History of Sessums Community, Through 1976

HISTORY OF SESSUMS COMMUNITY
THROUGH 1976
MRS. MORRIS SEITZ
Dedicated to Susan Kean, who was interested enough
in this project to print it without compensation.
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II.
Families of Sessums Community, Past (For Origin of Community, see
Sessums Family)
III.
Interesting Facts
IV.
Clubs of the Community
V.
Sessums Schools
VI.
Sessums Church
VII.
Economic and Social Life
VIII.
A List of Voters in Early Sixties from Office of Chancery Clerk
IX.
Recollections of Mrs. Brooks and Miss Margaret McKnight
INTRODUCTION
Dear Reader:
This project grew from a Sessums monthly community meeting which was attended by
Mrs. Will Rogers, county head of Bicentennial Activities, and
she suggested we write a history of our community. Since I had taught history for
eighteen years, everyone looked at me; and not realizing what would be involved, I
accepted the job of writing the history. We would hope that anyone doing
genealogical work among these families would find some help, but this is in no way
a group of family trees. It is an effort to unite the past with the things
remembered by our present generation and to have them know more of our early days.
More is told of some families than others because some families had more
information than others. Some names are likely not spelled as the families spelled
them, though we asked about unusual names. There are probably some mistakes with
this many names--if so, tell us and we will correct them. I was reared in another
county and neither I nor any of the others who gave information can be positive
about much of this. It is the best recollections here in 1975. No statements were
made with malice.
I could never thank all who have taken the time to talk with me, but certainly Mrs.
frank Castles provided a phone, since I'm long distance to Starkville, and spent
many an afternoon answering questions. Mrs. Kenneth Pyron wrote her family's
history and helped with many other families' history. Mimi Templeton was invaluable
in getting the pictures and Mrs. Will Rogers typed the first draft and told where
to go for needed information on many occasions.
Is it too much to imagine smiles of joy from those whose names have been silent so
long?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Morris Seitz
Anderson, James
James Tatum Anderson and his wife, Eolyn Falls Anderson, moved their trailer to
Sessums in 1965 after he retired to be near Mrs. Anderson's sister, Mrs. J. T.
Barrett. Mr. Anderson was an electrician before retirement and the couple lived in
Memphis. He died in 1972.
(See Barrett summary for Eolyn Falls' history)
Anderson, Oscar
The Oscar Anderson family came to Sessions about 1944, settling the old Dossett
place. They came from Smith County. Mrs. Anderson was formerly Helen Curry, whose
parents were Noah and Leah Mangum Curry. The Mangums were likely from South
Carolina. We do not have the name of Noah Curry's father, but he had three wives--a
Miss Campbell, Frances Derrick, and Ophelia McBeth.
Oscar Anderson was from Alabama, He was the son of Ben and Mary Hitt Anderson. Two
sons were born to Oscar and Helen Anderson Hewel1 and Robert L. Hewell married
Christine Burrage, daughter of Almer and Edna Burrage of Neshoba County. Hewell and
Christine Anderson have three children--Diane (Mrs. Bill Utroska), Jim, and Carol,
(died 2-23-1993) Robert was married to Billie Nance and later to Shirley Fox. He
had one son, Bobby.
Oscar Anderson died in 1969. His wife, Helen, recently celebrated her ninetieth
birthday in good health. She lives in a trailer near the Hewell Anderson home on
the original homesite.
Arnold, George Brooks
George Brooks Arnold and his family lived for a short time (about 1960) in the
house built by George Henderson, The McGinnes live there now. George Brooks is the
son of George and Lydia Brooks Randle Arnold. His wife is Janelle Henry, daughter
of Archie and Bessie Clardy Henry. Their children are Sam, Susan, and Steve. They
now live in Aliceville, Alabama.
2
Arnold, Huey
Huey Arnold was the son of Felix Robert and Dora Kimball Arnold. His wife, O'Lee
Dalton Arnold, was the daughter of Marion Clarence and Audrey Smith Dalton. Her
maternal grandparents were Albert Harvey and Jenny Carter Smith. Her paternal
grandparents were William M. and Mary Eliza Blaylock Dalton.
The Huey Arnolds came to Sessums in 1934 and lived in the Bynum home for several
years. In 1940 Huey opened the store in Sessums now known as Cox Grocery. The
Arnolds lived in the back of the store for several years. Later Huey bought land
and built a home just west of the store on what was formerly the Tumlinson
property. Mrs. Arnold has been postmistress at Sessums since 1936.
Two daughters, Mary and Kathryn, were born into the Arnold home. Mary lives in
Jackson, Mississippi where she is attending nursing school at University Hospital.
Kathryn married Al Poncett, Jr. They have three children, Bob, Jim, and Al, III. At
the present time (1975) they are living in the Panama Canal Zone where her husband
is stationed with the United States Air Force.
Arnold, Murray Hunter
Murray Hunter Arnold was the son of John Murray and Mary Lawrence Arnold. He
married Ruth Steele of Oktibbeha County. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Robert A.
Steele. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hatchett were her maternal grandparents. M. H. Arnold
was a graduate of A&M College, now Mississippi State University. He taught
agriculture at Longview in Oktibbeha County and in Lonoke County, Arkansas.
In 1934 the Arnolds rented the Quayle property and moved to Sessums. In 1942 they
bought the property from Mr. Quayle.
The Arnolds have two children--Annie Ruth and John Robert. Annie Ruth married Alvin
Dodds of Starkville. They now (1975) live in Charleston, South Carolina. Their
children are Kenneth, Carolyn, and Russell.
John Robert married Mary Ann Ficklin of Greenwood, South Carolina. Their children
are Elizabeth, Margaret, Carrie, Hunter, and Mary Steele. John Robert is president
of Arnold Industries in Starkville and has farming interests in Sessums.
3
The Quayle House
Later bought by
Mr. & Mrs. M. Hunter Arnold
As of 2008, Russell Dodds, the M.H. Arnolds'
Grandson-Annie Ruth Arnold's son, lives &
Owns this House and Land.
Askew, G.D.
The G. D. Askews lived in the Sessums Community from 1947 until 1966. His father
owned property near Sessums. G. D. built a home near the Harry Peters farm. Virgie,
his wife, was a nurse and worked at one of the hospitals in Columbus. She had a son
by an earlier marriage. G. D. had one brother and was related to the other Askews
of the community.
Askew, J.H.
J. H. Askew and his wife, Willie Sharp Askew, lived where the Flem Blankenship
Family later lived on the Crawford road south of the railroad. This house is now
gone. Mrs. Frank Owen of Columbus and Willie Sharp Owen were the two daughters of
this couple.
4
Askew, Will
Will and Lena Henry Askew, his wife, lived on land now owned by John Robert Arnold.
The old house still stands and is located across the road from the Morris Seitz
property. Their children were Patty Will, Mary Lena, Maude, Lucile, Laura, and
William. This home is remembered as a place of many social gatherings. Following
Mr. Askew's death, Mrs. Askew moved to West Point and married a Mr. Graham. Later
Maude, Laura, William, and their mother moved to California. Patty Will married a
Mr. Tate and lived in Macon and Starkville. After his death, she worked in Jackson
and passed away a few years ago.
5
Barrett, J. T.
J. T. Barrett and his family came to Sessums in 1955 with the Jack Reese Family.
"Doc" as he was affectionately known, was a veterinarian. He died in 1967. His
ancestors came from Ireland to Saltillo, Mississippi, and settled on Barrett Ridge
nearby. His father was Frisbee Barrett and his mother was a McNiel. Doc's wife is
Mary Ethel Falls Barrett, lovingly known in Sessums as "Mammy". Her parents were
Clarence Frank and Erma Smith Falls. Her maternal grandparents were John Whitfield
Smith of Kentucky and his wife, Missouri Ann Young, Miss Young married the man who
came to tell her that her fiance, a Civil War soldier, had been killed. The Falls
came from North Carolina.
The Barretts lived in the house with the Reese family for several years. These two
families lived in the old Frye house. Later the Barretts moved into the house built
by Charles Lutz Frye.
The children of J. T. and Mary Falls Barrett are: Gloria,
Mrs. Jack Reese of Jackson, Mississippi; Patty, Mrs. Knox White of Gulfport,
Mississippi; J. T., Jr., deceased; and Joan, Mrs. Stuart Roosa of Houston, Texas.
Roosa was one of the astronauts who went to the moon on the 14th mission. Since the
death of her husband and brother, Mary Falls Barrett (Mammy) lives with her
brother, Clarence. Her sister, Tommie (Mrs. Guy Moore) lives in an apartment there,
and another sister, Eolyn (Mrs. J. T. Anderson) lives in a trailer nearby.
Blankenship, Flem
The Blankenships came to Mississippi from Alabama. Willie B., son of John and
Fannie Blankenship, married Anna Bell Edwards. Their children were Flem (Fleming),
Hardin, Woodrow, Fannie, Sarah, and Gertie. Flem married Pearl Isaac. Flem and
Pearl Isaac Blankenship are the parents of Wallace, twins Wiley and Riley, W. F.,
Willie Bell, Pauline, Beulah, and Ruby Lynn. This family lived on the old J. H.
Askew place. However, none were left in the community after Flem and his second
wife, Mary Cokecroft Blankenship, moved to Artesia. Mary is now working for two of
her stepsons who are in the welding business in Maryland. Flem is dead.
The children of Flem and Pearl are: Willie Bell, Mrs. Italiano of Tampa,, Florida;
Wallace of Athol, Massachusetts; Wiley of Tampa, Florida; Riley of Maryland; W. F.;
Pauline, Mrs. Francis Ryder of Athol, Massachusetts; Beulah, Mrs. Garland Wray of
West Point; and Ruby Lynn, Mrs. Virgil Bolin of Starkville. Wiley and Riley were
twins, and Ruby Lynn has twins, Keith and Kent, as well as other children.
6
Blankenship, Hardin
Hardin Blankenship was the son of Willie B. and Anna Bell Edwards Blankenship, and
a brother of Flem. His paternal grandparents were John and Fannie Blankenship, who,
it is believed, came from Alabama. Hardin married Clara Smith. For a while they
lived across the road from the J. C. Kean, Sr. place. Later they moved to the old
Dille place where Clara still lives when not with children. Hardin is dead.
The children of Hardin and Clara Smith Blankenship are: Mary Ann, Mrs. Bob Graham
who lives in Florida; Betty Jean, Mrs. Don Williams (widow) of Jackson; Bessie,
Mrs. Jimmie Mitchell of Nashville.
Bowlus
D. B. and Edith Bowlus came from Indiana. They lived across the road from the
present home of Isabel Kean. Their two daughters are: Betty, Mrs. Mose Cooper of
Columbus, Georgia; Eula, Mrs. Don Echols of Natchez. Mose Cooper managed the Wells
Dairy Products Plant in Columbus, Georgia, for many, many years until his
retirement. They still live in Columbus. Don Echols was a state officer in the
Mississippi Farm Bureau for years and lived in Jackson during this time. Don died
several years ago, and Eula lives in Natchez.
Bryant
Marie Ulm Bryant, mother of Mrs. Carson Castles, moved from New Orleans to Sessums
in 1970 to live hear her daughter. Mrs. Bryant's mother was Marie Albeitz from
Kuckelbach, Germany. Her maternal grandparents were Romuald and Marie Horlinger
Albeitz. Mrs. Bryant's father was George M. Ulm of Rudolfsberg, Germany, near
_____. Her paternal grandparents were Joahnn M. and Margaret Zie Ulm. This German
couple met and married in the United States in 1893. Marie Ulm married James P. H.
Bryant, Sr., in 1918 and she lived in New Orleans until she moved to Sessums.
James and Mary Annie, “Marie" Ulm Bryant were the parents of: Jim; Iris, who
married Carson Castles; George; Carl; Evelyn. Mrs. Bryant was killed in a traffic
accident while visiting in New Orleans in 1975. She was buried there in one of the
city's old cemeteries, Saint Rock.
7
Burks
Edward Meeks Burks and his wife, the former Gertrude Smith, were originally from
Millport, Alabama. They moved from Philadelphia to Longview and then to Sessums in
the late twenties or early thirties. They lived in Sessums four or five years and
then moved back to Longview. Mr. Burks sold and repaired Singer sewing machines.
Their children are: E. M. Burks, Jr., who died in 1954 following a truck wreck;
Jack, of Columbus; Edward of Bisbee, Arizona; Mrs. Sue Mcllwain of Memphis; Mrs.
Fay Tiggot of Picayune; Mrs. Tommie Reese of Starkville; Mrs. Billie Langford of
Columbus; Mrs. Ann Newman of Terry.
Mr. Burks passed away several years ago. Mrs. Burks died in 1975 at the age of 81
years.
Burnley
Arthur Lee and Jo Burnley moved from Starkville to their home on Blackjack Road in
1963. The land they bought was originally part of the Gay property. Jo, born in
Leake County, is the daughter of Walter Clyne and Clemmie Scott Beard. After her
father's death her mother remarried, and the family moved to Crystal City, Texas,
where Jo went to high school and started to college. Later she returned to
Mississippi.
Arthur Lee Burnley, born in Durant, is the son of Willie Cube and Emma Adcock
Burnley. He worked for Staggers Bakery and later for the cafeteria at Mississippi
State University. Presently he owns beef cattle.
The Burnleys are the parents of one child, a daughter, Rose, who married Bobby
Buntin. The Buntins are the parents of four children: Carmen, Rocky, Lance, and
Scott.
Butler
Horace and Meldie Shurden Butler moved to Sessums from the western part of
Oktibbeha County sometime during World War II. They were employed by Mr. Hunter
Arnold and lived in the old Savage house. There were several children. One of the
daughters married William Wray. They lived in Sessums about a year.
The Savage house was just north of the McKnight house, on the east side of the
road. Both of these houses are gone now.
8
Bynum
The Bynum family was from Paducah, Kentucky. Benjamin H. (Ben) and his wife, Clara
Phillips Bynum, moved to Sessums and built a home there in 1907. Mrs. Bynum (Clara
Phillips) was the sister of Willis Phillips who also lived in Sessums for many
years. Ben and Clara Phillips Bynum were the parents of two children: Grace, who
married Everett Russell; Willis, who married and moved to El Paso, Texas. Ben Bynum
died in 1936. His wife, Clara, went to live with her daughter and son-in-law.
Canull
Dick Canull was one of many families who lived on the place formerly owned by Harry
Peters. The Canulls were from Illinois. He was the son of Carl and Ikie Canull. His
wife was Sharon Greeve. Their children were Lisa, Laurie, Craig, and Lana. After
four and a half years the family moved to the George Brooks Arnold place and now
live on Highway 45 south of Artesia.
Card
For awhile in the early 1950's Charlie and Mable Card lived in a house, no longer
standing, between the G. D. Askew place and the Harry Peters place. He died in
December 1969, while his widow presently lives in Starkville. Their children are:
Charlie, Jr., of Mobile, Alabama; William Y. (Billy) of Birmingham; Robert, of
Tupelo; Annie Mae of Starkville; and Erma Jean (Mrs. Conner Thornton) of Oktibbeha
County Hospital and Starkville.
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Carpenter, Vivian Murray
The Vivian Carpenter family came to Mississippi from Virginia. The family
originally came from Scotland where they were direct descendants from the Early of
Murray. Vivian M. Carpenter and his wife, Eudora Hagan, lived near the Choctaw
Agency - below the Parrish farm and near the Mcllwain and Rushing families. Their
children were: Eudora, who lived most of her lift at the old home, but spent her
last years with her sister; Vivian (Mrs. Ashley Terry) in Senatobia, Mississippi,
where she died and was buried. She never married. Murray, married Mabel Terry and
lived on Blackjack Road near Starkville. He and his wife are buried in Starkville.
Their children are: Vivian, who lives in Greenwood; Mabel, who lives in California;
Henry Gordon who lives in Maryland and Ashley, who lives in Utah. Aubrey married
Celeste Bryant. He is the only one of these children still living. He lives in
Moorhead, Mississippi at the present time (1976). The children of Aubrey and
Celeste Carpenter are: Mary Ella Greenway, Biloxi, who lives in Pascagoula; and
Celeste who married Jack Sullivan and lives in Cleveland, Mississippi.
