Alphabet File page 180

  During the war there was little or no law and order in Pearlington.  Pillage and robbery went unpunished, in fact, Federal soldiers winked at such lawlessness and were themselvs involved in these crimes.  Because of this condition the Hursey family went to live on the McCall old place southwest of Nicholson, making their home across Pearl River in Honey Island in order to be further away from Yankee marauders.  Asa Hursey had bought out the heirs of Duncal McCall, his wife’s brothers and sisters, and owned a good sized tract of land near Nichoson which extended on both sides of the river.  That old  claim still goes by the name Duncan McCall Claim Section 4, Township 7 Sosuth, Range 17  West.  The river across this old claim on the Mississippi side is still known as McCall’s  River.

 

  While the Hursey family lived on the old McCall place across the river they were residents of Louisiana.  Asa was eiher elected or appointed a member of the Police Jury of St Tammany Parish.  Mrs. Crawford has a five dollar certificate issued to him by the St. Tammy Police Jury dated February l, 1862.  She also has a letter to Mr. Hursey asking him to list all the dependents of the volunteer company of the Confederacy so that their noney could be drawn from the state treasury.  This leter is signed by F. A. Cousin, president of the Police Jury.

 

  After the close of the Civil War the Hursey family returned to their home in Pearlington.

 

  The next venture of Asa H. Hursey was with the Walker Mill located on the Winchestr Mill site on Bayou Galere above Shieldsboro, now known as Bay St. Louis.  He employed freed men for the first time in this mill.  Among his old papers are the bonds issued by three men with the bank stamp attached.  Some of these men were Paul  Benoist, Napoleon Jenkins, Jerry Leggett, and Benhamin Mittler.  Co-partners in this busines were a Mr. Masam and a Mr. Pooley.

 

  In 1869 the military aide-de-camp who had power under the reconstruction acts, appointed Asa H. Hursey coroner of Hancock County.  These were the last ventures of Asa H. Hursy and took place between 1866 and 1971.  He died December 21, 1871, leaving the following children:  Emma, born 1843, married Charles McCarty, died 1912; Adelaide, born 1844, married Asa Downs; Asa II, born 1845, married Laura Jane Orr, died 1912; Nancy, born 1859, married Andrew Scott: Duncan, born 1853, married Caroline Parker; Richard, born 1858, married and moved to Calcaisseau, La.

 

  Mrs. Isabella McCall Hursey lived with her son, Asa II, until her death in 1885. 

 

  SMALL BOOK; NO TITLE

 

Hurston, Nora Mrs. r 116 1/2 Carroll Ave. (Ph 55)

 

  Saucier, Elmer - The second grade pupils in the primary room had an examination Monday, with this result: Double honors -Elmer Saucier and Oliver Hurtig.  Honors - Norise Favre and Malcolm Field.  (The High School Idea, Vol 1, BSL March 1908)

 

Husband, Anne D. Mrs. r 115 Bay View Ct. (Ph 55)

 

Husband, John D. 620 1/2 N. Beach (Ph 48 thru 50) 122 St. Charles (Ph 55)

 

Hursey, (Sometimes Hussey) Asa. Sr.,  Mr. Hursey lived in Pearlington from 1845 until he died in 1912.  He was a self taught architect, draftsman, engineer and millwrite.  He designed and built at Pearlington the first big sawmill in the United States with capacity to cut 200,000 board feet of lumber a day.  He kept a record of all personal transactions during his lifetime.  His granddaughter , Mrs. Joe Crawford of Slidell, had 14 boxes, each 20X12X6 inches, filled with his papers.  Mrs.Crawford wrote,

 

"Asa H. Hursey came to Hancock County, Mississippi, from Rome, or Readfield, Maine, in the 1830's.  He was Born October 28, 1813, at Rome, Maine.  He was the youngest child of Nancy and Richard Hussey.

 

"After his arrival in Mississippi he changed the spelling of his name from Hussey to Hursey; however, all his legal papers were signed Asa H.  Hussey.  His father was the son of Robert Hussey who served in the Revolutionary War.  This branch of the Hussey family were descendants of a Richard Hussey, a weaver, who came to America in 1651.  His loom is now on display in the museum at Salem, Massachusetts.

 

"Asa Hursey worked in sawmills in Main.  When he was only 21 he was part owner of a sawmill in Calais, Maine. This mill was probably located at one time in New Brunswick, Canada.  He  probably lived with his brother Stephen Hussey because Stephen died in Calais, Maine, in 1834.  He continued in the Mill business until 1838.  His next venture was an able seaman according to the paper issued to him by a Mr. Morse in Maine.

 

"Asa Hursey, like a number of others who settled on the lower reaches of the Pearl River, apparently made his way to Pearlington the first time as a member of a boat crew. Christian Koch and Henry Weston were among others who first came to Logtown by boat.  It is interesting to note that many, if not most of the early settlers along the Pearl made their way up the river instead of coming across country.

 

  "The earliest date of record in Hancock County for Asa

 

H. Hursey is a receipt by Sherwood and Foster of Pearlington for some work he had done for a Mr. Daily, dated June 7, 1841.

 

"He  was in this area only a short time when he married Miss Isabella McCall on 3, March 1842.  Richard Foster, Justice of the Peace, performed the ceremony.   Duncan McCall, father of Isabella, owned two tracts of land on Pearl River, one in Mississippi southwest of Nicholson and the other in Louisiana across the river from the Mississippi tract.  Apparently the newly married couple must have lived in the Nicholson - Picayune section for on March 28, 1842 he bought a bill of groceries from Leonard Kimball who operated a store and was postmaster of Hobolochitto postoffice in what is now northwest Picayune. The receipt for the work previously mentioned and the bill for the groceries are now in Mrs. Crawfords possession.

 

"Among his papers are the articles of agreement between

 

Asa H. Hursey and Emile Mazily dated June 18, 1844, stating that he bought a steam sawmill that was formerly owned by Ford and Boardman located on Pearl River above Pearlington. This mill could have been as far above Pearlington as Hobolochitto because Emily Mazily sent him a letter dated February 22, 1845, and addressed it to Hursey and Mazily at the Hobolochitto Mill.

 

"This mill continued to run until December 1, 1848, when Hursey and Mazily were given a lease on the river front of Square 4 by the Pearlington Company for a consideration of $10 per year.  The officers of the company were Samuel White, president, and Willis H. Arnold, secretary- treasurer.  Included in this indenture are the householders who signed giving their permission to put the mill on the 'public quay'.   When Pearlington was laid out by the Pearlington Company, the riverfront was evidently the public quay.  The Town of Pearlington still has a small public quay in front of the Guittirez and Poitevent old places.

 

  "The next articles of agreement are between John Armstrong and Asa H. Hursey when said Armstrong buys out Emile Mazily's part on December 3, 1848.  How long this partnership lasted is not known.  No sale is listed but in 1850 Mrs. Armstrong was a widow in the U.S. Census report.

 

"On November 24, 1853, the next partners of Asa H. Hursey were F. W. Delesdenier, W. L. Burgess and Thomas Bailey. These three owned half interest while Asa H. Hursey owned the other half and operated the mill.

 

  "On May 25, 1852, Nathan K. Hall, Postmaster-General of the United States, appointed Asa H. Hursey postmaster of the Pearlington postoffice.  He was also elected Justice of the Peace of the First District (Beat 1) of Hancock County May 28, 1849.  Asa H. Hursey seems to have been a man with a  wide range of interests in Hancock County.