USA > Mississippi > Pike County > Pike county. Mississippi, 1789-1876: pioneer families and Confederate soldiers, reconstruction and redemption > Part 11
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
In 1853-54 the building for the Holmesville Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 69, was contracted for by John Arthur. John Laurence and John Davidson were employed on the building. The lumber was contracted for with Owen Conerly at the new mill he had constructed on Magees Creek, fifteen miles distant. It was a time contract, stipulating that the lumber should be delivered by a certain time, and had to be hauled on ox-wagons. Owen Conerly had a proviso agreed upon and inserted in the contract, that his mill, being a water-mill, in case of long drouth and water became scarce, and he was thus disabled from coming strictly to time, he was to have further indulgence. This condition happened, and Arthur sued him for damages in the circuit court. Conerly managed and pled his own side of the case and won it before the jury.
This Masonic building was a two-story house and was erected north of the residence of John T. Lamkin, next to the Methodist Church, in Sandy Hook. The lower story was divided into two rooms, which were used for school purposes. It was here that Thomas R. Stockdale, in 1856-7 and 1857-58, maintained one of the finest schools ever had in Holmesville, assisted by two excellent young ladies, Miss Mary Graves, who afterwards became the wife of Dr. John Huff- man, a dentist, and Miss Ann Strickland. It was a mixed school of young men, boys and girls. They were about equally divided in . numbers, and the classes were graded and mixed in recitations, but separate in rooms, and the girls were taught the higher branches the same as the boys, and in classes with them. In closing the school term in 1858, Prof. Stockdale gave one of the grandest school examina- tions and exhibitions ever held in the town or county. It was held in the Methodist Church. After the close of this school Stockdale took up the study of law and soon graduated.
S. McNeil Bain and wife; William J. Bain. a young lawyer, and Miss Orrie Gillis, from Illinois, then came to Holmesville, and the school was taken by McNeil Bain and Orrie Gillis, and taught by them the next two years.
128
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
At one of the meetings of Holmesville Lodge James Finch, who was a member, had a dog to follow him, which got into the ante-room and went to sleep. The lodge closed and left the dog locked up in the building. The building was not otherwise in use, and when the lodge met again the next moon there they found Finch's lost dog, still alive.
Josephus R. Quin constructed a handsome residence opposite the Methodist Church. His wife was Miss Murphy, of Kentucky, sister of Captain Murphy, of the Summit Rifles. They had two little girls, Mollie and Katy. Their residence was subsequently occupied by Dr. Coates and then by William A. Barr.
Henry S. Bonney, the editor and proprietor of the Independent, consrtucted a residence and lived at the foot of the ridge on the south- ern border of the town. Dr. James M. Nelson, on the corner opposite the southwest corner of the public square.
William Guy married Telitha Turnage, widow of Rev. Bryant Lewis, and lived in the two-story residence opposite J. D. Jacobowsky.
Col. James Roberts, from Washington Parish, constructed a residence in Sandy Hook near that of Sheriff Parham P. Williams and Benjamin C. Hartwell, son-in-law of Judge Christian Hoover, between him and the Methodist Church.
William Ellzey, who lived some five miles south of Holmesville, was a brother of Thomas Ellzey, of South Carolina. He married Esther Sibley, of Amite County. He was a large cotton planter and slave owner. He had a son William (known as Dutch Bill) who mar- ried a daughter of Joseph B. May, on Magees Creek, afterwards wife of Henry Badon, Jr. Another son, Dewitt, married Amanda Barr. His daughter, Caroline, married S. A. Matthews, and Nancy married Dr. D. H. Quin, second wife. His daughter Angeline married John Keegan, of Monticello.
William Ellzey emigrated to Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, in the latter part of the fifties, where he and his wife and an unmarried daughter, Emma, spent the remainder of their lives.
While William Ellzey was a member of the railroad convention in New Orleans in 1848 he was one of the advocates of crossing the
129
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
Ponchartrain at Madisonville and pursuing as nearly as practicable the old military route followed by General Carroll from Jackson, by way of Covington, keeping west of the Bogue Chitto to Holmesville.
William Coney and his wife, Rachel, came from Georgia early in 1800 during the territorial government. Their sons were Jeremiah, Jackson, William and Louis.
Jeremiah Coney's wife was Emily Quin, and they were the parents of Franklin, William, Van C., Luke J., Joel. R., Mary E., Sarah K., Caroline A., Jane and Jerzine.
