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North KRN 


HISTORICAL 
BIOGRAPHICAL 

ILLUSTRATED. 


1S8S: 

Smith  &  De  Land. 

HI  RMINOHA-M.  A.LA. 


/ 


COPYRIGHTED 
BY  T.  A.  DeLAND   AND   A.  DAVIS    SMITH. 


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CHICAGO; 
DONOHUE  &   HENNEBERRY,  PRINTERS  AND   BINDERS. 

iSSS. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


of  limestone  wMter,  tliougli  there  are  among  them 
many  sulphur  and  chal3-beate  sj)rings  and  a  few  of 
other  salts.  This  valley  is  boiiiided  on  the  north 
bv  a  broken  country,  that  in  the  western  part  of 
the  State  is  hilly,  and  is  known  as  the  harrenn,  and 
is  but  a  part  of  the  highlands  of  Tennessee,  and 
that  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Slate  is  mountain- 
ous, and  is  but  apart  of  the  elevated  tablelands  of 
'I'eunessee.  On  the"  south  it  is  bounded  by  a  pre- 
cipitous escarpment  of  the  elevated  plateau  of  tlie 
Warrior  coal  field,  that  is  commonly  called  Sand 
Mountain.  This  precipitous  escarptnent  rises 
from  GOO  to  TOO  feet  above  the  valley.  It  has  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  abont  half  way  up 
it,  a  terrace  or  bench,  which,  as  you  go  to  the 
west,  gradually  widens  and  separates  from  the 
main  mountain  until  it  forms  a  distinct  mountain, 
that  is  known  as  fiitlle  Mountain,  and  that  has 
between  it  and  the  main  mountain,  or  Sand 
Mountain,  a  fertile  valley  that  gets  to  be  ten  to 
twelve  miles  in  width,  which  is  called  Little  or 
Russelville  Valley.  Little  or  Russelville  Valley 
is,  in  most  respects,  similar  to  its  parent  stem, 
the  Tennessee  Valley. 

(2)  The  Coosa  Vaij.i;v.  This  valley  and  its 
outliers  are  the  southwest  end  of  the  series  of  long, 
narrow  anticlinal  valleys  that  extend  from  New 
York  to  Central  Alabama.  They  are  usually,  in 
a  general  way,  trough-shaped  depressions,  that  are 
low  and  flat  along  the  center  and  have  smaller 
ridges  and  valleys  oif  each  side.  Some  of  the  out- 
liers of  this  valley,  as  Long  Valley  or  the  valley 
in  which  Birmingham  is  situated,  including  its 
different  parts,  that  are  known  as  Roup's,  Jones' 
and  Murphree's  Valley  arc  over  a  hundred  miles 
in  length.  These  valleys  are  all  -very  similar  to 
each  other  in  their  lithological,  tojiographical  and 
agricultural  features,  and  they  all  show  plainly 
the  close  relationshi[)  that  exists  between  the  geo- 
logical formations  or  structure  and  the  soils,  topo- 
graphy and  growth  of  a  country.  This  is  espe- 
cially noticeable  in  the  case  of  the  soils,  and  is 
well  exem{)lificd  in  the  barren  ridges  of  chert,  or 
almost  pure  hornstone,  running  along  parallel  to 
and  with  the  fertile  limestone  valleys  at  their  base. 
The  Coosa  Valley  proper  is  a  continuation  of  the 
X'alley  of  Tennessee,  which  has  been  described  by 
Professor  Safford,  as  a  com|)lex  trough  fluted  with 
scores  of  smaller  valleys  and  ridges.  This 
description  will  apply,  equally  as  well,  to  all  the 
out-liers,  as  they  are,  in  all  respects,  similar  to 
the   main  valley,  or  to   the    Coosa  Valley    proper. 


They  are  all  anticlinal  valleys,  or  eroded  anticli- 
nal ridges.  They,  including  the  smaller  ridges  of 
each,  comprise  in  Alabama  some  4000  square 
miles.  'I'licy  Aie  very  striking  topograj^hical  fea- 
tures, and,  from  their  being  environed  by  ribs  of 
coal  and  iron,  and  from  their  being,  for  the  most 
part,  made  up  of  beds  of  inexhaustible  limestones 
and  dolomites  of  the  very  best  quality  for  iluxing 
purposes,  burning  lime,  etc.,  and  from  the  fertil- 
ity and  durability  of  their  soils  and  the  suj)era- 
bundanco  of  their  hold  hlfj  Kpr'nif/s  and  limpid 
streams  of  perpetual  (low,  and  from  their  being, 
by  far,  the  most  important  natural  highways  be- 
tween the  great  and  busy  marts  of  the  Northeast 
and  those  of  the  Southwest,  they  are  of  the  great- 
est interest  to  the  geologist,  the  engineer,  the 
manufacturer  and  the  agriculturist.  They  are 
due  entirely  to  erosion,  though  they  present  many 
features  that  have  been  highly  influenced  by  the 
outcroppings  of  special  geological  strata.  Their 
edges,  as  a  general  thing,  are  well  defined  by 
ridges  or  bluffy  escarpments  of  millstone  grit  on 
the  heavy  bedded  sandstones  and  conglomerates  at 
the  base  of  the  coal  measures.  Their  floors  are 
often  higher  than  the  mountainous  country  on 
each  side,  beyond  their  raised  edges,  as  shown  by 
the  fact  that,  though  they  are  bounded  on  both 
sides  by  high,  perpendicular  blulTs  of  millstone 
grit,  etc.,  their  streams  do  not  flow  along  them 
for  any  considerable  distance  before  they  break 
through  the  rocky  barriers,  on  one  side  or  the 
other,  into  the  mountainous  country  beyond. 
I  They  therefore  in  these  instances  present  the 
anomalies  of  valleys  that  are  water  divides  in  a 
mountainous  country.  They  rarely  exceed  two  to 
three  miles  in  width,  though  occasionally  thev  are 
much  wider.  They  include  outcrops  of  repre- 
sentatives of  all  the  geological  formations  from 
the  Carboniferous  to  the  Lower  Silurian,  inclu- 
sive. Their  simplest  form  is  a  simple  regular  anti- 
clinal valley,  with  the  older  rocks  along  the  cen- 
ters of  the  valleys  and  the  others  occurring  in 
regular  succession  on  each  side.  They  seldom 
however,  have  this  simple  form,  and  one  or  the 
other  of  their  sides  is  nearly  always  more  or  less 
complicated,  from  the  presence  of  faults  and  from 
the  overlapping  of  strata.  They  are  rarely  compli- 
cated on  both  sides  at  one  and  the  same 
time  and  place.  The  most  important,  by 
far,  of  their  geological  formations  are  the 
Upper  and  Lower  Silurian,  from  their  Ijeing  the 
great    repositories  of  thf    iron  ores  of   Alabama. 


10 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


These  anticlinal  valleys  are  also  remarkable  for 
their  hicj  sjyrings.  They  are  destined  to  be  the 
seats  of  the  greatest  industries  of  the  State  and  to 
be  the  ricliest  and  most  densely-populated  portions 
of   Alabama. 

ROLLING  AND  PRAIRIE  LANDS. 

These  lands  lie  to  the  southwest  of  the  moiaitain 
region  with  its  valleys,  as  above  described,  or  to  the 
south  and  west  of  the  broken  line  that  connects 
the  first  cascades,  or  rocky  obstructions  to  naviga- 
tion in  the  different  rivers,  or  along  and  to  the 
south  and  west  of  the  old  shore  line  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  as  has  been  defined  by  the  State  Geolo- 
gist. They  form  a  belt  of  country  that  runs,  in  a 
general  way,  diagonally  across  the  State.  This 
belt  is  some  thirty  miles  wide  next  to  the  Missis- 
sippi line,  but  narrows  towards  the  east,  until  it 
finally  comes  to  a  point  near  the  Georgia  line.  It 
embraces  some  5,915  square  miles.  These  lands  do 
not  present  any  very  striking  topographical  feat- 
ures, as  they  are  comj)  )sed  of  strata  of  compara- 
tive uniformity  in  hardness,  and  of  strata  that  are 
almost  level,  having  only  a  slight  dip  to  the  south- 
west. These  lands  are,  however,  hilly  and  broken 
along  their  upper  edge,  or  the  old  shore  line,  where 
they  are  cut  up  by  some  deep  gullies  and  ravines, 
and  hence  have  some  considerable  irregularities  of 
surface.  They  form  the  jirairie  region  that  is 
known  as  the  Black  Belt,  or  Cnnebrake,  and  are, 
for  the  most  part,  of  this  region.  This  prairie 
region  has  a  gently  undulating  surface,  and  a 
remarkable  uniformity  in  its  topography.  It  is  in 
places  covered  by  a  fine  forest  growth  of  oak,  ash, 
gum,  hickory,  etc.,  though,  as  a  general  thing,  it 
is  bare  of  such,  and  is  in  cultivation.  It  is  noted 
for  the  great  fertility  and  durability  of  its  soils. 
It  produced  before  the  war  more  of  agricultural 
value  than  any  area  of  like  extent  in  the  United 
States.  It  may,  some  of  these  days,  become  world- 
wide famous  for  its  phosphatic  deposits. 

WATER  SUPPLY  AND  DRAINAGE  SYSTEM. 

Northern  Alabama  is  well  supplied  witli  an 
abundance  of  pure  water  for  all  j)urposes.  Bold 
springs  that  never  go  dry,  and  lasting  wells  and 
streams  of  perjjetual  flow,  are  to  be  met  with  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  The  annual  rainfall  is  about 
fifty-three  inches.  The  springs  occur  wlierever 
the  country  is  the  least  broken.  They  gush  out 
from  the  banks  of  the  streams  and  from  the  sides 
of  the  ravines  and  from  under  the  hills  and  cliffs, 


and  often  boil  up  in  low,  fiat  places.  They  are  of 
all  kinds,  from  the  biggest  to  the  smallest,  and 
from  the  purest  to  the  most  saline.  The  hig 
springs  are  confined  principally  to  the  valleys,  and 
to  limestone  formations,  though  their  waters  are 
never  too  hard  for  domestic  purposes.  They  are 
nothing  more  than  the  coming  to  light  of  large 
underground  streams,  and  often  carry  off  from  800 
to  1,200  cubic  feet  of  water  per  minute.  Many  of 
the  saline,  or  medicinal  springs,  have  been  in  time 
places  of  resort  for  the  afflicted  and»j3leasure  seek- 
ers, and  some  of  them  have  gained  for  their  cura- 
tive properties  more  than  a  State-wide  reputation. 
The  mean  temperature  of  the  waters  of  seventeen 
of  these  sjjrings  during  the  months  of  June  and 
July,  was,  according  to  Professor  Tuoray,  59"^  F., 
while  that  of  the  air  was  74°  F.  Wells  of  lasting 
and  cool  waters,  that  are  good  for  drinking  and 
domestic  purposes,  are  to  be  had  for  the  digging 
in  nearly  all  parts  of  this  country,  and  streams 
that  can  be  made  navigable  the  year  round,  and 
are  the  great  drainage  channels,  together  with  their 
feeders,  form  a  network  over  Northern  Alabama. 
These  streams  give  now  to  Northern  Alabama 
almost  a  complete  system  of  drainage,  and  will 
give  to  it,  some  of  these  days,  a  cheap  and  ready 
transjwrtation  for  its  every  element  of  wealth. 


Northern  Alabama  has  a  most  delightful  temper- 
ature, uniform  and  salubrious  climate.  It  seldom 
experiences  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  and  is 
entirely  free  from  the  feverish  heat  and  scorching 
sun  of  a  more  southern  summer,  and  the  rigors  and 
blizzards  of  a  more  northern  winter.  Sunstrokes 
are  almost  unknown,  and  the  streams  of  running 
water  are  never  frozen  over.  The  climate  is  truly 
as  equable  and  as  delightful  as  in  any  portion  of 
the  South.  The  springs  are  early  and  wonderfully 
balmy,  the  summers  are  long  and  even  in  tempera- 
ture, the  autumns  are  late  and  dry  and  the  winters 
are  so  slow  of  approach  and  so  mild  that  the  crops 
are  frequently  left  out  in  the  fields  until  after 
Christmas.  The  mean  temperatures  for  tlie  sea- 
sons are  about  as  follows:  Spring,  03. 9''F;  sum- 
mer, 79.5°F;  autumn,  64.5°F;and  winter,  504 *.F. 

FORESTS. 

In  many  sections  of  Northern  Alabama  there 
are  large  forests  of  soft  and  hard  woods  as  yet 
untouched  by  the  woodman's  ax;  and  one-half  of 
Northern  Alabama  may  be  said  to  be  still  covered 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


11 


with  its  native  growth.  This  native  arborescent 
growth  comprises  over  125  species,  wliich  include 
almost  every  kiiul  of  tree  of  any  economical  value, 
though  the  prevailing  forest  growth  is  pine.  In 
many  localities,  however,  the  oak,  hickory,  gum, 
beecii  and  cedar  abound,  with,  in  some  j)laces,  a 
considerable  sprinkling  of  ash,  poplar,  cypress  and 
walnut.  The  i)revailing  growth  of  any  locality  is 
olosely  dependent  on  the  soil  or  the  underlying 
geological  strata.  In  other  words,  if  the  under- 
lying strata '  are  of  sandstones,  the  prevailing 
growth  is  i)ine:  and  if  the  underlying  strata  are  of 
limestones,  the  prevailing  growth  is  of  the  iiard 
woods,  that  vary  in  kind  with  the  different  geo- 
logical formations  or  the  })urity  of  the  underlying 
limestones.  So  true  is  the  above  that  the  different 
timber  belts  of  the  State  conform  closely  to  the 
■outcroppings  of  certain  geological  formations.  So 
the  outcroppings  of  each  formation  may  be  said  to 
have  its  own  peculiar  growth,  and  so  distinct  are 
these  peculiarities  in  many  cases,  that  the  under- 
lying geological  formations  can  be  recognized  by 
them.  At  the  present  rate  of  cut,  it  is  believed, 
there  is  enough  standing  timber,  not  allowing  any 
•for  natural  growth,  to  last  at  least  for  150  years. 

SOILS. 

The  soils  of  Northern  Alabama  are  of  the  follow- 
ing typical  varieties  with  all  the  intermediate 
grades,  namely:  (1)  The  silicious  soils  of  the 
mountains,  or  elevated  lands,  (2)  the  loams  of  the 
valleys,  and  (3)  the  calcareous  soils  of  the  prairies. 

(1)  The  SiLK.'iots  Soils  of  the  MofXTAixsou 
Elev.-vted  Lands.  These  soils  cover  the  hinh-lands 
■or  barrens,  and  the  table-lands.  They  are  usually  of 
a  light  gray  color  and  often  are  not  much  more  tlian 
sand  or  pure  silicious  matter.  Up  to  a  few  years 
ago  they  were  regarded  as  almost  wortliless  for  all 
iigricultural  ])urposes,  but  of  late  years,  by  kind 
treatment  and  the  use,  in  small  quantities,  on 
them  of  suitable  composts,  they  have  been  found 
to  be  line  for  cotton,  corn,  tobacco,  small  grains, 
grasses  and  root  and  fruit  crops.  The  greatest 
objection  to  them  is  that  they  do  not  hold,  or 
retain  well,  organic  matter  or  fertilizers,  and  hence 
in  many  localities  they  look  as  if  they  had  been 
leached,  so  completely  have  all  traces  of  organic 
matter  been  washed  out  of  them. 

(2)  The  Loams  OF  THE  Valleys.  These  soils 
vary  in  color  from  a  deep  red  to  almost  a  deep  black. 
They  arc  commonly  of  a  clayey  nature  and  form 
£ome  of    the  best    farming   lands  in    the    State. 


They  are  noted  for  their  fertility  and  durability, 
and  are  susceptible  of  the  greatest  improvement. 
They  contain  within  themselves  all  the  ingredients 
that  are  necessary  for  plant  food,  and  hence,  if 
properly  cared  for,  can  be  made  to  last  or  be  kept 
rich,  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time,  without  the 
addition  of  a  single  handful  of  extraneous  ma- 
nure of  any  kind.  They,  however,  as  a  general 
thing,  have  been  badly  abused,  some  of  them  for 
as  long  as  seventy-five  years,  and  still,  though 
they  have  never  received  any  outside  help,  are 
comparatively  fertile  wherever  they  lie  so  as 
not  to  be  easily  washed  away.  Unlike  the  sili- 
cious soils  of  the  hicjldanils  and  table-lands,  they 
are  very  retentive  of  all  organic  matter,  and 
manures  ])laced  on  them  show  their  effects  for 
years.  They  are  well  suited  for  a  great  variety  of 
crops,  though  they  have  ever  been  cultivated  in 
cotton   and  corn. 

(3)  The  Calcareous  Soils  of  the  Prairies. 
These  soils  include  all  grades  from  a  gray  to  a 
very  black  soil.  They  are  based  on  the  rotten 
limestone  and  are  famous  for  their  great  and  last- 
ing fertility.  'i'hey,  in  many  instances,  have 
been  constantly  abused  for  the  last  forty  to  fifty 
years,  by  uninterrupted  planting  in  the  same 
crops,  cotton  and  corn,  by  the  exhaustive  method 
of  ever  taking  off  and  never  putting  back,  by 
working  and  tramping  over  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year  and  under  all  conditions,  etc.,  still  they 
yield  good  crops  for  the  labor  bestowed.  They 
have  to  the  north  and  south  of  them,  and  in 
them,  rich  phosphatic  deposits,  that  can  be  easily 
and  cheaply  spread  over  them,  and  hence  they 
will  always  be  regarded  as  forming  the  most  valu- 
able  farming  lands  of  Xorthern  Alabama. 

GEOLOGY. 

Xorthern  Alabama,  in  its  geological  structure, 
or  in  the  variety,  location,  materials  and  develop- 
ment of  its  geological  formations,  and  in  the  pres- 
ent positions  of  the  outcrops  of  these  formations, 
and  the  manner  in  which  these  outcrops  have  been 
thrown  together  and  exposed,  and  in  the  economic 
wealth  of  some  of  these  formations,  presents  a  field 
that  is  of  the  greatest  interest,  esjiecially  to  geolo- 
gists. It  has  in  its  outcrops  representatives  of 
not  only  every  geological  formation  of  the  Ap]»ala- 
chian  region  of  North  America,  but  also  of  two 
newer  formations. 

The  following  is  a  general  and  approximate  sec- 


12 


NOR  THERN  ALABAMA. 


tion,  in  a  descending  order,  of  the  geological  form- 
ations of  Northern  Alabama  : 

B.  NEWER  OR  SOFTER  ROCKS. 

DRIFT. 
(13)    Stratified  Drift 200  feet 

CRET.\CEOUS. 

(l:;)    Upper  Cretaceous.. .  ■[  Jj)  ui^ten  Limestone'.: '. '. . ! ! .  1 1 ,«»  felt 

(11)    Lower  Cretaceous...  -]  J^','  Tus'caloosa. ■.'.'.'.■.  ■'■.::::::  il.OOO  feet 

A.     OLDER  OR  HARDER  ROCKS. 

C,\RBONlKEROUS. 

(  Warrior  Coal  Field  \ 

(10)     Coal  Measures -  ("ahaba       "       "      -:!,o001eet. 

( Coosa         "       "     ) 
SUB-C.^BONIFKnOUS. 

(9)     Calcareous  or  Mountain  Limestone SOO  feet. 

,„.      „.,.  .           1  (rt)  Upper  Silicious  or  St,  Louis  Limestone,  400  ft. 
(»)     biHcious..|  ^.|  Lower  Silicious  or  Keokuk 300  ft. 

DEVONIAN. 

(7)  Black  Shale 100  feet. 

UPPER   SrLURI.\N. 

(8)  Clinton  or  Red  Mountain «H>feet. 

LOWER   SILURIAN. 

(5)     Trenton  and  Chazy 400  feet. 

»\     n„„v,<,«         Mi)    KnoxDoloraite 3,.5'Ofeet. 

,4)     Quebec -|,„,    KnoxShale l,800feet. 

(3)     Knox  Sandstone 80O  f  eet 

(3)     Potsdam  Sandstone 4,000  feet. 

MET.\M0RPIIIC. 
(1)     Crystalline  Rocks .'i.OOO  feet. 

These  rocks,  as  shown  by  the  above  general  sec- 
tion, are  of  later  origin  than  the  Carboniferous 
formation.  They,  from  their  comparatively  soft 
and  uniform  nature,  do  not  make  any  striking 
topographical  features,  or  are  not  at  all  moun- 
tainous. They  form  the  soutliern  jjart  of  the 
State,  the  part  to  tlie  south  and  west  of  the  old 
Gulf  shore  line,  or  to  the  south  and  west  of  the 
mountain  recfion,  though  the  stratified  drift  occurs 
also  to  the  north  and  east  of  this  line,  covering,  in 
patches,  some  of  the  higher  points  of  all  the  older 
rocks.  The  above  section  also  shows  that  the  only 
representatives  in  Northern  Alabama  of  the  newer 
rocks  are  of  the  drift  and  cretaceous  formations. 

DRIFT. 

(13)  Stratified  Drift.  Thisisa  wide-.spread 
formation.  There  are  suj^erficial  deposits  of  it  in 
nearly  all  parts  of  Northern  Alabama.  As  a  rule, 
it  is  irregularly  stratified.  The  areas  covered  by  it 
have  irregularities  of  surface  from  the  fact  that 
some  few  of  its  strata  are  of  varying  degrees  of  hard- 
ness, and  the  underlying  strata  or  formations  were 
irregularly  eroded  previous  to  its  deposition.  The 
superficial  coating  of  drift,  therefore,  determines 
most  of  the  minor  details,  but  not  the  general  con- 
tour and  most  prominent  physical  features  of  the 
country  covered  by  it.  It  most  commonly  occurs 
in  detached  patches  or  beds,  but  sometimes  covers 


completely  areas  of  considerable  extent.  As  a  gen- 
eral thing,  it  occupies,  topographically  speaking, 
high  positions  and  is  covered  with  a  growth  of  prin- 
cipally pines,  with  a  mixture  of  oak,  hickory,  etc. 
In  Northern  Alabama  it  appears,  in  a  general  way, 
to  thicken  to  the  south  and  west,  and  in  places  is  at 
least  200  feet  thick.  It  is  made  w^i  of  rounded 
pebbles,  sands  and  different  colored  loams.  These 
different  materials  occur  in  irregular  streaks  or 
seams.  The  pebbles  are  of  flint  and  fossiliferous 
chert.  The  flint  pebbles  are  the  more  rounded  of 
the  two,  showing  that  they  have  been  transported 
tlie  greater  distance.  These  pebbles  are  well  suited 
to  the  macadamizing  of  roads  and  walks ;  much 
better  than  the  cracked-u]}  limestones,  etc.,  that 
are  generally  used,  as  tliey  are  round,  and  hence 
are  much  less  injurious  to  the  feet  of  horses  and 
pedestrians,  and  to  the  wear  and  tear  of  vehicles, 
and  as  they  are  not  so  easily  worn  away,  and  as 
they  do  not  give  off  any  disagreeable  and  injurious 
impalpable  dust.  Among  these  jiebbles  are  to  be 
found  beautiful  specimens  of  quartz,  agate,  jasper, 
chalcedony,  cornelian,  silicified  wood,  etc.  The 
sands  are  coarse-grained  and  rounded.  They  are 
well  suited  for  movtars,  etc.,  and  are  frequently  of 
the  very  purest  quality.  The  clays  are  of  various 
grades  and  shades  of  color,  and  many  of  them 
make  the  best  of  ordinary  bricks,  and  some  of  them 
doubtless  would  make  fine  fire  bricks  and  pottery 
ware. 

Cretaceous.  Tlie  rocks  or  strata  of  this  forma- 
tion lie  approximately  horizontal,  having  only  a 
slight  dip  to  the  south  and  southwest.  They  form 
a  rolling  and  a  prairie  region,  and  are  comprised 
within  a  belt  that  runs  diagonally  across  the  State. 
This  belt  is  some  thirty  miles  wide  next  to  th& 
Mississippi  line  but  gradually  narrows  toward  the 
east  until  it  comes  to  a  point  near  the  Georgia 
line.  It  embraces  some  5,915  square  miles.  This 
formation  is  divided,  in  the  general  section  given, 
into  {T2)  JJppvr  Cretaceous  and  {11)  Lower  Creta- 
ceous. 

(12)  Upper  Cretaceous.  This  division  is  made 
up  of  the  {h)  Ripley  and  {g)  Rotten  Limestone 
groups. 

(/<)  Ripley.  Tliis  group  is  composed  princi- 
pally of  a  hard  crystalline  and  often  sandy  lime- 
stone, and  a  bluish,  micacious  and  frequently  a 
highly  fossiliferous  marl.  It  holds  near  its  bottom 
important  strata  of  phosphatic  material.  It  is 
estimated  at  about  250  feet  in  thickness. 

((/)     Rotten  Limestone.  This  is  an  impure  argil- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


13 


hiceous  limestone  of  great  iniifoi-mity  of  composi- 
tion. It  forms  a  strip  of  country  from  fifteen  to 
twcjity  miles  wide  that  extends  clear  across  the 
State  and  is  known  as  the  Canehrctke  or  Bhirk  Belt. 
Tliis  limestone,  before  it  is  exposed,  is  of  a  bluish 
color,  though  after  weathering,  it  is  of  a  whitish 
or  chalky  clay  appearance.  It  gives  rise  to  a  topo- 
graphy and  soil  that  are  of  remarkable  uniform- 
ity. The  to]TOgraphy  is  not  at  all  striking,  the 
surface  being  gently  undulating.  Its  growth  con- 
sists of  oak.  ash,  gum,  hickory,  walnut,  poplar, 
etc.  Its  soil  is  noted  for  its  great  fertility  and 
durability.  It  is  not  easily  washed  off  from  the 
prairie  likeness  of  the  area  covered  by  it,  though 
there  are  slight  elevations  from  which  it  has  been 
removed  and  hence  these  places  arc  now  bald  or 
barren.  These  rocks  have  in  them,  and  especially 
just  under  and  over  them,  some  very  important 
strata  that  carry  phosphatic  green  sands  and  very 
rich  phosphatic  nodules.  They  are  believed  to  be 
about  1,000  feet  in  thickness. 

(11)  LoiL'er  Cretaceous.  This  division  is  sub- 
divided into  the  (/')  Eutaw  and  {())  Tiisailoosn 
groups. 

(/)  Eiitaw.  This  group  is  composed  pritici- 
pally  of  gray  laminated  clays  and  irregularly 
bedded  sands.  It  also  contains  beds  of  lignite  and 
lignitized  trunks  of  trees.  It  is  computed  at  WO 
feet  in  thickness. 

((/)  TuscalGOsa.  This  group  is  named  from  its 
characteristic  appearance  in  and  around  the  city 
of  Tuscaloosa.  It  is  made  up  of  a  great  series  of 
beds  of  sands  and  clays,  and  bears  a  very  strong 
resemblance  to  the  stratified  drift,  for  which  it  was 
taken  until  within  the  last  few  years.  It  borders 
upon  the  ot<trr  or  harder  rocks,  and  forms  the  old 
shore  line  of  the  Gulf  of  ^lexico.  Its  clays,  espe- 
cially those  in  the  lower  part  of  the  group,  bid  fair 
to  come  extensively  into  use  for  the  manufacture  of 
fine  bricks  and  various  kinds  of  earthenware.  It 
also  carries,  in  places,  beds  of  ochre  and  a  very 
good  fjuality  of  limonite,  both  of  which  have  been 
tested  and  used.  It  is  thought  to  be  about  1,C00 
feet  thick. 

A.  (II.DKU  OK  lIAI{I)i;U  IJOCKS. 

These  rocks  include  the  carboniferous  and  all 
the  older  and  lower  rocks,  geologically  speaking. 
In  Northern  Alal)ama  they  cmlirace  representatives 
of  all  the  geological  formations  of  the  Appalachian 
system.  They  form  tUe  first  cascades,  or  rocky 
obstructions  to  navigation  in  the  different  rivers  in 


Alabama,  and  hence,  as  has  been  said,  they  make 
up  and  are  confined  to  the  (piadrant  drawn  with 
the  northeast  corner  of  the  State  as  a  center,  and 
the  straight  line  from  that  point  to  Tu.scaloosa  as 
a  radius.  They  therefore  cover  about  25,000 
Sfpuire  miles  of  Northern  Alabama.  They  form  a 
mountainous  country,  that  is  resplendent  with 
topographical  features  of  the  most  striking  kind. 
Their  strata  are  thrown  into  all  kinds  of  positions, 
and  are  rich  in  minerals.  They  give  rise  to  a  great 
diversity  of  soils,  and  are  covered  by  a  great  vari- 
ety of  forest  trees.  Their  formations  will  now  be 
considered  separately  and  briefly,  commencing  with 
the  uppermost,  or  newest  one. 

C'akhoxifeuous.  (10)  Coal  Measures. — This 
formation  is  highly  developed  in  Northern 
Alabama.  It  is  but  a  part  of  or  the  southwest  end 
of  the  great  coal  basin  of  the  Ohio,  or  of  the  Appa- 
lachian coal  field.  It  consists  of  a  series  of  sand- 
stones, conglomerates,  shales  and  cla3's,  in  which 
are  imbedded  seams  of  stone  coal.  It  is  rich  in 
coal  and  comprisesabout  the  thickest  coal  measures 
in  the  United  States.  The  coals  are  all  bitumin- 
ous, though  they  are  of  almost  every  variety  of 
bituminous  coals,  and  are  well  suited  to  all  the 
uses  of  bituminous  coals.  This  formation  is  not 
only  rich  in  stone  coal,  but  also  in  fine  building 
and  paving  stones.  It  also  has  some  iron  ores  and 
clavs,  and  some  grindstone  and  whetstone  rocks 
that  may  prove,  some  of  the.se  days,  to  be  of  great 
value.  It  is  also  covered,  for  the  most  part,  with 
a  fine  growth  of  forest  trees.  It  was  once  con- 
tinuous, and  then  formed  one  connected,  immense 
coal  field  of  some  10,000  srpiare  miles  in  extent, 
but,  during  the  Appalachian  revolution,  there  was 
thrown  up  across  it,  in  a  general  northeast  and 
southwest  direction,  a  series  of  parallel  anticlinal 
ridges  that  were  cracked  along  their  summits  and 
have  since  been  washed  out  into  narrow  anticlinal 
valleys,  which  now  divide  the  outcrops  of  this 
formation,  or  the  coal  measures  of  Alabama,  into 
three  more  or  less  distinct  parts,  or  coal  fields  of 
very  unefpial  areas.  The  edges,  or  rims  of  these 
coal  fields  still  show  that  they  were  parts  of  anti- 
clinal folds,  and  are  sufticiently  elevated  to  de- 
termine the  general  directions  of  the  main  water 
courses  and  to  fashion  tiie  three  coal  fields  into 
long,  tray-shaped  depi'essions.  These  coal  fields, 
though  originally  of  one  and  the  same  coal  field, 
and  lience  composed  of  very  similar  strata,  in  every 
resjH'Ct,  are  now  very  different  as  to  their  topo- 
graphical features  and  geological  stnwtin-.'.     Tliis 


u 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


dissimilarity  is  due  jjrimarily  to  the  different  de- 
grees of  disturbance  to  whicli  the  strata  of  the  dif- 
ferent fields  have  been  exposed,  and  from  this  there 
resulted  a  difference  in  the  outcroppings  of  the 
strata  of  the  several  fields,  and  hence  a  difference 
in  the  erosion,  or  in  the  inequalities  of  surface  of 
the  different  fields.  These  three  coal  fields  are  all 
rich  in  stone  coal,  and  it  is  believed  that  two  of 
them  comprise  the  thickest  coal  measures  and  the 
greatest  thickness  of  coal  in  the  United  States. 
They  have  many  advantages,  the  most  important 
of  which  are,  the  inexhaustible  quantity  and  un- 
excelled quality  of  their  coal,  and  the  nearness  of 
their  coal  to  the  iron  ores  and  limestones  of  the 
narrow  anticlinal  valleys  separating  the  different 
fields,  and  the  ease  and  cheapness  with  which  their 
coal  can  be  mined  and  gotten  to  market,  and  their 
most  favorable  location;  for,  as  has  been  said,  they 
are  bounded  on  three  sides  by  coalless  areas,  and 
are  the  neai'est  of  any  coal  fields  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  and  the  Atlantic  ports  south  of  Charles- 
ton. The  coals  of  the  different  fields  differ  more 
or  less  from  each  other.  This  difference  is  doubt- 
less due  primarily  to  the  relative  positions  which 
these  fields  held  in  the  original  coal  basin  and  to  the 
different  degrees  of  disturbance  to  which  the  strata 
of  each  of  them  have  been  subjected.  It  is,  how- 
ever, believed  to  be  more  imaginary  than  real. 
These  coal  fields  were  named  in  1849  by  Professor 
Tuomy,  the  Warrior,  the  CaJiaha  and  the  Coosa, 
respectively,  from  the  names  of  rivers  wiiich  drain 
them. 

Warrior  Coal  Field.  This  field,  as  commonly 
understood,  embraces  all  of  the  coal  measures  in 
Alabama  that  are  drained  by  the  Warrior  and  Ten- 
nessee rivers.  It  has  an  estimated  area  of  7,810 
square  miles,  and  hence  is  nearly  ten  times  as  large 
as  the  Cahaba  and  Coosa  fields  together.  It  is  the 
most  northwestern  of  the  three  coal  fields  of  Ala- 
bama. In  a  general  way,  it  isa  vast  plain  that  slopes 
gently  to  the  southwest  and  that  has  elevated  rims. 
Its  strata  have  been  less  disturbed  by  upheavals, 
and  hence,  as  a  whole,  they  have  a  less  dip  and 
are  less  faulty  than  are  those  of  either  of  the  other 
fields.  In  fact,  they  are  almost  horizontal,  except 
near  the  elevated  rims.  As  this  field,  away  from 
its  edges,  has  no  folded  or  tilted  strata,  its  topo- 
graphical features  are  not  so  intimately  connected 
with  the  geological  structure  as  in  case  of  the  other 
two  fields.  It  has,  however,  been  conveniently 
divided  into  a  plateau  or  tahle  land  area,  and  a 
hasin  area,  without  any  distinct  line  of  division 


between  the  two,  the  one  gradually  merging  int& 
the  other. 

The  7J?ff/effi/  or  tabU  land  area,  characterized  by 
its  surface  rocks  of  hard  sandstones,  and  conglom- 
erates near  base  of  the  measures,  is  the  northeast 
i:)ortion  of  the  field,  and  includes  what  is  known  as 
Sand,  Lookout  and  Kock  Mountains.  It  is  most 
elevated  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  State, 
where  it  forms  a  wide,  flat  plateau  that  is  from 
1,200  to  1,800  feet  above  the  sea.  Its  rims  are 
somewhat  the  higher  portions  of  it,  and  these 
slope  gently  towards  the  center  of  the  plateau, 
while  the  whole  field  slopes  gently  to  the  south- 
west. It  is,  therefore,  a  broad,  shallow,  elevated 
synclinal  trough  that  slopes  gently  to  the  south- 
west. It  is  divided  by  an  anticlinal  valley  into 
two  jjarts  that  have  a  similar  structure  to  each 
other.  This  anticlinal  valley,  as  an  unbroken 
anticlinal  ridge,  extends  some  distance  down  into 
the  basin  proper. 

The  hasin  proper  is  also  a  wide,  shallow  ti'ough 
with  slightly  elevated  rims,  and  as  a  whole,  gently 
slopes  to  the  southwest.  It  comprises  the 
lower  or  southwest  end  and  greater  half  of 
the  field.  Its  inequality  of  surface  is  much 
greater  than  in  the  case  of  the  plateau.  In  the 
vicinity  of  the  streams  it  is  really  broken.  Its 
strata  undulate,  but  not  enough  to  affect  the 
topography.  It  is  rich  in  workable  seams  of  coal, 
which  increase  in  number  to  the  southwest,  or  as 
the  measures  thicken.  Near  its  southwestern 
visible  limits,  its  measures  are  believed  to  be  over 
3,000  feet  in  thickness  and  to  contain  over  fifty 
seams  of  coal  that  have  an  aggregate  thickness  of 
about  VZh  feet  of  coal  and  a  workable  thickness  of 
about  seventy-five  feet  of  coal.  These  coals  have 
never  been  developed  to  any  great  extent  except 
along  the  southeast  edge  of  the  field.  There  are 
now  however  plans  on  foot  to  work  those  near  the 
center  of  the  field  on  an  extensive  scale.  There 
is  cut  off  from  the  southeast  edge  of  this  field, 
by  a  combined  fold  and  fault,  ar  strip  some  twelve 
miles  long  by  three  in  width  that  has  received  the 
name  of  the  Little  Basin.  This  little  hasin  is 
also  a  tray-shaped  depression  and  runs  in  the  gen- 
eral direction  of  the  anticlinal  valleys.  The 
Warrior  field  furnishes  about  five-sixths  of  the 
present  coal  output  of  Alabama,  or  about  2,500,- 
000  tons  per  annum.  From  the  ease  and  cheap- 
ness with  which  its  coal  can  be  mined,  and  from 
the  peculiar  fitness  of  this  coal  for  steaming  and 
coking  purposes,  this  field  is  destined,  in  the  near 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


15 


future,  to  be  the  center  of  one  of  tlie  greatest 
mining  and  manufacturing  districts  of  this,  or 
any   other   country. 

Cahaba  Coal  Field.  This  is  the  central  coal  field 
of  Alabama.  It  contains  the  most  southern  true 
coal  in  the  United  States.  It  is  a  long  narrow  field, 
some  sixty  miles  long  by  a  maxmum  width  of 
about  fifteen  miles,  with  an  area  of  about  435 
square  miles.  It  gradually  widens  towards  the 
south.  It  is  surrounded  almost  completely  by  the 
Coosa  \' alley  and  some  of  its  outliers.  It  is  in  the 
line  of  tiie  great  Appalachian  upheavals,  and  hence 
its  strata  have  been  greatly  disturbed  and  are  now 
highly  inclined.  The  dip,  as  a  rule,  is  to  the 
southeast  and  increases  to  the  southeast.  The 
surface  is  broken  and  conforms  strictly  to  the  geo- 
logical structure.  As  the  strata  possess  varying 
degrees  of  resistance  to  disintegration,  they  have 
been  very  unequally  eroded,  and  hence  ridges  and 
valleys  have  been  formed  with  the  strike  of  tlie 
tilted  strata,  or  with  a  northeast  and  southwest 
direction.  The  measures  of  this  field,  like  those  of 
the  Warrior  field,  are  thickest  at  or  near  then- 
southwestern  visible  limits.  They  are  reported 
to  have  a  maximum  thickness  of  over  4,000  feet, 
andtocontain  tliirty-nine  seams  of  coal.  Eleven 
of  these  thirty-nine  coal  seams  are  of  two  feet  si.x 
inches  and  over  in  thickness,  and  have  a  total 
thickness  of  forty  feet  of  marketable  coal.  This 
coal,  as  a  rule,  is  thought  to  be  harder  and 
cleaner  than  the  coal  of  the  Warrior  field,  but  it 
has  the  great  disadvantages  of  being  highly  in- 
clined and  of  being  in  a  more  broken  country. 

Coosa  Coal  Field.  This  field  is  the  most  south- 
eastern, the  smallest  and  least  known  of  the  three 
coal  fields  of  Alabama.  It  is  also  almost  sur- 
rounded by  the  Coosa  Valley  and  some  of  its  out- 
liers. It  comprises  about  415  square  miles.  Its 
strata  have  been  greatly  disturbed,  and  hence,  as 
a  rule,  are  highly  inclined  and  more  broken  up 
than  those  of  either  of  the  other  two  fields.  This 
field,  it  is  believed,  made  the  southeastern  edge  of 
the  original  coal  basin  of  Alabama,  and  hence,  to 
a  great  extent,  it  is  believed  to  be  made  up  of 
strata  near  the  base  of  the  measures,  and  as  these 
strata  are  more  barren  of  coal  than  those  higher 
up  in  the  measures,  this  field,  in  proportion  to 
its  size,  is  not  so  rich  in  coal  as  either  of  the  otiier 
fields.  It  is  known,  however,  to  contain,  at  the 
least,  three  seams  of  workable  coal  of  three  feet 
and  over  each  in  thickness,  and  with  a  combined 
thickness  of   over   ten    feet  of   marketable  coal. 


These  coals  are,  however,  of  a  comparatively  softer 
and  dirtier  nature  than  those  of  either  of  the 
other  two  fields.     They  are  good  coking  coals. 

StH-CARHOXiFiCKOis.  These  rocks  are  princi- 
pally limestones,  with  divisions  of  sandstone  and 
cherty  strata  that  sometimes  reach  a  remarkable 
thickness.  They  are  much  more  easily  eroded  than 
the  overlying  hard  sandstones  and  conglomerates 
of  the  coal  measures.  They  are  valley-making 
rocks,  though  the  harder  varieties  of  the  lime- 
stones and  the  sandstone  and  cherty  strata  form 
the  mountainous  sides  of  the  steep  escarpments  of 
the  valleys,  and  oftentimes  make  distinct  moun- 
tainous peaks  and  ridges.  They  crop  out  in  all 
of  the  valleys,  though  they  are  most  highly  devel- 
oped in  the  extreme  northern  part  of  the  State  or, 
in  the  Tennessee  valley,  where  they  reach  a  thick- 
ness of  at  least  l,oOO  feet.  In  this  valley  they  lie 
almost  level,  but  in  the  other  valleys,  or  in  the  anti- 
clinal valleys,  they  are  highly  inclined.  The  lime- 
stones are  often  very  pure,  and  well  suited  for 
fluxing  purposes  and  for  burning  into  lime.  They 
also  often  make  beautiful  and  durable  building 
stones,  that  are  easily  cut  when  first  quarried  and 
harden  on  exposure.  Some  of  them,  it  is  believed, 
would  do  very  well  for  lithographic  stones  and 
hydraulic  cement.  This  formation  is  noted  for 
the  sink-holes,  caves  and  big  springs  that  are  so 
iniinerous  in  it.  These  caves  often  contain  large 
earthy  deposits  of  niter,  copperas,  alum,  Epsom 
salt,  etc.,  which  were,  in  many  instances,  worked 
(luring  the  late  war.  The  rocks  of  this  formation 
in  many  places  are  stongly  impregnated  with  crude 
petroleum,  which  sometimes  exudes  from  them  as 
a  liquid  bitumen,  or  mineral  tar,  and  thus  forms 
the  so-called  Inr  .tj)riiig.s  that  are  scattered  over 
this  country. 

This  formation  is  dividable  into  two  distinct 
groups,  namely:  (it)  Calcareous  Mountain  Lime- 
stone and  (8)  Silicious.  The  Silicious  group  can 
generally  be  divided  into  two  smaller  groups, 
namely:  (d)  St.  Louis  Limestone  And  (c)  Keokuk. 

(9)  Calcareous  or  Mountain  Limestone.  This 
group,  as  its  name  implies,  is  made  up  of  princi- 
pally mountain-making  limestones  of  the  harder 
varieties  of  limestone  of  the  sub-carboniferous 
formation.  .\sa  general  thing,  these  limestonesare 
not  uniformly  eroded,  and  hence  they  form  a  rocky 
or  broken  surface.  Their  outcrops  are  confined, 
for  tlie  most  part,  to  the  sides  of  the  mountains 
or  bluffy  escarjjments  of  the  valleys,  under  the 
])rotecting  cappings  of  hard  sandstones  and  con- 


LG 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


glonierates  of  the  coal  measures.  Though  made 
up  of  principally  limestone,  this  group  always  car- 
ries one  or  more  divisions  of  sandstones,  that  fre- 
quently reach  a  very  great  thickness  and  some- 
times form  distinct  ridges  and  mountains,  as  the 
rocky  rows  of  the  anticlinal  valleys  and  the  Little 
Mountain  of  the  Tennessee  Valley.  From  their 
prominent  development  in  Little  Mountaiu  at  and 
near  Lagrange,  they  have  been  given  the  local 
name  of  Lagrange  Sandstones.  The  limestones 
vary  very  much  in  composition;  some  of  them  a:e 
almost  pure  carbonate  of  lime  while  others  aiu 
argillaceous,  and  others  still  are  silicious.  The 
purer  varieties  furnish  a  good  portion  of  the  flux- 
ing rocks,  and  some  of  the  lime-burning  rocks 
that  are  now  being  used  in  Alabama.  The  impure 
varieties,  it  is  believed  in  some  instances,  would 
furnish  very  good  lithograiihic  stones  and  hydrau- 
lic cement  rocks.  The  sandstones  are  commonly  of 
a  very  pure  quality.  They  are  soft  and  easily  cut 
when  first  quarried,  but  harden  on  exposure.  They 
are  used  in  heavy  work,  in  the  foundations  of  large 
buildings,  culverts,  bridge  piers,  etc.  Their  out- 
crops, however,  are  frequently  weathered  into 
deep  beds  of  loose  sand  that  can  be  shoveled  up. 
This  sand  is  very  jiure  and  is  well  suited  for  mor- 
tars, molds,  glass-making,  etc.  These  sandstones 
are  remarkable  for  the  very  large  fossil  coal  plants, 
Lipidodendron  and  8agillaria,  which  they  carry. 
These  fossil  coal  plants  reach  a  maximum  diame- 
ter of  about  four  feet.  They  sometimes  show  the 
stubs  of  roots  and  limbs,  and  are  frequently  very 
plainly  marked. 

This  group  has  a  maximum  thickness  in  Xorth- 
ern  Alabama  of  some  800  feet. 

(8)  Silicious.  The  strata  of  this  group  con- 
sist mainly  of  lime-stone  and  chert.  They  are 
usually,  though  not  always,  divisible  into  two  sub- 
groups of  entirely  different  topographical, geological 
and  agricultural  features.  The  characteristic  rocks 
of  these  two  sub-groups  are,  however,  in  many 
parts  of  Northern  Alabama  so  blended  together  as 
to  make  such  a  division  of  them  impracticable. 
These  rocks  often  carry  fine  deposits  of  limonite 
and  some  manganese. 

The  two  sub-groups  are  (d)  Upper  Silicious,  or 
St.  Lonis  Limeslone  and  (r)  Lower  Sllieioiis,  or 
KeoJcuh. 

(d)  I'pper  Silicious,  or  St.  Louis  Limestone. 
This  sub-group  is  made  up  of  massive  gray  lime- 
stones that  carry  interspersed  through  some  of 
their  strata,  nodules    of  fossiliferous    chert.     In 


certain  localities,  however,  some  of  its  strata  are 
very  homogeneous  and  work  up  well  into  archi- 
tectural and  monumental  stones.  They  take  a  fine 
polish  and  are  durable.  Tlie  rocks  of  this  sub- 
group, as  a  whole,  form  a  gently  undulating  sur- 
face, and  are,  strictly  speaking,  valley-making 
rocks.  The  Tennessee  Valley  proper  and  the  diig- 
out  and  l/ack  valleys  of  the  anticlinal  valleys  are  in 
these  rocks.  They  are  noted  for  the  fertilit)',  va- 
riety and  durability  of  their  soils.  These  soils, 
however  worn,  are  always  susceptible  of  the  great- 
est improvement.  They  are  most  retentive  of  all 
kinds  of  manures,  fertilizers,  etc.,  and  show  their 
effects  for  years  after  apj)lication.  They,  as  a  gen- 
eral thing,  are  in  cultivation  and  are  adapted  to  a 
very  great  variety  of  crops.  The  outcrops  of 
these  rocks  were  originally  covered  by  fine  forests 
of  oaks,  hickories,  etc.,  as  shown  by  the  beautiful 
groves  that  are  to  be  seen  here  and  there  over  the 
knolls  and  around  the  residences  of  the  farmers  of 
the  different  valleys. 

((•)  Lower  Silicious,  or  I\eokitJc.  This  sub-group 
consists  mainly  of  silicious  limestones  and  chert 
that  is  frequently  pure  hornstone  in  regularly  strat- 
ified seams.  Its  rocks  are,  therefore,  of  a  very 
silicious  character,  and  this  is  true  especially  of 
the  lower  strata,  where  they  are  in  places  nearly 
all  of  pure  hornstone,  with  but  little  iiiterstratified 
limestone.  These  hard  cherty,  or  hornstone  strata, 
give  rise  to  an  elevated  country  with  deep  and 
narrow  water  channels,  as  the  highlands  of  Ten- 
nessee and  the  barrens  of  North  Alabama.  The 
purer  of  these  hornstones  frequently  crack  up  into 
cubes  on  being  struck  with  a  hammer.  They  are 
the  rocks  from  which  the  Indians  made  many  of 
their  arrow  heads,  as  shown  by  the  piles  of  chips 
left  in  the  cutting  of  these  arrow  heads,  in  many 
sections  of  the  country.  These  cherty  rocks,  from 
their  hardness  and  indestructibility,  make  prom- 
inent outcrops,  as  shoals  in  the  different 
streams  and  the  back-lone  ridges  of  the  anticlinal 
valleys.  They  give  rise  to  a  usually  light  gray, 
silicious  soil,  that  is  commonly  covered  with  a 
growth  of  dwarfed  and  stunted  oaks,  and  that 
heretofore  has  been  considered  poor,  and  hence 
the  country  formed  by  it  is  thinly  settled.  This 
country  is  now,  however,  being  rapidly  settled  and 
cleared  up,  and  looked  upon  as  a  most  desirable 
country  for  homes,  on  account  of  its  pure  atmos- 
phere and  water  and  freenessfrom  mud,  and  even 
the  reputation  that  its  soil  is  acquiring  as  being 
especially   suited  for   certain   crops.     The   inter- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


17 


bedded  seams  of  liniestonearc  frer|uently  verypin'e 
indeed,  and  sometimes  are  a  good  variety  of  mar- 
ble; especially  is  tiiis  true  of  the  white  crinodal 
kind.  In  this  sub-group,  particularly  in  the  Iowit 
part,  there  are  often  deposits  of  consi'lerable 
extent  of  good  limonite  and  black  oxide  of  man- 
ganese. These  ores,  as  fine  cabinet  specimens,  are 
scattered  all  over  the  cherty  ridges  of  the  sub- 
group. The  lower  cherty  rocks  of  this  sub-group 
also  yield,  on  disintegi-ation,  fine  deposits  of  kaolin 
and  fire  clay,  and  beautiful  specimens  of  agate, 
chalcedony,  etc.  Its  maximum  thickness  in 
Northern  Alabama  must  be  some  300  feet. 

Dkvoxian.  (7)  Blttclc  Shale. — This  is  a 
most  persistent  formation,  though,  as  a  general 
thing,  it  is  comparatively  poorly  developed  in 
Northern  Alabama.  It  consists  of  a  bituminous 
black  shale  that  is  sometimes  interbedded  with  a 
red  ferruginous  sandstone.  It  crops  out  a  few 
miles  soutli  of  the  Tennessee  line,  along  the  creeks, 
and  along  near  the  tops  of  the  back-bone  or  red  ore 
ridges  of  the  anticlinal  valleys.  It  most  com- 
monly consists  of  the  black  shale  alone,  and  is 
from  ten  to  twenty  feet  in  thickness,  though  it 
sometimes  gets  to  be  as  thick  as  100  feet,  and. 
when  it  contains  the  interbedded  seams  of  sand- 
stones, it  occasionally  reaches  a  thickness  of  about 
250  feet.  Its  black  shale  is  veiT  hard,  indeed, 
before  exposed,  but  soon  slacks  or  crumbles  on 
weathering.  It  is  always  full  of  iron  pyrites  and 
is  the  stumbling  block  for  the  miueral  hunters, 
who  often  take  it  forttone  coal,  or  the  evidences  of 
stone  coal,  and  frefjuently  spend  hundreds  of  dol- 
lars in  sinking  deej)  shafts  into  it  for  silver,  copper, 
€tc.  It  is  the  source  of  most  of  the  mineral  springs 
of  the  State.  Tnese  springs  derive  their  medicinal, 
or  mineral  virtnes,  mainly  from  the  weatliering  of 
the  pyrites.  These  shales  could  be  made  to  yield, 
■on  distillation,  lubricating  and  other  oils,  but  they 
are,  however,  of  little  importance  economically. 

SiLL'uiAN.  This  is  one  of  the  most  important 
and  interesting  of  the  geological  formations  of 
Northern  Alabama,  especially  from  an  economical 
standpoint.  It  might  be  termed  the  iron  ore- 
bearing  formation  of  Northern  Alabama,  from  its 
preeminence  in  this  respect.  It  has  furnished,  for 
some  years  past,  all  the  iron  ores  that  liave  been 
mined  in  .\labama.  Its  strata  crop  out  a  few  miles 
south  of  the  Tennessee  line,  along  the  creeks,  and 
occupy  the  central  and  much  the  larger  portion 
of  all  the  anticlinal  valleys. 


This  formation  is  divided  into  the  Upper  Sihir- 
idii  and  Lower  Silurian. 

Ui'i'EK  Sii.iuiAN.  The  only  representative  of 
tliis  formation  in  Northern  Alabama  is  the  CUn- 
lou  or  lied  Atauutain  (/roup. 

(G)  Clinton  or  Red  Mountnin.  This  group 
in  Tennessee  is  known  as  the  Dyeslone  group.  It 
consists  of  befls  of  sandstones  and  shales  with 
interpolated  seams  of  red  ore  and  liniestone.  The 
sandstones  are  fine  and  coarse-grained,  and  are 
usually  calcareous.  The  shales  are  variegated  and 
also  commonly  calcareous.  The  inter-bedded  lime- 
stone seams  are  usually  impure,  being  either  fer- 
ruginous, argillacious  or  silicious.  The  red  ore 
seams  vary  very  much  in  thickness  and  purity, 
and  frequently  in  number.  The  same  seam  at 
different  points  has  been  seen  to  be  almost  a  pure 
hematite  ore,  a  sandstone  and  a  limestone.  The 
rocks  of  this  group  crop  out.  as  stated,  near  the 
Tennessee  line  along  the  creeks,  though  their  most 
important  outcrops  are  of  the  anticlinal  valleys 
where  they,  with  the  two  next  overlying  forma- 
tions and  the  one  just  under  them,  form  lines  of 
ridges  or  mountains.  These  lines  of  ridges  or 
mountains  usually  occur  on  each  side  of  the  anti- 
clinal valleys  skirting  the  bluffy  escarpments  of 
the  oual  measures  which  form  the  borders  to 
these  valleys.  Occasionally  these  ridges  or  moun- 
tains are  duplicated  on  one  side  of  the  vallej's, 
and  arc  often  much  more  prominent  in  places 
than  in  others,  though  they  are  never  want- 
ing unless  engulfed  in  faults.  They  are  known 
as  red  ore  ridr/es,  or  red  mountains,  from  their 
deep,  red  soil,  in  many  localities,  over  the  out- 
croppings  of  red  ore.  This  group  of  rocks  is  also 
known  as  the  Red  Mountain  Group,  because  it 
occurs  in  all  of  the  red  mountains,  and  as  the 
Dyestone  Group,  in  Tennessee,  because  its  red  ore 
has  been,  and  is  still,  used  in  some  localities  for 
d^'cing  purposes,  and  because  it  readily  stains  or 
dyes  anything  with  which  it  comes  in  contact. 
The  rocks  of  this  group,  in  their  outcrops  along 
the  anticlinal  valleys,  always  have  a  considerable 
dip,  and  are  frer|uently  more  than  perpendicular 
or  are  bent  over  on  themselves.  Tiie  seams  of 
red  ore  are  usually  from  two  to  three  in  number, 
though  they  sometimes  dwindle  down  to  only  one, 
and  at  other  times  are  nuilti]>lied  into  half  a 
dozen.  One  of  these  seams  sometimes  reaches  a 
thickness  by  itself  of  about  thirty-five  feet  of  ore. 
This  ore  is  most  highly  developed  in  the  neigii- 
borhood  of   Hirmingham,  on  the  southeast  side  of 


18 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  valley.  It,  however,  has  been  tested  in  hun- 
dreds of  other  places,  and  is  now  being  mined  and 
used  on  a  very  extensive  scale.  The  deep  red 
soil  derived  from  its  disintegration  is  very  fertile, 
though  it  is  usually  shallow  and  on  steejj  hill  sides. 

Lower  Silukian.  This  is  a  most  highly  de- 
veloped formation  in  Northern  Alabama.  It  must 
be  at  least  10,000  feet  thick.  Its  rocks  are  all 
more  or  less  calcareous  with  the  exception  of  those 
of  its  basic  group.  They  occupy  the  central  por- 
tions of  the  anticlinal  valleys, or  all  of  the  anticlinal 
valleys  between  the  bordering  red  ore  ridges,  or 
Ked  Mountains.  Its  strata  are  always  highly 
inclined  and  are  frequently  nearly  perpendicular. 
In  its  calcareous  groups  there  are  belts  of  very 
silicious  strata,  either  cherty  or  sandy  strata,  and 
belts  of  very  argillaceous  strata.  The  silicious 
belts,  in  their  outcrops,  form  a  very  broken  or 
rocky  country  of  a  succession  of  rocky  ridges  and 
hills,  while  the  argillaceous  belts  give  rise  to  a  low 
and  flat  country  of  imperfect  drainage  that  is 
known  as  ffaf -woods. 

This  formation  in  Northern  Alabama  is  divisible 
into  the  following  four  separate  and  distinct 
groups: — (5)  Trenton  and  Chazy  (4)  Quebec,  (3) 
Knox  Sandstone  and  (2)  Potsdam  Sandstone. 

(5.)  Trenton  and  Chazy.  As  a  general  thing, 
the  upper  strata  of  this  group  are  calcareous  shales 
and  the  lower  strata  ai'e  impure  argillaceous  lime- 
stones and  pure  bine  and  gray  limestones.  The 
limestone  strata  jsredominate.  As  a  whole,  these 
rocks  are  valley-making  rocks.  They,  however, 
commonly  form  the  greater  part  of  the  inner  steep 
and  rocky  sides  of  the  red  ore  ridges,  or  Red  Moun- 
tains, and  frequently  they  make  low  rounded  hills 
and  glades  that  have  on  their  sides  the  strata  of  the 
harder  limestones  cropping  out  in  step-like 
edges.  The  limestones,  though  usually  shaly  and 
argillaceous,  contain  some  strata  that  are  very 
massive  and  pure,  and  that  are  now  being  used 
very  extensively  for  lime-burning  and  fluxing  pur- 
poses. The  argillaceous  limestones  are  frequently 
variegated,  in  certain  strata,  with  red  streaks,  and 
are  then  sometimes  called  calico  rocks.  Some  of 
the  shaly  limestones  have,  in  certain  localities, 
irregular,  thin  seams  and  nodules  of  chert  which 
sometimes  carry  their  streaks  of  galena.  Tliis 
galena,  however,  has  never  been  seen  thicker  than 
a  knife  blade.  This  group  has  a  maximum  thick- 
ness in  Northern  Alabama  of  some  400  feet. 

Quebec.  This  group  has  the  greatest  thickness 
and  distribution  of  calcareous  rocks  of  any  forma- 


tion of  Northern  Alabama.  It  forms  the  major 
part  of  the  anticlinal  valleys  of  the  State,  and  must 
be  at  least  6,000  feet  in  thickness.  Its  upper  beds 
are  mainly  gray  dolomites,  that  are  silicious  or 
cherty,  and  sometimes  sandy,  while  its  lower  beds, 
as  a  rule,  are  mostly  of  variegated  shales  that 
alternate  with  layers  of  thin  sheets  of  lime- 
stone. It  is  therefore  divisible  into  the  following 
two  sub-groups  :  {b)  Knox  Dolomite  and  («)  Knox 
Shale. 

{b)  Knoj-  Dolomite.  This  sub-groujj  con- 
sists of  beds  of  blue  limestone  that  are  succeeded 
by  thick  beds  of  gray  dolomites.  The  above  blue 
limestones  are  frequently  very  impure,  and  it  is 
very  likely  that  some  of  them  would  make  very 
good  lithographic  stones.  The  gray  dolomites  are 
massive  and  crystalline.  They  are  sometimes  sandy 
and  in  their  upper  part,  are  usually  associated  with 
strata  that  are  very  cherty.  Tlie  cherty  portions 
of  these  cherty  strata,  on  the  weathering  away  of 
the  calcareous  or  dolomitic  jjortions,  are  left  as 
nodules  and  masses  of  considerable  size,  that  form 
rocky,  rounded  ridges  which  are  characteristic  of 
thisgioup.  The  chert,  therefore,  of  these  ridges 
is  of  concretionary  nature  and  is  not  bedded. 

The  cherty,  angular  fragments  and  masses  of 
these  ridges  sometimes  assume  the  forms  of  sand- 
stones and  conglomerates,  and  then  they  more  fre- 
quently occur  as  huge  boulders  and  make  high 
hills.  These  cherty  ridges  are  usually  two  in  num- 
ber, with  a  valley  between  them  down  into  the  un- 
derlying calcareous  rocks,  but  sometimes  there  is 
only  one  of  these  ridges,  there  being  no  intermed- 
iate valley,  or  the  cherty  strata  not  having  been 
cut  through  in  the  washing  out  of  the  anticlinal 
valley,  and  then  this  single  ridge  forms  a  broken, 
rocky  country,  frequently  a  mile  or  so  in  width, 
occupying  the  central  portion  of  the  anticlinal 
valley.  Near  the  edges  of  these  ridges,  or  the 
broken  country  formed  by  them,  there  are  numer- 
ous outcroppings  of  silicious  and  cherty  dolomites, 
and  in  these  cherty  ridges,  or  in  this  broken  coun- 
try,there  are  often  seen  lime-sinks.  These  silicious, 
or  cherty  rocks,  on  disintegration,  form  a  gray 
soil  that  is  sometimes  of  a  very  fair  quality,  espe- 
cially for  cotton.  These  cherty  ridges  are  tim- 
bered usually  with  short-leaf  pine,  post,  black  jack 
and  Spanish  oaks,  and  some  long-leaf  pine,  hick- 
ory, chestnut,  dogwood,  etc. 

The  lower,  or  more  calcareous  rock^of  this  sub- 
group.insome  of  the  anticlinal  valleys.do  not  come 
to  the  surface  at  all,  and  in  none  of  them  do  they 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


19- 


form  so  prominent  a  part  as  tlie  overlying  cherty 
.si  rata.  Tliey,  however,  in  tlie  larger  valleys,  as 
tiie  Coosa  Valley  proper,  give  rise  to  some  of  the 
best  farming  lands  of  the  State.  Their  lands  are 
timbered  with  red,  Spanish,  po.st  and  black  jack 
oaks,  hickory,  short-leaf  pine  and  dogwood,  and  in 
the  low  grounds,  with  alsosweet  gum  and  sourgum. 

This  sub-group  is,  how-ever,  of  special  interest 
on  account  of  its  vast  deposits  of  limonite,  by  the 
side  of  which  the  limonites  of  all  other  formations 
in  Northern  Alabama  are  very  insignificant. 

(«)  Knox  Shah'.  The  upper  strata  of  this  sub- 
group are  made  up  of  thin  sheets  of  limestone, 
alternating,  on  the  outcrop,  with  seams  of  clay 
and  thin  beds  of  sandy  and  aluminous  shale;  and 
the  lower  strata,  principally  of  calcareous  varie- 
gated shales,  alternated  with  layers  of  thin  sheets 
of  shaly  limestones  and  dolomites.  When  the 
shales,  or  clayey  portions  of  the  upper  strata,  pre- 
dominate, and  the  drainage  is  defective,  level 
tracts,  frequently  of  very  large  aresis,  are  formed, 
that  are  known  us  Ji  a  I  woods.  These  llatwoods  are 
usually  uncleared,  though  the  timber,  principally 
post  oak  and  short-leaf  pine,  indicates  a  good  soil. 

The  lower  beds  of  principally  variegated  shales 
of  brownish,  reddish,  greenish  and  grayish  colors, 
give  rise  to  valleys  with  ridges.  Tliese  shale 
ridges,  frequently,  are  almost  bare  of  soil,  or  have 
a  soil  that  is  thin  and  drouthy.  The  lands  formed 
by  these  shales  are  timbered  with  principally 
chestnut,  red  and  white  oaks,  dogwood  and 
hickory. 

The  only  useful  materials  of  this  sub-group  are 
some   small  beds  of  limonite. 

(3)  A'no.r  Sands/one.  This  sandstone  is  of 
no  very  great  tiiickness,  and,  as  the  strata  are 
highly  tilled,  iis  superficial  area  is  small.  It  is 
confined  to  sharp  crested  steep  ridges  of  no  great 
width.  It  is  sometimes  thin-bedded'and  some- 
times thick-bedded  and  is  commonly  calcareous. 
It  often  has  alternating  with  it,  layers  of  dolomite 
and  sometimes  layers  of  shale  of  variegated  colors. 
It  forms  usually  a  calcareous,  sandy  soil. 

(2)  Potsdam  Sandstone.  This  is  a  moun- 
tain-making sandstone.  It  is  usually  coarse- 
grained, though  sometimes  a  tine-grained  conglom- 
erate or  a  sandy  shale.  It  forms  a  broken  chain  of 
mountains  that  contains  some  of  the  highest  and 
most  picturesque  peaks  of  the  State.  It  is  a  dura- 
ble building  stone.  The  soil  derived  from  it  is  thin 
and  timbered  with  a  stunted  growth  of  oak,  chest- 
nut and  short  leaf  pine. 


Metamokphic.  (1)  Crystalline  Hocks.  These 
rocks  are  confined  to  the  central  eastern 
part  of  the  State  and  cover  about  4,425  square 
miles.  They  exhibit  the  greatest  diversity  as  to 
their  chemical  comjjositions  and  physical  charac- 
ters, and  in  their  topography.  They  include 
granite,  the  different  kinds  of  gneisses,  schists 
and  slates,  steatite,  quartzite,  jasper,  limestone, 
and  dolomite,  or,  as  has  been  well  said,  all  grada- 
tions of  rocks  between  the  almost  indestructible- 
quartzose  rocks  and  the  easily  eroded  marble. 
They  form  a  country  of  varied  scenery,  that  is- 
made  up  of  high  and  almost  mountainous  regions 
alternating  with  rolling  and  sometimes  rugged 
lowlands  and  vallevs. 

NATIRAL   RESOURCES. 

The  natural  resources  of  Northern  Alabama, 
though  they  appear  to  be  very  great  to  the  most 
casual  observers,  are  greatest  to  those  who  know 
them  best.  Their  character  and  quality  are  such 
that  no  fears  need  be  entertained  from  a  compari- 
son of  them  with  the  natural  resources  of  any 
other  country.  They  are  now  attracting  the 
attention  and  capital  of  the  civilized  world,  and 
their  development  within  the  last  few  years  has 
placed  Alabama  at  the  head  of  all  progressive 
States  in  the  growth  of  its  manufacturing  and 
industrial  enterprises,  or  has  changed  it  from, 
strictly  speaking,  a  cotton-  and  corn-producing 
State  to  one  of  diversified  industries.  This  devel- 
opment of  these  natural  resources  has  built  cities, 
as  if  by  magic,  that  present  all  the  evidences  of 
wealth  and  refinement  and  have  a  good  commerce; 
it  has  made  some  few  enormously  rich,  and  has 
given  to  thousands  comfortable  homes,  and  to  all 
reduced  ta.\es  with  plenty  of  work  at  good  pay. 
It  has  increased  the  property  valuation  of  the 
whole  State  from  ¥l73,808,0!:»7  in  1886,  to  *21-t,- 
925,809  in  1887,  and  within  the  last  two  years  it 
has  decreased  the  State  and  county  taxes  8125,000, 
and  within  the  last  two  months  it  has  increased  the- 
capital  stock  of  incorporated  enterprises  in  the 
State  over  $4,000,000. 

The  natural  resources  of  Northern  Alabama,  in 
the  order  of  their  importance,  are  about  as  fol- 
lows: I.  Mineral  Wealth.  II.  Agricultural 
Wealth.  III.  Titnl»;-  ll>„///-  ;,,m1  IV.  X„f,n;>l 
Advaiitaffes. 

MINER.VL   WE.VI.TII. 

The  mineral  wealiii  of  Xorthern  .\labama  is  so- 


20 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


great  and  so  evident  that  the  wonder  is  not  that 
Alabama  has  become  within  the  last  few  years  the 
most  progressive  of  all  progressive  States  in  the 
development  of  its  mineral  wealth, or  in  the  growth 
of  its  manufacturing  and  industrial  enterprises, 
but  that  she  did  not  take  the  lead  in  this  respect 
years  ago,  or  that  she  was  ever  regarded  as  exclu- 
sively an  agricultural  State.  This  untold  mineral 
wealth  of  Northern  Alabama,  and  the  rapidity 
with  which  it  is  being  developed,  should  be  a 
source  of  very  great  pride  to  all  Alabainians  and 
not  alone  to  those  of  the  favored  sections,  for  the 
prosperity  of  any  one  portion  of  the  State  will 
not  detract  from,  but  will  eventually  add  to,  that 
of  the  rest  of  the  State.  The  development  of  this 
mineral  wealth,  though  in  its  infancy,  has  already 
assumed  magnifii-ent  proportions,  and  gives  evi- 
dence of  a  grand  future  for  Alabama.  Fifteen 
years  ago  the  mineral  output  of  Northern  Ala- 
bama amounted,  it  may  be  said,  to  nothing;  in 
1889,  it  will  be  worth  at  the  least  $30,000,000,  and 
in  1891,  it  is  believed  that  it  will  be  valued  at  as 
much  as  the  cotton  crop  of  the  whole  State,  or 
some  130,000,000.  This  mineral  wealth  is  greatly 
-enhanced  by  the  natural  advantages  which  encom- 
pass it,  as  the  manner  in  which  all  the  raw  mate- 
rials have  been  thrown  together  in  close  juxtapo- 
sition and  surrounded  by  exhaustless  provision- 
producing  areas.  It  consists,  liowever,  principally 
in  coal,  iron  ore  and  limestones,  the  three  great 
powers  of  wealth,  though  Northern  Alabama  has 
other  minerals  that  have  yielded,  and  doubtless 
will  yield  again,  large  fortunes,  and  other  miner- 
als still  that  have  never  been  worked,  though  their 
deposits  give  fair  ])roniises  of  fair  returns,  as  in 
tlie  case  of  the  marls  and  phosphates.  These  marl 
and  phosphatic  deposits,  as  lias  been  said  by  the 
State  Geologist,  may  be  worth  some  of  these  days 
more  to  the  State  of  Alabama  than  its  at  present 
three  great  powers  of  wealth,  or  its  combined  coal, 
iron  and  limestone.  Should  this  supposed  proba- 
bility ever  become  halfway  true,  then  there  will 
be  no  comparison  between  the  mineral  wealth  of 
Northern  Alabama  and  any  other  section  of  the 
Union.  The  importance  and  value  of  any  min- 
eral deposit  is  strictly  dependent  on  its  quality, 
quantity,  accessibility  and  vicinity  to  fuel  and 
flux.  According  to  this  test,  the  minerals  and 
mineral  substances  of  Northern  Alabama,  in  the 
order  of  their  present  importance,  are  as  follows  : 
1,  Goal;  2,  Iron  Ores:  3,  Fluxing  I?o-ks  and 
Lime- Burning  Rocks,  or   Limestones  and   Dolo- 


mites; 4,  Building  and  Paving  Stones  and  Brick 
Olays;  5,  Poi-celain  and  Fire  Glays;  6,  Marls  and 
Phosphates;  7,  Ochres  and  Mineral  Paints;  8, 
Millstones,  Grindstones  and  Whetstones;  9,  Glass, 
Mortars  and  Molding  Sands;  10,  Macadamizing 
and  Ballasting  Materials;  11,  Ornamental,  Curious 
and  Precious  Stones;  12,  Manganese  Ores;  13, 
Copper  Ores;  14,  Gold;  15,  Tin  Ores;  10,  Lead 
Ores;  17,  Silver  Ores;  IS,  Zinc  Ores;  19,  Graph- 
ite: 20,  Hydraulic  Cement  Eocks  and  Litho- 
graphic Stones;  21,  Natural  Gas  and  Petroleum; 
and  22,  Soapstone.  Shites,  Emery,  Heavy  Spar, 
Mica  and  Asbestos. 

COAL,  COKE,  LIGNITE. 

1.  Coal.  Coal,  when  of  sufficient  purity  and 
quantity,  is,  from  an  economic  standjioint,  the 
most  important  of  all  mineral  substances.  It  is, 
as  it  were,  a  magnet  that  draws  to  it  all  kinds  of 
manufacturing  and  commercial  enterprises,  and, 
as  no  country  without  it  can  excel  now  in  these 
enterprises,  and  as  the  most  prosperous  countries 
are  the  greatest  coal-producing  countries,  it  is 
evident  that  coal  is  the  basis  of  all  great  commer- 
cial and  manufacturing  prosperity,  and  that  it 
might  safely  be  termed  the  key  to  the  great  indus- 
trial progress  of  to-day,  especially  of  that  of  North- 
ern Alabama.  Fortunate  indeed  is  the  country 
that  possesses  a  good  quality  of  coal  in  very  large 
quantities.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  the 
greatest  consequence  that  Northern  Alabama  pos- 
sesses this  mineral  in  such  quantities  as  to  be  con- 
sidered almost  inexhaustible,  and  of  such  quality 
as  to  be  well  fitted  for  all  the  uses  of  soft  or  bitu- 
minous coal,  and  so  accessible  as  to  be  easily 
reached  from  all  directions  by  railroads  and  rivers 
that  can  be  made  navigable  all  the  year  round  for 
steam  tugs  and  coal  barges.  There  is  no  doubt 
but  that  the  present  unprecedented  degree  of  pros- 
IJerity  of  Northern  Alabama  is  due  more  to  its  coal 
mines  than  xo  its  every  other  element  of  prosperity 
combined.  This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  its 
true  and  lasting  prosperity  has  been  in  an  exact 
ratio  to  its  relative  coal  output  and  consumption. 
This,  doubtless,  will  continue  to  be  the  case,  and 
hence  the  coal  of  Northern  Alabama  is  worth 
more  to  Alabama  than  is  the  gold  of  California  to 
California.  These  coals,  as  have  been  stated,  are 
in  the  southwest  end  of  the  great  coal  basin  of 
the  Ohio,  or  of  the  Appalachian  coal  field,  that 
extenas  unbroken  from  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  to 
Central  Alabama,  and  is  the  most  important  of  all 


NOK  TIIEKX  ALABAMA. 


•n 


the  coal  fields  of  the  United  States  in  its  extent, 
and  in  the  number  of  its  workable  coal  beds  and 
in  the  quality  and  variety  of  its  coals.  It  is  pro- 
ductive of  the  best  of  workable  soft  coal,  especially 
near  its  southwest  visible  limits,  or  in  Central 
Alabama,  where  it  is  believed  to  have  over  fifty 
seams  of  coal  that  vary  in  thickness  from  about 
two  inches  to  over  fourteen  feet,  and  have  a  com- 
bined thickness  of  some  125  feet  of  coal.  About 
one-half  of  these  coal  seams  are  eighteen  inches 
and  over,  each,  in  thickness,  and  about  one-fourth 
of  them  are  two  feet  six  inches  and  over,  each,  in 
thickness.  The  thicker  of  these  seams,  however, 
contain  interstratified  partings  of  slate,  shale,  etc., 
tliat  render  it  utterly  impossible  to  cleanly  mine 
the  coals  of  some  of  them.  The  coals,  tiierefoi'e, 
of  these  thick,  dirty  .seams,  to  be  made  most  use- 
ful and  valuable,  will  have  to  be  crushed  and 
washed.  The  coals  of  the  lower  seams  usually 
become  thinner  and  more  slaty  as  the  edges  of  the 
original  great  coal  basin  are  approached.  The  coal 
seams  occur  in  groups  that  are  separated  by  a  great 
thickness  of  comjiarutively  barren  strata.  These 
coals  are,  as  has  been  stated,  all  bituminous  coals, 
though  of  almost  every  variety  of  bituminous  coals. 
Some  of  them  are  bright  and  hard,  and  hence  are 
well  adapted  to  handling  and  stocking,  while  others 
are  of  a  duller  color  and  are  softer  or  of  a  more 
ri'ial)le  and  crumbly  nature;  some  of  them,  by  ex- 
periments and  uses  on  a  large  scale  appear  to  be 
esjiecially  fitted  for  coking  and  blacksmithing, 
and  others  for  steaming  and  heating,  and  others 
still  for  gas-making.  Tlie  greater  number  of  these 
coals,  however,  have  never  had  applied  to  them 
the  only  sure  test  of  their  quality — or  actual  use- 
on  a  large  scale  and  in  various  operations.  Some 
of  these  coals  have  a  vertical,  flaggy  structure,  or  a 
regular  face-and-hutt  structure,  while  others  are 
divided  up  by  joints  into  cubical  and  rhomboidal 
blocks,  and  others  still  are  solid  and  compact 
throughout.  Those  of  the  flaggy  and  jointy  struc- 
ture can  be  mined  much  more  easily  and  In 
larger  lumjis  than  tiie  solid  and  compact  coals,  but 
then  they,  as  a  general  thiiig,  crumble  much  more 
easily.  Some  of  these  coals  are  very  pure,  or  con- 
tain but  a  very  small  amount  of  ash  and  clinker, 
while  others  are  bony  and  slaty.  They  all,  how- 
ever, as  a  class,  show  on  chemical  analysis,  compo- 
sitions equivalent  to  the  bituminous  coals  of  any 
other  State.  Many  of  them  contain  thin  sheets  of 
mineral  charcoal,  and  they  all,  as  a  rule,  are  free- 
burning  coals.    Most  of  these  coals,  however,  have 


been  judged  of  simply  by  their  exposed  outcrops, 
and  most  of  the  analyses  that  have  been  made  of 
them  have  been  of  average  samples  of  the  full 
vertical  sections  of  these  outcrops,  hence,  in  many 
cases,  these  coals  doubtless  have  been  underesti- 
mated, for  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  all  bitumin- 
ous coals  on  weathering  lose  more  or  less  in  the 
proportional  parts  of  their  valuable  constituents, 
volatile  matter  and  fixed  carbon,  and  gain  in  the 
percentages  of  their  hurtful  ingredients,  moisture 
and  ash.  -Much  of  this  coal,  however,  stands 
weathering  finely,  for  it  hasfrequently  been  known 
to  remain  lumpy  after  thirty  to  forty  years'  ex- 
posure to  the  weather.  These  coals  occur  in  seams 
that  are  in  long,  flat  waves,  and,  even  in  the  same 
seams,  sometimes  vary  in  quality  and  thickness, 
though  not  more  so  than  the  well-known  coals  of 
other  States.  They,  for  many  years,  in  ante- 
railroad  times  in  Alabama,  and  from  many  places, 
were  paised  in  considerable  ((uantities  from  the  beds 
of  the  rivers,  and  the  mouths  of  the  creeks  along  the 
rivers,  during  low  stages  of  the  water  and  floated 
down  the  river  in  flatboats,  during  freshets.  This 
business,  however,  was  so  perilous  to  both  life  and 
property  that  no  considerable  capital  was  ever  in- 
vested in  it  and  no  regular  miners  ever  engaged  in 
it,  and  so  it  was  abandoned  on  the  building  of  the 
central  railroads  through  Alabama.  It  was  not, 
however,  until  the  year  1872,  or  until  the  comple- 
tion of  S.  &  X.  Ala.  Uailroad,  that  any  coal  seams 
were  scientifically  opened  and  worked  in  Alabama. 
The  coal  output  of  the  State  for  1872  was  about 
11,000  tons;  for  1S85,  about  2,225,000  tons;  for 
1887,  near  3,000,000  tons,  and  will  be  for  1888  at 
the  least  3,500,000  tons.  This  increase  in  the  coal 
output,  though  most  gratifying,  is  not  sufficiently 
great  to  meet  the  additional  demands  of  the  many 
new  furnaces  and  other  manufacturing  enterprises 
that  have  been  built  lately  and  are  now  being  built 
in  Northern  Alabama.  The  crying  need,  and  the 
greatest  drawback  to  the  more  rapiil  prosperity  of 
Xortliern  Alabama  to-day,  is,  therefore,  the  want 
of  more  coal  mines,  and  to  this  want  is  due  the 
talk  and  fears  of  a  coal  famine  in  this,  one  of  the 
richest  coal  countries.  Of  the  above  output  of 
coal  for  1887,  nearly  2,500,000  tons  are  con- 
sumed in  the  State,  about  1,400,000  tons  for 
coking,  and  the  rest  for  miscellaneous  purjioses. 
These  coals,  as  a  class,  have  hard  solid  roofs  and 
soft  underbeds,  and  most  of  them  have  either  a 
jointy  or  a  face-and-hutt  structure.  They  are 
therefore    well   adapted    to    cheap    mining  ;    the 


•22 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


greatest  obstacles  that  any  of  them  have  to  cheap 
mining  is  that  some  of  them  are  highly  inclined 
and  others,  especially  the  thicker  seams,  haveinter- 
bedded  in  the  coal,  partings  of  slate  and  shale  that 

.  sometimes  can  be  separated  from  the  coal  only  by 
crushing  and  washing. 

The  miners  of  these  coals  are  of  many  national- 
ities ;  among  them  are  Americans  (principally 
natives),  Germans,  Irish,  Welsh,  English,  Swedes 
French,  Scotch,  Austrians,  Swiss,  Bavarians,  and 
Africans  (principally  natives).     These  coals  are  of 

:  special  value  from  their  nearness  to  iron  ores 
and  limestones  of  the  best  quality,  and  in  almost 

■  exhaustlessquantities.  As  has  been  stated  and  ex- 
plained, the  coal  measures  or  the  original  coal  field 
of  Northern  Alabama  have  been  divided  by  anti- 
clinal valleys  into  three  more  or  less  distinct  parts, 
that  are  now  known  as  the  Warrior,  Cahaba  and 
Coosa  coal  fields.  The  combined  area  of  these  three 
fields  is  something  like  8,(i00  square  miles.  '  This 

.area  places  Alabama  only  eighth  in  the  list  of  coal- 
producing  States  of  the  Union  in  the  acreage  of 
coal  measures;  still  Alabama  takes  a  front  rank  in 
the  quantity  and  quality  of  its  coal.  There  is 
believed  to  be  over  100,000,000,000  tons  of  coal  in 
Alabama  in  the  workable  seams,  or  in  the  sefams 
that  are  two  feet  six  inches  and  over  in  thickness. 
This  coal,  with  an  annual  output  of  even  5,000,000 
tons,  would  last  for  30,000  years,  and  at  the 
mouths  of  the  mines  would  be  worth  now  nearly 

=$120,000,000,000. 

Tliis  coal  in  the  Warrior,  Cahaba  and  Coosa 
fields,  from  the  different  positions  which  the  areas 
of  these  fields  had  in  the  original  coal  basin  and 
from  the  different  degrees  of  disturbance  of  the 
strata  of  these  fields,  differ  very  much  in  the  num- 
ber and  dip  of  its  seams,  and  perhaps  some  little 
in  thickness  and  quality  in  indentical  seams  which 
have  not  as  yet  been  connected  in  the  difl'erent 
■fields. 

Co^^l  of  the  Wurrior  Field  The  coal  of  this 
■field  is  believed    to    be    in    fifty-three    different 

■seams,  that  vary  in  thickness  from  about  two 
inches  to  fourteen  feet,  and  have  a  combined 
thickness  of  some  125  feet  of  pure  coal.  Of  these 
fifty-three  coal  seams,  twenty-five  of  them  contain 
eighteen  inches  and  over,  each,  in  thickness  of  coal; 

-and  of  these  twenty-five  scams,  fourteen  seams  have 
two  feet  six  inches  and  over,  each,  in  thickness  of 
coal;  and  of  these  fourteen  seams,  nine  seams  have 
over  fourfeet  of  coal,  each;and  of  these  nineseams, 

Tthree  seams  have  over  six  feet,  each,  in  thickness  of 


coal.  The  coal  of  the  Warrior  field,  under  the 
supposition  that  its  seams  retain  throughout  their 
whole  extent  a  thickness  equivalent  to  that  of  their 
most  accurate  and  reliable  measurements,  is  esti- 
mated at  over  113,000,000,000  tons.  Of  this  vast 
amount  of  coal,  it  is  estimated  that  over  108,000,- 
000,000  tons  are  of  the  seams  that  are  eighteen 
inches  and  over  in  thickness. 

The  coal  of  this  field  can  be  mined  just  as  easily 
and  cheaply  as  that  of  any  field,  from  the  fact  that 
the  physical  features  of  the  field  and  the  small 
angle  of  dip  and  the  structure  of  the  coal  ai'e  all 
favorable  to  cheap  mining.  These  physical  feat- 
ures are  such  as  will  enable  good  workable  seams 
of  coal  to  be  found  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  pro- 
ductive measures  at  moderate  depths  below  the 
surface,  and,  in  nearly  all  cases,  will  permit  of  the 
coal  seams  being  reached  by  drifts  and  slopes. 
The  dip,  as  a  rule,  is  only  a  few  degrees,  and  hence 
it  is  much  better  adapted  to  cheap  mining  than  if 
the  coals  were  perfectly  level,  as  it  frequently  gives 
a  natural  drainage,  and  in  all  cases  will  permit  of 
the  mines  being  kept  dry  at  comparatively  small 
cost.  The  output  of  coal  from  this  field  for  1887 
was  about  2,500,000  tons,  or  about  five-sixths  of  the 
output  for  the  whole  State.  This  coal  is  mined 
at  the  following  localities:  At  and  near  Warrior, 
Jefferson  Mines  and  Newcastle,  on  the  L.  &  N.  Eail- 
road;  at  Pratt  Mines;  at  Woodward  Mines;  at  and 
near  Coalburg,  Day's  Gap  and  Corona,  on  the  Ga. 
&  P.  Railroad;  at  and  near  Clement's  Station  and 
Tuscaloosa,  on  the  A.  G.  S.  Railroad ;  and  at  Blue 
Creek  mines,  on  the  Mineral  Railroad.  It  is  also 
mined  to  some  little  extent  near  Huntsville  and 
Guntersville,  and  at  several  other  places  in  the 
plateau  region,  and  soon  will  be  mined  on  an  ex- 
tensive scale  at  several  points  on  the  K.  C.  M.  & 
B.  Railroad,  S.  &  B.  Railroad  and  T.  N.  Railroad. 
The  transportation  facilities  of  this  field  are  good. 
It  has  now  seven  different  railroads  running 
through  and  into  it,  and  a  river  length  within  its 
basin  of  nearly  100  miles,  that  can  be  made  nav- 
igable for  steam  tugs  and  coal  barges  all  the  year 
round. 

Coal  of  the  Cahaba  Field.  The  coal  of  this 
field  forms  forty  or  more  different  seams.  Eleven 
of  these  seams  are  over  two  feet  six  inches  each  in 
thickness,  and  have  a  combined  thickness  of  about 
forty  feet  of  marketable  coal.  These  coals,  from 
their  steeper  dip,  crop  out  in  much  more  limited 
areas,  and  are  much  less  above  drainage  level  than 
are  those  of  the  Warrior  field.     The  seams  that  are 


XOA'  THRRX   ALABAMA. 


23 


over  two  feet  Rix  inclies  each  in  thickness  coinj)rise, 
it  is  helieved.  some  4.000.000,000  tons  of  cojil. 
These  coals  as  a  chiss.  appear  to  be  cleaner  and 
harder  tli;iri  those  of  the  Warrior  field,  though 
more  faulty.  'J'hey  are  usually  of  a  bright  and 
shiny  lustre,  and  are  of  a  very  fine  rpiality,  con- 
taining but  a  small  amount  of  asii  and  a  large  per- 
<'entage  of  fixed  carbon.  They  are  considered 
especially  valuable  from  the  fact  that  they  are  the 
most  Southern  true  coals  in  the  Ignited  States. 
They  have  one  great  drawback  to  cheap  mining  in 
their  steep  dip.  They  are  being  mined  exten- 
sively at  or  near  the  following  places:  Ilenryellen 
Mines  on  the  Ga,  P.  K.  R.;  Helena  on  the  S.  &  N. 
Ala.  I{.  11.;  Montevallo  and  Brierfield,  on  the  E. 
T.  Va.  &  Ga.  R.  R.,  and  Ulockton  on  the  A.  G. 
S.  R.  R.  The  coals  of  all  these  mines  are  of  fine 
<iuality  and  bring  high  prices.  They  furnished 
«bout  240,000  tons,  or  nearly  one-fifteenth  of  the 
coal  output  of  Alabama  for  1887.  The  coals  of 
this  field  have  three  great  railroad  connections, 
with  the  likelihood  of  getting  several  others 
witliin  a  very  short  time. 

f  W//.S'  of  the  Coosa  Field  These  coals  are 
•comparatively  little  known.  They  are  in  at  least 
three  seams,  of  respectively  three  feet,  four  feet, 
and  three  feet  six  inches  in  thickness.  The  coal 
in  these  three  seams  has  been  estimated  at  "600.- 
000,000  tons.  It  is  of  a  beautiful  black  color 
with  a  shining  lustre,  and  is  rather  friable  for 
stocking  but  is  exactly  suited  to  coking.  It  is 
mined  in  only  the  upper  part  of  the  field,  or  in  the 
Broken  Arrow  region.  The  mines  of  this  region 
have  an  annual  coal  output  of  nearly  72,000  tons. 

Coke.  Coke  made  from  Alabama  coal  was 
proven  in  1876  to  be  well  suited  for  iron-ore  smelt- 
ing, and  since  that  time,  especially  during  the 
last  few  years,  its  output  and  its  demand  have 
increased  much  more  rapidly  than  even  in  the  case 
of  the  coal.  Its  out[)ut  for  1887  was  about  700- 
000  tons,  and  for  1888  will  be  near  1,000,000 
tons.  It  is  of  excellent  ([uality,  as  has  been 
shown  by  its  uses  on  a  very  large  scale  for  iroTi-ore 
enielting  and  foundry  purposes.  It  i.s  consumed 
principally  in  the  State,  and,  with  tlie  exception 
of  a  small  percentage,  is  made  from  the  coal  of 
the  Pratt  seam  of  the  Warrior  field.  It  is  worth 
about  *J.75  per  ton,  wliich  will  give  a  value  of 
*2, 750.000  to  the  product  for  1888.  The  coke 
industry  of  Alabama  is  now  next  to  the  greatest  of 
its  kind  in  the  world. 

Lignite  ok  Brown  Coal.       This    semi-bitu- 


minous coal  occurs  in  .\lal)aiiui  in  the  tertiary 
and  cietaceous  formations,  it  is  therefore  of  more 
recent  age  than  the  true,  or  jjit  cool.  It  usually 
contains  considerable  iron  pyrites,  principally  as 
nodules,  and  most  commonly  a  large  percentage 
of  ash.  It  can  be  used  for  heating  and  steaming 
purposes,  but  not  for  coking  or  blaeksmithing. 
It  occurs  in  beds  of  considerable  thickness  in  Ala- 
bama, though  it  has  never  been  worked  any. 

I  HON  ()1{ES. 

Of  all  mineral  substances,  iron  is  next  in  im- 
portance to  only  coal.  Its  manufacture  in  Ala- 
bama, from  native  ores,  in  the  old  Catalan  forge 
and  small  charcoal  furnaces,  in  a  small  way, 
dates  back  as  far  as  even  1818,  but  the  increase  in 
its  manufacture  was  very  slow  indeed  until  1876, 
when  a  great  and  lasting  impetus  was  given  to  its 
manufacture  by  the  successful  demonstration 
that  good  coke-made  iron  could  be  made  in  Ala- 
bama from  native  materials  at  a  surprisingly  low 
cost.  In  1876  there  were  only  ten  furnaces  in 
blast  in  Alabama,  all  small  charcoal  furnaces. 
They  had  an  output  of  pig  iron  for  1876  of  only 
24,732  tons.  In  1888,  after  a  lapse  of  only  twelve 
years,  there  will  be  in  Northern  Alabama  some 
forty-four  furnaces  in  blast,  ten  charcoal  and  thir- 
ty-four coke  furnaces,  which  will  have  an  output 
of  pig  iron  in  1889  of  near  1,000,000  tons.  The 
increase  in  the  output  of  pig  iron  in  Alabama 
during  the  last  decade  is  represented  by  the  fol- 
lowing  figures: 

In  1878         ....        49,482  tons. 

1879 49,841      " 

1880    ....    77,190   " 
1881 98,081   " 

1882  ....       112,765      " 

1883  ....  172,465      " 

1884  ....       189,644      " 

1885  .         .         .  227.438      " 

1886  ....       265,000       " 

1887  ....  292,,62      " 
There  will  be  built  in  this   State   during   the 

present  year  some  twenty  new  furnaces,  that  will 
liave  a  combined  average  outjiut  of  pig-iron  of 
about  2,000  tons  per  day,  or  700,000  tons  per 
annum,  but,  as  none  of  these  furnaces  will  go  into 
blast  before  spring,  and  some  of  them,  perhaps, 
not  until  fall  or  winter,  it  is  impossible,  this  early 
in  the  season,  to  do  more  than  guess  at  tiie  pig-iron 
output  of  Alabama  for  1888;  it  will,  however, 
be  close  on  to  500,000  tons.     Tliese  twenty  new 


24 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


furnaces  will  be  all  in  blast  by  1889,  and  their 
ont[)iit,  added  on  to  that  of  the  old  furnaces, 
will  run  up  the  total  output  of  pig-iron  in 
Alabama  for  ISS'J  to  about  1,000,000  tons.  The 
above  output  for  1885  placed  Alabama  fifth  on 
the  list  of  iron-producing  States,  that  of  1887  ran 
her  up  to  the  third  place  in  this  list,  with  only 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  ahead  of  her,  and  the  out- 
put for  1889  will  doubtless  enable  her  to  overstep) 
Ohio  and  to  take  a  rank  only  second  to  Penn- 
sylvania as  an  iron-producing  State.  The  iron 
output  of  Northern  Alabama  for  1887  was  worth, 
at  the  furnaces,  nearly  §5, 000,000,  and,  at  the 
same  prices,  that  of  1888  will  be  valued  at  some 
$8,450,000,  and  that  for  1889  at  $16,900,000. 
These  are  very  large  sums  of  money  to  bring  into 
and  scatter  over  a  comparatively  small  district, 
especially  by  an  enterprise  that  can  be  said  to 
be  hardly  over  ten  yeai's  old,  and  must  necessarily 
render  that  district  prosperous.  Say  that  pig- 
iron  can  be  made  in  Northern  Alabama  at  an 
average  price  of  $10.45  per  ton,  and  that  it  has  a 
sput  value,  or  value  at  the  furnaces,  of  $16.90  per 
ton,  it  will  give  a  total  spot  profit  on  the  out- 
put for  1887  of  nearly  $1,000,000,  and  on  the 
above  estimated  outputs  of  1888  and  1889,  respect- 
ively, $2,725,000  and  $5,550,000.  At  the  above 
rate  of  increase  it  will  take  but  a  few  years  more 
to  make  the  iron  output  of  Northern  Alabama 
equal  in  value  to  the  cotton  crop  of  the  whole 
State.  Within  the  last  few  weeks  the  best  grade 
of  steel  has  been  made  at  Birmingham,  by  the 
Henderson  process,  from  the  poorest  grades  of 
pig-iron  of  Alabama  ores.  This  glorious  result 
shuts  the  mouths  of  the  croakers  who  have  been 
crying  out  these  many  years  that  steel  could  not 
be  made  from  Alabama  ores,  and  removes  the  last 
obstacle  to  the  future  great  prosjierity  of  Northern 
Alabama. 

The  value  and  hnportanee  of  an  iron  ore,  as 
already  stated,  is  dependent  on  its  quantity,  qual- 
ity and  vicinity  to  fluxing  material,  fuel  and 
transporting  facilities.  According  to  this  crite- 
rion, the  iron  ores  of  Northern  Alabama  rank  as 
follows  :  (1)  Hematite  or  Red  Ore.  (2)  Limonite 
or  Brown  Ore.  (3)  Siderite  or  Carbonate  Ore. 
(4)  Magnetite  or  Magnetic  Ore,  and  (5)  Pi/rite  or 
Pyrites. 

(1)  Hematite  ok  Red  Ore.  This  ore  is  also 
called  red  hematite,  specular  ore,  oxide  of  iron, 
anhydrous  peroxide  of  iron,  fossiliferous  iron  ore, 
lenticular  ore,  Clinton  ore  and  dyestone  ore.     It 


has,  when  pure,  about  70  per  cent  of  metallic 
iron.  It  is  by  far  the  most  important  and  e.xten- 
sively-used  of  the  ores  of  Northern  Alabama.  It 
yields  an  excellent  grade  of  iron,  and  hence  is 
most  highly  esteemed  by  the  furnace  men.  In  its 
purest  forms,  it  rivals  even  the  brown  ore  in  its 
per  centage  of  metallic  iron.  It  occurs  in  North- 
ern Alabama  in  the  (a)  Upper  Silurian,  and  (b) 
Metamorphic  rocks. 

(a)  Red  Ore  of  Upper  Silurian  Formation. 
This  dejjosit  of  iron  ore  is  not  only  the  largest  in 
Northern  Alabama,  but  it  is  regarded  by  scientific 
men  as  one  of  the  mineral  wonders  of  the  world. 
It  occurs  in  the  Clinton  group,  a  most  persistent 
groujj  of  rocks,  that,  with  its  bands  of  red  ore, 
extends  irregularly  along  the  eastern  escarpment 
of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  all  the  way  from 
Canada  to  Central  Alabama,  where  it  becomes 
covered  up  by  a  newer  formation,  lying  unconform- 
able to  it.  Nowhere,  however,  in  this  whole  dis- 
tance is  the  ore  so  well  developed  as  here  in  Cei;- 
tral  Alabama,  near  its  southwestern  visible  limits. 
It  is  reported  to  be,  in  New  York  two  feet  thick 
in  Pennsylvania,  four  feet,  in  Tennessee,  seven  to 
eight  feet,  and  in  Northern  Alabama,  it  occurs  in 
from  one  to  six  different  seams  that  have  a  com- 
bined thickness  of  from  twelve  inches  to  fifty  feet. 
One  of  the  seams  in  Northern  Alabama  has,  by 
itself,  in  places  a  thickness  of  nearly  thirty-five 
feet  of  ore.  These  different  seams  of  red  ore,  in 
Northern  Alabama,  are  separated  from  each  other 
by  calcareous  sandstones  and  shales,  and  silicious 
or  sandy  limestones.  They  crop  out  along  the  tops 
and  valley  sides  of  the  Red  Mountains  or  red  oie 
ridges,  that  border  the  anticlinal  valleys,  and  also 
to  a  very  limited  extent  near  the  Tennessee  line, 
along  the  creeks.  These  Ked  Mountains,  or  red 
ore  ridges,  as  has  been  stated,  occur  on  both  sides 
of  the  valleys,  when  these  valleys  are  simply  anti- 
clinals,  separated  from  the  edges  of  the  valleys  or 
the  bluffy  escarpments  of  the  coal  measures,  by 
narrow  back  valleys.  They  sometimes,  however, 
from  folds  and  faults  in  the  strata,  are  doubled  or 
are  wanting,  but  seldom,  if  ever,  on  both  sides  of 
the  valleys  at  once. 

The  ore  is  in  regularly  stratified  seams,  that  are 
well  defined  between  strata  of  hard  sandstones  and 
shales,  and  which,  from  their  positions,  would  ap- 
pear to  cover  indefinite  areas.  The  ore  is  com- 
monly oolitic  in  structure,  or  commonly  consists  of 
rounded,  flattened  and  glazed  grains  of  various 
sizes  cemented  together.     It  is  nearly  always  fos- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


siliferoDS  and  calcareous,  though  some  strata  are 
111 nch  more  so  than  others.  On  the  outcro[)s  tlie 
calcareous  matter  is  frequently  completely  leached 
out,  and  the  fossil  impressions  entirely  obliterated, 
and  the  ore  conii)aratively  soft  and  o'ten  porous. 
Without  any  respect  to  their  solidity  or  hardness, 
the  leached  or  non-calcareous  ore  is  called  by  the 
miners  and  furnace  men  )<ofl  ore,  and  the  limy  ore 
hard,  ov  JfK.iiiiff  ore.  Limy  or  calcareous  matter, 
in  greater  or  less  quantities,  is  believed  to  be  always 
present  in  the  unleaclied  ore.  It  varies  very  much 
from  place  to  place  in  the  same  seam,  especially  on 
and  near  the  outcrop,  but,  as  a  rule,  it  increases 
away  from  the  outcrop  until  the  innermost  point 
of  scapage  or  weathering  is  reached.  The  limits 
of  scapage  and  weathering  are  very  dejiendent  on 
the  coverings,  and  hence  they  vary  very  much. 
Though  carhonate  of  lime  is  the  most  common  im- 
purity of  these  ores,  they  are  frequently  very 
silicious  or  sandy,  especially  in  some  of  the  seams, 
to  one  of  whicli,  in  many  localities,  it  has  given 
the  name  of  fcnit/i/  scam.  It  often  gets  so  great  as 
to  render  the  ore  valueless.  Besides  carbonate  of 
lime  and  silicious  matter,  this  ore,  in  phases,  has 
through  it  seams  and  irregular  streaks  of  clay, 
though  none  of  the  good  ore  is  known  to  have  this 
impurity  in  sutHciunt  quantities  to  require  the 
washing  of  the  ore.  The  sand  or  silicious  matter 
is  no  very  serious  objection  to  the  ore,  provided 
it  is  not  in  too  great  quantities,  and  the  carbonate 
of  lime,  when  its  percentage  in  the  ore  is  uniform, 
is  rather  an  advantage  than  anohjection,  provided 
it  does  not  exclude  a  suflicient  percentage  of  iron 
to  justify  working,  as  it  is  mixed  intimately  in  the 
ore,  and  so  causes  the  ore  to  fuse  more  readily  than 
fluxing  material  sepai'ate  from  the  ore.  This  ore 
in  some  localities  carries  as  much  as  50  per  cent  of 
metallic  iron,  and  a  specific  gravity  of  nearly  4, 
and  a  comhined  thickness  of  the  dilTerent  seams 
of  some  thirty-five  feet  of  ore.  If  the  dilTerent 
workable  outcrops  of  eighteen  inches  and  over  in 
thickness  of  red  ore  in  Xorthern  Alabama  were 
connected  together  in  one  straight  line,  they 
would  form  an  outcropping  of  ore  some  800 
miles  long,  that  would  have  a  thickness  of 
eighteen  inches,  asptcific  gravity  of  3,  and  40  per 
cent  of  metallic  iron.  This  liypothetical  seam 
of  ore  would  yiehl  for  every  foot  of  descent 
into  it  over  237,000  tons  of  metallic  iron,  and, 
as  it  would  be  supposed  to  cover  an  indefinite  area, 
the  amount  of  iron  wliicb  it  would  carry  might 
well  be  considered  inexhaustible.      This  ore   has 


been,  or  is  now  being  mined  extensively  at  the  fol- 
lowing i)laces:  In  McAshan  Mount. ,  near  McCalla; 
between  .McC'alla  and  ]5irmingham,  at  Sloss  Mines 
No.  2,  Woodward  Mines,  liillman  Jlines,  Smith 
Bros.'  Klines,  Redding  .Mines,  Morris  Mining  Com- 
pany Mines  Xo.  1,  Eureka  Mines  No.  2,  and  Eu- 
reka Mines  Xo.  1;  between  Birmingham  and  Iron- 
dale,  at  Old  Irondale  Klines  and  Morris  Mining 
Company  Klines  X^o.  2;  between  Irondale  and 
Trussville,  at  Sloss  Mines  X'o.  1  and  Smith  and 
Eastman  Klines.  It  is  also  mined  in  diggings  near 
Springville,  in  mines  near  Attalla,  in  diggings 
near  Reesville,  Greenwood,  Andrews"  Institute, 
Portersville,  Fort  Payne  and  Valley  Head,  and  in 
mines  near  Eureka  and  Gadsden.  Besides  the 
above  there  are  many  small  surface  diggings  into 
this  ore,  and,  doubtless,  by  this  time  several  other 
mines  of  large  outj)uts. 

These  mines  had,  for  1887,  a  combined  output 
of  ore  of  nearly  700,000  tons.  They,  and  other 
new  mines  into  this  ore,  to  supplj'  the  old  furnaces 
and  the  new  ones  that  are  now  being  built,  will 
have  to  have  a  combined  output  of  ore  for.1888  of 
about  1,250,000  tons,  and  for  1889  of  near  2,500,- 
000  tons.  This  ore  formerly  was  used  in  the 
furnaces  only  as  a  mixture  with  the  Iroirn  ore,  but 
its  proportional  part  grew  greater  and  greater 
until  finally,  and  for  several  years  past,  ithasbeeu 
used  alone  and  has  been  found  to  make  a  better 
grade  of  iron  by  itself  than  as  a  mixture  with  the 
brown  ore.  It  not  only  supplies  all  the  coke  fur- 
naces of  the  State,  with  two  exceptions  and,  one  or 
two  of  the  charcoal  furnaces,  but  it  is  also  shipped 
in  large  quantities  to  the  furnaces  of  Tennessee, 
etc.  This  ore,  from  its  leached  outcrops,  is  also 
ground  up  and  used  to  a  limited  extent  as  a  min- 
eral paint  and  for  glazing  purposes. 

(i)  Red  Ore  of  Metamorphic  Rocks.  This 
ore  is  commonly  called  specular  ore  from  its 
external  luster;  it  is  also  sometimes  called  blood- 
stone, from  its  exhibiting,  on  being  scratched,  a 
deep  red  colored  streak.  It  is  a  harder  and  more 
compact  ore,  as  a  rule,  than  the  hcmalife  of  the 
Clinton  group.  Very  little  is  known  as  to  its 
deposits  in  Xorthern  or  Eastern  Alabama,  though 
it  is  believed  to  be  in  considerable  quantities  and 
of  very  good  quality. 

(2)  Li-MoyiTE  ou  Browx  Ore.  This  ore  is  also 
known  as  hydrous  pero.ride  of  iron,  brown  hema- 
tite, broirn  iron  ore  and  brown  o.tide  of  iron.  It 
has,  when  pure,  about  GO  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron. 


26 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


It  is  the  most  widely  diffused  of  all  iron  ores,  and 
there  are  but  few  localities  and  geological  forma- 
tions in  Northern  Alabama  that  do  not  jjossess  it 
in  greater  or  less  quantities.  In  most  of  its 
de^josits,  it  is  of  fine  quality,  and  as  a  rule,  it  is 
purer,  or  carries  a  greater  per  cent  of  metallic  iron 
than  the  red  ore.  On  account  of  its  usual  large 
per  cent,  of  metallic  iron,  it  was  for  a  long  time 
the  only  ore  used  in  the  State.  It  now  supplies  all 
of  the  charcoal  furnaces  of  the  State,  with  one  or 
two  excei^tions,  and  several  of  the  coke  furnaces. 
From  its  mode  of  occurrence  in  irregular  pockets, 
it  is  a  very  difficult  matter  to  determine  its  quan- 
tity, though  this  quantity  is  known  to  be  such  as 
to  be  considered  well  nigh  inexhaustible.  It  sim- 
ply would  be  impossible  to  mention  all  of  the 
localities  of  its  occurrence  in  Northern-  Alabama, 
and  the  best  that  can  be  done  will  be  to  treat  of 
the  principal  of  these  localities  or  the  localities  of 
its  greatest  deposits  in  the  different  geological 
formations.  These  geological  formations,  in  the 
order  of  the  imnortance  of  their  brown  ore  depos- 
its, are  as  follows:  (a)  Loioer  Silurian,  {h)  sub- 
carboniferous,  (c)  cretaceous,  (d)  inetamurphic,  (f) 
drift,  (/)  and  coal  measures 

(a)  Brown  Ore  of  Lower  Silurian  Formation. 
This  formation  is  known  as  the  great  brown  ore 
bearing  formation.  It  carries  the  most  impor- 
tant brown  ore  deposits  of  Northern  Alabama. 
These  ore  deposits  occur  in  principally  the  sub- 
group Knox  Dolomite.  This  sub-group,  with  its 
thick  beds  of  dolomites  and  limestones  and  its  vast 
deposits  of  brown  ore,  is  a  most  persistent  forma- 
tion. It  extends,  along  with  the  Clinton  group, 
or  red  ore  rocks,  from  Canada  to  Central  Alabama, 
where  it  becomes  covered  up  by  a  newer  formation 
lying  nnconformably  to  it.  For  this  whole  dis- 
tance, brown  ore  deposits  are  scattered  over,  at 
intervals,  the  outcrops  of  its  strata.  They  are 
much  greater  and  thicker  in  places  than  in  others, 
and,  like  the  red  ore  seams,  are  much  the  most 
highly  developed  in  Central  Alabama,  near  the 
southwestern  end  of  the  visible  strata  of  this  sub- 
group. They  are  confined  to  the  anticlinal  val- 
leys, and,  as  they  are  due  to  the  decomposition  of 
the  underlying  ferruginous  limestones  and  dolo- 
mites, they  are  most  numerous  and  extensive  where 
the  strata  of  these  underlying  rocks  have  been 
most  disturbed  and  decomposed.  Over  these  local- 
ities of  greatest  disturbance  and  decomposition, 
the  ore  deposits  are  not  evenly  distributed,  but  are 
much  thicker  and  greater  in  places  than  in  others. 


In  some  places  they  are  grouped  thicklvover  areas 
of  hundreds  of  acres  in  extent,  while  in  other 
places  they  are  almost  wanting.  They  occur, 
principally,  in  leached  knolls,  hills  and  ridges,  that 
occupy,  usually,  a  strip  of  country  from  two  to 
three  miles  wide,  running  up  and  down  each  anti- 
clinal valley  near  its  center.  These  knolls,  hills 
and  ridges  are  from  50  to  :200  feet  high,  and  are 
frequently  continuous  for  sevei-al  miles.  They  are 
made  uji  of  eliiefly  reddish  and  orange-colored 
loams,  with  brown  ore  banks  cropping  out  in 
greater  or  less  quantities  over  them.  They,  in 
some  of  the  richer  localities,  are  almost  entirely 
covered  with  the  loose  nodules  and  boulders  of 
this  ore,  or  have  scattered  over  them  piles  of  these 
loose  nodules  and  boulders  of  ore,  that  have  been 
picked  and  piled  up  to  get  them  out  of  the  way  of 
the  plough.  -These  ore  banks  frequently  appear  to 
extend  entirely  through  the  knolls,  hills  and 
ridges,  and,  though  they  usually  occur  in  knolls, 
hills  and  ridges,  they  are  sometimes  found  in  the 
low,  flat  places.  They  contain  the  ore  as  hard, 
solid,  compact  ore,  as  honey-comb  ore,  and  as 
ochreous  and  earthy  varieties,  and  as  small  shot 
ore  to  boulders  fifteen  and  twenty  feet  in  diameter 
and  of  3,000  tons  and  more  in  weight.  This  ore 
is  of  a  concretionary  nature.  It  sometimes  breaks 
with  a  conchoidal  fracture,  and  is  frequently 
fibrous.  It  also  sometimes  has  cavities  that  are 
lined  with  a  beautiful  velvety  appearance,  and  it 
frequently  has  mammillary  and  botryoidal  surfaces 
that  have  a  dark  or  nearly  black  glaze.  This  ore 
most  commonly  is  of  good  quality  and  usually 
carries  from  50  to  60  per  cent  of  metallic  iron. 
The  A.  G.  S.  E.  K.  and  the  S.  E.  &  D.  E.  E.  run 
either  through  or  very  near  the  main  deposits  of 
this  ore.  These  deposits,  with  one  exception, 
furnish  all  the  brown  ore  that  is  now  being  mined 
in  the  State. 

{b)  Brown  Ore  of  the  Snb  -  Carboniferous 
Formation.  The  brown  ore  banks  of  this  forma- 
tion are  second  in  importance  only  to  those  of 
the  Lower  Silurian  formation.  Tiiey  are  very 
similar  to  those  of  that  formation  in  occurrence, 
manner  of  derivation  and  composition,  though 
they  have  been  derived  from  entirely  different 
rocks.  They  have  been  derived  j^rincipally  from 
the  ferruginous  cherty  limestones  of  the  Upper 
Silicious  Group,  though  there  are  some  beds  of 
them  of  considerable  size  that  have  come  from 
rocks  of  the  Lower  Silicious  Group,  and  others 
that  now  cover  outcrops  of   the  Mountain    Lime- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


27 


stone  Group,  though  these  beds  are  believed  to 
have  come  from,  or  to  belong  properly  to  the  coal 
measures. 

Bkowx  (Iiu:  i'kom  iiii;  I'i'I'ku  Silk  lofs 
<ii{ori'.  OK  St.  Ij(U  is  Limestone.  The  priii- 
cij)al  oi\'  (k'po.-jits  of  tliis  sub-group  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Little  or  liiisselville  Valley.  'i'hey 
occur  imbedded  in  a  red  loam,  that  forms  hills 
ami  ridges.  This  red  loam  has  commonly  in  it 
also  cherty  pebbles  and  nodules.  Tlie  ore  banks 
are  distributed  not  regularly  through  the  hills 
and  ridges,  but  rather  in  groups  at  intervals. 
They  consist  of  either  an  aggregated  collection  of 
small  nodules  of  ore  or  of  isolated  huge  boulders 
of  ore  scattered  through  the  matrix  of  red  loam, 
and  are  irregular  and  uncertain  as  to  both  their 
■e.xtent  and  richness  in  ore.  Some  of  them  are 
very  prolific  in  ore  and  would  doubtless  yield 
thousands  of  tons  of  ore  before  giving  out,  while 
others  would  scarcely  justify  the  working.  This 
ore,  as  a  general  thing,  contains  an  unusual 
4imount  of  metallic  iron.  It  once  sujiplied  a  fur- 
nace and  made  a  very  fine  grade  of  pig  iron,  espe- 
cially for  casting.  These  deposits  are  now  being 
worked  again,  since  the  building  of  the  S.  &  B. 
li.  R.,  and  will  be  made  to  supply  the  Sliellield 
furnaces,  etc. 

BUOWN      OliK     01'     TIIK     LoWEIt     SlI.ICIOlS,    OK 

Keokik  (iRorr.  The  iron  ore  deposits  or 
the  brown  ore  deposits  of  this  sub-group, 
though  much  more  numerous,  are  appar- 
ently not  near  so  important,  or  so  great  and 
jnire,  as  those  of  the  overlying  or  Upper  Silicious 
Oroup.  The  princijial  of  these  deposits  are  in  or 
near  the  barrens  of  Lauderdale  and  i^imestone 
Counties,  and  over  the  tops  and  sides  of  the  Red 
Mountains  or  fossiliferous  cherty  ridges  of  the 
anticlinal  valleys.  They  occur  as  loose  nodules 
and  loose  boulders  in  a  mati-ix  of  loose  nodules 
and  loose  boulders  of  fossiliferous  chert.  As  its 
nodules  and  boulders  are  usually  intimately  mixed 
with  those  of  the  fossiliferous  chert,  it  would  re- 
<|uire  considerable  care  and  much  dead  work  to 
collect  together  this  ore,  and  hence  it  would  be 
expensive,  comparatively  speaking,  to  mine  it. 
Being  derived  from  more  silicious  or  cherty  rocks, 
it  is  also,  as  a  general  thing,  though  good,  more 
silicious  or  cherty  than  the  brown  ores  of  the  de- 
posits already  mentioned.  Its  varieties  are  ai)out 
the  same  as  those  of  the  Knox  and  Lower  Sili- 
cious'sub-groups.     It  has  never  been  mined  any 


in  Alabama,  though  doubtless  it  will  be  made  to 
furnish  the  furnaces  that  are  now  being  built  at 
Florence,  etc. 

Bkown  Ohio  oe  Mdint.vi.v  Limestone  or 
Chester  Group.  Over  the  mountainous  sides 
and  ridges  of  the  mountain  limestone  that  crops 
out  under  the  bluffy  escarpments  of  the  coal 
measures  bordering  the  valleys,  in  a  matrix  of 
sandy  loam  with  small  rounded  flint  pebbles  and 
loose  boulders  of  ferruginous  sandstones  and 
conglomerates,  there  are  numerous  deposits  of 
brown  ore,  of  usually  a  very  good  quality  and 
sometimes  of  considerable  extent.  These  deposits 
of  ore,  though  they  now  overlie  mountain  lime- 
stone strata,  properly  belong  to,  or  have  come 
from  the  outcroppings  of  a  regular  stratified  seam 
of  ore  of  tire  coal  measures.  This  seam  crops  out 
just  above  the  juncture  of  the  mountain  limestone 
and  coal  measure  strata,  or  just  below  the  bluffy 
escarpments  of  the  coal  measures.  Its  ore  in  the 
outcrops  and  in  the  above  loose  deposits,  is  a  lini- 
onite  or  brown  ore,  though  it  is  believed  to  have 
been  changed  into  such  by  atmospheric  agencies  or 
by  weathering,  and  that  the  unchanged  or  un- 
weathered  ore  in  the  seam  is  a  carbonate.  It  is 
evident  that  the  ore  of  these  deposits  over  the 
mountain  limestone  has  come  from  the  above  seam, 
from  the  fact  that  the  matrix,  or  the  loose  pebbles 
and  the  loose  boulders  of  ferruginous  sandstones 
and  conglomerates  with  which  the  ore  is  intimately 
mixed,  are  of  the  coal  measures.  These  deposits 
of  loose  ore,  however,  are  removed  sometimes  over 
one- half  mile  from  the  outcroppings  of  the  above 
seam,  but  they  are  always  on  lower  ground  and 
doubtless  have  gradually  worked  their  way  by 
slides,  etc.,  down  the  steep  mountain  sides  to  their 
present  positions.  The  stratified  seam,  as  well  as 
the  loose  deposits,  are  much  better  developed  in 
places  than  in  others.  These  deposits  are  often 
seemingly  wanting,  though  there  is  always  more 
or  less  loose  ore  along,  usually  just  below  the  line, 
or  geological  position,  for  the  outcroppings  of 
this  seam  of  ore.  The  loose  deposits,  like  those  of 
the  Knox  group,  ajipear  to  be  most  numerous  and 
extensive  in  those  localities  where  the  parent 
rocks,  or  those  around  the  outcroppings  of  the 
stratified  ore  seam,  have  been  most  disturbed  and 
disintegrated.  'J'he  ore  has  been  seen  as  thick  as 
six  feet  in  the  seam,  and  some  of  the  loose  deposits 
occur  over  areas  of  seventy-five  to  one  hundred 
acres.  U'his  ore  has  never  been  used  or  dug  any. 
Its  greatest  drawback  is  the  uncertainty  of  the 


28 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


richness  of  its  deposits,  and  the  fact  that  it  is 
mixed  in  these  deposits  through  a  mass  of  much 
foreign  matter,  and  hence  would  be  expensive  to 
mine. 

[p)  Brown  Ores  of  the  Cretaceous  Formation. 
The  iron  ores  or  brown  ores  of  this  formation  are 
in  its  lower  and  upper  parts,  or  in  the  Tusca- 
loosa and  Eipley  sub-groujjs. 

Brown  Ore  of  Tuscaloosa  Group.  Iron  ore 
or  iron  oxide  is  widely  distributed  through  this 
sub-grouji,  but  though  some  of  the  strata  are 
always  highly  ferruginous,  the  localities  are  very 
few  in  which  the  good  ore  is  in  sufficient  quantity 
to  justify  working.  The  ore  occurs  in  both  pock- 
ets or  patches,  and  in  regular  stratified  seams. 
That  in  patches  or  pockets  is.  strictly  speaking, 
limonite  or  brown  ore,  while  that  in  the  regular 
stratified  seams  gives  a  red  streak,  or  has  a  deep 
red  powder,  and  is  seemingly  intermediate  between 
a  brown  and  a  red  ore.  The  pocket  ore  occurs 
through,  usually,  a  matrix  of  a  deep  red  sandy 
loam  in  irregular  lumps  from  the  size  of  shot  ore 
to  boulders  several  feet  in  diameter.  In  the 
matrix  between  the  pockets  of  ore  there  are  fre- 
qi;ently  pockets  of  ferruginous  conglomerates  and 
sandstones.  The  ore  is  usually  of  good  quality, 
and  is  mainly  porous,  with  red  and  yellow  ochres 
filling  the  cavities.  It  often  contains  twigs,  small 
pieces  of  wood,  and  other  vegetable  matter  that 
have  been  converted  into  limonite.  It  has  been 
used  in  the  furnace,  and  is  said  to  work  easily 
and  to  make  a  very  fine  grade  of  iron.  The  prin- 
cipal or  most  extensive  dejiositsof  this  pocket  ore, 
the  only  ones  that  have  ever  been  worked,  are 
near  Vernon,  Lamar  county,  at  and  near  the  site 
of  the  Hale  and  ilurdock  old  furnace.  The  ore  in 
regular  stratified  seams  overlies  impervious  clayey 
strata,  and  shows  plainly  that  its  iron  has  been  dis- 
solved from  that  disseminated  through  the  overly- 
ing strata  and  deposited  or  precipitated  in  seams 
or  layers  on  reaching  the  impervious  strata.  This 
stratified  ore  is  usually  shaly  or  in  thin  scales, 
though  some  of  it  is  massive,  Avith  frequently 
knotty-looking  places  of  concentric  rings  of  ore. 
It  is  commonly  very  silicious,  compact,  hard, 
micaceous,  and  of  a  light  red  color.  It  is  often 
nothing  more  than  a  highly  ferruginous  sandstone 
or  conglomerate,  and  is,  so  far  as  known,  too 
impure  to  work,  though  some  of  the  seams  might 
answer  very  well  for  ochre.  The  seams  sometimes 
reach  a  thickness  of  several  feet. 

Brown  Ore  of  Ripley  Group.     The  brown 


ore  deposits  of  this  sub-group  are  numerous.  The 
ore  is  of  very  good  quality  and  is  probably  of  suffi- 
cient quantity,  in  places,  to  be  of  industrial  value. 

{d)  Brown  Ore  of  Metamorphic  Rocks.  The 
brown  ore  deposits  of  these  rocks  are  for  the  most 
part  the  resultants  of  the  decomposition  of  beds 
of  pyrites  and  form  what  are  known  as  "gossans." 
These  gossans  may  be  in  some  instances,  of  very 
great  extent,  as  their  superficial  areas  are  some- 
times great  and  their  depths  are  unknown.  Be- 
sides these  ffossans,  this  formation  has  considerable 
compact  limestone  of  concretionary  origin,  and 
of  a  pure  character,  scattered  over  its  hornblendic 
rocks.  This  ore  has  been  worked  in  the  old  Cata- 
lan forge,  biTt,  as  a  general  thing,  it  is  too  scatter- 
ing to  be  of  any  economic  value. 

(e)  Brotvn  Ore  of  Drift.  Iron  oxide  or  brown 
ore  is  distributed  universally  through  this  form- 
ation. It  often  acts  as  a  cementing  material 
and  sticks  together  the  sands  and  pebbles  of  this 
formation  into  hard  compact  masses  of  highly 
ferruginous  sandstones  and  conglomerates,  that 
might  occasionally  be  regarded  as  siliceous  or 
sand}'  limonites.  This  oxide,  however,  in  some 
localities,  is  collected  together  into  concretionary 
masses  of  very  good  ore.  It  is  not  known  to  be 
in  any  one  place  in  sufficient  quantity  to  be  of  any 
jDractical  value. 

(/')  Brown  Ore  of  Coal  Measures.  There 
crops  out  near  the  base  of  the  Coal  Measures  a 
seam  of  ore  that,  as  has  been  stated,  is  limonite  on 
the  out  crop  but  which  is  believed  to  be  a  carbon- 
ate within.  This  seam  sometimes  gets  to  be  as 
thick  as  six  feet,  and  the  ore,  though  usually  sili- 
cious, is  frequently  of  a  very  good  quality.  This 
is  the  seam  of  ore  from  which  the  deposits  of 
brown  ore  overlying  the  mountain  limestone 
strata  are  believed  to  have  come.  There  are  very 
likely  other  seams  higher  wp  in  the  coal  measures 
that  are  limonites  on  the  outcrops  and  carbonates 
within.  There  are  also  scattered  through  the 
shales  of  the  coal  measures,  at  many  horizontal 
positions,  nodules  of  very  good  limonite  that  have 
been  formed  by  the  weathering  or  decomposition 
of  concretionary  masses  of  clay,  iron,  stones  and 
pyrites.  These  brown  ores  of  the  coal  measures 
have  never  been  used  or  dug  in  any  way. 

(3)  SiDERiTE  OR  Cakbox.\te  OF  Iron.  This 
ore,  though  it  occupies  a  third  place  among  the 
iron  ores  of  Northern  Alabama,  is  the  ore  from 
which  England's  i^reponderating  amount  of  iron 
has  been  produced.     It  occurs  in  only  the  carboni- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


29 


ferous  formation  or  coal  measures,  and  in  onlj- 
two  varieties;  namely,  (a)  The  Black  Band  Ore, 
and  (6)   Tke  CJutj  Iron  Stone. 

{ii)  The  Black  Band  Ore.  This  is  a  coaly 
carbonate  of  iron.  It  occurs  in  Xortliern  Ala- 
bama in  several  known  seams,  that  vary  from  one 
to  four  inches  in  thickness.  It  has  been  dugsome 
little  from  two  of  these  seams  in  the  Warrior  field, 
and,  in  both  instances,  it  worked  very  well  in  the 
furnaces  with  a  mixture  of  more  silicious  ores. 

(b)  Tlie  Clay  Iron  Stone.  This  is  an  im- 
pure argillaceous  carbonate  of  iron.  It  occurs 
usually  as  balls,  nodules  and  kidney-shape  concre- 
tions, disposed  in  layers  and  interstratified 
through  the  shales  of  the  coal  measures,  at  many 
horizontnl  positions.  It  occurs  sometimes  also  in 
stratified  seams  in  the  shales.  In  certain  localities 
the  quantity  is  apparently  large,  and  the  quality 
is  sutticiently  good  for  economical  purposes, 
though  it  lias  never  been  worked  any  in  Northern 
Alabama. 

(4)  Magnetite  ok  Magnetic  Ikon  Ore. 
This  ore  occurs  to  a  considerable  extent  in  regular 
layers  and  masses  in  tiie  metamorphic  or  crystal- 
line rocks  of  East  Alabama.  It  is  sometimes  of  a 
crystalline,  sometimes  of  a  granular  and  sometimes 
of  a  slaty  texture.  It  is  usually  gray  in  color  and 
mixed  with  more  or  less  foreign  matter.  It  is 
believed,  as  a  general  thing,  to  carry  only  a  small 
percentage  of  phosphoric  acid  and  to  be  titanifer- 
ous. 

(5)  Pyrite  or  Pyrite.s.  This  ore  occurs  in 
greater  or  less  quantities  in  all  the  geological 
formations  of  Northern  Alabama.  It  is,  however, 
especially  abundant  in  the  metamorphic  and 
Devonian  rocks.  Unchanged,  it  is  never  used  for 
nuiking  iron,  but  the  ''gossans"  resulting  from 
its  decom]>osition  are  frequently  used  for  this  pur- 
l)ose.  Its  chief  use,  in  the  pure  state,  is  for  the 
nuinufacture  of  sulphuric  acid,  which  is  largely 
used  in  the  arts  and  in  the  preparation  of  com- 
mercial fertilizers.  Its  deposits  in  Northern  Ala- 
bama have  never  been  used  for  even  this  purpose, 
from  doubtless  the  fact  tiiat  the  greater  of  these 
deposits  are  far  removed  from  any  transporting 
facilities. 

(3)  Fluxing  Rocks  and  Lime  Blrning 
Hocks,  ok  Limestones  and  Dolomites.  These 
rocks  of  the  very  best  quality  and  in  inex- 
haustible quantities,  occur  in  several  of  the  geolog- 
ical formations  of  Northern  .Mabama.  'i'iiey  are, 
however,  purest  and  most  highly  developed  in  the 


sub-carboniferous  and  lower  Silurian  formations. 
They  make  up  tiie  greater  part  of  all  the  valleys 
of  the  State.  Those  of  the  sub-carboniferous  form- 
ation in  the  Tennessee  Valley  have  a  thickness 
of  some  1.500  feet,  while  those  of  the  lower 
Silurian  formation  in  the  Coosa  Valley  must  have 
a  much  greater  thickness.  These  rocks  are 
now  being  quarried  extensively  in  Northern  Ala- 
bama for  botii  fluxing  aud  lime-burning  purposes, 
the  supply  coming  j)rincij)ally  from  the  groups, 
mountain  limestone  of  the  sub-carboniferous  form- 
ation, and  Trenton  of  the  lower  silurian  forma- 
tion. The  silicious  group  of  the  sub-carbonif- 
erous rocks  and  the  Knox  dolomite  of  the  lower 
silurian  formation,  however,  furnish  no  small  sup- 
])]}■  for  both  of  these  purjioses.  These  limestones 
are  oftej\  very  constant  in  their  composition,  and 
frequently  carry  as  much  as  98  per  cent,  of 
carbonate  of  lime.  Thej-  are,  therefore,  well 
adapted  to  fluxing  and  lime-burning  purposes. 
They  readily  burn  into  quick-lime,  that  is  of  the 
very  best  quality  as  to  color,  cohesive  power  and 
ability  to  stand  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold. 
These  rocks,  as  a  general  thing,  are  most  favorably 
located  for  cheap  quarrying  and  cheai)  transporta- 
tion. Their  outcrops  usually  occupy,  topograph- 
ically speaking,  high  positions  in  the  valleys  or 
sides  of  the  mountains,  ridges  and  hills,  and 
hence  they  can  be  easily  and  cheaply  quarried, 
without  any  trouble  from  water,  and  easily  and 
cheaply  handled  or  loaded  into  cars,  that  can  be 
easily  and  cheaply  run  along  the  base  of  their  out- 
crops. These  abound  with  these  pure  lime- 
stones, especially  in  the  sub-group  Knox  dolomite 
of  the  lower  silurian  formation,  dolomitic  lime- 
stones of  tlie  very  best  or  purest  quality,  that  are 
also  well  suited  for  fluxing  purposes  and  for  mak- 
ing the  whitest  of  quick-lime  and  the  hardest  and 
best  of  mortars. 

(i)  Building  and  Paving  Stones  and 
Brick  Clays. — Building  and  paving  stones  of 
beauty  and  durability  occur  in  unlimited  quanti- 
ties in  many  of  the  formations  and  in  many  parts 
of  Northern  Alabama.  They  consist  principally 
of  almost  every  variety  of  limestone  and  sand- 
stone, though  they  embrace  also  some  granites, 
soapstones,  gneisses  and  roofing-slates,  that  are 
invaluable  to  the  architect  and  builder  for  many 
purposes.  The  limestones  are  of  all  grades,  from 
very  good  hydraulic  cement  rocks  and  litho- 
graphic stones  to  pure  marbles  that  will  take  a  fine 
polish.     The  sandstones  are  massive  and   fiaggy. 


30 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and,  though  they  sometimes  split  into  thin,  tough 
sheets,  they  most  often  work  with  equal  ease  in 
any  direction.  Both  these  limestones  and  sand- 
stones are  comparatively  soft  on  being  first  quar- 
ried, but  they  harden  on  exposure.  The  paving 
stones  are  abundant  and  are  of  the  very  best 
quality.  They  are  durable;  being  compact  and 
impervious  to  water,  they  do  not  crack  and  scale 
off  in  freezing  weather.  They  are  of  uniform 
thickness — from,  say,  two  to  eighteen  inches — 
and  are  perfectly  smooth  and  beautifully  rippled 
marked,  and  require  only  to  be  squared  to  be 
ready  for  their  many  uses.  They  are  most 
abundant,  as  well  as  best  and  most  beautiful,  in 
the  coal  measures  and  Lower  Silurian  formations. 

Besides  the  above  building  and  paving  stones, 
there  are  excellent  clays,  for  making  ordinary 
bricks,  in  nearly  all  of  the  formations  and  in 
nearly  all  parts  of  Northern  Alabama.  Those 
of  the  drift  and  cretaceous  formations,  however, 
are  of  the  best  quality. 

(5)  PoRCELAiif  AND  FiRE  Clays.  Light  and 
gray  colored  plastic  and  silicious  clays,  that  are 
well  suited  for  making  pottery  ware  and  common 
fire  bricks,  abound  in  several  of  the  geological  form- 
ations and  in  many  parts  of  Xorthern  Alabama. 
They  are,  however,  mos^t  abundant  and  j)urest  in 
the  coal  measures  and  in  the  Tuscaloosa  and  lower 
silicious  sub-groups,  though  they  occur  in  con- 
siderable beds  in  the  drift  and  lower  silurian  form- 
ations. Those  of  the  coal  measures  usually  are 
of  a  gray  color,  and  form  the  underbeds  to  the  coal 
seams.  They  have  been  worked  in  only  a  few  lo- 
calities and  to  a  limited  extent,  only  for  making 
potteryware,  to  which  purpose  they  are  well  suited. 
They  doubtless,  in  many  instances,  would  make 
good  fire  bricks.  They  occur  in  seams  from  a  few 
inches  to  ten  and  twelve  feet  in  thickness.  Those 
of  the  Tuscaloosa  group,  in  some  of  their  beds,  are 
very  pure,  and  have  a  greasy,  lialloysite  feeling. 
They  have  been  worked  also  only  to  a  limited  ex- 
tent, and  in  only  a  few  places,  and  so  they  have 
never  been  given  a  fair  test.  Some  of  them,  it  is 
believed,  would  make  nice  porcelain  ware,  while 
others  are  well  suited  for  fire  bricks.  They  are  the 
same  clays,  in  geological  position,  etc.,  as  the 
famous  fire  clays  of  New  Jersey,  and  may  prove, 
some  of  these  days,  in  some  instances,  to  be  of  just 
as  good  quality  as  the  New  Jersey  clays.  Those 
of  the  lower  silicious  group  occur  along  the  tops 
of  the  red  ore  ridges  and  mountains,  just  over  the 
outcroppings  of  the  black  shale.     They  are  derived 


from  the  disintegration  of  the  cherty  or  hornstone 
strata  at  the  base  of  this  sub-group,  and  are  fre- 
quently, in  the  outcrops,  of  a  chalky  whiteness. 
Their  beds  are  sometimes  from  thirty  to  forty  feet 
in  thickness,  and  are  of  various  strata,  that  differ 
in  ajipearance  and  composition.  Some  of  these 
strata  are  of  a  chalky  whiteness,  while  others  are 
of  a  dai-k  gray  color,  and  others  still  are  stained 
more  or  less  reddish  .-nd  yellowish.  Some  of  the 
strata  are  very  silicious  or  gritty  to  the  feeling,  so 
much  so  as  to  be  frequently  very  friable,  and 
hardly,  properly  speaking,  clays,  while  others  are 
greasy  to  the  feeling  and  are  very  plastic  on  being 
thoroughly  wetted.  In  these  different  light  colored 
strata  there  are  numerous  very  hard  nodules  of  very 
pure  halloysite  of  a  beautiful  ci'ystal  appearance. 
These  ciays  are  being  mined  extensively  in  DeKalb 
county,  the  different  varieties  separately,  and 
shipped  to  Chattanooga  to  be  made  up  into  fine 
potteryware  and  fire  bricks.  The  purer  varieties 
were  shipped  once  to  the  large  porcelain  works 
of  Trenton,  Ohio,  where  they  brought  about  SIO 
per  ton,  but  the  distance  wasfound  to  be  too  great, 
or  the  freight  too  much  to  make  this  traffic  pay.  In 
Chattanooga,  the  gritty  or  friable  strata  are  made 
into  fire  bricks  and  the  plastic  strata  into  porcelain 
ware.  A  full  set  of  fine  table  ware,  made  at  Tren- 
ton, Ohio,  from  this  clay,  was  on  exhibition  at  the 
New  Orleans  Exposition,  and  its  beauty  and  excel- 
lence, in  every  resjiect,  attracted  special  attention 
and  drew  forth  unqualified  remarks  of  praise  from 
all.  It  is  to  be  hoped  these  and  all  similar  clays  of 
Northern  Alabama  will  soon  be  consumed  at  home 
or  made  to  supply  home  manufactoiies. 

(G)  Marls  and  Phosphates.  The  marls  and 
phosphates  of  Northern  Alabama  are  in  consider- 
able quantities  and  are  of  the  greatest  interest  and 
value.  They  occur  in  only  the  cretaceous  and 
tertiary  formations,  and  hence  those  of  the  creta- 
ceous formation  alone  come  within  the  scope  of 
this  treatise.  Those  of  the  cretaceous  formation 
are  of  the  same  formation  as  those  of  England, 
while  those  of  the  tertiary  formation  are  of  the 
same  formation  as  the  deposits  of  South  Carolina. 
Those  of  the  cretaceous  formation  in  Alabama  are 
to  be  found  principally  in  two  well-defined  belts 
that  are  made  up  of  the  transition  beds  at  the  bot- 
tom and  top  of  the  rotten  limestone,  though  shell 
marls  and  phosphatic  casts  of  fossils  and  phos- 
phatic  nodules  occur  in  or  over  the  rotten  lime- 
stone, and  hence  it  is  probable  that  this  rock  may 
contain   marly  and   jihosphatic  strata  at  intervals 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


31 


all  the  way  through  it.  These  marls  and  phos- 
phates, in  the  majority  of  cases,  are  valued  almost 
solely  by  their  ]ieroentagcs  of  phosplioric  acid. 
The  marls  include  not  only  the  marls  proper,  but 
also  the  green  sands  and  other  materials  which 
may  be  valuable  as  fertilizers.  They  are  nearly 
always  phosphatic.  The  phosphates  occur  in 
irregular  nodules  of  almost  jiure  pliosphate  of 
lime,  in  green  sands  and  in  silicious  limestones.  In 
the  nodules,  the  average  contents  of  phosphoric 
acid  is  al)out  twenty-five  per  cent.  If  these 
nodules,  therefore,  could  be  found  in  sufficient 
quantity  and  could  be  easily  or  cheaply  collected 
together,  they  would  be  of  great  commercial  value. 
Tlie  phosphatic  green  sand  is  insufficient  quantity 
and  contains  phosplioric  acid  enough  to  make  it  a 
most  valuable  fertilizer.  It  carries  on  an  avarage 
about  ten  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid,  which  is 
equivalent  to  nearly  twenty-two  per  cent  of  bone 
phosphate,  and  is  therefore  in  fertilizing  effect 
about  equal  to  tlie  Xew  Jersey  green  sand,  which 
has  wrouglit  such  a  revolution  in  tlie  agriculture 
of  that  State.  The  pliospliatic  silicious  limestones 
disintegrates  in  jilaces  into  a  phospliatic  marl  and 
doubtless  holds  j)hosplioric  acid  enough  to  justify 
the  burning  of  the  rock  for  agricultural  purposes. 
Marls  and  i)hospliates,  eitherrawor  treated  with 
sulphuric  acid,  constitute  the  chief  bulk  and  cost 
of  nearly  all  manipulated  fertilizers,  and  Alabama, 
instead  of  making  or  at  least  attemjiting  to  make, 
her  fertilizers  out  of  her  own  raw  materials,  pays 
out  annually  to  other  States  nearly  $2,000,000  for 
fertilizers.  It  is  true  that  tlie  commercial  value 
of  these  raw  materials  in  Alabama  have  not  as 
yet  been  fully  determined:  still,  enough  is  known 
of  them  to  cause  a  belief  that  they  will  make  good 
fertilizers  and  that  they  will  eventually  add  very 
much  to  the  manufacturing  and  agricultural 
wealth  and  prosi)erity  of  the  whole  State. 

(7)  Ochres  Axn  Mineral  Paixts.  Red  and 
yellow  ochres  of  very  good  quality  occur  in 
several  of  tlie  geological  formations  of  Northern 
Alabama.  They  are,  however,  most  common  in 
the  metamorphic  and  lower  cretaceous  form- 
ations. Jlineral  jjaints  that  are  excellent  for 
outdoor  work  are  made  by  grinding  up  not  only 
these  red  and  yellow  ochres, but  also  the  .w/V  redore. 

(8)  Mll.I.STONES,    (iRIXDSTOXES    AXD       WhET- 

STOXEs.  Millstones  of  very  good  quality,  with 
and  without  pebbles,  are  made,  principally  for 
home  uses,  from  the  conglomerates  and  coarse- 
graia  sand  stones  of  the  drift,  coal  measures  and 


lower  Silurian  formations.  In  all  of  these  form- 
ations, tlie  above  materials  are  abundant  and  the 
millstones  made  from  them  are  said  to  be  espe- 
cially suited  for  grist  mills  or  for  grinding  corn. 
Grindstones  and  whetstones,  particularly  of  coarse 
grit  that  is  very  sharp  and  good  for  ordinary  edge 
tools,  can  be  easily  and  cheaply  made  from  many 
of  the  llagstones  of  the  coal  measure  and  upper 
Silurian  formation.  These  articles  are  transported 
now  for  hundreds  of  miles  to  this  State,  when  just 
as  good,  and  perhaps  often  a  much  better  quality 
for  many  purposes,  could  be  made  more  cheaply 
right  here  at  home  from  home  materials. 

(9)  GLAS^,     MoKTAltS    AND    Moi.DIXfi    SaXD.S. 

Pure  sands  that  are  good  for  all  the  purposes  for 
which  sands  are  used  are  to  be  found  in  nearly 
all  of  the  formations  of  Xorthern  Alabama.  These 
sands,  in  the  drift  and  cretaceous  formations, 
occurred  originally  as  regular  loose  strata  ;  in  the 
other  formations  they  occurred  originally  as  regu- 
lar stratified  sandstones,  of  greater  or  less  hard- 
ness and  compactness.  The  outcroi)pings  of 
these  loose  strata  and  of  the  sandstones  have 
given  rise  to,  on  weathering,  loose  beds  or  heaps 
of  sand  that,  in  many  cases,  are  removed  miles 
from  the  outcroppings  of  the  loose  strata  or  sand- 
stones from  which  they  were  derived.  The  purest 
and  best  of  these  sands  perhaps  have  been  derived 
from,  or  form  the  La  Grange  sandstone  of  the 
sub-carboniferous  formation.  These  sandstones, 
as  have  been  stated,  form  the  Little  Mountain  of 
the  Tennessee  Valley  and  the  rocky  i-mcs  of  the 
anticlinal  valleys.  They  furnish  most  of  the 
sand  that  is  now  used  in  the  State  for  mortars 
and  for  molds,  :ind  will  supply  sand  for  the  differ- 
ent glass  works  when  completed. 

(10)  Macadamizixi;  AXi)  Ballasting  Mate- 
rials. The  rounded  Hint  and  cherty  pebbles  of 
the  drift  are  the  very  best  of  materials  for  mac- 
adamizing walks  and  drives  and  for  ballasting  rail- 
road tracks.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the  greatest 
quantities  along  several  of  the  railroad  lines  of 
Northern  Alabama,  and,  as  they  occur  in  loose 
strata  or  beds,  they  can  be  easily  and  cheaply 
shoveled  up  and  loaded  on  the  cars.  They  are 
much  better  adapted  to  the  above  purposes  than 
the  angular  cracked  up  limestones,  etc.,  that  are 
usually  used,  as  tiiey  are  much  easier  on  the  feet 
of  both  man  and  beast,  and  on  the  wear  and  tear  of 
vehicles,  and  do  not  give  off  any  disagreeable  and 
injurious  impalpable  dust,  and  can  be  packed 
mucii  better,  or  will  make  a  much  firmer  road. 


32 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


(11)  Ornamental,  Curious  and  Precious 
Stones.  Among  the  most  important  of  these 
stones  in  Northern  Alabama  are  to  be  mentioned 
white  and  variegated  marbles,  beautiful  stalactites 
and  stalagmites,  clear  and  translucent  quartz, 
crystals  and  pebbles,  curiously  shaped  concretion- 
ary masses,  well  preserved  and  distinctly  marked 
fossil  coal  jjhnits  of  great  beauty  and  wonderful 
size,  and  beautiful  specimens  of  silicified  wood, 
agate,  chalcedony,  etc.  The  marbles  occnr  in  sev- 
eral of  the  geological  formations,  but  the  most 
beautiful  varieties  are  of  themetamorphic  or  crys- 
talline rocks,  through  the  white  and  variegated 
marbles  of  the  sub-carboniferous  and  Silurian 
formations  are  very  good  quality.  Tliese  marbles 
have  been  quarried  to  some  extent  and  used  for 
monumental  and  architectural  purposes. 

(12)  Manganese  Ores.  Manganese,  as  pyro- 
lusite  or  black  oxide  of  manganese,  is  widely  dif- 
fused, in  seemingly  small  quantities,  throughout 
Northern  Alabama.  Fine  cabinet  specimens  of  it 
can  be  jDicked  np  in  most  of  the  formations,  but 
perhaps  it  is  in  the  greatest  quantities  and  of  the 
greatest  purity  in  the  sub-carboniferous,  lower 
Silurian  and  metamorphic  rocks.  It  is  of  con- 
cretionary origin,  and  occurs  in  patches  or  pockets, 
like  the  hroirn  ore  with  which  it  is  intimately  asso- 
ciated. It  has  been  mined  to  some  little  extent  for 
making  ferro-mangancse  and  spicgel  eisen.  Little, 
however,  is  known  as  to  its  quantity,  though  it  is 
not  believed  to  be  great  enough  to  be  of  any  great 
commercial  value. 

(13)  Copper  Ores.  The  copper  ores  occur  in 
only  the  crystalline  or  metamorphic  rocks.  They 
consist  in  Northern  or  Eastern  Alabama  of  chaJ- 
copyrile  or  coppur  pyrites  or  yelloio  copper  ore,  of 
melaconite  or  Mack  oxide  of  cuppier  or  llach  copper 
and  of  covellite  or  indigo  copper.  These  ores  have 
been  worked  verj-  successfully  in  East  Alabama, 
and  likely  will  be  worked  again. 

(14)  Gold.  Gold  occurs  in  regular  quartz  veins 
and  in  surface  gravels  and  sands  in  and  over  the 
metamorphic  rocks  of  East  Alabama,  and  as  fine 
washed  or  placer  gold,  disseminated  through  the 
sands  and  flint  pebbles  of  the  drift  of  Northwest 
Alabama.  The  metamorphic  rocks  of  East  Ala- 
bama are  the  most  southern  true  gold  formation 
of  the  Atlantic  States.  The  gold-bearing  quartz 
veins  are  now  being  developed  in  several  localities, 
and  they  give  evidence  that  they  can  be  worked 
with  profit,  especially  by  the  use  of  the  improved 
appliances   of   the   present   day   for   mining   and 


crushing  ores.  The  loose  gravel  and  sand  beds 
over  the  metamorphic  rocks  were  worked  in  a 
rough  and  wasteful  way,  on  an  extensive  scale, 
some  forty  to  fifty  years  ago,  and  yielded  consider- 
able fortunes.  They  doubtless  will  be  worked 
again.  The  loose  gravel  and  sand  beds  of  the 
drift  of  Northwest  Alabama  were  also  worked 
some  little  years  ago  for  their  placer  gold,  but 
they  likely  did  not  make  any  one  very  rich. 

(15)  Tin  Ores.  Tin  ore  or  tinstone,  as  cassit- 
erite,  occurs  in  the  metamoriihic  rocks  of  East 
Alabama,  in  several  localities.  It  is  not  known, 
however,  to  be  in  sufficient  quantity  to  be  of  any 
commercial  value. 

(IG)  Lead  Ores.  Lead  ore,  as  galena,  occurs 
ill  situ  in  several  localities  in  the  Silurian  rocks  of 
Northern  Alabama,  and  in  the  metamorphic  rocks 
of  East  Alabama.  It  is  also  found  scattered  over 
all  parts  and  over  all  the  formations  of  Northern 
Alabama,  as  loose  lumps  from  the  size  of  small 
bullets  to  fifteen  and  twenty  pounds  in  weight. 
These  loose  lumps  are  particularly  numerous 
around  the  Indian  mounds,  and,  jierhaps,  were 
brought  to  this  country  by  the  motind  huilders. 
The  lead  ore  in  sitii  is  not  known  to  be  in  any 
place  in  Northern  Alabama  in  sufficient  quantity 
to  be  of  any  commercial  value,  notwithstanding 
the  thousand  and  one  Indian  tales  of  its  great 
purity  and  abundance  in  hundreds  of  localities. 

(17)  Silver  Ores.  Most  of  the  galena  of 
Northern  Alabama  carries  some  silver,  and,  when 
this  silver  gets  to  be  as  much  as  several  per  cent, 
the  ore  is  called  a  silver  ore. 

(18)  Zinc  Ore.  Zinc  ore,  as  sphalerite  or  zinc 
blende,  is  found  associated  with  the  co]iper  ores  of 
East  Alabama. 

(19)  Graphite.  Graphite,  or  jdumbago,  or 
black  lead,  occurs  in  many  localities  in  East 
Alabama,  in  small  quantities,  associated  with  the 
schists  of  the  metamorphic  rocks. 

(20)  Hydraulic  Cement  Eocks  and  Litho- 
graphic Stones.  Impure  limestones  and  fine- 
grained, compact  limestones,  that  would  doubtless 
make  very  good  hydraulic  cement  and  lithographic 
stones,  abound  in  the  sub-carboniferous  and  Silu- 
rian formations  of  Northern  Alabama.  The 
quality  of  these  limestones  for  these  purposes, 
however,  have  not  as  yet  been  fully  determined. 

(21)  Natural  Gas  and  Petroleum.  Natural 
gas  is  now  and  has  been  known  for  several  years 
to  be  constantly  escaping  from  between  the  out- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


33 


crops  of  strata  in  several  parts  of  Xortliern  Ala- 
bama. There  is  not  believed  to  be,  however,  from 
the  geological  structure  of  the  country  and  from 
the  piiysical  nature  of  the  strata,  any  great  reposi- 
tories of  it  in  any  of  the  formations  of  Northern 
Alabama.  Petroleum,  or  m.ineral  oil,  impregnates 
rocks  in  many  parts  and,  in  several  of  the  geoiogi- 
cal  formations  of  Northern  Alabama,  and,  as  a 
soft  asphaUum  or  pitch,  it  fills  cavities  in  some  of 
these  rocks  and  exudes  from  cracks  in  others  as  a 
semi-liquid  bitumen  or  mineral  tar,  forming  what 
are  known  as  Uir  .^pritujs.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
an  almost  inexhaustible  reservoir  of  this  valuable 
mineral  product  will  be  struck  some  of  these  days, 
in  Northern  Alabama,  but,  as  yet,  as  with  the 
natural  gas,  little  is  known,  outside  of  mere  con- 
jecture, as  to  its  true  supply. 

(22)  SoAPSTOXE,  steatite  or  talce;  Slates,  or 
roofing  slates;  Emeky,  or  corundum:  Heavy 
Si'AK,  barytes  or  barita;  iliCA,  or  muscovite  and 
Asbestos,  all  occur  ia  the  metamorphic  or  crysta- 
line  rocks  of  East  Alabama,  in  many  localities. 

AGIUC  TLTl  HAL    WEA LT-1 1 . 

Northern  Alabama,  as  a  whole,  i.s  a  great 
agricultural  as  well  as  a  great  mineral  country, 
notwithstanding  that  it  is  still,  in  many  sections, 
covered  by  an  unbroken  forest,  and  that,  only  a  few 
years  ago,  when  it  was,  strictly  speaking,  an  agri- 
cultural country,  a  large  proportional  part  of  its 
lands  were  looked  upon  as  almost  worthless  for 
agricultural  purposes.  The  increase  in  the  variety 
and  valuation  of  its  agricultural  products,  or  the 
products  of  its  fields,  gardens  and  orchards,  for  the 
last  ten  years,  has  been  most  gratifying,  indeed, 
even  when  compared  witii  that  of  the  richest  and 
most  prosperous  of.  strictly  speaking,  agricultural 
countries.  Its  agricultural  wealth  consists,  pri- 
marily and  mainly,  in  the  great  cajtabilities  of  its 
soils  and  in  its  erpiable  and  uniform  climate 
and  rainfall.  Its  soils,  though  in  certain  sections 
they  show  a  remarkable  degree  of  uniformity  in  the 
relative  proportions  of  their  constituents,  are  pro- 
lific in  every  aijricultural  product  that  gives  sus- 
tenance and  wealth  to  its  cultivators,  or  are  so 
various  as  to  be  able  to  furnish  an  especially  suit- 
able soil  for  each  one  of  the  many  great  agricul- 
tural products  to  wliich  the  climate  is  adai>ted, 
and  to  grow,  without  cultivation,  over  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  species  of  grasses.  Some  of  these 
soils  are  so  fertile  that  at  one  time  their  lands 
produced    more    of   agricultural    value  than    any 


acres  of  like  extent  in  the  United  States.  The 
same  lands  can  be  made  to  produce  again  as 
much  of  agricultural  value  as  any  areas  of  like 
extent  in  the  United  States;  for  their  soils,  as  well 
as  those  of  other  sections  of  Northern  Alabama, 
are  so  duraljle  that,  after  fifty  and  more  years'  abuse 
and  cultivation  in  cotton  and  corn  alone,  without 
ever  having  received  a  single  drop  of  manure  or 
fertilizer  of  any  kind,  still  yield  remunerative 
returns  in  these  crops  for  the  labor  bestowed  in 
cultivation.  These  crops,  cotton  and  corn,  up  to 
a  few  years  ago,  may  be  said  to  have  constituted 
the  only  productions  of  Northern  Alabama;  but 
now,  however,  the  indications  of  progress  in  diver- 
sified farming  in  Northern  Alabama  is  most  flat- 
tering, indeed.  Its  cotton  crop  is  on  the  wane, 
while  the  food  crops  and  live  stock  raising  are 
proportionally  on  the  increase.  This  decrease  in 
the  cotton  crop  and  increase  in  food  crops  are 
indicated  by  the  following  figures  of  total  produc- 
tions in  Alabama  of  cotton,  corn  and  oats  for  the 
years  1880  and  1885: 


Cotton  Crop  (bales). 

Corn  Crop  (hush) 

Out  Ciop  (busb) 


740,oro 

2  ,000,000 
3,000.000 


6.TO.0OO 

;ti,(««i,(X,o 

5,000.000 


The  cotton  crop,  though  thus  annually  falling 
off  in  quantity,  is  bringing  and  keej)ing  in  the 
State  more  money,  year  after  year,  from  the  in- 
crease in  the  home  cotton  factories  and  oil  mills. 
The  increase  in  the  other  food  crops,  or  those 
crops  which  are  grown  principally  for  home  con- 
sumption, as  hay,  vegetables,  fruits,  etc.,  and  in 
the  raising  of  live  stock,  isequally  as  gratifying  as 
in  the  case  of  the  corn  and  oats.  The  increase  in 
live  stock  raising,  though  most  gratifying,  i?,  how- 
ever, not  what  it  ought  to  be,  considering  the  many 
natural  advantages  of  Northern  Alabama  for  this 
most  profitable  business.  The  most  ))erceptible 
and  greatest  of  these  advantages  is  that  Northern 
Alabama  grows  spontaneously  over  fifty  different 
kinds  of  plants,  of  more  or  less  nutritive  value, 
that  are  relished  by  stock  and  that  are  suitable 
for  forage  and  hay  crops.  In  connection  with  the 
above  jileasing  fact  that  the  food  crops  and  stock 
raising  arc  rapidly  on  the  increase  in  Northern 
Alabama,  it  is  al.«o  pleasant  to  note  that  the  home 
markets  for  these  home-made  food  products  are 
also  rajiidly  on  tJie  increase.  This  is  due  princi- 
pally to  the  daily  increa.sc  in  the  home  consump- 


34 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


tion  of  the  home-made  food  products,  which  goes 
to  show  that  the  people  are  fast  learning  the  great 
art  of  living  well  or  living  at  home  on  fresh  and 
wholesome    food. 

The  farmers,  as  a  cla.ss,  are  also  becoming  much 
better  educated  in  their  vocation.  They  are 
abandoning  the  primitive  methods  and  imple- 
ments of  culture  of  their  forefathers  and  are 
rapidly  improving  their  breeds  of  stock  by  im- 
portation. They  are  also  taking  a  much  greater 
and  growing  interest  in  their  calling,  and  hence, 
are  well  organized  into  State,  county  and  beat 
clubs.  They  have  a  State  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment and  two  experimental  farms,  that  are  sup- 
ported by  a  tax  of  50  cents  on  every  ton  of  com- 
mercial fertilizer  sold  within  the  State.  This  ta.x 
gave  to  them  the  last  fiscal  year  nearly  $25,000. 

TDIBEH  WEALTH. 

More  than  one-half  of  Northern  Alabama  may 
still  be  classed  as  timber  lands.  In  many  sections 
of  it  there  are  unbroken  forests  of  heavy  timber 
of  many  square  miles  in  extent  that  are  as  yet  un- 
touched by  the  woodman's  ax.  These  forests  com- 
prise, as  has  been  stated,  over  125  species  of  arbor- 
escent growth,  and  include  in  their  heavy  timber 
almost  every  kind  of  tree  of  any  economical  value. 
The  prevailing  timber,  however,  of  most  of  these 
iorests  is  yellow  pine,  though  some  of  them  are  of 
the  hardwoods,  or  of  oak,  hickory,  gum,  beech  and 
cedar,  with,  in  some  localities,  a  considerable 
sprinkling  of  ash,  poplar,  cypress  and  walnut. 
The  prevailing  timber,  however,  of  any  one  local- 
ity is  closely  dependent  on  the  nature  of  the  soil 
or  the  geological  strata  from  which  the  soil  is 
derived.  So  true  is  this,  that  the  timber  belts  of 
the  State  closely  correspond  to  the  outcroppings 
of  certain  geological  formations,  and  hence  the 
different  geological  formations  can  frequently  be 
recognized  and  mapped  off,  approximately,  by 
their  peculiar  growth.  In  a  general  way,  the  pre- 
vailing timber  is  of  hard  woods  over  a  calcareous 
or  limey  soil,  and  of  the  soft  woods  over  a  silicious 
or  sandy  soil.  The  prevailing  timber,  therefore, 
over  the  sandy  plateaus  is  yellow  pine,  and  in  tlie 
limestone  valleys,  oak,  hickory,  etc. 

