"East Feliciana, Past and Present", Parts 6-10, East Feliciana, La. File prepared and submitted by Sherry Sanford. ************************************************* Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** . TIPS FOR SEARCHING RECORDS ON THE INTERNET Netscape & Ms Explorer users: If searching for a particular surname, locality or date while going through the records in the archives or anywhere....try these few steps: 1. Go to the top of the report you are searching. 2. Click on EDIT at the top of your screen. 3. Next click on FIND in the edit menu. 4. When the square pops up, enter what you are looking for in the FIND WHAT ___________blank. 5. Click on DIRECTION __DOWN. 6. And last click on FIND NEXT and continue to click on FIND NEXT until you reach the end of the report. This should highlight the item that you indicated in "find what" every place it appears in the report. You must continue to click on FIND NEXT till you reach the end of the report to see all of the locations of the item indicated. "EAST FELICIANA, LOUISIANA, PAST AND PRESENT." SKETCHES OF THE PIONEERS, By H. Skipwith 1892 Hopkins Printing Office, 20 & 22 Commercial Place, New Orleans Part Six ETHEL A town of about 50 houses and about 100 inhabitants situated at the junction of the Clinton Bend with the main trunk line of the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railroad seven miles west of Clinton (the Court House,) and five miles east of Jackson a prosperous and popular commercial and educational seat, for which it is the principle shipping, receiving and distributing "entre pot." Ethel is just on the line dividing of the First, Second and Third Wards, seated on an eminence which slopes for a half mile, gradually, on the east toward Redwood, a creek fed by perpetual springs, and which rewards the fisherman with fine strings of perch, trout and blue cat fish. It boasts a Post office, commodious depot, fine school, a Presbyterian church, a good hotel and livery stable, and several enterprising mer- chants, engaged in receiving and forwarding their freights, to surrounding farmers, and in buying or shipping their crops. Contiguous to Ethel are many large bodies of abandoned lands, which were once highly esteemed for their great productive capacity, but which have had a rest of twenty-five years, since the old system of labor was abolished; those abandoned lands; are mostly fertile patches which were never worn out, and can be easily and cheaply, restored to their full productive cap- acity which they originally had, and can be bought on very reasonable terms. All the territory, tributary as a feeder to the commerce of Ethel, ranks among the best in East Feliciana. Its tributary, territory, now laying waste, idle and unproductive when fostered and regenerated, by a fair supply of capital and labor, each acre will produce 50 bushels of corn and 2000 lbs. of cotton in the seed, and all other agricultural productions suited to the climate in the same proportion. The character of the lands tributary to Ethel for health, for picturesque secenery, and abundant good water for man and beast, is not excelled in any other locality in East Feliciana or any other place in Louisiana. CENTENARY COLLEGE Rev. W.L.C. Hunnicutt, D.D., President. Jackson, La. Faculty. Rev. W.L.C. Hunnicutt, D.D., Professor of Mental and Moral Science. G.H. Wiley, A.M.- Professor of Ancient and Modern Languages. R.H. McGimsey, A.B.- Professor of Mathematics. J.M. Sullivan, B.A.- Professor of Chemistry and Physics. A.R. Holcombe, M.D. - Professor of Physiology and Hygiene. Rev. B.M. Drake, A.B. - Professor English Law and Literature. Rev. Robert H. Wynn, B.A.- Principal of Preparatory Department. Mrs. E.M. Hunnicutt - Assistant in Preparatory Department. Mrs. R.H. McGimsey - Teacher of Vocal Music. Charges - College Classes, 5 months, $30.00 Preparatory Classes, 5 months, 20.00 Contingent Fee, 5 months, 2.50 Matriculation (College Class), 5.00 Table Board, per month, 10.00 Board in Private Families, all things furnished, $13.00 to 16.00 Centenary College was founded n 1839, the centenary year of Methodism; hence its name. It was first located near Brandon, Mississippi, but was moved to Jackson, Louisiana, in 1845, and called "Centenary College of Louisiana." Its grand center building, erected shortly before our civil war, and the two wings, containing domitories, make it a very commodious collegiate establishment. Previous to the late war it was prosperous, having several hundred students. In common with all monetary interests in our