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Jackson County
Natural Resources
OUTBACK-FORT BAYOU: SHEEP and WOOL
A local industry long forgotten, but still in the
distant memory of those born around 1920, is that of range animals.
Cattle and sheep once roamed the savannas and forests of Jackson
County foraging on the native grasses. Several families in the St.
Martin and Latimer communities north of Fort Bayou were especially
well known for sheep husbandry. Some of these clans were the
Basque, Krohn, Lamey, Seymour, Lemien, Eglin, Havens, Letort, and
Ramsay families. The people living north of Ocean Springs in the
piney woods were primarily subsistence farmers. They raised corn
and hay to feed their cattle and hogs, had vegetable gardens, and
supplemented their incomes through charcoal burning, lumber, and the
wool from sheep. It was common for a farmer to own as many as a
thousand sheep. In fact, the wealth of farm and country people was
determined by their peers from the number of sheep that they
possessed.
Sheep were generally never enclosed in pastures. The
range was open to everyone and the stock animals of each owner mixed
together. This necessitated marks and brands to differentiate
ownership of the animals. From the Books of Stock Marks and Brands
at the Jackson County Archives in Pascagoula, it can be ascertained
the brands and marks of many individual animal owners. For example,
in August 1919, Mary Doyle Krohn registered her brand as a V on the
right hip of the animal. The brand and mark were valid for cattle,
sheep, hogs, and goats.
In the spring on an appointed day, the stock owners had
a "round up". On horseback, they drove the free ranging sheep to a
common meeting point called the "parting pens". Here all the sheep
were put into one pen and the lambs separated from them. The ewes
were then placed in a pen with the lambs. When the lamb recognized
its mother, the two were caught and the lamb given the owners mark
and put into the pen of the owner. The individual flocks were then
driven to the farm of each owner and shorn of their wool.
Flocks of sheep generally grew slowly as frigid winters
took its toll. Many lambs died in the spring from exposure after
birth. When turpentine stills were active in the area, the dogs of
the turpentine workers roaming the forest, as well as wild hogs ate
many young sheep. Eagles were troublesome to the farmers until they
were nearly hunted to extinction. The wool produced in coastal
Mississippi was classified as "Lake" wool. It brought a higher
price than wool produced in counties further north as manufacturers
considered it the very best.
Septuagenarian, Bernard Basque, who still resides on the
family farm north of Fort Bayou, recently shared some of his
childhood experiences concerning sheep husbandry. He remembers well
the spring when the ewes gave birth to a lamb. Twins were rare.
The lamb remained with its dam for about six months. Merino rams
were bought in Texas for breeding purposes.
After shearing the sheep with manual shears, their wool
was packed for market. A man would stand in a tall burlap bag and
compress the wool by hand. When complete the wool bales would weigh
two-three hundred pounds. In the early days, the wool was sent to
Ocean Springs by wagon when the Davis Brothers were still active in
the business. By the 1930s, merchant, Cliff Dees (1886-1963), at
Vancleave, was the area wool broker.
Bernard Basque recalls to well the day his father,
Joseph Basque (1892-1978), drove two thousand head of sheep to the
farm of Albert White located north of Vancleave. He walked the
entire distance herding the stray animals. Bernard relates that
there were no "chuck wagons" on these sheep drives. Their family
mark was "under square, under slope".
The Basque family had several uses for their sheep
besides the commercial wool. The mutton was often eaten as a stew,
baked, or fried. When a new baby was born into the family, the hide
of a freshly slain sheep was stretched and dried. This sheepskin
functioned as comfortable bedding for the youngster. Mrs. Basque
and other women would card the wool into 4" x 6" squares called "batts".
The batts were sewn between two layers of cloth and a warm quilt was
created for bedding.
Colonial days
The history of sheep and wool in this area cannot be traced to the
early Colonial years. In April 1699, when d'Iberville (1661-1706)
landed at present day Ocean Springs to build Fort Maurepas, he
recorded in his journal the following:
"my longboat brought from the cows that belong to
Surgere and me. We brought them from France. All those I got in
St. Domingue (Haiti) died, three on board the Francois, one on the
Marain, and four on the island where they had been placed (Ship
Island?). Most people say it is the cold weather, although it has
not been cold".
A few days later, the Frenchmen brought hogs and a bull to Fort
Maurepas. No sheep are mentioned.
William R. Stuart
It is not known with great certainty when the first sheep were
brought into Jackson County. As early as 1878, Colonel W.R. Stuart
(1821-1894) was raising merino sheep at Ocean Springs. He also
shipped pecans to Melbourne, Australia in 1890. Stuart had retired
to Ocean Springs from New Orleans. On November 22, 1878, Stuart
advertised his stock in The Pascagoula Democrat-Star as
follows:
FOR SALE
PURE MERINO SHEEP
25 ewes, 2 years old in April to lamb 15 January to 15 February by a
$200 imported Spanish buck.
10 pure merino bucks, 2 years old in April. My
connections with Colonel Cockrell of Tennessee, the great
breeder of pure merino sheep, enables me to fill orders at
all times from his large flock as well as my own.
W.R. Stuart-Ocean Springs, Mississippi
In July 1879, Colonel W.R. Stuart vended some of his
Merino sheep to various Coast and regional stockmen. Alfred E.
Lewis acquired three; Meyer, Weiss and Company of New Orleans bought
six; A.A. Ulman, the proprietor of a wool factory at Bay St. Louis,
got two; H.M. Duke of Scooba purchased one fine buck; and A.G. Ward
of Mobile acquired two. Mr. Ulman believed that introduction of the
Merino breed into the local flocks would improve the quality and
quantity of the wool.(The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, July 7,
1879, p. 3)
In July 1879, Colonel Aldridge of Grenada, Mississippi drove four
hundred sheep into northern Jackson County. It was anticipated that
more stockmen would locate here to raise sheep.(The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star, July 11, 1897, p. 3)
Woolmarket
Ocean Springs being the nearest railhead became a regional center
for the buying and shipping of raw wool from the ranchers north of
Fort Bayou. Woolmarket on the Biloxi River assumed this role at
Harrison County. The coastal schooner was the vehicle for transport
at that riverine village in Harrison County.
In 1882, the family of Thomas W. Grayson (1825-1904)
came to Ocean Springs from the Woolmarket area. Grayson operated a
mercantile store on the Biloxi River in the SW/4 of Section 32,
T6S-R9W. This site later became known as Stiglet's Landing when
Joseph M. Stiglets (1852-1924) purchased it from Dr. David M. Dunlap
(1803-1884+) in November 1884.
Thomas W. Grayson is believed to have given the name
"Wool Market" to the area since sheep and wool production prospered
in the neighborhood. Grayson served the people of Ocean Springs as
its fourth mayor (1897-1898). He was also Justice of the Peace
here. His son-in-law, D.D. Cowan (1850-1929), was the first mayor
of Ocean Springs (1893-1895) and also Superintendent of Education
for Jackson County (1896-1905).
