Ocean Springs Archives by Ray L. Bellande

By Ray L. Bellande

AN EARLY BLACK HISTORY of OCEAN SPRINGS

      This essay is an attempt to familiarize the reader with the some of the rudiments of Black History that I have discovered while researching Ocean Springs. Like our own, it began shortly after the arrival to these silvery shores of the Mexican Gulf, by French Canadian soldier of fortune, Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville (1661-1706), and his rugged cohorts in February 1699. Several years later when the first Black man arrived in La Louisiane, the French Colony of Louisiana, he was not a “colonist”, but a slave. In French Louisiana, there did become a small segment of the Black population called “free people of color” whose bondage had been lifted for various reasons. In theory, these manumitted slaves had the same rights, privileges, and immunities, as their freeborn Caucasian neighbors.

     As we know, the nefarious institution of Slavery lasted in varying degrees of servitude and harshness in the United States until The Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) in January 1863. Out of bondage, the Black man took on a surname, was counted in the 1870 Federal Census as a person, and became more to American society than chattel. The integration of the Black race and culture into the heterogeneous social order called “America” has been slow and continues today.
     If you have an interest in our local Black History read on. I now present to you my interpretation of a Black History of Ocean Springs.

The Colonial Days
      When the French Beachhead for the Louisiana Colony, proclaimed by Cavalier de La Salle (1643-1687) in 1682, at the deltaic mouth of the Mississippi River, was established at Fort Maurepas (Ocean Springs), in April 1699, by Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville (1661-1706), there were no Black men in his contingent of two hundred odd men. (Higginbotham, 1971, p. 97)
      It is interesting to note that the English were the first to import slave labor into North America. Black bondsmen were utilized extensively in Carolina and Pennsylvania for clearing and cultivating the land. These slaves were acquired from slave traders operating on the coast of Guinea. In North America, neither the English nor the French would trade Indian slaves with their Caribbean island possessions since neither colonial power would depart with their Negroes unless they were bad and vicious. (Rowlands et al, 1929, p. 45)
      Prior to Black slave labor being introduced into the Louisiana Colony, the French settlers utilized Indian slaves. They were provided to the French by their Indian allies. The Native Americans were good farmers, but found it easy to flee their masters into their indigenous surroundings. (Rowlands et al, 1929 p. 23)
     In 1713, a party of three thousand Catawba and Upper Creek braves, who were at war with the English, made an incursion into Carolina to pillage and burn. They captured many English settlers and their Black slaves. Bienville ransomed the English prisoners from these Native American warriors allowing them to return to their homes, if they desired. It seems the Amerinds kept the Black slaves of the English placing them in bondage for their own use.
In October 1708, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne Bienville reported to the Minister of Marine, Count Ponchartrain, that a small ship had arrived at Fort Louis (Old Mobile) in an effort to open a slave trade with the island of Saint Domingue (Haiti) where the French were utilizing Black slave labor for agricultural purposes. The settlers at Old Mobile were willing to give two Indian slaves for one Black from the West Indian base. The Native Americans were of lesser value because the colonists derived more service from the Negro. (Rowlands et al, 1929, p. 45)
     French colonists asked for and were willing to pay cash for Black bondsmen. They felt that as a reward for the physical hardships that they had endured in Louisiana, they should receive their servants at reduced prices. (Rowlands et al, 1929, p. 28)
      On November 30, 1718, the first shipment of slaves (captifs) for the Louisiana Colony left Whydah (now Ouidah or Wida), a 16th Century French trading port on the west coast of Africa in present day Benin, aboard L’Aurore. Of the 201 slaves on the French transport, 200 lived to see Dauphin Island in 1719. (Hall, 1992, p. 63)
     Andre Penicault, a French carpenter, who chronicled his years in La Louisiane, relates that in February 1719, Joseph Le Moyne de Serigny, the brother of Iberville, brought 250 Black slaves to Dauphin Island from France. (McWilliams, 1988, p. 230)

Nouveau Biloxy
It appears that the first Blacks to arrive on the Mississippi Coast disembarked at Nouveau Biloxy (Biloxi) in the early 1720s. This fact is documented by a French cartographic chart of the present day Biloxi-Ocean Springs area made circa 1720. On this map appear the French words, “Habitation pour les Negroes de la camp. Nommes rendezvous”. This translates literally as “Housing for the Negroes of the camp. Called meeting place”. From this 1720 French chart, the Negro camp was located on the south shore of the Back Bay of Biloxi, east of the head of Main Street. A briqueterie (brickyard) was situated just east of their quarters. This implies that Black slaves were used to make brick from the local clay. (Map titled “Nouveau Biloxy”, ca. 1720, Biloxi Public Library, Biloxi, Ms.)

The Chaumont Plantation
It is well documented that there were Black slaves in what is now northern Jackson County, Mississippi working on the Chaumont Plantation as early as February 1721. This 16,000-acre land grant from the Company of the Indies was owned by wealthy Parisians, Antoine Chaumont (1671-1753) and his spouse, Marie-Catherine Barre. The Chaumont Plantation was located on the Pascagoula River about one mile south of the present day Wade Bridge. (Higginbotham, 1974, p. 357)
Eustache Revillion, Sieur des Rondelettes, the director general of the Chaumont Plantation, was quick to recognize the lack of laborers to operate the farm. Bienville had complained to the Ministry of the Colonies that “instead of filling the concessions with so many managers, directors, bookkeepers, foremen, etc., whose wages and food consume the funds of the concession, they had been satisfied with an overseer and a few necessary workmen, and if the salaries of so many useless people and the cost of food supplies to maintain the large families with which these concessions were filled had been employed in obtaining Negroes, we should now be deriving large interest from this money, likewise the company with three-fourths less expense could have brought into the country four to five times as many Negroes as there are”. (Higginbotham, 1974, p. 358)

Le Code Noir
In 1724, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville (1680-1768) formulated Le Code Noir, the Black Code, which contained forty-six regulations to govern Blacks and minorities in the Louisiana Colony. Interestingly, the first article of the Black Code prohibited Jews in French Louisiana. The final act of Bienville’s Black Code dealt with free Blacks. It granted to them “the same rights, privileges, and immunities which are enjoyed by free-persons”. (Historical Collections of La., Vol. III, 1851, p. 89)

Antebellum Days At Ocean Springs
Ocean Springs or East Biloxi, as it was known prior to 1853, when it was Lynchburg Springs, for one year, was a small fishing village with about two hundred inhabitants settled between the Fort Point Peninsula and Davis Bayou to the Ocean Springs-Vancleave Road. There was little commerce other than the steamboat wharf, a general store, a few sawmills, and an incipient tourist industry. Since there was no plantation economy, the few slaves that existed here were primarily domestics and laborers. In addition, the earliest settlers of Ocean Springs were descendants of French Creoles and southern European immigrants who made subsistence livings and could not afford the luxury of captive labor.

Former Slave-Nat Plummer
     In 1936, Nat Plummer (ca 1840-1936+), a former slave at Ocean Springs, was interviewed by a writer compiling a History of Jackson County, Mississippi for the Works Progress Administration. Plummer’s interesting history and colloquial dialogue follows:

    “Yassum, I was a slave. Dem was de good old days-I had a good master. His name was J.L. Plummer. (sic) We lived in Tennessee and den we moved down heah. Dat was in de days befo’ railroads. Yessum, we came on hoss back and drove ox teams. Dat’s when de steamboats use ta dock heah. Dey’d bring all de mail and provisions. Dey wuz a wharf, and dere was some tracks on it, with a little car to run on it. Dey’s hitch a mule to dat car to bring the cargo from the steamboats to de shore. Den, de ox carts would be loaded to carry it to town."
     “But the most excitin’ times was during the war! It was hard too! All de soljers, dey was camped down on the beach on the W.B. Schmidt place-yassum, right dat place is today. You know dem high bluffs? Wall, dat’s were dey kep’ a look-out for dem Yankees."

     "One day a message come. You see dat house right on de corner? Dat’s de old Godstine house. Wall, dat’s where they got the message dat de Yankees was comin’. Yassum, can’t you see up dere, dat hole where de wires went through? Dere was a telegraph operator dere who couldn’t pay his board, so he swapped information for his vittles."
     “And see dat house over yonder? Dat’s de old W.R. Stewart (sic) house. Well, de Yankees went dere and got a man wuz hidin’ dere. Dey called him a conscript."
“Yassum, my old master was good to me, and when he died, his wife’s brother came to live wid us, and he was my young master. He was good too. One day I said, “Massa Sam, when wuz I born? My master’s name was Sam Lauderdale. He said, “nat, you wuz born in 1840’. So dat makes me ninety-six years old. I’se gettn’ old."
     “Den, after us niggahs wuz set free, I stayed on with Missus Plummer. I’d burn charcoal and cut wood f’ de steamboats, and when de trains started comin’ through, I cut wood for dem too. Mrs. Pummer, she give me mos’ of de money too.
“Well, I’se getting’ tired now, from settin’ up, but I loves to talk over de good ole’ days-we didn’t need no relief den”. (WPA For Mississippi Historical Data-Jackson County, State Wide Historical Project, (1936-1938), pp. 235-236)

The 1850 Census
The 1850 Federal Census data of the Ocean Springs area indicates a Caucasian population of less two hundred. There were about fifty-two bondsmen or 22% of the local population. Of the thirty-six households surveyed in the village, only ten possessed slaves. The majority of these indentured people were employed as domestics in the large waterfront estates of the wealthy. Only about 25% of the local slave population was used in servile labor-primarily as sawmill workers on Old Fort Bayou.
A summary of slave owners in the Ocean Springs area was taken from the 1850 Federal Slave Census of Jackson County. Since slaves were considered chattel, not people, only their number and sex were recorded.

