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14
The Progress of the Races
the lords of this manor. Captain Poitevent operated a sawmill, brack-yard, and a line of steamboats and barges that carried lumber, wood, brick and sand and cattle to New Orleans for market. He employed colored men as sawyers in his mill and foremen in his brick-yard, and as captains on his boats and barges.
The Rev. Tyler Carter was his chief sawyer, and Rev. Carter was also chief sawyer for Captain Adolph Poitevent who succeeded his father in the lumber business at Gainesville. The Reverend Brother Carter succeeded the Rev. Taylor Fryerson as pastor of the First Baptist Church at Gainesville. He was also trustee of the public school there for many years.
Captain Nelson Fitzgerald ran the steamers Lollie and S. R. Poitevent for Captain “Bill” Poitevent. He also ran the steamer Dial and tug Asa for the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company, and wherever he mastered he had his cousin, Jack Peterson, for his engineer.
Mr. Frazier and W. A. Whitfield owned many cattle at Gainesville. At one time they were about the largest stock-raisers in Hancock County.
About forty years ago Mr. Whitfield sold 1,000 head of cattle at $10.00 a head. Such a price for cattle today would hardly pay for the by-products, much less the meat, since the World War has raised the cost of living. Mr. Whitfield owned the schooner Mary and Pearl Whitfield, named after his two daughters. A colored captain and crew manned this vessel. Captains Anatole McKan and William Mitchell ran her at different times, carrying lumber, rosin and turpentine from Gainesville to New Orleans.
The family ties and business interest of Pearlington, Logtown, Napoleon and Gainesville were so interwoven that to say anything commendable of one town is to say it of all of them. These towns afford a mild and salubrious climate, good water to drink, fine vegetables, splendid stock raising, lumber manufacturing, plenty of fuel, good homes and good public schools and churches. The white and colored citizens of these towns will compare favorably with any citizens in the United States.
There has never been a lynching in Hancock County and very few legal executions. The white and colored citizens have tried to cultivate a friendly spirit and the trend of the races has been toward peace and goodwill.
SCHOONERS AND DEEP WATER VESSELS
The schooners owned by the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company were the Emma Jane, rebuilt and name changed to Addie Eads; Alice McGuigin; Union, rebuilt and name changed to New Union; Try Again; Lillie Schmidt; Ella C. Andrews; Victoria; Lizzie Kellum, rebuilt and name changed to Angeline; Martha Toulme, rebuilt and name changed to Calla; R. O. Elliot. Deep water vessels: Forest Holmes, Geo. W. Lhote, Palos, Seguin. Steamers: Major White; Dial, built by the E. C. Goddard Lumber Company at Logtown, and sold to the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company; Rice Farmer, rebuilt and name changed to Pearlington; Pelican; Rolla; Tug Pearl Smith, rebuilt and name changed to Asa; Tug H. C. Warmouth. The H. C. Warmouth, Pearlington, Pelican, and Margaret were the mail boats on Pearl River for many years.
The Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company were the first mail contractors
The Progress of the Races
15
on this route. Captain R. S. Boardman mastered these boats and others on the river for about fifty years. He bought the Pelican from the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company,, when they discontinued business at Pearlington, and succeeded them in carrying the mail and passengers on this route. He afterward sold a half interest of the Pelican to the H. Weston Lumber Company. He built the Margaret and ran her in the mail and passenger trade also.
Captain Boardman almost invariably carried a colored crew, and sometimes a colored engineer. When Captain Isaiah Wooten quit sailing, Captain
B.	ardman employed him to run his farm and to look after his cattle.
The Alice McGuigin was the oldest schooner on Pearl River, and most of the sailors on Pearl River learned how to sail on this vessel, this was the training ship. The schooner Theresa G., built and owned by Captain Frank Guiterrez, and the brigantine Annie Madison, built and owned by the Madison Brothers, were the largest vessels built on Pearl River. The Annie Madison was five years under construction, from 1885 to 1890, and was lost with her whole crew on the Gulf of Mexico, on her third voyage bound for Havana.
Then there was the steamer Major White, the owners of which were the Poitevent & Favre Lumber Company and Captain John A. Orr. There was something remarkable about this boat and crew. Captain Orr was half owner and engineer of this boat, while Captains Smith King and Mingo Wooten, two colored masters, ran the boat at different times with a colored crew. Under Captain Orr, a white man, two colored men, viz., Isham Brooklyn and Pinkney Moore, learned to be engineers. The personnel of this boat represented harmony and progress in the superlative degree.
Schooners and steamboats owned by the J. A. Favre Lumber Company were the Melvina Anderson, Annie B., Emma J. Mestier, and tug Fred Dilly. Owned by the E. C. Goddard Lumber Company, was the schooner Eliza B.
Other Schooners and Owners
Other schooners and owners were as follows:
Petronia H., owner, Captain Asa Russ; Serrena Junior, owner, Captain Emile Koch; Wade Hampton, owners, Thomas Randall and son; Barge Coleman, owner, Captain Neze Favre; Julia Rickert, owner, Captain Samuel J. Favre; Mary and Pearl Whitfield, owner, William Whitfield; Hortense, owners, White and Little.
Schooners owned by the H. Weston Lumber Company were the Bogue Houma, rebuilt in 1887, and name changed to C. A. Fish; Corinne H., sold to C. K. Russ, Saint Bartholomew, Leta, Lois, Minnie Otis, and Geo. W_ Rhode.
Steamboats: Sarah, built and first owned by the H. Weston Lumber Company and Captain Christian Koch. After a few years Captain Koch sold out to the H. Weston Lumber Company, Edgar and Palo Pinto. The H. Weston. Lumber Company has sold out all of their schooners and now ship their lumber on barges, which is a much cheaper transportation. The most of the schooners owned by the Poitevent & Favre Company and the H. Weston Lumber Company have been sold on reasonable terms to colored men who lived on the river and ran these vessels. Under the heading of Business Progress we shall give the names of the schooners and captains who bought these vessels.