Photo of 19th Century courthouse in Pittsboro shared by CCJ reader

I recently found an article printed in The Journal dated Jan. 5, 2012 regarding a photograph of the Calhoun County Courthouse in 1894. A copy of the photo was included in the article.
A letter from Governor Dennis Murphree regarding this same photograph was written to the Monitor Herald on May 1, 1941, and a copy was printed in the Calhoun County Mississippi Historical and Genealogical Society newsletter dated 2018.

In that letter, Governor Murphree states that this photograph of the old courthouse in Pittsboro was given to him by Allen Ellard. Mr. Ellard told him that the photograph was kept for many years by the children of Jerry Malone, who is in the photo. According to Gov. Murphree, Scott Malone, son of Jerry Malone, gave a copy of this photo to Allen Ellard.

There has been much discussion about who the people are in the photo. I am the daughter of Scott Malone, and I have the original photograph. I can positively identify Jerry Malone as one of the people in this photo.
My father placed an “X” under Jerry Malone and always told the family that this man was his father. In the photo, Jerry is the fifth man from the left with a cape-like coat around his shoulders.
Having done genealogy work for several decades, I know that it is not unusual for people in photographs to be unidentified. Thankfully, I am able to make positive identification of my grandfather, Jerry Malone.