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2-A HERITAGE EDITION-SEA COAST ECHO, MAY 29,1977
John Hancock
(Continued from Page 1)
Counties is in the center of the Bay of St. Louis). In February of 1890 another division of Hancock County was made with the formation of Pearl River County.
Presently Hancock County has a land area of 485 square miles and is situated in what is called the Gulf Coastal Terrace soil area of Mississippi, bordering the Gulf of Mexico and the State of Louisiana.
Officers in Hancock County include Sheriff Sylvan J. Ladner, Jr.; Chancery Clerk, John D. Rutherford, Jr.; Tax Assessor and Collector, George Heitzmann; and Superintendent of Education, Terrell Randolph.
The County is divided into five districts with 1st district supervisor, Bert Courrege; 2nd, Alton A. Kellar; 3rd, Oscar Peterson; 4th Sam Perniciaro and 5th, James Travirca.
March 19th
(Continued from Page 1) Aldermen were paid two dollars for each regular meeting actually attended when present at roll call. Other costs of running the city were considerable, on Section 30 of the Charter it was ?further enacted, That the Mayor shall for his services receive a salary of not more than three hundred dollars nor less than one hundred dollars per annum,? Under caption Revised Ordinances, Chapter XII and Sec. 91 in relation to salaries and fees:	?The	of-
ficers of the city shall receive as compensation for their services, the following salaries, payable out of the city treasury by warrant:
1.	The Secretary, two hundred and fifty dollars per annum.
2.	The Collector, five percent on all collections to be retained by him in settlements.
Prominent Black people
V
make noteworthy news
With the renewed interest in Hancock County, it would seem appropriate to recognize black Hancock Countians collectively, and in some cases individually, for the quality of their services and contributions.
As we peruse the pages of our coastal history it is gratifying to know there has ever been a warm relationship which was not made mandatory by desegregation.
Etienne William Maxson was a teacher in the public schools of Hancock County. He was also postmaster at Pearlington from January 3, 1899 to May 31, 1916. He left that post to go to Washington where he was an employee in the Department of Agriculture. Maxson was author of a book entitled The Progress of the Races which was printed with copyright in 1930. His book lists 89 colored Captains and the vessels they mastered! Concisely and with accuracy Maxson?s chapters included Pearlington, Logtown, Napoleon, Gainesville, Schooners and Deep Water Vessels, Industrial Progress as well as Educational, Business, Political and Religious Progress. One paragraph in his conclusion is repeated here in direct quotations for it reflects the character of this truly progressive man:	?I
would therefore implore the colored people to have faith in God, cultivate a friendly spirit with all with whom you may come in touch, educate and acquire wealth. Doubtless you
Church
was built in lft?2
will then be in a position to demand all of the civil rights you are now deprived of in the United States of America.? Through the courtesy of Mrs. Roy Baxter a duplicate copy of this book was placed in the Rare Book Room of the City-County Public Library in Bay St. Louis.
Inez La bat, who began ho* teaching career in Bay St. Louis at the Valena C. Jones School won recognition well merited for her long career as an outstanding educator. Retired in 1961 and now living in Bay St. Louis, Mrs. Labat holds membership in Mississippi Historical Society, Louisiana Historical Society, as well as the Historical Association of London, England. In June of 1976 she received a certificate of appreciation from the Hancock County Historical Society, having donated to the City-County Library an excellent collection of reference books.
Richmond Bartbe of Bay St. Louis, a noted sculptor, has works on permanent display in the Metropolitan Museum and the Whitney Museum of New York. His great American eagle dominates the entrance of the Social Security Building in Washington...his works are in private collections of France, England, Germany, India and other countries. Taken out of school at 7th grade level in Bay St. Louis by his widowed seamstress mother to help support his family, Barthe went on to merit two Julius Rosenwald fellowships, two Guger?'eim fellowships and numerous citations and awards. His first attempt at sculpture in 1928 exhibited in Chicago and named ?The Negro in Art? started him on his road to fame. One of Barthe?s works is a prized possession of the City-County Public Library.
Valena C. Jones nee Valena Cerelia MacArthur was horn
without more work than they could handle. Emile, Sr.?s death in 1963 closed the upholstering business Clement now 79 continues his services.
Arnette Giles of Pearlington recognized for her work with retarded children first taught in a school started by Mayor and Mrs. Warren Carver in 1959, through the years she devoted her life to the service of providing a foster home for children less fortunate, handicapped or retarded. The 40th child she and her husband, the Reverend Charles Giles, took into their home was retarded, could not speak and could not hear. He had been cared for in the basement of the Harrison County Courthouse by policemen prior to being accepted by the Giles. Charles Giles, husband of Arnette, preached in the Valena C. Jones Methodist Church on Sycamore Street.
