Caruthers, Dr. C. K.
Dr. C. K. Caruthers was born in middle Tennessee in January, 1837. He located in Panola County before the war and engaged in the practice of medicine. He served in the Southern army throughout the war, and later settled in Como, where he has since engaged in planting and merchandising. He was a member of the board of supervisors during the years 1876-1878, and was elected to the lower house of the legislature in 1887, and to the State senate in 1889.
Source: "Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society", 1913
Submitted By: Cathy Danielson

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KYLE Family
John C. Kyle
John C. Kyle was born in Panola County, July 17, 1851. His grandfather and father came to Panola from middle Tennessee in the early forties. John C., being a mere boy, lived on his father's plantation during the war and the years immediately following. During the years 1870-1874 he was a student at Bethel College in Tennessee, and at Cumberland University, graduating in law at the latter place in June, 1874. He then practiced his profession for a short time at Batesville and in the early part of the year 1876 moved to Sardis. In 1878 Captain Taylor was succeeded in the senate by Captain Vance, and in 1881 Captain Vance was succeeded by John C. Kyle, who defeated Simpson Harmon, the nominee of the Greenback party, in a campaign equaled in intensity and vituperation only by the campaign of 1875. In 1886 Mr. Kyle was elected railroad commissioner by joint ballot of the legislature, and in 1890 was nominated on the 368th ballot for Congress. He was elected in November of that year, and served until March, 1897. He is now (1912) living at Sardis.

John William Kyle
John William Kyle was born near Batesville, Mississippi, August 22, 1891. He comes of good stock on both sides of the family. The Kyles came to America in 1733 from Ayrshire, Scotland, settling first in Pennsylvania, and later moving to Virginia.

Father, Hon. Albert Sidney Kyle, at present State senator, has served several terms in the legislature of Mississippi, and is a man of ability and of influence in the councils of the state. His father's brother, John C. Kyle, well- known throughout the state, represented the second district three terms in Congress.

The mother of the subject of this sketch was Mary Heflin, daughter of Capt. William David Heflin and Mary McLaurin. The Heflin came to Panola County from North Carolina in 1850. The McLaurins were of Scotch descent.

The Kyle, Heflin, and McLaurin families have exhibited qualities of leadership and have been prominent in the building of the nation since the days of the Revolution.
Source: "Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society", 1913
Submitted By: Cathy Danielson

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Taylor, Capt. R. H.
Capt. R. H. Taylor was the son of a pioneer settler of Panola County. He was reared in the county and lived there until the war broke out. In 1861 he joined Colonel Ballentine's regiment of Forrest's cavalry in the Confederate army, and served in this corps throughout the war, being in the last skirmish of Forrest's cavalry around Selma, Alabama. When the war dosed he returned to Panola, and settled down to practice law and farm at old Panola. There he lived until 1873 when he settled at Sardis, upon the removal of the seat of justice to that place. Immediately after the war he entered the field of politics, becoming a candidate for district attorney in the October election in 1865, and when the contest between the Republicans and Democrats began in 1869 he placed himself in the front ranks of Democracy, and was most of the time at the head of that party in the county. In 1873, by reason of dissatisfaction and discord in the Republican party, he was elected to the State senate on a ticket with Ozanne as candidate for sheriff. During the latter years of his life he devoted his time and attention to his law practice and business interests. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1890, and was at one time a prospective candidate for governor. He died in 1901.
Source: "Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society", 1913
Submitted By: Cathy Danielson

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Vance, Calvin B.
Calvin B. Vance was born December 26, 1844, on a cotton plantation in Panola County. He was the son of Flisha Quinby Vance, a native of Kentucky, who came into the county in 1836. He obtained his early education in the school of Panola County, and later attended the Kentucky Military Institute and the University of Virginia, but left the last named institution in 1861 to join the Southern army, in which he served throughout the war. In the war he became a lieutenant of artillery, was later commissioned captain. He was wounded at the siege of Vicksburg. From 1864 until 1875 he was engaged in managing his plantation, and during the years 1875-1878 edited the Panola Star." During the troublous days of reconstruction he was unceasingly active in his efforts to break down carpetbag rule and to restore honest government to the State. In 1876 he was made brigadier-general of State militia, and from 1878 until 1882 was a member of the State senate, and after a lapse of nearly thirty years he was again elected to the senate in 1907. Captain Vance has always been a strong Democrat and was chairman of the Democratic executive committee during the strenuous campaign of 1875. He is a successful businessman and is now (1912) engaged in attending to his business affairs in Panola County and elsewhere."
Source: "Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society", 1913
Submitted By: Cathy Danielson