USA > Mississippi > Pike County > Pike county. Mississippi, 1789-1876: pioneer families and Confederate soldiers, reconstruction and redemption > Part 29
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
The great war lifted a veil from the eyes of the world. The com- batting forces have passed into the annals of fame and the sterling
339
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
worth of those who have been spared through eventful scenes is yet a synonym of glory. In the line that fame has rewarded there are a few who are the survivors of its immortal heritage. We who look back to the desolation Wrought and the blazing glory which enshrines the epoch in which they acted, can scarcely conceive the wonderful advancement that has crowned our Southland from the Poto nac to the Rio Grande. They mastered themselves and sustained the prin- ciples they struggled to maintain and they have achieved a still greater glory in establishing a firm moral character on their descend- ants. It is seen in all the avenues of trade and the productive achieve- ments of the country and the strength of the government under which they live. They are its support in conflict or in peace, and they live to adorn the present with their examples.
LITTLE JOE LEWIS' FAREWELL SERMON.
Little Joe Lewis was the son of Joseph Lewis, one of the pioneers who settled on the west side of Magees Creek, some miles below and south of the present site of Tylertown, on the plantation still known as the Joe Lewis place, where Little Joe, as he was familiarly called by his friends and neighbors, was born, and who had acquired dis- tinction as a local Baptist preacher, officiating at the old New Zion Church, in the southeastern corner of Pike County, located on or near the Pushepatapa Creek. This meeting house was one of the first erected in that section of the county by the early settlers of the Bap- tist persuasion, and was constructed, like all other early meeting houses, of small logs for the main body and subsequently enlarged by the addition of wide sheds around it, so as to give accommodation to the increasing population of whites and negro slaves adhering to the Baptist faith and living in the neighborhood. Little Joe's father had officiated here in the early settlement of the community, and, in con- nection with the Rev. Willis J. Fortinberry, had organized and built up a Christian fellowship that has lived and flourished ever since. The war had come on in the sixties and was progressing with all its incident suffering and horrors. Nearly all the men of military age
I
340
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
had gone to the scenes of the conflict, leaving the very old men and boys and the women and children to struggle along as best they could, and very many of these were in great distress for reasons growing out of the war:"
In his childhood and boyhood Little Joe had to work hard on the farm, shell corn and go to mill at Tyler's or Conerly's, on Dry Creek, to have it ground into meal and hominy, and sometimes to the tan- nery of Chauncey Collins, over on Collins Creek, to carry hides in payment of shoes for the family. He was a sturdy, good boy of prac- tical common sense and grew up so under pious surroundings. In his young manhood he became strongly impressed in religious duties, and though acquiring a limited education, such only as could be ac- .quired in the country pay schools at that time, felt that it was his duty to enter the ministry and preach the gospel, and in a measure fill the mission inaugurated by his distinguished father, and hence officiated at New Zion during the Civil War. He announced at one of his well attended meetings that on a certain Sabbath in the future he would deliver his farewell sermon at his home church at New Zion. When the time came it was a cold, bleak, drizzly day and the shiver- ing winds were howling around the houses and moaning through the pines and were too much for those whose apparel was worn and thin from the absence of means in these awful war times to supply some- thing better. Confederate money was at par-that is, it was worth dollar for dollar of the same sort of currency and scarce in this neigh- borhood, too, and greenbacks had not circulated to any extent. Hence a small congregation appeared to listen to Little Joe's farewell sermon. He was greatly disappointed at the small gathering as mani- fested in his remarks and as depicted on his countenance when he arose and spoke as follows:
"MY DEAR FRIENDS: When I last had the pleasure of appearing before a congregation in this house, I annonuced that on this day I would be here to preach my farewell sermon before taking my departure to the State of Texas, here I expect to reside in the future.
"Under all the circumstances I had hoped and expected to be greeted by a large congregation, but, behold, the seats are empty!
"Now, my dear friends, if I had announced that on this day I would be
1
V
341
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
here for the purpose of distributing ten thousand dollars, what scrouging! What scrouging !! What scrouging !!!