Louis Piernas - an early! postmaster in the Bay St. Louis post office is remembered as a man of dignity and worth, popular with both whites and blacks and
Bay incorporation
VALENA C. JONES, born on August 3, 1872 in Bay St Louis, Valena Cecelia MacArthur began teaching schools in rural Mississippi about 1890. She was principal of the Bay St. Louis Negro School 1892-1897 and taught from 1897-1901 as a public school teacher in New Orleans. Married in 1901 to the Reverend Robert E. Jones, resident Bishop of the New Orleans area for Methodist Episcopal Church, Mrs. Jones no longer taught but kept actively interested in education. Several schools have been named in her honor including the Valena C. u:	?	?	i	Jones in Bay St. Louis. At the age of 44 she died in New Orleans
SbuSS.	^	?"?I	on January 13,1917 and is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery.
? A year following her death a New Orleans Public School was named in her honor.
Piernas? tenures in office reflected the political climate of the times. He was ?in? with the Republican and ?out? when Democrats dominated. His local popularity, however, was unaffected by change-overs.
Madame de Mezieres
(
jidentity a mystery
HC joins Rotar
J
in
May - of ?25 *
COgWyijjE
The familiar
All land bordering the Bay of St. Louis was a land grant given to one Madame de Mezieres, so this reporter has been told. The date 1720, verified by the Department of Archives and History in Jackson, was the year she obtained title. A fire in the year 1853 burned the Hancock County Courthouse then located in Gainesville and old
born in	Paris of a
distinguished family and became a soldier, explorer, Indian agent.	DeMezieres
came to Louisiana in about 1733 and rose through the' ranks from ensign to lieutenant	colonel. He
prospered	and by 1766
possessed 35 slaves and 10,000 pounds of tobacco. His most vice was to super-
r_______??________
(Continued tributions, including Honorary membership in the Hancock County Historical Society. No longer young and a victim of a stroke, Miss Labat is confined to a wheel chair, cared for by her sister, Portia, who explained Inez? condition and present inability to give me authentic information about the selection of the date set for the celebration. Outgoing, natural and pleasant, Portia generously offered permission to peruse any and all of Inez voluminous papers.
Eddie Engelhorn, Deputy City Clerk, and Commissioner Lucien Kidd guided me to the corner of the room at the City Hall where the huge and heavy minute books are kept. Selecting the year 1882 I read the following entry:
?An Ordinance of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Bay St. Louis to Adopt the Act of Incorporation of said City.
Whereas the Legislature of the State of Mississippi has passed an Act to incorporate the City of Bay St. Louis which was approved February 24th 1882 and to be in force from and after its passage.
Therefore, it is ordained by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Bay St. Louis, that said Act be, and the same is hereby adopted, and from and after its passage, declared to be recognized in the municipal law of said City of Bay St. Louis...?
In an attempt to compare these minutes with Acts of Congress a request was made and granted by Elbert R. Hilliard, director of the Department of Archives and History in Jackson. From the photostatic copy furnished I learned an act to establish and incorporate the Town of Shields borough was approved on the 21st day of January, 1818. At that time David Holmes was Governor of the State, Theo. Barnes, Speaker of the House and D. Stewart, President of the Senate and Lieut. Governor. First Section of the Act follows:	Be	it
enacted by the Senate and the
from Page 1)
book MISSISSIPPI, a book sponsored by the Mississippi Advertising Commission. This book was compiled and written by the Federal Writers? Project of the Works Progress Administration and on page 299 I read the following:	?By 1825 Shield-
sboro, then also known as Bay St. Louis rivalled Pearlington as the seat of the Hancock Co. courts. The town was incorporated in 1854.? From the corner stone of Bay St. Louis City Hall I copied an inscription graven on the South side it read:
City Hall of Bay St. Louis Incorporated 1870 City Hall Erected 1905 A picture appeared on Page 1 of the Sea Coast Echo in March 4, 1971 showing the Mayor and Commissioners of the city accepting a cake, gift from the South Central Bell Telephone Company with dates on the cake 1875 commemorating the incorporation of the City on March 2, 1875. Another incorporation date to consider!
This gives us not less than seven dates to choose from. This could also qualify Bay St. Louis for Guiness Book of Records or make ours a city
for
its
reporter is the non-acceptable
celebrated celebrations!
Frankly, this nonpulsed by conformity of dates. My futile search ends with quotations from favorite philosophers: Goethe said: ?The best thing we can derive from history is the enthusiasm that it raises in us.? Was it Tacitus who first said:	?An
historian ought to be exact, sincere, and impartial; free from passion, unbiased by interest, fear, resentment, or affection; and faithful to the truth, which is the mother of history, the preserver of great actions, the enemy of oblivion, the witness of the past, the director of the future.? That, my dear Tacitus, is a very large order. When you are reincarnated I pray you will come to Bay St. Louis as an historian and tell us when we should celebrate the Bicen-