Research Trip to Attala and Holmes County - Third and Final Part

When I stopped writing in Part 2 about the research trip to Mississippi, we had just entered Madison County, Mississippi, north of Jackson. The town of Canton, once the bustling center of of the area's economy, is the county seat of Madison County. Twice a year, Canton hosts the Canton Flea Market Arts and Crafts Show, an event that attracts artists and craftsmen from across the South. Another beautiful and historic Mississippi courthouse graces the town's quaint square with it brightly painted storefronts. Interestingly, portions of "A Time to Kill," the first novel written by one of Mississippi's most well-known contemporary authors, John Grisham, was filmed in the courthouse in Canton. 

Source: Private Digital Photo Collection of J. Tracy
Madison County Courthouse
On the Square in Canton, Mississippi

As we continued to travel south on Interstate 55, the mega-sized Nissan-Canton Manufacturing and Assembly Plant on the east side of the freeway caught our attention. Built slightly over a decade ago, the auto manufacturing plant brought thousands of much-needed jobs to an area that had been economically depressed for several decades. According to Nissan's website, over 5,600 employees from all of Mississippi's eighty-two counties, make up the diverse workforce at the Canton plant. Further south, after we passed the exit for Gluckstadt Road near the former German farming village of Gluckstadt, now a growing area itself, is the ever-growing city of Madison, Mississippi. The newness of it all can be seen on both sides of the freeway. Each time I drive through Madison and its sister city of Ridgeland, I marvel at the constant growth of the two cities, as their city limits extend to the north of Mississippi's capitol city, Jackson. It wasn't so many years ago the cities of Madison and Ridgeland were very small railroad towns where the only noise at night was the whistle of the City of New Orleans as it made its way north to Memphis. Now these two cities are popular locations for businesses, corporate offices, medical facilities, churches, and schools. And let's not forget the abundance of newer upscale subdivisions and other housing where the cities' numerous affluent residents live. When I grew up in Jackson, the city ended at Briarwood Drive. My, how things change over time....

Other small communities in Madison County include Camden, once the home of former Governor McWillie and Flora, the site of Mississippi's Petrified Forest.  Not to be forgotten, is the historic national parkway known as the Natchez Trace, which can be accessed from areas within the town of Ridgeland, situated on the banks of a portion of an enormous lake known as the Ross Barnett Reservoir. Besides the many historic landmarks in the area, locals and visitors alike can enjoy shopping at Mississippi's largest mall, North Park, also located in Ridgeland, Renaissance at Colony Park, and fishing swimming, boating and sail on what locals refer to as "The Rez." 

Just south of Ridgeland, and slightly east of I-55, is a growing business and residential area known as Flowood, where we would be staying in a hotel for the next three nights.  Surrounded by areas of Brandon and Jackson, Flowood is located along a portion of busy Lakeland Drive (Hwy 25) and is just minutes away from the popular Dogwood Festival shopping area and from Jackson-Evers International Airport. In addition to being a central location for visiting close family members, Flowood was an easy early morning commute to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), a few blocks away from downtown Jackson, and where I planned to conduct some research for my book about Tillman Branch.

Over the past few months, I had been searching for archived copies of the Lexington-Advertiser and the Durant News, newspapers once owned and published by Hazel Brannon Smith. Editorials and articles in the newspapers, I believed, would provide some facts and other information that would be useful in writing the book. Calls to the Lexington Library and to the Holmes County Circuit Clerk's Office in Lexington had revealed that copies of newspapers during the time periods I needed were not available. But I had researched further and found that MDAH in Jackson had microfilmed copies the newspapers for the years I needed. Our initial early morning visit to MDAH involved procedural items that included applying for and being issued an ID card at the front desk. The ID card, we were told, would be used to enter and exit the research area through turnstiles situated near the reception desk. Since we also needed to make some photocopies, we purchased a prepaid plastic card that could be used in the photocopy machines located in the media room.