Southland, the endowment and property of the college suffered much from the effects of this war. For some years its fortunes waned and its hopes languished; but more recently it has shared the reviving prosperity of the country and its prospects are annually brightening. Its plan of endowment, relying largely, though not wholly upon the interest-bearing notes of individual friends, has already put new life into the college, and promises to be the means of establishing it in permanent prosperity and usefulness. Besides the general tone of good morals prevailing at this college, the Bibical instruction of all the students and especially the opportunities afforded to students for the ministry, of whom there are annually about twenty in attend- ance, are marked features of the institution. The literary societies, the libraries and the Y.M.C.A. are powerful auxiliaries in the work of the college. Its faculty now numbers ten professors and teachers, and the majority of its students are orderly and studious. Its list of graduates, running back as far as the year 1825, contains the names of many of the most worthy and distinguished men in Louisiana and the adjacent States. Such an institiution is at once a blessing and an honor to the Parish of East Feliciana and to the State of Louisiana. Part Seven PIONEERS OF THE THIRD WARD. A moving panorama truthfully depicting the march of civilization in the Third Ward of East Feliciana would lift the curtain in 1802 and disclose the Carneys and Rogillios felling the cane- brakes and fighting the panthers and bears over the identical land now included within the corporate limits of the town of Jackson. That was the nucleus that attracted the Scotts, Winters, Mc- Kneelys, Kellers and McCants from Union District, South Carolina in 1805, the Brians from Darlington District, and Benj. Fauvre and Temple Nix, from Edgefield District, S.C., in 1806; the Easts, also from Edgefield District, in 1812, and from the same source the Singletarys; the Fishburns from Connecticut and the McQueens from the pine woods of North Carolina lying between Wilmington and Fayetteville. Many of whom found not only good lands but good wives among the primeval canebrakes and forests in Jackson and its immediate vicinity and many of those who have been conspicuous in shaping the civilization of the ward trace their genealogy to a graft of the South Carolina blood upon the old Carney and Rogillio stock. To attempt to sketch the progress of civilization in the third ward without keeping Jackson conspicuously in the foreground of the picture would be as absurb as putting the play of Hamlet on the stage without the eccentric Prince of Denmark. So essential to the picture is an authentic memoir of the growth of Jackson that I have postponed the preparation of my sketch of the ward in order to find out when Jackson became the seat of justice of the County of Feliciana. Many people erroneously believe that the county of Feliciana had no larger boundaries than those which now include the two parishes of East and West Feliciana. Inasmuch as it confers added metropolitian dignity upon the oldest third ward center of population and school of civilization, I will call attention to the proclamation of Governor Claiborne issued at St. Francisville, December 7th, 1810, defining the limits of the county of Feliciana to be "all the territory lying west of the Perdido river and east of the Mississippi river, bounded north by the line of demarkation and south by the sea, the lakes and Bayou Manchac" and fixing the seat of justice at St. Francisville. And in St. Francisville the judges, Martin, Mathews and Lewis, held terms of the Superior Court of the Territory of Orleans continuously until 1812, in which year the judges were compelled to abandon their regular term of court by threats of violent resistence from the people of St. Francisville and vicinity. Hence I deduce the conclusion that Jackson was selected as the seat of justice, of the largest county in the United States, in 1813, and thereby became the depository of the judicial records of a territory larger in area than Rhode Island or Delaware. That is an episode in the history of the oldest seat of third ward civilization not generally known. It may however have had a tendency to enhance the social and political influence of the center over the extremities and may have con- ducted, in after years, to bring to a small and inland town the first educational foundation and grandest charity of Louisiana. The Insane Asylum is still in Jackson and needs no further