Alphabet File page 183

  Asa Hursey was the treasurer of several lodges that carried insurance policies on their members.  He knew the ones who paid and the ones not able to pay.  In many instances he paid out of his own pocket for unfortunates who could not.  Often those delinquent would reimburse him but others could not.  One man insisted that Asa drop the payments for him since he did not see how he could repay them.  To Asa's great sorrow the man died three months later leaving his family penniless.  Years later after Asa died his widow moved to Slidell.  Several of his lodge brothers there paid her money that her husband had paid for their dues when they could not pay.

 

  Asa Hursey was a great friend to boys and young men.  Sam Russ of Picayune said "He was the best friend I had when I was growing up."  Mrs. Crawford said, "He would take boys into the mill and teach them a trade.  Mr. Ab Tourne was such a boy.  When Asa died in 1912 Mr. Tourne walked from Kiln to Pearlington to attend his funeral.  This was the quickest way as going by water would have taken too long. On arriving at the Hursey home he went directly to the widow and told he, "All that I am in life today I owe to your husband.  He gave me my chance."

 

Asa Hursey was a diligent worker.  He worked from "kin to kaint" in the mill.  He would then work in his garden as long as he could see.  His children would help him by holding a lantern for him to see by.  Very often he had to work all day on Sunday putting the mill into condition to run the following week.  His wife would say, "Papa, why don't you stay with me and the children on Sundays?"  His answer was always, "Mama, if I don't work on Sunday, there'll be families in Pearlington go hungry next week." He got no extra pay for this extra work.  This was 60 to 70 years ago before the forty hour week and time and a half for overtime.

 

  Captain John Poitevent died in 1899.  After that the business was run by his sons.  The Favres sold their interest in the mill to the Poitevents and organized the J. A. Favre Lumber Co. at Favreport, just north of Pearlington.  Asa Hursey helped build the Favre mill and worked there until the mill burned.  He then took a job building a sawmill at Holtonville, La., across the Tchefuncta River from Madisonville.  At this time several of the Hursey children were living in Slidell, La.  Asa contracted pneumonia.  His wife and sons went immediately to his bedside but he never recovered.  He died December 6, 1912.  Transportation between places like Pearlington and Madisonville was a big problem back then.  The sons of Asa chartered a large boat to carry their father's body back home to Pearlington for burial there.  The coffin was lashed to the cabin.  Mrs. Hursey rode inside the cabin. By the time they reached the Southern Railway bridge across Lake Pontchartrain at North Shore a quick December storm had whipped up.  The bridgekeeper refused to open the bridge.  The boat had to circle about in the lake for about one hour.  To keep the body from going overboard, Asa's sons lashed themselves to the cabin top.  It took all their strength to save themselves and their father's body.  They finally reached home in Pearlington and buried Asa in the Pearlington cemetery.

 

I am indebted to Mrs. Joe Crawford of Slidell for the information about the Hursey family.

 

Asa Hursey left the following children:  May Ora Hursey married Oscar Leonard - one child Laura, now Mrs. Joe Crawford of Slidell;  Philip Agnue Hursey who married Annie Berthea of Slidell - one adopted son who lived in Mobile, Ala.  He was a successful businessman as Vice-President and General Manager of Gulf States Creosoting Co. of Slidell; Sidney Hassam Hursey married Maria Miles in Pearlington, he followed his father in the sawmill business and built the Poitevent and Favre sawmill at Mandeville;  Ames Mead Hursey - he never married; Mary Ruth married Charles Farr - they have seven children; William Abner Maguire Hursey married Christina Beyer and had three children; he was very successful in the boating business running ferries from Pearlington to the Chef after Highway 90 was completed but before the bridges were built he ran ferries at both the Rigolets and the Chef under a state franchise; Laurentze Isabella married Cornelius Carter - they had two children; Asa Hursey III married Glyda Connerly of Collins, Mississippi - they had two children and he worked for the veterans bureau in Jackson for over 30 years; Octavia Hursey, the youngest child never marries.

 

(From a photo copy of a small book that does not show the title or author.  See VF "Hursey")

 

Bogue Homa Lodge 3275, K. of H. (Pearlington), an interesting session. After routine business, election of officers being in order. The following were elected to serve the ensuing term: Dictator, Asa Hursey; Sitting P.D. J.S. Otis; vice dictator J.Q. Roberts; assistant dictator W.W. Wallace; Reporter W.M. Orr; F.R. M. Geiger, treasurer; Dr. C.H.  Brown; Chaplain Geo. W. Parker Jr.; guide Emile Koch; guardian Amos Madison; sentinel Chas. Colsin; rept. to Grand Lodge Emile Koch; alternate Dr. C.H. Brown. (SCE 12/10/1892)

 

Hursey, May- Pearlington M.E. Church South election of officers -A visit to the church Sunday school disclosed to the writer an event of unusual excitement which was the election of officers in that indispensable and religious department of the church.  Supt. W.T. Stocker, who holds that responsible appointment emanating from a higher authority of the church, was in attendance and in the discharge of the arduous duties he has assumed. After ceremonial rites were concluded, election with the following results: Assistant superintendent Mr. Alexander Orr; Secretary W.M. Orr; Librarian Dr. C.H.  Brown; assistant librarian Miss Cora Moody; organist Mrs.  Weadie Orr; assistant organists Miss Agie Brown and Miss May Hursey. (SCE 12/10/1892)

 

Hursey, Miss May, who has been spending several weeks in the Crescent City, returned to Pearlington last Tuesday. (SCE 02/11/1893)

 

Husey, (See Hursey and Hussey) Asa II.  (     -12/6/1906) Grew up in Pearlington.  He designed the new saw mill for Poitevent and Favre which was called Big Jim.  He married Laura Jane Orr. His children were May Ora Hursey married Oscar Leonard - one child Laura who married Joe Crawford of Slidel: Philip Agnue Hursey who married Annie Bethea Slidell - one adopted son who lived in Mobile: Sidney Hassam Hursey married Maria Miles in Pearlington:  Ames Mead Hursey -never married: Mary Ruth married Charles Farr - they had seven children: William Abner Maguire Hursey married Chritina Beyer and had three children:  Laurentza Isabella married Cornelius Carr - they had two children: And Asa Hursey III married Glyda Connerly of Collins - they have two children.

  (Source not recorded for above)

 

A remarkable man lived in Pearlington from 1845 until he died in 1912.  He was a self taught architect, draftsman, engineer and millwright.  He designed and built at Pearlington the first big sawmill in the United States with a capacity to cut 2000,000 board feet of lumber a day. This sawmill was also the first big sawmill in America to be built without posts - he used long trusses, constructed with lumber, to carry the roof load.  Another interesting thing abut this man, Asa Hursey, Sr., was that he kept a record of practically every personal transaction during his life.  His granddaughter, Mrs. Joe Crawford of Slidell, has 14 boxes, each about 20x12x6 inches, filled with his old papers.  Mrs. Crawford has written the following interesting history of the life of her grandfather and great-grandfather: (see Hursey, Asa for this narrative)

 

Husser, Father.  Res burned 16 Nov 1907 (SCE).

 

Hutchings, Johnson. - A valuable Sulfur Spring has recently been discovered on the plantation of Johnson Hutchings near the town of Pearlington on East Pearl River, Mississippi. Because of the similarity of the waters with the Celebrated Saratoga Springs, New York, it is now called Saratoga of the South.  (PC&C p 14)