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00178
PIHEY wool _ settlkr : described II,LITERATE * STOCK RAISING - ^
DIFFERENT FROM RIVER PEOPLE
"History of Education in Kississi1DpIM
-	^’dvard Vayes - 1890-91 - published 1899 quoting "Sparks1 Memories of Fifty Years"
*'anv needle first stopping on the Tombigbee ultimately removed to the Kississippi. A little later Pearl River became the locality of a noteworth settlement. It vas. however, composed mainly of a people essentially different from those in the Natchez district.
From Georgia and Carolinas
"vo.ct of the settlers vere from the poorer districts of Georgia and the Carolinas. True to the Instincts of the people from whom they v~re descended, they sought as nearly as possible just such a country as that from which they came, and vere really refugees from a groving civilization consequent upon a denser population and its necessities.
Cattle Raisers
"They vere not agriculturists in a proper sense of the term; true, they cultivated in some degree the soil, tut it vas not the prime pursuit of these people, nor vas the locationn sought for this purpose. They desired an open, poor, pine country, vfiich forbade a Yr«T"erbus population.
"Here they reared immense herds of cattle vhich subsisted exclusively upon the coarse grass and veeds which grew abundantly among the tall, long-leafed pine, and along the small creeks and branches numerous in this section. Through these almost interminable pine forests the deer vere abundant and the canebrakes full of bears. They combined the pursuits of huntin'g and stock minding^- and derived support and revenue almost exclusively from these.
?To Education
"They vere illiterate and careless of the comforts of a better-reared, better-educated, and more intelligent people.
"They vere unnble to employ for each femily a teacher, and the population vas too sparse to collect the children in a neighborhood school. . . . Sore of these pioneers remained in the country many years and came to be surrounded vith descendants, men and vomen, the growth of the country, rude, illiterate, and independent.
Raised Corn and Vegetables
,	■*?	*r
"Along the margins of the streams they found small strips of land of better quality than the pine forestsafforded. Here they_ grew sufficient., corn for bread and'va few of the coarser vegetables, and in blissful ignorance enjoyed life after the manner they loved.