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A Slow Drift down Pearl River « Russell Guerin
http://www.russguerin.com/history/hancock-county/a-slow-drift-dowa.
gates from the 18th century. They were stolen by vandals and never returned.
Reading the cemetery markers is like going through a litany of the saints of Hancock County.
In 1819, the land was acquired by General George Nixon from Isaac Graves. The latter had received his title from Celeste Favre, who had settled there in 1812 with her husband Simon Favre. After Favre’s death, Celeste married Graves.
It was the first high ground encountered when ascending the Pearl. It was platted on a formal basis, a grid with five main streets and ten cross streets. Thus were delineated 55 squares and 550 lots.
While it differs from its neighbors up the Pearl in that it is an extant community, it has shared their fate in other ways. William J. Orr, writing of his ancestors of Pearlington, states, “The surrounding area, once covered with thousands of acres of towering virgin yellow and long leaf pine, is now covered by second and third growth pine and hardwood trees. The only remaining virgin pines are those that once graced the yards of old time residents.”
Referring to early nineteenth century as “in those days,” John Claiborne compared Shieldsboro to Pearlington. The former was “but a small village with no commerce, resorted to merely as a summer retreat.” Pearlington, on the other hand, “...was the commercial point. It had been laid out on a metropolitan scale, covering, I believe, near a section of land, and it had been visited by the legislature, then sitting in Columbia, in 1821, who were sumptuously entertained, and went away with the most favorable impressions.”
According to Danish seaman Christian Koch, Pearlington of the early 1830’s was “a small, insignificant town.” Koch, of course, was comparing the fledgling village to cities he had seen in his travels. “The only trade is in wood and cotton with New Orleans. There is no church so there is service only twice a year when a Methodist preacher comes from another town and holds services for three or four days. The town is situated on the north side of the river in the midst of a large pine forest owned mostly by the government. Although everyone can cut as much wood as he likes, still it is pretty expensive. Marriages are always performed by the sheriff, who is the only officer in the place. The Negro children are never christened, and there is a big fine for teaching one of them to read. Some of them preach to others, but it is always some terrible nonsense.”
In 1852, Wailes observed two large steam mills being erected, and noted an academy for boys and girls. Mixing his critical sensibilities with practical appraisal, he said of Pearlington that it was “a scattering and dingy French looking village on another bluff within eight miles of the mouth of the River, with the salt marsh on the opposite side and extending down to the lake. This is said to be the best and most accessible harbour in the State, with a fair depth of water.”
Other sources indicate that in 1852, there were already eight lumber mills in operation. In addition to its lumber industry, Pearlington was also known to be a major cotton depot in pre-war days. It was sometimes called “the Gin,” referring to a cotton ginning operation at Simon Favre’s farm.
Publius Rutilius Rufus Pray
Important early settlers made their home at Pearlington, including the noted attorney Publius Rutilius Rufus Pray.
One of the most celebrated jurists of Mississippi, Pray lived for years in Pearlington. He served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1827 to 1829. In 1832, he was president of the State Constitutional Convention. Five years later, he was elected judge of the High Court of Errors and Appeals.
Bom in Massachusetts in 1793, he married his cousin Maria Learned of Maine in 1820. Both came from a long line of English settlers in New England, tracing their ancestry back as early as the “second ship” in 1621. In thel820’s, Pray and his wife moved to Pearlington. He accomplished much, but died young, at age 46 in 1839.
He and Maria had a number of children, some of whom died early. Of four who survived to maturity, son Rufus Otis Pray married Sarah Hamlin Daniell in 1842. After the death of Publius Pray, Maria married Lewis Daniells, the father of her daughter-in-law. Eugenia Amelia Pray married her first cousin once removed, Charles Walker Daniell of New Orleans, son of Josiah Daniell, who was the brother of Judge Lewis Daniell and Robert Daniell of Hancock County.
Wealth was often protected and preserved by such closeness, in those days as in the days of kings and nobles.
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