Jackson Coney married Emiline Morgan, and their children were Jasper, Loraine, Charles J., Rachel and Josephine and Wm. L. Coney.
William Coney's wife was Eliza Morgan, and they were the parents of Morgan, Green, Dariel, Ann, Eva and Rosa.
Louis Coney's wife was Isabell Kaigler, and they had four sons, Aquila, William and John (twins) and Louis. John and William, the twins, were so nearly alike that it was difficult at times to tell which was John and which was William. The latter had a small dimple in one cheek, by which means alone persons could distinguish them.
A man of great prominence in eastern Pike and western Marion in a manner identified with both counties was Judge Lemuel Lewis. He was a son of Benjamin Lewis and Celia -, and was born in Rebecca County, North Carolina, in 1804, and married Mary Williams, a daughter of Giles and Sallie Williams, in 1824, and settled in Marion County in 1831. They were the parents of twelve children, as follows: Cecelia, who married Joseph Smith, the school teacher; Sarah, who married Patrick W. R. McAlpin, school teacher; Martha, who mar- ried A. J. Brumfield; Giles W., who married Rebecca Yarborough; Cathorine, who married Thomas Bickham; Susan, who married Jabez Yarborough; Margaret, who married Benjamin Graves; Alexander; Benjamin, who married Margaret Sumrall; John, who married Mary J. Sumrall; Rosa, who married E. Pigot; Joseph, who married Ellen Bass; Malinda, who married Ella Pigot.
Judge Lewis was a most exemplary man and citizen. He was strictly upright and honest, religious and devoted to the cause of religion and justice; and all of his children were Christian people.
9
130
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
He was a guiding star in all that constituted the best citizenship in the settlement and upbuilding of a new country. To him the people looked for advice and counsel. He was a strong pillar of the Methodist Church, and he and his children (most of whom were citizens of Pike) were so nearly identified with Pike County that he was always claimed as one of her own.
Judge Lemuel Lewis was Judge of the county court of Marion for twenty-three years, and filled the position with eminent satisfaction to his people. Being a widower, in 1865 he married Mary Winborne, a daughter of David Winborne, on Topisaw, and moved to that place in 1867, where he afterwards lived and died.
The writer knew him from his earliest recollection, and can give testimony to his pure and unblemished character, in addition to which it is related of him by others that he was one of the best men that ever lived. But he lived in a community of western Marion and eastern Pike, composed largely of men of noble attributes of character, among them Stephen Regan, Hosey Davies, Dr. Cowart, Luke Conerly, Owen Conerly, Sr., Needham Raiford, William B. Ligon, Quinney Lewis-all pioneers and Christian people.
In 1854 there was a cotton-picking race on Magees Creek between John Holmes, son of Benjamin Holmes, and Pearl Harvey, son of Harris Harvey, that excited great interest in the community. The picking took place on Benjamin Holmes' place, by draw, and John Holmes came out the winner with 500 pounds of seed cotton in one day's work. This was a feat that few if anyone had eve performed befo e.
In 1854 George Stuart emigrated from Scotland, marri d Mary V. Magee, daughter of Judge T. A. Magee, of Franklin County. He procured the property on Clear Creek and the mill buil. by Michael McNulty in 1846.
After the railroad reached Magnolia W. W. Vaught settled in the pine woods east of the town and erected a steam circular sawmill, one of the first of the kind put in operation in the county. Previous to this time all the sawmills in the county were run by water power and were upright mills. The machinery of the Vaught mill was
131
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
brought up from New Orleans on the cars to Osyka in 1855, and was hauled from there to its location east of Magnolia on the old Holmesville 10ad. David Ulmer was connected with this mill.
Abraham Hillier was from Alsace, Germany, and married Caroline Openheimer of the same country in Jackson, Miss., and came to Pike County in 1855, and settled in Magnolia, where he engaged in the busi- ness of merchandising, and whose children became permanently identified with town. Their children are Jonas, Ellie, Annie and Albert.
Marmaduke Mitchell married Mary Bradley Tupple, of Tennessee, born and raised in North Carolina. He emigrated to the Territory of Mississippi and first settled near Camden, and came to Pike County in in 1860. He was the father of Algenon Mitchell, who married Eliza- beth Tilman, sister to Mary and Lucy Tilman. He was the father of Algenon, a member of the Summit Rifles, who had been detailed with a force of marines and was killed at Balls Bluff on the James River in Virginia, in a skirmish with the enemy, three or four days after the surrender of Lee at Appomattox.