Ira married Etta Terry. Both are dead. Their children are: Ira, Jr., Margaret (Mrs.
Lee Briscoe Allen of Port Gibson, Mississippi; and another daughter who lives in
Memphis, Tennessee. Stanley married Martha Wilson. Both are dead and buried in
Osceola, Arkansas. They had no children. Harry married Annie Barnard. They lived
all of their married lives in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where he is buried. His
wife still lives there. Their two children are Ladye (Mrs. W. F. Fraley of
Louisville, Kentucky and Mrs. W. R. Rodgers of Rolling Fork.
Vivian married Ashley Terry. Both are dead but are survived by an adopted daughter,
Lois. They are buried in Senatobia, Mississippi. Henry married Mae Henry. They
lived in Houston, Mississippi and are buried there. Their children are: Henry, Jr.,
living in Germany; Stanley, retired Marine officer and lives in Washington, D.C.;
and Nannie Mae.
These people listed above are cousins of Carlton Carpenter and Miss Maude (Dotsey)
Carpenter of Starkville. Five of the eight Carpenters listed above are believed to
have finished college. All of them attended elementary school at the Choctaw
Agency.
10
Castles
Dr. Henry Carson Castles, died and buried in York, Fairfield County, South
Carolina, in Smyrna R.A.P.Cemetery, and his wife, Sally Watt Castles, Fairfield
County, came from Chester County, South Carolina, to Newton County, Georgia and
settled near Conyers. The old Bethany Presbyterian Church in Newton County was dear
to this family, and the Castles were some of its most faithful supporters. Sallie
Ann Watt Castles moved to Blair, Oklahoma with son William and is buried in Blair
Cemetery. She married a Dr. Bell, but later left him.
One of the Castles sons, John Palmer, married Carrie Gertrude Davidson in 1878.
This couple later came with their four children from Georgia to Oktibbeha County,
Mississippi. They lived in the northeast section of Oktibbeha County at a place
called Moon Valley, which is near Muldrow in Clay County and Osborn in Oktibbeha
County. From Moon Valley the Castles moved to Sessums.
10
John Palmer and Carrie Gertrude Davidson Castles were the parents of: Henry Paul
Castles; Sara Gertrude Castles; David Carson Castles; Frank Lafayette Castles;
Elizabeth Richards Castles; Ruth Palmer Castles. The four oldest children were born
in Georgia, but Elizabeth was born in Clay County, MS, and Ruth was born at
Sessums.
Henry Paul Castles' first marriage was to Grace Wilkins. After her death he married
Annie Dell Perkins who still lives in Starkville. There were no children from
either marriage.
Sarah Gertrude Castles married Doss Watt McIlwain. They spent their last years
living in the old Castles home after Grandpa and Grandma Castles died. They were
the parents of: D. W. Mcllwain, Jr., who married Allie Montgomery; Lavancia who
married Laud Pitt; and Grace who married Vernon Harris. Roger Pitt and wife Kay
lived in the old family home for a while. As of 2008, the old place is owned by
th
Freeman McGinnis' niece, Shirley. Its 80 acres of 16 Section land.
David Carson Castles married Patty Ellis. They lived in Starkville all of their
lives. Their children are: Frances Henrietta (or Henrietta Frances) who married
Barnett Reynolds. After his death she married Harold Harder, Sr. They live in
Starkville; Carolyn who married Clayton West. They live in Cleveland; a son, David,
Jr,, who died; and Patricia (Ditty) who married Peter Snyder, Jr.
John Palmer Castles and family came to Oktibbeha with the Tom Montgomery Family in
1880 and worked for Tom Montgomery on his land. Later Montgomery gave land to
Mississippi A & M College.
st
Frank Castles 1
Home
11
Frank L. Castles married Lucy Stiles. They lived all of their lives in Sessums.
They are the parents of: Charles Davidson, who lost his life in World War II; Frank
Carson and John Stiles Castles, twins. Frank Carson Castles married Iris Bryant of
New Orleans, Louisiana, John Stiles Castles married Betty Miller of New York. They
live in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Frank Carson and Iris Bryant Castles are the parents of Frank Castle, Jr.; Hugh
Davidson Castles, David Castles, and Peggy Castles, who married Bill Groves.
John Stiles and Betty Miller Castles are the parents of Audga & Lynn and "Chuck",
Charles Palmer, who is now studying in a Baptist seminary.
Chennie
M. A. and Betty Chennie from. Alabama lived for awhile at the Harry Peters' place.
They had no children, and moved from here to Brooksville.
Cox
Woodrow and Marjorie Cox came to Sessums when they bought the Arnold Store in
February 1964. Woodrow was reared in Artesia but says the Coxes came originally
from Maplesville, Alabama about 1913. His parents were Sallie Walker and Robert
Milton Cox. His maternal grandparents were Martin and Eugene Walker. His paternal
grandparents were Mack and Emma Cox. Other children in the Cox home were Woodrow's
twin brother, Wilson, and Robert and Jeanette.
Woodrow's wife, Marjorie Ellzey Cox, is the daughter of Minnie Mae and Ray von
Ellzey of Laurel, Mississippi. Her mother's parents were Emma and Texas (Tex)
Williams. Her father's parents were George and Betty Ellzey.
Devolin
Dr. Tyrrel Emmett DeVolin of Marfa, Texas, and his wife, Carol Stewart DeVolin of
Fort Davis, Texas, came to the Sessums community about 1952. They lived at the old
Peters place near the Hugh Stiles residence. "Jiggs", as Dr. DeVolin was known to
friends, was a veterinarian and worked for the government. He raised beef cattle.
The DeVolins were the parents of two children, Glenn and Doris.
Dr. Devolin sold his farm to Dr. Kermit Laird and returned to El Paso, Texas, after
living here for about ten years.
12
Dobbins
Bobbie and Jewel Dobbins moved to the house Jim Seitz had built in 1975. He was the
son of Woodrow and Audrey Wilkerson Dobbins and she was the daughter of Joe and
Effie Terry Johnson. They came from Greenville. They have five children, Bobbie
Jr., Charles, Billy, "Sissie", and David. Bobbie drives a cement truck and Jewel
works at one of the industries in West Point.
Dossett
Harry B Dossett came to Mississippi from Georgia. He married Nannie Davis, the
sister of his landlady. The Dossetts lived across from the present home of J. C.
Keans, Jr. They were the parents of one child, James Ola. James Ola died when
young, leaving two children, Cheryl and Jimmy. His wife was Elsie Edwards.
Dillie
A. B. Dillie came from near Chattanooga, Tennessee. He lived across from the
present home of Isabel Kean, where later the Russell and Bowlus families lived. A..
B. Dillie married Mary Wilcox. Their children were Corwin (who later lived at the
site where Mrs. Hardin Blankenship now lives), Frank and Annie. For many years
Corwin worked on wells in the county. Corwin married Mary Louise Evans. Their
children were Dan, Joe, and Frances. Mrs. Dillie's daughter by a first marriage was
Maurine Felker. Mr. Dillie's children by his first wife were Eugene and Bertha.
Corwin sustained a serious injury on his head when a horse kicked him. Dan now
lives in Longview and works for a fire fighting unit.
Eads
Caswell Eads moved to this section from Meridian. He married Cecelia Reese,
daughter of Nora Bell Reese. They lived on the old Reese place north of Sessums on
the Starkville road near where the Winston family now lives. They had no children.
Borth are buried in the Sessums Cemetery.
Eastis
John Eastis lived in the old Savage house. His children were Robert, Lloyd, Sallie
and Kitty. The children attended school at Sessums.
13
Ellis
Alexander Hamilton “Hamp” Ellis married Lula Gladney. They lived in an older house
on the site where Sonny Winston now lives. This couple had no children. Mr. Ellis
often went to Cuba on vacations. He was the friendly engineer on the train that
went from Starkville to Artesia. Often he blew the train whistle and waved at
children along the way. When he died, Mrs. Ellis moved to Starkville.
Ellis
Robert Ellis fought in the Civil War. His wife became very sick so his son,
Ferdinand, took his father's place in the army so his father could come home.
Ferdinand later married Margaret Bell Wilder. Their children were Elzena, Joe, and
Mary Louise. Mary Louise later became the wife of Ralph Winston. The Ellises lived
in a large log house near where the Ike Winston family lives now. Ferdinand's
brother, Will, married Henrietta Bell.
Falkner
James Falkner was a veteran of World War II. He and his wife lived near Mrs. Frank
Castles. He once taught school at Self Creek.
Falls
Clarence Falls, Sr., and his son, Clarence Falls, Jr., came to Sessums to live with
Mrs. J. T. Barrett. They were from Booneville, Mississippi. Mrs. Barrett is the
daughter of Clarence Falls, Sr. (For Falls history, see Barrett summary).
Fanning
The Fanning family came to Sessums in 1973 from the Delta. Originally they were
from Alabama. George and Nancy Fanning operated a hog farm for a short time on the
Young place. Mrs. Fanning's parents were Robert and Lula Hall Bolin. Her maternal
grandparents were Albert and Callie Hall. Mr. Fanning's parents died when he was
quite young. He was brought up by Milt and Laura Fanning, apparently relatives. The
Fannings are the parents of two boys, Roger and Travis. The family moved from
Sessums to Arkansas.
14
Foster, James
James Foster moved from Starkville to the edge of the Sessums community about 1901.
His parents were Arthur and Elizabeth Amelia Foster, James Foster married Lula G.
Montgomery, daughter of Dr. J. G. and Sallie Montgomery. This couple lost four
children in infancy. Other children were Arthur, James Leslie, Glenn, Walter,
Lawrence, John Carlton, and Ruth. At the present time only Leslie of Gary, Indiana,
Ruth of Rutherford, Tennessee, and John Carlton of Columbus, Mississippi, survive.
Their home was south of Chapel Hill. John Carlton Foster gave us this bit of
information: "From 1901 this community was known as Agency, Mississippi, with the
post office located at the Rushing home. Finally the post office was discontinued,
but the voting precinct remained at the Rushing Store until 25 or 30 years ago when
it was moved to Oktoc, and is still there as far as I know. We were three miles
from Oktoc and five miles from Sessums where we did our trading."
Fox
Henry Augustus Fox, Sr., and his wife, Emily Melissa Gay Fox, lived in Monroe
County near Hamilton. They were the parents of Eugenia, Emily Melissa, Sara (Sarah)
Jones and Henry Augustus, Jr. Henry, Sr., and his wife, Emily Melissa Gay Fox,
died within six months of each other, leaving four children under ten years of age
as orphans. John Hampton Gay, brother of Emily Melissa Gay Fox, and his wife,
Margaret Biles Gay, also lived in Monroe County. They were the parents of six
children, but they took the four Fox orphans into their home and raised them as if
they were their own children. Later when the Gay family moved to Oktibbeha County,
John Hampton Gay sold the Fox property in Monroe County and bought an equal amount
of land in Oktibbeha County for the Fox orphans. Morris and Kenneth Seitz now own
the 1,000 acres of land that John Hampton Gay bought for his Fox nieces and
nephews.
Henry Augustus Fox, Jr., married Mattie Stallings of Columbus, Mississippi. They
were the parents of Henry Fox III, Emilie, Eugene, Josie, Wilburn, Sara, and
Albert. Only Wilburn of Mobile, Alabama, and Sara (Mrs. Marion Dawson Brett) of
Hattiesburg survive. Sara was the only one of the children to marry. The Bretts are
the parents of one child, a daughter, Martha Ann. Martha Ann married Raymond Samuel
of New Orleans. The Samuels are the parents of two daughters, Cynthia Ann and
Stephanie Brett. "Cindy' (Cynthia Ann) teaches law at Tulane Law School. She is
the first woman law•professor in the Tulane Law School. She graduated in law from
Tulane in 1972 and began teaching there is August 1975. Stephanie is a student at
Loyola University in New Orleans.
Eugenia Fox and Sara Jones Fox never married. Emily Melissa Fox married Alexander
Franklin Young, Jr.
15
Frye
Sam, a bachelor, and his brother, Charlie Frye, operated a store at Sessums between
the present store and the Jack Reese home. Charlie married Addie Koblentz and
having no children, adopted a daughter, Lizzie McNally. She later married Lutz
Frye, a cousin of her adopted father. Lizzie's adopted parents built the house
where the Jack Reeses now live and planted the large trees there. Lizzie and Lutz
Frye were the parents of Dell, Adelaide, and Charlie. The son now lives in the
county and the girls and their mother are in California.
Henderson
Frederick W. Koblentz and his wife, Susan S., and their youngest child, Mable,
moved south from Springfield, Ohio about 1888 and located at Sessums. They later
moved to a farm southwest of Sessums. Mable attended school at II and C, now MUW,
at Columbus, and later married George L. Henderson. To this union were born Earl,
Louise, Lewis, Allene, and Robert. These names appear many times in the Sessums
Church history. The Koblentz lived, when they first came from Kentucky, in a log
cabin and then moved to the store they operated in Sessums. It was the one later
referred to as the Frye store.
16
Gay
James Gay left Devonshire, England, and lived for a time in Ireland before coming
to the United States and settling in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1761. He
served in the Revolutionary War as a private and later as a sergeant from North
Carolina. He fought in the battles of Stono and Eutaw Springs. He married Margaret
Mitchell in 1768 and moved to North Carolina in 1771.
James and Margaret Mitchell Gay had a son, James, born July 9, 1783, in Rowan
County, North Carolina. He married Martha Amanda Bates on April 14, 1811, in
Cambridge District, South Carolina, and by 1812 had moved to Edgefield County,
South Carolina. About 1818 he moved to Marengo County, Alabama, and settled on the
Tombigbee River.
Shortly after 1830 the James Gay family moved to Monroe County, Mississippi and
began farming on the forks of the Tombigbee and Buttahatchie Rivers south of
Aberdeen near Hamilton. According to records of Federal Land Sales, James Gay had a
very large tract of land patented to him in Oktibbeha County in 1833. On January
15, 1836, he bought 650 acres of land from a Choctaw Indian (Deed Book B, Oktibbeha
County, pp. 195-6).
James and Martha Bates Gay had eight children. Their oldest son, John Hampton Gay,
moved to Monroe County with his parents, brothers, and sisters in the early 1830's.
In 1831 he married Margaret Y. Biles. Like James Gay, his father, John Hampton Gay
had land patented to him in Oktibbeha County in 1833. Between 1840 and 1850 the Gay
family moved to Oktibbeha County, near Sessums.
John Hampton and Margaret Gay had six children: James Bates; Billy; Mary Florence;
Charles Edward; Martha Isabella; and Eudora.
In addition to these six children, John Hampton and Margaret Gay had as family
members his three nieces and a nephew, children of Emily Gay Fox, his sister. The
four Fox children were left as orphans when both their parents died within six
months (see information on the Fox family).
Of the six Gay children only two lived permanently in Oktibbeha County after they
were grown, Charles Edward and Eudora. Charles Edward Gay attended school in
Columbus and later went to the University of North Carolina. He enlisted in the
Confederate States army in 1861 and was discharged at Meridian in 1865.
In 1870 he married Mary Frances Rachel Scales of Crawford, Mississippi., He and his
family returned to "Black Jack", the family farm and home in eastern Oktibbeha
County near Sessums. He was a successful farmer, but for twenty-five years was
chancery clerk of Oktibbeha County. In his History of Oktibbeha County Judge T. B.
Carroll describes C. E. Gay as the county's most popular citizen.
17
Later in life, Mr. Gay bought a large lot at what is now 110 Gillespie Street in
Starkville and built the home that stands on this lot, and is occupied by his
granddaughter, Miss Cornelia Rush. Another granddaughter, Miss Louise Wier, spends
part of her time in Starkville, also.
Gordon
Kenneth and Judy Anderson Gordon came to Mississippi in 1972. They built a new home
near the Stewart Parrish place and moved from Starkville to the Sessums community
in 1973. Both of them are natives of Texas. Kenneth's parents are C. J. and Mamie
Gertrude Stiles Gordon. His maternal grandparents are Younger Taylor and Peachie
Emma Parrish Stiles. His paternal grandparents are Rosencrace and Viola Sophia
Bernard Gordon. Judy's parents are Arlin Anderson and Florence Snow of Sulphur
Springs, Texas. Her maternal grandparents are Henry Arthur and Jo Hamilton Sickles
Snow. Her paternal grandparents are James Lauderdale and Ella Frances Anderson.