notice in this sketch, "College of Louisiana" which was established in 1825, having for alimony $5000 per annum, all the school funds of both Felicianas and all the monies derived from gaming licenees in New Orleans, having equipped students from every part of Louisiana for many years, among whom the late Judge John McVea and the late Colonel Preston Pond have not yet passed out of the affectionate remembrance of East Feliciana, has been superceded by another seat of learning, which the Methodists founded in their centenary year, which, though as effective in equipping students for the battle of life, may not be quite as richly endowed as its predecessor. This old and fertile home of the South Carolina colonists, who came when this century was yet in its infancy, has still remaining upon its allotted area some heavy bodies of undisturbed forests and much idle and abandoned land - many fields which after emancipation were thrown aside because they were erroneously thought to be exhausted. There are however so many notable instances of the restoration to their primitive fertility of the abandoned seats of the old pioneers, - so many instances in which those discarded fields are by good treatment made to yield crops far in excess of the production of "ante bellum" slavery times, that these idle and unproductive lands are increasing in reputation and while preceptibly enhancing in price are still held at prices ridiculously cheap, considering their intrinsic value. Before closing my picture of the achievements of the glorious old pioneers of the Third Ward, I beg leave to submit a few GENERAL REMARKS Within six miles of three railroad stations and within twelve miles, by good wagon roads, of three receiving and forwarding points on the Mississippi river; with one railroad penetrating its borders from east to west, and another railroad running its whole breadth from north to South, the farmers of the ward and the merchants of Jackson have always successfully resisted the levying of extortionate tribute upon production and commerce and their spirit of independence and consistent opposition to oppressive exactions have maintained for them the advantages of a "zona ibre." Jackson's cheap, easy and free intercourse with the outside world and her exeptionally good educational advantages have attracted from abroad numerous accessions of capital and labor, which falling readily into line with the genius of the old families have done their devoir in holding higher the standard of a pure and polished civilization and have advanced the material standards to a point bigger than they reached in 'ante bellum' times. With her contiguity to the great river, her railroads, colleges and renowned female schools, the third ward would seem to have all that is needed for a prosperous career and a fuller development. There is however in her economy one potent factor missing. She produces enough cotton to feed two first class factories and Jackson is therefore adjacent to a cotton seed supply, large enough without extensive forageing around, to keep a big cotton seed mill at work the year round, and the beds and fields of snow white sand on Thompson's Creek, if convertible into glass, would furnish the raw material to run a dozen factories for fifty years. As a manufacturing centre the former seat of justice of the biggest county in the United States is still a virgin experiment. Her exceptional advantages have never been fairly tested but we hope and have a right to believe that a people so earnestly intent on making their society powerful and prosperous, will ere long bring Manufactures to the aid of Commerce. Agriculture and Education. Hoping it may come before the century dies, I am, etc., H. SKIPWITH. Part Eight LONGEVITY IN THE PARISH OF EAST FELICIANA A Remarkable Showing OF The Healthfulness OF This Part OF Louisiana. Excellent Health, Long Life, A Lovely Climate The Cause. Can Any Parish Or County Make A Better Record? Editor of Mirror: Some time ago I promised you the result of some investigations I had been making in regard to longevity in East Feliciana Parish. My attention was first attracted to this subject in rendering a pastorate of sixteen years in the parish - I was struck with the number of aged persons it had been my duty to lay away in the grave - my record showed twenty-nine persons whose ages ranged from 70 to 90 years. Three other persons belonging to my congregation had died during my absence and had been buried by other ministers. The average age of these thirty-two persons exceeded 74 years. Struck