Franklin County Mississippi Biographies and Biographical Sketches

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CALVIT, Charles Brantley Biography

Charles Brantley Calvit is the fortunate possessor of the plantation known as Liberty Hall, which makes one of the finest homes in Franklin county. He was born on this place in 1827 to William and Elizabeth (Spires) Calvit, the former of whom was born on the Potomac river, probably in Maryland, in 1783. In his early boyhood he was brought by his parents to Franklin county, and was'' reared in the neighborhood of where his son, Charles Brantley Calvit is now residing. After his marriage, he settled in the woods on what is now the Liberty Hall plantation, and this place he greatly improved, by his own earnest and unfaltering efforts, becoming a wealthy man. For the industry, enterprise and public spirit that he at all times manifested, and for the kindness of heart and generosity that at all times showed itself, he commanded the admiration, respect and affection of all who knew him. He was an active worker for the democrat party, and for the general welfare of the public, but was never an office seeker, the allurements of public life, or the temptation to the exercise of political power (other than as a private citizen), being insufficient to entice him from the retirement of home life and pursuits. He assisted in the capture of Aaron Burr, was a believer in law and order, and was a man of worthy principles. He died in 1853, and his widow about the close of the war, she being a member of the Baptist church. Mr. Calvit was one of four sous who lived to be grown, their father being John Calvit, who was born in Maryland, in which state he was married to Miss Brantley. At a very early day he removed to Franklin county, Miss., but afterward located in Yazoo county, where he died when the subject of this sketch was a small lad. He was very fond of pioneer and backwood’s life, and as lie was a good shot, a great hunter and Indian fighter, he was better calculated than the most, for that life. He had several brothers: Sandy, Anthony and Mumford, who came to southwest Mississippi in early times and became wealthy planters, the last named being at one time sheriff of Adams county. John Spires, the maternal grandfather, was a Kentuckian, and when a boy, was captured by the Indians, with whom he spent his youth, becoming very familiar with their customs and language. After his release, he made his way to Mississippi, and was married in Franklin county to Miss Hester Ford, who was born and reared in Natchez. Mr. Spires became successful as a planter, and both he and his wife have now been dead for many years. Charles Brantley Calvit is the eighth of a family of fourteen children born to his parents, and of this large family only he and his brother, Theodore G., of Louisiana, are now living. He received his education in the neighboring schools and at Oakland college, after which he spent one year in Louisiana. In 1855 he was married in Wilkinson county, and after residing there one year, returned to the place of his birth, where he has since made his home. He, at one time, was very wealthy, and although he lost heavily during the war, he has since retrieved his losses in a great measure, and is now the owner of two thousand two hundred acres of land. He served for some time in the Confederate army on detached duty, under Colonel Wirt Adams, but since that time has given his undivided attention to the peaceful pursuit of farming. He is a member of Solomon B. Stampley lodge No. 222, of Koxie, and is a public spirited and enterprising gentleman. He is very popular throughout this section, and is exceptionally well posted on local affairs. His first wife was Mrs. Elizabeth Landers, a daughter of Daniel Wil son, of Kentucky, but an early settler of Amite county, where he died, after having followed the life of a planter. Mrs. Calvit was born in Amite county, September 3, 1SG2. In 1805, Mr. Calvit married Miss Sarah E., daughter of Willis Freelove Carter. Mrs. Calvit was born in Adams county, and by Mr. Calvit is the mother of four sons. [Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Chicago, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891.]