Kenneth is Assistant to the Vice-President of Student Affairs at Mississippi State
University.
The Gordons are the parents of two children, Matthew, who is six years old, and
Melissa who is four.
Harrell, E. G.
Mr. E. G. Harrell, who lived in the Sessums community for a number of years was
born in Dallas County, Alabama, on March 1, 1862, and grew to young manhood in the
community of Marion Junction, near Selma, Alabama. As a young man he came to
Starkville and worked out from town for Mr. Tom Montgomery on his dairy farm. On
October 7, 1891, he married Miss Katie May McKell, who was born on May 1, 1861, on
the McKell place, which still is owned by members of the family and is located on
the Oktoc-Artesia Road. They lost one child, Fort, who died at four years of age.
The other children born to them were Agnew, Frank and Brooks. Agnew is deceased and
Frank lives in Peterman, Alabama, a community near Tuscaloosa. Brooks lives in
Savannah, Georgia.
The Harrells lived in the Sessums community during their married life. Mr. Harrell
was Justice of the Peace for sixteen years, and was depot agent for the Mobile and
Ohio Railroad. When Mrs. McKnight had to give up the post office, Mr. Harrell
obtained permission from the railroad to put the post office in the depot and he
was postmaster until his death at the age of seventy-one.
18
Mrs. Harrell died in the summer of 1926, after a long illness. They, as a family,
were very active in the First Presbyterian Church of Starkville. Their home was the
center of much activity for both family and community. Mr. Harrell was a master
gardener and generous to a fault with vegetables, watermelons and cantaloupes.
Their picnic basket at community gatherings and political rallies was always loaded
with good food.
Hartness
George Dale Hartness, son of James Dale and Mary Chambers Hartness, was one of
several Scotch-Irish brothers from South Carolina who settled in this area. George
Dale Hartness was a merchant in Starkville. His wife was Nannie Valentine, daughter
of Josiah and Margaret Bell Valentine. James and Margaret Hartness were the parents
of George, William Davis, Nannie Mae, Joseph Dale, Maggie, Robert Presley,
Elizabeth, Charles Keating, James Perry, Minnie, Ruth, and Frank Woodley.
Charles Keating married Jennie Lou Loftis of Lowndes County, daughter of Perry
Oliver and Della Elizabeth Kidd Loftis. Perry 0. Loftis fought in the Civil War.
Della Elizabeth Kidd was the daughter of John and Narcissa Ward Kidd. Other
children in the Kidd household were William Ward, Mary Wilder, and Martha
Elizabeth. The parents of John Kidd and also the parents of Narcissa Ward went from
Ireland to France for religious freedom, and later came to South Carolina. Charles
Keeting and Jennie Lou Loftis Hartness lived for sometime on the Agency Road near
Rushing's Store. Later they moved to the Spraggins place and finally bought the
Bynum place in Sessums in 1943. The children of Charles and Jennie Lou Hartness are
Martha, Nancy and Charles Keating. Nancy died when she was thirteen years old with
leukemia; Martha married Leslie Otto Templeton, and Charles Keating, who never
married, lives with the Templetons. Leslie and Martha Templeton are the parents of
two daughters, Marlys and Miriam.
The Bynum House
19
Hibbler
Jim Hibbler and his wife, Mary Stiles Hibbler, lived across the road from the
present Hardin Blankenship home. They were the parents of Willie, Fanny, Mary, Joe,
Mattie, Louise, Tolbert, Katie, and Walter. They moved from here to West Point and
later to Birmingham.
Holberg
Mose Holberg and his family lived on the south side of the railroad track across
from where Mrs. J. T. Barrett now lives. The house they lived in no longer stands.
Mr. Holberg operated the Sessums store where Cox's grocery is now.
The children in this family were Julia, Rosetta, Nannie Lou, Jake, Gretchen, and
Mozelle. Julia taught school at Sessums in the early 19201se The family moved from
Sessums to Macon.
Hoyt
Harry Hoyt married Mattie Boyd, the twin sister of Mrs. Willis Phillips. This
couple was from Kentucky (Paducah, Kentucky). Mr. Hoyt operated the Frye Store for
many years. Mrs. Hoyt died at Sessums. Harry and Mattie Hoyt had no children. Mr.
Hoyt's second marriage was to a widow, Mrs. Pearl Russell Nichols. (See Russell
information). The Hoyts moved from Sessums to Texas. Both are dead now (1975).
Jones
Thomas Nelson Jones, Sr., son of Mr. and Mrs. N. B. Jones of Collinsville, Alabama,
formerly of South Carolina, married Elizabeth Peters of this community in 1932. Two
sons were born to this union, Thomas Nelson Jr., and Richard Henry. T. N. Jones,
Sr., a graduate of Auburn University, came to Mississippi State College in 1931 as
agricultural engineer for the Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station. A
reserve officer, he was first called into active duty with the army in World War
II. Later he joined the National Guard and served with the Dixie Division in Korea
during the Korean War. He came back from Korea with the rank of colonel. Upon
retirement from the army in 1960 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
In 1969 he retired as agricultural engineer from the Mississippi Experiment
Station. In 1950 Mr. Jones bought part of the Gay property and began raising beef
cattle. He built a home here, near Sessums, in 1972, and
20
he, Elizabeth, and Mrs. Peters moved into it in December 1975. Mrs. Jones taught
piano in Starkville for twenty years.
Three years ago Mr. Jones divided the property. Nelson, Jr. built a home on his
part of the land last year and moved his family from Dallas, Texas, into the
Sessums community. Nelson, Jr., graduated from Mississippi State University and
joined the Air Force. He served as a B52 pilot for the Strategic Air Command, U.S.
Air Force, during the Vietnam War. Later he became a pilot for American Airlines
with headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Now living near Sessums, he commutes to Dallas
to fly for American. Nelson, Jr., is married to the former Beverly Koch of Kiln,
Mississippi. Her grandparents came from Denmark. Nelson and Beverly have three
children, Stanley, Christy, and Jamie.
Richard graduated from Mississippi State University in Civil Engineering. He
received a Masters and Doctors degree from the University of Florida at Gainesville
in Environmental Engineering. He married Brenda Vertner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Earl Vertner of Cape Coral, Florida. They make their home in Gainesville where
Richard is in business for himself.
Joyner
William L. Joyner lived next to the Ridgeway place. He was a member of Company C of
the Oktibbeha Rescue Squad.
Kean
"Pop" Kean, as he was affectionately known, in giving a detailed account of his
life to his daughter, Susan, stated that he was born "in the Dominion of Canada, in
the Province of Ontario, in the County of Wellington, in the township of Minto
Road, Number 7, farm number 32, on July 23, 1873." He further stated that his
father was a native of Scotland "who went to sea early in life." His father later
came to Ontario, Canada, and "took up two hundred acres of land in what was called
the Queen's Bush, where highways never ran." Mr. Kean's father was the first man in
that section. He built a shanty of a house and began to clear land. He married Mary
McCormick and they built as real pioneers. He hauled the wheat he had to sell forty
miles on a homemade sleigh with oxen.
This family of seven children did well with their farm which consisted of big apple
orchards, fine horses, shorthorn cattle and Colswalt sheep, until a depression hit.
This was probably the depression of 1893 which affected the United States also. At
this
21
time Pop wrote: "eggs sold for a nickel a dozen in trade, oats for nineteen cents a
bushel, and hogs for two and one-half cents a pound when you could sell them." He
spoke of the men going back to the fields and working until midnight when there was
moonlight.
Pop's brother wanted to work in some city because he disliked the farm, but Pop
felt he could not leave. Even though the farm produced an abundance of food, as
apple cider by the barrels, it did not look promising to the boys. However, three
miles away a cheese factory was going up. John Curry (Pop) Kean got work here, and
quickly advanced from worker to testing man, and later to manager of another plant.
He won a prize once for his cheese and worked at a number of different plants
before returning to the farm because his father was sick.
After the death of his father the farm was rented and Pop took a five-month college
course in dairying at Strathray College. The president of this college, one
Professor Smith, took a great interest in this young man, and soon he was operating
another creamery. A Mr. Bushfield, owner of the general store in the town where the
creamery was located, offered to pay off the patrons if the creamery would leave
the money at his store. Mr. Kean found the owner's daughter, Susan Bushfield,
especially appealing, and she later became his wife.
Professor Smith came to work at Mississippi A&M College and urged Mr. Kean to come.
He and his bride soon came, stopping in Detroit and St. Louis on their way. There
were other offers, but farming was considered again, and the couple moved to
Sessums to the place now occupied by his daughter, Miss Isabel Kean.
Mr. J. C. Kean died in 1970 at the age of 96. Mrs. Kean had preceded him in death
by several years. Their children are: Mrs. Harris Turnipseed (Betty) of Weir,
Mississippi; Miss Isabel Kean of Sessums; Jack, Jr. of Sessums; and Susan, Mrs.
Robert Moates of West Point.
Jack, Jr. married Eloise Wolfe of Cascilla. Their children are: Jack III "Jackie"
of St. Louis who married Lois Reese Crump of Guin, Alabama and they have two
children: Jack Vann and Jennifer Kathryn; Rebecca, Mrs. Thomas I. Starling of
Jackson; Susan, engaged to Michael Lee Ard; and Steven Thomas, a junior at
Starkville Academy. Betty Kean Turnipseed's children are: John Kean Turnipseed,
married to Nancy Parker of Water Valley, and two children: Parker and Todd; James
Lloyd Turnipseed, married to Ellen Benson of West Point; and Edward Turnipseed,
married to Donna McGee of Weir.
22
In Sessums Mr. Kean is remembered as the founder of the Sessums Community Club
which he said he organized as a sort of "smoker" for the men.
Known for his poetry, the scripture he could quote, and his long walds, his
daughter described his philosophy as being this --"He feels that everyone is
wonderful.”
23
Linderman
Lee L. Linderman married Grace Winston. Their children were Mary, Levitt, Ike,
Claudine, and Marjorie. The Lindermans lived on the Joyner place near where the
Pyrons live now. Later, the Linderman family moved to Starkville. Mr. Linderman was
a rural mail carrier. After his death, Mrs. Linderman moved to Shreveport,
Louisiana, where her married children lived.
McGinnis
The Freeman McGinnis family moved to Sessums in 1959 to the place formerly owned by
George Henderson. Freeman McGinnis is the son of Dumas and Lula Prisock McGinnis.
His wife, Wynelle, is the daughter of Paul and Edna Pugh Jackson. The McGinnises
have one child, Shirley. Freeman is a barber in Starkville and Wynelle works at the
office of the County Superintendent of Education.
Massey
Joe and Ruby Massey moved to the former Peters farm from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
They lived in the house built by Mr. Peters until it burned in December 1974. Joe
is the present owner of this farm.
Mr. Massey and his second wife, a native of Mexico, once operated a business in
Artesia, which is now operated by his daughter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Bob
Reese, Jr.
The Massey children are Joe, Jr.; Randy; Steve and Sandy.
Mitchener
John Mitchener and his wife, Lucia Leon Parker (daughter of a physician), lived in
Houston, Mississippi. They had two sons, E. A. Q. and Jessie. When Jessie was eight
years old and his brother four, their father died. They went then to live with a
friend, and the mother later died. The boys then stayed with a Mr. Ball at Una in
Clay County. These boys later came to Starkville and lived with their cousin, Mrs.
Hamp Ellis. They went back to Una when they were grown and worked on a farm. Jessie
married Odell Whitt and had two children--Clifford and Carolyn, Mrs. Earl Lee of
Mobile. Jessie died in 1968.
E. A. Q. married a sister of Mrs. Jessie Mitchener, Ula Mae Whitt. This couple had
one child, Donald, who died of diabetes in 1974. E. A. Q. died in 1970.
24
McIlwain
Near Sessums community, but perhaps actually in Oktoc, were the McIlwains and
Rushings. The McIlwains were from South Carolina and lived below the Parrishes
toward Oktoc. Shields Mcllwain married Arixie Roberts and their children were Ed,
Doss, Tom, Emmett, John, Oscar, Walter, Mack, and one daughter, Lelia. These
attended school at the Choctaw Agency and Forest Hill. They remember having Mrs.
Dollie Lock Burgin and Ada Tittle as teachers. Mrs. E. A. Perkins, Miss Mada Jones
and Miss Musa Austin also taught there.
Ed died at the age of 23, presumably from one of the fevers of the early 1900s.
Doss worked at A&M College and married Gertrude Castles.
Lavancia, Grace and D.W., Jr.
His children were:
Lelia married Harben Perkins Edwards and less than a year later, she died of
Typhoid Fever.
Tom became a Methodist Minister. He married Effie Upchurch. Their children were:
Lelia Belle, Archie Thomas, Jr., Lois Evelyn, Mary Josephine and Martha Jane.
Archie Thomas and Lois Evelyn died in early childhood, and Mary and Martha were
twins.
Emmett married Lois Hyatt of Birmingham. Their children were: Shields, Emmett,
Kathlene and Madeline. Emmett owned and operated the Artesia Hardware store.
John married (1) Josephine Butts, who died two years after their marriage after
giving birth to John Franklin McIlwain, Jr. Four years later, John remarried to
Lida Mathews of Starkville. Their children were Marjorie, Florence and Lida
Sylvia. John owned and operated a general mercantile store in Artesia.
Oscar married Idylette Watson and he was a banker at the Artesia State Bank, and
later owned his own insurance office in Artesia. Their children were: Mamie,
Margaret and Juanita.
Walter married Katherine Lucille Francis from Meridian. Walter was in business
with his brother John. Lucille was the principal of Overstreet Elementary School
in Starkville. They had no children.
Mack Duffie married Leona E. McArthur from Vernon, Alabama.
owner in Vernon. They had no children.
He was a business
25
Moore
Leonard Guy Moore and his wife, Tommie Falls Moore, moved into an apartment in the
home of Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Barrett when they (the Moores) retired. Mr. Moore's
father was Reuben Moore of Prentiss County, Mississippi. His mother was Lottie Ann
Stockes of Booneville, Mississippi. Guy Moore died in 1970.
(See Barrett summary for Tommie Falls' history)
Newman
Charlie Newman came from Brookhaven, Mississippi, to A&M College (now Mississippi
State University) in 1918. He began working his way through school by working in
the college barber shop. A few years ago he completed forty years of barbering in
the City of Starkville. He is not related to the Newmans presently living in
Brookhaven, but has a sister living in Jackson.
After the death of his first wife, a Miss Eddleman of Weir, he married Mrs. Huey
Arnold, whose husband had also died. The Newmans now live in the home formerly
known as the Huey Arnold home.
Charlie Newman's children by his first marriage are Doris, who works in New Jersey,
and Gene, who works in Texas.
Nickerson
Charles Nickerson and his wife, Mary Nichols Nickerson, moved to the Stewart
Parrish place in 1974. Charles was born in McMinnville, Tennessee, but being in a
military family, he has lived many places. His parents were John Charles Nickerson,
Jr., of Paris, Kentucky, and Carolyn Strauss of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This
couple was killed in an automobile wreck in 1964 leaving Charles and two younger
brothers. Mary N. Nickerson was born in Washington, D.C. Her father was Marshall S.
Carter of New York, and her mother was Preot Nichols Carter. On both sides of
Mary's family it seems that generals among the grandparents and uncles are common.
West Point Military Academy and Virginia Military Institute are household words.
Her family has also been traced back to the Mayflower group.
Charles teaches in the Physics Department at Mississippi State University.
The Nickersons are the parents of two children, Eric and Kitren.
26
Oswalt
Arvie and Maudie Swindoll Oswalt lived in Sessums in the 1950's in the house
formerly belonging to the W. H. Reeses. His parents were Bruce and Lee Britt
Oswalt. Maudie's parents were Solomon Andrew and Frankie Johnston Swindoll.
The Oswalt children are Arvie Lee, Tommy, Paulette, and Johnny.
The Oswalts were originally from Webster County.
Parrish
Josiah and Harriet Canty Parrish came from Ohio to Alabama and then to Mississippi.
