. That party, led by Tom Marshall, then president of the Jackson & Vicksburg Railroad, was in favor of the route that the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley road now runs. One party was in favor of crossing the Lake Ponchartrain at Madisonville and from thence to Jackson, pursuing a course which would bring it to the town of Holmesville, which would offer a loca- tion and facilities for one of the finest cities in the State.
After two weeks of discussion it was finally agreed to pursue a route passing the western shore of Ponchartrain and crossing the Pass Manchac.
James Robb was one of the zealous advocates of this great enter- prise.
The articles of the charter of the company were formed in accord- ance with the provisions of a general law of the State of Louisiana, approved March 11, 1850. This law was framed in conformity with the 123d article of the constitution of 1844, which limited the duration of corporations to twenty-five years.
A convention of the State assembled in 1852 to frame a new con- stitution, abolished this restriction and delegated to the Legislature the power of granting special charters.
An act was passed and approved April 22, 1853, fixing the capital at eight millions of dollars, with exemption from taxation, and giving perpetual existence, besides other important and liberal privileges.
James Robb, L. Matthews, Wm. H. Garland, Peter Conway, Jr., Judah P. Benjamin, H. C. Carmack, George Clarke, Isaac T. Preston, J. P. Harrison, Wm. S. Campbell, Glendy Burke, R. W. Montgomery,
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H. S. Buckner, A. D. Kelly and E. W. Moise were appointed com- missioners for the purpose of receiving subscriptions to the stock of the corporation. James Robb was elected president of the company. The subscription books were opened in New Orleans in April, 1851, and $300,000 conditionally subscribed.
Subscriptions to the amount of $3,250,000 were received on the line of the railroad.
Louisiana took shares to the amount of $1,600,000, which added to the previous subscriptions increased the total stock to $4,850,000. A corps of engineers was organized under the direction of Col. W. S. Campbell, in June, 1851, and commenced an examination and survey of the country between New Orleans and the State line, near Osyka, which, on account of the Ponchartrain swamps and unbroken forest, consumed nearly a year.
In 1852 James Clarke entered on his duties as chief engineer of the southern division.
A law granting privileges to the company in Mississippi was passed soon after the organization of the company.
The first eleven miles of the road were put under contract in Sep- tember, 1852, and twenty-five and a half miles to the south Pass Manchac in October.
Early in December the road to the State line was let, making in all eighty-seven and one-third miles under contract and in process of construction.
The route in Louisiana begins at Claiborne Street, following the center of Calliope to Canal Avenue, then deflects to the west by a curve of 11,460 feet radius, and continues straight to the estate of Minor Kenner; crosses Bayou La Branch about a half-mile from Lake Ponchartrain, and continuing nearly parallel with its western shore to the thirtieth mile, crosses South Pass Manchac at the foot of Lake Maurepas, on the thirty-seventh mile, reaching the pine woods at forty-six miles from New Orleans, and enters Mississippi at a place which belonged to a Mr. Stephenson and John H. Moore at the time of completion to that point in 1854.
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HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
Jesse Redmond, who settled in this county in 1812, was the origi- nal owner and settler on the land upon which the town of Osyka was built. He was engaged in the battle of New Orleans in 1815.
Louis H. Varnado kept the first hotel; William H. Jones the first school; James Lea the first store; Jacob Ott the first steam sawmill, all in 1854. Isham E. Varnado furnished nearly all the shingles to build the town. The churches were built in the following order: Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Catholic and Baptist. Oyska was the terminus of the road for about two years. It built up rapidly, many stores were added to the town and it became the focus of a large country trade which had previously been centered at Holmesville or was going to Covington, Baton Rouge and Natchez.
During 1854 and 1855 the work on the railroad progressed slowly. The financial affairs of England and this country were of such a nature that the company was not able to convert the securities into cash at anything short of an unwarrantable sacrifice, and apart from their securities they had little or nothing with which to carry on the work. Five miles of track was laid and crossties for ten miles more were furnished. The iron for the road was purchased in England and had to be transported across the Atlantic on sailing vessels.
By April, 1857, the road was completed through Pike County, and depots established at Magnolia and Summit.
Oscar J. E. Stewart owned a negro blacksmith named Ned, who was the inventor of a double-geared turning-plow and cotton scraper, formed so as to off bar and scrape both sides of the cotton row at once. Stewart applied in Ned's name, or for him, to the patent office depart- ment for a patent. The department refused to grant the patent in Ned's name on the ground that he was a slave and not recognized as a man or citizen, to whom patents should issue. It will be seen later on what a different construction the government authorities placed upon the constitution in reference to the relations of the negro with that sacred instrument. During the fifties sectional and political feeling ran high.
It is not intended in this work to enter into a discussion of the vexed problems and political upheavals that excited the entire coun-
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try from 1850 to 1861, but to show by a recital of facts the part Pike County took in events of that period.
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