 woolmarket woolmarket ray fri 3132020 1114  woolmarket   time line   1893  the mississippi leader brookhaven may 16 1893 p 3  people   thomas william grayson  18251904 thomas william grayson was born at paulding jasper county mississippi on july 18 1825 his father samuel grayson a virginia native was a pioneer settler of central mississippi the elder grayson was a land surveyor and was an organizer of jasper county for fourteen years thomas grayson served the people of jasper county as the clerk of the chancery and circuit courts after the civil war in which he served with the mississippi volunteers 16th regiment company f thomas w grayson and his wife ann hyde 18321906 who he had married in 1847 settled at shubuta in clark county grayson was engaged in the mercantile business the handsboro democrat july 1 1876 p 4 the graysons moved to ocean springs in 1872 they remained here for two years and then relocated to stonewall now woolmarket in harrison county grayson was a merchant there until 1881 when he moved back to ocean springs his brother george grayson had settled at stonewall when the saw millers and woodcutters were actively exploiting the virgin longleaf yellow pine forest after the civil war george grayson himself a merchant sold his store to captain joseph stiglets stiglets deepened the lagoon to the biloxi river and created a landing for his five coastal schooners this site became known as stiglet s landing at ocean springs in january 1882 thomas w grayson bought the home of dr david m dunlap 18031882 1 the property had twohundred twenty feet on washington avenue south from desoto and ran west to jackson avenue grayson had slightly over three acres in the heart of town barber and realtor edwin martin westbrook 18581913 would acquire a portion of this property later jxco ms land deed bk 5 pp 615616 thomas w grayson became a justice of the peace and notary he served as mayor of ocean springs in the term 18971898 at the time of his demise on march 4 1904 he was justice of the peace for beat four ew illing 18701947 was elected to his vacated office loren h whitney wrote the following after the death of judge grayson   suppose the whole world of people were like him what then there would be no more locking of doors at night there would be no more jails or penitentiaries the world would be transformed young men of ocean springs study judge grayson s life and follow it for it is worthy of all honor and praise   judge grayson was a methodist and highranking mason he was a mason for over fifty years thomas w grayson and ann hyde had thirteen children the following are currently known lillian grayson 18621892 married dd cowan 18501929 mrs f mary sandoz d 1915 of mobile mrs wl owen of alexandria louisiana walton g grayson 18701947 george w grayson 18701943 married mamie pol 18731951 ella grayson b 1875 deliah grayson 1885married clement g lang sallie grayson b 1889 married john c orrell and thomas w grayson jr judge grayson s corporal remains were interred at the evergreen cemetery in ocean springs mississippi mrs grayson died in early january 1906  the pascagoula democratstar january 12 1906 p 3    references   regina hines ellison  ocean springs 1892  second edition lewis printing services pascagoula1991 p 45  mississippi gulf coast yesterday today 16991939   federal writers project in mississippi works progress administration gulfport printing company gulfport1939 p 136  the biloxi herald    necrological   march 5 1904 p 1 the daily herald long illness is fatal to mrs geo w grayson at biloxi november 19 1951 p 8 the pascagoula democraticstar    local news   october 12 1883 p 3 the pascagoula democraticstar    tw grayson   march 12 1904 p 4 the pascagoula democraticstar    ann hyde grayson   january 12 1906 p 3 the progress    thomas w grayson   march 12 1904 p 4 the progress    honor judge grayson   march 12 1904 p 1 us census jackson county mississippi 1900  schools   sheep and wool a local industry long forgotten but still in the distant memory of those born around 1920 is that of range animals cattle and sheep once roamed the savannas and forests of harrison and jackson county foraging on the native grasses several families in the st martin and latimer communities north of fort bayou were especially well known for sheep husbandry some of these clans were the basque krohn lamey seymour lemien eglin havens letort and ramsay families the people living north of ocean springs in the piney woods were primarily subsistence farmers they raised corn and hay to feed their cattle and hogs had vegetable gardens and supplemented their incomes through charcoal burning lumber and the wool from sheep it was common