There  is  believed  to  be  enough  timber  standing 
now  in  Northern  Alabama  to  last  over  150  years, 
not  allowing  any  for  natural  growth,  at  the  pres- 
ent rate  of  cut,  which  is  valued  at  nearly  S!3,500,- 
000  per  annum.  Lumbering  will,  therefore,  be  for 
many  years  to  come,  as  it  has  been   in  the  past, 


one  of  the  most  important  industries  of  Northern 
Alabama.  The  lumber  mills,  and  hence  the  lum- 
ber outputs,  are  rapidly  increasing,  though  there 
are  now  in  the  State  420  saw-mills,  with  an  out- 
put that  is  worth  $.3,246,000  per  year. 

NATURAL  ADVANTAGES. 

The  natural  advantages  of  Northern  Alabama 
are,  in  many  ■  respects,  wonderful,  and  they  are  so 
numerous  that  it  would  be  a  difficult  task  to  men- 
tion them  all.  They  are  self-evident  alike  to  the 
capitalist  and  to  the  day-laborer,  and  to  the  manu- 
facturer, miner  and  farmer.  They  offer  to  all  a 
temperate  and  equable  climate,  a  dry  and  invigo- 
rating atmosphere,  pure  and  health-giving  waters, 
a  cheap  rate  of  taxation  that  is  being  constantly 
diminished,  and  clieap  homes,  with  peaceable  and 
contented  neighbors  and  with  good  church  and 
school  facilities.  Particularizing,  they  offer  to  the 
capitalist  investments  that  cannot  be  excelled  by 
those  of  any  other  country;  and  to  the  day  laborer, 
be  he  skilled  or  unskilled,  plenty  of  work  at  good 
pay  ;  and  to  the  manufacturer  cheap  power  and 
cheap  raw  materials,  in  close  jjroximity  to  each 
other  and  to  good  transporting  facilities;  to  the 
miner  plenty  of  steady  work  in  the  many  newly 
opened  mines  and  quarries;  and  to  the  farmer 
cheap  and  rich  lands,  with  varied  soils  and  early 
springs,  long  summers  and  late  falls  for  the  plant- 
ing, maturing   and  gathering  of  his  crops. 

FUTURE  POSSIBILITIES. 

The  future  possibilities  of  N^orthern  Alabama 
are  believed  to  be  greater  than  the  conceptions  of 
even  the  most  sanguine.  The  great  waves  of 
industrial  jirogress  may  be  said  to  have  just  fairly 
struck  Northern  Alabama,  and  their  resultants, 
the  huge  billows  of  prosjjerity,  that  have  just 
commenced  to  roll  over  it,  will  doubtless  continue 
to  roll  over  it  until  they  have  made  of  it  one  of 
the  most  prosperous  and  wealthiest  of  countries. 
The  time  or  day  will  have  come  when  the  com- 
bined outputs  of  all  of  its  old  furnaces  and  of  all 
of  its  new  furnaces  that  are  now  being  built  are 
used  up  in  home  industries,  or  are  converted  into 
the  most  profitable  of  home  manufactured  goods, 
or  when  every  cent  of  profit  that  can  be  gotten 
out  of  the  development  and  productions  of  its 
natural  resources  is  retained  at  home.  Judging 
from  the  unprecedented  increase  within  the  last 
few  years,  in  the  development  of  its  natural 
resources  and  in  the  quantity   and   kind   of   its 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


35 


manufactured  <:foods.  and  from  the  fact  that  all  of 
its  industrial  enterprises  are  now  running  on  full 
time  with  a  good  profit,  and  from  the  great  prob- 
ability that  these  industries  will  increase,  both  in 
number    and     kind,    during     the     next     twelve 


months,  at  a  much  greater  ratio  than  they 
have  ever  increased  in  the  past,  it  would  seem 
that  the  above  gala  day,  or  day  of  greatest 
prosperity  forNorthern  Alabama  is  not  very  far. 
in  the  future. 


PART  II. 

Summary  of  the  State's  History  from  Its  Earliest  Settlement 

TO  THE  Present  Day. 


'L'lie  climate, of  Alabama  is  one  of  its  chief  at- 
tractions. It  is  womlerfnlly  equable.  The  ex- 
tremes of  heat  or  cold  are  rarely  ever  exjjerienced. 
Snow  is  rarely  seen  except  in  tlie  most  northern 
parts.  The  streams  of  the  State  are  never  frozen 
over.  The  spring  is  early  and  wonderfully  balmy, 
and  as  a  result  vegetation  is  rajjid  and  luxuriant 
ill  its  growth.  The  summers  are  even  and  regu- 
lar in  temperature  and  there  is  never  a  great  or 
sudden  change.  The  extreme  of  heat  rarely  ever 
reaches  the  height  which  is  often  marked  in  the 
cities  of  the  North,  in  the  low  country  or  the  flat 
regions  of  the  States  lying  north  of  the  Ohio  river, 
or  on  the  plains  of  the  great  Northwest.  The  au- 
tumn is  late,  and  the  crops  have  a  greater  length 
of  time  to  mature  than  in  any  portion  of  the  dis- 
tinctively farming  section  of  the  North  or  West, 
and  the  winter  is  of  so  slow  ajjproach,  that  the 
crops  need  not  be  removed  from  the  fields  until 
late  in  November. 

To  the  manufacturer  Alabama  offers  induce- 
ments unrivaled  by  any  section  of  this  country. 
If  he  desires  to  operate  by  steam,  the  fuel  to  gen- 
erate the  power  lies  in  the  greatest  abundance  un- 
der the  hills  of  the  State.  It  abounds  in  quanti- 
ties practically  inexhaustible  and  is  suscejitible  of 
being  mined  at  the  minimum  cost.  The  coal  beds 
of  the  State  are  greater  in  extent  and  in  capability 
of  output,  than  probably  the  like  deposits  of  any 
other  State  in  the  Union,  with  possibly  the  excep- 
tion of  Pennsylvania.  If  a  manufacturer  desires 
to  operate  by  water  power,  he  would  find  in  any 
section  of  the  State  thousands — yes,  hundreds  of 
thousands — of  horse  power,rusliing  madly  to  waste, 
idle,  because  the  hand  of  man  has  not  been  laid 
upon  it,  to  turn  its  course  to  practical  usefulness. 
The  streams  of  Alabama,  ever  running,  have  power 
sufficient  to  operate  the  mills  of  New  England 
over  and  over  again.  A  single  stream  would  for 
miles  and  miles  along  its  banks,  furnish  sites  and 
power  enough  for  millions  of  sjiindles  or  looms. 
In  fact,  an  unlimited  number  of  industries  sus- 


ceptible of  being  operated  by  water  jtower  might 
find  sites  along  the  streams  of  Alabama  where  the 
conditions  for  their  ojieration  would  be  most  highly 
favorable  and  where  the  expenses  of  the  operation 
would  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  possible  cost. 

The  miner,  the  man  engaged  in  taking  from  the 
earth  its  riches,  would  find  work,  and  steady 
work,  in  Alabama.  Its  coal  mines  just  being  de- 
veloped —  barely  yet  producing  enough  for  home 
consumption,  are  being  enlarged  —  new  mines  are 
being  constantly  oj^ened,  and  in  a  thousand  fields 
there  is  room  for  experienced  men.  The  ore  mines 
employ  already  thousands,  and  the  opening  of  new 
ore  beds  will  call  for  thousands  more.  Marble, 
granite  and  slate  quarries  are  being  worked  and 
others  are  soon  to  be  worked,  and  men  will  be 
wanted  to  work  them.  The  field  is  here,  and  the 
future  promises  much  for  the  right  men.  The 
day  laborer  will  find  in  this  State  thousands  of 
enterprises  on  which  labor  is  in  demand,  with  fair 
wages  and  with  surrounding  circumstances  such 
that  he  can  work  every  day  in  the  year  if  he 
chooses.  lie  will  lose  no  time  in  Alabama  be- 
cause it  is  too  cold  to  work,  nor  need  he  lose  a 
day  because  it  is  too  hot. 

,  The  farmer  of  the  North  or  West  will  find  in 
Alabama  a  series  of  soils,  which  for  richness  can- 
not be  surpassed  in  the  world.  lie  will  find  sec- 
tions adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  everthing  which 
he  raised  in  his  Northern  home,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  is  adapted  to  many  others  which  would  not 
grow  with  him.  He  will  find  lands  which  will, 
year  in  and  year  out,  i)roduce  a  yield  of  wheat  or 
corn  equal  to  the  average  production  of  any  wheat 
or  corn  State  of  the  North  or  AVest.  He  will  find 
this  land  excellently  well  adapted  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  other  small  grain  grown  in  those 
States.  He  will  find  lands  which  will  produce 
tobacco,  in  quantity  and  in  quality,  equal  to  that 
produced  in  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania  or  Wis- 
consin. He  will  find  land  which  will  yield  hay 
crops  as  abundantly  as  the  crop  of  any  State  in  the 


36 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Union.  He  will  not  find  a  country  devoted  ex- 
clusively to  cotton;  or  rather,  lie  will  not  lind  a 
country  in  which  cotton  alone  can  be  raised.  lie 
will  lind  that  he  can  raise  wheat,  rye,  barley,  and 
in  fact,  anything  that  he  i)roduccs  at  home,  and  in 
addition  he  will  be  able  to  raise  cotton,  potatoes 
and  vegetables,  and  the  two  latter  he  will  be  able 
to  ship  home  something  like  a  month  or  two  before 
the  same  articles  are  ready  for  market  there.  He 
can  stek  the  southern  portion  of  the  State,  and 
there  he  will  be  able  to  raise  early  vegetables,  as 
well  as  many  of  the  fruits  of  the  warmer  zones. 
To  the  agriculturist,  the  State  of  Alabama  pre- 
sents a  greater  variety  of  features  than  any  other 
State  of  the  Union.  It  presents  opportunities 
which,  if  seen,  would  be  appreciated,  and  being 
appreciated,  would  be  eagerly  accepted. 

To  the  capitalist  seeking  a  safe  investment, 
Alabama  presents  as  many  opportunities,  if  not 
more,  than  any  State  in  the  Union.  Its  mineral 
fields  abound  in  chances  for  safe  and  profitable 
investments.  Farming  lands  in  all  parts  of  the 
State  may  now  be  purchased  at  a  very  low  figure, 
and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  they  will  be 
greatly  enhanced  in  value.  Transactions  in  city 
projierty,  in  the  many  growing  cities  of  the  State, 
have  enriched  hundreds,  and  only  the  outside  has 
been  touched.  There  are  scores  of  cities  in  all 
quarters  of  Alabama  which  have  not  yet  been  the 
subject  of  marked  increase  of  value  or  great  en- 
hancements, which  offer  inducements  and  have 
resources,  that  will  most  certainly  cause  them  to 
come  rapidly  to  the  front  when  the  spirit  of  de- 
velopment becomes,  as  it  surely  will,  more  widely 
spread . 

As  a  home,  Alabama  offers  a  congenial  climate, 
and  healthfulness  which  will  compare  favorably 
witii  any  section  of  the  country;  immunity  from 
the  terrible  scourges  of  the  colder  portions  of  the 
country  and  a  death  rate  record  below  the  general 
average  of  the  country  at  large. 

The  State  of  Alabama  is  situated  south  of  Ten- 
nessee, west  of  Georgia  and  a  portion  of  Florida, 
north  of  a  part  of  Florida  and  the  Gulf  of 
of  Me.xico,  and  west  of  Mississippi.  It  has  an 
area  of  .50,72"2  square  miles.  lu  1880  its  popula- 
tion numbered  l,'i()2,50.5,  but  the  increase  since 
that  time  has  been  such  that  it  is  safe  to  say  its 
population  now  numbers  over  one  and  a  half 
millions. 

Alabama  was  first  seen  by  white  men,  when  the 
Spanish    cavalier,    De  Soto,   with    his    followers 


reached  its  territory,  on  liieir  march  westward  in 
search  of  the  vast  treasures  which  they  had  been 
told  were  to  be  found  in  the  land  of  the  setting 
sun.  De  Soto  found  the  State  peoj)led  by  a  hardy 
and  warlike  race  of  Indians,  who  lived  witii  com- 
parative comfort  in  villages  throughout  its  borders. 
These  people  were  brave,  but  they  mistrusted  the 
mission  of  the  gallant  cavalier  and  his  mail-clad 
followers,  and  De  Soto  found  that  savages  though 
they  were,  they  knew  the  arts  of  war  and  they 
fought  with  such  a  daring  and  such  a  desperation 
against  his  well-armed  and  well-protected  troops, 
that  although  he  defeated  them,  the  victory  was 
well  nigii  a  defeat,  and  the  blood  of  many  a  proud 
Spanish  nobleman  stained  Alabama's  soil,  and  the 
bones  of  many  a  Spanish  soldier  were  left  to  bleach 
with  the  bones  of  the  slain  savage,  and  De  Soto's 
party  leaving  Alabama  was  not  near  so  large  as 
when  he  entered  it. 

By  virtue  of  De  Soto's  discovery,  Spain  claimed 
the  southern  half  of  the  present  States  of  Ala- 
bama and  Mississippi  as  portions  of  the  Florida 
possessions.  France  also  laid  claim  to  the  same 
territory,  under  a  settlement  of  a  portion  of  it  by 
a  French  expedition  under  Bienville.  France  sus- 
tained its  claim  to  the  territory  in  question  as  a 
portion  of  its  Louisiana  possessions.  'I'he  title  of 
both  of  thesecountiies  to  this  particular  territory 
was  denied  by  Great  Britain,  and  that  country 
finally  obtained  and  held  possession  of  it  until  the 
matter  was  formally  settled  by  France  ceding  to 
England  all  of  its  Louisiana  jiossessions east  of  the 
-Mississippi  river,  and  about  the  same  time  Spain 
ceded  Florida  to  Great  Britain;  thus  that  govern- 
ment consolidated  all  contlicting  titles  and  became 
the  owner  of  this  entire  country  south  of  the  Ohio 
and  east  of  the  Mississippi  rivers. 

England  divided  its  possessions  thus  acquired  into 
three  parts  —  Florida,  West  Florida  and  Illinois. 
From  a  line  drawn  across  the  present  States  of 
Alabama  and  Mississippi  just  north  of  Montgom- 
ery, from  the  Chattahoochee  to  the  Mississippi,  to 
another  drawn  along  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
present  State  of  Flori<la  from  and  to  the  same 
points,  was  the  portion  of  the  territory  which  com- 
prised the  division  known  as  West  Florida.  The 
remainder  of  the  State  north  of  the  northern  line, 
was  a  portion  of  Illinois.  During  the  occupation 
of  the  country  by  the  British,  the  first  cession  of 
lands  to  whites  was  made  by  the  Indians,  who 
relinquislied  all  the  lands  between  the  Pascagoula 
river,  in  what  is  now  Mississippi  and  Mobile  Bay, 


-38 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


from  the  coast,  north  to  a  given  point  on  the 
Tombigbee  river,  thence  west  to  the  Pascagoula. 
This  cession  was  confirmed  to  the  United  States 
{government  after  the  close  of  the  Eevolution.ary 
War. 

During  the  struggle  of  the  American  colonies 
for  independence,  tlie  people  of  Alabama  remained 
loyal  to  the  British  government,  and  when  the 
Spaniards  espoused  the  cause  of  the  colonies  and 
sent  a  force  to  attack  Mobile,  the  white  residents 
of  Alabama  responded  to  the  call  and  so  reinforced 
the  garrison  at  Fort  Charlotte,  that  for  several 
days  they  resisted  the  attack  of  the  colonists' 
allies. 

On  the  conclusion  of  peace  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  American  colonies,  that  government  ceded 
to  the  victorious  colonists  the  territory  east  of  the 
Mississippi  and  north  of  the  31st  degree  of  lati- 
tude. Spain  claimed  the  portion  of  this  territory 
south  of  latitude  30-28,  as  having  been  ceded  to 
that  government  by  England,  after  the  cession  of 
the  territory  to  England  by  France.  Spain  held 
possession  of  a  portion  of  the  disputed  territory, 
and  it  was  only  settled  after  the  visit  of  (;en. 
Thomas  E.  Pinckney  in  1795,  to  Madrid,  for  that 
purpose,  when  Spain  relinquished  its  claim  in 
favor  of  the  young  government,  but  it  held  nom- 
inal possession  of  the  section  in  controversy,  until 
1798. 

Georgia,  which  was  one  of  the  thirteen  colonies, 
claimed  the  territory  now  comprised  in  the  States 
of  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  and  within  a  year  or 
so  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  that 
State  began  preparations  for  the  colonization  of 
the  territory,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  it 
unquestionably  under  its  control,  and  to  this  end 
in  178-1:,  tbe  legislature  of  Georgia  authorized  the 
sending  of  a  party  of  settlers  into  the  wilds  of 
Alabama  to  organize  counties.  This  party,  in 
1785,  organized  all  of  that  portion  now  in  the 
State,  lying  north  of  the  Tennessee  river,  into  a 
county  which  was  called  Houston,  in  honor  of 
Gov.  John  Houston,  of  Georgia.  The  seat  of 
government  of  this,  the  first  American  govern- 
mental organization  formed  in  Alabama,  was 
located  at  or  near  Muscle  Shoals,  on  the  Tennessee 
river.  The  life  of  this  county  was  of  short  dura- 
tion. The  offices  necessary  for  government  were 
established,  but  the  wildness  of  the  country  and 
the  fear  of  the  Indians,  who  were  being  incited  to 
offensive  acts  by  the  Spanish  authorities,  together 
with  the  slowness  of  the  arrival  of  immigration 


caused  the  abandonment  of  the  enterprise  and  the 
return  of  the  party  to  Georgia. 

In  1798,  the  congress  of  the  United  States  by  an 
act  created  the  Territory  of  Mississippi.  This 
Territory  embraced  that  portion  of  the  present 
States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi  which 
lies  north  of  an  east  and  west  line,  along  the 
northern  boundary  of  Florida  from  the  Chatta- 
hoochee to  the  Mississipjji,  and  south  of  a  similai 
line  drawn  between  those  two  rivers  and  passing  a 
little  north  of  Montgomery.  The  seat  of  govern- 
ment of  the  new  territory  was  located  at  Natchez 
on  the  Mississippi  river.  John  Adams  was  then 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  he  appointed 
as  governor  of  the  newly  created  territory,  Win- 
throp  Sargeant,  of  Massachusetts,  who  proceeded 
to  Natchez  and  organized  the  territorial  govern- 
ment. 

In  1800,  Governor  Sargeant,  by  proclamation, 
created  the  county  of  Washington,  and  defined 
its  limits  as  all  the  area  in  the  territory  of  Missis- 
sippi east  of  Pearl  river  as  far  as  the  Chatta- 
hoochee. The  census  of  the  territory  was  taken 
in  that  year,  and  the  returns  showed  Washington 
county's  population  to  consist  of  733  whites,  494 
negro  slaves  and  23  free  negroes.  At  this  time 
what  is  now  the  counties  of  Baldwin  and  Mobile 
were  under  the  domination  of  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment, and  it  is  estimated  that  their  population 
equaled  that  of  Washington  county.  In  1801  the 
people  of  the  territory  became  dissatisfied  with  the 
ministration  of  Governor  Sargeant  and  petitioned 
his  removal  from  office,  which  petition  was  granted 
by  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  had  succeeded  to  the 
presidency,  and  William  C.  C.  Claiborne,  of  Ten- 
nessee, was  a25pointed  to  succeed  him  as  governor 
of  the  territory. 

Georgia  maintained  its  claim  to  the  northern 
portions  of  the  States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi, 
contending  that  it  held  a  title  to  the  territory 
under  a  grant  from  the  British  government. 
This  dispute  was  finally  settled  in  1802,  by  the 
State  of  Georgia  ceding  to  the  United  States  all  of 
the  territory  in  question,  for,  and  in  consideration 
of  the  sum  of  one  and  a  quarter  million  of  dollars. 
After  the  purchase  of  the  title  to  this  land  from 
the  State  of  Georgia,  the  limits  of  the  territory  of 
Mississippi  were  extended  so  that  it  all  was  com- 
prised therein.  The  next  step  taken  by  the  gen- 
eral government  was  the  negotiation  of  treaties 
with  the  Indian  occupants  of  the  lands  of  the 
entire  Territory,  that  they  might  be  thrown  open 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


39 


to  settlement.  An  inijiortant  treaty  was  concluded 
in  the-  hitter  j)ortioii  of  18(i'^.  between  coniniis- 
sioners  representing  the  United  States  and  the 
chiefs  of  sevei'al  tribes  inhabiting  the  territory, 
by  whicli  the  Choctaws  renewed  their  grant  of 
land  to  the  British  in  favor  of  tlie  Tnitcd  Slates 
government. 

In  lSii5  Robert  Williams,  of  North  Carolina, 
.siicceedei]  Governor  Claiborne  as  (iovernor  of  the 
Territory,  and  the  i)ej)ding  negotiations  with  the 
Indians  were  concluded,  and  new  negotiations 
opened,  which  resulted  in  acquiring  large  grants 
of  lands  from  the  savages,  all  of  whieii  were  thrown 
open  and  settled:  the  tide  of  immigration  began  to 
How  in  the  State,  and  in  a  short  time  the  jiop'ila- 
tioii  had  increased  materially.  In  1808.  (iovernor 
Williams  created  by  jiroclamation.  from  the  Chick- 
asaw cession,  the  county  of  JIadison,  and  opened 
up  that  portion  of  the  Territory  to  settlement  by 
white  immigrants.  In  the  succeeding  year.  1809, 
the  county  of  Hakhviu  was  organized.  Mobile  was 
still  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  and  there  was 
a  continual  warfare  between  them  and  the  settlers. 
In  1809  Governor  Williams  was  succeeded  by  ])avid 
Holmes,  of  Virginia,  and  at  that  time  the  three 
countiesof  tlie  Territory  of  Mississippi  lying  within 
the  present  State  of  AUbama  were:  Washington, 
JIadison  and  Baldwin.  According  to  the  census 
of  1810  the  ))opu]ation  of  these  counties  consisted 
of  y'iA'l'i  whites  and  'lXi'l\  negroes,  about  half  of 
whom  resided  within  the  limits  of  Madison  county. 

The  Spanish  Government  ceded  Louisiana  back 
to  France  in  1801,  retained  Florida,  and  claimed 
as  a  portion  of  it  the  strip  of  coast  lying  south  of 
the  31st  degree  of  latitude,  directly  .south  of  and 
adjoining  the  Territory  of  Mississippi.  In  1803 
Franc:e  sold  Louisiana  to  the  United  States,  but 
Spain  still  claimed  and  held  possession  of  the  strip 
of  coast. 

Before  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  ISIS,  the 
Sjianish  managed  to  incite  the  Indians  living  in 
the  Territory  to  misehief,  and  they  made  fref|uent 
attacks  on  settlers  and  immigrants,  and  com- 
mitted outrages  and  depredations  which  brought 
on  a  state  of  hostilities,  which  ended  only  after  a 
long  and  bitter  war. 

On  the  o]ieningof  the  War  of  LST-,'  Sj)ainwas  an 
ally  of  (ircat  Britain,  and  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment thouglit  it  best  to  dislodge  the  Spanish 
soldiers  garrisoning  the  foi'ts  south  of  Mississippi 
Territory,  to  prevent  them  falling  into  the  liands 
of  tiie  foes,  and  with  this  end  in  view.  General 


Wilkerson,  with  a  large  force,  moved  from  New 
Orleans  and  laid  siege  to  Fort  Charlotte,  which, 
after  some  days  of  resistance,  capitulated,  and  thus 
the  United  States  became  tiie  j)ossessor  of  one  of 
the  best  harboi's  on  the(!ulf  coast,  and  was  in  a 
position  to  prevent  an  inroad  by  the  enemy  to  the 
interior  by  way  of  the  .Mobile  and  tributary  rivers. 

Later  in  this  year,  18i:S,  occurred  the  celebrated 
fight  of  Burnt  Corn,  between  a  force  of  less  than 
two  hundred  settlers  and  about  twice  their  num- 
ber of  savages,  in  which,  owing  to  discredit- 
able action  on  the  part  of  a  lai'ge  portion  of 
the  whites,  the  Indians  were  victorious.  The 
repulse  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians 
in  the  Burnt  Corn  engagement  had  the  effect  of 
disheartening  the  settlers,  and  at  the  same  time 
their  success  elated  the  savages;  they  were  ripe  for 
other  deeds  of  violence,  and  began  an  indiscrim- 
inate attack  on  the  settlements,  murdering  all  who 
fell  into  their  hands  without  regard  to  age  or  sex, 
burning  down  the  homes  of  the  whites  and  laying 
their  fields  waste  with  fire.  The  destruction  was 
general — none  were  spared. 

This  state  of  affairs  caused  theerection  through- 
out the  disturbed  section  of  the  State,  numerous 
block  houses,  or  as  they  were  called,  stockades, 
where  the  people  retired  for  security  when  the 
attacks  of  the  savages  became  too  frequent,  and  in 
these  stockades  the  people  found  comparative 
security:  but  in  one  of  them  there  occurred  the 
most  terrible  massacre  which  has  marked  the 
annals  of  savage  warfare  in  this  country.  Such  a 
fort  was  erected  at  the  residence  of  David  Mims, 
in  the  northeastern  portion  of  Baldwin  countv, 
and  after  the  Burnt  Corn  fight,  the  whites  for 
.some  distance  around,  fearing  the  sj>irit  of  reprisal 
in  the  savages,  gathered  in  this  fort,  prepared  to 
defend  themselves  against  any  number  of  Indians 
that  chanced  to  attack  it.  The  people  in  the  fort, 
according  to  the  most  accurate  of  the  State's  his- 
torians, numbered  ^45  men  capable  of  liearing 
arms,  who  were  under  the  command  of  Maj.  Oaniel 
Beasley,  and  308  women,  children  aTid  friendly 
Indians. 

For  many  days  during  the  latter  part  of  August, 
1813,  rumors  reached  tlie  fort  of  the  api>roach  of 
an  army  of  Indians,  but  as  often,  investigation  by 
scouts  sent  out  for  the  purpose,  proved  that  the 
rej)ort  was  without  foundation.  This  occurred 
several  times,  and  as  might  naturally  be  supposed, 
it  was  soon  regarded  as  the  fabled  cry  of  the  wolf, 
and  the  occui)ant8  of  the  fort  rested  esisily, conscious 


40 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


of  the  possession  of  an  apparently  secure   place  of 
safety. 

The  Indians  were  enraged  by  the  attack  on 
them  at  Burnt  Corn.  The  warlike  spirit  in  the 
tribes  living  in  the  Coosa  and  Tallapoosa  valleys 
had  been  roused  during  the  preceding  winter  by 
the  fiery  sf)eeches  of  the  great  Shawnee  chief,  Te- 
cumsefi,  whom,  it  is  said,  the  British  sent  from 
his  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  among  the 
Indians  of  the  Mississij)pi  Territory  for  the  pur- 
pose of  rousing  them  to  war.  The  council  fires 
burned- throughout  the  country  along  those  rivers, 
and  the  eloquent  chief  poured  hot  words  of  wrong, 
of  robbery,  of  dealh  and  of  devastation  into  the 
ears  of  the  Indians  assembled  about  him,  and  he 
stirred  up  in  their  bosoms  a  fire  which  could  only 
be  quenched  by  the  blood  of  the  whites;  his  words 
awakened  a  hatred  which  clamored  loudly  for 
revenge.  The  peaceably  disposed  chieftains  of 
the  tribes  endeavored  to  stay  the  tide  which  had 
set  in.  They  endeavored  to  arrest  the  current 
which  would  madly  tear  onto  rapine  and  murder, 
and  which  they  foresaw  would  result  in  the 
destruction  of  the  tribes  by  the  whites,  whose 
superiority  in  warfare  would  render  them  in  the 
end  invincible.  In  this  they  failed,  and  the  hills 
were  enlivened  by  the  war  dance,  while  the  defiant 
war-whoop  uttered  by  a  thousand  throats,  sounded 
over  the  hills,  through  the  valleys  and  awoke 
echoes  from  the  mountain  dells.  The  savage 
boiled.  The  Burnt  Corn  attack  was  the 
event  which  unchained  the  tiger  of  revenge. 
After  its  occurrence,  the  restraining  influence  of 
the  peaceable  chieftains,  which  had  at  least 
caused  delay,  was  brushed  aside,  and  the  men 
who  cried  out  vengeance!  vengeance!  gathered 
thousands  of  the  dusky  warriors  about  them.  A 
party  was  organized  under  the  leadership  of 
Weatherford,  Peter  McQueen  and  I'rophet  Fran- 
cis, for  a  descent  upon  the  white  settlements 
along  the  bottoms  of  the  lower  Alabama  and  Tom- 
bigbee.  The  army  numbered  a  thousand  strong 
and  its  march  to  the  scene  of  its  greatest  carnage 
was  as  stealthy  as  the  creeping  of  a  cat  to  a  posi- 
tion of  vantage  from  which  to  spring  on  its  prey. 
This  band  of  warriors  surrounded  Fort  Mims  by 
daylight,  and  at  high  noon  they  had  crawled  up 
to  its  very  gates.  The  inmates  of  the  fort  had 
been  deceived  often  about  the  enemy's  approach, 
and  they  had  grown  careless.  When  the  savages 
arrived,  they  were  at  their  ease;  the  approaches 
were  unguarded;   the  stockade  gates  stood  open; 


there  was  not  a  sentinel  in  place.  With  one  wild 
cry  of  expectant  victory,  the  maddened  savages 
poured  in  like  demons  hungering  for  carnage. 
They  swarmed  in  on  the  unpreimred  and  unsus- 
pecting inmates  of  the  fort,  and  there  ensued  the 
most  horrible  massacre  which  has  ever  stained 
with  its  blood  a  page  of  the  country's  history. 
The  tomahawk  and  the  scalping  knife  were 
greedy  for  gore,  and  though  the  inmates  of  the 
fort,  roused  to  a  sense  of  their  danger,  fought 
with  desperation  the  battle  of  self-preservation, 
the  slaughter  was  complete,  and  the  declining 
sun  sent  his  setting  rays  over  the  smouldering 
ruins  of  Fort  Mims,  around  which  lay  the  dead 
bodies  of  about  500  of  its  inmates,  and  the 
dead  bodies  of  over  2(>0  of  its  assailants.  Of 
the  55;i  souls  in  the  fort  at  the  time  of 
the  attack,  all  historians  writing  on  the  sub- 
ject, agree  that  less  than  fifty  escaped  alive, 
^[en,  women,  and  children,  all  alike,  fell  vic- 
tims to  the  revenge  of  the  savages.  The  news 
of  this  terrible  slaughter  spread  like  wild-fire, 
and  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson  was  sent  from 
Tennessee,  within  forty  days  after  the  Fort 
Mims  disaster,  with  .3,000  volunteers  raised  in 
that  State  to  wreak  vengeance  on  the  bloodthirsty 
savages.  In  November  a  portion  of  this  body 
attacked  the  Indian  town  of  Tallasseehatchee, 
located  within  the  limits  of  what  is  now  Calhoun 
county,  and  after  a  brief  but  bloody  struggle, 
all  the  warriors,  186  in  number,  were  killed, 
and  General  Jackson,  in  making  his  report 
of  the  engagement  to  Governor  Blount,  tersely 
wrote:  "We  retaliated  for  Fort  Mims." 
Later  in  the  same  month,  he  attacked  the  Indian 
towri  of  Talladega,  and  there  inflicted  a 
crushing  defeat,  the  Indians  leaving  299 
warriors  dead  on  the  field.  The  remnant 
retired  across  the  mountains  to  the  town  of  Ililla- 
bee,  and  proceeded  to  open  up  negotiations  with 
Jackson  for  i)eace.  A  few  days  later.  General 
White,  in  command  of  another  body  of  Tennes- 
see volunteers,  surprised  the  town  and  killed  sixty 
of  the    warriors. 

Georgia  sent  out  volunteers  to  the  aid-  of  the 
settlers  of  Mississipi^i  Territory,  and  the  battles 
were  frequent  and  fierce  throughout  the  Territory, 
and  were  fought  with  varying  success.  The  Mus- 
cogees  were  a  brave  tribe,  and'  though  attacked 
from  every  point  of  the  compass,  they  fought 
desperately  aiul  fought  well,  and  it  was  not  until 
their  overwhelming  defeat  by  Jackson's  re-inforced 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


41 


army,  at  Horse  Shoe  Bend,  were  they  a  defeated, 
broken  and  scattered  race.  This  engagement  was 
j)ractically  tlie  deatli-blow  to  the  tribe,  as  its  loss 
footed  u])  probably  more  than  000  warriors  slain. 

General  Jackson  built  Fort  Jackson  on  the  Ruins 
of  Bienville's  old  Fort  Toulouse,  in  what  is  now 
Elmore  county,  and  here  he  concluded  treaties  of 
peace  with  tiie  various  tribes,  whereby  they  sur- 
rendered more  or  loss  of  their  lands,  and  after  the 
lapse  of  a  few  years  they  exchanged  the  pitiful 
remnant  left  to  them,  for  a  home  beyond  the 
"  Father  of  Waters." 

After  spending  some  time  at  Fort  Jackson 
(ieneral  Jackson  moved  his  headquarters  to  Mobile, 
and  on  the  arrival  of  volunteers  from  Tennessee, 
he  captured  Pensacola  from  the  Spanish,  after 
wiiich  he  left  the  army  in  charge  of  Maj.  Uriah 
Blue,  and  proceeded  to  Xew  Orleans  to  take 
command  there.  Major  Blue  was  kept  busy 
liunting  up  and  crushing  out  jiredatory  bands  of 
Indians,  and  after  a  short  time  the  mighty  Mus- 
cogee was  a  race  of  the  j)ast.  Driven  to  the 
woods  and  swamps,  with  nothing  on  which  to 
subsist,  the  weather  compelled  the  scattered 
members  of  the  tribe  to  come  with  outstretched 
hands  begging  food,  peace  and  protection  at  the 
iiands  of  those  who  had  in  battle  proven  the 
conqueror. 

The  lands  of  the  C'hickasaws  and  Choctaws 
were  obtained  from  those  tribes  by  treaties,  on  the 
[)aynient  by  the  Government  of  a  stipulated  sum  of 
money.  Thus  was  the  red  man  pushed  out  of  the 
choicest  portions  of  the  territory.  By  force  of 
arms,  and  at  the  price  of  blood,  and  when  these 
failed,  or  the  Government  concluded  that  the  war 
would  be  too  obstinate,  American  gold  bribetl  the 
red  man  to  surrender  a  domain  rich  enough  in  its 
resources  to  purchase  kingdoms  for  a  hundred 
kings.  These  treaties  were  concluded  in  1814, 
and  the  Indians  having  been  crushed  out,  or 
bought  off,  the  country  began  to  rapidly  fill  up 
with  immigrants,  and  as  the  richness  of  its  soils 
became  known,  the  dissatisfied  in  the  older  States 
packed  up  their  farming  implements  and  in 
wagon  trains  traveled,  orer  the  rough  roads,  seek- 
ing a  home  on  Alabama's  virgin  soil. 

TIIE  DIVISION   OF  TIIE 

TpIlRITOUV  AND  THE  ORGAXIZ.VTIOX  OF  THE  TERRITORY  OF 
ALABAMA. 

By  an  act  of  Congress,  dated  March  1,  1817, 
the  Territory  of  Mississippi  was  divided,  and  by 


another  act  of  Congress,  adopted  two  days  later, 
the  western  portion  of  the  divided  Territory  was 
organized  into  a  new  Territory,  to  be  called  Ala- 
bama; defining  its  boundaries  and  providing  for 
its  government.  The  act  fi.xed  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment of  the  new  Territory  at  St.  Stephens,  in 
Washington  county,  and  directed  the  president  to 
ai)point  a  governor  for  the  new  Territory,  who 
should  have  authority  to  call  a  session  tliere  of 
such  members  of  the  Territorial  council  (the  same 
as  the  senate  of  to-day)  and  house  of  representa- 
tives of  the  Territory  of  .Mississippi  as  resided 
within  the  boundary  of  the  new  Territorv-  Presi- 
dent Monroe  appointed  as  governor  of  Alabama 
William  Wyatt  Bibb,  of  Georgia,  who  accepted 
the  position  and  entered  on  the  discharge  of  his 
duties  shortly  after  his  appointment.  Governor 
Bibb  called  the  first  session  of  the  Territorial  Leg- 
islature together  in  January,  1SI8.  The  session 
commenced  on  January  19,  when  it  was  discov- 
ered that  ten  members  of  the  house  of  representa- 
tives resided  within  the  boundaries  of  Alabama, 
while  Mr.  Titus,  of  Madison,  was  the  sole  mem- 
ber of  the  legislative  council  entitled  to  a  seat,  and 
throughout  the  entire  session  he  occupied  a 
chamber  and  adopted  or  defeated  the  legislation 
arising  in  the  other  house  as  he  saw  fit;  enacted 
such  legislation  as  he  thought  necessary,  and  with 
due  formality  forwarded  it  to  the  lower  house  for 
ratification  or  rejection. 

The  ten  members  of  tiie  house  elected  Mr.  Ga- 
briel Moore  of  Madison,  chairmau,  and  the  follow- 
ing counties  were  represented:  Baldwin,  Clarke, 
Madison,  Jlobile,  Monroe,  Montgomery  and  Wash- 
ington. There  was  some  excitement  about  this 
time  occasioned  by  a  petition  of  the  constitutional 
convention  of  Mississippi  Territory,  praving  con- 
gress to  extend  the  limits  of  that  Territory  to  the 
Tombigbee  river  and  Mobile  bay,  so  as  to  include 
the  city  and  county  of  ilobile  as  a  portion  of  that 
territory.  Counter  petitions  were  sent  up  from 
all  parts  of  Alabama,  and  feeling  ran  high  on  the 
question. 

The  second,  and  what  proved  to  be  the  last,  ses- 
sion of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  assembled  at  St. 
Stephens  in  November,  1S18.  The  most  import- 
ant act  of  this  body  was  to  change  tlie  location  of 
the  seat  of  government  from  St.  Stephens  to  Ca- 
haba,  on  the  Alabama  river  at  the  point  where  it 
is  entered  by  the  Cahaba  river.  This  body  also  pro- 
vided for  the  erection  of  public  buildings  at  Ca- 
haba, and  for  the  temporary  location  of  the  seat 


42 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


of  government  at  Huntsville  nntil  the  completion 
of  the  public  buildings  at  Cahaba. 

On  March  2,  1819,  just  two  years  after  the 
organization  of  the  Territory,  Congress  authorized 
the  inhabitants  to  form  a  state  constitution  and 
provided  that  when  that  constitution  was 
framed  the  State  should  be  admitted  into 
the  union  on  the  same  footing  as  the  original 
States.  The  act  authorizing  this  donated  to 
the  prospective  State  the  sixteenth  section 
of  every  township  of  the  j^iiblic  lands  for  the 
maintenance  of  schools;  all  salt  springs  in 
the  State  and  the  land  adjoining  necessary 
to  work  them  to  the  extent  of  thirty-five 
acres;  five  per  cent,  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  sale 
of  public  lands  within  the  State  to  be  apjjlied  to 
works  of  internal  improvements;  three-fifths 
under  the  direction  of  the  State  Legislature,  and 
the  remaining  two-fifths  under  the  direction  of 
Congress;  seventy-two  sections  of  public  lands  for 
the  use  of  a  seminary  of  learning,  and  1,020  acres 
to  be  reserved  for  a  seat  of  government. 

The  act  authorized  an  election  to  be  held  on 
the  first  Monday  and  Tuesday  of  May,  1819, 
for  delegates  to  a  convention,  to  assemble  in 
Huntsville  on  the  first  Monday  in  July  following, 
which  was  on  the  5th  day  of  that  month. 

The  convention  f)rovided  for  in  this  act  met  in 
Huntsville  on  the  5th  day  of  July,  1819,  with 
the  following  delegates  re2oresenting  the  counties 
named  present: 

Autauga — James  Jackson. 

Baldwin — Harry  Toulmin. 

Blount — Isaac  Brown,  John  Brown  and  Gabriel 
Hanby. 

Cahaba  (now  Bibb) — Littlepage  Sims. 

Clarke  — Reuben  SafEold  and  James  McGofHu. 

Conecuh — Samuel  Cook. 

Cataco  (now  Morgan)  —  Melkijah  Vaughn  and 
Thomas  D.  Crabb. 

Dallas  — William  R.  King. 

Franklin  —  Richard  Ellis  and  William  Metcalf. 

Lauderdale —  Hugh  ilcN'ay. 

Lawrence  —  Arthur  F.  Hopkins  and  Daniel  D. 
Wright. 

Limestone — Thomas  Bibb,  Beverly  Hughes  and 
Nicholas  Davis. 

Madison — Clement  C.  Clay,  John  Leigh  Towns, 
Henry  Chambers,  Samuel  Mead,  Henry  Minor,  Ga- 
briel Moore,  Jno.  W.  Walker  and  John  M.  Taylor. 

Marengo — Washington  Thomjison. 

Marion — John  D.  Terrell. 


Mobile— S.  H.  Garrow. 

Monroe — John  MurjDhy,  John  Watkins,  James 
Pickens  and  Thomas  Wiggins. 

Montgomerj' — John  D.  Bibb  and  James  W. 
Armstrong. 

St.  Clair — David  Connor. 

Shelby — George  Phillips  and  Thos.  A.  Rodgers. 

Tuscaloosa — Marmaduke  Williams  and  John  L. 
Tindall. 

Washington — Israel  Pickens  and  Henry  Hitch- 
cock. 

The  convention  elected  John  W.  Walker,  of 
•Madison,  chairman,  and  John  Campbell  secre- 
tary. 

The  constitution  adopted  by  this  body  was  mod- 
eled after  the  spirit  of  the  age.  It  guaranteed  to 
the  citizen  the  fullest  liberty;  the  declaration  of 
rights  set  out  so  mucli  of  the  ilagna  Charta  as 
was  consistent  in  the  constitution  of  a  Republican 
State  government ;  slavery,  then  existing,  was 
recognized;  suffrage  was  accorded  to  all  white 
males  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  and  upwards;  the 
governor,  legislature  and  county  officers  were 
made  elective  by  the  popular  poll;  judicial  offi- 
cers, it  was  provided,  should  be  chosen  by  the 
general  assembly.  The  term  of  office  of  the  gov- 
ernor was  limited  to  two  years,  and  one  successive 
re-election  to  that  office  was  allowed;  terms  of 
judicial  officers  were  fixed  at  six  years,  senators 
three  years  and  representatives  one  year.  The 
judges  of  circuit  courts  collectively  were  consti- 
tuted a  supreme  court  of  appeals,  with  equity 
jurisdiction,  but  the  constitution  provided  for 
separate  sujireme  and  chancery  courts.  The  work 
of  the  convention  was  concluded  on  the  2d  of 
August,  and  a  copy  of  the  constitution  was  pre- 
jjared  to  be  forwarded  to  Congress  for  its  ratifica- 
tion by  that  body. 

An  election  ordered  by  the  new  constitution  for 
governor  and  members  of  the  legislature  was  held 
shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  the  convention, 
and  resulted  in  the  choice  of  William  Wyatt  Bibb, 
first  and  only  Territorial  Governor  of  Alabama,  as 
Governor  of  the  new  State.  Governor  Bibb  was  op- 
posed in  the  race  for  this  position  by  Marmaduke 
Williams,  of  Tuscaloosa,  who  was  one  of  the 
delegates  to  the  constitutional  convention  from 
that  county.  The  election  for  members  of  the 
legislature  resulted  in  the  choice  of  twenty-two 
senators  and  forty-five  representatives. 

The  first  session  of  the  State  Legislature  of 
Alabama   met   in    Huntsville,   Oct.  25,  1819,  and 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


43 


remained  in  session  until  Dec.  10,  of  tliat  year. 
Oovernor  Bibb  was  inaugurated  as  first  (iovcrnor  of 
the  State  of  Alabama,  in  lluntsville,  on  the  IHli  of 
November,  1810. 

THE  CONSTITITION 

of  the  State  of  Alabama  was  ajiproved  by  Con- 
gress and  a  joint  resolution  admitting  the  State 
into  the  Union  was  adopted,  and  receiving  tiie 
-approval  of  President  51  on  roe  on  the  14th  of 
December,   1819,  became  law. 

Immigration  began  to  flow  into  the  State,  and 
according  to  the  census  of  1820,  its  population,  ex- 
clusive of  Indians,  numbered  127,001,  of  which 
■85,451  were  whites  and  42,450  were  negroes.  With 
tlie  growth  of  the  population  a  disposition  to  im- 
prove the  country  was  fostered,  and,  as  a  result, 
roads  were  cut,  steamboat  companies  and  over- 
land transportation  companies  were  organized,  but 
the  facilities  were  so  limited  that  the  greater  por- 
tion of  the  supplies  for  the  interior  of  the  State 
were  brought  from  the  coast  by  the  rivers  in  flat- 
boats,  and  a  trip  from  Mobile  to  either  Montgom- 
ery or  Demopolis  was  a  matter  of  from  two  to  four 
months.  This  means  of  transportation  was  used 
on  the  river  for  some  years  after  1820. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Alabama  was 
established  in  lluntsville  bva  Mr.  Barhaiii  in  1812. 
Thomas  Eaton,  who  became  the  first  public  printer 
of  Alabama  Territory,  established  a  paper  at  St. 
Stephens  in  1814. 

Mobile's  first  newspaper  was  printed  by  a  Mr. 
Cotton  in  1816,  and  Thomas  Davenport  printed  a 
paper  in  Tuscaloosa  in  1818.  In  1820,  besides 
the  places  mentioned,  newspapers  were  jirinted  in 
other  parts  of  the  State  as  follows :  One  in 
Florence,  two  in  Cahaba,  one  in  Montgomery  and 
one  in  Claiborne. 

The  constitution,  to  facilitate  trade  and  imjirove 
the  financial  condition  of  the  people,  provided  for 
the  establishment  of  a  State  bank.  For  the 
greater  convenience  of  all,  it  provided  that  a 
main  or  principal  bank  should  be  established  at 
the  seat  of  government,  and  that  branch  banks 
could  be  located  throughout  the  State  at  points 
where  their  location  would  prove  the  most  advan- 
tageous. Under  this  system  the  State  guaranteed 
the  issue  of  the  bank,  retaining  two-fifths  of  its 
stock  as  security.  The  parent  bank  of  this 
system  v.as  established  at  Cahaba  in  1820.  The 
.seat  of  government  was  removed  in  1820  to 
■Cahaba,    and    here    the    second    session    of    the 


general  assembly  was  convened.  Governor  Bibb, 
tiie  first  Governor  of  the  State,  died  in  July  of 
this  year,  and  iiis  brother,  Thomas  Bibb,  of  Lime- 
stone, who  was  president  of  tiie  senate,  succeeded 
to  the  position  and  filled  out  the  unexpired  term. 
The  act  to  establish  the  State  university  was 
passed  by  the  legislature  on  December  18,  1820. 
This  legislature  also  elected  the  three  electors 
to  rejjresent  Alabama  in  the  electoral  college,  and 
who  were  instructed  to  cast  the  vote  of  the  State 
for  James  Monroe,  of  Virginia,  for  President,  and 
Daniel  D.  'J'ompkins,  of  New  York,  for  Vice- 
President.  The  electors  selected  were  John  Scott, 
of  Montgomery;  Henry  ilinor,  of  Madison,  and 
George  Phillips,  of  Dallas. 

In  1824,  Alabama  was  visited  by  General  La 
Fayette,  who  was  entertained  as  the  State's  guest 
at  the  ca])ital,  then  Cahaba,  by  Governor  Pickens, 
(ieneral  LaFayette  remained  several  days  at 
Cahaba,  after  which  he  jjroceeded  on  his  trip  to 
New  Orleans  by  way  of  Claiborne  and  Mobile. 

In  1856,  by  a  vote  of  the  General  Assembly  the 
seat  of  government  of  the  State  was  removed  from 
Cahaba  to  Tuscaloosa,  where  it  remained  about 
twenty  years.  The  government  of  the  State  for 
the  first  ten  years  of  its  existence  had  been  highly 
satisfactory,  and  as  a  result,  the  population  was 
more  than  doubled.  The  people  were  prosperous, 
and  as  a  natural  result  they  were  hapj)y  and  con- 
tented. The  census  of  1830  fixed  the  population 
of  the  Stateat  300,527,  divided  asfollows:  AVhites, 
100,406;  negro  slaves,  117,540;  and  1,562  free 
negroes.  Educational  and  religious  development 
kept  pace  with  the  increase  in  the  number  of  peo- 
ple, while  on  every  hand  there  was  to  be  seen  an 
increased  spirit  of  internal  improvement.  The 
vast  bodies  of  fine»lands  yet  in  the  possession  of 
the  Indians  were  acquired  and  opened  to  settle- 
ment by  purchase  and  by  treaty;  one  by  one  the 
tribal  remnants  of  the  once  great  nations  which 
owned  this  State  were  gathered  together  and  sent 
to  a  new  home  in  the  far  West. 

During  the  term  of  Governor  Moore,  which  was 
begun  in  1820,  the  construction  of  a  canal  around 
Mussel  Shoals  in  the  Tennessee  river  was  com- 
menced, and  about  the  same  time  the  building  of 
a  railroad  between  Tusoumbia  and  Decatur  was 
begun,  which  was  the  first  railroad  constructed  in 
Alabama,  and  was  completed  in  1832.  The  road 
ran  between  those  points  by  Courtland,  and  was 
forty-four  miles  in  length. 

The  State  University  at  Tuscaloosa  was  opened 


44 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


April  18,  1831,  about  eleven  years  after  the  passage 
of  the  act  establishing  it.  A  spirit  of  manu- 
facturing began  to  develop  itself  in  the  State 
about  this  time,  and  in  1832  the  General  Assem- 
bly passed  a  bill  incorporating  Bell's  Cotton  Fac- 
tory, which  was  located  in  Madison  county  and 
was  the  first  cotton  factory  erected  in  the  State. 

In  1835  a  treaty  was  concluded  with  the  Chero- 
kees,  the  last  remaining  of  the  four  great  tribes  of 
Indians  whom  the  whites  found  in  possession  of 
the  territory  of  this  State.  This  tribe,  for  and  in 
consideration  of  $5,000,000  and  7,000,000  acres  of 
land  in  the  West,  ceded  to  the  Government  their 
lands  lying  in  Alabama  and  Georgia,  and  shortly 
after  were  removed  by  the  general  Government  to 
their  new  homes  in  Indian  Territory. 

A  financial  panic  was  threatened  in  1837,  being 
occasioned  by  an  accumulation  of  bank  issues — a 
flooding  of  the  country  with  money,  which  tended 
to  create  a  feeling  of  false  prosperity,  and  induced 
the  people  of  all  classes  to  plunge  into  debt. 
Property  of  all  kinds  appreciated  far  beyond  actual 
value,  and  the  anticipations  of  prosperity  not 
being  realized,  debts  fell  due,  and  there  was  every- 
where an  inability  to  meet  them.  Business  became 
stagnant ;  runs  were  made  on  the  banks,  until  in 
the  early  summer  of  this  year,  all  of  them  sus- 
pended specie  payment.  Values  depreciated  and 
in  consequence  many  of  the  State's  citizens  were 
reduced  to  poverty.  The  exigency  demanded 
action,  and  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature  was 
called,  which  devised  measures  whereby  the  gen- 
eral condition  was  ameliorated  and  the  pending 
disaster  checked. 

The  Legislature  of  1839  established  separate 
courts  of  equity  and  chancery;  adopted  a  peniten- 
tiary system  and  provided  for  the  erection  of  the 
necessary  buildings  at  Wetumpka.  The  boundary 
question,  which  had  long  been  in  dispute  between 
Georgia  and  this  State,  was  settled  in  this  year,  by 
a  Joint  commission  of  the  two  States.  The 
Alabama  members  of  that  commission  were  :  W. 
B.  Benton,  of  Benton  ;  Alexander  Bowie,  of  Tal- 
ladega, and  John  M.  Moore,  of  Barbour. 

The  year  1840  found  the  State  of  Alabama 
wonderfully  prosperous.  It  owed  no  debts  and 
had  levied  no  taxes  since  the  year  1836,  the  ex- 
penses of  the  government  being  defrayed  by  the 
State  bank  and  its  four  branches,  but  that  institu- 
tion, which  had  received  the  most  of  the  Legisla- 
ture's attention,  had  from  bad  management, 
incurred  the  ill-will  of  the  peojile  and  the  end  of 


its  existence  was  fast  approaching.  The  State  in 
1840  was  composed  of  forty-nine  counties  with  a 
total  population  of  590,756,  divided  as  follows  : 
white,  335,185;  negro  slaves,  253,532,  and  2,039 
free  negroes. 

The  General  Assembly,  in  1842,  passed  an  act 
placing  the  branches  of  the  State  bank,  located  in 
Mobile,  Montgomery,  Huntsville  and  Decatur,  in 
liquidation,  and  provided  for  winding  up  the 
affairs  of  those  banks.  This  act  was  followed  the 
succeeding  year  by  one  making  the  same  disposi- 
tion of  the  mother  bank  at  Tuscaloosa,  and  the 
method  by  which  the  State  had  supplied  its  citizens 
with  currency  for  over  twenty  years  was  discon- 
tinued, and  there  was  hardly  a  voice  raised  against 
this  action.  Owning  stock  in  the  bank,  the  State 
felt  bound  for  the  payment  of  obligations  issued  by 
it,  and  in  consequence  the  legislature  passed  a  bill, 
ordering  an  issue  of  State  bonds  to  provide  the 
means  of  making  this  payment.  The  debts  of  the 
bank,  owing  to  mismanagement  and  the  indiscrimi- 
nate endorsement  of  the  worthless  paper  of  individ- 
uals, largely  exceeded  its  assets,  and  the  State  ap- 
pointed a  commission,  consisting  of  F.  S.  Lyons, 
of  Marengo,  C.  C.  Clay,  Sr.,  of  Madison,  and  Will- 
iam Cooper,  of  Franklin,  for  the  purpose  of  ad- 
justing the  affairs  of  the  banks  and  making  a 
settlement  with  the  creditors.  The  issue  of  bonds 
for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  indebtedness  of  the 
State  bank  was  the  foundation  for  the  present 
bonded  debt  of  the  State. 

The  question  of  removing  the  capital  was  one 
which  was  continually  coming  up,  and,  to  settle 
it  definitely,  it  was  submitted  to  a  pojiular  vote 
of  the  State  in  1845.  The  leading  points  striving 
for  selection  as  the  seat  of  government  were  Tus- 
caloosa, Wetumpka  and  Montgomery,  and  the  re- 
sult of  the  election  was  the  selection  of  Mont- 
gomery as  the  future  capital  of  the  State.  The 
people  of  that  city  immediately  built  a  capitol 
building  on  an  eminence  reserved  for  that  pur- 
pose, at  the  head  of  what  was  then  known  as 
Main  or  Market  Street.  The  State  archives  and 
public  offices  were  transferred  from  Tuscaloosa  to 
the  new  capitol  at  Montgomery  in  1846  and  1847. 
In  1849  the  people  voted  on  and  adopted  an 
amendment  to  the  constitution,  changing  the 
title  of  county  judges  to  that  of  probate  judges, 
and  transferring  their  election  and  the  election 
of  circuit  judge  from  the  General  Assembly  to 
the  people.  On  the  14th  of  December,  1849, 
while  the  Legislature  was  in  session  in  the   new 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


45 


Capitol  at  Montgomery,  the  building  was  dis- 
covered to  be  on  fire,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  efforts  made  to  save  it,  the  structure  was 
destroyed,  but  the  progress  of  tlie  fire  was  so 
slow  that  all  the  important  records  and  doc- 
uments contained  in  the  offices  were  saved.  The 
governor  secured  apartments  in  the  Exchange 
hotel,  at  Montgomery,  and  the  session  of  the 
Legislature  was  continued  in  that  building.  It 
provided  means  for  the  erection  of  another  State- 
house,  to  replace  that  destroyed  by  fire,  which 
was  ready  for  occupancy  by  the  time  of  the  reiis- 
sembling  of  the  next  session. 

The  growth  of  Alabama  continued  steadily,  and 
everywhere  it  was  noticeable  that  the  State  had  made 
great  progress  in  all  things  pertaining  to  civiliza- 
tion. In  1850,  the  population  numbered  771,623, 
divided  as  follows:  whites,  420,514;  negro  slaves, 
334,844,  and  2,265  free  negroes. 

The  year  1850  and  the  live  years  following  are 
memorable  as  times  when  the  subject  of  internal 
improvement  was  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  of  the  State,  and  among  the  great  enter- 
prises then  under  consideration  was  the  con- 
struction of  the  following  lines  of  railway  :  Mo- 
bile &  Ohio,  Memphis  &  Charleston,  Selma  & 
Rome,  Alabama  &  Mississippi  Elvers  railroad 
(westward  from  Selma),  Montgomery  &  Pensa- 
cola.  Mobile  tS:  Girard,  Alabama  &  Chattanooga, 
and  the  Columbus  branch  of  the  Western  rail- 
road. 

The  discussion  of  the  great  advantage  these 
roads  would  be  to  the  State  at  large,  in  opening 
all  quarters  of  it  up  to  immigration,  led  also  to 
discussing  the  question  of  the  advisability  of  lend- 
ing to  the  companies  controlling  these  and  other 
roads  the  credit  of  the  State  to  aid  them  in  pro- 
curing the  means  to  carry  out  their  enterprises. 
This  discussion  caused  several  companies  having 
money  invested  in  such  schemes  to  go  to  the  Legis- 
lature and  seek  relief,  or  the  aid  which  would  come 
should  the  State  lend  them  its  credit,  by  becoming 
resjjonsible  for  tiie  obligations  in  the  financial  cen- 
ters, or  by  the  endorsement  of  their  bonds,  or  by 
the  issue  of  bonds  in  their  favor.  The  Legislature 
was  composed  of  members  who  came  from  localities 
w^hich  would  l>e  largely  benefited  by  the  extension 
and  completion  of  these  enterprises,  and  as  the 
local  interests  would  be  subserved,  there  was  some- 
thing like  a  demand  sent  up  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly from  such  localities,  that  action  affording  the 
relief,  or  aid  prayed,  be  taken. 


John  A.  Winston,  of  Sumter,  then  Governor  of 
the  State,  was  a  statesman  who  regarded  such 
action  inconsistent  with  the  true  object  of  govern- 
ment, vetoed  all  measures  passed  by  the  General 
Assembly  subsidizing  such  enterprises. 

In  his  message  of  Jan.  It,  1856,  vetoing  the  act 
making  a  loan  to  the  Memphis  &  Charleston  road, 
he  says: 

"Experience  teaches  us  that  any  departure 
from  the  legitimate  and  simple  purposes  of  gov- 
ernment brings,  as  inevitably  as  a  departure  from 
physical  and  moral  law,  a  speedy  punishment, 
and  admonishes  those  who  have  fixed  ideas  of 
public  policy  of  the  danger  of  any  abandonment 
of  principle,  in  legislation  and  matters  of  gov- 
ernment. The  experience  of  Alabama  is  fruitful 
of  the  bitter  consequences  of  making  expediency 
paramount  to  principle." 

The  insane  asylum  at  Tuscaloosa  was  built  in 
1856,  but  was  not  opened  until  some  years  later. 
The  asylum  for  the  deaf,  dumb  and  blind,  at  Tal- 
ladega, was  completed  and  put  in  operation  in 
1860. 

In  1860  the  census  showed  Alabama  with  a  pop- 
ulation of  964,201,  of  which  the  whites  numbered 
526,271;  negro  slaves,  435,080,  and  free  negroes 
2,690.  The  State  had  grown  in  people,  in  wealth, 
in  enlightenment,  and  in  all  things  which  tended 
to  the  happiness  of  its  citizens,  and  every  one  saw 
an  outlook  of  great  brightness  and  rich  promise 
just  ahead. 

Notwithstanding  the  bright  outlook  of  the  State 
at  this  time,  there  must  have  been  some  who 
regarded  the  situation  with  concern  if  not  alarm. 
Slavery  was  an  institution  in  the  State,  as  it  was 
an  institution  in  adjoining  States.  Slaves  were 
property  recognized  by  the  constitution,  and  special 
acts  commanded  for  them  humane  treatment,  care- 
ful attention  in  time  of  sickness,  proper  apparel 
and  sufficient  and  wholesome  food  at  all  times. 
The  question  of  slavery  was  being  discussed  at  the 
North.  Enthusiasts  preached  abolition,  and  the 
doctrine  began  to  gain  converts  until  its  adherents 
numbered  thousands.  A  new  party  grew  up  with 
the  theory  of  abolition  of  slavery  as  its  founda- 
tion. The  question  of  slavery  was  the  rock  on 
which  the  North  and  the  .South  in  the  old  parties 
threatened  to  split.  The  leaders  on  both  sides  of 
the  sectional  line  differed  widely  in  their  views, 
and  one  would  not  recede  from  an  opinion,  for  fear 
it  would  be  regarded  as  the  surrender  of  a  princi- 
ple.    Thus  the  South  stood  at  the  opening  of  the 


46 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


year  1860 — on  the  eve  of  what  proved  to  be  the 
most  critical  epoch  of  the  country's  history.  The 
growth  and  seeming  strength  of  the  new  party — 
the  Republican,  or  rather  ''  black  Republican " 
party —  filled  some  of  the  Southern  leaders  with 
apprehension  that  that  party  would  be  success- 
ful in  the  election  for  the  presidency  which 
would  occur  in  the  winter  of  1860. 

With  this  fear  in  view,  a  resolution  was  passed 
by  both  houses  of  the  General  Assembly,  in  Febru- 
ary, I860,  requiring  the  governor,  in  the  event  of 
the  election  of  the  candidate  of  the  Black  Repub- 
lican party,  to  the  presidency  of  the  United  States, 
to  order  elections  to  be  held  throughout  the  State 
for  delegates  to  a  constitutional  convention  of  the 
State.  The  contingency  feared  occurred,  and 
after  the  count  by  the  electoral  college,  Governor 
Moore  caused  writs  of  election,  for  the  purpose 
specified,  to  be  issued  in  the  several  counties  of 
the  State.  After  the  election  and  pending  the 
meeting  of  this  convention,  news  was  received  of 
the  secession  of  South  Carolina,  and  following  the 
reception  of  this  news.  Forts  Morgan  and  Gaines, 
the  defenses  of  Mobile  Bay,  and  Mount  Vernon 
arsenal  on  the  Mobile  river  were  seized  by  the  State 
troops,  to  prevent  the  general  government  from 
strengthening  and  holding  them  in  the  event  the 
complications  led  to  a  war  between  the  slave  hold- 
ing States  and  the  Government  of  the  United 
States. 

The  State  of  Alabama  also  appointed  commis- 
sioners to  visit  the  other  slave-holding  States  to 
confer  with  them  "as  to  what  was  best  to  be  done 
to  protect  their  interest  and  honor  in  the  impend- 
ing crisis." 

The  constitutional  convention,  provided  for  by 
the  joint  resolutions  of  Feb.  24,  1860,  met  in  the 
city  of  Montgomery  on  the  Tth  day  of  January, 
1861,  and  on  the  11th  of  that  month  the  body 
adopted,  by  a  vote  of  sixty-one  to  thirty-nine,  an 
instrument  entitled,  "  An  ordinance  to  dissolve 
the  union  between  the  State  of  Alabama  and  other 
States  united  under  the  compact  styled  'The  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  of  America.'" 

The  ordinance  was  signed  by  William  M.  Brooks, 
president  of  the  convention,  and  the  following 
members:  A.  J.  Curtis,  W.  H.  Davis,  John  W.  L. 
Daniel,  E.  S.  Dargin,  H.  G.  Humphries,  0.  R. 
Blue,  Franklin  K.  Beck,  Samuel  J.  Boiling,  A. 
P.  Love,  B.  H.  Baker,  of  Russell;  Thomas  Hill 
Watts,  A.  A.  Coleman,  Thomas  H.  Herndon, 
David   P.    Lewis,   Lyman   Gibbons,  William   H. 


Barnes,  George  Rives,  Sr.,  Archibald  Rhea  Bar- 
clay, Daniel  F.  Ryan,  Samuel  Henderson,  of 
Macon;  John  R.  Coffey,  Albert  Grumpier,  George- 
Taylor,  James  S.  Williamson,  John  Tyler  Morgan,. 
Gappa  T.  Yelverton,  Thomas  T.  Smith,  Nicholas 
Davis,  W.  E.  Clarke,  of  Marengo;  George  For- 
rester, John  W.  Inzer,  M.  G.  Slaughter,  Julius 
C.  B.  Mitchell,  David  B.  Creech,  John  Green,  Sr., 
Richard  J.  Wood,  William  A.  Hood,  Arthur  Camp- 
bell Beard,  R.  Jemison,  Jr.,  Jeiferson  Buford,^ 
DeWitt  Clinton  Davis,  William  S.  Earnest,  James 

F.  Bailey,  N.  D.  Johnson.  H.  E.  Owens,  Henry 
M.  Gay,  Ralph  0.  Howard,  John  P.  Ralls,  James 
McKinnie,  J.  P.  Timberlake,  of   Jackson;  James 

G.  Hawkins,  J.  M.  McClannahan,  John  B.  Len- 
nard,  Jere  Clemens,  Eli  W.  Starke,  0.  S.  Jewett, 
John  M.  Crook,  G.  C.  Whatley,  James  G.  Gil- 
christ, William  S.  Phillips,  James  W.  Crawford,. 
James  S.  Clarke,  S.  E.  Catterlin,  J.  D.  Webb,  W. 
L.  Yancey,  George  D.  Shortridge,  J.  A.  Hender- 
son, John  McPherson,  James  F.  Dowdell,  James- 
L.  Sheffield,  George  A.  Ketcham,  John  Bragg, 
Lewis  M.  Stone,  John  Cochran  and  Alpheus 
Baker. 

Twenty-four  members  of  the  convention  did  not 
sign  the  ordinance,  as  follows:  John  S.  Brashear 
and  W.  H.  Edwards,  of  Blount;  Henry  C.  Sanford,. 
W.  L.  Whitlock  and  John  Potter,  of  Cherokee; 
W.  0.  Winston  and  J.  H.  Franklin,  of  DeKalb^ 

B.  W.  Wilson  and  E.  P.  Jones,  of  Fayette;  John 
A.  Steele  and  R.  S.  Watkins,  of  Franklin;  S.  C, 
Posey  and  H.  C.  Jones,  of  Lauderdale;  J.  P. 
Cowan  and  T.  J.  McClellan,  of  Limestone;  I-ang" 

C.  Allen  and  Winston  Steadham,  of  ilarion;  .Jona- 
than Ford,  of  Morgan;  A.  Kimball,  M.  .J.  Bulger 
and  T.  J.  Russell,  of  Tallapoosa;  William  R. 
Smith,  of  Tuscaloosa;  Robert  Guttery,  of  Walker, 
and  C.  C.  Sheats,  of  Winston. 

The  ordinance  directed  that  copies  of  it  should 
be  prepared  and  forwarded  to  the  various  slave- 
holding  States,  with  the  invitation  that  each  of 
them  send  delegates  to  a  convention  to  meet  in 
Montgomery  on  the  -ith  of  February,  1861,  for  the- 
purpose  of  forming  "  a  provisional  and  permanent 
government,  ujjon  the  principles  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  L^nited  States — and  for  the  purpose  of 
consulting  with  each  other  as  to  the  most  effectual 
mode  of  securing  concerted  and  harmonious  action 
in  whatever  measures  may  be  deemed  most  desir- 
able for  our  common  peace  and  security." 

Delegates  were  chosen  by  this  convention  to- 
represent  Alabama  in  this  provisional  congress  of 


NORTHERN  ALABAAfA. 


47 


the  slave-holding  States.  After  this  the  conven- 
tion took  !i  recess  to  await  the  action  of  the  con- 
gress of  the  seceding  States.  The  Alabama  mem- 
bers of  the  national  congress  withdrew  from  their 
respective  houses  on  the  day  following  the 
adoption  of  the  ordinance  of  secession. 

Delegates  representing  seven  Southern  States 
assembled  at  the  capitol  in  Jlontgoniery  on  the 
4th  day  of  February,  18(51,  and  proceeded  to  organ- 
ize the  government  of  the  Confederate  States  of 
America.  This  body  adopted  a  constitution 
embracing  all  the  salient  points  contained  in  the 
Federal  constitution,  which  it  submitted  to  the 
various  Southern  States  for  adoption.  It  elected 
Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mississippi,  as  president,  and 
Alexander  II.  Stephens  of  Georgia,  as  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  and 
located,  temporarily,  the  scat  of  government  of 
the  Confederate  States  at  Montgomery. 

The  constitutional  convention  of  the  State  of 
Alabama,  which  had  recessed  after  the  adoption 
of  the  ordinance  of  secession,  met  again  after  the 
organization  of  the  Confederate  States,  and 
changed  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature  from 
biennial  to  annual,  ratified  the  constitution  of  the 
Confederate  States  which  had  been  submitted  to 
it,  and  after  making  some  other  changes  in  the 
State  constitution,  adjourned  suie  die  on  March 
21,  1861. 

An  extra  session  of  the  State  Legislature  was 
called  in  March,  1861,  on  account  of  the  changed 
condition  of  affairs,  and  after  its  adjournment 
another  session  was  called  in  October  of  the  same 
year. 

War  was  formally  declared  by  President  Lin- 
coln in  a  proclamation  issued  April  15,  1861, 
and  at  once  Alabama  regiments  began  to  take  up 
their  march  to  the  front,  until  it  was  estimated 
that  by  October  of  that  year,  this  State  had  fur- 
nished fully  27,000  soldiers,  and  by  the  same  time 
of  the  following  year  fully  60,000  citizens  of  Ala- 
bama were  bearing  arms  in  the  service  of  the  Con- 
federate government. 

The  State  was  by  no  means  a  unit  on  the  ques- 
tion of  secession,  as  was  evidenced  by  the  vote  of 
the  convention  on  the  measure,  and  further,  by 
the  failure  or  refusal  of  a  jiortion  of  the  delegates 
to  atlix  their  signatures  to  the  ordinance,  and  the 
fact  is  worthy  of  note  that  almost  every  one  of  those 
who  failed  or  refused  to  sigti  that  instrument 
resided  in  counties  lying  in  the  northern  portion 
of  the  State,  the   most  southerly  county    whose 


delegates  did  not  sign  being  Tallapoosa.  The 
result  of  this  was  that  between  the  adoption  of 
the  ordinance  and  the  declaration  of  war  by 
President  Lincoln,  the  matter  of  organizing  the 
northern  portion  of  Alabama  into  a  loyal  State 
was  freely  and  openly  discussed  in  that  section 
of  the  State. 

The  name  of  the  proposed  new  State  had  been 
decided  on,  and  had  not  the  proclamation  of  war 
followed  so  speedily  on  the  adjournment  of  the 
constitutional  convention,  it  is  probable  that  the 
State  of  "Nickajack"  would  have  been  brought 
into  existence. 

Within  a  year  after  the  declaration  of  war  the 
northern  portion  of  Alabama  was  occupied  by  the 
Federal  troops,  and  the  Tennessee  valley  was  the 
scene  of  war  almost  continuously  from  that  time 
until  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  The  battles  were 
fought  with  varying  success,  first  one  side  being  in 
control  of  the  ground  and  then  the  other.  The  con- 
tests there  were  fierce,  and  the  advances  and  retreats 
left  a  blood-stained  trail  through  the  valleys  and 
over  the  hills  of  North  Alabama.  Some  of  the 
Federal  commands  occupying  this  section  of  the 
State  were  guilty  of  the  greatest  excesses  and  a 
savage  brutality  in  their  treatment  of  the  defense- 
less people  whom  they  found  there.  Robbery  and 
wanton  destruction  of  property  was  a  common 
occurrence,  and  Federal  occupation  blighted  many 
a  growing  village  in  the  Tennessee  Valley. 

In  May,  1863,  Forrest  captured  Col.  A.  D. 
Streight,  with  1,700  men,  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Cherokee  county.  The  remainder  of  the  State 
was  not  the  scene  of  actual  hostilities  until  later 
in  the  war,  though  occasional  raids  were  made 
from  Georgia  during  the  year  1863,  and  in  July, 
1864,  General  Rosseau,  with  a  party  of  about  1,500 
cavalry,  entered  the  State  from  the  mountains  and 
penetrated  as  far  Loachapoka,  en  route  to  Colum- 
bus, Ga.  He  destroyed  a  great  deal  of  property  on 
this  march. 

In  August,  1864,  the  federals,  being  in  possession 
of  both  Pcnsacolaand  New  Orleans,  turned  their 
attention  to  the  capture  of  Mobile,  the  approach 
to  which  was  strongly  guarded  by  Forts  Gaines 
and  Morgan  at  the  entrance  of  Mobile  Bay.  To 
accomplish  this,  on  the  3d  of  August,  1864,  1,500 
Federal  infantry  were  landed  on  Dauphin  Island 
and  moved  on  Fort  (iaines,  which  was  situated  on 
the  eastern  point  of  that  island.  Two  day?  later 
eighteen  war  steamers,  having  2,700  men  on  board 
and  carrying  202  guns,   under  the    command  of 


48 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Admiral  Farragut,  made  an  attempt  to  ran  the 
gauntlet  between  the  forts  and  enter  Mobile  Bay. 
The  guns  from  both  forts  opened  on  them  and  one 
of  the  vessels,  an  iron-clad,  the  "  Tecumseh,"  was 
sunk  by  a  torpedo,  going  down  with  her  crew  of 
120  men.  The  remaining  vessels  succeeded  in 
passing  into  the  bay,  where  they  engaged  the  Con- 
federate fleet  stationed  there,  which  consisted  of 
a  ram  and  three  gunboats,  carrying  twenty-two 
guns  and  about  500  men. 

The  engagement  which  ensued  is  said  to  have 
been  one  of  the  fiercest  naval  combats  on 
record,  and  it  ended  in  the  capture  of  the  ram 
and  one  of  the  gunboats  and  the  retreat  of  another, 
while  the  third  took  refuge  under  the  walls  of  Fort 
Morgan.  The  assault  on  Fort  Gaines  by  land  and 
water  was  such  that  on  the  8th  of  August  it  capitu- 
lated. The  combined  forces  at  Farragut's  control 
were  then  disposed  to  capture  Fort  Morgan. 
Thirty-five  hundred  men  were  landed  on  the  main- 
land in  rear  of  the  fort,  and  the  siege  was  com- 
menced. The  terrific  bombardment  by  the  fleet 
finally  resulted  in  the  surrender  of  the  fort.  The 
operations  about  this  section  were  kept  up  until 
the  Federals  had  forced  the  evacuation  of  Spanish 
Fort  and  its  protecting  outposts,  and  had  captured 
the  garrison  at  Blakey,  after  which  the  Confed- 
erate forces  withdrew  from  the  city  of  Mobile, 
which  was  occupied  by  the  Federals  on  the  12tli  of 
April,  18C5. 

During  the  operations  about  Mobile,  Forrest  was 
active  in  North  Alabama,  and  in  September,  1864, 
he  captured  nearly  2,000  Federal  infantry  near 
Athens,  in  Limestone  county.  While  the  Federals 
were  assaulting  the  forces  about  Mobile,  General 
Wilson  advanced  from  the  northern  part  of  Frank- 
lin county  with  an  army  of  15,000  troops.  His  route 
lay  by  Eussellville,  Jasper  and  Elyton.  After 
passing  the  latter  place  he  was  met  by  Forrest,  and 
after  some  severe  skirmishing  with  him,  the  great 
number  and  superiority  of  Wilson's  command 
forced  Forrest  to  fall  back  towards  Selma.  Here 
Forrest, with  a  command  of  about  3,000  men, many 
of  whom  were  raw,  made  a  stand,  and  for  a  time 
resisted  the  desperate  onslaught  of  the  Federal  cav- 
alry, but  without  avail,  and  Wilson  captured  Selma 
with  2,500  of  its  defenders. 

At  Elyton  General  Croxton  was  detached  with 
a  force  of  men  and  moved  in  the  direction  of 
Tuscaloosa,  which  place  he  captured  after  a  severe 
skirmish  on  the  3d  of  April.  This  command 
burned  down  the  State  University  building. 


General  Wilson,  after  the  capture  of  Selma, 
moved  on  towards  Montgomery,  which  city  he 
entered  without  resistance  on  the  12th  of  April, 
1865.  The  surrender  of  Gen.  Richard  Taylor, 
the  commander  of  the  military  department,  of 
which  Alabama  was  a  part,  to  General  Canbv,  on 
the  4th  of  May,  1 865,  was  the  occasion  of  a  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities  throughout  the    State. 

The  flag  of  an  Alabama  regiment  floated  on 
every  battle  field  from  Pennsylvania  to  Missouri, 
and  the  bravery  of  Alabamians  won  for  the  State 
a  renown  which  is  a  proud  heritage  to  transmit  to 
coming  generations.  It  is  estimated  that  fully 
122,000  of  this  State's  sons  took  up  arms  in  the 
cause  of  the  Confederacy,  and  of  this  number  one- 
fourth  gave  up  life  at  the  front;  their  blood  flowed 
on  every  battle  field  of  the  war,  and  their 
bones  lie  bleaching  on  the  hill-tops  and  in  the 
valleys  of  every  State  in  which  the  contending 
forces  met. 

The  clouds  of  war  lifted — the  smoke  of  battle 
disappeared,  leaving  blackened  ruins  in  Alabama, 
and  vacant  chairs  at  many  firesides.  The  echoes 
of  the  groans  of  the  wounded  and  dying  wrung 
the  hearts  of  many  Alabamians  for  years.  Cruel 
war  had  filled  the  homes  of  the  State  with  black- 
robed  mourners,  who  in  sorrow  awaited  the  sum- 
mons which  would  call  them  to  meet  their  loved 
ones  on  the  other  shore.  The  slaves  who  had 
toiled  to  produce  that  which  supported  their  own- 
ers and  themselves  were,  by  the  result  of  the  war, 
free.  The  land  owners  still  owned  their  lands, 
but  lacked  the  means  of  cultivating  their  prop- 
erty. The  soldiers  who  returned  from  the  front, 
arrived  at  their  homes  sore  in  body,  in  spirit,  and 
impoverished  in  purse.  They  had  followed  the 
banner  of  their  State  through  all  the  varying 
fortunes  of  war,  and  when  the  final  disaster  over- 
whelmed that  banner  and  the  cause  for  which 
they  struggled,  they  appreciated  their  condition, 
and  though  the  out-look  was  gloomy,  they  deter- 
mined to  bend  their  energies  to  the  recuperation 
of  their  resources  and  the  itp-building  of  their 
homes. 

Buoyed  up  by  this  spirit,  those  who  returned  to 
Alabama  immediately  after  the  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities, found  affairs  in  a  most  confused  con- 
dition. 

Civil  government  was  deposed.  A  military 
master  ruled  in  place  of  a  ruler  selected  by 
the  people  from  among  themselves.  Military 
courts  dispensed  a  justice   peculiarly  their  own, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


49 


after  their  own  fashion,  and  these  courts  felt  tlieni- 
selves  paramount  to  all  law.  The  civil  govern- 
nient  whicii  the  Federals  found  in  charge  of  the 
State  when  the  capital  was  captured  on  the  12th 
of  April,  1S()5,  Avas  at  once  abolished,  and  from 
that  time  until  June  21  of  the  same  year,  there  was 
no  civil  authority  in  the  State.  On  the  latter  date 
President  Johnston  appointed  Lewis  E.  Parsons 
j)rovisional  Governor  of  Alabama,  and  by  procla- 
mation authorized  him  to  call  a  convention  of 
loyal  citizens  to  make  such  alterations  in  the  or- 
ganic law  of  the  State  as  would  make  it  conform 
with  the  United  States,  under  the  new  order  of 
things  brought  about  by  the  war.  The  test  of  loy- 
alty which  should  determine  a  right  to  participate 
in  this  convention  would  be  subscribing  to  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  United  States  Government. 
In  pursuance  of  this  proclamation.  Jlr.  Parsons 
took  charge  of  the  State's  affairs,  and  by  appoint- 
ment tilled  the  various  otlices  throughout  the  State. 
The  convention  provided  for  in  the  President's 
proclamation  met  in  Montgomery  on  the  12th  of 
September,  18(55.  The  body  was  a  representative 
gathering,  and  at  the  session,  which  lasted  until 
the  20th  of  September,  ordinances  formally  abol- 
ishing slavery,  annulling  the  ordinance  of  seces- 
sion, and  annulling  all  ordinances  of  the  conven- 
tion of  1861  in  conflict  with  the  Constitution,  were 
adopted.  This  convention,  before  its  adjourn- 
ment, provided  for  the  election  of  State  and  county 
otticers  throughout  the  State  in  November  follow- 
ing, and  the  outlook  led  all  to  believe  that  the 
bright  promises  of  peace  would  soon  be  attained. 
At  the  election  held  in  November,  18(55,  Robert 
M.  Patton,  of  Lauderdale,  was  cho.sen  governor 
over  William  \\.  Smith,  of  Tuscaloosa,  and  Michael 
J.  Bulger,  of  Tallapoosa.  A  Legislature  was  chosen 
at  this  election  as  well  as  the  representatives  to 
Congress.  The  latter  were  not  permitted  to  take 
their  seats.  The  Legi-slature  met  at  the  ajipointed 
time  and  Governor  Patton  was  duly  inaugurated 
into  ottice  as  Governor  of  the  State.  Congress  had 
passed  what  is  known  as  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution,  which  conferred  the 
priveleges  of  citizenship  on  the  freedmen  of  the 
JSouthern  States:  repudiated  their  debts  incurred 
in  support  of  the  war  ;  disfranchised  all  .Southern 
men  wiio  held  State  or  Federal  oftices  and  after- 
wards espoused  the  cause  of  the  Confederate 
States,  and  abridged  the  representation  of  the 
Southern  States  in  Congress,  in  proportion,  .as  their 
citizens  were  deprived  of  their  voting  privilege. 


This  amendment  was  submitted  to  the  legislatures 
of  the  various  Southern  States  for  ratification, 
and  on  the  7th  day  of  September,  180(5,  the  Legis- 
lature refused  to  ratify  the  amendment.  The 
consequence  of  this  refusal  to  ratify  the  proposed 
fourteenth  amendment,  by  the  Alabama  Legisla- 
ture, Congress,  on  March  2,  18(57,  passed  a  law 
over  President  Johnston's  veto,  placing  Alabama, 
with  other  Southern  States,  under  military  rule, 
the  law  providing  that  the  military  department,  of 
which  this  State  was  made  a  part,  should  be  under 
the  command  of  a  regular  army  ofticer,  not  of 
lower  rank  than  brigadier  general,  who  was,  by 
the  law,  vested  with  all  power.  lie  was  to  take 
charge  of  the  department,  and  if  he  saw  fit,  had 
the  authority  to  remove  all  civil  officers,  and 
appoint  in  their  places  such  oHicials  as  he  chose. 
Courts  were  abolished  and  their  jilaces  taken  by 
military  tribunals,  presided  over  by  officers  holding 
appointment  from  the  department  commander, 
and  these  courts  had  jurisdiction  in  all  matters, 
civil  and  criminal,  and  could  inflict  any  punish- 
ment they  chose,  e.xcept  that  of  death.  The  law 
provided  that  this  regime  should  terminate  when 
the  State  held  a  constitutional  convention  which 
should  draft  a  constitution  embodying  the  points 
covered  by  the  fourteenth  amendment,  and  which 
constitution  should,  after  adoption,  be  submitted 
to  the  people  for  ratification,  which  should  be  by 
])opular  rote  and  would  require  the  votes  of  a 
majority  of  the  registered  electors  for  ratification. 
The  convention  was  chosen  and  met  in  the  fall  of 
1867.  The  body,  after  several  days'  session, 
adopted  a  constitution,  which  was  submitted  to 
the  people  for  ratification  in  February,  1868,  at 
which  election  the  party  favoring  the  views  of 
Congress,  voted  for  the  adoption  of  the  constitu- 
tion, and  for  candidates  for  State  and  county 
offices.  This  party  was  in  the  minority,  and  as 
the  party  which  opposed  the  views  of  Congress 
refused  to  vote  on  the  question,  the  constitution 
failed  to  receive  a  majority  of  the  registered  voters, 
and  consequently  failed  of  ratification. 

The  result  of  the  election  was  reported  to 
Congress  and  although  the  constitution  had  not 
been  ratified,  as  provided  in  the  law  authorizing 
the  convention  and  its  submission  to  the  people. 
Congress,  by  act,  declared  it  the  constitution  of  the 
State  of  Alabama,  and  ordered  that  the  candidates 
voted  for  at  the  election  held  in  February,  be 
installed  in  the  offices  for  which  they  ran. 

H.  M.  Patton,  who  was  elected  to  the  office  of 


50 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Governor  in  November  1865,  was  practically 
deprived  of  office  by  the  act  of  Congress  of  March, 
1867,  placing  the  State  under  military  authority, 
but  he  nominally  filled  the  office  until  July,  1868, 
when  Wm.  H.  Smith,  of  Randolph,  who  was  voted 
for  for  that  position  in  February,  1868,  was  inaugu- 
rated, which  was  on  the  13th  of  July  of  that  year. 
The  Legislature,  which  was  convened  at  once,  was 
composed  of  men,  many  of  whom  were  not  citizens 
of  the  State,  and  many  of  its  members  were  igno- 
rant negroes  who  had  no  idea  of  statesmanship, 
beyond  the  collection  of  their  per  diem.  The  body 
contained  very  few  representative  citizens  of  Ala- 
bama. Tricksters,  lobbyists  and  monopolists  and 
jobbers  swarmed  down  on  the  capitol  building 
during  the  session,  and  bribery  and  corruption  were 
the  order  of  the  day.  Another  session  of  this 
assembly  was  held  in  October,  1868.  An  immense 
indebtedness  was  saddled  on  the  State  by  this  body, 
through  its  indiscriminate  grants  of  subsidies  to 
railroads,  and  for  many  years  the  State's  honor  and 
credit  were  sorely  involved  and  its  resources  drained 
to  meet  the  obligations  which  had  been  fastened 
on  it  by  men  who  plundered  and  pillaged  for  the 
sake  of  the  individual  profit  in  the  exercise  of  the 
duties  of  misrepresentation. 

Notwithstanding  the  war  and  the  terribly  un- 
settled state  of  affairs  following  its  termination, 
the  census  of  1870  showed  that  Alabama's  popula- 
tion was  still  increasing.  That  census  fixed  the 
population  of  the  State  at  096,992,  of  which 
531,384  were  whites  and  475,510  were  negroes. 
An  election  for  State  officers  was  held  in  Novem- 
ber, 1870,  which  resulted  in  the  election  of  Robert 
B.  Lindsay,  of  Colbert,  as  governor,  over  W.  H. 
Smith,  who  had  served  in  that  capacity  since 
July,  1868.  Governor  Smith  refused  to  surrender 
his  office  to  his  successor,  and  procured  an  injunc- 
tion restraining  the  president  of  the  senate  from 
counting  the  returns  of  the  election  for  the  office 
of  governor,  alleging  that  the  returns  were  illegal. 
The  members  of  the  senate  held  over  from  the 
previous  election,  and  that  body  was  presided  over 
by  R.  N.  Barr,  who,  by  virtue  of  his  position, 
proceeded  to  count  in  a  joint  session  of  both 
houses,  the  election  returns,  except  for  the  posi- 
tions of  governor  and  State  treasurer.  A  majority 
of  the  house  of  representatives  were  composed  of 
good  men,  men  who  were  representative  citizens  of 
the  State,  and  this  action  of  the  president  of  the 
senate  was  objected  to  by  them,  and  on  the  con- 
clusion of  the  first   count   these   representatives. 


with  two  members  of  the  senate,  procured  the 
election  returns  from  the  office  of  the  secretary  of 
State,  to  which  they  had  been  returned  by  the 
president  of  the  senate.  The  members  of  the 
house  and  those  of  the  senate  present  installed 
Hon.  Edward  H.  Moren,  of  Bibb,  lieutenant- 
governor-elect,  in  his  office,  after  which,  he,  in  his- 
official  capacity,  proceeded  to  count  the  returns, 
and  declared  Robert  B.  Lindsay  elected  as 
governor,  and  James  F.  Grant,  of  Calhoun, 
State  treasurer.  Governor  Lindsay  was  immedi- 
ately inaugurated  as  chief  executive  of  the  State, 
and  at  once  assumed  the  functions  of  the  posi- 
tion. Governor  Smith  refused  to  vacate  the  capi- 
tol and  obtained  from  the  Federal  garrison  at 
Montgomery  a  detail  of  United  States  soldiers  for 
the  double  purpose  of  sustaining  him  in  his 
claims  to  the  office  of  governor,  and  awing  his 
contestant  into  relinquishing  his  right  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  devolving  on  him  by  virtue  of 
his  election  by  the  people.  This  period  is  what  is 
known  as  the  "  Bayonet  Legislature,"  and  con- 
tinued some  two  or  three  weeks,  the  senate  recog- 
nizing ex- Governor  Smith,  while  the  house  recog- 
nized Governor  Lindsay  as  the  chief  executive. 
Legal  steps  to  oust  Governor  Smith  were  taken, 
and,  in  obedience  to  a  writ  issued  by  the  circuit 
court  of  Montgomery  county,  he  vacated  the 
office  on  the  8th  of  November,  1870. 

Governor  Lindsay  found  the  affairs  of  the  State 
in  a  deplorable  condition  on  entering  office,  and 
set  about  the  work  of  straightening  them  up. 
He  was  a  man  of  excellent  education,  a  polished 
gentleman,  a  most  desirable  companion,  and 
highly  entertaining,  but  he  did  not  possess 
the  ability  to  grapple  practically,  and  successfully 
handle  the  grave  questions  which  were  involved  in 
the  administration  of  the  State's  government  at 
the  time  that  duty  was  in  his  hands.  His  friends 
clung  to  him,  and  rendered  him  all  the  aid  possi- 
ble, but  his  critics  were  observant,  powerful  and 
merciless,  and  the  good  qualities  he  possessed  were 
not  sufficiently  strong  to  condone  the  faults  of,  or 
the  failures  which  marked  his  administration,  and 
at  its  close  his  party  nominated  Thomas  H.  Hern- 
don  to  succeed  him.  Mr.  Herndon  was  opposed 
by  David  P.  Lewis,  of  Madison,  the  nominee  of 
the  Republican  party,  who,  with  the  entire  State 
ticket  of  that  party,  was  elected  in  1872.  The 
administration  of  Governor  Lewis  is  classed  with 
that  of  the  other  Republican  administrations 
which  followed  the  close  of  the  war  as  a  recon- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


51' 


struction  administration.  The  majoritj'  of  the 
ofiicers  of  the  State  were  men  who  had  drifted 
to  tlie  South  at  the  war's  dose  for  the  purjiose  of 
picking  a  competency  out  of  the  troubles  of  the 
people,  and  were  known  as  carpet-baggers,  while 
their  State-born-and-reared  associates,  who  aided 
and  abetted  them  in  obtaining  and  keeping  con- 
trol of  the  government  against  the  evident  inter- 
ests of  the  State,  were  termed  by  the  opposi- 
tion, scallawags.  This  administration  of  Governor 
Lewis  was  marked  by  an  indisposition  to  do  any- 
thing to  rescue  the  State  from  the  fate  to  which 
it  was  fast  hurrying.  Its  debt  was  large  and  being 
increased.  Its  credit  was  at  the  lowest  ebb.  Its 
obligjations  were  hawked  about  and  offered  for  a 
song.  Its  revenues,  if  at  all,  barely  paid  the  ex- 
penses of  extravagant  and  reckless  government, 
and  the  interest  on  the  State  debt  was  met  by  bor- 
rowing the  amount  which  the  treasury  would  be 
short.  Taxes  were  becoming  onerous,  and  the 
people  looked  to  the  future  with  dread.  Other 
Southern  States  similarly  situated  were  discussing 
the  disgraceful  resort  of  repudiation  to  relieve 
them  of  indebtedness  for  which  they  received  no 
benefit.  This  matter  was  discussed  to  some  extent 
in  this  State,  but  the  popular  voice  was  against  it, 
and  the  leaders  set  themselves  the  task  of  redeem- 
ing the  State  from  the  thralldom  which  had  in- 
volved it  so  deeply,  and  a  continuance  of  which 
threatened  it  with  absolute  bankru]itcy. 

In  18T4  a  vigorous  campaign  was  opened  in  all 
quarters  of  the  State.  The  watchword  of  the 
Democratic  party  was  retrenchment  and  reform, 
and  the  convention  of  that  jiarty  which  assembled 
in  the  summer  of  that  year,  selecte<l  as  its  standard 
bearer  Hon.  Geo.  S.  Houston,  of  Limestone.  The 
contest  was  spirited  and  brilliant,  resulting  in  the 
election  of  Mr.  Houston,  in  Xovember,  1874.  His 
inauguration  into  office,  which  followed  within  a 
short  time,  was  the  occasion  of  rejoicing  through- 
out the  State,  and  was  celebrated  at  Mont- 
gomery as  an  event  which  would  mark  the  era 
of  new  and  better  times.  The  citizens  erected 
in  .Montgomery  a  sjdendid  fountain  as  a  monu- 
ment to  this  occasion,  which  has  been  styled 
the  redemption  of  the  State.  The  leading  pub- 
lic men  of  Democratic  convictions  throughout 
the  State  contributed  to  the  success  of  this  cam- 
paign, the  practical  details  of  which  were  in  the 
master  hand  of  Hon.  Walter  L.  Bra£rg,  of  Mont- 
gomery, now  a  member  of  the  L'nited  States  Inter- 
State  Commerce  Commission. 


When  Governor  Houston  took  chargeof  the  affairs- 
of  the  State  he  began  at  once  to  inaugurate  a  system 
of  economy  in  expenditures  at  the  capitol,  a  thing 
unknown  for  years  in  that  building.  His  views 
on  this  subject  were  strictly  carried  out,  and  by 
some  it  was  said  his  economy  was  carried  to  a. 
degree  of  stinginess  not  befitting  the  dignity  of 
the  State.  The  previous  administrations  had  dis- 
pensed money  with  a  lavish  hand,  and  now  the- 
flow  from  the  treasury  received  a  check.  The- 
leaks  were  all  stopped  up,  and  not  a  dollar  passed 
from  the  treasurer's  hands  unless  there  was  ample- 
warrant  of  law  for  its  payment.  The  constitution 
of  the  State  at  the  time  of  Governor  Ilouston's- 
election  was  the  instrument  which  had  been  jire- 
pared  by  the  convention  of  18G7,  and  which  failed 
of  ratification  in  February,  18G8,  because  it  did 
not  receive  the  affirmative  votes  of  a  majority  of" 
the  registered  electors,  but  which  was  forced  on 
the  people  by  an  act  of  the  Federal  Congress.  Itt 
was  a  constitution  which  did  not  please  the  peo- 
ple of  Alabama,  as  they  felt  that  they  had  no- 
hand  in  its  nuiking,  and  they  certainly  liad  none 
in  its  being  put  into  effect.  The  subject  of  hold- 
ing a  constitutional  convention  was  discussed 
widely  during  1874,  and  a  majority  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  favored  it,  but  some  of  the  leading: 
men  of  the  party,  among  whom  was  Governor 
Houston,  opposed  the  movement;  but  those  favor- 
ing the  convention  were  in  the  majority,  and 
the  Legislature,  which  met  in  1874,  passed  a  law 
authorizing  the  question  of  convention  or  no  con- 
vention to  be  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people 
of  the  State  in  the  summer  of  1875,  and  at  the- 
same  time  vote  for  delegates  to  represent  them 
should  the  convention  receive  a  majority  of  the 
votes  cast.  The  election  was  ordered,  and  the- 
convention  assembled  in  the  summer  of  1875.  It 
was  for  the  most  part  an  excellent  body  of  men. 
Some  of  the  best  and  truest  men  of  the  State 
held  seats  in  the  body  which  assembled  in  the 
capitol  at  Montgomery,  and  proceeded  to  organize 
by  electing  Hon.  Leroy  Pope  Walker,  of  .Madison, 
chairman.  On  taking  his  seat,  Mr.  Walker  deliv- 
ered an  address  to  the  convention  marked  for  its 
eloquence  and  its  ability.  It  was  quoted  from  by 
the  press  all  over  the  country,  and  the  views  ex- 
pressed were  pronounced  to  stamp  him  with  the 
quality  of  statesmanship.  Mr.  B.  H.  Screws,  of 
Montgomery,  was  elected  as  secretary  of  the  con- 
vention. 

The    labors  of   the   convention    extended    over 


52 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


several  weeks,  and  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  a 
constitution,  which  was  afterwards  submitted  to 
the  people,  by  whom  it  was  ratified,  and  which  is 
still  in  force.  The  constitution  was  framed  with 
a  view  to  the  reduction  of  the  State's  expendi- 
tures. Useless  offices  were  abolished  and  salaries 
were  reduced.  The  terms  of  State  officers  were 
made  of  an  equal  length,  it  changed  sessions  of 
the  Legislature  from  annual  to  biennial,  and  lim- 
iting them  to  fifty  days,  and  other  changes  of 
more  or  less  importance  were  made. 

The  most  important  of  all  changes  was  the 
introduction  of  a  clause  prohibiting  legislatures 
to  lend  the  aid  of  the  State,  or  to  authorize  any 
county,  city,  town  or  village  in  the  State  to  lend 
its  aid,  to  any  railroad,  canal  or  other  enterprise 
or  corporation  of  like  nature.  The  members  of 
the  convention  had  seen  the  evil  effects  of  the 
State  granting  its  aid  to  railroads,  and  the  body 
which  met  to  take  the  initiatory  steps  in  bringing 
the  State  out  of  the  turmoil,  thought  it  well  to 
throw  that  safeguard  around  the  State  treasury  to 
prevent  the  recurrence  of  a  similar  state  of  affairs. 
To  look  back  over  the  past,  the  great  value  of 
this  clause  is  readily  seen.  Had  it  not  been  passed, 
every  county,  city,  town  and  village  in  the  State, 
and  most  likely  the  State  itself,  would  be  hope- 
lessly involved  to-day. 

The  discussion  of  the  debt  question  began  to 
take  shape  during  (xoveruor  Houston's  administra- 
tion, and  a  bill  was  adopted  by  the  Legislature, 
providing  for  the  ajipointment  of  a  commission  for 
the  purpose  of  making  a  settlement  with  the  bond- 
holders. This  most  important  act,  providing  for 
the  appointment  of  this  commission,  to  whom 
would  be  entrusted  a  matter  in  which  the  State  at 
large  was  so  vitally  interested,  was  prepared  by 
Hon.  Peter  Hamilton,  then  representing  the 
county  of  Mobile  in  the  State  Senate.  Mr.  Ham- 
ilton gave  the  subject  most  careful  consideration, 
and  the  bill  passed  by  the  Legislature  bears  on  it 
tlie  handiwork  of  his  superior  intellect.  The  com- 
mission created  by  this  act  consisted  of  Governor 
Houston,  Gen.  Levi  W.  Lawler,  of  Mobile,  and 
Hon.  T.  B.  Bethea,  of  Montgomery.  These  gen- 
tlemen at  once  opened  negotiations  with  the  hold- 
-ers  of  Alabama  bonds  and  securities,  and  after 
making  to  them  a  detailed  statement  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  State,  and  of  what  it  was  hoped 
would  be  the  result  of  the  settlement  could  they 
agree  on  terms,  the  holders  of  the  bonds  consented 
to  the  commissioners'  proposition,  and  old  bonds 


to  the  value  of  something  over  $30,000,000  were 
surrendered,  and  the  holders  received  in  lieu  new 
bonds  to  the  value  of  810,000,000,  drawing  a  low 
rate  of  interest  at  first,  but  gradually  increasing  as 
the  bonds  neared  maturity.  The  settlement  was 
entirely  satisfactory  to  all  parties  concerned,  and 
the  State  regularly  met  the  interest  when  it  fell 
due,  and  in  consequence  the  credit  of  the  State 
began  to  revive,  and  it  was  not  a  great  while  before 
its  bonds  were  quoted  in  financial  centers  at  par 
and  above.  During  administrations  preceding 
that  of  Governor  Houston,  State  obligations  had 
been  issued  in  the  form  of  money,  which,  from  a 
design  on  the  backs  of  the  bills,  was  popularly 
known  as  "  Horseshoe  money."  This  money  drew 
8  per  cent  interest,  and  was  receivable  as  taxes  due 
the  State.  It  was  affected  by  the  decline  of  State 
obligations,  and  was  sold  often  as  low  as  GO  cents 
on  the  dollar.  After  the  settlement  of  the  bonded 
indebtedness,  and  the  consequent  revival  of  the 
State's  credit,  this  issue  of  money  felt  the  effect, 
and  before  it  was  finally  called  in  by  the  State,  it 
readily  brought  its  par  value  and  was  receivable 
currently  in  the  ordinary  channels  of  trade  at  that 
value. 

The  commission  failed  to  come  to  a  satisfactory 
settlement  with  the  holders  of  some  State  bonds 
issued  in  favor  of  the  Selma  &  New  Orleans,  the 
Selma,  Marion  &  Memphis,  and  the  Selma  & 
Greensboro  Railroads.  It  is  stated  that  the  amount 
of  the  bonds  issued  in  aid  of  these  roads,  and  out- 
standing, is  between  one  and  two  millions  of  dol- 
lars. The  bondholders,  some  time  since,  made  an 
effort  by  mandamus  jiroceedings  in  the  United 
States  District  Court,  to  collect  interest  on  these 
bonds,  but  found  that  their  only  avenue  of  relief 
was  through  the  Legislature,  and  in  consequence 
the  proceedings  were  discontinued.  The  settle- 
ments of  these  claims  will  be  the  work  of  future 
Legislatures. 

Gen.  John  T.  Morgan,  of  Dallas,  was  elected  by 
the  Legislature  of  1875  as  United  States  senator, 
to  succeed  Senator  Goldthwaite.  Governor  Hous- 
ton occupied  the  position  of  governor  two  succes- 
sive terms,  going  out  of  office  in  November,  1878. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Hon.  R.  W.  Cobb,  of  Shelby, 
who  served  as  Governor  until  November,  1883. 

Gov.  Houston  was  elected  by  the  Legislature 
as  United  States  Senator,  to  succeed  George 
Spencer  in  1878,  but  died  within  a  year  after 
his  election,  and  was  buried  in  Athens,  which 
place  was  his  home.     Governor  Cobb   appointed 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


53 


Hon.  Luke  Pryor,  of  Limestone,  as  United  States 
senator,  to  serve  until  the  assembling  of  the  Legis- 
lature, wiien  the  vacancy  would  be  filled  by  an  elec- 
tion. The  Legislature  of  isso  elected  lion.  James 
L.  Pugli,  of  Barbour,  to  fill  the  unexpired  term. 

The  ten  years  ending  with  1ST9  had  witnessed 
a  wonderful  growth  in  Alabanui.  The  State  was 
on  the  eve  of  a  career  of  development  which  was 
but  little  suspected  even  by  its  most  enthusiastic 
citizens.  The  vast  deposits  of  iron,  coal,  marble 
and  other  articles  of  nature,  highly  valuable,  had 
begun  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  world.  The 
citizens  of  the  State  had  by  energy  and  saving  ac- 
cumulated means  which  they  were  beginning  to 
use  in  the  development  of  mines  and  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  manufacturing  enterprises.  The 
growth  of  manufactures  alone  in  the  ten  years 
preceding  this  date  was  wonderful,  but  subsequent 
events  have  shown  that  it  was  only  the  awakening. 
New  cities  began  to  spring  up  in  localities  spe- 
cially favored,  and  many  of  these  held  out  great 
promise  for  the  future. 

The  census  of  1880  fixetl  the  po2nilation  of  the 
State  at  1,262,505. 

Governor  Cobb  was  succeeded  in  November, 
1882,  by  Gen.  E.  A.  O'Neal,  of  Lauderdale,  a 
Tuan  of  excellent  qualities,  a  sound  head  and 
a  kind  heart  —  a  man  who  had  won  distinc- 
tion as  an  orator  and  the  renown  and  glory  which 
is  accorded  to  the  heroism  of  a  brave  soldier. 
Governor  O'Neal  brought  to  the  executive  chamber 
a  ripe  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs,  gained  by  the 
experience  of  daily  association  under  all  condi- 
tions and  circumstances,  and  a  sound  judgment, 
supported  by  a  clear  judicial  mind.  As  governor, 
he  was  quick  to  act  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  the  position,  and  stood  firmly  and  untlinchingly 
by  the  acts  performed  in  the  discharges  of  his 
official  duties.  Ilis  two  administrations,  which 
closed  Dec.  1,  188G,  have  been  more  or  less  the 
subject  of  criticism,  but  as  the  brunt  of  the  pres- 
ent wears  off,  and  the  official  acts  are  viewed  as 
matters  of  jiast  history,  the  administration  of 
Governor  O'Neal  will  compare  favorably  with  that 
of  any  official  who  has  filled  the  position.  During 
his  time  in  office  Governor  O'Neal  was  called  upon 
to  fill  several  very  important  offices  made  vacant 
by  death  or  resienation,  and  in  this  matter  his 
selections  have  challenged  the  admiration  of  all 
thinking  men  in  the  State,  on  account  of  the 
superior  fitness  of  the  appointees  for  the  positions 
to  which  they  were  appointed. 


The  most  important  matter  of  public  interest 
which  occurred  during  the  administration  of  Gov- 
ernor O'Neal,  was  the  defalcation  and  flight  of 
Isaac  II.  Vincent,  State  treasurer.  Mr.  Vincent 
was  elected  State  treasurer  in  1878,  and  served 
two  terms,  but  was  a  candidate  and  received  the 
nomination  for  a  third  term  at  the  hands  of  the 
Democratic  convention,  which  assembled  in  1882, 
and  was,  for  a  third  time,  elected  to  the  office  in 
August  of  that  year.  When  the  new  officials 
elected  at  the  same  time  were  installed  in  their 
offices,  Mr.  Vincent  held  over.  The  Legislature 
which  met  that  year  appointed  its  usual  com- 
mittee to  examine  the  books  and  accounts  in  the 
offices  of  the  auditor  and  State  treasurer,  and  to 
count  the  money  in  the  vault  of  the  State  treas- 
ury. This  committee  proceeded  with  its  work  in 
the  auditor's  office,  completing  it  in  the  latter 
part  of  January,  and  were  preparing  to  jierform 
their  duty  in  the  office  of  the  State  treasurer. 

On  Monday,  the  28th  of  January,  Mr.  Vincent 
left  the  city,  informing  his  family  that  he  was 
going  to  New  York  on  a  hurried  visit  and  that  he 
would  return  on  the  following  Friday.  He  sent 
by  a  member  of  his  family,  a  note  to  his  cliief 
clerk,  ilr.  Crawford,  and  a  package  of  money  con- 
taining about  §15,000,  which  belonged  to  the 
State  and  had  been  collected  by  him  from  a  bank 

j  in  Montgomery  that  afternoon.  Nothing  was 
heard  directly  or  positively  from  Mr.  Vincent  from 
that  day  until  the  15th  of  March,  1887,  when  he 
returned  a  prisoner  as  unexpectedly  as  he  left. 

I  The  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  books 
in  his  office  and  count  the  cash  in  the  treasury, 
found  a  shortage  amounting  to  something  over 
?!230,000.  A  description  of  Vincent  was  tele- 
graphed to  the  police  of  the  j)rincipal  cities  of  the 
country,  aiul  a  reward  of  $5,0(i0  was  offered  for 
his  capture,  but  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  police  and 
detectives,  he  evaded  arrest  for  about  four  years. 

After  the  fact  of  the  defalcation  had  been  ascer- 
tained, steps  were  being  taken  to  proceed  against 

'  Jlr.  Vincent's  bondsmen.  He  had  made  no  bond 
for  the  third  term,  having  offered  one  which  was 
not  accepted,  and  when  the  auditor  looked  for  the 
bond  given  for  his  second  term,  he  found  that  it 
was  missing  from  its  place  in  the  safe  where  it 

■   was  kept.    This  being  the  case,  that  official  aiiplied 

'  to  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  bond 
book  in  which  that  bond  was  recorded,  and  on  a 

I   search,  this  too,  was  found   to  be  missing.     The 

I   names  of  the  signers  of    N'incent's  bond  could  not 


:54 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


all  be  recalled,  so  the  State  proceeded  to  negotiate 
with    Messrs.   M.  E.   Pratt,  of   Autauga,   Daniel 

■Crawford,  of  Coosa,  and  J.  J.  Robinson,  of  Cham- 
bers, who  were  known  to  have  signed  the  instru- 
ment, and  effected  a  settlement  with  the  parties, 
whereby   a   sum  of  something  like   S50,000   was 

■recovered. 

After  Vincent's  flight  the  grand  jury  of  Mont- 
gomery county  found  thirty-nine  indictments 
against   him,  charging   him  with    embezzlement. 

■On  liis  arrival  in  Montgomery  in  March,  1887, 
he  was  lodged  in  the  county  jail  to  await  trial. 
The  trial  of  one  of  the  cases  against  him  was  com- 
menced on  the  8th  of  August,  1887,  and  con- 
tinued for  almost  one  week,  and  ended  in  the 
jury  finding  him  guilty  with  a  recommenda- 
tion to  mercy.  Another  case  was  taken   up   and 

-concluded  in  a  few  days  with  a  like  verdict.  The 
prisoner  was  defended  by  Gov.  T.  H.  Watts  and 
Capt.  J.  M.  Falkner.  The  prosecution  was  in  the 
hands  of  Solicitor  Lomax,  prosecuting  officer  of 
Montgomery  county,  Attorney-General  McCIellan 
and  Hon.  H.  C.  Tompkins. 

The  court  sentenced  Vincent  to  ten  years'  im- 
prisonment in  the  two  cases.  Tlie  remaining 
thirty-seven  cases  against  Vincent  will  be  disposed 

■of  at  a  future  term  of  the  city  court  of  Montgom- 
ery county.  The  §5,000  reward  offered  for  his 
arrest  was  paid  to  a  Mr.  Kay,  of  Texas,  who  cap- 
tured him  near  Big  Sandy  Springs,  in  that  State, 
and  delivered  him  to  the  sheriff  of  Montgomery 

■county. 

Governor  O'Neal  was  succeeded  by  Hon.  Thos. 

■  Seay,  of  Hale,  the  present  Governor  of  tlie  State, 
who  was  inagurated  on  the  1st  of  December,  1886. 
The  years  which  have  elapsed  since  1880  have 
been  fruitful  of  great  results  for  Alabama.  They 
have  been  marked  by  a  steady  growth  in  the  older 
cities  and  towns,  and  a  growth  in  newer  cities, 
advantageously  situated,  so  marvelous  and  rapid 
that  it  almost  challenges  belief. 

In  the  matter  of  transportation  facilities  Ala- 
bama is  well  supplied.  Important  trunk  lines 
traverse  the  State  in  all  directions,  afforded  ample 
transportation  for  almost  every  quarter.  The  fol- 
lowing railroads  are  being  operated  in  Alabama: 

Alabama  Great  Southern;  Anniston  &  Atlantic; 
Birmingham,  New  Orleans  &  Selnia;  Cincinnati, 
Selma  &  Mobile;  Columbus  &  Western;  East  Alaba- 
ma; East  and  West  Alabama  Narrow  Gauge;  Eufau- 
la&  Clayton;  Georgia  Pacific;  Mem2)his&  Charles- 
ton; East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia;  Mobile  & 


Birmingham:  Mobile  &  Gerard;  Montgomery  & 
Eufaula;  Jlontgoniery  &  Florida  Narrow  Gauge; 
Nashville,  Chattanooga  &  St  Louis;  South  Western; 
Talladega  &  C.  V.:  Tuskegee  Narrow  Guage; 
Western,  West  Point  Division;  Western,  Selma 
Division;  Birmingham  Mineral;  Mobile  &  Mont- 
gomery; Nashville  &  Decatur;  New  Orleans,  Mobile 
&  Texas:  Pensacola;  Pensacola  &  Selma;  South  & 
North:  Sheffield  &  Burmingham.  Some  of  these 
roads  are  not  completed,  but  portions  of  such  as  are 
not  are  being  operated.  Besides  these  lines  several 
other  companies  have  been  organized,  and  many  of 
them  have  been  surveyed,  and  active  preparations 
are  made  to  begin  construction.  The  railroad 
mileage  of  the  State  is  at  present  about  ;i, 300.  This 
figure  will  be  materially  increased  within  the  next 
five  years  and  at  least  a  thousand  miles  will  be 
added  within  the  next  ten  years. 

Besides  this  means  of  transportation  by  rail, 
Alabama  possesses  a  river  system  equaled  by  few 
States,  and  surpassed  by  none,  having  navigable 
rivers  in  almost  every  quarter  of  its  area,  and  in 
addition  to  this  its  sixty  miles  of  coast  is  indented 
by  bays  which  afford  excellent  harbors,  and  which 
will  aid  materially  the  State's  shipping  interests. 

Mobile,  the  principal  bay,  is  a  valuable  body  of 
water  which  affords  communication  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  It  is  now  being  improved  under  ap- 
propriatiosn  from  the  General  Government,  and 
the  opening  of  the  channel  in  the  bay  to  a  mean 
depth  of  twenty-three  to  twenty-five  feet  will  do 
more  for  the  development  of  the  southern  jjortion 
of  the  State  than  any  other  improvement. 

Probably  the  most  important  river  to  the  State 
is  the  Alabama.  It  is  about  480  miles  in  length 
and  is  navigable  to  Montgomery  the  year  round, 
and  in  high-water  seasons  as  far  up  as  Wetumpke 
on  the  Coosa.  It  is  given  the  first  place  in 
point  of  importance,  because  of  the  fact  that 
through  its  channel  the  waters  of  the  Coosa  seek 
the  gulf  and  when  that  river  is  freed  from  its 
obstructions  there  will  be  opened  up  a  great 
water  way,  extending  from  Mobile  into  North- 
western Georgia,  a  distance  by  river  of  over  800 
miles  and  over  which  the  products  of  one  of  the 
richest  sections  of  the  country  will  be  transported 
to  the  sea. 

The  valley  through  which  the  Coosa  river  flows 
is  one  of  unexampled  productiveness,  yielding 
cotton,  corn,  wheat,  oats,  barley,  rye,  potatoes, 
fruits — in  fact,  any  article  of  agriculture  produced 
elsewhere  in  the  countrv.     In  addition  to  the  fer- 


NORTH ERX  ALABAMA. 


55 


tility  of  the  lands  lying  along  its  sides,  the  Coosa 
flows  through  a  country  rich  in  the  possession  of 
viiluuble  minerals.  Coal,  iron  and  marble  abouiul 
in  the  hills  which  slope  down  gradually  till  they 
reach  the  waters  of  the  Coosa.  The  river  is  now 
navigable  from  lionie,  (ia.,  to  Greenport,  Ala., 
l)ut  between  the  latter  place  and  Wetumpke  there 
is  a  distance  of  ];5T  miles,  locked  in  by  rapids, 
rocky  obstructions  and  falls.  These  obstructions 
will  j)robably  be  removed  by  the  next  Congress, 

Another  important  river  to  Alabama  is  the  Tom- 
bigbee,  which  is  formed  near  Demopolis  by  the 
junction  of  the  Little  or  Upper  Tombigbee,  which 
enters  the  State  through  from  Mississippi  through 
Pickens  county,  and  the  Warrior  river.  It  is  an 
important  river,  for  the  reason  that  over  it  a  large 
portion  of  the  output  of  the  Warrior  coal  field  may 
reach  the  Clulf  coast.  It  is  navigable  from  Mo- 
bile to  Fulton,  ^[iss.,  a  distance  of  about  (100  miles 
via  the  Little  and  Mobile  Rivers,  and  via  the 
Mobile  and  Warrior  to  Tuscaloosa.  Like  the 
opening  of  the  Coosa,  the  improvement  of  the 
Warrior  is  demanding  attention,  and  no  stone  will 
be  left  unturned  to  secure  the  necessary  aid  from 
Congress  to  put  these  rivers  in  navigable  con- 
dition. 

The  Cahaba  is  one  of  the  rivers  of  the  mineral 
section  of  Alabama,  and  were  it  opened  to  navi- 
gation would  become  an  important  factor  in  the 
water  system  of  the  State.  It  rises  in  the  north- 
ern portion  of  Shelby  county,  flows  a  southeast- 
erly and  southerly  course  through  the  counties  of 
Shelby,  Bibb,  Perry  and  Dallas,  and  empties  into 
the  Alabama  river  at  the  town  of  Cahaba.  Dur- 
ing the  seasons  of  high  water,  steamboats  have 
ascended  this  river  to  Centerville,  in  J5ibb  county, 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  famous  Cahaba  coal 
field.  In  its  present  condition  the  Cahaba,  as  a 
factor  in  the  development  of  Alabama,  is  practi- 
cally valueless.  The  river  can  and  should  be 
made  navigable. 

The  Tennessee  river  is  one  of  paramount  im- 
portance to  the  people  of  Northern  Alabama.  It 
flows  almost  through  the  entire  northern  ])ortion 
of  the  State,  furnishing  several  counties  with  un- 
limited water  transportation  to  the  West  and  to 
Chattanooga. 

The  opening  of  -Mussel  Shoals,  now  nearing com- 
pletion, by  the  United  States  (iovcrnment,  will 
give  uninterrupted  navigation  from  Chattanooga, 
Tenn.,  to  Pa<lucah,  Ky,,  ami  will  afford  furnace 
men  and  miners  of  Northern  Alabama  a  desirable 


outlet  to  all  parts  of  the  world  for  their  immense 
quantities  of  coal,  iron,  lumber  and  manufactured 
articles,  and  will  enable  them  to  pliicc  their  pro- 
ducts in  Northern  and  Eastern  markets  in  suc- 
cessful competition  with  those  immense  manufact- 
urers who  have  hitherto  held  a  monopoly  of  these 
things. 

Mobile  river,  which  is  formed  by  the  junction 
of  the  Alabama  and  Tombigbee,  forms  an  imj)ort- 
ant  part  in  the  river  system  of  the  State,  and  as 
it  is  a  key  to  the  bay,  is  an  avenue  over  which  all 
the  products  of  the  interior  must  reach  the  gulf. 
The  Mobile  river,  being  both  wide  and  deep, 
requires  but  little  attention  and  expense  to  keep 
it  in  perfect  order  at  all  seasons  of  the  year. 

The  Chattahoochee  river,  which  flows  along  the 
eastern  border  of  the  State,  affords  tlie  people  of 
Russell,  Barbour  and  Henry  counties  ample  com- 
munication with  the  gulf.  The  principal  rivers 
of  Southeast  Alabama  are  the  Choctawatchie,  Pea, 
Conecuh,  Yellow  and  Escanaba.  Of  these  streams 
the  Choctawatchie  is  probably  the  most  import- 
ant, as  it  furnishes  the  only  means  of  transjiorta- 
tion  to  a  large  portion  of  Geneva,  Dale  and  ("offee 
counties.  This  river,  under  favorable  conditions, 
is  navigable  as  far  u])  as  Newton,  in  Dale  county. 
The  other  rivers  in  this  section  are  more  import- 
ant to  Florida  than  to  Alabama.  The  Perdido 
river  forms  the  eastern  boundary  of  Baldwin 
county,  dividing  that  county  from  Escambia 
county,  Florida.  Other  rivers,  of  no  general  im- 
portance, are  to  be  found  in  Baldwin  and  in 
Mobile  counties. 

In  addition  to  Alabama's  mineral  resources,  the 
State  possesses  a  wealth  of  timber  lands,  embrac- 
ing the  counties  of  Washington,  ^fobile,  I^aldwin, 
Clark,  Monroe,  Escambia,  Conecuh,  Butler,  Cov- 
ington, Crenshaw,  Pike,  Coffee,  Geneva,  Dale 
and  Henry.  The  forest  in  this  section  of  the 
country  is  now  attracting  as  much  attention  as 
the  mineral  wealth  of  the  northern  portion  of  the 
State.  The  principal  product  of  this  .section  is 
the  famous  long-loaf  pine,  which  here  grows  to  a 
perfection  known  nowhere  else  on  the  continent. 
Oak,  hickory,  gum,  jioplar,  cypress,  juniper,  dog- 
wood, and  other  varieties  useful  in  building  trades 
and  in  the  manufacture  of  furniture,  also  abound 
in  these  forests. 

The  soil  in  this  section  is  peculiarly  adapted  to 
raising  vegetables,  which  may  be  here  produced 
from  one  to  two  months  earlier  than  in  the  lati- 
tude of  Oliii).     This  section  is  also  well  adapted  to 


56 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


stock  raising,  and  sheep  growing  may  here  be  made 
especially  profitable. 

The  climate  of  the  timber  belt  is  probably  the 
pleasantest  of  the  State,  while  the  health  of  this 
quarter  is  remarkable.  The  jjeople  here  are  hardy, 
thrifty  and  honest. 

An  important  industry  along  the  coast  is  the 
fisheries,  and  in  this  several  hundred  boats  of  all 
kinds  are  engaged.  The  product  is  marketed  in 
Mobile,  and  fish  and  oysters  from  that  point  are 
found  several  miles  inland.  The  oysters  obtained 
in  Mobile  bay  are  noted  for  size  and  flavor,  and 
as  high  rank  as  any  oysters  taken  on  the  gulf  coast. 

A  great  industry  of  Southern  Alabama  is  the 
manufacture  of  turpentine  and  rosin,  and  it  is 
rapidly  growing  from  year  to  year. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  governors  who  have 
filled  the  executive  oflBce  from  the  formation  of 
the  Territory  of  Alabama  to  the  present  time: 

William  Bibb,  first  governor  of  the  Territory  of 
Alabama,  a  resident  of  Georgia  when  appointed — 
1817  to  1819. 

William  Wyatt  Bibb,  of  Autauga — November, 
1819,  to  July,  1820. 

Thomas  Bibb,  of  Limestone,  was  president  of 
the  senate  and  succeeded  to  the  governorship  on 
the  death  of  Gov.  W.AV.  Bibb,  July,  1820,  to  No- 
vember, 1821. 

Israel  Pickens,  of  Greene — November,  1821,  to 
November,  1825. 

John  Murphy,  of  Monroe— November,  182.5,  to 
November,  1829. 

Gabriel  Moore,  of  Madison — November,  1829, 
to  March,  1831,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate.  The  President  of  the  Senate,  Sam- 
uel B.  Moore,  of  Jackson,  succeeded,  and  served 
out  the  unexpired  term  to  November,  1831. 

John  Gayle,  of  Greene — November,  1831,  to 
November,  1835. 

Clement  C.  Clay — November,  1835,  to  July, 
1837,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate.  Hugh  McVay,  of  Lauderdale,  President 
of  the  Senate,  served  out  the  unexpired  term  to 
November,  1837. 

Arthur  P.  Bagby,  of  Monroe — November,  1837, 
to  November,  1841. 

Benjamin  Fitzpatrick,  of  Autauga — November, 
1841,  to  November,  1845. 

Joshua  L.  Martin,  of  Tuscaloosa — November, 
1845,  to  November,  1847. 

Reuben  Chapman,  of  Madison  —  November, 
1847,  to  November,  1849. 


Henry  W.  Collier,  of  Tuscaloosa — November, 
1849,  to  November,  1853. 

John  A.  Winston,  of  Sumter — November,  1853, 
to  November,  1857. 

Andrew  B.  Moore,  of  Perry — November,  1857, 
to  November,  1861. 

John  Gill  Shorter,  of  Barbour,  November,  ISOl, 
to  November,  18G3. 

Thomas  H.  Watts,  Sr.,  of  Montgomery — No- 
vember, 18C3,  to  April,  1865,  when  the  Federal 
troops  occupied  the  capital  of  the  State,  and 
two  months  followed  in  which  there  was  no 
governor. 

Lewis  E.  Parsous,  of  Talladega  —  Appointed 
firovisional  governor,  by  president  Johnson,  June, 
1865,  to  December,  1865. 

Robert  M.  Patton,  of  Lauderdale — December, 
1865,  to  July,  1868. 

William  H.  Smith,  of  Randolph — Appointeil 
governor  by  an  act  of  Congress,  July,  1SG8,  to 
November,  1870. 

Robert  B.  Lindsay,  of  Colbert— November,  1870, 
to  November,  1872. 

David  P.  Lewis,  of  Madison — November,  1872, 
to  November,  1874. 

George  S.  Houston,  of  Limestone — November, 
1874,  to  November,  1878. 

Reuben  W.  Cobb,  of  Shelby— November,  1878, 
to  November,  1882. 

Edward  A.  O'Neal,  of  Lauderdale — November, 
1882,  to  November,  1886. 

Hon.  Thomas  Seay,  of  Hale — Inaugurated  De- 
cember 1,  1886. 

Since  the  admission  of  Alabama  into  the  Union 
twenty-seven  men  have  filled  the  position  of  gov- 
ernor, ^ladisou  county  leads  in  the  number  of 
governors,  four  of  the  residents  of  that  county 
having  filled  the  executive  chair.  Lauderdale  fol- 
lows, having  furnished  the  chief  executive  three 
times.  Two  governors  have  been  furnished  by 
each  of  the  following  counties:  Autauga,  Lime- 
stone, Greene,  Monroe  and  Tuscaloosa.  One 
governor  has  been  furnished  from  each  of  the  fol- 
lowing counties:  Jackson,  Sumter,  Perry,  Barbour, 
Montgomery,  Talladega,  Randolph,  Colbert,  Shelby 
and  Hale. 

The  four  northern  counties  of  State — Lauder- 
dale, Limestone,  JIadison  and  Jackson —  have  fur- 
nished ten  governors,  more  than  one-third  of  the 
total  number  who  have  filled  the  chair.  Of  this 
number  three  succeeded  to  fill  vacancies,  and  ex- 
cept in  one  instance —  Thos.  Bibb,  of  Limestone, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


57 


succeeded  Gov.  W.  W.  Bibb,  of  Autauga  —  the 
governor  who  was  succeeded  was  a  citizen  of  one 
of  tlie  four  counties  named. 

Of  the  governors  of  Alabama,  one,  tiie  first,  W. 
W.  ]{ibb,  of  Autauga,  died  in  office.  Two,  Ga- 
briel iloore,  of  .^ladison,  and  Clement  G.  Claj-,  of 
the  same  county,  left  the  ofliice  before  the 
expiration  of  their  terms  to  take  seats  to  which 
they  had  been  elected  in  the  Senate  of  tlie  United 
States. 

The  only  other  governor  elected  who  failed  to 
serve  a  full  term  was  Thomas  II.  Watts,  of  Mont- 
gomery, whose  term  began  in  November,  lS(J3,and 
was  concluded  in  April,  18G5,  on  the  occupation  of 
tile  cajjital  by  the  Federal  troops.  Thomas  IMbb, 
of  Limestone,  who  succeeded  W.  W.  Bibb,  of 
Autauga,  and  Hugh  ilcVay,  of  Lauderdale,  w'ho 
succeeded  C.  C.  Clay,  of  iladison,  each  filled  the 
position  from  July  to  the  November  following. 
The  next  governor,  in  shortness  of  the  duration  of 
his  term,  was  Lewis  E.  Parsons,  of  Talladega,  ap- 
pointed provisional  governor  by  President  John- 
son. He  held  the  i^osition  from  June  to  the  De- 
■oember  following.  R.  ^I.  Patton,  of  fiauderdale, 
served  the  longest  single  term,  being  nominally 


governor  from  December,  18G5,  to  July,  18G8,  two 
years  and  seven  months. 

E.x-Governor  Israel  Pickens,  of  Greene,  was 
appointed  in  February,  182G,  by  Governor  JIurphy, 
United  States  senator  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  death  of  Henry  Chambers,  of  Madison, 
until  the  Legislature  met  to  elect  a  successor. 
He  served  until  November,  182G,  when  the  Legis- 
islature  elected  John  McKinley,  of  Lauderdale. 

The  following  occupants  of  the  executive  office 
were  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  after 
the  exj)iration  of  their  terms  as  governors.  Arthur 
P.  Bagby,  of  Monroe;  Benjamin  Fitzpatrick,  of 
Autauga:  J.  A.  Winston,  of  Sumter  (elected  in 
1867,  but  was  not  admitted  to  his  seat),  and  Geo. 
8.  Houston,  of  Limestone.  No  governor  who  suc- 
ceeded to  fill  a  vacancy  was  afterwards  elected  to 
the  position.  Two  governors  were  named  Bibb 
and  three  bore  the  name  of  Moore. 

Two  governors,  W.  W.  Bibb,  of  Autauga,  and  J. 
A.  Winston,  of  Sumter,  have  been  remembered  by 
the  bestowal  of  their  names  on  counties.  Pickens 
county  was  named  for  Gen.  Andrew  Pickens,  of 
South  Carolina,  and  before  Gov.  Israel  Pickens 
became  governor. 


PART  III. 
Historical  Resume  of  the  Various  Counties  in  the  State. 


CEREAL   belt. 


MARSHALL    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  14,000;  colored,  700.  Area, 
560  square  miles.     Woodland,  all. 

Acres — In  cotton,  approximately,  16,500;  in 
corn,  27,100;  in  oats,  3,400;  in  wheat,  5,800;  in 
rye,  150;  in  tobacco,  48;  in  sugar  cane,  50;  sweet 
j)otatoes,  243. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton  in  round 
numbers,  5,500. 

County   Seat — Guntersville;    population,    500. 

Xewspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Demo- 
crat.. 

Postoflfices  in  the  County — Albertville,  Arab, 
Bartlett,  Bean  Rock,  Blue  Rock,  Cedar  Ridge, 
Cotton ville,  Fowler,  Friendship,  Grassy,  Guuters- 
ville,  Henryville,  Hillian's  Store,  Hyatt,  Kennamer 
Cove,  Lot,  Lumpkin,  Marshall,  Martling,  Meltons- 
ville  Mill,  Minorville,  North,  Oleander,  Pender- 
grass,  Peters,  Preston,  Ragsdale,  Red  Apjole,  Red 
Hill,  Reedbrake,  Sidney,  Southern,  Swearengin, 
Warrenton. 

One  of  the  first  white  men  to  settle  in  this 
county  was  John  Gunter,  a  Scotchman,  who  located 
among  the  Cherokee  Indians  and  niitrried  a  beau- 
tiful Indian  girl.  The  Cherokee's  originally  owned 
the  section  of  the  State  whereof  Marshall  county 
now  forms  a  part.  They  had  a  village  near  the 
present  site  of  Red  Hill,  a  point  about  twelve 
miles  southeast  from  Guntersville. 

John  Gunter  had  three  sons.  Of  these,  Edward 
served  with  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson  at  the  battle  of 
Horseshoe,  and  was  with  that  warrior  throughout 


the  whole  war.  Sam,  another  son,  died  on  Town 
Creek  about  1835.  The  third  son,  John,  became, 
with  Edward,  a  leader  among  his  people  and  they 
both  went  with  the  Cherokees  about  the  year  1837, 
where  they  both  died. 

Another  early  settler  was  Hugh  Henry,  who 
came  to  Marshall  county  in  1828  from  Upper  East 
Tennessee.  He  sold  goods  at  Gunter's  landing 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Tennessee  river.  He  was 
successful  in  merchandising  and  accumulated  some 
wealth  which  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune  in  some 
measure  depleted  before  his  death. 

Hugh  Henry  was  the  father  of  the  present  heads 
of  the  house  of  Henry,  Messrs.  Albert  G.  and 
Patrick  Henry,  whose  fame  as  reliable  and  safe 
merchants,  is  second  to  none  in  the  eastern  whole- 
sale markets. 

Among  the  early  pioneers  who  were  prominent 
men  were  William  Black,  Arthur  C.  Beard,  James 
M.  Macfarlane,  and  others. 

About  the  year  1835  the  country  had  become 
sutBcieutly  settled  to  cause  the  organization  of 
Marshall  county,  which  event  was  properly  cele- 
brated in  1836. 

Among  the  prominent  citizens  now  living  who 
were  here  about  this  time  are:  Samuel  K.  Ray- 
burn,  Washington  T.  May,  Judge  Lewis  Wyeth 
and  Albert  G.  Henry.  These  gentlemen  are  still 
(March,  1888)  in  excellent  health,  although  in  each 
case  past  "  three-score  years  and  ten." 

At  the  time  of  organisation  and  for  some  years 


58 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


59 


afterward  there   was  considerable  rivalry  in  the 

location  of  the  county  seat,  that  matter  having 
been,  on  three  several  occasions,  left  to  the  will  of 
the  people.  The  first  election  made  Claysville,  two 
miles  ojiposite  Giintersville,  across  the  river,  the 
place  selected.  Here  court  was  held  during  the 
years  ISSG-T-S. 

In  the  latter  year  the  seat  of  government  was 
changed  to  ilarshall,  a  place  immediately  in  the 
center  of  the  present  town  of  Wyeth  City,  and 
about  one  mile  from  the  present  court  house  in 
Guntersville.  Here,  for  the  years  lS.'iI)-40— 41  the 
seat  of  justice  remained.  Still  another  election 
changed  the  county  seat  to  Warrenton,  a  beautiful 
village  five  miles  away  to  the  West.  Here  it  was 
suffered  to  remain  si.x  years. 

In  the  vear  1848  the  town  of  Guntersville  was 


growing  and  increasing  her  trade  to  such  a  point 
th;it  it  became  an  incorporated  town. 

Through  the  far-sightedness  of  Judge  Louis 
Wyeth,  this  place  captured  the  county  seat  during 
the  year  1840,  the  change  being  made  principally 
because  Judge  Wyeth  offered  to  donate  a  hand- 
some brick  court-house  to  the  county  on  condi- 
tion of  the  seat  of  government  being  permanently 
located  at  Guntersville.  This  was  done,  the  court- 
house was  built,  and  Guntersville  has  since  been 
enjoying  uninterruptedly  the  honor  of  being  the 
seat  of  government  for  Marshall  county. 

The  otticials  who  constituted  the  first  county 
court  which  met  at  Claysville  were  as  follows  : 
county  judge,  AVashington  T.  ^fay;  county  clerk, 
Kichard  S.  Kandles;  sheriff,  Percival  il.  Bush; 
circuit  clerk,  J.  M.  Macfarlane. 


II.. 

MADISON    COUNTY, 


County  Seat— Iluntsville  ;  Population,  8,000; 
located  on  M.  &  C.  IJ.  R. 

Madison  county,  Alabama,  is  at  the  head  of  the 
famed  Tennessee  valley,  and  hivs  an  area  of  872 
square  miles,  with  a  frontage  on  the  Tennessee 
river  of  thirty  miles.  The  salubriousness  of  its 
climate,  fertility  of  soil,  abundance  and  purity  of 
water,  agricultural  resources,  beautiful,  grand  and 
l>ictures(|ue  scenery,  educational  advantages,  cul- 
tured and  refined  society,  and  noted  healthfulness, 
give  it  such  substantial  charms  as  make  it  one  of 
the  most  desirable  sections  for  residence  in  the 
South.  Madison  is  the  banner  county  of  the  cereal 
belt.  It  leads  all  others  in  wealth  and  the  produc- 
tion of  cotton.  The  soils  of  the  county  vary,  but 
generally  are  of  the  red  clay  subsoil.  Its  shape  is 
almost  sijuare.  The  county  is  remarkably  well 
watered,  there  being  twelve  creeks  and  rivers 
running  through  it  from  the  north  to  south. 
These  are  Barren  Fork.  Indian,  Prices'  Fork, 
Beaver  Dam,  Frier's  Fork,  Mountain  Fork,  Hur- 
ricane, Aldridge,  Limestone  and  Huntsville  Spring 


creeks,  and  Flint  and  Paint  Rock  rivers.  In  the 
mountainous  portion  of  the  county,  eastward, 
and  on  the  Whitesburg  pike  to  the  Tennessee 
river  south  of  Huntsville,  are  found  farms  which 
are  devoted  to  raising-clover,  small  grain  and  stock 
with  great  success.  This  county  occupies  medium 
ground  between  the  tropical  and  temperate  pro- 
ducing regions,  with  many  characteristics  peculiar 
to  both.  Its  soil  yields  cotton,  but  is  most  natur- 
ally adapted  to  the  raising  of  grasses,  grain,  corn 
and  stock. 

The  average  annual  yield  of  cotton  is  20,000 
bales,  but  there  is  a  growing  disposition  on  the 
part  of  the  farmers  to  forsake  cotton,  and  to  adopt 
stock  raising  and  the  production  of  cereals  exclu- 
sively. The  lands  being  of  red  clay  subsoil,  are 
susceptible  of  the  highest  state  of  fertility,  and 
being  generally  level,  are  easily  cultivated.  Mad- 
ison is  one  of  the  largest  corn-producing  counties 
in  the  State.  The  raising  of  wheat  is  annually 
increasing,  and  twenty-five  or  thirty  bushels  per 
acre  is  not  considered  an  unusual  crop  on  good 


60 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


land.  The  soils  of  the  county  are  especially 
adapted  to  corn,  cotton,  wheat,  tobacco,  oats,  rye, 
barley,  peas,  jDotatoes  and  millet.  Orchard  grass, 
Herds  grass,  Timothy  and  all  the  clovers  grow- 
here  to  jierfection,  producing  as  much  as  three 
tons  per  acre.  The  cotton  crop  is  estimated  at 
$1,000,000  ;  corn  cro]^  about  the  same ;  jieas  and 
beans,  $50,000  ;  potatoes,  $100,000,  and  horses, 
cattle  and  sheep,  nearly  81,000,000.  Being  well 
watered,  with  clear  running  streams  the  entire 
year,  the  county  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  rais- 
ing of  horses,  mules,  cattle,  sheeji  and  hogs ;  all 
these  thrive,  and  this  has  jiroven  a  most  profitable 
business.  Importations  of  stock  of  all  kinds  have 
been  attended  witli  great  success,  this  climate 
proving  remarkably  healthy  for  them.  There  is 
in  this  county  now,  at  least  100  registered  Jersey 
cattle  (a  recent  business),  and  several  head  are 
direct  from  the  island  of  Jersey.  They  are  as 
healthy  and  jirolific  a  herd  as  anywhere  in  the 
United  States. 

There  are  also  two  or  three  herds  of  Holsteins. 
in  which  are  represented  some  of  the  finest  milk 
strains  in  the  world.  Tliey  have  fine  health,  and 
thrive  remarkably  well.  Madison  has,  perhajDS. 
the  finest  horses  and  jacks  in  the  entire  country, 
and  stock-raising  is  becoming  a  chief  and  very 
profitable  business.  Perliaps  in  no  county  in  the 
State  is  more  attention  devoted  to  the  matter  of 
education  than  in  Madison.  Schools  of  excellent 
grade  are  to  be  found  throughout  the  county. 
Men  of  thi'if  t,  energy  and  enterprise,  whether  with 
or  without  capital,  will  be  cordially  welcomed  in 
this  county.  Adjacent  to  the  mountains,  the  soils 
are  admirably  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  vine- 
yard and  orchard  products.  Great  and  rapid 
strides  have  already  been  made  in  the  direction  of 
horticulture.  In  this  county  is  the  largest  nursery 
in  the  United  States,  and  its  business  has  proven 
eminently  successful.  Its  name  is  "  Huntsville 
Wholesale  Nurseries,"  and  as  that  name  implies, 
the  trees  grown  are  intended  for  the  wholesale 
trade.  The  tract  of  land  devoted  to  the  business 
is  over  a  thousand  acres.  Orders  received  are 
mostly  from  distant  nurserymen.  The  production 
is  confined  to  pears,  plums,  cherries  and  peaches. 
The  plants  that  will  be  ready  for  setting  ne.xt 
spring  will  be  over  3,000,000,000,  which  with  the 
large  crops  of  trees  already  growing,  yield  sup- 
plies for  an  extensive  business.  Ship)ments  of 
trees  are  made  to  all  parts  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada. 


Varieties  of  fruit  trees  suited  to  the  most  North- 
ern or  Southern  limits  are  propagated  here.  The 
products  of  these  nurseries  have  given  satisfaction 
wherever  sent,  and  the  demand  for  them  is  con- 
stantly increasing. 

The  immense  water  power  of  this  county,  its 
abounding  timber,  and  its  splendid  climate  are 
attracting  repeated  accessions  of  population.  Its 
various  advantages  are  unequaled.  No  causes  for 
local  disease  exist,  and  the  elements  of  wealth  are 
in  close  proximity.  The  timber  is  chiefly  iiost, 
black,  white,  Spanish  oaks,  and  beech,  poplar  and 
sugar  maple.  A  world  of  the  finest  cedar  is  in  the 
adjoining  county  of  Jackson,  through  which  the 
Memphis  &  Charleston  Railroad  runs.  Labor  is 
abundant  and  cheap.  Lands  are  cheaper  tlian 
anywhei'e  in  the  South,  considering  their  intrinsic 
value,  though  they  are  gradually  increasing  in 
value, 

There  are  fine  pikes  in  the  county  and  the 
public  roads  are  excellent  most  of  the  year.  Madi- 
son county  is  out  of  debt,  and  does  not  owe  a 
dollar.  Taxes  are  low.  There  is  every  substan- 
tial indication  that  this  valley  of  remarkable  beauty, 
iTuequaled  health,  and  wonderful  fertility,  will,  at 
an  early  day,  reach  the  highest  state  of  develop- 
ment, and  an  era  of  the  greatest  prosperity  will 
reign.  So  high  an  authority  as  Commodore  Maury 
states,  in  his  celebrated  work  on  geography,  that 
this  valley,  all  things  considered,  is  the  garden 
spot  of  the  United  States.  And  such  is  the  verdict 
of  all  who  see  it.  Coal  has  been  discovered  in  the 
Northern  portion  of  Madison,  and  iron  is  also 
believed  to  exist  in  valuable  and  paying  quantities. 
Gas  is  believed,  by  exjierts,  to  exist  in  the  vicinity 
of  Huntsville,  and  that  if  the  test  was  made  by 
boring,  it  would  be  discovered  in  abundance,  and 
of  a  fine  quality.  The  partial  boring  of  a  well 
near  the  city  developed  eYidences  of  oil  and  gas 
such  as  to  warrant  the  above  opinion. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat^Z'pww- 
vrat  (democrat).  Gazette  (colored  republican),  In- 
dependott  (democrat),  Mercury  (democrat).  New 
South  (republican).  Normal  Index  (educational). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Bell  Factory,  Berk- 
ley, Bloomfield,  Brownsborough,  Carmichael, 
Cluttsville,  Dan,  Fisk,  Green  Grove,  Curly, 
Haden,  Hayes'  Store,  Hazel  Green,  HnntsviUe, 
Lowe,  Madison  Cross  Eoads,  Madison  Station, 
Maysville,  Meridianville,  Monrovia,  New  Ifarket, 
Owen's  Cross  Roads,  Plevana,  Popular  Ridge, 
Rep,  Triana,  Whitesburgh,  Wiley. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


61 


Madison  is  an  incorporiited  town  of  about  500 
iiiluibittiiits,  in  .Madison  county,  ten  miles  west 
from  Hiintsville  on  the  Menn)liis  &  Cliarleston 
Jiaiiroad. 

Its  prosperity  dejwnds  mostly  upon  tlie  fertility 
of  the  soil  in  tlie  surrounding  country,  and  the 
cotton,  of  which  about  2,(iOO  bales  are  shipped 
from  its  station  annually. 

It  has  eight  or  nine  general  stores:  a  post,  tele- 
graph and  e.vpress  office;  Methodist,  Haptist, 
C'hristian.  and  tiiree  colored  churches,  and  a 
good  academy  ;  a  very  healthful  place  ;  has  fine 
freestone  water,  and  its  society  is  liighlv  moral. 


.«« 


C.  W.  MARTIN  was  born  near  :\Iadison  in 
1820,  and  has  spent  his  entire  life  in  Madison 
county.  In  business  he  has  been  a  farmer  and 
mei chant,  in  the  last  of  which  be  has  been  very 
successful. 

At  the  close  of  the  late  war  he,  like  almost 
everybody  else  at  the  South,  was  tinancially 
a  wreck,  but  by  close  and  persistent  iij)plica- 
tion  to  business,  he  has  retrieved  his  loss.  He 
was  a  son  of  Richard  and  Lydia  (Fitts)  ilartin, 
who  came  from  Virginia  to  Alabama  about 
1810. 

Uichard  .Martin  was  a  farmer,  and  served  in  the 
War  of  1812.  They  had  eleven  children,  of  whom 
but  four  are  living.  Two  of  their  sons  were  in 
Ward's  Battery  (Confederate  States  army),  and 
both  serve<l  through  the  war,  spending  a  great 
part  of  the  time  at  Mobile. 

Mr.  ilartin  was  married,  in  184'.t,  to  Miss  Xan- 
nie  Lecman,  of  .Madison  county,  and  they  have 
seven  children  living,  of  whom  two  are  merchants. 


one  is  railroad  agent  at  Madison,  and  one  a  farmer 
in  Limestone  county.  .Mr.  Jlartin  is  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  church  and  a  F.  it  .V.  .M. 

— — *— ;<s^— ^^^ 

G.  W.  and  J.  A.  WISE,  merchants,  Madison, 
Ala.,  sons  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  A.  (Line)  Wise, 
who  came  with  them  from  \'irginiato  this  place  in 
the  fall  of  1872.  The  senior  Wise  died  on  his  farm 
near  Madison,  in  187C.  He  reared  seven  sons  to 
manhood,  and  two  of  them,  John  M.  and  William, 
served  through  the  late  war  in  the  1st  Virginia 
Cavalry,  under  Fitz  Hugh  Lee.  They  now  reside 
in  Kansas.  Of  the  others,  Samuel  is  in  Iowa, 
Henry  A.  in  Virginia,  David  L.  died  in  18(;2. 
The  only  daughter  is  in  Virginia. 

O.  W.  Wise  was  born  in  Virginia,  Nov.  20,  1854, 
there  grew  to  manhood,  and  followed  farming  a 
number  of  years.  In  1882  he  began  the  life  of  a 
merchant  at  Madison,  in  the  firm  of  Wise,  Ilertz- 
ler  &  Co.  In  January,  1887,  that  firm  was  dis- 
solved, and  the  present  one  of  G.  W.  &  J.  A. 
Wise  was  organized.  They  deal  in  general  mer- 
chandise and  trade  in  cotton.  Wise  Bros.  &  Har- 
per is  a  firm  including  G.  W.  and  J.  A.  Wise  and 
B.  F.  Harper,  who  is  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  the 
Wise  Bros. 

G.  W.  Wise  is  a  steward  in  the  ^Methodist  Epis- 
copal church. 

J.  A.  Wise  was  born  in  \"irginia,  on  the  2d  day 
of  August,  18(i0,  and  was  married,  Feb.  28,  1884, 
to  Miss  Lucy  Harris,  of  this  State.  _  Her  father, 
Thomas  Harri,s,  received  a  wound  at  the  battle  of 
.Manassas,  from  which  he  afterwards  died.  Dr.  A. 
S.  Harris,  of  Madison,  her  grandfather,  was  a  Vir- 
ginian.    J.  A.  Wise  ha.s  twolivinK  children. 


III. 

MORGAN    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  12.000:  colored,  4,500. 
Area,  700  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Coal 
measures  of  sand  mountains  and  sandy  land  of 
Little  Mountain,  415;  valley  lands,  red  lands, 
coves  and  stoops,  570. 

Acres  —  In  cotton,  approximately,  18,828;  in 
corn,  35,G10;  in  oats,  4,704;  in  wheat,  7,005;  in 
rye,  135  ;  in  tobacco,  53;  sweet  potatoes,  305. 
Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton  in  round 
numbers,  6,500. 

County    Seat — Somerville  :     Population,  1,000. 

Postoilices  of  tlie  County — Apple  Grove,  Ba- 
shams  Gap,  Blue  Sjorings,  Cedar  Plains,  Cotaco, 
Crowton,  Danville,  Decatur,  Falkville,  Flint, 
Fort  Bluff,  Gandys,  Cove,  Hartselle,  Hulaco, 
Lacy's  Springs,  Lawrence  Cove,  Leesdale,  Price- 
ville.  Slipup,  Somerville,  Stringer,  Trinity  Sta- 
tion, Whisenaut,  Winter,  Woodland  ilills. 

The  county  of  Morgan  was  established  in  the 
j'ear  1818,  and  named  for  General  Daniel  Morgan, 
of  Pennsylvania.  It  lies  directly  south  of  the 
Tennessee  river,  and  is  one  of  the  most  important 
counties  in  north  Alabama. 

Proceeding  southward  from  the  Tennessee  river, 
which  forms  the  northern  boundary  of  ilorgan 
count}',  there  are  met  four  terrace-like  plains,  each 
with  characteristics  peculiar  to  itself.  The  first 
of  these  would  be  the  bottoms,  which  lie  in  close 
proximity  to  the  Tennessee  river.  The  soils  here 
are  porous  and  productive,  but  liable  to  overflow. 
For  this  reason  they  are  planted  almost  altogether 
in  corn.  Occasionally,  however,  where  the  soil  is 
not  so  much  exposed  to  overflow,  there  is  cotton 
i:)lanted. 

Then  comes  the  land  of  the  valley  of  the  Ten- 
nessee proper.  This  is  elevated  above  the  bottoms 
about  seventy-five  or  one  hundred  feet,  and  pos- 
sesses the  red  or  brown  soils,  which  mark  the  great 
valley  from  limit  to  limit.  Because  of  the  gener- 
ous soil  possessed  by  this  valley,  the  lands  are 
almost  wholly  cleared.  The  valley  in  this  county 
varies  very  greatly.  In  some  jiarts  it  is  but  a  mile 
or  two  wide,  while  in  others  it  is  fully  eight. 


Ascending  to  the  next  natural  formation  one  is 
from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  feet  above  the 
valley,  and  is  upon  the  summit  of  a  range  known 
as  Little  Mountain.  The  lands  along  this  broad, 
natural  shelf  are  not  so  fertile  as  those  in  the 
valley  for  purposes  of  farming,  but  are  superior  in 
pasturage  qualities.  Grasses  in  the  greatest  va- 
riety and  luxuriance  gi-ow  along  this  lofty  plateau. 
Here  we  find  the  stock-producing  section  of  the 
county.  Of  course  from  this  it  will  not  be  under- 
stood that  the  soils  of  this  section  are  incapable  of 
jiroducing  only  grasses.  In  this  portion  of  Mor- 
gan are  found  many  thrifty  farms,  surrounded  by 
all  the  comforts  of  life.  It  is  more  distinctively 
adapted,  however,  to  stock-raising  than  to  agri- 
culture. 

From  tills  elevated  plain,  which  commands  the 
view  of  the  Tennessee  Valley,  and  going  south- 
ward there  is  a  jjerceptible  descent  to  the  foot  of 
Sand  Mountain.  This  is  the  fourth  distinct  divis- 
ion of  the  county.  The  width  of  this  terrace  va- 
ries from  one  to  twelve  miles.  Along  this  we  find 
a  great  variety  of  soil,  the  fertility  or  thinness  of 
which  is  indicated  by  its  peculiar  hue.  In  some 
1  portions  the  lands  are  black,  while  in  others  they 
I  are  red  and  gray.  That  iiart  of  the  county  which 
is  now  being  described  is  a  portion  of  the  great 
Warrior  coalfield.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Mor- 
gan possesses,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  all  the 
advantages,  agriculturally  and  otherwise,  which 
are  possessed  by  the  surrounding  counties  of  the 
great  Tennessee  Valley.  All  the  grains  are  pro- 
duced here  that  are  produced  elsewhere  in  this 
Xorth  Alabama  region.  And  the  hardy  fruits,  such 
as  apples,  peaches,  pears  and  the  various  berries 
are  grown  abundantly,  and  are  usually  of  superior 
quality.  The  water  supply  of  the  county  is  supe- 
rior. The  Tennessee  river  forms  the  whole  of  tlie 
northern  boundary  of  the  county,  while  Flint  creek, 
and  its  two  forks,  Cotaco,  Xo  Business,  Cedar, 
Shoal,  Six  Mile.  Crowdabout,  Gaudy's  fork,  pene- 
trate every  portion  of  it,  and  not  only  su25ply  it 
with  water,  but  contribute  greatly  to  the  enrich- 
63 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


63 


:neiit  of  the  soils.  The  countj' is  also  well  watered 
with  superior  springs.  In  the  northeastern  portion 
are  the  ^'alhernloso  and  Ijaev  springs,  which  enjoy 
a  local  reputation.  The  ditl'frent  streams  afford 
excellent  fish. 

There  is  an  abundance  of  wood  for  all  purposes 
in  the  county.  \'ast  districts  of  the  county  have 
scarcely  been  touched  by  the  woodman's  axe. 
Principal  among  the  timbers  which  throng  the 
forests  are  the  post  oak,  white  oak,  red  oak,  black- 
jack, hickory,  poplar,  walnut,  maple,  sourwood, 
cherry,  cedar  and  short-leaf  pine.  There  are 
large  milling  interests  which  are  engaged  in  the 
conversion  of  much  of  this  timber  into  lumber 
for  home  consum})tion  and  for  shipment  to  distant 
markets. 

Facilities  for  transportation  are  found  in  the 
Tennessee  river,  which  forms  the  northern  bound- 
ary line  of  the  county;  the  Louisville  &  Nashville 
Hailroad,  which  runs  entirely  through,  and  the 
^leniphis  &  Charleston  Kailroad,  which  penetrates 
the  northern  end  of  the  county  and  crosses  the 
Louisville  &  Xashville  system  at  Decatur.  Other 
railway  lines  are  in  contemplation,  which  are  ex- 
pected to  pierce  other  portions  of  the  county,  and 
thus  greatly  enlarge  facilities  for  the  shipment  of 
jiroduets;  but  suflicient  outlet  for  transportation 
is  already  alforded  in  the  lines  which  now  pene- 
trate the  county.  Unusual  advantages  for  the 
shipment  of  jiroduce  is  afforded  the  inhabitants  of 
Morgan,  as  the  competing  lines  of  railway  cross 
at  Decatur,  and  there  also  cross  the  Tennessee 
river,  the  navigation  of  which  will  soon  be  open 
in  both  directions. 

The  county  is  being  rapidly  peopled  and  corre- 
sjwndingly  developed,  ilinerals  exist  in  different 
parts  of  the  county.  These  are  chielly  coal  and 
limestone,  though  there  is  the  evident  presence  of 
gold,  and  the  indications  are  that  it  is  in  large 
quantities.  Asphalt  also  exists,  being  the  first 
trace  of  it  discovered  in  America.  Oil  and  natural 
gas  has  also  recently  been  found  at  Ilartselle.  Di- 
rect effort  has  been  made  to  develop  these  mineral 
resources,  and  the  investigations  have  been  satis- 
factory beyond  the  expectations  of  the  most  san- 
guine. 

The  moral  tone  of  the  population  of  the  county 
is  healthy,  and  excellent  school  and  church  facili- 
ties abound  in  towns  and  country  alike.  The 
schools  at  Mountain  Home,  near  Trinity,  at  Ilart- 
selle and  at  Decatur  are  regarded  the  equal  of  any 
institutions  in  this  portion  of  the  State. 


Of  the  towns,  Somerville  is  an  interior  vil- 
lage, with  a  poj)ulation  of  several  hundred,  and 
and  it  is  the  seat  of  justice  of  the  county.  Decatur, 
with  a  population  of  4,000,  is  the  point  of  greatest 
interest  in  the  county,  and  is  a  place  of  growing 
business  importance.* 

Trinity,  Ilartselle,  Leesburg,  Danville  and  Val- 
herinoso  Springs  are  points  of  chief  importance, 
and  possess  valuable  educational  interests. 

Lands  in  this  county  may  be  purchased  at  prices 
ranging  from  85  to  8-10  per  acre. 

Considering  the  comj)eting  lines  which  cross 
each  other  in  the  county,  its  superior  soil,  its 
climate  and  medicinal  waters,  together  with  its 
numerous  social  advantages,  Morgan  county  is  the 
peer  of  any  other  in  the  great  cereal  belt.  The  peo- 
ple regard  with  favor  and  encouragement  the  settle- 
ment of  men  of  studious,  industrious  and  frugal 
habits  in  their  midst. 

The  county  embraces  within  its  limits  govern- 
ment land  to  the  extent  of  25,280  acres. 

— «"; 


EDWARD  J.  ODEN,  editor  Ilartselle  Index,  was 
born  in  Morgan  county,  Ala.,  in  1840,  and  grew 
to  manhood  and  received  his  education  there. 
He  responded  to  the  first  call  to  arms  in  the 
recent  civil  strife,  and  became  a  member  of 
Company  E,  Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry,  of  which 
company  he  was  made  captain  in  regular  order 
of  i)romotion  from  the  ranks.  He  was  with  For- 
rest in  his  campaigns  in  Alabama,  the  Valley  of 
the  Tennessee,  and  Georgia;  in  the  pursuit  and 
capture  of  General  Streight,  when,  by  their  pluck 
and  well-devised  strategeni,  Forrest  succeeded  in 
capturing  a  Federal  force  of  more  than  five  times 
the  number  of  his  own.  The  audacity  of  Forrest's 
scheme,  and  the  chagrin  of  the  prisoners  when, 
too  late,  they  discovered  the  ruse,  will  never  be 
forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed  it. 

Captain  Oden  was  in  battle  at  Decatur,  Ala., 
Athens,  Sulphur  Trestle,  Tenn.,  Pulaski,  Tenn., 
Corinth,  Tupelo,  Miss.,  and  many  others. 