Algenon Mitchell, Sr., built a steam sawmill about one mile west of Summit and subsequently took J. J. White as a partner.
John Tilman married Rachel Martin and moved from South Caro- lina to Tennessee.
Rachel Martin was the daughter of Matthew Marshall Martin, of South Carolina, one of the brothers engaged in the Revolutionary War.
In 1858 two balloonists, a man and a woman, ascended in a balloon in New Orleans with the intention of sailing to Jackson, Miss. They went up late in the afternoon, sailed over Lake Ponchartrain, pro- gressing finely until they passed the dividing line of Washington Parish and Pike County, near the home of Dr. McQueen. The balloon came down nearer to the earth than they supposed and became entangled in the top of a tree, some fifty feet above the ground. In this deplor- able condition the occupants had to remain until daylight, when the man arranged some lines and let himself down, then went to the house of McQueen, who got the assistance of Chauncey Collins and secured .
132
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
the safe release of the woman from her perilous situation, and saved the balloon. The circumstance created a great sensation in this sec- tion of the county. There were many who had never heard of a balloon.
It was announced by the balloonists that a lecture would be given at Conerly's postoffice (Tylertown), and an exhibition showing the philosophy of air navigation for which a small fee would be charged to enable them to pursue their journey overland to Jackson. This brought out nearly all the people for miles around, who were well entertained by the woman's lecture and the ascension of large paper balloons inflated with hot air. The same was done at Holmesville, and the peculiar accident of the aerial navigators proved a source of profit. Some very large paper balloons were sent up at Holmesville and floated off in a southern direction. Ghost stories were numerous then. Mysterious manifestations were frequently spoken of. The old Cleveland house on the Bogue Chitto was a noted abandoned residence where no family could live on account of the restless and ever-demonsratable antics of its unseen occupants. The fame of this old house had spread far and wide, not only among the naturally superstitious negroes, but among the whites as well; and these paper balloons cut a dash that overturned the equilibrium of human reason for a few days in some neighborhoods, until an inquest could be held to establish the fact that they were really earthly.
It was a dark night, and one of these balloons floated off and dropped in the pathway of Wm. M. Conerly, who had witnessed the exhibition and who lived two miles below town. On his return home he encoun- tered the ghost standing erect in his path, which led through a dark, thick skirt of timber. At first he said he was shocked at the sudden appearance of the apparition. All the hobgoblin stories he had ever heard of flashed upon his memory. He stood in speechless amaze- ment and looked at it for a moment, then thought of the big paper balloons which he had seen sent up and floated off in this direction.
One of the great secrets conducive to the successful management of the negro race in slavery times was the cultivation of a cheerful and happy disposition, and in their leisure hours the enjoyment of
133
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
music and the dance. Those who had a talent for instrumental music were provided with the violin, the banjo, the tambourine or other instruments. Many of them arranged cane quills with all the notes accompanied with stringed instruments and the tambourine, and they learned from their young masters and mistresses all the negro dialect songs of the period-"Old Kentucky Home," "Nelly Gray," " 'Way Down on the Suwanee River," "Jump, Jim Crow," "Old Folks at Home" and "Hog Eye."
They never had any thoughts or cares for the future. Their masters provided everything. They lived in good comfortable cabins with as many rooms as necessary for the health and comfort of the families, with yards for their own chickens, and garden patches, usually cultivated by the wife and mother of the family. On the small farms the master and mistress attended the sick in person, and where a doctor was necessary he was provided with the same prompt- ness as for the members of the white family. On the larger planta- tions comfortable hospital buildings were kept in constant readiness under the care of a salaried physician. As a slave the great mass of negroes in the South were a contented and happy people. Discipline and work were necessary for his support and well being. He did not have to worry over the question of how he was to get his rations or to feed his wife and children. To do the will of his master as directed was the routine of his life; and he could lie down and sleep without any thought for to-morrow. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Come day, go day, with a full stomach, gave him content- ment. He was allowed the enjoyment of holiday seasons, a half- holiday on Saturday, to go to town or to the stores to do his little trading, have his fandangoes, or go to meeting on Sunday in the country where the white folks worshipped, or have a minister to preach to them separately.
MUST TAKE A DUCKING.
