There will be NO index available, however, and so researchers will be required to know the Enumeration District in the city or town where their ancestors lived.

If you would like to help in this effort, visit www.stevemorse.org for more details about a project to create a free time-saving tool for your fellow genealogists.

For more information about the 1940 Census visit the National Archives at http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/start-research.html or Census Research for Genealogists at http://www.1930census.com/1940_census.php.

The photograph was taken by local photographer W. C. Echard.

Image located in the Billups-Garth Archives in the Local History Department at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library (accession # 2008-118).

This search led me to Rice University where The Papers of Jefferson Davis project is located.  The Papers of Jefferson Davis is a documentary editing project where they are producing a set of 15 published volumes containing documents covering Davis’ life from over 100,000 papers. To see more visit http://jeffersondavis.rice.edu.  

After learning about the letter, scholars with The Papers of Jefferson Davis were very excited.  They were unaware of this letters existence!  They know of one other letter from Davis to W. H. Worthington (newspaper editor in Columbus) from 1875, but not of this one.

With their help, I now have a more complete and accurate transcription of the letter (see below). 

They also now believe that the Davis letter at the Columbus Library is possibly older than previously thought! The date on the letter has been written over by another individual at some later point thus making the date on the letter suspect. 

Two factors point to the possibility that the letter was actually written in 1874.  One concerns the content of the letter.  Davis refers to L.Q.C. Lamar’s eulogy of Charles Sumner which took place in 1874.  Also, he comments on Lamar’s speech regarding a disputed Louisiana case which also occured in 1874.

Another clue is that the letter was written in Davis’ wife Varina’s handwriting. The letter is addressed from Memphis, Tennessee and there is documentation proving that Varina was in Memphis in 1874.  In 1877, however, she was in England.

Stay tuned for more updates on what else we discover about the letter!

Transcription of the Jefferson Davis letter:

Private

98 Court Street
Memphis, Tenn.
14 July 1874

W. H. Worthington Esqr.

My Dear Sir,

Accept my thanks for your kind letter and for the copy of your monthly.  The latter I sent to London hoping that it would do some good in the disseminating useful information there.

If agreeable to you, I believe it would do good to our section if you would send your monthly regularly to the Missi [Mississippi] Valley Society, 445 the Strand Charing Cross, London West, England.

I am sorry [about] the agent of the Society, but it was with difficulty that I induced him to go to Vicksburg, from point he hastened to New Orleans where he had been before, and thence went by Mobile to St. Louis.  Like yourself I have hopes from the Grange Movement and if the Grange act in cointellegence with the Mississippi Valley Society, they made produce the great desideratum, the establishment of a line of large steamers to New Orleans, and numerous barges connecting that city with the towns in the Valley of the Mississippi so thereby to secure regular transit regular and cheap freights to Europe.  The consequence would be direct importation of European fabrics, and the large ships furnishing proper accomodations for steerage passengers, and the river boats supplying a cheap and comfortable transit to the Upper Valley, the tide of migration would be by N. O. [New Orleans] and up the river, instead of by New York and over railways.  The destruction of crops in the North West this year, a thing which the history of all arid climates prepared us to anticipate, exemplifies the advantage which our country possesses over that to which Immigrants are now pressing in such numbers.  We may therefore fairly expect that when Immigrants pass by the So. [Southern] Route that they will as time rolls on be more, and more impressed with the many advantages possessed by the healthy portions of the Southern States.

There are many advantages in spinning cotton from the seed, but our people are not mechanics, and it will I fear be some time before even so much machinery as is required by the Clements attachment can be safely introduced upon plantations.

I have an old affection for the Democrat [newspaper], always read it when I can, and am proud of the stern adherence to principle my friend its Editor has uniformly exhibited.  I have not seen Lamar’s [L.Q.C. Lamar] eulogy on Sumner [Charles Sumner][but] have read his speech on the La. [Louisiana] case, it is able and except for two paragraphs worthy of him, but oh those paragraphs are awful.  For the love I bear him, I wish they had never been uttered.  I have long wished to revisit Columbus and trust I may do so when the hot season is over.

