W.G. KENDALL-ARNDT
SHEARWATER AREA
OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI
LOCATION: At the former private residence of George E. Arndt Jr. (1909-1994) which is located at 112 Shearwater Drive. This small burial ground is situated in the southwestern portion of Section 30, T7S-8W on the shoreline east of the Shearwater Pottery.
HISTORY: William Gray Kendall (1812-1872)
came to Mississippi about 1840 from Kentucky, his birth state. He
married circa 1841, Mary Philomela Irwin (1816-1892?), a
native of Mississippi. Mary Irwin may have been from Greenville.
Kendall may have met her as he came down the Mississippi River from Kentucky.
By training W.G. Kendall was a lawyer, but he was also actively engaged
in real estate and brick making. In January 1846, he purchased a
50 acre tract of land in Section 30, T7S-R8W with 800 feet fronting on
the Bay of Biloxi from A.H. Donaldson. On this beautiful, high ground
facing Deer Island to the south, he built a residence, ice house, and school
for his children. Today, this property is divided and owned by the
children of Ruth Scharr
(Hansen-Dickey House) and George E. Arndt. It lies between the
Shearwater Pottery and the Blossman Estate.
Here the Kendalls reared and educated their eight children: John
I. (1842-1898), Anola (1843), William Gray, Jr. (1847), Kate (1849), Mary
L. (1851), Robert (1853),
Sigur (1857), and Benjamin Gray (1859?). In order to educate
the young Kendalls and possibly those of his neighbors, Kendall built a
schoolhouse just east of their residence.
According to G.E. Arndt, who resided on the former schoolhouse lot,
the octagonal shaped building had a hewn log base with each side about
eight feet in length.
The structure was twenty feet across the middle. In 1938, Arndt
added a bedroom and kitchen, and lived in it until he built his present
edifice in 1950. Hurricane Camille
destroyed the "schoolhouse" in 1969.
Although the original Kendall home was probably destroyed by fire, two
indications of the Kendall presence remain on the land today. The
most conspicuous is the "ice house". The ice house is a brick and
mortar structure with a front gable roof. The floor is also brick.
The dimensions of the building are: width-12 feet, height-14 feet,
and length- 17 feet. The ice house has a volume of approximately
2350 cubic feet. It is postulated that natural ice was shipped during
the winter and early spring down the Great River from the Great Lakes region
to New Orleans, and thence to the Mississippi coast where it was utilized
to
prevent food spoilage.
Additional evidence of Kendall occupation is a small grave site northeast
of the original residence. Here two indecipherable, marble
gravestones (22"x37") are located under a large oak tree. A clue
to the identity of one of the graves is given when W.G. Kendall conveyed
his estate to Mrs. Eliza Heerman of New Orleans on June 5, 1866.
An ex-
cerpt from this deed follows:
.....contain about 50 acres more or less including all dwelling houses, out houses, stables, gardens, lots, orchards, and fixtures of every kind there unto appertaining with the exclusive right-of-way to the road crossing the Bayou aforesaid and known as the "Mill Dam Road" and the growing crops on the premises reserving 10 feet square of ground embracing the grave of Ben Gray Kendall. (1).
After G.E. Arndt Jr. was killed in an automobile accident on April 22, 1994, at Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, his son, Dickey Arndt placed a marble marker on the property under the live oak which also shades the Kendall graves.
The Arndt marker reads as follows:
GEORGE E. ARNDT
REFERENCES:
1. Jackson County Land Deed Book 63, pp. 14-15.
Mississippi Coast Historical and Genealogical Society,
"Moran-Kendall Brickyard (North Biloxi)",
Links
Return to the Ocean Springs and West Jackson County Cemetery Web Page
of the public for Genealogy Research and may not be copied for commercial
purposes.
Return to Ocean Springs Genealogical Society, Inc. Directory Page
Visit
Jackson County, Ms Web page
Webspace Provided by RootsWeb
If you have comments or suggestions, email Ray Bellande
rbellande@cableone.net
This page created with Netscape Navigator Gold
This page created 4 Dec 1999