East Feliciana Parish
LAGenWeb
If a landscape painter, with pallette, brush and canvass, and an artist's eye
for the beautiful in Nature, would take his stand on the highest hill of the
dividing ridge between Comite river and Redwood creek, and half way between Pine
Grove Church on the North, and Olive Branch Church and camp ground, on the
South, his admiring gaze would be attracted on his right hand by a scope of
country 17,500 acres in area, its surface marked by curvatures and undulations,
as gentle as the waves of old Ocean, at peace in a calm; and in the trough of
each of these graceful undulations he would decern the tops of the tall, waving
ever green canes which fringe the margins of the dry bayous, marking their
course towards the eastern or western stream of living water, indicating to a
practiced eye, deep pockets which serve as cisterns, beneath the umbrageous
canes, which carry a water supply failing only in periods of prolonged drouth.
These same green curtains often conceal from view a rippling, gurgling dancing
stream of living waters, fed by perpetual springs gushing out of the dividing
range of hills. At the same glance he would behold a surface nearly equally
divided into forests, pastures and cultivated fields. In this ''coup d'oeil" he
would find spread on his canvass one half of Ward Number Two.
To make a
more faithful and complete picture he would paint on the ward's eastern boundary
a small river, meandering through dense screens of canes and forest trees on its
ceaseless course towards the sea — receiving invigorating contributions from
Widow's creek, Knighton's Branch and Olive Branch — watering and fertilizing
along its wide margin of fertile valley, many generous acres, each, with its
native, unaided forces capable of producing 500 lbs. of lint cotton, or 50 bbls.
of corn, or 40 bushels of rice, or two hogsheads of sugar. Far away to the
South, he would paint a long line of slow-moving, cotton laden wagons toiling
westward from Olive Branch Church and Camp Ground to the thriving little
railroad town of Slaughter. On the Ward's extreme Northern line he would bound
the landscape with a long train of railroad cars, heavily laden with cotton
bales piled as high as safe carrying would allow, flitting speedly from east to
west, from beautiful Clinton to busy, growing Ethel. On its extreme western
boundary he would spread upon his canvass heavy screens and curtains of canes
and forest trees, denoting the rapid, winding movement of a large stream of
running water, and paralel and close to the stream he would paint the bustle and
stir of a great railroad, which has carried to market in one day Twelve Thousand
Bales of Cotton.
And then continuing his line of vision by the aid of a
powerful telescope he might take into his landscape the twelve miles of snow
white fields of Ward No. One lying between the railroad and the Father of waters
— the ever moving interminable lines of steam boats and barges, bearing to the
sea the products of the Pennsylvania and West Virginia mines, the harvests of
eighteen powerful, prosperous and happy commonwealths; and carrying on its
ascending lines back to St. Paul and Bismark the fruits of the Northern and
Eastern looms,; the silks, hats, gloves, laces and gewgaws of the old worlds
metropolis of taste and fashion and huge hogsheads and barrels of sugar and
molasses of Louisiana. With such a tout ensemble he would have a picture
lovelier and grander than the scenery that greeted the admiring gaze of the
inspired Hebrew Prophet and Law Giver, when he ascended from the plains of Moab
to the top of mount Pisgah, to see the beautiful land that was promised to the
decendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and die.
This was the scene,
with the railroads and steamboats left out, whose genial climate, generous soil
and lovely features, attracted with its miraculous beauty, the roving Carolina
home seekers of 1804-'5-'6, appealing to them with resistless eloquence to
abandon their restless, roaming methods of life and settle down to permanent
home building, this was the lovely land in which those bold adventurers from the
Carolinas; the Kirklands, Westons, Hanseys, Brashiers, Chapmans, Hays,
Knightons, Ingrahams, Griffiths, Crofts, Gayles, Edwards, Overtons, Packers,
Whites, Clarks, Burnetts, Bradfords and Rheams founded their seats and raised
their home altars and settled down to permanent home building.