He  was  with  Johnson's  army  at  Dalton,  Ga., 
and  in  the  running  fight  from  Dalton  to  Atlanta. 
From  the  battle  of  Peach  Tree  creek  he  returned 
to  the  Valley  of  the  Tennessee,  and  saw  his  last 
fight  at  Selma,  Ala.,  where  his  regiment,  and  in 
fact,  nearly  the  whole  army,  were  captured,  but 
Captain  Oden,  accomj)anied  by  General  Forrest 
and  about  one  hundred  others,  cut  their  way  out 

•  See  history  of  Decatur,  this  volume. 


64 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


through  the  lines  and  escaped.  They  proceeded 
soon  afterwards  to  Wheeler's  Station,  near  Deca- 
tur, and  surrendered  in  May,  1865.  After  the 
war  Captain  Oden  farmed  in  Franklin  county, 
Ala.,  and  taught  school  one  year.  Since  1868  he 
has  had  an  interest  in  a  store  at  Falkville,  and 
another  at  Coal  Hill,  Ark.  He  has  been  county 
superintendent  of  education  for  ten  years  consec- 
utively. In  1884  he  became  interested  in  a  bank 
in  Decatur,  in  connection  with  C.  C.  Harris  and 
W.  W.  Littlejohn,  and  is  now  a  director  in  tlie 
First  National  Bank,  of  Decatur,  into  which  the 
Bank  of  Decatur  was  merged. 

In  1886,  Captain  Oden  bought  a  half  interest 
in  the  Hartselle  Index  from  E.  H.  Rolfe,  with 
whom  his  brother,  A.  A.  Oden,  had  previously 
been  associated,  and  since  that  time  has  edited 
that  paper.  He  was  married,  in  1862,  to  Miss 
Carrie  E.  Sherrill.  They  have  two  sons,  Arthur 
L.  and  Waiter  L.  The  Captain  is  a  member  of 
the  Christian  churcli,  a  Free  Mason,  Knight  of 
Pythias  and  Knight  of  Honor. 

Edward  J.  Oden  is  a  sou  of  Elias  Oden,  and 
grandson  of  Hezckiali  Oden,  of  East  Tennessee,  who 
was  a  soldier  of  the  IJevolutionary  War ;  brought 
his  family  to  Alabama  in  1819,  and  died  in  1848. 

Elias  Oden  was  born  in  1812,  spent  his  life  in 
agricultural  pursuits,  was  a  Baptist,  and  made  his 
religion  the  prominent  feature  of  his  life.  He 
was  married,  in  1834,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Stringer, 
of  Kentucky,  and  raised  three  sons  and  five 
daughters. 

The  oldest,  W.  H.  Oden,  is  a  merchant  of  Ban- 
gor. The  third  son,  A.  A.  Oden  is  agent  of  L. 
&  N.  R.  R.,  at  Hartselle,  and  has  held  that  posi- 
tion ever  since  it  was  opened.  He  is  also  editor 
and  proprietor  of  the  Hartselle  Index,  the  oldest 
paper  in  the  county  except  tlie  Decatur  Neivs. 

ALBERT  G.  McGREGOR,  President  of  Hart- 
selle College,  is  a  son  of  William  and  Elizabeth 
(Carpenter)  McGregor,  and  was  born  in  Lawrence 
County,  Ala.,  March  1,  183.5.  He  was  educated 
primarily  in  Lawrence  County  and  subsequently 
at  La  Grange,  that  once  beautiful  college  and  lo- 
cation on  the  spur  of  a  mountain  in  Colbert 
County,  this  State.  This  was  a  very  jirosperous 
and  popular  institution  of  learning  in  antebellum 
times,  but  was  burned  during  the  war  by  the 
ruthless  invader,  because,  forsooth,  many  of  Ala- 


bama's sons  had  received  their  military  training 
there.  It  has  never  been  rebuilt.  At  this  college 
Albert  McGregor  graduated  in  the  classical  course 
in  1854,  and  was  elected  to  the  chair  of  matliemat- 
ics  of  his  Alma  Mater  in  the  following  year.  This 
institution  was  subsequently  known  as  La  Grange 
Military  Academy,  having  received  the  patronage 
of  the  State,  which  authorized  each  county  to  keeji 
two  cadets  in  attendance  at  her  expense.  Professor 
McGregor  taught  at  La  Grange  until  he  joined  the 
Confederate  Army  in  1861.  He  became  Quarter- 
master in  Col.  Jeff.  Forrest's  regiment,  and  served 
with  Gen.  P.  D.  Roddy  and  General  Forrest  most 
of  the  time  in  North  Alabama,  North  Mississippi 
and  West  Tennessee.  i\f ter  returning  from  the  war,. 
Professor  McGregor  raised  cotton  for  four  years, 
then  at  the  request  of  friends,  returned  to  La 
Grange,  where  he  taught  school  in  a  church 
building  for  about  six  years.  He  then  took  charge 
of  the  academy  at  Tuscumbia  for  one  year,  but  on 
account  of  poor  health,  was  compelled  to  quit 
teaching  and  return  to  the  farm.  In  February, 
1885,  he  took  charge  of  the  college  of  Hartselle, 
and  is  still  there.  Professor  McGregor  was  mar- 
ried December  23,  1858,  to  Miss  Celia  King, 
daughter  of  Robert  King,  an  extensive  planter,  of 
Lawrence  County,  and  they  have  seven  children. 
He  and  his  family  are  Methodists.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  Order,  and  has  been  an  educa- 
tor all  his  life, 

William  Carpenter,  Professor  ilcGregor's  mater- 
nal grandfather,  served  in  the  War  of  1812. 

The  McGregors  ai'e,  as  the  name  would  indicate, 
of  Scotch  blood,  but  came  from  North  Carolina  to 
Alabama  and  became  farmers  in  Lawrence  County. 
Professor  McGregor  had  one  brother  killed  and 
one  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Franklin. 

The  "Union  Male  and  Female  College,"  of 
Hartselle,  Ala.,  was  founded  March  3,  1883,  by 
Rev.  Thomas  Morrow,  the  object  being  to  establish 
a  school  of  high  grade  at  this  place,  at  which  the 
students  might  attend  and  complete  a  thorough 
collegiate  course.  The  building  comprises  five 
recitation  rooms,  and  the  schools  employ  four 
teachers.  The  school  teaches  all  that  is  included 
in  a  thorough  academic  course,  but  as  a  college,  is 
as  yet,  somewhat  embryotic.  It  has  hopes  for  de- 
velopment and  better  days.  It  is  under  religious 
influences,  but  is  in  no  sense  denominational.  It 
is  attended  by  about  fifty  pupils  at  the  present 
time.  It  has  a  musical  department  and  teaches 
both  vocal  and  instrumental  music. 


NORTJIRKK  ALABAMA. 


65 


DABNEY  A.  BURLESON.  Hartsellc,  Ala.,  was 
Ixini  lu'ur  ncraiiir.  I'Vliriiary  15.  18.'5o,  and  reared 
in  this  county.  He  was  educated  at  Union  I'ni- 
versity,  Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  and  at  IJaylor  I'ni- 
versity,  Independence,  Tex.  He  began  his  busi- 
ness life  as  a  merchant  at  Danville,  Ala.,  and  went 
into  tlie  Confederate  Army  in  1801  as  a  member 
of  Col.  Joe  Patterson's  Uegiment.  lie  was  for 
some  time  at  Grenada,  Miss.,  in  the  Quartermas- 
ter's department,  but  served  mostly  in  the  Tennes- 
see valley  under  General  P.  Uoddy.  lie  was  once 
captured  but  escaped  after  a  few  hours,  and  was 
at  Selma  at  the  time  of  the  surrender,  lie  is  a 
fanner  and  has  been  successful. 

He  was  married  February  11,  18")7,  to  iliss 
Sallie,  daughter  of  Jonathan  Orr,  and  of  one  of  the 
most  prominent  families  in  this  county.  They 
have  five  living  children,  viz.:  Jonathan,  Kitty, 
Hetty,  Florence  and  Ellen  Byrd. 

Mr.  Burleson  is  a  Baptist,  and  an  Odd  Fellow, 
lie  takes  a  great  interest  in  any  enterprise  which 
tends  to  help  or  develop  the  agricultui-al  interests 
of  the  country. 

D.  A.  Burleson  is  a  son  of  Jonathan  and  Eliza- 
beth (Byrd)  Burleson.  His  grandfather,  .John 
Burleson,  was  a  pioneer  from  North  Carolina,  ami 
settled  at  the  Spring  at  lluntsville  in  1817,  ami 
liel[)ed  expel  the  Indians  from  the  country.  He 
died  in  Lawrence  County,  this  State.  Hislirother 
.loe  was  a  captain  in  the  Indian  wars.  Jonathan 
Burleson  was  a  native  of  Kentucky.  He  was  in 
many  fights  with  the  Indians,  in  company  with  his 
uncle  Joe,  and  fought  in  the  War  of  1812.  He 
came  to  Alabama  in  1818,  and  settled  nine  miles 
south  of  Decatur,  where  he  remained  until  his 
death,  in  1807.  He  was  a  county  commissioner, 
justice  of  the  peace,  a  wealthy  planter,  and  a  man 
of  much  local  influence.  He  was  twice  married 
and  had  fourteen  children,  of  whom  twelve  lived  to 
maturity.  • 

It  is  related  that  before  1S-.20  a  gang  (if  horse 
thieves  infested  this  part  of  the  country  and  com- 
mitted many  dej>redations.  A  body  of  citizens 
who  desired  to  be  rid  of  them  met  in  convention 
in  a  cave  in  this  county  and  passed  resolutions 
which  partook  of  the  nature  of  laws  :  that  conven- 
tion has  been  called  "the  first  legislature.''  They 
cliose  Joe  Burleson  for  their  president,  and  Jona- 
than Burleson  for  secretary.  "They  quickly 
cleaned  out  the  horse  thieves."' 

.lonathiin  Burleson's  first  marriage  was  to  Eliz- 
abeth Byrd,  daughter  of  William  Byrd.  a  Baptist 


preacher.  She  bore  him  thirteen  children.  The 
second  was  to  Ann  Humphreys,  widow  of  Dr. 
Humphreys,  of  Somerviile.  Her  maiden  name 
wiis  lioby,  and  she  bore  him  one  child.  The  eld- 
est of  this  family,  Aaron  A.  Burleson,  was  the  first 
white  child  born  in  Morgan  county  ;  he  was  a 
physician  in  Decatur  for  nuiny  years,  and  is  now 
in  Arkansas,  liufus  C.  Burleson  is  the  most  prom- 
inent member  of  the  family.  He  is  a  Baptist 
preacher,  a  famous  educator,  and  is  now  president 
of  the  Waco  University,  Waco,  Tex.  He  entered  the 
ministry  when  but  eighteen  years  of  age.  and  has 
led  a  life  of  ceaseless  activity  in  Texas  for  a  third 
of  a  century.  It  is  recorded  in  history  that  Rufus  C. 
Burleson  has  done  more  for  the  cause  of  education-- 
than  any  other  man  in  Texas,  and  he  has  been 
called  the  "Xestor  of  Texas  preachers  and  teach- 
ers. "  He  was  a  pioneer  of  that  country  in  his 
profession,  and  he  has  educated  thousands  who 
have  gone  forth  to  success  in  all  the  learned 
professions.  He  is  proficient  in  ancient  Ian-- 
guages  and  lore  :  is  eloquent  in  the  pulpit ;  kind 
and  industrious  in  the  class,  and  much  beloved  at- 
home. 

WILLIAM  H.  SIMPSON,  attorney-at-law,  Ilart- 
selle,  Ala.,  was  born  at  Danville,  this  State,  July 
15,  1857,  and  attended  school  there  until  he  went 
to  college  at  Tu.scaloosa,  where  he  was  graduated 
in  the  law  department  of  the  State  University  in 
187'.i.  Prior  to  his  entering  college  he  read  law 
four  months  at  Tuscumbia  under  Governor  Lind- 
sey,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  October,  187», 
and  licensed  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State  in  February,  1880.  He  was  elect- 
ed to  the  Legislature  on  the  Democratic  ticket 
in  1886. 

Mr.  Simpson  seems  to  have  things  very  much 
his  own  way  in  Ilartselle,  being  the  only  lawyer 
there,  and  his  practice,  which  is  mostly  in  common 
law  and  equity,  gives  him  about  as  much  work  as 
he  can  do.  He  was  married  March  2(i.  1882,  to 
Miss  JIary  Daniel  Johnson,  a  daughter  of  Daniel 
Johnson,  who  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh 
when  Mary  was  an  infant,  and  she  was  given  his 
full  name  in  honor  of  his  memory. 

Stephen  and    Malinda    (Stovall)  Simpson,  our 

subject's  })arents,  were  residents  of  Danville,  where 

Stephen  .Simpson  was  a  merchant  for  more  than 

thirty  years.    He  was  postmaster  at  various  times, 

'  before,  during  and  since  the  war.    He  accumulated. 


66 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


a  fortune,  but  lost  heavily  by  the  war  and  by 
the  credit  system.  He  was  a  Baptist  and  a 
Mason. 

He  died  at  Danville  in  June,  1884.  Malinda 
Stovall  (William's  mother)  was  a  daughter  of  Drew 
Stovall,  one  of  tlie  pioneers  who  helped  expel  the 
Indians  from  the  country.  He  accumulated  a 
large  fortune  in  land  and  slaves,  and  died  just  be- 
fore the  late  war. 

Moses  Simpson  (William's  grandfather)  and 
his  sons,  James  and  Tliomas,  came  down  the 
Tennessee  river  on  a  flat  boat,  from  the  Sequatchie 
Valley,  Tenn.,  in  1823,  and  made  a  corn  crop 
where  Decatur  is  now  located.  In  the  fall  of  tliat 
year,  he  brought  his  family  there,  and  afterwards 


entered  land  near  Danville  and  there  located  per- 
manently. 

He  raised  a  family  of  eight  sons  and  four 
daughters:  James,  Thomas,  Abington,  William, 
George,  Reuben,  Stephen,  Moses,  ^latilda,  Polly, 
Betsy,  and  Emily. 

Stephen  reared  four  sons  and  one  daughter. 
They  are  Walter  T.,  now  of  Texas;  Wm.  H.,  our 
subject;  Claud,  wlio  died  in  1883,  and  Edgar,  now 
near  Selma.  Orrie,  the  daughter,  married  W.  V. 
Echols,  a  merchant  of  Hartselle. 

William  H.  Simpson  is  a  jiopular  and  jirosperous 
young  man,  and  received  the  largest  vote  for  the 
Legislature  that  was  ever  cast  in  his  county  for  one 
man. 


IV. 
LAWRENCE    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  12,(:!50;  colored,  8,400. 
Area,  790  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Red 
Valley  lands,  260  square  miles.  Calcareous 
slopes,  220  square  miles.  Mountain  lands,  150. 
Coal  measures,  160. 

Acres — In  cotton,  approximately,  42,800;  in 
corn,  54,600;  in  oats,  5,700:  in  wheat,  6,000;  in 
rye,  125:  in  tobacco,  100;  in  sweet  potatoes,  400. 
Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton  in  round 
numbers,  14,000. 

County  Seat — Moulton:  Population,  800:  located 
fifteen  miles  south  of  Memphis  &  Charleston  Rail- 
road. 

Newspaper  publislied  at  County  Seat — Adver- 
tiser (Democrat). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Avoca,  Brick,  Camp 
Springs,  Concord,  Courtland,  Gum  Pond,  Hatton, 
Hillsborough,  Jesseton,  Kinlock,  Moulton,  Mount 
Hope,  Oakville,  Ora,  Pitt,  Pool,  Progress,  Spang- 
ler.  Town  Creek,  Wheeler  Station. 

Lawrence  was  established  by  the  first  Territorial 
Legislature,  Feb.  4,  1818.  It  was  formed  out  of 
the  Cherokee  and  Chickasaw,  cessions  of  lol6,  and 
still  retains  its  original  dimensions.   'It  lies  in  the 


nortliwest  quarter  of  the  State,  contiguous  to 
Lauderdale  and  Limestone  on  the  north,  Morgan 
on  the  east,  Winston  on  the  south,  Franklin  and 
Colbert  on  the  west.  It  was  named  for  Capt. 
James  Lawrence,  of  the  United  States  Xavy.  His 
last  order  was  :  "Fight  her  till  she  sinks." 

The  county  is  penetrated  from  east  to  west  by 
two  extensive  valleys,  known  as  Courtland  and 
Moulton  Valleys,  the  former  of  these  being  in  the 
northern  and  the  latter  being  in  the  southern 
j)ortion  of  tlie  county,  while  the  center  is  occupied 
by  a  detached  mountain  known  as  Little  J\Iountain. 

The  Little  Mountain  region,  which  occupies 
the  central  portion  of  the  count}-,  has  a  light  sandy 
soil,  which  in  point  of  fertility  falls  far  behind 
those  of  the  two  valleys.  But  no  portion  of  the 
county  is  more  inviting  than  this  as  a  place  of  res- 
idence. Elevated  three  or  four  hundred  feet  above 
the  valleys,  supplied  with  a  profusion  of  freestone 
and  chalybeate  springs,  with  a  soft,  healthful  atmos- 
phere, with  extensive  reaches  of  grazing  lands  for 
herds,  this  section  is  most  inviting  to  many  who 
come  to  Lawrence  County  in  search  of  homes.  A 
small  colony  of  Quakers  has  recently  located  in  this 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


G7 


rejiioii,  midway  between  the  towns  of  Courtland 
and  Moultoii. 

The  county  is  traversed  by  iiun)i-rous  streams, 
large  and  small,  wliich  alTord  abundant  supplies 
of  water  to  every  portion.  Tiie  northern  boundary 
of  the  county  is  formed  by  the  Tennessee  Kiver. 
and  more  than  half  this  boundary  is  occupied  by 
the  (ireat  Jlussel  Shoals,  which  are  not  navigable. 
The  upper  boundary,  however,  is  on  the  open  por- 
tion of  the  'J'enncssee  River,  which  will  soon  be 
oj)ened  to  the  largest  packets.  In  other  portions 
of  the  county  are  Town  and  Xance  Creeks,  a  fork 
of  Flint  Itivur  and  Sipsey  Fork.  Springs  of  great 
coolness  and  of  unceasing  flow  issue  from  the  hilly 
portions  of  the  county. 

'JMmber  is  not  in  sufficient  quantities  for  com- 
mercial purjioses.  In  the  past  the  Little  Jloun- 
tain  region  furnished  great  (puintities  to  the  two 
valleys  between  which  it  is  situated;  but  the  for- 
ests have  been  sufficiently  depleted  to  create  care 
and  protection  against  future  depredations.  For 
home  consumption  Ihere  is  still  a  sufficiency  of 
])ine,  white  oak  and  poj)lar.  The  islands  in  the 
Tennessee  are  densely  wooded  with  poplar,  white 
oak,  ash,  red  gum  and  black  oak;  but  this  timber 
is  inaccessible  to  a  great  degree,  and  will  remain  so 
until  the  canal  shall  have  been  opened  around  the 
Mussel  Shoals. 

The  mineral  resources  of  the  county,  as  far  as 
discovered,  are  limited.  A  few  thin  seams  of  coal 
are  found  on  the  high  escarpments  of  the  moun- 
tains, but  it  is  not  in  sufficient  quantities  forprac- 
tical  purposes.  Almost  every  kind  of  fruit  seems 
to  do  well  in  Lawrence  County.  The  productions 
have  been  the  most  satisfactory.  Grape  culture 
has  received  more  attention  than  any  other. 

The  facilities  for  transjiortation  will  be  restricted 
to  the  ^femphis  &  Charleston  Railroad,  which 
runs  through  the  Courtland  Valley,  east  and 
west,  until  the  Tennessee  River  shall  liave  been 
opened  by  the  completion  of  the  JIussel  Shoals 
Canal. 

The  chief  towns  of  the  county  are  Moulton,  the 
county-seat,  Courtland  and  Leighton. 

Good  cotnmon  schools  exist  in  every  section  of 
the  county,  and  a  female  acailemy  of  high  grade 
in  the  town  of  Moultou. 

In  almost  every  region  of  the  county  are  the  ev- 
idences of  thrift  and  jirogress.  Along  the  high, 
healthful  ridges  are  found  many  handsome  homes, 
adorned  with  flower  gardens  and  surrounded  with 
spacious  orchards. 


In  some  regions  of  the  county,  where  coves  are 
formed,  there  are  oftentimes  found  scenes  of  great 
wildness  and  beauty. 

The  prices  of  land  vary  in  the  county,  and  are 
controlled  by  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  lo- 
cation of  the  land.  Lands  vary  in  prices  from  $5 
to  $.50. 

Thrifty,  wide-awake,  progressive  immigrants 
will  be  greeted  by  the  good  people  of  Lawrence 
County.  Farmers,  fruit-growers,  and  stock-raisers 
could  not  find  a  more  inviting  section.  The 
county  embodies  07,200  acres  of  land  belonging  to 
the  gover!iment,  some  of  which  is  subject  to  entry. 


JOSEPH  WHEELER  of  Lawrence  County,  pres- 
ent member  of  Congress  from  the  E'gbth  Alabama 
district,  and  distinguished  in  the  history  of  the 
country  as  the  greatest  cavalry  commander  of 
the  Southern  Confederacy,  was  born  at  Augusta, 
Ga.,  Sept.  10,  1636,  and  graduated  from  West 
Point  as  brevet  second  lieutenant  of  dragoons, 
class  of  1859.  His  first  assignment  to  duty 
was  at  the  Cavalry  School  for  Practice  at 
Carlisle,  Pa.  From  here  he  was  transferred  to 
Xew  Jle.xico,  where  he  was  commissioned  second 
lieutenant.  About  this  time  he  began  to  study 
in  earnest  the  science  of  war.  Ilis  greatest  ambi- 
tion was  to  become  a  gallant  cavalry  commander, 
and  his  success  in  the  prosecution  and  accomplish- 
ment of  this  desire  must  be  read  in  the  authenti- 
cated annals  of  the  bloodiest  war  of  which  history 
gives  an  account.  For  four  long  years  his  brilliant 
achievements  crowded  upon  the  heels  of  each  other 
like  the  revolving  views  of  a  panorama,  and  while 
many  a  chieftain  whose  heroic  valor  canonized  him 
in  the  hearts  of  a  glorious  people,  drank  oft  of  the 
bitter  cup  of  defeat,  when  the  penant  of  Wheeler 
was  lowered  and  the  hilt  of  his  sabre  was  turned, 
it  was  when  resistance  was  no  longer  war;  it  was 
when  the  notes  of  the  bugle  summoned  the  cava- 
lier no  more  to  the  charge,  but  in  tones,  saddened 
indeed,  though  sounding  a  pa>an  to  peace,  signaled 
him  from  the  field  of  carnage  and  of  strife;  it  wjis 
when  the  curtain  had  fallen  upon  the  last  act  of 
the  terrible  trngcdy:  it  was  when  the  Civil  War 
was  ended  I 

As  has  been  seen,  Wheeler  was  in  New  Mexico 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  between  the  States,  and 
the  following  letter  written  by  him  to  his  brother, 
Capt.  William  II.   Wheeler,  of  (ieorgia,  early  in 


68 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


1861,  gives  something  of  an  insight  of  the  sjjirit 
that  actuated  many  a  brave  man,  and  contradicts 
the  oft- repeated  charges  of  disloyalty  and  treason 
at  heart,  to  the  Union:  "Much  as  I  love  the 
Union,  much  as  I  am  attached  to  my  profession, 
all  will  be  given  up  when  my  State,  by  its  action, 
shows  that  such  a  course  is  necessary  and  proper. 
If  Georgia  withdraws  and  becomes  a  separate 
State,  I  can  not,  with  propriety,  and  justice  to  my 
people,  hesitate  in  resigning  my  commission." 

Lieutenant  Wheeler's  resignation  was  dated  at 
Fort  Fillmore,  February  21,  1801,  and  he  reached 
Augusta  in  person  early  in  the  following  March. 
He  was  at  once  commissioned  first  lieutenant  of 
artillery  in  the  regular  army  and  stationed  at  Pen- 
sacola,  Fla.,  where  he  busied  liimself  erecting 
batteries  and  fortifications,  drilling  regiments, 
instructing  companies  in  artillery  practice  and 
various  other  duties.  While  there  he  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  Hon.  James  L.  Pugh  and  other 
gentlemen,  who,  without  his  knowledge,  indited 
the  following  to  Mr.  Davis:  "We  feel  it  our  duty 
to  call  your  attention  to  a  young  officer  at  this 
place.  Lieutenant  Wheeler  of  tlie  regular  army. 
Our  observation  of  him  convinces  us  that  he  would 
be  of  great  value  as  the  commander  of  volunteer 
soldiers.  His  qualifications  are  unquestioned. " 
Similar  recommendations  were  forwarded  by  Gen. 
Bragg  and  others,  and  early  in  the  summer  of 
1861,  Wheeler  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  colonel 
and  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Nineteenth 
Alabama  Infantry.  At  the  head  of  this  regiment 
he  won  his  first  distinction  at  Shiloh.  Division 
Commander  Withers,  in  his  report  of  that  engage- 
ment, says:  "  *  *  *  Colonel  Wheeler,  through- 
out the  fight,  proved  himself  worthy  of  all  trust 
and  confidence — a  gallant  commander  and  an 
accomplished  soldier.  "  Col.  Wheeler  was  imme- 
diately promoted  to  brigadier-general,  and  from 
that  hour,  his  star,  which  had  never  waned,  was, 
to  the  close  of  the  conflict,  particularly  in  the 
ascendency. 

How  he  fought  the  enemy  at  Farmington  and 
checked  his  advance  upon  Corinth;  covered  the 
retreat  of  Beauregard  from  the  latter  place,  and 
deceived  federal  General  Pope;  took  charge  of 
the  idle,  neglected  and  almost  decimated  cavalry 
of  the  Army  of  the  Mississippi ;  organized  it, 
thrust  it  inside  of  the  well-established  lines  of  the 
enemy,  destroyed  his  communications,  whipped 
his  cavalry,  captured  his  trains,  burned  his  cotton, 
and  sped  back  to  cover  of  safety  without  the  loss 


of  a  man,  are  all  given  in  detail  by  the  historians 
of  the  war,  and  commented  upon  as  opening  the 
eyes  of  army  commanders  to  the  hitherto  uu- 
thought  of  possibilities  in  cavalry  service.  There 
is  no  doubt  but  what  Wheeler's  tactics,  as  practiced 
by  himself,  revolutionized  cavalry  warfare  and 
developed  it  into  the  important  branch  of  service 
it  soon  became  and  will  forever  remain. 

On  the  march  of  the  Southern  army  into  Ken- 
tucky, Wheeler's  cavalry  struck  many  a  well- 
aimed  blow  at  the  flanks  of  the  retreating  enemy; 
at  Mumfordsville  he  won  the  admiration  and  com- 
pliments of  the  Xorthern  army  "for  gallantry 
and  brilliancy  in  action,"  and  at  Perry ville  he 
was  the  cynosure  of  both  armies,  as  he  held  the 
enemy  in  check,  or  charged  him  again  and  again 
at  the  head  of  his  brigade,  finally  jJutting  him  to 
rout.  Upon  retiring  from  Kentucky,  General 
Bragg  appointed  Wheeler  chief  of  cavalry,  and  as 
such  he  covered  that  retreat  into  Tennessee.  We 
next  see  him  harrassing  the  enemy  about  Nash- 
ville, making  life  a  burden  to  Rosecrans'  foragers, 
and  fighting,  in  quick  succession,  twenty-eight  dis- 
tinct battles  and  as  many  skirmishes — historic 
events  that  flashed  with  the  rapidity  and  changes 
of  the  kaleidoscope  before  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

Pages  upon  pages  have  been  written  and  might 
be  repeated  by  us  to  tell  only  a  partial  history  of 
Wheeler's  command.  In  our  mind's  eye  we  follow 
his  phantom-like  movements  about  Stone  River> 
where  for  five  days  he  slept  not  to  e.xceed  so  man}' 
hours:  where,  at  the  head  of  his  gallant  followers, 
he  dashed  into  the  enemy's  rear,  his  right,  his  left, 
his  center— here,  there,  everywhere,  borne  with 
the  speed  of  the  wind  from  point  to  point  during 
the  memorable  conflict,  encircling  Rosencrans" 
entire  army,  charging  him  in  detachments,  jilung- 
ing  into  his  battle  lines,  stampeding  his  wagon 
trains,  destroying  his  stores,  terrifying  his  guards, 
capturing  bis  jirisoners,  firing  depots — round  and 
round  he  glides  with  the  charm  of  a  wizard,  till 
summoned  again  to  cover  the  I'ctreat  of  the  army. 

And  of  such  was  the  life  of  Wheeler,  from  the 
beginning  of  the  war  to  its  close:  never  idle,  always 
on  the  alert,  he  was  by  far  the  most  distinguished 
cavalry  commander  develoi^ed  by  the  American 
conflict.  In  the  spring  of  1865  he  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general  of  cavalry,  and  as 
such  retired  from  the  jjrofession  of  war  to  that  of 
peace. 

Less  than  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  he  had,  by 
acknowledged  merit,  risen  from  the  rank  of  a  sub- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


69 


ordinate  to  that  of  eminent  command.  Though 
small  in  stature,  it  was  with  giant  strides  he  rose 
to  exalted  position.  Under  him.  from  time  to 
time,  fought  many  men  whose  distinguished 
acliievemeiits  added  bright  luster  to  the  renown  of 
American  soldiery.  Nor  did  he  ever  forget  them. 
Their  names,  many  now  recorded  upon  marble  and 
ashlar  that  mark  the  sodded  mound  'neath  which 
tliey  fiiuilly  rest,  are  engraven  upon  the  eiitabUi- 
ture  of  his  heart,  and,  as  in  retrospect,  he  calls 
up  in  long  review  the  heroes  of  Shiloli,  Corinth, 
Terryville,  Murfreesboro,  Chickamauga,  Knox- 
ville,  Iiinggold,  Rocky  Face,  Dalton,  Uesaca, 
Cassville,  New  Mope,  Kcnesaw  Mountain,  Peach 
Tree  Creek,  Decatur,  Atlanta.  Savannah.  Ayers- 
l)oro,  Bentonville,  and  literally  the  thousand  and 
one  other  contlicts  of  arms  through  which  they 
followed  him,  it  is  with  the  emotion  of  a  gener- 
ous acknowledgment  of  deeds  performed  that 
I'edounded  so  much  to  his  own  glory. 

With  his  sad  farewell  to  his  soldiers,  we  close 
this  brief  sketch  of  fieneral  Wheeler's  military 
career,  leaving  to  others  the  jdeasant  duty  of 
adorning  the  literature  of  war  bygiving  it  in  full: 

•'  ilK.VDQl  AKTEKS    Ca  V.V  LRY  CoRPS, 


.  Cavalry  Corps,  ) 
•  April  -.29,  1805.      ) 


"Gallant  Co.\iuai)ES: — You  have  fought  your 
tight;  your  task  is  done.  During  a  four  years' 
struggle  for  liberty,  you  have  exhibited  courage, 
fortitude,  and  devotion;  you  are  the  sole  victors 
i>f  more  tiian  two  hundred  severely  contested 
lields;  you  have  participated  in  more  than  a  thou- 
sand conflicts  of  arms;  you  arc  heroes,  veterans, 
patriots;  the  bones  of  your  comrades  mark  battle- 
fields upon  the  soil  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Vir- 
ginia, North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  (ieorgia, 
Alabama  and  Mississippi;  you  have  done  all  tliat 
human  exertion  could  accomplish.  In  bidding 
you  adieu,  I  desire  to  tender  my  thanks  for  your 
gallantry  in  battle,  your  fortitude  under  suffering, 
and  your  devotion  at  all  times  to  the  holy  cause 
you  have  <lone  so  much  to  maintain.  I  desire  al- 
so to  express  my  gratitude  for  the  kind  feeling 
you  have  seen  fit  to  extend  toward  myself,  and  to 
invoke  upon  you  the  blessings  of  onr  Heavenly 
Father,  to  whom  we  must  always  look  for  support 
in  the  hour  of  distress. 

"Hrethren  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  comrades 
in  arms,  I  bid  you  farewell  I 

"  .1.    WlIKKLKR." 

Leaving  the  army.  (Jcneral  Wheeler  si>ciit  three 


years  in  New  Orleans  in  the  commission  business, 
and  ill  l^C'.l  located  iiiion  his  i)lantation  at  what  is 
now  known  as  Wheeler's  Station,  and  turned  his 
attention  to  agriculture  and  the  practice  of  law.  In 
isSd,  he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  the  Kighth 
District,  was  re-elected  in  1884,  and  again  in  18SC. 

His  election  in  1880  was  contested  by  Mr.  Lowe, 
and  Wheeler  was  unseated  in  June,  1882.  In 
Congress,  as  in  the  army  he  has  exhibited  ihe 
same  active,  energetic,  intrepid  and  fearless  char- 
acter, and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  member  of  that 
body  has  performed  more  labor  and  with  better 
results  than  he. 

(ieneral  Wheeler  was  married  at  AVheeler's  Sta- 
tion, February  8,  IS'iiJ,  to  Miss  Ella  .Jones,  the 
accomplished  daughter  of  the  late  Richard  Jones, 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  Lawrence  County,  a  native 
\'irginian  and  an  extensive  planter,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  two  sons  and  four  daughters. 

JAMES  E.  SAUNDERS,  a^ distinguished  citi- 
zen of  Lawrence  County,  was  born  in  Brunswick 
County,  \'a..  May  7,  18(i(i,  and  was  two  years  of 
age  when  his  jjarents  migrated  to  Williamson 
County,  Tenn.  He  was  educated  under  private 
instructors  and  at  the  University  of  Georgia. 
Immediately  after  graduating,  he  began  the  study 
of  law,  in  the  office  of  Foster  &  Fogg,  Nasliville, 
Tenn.,  and  entered  the  practice  during  the  twenty- 
first  year  of  his  age. 

In  1826  he  located  at  Moultoii,  this  county, 
where  his  superior  (|ualifications  as  a  lawyer  were 
at  once  recognized.  Three  years  later,  he  re- 
moved to  Courtland,  and  entered  into  partnersliip 
with  John  J.  Ormand.  This  arrangement  con- 
tinued until  the  elevation  of  Judge  Ormand  to 
the  supreme  bench  of  the  State. 

In  184(1,  Mr.  Saunders  was  elected  to  the  I-egis- 
lature,  and  was  assigned  to  the  chairmanshij)  of 
the  judiciary  committee. 

From  Mr.  Garrett's  "  Public  .Men  of  .Mabama  "' 
we  (|Uote  the  following  as  (iprojms  : 

•'In  the  first  di,scu.ssion  which  arose,  relative  to 
tiie  election  of  United  States  Senator,  the  rank 
assigned  him  (Saunders),  l)y  general  consent,  was 
that  of  leader  on  the  Democratic  side.  He  wjis 
calm  as  a  May  morning,  never  permitting  the 
exciting  scenes  around  him  to  ruffle  the  perfect 
equanimity  of  his  temjier.  His  thoughts  ajipcarcd 
so  well  arraiige<l,  and  his  facts  so  connected,  that 


70 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


he  seemed  only  to  make  a  statement  m  order  to 
carry  a  point  by  the  force  of  deduction.  He  bore 
himself  with  so  much  ease  and  yet  with  such  force 
in  debate,  tliat,  while  he  astonished  all  by  the 
strength  of  his  logic,  it  seemed  tliat  he  held  him- 
self back,  and  never  darted  his  heaviest  bolts. 
Congress  would  have  been  a  more  suitable  arena 
for  the  exhibition  of  his  true  character  and  emi- 
nent abilities.  The  laurels  he  gained  never  with- 
ered, but  each  successive  performance  added  lustre 
to  his  victories." 

Mr.  Saunders  was  for  many  years  a  Trustee 
of  tlie  University,  and  contributed  to  that  change 
of  administration  which  took  place  in  18.37,  when 
the  Rev.  Alva  Woods  retired  from  the  Presidency, 
and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Basil  Manly.  In 
1843,  he  changed  his  residence  to  Mobile,  where 
he  carried  on  a  commission  business.  In  1S45,  Mr. 
Polk  appointed  him  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Mo- 
bile, which  office  he  held  for  four  years.  In  1852 
he  served  on  the  Electoral  Ticket  which  cast  the 
vote  of  Alabama  for  Pierce  and  King.  He  pos- 
sessed a  large  fortune,  having  married  Mary  F., 
daughter  of  Maj.  Robert  H.  Watkins,  formerly 
of  Georgia.  Mr.  Saunders  dispensed  a  liberal 
hospitality,  and  gave  freely  of  his  wealth  to  char- 
itable objects  and  the  support  of  the  ministry. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Eijiscopal 
Church,  South,  and  has  faithfully  performed  the 
duties  imposed  by  tliat  relation.  He  has  acted 
well  his  part  as  a  Christian   philosopher,  and    is 


now  enjoying  that  retirement  and  universal  re- 
spect so  well  merited  by  his  spotless  character. 

Colonel  Saunders  opposed  secession,  and  was 
president  of  the  Douglas  Convention,  held  at  Mont- 
gomery in  1860 ;  but  when  Alabama  withdrew 
from  the  Federal  Union,  he  recognized  the  State's 
first  and  greatest  claim  upon  his  allegiance,  and 
at  once  threw  himself  actively  into  her  defense. 
He  was  connected  with  the  army  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  close,  and  rendered  the  cause  much 
valuable  and  highly  apjireciated  service.  He 
is  honorably  mentioned  many  times  in  "  Tlie 
Life  of  Albert  Sidney  Jolmston,"  the  "Campaigns 
of  Lieut. -Gen.  Forrest,"  and  other  popular  works. 

After  the  war,  Colonel  Saunders  resumed  his 
favorite  jiursuit,  agriculture,  and  is  now  living 
a  life  of  comfortable,  not  to  say  elegant,  re- 
tirement at  his  magnificent  country  seat,  near  the 
little  town  of  Courtland.  Here,  in  his  ripe  old 
age,  he  continues  to  disj^ense  Southern  hospitality 
in  kee25ing  with  the  time-honored  customs  of  a 
glorious  people. 

He  was  married,  July  1-1,  1824,  to  ilary  Francis 
Watkins,  the  handsome  and  accomplished  daugh- 
ter of  Maj.  Robt.  A.  "Watkins,  of  this  county,  and 
formerly  of  Virginia.  The  children  born  to  this 
happy  union,  and  that  grew  to  adult  age,  are 
named  as  follows:  Robert  T.,  Elizabetli  Dunn, 
deceased,  Mary  Louise,  deceased,  Dudley  Dunn, 
Sarah  Jane,  Prudent,  deceased,  Lawrence  Watkins, 
deceased,  and  Ellen  Virginia. 


,,.e,^Z^iC^)j((g^S^rL..,, 


V. 
LIMESTONE    COUNTY. 


Population  :  White,  l-.>,0(i()  :  colored.  '.),;U0. 
Area,  590  square  miles.  Wooillaiicl,  all.  Keil 
Valley  lands,  175  square  miles.  Barrens,  415 
square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton,  a])pro.\iinately,  45.000:  in 
corn,  47,000:  in  oats,  4, -400:  in  wheat,  7,900;  in  rye, 
250;  in  tobacco,  125;  in  sweet  potatoes,  450.  Ap- 
proximate number  of  bales  of  cotton,  17,000. 

County  Seat — Athens:  Population,  1,300;  lo- 
cated on  Nashville  &  Decatur  branch  of  Louis- 
ville &  Nashville  Railroad,  107  miles  south  of 
Nashville,  and  195  north  of  Montgomery. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  seat — Alabania 
Courier  and  Dviiwcnit,  both  Democratic. 

Postottices  in  the  County — Athens.  Belle  Jlina, 
Carriger,  Center  Hill,  Elkmont,  Elk  Kiver  Mills, 
Estaville,  Ciilbertsborough,  Good  Springs,  Green- 
brier, Ilyde  Park,  Mooresville,  Mount  Roszcll, 
O'Neal,  Peltey,  Pettusville,  Quid  Nunc,  Kowland, 
Sand  Springs,  Swancott,  Veto,  Westmoreland, 
AVooley  Springs. 

Limestone  was  created  out  of  the  lands  pur- 
chased from  the  Chickasaws  and  Cherokees,  by 
an  act  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  passed  Feb- 
ruary (i,  1818. 

This  county  lies  directly  north  of  the  Tennessee 
River.  It  is  one  of  the  first  counties  formed  in  the 
State. 

Limestone  has  all  the  varieties  of  soil  which  be- 
long to  the  Tennessee  Valley. 

The  southern  portion  of  tiie  county  e.\ceeds  in 
fertility  that  of  the  northern.  The  southern  has 
a  more  uniform  surface  and  is  capitally  adapted  to 
the  growth  of  all  the  cereals.  The  lands  in  this 
section  are  almost  entirely  cleared  and  are  in  a  fine 
state  of  cultivation.  The  bottom  lands  which 
skirt  the  numerous  streams  are  exceedingly  fertile. 
Notwitlistanding  Limestone  has  long  been  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  chief  cereal  counties  of  the 
State,  and  still  is,  the  farmers  are  turning  their 
attention  more  every  year  to  the  growth  of  grasses 
and  breeding  of  thoroughbred  horses  and  blooded 


cattle,  hogs  and  slice}).  This  change  has  proven 
to  be  the  best  thing  our  farmers  have  ever  under- 
taken. 

The  grasses  usually  grown  for  stock  are  produced 
here  in  the  greatest  perfection,  and  the  most  san- 
guine expectations  of  stock-raisers  have  been  real- 
ized. The  finest  pasture  lands  can  be  had  here, 
the  value  of  which  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the 
multitude  of  streams  which  penetrate  every  part 
of  the  county.  Great  encouragement  has  been 
given  stock-raisers,  year  by  year,  to  imjjrove  the 
character  of  their  breeds. 

Except  upon  the  lowlands  and  near  the  rivers, 
the  county  is  wonderfully  healthy,  and  along  the 
ridges  adjoining  these  basins  excellent  places  of 
residence  can  be  had.  Formerly  these  ridges  were 
dwelling  places  of  the  wealthiest  farmers  in  the 
county,  while  they  cultivated  the  land  in  the  bot- 
toms. Along  these  knolls,  as  almost  in  every  part 
of  the  county,  fine  water  is  found,  together  with 
a  salubrious  climate. 

In  many  parts  of  the  county  are  forests  of  tim- 
ber in  which  are  found  hickory,  poplar,  chestnut, 
red  and  white  oak,  beech,  maple,  red  and  white 
gum,  ash,  walnut  and  cherry. 

Along  the  southern  border  of  the  county  runs 
the  Tennessee  river,  several  of  the  large  tributa- 
ries of  which  penetrate  the  territory  of  Limestone. 
Elk  river  Hows  through  the  northwest,  and  at  cer- 
tain seasons  is  navigable  for  light  crafts.  This 
stream  will  be  of  vast  local  advantage  when  the 
obstructions  are  removed  from  the  Tennessee. 
Big  Poplar,  Round  Island,  Swan,  Piney,  Lime- 
stone, and  Beaver  Dam  creeks  streak  the  county 
in  every  section  with  waters  of  perpetual  How. 
These  are  reinforced  by  many  large  springs  in  the 
mountain  and  hill  regions.  Mineral  springs  also 
exist  and  are  said  to  be  equal  to  any  in  the  State. 
The  streams  abound  in  remarkably  fine  fish,  vast 
quantities  of  which  are  caught  every  year. 

No  great  public  industries  have  as  yet  been  es- 
tablished, but  a  number  are  in  contemplation  at 


71 


'72 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Athens,  on  the  Louisville  &   Nashville  railroad. 

Energy,  skill  and  capital  are  needed  to  make  Lime- 

.  stone  what  it  is  by  nature  fitted  to  become — a  great 

manufacturing  as  well  as  an  agricultural  region. 

As  yet  but  little  attention  has  been  given  the 
mineral  products  of  Limestone.  Valuable  speci- 
mens of  lead  have  been  discovered  in  the  Elk  River 
hills.  In  some  portions  of  the  county  there  have 
been  discovered  out-croppings  of  iron  ore,  as  well 
as  fine  specimens  of  coal.  Slate  has  been  found 
to  exist  in  vast  quantities,  though  it  has  failed 
thus  far  to  attract  public  attention.  Silver  ore 
has  also  been  discovered,  but  it  is  not  known  to 
what  extent  it  exists. 

The  county  is  highly  favored  in  its  facilities 
for  transportation.  It  is  divided  in  twain  from 
north  to  south  by  the  great  Louisville  &  JSIashville 
Railroad,  which  brings  it  into  easy  and  rapid  com- 
munication with  New  Orleans  on  the  south  and 
the  great  cities  of  the  West  on  the  north. 

Fruits  grown  along  these  valleys  find  a  ready 
market  in  the  cities  of  the  Northwest,  into  com- 
mercial relations  with  which  this  section  is  brought 
by  means  of  its  excellent  railroad  facilities. 

Along  the  southern  portion  of  the  county  runs 
the  ;Memphis«!fc  Charleston  Railroad,  which  affords 
a  competing  line  to  the  producers  of  the  county. 

The  social  advantages  of  Limestone  are  those 
which  belong  to  the  best  regulated  society  of  the 
South.  The  people  are  hospitable  and  are 
prompted  by  a  most  generous  disposition.  Schools 
of  varying  grades  exist  in  different  jiarts  of  the 
county.  In  Athens,  the  county  seat,  which  has  a 
population  of  about  1,500,  there  are  -several 
schools  of  high  grade.  Churches  usually  of  the 
Methodist,  Presbyterian  and  Baptist  denomina- 
tions prevail. 

The  other  chief  towns  are  Mooresville  and  Elk- 
mont.  The  last  named  point  is  a  town  with 
promising  importance.  Lands  may  be  purchased 
in  some  sections  for  $5  per  acre  ;  in  others  they 
will  cost  much  more,  being  dependent  upon  the 
fertility  and  location. 

Athens. — Athens,  tlie  seat  of  justice  of  Lime- 
stone county,  was  first  incorporated  November  19, 
1818,  and  the  courthouse  was  located  here  at  once. 
A  seminary  of  learning,  for  females,  was  early 
established. 

The  corner  stone  of  the  Masonic  Hall  was  laid 
in  March,  182G,  it  being  the  second  brick  building 
in  the  town. 

There  are  four  brick  churches,  the  Baptist  being 


the  first  one  built  and  was  used  by  all  denomina- 
tions. The  Methodist  was  the  next  one,  which 
was  built  in  1836.  The  Cumberland  Presbyter- 
ian Church  was  built  early  in  1850;  owing  to 
its  proximity  to  the  railroad,  the  congregation 
has  sold  it  and  purchased  a  lot  for  a  new  one. 
The  Ei^iscopal  Church  has  been  recently  built, 
and  is  a  very  handsome  one. 

There  are  two  colleges,  male  and  female,  the 
latter  an  imposing  brick  structure,  with  ample  and 
beautiful  grounds.  Under  the  supervision  of 
Prof.  M.  G.  Williams  it  has  very  rapidly  increased 
in  the  number  of  pupils  and  is  now  one  of  the 
finest  schools  in  the  State.  The  male  college  is  a 
large  and  roomy  frame  building,  situated  in  a 
beautiful  grove  at  a  sufficient  distance  from  the 
public  square  to  make  it  quiet.  Splendid  brick 
pavements  lead  to  both  colleges  from  any  jiortiou 
of  the  town. 

The  earliest  records  of  the  town  we  have  been 
able  to  find,  is  April  37,  1824,  at  which  time  Sam- 
uel Tanner  was  mayor. 

Among  the  members  of  the  bar  the  mo.'^t  prom- 
inent were  Daniel  Coleman,  Egbert  J.  Jones, 
William  Richardson,  Thomas  Hobbe,  George  S. 
Houston,  LukePryor,  Elbert  English,  "William  11. 
Walker. 

In  the  medical  profession  were  such  distinguished 
men  as  T.  S.  Malone,  J.  F.  Sewell,  Joshua  P. 
Comau,  Frank  ^lalone,  P.  Capshaw. 


GEORGE  SMITH  HOUSTON  was  the  grandson 
of  John  Houston  and  Mary  Ross,  who,  in  1760 
migrated  from  County  Tyrone  in  the  north  of 
Ireland  and  settled  in  Newbury  District  in  North 
Carolina. 

David,  their  fourth  son,  and  the  father  of  George 
Smith  Houston,  married  Hannah  (PLigh)  Reagan, 
whose  mother  was  of  Welch  extraction,  being  of 
the  family  of  Pughs,  who  were  noted  for  their  love 
for,  and  ijromotionof  education. 

He  removed  to  Virginia,  and  afterward  settled 
near  Franklin  in  Williamson  County.  Tenn.,  where 
on  the  17th  of  January,  1S08,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  1824  or  1825,  the  family  settled 
twelve  miles  west  of  Florence,  in  Lauderdale 
County,  Ala.,  and  engaged  in  agriculture.  His 
father  considered  manual  labor  essential  to  mental 
and  physical  perfection,  and  reared  his  sons  to 
work.     In  his  boyhood,  educational  facilities  were 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


not  as  good  as  now.  Though  not  possessed  of  the 
advantages  necessary  to  the  thorough  and  finished 
scholar,  he  received  an  elementary  education  in  an 
academy  in  Lauderdale  County.  Ambitious  and 
fond  of  books,  he  daily  added  to  this  foundation, 
by  the  close  study  of  standard  works. 

As  a  boy  he  was  happy-hearted,  bright,  liigh- 
toncd,  industrious,  self-reliant  and  noted  for  iiis 
devotion  to  his  mother. 

He  read  law  under  Judge  Coalter,  in  Florence, 
anil  completed  his  studies  in  the  law  school  at 
Ifarrodsburgh,  Ky.  In  1831  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  in  1S3-2.  was  sent  to  the  Legislature. 
He  was  there  twice  elected  Circuit  Solicitor,  in 
which  position  he  made  a  decided  reputation,  being 
considered  one  of  the  ablest  prosecutors  in  the  State. 

He  removed  to  Athens,  Limestone  County,  Ala., 
and,  in  1835,  married  Mary  L  Beaty,  the  daughter 
of  Hobert  Beaty.  They  had  eight  children,  all  of 
whom  died  before  1860,  except  David,  (ieorge  S., 
.lohn  P.  and  Mary  E.  Houston.  David  entered 
the  service  as  captain  of  a  company  of  the  Ninth 
Alabama  regiment.  He  was  afterward  a  member 
of  (Jeneral  Roddy's  command.  He  died,  unmar- 
ried, September  7,  1880. 

George  S.  entered  the  service  as  a  private  in 
.lohnson's  regiment  of  General  Koddy's  command, 
and  was  afterward  lieutenant  of  General  Roddy's 
escort.  He  married  Maggie  Irvine  of  Florence, 
Ala.,  and  now  resides  on  a  farm  near  Mooresville, 
in  Limestone  County. 

.John  P.  is  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  in 
Memphis,  Tenn.    ^lary  E.  resides  in  Athens,  Ala. 

In  April,  1861,  he  married  Ellen  Irvine,  of 
Florence,  Ala.,  a  daughter  of  James  Irvine,  one  of 
the  leading  lawyers  of  the  State.  They  had  two 
children,  Emma  and  Maggie  Lou.  Emma  is  now 
living  with  her  mother  at  Athens.  Maggie  Lou 
died  November  24,  18T7. 

In  1841  George  S.  Houston  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress on  the  general  ticket.  With  the  exception 
of  one  term,  when  he  declined  to  make  the  race, 
he  served  in  Congress  until  .lanuary  21,  1861.  He 
was  recognized  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  House. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  debates  on  important 
measures.  He  was  a  strict  constructionist,  or  a 
State's  rights  Democrat,  believing  all  legislation 
should  be  left  to  the  States  "over  subjects  where 
they  could  as  amply  and  beneficially  legislate  as 
Congress." 

He  was  opposed  to  the  tariff  system,  and  held 
the  public  land  to  be  a  trust  for  the  people,  and 


not  for  speculative  greed.  He  was  so  economical 
and  watchful  of  the  public  funds,  that  he  was 
known  in  Congress  as  the  "  Watch-dog  of  the 
Treasury." 

His  reputation  and  influence  were  by  no  means 
local.  He  was  particularly  influential  with  Pres- 
idents Pierce  and  Polk.  It  is  stated  on  good 
authority  that  it  was  the  intention  of  Mr.  Tilden 
to  olfer  him  a  Cabinet  position,  had  he  been  de- 
clared President  in  1876. 

Perhaps  no  member  was  ever  more  complimented 
with  committee  appointments  than  he;  not  only 
was  he  placed  on  the  most  important  committees, 
but  was  chairman  of  Military  Affairs,  Ways  and 
Means,  and  the  Judiciary,  an  honor  rarely,  if  ever, 
accorded  to  any  other  member.  He  was  several 
times  chairman  of  Way.*  and  Means,  which  is  per- 
hap.'^  the  most  important  committee  in  the  House. 
While  a  party  man,  he  was  not  such  for  selfish 
motives.  He  did  not  study  to  ride  into  power  on 
a  popular  wave.  He  was  fearless  in  his  convic- 
tions, and,  while  keeping  party  lines,  he  directed 
rather  than  followed  it.  He  was  earnestly  opposed 
to  secession,  and  pr^'bilbly  niadff  thf  lnBt  Dnnglm 
speech^er  made  in  Alnhiiniii.  While  in  Congress 
and  when  secession  seemed  almost  a  certainty,  he 
boldly  advocated  and  became  a  member  of  the 
famous  committee  of  thirty-three  to  devise  means 
to  save  the  Union;  but  when  Alabama  seceded,  he 
drafted  and  presented  to  the  speaker  the  formal 
withdrawal  of  the  Alabama  delegation  from  the 
Federal  Congress.  He  retired  to  his  home,  and, 
though  not  in  the  active  service,  he  repeate<ily  re- 
fused to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  demanded  by 
the  Federal  authority,  and  was  thoroughly  in  sym- 
pathy with  th^e  Confederacy,  and  contributed  to 
its  support.  He  was  never  defeated  when  before 
the  people,  and  was  regarded  one  of  the  ablest 
stump  speakers  in  the  South.  He  was  gifted  with 
a  commanding  person,  a  deep,  full  and  clear  voice, 
keen  repartee  and  a  flow  of  humor  and  logic. 
Though  he  lacked  the  nervous  and  electric  cur- 
rent of  eloquence,  his  efforts  were  always  ponderous 
and  convincing,  often  grand  and  eloquent.  In 
186.5  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  L^uited 
States,  but  not  allowed  a  seat,  because  his  State 
was  denied  representation. 

In  1866,  he  was  again  offered  for  the  Senate,  but 
was  defeated  by  ex-(Jovernor  Winston,  the  vote 
being  Winston  65  and  Houston  61.  In  1872,  he 
was  again  an  applicant  for  the  Senate,  At  this 
time  it  was  extremely  doubtful  whether  the  one 


74 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


elected  would  be  allowed  a  seat,  the  Legislature 
being  divided  and  in  session  in  two  places.  After 
many  ballots  all  the  names  before  the  Democratic 
wing  of  the  Legislature,  by  agreement  of  the  can- 
didates, were  simultaneously  withdrawn,  and  the 
Hon.  F.  W.  Sykes,  who  had  not  been  before  it, 
was  elected. 

In  1874  the  Radical  party  had  control  of  this 
State.  EflEorts  to  dislodge  it  had  been  repeatedly 
made,  but  were  fruitless.  After  a  careful  survey 
of  the  field,  George  S.  Houston  was  deemed  by  far 
the  most  available  man  to  make  the  race  against 
David  P.  Lewis  for  Governor. 

Some  of  Houston's  more  intimate  friends  urged 
him  not  to  make  the  race ;  they  said  the  success  of 
the  party  was  extremely  doubtful ;  that  he  had 
earned  sufficient  reputation  as  a  statesman,  and 
had  served  the  people  long  enough  to  be  entitled 
to  a  discharge  from  further  service. 

At  that  time  the  State's  indebtedness  amounted 
to  about  ^32,000,000  ;  the  rate  of  taxation  for  State 
purposes  was  not  less  than  three-fourths  of  one  per 
cent.;  her  treasury  was  empty;  her  people  were 
impoverished  ;  her  obligations  were  almost  worth- 
less, and  the  State  was  entirely  without  credit — so 
much  so,  it  is  said,  the  funds  necessary  to  hold  the 
constitutional  convention  of  1875,  could  not  be 
raised  until  Governor  Houston  pledged  his  honor 
that  the  same  should  be  repaid. 

To  protect  the  honor  and  credit  of  the  State, 
and  not  confiscate  the  property  of  her  citizens, 
seemed  a  herculean  task.  He  was  told  it  would  be 
impossible  ;  that  the  people  could  not  and  would 
not  pay  tlie  indebtedness  as  it  was  then  ;  that  the 
creditors  would  not  accept  less,  but  would  consider 
any  effort  to  settle  at  less  than  the  full  amount 
claimed,  repudiation  ;  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  satisfy  both  the  creditors  and  the  taxpayers,  and 
that  whoever  tried  it  would  find  himself  politically 
dead.  Though  warned  that  this  rock  would 
wreck  the  vessel  laden  with  the  fruits  of  his 
earlier  years  and  labor,  and  at  his  time  of  life  he 
could  not  hope  to  repair  the  injury  which  would 
be  wrought  by  a  failure  to  satisfactorily  handle 
this  perplexing  problem,  he  was  not  deterred  but 
accepted  the  nomination  which  the  convention  by 
acclamation  tendered  him. 

The  State  was  thoroughly  canvassed  and  the  lead- 
ing issues  discussed  and  fairly  put  before  the  people 
by  the  ablest  speakers  in  the  party.  The  Radical 
majority  of  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  was  overcome, 
and  the  Democratic  ticket  elected  by  alike  majority. 


As  Governor,  he  advocated  a  policy  which  con- 
verted the  penitentiary,  that  had  previously  been 
a  considerable  charge  to  the  State,  into  a  source 
of  State  revenue.  He  favored  aiding  the  public 
schools  to  the  full  capacity  of  the  State,  but  not  to 
the  extent  of  crippling  her  ability  to  meet  her  just 
obligations. 

He  urged  economy  in  every  department  of  state, 
setting  the  example  by  saving  more  than  $10,000 
of  the  $1.5,000  set  apart  for  contingent  expenses. 

"While  Governor,  he  was  in  thorough  accord  with 
the  Legislature,  having  confidence  in  the  honesty 
and  ability  of  the  members,  and  inspiring  their 
confidence.  So  thoroughly  were  they  in  accord, 
the  veto  power  was  not  used  oftener  than  four 
times  during  one  term,  if  so  often. 

The  most  important  measure  for  their  consider- 
ation was  the  State  debt.  In  a  message  to  the 
Legislature,  he  recommended  the  appointment  of 
a  committee  to  investigate  and  make  some  adjust- 
ment of  it.  The  committee  was  composed  of  T. 
B.  Bethea,  Levi  W.  Lawless  and  George  S.  Hous- 
ton, who  was  chairman. 

Their  management  of  it  is  considered  one  of  the 
grandest  achievements  of  the  age  ;  the  creditoVs 
were  fairly  dealt  with  and  were  satisfied ;  the 
State's  honor  was  not  tarnished ;  the  taxpayers 
were  j)rotected,  and  now  her  bonds  are  far  above 
par ;  the  interest  is  paid  with  perfect  regularity  ; 
property  has  greatly  enhanced  in  value  ;  the  rate 
of  taxation  has  been  greatly  reduced,  and  taxes 
are  cheerfully  paid. 

In  1876,  and  shortly  after  his  re-election  as 
Governor,  Geo.  S.  Houston  was  balloted  for  in  the 
caucus  for  United  States  Senator.  He  developed 
a  strong  following,  but  meeting  with  considerable 
opposition  he  determined  to  withdraw  his  name, 
serve  another  term  as  Governor,  and  come  before 
the  Legislature  at  the  expiration  of  his  second 
term. 

His  successful  competitor,  the  able  and  generous 
John  T.  Morgan,  thus  spoke  of  his  candidacy: 
"At  the  expiration  of  his  first  term  as  Governor, 
the  people  were  ready  to  honor  him  still  further 
by  electing  him  a  second  time  to  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  but  they  had  again  chosen  him 
Governor  of  the  State  and  they  would  not  consent 
to  relieve  him  of  that  service  until  he  had  com- 
pleted fully,  the  wise  course  of  policy  inaugurated 
during  his  first  term.  " 

At  the  expiration  of  his  second  term  he  was  sent 
to  the  United  States  Senate.     He  served  in  the 


^  ^ 

** 


w 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


extra  session  of  1879,  but  did  not  return  to  Wash- 
ington on  account  of  ill  health.  On  the  31st  day 
of  December,  1870,  he  died  at  his  home  in  Athens. 

The  Hon.  Luke  Pryor,  his  former  law  partner, 
bosom  friend  and  successor  in  the  Senate,  thus 
s|)oke  of  liini:  ■'  He  was  a  man  free  from  deform- 
ity of  mind,  body  and  heart.  He  was  a  man  im- 
pressive and  imposing  in  his  personal  appearance. 
His  mind  was  vigorous,  analytical,  quick  of 
perception,  sufficiently  inrjuisitive,  detective  and 
discriminative  —a  mind  that  came  to  conclusions 
slowly  but  certainly;  not  because  of  its  dullness, 
but  because  of  its  caution,  its  prudence,  its  sense 
of  rectitude,  and  when  reached,  never  found  un- 
just, ])rejudiceil,  biased  or  partial,  and  rarely  incor- 
rect, staiuling  and  withstanding  the  severest  tests. 

•'Added  to  this  was  a  judgment  sound,  well- 
defined  and  trustworthy,  and  whicl),  when  once 
formed,  was  firm  and  immovable.  He  was  a  man 
of  foresight  and  judgment  profound.  He  was  a 
safe  counselor,  sagacious,  well-trained,  and  ad- 
mirably versed  in  the  principles  of  wise  statesman- 
ship and  public  policy;  an  instructive,  judicious 
and  adhesive  friend,  unselfish,  never  withholding 
his  views,  but  promptly  and  fully  disclosing  the 
same  to  his  associates.  His  industry  in  search  of 
truth  was  rarely  eipialed.  He  could  not  l)e unduly 
persuaded,  and  was  beyond  seduction  to  do  a 
wrong. 

•'  As  a  debater  he  was  sagacious,  ponderous  and 
■convincing;  a  hum  emphatically  of  argumentation. 
He  had  no  superiors  and  few  equals  when  dealing 
with  questions  of  facts;  his  powers  of  separation 
and  condensations  of  facts  and  their  application 
were  wonderful. 

'•  On  questions  of  law,  discriminating  clearly  and 
forcibly,  with  great  cajiacity  to  present  singleness 
of  point.  In  debate  his  manner  was  courteous, 
becoming  earnest,  attractive  and  resj)ectful,  espe- 
cially toward  his  adversary,  with  a  marked 
toleration  in  respect  to  those  differing  with  him 
in  views  or  sentiments. 

LUKE  PRYOR.  distinguished  lawyer,  legislator 
and  citizen,  Athens,  Ala.,  was  born  in  ^ladi- 
son  County,  this  State,  July  5,  1820,  and  his 
parents  were  Luke  and  Ann  15.  (Lane)  Pryor, 
natives  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  ami  descendants 
of  English  ancestry. 

The  senior  Luke  Prvor  marrieil   in   his  native 


State  ;  came  to  Madison  Connty,  Ala.,  in  1820, 
and  into  Limestone  County  in  1822.  He  was  a 
planter  by  occupation  ;  a  quiet,  unassuming  gen- 
tleman ;  a  good  citizen,  and  died,  mourned  by  all 
who  knew  him,  in  1851,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-one  year*.  His  widow  survived  him  several 
years,  and  died  at  Athens,  in  1874.  They  reared 
but  two  sons,  John  B.  Pryor,  now  resident  of  New 
Jersey,  and  a  distinguislied  turfman,  and  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch. 

It  was  at  the  common  schools  of  Limestone 
County,  Luke  Pryor  acquired  the  rudiments  of  an 
English  education  which  he  subsequently  aug- 
mented at  an  academy  at  Washington,  Miss.  He 
studied  law  under  Daniel  Coleman,  at  Athens; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1841,  and  gave  to  that 
profession  forty  years  of  his  life.  His  first  law 
partner  was  Robert  Urickell,  now  the  distinguished 
Alabama  jurisprudent.  He  was  afterward  at 
different  times  associated  with  Egbert  Jones, 
(leneral  Walker,  and  lastly,  the  Hon.  George  S. 
Houston. 

Since  coming  to  man's  estate,  Mr.  Pryor  has 
been  identified  prominently  with  every  important 
inteiest  and  industry  of  this  community,  and 
every  good  work  has  received  his  heartiest  encour- 
agement and  support.  As  early  as  1854,  he  made 
himself  conspicuous  as  the  friend  and  ailvocate  of 
what  is  now  known  as  the  L.  &  N,  R.  P.,  then, 
we  believe,  spoken  of  as  the  North  &  South 
Railroad.  It  is  of  history  that  that  enterprise,  in 
its  inception,  met  with  much  strenuous  opposition 
at  the  hands  of  some  of  the  leading  men  of  North 
Alabama,  and  particularly  of  Limestone  County. 
This  should  not  be  construed  into  meaning  that 
those  men  opposed  the  construction  of  the  road 
as  such,  but  they  objected  to  the  means  proposed, 
to-wit :  that  of  subsidizing  the  corporation  by  ta.x- 
ation  to  be  levied  upon  the  common  people.  Stock 
was  issued  for  the  involuntary  subscription  or 
county  taxes  to  the  tax  payer.  Upon  the  other 
hand,  Mr.  Pryor  and  other  gentlemen  associated 
with  Jiim,  took  the  ground  that  no  moneved  com- 
pany would  find  it  sufficiently  to  their  interest  to 
induce  them  to  invest  the  large  amount  required 
for  the  construction  of  such  line  of  road  at  that 
early  day :  for  it  was  known  that  the  product  of 
the  country  was  then  insufficient  to  make  it  a 
paying  investment,  and  that  it  would  probablv 
remain  so  for  many  years.  Therefore,  he  argued, 
that  as  the  road  was  to  redound  to  tlie  immediate 
advantage  of  the    people  of  that  section  of   the 


76 


Northern  Alabama. 


country  by  giving  tliem  an  outlet  to  the  world, 
and  access  to  markets,  thus  enhancing  the  value 
of  their  property,  and  increasing  the  price  of  the 
product  of  the  plantation,  it  was  but  right  that 
the  people,  as  a  whole,  should  bear  a  part  of  the 
necessary  expense.  It  was  upon  this  question  that 
the  people  differed  ;  and  the  history  of  the  North 
&  South  Railroad  shows  that  Mr.  Pryor  and  his 
friends  were  successful,  and  that  a  majority  of  the 
people  of  Limestone  were  with  him  to  the  extent 
that  they  voted  in  aid  of  the  enterprise  §200,000. 
It  then  became  a  question  as  to  whether  the  legis- 
lature would  pass  a  bill  for  this  purpose,  and  Mr. 
Prvor  and  Thomas  H.  Hobbs  were  sent  to  the 
Legislature  particularly  in  the  interest  of  the  enter- 
prise. The  bill  as  introduced  and  joassed,  was 
vetoed  by  the  Governor,  but  it  was  immediately 
passed  over  his  head  by  the  required  two-thirds 
majority,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Pryor. 

Mr.  Prvor  remained  with  this  railroad  com- 
pany, and  as  its  friend  and  champion,  for  many 
years,  until,  in  fact,  it  became  a  through  line  of 
road  from  Nashville  to  the  Tennessee  Kiver,  and 
thence  onward  in  the  direction  of  Montgomery. 
As  this  was  one  of  the  most  important  enterprises 
of  the  South,  and  resulted  in  so  much  good  to  the 
whole  people,  it  is  just  that  we  should  say  that 
there  were  associated  with  Mr.  Pryor,  and  in  its 
behalf,  many  other  good  and  true  men,  and  among 
them  may  be  mentioned  specially,  Major  Thomas 

H.  Hobbs,  James  Sloss,  Geo.  S.  Houston, 

Gilmer,  Belser,  et  al.     These  men  were, 

many  of  them,  identified  later  on  with  what  was 
known  as  the  "  Mountain  Contracting  Company,^' 
organized  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  this 
road  between  Decatur  and  Calera.  It  is  now 
known  that  the  road  was  in  process  of  construction 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war.  It  is  also  known 
that  the  three  per  cent,  levy  due  from  the  State  to 
the  trust  fund  established  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
necting the  Tennessee  River  and  Jlobile  Bay,  was 
appropriated  to  the  North  &  South  Railroad  Com- 
pany, and  undoubtedly  hastened  the  construction 
of  this  road,  which  finally  led  on  to  Birmingham 
and  made  that  city  possible.  The  bill  providing 
for  this  appropriation  was  largely  the  work  of 
Luke  Pryor. 

In  1880  (.January)  Governor  Cobb  appointed 
Hon.  Luke  Pryor  United  States  Senator,  to  fill 
the  unexpired  term  of  the  late  George  S.  Houston. 
This  appointment  was  made  not  only  in  consid- 
eration of  the  warm  friendship  existing  between 


Messrs.  Pryor  and  Houston  during  the  lifetime  of 
the  latter,  but  was  also  in  response  to  a  demand 
on  the  part  of  people  that  the  great  Houston  be 
succeeded  by  one  most  familiar  with  his  methods 
and  his  purposes,  and  by  the  man  most  fitted  in 
every  way  to  jn'osecute  them  to  comi^letiou.  How- 
well  Mr.  Pryor  discharged  this  great  duty  is  now 
known  to  the  intelligent  reader,  and  forms  a  part 
of  the  history  of  the  nation. 

At  the  expiration  of  the  term  for  which  he  was 
appointed,  Mr.  Pryor  refused  to  allow  his  name 
to  go  before  the  Legislature  for  re-election.  In 
the  fall  of  1882  the  people  of  his  district,  in  con- 
vention assembled  at  Decatur,  without  any  knowl- 
edge or  solicitation  on  his  part,  nominated  Luke 
Pryor,  by  acclamation,  as  the  Democratic  candi- 
date for  the  United  States  Congress.  Mr.  Lowe, 
who  was  at  that  time  the  Greenback  Re2)ublican 
candidate,  died  quite  suddenly  during  the  can- 
vass, and  the  Hon.  David  D.  Shelby  was  placed  in 
his  stead  upon  that  ticket.  Though  at  the  pre- 
ceding election  Mr.  Lowe  had  been  returned  by 
a  handsome  majority,  Mr.  Pryor  was  elected  by 
over  800.  At  the  end  of  the  term  Mr.  Pryor 
again  declined  further  nomination. 

Mr.  Pryor,  now  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his 
age,  the  possessor  of  a  sound  physical  constitution, 
in  the  enjoyment  of  robust  health  and  the  exercise 
of  every  God-given  faculty,  promises  yet  to  live 
many  years  of  usefulness  in  a  community  where 
he  has  spent  a  long  life,  and  where  he  is  known 
and  loved  by  all  who  can  apjireciate  true  worth  in 
a  noble  citizen .  Kindhearted,  generous  to  a  fault, 
never  purposely  inflicting  a  wound  upon  any 
heart,  Luke  Pryor,  when  he  shall  have  been  gath- 
ered unto  his  fathers,  will  leave  behind  him  a 
name  and  reputation  to  be  honored  by  those  who 
knew  him,  and  worthy  of  emulation  by  the  greatest 
to  succeed  him. 

Mr.  Pryor  was  married  in  Limestone  County, 
August  20,  1845,  to  a  daughter  of  John  H.  Harris, 
a  native  of  A^irginia,  and  her  given  name  was  Isa- 
bella Virginia.  To  them  has  been  born  one  son, 
William  Richard  Pryor,  now  an  extensive  farmer 
in  this  county.  Their  daughters  are:  Aurora 
(Mrs.  Robert  A.  McClellan),  Memory  (widow  o€ 
the  late  William  S.  Peebles),  Ann  P.  (Mrs.  Maclin 
Sloss),  Mary  (Mrs.  Thomas  Leslie),  Fannie  Snow 
and  Hattie. 

The  family  are  somewhat  divided  in  their  church 
relations,  some  of  them  being  Presbyterians  and 
others  Methodists. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


77 


JOHN  N.  MALONE,  Attorney-at-law,  Athens, 
Ala.,  was  born  in  Sussex  County,  Va.  His  parents, 
George  and  Sallie  (Moyler)  Malone,  natives  of 
Virginia,  and  of  Irish  descent,  came  to  Limestoi\e 
county  in  1823,  and  here  spsnt  the  rest  of  their 
lives,  the  old  gentleman  dying  in  1847,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-two  years  ;  his  wife  having  preceded 
him  to  the  other  world  by  about  four  years.  They 
reared  a  family  of  three  sons  and  three  daughters, 
of  whom  John  N.,  and  a  sister  are  the  only  ones 
living.  One  of  the  sons  was  a  doctor,  another  a 
farmer. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  graduated  from  La 
Grange  College,  Franklin  County,  Ala.,  as  A.  B., 
in  1830,  and  subsequently  in  due  course  received 
from  the  same  institution  the  degree  of  A.  M.  He 
studied  law  with  J.  W.  McLung,  Huntsville  :  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  18-41,  and  i^racticed  law 
for  ten  years.  Then  for  the  next  succeeding  ten 
years,  though  maintaining  his  office  at  Athens,  he 
devoted  his  time  to  planting.  In  1  51,  he  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate  and  was  kept  there  for 
six  consecutive  years.  After  the  war,  he  resumed 
the  practice  of  law,  and  farming,  and  in  1881, 
was  appointed  probate  judge  to  fill  out  an  unex- 
pired term  of  five  years,  the  office  having  been 
vacated  by  the  death  of  John  M.  Townsend. 

Judge  Malone  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
Alabama  University  from  1851  to  the  outbreak  of 
the  war,  and  has  been  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
Agricultural  and  Mechanical  School  of  Auburn 
since  its  organization  in  1874.  Thus  we  find  that 
he  has  nearly  all  his  life  been  interested  in  the 
cause  of  education.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
National  Convention  at  Baltimore  in  1852,  and 
supported  Franklin  Pierce  and  William  R.  King. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  memorable  presiden- 
tial campaign  of  18G0;  supported  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  for  the  presidency ;  was  opposed  to 
secession  because  he  feared  it  would  be  followed 
by  coercion  and  war;  but  after  Alabama  seceded, 
he  cast  his  fortunes  and  fate  with  her,  and  was 
intensely  Southern  in  iiis  sentiments  and  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

John  N.  Malone  was  nuirried  in  Lauderdale 
County  in  1844,  to  Mary  Lucy  Kernachan,  who 
died  in  1848,  leaving  one  son,  Robert,  now  a 
planter  in  Limestone  County.  His  second  mar- 
riage took  place  in  the  same  county  in  1854,  to 
Miss  Rebecca  Simmons,  and  to  this  union  have 
been  born  two  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
youngest  son,   Henry,   is  a  farmer:   George   is   a 


merchant;  two  of  the  daughters  are  married  to 
merchants  in  Arkansas,  and  the  third  one  is  at 
lioine. 

The  family  belong  to  the  Jlethodist  Episcopal 
church  and  .ludge  Jfalone  is  a  .Mason. 

— — «"f^i^- ■<'■   • 

JOHN  J.  TURRENTINE,  prominent  Attorney- 
ai-luwund  Deputy  Di.stricl  Solicitor,  Athens,  Ala., 
was  born  in  Lawrence  County,  this  State,  June 
10,  1840  ;  and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Stephens)  Turrentine.  natives  of  Xorth  Carolina 
and  Alabama,  respectively. 

Mr.  Turrentine  was  educated  at  Athens;  studied 
law  under  Judge  Walker;  admitted  to  the  bar 
April,  IcGO,  and  embarked  at  once  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession.  Early  in  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  between  the  States,  been  listed  in  H.  H.  Hig- 
gins'  Company  at  Athens,  and  at  Memphis  was 
mustered  into  the  "Walker  Fortieth"  known 
afterward  and  in  history  as  the  Fortieth  Tennessee 
Infantry.  He  served  with  that  regiment  up  to  the 
time  of  his  capture.  After  being  held  about  five 
months  as  jjrisoner  he  was  exchanged  at  A'icks- 
burg.  In  the  Fortieth  Tennessee  he  held  the  rank 
of  first  lieutenant ;  he  went  into  the  service  as  a 
second  junior  lieutenant.  The  Fortieth  Tennessee, 
which  did  not  have  a  Tennessee  company  in  it,  was 
afterwards  re-organized,  and  the  Alabama  com- 
panies helped  form  the  Fifty-fourth  Alabama 
Regiment,  commanded  by  Alpheus  Baker,  colonel 
in  General  Tillman's  brigade  up  to  the  battle  of 
Baker's  Creek.  Just  before  this  battle  the  com- 
mand was  transferred  to  Brigadier-General  0.  A. 
Buford.  ]\Ir.  Turrentine  remained  with  the  Fifty- 
fourth  through  General  Buford 's  Mississijjpi  cam- 
paign, and  under  Lowring  through  the  Jackson 
campaign.  In  18G3  lie  was  detailed  Assistant 
Quartermaster  of  his  regiment,  which  position 
he  held  until  the  spring  of  18C4,  at  which  time  he 
organized  a  company  of  skirmishers  from  the  Fifty- 
fourth  Alal)ama  Regiment.  He  participated  in  all 
the  Georgia  campaign,  and  on  August  IG,  18G4, 
was  seriously  wounded  before  Atlanta.  He  had 
under  him  about  172  men  at  one  time,  and  with 
them,  in  the  early  jnirt  of  August,  near  Atlanta, 
fought  two  Federal  regiments  for  over  two  liours 
a  hand-to-hand  conflict,  in  which  some  of  the  men 
distinguished  themselves  as  skirmishers,  among 
whom  was  Mr.  Lania,  of  Choctaw  County.  Ala. 
After  the  Georgia  campaign,  on  account  of  some 


78 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


difference  with  the  colonel,  he  withdrew  entirely 
from  his  old  regiment  and  proceeded  to  organize  a 
compan}'  to  be  composed  of  the  great  surplus  of 
commissioned  officers  that,  through  the  destruction 
of  men,  had  been  virtually  dej)rived  of  commands. 
It  appears  that  tliis  company,  if  ever  fully  organ 
ized,  was  not  afterwards  engaged  in  battle,  as  the 
final  surrender  succeeded  shortly  after.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1866,  he  removed  to  Arkansas;  there  prac- 
ticed law  for  five  years  and  returned  to  Athens  in 
1871.  He  was  elected  county  solicitor  in  1872, 
and  held  the  office  until  the  law  jaroviding  for  a 
district  solicitor  went  into  force.  The  only  other 
civil  office  held  by  Captain  Turrentine  appears  to 
have  been  that  of  general  administrator.  He  lield 
this  position  about  six  years.  He  married  while  in 
Arkansas  (186G)  iliss  Elizabeth  Sanders.  She 
died  at  Athens  in  May,  1881,  leaving  one  son. 
His  second  marriage  was  to  a  daughter  of  Dr.  J. 
M.  Collins,  of  this  county. 

The  Captain  is  an  active  Democratic  worker;  was 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  Congressional  Com- 
mittee in  1882;  is  a  good  lawyer,  a  forcible  speaker, 
a  citizen  of  the  highest  repute,  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity  and  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. 


BENTON  SANDERS,  Merchant,  Athens,  Ala., 
was  horn  in  this  county,  November  10,  1829. 
His  parents,  William  and  Sarah  (Fox)  Sanders, 
natives,  respectively,  of  the  S'ates  of  Georgia 
and  Virginia,  were  married  in  Madison  County, 
this  State,  and  came  to  Limestone  in  1841:. 

The  senior  Mr.  Sanders  was  a  soldier  in  the  War 
of  1812, and  along  in  the  thirties,  represented  Lime- 
stone County  several  sessions  in  the  Legislature. 
In  1834-5,  lie  was  in  the  banking  business  at 
Decatur.  He  died  at  his  home,  twelve  miles  east 
of  Athens,  in  1840,  at  the  age  of  47  years.  His 
widow  survived  him  several  years,  and  died  at  the 
age  of  67.  They  reared  three  sons,  the  eldest. 
Dr.  W.  T.  Sanders,  eminent  in  his  profession, 
died  in  1865,  and  Oliver  Perry,  an  extensive 
planter,  died  at  Grenada,  Miss.,  in  1868. 

Benton  Sanders  was  educated  at  La  Grange 
College,  studied  law  with  Fred  Tate,  at  Athens; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1850  ;  served  the 
county  three  years  as  sheriff,  and  was  in  mercan- 
tile business  afterward,  until  the  beginning  of  the 
war.     Soon   after  the  close  of  hostilities,  he  was 


appointed  register  in  chancery,  a  position  he  filled 
until  1874,  when  he  was  elected  Judge  of  Probate, 
for  the  term  of  six  years. 

Much  to  the  regret  of  the  people  of  Fjimestone 
County,  Judge  Sanders,  at  the  end  of  his  term, 
declined  a  second  nomination  for  the  probate 
judgeship,  and  the  sentiment  of  the  public  may 
be  inferred  from  the  following  quotation  from  a 
newspaper  editorial  of  that  date  : 

"Judge  Sanders  retires  to  private  life  without 
a  blur  or  blot  on  his  administration.  No  one  has 
ever  filled  that  highly  responsible  office  with  more 
satisfaction  to  our  peojde,  and  in  vacating  the 
office  he  carries  with  him  the  best  wishes  of  the 
people  of  Limestone  County." 

In  1880,  he  resumed  mercantile  business,  at  the 
head  of  the  firm  of  Sanders  &  Richardson,  and 
has  since  devoted  his  time  to  it. 

Mr.  Sanders  is  president  of  the  Athens  Male 
College,  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  Athens  Female  Institute. 

In  casting  about  over  the  State  for  a  suitable 
person  to  investigate,  as  an  expert,  the  various 
public  offices,  Governor  O'Neal  at  once  settled 
upon  Benton  Sanders,  of  Athens,  and  in  an 
urgent  letter,  under  date  of  March  24,  1883, 
tendered  him  the  ajipointment  as  follows  : 

"  The  Legislature  ordered  me  to  have  the  offices 
of  auditor,  treasurer,  secretary  of  State,  super- 
intendent of  education,  and  warden  of  peni- 
tentiary examined  by  a  competent  person  at  least 
twice  each  year,  and  to  this  end  appropriated  a 
sufficient  sum  out  of  which  to  jDay  the  expense. 
You  have  been  recommended  to  me  by  Chief 
Jjstice  Brickell  and  others  as  the  man  to  do  this 
important  work,  and  I  hereby  tender  you  the  place." 

Though  recognizing  this  as  a  compliment  of 
a  very  high  order,  Mr.  Sanders'  private  business 
was  such  as  compelled  him  to  decline  the  duty. 

[Afterward,  Colonel  Lapsley  received  the  ap- 
pointment, and  discharged  the  duties  with  marked 
ability.— Ed.] 

Mr.  Sanders  was  married  at  Athens.  January 
27,  1853,  to  Miss  Eliza  Thach,  daughter  of 
Thomas  H.  Thach,  planter  and  merchant,  of 
Mooresville,  and  of  the  five  children  born  to  him 
we  make  the  following  notice  :  His  only  son, 
W.  T.,  is  a  student  at  Vanderbilt  University;  one 
of  his  daughters  is  the  wife  of  Thomas  J. 
Turrentine,  another  is  the  wife  of  J.  W. 
Woodruff,  Jr.,  a  planter  of  Mooresville.  and  he 
has  two  daughters  at  home. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


79 


Mr.  Sunders'  family  belong  to  tlie  Wetliodist 
Ei)iscopiil  C'liurch. 

ROBERT  A.  McCLELLAN,  Attorney-at-hiw. 
Atliens,  was  born  in  Lincoln  County,  Tenii., 
December,  \%\^l.  His  father  was  Thomas  J. 
McClellan,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  of  Scotch 
descent,  and  liis  mother's  maiden  name  was  Mar- 
tha Beattie,  also  a  native  of  Tennessee. 

The  senior  Jlr.  MoClellan  came  into  Limestone 
County  in  1844,  located  npon  a  farm  ten  miles 
east  of  Athens,  and  there  followed  planting  until 
1884,  when  he  retired,  and.  we  think,  moved 
into  Athens.  lie  died  October  14,  1887.  lie 
was  a  member  of  the  Secession  Convention  of  1860, 
and  voted  against  that  movement.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  lower  house.  State  Legislature, 
in  1862,  and  of  the  Constitntional  Convention  of 
18C5.  He  was  not,  of  choice,  a  politician.  He 
was  an  old  line  Whig;  a  plain,  common-sense  man; 
honest,  above  all  things;  entertaining  and  forci- 
ble in  conversation.  It  was  this  latter  ac- 
complishment probably  that  forced  him  into  dis- 
cussions and,  finally,  into  politics.  He  had  the 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best  posted  men 
on  public  cpiestions  in  the  county.  He  reared 
four  sons  to  manhood.  .John  B.,  the  eldest,  is  a 
farmer  in  this  county;  has  served  in  the  Legislature, 
and  was  probate  judge  at  the  time  the  Reconstruc- 
tion party  came  into  power,  when  he  was  ousted. 
The  second  son,  William  C,  died  in  this  county, 
December  11,  1869,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two  years. 
He  was  four  years  in  the  Confederate  Army: 
was  captured  two  days  before  Appomattox,  and 
kept  in  prison  until  August,  1865.  The  youngest 
son,  the  Hon.  Thomas  N.  McClellan,  is  now 
Attorney- (ieneral  of  the  State. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
common  schools,  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1868  at  Athens.  In  the  fall  of  1862  he 
joined  the  Seventh  Alabama  Cavalry,  and  served 
to  the  close  of  the  war,  holding  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant, and  most  of  the  time  was  in  command  of 
his  company.  He  participated  in  the  campaigns 
of  Middle  and  East  Tennessee,  (leorgia,  and  the 
Carolinas,  and  in  many  battles. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  187-"),  and  in  November  of  that  year 
was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  to  till  out  an  unex- 
pired term.     His  name  was  before  the  Congres- 


sional Convention  in  1880,  when  Wheeler  was 
nominated,  and  received  a  flattering  vote — a  ma- 
jority on  the  first  ballot. 

He  was  married  in  1872  to  Miss  Aurora  Pryor, 
a  ilaugliterof  Hon.  Luke  I'ryor. 

WILLIAM  R.  FRANCIS,  Jr.,  Attorney-at-law, 
;ind  editor  ami  prf^irietor  of  the  Athens  Demo- 
crat, a  live  democratic  weekly  paper,  published 
at  Athens,  was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Tenn., 
September  25,  1843.  His  father,  William  R. 
Francis,  Sr.,  a  native  of  Virginia,  is  now  a 
planter  in  Franklin  County,  Tenn. 

The  great-grandfather  Francis  was  a  soldier  in 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  Mr.  Francis'  grand- 
father fought  in  the  war  of  1812. 

The  sub ject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
jiublic  schools  of  Tennessee;  studied  law  under 
John  Frizzell,  at  Winchester,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1867.  He  first  began  the  practice 
of  law  at  Winchester,  and  remained  there  until 
1879,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  came  to  Athens, 
where  he  has  since  been  in  the  practice.  In  1886 
the  Limestone  County  Publishing  Co.  established 
the  Demticrat,  and  Jlr.  Francis  was  made  its 
editor. 

At  Winchester,  Tenn..  in  the  fall  of  1861,  Mr. 
Francis  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  I,  Forty- 
first  Tennessee  Infantry,  C.  S.  A.,  and  served 
through  the  war.  At  Cliickamauga,  September  2:0, 
1863,  a  minie  ball  crushed  the  upper  section  of 
the  left  femur,  resulting  in  crippling  him  for  life. 
While  not  thereafter  in  active  service,  he  was  in  the 
Retired  Corps  to  the  close  of  the  war.  Before 
Chickamauga,  he  had  participated  in  the  battles  of 
llaymond,  Jliss.,  Port  Hudson,  Jackson,  Black 
River  and  Corinth.  Ilis  regiment  was  captured 
at  Fort  Donelson,  but  he  being  sick,  he  was 
allowed  to  escape,  After  that  time,  he  served 
in  the  Seventeenth  Tennessee.  He  was  paroled  in 
May,  1865,  and  in  August  of  that  year  returned  to 
Tennessee,  and  thence,  as  has  been  seen,  came  to 
Athens. 

Mr.  Francis  is  a  wide-a-wake,  active  democratic 
worker,  and  runs  a  red-hot  jiaper. 

— — *>— J^^-^— — 

WILLIAM  H.  WALKER,  son  of  John  F.  and 

Kliza  Walker,  was   Ijorn    near  Mooresville,  Lime- 


80 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


stone  County,  Ala.,  March  2,  1822,  and  died 
March  4,  1870. 

Mr.  Walker,  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  his 
day,  was  left  an  oi'jjhan  at  the  age  of  four  years. 
He  was  educated  at  La  Grange,  began  the  practice 
of  law  when  a  young  man,  and  with  the  exception 
of  a  part  of  a  term,  served  by  appointment,  as 
Probate  Judge,  devoted  his  life  thereto. 

He  was  married  July  7,  1859,  to  Miss  Sally  E. 
Ryan,  of  Baltimore,  and  had  born  to  him  eight 
children,  seven  of  whom  are  living  at  this  writing 
(1888):  Mary  Eloise  (Mrs.  R  H.  Richardson), 
William  Ryan,  Ada,  John  Fortraan,  Maria  Rich- 
ardson, and  Robert  Henry. 

Mr.  Walker  was  an  able  lawyer,  a  highly  re- 
spected citizen,  and  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  South. 


WILLIAM  R.  WALKER,  Attorney-at-law, 
Athens,  son  of  William  H.  Walker,  a  prominent 
jurist,  who  died  at  this  place  in  1870. 

Mr.  Walker  was  educated  primarily  at  Athens' 
schools  and  Auburn,  Ala.,  and  graduated  in  the 
law  department  of  Yanderbilt  University  in 
1882.  He  began  the  practice  at  once  at  Athens, 
and  in  September,  1885,  moved  to  Guutersville, 
and  there,  associated  with  B.  Coman,  edited  the 
Guntersville  Democrat,  in  connection  with  the 
practice  of  law,  w^  to  January,  1887.  Since  that 
date  he  has  been  practicing  law  at  Athens.  He 
was  born,  in  this  town,  November  10,  1861. 


— ^i- 


JAMES  E.  HORTON,  Judge  of  Probate,  Lime- 
stone County,  Ala.,  was  born  near  Huntsville, 
this  State,  May  20,  1833.  His  parents,  Rodah 
and  Lucy  (Otey)  Horton,  iratives  of  Virginia  and 
England,  were  married  in  Madison  County,  this 
State,  where  their  three  sons  and  three  daughters 
were  born.  Of  the  six  children.  Judge  Horton 
and  a  brother  only  are  now  living.  The  others 
all  moved  South,  where  it  seems  their  lives  were 
materially  shortened. 

The  senior  Mr.  Horton  died  in  18-16,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-four  years.  He  was  an  extensive  planter, 
and  represented  Madison  County  once  or  twice  in 
the  State  Legislature. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
University   of   Alabama,    and  the   University  of 


Virginia.  He  came  into  Limestone  County  in 
18.57,  settled  on  the  Elk  River,  and  engaged  in 
farming.  At  Bardstown,  Ky.,  in  the  fall  of  1862, 
as  aid-de-camp  to  Gen.  Daniel  S.  Donelson,  he 
entered  the  Confederate  service.  He  was  with 
General  Donelson  until  the  death  of  that  gentle- 
man, which  occurred  .at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  in  the 
latter  part  of  1863.  From  that  time  to  the  close 
of  the  war.  Major  Horton  was  Acting  General 
Qttartermaster,  and  was  on  the  Florida  coast  when 
the  war  closed. 

Returning  to  Limestone  County  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  he  resumed  his  planting  operations, 
which  he  followed  up  to  August,  1886,  when  he 
was  elected  Judge  of  Probate.  Sometime  before 
this  he  had  served  one  term  as  county  commis- 
sioner, which  appears  to  be  the  sum  of  his  office, 
holding.  He  was  married  in  Tennessee,  near  the 
"Hermitage,"  October  18,  1860,  to  Miss  Emily 
Donelson,  the  accomjilished  daughter  of  Daniel 
S.  Donelson,  a  nephew  of  Mrs.  Gen.  Andrew 
Jackson.  To  this  union  four  daughters  and  a 
son  have  been  born,  the  eldest  of  the  former  is 
now  the  wife  of  John  B.  Tanner,  of  Athens. 

Judge  Horton's  family  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  he  is  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 


JAMES  BENAGH,  Attorney-at-Law,  Notary 
Public  and  Register  in  Chancery,  Athens,  was 
born  at  Lynchburg,  Va.,  February  23,  1828,  and 
his  parents  were  James  and  Elizabeth  (Rich- 
ardson) Benagh,  the  first  a  native  of  Ireland  and 
the  latter  of  Virginia.  They  lived  and  died  at 
Lynchburg,  the  old  gentleman  in  1861  at  the  age 
of  74,  and  his  widow  in  1868  at  the  age  of  68. 

The  senior  Mr.  Benagh  was  a  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession, and  was  for  many  years  Clerk  of  the  Court 
at  Lynchburg  and  Master  in  Chancery.  He  came 
with  his  i^arents  to  America  in  1792. 

.Tames  Benagh  was  educated  at  Lynchburg, 
there  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
but  did  not  actively  enter  the  practice.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  late  war,  he  was  speculating  and 
taking  the  world  easy.  He  went  into  the  army 
as  Captain  and  Assistant  Adjutant-General  on 
General  Kirby  Smith's  staff.  He  was  in  the  war 
from  the  beginning  to  the  close,  and  is  probably 
the  last  man  that  ever  received  an  order  fi'om  the 
Confederate  Government.  AtJiVashington,  Wilkes 
County,  Ga.,  and  on  the  day  that  President  Davis 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


81 


and  his  Cabinet  left  that  town,  orders  came  tli rough 
yuarterniastcr-Ueneral  Lawton,  to  Captain  Ben- 
a<rh,  to  take  charge  of  all  stores  accumulated  at  dif- 
ferent depots  and  turn  tliem  over  to  the  Georgia 
liailway  Company-.  This  was  for  the  purpose  of 
enal)ling  the  road  to  run,  that  they  might  carry 
paroled  men  toward  their  homes.  The  Captain 
was  also  ordered  to  see  to  the  delivery  of  certain 
silver  coin  then  being  sent  in  bags  to  a  distin- 
guished ex-official.  The  orders  were  carried  out 
as  far  as  in  Captain  Benagh's  power  lay.  ]5ut 
the  timid  gentleman  refused  to  receive  it,  and  the 
supposition  is  that  the  boys  who  had  the  silver 
bags  in  charge  realized  the  whole.  After  the  war, 
Captain  Benagh  returned  to  Virginia,  and  later  on 
to  Athens  and  followed  planting  in  Limestone 
County  up  to  1875,  since  when  he  has  been  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  law.  He  was  appointed  Kegis- 
ter  in  Chancery,  in  188G,  by  Hon.  Thomas  Cobbs. 
He  was  married  in  Baltimore,  ild.,  in  1872,  to 
a  Mi.ss  I!yan. 

— " — ■  ■^— J^^s  — ^  • — • — 

JOHN  THOMAS  TANNER,  lieal  Estate,  Im- 
migration Agent  and  Healer  in  Exchange,  Athens, 
was  born  in  Madison  County,  this  State,  August 
25,  1820.  His  father,  Samuel  Tanner,  a  native 
of  Virginia,  came  ■  to  Alabama  in  1818,  and  to 
Athens  in  1825.  He  was  a  merchant  all  his  life. 
He  died  in  1871,  at  the  age  of  87  years.  He  was 
an  active  business  man  to  the  very  day  of  his 
final  sickness.  He  reared  four  sons,  one  of  whom, 
W.  P.  Tanner,  deceased,  was  secretary  and  treas- 
urer of  the  Cotton  Seed  Oil  Mill  at  Montgomery. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at 
Athens  ;  began  clerking  for  his  father  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  years,  from  which  time,  it  may  be 
truthfully  said,  he  has  been  an  active  business 
man.  In  1842  he  engaged  in  the  cotton  business 
in  Xew  Orleans  ;  two  years  later  he  removed  to 
Shreveport,  and  in  1847  returned  to  Athens  and 
was  with  his  father  in  mercantile  business  up  to 
1852.  He  at  that  time  engaged  in  banking,  at 
which  business  we  hnd  him  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war,  and  to  which  he  returned  at  the  close  of 
the  war.  In  1866  he  was  appointed  Revenue 
Collector  (United  States);  held  that  office  about 
eighteen  months,  and  was  succeeded  by  a  gentle- 
man from  Pennsylvania. 

As  secretary  anc^  treasurer  of  the  North  & 
South  Hailroad.  during  the  war.    Mr.  Tanner  was 


exempt  from  (iovernnient  service,  and  the  fact  of 
his  not  having  participated  in  any  manner  in  the 
cause  of  the  South  led  to  his  appointment  by  the 
United  States  (iovernment  to  the  office  of  Col- 
lector of  Pevenne. 

Associated  with  the  Hon.  Luke  Pryor  and 
others,  Jlr.  Tanner  was  conspicuous  in  the  or- 
ganization and  construction  of  the  North  & 
South  Railroad,  and  was  officially  connected  with 
it  for  twenty-five  years.  [This  road  was  first 
called  the  Tennessee    &  Alabama  Central. — Ed.] 

Since  1871,  Mr.  Tanner  has  devoted  his  time 
to  the  business  indicated  at  the  introduction  of 
this  sketch.  He  has  been  connected  officially 
with  the  Athens  Female  College  for  the  past 
thirty  years,  a  great  deal  of  the  time  as  vice- 
president,  and  at  the  death  of  Senator  Houston 
was  made  president,  a  position  he  has  since  con- 
tinued to  fill.  He  has  been  five  years  Mayor  of 
the  city  of  Athens,  and  always  identified  with  her 
best  interests.  He  is  probably  the  most  conspic- 
uous advocate  of  i'rohibition  in  the  State,  if  not 
in  the  South.  The  first  State  Temperance  Al- 
liance was  held  and  organized  at  his  office,  in 
1881.  He  was  chairman  of  the  first  State  Con- 
vention called  in  Alabama  in  the  interest  of  pro- 
hibition. In  1884  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  conven- 
tion at  Pittsburgh,  and  in  the  roll-call  of  States 
placed  the  Hon.  John  P.  St.  John  in  nomination 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  In  1886, 
Mr.  Tanner  was  nominated  at  Birmingham  for 
Governor,  on  the  Prohibition  ticket,  made 
the  race,  and  distinguished  himself  as  a  powerful 
and  sincere  worker  in  the  cause  of  temperance. 
He  is  now  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  Na- 
tional Temperance  Society,  whose  headquarters 
are  in  Xew  York  City,  and  is  also  chairman  of 
executive  committee  of  the  Prohibition  party  for 
the  State  of  Alabama. 

At  this  writing  (1888)  Mr.  Tanner  is  promi- 
nently spoken  of  in  connection  with  the  vice- 
presidential  candidacy  of  the  Prohibition  party, 
his  name  having  been  indorsed  for  that  place  by 
the  State  Prohibition  Convention.  December  15, 
1887.  [Mr.  Tanner's  was  presented  to  the  con- 
vention at  Indianajiolis,  June,  1888,  for  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States  on  the  Prohibition 
ticket,  and  received  a  flattering  vote. — Ed.] 

He  was  married  at  Greenwood,  La.,  November 
26,  1846,  to  Miss  Susan  Owen  Wilson,  a  native  of 
Jackson,  Tenn.,  and  has  had  born  to  him  four  sons 
and  fourdaughters,to-wit:  John  B..  who  isacotton 


82 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


broker,  Athens ;  Jason  S.,  deceased,  aged  nine- 
teen years;  Stephen,  deceased,  and  Maria, 
deceased  :  Margaret  Elizabeth  (Mrs.  Dr.  W.  R. 
McWilliams);  Mary  Ruth  (Mrs.  J.  L.  Thompson), 
and  Susan  0'.  (Mrs.  C.  F.  Carter.) 

Mr.  Tanner    and    family  are   members  of    the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


LAWRENCE  RIPLEY  DAVIS,  Postmaster 
at  Athens,  was  born  in  Limestone  County  Febru- 
ary 27,  1819,  and  his  parents  were  Nicliolas  and 
Martha  (Hargrave)  Davis,  of  Virginia. 

Nicholas  Davis  came  to  Alabama  in  1817,  set- 
tled on  Limestone  Creek,  this  county,  and  fol- 
lowed planting  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  died  in 
1856,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years.  He  was  a 
public-spirited  man,  and  one  of  the  first  men  of 
distinction  in  this  county.  Prior  to  1817  he  was 
a  United  States  marshal  in  Virginia,  and,  after 
coming  here,  was  a  member  of  the  first  Constitu- 
tional Convention  (1819),  and  was  a  rejiresentative 
in  tlie  lower  house  of  the  first  Legislature  after 
Alabama  was  admitted  to  the  L^nion  as  a  State. 
From  1820  to  1828,  inclusive,  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Senate,  and  for  five  sessions  was  President 
of  that  body.  He  was  the  Whig  candidate  against 
Cha23mau  for  Governor  in  1847,  and  ran  for 
Congress  against  C.  C.  Clay  in  1829,  and  was 
defeated  by  only  eighty  votes,  though  the  district 
was  known  to  be  largely  Democratic.  He  was  a 
captain  in  the  War  of  1S12. 

Another  writer,  in  speaking  of  Captain  Davis, 
says:  "  That  he  was  a  man  of  great  exjjerience 
in  public  atfairs,  and  of  the  highest  personal 
worth;  that  he  occupied  a  high  rank  in  the  esti- 
mation of  all  parties  as  a  citizen,  and  for  faithful 
public  services;  and  in  the  councils  of  the  Whig 
party  his  views  were  received  with  confidence." 

In  1844,  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  Wliig  elec- 
toral ticket,  and  in  speaking  further  of  him  in 
this  connection,  the  author  above  referred  to 
says  :  "In  his  speech  at  the  close  of  the  conven- 
tion, in  taking  leave  of  his  fellow  Whigs  he  was 
very  impressive;  he  was  truly  the  'old  man  elo- 
quent.' He  was  a  great  lover  of  his  country,  and 
in  alluding  to  its  future  under  under  a  good  gov- 
ernment, and  the  visions  opened  up  to  him  in  the 
distance,  and  the  important  influence  his  party 
was  destined  to  exert  in  developing  the  energies 
and  greatness  of  the  country,  he  was  overpowered 


with  emotions,  which  brought  relief  in  a  flood  of 
tears  as  he  took  his  seat." 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in 
Limestone  County,  read  law,  and  was  licensed  to 
practice,  but  never  went  to  the  bar.  He  followed 
farming  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  late  war,  and 
probably  up  to  18G3.  In  1873  he  came  into 
Athens,  and  started  the  Limestone  Xews,  con- 
ducted it  for  one  year,  and  sold  it  out.  It  was  in 
this  year  that  he  was  appointed  private  secre- 
tary to  Governor  Houston,  which  took  him 
to  Montgomery.  In  1849,  to  recur  to  a  much 
earlier  period  in  his  life,  he  ran  for  the  Legisla- 
ture on  the  Whig  ticket  against  W.  H.  Harrison, 
and,  notwithstanding  the  great  Democratic  major- 
ity to  be  overcome,  he  was  elected  by  about  500. 
In  1855  he  was  again  a  caTididate  for  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  was  ojiposed  by  the  Hon.  Luke  Pryor 
and  the  late  Major  Hobbs.  The  leading  question 
before  the  people  at  that  time  was  in  reference  to 
the  aid,  by  taxation,  of  the  North  &  South 
Road.  Mr.  Davis,  as  an  anti-taxation  man,  was 
defeated.  In  1859  he  was  again  elected,  and  was 
a  member  of  the  Legislature  when  the  State 
seceded.  He  was  opposed  to  secession  at  the  be- 
ginning, but  yielded  gracefully  to  the  will  of  the 
majority,  and  at  the  request  of  the  Governor  he 
canvassed  Northern  Alabama,  urging  the  people 
to  a  peaceful  acquiescence  in  the  result  of  the 
Secession  Convention.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  there  was  mucli  bitter  opjjosition  in  the  Ten- 
nessee Valley  to  secession,  and  particularly  was 
this  the  case  in  Limestone  County:  so  when  Mr. 
Davis  reached  this  part  of  the  State,  he  encoun- 
tered the  most  intense  excitement.  In  1860  he 
was  the  elector  for  his  District  on  the  Bell  and 
Everett  ticket,  and  took  an  active  part  in  that 
heated  contest. 

Mr.  Davis  was  appointed  Register  in  Cluincery 
in  1876,  and  was  still  holding  that  position  when 
appointed  postmaster  by  President  Cleveland, 
October,  1885.  He  has  always  been  recognized 
as  an  active  worker,  and  a  man  of  far  more  than 
ordinary  influence  in  the  ranks  of  the  Democratic 
party.  He  edited  the  Post  in  1882;  has  repre- 
sented his  party  in  the  various  State  and  Con- 
gressiotuil  Conventions  from  time  to  time,  and 
has  delivered  more  stump  speeches  than  any  other 
man  in  Northern  Alabama.  His  last  important 
canvass  was  in  support  of  the  Hon.  Luke  Pryor 
for  Congress,  as  against  D.  D.  Shelby. 

ilr.  Davis  was  married  first  in  Russell  County, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


8? 


Ala.,  to  Miss  Mary  Abercroinbie,  March  27.  1851. 
She  died  in  185ft.  and  in  18(!1  -Mr.  Davis  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Sarah  A.  .\[ef'Ielian. 

J.  R.  HOFFMAN.  M.  D.,  Athens,  was  born 
at  Kingsport,  Kust  'I'eniiessee,  August  13,  1830, 
and  is  the  son  of  Aaron  and  Mary  Ann  (Richard- 
son) lIolTman,  natives  of  Virginia  and  Tenmessee, 
and  of  (ierniau  and  Irish  descent,  respectively, 
lie  was  educated  at  Jonesboro,  Tenn.,  Academy; 
raine  to  Athens  in  185G;  read  medicine  with  Dr. 
\'arbrough;  graduated  from  Jefferson  Medical  Col- 
lege, Philadelphia,  in  1858; came  at  once  to  Lime- 
stone county;  practiced  three  or  four  years  in  the 
-southern  part  of  the  county,  and  removed  to 
Athens  in  18C5.  In  1861  Dr.  Hoffman  enlisted 
as  a  private  soldier  in  Ward's  Battery,  and  served 
about  eight  months  in  that  position.  At  the 
end  of  this  time  he  was  appointed  Assistant-Sur- 
geon, and  as  such  saw  much  service  in  (ieorgia 
and  Virginia.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned 
to  East  Tennessee,  ana  directly  to  Athens.  From 
ISUG  to  1874  he  was  in  the  drug  business  with  Dr. 
Coman,  at  the  same  time,  however,  giving  atten- 
tion to  his  practice.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
State  Hoard  of  Health  from  1882  to  1887:  has 
been  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Censors  of -Lime- 
stone ('ounty,and  was  County  Health  Oflicer from 
1884  to  188G. 

Dr.  Hoffman  was  married  in  this  county  Decem- 
ber 29,  185!i.  to  iliss  Fannie  C.  Jones,  who  died 
April  12,  1878,  leaving  one  son -and  two  daugh- 
ters. 


THEOPHILUS    WESTMORELAND.  M.  D., 

At  ho  lis,  was  liiii-n  in  (iili'sCiiunty.'rciin.,  Xovunilier 
21,  1834,  and  was  educated  jiriniarily  at  Pulaski, 
graduating  at  Nashville,  in  1855,  as  a  Doctor  of 
Medicine.  He  began  practice  first,  and  at  once 
after  leaving  college,  in  Giles  County,  subsequently 
locating  at  Pulaski  for  a  few  years,  and  came  into 
Athens  in  1879.  In  1880  he  established  a  drug 
store  in  connection  with  his  practice. 

In  the  summer  of  18(>1  Dr.  Westmoreland  went 
into  the  army  as  Surgeon  of  the  Fifty-third  Ten- 
nessee Infantry,  and  afterwards  was  made  Chief 
Surgeon  of  (Jeneral  Quarles"  brigade,  in  which 
])osition  he  remained  to  the  close  of  tiie  war.  He 
was   captured    at    Fort   Donelson,  and   when   the 


Federals  were  removing  the  sick,  he  and  two  other 
j)hysicians  got  permiasion  to  take  a  trip  up  the 
river,  and,  not  being  under  any  [Kirole,  made  their 
escape. 

The  Doctor  was  in  the  Western  Army  and  on 
duty  at  the  battle  of  Port  Hudson,  Dalton,  and 
many  other  jilaces  during  the  war,  and  finally  at 
the  last  conflict  of  arms,  Bentonville,  X.  C. 

Aside  from  his  profession  and  drug  business  he 
is  largely  interested  in  agriculture.  He  takes  no 
interest  in  politics  particularly,  is  no  office-seeker, 
though  a  reliable  Democrat,  and  has  served  the 
town  one  term  as  Mayor. 

lie  was  married  in  1802  at  Gilbertsborough,. 
this  county,  to  a  daughter  of  Louis  Nelson, 
an  old  citizen,  merchant  and  {)lanter  of  that 
place.  Mrs.  Westmoreland  died  in  1877,  leaving 
two  daughters  and  a  son.  One  of  the  daughters, 
an  accomplished  young  lady  of  seventeen  years, 
died  in  1884.  The  other  is  Mrs.  Vandegrift  of 
Athens.  The  Doctor's  second  marriage  occurred 
at  Athens,  where  he  wedded  Miss  May  F.  Lane, 
daughter  of  Judge  (ieorge  W.  Lane,  of  Huntsville, 
July  29,  1879.  [George  W.  Lane  was  some  years 
Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and  was  appointed  by 
Buchanan  United  States  District  Judge,  and  held 
the  office  over,  under  -Mr.  Lincoln.— F.u.]  By  his 
last  marriage  Dr.  Westmoreland  has  two  children, 
Frank  Grant  and  Pat  tie  Lane. 

The  Doctor  stands  high  in  his  profession,  is  a 
member  of  the  various  medical  societies,  and  is 
one  of  Athens'  most  popular  citizens. 


MARCUS    G.    WILLIAMS.    President    of  the 

Atlicn.s  Female  College,  was  born  at  Boonville, 
JIo.,  October  25,  1831,  and  is  a  son  of  the  IJev. 
Justinian  Williams,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  late  of  the  Tennessee  Conference. 

The  l{ev.  Mr.  Williams  was  placed  in  charge  of 
Huntsville  Station,  in  1837,  and  spent  most  of 
the  remainder  of  his  life  in  Alabama,  preaching, 
and  died  ■  in  1859,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two 
years. 

Professor  Williams  was  educated  at  La  (Jrange 
College,  Alabama  ;  studied  medicine  awhile,  but 
feeling  that  it  was  his  duty  to  preach,  turned  his 
attention  to  theology,  and  was  licensed  to  preach 
in  the  Methodist  l]])iscopaI  Church,  South,  in 
March,  1854.  During  the  following  fall,  he  en- 
tered   the   Tennessee    Conference,  on    trial,    and 


8i 


KORTHERX   ALABAMA. 


remained  there  ixntil  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
when  he  was  made  Chajilain  of  the  Third  Ten- 
nessee Infantry.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year, 
his  commission  as  Chaphiin  having  exjjired,  he 
raised  a  company  of  cavalry  for  the  Xinth  Ala- 
bama, and,  as  Captain,  commanded  it  about  a 
year  and  a  half.  He  left  the  service  on  account 
of  an  injury  received  at  Murfreesboro,  and  re- 
turned to  Lawrence  County  and  taught  school 
for  a  short  time.  In  1867  he  was  transferred  to 
the  Arkansas  Conference,  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  going  thence,  at  the  end  of  two 
years,  to  the  Southwest  Missouri  Conference.  He 
remained  in  Missouri  eleven  years,  devoting  his 
time  to  the  ministry,  and  to  the  advancement  of 
education.  He  resigned  his  Professorship  in  the 
Central  Female  College,  Lexington,  Mo.,  to  come 
to  the  Korth  Alabama  Conference,  ^lethodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South  (1880).  Since  coming 
here  he  has  had  charge  of  Xew  Market  Circuit 
and  Xew  Market  High  School,  Madison  County  ; 
Tuscumbia  Station  and  Tuscumbia  Male  Acad- 
emj^,  and  Leighton  Circuit,  and  came  to  his  pres- 
ent position  by  election,  January,  1884.  He 
preaches  at  Elkmont  and  State  Line  gratuitously, 
and  fills  the  pulpit  at  Athens  in  the  absence  of 
the  regular  pastor. 

Professor  Williams  was  married  in  Lauderdale 
County,  Ala.,  October  23,  1850,  to  a  Miss  Coffey, 
and  has  reared  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  is 
adopted,  but  is  as  near  to  him  and  as  dear  to  him, 
seemingly,  as  his  own  child.  Both  his  daughters 
are  teachers  in  the  college  over  which  he  pre- 
sides. 


RICHARD  W.  VASSER  was  born  in  Amelia 
County,  ^'a.,  in  September,  ISOO.  His  father, 
Peter  Yasser,  moved  to  Halifa.x  County,  Va., 
during  the  infancy  of  his  son,  and  being  a  man 
of  extravagant  and  somewhat  dissipated  habits, 
wasted  a  handsome  estate.  This  induced  his  son 
Richard,  in  1816,  to  join  his  cousin  Ed  Dand- 
ridge.Jonesinamoveto  Middle  Tennessee,  and  they 
■afterward  settled  in  (Jiles  County.  Young  Yasser 
came  to  Xorthern  Alabama  the  next  year,  and  de- 
cided to  make  his  home  henceforth  in  Limestone. 
By  persevering  energy  and  the  exercise  of  an  in- 
domitable will  which  possessed  the  magic  of 
moulding  circumstances  to  his  purposes,  he  in  a 
few  years   accumulated    sufficient  means  to  bring 


his  parents  and  sisters  to  his  new  home.  The 
death  of  his  father,  a  year  or  two  after  their  ar- 
rival, left  the  mother  and  sisters  entirely  depend- 
ent on  his  personal  efforts  for  their  support,  and 
never  did  son  or  brother  more  faithfully  discharge 
this  sacred  duty.  His  fine  intellect,  wonderful 
business  capacit}-,  and  well-known  integrity,  made 
him  a  leading  spirit  in  those  early  daj's  of  our 
young  Commonwealth.  He  was  president  of  the 
board  of  directors  of  the  first  Huntsville  bank, 
and  used  to  take  a  monthly  trip  to  the  then  infant 
town,  on  horseback,  astride  his  saddle-bags  filled 
with  papers,  currency  and  coin.  Throughout  his 
life  his  memory  was  marvelous,  and  his  friends  in 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  (to  which  city  he  made  a  yearly 
trijJ,  even  when  it  took  six  weeks  to  get  there), 
have  told  the  writer  of  some  of  his  feats  of 
memory,  especially  in  dates  and  figures,  not  un- 
worthy of  Parr  or  Bradford.  In  1833  he  married 
his  second  cousin,  Elizabeth  Dandrige  Jones  (she 
being  the  great-granddaughter  of  the  Peter  Jones 
who,  about  1720,  assisted  Colonel  AVilliam  Byrd, 
then  commissioner  of  the  English  C'rown  in  this 
country,  to  lay  off  the  cities  of  Richmond  and 
Petersburg,  Ya.,  and  the  latter  city  was  named 
for  this  Peter  Jones,  (and  not  for  Petersburg 
in  Russia,  as  many  erroneously  suppose.)  She 
bore  him  thirteen  children,  nine  sons,  of  whom 
William  Ed.  Yasser  was  the  youngest,  and  is  the 
sole  survivor.  Mr.  Yasser  died  in  Athens,  Ga,,  in 
18G4,  and  in  1880  his  remains  (with  those  of  his 
son.  Lieutenant  Harry  Yasser,  who  was  killed  in 
Johnston's  retreat  from  Atlanta,  just  one  month 
after  his  father's  decease),  were  brought  to  Athens, 
They  lie  side  by  side  in  the  old  town  ceme- 
tery, on  ground  taken  from  the  garden  of  the  old 
home,  where  the  surviving  members  of  the  family 
still  keeji  their  resting-place  fragrant  with  roses 
and  lilies,  planted  by  hands  long  since  returned  to 
mother  earth. 


WILLIAM  EDWARD  VASSER.  son  of  Richard 
W,  and  Elizabeth  B.  (Jones)  Yasser,  natives  of 
Yirginia  and  Xorth  Carolina,  respectively,  was 
born  March  19.  1855.  He  was  educated  at  the 
^Military  Institute,  Lexington,  Ya.,  and  at  the 
University  of  Yirginia,  graduating  from  the 
first  in  1875,  and  from  the  latter  in  1876.  In 
1878,  he  made  a  tour  of  Europe,  for  the  j'urpose 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


85 


of  observation. and  study;  returned  to  Athens,  and 
fur  the  succeeding  three  years,  turned  his  attention 
to  farming. 

During  the  years  of  1882-3,  Mr.  ^■as^<er  con- 
ducted tlie  editorial  columns  of  the  Alabama 
Courier,  and  in  188(j,  the  people  of  the  county, 
chose  him  as  against  six  competitors  to  represent 
them  in  the  lower  house  of  the  State  Legislature, 
and  it  is  wortliy  of  remark  that  at  the  primary 
election,  he  received  a  decided  majority  of  the  en- 
tire vote  cast.  At  tlie  general  election,  there  was 
no  opposition  to  Jlr.  Yasser.  As  a  member  of  the 
Legishiture,  he  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Education,  and  an  active  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Public  Roads  and  Highways.  In  the 
first  named  committee,  and  before  the  House,  he 
took  a  prominent  stand  in  favor  of  the  Kormal 
School  system,  and  maintained  it  successfully 
against  the  combined  opposition  of  its  enemies, 
and  it  is  to  his  efforts  that  the  peof>le  of  Alabama 
are  indebted  for  the  improvement  and  increase  of 
the  Normal  School  privileges,  if  not  indeed  its 
present  existence.  It  was  his  committee  that  intro- 
duced the  law,  compelling  county  superintendents 
to  cover  public  money  coming  into  their  hands, 
into  the  State  Treasury,  instead  of  disbursing  it  as 
they  had  hitherto  done.  As  under  the  old  system, 
defalcations  had  been  for  many  years  more  or  less 
frequent,  a  change  in  the  law  is  at  once  recog- 
nized as  salutary.  It  was  his  committee  that 
separated  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  from  the  Blind 
Institution,  established  different  schools  for  them, 
and  procured  separate  appropriations  for  each 
institution.  He  also  advocated  successfully  an 
appropriation  for  the  Auburn  Polytechnic  School. 

Mr.  Yasser  is  a  cultured,  educated  gentleman, 
with  a  decidedly  literary  cast  of  mind.  His 
eulogy  in  verse  on  the  distinguished  Houston,  was 
((uoted  by  Congressman  Williams  in  his  eulogy 
upon  the  dead  Senator  before  the  United  States 
House  of  IJepresentatives,  and  his  volume  of  poems 
entitled  "Flower  Myths  and  other  Poems"  (1884) 
has  attracted  much  favorable  comment  from  liter- 
ary critics  in  almost  every  State  in  the  Union,  and 
many  of  his  poems  have  been  published  and  repub- 
lished by  the  leading  papers  of  the  country. 

-.  ...>..;^^.  .<..    ■ 

THOMAS  HUBBARD  HOBBS,  Athens,  was  born 
in  Limestone  County,  Ala.,  April  19,  182G,  and 
died   in    Lynchburg,   Va.,   July  24,    18G2.     His 


parents  were  Ira  E.  and  Rebecca  E.  (Maclin) 
Hobbs,  natives  of  Brunswick  county,  Ya.,  and  of 
Scotch-Irish  extraction.  His  mother  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  Maclin,  a  captain  in  the  War  of 
1812,  and  his  uncle,  Hubbard  Hobbs,  was  a  lieu- 
tenant in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  an  officer 
on  the  Yincennes,  the  first  vessel  sent  by  the 
United  States  (Government  to  circumnavigate  the 
globe.  Lieutenant  Hobbs  sjient  most  of  his  life  at 
sea,  though  he  occasionally  visited  Alabama,  and 
probably  erected  the  first  cotton-mill  in  this  State. 
It  was  at  Fulton,  and  in  the  year  1827. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  his  academic 
education  at  La  Grange  College;  graduated  from 
the  L'niversity  of  Yirginia  as  ]?achelor  of  Arts  in 
1853,  and  subsequently  from  the  law  department 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  practiced 
law  but  a  short  time  at  Athens,  this  State,  when, 
finding  his  plantation  requiring  most  of  his 
attention,  he  abandoned  the  profession  almost 
entirely. 

He  was  one  of  the  prime  movers  of  the  North  i<: 
South  Railroad,  and  was  associated  with  the  Hon. 
Luke  Pryor  in  the  establishment  and  final  success 
of  that  enterprise. 

He  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in  1856,  as 
favoring  the  railroad  approj)riation,  and  was  sent 
by  that  body  to  represent  his  Congressional  district 
at  the  Cincinnati  Convention  of  that  year.  He 
was  in  the  Legislature  continuously  from  1856  to 
1861,  and  was  a  Breckenridge  elector  in  1860. 
Though  quite  a  young  man,  he  was  prominently 
spoken  of  in  connection  with  the  gubernatorial 
chair. 

In  speaking  of  him  after  hisdeath,  the  Jlemphis 
Appeal  says:  ■•Among  Alabama's  brightest  and 
purest  sons  was  JIajor  Thomas  II.  llobbs,  of  Lime- 
stone County.  He  was  of  the  cavalier  stock  of  th» 
Old  Dominion.  His  education  was  thorough, 
vai'ied  and  polished.  He  wielded  a  facile  pen, 
and  in  writings  showed  his  refined  and  tacit  taste. 
He  was  gifted  with  a  clear,  cogent  and  convincing 
eloquence.  Calm,  dignified,  self-poised,  he  dis- 
cussed the  most  difficult  questions  with  eminent 
ability.  As  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  he  de- 
voted his  time  and  talents  to  the  development  of 
the  resources  of  his  own  State.  He  was  foremost 
in  all  noble  enterprises.  In  her  system  of  pojiular 
enterprises,  Alabama  owed  more  to  Thomas  Hobbs 
than  to  any  other  one  man.  A  politician  of  the 
old  Democratic  school,  he  was  the  courteous  and 
gentlemanly   opponent,    never  condescending  to 


«6 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


low  and  unmanly  tricks  to  gain  his  point.  Pure, 
and  as  gentle  as  a  woman,  he  was  tlie  embodiment 
of  masculine  energy  and  heroic  valor.  With  a 
courage  cool,  calm  and  daring,  he  was  among  the 
first  to  enter  the  army." 

An  original  Secessionist,  he  was  opposed  by 
some  of  the  leading  men  of  his  country.  He 
entered  the  army  in  1861  as  the  Cajitain  of  Com- 
pany F,  Ninth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  proceeded 
at  once  to  Richmond. 

While  the  battle  of  Manassas  was  being  fought 
he  was  at  Piedmont,  and  reached  the  battle-ground 
the  next  day,  where,  as  he  said,  "I  saw  for  the 
first  time  the  awful  result  of  war."  After  going 
through  all  the  battles  in  which  his  regiment  liad 
participated,  in  the  first  day  of  what  is  known  as 
the  Seven  Days'  Fight  around  Richmond,  he  was 
wounded  by  a  gun-shot  in  the  knee.  This  wound, 
though  slight,  resulted  in  his  death.  'While  in 
the  army  Captain  Ilobbs  was  asked  to  become  a 
member  of  the  Confederate  Congress,  but  declined 
the  honor. 

He  was  first  married  at  Richmond,  Ya.,  August 
4.  185"2,  to  Indiana  E.  Booth.  She  died 'at  Athens 
in  185-1.  His  second  marriage  was  at  Lynchburg. 
Va.,  February  17, 1858,  to  Anne  Benagh,  a  daugh- 
ter of  James  Benagh,  of  that  city.  She  died  at 
Athens  in  1872,  leaving  two  sons:  Thomas  JIaclin 
and  James  Benagh.  The  latter  died  in  1883  at 
t lie  age  of  21  years.  Thomas  Jlaclin  Hobbs  was 
educated  at  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  and 
the  Alabama  State  University.  He  lives  now  upon 
the  plantation  once  owned  by  his  grandfather. 
Thomas  jMaclin,  and  is  the  sole  successor  and 
heir  to  the  estates  of  that  family. 

JOHN  R.  MASON,  the  second  son  of  William 
and  Rebecca  ilasun.  was  born  in  tireenville  Coun- 
ty, Va.,  1803,  and  died  at  luka,  Miss.,  in  April, 
1862.  He  was  educated  in  his  native  State,  came 
with  his  parents  to  Limestone  County;  and  at 
Athens  was  many  years  engaged  in  the  mer- 
cantile business,  in  addition  to  which  he  was  an 
extensive  farmer  and  stock  grower.  He  took  a 
prominent  part  here  in  the  agitation  of  the  ques- 
tion of  aid,  by  taxation,  in  the  construction  of  the 
North  and  South  Railroad,  bitterly  opposing  the 
proposition  to  subsidize.  However,  after  the  road 
was  put  under  way,  we  find  that  he  was  equally 
as  earnest  in  having  it  pushed  forward  to  comple- 


tion, and  that  he  was  for  years  a  member  of  its 
Board  of  Directors. 

He  was  first  married  in  Limestone  County  in 
1833,  to  a  daughter  of  Gabriel  Smith,  who  died 
in  1844,  leaving  one  son,  William  Mason,  who 
died  in  Waco,  Texas,  in  1878.  John  R.  Mason  was 
again  married  at  Athens,  ilarch  27,  1845,  to  Miss 
(ilorvinia  Beaty,  a  daughter  of  Robert  Beaty,  one 
of  the  early  settlers  of  this  place.  Robert  Beaty 
came  from  Ireland  when  he  was  but  a  child,  grew 
to  manhood  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  there 
married  Sallie  Parrott.  He  was  one  of  the 
jiioneers  of  Limestone  County,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  having  the  county  site  established  at 
Atliens.  as  against  the  claims  of  the  then  preten- 
tious village  of  Cambridge.  He  was  an  influential 
and  jiublic-spirited  citizen.  He  donated  to  the 
town  the  famous  '"Athens  Springs,"  with  several 
acres   of  land,    with    the    understanding  that  it 

•^  should  be  devoted  to  the  public  usfr  forever.  Mr. 
Beaty  was  familiarly  known  as  Captain  Beaty. 
He  died  in  Missouri,  where  he  had  gone  on  a  busi- 
ness trip. 

John  R.  Mason,  by  his  second  marriage,  had 
two  sons,  Robert  Beaty  and  John  Ormond;  the 
latter  died  at  Athens  in  1884,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
six  years.  Robert  B.  Mason,  the  elder  son,  was 
born  June  27,  1846;  educated  at  Athens,  Ala., 
and  Pittsburgh,  Pa.:  entered  the  Confederate 
Army  as  a  member  of  (Jen.  P.  D.  Roddy's  escort, 
served  to  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  and  surren- 
dered at  Pond  Springs.  After  the  war  lie  devoted 
some  time  to  the  mercantile  business,  but  after- 
ward turned  his  attention  entirely  to  farming 
and  stock  raising. 

He  married  at  Fayette,  Tenn.,  in  1870,  Miss 
Mollie  P.  (larrett,  who  died  in  1882,  leaving  four 
children,    Clyde   Ormond,    Robert    Beaty,    John 

j   Greer  and  Mary  Elice. 

I       John  R.  Mason  was  a  self-made  man.   starting 

:  out  in  life  with  little  of  this  world's  goods,  but  by 
dint  of  persistent  effort,  close  application  to  busi- 
ness, and  the  exercise  of  sound  discretion,  he 
accumulated  and  left  to  his  family  a  handsome 
competency.  He  was  universally  popular  and  was 
beloved. by  all  classes.  Everybody  knew,  and  en- 
joyed the  society  of  "  Ca])tain  Jack  Mason." 

It  was  while  visiting  his  son  William  (in  Missis- 
sippi, after  the  battle  of  Shiloh),  who  was  a  Con- 
federate soldier  under  (jeneral  Bragg,  that  he  was 
taken  sick,  and  died  at  luka,  without  again  reach- 
ing, his  home,   which  was  occujiied  just  at   this 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


87 


time  by  the  Federal  forces.  The  Federal  officers 
made  his  residence  their  head  quarters,  and  pro- 
liibitcd  the  Mason  family  from  leaving  town,  even 
for  thf  i)ur])ose  of  bringing  him  home  before  he 
died. 

lie  was  a  strong  Douglas  Democrat  and  a 
I'nion  man  until  his  State  seceded,  then  he  went 
with  his  i)eoiile. 

DANIEL  COLEMAN  was  Ix.rn  in  Caroline 
County.  \'a..  August  t,  ISOl,  and  died  at 
Athens  Xovember  4,  1S57.  When  sixteen  years 
old  he  left  his  home  to  make  his  way  in  the 
world,  the  death  of  his  fatlier  having  reduced 
the  family  from  affluence  to  poverty.  He  taught 
school  at  the  Kanawha  Salt  Works  a  year,  and 
used  the  money  thus  obtained  to  graduate  at  the 
Transylvania  University.  He  then  obtained 
employment  as  a  scribe  at  a  court  in  Frankfort, 
Ky..  and  read  law  while  so  engaged  under  the  eye 
of  Judge  Bledsoe.  In  1819  he  came  to  this  State 
and  located  at  Mooresville,  this  county.  The  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  cliosen  by  the  Legislature 
(through  the  influence  of  Hon.  Nich.  Davis)  Judge 
of  the  county  court.  He  was  only  nineteen  years 
old,  but  the  gravity  of  his  deportment  led  no  one 
to  question  his  majority,  and  he  held  the  office 
several  years.  In  1829  he  represented  Limestone 
in  the  Legislature.  In  18:J5  he  was  elected  by  the 
Legislature  a  judge  of  the  circuit  court.  Tiiis  dig- 
nitied  and  responsilile  position  he  filled  for  twelve 
years.  How  satisfactorily  he  performed  his  duties 
may  be  inferred  from  the  compliment  paid  hitu  in 
June.  1851,  when  (iovernor  Collier  selected  him  to 
fill  a  vacancy  on  the  supreme  bench.  He  served  till 
the  following  winter,  when  he  declined  a  candi- 
dacy before  the  Legislature,  feeling  tiiat  his 
enfeel)led  health  would  not  permit  him  to  undergo 
the  labors  of  the  post. 

Judge  Coleman  left  a  character  fpr  spotless 
integrity,  piety,  decorum  and  sobriety.  As  a 
judge  he  was  dignified.  laborious  and  impartial. 
In  a[ipeai'anee  he  Wiis  slen<ler  and  tall,  with  a  light 
complexion.  In  manner  he  was  grave  to  austerity. 
lie  married  Miss  Peterson  of  this  county,  and 
left,  several  children. 

Of  these  we  have  the  following  data:  P.ev.  James 
L.  Coleman  is  a  graduate  of  La  Grange  College, 
Ala.:  Daui?l  Coleman  is  a  graduate  of  Wesleyan 
College  (or  University),  Florence.  Ala.,  and  after- 


ward of  the  Law  Department  of  the  University 
of  Vipginia:  John  Hartwell  Coleman  graduated 
at  Florence  with  first  honors,  and  afterward  like- 
wise took  the  Law  Course  at  the  University  of  \'ir- 
ginia:  Hichard  H.  Coleman  was  attending  High 
School  in  Virginia  when  the  war  broke  out,  and 
he  joined  the  army  at  about  seventeen  years  of 
age;  Dr.  Ruffin  Coleman  obtained  his  collegiate 
training  at  the  Southern  L'niversity,  Greensboro, 
and  studied  medicine  at  the  University  of  Nash- 
ville, Tenn. 

Judge  Coleman  was  a  conspicuous  and  zealous 
menilier  of  the  ilethodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Soutii.  His  wife,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  was 
noted  for  beauty  of  face  and  character.  She  was 
a  brilliant  conversationalist  and  a  noted  hostess. 
She  survived  her  husband  many  years,  and  died  at 
Athens,  February  14,  1885. 

JOHN  TURRENTINE,  .Merchant,  Athens,  was 
born  at   lIillsbcHo,  X.  ('.,  May  j5,  1811. 

His  parents  were  John  and  Nancy  (Wilson)  Tur- 
rentine.  The  Turrentines  came  from  Ireland  in 
the  Colonial  days,  and  some  of  them  fought  with 
distinction  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  after- 
ward, held  important  trusts  in  the  civil  govern- 
ment. The  senior  John  Turrentine  entered  the 
I'nited  States  Regular  Army  soon  after  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans,  and  served  five  years,  lacking 
three  months,  and  died.  His  wife  in  the  mean- 
time had  removed,  at  his  request,  from  North 
Carolina  to  Tennessee,  settled  in  Lincoln' County, 
and  there  received  the  news  of  his  death.  He  was 
a  non-commissioned  officer,  and  was  the  father  of 
four  daughters  and  two  sons.  Through  the  influ- 
ence of  (ieneral  Houston,  Congress  j)assed  a  bill 
granting  a  bounty  to  his  heirs  in  consideration  of 
his  services.  Mrs.  Turrentine  removed  to  ilorgan 
County.  Ala.,  in  1820,  and  there  died  in  1820,  at 
the  age  of  forty-five  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  brought  up  on  a 
farm  and  acquired  such  education  as  was  possible 
to  his  limited  circumstances.  He  lived  in  Law- 
rence County  twelve  years,  coming  from  Courtland, 
where  lie  had  been  a  salesman,  with  a  small  stock 
of  goods,  to  Athens  in  1844.  He  has  now  been 
forty-four  years  a  merchant  in  this  town. 

For  twelve  years  preceding  the  war,  he  held  tha 
office  of  .Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  for  three  or  four 
vears  after  the  war   was  General  Administrator. 


88 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  was  opposed  to  secession,  and  did  what  he 
could  to  prevent  it,  but  when  the  South  withdrew 
from  the  Union,  he  espoused  the  cause  of  his 
State,  and  it  cost  him  the  whole  of  his  property, 
for  the  Yankees  burned  up  everytiiing  he  had. 

Mr.  Turrentiue  was  married  while  in  Lawrence 
County  (May,  183T),  to  Susan  Ann  Stevens,  who 
died  in  Xovember,  1842,  leaving  one  son,  now  the 
Hon!  John  J.  Turrentine,  of  this  city. 

Mr.  Turrentine  married  his  second  wife,  Amanda 
Melvina  Francis  Higgins,  in  this  county,  and  she 
died  Jiily  16,  1884.  Of  the  seven  children  born 
to  her,  SIX  were  living  at  the  time  of  her  death, 
and  one  has  since  died.  The  living  are:  Thomas 
J.,  a  merchant;  William  H.,  a  lawyer;  Nancy 
Elizabeth  ;  Sarah  Louisa  (Mrs.  James  William 
Bridgfourth),  Martha  Ann,  died  August  1,  1870, 
and  Jane  died  March  9,  1885. 

Mr.  Turrentine  is  a  Master  Mason  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


WILLIAM  A.  HINE,  Hardware  Merchant, 
Athens,  was  born  in  Limestone  County  January 
29,  1822.  His  father,  Silas  Hine,  was  a  native  of 
Connecticut,  from  whence  he  removed  to  Vir- 
ginia, and  in  1818  to  Alabama.  Here  he  was  a 
planter,  and  died  in  1850.  In  Virginia,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Temperance  Harrison,  who  bore  him 
three  sons  and  one  daughter,  who  grew  to  man's 
and  woman's  estate. 

William  A.  Hine  was  the  second  son  born,  and 
is  the  only  one  living.  He  received  his  education 
in  the  Athens  schools  ;  followed  planting  many 
Tears,  and  engaged  in  mercantile  business  in 
1843. 

The  senior  Mr.  Hine  was  a  merchant  in  Athens 
in  connection  with  his  planting  interests,  and  it 
was  with  him  that  the  present  Mr.  Hine  took  his 
first  lessons  in  mercliandizing. 

During  the  late  war,  ilr.  Hine  was  commis- 
sioner of  revenue  and  roads.  He  has  never  been 
in  jiolitica,  and  with  the  excejition  of  the  period 
of  the  war,  he  has  devoted  his  time  and  his  talents 
to  business,  and  has  been  successful. 

Mr.  Hine  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Ejjis- 
copal  Church,  and  is  a  Mason.  He  was  married, 
in  Lauderdale  County,  in  February,  1845,  to 
Miss  Letitia  Sloss,  wlio  bore  him  three  children 
that  grew  to  man's  and  woman's  estate.  She 
died  in  1865,  leaving  three  children:     Clara  (Mrs. 


Dr.  Borroum,  Corinth,  Miss.),  William  A.,  Jr., 
died  in  February,  1879,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two 
years;  and  Ernest,  a  farmer,  now  in  this  county. 

Mr.  Hine's  second  marriage  occurred  in  Cor- 
inth, Miss.,  in  1867,  where  he  wed  Eva,  a  younger 
sister  of  his  first  wife. 

— «^S^{^-  <•  •    • 

WILLIAM  B.  RUSSELL,  of  the  firm  of  W.  B. 
Kussell  iS:  Co..  wholesale  and  retail  grocers,  and 
cotton  dealers,  was  born  November  28,  1851,  at 
the  town  of  Athens,  and  is  the  son  of  John  G. 
Russell,  deceased.  He  was  educated  in  the  Athens 
schools:  began  clerking  when  fifteen  years  of  age, 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  entered  into  busi- 
ness for  himself.  The  present  partnership  was 
formed  in  January,  1887;  ■  the  concern  has  been 
doing  a  jobbing  business  since  1879.  It  is  the 
lai-gest  retail  house  in  Athens,  and  the  only  whole- 
sale store  of  any  kind. 

Mr.  Russell  was  married  at  Winchester,  Tenn., 
January  18,  1881,  to  Miss  Jessie  Houghton, 
daughter  of  Dr.  S.  W.  Houghton,  of  that  town, 
and  has  had  born  to  him  four  children.  The 
family  are  members  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  Mr.  Russell  is  an  active 
worker  in  the  cause  of  temperance.  Devoting  his 
entire  time  to  his  business,  he  cares  but  little  for 
politics  and  less  for  office  holding.  The  only  offi- 
cial position  he  has  filled,  we  believe,  has  been 
that  of  councilman  from  his  ward. 

Mr.  Russell,  in  addition  to  being  a  shrewd,  suc- 
cessful business  man,  gives  some  time  and  thought 
to  literature,  and  some  of  his  contributions  to 
current  pajjers  have  attracted  considerable  atten- 
tion. 

■    •♦>--;^t^-'<'-    — 

CHARLES  W.  RAISLER,  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, son  is  a  of  Frederick  William  and  Elizabeth 
(Himeberger)  Raisler,  of  Wiirtemberg,  Germany. 

In  early  life  he  learned  the  cabinet  maker's 
trade,  in  New  York  City,  and  from  there  went  to 
New  Orleans,  from  which  place  he  joined  Company 
F,  Second  Regiment,  Louisiana  Volunteers,  and 
served  through  the  Mexican  War,  under  General 
Taylor.  At  the  close  of  the  Mexican  War  he 
returned  to  New  Orleans,  and  from  there  worked 
his  way  North,  stopping,  ad  libitum,  at  various 
cities  between  the  Gulf  and  the  Ohio  River,  and 
finally   landing  at  Triana,    Ala.,   where  he  en- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


89 


gaged  in  the  manufacture  of  furniture.  In  1856, 
after  having  liis  furniture  factory  at  Triana 
burned,  he  came  into  Athens,  and  here  was  en- 
gaged in  the  cabinet-making  business,  at  the  out- 
break of  the  late  war.  In  May,  18(31,  he  raised  a 
company  of  volunteers  for  the  Fortieth  Ten- 
nessee, and  was  with  it  until  the  capture  of  Island 
No.  10.  As  an  officer  he  was  taken  to  Johnson's 
Island,  held  thirteen  or  fourteen  months,  and 
exchanged.  His  command  was  re-organized 
into  the  Fifty-Fourth  Alabama  Infantry,  with 
Uaisler  as  Captain  of  Company  B.  He  was  with 
this  regiment  at  Baker's  Creek,  and  was  again 
captured,  near  Jackson,  and  returned  to  John- 
son's Island,  where  he  was  kept  until  within  one 
month  of  the  fall  of  Kichmond.  He  returned 
home,  June  15,  1865,  and  out  of  the  127  men 
that  went  with  him  to  the  front,  only  eighteen 
-survived. 

Captain  Kaisler  was  the  first  representative  to 
the  Ijegislature,  from  Limestone  County,  after  the 
cessation  of  hostilities,  and  he  served  in  that  body, 
sessions  of  1865,  '66,  'G7,  '70,  '71,  "82,  and  '83. 
He  served  one  term  as  mayor  of  Athens,  in  18  i  8, 
and  is  the  present  incumbent  of  that  office.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  Knights  of 
Honor.  Golden  Rule,  Knights  and  Ladies  of 
Honor,  and  a  communicant  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

He  has  always  been  an  active  political  worker, 
and  was  for  many  years  chairman  of  the  demo- 
cratic executive  committee,  though  recently  it 
has  been  charged,  and  probably  rightly,  that  his 
independence  has  taken  him  somewhat  out  of  the 
line  of  stalwart  democracy,  though  probably  not 
into  the  enemy's  camp. 

While  in  the  Legislature,  he  introduced  several 
bills,  that  became  laws,  of  more  than  ordinary  im- 
portance. 

Captain  Raisler  was  a  gallant  soldier  during 
the  war,  and  afterward,  undoubtedly,  rendered  the 
people  of  Alabama  much  valuable  service. 

He  is  now  engaged  in  the  drug  business. 

C.  A.  ARNETT.  Real  Estate  Broker,  born  at 
Triana,  Madison  County,  Ala.,  March  12,  18.38, 
and  his  parents  were  Thomas  and  Mathilda  (Cole) 
Arnett,  of  Virginia,  and  descended  from  the 
French. 


The  senior  Arnett  married  before  leaving  Vir- 
ginia, and  died  in  Alabama,  when  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  an  infant. 

Mr.  Arnett  was  educated  in  Madison  County  and 
lived  there  until  1869.  When  a  young  man  he  be- 
gan the  study  of  medicine,  but  gave  it  up,  and,  in 
1854,  engaged  in  mercantile  business  at  Triana, 
where  he  was  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  He 
came  to  Athens  in  1875  and  engaged  in  business ; 
was  elected  Mayor  of  the  city  in  1887  ;  has  been 
secretary  of  the  Limestone  Agricultural  Associa- 
tion since  1884,  and  has  served  tiie  town  many 
years  as  its  clerk  and  treasurer.  He  was  appointed 
by  Gov,  Houston,  July,  1877,  assistant  commis- 
sioner of  emigration,  and  proved  himself  of  great 
efficiency  in  that  deptirtment. 


.-^« 


ROBERT  M.  RAWLS,  Editor  and  Proprietor  of 

the  Alabiimii  (jiiiricr,\\.  Weekly  Democratic  paper, 
published  every  Wednesday  at  Athens,  was  born 
in  Lincoln  County,  Tenn.  Jan.  6,  1861.  He  was 
a  son  of  Luke  H.  Rawls,  who  was  a  merchant  dur- 
ing his  life,  and  who  died  in  1873  at  the  age  of 
sixty-six  years. 

Robert  M,  Rawls  was  the  youngest  of  twelve  chil- 
dren. He  received  his  schooling  at  Jackson,  Tenn. 
and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  entered  a  news- 
paper office  in  that  town  and  learned  the  printer's 
trade.  From  the  office  of  the  Fayetteville  Obser- 
ver, where  he  had  worked  about  eighteen  months, 
he  took  charge  of  the  Lynchburg,  (Tenn.)  Seiifi- 
nel,  going  thence,  within  a  few  months,  to  a  posi- 
tion upon  the  Nashville  World,  then  a  new  paper, 
and  upon  which  he  set  the  first  line  of  type  ever 
placed  in  a  "  stick"  for  its  columns.  He  remained 
upon  the  World  until  January,  1883,  when  he  came 
to  Athens  and  in  partnership  with  J.  J.  Turren- 
tine,  purchased  the  Courier.  Mr.  Tnrrentine 
withdrew  from  the  paper  in  1884,  since  which  l^me 
Mr.  Rawls  has  been  sole  proprietor. 

Mr.  Rawls  is  now  and  has  been  since  May,  1886, 
treasurer  of  the  Alabama  Press  Association. 

He  was  married  in  Athens,  May  8,  1883,  to  Miss 
Fannie  Black,  daughter  of  the  late  John  W.  Black, 
and  has  had  born  to  him  two  children,  a  son  and 
a  daughter.  Mr.  Rawls  is  a  wide  awake,  public 
spirited, progressive  young  man,  and  gives  the  peo- 
ple of  his  county  one  of  the  best  papers  they  have 
ever  had. 


VI. 
LAUDFRDALE   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  15,000;  colored,  0,000. 
Area,  700  square  miles.  Woodland,  all;  barrens, 
400  square  miles;  Red  Valley  land  and  gravelly 
hills,  300  square  miles.  Acres  in  cotton,  ajDprox- 
imately,  26,600;  in  corn,  4.3,000;  in  oats,  4,600; 
in  wheat,  8,500;  in  rye,  350;  in  tobacco,  100;  in 
sweet  potatoes,  450.  Approximate  number  of 
bales  of  cotton,  9,500. 

County  Seat — Florence;  population,  3,000;  lo- 
cated on  the  North  bank  of  the  Tennessee  river; 
noted  for  its  manufactures,  elegant  schools  and 
superior  class  of  society.  (See  History  of  Florence, 
this  vol.) 

Newspapers  published  at  Florence,  Banner, 
Gazette,  Wave — all  Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County ^ — Anderson  Creek, 
Arthur,  Baily  Springs,  Centre  Star,  Comer,  Cov- 
ington, Florence,  Gravelly  Springs,  Green  Hill, 
Lexington,  Oakland,  Pruitton,  Rawhide,  Rogers- 
ville.  Saint  Florain,  Smithsonia,  Sugar,  AV'aterloo. 

Lauderdale  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  counties  in 
the  State.  It  is  situated  in  the  northwestern  corner 
of  Alabama,  and  is  joined  on  two  sides  by  the 
States  of  Mississippi  and  Tennessee.  It  was  one 
of  the  first  sections  of  Alabama  settled  by  the 
whites,  and  was  organized  as  a  county  before  the 
State  was  constituted.  It  was  established  in  1818, 
and  named  for  the  famous  Indian  fighter.  Col. 
Lauderdale,  of  Tennessee,  who  fell  in  the  battle  of 
Talladga,  December  33,  1814. 

It  has  a  diversity  of  soil,  as  is  abundantly  indi- 
cated in  the  variety  of  crops  grown.  In  the 
northern  portion  of  the  county  the  surface  is 
somewhat  more  uneven  than  is  that  in  the  south- 
ern end.  The  prevailing  soil  in  the  northern  por- 
tion is  of  a  grayish  hue,  but  yields  quite  readily. 
In  the  south  the  lands  are  reddish  in  character. 
This  is  due  to  the  presence  of  iron.  These  lands 
are  quite  fertile,  and  though  some  of  them  have 
been  in  cultivation  seventy-five  years,  they  are 
still  productive  without  the  aid  of  fertilizers. 
West  of  Florence,  in  a  great  bend  of  the  Tennes- 
see river,  is  a  large  body  of  valley  lands  known 


as  the  Colbert  Reservation.  It  is  overspread  in 
different  directions  by  some  of  the  finest  farms 
found  in  this  section  of  Alabama.  These  valley 
lands,  when  fresh,  will  jiroduce  as  much  as  one 
thousand  pounds  of  seed  cotton  to  the  acre.  The 
most  of  the  cotton  grown  in  the  county  is  raised 
ujion  the  red  valley  lands,  and  the  product  per 
acre  is  considerably  above  the  average. 

The  chief  crops  of  the  county  are  cotton,  corn, 
wheat,  oats,  sorghum  and  sweet  potatoes.  Apples 
and  peaches  are  grown  in  vast  quantities  in  the 
orchards.  These  are  the  chief  fruits,  though 
other  fruits  are  grown  with  success  when  they 
receive  proper  attention.  This  is  especially  true 
of  the  grape.  Wild  fruits,  such  as  hickorynuts 
and  berries  grow  in  large  quantities. 

The  chief  pursuits  of  the  people  are  farming, 
stock-raising  and  manufacturing,  to  all  of  which 
the  county  is  admirably  adapted.  For  many 
years  the  single  pursuit  was  that  of  planting;  but 
the  superb  water  power  of  the  county  and  the 
abundant  fuel  suggested  the  establishment  of 
manufactories  long  before  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  Cotton  and  wool  factories  were  accordingly 
established,  as  well  as  manufactories  of  leather. 
At  this  period  Lauderdale  was,  perhaps,  in  ad- 
vance of  any  other  portion  of  the  State  in  its 
manufactories.  It  is  believed  to  be  the  jjioneer 
county  in  establishing  manufacturing  interests. 
These  industries  perished  amid  the  ravages  of  the 
war,  but  are  now  rebuilt  to  some  extent,  and  in 
the  town  of  Florence,  joarticularly,  manufactur- 
ing is  assuming  important  proportions. 

The  country  is  abundantly  sujjplied  with  per- 
petual streams  of  water.  Shoal,  Cypress,  Blue 
Water,  Bluff  and  Second  creeks  flow  through  the 
county  from  the  north. 

Striking  the  southwestern  boundary  of  the 
county  is  the  Elk  river.  Besides  these  there  are 
many  bold  mountain  springs,  containing  both 
limestone  and  freestone  water.  There  are  springs 
in  several  parts  of  the  county  that  have  medicinal 
properties,  the  most  noted  of  these  being  Bailey's 


90 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


91 


Springs,  but  a  short  distance  from  the  town  of 
Florence:  though  Taylor's  Springs  have  a  local 
reputation.  In  every  part  of  the  county  are  to 
be  found  local  industries,  such  as  gins,  and  grist, 
and  saw  mills. 

There  are  forests  of  valuable  timber  in  every 
part  of  Lauderdale  County.  The.se  comprise  sev- 
eral varieties  of  oak,  poplar,  chestnut,  beech, 
liickory,  walnut^  cherry,  and  short  leaf  pine.  The 
forests,  in  many  places,  are  heavily  wooded  with 
these  valuable  timbers.  Facilities  for  transporta- 
tion of  products  to  market  are  already  good,  but 
are  destined  to  be  greatly  increased  at  no  remote 
])eriod.  The  Memphis  &  Charleston  Railway  runs 
a  branch  road  into  Florence  from  Tuscumbia;  the 
Louisville  &  Nashville  taps  the  same  town  with 
a  road  known  as  the  Nashville  &  Florence,  from 
Columbia,  Teun.,  and  other  roads  are  proposed 
and   in  process  of  construction. 

The  educational  advantages  of  the  county  are 
superior.  Throughout  the  entire  county  there 
are  good  local  schools,  affording  all  the  educational 
facilities  necessary  for  common  school  instruction. 
These  schools  are  supported  by  all  the  moral  influ- 
ence that  comes  of  long  established  and  well-reg- 
ulated society.  The  people  are  law-abiding  and 
thrifty,  and  the  tone  of  society  is  elevating. 

In  the  northern  portion  of  the  county,  adjoin- 
ing the  State  of  Tennessee,  are  to  be  found  excel- 
lent dejjosits  of  iron  ore.  The  extent  of  tiie  preva- 
lence of  this  ore  is  not  known,  as  it  has  been 
oulv  partially  developed.  In  the  southeastern 
part  of  Lauderdale,  on  Elk  River,  is  a  valuable 
cave  of  saltpetre. 

Theciiief  towns  of  the  county  are  Florence  (the 
county  seat),  Lexington,  Rodgersville  and  Waterloo, 

With  water  power  from  the  hills  and  mountains, 
with  a  climate,  the  brace  of  which  cannot  be 
excelled,  even  in  midsummer,  with  superior  society 
and  schools,  Lauderdale  offers  rare  advantages  to 
those  seeking  homes.  Land  may  be  purchased  at 
prices  ranging  from  fi")  to  $15  per  acre. 

The  population  of  the  county  has  increased 
seventy  per  cent,  in  the  past  decade,  and  is  still 
more  rai)idly  advancing. 

The  coneal  artificial  mound  at  Florence,  is  one 
of  the  largest  and  best  preserved  of  the  many  left 
iiy  that  mysterious  and  unknown  pre-historic  race 
in  so  many  [larts  of  our  country. 


In  1819,  voting  places  were  established  at  the 
houses  of  Wm.  S.  Barton  and  Thomas  Barnett, 
and  in  1821,  at  the  houses  of  Joel  Burrows,  And- 
rew McMicken  and  William  Howe. 

Haywood's  IHstory  of  Tennessee  says  that  the 
portion  of  Alabama,  north  of  the  Tennessee,  was 
organized  into  a  county  by  the  (ieorgia  Legisla- 
ture in  1785  and  called  Iloustoun,  in  honor  of 
John  Iloustoun,  governor  of  that  state  in  1778 
and  1784.  A  party  of  eighty  men  came  down  the 
Tennessee  shortly  after,  and  effected  a  settle- 
ment at  a  point  on  the  Muscle  Shoals  within  the 
present  limits  of  this  county.  They  opened  a  land 
office,  elected  one  of  their  number  to  the  Georgia 
legislature,  and  performed  other  right  of  citizen- 
ship. But  within  a  fortnight  the  settlement  was 
abandoned  in  dread  of  tlie  warlike  Chicasas. 

The  region  now  embraced  within  this  country 
was  the  scene  of  several  bloody  skirmishes 
between  the  Tennessecans  and  Chicasas  about  the 
years  1787-90. 

During  the  war  between  the  States  a  cavalry 
fight  occurred  two  miles  east  of  Florence,  in  which 
the  cavalry  regiment  of  Col.  Wm.  A.  Johnson,  of 
Colbert,  scattered  a  federal  command  with  some 
loss  to  it.  Near  the  same  spot  the  army  of  Gen. 
Ilood  lay  encamped  for  several  weeks  just  before 
entering  on  the  disastrous  campaign  which  cul- 
minated at  Franklin  and  Nashville.  Lauderdale, 
then  in  common  with  the  other  counties  of  the 
Tenessee  valley,  suffered  fearfully  inconsequence 
of  its  exposed  position. 

Probably  no  single  county  in  the  State  can  boast  a 
higher  order  of  citizenship  than  Lauderdale, 
while  her  past  history  is  replete  with  the  names 
of  men  whose  brilliant  achievements  illumine  the 
annals  of  a  nation.  The  brave  old  soldier.  Gen. 
John  Coffee,  Jackson's  most  trusted  lieutenant, 
lived  and  died  here;  Robt.  Miller  Patton,  one  of 
Alabama's  greatest  governors,  made  this  his  home, 
while  the  distinguished  soldier,  statesman  and 
citizen,  Edward  Asbury  O'Neal  yet  resides  at 
Florence.  Caroline  Lee  Ilentz,  whose  memory  is 
so  dear  to  every  lover  of  a  pure  literature,  spent 
nine  years  of  her  life  here.  Judge  John  Edmund 
Moore,  Wade  Keys.  Hugh  McVay,  Sidney  C. 
Posey,  James  Jackson,  James  Irvine,  and  many 
others  who.se  names  are  identified  with  the  liistory 
of    xVlabama,   were    citizens  of  this  county. 


vri. 

JACKSON    COUNTY. 


Population  :  White.  21,074:  colored,  4,040. 
Area,  990  square  miles,  woodland  all.  Valley 
lands,  (of  which  190  square  miles  are  in  the  Val- 
ley of  the  Tennesse),  500  square  miles.  Coves 
and  slopes,  310  square  miles.  Mountain  lands, 
490  square  miles.  Acres  in  cotton,  approximately, 
19,685;  in  corn,  60,2»5;  in  oats,  8,241;  in  wheat, 
10,051;  in  rye,  347;  in  tobacco,  99;  in  sweet  pota- 
toes, 592.  Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cot- 
ton, 6,984. 

County  Seat — Scotsborough  ;  pojiulation,  1,500. 
Located  on  Memphis  &  Charleston  Kailroad,  forty- 
two  miles  from  Huntsville,  and  fifty-five  miles 
from  Chattanooga.  Newspapers  published  at  coun- 
ty seat  :  Citizen,  Progressive  Age  and  Alabama 
-ffer«/fZ,  all  Democratic;  at  Stephenson,  The  Chron- 
icle, democratic. 

PostofBces  in  the  county — Atto,  Bass  Station, 
Bellefonte,  Berry's  Store,  Big  Coon,  Bridgeport, 
Coffey's  Store,  Dodsonville,  Dorans  Cove,  Dry 
Cove,  Emmert,  Estill's  Fork,  Fabius,  Fackler, 
Fern  Cliff,  Francisco,  Garth,  Gray's  Chapel, 
Greerton,  Hannah,  Iligdon,  Holly  Tree,  Kirby's 
Creek,  Kosh.  Langston,  Larkin's  Fork,  Larkins- 
ville.  Lime  Kock,  Long  Island,  Maynard's  Cove, 
Paint  Rock,  Park's  Store,  Pisgah,  Press,  Prince- 
ton, Samples,  Santa,  Scottsborough,  Stevenson, 
Trenton,  Tupelo,  Wallston.  Wamsville,  Widows, 
Woodville. 