Martha E. Austin (1818-1898) was born Porter in Tennessee. She was the wife of Dr. W.G. Austin (1812-1894) of New Orleans, who founded the Ocean Springs Hotel, which gave its name to Ocean Springs in 1854. The Austins maintained a home here and at New Orleans. She owned two male and three female slaves.

Philip P. Bowen (1799-1871) was a Baptist minister from South Carolina, who is credited with discovering and developing the mineral springs near Old Fort Bayou in 1852. He served the Tidewater Baptist Church congregation from 1847-1859. Reverend Bowen possessed five male and two female slaves. He expired in Clarke County, Mississippi

Abram Davis (1811-1850+) was a Mississippi native and farmer. He possessed four slaves-a male and female Negro, and a male and female mulatto.

Andrew B. Dodd (1806-1850+)-was born at Kentucky. He was a physician and an associate of W.G. Kendall. Dr. Dodd owned three male and two female slaves

Edgar James (1797-ca 1858)-was a carpenter born at South Carolina. He possessed four male, two female, and a male mulatto bondman.

William Gray Kendall (1812-1872)-was born at Kentucky. He and his family resided at New Orleans where he was an attorney and served as postmaster. The Kendall summer home at Ocean Springs was situated where “Shadowlawn”, the exquisite Nancy and Bill Wilson residence and tourist home, is today on Shearwater Drive. In 1850, Mr. Kendall was also the largest slave-holder in Harrison County, Mississippi. He operated a brickyard on the old Moran tract at present day D’Iberville where he worked 162 slaves. At Ocean Springs, the Kendalls owned three female and two male slaves.

George Lynch (1815-1850+) was born in Maryland. He operated a sawmill on Old Fort Bayou. In order to process his logs to make lumber and run his household, Mr. Lynch utilized thirteen male, one female, and a female mulatto slave. The village was called Lynchburg Springs in 1853, when the US Post Office was operated by Robert Little.

Warrick Martin (1810-1850+) was a native of Pennsylvania. He was an attorney and land speculator and resided on Biloxi Bay. The Martin household had a male and female slave.

William L. Porter (1811-1850+) was a merchant from Tennessee. His sister was Martha E. Austin (1818-1898), the spouse of Dr. Austin. Mr. Porter possessed one female and one female mulatto. Porter Avenue is named for this family.

Jean-Baptiste Seymour (1812-1887) was the owner of a 13-acre tract of land at Ocean Springs Jean-Baptiste Seymour, which he purchased from Dr. Andrew B. Dodd (1806-1850+), in September 1849. The Seymour tract ran from Government Street to LaFontaine Avenue and was only 150 feet wide, except on its southern termination near present day LaFontaine Avenue, where it widened to 165 feet. Its western perimeter began 200 feet east of Dewey Avenue. Seymour paid Dr. Dodd $11.54 per acre for this land. He owned a male slave.

The 1860 Census
By 1860, the population of Ocean Springs had increased to over three hundred Caucasians. The indentured persons ratio decreased to 15% as the total slave population increased by only five from the 1850 Federal Slave Census to fifty-seven bondsmen. Slave owners and the number of slaves in their possession at Ocean Springs for the 1860 Federal Slave Census of Jackson County, Mississippi were as follows:

Philip P. Bowen owned two male and a female slave.

George Allen Cox (1811-1887) was an entrepreneurial pioneer at Ocean Springs. He was born in Tennessee and settled in Holmes County, Mississippi where he ran a sawmill. In 1850, Cox married a widow, Sarah Ann Sheppard (1820-1860+), the mother-in-law of R.A. VanCleave (1840-1908). The Cox family owned a plantation in Yazoo County, and a summer home, “Magnolia Grove”, on the beach at Ocean Springs, which they had discovered in the early 1850s. By 1854, Cox was well established at Ocean Springs. He owned the local newspaper, The Gazette, and had substantial real estate holdings in the area. Mr. Cox had two male mulattos and four female mulattos in 1860.

Francisco Coyle (1813-1891) was born in Spain. He and his spouse, Magdalena Ougatte Pons (1813-1904), resided on Jackson Avenue where they ran a restaurant as early as 1857. (The Orleans Crescent, June 2, 1857, p. 1) Their daughter, Laura C. Schmidt Brady (1857-1931), married Charles E. Schmidt (1851-1886) and was the grandmother of Drs. Frank O. Schmidt (1902-1975) and Harry J. Schmidt (1905-1997) and Mayor and local historian, C. Ernest Schmidt (1904-1988). The Coyle family had four male mulattos and two female slaves.

A.B. Davis possessed two female slaves.

Samuel Davis (1804-1879) was a native of Burk County, Georgia. At Jackson County, Mississippi he was a farmer and large landholder. Davis married Elvira Ward (1821-1901) and together they reared a large family on Davis Bayou. His sons, George W. Davis (1842-1914) and Elias S. Davis (1859-1925), became successful Washington Avenue merchants. Mr. Davis possessed two male and one female slave in 1850.

John Egan (1827-1875) was an Irish immigrant who lived at the foot of Jackson Avenue. He was active in local commerce as at various periods, Egan operated a mercantile business and barroom, served as US Postmaster, Justice of the Peace, and wharf master of the steamboat landing. Mr. Egan utilized one male mulatto.

Mary Kendall (1816-1878), the spouse of W.G. Kendall (1812-1872), was born Mary Philomela Irwin (1816-1878), the daughter of John Lawson Irwin (d, 1867) and Martha (Patsy) Mitchell (1793-1831), on her father’s plantation, Puck-shonubbee, in Carroll County, Mississippi. She possessed a female slave.

Mary G. Plummer (1808-1878) was the spouse of Joseph R. Plummer (1804-1870+) and possibly a sister of Martha E. Austin. She married A.G. Buford of Water Valley, Mississippi after Plummer’s demise. The Plummers owned a large estate called “Oak Lawn” which was situated in the present day Gulf Hills development. She possessed seven male, four female, three male mulatto, and two female mulatto slaves in 1860. One of the Plummer’s bondsmen, Nat Plummer (ca 1840-1936+), was interviewed by WPA researchers during the Depression.

Jean-Baptise Seymour (1812-1887) raised livestock, primarily cattle, at Fontainebleau until the family moved to Ocean Springs circa 1849. He owned a 13-acre strip of land, which ran from County Road (Government) to LaFontaine. Seymour owned two male and three female mulattos.

Peter Seymour (1810-1888) was also a livestock farmer. After he left the original Seymour homestead at Fontainebleau, he settled at Ocean Springs where he was a butcher be fore he relocated north of Old Fort Bayou. Peter Seymour owned one male slave in 1850.

Belle M. Tiffin (1824-1900) was born at Columbus, Ohio. She was the wife of Dr. Clayton Tiffin (ca 1784-1859) of New Orleans. Mrs. Tiffin resided on an estate fronting on Biloxi Bay, which is now the Shearwater Pottery of the Anderson clan. She owned a female mulatto.

John B. Walker (1813-1860+) was a native of the District of Columbia. He was a boatman and managed the steamboat wharf at the foot of Jackson Avenue. Captain Walker possessed two male and four female slaves.

J.R. (sic) Walker (1817-1897) was a born in the Nation’s capitol. In 1836, he became licensed to preach as a Methodist minister. Reverend Walker resided at New Orleans, but maintained a summer estate on Biloxi Bay near the present day CSX Railroad bridge. The Walker’s owned six females slaves in 1860.

The Civil War
      The Civil War at Ocean Springs was rather benign in terms of combat, but corporal hardships were suffered by the local populous-a result of the Union naval blockade of the Mississippi Sound. Company A, The Live Oak Rifles, of the 3rd Mississippi Regiment had marched off to war under the command of Colonel John B. McRae. Major events of the conflict here were the bivouac of the Delta Rifles of the 4th Louisiana Infantry in the Summer of 1861 on the W.B. Schmidt estate and the incursion of a small naval force from Admiral Farragutt’s Union fleet at Ship Island. These Federal marines and sailors seized mail and a US postal scale from the Egan’s “Confederate” post office on Jackson Avenue.
      Martha Gilmore Robinson (1888-1987+), the granddaughter of Arthur Ambrose Maginnis (1822-1901) of New Orleans, has passed on to her immediate family through written essays several stories concerning slaves during the Civil War. Although these tales only have a slight bearing on our local history, they are extremely interesting and germane to the understanding of some Southern master-slave relationships.
      One story from Mrs. Robinson concerns Peter Brown (1843-1919), the male body servant of A.A. Maginnis (1846-1901). Mr. Maginnis was an entrpreneur from New Orleans, who was the proprietor of the prosperous Maginnis Cotton Mills located near the present day New Orleans Convention Center. The Maginnis family also owned a large estate on the Front Beach at Ocean Springs.
      Peter Brown was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He came into the Maginnis family via Captain John T. Nolan (1841-1898), the brother-in-law, of A.A. Maginnis. Shortly after the surrender of New Orleans, Peter Brown joined Lieutenant Maginnis, who was on the staff of General Miles, the leader of the Miles Legion. As told by to Mrs. Gilmore by A.A. Maginnis, the following is an anecdotal story from the Civil War:

If it hadn’t been for Peter (Brown), many a time I would have gone without food. I remember one time, towards the end (of the conflict), when the country had been scraped clean, we were living mostly on parched corn that Peter would slip through the enemy lines and steal from Yankee horses. Well, Peter turned up with a ham bone. Where he got it, or how, I never dares to ask, but we must have lived a week on it….We had ham bone served so many ways that Peter could have made a fortune on patenting them. Horse corn boiled with hambone didn’t taste so bad and peppergrass greens boiled with hambone was a dish fit for a king.