for a farmer to own as many as a thousand sheep in fact the wealth of farm and country people was determined by their peers from the number of sheep that they possessed sheep were generally never enclosed in pastures the range was open to everyone and the stock animals of each owner mixed together this necessitated marks and brands to differentiate ownership of the animals from the books of stock marks and brands at the jackson county archives in pascagoula it can be ascertained the brands and marks of many individual animal owners for example in august 1919 mary doyle krohn registered her brand as a v on the right hip of the animal the brand and mark were valid for cattle sheep hogs and goats in the spring on an appointed day the stock owners had a round up on horseback they drove the free ranging sheep to a common meeting point called the parting pens here all the sheep were put into one pen and the lambs separated from them the ewes were then placed in a pen with the lambs when the lamb recognized its mother the two were caught and the lamb given the owners mark and put into the pen of the owner the individual flocks were then driven to the farm of each owner and shorn of their wool flocks of sheep generally grew slowly as frigid winters took its toll many lambs died in the spring from exposure after birth when turpentine stills were active in the area the dogs of the turpentine workers roaming the forest as well as wild hogs ate many young sheep eagles were troublesome to the farmers until they were nearly hunted to extinction the wool produced in coastal mississippi was classified as lake wool it brought a higher price than wool produced in counties further north as manufacturers considered it the very best septuagenarian bernard basque resided on the family farm north of fort bayou shared some of his childhood experiences concerning sheep husbandry he remembers well the spring when the ewes gave birth to a lamb twins were rare the lamb remained with its dam for about six months merino rams were bought in texas for breeding purposes after shearing the sheep with manual shears their wool was packed for market a man would stand in a tall burlap bag and compress the wool by hand when complete the wool bales would weigh twothree hundred pounds in the early days the wool was sent to ocean springs by wagon when the davis brothers were still active in the business by the 1930s merchant cliff dees 18861963 at vancleave was the area wool broker bernard basque recalls to well the day his father joseph basque 18921978 drove two thousand head of sheep to the farm of albert white located north of vancleave he walked the entire distance herding the stray animals bernard relates that there were no chuck wagons on these sheep drives their family mark was under square under slope the basque family had several uses for their sheep besides the commercial wool the mutton was often eaten as a stew baked or fried when a new baby was born into the family the hide of a freshly slain sheep was stretched and dried this sheepskin functioned as comfortable bedding for the youngster mrs basque and other women would card the wool into 4 x 6 squares called batts the batts were sewn between two layers of cloth and a warm quilt was created for bedding  colonial days the history of sheep and wool in this area cannot be traced to the early colonial years in april 1699 when d iberville 16611706 landed at present day ocean springs to build fort maurepas he recorded in his journal the following  my longboat brought from the cows that belong to surgere and me we brought them from france all those i got in st domingue haiti died three on board the francois one on the marain and four on the island where they had been placed ship island most people say it is the cold weather although it has not been cold  a few days later the frenchmen brought hogs and a bull to fort maurepas no sheep are mentioned  william r stuart it is not known with great certainty when the first sheep were brought into jackson county as early as 1878 colonel wr stuart 18211894 was raising merino sheep at ocean springs he also shipped pecans to melbourne australia in 1890 stuart had retired to ocean springs from new orleans on november 22 1878 stuart advertised his stock in  the pascagoula democratstar  as follows  for sale pure merino sheep 25 ewes 2 years old in april to lamb 15 january to 15 february by a 200 imported spanish buck 10 pure merino bucks 2 years old in april my connections with colonel cockrell of tennessee the great breeder of pure merino sheep enables me to fill orders at all times from his large flock as well as my own wr stuartocean springs