Mississippi College - Tribesman Yearbook (Clinton, MS)

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J. G. Chastain, ’82 are we greatly indebted advantage. J AMES GARY IN C HASXAIN, like most of the men who have gone out from Mississippi College to strive for the betterment of their fellow-men, came from the farm. He was born in Itawamba County, Mississippi, December 18th, 1853. His boy- hood was spent in manual labor and going to school at intervals. After teaching county schools for fifteen months, he entered Missis- sippi College in 1877 and received his A. 15. degree in 1882, with first honors, delivering the valedictory address. During most of his five- years course, he paid his expenses by doing various duties around the college buildings, teaching penmanship, and a part of the time acting as assistant in the preparatory depart- ment. He took part in the first military com- pany, and was made one of its officers, rising to the rank of lieutenant. As a member of the Hermenian Society, he was very popular and efficient in the performance of his duties, serv- ing as fall orator and anniversarian. To him for the magnificent library of which we now have the , M . r : C1 ?astam took his postgraduate course at the University of Mississippi ?eeolnGo? 1,1 f nd ; n “ ta physies in ,88;i - Here his literary ability was cognized, and he was elected to the editorial staff of the Phi Sigma Literary Society. himself of p baptist denomination in 1873, and has since proven plTtor evamS- 8 ext “ f the Kingdom. After two years as at Louisville IV - anon and the adjoining counties, he entered the seminary He ew lan ’,, a T T if n ? mduated in 1888 - While taking a course in the Mex eo Z? t if Virginia, he was appointed missionary to j il • ° fT cam e to him in grand old Virginia, he was happily married to Miss Mary Lillian Wright, of Norfolk , He is completing his twentieth year as missionary — four at Matehuala, six t V L r0y0 v t f rec at MoreI1 °’ and seven at Guadalajara. A year after I a mi , xl °’ IC 0 S an his career as a Spanish writer by preparing portions of et ures o e ( e ivered before the theological institute for native preachers. For ur years 1( was a stated contributor to La Luz, the Baptist organ of the republic ounded and edited Nuestros Ninos , also edited El Expositor Biblico, the only I aptlst Sun, i la y school publication in Spanish in the world. His course of eight • n i U u 8 ° n en l ;euc ' h has been repeatedly called for in more permanent form, k manuscript is nearly ready for the press, the book to be used by the native pas ors and other Christian leaders. Other productions of similar nature are xpec e tiom the facile pen of Mr. Chastain in the future. He received his D. D. irom Mississippi, in 1897. l 9 3

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B. D. Gray, ’78 t VEN though it is not universally be- lieved that heredity has a power in the molding and shaping of the lives and characters of great men, it cannot be denied that it adds a venerableness to the name to which it is attached. Baron De Kalb Gray is descended directly from men who belong to that band which immortalized it- self in the Carolinas during the Revolution- ary War. His grandfather. Clinch Gray, a civil engineer, in the employ of the govern- ment, came to Winchester, Mississippi, from Knoxville, Tennessee, in the early part of 1805, and subquently became a member of the first Constitutional Convention, which formed this great territory into a State. From a lineage so patriotic we could but expect a man so cosmopolitan in his interests as Doctor Gray. After elementary education in his county schools and academy work under the famous S. S. Melben, we find him entering Mississippi College in 1874. He was graduated from this institution in 1878, receiving the M. A., w ith first honors, and delivering the Latin Salutatory address. He enjoys the notable distinction of being, with P. H. Eager, tlie first who ever attained the master’s degree from the college. Throughout his entire college course he was conspicuous for promptness and regularity in the performance of all duties. These characteristics were especially prominent in regard to all religious exercises. He w r as fall orator of the Hcrim nian Society and also Anniversarian in his Senior year, having declined in his Junior year the same honor which his popularity had made possible foi him. As a student, he took a lively interest in college athletics, and is an enthusiastic supporter of inter- collegiate football, under regulations. Indeed, we may say that loyalty was his attitude to all college interests, and is the criterion to which may be attributed the soul, spirit, and essence of his life work and suc cess. . After taking graduate and postgraduate work in the Baptist Theological Seminary, he held the pastorate of the East Baptist Church of Louisville for a year. He resigned this with the intention of taking a course at the University of lrgima, but later, at the earnest solicitation of his friends, he abandoned this cherished plan and became pastor of the Clinton Church, in 1884; while he was here, he was married to Miss Alma Ratliff, the accomplished daughter of Captain W. T. Ratliff. As president of the board of trustees of Howard College, he led the move- ment that resulted in the removal of a fifty-thousand-dollar debt. After refusing the presidency of eight colleges, he was finally induced to accept that position in Georgetown, Kentucky. Although he loved educational w ork and was planning largely for the future of his institution, he listened to the appeals of his brethren that lie enter upon the corresponding secretaryship of the Home Mission Board, located at Atlanta, Georgia. Mississippi College conferred upon him the degree of I). D. in 1890, and of LL. D. in 1904. 18

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J AMES HOUSTON PRICE, the second son of Aaron Price and Fannie Deer Price, was horn August 26th, 1861, at Mountain Creek, Rankin County, Mississippi. He spent his early youth on his father ' s farm, obtaining a rudimentary education in the public schools of that neighborhood. At the age of twenty, he entered Mississippi College, where he maintained himself by manual labor and teaching during vacations. He won the first Trotter medal for oratory, and repre- sented the Hermenian Society as Anniversarian. On the completion of his college course, in 1885, he was elected a member of the Gills- burg Collegiate Institute, and resigned the presidency of that institution in 1889 to enter the Law School of the University of Mississippi. Prior to his university career, he was married to Miss Mary Ida Gill, daughter of William A. Gill, founder of Gillsburg Collegiate Institute. He then moved to Magnolia, Mississippi, and began the practice of law. Since that time no man of his age in South Mississippi has enjoyed a larger or more lucrative practice. In March, 1903, Governor Longino appointed him Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi to fill the unexpired term of Justice Samuel Terrell, deceased. This appointment came to him unsought, and the following Monday he assumed the duties of that responsible position. Within less than a week after he received this high distinction, his wife died suddenly at Magnolia. Judge Price remained on the bench until the close of the spring term. Believing that his duty to his three motherless children was paramount, and feeling that he could not dis- charge his obligation to them to his satisfaction and hold a seat in that high tribunal which demanded his entire time and attention, he resigned in August, and returned to Magnolia and again engaged in the practice of his profession. In April, 1904, he was married to Miss Emily Francis Hyer, a daughter of Doctor Wilbur F. and Eliza Bowen Hyer. While loyai to Democratic principles and party, and taking an active interest in politics, he has never sought political honors. Believing the law a jealous master and worthy of his undivided time and allegiance, he has applied himself closely to it, and is regarded as one of the representative members of his profession in south Mississippi. Together with his entire family, he is a member of the Baptist Church. He is also a Mason, an Odd Fellow, and Knight of Pythias. Reared on a farm, his love and sympathy are with the agricultural classes. He is engaged in farming, and is much concerned in the methods of fertilizing, the selection of the best seeds for planting, and the general advancement and develop- ment of south Mississippi. He has been a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee; is now president of Pike County Democratic Executive Committee; president of the Pike County Bar Association, member of the Executive Committee of State Bar Associa- tion, and president of the Mississippi Alumni Association. 20 J. H. Price, ’85