Many things have changed since I last visited the MDAH.  Located at North and Amite Streets near downtown Jackson, the MDAH, according to its website, "is headquartered in the state-of-the art William F. Winter Archives and History Building."  Founded in 1902, the department has six divisions, specifically referred to as Administration, Archives and Library, Historic Preservation, Historic Properties, Museum, and Records Management. Named for William F. Winter, a former governor of the state, the gray granite building itself is a work of art, and its contemporary architecture on the outside is carried throughout the sleek interior. With lots of natural, filtered light and walls, floors and ceilings that seem to absorb any noise, the building is a perfect place to spend a few leisurely hours reading about Mississippi's history or, as it was in our case, do some serious historical research in a limited amount of time.

William F. Winter Building
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Jackson, Mississippi

After we had completed the registration process and were officially "checked in" and armed with our proximity and photocopy cards, we made our way to the media room. Once in the room, we soon found open microfilm reader desks and started searching the online catalog for microfilm rolls during the time period I planned to research. And we continued to research for parts of two days. Luckily, the archive department is open for a few hours on Saturday morning, since I needed the extra time to complete what we had started on Friday morning. I consider the newspaper research effort at MDAH a true success, and it didn't take nearly as long as I had planned. The latter was an important outcome, since it left more time for us to visit with family.

As most family researchers already know, microfilm research is tedious work. And reading through microfilmed newspaper print is even more difficult, not to mention time-consuming. Years of that sort of work must certainly damage one's eyesight. The process required to scan and microfilm the newspapers, I was told by one of the very helpful research assistants, is just as difficult and time consuming. First, the newspaper pages must be cut apart and ironed. That's right -- ironed, like with an iron and an ironing table or board! Can you believe that behind all of these archived newspapers on microfilm, there are dozens of people who came to work many mornings with one purpose in mind: to iron newspaper pages and ready them for scanning. And the scanning effort itself must have been a cumbersome and time-consuming operation. Just thinking about the process made me appreciate even more what others have done and keep doing to make these archived documents and records available to the public - at no cost, except for a minimal photocopy charge if copies are needed. 

But the digital age is upon us, and things are about to change in the media room. One of the archive assistants also told me the State of Mississippi currently has a small grant that will likely be used for digitizing newspapers. She wasn't sure whether the effort will include digitizing more recent newspapers or some of the older ones. I suspect older newspapers from the time period we researched will require much work to digitize. This is especially true, since less than stellar print quality of many of these old newspapers will make optical character recognition almost impossible. 

With the research complete at MDAH, we left to visit family who live in and around Jackson, a visit that concluded with dinner on Saturday evening at the historic Wynndale Restaurant south of Jackson near the town of Terry, Mississippi. According to one of my brothers, Wynndale was the name of the now extinct town where the restaurant, once a country store, is located. He added that the former store and restaurant have operated in the same location for almost 100 consecutive years - quite a record. After a delicious dinner of steak (one of my brothers was courageous enough to order the 16 ounce rib-eye), catfish, shrimp, and all the southern trimmings (the homemade slaw is served in a large tub!) we took a few pictures and said our goodbyes. Family, good food, and lots of fun....what more can anyone want?!

The Southern Jewish Experience

A couple of years ago, I became aware of two museums in Mississippi that deal with the state's history. Unlike many of Mississippi's older, more established museums, these are fairly new, having been around only since the mid-1980's. They are not, however, Civil War museums, museums that showcase Native American history and culture, or museums that chronicle the history of the music phenomenon known as The Delta Blues. They are museums that have a mission "to document and preserve the rich history of the Southern Jewish experience." If you are among those who may be searching for information about Southern Jewish ancestors, their lives, and their customs, the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, or "ISJL," may just be the place to visit. Two locations now exist, the original location in Utica, Mississippi, near Jackson, and a newer site in historic Natchez, Mississippi. The ISJL's website describes the original museum facility as sitting on "a beautiful rural setting on the 300-acre site of the Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Mississippi.....with exhibit galleries and a central sanctuary that is actively used for programs and services." The Natchez museum is located at 213 South Commerce Street at Washington Street, and houses an exhibit that documents the history and everyday life of Natchez's Jewish families, beginning with the arrival of the first Sephardic Jewish families in the late 1700s. Of interest here, is the fact that the oldest Jewish congregation in Mississippi was housed at the temple in Natchez. Behind the stained glass windows and historic walls of Temple B'nai Israel are a century-old organ and an ark made out of marble.

