Chimney remaining from the post-Civil War cotton mill in the Arizona community near Homer, Louisiana. Photo courtesy of and copyright 2011 by reader Linda [last name withheld for privacy].
One cool thing about having a genealogy blog is that you occasionally hear from new-to-you relatives with whom you can collaborate. An unexpected delight is when a reader like Linda connects with you and you end up with a piece of your family's history.
Linda saw my blog post about
James McCoy, my great-great-grandfather who moved from Delaware to post-Civil War Louisiana to work in the first cotton mill west of the Mississippi. Her family now owns the land where the mill once stood, and she was wondering about its history. I gave her some suggestions about where to look up land records (the Claiborne Parish
Courthouse, federal
General Land Office records, and
Arphax Publishing's "Family Maps" volumes) and sent her links with a bit of history about the
Arizona community and its
cotton mill. And in return, Linda graciously sent me this photo. She says the chimney once had a bronze plaque on it that apparently was stolen.
A photo of the entire building as it once existed is posted on the Louisiana GenWeb Archives site
here. There is an Arizona Museum in the area; a Google book search turned up a older guidebook entry that states it is open by appointment only. On my genealogy to-do list (with a long list of others) is to contact them for info they might have on the mill or perhaps even about my great-great grandpa James McCoy, his wife Rebecca Jane Harrell, and their family.
Text copyright 2011 Liz Hall Morgan, all rights reserved.
