Henry C. Myers (Mississippi politician)

Henry C. Myers was born on October 17, 1847, in Wadesboro, North Carolina.[1] He was the son of Absalom and Adeline (Boggan) Myers.[1] He had 6 older brothers and 2 older half-brothers from his father's first marriage.[1][2] Their names were, from oldest to youngest, George, Calvin, Absalom, Albert, Patrick, Martin, and William.[2] When Henry was eight years old, he moved with his family to northern Mississippi.[1] During the Civil War, all of his brothers and half-brothers fought for the Confederacy.[1] In 1863, the 15-year-old Myers joined the (also Confederate) 2nd Missouri Regiment.[1] He was paroled in May 1865.[1] He then edited and published a newspaper called The South in Holly Springs.[2] During Reconstruction, he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.[1]

Myers held multiple political offices in Marshall County, Mississippi.[1] On November 15, 1878, he was appointed Secretary of State of Mississippi as a Democrat to permanently fill in the vacancy left by the death of Kinloch Falconer[1][3][4] (between Falconer's death and Myers' appointment, D. P. Porter was temporarily appointed).[3] Myers was then elected to the position in November 1881, for the 1882-1886 term. On January 14, 1886, Myers was succeeded in the office by George M. Govan.[1][3]

A few years after leaving office, Myers moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he entered the banking and insurance businesses.[1][5] He was stricken with paralysis in December 1916 and died in Memphis on August 19, 1917.[1][5][6]

Myers married Minnie Walter, the daughter of Colonel H. W. Walter, in 1873.[1][2] They had one child together, a daughter who married John B. Edgar.[1][2] Minnie died in 1911.[1][7]