The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1921-07-10
Preachers and Editors.

siCn. The people came to make homes
and live respectfully. The first white
man to preach in the county was
Ebenezer HeaFn, a Methodist. who
ame in 1919. The first Baptist
hurch was formed by Elder Croker
| Al Yorkville. The second was al the
| Garden" The Presbyterians also
lad some early churches and congre-
| cations.
The next in the cause Of developing
and sustaining good morals were the
,ditors. Up to 1856, there we're
Twelve men of good practical edues-
ion, classical scholars and graduates
If noted colleges tone Of Yale) who
we're newspaper publishers, and who
doubtless exercised great political
md moral influence.
Add to this the eleven academies
md their educational advantages and
Influence, and high class citizenship
vas perforce the rule.
After all, perhaps it was the
mental and moral foundation or
blood, that counted much if not most.
n the attainment Of high ideals and
heir staunch support.
Mr. Smith, in speaking Of Mr..
samuel Weir, of Carrollton, says;
His ancestry were Protestant
IRISH, which is as valuable an inner
tance as an American can boast"
Mr. Weir is only one Of many in
Mississippi and Alabama that can
rightfully claim like inheritance,
Says the late Judge R. C. Beckett,
II West Point, Miss, himself native
If Pickens county, and whose for.
bears came from County Antrim.
Ireland There Is a wide belt en-
tending from Alabama to the farthest
limits of Arkansas In which these is
scarcely a locus in aaa where families
,annot be found which originated,
secondarily, in Pickens county, Ala,
and primarily in North and South
Carolina"
A Word About Pickensville.
One word as to dear old Pickens-
Vile and her once famous Female
institute" As a bunch Of boosters
were discussing the changes Of time
and scenes, one said: MY mother
was educated there" Another said:
My sisters went there And still
another: my wife was educated
there"
As to the town itself, one common
tat0r on the trip has publicly likened
its citizenship to "a bold peasahtry."
described by Oliver Goldsmith,
l72s-1774)
Shades of William Lang, Stephen
Doss, the Pettys, GARDENERS and Hoods
and scores of others no less rich and
reputable! A bold peasantry. indeed!
or course Pickensvills is not what she
once was, in all things, but nowhere
was there in evidence lyon widowed
solitary thing, the wretched matron
forced in age for bread \ x y she,
the only left Of all the harmless
train, the sad historian Of the pen
sive plain"
The decline Of Piekensville, COM
mercially, is of course attributable,
first, to the discontinuance Of river
transportation, and, next, to the
building Of the Montgomery extern
sion Of the ". & o. X. r.; and, last,
to the new Cochran railroad by Car
rolton and Aliceville.
So much for history; but II seems
that there are many persons in
Pickens that are transgressing the
at least in one particular
instance, to-wit: In the use in speak
ing and writing Of the compound
word "Coal-fire" as applied to a
creek. Mr. Smith says:
There is a tradition as to the way
this creek got its name. At an early I
period, some Tennessee movers fOrded .
It in midwinter on an exceedingly 1
old day They were cold when they \
entered the stream with their teams; 1
Older when in Il; but became warm
iOon after getting ever. The passage
through the cold water produced .
natural reaction. and warmth Cor
ieat) was the consequence. They,
therefore. called il @COld-firs. and
4 = sEe.