This  county  takes  its  name  from  the  hero  of 
New  Orleans.  It  was  organized  in  1819,  the 
same  year  of  the  admission  of  Alabama  into  the 
Union.  Jackson  County  is  the  extreme  north- 
eastern county  in  the  State.  It  is  bounded  on 
the  north  by  the  State  of  Tennessee  ;  on  the  east 
by  the  State  of  Georgia  and  De  Kalb  County, 
Ala. ;  on  the  south  by  De  Kalb  and  Marshall 
Counties,  on  the  west  by  Marshall  and  iladison 
Counties.  It  is  about  sixty-five  miles  long,  by 
thirty  miles  wide.  Scottsboro  is  the  county 
seat  of  Jackson,  and  is  a  pleasajit  Itttle  town, 
situated  on  the  Memphis  &  Charleston  Railroad, 


about  the  center  of  the  county,  and  four  miles 
from  the  Tennessee  River.  It  is  a  new  town, 
built  up  since  the  county  seat  was  located  at 
that  point,  which  was  done  in  the  year  1868. 
It  has  a  population  of  about  1,000  ;  has  a  new 
courthouse  and  jail,  which  cost  S37,000,  and  are 
of  good  architectural  design.  The  town  is  regu- 
larly laid  out,  and  has  many  commodious  business 
houses,  built  around  the  court  house  square,  and 
on  other  streets,  with  many  new  and  attractive 
residences,  besides  five  comfortable  churches,  and 
two  commodious  hotels,  a  college  building,  which 
is  quite  sufficient  to  accommodate  from  300  to  400 
pupils,  with  college  ground  of  six  acres,  on  which 
the  building  is  situated,  which  for  beauty  of  loca- 
tion and  grounds,  cannot  be  surpassed  in  the 
South.  Scottsboro  is  also  noted  for  the  health- 
fulness  of  its  location,  being  situated  at  the  high- 
est point  of  the  Memphis  &  Charleston  Railroad, 
between  the  eastern  boundary  line  of  the  State  of 
Alabama  and  the  city  of  31emphis,  Tenn.,  and  at 
a  distance  of  285  miles  from  Memphis,  Tenn.; 
indeed,  the  entire  county  of  Jackson  has  an  ele- 
vation above  any  other  county  west  of  it  toward 
Memphis,  its  valley  lands  being  at  the  highest 
point  602  feet,  and  at  the  lowest  point,  at  Paint 
Rock,  595  feet  above  Mobile  Bay.  The  altitude 
diminishes  gradually  toward  the  west,  until  you 
reach  ^lemphis,  Tenn.,  where  it  is  only  245  feet ; 
add  to  the  elevation  in  Jackson,  from  600  to  1,000 
feet,  and  you  have  the  elevation  of  our  mountain 
lands  above  the  sea-level  ;  for  this  reason  people 
living  west  of  us  often  speak  of  our  county  as 
High  Jackson.  The  destructive  malarial  fevers 
and  epidemic  diseases,  such  as  yellow  fever,  chol- 
era, etc.,  which  are  so  common  in  the  warmer 
temperatures  and  low  lands  south  and  southwest 
of  us,  have  never  been  known  in  this  county,  and 
in  all  human  probability,  never  will  be.  The 
general  appearance  of  this  county  is  much  more 
broken,  and  its  scenery  greatly  diversified.  It  is 
made  up  of  high  mountain  tracts  of  level  lands. 


92 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


93 


extending  for  many  miles.  These  mountains  are 
cut  back  into  by  many  beautiful  coves  and  valleys 
of  level  and  fertile  lands,  some  of  which  are  three 
or  four  miles  wide,  shut  in  by  steep  mountain 
slopes,  covered  with  forest  growth  of  valuable 
timber;  indeed,  the  whole  of  the  valley  lands  are 
said  by  geologists  to  have  been  cut  out  of  what 
was  at  one  time,  a  level  mountain  surface,  by  the 
flow  of  the  Tennessee  River  and  its  numerous 
tributaries.  This  mountain  surface  at  that  time 
was  all  the  Cumberland  Mountain,  but  is  now  cut 
in  two  by  the  river,  at  the  point  known  as  the 
Jioiling  Pot,  this  side  of  Chattanooga,  and  has 
cut  out  the  Tennessee  River  Valley  in  which  this 
county  is  situated  :  leaving  that  part  of  the  moun- 
tain north  of  the  river  known  as  the  Cumberland 
Mountain,  and  that  j)art  of  the  mountain  south  of 
the  river,  known  as  the  Raccoon  Mountain,  or 
Sand  Mountain,  as  it  is  called  by  the  natives. 
Both  these  mountains  e.\tend  through  north  Ala- 
bama, and  have  an  average  width  of  about  twenty 
miles  ;  hence  the  main  valley  lands  lie  along  the 
Tennessee  River,  and  are  as  fine  farming  lands  for 
all  kinds  of  farming  purposes,  as  can  be  found  in 
the  South.  (,'otton,  corn,  oats,  wlieat,  rye,  to- 
bacco, sweet  potatoes,  wool,  sorghum,  honey,  and 
butter  are  chief  among  its  manifold  productions. 
Pears,  apples,  peaches,  grapes,  and  berries  grow 
almost  to  perfection. 

Along  the  slojies  of  the  hills  of  Jackson  county 
are  found  splendid  orchards  of  peaches.  There  is 
a  steady  growth  of  interest  in  stock-raising.  Along 
the  high  table  lands  of  the  county  are  numerous 
small  farms  which  are  surrounded  with  all  the 
evidences  of  plenty  an<l  contentment.  The  streams 
are  the  Tennessee  and  Paint  Rock  rivers,  and  Big 
and  Little  Raccoon,  .Mud,  Wido,  Big  Crow,  Jones' 
Santa.  Big  Lanne,  and  Williams'  creeks,  and 
Hurricane  and  Larkins'  forks.  Besides  these, 
numerous  mountain  springs  abound,  the  water  of 
which  is  pure  and  perj)etual.  The  county  is  unex- 
celled in  its  water  supply.  The  hills  and  mountain 
flanks  are  densely  wooded,  while  some  of  the  al- 
luvial valleys  are  still  uncleared  and  are  covered 
over  with  valua'ole  timber.  On  the  uplands  are 
found  black  and  red  oaks,  pine,  cedar  and  hickory. 
Along  the  valleys  are  found  poplar,  ash,  maple, 
beech,  walnut,  sweet  gum,  cherry  and  giant  white 
oak.  Indeed,  both  upon  the  table  lands  and  in 
the  valleys,  many  of  the  forests  remain  in  their 
virgin  state.  They  extend  along  tiie  broad  and 
deep  streams  of  the  county,  ami  timber  hewn  from 


them  may  be  easily  rafted.  The  inclination  of  the 
different  water  course  is  such  as  to  favor  the  erec- 
tion of  manufactories,  and  for  local  demands  such 
do  exist. 

The  mineral  products  of  Jackson  are  coal  and 
iron,  while  the  supply  of  marble  and  limestone  is 
unlimited.  Coal  abounds  both  in  the  Cumber- 
land and  Sand  mountains.  These  ranges  travers 
the  county  twenty  or  thirty  miles.  From  one  of 
the  numerous  caves  in  the  county  is  obtained  salt- 
petre. It  was  used  by  the  confedrate  authorities 
during  the  civil  war.  In  several  parts  of  the 
county  are  mineral  springs,  containing  waters  of 
superior  quality. 

There  are  several  industries  in  the  county 
which  have  attained  considerable  local  prominence. 
Among  these  are  the  Belmont  mines,  situated 
twelve  miles  west  of  Scoltsboro.  In  the  town  of 
Scottsboro  are  numerous  steam  and  saw  mills,  and 
a  hub,  spoke  and  felloe  factory.  There  are  facili- 
ties of  industry  afforded  in  Jackson  county,  the 
variety  of  which,  perhaps,  is  not  surpassed  by  that 
of  any  other  county  in  Alabama. 

The  valuation  of  property  in  Jackson  county 
for  the  year  1887  is  «i3,3'JG, 283.27,  as  shown  by 
the  abstract  of  assessment  filed  with  the  auditor. 

GEORGE  B.  CALDWELL  was  born  in  Belfont, 
Jackson  county,  April  'i,  ISGl,  and  is  a  son  of 
Hamlin  and  Mary  J.  (Snodgrass)  Caldwell.  His 
early  life  was  spent  on  his  father's  farm,  and  his 
education  was  acquired  at  the  schools  of  Spring- 
field, Ohio,  and  at  Lookout  Mountain  academy. 
From  nineteen  to  twenty-five  years  of  age  he  was 
in  business  in  Louisiana,  and  there  in  April,  1875, 
married  Miss  Sarah  PI  Hair,  daughter  of  J.  B. 
and  Ann  (Brone)  Hair,  natives  respectively  of  the 
states  of  Ohio  and  Tennessee.  In  1870  he  re- 
turned to  his  native  county  and  resumed  farming. 
He  came  to  Scottsboro,  merchandised  a  few 
months,  was  burned  out,  and  is  now,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  farming,  running  a  saw  miil.  The 
only  official  position  that  he  api)ears  to  have  held 
is  that  of  justice  of  the  peace,  and  he  filled  that 
office  one  term. 

Hamlin  Caldwell,  father  to  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  in  New  Hampshire  in  1812.  His 
parents  moved  to  Portsmouth,  Ohio,  in  1814,  and 
when  twelve  years  of  age  he  took  up  his  abode  in 
Cincinnati,  making  his  home  with  a  sister.     For 


94 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


awhile,  when  a  young  man,  he  was  in  mercantile 
business  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  and  from  there,  in 
1837,  came  to  Alabama  and  located  in  Jackson 
county.  At  Belfonte,  this  county,  he  established 
a  store,  having  brought  liis  stock  of  goods  with 
him  from  Ohio.  He  was  among  the  first  mer- 
chants, if  not  the  very  first,  at  Belfonte,  and  he 
continued  there  until  1850.  For  the  then  next 
succeeding  thirty  years  he  followed  farming,  and 
in  1880  moved  into  Scottsboro,  where  he  has  since 
made  his  home.  He  reared  a  family  of  six  chil- 
dren. Mr.  Caldwell  is  a  self-made  man.  He 
started  in  the  world  poor,  without  even  the  ad- 
vantages of  schooling,  but  he  rounds  up  a  ripe  old 
age  with  a  handsome  competency,  and  with  the 
knowledge  tliat  in  the  accumulation  tliereof  he 
has  wronged  no  man.  His  father  was  Europe 
Caldwell,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  and  his 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Hamlin,  a  relative  of 
Hon.  Hannibal  Hamlin. 


REV.  MILTON  P.  BROWN,  son  of  James 
D.  Brown,  who  in  early  days,  preached  on 
Sunday  and  farmed  through  the  week,  is  the  oldest 
of  a  family  of  seven.  He  was  left  an  orphan  at  the 
age  of  nine,  took  charge  of  his  father's  farm  when 
but  eleven,  and  conducted  it  with  a  reasonable  de- 
gree of  success  until  he  was  seventeen,  attending 
schools  in  the  neighborhood  at  such  times  as  he 
could  be  spared  from  his  duties  on  the  farm.  He 
was  licensed  to  preach  in  the  M.  E.  Church, South, 
in  October,  1848,  and  served  as  an  intinerant  in 
the  Tennessee  Conference  until  1858.  In  that 
year  he  located  in  Scottsboro  and  conducted 
a  farm  and  taught  school  in  that  vicinity  until 
1861. 

He  joined  the  Confederate  army  and  was 
severely  wounded  in  the  hip  at  the  first  battle  at 
Manassas. 

He  was  elected  Probate  Judge  in  1862,  and  held 
the  office  until  1868,  in  Bellefonte,  which  was  then 
the  county  seat  of  Jackson.  Since  1868,  he  has 
conducted  a  mercantile  business  in  Scottsboro. 

In  1854,  Mr.  Brown  was  married  to  Mary  Eliz- 
abeth Parks,  daughter  of  W.  D.  Parks,  of  Scotts- 
boro and  they  have  been  the  parents  of  eight  chil- 
dren,namely:  Julian  C.,who  was  educated  at  Van- 
derbilt  University,  is  a  preacher  in  the  M.  E. 
Church  South,  and  is  now  at  Francis  street 
charge,  St.  Joseph,  Mo.;  Idella  H.,  wife  of  M.  D. 


McClure;  Eva  R.,  wife  of  W.  J.  Robinson; 
Kittie  F.,  wife  of  S.  M.  Bains;  William  Davis, 
Annie  E.,  Hattie  M.,  and  Mary  P. 

Having  lost  his  first  wife,  Mr.  Brown  was  mar- 
ried May  7,  1870,  to  Mrs.  Annie  E.  Williams,  a 
widow,  and  daughter  of  Hiram  Read,  originally 
of  Eatonton,  N.  C,  but  late  of  Auburn,  AJa. 

Mr.  Brown  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  and  a  Knight 
of  Honor.  He  has  been  Councilman  and  Mayor 
of  Scottsboro,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  Scott  Academy  and  Superintendent  of  Educa- 
tion of  Jackson  County. 


JAMES  ARMSTRONG,  Editor  of  the  Scotts- 
boro Citizen,  was  born  September  7,  1855,  at 
Hillsboro,  Lawrence  County,  this  State,  and  is 
the  son  of  the  late  Hon.  James  Armstrong,  who 
was  well  known  as  a  lawyer  and  legislator  from 
Lawrence  County,  and  as  one  of  the  Franklin 
Pierce  electors  in  1852. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  moved  to  Scottsboro 
on  the  3d  of  March,  1869.  He  attended  the  com- 
mon schools  of  that  place,  and  afterwards  the 
East  Tennessee  University  at  Knoxville.  Soon 
after  attaining  his  majority  he  embarked  in  the 
newspaper  business,  established  the  Scottsboro 
Citizen  October  5,  1877,  and  has  conducted  it 
ever  since  with  considerable  success,  giving  it 
high  rank  among  democratic  journals  of  the 
State.  He  was  married  May  18,  1880,  to  Miss 
Malie  R.,  daughter  of  Rev.  P.  L.  Henderson,  of 
Decatur,  Ala.  They  have  three  living  children, 
Phillip  H.,  Andrew  and  Harry  Cheatham. 
James,  the  youngest  child,  died  September  10, 
1887,  aged  three  weeks. 

Mr.  Armstrong  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methonist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  he  is  a 
member  of  the  K.  of  H. 


.  JOHN  BENTON  TALLY,  Judge  of  the  Ninth 
Judicial  Circuit,  son  of  Jolm  Benton  and  Sarah 
E.  (Price)  Tally,  was  born  June  28,  1851,  near 
Stevenson,  Jackson  county,  Ala. 

His  parents  were  born  in  East  Tennessee  in 
1815,  and  Jackson  county,  Ala.,  in  1817,  respect- 
ively. 

John  B.  Tally,  senior,  was  brought  to  Jackson 
county  by  his  parents  in   1819,  and  located  near 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


95 


Stevenson,  where  lie  received  a  common  school 
education  and  became  a  well-to-do  farmer.  He 
was  in  the  Florida  AVar  from  this  State,  and  held 
the  rank  of  Orderly  Sergetiiit.  lie  served  in  the 
Al.ibiiiiia  Legislature  in  185G-7,  and  again  in 
I8<iu-1.  lie  was  a  stauncli  Union  man,  and  a 
Douglass  Democrat.  He  raised  a  family  of  three 
sons  and  one  daughter,  and  died  February  11, 
1881.  His  father,  Jacob  Tally,  was  born  in  East 
Tennessee,  and  married  Mary  Mourning  lioberts 
of  Virginia.  Her  father  was  killed  by  the  Indians 
before  she  was  born,  and  her  mother  named  her 
Mourning  in  memory  of  that  sad  event.  Jacob 
Tally  was  an  Irishman,  and  his  wife  was  of 
Scotch  extraction. 

John  Benton  Tally  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and 
received  a  common  school  education,  which  was 
limited  on  account  of  the  war.  In  January,  1867, 
he  was  matriculated  at  Cecilian  College,  Hardin 
county,  Ky.,  and  graduated  from  that  institution 
as  A.  B.  in  1870.  He  spent  two  years  farming 
and  teaching,  and  began  the  study  of  law.  He 
entered  Cumberland  University  at  Lebanon, 
Tenn.,  and  graduated  from  the  law  department 
in  February,  187.3.  After  this  he  located  in 
Scotsboro,  and  actively  engaged  at  his  pro- 
fession. 

He  was  elected  Judge  of  the  probate  court  of 
Jackson  county  in  August,  1880,  and  in  August, 
1886,  elected  Judge  of  the  circuit  court  of  the 
Ninth  Judicial  Circuit,  a  position  which  he  has 
filled  until  the  present  time  with  marked  ability. 

.Judge  Tally  was  married  November  8,  1877,  to 
>Iiss  Sidney  M.  Skelton,  of  Scottsboro,  a  daughter 
of  .lames  T.  ami  Charlotte  C.  (Scott)  Skelton, 
both  natives  of  Jackson  county.  Mr.  Skelton 
was  a  merchant.  He  died  in  December,  188Si,  at 
the  age  of  57  years.  Charlotte  C.  Scott  is  a 
daughter  of  Kobert  T.  Scott,  who  represented 
Alabama  in  a  negotiation  with  the  United  States 
Government,  and  settled  certain  claims  growing 
out  of  the  depredations  of  the  Indians. 

This  branch  of  the  Scott  family  came  to  America 
in  the  person  of  William  Scott  (as  a  stowaway) 
away  back  in  the  last  century.  He  subsequently 
became  a  lieutenant  in  the  Colonial  navy,  and 
served  througli  the  Revolutionary  War  under  Paul 
Jones  on  the  flag-ship  Bonhomniie.  He  was 
afterwards  L'nited  States  agent  in  the  settlement 
of  some  sort  of  French  claims. 

Judge  Tally  has  two  sons,  Walter  II.  and  John 
B.  Tally,  and  ho  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 


Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  The  Judge  is 
a  public-spirited  man,  and  fully  in  sympathy  with 
every  legitimate  enterprise  tending  to  advance 
and  build  up  Northern  Alabama.  He  is  probably 
the  youngest  man  ever  placed  on  the  Bench  of 
the  Circuit  in  the  States. 

DANIEL  W.  SFEAKE,  County  Solicitor  of 
.lackson  county,  son  of  James  B.  Speake,  was 
born    July  8,   18.56,    in    Lawrence  county,  Ala. 

.James  B.  Speake  was  the  son  of  a  German  fam- 
ily. He  was  born  in  1803,  and  is  now  living  in 
Lawrence  county.  He  came  from  Washington 
county,  Ky.,  to  Alabama  soon  after  completing  his 
education,  and  taught  school  for  a  time  in  Lawrence 
county.  He  soon  secured  a  small  farm,  and  kept 
adding  unto  it  until  he  had  a  large  plantation  and 
a  number  of  slaves.  He  was  for  many  years  super- 
intendent of  education  in  Lawrence  county;  was 
once  a  candidate  for  the  State  Senate,  and  in 
1805  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion. In  1870-2  he  was  a  representative  to  the 
General  Assembly  from  his  county,  and  was 
returned  there  in  1876-7.  He  had  three  sons  in 
the  army.  Since  he  was  last  in  the  Legislature 
he  has  lived  on  his  farm. 

He  was  married  June'  4,  1833,  to  Miss  Sarah 
Brooks  Lindscy,  who  was  born  A,ugust  1.  1818, 
and  was  the  first  white  girl  child  born  in  Law- 
rence County. 

James  B.  Speake  and  wife  had  eight  children, 
of  whom  six  were  sons  and  two  daughters.  Four 
of  the  sons  only  are  now  living. 

H.  C.  Speake,  born  June  17,  1834,  now  Circuit 
.Judge  of  the  Eighth  Circuit,  resides  in  Hunts- 
ville  ;  John  Marshal  Speake,  Dennis  Basil  Speake 
(who  was  a  soldier  in  I'^orrest's  Cavalry,  and  died 
in  prison  at  Chicago),  James  Tucker  Speake  and 
Charles  W.  Speake. 

Daniel  W.  Speake  worked  on  a  farm  in  his  early 
days,  and  attended  the  common  schools  of  the 
county  until  seventeen  years  of  age,  when  he 
began  teaching,  by  which  means  he  paid  his  own 
way  at  the  University  of  Alabama,  which  institu- 
tion he  entered  in  1877,  and  from  which  he  gradu- 
ated in  tlie  classical  course  in  July,  1878.  During 
the  succeeding  year  he  took  his  degree  of  LL.B. 
at  the  same  institution.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  September,  1879.  in  Franklin  County,  this 
State.     lie  practiced  law  for  two  years  at  Moul- 


96 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ton,  formed  a  copartnei-ship  with  Gen.  Joseph 
Wheeler,  and  practiced  three  years  at  Courtland. 
He  came  to  Scottsboro  January  1,  1885,  and  is 
now  county  solicitor. 

Mr.  Speake  was  married  December  1-4,  1881,  to 
Miss  Caro  McCalla,  of  Tuscaloosa,  a  daughter  of 
Maj.  E.  C.  McCalla,  a  prominent  railroad 
man,  chief  engineer  of  construction  of  the  E.  T., 
Va.  &  G.  Kailway  system,  also  chief  engineer  of 
the  Alabama  &  Chattanooga  Kailroad  Co.,  now 
better  known  as  the  A.  G.  S.  Jlailroad. 

D.  W.  Speake  has  two  living  children  and  one 
dead— Richard  McCalla,  born  October  30,  1882, 
died  July  34,  1884,  Bessie  and  Charles  Louis. 


ROBERT  C.  ROSS,  son  of  Robert  and  Ellen 
(Nugent)  Ross,  was  born  in  Clark  County,  Wis., 
September  21,  1853. 

Robert  Ross  was  born  on  the  Inland  of  Mauri- 
tius, formerly  called  the  Isle  of  France  (East 
Indies),  in  ISlfl.  He  located  with  his  parents  in 
Quebec,  about  183G.  He  married  in  Canada; 
located  in  Clark  County,  Wis.,  in  lc48,  and  did 
an  extensive  lumber  business  for  many  years. 
Our  subject's  grandfather,  Robert  Ross,  was  born 
in  Scotland;  became  a  lieutenant  in  the  British 
army,  and  served  last  in  Canada.  He  lived  to  be 
about  ninety  years  of  age,  and  was  the  father  of 
twelve  children.  Our  subject's  mother  was  also 
born  in  Canada. 

Robert  C.  Ross  received  a  common-school  edu- 
cation, and  began  his  business  life  as  a  lumber 
dealer. 

He  married  Miss  Ida  W.  Ross  in  June,  18.6. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  James  Ross,  of  Eufaula, 
Ala.  They  have  but  two  children:  Alice  and 
Graham. 

Mr.  Ross  came  to  Scottsboro  in  March,  1887, 
and  organized  the  Jackson  County  Bank,  the  first 
institution  of  that  kind  ever  operated  in  the  county. 

Mr.  Ross  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  he  is  a  JIason  and  a  Knight  of  Honor. 


-*•- 


JAMES  ALFRED  KYLE,  Register  in  Chancery, 
Scottsboro,  is  a  son  of  Xelson  Kyle,  was 
born  February  28,  1862,  in  Bellefonte,  this  State. 

Nelson  Kyle  was  a  son  of  John  Kyle,  and  a 
native  of  Alabama.       He  was  a  farmer  and  subse- 


quently a  merchant  at  Bellefonte,  and  has  been 
Sheriff,  Clerk  of  the  Probate  Court,  County  Trea- 
surer, Probate  Judge  from  1874:  to  1880,  and  was 
Register  in  Chancery  at  the  time  of  his  death,  Sep- 
tember 19,  1886.  He  was  married,  first,  to  the 
widow  of  Henry  Walker,  of  Bellefonte,  daughter 
of  Nelson  Robinson,  and  one  of  a  family  of  five. 
They  were  the  parents  of  three  sons  and  one 
daughter,  viz. :  William;  .James  A.,  the  subject  of 
our  sketch;  Sallie  B.,  wife  of  W.  B.  Hunt;  and 
Chas.  E. 

James  A.  Kyle  was  educated  at  the  Agricul- 
tural and  Mechanical  School  at  Auburn.  He 
assisted  in  the  Probate  Judge's  office  in  Jackson 
County  for  some  time  previous  to  1880,  clerked 
in  stores  until  1883,  became  a  partner  with  his 
father,  and  was  a  merchant  for  two  years.  After 
his  marriage,  he  went  to  Texas  and  remained 
there  about  a  year.  He  returned  to  Jackson  Coun- 
ty in  1886,  and  has  been  Register  in  Chancery 
ever  since. 

He  was  married  to  Jliss  Vula  Sanders  on  March 
2-4,  1885.  She  is  a  daughter  of  C.  B.  Sanders,  a 
minister  in  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 
They  have  two  interesting  children:  Mary  Du 
and  Vula  Sidney. 

Mr.  Kyle  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor. 


JOHN  H.  NORWOOD,  Probate  Judge  of  Jack- 
son County,  was  born  in  Bellefonte  November 
23,  1828. 

He  was  a  son  of  Henry  and  Aletha  (Caperton) 
Norwood,  natives  of  South  Carolina  and  Virginia, 
respectively.  The  senior  Mr.  Norwood  was  in 
the  War  of  1812,  and  held  the  rank  of  lieutenant. 
He  came  to  Jackson  County  in  1820,  and  here 
was  an  extensive  planter  and  slave  owner.  He 
took  a  prominent  part  in  the  Indian  wars  of  his 
time,  holding  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  Creek 
War  and  colonel  in  the  Seminole  War.  He  subse- 
quently served  several  terms  in  both  branches  of 
the  State  Legislature,  where  he  acquitted  himself 
with  the  highest  honor,  and  to  the  entire  satisfac- 
tion of  his  constituency.  He  died  in  1840,  hold- 
ing the  rank  of  major-general  of  the  militia. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a 
farm,  received  such  education  as  could  be  ob- 
tained in  the  schools  of  the  country,  and  spent 
three  years  in  Irving  College.  He  read  law  in 
the  village  of  his  nativity,  and  was  admitted  to 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


97 


the  bar  in  1852.  After  liaviiigr  practiced  three 
years  he  was  appointed  Probate  Judge,  and  served 
under  that  appointment  twelve  niontiis.  He  was 
then  elected  to  the  oftice  and  held  it  until  March, 
18G1,  when  he  resigned  and  entered  the  Confed- 
erate Army  as  first  lieutenant  in  Captain  Brad- 
ford's company.  Second  Alabama  Kegitnent. 
During  that  summer  he  resigned  this  position, 
returned  to  his  home  and  raised  five  com]>anie.s, 
and  with  them  joined  the  Forty-third  Tennessee 
Regiment,  of  which  he  was  elected  lieutenant- 
colonel,  lie  was  captured  at  Fort  Donelson,  im- 
prisoned at  Fort  Warren,  and,  in  .July  of  the 
.same  year,  exchanged  at  Kichmond,  Va.  After 
this  he  went  to  Vicksburg  in  General  Loring's 
Division,  i)articipated  in  the  fight  at  Port  (Jibson 
and  the  bombardment  of  N'icksburg.  After  the 
fall  of  that  city  he  went  to  East  Tennessee  and 
was  sub3e(|uently  engaged  at  Ringgold,  Resaca, 
and  all  the  fights  of  the  Atlanta  Campaign.  In 
18(1-1,  under  the  direction  of  the  War  Department, 
he  recruited  a  brigade  in  Alabama,  and  com- 
manded it  to  the  close  of  the  war.  At  White's 
Lancling  he  surrendered,  leaving  the  service  with 
the  rank  of  brigadier-general. 

IJeturning  to  his  native  village,  he  resumed  the 
practice  of  law,  and  in  1865  was  elected  to  the 
State  Senate,  where  he  took  an  active  part  in  the 
legislation  of  that  important  session.  He  was  a 
delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
18T5,  and  took  a  jirominent  part  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  that  a.<.sembly.  In  18SG  he  was  elected 
Probate  Judge.  His  term  will  expire  in  1892. 
When  not  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the 
various  offices  to  which  his  peoi)le  have  called 
him,  the  Judge's  extensive  law  practice  has  been 
diversified  by  the  attention  given  his  farming 
interests. 

.Judge  Norwood  was  married  December  2."), 
1850,  to  Miss  Margaret,  daughter  of  John  Neth- 
erland,  who  came  to  Alabama  in  1820.  The  fam- 
ily are  cotninunicants  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  the  Judge  belongs  to  the  Masonic  order. 

JESSE  EDWARD  BROWN,  son  of  Jeremiah 
and  Mary  Ann  (Williams)  Brown,  of  Scottsbro, 
was  born  May  I,  1845.  in  Jackson  County. 

Jeremiah  Brown  is  one  of  a  family  of  North 
Carolinians  who  gave  its  name  to  Brownsboro. 
He  was  a  planter  in  .lackson  County  and  died  here. 


He  was  a  man  of  firm  convictions  and  great  sta- 
bility of  character.  He  was  married  three 
times. 

His  first  wife  was  a  Miss  Moore,  and  by  her  he 
had  two  sons  and  one  daughter:  Bridges,  who 
was  a  soldier  and  died  at  the  battle  of  Corinth;. 
John  A.,  and  Nancy,  who  married  a  Mr.  Yates, 
of  Birmingham.  Mrs.  Yates,  a  fluent  speaker 
and  writer,  has  edited  various  papers,  at  different 
times,  both  in  this  State  and  Mississippi. 

Jeremiah  Brown  was  married  t  he  second  time  to- 
Miss  Mary  Ann  Williams,  a  daughter  of  a  Samuel 
Williams,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  this  county,  who- 
accumulated  a  goodly  estate  in  land  and  slaves. 
She  was  one  of  a  family  of  six  chbldren,  and  her- 
self was  the  mother  of  four,  viz.:  Mary  wife  of 
Col.  .John  Snodgrass,  of  this  place:  Jesse  Edward, 
of  whom  we  now  write:  Margaret,  wife  of  Will- 
iam H.  Payne,  druggist:  Charles  A\'.,  a  lawyer, 
graduated  at  the  University  of  Alabama,  and  now 
in  the  office  of  the  superintendent  of  education. 

Jesse  E.  Brown  was  educated  at  Georgetown,. 
Ky.,  and  Lebanon,  Tenn.,  where  he  studied 
law.  lie  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  August,  18G9,. 
at  Huntsville,  and  began  his  practice  in  Scotts- 
boro,  where  he  has  remained  uji  to  the  present 
writing.  He  represented  his  county  in  the  State 
Legislature  in  1872-3,  and  was  one  of  the  framers 
of  the  present  Constitution  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  Brown  became  a  member  of  the  Confeder- 
ate Army,  in  Frank  Gurley's  company,  Fourth  Al- 
abama Cavalry,  and  served  throughout  the  entire- 
war.  He  was  in  battle  near  Farniington,  wounded 
and  captured  at  the  second  battle  of  Fort  Donel- 
son, and  a  piisoiier  at  Louisville  and  Baltimore 
for  about  two  months.  He  fought  at  Murfrees- 
boro,  Chickamauga,  and  Kenesaw  Mountain,, 
where  he  lost  a  leg,  and  was  confined  to  the  hos- 
pital for  a  long  time  thereafter.  Having  returned 
home,  he  studied  law,  as  before  mentioned. 

Mr.  Brown  was  married  November  5,  1873,  to 
Miss  Virginia  E.  Wood,  at  Winchester,  Tenn. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Ira  G.  Wood,  and  they 
have  three  children,  viz.:  Zaida,  Lawrence  Ed- 
ward; Clifford,  who  was  born  in  1878  and  died  in 
18811;  and  Jes.se  E. 

.Mr.  Brown  is  a  member  of  the  Episcoi>al  Church 
and  of  the  fraternity  of  ( >dd  Fellows.  His  position 
as  one  of  the  most  prominent  members  of  the 
bar  in  Northeastern  Alabama  is  well  known 
throughout  that  portion  of  the  State,  and  his- 
practice  is  extensive  and  lucrative. 


NORTH£RN  ALABAMA. 


JOHN  R.  C  0  F  F  E  Y,  of  Fackler,  Jackson 
County,  son  of  Kice  and  Sallie  (Bradford)  Coffey, 
was  born  at  Wartrace,  Bedford  County,  Teun., 
March  27,  1814. 

Rice  Coffey  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1766. 
When  a  young  man  he  removed  to  Xorth  Carolina 
and  became  a  gunsmith.  He  married  and  again 
removed  to  Tennessee  about  1801,  and  settled  on 
a  farm  of  a  thousand  acres  of  land  which  lie  bought 
of  General  Jackson,  and  on  which  his  son,  John  R. 
Coffey,  was  born.  He  died  in  1853,  and  his  wife 
in  1840.  He  was  a  son  of  James  Coffey,  of  early 
times,  who  raised  a  large  family,  all  of  the  older 
sons  of  wliom  served  as  soldiers  in  the  Revolution- 
ary War.     The  Coffey  family  are  Baptists. 

John  R.  Coffey  spent  his  early  days  on  a  farm 
attending  the  common  old-field  schools.  When 
he  was  thirteen  years  of  age  he  went  to  a  high 
school  at  Shelby ville,  Tenn.,  and  remained  there 
twelve  months.  After  this,  became  to  Bellefonte, 
without  an  acquaintance  in  tl:e  county  or  a 
■dollar  in  his  pocket,  and  became  a  clerk  in  a  store. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  established  a  mercan- 
tile business  of  his  own  in  that  village,  and  contin- 
ued it  until  1846.  In  1840,  he  was  elected  Sheriff 
■of  Jackson  County.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Mexican  AVar,  he  enlisted  in  the  army  in  a  com- 
pany commanded  by  Capt.  Richard  W.  Jones.  He 
afterwards  acted  as  lieutenant,  lieutenant-col- 
onel, and  major-general  in  the  militia  ;  went  to 
Mobile  and  organized  the  First  Alabama  Regiment 
and  was  elected  its  colonel,  and  as  such,  partici- 
pated in  the  siege  of  Vera  Cruz.  After  the  war 
with  Mexico,  he  became  a  general  of  the  militia. 
He  had  now  returned  to  his  farm  and  devoted  his 
attention  to  its  cultivation  until  1853,  when  he 
moved  to  Stevenson  a#d  engaged  in  the  mercan- 
tile business,  which  he  prosecuted  with  consider- 
able success  until  the  begining  of  the  late  war, 
when  he  again  closed  his  store  and  returned  to  his 
farm  of  4,000  acres,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tennessee 
River. 

Iq  1861  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
vention which  passed  the  ordinance  of  secession. 
He  was  bitterly  opposed  to  that  ordinance,  but, 
being  overpowered,  he  submitted  with  the  best  j^os- 
sible  grace,  and  thereafter  gave  moral  and  substan- 
tial support  to  the  Confederacy.* 

General  Coffey  was  married  January  21, 1849,  to 
Miss  Mary  Ann  Cross,  daughter  of  Col.  Chas.  and 

♦General  Coffey's  granrtraother  was  a  sister  to  Col.  Ben,  Cleve- 
land, who  commanded  a  regiment  at  the  battle  of  King's  Moun- 
tain. 


Eliza  (Clark)  Cross,  of  Jackson  County.  They 
were  natives  of  North  Carolina  and  came  to  Ala- 
bama about  1826.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Indian 
wars,  and  was  drowned  in  the  Tennessee  River 
about  1848.t 

General  Coffey  is  the  father  of  six  children,  of 
whom  four  grew  to  maturity,  namely:  Eliza, 
wife  of  Wm.  J.  Tally  ;  Sallie  B.,  wife  of  C.  W. 
Brown,  chief  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  State  Super- 
intendent of  Education  ;  John  B.  and  Clark 
Mac'.in.  General  Coffey's  wife  died  September  6, 
1887.  He  is  a  member  of  the  MetLodist  I^pisco- 
pal  Church  and  the  Masonic  order.  General  Cof- 
sey  is  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  being  over 
six  feet  in  height  and  having  apparently  the  vim 
and  energy  of  a  youth.  He  is  one  of  the  best 
known  men  of  the  State  and  one  of  the  most  influ- 
ential men  in  Northeastern  Alabama. 

— «^;^^-<'-  • 

JAMES  HARRISON  COWAN,  of  Princeton, 
Jackson  County,  son  of  Samuel  M.  Cowan,  was 
born  near  Stevenson,  this  county,  March  17,  1837. 

His  father,  Samuel  M.  Cowan,  was  born  in 
Kentucky  in  1798;  came  to  Jackson  County  in 
1824,  and  settled  at  Bolivar,  two  miles  north  of 
Stevenson.  He  served  as  captain  in  the  Florida 
War,  in  1837.  In  1819,  he  was  married  in  Frank- 
lin County,  Tenn.,  to  Elizabeth  Caperton,  from 
Virginia.  He  was  one  of  a  family  of  eight  chil- 
dren, four  boys  and  four  girls,  and  was  father  of 
twelve  children.  Of  these,  Eleanor  married  T. 
Boyd  Foster,  a  prominent  man,  who  has  been 
County  Surveyor  of  Jackson  for  forty  years,  and 
was  in  the  Florida  War;  Jane  married  Dr.  Wm. 
Mason,  who  was  a  major  in  the  Florida  W^ar  and 
afterwards  a  member  of  the  Legislature — he  was 
a  cousin  of  Gen.  Winfield  Scott;  Hugh  C.  was  a 
lawyer,  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in  1852,  a 
delegate  to  the  National  Convention  which  nomi- 
nated Jas.  Buchanan,  and  an  elector  of  the  college 
which  elected  him — he  died  in  1860;  John  F.  was 
a  lawyer,  well  educated  and  brilliant,  but  died  of 
consumption  in  his  early  manhood;  Samuel  C.  was 
one  of  the  first  merchants  in  Stevenson — he  died 
in  1858;  Geo.  E.  went  into  the  Confederate  Army 
in  1861  as  lieutenant,  and  became  a  major  in  the 
Thirty-third  Alabama  Regiment. 

tHis  wife'.'*  great-giandfather,  Col.Wm.  Maclin,  and  her  grand- 
father, Robert  Clark,  were  in  the  Rc\olutiouar.v  War ;  the  latter' 
was  wounded  in  battle  at  Eutaw  Springs,  from  which  he  died. 
Her  grandfather,  Maclin  Cross,  was  in  the  battle  at  Nick-a-Jack, 
Indian  Nation. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


99 


Mr.  Cowan's  grandfather  was  an  Irisliman; 
served  in  the  War  of  3812.  and  in  most  of  the 
Ind'an  wars;  was  a  major  under  General  Jackson, 
and  died  in  Franklin  County.  Tenn. 

James  II.  Cowan  attended  Biirritt  College  in 
Van  Buren  County.  Tenn.,  and  was  a  merchant 
before  the  war.  lie  entered  tlio  army  in  1801  and 
served  one  year  as  commissary  with  the  rank  of 
•  ■iqitiiin.  1  Ic  was  captured  at  the  battle  of  Fort 
DoncLson  in  181)2,  and  confined  in  prison  at 
Camp  Chase  and  Johnson's  Island  for  several 
months. 

After  his  exchange,  lie  served  a.s  captain  of 
infantry  in  the  Fifty-sixth  Alabama  Regiment 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  lie  was  in  battle  at 
Baker's  Creek.  Port  Hudson,  Jackson,  Miss.,  and 
all  of  the  Georgia  campaign  from  Rcsaca  to  Peach 
Tree  Creek,  lie  was  wounded  three  times  at  the 
latter  battle,  and  incapacitated  for  further  service 
thereby. 

In  1870,  J.  H.  Cowan  was  electeii  to  the  Legis- 
lature, re-elected  in  1872,  and  served  until  187:); 
since  that  time  he  has  been  engaged  in  agricultural 
pursuits.  His  wife  was  Miss  Sophia  E.  Taliaferro, 
daughter  of  Richard  II.  Taliaferro,  a  minister  of 
some  note  in  the  Missionary  Baptist  Church,  at 
Princeton.  Mr.  Cowan  has  six  children:  Geo. 
W.,  Elizabeth,  Sophronia,  Angle,  Sophie  T.,  and 
Samuel  C. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cowan  are  members  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church,  and  he  is  a  Free- 
mason. 

R.  C.  HUNT.  Attorney  at  Law,  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 5.  1860.  in  Franklin  County,  Tenn.  His 
father,  William  Hunt,  was  born  in  the  same  place 
in  1812.  He  was  a  substantial  farmer,  and  served 
as  a  captain  in  the  Florida  War.  He  died  in  1862. 
He  married  Miss  Annis  Clayton,  a  native  of  Jack- 
son County,  Ala.,  and  daughter  of  R.  B.  Clayton, 
of  North  Carolina,  who  came  to  Alabama  about 
1820.  R.  B.  Clayton  was  the  first  C'lerk  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  .Jackson  County.  He  died  in 
Baldwin, Miss.,  in  1872,  at  the  age  of  82  years. 

R.  C'.  Hunt  received  his  early  education  in  the 
common  schools  of  Tennessee.  In  1870  he  began 
the  study  of  law,  and  in  1871  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  at  Winchester,  Tenn.  He  commenced  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Texas,  but  located  in 
Scottsboro.  in  1875,  where  he  has  since  establish- 
ed a  very  successful  practice. 


Mr.  Hunt  was  married  in  April,  1877,  to  Miss 
Annie  Scruggs,  a  daughter  of  Frederick  and  .Mar- 
garet (Kimbrough)  Scruggs,  of  East  Tennessee. 

•    'V*  •{QiJ2P5'  'v '    ■ 

ALEXANDER  SNODGRASS,  Postmaster, 
Scottsboro.  sou  of  James  1).  Snodgrass,  was  born 
in  Washington  t^ounty,  Va..  October  1,  1820. 

James  0.  Snodgrass  was  born  in  the  same  jilaoe 
about  17!iO.  He  was  a  weaver  by  trade,  as  was 
his  father  before  him,  and  he  was  also  a  farmer, 
lie  married  .\bigail  Dunlap,  of  Scotch  descent  and 
they  had  nine  children. 

Alexander  Snodgrass  was  born  in  the  ancestral 
home;  educated  at  the  common  schools  and 
Duffield  Academy,  Elizabeth,  Tenn.,  and  at  Ab- 
ingdon, Va.  He  came  to  Alabama  in  lS43;ha8been 
tax  assessor,  and  was  rtceivcr  of  public  money  at 
the  land  offices  at  Lebanon  and  Centre  for  six  years. 
He  represented  Cherokee  County  in  the  State  Leg- 
islature two  years,  and  was  State  agent  for  ship- 
ping salt  for  a  year  or  two  during  the  war.  After 
the  war,  he  established  the  Alabama  Herald  at 
Scottsboro. 

In  1872  he  was  elected  to  represent  Jack- 
son, Marshall  and  DeKalb  counties  in  the 
State  Senate,  and  served  there  four  years.  He 
continued  the  publication  of  the  Jleruld  until 
January  16,  1887,  when,  on  account  of  his  ap- 
pointment as  postmaster  by  President  Cleveland, 
the  paper  was  discontinued. 

In  1843,  Mr.  Snodgrass  was  married  to  Miss 
Lucetta  Byrd,  of  this  vicinity,  by  whom  he  had 
one  daughter,  Mary  A.,  married  to  C.  W.  Daugh- 
drill,  and  now  living  in  Gadsden.  In  18-53  the  first 
Mrs.  Snodgrass  died,  and  in  December,  1854.  Mr. 
Snodgrass  was  married  to  Miss  Susan  Jane  Hill, 
a  lady  related  to  a  family  of  that  name  well  known 
in  Georgia  and  Tennessee.  The  children  of  this 
marriage  are  John  Nathaniel,  who  died  in  infancy; 
Fannie  V.,  now  widow  of  F.  R.  King  of  New 
Orleans  and  for  some  time  known  as  junior  edi- 
tress of  the  Herald.  She  has  become  quite  famous 
throughout  the  State  as  a  writer  under  the  iiom 
de  jdnme  of  "Hex"  in  the  Birmingham  Af/e;  Su- 
san Cornelia,  wife  of  I).  K.  Caldwell,  of  this 
county,  and  living  in  Scottsboro;  Jesse  Alexander, 
wife  of  Dr.  Beech,  a  dentist  of  Scottsboro;  Irene 
and  Minnie,  yet  at  home. 

Mr.  Snodgrass  is  a  member  of  the  P^piscopal 
Church  and  the  Masonic  fraternitv. 


100 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


JAMES  K.  P.  ROREX,  M.  D.,  Physician  and 
Surgeon,  son  of  David  and  Sarali  A.  (Wilkinson) 
Eorex,  was  born  the  3d  of  March,  1845,  in  Fay- 
ettesville,  Lincoln  Oonnty,  Tenn. 

His  father,  David  Eorex,  vpas  born  in  East  Ten- 
nessee October  16,  180G.  He  was  a  merchant; 
moved  to  Alabama  in  January,  1858,  and  died  in 
Scottsboro  March,  1880.  His  wife,  Sarah  Ann 
Wilkinson,  died  in  March,  1863.  They  had  six 
children,  two  boys  and  four  girls. 

Dr.  Eorex  received  a  common-school  edu- 
cation at  Stevenson  in  the  ante-bellum  days.  He 
entered  the  Confederate  Army  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
in  the  Sixth  Alabama  Infantry.  He  was  in  the 
Seven  Days'  Fight  before  Richmond  in  18G2:  at  the 
battle  of  Chancellorsville,  where  he  was  wounded; 
at  Gettysburg,  and  the  second  battle  of  the  Wil- 
derness, where  he  received  a  wound  which  crippled 
him  for  five  or  six  years.  After  the  war  he 
attended  school  at  Stevenson  for  one  year.  Then 
he  went  to  the  University  of  Virginia,  after  which 
he  came  home  and  taught  school  for  three  years, 
studying  medicine  in  the  meantime.  He  attended 
two  courses  of  lectures  in  Nashville;  took  his 
degree  of  M.  D.  at  Mobile,  in  March,  1875; 
attended  Louisiana  State  Medical  College  in  New 
Orleans  in  1884;  and  has  practiced  medicine  in 
Scottsboro  since  1875.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
State  Medical  Association  and  a  counsellor  therein 
since  1881;  was  County  Health  Officer  five  years, 
and  is  President  now  of  the  Jackson  County  Med- 
ical Society.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Church  and  of  the  Odd  Fellows  fraternity. 

Dr.  Rorex  was  married  November  6,  i876,  to 
Miss  Ella  Lou  Whitworth,  a  daughter  of  Wm. 
Whitworth,  of  Tennessee.  The  Doctor  has  three 
children:  Louis  Wyetb,  Fannie  Polk  and  William 
David. 

JOHN  RICHARD  HARRIS,  son  of  Richard  B. 
and  A.  H.  Clopton  Harris,  of  A'irginia,  was  born 
near  Huntsville,  May  5,  1841.  Richard  B. 
Harris  was  born  in  1806,  educated  in  the  country 
schools,  in  early  life  was  a  merchant,  and  after- 
ward a  farmer.  He  was  a  captain  of  militia  at 
Huntsville  for  many  years  and  served  also  as 
a  justice  of  the  peace.  He  reared  two  sons  and 
five  daughters. 

John  R.  Harris  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and 
when  eight  years  old  removed  with  his  parents  to 
Larkinsville,  Ala.,  and  received  his  education  at 


Irvin  College.  In  March,  1861,  he  enlisted  in 
the  Confederate  Army,  in  Capt.  Hal.  Bradford's 
company;  went  to  Fort  Morgan,  where  he  and  his 
company  were  merged  into  the  Second  Alabama 
Regiment;  remained  there  for  ten  months,  was 
transferred  to  Fort  Pillow,  and  after  a  short  time 
discharged.  While  Mr.  Harris  and  his  comrades 
were  on  their  way  home  he  joined  an  Alabama 
regiment  for  the  occasion  and  participated  in  the 
memorable  battle  of  Corinth.  Having  reached  his 
home,  he  remained  there  but  a  few  days,  and  went 
out  as  an  independent  with  Colonel  Stearns,  of 
the  Fourth  Tennessee  Cavalry,  and  there  was  or- 
ganized into  Company  K.,  Commanded  by  Capt. 
Francisco  Rice,  of  Madison  County,  Ala.,  For- 
rest's old  brigade.  While  here  he  declined  an  office 
which  was  tendered  him.  After  this  he  partici- 
pated in  all  the  engagements  in  which  his  brigade 
fought;  was  never  excused  from  duty  at  any  time; 
was  in  Bragg's  campaign  in  Kentucky;  fought 
with  Kirby  Smith's  command,  and  himself  com- 
manded the  extreme  advance  guard  of  Smith's 
division  till  he  reached  Barbersville  and  Cumber- 
land Ford.  When  his  squad  had  only  crossed  the 
Kentucky  line  a  short  distance,  they  were  fired 
on  by  bushwhackers,  when  they  dashed  into  the 
hills  and  captured  some  of  them;  then  met  a 
Federal  lieutenant  with  twenty  scouts,  and  killed 
and  captured  together,  fourteen  of  the  same. 
Here  Mr.  Harris  was  slightly  wounded  on  top  of 
his  head.  He  was  engaged  at  Eichmond,  Perry- 
ville,  second  battle  of  Fort  Donelson,  Parker's 
Cross  Roads,  Huntington,  Lexington  and  Dres- 
den, where  his  brigade  captured  General  Fry's 
command.  He  was  afterward  in  the  battles  of 
Thompson  Station,  Tenn.,  Knoxville,  Chicka- 
mauga,  Resaca  and  the  campaign  of  Atlanta,  Ga. ; 
was  slightly  wounded  several  times;  was  with  Gen. 
Joe  Wheeler  in  the  East  Tennessee  campaign, 
in  the  winter  of  1863-4.  After  Hood's  raid  he 
was  on  detached  duty  as  a  secret  scout,  in  which 
duly  he  again  had  command  of  a  small  squad  of 
men,  and  had  numerous  fights  with  an  independ- 
ent Alabama  company,  and  Federals  in  Middle 
Tennessee  and  North  Alabama,  often  successfully 
fighting  five  and  ten  to  one;  and  thinks  he,  with 
five  others,  made  the  last  fight  of  the  war  near 
Larkinsville,  Ala.,  killing  seven  out  of  sixteen  of 
the  enemy.  This  engagement  was  on  horseback, 
the  enemy  getting  in  first  fire.  A  short  time  be- 
fore this  Mr.  Harris,  with  Lieutenant  Haveren 
and  eight  men,  boarded  a  Federal  steamboat  some 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


101 


miles  below  Chattanooga,  on  the  Tennessee  Kiver, 
and  captured  the  urew  and  destroyed  the  vessel, 
with  several  cannon. 

After  the  war  lie  cnjjaged  in  farming,  wliich  he 
has  continued  till  the  jiresent  time.  In  1871,  he 
was  elected  Sheriff,  and  served  one  term.  It  is 
said  by  his  countrymen  that  he  made  a  most 
excellent  sheriff.  In  18K0.  he  removed  to  Scotts- 
boro,  where  he  owns  considerable  property. 

In  1800,  lie  was  married  to  Miss  MoUie  F.  Win- 
bourn,  of  West  Tennessee.  He  had  one  daughter 
by  this  marriage — .Mollie  F.  His  wife  dieri  in 
1870;  was  married  again  in  1874  to  Miss  ilaria 
W.  Kinkle,  daughter  of  LaFayette  and  Agnes 
(Jones)  Kinkle.  of  lluntsville.  They  have  several 
cliildren — Robert  K..  John  R.,  Fannie  T.,  Emma 
1'.,  Jennie  I'.,  .Maria  W.,  Lulu  (J.  and  George  W. 
Mr.  Harris  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  he  is  a  .Mason  and  Knight 
of  Honor. 

— -^-f^t^-^*— ^ 

JOHN  P.  TIMBERLAKE,  Contractor,  Steven- 
son, son  of  Joel  and  Martha  (Perkins)  Tim- 
berlake,  was  born  in  Louisa  County,  Va.,  August 
13,  1817. 

His  parents  were  both  natives  of  Louisa  County, 
where  his  father  was  born,  in  177*;.  He  was  a 
farmer,  and  died  in  1831,  leaving  five  children. 
Ili.<  widow  died  a  few  years  later. 

Philip  Timberlake,  grandfather  of  John  P. 
'J'imberlake,  was  also  a  native  of  ^'Jrginia,  and 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  The 
'I'imberlakes  came  from  England. 

John  P.  Timberlake  was  reared  mi  a  farm,  and 
received  a  common  school  education.  When 
twenty  years  of  age,  he  took  a  contract  on  the 
James  River  &  Kanawlni  Canal.  After  this  was 
completed,  he  came  to  Georgia  (in  1838),  and 
took  contracts  in  the  construction  of  the  Western 
&  Atlantic  Railway.  He  followed  the  business  of 
contracting,  in  Georgia  and  Alabama,  until  1857, 
and  was  successful  in  accumulating  a  considerable 
fortune. 

In  1852,  he  located  at  Stevenson,  where  he 
he  hivs  since  resided,  and  has  been  a  merchant  and 
farmer,  besides  continuing  his  business  as  a  con- 
tractor, in  pursuance  of  which,  he  was  interested 
in  erecting  all  the  principal  buildings  of  Steven- 
son, including  the  William  and  Emma  Austin 
College,  which  was  finished  in  1873. 

In  1801,  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Secession  Con- 


vention, and  gave  his  entire  influence  against  the 
ordinance  of  secession. 

Mr.  Timberlake  was  married,  in  1858,  to  Sarah 
T.  Roach,  of  Jackson  County,  Ala.,  a  daughter 
of  Rev.  Charles  L.  and  Sarah  (Bradford)  Roach, 
of  Virginia  and  Tennessee,  respectively.  Charles 
L.  Roach  was  a  minister  of  the  Missionary  Baptist 
Church.  Mrs.  Timberlake  died  in  1807.  Mr. 
Timberlake  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  and  the  Masonic  fraternity. 


JAMES  P.  HARRIS.  Proprietor  of  the  Harris 
House,  Scottsboro,  son  of  Richard  B.  Harris,  and 
grandson  of  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  war, 
was  born  April  4,  1847,  near  lluntsville. 

Mr.  Harris  was  a  weakly  youth  until  he  had 
served  awhile  in  the  army.  His  father  had  plenty 
of  slaves,  and  he  did  nothing  in  his  boyhood  davs 
but  go  to  school.  He  joined  the  Confederate 
Army  in  1861,  being  then  but  sixteen  years  of  age, 
and  was  mustered  into  Company  K,  Fourth 
Alabama  Infantry,  under  Col.  Egbert  J.  Jones. 
He  was  in  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  July  21, 
1861,  but  was  discharged  from  the  infantry 
service  on  account  of  his  extreme  youth. 
He  returned  to  his  home  and  remained  there 
about  a  month,  when  he  joined  Forrest's  Cav- 
alry in  the  Fourth  Tennessee  Regiment;  was  in  the 
battle  at  Jamestown,  the  seven  days'  fight  before 
Richmond,  and  in  all  Forrest's  West  Tennessee 
campaigns,  including  eight  or  ten  heavy  battles 
and  many  skirmishes;  was  at  the  second  battle  of 
Fort  Donelson,  the  battle  of  Thompson's  Station 
and  the  capture  of  Streight,  whom  Forrest  pur- 
sued from  near  Tuscumbia  until  within  a  few 
miles  from  Rome,  Georgia,  riding  and  fighting 
day  and   night  for  three  or  four  days. 

Our  subject  was  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Tulla- 
homa,  a  most  severe  fight,  in  which  Colonel 
Starnes  of  his  regiment  was  killed.  He  was  also 
in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  and  after  that  went 
to  East  Tennessee  and  participated  in  the  siege  of 
Knoxville,  and  was  continuously  fighting  most 
of  the  winter.  In  the  spring  his  regiment  came 
through  the  Carolinas  and  joined  Johnson's 
army  at  Dalton,  Georgia.  This  regiment  was 
placed  in  the  rear  guard  on  their  retreat  from 
Dalton  to  Atlanta,  and  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Resaca,  Calhoun,  Kenesaw  Mountain, 
and  Peach  Tree  Creek.   Before  the  battle  of  Peach 


103 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Tree  Creek  they  captured  Stoneman  and  his  com- 
mand south  of  Atlanta,  and  made  a. raid  through 
Middle  Tennessee.  After  the  battle  at  Atlanta 
tiiey  fought  a  most  severe  one  at  Franklin,  Ten- 
nessee, and  then  retreated  to  North  Carolina, 
where   Johnson  surrendered. 


He  was  married  October  31,  1866,  to  Miss  Jen- 
nie Robertson,  of  Jackson  County,  and  four  chil- 
dren have  been  born  to  this  union:  "William  8., 
Anna  B.,  Mary  S.  and  James  P. 

Mr.  Harris  and  lady  are  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  he  is  an  Odd  Fellow. 


Vlll. 
FRANKLIN    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  10,456;  colored,  1,699. 
Area,  610  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Red  Val- 
ley and  other  calcareous  lands,  220  square  miles. 
Sandy  soil  and  gravelly  hills,  240  square  miles. 
Coal  measures,  150  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton,  approximately,  10,368;  in  corn, 
21,038;  in  oats,  320;  in  wheat,  l,6ci0;  in  tobacco, 
17;  in  sugar  cane,  96;  in  sweet  potatoes,  137. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  3,000. 

County  Seat — Bel  Green  :  Population,  500  ; 
located  23  miles  from  Tuscumbia. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Frank- 
lin News,  Democratic. 

Postofficesin  the  County — Alauthus,  Bel  Green, 
Burleson,  Ezzell,  Fordton,  Frankfort,  Isbell, 
Mountain  Springs,  Nelsonville,  Newburgh,  Pleas- 
ant Site,  Eussellville,  Spruce  Pine,  Waco. 

Franklin  is  one  of  the  northwestern  counties  of 
the  State,  and  adjoins  the  State  of  Mississippi. 
Its  history  as  a  county  antedates  the  history  of 
the  State,  it  having  been  organized  in  1818,  by 
the  first  Territorial  Legislature.  The  county 
perpetuates  the  memory  of  Benjamin  Franklin, 
the  great  American  jihilosopher.  It  is  one  of 
the  oldest  counties  in  the  State,  and  has  long 
been  noted  for  its  richness  in  minerals  as 
well  as  the  fertility  of  its  soils.  At  Russellville, 
which  was  once  the  county-seat,  there  was  estab- 
lished the  first  iron  furnace  erected  in  the  State ; 
but,  owing  to  superior  facilities  of  transportation 
in  other  quarters,  its  operation  has  long  since  been 
discontinued,  and  now  its  existence  is  only  a 
memory  of  the  past. 


The  principal  mineral  resources  of  the  county 
consist  of  coal  and  iron  ore,  both  of  which  are 
found  in  apparently  inexhaustible  quantities.  The 
presence  of  these  minerals  bids  fair  to  bring 
Franklin  County  into  prominence  and  materially 
increase  the  value  of  its  lands.  The  want  of  fa- 
cilities of  transportation,  in  the  past,  has  been 
the  cause  which  retarded  the  develojiment  of  the 
resources  of  this  county  ;  but  this  condition  is 
somewhat  changed  now,  as  the  county  is  pene- 
trated by  the  Sheffield  &  Birmingham  Railroad, 
which  will  soon  be  completed  through  to  the 
latter  city.  In  addition  to  this  road,  others 
highly  important  to  the  interests  of  Franklin 
are  projected,  and  no  doubt  the  work  of  con- 
structing some  of  them  will  be  commenced  at  an 
early  date.  This  is  what  Franklin  has  long 
awaited,  and  when  the  time  arrives  the  county 
will  enjoy  an  era  of  prosperity  greater  than  is  now 
dreamed  of. 

The  surface  of  the  county  is  marked  by  a  series 
of  ridges,  and  taken  as  a  whole  is  more  or  less 
broken,  but  has  frequent  valleys  notable  for  their 
fertility,  which  furnish  excellent  lands  sufficient 
to  support  a  large  population  of  small  farmers. 
The  soil  on  the  ridges  is  thin  and  cultivation  of  it 
yields  poor  return;  but  in  the  valleys  the  results 
will  compare  favorably  with  sections  which  are 
strictly  classed  as  good  agricultural  regions.  The 
princijial  products  of  the  county  are  corn,  cotton, 
wheat,  oats,  rye,  tobacco,  sorghum,  potatoes  and 
the  usual  field  crops.  Probably  the  leading  crop 
of  the  county  is  corn,  although  it  produces  nearly 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


103 


4,000  bales  of  cotton  per  year.  This  crop  was 
placed  at  2,07*^  bales  by  tlic  Census  of  1S70, 
while  the  Census  of  1880  shows  a  yield  of  .'!,r.03 
bales. 

The  conditions  of  the  county  especially  adajit 
it  to  the  cultivation  of  grain,  in  which  it 
will  compare  favorably  with  leading  counties  of 
the  cereal  belt. 

The  matter  of  stock  raising  i.s  receiving  much 
attention,  and  Franklin  County's  wool  product 
bids  fair  to  be  a  most  imjiortant  feature  at  an 
early  day. 

The  county  is  fairly  well  wooded,  the  i)rincipal 
of  its  timbers  being  red,  white,  post  and  black- 
jack oaks,  dogwood,  chestnut  and  hickory.  Co!i- 
siderable  (piantities  of  the  more  valuable  timbers — 


black  locust,  cedar,  walnut  and  cherry — are  found 
in  many  portions. 

Bear  River,  Little  Hear,  and  other  smaller  and 
uniTuportant  streams  give  the  county  an  ample 
supjily  of  water.  Until  changed  at  the  last  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature,  Bear  Kiver  was  known  as 
Big  Bear  Creek. 

The  County  Seat  is  Bel  Green,  a  pleasant  little 
town,  located  about  the  center  of  the  county. 
The  other  principal  towns  are  llusselville,  Frank- 
fort, Nelsonville  and  Center  Line.  The  educa- 
tional and  religious  facilities  of  the  county  are  up 
to  the  standard.  Fine  private  schools  are  kept  up 
in  almost  every  town,  while  every  township  has  its 
public  school.  Meeting-houses  are  found  in  all 
l)ortions  of  the  county. 


IX. 

COLBERT    COUNTY. 


Population:  White.  9.203;  colored,  C, 0.50.  Area, 
570  sfpiare  miles.  Woodland,  all.  (iravelly  hills 
and  sandy  soil,  -l^O  square  miles;  red  valley  and 
other  calcareous  lands,  150  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton, approxiniately,25,0U0;  in  corn, 
31,575;  in  oats,  3.840;  in  wheat,  1,704;  in  rye, 
6'.i;  in  toViacco,  34;  in  sugar-cane,  15;  in  sweet 
potatoes,  28(). 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  10,000. 

County  Seat — Tuscumbia:  population.  2,000; 
located  near  tlic  Tennessee  Kiver,  on  the  Memphis 
&  Charleston  Railroad. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Di^jxitch 
and  yorlh  A  hi/mm  inn,  both  Democratic.  At  Shef- 
feld — Enterprise,  Independent. 

Postotlices  in  the  Count}- — Allsborougli,  Bar- 
ton, Beeson,  Bishop,  Cheatham,  Cherokee, 
Chickasaw,  Dickson,  Dug,  Ingleton,  Leighton, 
Littleville,  Margerum,  Maud,  Mountain  Mills, 
I'ride's  .Station,  Rock  Creek,  Saint's  Store,  Shef- 
field, South  Florence,  Spring  Valley,  Tharp,  Tus- 
cumbia. 

Colbert  Countv.  named    for   a  famous  chief  of 


the  Chickasaws,  who  once  lived  within  its  limits, 
was  created  from  territory  cut  off  from  the 
northern  part  of  Franklin  County  in  1807. 
■'Though  one  of  the  youngest  counties  in  the 
State," says  a  recent  writer,  "it  is  rapidly  coming 
to  the  froTit  as  one  of  the  most  progressive."  It 
is  one  of  the  most  highly-favored  counties  in 
Alabama,  taking  into  consideration  its  climate, 
soil,  farm  products,  water-powers,  timbers,  mine- 
rals, and  transportation  by  river  and  rail. 

The  county  lies  east  and  west,  in  the  sliape  of 
an  irregular  parallelogram  (twenty  by  thirty 
miles),  much  compressed  in  the  middle  by  a 
southward  flexure  of  the  Tennessee  River,  which 
washes  its  whole  northern  border.  It  contains 
570  square  miles. 

Population  in  IS'.O,  12,537;  in  1880,  10,153  ;  in 
1887  (estimated),  22,000,  of  whom  fifty-nine  per 
cent,  are  white,  and  forty-one  i)er  cent,  are 
colored. 

The  i>rincipal  farm  i)roducts  are  cotton,  corn 
(in  the  production  of  which,  per  acre,  the  county 
ranks  first   in  the  State),  oats,  wheat,  clover,  the 


104 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


grasses,  sorghum,  sweet  and  Irish  potatoes,  hay,  rye, 
and  tobacco  in  limited  quantities.  Peaches  grow  to 
perfection  in  the  mountains,  and  all  other  kind  of 
fruit  and  vegetables  thrive  in  the  valleys. 

A  range  of  hills  called  the  "  Little  Mountain  " 
runs  east  and  west  through  the  county,  north  of 
which  lies  the  Valley  of  the  Tennessee,  and 
south  Kussel's  Valley,  in  Franklin  County. 
Toward  Kussel's  Valley,  the  hills  slope  gradually, 
and  are  covered  with  pebble  beds  of  considerable 
thickness,  while  toward  the  Tennessee  Valley,  the 
mountain  sinks  down  abruptly,  leaving  escarp- 
ments of  rock  from  75  to  175  feet  in  height. 

But  two  geological  formations,  the  sub-carbon- 
iferous and  the  stratified  drift,  are  represented  in 
the  county.  These,  though  lying  in  contact,  are 
divided  chronologically  by  the  mighty  gap  which 
separates  paliszoic  from  quarterman  time.  The 
sub-carboniferous  is  composed  of  limestone  and 
sandstone;  the  drift  of  angular  fragments  of 
clod  sands,  clay,  and  rounded  pebbles.  The  lat- 
ter is  found  chiefly  in  the  soutJiern  and  western 
part  of  the  county. 

The  drainage  of  the  county  is  northward  all  the 
streams  flowing  into  the  Tennessee  River,  and  all, 
except  Bear  River,  in  the  west,  having  their  sources 
in  the  Little  Mountain.  The  streams  flowing  north 
are  Spring  Creek,  Little  Bear  Ci-eek,  Cane  Creek, 
Buzzard  Roost  Creek  and  Bear  River.  The  first  four 
have  cut  deep  gorges  or  canons  into  the  sandstone, 
which  forms  the  upper  stratum  of  the  Little 
Mountain.  These  canons  abound  in  mineral 
springs  and  are  wildly  picturesque  and  beautiful. 
After  leaving  the  mountains  streams  flow  through 
a  comparatively  level  valley  to  the  river.  The  St. 
Louis  or  coral  limestone  underlies  this  valley. 

The  most  striking  topographical  features  of  the 
county  are  the  bluffs  of  coral  limestone,  .50  to  100 
feet  high,  along  the  south  bank  of  the  Tennessee 
River,  the  level  and  beautiful  valley,  thirty  miles  in 
length  by  ten  miles  in  breadth,  lying  parallel,  and 
the  bold  escarpment  of  the  Little  Mountain  visible 
from  every  part  of  the  valley,  forming  a  mighty 
wall  of  stone  to  the  southward. 

The  lands  of  the  county  may  be  classified  agri- 
culturally as  follows:  Fifty-seven  square  miles  of 
alluvial  lands — these  are  -'made  lands"  along 
Tennessee  and  Bear  Rivers,  subject  to  overflow, 
but  astonishingly  fertile,  producing  maximum 
crops  of  100  bushels  of  corn  and  \\  bales  of  cotton 
to  the  acre  :  l.")3  square  miles  of  red  lands  of  the 
■valley  lying  between  the  coral  limestone    bluffs  of 


the  river  and  the  limestone  escarpments  of  the 
Little  Mountain — these  lands  are  not  subject  to 
overflow,  have  a  red  to  dark  brown  soil,  a  deep 
red  sub-soil,  are  easily  renovated  when  worn,  and 
are  exceedingly  rich  and  productive ;  the  bad 
class  of  land — 380  square  miles  of  "mountain" 
lands — about  one-half  of  which  has  a  light  sand 
soil,  not  very  productive,  but  covered  with  the 
fine  forests  of  pine  and  oaJc,  and  the  other  half 
of  caves  and  rich,  rounded  hills  covered  with 
growth  of  walnut  and  poplar,  and  producing 
fine  crops  of  corn,  cotton  and  small  grain.  Lands 
vary  from  15  to  $50  per  acre  in  price,  according  to 
character,  location  and  surroundings. 

The  spontaneous  and  exuberant  growth  of 
grasses  in  Colbert  County  marks  it  specially  for  a 
stock  country.  The  efforts  heretofore  made  at 
raising  horses,  mules,  cattle,  hogs,  etc.,  and  im- 
proving breeds  of  live  stock,  have  been  eminently 
successful.  Few  counties  in  the  State  could  make 
an  exhibition  of  live  stock  that  would  rival  that  of 
this  county. 

Colbert  is  rich  in  valuable  timljers.  Forests  of 
short  leaf  pine,  cutting  from  400,000  to  500,000 
feet,  board  measure,  to  the  square  mile,  abound. 
All  varieties  of  oak  are  found.  Thousands  of 
cords  of  tan  bark  are  annually  shipped  by  river  to 
northwestern  cities.  Red  gums  of  great  height 
and  beauty  grow  in  all  parts  of  the  county.  Chest- 
nut grows  everywhere  upon  the  mountains,  and 
cypress  is  abundant  along  the  streams. 

The  mineral  wealth  of  the  county  is  very  great. 
Beds  of  silica,  hydraulic  limestone,  ochre,  fire- 
clay and  kaolin  are  found  in  various  parts,  par- 
ticularly in  the  west.  Good  beds  of  iron  ore 
(limonite)  are  found  near  Tharptown  in  the  south- 
east and  near  Chickasaw  in  the  northwest  portion 
of  the  county.  Gray  marble,  approximating  stat- 
uary marble  in  the  polish  it  takes,  is  quarried  at 
Ingleton  near  the  Mississippi  line.  Samples  of 
this  stone  may  be  seen  in  the  Confederate  monu- 
ment at  Montgomery,  and  the  soldiers'  monument 
at  Mobile.  Sandstone  of  superior  quality  abounds. 
Keller's  quarry,  near  the  center  of  the  county, 
and  Ilolsapple's  quarry,  near  Cherokee,  are  among 
the  best.  The  cleavage  of  this  stone  is  perfect, 
any  size  and  thickness  being  obtained. 

Among  the  industrial  and  manufacturing  enter- 
prises of  the  county  are  the  stone  quarries  above 
mentioned,  the  lime  works  of  Dr.  Pride,  near 
Pride  Station,  and  of  Mr.  John  A.  Denny,  near 
Margerum,  the  cotton  factory  of  Messrs.  Cheney 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


105 


&  Brandon,  near  Barton,  and  quite  a  number  of 
steam  saw  and  grist  mills  in  various  parts  of  the 
county. 

At  Slieffield,  ])reparations  for  making  and  work- 
ing iron  on  tlie  most  extensive  scale  are  being 
made,  and  shipments  of  ore  have  begun.  Five 
blast  furnaces  of  a  combined  capacity  of  COO  tons 
of  iron  daily,  are  completed,  or  in  process  of  con- 
struction. The  limits  of  this  article  forbids  any 
enumeration  of  the  various  manufacturing  enter- 
prises at  Sheftield  and  Tuscumbia,  which  include 
plow  factories,  ice  factories,  planing  mills,  brick 
yards,  sash  and  blind  factories,  etc. 

The  first  railroad  in  the  South,  a  horse-car  rail- 
way, was  built  from  Tuscumbia,  in  this  county,  to 
Decatur,  in  Morgan  County.  These  points  are  now 
connected  by  the  Jremphis&  Charleston  Ixailroad, 
which  runs  through  Colbert  County  from  east 
to  west.  A  branch  of  the  the  same  road  connects 
Tuscumbia  with  Florence.  The  Sheffield  &  Bir- 
mingham liailroad  runs  through  Colbert  County 
from  north  to  south,  connecting  Sheffield  with 
the  iron  and  coal  deposits  in  Franklin,  A\Mnston, 
Walker  and  Jefferson  Counties.  Besides  these 
roads  the  following  railroads,  all  to  i)ass  through 
this  county,  are  projected  and  in  process  of  con- 
struction: The  Louisville  &  Nashville  exten- 
sion, from  Columbia,  Tenn.,  to  Sheffield,  Ala.: 
the  Illinois  Central  extension,  from  Aberdeen, 
Miss.,  to  Sheffield,  Ala.;  the  Florence  &  Tus- 
caloosa Railroad  from  Tuscaloosa  to  Florence, 
via  Sheffield;  and  the  Padueah,  Chickasaw  & 
Birmingham  Railroad  from  Chickasaw  to  Birm- 
ingham. 

r.eighton,  lying  partly  in  Lawrence  County, 
Brides,  Bartoii,  Cherokee,  Dickson  and  Margerum 
are  stations  and  thriving  towns  surrounded  by  a 
fine  country  and  have  good  churches  and  schools. 

Chickasaw,  tlie  head  of  summer  navigation  on 
the  Tennes.see  River,  is  below  Colbert  Shoals.  It 
is  the  most  northwesterly  town  in  Alabama,  and 
during  low  water  stage  goods  may  be  billed  to  it 
cheaper  than  any  other  town  in  the  State.  Alls- 
boro  is  a  prosperous  village  on  the  Bear  River 
twenty  miles  below  its  mouth. 

Ninety  jier  cent,  of  the  population  of  Saint's, 
Camp  Smith,  Wheeler's  and  Seygley  beats,  which 
constitute  tiio  mountain  ])recincts  are  white.  Tiie 
farmers  of  this  section  are  the  most  independent 
and  self-sustaining  in  the  county. 

The  Tennessee  River  secures  to  dwellers  on  its 
banks  water  connection  with  all  the  river  cities  of 


the  north,  west  and  south.  The  navigation  from 
Padueah,  Ky.,  to  Chickasaw,  Ala.,  is  equaled 
in  this  country  only  by  that  of  the  lower  Missis- 
sippi and  the  Hudson.  The  distance  is  about 
three  hundred  miles.  An  additional  three  hun- 
dred miles  will  be  added  to  the  navigation  of  this 
river  as  soon  as  the  Mussel  Shoals  Canal  is  com- 
pleted and  obstructions  removed  from  Colbert 
Shoals,  for  which  work  there  has  been  an  appro- 
priation of  |!50,000. 

FRANK  R.  KING,  born  at  Leighton,  Ala.. 
October  30,  IS.JT,  is  a  son  of  Ilartwell  P.  and 
Mary  Henderson  (Smith)  King. 

The  senior  Mr.  King  was  born  near  Raleigh, 
N.  C,  in  LS20.  He  entered  the  army  as  a  mem- 
ber of  Captain  Rand's  Company,  with  which  he 
served  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  had  born 
to  him  eight  children,  viz.:  Henry,  Hartwell, 
Richard,  Duncan,  Paul,  William,  Frank  R.  and 
Susie.  The  three  first  named  died  when  quite 
young. 

The  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Hartwell  Kinsr, 
was  a  native  of  North  Carolina.  He  reared  a 
large  family  and  died  before  the  war.  His  widow 
died  in  1871,  at  the  extreme  old  age  of  88  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  with  his  brother  Paul,  which  business 
they  are  still  conducting.  This  firm  is  one  of  the 
oldest  in  Leighton,  and  has  the  largest  trade  of 
any  of  its  kind  in  that  section  of  the  country. 

Mr.  King  was  married  in  June,  1876,  to  Imo- 
gene  White,  daughter  of  James  AVhite,  of  ilem- 
phis,  Tenn.  The  union  has  been  blessed  with 
one  child,  Walter.  Mr.  King  and  wife  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian 
Churches,  respectively. 

— ««: 


B.  R.  KING,  M.  D.,  born  near  Leighton,  Ala., 
in  1830,  is  a  son  of  Oswald  and  Martha  (DeLone) 
King. 

'J'he  senior  Mr.  King  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina in  the  year  1785;  came  to  Alabama  with  his 
parents  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and  died  in 
1870.  He  was  a  well  educated  man,  a  thorough 
instructor,  and  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the 
county.  He  taught  school  when  quite  young, 
and  also  was  a  successful  planter,  in  which  avoca- 


106 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


tion  he  accumulated  a  large  fortune.  He  reared 
a  family  of  eleven  children,  of  whom  we  make 
the  following  mention:  Edward  H.,  deceased; 
Robert,  a  planter;  B.  R.,  our  subject;  Burchert, 
planter ;  Margaret  F.,  wife  of  F.  Hubbard ;  the 
rest  of  the  family  died  at  an  early  age.  The  King 
family  came  originally  from  England. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  also  born  in 
North  Carolina,  and  was  a  daughter  of  C'apt.  E. 
B-  DeLone,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  of  French 
Huguenot  ancestry.  Cajit.  DeLone  came  to 
Alabama  in  its  early  history,  located  at  Hunts- 
ville,  where  he  became  an  extensive  trader,  and 
thence  removed  to  Arkansas,  where  he  died  be- 
fore the  war. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a 
farm,  and  received  his  education  at  La  Grange 
College,  from  which  institution  he  was  graduated. 
He  also  attended  a  military  school  at  ilarietta, 
Ga.,  ten  months.  About  1857  he  began  the  study, 
of  medicine  with  Dr.  Kumpie,  and  was  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Peunsylvania  in  1861. 
Immediately  after  his  graduation  he  located  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Leighton.  In 
1863,  he  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  Confed- 
erate Government  as  Surgeon  of  the  Thirty-fifth 
Alabama  Regiment,  with  which  command  he 
served  about  two  years.  He  then  acted  as  Surgeon 
of  Warren's  Battalion  for  a  short  time. 

After  the  war,  Dr.  King  settled  at  Leighton, 
where  he  has  been  engaged,  more  or  less,  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  ever  since.  He  also 
conducts  a  large  farm.  He  stands  high  in  the 
estimation  of  the  community,  and  is  regarded  by 
the  profession  as  one  of  the  most  skillful  physi- 
cians in  Northern  Alabama. 


DR.  GEORGE  E.  KUMPIE  was  born  near 
Castle,  Germany,  September  7,  1819.  He  re- 
ceived his  education  in  his  native  country,  and  in 
early  life  was  connected  with  the  Lutheran 
Church.  When  quite  young,  he  and  his  brother, 
John,  came  to  the  United  States,  locating  at 
Tusciimbia,  Ala. 

The  Doctor  took  his  first  course  in  medicine  at 
Louisville,  in  1847,  and  graduated  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania.  After  his  graduation, 
he  located  at  La  Grange,  Ala.,  where  he  found  a 
good  field  for  his  profession,  and  in  which  he 
labored,    with   much    success,    until    1876.      He 


then  moved  to  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  where  he  lived 
a  few  years,  coming  thence  to  Leighton,  where  he 
lived  until  his  death,  which  occurred  August  29, 
1887. 

Being  a  man  of  much  popularity,  a  skillful 
physician,  an  active  worker  in  the  church,  and  a 
public-spirited  citizen,  his  death  was  regretted  by 
a  large  circle  of  friends.  He  was  a  prominent 
Mason,  and  stood  at  the  head  of  his  profession. 
He  served  as  president  and  vice-pre.sident  of  the 
State  Medical  Association,  and  was  deeply  inter- 
ested in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  advance- 
ment and  edification  of  the  medical  profession. 
He  left  an  interesting  family,  of  six  sons  and  one 
daughter,  who  comprise  some  of  Northern  Ala- 
bama's best  citizens. 


PARKER  N.  G.  RAND  was  born  at  La  Grange, 

Colbert  County,  Ala.,  in  October,  1829,  and  is  a 
son  of  John  and  Martha  (Curtis)  Rand,  natives 
of  Wake  County,  N.  C. 

Mr.  Rand's  parents  moved  to  La  Grange  in 
1826;  purchased  two  farms,  one  in  Lawrence  and 
the  other  in  Franklin  County,  and  were  success- 
ful in  accumulating  a  large  amount  of  land. 
They  reared  four  sons  and  five  daughters,  namely: 
Louise,  wife  of  William  Mullens  of  Alabama; 
Pemantha,  widow  of  Robert  A.  Lampkin;  Martha^ 
wife  of  Reece  Cook,  of  Vicksburg,  Miss. ;  Jackson. 
C,  deceased;  John  W.,  physician;  William  H.,. 
farmer;  Molsey  A.,  wife  of  F.  C.  Vinson;  Parker 
N.  G.,  our  subject;  Mary  A.,  wife  of  Dr.  William 
Stephenson —  she  died  in  Texas.  The  elder  Mr. 
Rand  died  in  1863,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years. 
His  wife  died  in  1845,  aged  fifty-six  years.  He 
was  a  very  active  and  industrious  man  while  in 
North  Carolina.  Beginning  in  life  apparently  a 
poor  man  he  succeeded  in  accumulating  a  fortune 
of  at  least  850,000.  The  Rand  family  were  origin- 
ally of  Irish  and  Scotch  ancestry.  The  mother 
of  our  subject  was  a  daughter  of  John  Curtis,  a 
native  of  Wake  county,  N.  C.  He  was  a  lineal 
descendant  of  Irish  parentage. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a  farm; 
received  a  common-school  education,  and  in  1845 
entered  La  Grange  College,  from  which  institution 
he  was  graduated  as  A.  B.  in  1849.  After  his  grad- 
uation he  was  engaged  with  his  father  farming  until 
February,  1855,  when  he  was  married  to  Martha 
A.  Smith,  daughter  of  John  Smith,  of  Lawrence 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


lor 


County,  .Ala.  They  reared  a  family  of  six 
chiklren,  namely:  Pattie;  Parker,  book-keeper  for 
F.  I{.  King  &  Co.;  Leighton,  Hall,  John  and  Mary. 
After  marriage  Mr.  Pand  located  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  his  birth  where  he  was  engaged  at 
farming.  He  was  elected  magistrate,  which  office 
he  has  held  for  thirty  years  *or  more.  In  the 
sjiring  of  1803,  he  raised  a  company  of  soldiers; 
was  elected  captain,  and  entered  a  battalion  under 
.Major  Williams  of  the  Confederate  Army.  This 
company  remained  a  part  of  the  battalion  until  its 
major  was  killed,  after  which  it  was  merged  into 
Company  H,  Eleventh  Alabama,  commanded  by 
Col.  James  Burtwell,  a  graduate  of  West  Point. 


Mr.  Hand  remained  with  this  regiment  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  was  mostly  engaged  as  a 
scout  and  participated  at  the  battle  of  Tishomingo 
Creek  and  at  the  fall  of  Selma.  He  surrendered 
at  Pond  Springs,  after  which  he  returned  home 
and  resumed  farming.  Having  lost  considerable 
of  his  fortune,  he  went  to  work  with  energy  and 
has  succeeded  in  replenishing  his  coffers. 

Mr.  Rand  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  of  which  he  has  been  steward 
for  many  years.  He  is  also  worshipful  master  of  the 
Masonic  lodge,  and  has  taken  an  active  interest  in 
all  that  pertains  to  the  advancement  and  progress  of 
his  section  of  the  country. 


MINERAL  BELT. 


BLOUNT    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  14,210;  colored,  1,159. 
Area,  700  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Coal 
measures,  460  square  miles;  valley  lauds,  240 
square  miles:  Brown's  and  Murphree's  Valley,  240 
square  miles. 

Acres  iu  cotton,  approximately,  12,500;  in  corn, 
29,161;  in  oats,  4,551;  in  wheat,  10,087;  in  tobac- 
co, 48;  in  sweet  potatoes,  371.  Approximate  num- 
ber of  bales  of  cotton,  5,000. 

County  Seat — Blountsville;poi5ulation, 300; loca- 
ted fifty  miles  south  of  Huntsville  and  forty-eight 
miles  north  of  Birmingham. 

Newsjiapers  published  at  County  Seat — Blount 
Coiinty  News,  democratir. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Anderton,  Arkadel- 
phia.  Balm,  Bangor,  Blount  Springs,  BlountsviUe, 
Brooksville,  Chejjultepec,  Craige,  Dineston,  Gar- 
den City,  Garrison  Point,  Gum  Springs,  Hanbys 
Mills,  Ilanceville,  Hendrick,  Huldah,  Liberty, 
Little  Warrior,  Lowery,  McLarty,  Murijhree's  Val- 
ley, Xectar,  Ogee,  Remlap,  Snead,  Strawberry, 
Summit,  Village  Springs,  Viola,  Wynnville. 

This  county  was  formed  in  1818,  and  named 
in  honor  of  Governor  William  G.  Blount,  of  Ten- 
nessee. It  is  noted  for  the  abundance  of  its 
minei'als,  the  diversity  of  its  soils,  the  variety  of 
productions,  and  mineral  waters.     In  its  progress. 


it  is  keeping  pace  with  the  surrounding  counties, 
and  is  ranked  among  the  best  in  the  State. 

The  face  of  the  country  in  Blount  is  rather 
peculiar.  It  is  penetrated  through  the  center  by 
a  plateau  which  occupies  a  belt  from  eight  to  ten 
miles  in  width.  On  one  side  of  this  mountain 
plateau,  running  parallel  with  it,  is  Murphree's 
Valley,  while  on  the  opposite  side  is  Brown's  Val- 
ley. Along  this  belt  of  plateau  are  found  excel- 
tent  farming  lands,  which  have  been  wonderfully 
assisted  during  the  last  few  years  by  the  moderate 
use  of  fertilizers.  Cotton  grows  most  readily  upon 
this  broad  upland,  especially  if  a  little  assisted 
with  fertilizers. 

Excellent  school  and  church  facilities  exist  in 
almost  every  portion  of  the  county.  Blountsville, 
the  seat  of  justice,  Bangor,  Summit,  Hanceville, 
and  Garden  City  are  places  of  importance.  The 
industries  of  the  county  are  varied.  Extensive 
limeworks  are  seen  at  Blount  Springs.  Limestone, 
dug  from  the  quarries  here,  is  daily  shipped  iu 
large  quantities  to  Birmingham,  where  the  manu- 
facturers hold  it  in  repute  above  any  other  avail- 
able limestone.  It  prevails  in  inexhaustible  stores, 
in  hills  about  Blount  Springs.  Coal  and  iron  are 
abundant  in  the  county.  Petroleum  is  also  found. 
Enjoying,  as  it  does,  facilities  for  transportation  to 


108 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


109 


the  markets  of  the  South,  Nortli,  and  all  points  in 
the  far  Northwest,  nothing  prevents  Blount  from 
taking  rank  with  the  foremost  counties  of  the 
State. 

Here,  as   in    the  adjoining  counties   which    lie 


along  the  railroad,  the  value  of  the  lands  dim- 
inishes as  they  recede  from  tiie  lineof  communica- 
tion. Land  can  be  purchased  in  the  county  at 
prices  ranging  from  k'l  to  ^3.5  per  acre.  There  are 
;U,3'.iO  acres  of  government  land  in  Rlount  County. 


II. 

BIBB   COUNTY. 


Poimlation:  White.  G.OOO;  colored,  ;!,000. 
Area,  610  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Hilly 
lands,  with  long-leaf  pine,  310  square  miles.  C'a- 
haba  coal  fields,  Vlh  square  miles.  Eoup's  Valley, 
100  square  miles.  Valley  lands  south  of  Cahaba 
coal  fields.  To  square  miles.  Gravelly  hills,  with 
long-leaf  pines,  110  square  miles. 

Acres  in  cotton,  approximately,  15,737;  in  corn, 
18,816  ;  in  oats,  3,935  ;  in  wheat,  3,125  ;  in  rye, 
151:  in  tobacco,  36;  in  sugar-cane,  36;  in  sweet 
potatoes,  308.  Approximate  number  of  bales  of 
cotton,  5,931. 

County  Seat — Centerville  ;  population  300:  lo- 
cated on  Cahaba  River. 

Postoftices  in  the  Count}' — Abercrombie,  Affo- 
nee,  Ashby,  Bibbville,  Blocton,  Brierfield,  Cen- 
tervUh,  Furnace,  Green  Pond.  Ilarrisburgh,  Xcw 
Marrs,  Pondville,  Randolph,  River  Bend,  Scotts- 
ville,  Si.\  Mile,  Slick,  Tionus,  Woodstock. 

Formerly,  Bibb  County  was  one  of  the  largest 
counties  in  the  State  ;  but  a  great  deal  of  its  area 
has  been  cut  off  to  make  up  the  surrounding 
counties  established  later  on  in  the  history  of  the 
State. 

In  the  first  days  of  its  settlement,  and  for 
a  long  time,  agriculture  was  tlie  only  pursuit  of 
its  citizens  ;  but  along  in  the  d.ays  of  the  Confed- 
eracy the  industries  began  to  be  diversified,  and 
some  attention  was  given  to  her  minerals.  But 
her  inhabitants  soon  settled  again  into  the  tilling 
of  the  soil,  and  not  until  a  few  years  ago  have 
her  great  resources  of  mineral  and  timber  wealth 
been  discovered  ;  and  while  she  stands  to-day 
among   the    richest   and  most    wonderful    of  the 


counties  of  the  great  Commonwealth,  she  has  not 
lost  much  of  her  agricultural  value. 

Very  little  corn  is  bought  by  the  farmers,  and 
they  could  easily  i-aise  it  all.  Besides  this,  the 
soil  produces  with  ease  and  in  abundance  oats, 
rye,  potatoes,  peas,  rice,  sugar-cane,  and  in  fact 
almost  everything  except  wheat.  The  forests  and 
fields  afford  excellent  pasturage  for  cattle  and 
hogs,  though  as  yet  not  much  attention  is  paid  to 
either,  as  a  rule.  A  most  important  crop  is  grass, 
which  can  be  raised  at  a  considerable  profit ;  and 
in  many  parts  of  the  county  the  farmers  are  turn- 
ing their  attention  to  stock-raising.  The  fertility 
of  the  lands  can  not  be  too  highly  spoken  of. 

The  entire  country  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
county  is  full  of  iron  of  the  finest  quality.  With- 
in a  short  distance  lie  beds  of  limestone,  and  coal 
is  near  by.  Iron  can  be  made  at  a  small  cost. 
JIany  varieties  of  marble  are  found  which  could 
be  easily  utilized.  The  finest  fire-clay  exists  in 
many  places,  and  is  being  worked  at  two  points. 
Fine  brick  are  made.  Yellow  ochre  is  found  and 
some  gold-bearing  quality.  There  are  also  man- 
ganese, asbestos,  saltpetre,  and  some  other  inferior 
minerals. 

Great  forests  of  pine  timber  offer  a  rich  harvest 
to  mill  men,  and  some  of  them  are  being  worked. 
The  county  is  shaded  by  the  finest  of  timbers, 
embracing  hickory,  oak,  gum,  maple,  beech,  pop- 
lar, walnut,  chestnut,  elm,  persimmon,  cotton- 
wood,  and  the  finest  of  cedar;  all  of  this  timber 
could  be  put  to  use,  and  the  county  abounds  in 
good  openings  for  wooden  manufactories. 

Anywhere  on  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  streams 


110 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


may  be  found  fine  water-powers,  where  small 
manufactories  could  be  run.  The  most  important 
of  those  streams  are  the  Cahaba  and  Little  Cahaba 
Rivers,  and  Haysoy,  Shultz,  Shades,  Ockmul- 
gee,  Sandy,  Six  Mile,  and  Mahean  Creeks.  On 
most  all  of  them  are  found  mills  and  gins,  and 
many  sites  for  others. 

The  established  industries  of  Bibb  are  limited 
for  a  county  of  so  much  material  wealth,  but  they 
are  important.  A  great  many  saw-mills  are  run- 
ning, which  shiji  quantities  of  lumber  to  other  mar- 
kets. Notable  among  these  are  Harrison's,  at  Ran- 
dolph, Carter's,  at  Brierfield,  ilartin  Strickland's, 
at  Blaston,  besides  the  many  smaller  ones. 

The  Brierfield  Coal  &  Iron  Company  own  the 
most  extensive  manufacturing  plant.  They  mine 
coal,  make  coke,  make  pig  iron,  run  it  through 
rolling  mills,  cast  it  at  the  foundry,  make  nails, 
and  jiut  up  some  machinery.  The  Cahaba  Coal 
Mining  Comjiany,  at  Blaston,  are  mining  immense 
quantities  of  coal,  which  they  make  into  coke  and 
ship  to  Anniston.  The  Edwards  Iron  Company, 
at  Woodstock,  will  be  running  very  soon.  At 
Ashley  and  Bibbville  there  are  large  fire  and 
machine  made  brick  works,  which  ship  large 
quantities.  At  Scottsville,  there  is  a  flouring  mill 
and  wool-carding  mill. 

The  places  of  importance  are — -Centerville,  the 
the  county  seat,  Randolph,  Brierfield,  Six  Mile, 
Blaston,  Woodstock,  Green  Pond  and  Scottsville. 

The   county   is   skirted    by  two  railroads,  the 


East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  on  the  east, 
and  the  Alabama  Great  Southern  on  the  west. 
Two  others  are  projected  through  the  center. 
The  Mobile  &  Birmingham  has  been  located,  and 
will  strike  Ashley  Furnace,  Blaston  and  Wood- 
stock, and  will  run  directly  through  the  coal  and 
iron  fields.  The  Selma  &  Cahaba  Valley  is  a  pro- 
posed line  through  the  timber,  marble  and  coal 
regions.  Boats  have  run  as  high  up  the  Cahaba 
River  as  Centerville,  and  that  stream  can  easily  be 
made  navigable,  thus  giving  an  outlet  by   water. 

The  water  and  climate  is  fine,  and  health  good. 
Good  schools  are  accessible  at  all  points.  The 
morals  of  the  people  are  above  the  average,  there 
being  little  business  in  the  courts — churches  are 
well  supported. 

Trade  is  good  and  many  merchants  have  made 
fortunes.  The  peojile  only  lack  enterprise  to 
some  extent,  though  they  are  awakening  to  a  due 
sense  of  the  value  of  their  county.  Lands  can  be 
bought  cheap,  and  there  is  a  great  deal  of  public 
land  subject  to  entry. 

A  minute  description  would  require  a  large 
volume,  and  the  above  are  only  a  few  points 
touching  the  true  status  of  the  county.  There  is 
an  inviting  field  for  those  who  desire  to  invest, 
and  in  this  age  of  advancement  and  progress  we 
soon  expect  to  see  our  county  put  down  among  the 
first  of  the  State.  The  county  is  entirely  out  of 
debt,  and  only  imposes  a  tax  of  forty-five  cents  on 
the  ^100. 


III. 

CALHOUN    COUNTY. 


Population:  Wliite  :  U,8T2:  colored,  4,9-v'l. 
Area.  C,io  square  miles.  Wootlland.  all.  Coosa 
A'allev  and  Coosa  coal  fields,  040  square  miles. 

Acres  in  cotton,  approximately,  2(),,43o:  in  corn, 
33,714:  in  oats,  8,8.52;  in  wheat,  10,745;  in  rye, 
287;  in  tobacco,  29;  in  sweet  potatoes,  283.  Ap- 
proximate number  of  bales  of  cotton,  11,927. 

County  Seat — Jacksonville;  population  5,000; 
on  Kast  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Railroad. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Rejnth- 
Uciin,  democratic;  at  Anniston,  Hot  Blast,  Watch- 
man, and  Southeni  Industni,  all  democratic;  at 
Cross  Plains,  Post,  democratic;  at  Oxford,  .£"(7*0, 
local. 

Postotliees  in  the  County — Adelia,  Alexandria, 
Allsup.  .Viiniston,  Beasley,  Bera,  Bruner,  By- 
num,  Cane  Creek,  Choccolocco,  Cross  Plains, 
Davisville,  l)e  Armanville,  Duke,  Eulaton,  Fran- 
cis, Germania,  Grayton,  Hebron,  Jacksonville, 
Jenkins,  Ladiga,  Mack.  Marthadell,  Martin's 
Cross-roads,  Merrellton,  Morrisville,  Nance,  Ohat- 
ohee,  Ottery,  Oxanna,  Oxford,  Peaceburgh,  Peek's 
Hill,  Rabbit  Town,  Randall,  Weaver's  Station, 
Wliite  Plains. 

Calhoun  County,  in  the  northeastern  i)art  of 
the  State,  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  l-^towah  and 
Cherokee  Counties,  on  the  east  by  Cleburne,  on 
the  south  by  Cleburne  and  Talladega,  and  on  the 
west  by  St.  Clair.  It  was  organized  December 
IS,  1833,  out  of  territory  ceded  the  Marcli  before 
by  the  Creek  Indians. 

Exclusive  of  town  lots,  railroad  rights  of  way, 
and  public  lands,  324,210  acres  of  land  are  assessed 
for  taxation  at  a  valuation  of  ?!l,4Gl,722,  town 
lots  and  improvements  are  valued  at  *il,409,071, 
and  personal  property  at  ^2,000,078;  in  all  ^4,907,- 
471.  Since  these  values  were  fixed  on  the  first  of 
January  last,  there  has  been  something  like  a 
•'boom"  in  Anniston  and  other  parts,  and  they 
would  now  be  not  less  than  fifty  per  cent, 
greater. 

The  county  tax  for  all  purposes  is  forty  cents  on 
the  «ln(),  one-third    loss  than  last  year  and  pre- 


vious years.  Except  about  ■^14,(»o(i  for  the  new 
court-house,  the  county  is  out  of  debt. 

There  are  1 10  miles  of  railway  in  the  county,  as 
follows:  The  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia 
Railroad,  37.73  miles;  the  East  &  West  Railroad, 
30.58  miles;  the  Georgia  Pacific  Railroad,  30.50 
miles;  and  the  Anniston  &  Atlantic  Railroad,  11.42 
miles.  These  are  valued  at  $855,078.  In  addi- 
tion, the  .Jacksonville,  Gadsden  «&  Atalla  Rail- 
road is  partly  graded;  and  the  Anniston  &  Cin- 
cinnati Railroad,  from  Anniston  to  Atalla,  will  be 
open  for  traffic  by  the  first  of  February  next. 
These  will  increase  the  railroad  mileage  of  the 
county  nearly  forty  miles.  The  Georgia  Central 
Railroad  extension,  projected  from  Carrollton,Ga., 
to  Decatur,  Ala.,  has  been  surveyed  through  the 
county. 

There  are  about  100,000  acres  of  imi)roved  lands 
in  the  county,  which,  in  1880,  were  divided  into 
l.'.iOO  farms,  the  annual  products  of  which  were 
worth  more  than  *l,000,ooo  then,  and  are  worth 
much  more  now. 

Except  the  western  slopes  of  the  hills  forming 
its  eastern  boundary,  the  county  lies  wholly  in 
what  is  known  as  the  Coosa  Valley,  which  is  a 
continuation  of  the  valleys  of  Virginia  and  East 
Tennessee,  and  has  the  same  physical  and  geo- 
logical characteristics.  It  is  a  trough  between 
tlie  metamorphic  area  and  the  coal  fields, 
broken  by  considerable  sandstone  elevations,  with 
wide,  beautiful,  and  fertile  valleys,  abundantly 
wooded  and  watered.  These  valleys,  gently  roll- 
ing, not  swampy  or  subject  to  overflow,  are  fineh' 
adapted  to  cotton,  corn,  small  grains,  red  clover, 
and  all  the  grasses,  and  the  whole  county  is 
specially  suited  for  stock-growing. 

The  county  is  rich  in  minerals — perhaps  the 
richest  in  the  State.  Almost  everywhere  brown 
hematite  iron  ore  abounds,  and  around  the  bases 
and  on  the  sides  of  the  sandstone  hills  it  is  in 
amazing  (piantities  and  of  the  greatest  ricliness. 
From  Oxford  to  Cross  Plains,  in  the  Choccolocco 
and  Alexandria  vallevs.  and  in  the  Colvin  Moun- 


111 


112 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


tains,  there  are  the  greatest  masses  of  it  every- 
where exposed  on  the  surface,  and  everywhere 
seemingly  inexhaustible.  There  is  not  probably 
one  single  section  of  land  in  the  county  without 
ore.  In  the  Colvin  Mountains,  in  close  proximity 
to  the  brown  ores,  there  are  veins  of  red  hematite 
scarcely  inferior  in  extent,  and  not  inferior  in 
quality,  to  those  of  the  famous  Eed  Mountain  in 
Jefferson  County. 

JEanganese,  in  greater  or  less  quantity,  is  found 
in  many  of  the  brown  hematite  beds,  and  inde- 
pendently in  large  dejiosits.  Limestone,  and 
marble  of  excellent  quality,  are  abundant,  as,  also, 
kaolin,  sandstone,  barite,  and  fire-brick  clay,  with 
some  copper,  lead,  and  lithograjihic  stone.  The 
Choccolocco,  TerrajDiu,  Tallasahatchie,  Ohatchee, 
and  Cane  Creeks,  and  the  Coosa  River,  furnish 
never-failing  and  almost  limitless  water-power. 
For  all  domestic  and  agricultural  jnirposes,  water 
abounds  in  every  part  of  the  county. 

Attention  has  only  recently  been  turned  to  the 
vast  mineral  wealth  and  unequaled  manufacturing 
advantages  of  this  county,  and  industrial  develop- 
ment has  only  fairly  begun.  In  1873  the  first 
furnace  was  erected  in  Anniston,  which  was  fol- 
lowed six  years  later  by  a  second,  both  owned  by 
the  Woodstock  Iron  Company,  and  two  others  are 
being  erected  there  by  the  same  company.  Annis- 
ton has  now  in  operation,  in  addition  to  the  fur- 
naces, car  works  with  $.30,000  capital ;  car- wheel 
works  and  rolling-mill,  $200,000  ;  compress  and 
warehouse,  $100,000 ;  pipe  works  (in  construc- 
tion), $300,000 ;  cotton  mills,  $250,000 ;  steel 
bloomery,  $.50,000 ;  fire-brick  works,  $25,000 ; 
boiler  shops,  machine  shops,  planing  mills,  etc., 
$250,000;  three  banks;  land  company,  $3,000,000; 


and  claims  a  population  of  over  9,000,  with  water- 
works, electric  lights,  costly  churches,  first-class 
schools,  well-graded  streets,  a  large  general  mer- 
chandise business,  and  the  finest  hotel  in  the 
State.  The  capital  of  the  Woodstock  Iron  Com- 
pany is  $3,000,000.  Jacksonville,  twelve  miles 
north  of  Anniston,  with  mineral  resources,  mann- 
facturing  facilities,  and  location  unsurpassed,  has 
just  organized  a  land  and  improvement  company, 
with  large  capital,  which  has  entered  into  nego- 
tiations for  the  early  inauguration  of  several  large 
industrial  enterprises  that  will  be  under  way  by 
the  close  of  the  year.  Oxford,  four  miles  below 
Anniston,  with  1,200  inhabitants,  and  Cross  Plains, 
twelve  miles  north  of  Jacksonville,  with  800  peo- 
ple, have  situations  in  all  respects  as  good  as  those 
of  Anniston  and  Jacksonville,  and  are  built  up  in 
the  midst  of  the  richest  mineral  deposits  of  this 
section.  Alexandria,  in  the  loveliest  valley  in  the 
county,  is  on  the  line  of  the  Anniston  &  Cincin- 
nati Railroad,  and  has  a  bright  future.  There  are 
other  thriving  villages,  as  White  Plains,  Ger- 
mania,  Oxanna,  Morrisville,  Cane  Creek,  Chocco- 
locco, etc. 

There  is  a  State  Normal  Scliool  at  Jacksonville, 
excellently  conducted  high  schools  at  Anniston, 
Oxford,  Cross  Plains,  and  Alexandria,  and  good 
public  schools  and  churches  in  every  neighbor- 
hood. There  are  thirty-eight  postoffices  in  the 
county,  about  half  of  which  have  daily  mails. 
Xo  person  in  the  county  lives  more  than  five  or 
six  miles  from  a  railroad.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  government  land  subject  to  homestead  entry. 
Improved  lands  can  be  bought  at  from  $5  to  $50 
an  acre,  the  cheaper  lands  being  more  or  less 
broken,  but  well  wooded  and  watered  and  fertile. 


-■*« 


OXFORD. 


THOMAS  CARTER  HILL,  prominent  Physi- 
cian and  Surgeon,  son  of  Thomas  H.  and  Miranda 
(Gregory)  Hill,  natives,  respectively,  of  the  States 
of  Virginia  and  Xorth  Carolina,  was  born  in 
Green  (now  Hale)  County,  this  State,  November 
14,  1830.  After  acquiring  a  thorough  preliminary 
education  at  some  of  the   leading  colleges  of  the 


State,  he,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  began  the  study 
of  medicine,  and  pursued  it  successively  through 
medical  institutions  of  learning  in  New  York, 
Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  graduating  from  Jef- 
ferson Medical  College,  in  the  latter  city,  in  1800. 
Early  in  18G1,  young  Hill  enlisted  as  a  private 
soldier  in  the  Fifth    Alabama  Regiment,  and  was 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


113 


in  a  short  time  promoted  to  Assistant-Surgeon. 
Ill  18)14,  after  liaving  followed  the  fortunes  of  his 
regiment  through  its  various  campaigns,  he  was 
transferred  to  the  Valley  District  of  \'irginia,  as 
•Medical  Director,  with  the  rank  of  a  full  Surgeon, 
and  remained  in  tliat  department  to  the  close  of 
the  war. 

Heturniug  to  Alabama,  at  the  close  of  hostili- 
ties. Dr.  Hill  first  located  at  Dayton,  Marengo 
County,  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  re- 
mained there  until  1884,  at  which  time  he  moved 
into  Oxford.  Since  coming  here,  he  has  devoted 
his  time  to  real  estate  and  other  business  enter- 
prises, to  the  exclusion  of  the  profession.  As  a 
]iliysician.  Dr.  Hill  stood  very  higii.  He  was, 
jirobably,  as  well  taught  in  the  science  of  materia 
medica  as  any  man  in  Alabama.  Not  satisfied 
with  the  most  thorough  training  possible  at  the 
finest  institutions  of  learning  in  America,  he,  in 
18]0,  studied  arduously  under  the  greatest  in- 
structors in  Europe;  and  it  is  to  the  loss  of  the 
profession,  that  he  has  withdrawn  from  the 
practice. 

Dr.  Hill  was  married  in  Marengo  County, 
May,  1870,  to  Miss  Margaret  Lee,  daughter  of 
Columbus  W.  and  Elizabeth  (Parker)  Lee,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  five  children:  Columbus  L., 
Thomas  C,  Margaret,  Myra  C.  and  Plarry. 

The  Hon.  Columbus  W.  Lee,  native  of  Georgia, 
was  many  years  a  member  of  the  Alabama  Legis- 
lature, and  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  men 
of  his  day.  He  was  a  Pierce  and  King  presiden- 
tial elector  in  1852  and  a  Douglas  elector  in  18C0. 
He  opposed  secession  and  canvassed  tlie  State  for 
Douglas,  although  he  went  with  his  State  in  her 
subse(iuent  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy. He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1805,  and  made  the  race  for  Con- 
gress that  same  year  against  Joseph  W.  Taylor, 
and  was  beaten.  He  was  an  original  speaker  and 
the  master  of  thought  and  sarcasm.  He  died  in 
1808. 

Thomas  H.  Hill,  father  to  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  migrated  in  early  manhood  to  North  Car- 
olina, there  married,  and  in  1812  settled  in  Green 
t'ounty,  Ala.,  wliere  he  became  an  extensive 
planter.  He  reared  a  family  of  two  sons  and 
three  daughters.  He  died  in  1800,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-eight.  His  father,  Joseph  Hill,  was  a 
native  of  England,  and  came  to  America  prior  to 
the  Revolution  and  settled  in  Culpeper  County, 
Va. 


JOHN  L.  DODSON.  President  of  Oxford  Male 

and  Female  College,  Oxford,  is  a  native  of  Georgia, 
and  was  born  April  10,  1837.  His  early  life  was 
spent  on  his  father's  plantation,  in  his  native 
State.  His  education  was  acquired  at  some  board- 
ing school,  the  County  Academy, and  at  Davidson 
College,  North  Carolina.  He  came  to  Alabama 
in  1800,  and  at  Jacksonville  taught  school  one 
year.  From  Jacksonville,  as  professional  educa- 
tor, he  taught  successfully  at  various  places  in  this 
State  and  in  Georgia,  during  the  period  of  the 
war.  After  the  declaration  of  peace,  he  returned 
to  Calhoun  County,  and  at  Brock's  school-house 
taught  two  years.  In  1808,  he  located  at  Oxford 
and,  associated  with  Mr.  W.  J.  Borden,  founded 
Oxford  College.  One  year  later  he  became  sole 
owner  and  proprietor  of  this  popular  institution  of 
learning,  and  to  it  has  since  given  his  time  and 
talents. 

Professor  Dodson,  as  will  be  seen  by  this  brief 
recital,  has  given  almost  his  entire  life  to  the 
cause  of  education,  and  of  him  it  may  be  truth- 
fully said,  that  that  great  cause  has  appreciated 
as  much  from  his  efforts  as  from  that  of  any  one 
man.  The  success  of  Oxford  College  attests  at 
once  his  superior  ability  as  an  organizer,  disciplin- 
arian, and  educator,  and  the  people  of  this  vicinity 
are  justly  proud  of  him  and  his  institution. 

July,  1883,  Professor  Dodson,  at  Oxford,  led  to 
the  altar  Miss  Fannie  S.  (Uadden.  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  James  A.  and  ^Martha  (Kelley) 
Gladden,  of  this  place.  The  Professor  and  his 
wife  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
he  is  identified  with  the  Independent  Order  of  ( )dd 
Fellows  and  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Samuel  and  Rebecca  (Gardner)  Dodson,  the 
parents  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  were  natives, 
respectively,  of  (ireen  and  Morgan  Counties, 
Ga.  The  senior  Mr.  Dodson,  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation, was  born  in  1788,  and  participated  in 
the  war  of  1812.  He  was  partially  reared  in  South 
Carolina,  and  spent  a  portion  of  his  early  man- 
hood in  Mississippi.  His  father,  Joshua  Dodson, 
was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  his  grandfather 
came  from  England.  He  reared  a  family  of  six 
sons  and  four  daughters.  One  of  his  sons,  James 
W,,  now  a  farmer  in  Texas,  took  part  in  the  Flor- 
ida War  and  the  Confederate  War;  another  son, 
Joshua  M.,  was  in  the  Confederate  service  during 
the  late  war  as  quartermaster  in  the  Trans-^Iiss- 
issippi  Department.  He  died  in  Texas.  Christo- 
pher C.,  another   son,  was  in   the    Mexican  War 


114 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


from  Texas,  as  a  lieutenant,  and  during  the  late 
war  commanded  a  troop  of  Indians  from  Arizona. 
He  died  in  Tucson,  Ariz.  The  fourth  son,  Samuel 
P.  died  in  Texas;  Elijah  M.  was  major  of  the 
First  Confederate  Georgia  Regiment,  and  is  an 
attorney-at-law  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  and  George 
W.  was  in  the  Fifty-first  Alabama  Iiegiment,  and 
is  a  farmer  in  Georgia. 

The  Gardner  family,  in  tiie  person  of  the  grand- 
father of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  Christopher 
Gardner,  on  account  of  political  troubles,  came 
from  Ireland  away  back  in  the  eigliteenth  century, 
settled  in  Virginia,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Eevolutionary  War,  and  was  severely  wounded  at 
Brandywine.  He  died  in  Georgia,  after  having 
reared  a  large  family  of  daughters  and  two  sous. 


WILLIAM  W.  WHITESIDE,  prominent  Attor- 
ney-at-law,  Oxford,  is  a  native  of  what  is 
now  Calhoun  County,  this  State,  where  he  was 
born  February  13,  18.58.  His  early  life  was  spent 
on  his  father's  plantation  and  in  attendance  at 
the  old-field  school,  completing  his  education, 
however,  at  Oxford  College,  from  which  institution 
he  was  graduated  in  1879.  Prior  to  his  graduation 
he  taught  school  and,  in  the  meantime,  read  law. 
He  comjjleted  his  law  studies  at  Cumberland  Uni- 
versity, Tenn. .in  1881,  and  located  immediately 
in  the  practice  at  Oxford,  wliere  he  has  since 
remained.  In  the  practice  of  his  profession  he 
has  met  with  much  success,  and,  though  a  young 
man,  he  is  at  this  time  regarded  as  one  of  the 
brightest  lights  at  the  Calhoun  Bar.  In  1881  he 
was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  Legislature, 
and  in  that  body  took  a  conspicuous  part,  acquit- 
ing  himself  with  much  credit  and  to  the  entire 
satisfaction  of  his  constituency. 

Mr.  Whiteside  was  married  at  Alexandria,  De- 
cember, 1884,  to  Miss  Alice  CoojJer,  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  W.  P.  Cooper,  Esq.,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  two  children:  William  Cooper 
and  Kenneth  Whittington.  Mr.  Whiteside  and 
wife  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
he  is  identified  with  the  order  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor  and  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Josiah  W.  Whiteside,  the  father  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 
came  with  his  parents  in  1837  to  Alabama:  his 
wife  was  Elizabeth  J.  Small,  a  native  of  McMinn 
County,   Tenn.     She  died  in  1873,  leaving  four 


children,  viz.:  Lizzie,  James  ^L,  Joseph,  and 
William  W. 

His  second  wife,  Amanda  Little,  of  Calhoun 
County,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  the  fall  of 
1875,  is  the  mother  of  one  child:  Worth. 

The  Whiteside  family  are  probably  of  English 
origin,  and  came  into  North  Carolina  at  a  very 
early  date  in  the  history  of  our  country.  John 
Whiteside,  the  grandfather  to  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  his 
wife  was  a  Miss  Hemphill;  they  reared  a  family  of 
six  sons  and  two  daughters:  J.  W.  Leander,  Adol- 
phus,  Thomas,  William  .J.,  James  M.,  Mary,  and 
Ellen.  Mary  married  Dr.  S.  C.  Williams;  she  and 
her  husband  are  both  dead. 

William  W.  Whiteside's  grandfather,  Matthew 
Small,  was  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  minister. 
He  married  a  Miss  Buchanan,  at  McMinn,  Tenn., 
and  settled  m  Alabama  about  1835.  In  1845  he 
moved  into  De  Kalb  County,  and  in  1875  located 
at  Sulphur  Springs.  He  died  in  1883.  He  reared 
a  family  of  four  sons  and  two  daughters.  His 
sons  were  all  soldiers  in  the  Confederate  Army. 
The  Small  family  came  originally  from  Scotland. 


ROBERT  P.THOMASON, Merchant  and  Banker, 
Oxford,  was  born  in  Harris  County,  Ga.,  De- 
cember 21,  18.51,  and  is  the  son  of  John  Thom- 
ason,  a  planter,  who  came  to  Alabama  in  1853, 
lived  in  Tallapoosa  County  till  1808,  and  removed 
thence  to  Elmore  County,  where  he  now  resides. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  spent  the  first  seven- 
teen years  of  his  life  on  his  father's  plantation  in 
Tallapoosa  County,  and  by  dint  of  perseverance 
and  application  to  study,  without  the  aid  of  pro- 
fessional instruction,  acquired  something  like  an 
elementary  education.  He  began  life  for  himself 
as  a  salesman,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years,  and 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one  embarked  in  business. 

From  1879  to  1883,  he  "drummed"  for  a  New 
York  grocery  house,  and  in  the  latter  year  estab- 
lished the  wholesale  grocery  business  over  which 
he  now  presides  at  Oxford. 

This  was  the  first  jobbing  concern  opened  up  in 
this  part  of  the  State,  and  from  a  limited  affair, 
with  a  capital  of  $10,000,  it  has  grown  until  its 
trade  roaches  throughout  Northeastern  Alabama 
and  into  Georgia,  and  now  employs  a  capital  of 
$100,000.  The  style  of  the  company  at  present  is 
C.  J.  Cooper  &  Co. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


115 


In  addition  to  his  mercantile  business,  Mr.  Tiiom- 
ason  is  largeU'  interested  in  real  estate  at  Oxford 
and  Anniston,  and  in  tlie  bankiTig  iioiise  recently 
establisiied  in  connection  with  liis  grocery  con- 
cern. 

llemeinljering  the  fact  that  young  'I'honiason 
came  to  Oxford  penniless,  tlie  preceding  details 
need  no  comment  at  our  iiands  to  elaborate  his 
success  a.-i  a  business  man. 

5Ir.  'I'homason.iii  July  ls7-">,  at  'rallodaga,  mar- 
ried Miss  Mary  8cott,  the  accomplished  daughter 
of  AVm.  Scott,  Esq. 

The  senior  Mr.  Thomason  was  a  gallant  Confed- 
erate soldier  during  the  late  war  :  his  father  served 
tlirough  the  war  with  Mexico,  and  his  grandfather 
was  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  His  great-grand- 
father, Cooper  Tiiomason,  came  from  Scotland 
prior  to  the  War  for  Independence,  and  settled  in 
\'irginia,  where  he  lived  to  the  remarkable  age  of 
104  years.  Old  Cooper  Thomason  liad  eight  or 
nine  sons  in  the  Colonial  Army  during  the  ]{evolu- 
tiou. 

It  might  be  remarked  that  the  war  record  of  the 
Thomasons  is  also  a  matter  that  needs  no  elabo- 
ration at  tlie  hands  of  tiie  writer. 

They  all  appear  to  have  been  well-to-do  jdan- 
ters. 

-   \^. 


THOMAS  H.  BARRY,  Merchant  and  Manu- 
fatturui-.  (txlord,  .son  of  Keese  and  Ann  S. 
(Man.son)  Barry,  natives,  respectively,  of  Virginia 
and  Maryland,  was  born  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  May 
4,  18;3i!,  and  in  that  city  received  his  education. 
Accompanying  his  mother,  in  18.55,  he  moved  to 
San  Antonio,  Tex.,  and  was  there  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  until  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war. 
Karly  in  the  spring  of  IStil,  he  enlisted  as  a  pri- 
vate soldier  in  Company  G,  Eighth  Texas  ("Ter- 
ry's Rangers"),  and  remained  in  the  service  until 
the  close  of  the  war,  })articipating  in  the  battles 
of  Woodsonville,  Ky.,  Shiloh,  Murfreesboro,  and 
all  the  engagements  from  Chickamauga  to  New 
Hope  Court-Housc.  At  the  latter  engagement  he 
was  wounded,  and  fell  into  tlie  hands  of  the 
enemy,  but  escaped  while '■«  nnde  to  Rock  Island, 
rejoined  his  command,  and  took  part  in  the  bat- 
tles around  Atlanta.  At  Waynesboro,  November 
^'^i.  1SH4,  he  was  severely  wounded,  and  from  that 
date  to  tlie  close  of  the  war  remained  in  hospital 
Returning  to  Texas  in  IHiio,  he  engaged  at  his 
former  business,  and  was  there  until   is;-.',  when 


he  came  to  Oxford.  Here  he  has  since  been,  in 
the  mercantile  business,  and  was  one  of  the  organ- 
izers of  the  Barry  &  Draper  Manufacturing  Co. 
This  company  was  organized  in  ls-^4,  and  ilr. 
Barry  has  been  its  president  from  the  beginning. 
He  is  also  president  of  the  Oxford  Building  «& 
Loan  Association,  and  is  otherwise  identified  with 
various  other  industries. 

Mr.  Barry  was  married  March  •>,  l.sti5,  to  Jliss 
Emily  F.  (Jray,  of  (ieorgia.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  Knights 
of  Honor,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
and  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

The  senior  ^Ir.  Barry  moved  to  Cincinnati 
when  he  was  a  young  man,  and  was  engaged  at 
steamboating  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  died  iu 
1S40,  leaving  three  children,  to-wit  :  William  D., 
Thomas  II.,  and  Caroline  E.  His  father,  Daniel 
Barry,  was  a  farmer  in  Virginia,  where  he  lived 
and  died.  The  family  came  originally  from  Ire- 
land, and  the  Mansons  appear  to  be  of  French 
origin. 

•  ■'>';^^'-^ — 

DANIEL  P.  GUNNELS  was  born  in  Franklin, 
Ga.,  near  Bold  Spring,  October  0.  is-^:i,  and  his 
parents  vmvfi  Nathan  and  Nancy  (Hunt)  Gunnels, 
natives  of  Wilkes  and  Franklin  Counties,  Ga., 
respectively. 

The  senior  Mr.  G.  moved  to  Franklin  County 
at  an  early  day,  and  there  subsequently  made  his 
home.  He  was  a  planter  by  occupation,  and  died 
in  18T0  at  Atlanta,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years. 
He  was  an  officer  in  the  AVar  of  1 8:5(1,  and  was  a 
niembei'  of  the  Georgia  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion. He  was  quite  a  politician  in  his  day,  of  the 
Clay  and  Webster  faith,  and  a  man  of  no  little 
influence  in  the  vicinity  where  he  lived.  His 
children  were — Daniel  P.,  Sarah  F.  (Mrs.  J.  M. 
Alexander).  Joel  I)..  Nathan  C,  Mary  E.  (Mrs. 
Shephard),  Elmira  (deceased),  and  John  H. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a 
farm,  receiving  an  academic  education,  and  in 
184o  located  at  Boiling  Springs,  in  Calhoun 
County.  Ala.,  where  he  was  several  years  clerk  in 
a  mei'cantile  establishment.  He  subsequently 
purchased  an  interest  with  his  employer,  and  later 
on  became  sole  owner  of  the  concern.  lie  came 
to  Oxford  in  18.")4,  where  he  continued  in  the 
mercantile  business  until  18T'-i.  It  is  proper  to 
explain,  however,  that  from  180".2  to  the  close  of 
the    war   he   found   it  expedient   to  i^uspeiid   the 


116 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


mercantile  business  and  was,  during  that  period, 
in  the  employ  of  the  Oxford  Iron  Co.  Though 
the  war  swept  away  his  fortune  in  common  with 
the  fortunes  of  other  men,  he  has  since  succeeded 
in  amply  replenishing  his  exchequer.  Since  187'2 
he  has  given  most  of  his  time  to  planting. 

March,  IS.Vi',  Mr.  Gunnels  was  married  to  Miss 
Susan  E.  Cunningham,  daughter  of  William  N. 
and  Nancy  E.  (Pratt)  Cunningham,  natives  of 
South  Carolina,  and  his  children  are:  Nancy  E. 
(Mrs.  Warnock),  John  X.  and  James  N.  (twins), 
Esther  L.,  Elmira  P.,  Henry  C.  and  Willie 
Francis. 

The  family  are  all  identified  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  Mr.  Gunnels  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellow  fratern- 
ities. 


CLARKE  SNOW,  Merchant,  Oxford,  was  born 
at  this  place  July  5,  184(j,  and  is  a  son  of 
Dudley  and  Priscilla  (Munger)  Snow.  He  was 
reared  on  the  farm,  and  at  Howard  College  and 
the  schools  of  Talladega  acquired  a  fair  English 
education.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  at 
Selma,  he  accejjted  a  situation  in  a  mercantile 
establishment,  remained  there  one  year,  returned 
to  Oxford,  and  with  C.  Snow  &  Co.  embarked  in 
the  grocery  business.  In  1870  he  formed  a  part- 
nership with  C.  J.  Cooper  in  mercantile  business, 
and  from  1871  to  1874  devoted  his  time  to  farm- 
ing. In  the  latter  year,  associated  with  James  Stew- 
art, under  the  style  and  firm  name  of  James  Stew- 
art &  Co.,  he  engaged  in  the  leather  and  carriage 
business.  This  firm  was  dissolved  in  December, 
188"-3,  since  wliich  time  Mr.  Snow  has  conducted 
the  business  alone,  and  has  been  thereat  quite 
successful.  In  addition  to  his  mercantile  business 
he  is  largely  interested  in  various  other  enter- 
prises. 

In  the  fall  of  1803,  Mr.  Snow  entered  the 
Fifty-first  Alabama  Cavalry,  and,  though  not  an 
enlisted  soldier,  he  jiarticipated  with  that  com- 
mand in  the  battles  of  I\Iaryville,  Rockford,  and 
Knoxville.  In  ilay,  1804,  he  regularly  enlisted, 
and  thereafter  took  part  in  the  battles  of  New  Hope 
Church,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Rome,  and  the  battles 
around  Atlanta.  At  Decatur,  Ala.,  he  was 
wounded,  and  at  Salt  Creek  participated  in  his 
last  engagement.  He  was  married,  November  "-iO, 
1808,  to  Miss  Roxy  C.  Elston,  of  Davisville,  and 


the  children  born  to  this  union  are :  Corinne, 
Ada,  Ruth,  Maxie,  Norman,  and  Mary. 

Dudley  Snow  was  born  in  Graceland  County, 
Va.,  December  25,  1803,  and  his  parents,  John 
and  Elizabeth  (Hale)  Snow,  migrated  to  North 
Carolina  in  1812.  From  there  they  moved  to 
Tennessee  in  1832,  and  from  Tennessee  Dudley 
Snow  moved  to  Oxford,  where  he  died  in  1803. 

The  Snow  family  came  originally  from  England, 
and  the  Plungers  from  Germany. 

Henry  Snow,  a  brother  of  Clarke,  entered  the 
Confederate  Army  from  Texas,  as  a  private  in  the 
First  Texas  Infantry.  At  the  re-organization  of 
this  regiment,  in  1802,  he  was  made  first  lieu- 
tenant, and  he  participated  in  all  the  battles  of 
Northern  Virginia,  and  at  the  Seven  Days'  Fight 
around  Richmond  was  seriously  wounded. 


ABNER  WILLIAMS,  Merchant,  Oxford,  was 
born  in  Jefferson  County,  this  State,  Novem- 
ber 21,  1824,  and  his  parents  were  Jordan  and 
Edna  (Atkins)  Williams.  He  was  reared  on  his 
father's  farm,  attended  the  old-field  schools,  and 
in  1844  began  life  as  a  school  teacher.  The  year 
following  he  accepted  a  clerkship  in  a  store  at  Tal- 
ladega, for  which  service  he  received,  at  the  begin- 
ning, five  dollars  per  month.  He  remained  with 
that  concern  three  years,  another  firm  three  years, 
another  one  year,  and  for  his  last  year's  labor  re- 
ceived $375.  In  1853,  at  Curry's  Station,  he  be- 
gan business  for  himself,  and  in  1855  removed  to 
Selma,  where  he  was  engaged  in  cotton  business 
until  1802.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned 
to  Selma  from  Talladega  County,  resumed  his  old 
business,  and  was  there  until  1884.  In  August  of 
that  year  he  came  to  Oxford  and  engaged  in  the 
millinery  business. 

December  23,  1852,  Mr.  Williams  was  married 
to  Agatha  A.  Ileacock,  daughter  of  Dr.  Joseph  D. 
and  Rachel  M.  (Garner)  Heacock,  of  Talladega 
County;  and  of  the  six  children  born  to  them  we 
have  the  following  data:  Curry  E.,  Emma  R. 
(widow  of  II.  A.  Singleton),  Mollie  E.  (wife  of 
Dr.  B.  D.  Williams,  of  Utah  Territory),  Joseph, 
Albert.  Abner  J.  P.,  and  Lillie  B. 

Jordan  Williams  was  born  in  South  Carolina, 
August  31,  1794;  served  through  the  war  of  1812 
as  a  member  of  the  Eighth  United  States  Infantry; 
married  Edna  Atkins  in  Abbeville  district,  South 
Carolina,  May  5,   1810;  settled  near  Elyton,  Jef- 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


\Vi 


ferson  County,  Ala.,  in  181S;  from  there  moved 
to  ii  farm  near  Trussville,  and  subsequently,  or 
aliout  irarcli  1,  1S33,  settled  in  Talladega  County, 
lie  was  stricken  with  paralysis  while  preaelnng  to 
the  Confederate  conscript  soldiers  at  Talladega, 
Sejjtember,  1S6"2,  and  died  near  Tallasahatchie 
Bajjtist  Church,  fifteen  miles  south  of  Talladega, 
November  ■l\,  18(5",'.  He  was  a  farmer,  and  a  min- 
ister of  the  Baptist  Church. 

LUCIUS  L.  ALLEN,  son  of  Ilud.son  11.  and 
Xaiiiy  (Corneilsoii)  Allen,  was  born  in  Gwinnett 
County,  (Ja.,  June  "..'3.  l!s;il,  and  was  educated  at 
Emory  College,  that  State.  In  18ii'^*  he  enlisted  in 
Company  D,  Fifty-first  Alabama  Cavalry,  and  with 
that  command  participated  in  the  battles  of  Jlur- 
freosboro,  .Missionary  Kidge,  Kno.wille,  Chicka- 
niauga,  and  the  Atlanta  and  Dalton  campaigns. 
His  father  came  into  Alabama  in  18:!."),  purchased  a 
large  tract  of  government  land,  and  other  lands 
from  the  Indians,  and  became  one  of  the  most 
extensive  planters  and  slavelmlders  in  his  neigh- 
borhood . 

Mr.  Allen  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  to  agricul- 
ture has  devoted  his  time  and  his  talents.  He  was 
married,  in  November,  18.5-i,  to  Miss  Kmma  Pyles, 
daughter  of  Lewis  and  Catherine  (Perrin)  T'yles, 
and  his  children  are:  Susan  C.  (Mrs.  Hudson), 
Lelia  J.  (Mrs.  Snow),  Nancy  Lulu.  Lilly  A.  and 
Alice  C.  The  faniilv  are  all  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  Jlr. 
Allen  is  a  Mason. 

The  senior  Mr.  Allen  died  at  his  home,  near  O.x- 
ford,  .January  8,  188."),  at  the  age  of  83  years:  his 
wife  died  in  18(j'J.  They  reared  a  family  of  three 
sons:  ^\'illiam  II.,  Asa  F.,  and  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  Asa  F.  is  a  Baptist  minister,  and  resides 
on  the  old  homestead. 

Asa  Allen  was  the  name  of  the  grandfather  of 
Lucius  L.  He  married  a  Miss  Jones  in  Georgia, 
whither  he  had  migrated  from  Virginia  at  an 
early  day.  He  reared  a  family  of  four  sons  and 
four  daughters,  and  in  ls:J4  or  18:!.")  moved  to  Lime- 
stone County,  Ala.,  where  ho  died  in  ls4ii  at  the 
age  of  tiO  years. 

■  0  ■    • 


SAMUEL  K.  BORDERS  was  born  in  Jackson 
County,  Ga.,  January  VI,  18>'-,',  and  died  at  Ox- 


ford Ala.,  December  20,  1881.  His  parents  were 
John  and  Cynthia  Borders.  The  senior  Mr.  Bor- 
ders in  early  manhood  migrated  from  Virginia  to 
Tennessee,  and  from  there  to  (ieorgia,  where  he 
was  married.  From  Georgia  he  moved  to  Missis- 
sij)pi,  where  he  was  engaged  at  planting,  and  from 
Jlississippi  in  18:!:!  or  18:!4  he  came  to  Calhoun 
County.  Here  he  located  near  O.xford,  and  be- 
came one  of  the  most  extensive  planters  of  his 
neighborhood.  He  reared  a  family  of  two  sons 
and  six  daughters,  namely:  Samuel  K.,  Abner, 
-Mary  (.Mrs.  Brooks),  ^'irginia  (Mrs.  Cunningham), 
Adaline  (.Mrs.  Bush),  Ann  (ilrs.  Jenkins),  Eliza 
(Mrs.  Pondor),  Evaline  (Mrs.  Bush),  and  buried 
one  daughter,  Georgia,  in  early  girlhood. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at 
Athens,  Ga.,  and  after  graduating  began  the  study 
of  medicine.  At  the  request  of  his  father  he  gave 
uj)  the  idea  of  professional  life,  and  thereafter 
turned  his  attention  to  farming.  He  served 
through  the  Mexican  War  as  a  member  of  Com- 
pany I,  First  Uegiment  Alabama  Volunteers,  and 
through  the  war  between  the  States  as  a  member 
of  the  Fifty-first  Alabama  Cavalry. 

March,  18.51,  Jlr.  Borders  was  married  to  Miss 
Sallie  Williams,  daughter  of  Dr.  John  AVilliams, 
and  had  born  to  him  seven  children:  Georgia 
(Mrs.  Christian),  JIary  (Mrs.  Waters),  Ilattie 
(.Mrs.  AVilson),  Annie,  Sallie,  Lillie  and  John. 

___.^„!cgj^— .4» i— 

AURELIUS  F.  BULLARD.  M.  D..  prominent 
Physician  and  Surgeon,  Oxford,  was  born  at 
Bennington,  Vt.,  September  l.j,  1848,  and  is 
the  son  of  William  H.  and  Koxanna  K.  (Moon) 
Bullard,  natives  of  Massachusetts  and  Vermont, 
and  of  Irish  and  Scotch  extraction,  respectively. 

Doctor  Bullard  received  his  primary  education 
in  the  common  schools  of  Vermont,  and  at  the 
Wesleyan  Institute  of  Willbraham,  Mass.,  and  at 
the  age  of  fifteen  years  went  to  sea  as  a  sailor 
before  the  mast.  In  18ii!»,  as  second  mate  of  a 
ship,  he  came  South.  The  crew,  while  at  Mobile, 
were  taken  with  yellow  fever,  from  the  fatal 
effects  of  which,  it  appears,  that  he  and  his  cap- 
tain were  the  only  ones  to  escajie.  lie  made  his 
way  to  Wilmington,  Avhere  another  crew  was  or- 
ganized, and  as  first  mate  he  sailed  to  Boston, 
where  he  abandoned  seafaring  life.  Returning 
to  Alabama,  he  attended  school  at  ^lontgomery, 
and  graduated  in  18T1.     In  the  meantime  he  took 


118 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


lectures  at  Jefferson  rdlege,  Philadelphia.  Since 
engaging  regularly  in  the  practice  of  his  jjrofes- 
sion,  he  has  been  recognized  as  one  of  the  most 
careful,  studious,  and  reliable  physicians  of  Oxford, 
and  he  is  at  this  writing  in  the  enjoyment  of  an 
excellent  practice.  He  is  a  member  ot  the  various 
medical  associations,  and  is  held  in  high  esteem 
by  the  members  of  the  profession  throughout  the 
State. 

He  was  married  August  "28,  18T0,  to  iliss  Julia 
B.  Goodhue,  daughter  of  Prof.  Amos  B.  Good- 
hue. The  Goodhues  are  also  of  Massachusetts 
and  New  Hampshire,  and  came  South  about  thirty 
years  ago.     Professor  Goodhue  is  now  retired. 

The  senior  Mr.  Bullard  came  South  in  18G8, 
and  to  Oxford  in  1872.  He  reared  three  sons: 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  William  E.  and 
Oliver  H. 

Doctor  Bullard  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  of  the  ^lasonic  fraternity,  and  of  the 
Baptist  Church.  His  children  are:  William  G., 
Alice  A.,  and  Elerslie  W. 

JOHN  F.  SMITH  is  a  native  of  Cleburne 
County,  where  he  was  born  December  1.3,  1839, 
and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Sarah  Ann  (Lambert) 
Smith.  The  senior  Mr.  Smith  immigrated  to  Ala- 
bama from  Georgia  in  18;33,  and  moved  from  Cle- 
burne County  to  a  point  on  the  Tallapoosa  Eiver, 
south  of  Edwardsville  in  18.51,  and  there  died  in 
18.33,  at  the  age  of  forty-two  years.  He  reared  two 
sons:  the  subject  of  this  sketch  and  Samuel  H. 

John  F.  Smith  was  reared  on  a  farm  ;  was  edu- 
cated at  the  common  schools,  and  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  accepted  a  clerkship  in  a  store.  In  18.58  he 
went  to  Wetumpka,  and  from  there  the  year  fol- 
lowing to  Talladega,  where  he  engaged  in  business 
in  partnership  with  J.  B.  Gay.  This  partnership 
lasted  but  a  short  time,  when  he  sold  out  and  re- 
sumed employment  as  a  clerk. 

In  1801  Mr.  Smith  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Com- 
pany II,  Tenth  Alabama,  and  remained  in  the  ser- 
vice until  the  close  of  the  war.  Soon  after  the 
battle  of  Dranesville  he  was  promoted  to  third 
lieutenant,  and  when  he  left  the  service  he  held 
the  rank  of  first  lieutenant,  and  had  been  for  some 
time  in  command  of  his  company.  From  first  to 
last  he  participated  in  many  of  the  hardest-fought 
battles  of  the  war,  and  was  wounded  three  times. 
Returning  from  the  war,  he  located  at  Selma,  and 


from  there,  in  1866,  came  to  Oxford,  where  he  has 
since  made  his  home.  In  1869  he  moved  upon  his 
farm,  at  Boiling  Springs,  and  from  that  date  has 
given  most  of  his  time  to  agriculture.  He  was 
mai-ried  in  1869,  to  Miss  Augusta  G.  Caver,  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  J.  and  Eliza  (Davis)  Caver,  and 
has  had  born  to  him  four  children  :  Kate  E.,  Xan- 
nie  Gay,  Carrie  Lee  and  Thomas  F. 


WILLIAM  F.  HIGGINS,  is  a  native  of  Butts 
County,  (ia.,  a  son  of  Joseph  and  Judith  W. 
(Key)  Iliggins,  and  was  born  June  11, 1838.  The 
senior  Mr.  Iliggins  came  from  Edgefield  Dis- 
trict, S.  C,  into  Georgia,  when  a  boy,  there 
married,  and  in  1844  settled  in  Chambers  County, 
Ala.  He  located  at  Oxford  in  18T5,  and  died  in 
188(1,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  years.  He  was  a  jew- 
eler by  trade,  but  the  latter  part  of  his  life  was 
devoted  to  farming.  His  father,  AVilliam  Iliggins 
was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  there  married  a 
Miss  Ashley,  and  subsequently  became  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Georgia. 

William  F.  Higgins  was  reared  and  educated  at 
Lafayette,  in  Chambers  County,  and  while  a 
young  man  learned  the  jeweler's  trade.  He  entered 
the  army  in  1863,  and  remained  until  the  close  of 
the  war.  After  the  war  he  resumed  the  jewelry 
business;  moved  into  Oxford  in  1868,  and  in  1874, 
turned  his  attention  entirely  to  farming.  He  be- 
gan life  at  the  close  of  the  war  without  money, 
but  has  succeeded  in  accumulating  a  handsome 
competency.  He  was  married  May  29,  1869,  to 
Miss  Virginia  Dennis,  daughter  of  Sumeral  and 
Mary  (Ilanchett)  Dennis,  natives  of  South  Caro- 
lina. 

Mr.  Dennis  came  into  Alabama  in  1832;  re- 
'  moved  thence  to  Tallapoosa  County,  and  died  at 
Dadeville.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  irexican  War, 
and  also  in  the  late  Confederate  Army. 

Mr.  Higgins  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  Mr.  H. 
is  of  the   Masonic  fraternitv. 


WILLIAM  J.  ALEXANDER  was  born  in  Cal- 
houn County,  Ala.,  in  May,  l!S42,  and  is  a  son  of 
Arthur  T.  and  Rebecca  (Borden)  Alexander. 

The  senior  Mr.  Alexander  was  born  in  Xorth 
Carolina,  and  when  a  child  taken  by  his  parents 


A. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


119 


to  Habersham  County,  and  thence  to  Carroll 
County,  Ga.  He  came  to  Calhoun  County,  this 
State,  in  is;)-,',  and  settled  eight  miles  east  of 
Cross  Plains  (now  in  Cleburne  County),  where  his 
father  entered  lands  and  improved  them.  He 
died  in  1S.")1,  and  a  few  months  later  his  wife  fol- 
lowed lii|n.  They  left  two  sons  and  four  daugh- 
ters, all  of  whom  lived  to  maturity.  The  Alex- 
anders and  Hordens  are  of  English  ancestry. 

The  subject  of  this  sketcli  was  reared  on  a  farm, 
received  a  common-school  education,  and  at  the 
age  of  seventeen  years  began  life  as  a  farmer, 
which  he  has  continued  ever  since. 

\\\  July,  liSiil,  he  enlisted  in  Comiiany  I, 
Twenty-fifth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  was  in  the 
first  battle  of  Farmersvilie,  Tenn.,  south  of  Shi- 
loli.  He  participated  in  the  Kentucky  invasion, 
was  taken  prisoner  at  Glasgow,  Ky,,  and  was  ex- 
changed about  two  months  later.  He  joined  his 
regiment  again  at  Shelbyvillc,  Tenn.,  and  wiis  in 


the  battles  of  Chickamauga,  Missionary  Ridge,  in 
all  the  fights  from  ( 'liattanooga  to  Atlanta  and  Xew 
Hope  Church  to  Atlanta.  When  Hood  made  his 
raid  into  Tennessee,  our  subject  joined  Wheeler's 
cavalry,  with  which  command  he  remained  until 
the  surrender. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  resumed  farming.  In 
ISTl  he  was  appointed  sherilT  of  Cleburne  County, 
and  in  ISTi  was  elected  to  that  office.  He  served 
in  this  capacity  about  six  years.  In  1878  he  was 
elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  the  Legislature, 
reelected  in  188-J,  and  in  1884  was  elected  to  the 
Senate  from  his  district,  which  ofHce  he  holds  at 
the  present  writing  (1888).  Mr.  Alexander  was 
married  in  August,  18G(!,  to  Sarah  Cornelia, 
daughter  of  Henry  A.  Smith,  of  Floyd  County, 
Ga.  This  union  has  been  blessed  with  two  chil- 
dren. William  H.  and  Bessie  E. 

Mr.  Alexander  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Christian  Church. 


--^—i^jS'j— ^- 


CROSS     PLAINS. 


WILLIAM  A.  WILSON,  Postmaster  at  Cross 
Plains,  was  born  in  Campbell  County,  Ga.,  October 
■•i4,  Xt^.Vl,  and  is  a  son  of  Craven  and  Lucinda 
(Ijangston)  Wilson. 

Tiie  senior  Mr.  Wilson  was  a  native  of  Virginia, 
from  which  State  he  removed  into  North  Carolina, 
thence  to  Hall  County,  Ga.  In  December,  183"2, 
he  migrated  to  Alabama  and  located  about  four 
miles  east  of  Cross  Plains.  He  was  a  farmer,  and 
at  his  death,  which  occurred  in  IS75,  he  was  the 
j)Ossessor  of  about  l,",'(iO  acres  of  land.  He  reared 
five  sons  and  two  daughters,  to-wit:  William  A. 
(the  subject  of  our  sketch),  John  J,,  Daniel  S. 
(deceased),  Jerry  C,  Benjamin  C.  (who  died  in 
his  youth),  Xancy  Y..  (deceased),  and  Mary  Ann 
Croft  (deceased).  All  of  the  sons  served  in  the 
war  between  the  States.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson 
were  communicants  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  The 
Langston  family  were  of  Gernnin  descent. 

The  subject  of  this  s"ketch  was  reared  on  a  farm, 
received  a  common  school  education,  and  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years  began  life  on  his  own  ac- 
count. In  ISGl  he  enlisted  in  the  Confederate 
Army  as  a  member  of  Comjiany  E,  First  Alabama 


C^avalry,  and  particii)ated  in  the  battles  of  Shiloh, 
Corinth,  Perryville,  Murfreesboro,  Chickamauga, 
and  all  the  principal  fights  from  Chattanooga  to 
Beutonville,  N.  C.  Company  F  was  detached 
from  the  First  Alabama  after  the  Kentucky  cam- 
paign and  iissigned  to  General  Wheeler's  com- 
mand. Mr.  Wilson  was  captured  at  Beutonville, 
N.  C,  and  imprisoned  at  Point  Lookout  until 
July  'I,  1S05,  when  he  was  released.  He  imme- 
diately returned  home  and  resumed  farming.  He 
was  appointed  postmaster  at  Cross  Plains  in  No- 
vember, 1SS3,  which  position  he  is  now  filling. 

Mr.  Wilson  was  married  in  December,  ].S57,  to 
Martha  il.  Harris,  daughter  of  Warren  and  .Mary 
(Statum)  Harris,  of  this  county.  She  is  noted  as 
being  the  first  white  female  child  born  in  this 
county.  Mr.  Wilson  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  he  is  a  Mason. 

■    ■  •>■  ''^^'  <'  ■    • 

JACOB  F.  DAILEY  was  born  in  Lincoln 
County,  N.  C,  December  3,  1817,  and  is  ason  of 
Aaron    and    Mary   (Albernathy)    Dailey,   natives 


120 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


of  Ireland  and  of  Xorth  Carolina,  respectively. 
The  senior  Mr.  Dailey  came  to  America  with 
his  parents  (about  1705),  and  settled  in  Lincoln 
County,  N.  C.  He  was  a  farmer  and  also  super- 
intendent of  an  iron  furnace.  He  reared  a  family 
of  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  died  in  1858 
at  the  age  of  forty  years.  His  widow  survived 
him  many  years,  and  died  at  the  extreme  old 
age  of  ninety-six  years.  She  was  a  strong  and 
hearty  woman  up  to  the  time  of  her  death. 

Jacob  K.  Dailey,  our  subject,  was  reared  in 
Xorth  Corolina  by  his  uncle.  Miles  W.  Abernathy; 
received  a  common-school  education,  and  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  years  began  life  as  a  sailor,  which 
avocation  he  followed  six  years,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  entered  into  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count at  Lincolnton  Court  House,  X.  C.  In  1847, 
he  came  to  Cross  Plains,  entered  into  a  general 
merchandise  business,  and  continued  it  with  suc- 
cess ever  since.  His  was  the  lirst  store  erected  in 
this  village.  In  1849  he  purchased  several  hun- 
dred acres  of  land,  and  in  connection  with  his 
merchandise  business,  has  been  farming  ever  since. 
He  now  owns  several  large  farms  near  Cross 
Plains.  In  1802  he  was  apjiointed  member  of  the 
Advisory  Board  with  headquarters  at  Jacksonville, 
this  State. 

Mr.  Dailey  was  married  August  10,  1841,  to 
Jane  M.  Kibler,  daughter  of  Michael  and  Catherine 
(Lawrence)  Kibler,  of  North  Carolina,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  two  children:  Mary  Catherine, 
wife  of  Alexander  Mct!ollister,  and  Jacob  Kibler. 
The  family  are  communicants  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  Mr.  Dailey  is  a  j^rominent  Mason;  is  a 
wide-awake,  public-spirited  citizen,  and  is  always 
alive  to  the  development  of  enterprise  in  his 
section  of  the  couutrv. 


MARTIN  T.  MOODY,  was  born  at  Belmont, 
Sumter  County,  Ala.,  2v.'ovember  4,  1845,  and  is 
a  son  of  Theopliilus  and  ilary  L.  (Little)  Moody, 
natives  respectively  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

The  senior  Mr.  Moody  moved  with  his  parents 
from  South  Carolina  to  .Mississippi.  In  is;il  he 
came  to  Alabama  and  joined  the  Alabama  Con- 
fei-ence  in  1832  at  Tuscaloosa,  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  original  organizers.  He  lived  in  Ala- 
bama until  his  death,  which  occurred  at  Gadsden, 
March  1.3, 1870.  His  wife  died  at  Gainesville,  Ala., 
in  1854.     He  reared  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 


viz.:  AVilliam  R.,  Martin  T.  (our  subject);  Fan- 
nie A.,  wife  of  Milton  Jenkins,  Camden,  Ala.; 
and  Sarah  E.,  wife  of  George  W.  Caldwell,  also  of 
Camden.  Mr.  iloody  was  one  of  the  pioneer 
preachers  of  this  State,  and  was  a  very  popular 
and  well-known  man. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  a  daughter  of 
William  Little,  a  leading  attorney  of  Carnesville, 
Ga.  He  was  a  prominent  and  wealthy  citizen, 
and  died  about  the  close  of  the  war. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  Alabama 
and  educated  princijially  at  Summerfield,  Dallas 
County.  In  the  spring  of  18<i2,  he  enlisted  in 
Company  I,  Twenty-eighth  Alabama,  as  a  private, 
and  served  until  health  failed.  From  an  attack  of 
brain  fever,  he  lost  his  hearing  and  was  detailed 
in  the  niter  mining  service  as  a  clerk  in  which 
capacity  he   remained  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

At  the  close  of  hostilities  he  returned  to  Cam- 
den, where  he  served  as  Clerk  of  the  Probate 
Court  four  years,  going  thence  to  Selma,  and  serv- 
icg  four  years  in  the  Probate  Court  of  that 
County.  In  1873  he  came  to  Cross  Plains  and 
engaged  in  the  drug  business,  which  he  has  con- 
tinued ever  since,  with  marked  success. 

September  15,  1800,  Mr.  Moody  was  married  to 
Sarah  E.  Scurry,  daughter  of  Dr.  John  R.  Scurry 
of  Cross  Plains.  They  had  born  to  them  seven 
children,  to-wit:  Arthur  R.,  May  Louise,  Anna, 
Lucy,  Ida,  Martin  T.,  Jr.,  and  Harry.  The  family 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 

JOSEPH  W.  HARRIS,  born  Xovcmber  7,  1830, 
at  Warrenton,  Va.,  is  a  son  of  William  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Anderson)  Harris,  natives,  respectively,  of 
Talbot  and  Warren  Counties,  Ga.  The  senior 
Harris  was  a  farmer  until  his  marriage,  when  he 
was  elected  sheriff  of  Warren  County,  which 
office  he  held  for  two  years.  In  January,  1840, 
he  located  in  Talbot  County,  entered  into  the 
merchandise  business,  and  died  there  in  June, 
1848.  He  served  in  the  Seminole  War.  He 
reared  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  viz. : 
Sarah,  William,  Joseph,  Mary,  Martha,  and 
Thomas.  lie  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Baptist  Church.  The  grandfather  of  our  sub- 
ject, Henry  Harris,  came  to  Georgia  as  one  of 
the  earliest  settlers  of  that  State,  about  the 
year  1800.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
reared   and  educated   in   the  common  schools  at 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


121 


Fiiyetteville,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  began 
his  business  career  as  clerk  in  a  general  mer- 
chandise store  of  that  town,  which  position  he 
held  six  months,  after  which  he  spent  three  years 
at  Montovallo. 

September  10,  1801,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
{'om])any  E,  Twenty-sixth  Alabama,  and  par- 
ticipated in  the  first  battle  of  Fort  Gibson,  the 
battle  of  Baker's  Creek,  siege  of  N'icksburg,  the 
battle  of  Missionary  Kidge,  camjiaign  from  Dal- 
toii  to  Atlanta,  the  battle  of  Nashville,  and  the 
last  light  at  Uentonville,  N.  C.  In  1863  he  was 
commissioned  third  lieutenant  of  the  regiment, 
and  at  Dalton,  in  1804,  was  promoted  to  second 
lieutenant,  and  shortly  after,  at  Palmetto  Sta- 
tion, (ia.,  was  again  promoted,  to  first  lien- 
tenant.  He  was  captured  at  Tupelo,  Miss.,  in 
December,  1804.  After  the  war  lie  returned  to 
his  home  and  engaged  in  farming,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1805,  accepted  a  position  with  the  Ala- 
bama &  Tennessee  River  Railway,  in  the  ca- 
jiacity  of  agent,  express  agent,  and  telegraph 
operator.  In  the  fall  of  18T2,  he  went  to  Bir- 
mingliam,  as  express  agent,  thence  to  Montevallo, 
in  laT3,  where  he  engaged  in  merchandising,  and 
in  1870  went  to  South  Alabama,  and  merchan- 
dised two  years.  In  December,  1881,  he  came 
to  Cross  Plains,  as  telegraph  operator  for  the 
East  Tennessee  Railway,  where  he  has  since  con- 
tinued to  live.  In  connection  with  the  railroad 
business  he  is  running  a  hotel. 

In  December,  1801,  Mr.  Harris  was  first  mar- 
ried to  Martha  J.  Wilson,  daughter  of  Henry 
Wilson,  of  Columbiana,  Ala.,  and  has  had  born 
to  him  seven  children,  three  of  whom  are  now 
living:  Rolling,  of  Talladega;  Ernest,  clerk  and 
book-keeper,  of  Burkville,  Ala.,  and  May.  Mrs 
Harris  died  in  November,  1881,  and  in  February, 
1S84.  .Mr.  Harris  was  married  to  Nannie  .Jones, 
of  Cave  Springs,  Ga.,  and  to  this  union  two 
children  were  born:  Jones  and  Albert.  Mr. 
Harris  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and 
his  wife  is  of  the  Congregational  Methodist 
Church.  He  is  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and 
Knights  of  Pvthias. 


REV.  GEORGE  BRYANT  RUSSELL,  was  born 
in  Cherokee  County,  Ala.,  May  11,  1840,  and  is  a 
son  of  Rev.  Samuel  1{.  (born  in  N'irginia,  .January 


'II,  1801)  and  Nancy  Ann  (Gamble)  Russell,  na- 
tive of  East  Tennessee. 

The  senior  Mr.  Russell  was  a  minister  in  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Ciiurch.  He  came  to 
Alabama  in  ls;i-->,  and  settled  near  Jacksonville. 
He  reared  eight  sons  and  two  daughters:  James 
E.,  Robert  A.,  Samuel  L.,  John  (\.,  William  C, 
(ieorge  B.,  Andrew  B.,  Marcus  M.,  Elizabeth  A. 
and  Mary  J.  Of  the  sons  the  following  served  in 
the  war:  James  E.,  Samuel  L.  (lieutenant  and 
chaplain),  John  G.  (orderly  sergeant,  was  killed 
at  Chickamaugu),  and  William  C.  (was  killed  at 
Shiloh).  The  senior  Mr.  Russell  died  September 
30.  18T0,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years  :  his 
wife  died  at  the  close  of  the  war  at  the  age  of 
sixty-two  years.  Tlie  Russell  family  were  of 
Scotch-Irish  parentage,  and  the  Gamble  family 
came  originally  from  Ireland . 

George  Bryant  Russell  was  reared  on  a  farm; 
attended  the  common  schools  of  the  neighborhood, 
and  was  graduated  at  (ialesville,  Ala.,  in  1873. 
He  subsequently  spent  two  years  at  Cumberland 
University,  Lebanon,  Tenn.,  and  in  1874  began 
teaching.  In  a 877  he  migrated  to  Cross  Plains, 
where  he  was  occupied  teaching  and  farming  until 
1881,  when  he  moved  to  Jacksonville  and  taught 
one  year  as  Assistant  Principal  of  Calhoun  Col- 
lege. On  his  return  to  Cross  Plains  he  took 
charge  of  the  Cross  Plains  Educational  Institute, 
which  was  soon  afterwards  chartered. 

.Mr.  Russell  having  received  his  license  to  preach 
September  10,  1870,  and  being  ordained  Septem- 
ber 22,  1873,  is  now  a  preacher  in  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  He  has  represented  his 
Presbytery  in  the  General  Assembly  several  times; 
has  served  Calhoun  County  as  Suj)erintendent 
of  Education  twelve  years,  and  is  at  present  second 
Vice-President  of  the  Alabama  Educational  Asso- 
ciation. 

Mr.  Russell  was  married  September  23,  1873, 
to  Sarah  A.  Hampton,  daughter  of  John  Hamp- 
ton, of  Cherokee  County,  Ala.  They  have  had 
born  to  them  three  children,  namely:  Samuel 
Hampton,  deceased,  John  Floyd  and  James  Gor- 
don. Mr.  Russell  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  Knights  of  Honor.  He  has  ever 
been  a  temperance  worker  ;  was  elected  by  the 
County  Temperance  Convention  in  1880  to  the 
State  Convention,  and  was  of  Committee  on 
Ifesolutions  in  that  convention.  He  was  elected 
President  of  the  County  Temperance  Convention 
at  .\nni.<t<)ii  in  ISSO. 


122 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Our  subject  bears  the  reputation  of  being  one 
of  the  best  educators  in  the  State. 


DR.  ORVILLE  D.  LAIRD,  born  in  Cohunbus, 
Ga.,  January  20,  1840,  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Orville  P. 
and    Xancy    (Dyer)    Laird,    natives    of    Oneida   j 
County,  N.  Y. 

Doctor  Laird  was  reared  in  Kew  York;  received 
an  academic  education,  and  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
years  began  life  as  a  clerk.  In  April,  18G1,  he 
enlisted  in  Company  E,  Seventh  Ohio  Regiment, 
with  which  command  he  served  three  months, 
and  then  joined  Company  C,  One  Hundred  and 
Sixteenth  New  l^ork  Infantry.  In  1863  he  was 
promoted  to  the  Quartermaster's  Department  at 
Xashville,  and  early  in  IS'Jo  was  commisioned 
lieutenant  of  light  artillery.  He  was  mustered 
out  in  July  of  the  latter  year. 

In  18.39  Mr.  Laird  was  graduated  as  M.  D.  from 
Ann  Arbor,  and  after  the  war  practiced  in  Tennes- 
see, locating  at  Clinton  in  ISOG.  In  November, 
1869,  he  engaged  in  the  railroading  and  furnace  { 
business.  In  188-1  he  was  appointed  United 
States  Commissioner  for  the  District  Court, 
Northern  District  of  Alabama,  and  in  1886  came 
to  Cross  Plains. 

Dr.  Laird  was  married  October  2.5,  186.5,  to 
Mary  C.  Stevens,  daughter  of  Rev.  R.  AI.  and 
Nancy  (King)  Stevens,  natives  of  Tennessee. 
They  have  had  born  to  them  three  children: 
Harvey,  George  Edgar,  and  James  G.  The  Doe- 
tor  and  wife  are  members  of  the  .Methodist  Epis- 
cojjal  Ciiurch. 

Dr.  Orville  P.  Laird,  the  father  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  a  practical  dentist.  He  spent 
the  winters  in  Georgia,  and  the  summers  in  New 
York  up  to  1857,  after  which  he  lived  in  Ohio 
and  Michigan  in  order  to  be  more  convenient  to 
his  business  interests.  He  reared  four  children, 
and  died  at  Adrian,  Mich.,  in  1886.  The  Laird 
family  originally  came  from  Scotland. 

ROBERT  F.  HUGHES,  born  in  Calhoun 
County,  Ala. :  is  a  son  of  John  T.  and  Mary  T. 
(Brown)  Hughes,  natives  of  South  Carolina. 