mississippi  in july 1879 colonel wr stuart vended some of his merino sheep to various coast and regional stockmen alfred e lewis acquired three meyer weiss and company of new orleans bought six aa ulman the proprietor of a wool factory at bay st louis got two hm duke of scooba purchased one fine buck and ag ward of mobile acquired two mr ulman believed that introduction of the merino breed into the local flocks would improve the quality and quantity of the wool  the pascagoula democratstar july 7 1879 p 3  in july 1879 colonel aldridge of grenada mississippi drove four hundred sheep into northern jackson county it was anticipated that more stockmen would locate here to raise sheep  the pascagoula democratstar july 11 1897 p 3    woolmarket ocean springs being the nearest railhead became a regional center for the buying and shipping of raw wool from the ranchers north of fort bayou woolmarket on the biloxi river assumed this role at harrison county the coastal schooner was the vehicle for transport at that riverine village in harrison county in 1882 the family of thomas w grayson 18251904 came to ocean springs from the woolmarket area grayson operated a mercantile store on the biloxi river in the sw 4 of section 32 t6sr9w this site later became known as stiglet s landing when joseph m stiglets 18521924 purchased it from dr david m dunlap 18031884 in november 1884 thomas w grayson is believed to have given the name wool market to the area since sheep and wool production prospered in the neighborhood grayson served the people of ocean springs as its fourth mayor 18971898 he was also justice of the peace here his soninlaw dd cowan 18501929 was the first mayor of ocean springs 18931895 and also superintendent of education for jackson county 18961905  back bay bridge in july 1898 a writer for  the biloxi herald  publicized the need for a free bridge across the back bay of biloxi to present day d iberville called back bay at this time he felt that the trade from this area was being diverted from biloxi to other cities as an example of this he related the following  take the item of wool alone which is grown beyond the bay about 12500 worth has been marketed at ocean springs this year and while this city could not hope to secure all the wool trade there is not the least doubt but a large portion of that crop would be marketed in this city there are many other products which it is unnecessary to enumerate at this time that would be marketed here had we such a bridge across the bay     the biloxi herald   july 23 1898 p 2   the people of back bay d iberville got their wooden bridge to biloxi in august 1901 it replaced an intermittent ferry system which had been in established by the board of police of harrison county in august 1843 coincendentally the first bridge to span fort bayou was dedicated in december 1901 replacing the francoearlecarver ferry which connected ocean springs to the wool country  wool marketing in late may and june of 1891 nearly 63000 pounds of wool were vended at ocean springs by local wool farmers as compared to about 49000 pounds in 1890 the davis brothers were acquiring large lots of wool for 24 per pound while smaller lots were bought for a penny or two less last year prices were better wool growing is the best paying rural investment  the biloxi herald june 27 1891 p 1 and the pascagoula democratstar june 12 1891 p 2   the davis brothers who operated a large mercantile store on washington avenue were the leading brokers of wool at ocean springs as early as 1891 george w davis 18421914 and elias s davis 18591925 were purchasing wool from local farmers when the shearing season closed in june of 1892 they had shipped over 60000 pounds for which they paid about 14000 23 per pound in june 1895 new orleans brokers paid local stockmen at ocean springs about 13 per pound for over 30000 pounds of jacksonharrison county wool  the biloxi herald june 15 1895   sardin g ramsay vended 6000 pounds of wool to the davis brothers at ocean springs at the rate of 15 per pound  the pascagoula democratstar june 4 1897 p 3   h piser company of mobile acquired over 50000 pounds of jackson county wool through the davis brothers their local agent the price was 19 12 cents per pound  the pascagoula democratstar july 7 1899 p 3   nine hundred head of sheep driven to ocean springs from the vancleave ranches of hc havens thomas e ramsay and george w tootle they were shipped to wl bramblett in three railcars to paris kentucky  the pascagoulademocratstar may 18 1900 p 3    the ocean springs news  reported the following wool marketing activity at ocean springs   in june 1909 the davis brothers of ocean springs shipped