Endangered Historic Sites

Among the most endangered historic sites in Mississippi are:

Chandler House, Okolona
Mobile & Ohio Railroad Depot, Aberdeen
Spring Hill M.B. Church, Tupelo
Afro-American Sons & Daughters Hospital, Yazoo City
Beverly Drive-In Theatre, Hattiesburg
Coker House, Edwards
Mannsdale-Livingston Heritage Preservation District, Madison
Naval Reserve Center, Jackson
Picayune Colored Gymnasium, Picayune
Mississippi Gulf Coast (Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson Counties)

Delta

Finding Direction has a post on a trip through the Mississippi Delta that offers a lot of insights on the region.

Lochinvar Tour Successful

A friend of mine told me that she went to the tour of Lochinvar this past weekend. She enjoyed the tour immensely and said that the turnout was excellent. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports on the tour.

1806 Articles of Faith

Locusts and Wild Honey has posted the 1806 Articles of Faith of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. Remember -- this would have been the Mississippi Territory as it was pre-statehood. The churches in the association would have actually been located in southwestern Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana. The oldest Baptist church in the state is Salem Baptist in present-day Jefferson County which was organized in 1791.

Update: Terry Thornton, of Fulton, Miss. sends the following comment:

According to Z.T. Leavell writing in 1901 in the article “Early Beginnings of Baptists in Mississippi” [Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume IV. Franklin L. Riley, Editor. Oxford, MS, 1901, pp 245-253. Available online at Google Books], the Baptists started organizing in late 1791 near Natchez, Mississippi Territory.

Seven citizens of that region meeting in October 1791 at a point on South Fork Cole’s Creek, western Jefferson County, about 18 miles northeast of Natchez, organized a church they called “Salem.” More formally the church became known as The Church of Jesus Christ at Coles Creek or as The Baptist Church of Jesus Christ at Coles Creek or as The Baptit Church on Coles Creek.
The group met in private homes until 1805 at which time they started meeting at Coles Creek Meeting House.

The articles of that first Baptist Church in Mississippi are:“1.We agree to submit ourselves to God, and to each other, reprove, and bear reproof, bear each other’s burdens, and to carry on the work of the Lord as well as we can.2. We agree, as touching things temporal, not to go to law one against another, as the Scriptures forbid that Brother should go to law against Brother.3. We believe the Lord’s Day to be set apart for the worship of God, and, whereas, it has been much observed, now to pay particular attention to that day; and make the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament our rule and practice in life” (page 247).

And all the while that Baptists were organizing in Mississippi Territory, so were the Methodists. Lorenzo Dow was in the Natchez Country preaching [see Charles B. Galloway’s article “Lorenzo Dow in Mississippi” pp 233-244 in that same issue of the Mississippi Historical Society of 1901]. It was in one of the earliest Methodist Churches at Washington (MS Territory) that the first Constitutional Convention of 1817 was held. That convention paved the way for the new state of Mississippi’s admission into the union of The United States of American (page 243).

Telling the Story of Bay St. Louis

Through the medium of photos, The Pesky Fly is sharing the story of Bay St. Louis' recovery from Katrina.

Carnival of Genealogy

I'm a little late in posting this, but the 22nd issue of the Carnival of Genealogy was posted a few days ago.

We've Been Featured . . .

The May 2007 issue of Internet Genealogy contains an article entitled "In Search of the Web 2.0" which mentions this site. Thanks! We're honored to be among those sites chosen for the feature.

Great Flood of 1927

Some wonderful photographs of the great Mississippi River flood of 1927 from the C. B. "Buddy" Newman photo collection have been posted to the Issaquena Genealogy and History site thanks to the generosity of Newman's nephew.

Civil Rights Activist Dies

June E. Johnson has died. The 59-year-old native of the Delta was beaten and arrested at the age of 15.

Collins Cemetery in Jayess, MS - Update

Patsy Lambert Jones sent this update:

Saturday, March 31, 2007, the Nathaniel Everette Collins Cemetery, located in Jayess, MS, was cleaned for the first time in approximately 50 years. The newest marker was that of Mrs Addie Partheny Mullins Collins, also known as "Aunt Duck", who passed away December 25, 1936. She was buried next to her husband, Everette Milton Collins, born June 23, 1854, died July 17, 1907, and their son, Hershell Collins. While cleaning, the marker of Nathaniel Everette Collins, born Jan 28, 1818, died Jan 6, 1879, was uncovered in the dirt. It has been broken into two pieces, and his descendents have hopes of restoring it. Buried beside Nathaniel was his wife, Nancy Hathorn Collins, born Feb. 12, 1822, died Nov. 21, 1888.

Nathaniel and Nancy had thirteen children, and two of their sons are buried with them in the cemetery, Everette Milton Collins, and Thomas Jefferson Collins born Oct 28, 1860, died Oct 15, 1919, and his wife Elizabeth Alford Collins, born March 14, 1859 died Oct 14, 1927. Also Thomas Jefferson's adult son,Wirt Collins, who died in 1930, is buried there, plus at least six infants of Thomas and Elizabeth. More graves are suspected of being in the cemetery, but no additional markers were found.

The cleanup could not have been accomplished without the help of brothers, Renick (Nick) Allen Carney and Randy Todd Carney, who traveled from Lucedale and Gulfport, MS to help. They had just discovered the week before that they were descended from Nathaniel Everette Collins through his son, John Richmond Collins. They are also very interested in the Carney line in SW Mississippi.