I know
there are doubting Thomases, who will question the fidelity of such a lovely
panorama in the heart of a "decaying community" like East Feliciana has been
erroneously styled. But they can see for themselves all the materials for just
such a picture in traversing any fair day the thirty-five thousand acres of the
second ward, of which "'tis true, 'tis pity 'tis true" there are twenty-seven
thousand acres, of forest and field, lying, today, waste, idle and unproductive.
Because when the war of the sections closed, the bones of the former proprietors
and their sons lay bleaching on the battle fields, and the emancipated race,
left to shift for themselves, without the fostering care of "old Massa" and his
gallant sons, migrated to the sugar fields.
In candor and in simple
justice I will add to correct the impression which is made by the fact of such
an immense body of uncultivated land that there is some chronic incurable cause
for it, that the decay and desolation which seems to hover like a black pall
over so many seats of former wealth and prosperity is more apparent than real,
which is clearly demonstrated by the achievements of a few German farmers, who,
a few years ago, bought, at a very low figure, some of the abandoned lands, and
have already restored them to their pristine vigor and fertility and have
harvested from the present years crop a little more than 500 lbs. of lint
cotton, and over 50 barrels of corn to the acre. In further demonstration it may
be added that these German farmers have paid with the generous products of the
renovated soil, the purchase price of their possessions, they have protected
their holdings with good strong fences, under which they have constructed
comfortable dwellings, barns, stables and out-houses, gardens and orchards, and
are surrounded by fat horses and mules, and fat cattle and hogs. And while doing
all this they have erected a commodious German Methodist Church, which likewise
serves as a school house, for the flaxen haired, blue eyed little Teutons.
Will the toiling, overburdened, ill requited tillers of the worn out fields
of the Carolinas still turn a deaf ear to the urgent appeals of the children of
their children, to come and help restore the homes which their children founded
in 1804'5-'6? Will the heavily handicapped and mortgaged farmers of the West
still hesitate to abandon the inclement climate which shortens life and impairs
all its brief pleasures, to bring his money and labor to a climate in which the
Orange tree was once an indigenous growth, and ripened its fruit in the open air
just as any other orchard tree — to a climate and soil, where there is fertile
land for a multitude of workers at prices ranging from $1.50 to $10 per acre?
Before closing this long sketch of one eighth of East Feliciana, I desire to say
a few words descriptive of the movements and methods of the early pioneers.
GENERAL REMARKS.
The pioneer days of the second ward — the days of
hand looms, spinning wheels and scooter plows with wooden shovel boards,
developed some rare and estimable characters. Among the first to come and the
last to leave was old "Uncle Daniel Cleveland," a lineal descendant of Oliver
Cromwell, the Great Protector. He laid down a constable's staff in South
Carolina to found a new home to which he brought all his household effects,
farming implements and kitchen utensils, stored carefully in a tobacco hogshead.
In his new home he lived and raised a numerous and powerful family which
multiplied and prospered exceedingly, and in which, after seventy years of
useful, virtuous and happy life, he died. Old Uncle Daniel was moreover a model
Democrat of the "'Old Hickory" type,, who never kicked nor scratched a ticket
and in his later days, had a word of forgiveness for all his enemies — except
"the silk stockinged, ruffle-shirted whigs," of which this writer was one.
The religious movement developed early. The first house of worship was built
in the centre of the neighborhood in which the Bradfords, Rheams, Clarkes and
Tubbervilles settled. It was built of logs near Redwood creek and was probably
served by those two admirable types of Wesley's itinerants. Rev. David Pipes, of
the 5th Ward of East Feliciana, and Rev. Barnabas Pipkin, of St Helena.
Later, after Olive Branch Meeting House and Camp Grounds were founded, the Rev.
Isaac Wall, another earnest and marked type of Wesley's itinerants, came to
garner in the harvest fields.