about 1200 pounds of wool to the h piser co of mobile they expected about 20000 pounds to be marketed in the next week and consigned to the mobile firm this was the remainder of the remarkable wool purchase made by h piser co sometime ago at the top notch price of 31 12 cents per pound in late august 1910 lm mcclure company paid local stockmen 21 ½ cents per pound for their wool on september 22 1910 the metzger brothers of mobile bought 18000 pounds of wool for 21 12 cents per pound during the past three weeks nearly 40000 pounds of wool were sold at ocean springs sardin ramsay one of jackson counties most substantial farmers and sheep owners was in town to market his wool probably the 18000 pounds lm mcclure co were local agents for metzger brothers sardin g ramsay 18371920 was a farmer and large landowner the ramsay tract consisted of several thousand acres of land in southeast quadrant of t6sr7w it was located southeast of the present day intersection of highway 57 and the gautiervancleave road in late june 1912 wool growers from the country surrounding ocean springs brought over 70000 pounds of their fleecy cut to town for shipment on the l n railroad to new orleans mobile and eastern manufacturing centers considered an average year principal buyers metzker brothers and piser company of mobile and william vokel company of new orleans paid growers about 11000 for their harvest  the daily herald june 27 1912 p 8   in july 1915 the ocean springs district sold 32000 pounds of wool at 32 per pound in 1914 the selling price was 21 to 25 cents per pound as a result of the flush prices several wool producers bought automobiles jackson county sheep owners produced 49000 pounds of wool in 1915  the ocean springs news july 8 1915 p 1   hd money 18691936 who was the proprietor of the rose farm north of fort bayou was also a proponent of sheep raising colonel money had fruit and pecan orchards on his large farm in september 1915 money reported to  the ocean springs news  that his experience with sheep raising although on a small scale was very profitable he related the following about his experiences  the fertilizer benefits they did those orchards is almost unbelievable from scanty and unsatisfactory appearance the trees put on a deep and healthy green the nut yield is large the sheep found abundant to eatnothing was planted thereonly the natural grass supported them in keeping the weeds down they saved me the expense of cultivating as well  during the final years of world war i 19141918 the price of wool and mutton again increased dramatically by october 1917 the price of wool reached 60 per pound nearly doubling prewar prices mutton cost the consumer 17 per pound at this time these inflated prices caused speculators to seek immediate investments in the sheep industry because of its high profit potential october 1917two hundred sixty head of sheep were shipped to fort worth texas by land owners north of fort bayou price was 3 4 per head december 1917the southern pine association met at new orleans to discuss the possibility of the large sheep flocks of the western ranges relocating to the cutover and timbered pine lands of the south the western ranchers were restricted by recent homesteading of public lands there these wool growers were seeking grazing lands for their large operations  newton jones at ocean springs newton jones a native of columbus ohio who came here in 1913 and bought field lodge the home of mary florence field at east beach for 15000 was one of these entrepreneurs who attempted to take advantage of the wool boom of the late war years mrs field was living at nice france when she sold her thirtythree acre estate to jones here on the cote d azur in 1914 she met chevalier scovel the great tenor they married and resided in paris at the villa spontini field lodge burned in the 1960s in october 1917 newton jones bought 1200 acres in the northwest latimer area from anna orrell and the heirs of christopher columbus orrell 18321906 a turpentine operator and native of north carolina who settled here from alabama here in sections 21 27 and 28 of t5sr9w he founded the jackson county sheep ranch the sheep ranch of jones was located primarily in harrison county straddling the jackson county line about twelve miles north of ocean springs it was fenced in order to stock his ranch jones received a shipment of two hundred sheep from bayou sara louisiana in october 1917 only one animal died in the relocation effort the animals were driven from the l n depot at ocean springs to his rural sheep ranch in an october 1917 interview with  the jackson county times  newton jones said  sheep suffer from the lack of attention