with so remark- able a fact I began a series of inquiries as to the old persons deceased in this parish within the past twenty years. The results so far gathered gives a list of ninety-nine persons whose aggregate years amount to 7385, an average age of nearly 74 years. Of these, 6 ranges from 90 to 95; 30 from 80 to 90; and 63 from 70 to 80 years; amd sure that many others died during the years of which I am ignorant and there are many yet living who equal in age those given above. This record presents among other remarkable facts that ninety- nine persons have died in East Feliciana parish within 20 years whose aggregate age (add year to year) would extend fourteen centuries beyond the creation of the world ( according to the common chronology) or putting the years together would reach back to Adam and returning down the centuries would bring us to the time of Noah. But the most important fact is its bearing upon the healthfulness of the parish. We do not believe this record can be beaten by any parish or county in America. It must be remembered that these were all white, no colored persons being considered in the list. Not having the census statistics, I cannot make comparisons. The argument to be drawn from this remarkable record of longevity is a strong one for those seeking homes and a green old age. We submit the list, hoping that any error may be pointed out and any additonal names be added. NAME AGE Mrs. M. A. Silliman - 90 Mrs. Johnson - 91 Mrs. Ruth Calfield - 70 Mrs. Poole - 85 Mr. __ Guth - 79 Mr. Wash Chapman - 78 Mr. __ Zuggs - 70 Mr. Hugh Lucas - 75 Mrs. Sallie Richerts - 70 Mrs. Morgan - 75 Mrs. Maley - 75 Mrs. L. Chapman - 70 Rev. John Higginbotham - 75 Mr. Bird - 70 Judge Hughes - 70 Mrs. Collins - 70 Mrs. Rist - 70 Rev. James Stratton - 74 Mr. Henry Marston - 90 Mr. Benj. Brown - 80 Mrs. Overton - 75 Mrs. J.A. Harris - 73 Clem Gore - 75 Mrs. Gore - 83 Capt. McCombs - 73 Mrs. M.L. Skipwith - 78 Mrs. M.J. Tilden - 85 Mrs. Freeman - 88 Mrs. Mary Guth - 78 Mr. S.A. Dubose - 78 Dr. Chas. Wood - 70 Mrs. James - 80 Mr. Mike Richerts - 80 Mr. Eli White - 90 Mrs. Knox - 90 Dr. P. Pond - 82 Mr. Jas. King - 80 Capt. G.C. Comstock - 75 Mr. Wm. East - 80 Mr. Welsh - 75 Mr. Wall - 73 Mr. Wm. Silliman - 92 Mr. David Pipes, Sr. - 84 Mrs. Katie Norwood - 80 Mr. W.M. Jordan - 70 Mrs. Jas. King - 80 Mr. P. Fishburn - 90 Robt. Vaugan - 70 Tim Rogers - 70 Mrs. Cassie Harrell - 80 Mr. Wm. Patterson - 70 Mr. Frank Hardesty - 70 Mrs. Adams - 79 Mr. Andy Tomb - 75 Prof. Holcombe - 70 Mrs. Wiley - 70 Mrs. Irwin - 70 Mr. Evans White - 71 Mrs. Hatcher - 70 Mrs. Kitchen - 70 Mrs. Jenet Richardson - 75 Mrs. Lucas - 70 Mr. DeLee - 80 Mrs. Green - 80 Obediah Thompson - 70 Dan'l McLean - 72 Miss McLean - 80 Mr. Charles Trotter - 70 Mr. Booker Kent - 70 Capt. Griffith - 80 Judge Scott - 84 Mr. Wicker - 73 Mr. Allen - 70 Mr. Aaron Robinson - 70 Mrs. Kent - 70 Mrs. Story - 80 A. Worms - 71 Mr. McMurray - 70 Mrs. McMurray - 70 Mr. Worthy - 70 Mrs. E. Miller - 74 Mr. Hewey - 70 Nancy Wisdom - 80 Mr. Lipscomb - 80 Mrs. Bethany - 95 Mrs. Ann Gleason - 81 Mrs. H. Lambert - 78 R.L. Brashear - 82 Mrs. S. Seals - 75 Ed. Story - 82 Mr. Heyman - 74 Mrs. Heyman - 80 Mrs. Oppenheimer - 81 H.B. Chase - 70 Wm. Irwin - 70 W.H. Green - 70 Char. Crane - 70 Mrs. Weil - 74 Wm. Austin - 80 We request any parties in the parish to add any facts known that would perfect this record. Yours, M.B. Shaw. Since handing you the above I have obtained the following additional names: W.W. Jones - 73 Rev. A.G. Miller - 74 J.M. Young - 72 Mrs. Austin - 74 Jas. Reams, Sr. - 80 Jas. Reams, Jr. - 70 Mr. Tabor - 90 Mr. Drawdy - 75 Robt. Tucker - 73 Jas. Chapman - 80 Allen Chapman - 76 Mrs. Wieker - 80 Mrs. Butternauth - 72 Mrs. L. Perkins - 75 Cullen McCarstle - 70 Gen. A.G. Carter - 75 J.R. Ceambers, Sr. - 73 Mr. Mattingly - 70 Sandy Spears - 70 Archie Palmer - 70 Mrs. S. Palmer - 70 Mrs. Ellen Kernan - 78 Mrs. H. Levi - 72 Thus the aggregate ages would instead of stopping at Moses, would come down the ages to nearly eight centuries before Christ's advent on earth. M.B.S. _________ Clinton, La. June 9, 1890. Rev. M.B. Shaw: Dear Sir - I enclose you a list of names of persons not on your list published in "The Mirror" of May 22, 1890, who lived in this parish and died here since the close of the war, all of them I think within the last twenty years, and all of whom were 70 years of age and over. Their exact ages I do not know. Yours very respectfully, F.D. Brame. Name Mrs. F. Welsh - Mrs. Ann Brian - Mrs. McQueen - Lawrence Morgan - W.H. Potter - Mrs. W.H. Potter - J.C. Jackson - Hardy Saunders - 80 Mrs. Nancy Payne - Mrs. Gintha - Teos. F. Noone - Mr. Hoffmeister - Mrs. Waddil - Mrs. C.B. Kennedy - Mrs. Jane Chapman - Mrs. Pence - Mrs. Cain - Mrs. Campbell - Mrs. Zilpha Chance - Mrs. Rebecca Whittaker - Mrs. Daughty - Mrs. Ellen Flyn - Mr. S. Heap - Thos. N. Northam - James Pratt - Mrs. Eliza Kelly - Miss Nancy McCall - Mrs. Mary Pearse - John O. Perry - Mrs. John O. Perry - Wm. J. Hayden - Dr. J.H. McWhinney - John B. Taylor - Billington Taylor - Reuben Nash - Davis Gore - 89 Miss Nettie McFall - 100 Nancy McQueen - 89 Miss Fannie Pond - Mr. ___ Delpiani - 70 Mr. Morgan - 80 Clinton, May 24, 1890. Dear Mr. Shaw - Below you'll find a few names to add to your list: Mr. David Pipes - 70 Mrs. David Pipes - 70 Mrs. Mary Broadway - 75 Mr. Wm. Hayden - 70 Mr. Green Edwards - 68 Mr. Lee Hardesty - 70 J.H. Muse - 70 Sam. Lee - 70 Noel Norwood - 70 Mrs. Norwood - 68 Zack Norwood - 68 Mrs. Margaret Woodward - 80 D.S. Rhea - 70 Mrs. Rhea - 68 Jno. J. Flynn - 75 Mr. Bethard - 70 Langston East - 75 Rev. John East - 70 Judge John McVey - 68 Stith New - 68 Mr. Pratt - 70 Wm. Gurney - 68 Bailey Chaney - 80 Mr. K. Harrell - 70 Miss Eliza Mills - 70 Mr. Isaac Taylor - 75 Rich. Dreher - 75 Howell Cobb - 70 Nelson Nesom - 75 Mrs. Jane Boarman - 73 Mrs. Hayney - 70 Mrs. Davis - 75 Mr. Jno. Richards - 69 Mrs. Wm. Stone - 68 Mr. M. Schurer - 70 Eli Norwood - 68 Mrs. Kennedy - 70 Mrs. Kahn - 68 Mr. Jno. Elder - 75 Mr. Wm. Lockwood - 70 Mrs. Patrick - 70 Mr. Henry Broadway - 70 Mr. John Dunbar - 70 Mrs. Mary Lawson - 80 Mrs. Guinther - 70 Mr. John Rist - 80 Mrs. Maddell - 80 Mrs. Emma Jones - 75 Mrs. Strickengoss - 75 A few of the above died after leaving the parish as short time. Two-thirds of their lives was spent in this parish. Yours, F.HARDESTY Part Nine PIONEERS OF THE FOURTH WARD There were two tidal waves of Southern immigration, each bearing on its foremost crest explorers into the wilds of East Feliciana adjacent to the line of demarkation between the United States and the King of Spain's Province of West Florida. The Chickasaw lands, called the Yazoo Purchase, included for the most part within the borders of what is now the State of Mississippi, being opened for settlement attracted roving bands of home seekers from all parts of the old original thirteen States, in the closing years of the last century, and the treaty made with Spain, October 27th, 1795, fixing the boundary line on the 31st parallel of latitude, which boundary line was run by Capt. Ellicott and Spanish commissioners, according to treaty, as early as 1797, and which commencing in the middle of Bayou Tunica where it empties in the Mississippi river came due east, dividing the fourth ward from Wilkinson County, Miss., and likewise the seventh and eighth wards of East Feliciana parish from Amite County, Miss. The second tidal wave of immigration was set in motion by Mr. Jefferson's announcement in October, 1803, that all Louisiana had been bought by the United States, brought home seekers by battalions, whole families and neighborhoods. On the foremost crest of the first of these tidal waves, and therefore in advance of either column, came into the undis- turbed canebrakes and forests adjacent to Keller Town - now a small hamlet right on the line of demarkation, taking its name from the ancestor of the old influential Keller family of East Feliciana, who founded there a new home to replace the one he abandoned in South Carolina - was old Mr. John Palmer, an Irish gentleman of education and refinement, who, like Blannerhasset and Thomas Addis Emmett, after the Irish rebellion, fled from the storms of his own country to find quiet in ours. Having coasted through the Carolinas and the Chickasaw pur- chase, he found the quiet he sought in the solitudes of the forests and canebrakes of the wilds of "Possum Corner," a solitude which was unbroken unles the Irish ex-rebel had a turn towards the sentimental which could find "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, and sermons in stones;" unless the old fellow, provoked by the growling bears, the screaming panthers, or the sneaking pilferings of the multi- tudes of possums - for which oleaginous animals the corner is, and always was, renowned - resorted to use of his trusty rifle. Amid these lonesome envionments the benevolent old Irish recluse and alcalde administered Spanish law and justice, and trained his three sons Archibald, Adam and Nechemiah, who were all prominent workers in the advancement of a pure christian civilization. And