Alphabet File page 182
" 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 25, 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 State, 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.
"His next venture in the mill business was alone and he seems to have operated alone until the Civil War.
"There were battles fought at Pearlington and at Gainesvelle in which superior Yankee forces captured these old river towns. Immediately thereafter New Orleans fell and all business on Pearl River ceased. Yankee patrol boats regularly visited all the towns up and down the river. All goods that were of any value were confiscated. If there was any objection expressed or any outcry on the part of the owner he would be put in jail. This happened to Captain John Orr who spent several years as a prisoner at Fort Pike during the war for protesting seizure of some of his property. "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 themselves 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 Duncan McCall, his wife's brothers and sisters, and owned a good sized tract of land near Nicholson which extended on both sides of the river. That old claim still goes by the name Duncan McCall Claim Section 4, Township 7 South, Range 17 West. The river across this old claim on the Mississippi side is still known as McCall's River.
Hursey, Asa II
"The most useful, the finest man I ever knew," said Sam
Russ of Picayune about Asa Hursey II of Pearlington.
Mrs. Joe Crawford of Slidell has written most interestingly of her grandfather Asa Hursey II. He was brought up in his father's sawmill. At an early age he was an expert millwrigt and an accomplished machinist, both trades being learned as helper of his father who operated mills both for others and for himself.
The millwright in a sawmill was a most important person. It was his job to see that the mill was kept operating. If anything went wrong the millwright corrected it as quickly as possible. I have seen millwrights work all night, all the next day and the next night with scarcely anytime off for rest or meals while making necessary repair to keep a mill running. Back when I first came to Picayune I worked for Crosby and Rowlands in a sawmill. Many times I have seen the millwrights work all night Saturday night, all day Sunday and most of Sunday night in order to have the mill ready for efficient operation Monday morning. There were many employees in a sawmill who could put off or delay their work but the millwrights had to do their work when needed or the whole operation might have to shut down.
Captain John Poitevent grew up in his father’s sawmill at
Gainesville and like Asa Hursey was an experienced sawmill man, though in a different type of work. Along in the 1870's - no one seems to know the exact date - Captain John Poitevent and his brother-in-law, Captain Joe Favre, went into business together, organizing the Poitevent and Favre Lumber Company. They went to Pearlington and bought the mill site on Pearl River belonging to Asa H. Hursey heirs. They built a fair-sized sawmill. This mill did not run very long before it burned in 1879. It was a highly successful operation and made the two brothers-in-law well-to-do. They immediately built another and larger mill which burned in 1888 or 1889 after about a 10 year profitable operation. Back in those days before there was much in the way of fire protection it was a common thing for mills to burn. There was always much refuse from the mills and it was very combustible and easy to catch on fire. Fire was a constant danger in the old time sawmills and many of them burned.
When the second mill burned Poitevent and Favre immediately planned a much bigger and better mill. Asa Hursey II had been millwright for them from the beginning of their sawmill business. He had built both of the other sawmills and both had been efficient and money maker.
Captain John Poitevent took Asa Hursey with him and made an extended tour of all the big sawmills in the eastern part of the United States. They planned to build the biggest sawmill and the best one in the world. They visited mills at Mobile, and around the Florida coast, on up the Atlantic coast as far as Maine. They selected the best features of all the mills to incorporate into their new Pearlington mill.
After planning they built what was at that time the biggest and most efficient sawmill in the world. It was the first sawmill ever built in this country with no posts to obstruct the view of the whole mill operation. In this big new mill conveyors carried all slabs, sawdust and refuse automatically to the boiler rooms for use as fuel.
The new mill, built to run 100 years was called Big Jim -
I have never found out why. Asa Hursey drew all the plans and then supervised the building of the mill. He was a self-educated engineer as well as an expert millwright. During the Civil War when he was 15 to 18 years old he was tutored by a Mrs. Blossman in Covington. After the war was over he returned with his family to Pearlington. He helped his father build the Hurrsey Mill there and he gained experience from it that was to prove valuable to him. After his father's death in 1871 he ran the family mill until it was sold to Poitevent and Favre.
On March 22, 1873, Asa Hursey II married Laura Orr. As their children became old enough to go to school he joined with Captains Poitevent and Favre in employing a competent teacher for their children. There were no public schools in those days. Asa himself took lessons at night from the children's teacher. This inspired in him a strong desire to better educate himself. He bought books on the subjects he was interested in - engineering, drafting, surveying, etc. He became a well educated man for his time.
In his work as a millwright Asa found that he often needed tools which were not available - not even made back then. He would send a design of the tool he wanted to a machine tool company in Philadelphia. They would make the tool and send it to him, always stamped "patent applied for" in their name. He never tried to get patents for himself, his only interest being in getting the tools he needed for his own use. Because of the great untouched forests and the great increase in sawmilling these tools became universally used. Mrs. Crawford had a list of the tools he made but has misplaced it.
Asa Hursey was highly regarded for his unusual abilities by employers. One Christmas they drove a fine horse pulling a magnificent carriage, complete down to the quirt, up to his front gate and presented this outfit to him as a Christmas present.
Asa was a kind, thoughtful, lovable and most useful man.
No one died in Pearlington, white or black, without his going to the bereaved and offering his services. Usually he would prepare the body for burial or give instruction to others for rendering this service. He would then return to his shop at the sawmill and make the coffin or have it made by his workers. Besides talking to Mrs. Crawford I have talked to a number of old people who lived in Pearlington 60 to 80 years ago. Without exception they all praised Asa Hursey for his great service to his community.