Fifth in a series of documents from Monroe County, Mississippi. To read the other articles in this series, click on the following links:
A brief description of each of the 38 documents in the collection.
Vesta Nix was the wife of Thomas Jefferson Whitworth, Senior. She signed a promissory note in 1864 to pay within one year in gold or silver $450 to T.J. Whitworth. Images, transcription, and a discussion of this note are provided.
Fendall Whitworth and T. J. Whitworth were brothers, sons of T.J. and Vesta Nix Whitworth. In 1861 Fendall, living then in Lafayette County, Mississippi, wrote a letter to his brother in Monroe County. The four page letter is shown, transcribed, and a brief discussion of the Whitworth family are provided.
This letter is thought to be a genealogical inquiry from Dr. George Washington Garmany, a physician from Georgia. The letter was addressed to two of the Whitworth brothers who lived in Hamilton, Monroe County, Mississippi. The letter image is provided; a very brief discussion of Dr. Garmany is given; and a short discussion of the Whitworth family is provided.
The most recent document within the papers is a 1910 lease from J. M. Smith to J.F. Cockerham and son J.F. Cockerham for the purpose of building a gin and a mill. A transcription of the lease, images of the lease, and a brief discussion of the Smith and Cockerham families are provided below.
Any help you can provide in sorting out these Monroe County families will be most appreciated.
IMAGES OF LEASE FROM J.M. SMITH to S.P. COCKERHAM & SON (left click image to enlarge)
TRANSCRIPTION OF LEASE
The State of Mississippi
Monroe County
In consideration of having a gin and mill
for my Commerce and the Community,
I have this day leased to S.P. Cockerham
and his son J.F. Cockerham and their
Representatives and assigns the following
lands in Monroe Couny, Mississippi
To Wit: Fractional part of the North east 1/4
of South east 1/4 of Section 4 T. 15 R. 17 West.
Beginnng at a certain gate on Aberdeen & Cockerham
bridge Road near the residence now occupied by
Vernon? Smith running in a South westerly direction
75 yds. Thence due South 60 yds. Thence due east
about 60 yds to Buttahatchie River. Thence up said
river to opposite the aforesaid gate. Thence west
to said gate the point of beginning. Also the
dwelling house now occupied by J.F. Cockerham
and the out houses connected therewith situated
in the North west corner of the North west 1/4 of the
South west 1/4 of Section 3 T. 15 R. 17 West.
For a period of ten years and three months that is
from October the 11th 1910 to January 10th 1921.
Provide the said Cockerhams rent from said Smith
or his assigns 25 acres of land each year during the
period of this lease. It is also agreed and understood by
the parties hereto the said Cockerham or their
assigns shall have a right of way through the lands of
said Smith not to exceed 16 ft. in width
for the purpose of hauling and timber
or lumber during the period of this lease; and at the
expiration of this lease if there should not be a
new lease made, then all the buildings erected by
said Cockerhams on said lands become the property
of said Smith or his assigns.
Page 2
Witness my signature Oct. 11, 1910.
J.M. Smith (signature)
The State of Mississippi
Monroe County
Personally appeared before me the undersigned
Authority, the within named J.M. Smith who
acknowledged that he signed and delivered
the forgoving instrument of writing for the purposes
therein mentioned, as his act and deed.
Witness my hand this the 11th day of Oct. 1910.
R.W. Eikner (signature)
Supervisor 3rd Dist.
WHO ARE THE COCKERHAMS AND SMITHS?
The Cockerhams and Smiths are both first families of Monroe County, Mississippi. From very early in the history of the county, both families have figured prominently in the Hill Country region known locally as Grubb Springs. This lease agreement between neighbors also involved an agreement between families --- most of the Grubb Springs early families were all inter-related.
