Dr. David Lewis Phares

At noon on Wednesdays, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History hosts "History is Lunch."  Generally, it is an opportunity for an author of History (typically Mississippi History) to pitch his latest book.  Usually there is an accompanying slide show.  If I've got nothing keeping me at the office, I'll walk over and check it out.  It's a nine minute walk through the heart of downtown Jackson.  There have been some interesting topics and great speakers and I, more often than not, enjoy the hour.  I always learn something.  On the rare occasion, I'll even buy a book.

Today's topic was the book, Images in Mississippi Medicine a Photographic History of Medicine in Mississippi.  The authors, Dr. Luke Lampton and Karen Evers, spoke.  They currently edit the Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association.  Dr. Lampton spoke about the early history of Medicine in Mississippi.  We saw many pictures of the enormous Lunatic Asylum that was located in Jackson where UMMC is now.  There was much discussion about Doctors who impacted the early life of Mississippi as a territory and eventually a State.  Many names and portraits were presented during the hour.  Several of the names were familiar or at least vaguely familiar. 

One familiar name was Arthur Guyton.  He wrote a Physiology book that is world renown.  I went to camp with a couple of his grandsons.  Guyton was one of the more recent people discussed.  

A photo of a horse drawn "ambulance" from 1909 was shown.  The owner/ operator was named Hiram Hardy.  He operated in Jackson.  That name rang a bell so I wrote it down thinking this person or one of his ancestors may be in my tree.  I'd check it out later.

Another name that rang that bell was "Phares."  Dr. Lampton spoke about David Lewis Phares from Woodville, MS.  He was born in 1817 and graduated from what became Centenary College in Louisiana.  He later achieved a Medical degree from Tulane in New Orleans.  He practiced in Wilkinson County, Mississippi for 40 years, started a couple colleges, and was instrumental in the formation of Mississippi State University.  He taught at MSU for nine years.  Among other things, he served on the first Board of Health for the State of Mississippi. He was an early bigwig in Mississippi Medicine.  There is a great bio of him HERE written by our speaker.

Looking at my tree a little later, I did find Dr. David Lewis Phares.  He had two siblings that married into the Noland family.  The Noland's are my people.  Ann Phares (1821-1892) married William Avery Noland (1810-1874) and Samuel Phares (1802-unk) married Sarah Ann Noland (1821-1880).  William and Sarah Ann Noland's father was Pierce A Noland III (1785-1842).  He and wife Nancy Palmer are one set of my 4th great grandparents. 

The image below is a detail from an original plat map from the extreme southwest corner of Mississippi.  I believe this was drawn up in the 1820's.  The property to the left of Pierce Noland's is labeled "William Phares."  He was David, Ann and Samuel's father.

The Phares and the Nolands were both American families with European backgrounds that moved from the east coast in the early 1780's.  They became Spanish land grant holders and neighbors in what eventually turned into the Territory of Mississippi.  This was an interesting time in Mississippi and Louisiana history when the land was changing hands between colonial powers.  Pierce Noland III was likely born on that property when it was Spanish held.  As a teen, he saw it fall under the jurisdiction of the United States. 

The straight line on the south side of the Phares and Noland properties at the bottom of the map is the 31st parallel.  This portion is sometimes called the Ellicott line- named for the man that George Washington asked to survey it.  Today it is the boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana.  At the time when the Noland's and the Phares' lived there, it was the border between the Mississippi Territory (United States) and Spanish West Florida.  It was an international boundary.  Another couple miles west on the Mississippi River was Fort Adams, the official Southern "Port of Entry" for the United States on the Mississippi River.  Pierce Noland II (5th great grandfather) is supposedly buried at Fort Adams.  More likely, he was buried on his property and the death was documented at Fort Adams as it would have been the local seat of government.

The Phares and Noland families lived and farmed this land when Andrew Ellicott's survey crew came through in October of 1798.  Pierce III was 13 years old.  Ellicott's journals indicate he had a falling out with his co-leader, Thomas Freeman at Thompson's creek.  You will notice on the map that Thompson's creek crossed the 31'st parallel on Noland's property.  Freeman stormed off at that point and left the party.  He later led the 1806 Freeman-Custis Red River Expedition as requested by Thomas Jefferson.  I wonder if my Noland's were witness to the argument between Ellicott and Freeman.  It was in their backyard, afterall.

That's my connection with the esteemed Dr. David Lewis Phares.  Our families were neighbors and married into each other way back when.  I don't share an ancestor with him as far as I know, but some of my cousins do.

That other guy that sounded familiar in today's History is Lunch program, Hiram Hardy, is likely not related either.  He is not in my tree but he sounded familiar because Hiram Hardy Hargrove is in my tree.  Hargrove was the first husband of my great great grandmother, Ann Emelia Scarborough.  After his death she married Rev. William McBride.  Hargrove was from Georgia and died in Louisiana, but did have property in Mississippi.  I don't know about Hiram Hardy, the ambulance operator's background, but it could be that he and Hiram Hardy Hargrove were both named for an earlier Hiram Hardy.  Who knows!

Here is a link to the book that was highlighted at today's History is Lunch...

https://www.msmaonline.com/Public/Journal_MSMA/Images_in_Mississippi_Medicine/Public/Journal/Images_Book.aspx?hkey=5291961e-b1b9-4d23-b2f1-94625e4b2e0c