Collection: John J. Henry Papers | Welcome to the Mississippi State University Libraries

Scope and Contents

Correspondence, including letters relating to the John J. Henry-Theodore G. Bilbo 1911 affair and other letters from prominent Mississippians. The bulk of the correspondence documents the response of friends, business associates, and prominent politicians to Henry's public physical assault of Bilbo, after Bilbo spoke about Henry's family in slanderous terms. The responses document a broad and general dislike of Bilbo, and support for Henry.

Also includes broadside, newspaper clippings, and other papers concerning Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, the state of Mississippi, and U.S. and Confederate history. Correspondents include William Crump, A.H. Longino, T.C. Lowry, W.W. Magruder, and John Sharp Williams.

Dates

1904 - 1968

Biographical / Historical

John Justus Henry, son of Justus Reynolds Henry and Mary Rosie Lee Henry, was born on October 19, 1864 in Oktibbeha County, MS and died on July 6, 1951, also in Oktibbeha County. He was married to Lelia Ruffin (1868-1952) and their children were Clara Cecile Henry, Marion Henry, John Frederick Henry, Lelia Gottseelig (Mrs.Thomas Terry), James Oliver Henry, Jarmon Parchman Henry and Hettie Divine Henry

Henry attended A & M College, Starkville, Mississippi, was town Marshall of Starkville; Superintendent of Parchman, 1900¬-1906; worked for Southern Railroad 1906-1923; and was the general executive agent for G. M. & N. Railroad in the 1920s.

Source: The Man Bilbo by A. Wigfall Green; History of Mississippi the Heart of the South by Dunbar Rowland. Vol. iv, pp. 571-572.