Their son, Benjamin James Parrish married Lula Norwood of Noxubee County. Lula
Norwood's mother was a Hopkins, the daughter of the Hopkins who founded Johns
Hopkins Hospital.
Benjamin James and Lula Norwood Parrish had three sons, Joseph Norwood, Stewart
Patton, and Benjamin James, Jr.
Joseph (Joe) and Annie Myrtle Parrish, his wife, had Elizabeth, Carl, Joe, Morris
and Jimmy. Stewart and Elizabeth Bolin Parrish had no children. Benjamin James (B.
J.) and Mildred Edwards Parrish, his wife, had one daughter, Tallulah.
Benjamin James Parrish, Sr., had two sons by his first wife, Bettie, who died
young. In Carroll's Historical Sketches of Oktibbeha County, we find this paragraph
relating to them:
In 1883 or '84 some men hanged two Negroes, Ned Mack and Newt Carpenter, in the
north half of Section 33, Township 18, Range 15, for poisoning Dorsey and Eddie
Parrish, thirteen and fifteen year-old sons of B. J. Parrish. The Negroes had made
themselves liable to suspicion; believing they could "conjure" Mr. Parrish, the
Negroes had placed a "conjure bag" under his steps. Ned Mack was a "conjure doctor"
in the opinion of most colored people. The Parrish children died, but I am certain
they died of natural causes. This was the opinion of Dr. J. B. Perkins who, though
he did not attend them, knew their symptoms by description; the children were sick
eight or ten days before they died. The two "conjure" Negroes died, too.
27
The family says the story handed down was that the wife of one of the accused men
told Mr. Parrish she heard these men making their plans. A family cemetery is
maintained near the former Stewart Parrish home. It is now owned by the Nickerson
family.
Benjamin Parrish, Sr., was a confederate soldier who was wounded at Corinth, fought
at Vicksburg, captured at Blakely, Alabama, and held prisoner at Ship Island. His
grandson tells that his grandfather was captured three times, according to official
records, and each time he was allowed to go free by signing a paper saying he would
not fight anymore!!
Joe, son of Joe andAnnie Myrtle Parrish, married Mary Ann Switzer whose
grandfather, Alfred Wilson Switzer (1825-1895), was born in Germany and made shoes
and boots. He married Martha Ann Grizzle. Their children are Lillian, Carrie, and
Leroy, the father of Mary Ann Switzer Parrish. Joe and Mary Ann Parrish have two
children, Jo Ann who married Sheldon Webster, and Terry who married Linda Fultz.
Carl Stewart Parrish married Maurice Oswalt from Choctaw County. Their children are
Carl, Jr., who married Nanette Jackson of Starkville, Donna Sue, who married Jimmy
Norris, Jr., and Marcie, Lisa and Cynthia Lynn who are not married.
Elizabeth Parrish is now Mrs. Billy Murphy of Memphis. Her husband, Billy Murphy is
Athletic Director at Memphis State University. Their children are Michael Norwood
and Elizabeth Ann.
Morris Parrish married a widow with two children. She was from California but we do
not know her name. Morris and his wife are the parents of two children, Elizabeth
and Wesley.
Jimmy Parrish married Carolyn Yeatman of Oktibbeha County. They are the parents of
two children, Brenda and Jim.
Peters
Thomas Harry Peters, Sr. married Eliza Shular, daughter of John and Aletha Jane
Cross Shular. The Shular's children were: Mary Louise, Virginia Carolyn, Finnie
Margaret, Eliza, John Everette, and Aletha Jane. Thomas and Eliza Peters' children
were: John William, Thomas Harry, Jr., and Joseph S.
Thomas Henry (Harry) Peters, son of Tom and Eliza Schular Peters formerly of
Virginia, was married to Ethel Lee Mcllwain, daughter of John WILSON and Elizabeth
Boyd Mcllwain, in 1909. They lived on the Peters property in the southeast part of
Oktibbeha County. To this union two daughters were born, Elizabeth and Louise. And
also twins were born in Nov. 1919 but died the same day. In 1922 Harry Peters
built a family home one mile west of the old home place on the Crawford Road. He
resided here until his death in 1945. In Judge Carroll's Historical Sketches of
Oktibbeha County, Mr. Peters was referred to as a very successful farmer and
dairyman. This statement must have been true for in 1928 he was chosen one of the
ten best farmers in the Mid-South by the Progressive Farmer magazine.
28
He had other interests besides farming. He was one of the founders of the
Cooperative Creamery which served dairymen for many years. Realizing the importance
of good schools, he helped get rural children out of a one-room school into the
Starkville Public School.
Elizabeth finished school at MSCW, majoring in music. Louise also graduated from
MSCW, majoring in home economics. Elizabeth is now Mrs. T. N. Jones, Sr., and lives
in the Sessums community. Louise is married to W. D. Howell, Sr., and lives in
Whitehaven, Tennessee.
Peterson
Irving Peterson came to the Sessums community from Winston County in 1966. His
parents were Tom and Mary Frazier Peterson. Irving married Pansy Dawkins of Winston
County. Her parents were the Presley Dawkins. The Irving Petersons live in the
house built by G. D. Askew, near the former Harry Peters place. The Petersons are
the parents of two children, Hilda and Odie. Irving died in the garden of a heart
attack a few years ago. Odie has a daughter. Susie.
Phillips, Porter
Porter Phillips and his family lived at the Harry Peters place after Mr. Peters'
death about 1945 or 1946. Mr. Phillips was the son of Leroy and Minnie Schrumphur
Phillips. He was born in Huntingville, Alabama. Mrs. Phillips is the former Ada
Hollingsworth, daughter of Gus and Julia Ann Smith Hollingsworth. The Phillips
children are Preston, Walter (Skeeter), J. P., Dell, Pauline, Louise, and Leroy.
Phillips, Willis
Willis Phillips and his wife, Lou Boyd Phillips, lived where William White lived
until the Whites sold their property in 1974 or 1975. The Phillips lived here back
in the 1920's and possibly 1930's. The Phillips had no children. Mrs. Phillips'
twin sister, Mrs. Harry Hoyt (Mat) lived in Sessums for many years. The Hoyts
operated the store formerly operated by the Frye family. Mr. Phillips sister, Mrs.
L. H. Bynum (Clara) formerly lived with her husband in the home presently owned by
Mr. and Mrs. L. 0. Templeton.
29
Pitt
Roger Williams Pitt lived with his wife and daughter in his maternal grandparents'
home. This is the old John Palmer Castles home built earlier by Will Eads. Roger is
the son of Laud and Lavancia Mcllwain Pitt. The were from Colquet, Minnesota.
Roger's paternal grandparents were Henry and Winifred Williams Pitt of Wisconsin.
The children in this family were Laud, Lyle, and Hazel. Because of an article which
followed the death of a relative connecting this family with Roger Williams of
Rhode Island, Roger Pitt was given his name. Roger is married to the former Kay
Carothers. She is the daughter of David Ray and Josephine Hadaway Carothers. Mrs.
Carothers was formerly from Smithville. Mr. Carothers was from Itawamba County. The
Pitts have two children.
(For further information, see summary of Castles Family)
Quayle
James Quayle, whose first wife and children are unknown to us, married Alice
Thorley the second time. They had one son, Thorley. Mr. Quayle came originally from
the Isle of Man--between Ireland and England. He owned land here some fifty years
before he built a summer home in 1922 or 1923. The house presently belongs to Mrs.
Hunter Arnold. It seems an English Syndicate got control of the land in this county
during the 1893 depression. Mr. Quayle actually traded Chicago property for this
land. Mr. Tumlinson used it as a pasture for years before the Quayles came.
Mr. Quayle died at this home and was carried north for burial. Later Mrs. Quayle
was killed in an X-ray explosion in a Cleveland, Ohio hospital.
Their son, Thorley, married Carolyn Smith of Duquin, Illinois. Shortly afterwards
they sold the place and went North to live.
30
Reese, Jack
Jack Reese is the son of the late Marlin Reese of Tupelo and Lavern Merritt Reese.
The Reese family moved to Sessums in 1955.
Mrs. Reese was Gloria Barrett, daughter of J. T. and Mary Ethel Barrett. Jack Reese
bought the Frye home. Jack and Gloria Reese are the parents of seven children:
Barrett Reese, married Anita Chandler; Mike Reese, married Cindy Sullivan; Cecelia
Reese, married Bob Bullock; Dan Reese, married Mary Ann Scales; Carol Reese,
unmarried; Terry Reese, married Eddie McDowell; and David Reese, unmarried.
Barrett and Anita Chandler Reese are the parents of one child, Mary Elizabeth
Reese. Mike and Cindy Sullivan Reese are the parents of one child, Dallas Reese.
"Bob and Cecelia Reese Bullock are the parents of two children, Seth Bullock and
Alexis Bullock. Dan and Mary Ann Scales Reese are the parents of two children, Mary
Celeste Reese and Carole Ann Reese. Eddie and Terry Reese McDowell are the parents
of one child, Ledge McDowell.
Reese, William Henry
The Reese family was one of the first families to come to Oktibbeha County. They
came about the time that the Bell family came (see Winston information elsewhere in
this book).
James Reese married Lenora Bell, daughter of William M. and Cecelia Martin Bell.
Jame Reese's parents were Reese and Matilda Greer Reese. They were the parents of
seven children: James (Jim Reese; Martha Reese; Susan Reese; Mary Reese; Ida Reese;
David Reese; and Nannie Reese.
James (Jim) and Lenora Bell Reese were the parents of seven children: Cecelia Bell
Reese, married Caswell Eads; Mary Matilda Reese, married Willie Eads; William Henry
Reese, married Genevieve Shattuck; Alice Gertrude Reese never married; Leona
Henrietta Reese married Robert Joshua Price; Jim Ida Reese married Harry McGee;
Annie Mae Reese, married Henry A. Martin.
The Reese family lived near Sessums on the Sessums-Starkville Road. This famiy
lived near the Eads, Ellis, Ridgeway, and Winston families.
Henry and Genevieve Shattuck Reese lived in Sessums all of their married lives.
They were the parents of eight children: James Reese, married Mildred Arnold;
Elizabeth Reese married Henry Tumlinson; Mary Alice Reese married Hardy Lawrence;
George Shattuck Reese; William Henry Reese; Lenora Reese married Jack Tabor; Samuel
Reese; Caswell Reese. These children grew up in Sessums. Lenora and her husband,
Jack Tabor, lived with her parents until they died. Later they moved to Little
Rock, Arkansas.
31
James and Mildred Reese lived in Sessums or Starkville all of their married lives.
Their children and grandchildren still live in Oktibbeha County. The other brothers
and sisters moved away.
Robert Joshua and Leona Henrietta Reese Price were the parents of nine children:
Frank; Elise; Robert; Leona; Mae; Jim; William; Harry; and Vivian. Mae (Mrs.
Gatlin) and Vivian (Mrs. Barton) still live in Oktibbeha County. There are other
descendants of this family in Oktibbeha County also.
Annie Mae Reese married Henry A. Martin. They were the parents of seven children:
Lenora; Mary; H. A., Cecelia; William Oscar; Mildred; and Annie Elizabeth. Only one
of these children lives in Oktibbeha County now. Lenora Martin married George A.
Nowlin. She lives in Starkville with her stepdaughter, Miss Billie Nowlin. The
other children are dead or live elsewhere.
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Reese, Danny
Danny and Linda Reese from Tennessee were another couple to live at the Harry
Peters place. He was the son of Henry Reese who now lives on Highway 82 near the
road to Camp's Airport. Their children are Danny Wayne, Jimmie, and Darlene. Danny
Reese, the father, was later killed in a car wreck. This couple was in our
community only about six months.
Ridgeway
Bruce Ridgeway married Margaret Bell and their children were Joe, Edwin, and
Willie, a daughter. This family lived where Ike Winston's hay barn near and where
theiris residence now is. Mrs. Ridgeway became paralyzed late in life and Mr.
Ridgeway was sick, too. A daughter by a first marriage came and took them both to
her home in Jackson or Meridian.
Rush
Ed Rush married Lydia Cavannah. There were no children, but there was an adopted
son, Francis Lee. He operated a store west of the present Cox grocery. It seems the
road was farther from the store then than it presently is. A niece, Pearl Rush,
lived with them. They lived behind the Dossett house and in a house near the
stores.
Rushing
In the earlier days of the community, about 1909, Homer and "Rat” Rushing lived
near the McIlwains toward Oktoc. They never married and are now dead. Jane Arixie
Roberts who married James Shields McIlwain, was a sister of Mrs. Mary Rushing, the
mother of these men. There were two daughters also. There was Loraine, who never
married and died with tuberculosis, and Florence who married a teacher and lived in
Okolona. Florence had one son and several daughters.
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Russell
John Russell from Kentucky and his wife lived across from where Isabel Kean now
lives. This is the same place that was lived in by the Dille and Bowlus families.
Their children were Everett who married Grace Bynum, Lymon, married Susie Lake;
Jewel married Harry Bolton, and Pearl. Pearl Russell first married Letcher Nichols
and had two sons, Letcher Dee and Everett. She then married Harry Hoyt, and they
lived where the William Whites now live. The Hoyts sold the property to the Whites
around 1950 and went to Texas where she died in 1974 after him. Members of the John
Russell family are buried in Starkville. Mr. John Russell operated a store and
grist mill at his home at one time.
Sciple
Charles Sciple came to Sessums in 1971 and occupied a trailer near the old Dossett
house. He is the son of Jessie and Josephine Pickett Sciple of Kemper County. In
June 1973 he was married to Nell Stafford who was born in Macon County, Georgia.
Her parents were Carl and Ray Hobbs Stafford. Her paternal grandparents were James
and Daisy Stafford; her maternal grandparents were Barney Ray Hobbs and Annie
McDaniel. She came to State College to be with a friend following the death of her
first husband and found work in the personnel office where she is still employed.
Charles is Director of the Seed Testing Laboratory.
Seitz
Henry Morris Seitz came to Sessums from Longview in 1938 where members of the
family bought land which had been parts of the Young and Fox property. He is the
son of W. H. N. Seitz and Alice Hall of Longview. His paternal grandparents were W.
M. (Billie) Seitz and Clemmie Thompson. His maternal grandparents were John Hall
and Tobitha Richardson. His great grandfather came from Germany and returned there.
Mrs. Seitz was the former Bernice Kennedy of Choctaw County. She was the daughter
of Elizabeth Vanlandingham and Tom Kennedy. Her paternal grandparents were William
Kennedy and Margaret Farrow. Her maternal grandparents were Frank Vanlandingham and
Sarah Ray. There are two children, Bing and Kenneth. Bing, married to the former
Joyce Gastineau of Dayton, works for ATT in San Francisco. Kenneth, married to the
former Mary Lynn Norris, farms with his father. Bing has a son, Brett, and Kenneth
has a daughter, Amy.
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Seitz, Jim
Jim was a brother of Morris Seitz and came to Sessums in 1938 also. Morris lived
with Jim and his family at first, and later the two families lived side by side
near the county line between Sessums and Highway 45. Jim married Mary Sykes,
daughter of Charlie and Ida Skidmore Sykes of Bradley community and had two
children, Charles Nash and Mary Jo. Jim died in 1958. Mary later married Randolph
Echols. Charles Nash died in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1974 where he worked for Price
International Oil Co. Mary Jo married R. F. Tanner of Memphis and had two children,
Rob and Kevin. Kevin died at nineteen months, a victim of Cystic Fibrosis.
Old Iron Bridge Over Iron Creek on Artesia-Starkville Rd.
Bridge is long gone now (2009)
35
Sessums
Captain Solomon David Sessums, for whom the village of Sessums, Oktibbeha County,
Mississippi, was named, was the grandson of Lieutenant Solomon Sessums and his
wife, Elizabeth Lloyd Sessums, and of Dr. Isaac Sessums (1787-1869) and his wife,
Mary Ann (Polly) Short Sessums (179018?). He was born in or near Hilliardston, Nash
County, North Carolina on August 22, 1821 and died May 16, 1895. Solomon David
Sessums was married three times, and had seven children by each wife. His first
wife was Lucy Gray Sills of Nash County, North Carolina. They were married in 1840.
In 1845 they moved from North Carolina to Mississippi and settled near Louisville.
