One of the fun things about historical research is getting side tracked. We have a house in West Point that I have long attempted to determine its date of construction. The type of construction is typical of the 1850s and its style is Columbus Eclectic, which is generally about 1840 to 1860. However, the earliest recorded deed that indicates the presence of a house there is 1869, when attorney and real estate agent Fred Beall sold the property. Interestingly, the house was called the “Yankee House” in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was at one time owned by a New Englander who worked for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
At any rate, I was looking for information in old 1868 and 1869 copies of the West Point Herald newspaper and got side tracked reading the news of the day. I did, however, find an ad by Beall dated June 5, 1869, stating he had “several small, pleasant Residences, with Lots, Gardens, &c. in West Point” for sale. As our house is a small cottage enlarged in the 1870s or ’80s, which sat on a large lot, it may have been one of those being advertised for sale. That advertisement, though, got me reading other ads and news accounts in those early newspapers.
The big news on May 2, 1868, was headlined “Horse Thieves Shot.” Apparently, on a rainy night, “two men stole a couple of mules from some planter below Tibbee Station.” The owner had no trouble following their trail on the muddy ground and at Tibbee Station he was joined in his pursuit by “some four or five gentlemen.” They followed the trail to the residence of Ben Exum about five miles west of West Point. The thieves had stopped there “to get dinner and have their horses fed.” When the “gentleman” rode up the two thieves came out of the house and “commenced firing on their pursuers who returned the fire killing one and wounding the other.” The surviving robber, J.H. Newman of Tennessee, was carried to Columbus and held under $2,000 bond.
The same newspaper advertised that T.G. Sellers of Starkville and D.B. Cummings & Co. of West Point were selling S. W. Palmer & C’os Challenge Washing Machine. This “most important invention of the age” would abolish “wash tub drudgery.” Dr. P.H. White announced that he had “removed to and permanently located in West Point.” His office was located “at the drug store.” Dr. R.M. Muldrow offered his professional services “at his residence, next door above Col. Griffin’s residence.”
The May 16, 1868, West Point Herald reported a “Terrible Calamity.” An “awful storm that burst over northern Mississippi and Alabama on Wednesday, took within its range the county of Pickens, and caused great destruction of life and property…Trees of every size and description were twisted round, torn up by the roots, and swept to the ground, houses blown about like feathers, and alas! several lives brought to a sudden and awful close…A large stick sill of wood (from the large home of Seaberry Hull) was jerked into the air, carried a distance of three hundred yards, and driven five or six feet into the earth where it fell.”
The August 15, 1868, Herald contained several interesting accounts. “Several young men of this neighborhood got into a fight Friday night…in which Robert Wooten and Robert Davis shot and cut Robert White. The wounds though painful, are not, we understand, considered dangerous.”
It was also reported that “an attempt was made last night to burn the Calaboose in this place.” A Black man named Henry Sutton was arrested and locked up for breaking into a smoke house. “Someone, unthoughtedly we presume, gave him a match to light his pipe, but with which he attempted to burn a hole in the wall of his cell.” In business news Mr. Connolly moved to Artesia and sold the West Point Steam (grist) Mill to “Jabez Mann and Alex Henley, two as clever, straighforward gentlemen as lives.”
It was in the July 24, 1869, West Point Herald that I found the real estate advertisement that might have been for our West Point house. That edition of the newspaper was full of advertisements. It appears that West Point’s economy was booming and in addition to local and area advertisements there are many ads for firms in St. Louis, Mobile and Louisville, Kentucky. West Point’s new and old businesses filled the paper with advertisements. Miss Matilda Gartiman moved from Mobile to West Point to engage in “dress-making, cutting and fitting.” T.D. Williamson opened a meat market one door south of Goodwin’s Saloon. The saloon’s name was “Our House Drinking Saloon.” Professor A.T. Shaw was giving music lessons on piano, guitar violin and flute at $5 per month. B.A. Rogers was in the business of house painting, sign painting and carriage painting and trimming. Frances Henry, Julia Westbrook and J.M. Harley had school rooms at their residences.
Established businesses in West Point seemed to be thriving. Robinson & Dunlap specialized in dry goods, groceries and whiskies. They advertised that they would barter for produce, mink skins, dry hides, beeswax and “in fact everything.” T.C. & W.C. White advertised their “drug house,” where they sold everything from medicine to window glass. Dr. Dugan would make house calls but only within the city limits. T.E. & P. Rainey sold groceries, prints and fancy dress goods at their store on Main Street. Their stock was “bought in New York, and selected with great care.” Other West Point business listed included A. C. Echols, dry goods; Jenne & Dancer, photographer, artist and clock maker; and John Jordan, architect and builder.
It is amazing how just trying to establish when one house was built can open a whole window into the past.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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