[Granville-Hough] 17 Jan 2009 - Uncle Wilson West

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:03:04 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: 17 Jan 2009 - Uncle Wilson West

Reverend Wilson West.
One of the examples of my childhood was Great Uncle Wilson West, who 
became a Baptist minister in 1856. He was son of Shadrack Nelson and 
Penelope (Moody) West. Some years ago, I gave all my notes on the West 
family to cousin Denton West, a descendant who lived as a bachelor 
farmer in the New Sardis Baptist Community just south of our Concord 
Baptist Community. Denton had been a lifelong friend to my brother 
Dueward Hough. I had traced the West family back to Virginia, I believe; 
and Denton was quite interested in the family history.
As I had no West ancestors, I did not need the material.
Reverend Wilson West married (1) Mary Jane Hough, daughter of Zeno and 
Charlotte (Watts) Hough, and they lived close to the Hough families in 
Wayne, Clark, Jasper, and Smith counties. When the Civil War began, 
Wilson West enlisted in Company C, 13th Miss. Infantry and served four 
years. I have often wondered why he did not serve as a Chaplain, but it 
may have been his lack of educational background. He was largely 
self-taught. Mary Jane died in 1873 after having about 13 children, ten 
of whom survived. Two of greatest interest were Nathan Clark West, and 
Mary Jane (West) Sullivan, both of whom settled in Smith County. After 
Mary Jane’s death, Uncle Wilson married (2) Charlotte Hough, sister to 
Mary Jane. Charlotte died within a year. Uncle Wilson married twice more 
and had a total of 23 children. I was never able to get the names and 
children to my satisfaction for the last two wives. They were not my 
cousins, so I finally gave up.
Uncle Wilson West was an active Missionary Baptist. He founded 16 
churches, married 141 couples, and baptized over 1800 people. His 
ministry took him into the roughest communities of the state. There is a 
writeup of his ministry in one of the Baptist periodicals. As a 
Confederate veteran of the 13th Mississippi, he was absolutely fearless. 
Moreover, he had friends wherever his Confederate comrades settled. He 
was active in the Zion Hill Baptist Church, for many years the only one 
in Sullivan’s Hollow, and for a time held his membership there. One of 
the churches he either established or helped establish was New Sardis, 
with local supporters Joseph and Jeff Sullivan, sons of Joseph Sullivan, 
Sr.
Aunt Joann (Sullivan) Richardson, daughter of Joseph, Jr, could remember 
that as a young girl of 10 or 11 years of age she passed the long-leaf 
pine roofing shingles up to her father so he could roof the church. The 
year they built the church, Joseph and Jeff were hardly able to grow and 
harvest crops. Uncle Wilson West rode the back roads of the Sullivan 
settlements and met descendants of Sullivans and invited all he met to 
come to the new church. Aunt Joann recalled that he traveled on 
horseback, with a Bible in one saddlebag, and a bottle of whiskey in the 
other. He started with the Bible and gave consolation, scripture, 
guidance, and prayer. If the Bible failed, he brought out the whiskey 
bottle and shared a drink. By the time he finished a meeting, the person 
was committed to coming to the next church meeting. Few turned him down.
His children came with him on his ministries. Nathan C. was a good choir 
leader and Mary Jane could sing and work with women. Nathan married 
Celia Ann Sullivan and settled in New Sardis community. He became a 
reknown Sunday School teacher, and his first cousin, Lisha Hough, would 
come twenty miles just to hear his Sunday school lessons. Mary Jane West 
married Loughton Sullivan, a younger son of the original Thomas Sullivan 
of Sullivan’s Hollow, and they lived in Covington and Jeff Davis 
counties of MS. Their descendant, Charles Sullivan, was Lieutenant 
Governor of MS in the 1970 era.
There is one anecdote about the widow of Nathan West. She was known in 
the community as “Aunt Celia Ann” and most people were related to her in 
one way or another. She lived a long time and had a very sharp wit. She 
got invited to young people’s parties as a matter of course. She was at 
one such party, a hoe-down, or country dance, when a late-comer and 
community cut-up, Willy McCallum, arrived after stopping off for some 
moonshine. Willy came in, surveyed the scene, and yelled, “Whoopee, I 
smell XXX” (a word for sexually active women). Everyone was in 
consternation that Willy would say such a thing, especially in the 
presence of such respected elders as Aunt Celia Ann. She spoke up 
eventually and, with great deliberation and deciveness, said: “Now, 
y’all don’t be too hard on Willy. He mought have smelled XXX.” She had 
observed all kinds of people and knew a lot about real life. If you went 
to a country hoedown, you might smell what most interested you.