Some of the earliest SMITH family members into Monroe County include brothers WILLIAM GREEN SMITH 1815 - 1878, JESSIE MARTIN SMITH 1818 - 1904, EZEKIAH CLARK SMITH 1828 - 1900 and their sister LEVICY SMITH COCKERHAM ___- 1857. All four of these siblings, children of HEZEKIAH SMITH, are buried in historic Cockerham Cemetery in Monroe County.
And as we shall see, the lease agreement shown above is a business arrangement between neighbors and kin --- the relationship between the Cockerhams and the Smiths began prior to their move to Monroe County with the marriage of Levicy Smith to SAMUEL PETER COCKERHAM.
WHO IS J.M. SMITH?
Three J.M. SMITHs are in various of my data files all from Monroe County. Dr. William A. Evans in Mother Mother makes note of J.M. Smith in four different military units during the Civil War --- one serving in the 24th Mississippi Infanty CSA, one in the 3rd Battalion Mississippi Infantry CSA, one in the Buttahatchie Rifles CSA, and one in the Lula White Rebels CSA. All of these enlistments could be the same person as many units formed and were absorbed by others over the course of the war --- and the J.M. Smith of our lease may have been a member of the Buttahatchie Rifles and the Lula White Rebels, units of which were formed by men from that part of the county.
The J. M. SMITH of the lease could not be Jessie Martin Smith because Jessie Martin died 1904 prior to the writing of the agreement. Nor is he the JAMES MONROE SMITH 1893 - 1971 of Monroe County as this person would have been too young to sign lease agreements in 1910.
It is believed that the J.M. SMITH of the lease agreement is JAMES M. SMITH born 1845 and died 1823, buried in Cockerham Cemetery of Monroe County, Mississippi. According to the 1910 census James M. Smith age 41, his wife Alice 42 , sons Charlie 18 and Clarence 16, and his mother Francis Smith age 72, were living in Grubbs Springs, Beat 3 of Monroe County.
At this writing, it cannot be determined from which line of the SMITH family the signer of the lease descends. Confusing the issue further is some transcriptions of the Cockerham Cemetery list J.M. Smith 1845 - 1923 on a stone with E. I., wife of J. M. Smith 1848 - 1873. The 1910 census lists his wife as "Alice" --- the 1920 census enumerates her as "De Loris A." On the transcription of the Cockerham Cemetery is also stone for DELORIS ALICE YOUNG SMITH 1867 - 1950. More research is needed to sort out this family.
WHO IS S.P. COCKERHAM?
The Smith household was next door to the S.P. COCKERHAM residence on the 1910 census. Living next door to the J. M. Smith family were S. P. (thought to be SAMUEL PETER COCKERHAM) age 51, his wife Mary J. 49, son James W. 21, daughters Minnie 29, Lillie 15, and one (whose name I can't determine) age 11, along with two hired men, Tom West 20 (see Note 1 below) and Charlie Outen 20 (see Note 2 below).
On the 1900 Grubb Springs, Beat 3, Monroe County, Mississippi, census, "Simeon" P. Cockerham 41, Mary J. wife 37, sons John F. 16, James W. 11, daughters Minnie M. 14, Lonie 9, Lillie 6, and boarder Vester Ikener 19 are listed. This likely is both the S.P Cockerham and son J.F. Cockerham of the lease agreement.
The SAMUEL PETER COCKERHAM of the lease is the grandson of SAMUEL PETER COCKERHAM 1786 - 1857 and EDITH LEVICY SMITH COCKERHAM, early settlers of Monroe County. This couple are buried in a common grave in Cockerham Cemetery --- family lore states that they both died the same day in 1857 of pneumonia and were thus buried together. One of their sons, JAMES THOMAS SAMUEL COCKERHAM 1818 - 1878 was married (1) to SUSAN CROSBY in Monroe County, Mississippi, and then (2) FRANCES KATHERINE BOYD in Monroe County.
