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Early
History of Coffeeville
If in about the
year 1829 a wayfarer taking the trail leading south
from Lagrange, Tennessee through the Chickasaw
nation to the Choctaw villages, and to Clinton,
Mississippi, had traveled that trail 76 miles south
of the Tennessee line, he would have encountered
one of the highest hills in that part of
Mississippi.
Fording the creek
just at the foot of the hill, he would have passed
the wigwam of an Indian arrow head maker. On the
crest of the hill was an Indian trading store built
of logs fresh cut and hewn from the dense forest
surrounding it.
The traveler, if a
white man, would have received scant greeting from
the arrow maker, but a hearty welcome awaited him
at the store of the young trader; for in those
days, few men of his race passed that
way.
The arrow maker
chose his place of business at the ford of the
creek, because of the convenience of water, so
necessary to the plying of his trade, and it was on
the trail frequented by his fellow tribesman. The
white trader chose his place also because it was
new water; but chiefly because it was high above
the low lands and miasma so dreaded in those days
and because the location was just one half mile
from the boundary line that divided the hunting
grounds of the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Indians.
The name of the
Indian craftsman is long since forgotten, but
Davidson M. Rayburn, the youthful pioneer, and
trader from near Franklin, Tennessee, is still
remembered as the first white settler on the site
of what is now the town of Coffeeville.
The trade in
hatchets, guns, knives, beads, and calico was brisk
and young Rayburn prospered.
And then the
"Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek" by which the
Choctaws ceded all of their lands to the U.S.
government was ratified; the country was surveyed,
and the lands were subject to purchase and
settlement. D.M. Rayburn, Abram Herron, Sules
McCrelas, and Ursery bought the lands in Section 4,
Township 24, Range 6 east, on which the Rayburn
store was located.
About that time Wm.
Buntin with his wife, several stalwart sons and
comely daughters, his wagons, household goods,
livestock and Negro slaves, passed Rayburn's store,
ended their long over-land journey from Virginia on
one of the adjacent hills. Pretty soon young
Rayburn married one of the comely
daughters.
And now the Exodus
of the Choctaws began. Their villages were replaced
by those of the white men. The Indian trails became
highways, over which passed a steady and ever
increasing stream of home seekers and land
speculators.
The Virginia,
Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee store owners made
haste to acquire possessions in the Land of Cotton,
and the country side was rapidly peopled with
planters and their Negro slaves.
Just four miles
south of Rayburn's store two rival towns just
across the road from each other had sprung up.
Hendersonville, with 14 stores and groceries
promoted by Thos. McMackin, famous tavern keeper
and town site promoter of that day and
Plummersville, more than half the size of its
rival- named for, and sponsored by Franklin E.
Plummer, notorious politician, congressman, and
known as the "Stormy Petrel of Mississippi
Politics."
The first Board of
Police elected in Yalobusha County, met and
organized at Hendersonville on February 4, 1834,
there being present Thos. McMackin, President, Wm.
Metcalf, J.S. Edrington, Wm. Minter, and Dempsy
Hicks. At the next meeting of the Board held a
month later at the same place, it was moved,
seconded and the motion carried, "that the Board
retire to a private room for the purpose of
considering offers of donations of land for a
County Court Town." Quite a number of offers from
various sections of the county were considered, but
the Board voted to accept the land offered by
Davidson M. Rayburn and Surles McCrelas- to wit: 51
acres located in the E 1/2 of NW 1/2 of Section 4,
Township 24, Range 6 east.
Thos. McMackin
immediately thereafter tendered his resignation as
President of the Board. On motion of Wm. Minter,
McMackin was re-elected president- which courtesy
pleased him to the extent that he appointed a
committee to examine the title of the land
donated.
The Board then
ordered the county surveyor Francis Clement to
survey and plot the land into town lots; reserving
a space in the center 400 feet square for a Court
House.
During the same
year the lots were sold at auction on the terms
prescribed by the Board; via, one-third of purchase
price one year after date of sale, and one-third
yearly thereafter. Mr. Walker was appointed
auctioneer, and received $200.00 in payment of his
services. Davidson M. Rayburn, county court clerk,
was authorized to receive payments for and execute
deeds to the lots. About that time the Board
concluded it was high time to name the town. They
decided to call it Coffeeville, in honor of the
friend and companion in arms of General Andrew
Jackson, the gallant General Coffee. As Coffeeville
grew and waxed strong, Hendersonville and
Plummersville decayed, and villages were only
memories. The business and people all moved to the
Court Town- Coffeeville.