"I had intended to give a discourse on a certain passage of Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians, but under the circumstances I shall content myself with a few general remarks.
"In the first place, my dear, dying congregation, I desire to warn you that the salvation of your precious souls is of greater value and of greater concern to you than the acquirement of a few paltry dollars; for what doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
"I feel sure that if this idea had been properly impressed on the minds of my people I would to-day stand in the presence of the largest congregation ever assembled on these grounds.
My friends, I am a plain spoken man, and when I give an illustration I want it to illustrate.
"Church people are not always what they ought to be and sometimes some of them are not what they appear to be. They sometimes remind me of the great and grand forests. We go out and into them and view and admire the beautiful foliage, the symmetrical poplars and stately oaks. They all appear to be sound, but lo, when the axman comes to cut into them he finds many of them doty and filled with worms, and some of them hollow at the butt.
"I shall not expect you to be in a very pious mood on this day, as the shiv- ering winds are rumbling about us and bringing the cold damp of death from the mountains in the far off North where our soldiers are standing guard in defense of our country.
"I wish I could see the effect of a spiritual uprising, so that we could feel the flow of God's love and mercy in our hearts. I always felt that God was a merciful and loving God, and that he would one day lift our benighted souls into a realization of His desires, but it seems to me now that He has forgotten or withdrawn the care He has previously bestowed upon us, as I see so few here to-day who seem concerned about which way the contest ends.
"I am a lover of the country which gave me birth and the privilege of wor- shiping the Lord according to my idea of it, and I desire to impress upon you the full import of the duties you should perform. I am at a loss to understand why I should thus become the innocent victim of the devil's schemes to rob a people of its inheritance.
"We are at a stage of life when all the virtue that is in us should be mani- fested in the true Christian spirit. It is so important to us that all of us should join in the refreshing services of a day when our souls can be free to exert themselves. I always love to meet my people on the Sabbath when the cares of the workshop, the store and the farm can be laid aside and we can come together and fulfill the mission of our lives in the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I shall live to remember the saddest day of my life when it became necessary for me to depart from them. Oh, my people, where are the loved ones gone now? What sacrifices you are called upon to make, and yet deny yourselves the blessings of the Maker!
1
-
342
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
"If God has given the people a chance to become the children of righteous- ness and they prefer the ways of the devil instead, it is all right with me and I will depart in peace.
"If Paul, when he spoke to the Romans, had flickered in the least the devil would have given him due compensation; but Paul was a man of power and great thought, who could give the devil his dues and at the same time give the Lord His dues; but here, in my home church, where I have labored long and listened to the wails of suffering and sorrow and the sacrifices of the women of our land in the trying ordeals which beset our country, I am confronted with the person of the DEVIL, who has been promulgating his desires in the midst of my people! I at least desired a full congregation so that a voice from heaven might hover over them upon my departure and give them a special blessing, but lo, the seats are empty where once the fond father and the pious mothers, brothers and sisters sang the songs of the blessed Redeemer. If it is the will of Him who sent me to preach to them, to go to a distant land and there unfurl His banner, I shall not tarry here with those who have thus forgotten me and disobeyed His will. Away over yonder in the sunlight of His glory I shall be found in that day when the angels call us hence.
"This occasion, my dear, dying congregation, reminds me of a song which was always a harvest of joy and so refreshing that I am constrained to call it up now:
Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly; While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high.
"My dear, dying congregation, I had almost said my dead congregation!
"In the morning of the resurrection I shall be glad to greet my people .if they can come to the throne of grace and get forgiveness for the shortcomings of this occasion, but if they do not, there will be wailing! There will be wail- ing! There will be wailing and wailing!
"I admonish you to-day that in the quiet hours of the night you repair to your secret closets and there ask God to give you love and happiness and sal- vation. It will stay the torrent of human disasters and torment that afflict the wicked. The evils which beset us is the stumbling block on the road to the heavenly mansion, and it is this which must be removed if you ever expect to get to the land of everlasting life, hope and happiness, and if you don't do it there will be stumbling and falling, falling and falling!