The  senior  Mr.  Hughes  came  to  Alabama  in 
1832,  and  settled  near  Weaver's  Station,  where  he 
engaged    in   farming.     He   represented    Calhoun 


County,  in  its  early  history,  as  a  member  of  the 
Legislature.  He  reared  three  sons  and  seven 
daughters,  of  whom  William  J.  T.  died  in  the 
war;  John  W.,  of  Atlanta,  served  through  the  war 
and  was  in  prison  at  Fort  Delaware  two  years.  Mr. 
Hughes  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  died  in  187-5,  at  the  age  of  .seventy-four  years. 
His  widow,  who  is  still  living,  moved  to  Cross 
Plains.  The  Hughes  family  are  originally  from 
Ireland. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a  farm 
and  received  a  common-school  education.  He  was 
engaged  in  farming  up  to  18T'.i,  when  he  entered 
mercantile  business,  which  he  lias  conducted  suc- 
cessf ullv  ever  since. 


CLAIBORNE  A.  SHARP  was  born  iti  Iredell 
County,  N.  C,  January  12,  1848,  and  is  a  son  of 
Claiborne  I.  and  Courtney  A.  (Johnson)  Sharp, 
natives  of  the  same  county. 

The  father  of  our  subject  was  a  farmer  and 
stock-raiser;  came  to  Alabama  in  1854,  and  set- 
tled on  a  farm  near  Cross  Plains,  w^here  he  re- 
mained until  1868,  when  he  entered  into  mercan- 
tile business.  He  reared  five  sons  and  six  daugh- 
ters, of  whom  are  now  living  four  sons  and  two 
daughters.  Three  of  the  four  sons  now  living 
served  in  the  late  war. 

Our  subject's  grandfather  was  a  farmer  of  North 
Carolina,  and  was  of  Scotch  origin.  He  served 
in  the  War  of  1812,  and  died  in  his  native  State. 
The  mate;-nal  grandfather  was  also  a  farmer  of 
North  Carolina,  and  of  English  ancestry. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a  farm 
and  received  a  common  school  education.  He 
enlisted  in  Company  G,  Third  Alabama  Cavalry, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1864  was  in  AVheeler's  com- 
mand. 

After  the  war  he  farmed  until  1880.  when  he 
engaged  in  the  livery  business  for  one  year,  after 
which  he  purchased  a  half  interest  in  his  father's 
store.  He  is  still  in  the  merchandise  business,  and 
is  very  successful. 

Mr.  Sharp  was  married  in  December,  1869.  to 
Miss  Julia  F.  daughter  of  John  Chancellor, 
of  Cherokee  County,  this  State.  To  this  union 
have  been  born  six  children  :  Charles  C,  Oliver 
W\,  Mary  G.,  Claude,  Nellie  D.,  and  Annie  H. 
Mr.  Sharp  and  family  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


123 


ELISHA  D.  McCLELLEN.  born  uear  Jaekson- 
villo,  Ala..  October  v'4.  Is4^,  is  a  son  of  Samuel  D. 
and  Deborah  (Price)  McClellen,  natives  of  Kast 
Tennessee.  'I'iie  senior  ^Ir.  MeClellen  came  to 
Alabama  with  his  parents  in  1834,  and  settled  in 
Talladega  County.  In  1844  he  removed  to  t!al- 
hoiin  County,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farming, 
lie  represented  the  county  in  the  Legislature  one 
term,  and  assisted  in  removing  the  Indian.s  from 
the  State. 

lie  died  in  December,  188T.  The  McClellens 
are  descendants  from  Scotland.  The  Price 
family  came  from  Ireland. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a  farm 
and  received  an  academic  education.  He 
worked    on   a  farm  until  1808.   when  he  came  to 


Jacksonville,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile 
business  with  his  father.  In  188:i  he  was  engaged 
in  the  livery  business  for  a  short  time,  and  in  Jan- 
uary, 1884,  came  to  Cross  Plains,  started  in  the 
millinery  business,  and  subsequently  engaged  in 
general  merchandising.  In  1887  he  was  running 
a  brick  business  in  connection  with  farming  and 
merchandising. 

In  January,  18T4,  Mr.  McClellen  was  first  mar- 
ried to  Dollie  Barron,  of  Jackson  County,  and  had 
born  to  him  one  child.  Mrs.  McClellen  died  in 
1878,  and  in  December,  188G,  Mr.  McClellen  was 
married  to  Sallie  Glover,  of  Cherokee  County. 

Mr.  McClellen  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Ciiurch 
and  is  also  a  prominent  Mason.  His  w^ife  belongs 
to  the  Presbvterian  Church. 


IV. 
COOSA    COUNTY. 


Population:  White.  10,05(1;  colored,  5,0(5;:!. 
Area — 'i7U  square  miles.    Woodland,  all. 

Acres — In  cotton   20,408;   in   corn,  29,!t!iO;  in 

oats,  5, "^25;  in  wheat,  9,735;   in    tobacco, ; 

in  sweet  jiotatoes, .     Ajiproximate  number 

of  bales  of  cotton,  '.t.doo. 

County  Seat — Rockford:  population  l,0(iO. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — En- 
terprise  (Democratic). 

Postottices  in  the  County  —  Bentleysville, 
Crewsville,  Dollar,  Equality,  Gantt.  Gold  Branch, 
Good  Water,  Hanover,  Ilissop,  Iwana,  Kellyton, 
Lauderdale,  Marble  Valley,  Mount  Olive,  Nix- 
burgh,  Pentonville,  Rockford,  Salter,  Stewarts- 
ville.  Traveler's    Rest,  Weogufka. 

Coosa  County  was  established  by  an  act  of  the 
State  Legislature  dated  December  18,  ]8.'i2,  out 
of  a  jiortion  of  the  territory  ceded  by  the  JIus- 
cogee  Indians  by  the  treaty  of  Cusseta  in  March, 
183"i.  The  original  area  of  the  county  was  much 
larger  than  its  present  size,  as  it  comprised  a 
considerable  portion  of  that  part  of  Elmore 
County  which  lies  east  of  the  Coosa  Ifiver,  which 


territory,  with  the  County  Seat,  Wetumpka.  was 
taken  from  Coosa  on  the  organization  of  Elmore 
County,  in  1860. 

Coosa  County  receives  its  name  from  the  Coosa 
Hiver,  which  in  turn  perpetuates  the  name  of  the 
beautiful  and  fertile  valley  which  so  charmed  the 
eyes  of  De  Soto  and  his  cavaliers  when  their  gaze 
first  rested  on  it  and  its  bosom  was  for  the  first 
time  pressed  b\-  the  foot  of  the  white  man. 

The  surface  of  the  county  is  uneven  and  is 
marked  by  mountainous  elevations,  valleys,  broad 
ridges  containing  beautiful  stretches  of  level  table- 
lands and  sections  of  slightly  rolling  lands.  The 
general  character  of  the  soils  is  red  and  gray,  but 
along  the  hills  and  ridges  some  sandy  lands  are 
found,  while  in  the  valleys  and  along  the  bot- 
toms of  the  numerous  creeks,  a  black  soil  of  won- 
derful productivcnesss  is  found,  which  yields 
cotton,  corn,  wheat  or  oats  equal  to  the  best  lands 
of  the  State.  The.se,  with  sweet  potatoes  and  cane, 
form  the  principal  crops  raised,  and  while  Coosa 
County  is  not  regarded  as  one  of  the  banner  agri- 
cultural counties  of  the  State,  it  is  a  safe  county. 


124 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and  its  soil  returns  a  yield  which  will  average  up, 
year  in  and  year  out,  with  some  of  the  counties 
which  stand  higher  than  it  in  the  agricultural 
scale.  The  red  lands  of  this  county  are  sjiecially 
adapted  to  the  culture  of  wheat  and  other  small 
grain,  and  the  yield  of  these  articles  per  acre  w'ill 
compare  favorably  with  the  production  of  like 
crops  in  any  other  portion  of  the  State. 

The  hills  of  Coosa  County  are  clothed  with  a 
rich  forest  of  long-leafed  pine,  with  considerable 
oak,  hickory,  gum,  and  some  short-leaf  pine.  Ow- 
ing to  the  fact  that  this  county  is  only  entered 
by  a  railroad  on  its  border,  this  forest  has  scarcely 
been  touched. 

Besides  its  agricultural  features  and  its  timber 
wealth,  Coosa  County  can  lay  claim  to  distinction 
on  account  of  the  extent  and  variety  of  its  mineral 
deposits.  Like  the  county  of  Tallapoosa,  which 
joins  it,  Coosa  has  gold  within  its  borders,  but 
none  has  yet  been  discovered  in  quantities  which 
would  pay  to  work.  North  of  Rockford  there  lies 
a  belt  of  granite  of  a  superior  character,  which 
will  be  quarried  and  used  largely,  as  soon  as  trans- 
portation facilities  are  provided  to  convey  it  to 
centers  where  it  will  be  in  demand.  There  is  an 
extensive  deposit  of  iron  ore  some  miles  north  of 
Rockford,  which  at  present  is  unavailable  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  locked  in  by  the  absence  of  the 
means  of  conveying  it  to  points  where  it  could  be 
utilized.  The  other  minerals,  which  are  found  in 
this  county  in  greater  or  lesser  quantities,  are 
copper,  tin,  asbestos,  corundum,  emery,  kaolin, 
and  mica. 

The  principal   streams  of   the   county  are   the 


Coosa  River,  which  forms  its  western  boundary, 
Hatchett,  Weogufka,  Paint,  Socapotoy,  Pintlocco 
and  Futtegal  Creeks.  These  streams  all  furnish 
water-power  of  almost  unrivaled  extent.  The 
Coosa  River,  where  it  borders  this  county,  is  ren- 
dered inq^assable  by  obstructions  and  rapids,  and 
should  the  movement  now  on  foot  cause  it  to  be 
opened  to  navigation,  the  benefit  to  Coosa  County 
will  be  inestimable.  At  Bradford,  on  Socapotoy 
Creek,  there  is  a  cotton  mill  known  as  Bradford's 
Factory,  which  has  been  idle  for  some  years.  The 
building  is  a  substantial  stone  structure,  and,  bvit 
for  the  fact  that  it  is  situated  so  far  off  of  tlie  line 
of  railroad,  the  property  would  be  very  valuable 
and  the  mill  might  be  worked  to  advantage. 

Rockford,  a  little  town  of  about  1,000  inhabit- 
ants, is  the  County  Seat.  It  possesses  excellent 
schools,  good  society,  and  has  several  churches. 
Kellyton  and  Good  Water  are  the  only  railroad 
stations  in  the  county.  For  some  years  the  latter 
has  been  the  terminus  of  the  Columbus  &  West- 
ern Railroad.  This  road  is  now  being  extended 
to  Birmingham,  and  will  be  completed  at  an  early 
date.  The  other  towns  of  Coosa  are:  Xixburg, 
Bradford,  Mt.  Olive,  Stewartsville,  Hanover, 
Equality,  Lorraine,  Traveler's  Rest,  Ilissop,  Weo- 
gufka and  Marble  Valley. 

The  price  of  land  ranges  from  %1  to  81.5  per 
acre-  The  county  contains  a  large  body  of  public 
land,  ojjen  to  homestead  settlement  or  purchase. 
The  future  of  Coosa  County  is  most  promising,  and 
with  increased  railroad  facilities,  and  the  Coosa 
River  open  to  navigation,  it  would  come  to  the 
front  as  one  of  the  wealthiest  counties  of  the  State. 


CHILTON    COUNTY. 


I'opuliitiou  :  White,  8,()")1;  colored,  2,14"-i. 
Area,  TOO  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  (iravelly, 
hills,  and  long-leaf  pines,  400  square  miles. 
•Metamorphic,  2^*0  square  miles.  Slate  resjion, 
80  square  miles. 

Acres— In  cotton,  (approximately),  11,5.38;  in 
corn,  18,185;  in  oats,  '-l/ioo  in  wheat,  4,507;  in 
rye,    00:  in   sweet  potatoes,  -350, 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  4,000. 

County  Seat — Clanton;  population,  800  :  on  rail- 
road, about  forty  miles  north  of  Montgomery. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — ChiUon 
View  (Democratic). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Clanlon.  Clear 
Creek,  Cooper,  Dixie,  Energy,  Jamison,  Jumbo, 
Kincheon,  Lily,  Maplesville,  Mountain  Creek, 
Spigner,  Stanton,  Strasburgli,  \'erbena. 

When  this  county  was  organized,  in  1SC8,  it 
was  called  Baker,  which  name  it  retained  until 
1874,  when,  in  honor  of  Judge  W.  P.  Chilton,  it 
received  its  present  designation.  Chilton  occu- 
pies the  geographical  center  of  the  State.  AVon- 
derful  advances  have  been  made  in  the  indus- 
tries of  the  county  within  the  last  few  years. 
From  1870  to  1880  the  i)opulation  of  Chilton  was 
almost  doubled. 

Chilton  is  varied,  both  with  respect  to  the  face 
of  the  country  and  the  character  of  the  lands. 
In  tlie  eastern  jiortion  there  is  a  high  ridge  which 
forms  the  watershed  between  the  Coosa  and  Ala- 
bama Hivers.  Along  the  southern  border  of  the 
county  the  surface  is  uneven.  This  irregularity 
of  tlie  face  of  the  country  extends  northward  for 
some  distance.  The  soils  vary  from  the  rich  red 
and  brown  loam  lands  to  the  most  sterile.  In  the 
western  portion  of  the  county,  and  especially  in 
the  regions  lying  contiguous  to  ^fulberry  Creek 
and  its  tributaries,  are  found  the  best  agricult- 
ural lands.  It  is  here  that  the  population  is 
denser  than  elsewhere  in  Ciiilton.  This  is  em- 
phatically tlie  farming  section  of  the  county. 
On  the  opposite  side  (the  eastern)  of  the  county 
are  found   altogether   a  different   class  of  indus- 


tries. Extensive  pine  forests  are  a  prevailing 
feature  here.  They  spread  over  the  knolls  and 
hills  which  hold  within  their  bosoms  deposits  of 
minerals.  To  what  extent  these  minerals  exist 
has  not  yet  been  discovered.  Professor  Eugene 
A.  Smith,  State  Geologist,  atlirms  that  there  is  a 
greater  variety  of  minerals  in  Chilton  than  in 
any  other  county  in  Alabama.  They  consist  of 
mica,  graphite,  iron,  copper  and  gold.  Copper 
mines  and  gold  mines  have  been  operated  with 
some  success. 

The  timber  resources  of  Chilton  are  very  ex- 
tensive, as  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  there  are 
twenty-nine  saw-mills  in  the  county.  These  com- 
prise some  of  the  largest  mills  and  lumber  in- 
dustries in  the  State.  Many  of  these  are  found 
along  the  line  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville 
Railroad.  It  will  be  inferred  from  the  foregoing 
that  the  forests  of  Chilton  are  composed  almost 
entirely  of  the  yellow  or  long-leaf  pine. 

As  the  timber  is  cleared  off  these  lands  they  are 
brought  into  cultivation,  and  yield  readily  in  re- 
sponse to  proper  fertilizing.  Corn,  cotton,  oats, 
wheiit  and  rice  are  principal  crops.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  rice  for  the  market  has  been  undertaken 
within  the  last  few  years  with  the  most  gratifying 
results.  It  will  ultimately  prove  a  source  of  great 
revenue  in  the  county.  It  has  been  tested  in  the 
refineries  of  New  Orleans,  and  pronounced  equal 
to  that  grown  upon  the  famous  rice  plantations 
of  South  Carolina. 

The  crops  which  can  be  profitably  raised  are 
corn,  wheat,  oats,  sweet  potatoes,  Irish  potatoes, 
peas,  sugarcane,  rice,  cotton,  and  every  variety  of 
garden  truck,  besides  fruit  in  the  greatest  abund- 
ance, such  as  strawberries,  melons,  peaches,  ajiples, 
pears,  plums,  etc.  Stock-raising  can  also  be  carried 
on  with  profit,  and  the  splendid  stock  ranges  in 
various  portionsof  the  county  would  be  more  than 
trebled  in  value  were  they  put  to  the  i)roper  use. 
The  raising  of  sheej)  is  also  engaged  in  with  profit. 

The  increase  in  wealth  is  keeping  pace  with  the 
growth  in  population.     In    1870    the    first  assess- 


125 


126 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ment  of  property  was  made,  the  county  having 
been  formed  the  latter  part  of  1868.  For  the 
first  assessment  the  county  gave  in  139,449  acres 
of  land,  valued  at  *ai4,879;  in  1887  the  number 
of  acres  has  increased  to  399,743,  valued  at 
$250,334,  showing  how  rapidly  Government  lands 
in  this  county  have  been  and  are  still  being  set- 
tled. Tlie  value  of  town  property  in  1870 
amounted  to  nothing,  there  being  only  a  few  rail- 
road stations  in  the  county.  Since  this  time 
thriving  villages  have  grown  up  around  these  sta- 
tions, and  the  value  of  town  property  goes  up  into 
the  hundred  thousands.  The  increase  in  tax  val- 
ues during  the  past  year  amounted  ^  to  $155,622. 
The  railroad  property  of  the  county  was  assessed 
for  the  i^resent  year  at  $.756,507. 

Chilton  County,  with  its  beautiful  scenerj',  could 
be  made  a  great  State  park.  Along  the  Coosa  and 
on  Yellow-Leaf  and  Blue  Creeks  the  scenery  is 
wild  and  weird  as  one  could  wish  to  see. 

Advantages  for  the  shipment  of  products  to 
distant  markets  are  afforded  by  the  splendid  line 
of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad,  which 
passes  through  the  county.  The  East  Tennessee, 
Virginia  &  Georgia  Railroad  also  passes  through 
the  county. 

Thei'e  is  no  lack  of  water,  as  the  county  is 
drained  by  the  Coosa  River,  and  Chestnut,  Swift, 
Big  and  Little  Mulberry,  Yellow  Leaf  and  Blue 
Creeks. 

The  placesof  greatest  importance  are:    Clantou, 


the  County  Seat,  with  a  population  of  600;  Ver- 
bena, Maplesville,  Jemison  and  ilountain  Creek 
have  become  somewhat  noted  as  summer  resorts. 
At  the  former  place  an  elegant  hotel  has  been 
erected,  both  for  summer  and  winter  boarders; 
while  at  the  latter  point  neat  cabins  of  summer 
visitors  dot  the  slopes  and  crown  the  higher 
ridges.  Families  from  Montgomery  and  the 
neighboring  towns  have  established  these  tasteful 
retreats  in  order  that  they  may  find  a  pleasant 
refuge  from  the  heat  and  dust  of  the  city.  Both 
these  points  are  growing  in  popularity  as  jilaces  of 
summer  resort. 

Good  schools  are  found  at  every  center  of  in- 
terest in  the  county.  At  Clanton  and  Verbena 
the  schools  are  of  high  grade,  and  moral  in- 
fluences good.  Churches  of  the  different  de- 
nominations also  abound. 

Immigrants  or  investors  desiring  to  jiurchase 
lands  in  this  county  may  obtain  them  for  prices 
ranging  from  %\  to  S15  per  acre.  Knowing  how 
much  depends  ou  an  increased  population  of 
thrifty  habits,  the  people  of  this  county  are  eager 
to  encourage  such  to  establish  homes  in  their 
midst. 

Chilton  County  embraces  52,000  acres  of  land 
belonging  to  the  General  Government,  which  are 
being  very  rapidly  settled. 

The  valuation  of  taxable  property  in  Chilton 
County  is  $1,864,832,  as  shown  by  the  al)stract  of 
assessment  filed  with  the  Auditor. 


VI. 
CLAY    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  1-2,000:  colored,  1,000. 
Area,  (JlO  square  miles.     Woodland,  all. 

Acres — In  cotton  (ajiproximatel\'),  13,921;  in 
corn,  ■v>4,503;  in  oats,  4,894;  in  wheat,  9,785;  in 
tobacco,  85;  in  sugar  cane.  10;  in  sweet  potatoes, 
•i:i7. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  5,:i00. 

County  Seat — Ashland;  population,  450;  located 
25  miles  from  Talladega. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — (.'lai/ 
County  Watchman  (Democratic). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Ashtuml,  Black 
Store,  Bluff  Spring,  Buckeye,  Coleta,  Copper 
Mines,  Dean,  Delta,  Elias,  Enitachopco,  Flat 
Kock,  (ribsonville,  (ireshamton,  Ilarlan,  Hatcli- 
ett  Creek,  Ilillabee,  Idaho,  Lineville,  Mad  In- 
dian, Mellow  \'alley,  Moseley,  Mountain  Meadow, 
Pinckneyville,  Rocky  Mount,  Shinbone,  Wheeler- 
ville. 

This  county  was  created  in  1800,  and  took  its 
name  from  the  great  Kentucky  statesman,  Henry 
Clay.  Like  other  interior  counties  in  Alabama, 
the  mineral  and  agricultural  properties  are  not  as 
yet  fully  recognized  and  appreciated.  It  is  remote 
from  lines  of  transportation  and  is  not  as  acces- 
sible as  other  portions  of  the  State  which 
have  won  distinction  among  capitalists,  and  yet 
are  not  a  whit  in  advance  of  Clay.  When  the  pro- 
ductive soils,  the  varied  minerals,  and  the  vast 
water-power  of  the  county  shall  attract  public  no- 
tice, gateways  of  commerce  will  be  opened,  and 
its  hills  anil  valleys  will  teem  with  population. 

Clay  County  is  varied  both  with  respect  to  the 
face  of  the  country  ami  the  character  of  the  soil. 
The  eastern  portion  has  a  varied  surface  with  a  soil 
of  sandy  loam.  A  mountainous  ridge  penetrates 
the  county  from  the  southwest  to  the  northeast. 
Most  of  tiie  lands  lying  adjacent  to  this  ridge  are 
very  productive.  In  the  northern  end  of  Clay  and 
west  of  this  range,  is  a  valley  of  exceedingly  rich 
farming  land.  The  bottom  lands  which  lie  along 
the  streams  which  water  the  county  are  generally 
j)roductive.     A    belt   of  "flatwoods"  four  or   five 


miles  wide  is  found  east  of  the  ridge  lands.  This 
belt  is  covered  with  a  mixed  growth  of  oaks  and 
pine  and  has  generally  a  gray  and  somewhat  sandy 
soil.  Throughout  the  county  the  gray  lands  are 
regarded  the  best  for  farming  purposes. 

The  bulk  of  the  cotton  crop  of  Clay  is  raised  in 
the  southern  and  eastern  parts  of  the  county, 
because  of  the  superiority  o'f  the  soils.  The  chief 
jiroductlons  are  cotton,  corn,  wheat,  oats  and 
sweet  potatoes.  Orchard  and  garden  fruits  also 
do  well. 

The  timbers  of  the  county  include  both  short- 
and  long-leaf  pine,  with  blackjack  and  other  oaks, 
hickory,  sweet  gum,  walnut,  poplar,  crab  apple, 
persimmon,  ash,  maple,  dogwood  and  alder.  The 
mountains  and  hillsides  are  covered  with  the  heavi- 
est timbers.  The  timber  and  lumber  trade  is  one 
of  the  future  industries  of  Clay  County. 

(Jold,  silver,  barytes,  tin,  manganese,  pyrites, 
soapstone,  iron,  copper,  copperas,  mica,  graphite 
and  slate  are  found  in  different  parts  of  Clay.  The 
Confederate  authorities,  during  the  last  two  years 
of  the  war,  secured  much  sulphur  from  this  coun- 
ty for  the  manufacture  of  powder. 

The  water-power  of  the  county  is  immense. 
The  inclination  of  many  of  the  streams  is  great, 
imparting  a  mighty  momentum  to  the  descending 
waters.  Big  Kitchabadarga,  Talladega,  Hatchet, 
Ilillabee,  Ilatchee,  Enitachopka,  Condutchkee, 
Crooked  and  Mad  Indian  Creeks  are  the  main 
streams.  The  county  is  abundantly  supplied, 
too,  with  perennial  springs  of  freestone  water. 

.Vshland,  Lineville  and  Delta  are  the  jirincipal 
points  of  interest.  Excellent  schools  of  a  high 
grade  are  found  at  all  these  i)oints. 

At  present  Clay  County  is  entirely  without 
railroads,  which,  more  than  any  other  cause, 
accounts  for  its  want  of  development.  The 
county  lies  between  the  Coosa  and  Tallajioosa 
Kivers,  and  the  mountainous  range  which  pene- 
trates it,  divides  the  water  flowing  to  those  streams. 
The  healtii  of  Clay  County  is  exceptional,  while 
its   soil   is   varied    and    fairly    productive.      The 


127 


128 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


people  are  thrifty  and  contented,  raising  at 
home  almost  everything  needed  for  domestic 
comfort. 

Some  of  the  railroads  projected  througli  this 
section  of  the  State  will  penetrate  this  county, 
and,  upon  completion  of  one  or  more  of  these 
roads,  the  resources  of  Clay  will  divide  the  atten- 
tion which  is  now  concentrated  on  more  favored 
localities,    and     the  growth  and  development   of 


the  county  will  be  commensurate  with  the  past 
experience  of  the  mineral  region  of  Alabama. 
AVithin  the  limits  of  this  county  there  is  a  large 
body  of  public  lands  subject  to  homestead  entry 
or  purchase,  which  within  a  few  years  will  become 
the  homes  of  a  thriving  population.  At  present 
the  prices  of  land  range  from  81  to  $15  per  acre, 
depending  upon  situation  and  condition  of  im- 
provement. 


Vll. 
CHFROKEE    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  10,800;  colored.  2,000.  Area, 
ceo  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Coal  measures 
of  Lookout  Mountain,  150  square  miles.  Coosa 
Valley,  etc.,  510  square  miles. 

Acres — If  cotton  (approximately),  24,390;  in 
corn,  33,3;5;  in  oats,  7,475;  in  wheat,  10,085; 
in  rye,  IGO;  in  tobacco,  80;  in  sweet  potatoes,  335. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  11,000. 

County  Seat — Centre;  population  (150:  on  Coosa 
river,  140  miles  north  by  east  of  Montgomery,  20 
miles  north  of  Jacksonville. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Chcro- 
hee  Advertiser,  Coosa  River  News,  and  the  Tele- 
phone (all  Democratic). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Alexis,  Ball  Flat, 
Blaine,  Broomtowu,  Cedar  Bluff,  Cedar  Spring, 
Centre,  Chance,  Colma,  Davis'  Cross-roads,  Farill, 
Firestone,  Forney,  FuUerton,  Gaylesville,  Gnat- 
ville,  Grantville,  Hancock,  Howel's  Cross-roads, 
Hurley,  Key,  Kirk's  Grove,  Lay,  Leesburgh, 
Maple  Grove,  Moshat,  New  Goshen,  New  Moon, 
Piano,  Eieks,  Einggold,  Eock  Eun,  Eock  Eun 
Station,  Bound  Mountain,  Sand  Eock,  Slackland, 
Spring  Garden.  Sterling,  Stock's  Mills,  TafE, 
Tecumseh. 

Cherokee  County  derives  its  name  from  the 
Indian  tribe  which  formerly  inhabited  it.  The 
county  was  constituted  in  183C.  It  is  a  border 
county,  lying  alongside  Georgia  upon  the  east. 
Its  natural  advantages  are  very  great,  especially 
those  relating  to  its  mineral  richness.     Its  agri- 


cultural capabilities  are  also  good.  Considerable 
enterprise  has  existed  in  the  county  for  many 
years,  and  great  progress  has  been  made  in  the 
development  of  its  resources,  as  its  numerous 
mining  interests  will  attest. 

In  1880  the  population  was  almost  doubled. 
There  has  been  a  steady  influx  of  population  into 
the  county,  which  has  increased  with  the  years. 
More  and  more  its  numerous  advantages  in  soil,  cli- 
mate, mineral  wealth  and  location  are  being  ap- 
preciated. The  face  of  the  county  is  generally 
uneven,  and  sometimes  mountainous,  and,  like  all 
the  counties  of  this  region,  the  upper  lands  are 
thin,  with  very  fertile  valleys  lying  between. 

The  cultivated  soils  of  Cherokee  are  composed 
of  red  and  brown  loams,  which  belong  to  the  coves 
and  valleys,  and  skirt  the  principal  streams.  Upon 
these  lands  most  of  the  cotton  of  the  county  is 
produced.  Then  along  the  ridges  and  hills  are 
found  the  thinner  soils,  which  have  a  grayish  cast 
and  are  mixed  with  a  flinty  gravel.  The  charac- 
ter of  both  these  classes  of  land  varies  very  greatly 
with  the  different  localities.  Then  there  are  what 
are  called  "  the  flatwoods,"  which  form  a  consider- 
able belt  in  the  county.  Though  this  soil,  when 
analyzed,  shows  that  it  has  fine  productive  capa- 
bilities, it  is  but  rarely  cultivated,  because  care 
has  not  been  taken  to  drain  it.  No  doubt  it  can 
be  brought  into  profitable  cultivation.  Perhaps 
in  no  county  in  the  State  can  there  be  found  a 
greater  diversity  of  soil  than  in  Cherokee. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


129 


The  valley  lamls  are  almost  entirely  devoted  to 
the  production  of  corn,  cotton,  wlicat  and  oats. 
l'l)on  the  higher  or  table  lands  are  produced  ex- 
cellent fruits,  chief  among  which  are  apples,  pears, 
peaches  and  plums.  Fruit  tree.s  are  seldom  dis- 
turbed by  frost.  With  proper  care  and  cultivation 
orchards  growing  upon  these  elevated  lands  become 
very  profitable.  The  vine  is  cultivated  with  won- 
derful success  along  the  mountains. 

Stock-raising  in  Cherokee  is  on  the  increase 
because  of  the  revenue  derived  from  the  experi- 
ments already  made.  Herbage  grows  with  such 
readiness  and  in  such  profusion  as  to  encourage 
the  greater  production  of  stock. 

'J'he  growths  of  the  forests  comprise  oaks  (of  the 
several  varieties),  hickory,  chestnut,  short-  and 
long-leaf  pines.  There  is  quite  an  extensive  prev- 
alence of  pine  forests  in  the  county,  wliich 
have  given  rise  to  many  mills  and  log  yards, 
which  are  established  at  convenient  bluffs  along 
the  Coosa  River,  giving  employment  to  many 
laborers. 

In  several  portions  of  Cherokee  there  are  exten- 
sive and  valuable  deposits  of  iron  ore,  much  of 
wliich  is  worked  up  in  furnaces  along  the  East 
Tennesse.  A'irginia  tS:  Georgia  liailroad.  The 
following  iron  works  are  in  successful  operation  in 
the  county:  The  Stonewall  IronComjiany,  Tecum- 
seh  Iron  Company,  Kock  Run  Furnace,  Ala- 
bama Iron  Company,  Cornwall  Iron  Works  and 
Round  Mountain  Furnace.  There  is  a  fine  cotton 
factory  at  Spring  (Jarden.  Rich  coal  deposits  also 
exist  in  the  count  v. 


Cherokee  has  an  abundant  water  supply,  being 
traversed  by  the  Coosa,  Chattanooga,  Yellow  and 
I.ittle  Rivoi's,  and  (^owairs.  Hall  Play,  Wolf.  Spring, 
Terrapin,  Vellow  and  .Mill  Creeks.  All  tiiese  are 
valuable  streams,  which  are  fed  by  numerous  tril)- 
utaries.  This  is  the  only  county  the  heart  of 
which  is  penetrated  by  the  beautiful  Coosa  River. 
With  the  exception  of  Etowah,  near  whose  eastern 
boundary  the  river  runs,  it  forms  the  border  line  of 
all  the  other  counties  which  it  waters.  But  Chero- 
kee it  divides  in  twain,  imparting  fertilitv  and 
beauty  from  limit  to  limit  of  the  county.  The 
waterways  already  named  have,  almost  without 
exception,  immense  capabilities  of  water-power 
adapted  to  the  planting  of  vast  enterjjrises. 

The  line  between  Cherokee  and  DeKalb  Counties 
runs  along  the  summit  of  Lookout  Mountain. 

The  Broomtown  Valley,  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  Cherokee,  is  worthy  of  special  mention  by  rea- 
son of  its  fertility  and  romantic  beauty.  The 
grandeur  of  this  section  is  enchanced  by  its  bold 
and  clear  streams  which  ramify  it  throughout. 

Transportation  is  afforded  the  county  by  the 
East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Railroad, 
and  the  Coosa  River. 

Centre,  the  county  seat,  and  Cedar  BhilT  are  the 
leading  towns.  Together  with  other  centers  of 
population,  these  possess  good  educational  and 
religious  advantages.  At  Gaylesville  there  is  a 
high  school  of  note. 

Lands  range  in  price  from  *!2.5n  to  *3.5  per  acre. 
The  Government  owns  2(»,720  acres  of  land  in 
Cherokee  County. 


-■»-; 


CENTRB. 


SAMUEL  KING  McSPADDEN.  Chancellor  of 
the  Northeast  division  of  .Vlabama,  resident  of 
Centre,  son  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  and  Rebecca 
(I)onalson)  McSpadden,  natives,  respectively,  of 
the  States  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  was 
born  in  Warren  County,  Tenn.,  November  12, 
1.S'.'3.  The  senior  McSpadden,  a  minister  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  died  at  the  old 
homestead,  in  Wilsoii  County,  Tenn.,  in  18C0,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-three  years.     He  was  one  of  the 


original  agitators  of  the  questions  that  led  to  the 
division  of  the  old  Presbyterian  Church  and  the 
organization  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
denomination.  His  home  was  on  the  Cumberland 
Hiver  and  in  the  bounds  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
bytery, and  it  was  from  that  fact  that  the  denom- 
ination mentioned  took  its  name. 

Thesul)ject  of  this  sketch  may  be  said  to  be  a 
self-educated  man.  He  learned  the  saddler's  trade 
at  Winciiester,  Tenn.,  and  worked  at  it  until  184:8. 


130 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  came  to  Alabama  in-1843  and  lived  seven  years 
at  Talladega.  While  at  that  place  he  began  ilie 
stndyof  law,  pursuing  the  study  finally  under  the 
distinguished  Samuel  F.  Rice,  and  was  admitted 
to  practice  before  George  W.  Stone,  the  present 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Alabama  Supreme  Court. 
This  was  in  1848  or  '49,  and  Mr.  McSpadden  be- 
gan the  practice  in  1850  in  Cherokee  County, 
where  he  has  since  made  his  home.  He  entered 
the  army  as  a  private  in  the  Nineteenth  Alabama 
Infantry  in  1801,  and  upoji  the  final  organization 
of  that  regiment  was  appointed  its  major.  In 
1863,  upon  the  return  of  the  army  from  Kentucky, 
Major  McSpadden  was  promoted  to  lieutenant  col- 
onel. The  regiment  was  then  at  Knoxville.  He 
had  commanded  the  regiment  from  the  time  it 
left  Kentucky,  and  at  Tullahoma  he  was  promoted 
to  colonel.  At  Resaca  he  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy.  May,  1804,  and  was  taken  to  John- 
son's Island,  where  he  was  detained  until  March, 
1865.  He  never  again  joined  his  command,  though 
he  met  them  in  Salisbury,  N.  C.  It  should  have 
been  mentioned  that  Mr.  McSpadden  was  elected 
to  the  State  Senate  in  1857,  and  that  he  was  a 
member  of  that  body  at  the  time  he  entered  the 
army. 

Chancellor  ileSpadden  was  first  elected  by  the 
Legislature,  session  of  1865-0,  and  in  1868  tiie 
United  States  Congress  declared  him  further  in- 
competent. This  retired  him  to  his  practice,  to 
which  he  devoted  himself  until  again  made  Chan- 
cellor, in  1885.  He  was  elected  to  the  Senate  in 
1882,  and  resigned  as  a  member  of  that  body  to 
accept  the  Chancellorship.  In  Xovember,  1880, 
the  unexpired  term  for  which  he  had  been  aj)- 
pointed  having  expired,  he  was  regularly  elected 
for  the  ensuing  term  of  six  years. 

At  Centre,  Ala.,  June  14,  1854.  Samuel  King 
McSpadden  was  married  to  ^liss  Charlcie  Ann 
Garrett,  daughter  of  Gen.  John  H.  Garrett.  To 
this  union  was  born  one  child,  Lulu,  now  the  wife 
of  Hon.  H.  W.  Cardon,  of  Centre. 

The  Chancellor  and  Mrs,  McSpadden  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  he  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity. 


ROBERT  R.  SAVAGE,  Judge  of  the  Pro- 
bate Court  of  Cherokee  County,  was  born  in  Union 
District,  S.  C,  September  23,  1831,  and  at  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  place  acquired  a  fair 


education.  He  was  married  February  24,  1852, 
to  Miss  Louisa  J.  Geer,  daughter  of  Willis  and 
Cynthia  E.  (Hall)  Geer,  of  Cherokee  County,  and 
from  that  date  until  1869  was  here  engaged  in 
farming.  In  the  latter  named  year  he  was  elected 
Tax  Collector,  held  that  office  two  terms,  and  in 
1880  was  elected  Probate  Judge,  a  position  he  has 
continued  to  hold,  having  been  re-elected  in 
1880. 

February,  1863,  Judge  Savage  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany E,  Forty-seventh  Alabama  Regiment,  and 
was  elected  first  lieutenant.  He  resigned  at  the 
end  of  nine  months,  returned  home,  and  soon 
afterward  joined  General  Wheeler's  escort,  and 
remained  in  the  service  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

Judge  Savage  is  one  of  the  substantial  citizens 
of  Cherokee  County.  He  has  reared  a  family  of 
six  children.  He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

James  P.  Savage,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  in 
1848  settled  at  the  town  of  Goshen,  Cherokee 
County,  Ala.;  from  there  in  18T3  he  moved  to 
Cross  Plains,  Calhoun  County,  where  he  died  in 
1874.  He  reared  a  family  of  nine  sons  anl  three 
daughters.  His  father,  .James  Savage,  was  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  his  grandfather  came 
from  Europe. 

JAMES  AVERY  REEVES,  Attorney  and  Coun- 
selor at  Law,  Centre,  native  of  Jasper  County, 
Ga.,  son  of  James  Madison  and  Susan  Rice 
(Watt)  Reeves,  was  born  November  22,  1842. 
Until  twelve  years  of  age  his  home  was  at  Cedar 
IJlutf.  At  that  time,  his  father  having  been  dead 
some  years,  his  mother  married  the  Rev.  0.  D. 
McNeely,  and  moved  upon  a  farm. 

This  limited  our  subject's  early  education  for  a 
sliort  time.  In  1858  he  entered  college  at  Murfrees- 
boro,  Tenn.,  where  we  find  him  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  late  war.  In  August,  1861,  he  enlisted  in 
the  Nineteenth  Alabama,  and  from  that  time  to 
the  close  of  the  war  was  identified  with  the 
Confederate  service.  At  Shiloh  he  was  severely 
wounded.  This  led  to  his  discharge,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1803  he  entered  tlie  Quartermaster's 
Department,  in  which  he  was  assigned  to  post  duty 
at  Centre  and  Gadsden.  Early  in  1864  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor  as  Special  Aid,  with  the 
rank  of  colonel,  and  assigned  to  the  duty  of  rais- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


131 


iiig  and  organizing  State  troops.  In  September, 
]S(i5,  he  began  tiio  study  of  law,  and  in  the  fall  of 
isi;;,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Centre.  Here  heat 
once  entered  upon  a  successful  practice,  wiiicli  he 
has  maintained  fully  to  the  present  time.  lie  was 
elected  County  Treasurer  in  18()5  and  held  that 
office  one  term.  He  was  Journal  Clerk  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  session  of  18(>'i-7.  lie 
had  been  appointed  Kegister  in  Chancery,  probably 
in  18<i">,  and  he  hold  this  ofKce  in  addition  to  his 
other  duties  until  iScO.  He  was  elected  to  the 
[legislature  in  February  18G8,  and  took  a  con- 
spicuous ])ait  in  the  succeeding  important  session. 
He  was  appointed  State  Examiner  of  Public 
Accounts  by  Governor  Seay,  in  the  spring  of  1887, 
and  how  well  he  has  acquitted  himself  in  the 
discharge  of  this  important  duty  is  a  matter  of 
public  record. 

Mr.  IJeeves  was  married  December  "JO,  18<i(i,  to 
•Miss  Mary  E.  Haynes,  and  the  names  of  the  chil- 
dren born  to  them  are:  Maggie  S.,  James  H..  Mary 
T.  and  John  A.  The  family  are  identified  with 
the  Jlethodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  Mr. 
Reeves  is  a  Mason. 

•    ■  »>■  •t^^'-»—- 

ELLIS  HALE.  Clerk  of  the  Cherokee  County 
Court,  was  born  in  Carroll  County,  Va.,  March  'I'u 
184",',  and  is  a  son  of  Fielden  L.  and  Evaline 
(Anderson)  Hale,  natives  of  Georgia. 

He  was  a  soldier  in  the  late  war,  and  partici- 
pated in  all  the  battles  in  which  liis  regiment, 
the  Twenty-fourth  Virginia,  took  part.  He 
entered  the  service  .is  first  sergeant,  and  left  it 
with  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant.  He  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg;  spent  six 
months  in  the  hospital  at  Staunton,  Va.,  and  was 
disabled  thereafter  for  service.  At  the  close  of  the 
war  he  returned  to  Virginia,  and  was  elected 
Clerk  of  the  Carroll  County  Court.  At  the  end 
of  si.x  months  he  gave  up  that  oftiee  and  came  to 
Alabama.  He  was  in  the  mercantile  business 
some  years  at  Leesburg,  and  from  there  came  to 
Centre.  He  was  elected  County  Treasurer  of 
Cherokee  County  in  18T7,  and  holds  that  office  at 
this  time,  in  addition  to  the  clerkship  to  which 
he  was  apjiointed  in  1880. 

He  was  married  while  a  young  man  to  Miss 
Xannie  I'ullen.  of  Centre.  She  died  in  1877, 
leaving  one  child.  Bernard.  In  October,  1878, 
.Mr.  Hale  led  to  the  altar  Miss  .Tosie  ^f.  Davidson, 


of  Rutledge,  Tenn.,  and  the  four  children  born  to 
this  union  are  named  respectively:  .Marslial  E., 
Benjamin  F.,  Elbert  and  Anna  Bell.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hale  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
C'hurch,  .South,  and  he  is  of  .the  JIasonic  fra- 
ternity. 

The  senior  Mr.  Hale  was  a  merchant  and  miner 
in  Carroll  County,  \'a.,  from  about  1840  to  18(j5. 

J  He  was  also  many  years  Clerk  of  that  county,  and 
Superintendent  of  Education.     He  was  a  member 

'  of  the  Secession  Convention  of  Virginia,  and  held 
tiie  rank  of  captain  during  the  war.  He  settled 
in  Cherokee  County  in  l.S(;."(,  and  from  there  re- 
turned to  Virginia  three  years  later.  In  1884  he 
left  Virginia  and  settled  in  \'olutia  County,  Fla., 

I  where  he  yet  resides,  and  is  engaged  in  mercantile 
business.     His  wife  died  in  18.")."). 

A.  M.  PRATT,  M.  D.  The  suljjert  uf  this 
sketch  was  born  in  York  District,  S.  C,  Novem- 
ber, 1837,  and  is  the  son  of  John  J.  and  Dorcas  I-]. 
(Moore)  Pratt.  He  was  reared  in  Unionviile,  S. 
C,  where  he  received  his  primary  and  literary 
education,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  began  the 
study  of  medicine.  Having  graduated  from  the 
colleges  of  Charleston,  the  Jefferson  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  Stuyvesant  University  of  New  York 
City,  as  M.  D.,  he  at  once  entered  into  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  in  his  native  State,  where  he 
remained  for  two  years.  After  leaving  there  he 
located  in  Carnesvilie,  Ga.,  in  1853;  there  he 
mai'ried  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Henry  Freeman,  who 
was  a  distinguished  physician  and  who  figured 
prominently  in  the  Legislative  Halls  of  Georgia  as 
a  Representative  and  Senator. 

Dr.  Pratt  having  practiced  his  profession  for 
several  years  in  a  successful  and  lucrative  way, 
and  having  established  himself  as  a  skilled  physi- 
cian and  successful  practitioner,  concluded  to 
move  West;  having  done  so,  he  located  in  Cherokee 
County,  Ala.,  in  the  year  18-57,  and  in  ISGO  at 
Centre,  where  in  18ii3,  he  was  appointed  Post 
Surgeon,  a  position  he  filled  to  the  close  of  the 
war. 

Dr.  Pratt  is  one  of  the  most  successful  and  pop- 
ular physicians  of  Northeastern  Alabama.  Al- 
though the  war  dissipated  his  am])le  means,  he  has 
long  since  recovered,  and  is  at  this  writing,  again 
possessed  of  a  moderate  competency.  The  Doctor 
is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  several 


133 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


other  orders,  and  is  a  believer  in  evolution  and  all 
other  subjects  which  promote  and  foster  liberty 
of  thought  and  freedom  of  oi^inions.  The  Doctor 
has  three  sisters  who  possess  rare  literary  attain- 
ments; one  a  playwright  of  considerable  ability, 
and  who  has  translated  many  foreign  period- 
cal  magazines,  novels,  and  other  literature  into 
the  English  language;  another  who  has  written 
several  novels  and  private  histories  of  the  United 
States.  The  third  lister  is  an  extensive  traveler 
(at  this  time  she  is  sojourning  in  Europe),  having 
crossed  ths  Atlantic  Ocean  no  less  than  a  half 
dozen  times,  and  visited  all  the  provinces  and 
principal  cities  of  Europe,  and  personally  met 
several  of  the  potentates. 

John  J.  Pratt,  a  younger  brother  of  the  Doctor, 
is  an  inventor  of  considerable  note,  being  the 
inventor  of  one  of  the  first  type  writers:  also  the 
inventor  of  the  type  writer  which  was  awarded 
the  highest  gold  medal  at  the  New  Orleans  Expo- 
sition. He,  John  J.  Pratt,  Jr.,  is  the  supei-intend- 
ent  of  the  Hammond  Type  Writing  Company  of 
New  York  City.  The  Doctor's  father,  .John  J. 
Pratt,  Sr.,  was  a  native  of  Newberry,  S.  C,  and 
was  twenty-one  years  Probate  Judge  of  Union 
District,  that  State;  he  was  also  a  prominent 
merchant  and  shoe  and  leather  manufacturer.  He 
came  to  Cherokee  County,  Ala.,  in  1851,  and  was 
here  an  extensive  planter  and  slave-holder. 
The  Doctor's  grandfather,  John  J.  Pratt,  was  a 
native  of  Salem,  Mass.  He  moved  from  there  to 
Fauquier  County,  Ya.,  in  1780,  and  on  to  Newberry, 
S.  C,  in  1790.  His  forefather  came  over  in  the 
noted  "  Mayflower"  in  the  year  1020. 

WILLIAM  MADISON  ELLIOT,  Secretary  of  the 
Eound  Mountain  Iron  Company,  Centre,  Ala., 
was  born  in  Home,  Ga.,  August  2(i,  1860,  and  is 
the  son  of  James  Madison  and  P^mily  .Jane  (Hoss) 
Elliott.  He  graduated  from  Emory  and  Henry  Col- 
lege, Ya.,  as  A.  B.,  class  of  187'.t,  and  immediate- 
ly thereafter  engaged  at  steamboating  on  the 
Coosa  Kiver.  Here  he  was  for  some  time  master 
and  pilot  of  the  steamboat  Magnolia,  In  1885  he 
abandoned  the  river,  and  accepted  a  situation  as 
book-keeper  for  the  Gadsden  Iron  Company.  He 
remained  with  that  company  three  years,  and  has 
since  that  time  been  connected  with  the  Round 
Mountain  Iron  Company. 

Mr.  Elliott  was  married  March  15, 1887,  to  Miss 


Sallie  E.  Bogan,  the   accomplished  daughter  of 
Henry  S.  and  Amanda  (Hoss)  Bogan. 

JOHN  BUTLER  WALDEN,  Attorney-at  law, 
was  born  in  Jasper  County,  Ga.,  September  1, 
181G,  and  is  a  son  of  Charles  and  Sarah  (Walker) 
Walden,  natives  of  South  Carolina. 

He  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty  years,  at  Wetumpka,  Ala.,  began  the  study 
of  the  law,  and  at  Talladega  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.  He  located  first  in  the  practice  at  Lebanon, 
De  Kalb  County,  and  was  within  a  short  time 
appointed  Register  in  Chancery,  and  afterward 
appointed  -Tudge  of  the  County  Court  of  De  Kalb 
C'ounty,  He  held  these  offices  but  a  few  months, 
when  he  resigned  for  the  purpose  of  devoting  his 
entire  time  to  the  jiractice  of  the  law,  and  soon 
gained  rank  in  the  profession.  He  was  appointed 
Solicitor  of  the  Huntsville  Circuit  in  18(i2,  and 
was  shortly  afterwards  elected  by  the  Legislature 
to  that  office,  and  held  it  the  close  of  the  war. 
In  1864  he  came  to  Centre,  and  has  here  since 
that  time  given  his  whole  attention  to  his  pro- 
fession. 

Mr.  Walden  was  married  in  December,  1812,  to 
Catharine  0.  Chambliss,  daughter  of  John  and 
Sarah  (Pierce)  Chambliss,  who  came  from  Dar- 
lington District,  S.  C,  to  Talladega  County  in 
1841.  Of  the  children  reared  by  Mr.  Walden  we 
have  the  following  data:  John  is  a  farmer  and 
trader  in  Texas;  Charles  is  a  trader  at  McMinn- 
ville,  Tenn. ;  Joseph  A.  studied  law  of  his  own 
volition;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  on  the  day  after 
he  was  twenty-one;  was  elected  Solicitor  for  Chero- 
kee County  by  the  jjopular  vote,  and  served  one 
term  only.  He  holds  a  high  standing  in  his  pro- 
fession as  an  untiring,  zealous  advocate.  Emily 
married  Captain  Marable,  of  Georgia,  and  Minnie 
is  unmarried,  and  remains  with  her  parents. 

The  senior  3Ir.  Walden,  in  about  1800,  moved 
to  Green  County,  Ga.,  and  from  thence  to  Jasper. 
He  was  a  lieutenant  under  General  Floyd  in  the 
War  of  1812,  He  came  into  Alabama  in  1819, 
and  located  in  Autauga  County,  near  old  Fort 
Jackson.  He  died  in  1832.  Of  his  seven  sons 
John  B.  is  the  only  one  now  living. 

His  wife  was  one  of  those  excellent  pioneer. 
Christian  women.  She  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church  over  fifty  years,  and  many  of  her 
ancestors  and  kinsmen  were  noted  divines.     She 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


133 


died  in  1854,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  Her 
fatlier,  Jeremiah  Walker,  a  Virginian  by  birth, 
and  a  gaHant  old  Revolutionary  soldier,  was  a 
fanner  in  South  C'aroliini.  His  paternal  ancestors 
came  from  Kiigland. 


-^^ 


!-♦- 


JOHN  W.  TATUNS,  (deceased)  was  born  in 
t'alhouu  County.  Ala.,  in  183.">:  came  into  Chero- 
kee County  in  ISti.s,  and  in  January  of  that  year 
married  the  widow  of  M.  J.  Alexander,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  William  and  Rebecca  W.  (Parker)  ^Sfc- 
Klrath.  Mr.  McElrath  was  born  in  Spartanburg 
District  and  his  wife  in  Tennessee.  'J"he  Doctor 
graduated  in  medicine  from  the  Cincinnati  Med- 


ical College,  and  in  183<>  located  in  Coosa  County, 
Ala.  In  1S3'.I  he  came  into  Cherokee  County,  and 
settled  within  three  miles  of  Centre,  where  he 
practiced  medicine  until  1837.  In  that  year,  his 
wife's  health  having  become  imjjaired,  he  gave  up 
his  practice  and  turned  his  attention  to  farming. 
The  Doctor  was  a  public-spirited  man,  noted  for  his 
cliarity,  and  for  his  interest  in  the  general  good 
of  his  neighborhood,  lie  died  in  188.")  at  the  age 
of  eighty-seven  years,  leaving  a  large  estate.  His 
wife  had  died  the  year  before.  His  father  was  a 
native  of  Ireland. 

John  W.  Tatuns  at  his  death,  in  1884,  left  three 
children:  Samuel  C,  Leonora  I.,  and  Wcstly  S. 
He  was  a  consistent  member  of  the  ilethodist 
Episcojial  Church  and  a  highly  respected  citizen. 


Vlll. 
CULLMAN    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  6,312:  colored,  143.  Area, 
590  square  miles.     Woodland,  all. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  1,409  ;  in 
corn,  10,343  ;  in  oats,  1,179;  in  wheat,  2,569  ;  in 
rye,  480  ;  in  sugar-cane,  66  ;  in  tobacco,  41  ;  in 
sweet  potatoes,  215. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton  in 
round  numbers,  400. 

County  Seat — Cullman  ;  population,  1,600  ; 
located  on  South  &  North  Alabama  Railroad. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Alabama 
Tribune  and  Trumpet. 


Postoffices  in  the  County — Baileyton,  Bosen- 
berg,  Bremen,  Crane  Hill,  Crooked  Creek,  Chill- 
man,  Dreher,  Etha,  Jones  Chapel,  Logan,  Mar- 
riott, May  Apple,  Nesmith,  Ruby,  Sinicoe,  Trim- 
ble. 

This  is  one  of  the  last  counties  formed  in  the 
State,  and  was  organized  in  1877,  and  has  an  in- 
teresting history,  which  begins  in  1873,  when 
John  0.  Cullman  became  the  agent  for  the  sale 
of  the  vast  tracts  of  land  belonging  to  the  South  iS: 
North  Alabama  and  Louisville  &  Nashville  Rail- 
roads.     [See  History  of  Cullman,  this  volume.] 


^,  ^  tJr^^lf^ 


IX. 
CLEBURNE   COUNTY. 


Populatiou  :  AVliite,  10,308  ;  colored,  068. 
Area,  S-tO  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Meta- 
morpliic,  400  square  .miles.  Coosa  Valley,  140 
square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  it,  150;  in 
corn,  ^1,552;  in  oats,  567;  in  wheat,  7,."i04;  in 
tobacco,  85;  in  sweet  potatoes,  2'il. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  4,000. 

County  Seat — Edwardsville;  population,  600;  on 
Georgia  Pacific  liailroad. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Cleburne 
County  Netvs  (Democratic),  Stundard  (Demo- 
cratic). 

Post-offices  in  the  County  — Abernathy,  Ai,  Ar- 
bacoochee.  Beecham,  Bell's  Mills,  Belltown,  Bor- 
den Springs,  Chulafinnee,  Cicero,  Cold  Water, 
Edwardsville,  Grantly,  Heflin,  Hightower,  Hoop- 
er's Mills,  Kemp's  Creelr,  Lecta,  Micaville,  Mus- 
cadine, Oakfuskee,  Oak  Level,  Oak  Lone.  Pales- 
tine, Kosewood,  Slioal  Creek,  Solomon,  Stone 
Hill. 

This  county  was  formed  in  1867  from  portions 
of  Calhoun,  Talladega  and  liandolph  Counties, 
and  named  for  the  lamented  General  Cleburne, 
who  fell  in  the  forefront  of  the  famous  battle  at 
Franklin,  Tenn.,  in  1864.  Though  abounding  in 
natural  resources,  the  county  is  not  as  fully  devel- 
oped as  some  others  in  the  same  region.  Since 
the  construction  of  two  railroads  through  the 
county,  giving  its  productions  a  ready  outlet,  it  is 
winning  to  itself  a  thrifty  population,  and  in  many 
ways  the  merits  of  Cleburne  are  coming  more  and 
more  to  be  recognized  and  appreciated. 

Great  inducements  exist  in  the  county  for  cap- 
italists and  immigrants,  as  its  mines  are  stored 
with  rich  ores,  and  its  lands  abound  in  fertility. 

Cleburne  has  a  varied  surface.  In  the  nortli- 
ern  end  of  the  county  there  are  rugged  interven- 
ing valleys,  of  fertility.  These  valley  lands  are  of 
a  reddish  hue,  as  is  true  of  the  most  of  the  lands  of 
this  character  in  this  and  the  northern  portion  of 
Alabama.  The  lands  which  lie  along  the  ridges 
are  of  a  light  or  grayish  color. 


But  few  of  the  mountain  lands  have  ever  been 
cultivated,  as  the  residents  of  the  county  have 
never  felt  the  necessity  of  leaving  the  level  for  the 
higher  districts.  Along  the  slopes,  however,  there 
are  good  farming  lands  with  yellow  sub-soil.  The 
remainder  of  the  county  is  covered  with  either  red 
or  gray  lands,  excejit  in  the  creek  and  river  bot- 
toms, where  the  soil  partakes  largely  of  sand. 

In  the  western  jiortion  of  the  county  there  is  a 
sparser  population  than  in  any  other  section,  be- 
cause the  lands  are  regarded  as  less  fertile.  Cle- 
burne has  many  fertile  valleys,  which  are  mostly 
devoted  to  the  production  of  corn,  though  some 
cotton  is  planted.  Along  these  valley  stretches 
are  some  of  the  best  farms  in  the  county.  The 
lower  portion  of  the  county  abounds  in  red  fertile 
lands. 

The  productions  are  corn,  cotton,  wheat,  and 
oats,  with  minor  crops  of  great  importance. 

Near  the  line  of  the  East  &  West  Alabama 
Kailroad  in  this  county,  a  very  extensive  bed  of 
manganese  has  been  opened,  the  property  of  State 
Senator  Hon.  W.  J.  Alexander  and  a  Jacksonville 
la)id  company,  and  has  been  pronounced  by  scien- 
tific assayists  to  be  of  most  excellent  quality. 

The  soils  are  admirably  suited  to  the  produc- 
tion of  apples  and  peaches.  The  clover  and 
grasses  are  found  to  thrive  with  great  readiness, 
and  home  stock  raising  is  gradually  receiving 
more  attention. 

The  county  has  many  forests  of  excellent  tim- 
ber, the  chief  growth  of  which  is  white,  red,  Span- 
ish and  post  oak,  sh(>rt  and  long-leafed  pine,  wal- 
nut, hickory  and  gum. 

For  many  years  a  gold  mine  has  been  success- 
fully worked  at  Arbacoochee.  The  same  ores 
are  also  found  in  other  places  in  the  southern 
portions  of  the  cotinty. 

In  different  parts  of  the  county  copper,  mica, 
slate,  graphite,  pyrites,  zinc  and  kaolin  are  found 
prevailing.  Iron  exists  in  great  abundance,  and 
silver  has  also  been  discovered .  These  await  capi- 
tal to  be  developed. 


134 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


135 


The  supplies  of  water  in  every  portion  of  Cle- 
burne are  unfailing,  as  it  is  penetrated  by  such 
streams  as  the  Talla])Oosa  river,  whieh  runs  diag- 
onally through  the  county  from  northeast  to  south- 
west, and  such  streams  as  Terrapin,  Muscoaline, 
Cane,  Shoal,  Chulafinnee,  Cohulga,  Dying  and 
Snake  and  Lost  Creeks.  All  these  are  sustained 
by  numerous  tributaries  which  eontril)ute  further 
to  the  supply  of  water. 

The  places  of  the  greatest  importance  are  Ed- 
wardsville,  the  county  seat,  Hetlin.  Oak  licvel, 
ChulaHnne  and  Arbacoocliee. 

At  Edwardsville  and  Heflin  tlieic  arc  high 
schools   of    local    note.     Otlier   good    schools  are 


found  in  different  parts  of  the  county.  The 
channels  of  transportation  are  the  Ceorgia  Pacific 
Railroad,  and  Edwardsville  is  about  midway 
between  Atlanta  and  J5irmingham.  The  East  & 
West  railroad,  running  from  Centerville,  Ga.,  to 
Birmingham,  runs  through  the  north  end  of  the 
county,  and  runs  near  an  inexhaustible  dejtosit  of 
excellent  roofing  slate.  Another  important  rail- 
way line  is  being  constructed  through  the  county 
from  Carrollton,  Ga.,  to  Decatur,  Ala.,  by  way  of 
Oak  Level,  in  this  county. 

A  large  area  of  (iovcrnineiit  lands  is  yet  on  the 
market,  which  can  l)e  had  under  the  homestead 
law. 


;ci^::v- 


DE  KALB    COUNTY. 


Population:  White.  I'-i, 125:  colored, -IIG.  Area, 
740  square  miles;  coal  measures,  on  Lookout  and 
Sand  Mountains,  4'.I0  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),?, 409:  in  corn, 
23,!)"^fl:  in  oats,  5.115;  in  wheat,  (i.84C:  in  rye, 
383;  in  tobacco,  19;  in  sweet  potatoes,  218. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  3,100, 

County  Seat — Fort  Payne:  pojiulation,  350;  on 
Alabama  Great  Southern  Kailroad. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — louriiid 
(Democratic). 

Post-offices  in  the  County — .\ndrews  Institute, 
Hlack  Oak,  Brandon,  Chavies,  Chumley,  Collins- 
ville,  Cordell,  Cotnam,  Crossville,  Crumly,  Deer 
Head,  Denton,  Floy,  Fort  Payne,  Geraldine,  (ilad- 
ney.  Grove  Oak,  Ilenagar,  Ider,  Laurel,  Lebanon, 
Lookout,  Loveless,  Luna,  Lutterell,  Lydia,  Ma- 
lum, Jhisgrove,  Nicholson's  Gap,  Pea  Hidgc,  Por- 
tersville,  Kodentown,  Sand  Mountain.  Sandy  Mills, 
Skiruin,  Snake  Creek.  South  Hill,  Stella,  Sulphur 
Springs,  Ten  Brocck,  Thirty-Nine.  X'allcv  Head, 
Whiton,  Wills. 

Ho  Kalb  County  took  its  mime  from  the 
famous  Baron  De  Kalh.     It    was  constituteil    in 


183G.  De  Kalb  lies  in  the  extreme  northeastern 
corner  of  the  State,  and  is  bounded  by  Georgia  on 
the  east,  its  extreme  northern  point  touching  the 
line  of  the  State  of  Tennessee.  It  shares  largely 
in  the  fertile  lands  and  mineral  deposits,  both  of 
which  abound  in  this  section  of  Alabama.  Its 
climate,  liealthfulness,  favorableness  of  location, 
and  natural  sources  of  wealth  make  it  one  of  the 
most  desirable  counties  in  the  State. 

De  Kalb  has  been  almost  doubled  within  the 
last  ten  years,  which  serves  to  indicate  quite  fully 
the  estimate  which  is  placed  upon  the  county  by 
immigrants  and  investors.  This  is  due  to  the 
peculiar  advantages  offered  in  climate,  -diversity 
of  productions,  mineral  deposits,  and  cheapness  of 
lands,  all  of  which  are  chief  factors  in  tlie  pros- 
perity of  the  county.  De  Kalb  County  is  occu- 
pied in  great  part  by  the  two  plateaus  of  Sand 
and  Lookout  Mountains.  The  former  of  these 
constitutes  a  high  plane,  whose  surface  rocks  are 
those  of  the  Coal  Measures,  These  two  plateaus, 
of  which  that  of  Sand  Mountain  is  the  greater, 
are  separated  by  Wills  A'alley.  which  cuts  entirely 
across  tiie  county  from  northeast  to  southwest. 
This  valley  embraces  the  most  productive  lands  of 


136 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


De  Kalb.  It  is  here  that  almost  all  the  cotton  in 
the  county  is  produced. 

The  land  along  the  valleys  was  very  highly 
prized  by  the  first  settlers  of  the  County,  and  but 
little  regard  was  had  for  that  which  lay  along  the 
plateaus.  Later,  however,  the  uplands  were 
brought  into  use,  and  the  result  of  their  tillage 
has  been  peculiarly  gratifying. 

They  are  not  only  cultivated  with  far  less  effort, 
but  are  found  to  be  almost  equal  in  production 
to  the  lower  soils,  when  assisted  some  with 
fertilizers. 

The  lands  of  the  county  may  thus  be  divided  in 
a  general  way  between  the  dark,  stiff  soils  of  the 
valley  and  the  lighter  soils  of  the  plateaus.  The 
staple  productions  are  cotton,  corn,  wheat,  oats, 
rye  and  sweet  potatoes.  Grasses  and  clover 
flourish  also,  and  the  attention  which  is  being 
given  their  production  is  tending  to  the  improve- 
ment of  stock.  As  is  true  throughout  this  entire 
section  of  the  State,  the  lands  upon  the  plateaus 
are  those  devoted  to  fruit  culture.  Apples,  pears 
and  peaches,  and.  indeed,  all  fruits  grown  in  this 
latitude  attain  perfection.  Fruit  trees  thrive  here 
for  many  years,  and  the  crop  is  rarely  killed  or  in- 
jured by  frosts.  Perhajis  no  section  of  America 
can  display  finer  specimens  of  plums  than  grow 
in  this  region.  The  principal  timbers  of  the 
county  are  oaks,  hickory,  cherry  and  short  leaf 
pines.  These  exist  in  sufficient  quantities  for  all 
domestic  purposes. 

DeKalb  County  has  the  amplest  water  supplies 
for  all  purposes.  Streams  of  rapid  and  deep  cur- 
rents offer  inducements  for  the  erection  of  ma- 
chinery, while  cool  and  everlasting  springs  issue 


from  the  hills  in  every  section  of  the  county. 
Lookout  Mountain  plateau  is  drained  by  Little 
lliver  and  its  tributaries,  while  Sand  Mountain  is 
drained  by  Tom  Creek  and  the  numerous  streams 
which  empty  into  it.  Prominent  among  the 
streams  are  Long  Island,  Scarham,  Black  and 
South  Santa  Creeks. 

Near  Valley  Head,  in  Lookout  Mountain 
plateau,  is  where  the  beautiful  falls  of  Little  River 
occur.  They  are  nearly  100  feet  in  height, 
with  a  deep,  rocky  gorge  below  them. 

L-on  and  coal  largely  prevail  in  the  county.  Li 
Willis'  Valley  there  is  found  a  superb  quality 
of  fire  clay,  which  has  become  famous.  It  exists 
also  in  other  parts  of  DeKalb. 

The  kaolin  of  the  county  is  very  fine.  Speci- 
mens displayed  at  the  Xew  Orleans  Exposition 
took  the  first  premium  in  188.5,  and  beautiful 
crockery  manufactured  from  these  porcelain  clays 
was  exhibited  there. 

Railroad  transportation  is  enjoyed  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  county,  as  the  Alabama  threat  Southern 
Railroad  penetrates  it  from  northeast  to  south- 
west. Fort  Payne,  the  county  seat,  Collinsville, 
Lebanon  and  Portersville  are  the  principal  towns 
of  the  county. 

Public  school  system  is  good,  and  church  facil- 
ities abound. 

Lands  can  be  secured  upon  the  most  reasonable 
terms  possible.  There  are  many  Government 
lands  yet  unsettled,  being  32,600  acres,  and  vast 
quantities  of  railroad  lands,  which  can  be  had  at 
a  marvelously  low  rate.  In  other  sections,  where 
land  is  purchasable,  it  can  be  had  for  from  ^v*  to 
%'lh  per  acre. 


XI. 

ETOWAH    COUNTY 


Population:  Wliite,  19.808;  colore'1,  3.000. 
Are:i.  5'iO  s<inare  miles.  Woodlanil,  all.  Coal 
measures.  14(i square  miles  (40  on  Lookout  Moun- 
tain and  100  on  ."^aml  Mountain). 

Acres — In  cotton,  approximately.  17.000;  in 
corn.  24,891;  in  oats,  (5,000;  in  wheat.  7,000:  in 
tobacco,  07:  in  sugar-cane,  9;  in  sweet  potatoes, 
260. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  in 
round  numbers,  7,.>00. 

County  Seat — Gadsden:  population,  4,000. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat —  Times 
and  yorx. 

Postoffices  in  the  county:  Atalla,  Aurora,  Ball 
Play.  Huford,  Clear  Spring,  Coats  Hend,  Coxville, 
Duck  Springs.  Etowahton,  Gndsilen,  Greenwood, 
Hill.  Hokes  Hluff.  Howelton,  Keysburgh,  Mark- 
ton.  Nix.  <»ak  Hill,  Heaves,  Red  Bud,  Seaborn, 
Shahan.  Stanfield,  Turkeytown,  Walnut  (Jrove. 

Three-fourths  of  the  county  is  made  up  of 
mountain  jdateaus  or  table  lands. 

The  agricultural  resources  of  the  county  are 
tine,  and  when  you  take  into  consideration  the 
diversity  of  crops  which  flourish  in  it,  it  is  equaled 
by  few  counties  in  the  State. 

The  county  contains  lands  of  nearly  every  va- 
riety, and  these  lands  are  adapted  to  raising  profit- 
ably many  of  the  cereals  and  fruits.  Some  of  the 
richest  valley  lands  to  be  found  in  the  State  are  in  I 
this  county,  and  these  valley  lands  produce  the 
finest  staple  of  cotton,  as  well  as  abundant  crops 
of  corn,  oats  and  wheat.  Some  of  these  valleys 
are  remarkable  for  their  beauty,  as  well  as  their 
fertility,  and  we  mention  the  Little  Wills  Valley, 
up  which  runs  the  (Jreat  Southern  Railroad. 

We  have  these  beautiful  valleys  running  through 
the  county,  in  addition  to  the  Coosa  River  bot- 
toms, as  they  are  called. 

This  Coosa  bottom  land  is  remarkable  for  pro- 
ducing a  very  fine  grade  of  cotton,  from  which 
the  celebrated  Coates  thread  is  made. 

It  also  yields  large  crops  of  corn  and  oats,  and 
other  small  grains. 

10  13 


The  county  is  penetrated  from  the  northeast  to 
the  southwest  by  two  mountain  plateaus  and  their 
valleys.  As  before  nientioned.  nearly  three-fourths 
of  the  county  is  mountainous,  the  other  fourth 
takes  in  the  three  valleys.  These  valleys  are 
known  as  the  Coosa  Valley,  which  averages  from 
three  to  four  miles  on  either  side  of  the  river, 
making  its  width  about  six  or  seven  miles. 

The  other  two  valleys  are  known  as  Big  and 
Little  Wills  Valleys,  and  are  remarkable  for  their 
beauty  and  fertility,  especially  the  latter,  which 
is  the  smaller  of  the  two  valleys. 

While  Etowah  County  is  rich  in  minerals  of 
nearly  every  description,  her  mineral  treasure  is 
not  her  only  wealth.  Her  agriculturol  resources 
are  very  fine,  and  her  chief  products  are  cotton, 
corn,  wheat,  oats,  millet,  sorghum,  sweet  and  Irish 
potatoes,  besides  the  clovers  and  grasses.  The 
amount  of  tilled  lands  is  nearly  <;.i,000  acres.  Of 
this  amount,  nearly  17,000  acres  are  planted  in 
cotton,  yielding  annually  about  7,500  bales.  About 
2,50(t  acres  are  planted  in  corn:  6,0"^.5  acres  in 
oats;  7,0.5.3  acres  in  wheat:  ■,'<!<•  acres  in  sweet  po- 
tatoes, and  about  ti7  acres  in  tobacco. 

The  soils  of  the  county  vary  greatly  in  the  dif- 
ferent localities.  The  valley  lands  are  quite  pro- 
ductive being  of  a  loamy  character,  and  of  a  dark 
color.  These  lands  are  usually  stiff,  but  yield 
abundant  crojis  when  properly  cultivated. 

The  lands  along  the  ridges  and  plateaus  are  of  a 
different  character,  being  light,  sandy,  and  easily 
cultivated.  L'pon  the  plateaus  crops  can  be 
rotated  very  rapidly,  as  tliey  grow  more  rapidly 
and  mature  earlier  than  on  the  valley  lands. 
Among  the  early  settlers  the  valley  lands  were 
])rized  the  most  highly,  but  latterly  the  plateau 
lands  have  come  quite  in  demand,  and  their  tillage 
has  been  very  gratifying.  These  plateau  lands 
are  not  only  cultivated  with  far  less  effort,  but 
when  assisted  by  fertilizers  are  found  to  be  almost 
equal  in  production  to  the  lower  soils  in  the  val- 
leys. 

The   lands   of    the  countv  mav  be  divided,  in 


138 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


a  general  way,  between  the  dark,  stiff  soils  of  the 
valleys  and  the  light  soil  of  the  plateaus. 

In  connection  with  a  description  of  the  soils, 
we  mention  the  fact  that  in  this  county  there 
are  13,000  acres  of  Government  lands,  still  open  to 
settlers,  besides  a  large  quantity  of  railroad  lands, 
which  can  be  bought  very  cheap, with  the  mineral 
rights  reserved. 

The  mountain  lands  are  especially  adapted  to 
the  raising  of  fruits.  Fruits  grow  upon  them  to 
the  greatest  perfection,  and  the  climate,  as  well  as 
the  soil,  seems  adapted  to  peaches,  api)les,  plums, 
pears  and  the  smaller  fruits,  such  as  strawberries, 
grapes,  raspberries  and  the  like.  Grape  culture 
has  proven  quite  a  success,  and  experts  believe  that 
as  fine  grapes  can  be  grown  on  Sand  Mountains 
as  in  France  or  any  other  grape  countries. 

In  addition  to  fruits,  all  garden  vegetables  flour- 
ish here  and  some  of  them  reach  the  highest  per- 
fection. 

Within  the  jjast  few  years,  the  clover  known  as 
Lespecleza  Striata,  has  spread  rapidly  over  the 
mountain  lands  of  the  county,  and  is  even  going 
into  the.  valleys.  It  affords  a  luxuriant  green  pas- 
ture for  cattle,  horses  and  sheep — even  hogs  fatten 
on  it.  This  new  clover  is  self-propagating,  and 
grows  in  the  sun  as  well  as  under  shade. 

Besides  the  Lespedeza,  we  have  the  Bermuda 
grass,  which  flourishes  in  this  county,  affording 
fine  pasturage  for  stock.  It  is  also  valualile  for 
producing  hay. 

The  Johnson  grass  also  does  well  here  with  cul- 
tivation. These  other  grasses  grow  without  any 
attention  or  cultivation.  Especially  would  we 
mention  the  crab  grass,  which  is  indigenous  and 
very  abundant.  It  is  equal  in  value  to  any  other 
grass  grown  in  the  county.  Several  of  the  Etowah 
farmers  gather  fine  crops  of  hay  from  this  grass, 
which  springs  up  after  the  wheat  and  oats  have 
been  taken  from  the  land. 

There  are  few  counties  in  the  State  that  offer  as 
many  inducements  to  stock  raisingas  Etowah  does 
in  consequence  of  her  fine  grasses. 

The  timber  is  another  source  of  wealth  to  the 
county.  In  the  valleys  are  found  forests  of  oak, 
hickory,  chestnut  and  walnut,  while  in  the  flat 
wood  region,  south  of  Gadsden,  are  found  large 
numbers  of  Spanish,  red,  post,  and  black-jack 
oaks,  and  short-leaf  pines.  Very  little  of  the 
above  timber  has  been  used  beyond  the  home  mar- 
ket. 

The   long-leaf   yellow   pine,  which  is   found  in 


great  abundance  along  the  Coosa  Eiver,  just  on 
the  edge  of  the  valley,  has  been  a  great  source  of 
wealth  to  Etowah  County,  and  especially  to  the 
city  of  Gadsden. 

As  before  stated,  the  county  is  crossed  midway 
by  the  3-tth  parallel  of  latitude  and  is  divided 
north  and  south  by  the  8iith  degree  of  west  longi- 
tude. 

Tiie  climate  is  all  that  could  be  desired,  being 
exempt  from  either  extreme  of  heat  or  cold. 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  records  of  the 
signal  service  which  have  been  kept  in  the  city  of 
Gadsden,  by  Prof.  D.  P.  Goodhue,  for  a  number 
of  years.  Of  course  the  average  is  a  fair  ajqiroxi- 
mation,  and  as  nearly  accurate  as  can  be  obtained. 

TEMPERATURE. 

The  winter  season  averages 40"-^  F. 

"     spring      "  '■         fid 

"     summer  "  "         76  " 

"     fall  "  "         58  " 

"     whole  year  "         58J2  " 

RAINFALL. 

Winter  season .- l(i  inches 

Spring       "      13 

Summer    "      11       " 

Fall  "       8       " 

Total   48  inches 

The  above  shows  that  the  county  has  a  very 
generous  rainfall,  and  at  the  same  time  its  distri- 
bution is  such  as  to  practically  exempt  the  county 
from  either  floods  or  drouths. 

The  general  distribution  of  it,  through  the 
year,  prevents  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold, 
and  gives  the  county  quite  an  equable  climate. 

The  whole  county  is  almost  a  bed  of  minerals, 
in  which  nearly  every  variety  is  found.  It  is  im- 
possible to  give  accurate  information  concerning 
the  mineral  wealth  of  the  county,  because  it  is 
only  partially  developed. 

In  the  county  are  found  the  following  ores,  with 
an  analysis  of  each  appended,  as  far  as  we  have 
been  able  to  obtain  them: 

1st.  Red  Hematite,  a  fossiliferous  ore,  yielding 
from  45  to  .50  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron.  This 
ore  is  found  in  large  quantities  along  the  Coosa 
River,  and  five  miles  west  of  the  Coosa,  at  or 
near  Atalhi,  is  found  what  is  called  Red  Mountain, 
containing  inexhaustible  deposits  of  this  ore,  and 
is  not  only  one  of  the  largest  deposits  in  the  State, 
but  is  one  of  the  mineral  wonders  of  the  American 
continent.  The  seams  vary  from  eighteen  inches 
to  three  feet  in  thickness. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


139 


This  vast  body  of  fossiliferous  ore  runs  from  a 
jjoiiit  a  few  miles  east  of  the  city  of  Tuscaloosa  to 
the  northeastern  limits  of  the  State  and  is  said  to 
be  loo  miles  in  lengtli  by  from  half  a  mile  to  a 
mile  wide.  This  vast  deposit  passes  right  through 
tiie  county  of  Etowah. 

In  addition  to  the  red  hematite,  the  county 
has  large  quantities  of  brown  hematite,  though 
undeveloped.  The<|ualityof  this  brown  hematite 
ore  is  regarded  l)y  exi)crts  as  good,  though  we  have 
no  analysis  of  it. 

Though  in  its  initial  state  of  development, 
the  most  abundant  mineral  of  the  county  is  coal. 

Around  the  city  of  Gadsden  the  coal  deposits 
have  been  tapped  and  worked  at  eight  or  ten  dif- 
ferent points,  and  it  is  clearly  established  that 
there  are  three  veins,  one  above  the  other,  running 
under  the  mountain.  The  top  veins  alone  have 
been  worked,  and  they  have  averaged  from  eighteen 
to  thirty-six  inches  in  thickness.  The  yield  is  a 
soft,  bituminous  coal,  which  is  very  fine  for  coking. 
It  is  supposed  that  the  twolower  veins  are  thicker, 
and  of  a  better  quality.  The  quality  of  the  top 
vein  improves  as  you  follow  it  under  the  moun- 
tain, and  (iadsden  to-day  is  mining  as  good  coal 
as  is  to  be  found  in  the  State,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions. 

On  the  western  edge  of  the  county,  on  Straight 
Mountain,  east  of  Murphy's  \'alley,  the  coal  fields 
of  the  county  have  been  tapped,  and  here  they 
show  four  veins,  varying  in  thickness  from  eigh- 
teen inches  to  five  feet.  It  is  a  soft,  bituniiiious 
coal,  and  makes  fine  coke. 

To  these  coal  fields  on  the  western  edge  of  the 
county  two  railroads  are  in  process  of  construction, 
and  these  fields  will  doubtless  soon  be  developed. 
The  coal  fields,  as  far  as  they  are  known,  extend 
under  Sand  and  Lookout  Mountains,  and  all  indi- 
cations would  lead  one  to  infer,  that  the  quantity 
of  coal  is  simply  inexhaustible. 

Mai\ijanc!<i\ — The  extent  and  character  of  these 
deposits  of  manganese  are  hardly  known,  as  until 
the  pa.st  six  months,  no  efforts  have  been  made 
to  locate  or  open  up  the  mines,  except  by  the 
(iadsden  Iron,  Coal  and  Heal  Estate  Co.,  but  the 
surface  indications  are  good.  Floats  of  this  ore 
are  found  on  the  line  of  the  R.  &  D.  R.  R.,  north- 
east of  Gadsden,  but  the  richest  deposits  are  found 
in  the  western  part  of  the  county  near  the  village 
of  Walnut  Grove,  on  this  same  line  of  railroad, 
the  Rome  ant!  Decatur. 

These  mines  have  been  examined  by  Earle  Sloan, 


of  the  firm  of  Reccio,  Sloan  &  V'ediles,  Birming- 
ham, Ala.     We  will  copy  his  report: 

"  P]ntering  gulch  along  the  outcrops  we  ascend- 
ed comb  of  ridge  affording  a  bold  outcrop  of  man- 
ganese ore  ;  a  test-shaft  was  sunk,  showing  section 
affording  vein  thirty-five  inches  in  thickness,  the 
lower  ten  inches  being  an  inferior  ore,  the  upper 
twenty-five  inches  affording  ore  ranging  from  forty- 
five  to  sixty-five  per  cent,  metallic  manganese,  as 
determined  by  series  of  analyses  of  sections  made 
by  writers,  and  also  by  analysis  rendered  by  J. 
Blodgett  Britton,  of  the  Iron  Masters'  Laboratory, 
Philadelphia,  Penn.  The  ore  is  low  in  both  phos- 
phorus and  sulphur,  containing  of  phosphorus  less 
than  O.ti  per  cent.;  of  sulphur  less  than  0.05  per 
cent. 

'•  Careful  inspection  of  analysis  rendered,  shows 
an  ore  of  manganese  of  the  di-oxide  class,  emi- 
nently adapted  to  the  production  of  ferro-manga- 
nese,  so  essential  to  the  manufacture  of  steel." 

This  deposit  was  also  examined  by  Mr.  Carl 
Wentrock,  of  Birmingham,  Ala.,  who  is  the  min- 
eralogist of  the  Alabama  Mineral  Bureau.  His 
report  was  as  follows: 

"  AVe  examined  the  outcrop  for  over  one  mile 
and  chose  a  place  for  prospecting.  On  opening 
this,  we  found  a  vein  of  four  layers. 

"  1,  Six  inches  of  ore  (mixed);  3,  seven  inches  of 
clay  between;  3,  two  inches  of  ore;  4,  four  inches 
of  clay;  5,  two  and  one-half  inches  of  ore;  C, 
eight  inches   of  clay;  7,   eighteen   inches  of  ore. 

••  This  shows  a  true  vein  runs  through  the  prop- 
erty. After  this,  about  100  yards  distant  and 
thirty  feet  below  in  the  same  course,  wc  made  an- 
other opening,  and  found  the  same  true  vein  in  a 
better  condition,  showing  a  first  layer  of  eleven 
inches  solid  manganese  super-oxide  of  best  quality, 
called  soft  manganese  ore.  I  went  over  the  prop- 
erty for  three  miles  and  found  the  same  outcrop- 
ping and  leading  veins  over  the  whole  distance." 

The  deposit  of  manganese  extends  over  a  con- 
siderable area  between  Blountsville  and  Walnut 
Grove,  but  has  not  been  developed.  The  above 
facts  and  following  analysis  we  get  from  Mr. 
James  M.  Cooper,  President  of  the  Gadsden  Iron, 
Coal  and  Real  Estate  Co. 

Analysis  of  outcrop  of  vein,  much  washed,  made 
by  J.  Blodgett  Brittain,  June  3,  1887,  for  the  fol- 
lowing substances  only: 

Pure  metallic  Maganese 44.094 

••     Silica 12.160 

"     Pliosphorus 106 


140 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Contained  of  available  binoxide  of  manganese, 
53.30. 

Analysis  of  specimen  from  pocket  made  bj'  same 

party  on  June  22,   for  the  following   substances 

only: 

Pure  metallic  3Iangauese .59.840 

Sulphur 0.000 

Phosphorus 212 

Contained  of  binoxide  of  manganese,  93.85. 

Stillwell  &  Gladding,  chemists  of  the  TS'ew 
York  Produce  Exchange,  made  the  following  ana- 
lysis on  June  0,  1887. 

Manganese  .56.950 

Phosphorus 0.081 

Sulphur 0.0.50 

Other  minerals. 

Besides  iron,  coal,  and  manganese,  the  follow- 
ing minerals,  rocks,  and  clays  are  found  in  the 
county:  Baryta,  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
mineral  paints,  is  found  in  different  sections  of 
the  county. 


Building  Stones.  Lime  rock,  in  great  abund- 
ance and  easily  quarried,  blue  sandstone  of  the 
prettiest  quality,  and  yellow  sandstone  in  the 
greatest  quantities. 

In  addition  to  the  building  stones  mentioned 
we  have  a  marble  quarry  containing  the  varie- 
gated marble  of  chocolate  color,  and  of  the  finest 
quality. 

Bath  brick  are  also  to  be  found,  and  they  are 
unsurpassed. 

Kaolin  is  found  within  iive  miles  of  the  City  of 
Gadsden,  though  the  mines  are  undeveloped, 
specimens  of  the  finest  quality  having  been  ob- 
tained from  wells  dug  at  different  points. 

Potters'  clay  of  a  very  fine  quality  can  be  found 
almost  anywhere  in  the  county. 

Beautiful  sjiecimens  of  galena  have  also  been 
found,  but  not  in  working  quantities. 

As  we  have  before  stated,  the  extent  of  these 
mineral  dejjosits  are  not  known,  but  in  many  cases 
they  are  known  to  be  very  great. 


XII. 
FAYETTE   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  8,873;  colored,  1,2G2.  Area 
C60  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Coal  measure 
600  square  miles.  Generally  pine  hills,  CO  square 
miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  12,341;  in 
corn,  2,495;  in  oats,  3,ii27;  in  wheat,  4,826;  in 
rye,  40;  in  tobacco,  37;  in  sweet  potatoes,  421. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  5,000. 

County  Seat  —  Fayette;  population,  1,000; 
located  forty  miles  from  Tuscaloosa,  on  the  Geor- 
gia Pacific  Railroad. 

Newspaper  published  at  the  County  Seat — 
Fayette  JournuL 

Postoffices  in  the  Countj^ — Ballard,  Boley 
Springs, Brockton,  Buck  Snort, Cane, Cave  Springs, 
Davis  Creek,  Dublin,  Fayette,  Froglevel,  Glen 
Allen,  Handy,  Julian.  Legg,  iMont  Calm,  New 
River,  Newtonville,  Palo,  Pilgrim,  Ridge,  Spen- 
cer, Toledo,  Wavside,  Willingham. 


Fayette  County  lies  in  the  northwestern  quarter 
of  the  State,  and  is  surrounded  by  the  counties  of 
Larmar,  Clarion,  Walker,  Tuscaloosa  and  Pickens. 
Almost  the  entire  area  of  the  county  lies  in  the 
famous  Warrior  coal  field,  and  it  is  destined  in 
time  to  be  the  center  of  mining  operations  second 
to  no  county  in  the  State. 

This  county  was  organized  in  1824,  being  creat- 
ed out  of  the  territory  belonging  to  the  counties  of 
Tuscaloosa  and  Marion.  General  LaFayette,  the 
French  military  leader,  who  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  struggling  colonist  during  the  Revolutionary 
War,  was  at  the  time  of  the  creation  of  this  coun- 
try on  a  visit  to  America,  and  in  his  honor  it  was 
called  Fayette. 

Fayette  is  not,  strictly,  speaking,  an  agricul- 
tural county,  but  its  soils  have  proven  prolific. 

The  surface  of  this  county  is  much  broken,  and 
its  soils  are  jirincipally  a  broad  loam  with  clay  sub- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


141 


soil,  sandy  iiplunds  aud  creek  and  river  bottoms, 
tlie  latter  being  covered  with  alluvial  desposits 
which  render  them  exceptionally  fertile.  The 
county  is  well  watered,  three  rivers  coursing 
through  its  borders,  viz.,  Sipsey,  Luxapalia  and 
North.  None  of  these  streams  are  navigable.  In 
addition  to  these  rivers,  the  county  is  watered  by 
several  creeks  in  all  portions,  the  principal  of 
which  are  Lost,  Cane,  Wolf  and  Dry. 

These  water-courses  render  the  valleys  through 
whicli  they  tlow  very  fertile,  and  the  three  valleys 
named  for  the  three  rivers  of  the  county  are  of  the 
character  and  richness  of  the  Tennessee  valley. 
The  crops  grown  on  tJie  farms  of  Fayette  County 
are  corn,  cotton,  wheat,  oats,  rye,  sorghum,  sugar 
cane,  tobacco,  peas  and  a  variety  of  small  articles. 
The  country  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  culture  of 
fruit,  and  on  the  uplands  peaches,  pears  and  ap- 
ples yield  abundantly,  and  with  a  little  care  the 
culture  of  these  articles  proves  highly  remunera- 
tive. The  farm  in  Fayette  County  alTords  a  good 
living,  and  the  people  can  raise  everything  neces- 
sary to  sustain  life  comfortably  on  the  county's 
soil.  Considerable  attention  is  now  being  given 
to  the  subject  of  stock  raising,  and,  as  the  results 
of  experiments  in  this  line  become  generally  known , 


this  industry  will  become  one  of  the  prominent 
.sources  of  wealth. 

Fayette  County  need  not  depend  on  either  agri- 
culture or  stock  raising  for  a  future  of  greatness. 
Its  bosom  covers  a  wealth  of  mineral  resources. 
The  coal  supply  of  the  county  is  practically  inex- 
haustible, while  iron  ore  of  a  sujjerior  quality  of 
fineness  abounds  in  limitless  quantity.  The  prox- 
imity of  these  two  articles  can  only  result  in.  the 
establishment  of  works  to  i^roduce  pig  iron,  and 
when  this  is  done  the  county  will  enter  on  an  era 
of  prosjierity  which  will  jilace  it  in  the  front  rank 
of  Alabama's  progressive  counties. 

1'he  resources  of  Fayette  have  remained  unde- 
veloped for  want  of  facilities  of  transi)ortation, 
but  now  the  (leorgia  Pacific  Railroad  is  completed 
through  it  from  east  to  west,  and  it  is  thereby 
by  rendered  accessible.  Other  roads  projected, 
tiirough  the  mineral  region  of  Alabama  will  pene- 
trate Fayette,  and  in  the  near  future  its  mineral 
resources  will  become  as  well  known  as  those  of 
counties  which  have  been  more  favored  in  the 
matter  of  transportation  facilities. 

The  health  of  the  county  is  excellent.  The 
people  "'are  law-abiding,  industrious,  thrifty,  hos- 
pitable and  patriotic. 


Xlll. 
JEFFERSON    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  30,000;  colored,  15,000. 
Area,  9G0  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Coal 
measures,  7C0  square  miles;  Cahaba  fields,  i:SO 
square  miles;  \'alley  lands,  70  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  15,000;  in 
corn,  :5O,9O0:  in  oats,  4,500;  in  wheat,  105,089; 
in  rye,  83;  in  tobacco,  55;  in  sweet  potatoes, 
504. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  6,000, 

County  Seat — Hirmingham:  jiopulation,  30,0(t0; 
at  tlie  junction  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  and 
Cincinnati,  New  Orleans  &  Texas  Railroads. 

Newspapers   published     at    County    Seat — Aijc 


(Democratic),  Evening  Chronicle,  Herald  (Inde- 
pendent), Alabama  Christian  Advocate  (Meth- 
odist), Alabama  Sentinel  (Democratic),  Prohibit- 
ionist (Prohibitionist),  Furnace  and  Factory, 
Southern  Industries  and  Planters'  Jour naJ  (Agri- 
cultural). 

Postottices  in  the  County — Alice,  Argo,  Avon- 
dale,  Ayres,  Baylor,  Birmingham,  Brake,  Brevard, 
Brock's  Gap,  Brownsville,  Clay,  Coalburgli,  Dolo- 
mite, Earnest,  Ezra,  Curley's  Creek,  Ilenryellen, 
Huffman,  Jonesborough,  Leeds,  McCalla,  Morris, 
Mount  Pinson,  New  Castle,  Oxmoor,  Partridge, 
Porter,  Pratt    Mines,    Rasburgh,   Rolibin's   Cross 


142 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Roads,  Scrap,  Short  Creek,  Sloss,  Toad  Yiue, 
Trussville,  Warrior  Station,  Wetona,  Wheeling, 
Woodlawn. 

Jefferson  County  was  established  in  December, 
1819.  The  territory  was  taken  from  Blount,  and 
retains  about  its  original  boundaries.     It  is  in  the 


centre  of  the  State,  south  of  Blount  and  Walker, 
west  of  Shelby  and  Saint  Clair,  north  of  Shelby, 
and  east  of  Tuscaloosa  and  Walker.  The  county 
was  named  for  Hon.  Thomas  Jefferson,  of  Vir- 
ginia. [See  History  of  Birmingham,  this  vol- 
ume. 1 


XIV. 
LAMAR   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  10,000;  colored,  2,000. 
Area,  590  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Gravelly 
hills  550;  coal  lands,  40  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton,  apjjroximately,  15,245;  in 
corn,  28,300;  in  oats,  440;  in  wheat,  5,630;  in  rye, 
75;  in  tobacco,  45;  in  sweet  potatoes,  625. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  5,200, 

County  Seat — Vernon;  population,  300;  located 
28  miles  from  Columbia,  Miss. 

Newspaj)ers  jniblished  at  County  Seat — Courier 
and  Lamar  News  (both  Democratic). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Angora,  Anro, 
Beaverton,  Cansler,  Detroit,  Fernbauk,  Gentry, 
Hudson,  Jewell,  Kennedy,  Kingville,  Millport, 
Molloy,  Moscow,  Pine  Sjjrings,  Purnell,  Vernon. 

This  county  was  formed  in  1860,  and  named 
Jones;  in  1808  the  name  was  changed  to  that  of 
Sanford,  and  in  1877  its  present  designation  was 
adopted. 

Remote  from  transportation,  the  county  of 
Lamar  has  been  placed  at  great  disadvantage, 
uothwithstanding  its  rich  stores  of  mineral  and 
the  productiveness  of  its  soils. 

Like  the  most  of  this  section  of  Alabama,  the 
surface  of  Lamar  is  hilly  and  broken,  with  many 
productive  valleys.  The  soil  along  the  oak  up- 
lands is  superior,  while  that  along  the  pebbly 
ridges  is  barren.  The  general  character  of  the 
soils  of  Lamar  is  that  of  red  loam.  The  best  lands 
in  the  county  are  those  found  along  the  uj^lands, 
or  table  lands,  and  those  alona:  the  banks  of  the 


streams.  But  there  is  a  mixture  of  sand  in  all  the 
lands  of  the  county.  The  soil  is  easily  tilled 
under  all  circumstances. 

The  chief  productions  of  the  county  are  cotton, 
corn,  wheat  and  oats.  Nearly,  or  quite,  one-half 
of  the  tilled  lauds  of  Lamar  is  devoted  to  the 
production  of  cotton.  Grasses  grow  here  sponta- 
neously, and  afford  rich  pasturage  for  stock.  Bet- 
ter grasses  are  cultivated,  and  much  attention  is 
devoted  to  stock  raising,  and,  with  commercial 
outlets,  this  would  be  one  of  the  chief  industries 
of  the  county.  The  forests  of  Lamar  are  heavily 
timbered  with  short-leaf  pine,  the  various  species 
of  oak,  hickory,  ash,  chestnut  and  sassafras. 

The  drainage  of  Lamar  is  secured  through  But- 
tahatchie  River  and  Luxapalila,  Weaver,  Coal 
Fire  and  Yellow  creeks,  all  of  which  have  large 
branches  and  tributaries.  The  river  and  creeks 
are  finely  suited  to  machinery,  by  reason  of  their 
immense  water-power. 

The  mineral  products  of  the  county  are  iron, 
coal,  and  valuable  stones  for  building  purposes. 

The  county  now  enjoys  railroad  transportation 
since  the  passage  of  the  Georgia  Pacific  through 
its  territory.  With  the  completion  of  this  great 
line  the  county  will  be  speedily  appreciated  and 
developed. 

Vernon,  Moscow  and  Millport  are  towns  of 
local  importance,  the  first  mentioned  being  the 
county  seat.  Schools  and  churches  are  found  in 
every  part  of  the  county. 


XV. 
LEE    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  12,-ilT:  colored,  15,045. 
Area,  010  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  All 
nietaniorphic;  but  the  rocks,  overabout  250  square 
miles  in  the  soutliern  jwrt  of  the  county,  are 
covered  witli  stratified  drift. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  51,889;  in 
corn,  30,i;i;:  in  oats,  11,018;  in  wheat,  8,(j'.):;  in 
rice,  10;  in  tobacco,  11;  in  sugar-cane,  'iOf>:  in 
sweet  potatoes,  !)"^5. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  l-t,lS'.i. 

County  Seat — Opelika;  population  4,000;  located 
on  the  Western  Alabama  IJailroad,  at  the  junction 
of  the  Columbus.  Western  &  East  Alabama  Kail- 
road  . 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Demo- 
crat and  Rejmhlican.  At  Lively — Saturdaii  Even- 
iiKj  Xe%v»  (Democratic). 

I'ostofbces  in  the  County — Auburn.  Beulah, 
Gold  Hill.  Halawaka,  Lively,  Loacliapoka,  Jfe- 
chanicsville,  -Mott's  Mill,  Opelika.  Koxana.  Salem, 
Smith  Station,  Wacoocliec,  Waverly  and  Yonges- 
borough. 

This  county,  organized  in  accordance  with  an 
act  approved  December  15,  1880,  was  formed  from 
portions  of  Chambers,  Kussell,  Macon  and  Talla- 
poosa Counties,  and  named  in  honor  of  Gen. 
liobert  E.  liCe.  It  is  located  in  a  high  and 
hcalthfnl  section  of  country  in  the  east-central 
l)ortion  of  the  State,  and  is  entirely  free  from 
malaria.  The  elevation  above  sea  level  ranges 
from  TOO  to  850  feet,  and  the  water  from  wells 
and  springs  is  exceptionally  fine.  The  surface 
is  undulating,  and  the  entire  county  is  well 
watered    bv    creeks   and    smaller   streams   which 


never  fail.  The  Chattahoochee  Kiver  forms  the 
eastern  boundary  of  the  county,  and  is  one  contin- 
uous chain  of  falls  along  the  entire  line,  affording 
rare  facilities  for  manufacturing  enterprises.  In 
addition  to  this  fine  water,  the'-e  is  not  a  commu- 
nity in  this  county  that  does  not  already  enjoy  the 
advantages  of  water-power  grist  and  flouring  mills. 

The  county  is  well  timbered,  principally  with 
long-  and  short-leafed  pine,  though  oak,  hickory, 
j)oplar,  ash,  maple,  walnut,  dogwood,  the  gums 
and  cherry  abound. 

There  are  fine  deposits  of  soapstone,  granite 
and  lime  rock  in  the  county,  and  attention  is  now 
being  given  to  the  quarrying  of  building  stone 
in  the  western  part  of  the  county,  while  the 
lime  works  near  Yongesboro  are  making  large 
quantities  of  lime  for  shipments  to  the  markets  of 
this  and  adjoining  States.  Considerable  excite- 
ment has  been  caused  recently  by  the  discovery  of 
of  large  beds  of  superior  soapstone  and  iron  ores 
in  the  vicinity  of  fiold  Hill,  an  extensively  prosper- 
ous community  in  the  county,  ten  miles  northwest 
of  Opelika  on  the  Columbus  it  Western  Kailroad. 

Few  counties  in  the  State  enjoy  superior  advan- 
tages in  transportation  facilities.  Two  trunk 
lines  cross  the  county,  while  the  East  Alabama 
llailroad  pours  into  Opelika  almost  the  entire 
produce  of  Chambers  and  a  large  amount  of  that 
of  Randolph  County.  The  model  railroad  of  the 
south,  the  Western  Railroad  of  Alabama,  crosses 
the  county  from  west  to  east,  and  the  Columbus 
&  Western  from  southeast  to  northeast,  giving 
the  county  about  seventy-five  miles  of  railway. 
[See  Opelika,  this  volume.] 


-S^^"^- 


AUBTJRN. 


AiMU'KX,  one  of  the  most  moral  and  cultured  |  road  seven  miles  from  Oje'.ika,  and  sixty  miles 
communities  to  be  found  anywhere,  is  a  town  of  from  .Montgomery.  The  State  Polytechnic  Insti- 
1,5011  inhabitants   situated  on   the  Western    Rail-      tute  and  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College 

14:5 


144 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


is  located  here.  Brownsville,  Loachapoka,  Salem 
and  Yongesboroiigh  are  pleasant  towns  in  the 
county  that  enjoy  fine  railroad  and  school  advan- 
tages. The  various  neighborhoods  in  the  county 
have  good  schools  and  churches,  and  new  settlers 
are  accorded  hearty  welcome. 

Land  can  be  had  from  $2  to  $20  per  acre. 

The  valuation  of  taxable  property  in  Lee  County 
for  the  year  1887  is  *3,017,!i3S,  as  shown  by  the 
abstract  of  assessment  filed  with  the  Auditor. 

■  ALAB.^MA  POLYTECHNIC   INSTITUTE. 

In  1862  an  act  was  passed  by  Congress  donating 
public  lands  to  the  several  States  and  Territories 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  colleges  "for  the 
liberal  and  practical  education  of  the  industrial 
classes."  Owing  to  the  demoralization  incident 
to  the  civil  war,  and  the  subsequent  period  of  re- 
construction, this  grant,  for  ten  years,  was  unutil- 
ized by  the  State  of  Alabama.  Finally,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1872,  during  the  administration  of  Gov. 
R.  B.  Lindsay,  an  act  Avas  passed  by  the  State 
Legislature  accepting  the  national  grant,  and  in- 
corporating a  college  pursuant  to  the  Federal  act. 
The  Board  of  Trustees  was  immediately  appointed, 
and  by  the  latter  part  of  Jlarch  the  college  was 
organized  and  in  operation. 

The  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  land  scrip  furnish 
the  only  permanent  endowment  for  strictly  col- 
legiate purposes.  The  amount  of  public  land  that 
fell  to  the  share  of  Alabama  was  240,000  acres, 
which  realized  on  sale  $2.53,500.  The  sum  is  in- 
vested in  State  bonds  bearing  eight  per  cent. — 
which  rate  is  guaranteed  as  perpetual — making 
the  permanent  annual  income  $20,280.  About 
ninety  per  cent,  of  this  income  is  used  in  the  pay- 
ment of  salaries. 

In  1884,  the  State  Legislature  appropriated  to 
the  college  $30,000,  and  in  1887  $12,500  more  for 
technical  education.  According  to  an  act  of 
1885,  one-third  of  the  net  proceeds  arising  from 
the  ta.xation  of  the  commercial  fertilizers  sold  in 
the  State  goes  to  defray  tlie  expenses  of  the  experi- 
mental station.  This  fund  has  averaged  about 
$8,000  per  annum.  By  a  recent  act  Congress  has 
made  an  annual  appropriation  of  $15,000  to  aid 
the  experiment  station.  An  annual  income  of 
about  $1,500  is  derived  from  the  incidental  fees. 

The  Congressional  Act  forbidding  the  use  of  any 
of  the  endowment  fund  for  building  purposes,  and 
the  State  treasury  being  dejileted  in  1872,  the 
Legislature  was  forced  to  offer  the  location  of  the 


college  to  the  community  making  the  most  liberal 
bid  in  buildings  or  money.  In  the  village  of  Au- 
burn, in  1858,  through  the  zealous  efforts  of  Rev. 
L.  B.  Glenn,  president  of  their  Board  of  Trustees, 
the  Methodists  of  Alabama  had  erected  a  hand- 
some structure  for  a  college,  known  as  the  East 
Alabama  Male  College. 

The  structure  was  a  handsome  brick  building 
four  stories  in  height,  of  the  Italian  school  of 
architecture.  It  was  one  hundred  and  sixty  by 
seventy-five  feet,  containing  thirty-eight  rooms. 
Its  erection  cost  $75,000.  Through  the  generosity 
of  the  Methodist  denomination,  this  commodious 
building  was  proferred  the  State  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College, 
and  easily  won  the  location  over  many  competitors. 
This  building,  with  nearly  all  its  valuable  contents, 
furniture,  laboratories  aiul  museums,  was  burned, 
June  24,  1887. 

The  new  building,  now  in  process  of  construc- 
tion, will  be  upon  the  same  basement  as  the  old 
building,  and  will  conform,  in  the  main,  to  the 
same  proportions,  with  such  changes  and  modern 
improvements  as  are  desirable.  It  will  be  an  ele- 
gant and  impressive  structure,  finished  off  with 
pressed  brick,  and  stone  trimmings.  The  new 
chemical  laboratory  at  the  north  end  of  the  cam- 
pus has  been  recently  completed.  It  is  a  stately 
building  sixty  by  one  hundred  feet, two  stories  high, 
with  a  tower,  and  is  of  the  same  finish  as  the  main 
building. 

Langdon  Hall  is  two-stories  high,  and  is  ninety 
by  fifty  feet.  The  first  story  is  appropriated  to 
the  use  of  the  wood  and  machine  shop  of  mechanic 
arts;  the  second  story  is  usea  as  the  College 
Audience  Hall. 

To  the  rear  of  Langdon  Hall  stands  the  boiler 
house,  and  a  single  story  brick  building,  seventy- 
two  by  thirty-two  feet,  divided  into  two  rooms 
for  the  forge  and  foundry  departments.  The 
Chambers  residence  adjoining  the  campus  has  re- 
cently been  purchased,  and  furnishes  offices  and 
lecture  rooms  for  some  of  the  officers  of  the  Col- 
lege. Ultimately,  it  will  be  used  as  a  dormitory. 
The  college  also  owns  two  residences,  and  several 
out  buildings  on  the  experiment  station  farm. 

Objects — Faculty — According  to  the  act  of 
Congress,  the  leading  object  of  this  institution  is, 
"  excluding  other  classical  and  scientific  studies, 
and  including  military  tactics,  to  teach  such 
branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  agriculture 
and  the  mechanic  arts,  in  such  a  manner  as  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


145 


Legislature  of  the  State  may  prescribe,  in  order  to 
promote  the  liberal  and  practical  education  of  the 
industrial  classes  in  the  several  pursuits  and  jiro- 
fessions  of  life." 

United  States  Commissioner  Eaton  says  in  his 
report  of  1883:  "These  colleges  seek  to  educate 
for  leading  industries.  They  aim  also  to  prepare 
by  a  general  education  for  a  share  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  people."  Since  its  organization  in 
18T>',  the  college  has  kept  steadily  in  view  these 
main  objects.  About  nineteen-twentieths  of  the 
salaries,  and  more  than  this  ratio  of  the  e.xpendi- 
tures  for  apparatus,  has  been  in  behalf  of  the 
department  ever  since.  Seven  of  the  eight  original 
claims  pertained  to  a  strictly  technical  college,  and 
one  to  the  '"classical  studies"  referred  to  in  the 
Act  of  Congress,  The  first  faculty  consisted  of 
the  president,  who  was  also  (1)  i)rofessor  of  Politi- 
cal Economy  and  Rhetoric,  and  professors  of  (2) 
Pure  Mathematics.  (3)  Analytical  and  Agricul- 
tural Chemistry,  (4)  Natural  History  and  Civil 
Engineering,  (5)  Practical  Agriculture  and  Hor- 
ticulture, (<))  Moral  Philosophy,  and  English 
Literature,  (7)  Ancient  and  Modern  Languages, 
(S)  Military  Service  and  Engineering.  With 
the  e.xcejition  of  the  chair  of  Ancient  Languages, 
all  of  these  chairs,  bearing  some  slight  modifica- 
tion, remain  intact.  In  1883  Greek  was  elimin- 
ated from  the  chair  of  Ancient  Languages  and 
Latin  was  associated  with  History.  In  188'i,  Latin 
was  combined  with  English  into  a  chair.  In  1884 
the  Department  of  Mechanic  Arts  was  established 
under  an  instructor.  Tiiere  are  now  also  an 
adjunct  professor  of  Modern  Languages,  and  two 
instructors  for  the  fourth  class. 

The  faculty  and  officers  at  present  are  as  follows: 
William  LeKoy  i$roun.  M.  A.,  LL.  I).,  Presi- 
dent, and  Professor  of  Physics  and  Astronomy  ; 
(•tis  D.  Smith,  .\.  M.,  Professor  of  Mathematics; 
P.  H.  Mell,  .Ir..  M.  E..  Ph.  I).,  Professor  of 
Natural  History  and  Geology  ;  James  H.  Lane, 
C.  E.,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Civil  Engineering  and 
Drawing:  J.  S.Newman,  Professor  of  Agriculture 
and  Director  of  the  Experiment  Station  :  Charles 
C.Thach,  B.  E.,  Professor  of  English  and  Latin  ; 
N.  T.  Lupton,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Professor 
of  (ieneral  and  Agricultural  Chemistry  and  State 
Chemist ;  Lieut.  M.  C.  Richards,  'US.  Artillery,  L'. 
S.  A.  [W'est  Point],  Commandant  and  Professor  of 
Military  .Science  ;  (icorge  H.  Hryatit,  M.  E.  [Mass. 
Institute  Technology],  Instructor  in  .Mechanic 
Arts:  George  Petrie,  M.   A.   [University  of  \'ir- 


ginia].  Adjunct  Professor  of  Modern  Languages 
and  History  :  L.  W.  Wilkinson,  B.  Sc,  B.  S.  Bur- 
ton, H.  Sc,  Assistants  in  the  Chemical  Laboratory; 
C.  11.  Ross,  B.  Sc,  V.  L.  Allen,  B.  Sc,  Assistants 
in  Mathematics  and  English;  J.  II.  Drake,  M.  D., 
Surgeon;  C.  C.  Thach,  Recording  Secretary;  E. 
T.  Glenn,  Treasurer. 

Previous  to  this  organization  the  offices  and 
chairs  were  filled  as  follows:  The  presidency  by 
Rev.  I.  T.  Tichenor,  D.  D.  (18:2-8-^)  :  W. 
L.  Broun,  LL.  D.,  (1882-83):  Col.  D.  F.  Bojd, 
(1883-84);  the  Chair  of  Agriculture  by  Prof.  W. 
H.  Jemison(18T2);  President  Tichenor  (18:3-78); 
Col.  W.  H.  Chambers  (1878-83);  Prof.  W.  C. 
Stubbs  (1881-83);  Engineering  by  Prof.  J.  B. 
Read  (1872);  Col.  R.  A.  llardaway  (1873-81); 
Chemistry  by  Prof.  W.  C.  Stubbs  (1872-85);  Eng- 
lish by  Prof.  B.  B.  Russ  (1872-78);  Prof.  G.  W. 
Maxson  (1878-84);  Mathematics  by  Prof.  Alex- 
ander Hogg  (1872-74);  Ancient  Languages  by 
Prof.  J.  T.  Dunklin  (1872-8G);  Natural  History 
was  united  with  Chemistry  until  1S77,  when  Prof. 
E.  Q.  Thornton  was  elected  (1877) ;  Military  Science 
and  Tactics  and  office  of  Commandant  by  Gen.  G. 
P.  Harrison  (1872-73).  For  several  years  this 
chair  was  filled  by  the  Professor  of  Engineering;  a 
United  States  officer  is  now  detailed  to  discharge 
its  duties.  Four  professors  have  died  while 
connected  with  the  institution.  Prof.  B.  B. 
Ross  in  1878;  Prof.  E.  Q.  Thornton  in  1878; 
Col.  W.  H.  Chambers  in  18,s3;  Prof.  J.  T.  Dunk- 
lin, 1886. 

Courses — Studies — Degrees— li  the  above  enu- 
meration of  departments  indicate  that  the  Board 
has  always  addressed  itself  in  good  faith  to 
meet  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  law  that  requires 
the  college  to  teach  such  branches  of  learning  as 
are  related  to  agriculture  and  the  mechanic 
arts,  equally  has  the  faculty  shown  itself  in 
accord  with  the  predominance  of  the  scientific 
element  by  the  arrangement  of  the  courses  of 
instruction.  Instruction  was  at  first  offered  in 
four  regular  courses:  (1)  Agriculture,  (2)  Science, 
(3)  Civil  Engineering,  (4)  Literature.  Three  of 
these,  it  is  seen,  were  purely  scientific;  the  fourth 
one  was  also  well  filled  with  science.  The  three 
first  courses  have  undergone  little  or  no  change. 
Modern  languages  were  eliminated  from  them  in 
l.ss3,and  agricultureand  science  were  consolidated, 
leaving  two  courses  strictly  teclinical.  Greek  was 
eliminated  from  the  literary  course,  and  French 
and  German  were  substituted .    These  three  courses 


14C 


NORTHER aX   ALABAMA. 


are  now  known  as— (1)  Chemistry  and  Agriculture 
(2)  Mechanics  and  Engineering,  (3)  General 
Courses. 

Course  I.  includes  theoretical  and  practical  in- 
struction in  those  branches  that  relate  to  chemis- 
try and  agriculture,  and  is  especially  adaptetl  to 
those  who  propose  to  devote  themselves  to  agricul- 
ture or  chemical  pursuits. 

Course  II.  includes  Ihe  principles  and  applica- 
tions of  the  sciences  that  directly  relate  to  civil 
and  mechanical  engineering,  and  is  adapted  to 
those  who  expect  to  enter  the  profession  of  en- 
gineering. 

Course  III.  has  been  arranged  to  give  a  general 
and  less  technical  education  in  subjects  of  science 
and  language  to  meet  the  wants  of  those  students 
who  have  selected  no  definite  vocation  in  life,  as 
well  as  of  those  who  propose  ultimately  to  engage 
in  teaching,  or  in  some  commercial  or  manufac- 
turing business. 

The  three  courses  require  four  years  for  gradua- 
tion. Tlie  first  two  years'  work  is  substantially 
the  same  for  all. 

Freshman  Year  (introductory  to  ull  courses) — 
English  grammar  and  the  principles  of  English 
composition,  history  of  United  States,  algebra  after 
quadratic  equations,  geometry  (six  books),  physics, 
linear  drawing  and  grapliic  studies,  physiology, 
agriculture,  mechanic  arts  (covering  a  course  of 
carpentry,  turning  and  pattern-making).  In  the 
general  course,  Latin  (Virgil,  Cicero  and  com- 
position) is  substituted  for  physics  and  physiology. 

Sophomore  Year  (common  to  all  courset) — Khet- 
oric,  critical  study  of  American  poetry,  plane  and 
spherical  trigonometry,  solid  geometry,  surveying 
and  mensuration,  general  chemistry,  theoretical 
and  practical  agriculture,  or  modern  languages 
for  students  who  have  decided  to  follow  the  course 
in  engineering,  drawing  in  projection,  shades  and 
shadows  and  jjerspective,  mechanic  arts  (embracing 
a  course  in  moulding  and  casting  iron),  forge  work 
in  iron  and  steel,  and  lectures  on  the  working  of 
metals.  In  the  general  course,  Latin  (Cicero, 
grammar  and  com]iosition)  is  substituted  for 
English. 

At  the  end  of  the  second  year  the  courses  di- 
verge, and  the  work  in  the  junior  and  senior 
classes  become  more  special  in  the  several  lines 
followed. 

The  studies  pursued  in  common  by  all  mem- 
bers of  junior  and  senior  classes  are:  In  junior 
year — English,  history  of  literature,  critical  study 


of  English  poetry  and  prose,  elements  of  criticism, 
political  economy,  physics,  rational  mechanics, 
treated  graphically,  molecular  mechanics,  prop- 
erties of  matter,  military  science.  In  senior 
year:  English  criticism  continued,  pliysics,  prac- 
tical application  of  electricity,  astronomy  and  me- 
teorology, geology,  mineralogy,  military  science. 

I.  The  special  studies  pursued  in  chemistry 
and  agriculture  are:  In  Junior  year — (1)  Recita- 
tions and  lectures  in  industrial  and  theoretical 
chemistry,qualitative  analysis  and  laboratory  prac- 
tice; {'I)  Theoretical  and  practical  agriculture, 
stock-raising  and  feeding,  etc.;  (3)  Zoology,  with 
practical  laboratory  work  in  the  study  of  insects; 
(4)  Lectures  and  analytical  laboratory  work  in  bot- 
any. In  Senior  year:  (1)  Lectures  on  agricultural 
chemistry,  including  "a  thorough  discussion  of 
the  origin,  composition  and  classification  of  soils, 
the  composition  and  growth  of  plants,  the  sources 
of  plant  food  and  how  obtained,  the  imj)rovement 
of  soils,  the  manufacture  and  use  of  fertilizers,  the 
chemical  principles  involved  in  the  rotation  of 
crops,  in  the  feeding  of  live  stock,  and  m  the  va- 
rious operations  carried  on  by  the  intelligent  and 
successful  agriculturist"  ;  (■^)  Agriculture,  the  ob- 
jects and  results  of  experiments,  proj^agation, 
planting,  pruning,  and  cultivation  of  plants,  farm 
management  and  improvement;  (3)  Zoology  con- 
tinued. 

II.  The  course  in  Mechanics  and  Engineering 
embraces  the  following  special  studies:  In  Junior 
year — (1)  Analytical  geometry,  descriptive  geom- 
etry; ("-i)  Engineering  and  laying  out  curves,  lev- 
eling, grading,  construction  of  railroads  and  com- 
mon roads,  Henck"s  Field  Book  ;  (3)  Technical 
drawing  in  perspective,  shades  and  shadows,  ma- 
chines and  buildings.  In  the  Senior  Y^ear — (1) 
Differential  and  integral  calculus,  with  their  prac- 
tical application:  (".3)  Engineering,  building  ma- 
terial, resistance  of  materials,  roofs  and  bridges, 
graphic  and  mathematical  problems  in  strains, 
location  and  construction  of  roads,  Wheeler's  en- 
gineering; (3)  Technical  di'awing  in  topography 
and  machines. 

III.  The  general  course  offers  special  instruction 
in  Junior  year  in:  (1)  Latin,  Tacitus,  Horace, 
composition;  (2)  Analytical  geometry:  (3)  French 
and  German.  In  Senior  year:  A  full  course  in 
French  and  German  is  offered  in  addition  to  the 
scientific  and  other  studies  pursued  in  common 
with  the  other  courses. 

In  fine,  according  to  President  Broun's  announce- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


147 


mcnt:  "The  college  endeavors  to  subject  each 
student  under  itsintluenoeto  the  exact  and  accurate 
training  of  science-discipline,  giving  prominence 
in  its  instruction  to  the  sciences  and  their  api)lica- 
tionssofarasthe  facilities  at  itsdisixisal  will  permit. 

'•  The  essential  discipline  obtained  by  an  accn- 
arteand  critical  studyof  languages  is  not  neglected. 
All  students  are  refpiircd  to  study  the  English 
language  in  each  course  of  study  for  a  degree,  thus 
giving  it  special  prominence.  The  Latin,  French 
and  German  languages  are  taught,  and  opportu- 
nity for  their  study  is  offered  to  students  in  any 
course.  In  the  general  course  they  are  re(|uired 
for  a  degree." 

I'ntil  18S3,  four  (different)  degrees  were  con- 
ferred; subsequently  only  one,  Haclielor  of  Science, 
has  been  conferred.  There  is  a  post-graduate 
course  in  Alining  Engineering,  leading  to  the  de- 
gree of  M.  E.  Master  of  Science  and  t'ivil  Engi- 
neer are  conferred  upon  graduates  on  examination 
after  at  least  one  year's  residence  at  the  college. 
Xo  honorary  degrees  are  conferred. 

Atlinidance — Graduates — The  success  of  the 
college  on  the  new  line,  if  not  brilliant,  was  stable. 
To  be  sure,  some  practical,  narrow-minded  people 
pooh-poohed  at  book-farming,  and  lifteen  years 
ago  there  was  a  dearth  of  technical  pursuits  in  the 
South  to  induce  students  to  pursue  technical 
courses  as  a  means  of  securing  a  sure  and  ready  in- 
come. 

Farming  had  not  then  advanced  to  the  j)oint  of 
science  and  protit  that  it  now  occupies,  and  that 
enables  it  to  offer  such  flattering  rewanls  to  young 
men  who,  though  without  capital,  may  be 
possessed  of  scientific  training.  Indeed,  none  of 
those  material  walks  had  then  been  developed  that 
have  since  made  Alabama  the  cynosure  of  the 
world,  and  that  have  created  a  demand  for  skill 
in  all  branches  of  mechanics.  Still,  the  college 
grew.  The  attendance  the  first  session  was  103; 
in  IKSO  it  was  2T0.  For  various  causes  a  jieriodof 
de])ression  intervened,  but  for  several  years  past 
the  attendance  has  been  steadily  increasing.  The 
numbers  of  students  in  attendance  the  last  session 
lSKO-87  was  18.5.  Of  these,  ten  were  resident 
graduates,  1.'5  seniors.  24  juniors,  5'!  sophomores, 
'Si  freshmen. 

The  College  has  given  tuition,  altogether,  to 
about  1,G()()  students,  of  whom  l.">t) — nearly  ten  per 
cent.,  the  usual  rate  in. Southern  institutions — have 
graduated.  In  the  distribution  of  this  jiatronage, 
the  one  classical  chair  did  not.  as  has  been  charged 


in  some  quarters,  overshadow  tiie  other  five  chairs 
of  science;  the  sheaves  of  the  three  scientific 
courses  did  not  make  obeisance  to  the  solitary 
course,  called  literary.  During  the  first  decade, 
according  to  the  records,  ninety-four  students 
graduated  as  follows  :  In  engineering,  3i!;  science, 
and  agriculture,  ■^U;  literature,  3'^. 

Sixty-jiine  of  these,  about  seventy  per  cent., 
engaged  in  those  ]iursuits,  "which,"  according  to 
Commissioner  Eaton,  "the  aid  given  to  their 
Alma  Mater  was  intended  to  promote."'  Of  this 
number,  'ii  were  teachers,  \i  farmers,  4  manu- 
facturers, T  civil  engineers.  T  scientists,  IT  mer- 
chants. Several  of  these  young  men  have  taken 
leading  positions  in  their  j)rofession8.  Lai-ge 
numbei'S  of  these  graduates  began  their  careers  as 
teachers,  and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  the  institution 
that  they  have  given  eminent  satisfaction. 

No  data  are  available  to  show  the  occupation  of 
those  who  have  graduated  during  the  last  five 
years.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  per  cent,  fol- 
lowing technical  courses  is  even  higher  than  the 
above  exhibit. 

Nine-tenths  of  the  1500  under-graduates  are  en- 
gaged in  other  than  the  learned  professions,  and 
iiave  carried  into  their  life  work  all  the  benefits  of 
the  valuable  instruction  in  science  given  in  the 
lower  classes. 

Pravtiral  Work — Eqiiipinent — The  Board  has, 
from  the  first,  done  all  in  its  power  to  develop  the 
practical  work  of  the  college.  Its  desires  and  de- 
signs have  been  long  thwarted,  or  at  least  tram- 
meled, by  lack  of  means.  It  must  beborne  in  mind 
that  an  equipment  for  technical  instruction  is  ex- 
pensive. Some  subjects  can  be  successfully  taught 
in  a  bare  room — some  advantage  possibly  accruing 
from  a  bench  and  a  blackboard.  Not  so  scientific, 
technological  courses.  Plants  for  jiractical  agricul- 
ture, for  engineering,  mechanic  arts,  physics, 
natural  histor\' — are  all  expensive.  Not  a  cent  of 
the  endowment  could  be  touched:  for  twelve  long 
years  not  a  dollar  did  the  State  appropriate.  Only 
incidental  fees  and.  at  first,  tuition  were  available 
for  this  end.  Witii  their  funds  a  farm  was 
purchased,  and,  at  an  expense  of  §2,000,  was 
stocke<l  and  jnit  in  repairs.  Though  inadequate  for 
all  the  i)urposes  desired,  it  sufficed  for  much  valu- 
able research  under  Dr.  Tichenor,  and  Professors 
Chambers  and  Stubbs.  A  chemical  laboratory  was 
ei|uii)ped.  the  department  of  engineering  furnished 
witii  necessary  instruments,  and  even  an  effort  was 
made  to  obtain  a  slight  equijjment  for  mechanics. 


148 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


The  impecunious  condition  of  the  Board  was  finally 
relieved  in  1884  by  the  State  appropiation  of  §30,- 
000.  As  soon  as  judicious  investigation  could  be 
made  of  an  untried  field,  the  dejiartment  of  me- 
chanic arts  was  established  after  the  plan  of  the 
leading  technical  institutions  in  this  country  and 
Europe;  a  large  farm  with  proper  appliances  was 
bought,  and  a  thoroughly  appointed  experiment 
station  was  organized,  and  all  the  departments  of 
science  were  furnished  with  the  most  improved 
apparatus  for  field  and  laboratory  use.  Unfortu- 
nately, much  of  this  valuable  apparatus  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  recent  fire.  However,  neither  the  ex- 
2")eriment  station  nor  the  department  of  mechanic 
arts  sustained  any  injury.  By  means  of  the  State 
appropriation,  made  in  188",  the  equipment  of 
mechanic  arts  has  been  completed,  and  the  dejjart- 
ments  of  engineering,  natural  history,  physics,  and 
chemistry  partially  rehabilitated  after  their  de- 
struction. Laboratory  instruction  is  now  offered 
in  the  following  departments:  Mechanic  Arts,  Ag- 
riculture, Civil  Engineering,  Technical  Draw- 
ing, Chemistry,  Physics,  Natural  History.  It 
may  be  well  to  specify  the  equipments  and  facili- 
ties for  instructions  in  these  departments  of  science 
and  manual  training. 

I.  Agriculture  and  Horticulture — The  farm 
contains  2"-i<!  acres,  and  is  supplied  with  illustrative 
specimens  of  stock  of  select  varieties.  By  Act  of 
the  Legislature  the  experiment  station  for  the  State 
of  Alabama  is  located  at  Auburn.  The  Professor 
of  Agriculture  is  also  Director  of  the  Experiment 
Station. 

"  This  public  work  done  at  Auburn  in  behalf  of 
the  agricultural  and  industrial  interests  of  the 
State  affords  to  students  an  unusual  opportunity 
to  become  familiar  with  its  agriculture,  its  defects 
and  remedies. 

"The  Exjjeriment  Station  is  not  a  model  farm; 
but  a  i^lace  where  experiments  and  scientific  inves- 
tigations in  agriculture  are  made,  at  the  public  ex- 
pense, for  the  common  good,  and  where  the  young 
men  at  the  college  receive  instruction  in  the 
methods  applied. 

"  The  students  of  agricultitre  accompany  the  pro- 
fessor in  the  field,  garden,  conservatory,  stock- 
yard, etc.,  where  lectures  are  delivered  in  presence 
of  the  objects  discussed." 

All  students  of  the  fourth  class  attend  lectures 
in  this  department.  Instruction  continues  through 
the  third,  second  and  first  classes. 

II.  Mechanic  Arts — The    laboratory    is     thor- 


oughly equipped  in  all  four  departments.  The 
power  for  running  the  apparatus  in  this  department 
is  derived  from  a  twenty-five  horse-power  Harris- 
Corliss  automatic  engine,  which  is  supplied  with 
steam  by  a  thirty  horse-power  steel  horizontal 
tubular  boiler  of  most  approved  design.  A  Deane 
steam  pump  and  a  heater  for  the  feed-water  form 
a  part  of  the  steam  apparatus. 

The  equij)ment  for  the  wood-working  shop  com- 
prises the  following:  20  double  wood-working 
benches,  each  with  complete  set  of  carpenters' 
tools;  20  turning  lathes,  10-inch  swing,  each  with 
complete  set  of  tools;  1  double  circular  saw;  1  band 
saw;  1  board  planing  machine;  1  buzz  planer;  3 
scroll  saws  (power);  1  large  pattern  maker's  lathe, 
16-inch  swing;  1  3G-inch  grindstone.  In  addi- 
tion to  these,  the  tool-room  is  supplied  with  a 
variety  of  extra  hand  tools  for  special  work. 

The  equipment  for  the  foundry  consists  of 
moulding  benches  for  twelve  students,  each  sup- 
j^lied  with  a  complete  set  of  moulder's  tools;  a 
14-inch  cupola  with  all  modern  improvements, 
capable  of  melting  1,000  pounds  of  iron  per 
hour  ;  a  brass  furnace  in  which  can  be  melted 
100  pounds  of  brass  at  a  heat,  with  a  set  of  cruci- 
bles, tongs,  etc.,  also  a  full  supply  of  ladles,  large 
and  small  moulding  flasks,  special  tools,  etc. 
The  forge  shop  equipment  consists  of  twelve 
hand  forges  of  new  pattern,  each  with  a  set  of 
smith's  tools,  anvil,  etc.  The  blast  for  all  the 
forges  is  supplied  by  a  No.  o  Sturtevant  steel  pres- 
sure blower  (which  also  furnishes  blast  for  the 
foundry  cupola);  and  a  No.  lo  Sturtevant  exhaust 
blower  draws  the  smoke  from  the  fires  into  the 
smoke  flues  and  forces  it  out  through  the 
chimney. 

The  machine  shop  is  furnished  with  the  fol- 
lowing machines  and  appliances : 

Six  engine  lathes,  14-incli  swing  and  two  ditto 
IG-inch  swing;  one  speed  lathe,  one  20-inch  drill 
press,  one  post  drill  jiress,  one  jslaner,  22x22  in.  by 
5  ft.,  one  15-inch  shaper,  one  Universal  milling 
machine,  one  corundum  tool  grinder,  one  bench 
emery  grinder.  Vise  benches  for  twelve  students 
are  provided;  each  bench  is  supplied  with  vise, 
sets  of  files,  chisels,  hammers,  etc.  The  tool 
room  is  well  supplied  with  cutting  and  measuring 
tools,  shop  appliances,  etc. 

This  course  is  obligatory  upon  the  students  of 
the  three  lower  classes  (fifth,  fourth  and  third.) 
For  satisfactory  reasons  a  student  may  be  excused 
from  this  laboratorv  work  by  the  facultv. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


149 


Tlie  full  work  of  each  class  is  six  hours  per  week, 
ill  three  exercises  of  two  hours  each. 

I'resideut  liroun  says:  "The  work  performed 
by  the  students  is  as  indruclive  in  character  as  in 
any  other  college  laboratory;  the  classes  are  taught 
in  sections  under  the  supervision  of  the  professor. 
There  is  no  attempt  to  teach  students  skill  in  con- 
structing s])ecial  article^  of  commercial  value,  but 
all  exercises  are  systematically  arranged  and  de- 
signed for  purpo.^es  of  education.  The  >rechanic 
Ai't  Laboratory  is  used  as  an  auxiliary  in  indus- 
trial education,  to  instruct  in  the  arts  that  consti- 
tute the  foundation  of  various  industrial  pursuits, 
thus  aiding  in  giving  mentally  and  manually,  in 
theory  and  practice,  that  sound  education  that 
will,  in  a  measure,  fpialify  a  young  man  to  enter 
upon  some  one  of  the  associated  industries;  that 
education  wliich  comes  of  training  the  eye  and  the 
hand  as  well  as  the  mind,  and  tends  to  associate 
.skilled  manual  and  mental  labor." 

III.  Civil  Eiigiurcring  ami  DniiciiK/ — This  de- 
partment, having  recently  had  valuable  additions 
made  to  its  equijiment,  is  now  well  supplied  with 
instruments,  with  which  all  important  field  work 
is  taught.  All  the  students  in  the  two  lower 
college  classes  are  required  to  take  drawing.  Well- 
lighted  drawing  rooms  are  provided  with  suitable 
tables. 

IV.  Chemisfry — The  entire  chemical  depart- 
ment of  the  college,  the  professors'  lecture-room, 
student  laboratory.  State  laboratory,  and  offices  are 
situated  in  the  new  chemical  laboratory  building. 

This  building  affords  accommodation  to  sixty 
analytical  students;  and  all  of  its  rooms  are 
furnished  with  the  best  of  modern  appliances  for 
analyzing,  assayiiig — in  short,  for  all  fields  of  ex- 
perimental and  original  work.  The  student  labora- 
tory is  provided  with  gas  and  water,  filtering 
pumps,  analytical  balances,  and  working  tables  for 
each  student;  indeed,  ''it  is  provided  with  every- 
thing necessary  for  instruction  in  chemical  manip- 
ulation, in  the  rpialitative  and  quantitative  analy- 
sis of  soils,  fertilizers,  minerals,  mineral  waters, 
technical  products.  It  is  perfectly  equipped  for 
the  special  study  of  practical  chemistry."  Acourse 
of  systematic  lal)oratory  work  is  carried  on  in  con- 
nection with  each  course  of  lectures.  The  labora- 
tory is  open  from  !•  \.  M.  to  .i  v.  m.,  five  days  in 
the  week,  liy  law,  the  Professor  of  Chemistry  is 
also  State  Chemist.  In  the  State  laboratory  work 
is  done  for  the  State  Uepartment  of  Agriculture, 
and    the    Experiment  Station.     Several    hundred 


quantitative  analyses  are  annually  made  of  fertil- 
izers, soils,  and  mitierals. 

V.  Pliysirs — X'aluable  additions  are  constantly 
being  made  to  this  department.  Practical  work  is 
given  in  the  applications  of  electricity,  manipula- 
tion of  batteries,  dynamos,  circuit-laving,  etc.  A 
physical  laboratory  will  be  equip])ed  when  tlie  new 
l)uilding  is  completed. 

VI.  Natural  History — In  the  junior  class,  con- 
siderable time  is  devoted  to  systematic  and  struc- 
tural botany,  and  to  advanced  laboratory  work 
with  the  microscope,  in  the  preparation  of  speci- 
mens showing  plant  structure,  sufficient  not  only 
to  familiarize  the  students  with  the  methods  of 
j)lant  building  and  cellular  organizations,  but  also 
to  practice  them  in  detecting  the  various  forms  of 
fungi  that  are  injurious  to  fruits  and  vegetables. 
A  biological  laboratory  has  been  fitted  up  for  stu- 
dents, provided  with  excellent  microscopes  of  the 
most  improved  patterns,  well-constructed  tables, 
and  all  the  necessary  chemicals  for  preparing  and 
mounting  vegetable  tissues.  A  dark  room  is  at- 
tached to  this  laboratory  for  micro-photographic 
work. 

Adiiiissioji — Expense — Ap})licants  for  admission 
must  be  of  good  moral  character.  To  enter  the 
fourth  class  the  applicant  must  be  not  less  than 
fifteen  years  of  age,  and  be  qualified  to  pass  a  sat- 
isfactory examination  in  the  following  subjects: 

I.  Geography  and  history  of  the  United  States. 

II.  English. — (a)  An  examination  upon  sen- 
tences containing  incorrect  English,  (i)  A  com- 
position giving  evidence  of  satisfactory  proficiency 
in  spelling,  punctuation,  grammar,  and  division 
into  paragra]ihs, 

III.  Mathematics. — (a)  Arithmetic,  including 
fundamental  operations:  common  and  decimal 
fractions;  denominate  numbers:  the  metric  sys- 
tem: j>ercentage,  including  interest  and  discount; 
proportion;  extraction  of  square  and  cube  roots; 
(/;)  Algebra  to  quadratic  etjuations. 

For  admission  to  the  fourth  class  in  the  general 
course  a  satisfactory  examination  is  also  required 
in  Latin  grammar  and  ('a?sar,  four  books. 

Incidental  fee,  per  half  session,  is ij:7  50 

Library  fee,  per  lialf  session 1  00 

Siirg(ion's  fee,  per lialf  .session 2  ."lO 

Hoard,  pernioutli,  wilh  fuel  and  liglits  $12  to  14  00 

These  fees  are  payable,  >!ll  on  matriculation 
and  >«11  on  February  1st.  By  order  of  the  Hoard, 
no  fees  can  be  remitted.      Tuition  is  free. 

The  Colleire  has  no  barracks  or  dornutories.  and 


150 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  students  board  with  the  families  of  the  town 
of  Aubvirn,  and  thus' enjoy  all  the  protecting  and 
beneficial  influences  of  the  family  circle. 

By  messing,  the  cost  of  board  has  been  reduced 
by  a  few  students  to  IsS.SO  per  month.  For  stu- 
dents entering  after  January  1st,  the  fees  for  half 
session  only  are  required. 

Any  economical  student  can  bring  his  annual 
expenses,  including  clothing,  books,  washing, 
board  and  lodging  within  the  limits  of  %-i.^O. 

Experiment  Station — On  February  "24,  1888, 
the  Board  of  Trustees  organized  the  Experiment 
Station  as  a  department  of  the  College,  with  the 
following  corps  of  officers: 

President  of  the  College  in  charge;  Agriculturist 
and  Director,  Chemist  and  Vice-Director,  Physi- 
ologist, Botanist,  Entomologist  and  Meteorologist, 
First  and  Second  Assistant  Chemists,  First  and 
Second  Assistant  Agriculturist,  Assistant  Meteor- 
ologist. 

— — ^-f^J^-^ 

WM.  LeROY  BROUN,  M.  A.,  LL.D.,  President 
of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  was 
born  in  Loudoun  County,  Va.,  in  1827.  His 
parents  were  Edwin  Conway  and  Elizabeth  Broun, 
natives  of  the  same  State.  His  father  was  of 
Scotch  ancestry  and  lived  in  Virginia  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  in  1840. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  his  collegiate 
education  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  grad- 
uated with  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  that 
institution  in  1850.  In  1852  he  was  elected  to 
a  professorship  in  a  college  in  Mississippi,  and 
filled  the  chair  to  which  he  was  called,  two  years. 
He  was  then  chosen  to  the  chair  of  Mathematics  in 
the  University  of  Georgia,  at  Athens,  and  discharg- 
ed the  functions  of  that  position  for  two  years.  In 
the  year  1857,  he  organized  Bloomfield  Academy, 
situated  near  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  con- 
ducted that  school  until  ISGl. 

Professor  Broun,  at  this  juncture,  entered  the 
Confederate  service  as  a  lieutenant  of  artillery;  was 
shortly  afterward  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel in  the  Ordnance  Department,  C.  S. 
A.,  and  was  assigned  to  duty  as  commandant  of 
the  Richmond  Arsenal,  over  which  he  exercised 
supervision  until  the  war  closed. 

After  the  war  the  University  of  Georgia,  situ- 
ated at  Athens,  elected  him  Professor  of  Natui'al 
Philosophy;  and  also,  subsequently,  President  of 
the  State    College  of  Agriculture   and    Mechanic 


Arts.  Professor  Broun's  connection  with  this 
Seat  of  learning  continued  from  186(;  until  1875, 
when  he  was  elected  to  fill  the  chair  of  Mathe- 
matics in  Vanderbilt  University,  at  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  where  he  remained  seven  years.  In  1882, 
Dr.  Broun  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  the 
Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  at  Auburn, 
which  he  held  one  year,  .and  was  then  elected 
Professor  of  ^Mathematics  in  the  University  of 
Texas,  at  Austin,  where  he  was  elected  Chair- 
man of  the  Faculty.  He  resigned  in  1884,  to 
accept,  for  the  second  time,  the  presidency  of  the 
Agricultural  and  ^lechanical  College,  in  Alabama. 
The  degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  on  him  by  St. 
John's  College,  Maryland,  in  1874. 

Dr.  Broun,  as  a  gentleman,  citizen,  soldier, 
scholar,  and  as  a  man  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the 
term,  ranks  among  the  foremost  of  his  country  and 
time.  At  any  eijoch  in  oir  history,  he  would 
have  been  an  ornament  to  his  kind.  Especially 
to  the  youth  and  people  of  the  South  is  lie  endeared 
by  numberless  ties  which  it  were  needless  and 
imj^ossible  to  enumerate.  His  example  can  well 
be  adopted,  by  the  young  men  of  the  country  he 
has  loved  so  well,  as  a  model.  To  him  do  many 
of  the  best  young  men  of  the  South  owe  the  value 
of  timely  advice  and  assistance.  With  his  admir- 
able qualifications  to  fill  the  various  positions  to 
which  he  has  been  called,  it  is  in  no  sense  sur- 
prising that  he  is  honored  among  her  best  and 
brightest  men. 

Dr.  Broun  was  married,  in  185'.i,  to  Miss  Sallie, 
daughter  of  George  and  Mary  (Coleman)  Flem- 
ming,  of  Hanover  County,  Va.  They  have 
had  seven  children  born  to  them,  viz.:  LeRoy, 
Mary,  Maud,  Bessie,  Sallie,  George  and  Katie. 

Our  subject  has  been  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  for  more  than  thirty  years. 


NATHANIEL  THOMAS  LUPTON,  A.M.,M.D., 
LL.D.,  Chair  of  Chemistry,  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  College,  and  State  Chemist  of  Alabama, 
was  born  near  Winchester,  Va.,  December  19, 
1830.  His  parents  were  Xathaniel  and  Elizabeth 
(Hodgson)  Lupton,  natives  of  Mrginia  and  of 
English  descent. 

Dr.  Lupton  graduated  at  Dickinson  College, 
Carlisle,  Pa.,  in  the  year  1849.  Chemistry  has 
always  been  a  favorite  pursuit  with  him,  and  con- 
sequently, after  graduation,  he  sought  to  gratify 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


151 


his  wishes  by  stiulyiiig  tlie  subject  under  the 
great  Bnnsen,  at  Heidelberg,  (iermany.  He 
spent  two  winters  there  in  the  ])roseciition  of  liis 
scientific  studies,  and  upon  liis  return  to  this 
country  was  well  (|uali(ied  to  deal  with  scientific 
subjects  in  the  departments  of  chemistry  and 
geology.  He  filled  the  chair  of  these  sciences  at 
the  famous  Kandolph-Macon  College,  Vii-ginia, 
from  ISoli  to  18.j8,  and  in  the  following  year,  up 
to  and  including  1871,  a  period  of  twelve  years, 
discharged  the  functions  of  a  similar  position  in 
the  Southern  University  at  Greensboro,  Ala.  He 
then  accepted  the  presidency  and  professorship  of 
chemistry  at  the  State  University  of  Alabama 
from  1871  to  1874,  when  he  was  called  to  the 
chair  of  chemistry  at  Vanderbilt  U)iiversity, 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  where  he  renuiined  from  18  4 
to  1885.  In  that  year  he  was  selected  to  fill  the 
chair  of  Chemistry  at  the  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  College,  where  he  has  since  remained. 

I'rofessor  fAijiton  has  received  ample  and 
gratifying  recognition  from  his  contemporuries 
in  the  world  of  science,  and  has  sustained  many 
honorable  relations  towards  different  scientific 
bodies.  He  is  at  present  State  Chemist  of  Ala- 
bama ;  has  twice  been  Vice-President  of  the 
American  Scientific  Association,  and  presided 
over  the  section-  of  chemistry  at  the  meetings 
held  in  the  city  of  Nashville  during  his  residence 
there,  and  at  the  meeting  in  Ann  Arbor,  ^Hch., 
in  1885  ;  has  been  \'ice-I'resident  of  the  American 
Chemical  Society,  and  has  taken  an  active  and 
leading  part  in  the  deliberations  of  many  other 
scientific  bodies.  During  the  war  he  was  Chemist 
in  the  Ordnance  Department  of  the  Confederate 
(iovernmcnt,  with  headquarters  at  Selma. 

Thus  do  we  see  Professor  Lupton,  from  the  time 
he  returned  to  America,  ins]ured  w-ith  the  instruc- 
tions received  at  the  liands  of  the  great  Bunsen. 
taking  an  eminent  stand  in  the  scientific  world, 
and  in  all  these  years,  his  career  has  been  but  a 
succession  of  triumphs  and  a  recognition  of  his 
great  ability.  He  has  sustained  the  most  honor- 
able relations  to  his  fellow-num,  and,  wherever  his 
lot  had  been  cast,  has  always  moved  in  the  highest 
social  spheres.  While  in  the  lecture  room  he  has 
bestowed  unlimited  benefit  upon  the  many  young 
men  who  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  receive  his 
instruction.-;,  his  life  has  been  spent  in  eminent 
usefulness,  and  to  him  are  many  of  the  young  men 
of  the  South  indebted  for  their  practical  knowl- 
edge of  the  sciences. 


Professor  Lupton  was  married  in  1854,  to  Miss 
Ella  v.,  daughter  of  the  l{ev.  John  and  Hannah 
(Paine)  Alleniong,  of  Frederick  County,  \'a.  To 
them  three  children  have  been  born,  viz. :  Kate, 
who  is  a  regular  graduate  of  the  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity, from  which  she  received  the  degree  of 
M.  A.  She  afterwards  went  to  Europe,  where  she 
pursued  her  studies  for  some  time.  The  other 
children  are  Ella  and  Frank. 

Professor  Lupton  has  been  a  member  of  the 
.Methodist  Flpiscopal  Church,  South,  for  many 
years.  He  is  now  a  prominent  member  of  the 
church  at  .\uburn,  superintendent  of  the  Sab- 
bath-school, and  on  three  different  occasions,  has 
been  a  lay  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of 
the  Southern  Methodist  Church. 


-*" 


PATRICK  H.  MELL,  Jr.,  M.E..  Ph.D.,  Chair 
of  Natural  History  and  (ieology.  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  College,  was  born  at  Penfield,  Ga., 
-May  '24,  1850.  His  parents  were  Patrick  II.  and 
Lurene  (Howard)  Mell,  natives  of  that  State. 

The  senior  Mr.  Mell,  was  connected  with  the 
University  of  (ieorgia,  at  Athens,  from  1857  to 
1888,  and  he  died  in  the  latter  year.  He  was 
Chancellor  of  that  institution  from  1878  until  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  was  well  known  through- 
out the  country,  and  was  distinguished  as  an 
educator. 

Patrick  H.  .Mell  was  educated  at  the  University 
of  Georgia,  graduating  in  ]S71  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts.  In  187'-i,  he  graduated  in  min- 
ing and  civil  engineering,  and  subsequently 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy.  He 
was  State  Chemist  of  Georgia  from  1873  to  1877, 
and  afterward  actively  engaged  in  mining  engi- 
neering. In  the  latter  calling  he  was  employed 
until  1878,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  chair  of 
Natural  History  and  (Jeology  at  the  Alabama  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  College, which  position  he 
now  fills.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Mining  Engineers,  with  which  he  has 
been  identified  as  a  member  since  187'.i,  and  is  also 
Director  of  the  Signal  Service  for  tJie  State  of 
Alabama. 

Professor  Mell  was  married  in  June.  1875,  to 
Miss  .\nnie.  daugliter  of  William  N.  and  Hebecca 
(Benedict)  \\'hite.  Mr.  White  was  a  noted  hor- 
ticulturist and  agriculturist,  and  was  editor  and 


152 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


proprietor  of  the  Southern  CuUivator  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  1807. 

Prof.  Mell  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Churcli. 


JAMES  S.  NEWMAN,  Professor  of  Agriculture 
of  tlie  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College, 
Auburn,  was  born  in  Orange  County,  Ya., 
in  18o<;.  His  parents  were  James  and  Mary 
(Scott)  Newman,  natives  of  the  same  county  and 
State.  The  senior  Mr.  Newman  was  a  farmer  up 
to  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1886. 

James  S.  Newman  attended  the  University  of 
Virginia,  where  he  completed  the  jDrescribed 
course  in  1859.  He  taught  school  two  years,  and 
in  1801  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Confederate 
army.  He  was  in  active  service  until  1864,  when, 
owing  to  failure  of  his  health,  he  was  discharged. 
He  farmed  for  the  first  two  years  after  leaving  the 
a.imy;  then,  at  Hancock,  Ga.,  taught  a  jjrivate 
school  and  filanted  until  1875.  From  here  he 
accepted  a  position  with  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture of  Georgia,  and  remained  there  until 
1883,  when  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Agricul- 
ture and  Director  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment 
Station  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege. 

He  is  also  director  of  the  Canebrake  Agricul- 
tural Experiment  Station  of  Alabama,  at  Union- 
town;  Vice-President  of  the  American  Pomologi- 
cal  Society,  and  State  Statistical  Agent  of  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  and 
was  for  three  years  President  of  the  State  Agri- 
cultural Society. 

Professor  Newman  enjoys  great  distinction  on 
account  of  his  great  ijroficiency  as  an  agriculturist. 
His  reputation  as  a  writer  is  co-extensive  with  the 
country  on  horticultural  and  agricultural  sub- 
jects, and  his  articles  are  everywhere  character- 
ized by  ability.  Whatever  subject  in  his  chosen 
field  of  thought  he  may  select  for  discussion  or 
elucidation,  bears  the  impress  of  deep  and  careful 
thought,  and  his  opinion  on  all  matters  pertaining 
to  his  profession  is  accepted  as  authority. 

Prof  essor  Newman  was  married,  in  1863,  to  Miss 
Elberta,  daughter  of  Elbert  and  Eliza  Lewis,  of 
Macon  County,  Ga.  To  this  union  five  children 
have  been  born:  CliSord  L.,  Assistant  Professor 
of  Agriculture  and  Natural  History  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Tennessee,  at  Knoxville;  Wilson  H.,  As- 
sistant Agriculturist  of  the  Experiment  Station  at 


the   Agricultural   and    Mechanical    College,    this 
State;  Mary  S.,  Alba  and  Charles  C. 

The  Professor  and  family  are  communicants  of 
the  Episcopal  Church. 


CHARLES  C.  TRACK,  B.E.,  Chair  of  Eng- 
lisli  and  Latin,  Agricultural  and  Mechanical 
College,  Auburn,  Ala.,  was  born  at  Athens,  this 
State,  in  1860.  His  parents  were  Robert  H.  and 
Eliza  (Coleman)  Thach,  natives  of  Alabama.  The 
senior  Mr.  Thach  was  a  practicing  lawyer  for  many 
years  at  Athens,  and  died  there  in  1866. 

Charles  C.  Thach  received  his  education  at  the 
State  Agricultural,  and  Mechanical  College,  Au- 
burn, and  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore, 
Md.  Mr.  Thach  began  teaching  at  Hopkinsville, 
Ky.,  in  the  High  School,  in  1877,  where  he  re- 
mained one  year,  and  in  ls78  was  elected  to  the 
position  of  assistant  professor  in  the  preparatory 
department  of  the  Agricultural  and  Jlechanical 
College  at  Auburn.  He  was  elected  principal  of 
that  department  in  1879.  In  the  session  of 
1880-81  he  attended  lectures  at  the  Johns  Hop- 
kins University,  Baltimore.  The  following  year, 
1881,  he  was  chosen  to  fill  the  chair  of  Modern 
Languages  in  a  college  conducted  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Austin,  Tex. 
In  188"2  he  was  elected  Adjunct  Professor  of  Lan- 
guages in  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege at  Auburn;  in  1884  he  filled  the  chair  of 
English  and  Modern  Languages,  and  in  1886  was 
chosen  to  his  present  position. 

Professor  Thach  is  one  among  the  youngest  of 
the  Faculty  of  Auburn,  and  among  the  youngest 
educators  in  the  State,  and  yet  the  mantle  of 
learning  has  never  fallen  on  more  worthy  shoulders. 
There  are  few  men  who  possess  the  varied  attain- 
ments of  our  subject,  due  not  less  to  his  natural 
capacity,  the  innate  power  of  mind,  than  to 
earnest,  jiersevering  and  well-directed  industry  in 
the  acquisition  of  that  priceless  treasure,  know- 
ledge. He  justly  ranks  among  the  brilliant  men 
of  the  State. 

Professor  Thach  was  married  in  November,  1886, 
to  Miss  Nellie  S..  daughter  of  Professor  Otis  D. 
Smith,  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege, at  Auburn.  Their  union  has  been  blessed 
with  one  child,  Elizabeth. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  ilethodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


153 


[Professor  Tluich  is  the  author  of  tlie  chapter 
on  the  Agricultural  ami  Mechanical  College,  tiiis 
volume,  the  only  complete  history  of  that  insti- 
tution ever  pnlilished.  A  perusal  of  it  will  repay 
the  reader. —  Kn.] 

JAMES  H.  LANE,  was  born  in  18:i:J,  in  Mat- 
thews t'cumty,  Va.,  anil  his  parents  were  Walter 
(i  .and  Mary  A.  II.  (Barkwell)  Lane,  of  that  State. 
The  elder  Mr.  Lane  was  a  merchant  at  Matthews 
Court  House,  where  he  died  in  18GS. 

.Tames  H.  Lane  was  educated  at  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute,  and  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  graduated  with  honors  at  the  former 
in  18.">4,  and  in  the  scientific  course  at  the  latter 
in  1857.  His  first  appointment  was  on  the  hydro- 
graphic  survey  of  York  River.  He  was  then  ap- 
pointed assistant  professor  in  the  Virginia  Mili- 
tary Institute,  where  he  remained  one  year.  From 
there,  he  went  to  Floriila  as  professor  of  Mathe- 
matics ami  Instructor  of  Tactics  in  the  State  Sem- 
inary at  Tallahasse,  and  after  one  year's  connec- 
tion with  that  institution,  was  elected  Professor 
of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Instructor  of  Tactics 
ill  the  North  Carolina  Military  Institute,  at  Clhar- 
lotte. 

Professor  Lane  remained  at  tlie  Xoith  Carolina 
Military  Institute  until  1861,  when  he  entered  the 
Confederate  service  as  Adjutant  of  the  first  Camp 
of  Instruction  at  llaleigh.  From  major,  he  was 
promoted  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  First  North 
Carolina  Volunteers,  and  later,  colonel  of  the 
Twenty-eighth  North  Carolina  Tioojis.  In 
18(;2  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier- 
general. 

(ieiieral  Lane  saw  service  at  the  fiont  in  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia  through  the  entire  war,  and 
won  that  distinction  which  is  only  accorded  to  the 
Ijrave.  chivalrous,  intrepid,  sagacious  and  heroic. 
He  was,  in  the  best  acceptation  of  the  word,  a  mar- 
tial spirit,  and  all  over  the  South  there  are  many 
who  will  bear  testimony  to  his  faithful  record  as  a 
soldier  and  oHicer.   He  was  not  one  who  ordered  his 


men  where  he  himself  was  not  willing  to  go  ;  and 
those  that  served  under  him,  jjlace  him  among  the 
•'truest  of  the  true,"  and  the  "  bravest  of  the 
brave,"  He,  therefore,  is  one  of  the  soldiers  who 
retired  to  the  peaceful  walks  of  life  with  a  military 
record  upon  which  there  is  no  stigma  and  whose 
escutcheon  is  untarnished.  In  peace  he  has  proved 
himself  as  worthy  as  he  did  in  war. 

After  the  surrender  (ieneral  Lane  taught  pri- 
vate schools  in  North  Carolina  and  Richmond, 
Va.,  a  short  time,  and  for  eight  years  thereafter 
acted  in  the  dual  capacity  of  Professor  of  Natural 
Philosophy  and  Commandant  of  Cadets  at  the  Ag- 
ricultural and  JMechanieal  College  at  Blacksburg, 
Va.  In  1880  taught  a  private  school  in  Wilming- 
ton, N.  C. ;  in  the  following  year  was  called  to  the 
chair  of  Mathematics  in  the  School  of  Mines  and 
Metallurgy  of  the  State  University  of  Missouri; 
in  the  succeeding  year  was  called  to  Richmond, 
Va.,  to  take  charge  of  the  Virginia  Mining  and 
Manufacturing  Company,  where,  their  property 
being  destroyed  by  fire  before  their  works  were 
put  in  operation,  he  had  no  opportunity  of 
showing  his  fitness  for  that  department  of  active 
industrial  life.  He  was  too  well  known,  how- 
ever, to  be  left  long  without  offers,  and  it  was 
reserved  for  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege of  this  State  to  exhibit  its  knowledge  of  the 
fitness  of  men  by  selecting  him  to  fill  the  chair  of 
Eiigineeriug  and  Drawing,  and  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  Commandant  of  the  Corps  of  Cadets  of 
that  institution.  He  still  fills  the  position  of  pro- 
fessor of  Civil  Engineering  and  Drawing  and  the 
board  of  trustees  have  had  no  occasion  to  regret 
their  choice.  He  has  cast  in  his  lot  with  the 
peo])le  of  Alabama,  and  has  shown  his  determin- 
ation to  identify  himself  with  this  State  by  pur- 
chasing property  in  the  town  of  Auburn. 

General  Lane  was  married  in  18G9  to  Miss 
Charlotte,  daughter  of  Benjamin  L.  and  Jane  E. 
Meade,  of  \'irginia,  and  to  them  four  daughters 
have  been  born,  viz.:  Lidie  II.,  Mary  B.,  KateM., 
and  Lottie  E. 

The  family  are  communicants  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 


XVI. 
MARION  COUNTY. 


Po^julation:  White,  8,841;  colored,  5'i3.  Area, 
810  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Coal  measures, 
660  square  miles.  Gravelly  aud  pine  hills,  150 
square  miles. 

Acres.— In  cotton  (apiDroximately),  7,260;  in 
corn,  21,835;  in  -oats,  2,321;  in  wheat,  3,925:  iu 
tobacco,  44;  iu  sugar-cane,  15;  in  sweet  potatoes, 
47r. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  3,240. 

County  Seat — Hamilton;  population,  225;  on 
Buttahatchee  Kiver,  45  miles  from  Aberdeen, 
Miss. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Mario)i 
Herald. 


Postoffices  in  the  Count}' — Allen's  Factory, 
Allhill,  Barnesville,  Bexar,  Bull  Mountain,  Can- 
dle, Chalk  Bluff,  Gold  Mine,  Hackleburgh,  Haleys, 
Hall's  ilills,  HamiUon,  Hodges,  Ireland  Hill, 
Pearce's  Mills,  Pikeville,  Shottsville,  Texas,  Thorn 
Hill,   Ur,  Young.  • 

Marion  County  was  created  in  1818,  and  was 
named  for  Gen.  Francis  Marion,  the  celebrated 
South  Carolina  soldier,  whose  brave  deeds  and 
the  sore  privations  he  endured  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  endeared  his  memory  to  every 
American  heart.  This  county  forms  a  portion 
of  the  Warrior  coal  field,  and  as  such  it  is  rapidly 
coming  into  prominence.  [See  part  I.  this  vol- 
ume.] 