For readers who live outside the State of Mississippi, it may be a surprise to hear that the Magnolia state would have enough Jewish population to warrant these two museums. But the fact is that Jews have lived in the South since the 18th century. A large portion of that population likely resulted from the mass emigration of Jews from the Alsace-Lorraine region in Europe to the United States during that time period. And many of these families migrated further south. This theory is supported by information on the museum's website that states "as early as 1820, more Jews lived in Charleston, South Carolina than in New York City." If you haven't visited Mississippi's wonderful museums, I encourage you to do so. And don't forget to include the ISJL. These museums will certainly be worth the "southern experience."

Henrietta Hemingway Gourley Mitchell, Camden, Mississippi

When I last wrote about Henrietta Hemingway, the daughter of Henrietta and William Hemingway of South Carolina, she had married John Gourley on April 8, 1862, the first anniversary of her mother's death. That year must have been one of the most tragic years of young Henrietta's life, for it was the year that she lost their first child, a daughter named Henrietta Rose Gourley, and her husband, who was killed in the Civil War. She was a widow at age 26.

The next record of Henrietta Hemingway is an entry on the U. S. Census of 1880, one that shows Henrietta still living in Beat 5, Madison, Mississippi, near Camden. The household in which she "keeps house," is headed by her second husband, George Mitchell, a 40 year old Tennessee-born farmer. According to the census record, Henrietta was 44 years old, and she and George had six children, Annie, age 13, Susan, 11, William, 8, Joe, 5, George, 3, and Ellen, age 2.

According to the U. S. census of 1900, Henrietta was then a 64 year old widow who lived in the household with her unmarried son, Joe H. Mitchell, age 27, and her 66-year old unmarried sister, Mary Hemingway. Joe Mitchell, his mother, and his maiden aunt still lived near where he was born, in Beat 5 (Camden) of Madison County, Mississippi. Also living in that household was Annie Stewart, a 30 year-old servant. Approximately 15 residences away was a household headed by former Mississippi Governor, William McWillie, a longtime friend of the Hemingway family.

When Henrietta Hemingway Gourley Mitchell died a few years later, she was buried in Kirkwood Cemetery near her mother, her baby daughter, and members of the McWillie family.

The Hemingway Family - South Carolina to Mississippi

Recently, I communicated with a reader of this blog, Mitchell Sawyer, about one of his ancestral families, the Hemingway family, that migrated from South Carolina to Madison County, Mississippi. I first learned about the Mississippi Hemingway family from Mitchell earlier this year when he provided me with name of some of those who are interred at Kirkwood Cemetery near Camden, Mississippi, in Madison County. The name of Henrietta Hemingway, one of Mitchell's ancestors, was among those names, and Mitchell was kind enough to provide the copy of Henrietta that is seen here today.

Photograph provided by Mitchell Sawyer

Although I am not certain, It is likely that the Hemingway family and the family of former Mississippi Governor William McWillie knew each other before they ever left South Carolina. The idea that the two families had a relationship is supported by a family story handed down throughout the generations. According to Mitchell Sawyer, this story relates how McWillie's wife is said to have styled his Hemingway grandmother's hair before her wedding.

The fact that many families living in the Camden, Mississippi area during the mid to late 1800's had lives that were intertwined is not unusual. The community was a small, rural one, fairly close to Kosciusko, but somewhat remote from the larger towns of Yazoo City, Lexington, Greenwood, and Jackson, all miles away. It seems reasonable to assume that children of families who live in close proximity would marry someone who lived nearby. In fact, this assumption follows a cardinal rule of family history research, one that states eligible men and women meet and marry because they know and live near each other. And that was exactly what happened in the case of the families of Camden, Mississippi and numerous other places throughout history.