In 1851 Lucy died at Sessums and was buried in Columbus. Only one of the seven
children, Lucy Sills Sessums, survived. She was six weeks old when her mother died,
and was adopted by her father's only sister, Harriet Sessums Drake and her husband,
Dr. Joseph Drake of Hilliardston, North Carolina.
Lucy Sills Sessums married Dossey William Outlaw (2/7/1843- 3/18/1918). To this
couple six children were born: Harriete Drake Outlaw; Lucy Sessums Outlaw; Dossey
William Outlaw; Joseph Drake Outlaw; Mary Blanche Outlaw; and Clary Elizabeth
Outlaw.
Lucy Sills Sessums Outlaw is the grandmother of Mrs. Wilburn Page (Ada Lee Outlaw)
of Starkville and the Oktoc Community, and is buried at Sessums in the Sessums
Family Cemetery.
Three years after her death Solomon David Sessums married Lida Hibbler of
Cooksville, Mississippi, on September 20, 1854. She died January 11, 1864 at
Sessums. Only three of their seven children lived: Isaac; Martha (or Mittie); Polly
Harriet.
It was this Isaac Sessums, who according to Judge Carroll in his History of
Oktibbeha County, was killed by a gun he had fixed to fire when the door to one of
his buildings was opened. He had hoped to kill a thief, but forgetting his trap,
opened the door and killed himself. He was buried in the family cemetery at
Sessums.
Three years after his second wife died, Solomon David Sessums married his third
wife, Henrietta Eleanor Kirskey of Crawford, Mississippi. Henrietta was born in
Eutaw, Alabama, April 30, 1846, and died July 19, 1913 at Columbus, Mississippi.
Six of their seven children lived. They were: David Jackson; Mary Ann; Battle
Kirksey; Turner Wesley; Henrietta Eleanor; and Irwin Dancy.
Our generation knows the last child, Irwin Dancy, as "Major Sessums" of Mississippi
State University. His sister always called him "colonel."
36
Henrietta Eleanor Sessums married a Mr. Palmer. They lived in Columbus for years
and had one daughter, Carrie Battle Palmer.
David Jackson Sessums (Mr. Dave) worked at Divilbliss in Columbus for years.
Irwin Dancy Sessums, our "Major Sessums", married Annie Kate Halbert, whose sister,
Miss Ethel (Beadie) Halbert, worked for years in the Registrar's Office at
Mississippi State University. Irwin Dancy and Annie Kate Halbert Sessums were the
parents of two children--Elizabeth, now Mrs. Guy Carson of Lynchburg, Virginia, and
Irwin Dancy (Sonny) Sessums, who as far as is known, lives in Ellisville,
Mississippi.
Henrietta Sessums Palmer, in a tribute to her father written in October 1939 in
Columbus, gave additional information about the family after the move to
Mississippi from North Carolina.
Later he moved (from Louisville) to a tract of land in Oktibbeha County five miles
west of Artesia, bought by him and his father from an earlier settler named Glover.
Becoming established, Captain Sessums and his father bought another tract of land
from a Mr. Boon [Boone], known as Boon Hill. A third tract was bought from a Mr.
Moor [Moore], known as Moor's Field. The first house purchased dated back to the
earliest days--a six room log house. The house burned a few years after the Sessums
bought the place. A two story frame house with three bedrooms downstairs and three
upstairs was then built. The kitchen was a separate structure located in the rear.
'This house caught on fire at night, cutting off the stairway from the second wife
who was sick in bed upstairs. One of the slaves climbed a tree, swung himself on a
limb, caught the window, and carried the sick lady safely down a ladder which had
been brought to the house in the meantime. For this act the slave was given his
freedom, but he never left Captain Sessums--even after the war he still claimed the
place as his home.
Captain Sessums then built the house which stands today (1941). It was first a two
story frame house with two large rooms and one small room downstairs, with a wide
hall, double doors in front and large doors in the back opening on a wide back
porch. The stairway led from the hall to an upstairs hall that opened into three
bedrooms and a trunk closet. The front porch was about twenty feet long and twelve
feet wide with four columns. Frame material for this house was all hewn by slaves
from trees growing in the swamp; upright corner posts were hewn sassafras, the like
of which trees being nonexistent today.
The house in which the children by the third marriage was born was a large, two
story frame with porches downstairs and
37
upstairs the full length of the house, both sides. On the lawn were two-room
cottages called offices. Grandfather, Dr. Isaac Sessums, had his study in one of
them and my father after him. The boys of the family, and occasionally their
elders, lived in the other. Besides the big house and two offices there were also
sundry outbuildings after traditional southern style, including servant houses,
wood house, poultry house, smokehouse, well house. The house was heated by wood
fires in large fireplaces. There were candles and lamps; some hung from the ceiling
and others were attached brackets on the wall.
Captain Sessums was a member of the Baptist Church. He was a captain in the
Confederate Army, and his sword is now in the home of his son, Colonel Irwin D.
Sessums of Mississippi State College. There are many interesting heirlooms in the
family, among them a pair of glasses that were used by Captain Sessums'
grandfather, Solomon Sessums of North Carolina, a pair of brass candlesticks, etc.
He owned many slaves.
Captain Sessums manufactured a dyspepsia and general disability bitters that was
sold all over the county. He gave right-of-way through his plantation to the Mobile
and Ohio Railroad for a branch line from Starkville to Artesia, the company naming
the place Sessums in honor of the donor. He became interested in raising pedigreed
horses and had one of the best mile race tracks in the state. His trotting horse,
Cephas, became famous; the horse's picture is still in the family. Races were held
every fall. The Sessums home was a favorite gathering place for friends, and
usually a dance was given every Friday night . . . . Time rolled on, the children
grew up and the Sessums home became noted for its hospitality. With the lapse of
time, the old plantation life has vanished into the smoke of the past. These old
memories of bygone years, it is hoped, may prove of some interest.
Captain Solomon Davis Sessums rests beside his last two wives on the farm he loved
so well at Sessums, Mississippi.
The information contained in this article on the Sessums Family was obtained from
Mrs. Wilburn R. Page of Starkville and Oktoc. She, in turn, obtained it from Mrs.
Henrietta Sessums Palmer, daughter of Captain Solomon David Sessums.
38
Stiles Home around 1900.
Lucy Stiles was six years old.
Stiles
John Easter Stiles came from North Carolina to Columbia, Tennessee and later to
this community in 1818. He bought land from the Choctaw Indian Agency and his
people were the first whites to live on this land. He and his wife, Seleta McGee,
were the parents of John Francis, Elizabeth, Anna, Eliza, Mary Emma, and “Tiny”
(Louisa Christine). John Easter Stiles built the house occupied by his grandson,
Hugh Stiles, until his death.
John Francis Stiles was in the Cavalry of this county after the Civil War. He
married Lucy Charles Cameron of Carthage and to this union were born Hugh, Lucy,
Louise Augusta and Charles Francis. The latter had no children and Louise died
young.
Hugh and his wife, Nettie Enochs, had John Enochs, Sara Frances, and Virginia (Mrs.
Roy Olivier, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa). Lucy married Frank Castles and had Charles and
twins, Carson and John.
The house
reported,
It is one
by George
mentioned above was built by carpenters from the northeast who, it is
built a couple more homes near Oktoc and only accepted gold as payment.
of the county's oldest homes, having been built in 1868. It is now owned
Crain.
39
Self
Berry E. Self married Julia Ellis, but had no children. They lived on what is
called the Gay place now on the Blackjack road. After Mr. Self's death, Mrs. Self
married Mr. J. A. Long.
Spraggins
Jettie Spraggins and his sister, Carrie, lived where the J. C. Kean, Jr., place now
is. Miss Carrie became Mrs. E. G. Harrell late in life. Mr. Spraggins was Constable
at Sessums and his father, Hal S. Spraggins, had been a preacher. Mr. "Bud" Gray's
mother was Fanny Spraggins, a sister of Jettie.
Templeton
See Hartness
Thompson, Floyd
Floyd and Bessie Thompson from Tennessee lived about a year at the Harry Peters
place. This was around 1965. Their children were Charlie, Mike, Wanda, and Debbie.
Thompson, Olen.
Olen Thompson, after working at the Borden Plant for many years, moved to the
Spraggins or J. C. Kean, Jr. place and farmed. The Hartnesses, who lived here
awhile, by this time were at the Bynum place. The Thompsons later lived in the old
Savage house, and then used it to build a new house by the clubhouse where they
lived until Mr. Thompson's death. In his later years he worked for the Cooperative
Creamery. Mrs. Thompson was Alma Foster of Sturgis, and he was from Winston County.
Mrs. Thompson's mother, Mrs. Foster, lived with them a number of years, as well as
a step-grandson, Vernon Cannon, known as "Butch". The Thompson children were
Imogene (Mrs. Paul Lemburg) and Dorothy, who has worked for the government in
Southeast Asia a number of years. For several years Mrs. Thompson has been with
Imogene in Memphis.
40
Tomlinson
John Tomlinson from Ohio, its believed, and his wife lived where the Charlie
Newmmans now live. James Reese and Huey Arnold later lived here also. This
Tomlinson family operated a store for some twenty-five years, where the Cox Grocery
now is. The children of this couple were Elbert, Myrtle, Fanny, Henry, and Johnnie
who died when about sixteen. Several members of this family are buried in the
cemetery at Sessums.
Elbert married Sally Sansom. They had four children: Mary Lou, Daisy, Thomas
William (Boo), and Henry (Red), Elbert spelled his last name "Tomlinson”. The rest
of the family spelled it "Tumlinson".
Weeks
Myrtie Smith Weeks was the daughter of Richard Kearney Smith and Velma Fannie
Grayson and was born in Meridian. James Otto Weeks was born in Calhoun County"pone
of thirteen children, most of whom are still living at advanced ages. He was the
son of Henry Dee Weeks and Abbie McGee Odom. This couple moved from Starkville to
the Blackjack Road in 1956, buying land which had been part of the Gay property.
Mr. Weeks is employed at the MSU laundry and has cattle. Myrtie worked for the
telephone company for many years. When Mrs. weeks married James Otto Weeks he
adopted her nine-year old daughter, Patsy Joyce Hyatt, whose father was deceased.
Patsy married James D. Peeples, deceased, and has two children, James Dabney and
Patricia. Patsy is employed by the Starkville Public Schools.
White
William White and his wife, Frances Draper, lived for awhile in another house but
on the site of the present Mrs. Hardin Blankenship's home. They bought the Harry
Hoyt place when he moved to Texas. William's father was John White from New York.
William's paternal grandmother was a McKinstry and his great grandmother a Chapin.
William's mother was Mary Alice Randle whose parents were Allison Randle and Fanny
Hartness. Frances, from Batesville, was the daughter of Fannie Harris and Hewlett
Draper, who was the son of George Sanford Draper. These are all of the children in
the John White family, many of whom live in this county: John, Laura, Mable,
Arthur, William, Allison, Mary Alice, and Frances.
41
Winston
(Also Barr, Bell, Ellis, Ridgeway, Ware and Wilder)
Shortly after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830, settlers came in great
numbers into the area that is now Oktibbeha County. Among them were William K. Bell
and his wife, Cecelia, from Greene County, Alabama, originally from Fairfield
District, South Carolina. In Oktibbeha County they settled land from "Red Acre"
just north of Sessums to approximately where Oktibbeha Memorial Gardens Cemetery is
today. Of course there were no roads, and when one was built it did not follow the
present road.
William M. and Cecelia Bell had six daughters and no sons. Their children were:
Mary Aiken, who married a Mr. Chiles and remained in Alabama with her husband and
baby son; Rebecca, who married Thomas Ware and moved to Louisville. She died young;
Melissa Elizabeth, who married Thomas Ware after her sister, Rebecca died. This
couple and their descendants lived in Winston County and none of them were
residents of Oktibbeha County until Mrs. Harden Blankenship moved to this area. She
is a descendant of Melissa Elizabeth. Lenora married James (Jim) Reese (see Reese
information).
Henrietta married William L. Ellis. Their children were: Mary, who married Walton
Williams. She died young. Floribelle, married Harry Foster of Starkville; Mittie
who married John Elliott of Artesia; Willie Rieveland married Reuben Boswell Nash
of Columbus; and Martha Curry (Pat) who married David Castles. They lived in
Starkville (see Castles information). Margaret married Bruce Ridgeway.
There were three Ridgeway children by a former marriage-- Mattie, Bert, and Marvin,
who were brought up in this community. The children of Margaret and Bruce Ridgeway
were: Joe, Edwin, and Willie.
Mary Aiken Bell Chiles, who stayed in Alabama, lost her husband and baby son within
a year of each other, and was a widow while still in her teens. Later she married a
distant cousin, Rufus Alexander Wilder. Eventually they moved to Oktibbeha County
and lived in the old log house with the dog trot through the center. Until a few
years ago this house was still standing. It was across the road from where the
Ralph Winston house now stands. Children of Rufus Alexander and Mary Aiken Bell
Chiles Wilders were: William Joseph who was killed in an accident when he was
twenty years old; and Margaret Bell, who married Ferdinand DeKalb Ellis. These two
are the maternal grandparents of the Winston children whose parents were Mary
Louise Ellis and Ralph Baggley Winston.
William Bell lived some years after the death of his wife, Cecelia. In his will he
left a farm to each of his daughters or their heirs. Also he left a tract of land
situated almost across the road from where the McKell School was later built. This
land was designated as a woodlot for the use of all of his children. Forestry
professors have been interested in this plot of woods since it is almost an
undisturbed forest, and has some plants that are not found elsewhere in the area.
42
This Bell family and their descendants have intermarried with most of the old
families of this county. Most of them remained in the area for, at least, part of
their lives, and are discussed elsewhere in the Sessums history.
The Ellis family also moved into this community from Alabama. Originally they came
from Red Hill, a plantation on the James River in Virginia. The first of the family
in the community bought part of the Bell land or acquired it through marriage.
Robert Underhill Ellis, Jr,, and his wife, Martha Curry Ellis, had five children:
Ferdinand DeKalb Ellis, married Margaret Bell Wilder. William Littleton Ellis
married Henrietta Bell. Robert McPherson Ellis left home when he was still in his
teens and was never heard from again.
Montgomery Curry Ellis married Maggie Joiner, a neighbor. He was a doctor, They
moved to Senatobia. Sarah Elzena Ellis, married William Hampton Barr who was the
physician at Mississippi A&M College for years. Descendants of this couple are:
Frank Ellis Barr, married Ethel Tarry of Virginia. He was a doctor, Their children
were Sarah Ellis, who married Walton Biggs of Crystal Springs. He is dead but Sarah
Ellis is still living and has three children and several grandchildren. Mildred
never married. Martha Curry Ellis, wife of Robert Underhill Ellis, Jr., died July
5, 1864. Her husband was a soldier in the Confederate Army.
When she became acutely ill, he came home to her and his son, Ferdinand DeKalb
Ellis, age sixteen, took his father's place in the army. During reconstruction days
the motherless young child, Sarah Elzena Ellis, was taken by her family to a
Catholic school in Kentucky.
The Ellis descendants, too, will be found throughout Oktibbeha County. Ferdinand
DeKalb and Margaret Bell Wilder Ellis are the maternal grandparents of the Winston
children whose parents were Ralph Baggley and Mary Louise Ellis Winston.
Their paternal grandparents were Isaac Winston and his wife, Grace Marion Lilius
Soady Winston. The parents of Isaac Winston were William Burton Winston and his
wife, Rebecca Overaker Winston, The 1830 Census lists William Burton and family in
Natchez and the 1840 Census lists them in Lowndes County, Mississippi. Isaac was
the youngest of six children--five boys and one girl. He was born in a house on the
site of where the Columbus City Hall stands today. In 1844 his father bought the
home °°Magnolia Hill" which faces Military Road, Isaac Winston was educated in
Heidelberg University in Germany.
43
In Europe he met the girl he married--Grace Marion Lilius Soady, daughter of Robert
Williams Soady and his wife, Eliza Brooks Soady of London. Her father died young
and her mother took her six children to Germany to educate them because, at that
time, Germany supposedly had the best schools in the world. The young couple
married (probably in Dresden) and came to Columbus, Mississippi to live.