Back Bay Bridge
In July 1898, a writer for The Biloxi Herald publicized the
need for a free bridge across the Back Bay of Biloxi to present day
D'Iberville (called Back Bay at this time). He felt that the trade
from this area was being diverted from Biloxi to other cities. As
an example of this he related the following:
Take the item of wool alone (which is grown beyond
the bay), about $12,500 worth has been marketed at Ocean Springs
this year and while this city could not hope to secure all the wool
trade, there is not the least doubt but a large portion of that crop
would be marketed in this city. There are many other products,
which it is unnecessary to enumerate at this time, that would be
marketed here had we such a bridge across the bay. (The
Biloxi Herald, July 23, 1898, p. 2.)
The people of Back Bay (D'Iberville) got their wooden
bridge to Biloxi in August 1901. It replaced an intermittent ferry
system, which had been in established by the Board of Police of
Harrison County in August 1843. Coincendentally, the first bridge
to span Fort Bayou was dedicated in December 1901, replacing the
Franco-Earle-Carver ferry which connected Ocean Springs to the wool
country.
Wool marketing
In late May and June of 1891, nearly 63,000 pounds of wool were
vended at Ocean Springs by local wool farmers, as compared to about
49,000 pounds in 1890. The Davis Brothers were acquiring large lots
of wool for $.24 per pound while smaller lots were bought for a
penny or two less. Last year prices were better. Wool growing is
the best paying rural investment.(The Biloxi Herald, June 27,
1891, p. 1 and The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, June 12, 1891, p. 2)
The Davis Brothers, who operated a large mercantile store on
Washington Avenue, were the leading brokers of wool at Ocean
Springs. As early as 1891, George W. Davis (1842-1914) and Elias S.
Davis (1859-1925) were purchasing wool from local farmers. When the
shearing season closed in June of 1892, they had shipped over 60,000
pounds for which they paid about $14,000 ($.23 per pound).
In June 1895, New Orleans brokers paid local stockmen at Ocean
Springs about .$13 per pound for over 30,000 pounds of
Jackson-Harrison County wool.(The
Biloxi Herald, June 15, 1895)
Sardin G. Ramsay vended 6000 pounds of wool to the Davis Brothers at
Ocean Springs at the rate of $.15 per pound.(The
Pascagoula Democrat-Star, June 4. 1897, p. 3)
H. Piser & Company of Mobile acquired over 50,000 pounds of
Jackson County wool through the Davis Brothers, their local agent.
The price was 19 1/2 cents per pound.(The Pascagoula
Democrat-Star, July 7, 1899, p. 3)
Nine hundred head of sheep driven to Ocean Springs from the
Vancleave ranches of H.C. Havens, Thomas E. Ramsay, and George W.
Tootle. They were shipped to W.L. Bramblett in three railcars to
Paris, Kentucky.(The
Pascagoula-Democrat-Star, May 18, 1900, p. 3)
The Ocean Springs News
reported the following wool marketing activity at Ocean Springs:
In June 1909, the Davis Brothers of Ocean Springs
shipped about 1200 pounds of wool to the H. Piser & Co. of Mobile.
They expected about 20,000 pounds to be marketed in the next week
and consigned to the Mobile firm. This was the remainder of the
remarkable wool purchase made by H. Piser & Co. sometime ago at the
top notch price of 31 1/2 cents per pound.
In late August 1910, L.M. McClure & Company paid local
stockmen 21 ½ cents per pound for their wool.
On September 22, 1910, the Metzger Brothers of Mobile bought 18,000
pounds of wool for 21 1/2 cents per pound. During the past three
weeks nearly 40,000 pounds of wool were sold at Ocean Springs.
Sardin Ramsay, one of Jackson Counties most substantial farmers and
sheep owners, was in town to market his wool, probably the 18,000
pounds. L.M. McClure & Co. were local agents for Metzger Brothers.
Sardin G. Ramsay (1837-1920) was a farmer and large landowner. The
Ramsay tract consisted of several thousand acres of land in
southeast quadrant of T6S-R7W. It was located southeast of the
present day intersection of Highway 57 and the Gautier-Vancleave
Road.
In late June 1912, wool growers from the country
surrounding Ocean Springs brought over 70,000 pounds of their fleecy
cut to town for shipment on the L&N Railroad to New Orleans, Mobile,
and eastern manufacturing centers. Considered an average year,
principal buyers, Metzker Brothers and Piser & Company of Mobile and
William Vokel & Company of New Orleans, paid growers about $11,000
for their harvest.(The Daily Herald, June 27, 1912, p. 8)
In July 1915, the Ocean Springs district sold 32,000 pounds of wool
at $.32 per pound. In 1914, the selling price was 21 to 25 cents
per pound. As a result of the flush prices, several wool producers
bought automobiles. Jackson County sheep owners produced 49,000
pounds of wool
in 1915.(The Ocean Springs News, July 8, 1915, p. 1)
H.D. Money (1869-1936), who was the proprietor of the
Rose farm north of Fort bayou, was also a proponent of sheep
raising. Colonel Money had fruit and pecan orchards on his large
farm. In September 1915, Money reported to The Ocean Springs
News that his experience with sheep raising, although on a small
scale, was very profitable. He related the following about his
experiences:
The fertilizer benefits they did those orchards is almost
unbelievable. From scanty and unsatisfactory appearance, the trees
put on a deep and healthy green. The nut yield is large. The sheep
found abundant to eat-nothing was planted there-only the natural
grass supported them. In keeping the weeds down, they saved me the
expense of cultivating as well.
During the final years of World War I (1914-1918), the
price of wool and mutton again increased dramatically. By October
1917, the price of wool reached $.60 per pound nearly doubling
pre-War prices. Mutton cost the consumer $.17 per pound at this
time. These inflated prices caused speculators to seek immediate
investments in the sheep industry because of its high profit
potential.
At Ocean Springs, Newton Jones, a native of Columbus,
Ohio, who came here in 1913, and bought Field Lodge, the home of
Mary Florence Field at East Beach for $15,000, was one of these
entrepreneurs who attempted to take advantage of the wool boom of
the late War years. Mrs. Field was living at Nice, France when she
sold her thirty-three acre estate to Jones. Here on the Cote d'Azur
in 1914, she met Chevalier Scovel, the great tenor. They married
and resided in Paris at the Villa Spontini. Field Lodge burned in
the 1960s.
In October 1917, Newton Jones bought 1200 acres in the
northwest Latimer area from Anna Orrell and the heirs of Christopher
Columbus Orrell (1832-1906), a turpentine operator and native of
North Carolina, who settled here from Alabama. Here in Sections 21,
27, and 28 of T5S-R9W, he founded the Jackson County Sheep Ranch.
