To mark my 20th year of being a cartoonist in Mississippi, I thought I’d dig out 20 tales from the past two decades. Some are funny. Some are serious. All tell the story of how I came to fall in love with this sometimes frustrating but always fascinating state we live in.
Let’s start with this truth: I am not a native Mississippian — although my great great grandfather did spend time in Mississippi and came to love it, too. His name was Reverend J.C. Eckles, a Methodist circuit rider based in Northeast Mississippi after the Civil War. He also co-founded Wood College in Mathiston, Mississippi. (When they were open, his picture was on their website. I always marveled with jealousy when I saw his chin.)
Of course, when I moved here, I so wanted to find out I had Mississippi roots. But let me warn you: When digging for your roots, it’s wise to call before you dig. When I started asking around, my aunt told me about my great great grandfather’s other wrinkle to his past: He was a lieutenant in the Union Army. He was in Yazoo City. Vicksburg. And the Battle of Jackson. Yup. He was stationed right where Cannon Nissan is today.
In his memoirs, J.C. talks about how his men were getting cranky, so he snuck into town and liberated some tobacco. His men were so overjoyed that he wrote that he went from being the worst officer in the U.S. Army to being able to be elected President.
I, of course, was horrified. You would be too if you discovered your great great grandfather started the crime wave in Jackson.
J.C. married my great great grandmother (Alice, who was an amazing artist in her own right and whose family was from Holly Springs) and moved back to Ohio. He was friends with the Wright Brothers (my grandmother sat on Orville’s knee) and started another college. He’s buried in Maryville, Tennessee.
But he loved Mississippi. He said in his memoirs that the people of Mississippi liked him even though he “ministered to Republicans and Negroes.”
I feel similar love. I piss off people every day but have been (for the most part) warmly embraced by the people of Mississippi. I have three native Mississippi boys running around the house. Our family has been blessed to live here.
I’m sure J.C. is smiling.
P.S. Found this from the Webster Progress Times. I’ve had days like this:
At this time, J.C. Eckles was presiding elder, not only for the pine chapel, but also missionary work among colored Methodist. They were also planning to build a large school building near Pine Chapel, aided by funds from the Southern Educational Society and Rust College. A storm of protest broke, which grew for 10 years and covered much of Webster County. J.W. Stewart of Clarkson carried Dr. Eckles out of Pine Chapel community one night for fear of mob violence. Dr. Eckles made it to Grenada by relay of horses, where he caught a train to Memphis.