With kind regards to your Sister,
I am ever cordially,

Your Friend,
Jefferson Davis

Above is a photograph of the Rural Hill School around the turn-of-the-century.

Dr. Emmett J. Stinger in September 1970

Dr. Stringer was a local Dentist, Civil Rights leader, pastor, and prominent citizen. He opened his first Columbus office in 1950 at 114 South Fourth Street and practiced until 1992.

Dr. Stringer was also a leading figure in the Mississippi civil rights movement and served as president of the Mississippi State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) branches from 1953 to 1954. He also organized the Columbus branch of the NAACP and the Lowndes County Voters’ League.

Dr. Stringer served as the first chairman of the Biracial Advisory Committee to the Columbus Municipal School Board as well as president of the North Mississippi Medical, Dental, Pharmaceutical and Nurses Society.

Dr. Stringer passed away on September 6, 1995 at the age of 75.

In the letter, Davis discusses his involvement with the Mississippi Valley Association of which he was president of the American branch in 1876.  The Association was a British firm seeking to promote emigration to the South and to encourage direct trade between New Orleans and European ports.

Davis also mentions his “old affection” for the Columbus Democrat newspaper. Worthington was editor of the paper at the time. His father, H. H., began the paper in 1836. Davis writes that he is “proud of the stern adherence to principles my friend, its Editor, has uniformly exhibited.”

Worthington went on to also own and operate The Index and The Patron of Husbandry newspapers in Columbus.

In his closing, Davis writes “I have long wished to revisit Columbus and trust I may do so when the host season is over.”

The letter was given to Gladys McGeorge by the Worthington family with whom she was very good friends.  It eventually passed through her family to Sid Caradine who has generously donated it to the library.  Caradine, along with his wife Brenda, owns and operates bed and breakfasts at both the Amzi Love Home and the Lincoln Home.

In addition to Davis’ letter, the collection includes family letters, newspapers, and other documents relating to both the Love and Caradine families. 

For more information please contact Mona K. Vance at 662-329-5304 or by email at mvance@lowndes.lib.ms.us.

The St. Stephen’s Trace is a little-known but very historic road that once ran from John Pitchlynn’s residence at the present site of the John Stennis (Columbus) Lock and Dam to St. Stephen’s, which is about 50 miles north of Mobile. It evolved out of an existing Indian trail and was the first important north south road in what is now east. Mississippi and West Alabama.

The road ran south from Pitchlynn’s to the vicinity of the intersection of Highways 82 and 45. From there it ran south to St. Stephen’s roughly following the present route of Highway 45. When Andrew Jackson’s Military Road was surveyed in 1817, it incorporated the St. Stephen’s Trace from just west of Columbus to near present-day Meridian.

The St. Stephen’s Trace played a major role in an old Columbus legend. The story goes that Andrew Jackson marched down the Military Road, through Columbus on his way to the Battle of New Orleans. This was a significant accomplishment given that Military Road was not even surveyed until 1817. What did transpire was that in October 1814 Gen. John Coffee lead 3,000 Tennessee Militia south to reinforce Jackson prior to the fighting at New Orleans.

Coffee’s route took him down the Natchez Trace to the Chickasaw villages (Tupelo) and from there down Gaines Old Trace to Pitchlynn’s. On Oct. 14, 1814, Coffee wrote Gen. Jackson from Pitchlynn’s that he expected to find better roads from “Peachland’s” to Fort Stoddard than he had found from Tennessee to “Peachland’s.” The better roads he referred to was the St. Stephen’s Trace. Out of that incident arose the Columbus Andrew Jackson tradition.

One of the most interesting historical documents to find is an old account of travel in the local area. There exists a 206-year-old account of traveling on the trail that became the St. Stephen’s Trace. In 1806, George Gaines traveled that trail and in 1848 Albert Picket recorded Gaines’ account of that journey.