Grace Marion LIlius Soady Winston was not the first of her family to come to
America. Various branches of her family settled in Charleston, South Carolina, in
the early 1700's. During the Revolution, because of his Tory sympathies, Robert
Williams, Jr., her great grandfather, had his property confiscated and barely
escaped with his life. He went to England where his wife and younger children
joined him.
Isaac Winston was the only one of the Burton Winston family to move to Oktibbeha
County. He and his wife were approaching middle age. They had a big family. They
had just lost almost all of a goodly inheritance. The last of it went to buy what
was later known as the Murray Carpenter place on the Blackjack Road. They came from
the place they had owned near Mayhew. As far as I know Willis Garth bought this
land from the Winstons. Then Claude Pilkinton got the property from Mr. Garth.
Today it has been divided into three separate and distinct tracts of land, and each
tract is owned separately by Mrs. Mary Pilkinton Drane of Mayhew, Mrs. Elizabeth
Young Rogers of Starkville and Sessums, and Mrs. Betty Boyls Stone of Columbus.
The Isaac Winstons were to get possession of the farm in Oktibbeha County January
1, 1886, but when they arrived the former occupants had not moved. The only shelter
available to them was the old Muse house which was being torn down. There on
January 10, 1886, with quilts covering the gaping windows and doors, Ralph Baggley
Winston was born. His older brothers and sisters lived in Oktibbeha County until
they were married or settled in business. Grace Marion Winston and Ralph Baggley
Winston were the only two who remained in the area. Grace married L. L. Linderman,
a rural mail carrier. They lived first near Artesia and then in Starkville. Their
oldest son, Leavitte, started to school at either Sessums or Red Acre. The others,
Mary, Ike, Claudine, and Marjorie, went to school in Starkville and later moved
away.
The other children of Isaac and Grace Winston--William Burton, Ike, Jr., Claudine,
and Clifford--all moved to Columbus or Louisiana. Olga Noel Winston died when she
was twenty-five years old.
Ralph Winston on the Blackjack Road and Louise Ellis on the Sessums Road, lived
only a mile across the field from each other. They went to the same county school,
studied out of the same books, and sat in the same long, homemade desk. She said
that when the teacher wasn't looking, he would slide her off on the floor. They
were childhood sweethearts, they married young, they were poor and worked hard, and
they brought up seven children, as well as playing the parent role to many children
who were not so fortunate as to have parents.
44
Their children are: Louise, married Kenneth Pyron; Rufus Wilder, married Mary
Estelle Mallory; Marion, married Paul Kinard; Olga married James J. Allen; Ralph,
unmarried and lives in the Winston home; Ike, married Mary McCabe from Walla Walla,
Washingtpn; and Virginia who married Roy Matheny. The children of Kenneth and
Louise Pyron - Timothy Winston.
The children of Rufus Wilder and Mary Estelle Winston are Rufus Wilder Winston,
Jr.; Nel, married S. W. Slaughter, Jr.; David; and Mary Wilder who married Sam
Buchanan. The children of Paul and Marion Kinard are Rebecca; Paul McLaurin, Jr.
(Mac); Marion Isabel; and Ralph.
The children of James and Olga Allen - Margaret (Peggy) who married Vassar Shearer,
Jr. Ike and Mary Winston's children are William (Billy); Robert (Bobby); Kenneth;
Patrick and Dennis. The children of Roy and Virginia Matheny are Virginia;
Margaret; and Patricia.
Mary Williams, the first wife of Walton Williams, died young. His second wife was
Elzena Ellis, a sister of Mrs. Ralph Winston. Elzena died and left three children,
so the Winstons raised the three Williams orphans. The children of Walton and
Elzena Williams are Rebecca who married Leroy Brooks. The live in Flint, Michigan.
Joseph Walton (Buck); and Margaret who was killed in an accident when quite young.
The children of Leroy and Rebecca Brooks are Margaret; Richard and Joe. The
children of Joseph Walton (Buck) are Joe, Robert and Wanda.
Ralph and Louise Winston died within six weeks of each other. They left land to
each child. At the present time (1976) six of the children have their houses on
their land. Wilder died February 21, 1974, but his family still lives in the house
they built. Virginia lives in Texas but she won't even talk about selling her land.
This land is good. It is beautiful. It is home!
45
Wood
This family lived some year and a half in a house built by Harry Peters after the
DeVolins left in the early 1960's. They came here from Illinois by way of Florida.
They moved east of Macon when they left from here.
46
Young
Thomas Young, son of Michael Cadet and Lois Sadler Young of Brunswick County,
Virginia, was a minuteman, patriot, and manufactured ammunition for the Continental
Army. He married Judith Johnson of Virginia. They were the parents of eight
children. Judith died in Virginia in 1774. Later Thomas married Lucy Ragsdale, and
moved to Rowan (now Iredell) County, North Carolina. He furnished three sons and
three sons-in-law to the Revolutionary, War. (From the family Bible of Thomas
Young).
Henry, third child of Thomas and Judith Johnson Young, was born in Brunswick
County, Virginia, in 1760. He married Mary Ann Brooks and moved to Iredell County,
North Carolina. Later he and his brother, William, and their families emigrated to
Sumner County, Tennessee.
Henry and Mary Ann Brooks Young were the parents of nine children: Martha (Patsy
Young, married (1) Marmaduke, (2) Kimbrough; Thomas T. Young III, married Sarah
Martin. Their children were: Jacob Young, settled in Paducah, Kentucky; Frances
Young, married Judge William C. Cothan of Carroll County, Mississippi (Marriage Bk.
A, p. 182, Carroll County, Miss.); Ruth Young, married Dr. Anthony. They were the
parents of three sons. Elizabeth Brooks Young married James Zachariah George of
Carroll County (Marriage Bk. A, p. 709, Carroll County, Miss.). Henry Clinton Young
married Sally Humphries of North Carolina. Their children: Almanda Malvina Young,
married A Mr. Ramey; William Humphreys Young, married Susan Thompson.
Joseph Young married Elizabeth Hale. They moved with their family to Carroll
County, Mississippi in the 1830's. William Young married __Starr. Elizabeth Young
married ___ Wilson and lived in West Tennessee; Mary Ann Young married ___Hale;
Archibald Young never married. Alexander Franklin Young married Elizabeth L. Davis
from York District, South Carolina. They lived in Columbus, Mississippi on Second
Avenue North where Memorial Funeral Home now stands.
A. F. and Elizabeth Davis Young were the parents of six children: Ella Young
married Edward McGavock and lived in Nashville, Tennessee; Lelia Young married John
Sykes of Aberdeen, Mississippi; Laura Young married ___ Whitfield; Alexander
Franklin Young, Jr., married Emily Melissa Fox; Saidee Young married Ernest Bell;
John Davis Young married Alice Baskerville.
A. F. and Emily Fox Young were the parents of one child, Hampton Gay Young, married
Jessie Maude Pilkinton of Mayhew, Mississippi. Hampton G. and Maude P. Young were
the parents of two children; Alexander Franklin Young, III, who never married--died
young. Elizabeth Irion Young, married William Watkin Rogers, Jr.
47
William W. and Elizabeth Y. Rogers are the parents of three children: Frank Young
Rogers, married Martha Frances Overby of Brandon, Mississippi; Elizabeth (Betty)
Rogers, married Daryl Wayne Hallmark of Henderson, Kentucky; and William Watkin
Rogers III, unmarried.
Frank Y. and Frances O. Rogers are the parents of two boys, Frank Young Rogers,
Jr., and William Clay Rogers. Daryl and Elizabeth (Betty) Hallmark are the parents
of two boys, Daryl Wayne Hallmark, Jr. and John Walker Hallmark.
Sessums Depot
Sessums Grocery Store
Last Known as Cox Grocery Store
48
INTERESTING FACTS
A Dr. Henry Herman, a half Jew, practiced medicine here in Sessums about 1910. His
brother ran the store where Cox's Grocery now is. The doctor's office was about the
size of the store. Dr. Herman died while practicing here.
Mr. George Henderson bought the community telephone line in 1924 from a Mr. Camp.
It seems Mr. Robert Wier of Starkville had owned it. The line came down by Mrs.
Frank Castles' place and down what is now the new paved road. It was an old closed
road then.
The road was graveled by Sessums store around 1921 and was called Highway 82. It
was paved about 1950. The new road, which does not go by the store, but comes
straight from the Carson Castles place to the Morris Seitz place, was built with
Appalachian funds and because of the Golden Triangle Regional Airport. This took
place in 1972 and now the road from Memorial Gardens to the new road at the Castle
place is being rebuilt.
It seems that several young doctors stayed in Sessums a short time. Mrs. Frank
Castles recalls a Dr. Jones being here around 1905-1910 and a Dr. Bryan who lived
east of the Young's house.
The Mobile and Ohio Railroad running in front of the Hampton Young house was
finished in 1874 and discontinued in the 1950's.
49
Sessums Community Club
The present officers of the Sessums Community Club: President--Mrs. C. K. Hartness;
Vice-President--Mrs. A. E. Terry; Secretary--Mrs. D. W. Mcllwain; Treasurer--Mrs.
T. H. Peters.
A Brief History of the Sessums Community Club
The Sessums Community Club was originally organized as a home demonstration club in
either 1916 or 1917 with only a few neighborhood women as members. Social features,
with an occasional canning lesson or demonstration were the order of the day,
social features being mostly stressed.
In 1921 the club voted to join the State Federation of Women's Clubs and was at
that time the second federated club in the county, the Sorosis Club at Miss. State
College being the oldest federated club.
The first officers of the Sessums Club, then named the Sessums Community Club were:
Mrs. J. C. Kean, president; Mrs. C. K. Hartness, secretary and treaturer, and Mrs.
McKnight, reporter.
About this time the club began making its own yearly programs which served to
increase interest and bring new members also. Soon the club boasted of a membership
of (16) sixteen enthusiastic women. Even then quite a number of worthwhile
achievements were credited to these women.
The club held two meetings a month, one home demonstration program, and one
federated program. These meetings, held in the various homes were so thoroughly
enjoyed by the members themselves that they began to wish to have some special
programs to which their husbands might be invited. Then it was discovered that only
a few homes were commodious enough for this large gathering of people.
Consequently, some of the club women began straight way to have visions of a club
house large enough to meet this need. So a committee of ladies was appointed to
confer with Mr. Outlaw, Supervisor of Beat Five then, to enlist his help and
influence with the Board of Supervisors in securing the abandoned school building
at Sessums to use for a club house, and a place for general community meetings
where the County Agents and Extension Workers might come to speak.
At the conference with the committee Mr. Outlaw was so impressed with the club
project, that he soon made successful negotiations with the Board of Supervisors in
the club's behalf and secured a deed to the school building for the club. The women
then were no longer handicapped for lack of room to entertain visitors. Indeed they
were so delighted with their acquired possession that they immediately began
repairing windows, putting in screens and making the building more attractive every
way.
This article was taken from an old issue of The Starkville News. We don't have the
date, but it is probably thirty years old. (Booklet written in 1975)
50
With this building then belonging to the community, the county agents began to
visualize an organization composed of the entire families of the community. So
finally, with the cooperation of the federated club, or the Sessums Community Club,
the County Agents organized the Sessums Community Organization.
Sessums Community House, ca 1975
Now through the Sessums Community Club (the federated club women) and the Sessums
Organization, comprised largely of the entire families of the former club, almost
every need of the community is filled.
51
Sessums Schools
There seems to have been at least four schools in the early days of Sessums. Mrs.
Brooks and her sister, Miss Margaret McKnight, remember walking down the railroad
to a little school on the "west side of the road .
. just before you make the
curve" to the Morris Seitz house coming from Sessums on the gravel road where a
colored family now live. Mrs. Frank Castles remembered that Miss Minnie Washington
taught there and perhaps boarded with the Foxes. Mrs. Brooks mentioned that the Fox
handyman brought water to the school each day. Then the sisters remembered going up
the railroad to a school.
There was a school called the Ridgeway School behind the Ridgeway place which
lasted two years. Mrs. Spencer Murray remembered that the first six grades were
taught there and that these subjects were taught: geography, reading, writing,
arithmetic, English, and spelling with a spelling bee every Friday. She remembered
some of the students being Elizabeth and Frank Castles, Wilbur and Florence
Davidson from Georgia, nephews of Mrs. J. P. Castles, Joe Ellis, the Winstons, the
Ridgeways and the Reese children. Miss Grace Winston taught.
In 1905 an old cabin was made into a schoolhouse in Sessums where the Sessums
Community House is now. Mrs. Castles remembers going there with her brother,
Francis, for one year before going to Starkville, as he was beyond the grades
taught there. The land was given to the school by Susan Koblentz and the Quayles.
Mrs. Murray remembers riding on a horse behind the teacher, Miss Elzena Ellis, who
rode a side saddle. Mrs. Nora Martin Nowlin remembers these students at the Sessums
school: Cecelia Martin, Nora Martin, H. A. Martin, Lewis Henderson and Louise
Henderson.
Some of the teachers at Sessums were Miss Elzena Ellis, who taught algebra,
although she was not required to; Miss Lula Jones, 1912-13, Miss Lillian Austin,
Miss Lizzie McArm and Miss Mary Sullivan who later married Henry Miller, the County
Superintendent of Education.
History, reading, writing, arithmetic and English were taught. Mrs. Castles
remembers these students attending Sessums School in 1905: Elizabeth Castles,
Florence Davidson, Joe Ellis, Jessie Ware, Robert Lloyd Eastis, Kitty Eastis, Agnew
Harrell, Lizzie Frye, Mary Linderman; Eavette Linderman, Augusta McKnight, Margaret
McKnight, Harold McKnight, Henry Tumlinson, Johnnie Tumlinson, Lucy Stiles and
Francis Stiles. This Sessums School closed in September of 1924-25 session.
Afterwards many from the community attended Oktibbeha County Agricultural High
School, a boarding school, at Longview, until transportation was furnished into
Starkville.
52
The school building, now used as the Community House, was built many years earlier,
certainly before 1914.
On the road, near the present home of the Kenneth Pyrons, is the ruins of the
McKell School. It seems, according to Miss Elise Price, that Miss Ruby Gladney
taught the first year in a cabin on the Joyner place with the building mentioned
above being built in 1914. Mrs. Maggie Decker, mother of Blanche, Charles, Bertha,
Eleanor, and Rose, started this school naming it for her mother, Mrs. Kate McKell.
The first eight grades were taught with geography, English, reading, spelling,
history, arithmetic, and hygiene being taught. Miss Lillian Junkins taught two
years here. She became Mrs. J. T. Crowe and died recently. Mrs. Mary Dille,
Corwin's wife, taught part of a year which was finished by a Mrs. Crosby.
Students remembered here in 1912-13 were: Elise Price, Robert Price, May Price, Jim
Price, the Winstons, Hamilton Shephard, Lula Ellis's nephew, E. A. Q. and Jessie
Mitchener, Don, Randolph, and Andrew Echols, Mary Wilder, and Maggie Ellis.
In Carroll's Historical Sketches of Oktibbeha County, we find: "At the Watt or
Dille place, Harriette, wife of Major Watt, taught in 1866. And about this time,
someone conducted a school at Red Acre, a mile north of where Sessums is." I found
no one who knew anything about these schools of post Civil War period.
53
Carroll's book in another reference to a school near Sessums in his chapter--on
"War Between the States" said, "Over at Red Acre--a half mile north of the site of
Sessums--Professor Farrow taught early in the War and Hillery Herron taught in the
last year." No one knew of these either.
54
History of the Sessums Methodist Church
Organization
As one attempts to record a few facts for posterity and for information for the
present generation herein 1951, a great deal of the past is already veiled with
obscurity, and the last charter members of this church have just died, Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Reese. Mrs. Olan Thompson interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Reese, however, with this
church history in mind, only a short time before their deaths.
From the various bits of information that have been secured it seems that the dream
of this church must have begun almost sixty years ago. It was a union church first
and any preacher or circuit rider who came through held services regardless of
denomination. In good weather services were held in a brush arbor placed where the
cemetery now is, while in bad weather the congregation met in a log schoolhouse
where the present clubhouse is, according to the memory of Mr. George Henderson. An
account of a meeting was found in the church register. The meeting was held on June
28, 1896.