side by side with the old Irish rebel, the first to penetrate the canebrakes in which he was lying perdue came the ancestor of Drury and Isaac Smith. Attracted by the noises of civilization made by these two earliest explorers, came early in the present century, the ancestors of the Kellers, Whitakers, Gauldens, Nolands, Jeters, Higginbothams, McKneelys, and Boatners, some with a permit and grant of land from the King of Spain, most of them univited squatters building their homes close to the line, equally prepared for a monnarchial or republican 'denouement', retaining the right of choice for either destiny. Early and conspicous in the Keller Town community was the tall, straight figure of Ben Graves, who was not old then, but a handsome single gentleman from South Carolina, who brought with him the family cow and diminitive pony, and founded his home where the fourth and seventh wards meet on the line of demark- ation, and where Wilkinson and Amite counties, corner on the line. His rifle kept him abundantly supplied with panther steaks, saddles of venison and haunches of bear and the ubiquitous, oleaginous possum. When sugar, coffee, salt or flour was needed, the pony was saddled with an empty sack and as many dry skins of deer, bears and panthers as could be strapped on, and thus equipped Mr. Graves would strike into a bridle path leading to St. Francisville where he would exchange his peltries for supplies - which was better than giving a lien on the crop. On his return from one of these annual pilgrimages Ben and the pony received the hospitalities of a settler who had cut down an acre or so of canes and started a clearing close to the line of the bridle path, and in that settlers log cabin was a lovely little barefoot beauty of the canebrakes, the settler being Jeptha, Judge in Israel, who had one fair daughter and no more. Tradition pleasantly relates that the heart of the tall, handsome Carolinian was not only smitten but completely subjugated, and on blushingly making his doleful dilemma known to his canebrake Dulcinea, she surrendered, not at discretion, but with one important reservation: "She must have a pair of wedding slippers to stand up in." Most men would have opened negotiations with Paris, New York or New Orleans for a small shipment of dainty wedding slippers the more speedily to raise the embargo on the nuptial ceremony, but Ben trudged home with light heart and elastic step, and visiting his tan yard to give the finishing touch to his hides, commenced to model two lasts, one for the bride's dainty slippers and a larger one for the bridegroom's boots. When the slippers and boots were finished the old Irish Alcalde was invited to accompany him to the cabin which enshrined Ben's heart and sheltered his unexpectant bride. The annals of Amite and Wilkinson Counties and the Fourth and Seventh Wards of East Feliciana attest lovingly that none have done more to develope a pure civilization, than old Ben's blushing bride of the canebrakes although her trousseau was nothing more sparkling than a pair of home made buck skin slippers. Continuing my portraiture of the growing Fourth Ward, which would not be complete if it should stop before depicting its general adaptibility to pastoral and agricultural purposes; its wonderful advantages as a productive home, where the home seeker can chose to dwell amid fertile cultivated fields, on the crown of an ele- vated plateau with miles of landscape of miraculous beauty, or down in the green valleys in sight and hearing of the rippling, joyous waters; and in each locality find a sweet happy home, with a good living annexed, without excessive outlay of cash or sweat of brow. Although not in sight of the cupolas and domes of a great city or in hearing of its hum and noise, if the home seeker can be a man of gregarious inclinations he can indulge his tastes in two young and growing centres of population, in which life and bustle give token of rapid future growth. Norwood and Wilson lying along the line of the L.N.O. and T. Railway are already rebuking old Keller town for its sleepyheaded ways; already assuming the airs of big trade emporiums just as we have seen the lovely little witches who promenade their streets, discard short dresses and come out, by magical transformation, in long ones with regulation skirts and trains. Two embryo cities, each striving for the crown of wealth and population and good society. >From behind the green curtains which fringe its northern boundary along the winding banks of Thompson creek, and its eastern borders