just like a growing crop and for the best results to follow one has to give them attention or the enterprise becomes a failure in addition newton jones said   that the average sheep grown in this territory weighed but 40 pounds at maturity whereas lambs attained that size in the west in four months this difference is the result of neglect on the part of those engaged in raising sheep and they can be produced here of equal value to those in the west  he planned to demonstrate that they could at the time during the fall of 1917 a son of newton jones sergeant la berne jones was serving in the ohio artillery camped at montgomery alabama newton jones had a partner in the jackson county sheep ranch he was dr fitch who also came here from ohio fitch officed in the farmers and merchants state bank building he replaced dr henry b powell 18671949 who went to camp shelby with the 139th field artillery as a captain in the medical corps after the war in april 1921 they sold their latimer area sheep ranch to forrest short of circleville ohio newton jones also sold field lodge to mr short at the same time and apparently left the area he and his wife gertrude jones probably returned to ohio the following reports were gleaned from  the jackson county times  to illustrate wool and sheep activity in the area from 1917 to 1927 june 1919a big wool sale of over 75000 pounds at 58 per pound was made in the area may 1924joe basque 18921978 who lived north of ocean springs shipped 1000 head of sheep to ohio the price was 300 per head june 1924two carloads of wool were sold to a mobile broker for 40 per pound the market had just dropped below this price june 1925wh westfall 18741939 and other merchants in the vancleave area handled over 23000 pounds of wool which was marketed at ocean springs at an average price of 50 per pound jc harvey of mobile bought the entire shipment june 1926a quarantine order stopped movement of sheep in nine mississippi counties including jackson sheep scabies a communicable disease caused by mites was the problem only dipped and disease free animals could be shipped several carloads of sheep were dispatched from ocean springs via dipping the vats at hattiesburg mrs mary doyle krohn 18601944 former postmistress at latimer and widow of fred krohn 18591918 sold 679 sheep to northern interest at 300 per head august 1927during the past six weeks mr rj sously of ocean springs shipped over 6000 head of sheep to various parts of kentucky tennessee and missouri 2000 head were from the krohn farm across fort bayou the decline of commercial sheep raising north of fort bayou can be traced to the passage of chapter 263house bill no 91 by the mississippi legislature in 1926 the stock law was passed to prevent all live stock cattle horses mules jacks jennets sheep goats and hogs from running at large upon open or unfenced lands animals were restricted to a safe enclosure the statue also sought to prevent the spread of texas fever ticks in 1930 bonnett v brown no 28288 tested the stock law in the supreme court of mississippi the original suit had been filed at george county another crushing blow to sheep husbandry in the area was the 1934 screw worm epidemic it did serious damage to regional flocks and almost destroyed the sheep industry at jackson county sheep are still raised in jackson county today albeit their numbers are small now wool fetches about 192 per pound as compared to 50 per pound seventy years ago in a comparable time period land values in the outback fort bayou region have soared from 400 per acre to upwards of 1000 per acre the moralraise land not sheep  references  ray l bellande   stiglets landing   unpublished essay august 1995 p 1 regina hines ellison  ocean springs 1892  2nd edition lewis printing services pascagoula mississippi1991 p 45 p 55 and p 59  facts about the gulf coast of harrison county mississippi  reprintharrison county publishing company ltd gulfport mississippi1985 pp 1314 general laws of the state of mississippi chapter 263  tucker printing house jackson mississippi1926 pp 374375 jackson county wpa p 308 southern reporter  bonnett v brown no 28288 west publishing company st paul minnesota1930 pp 427 429 j ackson county ms record of marks and brands   book 2 pp 1213 minute of the board of police of harrison county mississippi  book 1 p 42 journals the biloxi herald    a bridge needed   july 23 1898 p 2 the biloxi herald   ocean springs   june 27 1891 the biloxi herald    ocean springs   november 8 1890 p 4 ocean springs june 25 1892 p 1 february 21 1899 p 8 the daily herald   lot of wool sold in ocean springs   june 27 1912 p 8 the jackson county times  local news interest