Rev. H. P. Gibbs presided and Mr. F. H. Dille acted as secretary when a committee
composed of F. W. Koblentz, W. D. Askew, and F. H. Dille was authorized to secure a
lot on which to erect a church. The lot was given by Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Koblentz
and the R. R. Fosters. Mr. and Mrs. Koblentz first offered a lot across the road
where the club house is but there was no room for a cemetery there.
The church was built by Mr. F. W. KOblentz and Mr. F. H. Dille in 1898, Mr. George
Henderson believes. Mr. Henry Reese mentioned 1903 as the possible date of the
completion or the dedication of the church. The earliest date in the church
register is 1894 so it is assumed that this was the date it was organized as a
Methodist Church which was the result of a great revival in Artesia.
It is believed that Sessums was first on the Artesia charge, then transferred to
the following charges: Mayhew, Longview, and Crawford. In the early 1940's it was
grouped with Artesia again. In 1950, it was again placed with Crawford, but on
petitioning District Superintendent W. R. Lott, the church was allowed to remain
with Artesia. The members desired to remain with Artesia because of the more
convenient location and the stability which results in continued growth and
progress.
Here in 1951 the church is, as it appears to have always been, a struggling small
church with less than thirty members, and only one preaching service a month
(second Sunday night) except when there is a fifth Sunday. Sunday School is held
regularly at 11 o'clock except on preaching days. A Woman's Society of Christian
Service has just been organized with nine members. The 1951 revival has recently
closed after having services at night from Sunday through Friday by the pastor,
Rev. J. N. Humphrey. One new member was received by letter. During the year the
church has raised over $750.
55
The church has suffered greatly due to the loss of Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Hoyt, who
moved to Texas in 1944 and in the death of Mrs. George Henderson in 1947.
A recent pastor described the membership of the Sessums Methodist Church as "about
the spunkiest bunch” he had. Now the church moves forward in service to God and
mankind, remembering that Christ gave the job of winning the world to only twelve
unlearned men.
Sunday School
In the early days when there were no good roads into town, the Sunday School was
strong. Almost everyone in the community attended, regardless of denomination.
In the 1920's Sunday School was held in the afternoon with Mr. Vivian Carpenter as
Superintendent and Mr. Hampton Young as teacher of the Adult Class. At this time it
was a union church school.
The Sunday School was disbanded for a few years due to the good roads enabling the
different denominations to go to town to their own churches and to the
inconvenience of the afternoon time of service.
In 1936 the Sunday School was reorganized with Mr. H. B. Dorsett as Superintendent
and Mr. W. F. Blankenship, Sr., as assistant superintendent. During the winter
months Sunday School was held in the club house with its hard benches and it was
even discontinued for a few weeks.
However, in 1951 the group meets regularly at 11 o'clock with three classes and
fifteen to twenty members present. In cold weather the gas heat makes the church
comfortable.
Church Ceremonies
There have been two weddings in the Sessums Methodist Church. These were: Miss
Sarah Fox to Mr. Marian Dawson Brett of Holcombe, Mississippi on April 27, 1917 and
Miss Jim Ida Reese to Mr. Harry Magee. Mrs. Stewart Parrish (Elizabeth Bolin) was
married to George H. Jones there.
The only infant baptism recorded is that of Embree F. Clark on August 10, 1903. The
parents were W. A. and M. E. Clark. Later Tallulah Louise Parrish, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. B. J. Parrish and also Marlys Dale Templeton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Leslie O. Templeton were baptised in March 1953. In March 1958 Miriam Leslie
Templeton was baptised.
56
Early Improvements
When the church was built in 1898, it was left unceiled and furnished only with
rough benches. For several years the small membership gave benefits working toward
completing the church interior. It is thought that by 1903 it had been ceiled,
altar furniture provided, opera seats installed, and painted.
Opera chairs were recommended by Mr. Everett Russell who believed that
uncomfortable seats caused people to complain of long sermons but never of long
shows.
Later Improvements
Landscaping the Yard.--The beginning of an effort to landscape the yard was started
in the 1920's by the Sessums Community Club and the Sessums Woman's Club.
Contributions of plants and funds were given. Mrs. Quayle insisted that landscaping
plans include the church as well as the club house. In 1936 or 1937 Mr. George
Henderson and Mr. C. K. Hartness graded the yard. At the same time the wire fence
was placed along the front at the road, using the money already in the treasury.
About 1940 an acre of land at the back of the church was sold to Mr. H. C. Arnold
for $50. The amount was used to paint the church exterior later under the
supervision of Mr. C. K. Hartness. Through the years work days have been held with
Mrs. George Henderson and Mrs. C. K. Hartness directing the planting and pruning.
In 1950 and 1951 both men and women worked on the all-day meetings to improve the
appearance of the church lawn.
Floors.--In 1936 it was decided that the matting on the floor was so worn that it
should be removed. Several workdays were held to remove the matting and restain the
floor. A small run was bought for the platform.
Piano.--The small congregation decided that something should be done about the old
organ in 1936. Mrs. Henry Reese was no longer able to attend church regularly and
no one else was able to play the old fashioned pump organ. After much discussion
and trying several pianos, both new and used ones, a small studio upright piano,
slightly used, was selected. Mr. J. Rigg Vaughan, piano dealer, gave very lenient
terms.
Many different money-making schemes were used. The Meadors boys, Lula Lea Savage,
and Martha Hartness sold two or three gallons of ice cream at Sessums on Saturday
nights. A box supper was given and a play was presented with all the young people
of the community participating. The Woman's Club and many generous citizens gave
special donations. Mr. H. B. Dorsett solicited donations from businessmen in
Starkville. Through the efforts and cooperation of everyone the piano was paid for
in half the time contracted for.
57
Electricity.--In 1940 just before the annual revival the church was wired for
electricity in a temporary way. Robert Henderson wired it quickly in time for the
revival.
Screens.--After having electric lights several years, night services were held each
month, and the bugs became a problem. In 1948 screens were placed at the windows
and doors by Mr. Olan Thompson.
Concrete Walk and Steps.--The summer of 1950 saw the realization of another long
dream--the completion of the walk and steps down to the highway. The Supervisor,
Mr. T. C. Gray, and three workers assisted Mr. Hartness and others. Mr. Gray
donated the sand and gravel at a nominal fee. The full cost of the walk and steps
was $3.65, which was paid out of the church treasury. Mr. Gray would accept no pay
except $5 for the workers who came with him, but he was rewarded with a box of
cigars. Thus ended the periolous descent into the road of former years, especially
at night.
Gas Heating System.--For many years heating the church had been a major problem.
When butane gas became a popular new means of heating homes in the community, it
was felt the church should install a gas heating system. It seemed to be a mammoth
undertaking for the few church families. In response to requests for help, however,
the following people gave $25 each: Mr. W. F. Blankenship, Mr. C. K. Hartness, Mr.
Stewart Parrish, Mr. James Reese, and Mr. Morris Seitz. Other liberal contributions
were given by Mr. H. C. Arnold, Mr. Jim Seitz, Mr. Jack Tabor, and Mr. Olan
Thompson. The members were greatly encouraged after these early contributions
totaled $227. The church contracted with Richardson Butane Company of Columbus to
install a 250-gallon tank and four heaters for $295. A down payment of $225 was
made and the balance in two $35 installments. Thus ended the practice of some
fifteen years--that of transferring the pulpit and song books over to the club
house which could be easily heated for services during the winter months.
Refinishing Church Furniture.--In the spring of 1951 the Woman's Society of
Christian Service took as their project the refinishing of the altar, pulpit,
table, and six chairs. These were in bad shape, especially the altar which had the
appearance of wood out of which the sun has drawn the resin. Five full days of
strenuous back-breaking labor were spent in removing the finish, sanding, etc. Mr.
Olan Thompson brought a sanding machine for flat surfaces. Even then it was a great
task. The fellowship was enjoyed, however, and it was completed before the revival,
which began April 29, 1951. Another coat of varnish and wax followed later. The
total cost of the refinishing job was less than $10 and was paid out of the
treasury.
Mrs. Jim Seitz and Mrs. Morris Seitz, among the newest members of the church,
advocated the refinishing job. Mrs. Hunter Arnold was untiring in her efforts to
help on this project as well as on all undertakings of the church even though she
belongs to the Starkville Methodist Church. Their inspiration and hard work plus
the cooperation of all the other Woman's Society of Christian Service members
resulted in a big job being well done.
58
Current Goals.--The Sessums Methodist Church has achieved great things through the
complete cooperation of its few families. However, there are still many goals to
reach. The members hope to repaint the church interior, rewire with a permanent
lighting system.
Those more visionary members dream of the time when Sunday School rooms can be
built.
Church Benefits.--Through the history of the church, benefits have played an
important role in the development of the church. In the early days, box suppers and
ice cream suppers were a favorite means of raising funds to ceil the building, and
to purchase the chancel, altar and opera seats. Many years later more benefits were
given to buy the piano.
Perhaps the largest benefit was given in November 1950. A gas heating system had
been installed, the piano had been repaired and tuned, and the walk and steps had
been built. Thus, the church was badly in need of funds.
After much planning, a brunswick stew supper was given, the stew being prepared by
Mrs. Stewart Parrish, Mrs. Jim Seitz, and Mrs. Jack Tabor. The menu consisted of
stew, slaw, crackers, pie and coffee. Supper was served at the clubhouse. A program
was given at the church followed by a cake auction at the clubhouse. Mr. John
Robert Arnold served as the auctioneer. People from Artesia, Hickory Grove, Oktoc,
and Starkville plus everyone from Sessums cooperated to make it a successful and
enjoyable evening. About $141 was made, and the church was cleared of indebtedness.
So it has been through the years--all the surrounding communities and Starkville
have helped this little church. Especially, have the members of other denominations
in this community been loyal to the Sessums church. It is they who have been
unfailingly cooperative in every undertaking. These Sessums people have donated of
themselves and their time and talent as well as their money to help the
neighborhood church. The church is deeply grateful to these good friends.
Woman's Society of Christian Service.--In January 1951, Mrs. Sharp, wife of Rev. E.
M. Sharp, of Starkville, along with three other Starkville ladies, came to Sessums
to organize a Woman's Society of Christian Service. Mrs. Sharp explained the
purposes of the society and officers were elected. Mrs. Hunter Arnold, member of a
Starkville society but a member of the Sessums community, graciously consented to
be president of the Sessums society. Other members are: Mrs. W. F. Blankenship,
Mrs. C. K. Hartness, Mrs. Stewart Parrish, Mrs. Jim Seitz, Mrs. Morris Seitz, Mrs.
Jack Tabor, Mrs. Leslie Templeton and Mrs. Olan Thompson.
59
Pastors of Sessums Church
N.
H.
A.
S.
V.
W.
Jim
W.
J.
L.
J.
E.
T.
N.
P.
P.
P.
A.
C.
A.
A.
S.
B.
J.
G.
J.
L.
Craddock
Gibbs
Sage
Brown
Curtis
Clark
Hall
Bowlin
Wooten
Hankin
Baird 1910
Mohler
Halfacre
Ellis
1894
1895
1896
1898
1900
1903
1905
1906
1908
1909
1912
1915
1917
J.S. Maxey
Seamon Rhea
Langley
J. R. James
S. W. Hemphill
W. L. Henley
S. W. Hemphill
J. J. Garner
W. M. Hester
N. N. Maxey
J. D. Simpson
T. E. Shelton
S. W. Hemphill
R. S. Thornton
J. N. Humphrey
Nash Hamill
Gladwin Clark
W. L. Cook
Warren C. Black
L.M. Wright
1919
1920
1921
1922
1926
1927
1932
1933
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1944
1945
1950s
1960
1962
1964-65
Presiding Elders (District Superintendents)
T. C. Weir
Burroughs
Sullivan
J. W. Dorman
L. M. Lipscomb
J. E. Thomas
Frank Dille
Julia W. Dille
Fredrick W. Koblentz
Susan Koblentz
Mamie T. Eads
Clara Outlaw
Mable Koblentz Henderson
Caswell Eads
Emma Koblentz
Celia Eads
Mattie Ridgeway
Bertha Ridgeway
Emily Fox
Josie Fox
Willie Askew
William D. Askew
Lena Askew
Mary Reese Eads
W.
W.
T.
V.
N.
W.
W.
C.
A.
C.
G.
R.
Dollard
Duren
Mcllwain
Curtis
Golding
Lott
Church Members
Mrs. R. R. Foster
Rev. T. J. Foster
Mr. F. A. Savage
Mrs. F. A. Savage
J. E. Savage
Maye Savage
Alice Reese
Mrs. Virginia Jones
Dr. R. J. Jones
J. T. Tumlinson
Mrs. J. T. Tumlinson
Mrs. L. C. Tumlinson
Miss Myrtle Tumlinson
Henry W. Tumlinson
Johnnie Tumlinson
Everett Russell
Mrs. Grace Russell
R. B. Ridgeway
60
Rice Henry
Miss Willie Ridgeway
Boyd Henry
W. H. Reese
Clyde Henry
Mrs. Genevieve Reese
Jimmie Reese
Fannie Mae Tumlinson
Elzena Ellis
B. E. Self
Tucker
Mrs. B. E. Self
Maude R. Henry
E. W. Rush
Winnie Critz
Mrs. E. B. Rush
Tucker
Miss Pearl Rush
Mrs. M. A. McKnight
Morris Parrish
Miss Allie Savage
Jimmy Parrish
Willis Mark Bynum
W. F. Blankenship, Jr.
Mary Lena Askew
Mary Ann Blankenship
B. H. Bynum
Mr. Olan Thompson
Harold McKnight
Mrs. Olan Thompson
Bettie Tettie
Mr. Stewart P. Parrish
J. W. Russell
Mrs. Nancy E. Parrish
Mary Russell
Mrs. Morris Seitz
Lynn Russell
Bing Seitz
Maude Askew
Mrs. Jim Seitz
James Reese
Charles Nash Seitz
Mrs Lynn Russell.
Mary Jo Seitz
E. G. Harrell
Mr. Leslie 0. Templeton
Mrs. E. G. Harrell
Mrs. Leslie O. Templeton
Agnew Harrell
Miss Dorothy Thompson
Frank Harrell & Brooke Harrell
Kenneth Seitz
Laura Young Askew
M. Frank Page
Louise Henderson
Earl George Henderson,
E. A. Q. Mitchner
Melva Patterson (niece of Mrs. Frye)
Brooke Harrell
Letcher D. Nichols (son of Mrs. Pearl Hoyt)
Mrs. Pearl Hoyt
Everett Nichols
Grace Russell
A. L. Savage
C. K. Hartness
Mrs. C. K. Hartness
Mrs. James Reese
Mrs. John Bruce
Daisy Tumlinson
Lenora Reese Tabor
J. H. Tumlinson
Thomas Tumlinson
G. L. Henderson
Mrs. B. J. Parrish
Eula Lea Savage
John Oakley
Feemster Oakley
James Falkner (veteran of WWI, lived near Mrs. Lucy Castles, taught at Self Creek
some)
Mrs. James Falkner
61
Marian Winston
Lewis Henderson
Lulie Blanche Peay
H. A. Hoyt
Elizabeth Parrish
H. B. Dorsett
Marian Kinard
Bobby Reese
Mrs. B. B. Bowlus
W. F. Blankenship, Sr.
Mrs. Mary E. Blankenship
Bettie Jean Blankenship
Beulah Blankenship Wray
Ruby Lynn Blankenship (Mrs. Virgil Bolin)
People Resting in Sessums Cemetery
E. Marvin Savage
Arthur L. Savage
Eula Land Savage (A. L.'s wife)
John C. Savage
Margaret Ann Chandler Savage
Mrs. F. A. Savage
Fletcher A. Savage
Joseph E. Savage
Adrian E. Savage
Sallie Samson Garrison Tumlinson
John Tumlinson, son of J. T. and Lela
John Thomas Tumlinson
Lela C. Harris Tumlinson
Fannie Mae Tumlinson
Nancy Wilda Hartness
Mrs. Mable Koblentz Henderson
F. W. Koblentz
Susan Koblentz
Lawrence M. Koblentz
Mr. William Henry Reese
Geneva Sharttuck Reese (Mrs. William Henry Reese)
Alice Gertrude Reese
Leonora Bell Reese
Cecelia Bell Eads
Caswell B. Eads
L. D. Cavanaugh
Eula Mae Henderson
Mrs. Sarles
Mr. Sam Weir
Mr. E. W. Rush
Note: Assistance in identifying unmarked graves was given by an old Negro, Bud
Doss, one of the oldest citizens in Sessums, and a former grave-digger and church
janitor.