Post-bellum Days
     Reconstruction in the Old South was an onerous transition for both races-economically and politically. Black and White suffered corporally, and political wounds gouged during this era were deep and lasting. It took over one hundred years for the Republican Party to gain White support in the South.
     With the Federal Census of 1870, Black family surnames names began to appear at Ocean Springs. Probably all of these families were former slaves. Among them were: Smith-Blount, Plummer, Dove, and McInnis. George W. Smith (1857-1953), who was born into slavery on the Benson place north of Old Fort Bayou, associated the Black families of Dove with Bradford, Henshaw and Ramsay, and Satcher with Davis.(The Gulf Coast Times, September 30, 1949, p. 5)
     A discussion of some of the first Black families of Ocean Springs follows:

                                                                    SMITH-BLOUNT
     Johanna Smith-Blount (1830-1902) was possibly a native of Norfolk, Virginia. Before the Civil War, she was the property of Mrs. Edgar (Leannah or Lana) R. James, who came to Ocean Springs before 1850, with her husband and brother, Opie Hutchins (1808-1887), from Gainesville, Alabama. Johanna Smith-Blount bought land while she was a slave, but could not own it until her emancipation. Mrs. James held the tract of land in her name, until Mrs. Smith-Blount could have a merchantable title. Mr. James was killed in the Civil War (sic) and she became a midwife. Among the slaves that the James brought with them to Ocean Springs was Edgar Smith, who worked for Dr. Cross on East Beach. Both the James family and Hutchins lived on Old Fort Bayou.(The Gulf Coast Times, August 26, 1949, p. 5 and September 30, 1949, p. 5)
      The factual data concerning the James family does not exactly support the opening statement.   The writer therefore presents both the factual and anecdotal chronology for the reader to analyze for himself.

James Family Facts
      In the 1850 Federal Census of Jackson County, Mississippi, Edgar R. James (1799-1855), a Sumner District, South Carolina born carpenter, is married to Maria James (1802-1850+), also a native of South Carolina. Their children are: Talifero James (1829-1859+), Catherine James (1832-1850+), John G. James (1834-1850+), Matthew G. James (1838-1850+), Laura J. Fairly (1841-1859), and James James (1843-1850+).
      In the 1850 Slave Census of Jackson County, Mississippi, Edgar James possessed four male, two female, and a male mulatto bondman.
     Edgar R. James expired at Ocean Springs on March 23, 1855 at the age of fifty-six years at his home on Old Fort Bayou.

(The Ocean Springs Gazette, March 24, 1855, p. 2)

In May 1859, Eliza G. James of Wayne County, Mississippi appointed Talifero James of Franklin County, Mississippi with power of attorney to sell her 1/6 interest in four Negro slaves, Sam, Tabby, Rachel, and Hannibal, property legated by Edgar James deceased of Jackson County, Mississippi. Similarly, Talifero James was given power of attorney by Laura James Fairly of Wayne County, Mississippi to convey her interest in these slaves.

Opie Hutchins (Fact)
Opie Hutchins (1804-1887) was born in Alabama or Georgia. He was in the Ocean Springs area as early as 1850, when he residing with a charcoal burner named Boyd (1811-1850+). In 1860, Hutchins began acquiring land along the Ocean Springs-Vancleave Road in Section 24, T7S-R8W. In 1870, he was a farmer and had a Black cook, Kate Davis (1798-1870+), in his household.
Opie Hutchins died at Meridian, Mississippi in May 1887, while an inmate of the Mississippi Insane Asylum. (The Pascagoula Democratic-Star, May 27, 1887, p. 3)

Opie Hutchins (Anecdotal)
According to Joseph L. “Dode” Schrieber (1873-1951), an old time resident of Ocean Springs, Opie Hutchins was demented. As a small boy, Dode and his brother cut firewood. One day Hutchins surprised them when he sprung from behind a tree. He was armed with an old musket. Hutchins demanded that they unload their wood and set fire to it in order that no one could use it. (The Gulf Coast Times, August 26, 1949, p. 5)
Mr. Schrieber further relates that Opie Hutchins was the brother of a Mrs. James who had come to Ocean Springs from Virginia bringing Edgar Smith, a Black slave. Hutchins lived singly in a shack on Old Fort Bayou near the old Shannon Place, now the Fort Bayou Estates subdivision. He always carried an old musket and kept several in his hovel. In time, Hutchins became more reclusive and mean spirited. (Ibid.)

Johanna Smith-Blount
With Samuel Smith, Johanna Smith-Blount had twenty children but only a handful survived to adulthood. Federal census data and her last will indicate that the surviving progeny of this union were: Samuel Smith (1845-1901+), Henry Smith (1849-1901+), Edgar Smith (1851-1901+), Pollie Smith (Sarah Benson?) (1855-1901+), George Washington Smith (1857-1953), and Alice Sherman.
There was a Henry Smith appointed Postmaster at Ocean Springs on July 13, 1866. Since this was during the incipient years of Reconstruction and during the Democratic administration of President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), it appears that Henry Smith was Black and could have been the son of Johanna Smith-Blount. After the Civil War, with the protection of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, African Americans enjoyed a period when they were allowed to vote, actively participate in the political process, acquire the land of former owners, seek their own employment, and use public accommodations.

In 1865, shortly before Civil war hostilities ceased, the Smith family was freed and sent to Ship Island. They resided on several Louisiana plantations before returning to Mrs. James at Ocean Springs circa 1869. Mr. Smith expired in Louisiana and Johanna married Harry Blount (1808-1889+), a Black man from North Carolina, who had served with the Union forces. (The Gulf Coast Times, September 30, 1949)

Blount land

     In July 1880, Leannah James (1807-1880+) sold Mrs. Blount 40 acres of land, the SW/4 of the SW/4 of Section 21, T7S-R8W. Edgar James had acquired a patent on this parcel in July 1860. (JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 4, pp. 540-541 and Bk. 62, pp. 470-471)
     Johanna Smith-Blount had a house built on this parcel and allowed Mrs. James to reside with her as the Civil War had severely reduced her wealth. The two women were like sisters, not as mistress and slave. Mrs. Leannah James expired in the Smith-Blount home. George W. Davis (1842-1914) and other Ocean Springs friends provided for her burial expenses. (The Jackson County Times, August 3, 1946, p. 1)
     In September 1884, Harry and Johanna Smith-Blount sold The African Methodist Episcopal Church a four-acre tract in the NE/4, SW/4, SW/4 of Section 21, T7S-R8W for a campground. The church held the property until February 1911, when Trustees of the Church, Thomas I. Keys (1861-1931), W.Z. Bradford, Charles Gaston, Alfred Smith, and Nate White (1881-1964), sold the campground tract to Walter Armstrong (1878-1945). (JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 7, pp. 335-336 and Bk. 37, pp. 17-18)
          In September 1901 and with a codicil to her will in May 1902, Johanna Smith-Blount legated her lands in the SW/4 of the SW/4 of Section 21, T7S-R8W to her children and grandchildren. At this time, Mrs. Blount was living on Lot 9 of Block 50 (Cox’s Map), which she left to her son, George W. Smith. Her other sons, Edgar Smith and Henry Smith, were given the seven-acres in the Blount tract on which they lived. Her daughters, Alice Sherman and Sarah Benson, were given about 5-acres each, while her granddaughter, Virginia King, was devised almost 8-acres. Grandsons, Shed Shivers, Sam Smith, and Willie Smith, were legated about 3-acres. (JXCO, Ms. Chancery Court Cause No. 894-April 1900 and Surveyor’s Record Bk. 1, J. Blount Est. Land-August 1906, p. 85)

Land Trust

Other primary owners of the Johanna Blount tract have been Juliet L. Hanley of St. Louis, Missouri, the widow of Frank G. Hanley; William L. Barbour; Samuel J. Logan; Jacqueline Logan Hand; and since August 1993, Jan T.J. Vos and Juliette Hand Vos. Commercial sites in the Blount tract are the Howard Shopping Center and Hancock Bank, which are situated on Bienville Boulevard west of Hanley Road. In 2005, the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain acquired 30-acres of the former Blount tract, called "Twelve Oaks", from the Vos family for $1.8 million dollars.(The Sun Herald, March 19, 2006, p. G1)

DOVE
In the 1870 Federal Census of Jackson County, Mississippi, there were two Dove families that of Basil Dove (1815-1870+) and Osbourne Dove (1835-1870+). Both men were native of the District of Columbia. It appears that the only male Dove to remain in the area was Charles Dove (1862-1900+), a son of Basil Dove, who was married to Louisa Henshaw. They had a son, Albert Dove (1899-1900+), who was adopted, as his parents were from Virginia.

