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A Slow Drift down Pearl River « Russell Guerin
http://www.russguerin.com/history/hancock-county/a-slow-drift-down.
It was not until 1846 that an Administrator’s Sale announcement appeared in the Gainesville newspaper with regard to the Pray estate. The administrator was Samuel White. He advertised several parcels of land, listing first a tract of 401 acres near Pearlington, known as the “Gin Place.” There was also a half section on the Turtleskin Creek, and another half section on the Irishman’s branch, which were located within four miles of Gainesville. Lastly, there was half a lot in the town of Pearlington.
From the Eastern States Federal Land Grant database we have the location of five Hancock County Federal land grants made to Pray, although strangely they are all dated after his death in 1839, one as late as 1851.
General George Nixon
A prominent military personality of Pearlington was General George Nixon who moved from South Carolina to Mississippi territory in 1809. He fought in the Creek war and the War of 1812, and served as a state senator. He also was a member of the first state constitutional convention. He died in Pearlington in 1824, his grave and that of his wife being prominent in the old Pearlington cemetery.
According to local tradition, Nixon was an ancestor of President Richard Nixon. While this does not seem to be so, it may well be that he was a collateral ancestor, as there were in fact three George Nixons in the President’s direct lineage, but the general was not one on them.
Detour - Mulatto Bayou - perhaps eight miles
After drifting under the Highway 90 bridge below Pearlington, there will be a dog-leg turn of the river, first to the N/E, and then to the S/E. Just past that point is a confluence. As Yogi Berra has advised, when you come to a fork in the road (river), take it. In this case, one may have to paddle, row, or use an outboard, as the next destination is up Mulatto Bayou.
Here is found the Hancock County Port and Harbor, but that is the stuff of modem times. To return to pondering the past, one must be ready to receive fascinating information about this deeply historical area.
Two major plantations bordered the east side of the bayou. They were Laurel Wood, owned by JFH Claiborne, and Clifton, owned first by Judge Daniels and then by Andrew Jackson Jr.
Laurel Wood
John F. H. Claiborne, Mississippi’s most prominent historian, lived here during the middle of the 19th century. He grew cotton, traded slaves, wrote books, and spied for the Union during the Civil War.
As much as has already been written about John Claiborne, no attempt is made here to completely profile him. What follows is a backdrop of his life and activities in order to understand his experiences in Hancock County, where he moved after reaching middle age.
John Claiborne was bom of a famous father, General Ferdinand Claiborne, who had been commander of the Southern wing of the Army during the Creek War and one time Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, John Claiborne was also the nephew of W. C.C. Claiborne, governor of the Mississippi Territory and of Louisiana.
John Claiborne too had ventured into politics, on both the state and federal levels. As a young congressman, he was a member of the lower house from 1835 to 1838. During his tenure, he was in the middle of considerable controversy, and was not reelected in 1838. Moreover, because of his staunch defense of the government and the Choctaws against the fraudulent actions by land speculators, he made many powerful enemies.
Having suffered many disappointments and being in poor health, Claiborne changed lifestyles and in 1849and bought Laurel Wood Plantation. The manor house, according to some records, was built by Francois Saucierwith slave labor 1800.
The house was a raised, handsome one, with a belvedere. A New Orleans artist had decorated its walls with murals. Unfortunately, it was razed in the early 1960’s. Some local inhabitants of Hancock County still remember what appeared to have been a slave prison under the raised house. Lang, citing a WPA report, states, “... the small house with pitched tin roof was supported by high brick piers joined by iron bars to hold Negroes brought ashore from slave ships in the early days of the century. Slave quarters were located to the rear of the main structure.”
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