American AcornsJennie Ligon: from the Ladies Bazaar to the Gloster post office
Jennie Ligon's Ladies Bazaar offered hats, bonnets, dress goods, and a private room at the back for ladies. She opened the shop in Liberty, Mississippi, in 1883 and moved the business to Gloster the following year. In 1898 she became Gloster's postmaster, an office she held for fifteen years.
The Ladies Bazaar
In March 1883 the Southern Herald announced that Mrs. Jennie D. Ligon would open the Ladies Bazaar in the new Ligon store. Her advertisement offered ladies' and children's hats, dress goods, fancy goods, and trimmings. A dressmaking department managed by Mrs. M. J. Faust specialized in wedding trousseaux, and there was "a large and comfortable private room for ladies in the rear of the Bazaar."
Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (public-domain page PDF), LCCN sn87007277, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1883-03-03/ed-1/?sp=3.
How it is shown: Complete page as supplied; no crop, no retouch, no search highlight.
Keep in mind: The name Ligon is in the library's text index; the item has not been checked line by line.
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Mrs. Faust was probably Jennie's mother, Margaret Jane Faust: a 1900 obituary for Mrs. Jane Faust names "Mrs. J. D. Ligon" among her children. Readings of the notice disagree over Jane's day of death, so the exact day remains unresolved.
Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (public domain); The Southern Herald, Liberty, Mississippi
How it is shown: Complete page as supplied; no crop, no retouch, no search highlight.
Keep in mind: What the page says: Mrs. Jane Faust died Sunday 14 Jan 1900 at 9 p.m. at the home of her daughter Mrs. J. L. Wilson, Alexandria, La.; aged 63; native of Alabama; a sister of the late J. S. Longmire of Bayou Rapides; six surviving children reported (two sons and four daughters) but only five named: Mrs. D. M. Brown, Mr. C. C. Faust of Wilkinson County, Miss., Mrs. J. D. Ligon and Mr. F. F. Faust of Amite County, and Mrs. J. L. Wilson of Alexandria; burial at Gloster, Miss. (the notice calls Dr. Wilson 'J. L.' once and 'J. C.' once). The page names no husband and no maiden name. Whether these are our people: Likely, not Confirmed, that Mrs. Jane Faust is the tree's Margaret 'Jane' Longmire Faust (b. about 1836, d. January 1900), by age, the Longmire brother and the Ligon daughter; that Mrs. J. D. Ligon is Jennie Davis (Faust) Ligon and Mr. F. F. Faust of Amite County is the tree's Frank F. Faust, on initials and place. Not tagged: Mrs. D. M. Brown and Mrs. J. L. Wilson (no tree match), and Mr. C. C. Faust, because the tree's Charles C. Faust is recorded as dying in 1884 and this notice has him alive in 1900; that conflict is left open. The notice prints the death as Sunday, 14 January 1900, at 9 p.m. (the Alexandria Town Talk reprint is dated 20 January; the Southern Herald page is dated 2 February 1900).
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That September, the Southern Herald reported that Jennie and her husband, W. O. Ligon, went to New Orleans to buy dry goods, notions, and millinery. By February 1884 the "new Ladies Bazaar" was trading in Gloster City, the new railroad town, advertising goods sold "at a small profit on cash."
Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (public-domain page PDF), LCCN sn87007277, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1883-09-08/ed-1/?sp=3.
How it is shown: Complete page as supplied; no crop, no retouch, no search highlight.
Keep in mind: The library's the library's text index is poor here (the name is garbled: 'W. O. Ligou and lady left for New Orleans'); Ligon was not found.
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Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (public-domain page PDF), LCCN sn87007277, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1884-02-23/ed-1/?sp=3.
How it is shown: Complete page as supplied; no crop, no retouch, no search highlight.
Keep in mind: The name Ligon is in the library's text index; the item has not been checked line by line.
Image details
In 1886 Jennie advertised herself as the store's "Proprietress." She opened a "Ladies' Parlor" and promised to show customers her goods "whether you wish to buy or not." Later advertisements for "J. D. Ligon, Dealer in General Merchandise" may be hers too, though other local items call the Gloster merchant Ligon "he."
Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (public-domain page PDF), LCCN sn87007277, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1886-05-01/ed-1/?sp=3.
How it is shown: Complete page as supplied; no crop, no retouch, no search highlight.
Keep in mind: The name Ligon is in the library's text index; the item has not been checked line by line.
Image details
Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (public-domain page PDF), LCCN sn87007277, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1886-11-13/ed-1/?sp=3.
How it is shown: Complete page as supplied; no crop, no retouch, no search highlight.
Keep in mind: The name Ligon is in the library's text index; the item has not been checked line by line.
Image details
Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (public-domain page PDF), LCCN sn87007277, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1887-09-17/ed-1/?sp=3.
