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"theassessment rolls. r ' 4. The Treasurer shall be allowed two and one half per ,centum on all money received by him for city purposes, except what he may receive form his predecessor in office.
5. The City Marsha!., two hundred and forty dollars per annum.
(T The Street Commissioner, eight dollars per month.?
The Secretary for qopies or transcripts from the books of office or other official papers got the handsome sum of ten cents per hundred words.
Minutes of the meetings of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen were written with painstaking care with indelible ink and for the most part in fine well-formed Spencerian script. Platt Rogers Spencer who taught the Spencerian Method of Penmanship - may his name be praised. The minutes are legible!
Humane
Society
founded
?It was on January 10,1973, ^that a small group of out-of-ite people presently idents of Hancock County, at the Valena Jones tiding on Old Spanish Trail ^talk over plans to form a r reeded humane society area,? wrote Mrs.
: Backlund, on August Is She served as it of the organization ',out of that meeting lived its charter on ?15,.1973.
|even members ?up, four of which tive, according to told. The work ?prk on cruelty { with adoption of attempt to lie.*
Mild like to see shelter Lpore en-ordinances
ween 1865-1882 might well be called a period of reform.
' The Methodist Episcopal Church, predominantly white, was facing problems of what could be done with the freed Negroes of the i|outh. They were increasing! in number and wanted and needed equal representation. Because of the freed Negro, the church set up standards of restriction. Because of civil and religious restrictions negroes began to move North. The exodus showed a marked decline in local membership.
The annual conference in Mississippi in 1880 included for the first time in history two Negro delegates to the General Conference. J. M. Shumpert, later to become pastor of St. Paul?s Methodist Episcopal in Pass Christian was one of the delegates. He was 26 years of age when elected.
In 1809 the Negro population in Mississippi was 742,559, and the negro church membership was	74 percent of the
population. Four out of every 100	Negros living in
Mississippi were Methodist.
The St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church in 1926 constructed a large building for worship. Joseph Labat was architect and builder. The	newly constructed
building was named in honor of Mrs. Valena C. Jones. Mrs. Jones, wife of Bishop Robert E. Jones was a native of Bay St. Louis who with her parents was a founder of the Church.
St. Paul and Valena C. Jones gained the esteem and recognition of the Bishop. Valena C. Jones is recorded in Mississippi Conference History as hosting an Annual Conference in 1936 and in providing music for annual conferences at Gulf Side in Waveland in 1932, 1934 and 1936. Valena C. Jones Church was selected as the laboratory for Church School Leadership Training for several summers.
Twenty-two pastors have served this church between the years 1880-1976 the first of whom was O. H. Flowers and Frank A. Jordan is the twenty
^?graduated1 from1?? Straight
of New Orleans i lOuue- piuiu^ai'ui uie
St. Louis negro school,
Bay
five years later she went to New Orleans to teach in the public school system there. She died January 13, 1917 and in 1918 became the fourth black for whom a New Orleans public school was named. The Valena C. Jones building in Bay St. Louis was formerly a Negro public school named in her honor. Following the desegregation of schools the school was converted into space for Hancock County Senior Citizens, the Bay St. Louis Fire and Police Departments and Employment offices. Mrs. Jones retired from teaching in 1901 to become the wife of the Reverend Robert E. Jones, remembered as Resident Bishop of the New Orleans area for the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Reverend Jones edited the Southwestern Christian Advocate. Mrs. Jones made an outstanding contribution as an educator and was voted the' most popular teacher in New Orleans public schools. The elementary school named in her honor at 1901 North Galvez dates back to 1905.
Emile Hazeur, Jr. became the first black to serve a term of five years on the Bay St. Louis Separate Municipal District school board. A native of Bay St. Louis, Hazeur was graduated from St. Rose de Lima High School and attended Xavier University in New Orleans for two years. He later completed a three years tour of duty with the United States Air Force (earned a certificate from the Eighth Army School of Electronics and Radar, as well as a certificate from the Naval Mine Warfare School at Yorktown, Virginia. The Hazeur family has long rated the recognition and respect of the Bay Community. Clement Hazeur and his brother, Emile, owners of property on Main Street for years operated a furniture repair, refinishing and upholstering business from their residences. Clement recalls they never left home, never
Harris, a lawyer in iftoo ^organized the first
v^iucr unsosr 'it was calle
rotary because the members met in rotation at their ,
records were destroyed in tnai conflagration.
i j t ?' Ihquiries 'jnade of lqcal-historians have shed little light on the identity of Madame de Mezieres, her full name? Where did she live? Why was she given this land
various places of business. Agrant?