Also assisting with the cleanup were Patsy Lambert Jones and her husband, Wesley Jones, and Sharon Lambert. Pat and Sharon are sisters, and are descended from Nathaniel Everette Collins, through his daughter, Ann Saphronia Collins Magee.

Two local men, David Allen and Wayne Stephens, the son-in-law of Mrs. Joyce Lambert, and whose children are Collins' descendants, worked very hard during the cleanup. David even went out to the site earlier in the week, and cut a trail through the woods to the cemetery, which allowed the cleanup crew to start work immediately on Saturday when they arrived at the site. Christina Stephens took pictures while Mrs. Joyce Lambert helped with refreshments at the site.

Pat and Sharon have established a bank account at State Bank and Trust at Monticello, MS 39654, and are requesting donations to be used in repairing the broken markers, fencing off the old cemetery, and maintaining a cleared area. This cemetery is a piece of history that needs to be restored. Nathaniel's father, Nathaniel Madison Collins, fought in the War of 1812 in New Orleans under Andrew Jackson, and his grandfather Elisha Collins, fought in the American Revolution. Elisha also helped settle the area around Fort Boonesborough, Kentucky, and fought the Indians there along side of Daniel Boone. Donations should be made out to Sharon Lambert and mailed to Mrs Anna Cothern Durr at State Bank, for the restoration. Anna is a ggg granddaughter of Nathaniel and Nancy Hathorn Collins.

Railroad Festival Kicks Off Tomorrow

Amory's Railroad Festival begins April 11 and runs through the 15th. You'll find plenty to do at this event which comes complete with hobos. It celebrates Amory's history as a railroad town.

Mississippians in the Northeast

We all know that most Mississippians migrated West when they left the state, but I was a little curious about the number who moved in an unexpected direction--Northeast. I decided to do a little more number crunching with the 1880 census using Ancestry.com.

Maine - 166
New Hampshire - 36
Vermont - 24
Massachusetts - 187
Rhode Island - 21
Connecticut - 45
New York - 498
Delaware - 6
New Jersey - 106
Pennsylvania - 289

These are definitely smaller numbers than we have for those heading West. What made these folks move north? I suspect some of them are descendants of northerners who actually owned many of the plantations in the state of Mississippi. They may have actually been born on a "visit" to the state or while some of their parents wintered in the state. Others may have fled north because of repercussions of their Union sympathies in the Civil War. There are probably a few other reasons for the northern movement as well. I will try to take a closer look at the native Mississippi residents of some of the states with more manageable numbers as I have time to research them.

Mississippians in Texas

After my last post, someone asked me how many native Mississippians were in Texas by 1900. I decided to do it for each census year from 1850-1930 (except 1890 since all we have extant are some veterans schedules).

1850 - 6362
1860 - 19,929
1870 - 41,239
1880 - 61,703
1900 - 89,831
1910 - 86,356
1920 - 80,980
1930 - 45,287

It is interesting to note the decline in the 20th century. Most of the migration to Texas had already taken place so there were more "native Texans" from those Mississippians who had "GTT" (Gone To Texas) by that time.

Mississippians in the West

I got this idea from a post on the Association of Professional Genealogists listserv where a person was talking about persons in a specific location in Montana who were from the state of Maine. I thought it would be interesting to see how many persons born in the state of Mississippi were in various Western states (and Plains States) at the time of the 1880 census. Using the search engine at Ancestry.com these are the results I came up with:

Arizona - 94
California - 1329
Dakota Territory - 65
Colorado - 488
Idaho - 61
Kansas - 3451
Nebraska - 370
Nevada - 51
New Mexico - 70
Oregon - 147
Utah - 152
Washington - 52
Wyoming - 44

And . . . for the record . . . there were 61,703 Mississippians in Texas.

Family Maps

The Family Maps series by Arphax continues to expand its offerings. There are now 28 of Mississippi's 82 counties represented in their collection with Jefferson Davis county being the newest volume published. I keep telling Greg Boyd that he needs to get Itawamba and Monroe published. Those are the two Mississippi counties where I have the most ancestors. There is a link on the site (or at least there used to be - I didn't double-check today) where you can ask them to notify you when a county in which you have an interest is published.

Letters

A post over at Maggie Reads made me think about all those cards and letters we used to receive before the advent of e-mail and e-cards. Then I remembered a collection of letters that a friend has posted which provide insight into life during and shortly after World War I by a Mississippi soldier.

Monmouth Plantation Has a Blog

The Natchez plantation's blog is located here.

Over at Southern Byways . . .

There's a list of 5 things the blogger didn't know about Mississippi. Some very interesting facts!

Longwood

Southern Byways has a post about the Natchez home Longwood.

Museum at Camp Shelby

Brian Hendrix reports on his visit to the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby. He even has a link to photos of the trip.

Columbus' Antebellum Homes

Take a virtual tour of Columbus' antebellum homes with this slide show from photographer Judy Howle.

Mississippi History Briefs

A collection of brief stories dealing with Mississippi's history.

Tribute to a Great-Grandmother

e(Lisa)beth has a tribute to her 100-year-old great-grandmother from Attala County.

Lochinvar

LINK - Almost destroyed by a tornado a few years ago, Lochinvar, a Pontotoc County landmark, is once again open for a tour after being restored. Here's an excerpt of its history:

Lochinvar was built in 1836 by a Scotsman, Robert Gordon. His son, James,
took over the home after his father's passing in 1867 but lost the house in the
early 1900s. The Fontaine family bought Lochinvar but didn't move in for about
20 years. During those years, Lochinvar was used as everything from a dance hall
to a bootlegging joint, Tutor said.