The sheep ranch of Jones was located primarily in Harrison County
straddling the Jackson County line about twelve miles north of Ocean
Springs. It was fenced.
In order to stock his ranch, Jones received a shipment
of two hundred sheep from Bayou Sara, Louisiana in October 1917.
Only one animal died in the relocation effort. The animals were
driven from the L&N depot at Ocean Springs to his rural sheep
ranch. In an October 1917, interview with The Jackson County
Times, Newton Jones said:
Sheep suffer from the lack of attention just like
a growing crop, and for the best results to follow, one has to give
them attention, or the enterprise becomes a failure.
In addition, Newton Jones said "that the average sheep grown
in this territory weighed but 40 pounds at maturity, whereas lambs
attained that size in the west in four months. This difference is
the result of neglect on the part of those engaged in raising sheep,
and they can be produced here of equal value to those in the west".
He planned to demonstrate that they could.
At the time during the Fall of 1917, a son of Newton Jones, Sergeant
La Berne Jones, was serving in the Ohio artillery camped at
Montgomery, Alabama.
Newton Jones had a partner in the Jackson County Sheep
ranch. He was Dr. Fitch who also came here from Ohio. Fitch
officed in the Farmers and Merchants State Bank Building. He
replaced Dr. Henry B. Powell (1867-1949) who went to Camp Shelby
with the 139th Field Artillery as a Captain in the Medical Corps.
After the War in April 1921, they sold their Latimer
area sheep ranch to Forrest Short of Circleville, Ohio. Newton
Jones also sold Field Lodge to Mr. Short at the same time, and
apparently left the area. He and his wife, Gertrude Jones, probably
returned to Ohio. The following reports were gleaned from The
Jackson County Times to illustrate wool and sheep activity in
the
area from 1917 to 1927:
October 1917-Two hundred sixty head of sheep were
shipped to Fort Worth, Texas by land owners north of Fort Bayou.
Price was $3-$4 per head.
December 1917-The Southern Pine Association met at New
Orleans to discuss the possibility of the large sheep flocks of the
Western ranges relocating to the cut-over and timbered pine lands of
the South. The western ranchers were restricted by recent
homesteading of public lands there. These wool growers were seeking
grazing lands for their large operations.
June 1919-A big wool sale of over 75,000 pounds at $.58
per pound was made in the area.
May 1924-Joe Basque (1892-1978) who lived north of Ocean
Springs shipped 1000 head of sheep to Ohio. The price was $3.00 per
head.
June 1924-Two carloads of wool were sold to a Mobile
broker for $.40 per pound. The market had just dropped below this
price.
June 1925-W.H. Westfall (1874-1939) and other merchants
in the Vancleave area handled over 23,000 pounds of wool which was
marketed at Ocean Springs at an average price of $.50 per pound.
J.C. Harvey of Mobile bought the entire shipment.
June 1926-A quarantine order stopped movement of sheep
in nine Mississippi counties, including Jackson. Sheep scabies, a
communicable disease caused by mites, was the problem. Only dipped
and disease free animals could be shipped. Several carloads of
sheep were dispatched from Ocean Springs via dipping the vats at
Hattiesburg. Mrs. Mary Doyle Krohn (1860-1944), former postmistress
at Latimer and widow of Fred Krohn (1859-1918), sold 679 sheep to
northern interest at $3.00 per head.
August 1927-During the past six weeks, Mr. R.J. Sously
of Ocean Springs shipped over 6000 head of sheep to various parts of
Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. 2000 head were from the Krohn
farm across Fort Bayou.
The decline of commercial sheep raising north of Fort Bayou can
be traced to the passage of Chapter 263-House Bill No. 91 by the
Mississippi legislature in 1926. The stock law was passed to
prevent all live stock (cattle, horses, mules, jacks, jennets,
sheep, goats, and hogs) from running at large upon open or unfenced
lands. Animals were restricted to a safe enclosure. The statue
also sought to prevent the spread of Texas fever ticks. In 1930,
Bonnett v. Brown (No. 28288) tested the stock law in the Supreme
Court of Mississippi. The original suit had been filed at George
County.
Another crushing blow to sheep husbandry in the area was the
1934 screw worm epidemic. It did serious damage to regional flocks
and almost destroyed the sheep industry at Jackson County.
Sheep are still raised in Jackson County today albeit their
numbers are small. Now, wool fetches about $1.92 per pound as
compared to $.50 per pound seventy years ago. In a comparable time
period, land values in the outback Fort Bayou region have soared
from $4.00 per acre to upwards of $1,000 per acre. The moral-raise
land not sheep.
REFERENCES:
Ray L. Bellande, "Stiglets Landing", (unpublished essay),
August 1995, p. 1.
Regina Hines Ellison,
Ocean Springs, 1892,
2nd Edition, (Lewis Printing Services: Pascagoula,
Mississippi-1991), p. 45, p. 55, and p. 59..
Facts About The Gulf Coast of Harrison County, Mississippi,
(Reprint-Harrison County Publishing Company Ltd.-Gulfport,
Mississippi-1985), pp. 13-14.
General Laws of the State of Mississippi, Chapter 263,
(Tucker Printing House: Jackson, Mississippi-1926, pp. 374-375.
Jackson County WPA, p. 308.
Southern Reporter,
"Bonnett v. Brown" (No. 28288), (West Publishing Company: St. Paul,
Minnesota-1930), pp. 427- 429.
Jackson
County, Ms. Record of Marks and Brands Book 2,
pp. 12-13.
Minute of the Board of Police of Harrison County, Mississippi,
Book 1, p. 42.
Journals
The Biloxi Herald,
"A Bridge Needed", July 23, 1898, p. 2.
The Biloxi Herald,
“Ocean Springs”,
June 27, 1891.
The Biloxi Herald,
"Ocean Springs", November 8, 1890, p. 4.
-------------------, "Ocean Springs", June 25, 1892, p. 1.
-------------------, February 21, 1899, p. 8.
The Daily Herald,
“Lot Of Wool Sold In Ocean Springs”,
June 27, 1912, p. 8
The Jackson County Times,
"Local News Interest", June 30, 1917.
--------------------, "Jones Sheep Ranch Attracts Attention",
October 6, 1917, p. 5.
--------------------, "Local News Interest", October 3, 1917.
--------------------, "Local News Interest", October 20, 1917.
--------------------, "Local News Interest", November 3, 1917.
--------------------, "Western Sheep Owners May Bring Flocks To
South Mississippi", December 15, 1917, p. 1.
--------------------, Local and Personal, June 28, 1919.
--------------------, Local and Personal, May 31, 1924.
--------------------, "Farmers market two carloads of wool at
Ocean Springs", June 28, 1924.
--------------------, Local and Personal, June 13, 1925.
--------------------, "Shipments of Sheep Stopped by Quarantine",
June 5, 1926, p. 1.
--------------------, "Local and Personal", August 6, 1927.
