Bits & Pieces
This page is for bits & pieces of information that really don't "belong" anywhere, but are just fun! Ann Brown "Anebec" submitted all of these unless otherwise noted. Thanks for the fun stuff, Anebec!
Some of the tradesmen in the early developmental years of
Jefferson County were:
Plows, axes, and wagons were made at
Clifton by Richard Surry, and by Ben Miller at Raccoon Box in the
Cane Ridge District.
John Shackleford established a tannery at
Uniontown, Dowd's Creek and Ellisland.
Jacob Warner established
an extensive manufacture of shoes, but ultimately had to yield to
foreign competition.
John H. Shanks had a tan yard at Shankstown.
John Christy was a Silversmith. He made cups and spoons out of
silver dollars.
John M. Pintard was both a cabinet maker and
carpenter.
Christian Getzendanner made bull whips.
Robert B.
Farley manufactured hats.
David Greenleaf had a gin at Selsertown
and conducted a successful business until 1807.
Oliver William
Fuller who with his sister Harriet taught a female school in 1810 at
the Fuller Field whose two brick kilns since have been burned near
Red Lick.
This tidbit came from the WPA records!!!
On June 29, 1899 the Harriston Oil Works was incorporated with a
capitol stock of $20,000. S.R. Ewing was president and W. G. McNair
secretary and treasurer for the stock company. A sum of money was
borrowed by the company from S. Hirsch of Fayette in 1900 and as the
concern was unable to meet the notes, Mr. Hirsch had the property
sold at Auction August 5, 1901 at the
County Court House in
Fayette. It fell into the hands of J. M. Frankenbush and Sons of New
Orleans. The amount paid by Mr. Frankenbush was #5,325. There were
other claims amount to $8,564., all satisfied by Frankenbush and
sons.
On September 1901 the Jefferson Gin and Oil Works was
incorporated at Harriston, MS with a capital of $15,000. / for the
purpose of operating a cotton seed oil mill and public cotton gin;
to buy cottonseed for manufacturing cotton seed oil, meal or cake,
hulls and fertilizer. This mill
operated until 1911 and was owned
by Joseph W. Frankenbush and Sons and was sold to Mr. Ewing. (Deed
book LLL page 56)
In an article written by D. H. Chamberlain in the Fayette
Chronicle of February 18, 1898, he suggested that if the two gins
could be consolidated there would be successful exploiting of an oil
mill, and industry which would add more to the town than anything.
Not only this, but another industry would be added, that of feeding
cattle on a large scale.
The contract for erecting the
Fayette Oil Mill buildings was awarded to Enochs and Davis of
Vicksburg. The building was completed in 1900. It operated until
1906 and was then sold to the Butler Keyse Oil and Fertilizer
Company of Birmingham, Alabama. The mill after a just a few years
proved to be no longer profitable and this firm shipped the
machinery to Birmingham and sold
the buildings to the Fayette Gin
and Milling Company in 1912.
The Fayette Gin and Milling
Company was incorporated in 1915. (Deed Book RRR, pg 207) James
McClure was president of the Mill and Judge Jeff Truly, Vice
president. T. B. Stone was the manager.
The Rodney Gin and
Oil Company was incorporated in 1899 with a capital stock of $5,000.
and continued operations until 1917 when the lands and personal
property were sold in Fayette at the front door of the Court House
to the highest bidder.
(Fayette Chronicle, April 20, 1917 - Deed
Book, HHH, Pg 491)
Prior to 1883 Fayette's nearest gin was on the Coffey place on
the outskirts of the town. This was an old fashioned mule powered
engine, but the farmers living near by took their cotton there, and
by paying toll, had it baled. The summer of 1883 saw quite an
improvement in the ginning method. Mr. Joseph Huber, and his son,
Willie, came to Fayette from Natchez and erected the first steam gin
in Jefferson County. In the fall it began operations as a public
gin.
In 1886 Mr. Huber added a handle factory. In 1895 he
sold out to McClure and Harper, Merchants and Cotton Buyers of
Fayette, but continued its operation only a few years. The next
public gin in Fayette was the Fayette Gin and Milling Company
erected by S. Hirsch, Jeff Truly and others..
In 1915 this
company incorporated and in the incorporators were: Hirsch, Hicks,
Krauss Brothers and Noble. Domiciled in Fayette with a capitol stock
of $6,000. "per value of shares $100. period of existence not to
exceed fifty year. The purpose to operate a cotton gin, a grist
mill, to buy and sell cotton, corn, cotton seed and all kinds of
fertilizers, to buy and sell timber, brick, lumber, shingles and all
building material, to buy, sell, and feed all kinds of live stock,
to loan or borrow money, and to buy and sell wood and coal."
The Producers Gin and Warehouse Company was incorporated in 1917. It
was domiciled at Fayette, Jefferson County, Capital stock $16,000.,
par value of shares $100. not to exceed fifty years of existence.
