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Biography/History:
Isaac R. Bass was born in North Carolina around 1799. He moved to Madison County, Mississippi, in 1834 and engaged in planting. Bass eventually owned extensive properties in Hinds and Madison counties. He became an ordained minister in the Baptist church and helped found the New Hope Baptist Church in Madison County. Bass married Martha J. Bennett, who was formerly of North Carolina, on May 24, 1861. The couple resided in Madison County until Isaac R. Bass died in late 1863 or early 1864. Their only child, Ella J. Bass, was born on April 8, 1864, following the death of her father.
Martha J. Bennett Bass married her second husband, Thomas N. Jones, around 1866. The couple resided on the Madison County plantation that had belonged to Isaac R. Bass. The Joneses had at least three children together: Willie B. (b. ca 1867), Frilly (b. December 23, 1868), and Laura L. (b. ca. 1869). Thomas N. Jones died in Madison on July 3, 1881.
Ella J. Bass married Robert Charles Lee, a native of Grenada County, Mississippi, on November 16, 1882. The couple resided in Madison County where they had at least four children: Laura E. (b. September 3, 1883), Robert Charles, Jr. (b. August 30, 1886), Walthall Bass (b. August 14, 1889), and Martha B. (b. August 23, 1896).
Robert Charles Lee had received a law degree from Oxford University, Oxford, England, in 1881 and a literature degree from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1882. He entered the legal profession with John Handy in Canton, Madison County, after his marriage. Lee was elected to the Mississippi legislature in 1886 and served two years. He retired from the legal profession to devote more time to planting interests in Arkansas and Mississippi. Lee was a delegate to the Mississippi constitutional convention of 1890. He was also an active member of the Episcopal church, the Knights of Pythias, and the Knights Templar. Lee died on May 5, 1915, and was interred at Montgomery Cemetery in Madison County. His wife died on December 30, 1931, and was also interred at Montgomery Cemetery.
Scope and Content:
This collection consists of a March 8, 1869, petition, which was written on behalf of Ella J. Bass and her guardians, Martha J. Bass Jones and Thomas N. Jones, by the law firm of Handy and George. The petition requested permission of the Madison County Probate Court to sell approximately 960 acres in Hinds County, Mississippi, for the benefit of Ella J. Bass. The proceeds from the sale were to be invested in the Madison County, Mississippi, plantation that Ella J. Bass had inherited from her father.Series Identification: