Froggy's Friday Book Review

Recently, while researching the Cherry Hill Community of Calhoun County, where some of my Gibson ancestors lived over 100 years ago, I found an online book written about this particular area of Mississippi. Assembled, edited, and copyrighted by James M. Young of Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, as a second edition in 2000, the book is a compilation of typewritten and handwritten letters and notes Young received during the 1980s from his mother, Monette Morgan Young.

Mrs. Young's information primarily came from records and recollections of family historians who lived in early Calhoun County, Mississippi, as well as recollections of her own. Entitled "The Cherry Hill - Poplar Springs - Reid Community of Calhoun County," and published online through "Scribd," the book traces the early history of life in the Poplar Bluff community that later became a part of Calhoun County. Logically presented and easily read, this book is a valuable resource for those who are searching for ancestors who lived Mississippi during the 1800s.

Young's book is a must-read for anyone who has family roots in Old Monroe County, the community of Egypt, or sections of Chickasaw and Yalobusha counties, since large numbers of residents of those particular areas migrated into and settled newly formed Calhoun County in the early-mid 1800's. Specific family profiles make up a large portion of the book's pages, along with historical information about the area's businesses, churches, and schools. Anecdotal accounts of everyday rural life in this remote area of the state are often included in the family profiles found in the book. Of particular note, an early census of the Poplar Springs Baptist Church can be found near the end, and an alphabetical index allows the reader to easily search for individual names referenced throughout the book's 272 pages.

James M. Young also compiled the first edition of the book, a non-digital version, and presented a copy to his mother as a surprise gift for her 69th birthday in 1984. According to the preface written by Mr. Young in the second edition published online, approximately 100 copies of the book's first edition were ultimately printed and distributed to family members and several museums and bookstores.

Born in Reid, Mississippi on July 5, 1915, Monette Morgan Young died at St. Dominic's Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, on February 18, 2000. She is buried next to her first husband, Tom Young in Hillcrest Cemetery in Vardaman, Calhoun County, Mississippi.

The Dark Corner of Possumneck

Something that makes Mississippi special is that a few of its towns have rather unique, and often even strange-sounding names, such as D'Lo, Egypt, Hot Coffee, Itta Bena, and Yazoo City, and any number of others that I won't list here today. Now this is not to say that each of these towns doesn't have a specific and often even an historical reason for its name. This scenario is actually no different for other cities in the United States, or, for that matter, the rest of the world. But a few Mississippi towns may have names that qualify as "one of a kind."

Take Possumneck, for instance. Now you may not have heard of Possumneck. In fact, not every Mississippian even knows about Possumneck. But I would wager that almost everyone who has lived for any length of time in Attala County knows exactly where Possumneck is located. This community got its name from the shape of the area of wooded bottom land that it covered. And yes, it probably did have a rather substantial marsupial population that roamed its dense woods over a hundred years ago. Maybe it still does.

Apart from its rather strange-sounding name, Possumneck was well-known for another reason. It was in this area of Attala County around the turn of the 20th century that a few of the county's less than "reputable" businesses decided to set up shop. And it was for this reason that Possumneck also became known as "Dark Corner." Because the timber business was thriving in that area of Attala county in the early 1900's, the community known as Possumneck eventually grew large enough to maintain a post office. But when the Great Depression caused sawmills in the area to shut down, the less than reputable businesses that no longer had paying customers also closed their doors or moved on to more profitable locations across the Big Black River. The post office soon closed, and today Possumneck is but an extinct town with only a blurred memory of its somewhat colorful past.