The purpose, to run and operate a cotton gin, grist mill, public
ware house, grind corn and other grains for the public, to buy and
sell cotton, cotton seed, corn, peas and all
kinds of grain, feed
products and fertilizers; also timber, lumber., cement, brick,
shingles, and all kinds of building materials. There were thirteen
incorporators, from Fayette and the county.
(Fayette Chronicle
August 17, 1917.)
The Union Church Gin was founded in 1899 by
L.A. Cato and was later owned by his son Paul Cato. The average
number of employees were four with a payroll of about $500. per
ginning season. The cotton was marked in New Orleans or Brookhaven
and the seed was sold to the Hazelhurst Oil Mill.
So Sayeth
the WPA records.
The Cannonsburg Gin was founded in 1891 by W. P. Bisland. and
after his death was operated by his wife. It was located at
Cannonsburg on the Y. & M.V. Railroad. The number of employees were
seven during the ginning season, and the payroll amounted to $1,000.
The Stampley Gin was located at Stampley and was founded in 1908
by C. M. Mardis. The number of employees during ginning season was
six and the payroll amounted to $500. The cotton was marketed in
Fayette and Natchez.
The Producer's Gin and Warehouse Company
employed two regular workers, two part time and twenty during
ginning season. The annual payroll was $6,887.
The Fayette
Gin and Milling Company employed eight regular workers during the
ginning season and the annual payroll was $1,238.
In 1899 the
first Gin and Oil Mill was established in Rodney by a Stock Company.
Later the gin was bought by August Reitze and operated until his
death in 1936 at which time it passed into the hands of Vincent
Piazza who operated it principally for his own use.
Scott
Ellis established a Steam Gin in the 1890's at Lorman. Before 1902
Mr. L. Cohn bought the gin and pressed both round and square bales.
The Gin was a up-to-date model and put out hundreds of bales each
year. Mr. Cohn came to American from Alsace in 1872 and clerked in
Rodney for two years. In 1875 he opened a store in Lorman. The Cohns
owned large holdings of real and personal
property in Jefferson
County.
Thus endeth the account in the WPA records of the
Gins & Oil Mills in Jefferson County.
In 1884 H. B. Shaw of Gum Ridge Plantation established a apiary,
and had all the latest patents to aid the busy workers in the
manufacture of honey. He had one hundred and seventy stands under
the management of an experienced apiarist from Michigan.
A
swarm of Italian bees, which he considered superior to our native
bees were imported. In 1885 he shipped four hives of bees to
Ontario, Canada.
A unique industry was carried on in Fayette by Mrs. L. B.
Harrison. She became interested in silk culture and purchased a lot
of eggs of silk worms to experiment with. After the eggs hatched,
the busy little silk makers webbed up, and Mrs. Harrison had a large
basket filled with cocoons. Shipment was made to the Woman's Silk
Culture Association in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This
article appeared in the Fayette Chronicle, July 2, 1886.
A complaint comes to us of the reckless driving of automobiles by
Natchez parties who visit the Church Hill District of the county ...
More or less frequently and it is stated that some of the these
automobiles fail to give warning of their approach and on several
occasions have narrowly averted running into vehicles in turning
curves. Our information is from a prominent citizen of the district
mentioned and his complaint is well-grounded and our prosperous
Natchez neighbors should show the proper consideration for the
rights of pedestrians and persons driving teams while visiting this
county, as well as respect of the law forbidding a speed greater
than twelve miles per hour on the public roads.
(Fayette
Chronicle 6 May 1910)
Of the 78,000 Mississippians, who went off to war in the
Confederate Service in 1861, more than 59,000 either died or were
wounded. That certainly was a huge price to pay for fending southern
rights. And that's not to mention the millions of dollars of
property damage done by the conflict.
Over 100 years ago the men
of this state fought, and as you see, many died for the principle.
They took up arms to defend what was right. What a contrast to our
present day situation. There is such wide-spread apathy across our
country that many people don't even know what a principle is let
along stand and fight for one. And what's so ironic is that we all
feel so sophisticated in today's educated society and those poor
lads in 1861 who went to war to defend their way of life were over
90 percent illiterate! Somewhere along the years we have lost some
of the quality to life."
I found this tidbit in Rowland's MISSISSIPPI, Vol I A-K and
thought that it might be of interest.
"This was the western
division originally of British West Florida and included Mobile and
the country to the Mississippi. Mobile was the seat of government,
subordinate to Pensacola. The gulf coast of the present State was a
part of it, also Baton Rouge. The gulf coast was opened by treaty
with the Choctaws in 1765. After 1770 the Natchez district, to the
Yazoo, was added, and the boundary established by treaty with the
Indians. The population of the river border rapidly increased, and
before 1778, or in that year, the county was divided, and the
districts of Manchac and Natchez established."