Club members are njade up of A letter from Mrs. Myrtle
a group of men, each from a Y different business or profession and they foster high professional standards, civic improvements and international peace. Rotarian grants	make	possible
scholarships for young people to study in several countries.
By the year 1925 Bay St. Louis organized its Rotary Club under the administration of Richard G. Cox, governor of the 17th District of Rotary International. The Club?s charter	was	officially
presented on September 9, 1925 at a meeting held in Hotel Weston (now the Gulf Haven Nursing Home). First officers of the club were? Ernest J. Leonhard, Presi .ent; Chas.
G.	Moreau, Viet President; Arthur A. Scafide, Secretary; Louis J. Norman, Treasurer;
H.	U. Canty, Sgt.-at-Arms.
The First directors were: Ernest J. Leonhard, Chas. G. Moreau, Geo. R. Rea, Emile J. Gex, John Osoinach, C. C. McDonald and L. J. Norman.
Charter 25 members were:
O.	T. (Ollie) Arnold, R. N. Blaize, C. A. (Charley) Breath, H. U. Canty, F. P. Cassidy, John C. DeArmas, Ernest W. Drackett, Dr. J. A. Evans, Emile J. Gex, John Howze, Ernest J. Leonard, C.
C.	McDonald, C. Greer Moore, Chas. G. Moreau, Louis J. Norman, Sardin F. O?Neal, George R. Rea, Jphn Osoinach, Arthur A. Scafin?c, Dr. C. M. (Cy) Shipp, Dr. Aj P. Smith, Horatio S. Weston, R.
L. (Bob) Genin, G. E. (Gus) Templet and Leo W. Seal.
This group of civic minded men were responsible for the organization of the Chamber of Commerce and for the building of a protective seawall as well as several other worthwhile achievements.
Currently the Rotary Club meets at Scafidi?s Wheel Inn Restaurant on Highway 90. Its roster totals 41 members with officers including Richard O. Shadoin, Pres.; John Rosetti, V.P.; and Gus Uram, Sect.
Williams Payne of Camden, Arkansas said in part:	?I
believe I have found your mysterious Madame? and she enclosed a verifact copy, a biography of Athanase de Mezieres Y Clugny, the son of Louis Christophe de Mezieres and Marie Antoinette Clugny. Could this be the son of Mme. de Mezieres? At any rate, Athanase de Mezieres was
vise me inaian iraae. tie issued licenses to traders, cut off illicit traffic and induced Indians to deliver uplntruding Englishmen. He was appointed Governor of Texas, however he died on November 2, 1779 before taking oatl office. He is buried in Cathedral of San Fernand San Antonio. A versatile ana educated man, he wrote in French, Spanish and Latin. A prominent figure on our frontier, he is to be compared with his contemporaries, Juan Bautista de Anza and George Rogers Clark.
Of interest! But still undocumented is Madame de Mezieres - the mystery lady who owned so much land around the Bay of Saint Louis.
Lamb first woman president of CC
BY CAPT. MAX BERNS HANCOCK COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The Chamber of Commerce on November 13, 1925 was issued a grant of charter titled Bay St. Louis Chamber of Commerce. On November 15, 1945 the corporate name was changed to Hancock County Chamber of Commerce and in 1976 Anita D. Lamb became the first woman president in the history of the Chamber.
Incorporators in 1925 were Joseph O. Mauffray, Capt. C. B. Fisher and R. C. Engman, all of Bay St. Louis. When the name was changed A1 Voight was president and Arthur A. Scafide served as secretary-treasurer. Currently P. D. (Sonny) Bailey, Jr. serves as president.
Hancock County has joined the other Coast Chamber to form the Gulf Coast Council, a federation of the combined Chambers membership. This body has had an important influence in the designation of the Hospitality Station, located at the 1-10 Ms-607 intersection. The Chamber promotes tourism in the area both as a Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the South Mississippi Tourist Promotion Council. The Chamber supported the development of Buccaneer State Park in Waveland and the construction of the new
as well as the introduction of the Naval Oceanographic office to NASA Test Site.
