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Collection Details:
Creator/Collector: Kate Markham Power.
Date(s): 1870-1879; 1890, 1936, n.d.
Size: .13 cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Processed by: MDAH Staff, 1975; MDAH intern Caroline Moehlenbrock, 2023.
Provenance: Gift of Anonymous, circa May 1975; Z/U/1975.050.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.
Rights and Access:
Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.
Publication rights: Copyright assigned to the MDAH. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. Although the copyright was transferred by the donor, the respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.
Copyright Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code).
Preferred citation: Kate Markham Power Papers, Z/1367.000/S, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.
Biography/History:
Katherine "Kate" Markham Power was born on September 27, 1865, in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, the daughter of Jane Emmaline Wilkinson (1834-1910) and Colonel John Logan Power (1834-1901). Power grew up attending the First Presbyterian Church and was educated at private schools in Jackson, then at Augusta Female Seminary in Stanton, Virginia (now Mary Baldwin University).
Power worked for multiple papers, including the Jackson Daily News and The Clarion-Ledger. During her years of service, she started as the society editor for The Clarion-Ledger and successfully filled almost every staff position, from city editor to editor-in-chief. On September 1, 1894, Power launched an independent paper in magazine format, The Kate Power Review, ending the paper's publication in 1896 due to poor health. Power was the first woman to appear before the Mississippi Press Association.
During World War I, Kate M. Power volunteered with the Red Cross as a volunteer hostess in Jackson. From 1918 to 1919, she transferred to Camp Sheridan, Alabama. She was appointed head of the Red Cross organization in New Orleans, a position she would serve for two years. Power was sent to The Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, where she would serve for eleven years and attain the rank of major.
Throughout her life, Power was involved in organizations in Jackson. She managed her father's campaign for Secretary of the State of Mississippi in 1888, winning him the nomination. She served as the first president of the Jackson Literary Society and as the associate treasurer of the Confederate Monument Association. Power founded the Pioneer Club in 1936 and served as the club's historian gathering historical information for the club. She also worked on a historical research project for the Work Progress Administration.
Power moved back to Jackson around 1932 and was a member of the First Presbyterian Church until her death on February 9, 1946. She is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, near her parents and several siblings.
Daniel McFarland Wilkinson (1802-1886) and Mary Campbell Smylie (1810-1902) married on May 18, 1828, at Union Presbyterian Church, in Jefferson County, Mississippi. The couple moved to Jackson in 1842, and had six children: Nathaniel A. Wilkinson (1829-1854), Jane Emmaline Wilkinson (1834-1910), Mary Ann Eliza Wilkinson (1838-1876), William Smylie M. Wilkinson (1842-1873), Susan Montgomery Wilkinson (1849-1885), and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Josephine Wilkinson (1855-1904). The Wilkinsons joined the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson congregation in 1865 where Mary was in charge of preparing communion services and Daniel served as an elder until his death. Daniel Wilkinson died on March 31, 1886, and his wife Mary Smylie Wilkinson died on November 17, 1902. Both were buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson.
On December 29, 1857, the eldest Wilkinson daughter, Jane, married Colonel John Logan Power, who was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, on March 1, 1834. Jane and John Power joined the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson in 1858. John would become an elder in 1869 and remain one until his death. He also served as the Sunday school superintendent for around twenty-five years. John and Jane Power had seven children: William Scoville Power (1860-1882), Katherine Markham Power (1865-1926), Joseph Withers Power (1867-1926), John Edgar Power (1870), Anabel Power (1871-1958), Emma Smylie Power (1873-1958), and George Boyd Power (1877-1943). John Logan Power died on September 24, 1901, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson near his wife, Jane, who died on January 13, 1910.
John Logan Power served in the Confederate Army. In 1864, he was commissioned superintendent of army records, a position he would hold until the end of the Civil War. In 1866, Power started the newspaper The Mississippi Standard, which later would merge with The Clarion. His printing company, Power & Barksdale, was elected state printer in 1875. The Clarion merged with The State Ledger in 1888, after Power was elected Secretary of State, a position he held for six years. He died during his second term. Power's son, Joseph Withers Power, succeeded him as Secretary of State and served until he died in 1926.
Other notable family members included Anabel Power, who worked as a journalist and cared for her sister, Kate, after her stroke. She was recognized as the unofficial historian of Jackson and published a regular column in the Sunday Clarion-Ledger. Her brother George Boyd Power, who became a lawyer, was in Millsaps College's first graduating class. He served as the clerk of Mississippi's House of Representatives from 1916 to 1934. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed George B. Power as the state director of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1934. Power was an active member and elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Jackson.
The First Presbyterian Church was founded in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, on April 8, 1837. The congregation initially met in the original Mississippi State Capitol building until the building of their first sanctuary was completed. The cornerstone was laid on October 10, 1843, and construction proceeded slowly at 301 North State Street because of financial limitations. The church opened for services on February 1, 1846, and the last service in this building was held on July 19, 1891. The original building was demolished circa 1891 to allow for the construction of the second building of First Presbyterian Church on the same site.
