Lawrence County Mississippi Biographies and Biographical Sketches

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CANNON, Will C. Biography

Will C. Cannon, circuit and chancery clerk of Lawrence county, is one of the most prominent anti worthy citizens of that county. He was born in Lawrence county in 1850, where he was reared and educated. He was the youngest of a family of seven children, born to Jesse D. and Adeline L. (Oatis) Cauuon, who were natives of Georgia and Mississippi, respectively. Jesse D. Cannon was born in 1815, and was the son of Jesse D. Cannon, Sr., a native of Georgia. The grandmother of our subject, Frances Hardesty, was also a native of Georgia, who lived and died in that state, leaving her husband with nine daughters and three sons to mourn her loss. Mr. Cannon, with his children, most of whom were grown and married, came to Mississippi when Jesse D., Jr., was a small boy, and settled in Lawrence county on Silver creek. Their son was educated in the common schools. He married Adeline Oatis in 1835. He removed soon after to a point on Dry creek, near the home of his bride. The father of our subject was a mechanic, and worked at his trade in connection with planting. He was very successful in life, and accumulated considerable property, dying in 1859. He was a well respected citizen, who took no active part in politics, while having the welfare of the public at heart. He was a member of the Baptist church at Silver creek, and was its clerk some years before his death. Matthew Cannon, one of his brothers, was for a number of years judge of the probate court. He reared a family of three children, all of whom are deceased. Judge Cannon was a man of good mind, whose opinion was sought in all matters of importance. He was a prominent member of the Baptist church. Joseph Cannon, another brother, died while a very young man. Of his sisters, two remained in Georgia, two quite late in life removed to Texas, and live of them came to Mississippi. Mrs. Nancy llobertson is yet living in Covington county, Miss., with one of her grandchildren. She was the wife of Elder Nerval - Robertson, who was for forty years the pastor of the Bethany church of this county, and who was one of the leading ministers in the state. He was quite well known as an author, having published a treatise on theology. He died June 1, 1878, aged eighty-one years, leaving his wife, one son and four daughters, his son and one of his daughters having since died. Mrs. Robertson was born in Georgia in 1812. Those of her children who are yet living are: Miss Sallie Robertson, Mrs. Laura Beal and Mrs. Lou Hemeter. Mrs. Cannon was born in Lawrence county, Miss., in 1S19, being a daughter of John II. and Mary II. (Buckley) Oatis, natives respectively of Georgia and South Carolina. Mr. Oatis came to Hancock county, Miss. , when a young man and there married, removing about two years later to Lawrence county, where he located on Pearl river. Still later, he took up his residence at a point on Silver creek, removing thence to a place on Dry creek, where he followed planting until his death in 1803, at the age of seventy two years. He was a soldier in one of the early wars, and was promoted to the rank of colonel. He was quite active in politics, and was at one time United States marshal of Mississippi. In his earlier life ho was a whig, but during the troublesome times preceding the war, and during the period after, he was a democrat. He was a man of good attainments, well posted on general topics, and especially conversant with the history of our country. He was a member of Bethany church, of which he was one of the most liberal supporters. He was for many years a Mason. At the time of the beginning of the war he was quite wealthy, owning con siderable land and quite a number of slaves. His wife died in 1887, lacking at that time but thirteen days of being ninety-three years old. She was born in South Carolina, and came with her parents to Mississippi, locating in Hancock county. A short time afterward they removed to a point on Pearl river in this county. She was the second child and eldest daughter of a family of five sons and six daughters born to Edward and Narcissus (Gastello) Buckley, natives of South Carolina, her father having been of English descent, and her mother of Scotch descent. Her grandfather, Edmund Buckley, or Berkley, was kidnaped when a child, and brought from England to South Carolina, where he was bound out to service until his twenty-first birthday, not being permitted to learn even so much as the alphabet. After he became his own master, he began planting for himself. He married and had a family of eight children. [Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Chicago, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891.]

CARLISLE, G. W. Biography

G. W. Carlisle, the efficient commissioner of immigration and agriculture of Mississippi and a successful real estate agent of the city of Jackson, was born in Lawrence county, near Monticello, in 1855, the sixth of seven children born to Edmond J. and Dullio B. (Maxwell) Carlisle, both of whom were born in this state. The paternal grandfather was a Georgian by birth and came to Mississippi in 1812, settling in Lawrence county, where he followed the occujuition of a planter and resided until his death. He had soveral sons in the Mexican war, one of whom died while iu the service. The maternal grandfather, Hcnrv Maxwell, camo to Mississippi from the state of his birth about 1817, became a very successful planter and merchant of Lawrence county, and socially and mentally was among the most prominent citizens of tho section in which he resided. He died in 1876, at the age of eighty-nine years, leaving an unblemished reputation as a heritage to his children. Edmond J. Carlisle was reared iu Lawrence county, and although he received limited advantages of a literary nature, he became a well-informed gentleman. He began life for himself as a planter and was successfully following this calling at the time of the opening of the Civil war, at w'hich time he dropped his farming implements to join the Confederate army, and was a brave and faithful soldier. Upon his return to his home he resumed planting, which calling he followed with merited success until his death, in 1871. His widow survives him, and is a member of the Baptist church. G. W. Carlisle obtained a limited education in the common schools of the country, and from ten until eighteen years of age he labored on a plantation. He then became a clerk in a store at Monticello, and some time after was selected deputy clerk of the chancery court, the duties of which position he ably discharged for two years. In 1879 he was appointed chief land clerk by Auditor of the State Gwin, and during the seven years that he held this position he acquired a full knowledge of the land system of the state. He resigned this position in 1880 and was elected commissioner of agriculture and immigration of the state by the state legislature without opposition, and still tills this position, being unanimously reelected in 1890. He is a real estate agent of considerable note, and deals largely in timber lands throughout the entire state, farming land to a great extent, and also in city property in Jackson. In all his transactions he is reliable and accurate, and enjoys the confidence of the public at large. He is considered an authority upon all real estate matters, and his business is steadily increasing from month to month. He owns about six thousand acres of land, mainly in the Yazoo delta, some of which is under cultivation, and the balance has located on it some of the most valuable timber in Mississippi. He owns two residences and one valuable storehouse, and some unimproved land in Jackson, all of which is valuable property and the result of Mr. Carlisle’s own determination, energy and push. Mr. Carlisle was married, in 1882, to Miss Virginia Fearn, a native of Mississippi, born at Canton, and a daughter of Judge George R. Fearn, of Dallas, Tex., formerly of Alabama, a prominent lawyer. To this union two children have been born: George Fearn and Willie. Mr. and Mrs. Carlisle are prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal church South, and he is of a social and agreeable disposition, and iu business circles is looked upon as one of the most reliable and efficient of financiers. [Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Chicago, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891.]