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EXTINCT TOWNS AND VILLAGES
OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, MS IN 1902
SELSERTOWN — In the early part of the nineteenth century, George
Selser erected an inn on the old Natchez Trace, six miles from Washington
and just inside the limits of Jefferson County. This was the beginning of
Selsertown. The Griffing, the Coleman, and the Jones families settled
close by. The Selser house finally passed into the hands of John McCollum.
For many years afterwards the sign "Intertainment for Man and Baste,"
which swung between two china trees in front of the stables, told the
nationality of the new proprietor. The house and stables were burnt soon
after the War between the States, and now (1902) the charred remains of
the old china trees are the only relics of old Selsertown. Near the place
is a large Indian mound, which was explored by a number of literary and
scientific gentlemen from Natchez and vicinity, in May, 1838.
(The
writer acknowledges with pleasure the many valuable facts on the extinct
towns and villages of Jefferson county, which he received from Mr. E. R.
Jones, of Harriston, Miss., and Judge F. A. Montgomery, of Rosedale, Miss.
See Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume II,
pp. 203-204.)
UNIONTOWN — The next station above Selsertown on the Natchez
Trace, was Uniontown, which was situated on the south side of Cole's
Creek. It was a place of some importance, being laid out into streets and
extending over a large area. Here early in the century, Jackson Warren and
Thomas Shackleford started a tan yard and a shoe shop. In writing of the
business enterprises of old Uniontown, the late Col. John A. Watkins, of
New Orleans, La., says: "Farley made all the hats. We killed coons and
took the skins to him, and in return got a hat. Jake Warner made shoes at
Uniontown, Pintard was cabinet-maker, McMurchy made wagons, plows, etc.,
Greenleaf, about 1797, established a cotton-gin factory, and that, the
first gin ever used in Mississippi, was made by a negro. Only one house,
"The Mound," belonging to Miss Pauline Chamberlain, now (1902) marks the
site of old Uniontown.
(Goodspeed's
Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Volume I., page,
176.)
GREENVILLE — The next
station, Greenville, was by far the largest and most important town on
this road. It was half way between Natchez and Port Gibson, being just
twenty-four miles from each place. During its earlier history it was known
by different names Pinckneyville, Orchardsville, and Huntley. By an act of
the General Assembly, passed on February 21, 1805, its name was changed to
Greenville in honor of General Nathaniel Greene. We are told that it was a
thriving town when the United States took possession of this territory in
1798. Upon the creation of Pickering (now Jefferson) county, Greenville
became its first seat of justice. This town was incorporated in 1819. At
one time it contained three hundred or more inhabitants, and the
surrounding country was settled by families of wealth and refinement. Cato
West, David Holmes, Cowles Meade, and General Thomas Hinds, all lived
within two miles of old Greenville, and the remains of Col. Cato West and
Gen. Hinds now rest in the soil of their respective plantations, close by.
A little farther away, in the same neighborhood, lived Capt. Bullen, the
Harrisons, the Harpers, the Hardens, the Hunts, and other historic
families of Mississippi. Only a few miles to the southwest was the famous
Maryland settlement, where lived the Woods, the Donohues, the Paynes, and
the Bakers. At old Greenville the troops furnished by the Mississippi
Territory in the War of 1812, the Dragoons, commanded by Gen. Hinds, and
the infantry troops under Col. Ely Kershaw Ross, were given a big barbecue
and disbanded after the battle of New Orleans. Here Jefferson Davis lived
in the family of Sheriff Jordan and went to school in his early life. It
was to this place that May and Sutton, members of the notorious Murrell
gang of robbers, brought their leader's head in order to get a reward that
had been offered therefore. Some men whom May and Sutton had recently
robbed and the owners of the horses which they rode into Greenville were
there attending court when these robbers came for their reward. They were
arrested, tried, and convicted. After their execution in the gallows field
their heads were placed on poles, one a short distance to the north and
the other a short distance to the west of Greenville, on the Natchez
Trace.
On the first day of February, 1825, the General Assembly of Mississippi
passed an act authorizing the election of five commissioners to select a
permanent location for the seat of justice of Jefferson county. This
commission was granted power to purchase at a price not exceeding twenty
dollars an acre, or to receive by donation, not less than two nor more
than fifty acres of land upon which a county site was to be laid off. The
place chosen was to be called "Fayette," in honor of General Lafayette,
who was at that time in the United States as the nation's guest. The
commission had authority to select Greenville. The night before the
election, however, a mob, which favored the removal of the seat of justice
to a place nearer the center of the county, wrecked the court house, a
frame structure, built of hand-sawed poplar timber. This sealed the fate
of Greenville and settled the question of removal in favor of the present
town of Fayette, which is eight miles east of the first county seat. After
the removal of the court house, Greenville rapidly declined. The houses
decayed or were moved away to build new towns. The old Cable Hotel was for
many years the only building left to mark the site of this historic place.
About five years ago (1897) this house was destroyed by fire and now only
a
blackened chimney in a cultivated field is all that is left to remind the
visitor of the long-departed glory of old Greenville.
SHANKSTOWN — Six miles
north of old Greenville was Shankstown, named for a gentleman, Mr. Shanks,
who had a hotel at this place at an early date. This town was not laid off
into blocks, though it contained a large number of houses, a store or two,
a cabinetmaker's shop, a blacksmith's shop, etc. The place is now (1902)
owned and occupied by colored people.
COONBOX — This insignificant rival of Shankstown was located about
two miles southwest of that place, at a point where the Union church and
Rodney road crossed the Trace. The place derived its name from the
following incident: During the War of 1812 an embargo was placed on
Jamaica rum, the favorite beverage of that day. Although its sale was made
illegal, it was still sold in egg shells, one egg for a "flip," two for a
"bit," at the wayside houses throughout the country. The merchant prince,
who had erected at the place mentioned above a log cabin store with a
"California built shed-room" in the rear, was doing a thriving
business—selling eggs. One night a crowd of gentlemen from Greenville,
passing by this store, decided that they wanted something to drink. The
store was closed, and as no houses were at that time opened after dark to
callers unless they were well known, these men got no response to their
repeated knocks on the front door. Finally one of them jovially said that
he would "rouse the old coon out of his box behind by knocking on it." He
did so and the members of the party supplied themselves with eggs before
resuming their journey. From that time to the present the place has been
known as "Coonbox." It once had a hotel and stables, but both of these
have long since disappeared.
taken from Riley, Franklin L. “Extinct Towns and Villages of Mississippi.”
Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. V, MHS, ed.
Franklin Riley, Oxford, MS, 1902, pgs.344-347.
submitted by Sue B. Moore
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