Frances Katherine Boyd Cockerham was listed as the head-of-household on the 1880 Monroe County cenus for Beat 3 --- she was then 47 years old. In her household were son Peter 21 (S.P. of the lease agreement), daughters Susan 13, Biddie L. 8 and Ann Smith age 70 (see Notes 1 and 3 below).
Samuel Peter Cockerham the younger and the grandson of the first man with that name in Monroe County was born to James T. S. Cockerham and Frances Boyd Cockerham in 1859. He married MARY JANE OUTEN.
WHO IS J.F. COCKERHAM?
One of S.P. and Mary Outen Cockerham's sons was JOHN FRANKLIN COCKERHAM born about 1886, the J.F. of the lease agreement.
By 1920, the J. F. COCKERHAM of the lease agreement is thought to be listed as JOHN F. COCKERHAM, 34 years old, at Grubb Springs along with wife Minnie B. 30, daughter Mary 4, and son Frank 2 3/12. Nearby (and on the same census page) were the households of Jame M. Smith (listed on census as James N.) and his wife Deloria A. 52. Next door are Smith's son Charley E. Smith 28 and wife Lucile 18; and next door to them are Smith's son James Clarence 26 and his wife Mittie 27 and son James C. 3.
WHERE ARE THE LANDS OF THE LEASE LOCATED?
All of the census reports cited for the Cockerhams and Smiths list them as living in Beat 3, Monroe County. Most of the census reports further locate the two families as being from Grubb Springs --- and the 1920 census locates the two families as living on the Aberdeen-Grubb Springs Road.
On the lease agreement, specific landmarks are used in the legal description of the deed (Aberdeen & Cockerham Bridge Road; Buttahatchie River)and that land description enables one to plat the land onto a modern map following the Section, Township and Range numbers. Below is a modern map snippet of that area of Monroe County modified from a current MDOT map of Monroe County. On the map, Section 3 and 4 are shown partial blocked off into quarter sections divided further into quarters. The area shaded in red is the location of the lands mentioned in the lease agreement. Those lands lie along the Buttahatchie River and along modern Bartahatchie Road. 
At this point I don't know if a gin and mill were constructed by the Cockerhams on this site in the months following the signing of the lease in 1910 --- but because the lease is of recent time, I hope that current residents of that part of the county will let me know if such a gin or mill once stood at this location. It appears that the gin and mill would have been located approximately at the intersection of today's Air Base Road and Bartahatchie Road near the bridge across the Buttahatchie River.
NOTES:
Note 1. Tom West, a hired hand living in the S.P. Cockerham household at Grubbs Springs in 1910, is probably related to the Thomas W. West who married Biddle West. Biddle is thought to be Biddle L. Cockerham, sister of S.P. and daughter of Frances Cockerham as shown on the 1880 census as an 8 year old.
Note 2. Charlie Outen, a hired hand living in the 1910 S.P. Cockerham household is probably related to Mary Jane Outen Cockerham, S.P.'s wife.
Note 3. The Ann Smith, age 70, shown in the 1880 household with Frances Katherine Boyd Cockerham is probably another link to connect these two families by kinship. More research is needed to sort out this relationship. This elderly Smith lady born about 1810 if the census numbers are correct may be one of the earliest Smith family members into Monroe County.
SOURCES:
1910 Lease between J. M. Smith and S.P. Cockerham and son J. F. Cockerham. Original in files of Terry Thornton, Fulton, Mississippi. Digital images by Terry Thornton, June 224, 2008.
Cockerham Cemetery information for Smith and Cockerham burials from Index to Online Cemetery Records Monroe County, Mississippi by William T. Thornton, September 2006; and from Cockerham Cemetery at Monroe County., MSGenWeb Library transcribed by Theresa Whitaker with additional information by Jean Carr, accessed June 2008.
Evans, William A. Mother Monroe. Hamilton, Mississippi: Mother Monore Publishing Company. 1979, pages 107, 108, 112, and 115 for J.M. Smith's CSA military units.