The Ocean Springs News,
"Local News", June 5, 1909.
The Ocean Springs News,
“Local News”,
August 20, 1910.
------------------, "Local News", September 24, 1910.
------------------, "Wool Shippers Want Autos", July 8, 1915,
p. 1.
------------------, "Hundred Per Cent Profit", September 30,
1915, p. 1.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
"Sheep raising near the Gulf Coast", August 2, 1878, p. 1.
The Pascagoula-Democrat Star,
"W.R. Stuart advertisment", November 22, 1878, p. 4.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean Springs Items”,
July 11, 1879.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean Springs News”,
June 12, 1891.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean Springs Locals”,
June 4, 1897.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
“Ocean Springs Locals”,
May 18, 1900.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star,
"New Bridge Across Fort Bayou Opened", December 13, 1901.
Personal Communication:
Bernard Basque-March 1996 and July 1996.
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WEST JACKSON COUNTY NAVAL STORES: 1860-1950
Although the early European explorers and adventurers
failed to find gold and other mineral wealth in the strata of the
Gulf Coastal plain of the southeastern United States, there was
indeed an inestimable natural treasure in the guise of virgin
forests which waited to be exploited. In particular, from this
verdant expanse was the longleaf pine. This evergreen conifer is
also called the southern pine, heart pine, yellow pine, and long
straw pine. The longleaf pine often grows to a height of 95-100
feet with a diameter of three to three and one-half feet. It is
characterized by rising 60-feet without a single branch before
expanding into its evergreen crown. The longleaf
pine belt extends over 1500 miles from southeastern North Carolina,
through South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, southern Alabama and
Mississippi, and stretches into portions of Louisiana and east
Texas. In Mississippi, most of the longleaf were built to process
lumber for export to their Caribbean island possessions.
Turpentine Still near Grand Bay, Alabama
(C.E. Walter image)
In addition, naval stores, which once included hemp, flax, masts,
spars, planking, tar, and pitch, but by 1800, referred only to tar,
raw turpentine and their by-products: spirits of turpentine, rosin,
and pitch, were a product of our local forests.
When Thomas Hutchins (1730-1789), who was named
Geographer to the United States in 1781, had visited the Mississippi
coast in 1784, he made the following observation:
There are still a few inhabitants at Biloxi, some
of whom are the offspring of the original settlers. Their chief
employment is raising cattle and stock, and making pitch and tar.
Tar is made by firing pine logs and branches in
slow-burning kilns. Pitch is derived from boiling the produced tar.
Both are used for nautical functions. Tar was applied on the
rigging and ropes of ships to reduce rot while pitch was painted on
to the bottoms and sides of wooden vessels to prevent leakage.
Before the early 19th century, spirits of turpentine, the distilled
resin, and
rosin, the residue of distillation, had few uses.
Between 1805 and 1830, the American naval stores
industry, which centered primarily near Wilmington, North Carolina,
saw tar and pitch production gradually decrease while the harvesting
of crude turpentine and the manufacturing of spirits of turpentine
increase in response to demands from new sources. In particular,
the rapidly developing rubber industry, soap manufacturers, and
consumers of camphene sped the production of spirits of turpentine.
Most of the new demand was from camphene users. This popular
luminant, which became widely used commencing in the 1830s, is also
known as camphine, Teveline, and palmetto oil. It is a mixture of
turpentine and alcohol. Camphene remained the most economical form
of illumination for homes, hotels, and city streets until 1860.
Large scale production of kerosene developed from the shallow oil
produced in western Pennsylvania supplanted camphene as a lighting
source, and the American petroleum
industry was born.
Turpentine production combines agricultural and
industrial disciplines. The raw harvested product called resin or
gum is the sap of conifer trees, usually either long leaf or slash
pine. The resin flows only in warm weather months commencing in
mid-March and peaking in late July. By November or the first frost,
the sap gathering season ends.
The forest area where the raw gum is harvested is called
an orchard. Here families, predominantly Black Americans,
supervised by a woods rider, lived in isolated shanty camps. The
black workers were employed by a company or individual who either
owned or leased the land that was worked for rosin and turpentine
production, "the crop".
A major threat to the naval stores industry was forest
fires. In order to reduce the incidence of fire damage to orchard
trees, the forest workers raked the base of each tapped tree to
remove pine needles and other flammable debris. A cleared circle,
of sandy soil resulted around the circumference of the tree if the
raking were properly executed.(The DeFuniak Springs
Herald-Breeze, June 24, 1976, p. 7-C)
Turpentine workers were paid in cash or company minted currency or
tokens, scrip, commissary check, or credit chits, which were
utilized at the commissary or company store. The metal tokens were
called "brozines", "light money", or "jugaloo". The commissary
supplied the turpentine worker with basic food staples, clothing,
tools, and ancillary items such as, tobacco, snuff, matches, castor
oil, and kerosene.
A church and school building were generally part of the
turpentine camp. Teachers visited several camp schools during the
week. Although six grades were provided, many children began
working in the orchard at age seven to ten years as dippers, i.e.
laborers who collected crude gum from the trees.
Saturday was a day of celebration for the camp workers.
A meal of fresh pork and "corndodger" was followed by a dance on
Saturday night. This was ensued by an all night crap game or card
game called "skin" held by the light of a pine knot fire.
It was not unusual for "hustlers" to visit the
turpentine camp around payday. Their purpose was to win the hard
earned earnings of the workers in games of chance. An incident
occurred in July 1911, at the Fort Bayou Turpentine Company camp
when the body of Clarence Whistlehunt, a gambler, was found floating
in Fort Bayou. Several blacks were held in the Pascagoula jail for
allegedly murdering him.(The Ocean Springs News, July 1,
1911).
In the 19th century, to prepare pine trees for
turpentine production, laborers, called boxers, who were almost
always strong black men, performed the initial procedure on the tree
called boxing. Armed with a special axe, a box axe, which had an
elongated head, the boxer cut a hole or box 8-15 inches wide and 3-4
inches deep, at the base of the pine tree. The box was cut at an
angle into the tree and had a volume sufficient to hold 1-2 quarts
of raw turpentine. An experienced boxer was expected to box 75-80
trees each day.
The boxes had to be cornered to allow pine gum to flow
into it. The top two corners of each box were cut with two axe
strokes removing a one-inch triangular chip. Several gashes
connected to the corners were made above the box to allow sap to
flow into the box. Once properly cornered,
the box began to collect pine sap. Boxing pine trees cause their
death in a few years. This wasteful practice rapidly depleted large
expanses of the Southern pine forest.
Terra cotta and tin cups replaced boxes as the
collection site for crude gum. The use of the terra cotta cup
developed circa 1902, by Dr. Charles H. Herty (1867-1938), a native
of Milledgeville, Georgia, increased turpentine production by 36 per
cent. It also did not kill the tree nor harm the timber.(The
Progress, January 30, 1904, p. 3)
It is interesting to note that several local turpentine
operators held patents on turpentine cups and appurtenances.
