This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

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Ship Of State
113
John J. Abner	Davjs Grayham	Lewis Parker
Richord Barrat	Wheeler Gresham	Joseph J. Pierce
Gabriel Burrus	George Hughbanks	Isaac Ryan
Matthew Carter	John Hughbanks	John Richardson
William Carter	William Hughbanks	Samuel J. Stroud
Mono* Collins, Sr.	John Havens	Edmund Smith
Modes Collins, Jr.	William Howell	Robert Smith
John Cumbest	Kinner Hudson	Bryant Ferrel
Samuel Davis, Sr.	Isaac Jordan	James Ward
Samuel Davis, Jr.	Perry King	Moses Ward
Walter Davis	Benjamin Linear	Patrick Ward
Walter Denny	Edwin Lewis	Tarlton Ward
Charles Daily	James Meazels	Henry Wells
Ellis Fairbanks	John Miller	Samuel Williams
James Garnett	William Mills	Robert Williamson
R. H. Gilmer	Aaron Parker	Benjamin Young
Benjamin Goodin	Hubbard Parker	
Notice the spelling of Hughbanks. That is a clue to how it was pronounced then. Note the spelling of Meazels for Mizell. It may be a clue to the pronunciation!
This election was held to select a representative to go to Washington and appeal to Congress to retain the whole of the Mississippi Territory when it became a state. Harry Toulmin of St. Stephens, and later Mobile, was unanimously elected as the delegate. He failed in his mission and Alabama and Mississippi were then destined to become separate states. Sterling DuPree was sent to the Pearl River Convention, held at Ford’s Fort, at what is now Sandy Hook. Here, funds were raised to send Toulmin to Washington.
The Constitutional Convention was held at the same place one year later, July-August, 1817, and Thomas Bilbo and John McLoud (note spelling) were representatives from Jackson County. The first member of the Lower House in the state Legislature was Archibald McManus who lived at what is now known as Big Eddy, just below Merrill. He was succeded by Walter Davis from down about “Buzzard’s Roost” in 1819. Thomas Bilbo served in this office 1821-1822. Josiah Skinner was State Senator for Jackson, Greene, and Wayne Counties. He lived on Skinner Creek just above Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church of today.