XVII. 
RANDOLPH    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  13,155;  colored,  3,420 
Area,  610  square  miles  ;  Woodland  all.  All  meta- 
morphic. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately).  23, ITT  ;  in 
corn,  29,595  ;  in  oats,  4,850  ;  in  wheat,  10,156  ;  in 
tobacco,  44 ;  in  sweet  potatoes,  433. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  T,500. 

County  Seat — Wedowee  ;  population  300.  lias 
fine  water  jiower  and  mineral  deposits. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Observer 
(Republican). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Almond,  Blake's 
Ferry,  Christiana,  Corn  House,  Dingier,  Gaj', 
Graham,  Handley,  Haywood,  High  Shoals,  La- 
mar, Level  Road,  Louina,  Miluer,  Omaha.  Roan- 


oke, Rock  Dale,  Rock  Mills,  Sewell,  Wedowee, 
Wehadkee,  Wild  wood. 

The  county  of  Randolph  was  created  in  1832, 
and  named  for  the  famous  John  Randolph,  of  Vir- 
ginia. Its  natural  advantages  are,  in  a  great 
many  respects,  superior.  Its  climate  salubrious, 
lands  good,  tone  of  society  elevated,  and  health 
unsurpassed. 

During  the  census  of  1880  the  census  official 
reudered  in  his  report  at  Washington  only  to  have 
it  returned  to  him  for  correction,  the  Washington 
official  declaring  the  death  rate  to  be  too  small  to 
be  true.  But  the  original  rsport  was  returned  to 
Washington  unchanged,  as  no  error  had  been  com- 
mitted. 


154 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


155 


The  soils  of  Kaiidolph  are  of  average  fertility, 
and  on  account  of  deep  clay  subsoil  and  abundant 
rainfall,  are  quite  reliable  for  agricultural  pur- 
jioses.  Xot  more  tlian  one-fourth  of  the  mag- 
nificent forests  of  Randolph  have  been  cleared, 
and  the  fine  pine  timber  here  will  one  day  be  a 
feature  in  itself.  The  lands  are  easily  worked  and 
j)roduee  remarkably  well.  All  the  crops  that  are 
congenial  to  the  southern  climate  grow  their  best 
here.  Fruit-gnnving  is  gradually  expanding,  and 
bids  fair  ere  long  to  rival  all  other  industries. 
There  has  been  only  one  failure  of  the  peach  crop 
in  thirty-five  years,  and  the  apple  crop  never  fails. 
The  farmers  produce  nearly  everything  they 
use  at  home,  and  are,  as  a  general  tiling,  well- 
to-do. 

Like  other  counties,  the  absence  of  railroad 
transportation  has  prevented  much  attention  be- 
ing given  to  the  minerals  of  Randolph,  but  this 
want  is  now  being  supplied.  The  Kast  Alabama 
Railway  has  been  extended  to  Roanoke,  in  the 
southern  portion  of  the  county,  and  will  soon  be 
completed  to  Anniston,  running  right  through 
the  centre  of  the  county,  and  will  open  up  some 
of  the  finest  timber  and  mineral  lands  in  the 
State. 

In  gold,  copper,  mica,  tin,  graphite,  kaolin  and 
iron,  Randolph  is  doubtless  one  of  the  richest 
counties  in  the  State.  All  these  abound  in  the 
northern  portion  of  the  county.  The  kaolin  is 
of  .<upcrior  quality   and    is   inexhaustible.     More 


than  one  mine  is  now  being  worked  to  ad- 
vantage. 

There  is  scarcely  a  square  forty  acres  of  land  in 
the  county  that  is  not  penetrated  by  a  rivulet, 
creek  or  river.  The  Tallapoosa  and  Little  Talla- 
poosa rivers  run  through  the  county,  and  have 
some  of  the  finest  shoals  on  them  that  nature  has 
ever  formed.  There  will  be  large  cotton  factories 
run  by  them  some  time  in  the  near  future.  As 
for  creeks,  Randolph  has  almost  a  superfluity  of 
them.  There  are  eight  flour  and  grist-mills  turned 
by  the  waters  of  Wedowee  Creek.  Randolph  has 
the  purest  and  coldest  freestone  water  in  the  world, 
and  that  in  abundance.  This  accounts  for  the 
wonderful  health  enjoyed  here. 

Wedowee,  situated  as  it  is,  in  rich  mineral  beds 
of  kaolin  and  mica,  will  one  day  be  a  large  and 
prosperous  city.  Leaving  out  the  minerals,  the 
large  pine  forests  that  extend  for  miles  and  miles 
around  it  in  every  direction  will  one  day  make  it 
an  interesting  town.  Brockville,  in  the  north- 
eastern portion  of  the  county,  has  a  fine  school, 
and  is  building  up  rapidly. 

J?ock  Mills  and  Roanoke,  in  the  southern  por- 
tion, are  also  points  of  interest.  Rock  Mills  has 
a  cotton  factory,  a  tannery,  pottery  and  cabinet 
establishment,  and  a  fine  school  also.  Roanoke 
has  lately  arrived  at  the  importance  of  being  the 
only  railroad  station  in  the  county,  and  will  doubt- 
less be  a  flourishing  village.  There  is  a  flourishing 
and  well-established  collcsje  there. 


XVIII. 
ST.  CLAIR  COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  13,500;  colored,  :i,500. 
Area,  030  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Coosa 
and  Cahaba  Valley  lands,  430.  Coal  measures, 
etc.,  2,000  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  l-i,7oO;  in 
corn,  •->5,450;  in  oats,  4,603;  in  wheat,  9,840;  in 
tobacco,  50;  in  sweet  potatoes,  230. 

Api3roximate  number  of   bales  of  cotton,  (i,500. 

County  Seat — Ashville;  population  '^50;  on  the 
Alabama  &  Great  Southern  Railroad,  forty  miles 
northeast  of  Birmingham,  Ala. 

Newspaper  published  in  the  county — Soulhern 
JEgis  (Democratic). 

Postottices  in  the  County — Alluxla,  Ashville, 
Beaver  Valley,  Branchville,  Broken  Arrow,  Cald- 
well, Cook's  Springs,  Cornelia,  Cropwell,  Eason- 
ville,  Eden,  Fairview,  Greensport,  Kelley's  Creek, 
Lochthree,  Moody,  Odenville,  Poe,  Riverside, 
Round  Pond,  Seddon,  Slate,  Springville,  Steel's 
Depot,  Trout  Creek,  Whitney,  Wolf  Creek. 

St.  Clair  County  was  founded  in  1818.  Quite 
a  number  of  aborigines  i-oamed  over  its  soil,  or 
still  occupied  its  territory  then,  and  among  the 
old  records  are  found  deeds  of  land  from  the 
Indians  to  the  white  settlers.  While  the  county's 
resources  are  just  coming  into  notice,  its  histori- 
cal character,  coincident  with  that  of  the  State  of 
whose  territory  it  forms  a  part,  has  been  known 
ever  since  its  creation.  It  is  the  only  county  in 
the  State,  mentioned  by  name  in  Chambers'  Uni- 
versal Knowledge  —  it  is,  the  OTily  one  that  has 
furnished  more  than  one  Governor  for  its  own  and 
other  States. 

Its  soil  is  memorable  as  a  part  of  the  Jack- 
son campaign  in  the  War  of  1813  against  the 
Muscogees,  which  aboriginal  commune  were  the 
natives  of  this  county  at  that  time.  There  are  still 
trace  of  the  encampments  and  defenses  of  the  mili- 
tary, as  well  as  many  evidences  of  Indian  settle- 
ments in  various  parts  of  the  county.  Besides  the 
Indian  town  Litafutchee,  once  situated  not  far 
from  where  the  county  seat  is  now  located,  is  a 
relic  of    the  ancient  empire  of   the  Red    Man's 


dominion  here,  preserved  on  the  pages  of  our 
State  History. 

The  northwestern  boundary  of  the  county  i3 
Blount  Mountain,  a  spur  of  the  great  Sand  Ridge. 
In  the  same  corner  is  Chandler's  Mountain.  The 
table  lands  of  those  elevations  are  noted  for  fruit 
culture,  and  no  better  conditions  exist  for  sheep 
raising.  Besides  the  level  plateaus  are  submissive 
to  agricultural  life,  and  in  this  jiarticular,  owing 
to  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  are  very  productive,  and 
can  be  made  very  profitable.  For  health  and  en- 
joyment no  more  desirable  locations  can  be  found 
in  the  South.  The  mineral  character  of  those 
mountains  is  well  known — coal,  lime  and  iron  are 
found  in  jDlaces,  with  excellent  rock,  while  timber 
is  abundant. 

But  the  principal  coal  beds  of  the  county  lie 
south  in  the  neighborhood  of  Broken  Arrow,  and 
along  the  East  &  West  Railroad.  Here,  owing 
to  the  peculiar  formation  of  hills  and  small  valleys, 
between  the  ridges  the  soil  is  even  more  diversified 
than  in  the  northern  jiart  of  the  county — the 
country  around  is  broken,  undulating,  and  the 
ridges  narrower  and  less  steep  than  further  north. 
The  surface  features  are  just  such  as  one  would 
naturally  expect  in  a  section  of  mineral  character- 
istics varied  by  agricultural  pursuits. 

While  the  recent  industrial  progress  has  not 
concentrated  at  one  point  or  centre  in  the  county, 
so  to  speak,  the  effect  of  general  material  devel- 
opment all  over  its  territory  has  been  very  marked 
in  the  improved  condition  of  society,  and  is  visi- 
ble in  the  numerous  thriving  and  enterprising^ 
communities  sjjringing  up  in  all  directions.  New, 
Broken  Arrow,  Fairview,  Ragland,  River  Side,  Sed- 
den.  Pell  City  etc.,  are  familiar  names  in  the  news- 
pajjers.  The  lumber  business  along  the  railroads, 
rivers  and  large  creeks  has  increased  to  immense 
proportions,  within  a  few  months. 

Six  years  ago  only  one  railroad  passed  through 
the  county  near  its  western  boundary.  Now,  be- 
sides the  Alabama  Great  Southern — a  link  of  the 
great  trunk  line  of   the  Cincinnati  Southern — thft 


156 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


157 


Georgia  Pacific  traverses  oiif  territory  south,  and 
the  East  &  West  pierces  the  very  heart  of  the 
coal  and  iron  region,,  giving  life  and  vigor  to  hun- 
dreds of  before  latent  industrial  operations.  Other 
railroads  are  projected  into  the  county  and  still 
others  are  in  view.  St.  Clair  lies  directly  on  the 
line  of  the  great  railroad  belt  through  the  mineral 
and  timber  regions  of  the  south  to  the  (iulf.  aiul 
on  the  East  «&  AVest  line  from  the  Atlantic  coast 
to  the  pojjulous  Mississippi  regions  of  teeming 
wealth  and  progress.  It  is  probable  that  both 
Anniston  and  Birmingham  will  be  compelled  to 
draw  from  the  natural  resources  of  tliis  county. 
Unfortunately  for  the  latter  city,  neither  of  the 
great  lines  of  railroad  mentioned  pass  through  the 
sections  of  our  territory  that  would  give  it  the 
greatest  advantages  by  opening  roads  to  the  great 
wealth  stored  away  in  our  hills  and  forests.  Hut 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  advantages  to  travel  and 
shipping  afforded  by  transportation  lines  in  this 
county  are  almost  equal,  if  not  entirely  so,  to  the 
best  in  the  State,  and  they  are  sure  in  a  short  time 
to  be  unsurpassed  in  the  South. 

(Juitc  recently  several  mining  and  improvenient 
companies  have  been  incorporated  to  ojierate  in 
in  this  county.  These  have  invested  largely  in 
mineral  lands,  and  sooner  or  later  a  greater  indus- 
trial era  will  begin  here.  Active  operations,  in 
this  respect,  are  secured  by  the  amount  of  capital 
already  scattered  among  the  land  owners  of  the 
county. 

The  agricultural  ijrospects  of  the  county  are  in 
a  flattering  condition,  and  the  farmers  have  not 
been  so  generally  in  a  better  financial  condition, 
since  the  war.  The  products  of  the  soil  are  cotton, 
Irish  and  sweet  potatoes,  with  all  the  cereals  of  a 
temperate  climate.  Potatoes  of  both  kinds  grow 
abundantly.  The  sorghum  crop  seldom  fails,  and 
the  syrup  manufactured  from  this  cane  is  much 
superior  usually  to  the  grades  of  syrups  shipped 
to  our  local  markets.  This  county  will  produce  a 
finer  te.xture  of  cotton  and  more  to  the  acre  on  an 
average,  with  care  and  attention  to  cultivation, 
than  can  be  produced  elsewhere  in  the  State.  Corn 
can  be  raised  in  greater  abundance  than  in  the 
corn  growing  States  with  proi)er  cultivation — the 
soil  seems,  adapted  naturally  to  this  cereal  growth, 
if  planted  early,  but  the  crop  is  too  generally  left 
to  take  care  of  itself  when  it  needs  most  attention. 

Lands  are  remarkably  cheap,  but  this  will  not 
be  long  the  case.  Grasses  and  clover  grow  lu.\ur- 
iantlv.  though  little  or  no  cu+tivation  is  given  to 


such  crops,  the  soil  naturally  producing  grasses 
enough  for  home  purjjoses  without  culture.  The 
dew,  black  and  huckle-berries  grow  abundantly, 
while  the  raspberries  and  strawberries  can  be  cul- 
tivated to  great  advantage. 

The  local  educational  advantages  can  hardly  be 
e.xcelled  anywhere,  as  the  people  are  paying  great 
attention  at  this  time  to  literary  and  business  cul- 
ture. Every  community  has  its  local  school,  and 
new  school  buildings  are  going  up  where  they  are 
needed.  The  same  progress  is  making  in  religious 
and  moral  culture.  In  this  respect  St.  Clair's  his- 
tory of  late  has  been  remarkable,  from  the  new 
places  where  public  works  have  been  going  on. 
The  county  is  almost  free  from  criminals  or  law 
violators.  Even  the  new-comers,  if  wild  and  reck- 
less wheu  they  come  here,  soon  adapt  themselves 
to  the  quiet,  peaceful  habits  of  the  old  element  of 
our  society. 

The  valuation  of  taxable  property  in  St.  Clair 
county  for  the  year  1887  is  S:^, 403, 230,  as  shown 
by  the  abstract  of  assessment  filed  with  the  audi- 
tor. 


JAMES  T.  GREENE.  Probate  Judge  of  St. 
Clair  County,  was  born  in  1841).  The  father  of 
the  subject  of  our  sketch  came  to  this  country 
from  Ireland  at  an  early  period,  and  was  one  of 
the  first  settlers  in  St.  Clair  County.  His  mother, 
Elizabeth  Thoniasoii,  was  a  native  of  Alabama. 
Her  brother,  John  I.  Thomason,  was  Probate 
Judge  of  St.  Clair  County  from  184i;  to  185U.  He 
was  a  public-spirited  man,  and  took  part  in  the 
incorporation  of  the  Alabama  Great  Southern 
Kailroad  Company. 

The  early  educational  advantages  of  our  subject 
were  very  meager,  and  his  literary  attainments  are 
entirely  the  results  of  his  own  efforts.  He  at- 
tended the  country  schools  at  his  home,  and,  after 
leaving  them,  commenced  reading  law  in  1871,  at 
Ashville.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  187"2, 
and  during  the  same  year  was  appointed  Register 
in  Chancery,  in  which  position  he  remained  until 
1880. 

In  1S7(),  when  Judge  L.  F.  Box,  now  Circuit 
Judge,  wa.s  State  Superintendent  of  Education, 
James  T.  Greene  was  chief  clerk  in  his  office  at 
Montgomery  throughout  two  terms,  and  while 
ho'ding  such  position  he,  of  course,  became  widely 
known  in  this  State. 

.lames  T.  (ireene  was  elected  in   18s4  to  rejire- 


158 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


sent  St.  Clair  County  in  the  Legislature,  and  while  | 
in  that  body  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Education.  Prior  to  this  time  Judge  Greene  had 
been  identified  with  his  party  in  some  of  its  most 
important  councils,  and  from  IST-i  to  1870  was 
Chairman  of  the  Democratic  Executive  Committee 
of  St.  Clair  County.  In  1887  he  was  appointed 
Probate  Judge,  and  is  still  holding  that  jiosition. 

Among  other  interesting  facts  before  us,  in  the 
life  of  our  subject  may  be  mentioned  his  intense 
love  of  country  at  a  time  in  life  when  we  are  not 
expected  to  show  much  appreciation  of  such  things. 
He  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  Army  at  the  youth- 
ful age  of  thirteen  years,  and  while  the  spirit  was 
willing,  the  strength  was  not  proportioned  to  its 
demands,  and  on  account  of  ill  health  he  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  service. 

Judge  Greene  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, and  was  for  some  time  W.  M.  of  the  lodge 
at  Ashville. 

In  1873,  our  subject  was  married  to  Miss  Mag- 
gie Ashley,  of  Ashville.  To  this  union  have  been 
born  five  children,  one  of  whom  was  recently  taken 
from  them  by  a  dreadful  accident.  The  following 
touching  notices  of  the  sad  occurrence  is  copied 
from  recent  publications: 

"IX  MEMORIAM." 
OF   SUCH   IS   THE   KINGDOII   OF    HEAVEN. 

Postelle  Greene,  born  August  27th,  188"^,  died 
in  the  afternoon  of  March  14,  1888,  from  the  effects 
of  burns  received  while  popping  corn  with  her 
little  sisters  few  hours  before.  Her  sufferings,  at 
first  intense,  were  soon  greatly  relieved,  and  her 
last  hours  were  calm  and  peaceful.  The  untold 
anguish  of  the  fond  parents  was  shared  by  the 
community,  and  all  that  tender,  loving  hands 
could  do  was  done.  The  deceased  was  an  unusually 
attractive  child.  From  infancy  the  jjet  of  the 
household,  the  darling  of  all,  her  bright,  winsome 
beauty  and  artless  loving  manner,  found  their 
way  like  a  sunbeam,  to  every  heart.  She  retained 
entire  consciousness  until  the  sad  end  came,  speak- 
ing brightly  and  pleasantly  to  her  many  grief- 
stricken  friends  who  crowded  around  her  bedside, 
calling  them  by  name,  aud  manifesting  a  courage 
and  bravery  wonderful  to  see.  Her  bright  little 
spirit  passed  away  from  this  to  a  heavenly  home, 
where,  safe  in  "  the  Lord  Christ's  bosom,"  she 
awaits  the  coming  of  papa,  mamma,  brother  and 
sisters  at  the  '•beautiful  gates  ajar" — not  alone, 
but  hand  in  hand  with  a  cherub  brother  gone  be- 


fore.     Just    before    her    death    she    exclaimed, 
"Everything  looks  golden." 

Perchance  a  gleam  from  the  golden  splendor 
"beyond"  lit  up  her  passage  across  the  dark 
stream.  ■'  I  am  trying,  but  can  not  see  you,  papa," 
were  the  last  words  she  uttered.  Then  sweetly 
she  fell  asleep;  as  sweetly  and  calmly  as  the  flower 
at  evening  closes  its  petals  at  the  kiss  of  the  dew- 
drop. 

"  She  is  not  dead,  but  sleepelb."' 

Our  associations  with  our  little  friend,  now  a 
'•  little  white  angel  in  Heaven,"  will  ever  be  a 
bright  spot  in  memory's  waste.  Lovingly  wo  will 
cherish  them,  and  indulge  the  fond  hojie  that  we 

may 

"Meet  beyond  the  river, 
Where  the  surges  cease  to  roll." 

In  the  hour  of  deep  affliction  consolations  are 
not  of  this  world — the  balm  for  the  wound  must 
come  from  a  higher  source.  May  "a  glimmer  of 
light  in  the  darkness  "  penetrate  the  deep  anguish 
of  the  distressed  household." 

It  is  with  most  profound  sorrow  we  learned  this 
morning  of  the  death  of  little  Postelle,  daughter 
Judge  and  Jlrs.  Jas.  T.  Greene,  of  Ashville,  St. 
Clair  County,  Ala.,  Little  Postelle,  the  idolized 
and  beloved  child,  was  six  years  old,  and  as  beauti- 
ful as  the  fairest  dream,  and  endowed  with  so 
lovely  a  disposition  that,  though  in  the  very  per- 
fection of  health,  the  impress  of  heaven  seemed 
placed  upon  her  angelic  face.  While  playing 
around  the  fire  with  her  sisters,  her  mother  left 
the  room  for  a  few  moments  and  returned  to  find 
her  child  mangled  by  the  flames.  She  died  in  a 
short  time  and  has 

"  Gone  to  the  land  of  life  and  love, 
She  whom  we  loved, 

Risen  to  mansions  fair  and  bright, 

Dwelling  ia  God's  eternal  sight, 

She  whom  we  held  so  dear — so  dear." 

Judge  and  Mrs.  Greene  have  a  large  circle  of 
friends  in  Montgomery  and  over  the  State,  who 
sympathize  with  them  in  their  hour  of  sorrow, 
and  rejoice  in  the  one  comforting  thought  that 
their  darling  is  safe  in  the  hands  of  Jesus  "  wait- 
ing and  watching  at  the  beautiful  gate"  her  loved 
ones  to  meet." 

JOHN  W.  INZER,  Attorney-at-law,  Ashville, 
was  born  in  Gwinnett  County,  Ga.,  in  1834,  and 
lived    there    until    he   had    nearly    attained    his 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


159 


majority.  lie  attended  the  commoTi  schools  of  his 
iieigliborhood,  and  "Gwinnett  Labor  School," 
near  Lawrenceville,  Ga.,  where  he  received  tlie 
greater  part  of  his  education. 

lie  read  hiw  with  .Morgan  &  Walker,  of  Talhi- 
doga,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  that  city  in  -May, 
1S5."),  and  at  Ashville  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession.  He  was  appointed  Probate  Judge  of 
St.  Chiir  County  in  18.")9,  and  held  the  office 
eleven  months. 

,Iudge  Inzer  was  the  youngest  member  of  the 
Secession  Convention  of  18(!1,  and  voted  against 
the  ordinance;  but  after  it  was  passed  he  signed 
and  supported  it  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  After 
the  war.  Governor  Parsons  appoiiited  him  Probate 
Judge  of  his  county.  He  held  the  office  only  for 
a  short  time,  when  he  resigned.  In  I8Ij6  he  was 
elected  to  that  office  and  held  it  until  removed  by 
the  reconstruction.  In  1874  he  was  elected  to 
the  State  Senate,  and  remained  in  that  body  two 
years.  In  August,  187.5,  he  was  elected  delegate 
to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  in  the  labors  of 
which  he  took  an  active  part.  Since  that  time  he 
has  been  engaged  at  the  law — his  practice  extend- 
ing throughout  the  State.  He  has  never  been  an 
office-seeker  nor-jilace  hunter,  and  has  not  been  a 
candidate  since  18;. 5. 

When  the  war  broke  out  Judge  Inzer  was  in 
feeble  health:  nevertheless  he  entered  the  army  in 
18111  as  a  member  of  the  Xinth  Alabama  Hattal- 
lion  of  Infantry.  In  18i;"2  he  was  transferred  to 
the  Eighteenth  Infantry,  and  in  February,  18G3, 
the  Xinth  IJattallion  being  reorganized,  he  again 
became  a  member  of  that  command,  held  the 
rank  of  captain  one  week,  and  was  promoted 
to  the  office  of  major  of  the  battalion,  Itush 
Jones  being  its  colonel.  In  July  the  X^inth  Bat- 
tallion  became  tiie  Fifty-eighth  Alabama  Regi- 
ment, and  Inzer  was  made  lieutemmt-colonel. 
During  the  war  he  was  engaged  in  many  battles, 
among  which  were  Sliiloh,  Corinth,  Chickamauga, 
Lookout  .Mountain,  Missionary  Kidge  and  others. 
He  was  eajnured  on  Xovember  2.5,  1863,  at  Mis- 
sionary Kidge  and  carried  to  Johnson's  Island, 
where  he  was  kept  in  confinement  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  Until  he  was  captured,  his  regiment 
never  went  into  battle  without  him. 

The  Judge's  grandfather,  John  Inzer,  was  an 
Englishman,  and  a  soldier  in  the  Colonial  Army 
during  the  Revolutionary  War.  (He  afterward 
settled  in  .Maryland,  and  later  on  emigrated  to 
North    Carolina).       His    maternal    grandfather, 


John   Reid,    was    an    Irishman ;    he    too  was  a 

Revolutionary  soldier.  Our  subject's  father,  Rev. 
Henry  White  Inzer,  a  minister  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  was  a  native  of  Xorth  Carolina;  removed 
thence  to  Georgia  when  a  young  man,  and  was 
there  married  to  Miss  Phebe  II.  Reid.  He  served 
as  a  captain  in  the  Florida  War,  and  in  18.54  immi- 
grated to  Alabama,  settling  in  St.  Clair  County, 
where  he  died  April  25,  1881.  His  mother  was 
born  and  raised  in  Xorth  Carolina.  She  is  now 
living  with  Judge  Inzer,  her  only  son. 

Judge  Inzer  was  married  in  ISii'i,  to  Miss  Sallie 
E.  Pope,  of  Columbiana,  a  daughter  of  Capt. 
Wiley  H.  Pope,  late  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Alabama 
Regiment,  and  afterward  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Shelby  County. 

Judge  and  Mrs.  Inzer  have  three  children,  two 
daughters  and  one  son.  The  family  are  members 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  the  Judge  is  a  Royal 
Arch  ^lason  and  Past  Master  of  the  Lodge. 


-♦- 


-^- 


JOHN  B.  BASS,  M.  D.,  was  born  in  Jefferson 
County,  Ala.,  January  T,  184.5,  and  was  educated 
partly  at  Ruliama  (now  East  Lake).  His  first 
medical  course  was  at  the  L'niversity  of  Virginia, 
in  1809  where  he  graduated  in  medicil  jurispru- 
dence, and  afterward  took  a  ditiloma  as  JI.  D.  at 
AVashington  University,  Baltimore,  February  'li, 
1870.  He  came  to  Ashville  in  1870,  began  the 
practice  of  his  profession,  and  has  remained 
here  until  the  present  time. 

Di-.  Bass' grand  father,  Burrell  Bass,  was  of  Eng- 
lish descent.  He  served  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  migrated  from  X'orth  Carolina  to  Alabama 
about  1813,  and  settled  near  where  now  stands  the 
city  of  Birmingham  when  Alabama  was  yet  a 
Territory.  The  Doctor's  maternal  grandparents 
were  of  Irish  lineage,  and  came  from  South 
Carolina  to  Tennessee,  and  thence  to  Alabama  the 
same  year. 

Dr.  Bass'  great-grandfather  Bass  was  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  The  Doctor's  father,  Andrew 
Bass,  lived  on  a  farm  near  Birmingham  until  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  1854.  He  served  in  the 
Confederate  Army  as  a  member  of  Company 
B,  Second  Engineer  Corps,  and  operated  with 
Gen.  Leonidas  Polk,  anil  later  in  the  Army  of 
the  Tennessee. 


160 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


Dr.  Bass  was  married  in  February,  1875,  to 
Miss  Annie  E.  Gunn,  of  Georgia.  Tliey  have  but 
one  child,  Hershel  W.  Bass. 

The  Doctor  lias  eschewed  politics,  devotes  his 


time  exclusively  to  his  profession,  and  has  held 
every  official  position  in  the  Saint  Clair  County 
Medical  Society.  He  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
profession  in  his  county. 


XIX. 
SHELBY    COUNTY. 


Population :  White,  l-.^SOO ;  colored,  4,500. 
Area,  780  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Valley 
lands  and  coal  fields,  780  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  17,900;  in 
corn,  26,170;  in  oats,  4,765;  in  wheat,  (;,2!i5;  in 
tobacco,  10;  in  sweet  potatoes,  350. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  0,750. 

County  Seat — Columbiana;  population,  600;  lo- 
cated 73  miles  northeast  of  Selma,  Ala.,  on  East 
Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Railroad. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Shelby 
Chronicle  (Democrat).  At  Calera  Shelbtj  Sentinel, 
Democrat,  and  AUiniice-Netrs. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Aldrich,  Bridgeton, 
Calera,  Cobb,  Cohanbiana,  Ilarpersville,  Helena, 
Highland,  Hot  Spur,  Knight,  Lewis,  Longview, 
Montevallo,  Pelham,  Shelby  Iron  Works,  Siluria, 
Spradley,  Sterrett,  Weldon,  Wilsonville. 

The  county  of  Shelby  was  constituted  in  the 
year  1819.  It  received  its  name  from  Governor 
Isaac  Shelby,  of  Kentucky.  It  is  highly  favored 
in  location,  wealth  and  mineral  wealth.  It  is 
justly  ranked  one  of  the  best  counties  of  the 
State.  Of  late,  rapid  strides  have  been  made  in 
Shelby  County  in  the  development  of  her  mineral 
wealth.  Large  interests  of  many  kinds  have  been 
established  and  are  in  a  thriving  condition. 

The  general  surface  of  the  county  is  hilly 
and  rough  —  features  inseparable  from  a  mineral 
district.  Still,  there  are  many  valuable  lands  for 
agricultural  purposes  to  be  found.  The  north- 
western portion  of  the  county  is  formed  by  the 
coal  measures  of  the  famous  Cahaba  coal  field;  the 
central  portion  by  those  of  the  Coosa  coal  field. 
Lying  between  these  two  natural  divisions  is  the 


Valley  of  the  Coosa.  Alo7ig  these  coal  measures  is 
to  be  found  the  usual  rugged  surface,  and  the  soil 
is  of  a  sandy  character,  and  not  very  fertile.  The 
Coosa  Valley,  which  extends  the  distance  of  thirty 
miles  through  the  county,  is  based  upon  mountain 
limestone.  It  varies  in  width  from  two  to  eight 
miles.  The  lower  valley  lands,  formed  of  lime, 
clay,  and  vegetable  matter,  are'  quite  fertile;  the 
higher  lands,  of  gravel  and  clay,  are  of  inferior 
character.  The  lands  in  the  valleys  are  deemed 
altogether  as  good  as  those  found  in  the  famous 
Valley  of  the  Tennessee.  Corn  and  cotton  grow 
luxuriantly  here,  and  the  yield,  under  favorable 
circumstances,  is  immense.  In  addition  to  these 
Shelby  produces  oats,  wheat,  rye,  barley,  and 
indeed  all  crops  grown  in  this  latitude.  Some 
portions  of  the  valley  are  peculiarly  adapted  to 
stock  raising.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  region 
lying  west  of  the  valley  alread_y  described. 

On  the  western  boundary  of  the  county  is  the 
Cahaba  Valley,  the  width  of  which  varies  as  does 
that  of  the  Coosa  on  the  east.  The  characteristics 
of  the  soil  are  the  same  as  in  the  valley  first  men- 
tioned—  fertile  in  the  bottoms,  and  thin  and 
gravelly  upon  the  high  lands. 

The  conditions  in  many  j)ortions  of  Shelby  are 
quite  favorable  to  the  production  of  fruit,  and 
orchard  culture  is  receiving,  by  degrees,  more  atten- 
tion. 

The  prevailing  timbers  are  hickory,  oak,  chest- 
nut, mulberry  and  pine.  Along  the  numerous 
valleys  that  intersect  each  other  throughout  the 
county  is  to  be  found  the  short-leaf  pine;  while 
the  knolls  and  the  uj^lands  are  crowned  with 
the  long-leaf  pine.  During  the  greater  part  of  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


161 


year  water  prevails  in   great  abundanfc  in  every 
section  of   the  county. 

The  Coosa  river  forms  tlic  eastern  bonntlary,  an<l 
receives  the  drainage  of  that  portion  of  Shelby. 
Hig  and  Little  (.'alKil)a  rivers  drain  the  western 
j.art. 

Springs  abound  throughout  the  county.  Issu- 
ing from  beneath  june-crowned  ridges  that  lie  be- 
tween the  minor  intersecting  valleys,  or  else  burst- 
ing from  thousands  of  craggy  mouths  from  the 
rocky  hillsides,  these  springs  flow  down  through 
the  valleys  in  perennial  streams,  supplying  water 
in  richest  abundance  to  man  iind  beast. 

But  the  peculiar  glory  of  Shelby  is  her  l)road 
domain  of  coal  and  iron,  her  vast  treasures  of  stone, 
marble  and  timber,  and  her  health-giving  mineral 
waters. 

Extensive  manufactories  of  iron  exist  at 
the  Shelby  Iron  Works,  which  have  been  in  suc- 
sessful  operation  for  thirty  years,  and  at  Helena, 
where  are  located  the  Central  Iron  \\'orks.  In 
addition  to  these  interests  are  found  the  Helena 
coal  mines,  and  the  Montevallo  coal  mines.  Fur- 
thermore there  are  considerable  lime-works  at 
Calera,  Siluria,  and  J^ongview,  in  the  county. 
Some  of  these  furnish  lime  as  far  south  as  Galves- 
ton, and  as  far  north  as  Louisville  and  Cairo.  Saw- 
mills are  also  numerous.  ' 

In  some  of  the  Liniestor.e  formations  are  to  be  i 
found  as  superb  building  stone  as  exists  in  any 
quarter  of  the  globe.  Among  these  may  be  men- 
tioned a  light  grayish-blue  rock,  dotted  over  with 
dark  spots,  black  marble,  yellow  marble  with  black 
spots,  gray  and  dove-colored  marbles.  These  are 
very  durable,  and  serve  admirably  as  ornamental 
building  material.  In  the  mountains  between  the 
ujiper  jjortion  of  Shelby  and  the  St.  Clair  portion 
of  the  Cahaba  valley,  there  is,  in  wonderful  abuiul- 
ance.  a  beautiful  sand-stone  that  would  serve  for 
building  purposes.     Harytes  and  slate  also  exist. 

Just  above  Calera.  on  the  East  Tennessee.  Vir- 
ginia &  Georgia  Railroad  are  the  Shelby  S|irings, 
a  favorite  watering  resort.  The  location  is  liigh 
and  healthful,  and  the  waters  have  valuable  medici- 
nal  jiropcrties.  At  Helena  and  .also  near  Bridegton 
there  are  valuable  mineral  springs. 

The  advantages  of  transportation  are  excellent 
in  this  county.  At  Calera,  tliere  is  an  intersec- 
tion of  the  Louisville  &  Xasliville  and  the  East 
Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Railroads.  The 
former  of  these  lines  runs  north  and  south  through 


the  county,  and  the  other  almost  east  and  west. 
All  the  benelits  accruing  from  the  competing  lines 
are  here  afforded . 

The  points  of  greatest  interest  are  Columbiana, 
the  county  seat,  with  a  population  of  about  5<iH, 
Calera,  which  is  located  at  the  intersection  of  the 
two  railroads  already  mentioned,  Wilsonville, 
Ilarpersville,  Helena,  and  Montevallo.  Kxcellent 
church  and  educational  advantages  exist  at  all  of 
these  places.  A  common-school  system,  uiuler 
favorable  direction,  exists  throughout  the  county. 

The  chief  center  of  interest  in  the  county  is  the 
growing  town  of  Calera.  Its  name  is  of  Spanish 
origin,  and  indicates  the  character  of  tlie  sur- 
rounding region,  Calera  being  the  Spanish  name 
for  lime.  It  has  a  population  of  possibly  ■■.',00(», 
and  for  a  number  of  years  has  been  the  location 
of  a  large  foundry. 

Other  important  enterprises  have  already  been 
established.  The  Charcoal  and  Furnace  Comjiany 
have  a  magnificent  plant  and  one  of  the  finest  wells 
in  the  State.  The  two  shoe  factories  are  turning 
out  daily  a  very  superior  quality  of  shoes  that  com- 
pare very  favorably  with  the  best  of  eastern  fac- 
tories, and  are  sold  at  prices  that  defy  competi- 
tion, and  they  are  consequently  crowded  with  or- 
ders. The  Spoke  and  Handle  Factory  is  a  i)aying 
institution,  and  their  products  are  shipped  to 
every  portion  of  the  Union,  as  they  are  finely  fin- 
ished and  made  of  the  most  perfect  timber.  Two 
large  steam  brickworks  are  in  operation,  and  have 
orders  ahead  for  several  weeks.  Another  spoke 
and  handle  factory  will  soon  be  established.  The 
waterworks  are  now  nearly  completed,  and  nego- 
tiations are  now  pending  for  the  erection  of  a  fine 
academy.  « 

'{'he  town  suj)ports  good  schools,  and  has  two  of 
the  best  hotels  in  the  State.  It  is  located  in  the 
midst  of  coal,  iron,  lime  and  excellent  timber,  and 
enjoys  railroad  facilities  in  all  directions,  being 
the  intersection  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  and 
East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Railroads. 

Throughout  the  connty  of  Shelby  there  abound 
the  facilities  of  luunan  comfort,  so  great  are  ad- 
vantages of  climate  and  the  diversity  of  soils  and 
mineral  jiroducts. 

Laiuls  may  be  purchased  at  jirices  ranging  from 
ijix'.oii  to  *'^.5  per  acre. 

There  exist  :5T,!i"-iIi  acres  of  (Jovernment  land  in 
the  county,  wliich  is  being  rapidly  entered  as 
homesteads  bv  actual  settlers. 


162 


^^^ORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


COLUNIBI^NA. 


JAMES    THEOPHILUS    LEEPER,    Judge    of 

Probate,  was  born  in  Mnulton,  Lawrence  County, 
Ala,  September  'ii,  myi. 

In  his  extreme  youth  his  parents  moved  to 
Talladega  County,  where  their  son  was  given  a 
common-school  education. 

In  1S48,  young  Leeper  moved  to  Shelby  County, 
but  in  1850,  returned  to  Talladega  to  be  employed 
as  clerk  in  the  probate  office  a  position  he  held 
for  a  year  and  a  half.  Coming  again  to  Shelby, 
he  was  employed  in  the  same  cajiacity.  lu  ISS-l 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  In  1855  Mr.  Lee- 
per assisted  M.  II.  Cruikshank.  Register  in  Chan- 
cery for  Talladega,  with  the  duties  of  his  office. 
The  next  year  he  was  himself  appointed  Register  for 
Shelby  County  by  Chancellor  James  B.  Clark,  of 
Eutaw.  In  connection  with  his  duties  as  Register 
he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  the  law,  in  co- 
partnership with  his  father,  Samuel  Leeper,  who 
was  one  of  the  most  successful  jiractitioners  in 
this  circuit. 

Mr.  Leeper  was  elected  a  member  of  what  is 
known    as    the   "Parson's  convention"  of  1865. 

In  1865  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Parsons 
solicitor  for  this  circuit;  in  18C6  he  formed  a  law 
partnership  with  Mr.  Lewis;  two  years  later  he 
was  appointed  Register  in  Cfiancery  for  the  Dis- 
trict of  three  counties,  Jefferson,  St.  Clair  and 
Shelby,  by  Chancellor  Woods,  afterward  Associate 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
The  year  following  (18G9),  Mr.  Leeper  was  ap- 
pointed Judg%  of  Probate  for  Shelby  by  Gov. 
W.  H.  Smith.  He  has  held  the  office  continuously 
since,  by  three  popular  elections,  and,  when  his 
present  term  expires  in  1893,  will  have  .occupied 
that  and  other  important  appointment  and  elect- 
ive positions  of  trust  and  emolument  for  the 
greater  part  of  forty-four  years. 

Judge  Leeper  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Elanora 
(Stone)  Leeper,  and  is  one  of  a  family  of  nine,  of 
whom  eight  are  now  living.  Samuel  Leeper  was 
born  in  Georgia  in  1800;  taken  to  Tennessee  when 
but  nine  years  of  age;  came  to  Alabama  in  l^'il, 
and  settled  in  Lawrence  County.  In  early  life  he 
was  a  merchant,  but  afterward  studied  law,  and 
twice  represented  Shelby  County  in  the  Legislature. 
He  died  in  ISTl.      One   of  his  sons,  Francis  L. 


Leeper,  is  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  Tennessee. 

On  the  1st  of  Xovember,  185T,  Judge  Leeper 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Antoinette  M. 
Bandy;  and  of  the  nine  children  born  to  them 
only  five  are  living — three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
The  eldest  son,  Samuel  B.  Leeper,  assists  in  his 
father's  office.  The  Judge  is  a  Royal  Arch  ]\Iason, 
and  an  Odd  Fellow. 

In  1807  Judge  Leejier  joined  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  four  years  later  was  made  an  elder  of 
the  same,  which  position  he  has  filled  with  that 
dignity  and  singleness  of  purpose  which  distin- 
guishes his  life. 

He  is  frank,  open,  easy  and  social  in  manner. 
His  courtesy  is  never  varying,  his  sincerity  is  self- 
vindicating,  and  the  native  courage  of  his  life  at- 
tracts men  of  all  degrees  and  conditions.  Xo  man 
ever  lived  in  the  county  who  carries  a  wider  per- 
sonal influence  than  he.  The  popular  vote  which 
fixed  the  county  on  the  side  of  Prohibition,  was  the 
result  of  his  calm  but  firm  espousal  of  that  policy. 
He  acts  only  after  mature  deliberation,  and  seldom 
changes  his  opinion. 

As  a  Judge  of  Probate,  he  possesses  the  un- 
bounded confidence  of  his  constituency. 

Prior  to  the  late  war.  Judge  Leeper  was  an  active 
Whig  in  politics  and  opi)osed  secession. 

•    ■♦>■  •^^^>-»— ^- 

HENRY  WILSON,  Attorney-at-law,  was  born 
at  Afontevallo,  Shelby  County,  this  State,  Febru- 
ary 21,  1850.  He  was  reared  and  educated  at 
Montevallo.  He  studied  law  there  for  a  time  with 
B.  B.  Lewis  (late  president  of  the  University  of 
Alabama),  and  afterward  read  law  at  Columbiana 
with  R.  W.  Cobb  (afterward  Governor  of  the 
State),  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  April,  1871. 
He  was  apjDointed  Solicitor  of  Chilton  County  in 
that  year,  and  remained  such  until  1873,  when  he 
removed  to  Montevallo.  He  has  practiced  law 
throughout  Shelby  and  adjoining  counties  from 
1873  until  the  j^resent  time,  1888.  Judge  A.  A. 
Sterrett  and  Gov.  R.  W.  Cobb  were  his  partners 
until  the  death  of  Judge  Sterrett,  after  which 
time  the  firm  name  became  Cobb  &  Wilson, 
including   Mr.    Benjamin  F.  Wilson,  brother   of 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


163 


Henry.  They  had  office  sat  Montevallo  ajid 
Coliinibiana.  This  firm  was  dissolved  in  1884,  and 
a  new  jiartnership  etfocted  with  K.  P.  Lyman,  of 
Montevallo.  In  1887.  anotlier  change  included 
J.  L.  Peters,  of  Pibb  County,  and  the  firm  name 
became  Peters,  Wilson  &  Lyman.  In  1880  and 
1881  .Mr.  Wilson  represented  Shelby  County  in  the 
Legislature  and  was  on  some  important  com- 
mittees, inchtding  the  Committee  on  Judiciary 
and  the  Committee  on  Commerce  and  Common 
Carriers. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Joiin  B.  Wilson,  of 
.ATontevallo,  and  his  grandfather,  Benjamin  Wil- 
son, was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  that  village,  long 
known  as  Wilson's  Hill.  The  Wilsons  came  from 
Tennessee  and  Mrginia. 

Dr.  John  B.  Wilson  was  a  iiroininent  physician 
of  ilontevallo,  where  he  practiced  medicine  for 
forty  or  fifty  years.  He  died  in  1881,  about  sev- 
enty years  old.  He  was  married  twice,  first  to  a 
Mrs.  Watrous,  who  died.  He  was  next  married 
to  Miss  Amanda  Bandy,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Judge 
Leepei'.  By  the  second  marriage  there  were 
five  children  who  grew  to  maturity:  three  sons 
and  two  daughters,  viz. :  Henry  Wilson,  Ben- 
jamin F..  John  B.,  Ella  (who  married  J.  L. 
Peters),  and  Leta  (who  married  .Foe  Slaton). 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  married  in  18?:! 
to  Miss  Augusta  Allen,  of  Montevallo.  He  is  a 
Mason.  Knight  of  Honor  and  member  of  the  I. 
II.  <  >.  V. 

^Ir.  Wilson  stands  in  Shelby  County  as  a  man 
of  liigh  character.  He  is  well  known  in  the  State 
as  a  fine  lawyer,  a  man  of  influence,  and  an  ad- 
herent of  Democratic  principles. 

WILLIAM  BRADFORD  BROWNE,  Attorney- 
at-law,  was  Ijoi'ii  in  Piiiladclpliia  in  1853.  Heob 
lained  his  education  at  .Sjiring  Hill  College,  near 
-Mobile,  and  at  the  University  of  the  South,  Sewa- 
nee.  Tenn.  He  began  the  study  of  law  in  1871  at 
Montevallo,  with  Paul  H.  Lewis,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1873,  at  Columbiana,  where  he  has 
been  practicing  law  ever  since. 

His  father,  William  P.  Browne,  was  born  in 
\'ermont,  in  1804,  raised  there,  and  ]>racticed  law 
for  about  seven  years.  He  took  a  contract,  at  an 
early  day,  to  'construct  a  canal  at  New  Orleans, 
and,  after  several  years,  completed  it  and  received 
a   fair   profit   for    his    work.     He    then  went    to 


Mobile,  whence  he  was  sent  to  the  Legislature 
in  1840. 

While  at  Tuscaloosa,  he  met  Miss  Margaret 
Stevens,  whom  he  afterward  married.  In  1848, 
he  moved  to  Shelby  County,  opened  the  Monte- 
vallo Coal  Mines,  and  operated  them  until  his 
death  in  1809.  He  was  a  man  of  great  energy 
and  indomitable  will. 

Of  his  seven  children  four  are  still  living.  One 
of  them,  Cecil  ^Browne,  of  'I'alladega,  represents 
Talladega  and  Clay  Counties  in  the  State  Senate. 
A  daughter,  Mrs.  Jfargaret  Collins,  is  an  actress, 
and  is  well  known  to  theatre  going  jieople  as  Flor- 
ence Elmore.  She  has  attained  enviable  distinc- 
tion as  a  star. 

William  B.  Browne  was  married,  in  1885,  to 
Miss  Lizzie,  daughter  of  Samuel  B.  Roper,  of 
Columbiana. 

Mr.  Browne  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church. 


-<4»- 


WILDES  S.  DU  BOSE,  M.  D.,  was  born  in 
Soiitii  Carolina  in  IS'!;,  and  spent  his  youth  at 
Columbia.  He  attended  ilount  Zion  College, 
at  Winnsboro,  that  State,  three  years,  and  spent 
the  same  length  of  time  at  the  State  LTniversity 
located  at  Columbia.  He  graduated  in  the  class- 
ical course  from  the  University  of  Louisiana,  in 
New  Orleans,  and  after  studying  elsewhere, 
graduated  finally  at  the  Atlanta  Medical  Col- 
lege, in  18.")8.  He  practiced  medicine  at  Decatur, 
Ga.,  until  IS'il,  when  he  entered  the  Confed- 
erate Army  as  captain  of  the  Anthony  ( ireys.  This 
company  was  captured  at  Koanoke  Island,  Feb- 
ruary (i,  180"2.  Dr.  Dn  Bose  afterward  served  as 
surgeon  of  the  Eleventh  Confederate  Cavalry,  and 
othei'  commands.  After  the  war  he  practiced 
medicine  in  South  Carolina  until  1872,  when  he 
came  to  Columbiana.  He  has  been  Chairman  of 
the  Board  of  Censors  of  Shelby  County  almost 
continuously  since  its  organization,  and  is  now 
Senior  Counselor  of  the  State  -Medical  Association. 

Kev.  Julius  J.  Du  Bose,  our  subject's  father, 
was  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
South  Carolina,  and  a  man  of  great  ability.  He 
died  in  1843.  His  wife,  Margaret,  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  (.'ol.  Wm.  Thomjison,  of  .Savannah,  who 
was  a  contractor,  and  built  the  railroad  from 
Charleston  to  Augusta,  said  to  be  the  first  rail- 
road begun  in  the  United  States.     In  this  venture 


164 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


lie  performed  a  large  part  of  the  work  with  the 
labor  of  his  own  slaves. 

Dr.  Du  Bose  was  married  in  1859  to  Miss  Anna, 
daughter  of  James  M.  Calhoun,  of  Atlanta.  Mr. 
Calhoun  was  a  lawyer  of  distinction  in  Georgia, 
and  a  man  of  great  personal  pojiularity.  He  was 
elected  Mayor  of  Atlanta  eleven  consecutive  times, 
and  held  that  office  when  the  city  was  surrendered 
to  Sherman.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Georgia 
Senate  for  many  years,  and  wielded  a  great  influ- 
ence in  regulating  the  banking  Interests  of  that 
State.  He  was  a  cousin  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  of 
national  fame. 

Dr.  Du  Bose  has  seven  children  living.  One  of 
them,  Clarence  C,  is  editor  and  proprietor  of  the 
Slielby  Chronicle;  another,  Gordon,  is  an  attorney- 
at-law  in  Columbiana. 

The  Doctor  is  a  Freema.son,  and  he  and  his  fam- 
ily are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

AMOS  MERRILL  ELLIOTT,  merchant,  was 
born  about  ten  miles  south  of  Columbiana,  March 
2-.',  J 829;  attended  such  sciiools  as  the  vicinity 
afforded,  and  was  early  initiated  into  the  mysteries 
of  merchandising.  In  1855,  he  began  selling 
goods  on  his  own  account  at  Harpersviile,  this 
county;  in  1857,  i-emoved  his  business  to  Colum- 
biana, and,  in  1858,  purchased  another  store  in 
Elliottsville.  He  continued  this  business  until 
1801,  when  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court.  In  ]8r2,  he  was  elected  to  the  lower 
house  of  the  Legislature;  in  1874,  again  he  was 
elected  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court,  which  position 
he  filled,  in  the  aggregate,  twenty-five  years,  and 
finally  declined  a  re-election.     After  this  he  re- 


established his  mercantile  business  in  Columbiana, 
and  has  continued  it  to  the  present  time. 

His  father,  Amos  M.  Elliott,  a  Tennesseean  by 
birth,  came  to  Alabama  when  quite  young;  his 
grandfather,  of  same  name,  came  from  Virginia 
to  Tennessee  in  eai'ly  times,  and  to  Alabama  about 
1810.  He  settled  first  in  the  Cahaba  Valley,  and 
afterward  about  ten  miles  south  of  Columbiana. 

A.  M.  Elliott's  mother  was  Sarah  (Hale)  Elliott, 
from  Tennessee.  Chas.  B.  Eilfott,  the  elder 
brother,  was  sheriff  of  the  county  soon  after  the 
war.  and  is  now  County  Treasurer.  He  also  w;as  a 
merchant  for  many  years.  Lindsey  F.  Elliott,  the 
other  brother,  has  served  the  county  as  a  deputy 
sheriff.  Both  these  brothers  were  in  the  army. 
The  sister,  Rachel  M.,  is  now  the  widow  of  Dr. 
Thomas  P.  Lawrence,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  in  185'2-.3.  He  was  an  eminent  physi- 
cian and  an  eloquent  orator.  He  was  elected  on 
the  Whig  ticket. 

Amos  M.  Elliott  was  married  in  1847  to  Miss 
Mary  Bragg,  a  daughter  of  Captain  Chas.  Bragg,  - 
of  South  Carolina.  She  died  in  September,  1800. 
They  had  six  children,  of  whom  three  lived  to  be 
grown,  and  two,  James  and  Charles,  are  still  living. 
Both  are  farmers. 

Amos  M.  Elliott  was  married  again  in  Sejitem- 
ber,  1801,  to  Mrs.  Sophronia  Holdman,  daughter 
of  James  Hampton,  of  St.  Clair  County,  Ala. 
They  had  two  children,  Emma,  now  wife  of  R.  L. 
Cater,  of  Columbiana,  and  Amos  M.,  who  is  in 
his  father's  store. 

Mr.  Elliott  is  a  Methodist,  a  Royal  .\rch  Mason, 
and  has  been  Master  of  Shelby  Lodge  N"o.  140  for 
a  number  of  years.  He  is  also  Past  Chancellor  of 
Knights  of  Pythias  of  Shelby  Lodge,  No.  50. 

Mr.  Ellioit  has  been  Justice  of  the  Peace  many 
vears.  and  has  been  Countv  Administrator. 


HKLBNA. 


Helexa  is  a  mining  and  manufacturing  town 
in  Shelby  County,  situated  on  the  Louisville  & 
Nashville  Railroad  Company's  main  line  from 
Louisville  to  New  Orleans,  and  within  five  miles 
of    the   half-way   point    between   the  above   two 


cities,    also  about  a  half-mile  from  the  half-way 
point  between  Birmingham  and  Calera. 

Tiie  town  is  mostly  in  the  valley  that  skirts  the 
Cahaba  coal  fields  along  the  full  length  of  its 
eastern  boundary,  and  is  near  the  middle  of  town- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


165 


ship  20,  S.  range  3  west  of  the  Iluntsville  Meri- 
dian. The  population  within  a  radius  of  one  and 
one  half  miles  from  the  railroad  depot  is  about 
1,7(10.  Hiifk  Creek,  a  rocky,  swift-flowing  stream 
passes  almost  in  a  direct  line  across  the  valley  and 
through  tlietown  to  theCahalia  Uiver,  joining  the 
river  about  a  mile  northwest  of  the  town.  The 
town  contains  three  churches  built  by  the  white 
people  of  the  place,  and  the  two  churclies  (Meth- 
odist and  Baptist)  built  by  tlie  colored  inhabi- 
tants. 

The  oldest  church  in  tiie  place  is  Harmony 
C'huVch  (Presbyterian),  the  Rev.  J.  C.  JIale  being 
l)ast()r  ;  by  a  special  law  of  the  State,  all  liquors  are 
forbid  being  sold  within  five  miles  of  this  church. 

The  Baptist  denomination  have  a  good  substan- 
tial church  on  Main  street,  of  which  the  Rev.  H. 
C.  Taul  is  pastor. 

The  Methodists  liave  a  handsome  new  cluirch 
about  a  block  Avest  of  the  Baptist  Church,  with 
the  Rev.  1'.  B.  McKane  as  pastor.  The  above 
three  churches  have  a  fair  attendance,  are  out  of 
debt,  and  increasing  in  strength,  The  town  has 
a  good,  large  well-lighted  frame  school-house, 
owned  by  the  towns-people,  in  which  the  rising 
generation  are  ably  taught  by  Professor  Moses 
Crittenden,  assisted  by  Miss  Fanny  Hale;  the  at- 
etndance  is  large,  some  of  the  pupils  coming  three 
or  four  miles  to  this  school. 

The  people  of  Helena  are  mostly  engaged  in 
coal  mining  and  iron  manufacturing. 

The  Eureka  Comjiany,  of  Oxmoor,  employ 
about  1")0  men  in  mining  and  coking  coal  for 
their  furnaces  at  O.xmoor  and  outside  markets. 
.Said  company  are  now  enlarging  their  woiks  here, 
building  new  coke  ovens,  and  opening  up  new 
mines,  contemplating  a  large  output  of  coal  and 
coke  in  the  future. 

Mr.  R.  Fell,  Sr.,  his  son-in-law.  the  Hon.  R. 
W.  Cobb,  and  three  sons,  Charles,  Richard  and 
Albert  Fell,  forming  the  Central  Iron  Works 
Company,  have  a  well-fiitted  up  rolling-mill  here 
for  the  manufacture  of  merchant  bar  iron  and 
cut  nails.  The  oldest  member  of  the  firm,  Mr. 
R.  Fell,  Sr.,  has  had  over  fifty  years'  experience 
in  the  manufacture  of  wrought  iron. 

The  Fell  Brothers  have  an  excellent  water-power 
grist-mill  and  cotton-gin  within  a  few  yards  of 
the  railroad  depot  here. 

The  Cahaba  Comi)any  are  contemjilating  the 
opening  up  of  the  ('ahal>a  Mines.  'J"he  company 
have    almost  entire  control  of    the  basin  of  the 


Cahaba  seam,  which  can  be  worked  from  three 
different  slopes. 

The  altitude  of  Helena  is  400  feet  above  sea 
level,  and  is  located  in  what  is  generally  known 
as  Possum  \'alley,  a  valley  remarkable  for  health- 
iness along  its  whole  length  of  forty  or  fifty  miles. 
Said  valley  is  nearly  solely  drained  by  the  heads 
of  small  tributaries  of  the  Cahaba  River,  having 
no  large  streams  in  it  except  Buck  Creek,  at 
Helena,  and  the  east  prong  of  Cahaba  River  cross- 
ing it  at  right  angles.  The  valley,  consequently,  is 
entirely  free  from  malaria. 

Doctor  Tucker,  a  practicing  physician  at  Hel- 
ena for  the  sixteen  years  just  past,  states  that  he 
has  never  known  a  single  case  of  disease  from 
malarious  causes  that  originated  at  Helena. 

The  gap  in  Conglomerate  Ridge  on  the  west 
side,  and  the  gap  in  New  Hope  Mountain  on  the 
east  side  of  the  town,  keep  the  air  currents  con- 
stantly moving  from  one  gap  to  the  other  across 
the  town.  This  is  the  secret  of  Helena's  health- 
fulness. 

Helena  is  mostly  located  on  the  geological  for- 
mation usually  classified  as  "  Quebec"  or  Knox 
shales  and  Knox  sandstones  and  dolomites,  but 
pai-tly  on  the  Cahaba  coal  measures,  the  two  being 
divided  by  an  immense  ujithrow  or  "fault"  of 
the  measures  of  over  a  mile  in  vertical  displace- 
ment at  the  railroad  culvert,  :ii)n  yards  west  of  the 
railroad  depot.  The  measures  are  all  thrown  up,  to 
an  angle  of  from  twenty-eight  degrees  to  vertical, 
thus  giving  a  greater  variety  of  si)ring  waters  than 
any  other  place  along  the  lines  of  railroads,  at  least 
for  a  distance  of  twenty  miles  from  Birmingham. 

There  are  seven  springs,  each  affording  entirely 
different  water  from  the  rest,  within  a  radius  of 
.■)0n  yards  from  the  railroad  depot.  One  of  them 
the  "Alum  Spring"  has  already  become  famous 
for  its  benefits  in  certain  chronic  diseases;  quanti- 
ties of  it  have  been  shijiped  to  parties  continu- 
ing its  use  after  returning  home. 

A  railroad  from  Heleiui  to  Blocton  is  exi)ected 
to  be  built  shortly,  and  said  road  will  be  the  best 
coal  road  in  the  State,  giving  Helena  with  its  abun- 
dance of  water,  first-class  manufacturing  advant- 
ages. The  scenery  around  Helena  is  reniarkabh' 
picturesque;  that  on  the  west  side,  where  the 
creek  and  railroad  go  through  the  gap  in  con- 
glomerate ri<lge,  closely  resembling  (on  a  small 
scale)  the  vjdley  and  surroundings  of  Mauch 
Chunk,  Penn. 

The  town  has  six  stores  doinir  a  ilrv  i;oods  and 


166 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


grocery  business,  one  drug  store,  two    hotels,  and 
several  boarding  houses 


RUFUS  W.  COBB,  was  born  at  Ashville,  St. 
Clair  County,  Ala.,  February  25,  1829. 

He  attended  school  at  an  academy  at  Ashville, 
and  graduated  from  the  University  of  Tennessee 
in  1850.  After  leaving  his  alma  mater  he  at  once 
began  the  study  of  law  at  the  home  of  his  child- 
hood; was  licensed  to  practice  at  the  same  place 
about  1855,  and  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  very  soon  afterward. 

He  began  his  professional  life  at  Ashville,  but 
moved  to  Montevallo,  Shelby  County,  in  1856, 
and  made  that  place  his  residence  until  after  the 
war.  In  the  tall  of  1865  he  transferred  his  home 
to  Marion,  Perry  County,  where  he  practiced  law 
until  1868,  at  which  time  he  returned  to  Shelby 
County,  and  located  at  Columbiana. 

In  1872  his  friends  of  the  Democratic  party 
elected  him  to  the  State  Senate  from  the  district 
including  Shelby  and  Bibb  Counties.  In  1876  he 
was  again  sent  to  the  Senate  fiom  this  district, 
which  by  a  change  was  now  comprised  of  Shelby, 
Jefferson  and  Walker  Counties.  This  Senate  made 
him  their  president,  and  in  1878,  the  Democratic 
party  expressed  its  appreciation  of  his  services  and 
ability  by  placing  him  in  the  gubernatorial  chair. 
About  1874  the  State  of  Alabama  found  herself 
hampered  with  an  enormous  debt,  amounting  to 
about  thirty  millions  of  dollars,  a  very  large  por- 
tion of  which  was  improper  and  fraudulent.  A 
plan  for  the  adjustment  of  that  debt  was  devised 
by  Peter  Hamilton,  of  Mobile,  Rufus  W.  Cobb  and 
other  members  of  the  Senate,  and  after  it  had  been 
submitted  to,  and  approved  by,  the  Governor 
(Houston),  bills  were  prepared,  and  proper  steps 
taken  to  effect  such  legislation  as  would  develop  and 
carry  out  this  plan.  They  provided  for  a  com- 
mission to  adjust  the  indebtedness,  which  com- 
mission consisted  of  George  S.  Houston,  Levi  AV. 
Lawler,  and  T.  B.  Bethea,  who  effected  the  pro- 
posed adjustment,  and  reduced  the  State  indebted- 
ness to  about  ten  millions  of  dollars.  This  action 
on  the  part  of  the  commission  was  ratified  by  the 
Legislature.  The  position  of  Rufus  W.  Cobb,at  this 
time,  as  President  of  the  Senate,  and  his  active  en- 
ergy in  developing  the  plan  to  relieve  the  State 
from  her  burden,  made  him  the  prominent  and 
most   desirable  man  to  succeed  Houston  as  Gover- 


nor. He  was  re-elected  Governor  in  1878,  and  at 
the  expiration  of  his  second  term  (1882)  his  pub- 
lic life  ceased.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  active 
as  a  member  of  the  bar  of  Shelby,  and  has  resided 
at  Helena. 

When  the  tocsin  of  war  rang  through  the  land 
in  1861,  Rufus  W.  Cobb  responded  promptly  to  its 
call.  He  entered  the  army  as  captain  of  Com- 
pany C,  Tenth  Alabama  Regiment.  This  command 
was  in  the  Army  of  Xorthern  Virginia.  In  1863, 
he  was  transferred  to  the  Western  Army  under 
Bragg,  and  placed  on  special  and  detached  duty, 
reporting  personally  to  the  generals  in  command. 
He  remained  in  this  service  until  the  close  of  the 
war. 

Governor  Cobb  is  a  son  of  John  W.  Cobb,  who 
was  born  in  Virginia  about  1800,  reared  in  South 
Carolina,  and  came  to  Ashville  about  1820.  He 
married  Catherine  Peake,  a  widow,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Stevens.  They  had  two  sons,  of  whom 
W.  Harvey  Cobb  is  the  elder.  He  was  born  Sej> 
tember  2,  1823,  at  Ashville,  where  he  has  always 
lived,  and  is  now  the  oldest  inhabitant.  John  W. 
Cobb  was  by  occupation  a  merchant  and  farmer, 
and  served  as  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature, 
several  terms.  He  was  a  colonel  in  the  Florida 
War,  and  died  in  1845.  Bishop  Cobb,  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church,  is  related  to  Governor  Cobb,  and 
it  is  believed  that  all  the  Cobbsin  the  country  des- 
cended from  the  one  stock,  which  originated  in 
Wales  Governor  Cobb  was  married  in  1850  to  iliss 
^largaret,  daughter  of  W.  S.  McClurg,  of  Knox- 
ville,  Tenn.  By  this  marriage  Governor  Cobb 
has  two  living  children — John  W.  Cobb,  a  farmer 
near  Blount  Springs,  and  Dora,  now  the  wife  of 
Richard  Pell,  Jr.,  of  the  Central  Iron  Works  and 
Helena  Mills,     ilrs.  Margaret  Cobb  died  in  1865. 

On  the  last  day  of  December,  1866,  Governor 
Cobb  was  niiirried  to  Miss  Frances  Pell,  daughter 
of  Richard  Pell,  Sr.,  a  practical  and  successful 
iron  master,  and  by  this  marriage  has  two  child- 
ren—  Edith  and  Richard. 

Governor  Cobb  and  family  are  Baptists:  the  Gov- 
ernor is  a  Knight  Templar  and  has  taken  the  32d 
degree  in  the  Scottish  Rite.  He  has  been  Master 
of  Blue  Lodge  at  every  place  in  which  he  has  lived, 
and  was  Grand  Master  of  the  State  for  two  terms. 
He  is  the  only  man  who  was  ever  Grand  Master 
and  Governor  at  the  same  time.  The  Governor 
is  an  eloquent  speaker  :  a  man  of  great  deliber- 
ation and  forethought  i  social  in  his  disposition  ; 
liberal  in  his  means,  and  attracts  hosts  of  friends. 


XX. 
TALLADEGA    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  12,319;  colored,  UMl. 

Area — 7()(i  square  miles.     Woodland,  all. 

All  Coosa  \'alley  and  woodland. 

Acres — In  cotton,  approximately,  l>"i,S5(»;  in 
corn,  4(i,:57(i;  in  oats,  9,280;  in  wheat,  i:{,2:50:  in 
rye,  140;  in  tobacco,  30;  in  sweet  potatoes,    .335. 

Approximate  number  bales  of  cotton — 12,000. 

County  Seat — Talladega:  poj>ulation,  3.000. 
on  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  it  Georgia,  AiinistoTi 
&  Atlantic,  Talladega  &  Coosa  Valley  Railroads. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Our 
Mountain  Home,  Re/xnii'i-  and  Wotcli  Tower,  both 
Democratic. 

Postoffices  ill  llic  County — Alpine,  Bledsoe, 
Chandler  Springs.  Childersburgh,  Cyprian,  Esta 
lioga.  Eureka,  Fayetteville,  Ironaton,  Jenifer, 
Kentuck,  Kyniulga,  Lincoln.  McElderry,  McFall, 
Munford,  Pcckerwood,  Reiidalia,  IJenfroe,  Silver 
liun,  Smelley,  Sycamore,  TaUadeya.  Turner, Wal- 
do. White  Cloud. 

Talladega  County  was  established  December  18, 
1832,  the  territory  being  a  ))artof  the  last  Muscogee 
cession.  The  original  limits  were  retained  until 
Clay  County  was  formed  in  1860.  Its  name  is  said 
to  be  derived  from  the  Muscogee  words.  Teka, 
meaning  border,  and  Talla,  meaning  town. 

This  county  has  long  numbered  among  its  res- 
idents some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  Ala- 
bama, prominent  among  whom  may  be  mentioned 
as  follows: 

.Judge  Shortridge.  Judge  John  White,  Mr. 
Joab  Lawler,  Mr.  Lewis  \\ .  Ijiiwler,  Mr. 
Alexander  IJowie,  Mr.  Felix  (J.  McConiiell,  the 
gifted  Mr.  Frank  \\'.  Howdon,  Mr.  .Jacob  T.  Bran- 
ford,  Mr.  John  J.  Woodward,  ilr.  Jabez  L.  M. 
Curry,  Ex-CJov.  Lewis  E.  Parsons,  Mr.  Marcus 
II.  Cruikshank.  Gen.  James  B.  Martin,  Mr. 
.John  T.  Iletlin,  Mr.  John  Henderson,  Mr.  X.  D. 
Johns,  Mr.  A.  R.  Biircliiy.  Mr.  M.  C.  Slaughter, 
Mr.  Joseph  D.  McCaiiii.  Mr.  Andrew  Cunningham, 
Mr.  Alexander  White. 

MoUie  E.  Jloore,  a  native  of  this  county,  but 
now  of  Texas,  has  acquired   a  just  colclnity  as  a 


poet.  Some  of  her  verses  are  among  the  rarest 
gems  of  Southern  literature. 

Talladega  County,  situated  along  the  southern 
tier  of  the  northeastern  counties  of  the  State,  and 
having  within  its  borders  the  southern  terminus 
of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  is  favored  in  cli- 
mate, location,  soil,  accessibility  and  varied  re- 
sources. 

The  mean  tempei'ature  is  Sn  degrees.  The  aver- 
age annual  rainfall  is  50  inches.  The  soil  and 
climate  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  all  kinds  of  fruits 
and  vegetables,  besides  growing,  fairly  well,  corn, 
wiieat,  oats,  rye,  cotton,  clover  and  the  grasses. 
While  many  varieties  of  soil  exist,  the  prevailing 
color  is  red  clay;  and  as  there  is  an  abundance  of 
lime  in  the  soil,  they  respond  readily  to  manuring. 
The  county  offers  prominent  inducements  to  stock- 
men, fruit  growers,  truckers,  saw-mill  men,  and 
iron  workers. 

Lanils  are  to  be  had  from  five  to  thirty  five 
dollars  per  acre,  owing  to  location  and  fertility; 
but  there  are  within  the  county  thousands  of 
acres  of  timbered  lands  which  can  be  had  for  the 
value  of  the  timber,  and  which  will  inevitably 
bring  wealth  when  used  for  vineyards,  orchards 
and  truck. 

The  location  of  the  county  favors  such  a  system 
of  farming,  as  it  is  environed  by  growing  cities 
which  must  needs  be  fed:  and  it  has,  within  its 
borders,  great  quantities  of  timber,  of  limestone 
and  marble,  of  gold  and  of  iron,  besides  being 
contiguous  to  limitless  beds  of  coal.  These  var- 
ious resources  are  beginning  to  be  developed,  and 
on  every  hand  are  being  evidenced  thrift,  vitality 
and  wealth.  Iron  furnaces  are  located  at  .Jenifer 
and  Ironaton.  and  others  are  contemplated  at 
Talladega.  Sylacauga  and  Childersburg.  Large 
saw-mills  are  in  operation  at  Berneys.  Cymulgee, 
Childersburg.  Nottingham.   Lincoln  and  l{enfroe. 

The  county  isaccessible.  having  on  the  west  the 
Coosa  River,  and  being  traversed  by  the  East 
Tennessee.  Virginia  &  Georgia,  the  Georgia  Pa- 
cific, the  Anniston  &  Atlantic,   the  Coosa   Valley 


1C7 


168 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and  the  Columbus  Western  Railroads.  The  county 
has  three  summer  resorts,  viz. :  Talladega,  Chand- 
ler and  Shocco  Springs,  which,  from  their  health- 
ful waters  and  favorable  locality,  add  much  to  the 
inducements  of  the  county. 

The  people  are  intelligent,  hospitable  and  largely 
church-going.  The  county  is  well  supplied  with 
churches  and  schools,  and  the  roads  are  fast  being 


put  in  good  condition.  There  is  no  debt  on  the 
county. 

The  taxable  values  are  §4,.50O,U0O,  and  rate  of 
taxation  one  per  cent. 

The  valuation  of  taxable  ^jroperty  in  Talladega 
County  for  the  year  1887  is  $4,722,308,  as  shown 
by  the  abstract  assessment  filed  in  the  office  of  the 
State  Auditor.     [See  Talladega,  this  volume.] 


XXI. 


TUSCALOOSA    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  15,216;  colored,  9,711. 
Area,  square  miles,  1,390.  Woodland,  all.  (h-av- 
elly  hills  and  long-leaf  pines,  675.  Coal  measures 
965  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  33,773;  in 
corn,  38,638;  in  oats,  6,974;  in  wheat,  2,689;  in 
rye,  130;  in  sugar-cane,  35;  in  tobacco,  20;  in 
sweet  potatoes,  919.  Approximate  number  of 
bales  of  cotton,  12,000. 

County  Seat — Tuscaloosa;  population,  2,500; 
located  on  Black  Warrior  River  at  the  head  of 
steamboat  navigation,  and  on  Alabama  Great 
Southern  Railroad. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Gazette, 
Timesa.ni\  Alabama  University — the  former  Dem- 
ocratic and  the  latter  educational. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Binion's  Creek, 
Clement's  Depot,  Coaling,  Cottondale,  Dudley, 
Fosters,  Hagler,  Hayes,  Hybernia,  Hickman's, 
Hull,  Humphrey,  .Jena,  Leled  Lane,  McConnell's, 
Marcumville,  Moore's  Bridge,  New  Lexington, 
Northport,  Odenheim,  Olmsted  Station,  Ore- 
gonia,  Reuben,  Romulus,  Samantha,  Sijisey  Turn- 
pike, Skelton,  Sylvan,  Tannehill,  Tuscaloosa, 
Tyner,  Waldo,  White  Cloud. 

Tuscaloosa  County  was  established  February  7, 
1818. 

Its  original  northern  boundary  was  that  of 
the  jjresent  counties  of  Marion  and  Winston.  It 
was  named  for  the  river  Tuscaloosa,  wliieii  Hows 
through    it.       Tiie   name   is   from    tiie    Choctaw 


words,  tusca,  warrior,  loosa,  black,  hence  Black- 
warrior.  The  northern  and  northeastern  por- 
tions of  the  county  contains  the  finest  long-leaf, 
yellow  pine  forests  in  the  State.  Poplar,  ash, 
white  oak,  hickory  and  beech,  and  others  of  the 
forest  trees,  some  of  which  are  marvelous  in  size. 
Coal,  iron  ore  and  fire  clays  abound  throughout 
the  entire  county. 

In  addition  to  the  Queen  and  Crescent,  several 
railroads  have  been  projected  and  surveyed,  and  a 
large  force  is  now  constructing  one,  the  Tusca- 
loosa Northern,  which  crosses  tlie  Warrior  nine 
miles  above  the  city,  and  will  pass  the  great  coal 
and  timber  belt  north  and  northeast  of  the  city, 
and  cpnnect  with  the  Georgia  Pacific  at  Ada,  and 
thence  with  the  great  St.  Louis  &  Memphis  sys- 
tems, giving  access  to  the  great  West.  The  Gulf 
&  Chicago  has  been  surveyed  from  Florence  to 
Mobile,  developing  a  remarkably  low  grade  con- 
sidering the  rough  country  through  which  the 
northern  division  passes.  The  Mobile  &  Tusca- 
loosa has  also  been  surveyed,  which  will  be  ex- 
tended to  Natchez  via  Jackson.  In  addition  is 
another  important  railroad,  the  Great  Northwes- 
tern, which  is  to  be  built  from  Montgomery 
through  the  Cahaba  and  Warrior  coal-fields,  cia 
Tuscaloosa  to  Sheffield. 

The  Tuscaloosa  Cotton  Mills,  with  about  200 
looms,  started  six  years  ago  with  140,000  capital, 
and  has  paid  out  over  §(250,000  to  employes.  The 
varn    mills   of    L.    P.    Gander   run   about   3,000 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


169 


spindles,  and  have  doubled  tlieir  output  within  the 
last  year.  These  are  located  on  the  river  front, 
and  are  models  of  success.     The  Cottondule  Mills 


have  been  equally  successful.  In  addition  to  these, 
four  or  five  extensive  brickyards  are  in  successful 
operation. 


XXll. 
TALLAPOOSA    COUNTY. 


J'opulation  :  White,  KJ, 108  :  colored,  7,283. 
Area,  810  square  miles.     Woodland,  all. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  41,200  ;  in 
corn,  -11,450  ;  in  oats,  9,100  ;  in  wheat,  14, .572  ; 
in  tobacco,  21  ;  in  sugar-cane,  41  ;  in  sweet  pota- 
toes, 408.  Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cot- 
ton, 14,921. 

County  Seat — Dadeville  ;  pojuilatiou,  1,200; 
on  the  Columbus  &  Western  Railroad,  thirty 
miles  from  Opelika,  and  forty-five  miles  northeast 
of  -Montgomery. 

Xeuspaper  published  at  County  Scat — Talla- 
pmixa  yew  Era,  Democratic. 

Postollices  in  the  County — Alexander  City,  Bul- 
ger's Mills,  Huttston,  Camp  Hill,  Cowpens.  Dade- 
ville, Daviston,  Dudleyville,  Emuckfaw,  Fish 
Pond,  Foslieeton,  Goldville,  llackneyville.  Island 
Home,  Jackson's  Gap,  Mary,  Matilda.  Melton's 
Mill,  Xew  Site,  Sturdevant,  Susanna,   Thaddeus. 

Tallapoosa  County  lies  in  the  east  center  of  the 
State,  and  was  created  in  1832  out  of  a  portion  of 
the  last  cession  of  the  Creek  Indians.  The  word 
Tallapoosa,  means  ''cat  town,"'  and  was  first  ap- 
plied to  the  Tallapoosa  KiveV,  from  wliidi  the 
county  derived  the  name. 

The  soils  of  this  county  may  be  divided  into 
two  prominent  or  predominating  classes,  the  red 
and  the  gray,  both  of  which  are  based  on  a  subsoil, 
of  a  reddish  or  yellowish  color,  but  in  addition  to 
these  soils,  which  are  found  mostly  on  uplands, 
there  are  a  large  number  of  bottoms  along  the 
banks  of  the  Tallapoosa  River,  and  the  many  creeks 
tributary  to  that  stream.  These  bottom  lands  are 
the  most  productive  lands  of  the  county, and  com- 
prise a  considerable  proportion  of  the  county's 
area.    The  yield  of  this  class  of  lands  will  compare 


favorably  with  the  yield  of  the  best  laiuls  in  the 
State,  and,  take  it  year  in  and  year  out,  crops  plant- 
ed on  them  yield  with  regularity  and  certainty. 
The  reddish  lands  of  the  uplands  are  specially 
adapted  to  the  ])roduction  of  small  grain,  and  fair 
crops  of  wheat  and  oats  are  produced  on  them. 
All  the  soils  of  the  county  are  used  in  the  pro- 
duction of  cotton,  though  that  article  is  culti- 
vated more  extensively  on  the  loamy  lands  of  the 
southern  portion.  The  yield  of  corn  and  wheat 
on  the  red  lands  will  compare  favorably  with  tlie 
best  results  obtained  elsewhere  in  the  State,  while 
in  the  production  of  the  latter,  Tallapoosa  ranks 
with  the  leading  counties  of  Alabama. 

The  forests  are  heavily  timbered  with  white, 
red  and  Spani.<h  oak,  poplar,  hickory,  pine,  ash, 
mulberry,  and  gum.  These  valuable  timbers  will 
be  brought  into  requisition  as  the  demand  grows 
for  their  use  in  the  mechanical  arts. 

'J'he  county  is  watered  by  the  Tallapoosa  River 
and  the  Hillabee,  Chattasofka,  Big  Sandy,  Little 
Sandy,  Sorgahatchee,  Buck,  Elkehatchee,  Blue, 
Winn,  and  Emuckfaw  Creeks.  Immense  water- 
power  jjrevails  in  every  section  of  the  county  and 
upon  the  principal  streams,  notably  upon  Big 
Sandy  and  Hillabee.  The  incline  jjlanes  over 
which  the  vast  volumes  of  water  are  precip- 
itated give  them  immense  power  for  numufactur- 
ing  purposes. 

The  Tallapoosa  River  which  flows  through  the 
county,  dividing  it  in  two,  is  capable  of  furnishing 
many  thousand  horse-power  to  be  utilized  for 
manufacturing  purposes.  The  great  falls  on 
this  river  occur  in  the  southern  portion  of  the 
county,  and  are  utilized  at  Tallassee,  in  Elmore 
County,  for  the  manufacture  of  cotton  goods.    At 


170 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


this  point  the  waters  of  the  river  rush  for  several 
hundred  yards  down  a  steep  declivity,  until  the 
falls  are  reached  where  they  pour  down  over  a  shelf 
about  twenty  feet  in  height.  The  fall  of  the  river, 
within  500  yards  of  the  factory  at  Tallassee, 
is  fixed  at  between  50  and  75  feet,  and  it  is 
estimated  that  this  fall  is  capable  of  furnishing 
fully  100  horse-power.  The  many  sites  for  manu- 
facturing purposes  in  this  county,  where  motive 
power  could  be  furnished  by  water,  are  used  for 
nothing  more  important  than  saw  or  grist  mills. 

Tallapoosa  is  rich  in  mineral  resources,  and  it  is 
thought  that,  for  extent  and  variety,  its  mineral 
deposits  will  lead  those  of  any  other  county  in  the 
State.  There  is  no  question  as  to  the  presence  of 
gold  in  different  portions  of  the  county,  and 
recent  investigations  have  strengthened  the  belief 
that  it  was  in  sufficient  quantity  to  make  work- 
ing it  highly  profitable.     This  precious  article  is 


being  mined  in  several  localities  in  the  county, 
with  more  or  less  success.  Copper  mines,  near 
Dadeville,  have  been  fitted  up  at  a  great  cost  with 
a  stamping  mill,  and  it  is  said  that  the  indications 
point  to  a  rich  reward  in  the  future  for  the  out- 
lay. In  addition  to  gold,  silver  signs  have  been 
discovered  in  several  localities,  but  the  extent  of 
the  deposits  has  never  been  ascertained.  Besides 
the  minerals  of  great  value,  Tallapoosa  contains 
deposits  of  mica  of  a  superior  grade  and  an  extra 
large  size,  graphite,  asbestos,  emery  and  granite. 
Dadeville,  the  county  seat  of  Tallapoosa,  is  a 
pleasant  little  town  of  about  2,000  people,  situated 
on  the  Columbus  and  Western  road,  about  sixty 
miles  west  of  Opelika.  Its  people  are  content, 
prosperous  and  happy.  The  location  of  the  town 
is  all  that  could  be  desired  in  point  of  scenery  and 
health.  Fine  schools  flourish,  and  churches  of 
various  denominations  are  found  here. 


XXIll. 
WINSTON    COUNTY. 


Population  :  \Miite,  4,23G  ;  colored,  lo.  Area, 
540  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  All  coal  meas- 
ures, but  in  western  part  of  county  these  rocks  are 
covered  with  drift. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately).  2,000:  in 
corn,  8,098;  in  oats,  5.79  ;  in  wheat,  1,9G7  ;  in 
sweet  potatoes,  173.  . 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  G55. 

County  Seat — Double  Springs;  population  325. 

Newspaper  publisheil  at  County  Seat — Winston 
Herald,  Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Ark,  Biler,  Brown's 
Creek,  Clear  Creek  Falls,  Collier  Creek,  Double 
Springs,  Houston,  Larissa,  ]\Iotes,  Pebble. 

The  name  of  this  county  was  changed  from  that 
of  Hancock  in  1858.  Under  the  original  name  it 
was  organized  in  1850. 

As  far  as  investigations  have  gone  the  county 
seems  to  have  immense  resources  of  minerals. 
Within  the  last  year  it  has  attracted  considerable 


attention,  which  has  been  mainly  due  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  Georgia  Pacific  Kailroad.  As  soon 
as  the  road  shall  have  been  comjileted,  Winston 
will  become  one  of  the  chief  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts of  the  State. 

It  is  in  no  sense  an  agricultural  county,  although 
in  some  portions  cotton  and  corn  are  quite  readily 
produced.  The  local  industries  are  farming, 
stock  raising  and  wool  growing.  Dairy-farming 
is  carried  on  to  a  limited  extent. 

This  county  is  abundantly  supplied  with  water. 
These  numerous  streams,  by  their  confluence,  form 
the  chief  water-ways  of  the  county — Black  AVater, 
Big  Bear,  Clear  and  Eock  Creeks,  and  Sipsey  and 
Brushy  Forks.  The  Buttahatchie  and  New  Rivers 
have  their  fountain  heads  amid  the  wild  hills  of 
Winston  Ciounty.  Along  the  abounding  gorges  and 
valleys  there  rush  the  multitudinous  tributaries 
which  feed  these  principal  streams  from  many 
quarters.   Winston  can  not  be  excelled,  perhaps,  by 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


171 


any  county  in  tlie  State,  in  the  wildness  and  pict- 
uresqueness  of  its  natural  scenery.  The  waters 
in  some  instances  have  worn  channels  in  the  sand- 
stones, and  often  flow  through  gorg:es  with  high, 
])erpoudicular  sides.  In  some  instances  rapids  and 
cataracts  are  found,  wliich  till  the  solitudes  with 
their  loud-sounding  thunder.  Two  of  these  water- 
falls occur  in  Clear  Creek  about  :iOO  yards  apart; 
tlie  fall  of  each  is  about  thirty  feet.  Below  the 
falls  the  water  dashes  down  a  deep,  narrow  gorge. 
They  are  objects  of  pecular  interest,  and  will  one 
(lay  attract  many  sight-seers.  "  Kock-houses,"  as 
they  are  locally  named,  abound  along  these  streams. 
In  the  neighborhood  of  these  rocky  caverns  are 
found  growing  in  luxuriance  and  beauty  the  rarest 
ferns  known  to  American  florists. 

The  natural  timber  growth  is  composed  of  post, 
red,  and  Spanish  oaks,  poplar,  beech,  holly, 
chestnut,  sour  gum,  and  occasionally  short-leaf 
pine.  In  many  parts  of  Winston  the  forests  are 
as  yet  untouched,  aiul  hence  abound  in  many 
fine  specimens  of  the  timber  already  named. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  lands  which  lie  adja- 
cent to  creeks  in  the  bottoms. 

One  of  the  chief  attractions  of  this  county  is 
its  abundatit  game.  Turkeys  and  deer  abound  in 
every   portion  of    Winston,    and     hunters    resort 


thither  from  the  adjoining  counties.  Most  excel- 
lent fish,  too,  are  found  in  the  numerous  streams. 

The  county  is  exceedingly  rich  in  its  mineral 
properties.  The  extent  of  these  deposits  is  as 
yet  unknown,  but  it  is  believed  that  no  portion  of 
Alabama,  of  the  same  compass,  will  excel  the 
county  of  Winston  in  its  mineral  resources. 

Vast  quantities  of  coal  underlie  the  hills,  and 
iron  ore  is  also  abundant.  In  some  sections  a 
superior  quality  of  slate  is  found,  and  in  large 
quantities.  These  slumbering  resources  only 
await  the  construction  of  railway  lines  in  order  to 
fiiul  their  way  into  the  mai-kets  of  the  world. 

There  are  several  railroads  contemplated,  some 
of  which  are  under  construction,  which  will  add 
greatly  to  the  market  facilities  and  general  im- 
provement of  the  county.  Among  them  may  be 
mentioned,  as  most  prominent,  the  Georgia  I'acific. 

The  educational  advantages  of  the  county  are 
fairly  good;  church  facilities  good.  Land  may 
be  purchased  at  from  S3  to  §30  per  acre. 

Government  land  in  the  county,  20,T'J0  acres. 

The  people  of  the  county  of  Winston  are  social, 
industrious,  thrifty,  law-abiding,  hospitable.  God- 
fearing and  serving,  and  will  gladly  welcome  all 
good  people  who  may  come  to  make  tlieir  home 
witli  them. 


XXIV. 
WALKER    COUNTY. 


population  :      White.  !i,000;  colored,  .i,000. 

Area,  880  square  miles.     Woodland,  all.t 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  8,f.50:  in 
corn,  -21,830;  in  oats,  2,580;  in  wheat,  5,-430;  in 
rye,  80;  in  tobacco,  70:  in  sugar  cane,  11;  in 
sweet  potatoes,  '.Vl'i. 

Approximate  numlier  of  hales  of  cotton,  '2, 800. 

County  Seat — Jasper;  population,  OdO;  located 
on  the  Kansas  City,  Memphis,  Hirmingham  & 
Atlanta  Railroad. 

Newspapers  publislied  at  County  .Seat — Mountain 
Ea(jh,  Democratic;  True  Cilizen,  Indejiendent. 


Postoffices  in  the  County — Bartonville,  Heach 
(irove,  Boldo,  Clark,  Cordova,  Corona,  Eagle, 
Edgil,  Eldridge.  Gamble,  Gravleeton,  Gurganus, 
Hewitt,  Holly  Grove,  Janeburgh,  ,/rtc>7;f;-,  Kansas, 
Leith,  Loss  Creek,  Luckey,  Manasco,  Marietta, 
jMiddleton,  Xaiivoo.  Patton,  South  Lowell,  Wil- 
mington, York, 

Walker  was  cieated  December  'J",  18'2-1.  ami 
the  territory  taken  from  Tuscaloosa  and  Marion. 
Tiie  northern  portion  was  set  apart  to  form  Win- 
ston in  IS.iO.  It  lies  soutii  of  Winston,  west  of 
Blount,  northwest  of  Jefferson,   north  of  Tusca- 


172 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


loosa,  east  of  Marion  and  north  and  east  of  Faj- 
ette.  It  was  nanaed  for  the  Hon.  John  W. 
Walker,  of  Madison. 

It  is  attracting  remarkable  attention  at  this 
time  by  reason  of  its  immense  resources  of  coal. 
From  present  indications.  Walker  is  the  richest  of 
all  the  counties  of  the  State  in  its  mineral  deposits. 
It  seems  to  be  almost  an  unbroken  coal-field  from 
limit  to  limit.  The  coal  is  of  a  hard  bituminous 
character,  with  but  a  small  percentage  of  ash. 
Various  geological  reports  point  to  the  existence  of 
five  or  six  valuable  seams,  which  lie  in  successive 
layers,  one  above  the  other.  There  are  various 
outcroppings,  indicating,  from  the  surface,  seams 
of  superior  coal  which  vary  in  thickness  from  two 
to  eight  feet.  Remoteness  of  transportation  has 
forbidden  the  establishment  of  mines  in  the  past, 
but  the  construction  of  the  Georgia  Pacific  is 
awakening  new  life,  and  the  early  comjjletion  of 
the  Sheffield  &  Birmingham  and  the  Memphis  & 
Birmingliam  Railroads,  running  from  Kansas  City 
to  the  Atlantic,  will  greatly  enhance  the  value  of 
Walker  County  lauds.  The  surface  of  the  county 
is  broken,  the  hills  in  some  places  being  steep  and 
high. 

Like  the  adjoining  county  of  Winston,  the  soils 
of  Walker  are  not  remarkable  for  their  fertility, 
it  being  in  nowise  an  agricultural  county,  but 
adapted  almost  solely  to  manufactures.  Still,  it 
is  not  without  fertile  lands.  Snug  farms  are  found 
in  many  portions  of  it,  and  many  of  its  inhabi- 
tants have  subsisted  upon  the  productions  of  their 
farms  since,  and  even  before,  the  formation  of 
their  county. 

About  one-third  of  the  area  of  AValker  is  cov- 
ered with  a  sandy  soil.  This  land  is  admirably 
suited  to  the  production  of  fruit,  which  grows 
here  in  great  abundance,  especially  such  as  the 
hardy  fruits,  jjears,  apples,  peaches,  plums,  etc. 
Fruit  trees  have  been  standing  in  many  orchards 
for  many  years,  and  have  rarely  failed  of  an  annual 
yield.  In  other  sections  of  Walker,  especially  in 
those  lying  adjacent  to  main  streams,  there  are 
many  thrifty  farms,  upon  which  grow,  with  great 
readiness,  corn,  cotton  and  wheat. 

This  is  also  true  of  what  are  locally  termed  "  the 
bench  lands'' — the  plateau  regions  of  the  county. 
Here  are  many  first-class  farms,  which  are  easily 
.  tilled,  and  whose  cultivation  is  most  remunera- 
tive. Stock-raising  is  receiving  some  attention  in 
the  county,  and  the  experiments  have  been  most 
gratifying. 


The  county  is  highly  favored  with  streams,  whose 
rapid  and  perjietual  flow  mark  them  for  future 
usefulness  in  the  manufactures.  Chief  among 
these  are  Mulberry  Fork,  which  flows  through  the 
southeast  and  joins  Locust  Fork  in  the  south;  the 
Black  Water,  SijDsey  Fork  and  Lost  Creeks.  These 
are  supplied  by  numerous  tributaries,  which  drain 
the  county  from  every  quarter.  As  fine  timber 
forests  skirt  these  sti'eams  as  are  found  in  the 
northern  portions  of  the  State.  These  embrace 
the  different  varieties  of  oak,  post,  red  and  Sjjan- 
ish,  together  with  beech,  poplar,  the  gums,  and 
short-leaf  pine.  In  the  neighborhood  of  South 
Lowell,  about  six  miles  from  Jasper,  the  county 
seat,  there  is  a  section  of  long-leaf  pine  forest, 
covering  an  area  of  about  ten  miles  broad  and 
twenty-five  miles  long.  This  superb  tract  of  tim- 
ber is  penetrated  by  the  Black  Water  River,  the 
banks  of  which  are  lined  by  thriving  manufac- 
tories, such  as  corn,  wheat  and  lumljer  mills  and 
cotton  gins. 

The  passage  of  the  Georgia  Pacific  through  the 
county  has  awakened  much  interest,  and  when 
that  shall  have  been  intersected  by  the  j\IobiIe  & 
Birmingham  Railroad,  which  will  run  the  entire 
length  of  the  State,  from  Mobile  to  Florence,  the 
advantages  of  the  county  will  be  immense. 
Through  these  great  channels  of  trade  her  rich 
minerals  of  coal  and  iron  will  seek  outlets  to  the 
world  beyond.  These  minerals  are  considered 
j^ractically  inexhaustible.  In  the  interior  of  the 
basin  in  Walker  County  is  the  Jagger's  coal  bed, 
which  is  said  to  be  one  of  exceeding  thickness. 

The  coal  development  of  Walker  County  is  only 
in  its  infancy.  The  following  collieries  have  been 
opened  and  are  now  in  operation  on  the  main  line 
of  the  Georgia  Pacific  Railroad  :  The  Tennessee 
&  ilobile  Coal  Co. ;  Virginia  &  Alabama  Mining 
and  Manufacturing  Co.  ;  Wolf  Creek  Coal  Co.; 
O'Brien  Coal  Co.;  Black  Diamond  Coal  Co.;  Ed. 
Donaldson  Co.  and  the  Norvil  Coal  Co.  The 
capacity  of  these  mines  at  present  is  1,500  tons 
daily,  and  if  a  supply  of  cars  could  be  bad  they 
would  increase  their  output  to  2,500  tons  of  coal 
daily.  The  quality  of  this  coal  can  not  be  excelled 
for  domestic  and  steam  purposes.  The  seam  of 
coal  averages  three  feet  and  eight  inches,  covering 
a  territory  of  20,000  acres  of  this  seam  of  coal,  to 
say  nothing  of  three  other  seams  of  coal  on  the 
same  property,  adapted  for  coking  and  steam 
purposes. 

The   Kansas    City,    Memphis    &    Birmingham 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


173 


Koad  is  now  comi)leted  from  Memphis  to  Uir- 
iniiigliam,  passing  through  Wali<er  County. 
The  seams  of  coal  in  Walker  County  im  the  War- 
rior Coal  Fields  are  entirely  clear  of  faults,  which 
is  a  great  inducement  for  coal  operators  to  locate 
in  AWilker  County.  There  is  no  oounty  in  the 
State  of  Alabama  to  equal  Walkei-  County  in  coal 
and  lumber  interests. 

Throughout  the  county  the  educational  advan- 
tages are  moderate,  and  church  facilities  abound. 
Both  these  improve,  as  one  approaches  the  princi- 
pal   villages.      Jasjjer,    the   county   seat,    with   a 


population  of  three  or  four  hundred,  has  good 
schools  and  two  comfortable  church  edifices.  Holly 
(Jrove  and  South  Lowell  are  also  points  of  interest 
and  growing  importance. 

TJke  other  counties,  the  resources  of  which  are 
being  ra|)idly  developed,  the  peoj)le  of  Walker  are 
anxious  to  have  their  lands  purchased  and  jiopu- 
latod. 

Great  inducements  are  just  now  beinir  offered 
to  purchasers  of  lands. 

There  are  embraced  within  the  limits  of  Walker 
County  U'8,840  acres  of  Government  land. 


JASPBR. 


Jasi'KU,  county-seat  of  Walker,  is  located  at  the 
junction  of  the  Kansas  City,  Memphis  it  Birming- 
ham, and  Sheffield  &  Birmingham  Kailroads,  forty- 
four  miles  west  of  Birmingham,  210  miles  east 
from  Sheffield,  and  fifty-six  miles  northeast  of 
Tuscaloosa.  The  country  around  Jasper  is  like 
most  of  Walker  County,  broken  and  mountainous. 
The  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  town  depends  on 
coal,  timber,  and  agriculture  in  the  valleys. 

Jasper  is  centrally  located  in  the  county,  coal- 
fields extending  in  every  direction  for  about  fifty 
miles.  It  promises  to  be  an  important  railroad  cen- 
ter in  the  future:  that  is  to  say  in  addition  to  the 
two  roads  now  here,  there  will  be  a  connection 
with  the  Georgia  Pacific,  and  Tuscaloosa  Xorth- 
crn,  and  the  Sheffield  &  Birmingham  Coal.  Iron  & 
Railway  Company.  There  are  now  going  on  ne- 
gotiations for  a  furniture  factory,  as  well  as  a  large 
lumbering  outfit;  also  for  a  rolling  mill,  and  a 
plant  for  pit  cars,  wheel-barrows,  etc.  Also,  a 
coke  plant,  at  a  cost  of  !!!500,(i00,  is  now  breaking 
ground.  This  company  owns,  in  Walker  County, 
70,0(1(1  acres  of  mineral  lands,  and  has  a  capital  of 
xSdO.ddO.  In  addition  to  the  above  named  indus- 
tries, there  are  twenty  other  comiianios  owning 
valuable  coal  mines  in  Walker  County. 

Jasper  has  two  churches — Methodist  and  Bap- 
tist— a  Miwonic  lodge,  twenty-five  business  housss, 
including  a  bank  with  a  )>aid  up  capital  of  ^••200,000, 
and  two  hotels.  Its  population  is  now  about  l,.")(Ki, 
and  is  daily  increasing.  It  is  an  active  and  bust- 
tling  plare,  full    of   hope   and    enterju'ise.      The 


value  of  town  property  has  advanced  ten-fold  in 
the  last  eighteen  months. 

The  city  of  Jasper  was  iiteorporated  December 
22,  1887,  and  George  H.  Guttery  was  its  first  may- 
or; W.  S.  Foster  its  first  secretary  and  tax  assessor; 
B.  M.  Bradford,  marshal  and  collector:  and  J.  B. 
Shields,  W.  C.  Rosamond,  I).  L.  Stovall,  and  W. 
G.  Gravlee  its  first  Board  of  Councilmen. 

The  streets  are  all  laid  off,  and  some  grading 
done,  a  corporation  building,  including  a  court- 
room and  council  chamber  and  prison,  has  been 
erected,  and  the  entire  town  has  been  platted,  ex- 
tending over  one  square  mile.  The  Sheffield  & 
Birmingham  Coal,  Iron  &  Railway  Company  are 
now  building  at  this  place  250  coke  ovens  and  the 
largest  coal  bins  in  the  State.  The  trestle  over 
which  the  railroad  track  runs  will  be  about  fifty 
feet  high,  and  the  coal  will  be  placed  in  the  bins, 
taken  thence  and  placed  in  the  ovens  without  be- 
ing handled  from  the  time  it  leaves  the  mine.  The 
intention  of  the  comjiany  is  to  increase  the  num- 
ber of  ovens  to  1,000,  and  when  completed  will 
have  a  capacity  of  1,000  tons  of  coke  per  diem. 

The  city  of  Jasper  is  not  yet  old  enough  to  have 
made  much  history,  but  for  the  unparalleled  ad- 
vantages offered  by  it  and  Walker  County,  the 
reader  is  referred  to  the  history  of  the  county, 
and  the  •' Toi)ography,  Geology  and  Natural  Re- 
sources ''  of  Xortherii  Alabama,  so  elegantly  and 
elaborately  set  forth  in  this  volume.  Among  the 
prominent  members  of  the  legal  profession  of 
Jasper   nniy  be  named:  A\'.    B.    Appling.    E.    W. 


174 


NORTHERA'  ALABAMA. 


Coleman,  C.  J.  L.  Cunniugham,  S.  M.  Gunter, 
S.  Lacy  and  John  McQueen,  while  the  other  pro- 
fessions are  well  represented. 

Among  the  oldest  families  iu  JasjDer  is  the 
Miisgrove  family,  in  fact  they  were  the  first  set- 
lers  of  the  town.  Dr.  E.  G.  Musgrove  moved  to 
that  section  of  Alabama  befoi'e  the  State  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  Union,  and,  immediately  after  the 
formation  of  the  county  of  Meeker,  he  laid  out 
the  town  of  Jasper  and  gave  the  entire  town  to 
the  county,  conditioned  upon  locating  the  county 
seat  there,  which  was  accepted,  and  a  court-house 
and  jail  was  immediately  built.  This  family  has 
been  continuous  residents  of  Jasper.  First  after 
the  death  of  Dr.  Musgrove  came  his  oldest  son, 
Capt.  P.  A.  Musgrove,  who  was  born  and  reared 
in  the  place  and  was  amongst  the  first  citizens  of 
the  town  and  county,  having  filled  various  jiosi- 
tions  of  trust  and  honor  in  the  county  and  served 
one  term  in  the  State  Legislature.  At  the  begin- 
ing  of  the  war  he  went  into  service  as  captain  of 
OomiDany  L,  Twenty-eighth  Alabama  Regiment. 
He  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro,  and 
after  his  recovery  went  into  service  as  major  of  a 
cavalry  conijiany  which  he  raised  at  home  during 
his  illness.  Following  in  the  direct  line  of  the 
decendants  comes  L.  B.  and  J.  C.  Musgrove,  his 
only  sons,  who  are  still  living  at  the  old  home- 
stead, and  are  both  closely  identified  with  the 
building  of  the  city,  and  also  in  the  development  of 
the  coal  and  iron  interests  of  the  count}-. 

The  Jasi^er  Land  Company  was  organized  on 
December  19,  1S87,  by  the  election  of  the  follow- 
ing Board  of  Directors: 

G-orge  H.  Nettleler,  President  of  the  Kansas 
City,  Memphis  &  Birmingham  Railroad;  James 
P.  Johnston,  President  of  the  Alabama  Xational 
Bank;  J.  G.  Chamberlain,  (General  Manager  of 
the  Sheffield  &  Birmingham  Coal,  Iron,  and  Rail- 
road Company;  A.  G.  Francis,  of  the  Corona  Coal 
&  Coke  Company;  J.  C.  Musgrove,  W.  L.  Wallis, 
R.  H.  Elliot,  Chief  Engineer  of  Kansas  City, 
Memphis  &  Birmingham  Railroad;  P.  A.  Gamble 
and  S.  B.  Musgrove. 

The  following  were  elected  the  active  officials  of 
the  Company: 

Joseph  P.  Johnston,  President;  L.  B.  Mus- 
grove, Vice-President  and  General  Manager;  J. 
M.  Burrell,  Secretary,  and  William  S.  Foster, 
Treasurer. 

This  company  owns  about  4,000  acres  of  land 
in  and  ai-ound  the  city  of  Jasper,  and  is  closely 


identified  with  both  the  citizens  and  railroads 
running  into  that  place.  It  is  quite  liberal  in 
its  efforts  to  build  up  a  flourishing  city  in  shape 
of  donations,  and  also  in  loaning  money  to  insti- 
tutions to  locate  here.  The  greater  portions  of 
the  most  valuable  property  of  the  city  is  in  the 
possession  of  the  Land  Company,  and  it  is  sjiaring 
neither  means  nor  money  to  develop  this  fast-grow- 
ing city.  The  Company  has  succeeded  in  locating 
several  of  the  largest  and  best  industries  in  the 
State  at  Jasper,  and  with  their  efforts  bent  on 
this  line,  as  it  is  at  the  present  time,  will  in  a 
very  few  years,  put  Jasper  among  the  flourishing 
cities  in  North  Alabama. 


WALKER  COUNTY  BANK  was  organized  in 
Xovenibei',  1887,  with  llinton  F,.  Carr,  president, 
John  B.  Hughes,  cashier,  and  a  cajjital  stock  of 
$20,000,  all  paid  in.  The  business  has  been  satis- 
factory from  the  first,  and  has  doubled  itself  the 
last  two  months.  The  deposits  are  larger  than 
the  managers  had  any  reason  to  exjiect,  and  the 
business  is  conducted  on  a  strictly  legitimate 
plan.  The  managers  will  change  it  into  a  national 
bank  November  1,  1888. 

HiNTON  EvEKETT  Cark,  president  of  the  bank, 
was  born  May  23,  1856,  in  Coffeeville,  Miss.  His 
father,  Louis  F.  Carr,  moved  from  Coffeeville  to 
Memphis,  Tenn.,  in  the  same  year,  and  the  sub- 
ject of  our  sketch  resided  there  until  fourteen 
years  ago.  In  1870  he  went  to  Arkansas  with  his 
father,  studied  law  there  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  at  Helena.  He  practiced  law  in  Helena  and 
edited  The  Patriot,  a  daily  and  weekly  paper. 
He  came  to  Jasper  April  1,  1877,  and  soon  after 
associated  himself  in  the  practice  of  law  with 
Hon.  A.  E.  Stratton,  which  partnership  continues. 

Mr.  Carr  was  married  in  Helena  in  1880  to  Miss 
Emma,  daughter  of  Joseph  Delaney.  They  have 
two  daughters. 

Mr.  Carr's  father,  Louis  P.  Carr,  was  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  and  a  graduate  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  that  State.  His  wife,  Lucy,  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Alfred  Turner,  one  of  the  most  extensive 
slave  owners  of  Mississippi.  He  died  about  the 
close  of  the  war. 

H.  E.  Carr  has  fought  his  own  way  in  the  world 
and  has  been  entirely  the  architect  of  his  own 
fortune,  since  the  fortune  he  would  have  inher- 
ited was  lost  on  account  of  the  war. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


175 


John  Bell  Hl'uhes,  son  of  Daniel  and  Char- 
lotte (Bell)  Hughes,  was  born  in  Tuscaloosa  County, 
Ala.,  February  t|,  1S.'38.  He  was  roared  on  a  farm, 
attended  the  country  schools  and  the  academy  at 
Tiiylorville,  spent  some  years  in  a  tannery,  and  at 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  became  a  member  of 
Company  (J,  Eleventh  Alabama  Kegiment.  In 
the  fall  of  18G1  he  was  elected  lieutenant,  and  in 
18G-2  was  promoted  to  a  captaincy.  lie  was  in 
the  first  battle  of  Manassas,  all  the  important 
battles  of  the  army  of  Xorthern  Virginia,  and  was 
at  Appomattox  at  the  surrender.  He  was  once 
captured  and  imprisoned  two  montlis  at  Washing- 
ton and  Fort  Delaware;  was  wounded  at  the  bat- 
tles of  Sharpesburg  and  Gettysburg. 

Mr.  Hughes  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  circuit 
court  at  Jasper  in  1881.  At  the  organization  of 
the  Walker  County  Bank,  he  was  made  its  cashier, 
and  still  holds  that  office.  His  father,  Daniel 
Hughes,  was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  his 
mother  was  born  in  Georgia.  The  Hughes  family 
was  originally  from  near  Charleston.  S.  C. 

JOHN  B.  SHIELDS.  Probate  Judge  of  Walker 
County,  .son  of  i>r.  Milton  and  Priscilla  J,  (Brad- 
son)  Shields,  was  born  at  Marshall's  Ferry,  in 
Granger  County,  Tenn.,  xVugust  "^5,  1840.  He 
attended  an  old  field  school  in  that  neighborhood 
until  about  fifteen  years  of  age,  when  he  went  to 
Greensville  College,  East  Tennessee,  and  pursued 
his  studies  there  for  two  years.  He  next  studied 
medicine  for  two  or  three  years,  and  upon  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  became  first  lieutenant 
of  Company  I,  Fifty-ninth  Regiment  Tennessee 
Confederate  Infantry.  This  regiment  was  cap- 
tured at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  but  was  paroled  at 
once,  and  thereafter  mounted  as  cavalry  under 
Gen.  J.  C.  Vaughan  (since  the  war  a  Congress- 
man). His  brigade  made  a  camjiaign  into  Mary- 
land in  1864,  under  (ien.  Early.  After  the  raid 
into  -Maryland  they  went  into  East  Tennessee  and 
Western  Virginia.  He  then  commanded  the  com- 
pany as  captain.  He  was  engaged  at  the  battle 
of  Grand  (iulf,  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Baker's  Creek, 
Piedmont,  Morristown,  Bull's  Gap,  Monocacy 
.Junction,  ild.,  Winchester  and  many  others. 
After  Lee'.s  surrender  he  went  into  North  Caro- 
lina and  joined  Joseph  F].  Johnson's  army,  but 
surreiulered  at  Athens,  Ga. 

After  the  war  he  went  into  mercantile  business 


at  Newnan,  Ga.,  and  remained  there  eighteen 
months.  During  tiiis  time  he  married  and  returned 
to  his  native  place  in  East  Tennessee  in  18<J(i.  He 
found  his  home  entirely  desolate,  and  his  first 
business  was  to  rebuild  the  old  house  and  re-estab- 
lish the  homestead.  After  acconijilishing  this  he 
clerked  two  years  at  Morristown. 

In  1808  he  moved  to  AVolf  Creek,  then  the  ter- 
minus of  the  Cinciunatti,  Cumberland  Gap  & 
Charleston  Railroad,  as  merchant  and  railroad 
station-agent.  In  1871,  he  moved  to  Carroll 
County,  Ga.,  to  sujierintend  the  (ieorgia  Paper 
]\Ianufacturing  Company.  (His  childhood  had 
been  largely  spent  in  his  father's  pa]>er-mill.)  In 
1873  he  moved  to  Walker  County,  re-fitted  Long's 
Mill,  on  Black  AVater  Creek,  and  became  a  mer- 
chant and  miller  there.  After  three  years  he  sold 
out  that  interest  to  B.  M.  Long,  moved  to  South 
Lowell,  and  ran  a  steam  saw  and  planing-mill, 
which  he  conducted  individually  for  two  years. 
He  still  owns  an  interest  there  as  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Shields  &  Cartter. 

His  old  homestead  in  Tennessee  ha.s  been  in  the 
possession  of  his  family  for  si.xty  years,  and  it  has 
been  very  recently  discovered  that  the  place  con-- 
tains  a  ledge  of  solid  marble  of  many  different 
colors,  beautifully  variegated,  and  more  than  300 
feet  thick. 

The  Judge's  residence  is  properly  at  South 
Lowell,  which  was  once  a  flourishing  village  (six 
miles  from  Jasper),  but  is  now  neglected  and  dead. 

Judge  Shields  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in 
1878  on  the  Greenback  ticket,  by  a  majority  of 
twenty-eight  votes,  but  was  counted  out.  In  1884 
he  was  again  elected  to  the  Legislature  on  an  Inde- 
pendent ticket,  and  served  in  1884  and  1885.  In 
the  year  188G  he  was  elected  Probate  Judge  of 
Walker  County,  and  is  still  the  incumbent  of  that 
office. 

Judge  Shields  was  married  September  IK,  18IJG, 
in  Carrollton,  Carroll  County,  (ia.,  to  iliss  Carrie 
E.,  youngest  daughter  of  Judge  John  Long,  who 
was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  served  as  judge, 
legislator,  and  in  other  offices,  for  more  than 
twenty-five  years.  He  settled  in  Carroll  County 
in  182G,  when  the  county  was  full  of  Indians,  and 
reared  a  family  of  four  sons  and  tiiree  daughters. 
One  of  these  sons,  B.  M.  Long,  of  Cordova,  is  one 
of  the  most  prominent  and  infiuential  men  in 
Walker  County,  and  pays  more  taxes  than  any 
other  man  in  the  county. 

Five  children  have  been  born  in  Judge  Shield's 


176 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


family,  all  of  whom  are  girls.  Their  names  are  : 
Kaniiie  P.,  Lily  Lou  (now  dead),  Carrie  May,  J. 
Maud,  and  Johnnie  B.  The  Judge  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.     His  wife  is  a  Methodist. 

Milton  Shields,  the  Judge's  father,  was  a  son  of 
James  Shields,  and  of  Irish  descent.  He  was 
born  in  Greene  County,  Tenn.,  in  1804,  and  died 
in  Sevier  County,  Tenn.,  December  20, 1866.  He 
owned  pajjer-mills  at  Marshall's  Ferry  and  at 
Middlebrook,  near  Knoxville,  and  was  interested 
in  an  iron  furnace.  He  made  the  writing  and 
printing  paper  that  was  used  throughout  this 
country  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  and  shipped  it 
here  down  the  Tennessee  Eiver.  This  paper  was 
at  first  made  by  hand,  and  one  sheet  moulded  at 
a  time. 


FRANKLIN  ASBURY  GAMBLE,  Director 
of  the  Jasjjer  Land  Company,  is  a  son  of  John  E. 
and  Jane  (Mills)  Gamble,  and  was  born  September 
23,  1830,  in  Shelby  County,  this  State,  near 
where  Calera  now  stands.  His  father  moved  to 
Walker  with  his  family  and  goods  in  a  wagon,  in 
1837.  His  early  advantages  were  poor,  and  his 
education  was  principally  obtained  by  hard  study  at 
home.  He  left  the  farm  in  1855,  and  clerked  for 
two  years.  He  was  elected  Judge  of  the  Probate 
Court  in  May,  1859,  and  March,  1862,  was  captain 
of  Company  F,  Twenty-eighth  Alabama  Kegiment 
Infantry,  and  served  with  that  regiment  in  Bragg "s 
camjjaign  through  Kentucky.  The  hardshijjs  of  the 
army  proved  too  severe  for  him.  His  health  failed, 
and  he  was  sent  home  in  the  latter  part  of  that 
year,  and  saw  no  more  service  in  the  army. 

From  1865  until  1868  he  served  as  County  Ad- 
ministrator, and  directed  the  management  of  a 
farm.  In  1869,  he  embarked  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness, and  followed  that  for  four  years.  In  1874  he 
took  charge  of  the  Mountain  Eagle,  a  weekly 
paj)er  at  Jasper,  and  edited  it  until  July,  1877, 
when  the  Eagle  office  and  other  buildings,  includ- 
ing the  Walker  County  Court-House  were  burned. 
Soon  after  this.  Judge  Gamble  was  apjiointed 
Judge  of  the  Probate  Court  by  Gov.  George  S. 
Houston,  an  old  and  warm  personal  friend  of  his, 
and  he  retained  that  office  by  election  until  No- 
vember, 1886.  During  his  term  of  office,  he 
dealt  to  some  extent  in  real  estate,  and  has  con- 
tinued that  business.  He  was  one  of  the  origina- 
tors of,  and  a   stock-holder   and    director   in,  the 


Jasper  Land  Company,  and  has  had  much  to  do 
with  its  management  from  its  inception.  He  also 
owns  and  controls  large  and  extensive  mining  in- 
terest in  Walker  County. 

Judge  Gamble  was  first  married  in  Kovember, 
1857,  to  Jliss  Jerusha  A.,  daughter  of  Rev.  James 
H.  Freeman,  who  was  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Ej)iscoi3al  Church,  South,  for  about  sixty-two 
years,  and  was  extensively  known  in  Walker,  Fay- 
ette and  Tuscaloosa  Counties.  By  this  marriage, 
the  Judge  had  five  children  born  to  him,  of  whom 
but  one  (Lelia  J.),  is  now  living.  Mrs.  Gamble 
died  in  April,  1874,  and  the  Judge  was  again  mar- 
ried in  April,  1877,  to  Miss  Mary  A.,  daughter  of 
Judge  Thomas  Owen,  one  of  the  jDioneers  of  Tus- 
caloosa. By  the  second  marriage  the  Judge  had 
a  family  of  five,  of  whom  two  sons  only  are  living: 
Frank  A.  and  Foster  K. 

The  .Judge's  father  was  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  many  years,  and 
held  some  county  offices.  He  was  a  soldier  under 
General  Jackson  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  died  in 
186;).  Judge  Gamble's  two  grandfathers,  Robert 
Gamble  and  James  Mills,  were  both  soldiers  in  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  Robert  Gamble  was  present 
at  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis.  He  came  from  Ii-e- 
land  at  an  early  date.  James  Mills  was  one  of 
the  few  survivors  of  the  Continental  Army  at  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  He  was  bayoneted  in  that 
conflict  by  a  British  soldier,  knocked  into  a  deep 
ditch  by  the  blow  of  the  bayonet  against  the 
buckle  of  his  sword  belt,  and  left  there  for  dead, 
as  he  feigned  to  be,  but  his  life  was  saved  by  the 
buckle,  and  when  opportunity  ofEered  he  made 
his  escape.  About  thirty  years  after  this  he  met 
Joseph  Crawford,  a  comrade,  messmate  and  most 
intimate  friend  before  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill; 
each  one  of  them  having  long  been  confident 
that  the  other  had  been  killed  in  that  battle. 


WILLIAM  CAPERS  ROSAMOND,  Druggist, 
Jasper,  Ala.,  son  of  Nathaniel  J.  and  Amy  (Pow- 
ell) Rosamond,  was  born  in  Lawrence  District, 
S.  C,  in  1833,  worked  on  a  farm  until  he  was 
eighteen,  when  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  at 
Northport,  Ala.,  and  was  licensed  to  practice  at 
Tuscaloosa,  this  State.  He  came  to  Walker 
County  in  1856,  and  soon  attained  an  extensive 
practice  here.  In  1862  he  joined  the  Confederate 
Army,  serving  as  a  private;  was  appointed  Assist- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


177 


ant-Surgeon  in  General  Fiirgeson's  brigade,  and 
saw  service  in  Tennessee,  Louisiana.  Mississippi 
and  Alabama.  He  was  at  Shiloh  and  Vicksburg, 
and  served  under  Bragg  and  Johnston  in  Ten- 
nessee. 

In  l!S(J()  Dr.  Rosamond  returned  to  .Tasper.  and 
l)racticed  medicine  until  187.S.  when  he  retired 
from  practice  on  account  of  his  health.  He  was 
soon  afterward  elected  to  the  State  Senate  from 
Walker,  Jefferson  and  Shelby  Counties.  Since 
that  time  he  has  been  engaged  in  nierchaiidising, 
and  is  now  a  druggist. 

Dr.  JJosamond  was  first  married,  in  18.")6,  to 
Miss  Medorah  F.,  daughter  of  Kev.  Jas.  H.  Free- 
man, a  poi)ular  Methodist  preacher  then  living  at 
Tuscaloosa.  There  were  six  children  born  to  this 
union,  viz.:  Edward  P..  Willie  L.,  Ethbert  C, 
Franklin  K.,  Hester  May  and  Amy  Lee.  Mrs. 
Rosamond  died  November  1.5,  1882,  and  the  Doc- 
tor contracted  his  second  marriage  December  li, 
18S.'3,  with  Miss  Henrietta,  daughter  of  David  F. 
Dinsmore,  of  Laudersville.  Mr.  Dinsniore  was  a 
prominent  citizen,  and  held  several  county  offices 
in  Lawrence  County. 

N'athaniel  J.  Rosamond,  Dr.  Rosamond's  father, 
was  of  French  Huguenot  origin.  His  ancestors 
came  to  Virginia  about  the  time  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  (1.598).  The  Doctor's  mother.  Amy  Pow- 
ell, was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  came  to  South 
Carolina  with  her  parents,  and  was  married 
there. 

Dr.  Rosamond  is  a  member  of  the  .Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  of  the  Masonic 
fraternitv. 

•    -O'-S^^--^ 

GEORGE  HOUSTON  GUTTERY,  Mayor  of  the 
City  of  Jasper,  son  of  Robert  and  Sarah  (Will- 
iams) Guttery,  v.'as  born  in  Walker  County,  Ala., 
in  1818.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm:  educated  at 
Jasper  and  llollygrove,  and  farmed  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  when  he  went  into  the 
army  as  a  member  of  Company  A,  Fifty-si.xth 
Alabama  Regiment,  with  Capt.  A.  J.  Guttery,  his 
brother,  commanding  the  company.  He  served  in 
Forrest's  command  in  Mississippi,  and  with  John- 
son's army  from  Dalton  to  Atlanta,  and  in  all  the 
battles  in  which  it  participated  until,  and  imlud- 
mg,  Peach  Tree  Creek. 

In  18(i'i,  Mr.  Guttery  came  from  llollygrove  to 
Jasper,  commenced  business  as  a  merchant,  and 
conducted  that  business  until  1874,  when  he  was 


elected  sherifT  of  Walker  County,  and  served  as 
such  until  1877.  In  the  following  year  he  com- 
menced merchandising  again,  and  continued  it 
until  April  20,  1SS8.  The  city  of  Jasper  was  in- 
corporated December  22,  1887,  and  Jlr.  Guttery 
was  elected  its  first  major,  a  position  he  still  holds. 

He  was  married  in  187li,  to  Miss  Alice  C, 
daughter  of  W.  L.  Stanley,  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
Jasper  and  treasurer  of  AValker  County  before 
and  during  the  war,  and  has  three  children. 
Claude,  Pearl  and  John  McQueen. 

Mr.  Guttery's  father,  Robert  (iuttery,  was  a 
pioneer  preacher  of  the  Primitive  Baptist  Church, 
and  among  the  first  settlers  of  Walker  County. 
He  came  here  from  Tennessee  with  his  father, 
William  Guttery,  at  an  early  day. 


-^^ 


JOHN  B.  LOLLAR,  son  of  John  A.  and  Susan 
(Gillin)  Lollar,  was  born  November  30,  1835,  near 
Jasper,  Ala.,  and  was  reared  on  a  farm  at  Lost 
Creek.  He  went  into  the  Confederate  Army  as 
third  lieutenant  in  Company  G,  Thirteenth  Ala- 
bama Regiment,  Cavalry  (Colonel  Hewlitt.)  This 
regiment  was  consolidated  with  the  First  Ala- 
bama, which  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Boyle, 
of  .Mobile,  and  for  about  a  year  did  garrison  duty 
at  Columbus,  j\Iiss.  It  afterward  served  at  other 
places  in  that  State. 

After  the  war  Mr.  Lollar  made  corn  and  cotton 
for  some  years  on  Lost  Creek.  In  1877  he  was 
elected  sheriff  of  Walker  County,  and  ta.\  collector 
in  1880.  In  1885  he  was  appointed  postmaster  at 
Jasper,  and  in  1880  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court,  which  position  he  has  held  until  the 
present  time. 

Mr.  Lollar  was  married  in  1857  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Isaac  Taylor,  a  prominent  citi- 
zen of  Poplar  Cove,  N.  Ala.,  and  who  died  in 
Texas.  Jlr.  Lollar  has  eight  living  children,  viz  : 
William  R.,  Fannie  E.,  Meta  J.,  Queen  Victoria, 
JIargaret  E.,  Isaac  II.,  Andrew  J.  and  Joe. 

John  A.  Lollar  (John  B.'s  father)  came  to 
Walker  County  at  its  first  settlement,  and  his 
father.  Hugh  Lollar,  named  the  town  of  Jasper. 

Hugh  Lollar,  Jr.,  John  B.'s  oldest  brother, 
was  sheriff  of  Walker  County  before  the  war,  and 
is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  best  oflicers  the 
county  ever  had.  He  was  killed  at  the  battle  of 
Murfreesboro. 


XXV. 

CHAMBERS    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  11,36-1;  colored,  12,076. 
Area,  610  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  All 
metamorphie. 

Acres — ^-In  cotton  (approximately),  TO.iiS-l;  in 
corn,  49, .300;  in  oats,  9,258;  in  wheat.  11,520;  in 
tobacco,  39;  in  sugar-cane,  211;  in  sweet  potatoes, 
1,038. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  20,100. 

County  Seat — La  Fayette;  population,  2,000; 
located  on  East  Alabama  Railroad,  eighteen  miles 
from  Opelika,  and  eighty-four  miles  from  Mont- 
gomery. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Cham- 
ber.s  County  Democrat  and  Sun,  both  Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Bloomingdale,  Bos- 
worth,  Buffalo,  Chapel  Hill,  Cusseta,  Fredonia, 
Happy  Land,  Hickory  Flat,  La  Faijette,  Lystra, 
Milltown,  Oakbowery,  Osanippa,  Sandy  Creek, 
Sharon,  Stroud,  Tuckersburgh. 

Chambers  County  lies  in  tlie  eastern  portion  of 
the  State,  and  joins  the  State  of  Georgia,  from 
which  a  portion  of  it  is  separated  by  the  Coosa 
River. 

The  county  was  created  in  1832  from  a  por- 
tion of  the  lands  ceded  by  the  Muscogees  at  the 
treaty  of  Cusseta.  It  was  named  in  honor  of 
Hon.  Henry  Chambers,  of  Madison  County,  who 
represented  Alabama  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1826. 

The  area  of  the  county  is  about  610  square 
miles.  The  surface  is  rolling  and  hilly,  with  light 
soils,  having  a  good  sub-soil,  though  in  the  county 
there  is  a  considerable  area  of  bottom  lands  ren- 
dered very  fertile  by  alluvial  deposits.  The  land 
generally  is  red,  mulatto  or  gray,  the  first  of 
of  which  is  specially  adapted  to  the  culture  of 
grain.  The  gray  lands  are  best  adapted  to  the 
production  of  cotton,  while  the  mulatto  lands 
produce  all  crops  abundantly. 

This  county  is  well  wooded,  and  it  contains  fine 
forests  of  red,  white,  post  and  Spanish  oaks,  which 
grow  luxuriantly  on  the  red  hill  lands.  Long- 
leaf  pine  is  found    in  limited  quantities,  but  not 


sufficiently  to  be  enumerated  as  one  of  the  factors 
of  material  wealth. 

Chambers  County  is  well  watered,  being  touched 
on  the  southeastern  quarter  by  the  Chattahoochee 
River,  while  the  Tallapoosa  cuts  off  its  northwest- 
ern corner.  Through  the  center  of  the  county 
there  runs  from  the  northeast  to  the  southeast  a 
ridge,  which  is  the  watershed  that  divides  the 
waters  that  flow  into  the  Chattahoochee  and  those 
that  flow  into  the  Tallapoosa.  The  body  of  the 
county  is  watered  by  several  creeks,  tributary  to 
one  or  the  other  of  these  rivers,  the  principal  of 
which  are:  Weehadkee,  Oclickee,  Osanippa,  He- 
olethloochee,  Cohelsaneia  and  several  other  minor 
streams. 

The  climate  of  the  county  is  excellent  and  es- 
pecially adaptable  for  fruit  culture,  which  prom- 
ises to  become  an  important  industry.  At  j^resent 
it  ranks  as  one  of  the  first  counties  of  the  State  in 
the  i>roduction  of  peaches.  The  mineral  resources 
of  the  county  have  never  been  developed,  but  there 
is  very  little  doubt  that  it  contains  many  articles 
highly  valuable.  It  adjoins  the  counties  of  Talla- 
poosa and  Randolph,  in  both  of  which  gold  is 
known  to  exist,  and  by  many  it  is  thought  that 
this  precious  metal  will  one  day  be  discovered  in 
Chambers.  Granite  has  been  found  here,  as  well 
as  a  superior  article  of  graphite,  both  of  which 
might  be  developed  with  great  jirofit. 

This  county  is  possessed  of  ample  water-power, 
which  is  being  utilized  for  running  grist-  and  saw- 
mills and  gins.  There  are  two  cotton  factories  on 
the  Chattahoochee,  partly  in  Chambers  and  partly 
in  Georgia. 

The  Western  Railroad  of  Alabama  passes 
through  the  southern  corner  of  the  county,  and 
the  East  Alabama  &  Cincinnati  Railroad  extends 
to  the  central  portion  from  Opelika,  terminating 
at  Buffalo  Wallow. 

La  Fayette  is  a  jjleasant  little  city.  It  is  located 
in  the  central  portion  of  the  county,  and  enjoys  an 
excellent  trade.  It  possesess  all  the  advantages  of 
rail  communication,  and  is  the  seat  of  several  edu- 


178 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


179 


cational  institutions  of  ii  high  order.  The  inhab- 
itants are  noted  for  their  refinement  and  liospital- 
ity,  and  no  city  of  its  size  iu  the  State  can  present 
more  attractions  as  a  home. 

Churches  of  the  leading   Christian  denomina- 
tions are  found  here; 


The  other  towns,  worthy  of  mention,  are  Fre- 
donia,  Miljtown  and  Cussetta.  At  the  hitter  place 
the  celebrated  treaty  was  concluded  with  theMus- 
cogees  in  18;3'^,  whereby  that  tribe  surrendered  a 
large  body  of  land,  the  last  of  its  possessions  in 
Alabama,  to  the  General  Government. 


COTTON   BELT. 


AUTAUGA    COUNTY. 


Population:  AVhite,  4,760;  colored,  8,105.  Area, 
660  square  miles.  Woodland,  060  square  miles. 
Gravelly  hills,  .560  square  miles.  Calcareous  lands, 
100  squai'e  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  30,130;  in  corn,  20,750;  in 
oats,  2,010;  in  wheat,  940;  in  rye,  110;  in  rice, 
37;  in  sugar-cane,  62;  in  sweet  potatoes,  500. 

Approximate  number  of  Ijales  of  cotton,  7,700. 

County  Seat — Prattville:  population,  1,625;  lo- 
cated   fifteen    miles   northwest    of   Montgomery. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Progress 
and  Southern  Signal  (both  Democratic). 

Postoffiees  in  the  County — Autaugaville,  Bill- 
ingsley,  Bozeman,  Independence,  Jones  Switch, 
Kingston,  Milton,  :\rulberry,  Prattville,  States- 
ville,  Vine  Hill,  Wads-.voil!'  " 

Prior  to  1818  this  was  a  part  of  the  territory  of 
the  county  of  Montgomery.  In  the  fall  of  that 
year  the  Legislature  at  St.  Stephens,  assembled,  by 
statutory  enactment,  created  the  new  county  of 
Autauga.  It  was  named  for  Autauga  Creek,  a 
stream  rising  among  the  northern  hills  of  the 
county,  and  meandering  in  a  southerly  direction, 
empties  into  the  Alabama  river. 

The  exact  significance  of  the  word  "Autauga  " 
is  not  now  known.  By  some  it  is  claimed  to  have 
meant  "dumpling,"  an  article  of  food,  indicating 
a  land  of  plenty.  By  others  it  is  thought  to  mean 
"  Clear  Water. "  The  latter  is  pro1)ably  more  nearly 
correct. 

The  county  is  bounded  on  the  east,  west  and 
north  by  Elmore,  Dallas  and  Chilton  Counties, 
respectively,  and  on  the  south  by  the  Alabama 
Eiver.  Skirting  the  entire  southern  line  of  the 
county,  the  Alabama  River  affords  ample  trans- 


portation for  its  products  to  Montgomery,  Selma 
and  Mobile.  The  Louisville  &  Nashville  Eailroad 
crosses  the  northeast  corner  of  the  county,  and 
the  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  traverses 
nearly  the  whole  of  its  western  boundary.  There 
are  also  several  other  railways  contemplated  and 
surveyed,  whose  routes  will  penetrate  the  interior 
section  of  the  county,  and  give  outlet  to  the  in- 
exhaustible minerals  of  Bibb,  Tuscaloosa,  and 
Walker  Counties,  and  to  the  magnificent  lumber 
of  Autauga  and  Chilton. 

The  soils  of  Autauga  County  are  of  every  vari- 
ety. They  are  the  isinglass  lands  and  rich  allu- 
vial river  bottoms,  occasional  jiatches  of  prairie, 
sandj'  surfaces  with  clay  subsoil,  rich  hummock, 
and  elevated  red  or  brown  table-lands.  The  sur- 
face of  the  county  isgenerally  broken  and  undulat- 
ing, and  yet  in  that  portion  bordering  on  the  river, 
and  even  in  the  northern  section  where  the  hills 
predominate,  there  are  extensive  level  plateaus 
well  adapted  to  the  purpose  of  agriculture.  In- 
deed some  of  the  most  attractive  farms  to  be  found 
in  Central  Alabama  maybe  seen  in  this  county.  In 
the  ujjper  or  northern  section  the  soil  is  compara- 
tively thin,  and  yet  in  many  of  the  valleys  and 
creek  bottoms  there  is  considerable  productiveness, 
and  the  jieople  often  make  good  crops  of  the 
cereals,  besides  cotton,  and  are  happy  and  content. 
It  is  in  northern  Autauga  that  the  tall  yellow 
pine,  which  is  of  so  much  commercial  value,  tow- 
ers to  j)erfection;  and  acres  of  this  valued  growth 
remains  to-day  in  virgin  ignorance  of  the  sound 
of  the  woodman'.-*  axe  or  saw.  In  the  lower  or 
southern  section  there  are  endless  kinds  of  trees, 
the   black,  red    and    white    post    oaks,   hickory. 


180 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


181 


including  shell  bark,  chestnut,  walnut,  persimmon, 
ash,  sassafras,  dogwood,  poplar,  gum,  oodar,  and 
cypress,  with  pines  interspersed.  The  jirocuring 
of  cypress  and  other  valuable  timbers  for  ship- 
ment is  becoming  an  industry.  The  woods  and 
forests  at  seasonable  periods  abound  in  fruits  and 
(lowers.  Tiiere  the  wild  grape  and  muscadine 
nourish  in  the  greatest  profusion,  and  when  spring 
comes  and  touches  nature  with  her  verdure  tlie 
most  fragrant  and  lovely  Howcrs,  from  the  expan- 
sive magnolia  to  the  modest  violet,  regale  the 
senses  and  laden  the  air  with  the  sweetest  perfume. 

The  soils  of  Autauga,  under  judicious  cultiva- 
tion respond  in  abundant  crops  of  cotton,  corn, 
peas,  potatoes,  rye,  oats,  barley,  wheat,  chufas, 
rice,  millet,  milo-maize,  sorghum,  and  sugar-cane. 
Perhaps  in  no  section  does  tiie  seuppernoiig  grape 
grow  in  greater  profusion  in  proportion  to  its  cul- 
tivation. Pecans  are  also  succestffully  produced. 
The  gardens  and  orchards,  uiuler  proper  manage- 
ment, return  all  vegetables  and  fruits  known  to 
the  climate,  embracing,  in  the  line  of  the  latter, 
apples,  pears,  peaches,  grapes,  quinces,  prunes, 
dates,  plums,  pomegranates  and  figs. 

Perhaps  no  land  is  more  favored  with  bright,  run- 
ning streams  than  Autauga.  From  north  to  south 
her  territory  is  traversed  witli  a  number  of  bold  and 
beautiful  creeks,  wliose  waters  in  many  instances 
skirt  rich  productive  bottom  lands.  Among  these 
may  be  mentioned  Big  and  I^ittle  Mulberry,  Ivy, 
Swift,  White  Water,  Hear.  Autauga,  Beaver.  Pine, 
Big  and  Little  Mortar.  Upon  the  courses  of  these 
streams  may  be  found  many  eligible  locations  for 


the  founding  of  manufactories  and  industrial 
institutions. 

This  was  one  of  the  pioneer  counties  of  the 
State  in  manufacturing.  Located  at  Autaugaville 
are  two  cotton  factories;  at  Prattville,  one  cotton 
factory,  one  sash,  door  and  blind  factory,  and  one 
cotton-gin  factory.  The  Prattville  Cotton-(;in 
Manufactory  is  the  largest  of  the  kind  in  the 
world.  It  employs  upwards  of  one  hundred  men, 
turns  out  over  one  thousand  gins  annually,  and 
the  "  Pratt  (iin  "  is  known  throughout  the  civil- 
ized world.  Xear  Prattville,  also,  is  a  cotton  fac- 
tory, and  scattered  throughout  the  county  is  tJie 
usual  number  of  grist-mills,  shoe  and  blacksmith 
shops,  ])ublic  ginneries,  etc.  In  the  eastern  part 
of  the  county  is  an  earthenware  establishment, 
manufacturing  jugs,  churns,  urns  and  other  arti- 
cles of  clay. 

Ochre,  fire-clays,  paints  and  pigments  abound  in 
the  county,  while  many  of  her  miignificent  springs 
are  pregnant  with  healing  and  health-giving  min- 
erals. 

Land  is  worth  from  one  dollar  to  fifteen  dollars 
per  acre,  and  fine  farming  land  can  be  liad  for  three 
dollars  per  acre.  Government  land  in  the  county, 
about  12,000  acres. 

Kate  of  taxation,  forty  cents  on  the  *:loO;  coun- 
ty debt,  none. 

The  people  are  law-abiding,  iiospitable,  indus- 
trious and  jtatriotic.  The  public-school  system  is 
but  indifferently  developed,  though  popular 
enough  witli  the  masses,  and  growiftg  in  impor- 
tance,    (leneral  health  of  the  county,  good. 


II. 


CHOCTAW    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  7,390;  colored,  8,341. 
Area,  930  square  miles;  oak  and  hickory  and  long 
leaf  pine  uplands,  830  square  miles;  pine  hills, 
100  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  31,080;  in  corn,  25,013;  in 
oats,  3,338;  in  rice,  38:  in  sugar-cane,  101;  in 
tobacco,  23;  in  sweet  potatoes,  7-18. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  lO.oOO. 

County  Seat — Butler:  population,  300;  forty 
miles  east  of  Meridian,  Miss.,  near  the  Tombigbee 
River. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — The 
Choctaw  Herald  (Democratic). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Aquilla,  Ararat, 
Bergamot,  Bevill's  Store,  Bladen  Springs,  But- 
ler, De  Sotoville,  Fail,  Isney,  Lenora,  Lusk,  Mel- 
vin,  ]\Iount  Sterling,  Naheola.  Pushmataha,  Res- 
cueville,  Silas,  Souwilpa.  Tompkinsville,  Tusca- 
homa,  Womack  Hill,  Yantley  Creek. 


The  county  was  organized  December  29,  1847, 
from  territory  originally  belonging  to  Washing- 
ton and  Sumter  Counties.  It  is  in  the  western 
portion  of  the  State,  and  bounded,  north  by  Sum- 
ter, south  by  Washington,  east  by  Marengo  and 
Clarke,  and  west  by  Mississippi. 

The  lands  are  rolling  and  flat.  The  ridges  and 
pine  lands  are  sandy,  but  the  river  and  creek 
"  bottoms"  are  all  alluvial.  The  pine  forests  are 
extensive,  and  can  be  and  are  being  made  a  source 
of  great  wealth. 

Grazing  for  cattle  is  in  great  abundance  and 
first-class  in  the  outlying  lands. 

The  inhabitants  are  honest,  industrious,  brave 
and  patriotic,  and  gladly  welcome  all  good  people 
who  may  come  to  make  their  home  with  them. 
There  are  numerous  churches  and  school- 
houses  scattered  throughout  the  county  easy  of 
access. 


HI. 
BARBOUR   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  13,091;  colored,  20,888. 
Area,  860  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Oak, 
hickory  and  long-leaf  pine,  610  square  miles;  Blue 
marsh  land,  250  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  100,000;  in 
corn,  61,800;  in  oats,  10,300;  in  wheat,  150;  in  rye, 
100;  in  rice,  50;  in  tobacco,  25;  in  sugar-cane,  650; 
in  sweet  potatoes,  1,300. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  in  round 
numbers,  26, 100. 

County   Seat— Clayton;   population,   1,200;    lo- 


cated seventy-five  miles  southeast  of  Montgomery, 
and  at  the  terminus  of  the  Eufaula  &  Clayton  Rail- 
road. 

Newspa25ers  published  at  County  Seat — Courier, 
Democrat;  at  Eufaula,  Mail,  Times,  Xeivs — all 
Democratic. 

PostofRces  in  the  County — Batesville.  Belcher, 
Bush,  Clayton,  Clio,  Coleridge,  Cotton  Hill,  Cow- 
ikee.  Cox's  Mill,  Elamville,  Eufaula,  Harris,  Haw- 
kinsville,  Howe,  Lodi,  Louisville,  Mcluness, 
]Mount  Andrew,  New  Topia,  Oateston,  Pea  River, 


183 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


183 


Ueccler's>[ill.  Star  Hill.  Tuli.  \S\\\W  Oak  Springs, 
White  I'oiul. 

'I'lic  county  was  organized  in  183'^,  and  luinied 
ill  lionor  of  Gov.  James  Barbour,  of  X'irginia.  It 
lies  ill  the  eastern  portion  of  tlie  State,  and  issep- 
aralcd  from  Georgia  by  the  C'liattahooclice  River, 
Hliich  forms  its  entire  eastern  boundary.  Harbour 
ranks  as  one  of  the  leading  counties  in  tlie  State. 

.\  line  drawn  east  and  west  through  Harbour 
County,  near  the  center,  will  divide  it  into  two 
parts  wiiich  are  quite  dissimilar.  The  soils  on  the 
iicirth  of  this  line  are  more  or  less  calcareous,  those 
(111  the  south,  sandy.  The  northern  half  has  a  sub- 
stratum of  marl  and  limestone  of  the  upper  cre- 
taceous formation,  which,  acting  upon  the  soil, 
gives  rise  to  some  of  the  best  and  safest  cotton 
lauds  in  the  State.  This  portion  of  the  county  is 
il rained  by  the  tiiree  forks  of  Cowikee  Creek,  and 
is  known  thoiighout  the  county  a.s  the  Cowikee 
lands. 

Tlie  soil  is  moderately  stiff,  calcareous  clay, 
with  patches  of  what  is  known  as  hog-wal- 
low, which  are  seldom  more  than  an  acre  or  two 
in  extent.  In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
streams  the  soil  is  much  more  sandy,  but  highly 
productive.  The  general  appearance  of  these 
lands  is  that  of  a  gently  undulating,  occasionally 
hilly  region,  somewhat  resembling  the  prairies  of 
the  Rotten  Limestone  country,  hut  with  reddish 
or  light-colored  soils.  This  region,  though  fertile, 
is  malarious,  and  is  inhabited  by  comparatively 
few  white  families.  The  negroes,  however,  appear 
to  endure  it  very  well.  There  is  a  peculiar  mix- 
ture of  trees  characterizing  these  lands,viz. :  hick- 
ory, white  and  Spanish  oaks,  sweet  and  sour  gums, 
and  long-leaf  pine.  The  latter  appears  to  be  out 
of  place  with  sucli  surroundings. 

'I'he  Chattahoochee  Kiver  forms  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  county,  and  the  bottom  lands  of 
this  stream  are  from  one  to  three  miles  wide,  and 
very  productive,  Xext  to  these  are  the  second 
linltoiiis  or  liuinniock.s,  or  pine  Hats,  always  safe 
and  easy  to  cultivate.  Bordering  upon  these  are 
the  foot-hills  of  the  pine  uplands. 

Although  the  larger  part  of  the  surface  of  this 
county     is    orcupicd    by     lirowii     lnaiiis,    with    a 


growth  of  oak,  hickory,  and  pine,  yet  the  charac- 
teristic agricultural  features  of  Barbour  depend 
upon  the  blue  marls  of  the  Cowikee  and  other 
drainage  areas  of  tiie  northern  half  of  the  county. 
A  large  proportion  (more  than  half)  of  the  cotton 
crop  is  produced  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the 
county,  where  these  maris  give  character  to  the 
soils.  There  is,  jierhaps,  no  part  of  the  State 
which  ranks  higher  in  the  jiroduction  of  cotton 
than  the  blue  marl  lands  of  adjacent  parts  of 
Russell,  Barbour  and  Bullock  Counties,  whose 
prevailing  soils  are  light,  sandy  loams,  easily 
worked,  possessing  a  comparatively  high  percent- 
age of  lime,  by  which  they  are  rendered  extraor- 
dinarily thrifty. 

From  the  hills  in  tiie  southwest  have  been  gath- 
ered specimens  of  iron  ore.  Lime  rock  iirevails 
in  abundance  in  different  portions  of  Barbour, 
while  specimens  of  kaolin  have  been  secured.  In 
the  town  of  Louisville  is  a  bed  of  green  marl 
about  twelve  or  eighteen  feet  below  the  surface, 
and  in  vast  quantities.  Repeated  experiments  by 
gardeners  prove  its  value. 

In  the  southern  portion  of  the  county,  four 
miles  above  the  line  of  Dale,  is  a  great  natural 
curiosity  in  the  form  of  a  niagniticent  spring,  the 
dimensions  of  which  are  4itx80  feet.  Its  waters 
are  of  a  bluish  cast  and  so  transparent  that  the 
light  glows  through  them.  The  eye  of  a  fish  is 
distinctly  seen  in  their  shining  depths.  This  was 
once  a  point  of  popular  resort,  but  since  the  de- 
struction of  the  spacious  hotel  it  has  been  aban- 
doned as  such.  The  waters  of  this  spring  are  sup- 
posed to  possess  wonderful  curative  powers.  There 
issues  directly  from  it  a  large,  bold  stream. 

Clayton  is  the  county  seat,  and  is  a  pleasant 
little  village.  It  is  the  seat  of  several  excellent 
institutions  of  learning. 

Eufaula,  on  the  Chattaliooclieo.  is  the  most  im- 
portant place  in  Eastern  Alabama.  It  is  a  cily  of 
between  six  and  seven  thousaml  people,  and  has 
a  promise  of  an  extensive  growth  in  tlie  near  fu- 
ture. Eiifaula's  commercial  importance  will  be 
greatly  increased  by  the  completion  of  several 
railroads  which  are  projected.  Batesville  and 
Louisville  are  the  other  towns  of  the  coiinly. 


IV. 
BULLOCK   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  0,800;  colored,  21,4S(;. 
Area,  000  square  miles.  Woodland  all,  excejit  a 
few  square  miles  of  prairie.  Prairie  region,  300 
square  miles  (300  of  black  prairie  etc..  and  10'.) 
hill  prairie,  or  Chunnenugga  Kidge).  Oak  and 
hickory  iiplands,  with  long-leaf  pine,  oGO  square 
miles. 

Acres  in  cotton  (approximately),  SO, 470  ;  in 
corn,  47,441;  in  oats,  0,177;  in  wheat.  111;  in  rye, 
88;  in  sugar-cane,  429;  in  rice,  10;  in  sweet  pota- 
toes, 77.'S. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  in 
round  numbers,  22,000. 

County  Seat — Union  Springs;  jjopulatiou,  2,200; 
situated  near  the  center  of  the  county. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Bullock 
dounty  Reporter  and   Herald  (both  Democratic). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Aberfoil,  Arbor 
Vitfe,  Bughall,  Enon,  Fitzpatrick's,  Flora,  Guer- 
rytown,  Hector,  Indian  Creek,  Inverness,  James, 
Midway,  Mitchell's  Station,  Mount  Hilliard, 
Perote,  Pine  Grove,  Postoak,  Shopton,  Straw- 
berry, Suspension,  Thompson.  Three  Notch, 
Uninn  Springs. 

Bullock  County,  situated  in  what  is  known  as 
the  Black  Belt  of  Alabama,  was  formed  in  1880 
out  of  j)arts  of  the  adjacent  counties  of  Maconj 
Eussell,  Barbour,  Pike  and  Montgomery. 

It  took  its  name  from  the  late  Edward  C.  Bul- 
lock, of  Barbour  County. 

The  tax  valuation  of  its  jiroperty  in  1887  was 
about  $3,500,000,  with  rate  for  the  county  of  four 
mills,  which  is  sufficient  for  current  expenses,  the 
county  being  out  of  debt. 

The  county  is  divided  into  two  nearly  equal 
parts  by  Chunnenugga  Ridge,  which  extends  quite 
through  it  from  the  northeast  to  the  southwest. 

That  portion  north  and  west  of  the  Eidge  is 
known  as  the  prairie  district.  It  is  from  100  to 
150  feet  lower  than  the  ridge,  and  is  for  the 
most  part  level    but   sufficiently  undulating   for 


thorough  drainage.  These  lands  are  chiefly  what 
are  known  as  black  and  post  oak  prairie,  being  of 
calcareous  formation,  interspersed  in  many  places 
with  jihosphatic  nodules,  and  are  very  rich.  They 
are  best  adapted  to  cotton  and  corn,  which  con- 
stitute the  chief  crop, though  small  grain,  jiotatoes. 
sugar-cane,  and  all  varieties  of  vegetables  and 
nnmy  fruits  grow  quite  as  well. 

From  a  third  to  half  a  bale  of  cotton  and  twelve 
to  fifteen  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre,  are  regarded 
as  about  the  average  yield.  Fully  one-half  of  the 
tillable  lands  are  devoted  to  cotton.  'J'hese  lands 
raTige  in  price  from  five  to  ten  dollars  per  acre, 
depending  upon  the  amount  and  character  of  the 
improvements. 

That  portion  of  the  county  south  of  the  Kidge 
is  of  drift  formation,  and  constitutes  what  are 
called  the  uplands.  It  is  generally  elevated,  hav- 
ing very  nearly  the  altitude  of  the  Eidge,  sloping 
gently,  however,  toward  the  south.  This  region 
is  composed  mostly  of  what  is  known  as  oak  and 
hickory  lands,  sandy  with  clay  subsoil.  They  are 
abundantly  watered,  and  in  the  main  thoroughly 
well  drained,  naturally.  The  head  waters  of  Pea 
and  Conecuh  Elvers  are  in  this  county;  besides 
there  are  important  tributaries  of  the  Chatta- 
hoochee in  the  eastern,  and  Tallapoosa  Eiver  in  the 
western  and  northern  jjarts  of  the  county. 

The  lands  in  the  southern  part  of  the  county, 
though  less  rich  than  the  prairie  region,  yield, 
with  moderate  fertilization,  abundant  crops  of 
corn  and  cotton,  and  in  their  capacity  for  vegeta- 
bles and  all  kinds  of  fruits  are  probably  unexcelled 
in  the  South.  Stock-raising  is  but  recently  begin- 
ning to  receive  attention,  and  promises  from  the 
favorable  soil  and  climate  for  the  production  of 
grasses,  to  equal  any  of  the  more  favored  portions 
of  the  State. 

Besides  several  varieties  of  valuable  native 
grasses,  the  Japan  clover  [Lesindgezn)  and  Ber- 
muda grass,  imported  i^robably  through  accident, 


184 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


185 


grow  and  spread  abundantly  on  all  uncultivated 
lands.  Many  cultivated  grasses  as  Texas  blue 
grass,   Lucerne  and  .Mellilotus  grow  well. 

JIucli  of  the  original  forestry  still  exists,  abound- 
ing in  all  varieties  of  oak,  hickory,  ash,  elm,  beach, 
poplar,  and  other  varieties  of  valualile  woods. 

.Manufacturing  has  hitherto  received  no  very 
special  attention,  the  county  iieiug  preeminently 
an  agricultural  one,  though  it  is  believed  that, 
situated  centrally  in  the  cotton  belt  as  it  is, 
the  manufacture  of  this  staple  might  be  made  very 
profitable.  The  altitude  at  Union  Springs  is  51'.f 
feet  above  sea-level,  being  perliai)s  the  highest 
l>oint  on  tiiis  parallel  of  latitude  anywhere  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  Hocky  ^[ountains. 
This  extraordinary  altitude  is  thought  to  protect 
it  in  some  degree  from  excessive  rain-fall,  the 
average  from  a  correctly  kept  record  of  seventeen 
years  being  only  forty-eight  inchesannually,  which 
was  distributed  tolerably  nearly  equally  through 
the  four  seasons  of  the  year.  The  southwest 
winds  are  most  frequently  the  ones  that  attend  the 
rains,  tiiough  seasons  of  somewhat  continuous 
rains  are  chiefly  brought  by  the  southeast  winds. 

Gentle  breezes  from  the  south  Gulf  region  are 
very  common  during  the  summer  months  of  June 
and  July,  setting  in  late  in  the  afternoon  and  con- 
tinuing until  midnight,  generally  roulering  the 
nigiits  sutticiently  comfortable  for  refreshing  sleep. 

The  summer  heat,  which  occurs  cliiefly  in  June 
and  July,  rarely  a.<cends  higher  tiian  90'-\  nor  is 
this  height  maintained  for  very  many  days.  Ex- 
ceptionally it  reaches  94'-'or  96",  but  these  periods 
are  of  short  duration,  usually  not  more  than  a  day 
or  two,  before  they  are  broken  by  refreshing 
showers. 

From  carefully  kept  vital  and  mortuary  statis- 
tics, regulated  by  law,  it  appears  that  the  white 
deatli  rate  from  all  causes,  per  1,(10<)  of  ]iopulation 
in  188<;,  was  11.47,  and  in  1S8T  the  rate  was  1(1.73 
per  l,Otiti. 

The  prevailing  diseases,  gleaned  from  the  same 
source,  are  malarial  fever,  dysentery  and  pneu- 
monia. .\mong  the  colored  people  there  is  consid- 
erable consumption,  due  probably  to  their  want  of 
projjcr  regard  for  personal  hygiene,  but  the  death 


rate  from  this  cause  in  1887, in  the  county,  was  only 
1.1  per  l,00t)of  population  among  the  whites.  In 
deed,consumptiop,inanyof  its  forms,  is  a  very  rare 
disease  among  the  whites  in  this  part  of  the  State. 
In  most  cases  it  yields  to  proper  treatment,  and, 
it  is  known,  to  our  physicians,  that  manv  cases, 
contracted  in  the  North,  get  well  by  a  kind  of 
felf-liuiitation  when  moved  to  the  southern  part 
of  Alabama. 

Union  Springs,  the  county  seat,  is  situated  near 
the  center  of  the  county,  on  Chunnenuggee  Ridge, 
overlooking  the  immense  prairie  district  to  the 
north,  anil  at  the  crossing  of  the  Mobile  &  Girard 
with  the  Montgomery  &  Eufaula  Iiailroads.  It 
has  a  population  of  about  -.'.500.  It  is  beautifully 
laid  off  and  shaded  with  numerous  oaks  and  elms. 
It  has  several  splendid  buildings,  among  which  may 
be  mentioned  the  court  house,  which  cost  about 
1560,000,  and  in  point  of  magnificence  is  second 
only  to  the  best  in  the  State. 

There  are  four  churches,  namely,  Presbyterian, 
ilethodist.  Baptist  and  Episcopalian.  There  are 
two  very  fine  schools  in  successful  operation.  The 
I' nion  Springs  Female  College,  chartered  by  the 
Legislature  in  lhG6,  Prof.  H.  K.  W.  Smith,  Presi- 
dent, with  a  full  corps  of  teachers,  and  the  Union 
Springs  Seminary,  presided  over  by  Prof.  J.  R. 
Smith.  There  is  also  a  street  railroad  owned  by  a 
corporation  of  the  town. 

Surrounded  by  one  of  the  finest  agricultural 
districts  of  the  State,  L'nion  Springs  has  few 
superiors  in  a  business  point  of  view.  Her  mer- 
chants aie  thrifty,  and  many  of  them  in  very  easy 
circumstances — a  wealth  that  has  for  the  most  part 
been  accumulated  by  a  legitimate  business  confined 
to  the  immediate  vicinit}'. 

Midway,  the  next  largest  town  in  the  county, 
with  a  population  of  about  500,  is  situated  on  the 
Montgomery  &  Eufaula  L'ailroad,  twelve  miles 
Southeast  of  I'nion  Springs.  It  is  noted  for  its  re- 
fined society,  its  excellent  schools,  the  thrift  of  its 
merchants  and  the  fertile  quality  of  its  agricultu- 
ral lands. 

Enon,  Guerryton,  Perote,  Inverness,  Thomp- 
son's and  Fitzpatrick's  are  the  other  smaller 
towns. 


186 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


UNION     SPRINOS. 


LEWE  SESSIONS,  M.  D.,  President  of  the 
Bullock  County  Bank,  was  born  March  37,  1825, 
in  Spalding  County,  Ga.  His  parents  were  Fred- 
erick and  Mary  (Kendall)  Sessions,  who  were 
Georgians  by  birth 

John  Sessions,  the  grandfather  of  our  subject, 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  by 
birth  a  North  Oarolinian.  Frederick  Sessions  was 
a  farmer,  and  died  when  his  son  Lewe  was  only 
two  years  of  age. 

Our  subject,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  liis 
father,  as  already  noted,  was  thrown  on  his  own 
responsibilities  early  in  life.  He  did  not  have 
what  would  be  termed  good  educational  advant- 
ages, but  made  the  best  use  of  such  opportunities 
as  were  offered.  He  studied  medicine  at  Augusta, 
Ga.,  where  he  graduated  from  the  medical  col- 
lege of  that  city  in  1848.  He  came  to  Bullock 
County,  where  he  j^racticed  his  jjrofession  for 
nineteen  years,  and  practiced  one  year  in  Bibb 
County.  After  the  war  Dr.  Sessions  retired 
from  the  practice  and  engaged  in  the  general 
merchandising  business  and  farming  until  1879. 

In  that  year  he  organized  the  Bullock  <^ounty 
Bank,  in  company  with  J.  F.  Leary.  He  was 
made  j)resident  of  it,  and  still  holds  that  position. 
The  bank  is  now  a  chartered  State  institution. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers,  and  a  stock-holder 
of  the  Montgomery  State  Bank,  and  also  sustains 
the  same  relations  to  the  Clayton  Banking  Com- 
pany of  Barbour  County. 

I)r.  Sessions  was  married  in  1847  to  Miss  Ange- 
line,  daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Margaret  Musick, 
of  Chambers  County,  Ala.  To  their  union  one 
child  has  been  born,  Statira.  She  is  the  wife  of 
Dr.  Benjamin  F.  Coalman,  of  Florida. 

The  first  Mrs.  Sessions  died  in  May,  1853,  and 
the  Doctor  was  nuirried  again  in  August,  1854, 
to  Miss  Carrie,  daughter  of  William  [I.  and  Exie 
(Maddox)  Simmons,  of  Pike  County,  Ga.  To 
them  two  children  have  been  born:  Don.  F.  and 
Bettie.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcojial  Church,  South. 


A.  and  Virginia  C.  (Tarrant)  Hogan,  native  Ken- 
tuckians,  and  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  His  father 
was  a  merchant. 