Alabaman, Lee Vernon Pringle (1866-1938), who relocated to Biloxi
from Jackson County in 1908, invented the Pringle Cup, a clay
device. It was manufactured at Daisy, Tennessee. L.D. Byrd
(1876-1931), also of Biloxi, in 1905, patented the Byrd Cup, a
metallic basin, to collect crude gum.
The operation to remove raw turpentine from the box was
called dipping. The dipper was a tool with a spade-shaped blade and
handle. The worker usually a black woman or black child collected
gum by pushing the dipper into one end of the box, pushing it to the
bottom, and bringing the sticky contents of the box up to the
opposite side-all in one rapid motion. Workers were expected to
fill from four to seven barrels with raw turpentine per day. The
full barrels were collected by teamsters and carried in wagons to
the still for distillation.
The fire still was the center of the turpentine camp.
It was flanked by the commissary or general store and the shanty
cottages of the workers. The fire still generally had capacity
ranging from 15 to 25-barrels of pine gum. The distillation process
yielded three barrels of turpentine and 12 barrels of rosin in eight
hours from twenty barrels of pine gum. The early barrel contained
31.5 gallons but later increased to 50 gallons.
Cooperage or the art of barrel making was an integral
part of the turpentine operation. One fifth of the men engaged in
turpentine production were coopers. They produced oaken, pine, and
hickory turpentine and rosin barrels and appurtenances such as,
staves, heading, truss hoops, and barrel hoops. Most coopers were
black and received higher wages than the average woodworker.
As the naval stores industry rapidly expanded in the
late 19th and early 20th Century, financing for field operations was
provided by factorage houses. Investment capital for a turpentine
operation was essential as the following requisites existed to
function in the industry: acquired or leased timber land; fire
still and ancillary equipment and cooper shed; structures for
workers and their families; transportation vehicles, such as trucks,
live stock teams, and wagons; tools and equipment for woods working
operations such as, chipping and dipping tools, buckets, barrels,
cups, and gutters; and a well- stocked commissary.
Only a small percentage of individuals or turpentine
companies had the necessary capital to finance their own field
operations. Commercial banks were negative about lending money to
finance naval stores operators because the risk was deemed high.
The assets of the turpentine operator were mostly intangible and of
almost no value as collateral.
The void to capitalize the turpentine industry was
filled by naval store factors. Factorage houses were agents or
companies acting for a fee in several capacities. They might
finance the owner or lessee of a turpentine operation and provide
the materials and tools, manage the operations or act as agent in
marketing the gum. The factor could also act as a commissions
merchant, wholesale grocer, and dealer in supplies. Factorage house
were located at Charleston, Soth Carolina; Brunswick and Savannah,
Georgia; Jacksonville and Pensacola, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; and
New Orleans. Taylor-Lowenstein & Company of Mobile and the Union
Naval Stores of New Orleans were active factorage houses operating
in Jackson County, Mississippi in the early decades of this Century.
The development of the central still in the 1930s,
allowed gum producers to sell pine gum rather than turpentine and
rosin produced from their own still. Since the operator appreciably
reduced his costs by shutting down his fire still and associate
cooperage activities, he became less dependent on the factor. By
1950, the factorage system of financing and marketing was
essentially over.
The gum turpentine industry in the longleaf-slash pine
belt of the South today is very small compared with former times.
Georgia produces about 87 per cent of the USA production which
amount to only 3 per cent of world production. China produces about
50 per cent of the global gum turpentine supply.
The USA and Canada lead the world in the production of
sulfate turpentine, which is a by-product of kraft paper
production. They produce about 69 per cent of the global production
of sulfate turpentine.
Another source of turpentine today is wood turpentine,
which is produced by steam distillation of waste wood and sawdust.
Dead stumps from the original longleaf pine forests were the
original source of wood turpentine. The Yaryan Naval Stores Company
built the first steam and solvent distillation plant in the world at
Gulfport in 1909. It processed primarily lightwood stumps.
Before 1950, almost all turpentine was used as a solvent
for paint and varnish. Competition from water-miscible paints and
low cost petroleum solvents forced turpentine retailers to find new
markets for their products in the rubber, plastic, and industrial
applications sectors of the American chemical industry.
JACKSON COUNTY NAVAL STORES PIONEERS
(ante Bellum-1900)
Early turpentine production in America began in
southeastern North Carolina and spread slowly southwestward through
the longleaf pine belt with the movement of people from the Atlantic
seaboard. Noted Jackson County historian, Cyril E. Cain
(1883-1962+), states in
Four
Centuries on the Pascagoula,
that ante-Bellum turpentine production was commenced in Jackson
County by Thomas Galloway (1814-1874) at Brewer's Bluff about five
miles northeast of Vancleave on the Pascagoula River. Galloway was
from North Carolina and utilized slave labor in his extensive
turpentine orchard.(Cain, 1983, p. 148)
In A Voice Crying in the Wilderness, the author, Jacob Reddix
(1897-1973), whose grandfather, Henry Galloway, was one of Thomas
Galloway's slaves brought from North Carolina, states that slaves,
Abram and Henry Galloway, built and operated the turpentine
distillery for Galloway, and later constructed the first sawmill in
interior Mississippi. It is interesting to note that Thomas Galloway had a
black or mulatto wife. Her name was Harriet Ann Galloway and was a
former slave. In March 1879, almost five years after Thomas
Galloway's demise from yellow fever on October 4, 1874, his wife
sued John E. Clark, the administer of his estate, in the Chancery
Court of Jackson County. In the legal proceedings, Mrs.
Galloway related that she married Galloway in North Carolina in
1855. They relocated to South Carolina and them moved to Jackson
County, Mississippi circa 1862. Four children were born to the
couple at Jackson County: Joanna Moore Galloway (b. 1866), Mary
Eliza Galloway (b. 1868), Sophia Pauline Galloway (b. 1870), and
Rachael Frances Galloway (b. 1873).(JXCO, Ms. Chancery Court Cause
No. 53-March 1879).
Thomas Galloway died intestate. He was a wealthy man
and had an estate consisting of a homestead, storehouse, 800 acres
of land, and $20,000 in cash. The court denied his family these
assets because of their skin color. Caroline Taylor, an old slave,
related to WPA workers in 1939, that Bob Burney with a number of
slaves he brought from North Carolina, established a turpentine
still at Vancleave on the east bank of Moungers Creek.
It appears that turpentine production continued in
Jackson County for a few decades after the Civil War as small family
run operations. Circa 1880, the western Jackson County turpentine
industry began in earnest with the arrival of the John C. Orrell and
Christopher C. Orrell families who came from western Alabama
probably the State Line area. Like most pioneer turpentine people,
the Orrells were originally from the "Tar Heel State", North
Carolina.