Starting tomorrow, I hope you will join me here as I tell the story of Mitchell Sawyer's ancestors, the Hemingway Family of South Carolina and Mississippi.

Chapman Levy - Camden SC>Camden MS

Several months ago, I received an email from Mitchell Sawyer, one of my Mississippi readers, regarding a post I had written on my other blog, Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek, about Kirkwood Cemetery. Located near Camden in Madison County, Mississippi, the cemetery is named for "Kirkwood," the family home of former Mississippi Governor, William McWillie. The cemetery is the burial place for members of McWillie's family and those of several allied families.

In his email last March, Mitchell told me how he had located the cemetery in 2008 and had initiated a clean-up project that was later completed by the Madison County Board of Supervisors. In a subsequent email on April 9, 2009, Mitchell was kind enough to send me photos of the cemetery and of one of his Hemingway ancestors buried there. Thanks to Mitchell, I learned that Kirkwood Cemetery is actually a part of the old St. Philip Episcopal Church grounds, and its official name is St. Philip Episcopal Churchyard.

Along with the photos of his own ancestors, Mitchell included a photo of another Camden resident who is buried near the McWillie Family, that of Chapman Levy, whose picture is shown here.

Chapman Levy (1787–1849)
Artist unknown, ca. 1835
Watercolor on ivory
Gift of Thomas W. Crockett in honor of Loraine Crockett
Jewish Heritage Collection

College of Charleston Library

Recently, after I was contacted by another reader who may be a descendant of a Levy family member, I began searching for the origins of this family. With some assistance from Mitchell, I found a wealth of background information about Chapman Levy. According to available resources, Chapman Levy was born on July 4, 1787, the son of Samuel Levy, a merchant, who was born circa 1762, and Sarah Moses Levy, date of birth unknown. Research indicated that Samuel Levy's family was one of a small number of Jewish families that resided in Camden, South Carolina during the early 1800s. According to the book, The Jews of South Carolina, written by Barnett Abraham Elzas Abraham and published by Lippincott in 1905, Levy served as an officer in the militia during the War of 1812, became a successful lawyer, businessman, and later a politician, when he represented Kershaw County, South Carolina in the state house and senate.

Levy married his first wife, Flora, who died in 1822 after only five years of marriage. He remarried in 1823, this time to Rosina, Flora's sister, but that marriage ended early, too, when Rosina died in 1828. According references researched, Chapman Levy's father, Samuel, died about 1842 in South Carolina, but the date of his mother's death was not found.

Chapman Levy died in 1845 and was buried in Kirkwood Cemetery. But why was he buried among families named McWillie, Anderson, Hemingway, and others? The answer to this question became crystal clear, when I found during my research that Chapman Levy, former Governor McWillie, and their families knew each other in South Carolina before migrating to Mississippi. I found that McWillie and Levy, both lawyers, also had a common military background, each having served in the War of 1812, and had been business associates in Camden, South Carolina, as well. According to available resources, this friendship continued after the two men migrated to Madison County, Mississippi. Their association included a business relationship, as well, when Levy served in McWillie's administration during his term as Governor of the State of Mississippi.

More about Chapman Levy's life and political career can be read here.

References:

Sawyer, Mitchell, Personal emails, with photos, to the writer, dated March 20, 2009, April 1, 2009, and April 9, 2009.

Elzas, Barnett Abraham, The Jews of South Carolina, from the earliest times to the present day. J. B. Lippincott, 1905 - Google Books, accessed on August 5, 2009.

The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, accessed website and its link to Southern Jewish Communities: South Carolina/Camden, August 6, 2009.

Rosengarten, Theodore and Rosengarten, Dale, A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life, Google Books, accessed on August 6, 2009.