Samuel  M.  Hogan  received  his  literary  education 
at  Talladega,  and  attended  medical  lectures  at 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  in  the  session  of  185G-'57. 
When  the  war  came  on,  he  entered  Company  F,  of 
the  fifty-first  Alabama  cavalry  as  a  private,  was 
subsequently  promoted  to  the  position  of  surgeon, 
and  was  on  post  and  hos2")ital  duty  until  the  close 
of  the  war. 

Keturning  from  the  war.  Dr.  Hogan  settled  and 
commenced  i^racticing  medicine  in  Union  Springs 
and  in  1873  graduated  from  the  medical  depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Louisville,  Ky. 

Dr.  Hogan  returned  to  Union  Springs,  took  up 
his  practice  and  has  since  devoted  himself  untir- 
ingly thereto.  The  result  has  been  that  he  has 
won  a  rejiutation  which  extends  far  beyond  the 
confines  of  his  immediate  locality.  He  is  well 
known  all  over  the  South,  and  favorably  known  as 
a  physician  and  sui'geon  in  various  portions  of  the 
United  States.  Dr.  Hogan's  office  is  one  of  the 
best  equipped  in  the  way  of  surgical  instruments 
in  the  State;  he  has  S2)eut  for  these  alone  thou- 
sands of  dollars.  He  acts  on  the  wise  plan  that  a 
physician  should  always  be  prepared  for  any  emer- 
gency that  arises,  and  it  is  his  motto  never  to  al- 
low a  case  to  pass  him  for  lack  of  attention.  In 
September,  1887,  Dr.  Hogan  was  a  member  of  the 
International  Medical  Congress,  which  met  at 
Washington,  D.  C.  He  is  a  member  of  the  County 
Medical  Society  and  the  State  iledical  Association; 
has  been  President  of  the  former  and  Councilor  in 
the  latter.  He  is  also  President  of  the  County 
Board  of  Censors. 

Dr.  Hogan  is  a  permanent  member  of  the 
American  Medical  Association. 

Our  subject  was  married  in  1865,  to  Miss  Sallie 
T.,  daughter  of  Thornton  M.  and  Ann  E.  (Mc- 
Lamare)  Baugh,  of  Chambers  County,  Ala.  The 
family  belong  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 


SAMUEL  M.  HOGAN,  M.  D.,  was  born  at  Talla- 
dega, this  State,  in  ls:)8.      His  jjarents  were  James 


NATHANIEL  M.  BLEDSOE,  was  born  in  April, 
1835,  in  Butts  County,  Ga.  His  parents  were 
Morton  and   Mary  (Bailey)  Bledsoe.     His  father 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


187 


was  a  native  of  Orange  County,  Va. .  and  liis 
mother  of  Oglethorpe  County,  Ga.  The  senior 
Mr.  IJledsoe,  was  a  planter.  In  political  affilia- 
tions, lie  was  an  old-line  Whig,  and  took  an  active 
pai't  in  politics.  lie  died  in  Butts  County,  Ga., 
in  1^4."). 

The  subject  of  tiiis  sketch  was  educated  at 
Jackson,  Butts  County,  Ga.,  attended  the  Medical 
De])ai-tnient  of  the  University  of  the  South,  at 
Nusliviile,  TiMiti.,  in  18.").i-'.5l>-'57,  and  was  gradu- 
ated in  the  latti-r  year.  He  began  the  practice  in 
.Macon,  now  Bullock  County,  in  1857,  and  has 
here  been  actively  engaged  in  professional  work 
ever  since.  During  the  war,  he  was  detailed  to 
remain  at  home  to  extend  his  professional  services 
to  his  community.  Dr.  Bledsoe  has  had  a  large 
practice  for  many  years,  and  may  be  rankeil  among 
the  successful  physicians  of  the  State. 

lie  has  always  been  remarkably  kind  to  the 
poor  and  needy,  going  night  and  day  to  visit 
them  in  their  sickness  and  distress,  generally  ex- 
tending to  them  the  blessings  of  his  medical  skill 
and  the  benefactions  of  his  benevolent  hand.  Xo 
doulit  he  has  done  more,  (jratnitously,  to  bless  his 
fellow  men  around  him  than  any  other  man  of 
his  means  in  his  ccmnt}". 

Dr.  Bledsoe  has  farmed  extensively  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  He  takes  an  especial  interest  in 
educational  matters,  and  iias  undoubtedly  paid  out 
more  money  for  the  education  of  poor  and  orphan 
chililren  than  any  man  in  the  county.  Having 
no  children  of  his  own.  he  has  taken  this  noble 
method  of  extending  aid  where  it  was  most  needed. 
Among  the  particularly  praiseworthy  deeds  in  this 
connection,  may  be  mentioned  his  adojition  of  an  in- 
fant child  when  she  was  but  seven  days  old,  to  whom 
he  gave  the  name  of  Nellie  Lorena.  She  is  now 
grown  to  woman's  estate,  and  is  an  accomplished 
lady,  unusually  gifted  in  music  and  art.  Dr. 
Bledsoe  has  ])aid  the  tuition  of  some  child  for 
the  last  thirty  years,  and  has  selected  such  as  least 
expected  assistance. 

In  connection  with  his  i>rofessioual  labors.  Dr. 
Bledsoe  has  carried  on  the  drug  business.  He 
belongs  to  the  Bullock  County  ifedical  Society, 
an<l  has  been  its  vice-president.  (A\r  subject 
was  married  in  December,  1857,  to  Miss  Amanda, 
daughterof  .Iame.~  U.  ['ickett,  of  Bullock  County, 
Ala.  He  is  a  Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Baj)- 
tist  Church. 

As  a  Christian  gentleman,  he  has  always  been 
true   to    the    ini|nilses    of    a    warm    heart, — ten- 


derly alTectionate  to  his  brethren,  very  kind  and 
liberal  to  his  pastor,  and  ever  prompt  and  active 
in  the  discharge  of  his  religious  duties.  Though, 
from  the  very  ardor  of  his  nature,  may  be,  he  is 
sometimes  a  little  imi)etuous,  yet,  in  the  honesty 
of  his  motives  and  the  purity  of  his  aspirations. 
Dr.  Bledsoe  is  truly  a  grand  man,  abounding  in 
every  good  word  and  woi-k. 

JAMES  T.  NORMAN,  Attorney -at-law,  was  born 
.January  :5ii,  1S3U,  at  Columbus,  (ia.  His  parents 
were  James  S.  and  Leah  J.  (Marks)  Norman. 
His  father  was  a  native  of  London,  England,  and 
his  mother  a  Georgian.  The  former  came  to  the 
United  States  when  a  boy,  and  lived  in  South 
Carolina  two  years,  afterward  came  to  Georgia, 
and,  in  1854.  located  permanently  in  Russell 
County,  .Via.  He  died  in  1871.  at  I'nion  Springs, 
Ala. 

Our  subject  received  a  common-school  educa- 
tion; studied  law  in  the  office  of  Thomas  &  Down- 
ing, at  Columbus,  Ga.,  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1849,  and  admitted  to  practice  before  the  Su- 
jirenie  Court  of  Alabama,  in  1857.  He  came 
to  I^nion  Springs  in  1S54.  He  entered  the  Con- 
federate Army  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Twenty-third 
Alabama  Infantry;  was  afterward  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  adjutant,  which  he  filled  until  ilay. 
1863,  when  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  kept  two 
months  in  the  State  penitentiary,  at  Alton.  III.; 
was  then  transferred  to  prison  on  Johnsoirs 
Island,  where  he  remained  until  February,  1805, 
and  was  patroled  a  short  time  before  the  surren- 
der. 

Immediately  returning  home,  Mr.  Xorman  be- 
gan the  ]iractice  of  law  at  L^nion  Springs,  which 
he  has  successfully  followed  ever  since.  In  188"2, 
he  was  elected  to  the  Alabama  Senate,  and  re- 
elected in  1884.  He  was  married  in  October, 
1851,  to  Miss  Mary  E.,  daughter  of  Dr.  David, 
and  Miriam  (Eilaiid)  Dean,  of  (Jeorgia.  To  them 
five  children  have  been  born:  Miriam,  James  D., 
Frederick  D.,  Mary  E.,  and  Thomas  J.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

ROBERT  H.  HAYES.  M.  D.,  Union  .Springs, 
was  Ijorn  in  May,  Is"):),  in  Chambers  County.  Ala. 
His    parents    were    Dr.    James   A.  and    Anna    L. 


188 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


(Thomas)  Hayes,  native  Georgians.  Dr.  Hayes, 
Sr.,  iDracticed  medicine  at  Union  Springs  from 
1859  to  1883,  and  died  in  the  latter  year. 

Our  snbject  received  his  elementary  education 
at  the  common  schools,  and  attended  Emory  Col- 
lege, at  Oxford,  Ga.,  in  1872.  lie  began  reading 
medicine  in  his  father's  office  in  the  spring  of  1875. 
In  the  fall  of  1875  and  spring  of  1870  he  attended 
the  Medical  Department  of  Vanderbilt  University, 
at  jSTashville.  In  lS78-'9  he  attended  medical 
lectures  at  the  St.  Louis  Medical  College,  and 
graduated  from  there  in  March  of  the  laiter  year. 
He  immediately  commenced  the  practice  at  Union 
Springs,  where  he  has  since  been  professionally 
engaged.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Bullock  County 
Medical  Society  and  Examining  Board;  member 
of  and  Senior  Counselor  in  the  State  iledical 
Association,  and  Health  officer  of  Bullock  County. 

Dr.  Hayes  was  married  in  1883,  to  Miss  Annie 
M.,  daughter  of  Dr.  Robert  Williams,  of  Barbour 
County.  They  have  two  children  living:  3Iaud 
C.  and  Carrie  B.;  Geraldine  Hunter  died  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  months. 

Dr.  Hayes  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South. 


CHARLES  H.  FRANKLIN,  M.  D„  was  born  in 
May,  1838,  at  Albany,  Ga.  His  parents  were  Tal- 
bert  H.  and  Mary  (Adams)  Eranklin,  natives  of 
that  State.  The  senior  Mr.  Franklin  was  a  farmer, 
and  died  at  Elba,  Ala.,  in  1866. 

Charles  H.  Franklin  was  an  attendant  at  a 
boarding  school,  and  received  a  liberal  education; 
taught  school  at  Elba,  this  State,  two  years;  at- 
tended the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  one  year,  when  the  presence 
of  the  Federal  troof)s  in  that  city  closed  the  Uni- 
versity. In  January,  1805,  he  became  a  student  in 
the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Louisi- 
ana, at  New  Orleans,  and  was  graduated  in  186G. 
He  had  practiced  medicine  awhile  prior  to  taking 
his  last  course  of  lectures.  In  1860  he  located  per- 
manently at  Union  Sjirings,  and  at  once  entered 
into  a  lucrative  practice.  He  has  also  carried  on 
the  drug  business  since  his  residence  in  that  town; 
has  devoted  much  time  and  attention  to  agricul- 
ture, and,  being  a  most  successful  fruit  raiser,  is 
worthily  accounted  a  true  disciple  of  Pomona. 

Dr.  Franklin  is  a  member  of  the  Pullock  Coun- 
ty Medical  Society,  and  has  been  its  president;  he 


is  also  counsellor  in  the  State  Medical  Association, 
and  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Health. 

He  was  married  in  1870,  to  Miss  Sallie,  daugh- 
ter of  Jabez  B.  and  Jane  (Ilarvy)  Banks,  of  Rus- 
sel  County,  Ala.  To  this  union  two  children 
were  born,  Charles  and  Lula.  Mrs.  Franklin 
died  in  1879,  and  the  Doctor  afterwards  mar- 
ried Miss  Lula,  a  sister  of  his  first  wife,  and  to 
them  five  children  have  been  born:  John  K., 
Jerome  C,  James  .1.,  Jane,  and  Higgs  B. 


DANIEL  M.  COLLINS,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Bullock  County,  Ala.,  was  born  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1848,  in  the  county  where  he  now  resides. 
His  parents  were  Charles  B.  and  Elvira  (Culpep- 
per) Collins,  who  came  from  Georgia. 

Daniel  M.  Collins  received  his  education  at  the 
common  schools  of  Bullock  County.  After  leav- 
ing school  he  went  to  Montgomery,  Ala.,  where 
he  read  lav  in  the  office  of  Governor  Watts  and 
Col.  Daniel  S.  Troy,  and  in  1873,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  He  did  not  engage  in  the  practice  of 
the  law,  but  taught  school  and  farmed  until  1  80. 
In  1884  he  was  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  two 
years  later  was  elected  Circuit  Court  Clerk,  and 
is  still  filling  the  position  with  credit  to  himself 
and  to  the  interest  of  his  county. 

Mr.  Collins  was  married  in  1875  to  Miss  Sarah 
E.,  daughter  of  Oliver  and  Martha  (Martin)  Pow- 
ell, of  Dallas  County,  Ala,,  and  to  them  three- 
children  have  been  born :  Bertie,  Charles  M.  and 
Robert  Lee. 

FLEMING  LAW,  Attorney-at-law,  was  born  in 
October,  1833,  at  Sunberry,  Liberty  County, 
Ga.  His  parents  were  Josiah  S.  and  Ellen  S. 
(Barrett)  Law,  both  Georgians.  His  father  was 
a  minister  of  the  Baptist  Church  in  Georgia, 
for  over  twenty-five  years,  and  died  in  October, 
1853. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
common  schools;  read  law  in  the  office  of  Law  & 
Sims,  Rainbridge,  Ga, ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1853.  He  was  also  admitted  to  practice  before 
the  Supreine  Court  of  that  State  in  1850.  He 
began  the  practice  at  Fort  Gaines,  Ga.,  which  he 
continued  until  18G"2,  when  he  entered  the  Con- 
federate Army  as  a  private  in  Company  G,  Fifth 
Georgia  Cavalry,  and, being  subsequently  appointed 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


189 


to  a  non-commissioned  office,  lie  served  in  that 
capacity  until  tlic  war  closed. 

After  the  war,  Fleming  Law  was  farming  until 
18(i7:  came  in  that  year  to  I'nion  Sjirings,  and 
resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  to  which  he 
has  since  sedulously  devoted  his  attention.  Since 
coming  to  Union  Springs,  he  has  held  the  oflice  of 
County  Solicitor  for  six  years,  and  has  also  been 
Jfayor  of  the  town.  As  a  lawyer  he  ranks  well  at 
the  liar  before  which  he  practices, 

Jlr.  Law  was  married,  in  185ti,  to  iliss  Caledonia 


A.,  daughter  of  'William  P,  and  Ann  A.  (Baily) 
Ford,  of  Fort  CJaines,(Ja.  Tiiey  have  fourchildren: 
M'iliiam  F.,  Callie,  DeLacy,  and  Claud, 

Our  subject  has  been  a  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  thirty-five  years, 
a  steward  therein  for  thirty  years,  and  super- 
intendent of  the  Sunday-school  at  L'nion  Springs 
for  ten  years. 

He  was  a  lay  delegate  to  the  General  Conference 
in  18:8.  18S-2  and  1S8(;,  and  to  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences several  years. 


DALLAS   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  8,42.5;  colored,  40,008, 
Area,  980  square  miles.  A\'oodland  and  Prairie, 
830  square  miles.  Gravelly  hills,  with  pine,  150 
square  miles. 

Acres  —  In  cotton  (approximately).  115,031; 
in  corn,  4G,. 542;  in  oats.  8,260;  in  wheat,  71;  in 
tobacco,  13;  in  sugar-cane,  18;  in  sweet  potatoes, 
2,250. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  40, OOO. 

County  Seat — Selma;  population,  10,.J00;  situ- 
ated on  the  Alabama  river,  liOO  miles  from  its 
mouth:  center  of  trade,  in  cotton,  lumber,  iron, 
and  coal,  at  the  terminus  of  the  Western  Railroad, 
of  Alabama;  Selma  &  Pensacola;  also  Selma 
&  Cincinnati.  Selma  \  Mobile,  and  Selma  &  New 
Orleans  Uoads. 

Postothces  in  the  County — Helknap,  Berlin, 
Brown's,  Burnsville,  Cahaba,  Central  .Mills,  Cren- 
shaw, llarrell,  Hazen,  King's  Landing,  Marion 
Junction,  Martin's  Station,  Jfassillon,  Minter, 
Morrowvillc.  Orrville,  Plantersville,  Pleasant  Hill, 
Portland,  Richmond,  Selma.  Shields' Mill,  Soap- 
stone,  Summerfield,  Tasso,  Terry,  Tilden. 

Dallas  County  was  organized  in  1818,  during 
Alabama's  Territorial  period,  and  was  named  in 
honor  of  Hon.  A.  .1.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania. 
Rate  of  taxation,  *!l.05  on  tiie  *100.  Bonded 
debt,    for  railroad    purposes,   4^73.000,      Floating 


debt  none.  About  144  miles  of  raiload  cross  the 
county  in  all  directions,  giving  eveiy  portion 
ample  shipping  and  market  facilities. 

The  surface  of  the  country  is  gently  undulating, 
and  in  no  portion  is  found  barren  soils.  Along 
the  Alabama  and  Cahaba  Rivers  the  lands  are 
famous  for  their  depth,  strength  and  fertility,  and 
the  second  bottoms,  or  terraces  found  after  the 
bottoms  arc  passed  are  level  and  susceptible  of  a 
high  state  of  cultivation.  In  the  northwestern 
part,  pine  lands  prevail  and  lumbering  is  the  prin- 
cipal industry.  Thi.s  region  is  noted  for  its  clear. 
swift-tlowing  streams,  healthfulness  and  excellent 
pine  timber,  but  as  the  forests  disappear  it  is  grad- 
ually being  converted  into  an  agiicultural  section, 
as  cotton,  corn,  potatoes,  fruits  and  vegetables 
are  found  to  do  most  excellently  there.  All  of  the 
northern  part  is  elevated  and  well  adapted  to  gen- 
eral farming  and  stock-raising.  Upon  the  table 
lands  the  soils  are  red  and  gray,  friable,  easily  cul- 
tivated and  very  jiroductive.  Toward  the  center 
sandy  "lands  are  encountered,  interspersed  with 
flowing  streams.  These  sandy  lands  are  very  pro- 
ductive, and  by  many  preferred  to  either  bottom 
or  uplands.  In  the  western  portion  are  found  the 
famous  caiiebrake  lands,  which  for  productiveness 
and  location  are  unexcelled,  while  lower  down  on 
the  western  border  are  found  variable  soils,  and  a 


190 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


great  diversity  of  forest  growth  and  field  vegeta- 
tion. 

Dallas  produces  more  cotton  than  any  other  of 
Alabama's  sixty-six  counties,  and  its  farm  pro- 
ducts exceed  in  value  those  of  any  other  county 
in  the  State. 

Land  is  worth  from  ^"•2..">0  to  §40  per  acre,  and 
excellent  farming  land  maybe  purchased  from  *10 
to  $15  per  acre.  Government  land.  none.  Titles 
wee  perfect,  and  from  the  records  kept  at  Selma,  a 
perfect  abstract  title  may  be  easily  obtained. 

The  educational  advantages  of  Dallas  County 
are  among  its  many  attractive  features.  There 
are  over  one  hundred  public  schools  in  the  rural 
district,  wliite  or  colored;  the  latter,  while  not  en- 
joying educational  privileges  in  common  with  the 
former,  being,  nevertheless  well  provided  for  in  this 
direction,  and  the  schools  often  taught  by  persons 
of  their  own  race.  Every  neighborhood  has  its 
school-house  and  is  provided  with  efficient  teach- 
ers. Churches  are  also  scattered  jilentifully 
throughout  the  county,  and  all  the  princii)al  de- 
nominations are  represented.  Thus  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  new  comer  finds  all  the  advantages  of 
civilization,  a  well-ordered  and  regulated  com- 
munity, and  as  intelligent  and  law  abiding  a  citi- 
zenship as  that  of  his  Northern  and  Western  home. 
In  the  far  West  all  these  things  must  be  acquired 
after  many  long  years  of  frontier  jiioneering,  full 
of  danger,  hardships  and  privation.  It  may  be 
true  that  sectional  feelings  and  strong  prejudices 
against  "Yankees"  exist  in  the  South,  but  if  such 
is  the  case,  the  writer,  who  has  spent  ten  years  in 
traveling  through  every  portion  of  that  much- 
maligned  division  of  this  great  republic,  has  failed 
to  discover  it.  There  are  "cranks"  and  fools  and 
ignorant  persons  in  every  part  of  the  world,  but 
no  greater  2iercentage  of  this  class  is  found  in  the 
South  than  in  the  North,  or  elsewhere  in  the  world, 
for  that  matter.  No  one  need  be  deterred  from 
going  to  Dallas  County  for  fear  of  ostracism  or 
nnkindness  on  account  of  political  predilections; 
because    politics   are   less   thought  of   now  tlian 


money  making,  and  every  dollar  of  Northern  cap- 
ital invested  in  the  South  (and  millions  are  invest- 
ed annually)  is  an  unanswerable  argument  in  favor 
of  the  desirability,  the  advantages,  resources  and 
glorious  future  of  that  grand  section,  and  a  lie 
direct,  given  to  malignant  falsifiers  of  facts,  who 
for  political  purposes  would  make  it  appear 
that  neither  Northern  men  nor  northern  capital 
are  safe  in  the  South. 

Certain  it  is  that  great  advantages  will  be  found 
in  Dallas  County  in  the  shape  of  fertility  of  soils, 
cheapness  of  lands,  abundance  of  timber,  ease  of 
transportation,  and  the  law-abiding  disjjosition  of 
the  jieople.  More  productive  lands  cannot  be 
found  in  the  State  than  in  this  county,  which 
is  the  very  heart  of  the  South's  great  cotton 
belt. 

The  class  of  immigrants  wanted  for  the  agri- 
cultural districts  of  the  State  (Alabama)  is  small 
farmers  who  understand  our  language  and  cus- 
toms, men  with  money  enough  to  pay  their 
fares,  purchase  their  farms  and  live  independ- 
ent of  charity  or  assistance  from  the  community 
in  which  they  locate.  And  to  this  class  every 
good  citizen  says.  Come  and  be  welcome  sharers 
in  the  great  favors  which  a  bountiful  nature 
has  lavished  upon  our  fair  State.  Compare  ad- 
vantages and  resources  with  those  of  your  North- 
ern or  Western  homes.  We  offer  you  the  most 
fertile  lands  at  prices  that  will  enable  you  to 
pay  for  and  imjorove  them;  we  offer  you  a  climate 
the  most  delightful  that  the  mind  can  conceive 
of,  and  water  as  jiure  as  the  earth  produces. 
We  have  ample  and  ever-increasing  transporta- 
tion facilities  to  carry  your  products  to  every 
market  in  the  world,  and  we  offer  you  good  so- 
ciety, religious  and  educational  advantages,  a 
good,  wise  and  economical  State,  county  and 
municipal  government;  in  short,  all  the  advant- 
ages of  civilization,  and  extend  the  right  hand 
of  fellowshiji,  and  welcome  you  most  heartily, 
provided  your  object  is  to  live  among  us,  and  aid 
in  the  grand  work  of  developing  our  resources. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


191 


DEMOPOLIS. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  TAYLOR.  Altorney- 
at-la«'  ami  Solicitor  of  the  First  Judicial  Circuit, 
was  born  January  Ifi,  1849,  at  Moiitgomery.  and 
is  a  son  of  Edward  F.  and  Anne  S.  (Trezevant) 
Taylor,  both  natives  of  Columbia,  S.  C.  After 
his  father  came  to  Alabama  he  was  engaged  in 
planting:  iuid  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a 
Confederate  soldier,  and  died  at  .Montgomery, 
November  4,  18112. 

Our  subject  was  educated  at  the  University  of 
South  Carolina,  situated  at  Columbia,  which  has 
been  a  seat  of  culture  and  refinement  for  many 
years.  He  was  graduated  from  this  institution  in 
June.  ISfir.  Going  back  somewhat,  we  find  that 
in  November,  18(!4,  he  entered  the  army  as  a 
private  in  Company  D,  of  the  First  Regiment  of 
South  Carolina  Cavalry,  and  served  in  the  capacity 
of  courier  till  April,  18(;5,  when  the  war  closed. 

Immediately  after  his  graduation,  as  already 
noted,  we  find  our  subject  engaged  in  teaching  in 
Jlobile,  Ala.,  which  he  continued  four  years,  and, 
having  read  law  in  the  meantime,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  18.1,  In  the  following  year  he 
located  in  Choctaw  County,  for  the  practice  of 
his  profession,  lie  was  a  member  of  the  Alabama 
Legislature  from  Choctaw  during  the  session  of 
18T8-T9,  and  served  on  a  special  committee  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the 
House. 

In  November,  ls8(i,  he  was  elected  Solicitor  of 
the  First  Judicial  Circuit,  and  having  come  to 
Demojjolis  in  January,  1883,  to  live,  he  was  re- 
elected from  there  to  the  same  position  in  188<i. 
It  needs  no  assurance  on  our  part  to  satisfy  our 
readers  that  Mr.  Taylor  has  been  eminently  suc- 
cessful as  a  lawyer.  If  the  tree  is  known  by  its 
fruit  then,  indeed,  can  we  know  by  the  results  of 
his  life'.s  work  thus  far:  and  should  we  base  the 
outcome  of  the  future  on  the  past  and  present, 
we  can  say  that  his  life  will  present  a  well-rounded 
and  well-won  series  of  events  achieved  in  a  useful 
and  noble  calling. 

Mr.  Taylor  was  married  January,  1881,  to  Miss 
-Margaretta  V.  T.,  daughter  of  F].  H.  and  Mary  J. 
Metcalf,  of  ^lontgomcry.  Their  family  consists 
uf  four  children:  Mary,  Maggie  M.,  Edward  and 
Lucy  C, 

Mr.  Taylor  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity 


of  the   Knights  of   Pythias  and  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 


JOHN  R,  ROBERTSON,  I'.anker,  was  born  in 
Hale  County,  this  State,  July  28,  1842,  and  is  a 
son  of  Henry  C.  and  Julia  0.  (Yancey)  Robert- 
son, natives  of  Virginia.  The  senior ilr.  Rob- 
ertson was  a  planter,  and  died  in  Sumter  County, 
this  State,  in  Uctobei',  1879. 

John  R.  Robertson  attended  the  common  schools 
of  his  immediate  locality  until  twelve  years  old, 
and  then  entered  the  academy  for  boys  kept  by 
the  Rev.  W.  A,  Stickney,  at  Marion,  this  State. 
After  completing  a  course  of  studies  here  he  went 
to  Texas,  and  assumed  control  of  a  plantation 
which  his  father  owned,  and  was  there  when  the 
war  broke  out.  He  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in 
Company  I),  Fifth  Texas,  and  was  ]iromoted  by 
regular  gradation  until  attaining  the  rank  of 
major.  He  gave  four  years  to  the  cause  of  the 
South,  and  participated  in  many  battles.  He  was 
wounded  slightly  while  skirmishing  around  Rich- 
mond in  June,  18(i4. 

Returning  from  the  war  in  ISUo,  Mr.  Robertson 
spent  one  year  in  the  "Old  Dominion,"  and 
returned  to  Texas,  where  he  engaged  at  farming 
for  three  years.  In  December,  1869,  he  came  to 
Demojjolis,  and  engaged  in  the  banking  business 
in  partnership  with  Mr.  R.  H.  Clark.  After  one 
year  Mr.  D.  T.  Front  bought  out  Mr.  Clark's 
interest,  and  the  business  was  continued  under  the 
firm  name  of  Front  &  Robertson.  This  commer- 
cial institution  does  a  large  business,  and  is  rightly 
regarded  as  a  solid  concern. 

Mr.  Robertson  has  achieved  far  more  than  the 
ordinary  measure  of  success,  and  being  yet  in  the 
prime  of  manhood,  there  is  no  extravagance  in 
asserting  that  a  bright  future  yet  awaits  him  in 
his  chosen  field  of  life.  He  is  identified  with 
other  substantial  enterprises,  among  which  may 
be  mentioned  the  Presidency  of  the  Demojiolis  Oil 
Mill  Comiiany.  and  the  directorship  of  the  ilem- 
phis  &  Pensacola  Railroad,  a  line  now  in  process 
of  construction. 

Mr.  Robertson  was  married  in  May,  L^C.'i,  to 
Miss  Virginia,  daughter  of  II.  F.  and  .Mary  (King) 
Watson,  of  Christian  Countv,  Ky. 


192 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  one 
of  its  wardens,  takes  an  active  interest  in  all  its 
affairs,  and  was  for  some  years  superintendent  of 
the  Sunday-school  at  liis  liome.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Blasouic  fraternity. 


E.  H.  C.  BAILEY,  Physician  and  Surgeon, 
was  born  at  Lewisburg,  Va"..  December  14,  lo25, 
and  his  parents  were  Edward  B.  and  May  C. 
Bailey,  natives,  respectively,  of  Virginia  and 
South  Carolina. 

The  senior  Mr.  Bailey  was  a  distinguished  at- 
torney, and  was  several  years  Judge  of  the  Fayette- 
ville  Circuit  of  Virginia.  He  was  an  active  poli- 
tician, and  in  several  presidential  campaigns  was 
district  elector.  He  died  at  Demopolis,  at  the 
residence  of  his  son,  in  1874. 

Dr.  Bailey  was  educated  at  Lewisburg  Academy, 
and  entered  the  Medical  Deiiartment  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  at  Charlottesville,  in  1846, 
graduating  June  20,  1848.  In  the  same  year  he 
began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  his  home, 
and  afterward  moved  to  Kanawha  County,  W. 
Va.,  where  he  remained  until  1852;  from 
thence  to  Palmyra,  Mo.,  and  continued  the 
practice  until  18G1.  Early  in  this  year,  he  was 
made  Chief  Surgeon  of  the  Second  Division  of 
the  Missouri  State  Troops,  in  the  service  of  the 
Confederate  States,  and  was  afterward  appointed 
Surgeon  of  the  Second  Regiment,  First  Brigade, 
of  that  State. 

In  1862,  Dr.  Bailey  was  appointed  Medical 
Purveyor  in  the  Department  of  Alabama,  Mis- 
sissippi, and  East  Louisiana,  in  which  position  he 
remained  until  the  war  closed. 

Thus  do  we  see  a  young  man  emerging  from 
the  halls  of  his  medical  instruction,  and,  by  de- 
serving and  sterling  qualities,  winning  his  way 
rapidly  as  an  excellent  and  skillful  physician  and 
surgeon,  and  the  crowning  glory  of  his  career 
comes  when  his  ability  is  thought  amply  sufficient 
to  entitle  him  to  recognition  in  such  distinguished 
manner  as  we  have  just  chronicled:  nor  does  he 
prove  any  way  lacking  in  the  qualities  which  go 
to  make  up  the  faithful,  worthy,  useful  and  skill- 
ful jDhysician  and  surgeon.  How  much  he  did  to 
relieve  suffering  humanity  will  never  be  known  to 
but  comparatively  the  fewest  number:  but  he  will 
be  ever  held  in  honest  esteem  by  thousands  of 
people  throughout  the  South. 


He  came  to  Demopolis  in  186.5,  and  has  been 
in  active  j)ractice  ever  since. 

Dr.  Bailey  belongs  to  the  State  and  County 
Medical  Societies,  and  has  served  several  years  as 
president  of  the  latter. 

He  was  married  in  1851  to  iliss  ^largaret, 
daughter  of  John  Shrewsburg,  of  Kanawha 
County,  W.  Va.  Their  union  has  been  blessed 
with  five  children — John  S.,  Edward  B..  Alex- 
ander C,  Mary  Cori-ie  and  Eobert  Augustus. 
The  familj'  are  communicants  of  the  E]iiscopal 
Church,  and  the  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity. 

— — ^'-"^^^-  <'  ■    • 

JAMES  F.  RUFFIN,  Physician  and  Surgeon, 
was  born  December,  1826,  in  Rockingham  County, 
N.  C,  and  is  the  son  of  James  H.  and  Susan 
(Williamson)  Euffin,  natives  of  Virginia  and 
Xorth  Carolina,  and  of  English  and  Scotch  de- 
scent, respectively. 

James  F.  Ruffin  graduated  in  the  literary 
course  from  the  University  of  North  Carolina  in 
1846:  three  years  afterward  graduated  in  medi- 
cine from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  (Phil- 
adelphia), and  at  once  came  to  Demopolis  to 
inirsue  the  practice  of  his  profession,  where  he 
has  ever  since  been  living. 

Dr.  Ruffin  was  married  in  January,  1851,  to 
Miss  Rosalie,  daughter  of  Samuel  Strudwick,  of 
Marengo  County.  Her  death  occurred  in  1860, 
and  he  was  married,  the  second  time,  to  Miss 
Ann,  a  sister  of  his  first  wife,  in  1864.  Dr. 
Ruffin  has  one  child,  Agnes  Y. 

The  Doctor  is  a  Mason  and  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias. 


GEORGE  GAINES  LYON,  Attorney-at-law,  was 
borii  in  W  ashington  County,  Ala.,  January  11, 
1821.  He  is  a  son  of  James  Gaines  and  Rosa 
(Fisher)  Lyon,  natives  of  North  Carolina.  His 
father  was  a  prominent  lawyer,  and,  for  sevei-al 
years.  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  and  Register  in 
Cliancery,  in  Washington  County.  In  1827  he 
went  to  Mobile:  engaged  quite  extensively  in  the 
real  estate  business  and  the  practice  of  law,  and 
was  for  a  time  Register  in  Chancery.  He  was  the 
eldest  brother  of  the  Hon.  F.  S.  Lyon,  and  nephew 
of  the  late  George  S.   Gaines,  who  was  one  of  the 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


193 


first  settlers  of  Alabama.  He  remained  there 
until  his  death  in  l.s4'.'. 

Our  subject  studied  law  at  famous  old  Yale  Col- 
lege \a,\s  School.  Iteturning  lumie.  lie  began 
the  practice  in  the  citj'  of  Mobile,  and  after  remain- 
ing there  a  short  time  lie  removed  to  Demopolis. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  February,  1S40,  arid 
subsequently  admitted  to  practice  before  the  Su- 
preme Court.  Since  coming  to  the  bar  he  has  been 
in  the  active  practice  at  Demopolis,  and  has  been 
eminently  successful,  both  professionally  and  finan- 
cially. 

During  the  war.  Mr.  Lyon  jield  the  ofiice  of 
Sequestrator,  and  was,  in  addition,  one  of  the 
Commissioners  of  the  Confederate  (iovernment. 
During  the  administration  of  Gov.  John  Gill 
Shorter,  he  was  the  (iovernor's  Aid  for  West  Ala- 
bama. 

Since  the  advent  of  Democratic  rule  at  Wash- 
ington Mr.  Lyon  is  among  those  who  luive  been 
favored,  in  consequence  of  his  fitness  and  admirable 
qualifications  for  tiie  holding  of  public  ofiice,  and 
was  by  reason  of  this  and  without  his  solicitation 
made  United  States  Circuit  Court  Commissioner. 
In  this  position,  as  elsewhere,  he  has  given  every 
evidence  of  his  capacity  for  what  he  has  undertaken 
to  do,  and  Uncle  Sam  in  no  wise  has  reason  to  re- 
gret iuiving  thus  favored  one  of  his  faitiiful  and 
worthy  citizens. 

Mr.  Lyon,  for  a  man  of  liis  ])osition.  capacity, 
fitness,  influence  and  acceptabloness  to  the  peo- 
ple, has  held  very  few  otlices.  This  has  not  been 
owing  to  that  the  office  was  not  in  reach,  but 
because  he  has  not  been  of  that  class  of  citizens, 
wiio  are  always  anxious  for  political  preferment. 
Among  the  conspicuous  examples  which  we  may 
cite  ill  supjwrt  of  this  fact  was  his  declination  of 
two  nominations  of  tiie  Whig  party  to  run  for  the 
legislature,  once,  for  the  lower  house  and  once  for 
the  senate;  and  also,  of  the  office  of  chancellor,  in 
1SG8.  an  office  which  owing  to  its  dignity,  honor 
and  lucrativeness,  has  always  made  it  a  prize 
eagerly   sought  after:  but   he   turned  aside  from 


this,  prefering,  as  much  greater  prizes,  the  pleasure 
of  domestic  life  and  the  success  of  its  professional 
labors. 

Mr.  Lyon  was  married  in  April,  18.50,  to  Miss 
Annie  (i.,  daugiiter  of  Allen  and  Mary  A.  (Diven) 
(ilover,  one  of  the  leading  and  best  families  of 
Marengo  County.  To  tiiem  iiave  been  born  nine 
children,  of  whom  James  (i.,  Allen  G.,  Xorman 
and  Francis  S.  are  all  dead.  Of  the  children  who 
grew  to  maturity  may  be  mentioned:  Rosa,  after- 
ward Mrs.  William  T.  Kembert,  who  met  a  dread- 
ful fate  in  the  burning  of  the  Steamer  "  (iardner," 
on  the  Tombigbee  IJiver,  in  1887:  Susie  D.,  wife  of 
Julius  P.  Rembert,  met  the  same  fate  as  her  sister, 
at  the  same  time;  George  C,  is  now  a  promi- 
nent physician  at  Pulte  Medical  College,  Cincin- 
nati; Mary  G.  and  Annie  (i. 

Our  subject  is  a  member  of  the  F.  A.  &  M., 
and  an  active  and  efficient  member  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Several  years  back,  when  tlie  Grange  movement 
started  in  the  South,  Alabama  was  no  exception  to 
the  list  of  Southern  States  taking  hold  of  the 
movement,  believing  it  to  be  for  her  material 
good.  Mr.  Lyon  interested  himself  very  much  in 
the  movement,  and  gave  it  all  the  aid  in  his  power. 
In  1S7">,  he  was  appointed  by  Gov.  George  S. 
Houston,  Commissioner  of  Immigration,  and,  in 
connection  with  it.  took  an  active  and  aggressive 
part  in  the  canvass  of  the  southern  portion  of  the 
State  on  the  subject,  which  was  then  absorbing  a 
considerable  part  of  the  ])ublic  attention. 

Mr.  Lyon's  grandmother  was  a  Gaines,  sister  of 
the  late  George  Strother  Gaines,  and  General  E. 
P.  Gaines,  who  were  among  the  first  settlers  of 
Alabama,  at  St.  Stej)hen's. 

Since  the  above  sketch  was  written,  Mr.  Lyon's 
son,  Francis  Strother  Lyon,  died  of  Bright's  disease, 
January  111,  1888,  in  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  his 
age.  lie  graduated  at  the  University  of  Alabama, 
in  188G,  and,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  study- 
ing law  in  his  father's  office,  with  fine  prospects 
before  him. 


VI. 
ELMORE   COUNTY. 


Population:    White,  8,74T;  colored,  8,755. 

Area,  630  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Grav- 
elly hills,  with  long-leaf  pine,  "^30  square  miles; 
metamorphic  400  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  31,045;  in 
corn,  20,000;  in  oats,  5,153;  iu  wheat,  3,883;  in 
rye,  37;  in  rice,  5:  in  tobacco,  12:  in  sugar-cane, 
16;  in  sweet  potatoes,  642. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton — 10,000. 

County  Seat — Wetumpka;  population  1,20(): 
on  the  Wetumpka  branch  South  &  North  IJuil- 
road. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Elmore 
Express,  Times  (both  Democratic). 

Postoffices  iu  the  County — Bingham,  Bnyck, 
Central  Institute,  Channahatchee,  Colley,  Coosada 
Station,  Cotton's  Store,  Deetsville,  Eclectic,  Edge- 
wood,  Elmore,  Good  Hope,  Irnia,  Kowaliga,  Kob- 
inson  Springs,  Sand  Tuck,  Sykes'  Mills,  Tallas- 
see,  Ware,  Weoka,  Wetumpha. 

Elmore  County  was  created  out  of  portions  of 
Coosa,  Autauga,  Montgomery  and  Tallapoosa  Coun- 
ties, by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  approved  Febru- 
ary 15,  1866.  The  county  was  named  for  Gen. 
John  A.  Elmore,  who  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Autauga  County,  and  resided  in  that  portion  which 
was  embraced  in  this  county.  The  county  is  d  ivided 
into  two  parts  by  the  Coosa  River,  and  the  Talla- 
poosa, which  forms  a  portion  of  its  eastern  bound- 
ary, takes  a  bend  and  washes  its  entire  southern 
border. 

The  surface  of  the  county  is  generally  rolling. 
The  lands  vary  in  appearance,  and  in  thcraerit  of 
their  soils.  The  gray  lands  have  the  predomi- 
nancy in  the  county,  and  vary  with  the  localities. 
On  the  Coosa  River  above  Wetumpka,  there  are 
found  narrow  basins  of  good  land,  but  out  from 
these  bottoms  there  are  formed  level  plains  wliich 
are  generally  covered  with  a  sandy  soil.  On  the 
side  of  the  Coosa  River,  opposite  the  town  of 
Wetumpka,  there  is  an  extended  plain  which 
stretches  away  to  the  boundary  of  Autauga  County. 
The  character  of  the  land  belonging  to  this  level 


stretch  of  country  is  a  sandy  surface  ^vith  a  stiff 
clay  subsoil.  This  gives  to  the  wagon  ways  a  per- 
jsetual  firmness,  and  renders  hauling  easy.  Follow- 
ing along  the  Tallapoosa  one  finds  a  girt  of 
superior  lands  which  are  excellent  for  the  pro- 
duction of  cotton  and  corn.  Perhaps  the  best 
lands  are  found  in  the  fork  of  the  Coosa  and  Talla- 
poosa Rivers.  These  alluvial  bottoms  have  been 
steadily  planted  for  many  years,  and  have  yielded 
unceasingly  heavy  crops  of  corn  and  cotton.  The 
planters  prize  these  river  lands  because  of  their 
capacity  to  produce  the  snowy  staple  as  well  as  the 
stafE  of  life,  to-wit,  corn,  more  than  any  others  in 
the  county. 

The  lands  that  lie  just  above  those  alluded  to, 
and  which  are  above  the  annual  overflow  of  the 
rivers,  are  also  superb  cotton  lands,  and  are  re- 
garded the  safest  for  the  production  of  that  staple. 
Of  course,  it  must  not  be  understood  that  the 
production  of  cotton  is  confined  to  these  lands. 
In  different  parts;  of  the  county  are  brown  loam 
and  slaty  soils,  which  yield  splendid  crops. 

Elmore  has  many  magnificent  pine  forests,  and 
on  many  of  its  streams  fine  saw-mills  are  erected, 
which  turn  out  large  quantities  of  fine  pine  lum- 
ber for  local  use,  as  well  as  for  shipment  to  south- 
ern and  western  markets. 

The  health  of  the  county  is  unsurpassed,  and 
all  portions  of  it  possess  drinking  water  as  jiure  and 
wholesome  as  any  found  in  any  portion  of  the 
world.  The  climate  is  equable,  and  the  hills  make 
most  desirable  residences  for  those  to  whom  a 
healthy  locality  and  an  abundance  of  pure  water 
for  all  purposes  is  an  inducement  in  selecting  a 
home. 

Among  the  fruits  which  experience  has  proven 
will  thrive  in  Elmore  County  may  be  mentioned: 
pears,  apples,  figs,  j^eaches  and  grapes,  while 
strawberries,  raspberries  and  other  small  fruits 
yield  abundantly. 

The  timber  of  the  county  consists  of  oak,  jjine, 
hickory,  beech,  walnut,  magnolia,  dogwood,  gum 
and  persimmon. 


194 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


195 


Yellow  uchre  has  heen  discovered  at  several 
points  in  tlie  county,  sind  is  reported  to  be  of  an 
excellent  grade.  The  county  can  produce  a  buhr 
stone,  for  millstones,  which  in  service  is  equal 
to  any  ever  used,  and  in  crushing  corn  into  meal 
is  superior  to  many  so-called  finer  varieties.  In 
addition  there  are  deposits  of  stone  which  is 
very  durable  and  useful  as  a  building  stone.  Gold 
exists  in  localities  in  the  county,  and  has  been 
worked  with  great  profit  and  satisfaction  to  those 
engaged.  Large  deposits  of  clay  have  been 
found  in  the  county,  which  is  thought  valuable 
for  the  manufacture  of  a  tine  grade  of  porcelain 
ware,  while  some  sands  of  tiie  county  have 
been  pronounced  to  be  excellent  for  making  glass. 

At  Tallassee,  on  the  Tallapoosa  Kiver,  is  the 
Tallassee  Cotton  Factory,  which  was,  for  many 
years,  the  largest  mill  of  that  character  in  the 
South.  The  falls  in  the  river  at  that  point  far- 
nish  immense  water-po«'er,  which  is  only  slightly 
utilized.  This  is  but  one  of  the  numerous  sites 
favorable  to  the  location  of  manufactories  in  the 
county. 

Splendid  streams  of  water  ramify  the  county 
in  all  directions.  Among  these  are  the  Coosa 
and    Tallapoosa    Kivcrs,   Shoal.    Wewoka,    Mill, 


Safkahatchee,  Hatchee,  Chubbee.  Corn,  and 
Wallahatchee  Creeks.  Tiiese  lesser  streams  find 
outlet.s  through  either  the  Coosa  or  Tallapoosa 
Hi  vers. 

The  points  of  interest  in  the  county  arc  \Ve- 
tumpka,  the  county  seat,  with  a  jiopulation  of 
1,500;  Tallassee,  with  about  1,200;  and  Kobinson 
Springs.  Wetumpka  has  long  been  noted  as  the 
location  of  the  State  Penitentiary.  Tallassee  is 
famous  as  a  manufacturing  center,  and  Robinson 
Springs,  in  former  years,  was  a  noted  local  resort 
for  the  vlitc  of  Montgomery. 

The  educational  advantages  of  the  county  are 
good,  as  are  also  facilities  for  the  enjoyment  of 
religious  worship.  The  means  of  transportation 
are  convenient.  The  Louisville  &  Nashville 
Railroad  runs  through  the  county,  a  branch  of 
wliich  terminates  at  Wetumpka,  while  in  the 
eastern  end  the  Western  Railroad  is  sutticientiy 
near  to  be  quite  accessible.  The  Coosa  River  fur- 
nishes another  cheap  means  of  transportation  to 
Montgomei'y  and  Selma  upon  the  Alabama  River, 
and  the  cities  upon  the  Southern  coast. 

Lands  may  be  had  from  %\.h^  to  ^15  per  acre 
in  the  county.  The  Government  owns  7,320 
acres  of  land  subject  to  entry. 


VII. 
GREENE    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  3,76.'');  colored,  18,106.  Area, 
520  square  miles.  Woodland  all,  except  about 
twenty-five  square  miles  of  prairie. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  i>3,G43:  in 
corn,  31,820;  in  oats,  2,103;  in  wheat,  214;  in  rye, 
25;  in  sugar-cane,  25;  in  tobacco,  41;  in  sweet 
potatoes,  705. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  1."),8(M). 

County  seat — Eutaw;  population  1.100;  situated 
on  the  Alabama  <)t  Great  Western  Railroad,  thirty- 
five  miles  from  Tuscaloosa,  and  sixty  miles  west 
of  Selma. 


Newspapers  published  at  t'ounty  Seat — Mirror, 
Whig  and  Observer  (all  Democratic). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Boligee,  Rurton's 
Hill,  Clinton,  Dobbs,  Eutair,  Forkland.  Knox- 
ville,  Mantua,  Mount  Hebron,  Pleasant  Ridge, 
Tishabee,  Union,  West  Greene. 

The  county  bounded  is  on  the  north  by  the  Sip- 
sey  River,  on  the  east  and  southeast  by  the  War- 
rior River,  and  on  the  west  and  southwest  by  the 
Tombigbee  River;  is  situated  in  the  western  part 
of  Alabama,  and,  agriculturally  considered,  is 
one  of  the  best  counties  in  the  State.     Its  county 


196 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


seat,  Eutaw,  is  situated  on  the  Alabama  (ireat 
Southern  Ilailroad,  and  three  miles  west  of  a 
steamboat  landing  on  the  Warrior  River.  Its 
other  towns  are  Forkland,  300  inhabitants,  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  county,  near  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Warrior  and  Tombigbee  Rivers;  Bol- 
igee,  on  the  Alabama  Great  .Southern  Railroad, 
300  inhabitants:  Mount  Hebron,  West  Greene 
and  Pleasant  Ridge,  in  the  western  part  of  the 
county,  near  the  Tombigbee  River,  each  contain- 
ing about  150  inhabitants:  Knoxville,  200  inhab- 
itants, and  Union  and  Mantua,  two  small  villages 
in  the  northern  j^art  of  the  county.  The  Alabama 
Great  Southern  Railroad  crosses  the  county  from 
east  to  west.  The  lands  lying  south  of  this  rail- 
road, with  a  few  exceptions,  are  what  are  known 
as  "canebrake  lands,''  and  much  resemble  the 
jorairies  of  the  North  and  Xorthwest.  They  are 
very  productive,  an  average  crop  being  one-half 
bale  of  cotton  or  thirty  bushels  of  corn  per  acre. 
These  lands  are  worth  from  six  to  fifteen  dollars 
per  acre,  according  to  locality  and  fertility.  North 
of  the  river  is  a  small  belt  of  black  or  canebrake 
lands,  but  the  main  body  of  the  lands  lying  north 
of  this  railroad  are  either  dark  red  or  gray  sandy 
lands.  These  sandy  lands  are  good  for  all  kinds 
of  farming,  and  respond  generously  to  judicious 
fertilizing.     Thev  are  worth  from   two  to  twelve 


dollars  per  acre,  according  to  locality  and  quality. 
The  principal  products  of  the  county  are  corn, 
cotton,  peas,  potatoes,  molasses,  and  vegetables. 
Large  bodies  of  cane  are  to  be  found  upon  the  un- 
cleared lands  of  this  county,  which  form  a  splen- 
did winter  jjasture  for  stock,  and  owing  to  the 
sjilendid  climate,  fertility  of  soil  and  abundance 
of  water,  and  its  adaptability  to  the  growth  of 
clover,  this  county  would  be  a  sjilendid  locality 
for  stock  raisers.  Greene  County  contains  large 
bodies  of  virgin  timber,  consisting  of  oak,  red 
and  white,  ash,  poplar,  cypress,  hickory  and  pine, 
and  the  Sipsey,  Warrior  and  Tombigbee  Rivers 
would  be  splendid  places  for  the  lumber  mills. 
Greene  County  lies  seventy  miles  south  of  Birming- 
ham, and  '•  truck  farming"  there  would  yield  good 
and  immediate  profits. 

Among  the  great  men  given  to  the  State  by 
this  county  are  to  be  mentioned  the  brilliant  ad- 
vocate, William  M.  Murphy:  the  eminent  jurist, 
John  Erwin:  the  well-known  Chancellor  Clark. 
These  men  are  now  dead.  Among  the  living  are  to 
be  mentioned  Thomas  Seay,  the  present  Governor 
of  Alabama,  who  was  born  in  Greene  County,  and 
Thomas  W.  Coleman,  the  present  efficient  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Southwestern  Chancery  Division  of 
this  State.  Educational  and  religions  facilities 
of  the  countv  are  good. 


EUTAW. 


THOMAS  WILKES  COLEMAN,  Chancellor, 
is  a  son  of  James  C.  and  ^[artha  (Anderson) 
Coleman,  natives  of  North  and  South  Carolina, 
respectivel}'. 

Judge  Coleman's  grandfather,  John  Coleman, 
a  planter,  came  from  North  Carolina  to  Alabama 
in  1S18,  and  settled  near  Eutaw  in  1821.  James 
C.  Coleman,  his  son,  was  also  a  planter,  and,  like 
his  father,  farmed  successfully  and  on  an  exten- 
sive scale. 

Thomas  Wilkes  Coleman  was  born  at  Eutaw  in 
1833,  educated  partly  at  Green  Springs,  Ala. 
and  graduated  in  classical  course  at  Princeton, 
N.  J.,  in  1853.  He  read  law  at  Eutaw 
under     Stephen     F.     Hale     (for     whom     Hale 


County  was  named),  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1855. 

Mr.  Coleman  volunteered  in  the  Confederate 
Army  in  18C1,  raised  a  company,  and  became  its 
cajitain.  He  was  captured  at  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
biirg,  and,  at  the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge,  was 
wounded  by  a  minie  ball  which  passed  entirely 
through  his  body,  destroying  his  left  lung,  and  in- 
cai)acitating  him  for  further  military  duty.  He 
recovered  from  his  wound,  however  (a  fact  which 
seems  marvelous  to  those  who  know  its  character 
and  extent),  and  resumed  the  practice  of  law. 

Captain  Coleman  was  a  member  of  the  Consti- 
tutional Convention  of  1805,  and  in  1866  he  was 
elected  Solicitor  for  the  Fifth   Circuit,  but    was 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


197 


ousted  by  the  reconstruction  performance  of  IKfiS. 
In  1878  he  was  iippoitited  to  the  same  ofKce  forthe 
Seventh  Circuit  by  Gov.  K.  W.  Cobb,  and,  in 
1880,  was  elected  to  that  office  by  the  Legislature, 
for  a  six-years  term.  In  1886,  Captain  Coleman 
was  again  elected  .Solicitor  for  another  six-years 
term,  and  in  ilarch,  1887,  he  was  appointed  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Southwestern  Chancery  Division  of 
Alabama,  by  (rov.  Thomas  Seay. 

Judge  Coleman's  life  has  been  a  busy  one.  In 
politics,  he  has  always  been  a  staunch  Democrat. 
He  lost  a  fortune  by  the  war,  but  has  made  for 
himself  a  name  and  a  place  among  his  people, 
which  might  well  be  envied  by  the  most  fortun- 
ate of  the  land.  He  was  heartily  opi)osed  to  the 
idea  of  secession  and  war  from  its  earliest  in- 
ception, but  when  the  issue  was  made,  he  threw 
his  entire  influence  with  the  cause  of  his  people. 

The  Judge  was  married  in  18(30,  to  Miss 
Frances  J.,  daughter  of  Samuel  J.  Wilson,  and 
of  a  family  very  prominent  in  their  locality  and  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  has  ten  living 
children,  six  sons  and  four  daughters.  One  of  the 
sons,  P].  W.  Coleman,  is  practicing  law  in  Texas; 
another,  T.  W.  Coleman,  Jr.,  graduated  at  the 
University  of  Alabama,  in  1885,  taught  school  two 
years,  and  is  now  taking  a  law  course  at  the 
University  of  Virginia. 

Judge  Coleman  is  a  Presbyterian  of  the  old 
school,  and  an  elder  in  tiiat  church.  He  is  also  a 
IJoyal-Arch  Mason. 

WILLIAM  C.  OLIVER,  Judge  of  the  Pro- 
bate Court  of  (ireene  County,  was  born  December 
12,  181i>,  in  Xottoway  County,  \'a.  His  father, 
Isaac  Oliver,  and  his  mother,  Mary  A.  (i.  Oliver, 
were  both  of  English  lineage.  His  maternal 
grandfather.  Col.  Parks  Bacon,  was  a  native  of 
Lunenburg  County,  Va.  Asa  Oliver,  a  paternal 
uncle,  was  a  member  for  many  years  of  tiie  \'ir- 
ginia  F^egislature:  Charles  Oliver,  another  uncle, 
resided  in  Botetourt  County,  Va.,  and  owned 
many  negroes  and  a  large  estate  there. 

Onr  subject  was  reared  and  educated  in  Virginia. 
He  clerked  in  a  retail  store  in  Petersburg, 
until  he  was  twenty  years  old,  and  then  came  to 
Alabama,  settling  at  Erie,  then  the  county  seat  of 
(ireene.  He  there  clerked  and  kept  books.  From 
1840  to  1844,  he  clerked  on  the  steamboat  "  Vic- 
toria," which  ran  the  Warrior  River  between  Mobile 


and  Tuscaloosa.  During  a  portion  of  this  time  he 
was  tax  collector  and  assessor  for  Greene  County. 
In  1844,  he  was  deputy-sheriff.  He  then  en- 
gaged as  a  drygoods  salesman  in  Mobile  for  three 
years,  and  was  elected  sheriff  of  Greene  County  in 
18.i0,  which  office  he  held  three  years.  He  was 
elected  probate  judge  in  18.50,  and  served  until 
1808,  when  he  was  removed  from  office  under  the 
reconstruction  acts.  In  1880,  he  was  again 
elected  probate  judge,  and  has  held  that  office 
ever  since. 

Judge  Oliver  was  first  married  in  1842,  to  Miss 
Elizabtth  Phillips,  daughter  of  W.  II.  Phillips, 
of  Ilillsboro,  X.  C.  She  died  in  1850,  leav- 
ing three  children,  of  whom  two  died  in  child- 
hood, and  Martha  Epes  grew  to  maturity  and 
married  John  P.  Gilmer,  In  1800,  our  subject  was 
married,  to  Miss  Lizzie  S.  Whitehead,  of  Carroll 
County,  Miss.,  by  whoni  he  had  two  children, 
Jeannette,  who  married  W.  D.  Duncan  (a  merchant 
of  Eutaw),  and  William  W.  Oliver,  a  teacher  at 
Tuscaloosa. 

Judge  Oliver  is  a  Free  &  Accepted  Mason. 

WILEY  COLEMAN.  Attorney-at-law,  was 
born  near  GohLsboro.  X.  C,  in  181!',  and  is  a  son 
of  John  and  Rhoda  (Cobb)  Coleman,  natives  of 
tiie  same  State.  The  Coleman  family,  of  whom 
there  is  a  great  number,  came  originally  from 
England. 

John  Coleman  came  from  Xorth  Carolina  with 
his  family,  and  first  settled  in  Bibb  County,  Ala., 
in  1810  From  there  he  removed  to  Greene 
County,  in  1821,  and  here  lived  until  his  death. 
He  was  engaged  here,  as  formerly,  in  planting;  was 
a  good  farmer,  a  good  neighbor,  and  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church;  owned  many  slaves  and 
was  in  many  respects  a  successful  man.  He  ranked 
among  the  best  pcopleof  his  part  of  the  State,  and 
left  a  posterity  that  has  always  borne  an  excellent 
name  for  all  tiie  better  traits  of  human  nature. 

Wiley  Coleman  was  educated  at  Tuscaloosa  and 
La  Grange,  this  State.  He  graduated  in  law  at 
the  University  of  Virginia,  in  the  year  1842,  and 
has  devoted  most  of  his  life  to  its  practice  in  Eutaw. 
So  far  his  life  has  flowed  along  smoothly  and 
harmoniously,  with  no  more  than  the  ordinary 
number  of  exceptions.     He  was  never  married. 

He  was  in  the  Mexican  War  for  a  short  time; 
has  held  few  political  oHicee,  heing  one  of  those 


198 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


philosophical  natures  that  preferred  the  quiet  sat- 
isfaction of  a  tranquil  life  to  the  broils  and  heai't- 
bnruings  that  invariably  fall  to  the  lot  of  aspir- 
ants for  public  favor. 

Mr.  Coleman  was  made  Judge  of  Greene  County 
for  one  term,  in  18-iG,  and  represented  the 
county  in  the  Legislature  two  terms  during  the 
war.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Constitu 
tional  Convention  which  formed  a  new  Constitu- 
tion for  the  State,  in  ISTS. 

Being  now  at  the  age  when  men  cease,  gener- 
ally sj^eaking,  to  be  troubled  with  the  cares  and 
excitement  of  life,  he  is,  to  use  his  own  expres- 
sion, taking  his  ease  in  the  quiet  retireinent  of 
private  life. 

JOSEPH  P.  MC  QUEEN,  Attorney-at-law, 
was  born  in  Eutaw,  June  z'l,  lS.5-i.  His 
father,  John  McQueen,  Avas  born  in  Robeson 
County,  N.  C.  When  quite  a  young  man 
he  removed  into  Benuettsville,  Marlborough  Dis- 
trict, S.  C,  and  there  practiced  law  until  he 
was  sent  to  Congress,  where  he  represented  his 
district  for  thirteen  consecutive  years  jn-ior  to 
the  war. 

As  the  name  indicates,  John  McQueen  was 
of  Scotch  extraction,  and  was  born  February  !•, 
1804.  He  was  in  Washington  City  at  a  time  mem- 
orable in  American  history.  This  was  when  the 
country  was  on  the  eve  of  the  great  civil  strife. 
As  was  natural.  Judging  from  the  part  of  the  coun- 
try that  he  came  from,  he  took  an  active  interest 
in  the  secession  movement,  and  went  out  of  the 
Union  with  his  State  when  the  final  separation 
came.  He  was  identified  with  the  first  delegation 
that  seceded  and  became  a  member  of  the  Con- 
federate States  Congress,  remaining  in  tliat  mem- 
orable body  four  years. 

John  McQueen  was  a  man  of  abundant  means, 
and,  after  the  war,  devoted  himself  to  his  extensive 
agricultural  interests.  He  was  married  in  1852,  to 
Miss  Sarah  Pickens,  of  Eutaw,  a  daughter  of 
Joseph  Pickens,  and  a  granddaughter  of  Gen. 
Andrew  Pickeiis,  of  Revolutionary  fame. 

Andrew  Pickens,  a  son  of  General  Pickens,  was 
Governor  of  South  Carolina,  and  his  son  Francis 
W.  Pickens,  was  Governor  of  that  State  at  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  and  made  the  famous  de- 
mand of  Major  Anderson  for  the  surrender  of 
F'-rt    Sumter   to   the   Confederate    Government. 


The  Pickens  family  are  related  to  that  of  the  great 
John  C.  Calhoun. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  in  South  Caro- 
lina until  sixteen  years  old,  and,  upon  the  death  of 
his  father  in  1S6T,  came  with  his  mother  to  Eutaw. 
After  the  completion  of  his  scholastic  training,  he 
read  law  with  Chancellor  Clark  and  Judge  AViley 
Coleman,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  April  15, 
18T5.  He  has  been  practicing  law  ever  since,  and 
with  such  success  as  to  place  him  among  the  best 
lawyers  in  his  section  of  the  State.  He  has 
eschewed  political  life,  and  with  the  exception  of 
representing  his  county  in  the  Legislature,  during 
the  session  of  1884-1885.  has  always  remained  in 
private  life. 

Mr.  McQueen  was  married  in  December,  1875, 
to  Miss  Roberta  Kirksey,  daughter  of  Robert  B. 
W.  Kirksey,  of  Marengo  County.  Three  children 
have  been  born  to  this  union:  Anna,  John  and 
Sarah. 

JUDGE  &  DeGRAFFENRIED,  Attorneys-at- 
law.  This  firm  consists  of  Ililliard  M.  Judge  and 
Edward  De  GrafEenried. 

An  old  adage  says:  "  Young  men  for  war  and 
old  men  for  council,"  but  this  seems  to  be  a 
change,  wherein  the  young  men  are  popular  as 
counsel.  Jlr.  Judge  is  a  young  man  in  his  "  thir- 
ties," and  Mr.  De  GrafEenried  is  still  younger.  Tliis 
firm  has  attained  a  prominence  second  to  none  in 
their  vicinage,  ilr.  Judge  is  a  son  of  James  L. 
Judge,  a  pioneer  and  planter  of  the  olden  times. 
H.  M.  Judge  was  Judge  of  the  County  Court  of 
Greene,  in  1885  and  1886.  He  has  been  practic- 
ing law  about  ten  years. 

Mr.  De  Graffenried  is  a  scion  of  an  old  family 
and  a  nephew  of  Governor  Seay.  He  has  been 
practicing  law  about  seven  years. 


HARRY  T.  HERNDON,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Greene  County,  is  a  son  of  H.  T.  Hern- 
don  and  Sarah  (Inge)  Herndon,  both  rf  wliom  are 
native  Alabamians. 

The  senior  H.  T.  Herndon  was  born  at  Erie  in 
18"2(5;  received  his  earlier  educational  training  at 
or  near  his  home,  and  finished  it  by  graduation  at 
the  L^niversity  of  Alaljama  in  844.  He  was  mar- 
ried, in  1840,  to  Miss   Sarah  J.,  daughter   of  Dr. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


199 


Ixichard  Inge,  of  Tisliabee,  Ala.  Tliere  were  born 
to  this  union,  two  sons  and  two  daugiiters.  Mr. 
Ilerndon  diod  August  11,  1S5.">. 

Our  subject  was  born  at  Forkland,  Ala.  in 
1S51,  and  wa.s  reared  at  Eutaw.  Having  complet- 
ed ills  education,  lie  read  l.'iw  in  .Mol)ile  with  tiie 
lirni  of  Smith  &  llerndoii,  but  never  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  as  we  find  him 
shortly  afterward  merchandising  in  Eutaw,  which 
he  followed  from  isr:i  to  188?.  In  the  last 
named  year,  he  was  elected  Circuit  Clerk  (also 
alderman  of  the  town  of  Eutaw),  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority.  The  former  position  he  has  held 
ever  since. 

Jlr.  Heriidon  wa.s  married  October  "28,  I8T:i,  to 
Miss  Mary  A.  Watkins,  daughter  of  Dr.  II.  E. 
Wiitkiiis  aiul  Anna  (Oliver)  AVatkins,  boih  of 
Kutaw.  The  latter  is  a  sister  of  .ludge  William 
Oliver.  By  this  union  he  had  two  children,  only 
one  of  whom  is  living,  Anna  Mary  Ilerndon. 
Mrs.  Ilerndon  died  September  '11,  18.S(). 

Mr.  Ilerndon  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  South,  and  of  the  .Masonic 
fraternity. 

Althoufjli  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  digression,  still 
it  is  higlily  appropriate  to  speak  of  another  member 
of  the  Ilerndon  family  here,  who  indeed  is  worthy 
of  the  liigliest  esteem  among  bright  and  honor- 
able Southern  names.  AVe  refer  to  the  Hon. 
Tliomas  Ilerndon,  for  many  years  a  resident  in 
-Mobile,  and  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  charac- 
ters identified  with  the  history  of  the  State.  He 
was  born  at  Erie,  July  21,  1828,  on  the  banks  of 
the  historic  Black  Warrior. 

Thomas  II.  Ilerndon  was  educated  jiartly  by 
(Jen.  Samuel  Houston,  partly  at  La(irange,  and 
the  I'niversity  of  Alabama,  where  he  graduated  in 
1M47.  He  took  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Laws  at 
Harvard  I'niversity,  in  liS18.  Co-incident  with 
the  year  of  his  graduation  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Mary  Alexander,  daughter  of  Dr.  A.  F.  Alexander, 
of  North  Carolina.  The  youthful  couple  were 
aged  respectively  twenty  and  si.xteen  years. 

In  18.51,  he  was  defeated  as  the  Democratic  can- 
didate for  the  Legislature;  in  1853  he  moved  to 
-Mobile,  and  in  1.^57,  was  sent  to  the  Legislature. 
When  the  Secession  Convention  met  at  Montgom- 
ery in  18C0.  he  was  :i  member  of  it;  nor  was  he  of 
that  class  who  ]irefcrred  remaining  at  home  away 
from  danger  and  duty. 

He  entered  the  Confederate  Army  as  major,  and 
rapidly  rose  to  the  rank  of  colonel.  Though  twice 


severely  wounded,  he  faltered  not  in  the  perform- 
ance of  duty,  nor  was  he  ever  known  to  shirk  re- 
sponsibility. The  future  recorder  of  the  brave 
deeds  of  Alabama  sons  will  rank  his  name  ainor.g 
the  very  foremost. 

In  1872,  when  the  hydra-lieaded  monster  of  re- 
construction was  rampant  in  the  South,  he  was 
nominated  by  the  Democi'atic  party  for  governor, 
but  as  the  time  had  not  come  for  the  State  to  be 
rid  of  her  worst  foes,  the  miserable  horde  of  polit- 
ical tramps  who  weighed  upon  her  as  a  blighting 
curse,  he  was  defeated.  Future  and  greater  hon- 
ors awaited  iiim,  and  he  was  a  member  of  the  4<)th, 
47th  and  48th  Congresses,  successively,  whither 
he  was  sent  to  represent  the  Mobile  District. 

His  devotion  to  Alabama  was  always  ardent. 
He  suffered  for  her  and  the  whole  South  alike. 

The  wounds  which  he  received  finally  cost  him 
his  life.  While,  of  course,  we  say  he  recovered, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  words  are  only 
used  in  an  a))proximate  sense.  He  came  out  of 
the  struggle  deprived  of  fortune  and  healtli.  The 
one.  he  retrieved  by  courageous  and  persistent 
effort:  to  the  other  he  succumbed  as  to  the  inevit- 
able. Among  other  debts,  than  which  there  is  no 
greater,  that  Alabama  owes  this  her  most  worthy 
and  noble  son,  is  that  for  the  important  part  he 
took  in  ridding  her  of  the  worst  form  of  carpet- 
bag rule,  wresting  her  from  adventurers,  political 
thieves,  knaves  and  ignorant  negroes,  and  restor- 
ing her  once  proud  name  to  the  intelligent  and 
good  people  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Colonel  Herndon's  death  occurred  in  Washing- 
ton City  -March  2!-:,  188;i.  Sj)ccial  proceedings  of 
both  the  lower  and  upper  houses  of  Congress  were 
had  in  his  honor  on  the  12th  and  ISth  of  April, 
1S84.  Among  the  fitting  tributer;  paid  liis 
memory  none  are  more  worthy  of  a  place  in 
this  volume  than  the  words  of  Mr.  Culberson  of 
Texas  :  "  His  name  in  camp  and  field  was  the 
synonym  of  all  that  is  heroic  in  courage,  noble  in 
])atriotic  devotion  to  duty,  magnanimous  in  vic- 
tory, or  hopeful  in  defeat.  He  loved  liis  home, 
his  native  State,  with  more  than  filial  devotion, 
and  served  her  cause  in  peace  and  war  with  the 
energy  of  his  tireles.s  nature.  When  the  noble 
deeds  of  the  sons  of  Alabama  in  that  great 
struggle  shall  be  gathered  up  by  the  historian, 
there  will  Ite  no  brighter,  ]>urer  or  lovelier  chapter 
than  that  which  shall  record  the  sacrifices,  the  un- 
selfish love  of  home  and  country,  the  indomitable 
courage   and  fortitude  of    her   trifted    son    whose 


200 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


virtues  we  commemorate,  aud  whose  deatli  we  now 
deplore." 

WILLIAM  0.  MONROE,  was  boru  at  Athens, 
Ga.,  in  18;!5,  and  came  to  Alabama  iu  1843  with 
his  parents,  who  settled  at  Ilinton's  Grove,  Greene 
County. 

His  father  was  John  Monroe,  of  South  Carolina, 
and  his  mother  Emily,  a  daughter  of  John  Paschal, 
of  Georgia. 

William  in  all  spent  about  five  years  at  school. 
He  has  had  an  unbroken  connection  with  the  press 
since  1840,  barring  sh(n-t  intervals  which  he  sjient 
at  school. 

It  was  in  1846  that  he  entered  the  office 
of  Tlie  Eutaw  Whig,  where  he  served  an  apprentice- 
ship of  five  years.  This  journal  was  founded  by 
Houston  aud  Davis  in  1840,  but  was  owned  by  the 
former  at  the  time  young  Monroe's  connection  with 
it  commenced.  In  18.59,  when  he  had  attained  his 
twenty-fourth  year,  young  Monroe  purchased  a 
half  interest  in  the  ]\hig.  He  purchased  the 
Observer  in  1861,  and  during  the  same  year  it  was 
consolidated  with  the  Wiig.  under  the -name  of  the 
Eutaio  WM(j  and  Observer.  The  new  paper  was 
conducted  by  Anderson  and  Monroe,  it  seems,  until 
after  the  war. 

Mr.  Monroe  was  in  the  war  a  short  time  as 
lieutenant  of  cavalry  in  Clanton's  brigade,  one  of 
the  most  noted  organizations  of  its  kind  that  took 
part  in  the  great  civil  strife.  Owing  to  ill  health 
he  was  compelled  to  give  up  his  command,  which 
he  did  by  resigning. 

He  continued  in  copartnership  with  Anderson 
in  management  and  conduct  of  The  Whig  und  Ob- 
server during  the  war,  and  after  that  he  became 
sole  proprietor,  a  relation  he  has  ever  since 
maintained.  This  journal  is  a  weekly.  Dem- 
ocratic in  politics,  and  has  a  circulation  of  800 
subscribers.  It  is  one  of  the  most  influential 
papers  of  its  class  in  the  State,  and  has  always 
enjoyed  a  liberal  degree  of  prosperity.  Its  utter- 
ances have,  throughout  its  course,  been  dictated 
by  .honest  convictions;  its  intentions  characterized 
by  honesty  itself,  and  its  career  has  been  a  con- 
stant labor  to  build  up  the  material  and  highest 
interests  of  the  county  with  which  it  has  been 
identified  for  so  long  a  time. 

W.  0.  Monroe  was  married  to  Jane,  a  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  John  DuBois,  of  Greensboro,  Ala., 
in  1866.     llev.  DuBois  was  for  half  a  century  a 


minister  of  the  gospel.  He  was  the  inventor  of  the 
famous  Du  Bois  cotton-gin,  one  of  the  finest  ma- 
chines of  its  kind  ever  made  in  this  country. 

Tliere  are  but  two  of  the  children,  born  to  this 
union,  living:  Jane  and  Louise. 

Mr.  Monroe  and  family  are  all  members  of  the 
church,  and  he  himself  is  a  Roval-Arch  Mason. 


WILLIAM  T.  CALLAHAN,  Editor  aud  Pro- 
prietor of  the  Ei(t(iw  Mirror,  is  a  son  of  Elias 
and  Sallie  (Stockman)  Callahan,  and  was  born  in 
Bibb  County,  this  State,  August  24,  1852.  He 
spent  his  early  life  on  the  farm,  and  gave  his  father 
very  material  assistance  in  all  the  work  incident  to 
that  kind  of  life.  At  an  early  age,  however,  we 
find  him  leaving  the  parental  roof,  and,  to  his 
credit  be  it  said,  he  educated  himself.  He  first 
worked  with  his  brother,  J.  W.  Callahan,  in  the 
office  of  the  Elyton  Enterprise,  in  1866,  where  he 
remained  several  years.  He  worked  with  other 
journals,  at  different  times,  in  various  parts  of  the 
State. 

William  T.  Callahan  came  to  Eutaw  in  June, 
1876,  and  worked  in  the  office  of  the  Whig  and 
Observer  for  nearly  three  years,  and  then  estab- 
lished the  Eutaw  Mirror,  April  22,  1879. 

Some  remarks  in  reference  to  this  pajier  will  af- 
ford an  insight  into  the  success  achieved  by  its 
proprietor.  It  is  an  independent  Democratic 
journal,  a  firm  friend  of  progress  and  all  material 
advancement,  and  makes  use  of  every  means 
which  will  secure  these  desirable  results.  Believ- 
ing that  a  protective  tariff  is  th^best  jiolicy,  it 
supports  that  idea,  notwithstanding  the  fact  it  is  at 
variance  with  the  views  of  a  majority  of  those 
among  whom  it  circulates.  All  the  greater  credit, 
however,  is  due  its  proprietor  for  having  the 
courage  to  announce  his  views  in  such  a  locality; 
and  that  he  has  achieved  success,  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  he  has,  in  a  great  measure,  made  a 
new  idea  popular  to  his  constituents.  The  Mirror 
has  a  circulation  of  one  thousand  subscribers,  or 
thereabouts,  whicli,  taken  from  a  practical  stand- 
point, is  very  flattering  for  a  country  journal 
and  places  it  far  above  the  average. 

In  addition  to  journalistic  work,  ^Ir.  Callahan 
does  a  lage  job-printing  business. 

Some  years  back  Mr.  Callahan  was  married  to 
Miss  Nannie  A.  Speed,  of  Greene  County.     Their 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


20i 


union     has     been     blessed     *ith    one     eliild,    a 
daughter. 

Mr.  Callahan  bcloii<j;s  to  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

FOSTER  M.  KIRKSEY  is  a  son  of  Jehu  and 
Nellie  (Foster)  Kirkse\-,  natives  of  North  and 
South  Carolina,  respectively,  llis  grandfather, 
John  Kirksey,  Sr.,  was  a  Scotchman,  and  emi- 
grated to  America  some  time  prior  to  the  Kevolu- 
tionary  War,  in  which  he  took  part.  Ilis  father 
came  to  Alabama  in  1804,  and  settled  in  what  is 
now  Madison  County,  and  engaged  at  planting. 
In  181G  lie  moved  to  Tuscaloosa;  in  \'6'l'l  to  Cireene 
County,  this  State,  and  settled  at  Erie,  the  county 
seat,  and  in  1S24,  to  Greensboro,  now  the  county 
seat  of  Hale. 

F.  M.  Kirksey  was  born  at  Tuscaloosa,  Ala., 
June  10,  1817.  In  1834  we  find  him  at  Erie, 
where  he  received  most  of  his  education.  In  1839 
he  removed  to  Eutaw,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
As  an  interesting  part  of  his  career  in  the  county 
of  his  adoption,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  at  one 
time  he  knew  personally  every  man  living  witiiin 
its  bounds.  He  lias  been  engaged  in  planting  and 
merchandising  during  his  residence  in  Greene 
County,  in  both  of  which  callings  he  has  been 
successful.  He  has  .served  the  public  in  different 
capacities.  In  183(1  he  was  Deputy  Sheriff  of 
Greene  County,  and  was  Sheriff  from  184.")  to  1848. 

Mr.  Kirksey  was  married  the  first  time  Octo- 
ber 2(1,  1845,  to  Jane  Merriweather,  daughter  of 
Dr.  Z.  Jlerriweather,  of  Greene  County,  Ala. 
She  died  in  18")7.  All  of  the  children  by  his  first 
wife  are  dead.  He  was  married  the  second  time 
to  Margaretta  Liston,  of  Indiana,  who  was  a 
daughter  of  Jonathan  J.  Liston,  a  prominent 
lawyer  of  that  State.  By  his  second  wife  he  has 
four  living  children,  three  sons  and  one  daughter: 
Liston,  Hobert,  Harold,  and  Margaretta. 

The  Hon.  Stephen  F.  Hale  married  Mary  E. 
Kirksey,  a  sister  of  our  subjeoi.  He  was  a  Ken- 
tuckian  l)y  Ijirth,  and  came  to  Erie  in  1838  and 
from  there  to  Eutaw  in  1839.  He  was  a  lawyer 
by  profession,  and  served  in  the  State  T^egislature 
in  1843.  He  went  to  the  Mexican  war  in  1.S4G, 
and  serveil  there  two  years  as  a  lieutenant.  He  was 
again  in  the  Legislature  from  lo.">7  to  1859.  In 
all  his  political  acts  and  af!iliations  he  was  a  Whig, 
and  in  them  all  proved  himself  a  man  of  great 
force.     He  was  Attornev-(ieneral  of  the  State  in 


18(51,  under  the  Confederate  Government.  After- 
ward he  joined  the  Army  of  Virginia,  with  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  and  was  killed  in  one 
of  the  battles  around  Richmond,  in  1862,  while 
gallantly  leading  his  command  in  action.  In  18G6 
the  Legislature  formed  a  new  county  out  of  a  part 
of  Greene  and  portions  of  other  counties,  and 
named  it  Hale,  in  honor  of  the  man  who  had 
proved  himself  a  lawyer  of  ability,  a  worthy  citi- 
zen, an  intelligent  lawmaker  and  a  brave  soldier. 

REV.  STEPHEN  U.  SMITH,  Eutaw,  is  a  son  of 
Stephen  and  .Sally  A.  ( Kluxles)  Smith,  of  North 
Carolina. 

On  his  mother's  side  he  is  related  to  William  li. 
King,  for  several  terms  United  States  Senator 
from  Alabama,  and  also  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States  during  the  administration  of 
Franklin  Pierce.  His  maternal  grandfather, 
James  Rhodes,  was  for  a  great  while  member  of 
the  North  Carolina  Legislature,  and  a  member  of 
State  Senate  at  the  time  of  his  death.  His  ma- 
ternal great-grandfather,  Andrew  Bass,  was  a 
prominent  man  in  Dobbs  County,  N.  C,  in  the 
IJevolutionary  War,  and  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention which  framed  the  first  constitution  for 
the  State. 

Our  subject  was  born  January  2,  1817,  in 
Wayne  County,  N.  C.  His  first  educational 
training  was  obtained  at  his  home,  and  after  fur- 
ther prepiiration  elsewhere,  he  entered  the  Law 
department  of  Transylvania  L^niversity,  at  Lex- 
ington,Ky.,  from  which  he  graduated  in  February, 
1841.  Some  time  afterward  he  came  to  Alabama 
and  was  made  a  deacon  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
by  Bishop  Cobb,  at  Montgomery,  February  16, 
1853.  Prior  to  this  time,  he  had  practiced  law. 
He  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  of  his  church 
in  May,  1854.  Since  that  time,  he  has  devoted 
his  life  to  its  service  in  West  Alabama.  At  one 
period  in  his  early  ministerial  career  he  did  mission- 
ary work.  He  occupied  the  parish  at  Livingston, 
Ala.,  at  several  different  times,  and  has  been  in 
charge  of  the  parish  at  Eutaw,  for  thirty  years. 

Rev.  Mr.  Smith  is  a  Roval  Arch  .Mason. 


GREENE  P.  MOBLEY  is  a  son  of  Wiley  Mob- 
ley,  of  Winnsboro,  S.  C,  and  Nancy  (Coleman) 
Mobley. 


202 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


The  Mobleys  were  originally  from  Wales,  and 
came  to  this  country  with  Lord  Baltimore,  and 
settled  in  Maryland. 

G.  P.  Mobley  was  born  in  Greene  County,  Ala., 
in  1849,  and  educated  at  Greene  Springs.  He 
went  into  the  army  when  but  thirteen  years  old, 
and  took  part  in  many  battles,  among  which  may 
be  instanced  Spanish  Fort  and  the  Seven  Days' 
Fight  around  Richmond,  in  both  of  which  en- 
gagements he  was  severely  wounded. 

After  the  war  he  taught  school  to  defray  the 
expenses  incident  to  finishing  up  his  own  educa- 
tion.    Immediately  afterward  he  applied  himself 


industriously  to  the  study  of  the  law,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1870,  and  has  practiced  his 
profession  ever  since,  at  Eutaw.  He  has  the 
proud  consciousness  of  knowing  that  he  laid  the 
foundation  by  his  own  personal  efforts  for  the  suc- 
cess which  h,e  has  achieved  in  life. 

Mr.  Mobley  has,  by  industry,  attention  to  the 
wants  of  his  clients,  acquaintance  with  the  de- 
mands of  his  profession,  and  an  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  law.  built  up  a  good  and  lucrative 
practice. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  fraternity  of  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons. 


VIII. 
LOWNDES    COUNTY. 


PoiJulation  :  White,  5,G45;  colored,  y5..")31. 
Area,  740  square  miles.  AVoodland,  all,  except  a 
few  square  miles  of  prairie. 

Acres — In  cotton  (a^iproximately),  OS. 200;  in 
corn,  41,169;  iu  oats,  3,030;  in  sugar-cane,  201; 
in  sweet  potatoes,  1,000. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  30,000. 

County  Seat — Hayneville;  population,  500;  lo- 
cated 23  miles  southwest  of  Montgomery. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Exam- 
iner (Democratic);  True  Citizen  (Independent 
Democrat). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Benton,  Burkville, 
Braggs,  Calhoun,  Collirene,  Farmersville,  Fort 
De230sit,  Gordonsville,  Hayneville,  Letohatchee, 
Lowndesborough,  itorganville,  Mount  Willing, 
Saint  Clair,  Sandy  Eidge,  White  Hall. 

Established  in  1830,  this  county  was  named 
in  honor  of  Hon.  William  Lowndes,  of  South  Caro- 
lina. It  has  long  been  known  for  the  productive- 
ness of  its  lands,  and  is  regarded  one  of  the  best 
agricultural  districts  in  the  South.  Prior  to  the 
war  the  planters  of  Lowndes  made  immense  for- 
tunes from  farming  upon  its  fertile  cotton  fields. 
Though  in  use  many  years,  the  lands  remain 
unimpaired  in  their  productiveness.  The  county 
needs  onlv  the  hands  of  svstem  and  diligence  to 


direct  and  urge  the  industries  suited  to  the  capa- 
bilities of  its  soil,  to  place  it  alongside  the  most 
advanced  sections  of  our  planting  interests.  Like 
all  other  localities  of  the  famous  cotton  belt, 
Lowndes  County  has  shared  in  the  shrinkage  of  the 
valuation  of  lands.  This  is  mainly  due  to  the 
destruction  of  an  organized  labor  system  conse- 
quent upon  the  emancii^ation  of  the  slaves.  Its 
lauds  are  well  adapted  to  the  employment  of  im- 
proved imjilements  of  labor. 

The  surface  of  Lowndes  is  rolling.  The  whole 
of  the  county  lies  within  the  prairie  belt,  still 
there  is  a  fair  proportion  of  upland  soils.  Along 
the  table-lands  are  found  sandy  loam  soils;  in  the 
extensive  bottoms  which  prevail  along  the  river 
and  numerous  streams  are  found  dark  loam  soils, 
while  iijion  the  prairies  proper,  and  the  flanks  of 
the  lime-hills,  exist  the  soils  which  have  a  great 
admixture  of  lime.  While  the  prevailing  surface 
of  Lowndes  is  rolling,  there  are  many  precipitous 
hills  in  the  southern  portion.  The  presence  of 
lime  in  the  clay  makes  the  roads  miry  during  the 
wet  seasons.  This  feature,  connected  with  that 
extreme  southwestern  portion,  has  won  it  the 
local  name  of  "Little  Texas."  But  this  consti- 
tutes but  a  fractional  part  of  this  magnificent 
agricultural  region.     A  feature  belonging  largely 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


203 


to  the  first  bottom  soils  is  tliat  they  are  sandy,  but 
they  derive  vast  Ijeiiefits  from  the  mulerlying  for- 
mations of  lime.  Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  prairie 
region,  there  are  occasional  interventions  of  sandy 
knollf!,  which  furnish  locations  for  liouses  and  set- 
tlements, and  also  an  abundance  of  good  water. 

The  main  crops  grown  in  Low'iules  are  cotton, 
corn,  oats,  sweet  and  Irish  potatoes,  millet  and 
sugar-cane.  The  black  lands  are  usually  devoted 
to  the  j)roduction  of  corn,  while  the  sandy  lands 
are  employed  for  raising  cotton;  but  the  red  lands 
produce  equally  well.  Many  of  tliese  lands  are 
well  adapted  for  jiasturage  purposes.  Numerous 
grasses  tiourish,  some  of  which  are  indigenous  and 
others  imported.  These,  together  with  the  vari- 
eties of  clover  and  the  dense  brakes  of  cane  which 
prevail  along  the  streams  and  in  marshy  lowlands, 
makes  this  one  of  the  most  desirable  sections  for 
stock-raising. 

This  consideration  is  enhanced  by  the  fact 
that  the  winters  in  this  latitude  are  brief  and 
mild,   and   stock  does  not  have  to  be  cared    for 


so  tenderly  as  in  sections  farther  north.  Pint- 
lala.  Big  Swamp,  Manack,  Cedar  and  Dry  Creeks, 
with  numerous  tributaries,  flow  across  the  county. 
It  is  along  these  streams  that  much  of  the  richest 
land  in  the  county  is  found. 

Scattered  throughout  Lowndes  are  broad  belts 
of  valuable  timber,  comprising  several  varieties  of 
oak,  hickory,  long-  and  sliort-leaf  pine,  elm,  ash, 
poplar,  walnut,  sycamore,  gum,  beech,  cedar,  mul- 
berry and  chestnut.  Points  of  interest  are  Ilayne- 
ville,  the  county  seat,  with  a  population  of  several 
hundred,  Lowndesboro,  Benton,  Fort  Deposit  and 
Letohatchee.  Good  schools  are  found  in  almost 
all  the  centers  of  population,  while  a  common- 
school  system  provides  educational  advantages  for 
all  classes. 

Transportation  is  afforded  by  the  Louisville  & 
Xashviilc  Railroad,  the  Montgomery  &  Selnia,  and 
the  Alabama  River. 

Lands  may  be  inirchased  from  *3  to  *v'0  per 
acre. 

There  are  no  (ioveriiment  lands  in  the  county. 


IX. 
HALE   COUNTY. 


Population :  White,  5,000  ;  colored,  20,000. 
Area,  1170  square  miles.  Woodland,  all,  except 
some  prairie  region  and  gravelly  hills. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  70,000  ;  in 
corn,  43,250  ;  in  oats,  3,GT5:  in  wheat,  1,430;  in  rye, 
60;  in  rice,  1(J ;  in  tobacco,  IC  ;  in  sweet  potatoes, 
1,21.5. 

Appro.ximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  in  round 
numbers,  '20,000. 

County  Seat— Greensborough;  population,  2,100; 
located  on    Cincinnati,  Selma  &  Mobile  Railroad. 

Xews])apers  i>ubli8hed  at  County  Suat — Ahi- 
hima  beacoti,  Walchman  (Democratic);  Sotilheru 
University  Monthly  (Educational). 

Postoftices  in  the  County — Akron  Junction, 
Carthage,  Cedarvillc.  Dominick,  Evans,  Five 
Mile,  Gallion,  Grefiixbnroiigli,  Havana,  Laneville, 


Xewbern,  Phipps,  Powers,  Sa\v_verville,  Stewart's 
Station,  Whitsitt. 

The  above  named  county  was  founded  in  1867, 
and  was  named  for  Col.  Stephen  F.  Hale.  It  em- 
braces one  of  the  finest  agricultural  districts  in 
the  South.  Productive  in  soil,  healthful  in  cli- 
mate, abundantly  supplied  with  superior  schools, 
and  with  an  intelligent,  thrifty,  and  progressive 
people,  the  county  of  Hale,  deservedly  ranks  among 
the  best  in  the  State.  The  industry  of  the  people 
is  agriculture,  with  few  exceptions. 

In  the  northeast  the  county  is  hilly.  There  is 
almost  every  variety  of  soil  to  be  found  in  Hale. 
The  southern  portion,  being  a  little  less  than  one- 
half  of  its  territory,  is  composed  almost  entirely 
of  black  cane-brake  land,  which  has  a  marvelous 
fertility.     The  western  and  northwestern  parts  of 


204 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  county  furnish  a  variety  of  lands,  some  of 
which  are  sandy  and  others  red,  wliich  gradually 
shade  oS  into  the  dark  lands  composing  what  is 
called  the  second  Warrior  bottom.  Most  of  this 
land  is  of  excellent  quality,  being  strong,  and  some, 
especially  that  referred  to  as  second  bottom,  of 
superior  richness.  The  bottoms  along  the  War- 
rior River,  which  constitutes  the  western  boundary 
line,  with  few  exceptions,  are  subject  to  overflow, 
and  are  not  regarded  as  valuable  as  those 
higher  up  and  beyond  the  reach  of  the  water- 
mark. 

Along  these  lower  bottoms  there  is  a  terrace  of 
land  called  second  bottoms,  which  are  not  exposed 
to  overflow.  As  has  been  said,  the  northeastern 
part  of  the  country  is  more  or  less  hilly.  It  is  not 
cultivated  except  in  isolated  tracts;  but  the  thin- 
ness of  the  soil  is  atoned  for  by  the  abundance  of 
yellow  or  long-leaf  jjine,  which  jjossesses  rare  value 
because  of  its  location  and  its  relation  to  the  ad- 
joining domains  of  rich  prairie  lands.  In  the 
eastern  portion  there  is  a  commingling  of  sand  and 
red  loam,  which  makes  the  lands  exceedingly 
valuable  for  agricultural  purposes. 

The  staple  protluctions  grown  in  the  South  are 
raised  in  Hale,  viz. :  cotton,  corn,  peas  and  pota- 
toes. Many  other  elements  are  produced,  as  the 
statistics  at  the  head  of  this  article  will  show,  and 
every  year  increases  more  and  more  the  variety 
of  crops.  Rice,  sugar  and  tobacco  are  gradually 
receiving  more  attention.  Farms  for  the  produc- 
tion of  hay  are  coming  annually  more  into  note. 


and  there  is  a  corresponding  improvement  in 
stock.  The  principal  timbers  which  stock  the 
forests  of  Hale  are  oak,  maple,  hickory,  gum, 
long-  and  short-leaf  pine,  poplar  and  ash. 

The  county  abounds  in  excellent  streams,  which 
not  only  will  furnish  supplies  of  water  for  house 
and  farm  purposes,  but  for  manufactories  as  well. 
Chief  among  the  streams  may  be  mentioned  War- 
rior River,  Big  Prairie,  Little  Prairie,  German, 
Big,  Brush,  Five  Mile,  Gabriels,  and  Elliott's 
Creeks.  Together  with  the  abounding  springs, 
these  streams  afford  amjile  sujiplies  of  water. 

Late  geological  surveys  have  established  the  fact 
that  there  are  large  deposits  of  phosj^hate  in  Hale 
County. 

Means  of  transf)ortation  are  furnished  by  the 
Warrior  River,  the  Cincinnati,  Selma  &  Mobile, 
the  Alabama,  Great  Southern  &  East  Tennessee, 
Virginia  &  Georgia  Railroads,  and  Chicago  &  Gulf 
Railroad. 

The  county  is  throughout  sui^plied  with  educa- 
tional advantages. 

Agricultural  lands  may  be  had  for  from  82  to 
$30  per  acre.  Pine  lands  will  cost  from  $1.3.5  to 
$5  per  acre.  These  lands  are  everywhere  supplied 
with  streams  of  water.  Artesian  wells  abound, 
especially  in  the  southern  portion.  A  desire  pre- 
vails to  have  the  county  populated  with  thrifty 
immigrants. 

There  are  about  1,000  acres  of  Government  land 
in  Hale  County. 

[See  Greensborough,  this  volume.] 


X. 

MACON    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  4,587;  colored,  1"^,786. 
Area,  G30  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Gravel- 
ly hills,  with  long-leaf  jiiiie,  330  square  miles; 
prairie  and  metamorphic  regions,  300 square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  56,763;  in 
corn,  ■,'3,833;  in  oats,  6,195:  in  wheat,  1,016;  in 
rye,  45;  in  sugar-cane,  140;  in  sweet  potatoes,  9"^S. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  15,000. 

County  Seat — Tuskegee;  population,  •■i,500;  40 
miles  from  Montgomery. 

Newspaper  jmblished  at  County  Seat — News 
(Democratic). 

Postoftices  in  the  County  —  dough's  Store, 
Cotton  Valley,  Cowles  Station,  Creek  Stand, 
Dick's  Creek,  Gabbett,  La  Place,  Xotasulga, 
Shorter's  Depot,  Society  Hill,  Swamp,  Tuskegee, 
Warrior  Stand. 

Macon  County  was  formed  in  1832,  and  named 
for  Nathaniel  Macon,  Esq.,  of  North  Carolina. 
The  county  has  long  been  noted  for  the  intelli- 
gence and  thrift  of  its  inhabitants.  Prior  to  the 
war  its  centers  of  interest  were  abodes  of  wealth, 
intelligence  and  refinement.  The  county  has 
been  gradually  rallying  from  the  prostrating  influ- 
ences of  the  war,  and  is  now  assuming  its  wonted 
place  among  the  best  counties  of  the  State.  Its 
social  and  nniterial  advantages  are  vast,  and,  when 
combined,  they  furnish  the  county  elements  of 
advancement  inferior  to  none  of  the  agricultural 
counties  of  the  great  Cotton  Belt. 

The  general  surface  of  the  county  is  undulat- 
ing, except  in  the  northwest,  which  is  inclined  to 
hills;  but  there  are  no  elevations  of  note  within 
the  territory  of  Macon.  The  lands,  as  a  rule,  lie 
quite  well  for  drainage  and  cultivation.  In  the 
northern,  northeastern  and  northwestern  portions 
of  the  county  the  soil  is  of  a  light,  sandy  charac- 
ter. Skirting  the  watercourses  it  is  much  more 
fertile  and  productive.  In  the  southern,  south- 
eastern and  southwestern  parts  of  the  county  the 
soils  are  very  fine,  being  a  rich  loam,  with  clay, 
lime,  or  sand  predominating,  according  to  the  lo- 
cality.    Usually    sjjcaking    the    bottoms    of   tiie 


county  are  very  fertile.  While  Chewacla  Creek, 
for  the  most  part,  winds  its  way  through  regions 
iif  pine,  there  are  to  be  found  bordering  it  lands 
of  a  bluish  hue  which  are  very  productive.  Per- 
haps the  richest  lands  lie  along  Big  Swamp  Creek. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  a  diversity  of  soils  pre- 
vails throughout  the  entire  county,  and  this  gives 
rise  to  a  diversity  of  crops.  Chief  among  the 
products  of  the  farm  are  cotton,  corn,  potatoes, 
peas,  wheat,  oats,  rye,  millet,  rice,  sugar-cane  and 
peanuts. 

Domestic  grasses  have  as  yet  received  but  lit- 
tle attention.  Swamp  cane  grows  in  rank  profu- 
sion along  the  watercourses,  and  sometimes  serves 
to  sustain  stock  during  an  entire  winter.  Fruits 
are  easily  grown  in  the  soils  of  Macon  —  apples, 
pears,  peaches,  grapes,  cherries,  walnuts,  plums, 
figs,  quinces,  pomegranates,  raspberries,  straw- 
berries and  melons  yield  readily  in  proportion  to 
the  attention  bestowed  upon  them,  ilany  wild 
fruits  are  found  in  the  old  fields,  and  along  the 
edge  of  swamps  and  through  the  forests.  These 
include  blackberries,  strawberries,  dewberries,  mus- 
cadines, chestnuts,  etc. 

Through  the  swamps  the  towering  oaks  yield  a 
vast  abundance  of  mast,  which  serves  to  fatten  the 
hogs  during  the  fall  and  winter,  without  the 
owners  being  subjected  to  the  slightest  expense. 
The  county  is  watered  by  the  Ufoupee,  Chewacla, 
Calebee,  Big  Swamj),  Cupiahatchee  and  Oakfus- 
kee  Creeks.  The  Tallapoosa  Kiver  sweeps  through 
the  northwestern  corner.  JIany  smaller  streams 
exist,  furnishing  an  abundant  water  sujiply  to  all 
parts  of  the  county.  The  water  from  the  springs 
and  wells  is  pure  and  delightful. 

The  timbers  are  oak,  hickory,  pine,  jioplar, 
beech,  red  elm,  gum,  magnolia,  and  maple.  The 
forests  are  frequently  drawn  upon  for  the  manu- 
factories. 

There  are  two  railroads  which  furnish  transport- 
ation for  the  products  of  the  county,  viz.:  the 
Western  Bailroadand  the  Tuskegee  Narrow  Guage. 
These  serve  to  place  the  county  into  easy  connec- 


.'05 


206 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


tion  with  the  great  lines  which  converge  both  at 
Montgomery  and  Atlanta.  The  towns  of  impor- 
tance are  Tuskegee,  the  county  seat,  Xotasulga, 
and  La  Place. 

Tuskegee  has  long  been  famous  as  an  education- 
al seat.  Here  is  located  the  Alabama  Conference 
Female  College,  which  is  an  institution   of   great 


merit:  and  the  Alabama  High  School  for  boys  and 
young  men.  At  the  other  places  named,  are  good 
schools,  and  indeed  in  every  part  of  the  county 
are  good  common  schools.  Churches  exist  in 
towns  and  country  alike,  affording  facilities  for  re- 
ligious worship.  The  moral  tone  of  the  society 
in  Macon  County  ia  excellent. 


XI. 
MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  15,000;  colored,  30,000. 
Area,  TiO  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Level 
and  hilly  prairies,  of  which  75  square  miles  have  a 
coating  of  drift,  640  square  miles  sandy  and  peb- 
bly hills,  with  100  square  miles  pine. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  11"^,  100;  in 
corn,  62,300:  in  oats,  4,800;  in  wheat,  58;  in 
sugar-cane,  l'i'4;  in  sweet  potatoes,  1,720. 

Api^roximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  32,000. 

County  Seat — Montgomery:  population,  25,000; 
on  Alabama  Kiver,  197  miles  northeast  of  Mobile, 
at  the  centering  point  of  six  railroads. 

Newspapers  published  at  the  County  Seat — Ad- 
vertiser (Democratic),  Dispatch  (Democratic),  AS'^r;/-, 
Alabama  Uaptisf  (Denominational),  Herald  (Re- 
publican), Odd  Fellows'  Journal. 

PostofSces  in  the  County — Ada,  Arcadia,  Ba- 
rachias,  Catoma,  Chambers,  Devenport,  Hope 
Hull,  Legrand,  Mathews,  Meadville,  Montgomery, 
Mount  Carmel,  Mount  Meigs,  Myrtle,  Panther, 
Patterson,  Pike  Eoad,  Pine  J.evel,  Pugli,  Raif 
Branch,  Earner,  Snowdoun,  Stoddard,  Strata, 
Tharin,  Woodley. 

Montgomery  was  one  of  the  first  counties  in  the 
State,  being  erected  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature 
of  the  Territory  of  Mississippi,  bearing  date  De- 
cember 6,  1816.  Originally  this  county  was 
formed  from  Monroe  County,  and  comprised  al- 
most the  whole  of  Central  Alabama,  south  of  the 
mountains  of  Blount  County,  to  the  Cahaba  Eiver, 
from  the  watershed  between  Tombigbee  and  War- 
rior Eivers  on  the  west,  to  the  lands  of  the  Creek 


Indians  on  the  east.  From  the  original  territory 
of  Montgomery  the  following  counties  have  been 
wholly  taken:  Autauga,  Bibb,  Dallas  and  Shelby. 
St.  Clair  was  formed  entirely  of  the  latter  county. 
The  following  counties  were  formed  in  portion 
from  the  area  of  Montgomery  directly:  Bullock, 
Elmore,  Lowndes  and  Perry,  while  other  counties 
have  been  formed  from  counties  which  were  con- 
stituted out  of  the  territory  taken  from  Montgom- 
ery County. 

The  princii^al  products  of  the  county  are  cot- 
ton and  corn.  Of  late  years  considerable  atten- 
tion is  being  paid  to  the  jiroduction  of  oats  and 
grasses,  while  stock-raising  is  noted  as  growing, 
and  the  profits  in  this  branch  tends  to  the  belief 
that  it  will  become  more  general  within  the  next 
few  years.  Fruits  and  early  vegetables  do  well  in 
this  county,  and  largely  increasing  quantities  of 
the  latter  are  shijiped  north  every  year. 

The  forests  are  timbered  with  oak,  hickory, 
short-leaf  pine,  poplar,  gum,  magnolia,  beech, 
hawthorn,  wild  plum  and  ash. 

The  principal  streams  which  water  the  county 
are  the  Alabama  and  Tallapoosa  Rivers,  Lime,  Ea- 
rner, Catoma,  Pintlala  and  other  smaller  and  un- 
important creeks. 

The  county  is  intersected  by  the  Louisville  & 
Xasliville,  the  Western,  the  ilontgomery  &  Eu- 
faula,  the  Selma  &  Montgomery,  the  ^lobile  & 
Montgomery,  and  the  Montgomer}-  &  Florida  Eail- 
roads.  The  latter  is  a  narrow-gauge  road,  which 
is  now  being  built  to  the  Florida  line,   through  a 


NOJiTHER.V  ALABAMA. 


207 


very  rich  portion  of  Southeast  Alabama.  The 
following  railroads  are  projected:  the  Alabama 
Midland,  the  Montgomery,  Hayneville  and  Cam- 
den, and  tlie(ireat  Northwestern  of  Alabama,  and 
the  .Montgomery  &  Chattanooga.  The  subject  of 
building  a  railroad  to  connect  with  the  Anniston 
U'oad  at  Svlacauga  is  being  discussed. 


The  county  is  well  provided  with  facilities  for 
religious  worship,  there  being  in  it  churches  of 
all  denominations.  The  schools  are  the  equal  of 
any  in  the  South,  and  in  Montgomery  the  public 
schools  will  compare  favorably  with  any  similar 
institutions  in  the  country.  [See  Montgomery 
City,  this  volume.] 


Xll. 
MARENGO  COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  1,'i',Q:  colored,  23,G17. 
Area.  050  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Prairie 
oak  and  hickory  uplands,  with  long-leaf  pine  and 
post-oak  flat  wood. 

Acres  in  cotton  SO, 790:  in  corn,  43,870;  in  oats, 
G,.5T4;  in  sugar-cane,  43;  in  tobacco,  43;  in  rice, 
2G;  in  sweet  potatoes,  1,138. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  24,000. 

County  Seat  —  Linden;  population,  300;  52 
miles  southwest  of  Selma. 

Newspajier  published  at  County  Seat — Reporter 
(Democratic.) 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Clay  Hill,  Dayton, 
Demopolis,  Dixon's  Mills,  Faunsdale,  Gay's  Land- 
ing, Hampden.  Hoboken,  Jefferson,  Linden, 
Luther's  Store,  .McKinley,  Magnolia,  J[oss. 
Myrtlewood,  Xanafalia,  \icholsville,  Nixonville, 
Octago,  Old  Spring  Hill,  Putman,  IJembert, 
Shiloh,  Sweet  Water,  Tombigbee,  Van  Dorn, 
Williamsburgh. 

This  historic  county  was  settled  by  French 
immigrants  after  the  fall  of  Xapoleon  L,  and  was 
organized  as  a  county  in  the  year  1818.  It  is  one 
of  the  largest  counties  of  Alabama,  containing 
960  square  miles,  or  about  015,000  acres.  Its 
soil,  for  the  most  part,  is  fertile,  and  the  uplands 
offer  as  great  advantages  to  the  agriculturist  as 
can  be  found  in  the  world,  combining,  as  they  do, 
healthfulness  witli  great  productiveness.  It  has 
a  population  of  about  3o,O00,  three-fourths  of 
whom  are  blacks. 

The    white    population     is    made    up    largely 


of  immigrants  from  the  older  States,  and 
their  descendants,  chiefly  from  the  States  of 
Virginia  and  South  Carolina.  Throughout  its 
length  and  breadth  the  county  possesses  intelli- 
gent, substantial  citizens,  far  above  the  average  of 
agricultural  communities.  Prior  to  the  war  be- 
tween the  States  the  people  of  the  upper  portion 
of  the  county  were  noted  for  their  wealth,  culture 
and  hospitality,  and,  although  impoverished  by 
the  Avar,  they  yet  retain  the  characteristics  of 
ante-bellum  days. 

The  northern  portion  of  Marengo  County  is 
level,  or  slightly  undulating.  The  soils  vary, 
being  partly  stifE  prairie  and  partly  light,  sandy 
loams.  There  is  prevailing  in  some  parts  of  this 
section  a  post-oak  soil,  which  is  heavy,  sandy  clay, 
of  reddish  and  yellowish  colors. 

The  county  is  diversified  throughout  with  hills, 
plains  and  fertile  valleys.  The  great  stretches  of 
prairie  arc  broken  here  and  there  by  a  line  of  hills, 
which  overlook  vast  regions  of  country  or  gaze 
down  upon  rich  valleys.  The  several  soils  are 
black  prairie,  which  belong  to  the  plains;  the 
mulatto  soils,  which  belong  to  the  higher  table- 
lands, and  the  gray  hnmmock.  As  is  true  through- 
out the  counties  of  the  Black  Pelt,  the  most 
valuable  of  these  soils  is  the  black  prairie,  but  all 
are  valuable  under  different  circumstances.  Over 
these  limelands  grows  the  mellilotus,  or  honey- 
weed,  an  excellent  forage  herb,  of  which  stock  of 
all  kinds  are  exceedingly  fond.  Oftentimes  it 
grows  to  the  height  of  six  feet,  and  overspreads 


208 


NORTHERN  A  LAB  A  AT  A. 


the  bare  lime  rock.  Eaisers  of  stock  prize  it  quite 
highl}'  for  its  nutritious  qualities. 

The  cane-brake  lands  of  Marengo  are  found  in 
the  northern  end  of  the  county,  and  extend  south- 
ward about  ten  or  fifteen  miles.  These  lands 
have  long  been  proverbial  for  their  marvelous 
productive  qualities. 

From  about  the  center  southwards  the  lands 
become  thinner  with  a  sandy  surface.  About  the 
county  occur  the  "flat  woods,"  which  extend  with 
varying  width  across  the  country  from  east  to  west. 
The  average  width  is  five  or  six  miles.  This 
region  of  flat  woods  is  slightly  undulating,  and, 
because  of  the  waxiness  of  the  soil,  is  sought  by 
the  planter.  Upon  analysis,  the  soils  of  this 
peculiar  section  are  found  to  be  deficient  in 
lime,  though  in  some  jiortions  of  it  cotton  grows 
remarkably  well.  Early  in  the  spring  the  wild 
clover  (lespedaza),  begins  to  show  itself  in  this 
flat  woods  country,  and  attains  to  the  height  of 
two  or  three  feet.     A    finer  grazing   region    was 


never  seen  than  this  flat  woods  section,  which 
sweeps  without  interruption  from  the  Tombigbee 
to  the  Alabama  Eiver.  This  wild  clover  is  eag- 
erly sought  by  all  kinds  of  stock,  and  lasts  from 
March  or  April  until  the  coldest  jjeriods  of 
winter.  Where  streams  flow  across  the  flat 
woods  they  arethickly  bordered  with  luxuriant 
swamp  cane. 

Lower  down  still  are  the  famous  Eembert  hills, 
the  favorite  resort  of  the  planters  of  the  past  as 
a  region  in  which  to  establish  their  homes.  These 
high  hills  overlook  the  rich  valleys  which  lie  along 
Beaver  Creek.  Along  the  last  named  stream  are 
outcropjiings  of  marl  beds,  which  lend  additional 
richness  to  the  soils.  All  these  lands — the  black 
prairie  and  the  brown  loam  on  the  uplands,  as 
well  as  the  light  gray — are  valuable  and  product- 
ive. The  crops  usually  produced  are  corn,  cot- 
ton, peas,  sweet  potatoes,  millet,  oats,  and  sugar- 
cane. Corn  and  cotton  thrive  about  equally  well 
upon  the  different  lands. 


Xlll. 
PERRY    COUNTY. 


Population  :  White,  7.500  ;  colored,  ^2,591. 
Area,  700  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Gravelly 
hills,  with  long-leaf  j^ine,  4G0  square  miles. 
Prairie  region,  3"^5  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton,  75,303;  in  corn,  48,132;  in 
oats,  6,003;  in  wheat,  440;  in  rye,  70;  in  rice,  27; 
in  tobacco,  24;  in  sugar-cane,  20:  in  sweet  pota- 
toes, 1,107. 

Approximate- number  of  bales  of  cotton,  22,000. 

County  Seat — Marion;  population,  2,500;  located 
30  miles  northwest  of  Selma,  on  Cincinnati,  Selma, 
&  Mobile  branch  of  the  Western  Eailroad. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Stan- 
dard, Normal  Fepo?ier,  Hoivard  Collegian  and 
Judson  Echoes. 

Postoffices  in  County — Augustin,  Bush  Creek, 
Chadwick,  Cruess,  Felix,  Hamburgh,  Ironville, 
Jericho,  Le  Vert,  Marion,  Morgan  Springs,  Muse- 


ville,  Oakmulgee,  Perryville,  Pine  Tucky,  Scott's 
Station,  Sprott,  Talmage,  Theo,  Uniontown,  Vi- 
lula. 

Perry  was  created  in  1819,  and  named  in  honor 
of  Commodore  Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  of  the  United 
States  Navy. 

The  county  lies  between  parallels  32  and  33 
north  latitude,  and  embraces  most  of  the  elevated 
lands  between  the  Tombigbee  and  Alabama  Eivers. 
Its  maximum  elevation  is  470  feet,  and  its  mini- 
mum 190  feet  above  sea  level. 

The  face  of  the  country  is  somewhat  broken, 
though  there  are  no  great  elevations.  The  ex- 
treme western  jiortion  of  the  country  is  drained  by 
small  streams  emptying  into  the  Tombigbee,  while 
the  country  generally  slopes  off  gently  to  the  east, 
and  its  waters  shed  off  into  the  Cahaba  and  its 
tributaries.     The  highest  land  is  somewhat  sandy; 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


209 


the  chief  growth  is  the  long-leaf  pine.  Next 
comes  the  prairie,  "a  gently  umhilating  trough-like 
plain  lying  between  the  ilrift  liills  on  the  north 
and  similar  ones  on  the  south." 

The  northern  half  of  the  county  has  an  abun- 
dance of  freestone  water  supplied  by  surface 
springs  and  wells:  the  prairie  sections  are  supplied 
by  pools  and  artesian  wells. 

The  climate  is  as  mild  and  salulirious  as  can  be 
found  in  the  South.  Our  proximity  to  the  Gulf 
gives  us  the  benefit  of  its  refreshing  breezes.  The 
summers  are  long,  and  the  days  are  nnfrequently 
very  hot,  but  our  nights  are  cool  and  pleasant. 
Sunstroke  is  very  rare. 

Mean  temperature  for  fourteen  years:  spring, 
fi5. 3:  summer,  SO. <i:  autumn,  (i.i.o:  winter,  50.4. 

No  section  on  the  globe  can  show  a  better  health 
record  than  I'crry  County.  The  county  occupies 
the  liigh  lands  lying  between  the  Alabama  and 
Tombigbee  Rivers,  and  it  is  almost  above  the  mias- 
ma line.  In  the  river  bottoms  there  are  more  or  less 
of  chills  and  fever  in  the  summer  and  fall.  There 
is  but  little  pneumonia,  and  consumption  is  rare 
among  the  whites. 

The  State  tax  this  year  is  levied  on  the  basis  of 
:>\  mills,  the  county  on  4  mills.  There  is  a  con- 
stitutional prohibition  against  any  county  levying 
a  tax  of  more  than  ,">  mills. 

County  school  funds  for  the  year  ending  Sep- 
tember :S0.  1886,  were  *11,03-^. 

Number  of  schools:  wiiite,  3.");  colored,  o3;  total, 
88.  Average  number  of  teachers:  white,  33; 
colored.  .*>();  total.  83. 

Average  number  of  pupils  to  teacher,  42. 

Average  monthly  pay  of  teachers,  |i30.90. 

School  age,  seven  to  twenty-one  years. 

Average  length  of  schools,  eighty  days. 

Marion  and  Uniontown  enjoy  very  superior 
public  schools. 

No  section  enjoy.s  greater  advantages  than  this 
county  in  the  number  and  character  of  its  higher 
educational  institutions. 

Located  at  Marion  are  two  institutions  of  learn- 
ing that  are  second  to  none  in  the  South;  Jud- 
son  Female  Institute,  founded  in  is:i'.t,  denom- 
inational, Haptist:  Marion  Female  Seminary, 
founded  in  1830.  non-sectarian. 

The  prairie  comprises  about  one-third  of  the 
county  area,  or  about  170,000  acres. 

Sandy  lands  comprise  the  balance  of  the  county 
area.  There  are  no  special  features  that  are  pecu- 
liar to  these  lands. 


Bottom  lanils  lie  along  the  branches,  creeks  and 
Cahaba  River,  and  are  a  superior  kind  of  soil. 

The  prairie  lands  can  be  bought  at  from  110  to 
^1.")  per  acre;  the  clay  lands  from  *8  to  %Vl  per 
acre;  the  sandy  lands  from  %-l  to  %h,  and  the 
bottom  lands  from  ^S  to  %\'l  per  acre. 

T.AIifLAK  STATEMKXT  KOU  PKUUY   COUNTY. 

Corn,      average  number  of  lbs.  per  acre 840 

Cotton,  ■•  ' "    414 

Hye, 3.50 

Wheat. 400 

Oats,  " 4.'50 

Barley,  "  "        "     "      "      "     600 

Potatoes,  "  "      "     4,ij00 

Hay, 4.000 

Average  number  of  pounds  per  acre,  1,444. 

Total  value  of  Perry  County's  products  per 
acre  about  ^"^5. 

Corn,  rye.  barley  and  oats  do  well  in  this  county, 
and  with  the  proper  attention  as  much  can  be  pro- 
duced as  anywhere  else  on  the  globe.  Wheat 
usually  suffers  with  rust.  Forty  years  ago  these 
lands  produced,  on  an  average,  twenty  bushels  of 
wheat  per  acre. 

All  grasses  do  well,  but  especially  red  clover, 
nieliotns,  Johnson  grass.  Japanese  clover  and 
Bermuda. 

Sorghum  cane  can  be  raised  here  in  the  greatest 
abundance,  and  if  it  will  pay  anywhere  to  raise  it, 
it  will  pay  nowhere  better  than  here.  Sugar-cane 
pays  well  on  our  mulatto  lands. 

All  kinds  of  vegetables  grow  here,  and  of  most 
of  them  two  crops  can  be  made.  Two  crops  of 
Irith  potatoes,  or  Irish  potatoes  first  and  sweet 
potatoes  next,  on  the  same  ground. 

The  county  is  doing  something  in  stock  raising, 
and  the  success  that  has  attended  the  little  that 
has  been  done,  promises  to  revolutionize  the  present 
surroundings. 

There  are  two  railroads  through  the  county; 
the  Alabama  Central  and  the  Selma  &  Memphis: 
the  Alabama  Grand  Trunk,  leading  from  Mobile 
to  Birmingham,  is  now  under  construction, 
and  will  be  completed  in  about  six  months. 
This  road  will  bisect  the  county  from  south  to 
north,  giving  us  direct  communication  with  Mobile 
on  the  south,  and  Birmingham,  Bessemer,  Annis- 
ton,  Decatur,  Sheffield,  etc.,  on  the  nortli.  In 
addition  to  the  above,  the  following  roads  have 
been  chartered,  and  will  run  through  the  county: 
Chicago  &  Gulf  Air  Line:  Baltimore,  Birmingham 
&  Gulf;  Bessemer  &  Selma;  Selma  &  Cahaba  Val- 


210 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ley,  and  a  through  trunk  line  to  Pensacola.  The 
Kansas  City  &  Birmingham  Railway  will  also  be 
built  through  this  county  to  the  Gulf.  Cahaba 
River,  for  all  practical  purposes,  is  past  navigating. 

We  have  the  very  best  society  in  this  country, 
and  this  does  not  mean  aristocracy  in  any  sense. 

No  section  in  the  Union  offers  so  many  induce- 
ments to  those  who  are  seeking  homes  in  the  genial 
South  than  Perry  County,  Ala.  With  a  cli- 
mate mild  and  healthy,  with  tJie  best  of  soil,  and 
in  great  variety,  with  good  prices  for  products  and 
low  prices  for  land  and  labor;  with  unsurpassed 
educational  surroundings:  with  plenty  of  markets 
near  at  hand  and  good  facilities  to  reach  them; 
with  great  timber  resources;  with  the  best  of 
society;  with  the  greatest  iron,  limestone  and  coal 
beds  in  the  world  in  the  counties  joining  us  on  the 
north;  with  pure  water,  purer  atmosphere,  high 
and  dry,  we  extend  to  the  northern  farmers  a  most 
cordial  welcome  to  come  and  live  amongst  us,  and 


reap  the  great  harvest  that  is  ready  and  waiting 
for  the  intelligent  and  progressive  farmer.  We 
say,  and  it  is  beyond  the  possibility  of  contradic- 
tion, that  every  acre  of  land  in  this  county  will 
yield  enough  in  crop  products  to  pay  for  itself  in 
one  year.  If  you  have  the  means  to  buy  our  land 
and  sustain  yourself  for  one  year,  you  need  have 
no  misgivings  on  this  score.  The  land  will  pay 
for  itself  in  one  year,  acre  for  acre,  that  is  culti- 
vated. It  will  do  it  now,  and  if  more  could  be 
asked  of  any  land  it  is  an  unreasonable  demand. 

Besides  many  smaller  streams,  there  are  the 
Cahaba  River,  and  the  Washington,  Legreon,  Blue 
Cat,  Brush,  Belcher's,  Five  Mile,  Big  and  Bogue 
Chitta  Creeks  in  Perry.  A  bounteous  supply  of 
water  is  furnished  from  the  copious  wells  which 
are  found  in  every  portion  of  the  county. 

The  valuation  of  taxable  property  in  Perry 
County,  for  the  year  1887,U  $2, 977,890,  as  shown  by 
the  abstract  of  assesssment  filed  with  the  Auditor. 


UNIONTOW^N. 


JOHN  C.  WELCH,  Mayor  of  Uniontown,  was 
born  September  6,  1845,  in  Itawamba  Coixnty, 
Miss.  He  is  a  son  of  Henry  H.  and  Emily 
(Patterson)  Welch,  natives  respectively  of  North 
Carolina  and  Georgia.  His  father  throughout  his 
life  was  a  merchant,  and  died  at  his  home  in  iliss- 
issipi^i,  in  188.5. 

Our  subject  attended  the  common  schools  at  his 
home,  until  fifteen  years  old,  and  then  enlisted  in 
the  Confederate  service,  in  that  organization 
known  as  the  Confederate  Guards'  Artillery,  under 
command  of  Captain  Bradford.  He  remained  in 
active  service  throughout  the  course  of  the  war, 
and  during  the  time  was  in  a  number  of  severe  bat- 
tles. Returning  from  the  war,  he  located  at  Col- 
umbus, Miss.,  in  1865,  where  he  began  the  jewelry 
business,  and  remained  there  six  months.  In  the 
early  part  of  1866,  he  came  to  Uniontown,  and 
began  the  same  business,  which  he  has  enlarged 
by  adding  books  and  stationery.  Mr.  Welch  has 
also  been  closely  identified  with  the  city  government 
of  Uniontown  for  a  number  of  vears.     He  was  for 


more  than  eleven  years  a  member  of  the  city  coun- 
cil, was  city  treasurer  for  several  years,  and  served 
as  tax  assessor.  In  March,  1887,  he  was  elected 
mayor  of  Uniontown,  and  has  held  the  office  ever 
since.  He  possesses  many  of  the  traits  which 
would  give  one  standing  in  any  locality,  for  to  the 
better  instincts  of  the  polished  Christian  gentle- 
man, he  adds  the  tact  and  adaptiveness  of  the 
business  man  of  the  world,  a  combination  at  once 
calculated  to  inspire  confidence  and  esteem.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  he  has  won  such  a  stand- 
ing among  those  with  whom  he  has  resided  for  so 
long  a  time. 

John  C.  Welch  was  married  in  December,  1874, 
to  Miss  Carrie,  a  daughter  of  Warren  DuBose  and 
H.  H.  Stewart,  of  Hale  County,  Ala.  Their 
family  consists  of  four  children — John  C  Jr., 
Stewart  H.,  Annie  S.  and  Evelyn. 

Our  subject  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order, 
a  steward  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  and  secretary  of  the  Sunday-school  of 
Uniontown. 


XORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


211 


JOHN  MILTON  SADLER.  M.D.,  Physician 
and  I)ni<jgist.  «as  born  Scpteniher  'I.  1S4S,  near 
Rock  Hill,  in  York  County.  S.  C,  and  is  a  son  of 
liifhard  and  ilary  (Williams)  Sadler,  wlio  were 
both  natives  of  Yoi'k  County. 

We  find  our  subject  attending  tlie  common 
schools  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  his  home 
until  attaining  the  age  of  sixteen,  when  he  entered 
tiie  Confederate  Army  as  orderly  sergeant  of  the 
South  Carolina  State  troops,  but  was  only  in  the 
service  three  months,  owing  to  the  closing  of  the 
great  struggle. 

Immediately  after  returning  home  he  went  to 
school  two  years,  then  engaged  in  farming  three 
or  four  years,  and  afterward  went  to  IJradley 
County.  Ark.,  and  there  studied  medicine  under 
Dr.  J.  T.  Meek,  two  years.  lie  then  went  to  the 
Louisiana  University  Medical  Department,  at  New 
Orleans,  where  he  graduated  in  March,  1873,  with 
the  degree  of  M.  ]). 

Dr.  Sadler  began  the  practice  in  IJradley  fJounty, 
and  remained  there  till  1880,  when  he  came  to 
L'niontown,  where  he  has  ever  since  engaged  in 
the  active  practice  of  his  profession.  His  exten- 
sive i)ractice  would  make  it  needless  to  affirm  that 
iu'  is  ranked  well  in  his  profession.  Dr.  Sadler 
has  al-so  engaged  in  the  drug  business  since  iden- 
tifying himself  with  Uniontown.  and  in  this,  as 
in  his  i)rofessional  life,  he  has  been  successful. 

Dr.  Sadler  was  married  in  February,  188G,  to 
Miss  Etta,  daughter  of  William  O.  and  Virginia 
C,  Key.  His  wife's  father  is  a  native  of  Mary- 
land, and  descended  froni  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  highly  resjiected  families  of  that  grand  old 
Commonwealth. 

Ur.  Sadler  belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  County  and  State  Medical 
Societies.  He  served  as  president  of  the  County 
Society  during  the  year  1S8T,  and  has  acted  as 
medical  examiner  for  a  number  of  insurance  com- 
]ianies. 

JOHN  BRADFIELD,  M.  D.,  was  born  May  VI, 
181.'),  in  liockingham  County,  N.  C,  and  is  a  son 
of  Louis  and  JIary  (Farrar)  Bradfield,  natives, 
resjiectively,  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina. 

The  father  of  our  subject  was  a  farmer  and  car- 
penter, and,  after  a  long  and  useful  career,  died  at 
Uniontown  in  is^d. 

John  Hradfield  attended  Smith's  high  school  in 
Rockingham  County,  where  he   prepared   himself 


to  enter  the  medical  college  in  Charleston,  of 
which  institution  he  was  a  graduate  in  lK-1.').  In 
that  year  he  began  the  practice  of  his  profession 
at  Uniontown,  where  he  has  had  an  unbroken 
professional  career  of  forty-three  years,  and  is  be- 
yond doubt  the  oldest  practicing  physician  in  the 
county,  where  he  has  resided  so  long,  and  has, 
perhajjs,  few  equals  in  the  State  who  can  claim  as 
long  an  experience  in  any  locality  as  he.  It  needs 
no  assurance  on  the  writer's  part  to  convince  any 
one  that  Dr,  Bradfield  has  been  uniformly  success- 
ful as  a  physician.  If  such  were  wanting  it  could 
be  established  from  the  testimony  of  hundreds  to 
whom  he  has  skillfully  applied  the  great  healing 
art,  and  by  reason  of  which  he  is  constantly  the 
recipient  of  the  benedictions  of  those  thus  jilaced 
nnder  a  pleasant  obligation. 

Dr.  Bradfield  is  a  member  of  the  Perry  County 
and  Alabama  Medical  Societies,  and  has  held  the 
office  of  president  of  the  former  and  censor  of 
both.  He  is  likewise  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  belongs  to  the 
Masonic  fraternity. 

Dr.  liradfield  was  married  in  November,  1845, 
to  Miss  Emily  F.,  daughter  of  Dr,  Archibald  and 
Frances  (Ware)  Perkins,  of  Madison,  Ga.,  and  has 
a  family  of  three  sons,  all  of  whom  are  now  suc- 
cessfnl  men  of  the  world  and  ornaments  of  the 
social  spheres  to  which  they  belong,  George  H,  is 
a  practicing  lawyer,  John  W,  a  doctor,  both  resi- 
dents of  Uniontown:  and  Louis  T.  a  successful 
business  man  of  Birmingham,  Ala. 

— •■*— 5^^?^— ^- 

GEORGE  M.  CORCORAN,  M.D.,  Physician 
and  Surgeon,  Uniontown,  was  born  March  .31, 
ISfWI,  at  Black  Kock,  Baltimore  County,  Md., 
and  is  a  "son  of  Christopher  and  Cynthia  (F.)  Cor- 
coran, an  old  and  respectable  Maryland  family. 
His  father  is  a  farmer  in  that  State  at  this  writing 
(188S).    . 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  attended  the  common 
schools  until  he  was  sixteeti  years  old  ;  took  private 
instructions  two  years,  and  began  the  study  of 
medicine  at  the  University  of  Maryland  (Balti- 
more). During  two  years  of  his  course  he  had  the 
advantage  of  an  hospital  experience  equivalent 
to  actual  professional  life  to  such  as  are  inclined 
to  use  it  and  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  application  in 
this  manner  by  young  Corcoran.  He  graduated 
March  tl,  1887,  with  the  degree  of  M.D. 


213 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Dr.  Corcoran,  shortly  after  his  graduation, 
came  to  Unioiitown,  and  entered  upon  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession,  and  from  the  beginning  lias 
met  with  signal  success.  As  a  slvillful  practitioner 
and  polished  gentleman  he  is  held  in  higli  esteem. 

The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Perry  County 
Medical  Society,  and  the  Alabama  State  Medical 
Society,  and  of  the  American  Legion  of  Honor, 
of  which  latter  he  is  the  Examining  Officer.  He 
is  also  a  member  and  vestryman  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church. 


JAMES  H.  HOUSTON,  Physician  and  Sur- 
geon, was  born  in  Iredell  County,  N.  C,  De- 
cember 'I'l,  1826,  and  is  a  son  of  James  H.  and 
Sarah  (Lee)  Houston,  natives  of  that  State.  The 
two  grandfathers  of  our  subject  were  soldiers  in 
the  Revolutionary  War.  James  Kerr,  his  moth- 
er's father,  took  part  in  the  battle  at  Eamsour's 
Mills,  N.  C,  and  James  Houston,  his  grand- 
father was  commander  of  a  company  at  that 
battle,  and  was  severely  wounded.  He  lived  to  a 
good  old  age,  to  tell  of  the  event  to  his  numerous 
grandchildren.  Tn  the  same  battle  Mrs.  Houston's 
great-grandfather  was  killed  while  leading  his 
command  as  captain.  Dr.  Eph.  Bravard,  who 
wrote  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence of  20th  of  May,  177."),  Charlotte,  N.  C,  was 
the  uncle  of  his  grandmother  Houston.  Our  sub- 
ject's father  was  a  farmer  and  merchant,  and  died 
in  1826.  His  widow  afterward  married  Maj.  W. 
Lee  Davidson,  the  son  of  Gen.  Wm.  Davidson, 
who  was  killed  at  Cowan's  Ford,  on  February  1, 
1781,  during  the  Revolutionary  War.     They  both 


lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  died  some  years  ago. 
James  H.  Houston,  like  most  other  boys,  re- 
ceived his  preliminary  education  at  his  home,  but 
completed  it  at  Davidson  College,  in  his  native 
State.  He  then  studied  medicine  in  the  office  of 
Dr.  John  McClean,  in  Newton  County,  N.  C, 
and  subsequently  entered  the  L^niversity  of 
Pennsylvania,  at  Philadelphia.  In  1848,  he  began 
the  practice  of  his  pi-ofession  in  his  native  county, 
and  remained  there  eight  years.  In  1856,  he  came 
to  LTniontown,  where  he  has  had  an  unbroken 
practice,  with  the  exception  of  the  time  spent 
in  the  war.  Dr.  Houston  entered  the  Confederate 
service  as  Assistant  Surgeon  of  Beulah  Batter}',  and 
wasstationed  part  of  the  time  at  Savannah,  Ga.,  and 
maintained  his  connection  with  the  command  until 
the  war  was  brought  to  a  close.  He  took  part  in 
a  number  of  severe  battles,  and  fortunately  escaped 
unhurt.  He  returned  to  LTniontown  and  immedi- 
ately resumed  his  practice,  which  has  been  a  very 
successful  one.  He  belongs  to  the  best  class  of 
people  in  the  State,  and  is  regarded  by  his  brother 
physicians  as  an  adornment  to  the  profession 
which  he  has  followed  for  so  many  years  with  suc- 
cess. He  belongs  to  the  State  Medical  Associa- 
tion and  the  County  Medical  Society,  and  has 
been  officially  connected  with  both. 

Dr.  Houston  has  been  Superintendent  of  Edu- 
cation in  Perry  County,  and  Postmaster  at  Union- 
town,  and,  in  both  jjositions,  discharged  the  duties 
devolving  upon  him  with  marked  credit  to  himself 
and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  peoi^le.  He  was 
married  in  1849,  to  Miss  Mary  J.,  daughter  of 
Absey  and  Isabella  (Falls)  Simonton,  of  Statesville, 
N.  C.  They  have  three  children  living:  Lula,  wife 
of  Cleveland  Terrel,  of  Uniontowu;  Isabella  and 
Robert  L. 


XIV. 
PICKENS    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  11,000;  colored,  11,250. 
Area.  1,000  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  (}rav- 
elly  i)iiie  hills.  ii.")0  square  miles;  prairie,  •")(•  square 
miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  52,051;  in 
corn.  43,104;  in  oats,  8,(i53;  in  wheat,  2,220;  in 
rye,  3G;  in  tobacco,  51;  in  sugar-cane.  Ill;  in  sweet 
potatoes,  757. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  17.283. 

County  Seat  —  Carrollton;  population,  34!i; 
about  i!0  miles  west  of  Tuscaloosa,  and  same  dis- 
tance southeast  of  Columbus,  Miss. 

Newsjiaper  published  at  County  Seat  —  IIVvY 
Alnbdinian  (Democratic). 

Postotlices  in  the  County — Beard,  Benevola, 
Bethany,  Bridgeville,  Byars,  CarrolUon,  ("oal  Fire, 
nillburgh,  Durrow,  Franconia,  Garden,  Gordo, 
Henry,  Koon,  Lineburgh,  Lubbub,  McBee,  Mem- 
phis. Palmetto,  Pickensville,  Pleasant  Grove, 
Providence,  Kaleigh,  Reform,  Sharp,  Stafford, 
Stone,  Temple.  \'ienna. 

Pickens  County  was  carved  out  of  Tuscaloosa 
December  lH,  1820,  and  has  preserved  nearly  its 
original  dimensions,  with  the  addition  of  two 
beats  on  the  west  side,  added  in  1832,  the  town- 
ship and  fractional  townships  in  range  2  having 
originally  belonged  to  (ireene,  to  which  county 
they  were  again  attached  several  years  ago.  It 
was  named  in  honor  of  Gen.  Andrew  Pickens,  of 
South  Carolina.  Assessed  valuation  of  taxable 
property  in  1887,  *1, 181.008.  Hate  of  taxation  in 
county  and  State.  50  cents  on  the  ^100. 

The  surface  in  the  northeast  is  hilly  aiul  sandy, 
with  alluvial  loam  in  creek  bottoms.  The  soil  in- 
creases in  fertility  in  the  westerly  direction,  and 
the  valleys  of  the  Tombigbee  aiul  its  tributaries, 
and  tiie  prairies  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the 
county  are  very  rich  and  productive.  Some  of 
the  lands  have  been  in  continuous  cultivation 
since  first  the  forests  were  removed,  fully  fifty 
ago,  and  yet  they  are  still  very  prolific.  During 
all  this  time,  too,  no  fertilizers  have  been  em- 
l)loycd  to  stay  the  decline  of  fertility  of  the  soil. 


This  only  proves  what  immense  liarvests  would 
accrue  from  the  cultivation  of  these  lands  if  they 
were  put  to  their  utmost  capacity. 

The  fruits  grown  in  the  county  are  such  as 
might  be  expected  of  a  section  with  so  mild  a  cli- 
mate. They  are  apples,  peaches,  pears,  pome- 
granates, cherries,  nectarines,  apricots,  figs, 
quinces,  grapes,  scuppernongs,  strawberries  and 
raspberries.  The  bland  climate  enables  them  to 
ripen  rapidly,  and  to  find  their  way,  at  an  early 
season,  to  the  market,  thereby  commanding  good 
prices. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  common  fruits  — 
prunes,  Japan  plums,  jujube,  Spanish  chestnuts, 
English  walnuts,  almonds  and  filberts  have  been 
planted  to  a  limited  extent,  and  so  far  as  tried 
have  been  successful. 

The  water  supplies  of  the  county  are  extensive. 
The  Tombigbee  and  Sipsey  Rivers,  together  with 
Bogue  Chitta,  Coal  Fire,  Lubbub  , Blubber,  and 
JIcBee  Creeks,  are  the  princi})al  streams.  Besides 
these,  there  are  numerous  sources  of  water  in  the 
abounding  springs  and  wells.  Artesian  wells  ex- 
ist in  some  parts  of  the  county,  and  the  water 
supply  is  perpetual  throughout  the  year. 

In  most  of  the  streams  there  are  superb  fish, 
which  are  easily  caught.  alTording  much  delight 
to  the  sportsman. 

The  transportation  facilities  of  the  county  are 
confined  at  present  to  the  Tombigbee  River, 
which  unites  with  the  Alabama  and  forms  the 
Mobile  River,  just  above  the  (Julf  City.  An  im- 
portant railway  line  is  being  constructed  between 
Brunswick,  (ieorgia  and  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  which 
will  pa.ss  directly  through  Pickens  County. 

Points  of  interest  are:  Carrolton,  the  county 
seat,  Pickensville  and  Vienna,  all  of  which  are 
towns  of  much  local  commercial  importance. 
Valuable  schools  for  males  and  females  are  found 
in  all  these  places;  indeed,  throughout  the 
county  are  found  valuable  educational  facilities. 
Excellent  places  of  worship,  which  represent  the 
different  religious  denominations,  are  also  found. 
213 


214 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


The  timbers  which  are  fouud  in  the  forests  of 
Pickens,  embrace  the  ash,  birch,  black  walnut, 
cedar,  cherry,  chestnut,  cottonwood,  cypress,  elm, 
gum,  hickory,  maple,  mulberry,  oak,  persimmon, 
pine,  poplar,  sycamore  and  willow. 

Many  timbers  of  the  highest  character  are 
rafted  along  the  'i'ombigbee  to  Mobile,  where 
they  command  a  good  price.  The  excellent  oaks 
are  admirably  adapted  to  the  manufacture  of  bar- 
rel staves,  which  are  made  in  great  quantities  and 
find  their  way  to  Mobile. 

More  than  any  other  county  of  the  cotton  belt, 
perhaps  Pickens  has  tested  the  virtue  of  immigra- 
tion. Earnest,  vigorous  and  thrifty  immigrants 
have  purchased  land  in  the  county  at  low  figures, 


and  are  contributing  in  no  small  degree  to  the 
development  or  the  divers  resources  of  the  county. 
Under  the  auspices  of  these  immigrants,  a 
broom  factory  has  been  established  near  Carrol- 
ton.  These  immigrants  have  added  greater  diver- 
sity of  the  crops  of  the  country. 

Within  the  last  year  or  two,  the  castor  bean  has 
been  planted  with  successful  results. 

Lands  may  be  purchased  at  prices  ranging  from 
85  to  *3(». 

Men  of  sobriety  and  thriftiness  would  be 
welcome  to  Pickens,  where  they  would  find  an 
orderly  and  law-abiding  community.  Pickens 
County  has  0,l"-?0  acres  of  land  belonging  to  the 
Government. 


XV. 
RUSSELL   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  6,182:  colored,  18,6.5.5. 
Area,  670  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Grav- 
elly hills,  with  pine  and  oak  uplands,  and  blue 
marl. 

Acres — In  cotton  (aj)proximately),  81,600;  in 
corn,  34,300;  in  oats,  9,700;  in  wheat,  1,000;  in 
rice,  65;  in  sugar-cane,  190:  in  sweet  potatoes, 
1,000. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  20,000. 

County  Seat — Seale;  population,  <iOO:  on  Mobile 
&  Girard  Railroad. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Russell 
Register  (Democratic). 

Postoffices  in  the  County:  Arahburgh,  Craw- 
ford, Dexter,  Fort  Mitchell,  Glenville,  Hatche- 
chubbee,  Hurtsboro,  Jernigan,  Loflin,  Marvyn, 
Oswichee,  Seale,  Uchee. 

The  county  was  established  in  1832,  and  named 
for  Col.  Gilbert  C.  Russell,  of  Mobile.  This  is 
one  of  the  border  counties  of  the  State,  being  sep- 
arated from  Georgia  by  the  Chattahoochee  River. 
It  has  many  valuable  tracts  of  land  and  a  thrifty 
population. 

The  general  surface  of  Russell  County  is  undu- 


lating, and  in  some  sections  broken.  It  abounds 
in  capital  agricultural  lands,  many  of  which  have 
been  in  cultivation  for  quite  a  number  of  years. 
Its  soils  differ  widely  in  their  character,  but  are 
generally  quite  .productive. 

Beginning  the  survey  with  lands  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  county,  and  those  which  lie  along  the 
western  bank  of  the  historic  Chattahoochee,  we 
find  them  to  be  excellent  for  farming  purposes, 
the  loamy  soil  having  the  color  of  chocolate. 
These  embrace  a  belt  five  or  six  miles  in  width, 
when  the  more  elevated  table-lands  begin.  These 
are  covered  with  a  red  loam  soil,  and  are  consid- 
ered even  more  valuable  than  those  which  lie  in 
close  proximity  to  the  river.  Beyond  this,  still 
westward,  are  the  hill  regions,  which  have  long 
sustained  a  reputation  for  productiveness. 

In  the  hills  which  adjoin  the  two  I'chee  Creeks, 
limestone  is  found  in  inexhaustible  quantities  and 
of  the  finest  quality. 

Next  this  comes  a  range  of  gravelly  hills,  which 
penetrate  the  county  near  the  center.  From  this 
point  to  the  extreme  western  boundary  there  is 
quite  a  diversity  of  soil,  produced  largely  by  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


215 


numerous  streams  wliich  ramify  this  portion  of 
Kussell.  In  this  western  half  may  be  found  rich 
alluvial  bottoms,  as  well  as  thin,  sandy  ridge 
lands.  These  lands  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  the 
production  of  corn,  cotton,  oats,  potatoes  and 
sugar-cane,  and  to  all  kinds  of  fruit,  including  the 
Lecompte  pear  which  grows  in  great  luxuriance. 
The  uplands  arc  especially  adapted  t(i  all  kinds  of 
grajjcs  and  berries. 

The  bottom  lands  are  usually  preferred  for  cot- 
ton. The  lands  are  generally  tilled  with  ease. 
Every  variety  of  soil  may  be  found  in  the  county, 
from  I  hat  of  sand  to  that  of  the  most  fertile  black 
jirairie  and  blue  marl.  The  county  is  highly  fav- 
ored in  its  dense  forests  of  excellent  timber.     Both 


the  short-leaf,  and  yellow  or  long-leaf,  pine,  the 
white,  red,  water  and  blackjack  oaks,  hickory, 
gum,  beech,  dogwood,  willow,  maple,  walnut,  cy- 
press and  cedar  timbers  prevail  in  different  sec- 
tions of  Hussell.  The  county  has  ample  supplies 
of  water  throughout  the  entire  year.  The  Chat- 
tahoochee h'ivcr  forms  the  entire  eastern  boundary 
of  the  county,  giving  a  river  front  of  more  than 
fifty  miles,  while  its  territory  is  watered  by  such 
streams  as  Cowikee  and  Watauia  Creeks.  These 
bold  streams  are  fed  by  numerous  tributaries  that 
drain  every  section  of  the  county.  The  springs 
iind  wells  afford  abundant  suj)plies,  taken  in  con- 
nection witii  the  readiness  with  which  stock  mav 
be  raised. 


XVI. 
SUMTER   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  G,451  ;  colored,  22,277. 
Area,  1,000  square  miles.  Woodland,  all. 

Acres — In  cotton,  approximately,  80,000 ;  in 
corn,  51,4:00;  in  oats,  2,700;  in  wheat,  24;  in  rye, 
H>2;  in  sugar-cane,  42;  in  tobacco,  1:5:  in  sweet 
potatoes,  1,050. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  25,00(1. 

County  Seat — Livingston;  population,  1,200; 
on  Alabama  &  Great  Southern  Kailroad. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Jouinud, 
Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Alaniuchee,  Belmont, 
Coatopa,  Cuba  Station,  Curl's  Station,  Dove,  Epes' 
Station,  Gainesville,  Gaston,  Kinterbish,  LiviiKjs- 
/on,  McDowell,  Kamsey,  Kosser,  Shernum,  Sum- 
terville,  Warsaw,  York  Station. 

Sumter  County  was  organized  in  l.s:i2.  and  was 
named  for  Gen.  Thomas  Sumter,  of  South  Caro- 
lina. 

A  line  running  northwest  and  southeast  through 
Livingston  would  mark  approximately  the  limit 
iif  the  prairies  which  form  the  upper  part  of  Sum- 
ter County  down  to  that  line.  I'his  part  of  the 
countv  has  an  average  elevation  of  150  feet  above 


tide,  and  is  underlaid  throughout  with  the  rot- 
ten limestone  of  the  cretaceous  formation.  This 
material  is  directly  concerned  in  the  formation  of 
a  considerable  proportion  of  the  soils, which  are  in 
some  cases  little  more  than  the  disintegrated  lime- 
stone mixed  with  organic  matter.  Where  this 
rock  forms  the  surface  the  country  is  gently  un- 
dulating, and  the  differences  in  level  are  very  slight. 
Interpersed,  however,  throughout  this  whole  cane- 
brake  region,  are  ridges  and  hills  capped  with  sand 
and  pebbles  of  the  stratified  drift  formation. 
These  ridges  are  occasionally  elevated  l.")0  feet  and 
more  above  the  surrounding  country,  and  2.">0  feet 
above  the  river.  Their  distribution,  structure  and 
other  circumstances  point  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  are  the  remnants  of  a  once  universal  cover- 
ing of  drift.  Where  this  formation  is  at  the  sur- 
face, the  soils  are  sandy  loams  of  the  usual  drift 
type.  These  loams,  in  mingling  with  the  disin- 
tegrated limestone  give  rise  to  a  class  of  soils 
known  as  post-oak  or  prairie  soils. 

Southwest  of  the  line  above  alluded  to,  and 
occupying  a  belt  varying  in  width  from  five  to 
eight  miles,  aie  the  so-called  flatwoods  or  post-oak 


216 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


flatwoods.  This  division  shares  with  the  prairies 
their  gently  undulating  surface  and  elevation 
above  tide.  It  rests,  however,  upon  a  bluish,  tena- 
cious clay  of  the  lowest  tertiary  formation.  Like 
the  prairies  this  belt  is  covei'ed  in  spots  with  the 
sands  and  other  material  of  the  drift,  and  the  var- 
ieties of  soils  thus  produced  by  intermixture  are 
quite  numerous.  Beyond  the  flatwoods,  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  the  county,  the  sandy  and 
clayey  strata  of  the  lignitic  group  of  the  tertiary 
are,  as  a  rule,hidden  from  view  by  the  overlying  beds 
of  sand  and  pebbles  and  red  loam  of  a  later  forma- 
tion. 

This  portion  of  the  county  presents  the  usual 
characters  of  the  drift  regions  so  often  pie- 
viously  described.  The  high,  level  table-lands 
which  occupy  the  main  water-sheds  have  a  sandy 
loam  soil  and  red-loam  subsoil  resting  upon  sand 
and  pebbles,  and  these  in  turn  overlie  the  lami- 
nated clays  and  other  beds  of  the  lignitic  group. 
Sometimes  the  surface  is  made  up  of  deep  beds  of 
sand,  as  is  the  case  near  Gaston.  The  growth  upon 
these  sandy  tracts  consists  mostly  of  long-leaf  pine 
and  blackjack  oak.  Beds  of  lignite  are  exposed 
in  many  places  thi'oughout  this  section,  and  one 
of  these,  in  a  cut  along  the  Alabama  Great  South- 
ern Railroad,  has  been  on  fire  for  many  years.  As 
yet  this  lignite  has  not  been  profitably  used  as  a 
fuel. 

The  agricultural  relations  of  Sumter  County  are 
similar  to  the  adjoining  counties  of  Mississippi 
and  Alabama,  which  are  situated  in  the  same  belt, 
which  is  pre-eminently  the  cotton  belt  of  the  State. 
While  the  soils  of  this  belt  are,  perhaps,  in  the 
elements  of  plant-food  not  much  superior  to  those 


of  other  divisions,  they  are  rendered  more  thrifty 
by  the  usually  large  percentage  of  lime. 

Livingston  is  a  pretty  city,  and  is  the  seat  of  sev- 
eral important  institutions  of  learning.  Gaines- 
ville, Ejjps,  York  and  Cuba  are  the  other  points 
of  interest. 

Transportation  lines  abound  throughout  Sum- 
ter. The  Alabama  Great  Southern  and  the  East 
Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Railroads  both 
traverse  the  county,  and  cross  at  York.  A  rail- 
road is  expected  soon  to  unite  Gainesville  with 
Narkeeta,  Miss.  Both  the  Tombigbee  and  Noxu- 
bee Rivers  are  navigable.  These  several  lines  place 
the  county  in  readiest  communication  with  the 
north,  west,  east  and  extreme  south. 

The  points  of  interest  in  the  county  are  Living- 
ston, the  county  seat,  with  a  jiopulation  of  1,200, 
Gainesville,  Epes,  York,  Cuba,  and  Warsaw.  In 
most  of  these  places  the  tone  of  society  is  excel- 
lent. Edticational  facilities  are  good  throughotit 
the  county. 

At  Livingston  there  is  a  high  school  for  boys 
and  young  men,  with  an  able  corps  of  professors. 
This  school  will  compare  favorably  with  any  insti- 
tiTtion  in  the  State.  There  is  also  a  normal  col- 
lege for  girls.  This  is  a  school  of  great  repute, 
and  conducted  by  educators  of  State  and  National 
reputation. 

Lands  may  be  purchased  at  prices  ranging  from 
83  to  $12  per  acre.  Many  of  these  lands  embrace 
beds  of  marl.  This  fertilizer  is  mined  in  large 
quantities  near  Coatopa,  and  shipped  to  ileridian. 
Miss. 

Sumter  County  embraces  ;5,<140  acres  of  Govern- 
ment land. 


LIVINGSTON, 


LiviNuSTON  was  founded  about  the  year  1833. 
It  is  located  upon  a  beautiful  sandy  plateau,  with 
the  black,  undulating  prairies  on  the  north  and 
east,  and  the  Sucarnatchee  River  on  the  south 
and  west.  Prior  to  its  settlement  by  the  whites 
it  is  said  to  have  been  an  Indian  village  and  a 
favorite  resort  for  the  pastimes  of  the  Red  Men. 
Its  groves  of  green  trees,  overspreading  leagues  of 


white  sand  with  an  occasional  patch  of  grass,  were 
well  calculated  to  lure  the  wild  hunter  to  rest,  the 
youths  in  their  primitive  games  of  ball,  and  the 
dusky  lovers  of  the  forest  wilds.  For  many  years 
prior  to  the  civil  war,  Livingston  was  a  favorite 
place  of  residence  of  the  wealthy  planters  who 
built  handsome  houses  along  its  broad,  shady 
streets,  while  their  slaves  tilled  the  prairie  planta- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


217 


tions  in  the  adjacent  regions.  Thus  the  place 
came  to  be,  even  in  its  earliest  days,  one  of  social 
elegance  and  refinement. 

Upon  the  organization  of  the  county  of  Sumter, 
Livingston  became  the  seat  of  justice,  a  distinc- 
tion which  it  enjoys  to-day.  It  has  a  population 
of  about  1,200.  It  is  located  upon  the  Alabama 
(ireat  Southern  Division  of  the  famous  Queon  & 
Crescent  Line,  which  extends  from  Cincinnati  to 
New  Orleans.  South  of  Livingston  nine  miles, 
at  the  village  of  York,  the  East  Tennessee,  \'ir- 
giiiia  &  Georgia  Hailroad  system  crosses  the  Ala- 
bama Great  Southern;  and  north,  at  Akron,  thirty- 
tivo  miles  distant,  the  Western  Railroad  of  Alabama 
forms  a  junction  with  the  line  upon  which  Liv- 
ingston is  located.  Of  late  years  the  place  has 
become  a  watering  resort  and  an  educational 
center.  While  boring  for  water  with  which  to 
supply  the  town,  a  saline  current  was  reached, 
which,  upon  investigation  and  analysis,  was  found 
to  contain  wonderful  curative  i3roj)erties.  Work 
was  begun  upon  the  well  on  December  13,  1854, 
ami  it  was  not  completed  until  April  1,  18.57.  It 
is  1,im;2  feet  deep,  and  yields  about  five  pints  every 
minute.  The  water  caught  at  the  spout  in  a  clear 
glass  discloses  slight  eirervescent  ipialities,  as  the 
minute  bubbles  rise  to  the  surface  or  cleave  to  the 
sides  of  the  vessel. 

The  water  is  saline  in  taste  and  to  most  persons 
is  slightly  unjjleasant  when  it  is  first  drunk,  but 
becomes  quite  palatable  after  drinking  it  a  few 
times.  Its  temperature  is  08  deg.  Fahr.,  and 
from  this  does  not  vary. 

The  following  is  an  analysis  of  the  water: 

FIXED   INCREDIENTS. 

Silicic  Acid  and  Silicates (Troy  Grs)        1.138 

Bi-Carb.   of  Iron "  0.204 

Hi- Unrb.  of  .Magnesia '•  2..320 

I'.i Curb,   of  Lime "  7.140 

I'crc  hloride  of  Iron '•  0.190 

Chloride  of  iMajrnesium ■'  1.^39 

Chloride  of  C'aUium "  2.983 

Chloride  of  Potassium "  0.325 

Chloride  of  Sodium   "  29ri.435 

Strontiii "  Trace 

Bromide  of  Sodium "  11.980 

312.554 
Persons  resort  to  the  waters  from  every  section 
of  the  f  nion.  especially  sufferers  from  dyspepsia 
and  chronic  affections  of  the  bowels,  and  find  the 
waters  exceedingly  beneficial.  Large  rpiantities 
of  the  water  are  also  shijjped.  The  well  is  upon 
a  corner  of  the  public  square,  which  is  coverul 
throughout    with   a  carpet    of    green  grass  and 


shaded  by  broad-branched  water  oaks.  Within 
easy  distance  of  the  well  are  spacious  hotels  and 
livery  stables. 

There  are  located  in  the  town  two  schools  of  re- 
pute— a  boys'  high  school,  and  the  Alabama  Nor- 
mal Female  College.  They  arc  liberally  patronized 
not  only  by  the  people  of  Alabama,  luit  by  those 
of  the  adjacent  States.  The  town  sustains  two 
banks. 

In  the  surrounding  sections  are  some  of  the 
most  fertile  agricultural  lands  to  be  found  in  the 
famous  Black  Belt.  With  its  social,  religious  and 
educational  advantages,  Livingston  is  the  peer  of 
any  town  of  the  same  size  in  the  South. 


-«-. 


-^ 


REV.  B.  F.  RILEY, D.  D.,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  a  native  Ahibamian.  He  was  born  near 
the  village  of  rineville,  .Monroe  (.'ounty,  July  16, 
1849. 

Keared  in  a  country  home  far  in  the  interior, 
his  early  scholastic  advantages  were  meagre.  His 
early  years  were  chiefly  spent  laboring  on  his 
father's  farm,  with  occasional  alternations  of  at- 
tendance at  a  country  school.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  asked  permission  of  his  father  to  leave 
home,  in  order  that  he  might  secure  an  education. 
Going  to  Starlington,  Butler  County,  he  taught  a 
primary  school,  where  he  made  his  first  money. 
In  his  nineteenth  year  he  went  to  Erskine  Col- 
lege, S.  C,  and  begged  that  he  be  taken  on  trial 
in  the  sophomore  class.  Ilis  training  had  been 
so  defective  that  he  found  it  difficult  to  retain  his 
place  in  the  class,  but,  overcoming  all  barriers,  he 
pushed  through  and  graduated  in  18T1. 

His  original  purpose  was  to  prepare  for  the  bar, 
but  this  idea  he  abandoned  and  chose  the  ministry 
instead. 

After  the  completion  of  his  course  at  Erskine, 
he  ei^ered  the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Semi- 
nary, then  at  Greenville,  S.  C,  but  his  health  had 
been  so  impaired  by  the  taxation  of  his  strength 
in  his  literary  course,  that  he  had  to  give  up  the 
prosecution  of  his  theological  studies.  Returning 
to  Alabama,  he  engaged  in  manual  labor,  in  order 
to  recuperate  his  strength  for  the  further  pursuit 
of  his  divinity  coilrse. 

After  the  lapse  of  a  year  or  more  he  entered  the 
Crozer  Theological  Seminary,  near  Philadel]ihia, 
and  returned  to  Alabama  in  18T6. 

He  has  served  as  jmstor  of  the  Baptist  Churches 


218 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


at  Snow  Hill  and  Opelika,  Ala.,  and  Albany,  Ga. 
At  present  he  is  pastor  at  Livingston,  Ala.  In 
1885  he  was  honored  with  the  title  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  by  the  State  University. 

Dr.  Riley's  tastes  are  decidedly  literary.  He 
has  accumulated  an  excellent  library,  and  is  a 
regular  contributor  to  some  of  the  leading  jour- 
nals of  the  country. 

He  has  written  two  small  works — one  a  local 
history,  the  History  of  Conecuh  County,  Ala., 
and  the  Immigrants'  and  Capitalists'  Guide-Book 
to  Alabama.  The  latter  work  was  purchased  by 
the  State  for  gratuitous  distribution,  and  is  used 
in  the  interest  of  immigration. 

Dr.  Riley  has  other  works  in  course  of  prepara- 
tion, which  will  be  issued  as  early  as  the  exactions 
of  his  pastoral  work  will  allow. 


REV.   JEREMIAH  M.    BOLAND,  A.  M.,   is   a 

minister  of  the  Metliodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  He  is  a  son  of  David  and  Mary  (Jones) 
Boland,  natives  of  South  Carolina,  and  of  German 
and  English  descent,  respectively. 

Mr.  Boland's  grandfather  came  from  Germany 
to  South  Carolina  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War, 
and  participated  in  that  struggle  for  liberty.  His 
father,  David  Boland,  came  to  Georgia  in  1837, 
and  was  a  successful  farmer  in  Muscogee  County. 
He  reared  a  family  of  four  daughters  and  six 
sons  to  maturity.  Three  of  his  sons  became  min- 
isters in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
Rev.  Elijah  Boland  was  for  years  a  member  of  the 
Georgia  Conference,  and  died  at  Rome,  Ga.,  in 
1863,  while  acting  as  chaplain  of  a  hospital.  Rev. 
Josiah  A.  Boland  is  now  a  member  of  the  North- 
west Texas  Conference.  His  brother  William  was 
in  the  Mexican  War  under  General  Scott,  and 
James  F.  belonged  to  a  Georgia  Regiment  during 
the  late  civil  war  and  was  killed  at  Gettysburg, 
while  John  Boland,  an  uncle,  was  a  captain  in  the 
famous  Seminole  War  in  Florida. 

