The Heart of Downtown Laurel, MS

 One of my favorite shows on TV is “Home Town” where Ben and Erin Napier are restoring Southern homes in Laurel, Mississippi. Call it serendipity or whatever but this week I was reminded on Facebook that Evernote was about to jack their prices sky high and if you didn't want to pay the “High Rent” it was time to back up your Evernote file.

Found among those Evernote files was an article written by Ernest Williams Graves, who from 1992 until 1999, wrote a weekly history column for “The Leader-Call” newspaper of Laurel, Mississippi.

The article doesn’t have a name nor was a specific source given; but, the gist of the article was the founding and building of Laurel, Mississippi.

He begins the article thus:

“John Holifield had seven children – Moses, Zilthine, Sallie, John W., Beckie, Celia and Frederick – after spending several years in the Carolina, eventually arrived in eastern Mississippi and claimed their homesteads in Jones County. One of the earliest settlers was Moses Holifield, Sr. who arrived in 1836 and lived on 160 acres adjacent to Tallahala Creek. Soon after 1840, John Holifield moved the rest of his family to our county. 1

Laurel came into being when Front and Oak Streets were constructed, at which time the Holifields owned the 160 acres surrounding that location. Virtually all of what is now downtown Laurel was a Holifield enclave.”

John Holifield left Chesterfield County, South Carolina between 1830 and 1840. He can be found in Covington County, Mississippi in the 1840 Federal census. Traveling with John and his wife Caley were some of their children.

Moses S. Holifield, Sr., son of John and Caley was born in 1800 and about 1817-1818 had married Amelia (Emily) "Millie" Rivers, daughter of Mark Rivers and Annie Parker. Moses Holifield, Sr. arrived in 1836 and homesteaded a 160 acres parcel adjacent to Tallahala Creek.

Moses’ son John “owned one of the first stores and then built the first grist mill on the corner of Oak and Magnolia Streets. His second grist mill was constructed where Lauren Rogers Museum of Art now stands. The Holifield cows and sheep grazed the acreage where the golf Course was later platted.”2

The Holifield family was actively involved in the early development of the heart of Downtown Laurel and promoted the establishment of several local churches.

Luke Rivers and his wife Selena Johns moved to Jones County, MS between 1850 and 1860 and there his daughter Nancy Elizbeth Rivers married Moses Holifield, Jr. about 1859. John Dryman and his wife Elizabeth Rivers, a sister of Amelia (Rivers) “Milly”  Holifield was also among the new settlement in Jones County along with Milly and Elizabeth brother Mark Rivers and his wife Irena Catherine Hancock. 

The Rivers mentions in this article are all distant cousins. 

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1. Text from article written by Ernest Graves for The Leader Call. 

2. Text from article written by Ernest Graves for The Leader Call. 

3. Note: Ernest Graves was very active in his community. They lost a dear friend upon his death in 2002.