                                                                             McKINNIS
     The McKinnis family had its origins in North Carolina. Many Blacks from the Tar Heel State found their way into western Jackson County via the naval stores industry. Emmanuel McKinnis (1820-1880+), the progenitor of the local McKinnis clan had a large family with his spouse, Martha McKinnis (1829-1880+), a Georgia native. Emmanuel McKinnis toiled as a charcoal burner to support his family.
     One of their sons, Albert McKinnis (1864-1915), married Jane House (1874-1950), the daughter of Brian House and Mary Weldy. Albert McKinnis passed in May 1915, and was eulogized as “ a universally respected member of our Colored colony”. (The Ocean Springs News, May 6, 1915, p. 2)
     His widow, Jane House McKinnis, made her livelihood as a laundress while rearing her two sons: Willie McKinnis (1904-1950+) and Albert Thomas “Moochie” McKinnis (1906-1945). Mrs. McKinnis was a faithful member of the Macedonia Baptist Church. (The Gulf Coast Times, August 5, 1950, p. 8)
     Willie McKinnis (1904-1950+) married Emma Seymour (1903-1920+), a sister of Henry Seymour (1910-1978). In 1920, he was employed as a grocery deliveryman and later worked as a porter for Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Service in Biloxi. He was with the O’Keefe firm when they celebrated their 25th year at Biloxi. No further information.(The Daily Herald, June 24, 1948, p. 9)
     Albert T. “Moochie” McKinnis (1906-1945) married Ruth Salome Bethea (1906-1998), the daughter of Elijah Bethea (1885-1937) and Sarah Bethea (1885-1974). Her sisters were Rosella M. Johnson (b. 1904) and May M. Hardy (b. 1905)      In his youth, Moochie delivered groceries for Albert Gottsche’s Thrifty Nifty. In later life, he operated a drayage business and worked at the L&N depot. (The Gulf Coast Times, November 24, 1945, p. 1)
     After the Gottsche Store became affiliated with the IGA, Independent Grocers of America, people would ask Moochie what IGA meant, and he would respond with a grin, “I, George (Maxwell), and Albert (Gottsche)”. (Liz Lemon Roberts, March 3, 2001)

STUART-SMITH
Alfred Burton Stuart (1860-1928), oft-misspelled Stewart, was a Mississippi born mulatto. He made his livelihood at Ocean Springs as a truck farmer and dairyman. Mr. Stuart resided in a two-story house located on the northeast corner of General Pershing and Porter with his black, Louisiana born wife, Clara Harding (1869-1914). Stuart acquired this lot (75 feet x 247 feet) in November 1904, from the Curtiss Estate.(JXCO Land Deed Bk. 29, pp. 419-420)

Colonel W.R. Stuart family

[l-r: unknown, W.R. Stuart (1820-1894), Tempy Burton (1821-1925), Elizabeth McCauley Stuart (1841-1925), unknown)

Courtesy of Renee' Smith, NYC

Colonel W.R. Stuart
     Alfred B. Stuart is alleged to have been the son of Colonel W.R. Stuart (1820-1894). His mother, Temple "Tempy" Burton (1821-1925), a native of Louisiana, was the slave of the Stuarts. She was given to Mrs. Elizabeth McCauley Stuart (1841-1925) as a wedding gift. After slavery was abolished, Tempy Burton elected to remain with the Stuarts as their cook. When she died in Ocean Springs on March 1, 1925, at the age of one hundred-four years, Tempy Burton had been with the late Mrs. Stuart for seventy years.(The Daily Herald, March 3, 1925, p. 3, c. 4)
Mrs. Elizabeth M. Stuart preceded Tempy Burton in death by about two months. She provided for her former slave and near life companion in her will leaving Aunt Tempy Burton $500. (JXCO, Miss. Chancery Court Cause No. 4500-1925)
      In addition to Alfred B. Stuart, Temple Burton had six children. Three were alive in 1900. A daughter, Violet S. Battle (1863-1933+), probably lived at Ocean Springs. She is known to have been a nanny for the children of a Mrs. Jahnke who resided at New Orleans. Other children of Tempy Burton were: Louis Stuart (1866-1877+), Warren Stuart (1867-1877+) and May Stuart (1869-1877+). (JXCO, Miss. 1877 Enumeration of Educable Children, p. 22)
      Colonel W.R. Stuart was a very successful businessman at New Orleans where he prospered as a sugar and cotton broker. Born near Centerville, Kent County, Maryland, young W.R. Stuart made his way from West Virginia to Louisiana settling in the Bayou State in 1840. After retirement in 1871, he relocated to Ocean Springs. Here Mr. Stuart began a new career as a gentleman farmer, stockman, and horticulturist. (Goodspeed, Vol. II, 1891, p. 863)

The Pascagoula Democrat-Star of May 2, 1884, announced:

Col. W.R. Stuart has sold, so we have been informed, his orange grove on the Back Bay of Biloxi to Mr. Parker Earle of Cobden, Illinois. Mr. Earle is chief of the horticultural department of the World's Exposition.

W.R. Stuart was highly regarded for his merino sheep and pecan experimentation. In fact, Stuart has been called "the father of pecan culture in the South". In 1890, he was named as the originator of the Stuart and the Van Deman pecan varieties by the US Department of Agriculture. (Goodspeed, Vol. II, 1891, p. 863)

     Colonel Stuart is known to have shipped a large quantity of pecans to Melbourne, Australia in October 1890. (The Biloxi Herald, November 8, 1890, p. 4)
      Colonel Stuart was married to Elizabeth McCauley (1841-1925), a Mississippi native of North Carolina heritage. Mrs. Stuart had an invalid brother, Robert W. McCauley (1837-1912), who lived with them. She and Colonel Stuart had no children, but were very philanthropic people. The Stuarts supported the First Methodist Church at Ocean Springs, which was located on Porter near Washington Avenue and built in 1872.   Mrs. Stuart willed many personal items and gifts to this local Methodist congregation. Included among these personal items were her valuable bookcase and pictures. Other gifts included: the three large, lancet, stain-glassed windows in memory of Bishop J.C. Keener (1819-1906), Colonel W.R. Stuart, and Mrs. Lizzie Stuart; a cash gift of $500 to secure a library for the Sunday school; a cash gift of $2000 to construct "The Lizzie McCauley Stuart Memorial Rooms", Sunday school class rooms. (The New Orleans Christian Advocate, November 19, 1925, p. 9)
     The large stained glass windows in the St. Paul's United Methodist Church on Porter and Rayburn Avenue were legated in 1925, by Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart for the original 1900 church building on the same site. They were installed in the 1962 sanctuary at the same location. (The Ocean Springs Record, July 10, 1997, p. 24)
      The corporal remains of Alfred B. Stuart and Clara H. Stuart, Tempy Burton, and Colonel W.R. Stuart and Mrs. Elizabeth M. Stuart are interred in the Evergreen Cemetery at Ocean Springs.

Albert Burton Smith (1860-1928)

[Courtesy of Renee' Smith, NYC]

Alfred B. Stuart
     Alfred B. Stuart and Clara Harding married circa 1882. They had nine children and seven daughters survived: Tempy S. Smith (1884-1960), Tillie S. Raby (1885-1905), May Stuart (b. 1886), Beulah Stuart (b. 1887), Bertha Stuart Wright (1889-1960+), Lillian Stuart (1892-1960+), and Helena Stuart (1899-1914+)
     Alf Stuart owned the Clara Dairy, which probably began operations about 1893. As there were no stock laws in Ocean Springs at this time, he often lost cows. In April 1898, two were killed by a L&N railroad train as it passed through town. (The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, April 29, 1898)
      A.B. Stuart was also very knowledgeable in the field of animal husbandry. He bred animals for other people as well as caring for ailing beasts. Stuart maintained a community bull for breeding purposes. Senior citizens remember Alfred Stuart as a robust man who often wore his shirt open exposing his muscular chest. (J.K. Lemon, April 1993)
Alfred B. Stuart died at New Orleans on October 4, 1928. He had been hospitalized for stomach and heart problems. His body was sent to Ocean Springs for burial in the Evergreen Cemetery. On October 6, 1928, The Jackson County Times, the local journal, said of Mr. Stuart:

Alf Stewart (sic) was respected by both white and colored people. He was intelligent, industrious, and frugal. His death is regretted by all who knew him. (p. 3)

Tempy E. Stuart Smith (1884-1960) and children

[l-r: Joseph B. Smith, Tillie Katherine Smith, Tempy E. Smith, Geraldine V. Smith, and Alfred Burton Smith]

Courtesy of Renee' Smith, NYC

Tempy E. Stuart
The eldest Stuart child, Tempy Elizabeth Stuart (1884-1960), was an excellent musician. She taught piano lessons at Ocean Springs and had students in other coastal cities. Other piano teachers at Ocean Springs contemporaneous with Miss Stuart were Miss Corrine “Cody” McClure (1887-1961) and Miss Lillie Cochran (1884-1961).

