Wilkinson Academy
Wilkinson Academy was a private school for boys, located in the Natchez District of Mississippi, United States, operating in the early 19th century. It is best known for its role in educating Jefferson Davis, later president of the Confederate States of America. Housed in a log cabin, with one male teacher, the school existed to educate the sons of the local planter class dwelling in the vicinity of Wilkinson County, a southwestern county in what is today the state of Mississippi. Located a mile or two outside of the county seat of Woodville, the school was organized in 1815 in what was then Mississippi Territory and existed for about 20 years.
History
The school was incorporated in what was then Wilkinson County, Mississippi Territory in December 1815. The board of directors at the time of establishment included John Cutler, Abram M. Scott, Joseph Johnson, Wm. Connel, John B. Posey, John Nugent, Wm. Vaughan, Micajah Frazier, and R. G. Leckie. Two other schools were incorporated in Wilkinson County in 1814 and 1815: the Jackson Academy, and Pickneyville Academy at Pickneyville. Trustees of Wilkinson Academy in 1817 included Scott, Moses Liddell, John Joor, and two Davises. Samuel Davis may have been Jefferson Davis' father or older brother. A Wilkinson Female Academy, also run out of a log cabin, was established near Woodville in 1819.Davis started his schooling with a brief stint at age 10 at Jefferson College, located further north near Natchez before switching to the Wilkinson Academy. Davis' experience there was described in an "autobiographical sketch" he wrote in 1889:
According to a history published in 1891, "In the year 1825–6, Mr. Charles H. Talbot, late of Tennessee, was principal; in 1826, Mr. S. Hill; in 1831, Mr. J. A. Shaw; in 1832, Samuel McLelland; in 1833, Mr. Z. S. Lyons; and in 1834, a Mr. Black. Shortly after this it seems to have become extinct." Another batch of schools with similar names was established in the vicinity of the town in the 1830s.
Davis wrote in 1889 that "the log-cabin schools were not public schools in the sense in which that term is used to-day, for the teacher was supported by the fees charged every pupil."
As of 1891 it was said to have been located "near the old cotton factory" outside of Woodville.