Pearl River County Historical Society Museum

Do you Remember?

(Photo courtesy of PRCHS Museum – Picayune Item Photo Collection)

City Cash Feed Store was located on the west side of south Harvey Street (Highway 11) in downtown Picayune. Based on the model of the trucks and car in the photo can anyone identify the approximate year the photo was taken?

Upcoming Events

The next meeting of the Pearl River County Historical Society will be February 8, 2023. The speaker will be Bernie Cullen and the presentation topic will be “History of the Waveland Ground Zero Hurricane Museum.”

The meeting will be held in the Holland Room of Crosby Memorial Library, 900 Goodyear Blvd., Picayune, Mississippi 39466. Guests and history buffs are invited and encouraged to attend. Refreshments served at 11:30 a.m. with program beginning at 12 noon. 

Local History Publicity

 A question for Pearl River County history buffs. Do you think a blog post would be helpful in providing publicity for historical information and photos of local history. Please comment in the comment section below.

Comments and Responses welcome!

Gala Open for Kanteen Picayune

    The original fourteen Kanteen Girls were on hand to welcome the numerous guests who came by Sudnay, July 23, [1944] between the hours of 2 o'clock and 11 p.m. at the opening of Kanteen Picayune. Among the guests servicemen from Camp Shelby, Hillcrest Prisoner of War Camp and Navy and Coast Guard personnel from Algiers and New Orleans naval stations.

   The fourteen young women responsible for the organization of Kanteen Picayune are Misses Sue Goodwin, Mary Jane Moore, Beulah Honea, Irene Schreck, Marie Smith, Margaret Bentley, Vic Attaya, Dorothy Harmon, Dixie Graves, Bobbie Skinner, Christine Attaya, Wilodean Sanders, Ester Schaller and Acel Mitchell.

   The above paragraphs were from the Thursday, July 27, 1944 issue of the Picayune Item. Kanteen Picayune was an organization that was organized by the City of Picayune and local citizens to provide entertainment and social activities for servicemen stationed nearby during World War II. They functioned much like the USO.

Comments and questions are welcomed.

Stranger than Fiction

 Every now and again that our 21st century mind has trouble understanding. I recently came across a recorded, apparently legal, bill of sale. The text was quoted in Richard B. Morris, "White Bondage in Antebellum South Carolina, "The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, 49, no. 4 (Oct., 1948), page 191.

"Agreement made between William Collings, and Thomas Schooler that the said William Collings Sold his Wife to the said Thomas Schooler for Value received May the Second 1781, the said Mr. Collings says that he never will disturb the said Thomas Schooler Or his property, that the said Schooler has purchased of the said Collings.      Witness my hand sealed sign'd and delivered in the Presence of John Hart"

"I do hereby acknowledge to have received from Thos. Schooler the Sum of Two Dollars and half Dozen bowls of Grogg for the sale of my said Wife and  property to him, and to have my said Wife forever and a Day, with her bed, Cloathing, etca.         Charles Town  the 2d May 1781     William Collings"

Sort of a foreshadowing of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge. No additional information about this sale has been found. Hopefully William Collings' wife and Thomas Schooler were happier together than William and his wife were.  I'm guessing the sale was by mutual agreement.

Using Technology to Discuss history

 

   Because of Covid-19 and the need to “Shelter-in-place during 2020, and the limits to group meetings, the Historical Society has been unable to hold our monthly meetings and history programs. Meetings in the Holland Room of the Crosby library are still limited to ten people for the foreseeable future. The library is open for book return and check-out and the use of the computers on a limited basis. The research tool, “Magnolia” is available for use on the library’s computers and on home computers.

   I’m suggesting that the “boleycreekhistory” blog be setup with a weekly discussion of topics on Pearl River County history and the opportunity for readers to comment. If all goes well, it may lead to a thirty to forty minute “zoom” discussion once a week. There is also the possibility that a website could be developed for the discussions.

Please comment on this post and let me know your ideas about an online discussion of history. The blog address is: boleycreekhistory.blogspot.com

The Heart Break continues

Eva is still helping with running the house at Belle Alliance and teaching Mr. Kock's children.  Dodd is up river (Mississippi) in Illinois and Iowa buying and selling cattle for the farmer he is working for and both of them are apparently pining for each other.  Dodd is said to have Eva's picture with him everywhere he goes and Dodd's picture is on Eva's desk.  In today's world they would be writing letters to each other.  In the 1890s, most contact was through a third party.  Thus Anais, Dodd's sister and Eva's 'Pard' (friend), was the source of contact for Eva and Dodd.
   Eva claims that Dodd is "dead to her" now, but her diary entries tell a different story.  She calls it being blue, today we know it as heart broken.

January 23, 1899 – Mon. (diary page 167)

   We’ve had several cloudy days, and now we are getting the rain.  Mama is still in bed, but is better tonight.    Aunt Frank is still sick, and gets no better.  She is so old, that it’s bound to go hard with her.    Had a letter from Pard today, written Saturday.    They’ve never had but the one letter from D-.    Is he giving up his family already?

   OH! for one hour of the past!  To be once more with the Dodd I used to know – the Dodd who is dead to me now!    His picture stands before me, on the desk, looking at me with those “dark, mesmeric eyes” that bring back the moments we have spent together.  How tenderly those eyes have looked down on me – what a love-light shown in their dark depths!    But this is madness!

World War II Soldiers from Pearl River County

During WW II a large number of young men from Pearl River County, Mississippi enlisted in the military.  Many of them served in Europe and Africa and others served with the Army, Marines, and Navy in the Pacific Theater.  One of the sailors serving on the USS California during the attack on Pearl Harbor was Seaman1c Charles H. Byrd.

Charles H. Byrd

S1c, later Boatswain Mate 2c

   In the course of the attack at Pearl Harbor on the U. S. S. California, 98 men were killed and 61 wounded. One of the sailors wounded was Seaman 1c Charles H. Byrd of Pearl River County Mississippi. He was first reported as killed but was later found alive and hospitalized at the U. S. Naval Hospital – Pearl Harbor. Released from the hospital on 28 February 1942, Charles returned to duty with the California. On 30 March 1944, Charles Byrd transferred to the newly commissioned Patrol Craft Escort USS PCE (R) 848 with the rank of BM2c.

   PCE ships were converted to communications centers and USS PCE (R) 848 sailed to Hollandia, New Guinea, in late September 1944. The ship was damaged by a horizonal bomber (kamikaze) on 27 October 1944. The ship was present in Tokyo Bay during the surrender ceremony in September 1945.