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Bentonia, MS

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80-98 E.P. Thigpen

Bentonia, MS

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An Inter/ieK i-rith

E, F. 'IKIGP^rJ OF BSFTDNIA

October 22, 1974

Inter'/lf2'.,'0Ci by

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"7"" ".str -70 J.ibr;-iry 3 +Oral History pSecl•

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Mr, Ihigpen. you have been in Bentonia for quite a while, haven't you?

I came here in August 1906,

Did you build your store here at that time?

I. came to Bentonia in I9O6 and worked for Pat Mobe^ly, They had astore on the comer. ..I think they have a pool hall there now Theold store was just south of where Lambeth's Drug Store is now,' Iworked with Pepper & Mobe^i-ly in I906 and 190?. At the end of''07Mobefly bought it out and it was W. M. MobeJly then and we worked'there until 1909 when the boll weevil hit this territory. We soldthat store and moved to GoodHope, up between Thornton and Nilestonand. I stayed up there the cold winters of 1909 and '10 ... January*1910 ... built a new store there, then I left it and came back andwent to work for Gaddis-Whitehead Company for B, M. Day. He sold outto Shackelford and I worked for Taylor two years. In August 1912our old store had been vacant and I re-rented that store and went'inbusiness for myself, Thigpen & Mobe:fly ... then Mobe;^ly died 15 davsafter we opened up. In 1915 I bought the business out. I operatedthe store until the fall of '21 when the store burned, then I built-the store where I am now. (The whole west side of the town burned)In 26 I built that cafe building next to Renfroe's Gara^-P. T+«c.building next to Renfroe's Garage. It'sstill there and the store Is still there. I bought that whole blockand I sold the bank the property that they are on. I worked for Captain Taylor for two years. (He was the man who opened the first reLStore in Bentonia when the Railroad came through in 1882 That vfthe year I was born.) At first it was Taylor & Moore, then TavTntbought Moore out and it was H. L. Taylor."^ Ihey fur^i^hS nelSy Llthis country. Captain Taylor was a Texan. After the Civil wS ̂married Hiss _ a girl from Tlnsley, ,

What other stores did they have in Bentonia when vou ^Captain Taylor? work for

^ere was H. L. Taylor, Abner's, Gaddis-Whitehead Go Hthat was on one side. South across the str«.=+ c i. Terrell -Taylor store,was, E. S. Olden had a stLf Let^Taylors, the Drug Store, Gaddis-Whitehead" TerrLogan's was six. The other side was P^^^rSS!''Seeeal was eivht., Odgen Bros, was nine -- th r seven; DaveSepgal was eight; m'gen BrLr^^L^Sne'^f ^

there were nine storesWhat about Rosenberg's store? Where were they?

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You knew Kirk Whitehead's mother, didn't you? She was my wlfG*

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We had a little school here in Bentonia. Then a few years later,we consolidated with a school we called Anding, It was between hereand Anding on the side of the road on old Highway ̂ 9 up here. Itoperated a few years, unsatisfactorily. It was out there away fromeither town, Ihen we built a school at Bentonia which we calledAnding. This was in the 'EO's - I believe it was.

Can you recall any of the old families that lived here in 1906?

At that time, there were the Taylors, the Dal tons, the Cannons, theRosenbergs, the Cdgens, the Terrells, the Links — he came here thesame year that I did. They were real wealthy people — they were inthe lumber business.

What about the Shackelfords?

Th-- Shackelfords were from Anding, They didn't move down here until the fall of 1910. I was working for Ed Day when he sold out toShackelford in fall of 1910. When he sold out, I went to work forCaptain Taylor.

Are these Days any relation to the Days who had the Drug Store?

No, no relation whatever,

What about Captain Taylor? Has he a Captain in the Civil War?

Yp= He was with General Craig. Ihey did a lot of fighting a-rounf Jackson and up here around Yazoo County.

Where was Captain Taylor's home?

One mile east of Bentonia -- out at a place called "Egypt".Puffer bought it. he tore the old house down.

When

Do you know any other names of plantations back then?

Well vou know "Woodbine" — that was Kirk Whitehead's place. Ihatbelonged to the Gibbs family. Will Kirk married Miss Lula GibbsT^m wSk first carried her and he died, then Will Kirk married -his brother's widow, Gibbs got in some hard times and Will Kirkbought the place became the Kirk property then hui ^ +was really the old ^bbs Property. Now this place i ownJohnson property. Ibe home stood right up this old roadbefore the Civil War. ^ ™ad. Ibis was

Doesn't your property join some property that If- io„n - the old Harris place? Mrs. Rebe^a Har^i^^ «^itehead used to

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Yes that Has the old Craig place. Kirk Whitehead built that houseiono Hi- mother lived Hith him and his aunt, Mrs. Clark. Ibis

iL bef;re Klrr^aSiel When Will Kirk left "Woodbine" to Kirk,nv H nnt there and sold the Craig property to Matt Taylor, When

heliel the estate sold the property to Billy Harries from Ball Grounds.

Do you knoH anything about the tovn of Bentonia being called any othernaiTie than Bentonia?

When the railroad B^ntLla! °f "cSLLads"Hhi! thrfmSg stations are now nhere there vere several saloons.Has the old depot that now stands built when the railroad came?r . that's the same old depot and it's the same that Has here whenI cLe and it hasn't changed since then.

.».t tb. ChurchT i».H ,ou ., • T Q91 When I first came here I wasn't

We builtithe Baptist tore in gg^^^nia. At first we used onea member''a church - when I c jt „as a Union Church. Ihechurch for the Baptist Methodist the next. I joinedBaptists had church one Su ^ Martin and myself Here onthe church in or l6. I^^el^vthe building committee for the nap

„^t came to Bentonia. they had just one littleschoof behind ^he Methodist Church. Who taught i .Miss Liazle Cannon.

Do you knoH anything about Dover?B nroad came through, there Has quite a settlement aroundBefore the Balii . through Bentonia, it dren trade around

Dover. When the Raiiroathis area.

+his was considered a showplace of Yazoo Countv.At one time, •

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