"Oh, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, cruci- fied among you?
"Oh, New Zions, 'Are ye so foolish?'
"Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
" 'Have ye suffered so many things in vain?'
343
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
" 'And let us not be weary in well doing,' saith Paul to the Galatians, written from Rome.
" "For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up,' saith Malachi.
"My dear, dying congregation, I shall not detain you any longer than it is necessary to illustrate by illustrating that the sinner who dies in his or her sins will be damned. He or she is destined to be plucked out from the elect and plunged down into the depths of hell, lapped in the lambent flames of an eternal damnation, in company with the devil and his angels, forever and for- ever, and forever and ever!
"My dear, dying congregation, let the blood of the Lamb be the guiding star of your lives and when I have departed it will give you comfort and joy.
"I am in the condition of the wolf in the fold. It is said that once a wolf got in among the sheep and the sheep put up a job on him. He became en- amored of a beautiful fat lamb and lay down by its side and became very affec- tionate toward it, but in the course of time the lamb began to smell something unusual and to feel that it was in the wrong place. It didn't like the smell of the wolf and got up and started away. When the wolf discovered this he made a nab at the lamb and tried to catch it by the tail, but all the other sheep scrouged in on the wolf and scrouged him to death, and this is about the fix I am in to-day. It was a loving beginning, but turned out to be a bad job in the end. They seem to have smelt a wolf, and I feel that I am scrouged to death.
"I shall give you another illustration, so that you may forsake your sins and come to the throne of grace. It is too much for a man to be betrayed into the fold where such treatment follows, and I shall illustrate it further by say- ing that all who shall hereafter seek the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world had better be pure in heart, wash off the scent of the wolf and be ready to receive the blessings of the fold instead of being scrouged to death. before departing to the other place of residence in the eternal hereafter.
"I hope these few remarks will live in the memory of my few hearers on this day and that a day will come when they shall fill their place in the history of this church and this congregation.
"I am not inclined to be in a timid mood any longer. I am at a stage to speak out and act as my mind tells me, and I am going to depart from this neighborhood with the free will and consent of the people as manifested on this occasion. I expect some of them will feel hurt when I say to you that it is a sin and a shame for me to be denied their presence on this the last day of my stay among them. I desire to be emphatic. The Sabbath is the holy day of the Lord, and in the light of the great rivers of blood which are now flooding our land from the Potomac to the RioGrande, blighting homes, breaking hearts, bringing death and desolation, making thousands of widows and orphans, creating starvation, sorrow and distress everywhere, it is as little they could do to come out and let the Lord see who they are. I know He will remember them in the day of judgment, as I expect to do.
.
-
344
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
"I sincerely hope to meet you all in the land of the redeemed. God is the giver of all good and the devil is the giver of all the evils and sorrows that afflict humanity.
"A sinner is a sinner, and he or she is a sinner every time he or she fails to perform the duties of life as set forth in Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians and to the Galatians. I shall not detain you any longer. It is the will of God that a day is to be given to his services and it is due to Him to perform its functions in the manner set forth in the Scriptures.
"I want it understood that what I have said is intended in the warmest friendship and true Christian spirit and for the sake of your never-dying souls.
"In the morning of the resurrection I shall come to the throne of God and there I shall lay my case before the Messenger who was sent to us to fulfill His mission here. I am now at a loss to know just how I shall be fitted for the place He has prepared for me, but I am going to try to do my duty as I think it should be done.
"If any of this congregation feel that a wolf is in the fold I should like for them to intimate it by doing as the lamb did when it smelt the wolf, and I shall then understand that my presence is not wanted any longer. I shall feel as though I had been in the same fix as the wolf unless I am admonished other- wise. I am not disposed to let the opportunity pass, however, to prove my fidelity and tender feelings for those whom I have served so long and for whom I have prayed so much.
"Brethren, sing the Doxology.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all Creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
"And may the blessings of God rest and abide with you all forever. Amen."
