Crosby Family Letters and Miscellaneous Ledgers

Original letters beginning in 1849 with Benjamin Wiggins of Bangor writing letters of introduction for Edward Crosby, his brother in law. Crosby was planning to travel to California. W.G. Crosby, in Maine, wrote most of the remaining letters to his brother Edward “Ned” in south Mississippi. W.G. Crosby writes about family matters and his business interests.

There is also a ledger from 1857 as well as typed ledger sheets reporting on the financial condition of Native Lumber Company of Howison, Mississippi and Ten Mile Lumber Company of Ten Mile, Mississippi from 1915-1916.

The Native Lumber Company was incorporated at Howison, Harrison County, on May 16, 1899, by L. N. Dantzler, J. L. Dantzler, L. N. Dantzler, Jr., G. H. Howze, Joseph Bozeman, Henry Colmer, George Bowen, Alexander McInnis and John Alberts with authorized capital stock of $75,000. L. N. Dantzler, Jr. was president. On June 10, 1899 the company purchased the sawmill plant and timber holdings of the former J. F. Welch Lumber Company, at Howison, from L. N. Dantzler, Jr., for $75,000.

The sawmill had a capacity of about 70,000 feet daily and cut principally for export, most of the product being marketed by the L. N. Dantzler Lumber Company. A planing mill was added in 1901. The mill cut out in January 1928 and the company was officially dissolved in December 1931.

On February 15, 1899, James R. Pratt and J. R. Hill, both from Calera, Alabama, purchased the sawmill plant of W. H. Merritt, located on the Gulf & Ship Island about a mile south of Perkinston, Harrison County. The price was $15,320. Pratt and Hill took in a third partner, George R. Burton, and operated the Merritt mill as a co-partnership under the name “Ten Mile Lumber Company.” The cutting capacity of this mill in September 1900, was 60,000 feet daily. A planing mill was also operated. The mill produced longleaf yellow pine lumber. The mill address was originally Perkinston, which was later changed to “Ten Mile.”

The Ten Mile Lumber Company was incorporated at Gulfport, Harrison County, on November 14, 1903, by J. R. Pratt, G. R. Burton and J. H. Hill with authorized capital stock of $210,000. The books of the company were opened on January 1, 1904, and the assets of the partnership purchased on January 29, 1904 for $210,000, the amount of the capital stock. In 1909 the Ten Mile mill burned, and Pratt, Hill & Burton leased the sawmill at nearby Millview for 12 months until the mill was rebuilt. In June 1910, the entire assets were sold to the L. N. Dantzler Lumber Company, of Moss Point, and operated as a Dantzler subsidiary under the original name. The sale included a new 75,000 feet capacity sawmill, planing mill, dry kilns, logging railroad and stumpage. The mill operated until January 1922.

In January 1937, a new mill was rebuilt on the site of the old one, and operated until February 1949. It was supplied by logs by trucks, and did not operate a logging railroad. The office was retained by the Dantzler Lumber Co. and they oversaw their timber holdings and operated as a tree farm from 1949 until selling out to International Paper Co. in 1966. IP used the old office until just a few years ago.