When civilization came into the primitive
forests and cane brakes, with luxury in its train, the early pioneers built them
saw mills along the Comite and Redwood and registered an edict of banishment
against the old log house, with its rough puncheon floor. The first progressive
step towards the luxury of civilized architecture in the ward was taken by Mr.
Joseph Kirkland, who had come into the wilderness as early as 1802,
commissioned, perhaps, like the two spies of Joshua, "to view the land of
Canaan," and who having reported back to the South Carolina Procurators that it
was a good land for them to come to and bring their wives, their little ones and
their cattle, to build a home and divide an inheritance; remained and commenced
the work of development, a year or two in advance of the arrival of the main
column of immigrants. Mr. Kirkland having access to no better lumber supply,
commenced at a very early day with cross cut saw and whip saw to manufacture the
material for the first frame building ever erected in ward number two. That
venerable pile of hand manufactured lumber has a history coeval with the
progress of civilization in the ward. It is not only the most durable, best
constructed, but the cheapest pile of lumber ever modeled. Tradition laughingly
describes the closing scenes in the construction of this renowned old edifice.
Mr. Joe Kirkland, a gentleman of lavish and hospitable tastes, sent couriers
into all the neighborhood as his splendid mansion approached completion to
invite the neighbors to a housewarming frolic on a stated day.
When the
guests, attired in all the primitive finery of the cane brakes, ascended to the
second story, with the fiddles, and filled the spacious corridors and rooms with
mirth, music and dancing, the architects, painters, plasterers and glaziers, all
creditors of the hospitable giver of the feast, stood around dressed in their
homely every day working garb, quite unconsidered and neglected by the fine
birds up-stairs. In this unpleasant predicament the thrifty ancestor of the
Kirkland« spied his hungry creditors and commiserating the undeserved neglect
which had left them out of the programme of amusements, considerately invited
them into a small room in the basement and proposed as a pastime a game of "Old
Sledge" or "Draw." The same gossiping tradition goes on to say that Mr. Kirkland
devoted all that night, in the little basement room, to hospitably administering
to the amusement of his little band of mechanic friends, and that the next
morning their liens had been miraculously extinguished by amicable process known
to the law as "confusion" and very early next morning the late lien creditors
were out canvassing the parting guests for a new job.
The liens being
thus extinguished, the title to the house passed, soon afterwards, clear of
incumbrance, to Gen. E. W. Ripley, the renowned hero of Bridgewater battle and
the first commander of this military department after Chalmette. At the death of
Gen. Ripley, the fine property of which I have been writing, which stands in
perfect repair to-day two hundred yards north of the line of railroad from
Clinton to Ethel, became the property by purchase of the late B. M. G. Brown, a
native of Darlington District, South Carolina, for many years the honored and
trusted sheriff of East Feliciana. At Mr. Brown's death Mr. C. C. Brown and his
co-heirs became the owners.
In conclusion let me emphasize the fact that
Nature has so equitably distributed her choice gifts as to endow nearly every
quarter section of these abandoned lands with winter pasturage and shelter of
evergreen canes, shading a sufficient water supply for cattle. And furthermore
there is scarcely a quarter section that has not its valley affording a few
acres of land capable of producing a bale of cotton to the acre without
fertilizers. Hoping my picture will attract capital and labor from harsher
climes and less productive soil, I am, yours truly,
H. SKIPWITH.
Note. — Since the above sketch was closed, ready to hand to the publisher,
Mr. A. J. Hawsey, grandson of the hardy old pioneer, Zadock Hawsey, informs me
that he fenced in last winter a piece of abandoned land in his vicinity and has
this year, with one hand working thirty acres on shares, harvested 200 barrels
of corn and twenty-three bales of cotton! These figures incontestibly
demonstrate that farming on the abandoned lands of Ward No. 2 does pay. H.
SKIPWITH.
ETHEL.