How it is shown: Complete page as supplied; no crop, no retouch, no search highlight.
Keep in mind: One page of a longer run of advertisements; the name Ligon is in the library's the library's text index.
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Fifteen years at the post office
Jennie was appointed postmaster at Gloster on March 8, 1898, succeeding Holloway H. Ratcliff. The Southern Herald reported the appointment ten days later. When Gloster became a presidential post office in January 1901, her appointment went before the United States Senate, which confirmed her on January 31. She was reappointed in 1905 and 1909.
Source: Library of Congress, Chronicling America (public-domain page PDF), LCCN sn87007277, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1898-03-18/ed-1/?sp=3.
How it is shown: Complete page as supplied; no crop, no retouch, no search highlight.
Keep in mind: The library's text index reads 'Jennie Ligon has been Post master at Gloster'; not checked line by line.
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Source: record image attached to a citation
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Source: congress.gov (U.S. Government Publishing Office).
How it is shown: Region crop of the nominations column; the full page is not held in this folder. No retouch.
Keep in mind: Confirmed as printed. Crop only; the running-head crop. Separately.
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The Official Register records a growing office during her tenure. Her annual pay rose from $1,000 in 1901 to $1,500 by 1907. That year's Official Register listed Emmons Ligon as assistant postmaster, Robt Ligon as clerk, and a rural carrier. By 1909 Percy Ligon was her assistant and the office had three rural carriers.
Emmons, Robert, and Percy were also the names of three of her five sons. The staff members were probably those sons, but the register does not identify them as such.
Source: Internet Archive (public-domain scan), U.S. Official Register
How it is shown: Complete page as saved; no crop, no retouch.
Keep in mind: Confirmed as printed (R8-C claims). The page lists the whole state's postmasters; only Jennie D. Ligon is tagged. 'Jennie D. Ligon' is read as the tree's Jennie Davis Faust Ligon (Likely, per R8).
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Source: Internet Archive (public-domain scan), U.S. Official Register
How it is shown: Complete page as saved; no crop, no retouch.
Keep in mind: Confirmed as printed (R8-C claims). The page lists the whole state's postmasters; only Jennie D. Ligon is tagged. 'Jennie D. Ligon' is read as the tree's Jennie Davis Faust Ligon (Likely, per R8).
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Jennie's last commission expired on March 1, 1913. On May 1 the Senate received the nomination of Ollie O. Conerly "in place of Jennie D. Ligon." He was appointed on May 16. The exact handover date and the reason she was not reappointed remain unknown.
Source: govinfo (U.S. Government Publishing Office)
How it is shown: Complete page as saved; no crop, no retouch.
Keep in mind: Confirmed as printed. The page names the successor at Gloster (not in the tree); no motive for the succession is stated and none is inferred (R8 'do not' list).
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Jennie's later years in Gloster
The 1930 census lists Jennie as a widow in Gloster. Her husband's memorial gives his death as 1929. The family tree gives her death as August 27, 1934; no death record, obituary or memorial has yet been found to confirm it.
Source: record image attached to a citation
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Source: Find a Grave memorial 110278825; photo posted by Mike and Kay
How it is shown: Complete photograph as saved; no crop, no retouch.
Keep in mind: The marker reads 1840 [and a 192_ death year]; the tree gives 1846-1929 and the 1900 census gives age 50. The conflicting birth year is kept (R8: check the chart's 1846).
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Jennie's work survives in advertisements and official records. No portrait or address for the post office during her tenure has been identified.
Sources
- Southern Herald (Liberty, Mississippi), 1883-1898, Library of Congress, Chronicling America: 3 March 1883, p. 3: www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1883-03-03/ed-1/?sp=3 ; 24 March 1883, p. 3: www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1883-03-24/ed-1/?sp=3 ; 8 September 1883; 23 February 1884; 1 May and 13 November 1886; 1887-1888 (advertisements); 18 March 1898, p. 3: www.loc.gov/resource/sn87007277/1898-03-18/ed-1/?sp=3
- Record of Appointment of Postmasters, Amite County, Mississippi, pp. 10-11 (U.S. Post Office Department). Cited without a link.
- Birmingham Age-Herald, 1 February 1901, p. 2: www.loc.gov/resource/sn86072192/1901-02-01/ed-1/?sp=2
- Official Register of the United States, 1901-1911, vol. 2, Mississippi (Internet Archive), including 1907: archive.org/details/sim_united-states-official-register-of-the-united-states_1907_2
- Congressional Record, 5 February 1909, p. 1911: www.congress.gov/60/crecb/1909/02/05/GPO-CRECB-1909-pt2-v43-20-2.pdf ; and 1 May 1913, pp. 880-881: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1913-pt1-v50/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1913-pt1-v50-26.pdf
