Volume 3, pp. 243-244

Faison, George W., Jr., an enterprising merchant of Shaw, was born in Rolling Fork Landing, Issaquena county, Miss., Feb. 23, 1861.  His parents were George W. and Ellen R. (Fields) Faison, the former a native of Southampton county, Va., the latter of North Carolina.  The Faison ancestry goes back to 1666, when Henryck Fayson Von Donrerack, senior, received a grant of land in York county, Va.   Later the name was changed to Fayson and in 1824 we find it Faison, as it is recorded the James Faison was then living in Charles Parish, York county, Va.  Subsequently this James Faison removed to Northampton county, N. C.  George W. Faison, Jr., however, belongs to the Virginia branch of the family, which settled in Southampton county.  George W. Faison, Sr., the father of the subject of this sketch, was a Confederate soldier in the commissary department of the Mississippi troops captured at Vicksburg.  He is still living, operating a large plantation near Faisonia, Miss.  George W. Faison, Jr., received his education in the common schools of Yazoo and Montgomery counties, Miss., and later took a course at Washington and Lee university in Lexington, Va.  His first employment was as a clerk in a general store conducted by his father.  In August, 1885, he located in Shaw and engaged in merchandising, which he has most successfully followed ever since.  Like so many other Southern gentlement he looks after the management of several plantations, and owns and operates a cotton gin and oil mill at Shaw.  The Shaw Hardware Company, of which he is president, has an authorized capital of $25,000, and he is also a director and vice-president of the Bank of Shaw.  In politics Mr. Faison is a Democrat, and as such he has served as alderman ever since the town was incorporated.  In religious matters both he and his wife are affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, South.  On Feb. 28, 1893, he married Miss Willie C., daughter of William and Emma E. (Chamberlain) De Jarnette of Tennessee, and to this union two children have been born--George W. and John DeJarnette.  Perhaps no man in Shaw has been more eminently successful in the commercial world than has Mr. Faison, and certainly no business man has a higher standing than has the subject of this sketch.

Submitted by Lori Thornton
 

Source:  Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi,  Chicago:  The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1891.

Volume I, pp. 712-713

Among the shrewd successful and far-seeing young business men of this section is Mr. George W. Faison, Jr., who, like his father, possesses business ability of a high order. He was born in Issaquena county, Miss., February 23, 1861, and in 1863 was brought by his parents to Sunflower county, his early youth being spent in Faisonia. He was given the advantages of the schools in this county, and his education was completed at Washington and Lee college, Virginia. Upon his return from college he began clerking in his father's store in Faisonia, continuing with him for five years. During this time he received a most thorough business training and laid the foundation for a successful career in later years. In 1885 he engaged in merchandising at Shaws, and for about three years successfully conducted affairs at that point. In 1888 he present partnership of G.W. Faison and Son was formed, with a store at Faisonia, Shaws, and a double store at Indianola, their annual sales being very satisfactory. Mrs. Faison is a young man of sterling qualities of character, and as a business manager has not his superior among the young men of this section. His habits are unexceptionable, and he is hightly esteemed and respected in social as well as business circles.