And Little Joe, big-hearted Little Joe Lewis, took up his hat and saddlebags and bid his few hearers farewell forever on this earth, leaving this in their memory as a fulfillment of his wish and prayer that it would become a part of the history of that congregation.
This sermon made such an impression upon the few who were present as to cause it to be considered one of the most celebrated ever delivered in that community. It was so forceful and earnest in its delivery that most of the survivors who heard it remember its context to this day, and this fact has enabled the writer to reproduce it and incorporate it in these reminiscences of Pike County.
1
345
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
MRS. MARTHA L. J. HOOVER.
Mrs. Martha L. J. Hoover, wife of the late Rev. William Hoover, was a daughter of Alexander Thompson 3d and Dorothy Pryor Womack, and was born in Amite County November 20, 1834. The Thompson ancestors were from Scotland. Some of them settled in New York, North Carolina and Geor- gia. Alexander Thompson, Sr., and son James, fought in the battle of King's Mountain. He was wounded in the head. A man named Griffith was shot and he stooped to raise him up when a ball struck him in the forehead, passed over his head under the scalp and came out at the back of the neck, which prevented the hair from growing where the scar was left. Alexander Thompson 2d came to Amite County in 1818 with the Epps, Powells and Wells. They organized the Pisgah Presby- terian Church with Rev. Robt. Smiley pastor. This church is now in Summit with all its re- cords.
Alexander Thompson 3d, father of Mrs. Hoover, who mar- ried Dorothy Pryor Womack, of St. Helena Parish, La., re- moved from Amite County and settled on the Tickfaw River, where he raised his family and four of his sons participated in the battle of Shiloh. D. W. Thompson, his eldest son, at MRS. MARTHA L. J. HOOVER the age of 15 was in the war with Mexico and fifteen years later raised a company for the Confederacy, and one of his brothers, 15 years of age, was a member of it.
Dorothy Pryor Womack, the mother of Mrs. Hoover, was the mother of five sons: Diotician, Robert, Jefferson, William and J. P. Street Thompson, and three daughters: Martha, Virginia and Amelia. Virginia married John J. Wheat and is the mother of Judge Wheat, of Beaumont, Texas. The other daughter died in the Sacred Heart Convent, St. James Parish, La.
The Womacks were from Georgia. Abraham and his brother Jacob Wo- mack, relatives of Mrs. Hoover, on the mother's side, belonged to the Louisiana
5
1
346
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
militia in the War of 1812-15, and were present at the battle of New Orleans. Jacob was in the battle and claimed to be the man who shot General Pack- ingham from behind a bale of cotton.
Mrs. Hoover was a highly intellectual woman, devoted Christian and relig- ious worker and was a great aid to her husband in his ministerial work.
MASONRY. A MYSTERIOUS FIND-A MASONIC EMBLEM FOUND IN AN INDIAN MOUND IN PIKE COUNTY.
The Masonic historian has found many evidences of the existence of Ma- sonry without, however, finding sufficient data to establish a clear and con- tinuous record from the time Masons first arrived at the places where such evidences are found.
Much rise is therefore given to speculation and the mind of man creates fantasies which frequently are accepted by those who do not give careful study to the subject as facts.
When Masons first trod the soil of our State and that of our sister Missis- sippi may never become known. From time to time there are found relics which establish clearly that some of the Craftsmen penetrated deep into the wilds of the unexplored domain-perhaps lived in peace and amity with the Indians, possibly infusing into some of these sons of the wilderness the prin- ciples and teachings of Masonry.
We take pleasure in placing before our readers an evidence of that kind. The stone in question is in possession of Brother Brittain B. Purser, of Osyka; Miss., to whom we are indebted for the following lines descriptive thereof :
BROTHER BRITTAIN'S LETTER.
Among the many Masonic curios which show the antiquity, and as well the universality of Freemasonry is the carved stone represented herein. This piece of shale or soft stone was found in its present condition, carving and delineations, in a plowed up Indian mound some twenty miles east of Osyka, Pike County, Miss. It was picked up by Alex. Hughes, who at the time of finding was about nine years old, and it has been in his keeping since, until a few months ago when he gave it to the writer. Mr. Hughes is now a grown, settled man, with a son as old as he was when the stone was found.
A description calling attention to the various delineations will show the correctness of the knowledge of the maker, and prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was not only a fellow-craftsman, but was in possession of the exact knowledge of all three degrees.
On the obverse side of the stone are delineated two oblongs, the one smaller and within the other, the sides of the two being parallel and the angles are indi- cated each by an arc of ninety degrees. Thus in this we have the form of the Lodge, horizontals, perpendiculars and right angles. Within the two oblongs, and nearer one end, is delineated a small part of the Masonic pavement. Nearer
-
- 347
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
the other end, and within the oblongs, are delineated a square and compass, so arranged that one point of the compasses is elevated above the square, the other being concealed beneath. One leg of the square is longer than the other, indicating the carpenter's rather than the stonemason's square.
On the reverse side are delineated the two oblongs, the angles of ninety degrees, but in the inner oblong we now see a symbol beyond the two on the obverse side, for there is delineated a human heart pierced by an arrow.
The stone itself is carved to represent a closed book, and while there are no letters or characters to indicate the fact, one's first thought on seeing the shape is of "The Book of the Law."
The clear indications of a knowledge of all three degrees would bring the making of this curio to within something less than 175 years; the square being that of the carpenter rather than the stonemason, would indicate French ori- gin, while the arrow in place of the sword on the reverse side, and as well the finding in an Indian mound, and with no other evidences of civilization, would indicate an Indian origin. We would therefore suppose that this stone was carved by some old French brother and from him came into possession of the Indians, and was placed in the mound as a talisman. Or, possession may have passed to the Indian because of ties of blood, for in the earlier days of this section of country matrimonial as well as fraternal and commercial treaties were made between the French and Indians. Of this, however, we are certain, deep down in the heart of some resident or visitor to this district, in the earlier days when the undying principles of the and in his handiwork we see the signs of his advancement from darkness unto light, and though his heart may now be stilled by the touch of man's last and best friend, Death, yet across the gulf, adown the years comes a message from him to us, for in the imperishable stone he has given us the signs of his deliverance from the bondage of darkness, and we may well believe that with all the breth- ren who have gone before this way he is now resting from his labors in the . celestial Lodge above, where the G. A. O. T. U. presides.
BRITTAIN B. PURSER.
Osyka, Miss., September 8, 1902.
Brother Purser is a young, highly intelligent and progressive Mason, a scion of noble ancestry. He is a son of the lamented Rev. D. I. Purser, who sacrificed his life in the discharge of his sacred calling during the epidemic which visited our city in the autumn of 1897.
When and how this stone came into an Indian mound, among arrows and other evidences of Indian origin, may never be explained. We place this fragment of historical evidence on record for the benefit of future explorers .- Square and Compass.
It was the good fortune of the editor of the Enterprise to see this curiosity and decipher its well illustrated emblems. The cuts given in this article are ยท about one-half the size of the original stone.
1
1
348
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
MRS. L. W. CONERLY, nee IDA M. FARMER.
Mrs. Conerly is a daughter of Zachary T. Farmer and Mary J. Byars, of Sharon, Madison County, Miss., and was married on the 4th of May, 1909. Her father was a member of the Second Missouri Light Artillery, King's Bat- talion, Armstrong's Brigade of Cavalry, Jackson's Division, and surrendered with Forrest at Gainesville, Ala., 1865. She had two uncles, Henry Clay and Franklin Pierce Farmer, in the Confederate army, both killed during the Civil War. Her grandfather Farmer was a Confederate soldier also. Her grand- father, Philip Byars, was a member of Company H, Ninth Mississippi Volun- teers, and was killed at the battle of Franklin, Tenn., November 30, 1864, and was buried on the battlefield.
Mrs. Conerly was born January 3, 1870, at Sharon.
-
Human Duasde Ladies of Pike County
MRS. ELOISE CHISHOLM Holding Quitman Guards' Banner
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.