[Granville-Hough] 16 May 2009 - Smith County

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 10:31:58 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: SmithCounty -16 May 2009

  Most of my daily stories have their setting in Smith County, where my 
ancestors settled before the Civil War, and where I lived for my first 
eighteen years. It is not an unusual place, and not the poorest county 
in MS. It probably has a cross-section of the rural and agricultural 
problems which affect the rest of the country. I write about it because 
it is the county I know best.. Grampa.

Smith County facts:

1930 Smith Co MS Census:
Total 18,405.
Male (white) 7546, female (white) 7285, total (white) 14,831.
Native born (white) 7543, female (white) 7285, total 14,828.
Foreign Born, 3 males. One was merchant George Nassar, from Syria, 
living in Lorena.
Negro (total) 3573, male 1870, female 1703.
Indians, none in 1930 nor in 1936.

The county reached its highest population just before WW II, when there 
were over 20,000 people in the county. Then there was a great exodus 
when people found jobs in war and oil industries along the Gulf Coast. 
About half the people left, never to return. For many, there are no fond 
memories of their life in the county. Others tend to get nostalgic about 
what they think they remember.
Truthfully, the county was engaged in the wrong kind of agriculture for 
the nature of the soil and the rainfall. Most of the topsoil washed 
away, and cultivating subsoil gave diminishing returns. The answer was 
to shift to deep-rooted grasses which could hold the soil, or to return 
the hillsides to timber growth. Cattle and timber and oil extraction 
have become the means of making a living. Some people have become 
specialists in growing chickens, producing eggs, or different kinds of 
beef cattle. For those who continue to grow crops, melons do very well. 
What the future holds remains to be seen.
Mize, which was the capital of SullivanÆs Hollow, no longer has even a 
grocery store. People work in Jackson, or Laurel, or Hattiesburg, or on 
the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of the churches hold on, but 
there are no large congregations. The cemeteries are growing, as people 
do asked to be returned to be with their families. There was no Catholic 
church in the county, but intermarriage has brought Catholics to the 
county. Though I have not heard of a Catholic mission in Smith County, 
there is one nearby in Magee, in Simpson County.
When people left the county, wild animals returned. One can now see 
deer, beaver, coyotes, armadillos, kutamundas, and different kinds of 
snakes; but the widespread use of DDT eliminated some of the birds which 
lived near humans. Niece June Travis was able to win deer shooting 
trophies without ever leaving Hough land in our old meadow at the head 
of Clear Creek.
One thing all over the South and in Smith County often mentioned as an 
imported pest is the kudzu plant. Actually, it was introduced from China 
to control erosion on hillsides, and it can indeed fill gullies and stop 
erosion. Animals consume it quite readily. It is a legume, and it does 
add nitrogen to the soil. Today the problem seems to be getting rid of 
it, though my problem was getting it started. I consider it does more 
good than harm, but I am no longer a farmer engaged in subsistence farming.