John Baptist Smith (1883-1943)

(Courtesy of Renee' Smith, NYC)

    In May 1904, Miss Tempy E. Stuart married John Baptist Smith (1883-1943), sometime called Jean-Baptiste DuConge, at Handsboro, Mississippi in Harrison County. John B. Smith was born in Mississippi, the son of John Smith and Edith Higgins. He was employed as a brakeman for the L&N Railroad. The Smith family lived at New Orleans and Ocean Springs, where they reared a large family. The names and ages of the Smith children are as follows: Geraldine "Jeri Lee" S. Fletcher (1905-1961), Alfred B. Smith (1907-1989), Matilda Katherine “Tillie” S. Brigman (1909-1976), John B. Smith (1911-2005), Clara Smith (1913-c.1923), Joseph Benjamin Smith (1915-1996), Helena S. Ransom (1917-1950+), and Margaret Smith (1918-1918). A nephew, Randall Williams (1899-1920+), was living with them at Ocean Springs in 1920.
      Tempy Stuart Smith bought two lots in the General Pershing and Porter Avenue area of Ocean Springs near her father's dairy from H.F. Russell in 1911 and 1915. (JXCO Land Deed Bk. 37, p. 284 and Land Deed Bk. 41, p. 449) Here on the northeast corner of Porter and Pecan (now Ward) at 70 East Porter, she reared her family. The Smiths divorced at Jackson County, Mississippi in 1920. (JXCO, Miss. Chancery Court Cause No. 4040-May 1920)
     It is believed that John Smith later lived at Bay St. Louis before relocating to New York City. In the Big Apple, he worked as a self-employed mechanic and resided at 450 West 149th Street. Mr. Smith expired here on April 11, 1943. His remains were interred in the Cypress Hills Cemetery at Brooklyn. (Certificate of Death No. 8942-Bureau of Records, Dept. of Health-Borough of Manhattan)
      In the mid-1920s, the Smith family had a family orchestra called “Madam Tempy & Smith”. In 1924, they toured the north in their unique automobile. Some of their local gigs were at the Tourist Club in Biloxi.(The Daily Herald, March 24, 1925, p. 3)

New York
     Circa 1927, Tempy Smith suddenly exited Ocean Springs for New York City. She and the children settled at 310 Convent Avenue. Tempy worked very hard teaching piano and traveling with her musically talented children in a minstrel show. She developed several music studios in the Big Apple, and her skill as a teacher of piano, voice, and musical theory was widely acclaimed. Mrs. Smith acquired real estate holdings at New York City and Long Island. She owned a large rooming house at Rockaway Beach, Long Island called, "The Cherokee". Tempy related to her grandchildren that they had an Indian heritage, probably Cherokee. (Jeri “Snox Fox” Lawrence, November 1994)
Tempy Smith lost her Ocean Springs property known as No. 70 East Porter to the State of Mississippi when she failed to pay taxes due for 1929. It was sold in a tax sale in 1942. (JXCO Chancery Court No. 6639-June 1942)

Geraldine “Jeri” Smith Fletcher (1905-1961), Tempy’s oldest child, achieved much fame in the music and entertainment world. She was born in New Orleans and attended schools in New York City graduating from George Washington High School. As a child, Jeri Smith studied piano, strings, and woodwind instruments, completing her classical music education at the New England Conservatory of Music at Boston. She made a name for herself as a boogie-woogie pianist and jazz band leader, performing on radio and in supper clubs from coast to coast. In 1932, Jeri was discovered by Miriam Hopkins who signed her for a part in the motion picture, “The Smiling Lieutenant”, which was produced on Long Island.
     On February 10, 1945, Jeri Smith made her debut at Carnegie Hall. She called her music “synco-symphonic”. Playing her own up-tempo arrangements from the classical works of Tschaikowsky, Puccini, Godard, Grieg, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff, Miss Smith created a controversy in the New York City music world. She was accompanied by a thirty-piece orchestra directed by Sammy Stewart and dancer, Tempie.
     Other children and grandchildren of Tempy Stuart Smith were talented in music, dancing, and acting. Son, Joseph B. Smith (1915-1996), was featured at five years of age as “The Wizard Drummer” when he and his siblings played at Ocean Springs and on the road in the south and southwest. Later he teamed with his sister, Helena, as a tap dancing act performing in the nightclubs of New York City. As a solo dance performer, Joe Smith on many occasions won the strong approval of the audiences at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He was also an excellent choreographer. (Celebrating The Memory of Joseph Benjamin Smith, St. Simon of Cyrene, St. Louis, Missouri-April 16, 1996)
     Helena Smith Ransom (1917-1950+), who married Harlem attorney, Clem C. Ransom, a native of St. Louis, also taught music in New York City. She was legated her mother’s music studio and pianos at 310 Convent Avenue. (The Last Will and Testament of Tempy Stuart Smith) Her daughter, Kathleen Ransom Bean (b. 1943), was an acclaimed child dancer.
     Renee Adrienne Smith-Rosen of Manhattan, the granddaughter of John B. Smith (1911-2005), a resident of Tampa, won the 1990 Miss Delaware USA pageant. (The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 25, 1990, p. 3-K)
     Tempy Stuart Smith died at New York City on November 3, 1960. Her remains were interred in the Cypress Hills Cemetery at Brooklyn, New York. Most of her descendants reside in the New York City area today. Some of the Tempy Stuart Smith family has relocated to Florida, California, and Missouri.

KEYS

Thomas I. Keys (1861-1931)

Thomas I. Keys
     Thomas Isaac Keys (1861-1931), called Ike, was born at Brookhaven, Mississippi the son of Preston Keys and Mary Porter (1835-1880+). Ike Keys was unique in that he was a staunch Republican in a largely Democratic society. He was routinely appointed US Postmaster here during the administrations of several Republican presidents. Keys served the people of Ocean Springs in this capacity in the years 1889-1893 and 1897-1911.
     In December 1905, Post Master Keys reappoint to office was announced in The Biloxi Daily Herald with that of Dr. William B. Martin of Indianola.(The Biloxi Daily Herald, December 18, 1905, p. 4)
     In addition to his governmental duties, Mr. Keys operated a retail store selling groceries, stationary, clothes, etc. The Keys store was originally located on the southwest corner of Washington Avenue and Desoto Street. This tract was owned by the Gottsche family and became the site of the A.C. Gottsche store in 1912.
     In August 1904, Mr. Keys advertised his business in The Progress:

FINE STATIONARY

The Latest Styles in Shapes and Colors

Tablets, Envelopes, Blotters, Pens, Ink, Pencils, Paper, Box Paper, Baseballs, Cigars

THOMAS I. KEYS

Thomas I. Keys Family

[top l-r: Marshall Keys, Amelie Marie Keys, Thomas Keys Jr]

[bottom: l-r: Clarice Kinler?, Lewis Keys, Mary Porter?]

Courtesy of Judy Thompson

Keys family
     Between 1870 and 1880, Mary Porter left Lincoln County, Mississippi for Ocean Springs, with her three sons. Manuel Keys (1859-1881+), Thomas I. Keys (1861-1931), and Rankin Keys (1871-1888+). She had been employed by Dr. Boswell. At Ocean Springs, Mary found employed as a housekeeper. In February 1881, Manuel married Tarcella Cooper. They had a child, Thomas I. Keys (b. 1880). Rankin Keys married Olivia Dove in April 1888. (Judy Thompson, December 1, 1997)
     Circa 1890, Thomas Isaac Keys (1861-1931) married Amelia Kinler (1867-1899), the daughter of Clarissa Kinler (1840-1900+), and a native of New Orleans.   She was born November 17, 1867. Their children were: Mary Amelia Keys (1892-1920+), Thomas I. Keys, Jr. (1893-1920+), Marshall H. Keys (1895-1963), Louis J. Keys (1897-1931), and Amelia Clarissa Keys (1899-1899). Amelia Kinler Keys was Roman Catholic as all of her children were baptized at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church with the except of Louis. (Lepre, 1991, p. 169)

Asalene Smith Keys (1880-1930)

After the death of Amelia, Thomas I. Keys married Asalene Smith on July 16, 1901 at Ocean Springs. She was a native of Lee, Louisiana. They had nine children: Frederick Keys (died as an infant), Nora Lee Keys, Ruth Overta K. Johnson (1903-1984), Theodore R. Keys (1906-1960), Juliette K. Venable (1911-2003+), Preston Keys (1914-1920+), Earl Keys (1915-1989), Marguerite K. Bradshaw Delpit (1918-1995) and Melvin Keys (1919-2003).

Postmaster Keys
Ike Keys was US Postmaster at Ocean Springs, Mississippi from April 16, 1889 to April 12, 1893 and from August 4, 1897 until March 3, 1911. He was appointed to this esteemed position following the election of Republican Presidents: Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), and Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919). Asalene Smith Keys, his spouse, was assistant postmaster from 1901 until 1911.
In March 1909, The Gulfport Record printed an article criticizing the appointment of Black postmasters at Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs. The journal vehemently stated, ‘it is to be hoped that this coast will not be again addicted with the disturbing element, the Negro in public office. It never fails in this country to accentuate the anti-Negro sentiment among white people in this country, and no good thing is accomplished for either race or political party by such appointments. (The Ocean Springs News, March 20, 1909, p. 1)

Key's real estate
The Keys family settlement was on acreage situated on the east side of Cash Alley between Robinson and Desoto Street. Ike Keys began acquiring land here in February 1882, when he paid $50 for a lot vended by George A. Cox (1811-1887), agent for E.W. Clark and Mary T. Clark on the southeast corner of Robinson and Cash Alley. (JXCO, Ms. Record of Deeds Bk. 7, pp. 630-631)
In January 1890, Keys purchased the lot of Margaret C. Delgado for $105. It was located on the northeast corner of Cash Alley and Desoto and was contiguous with his acquisition from the Clarks in 1882. The combined lots had 150 feet on Robinson and Desoto and were 300 feet in depth with an area of 1.05 acres. (JXCO, Ms. Record of Deeds Bk. 11, p. 494)

New store
When Albert C. Gottsche (1873-1949) began construction of his new grocery and retail store on the southwest corner of Washington Avenue and Desoto, Ike Keys had to relocate his business. In late October 1 911, The Ocean Springs News reported that Mr. Keys has opened a new store in his building located at the corner of Desoto Street and Cash Alley. He carried a general line of merchandise, including groceries, dry goods, notions, hardware, etc. (The Ocean Springs News, October 28, 1911)
In February 1919, Keys shipped a bale of cotton to New Orleans. The cotton had been grown nine miles north of Ocean Springs and was ginned and baled there. (The Jackson County Times, February 15, 1919)

