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THE SEA COAST ECHO, TERCENTENNIAL EDITION, THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1999-3
Dedication of the bells
The bells for Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church were dedicated in 1908. The buildings pictured above have all been demolished, but the bells - named “Joseph” and “Hugo,” respectively, still hang in the church tower. The bells were donated from the Cotton Exchange Building in New Orleans.
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on the Pearl River where Logtown now stands was granted a land claim in 1805. Simon Favre obtained a grant on Pearl River at a place called Napoleon, where he occupied the land and cultivated it in 1806.
He also had a claim on the same river lower down at a place now known as Nizan Landing, just above the present Logtown.
Ambrose Gaines, who received a land grant from the Spanish government in 1810 for land he had occupied and cultivated, call his village Gainesville, located at the head of navigation on the west branch of the Pearl River.
This village was once a busy and important lumber mill center, and a shipping point for cotton brought by wagon from as far away as Columbia.
Gainesville was also at one time the county seat of Hancock County.
There were two Jourdan brothers, Noel and John J., each of whom was granted two tracts of land.
Noel’s land was on the Jourdan River, to which he gave his name. The Negroes have this confused with the River Jordan about which they sing and are very insistent about being baptized in or with its waters. John J. Jourdan’s land was on Catahoula River, or Creek.
One of the most important land grants was the one given by the Spanish government to Thomas Shields, this grant was first given in 1789 to Onstantio Tardil, but it was not occupied and cultivated by him so his claim was invalidated.
The next year, 1790, Shields got possession of the
land, but did not occupy it until 1800. This grant on the shore of Bay St. Louis was called	Shieldsborough	or
Shieldsboro, by which Bay St. Louis and the former port of entry were called for many years.
West Florida came into the possession of the United Stated in 1810 and the Mississippi Coast was promptly divided into two districts, of which the western known as “Viloxy” included the territory between the Bay of Biloxi and Pearl River and between the 31st parallel and the Gulf of Mexico.
This section was formed into a county named Hancock, after John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, on Dec. 14, 1812.
The present counties of Harrison, Stone and Pearl River have all been carved out of the old district as the original extent has been reduced by subsequent acts of the State Legislature to approximately one-fourth of the area.
On Feb. 15, 1841, the County of Harrison was formed and by another division, Feb. 22, 1890, Pearl River County was established.
When the War of 1812 loomed on the horizon, Hancock County, being organized that same year was in its infancy as a county but not as a part of the Mississippi Territory in the campaign against the British because all of the war activities, other than the Battle of New Orleans, took place in the Mississippi Territory and especially on the south coast.
It was in 1810 that the American settlers again took up arms against Spain for possession of this southern territory.
President Madison ordered Governor Claiborne to occupy and hold the district and on Dec. 7, Claiborne took possession of the district, exclusive of Mobile.
Claiborne sent Dr. William Flood to organize the parishes of Biloxi and Pascagoula. On the banks of the Pearl River, Flood chose Simon Favre to act a justice of the peace.
He then moved to Bay St. Louis where he commissioned Philip Saucier, who had grown in influence.
Mississippi soldiers signing in Hancock County were known throughout the war as the 18th Regiment which was a part of the famous 155th,
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