In nearly all the large schools in Pike County it got to be customary for all male students who entered after the first week's organization to be subjected to different kinds of hazing, and when the school was
134
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
located near a stream they must be ducked. Not only the boys were to be ducked, but on occasions of public holiday, if the teacher refused to give the students the privilege the same penalty was put upon him, and they never allowed the schools to proceed after the holiday until this work was accomplished, or a compromise agreed upon. It was an annual species of fun practiced in the schools of Michael Roark. He never would grant the vacation on the 4th of July, and he always got his "ducking," because he would face the music and try to outwit the boys and have school on the 4th or any other holiday.
Roark was an Irishman, and while he was one of the strictest disciplinarians as a teacher he was a jolly-natured man, and he put himself in the position to be acted upon.
This was also a noted practice with the Holmesville schools. As a rule the teachers would yield to the wishes of the students, but occasionally one would come along who would refuse the application of the school for the accustomed event.
In 1855-56 Edward Carruth taught school in Holmesville. He had a large school and a number of young men; among them were Frank and Tom Roberts, Plummer Johnson, Benton Bickham, Walter Bridges, and a good platoon of lesser lights. Inquiries were quietly made several days previous whether Mr. Carruth was going to give us 4th of July. No answer could be obtained until the close of the day's school on the 3d, when one of the scholars arose from his seat and asked him if he was going to give us 4th of July. Carruth spite- fully answered "no," and ordered him to take his seat. This was regarded as a challenge to battle, and the boys accepted it. The following morning the school house was barricaded and no one allowed to enter it. At the usual hour Carruth came walking up and was met face to face by the entire school of youngsters. A note was handed him which read:
"Sir: Unless you consent to give the usual 4th of July holiday you will not be permitted to open school again this week."
Signed, " THE WHOLE SCHOOL."
135
HISTORY OF PIKE ( OUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
Carruth turned pale, gritted his teeth and compressed his lips, stepped back with one foot and ran his hand under the breast of his coat, as if to say, like Rhoderic Dhu:
"Come one, come all, this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I."
"Gentlemen, stand back; I am armed!" "Shoot and be d-d-ducked," some one said. "You'll be d-d-ducked in that river!" The boys moved up, Carruth commenced backing, the boys crowded on. "Duck him! Duck him!" They chorused it. The teacher wheeled about face-a good run better than a bad stand! and made for his boarding-house, closely pursued by the boys, yelling like tigers. The whole town turned out. It was a gala day for the boys. Car- ruth was imprisoned in his room. They couldn't enter his premises, but they guarded them day and night, and the schoolhouse too. They kept it up all the week and would have prolonged the siege indefinitely had not the patrons interceded and persuaded the young men and boys to let the school open again the following week. The larger boys were expelled from school by the teacher and the younger chaps given a severe lecture, and more especially the "kid" that had the audacity to hand him that note-the one who records this incident. But it was the turning point for the usefulness of Carruth's school. From that day until the close of the term it waned. He was disliked by his scholars and his influence with them was gone forever.
136
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
CHAPTER V.
Levi Bacot was elected a member of the State Legislature for the sessions of 1856 and 1857. His father, Laban Bacot, one of the early pioneers and sheriff of Pike County after Mississippi had been con- stituted a State, was a member of the constitutional convention in 1832, noted for taking the advance step in making the judiciary elective.
About this time Levi Bacot was married, in the town of Holmes- ville, to Miss Ann Roberts, daughter of Col. James Roberts, of Wash- ington Parish, Louisiana. At this time Robert Bacot was sheriff of the county.
In 1857 the railroad track was laid to Summit, a depot established there and Lemuel J. Quin employed as agent. George T. Gracey ran the first engine into Summit, and succeeded Lemuel J. Quin as agent.
A flag-station was located at Chatawa between Osyka and Mag- nolia, and another one on the plantation of William Monroe Quin, between Magnolia and Summit, and called Quin Station.
The Sincerity Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, No. 214 organized at Holmesville by dispensation from the Grand Lodge was removed to Magnolia, about two years after its organization in 1856.
Much of the large trade which has been concentrated at Osyka was turned to Magnolia, and after the establishment of depot facili- ties at Summit the trade was cut up between these towns.
The construction of the railroad through the county, nine miles distant from the seat of justice, and scattering of an immense trade that once centered there to these new railroad towns springing up, foretold the decline and partial extinction of the once beautiful and romantic town of Holmesville. If the visions that sprung into the fertile imaginations of William and Ross A. Ellzey, at the railroad convention in New Orleans in 1848, could have been realized by the adoption of the route they advocated, not a town or city in the State could have surpassed it in beauty, loveliness and desirability for a home; its unequalled water facilities for the promotion of all kinds of industries, and its unsurpassed healthfulness.
