At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, the Pearl River Valley in Hancock County was evolving as a significant hub of commercial activity and settlement. European emigrants
arrived in the ports of New Orleans and Mobile, but preferred to acquire good farm land to grow cotton which was turning out to be the South’s most lucrative cash crop. Most transportation was conducted in schooners (sailboats with two or three masts). The carrying trade was another prime source of profit. Planters would carry cargo from New Orleans to Hancock County such as salt, flour, tobacco, whisky, tools, medicines, gunpowder, weapons and lead. Planters carried their crops such as cotton back to New Orleans, thus making profits both coming and going. Important early settlers of Pearlington were the Doby Family.
Jean Baptiste Doby (D’audy) (c. 1770-c. 1835) was awarded a Spanish permit of 1,280 acres (two square miles) on Bayou Cowen, which is in present-day subdivision of Pearlington called Oak Harbor. Doby was a native of Hyeres, Provence, France from which he emigrated some time before 1796. He married Marie Jeanne Girand (1772-1849) of New Orleans that same year. Doby owned and operated schooners that served the Gulf Coast in that era.
He picked Bayou Cowan as a perfect site to homestead and acquired the land in 1809. He built a home and a shipping dock called “Doby’s Point” for his schooners, crewed by his slaves, the essential, experienced, and able seamen at that time.
Doby planted cotton, and raised cattle and hogs. He chose this spot to homestead because it was next to the “bustling community” of Pearlington that was necessary for his carrying trade.
The Doby Plantation was located five miles south of the town of Pearlington on Cowan Bayou, which is a tributary of the Pearl River.
The estate had fertile land appropriate for growing cotton, pecans, oranges, figs, and cherry trees as well as cattle. Cattle farming was a very profitable enterprise because the butchers of New Orleans had an insatiable appetite for beef.
The Doby Family played an important role in the early history of antebellum Pearlington contributing to the local economy and the region’s development. Jean passed away in 1835. The estate contained a small cemetery.
Unfortunately, the cemetery suffered losses during the Civil War such as stolen headstones. Some present-day descendants of Jean and Marie have organized The Friends of Doby Cemetery. Individuals such as Jack Dupont, Vanessa Polk, and Dianne Doby Merrill are engaged in meticulous restoration projects, repairing grave markers, and ensuring that the cemetery’s significance is preserved. There are about fifty-four local cemeteries in Hancock County, most maintained by descendants such as Jack Dupont. Jack reports the “the ongoing efforts of the Friends of the Doby Cemetery ensure that the Doby Family’s legacy remains not just a memory, but a living testament to the enduring spirit of a community bound by history.”