“In going from St. Stephen’s to Colbert’s Ferry in 1805 the trail led by the north west corner of Washington County (Alabama), thence by the house of a Frenchman named Charles (Juzan) near the Lauderdale Springs — He had an Indian family having married a niece of Pushmatahaw — lived well in a neat cabin entertained travelers & sold goods to the Indians, was well respected by whites and Indians – was of a respectable (French) family — The Indian town of Coonaha was where he lived – This was the residence of Pushmatahaw also — The route through the old Yazoo towns to the Noxibee River & crosses near where the town of Macon now is — where resided an Indian countryman, named Stores (Starnes), a sensible Yankee blacksmith, who had been living here many years with an Indian family & entertained travelers – Half way between Stores & Pitchlynn’s lived Muchilletubia (Mushulatubbee), who was the son of Hooma Stubbee, the Segnior chief of the nation – Hooma Stubbee died indebted to the Factory (the U S Choctaw trading establishment) $1,000 in 1809 & his son assumed & paid the debt. Thence to Pitchlynn’s, U S interpreter (for the Choctaw Nation), who lived near the mouth of (Okatibbee Tibbee) river.”

Driving down Highway 45, especially between Columbus and Meridian, takes on a new meaning when thinking of what that route was like 200 years ago when it was known as the St. Stephen’s Trace.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at rufushistory@aol.com.

Former Police Chief Joe St. John [announced in October that he was starting his own newspaper.]

St. John posted the following announcement on his Facebook page: “When something happens, did you ever wonder if you were hearing the truth and nothing but the truth? Well, here is your chance to find out. The Real Story Published is the name of my new bi-weekly newspaper and interactive website. Look for the website just as soon as the corporate paperwork is complete. This launch will be followed by a real paper — the kind you can hold in your hand. And that’s not all. Stand by! You will have a voice and an opportunity to submit photos, articles, announcements, cartoons, even ads if you wish. This is an invitation for you to get involved. Let the fun begin! Contact me by e-mail if you would like to get involved!!”

The Packet contacted St. John Wednesday about his plans.

“We are going to have very humble beginnings,” he said. “We are going to start out as a web site, something that’s nice and easy, kind of a blog that’s focused on news. At first we’re just going to see how things work out, how much participation we can get.”

The paper’s web site is http://realstorypublishing.com. St. John said he anticipates having the site live this week. [He told me he hopes it will be up by the time The Packet hits the street this week. – Brian Jones]

“The blog will be updated every day, or at least every other day,” he said. “We’ll decide for sure once it’s up and running. Hopefully within a month or so we’ll have an idea of how often we’re going to print the actual paper. I think every paper has to have its niche. The Packet has a specific niche, and we’ve got to figure out what ours is.

“It’ll also depend on participation,” he said. “If it’s just me or one other person we’ll probably print every two weeks. If we get good participation, we’ll print weekly. We’re going to have to find people that are willing to work and put out something that’s worth reading. We’ve got to be realistic about that.”

St. John said he started the paper because he’s heard a lot of people worry that important things are being left out existing local media coverage.

“In the past three months a lot of people have told me they’re concerned that the whole story isn’t getting out,” he said. “I know that it can be hard to cover everything, but I think there are enough interested people out there who will work with us. Obviously we’re not going to let anybody write just anything, but we’ll try to work with anyone who’s interested.”

Although he hasn’t worked previously in the news media, St. John said he thinks his experiences in the political arena will give him an advantage.

“I bring two things to the table,” he said. “The first is that I know crime. The Packet does a wonderful job of covering that, but I would like to think our coverage is going to be more on why things happened than on what happened. The second thing is that I spend 27 years inside the machine. I know how the sausage is made. Especially in Columbus, I have an insight that others don’t have.

“I spent 27 years on the other end,” St. John added. “Working for a newspaper is not the quantum leap that people think. I always had a respectful relationship with the media, and even when things got bad I was never combative.”

Anyone interested in working with St. John can contact him at stjohnjb@realstorypublishing.com.

[The online edition of The Real Story is currently available.]

This image (2008-96) captures downtown Columbus around 1976. It shows Main Street around Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Streets.

It is located at the Billups-Garth Archives in the Local History Department at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library.