By Edna Liggin From Molly Liggin Rankin Who were the "relief girls"? What school had one session after another for 21 months? What was "Lickety Split"? What were head-marks? What community was know for its marble playing and who was the man there with the most expertise? In 1839, when Union Parish was carved … Continue reading Seventy-Five Years of Early Schools in Union Parish
The People of Union Parish
Cumi and Liss – Granddaughters of Daniel Lowery
Written by Edna Liggin The GazetteMay 4, 1978 (Author's Note: This is the third in the series of articles of families living near Lowery's Ferry on Cornie Creek. These families are the Austins, Youngbloods and Lowerys.) Living in the area today are two sisters, granddaughters of Daniel Lowery, who grew up on Cornie Creek near … Continue reading Cumi and Liss – Granddaughters of Daniel Lowery
Life of Willie Reeves
"Mr. Syrup Man" Mr. Willie Reeves has been easing the sweet tooth, and adding the crowning touch to buttered biscuits around Evergreen, Shiloh, Union Gin, and Mt. Tabor, as well as Bernice and other outlying points for a long time now. He does this with a sweet, thick concoction called ribbon cane syrup. Beginning at … Continue reading Life of Willie Reeves
Victor Tabor, Old McDonald
Written by Edna Liggin The Gazette October 21, 1976 Victor Tabor, who lives on Rural Road 3320, south of Spearsville, is an almost self-sustaining, on-man farmer, a rare breed in this day of supermarkets, co-ops, and big farms. In fact, he is almost extinct! In the day s of Mr. Tabor's great-grandfather, Joseph Shaw, it … Continue reading Victor Tabor, Old McDonald
From Watermelons to Rocks
Written by Edna Liggin Submitted by Molly Liggin Rankin The Gazette October 28, 1976 The Story of Eugene Pearson "We don't know what happened on this earth long ago," Eugene Pearson told us as we gazed at his collection of varied and unusual rocks and petrified wood. We marveled at the beauty of them, and … Continue reading From Watermelons to Rocks
James Edmunds: The Man and The Legend
Written by Edna Liggin Submitted by Molly Liggin Rankin The Bernice News Journal October 4, 1979 James Edmunds was a man who traveled many miles going from Georgia to Alabama as a young man, then perhaps back to Georgia as a married man. He brought his family to Union Parish in the mid 1840’s. He … Continue reading James Edmunds: The Man and The Legend
Leon Austin – Woodsman of Old Lowery’s Ferry on Cornie Creek
Written by Edna Liggin Submitted by Molly Liggin Rankin The Gazette February 16, 1978 "The best and only place to live" is the theme of every statement Leon Austin makes about his 80 years of living near Lowery's Ferry, his beloved spot on Cornie Creek. Here is his home, his natural environment, here he still … Continue reading Leon Austin – Woodsman of Old Lowery’s Ferry on Cornie Creek
Generations Have Lived in Shiloh Home
Written by Edna Liggin Submitted by Molly Liggin Rankin The Bernice News Journal September 23, 1976 One of the oldest, and most certainly the best preserved of Shiloh's homes of yesteryear is lived in today by Mrs. Chloe Moore and sons. It is at least 120 years of age, maybe more, and is situated a … Continue reading Generations Have Lived in Shiloh Home
Old Home Store Earns Pin Money
Written by Edna Liggin Submitted by Molly Liggin Rankin One of the last genuine old country stores is the background for Mrs. P. K. Hudson's way of earning pin money "at home". Since 1917 she has been coming to this store, located at Litroe. She has sold goods to the same area through a rich … Continue reading Old Home Store Earns Pin Money
FAMILY HISTORY OF WILLIS FRANKLIN LINDSEY
Written by Margaret Florence Moffett Provided by Edna Liggin Among the early settlers of Ruston was the family of Willis Franklin Lindsey. He brought his family down from Shiloh, Louisiana, in 1895. Shiloh was a thriving little town situated between Bernice and Farmerville. The Lindsey family was quite large by today's standards. There were three … Continue reading FAMILY HISTORY OF WILLIS FRANKLIN LINDSEY
Mary Ann Chavers Matthews
Written by Edna Liggin - 1939 Granddaughter of Mary Ann Chavers Matthews Submitted by Molly Liggin Rankin Her father abided by the law, "The show must go on" and she abides by the one "Life must go on". Her father was Jesse Chavers, actor on a showboat of long ago that plied the muddy Mississippi. … Continue reading Mary Ann Chavers Matthews
Letter to the Editor
The Gazette September 11, 1986 An Open Letter to all Tabors: Do you realize that you had an ancestor, Lt. William Tabor, who was a soldier in the American Revolutionary War, and who is buried in a little family cemetery near Louisville, MS? In July of this year, Bertie and Carlton Booles of Crossett, AR … Continue reading Letter to the Editor
Ellis Lowery, Grandson of Rail-Splitter Daniel
Written by Edna Liggin - March 1978 "Good gosh, youngun" was the flattering appellation given us when we asked Ellis Lowery about rail fences in the days of his grandfather, Daniel Lowery. "That's all we had for fences in those day's" Ellis reminded us. Rather put down, we remembered from previous research that barbwire did … Continue reading Ellis Lowery, Grandson of Rail-Splitter Daniel