New home-1105 Desoto Avenue
In early March 1918, the Thomas I. Keys family moved into a new domicile adjacent to his store on Desoto Street. The home was planned and built from foundation to garret by his two sons, Louis Keys (1897-1931) and Marshall Keys (1895-1963). Young son, Earl Keys, was seriously burned on his legs in a trash fire doing the construction. Marshall came off the roof to rescue him from the flames. (The Jackson County Times, March 16, 1918)
The Keys home, an exquisite bungalow, is extant at 1105 Desoto and is owned by Richard O. Thurmon and Karen R. Thurmon. They acquired it from the Heirs of Ruth Keys Johnson, the widow of Dr. Sol E. Johnson, in September 1990. (JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 964, pp. 902-906)

Cum Laude
In 1915, Thomas Ewing Dabney (1885-1970), the editor of The Ocean Springs News praised Mr. Keys for his leadership in the Black community. Dabney said that “(Keys) is an educated man and is devoting himself to the uplift of his people, and teaching them to live honorably and proudly.”(Dabney, 1915, p. 2)

Local and national politics
Thomas I. Keys was a member of the Jackson County, Mississippi Republican executive committee. He was a delegate to several Republican National Conventions. In June 1920, Ike Keys went to Chicago and supported General Leonard Wood (1860-1927), a former Roosevelt “Rough Rider”, in his unsuccessful bid as the Republican nominee for President. In 1924, he journeyed to Cleveland, Ohio to attend the Republican National Convention. Keys also attended the June 1928 Republican National Convention at Kansas City. (The Jackson County Times, May 29, 1920, p. 5 and June 23, 1928, p. 2 and Ellison, 1991, p. 98)
Asalene S. Keys departed life on April 25, 1930 at her Ocean Springs residence. Thomas I. Keys followed her shortly to eternal peace at Evergreen Cemetery with his demise on May 23, 1931.

Marshall H. Keys
      Marshall Herbert Keys (1895-1963) was born at Ocean Springs, on September 25, 1895. During WW I, he was mustered into the 65th Pioneer Infantry, U.S. Army. Private Keys was discharged in 1918. Circa 1921, he married Elizabeth Smith, a schoolteacher from Vossburg, Mississippi. They had a son, Marshall H. Keys Jr. (1923-1952). (The Daily Herald, October 29, 1963, p. 2)
     Marshall H. Keys is credited with protecting the Colored school land from developers after the schoolhouse burned in the early 1920s. Today, this site is the location of the Martin Luther King Jr. City Park on M.L. King Jr. Avenue. (J.K. Lemon, November 1995)
     Marshall H. Keys was a master carpenter, known for his deliberate work ethic. He was educated in the building trades at New Orleans. Keys and another skilled mason-contractor, Frederick “Fred” S. Bradford (1878-1951), worked together on several major construction projects in Ocean Springs, including the Ocean Springs Community Center, now internationally acclaimed for the 1951, Bob Anderson (1903-1965) murals. Bradford and Keys laid the concrete blocks and built trusses for the roof for this edifice dedicated in November 1950. Colonial Revival in style, this building was designed by the architectural firm of Landry, Matthis, and Olschner, in 1948. Beat Four Supervisor A.P. “Fred” Moran (1897-1967), W.J. Floreen (1888-1953), W.H. Calhoun, J.C. Gay (1909-1975), Judlin H. Girot (1912-1970), and Art Fifield (1888-1962) were community leaders in seeing this project to fruition. Mr. Key’s two-story home which he built at 902 M.L. King Jr. Avenue is extant. (J.K. Lemon, November 12, 1995 and Myrtle J. Keys, April 29, 2002)
      Marshall H. Keys Jr. (1923-1952) was murdered at Biloxi, Mississippi in June 1952, while attempting to quell a domestic disturbance in a rooming house. His assailant was a Black Airman stationed at Keesler AFB who fired one shot into Keys left forehead with a small caliber automatic handgun. The perpetrator was fighting with his spouse in their apartment at the time of the deadly assault.(The Gulf Coast Times, June 19, 1952, p. 8)

Elizabeth H. Keys
Elizabeth H. Keys (1892-1976), nee Smith, was born at Vossburg, Jasper County, Mississippi. She was educated at the New Orleans University Normal School, now Dillard University, Rust College, Holly Springs, Mississippi, and had graduate credits from Xavier University at New Orleans. Mrs. Keys initiated her career in education at Ocean Springs in 1918, and retired in May 1959. She was elected president of the Negro Teachers Association in September 1950. During her long tenure here, twenty-three years of which she was principal, she saw Black education progress from a small wood-framed structure on Vermont Avenue, now M.L. King Jr. Avenue, to the 1952 modern brick structure on North Railroad Street. In August 1959, when additions were made including classrooms, auditorium-gymnasium, and industrial workshop, this school was named Elizabeth Keys. After the integration of the Ocean Springs public school system in 1968, Elizabeth H. Keys became the Ocean Springs Junior High until 1975, when the new Junior High School was built on Government Street. The Elizabeth H. Keys Vocational Tech was established here in 1980. (The Gulf Coast Times, September 15, 1950, p. 1, The Ocean Springs News, August 20, 1959, p. 5, August 27, 1959, p. 2, and The Ocean Springs Record, November 16, 1995, p. 20 and November 23, 1995, p. 20)

Dr. Sol E. Johnson (1888-1951) and Ruth O. Keys Johnson (1903-1984)

[Courtesy of Abbie C. Johnson-Moss Point, Mississippi, May 2002]

Ruth O. Keys
     Ruth Overta Keys Johnson (1903-1984) was born at Ocean Springs on September 17, 1903. She was educated at Jackson State University and was principal of the Ocean Springs Black public school for several years before her marriage to Dr. Solomon Escol “Sol” Johnson (1888-1951) in the late 1920s. She also taught school in Biloxi and was Dean of Women at Jackson State University. Mrs. Johnson was a member of the St. James United Methodist Church, Dental Auxiliary of Mississippi, Zeta Phi Beta sorority, and Links Inc. Sol and Ruth had a son, Dr. Solomon E. Johnson Jr. (1930-1982). (The Daily Herald, May 16, 1984, p. A-2)
     Sol E. Johnson (1888-1951) was born on February 2, 1888, at Reform, Alabama. During WWI he served in France as a Sgt. Major in the US Army and was “gassed” by the Germans. Returning from the service, he studied dentistry as Meharry Medical and Dental College in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Johnson and family resided in Chicago until Isaac Keys became ill in the early 1930s. They moved to Ocean Springs to care for him and Sol E. Johnson was deemed qualified to practice dentistry in Mississippi in February 1931. A son, Solomon E. Johnson II (1930-1982), had been born, on February 28, 1930. (Abbey C. Johnson, May 7, 2002 and JXCO, Ms. Physician’s License Bk. 1, p. 211)
     In the 1940s, Dr. Johnson practiced dentistry at 737 Main Street in Biloxi. He expired on April 3, 1951 in the Biloxi VA Hospital and his corporal remains were sent to the Biloxi National Cemetery for internment. After Sol’s death, Ruth became Dean of Women at Jackson State University. She also traveled extensively to the Caribbean and Europe with Dr. Jacob L. Reddix (1897-1973), president of Jackson State, and his family. The Johnsons resided in the Keys family home at 1105 Desoto Street where he built a tennis court. Dr. Johnson was an avid bridge player as well as tennis afficianado(Myrtle J. Keys, April 29, 2002 and Abbie C. Johnson, May 7, 2002)

Solomon E. Johnson II
     Solomon E. Johnson II (1930-1982) studied medicine at Howard University in Washington D.C. While an intern at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis, he met Abbie Crawford (b. 1935), an attractive and intelligent young nurse from Poplar Grove, Missouri. They were married in the Keys home at Ocean Springs on May 4, 1958. After visiting Itta Bena, in the Mississippi Delta, where Dr. Johnson was recruited to practice medicine, he decided upon the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and settled on Magnolia Drive in Moss Point, Mississippi. The Johnson’s large, two-story home on Magnolia was erected by his uncles, Marshall H. Keys and Earl M. Keys. Dr. Sol E. Johnson II died at Moss Point on January 7, 1982. His corporal remains were sent to Ocean Springs for internment in the Evergreen Cemetery. (Abbie C. Johnson, May 7, 2002)

Solomon E. Johnson III
Sol E. Johnson III (1959-1999), was born at Moss Point. He finished Moss Point High School in 1977, and matriculated to Dillard University at New Orleans. Sol E. Johnson III was employed as an analytical researcher with K.V. Pharmaceuticals in Missouri. He expired at Olivette, Missouri on February 7, 1999. His remains were brought to Machpelah Cemetery in Pascagoula, Mississippi for burial.(The Mississippi Press, February 8, 1999)

Earl M. Keys
      Earl Marion Keys (1915-1989) was born at Ocean Springs on April 5, 1915. After an unsuccessful marriage, he formed a life partnership with Myrtle Jackson (b. 1922) of Pascagoula in the late 1940s. Like his father, Earl was a successful businessman. In the 1930s, he commenced his Keys Dry Cleaners on Washington Avenue and was the only dry cleaner in town until the Fallo Brothers, Joseph and John Fallo, opened their enterprise on Government Street in September 1956. (Myrtle J. Keys, April 30, 2002 and The Ocean Springs News, September 6, 1956, p. 1)
      After his marriage to Myrtle Jackson, Earl and Marshall H. Keys built the newly weds their home on the northeast corner of Government Street and Cash Alley. The cleaning business was also removed to Cash Alley from Washington Avenue. Myrtle continued the dry cleaning operation until 1990. Today, she uses the small facility to run her business-the alteration and fitting of clothes.(Myrtle J. Keys, April 30, 2002)
      In addition to his dry cleaning operations, Earl M. Keys also had a small stock farm in the Rose Farm community north of Ocean Springs. He and Myrtle had no children. Earl M. Keys passed on April 11, 1989. His corporal remains were interred in the Evergreen Cemetery.(The Ocean Springs Record, April 20, 1989, p. 3)

MAYFIELD

The Mayfield family of Ocean Springs appears to have originated in the piney woods of the Vancleave area. In 1880, James Mayfield (1850-1890+), a native of Mississippi is located in the Bluff Creek are making his living as a charcoal burner and subsistence farmer, like many of the indigenous population of the region. His father is from Mississippi and his mother is a Georgia native. In April 1878, James Mayfield married Leona Burney from North Carolina. Their children were: James Mayfield Jr. (1873-1920+), Martha Ann Mayfield (1877-1880+), Thomas Mayfield (1879-1880), Albert Mayfield (1880-1920+), David Mayfield (1882-1920+), and Ernest Mayfield (1890-1960).