which are curtained from the world beyond by the forests and cane breaks which margin the banks of Comite river, the Fourth Ward points with pride to the testimonials of moving and pure society which has developed behind its curtains, and attracts the gaze of the passing streams of home seekers by pointing proudly to her interior jewels. Notwithstanding that the beautiful scenery along the line of the railroad has already attracted many investments of capital and labor from abroad there still remains within the borders of the Fourth Ward twelve thousand acres of primeval forests and abandoned fields, lying idle for lack of labor. And while the Fourth Ward has received so many recruits from abroad, it is a notable fact that the worship around the old altars to God, Home and Country remain as pure to-day as when the Carolin- ians brought it across the line of demarkation in 1804-'5 and '6. etc. Feeling saguine and hopeful that the waste places will soon be built up, I am yours, etc. H. SKIPWITH Part Ten WILSON, Its Natural Advantages; Its Location; Its Resources And People; Its Pure Water And Fertile Soil; As A Health Resort, Etc. Maj. H. Skipwith, Clinton, La.: Esteemed old Friend - Having learned of your design to advertise the Parish of East Feliciana in the form of a neat readable and attractive pamphlet descriptive of its people, lands, social characteristics, and its towns, etc., and feeling desirous that the thriving, prosperous and fast-growing town Wilson should fill the place in the advertisement, which its many attractive features entitle it to, I send you the following portrait drawn from life of THE TOWN OF WILSON, which is a town of one hundred houses and three hundred inhabit- ants, and is situated on the main line of the great Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway, one hundred and twenty-two miles north of New Orleans; thirty-two miles north of Baton Rouge, the capital of the State of Louisiana; eight miles northwest of Clinton, the seat of justice of the Parish of East Feliciana, and the same distance from Jackson, La., the oldest center of popul- ation, commerce and education in the parish. It is situated partly in the valley of Redwood Creek, along which the railroad runs; out of which valley it rises tier upon tier of handsome residences, stores, churches, schoolhouses, lodges, livery stables, etc. On a rise of land from twenty five to fifty feet above the level of the railroad it has already constructed several fine hotels, two livery stables, a Methodist and Presbyterian church, eleven general stores, good schools, etc. Wilson is a relay station and on its site is much valuable property belonging to the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway Company, viz: the Valley Hotel, the depot building, repair shops, coal chute, and the large round houses, etc., with a fair prospect of other public building, being erected in the near future. It is said to be the best place for a cash business between Vicksburg and New Orleans. The morals of the town, which may be pronounced without boasting, exceptionably good, and it may be truly said to be one of the healthiest localities in the State of Louisiana, with its pine, chalybeate waters, mild and invigorating climate. There are considerable vancant lands lying north and east of Wilson that can be bought at reasonable figures, that are susceptible of being put in a high state of cultivation, producing forty and fifty bushels of corn per acre and from one to one and a half bales of cotton per acre, and is well adapted to truck and farm gardens, orchards, etc. All of the smaller cereals grow prolifically. On the southeast, Wilson is making a winning fight with Clinton for the trade; on the north, Wilson is making a hard fight with the enterprising and competitive town of Norwood, with its large capital, that is so much needed to build up a town; and on the west by Jackson. I predict that, in the course of fifty years, the four little towns will be blended in one large city with Wilson as its great railroad center. Friends, look to your future interest and with open arms invite capital and encourage imigration, that is so much needed to build up and develop one of the finest countries on God's green earth. By giving insertion of the foregoing special sketch of the Town of Wilson and contiguous country you will do a work that will be highly appreciated by the good people of Wilson and your obedient servant and well-wisher. Truly and respectfully yours, E.M. HOOPER, M.D. Mayor of Wilson, East Feliciana Parish, La.