JOHN C. ORRELL
John C. Orrell (1830-1917) was born in February 1830, at
North Carolina. His children were: John C. Orrell Jr.
(1862-1917+), Albert L. Orrell (1867-1937), and Christopher Orrell
(1872-1900+). Albert and Christopher Orrell were born in Alabama.
John C. Orrell owned thousands of acres of pinelands in
Jackson County. In November 1885, he donated 6 acres in the NW/4 of
the SW/4 of Section 19, T5S-R8W to the New Prospect Camp Ground
north of Vancleave (JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 7, pp. 597-598).
Later in October 1904, Orrell sold the Trustees of the Methodist
Episcopal Church South-Seashore District, W.W. Broom, J.H. Havens,
D.G. Alexander, W.K. Ramsay, S.R. Ratliff (1873-1936), T.E. Ramsay
(1845-1934), S.G. Ramsay (1837-1920), and T.Q. Roberts, forty acres
being the NW/4 of the SW/4 of Section 19, T5S-R7W for $260.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 28, pp. 631-632).
J.C. Orrell died at Mobile, Alabama on November 29,
1917. His obituary in The Mobile Press Register relates that
his remains were interred at Kipling, Alabama. Orrell left 4040
acres of land in T5S-R7W, T5S-R8W, and T6S-R8W of Jackson County,
Mississippi to the following legatees: Nattie J. Adams (Mobile),
Maggie L. Pierson (New Orleans), Desiree O. Clarke (New Orleans),
John C. Orrell Jr. (Mobile), and Albert L. Orrell (Vancleave).(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 48, pp. 157-160).
John C. Orrell Jr. (1862-1917+) was born in
Alabama. He married Sallie Grayson (1865-1917+), the daughter of
Ocean Springs mayor, Judge Thomas W. Grayson (1825-1904) on November
24, 1889. They resided at Ocean Springs in 1892. By 1900, the
Orrels had four children with three daughters surviving: Lillian
Orrell (1892-1900+), Lucille Orrell (1893-1900+), and Irene Orrell
(1898-1900+). J.C. Orrell Jr. worked as a baggage master for the
L&N Railroad in 1900. The J.C. Orrell Jr. family moved to Mobile
and were residing at 208 State Street in Mobile in 1917, at the time
of father's demise.
Albert L. Orrell (1867-1937) was born at
Alabama. He married Ida Ramsay (1873-1920+) of Fort Bayou on
September 26, 1900. Her father was Sarden G. Ramsay (1837-1920) and
step-mother, Lula Hill Ramsay (1861-1949). In 1900, Orrell was a
turpentine operator, but later got into farming on his homestead in
the NE/4 of section 29, T6S-R7W.
CHRISTOPHER C. ORRELL
Christopher C. Orrell (1832- 1908+), and Sidney
Orrell (1901-1908+). The Orrell family appears to have come to
Jackson County, Mississippi from Alabama between 1882 and 1884. The
Orrell family eventually settled at Florala, a village, north of the
Latimer community in western Jackson County. At this time, Florala
had a post office, store, school, and turpentine still. C.C. Orrell
may have operated what was known as the Double Still which gave its
name to the present day road, north of Latimer.
Christopher C. Orrell died intestate on August 28,
1906. His remains were interred in the White Plains Cemetery at
Harrison County, Mississippi. After C.C. Orrell's demise, a forced
heirship suit, Cause No. 1661-Mrs. Anna Orrell, el al v. Toler
Orrell, was filed in March 1908, in the Jackson County, Mississippi
Chancery Court. A court appointed commission composed of T.E.
Ramsay, Wesley Cox, and Albert L. Orrell divided the C.C. Orrell
Estate into twelve shares of equal value. Names and numbers were
drawn lottery style and two thousand acres in T5S-R9W and 800 acres
in T6S-R9W were awarded. The twelve parcels ranged in size from 200
to 280 acres. An additional 450 acres in the southern area of
T3S-R7W, which is now in George County, was sold and the proceeds
distributed to the heirs.
In Jackson County Chancery Court Cause No. 1661, the
Orrell family homestead was given as the S/2, NW/4 and the W/2, SE/4
of Section 27, T5S-R9W. These tracts were acquired from Alexander
Scarborough and Catherine Cox in December 1897 and February 1902
respectively.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 18, p. 422 and Bk. 24, pp.
635-636)
THE NEW ORLEANS CONNECTION: 1900-1920
In January 1902, John C. Orrell, Christopher C. Orrell,
and Patrick H. Orrell (d. 1906) sold 12,000 acres of pinelands for
$18,000 to Anthony Vizard (1837-1908) of New Orleans. Of these
tracts, 10,840 acres were situated in Jackson County and the
remainder in Harrison County, Mississippi. It would appear that
this sale to Vizard essentially marked the exit of the Orrell family
from the naval stores business in Jackson County.(JXCO, Ms. Land
Deed Bk. 24, pp. 45-46)
Patrick H. Orrell was probably the son of John or C.C.
Orrell. He married Eugenie Lewis (1850-1932), the daughter of
Alfred E. Lewis (1812-1885) and Ann R. Farrington (1821-1901), the
builders of Lewis-Sha at Gautier, which today is known as Oldfields.
The P.H. Orrells were the parents of two children: Maud Mary Walton
Orrell (1875-1875) and Edwin DeVendel Orrell (1876-1940). In her
later life, Mrs. Eugenie Orrell owned and resided at present day 405
Ward Avenue in Ocean Springs.
As the Orrells' sale to Vizard would indicate, New
Orleans was the home base of several organizations and factors
involved in the turpentine industry at Jackson County, Mississippi.
A brief discussion of each follows:
SIMPSON & VIZARD
Simpson & Vizard was owned by principals, John F.
Simpson (1841-ca 1895) and Anthony Vizard (1837-1908). They
established themselves as dealers in rosin and turpentine in 1872.
Simpson & Vizard were the successors of Emmanuel Blessey, who
established the business many years before the Civil War.
John F. Simpson was born at New Orleans in 1841, the son
of A.P. Simpson of South Carolina and Adelia Forsyth. Her father,
Captain James Forsyth (1773-1867), ran boats between New Orleans,
Mobile, and Pensacola. In 1819, A.P. Simpson established himself at
Pensacola in the lumber milling business. He relocated to New
Orleans in 1834, and became the largest dealer of lumber in the
city. John F. Simpson was educated at New Orleans. During the
Civil War, he served with Dreux's Battalion, the 14th Louisiana
Infantry, and the Pelican Battery. At New Orleans, Simpson was a
director of the board of trade and a member of the Varieties and
Southern Yacht Club. J.F. Simpson married Athalie Bourcier (d.1937), a New
Orleans native. They had no children. In addition to his naval
stores interests with Vizard, J.F. Simpson was a merchant. His
brother-in-law, P. Bourcier, was a clerk in his store.