CAMERON, Hon. John Ruthven Biography

Hon. John Ruthven Cameron, planter, Canton, Miss., is a descendant of sturdy Scotch ancestors, his paternal grandfather, Daniel Cameron, having emigrated from that country to this with five brothers, and settled in Franklin county, Miss., in 1809. The latter’s son, Malcolm Cameron, was born on the 4th of February, 1817, and in addition to the common school education obtained in his native country, he attended Oakland college, Mississippi. He wras a planter, spending all his life engaged in that occupation in Mississippi, and was never a candidate for any political office. He was married in 1841 to Miss Tennessee Penquite, a native of Mississippi and the daughter of Dr. Abraham Penquite, who was bom in Virginia. The latter was an eminent physician in his day, and was a very successful business man, owning a large fortune at the time of his death. In 1841 Mr. Cameron removed to Madison county, Miss. , and located on the property now owned by our subject. He was a very extensive planter, wras a prominent whig in his political views, and died in 1873. His marriage with Miss Penquite resulted in the birth of two children, both of whom died in childhood. Mrs. Cameron died on the 24th of January, 1844, and the following year Mr. Cameron took for his second wife Miss Mary Matilda Montgomery, a native of Mississippi and the daughter of Eli T. and Mary (Crockett) Montgomery. The Montgomery family is one of the oldest and most prominent ones of the state of Mississippi. John Ruthven Cameron was born on the site of his present home in Madison county. Miss. , on the 3d of July, 1840, and was the only child born to Malcolm Cameron’s second marriage. He inherits Scotch Irish blood from the Montgomery side of the family, and his greatgrandfather Montgomery reared a large family of sons who not only became fine business men and amassed large fortunes, but who were eminent and distinguished men in Missis sippi. John Ii. Cameron grew to manhood in his native county, and although his educational advantages were limited, he is a man well posted on all subjects and is educated in all the practical affairs of life. He is a self made man. principally, and owes his prosperity to his industry and good management. In 1803 Miss Virginia Chick, a native of Mississippi and the daughter of Richard A. and Jane (Davis) Chick, became his wife. Her parents were natives, respectively, of Virginia and Mississippi. Mr. Cameron’s union resulted in the birth of four children: Lillian, who married Dr. Staples, of Kentucky, removed to Texas and there died in 1888; Malcolm, now has charge of his father’s business on Deer creek, Sharkey county, VLiss. , and is a successful young business man; Virgie and Abraham Penquite are at home. Doth of Mr. Cameron’s daughters were educated in Bardstown, Ivy. Soon after his marriage Mr. Cameron raised a cavalry company in Madison and adjoining counties and commanded the same until the close of the war. He surrendered at Jackson. After the war he began improving land on Deer creek, Miss., and, although he inherited a large landed estate at his father’s death, he has largely increased it, and now has about ten thousand tive hundred acres. In 1877 he was elected to represent Madison county in the legislature and received every vote polled. He served his term out, was not again a candidate until 1887, when he was elected to the state senate and is the present incumbent. Intellectually, Mr. Cameron is the peer of any in the honorable body of which he is a distinguished member, and in all oflices of public trust he has served with credit and distinction. In 1889 he was a candidate for governor of Mississippi before the democratic party and made a strong and creditable race. Though defeated, no man, perhaps, in the state, stands higher in public esteem than John R. Cameron. He is a patriot and statesman of whom the people may wrell feel proud; the people’s interests are his, and he has fostered them as jealously as a mother watches her child. He and family are members of the Presbyterian church and he is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity. He is essentially a Mississippian, is proud to own the South as his birthplace, and nothing affects the state of Mississippi that does not affect him. He lives where he was born and is bound by the strongest ties to his state, county and people. His highest hope is to retain the ante-bellum type of civilization and the customs of his father and contemporaries. His greatest desire is to have a typical Southern home, and he takes great pleasure in beautifying his place. Many of his father’s slaves are still with him and are devoted to him. Unlike many people of the South, Mr. Cameron does not make a trip east during the summer months, but his doors are thrown open at that time and his house tilled with guests for weeks. As a host he is unexcelled, and in the full sense of the term he is a Southern gentleman. His home is provided with all kinds of amusements, billiard tables, bowling alleys, etc., and he spares no pains to make his guests enjoy their stay at his home. He is one of the noblest men of the South, is kind and generous to all, and instead of magnifying faults in others he finds excuses and overlooks them. [Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Chicago, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891.]

