O.V. Shearer, History of Raymond

The Founding of Raymond

A History of Its Early Citizens
1830 - 1860's

Raymond native, Oliver V. Shearer, Captain (Retired), U.S. Navy, has recently completed his book, The Founding of Raymond: A History of Its Early Citizens, 1830s-1860s, which he donated to Friends of Raymond, and which Friends has just printed and offered for sale. Captain Shearer’s book, in his own words, “relates major events leading to the creation of Hinds County and Raymond” and provides “a look back into the activities of its early citizenry and business establishments . . . Additionally, there is more detail about some of the citizens as well as Raymond’s early newspapers, schools, and businesses and political activities that were contained in articles written during 1878-1879 by George W. Harper, founder of the Hinds County Gazette, and who settled in Raymond in 1844 and died there in 1894.”

Captain Shearer’s great-grandfather, O. V. Shearer, came to Raymond from Pendleton, South Carolina in 1834. Two years before his death in Raymond in 1876, O. V. Shearer wrote a history of Raymond for the Vicksburg Herald, and the article appeared in the Raymond Gazette. His son, and Captain Shearer’s grandfather, Andrew Vassar Shearer, was born and died in Raymond. Andrew’s son, Oliver, was born in Raymond and died here in 1948.

As a fourth generation Raymond citizen, Oliver Shearer Jr. was educated in the Raymond public schools and attended Hinds Junior College for one year, before being admitted to the United States Naval Academy in 1950. He graduated in the Class of 1954 and received his commission in the U.S. Navy, where he served in destroyers and submarines in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. He was the captain of a submarine in the Atlantic from 1967-1969, and later served three tours in the Pentagon as well as staff duty in the Pacific Fleet. He retired from the Navy in 1982, and currently resides with his wife, Mary Dee, in Vienna, Virginia. The naval tradition is strong in the modern Shearer family, as their three children have all served as officers in the U.S. Navy.

Though he has lived in Vienna for 30 years, Captain Shearer yearly returns to his farm in Raymond, and during his 1998 visit was inspired by the folklore he heard during the Friends of Raymond Civil War Reenactment to do as his grandfather had done –record the history of Raymond. During his research he learned that his great-grandfather’s store on Port Gibson Street burned in the “Great Fire of 1859,” and that it was rebuilt by the Weldon Brothers of Natchez, the builders of the Hinds County Courthouse in Raymond.

Assisting in the research for the book was Pattie Adams Snowball. Pattie Adams Snowball, a fifth generation Raymondite, is the daughter of Mary Gillespie Adams and James Hermon Adams, who served as Raymond’s mayor from 1950-1978. In her research efforts, Mrs. Snowball provided Captain Shearer with invaluable materials, to include back issues of the Hinds County Gazette, material from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, information from her grandmother’s files, and data from the land books in the Raymond courthouse. She was ably assisted by her sister, Mary Kuhn, who provided her with valuable information. Jim Drake edited and produced the camera copy.

The combined efforts of these Raymond natives has produced an intriguing view of Raymond’s and Hinds County’s history –a view from the eyes of those who lived it.

The Founding of Raymond may be obtained by contacting David McCain, Merchants and Planters Bank, (601)857-8044. Cost is $15, with all proceeds going to Friends of Raymond.