62
After a hard struggle over the years for seats, shrubs, piano, electricity,
concrete walks and steps, screens for the windows, gas heating system, a
refinishing of altar and pulpit furniture, window fans, etc., the church was closed
in the spring of 1968. The group at this time had only a night service once a
month. The group was down to eight regular members. The expenses of the church were
divided equally among these members who spoke of their "fare" as they came.
After several meetings with the pastor and District Superintendent, Rev. George
Williams, the group decided to discontinue services. The church was advertised for
sale and sold to black carpenters from Crawford, Mississippi. The entire membership
joined as a group the First Methodist Church of Starkville a few months later.
In 1973 the Sessums Womans Club took the restoration and preservation of the
cemetery as a Bicentennial project. Letters were sent to the known families of
those buried there asking for donations. The response was good.
There were other cemeteries in the community. There was a family cemetery near the
home of the late Mr. and Mrs. Stewart Parrish. This place is now owned by the
Nickerson family. The Fox Family had a family cemetery near Kenneth Seitz's dairy
barn, and the Sessums family had a cemetery back of the Hampton Young house. Mrs.
Brooks mentioned there were "several" buried there and she remembered two or three
bodies coming in on the train for burial there. There are only three markers there
today: Lucy Sessums Outlaw, 1874-1888; Lucy Sills Outlaw, 1849-1880; Isaac Sessums,
1855-1887.
Mary Carr, an employee of the Hartness-Templeton family for over thirty years,
remembered an overseer from the Young place burying a small child there, too.
There are several cemeteries where colored people have bured:
1. On a site near Kenneth Seitz's barn.
2. In the Hunter Arnold pasture on the left side of the road near dead end east of
Sessums where pavement continues on right toward Crawford as one comes from Sessums
store and goes toward Artesia.
3. Across from house on Peters, DeVolin, and now Massey place.
4. On the Hugh Stiles place, near the road, and to the right-hand side of the
entrace gate, on down.
63
Social and Economic Life
Our best sources of information on these two subjects would be the recollections of
the early 1900s written by Mrs. Augusta McKnight Brooks (Mrs. C. Brooks) of 2341
34th Street, Meridian, which she so graciously wrote for us or Thomas Battle
Carroll's Historical Sketches of Oktibbeha County. In summary, though, we might
note these paragraphs on page 71 of the Carroll book speaking of pre-Civil War
days:
Every beat of the county made progress during the period.
Beat 5 (formerly Sessums) was probably the most prosperous. The fertile
lands, supervised by farmers and planters, yielded a prosperity evinced not
so much by mills and tanneries as by agricultural abundance and thoughtful
living. The character of the people is reflected in their business,
educational, and religious activities.
We do want to point out also that Sessums was a self contained community in
the early 1900's, with its stores, post office, church, school, gin,
railroad, depot, etc.
64
Sessums Voters of Early 1960's
Arnold, Mrs. M. H.
Arnold, M. H.
Arnold, Mrs. Huey C.
Arnold, John R. Arnold,
Anderson , Mrs. John R.
Anderson, J. O.
Askew, Mrs. J. O.
Askew, Mrs. G. D.
Askew, G. D.
Blankenship, W. F. Blankenship,
Blakenship, Mrs. Hardin
Barrett, H. J.
Barrett, Dr. J. T.
Castles, Mrs. J. T.
Castles, Mrs. F. L.
Castles, Frank C.
DeVolin, Mrs. Frank C.
Devolin, Carol Stewart
Edwards, Tyrele E.
Edwards, Mrs. W. T.
Edwards, G. E.
Edwards, John H.
Edwards, Mrs. J. H. (Eva)
Edwards, T. P.
Edwards, T. A.
Edwards, Mrs. T. A.
Edwards, Mrs. T. P.
Foster, Mrs. Glenn Foster,
Foster, Lawrence
Fultz, Joe N.
Fultz, Mrs. Joe N.
Fultz, Mrs. A. Newton
Fultz, A. Newton
Fulton, J. C.
Foster, Mrs. D. M.
Falls, Clarence F., Jr.
Falls, Clarence F., Sr.
Hartness, Mrs. C. K.
Hartness, C. K.
Jones, Mrs. George
Jones, George H.
Kean, J. C.
Kean, J. C., Jr.
Kean, Mrs. Jack C., Jr.
Kean, Isobel
Mcllwain, D. W.
Mcllwain, Mrs. D. W.
McCollum, W. T.
McGinnis, Freeman
McGinnis, Mrs. Freeman
McGinnis, Joe
Parrish, Mrs. B. J.
Parrish, Joe
Parrish, Mrs. Joe
Reese, Jack M.
Reese, Mrs. Jack M.
Rogers, Mrs. Will W.
Roosa, S. A.
Roosa, Joan Barrett
Seitz, Morris
Seitz, Mrs. Morris Seitz,
Stiles, Mrs. Jim
Stiles, H. C.
Stiles, Mrs. H. C.
Stiles, Virginia
Seitz, Charles Nash
Seitz, Thomas Bingham
Thompson, Olan
Thompson, Mrs. Olan
Thompson, Dorothy
Templeton, Leslie O.
Templeton, Martha H.
White, William M.
White, Mrs. William M.
Winston, R. B.
Winston, Wilder
Winston, Mrs. Wilder
Winston, Ralph, Jr.
Winston, Ike
Winston, Mrs. Ike
65
Dear Mrs. Seitz,
I don't know that I can tell you anything about Sessums that someone else has not
already told you, but I probably remember back as far as anyone who is living
today. (My feelings will not be offended if my memories are no help in what you are
trying to do).
We McKnights, that is mother (Mrs. M. A. McKnight), myself (Augusta), Margaret and
Howell, moved to Mississippi at the beginning of the 20th century. I believe it
would be the fall of 1900 or 1901. Mother was very frail that first winter--no one
was sure she would make it---so we lived with her sister and her family, Mr. and
Mrs. J. P. Castles. I was the only one old enough to go to school.
In the following summer a new postmaster was needed. A mother's prayer was
answered--she got the job--a job where she could earn and at the same time have her
children with her. She never ceased to be grateful.
At the time we got the post office, the railway station and the post office had
different names, and I don't remember which was which, but one was Sessumsville and
the other Sessums. I don't know when someone cared enough to notice, and both
became Sessums, but it wasn't too long after mother became postmistress. It got its
name, of course, from the Sessums family who were probably the first settlers.
The new post office was across the railroad from the depot, and was rather a busy
operation. There were three post offices out from Sessums served by a rural route-Agency, Oktoc, and Winston. The mail was sent out every day except Sunday. Mr.
Murphy Harrell was the mail carrier. He rode horseback and the mail was in a locked
saddle bag. There were three trains a day that carried mail--two to Artesia and one
to Starkville. Quite a good many people got mail daily. Getting the mail or at
least "asking" for it was a big event for the small negro children every day.
The train passed six times a day going and coming from Starkville to Artesia--a
real train. Not many were missed being waved at, and the friendly engineer, Mr.
Hamp Ellis, always remembered to wave back.
The old Sessums home was still standing when we moved to Sessums, but in very bad
repair. Mr. and Mrs. John Foster were the owners at that time. The house stood on
the beautiful knoll which you remember as the Hampton Young home. There was another
beautiful wooded knoll back of the house which was used by the Sessums family as a
burying ground. There were several graves there, and I remember two or three bodies
coming in by train to be buried in this plot. I think there were some reservations
about this cemetery lot when the property changed hands.
66
Sessums was quite a thriving center when I first knew it. For instance, there was
the station itself with waiting rooms for "white" and "colored", the agent's office
and quite a large freight and express room. with steps at one end of the loading
platform and slanting ramp at the other end. Mr. E. G. Harrell was the
stationmaster, so far as I know, the only one who ever held that office. He was
also justice of the peace with Mr. Jeddie Spraggins as constable. There were tracks
so that empty and loaded freight cars could be switched in and out.
Across the railroad tracks were the post office and three mercantile stores--the
Frye Store operated by Mr. Sam Frye, brother of Mr. Charles Frye, a plantation
owner. The Frye family lived upstairs over the store. The Tumlinson Store came into
being after we were living in Sessums. Mr. Ed Rush had a store and also sold ice in
the summertime. He was also the local carpenter. Also on the north side of the
track was a large cattle pen, and quite a large number of cattle were shipped from
here. There was a large raised platform where bales of cotton were loaded as well
as bales of hay. Three cottonseed houses were on the right-of-way--owned or leased
by different cottonseed oil companies.
The large cotton gin owned by Frye, Young, and Whitfield was big business. They
also ground corn in the off season. Connected with this plant was the "Big Pool"--a
pool that never went dry. Cattle from miles around were brought there to be watered
during extra dry seasons. It really was a beautiful pool. There was a big sized
boat that we enjoyed. (The last time I saw the "Big Pool" I was shocked--perhaps
the present owners have done something about it).
There was a blacksmith shop. Blacksmithing was good business in those days, and
when we first moved to Sessums a Mr. Price was the blacksmith. He lived in a house
on the site of the present Huey Arnold home.
Some lumber was shipped from Sessums mostly I think from Winston County, though I
seem to remember at one time Mr. Fox cut some.
The only church in Sessums was the Methodist Church where there were preaching
services once a month, and a week of revival services in the summer. While we had
some ministers I am sure didn't go very far professionally, we did have Dr. Curtis
and Dr. Mitchell who became outstanding. Sunday School was held regularly. Mr.
Harrell (a Presbyterian) was Sunday School superintendent. Mother (a Presbyterian)
played the organ. Mrs. Castles (a Presbyterian) taught Sunday School.
As busy as Sessums was there was no school. There were not enough children in
Sessums proper to justify such an institution, so the first year I went to school
was to the Fox School, I guess about two miles from Sessums. There was no well on
the school grounds, so the Fox's handyman, Andrew, brought a big bucket of water
every day. It was a one room building, and the teacher was Miss Minnie Washington.
The Fox family was a large one and the Askew children were getting old enough to go
to school. Capt. and Mrs. Young lived in that community, but their son, Hampton,
was away at school. The year I started to
67
the Fox School Sessums furnished three pupils. Mr. and Mrs. L. L. Linderman who
were renting the Foster place, had one son, Leavitt; Mr. and Mrs. Harrell had a
son, Agnew, and I made the third--three very small children. Mr. Linderman got some
ten-inch boards and made a walk for us across the railroad trestle (the big one) to
prevent a tragedy of slipping through. I don't know how many years we went to the
Fox School, but the number of Sessums children who attended grew as they reached
school age. Neither do I know why we started going to school up the railroad track
the other direction — it was still about two miles distance. This also was a one
room building with one teacher, Miss Elzena Ellis.
When by someone's efforts or political pull, or because it was the right place to
have a school in Sessums, is an unknown bit of information to me, but I do know the
first school held in Sessums was held in a well built, shot-gun type house across
from the Methodist Church that had been occupied by a negro family whose mother was
Jennie Allen. The partition in the house was knocked out, making it a one room
school with one teacher who was Miss Elzena Ellis. This ends my memory of the
school for by now I had completed the eight grades taught, and went to the
accredited school in Starkville for six weeks so I could enter II&C (now MUW) in
Columbus in the fall.
I never went to school in the new building, and don't remember when it was built,
or the teachers who taught there with the exception of a Miss Lizzie McArn. I had
only two teachers, Miss Minnie Washington and Miss Elzena Ellis.
As regards the social life of the young people of that era, I think it was a happy
one. There were enough young people, no age restrictions, in the community to keep
things going. The Vivian Carpenters, the John Stiles, the Foxes, the Askews, the
Parrishes, the Ellises, the Ridgeways, the Winstons, the Tumlinsons, the Bynums,
the Castles, the McKnights--all families furnished one or more for moonlight
picnics, hay rides, watermelon cuttings, ice cream suppers, etc. And we dated all
summer going to "protracted meetings" via horse and buggy or as a group in a hay
wagon. I don't recall all the points of worship we attended, but to mention a few-Salem, Agency, Grab All (now Bethesda), and one called Turkey (Buzzard) Roost, and
of course, the yearly revival in Sessums.
We also had a baseball team. I remember riding horseback out to Artesia to root for
our team.
There were also house parties where we spent the night or possibly two nights.
There was an occasional camping trip to Noxubee Swamp though we were not very well
equipped for camping. We never really ran out of things to do as well as I can
remember, though likely we had our "dull" times.
I would like to go back, if I may, to the church and cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Koblenz
gave the land for the church and cemetery. They lived in a house where the Huey
Arnold home now stands, but had moved from Sessums before we came there. They were
the parents of Mrs. Charles Frye. I imagine you have such information as this, but
I just wanted to mention it.
68
There were many interesting stories about the Sessums family, some of which I feel
sure were true, but it would be taking too much responsibility to repeat them
unless they could be verified. All of the Sessums family was gone before Sessums
became our home.
Personally, as I look back, Sessums was a great place to grow up in, and I am
grateful for the privilege. The community of people welcomed Mother, shall I say,
with open arms in their graciousness, and shared of their bounty with her and her
children. "Hog-killing" time was an annual big event, and though we never owned a
pig, how we enjoyed the fresh meat and sausage shared with us. I can still remember
the smell of new syrup--sorghum and ribbon cane that made biscuits a joy to eat-shared with the McKnights while it was still new; and when new potatoes came in
"just a few potatoes, Mrs. McKnight, we thought you might enjoy." We almost grew up
on buttermilk, because "we have so much more than we need, Mrs. McKnight."
Oh yes, it was a wonderful place to grow up in--that's why we kept coming back so
many years.
Sincerely,
Augusta McKnight Brooks
69
2341 34th Street
Meridian, Mississippi
July 12, 1973
Dear Mrs. Seitz:
Thanks for your letter--BUT--I am about as vague as Lucy Castles about the time
your present clubhouse was built.. It seems strange neither my sister nor I can
recall anything about the building or the time it was built. Lucy was right about
the negro house that was the first school in Sessums. How Mississippi rural
children ever got educated in those days is a mystery. The first school we attended
was the Fox school. That was located where the negro house on the west side of the
road now stands just before you make the curve to your house. I do not recall how
long we went there, and of course, we walked. The next school was up the railroad
track beyond the Castles home (where Mrs. Doss Mcllwain lived). Then to the school
in Sessums, MSCW (then II&C. II&C had two preparatory years then four of college. I
entered the second year and then four years of college.
My mother came with three small children to Sessums from Georgia. The family had
financial reverses in Georgia. Mrs. J. P. Castles (Lucy's mother-in-law) was my
mother's sister. Our people in Georgia were horrified that my mother brought us to
rural Mississippi (a land in their minds which was evidently the jumping off
place). She (my mother) was an educated woman--a college graduate--with many
talents. She had the post office 24 years. We were poor people and never knew it
because we were so blessed with many things that money could not buy.
You no doubt know that Sessums got its name from people who owned all the land
around. It was called Sessumsville when we got there. Later changed to Sessums. The
Sessums family had a race track back of the Young house. The family lost
everything. Major Sessums who was connected with Mississippi State was a son or
grandson of that family. This happened before we came to Mississippi. That old
grave yard on the Young place is the Sessums family grave yard. I don't know how
many were buried there.
There were so many very fine and interesting families making up the community when
we were growing up. Lucy's family was one of them.
I think her father helped build the old Stiles home. Her mother was a dear. We
loved the Stiles.
We really enjoyed coming back to Sessums through the years. Mrs. Brooks' son and
daughter (Margaret) went as young children and loved it. Margaret's children loved
coming out there. It was remarkable that the house was never broken into until the
last few years. The house is empty now. Margaret and Joe used the beautiful wood
with which the ceiling and walls were covered in an addition to their house in
Starkville. They did that work last summer.
Hope to see you sometime when we are in Starkville.
Sincerely yours,
Margaret McKnight