The Mayfield children were educated at the Bluff Creek Colored School, sometimes called the New Light School. (JXCO, Ms. MRB 5, p. 120)
     In November 1879, James Mayfield attended a sale of lands forfeited by A.C. Steede. At the Jackson County Courthouse, he acquired 360 acres from Sheriff John E. Clark for $11.50. The Mayfield tracts consisted of the NE/4, NW/4, and the NW/4 of the SW/4 of Section 22, T6S-R7W. These lands are located about 2 miles southeast of Vancleave on the east side of Bluff Creek. They appear to have been lost thru non-payment of taxes. H.E. Woodman filed a legal action, Jackson County Chancery Court Cause No. 4846-November 1926, to clear title. Dolby and Minnie Mayfield were two of many defendants in this action.
     On November 6, 1884, James Mayfield received a patent from the Federal Government on 160 acres of the following lands in Jackson County, Mississippi: NW/4, SW/4, and the SE/4 of the NE/4, and the NE/4 of the SE/4 of Section 28, T5S-R7W. This land is on a high NW-SE trending ridge between Little Creek and Moungers Creek. It is a short distance east of Lake O Pines and southeast of Spring Lake. In September 1889, James Mayfield purchased an additional 40 acres from the State of Mississippi. It was a contiguous tract, the SE/4 of the NW/4 of Section 28, T5S-R7W.JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 64, pp. 88-89).

James Mayfield Jr. (1873-1920+)
     In April 1893, James Mayfield married Rosa Brown. In 1920, James Mayfield was a farmer at Vancleave and married to Eldwenia Ely, a mulatto, who he married on March 10, 1906. (JXCO, Ms. MRB 7, p. 68 and MRB 8, p. 38)

Albert Mayfield (1880-1900+)
Albert Mayfield was born December 1880, near Vancleave. He was adopted by John R. Fairley Jr. (1870-1900+). Albert worked with his brother, Dave Mayfield, as a box chipper. J.R. Fairley, Jr. was the son of North Carolinians, John R. Fairley (1844-1900+) and Caroline Fairley (1850-1900+). Mr. Fairley was a farm laborer. He had come to Mississippi before 1868.

David Mayfield (1882-1920+)
David Mayfield was born August 1882, near Vancleave. He also was the adopted son of John R. Fairley Jr. (1870-1900+). Both men were box chippers for a turpentine company in 1900. In April 1906, David Mayfield married Martha Anna Whittington. They had a daughter, Edna Mayfield (1908-1920+), and resided with Frank Galloway (1869-1920+) and Missouri Galloway (1875-1920+), her grandparents. Dave was a teamster hauling logs for a sawmill in the Vancleave area.(JXCO, Ms. MRB 8, p. 68)

Ernest P. Mayfield
     Ernest P. Mayfield (1890-1960) was a native of Vancleave, Mississippi, although his parents were from Louisiana. Circa 1903, he married Jessie Manning (1883-1943), who was born at Shubuta, Mississippi, the daughter of Anthony Manning.   Their children were: Callonia Mayfield Williams (1900-1969); Harold Manning Mayfield (1908-1971), Ernest P. Mayfield, Jr. (1914-1920+); Jessie Mayfield (1916-1971+), Anthony Mayfield (1919-1984), William H. Mayfield (1921-1943), and Beryl M. Austin. Another child died before 1910.   Hattie Davis (1883-1910+), a sister-in-law, was living with the Mayfields at Ocean Springs in 1910.
      Circa 1940, Ernest P. Mayfield married Clara Andrews (1878-1980), the widow of Mr. Fisher. She was born at Gautier and was the mother of Peter Fisher and Wilda E. Fisher Mayfield (1912-1996). Mr. Mayfield made his livelihood as a general laborer. The family resided at 2501 Railroad Street. Ernest P. Mayfield expired on August 13, 1960. Mrs. Mayfield passed on March 9, 1980. Their corporal remains were interred in the Evergreen Cemetery. (The Ocean Springs Record, March 13, 1980, p. 2)
      Harold Manning Mayfield (1908-1971) married Wilda Elizabeth Fisher (1912-1996) in January 1932. Their children were: Harold M. Mayfield Jr. (b. 1929), Clara Mayfield (1933-1941), James Mayfield, Susie M. Tatum, Monica Mayfield and Bailey Washington Mayfield (1949-1950). Mr. Mayfield worked for the L&N Railroad as a coal cutter and porter. He expired at Jackson, Mississippi in August 1971.(The Daily Herald, August 20, 1971, p. 2)
     In her youth, Wilda F. Mayfield worked as a domestic for the R.W. Hamill (1863-1943) family of Clarendon Hills, Illinois, at their Belle Fontaine Beach home with cook, Bella Jacobs, and Buddy Roberts. She was educated in Gautier and St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Mayfield taught school in Jackson County and was active in all phases of Baptist church work at Ocean Springs, where she was secretary of the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church for fifty years. She passed on in October 1996. Mr. and Mrs. Harold M. Mayfield were interred in Evergreen Cemetery at Ocean Springs. (Genevieve Byrd Webb, November 1995 and The Ocean Springs Record, December 15, 1977, p. 13)

ROCHON-VINCENT

     The Rochon-Vincent family of Ocean Springs was originally from New Orleans, and they had their roots in French Colonial Mobile. The Rochons and Vincents were devout Roman Catholics. Alcide Rochon (1880-1920+) and Lena Vincent Rochon (1884-1920+), the progenitors of the local Rochon family, arrived here just after the turn of the 20th Century. Mr. Rochon had an eatery at Ocean Springs before he became a porter for the L&N Railroad. Mrs. Rochon did laundry at her domicile, which was a common occupation for Balck women at this time. The Alcide Rochon family consisted of three children: Alcidia Rochon (1903-2001), Marguerite Rochon Satcher (1906-1997), and Allison X. Rochon (1918-1987). (The Ocean Springs Record, February 23, 1995, p. 19)
     Alcidia Rochon (1903-2001) left Ocean Springs for Washington D.C. and worked as a housekeeper and cook for the St. Louis Catholic Church at Clarksville, Maryland. In January 1943, she acquired 1313 Robinson, one of the 1891 C.W. Madison railroad cottages, from Mrs. Anna Rott. (JXCO Land Deed Bk. 82, pp. 357-358 and The Sun Herald, April 3, 2001, p. A-7)
     The Rochon-Burns residence is in almost original architectural condition, as Miss Rochon refused circa 1970 HUD funding, which would have had altered this structure with aluminum siding and windows and partial enclosure of the gallery. Kudos to Charles Burns, the current owner, for his sensitivity to the historical significance of this fin de siecle treasure.
Miss Rochon was a delightful Christian lady. She returned to Ocean Springs after her workdays in Maryland and was caregiver to her sister, Marguerite, for many years. She passed on at Biloxi on April 1, 2001 and her corporal remains were interred in our Evergreen Cemetery.(The Sun Herald, April 3, 2001, p. A-7)
     Marguerite Rochon (1906-1997) was married to Herbert Satcher (1906-1983), the son of Charles Satcher Jr. (1885-1921) and Amanda Satcher (1886-1920+). Charles Satcher Jr. was a brakeman for the L&N Railroad while Amanda Satcher was a laundress. Like his father, Herbert Satcher made his livelihood as an employee of the L&N Railroad. He worked for some time at New Orleans, where he was a member of the Warehouse Division Union. Herbert Satcher’s siblings were: Walter Satcher (1903-1910+), Georgia Satcher (1907-1985), and Roy Satcher (1914-1920+). Mr. Herbert Satcher was a Methodist and member of St. James United Methodist Church. (The Daily Herald, March 29, 1983, p. A-2, c. 2)
     Allison X. Rochon (1918-1987) graduated in 1936, from Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic High School in Biloxi and served in Europe during WW II. He made his livelihood in the railroad and shipbuilding industry before joining the Federal Protective Service in 1948. He was married to Montray Rochon and they lived at North Englewood, Maryland with their son, Anthony Rochon. Allison X. Rochon expired in Maryland on May 12, 1987.(The Ocean Springs Record, June 4, 1987, p. 3)
   Virgil "Zean" Vincent (1860-1940) was a native of New Orleans and a shoemaker at Ocean Springs, preceding Tony Canale (1885-1966) by several decades. Mr. Canale is well remembered by many as the local shoemaker-fisherman-bootlegger with his shop on Washington Avenue, just south of Dr. Bailey’s Ocean Springs Drug Store, which was managed by his daughter, Beryl Bailey This drugstore later became known as Lovelace’s. Martha’s Tea Room, a favorite luncheonette, occupies this structure today.
     Zean Vincent was wedded to Marie Saverie (1867-1940), also a Louisiana native. It appears that the Vincent family arrived here between 1901 and 1910, probably with the Rochon family. The known Vincent children were: Rose V. Bienvenue (1887-1939), Virginia Mary Vincent (1889-1969), and Louis "Chegoon" H. Vincent (1891-1969+).
     Virginia Mary Vincent (1889-1969) worked as a domestic cook for some of the older families of Ocean Springs, including that of Peter Anderson (1901-1984), founder of Shearwater Pottery. She resided at 1307 Robinson in one of the C.W. Madison railroad cottages, which she acquired in November 1942. (The Daily Herald, January 6, 1969, p. 2 and JXCO Land Deed Bk. 82, pp. 128-129)
     Mrs. Marie Vincent expired on February 15, 1940. Shortly before her funeral, Virgil Vincent died. It was decided by the family to have one funeral for both. They were passed through St. Alphonsus Church with Father Mulkeen of Our Mother of Sorrows Church (Biloxi) attending with internment at Evergreen Cemetery in Ocean Springs. (The Jackson County Times, February 24, 1940, p. 4)

