Biography of Jackson Johnson

Jackson Johnson of St. Louis, who as chairman of the board of the International Shoe Company has gained not only American but world leadership in connection with shoe manufacturing interests, was born in La Grange, Alabama, on the 2d of November, 1859, a son of James Lee and Helen (Rand) Johnson, the former a native of Mississippi, while the latter was born in Alabama. The father owned and conducted a plantation up to the time of the Civil war. Jackson Johnson pursued his education in the public schools of his native state and when nineteen years of age initiated his … Read more

Slave Narrative of Lizzie Johnson

Interviewer: Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Lizzie Johnson Location: Biscoe, Arkansas Place of Birth: Holly Springs, Mississippi Age: 65 Federal Writers’ Project of the W.P.A. District #6 Marion County Anna Pritchett 1200 Kentucky Avenue FOLKLORE MRS. LIZZIE JOHNSON 706 North Senate Avenue, Apt. 1 Mrs. Johnson’s father, Arthur Locklear, was born in Wilmington, N.C. in 1822. He lived in the South and endured many hardships until 1852. He was very fortunate in having a white man befriend him in many ways. This man taught him to read and write. Many nights after a hard days work, he would lie on the … Read more

Biography of Captain Nelson Green Gill

Captain Nelson Green Gill, Post-master of San Bernardino, came to California from Toulon, Illinois, in March 1849, with a team composed of four oxen and two cows. He came by way of St. Joseph, Fort Laramie, Fort Hall and Lassen’s cut-off, with a train composed of twenty-two wagons. They brought with them a ferryboat, which they used in crossing the North Platte and Green rivers, afterward selling it for $100. They arrived in Sacramento valley, September 26, 1849. Leaving his ox teams at Bidwell’s ranch, Captain Gill started for the mines on Feather River. After he had been in the … Read more

Slave Narrative of Alice Biggs

Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Alice Biggs Age: “Bout 70” Location: Holly Grove, Arkansas “My mother come from Kentucky and my father from Virginia. That where they born and I born close to Byhalia, Mississippi. My father was Louis Anthony and mama name Charlotte Anthony. “Grandma and her children was sold in a lump. They wasn’t separated. Grandpa was a waiter on the Confederate side. He never come back. He died in Pennsylvania; another man come back reported that. He was a colored waitin’ man too. Grandma been dead 49 years now. “Mama was a wash woman and a … Read more

Biography of William P. Norman

WILLIAM P. NORMAN. There is nothing which adds so much to the prestige of a city or town, in the estimation of the public, as a first-class livery stable. In this respect Harrison is certainly to be congratulated. Among her establishments of this kind are found men of great business tact and enterprise, and none more so than William P. Norman, who conducts one of the busiest, best-managed livery stables in the county. Mr. Norman came originally from Mississippi, his birth occurring in Marshall County in 1853, and he is a son of Jesse L. and Mary Ann (Clayton) Norman, … Read more

Slave Narrative of Diana Alexander

Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Diane Alexander Location: Brinkley, Arkansas Age: 74 Occupation: Worked in field, Washed, Ironed “I was born in Mississippi close to Bihalia. Our owner was Myers(?) Bogan. He had a wife and children. Mama was a field woman. Her name was Sarah Bogan and papa’s name was Hubberd Bogan. “I heard them talk about setting the pot at the doors and having singing and prayer services. They all sung and prayed around the room. I forgot all the things they talked about. My parents lived on the same place after freedom a long time. They … Read more

Biography of Thomas D. Nichols, M. D.

Among the leading physicians of Riverside, mention should be made of the subject of this sketch. Dr. Nichols was born in Marshall County, Mississippi, in 1840. His parents were Asa and Priscilla O. (Duty) Nichols, both descendants of Southern California. His father was a planter by occupation, and gave his son the advantages of a good education. In 1859, Dr. Nichols entered upon a college course in the Florence Wesleyan University. The secession movement and the establishment of the Southern Confederacy, aroused his patriotism, and his love for the South and her institutions induced him to abandon his studies, and … Read more

Early Mississippi Marriages 1800-1900

Marriage Intention

The following database represents a collection of 151,208 early Mississippi marriage records. The earliest occurs in 1800, the latest in 1900. The counties represented in the database: Adams, Amite, Carroll, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Harrison, Hinds, Itawamba, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lowndes, Madison, Marshall, Monroe, Noubee, Noxubee, Pontotoc, Rankin, Sunflower, Tippah, Tishomingo, Warren, Wilkinson, Winston, Yalobusha, and Yazoo.

Biography of G. B. Glover

The stock men of Malheur County are the men who have brought the County to the front by their arduous labors and wise manipulation of the resources here found, and as a prominent one of this distinguished class the subject of this article is well known, being also a worthy pioneer, who wrought here with a firm hand and endured the hardships incident to that life, while his keen foresight and enterprise led him to see the value of the country that he was opening. Mr. Glover was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi on December 20, 1841, and at the … Read more