(The October 23, 1925, historical issue of the Grenada Sentinel received high ratings from readers and was decidedly a treasured issue worth preserving. Editor O.F. Lawrence received a letter from Dr. Dunbar Rowland, Director of the Department of Archives and History of the State complimenting the historical issue. Dr. Rowland’s letter is in today’s article.)
Grenada Sentinel
Friday, October 30, 1925
The Sentinel has been most generously congratulated and complimented on its historical and advertising edition of October 23. Many have said that in reading the issue, the unbidden tear came. It does not hurt people to cry occasionally – it is well to have the heart touched ever and anon so that the mind may be taken off the sordid and disturbing problems that each and every individual has to meet day by day.
The Sentinel appreciates the following letter received from Dr. Dunbar Rowland, Director of Archives and History. Dr. Rowland is a scholarly man. He has performed well the very highly important duties that have devolved upon him since he was chosen to head the Department that is regarded as one of the best of its kind in all the Union. Indeed it is doubtful if there is another man in Mississippi that could fill Dr. Rowland’s post so thoroughly as he is doing. He is critical in his judgments, naturally so, hence, The Sentinel regards a compliment from him as to anything that makes an attempt at the historical as coming from no ordinary source. This paper is taking the liberty of publishing his letter, which appears below:
October 26, 1925
Jackson, Miss.
Mr. O.F. Lawrence
Grenada, Miss.
Dear Mr. Lawrence:
The State Historical Department has a complete file of The Grenada Sentinel from September 1902 to date.
I have always regarded The Sentinel as a newspaper of exceptional interest and merit; and this good opinion has been confirmed and strengthened by your recent historical and advertising issue of October 23.
Yalobusha is my native county; my grandfather, Reverend William A. Bryan, lived at Old Troy and Oakland, and in the early days, before the Choctaws were transported to the Indian Territory, preached to that tribe of Indians. My father, Dr. William Brewer Rowland, was a physician at Oakland. You will see from this that I have a deep interest in Grenada County, which now includes parts of Yalobusha, Tallahatchie, Carroll and Choctaw Counties.
The old towns of Pittsburg, Tullahoma, Troy, Tuscahoma, Chocchuma and Eliot Mission, sites of which are in Grenada County, were important settlements in the development of that part of the State acquired from the Choctaws by the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, made in 1830.
I am glad to note that the graves of the missionaries to the Indians, who died at their posts at the Eliot Mission, are marked by monuments, which are well preserved; these pioneer Christians of Grenada County should be held in grateful memory by the people of the entire State.
The local history of every county in Mississippi is full of fascinating interest as it deals with the doings and lives of the people, which after all go to make up the fundamentals of all history.
It gives me real pleasure to offer my sincere congratulations on your valuable issue of October 23.
With best wishes for the continued success of The Sentinel and with highest regard for its Editor, I am always,
Cordially yours,
Dunbar Rowland,
State Historian
(Eliot Mission is not to be confused with Elliott Station or simply Elliott, as it is more commonly called, on Highway 51 south of Grenada. Eliot Mission was founded in 1818 near what is now Holcomb. For more than thirty years, Mr. Henry Watterson Heggie researched Eliot Mission and in 1989 published the findings in his book “Indians and Pioneers of Old Eliot.” Dr. Rowland mentioned in his 1925 letter that the graves of the missionaries “are marked by monuments which are well preserved.” Sadly, the ravages of time have changed the cemetery and as noted by Mr. Heggie on page 131 of his book that the tombstone of John Long “is the only one left in the graveyard at Eliot Mission now.”)