SEYMOUR
The Black Seymour family of Ocean Springs first appears in the Tenth Federal Census with a Mississippi born mulatto laborer, Tobey? Seymour (1820-1870+), and spouse, Sinnia? Seymour, and children: John Seymour (1851-1870+), Jules Seymour (1855-1922), Mary Seymour (1856-1880+), Emma Seymour (1859-1870+), Delphine Seymour (1861-1870+), Vallery Seymour (1864-1880+), Sinnia Seymour (1866-1870+), and Alfred or Albert Seymour (1867-1880+).

Jules Seymour
      By 1880, it appears that Tobey? Seymour and spouse have passed on or moved as some of their children, Jules, Mary, Vallery, Albert, and Henry Seymour (1870-1880+), are living with mulatto, John Freeman (1852-1880+), and his Black spouse, Elizabeth Freeman (1841-1880+). In 1893, Jules Seymour married Lee Anne ? (1872-1920+). They had a son, John A. Seymour (1894-1910+), and an adopted son, Louis Seymour (1898-1920+). Louis Seymour and Jule Seymour (1888-1900+), were living with Annie Lee (1855-1900+) in 1900.
     Jules Seymour made his livelihood as a farm laborer and in his later life was the caretaker of a private home. He expired at Ocean Springs on June 23, 1922 and was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery.
     In 1910, a Henry Seymour (b. 1880) and his new spouse, Mary Seymour (b. 1880), are employed as yardman and cook for the E.B. Shapker family on East Beach.

William A. Seymour
     William “Billy” Seymour (1871-1937), the son of William Seymour, was a native of Mississippi. In 1902, he married Luchrisa Miller (1883-1939) from Pascagoula, the daughter of William Lackard and Matilda Miller. Their children were: Emma S. McKinnis (1903-1978+), J.C. Seymour (1905-1978+), Florence S. Cunningham Boutec(1908-1978+), Nellie Seymour (b. 1909), Henry D. Seymour (1910-1978), Joseph Seymour (b. 1914), Eddie Seymour (b. 1919), and Roger Seymour (b. post 1920)
      In November 1909, The Ocean Springs News, announced that “Billy Seymour, a respected colored man, is having a neat home built on County Road”. (The Ocean Springs News, November 27, 1909, p. 1)
     Billy Seymour worked as a laborer while his wife did laundry. At the foot of Washington Avenue, he was employed by John R. Seymour (1879-1938) in the seafood industry and later worked on the farm and poultry farm of Henry L. Girot (1886-1953) in Cherokee Glen. Mr. Seymour expired on the Girot place in mid-November 1937, from heart trouble. (Marguerite S. Norman, July 7, 1997 and Bradford-O’Keefe Burial Book 25-A, p. 162)
     William’s son, Henry D. Seymour (1910-1978), married Alleen Burkhardt (1908-1974) of Montgomery, Alabama. Henry worked twenty-five years for Bradford-O’Keefe and later at Trilby’s Restaurant. Their children were: Henry D. Seymour II, Alfred Seymour, Roger Seymour, Christopher Seymour, Daniel Seymour, Joicelyn S. Mayfield, Norma S. Williams, Marian S. Sullivan, and Ramona S. Bosqueto. (The Ocean Springs Record, March 9, 1978, p. 1)

Joicelyn S. Mayfield was born June 22, 1931, the daughter of Henry Seymour (1910-1978) and Alleen Burkhardt (1908-1974). She married Harold Mayfield Jr. in August 1950. In 1951, she commenced her extensive career in food services when she began learning the basics of the business with local restaurateur legend, Trilby G. Steimer (1896-1960). After Trilby’s demise, E.W. Blossman (1913-1990) acquired her business on Bienville Boulevard, and the Mayfields managed it until they opened their own business, “Jocelyn’s”, in December 1982. “Jocelyn’s is also on Bienville Boulevard. (The Mississippi Press, May 29, 1998)
Joicelyn Seymour Mayfield has created a fine dining room with a domestic flair. Her restaurant has been discovered by culinary writers from Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens, and a multitude of other journals. In 1985, she appeared on “Mississippi Roads” preparing her regionally acclaimed pecan pie.(The Ocean Springs Record, October 10, 1985, p. 1)

(see The Sun Herald, “Cooking is labor of love for O.S. restaurateur”, May 21, 2004, p. 4)

John Seymour
In the 10th Federal Census, there is a Mulatto and a Black family living in the Shearwater-East Beach area. The mulatto family is headed by John Seymour (1856-1880+) and the Black clan by Manual Ryan (1853-1880+). No further information.

Thomas M. Seymour II
Thomas M. Seymour II (1894-1927) was the son of Thomas M. Seymour (1875-1914) and Silla Clay. He was a fireman at the ice factory. The Odd Fellows provided his funeral services and accompanied the body to Evergreen Cemetery. (The Jackson County Times, September 24, 1927, p. 5)

GALLOWAY
The progenitor of the Black Galloway family in west Jackson County, Mississippi, was probably Thomas Galloway (1826-1874) from North Carolina. He was among the earliest settlers and merchants in the Bluff Creek-Mounger’s Creek section. Galloway and his slave concubine, Harriet Ann Galloway, came to Jackson County circa 1862, from South Carolina. In October 1865, Thomas Galloway acquired 320 acres from John Havens in Section 8 and Section 9, T6S-R7W. The Galloways had four daughters born in Mississippi: Mary Eliza Galloway (1868-1879+), Joanna Moore Galloway (1869-1879+), Sophia Pauline Galloway (1870-1879+), and Rachel Frances Galloway (1873-1879+). He had a sister, Eliza Swain, who resided at Smithville, North Carolina. Thomas Galloway expired on October 4, 1874, from yellow fever. He legated to his family a homestead, store, and about 800 acres of land in T6S-R7W. They were denied their inheritance because of their skin color. (Jackson County, Miss. Chancery Court Cause No. 53, March 1879)
Reddix in “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, states that Thomas Galloway operated a sawmill and turpentine still in the Brewer’s Bluff area about 1850. Later, James Prichard, also a Tar Heel, came to Brewer’s Bluff and became a business partner of Galloway. Both men were slave owners and brought the Galloway and Reddix families with them. After emancipation, both black families owned land and prospered in the Vancleave region. Henry Galloway and Abram Galloway (1830-1900+) erected the first interior sawmill in Mississippi. (Reddix, 1974, pp. 27-29)

Frank Galloway
     The Galloway family of Ocean Springs was founded by Frank Galloway (1869-1920+) who was born in the Vancleave region of North Carolina parents. In June 1897, he married Ella Shaw (1879-1903+). Their children were: Henry “Fox” Galloway (1898-1973) and Lorenzo “Lo” Galloway (1903-1977). Mr. Galloway was an independent teamster and charcoal maker. With David Mayfield and his sons, they hauled logs to various sawmills in the region. Frank Galloway married Missouri Galloway after 1910.
      Lo Galloway married Leola “Polly” Bertha Wright (1907-2002), a native of Saucier, Mississippi and the daughter of William Wright (1867-1920+), a Georgia born truck farmer, and Charity Wright. Their children were: Ethel “Noots” G. McClendon (1923-1996), Leo Galloway (b. 1924), Frank “Toby” Galloway (1927-1984), and Ella M. G. Gibson. After Polly W. Galloway divorced her husband, she married Fairbanks Williams (1904-1977), a fireman with the L&N Railroad. Their children were: Sylvester Williams (1932-1984), Edward Williams, and Betty W. Preston (1936-1999). Mrs. Polly W.G. Williams resided on Robinson Street.
     Leo Galloway now resides in Oakland, California. On a visit to his mother in late July 1999, he shared some of his childhood days at Ocean Springs. Leo related that: the colored section of Illing’s Theatre was called the “buzzard’s roof”; John A. Pleasant (1912-1962) was known as “Chinkers”; the “quarters” was that area north of the 1927 Public School on Government Street where the turpentine camp and still were located; and the “Free Jacks” were the “Creoles” of Vancleave.