137
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
The little town struggled hard for existence against its young and growing rivals.
J. D. Jacobowsky and Jacob Hart and the Lichensteins removed to Summit. William A. Barr and John Holmes set up in the corner occupied by Jacobowsky & Hart. Conerly & Felder and Dr. George Nicholson kept going, and the seat of justice still maintained there. Holmesville was spared the mortification of a premature death and ultimate extinction from the map of towns.
In 1859 a military company was organized in Holmesville by Pres- ton Brent, recently a graduate of Drennon Springs Military Institute of the State of Kentucky, with twenty or thirty members from the town and vicinity. Their uniforms were of the United States regu- lation blue, with brass buttons, and caps with the old style artillery cockade plume. They were provided with fife and drums, and the old style Harpers Ferry muskets, and had their monthly drills. Preston Brent was elected captain and devoted himself to the task of bringing the young men up to the proficiency taught in the schools, and was patient, kind and earnest in his endeavors and gradually added strength to the ranks. The name chosen for this organization was Quitman Guards, in honor of Gen. John A. Quitman, who had become conspicuous in the military history of the country and added lustre to its fame.
Some time in the early part of 1860 Miss Rachel E. Coney, the seventeen-year-old daughter of Jackson Coney and Emiline Morgan, conceived the idea of presenting a handsome banner to Captain Brent's company, and, assisted by Miss Nannie Ellzey, daughter of William Ellzey, began the work of enlisting the ladies of Pike County in the effort to accomplish this object, and an association was organized in Holmesville, known as the Quitman Guards Banner Association, composed of the following ladies: Madams John T. Lamkin, Samuel A. Matthews, Dr. Jesse Wallace, John S. Lamkin, Henry S. Bonney, J. Cy. Williams, Dr. George Nicholson, Hugh Murray Quin, Louis C. Bickham, Wm. Guy, Dr. D. H. Quin, H. F. Bridges, Richie Quin, Christian Hoover, Hardy Thompson, Benjamin C. Hartwell, Mrs. Eliza Bickham, Mmes. Owen Conerly, William A. Barr, John A. Brent,
L
138
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
Preston Brent, Jackson Coney, Widow Turnipseed, Mmes. Andrew Kaigler, James A. Ferguson, Wm. Johnson, Wm. Monroe Quin, William Ellzey, Jeremiah Coney, Cullen Conerly, R. Y. Statham, James Conerly, Wm. M. Conerly, Joseph Page, Parham B. Williams, Mrs. Elizabeth Ware, and the following young ladies: Misses Ra- chel E. Coney, Nannie Ellzey, Fanny Wicker, Emma Ellzey, Laura Turnip- seed, Fanny A Lamkin, Elizabeth and
MRS. JOE MILLER, nee RACHEL E. CONEY, Who presented the Banner to the Quitman Guards, of Pike County, in 1860, on the part of the ladies of the county, and was received on the part of the company by Hugh Eugene Weathersby July 4th, 1860.
Frances Lamkin, Mary A. Con- erly, Mrs. Jennie Mcclendon, Lucy Brumfield, Victoria Wil- liams, Louvenia Williams, Sarah K. Coney, Mary E. Hartwell, Eliza Hoover, Nannie Wells, Julia Hoover, Mollie Quin, Alice Quin, Alvira Sparkman, Bettie MRS. W. J. LAMKIN Miskell, Eliza Thompson, Elizabeth Thompson, Cathorine Conerly, Eliza Conerly, Mollie Magee, Mary E. Vaught, Julia Bacot, Maggie Martin, Martha Jane Sibley, Julia Kaigler, Louisa, Mary and Levisa Newman, Eliza and Ellen Guy, and the following chosen as flower
139
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
girls: Misses C. Augusta Lamkin, Julia Wallace, Ida Wallace, Ida Matthews, Sissie Johnson, Sissie Bishop, Nannie Quin, Alice Bickham, Mollie Bickham, Flora Bonney, Rachel Mcclendon and Mollie Barr.
The 4th of July, 1860, an occasion always celebrated by the people with barbecues, public speeches and other patriotic demonstrations, was the occasion selected to make the presentation of the banner to the Quitman Guards.
Colonel Eshelman, of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, was delegated to superintend the making of the banner. The flag was made of heavy white silk, double fold, with gold fringe borders and a representation of a large American eagle interwoven in the center presenting the coat of arms of the United States. On one side it bore the inscription:
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.