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This is a small booklet written by Miss Jessie Pierce of Smithville in 1958. It has so many names of the early settlers of Monroe Co and Itawamba Co MS and is so interesting that I will try to type it in as I can. I hope that someone will find the person they are searching for in it.
"By request of my nieces and nephew I will try to give them all the information I can and the early history of Smithville and surrounding country. Of course it is all tradition and legendary and old folk tales of the pioneers.
You are all familiar with the Gaines Trace over which all of the early settlers came. In my contact with Dr W A Evans of Aberdeen while he ws writing the history of Monroe County, he said that Frederick Weaver was the first white man to settle in what is now Monroe county. I have an old piece of walnut furniture his son, Jesse Weaver, brought up from Mobile in the early steamboat days on the Tombigbee. He is buried some miles northeast of Turon Church at what was once his home but now is the most lonely place imaginable.
I have no history prior to 1818, the year my grandmother was born. As soon as legal land titles were available, her father owned and sold the property to a man named Greenwood, from which the Springs took their name-hence Greenwood Springs. There were only two families in what is now Monroe County. This Trace Road ran ina southwesterly direction. Somewhere in the old New Hope Cemetary Community Luke Stanifer, the Walls, and Nabors settled. A trail leading came in at Brooks Store from there and ran westward. It was called Trace Road. Back south from Brook's Store, the families that lived along this trace, but not all at the same time, were the lockridges, Malones, McCommons, Bloodworths, Richbon, and Hedgepeths.
Now to get nearer home. The Pierce, Perkins, Bennetts, Nashes, Shannons, and Griffins came in. They were the ancestors of the late Bob Christian and Willard Griffin. They pushed on and forded Bull Mountain and made a crop on what later became the Jim Harrison farm at Tilden. It was then an open prairie. Great grand-dad, William Pierce, settled just south of Mr Cowart's on the bank of the creek. His sons were Aaron, William, Joseph, John, and Ebenezer. His daughters were Ruth, Malinda, Mary Jane and Minerva. His sons as soon as they could get legal titles entered and owned all of the land in that neighborhood. Less than 80 years ago there was but one dwelling in the 360 acres. Now there are 15 nice homes on that property. Dr Evans said in the early days there was no other church but Primitive Baptist. The lane leading south of the Ida Price home went to a churhc near the creek, and Old Pierce Cemetary was started for a church cemetary. The Moore families great grandmother, Ruth Pierce, was the first to be buried there.
My great grand-dad settled on what is now a highway leading to Detroit (Alabama) just above Splunge Creek bridge. The place took on the name of Jonesboro. I never knew why, they met regularly here for military practice. They were called muster days. William Pierce was the drummer for these occations. He was almost equal to The Deerslayer in J F Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales. He was credited with killing 2700 deer in Monroe, Itawamba, and Tishomingo counties.
Great-grand dad Perkins always boasted of his Sir John Wolf and Indian Princess Pocahontas blood. His wife's maiden name was Sally McManum of Virginia. She was the widow Marsh, with a little girl, Betsy Marsh. Besides this stepdaughter, his daughters were Jane, Isobel, Polly, Laney, and Martha. His sons were William, Perry, Larkin, and Robert. Uncle Perry was a doctor; William an iron worker, and Uncle Larkin was a fiddling farmer. They are all buried in Oktibbeha County. After the treaty with the Indians, Grandsire Jim as he was called, was appointed by the government to go as guide and interpreter with the Indians. He spent three years in Indian territory. Throught the Bureau of Archives and History I trace my two great grandfathers back to Browns Creek, Anson County North Carolina. William Pierce's wife was James Perkins sister so we had the distinction of having a great aunt for a great-grandmother. Aaron Pierce and Robert Perkins were first cousins. They were born in 1814 in Giles County Tennessee. My grand dad Robert Perkins served with the surveying party in surveying out the counties and districts."
more later
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