The Political Power Couple
One of the components of this blog on the Members of Congress are the “side bars” as they say in the legal world. I define these as kinfolk, political opponents, connections and “by the ways” - as in ‘by the way she also won 2nd place for best pickled beets at the Tate County Fair in 1906.’ Trivia that only I care about is my jam. It’s also why I use a lot of parentheses and quotation marks.
This story is a side bar because neither of these people were elected to anything.
In the great Greenwood Cemetery in downtown Jackson are the graves of Sallie Harris Mayes and her husband Lucius Lamar Mayes. I think they may well be the most political power couple in the state and they are surely the most politically connected in the cemetery. That is saying a lot because there are a boocoodle of politico residents in Greenwood.
Following the flow of who’s who and who married who isn’t easy to do without a chart so be sure to confer with the one at the top of the page.
We’ll start by using “Ladies first” and begin with Sallie (look to the right of the chart). Sallie’s mother was Sallie McWillie Harris (we’ll call her Mama Sallie). Mama Sallie was married to James Bowmar Harris whose father was one term Congressman Wiley P. Harris (as well as a circuit judge and a participant at three of the Mississippi Constitutional Conventions). Wiley was married to Frances “Fanny” Mayes Harris (hold on to your Fannys, your Fannies and your FRannys because there are several). Fanny Mayes Harris’ brother was Greenwood resident Edward Mayes who was Chancellor at Ole Miss, the dean of the no-longer Millsaps College School of Law and was married to US Senator LQC Lamar’s daughter Fannie. More to come on them but we need to get back to Mama Sallie. (Glad you have a chart?)
Mama Sallie has the very unique position (along with her three siblings - and, as you can guess, all of them are buried at Greenwood) of having BOTH of her grandfathers that were one-term Members of Congress and BOTH were Governor: William McWillie and Tilghman Tucker. Mama Sallie’s mama was named…you guessed it…Sallie (we’ll call her MawMaw Sallie). MawMaw Sallie was a Tucker and her father was Tilghman Tucker. MawMaw Sallie was married to PawPaw William McWillie, Jr. whose father was William McWillie, Sr. That’s how Mama Sallie had the two famous grandpas.
So, Our Sallie Harris Mayes had William McWillie, Sr. and Tilghman Tucker as maternal great-grandfathers, her paternal grandfather was Congressman/Judge Wiley P. Harris, and her paternal grandmother was the sister of Ole Miss Chancellor Edward Mayes. As if that were enough.
But remember Our Sallie was married to Lucius Lamar Mayes. LL Mayes, as he was known around Jackson, had former US Senator, former US Congressman, former Secretary of the Interior, and the only Mississippian to serve on the US Supreme Court LQC Lamar as his maternal grandfather (i.e. his namesake). In addition to having his father being Chancellor at Ole Miss (LL was born in Oxford).
LL had a law degree from Ole Miss but found his fame and success as a real estate developer. He was not only the prime developer of Jackson’s Belhaven neighborhood but Mayes Lake and Mayes Street were named for him (although some think Mayes Lake was named in honor of his father).
LL’s sister Mary was married to professional baseball player Ben Sanders
Sallie and LL had no children so this super-political connected union ends there. Most of the folks mentioned in this story are buried in Greenwood except Lamar, McWillie, Sr., and Tucker. You can see why we say in Mississippi you better not talk ugly about anybody because you just don't know who they may be kin to.