CASSEDY, Hon. William P. Biography

Hon. William P. Cassedy, judge of the sixth circuit court of Mississippi, comprising the counties of Pike, Amite, Wilkinson, Franklin, Jefferson and Adams, was born in Franklin county, Mi§s., October 29, 1849, a descendant of the first Cassedy who settled in this state, Hiram Cassedy, who was born in Chambersburg, Penn., September 7, 1820, and came to Mississippi in 1840. This pioneer, who was a cripple from boyhood, embarked on a steamer and made his way to Natchez, Miss. There alone, without money or friends, the brave boy started out in life in his adopted state. He was offered a position as copyist, and being unable to write, he, with indomitable courage, began to acquire a knowledge of writing, and with the aid of a private tutor soon lifted himself to till the position offered him. Hav iug begun his education thus, he continued his studies, devoting his spare moments to his books, and soon accepted a position as teacher in the schools of Franklin county. He after ward related, as an amusing incident, how he would study at night and keep one day ahead of his pupils. In this manner, deterred by no difficulties and pressing bravely forward, he overcame all obstacles, and was afterward enabled to look back upon the struggles of his boyhood from a position of eminence. He later became deputy probate clerk of Franklin county, and began the study of law. In this he was assisted by Judge Kinney, the author of Kinney’s Blackstone, and by Col. Richard Webber, at that time a prominent attorney of Mississippi, who formed a friendship for Mr. Cassedy, and took him into his otlice, rendering him every aid in his power. Mr. Cassedy became a prominent factor in social and political circles of his county. In 1850 he was elected to represent Franklin county in the state legislature, in which he was a member continuously until 1858. Iu 1856 he was elected speaker of the house, and officiated in that capacity until his retirement in 1858, when he was elected circuit judge of his district, and served until after the late war, at which time he retired from the bench. He continued the practice of his profession, however, and was universally regarded as one of Mississippi’s leading jurists and lawyers. His death occurred iu Pike county March 26, 1881, iu his sixty first year. He had removed to that county in 1872. He held so high a place iu the estimation of the people that after his death the citizens of Pike and Franklin counties each secured by popular subscription an elegant oil portrait of him as he appeared upon the bench. These paintings were hung in the courthouses of the counties, but unfortunately the one in Pike county was destroyed iu the courthouse fire of 1882. About 1844 Mr. Cassedy had married Miss Mary Proby, a native of Franklin county and a daughter of Hon. William Proby, many years a probate judge of Franklin county, a Virginian, who came to Mississippi prior to the formation of Franklin county, and after that event donated a portion of his plantation as a county seat, which land is occupied by the courthouse at the present time. To this union three sons and three daughters were born, two of whom died in infancy, and of whom there are but two survivors: Hon. Hiram Cassedy, of Brookhaven, and the subject of this sketch. Mr. Cassedy, aside from being a prominent lawyer iu ordinary cases, was distinguished as a criminal lawyer. He always acted for the defense, and for years he was connected with every case of prominence in this region, and so great was his success that he came to be looked upon as almost invincible. Hon. William P. Cassedy was the fourth child in his family, and his boyhood days were spent in his nalive county. During the war he was attending the public schools and managing the plantation at home, and after the war he was a student in the University of Mississippi at Oxford. In January, 1870, he began the study of law under the preceptorship of his father, and iu June of that year received license to practice in the courts of that state. It is a fact worthy of note that he had not at this time attained his majority, but the Mississippi legislature removed his disability as a minor, thus making possible the granting of his license. In December, 1872, he was married to Miss Julia M. Herring, a native of Franklin county and a daughter of John W. Herring, an extensive planter. From that time until 1881 he devoted his attention to the occupation of agriculture and to some extent to the practice of his profession. In the spring of the year last mentioned he removed to Summit and formed a partnership with his father, which terminated afterward by the death of the latter. In December, 1890, he was appointed judge of the sixth circuit court of Mississippi, succeeding Judge Ralph North, of Natchez, who had resigned. To Mr. and Mrs. Cassedy have been born two sous and two daughters: Annie J., James, Burt and Mary H. Although not a member of any church the Judge aud his family are regular attendants upon the services, and liberal supporters, with the material interests, of the Methodist church. Politically ho is like his fatlior, a stanch democrat, and socially is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the Freemasons. He is one of the most respected citizens of Summit. [Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Chicago, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891.]

CATO, Edwin Biography

To the person who applies himself to any one occupation which he has chosen as his calling in life there can be only one result — that of success, and a high place in the esteem of those with whom he has come in contact. Edwin Cato is no exception to this rule, for by strict attention to his calling and the exercise of his mental faculties, which are far above the average, he has acquired a good competency. The Cato family was among the early and most prominent families to settle in the eastern part of Jefferson county, Burrel Cato taking up his abode there about the year 1820, moving thither from Wayne county, where he had resided for a few years, while en route to this section from North Carolina. He opened up a large farm here, here reared his family and here also made his home until his death. Of three sons born to him, Sterling C., the father of the immediate subject of this biography, was the youngest. He was born in Wayne county August 12, 1816, but attained man's estate in Jefferson county, whither he came with his father. He was married here to Mrs. Rebecca McLaurin, a daughter of Norman Gillis. Mrs. Cato was born in Mississippi, and after her marriage with Mr. Cato they located on the old homestead which had belonged to the Cato family, and here Mr. Cato successfully followed the occupation of planting. He was a man of exemplary habits, gave his time and attention to his business and farming interests for many years, and at the time of his death, which occurred December 6, 1878, he was a member of the Presbyterian church. His widow survives him and resides on the home place, aged seventy live years, having borne a family of two sons and four daughters that grew to years of maturity: Cora (deceased) was the wife of W. B. Scott.; Georgia is the wife of J. B. Mullins, of Franklin county; Gertrude is the widow of Lewis Cato; Laconia is the wife of N. B. Gillis; W. L. Cato is a planter of Franklin county; and Edwin, who has spent his life in this county. In his youth he was given the advantages of the Union Church high school, after which he went on the farm with his father, with whom he remained until the latter’s death. He was married February 19, 1879, to Mrs. Martha E. Cato, daughter of Maxwell Newman, of Franklin county, iu which county Mrs. Cato was born, reared and educated. After their marriage they settled on the old Cato home stead, but at the end of a few years he opened a general mercantile establishment at Union Church, purchasing a half interest in an established business at this point in January, 1885, since which time he has conducted it very successfully. He also owns an interest in a general mercantile house at McNair, and also in a like establishment at Russum, Claiborne county. Ho carries an excellent and complete stock of goods, and by strictly fair dealing with all, as well as by his courteous and pleasant manners, he has built up a good patronage. The old home farm is still iu his possession, and in addition to his duties as a merchant, he successfully manages this farm. He is a shrewd financier, and socially as well as in a business way he is a very pleasant gentleman to meet. He and his wife have no children of their own, but are rearing three orphans, two boys and one girl, the children of Mrs. Cato's sister, who is deceased. Mr. Cato and his wife are Presbyterians, and are hospitable, charitable and upright citizens, and by their many worthy characteristics have many warm friends. [Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Chicago, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891.]