The new building, constructed between 1892-93 under the direction of R.H. Hunt & Company, architects, in a Late Victorian Gothic Revival style, was dedicated and held its first service on May 14, 1893. The final service was on August 29, 1951, with the demolition of the building occurring later that year. A new building was erected in this location that eventually housed the Eudora Welty Library branch of the Jackson-Hinds Library System. Property was purchased in 1945 for a new sanctuary on North State Street between Belhaven and Pinehurst streets, and the building was declared on July 10, 1950. The congregation officially moved into their new and current sanctuary.
On January 16, 1880, the church purchased a manse located at 226 North State Street for pastor John Hunter and his family. The church sold the manse property in 1891, and for some time the house was known as the Hunter-Hutton House. It was demolished eventually. Now standing in this location, a new building was erected in 1952, and became home to the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) which rented dorm-style rooms to young women who relocated to Jackson from small rural Mississippi towns to work. The building operates as the Old Capitol Inn as of 2023.
Reverend Peter Donan (1802-1881), a missionary from Mount Salus Church in Clinton, Hinds County, established First Presbyterian Church of Jackson. Donan would serve as pastor from April 18, 1837, until July 19, 1840. The first congregation had four members: Margaret E. Mayson (1804-1863), stonemason John Robb (1790-1868) and his wife Marian A. Robb (1795-), and Susan Patton. The first elder, installed on September 1, 1839, was Dr. J.S. Copes, who would eventually move to New Orleans to establish a medical college at what is now Tulane University.
John Hunter was born near Londonderry, Ireland, on September 10, 1824, to Mary and Alexander Hunter, a farming family. John Hunter immigrated to the United States in 1847. He graduated from Central College in Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky, in 1852, went to a theological course, and he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1856.
In 1858, Hunter moved to Jackson, Mississippi, to become the minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson. He was voted in on January 24, 1858. Hunter was a well-loved and respected minister serving for around thirty-eight years. He would lead the congregation through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the creation of a new church building in 1893. On September 15, 1895, John Hunter submitted his resignation due to his health. He agreed to continue to preach until his replacement was found, officially retiring around 1897.
In 1858, John Hunter married Rosa Mahalah Farrar (September 17, 1824 - January 31, 1905), the widow of Lemuel Weeks Petrie. The couple had five children: John Farrar Hunter (1859-1918), a doctor; Rosabell Hunter (1861-1890), George Alexander Hunter (1863-1827), Idelette Hunter (1865-1927), and Ernest Hunter (1867-1879). John Hunter died on March 12, 1899, and he was laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Hinds Country, Mississippi, near his wife Rosa, who died on January 31, 1905.
Related Materials at MDAH:
First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi, Z/1083.000/S, MDAH.
Hunter Family Papers, Z/2187.000/S, MDAH.
John Logan Power and Family Papers, Z/0100.000/S, MDAH.
Subject Files: Jackson Churches Presbyterian First Presbyterian, MDAH
Other Related Materials:
Kate Power's Review (Jackson, Miss.) is available through Chronicling America (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/).
Scope and Content:
This collection contains the personal narrative typescript of Kate Markham Power written on October 10, 1936. In this narrative, Kate describes her childhood experiences attending the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, in Hinds County, Mississippi, from 1870-1879, and in 1890. The collection also includes a note by an unknown author and a photocopy of the narrative.
Note to researchers: Handwritten notes in pencil by an unknown author are found throughout the original typescript. The archivist believes the notes were made by someone other than Kate Power. The typescript is missing the last page; however, the photocopy contains the missing page.
Series Identification:
This folder contains a typed note, by an unknown author, about the importance of documenting history. The note is one page and is in good condition.
Box 1, folder 1
Subseries 2.1: Narrative (original typescript), 1936. (15 pages).
This folder contains a narrative typescript by Kate Markham Power about her experiences attending the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, in Hinds County. The first page is an introduction and dedicates "these memories" to her teacher, Rosa Lemly Preston (1855-1937). The narrative has thirteen paginated pages; however, it is missing the last page of the original typescript. The narrative is not chronological, beginning with her childhood stories about life during 1870-1879 and in 1890, followed by descriptions of church members. An additional page has the heading "Some Other Memories" and is on slightly larger paper than the rest of the typescript. Overall, the document is in poor condition, suffering multiple creases and stains that make part of the document difficult to read. Additional text was added to page thirteen.
Box 1, folder 2
Subseries 2.2: Narrative (photocopy), n.d. (13 pages).This folder contains an undated photocopy of the 1936 narrative by Kate Markham Power. The photocopy does not have the handwritten pencil notes or the cover letter of the original typescript, however, the photocopy does contain the last page of the original document.
Box 1, folder 3
Box List:
Folder 1: Note by Unknown author, n.d.
Folder 2: Narrative (original typescript), 1936.
Folder 3: Narrative (photocopy), n.d.