Edna Liggin Newspaper Writing Career for THE GAZETTE Spans More Than Fifty Years
Published in the The Gazette - December 1989
Rites Held For Long Time Writer for The Gazette
Rites Held For Long Time Writer for The Gazette The GazetteJuly 2, 1992
Edna Liggin Inducted into Bernice Hall of Fame at Corney Creek PorkFest
Photographed above with the official Hall of Fame portrait of their mother following Saturday's induction ceremonies in Bernice are daughters of the late Edna Liggin (left to right) Maradee Liggin Cryor, Mollie (Molly) Liggin Rankin and Geanne (Jeanne) Liggin Salvagio. This year's first annual Corney Creek PorkFest Hall of Fame inducted one of Bernice's best … Continue reading Edna Liggin Inducted into Bernice Hall of Fame at Corney Creek PorkFest
Life in the Delta in the 1920’s
Written by Edna Liggin February 8, 1990 When the flood waters of the Mississippi River came in May of 1927 that was the most historical event of my life on a farm in Franklin Parish. It covered my father's field as backwater. On morning I crossed the drainage ditches to take my father his 9 … Continue reading Life in the Delta in the 1920’s
The Scene Behind The Water Well Shed
Written by Edna Liggin Water Well At Site Of Union Gin School On the highway between Bernice and Farmerville is a bare patch of ground. In the background is a shoved up mound of trees and dirt, and besides that a big hole full of water. In front three things are visible - a tank, … Continue reading The Scene Behind The Water Well Shed
The Traveling Tabors
Written by Edna Liggin Shared by Molly Liggin Rankin When Robert Joseph Tabor at the age of 23 returned from the Civil War to Shiloh to resume his life anew, he began to plow a straight furrow, both as a farmer and as a Christian. This was to be symbolic of his life for the … Continue reading The Traveling Tabors
Memoir To Sergeant Jesse Marvin Fomby
Written by Edna Liggin "I want to come back to these hills when it's over." Marvin told us when he was home on his last furlough. This week he came home to rest in peace forever in these hills he called home. It was a bright blue October day in 1943 when he smiled goodbye … Continue reading Memoir To Sergeant Jesse Marvin Fomby
Bernice Residents Remember Prosperous Days
Written by Edna Liggin Published March 16, 1989 Minnie McCuller Baldwin has other Bernice memories aside from the post office. She attended Bernice High School the same time as Bernice Lowery Bolt, for whom the town was named. She remembers her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Lowery, and later, Mrs. Lowery a widow, marrying J. … Continue reading Bernice Residents Remember Prosperous Days
Bernice Was a Prosperous Town Before World War II
Written by Edna Liggin Published February 16, 1989 What motivated Laurence Carroll to estimate he picked two bales of cotton one fall for which picking he never received a penny as a cotton-picker? Laurence Carroll was selling cars for the Ford Agency at Bernice! He would stop his car, go out into the cotton field, … Continue reading Bernice Was a Prosperous Town Before World War II
Memories of a Growing Bernice
Written by Edna Liggin The GazettePublished November 24, 1988 Although it had been quite a few years since the famous shoot-out near the depot as the train pulled in, Louise Jarmon had this on her mind as she rode the train to Bernice in 1926 to begin teaching in the Home Economics Department of Bernice High … Continue reading Memories of a Growing Bernice
The Next Twenty Years: Memories of Bernice
Written by Edna Liggin Published October 27, 1988 This second installment of the history of the town of Bernice is an attempt to compile a memory bank of persons now living in or near to Bernice. What can be remembered are clues to this Bernice history. Imagine Lonnie Gray as a small boy making his … Continue reading The Next Twenty Years: Memories of Bernice
More Memories of Bernice
Written by Edna Liggin The new masonic building on the main street of Bernice had only been there for ten years when Dr. M. Wick Laurence, Jr. opened offices on the second floor in 1937 that he might begin his practice of dentistry. He had completed his education in the school of dentistry, was already … Continue reading More Memories of Bernice
History of Bernice & Farmerville, Louisiana
Written by Edna Liggin 1939 In the 1790s when Union Parish grew wild and was roamed by Indians (there is found today an Indian burial mound on the old Scott Hamilton place), John Honeycutt, trader and trapper, did business with the Indians from the present site of Camden, Arkansas, to Biloxi, Mississippi, and assisted the … Continue reading History of Bernice & Farmerville, Louisiana
History of Bernice and Farmerville, Louisiana
by Edna Matthews Liggin 1939 In the 1790's when Union Parish grew wild and was roamed by Indians (there is found today an Indian burial mound on the old Scott Hamilton place), John Honeycutt, trader and trapper, did business with the Indians from the present site of Camden, Arkansas to Biloxi, Mississippi and assisted the Spanish government … Continue reading History of Bernice and Farmerville, Louisiana
Shiloh to Canaan 
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