Anthony Vizard (1837-1908) was born at Mayo County,
Ireland. In the 1880 Federal Census, he was a lime merchant and
resided at New Orleans in Ward 3. At this time, Vizard was a
widower. His children were: Thomas Vizard (1863-1880+), William
Vizard (1866-1880+), Cecelia V. Watson (1868-1931), Cora H. Davis
(1870-1949), and Anthony Vizard Jr. (1872-1933).
In January 1896, Athalie Simpson and Mrs. Adelia
Forsyth, the sole legatees of John F. Simpson, sold their one-half
interest in Simpson & Vizard to Anthony Vizard.(HARCO Land Deed Bk.
33, pp. 491-492).
In 1905, the company was called, A. Vizard-Rosin,
Turpentine & Chemicals, and was situated at 519 & 521 Magazine
Street New Orleans with a branch at Mobile. In December 1905,
Vizard conveyed 7149 acres in Harrison County, Mississippi to the
New Orleans Naval Stores Company for $5,000. The sale was made
pursuant to an agreement between Vizard and the Union Naval Stores
Company of Mobile in April 1905. The lands were located primarily
in T5S-R10W, T6S-R10W, and T6S-R11W.(HARCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 71, p.
222)
In Jackson County Chancery Court Cause No. 1118, Union
Naval Stores v. Thomas F. Moore, filed January 1903, the defendant,
T.F. Moore of Thomas County, Georgia, alleged
that the Union Naval Stores Company with the exception of A. Vizard
had a virtual monopoly on turpentine production in Mississippi.
In 1906, the New Orleans Naval Stores Company, a
West Virginia Corporation, was headed by G.F. Mason (d. 1929).
Other officers were Walter B. Gillican (1874-1954), vice president,
and Anthony Vizard Jr., secretary-treasurer. The company had yards
at New Orleans and Gulfport. The September 1906 Hurricane did
severe damage ($8,000-$10,000) to their new building at Gulfport.
In addition this tempest leveled their turpentine orchards creating
losses in excess of $200,000.(The Daily Herald, September 28,
1906, p. 1 and September 29, 1906, p. 1)
Another New Orleans company, the Fort Bayou
Turpentine Company would become active north of Ocean Springs in
late 1910. It was run by some of the same officers of the New
Orleans Naval Stores Company.
GILLICAN-CHIPLEY COMPANY
This New Orleans organization was formed by two men who
were long associated with the New Orleans Naval Stores Company,
Walter Boyer Gillican (1874-1954) and Buckner Chipley (1876-1945).
W.B. Gillican was born at Wilmington, North Carolina.
He was a graduate of the Cape Fear Academy. At New Orleans,
Gillican was a member of the Boston, Pickwick, Louisiana, Southern
Yacht, and Delta Duck Clubs. His partner, Buckner Chipley, was a
native of Louisville, Kentucky. He graduated from the University of
Virginia and had a career in commerce. Chipley in addition to his
vice-presidency of the Gillican-Chipley Company, was a director of
the Whitney-Central National Bank and the Pan American Life
Insurance Company. Socially, Chipley was active in the following
clubs: Boston, Louisiana, New Orleans Country, Press, and
University. He was married to Anita Galt (1874-1954).
Floridians Enter Jackson County
In addition to the turn of the Century naval stores
operators from New Orleans, a small contingent of men active in the
business in the central Florida and its western panhandle, also
became operative in Jackson County. About this time, two gentlemen,
M.O. Starling and H.L. Covington, formed the Ocean Springs
Turpentine Company. They resided at Pensacola, Florida. H.L.
Covington was president of the Gulf Naval Stores Company, which had
offices at Pensacola and Tampa. His company was amalgamated in
September 1902, with six other regional factorage houses to form the
Consolidated Naval Stores Company. They also maintained an office
at Pensacola.
Ocean Springs Turpentine Company
In the summer of 1906, the Ocean Springs Turpentine Company began to
operate in Jackson County, Mississippi, when M.O. Starling took a
lease on the NW/4 of the NW/4 of Section 22, T7S-R8W from H.F.
Russell (1858-1940). It was a ten year turpentine lease commencing
on December 1, 1906.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 31, pp. 292-294).
Here on Fort Bayou at a site near Nobles Landing, the
Ocean Springs Turpentine Company operated a twenty-barrel turpentine
still. The surroundings of the still must have been quite beautiful
and conducive for social outings and picnics as described by the
local journal, The Ocean
Springs News.
In June 1910, the newspaper reported that a party
consisting sold his undivided one-half interest in the Fort Bayou
turpentine operation to John M. Memory for $9813.50. In addition to
the turpentine still, tools and implements and fixtures associated
with it, the conveyance to John M. Memory included the following:
one horse, two saddles, one buggy and harness, two horse wagons and
harness, four mules, thirteen hogs, one steam pump and boiler, all
crude gum in barrels @ $5.00 per barrel, seventy-five dip barrels,
one set of coopers tools, all cord wood, barrel staves, heading,
hoop iron, glue, batting rivets, and still supplies of every kind.
All turpentine leases acquired by the company as well as goods in
the company commissary store and animal feed were also included.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 36, pp. 372-373)
On January 20, 1911, H.L. Covington and John M. Memory
sold a one-third interest in the company to W.L. McWhite. The sale
took place at Escambia County, Florida.(JXCO, Ms. Land Deed Bk. 36,
p. 374).
At the same time, Covington and Memory sold their remaining interest
in the company to John Franklin Payne of Long Beach, Mississippi and
Walter Boyer Gillican of New Orleans for $11,933.62. The inventory
involved in this conveyance consisted of:
two residences, one commissary , thirty shanties, one stable, one
spirit house, one well, one blacksmith shop and tools, one cooper
shop and tools, one twenty-barrel still spirit shed and fixtures,
two hundred dip barrels, one pump, four mules, three horses, two
wagons and harness, two buggies and harness, two saddles, eighteen
spirit barrels, twenty-one thousand staves, hoop iron, seven tons of
cotton batting, seven hundred and thirty patent turpentine cups, one
rosin scale, eighteen pounds cotton batting, one boat and barge,
twenty-five head of hogs, and twenty-five hundred pieces of heading.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 36, pp. 374-376)
Fort Bayou Turpentine Company
In February 1911, W.L. McWhite sold his interest in the Ocean
Springs Turpentine Company to the Fort Bayou Turpentine Company for
$6166.66. Simultaneously, Payne and Gillican sold their two-thirds
interest to the Fort Bayou Turpentine Company for $12,333.66.(JXCO,
Ms. Land Deed Bk. 36, p. 378 and Bk. 36, pp. 378-380)
The Fort Bayou Turpentine Company was incorporated at
New Orleans on December 13, 1910, and domiciled at New Orleans. The
officers of the company were John F. Payne (600 shares), W.B.