A town of about 50 houses and about 100
inhabitants situated at the junction of the Clinton Bend with the main trunk
line of the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railroad seven miles west of
Clinton (the Court House,) and five miles east of Jackson a prosperous and
popular commercial and educational seat, for which it is the principal shipping,
receiving and distributing "entre pot."
Ethel is just on the line
dividing of the First, Second and Third Wards, seated on an eminence which
slopes for half a mile, gradually, on the east toward Redwood, a creek fed by
perpetual springs, and which rewards the fisherman with fine strings of perch,
trout and blue cat fish. It boasts a Post office, commodious depot, fine school,
a Presbyterian church, a good hotel and livery stable, and several enterprising
merchants, engaged in receiving and forwarding their freights, to the
surrounding farmers, and in buying or shipping their crops. Contiguous to Ethel
are many large bodies of abandoned lands, which were once highly esteemed for
their great productive capacity, but which have had a rest of twenty-five years,
since the old system of labor was abolished; those abandoned lands; are mostly
fertile patches which were never worn out, and can be easily and cheaply,
restored to their full productive capacity which they originally had, and can be
bought on very reasonable terms. All the territory, tributary as a feeder to the
commerce of Ethel, ranks among the best in East Feliciana. Its tributary,
territory, now laying waste, idle and unproductive when fostered and
regenerated, by a fair supply of capital and labor, each acre will produce 50
bushels of corn and 2000 lbs. of cotton in the seed, and all other agricultural
productions suited to the climate in the same proportion. The character of the
lands tributary to Ethel for health, for picturesque scenery, and abundant good
water for man and beast, is uot excelled in any other locality in East Feliciana
or any other place in Louisiana.
Rev. W. L. C. Hunnicutt, D. D., President,
Jackson, La.
Faculty
Rev. W. L. C Hunnicutt, D. D. Professor of Mental and
Moral Science.
G. H. Wiley, A. M., Professor of Ancient and Modern Languages.
R. H, McGimsey, A. B., Professor of Mathematics.
J. M. Sullivan, B. A.,
Professor of Chemistry and Physics.
A. R. Holcombe, M. D., Professor of
Physiology and Hygiene.
Rev. B. M. Drake, A. B., Professor English Law and
Literature.
Rev. Robert H. Wynn, B. A., Principal of Preparatory Department.
Mrs. E. M. Hunnicutt, Assistant in Preparatory Department.
Mrs. R. H.
McGimsey, Teacher of Vocal Music.
Centenary College was founded in 1839,
the centenary year of Methodism; hence its name. It was first located near
Brandon, Mississippi, but was moved to Jackson, Louisiana, in 1845, and called
''Centenary College of Louisiana."
Its grand center building, erected
shortly before our civil war, and the two wings, containing dormitories, make it
a very commodious collegiate establishment.
Previous to the late war it
was prosperous, having several hundred students. In common with all monetary
interests in our Southland, the endowment and property of the college suffered
much from the effects of this war. For some years its fortunes waned and its
hopes languished; but more recently it has shared the reviving prosperity of the
country and its prospects are annually brightening.
Its plan of
endowment, relying largely, though not wholly upon the interest-bearing notes of
individual friends, has already put new life into the college, and promises to
be the means of establishing it in permanent prosperity and usefulness.
Besides the general tone of good morals prevailing at this college, the Biblical
instruction of all the students and especially the opportunities afforded to
students for the ministry, of whom there are annually about twenty in
attendance, are marked features of the institution. The literary societies, the
libraries and the Y. M. C. A. are powerful auxiliaries in the work of the
college. Its faculty now numbers ten professors and teacheas, and the majority
of its students are orderly and studious. Its list of graduates, running back as
far as the year 1825, contains the names of many of the most worthy and
distinguished men in Louisiana and the adjacent States.
Such an
institution is at once a blessing and an honor to the Parish of East Feliciana
and to the State of Louisiana.
Extracted 09 Aug 2019 by Norma Hass from East Feliciana, Louisiana by Henry Skipwith, published in 1892.
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