A Thrilling Romance of the Old South
Everyone is interested in the real love stories of the old South, and the following, true in every particular, is one of the richest romances that occurred in the very heart of Dixie during the stirring days of the Civil War period.
Perhaps the story should start on the train, when in 1857 a young architect, A. E. Moreton, who had just graduated a short time before from Maryland Institute in Baltimore, was en route to Baltimore from New Orleans.
Circumstances threw him in the company of Reverend M. J. Whitworth, of Brookhaven, Miss. On learning that his traveling companion was an architect Mr. Whitworth was very much interested and proceeded to tell him of some plans of his own, a long cherished project. It seems that Mr. Whitworth had set aside a tract of land on which to build a woman’s college, but had been unable so far to get in touch with a competent architect and practical builder to construct the first building on the campus. The town of Brookhaven, where the college was to be located, had been laid out on his land some years before.
As talk progressed it developed that Mr. Moreton had just the qualities and ability that Mr. Whitworth desired and he prevailed on the northbound young architect to get off with him at Brookhaven and look over the situation. This visit resulted in young Moreton being employed as architect and builder of the first buildings for the institution that was to become the successor of Elizabeth Academy, “The Mother of Women’s Colleges.”
The buildings were constructed during that and the following year and were ready for the school to open in the fall of 1858. Young Moreton had won his spurs and so genuine was the liking for him in the little town of Brookhaven that they would not hear of his leaving, so he stayed on and casual friendships ripened into deep and lasting affection.
When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the cavalry brigade of Forest’s division, and his courage, ability and conscientious devotion to duty won for him the title of “captain” before the conflict ended. During these eventful days Captain Moreton had been receiving encouraging letters from one of his young friends in Brookhaven, a young lady in her early teens. When the war was over he returned to Brookhaven and this young hero had things all his own way. The thirteen years difference in the love which had developed between the romantic, idealistic girl ---Laura Decell ---and Captain Moreton. Marriage was soon talked of, but their good judgment prevailed and Laura was graduated from Whitworth College before this took place. As it happened, the college had been used during the war as a hospital for the Confederate soldiers.
Laura Decell graduated with the first class after the war in June of 1868, as the valedictorian of her class. The marriage took place in the October following. Captain Moreton became one of the leading figures in Mississippi history, being one of the first men to recognize the value of the great forests of the state, entering the lumber business. His large family was reared in Brookhaven, the sons and daughters alike taking places of leadership in the life of the community. Sam E. Moreton, one of the state’s most successful lumber men and foremost citizens, is president of the board of trustees of the college which his father began more than three-quarters of a century ago.
Mrs. Laura Decell Moreton is the oldest living graduate of Whitworth College, and is living in the home to which her soldier-hero husband took her when they were married sixty-six years ago. She is a typical cultured Christian mother of the old South and blesses the entire community with her radiant disposition, her serenity and her beauty which has never dimmed through this long eventful life.