june 30 1917   jones sheep ranch attracts attention   october 6 1917 p 5 local news interest october 3 1917 local news interest october 20 1917 local news interest november 3 1917   western sheep owners may bring flocks to south mississippi   december 15 1917 p 1 local and personal june 28 1919 local and personal may 31 1924   farmers market two carloads of wool at ocean springs   june 28 1924 local and personal june 13 1925   shipments of sheep stopped by quarantine   june 5 1926 p 1   local and personal   august 6 1927 the ocean springs news    local news   june 5 1909 the ocean springs news   local news   august 20 1910   local news   september 24 1910   wool shippers want autos   july 8 1915 p 1   hundred per cent profit   september 30 1915 p 1 the pascagoula democratstar    sheep raising near the gulf coast   august 2 1878 p 1 the pascagoulademocrat star    wr stuart advertisment   november 22 1878 p 4 the pascagoula democratstar   ocean springs items   july 11 1879 the pascagoula democratstar   ocean springs news   june 12 1891 the pascagoula democratstar   ocean springs locals   june 4 1897 the pascagoula democratstar   ocean springs locals   may 18 1900 the pascagoula democratstar     new bridge across fort bayou opened   december 13 1901 personal communication  bernard basquemarch 1996 and july 1996  wool brokers  as early as 1881 robert w lewis 18581886 of ocean springs was brokering wool for the william mehle company of new orleans  the pascagoula democratstar april 22 1881 p 3    mr lewis was the son of alfred e lewis 18121885 and ann r farrington 18211901 of the lewis sha plantation at west pascagoula gautier he married mathilde l staples 18581928 the daughter of solomon g staples 1817pre 1874 and adeline a terrell 18291902 of st tammany paris louisiana and pass christian mississippi they were the parents of ora m lewis davis 18801911 lillian lewis b 1882 and robert w lewis jr 18861904 by 1892 the davis brothers at ocean springs were purchasing wool from local farmers when the shearing season ended in june 1892 they had shipped over 60000 pounds of wool for which they paid about 23 per pound  the pasacagoula   democratstar  june 1892 jm breeland    18471903 a wellknown sheep raiser in the region shipped a car load of wool to metzger brothers of mobile in october 1896  the pascagoula democratstar october 9 1896   by 1911 more than 40000 pounds of wool were sold at ocean springs by sheep owners who lived within a twentyfive mile radius of the town farmers received about 18 per pound for their wool mobile brokers represented at the sale were h piser    company and metzker brothers while wm e vouchel son came from new orleans  the ocean springs news  june 17 1911 p 1 demand for wool and mutton increased dramatically during ww i 19141918 as more than the entire wool production of america was utilized to make clothing for the us army  the jackson county times  january 12 1918 p 1 with this huge requisition for wool the market price soared to 58 per pound by the shearing season of june1919 over 75000 pounds of wool were sold by area farmers at ocean springs  the jackson   county times  june 28 1919 p after ww i the demand for wool slowed and the price dropped accordingly in june 1925 wh westfall 18741939 and other merchants at vancleave handled over 23000 pounds of wool it was marketed at ocean springs to jc harvey of mobile who paid an average price of 50 per pound  the jackson county times  june 13 1925 the decline of commercial sheep production in the piney woods section can be traced to the passage of chapter 263house bill no 91 by the mississippi state legislature in 1926 this law was approved to prevent all livestock cattle horses mules jacks jennets sheep goats and hogs from grazing at large upon the open range or unfenced lands stock animals were restricted to safe enclosure the statute also sought to prevent the spread of texas fever ticks general laws of the state of mississippi 1926 pp 374374 in 1930 bennett v brown case no 28288 tested the stock law in the mississippi supreme court the original cause had been filed at george county southern reporter 1930 pp 427429      open range in april 1932 the rural precincts of jackson county voted to change the state stock law and allow an open range for stock animals outside of cities the vote was 635 to 131 in favor of abrogation with approximately 50 of the eligible voters going to the polls  the daily herald april 5 1932 p 2    us postmasters william j johnstondecember 1889   mary kittrelljune 1891   eleanor m meyers july 1893   clara cox february 1899   walter h coxmay 1899   james a calhounnovember 1907   discontinuedapril 1914  1082 views  