The Hancock County Chamber of Commerce is supported by dues from its members and by the Hancock County, Waveland and Bay St. Louis governments. It is the only organization representing the combined voice of business, professional persons, and political entities within the county. It is continually involved in community development and programs include beautification of the county and working with local government and educators to respond to the voice of business. Land and agriculture interests are coordinated with the Hancock County Farm Bureau and the County Extension Service. The Chamber also sponsors annual community events and activities including Blessing of the Fleet, Community Bargain Days and the ecumenical Easter Sunrise Service.
The Hancock County Chamber of Commerce is a member of the Chamber of the United States and Mississippi Economic Council. The U. S. Secretary of Commerce has designated this Chamber as an Associate office at the U. S. Dept, of Commerce in recognition of its wide spread and effeetivp
House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi in General Assembly convened, that the place situated on the West Side or the Bay St. Louii, in the county of Hancock, known by the name of Shieldsboro, is hereby declared to be a town, under the name of Shieldsboro; and it shall be the duty of the owners thereof to deposite in the clerk?s office of the county court of the county aforesaid, within six months after the passage of this act, a plat of said town.?
In the belief that the original charter of the City of Bay St. Louis might be in the office of our mayor, I made inquiry qf Mr. Warren Carver and was furnished a small book entitled The Charter and Ordinances City of Bay St. Louis Approved March 19, 1886. Attached to the front cover of the booklet is a carbon copy of The Charter approval dates and a list of the City Officers. The list shows James A. Ulman as Mayor and of the four alderman only two identities were complete with name or initial as listed they are L. O. Piernas, E.C. Gardesbled, Etienne Auguste. Eldridge McArthur was listed as Assessor and Tax Collector and J. Ronaldo Guerrin, as Treasurer. George W. Manard was Marshal. (The approval date for this charter which incorporated Bay St. Louis as a City came four years after the 1882 Act of the Mississippi Legislature which gives us still another choice of dates).
In a further attempt to clarify the dates of incorporation of Bay St. Louis, first under the Town of Shieldsboro and later as the City of Bay St. Louis, I referred my puzzle to The Department of Archives and History in Jackson. An almost immediate reply informed me ?Original Charter is in Secretary of State?s Office. Originally incorporated in 1818. Act of incorporation subsequently amended on several occasions. Added and interesting information from this source revealed the first census taken in Hancock County was in the year 1820 when the total population of the v county numbered 1594 souls.
Still attempting to document
tennial ,ofBay? theTric^ffe
Wbod&n nitikehf were legal.
- ? - -r-
during 1958.
Citizens gladly accepted and spent wooden nickels in Bay St. Louis through August '2, 1958. Some even saved a few. City clerk and Commissioner Lucien Kidd during the Bicentennial year donated one of these coins to be placed in a safety deposit box to be opened on the anniversary of our Nation?s 300th birthday.
The nickel, about the size of a silver dollar, was imprinted on the front with the wording: ?One Wooden Nickel - 5 cents.? And on the reverse were the words ?Good in trade at any co-operative business or redeemable at face value at either Bay St. Louis Bank on or before August 2, 1958.?
This novelty was an advertisement used in celebration of Bay St. Louis? centennial. The centennial was celebrated with pomp and much ceremony and the glory was shared by native sons and daughters who came from the four corners of the globe to be a part of the event. Dignitaries sent messages of felicitations including Dwight
D.	Eisenhower, then Presidnet of the United States; J. P. Coleman, Governor of the Great State of Mississippi; L. O. Crosby, Jr., Mayor of Picayune; Garfield Ladner, Mayor of Waveland together with aldermen Cornelius Herlihy, A1 Wein-furter, Anthony Bourgeois and Norvin Penrose. An impressive list of patrons made possible a well illustrated publication with our own Nel Ducomb doing the art work, layout and composition. The booklet ran some 80 pages and would be considered today a rare collector?s item. At that time the Honorable John A. Scafide served as Mayor of Bay St. Louis together with Commissioners J. Cyril Glover and Warren E. Traub.
nrAPromc i*'
A. J. Carver, sheriff of Hancock County in 1910 was paid in January of that year
tbP cum #90 *? ^