Among the first
merchants to locate in Coffeeville were Wm. Korr,
T.J.N. Bridges, Leman Haile, and Brown & Van
Zant. Mr. Van Zant was the father of ex governor
Van Zant of Texas, who spent his early childhood in
Coffeeville. The first lawyers to settle in
Coffeeville were J.S. Topp, Abram Herron, Jno.
McKenon, and Judge Carberry. The first physicians
were Dr. Malone and Dr. S. Bell. The first churches
organized were the Presbyterian and Methodist
Church. The former a two story brick structure
located on Tillatoba Street. The latter a frame
structure located on Tennessee Street.
The first white
child born in Coffeeville was Andalusia Rayburn,
daughter of the young Indian trader. She became the
wife of the Reverend Dr. R.S. Thomas, pastor of the
First Presbyterian Church of Coffeeville for 48
consecutive years, 1848 to 1896, the year of his
death.
In the year 1834,
the Board of Police granted Surles McCrelas license
to conduct the first Tavern in Coffeeville at the
following scale of prices: meals 35 cents, board
and lodging per day $1.50, man and horse $2.00,
spirits 121/2 cents.
The first bank in
Coffeeville was organized in 1838. Bayliss,
President and W.H. Brown, cashier. It was called
"The Joint Stock Bank of Coffeeville."
It lasted only a
few years, and there was no other bank in
Coffeeville until after the Civil War. The business
men did their banking through cotton commission
merchants in New York, New Orleans, and
Memphis.
In the early
forties the country had developed to the extent
that the county Board felt justified in providing a
more commodious and pretentious Court House than
the frame house in use, and accepted plans and
specifications for a splendid brick building to be
erected in the center of the court square on the
site once occupied by Rayburns store.
Although not an
architect by profession Judge Carberry drew the
plans, and one Mr. Higgins contracted to erect the
building. Unfortunately Mr. Higgins died soon after
the building was begun, and it was completed by
Judge Carberry and Wm. Kerr, his
bondsman.
About this time the
Simms line of stage coaches was running on regular
schedule on the highway through Coffeeville. James
Baker had acquired the McCrelas Tavern, enlarged it
to double its original size, its upper and lower
verandas facing court square. It was now a relay
station for the Simms line of stage coaches and
famous among the Inns of north Mississippi. Bakers
Tavern took great pride in having entertained such
distinguished guests as Governor Henry S. Foote,
Mr. Jefferson Davis, Mr. Sargent S. Prestess, Mr.
and Mrs. James K. Polk. (The latter owned a
plantation near Coffeeville) and others of their
like. The new Court House and the rapid development
of the country attracted to Coffeeville an array of
such splendid loyal talent that its bar was rated
second to none in the state. Among the most notable
were General E.C. Walthall, Colonel Blythe; Judge
Fisher of the supreme bench, Colonel David L.
Herron, N.C. Snider, Captain Frank Aldrich, Judge
Chevis and others.
Coffeeville
prospered with the year, and private carriages with
matched horses on the streets had ceased to be a
novelty. In the late forties and during the
fifties, a craze for building fine homes appears to
have struck Coffeeville and the country surrounding
it. The houses were nearly all of the same pattern-
two stories, with portico in front, supported by
four large columns and an el in the rear. The
kitchens were all located in the back yard about 20
steps from the dwelling house.
Along about 1856
there were rumors in Coffeeville that a railroad
was being built, that would run north and south
through the creek valley, 1/4 mile east of the
courthouse.
D.L. Herron and
James Aston surveyed the land in the valley into
town lots. The Mississippi Central Railroad
completed tracks into Coffeeville, and the people
of Coffeeville saw their first railroad train
in the year 1858.
The Herron and
Aston Survey was incorporated into the town of
Coffeeville; the lots were selling rapidly, the
town was growing, the railroad was prospering, the
people were happy.
And then came a
season of sorrow, blighted hopes, blighted lives,
Civil War chaos.
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