Gillican (360 shares), and W.L. McWhite (120 shares).(Orleans
Parish, La. MOB 1018, p. 243)
In December 1910, J.F. Payne had also sold the Fort
Bayou Turpentine Company approximately 6,000 acres of land in
T7S-R8W and T7S-R9W for $36,000. This pine and cutover land was
formerly owned by George Rose of New York City. Rose's father,
Joseph Benson Rose (1841-1902), gave his name to the Rose Farm, when
he owned it in the early part of the 20th Century. (JXCO, Ms.
Land Deed Bk. 36, p. 381)
The Ocean Springs News corroborated this
conveyance when it announced that Gilligan, Vizard, and Payne bought
over 6,000 acres of pine and cutover land from George Rose of New
York City for $35,000. The same journal reported on December 24,
1910, that the Fort Bayou Turpentine Company planned to divide two
thousand acres of their property into smaller parcels from ten acres
up and sell them to small farmers and fruit growers. The remaining
acreage would be retained for turpentine operations. Payne planned
to plant pecans and oranges on one forty-acre tract. He was also
contemplating a move to Ocean Springs.
Now that the Fort Bayou Turpentine Company of J.F.
Payne, Walter Boyer Gillican, and W.L. McWhite had acquired the
pinelands and physical resources of the Ocean Spring Turpentine
Company north of Ocean Springs, they began to operate in earnest.
Company president, John Franklin Payne (1873-1929), was a native of
Eastman, Georgia. He married Lou Don Hawkins (1879-1959) of
Woodstock, Tennessee. The Paynes may have resided at New Orleans
before settling at Long Beach. In January 1909, the John F. Payne
purchased a 1.6 acre lot (100' x 700') in the Widow Nicholas Ladner
Claim, on the Mississippi Sound at Long Beach, Mississippi, from L.V.
Galloway and James B. Galloway. The tract was a part of "Rosalie",
the old John J. McCaughn (1805-1860) homestead. St. Mary's Roman
Catholic Seminary was to the west and north, and the Galloways on
the east. Here the Paynes built a neat, white cottage and reared
their two daughters, Eleanor P. Vigour and Lou Don P. Hartley
(1912-1985). The Payne cottage later became the home of the
president of Gulf Park College. The property is now a part of the
Gulf Coast campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.(HARCO
Deed Bk. 89, pp.
19-20)
In addition, John F. Payne was vice-president of The
Gulf Turpentine Company operating at Lizana, Harrison County,
Mississippi. This organization was headed by D.F. Mason of New
Orleans and possessed about 6000 acres of turpentine lands. Circa
1914, The Fort Bayou Turpentine Company and The Gulf
Turpentine Company were producing annually eight hundred barrels of
turpentine and four thousand barrels of rosin.(Ocean Springs
1915, p. 24)
In his real estate and naval stores business, John F.
Payne's word was his bond. During his lifetime, Mr. Payne amassed a
small fortune in corporate bonds which he legated to his
family.(HARCO Will Book 6, pp. 240-247, Estate No. 11,324).
J.F. Payne was a Methodist and member of the Long Beach
Blue Lodge as well as a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason at
Gulfport. A strong believer in education, Payne sent daughter,
Eleanor, to the American University at Washington D.C. He was also
one of the promoters of Gulf Park College.
John Franklin Payne expired at Long Beach on October 27,
1929. Mrs. Payne moved to Gulfport, Mississippi. She passed at her
Bayou View home on January 27, 1959. They are interred with their
daughter, Donnie P. Hartley, in the Evergreen Cemetery at Gulfport.
Individual Turpentine Operators
In addition to the naval stores activities by out-of
state entrepreneurs, several men who came from the turpentine belt
of North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Alabama would settle on the
Mississippi coast and make good livelihoods from the local pine
forests. Among them were: George L. Robinson (1848-1919+), Charles
B. Elarbee (1861-1917), Robert Walbridge Hamill (1863-1943), Lee
Vernon Pringle Sr. (1866-1938), Daniel Judson Gay (1870-1949), Frank
Ernest Pringle (1872-1925), and Leonard D. Byrd (1875-1931). A
brief chronology follows:
George L. Robinson
George L. Robinson (1848-1919) was born at North
Carolina. He was in the saw milling business at Jackson County, as
early as 1904. The Progress announced in early April 1904,
that "George Robinson received this week an up-to-date saw
mill outfit which he will located about six miles north-east of
Ocean Springs near Andrew Ramsay's place. The mill will saw about
10,000 feet of lumber per day".(The Progress, April 2,
1904, p. 4)
In 1910, Robinson operated a turpentine orchard and fire
still, most probably in Section 8, T7S-R7W, east of Ocean Springs.
There is a high degree of certitude that present day Robinson Still
Road is named for this man. In September 1904, Robinson had taken a
three year turpentine lease in this area, Sections 2-11 of T7S-R7W,
from Dr. Harry Shannon and his wife, Lucy I. Shannon.(JXCO, Ms. Land
Deed Bk. 29, pp. 142-143).
The 1910 Federal Census of Jackson County indicates that Robinson's
workmen were black and mulatto. They included: distiller, William
B?son (b. NC-1863); cooker, Hayne McCoy (b. NC-1882); dippers, Abram
Sutton (b. NC-1875), Henry Lacy (b. GA-1878), Will Washington (b.
NC-1878), and Henry McCarty (b. ALA-1891).
In the fall of 1909, Belle Black of Carthage, North
Carolina visited made a visit to the Robinson family at Ocean
Springs.(The Ocean Springs News, November 7, 1909)
In the fall of 1911, George L. Robinson disposed of his turpentine
interest north of Ocean Springs and moved to town renting the Cooley
Place on Martin Avenue. He became involved in the drugstore
business here and was second vice-president of the South Continent
Life Insurance Company, which met at Gulfport. In addition, Mr.
Robinson also served the people of Beat Four as their Supervisor for
many years. He like his successor, James K. Lemon (1870-1929), was
a firm believer in good roads.(The Ocean Springs News, October 1,
1911, p. 5 and December 9, 1911)
George L. Robinson was married to Mena Robinson
(1859-1910+), also a "Tar Heel". They had five children. Earl
Robinson attended Mississippi A. & M. College in 1911. In the
summer of 1917, daughter, Anna Belle Robinson, married Walter Bland
at Statesboro, Georgia. John Robinson, their only son, expired in
October 1918 from the Spanish Influenza. John had worked at the
drugstore until ill health caused him to seek employment as a
pine-cross tie contractor.(The Ocean Springs News, September 23,
1911, The Jackson County Times, August 5, 1917, p. 5, and October
19, 1918, p. 5, and The Ocean Springs News, September 30, 1911)
In March 1915, George L. Robinson returned to the
turpentine business as he developed an orchard halfway between Ocean
Springs and Vancleave. It is believed that he expired on April 4,
1919.(The Ocean Springs News, March 18, 1915, p. 2)
|
By
Ray L. Bellande