Rev.  Jeremiah  M.  Boland  was  born  July  12, 
1835,  and  was  brought  up  at  Columbus,  Ga.  He 
came  to  Alabama  while  in  his  "teens,"  and  was 
educated  at  Summerfield  in  th«  male  department 
of  Centenary  College.  He  received  the  degree  of 
A.  M.  from  Hiwassee  College,  in  Tennesee. 

In  1859,  he  joined  the  Alabama  Conference. 
The  first  ten  years  of  his  itinerant  life  were  spent 


in  South  Alabama  ;  the  next  decade  were  spent  in 
Xortli  Alabama,  during  which  time  he  was  Pre- 
siding Elder  on  the  Huntsville  District,  and 
station  ^jreacher  at  Talladega  and  Tuscaloosa  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  in  1874 
and  1878,  from  the  North  Alabama  Conference. 
During  his  stay  in  North  Alabama,  he  made  a 
deeji  imj^ression  as  an  able  preacher,  a  strong 
writer,  and  a  fine  organizer.  He  was  in  the  Bish- 
op's cabinet  which  organized  the  North  Alabama 
Conference  in  1870,  and  stood  the  peer  of  any 
man  in  it. 

He  was  also  one  of  the  leading  actors  in 
establishing  the  ''Alabama  Christian  Advocate," 
the  official  organ  of  the  two  Alabama  Con- 
ferences. 

Mr.  Boland  returned  to  South  Alabama  at  the 
close  of  1878,  and  has  served  as  presiding  elder  of 
the  Pensacola,  the  Union  Springs  and  the  Selma 
Districts.  He  now  has  charge  of  Livingston  and 
Eutaw  Stations — his  home  being  at  Livingston. 

For  years  Mr.  Boland  has  been  a  regular  cor- 
respondent of  several  leading  periodicals  of  his 
church,  and  his  articles  have  been  copied  in  other 
periodicals,  and  read  by  a  large  number  of  admir- 
ing readers.  Some  of  his  articles  have  been  copied 
into  European  periodicals.  In  addition  to  several 
good  sized  pamphlets,  he  is  the  author  of  a  12  mo. 
volume  of  331  jiages,  bearing  the  title,  "Tlie  Prob- 
lem of  Methodism,"  which  has  just  been  pub- 
lished by  the  "  Southern  Methodist  Publishing 
House,"  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  of  which  the 
Book  Editor,  Rev.  W.  P.  Harrison,  D.  D.,  speaks 
in  very  complimentary  terms. 

The  "Irish  Correspondent"'  of  the  Nashville 
Advocate  says: 

"Mr.  Boland  is  a  fine  and  vigorous  writer.  He 
thinks.  He  is  possessed  of  strong  mental  grasp 
and  wide  intellectual  girth.  He  writes  like  a 
Christian  philosopher,  or  rather  like  an  able 
metaphysician,  who  is  faithful  to  the  Cross.  I 
always  read  his  articles  with  more  than  ordinary 
interest,  and  shall  always  be  right  glad  to  meet 
him  with  pen  in  hand  in  any  walk  of  literature  in 
which  he  may  jjlease  to  travel." 

Mr.  Boland  has  been  married  twice.  He  was 
married,  in  1860,  to  Miss  Sallie  E.  Pennington, 
and  by  her  he  had  four  daughters  and  one  son. 
After  her  death,  in  January,  1881,  he  was  married 
in  May,  18»2,  to  Miss  Hattie  .John,  daughter  of 
Chancellor  John,  of  Selma,  Ala. 
Mr.  Boland  is  a  Royal  Arch-Maspn. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


219 


JEREMIAH  H.  BROWN,  son  of  an  English 
fatluT  !ind  Knglisli  niotlier,  was  born  in  Darling- 
ton District,  S.  C,  in  1800.  ITis  father,  Samuel 
Brown,  was  a  minister  of  the  Baptist  t'liurch,  and 
a  man  of  great  wealth. 

J.  II.  Brown  graduated  at  .South  Carolina  Col- 
lege in  \%i'.\  with  the  highest  honors,  and  soon 
after  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  but 
never  jiracticed  the  profession  because  it  had  no 
attractions  for  him,  and  the  management  of  his 
interests  on  his  plantations  occupied  his  entire 
time.  At  the  time  of  his  graduation  he  found 
himself  ready  to  start  in  life  with  more  than  sixty 
field  hands  aiul  a  very  large  tract  of  land. 

lie  was  married  in  1834  to  Miss  Julia,  daughter 
of  Hobert  1  lines,  and  in  the  following  year  came 
to  Alabama,  brought  his  slaves  with  him,  and 
settle-,1  near  Sumterville.  In  his  treatment  of 
his  slaves,  he  is  said  to  have  been  very  kind  and 
indulgent.  He  gave  them  every  Saturday  the 
entire  day  for  their  own,  and  fiirnished  them  with 
good  churches  and  white  preachers  on  Sunday, 
and  saw  that  they  had  a  reasonable  amount  of 
instruction  and  religious  training.  His  business 
increased  until  he  found  himself  the  master  of 
more  tiian  a  thousand  slaves,  and  a  jilantation  of 
more  than  eight  thousand  acres  of  land  in  the 
most  fertile  portion  of  Alabama.  He  was  a  Bap- 
tist, and  more  devoted  to  his  Church  than  people 
ordinarily  are,  and  his  enormous  wealth  gave  him 
opportunity  for  doing  a  great  deal  of  good.  For 
many  years  he  donated  $1.5,000  every  year  to  the 
missionary  cause.  He  furnished  the  means  to 
educate  forty  young  men  in  Howard  College  for 
the  ministry  in  his  Church.  In  185.")  he  endowed 
the  Brown  Theological  Chair  in  Howard  College 
with  ?i5"),o0{i:  and  his  treatment  of  the  poor  of 
his  neighborhood  was  in  a  similar  degree  of  benefi- 
cence. In  the  Baptist  Encyclopa'dia  of  1881,  he 
is  called  "a  princely  planter,  an  intelligent  and 
cultivated  gentleman  of  vast  intluenee,  and  liberal 
with  his  money." 

Probably  no  man  in  Alabama  ever  did  so  much 
good  with  money  as  he.  During  the  war  he 
furnished  the  means  to  equip  and  provide  for, 
])erhaps,  more  than  a  regiment  of  soldiers,  and 
after  the  emancipation,  so  great  was  the  affec- 
tion of  his  slaves,  that  many  of  them  declared 
that  they  iiad  no  desire  for  freedom,  but  pre- 
ferred to  remain  in  his  service. 

Mr.  Brown  died  at  the  house  of  his  daugliter, 
Mrs.  H.    S.  Lide,    February  10,    1868.     He  left 


two  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  of  whom  are  now 
living.  Laura,  the  elder  child,  was  married  in 
1853,  to  Col.  H.  S.  Lide.  a  successful  farnie 
and  aide-de-camp  to  Governor  Shorter  during 
the  war,  but  he  resigned  that  position  and  took 
one  of  more  active  service  in  the  army.  He 
died  in  18T9.  His  widow  was  married  October 
.5,  1880,  to  Dr.  James  (J.  Forster,  of  Livings- 
ton, where  they  now  reside.  She  had  five  chil- 
dren by  the  first  marriage,  of  whom  three  are 
sons  and  two  are  daughters.  Mrs.  Forster  is  a 
stanch  Baptist. 

Dr.  Forster  was  born  in  Clarke  County.  Ala., 
in  18',;ii.  He  merchandised  in  his  younger  days, 
studied  medicine  and  graduated  at  the  L'niver- 
sity  of  Louisiana  at  New  Orleans  in  1856,  and 
has  practiced  medicine  ever  since.  The  Doctor 
was  married  in  1S47  to  Miss  Eliza  M.  Gilmore, 
and  had  five  children  by  that  marriage,  two  sons 
and  three  daughters,  one  of  whom  is  dead.  One 
of  the  three  daughters  is  married  to  Samuel  Ruffin, 
Jr. ;  one  son,  W.  C.  Forster,  is  practicing  med- 
icine in  Birmingham,  and  James  M.,  the  young- 
est, is  with  a  commercial  house  in  Meridian.  Dr 
Forster  is  a  ^lethodist,  and  a  Mason. 

•«^?g^'<"    ■ 

WILLIAM  R.  DeLOACH,  Judge  of  the  Pro- 
bate Court  of  Sumter  County,  was  born  at  the 
town  where  he  now  resides,  in  the  year  184"^. 

His  father  was  the  late  Dr.  A.  B.  DeLoach,  a 
luitive  of  Tennessee,  and  his  mother  was,  before 
marriage,  a  Jfiss  Roby,  of  the  State  of  Georgia. 

William  K.  DeLoach  finished  his  educational 
training  at  Professor  Tutwiler's  excellent  institu- 
tion at  Greene  Springs,  Ala.,  and  at  the  out- 
break of  the  late  war  promptly  enlisted  as  a  pri- 
vate soldier  in  the  Southern  Army.  As  a  member 
of  the  Army  of  Virginia,  he  participated  in  many 
hotly  contested  engagements,  and  upon  his  person 
bears  several  scars  in  commemoration  of  Cold  Har- 
bor, Chancellorsville,  Antietani,  etc. 

Late  in  the  war  he  was  transferred  to  the  West- 
ern Army,  and  became  a  captain  in  Gen.  Forrest's 
cavalry.  At  the  close  of  hostilities,  he  returned 
to  his  native  place,  and  was  some  time  afterward 
elected  to  the  office  of  Ta.x  Assessor,  a  position  he 
lield  for  ten  consecutive  years.  In  1880  he  was 
elected  to  the  Probate  Judgeship,  and  re-elected  in 
1886. 

Judge    DeLoach  is  a  num    of  high  standing  in 


220 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


tlie  community  where  his  life  has  been  spent.  He 
is  a  modest,  unostentatious,  wide-awake,  progress- 
ive citizen  ;  enjoying  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  the  good  people  among  whom  he  resides.  Such 
is  the  tribute  paid  him  by  one  of  the  best-known 
citizens  of  Alabama.  In  1867,  our  subject  was 
married  to  Susan  T.  Gibbs,  a  daughter  of  the  late 
Charles  R.  Gibbs,  a  colonel  in  the  War  of  1812. 


REUBEN  CHAPMAN,  Attorney-at-law,  son 
of  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  C'hapmau,  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, was  born  in  Madison  County,  this  State, 
May  25,  1833.  The  senior  Chapman  was  born  in 
in  1791;  removed  from  Virginia  to  Tennessee  in 
his  early  manhood,  there  became  State's  Attorney 
General;  and,  in  1818,  came  to  Alabama,  settling 
in  Madison  County.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first 
Legislature  that  assembled  after  the  admission  of 
this  State  into  the  Union,  and,  as  he  lived  till  1803, 
he  was  many  years  the  sole  survivor  of  that  body. 
He  was  thirty  years  a  Judge  of  nisi  prius  Courts, 
twelve  of  the  county  and  eighteen  of  the  circuit- 
He  removed  to  Livingston  in  1834,  and  called 
that  place  home  thereafter,  though  his  last  days 
were  spent  at  the  residence  of  his  son-in  law, 
Gen.  E.  W.  Pettus,  at  Cahaba.  He  died  October 
11,  1863,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two  years.  His 
younger  brother,  Reuben  Chapman,  is  known  in 
the  history  of  our  country  as  Governor  of  Alabama 
and  member  of  the  United  States  Congress.  [See 
Gov.  Reuben  Chapman,  this  volume.] 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  a  thorough 
educational  training  at  some  of  the  best  institu- 
tions in  the  countr}',  and  studied  law  under 
Colonel  Wetmore,  at  Livingston.  He  was  licensed 
to  practice  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  January,  1856, 
and  the  year  following  hung  out  his  shingle  at  the 
thriving  little  village  of  Carrollton.  He  was 
expounding  the  intricacies  of  Blackstone,  Chitty, 
and  Coke  upon  Littleton,  at  this  suburban  retreat, 
when  the  tocsin  of  war  summoned  him  to  the 
defense  of  his  State.  During  1861  and  a  part  of 
1862,  he  was  attached  to  the  Army  of  Virginia  as 
a  cajitain  in  the  Eleventh  Alabama  Infantry.  His 
health  compelling  his  resignation,  lie  returned 
home,  where  he  speedily  recujierated  sufficiently  to 
re  enter  the  service,  which  he  did  as  a  member  of 
Bradford's  Battalion  of  Scouts.  He  remained  with 
this  command  until  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he 
returned  to  Livingston  and  resumed  the  practice 


of  law.  I'o  his  profession  he  has  assiduously 
devoted  his  time  and  his  talents.  Always  inter- 
ested and  active  in  the  political  advancement  of 
friends,  he  has  sought  no  preferment  in  that  line 
for  himself. 

In  March.  Is61,  at  Livingston,  Mr.  Chapman 
was  married  to  Miss  Rebecca  S.  Arrington,  daugh- 
ter of  Robert  Arrington,  who  came  from  Xorth 
Carolina  in  the  early  history  of  the  State,  and 
was  a  member  of  that  numerous  and  honorable 
family  so  well  known  throughout  the  South. 

Mrs.  Chapman  died  March  1,  1866,  leaving  two 
children — a  daughter,  Alta,  at  present  a  popular 
teacher  in  Livingston  Normal  College,  and 
Robert  A.,  now  a  business  man  at  Sheffield. 

Captain  Chapman's  second  wife  was  Miss  Mary 
C.  Scruggs,  also  of  Livingston.  They  were  mar- 
ried July  27,  1870,  and  their  children  are  Lillie 
Beck,  Reuben,  Anna  and  Lulu. 


h4>> 


REV.  W.  T.  ALLEN,  Rector  in  charge  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  was  born  iu  Shenandoah  Valley, 
Clarke  County,  Va.,  on  December  15,  1855.  He 
remained  there,  living  on  his  father's  farm,  and 
attending  the  neighborhood  schools  until  he  was' 
nineteen  years  of  age.  In  187-t,  he  taught  school 
in  West  Mrginia,  and  in  1876  went  to  the  Theolog- 
ical Seminary  of  Virginia,  where  he  remained  two 
years.  While  there  his  health  was  shattered  by 
typhoid  fever,  which  nearly  proved  fatal.  Being 
called  to  teach  in  the  Church  School  in  Seguin, 
Tex.,  his  health  being  impaired,  he  accepted  and 
taught  till  1879,  studying  theology  meanwhile, 
under  the  principal.  Rev.  Wallace  Carnahan. 

In  1879  he  was  ordained  deacon  by  the  late 
Bishop  Elliott,  at  San  Antonio,  Tex.,  and  placed 
in  charge  of  Boerne,  Tex.,  and  points  adjacent. 
Having  built  a  neat  church  in  this  place,  in  1881, 
he  went  to  the  University  of  the  South,  Sewanee, 
Tenn.,  and  remained  two  years.  In  1883,  he  took 
charge  of  San  Marcos,  Tex.,  and  other  points. 
AVhile  here  he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood  by 
the  late  Bishop  Elliott.  In  December,  1884,  being 
called  to  Eufaula  and  Livingston,  Ala.,  he  ac- 
cepted the  latter,  Avhere  he  has  remained  uj:)  to 
date,  having  Boligee  and  Gainesville,  also,  under  his 
charge.  He  was  married  in  December,  1885,  to  the 
widow  of  the  late  Dr.  Pettey  and  daughter  of  the 
late  Jesse  Weissinger,  of  Dallas  County,  Ala. 

The    great-grandfather    of    our   subject.    Col. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


221 


Thomas  Allen,  came  from  Comity  Armagh,  Ire- 
hiiul,  aiul  settled  in  Shenandoah  Valley,  Va.,  in 
1732.  He  commanded  a  regiment  in  the  War  of 
the  Kevolution,  and  was  presented  with  a  sword  by 
tlie  .State  for  distinguished  services.  'J"he  grand- 
fatiier  of  our  subject,  D,  II.  Allen,  on  of  Col. 
Thomas  Allen,  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  C^ol- 
lege.  studied  and  practiced  law  for  a  time,  but 
retired  early  to  his  estates,  spending  his  time  in 
making  the  family  residence,  Clifton,  one  of  the 
handsomest  in  the  State.  His  eldest  sister  married 
(ieneral  llussell,  of  the  Kevolution,  one  of  whose 
daughters  married  a  son  of  Henry  Clay.  I).  H. 
Allen  married  a  daughter  of  Col.  (Jriftin  Taylor, 
whose  wife  was  descended  from  Laird  McKinnon 
and  Lady  Anne  Maitland,  of  Scotland.  The 
father  of  our  subject,  also  named  W.  T.  Allen, 
graduated  at  Princeton  in  183'.).  In  1841  he  went 
to  the  Pacific  as  Secretary  to  the  Commodore  of 
the  PaciQc  Squadron.  In  18-10  he  married  iliss  E. 
Bayly,  of  Fauquier  County,  \'a.,  and  settled  on  a 
farm,  relieving  the  monotony  of  it  by  literary  and 
scientific  pursuits.  One  of  these  was  the  study  of 
ornithology.  He  made  life-size  portraits  of  150 
species  of  Virginia  birds,  which,  being  submitted 
to  the  late  Professor  liaird,  of  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tute htad  of  the  science  in  this  country — were 
pronounced  by  him  to  be  ''very  si)irited  drawings 
and  accurate  likenesses.''  He  then  took  up  botany, 
and  is  now  engaged  on  an  •'  Illustrated  Flora  of 
tiie  Shenandoah  Valley,"  for  which  he  has  collect- 
ed, classitied  and  made  paintings  of  7Hi  species. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  is  descended  from 
General  Payne,  on  the  one  side,  and  Thomas 
Greene,  brother  of  Generals  Moses  and  Duff 
Greene,  of  the  Ilevolution.  Our  subject's  sister, 
Emma  Allen,  married  Bushrod  Charles  Washing- 
ton, grandson  of  Charles  \\'ashington,  brother  of 
George  Washington. 

JAMES  W.  ABERT  WRIGHT,  President  of  the 
Ala!)ama  Xormal  College  for  Girls,  and  co- 
principal  of  Livingston  Feni.ale  Academy,  was 
born  at  Columbus,  Miss.,  July  28,  1834.  His 
father,  the  IJev.  David  Wriglit,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  (;ame  to  the  South  from  Massachusetts  in 
1820,  as  a  missionary  to  the  Choctaw  Indians  in 
Jlississijipi.  and,  in  connection  with  Revs.  Kings- 
bury and  IJyington,  established  headquarters  at 
a  place  called  Mayhew,  near  Starkville.  the  pres- 


ent site  of  the  Agricultural  College  of  that  State. 
He  was  distinguished  as  a  scholar  and  educator, 
and  devoted  to  missionary  work.  His  grammar 
of  the  Choctaw  language,  prepared  during  that 
period  for  u.se  in  the  mission  schools,  is  the  recog- 
nized authority  to  this  day.  FraTiklin  Academy, 
Columbus,  Miss.,  one  of  the  first  public  schools 
of  the  South,  was  organized  by  him  ;  and  his 
only  surviving  daughter,  Mrs.  Laura  E.  Eagar, 
presides  over  the  female  department  at  this  writ- 
ing (March,  18SS). 

Kev.  David  Wright  was  many  years  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  at  Columbus,  and  there 
died  in  1S40,  leaving  behind  him  a  record  that 
will  endure  so  long  as  Christian  people  shall  live. 

His  mother,  nee  Eliza  Abert,  was  a  native  of 
Virginia,  her  father,  Jolin  Abert,  born  in  Mar- 
seilles, France,  having  come  with  the  French 
army,  under  La  Fayette  and  Count  Rochambeau, 
in  1T81,  to  aid  in  our  War  for  Independence.  Mrs. 
Wright  was  a  sister  of  Col.  John  J.  Abert,  of 
AVashington  City,  who  was  for  many  years  at  the 
head  of  the  Topographical  Engineers  of  the  United 
States  Army  ;  also,  of  Col.  Charles  II.  Abert,  of 
the  Confederate  Army,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Col- 
umbus, iliss. 

Major  .Tames  W.  A.  Wright  became  associate 
Principal  of  Alabama  Normal  College  for  Girls,  in 
September,  188G,  and  in  December  following  was 
elected  to  the  position  he  now  fills  with  distin- 
guished ability  in  the  consolidated  institutions. 

He  began  teaching  as  an  assistant  to  Professor 
Henry  Tutwiler,  at  Greene  Springs,  in  18.54,  and 
at  the  end  of  one  year  entered  Princeton  College, 
New  Jersey,  and  graduated  therefrom  in  1857, 
as  valedictorian  of  his  class. 

Returning  to  Greene  Springs,  he  associated  him- 
self with  Professor  Tutwiler  and  devoted  his  time 
thereafter,  for  several  years,  to  teaching  in  that 
popular  institution. 

In  May,  18fJ2,  Professor  Wright  raised  a  com- 
pany of  infantry  (Company  H),and  with  it  joined 
the  Thirty-sixth  Alabama  Regiment.  Through 
tiie  many  terrible  engagements  in  which  this  regi- 
ment participated,  Cajitain  Wright  led  this  com- 
panv,  and  during  the  last  year  of  service,  frequent- 
ly commanded  his  regiment.  He  left  the  service 
at  the  final  surrender  with  the  rank  of  major. 

Company  H,  tiiat  mustered  15ii  men  at  the 
out-set.  answered  the  last  roll  call  at  Jleridian, 
Miss.,  with  si.x  names.  The  rest  were  mustered 
into  the  miirhtv  armv  of  the  dead,   had  been  dis- 


222 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


charged  for  physical  disability,  or  languished  yet 
in  Northern  prisons.  They  had  fought  at  Chicka- 
mauga.  Lookout  Mountain,  Missionary  Ridge, 
Dalton,  Peach  Tree  Creek,  Atlanta  and  through 
all  of  Hood's  campaigns  up  to  April  li,  18(i5, 
at  Spanish  Fort,  in  the  final  defense  of  Mo- 
bile. 

At  Missionary  Ridge,  Captain  Wright  was 
severely  wounded,  and  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  As  prisoner  of  war,  he  was  taken  first  to 
Nashville,  and  from  there  to  Camp  Chase,  Colum- 
bus, Ohio.  While  in  transit  from  Camp  Chase, 
destined  to  Fort  Delaware,  he  Jumped  from  the 
train  and  made  his  escape,  reaching  home  finally 
by  way  of  Philadelphia,  Kew  York,  Canada,  the 
Bermuda  Islands,  and  Wilmington,  N.   C. 

For  three  years  after  the  war,  he  was  Associate 
Princijial  with  Professor  Tutwiler  at  Greene 
Springs. 

In  August,  1S59,  Prof.  Wright  married  Miss 
Margaret,  the  accomplished  daughter  and  eldest 
child  of  Professor  Tutwiler,  at  Greene  Springs.  Of 
the  seven  children  born  to  them,  three  are  living: 
Ruffin  A.,  teacher  at  Livingston  Academy, 
while  Julius  T.  and  Henry  T.,  are  students 
thereat.  Three  died  in  infancy.  Their  only 
daughter,  Willie,  a  brilliant  and  accomplished 
young  lady,  graduate  of  the  Normal  College,  Liv- 
ingston, died  in  August,  1883,  at  Greene  Sfirings. 
Professor  Wright  belongs  to  the  Masonic  fratern- 
ity, and  is  prominently  identified  with  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  having  been  ordained  as  elder  in 
1867,  in  Concord  Chuich,  Hale  County. 

In  18G8,  he  removed  to  California,  and  there 
for  fifteen  years  followed  farming  and  insurance 
business,  diversifying  his  labors  in  the  meantime 
with  journalistic  work,  and  in  the  advancement  of 
the  interest  of  the  State  Grange,  of  which  organi- 
zation he  was  the  first  Master,  and  afterward  lec- 
turer. 

In  1883,  he  returned  to  Alabama,  and  again  be- 
came co-principal  in  Greene  Spring  School  with 
Professor  Tutwiler,  in  which  position  he  remained 
until  the  death  of  the  latter. 

In  his  life-studies  and  life-work,  Prof.  Wright 
has  been  especially  devoted  to  the  Physical  Sci- 
ences. 


DEVEREUX  HOPKINS,  Register  in  Chancery, 
is  by  birth  a  North  Carolinian.     In    1S35,  at    the 


age  of  twenty-two,  he  came  into  Greene  County, 
and  began  farming.  He  was  educated  at  Raleigh, 
N.  C,  and  there  began  the  battle  of  life  as  a 
clerk.  His  father,  Wm.  W.  Hopkins,  was  many 
years  a  merchant  at  Smithfield,  that  State,  and 
there  died  when  our  subject  was  only  five  months 
old.  The  maiden  name  of  his  mother  was  Sarah 
Boone,  daughter  of  Joseph  Boone,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, a  relative  of  the  famous  Daniel  Boone,  of 
Kentucky. 

Ten  years  after  her  husband's  death,  Mrs.  Hop- 
kins married  Thomas  Cobbs,  of  Raleigh.  Chan- 
cellor Cobbs,  of  the  Northwest  Chancery  Division, 
this  State,  and  James  Cobbs,  many  years  Circuit 
Judge  of  the  Mobile  District,  are  half-brothers  of 
Mr.  D.  Hopkins. 

In  1836,  D.  Hopkins  removed  from  Greene 
County  to  Mobile,  and  there  embarked  in  the 
commission  business  with  Hiiiton  &  Horton. 

In  1838,  he  married  Miss  Elizabeth  W.  Ryan, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Ryan,  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  and  the  same  year  returned  to  Central 
Alabama,  and  settled  in  Sumter  County,  where 
he  resumed  cotton  jilanting  upon  a  pretty  exten- 
sive scale. 

In  1846  he  held  his  first  public  otlice,  that  of 
sheriff;  in  1851  he  was  a  member  of  the  lower 
house  of  the  Legislature,  as  a  Whig;  and  in  1868 
removed  to  California,  residing  some  years  at 
Stockton,  serving  the  people  jiart  of  the  time  as 
justice  of  the  peace  and  police  judge.  In  1880 
he  returned  to  this  State,  and  was  soon  after- 
ward appointed  Register  in  Chancery. 

Mrs.  Hopkins  died  March  2,  1884.  Of  the  ten 
children  born  to  them  six  are  now  living.  The 
eldest  son,  AVm.  W.,  was  a  member  of  Hampton's 
brigade  during  the  late  war,  and  is  now  employed, 
professionally  as  an  expert  accountant.  A  daugh- 
ter, Sarah  E.,  was  the  wife  of  the  brave  Capt. 
Abner  L.  Gaines,  who  lost  his  life  at  Shiloh.  Mrs. 
Abner  L.  Gaines  subsequently  married  Captain 
Lake,  also  an  old  soldier,  now  of  Mobile.  Another 
daughter,  Miss  Kate  Hopkins,  is  now  the  efficient 
postmistress  at  Livingston.  Anna  married  Dr. 
Wm.  M.  Br3'ant,  of  Clarke  County;  Florence  is 
now  Mrs.  Addison  G.  Smith,  of  Livingston.  Ala., 
and  Miss  Julia,  the  youngest,  has  not  left  the 
paternal  roof. 

Mr.  Hopkins  is  now  in  his  seventy-fifth  year. 
It  is  more  than  a  half  century  since  he  first  came 
into  Alabama.  Here  he  has  lived  past  the  average 
years  of  man,  and  here  will  his  presence  be  more 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


223 


missed  and  mourned  than  average  men  when,  in 
the  fulness  of  tlie  Maker's  own  good  time,  he  shall 
be  gathered  unto  his  fathers. 


THOMAS  MORRISON  TARTT  was  born  in 
North  Carolina  Ai>ril  1,  liS^il.  He  was  adopted 
by  an  uncle,  whose  name  was  the  same  as  his  own, 
and  was  reared  by  liim  from  tlie  age  of  ten.  He 
received  his  education  at  Philadelphia  and  Colum- 
bus, Ohio.  While  still  quite  young,  his  uncle 
placed  him  in  charge  of  a  farm,  near  Gainesville, 
Ala.,  but  he  had  no  taste  for  farming,  and  soon 
entered  a  commission  house  at  Jlobile — Tartt, 
Stewart  &  Co., — of  which  his  uncle  was  the  head. 
Here  he  developed  the  remarkable  traits  of  his 
character  which  afterward  made  him  so  succes.s- 
ful  as  a  merchant.     In   1806   he  was  married   to 


Annie  Maria  Jones,  near  Sumterville,  and  they, 
in  1867,  moved  to  Livingston,  where  Mr.  Tartt 
went  into  business  as  a  merchant,  and  continued 
it  until  his  death.  Asa  business  man,  Jfr.  Tartt's 
life  was  particularly  worthy  of  attention. 

He  sailed  through  the  hard  times  of  18 1 3. 
The  commercial  crash  carried  down  hundreds  of 
the  leading  merchants  of  that  country,  but  he 
was  one  of  the  few  who  came  out  unhurt.  lie 
succeeded  in  accumulating  a  fortune,  where 
others  could  secure  but  a  competency,  and  was 
one  of  the  men  who  could  successfully  compete 
with  the  "Sheeney"  system  of  advancing,  now 
in  vogue  in  that  country. 

Mr.  Tartt  was  a  public-spirited,  philanthropic 
citizen,  and  as  such  was  highly  esteemed  by  the 
commuity  in  which  he  lived,  lie  died  in  Living- 
ston in  188.5.  His  wife  was  reared  by  an  uncle, 
the  liev.  D.  P.  Bestor,  a  Baptist  minister  of  this 
State,  who  wa,^  quite  prominent  in  his  day. 


XVII. 
WILCOX    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  6,911;  colored,  -25,000. 
Area,  060  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Oak  and 
hickory  uplands  with  long-leaf  pine,  600:  central 
prairie  and  flatwood,  .160  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  77,000,  in 
corn,  40,0.5:5:  in  oats,  7.011:  in  sugar-cane,  'IhX; 
in  rice,  14;  in  tobacco,  15;  in  sweet  potatoes,  1,597. 

Appro.ximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  28, "201. 

County  Seat — Camden;  population,  1.500:  near 
Alabama    Itiver,    40  miles   southwest   of   Selma. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Home 
Ruhr  and   Wilcox  Progress  (both   Democratic). 

Postoftices  in  the  County — Allenton,  A  win, 
Uethel,  Black's  Bluff,  Boiling  Springs,  Caledonia, 
('(inirloi,  Canton  Bend,  Clifton,  Dumas'  Store, 
Fatama,  Furman.  (Jeesbend,  Lower  Peach  Tree, 
Pine  Apple,  Pine  Hill,  Prairie  Bluff,  Rehoboth, 
Bosebud,  Kowell,  Sedan,  Snow  Hill,  Yellow 
Bluff. 


This  county  derives  its  name  from  Lieut.  Joseph 
M.  Wilcox.  It  was  created  as  early  as  1819,  and 
has  steadily  maintained  a  reputation  as  one  of  the 
leading  agricultural  counties  of  the  State.  It  is 
highly  favored  both  with  respect  to  the  character 
of  its  lands  and  the  abundant  supplies  of  water. 
Most  of  its  lands,  and  especially  its  most  tillable 
soils,  lie  well  for  cultivation. 

The  timbers  of  the  county  are  long  and  short- 
leaf  pine,  the  different  varieties  of  oak,  hickory, 
ash,  elm,  poplar,  cedar,  mulberry,  beech,  magno- 
lia, sycamore  and  walnut.  Some  of  the  most 
splendid  specimens  of  timber  found  in  Southern 
forests  can  be  obtained  in  AVilcox.  Perhaps  no 
county  surpasses  it  in  the  abundance  of  its  cedar 
growth. 

There  is  also  quite  a  quantity  of  excellent 
cypress  timber.  When  this  is  removed  and 
the   land    upon    which    it    grows    is    thoroughly 


234 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


drained,  it  has  been  found  to  equal  any  other  in 
its  capacity  of  production. 

Lands  may  be  purchased  in  the  county  at  prices 
ranging  from  §2  to  S25,  depending,  of  course, 
upon  the  locality  and  the  fertility. 


So  eager  are  the  people  to  have  thrifty  and  ener- 
getic settlers  locate  in  their  midst,  that  they  are 
willing  to  offer  extraordinary  inducements  in  the 
sale  of  lands  and  homes.  There  are  3,380  acres  of 
Government  land  in  Wilcox  County  still  untaken 


f      C^  /C^<^^e^^t:^i^ii-^£yXC-'€^^2^C00- 


TIMBER   BELT. 


BUTLER    COUNTY. 


l'o|MilatioM:  Whiu'.  lii,'.i-.'(i.  ciilnrt-il.  S.oou. 
Area.  S(MI  sr|iiiii'e  miles.  AVoodlanrl.  all.  Oak 
ami  liickory  uplands.  li-'iO  square  inile.s.  Pine 
ii|)lamls,  4()()  square  miles.  Hill-|iraii-ie  ami  lime- 
liilKs,  oil  square  miles. 

Acres — In  ootton  (approxima''ely),  35,!t00;  in 
corn,  •-24, 048;  in  oats,  7,4".I4;  in  sugar-cane,  -V-iS: 
in  rice,  17:  in  sweet  potatoes,  ()70. 

.Vpproximate  ntiniberof  bales  of  cotton,  12,000. 

County  Seat — (ireenville:  population,  3,ikmi;  on 
.Mobile  &  A[ontgomery  Railroad. 

Xewspai)ers  pul)lislied  at  County  Seat — Advocatv 
(Democratic). 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Rolling,  Butler 
Springs.  Dunham.  Forest  Home,  (farland,  Georgi- 
ana.  (iiasgow,  (IreeiiviUe,  Lamont,  Manningham, 
ifonterey.  Oaky  Streak,  Pigeon  Creek,  Pontus, 
liunville,  Searcy.  Shell.  Sim's  Afill.  Starlington. 
Tohu-i,  Crbanity. 

The  county  of  Hutler  was  established  in  1810. 
It  derived  its  name  from  one  of  the  earliest  set- 
tlers, Captain  William  Hutler. 

There  is  a  great  diversity  of  soil  and  a  corres- 
ponding variety  of  productions  in  the  county.   Its 


climate,  health,  location  and  resources  give  jii-om- 
ise  that  it  will  become  one  of  the  leading  counties 
of  this  great  timber  section. 

In  different  sections  of  Hutler  County  there  are 
s])lendid  forests  of  timber,  comprising  the  several 
varieties  of  oak,  pine,  ash,  gum,  cedar,  poplar, 
hickory,  dogwood,  maple,  beech,  and  magnolia. 
Of  the  yellow,  or  long-leaf,  pine  there  are  vast 
districts,  and  the  timber  is  equal  to  that  of  any 
other  section  or  this  belt. 

In  the  northern  or  prairie  region  of  Hutler  there 
are  belts  of  cedar  growth  as  fine  as  can  be  obtained 
in  the  Union. 

Those  desiring  lands  may  secure  them  in  many 
localities  at  nomimil  figures.  The  present  market 
price  extends  from  $1..")0  to  §10  per  acre.  There 
!  are  in  the  county  13,1  CO  acres  of  public  land  sub- 
ject to  homestead  entry.  In  addition  to  this  there 
are  i,0OO  acres  of  railroad  land,  which  can  be  pur- 
chased at  %\.i.-i  per  acre. 

Pleasant  and  cheap  homes  are  here  afforded 
tiiose  desiring  to  settle.  The  people  are  industri- 
ous, thrifty  and  quiet,  and  immigrants  will  be 
well  received. 


JULIUS  C.  RICHARDSON,  a  prominent  Law-  at  Auburn    College,    Summertield   Institute,  and 

yer,  .son   of  the    ii'ev.  Simon   Peter  and   Mary  E.  the  Southern  University,  at  (ireensboro.  Ala. 
(Arledge)  Richardson,  was  born  on  the  Island  of  From  1^70  to  1872  he  gave  his  time  to  teaching. 

Key  West,  Fla..  April  18,  1851,  and  was  educated  In  the  latter  year  he  entered  the  law  department 


236 


NORTHERK  ALABAMA. 


of  the  Cumberland  University,  at  Lebanon,  Tenn., 
and  graduated  therefrom,  as  Bachelor  of  Laws,  in 
1873,  In  January,  lS?-i,  he  located  at  Greenville, 
where  he  at  once  entered  upon  a  successful 
practice  in  his  chosen  profession,  and  where  he, 
at  this  writing  (1888),  is  recognized  as  standing 
at  the  head  of  the  Butler  County  bar.  His  prac- 
ti-^e  is  general,  and  extends  largely  throughout 
Central  and  Southern  Alabama. 

He  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  in  1886-87, 
where,  as  a  member  of  the  joint  committee  of  the 
House  and  Senate  on  the  revision  of  the  code  of 
Alabama,  he  rendered  much  valuable  service  and 
proved  himself  entirely  familiar  with  the  needs 
and  purposes  of  the  undertaking,  and  was  identi- 
fied with  the  princijDal  legislation  of  the  session. 
Another  writer  very  Justly  describes  him  as  a  man 
of  '■'  quick  and  acute  perception,  possessed  of  a 
mind  thoroughly  trained  and  organized  for  the  law 

which  he  loves  for  its  own  sake He 

is  a  most  brilliant  conversationalist,  an  extensive 
miscellaneous  reader,  an  eloquent  speaker  and 
writer,  and  possessed  of  much  dignity  of  character. " 
In  an  article  devoted  to  the  Senator,  the  JMont- 
gomery  Advertiser  says  of  him  :  "  He  is  a  source 
of  pride  and  pleasure  to  his  friends  throughout 
the  State.  As  a  loublic  man  he  has  always  been 
upright,  honest  and  true,  and  his  ability  to  fill  the  ■. 
honorable  position  to  which  he  has  been  called  by  I 
the  people  of  his  district,  is  unquestioned  and  un- 
questionable." I 

Mr.  Richardson  diversifies  the  duties  of  profes- 
sional life  to  some  extent  by  turning  his  attention 
occasionally  to  fruit  culture,  in  which  he  has  i 
achieved  decided  success.  Within  his  well-culti- 
vated fields  devoted  to  the  jiurpose,  he  produces  | 
some  remarkable  results  in  horticulture  and  venti- 
oulture  :  his  varieties  of  grapes  are  probal.ily  the 
finest  in  the  State. 

A  sort  of  modern  ethics  that  seems  to  prevail  in 
the  treatment  of  popular  living  men  in  publica- 
tions of  this  character  confines  us  at  times  too 
much  to  a  bare  recital  of  well-known  facts,  leav- 
ing no  room  for  the  play  of  imagination  or  the 
display  of  any  pyrotechnics  in  the  eulogy  of  the 
worthiest  of  men.  Thus,  in  the  jDresent  instance, 
the  publishers  find  themselves  reduced  to  the  pres- 
entation of  the  outlines  of  one  of  Alabama's  most 
promising  young  men.  As  a  mark  of  distinction 
and  as  a  means  of  testifying  to  the  high  esteem  in 
which  Julius  C.  Kichardson  is  held,  thejiublishers 
take  pleasure  in  prefacing  this  sketch  with  a  hand- 


some   and   life-like    steel-plate   portrait   of    that 
gentleman. 

Mr,  Richardson  was  married  in  Xovember,  18?!, 
at  Greenville,  to  Miss  Bettie  McCall,  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  D.  T.  McCall,  Esq..  of  that 
place,  and  has  had  born  to  him  two  children  : 
Terry  ^I.  and  Mack. 

•    "^"•6S5J2^"  'x*" — • — 

ZELL  GASTON,  Attorney-at-law,  Greenville,  of 
the  firm  of  Carmichel  &  Gaston,  was  born  in  But- 
ler County,  this  State,  June  31,  18U.'5,  and  is  a 
son  of  Lucius  C.  and  Amanda  J.  Gaston,  natives, 
respectively,  of  the  States  of  Georgia  and  Florida. 

Mr.  Gaston  attended  the  common  schools  of 
his  neighborhood  until  about  sixteen  years  of  age, 
at  which  time  time  he  entered  the  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College  at  Auburn,  where  he 
remained  four  yeai's.  From  the  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  College  he  entered  the  Alabama  Uni- 
versity, and  from' there  graduated  as  Bachelor  of 
Arts,  class  of  1884.  Returning  to  Greenville,  he 
accepted  the  principalship  of  the  public  schools, 
and  taught  therein  for  the  two  succeeding  years. 
He  read  law  in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  J.  C.  Rich- 
ardson, of  this  city,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
February,  1886,  and  entered  at  once  into  a  part- 
nership with  John  C.  Carmichel,  in  the  practice 
of  law. 

Mr.  Gaston  is  now,  and  has  been  for  some  time. 
County  Superintendent  of  Education;  lie  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  Knights  and  Ladies 
of  Honor  and  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Chui-ch. 

He  was  married  January  26,  1887,  to  Miss  Lelia 
Dulin,  daughter  of  Adam  B.  Dulin,  Esq.,  of  this 
2ilace. 

ROBERT  E.  STEINER,  prominent  Attorney- 
at-law,  (rreenville.  was  born  in  Butler  County, 
this  State,  May  9,  1862,  and  is  a  son  of  Joseph 
and  Matilda  M.  (Camja)  Steiner,  of  this  place. 

From  the  age  of  five  years  to  twenty-two,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  almost  continuously  at 
school.  Hegraduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts  from  the  State  University  (Alabama)  when 
sixteen  years  of  age,  and,  two  years  later,  received 
from  the  same  institution  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts.  In  1884  he  graduated  from  the  Law  Depart- 
ment of  Harvard  University  as  a  LL.  B. ;  returned 
at  once  to  Greenville  and,  associated  with  the 
Hon.  John  K.   Henry,  entered  at  once  upon  the 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


227 


practice  of  law.  Judge  lleiiiT  died  in  188(!,  and 
Mr.  Stciner  formed  a  partnership,  as  at  present, 
with  the  Hon.  J.  C.  l}ichard.<on.  In  ]88<!.  lie  was 
elected  to  the  Legislutiire  and  was  made  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Military  Afl'airs,  in  which  he 
performed  mucli  valuable  service.  JLr.  Steiner 
lias  always  taken  much  interest  in  State  Military 
matters,  and  is  at  this  writing  holding  the  com- 
mission of  major  of  the  Second  Keginient  Ala- 
bama Troops. 

lie  is  a  member  of  the  order  of  Knight  of  Phy- 
tliias,  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  of  the  ileth- 
odist  Kjiiscopal  Church,  South.  He  devotes  much 
of  his  time  tocluirch  work,  and  in  1S8T,  as  lay  del- 
gate,  represented  the  Union  Springs  District  in  the 
Alal)ama  Conference.  lie  is  also  a  member  of  the 
board  of  stewards,  and  is  one  of  the  trustees  of 
his  church  at  (ireenville. 

Major  Steiner  was  married  in  December,  1884, 
to  Miss  May  Flowers,  the  handsome  and  accom- 
plished daughter  of  John  .1.  Flowers,  Esq.,  of 
Butler  County. 


-««; 


JESSIE  F.  STALLINGS,  prominent  Attorney- 
at-law,  Greenville,  was  born  in  Butler  County,  this 
State,  April  -4.  1855,  and  is  a  son  of  IJobert  and 
Lucinda  (Ferguson)  Stalliiigs,  of  that  county. 

^Ir.  Stallings'  grandfathers  were  among  the 
early  settlers  of  Butler  County,  having  settled 
there  in  1818. 

Mr.  Stallings'  father  was  a  farmer,  and  his 
sons  were  brought  up  to  that  vocation.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
Universities  of  Kentucky  and  Alabama,  gradua- 
ting from  the  last  named  institution  in  1877.  After 
teaching  school  one  year  he  took  up  the  study  of 
law  with  Mr.  J.  C.  Richardson,  of  Greenville,  as 
his  preceptor.  It  is  proper  to  remark,  however, 
that  he  had  taken  the  law  course  at  the  Alabama 
University.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  ls7!i, 
and  at  once,  in  partnershiji  with  Mr.  L.  \i.  Brooks, 
entered  upon  the  practice.  This  partnership  was 
dissolved  at  the  end  of  two  years,  ami  the  present 
one,  with  Mr.  C.    L.  Wilkerson,  formed. 

.Mr.  Stalling  was  elected  solicitor  for  the  Second, 
or  Montgomery  District  in  May,  l.sS7,  for  the  term 
of  six  years.  He  was  married  in  March.  1S85,  at 
Eufaula,  Ala.,  to  Miss  Ella  McCallister,  the  accom- 
plished  daughter  of  A.   M.   McCallister,  Esq.,  of 


that  city.  Mrs.  Stallings  died,  leaving  one  child, 
and  in  1887,  Mr.  Stallings  was  married  to  Miss 
Bessie  McCallister,  a  sister  of  his  former  wife. 


.■^^ 


JOHN  C.CARMICHEL,  Attorney-at-Law, 
Greenville,  son  of  Duggald  and  Caroline  E.  Car- 
miclu'l,  natives,  respectively,  of  the  States  of 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  was  born  in  Dallas 
County,  this  State,  July  2,  1801. 

The  senior  Mr.  Carmichel  was  a  minister  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  came  into  Ala- 
abama  in  early  life,  devoted  his  time  to  the  minis- 
try until  1867,  and  in  that  year  embarked  in  the 
mercantile  business  in  Dallas  County,  where  he 
died  in  1875. 

John  C.  Carmichel  was  educated,  primarily,  at 
the  common  schools.  In  1882  he  entered  the 
Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  at  Auburn, 
remained  one  year,  and  for  the  ne.xt  succeeding 
twelve  months  turned  his  attention  to  teaching 
in  the  public  schools.  In  1885  he  edited  the  Ala- 
bama Free  Press,  at  Brownsville,  and  while  there 
conceived  the  idea  of  studying  law.  In  the  office  of 
^\'.  .1.  Sanford,  at  Opelika.  he  ])ursued  the  study  of 
law  about  one  year,  and  on  April  15,  188(),  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar.  He  began  the  jii'actice  at 
Greenville  in  October,  1887,  in  partnership  with 
^Ir.  Zell  Gaston.  The  firm  of  Carmichel  &  Gas- 
ton are  among  the  most  reputable  in  Central  Ala- 
bama. 

Mr.  Carmichel  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor,  Knights  of  I'ythias,  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South,  and  is  officially  identified  with 
the  Sabbath  school. 

JAMES  BERNEY  STANLEY,  Editor  of  the 
Greenrillc  Aiirfini/c.  was  born  in  Hayneville, 
Lowndes  County,  Ala..  August  9, 1845,  and  was  the 
fourth  .-^on  of  Robert  II.  and  Emma  Stone  Stanley. 
His  father  was  a  Carolinian  of  English  parentage; 
his  mother  was  a  daughter  of  a  British  officer, 
and  was  born  in  Paris. 

His  first  work  of  w'hich  we  have  any  record,  is 
in  connection  with  the  Soulheni  Messenger,  a 
weekly  paper  printed  at  Greenville,  his  family 
having  already  removed  to  that  place.  He  entered 
the  office  of  this  jiaper  as  an  apprentice  in  185:j, 
and  remained  there  for  two  vears.     He  was  then 


228 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


entered  as  a  cadet  of  the  Glennville  Collegiate 
and  Military  Institution,  but  did  not  remain  tliere 
but  one  session,  when  the  whole  college,  aroused 
by  Southern  patriotism,  entered  the  army  in  de- 
fense of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  The  subject 
of  this  sketch  joined  the  Seventeenth  Alabama, 
and  remained  with  it  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
Although  he  was  in  active  service  all  the  time, 
and  witnessed  some  of  the  bloodiest  of  the  fights, 
he  was  wounded  in  but  one  battle.  On  the  mem- 
orable field  of  Franklin,  Tenn.,  he  received  two 
severe  wounds,  which  disabled  him  for  several 
months. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war  Mr. 
Stanley  returned  home,  and  in  November,  1805, 
he  commenced  tlie  publication  of  the  GoeeiiriUe 
Advocate.  Day  by  day  the  paper  grew  more  and 
more  in  the  favor  of  the  people,  until  to-day  it  is 
welcomed  in  thousands  of  families. 

Although  he  is  a  stanch  Democrat,  and  has 
always  been  a  strong  advocate  of  the  principles 
of  his  party,  he  is  not  particularly  fond  of  jJolities, 
and  has  never  shown  any  desire  for  office,  though 
he  has  been  sent  by  his  county  as  a  delegate  to 
every  State  Convention  since  186T,  and  in  1884 
was  elected  by  that  convention  as  an  alternate 
delegate  from  the  State  at  large  to  the  National 
Convention  in  Chicago,  which  nominated  Presi- 
dent Cleveland.  He  has  held  a  number  of  impor- 
tant offices  in  various  societies;  three  years  ago  he 
was  elected  Grand  Vice-Dictator  of  Alabama,  of 
Knights  of  Honor,  and,  probably,  would  have 
been  Grand  Director  to-day,  could  he  have  attend- 
ed the  last  session  of  the  Grand  Lodge. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  ^lethodist  Episcopal 
Church,  but  is  a  man  of  views  too  broad  to  believe 
that  there  is  but  one  church,  and  that  all  that  is 
good  and  holy  is  in  that  church.  As  all  earnest 
Christians  should  be,  he  is  constantly  striving  to 
impress  the  minds  of  the  young  with  the  sacred 
teachings  of  the  holy  scriptures,  and  is  rarely 
ever  absent  from  the  Sunday  School,  of  which, 
until  recently,  he  was  superintendant. 

In  May,  188"i.  on  a  steamboat  on  the  Alabama 
River,  the  editors  of  the  State  almost  unanimously 
elected  him  president  of  the  Editors  and  Pub- 
lishers' Association  of  Alabama.  The  members 
of  the  Press  showed  their  appreciation  of  his  abili- 
ties as  an  officer  by  re-electing  him  the  succeeding 
three  years  by  acclamation.  He  takes  a  great 
interest  in  the  brotherhood,  and  does  everything 
in  his  power  to  make  each  meeting  of  the  Asso- 


ciation as  pleasant  as  possible.  Two  years  ago  he 
was  apjjointed  by  the  President  of  the  National 
Press  Association  as  a  member  of  the  National 
Executive  Committee  from  Alabama,  and  at  the 
meeting  of  that  Association  in  Cincinnati  last 
year  he  was  retained  in  that  position  by  election. 

The  success  of  his  jjaiier  and  the  noble  qualities 
of  his  character,  have  won  for  him  a  wide  reputa- 
tion and  given  him  rank  among  the  journalists  of 
the  country. 

He  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Lulu  Reid, 
December  7,  18ti7.  His  wife  was  indeed  a  help- 
mate, whose  worth  was  only  rivaled  by  her  mod- 
esty. 


SAMUEL  J.  STEINER,  M.  D„  Physician  and 
Surgeon,  (ireenville,  native  of  Butler  County,  this 
State,  son  of  Joseph  and  Matilda  M.  Steiner,  was 
born  January  18th,  1857.  At  the  age  of  thirteen 
years  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a  drug  store 
and  remained  there  about  five  years.  In  18T6,  he 
entered  the  literary  department  of  the  Vanderbilt 
University,  Nashville,  and  graduated  from  the 
medical  department  of  that  institution  as  M.  D. 
in  1878.  Immediately  II jjon  receiving  his  dijjloma 
he  returned  to  Greenville,  and  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  medicine. 

Dr.  Steiner,  though  yet  a  young  man,  occujjies 
a  high  position  in  the  estimation  of  the  fraternity 
throughout  the  State.  He  was  for  some  years 
Medical  Examiner  for  the  order  of  Knights  of 
Pythias,  and  is  now  (1888)  Examiner  in  Chief  for 
the  Equitable  Life  Insurance  Company  for  the 
district  of  Butler  and  adjacent  counties.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Joseph  Steiner  &  Sons, 
bankers;  Steiner  Bros.  &  Co.,  merchants;  J.  JI. 
Steiner  &  Co.,  hardware  dealers;  and  of  the 
Steiner  Hardware  Company.  The  two  first  named 
institutions  are  located  at  Greenville,  and  the 
others  at  Decatur,  this  State. 

The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  order  of  the 
Lnights  of  Pythias,  the  I.  0.  G.  F.,  and  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  was  mar- 
ried at  Greenville,  September  2.ith,  1879,  to  Miss 
Lottie  McCall,  daughter  of  D.  T.  McCall,  Esq., 
of  this  place. 

He  was  commissoned  surgeon  of  Second  Regi- 
ment, Alabama  State  Troops,  1863  and  served  in 
that  capacity  at  the  Battle  of  Birmingham  and  all 
the  engagements  of  said  Regiment. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


239 


JOSEPH  M.  STEINER.  .Merchant  and  Banker, 
(Irecnvillc.  was  born  in  Butler  County,  this  .State, 
in  IS.")-!,  and  is  a  son  of  Joseph  and  .Afargaret  M. 
(Camp)  Steiner. 

"Slv.  Steiner  was  educated  at  the  eonunoiiscliools 
of  (ireenville,  and  was  onlj' fourteen  years  of  age 
when  he  was  engaged  as  a  clerk  in  his  father's  cotton 
establislinu'Ut,  at  Mobile.  lie  remained  at  Mobile 
one  year,  and  returned  to  Greenville,  accepted  a 
clerkship  in  the  store  of  Dunklin  &  .Steiner,  was 
there  until  1874,  and  was  in  that  year  admitted  to 
partnership.  In  188T,  Governor  Seay  appointed 
him  Treasurer  of  Butler  County,  to  fill  out  the 
unexpired  term,  caused  by  the  death  of  the  recent 
incumbent  of  that  office.  He  is,  therefore,  at  this 
writing  County  Treasurer,  and  is  also  a  member 
of  the  (ireenville  Board  of  Aldermen.  His  busi- 
ness relations  may  be  summed  up  as  follows:  He 
is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Joseph  Steiner  iS:  Sons, 
bankers,  and  .1.  M.  Steiner  &  Co.,  hardware  mer- 
chants, (ireenville;  Steiner  Bros.  &  Co.,  general 
merchandise;  Jose])h  Steiner  &  Sons,  fertilizers, 
etc. ;  and  the  Steiner  Hardware  Company,  Decatur, 
Ala. 

Altogether,  Mr.  Steiner  is  oneof  the  most  active 
and  successful  business  men  (and  he  is  a  business 
man,  to  the  exclusion  of  everytliing  else  except  of 
his  duties  to  the  community  as  a  good  citizen,)  in 
the  .state  of  Alabama.  He  was  married  at  (ireen- 
ville JIarch  11,1875.  to  Jliss  Ida,  daughter  of 
A.  J.  and  Clara  E.  Hawthorne,  of  this  city,  and 
has  haa  born  to  him  four  children:  Bettie,  Clara, 
.Joseph,  Aileen. 

-Mr.  .Steiner  is  a  member  of  the  (ireenville  Light 
Guards,  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  Knights  of 
Honor,  and  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  in  all  of  wliich  organ- 
izations he  has  filled  the  various  chairs. 

— -*"J^t^-«— — 

DANIEL  G.  DUNKLIN,  prominent  Merchant 
and  I'lanter.  was  boin  at  (ireenville,  Ala.,  October 
28,  1823,  and  his  parents  were  James  and  Cath- 
arine (Lee)  Dunklin,  tlie  former  a  native  of  .South 
Carolina  and  tiie  latter  of  Lecsburg,  X.  C. 

James  Dunklin  came  to  -Mabama  in  1.S18,  and 
was  among  the  first  (if  not  the  very  first)  settlers  at 
where  now  stands  the  town  of  Greenville.  He  be- 
came an  extensive  planter,  was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners that  laid  out  the  town  of  Greenville,  and  i 
was  afterward  commissioner  of  the  county.  He  1 
died  in  (ireetiville  in  1828.  ' 


I  Daniel  G.  Dunklin,  during  his  youth,  acquired 
such  learning  as  was  ])ossible  at  the  neighboring 

j  schools,  attending  perhaps  three  months  out  of 
the  year.  As  will  be  seen  he  was  only  four  years 
of  ijige  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen   years   in   a  dry  goods   house  at 

I  Montgomery,  he  received  his  first  employment  as 

t  a  clerk,  and  he  remained  with  that  concern  seven 
years.  He  was  twenty-one  years  of  age  when  he 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  btisinessat  Montgomery 
on  his  own  account.  He  remaine<l  tliei'e  two  years, 
came  to  (ireenville,  and  established  himself  in  the 
mercantile  business.  Here  he  has  been  oneof  the 
most  successful  merchants;  he  has  devoted  his 
time  to  his  business,  and  has  accumulated  a  com- 
jietency.  Prior  to  the  war  he  owned  a  large  num- 
ber of  slaves,  was  extensively  interested  in  plant- 
ing, and  had  standing  out  on  interest  a  large 
amount.  It  is  not  necessary  to  add  that  the  war 
swept  away  this  immense  fortune,  for  that  was 
but  the  common  lot  of  a  great  many. 

During  the  four  years  of  the  war,  Mr.  Dunklin 
was  in  the  Quartermaster's  Department  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  and  afterwards  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  again  at  (ireenville.  He  has  suc- 
ceeded in  regaining  largely  his  lost  estate.  He  is 
now  one  of  the  most  extensive  farmers  in  Butler 
County,  producing  annually  many  bales  of  cotton, 
and  giving  particular  attention  to  the  breeding  of 
stock.  He  has  probably  the  finest  stock  farm  and 
vineyard  in  this  section.  He  is  one  of  Greenville's 
most  respected  citizens,  noted  for  his  kind-heart- 
edness, liberality  and  jjublic-spiritedness. 

He  was  married  January  lit,  18-17,  to  Miss  Susan 
C.  Burnett,  of  Greenville,  Ala.  She  died  in  18<J1, 
leaving  one  child.  Walter  J.  January  12,  1864, 
Mr.  Dunklin  married  Miss  Hanna  Patton,  of  Green- 
ville, Ala.,  and  has  had  born  to  him  one  son,  Pat- 
ton  B.  The  family  belong  to  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  Mr.  Dunklin  is  a  member  of  the  -Masonic  fra- 
ternity and  of  the  I.  O.  0.  Y. 

JOItN  T.  STEINER,  Merchant  and  Banker, 
(ireenville,  son  of  Joseph  and  Margaret  (Camp) 
Steiner,  was  born  November  27,  1800,  in  Butler 
County,  this  State.  From  the  common  schools 
of  Greenville,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  he 
entered  Vanderbilt  LTniversity,  where  he  remained 
two  years,  and  returned  to  Greenville  and  engaged 
with  his  father  in  the   Greenville   Bank,   in   the 


230 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


capacity  of  runner.  From  this  initial  step  he 
rose  rapidly  to  j)roficiency  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  banking  business,  and  of  late  years 
has  been  the  controlling  element  in  the  manage- 
ment of  that  institution.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
firms  of  Steiner  &  Sons,  bankers;  Steiner  Bros.  & 
Co.,  general  mei'chants;  J.  H.  Steiner  &  Co., 
hardware  dealers;  and  the  Steiner  Hardware  Com- 
pany, the  latter  institution  being  at  Decatur, 
Ala. 

Mr.  Steiner,  in  addition  to  his  various  enter- 
prises, takes  an  active  interest  in  politics,  and  is 
one  of  the  solid  workers  of  the  Democratic  jiarty. 


He  represented  his  i:)arty  from  Greenville  as  dele- 
gate to  the  convention  that  nominated  Governor 
Seay  in  1886,  and  aftei-ward  worked  faithfully 
in  the  interest  of  the  ticket.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  order  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
Knights  of  Honor,  the  American  Legion  of 
Honor,  and  is  a  lieutenant  in  the  Greenville  Light 
Guards. 

J.  T.  Steiner  was  married  in  July,  1881,  to 
Miss  Annie  Dunklin,  the  accomplished  daughter 
of  .J.  H.  Dunklin,  of  Greenville,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  three  children:  Jolin,  Lucile  and 
Edith. 


BALDWIN    COUNTY. 


Population  :  White,  5,000  ;  colored,  3,000. 
Area,  1,620  square  miles.  Woodland,  all,  except 
coast  marshes.  Eolling  jDine  land,  000  square  miles; 
pine  flats,  730  square  miles. 

Acres-In  cotton  (ai^proximately),  1,400;  in  corn, 
2,000  ;  in  oats,  350  ;  in  rice,  121  ;  in  sugar-cane, 
81  ;  in  sweet  potatoes,  484. 

A23j)roximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  050. 

County  Seat — Daphne;  population,  150. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — None. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Battles,  Bay  Mi- 
nette,  Bromley,  Carney,  Daphne,  Dowty, 
Gasque,  Herndon,  Hurricane  Bayou,  Josephine, 
Kohler,  Lamberta,  Latham,  Lillian,  Magnolia 
Springs,      Montrose,      Perdido     Station,      Point 


Clear,  Ray,  liosinton,  Stockton,  Swift,  Ten.saw, 
Theresea, 

Baldwin  County  was  created  in  1809.  It  has 
the  honor  of  being  the  largest  county  in  the  State, 
embracing  within  its  limits  a  larger  scope  of  terri- 
tory than  that  embraced  by  the  entire  State  of 
Rhode  Island.  Lands  in  Baldwin  are  remarkably 
cheap.  Where  the  timber  has  been  removed  they 
may  be  purchased  at  25  to  50  cents  jjer  acre. 
Others  may  be  had  for  fl  and  f5  per  acre. 

Many  Government  lands  exist,  and  are  subject 
to  entry,  there  being  120,240  acres. 

Men  of  limited  means,  but  of  industrious  habits, 
could  not  find  a  more  inviting  region  for  settle- 
ment than  Baldwin  County. 


111. 

CLARKE    COUNTY. 


Popuhition:  Wliite,  8,000:  colored,  9,088.  Area, 
1,1(10  Sfiuare  miles.  AVoodlaiid,  all.  Lime-hills, 
5G0  square  miles.  Oak,  hickory,  and  long-leaf 
])ine  uplands,  340  square  miles;  rolling  and  open 
pine  woods.  260  square  miles. 

Acres — In  coiton  (approximately).  o^.-loO;  in 
corn,  28,220;  in  oats,  5,00.");  in  tobacco.  19;  in 
sugar-cane,  200;  in  rice.  22:  in  sweet  potatoes, 
1,250. 

Approximate  number  of  li;ilcs  of  cotton,  12,000. 

County  Seat,  (irove  Hill:  ])Oj)ulation.  30o:  84 
miles  northeast  of  Mobile. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Clai-ke 
County  Democrat  (Democratic.) 

Postottices  in  the  C'ounty — Airmount,  Baggett, 
Barlow  Bend,  Bashi.  Bedsole,  Campbell.  Carney'tj 
Bluff,  Cherry,  Chocktaw  Corner,  Coffeeville, 
Conde,  Cunningham,  Dead  Level,  Gainestown, 
Glover,  Gosport,  Grove  Hill.  Jackson,  Jlorvin, 
Nettleborough.  Pickens  Landing.  Rual,  Salitpa, 
Singleton,  Suggsville,  Tallahatta  Springs.  \'a.shti. 
Walker  Springs,  Winn,  Wood's  Bluff. 


This  county  was  created  in  1812.  It  is 
historically  associated  with  many  of  the  bloody 
scenes  enacted  during  the  prevailing  war  of  that 
time. 

Clarke  abounds  in  forests  of  excellent  timber, 
comprising  oak,  jioplar,  hickory,  beech,  bay,  cy- 
press, maple,  elm,  cedar  and  pine.  Vast  pine  for- 
ests prevail  in  several  portions  of  Clarke,  and  the 
trees  are  some  times  rafted  to  ^lobile,  where  they 
find  a  ready  market. 

Some  attention  is  now  being  bestowed  upon 
the  improvement  of  stock.  In  the  western  part 
of  the  county  are  quite  a  number  of  salt 
springs  and  wells,  to  which  the  peojile  of  that 
and  adjoining  counties  were  forced  to  resort 
and  manufacture  salt  during  the  late  war,  while 
the  ports  of  the  south  were  blockaded. 

There  are  9T,G00  acres  of  Government  land  in 
Clarke,  which  are  subject  to  entry. 

The  people  of  Clarke  are  eager  to  have  their 
lands  peopled  by  a  thrifty  energetic  population. 


IV. 


COFFEE   COUNTY. 


Population:  White.  •',831 :  colored,  1,288.  Area, 
70<i  S(|uare  miles.  Woodland,  340  square  miles. 
Rolling  or  undulating  j)iue  lands,  300  square 
miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (ajiproximately),  10,5U0;  in 
corn,  18,608;  in  oats,  2,370;  in  rye.  3l;  in  wheat. 


22:  in  rice,  21;  in  sugar-cane,  254;  in  sweet  pota- 
toes, 474. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  4,788. 

County  Seat — Elba:  population,  222;  located 
on  the  Pea  Kiver,  30  miles  south  of  Troy,  and 
75  miles  southeast  of  Montgomery. 


231 


232 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Newspajjer  published  at  County  Seat — Coffee 
County  News. 

Postoftices  in  the  County — Alberton,  Cliuton- 
ville.  Cross  Trails,  Damascus,  Elba,  Elizabeth, 
Enterprise,  Haw  Ridge,  Rodney,  Victoria. 

Coffee  County  was  established  by  an  Act  of  the 
Legislature,  dated  December  29,  1841,  and  was 
formed  from  territory  taken  from  Dale  County.  A 
portion  of  its  original  territory  was  set  ajiart  in 
1868,  to  form  Geneva  County.  The  county  was 
named  in  honor  of  General  Colfee,  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  Lauderdale  County. 

This  county  is  jjarticularly  noted  for  its  forests, 
which  consist  of  the  greater  part  of  pine,  but  in 
localities  large  quantities  of  ash,  hickory,  oak 
beach  and  poplar  are  found.  Timber  form  the 
chief  industry  of  the  county,  though  stock  raising 
is    receiving  much  attention  now,  and  the   wool 


product  of  the  country  is  increasing  largely  every 
year. 

The  advancement  of  the  county  is  considerably 
retarded  by  the  want  of  transportation  facilities, 
which,  if  it  had,  would  cause  it  to  become  one  of 
the  pleasantest  and  most  substantial  portions  of 
the  State. 

The  health  of  the  county  is  phenomenal,  and 
this,  more  than  any  other  cause,  goes  to  make  it 
a  most  desirable  place  as  a  home. 

The  county  is  watered  by  Pea  River,  Double 
Branch,  White  Water,and  Bluff  Creeks  and  their 
tributaries. 

Educational  and  religious  institutions  flourish 
in  all  portions  of  the  county. 

Elba,  on  Pea  River,  is  the  county  seat.  Vic- 
toria, Ciintonville  and  Enterprise  are  some  of  the 
other  towns  of  the  county. 


CONECUH    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  6,500;  colored,  6,000.  Area, 
840  square  miles.  AVoodland,  all.  Lime-lands, 
470  square  miles;  f)ine  uplands  and  rolling  pine 
lands,  3T0  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  16,500;  in 
corn,  20,118;  in  oats,  3,17.3;  in  rye,  32;  in  sugar- 
cane, 267;  in  rice,  124:  in  sweet  potatoes,  —  . 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  5,000. 

County  Seat — Evergreen;  jjopulation,  1,200;  on 
Mobile  &  Montgomery  branch  of  Louisville  & 
Nashville  Railroad. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Conecuh 
Escambia  Star,  Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Alniarant, Belleville, 
Bermuda,  Betts,  Bonnette,  Brooklyn,  Castleberry, 
Cohasset,  Commerce,  Crete,  Evergreen,  Gravella, 
Herbert,  Hilaryton,  Jayvilla,  Mount  Union,  Oli- 
via, Pryor,  Range,  Repton,  Sepulga. 

Conecuh  was  established  as  a  county  in  1818. 
The  name  is  derived  from  two  Indian  terms, 
which,  taken  together,  mean  "Caneland,"  or 
"  Land  of  Cane,"  supposed  to  have  been  suggested 


by  the  beautiful  straight  cane  which  grew  along 
the  banks  of  its  wide  and  clear  streams  when  the 
Red  Man  held  sway.  The  early  settlers  describe 
the  face  of  the  country  as  having  been  one  of  sur- 
passing lovliness  before  the  woodman's  axe  laid  the 
the  forests  low  and  the  hands  of  progressive 
art  displayed  the  wigwam  of  the  rude  children  of 
the  woods.  The  land  was  radiant  with  long,  wav- 
ing grass,  intersjiQrsed  with  the  wild  oat  and  the 
native  peaviue,  in  the  midst  of  which  grew  the 
towering  forms  of  )nonarch  pines.  At  any  time 
could  be  seen  herds  of  deer  and  flocks  of  wild 
turkeys  roaming  at  will  over  these  lands  of  smiling 
beauty.  The  whites  first  occupied  its  soil  in  1815 
The  lands  in  the  county  may  be  had  for  prices 
ranging  from  §1.25  to  810  per  acre.  They  are 
coming  more  into  demand.  Even  from  the  sur- 
rounding counties  the  lands  of  Conecuh  are  being 
sought.  There  are  public  lands  which  may  be 
entered  by  settlers.  Strangers  seeking  homes  would 
be  gladly  received  by  the  peoi^le  of  this  county. 
The  county  has  50,320  acres  of  public  land. 


VI. 
CRENSHAW  COUNTY. 


Popuhition:  W'liite,  !i,500;  colored,  "^,<i()0.  Area, 
TiGU  S(iuare  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Long-leaf  pine 
ui)land,  4:i.")  square  miles;  oak  and  hickory  up- 
lands, T-i.")  square  miles;  hill,  prairie  and  lime 
lands,  100  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  27,000;  in 
corn,  28,090;  in  oats,  .5,208;  in  tobacco,  33;  in 
rice,  2.5:  in  sugar-cane,  2'J4;  in  sweet  potatoes, 
558. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  8,500. 

County  Seat — Kutledgc;  jiopulation,  300. 

Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Enler- 
prine,  Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Aiken,  Argus,  Best, 
Bradleyton,  Bullock,  Cook's  Stand,  Helicon,  Hon- 
oraville.  Host,  Johnson,  Leon,  Live  Oak,  Mount 
Ida,  New  Providence,  Xorwood,  Peacock,  Rid- 
Iidge,  Sal-Soda,  Saville,  Vidette. 

This  county  was  formed  in  180."),  ami  named  for 


Hon.  Anderson  Crenshaw.  It  lies  in  that  section 
of  the  State  toward  which  much  attention  is  now 
being  turned,  because  of  its  varied  resources  and 
growing  industries.  Debarred  the  enjoyment  of 
railroad  privileges,  there  has  not  been  that  spirit 
of  enterprise  and  energy  which  is  warranted  by 
the  varied  resources  of  Crenshaw. 

In  this  county,  as  in  all  others  in  this  region, 
lands  may  be  had  at  very  moderate  figures.  Over- 
spread with  forests  of  splendid  timber,  both  of 
pine  and  oak,  they  are  destined  to  be  quite  valu- 
able, and  yet  may  be  bought  in  some  sections  for 
$1  per  acre,  in  others  for  ^2.50,  and  in  others 
still,  for  §5. 

There  are  24,500  acres  of  land  belonging  to  tne 
general  Government  in  Crenshaw. 

Vast  tracks  of  land  may  be  purchased  at  nom- 
inal prices,  and  the  people  would  welcome  immi- 
grants of  thrifty  habits. 


VII. 
COVINGTON  COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  5,000;  colored,  600.  Area, 
l,03o  square  miles.  AVoodland,  all.  Undulating 
pine  lands,  720  square  miles:  lime-hills  and  pine 
uplands,  310  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately), 4,200;  in  corn, 
10.558:  in  oats,  2,114;  in  rice,  47;  in  sugar-cane, 
147;  in  sweet  jiotatoes,  400, 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  1,358. 

Connty  Seat — Andalusia:  population,  025;  lo- 
>  ated  9(t  miles  south  of  Montgomery. 


Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Coving- 
ton  Timex,  Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Andalusia,  Cameron, 
Conecuh  River,  Beda,  Dannelly,  Fairfield,  Green 
Bay,  Ilallton,  Ilamptonville,  Hilton,  Lake  View, 
Loango,  Opine,  Rat.  Red  Level,  Rome,  Rose  Hill, 
Sanford.  Shirley,  Vera  Cruz,  Wiggins,  Williams' 
Mill. 

Established  in  1821,  this  county  took  its  name 
from    Gen.  Leonard  W.   Covington,  of  JIaryland. 


233 


234 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


It  is  noted  for  its  streams,  grazing  lands,  and 
superb  regions  of  timber.  Like  other  sections  of 
Alabama,  Covington  has  failed  of  appreciation, 
because  of  its  remoteness  from  lines  of  transporta- 
tion. 

The  timbers  of  the  county  are  yellow  or 
long-leaf  pine,  oak,  hickory, elm,  beech,  and  poplar. 
The   county  is  noted  for  its  forests  of   towering 


pine.  Districts  of  this  magnificent  timber  extend 
for  many  miles  in  all  directions  through  the 
county. 

Beneath  these  lofty  pines,  there  flourisli  tlie 
greenest  grasses  and  leguminous  plants,  which 
afford  superior  range  for  herds  of  cattle,  sheep, 
and  goats.  Great  quantities  of  lumber  are  hewn 
from  the  forests  every  season. 


VIII. 
DALE   COUNTY. 


Population:  White.  7',.55  ;  colored,  3,124. 
Area,  6.50  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Pine 
upl.ands,  420  square  miles  ;  undulating,  pine 
lands,   -230. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  27,000;  in 
corn,  31,867;  in  oats,  5,114;  in  wheat,  59;  in  rye, 
24;  in  rice,  49;  in  sugar-cane,  373;  in  sweet 
potatoes,  872. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  0,800. 

County  seat — Ozark;  population,  700;  located 
near  the  center  of  the  county. 

Newspaper  ])ublished  at  County  Seat — South- 
ern Sfur,  Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Barnes  Cross  Roads, 
Beaver  Creek,  Clayhatchee,  Clopton,  Crittenden's 
.  Mills,  Daleville,  Eclio,  Newton,  Ozark,  Rockyhead, 
Skipperville,  Strickland,  Weed,  Wicksburgh. 

This  county  was  organized  in  1824,  and  named 
in  honor  of  Gen.  Samuel  Dale.  It  is  one  of  the 
counties  of  the  State  in  which  there  were  manu- 


factories prior  to  the  war.  Its  people  have  long 
been  noted  for  their  sobriety  and  progressiveness, 
and,  in  the  centers  of  interest,  for  their  intelli- 
gence. Possessing  a  varied  soil,  genial  climate, 
healtliful  atmosj)here,  abounding  resources  of 
water,  rich  pasture  lands,  and  broad  forests  of 
pine.  Dale  County  is  the  peer  of  any  other  section 
in  this  portion  of  Alabama. 

The  prices  of  land  extend  from  81  to  §10  per 
acre.  The  county  has  an  industrious  agricultural 
population  that  would  readily  greet  settlers  and 
investors  seeking  homes  and  locations  for  business. 
No  doubt  these  lauds  will  attract  great  attention 
within  a  few  years,  because  of  the  vast  abundance 
of  yellow  j)ine  timber  which  they  contain.  Rare 
bargains  can  now  be  had  by  those  seeking  profit- 
able investments  in  lands  and  real  estate.  Much 
of  the  land  is  public,  and  may  be  entered  under 
the  homestead  act.  Of  this  there  are  46,240 
acres. 


IX. 
ESCAMBIA   COUNTY. 


Population:  Wliite,  4,00(1:  colored,  l.oim.  Area. 
1,000  sf|iiare  niili's.  Wooillaiul,  all.  All  rolling 
pine  lands. 

Aere.s — In  cotton  (appro.xiniately),  3oo;  in  corn, 
3,fi09;  in  oats,  S(I9;  in  sugar-cane,  83;  in  rice, 
405;  in  sweet  potatoes.  404. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  100. 

County  Seat — Hrewton;  ])opulation,  ]..")0o:  on 
Louisville  &  Nashville  Eailroad. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Bdiincr 
aiul  Esriimhid  liiildiriii  lltnes,  the  former  Inde- 
pendent, the  latter  Democratic. 

Postoffices  iti  the  County — Boykin,  Brewfoti, 
Canoe  Station,  Douglasville,  Flomatoii,  Kirkland, 
Mason,  Pollard,  Koberts.  Steadhani,  Wallace, 
Williams  Station,  Wilson. 

The  county  of  Escambia  was  constituted  in 
1SG8,  and  named  for  the  beautiful  river  which 
flows  across  it.  It  is  one  of  the  youngest 
counties  of  the  State,  but  is  regarded  as  one  of 
the  thriftiest   in  the  great  Timber  Belt.     It  has 


peculiar  natural  advantages  in  its  forest  wealth, 
its  smooth  topography,  and  its  deej)  and  wide 
streams. 

But  the  glory  of  Escambia  is  her  magnificent 
forests  of  pine.  In  this  county  the  e.\paiisive  do- 
mains of  yellow  or  long-leaf  pine  may  be  seen  in 
its  perfection.  These  pines  give  rise  to  the  chief 
industries  of  the  county,  viz.:  the  timber,  lumber, 
and  turpentine  business.  Some  of  the  finest  and 
best  equi[)ped  saw-mills  and  turpentine  distilleries 
known  to  the  South  are  found  in  Escambia 
County. 

Timbers  are  hewn  from  the  forests  and  rafted 
along  the  large  streams  to  the  mills  to  be  con- 
verted into  lumber,  or  else  to  Pensacola,  where  a 
ready  market  awaits  them.  Tliese  lumber  and 
turpentine  industries  are  near  the  Louisville  & 
Nashville  Railroad,  which  traverses  tlie  county 
north  and  south. 

The  county  contains  140,949  acres  of  Govern- 
ment land. 


X. 

GENEVA   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  4,0ii0;  colored,  oOO.  Area, 
591  (  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Undulating 
pine  lands,  56o  square  miles;  red  lime  lands,  30 
square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  5,onO;  in  corn 
9,47<i:  in  oats,  l.To.i;  in  sugar-cane,  118;  in  rice, 
1.54:  in  sweet  potatoes,  ."i.io. 

Aj)proximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton.  1,300. 

County  Seat — (ieneva;  population.  Ton. 


Newspaper  published  at  County  Seat — Record, 
Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Big  Creek,  Coffee 
Springs.  Dundee.  Elton,  Ennola.  Garrard,  Geneva 
High  Falls,  ilartha,  Noblin,  Pea,  Taylor, 
A'aughanville,  Warwick,  Watford. 

The  county  of  Geneva  was  formed  in  iSiiS.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  progressive  counties  in  this  por- 
tion of  the  State.     Capital    and  enterprise  have 


235 


336 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


been  wou  to  it,  and  its  lands  are  being  rapidly  oc- 
cupied. Long  remote  from  important  lines  of 
transportation,  it  now  enjoys  facilities  which  en- 
able its  numberless  resources  to  find  their  way 
easily  to  market.  The  wide-awake  sj)irit  which 
prevails  among  the  people  of  Geneva,  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  rapid  increase  of  i^opulation 
within  the  last  four  years. 

The  trees  are  largely  those  of  yellow  pine,  while 
there  are  also  oaks,  hickory,  poplar  and  beech. 
The  manufacture  of  the  pines  into  lumber  for 
shipment  is  a  growing  branch  of  business.  Large 
quantities  of  logs  are  floated  down  the  waters  of 
the  principal  streams  to  markets  further  south. 
The  manufacture  of  turpentine  is  also  a  pursuit, 


the  proportions  of  which  are  constantly  increasing. 
Schools  are  moderately  good  and  are  annually 
improving.  Churches  of  the  Baptist  and  Meth- 
odist denominations,  jn-incipally,  exist. 

Lands  may  be  had  as  low  as  $1  and  -f3  per 
acre.  Vast  quantities  of  public  or  Government 
lands  are  found  in  Geneva,  there  being  216,840 
acres.  Rare  inducements  for  investments,  or  for 
settlements,  are  found  in  this  young  and  growing 
county.  The  people  are  of  a  progressive  spirit, 
and  will  cordially  welcome  to  the  county  men  of 
limited  means,  who  are  seeking  cheap  and  pleas- 
ant homes,  as  they  will  the  capitalist  with  ampler 
resources,  who  desires  to  make  a  profitable  invest- 
ment. 


XI. 
HENRY   COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  12,000:  colored,  6,500. 
Area,  1,000  square  miles.  AVoodland,  all.  Oak, 
hickory  and  brown  loam  lands,  100  square  miles; 
pine  uplands  and  undulating  pine  lands,  also  red 
lime-lands,  450  square  miles. 

Acres — \\\  cotton  (approximately),  54,000;  in 
corn,  48,605:  in  oats,  790;  in  rye,  265;  in  wheat, 
195;  in  tobacco,  24;  in  rice,  25;  in  sugar-cane,  670; 
in  sweet  potatoes,  1,266. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  12,600. 

County  Seat  —  Abbeville;  population,  500;  lo- 
cated 90  miles  southeast  of  Montgomery. 

Newspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Spirit 
of  the  Age,  Times;  at  Columbia,  population  700, 
Enterprise,  Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Alihcville,  Baker, 
Balkum,  Brackin,  Columbia,  Cottonwood,  Co- 
warts,  Crosby,  Cureton's  Bridge,  Dothen,  Gor- 
don, Grafton,  Granger,  Ilaleburgh,  Hardwicks- 
burgb,  Headland,  Hilliardsville,  Kinsey,  Law- 
renceville,  Otho,  Pleasant  Plains,  Shorterville, 
Smithville.  Wesley,  Zornville. 

Henry  County  was  created  in  the  same  year 
that  Alabama  became  a  State,  1819.  It  derived  its 
name  from  that  of  the  great  Virginia  orator,  Patrick 
Henry.     It  lies  in  the  extreme  southeastern  cor- 


ner of  the  State,  having  on  the  east  Georgia, 
from  which  it  is  separated  by  the  Chattahooche, 
and  on  tlie  south,  Florida. 

It  was  originally  composed  of  the  territory  now 
constituting  Henry,  Dale,  and  a  large  portion  of 
Geneva  and  Coffee  Counties. 

The  county  seat  was  then  at  ''  Old  Richmond," 
a  i^lace  now  marked  only  by  a  single  church  and  a 
beautiful  sjjring  known  as  the  ''Wiggins  Spring," 
twenty  miles  due  west  from  Columbia.  After 
some  of  its  western  territory  had  been  cut  off,  the 
court-house  was  removed  to  Columbia  —  a  town 
situated  on  a  beautiful  plateau  overlooking  the 
Chattahooche  River,  a  half-mile  to  the  east,  and 
the  clear,  health-giving  and  rippling  waters  of 
the  Omercee  Creek  a  half-mile  to  the  west,  and 
which  was  then  the  trading  and  shipping  point  for 
all  the  country  one  hundred  miles  west.  After  the 
county  of  Dale  had  been  cut  off  on  the  west,  the 
county  was  left  in  an  oblong  shajie,  being  about 
twenty-two  miles  wide,  while  from  north  to  south 
along  the  line  of  the  Chattahooche,  measured  a 
distance  of  some  sixty  miles. 

In  1834,  the  court-house  was  removed  to  Abbe- 
ville, a  point  situated  near  the  center  of  the  east- 
ern  and  western  boundaries,  but  within'  twelve 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


237 


miles  of  the  northern.  This  portion  of  the  county 
is  very  miu-h  broken  and  cut  up  by  the  streams  of 
the  Choctawliatchee  Kiver,  Abbey  Creek,  and  their 
tributaries. 

At  tlie  time  of  the  removal  of  the  court-liouse, 
this  portion  of  tiie  county  was  very  thickly  settled, 
the  lands  being  fresh  and  fertile,  while  the  lower 
or  southeast  portion  was  but  sparsely  settled  ex- 
cept along  the  Chattahoochee  Kiver,  where  there 
was  a  continuous  line  of  large  and  rich  farms. 

The  Chattahoochee  l\iver  on  the  eastern  border 
of  the  county,  furnishes  to  the  inhabitants  an 
avenue  for  the  cheapest  transportation  of  all  her 
products  to  all  portions  of  the  world.  Nine  differ- 
ent railroads,  though  not  all  under  different  man- 
agement, now  tap  the  river,  requiring  only  a  small 
local  tariff  to  the  boats,  to  give  them  the  advan- 


tage of  either,  besides  the  open  outlet  to  the  gulf 
through  the  point  at  Appalachieola,  wiiich  is  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river. 

The  people  are  solicitous  of,  and  welcome,  im- 
migration. 

Kare  bargains  can  yet  be  had  by  those  seeking 
profitable  investments  in  lands  and  real  estate. 
Some  of  the  lands  are  yet  public,  and  may  be  en- 
tered under  the  homestead  act  at  11.2.5  per  acre. 
Improved  lands  vary  in  valuation  according  to  im- 
provements and  location.  The  level  pine  lands, 
convenient  to  market,  being  preferred  and  ranging 
from  *!•■.'  to  %\h  per  acre. 

An  educational  system  prevails  through  the 
county,  and  is  equally  accessible  by  all  classes. 

Churches,  mainly  of  ]?aptist  and  Methodist  de- 
nominations, prevail  throughout  the  county. 


XII. 
MONROE  COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  7,800:  colored,  0,2.50.  Area, 
1,0:50  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Undulating 
pine  lands,  iJSO  square  miles.  Pine  uplands,  oak 
and  hickory  and  lime  hills,  G.50  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  33,500;  in 
corn,  25,135:  in  oats,  4,997;  in  rice,  78;  in  sugar- 
cane, 329:  in  tobacco,  11;  in  sweet  potatoes,  920. 

Ajiproximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  12,000. 

County  Seat — Monroeville;  population,  300. 

Newspaper  published  at  the  County  Seat — Mon- 
roe Journal  (Democratic). 

Postotticesin  the  County — Activity,  Axile,  Bell's 
Landing,  Buena  Vista,  Burnt  Corn,  Bursonville, 
Carlisle,  Chestnut,  Claiborne,  Dennard,  Finch- 
burgh,  Fork,  Olendale,  Hollinger,  Kempville, 
Monroeville.  Mount  Pleasant,  Nero,  Newton 
Academy,  I'erdue  Hill,  Jiiley,  River  Ridge,  Simp- 
kinsville,  Tinela,  Turnbull,  Watson. 

-Monroe  County  was  created  in  1815,  and  named 
in  honor  of    President  Jlonroe,  of  Virginia.     It 


was  one  of  the  first  counties  of  the  State  settled  by 
the  whites,  and  its  people  have  been  uniformly 
thrifty  while  engaged  chiefly  in  planting.  Much 
of  the  productive  land  belonging  to  the  timber 
belt  is  found  in  this  county. 

The  points  of  interest  are  Monroeville,  the  county 
seat,  with  apopulation  of  400,  Perdue  Hill,  Buena 
Vista,  Burnt  Corn,  and  Pineville.  The  school 
and  church  advantages  of  the  county  are  good. 

Transportation  is  afforded  by  the  Alabama 
River,  and  by  the  Selma  &  Pensacola  Railroad, 
in  Wilcox,  or  the  Louisville  &  Nashville,  as 
it  passes  through  the  adjoining  county  of 
Conecuh. 

Lands  maybe  had  for  figures  runningfrom  *1.25 
to  $10  per  acre.  About  77,000  acres  of  public 
lands  exist  in  the  county.  Anxious  to  have  the 
prosperity  of  the  county  enhanced,  and  its  unoc- 
cupied lands  taken,  the  people  would  hail  with 
delight  the  influx  of  an  industrious  population. 


Xlll. 
AIOBILE   COUNTY 


Population:  White,  27,500;  colored,  21,000. 
Area,  1,200  square  miles.  Woodland,  all,  except 
coast  marshes;  rolling  pine  lauds, f:<2(i  square  miles: 
pine  flats,  470  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton,  approximately,  10;  in  corn, 
1,G39:  in  oats,  139;  in  rice,  191;  in  sugar-cane, 
151;  in  sweet  potatoes,  776. 

County  Seat — Mobile;  population,  32,000;  lo- 
cated on  Mobile  River,  near  its  entrance  into  ^fo- 
bile  Bay. 

Xewspapers  published  at  County  Seat — Register, 
Blade,  Clirutian  Weekly,  Item  and  Sunday  Times, 
Democratic. 

Postoffices  in  the  County — Bayou,  Labatre, 
Chickasabogue,  Chunchula,  Citronelle,  Coden, 
Cox,  Creola,  Grand  Bay,  Mobile,  Mount  Vernon, 
Nanna,  Hubba,  Prichard,  Saint  Elmo,  Spring 
Hill,  Theodore,  Venetia,  Whistler. 

Mobile  was  established  in  1813, and  named  for  the 
bay  whose  waters  wash  its  eastern  shores.  It  lies  in 
the  extreme  southwest  corner  of  the  State,  and  is 
the  wealtiest,  most  populous,  and  one  of  the  largest 
counties  of  the  Commonwealth. 

The  educational  advantages  of  Mobile  have  been 
proverbially  excellent  for   almost  a  half   century. 


The  city  takes  great  pride  in  the  maintenance  of 
her  famous  institution  of  learning — the  Barton 
Academy.  The  Medical  College  of  Alabama  is 
located  here.  As  a  point  of  refuge  from  the  chill 
and  blast  of  a  Xortheru  clime.  Mobile  is  without 
a  rival.  Generally,  the  winters  are  exceedingly 
mild  and  but  rarely  at  all  harsh.  It  is  delight- 
ful as  a  place  of  residence  even  in  midsummer.  The 
cool  breezes  from  the  sea  sweep  it  continually  and 
fan  away  the  scorching  heat  of  summer  tide.  Dot- 
ting the  coasts  of  the  Bay.  opposite  the  city,  are 
magnificent  hotels  which  have  become  famous  as 
summer  resorts. 

The  timbers  of  the  county  include  the  oak, 
hickory,  elm,  magnolia,  bay,  cypress,  sweet  and 
sour  gums,  and  yellow  pine.  The  water  outlets 
are  furnislied  by  tlie  Mobile  River  and  Bay  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  Escatawpa  River  on  tlie  other. 
Beautiful  streams  of  perpetual  flow  ramify  differ- 
ent portions  of  the  county. 

The  natural,  social,  and  commercial  advantages 
possessed  by  Mobile  indicate  it  as  one  of  the  com- 
ing cities  of  the  South. 

Mobile  County  contains  9T,000  acres  of  land  be- 
longing to  the  Government. 


''^m--^' 


MOBILE. 


DR.  GEORGE  A.  KETCHUM.  Ralph  Ketch- 
um,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  wlio 
was  born  on  Long  Island,  of  Welch  ancestors,  in 
1780,  was  married  in  1807,  in  the  city  of  Xew 
York,  to  Christiana  Colden,  a  daughter  of  Gen. 
Griffiths  of  the  British  Army.  Prior  to  his  mar- 
riage, Ralph  had  made  his  home  in  Augusta,  Ga., 
and  there  his  English  wife  became  the  mother  of 
five  sons  who  have  made  their  impress  upon  the 


history  of  the  South.  Richard  Colden  Ketchum 
became  a  distinguished  divine  in  the  place  of  his 
birth ;  Major  William  H.  Ketchum  commanded 
a  battery  of  artillery  in  the  Confederate  Army  ; 
Col.  Charles  T.  Ketchum  became  the  Colonel 
of  the  Thirty-eighth  Alabama  Infantry  :  Capt. 
John  R.  Ketchum  died  in  tlie  defense  of  Atlanta 
in  the  first  battle  fought  after  the  removal  of  (Jen. 
Johnston.     The  career  of  Dr.  George  A.  Ketchum 


238 


i^r^ 


> 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


239 


us  physician,  teacher  and  citizen,  constitutes  one 
of  tlie  brightest  pages  iu  tlie  history  of  Alabama. 
Creorge  Augustus  Ketchuni  was  born  iu  Augus- 
ta, (ia.,  April  (J,  \%'lh,  and  there  his  youtli  was 
passed  uj)  to  the  time  of  the  removal  of  his  fatlier 
to  Mobile,  Ala.,  which  took  place  in  \%'-\h.  His 
scholastic  training,  which  was  committed  in  turn 
to  two  teachers  of  distinction,  was  completed 
under  the  tutorship  of  Mr.  A.  A.  Kimball,  who 
prepared  him  for  the  Sophomore  class  at  Prince- 
ton. At  this  juncture  his  father's  failure  in  busi- 
ness disconcerted  his  plans,  and  led  him,  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  to  accept  the  jiosition  of  assistant 
teacher  then  offered  him  by  his  tutor,  Mr.  Kim- 
ball, in  his  Academy  at  Livingston,  Ala.  After 
such  wholesome  preliminary  training,  he,  in  due 
time,  began  his  studies  in  his  chosen  profession, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  late  Dr.  F.  A.  Ivoss, 
and  for  two  years  he  occupied  the  position  of  resi- 
dent student  in  the  Mobile  City  Hospital.  While 
thus  employed,  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  of  1843 
brought  him  for  the  first  time  into  practical  con- 
tact with  a  disease  in  whose  treatment  he  was  des- 
tined to  win  such  wide  and  merited  distinction. 
In  the  ilctlical  College  of  South  Carolina,  at 
Charleston,  he  attended  his  first  course  of  lectures 
at  the  session  of  1S4-1-1845.  In  the  spring  of 
184."),  he  went  for  the  completion  of  his  studies  to 
I'hiladeliihia,  graduating  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  as  il.]).  in  the  spriiig  of  1840.  While 
a  student  in  Philadelphia,  he  formed  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Miss  Susan  Burton,  a  daughter  of  one  of 
the  original  (Quaker  families  tliat  came  over  with 
Penn,  and  to  her  he  was  married  in  November, 
1848.  Two  years  prior  to  that  event  he  had  be- 
gun the  practice  of  medicine  in  Mobile,  where  his 
professional  success  was  marked  and  rapid.  The 
yellow  fever  ei)idemics  of  1.S47  and  1848,  which 
took  place  soon  after  his  admission  to  practice, 
gave  him  the  opjjortunity  for  an  experiment 
which  produced  rich  and  permanent  results.  At 
this  time,  he,  it  was.  wlio  first  ventured  to  admin- 
ister large  doses  of  quinine  in  the  earlier  stages  of 
the  disease,  a  treatment  which  was  repeated  witli 
sucli  success  in  the  epidemics  of  1853-58-67-70- 
73  and  78  iu  ^[obile,  that  it  has  now  become  the 
general  practice  in  yellow  fever  cases  throughout 
the  South.  With  sucli  a  beginning,  and  with  a 
power  to  labor  which  has  been  seldom  equalled, 
and  with  a  charm  of  manner  never  to  be  surpassed, 
the  young  physician  soon  won  his  way  into  as 
large  and  lucrative  a  practice  as  any  physician  has 


ever  enjoyed  in  the  city  of  Mobile.  For  many 
years  liis  labors  as  a  practitioner  and  consulting 
physician  have  been  sufficient  to  exhaust  the  time 
and  resources  of  any  ordinary  man,  and  to  exclude 
all  other  pursuits.  And  yet  in  sjjite  of  this  mass 
of  work  his  activities  have  extended  so  far  beyond 
the  circle  of  his  duties  as  a  mere  practitioner  of 
medicine,  that  his  achievements  in  that  s))here  con- 
stitute only  a  part  in  the  sum  total  of  his  life 
work. 

Dr.  Ketchum's  relations  to  the  medical  profes- 
sion and  to  the  cause  of  public  hygiene,  can  not 
be  measured  by  any  standard  that  excludes  from 
consideration  the  services  ho  has  rendered  to  the 
cause  of  medical  education  and  to  the  preservation 
of  the  public  health.  To  every  movement  which 
has  been  orgai.ized  in  his  day,  not  only  in  his  own 
State,  but  in  the  Union,  for  the  advancement  of 
the  medical  profession  as  a  corporate  body,  and 
for  tlie  increase  of  its  usefulness  as  a  teacher  of 
sanitary  science,  he  has  given  his  active  and 
earnest  support.  The  central  aim  of  his  life  has 
been  to  teach  the  true  science  of  medicine  in  its 
highest  sense  to  the  younger  members  of  his  own 
profession,  and  at  the  same  time  to  practically 
demonstrate  how  the  science  of  public  hygiene 
can  be  utilized  by  the  State  for  the  preservation 
of  the  public  health.  In  both  departments  of 
labor  he  has  been  eminently  successful,  and  ia 
both  he  has  been  awarded  the  very  highest  stations 
of  usefulness  and  authority.  In  1848,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Dr.  J.  C.  Nott  and  others,  he  organized 
the  Medical  College  of  Alabama,  with  which  he 
has  ever  since  been  jirominently  connected.  Since 
1859.  he  has  held  the  position  of  Professor  of  the 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine:  and  since  the 
resignation  of  the  late  Dr.  Wm.  II.  Anderson,  he 
has  been  the  Dean  of  the  Faculty.  As  a  medical 
lecturer  he  is  especially  hai)py.  An  easy  and  nat- 
ural delivery,  coupled  with  a  perfect  mastery  of 
English  prose,  render  his  lectures  as  attractive  as 
they  are  instructive.  In  the  sanitary  government 
of  ilobile,  city  and  county,  he  has  been  the  most 
important  factor  for  nearly  twenty  years.  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Health  since  1871,  he  has 
rendered,  without  compensation,  services  to  the 
public  which  but  few  outside  of  his  own  profession 
either  understand  or  appreciate.  In  the  medical 
government  of  the  State  his  influence  has  been 
hardly  less  potent.  Xo  one  was  more  active  than 
he  in  bringing  about  the  organization  of  the 
Medical  Association  of  Alabama,  of  which  he  be- 


240 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


came  president  in  1873.  For  many  years  he  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Censors  and  of 
the  State  Board  of  Health.  His  activity  in  the 
line  of  medical  organization  has  not  been  limited, 
however,  to  the  boundaries  of  his  own  State;  as  a 
member  of  the  American  Public  Health  Associ- 
ation, as  a  member  of  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation, and  as  a  member  of  the  Ninth  Inter- 
national Medical  Congress,  his  name  and  fame  as 
a  leader  in  his  profession  have  assumed  a  national 
importance. 

No  review  of  this  many  sided  man,  however 
brief  and  incomplete,  should  exclude  from  con- 
sideration the  influence  which  he  has  exercised  as 
a  citizen  upon  the  political  affairs  of  his  State  and 
county.  With  a  j)erfect  comprehension  of  the 
constitutional  system  under  which  we  live,  with 
a  clear  insight  into  all  the  details  of  executive 
administration,  with  great  gifts  as  an  orator  and 
parliamentarian,  had  his  tastes  been  otherwise, 
he  might  have  figured  as  one  of  the  foremost  poli- 
ticians of  his  time.  Whenever  duty  has  called 
him  into  service  in  that  department  of  work,  his 
great  aptitude  for  public  iiffairs,  his  immovable 
firmness,  coupled  with  great  tact  in  the  manage- 
ment of  popular  assemblies,  have  invariably  given 
to  him  a  position  in  the  foi'emost  rank.  For 
many  years  before  tlie  war  he  stood  at  the  head  of 
Mobile's  municipal  legislature  as  president  of  the 
Common  Council;  and  when  the  stirring  events 
of  1800-61  made  every  community  in  the  South 
turn  for  counsel  to  its  wisest  and  strongest  men, 
the  county  of  Mobile  selected  him  as  one  of  four 
to  represent  her  in  the  convention  which  severed 
the  relations  of  Alabama  with  the  Union.  As 
volunteer  surgc-on  ho  went  with  the  State  Artillery 
to  Pensacola,  where  he  received  his  commission  as 
surgeon  of  the  Fifth  Alabama.  While  on  his  way 
to  Virginia  with  his  regiment,  he  was  solicited  by 
Dr.  J.  C.  Nott  to  accept  a  position  as  surgeon  in 
an  organization  formed  for  the  defense  of  Mobile, 
which  was  then  sadly  deficient,  owing  to  the  in- 
crease of  population  and  the  absence  of  jihysicians. 
in  medical  aid.  In  tliis  laborious  position  he 
continued  until  the  end  of  the  war.  After  the 
surrender  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Parsons, 
provisional  governor  under  Andrew  Johnson,  a 
member  of  the  Common  Council;  and  for  a  short 
time  he  became,  ex  officio,  ]\[ayor  of  Mobile.  In 
the  councils  of  the  Democratic  party  in  his  State 
and  county,  he  has  been  recognized  as  a  leader 
for  twenty  years. 


And  yet,  neither  in  his  capacity  as  physician  at  the 
bedside,  neither  in  his  capacity  as  teacher  in  the 
college  to  which  he  has  given  the  best  years  of  his 
life,  neither  in  his  capacity  as  a  tireless  adminis- 
trator of  health  laws,  nor  yet  in  his  cajiacity  as 
political  leader,  can  be  found  the  record  of  services 
which  will  forever  interlace  the  name  of  George 
A.  Ketchum  with  that  of  the  city  of  his  adoption. 
When  every  other  memory  connected  with  his  life 
has  been  forgotten,  the  fact  will  remain  that  his 
care  for  the  public  health,  backed  by  his  patience 
and  indomitable  will,  has  brought  a  pure  stream 
of  living  water  from  distant  hill  tops  to  the  cot- 
tage door  and  to  the  palace  gate  of  every  dweller 
in  the  city  of  Mobile.  This  great  achievement  is 
the  legitimate  outcome  of  his  scientific  instinct. 
His  far-seeing  eye  perceived  years  ago  that  the 
public  health  of  his  city  was  imperiled  by  the  lack 
of  a  bountiful  supply  of  i^ure  and  wholesome  water. 
With  the  heart  of  a  humanitarian,  with  the  fore- 
sight of  a  scientist,  and  with  the  pluck  and  pa- 
tience of  a  man  of  business,  he  imposed  upon  him- 
self the  task  of  organizing  a  scheme  for  the  relief 
of  the  city,  and  that  scheme  he  has  carried  into 
successful  execution.  After  selecting  an  available 
stream  in  the  silence  of  the  forest,  he  next  em- 
ployed competent  hands  to  overcome  the  engineer- 
ing and  legal  difficulties  which  forbade  its  in- 
gress to  the  city,  and  at  last  induced  capitalists 
to  come  from  abroad  and  transform  his  dream 
into  a  reality.  Through  his  efEorts,  after  twenty 
years  of  working  and  waiting.  Mobile  to-day  enjoys 
one  of  the  most  perfect  aiid  bountiful  sujijilies  of 
water  that  can  be  found  in  any  city  in  the  Union, 
not  only  for  sanitary  bnt  for  fire  purposes.  In 
the  time  to  come,  when  his  labors  have  ended,  jier- 
haj^s  a  grateful  people  will  perpetuate  the  memory 
of  this  great  service,  by  the  erection  of  a  public 
drinking  fountain,  over  which  the  unselfish  physi- 
cian shall  preside  in  bronze  or  marble. 

In  the  social  life  of  Mobile,  Dr.  Ketchum's 
splendid  home  has  been  a  source  of  j^leasureand  an 
object  of  interest  for  many  years.  Here  his  warm- 
hearted wife  and  charming  daughter  (married  a  few 
years  ago  to  Robert  Gage,  Esq.,  of  Boston)  dis- 
pense a  hospitality  as  unaffected  as  it  is  attractive. 

When,  from  every  point  of  view — professional 
political  and  social — it  appears  that  the  life-work 
of  a  man  has  ripened  into  a  full  harvest  of  suc- 
cess, honor  and  usefulness,  the  fact  is  revealed 
that  the  author  of  such  results  must  be  a  man,  not 
only  of  well-rounded  character,  but  of  systematic 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


241 


and  conscientious  habits  of  work.  Of  no  one 
could  this  be  more  truly  said  tluiii  of  Dr. 
Ketchum. 

With  high  natural  endowmont.s,  hotii  of  mind 
and  person,  he  has  trusted  nothing  to  chance 
or  genius:  with  him  genius  has  been  made  the 
voke-fellow  of  labor.     V>\  linking  together  great 


natural  gifts  with  habits  of  patient  and  sys- 
tematic work,  he  has  attained,  not  an  eccentric 
eminence,  but  the  highest  legitimate  distinction 
as  a  physician  and  citizen.  When  the  roundness, 
the  fullness,  the  completeness  of  his  life-work  is 
considered,  the  result  may  be  well  e.vpressed — 
"Simphx  a/i/i/c  ruhiinhis." 


XIV. 
PIKE  COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  ]4,;5(JS;  colored,  f!,-^;-^. 
Area.  740  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Oak  and 
hickory  uplands.  5!t0  square  miles:  ])ine  hills, 
150  square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately).  SS.lJdii:  in 
corn,  5(1,648;  in  oats,  6,508;  in  wheat,  80;  in  rye, 
127:  in  sugar-cane,  550;  in  sweet  potatoes,  1,359. 

Approximate  number  of  bales  of  cotton,  in  round 
numbers.  19,000. 

County  Seat — Troy;  population.  :i.000:  located 
at  terminus  of  3[obile  &  Girard  Railroad. 

Newspapers  published  at  the  County  Seat — En- 
quirer and  Messenger  (Democratic). 

Postoffiees  in  the  County — Barr's  Mill,  Krun- 
didge.  Buck  Horn,  Catalpa,  Chesser,  China  (irove. 
County  Line,  Curry.  Fleetwood,  Flemington, 
Goshen  Hill,  Harmony.  Henderson.  Indian  Branch, 
Josie.  Linwood,  Little  Oak,  ^filo,  Monticello, 
Olustee  Creek,  Orion,  Pottersville,  Troi/,  Wingard. 

Pike  County  was  established  December  17, 
1821,  from  portions  of  Henry  and  Montgomery, 
and  was  named  in  honor  of  General  Zebulon  M. 
Pike,  who  fell  at  York  (now  Toronto),  April  27, 
181:5. 

The  Alabama  Midland  Railroad  will  pass  through 
Troy,  and  diagonally  across  the  county  from  the 
northwest  to  the  southeast  corner  the  Mobile  &  Gir- 
ard, from  Troy  to  Pollard,  the  Brunswick  &  Mem- 
phis Railroad,  ria  Greenville,  through  Troy  to 
Clayton.     All  the  present    indications  favor  and 


justify  the  expectation  that  these  roads  will  be 
completed  within  i-easonahle  time. 

Tlie  lands  are  generally  level  with  suflicient  un- 
dulation for  proper  drainage.  Except  in  a  few 
localities  in  the  northern  and  central  portions  of 
the  county,  there  is  no  land  unsuited  for  cultiva- 
tion on  account  of  the  abruptness  of  those  undula- 
tions. The  character  of  the  soil  varies,  embody- 
ing red  clay,  black  hummock  and  sandy  soils.  In 
the  northwestern  and  southeastern  portions  of  the 
county  are  large  bodies  of  fine  red  lands, 
which  are  very  ])roductive  and  lasting.  In  the 
northeastern  and  southwestern  portions  it  is 
generally  sandy,  with  a  sufficient  admixture  of 
lime  to  render  them  very  productive  when  first 
brought  into  cultivation:  but  within  five  years 
their  i)roductive  capacity  exhausts,  unless  aided 
by  fertilizers.  In  the  central  portion  of  the  county 
every  character  of  soil  above  enumerated  can  be 
found.  The  close  proximity  of  a  clay  foundation 
renders  all  of  these  lands  susceptible  of  the  highest 
improvement  by  fertilization. 

A  chain  of  hills  in  the  northeastern  portion  of 
the  county  contains  iron  ore  of  good  quality  in 
abundance.  There  are  also  beds  of  marl  sufficient- 
ly rich  in  phosphoric  .acid  to  justify  utilization  in 
several  localities  in  the  county.  There  are  also 
deposits  of  ochre,  acid  iron  earth  and  other  val- 
uable minerals  in  the  county,  none  of  which  have 
been  utilized. 


243 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


There  are  vast  areas  of  pine  timber  in  the  county, 
which,  with  better  faf>ilitiesfor  shipment  or  being 
more  accessible  to  a  railroad  line,  would  be  very 
valuable. 

There  are  also  large  quantities  of  hickory, 
white  oak,  red  oak,  and  cypress  in  the  swamps 
near  watercourses,  which  could  be  utilized  to  ad- 
vantage by  a  furniture  or  bucket  and  barrel  factory. 
Several  large  contracts  for  staves  are  now  being 
filled  by  residents  of  Linwood,  and  the  staves  fur- 
nished are  classed  A  No.  1. 

Immigrants  of  limited  means  will  find  all  their 
hearts  could  crave  or  wishes  prompt  in  regard  to  a 
cheap,  pleasant,  healthy  home  in  Pike  County. 
The  price  of  land  ranges  from  §2  to  *10  per  acre. 
Some  highly  improved  command  $20  jier  acre,  but 
in  such   cases   the   improvements   represent   over 


half  of  the  price.  Immigrants  would  be  kindly 
received  and  considerately  treated.  Regardless  of 
nativity,  they  would  be  accorded  that  regard  and 
esteem  to  which  their  merits  and  intrinsic  worth 
would  entitle  them. 

The  i^eople  are  law-abiding  and  orderly,  very 
hospitable  and  kind,  and  ambitious  to  elevate  and 
improve  their  condition  and  place  their  posterity 
on  a  higher  plane  of  intelligence  and  usefulness. 
They  study  their  business  closely,  and  are  prompt 
in  adojiting  improvements  that  are  j)ractical  and 
advantageous.  Their  homes  are  generally  well 
kept,  neat  and  tidy,  and  possess  every  comfort  and 
convenience  their  ability  will  i^ermitthem  to  enjoy. 
By  judicious  management  they  have  largely 
increased  the  jn-oductiveness  of  their  lands  within 
the  past  ten  years. 


XV. 

WASHINGTON    COUNTY. 


Population:  White,  3,000;  colored,  1,500. 
Area,  1,0.")0  square  miles.  Woodland,  all.  Undu- 
lating pine-lands,  800  square  miles;  lime  hills  and 
shell-prairie  lands,  1.50  square  miles:  pine  hills,  100 
square  miles. 

Acres — In  cotton  (approximately),  3,300;  in 
corn,  4,259;  in  oats,  464;  in  rice,  07;  in  sugar- 
cane, 90;  in  sweet  potatoes,  448. 

Ai^proximate  number  otf  bales  of  cotton,  1,400. 

County  Seat — St.  Stephens;  population,  200. 

Postoffices  in  the  County-^Atchison,  Bigbee, 
Escatawpa,  Gondola,  Healing  Springs,  Koeton, 
Lumberton,  Mcintosh  Bluff,  Millry,  St.  Stejihens, 
Sims  Chapel,  Washington. 

Washington  is  the  oldest  county  in  the  State, 
having  been  created  by  Governor  Sargent  in  1800. 
It  was  named  for  the  first  President  of  the  United 
States.  Considerable  historic  interests  attaches 
to  the  county.  It  has  the  honor  of  having  within 
its    limits   the    first    capital    of    Alabama — St. 


Stephens.  It  was  in  this  county  that  Aaron  Burr 
was  arrested,  in  18<i7.  It  is  alike  noted  for  the 
quiet  tone  of  its  people,  its  forests  of  timber,  its 
health,  and  its  healing  springs. 

Pine,  oak,  hickory,  beech,  ash,  cedar,  cypress, 
and  dogwood  are  the  trees  which  stock  the  forests 
of  the  county.  Many  of  these  are  of  matchless 
size,  and  are  of  great  marketable  value,  (heat 
quantities  of  turpentine  are  gathered  from  the  jjine 
forests. 

St.  Stephens  and  Escatawpa  are  the  places  of 
interest.  A  good  common-school  system  exists  in 
the  county. 

Lands  may  be  had  for  $1,  or  as  high  as  88  per 
acre.  The  inhabitants  would  be  glad  to  welcome, 
as  accessions  to  their  ijoi^ulation,  earnest  and  ener- 
getic citizens. 

The  county  of  AVashiugton  embraces  130,120 
acres  of  Government  land  awaiting  the  occupation 
of  settlers. 


PART  IV. 

Monographs  of  the  Principal  Cities  and  Towns  in  Northern 
AND  Central  Alabama,  together  with  Biograph- 
ical Sketches  of  many  of  their  Rep- 
resentative People. 


HUNTSVILLE. 


Himtsville,  in  the  rolling  liighlantls  of  the  Ten- 
nessee Valiov,  bordered  by  niountain  ranges,  is 
the  heart  of  the  most  jileasant.  healthful  and  at- 
tractive canttiii  on  the  continent  of  Xorth 
America.  It  is  the  oldest  English  settled  town 
in  Alabama,  and  tlie  county  seat  of  the  oldest 
county,  Miwlison.  Its  early  history  is  for  tliat 
period  the  history  of  the  State.  In  the  undulat- 
ing table-land  between  the  State  line,  north,  and 
the  great  bend  of  the  Tennessee  IJiver,  south, 
where  it  breaks  through  the  Cumberland  chain,  at 
Guntersville,  and  turns  its  course  to  the  northwest, 
the  town  lies  at  the  northwest  foot  of  Monte 
Sano,  behind  which  wild-woods  and  mountain 
ridges  rise  to  the  east.  On  the  eastern  side  of  a 
beautiful  and  fertile  valley,  extending  ten  miles 
southward  to  the  river,  it  looks  out  upon  long 
ranges  in  the  distance,  and  rounded  spurs  here 
and  there  looking  up  from  the  broad  plateau,  while 
north  and  west  a  semicircle  of  fields  and  forests  is 
spread,  with  farm-houses,  herds  of  cattle,  horses 
and  mules,  crops  of  grain,  clover  and  blue  grass, 
cotton  and  corn,  in  their  season,  giving  variety 
and  life  to  the  exquisite  jianorama. 

.Madison  County  is  situated  between  it"  and 
10*^  of  longitude  west  of  Washington,  and  be- 
tween 34'-'  3i>'   and  35"  of  north  latitude.     The 


elevation  of  Iluntsville,  at  the  court-house,  is  040 
feet  above  the  sea;  that  of  Monte  Sano,  1,:00  feet. 
The  climate,  winter  and  summer,  is  unrivaled  in 
America,  and  the  .air  is  light,  and  pure  and  sweet. 
The  soil  is  similar  to  that  of  the  region  of  Lex- 
ington. Ky.  With  a  red  clay  sub-soil  and  lime- 
stone foundation,  it  is  sniiceptible  of  the  highest 
degree  of  fertility. 

Ever  since  the  discovery  of  Cat  Island  and  Cuba 
by  Christopher  Columbus,  in  1492,  the  territory, 
embracing  Madison  County  and  Himtsville,  has 
been  included  in  various  grand  land  enterprises. 
With  shipping  furnished  by  Henry  YII.  of  Eng- 
land, and  autiiority  to  occupy  and  possess  in  the 
name  of  the  King,  Sebastian  Cabot  first  discovered 
the  continent  of  North  America  at  Labrador  in 
1407,  and  in  1498-9  and  loOd  he  made  further  dis- 
coveries as  far  south  as  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Upon 
this  basis  of  right,  Queen  P^lizabeth,  in  1585, 
granted  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  for  settlement  and 
development,  the  territory  of  America  between 
45^  and  33'  north  latitude,  which  wa^s  named  by 
him  after  the  virgin  queen,  Virginia.  But  this 
enterprise  soon  came  to  naught,  and  in  IGOil  .James 
I.  granted  to  "the  London  Company"  the  terri- 
tory from  the  Potomac  River  to  the  Cape  Fear,  to 
be  called '■  South   Virginia."    Vnder  its  auspices, 


243 


244 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


the  settlement  was  made  at  Jamestown,  on  James 
River.  This  company  failed  in  1624,  and  surren- 
dered its  franchises  back  to  the  crown.  In  166.3-5, 
Charles  II.  granted  to  eight  of  his  princii^al  ad- 
herents the  territory  lying  between  north  latitude 
36'^  30'  and  29",  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  "west- 
ward to  the  seas  beyond,"  to  be  called  "the  Pro- 
vince of  Carolina."  Under  these  charters,  Edward, 
Earl  of  Clarendon;  George  (Monk),  Duke  of 
Albemarle:  William,  Lord  Craven;  John,  Lord 
Berkley;  Anthony,  Lord  Ashley;  Sir  George  Car- 
teret, Sir  William  Berkley  and  Sir  John  Colleton, 
their  heirs  and  successors,  were  created  "absolute 
Lords  and  Proprietors"  of  this  magnificent  domain, 
the  King  reserving  only  "faith,  allegiance  and 
sovereign  dominion."  These  gentlemen  of  the 
"cavalier"  i^arty  sent  settlers,  many  of  them 
relatives,  to  their  colony,  of  which  Charles  Town 
(Charleston),  established  in  1672,  became  the 
chief  seat.  But  in  1719  the  people  threw  off  the 
Proprietary  government  and  placed  the  Province 
directly  under  the  Royal  Government  of  England. 
AVithin  ten  or  twelve  years,  the  successors  of  the 
original  proprietors,  surrendered  for  less  than 
$100,000,  all  title  and  interest  in  "Carolina," 
which  included  not  only  North  and  South  Caro- 
lina, but  the  region  now  occupied  by  Georgia,  the 
greater  part  of  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi  and 
"westward  to  the  seas  beyond."  In  1732,  George 
II.  granted  to  General  Oglethorpe  and  twenty- 
one  trustees,  for  philanthropic  colonization  of  im- 
prisoned debtors  and  persons  bound  to  service,  the 
territory  from  the  Savannah  River  southward  to 
St.  Alary  River,  for  twenty-one  years,  to  be  called 
after  the  King,  "Georgia."  The  period  of  this 
charter  expired  in  1753,  and  Georgia  reverted  to 
the  British  Crown.  The  Revolution  of  1776,  the 
independence  of  the  colonies,  and  the  formation 
of  the  Federal  Government  of  the  United  States, 
changed  the  status.  As  a  sovereign  State, 
Georgia  then  claimed,  under  the  Royal  charter, 
the  territory  north  of  318,  westward  to  the  Miss- 
issippi River.  In  1783  the  British  Government 
ceded  all  rights  to  the  L'nited  States,  and  in  1802, 
for  the  sum  of  81,250,000,  Georgia  ceded  to  the 
General  Government  the  whole  of  her  territory  be- 
tween the  Chattahoochee  and  Mississippi  Rivers, 
amounting  to  1,000,000  square  miles,  stipulating 
that  every  sixteenth  section  should  be  donated  for 
purposes  of  education. 

The  commissioners  who  effected  this  transaction 
on   the  part  of    the   General  Government,  were 


James  Madison,  Albert  Gallatin  and  Levi  Lincoln. 
Those  who  represented  Georgia  were  James  Jack- 
son, Abraham  Baldwin  and  John  Milledge.  North 
and  South  Carolina  also  ceded  all  claims  to  terri- 
tory from  the  western  boundary  of  those  States  to 
the  Mississippi  River  and  the  boundary  of  Miss- 
issippi Territory  was  extended  northward  to  the 
Tennessee  State  line. 

But,  j)revious  to  this  great  transfer,  two  epi- 
sodes occurred,  touching  territory,  in  which  Madi- 
son County  is  embraced. 

In  1875,  out  of  that  portion  of  the  then  terri- 
tory north  of  the  Tennessee  River,  the  State  of 
Georgia,  by  enactment,  created  the  coun- 
ty of  Houston,  called  after  John  Hous- 
ton, Governor  of  Georgia.  Commissioners 
were  appointed  to  organize  it,  and,  with 
eighty  men,  proceeded  to  Muscle  Shoals  for 
that  purpose.  A  land-oilice  was  opened,  and 
magistrates  were  made.  But  apprehension  of 
the  Chickasaw  Indians  arose.  The  party  broke 
np  and  departed,  and  the  enterprise  fell 
through. 

In  17'.»4-5,  the  government  of  Georgia  author- 
ized the  sale  of  21,500,000  acres  of  land,  now  in 
Alabama  and  Mississippi,  for  the  sum  of  8500,000. 
The  pur-'hasers  were  companies  of  speculators 
called  "The  Yazoo  Land  Company,"  "The 
Georgia  Land  Company,"  and  "The  Tennessee 
Land  Company."  The  measure  was  passed  by 
bribery  and  corruption,  and  was  afterward  char- 
acterized as  "The  Yazoo  Fraud."  The  Legislature 
succeeding  obtained  ample  proofs  of  bribery,  ex- 
punged the  bill  from  the  journal,  and  had  the 
official  engrossed  act  burned  at  Louisville,  at 
that  time  the  capital  of  Georgia.  But,  "  The 
Tennessee  Land  Company"  having  received  a 
deed  over  the  seal  of  Georgia  and  sign-manual  of 
its  Governor,  Matthews,  to  that  pai"t  of  North 
Alabama  "from  the  Tennessee  line,  extending 
South  to  latitude  35"  10',  and,  with  Bear  Creek 
as  its  western  boundary,  thence  running  east  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles,"  claimed  a  good  title 
to  all  North  Alabama  for  a  distance  of  sixty  miles 
south,  including  1,000,000  acres  among  the  rich- 
est, in  agricultural  and  mineral  resources,  in  the 
United  States.  While  the  Indians  occupied  the 
land,  and  called  it  their  own,  this  corporation  di- 
vided it  into  townships  and  sections,  or  lots,  of 
one  thousand  acres  each,  and  sold  what  they  could 
on  a  credit  of  one,  two,  three  and  four  years, 
without  interest,   about  the  years  lSOO-7.     Deeds 


XOJ^  THERX  ALABAMA, 


245 


thus  given  antedate  other  titles,  except  ii  few.  ami 
were  recordeil  in  1810-11 — tlie  first  that  iii)pe:ir 
on  the  county  deed  books.  The  oldest  deed  is  to 
-Martin  Beatty,  in  1808,  for  one  thousaud  acres  in 
a  square,  including  '"the  big  spring."  and  nearly 
all  of  Iluntsville.  The  consideration  was  one 
tiiousand  dollars.  Other  conveyances  were  to 
Freeman  Jones,  450  acres,  William  Campbell,  tj4<) 
acres.  G.  Harrison,  200  acres,  and  to  Henry  L. 
Sheffey,  10,O0O  acres— all  at  the  rate  of  i^l  jier 
acre.  The  last  of  these  deeds  recorded  bears 
date  of  record  in  ISll,  to  Martin  IJeatty  and  Ben- 
jamin Estill,  40,000  acres,  excepting  (;,000  in- 
cluded and  already  sold  at  the  rate  of  %\  per 
acre.  This  tract  covered  land  in  the  region  of 
Iluntsville,  and  was  one  of  the  finest  in  the 
South. 

The  Indian  tribes  had  been  recognized  by  the 
General  Government  as  independent  communi- 
ties, and  their  riglit  to  remain  in  possession  of 
of  their  lands  and  to  sell  them  when  they  pleased, 
was  acknowledged,  so  that  all  sales  of  lands  by 
comjianies  or  individuals,  when  the  Indian  titles 
were  not  extinguished,  were  held  null  and  void 
and  were  disallowed  by  the  (ieneral  (iovernment. 
And  after  lands  were  ceded  by  the  Indians  to  the 
General  Government,  parties  had  no  claims,  excejit 
occupancy  and  preemption,  the  same  as  other 
settlers  on  land,  at  the  time  of  survey  of  the  public 
domain  for  public  sale.  These  just  and  projier 
decisions  were  arrived  at  in  consequence  of  the 
claims  set  up  by  the  corporators  of  the  gigantic 
land  speculations,  mentioned. 

In  1814,  Congress  appropriated  8600,000  of 
script,  known  as  ''Mississippi  stock."  for  distribu- 
tion iH'O  rata  among  the  claimants  under  the  Land 
Company,  and  receivable  in  payment  of  j)ublic 
lands  in  the  territory  claimed  by  the  "  Tennessee 
Land  Company."  Prior  to  the  land  sales  of  ISOO, 
Martin  Beatty  had  relinquished  his  claim  to  the 
land  about  Iluntsville  and  the  spring,  and  entered 
other  lands.  The  claims  of  many  others  were  sim- 
ilarly settled  ^y  the  (ieneral  Government.  After 
181."),  the  few  purchasers  from  the  "Tennessee 
Land  Company '"  who  had  not  adjusted  or  filed 
their  claims  were  ejected  by  troops,  and  the  United 
States  had  undisputed  title  to  the  lands  obtained 
from  Georgia. 

In  1805,  John  Hunt  first  came  to  the  "  Big 
Spring,"  and,  in  180(;,  brought  his  family  from 
East  Tennessee  to  that  locality.  After  him  the 
town  was  named.     He  failed  to  perfect  his  title  to 


the  land  he  occupied  at  first.  One  of  his  descend- 
ants was  John  Hunt  Morgan,  the  distinguished 
cavalry  officer  of  the  Confederate  Army,  who  was 
betrayed  and  killed  at  (ireenville,  Tenn.  A  year 
or  two  before  1805,  old  man  Ditto  was  among  the 
Indians  at  Ditto's  Landing,  now  called  Whites- 
burg:  John  McCartney,  from  Georgia,  was  living 
near  the  Tennessee  line;  and  Joseph  and  Isaac 
C'riner  built  a  house  near  Criner's  big  spring,  on 
Alountain  Fork  of  Flint  Kiver,  before  the  first  visit 
of  Hunt. 

The  land  embraced  in  Madison  County  was  the 
common  hunting-ground  of  the  Cherokee  and 
Chickasaw  Indian  tribes,  used  by  buth  and  settled 
by  neither.  These  were  the  finest  of  their  race  in 
physique,  intelligence,  and  courage:  and,  though 
savage  and  cruel,  they  sometimes  exhibited  genu- 
ine nnignaniinity.  The  Cherokees  in  1712-13 
assisted  the  colonists  of  Carolina,  under  Cols.  John 
Barnwell  and  James  Moore,  to  defeat  the  Tusca- 
rora  Indians,  who  had  seriously  threatened  the 
province,  and  helped  to  drive  them  northward, 
where  they  joined  the  Five  Nations  under  King 
Philip.  The  Chickasaws  are  not  known  to  have 
ever  been  defeated  in  battle.  The  rugged  moun- 
tain region,  eastward  of  Madison, with  their  strong- 
hold at  Nickajack,  was  occupied  b}'  the  Cherokees; 
and  the  country,  westward  to  the  Mississippi  River, 
north  of  the  Choctaws,  who  inhabited  the  prairie' 
section  below  them,  belonged  to  the  Chickasaws. 

July  2."5,  1805,  the  Chickasaws  ceded  their  claim 
to  tlie  land  east  of  a  line  run  from  the  mouth  of 
Duck  Kiver  on  the  Tennessee  line,  to  the  western 
])art  of  "  Chickasaw  old  fields"  on  the  Tennessee 
Kiver:  and  January  7,  1806,  the  Cherokees  ceded 
their  right  to  land  west  of-  a  direct  line  from  near 
the  source  of  Elk  River  to  Chickasaw  Island,  now 
Hobbs.  in  the  Tennessee  River.  This  area  con- 
tained 322,000  acres.  About  thirty  miles  north 
and  soutii.  it  was  three  miles  wide  on  the  river  and 
twenty-five  wide  on  the  State  line,  and  when  or- 
ganized was  called  '•  Old  Madison."  This  occurred 
in  180S.  Robert  Williams,  originally  from  North 
Carolina,  the  Governor  of  Mississippi  Territory, 
by  proclamation  created  the  county  of  ^fadisou. 
Here  was  made  the  first  government  survey  in  the 
territory, and  in  1809,  in  the  land  oflSceat  Nashvile, 
the  first  public  sale  of  land  in  the  teriitory  was 
made  of  the  lands  of  Madison  County. 

'•  The  great  bend  of  the  Tennessee  River,"  in- 
cludes the  counties  of  Madison,  .lackson,  Lauder- 
dale and  Limestone.    The  river  crosses  tlie  thirty- 


246 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


fifth  parallel  of  latitude  about  ten  miles  uortheast 
of  Bridgeport  and  turns  southwest,  reaching  its 
extreme  southern  point  near  Guntersville,  at  a 
point  about  forty-two  miles  due  south  of  the  Ten- 
nessee State  line,  and  then  turning  northwest, 
again  enters  Tennessee  at  the  northwest  corner  of 
the  State,  some  ten  miles  down  the  river  from 
Eastport.  The  distance  from  the  Huntsville 
meridian,  along  the  Tennessee  line  to  Mississippi 
State  line,  is  about  ninety  miles  and  from  this 
meridian  westward  to  the  Tennessee  River,  is  about 
fifty  miles,  and  on  from  the  river  to  the  Georgia 
State  line,  at  the  corner  of  Jackson  and  DeKalb 
counties,  ten  miles.  The  great  bend  measured  east 
and  west  along  the  Tennessee  line,  is  one  hundred 
and  forty  miles  from  entrance  to  exit  of  the  river, 
and  its  greatest  extent  north  and  south  is  forty-two 
miles.  Madison  and  Limestone  counties  occupy 
the  middle  portion  of  this  territory,  extending 
from  the  river  to  the  State  line.  The  early  set- 
tlers of  North  Alabama  were  men  who  had  fought 
the  Indians  in  Western  Georgia  and  Middle  Tennes- 
see, and  were  inured  to  the  danger,  privation,  and 
suffering  of  pioneer  life.  But  when  they  came  to 
Alabama,  they  found  a  land  of  jieace  and  plenty. 
Though  nearly  surrounded  by  savage  tribes,  there 
never  was  any  war  or  disturbance  in  Madison 
County.  The  white  settlers,  who  came  in  1805-6, 
were  never  molested  by  the  Indians.  The  Chero- 
kees  and  Chickasaws  visited  it  in  autumn,  and  re- 
turned to  their  settlements,  as  winter  set  in,  laden 
with  game.  Their  camping-grounds  can  now  be 
identified  by  the  stone  arrow-heads  and  hatchets, 
scattered  over  the  fields  in  certain  places.  The 
pioneers  who  first  settled  the  county,  from  Geor- 
gia and  Tennessee,  originally  came  from  North 
Carolina  and  Virginia.  They  were  enthusiastic 
in  their  praises  of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the 
county;  and  those  who  were  attracted  to  it  by  the 
glowing  accounts  of  its  wonders,  said,  "  the  half 
had  not  been  told  them."  The  beauty  of  the 
mountains  and  valleys,  the  numerous  clear  and 
sparkling  streams  running  over  pebbly  bottoms, 
and  the  magnificence  of  the  primeval  forests, 
decked  with  the  splendor  of  great  giants  of  the 
woods,  led  them  to  think  this  the  finest  region 
ever  trodden  by  the  foot  of  man.  They  had  at 
last  reached  the  land  of  promise.  In  a  climate, 
free  from  extremes  of  either  cold  or  heat,  with  a 
deep,  rich  virgin  soil,  subject  to  neither  floods  nor 
drouths,  a  region  abouiuling  in  game  of  every 
description — deer   and    turkeys,    ducks  and   wild 


pigeons  by  the  hundreds,  thousands  and  millions, 
and  watercourses  full  of  trout,  bream  and  salmon, 
the  native  game  fish,  the  means  of  living  were 
abundant. 

The  lands  once  cleared  and  fenced,  with  little 
labor  yielded  a  generous  support  to  man  and  beast. 
Cattle  and  hogs  required  little  care  and  multiplied 
rapidl  v.  The  seasons  were  regular,  and  good  crops 
could  be  depended  upon. 

When  the  public  lands  were  surveyed  and  sold, 
many  of  these  pioneers,  since  known  as  "squat- 
ters,"' were  able  to  jjurchase  their  homes,  and,  be- 
fore the  close  of  1809,  the  ancestors  of  a  large 
numljcr  of  the  best  citizens  were  permantly 
settled  on  lands  now  occupied  by  their  descend- 
ants. Up  to  the  close  of  the  year  1809,  a  popula- 
tion of  nearly  five  thousand  was  in  the  old  county 
limits;  but.  with  a  few  exceptions,  the  population 
was  of  the  pioneer  type:  however,  stories  of  the 
beauty,  fertility  and  salubrity  of  the  county  began 
to  attract  a  more  cultured  and  wealthy  population 
from  the  other  States,  who  developed  here  the  re- 
finement and  luxury  of  their  former  liomes.  The 
tide  of  immigration  flowed  steadily  in  this  direc- 
tion, slaves  were  brought  in  considerable  numbers, 
and  lands  were  opened  for  cultivation,  good  houses 
were  erected,  and  money  became  plentiful,  with 
abounding  prosperity. 

In  the  year  1807,  the  general  surveyor  for  Mis- 
sissippi Territory  was  authorized  to  contract  for 
the  survey  of  public  lands  in  his  jurisdiction, 
to  which  the  Indian  title  had  been  extinguished. 
Madison  County  was  the  first  land  surveyed  in 
North  Alabama,  with  the  exception  of  the  lands, 
in  Eange  'I,  East,  surveyed  by  T.  Roach.  The  old  . 
county  was  surveyed  by  Thomas  Freeman,  of 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  his  work  was  well  performed. 

The  first  was  the  survey  of  Huntsville  meridian, 
from  the  State  line  to  the  Tennesse  River.  The 
survey  of  "old  Madison"  was  reported  to  the 
land  office  in  May,  and  in  August,  1809,  the  lands 
were  offered  for  sale.  The  land  office  was  at 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  Gen.  John  Brahan  being 
Register.  These  lands  were  eagerly  sought  for 
and  taken  up  by  a  class  of  settlers  who  were,  in 
intellect,  enterprise  and  energy,  the  peers  of  any 
on  the  continent,  and  who,  for  over  a  quarter  of 
a  century  were  prominent  in  the  State  and  Na- 
tional assemblies. 

Immigration  to  the  county,  previous  to  1809, 
came  from  the  direction  of  Winchester,  crossed 
into  the  countv  near  its  northeast  corner,  and  fol- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


247 


lowed  "  the  Cherokee  line  "  ilown  Flint  Hivor  to 
Brownsboro.  Tiie  fine  water-power  at  Flint  liridge 
attracted  many  settlers,  and  Bennett  Wood  entered 
t!ie  lands  from  the  Three  Forks  down  to  the  Bell 
I''actory,  with  the  intention  of  erecting  a  niill 
thereon.  .John  limit  had  made  his  way  from  tlie 
New  .Market  country,  through  the  wilderness,  to 
the  lluntsville  Spring  in  ISO.i,  and  many  followed 
that  path.  But  the  larger  settlement  was  by  way 
of  New  Market  to  Flint  Bridge,  and  down  the  old 
])e{)osit  road  to  the  Brownsboro  neighborhood. 

At  the  laiul  sales  in  ISOSi,  a  strong  tide  of  immi- 
gration commenced  down  the  Meridian  road  by 
l)ersons  from  Williamson,  Bedford  and  .Maury 
Counties,  Tenn.,  to  make  purchases  in  the  newly- 
ojiened  territory.  A  direct  route,  via  Fayetteville, 
to  Nashville  was  established;  and  the  land  office 
remained  in  Nashville  until  1811,  founding  close 
business  relations  between  the  capital  of  Tennes- 
see and  lluntsville.  The  National  road,  when 
Natchez  was  tiie  caj)ital  of  Mississippi  Territory, 
leading  from  Tennessee  to  the  lower  colonies,  was 
first  called  "  the  Natchez  trace,"'  afterwards  "  the 
Military  road,"  because  the  troops  from  Tennessee 
and  Alabama  travelled  it  in  marching  to  the  de- 
fense of  New  Orleans,  and  is  now  "the  Limestone 
road."  The  right  of  way  had  been  conceded  by  the 
Chickasaw  and  Choctaw  tribes  in  ISli.i.  In  ISii'.t 
Wallace  Kstell  entered  the  quarter  section  of  lam! 
where  Cumming's  Mill  now  stands,  and  there  Imilt 
the  first  mill  in  the  county.  Charles  Cabaiiiss 
located  at  I'owers'  Spring,  entered  the  old  Tate 
place  above  Hazel  (ireen,  and  built  the  first  cotton 
factory  in  the  county,  on  Barren  Fork,  in  Section 
S.  II.  Ford  entered  the  land  near  the  junction 
of  Mountain  Fork  and  Barren  Fork,  and  Iniilt 
a  cotton  factory  at  an  early  period. 

Between  Flint  Bridge  and  lluntsville,  William 
Moore,  Nathan  Strong,  James  Boper,  Matthew 
Weaver  and  John  K.  B.  Eldridge  lived.  Down 
the  Meridian  road,  the  land  was  all  taken  up  in 
large  bodies.  Kobert  Thompson  and  Thomas 
Bibb  entered  nearly  all  in  sections  west  of  the 
road  from  Birch  Fork  to  Meridianville;  and  James 
Manning  and  B.  S.  Pope  the  land  south  to  the 
Strong  homestead.  On  the  east  of  the  road  were 
John  Lowry  and  John  and  William  AVatkins. 
Along  the  line  of  the  western  road  from  Pope's 
place.  Powell,  Richard  Harris.  Kowland  Cornelius 
and  others  settled.  From  Strong's  to  lluntsville. 
John  Connally,  D.  Humphrey.  P.  Cox,  John  W. 
Walker,    Charles    Cabaniss    and    Hugh    ^IcVay 


entered.  Out  towards  Russell's  Hill,  George  Dil- 
wortli,  Edward  Ward  and  John  Allison  located 
lands;  and  east  of  lluntsville,  in  Powers  Cave, 
Chailes  Calniniss,  Moses  Vincent  and  Allen  Chris- 
tian lived.  South  and  west  of  lluntsville  many 
|iurcliases  were  made  in  ISO!),  by  ancestors  of  the 
present  owners.  Among  these  early  buyers  were 
Dr.  David  Moore,  A.  and  J.  Sibley,  J.  and  S. 
Ackleii,  W.  Langford,.!.  Withers,  William  Lanier, 
Archie  -McDonald,  D.  Carniichael,  James  and 
Andrew  Drake,  P.  McLemore,  J.  and  W.  Blevins, 
William  Sim])son,  William  Robertson,  Henry 
Hay  lies  and  the  Turners.  Large  bodies  of  land 
were  entered  for  speculation,  and  Petersburg, 
Oa. ,  is  remarkable  for  having  been  the  former 
residence  of  a  large  number  of  the  heaviest  pur- 
chasers of  j)ublie  land.  James  Manning,  R. 
Thompson,  Leroy  Pope,  John  W.  Walker,  Thomas 
J5ibb.  William  Bibb  and  Peyton  Cox,  were  all 
from  that  place,  and  probably  purchased  nearly 
one-half  of  the  lands  sold  in  1800.  They  were, 
for  a  long  time,  prominent  men  in  the  county. 
Of  other  large  purchasers,  C.  Kennedy  was 
from  Pendleton  District,  S.  C. ;  B.  Wood  from 
Tennessee;  Charles  Cabaniss  from  Lunenburg 
County,  Va.;  S.  Allen,  Jacob  Priest  and  Willam 
Robertson  were  living  in  the  county  before  the 
land  sales.  In  181(1  Thomas  Brandon  and  Nich- 
olas IJeedy  entered  the  Henry  Motz  farm;  and 
John  Baker,  the  Holding  Brick  house  tract  below 
-McDonalds  or  Baker's  Creek.  At  that  time,  J. 
H.  I'osey,  C.  C.  Clay  and  Gabriel  Moore  made 
their  first  purchases  of  land  in  Madison  County. 
G.  Moore  settled  the  homestead  west  of  the  brick 
sclioolhouse:  Posey,  north  of  Huntsville;  and 
(May,  a  quarter  section  of  land,  south  of  -Andrew 
Drakes,  in  Drake's  Cove. 

December  -^3,  180(t,  the  Territorial  Legislature 
passed  an  Act,  that  "  William  Dickson,  Edward 
Ward,  Louis  Winston,  Alex.  Gilbreath  and 
Peter  Perkins,  of  Madison  County,  be  elected 
coinmi.ssioners,  for  the  purpose  of  fixing  on  the 
most  convenient  i)!ace  for  establishing  the  public 
buildings  in  the  said  county,  and  they,  or  a  ma- 
jority of  them,  shall  have  power  to  procure,  by 
juircliase  or  otherwise,  not  less  than  thirty,  nor 
more  than  one  hundred,  acres  of  land,  at  the  most 
convenient  anil  suitable  place,  which  shall  be  laid 
out  in  half-acre  lots,  reserving  three  acres  forjiub- 
lic  buildings,  and  sold  at  public  auction,  on 
twelve  months'  credit.  The  money  to  be  applied 
bv  said  commissioners  towards  dcfravins  the  ex 


248 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


penses  of  erecting   the  public   buildings   of   the 
county." 

For  the  quarter  section  of  land  containing  the 
big  spring  there  was  no  competition  at  the  land 
sales  of  1809,  and  Le  Koy  Pope  paid  over  823  per 
acre.  At  that  time  there  were  two  or  three  hun- 
dred inhabitants,  scattered  over  the  ground  now 
occupied  by  Huntsville.  The  town  was  first  laid 
out  in  1810,  and  its  plan  was  probably  agreed 
upon  between  Pope  and  the  commissioners. 
There  were  four  half -acre  lots  in  each  square,  and 
about  sixty  acres  of  ground  were  embraced  in  the 
plan.  Pope  was  a  wise  and  liberal  man.  The 
Spring  Bluff  determined  the  angle  of  the  streets, 
which  are  thirty- four  degrees  from  .the  true  merid- 
ian. The  first  survey  of  the  town  was  probably 
the  work  of  John  W.  Leake.  Hunter  Peel  came 
Into  Huntsville  in  1816.  The  original  plan  of  the 
town  was  not  recorded  and  is  not  extant.  The 
plat  thought  to  be  the  original  plan  was  drawn  by 
Hunter  Peel,  by  order  of  the  trustees  of  the  Pope 
donation,  in  1821,  and  .still  exists.  After  the 
town  was  first  laid  out,  the  commissioners,  who 
all  lived  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  big  spring, 
purchased  thirty  acres  from  Mr.  Pope,  paying  the 
nominal  price  of  seventy-five  dollars.  This  deed 
was  not  recorded  until  1815.  They  selected  the 
south  half  of  the  town,  the  line  running  through 
the  court-house  square.  This  portion  of  the  town 
was  sold  rapidly  in  half-acre  lots,  bringing  from 
two  to  five  hundred  dollars  each.  Ten  thousand 
dollars  was  realized  and  applied  to  public  build- 
ings. Pope  afterward  obtained  more  than  twice 
as  much  for  the  northern  portion  of  the  town, 
which  he  had  retained. 

John  Hunt,  afttr  whom  the  place  was  called, 
was  not  able  to  purchase  at  the  sales  the  land  on 
which  he  located.  He  did  buy  one  quarter-sec- 
tion, but  failed  to  make  the  payments,  and  it  re- 
verted to  the  United  States.  In  1811,  the  town 
was  incorporated  by  the  Territorial  Legislature, 
as  "Huntsville,"  with  a  board  of  trustees.  The 
Legislature  of  1843-44,  granted  a  new  charter  to 
the  town,  dividing  it  into  four  wards,  and  pro- 
viding for  the  election  of  a  mayor  and  eight  alder- 
men. 

The  first  lot  sold  in  the  new  town,  was  sold  on 
the  Fourth  of  July,  1810.  The  first  court-house 
was  commenced  soon  afterward,  and  court  was 
held  in  it  in  the  fall  of  1811. 

The  first  trading-house  or  store  was  that  of 
Alexander  (Jilbreath,  near  the  spring,  about  the 


corner  of  Gates  and  Henry  streets.  After  the 
town  was  laid  out,  Gilbreath  and  James  White 
formed  a  coiiartnership,  and  did  a  large  business  in 
1811-12. 

The  first  houses  on  the  public  square  were  built 
by  John  Brown  and  J.  0.  Crump,  on  the  north 
side,  called  "Exchange  Row."  Rose,  LeKoy  Pope 
and  Hitchman  built  the  first  stores  on  the  east 
side.  John  Reed,  a  clerk  in  the  land  office  at 
Nashville,  in  1809,  bought  the  west  half  of  the 
South  Side,  called  "  Commercial  Row,"  and  also 
tlie  corner  lot  west,  across  Madison  street.  On  this 
he  built  his  first  house  and  sold  it  to  Andrew  Jami- 
son, who  afterward  sold  it  to  Allen  Cooper.  Lat- 
terly it  has  been  the  j^roperty  of  F.  0.  Schandies. 
Reed  sold  lots  on  Commercial  Row  to  J.  Falconer, 
James  Clemens,  Stephen  Ewing  and  Taylor  and 
Foote.  Stephen  Xeal,  who  was  sheriff  from 
1809  to  1822,  purchased  the  east  half  of  Com- 
mercial Row,  and  sold  it,  by  the  lot,  to  Luther 
and  Calvin  Morgan,  C.  C.  Clay,  William  Patton 
and  Andrew  Beirne,  who  were  long  and  favorably 
known  under  the  firm-name  of  "  Patton  &  Beirne." 
Christopher  Cheatham  erected  a  tavern  on  the 
Huntsville  Hotel  lot.  Thomas  and  William  Bran- 
don, the  builders  of  the  place,  came  here  in  1810, 
with  no  property  except  their  trowels  and  mechan- 
ical skill;  and  from  a  struggling  village  of  wooden 
shanties,  they  made  a  town  of  brick  and  stone. 

The  Creek  War  began  with  the  massacre  of  Fort 
Minis,  in  Washington  County,  on  the  Alabama 
River,  on  the  30th  of  August,  1813.  General 
Jackson  appealed  at  once  to  the  militia  of  his 
division  and  soon  found  a  considerable  force  at  his 
command.  Among  his  troops  were  four  compa- 
nies from  Madison  County,  led  by  captains  Gray, 
]\[osely,  Eldridge  and  Hamilton.  Organizing  his 
army  at  Fayetteville,  he  established  a  depot  of 
supplies  at  Deposit  Ferry,  on  the  Tennessee  River, 
and  opened  "Jackson's  Trace,"  the  Deposit  road 
from  New  Market,  through  New  Hojse,  to  the 
ferry.  Enthusiasm  was  great,  and  high  prices 
were  paid  by  some  for  the  privilege  of  taking  the 
places  of  the  men  enrolled.  The  ^Madison  com- 
panies were  put  into  a  regiment  with  Tennesseans, 
commanded  by  Col.  James  Carroll,  an  intinuite 
friend  of  General  Jackson.  Lender  him  they  par- 
ticipated in  the  important  battles  of  Talladega 
and  Emuckfaw,  where,  being  on  an  exposed  flank, 
they  suffered  severely.  They  were  also  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Tohopeka,  which  closed  the  war.  The 
company  of  Captain  Eldridge  was  raised  in  Hunts- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


249 


ville  anil  Meriflianville,  and  that  of  Captain  Tlam- 
iltoii  in  the  mountain  settlements  of  Flint  IJiver. 
Tiiese  cotnpanies  bore  a  jiart  in  the  occupation  of 
>[obile  and  I'ensacola. 

On  the  Sth  of  January,  1S15,  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans  was  fought,  and  on  the  18tli  of  June  the 
battle  of  Waterloo.  .  The  Treaty  of  Ghent  between 
En<rland  and  the  United  States  and  tlie  cessation 
of  lighting  between  the  nations  of  Europe,  on  the 
imi)risonment  of  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  gave 
rest  and  opportunities  of  recuperation  to  the  civ- 
ilized world. 

Cotton  came  into  demand  at  a  high  price, 
and  its  cultivation,  with  negro  labor,  edu- 
cated to  the  skillful  use  of  the  plow  and  the  hoe, 
reliable  and  under  control,  promised  large  profits. 
In  1818  the  magnificent  lands  of  the  Tennessee 
A'alley  of  Alabama  were  placed  upon  the  market. 
8i>ecu]ation  became  the  rage.  'J'he  tobacco  lands 
of  X'irginia  had  become  worn  and  the  profits  of 
that  staple  had  materially  diminished.  The  price 
of  cotton  was  high,  '-iit  to  2o  cents  per  pound;  and 
in  the  rich  virgin  soil  of  the  Tennessee  Valley  of 
Alabama,  each  good  hand  could  make,  annually, 
five  or  six  hundred  dollars.  Besides,  being  unlike 
the  sickly  land.s  of  the  coast  region,  high  and 
healthy,  the  increase  of  the  negro  slaves  equalled 
the  proceeds  of  the  crops.  Lands  purchased  in 
1809,  at  %-l  per  acre,  sold  at  *15  and  §20.  For 
example:  In  1817,  Robert  Thompson  sold  640 
acres,  entered  above  Meridianville,  to  Thomas  G. 
Percy,  for  *10,800;  Jacob  Pruitt  sold  137  acres, 
north  of  Mooresville,  for  *i2i)  p^r  acre;  James 
Manning  sold  the  land  on  which  Dr.  Hampton 
now  resides,  at  ^18  per  acre.  These  were  consid- 
ered bargains,  and  shrewd  business  men  like 
Charles  Cabaniss,  Dr.  David  ^Moore,  John  Brahan 
and  Samuel  Allen,  who  had  purchased  large  bodies 
in  1800,  considered  their  lands  worth  more,  and 
l)referred  the  profits  of  cotton  planting  to  specu- 
lation. The  value  of  town  property  kept  pace 
with  that  of  farms.  For  instance:  John  Heed 
paid  the  commissioners  $T.5ii  for  lot  No.  42,  now 
Shandies'  corner,  and  in  1815  sold  it  for  ^7,500: 
Heed  and  Neal  paid  *.")00  each  for  the  lots  on  Com- 
mercial How;  Neal  sold  his  for  ¥8,400.  LeHoy 
Pope  realized  *10,000  for  the  Holding  Square,  in- 
cluding the  storehouse  of  Pope  &  Hickman. 

On  the  2d  day  of  February,  1818,  land  sales 
began  at  Iluntsviile.  then  the  only  town  in  the 
valley,  liut,  with  the  land-otlice  and  a  bank,  and 
twenty  thousand  ]icoplo  in  Madison  County  eager 


to  invest  in  lands,  the  times  were  lively.  Within 
two  years  the  counties  of  Morgan,  Blount,  St. 
Clair,  Jackson,  Limestone,  Lauderdale,  Lawrence 
and  Franklin  were  occupied  and  organized.  And 
the  towns  of  Bellefonte,  Somerville,  iloulton, 
Athens,  Tuscumbia,  Florence,  Blountsville,  Ashe- 
ville  and  Husselville  were  founded,  and  nearly  all 
of  them  incorporated.  At  that  jieriod  there  were 
no  preemption  laws  for  the  benefit  of  the  poorer 
classes  of  settlers,  and  men  of  means,  chiefiy  from 
Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  (ieorgia,  fiocked  in 
to  buy  and  to  settle.  Lauds  covered  with  jjrimeval 
forests  sold  from  twenty,  as  high  as  one  hundred 
dollars  per  acre,  and  all  the  best  lands  in  the  en- 
tire valley  were  taken  up.  Fifty  thousand  people 
settled  in  its  limits  within  a  period  of  two  years, 
and  the  Tennessee  liiver,  from  its  entrance  into 
the  State,  near  the  Georgia  line,  to  its  exit,  near 
the  Mississijjpi  line,  had  a  continuous  farming 
settlement  on  both  sides,  with  a  teeming  popula- 
tion. 

In  1818,  old  Madison  comprised  about  three- 
fourths  of  its  present  area  (872  square  miles); 
and  the  population  was  20,000.  Huntsville  was 
the  only  town  in  the  valley  of  the  Tennessee,  in 
Alabama:  and  outside  of  the  county  limits  not  a 
man  owned  an  acre  of  ground.  Madison  received 
considerable  accession  of  new  territory,  to  which 
many  of  its  citizens  transferrrd  their  energies. 
But  numbers  of  prominent  men  located  lands  far- 
ther down  the  valley,  and  became  representatives 
of  the  new  counties.  At  the  public  sales  the  lands 
added  to  Madison  sold  well.  The  uplands  of  the 
Matthews  plantation,  west  of  the  Indian  line, 
brought  $27  per  acre;  the  Donegon  place,  $20: 
the  lands  in  ilullin's  Flat.  83(i.  Toward  Madison 
station,  the  Bradford  plantation  brought  iS30; 
the  Clemens  place  the  same;  while  the  Patton  and 
Stevens  plantations,  near  Swancot,  sold  at  $.50 
and  $54  per  acre,  all  wild  woods.  West  of  Madi- 
son the  bottom  landsbrought  higher  figures,  some, 
in  the  region  of  Tuscumbia,  covered  with  timber, 
selling  at  over  $1(hi  per  acre. 

During  1S18  the  United  States  Government 
laid  off  three  sites  for  cities,  "  York  Bluff,"  -'Cold 
Water,"  and  "Marathon,"  and  sold  the  land 
in  one  acre  lots.  A  cor[)oration  was  also  formed 
under  the  name  of  "  Indian  Creek  Navigation 
Company  ";  and  the  bluff  at  Triana  was  nuuked 
off  for  a  city,  lots  of  which,  at  tlie  first  sale  by  the 
trustees,  realized  $9(t,(>00.  This  enterprise  was 
made  a  failure  by  fhc  progress  in  transportation 


250 


NORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


through  science,  and  the  changes  in  the  carry- 
ing trade  effected  by  steam. 

AYhen  the  laws  of  the  Territoi-y  were  extended 
into  Madison  County  in  1810,  LeRoy  Pojoe,  Edward 
Ward,  Wm.  Dickson,  Jolin  Withers  and  Thomas 
Bibb  were  appointed  justices  of  the  quorum.  Pope 
being  chief  justice.  In  tlie  year  1814,  Wm.  Dick- 
son and  Edward  Ward  resigned,  and  Dr.  David 
Moore  and  Abner  Tatum  were  appointed.  These 
gentlemen  served  until  1819.  Wm.  H.  Winston 
was  recorder,  and  was  succeeded  by  Henry  Minor. 

In  May,  1810,  by  an  Act  of  Congress,  a  judge  of 
the  Superior  Court  of  Law  and  Equity  for  Madison 
County  was  ajipointed,  and  Judge  Obadiah  Jones 
ojiened  court  at  Iluntsville,  attired,  as  customary 
in  the  older  States,  with  black  gown  and  cocked 
hat,  the  sheriff  preceding  him,  holding  in  front  a 
drawn  sword.  Peter  Perkins  was  clerk  of  the 
court,  and  in  April,  1811,  Francis  E.  Harris,  who 
remained  in  office  until  Alabama  was  admitted 
into  the  Union.  John  \V.  Walker  served  as  attor- 
ney-general. On  the  second  Monday  in  Decem- 
ber, IBT-i,  Eli  Norman  was  tried  for  murder,  and 
convicted.  Motion  for  a  new  trial  was  overruled 
on  Thursday.  The  criminal  was  sentenced  on 
Friday  and  hung  on  Saturday.  There  was  no 
lynch  law  or  lynching  in  those  days.  This  was 
the  issue  of  the  first  trial  for  murder  in  Alabama. 

In  1812,  the  Territorial  Legislature  incor- 
porated the  old  "Green  Academy"  for  boys; 
in  Huntsville,  with  Wm.  Edmanson,  John  Bra- 
han,  Wm.  Leslie,  James  McCartney,  Peter 
Perkins,  C.  Burns,  W.  Derrick,  J.  Neely,  Jno. 
Grayson,  H.  Cox,  B.  Woods,  S.  Allen,  A.  K. 
Davis,  W.  Evans  and  Xathan  Powers  as  trustees. 
Woods  and  Davis  were  ministers  of  the  gospel. 
General  Brahan  donated  the  land  on  which  the 
public  school  now  stands;  and  until  the  establish- 
ment of  the  State  University,  in  1821,  this  was  the 
leading  institution  in  all  this  region.  In  181G  the. 
Territorial  Legislature  appropriated  §500  to  the 
academy;  and  in  1818  Lemuel  Mead,  Henry  Cham- 
bers, Henry  Minor,  Jno.  M.  Taylor,  C.  C.  Clay 
and  J.  W.  Walker  became  trustees.  In  every  part 
of  the  county  there  was  an  effort  to  keep  up  public 
schools,  and  very  few  of  the  early  generation  raised 
in  Madison  County  were  unable  to  read  and  to 
write.  Many  of  them  have  scattered  to  the  prairie 
region  of  South  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  to  the 
Mississippi  bottom,  to  Arkansas,  Louisiana  and 
Texas — and  they  have  generally  held  their  own. 

Among  the  first  ministers  of  the  gospel  men- 


tioned in  the  county  are:  David  Thompson, 
Thomas  Moore.  Woodson  Loyd,  Robert  Hancock 
and  William  Lanier,  of  the  Methodist  Ejjiscopal 
Church,  all  licensed  before  1814;  Bennett  Woods, 
John  Nicholson,  John  McCutchen,  John  Canter- 
berry  and  Wm.  Bird,  of  the  Baptist  Church;  and 
A.  K.  Davis  and  J.  W.  Allen,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

The  roll  of  attorneys  who  were  admitted  to  prac- 
tice in  the  Superior  Court  at  Huntsville,  from  the 
year  1810  to  1820,  is  an  exceptionally  brilliant 
one.  J.  W.  Walker  became  Circuit  Judge  and 
United  States  Senator;  il.  AVilliams,  member  of 
the  Legislature  and  Judge  of  County  Court  at 
Tuscaloosa;  G.  Colter,  Circuit  Judge  at  Flor- 
ence; John  il.  Taylor,  Circuit  Judge  and  Jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court;  C.  C.  Clay,  Circuit 
Judge,  Member  of  Congress,  Governor,  Justice  of 
the  Sui^reme  Court,  United  States  Senator  and 
Codifier  of  the  Laws  of  Alabama:  Henry  Minor, 
Circuit  Judge  and  Suj^reme  Court  Reporter:  John 
McKinley,  Member  of  the  Legislature  and  United 
States  Senator;  Samuel  Chapman,  Judge  of  Madi- 
son County  Court  for  fourteen  years  and  Circuit 
Judge  of  Tuscaloosa  Circuit  for  twelve  j-ears; 
William  Kelly,  Member  of  Congress  and  L'nited 
States  Senator;  Henry  Chambers,  Member  of  the 
Legislature  and  L^nited  States  Senator;  Hugh  Mc- 
Va}',  President  of  the  Senate  of  Alabama  and 
Governor;  Wm.  I.  Adair,  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Alabama  and  Circuit  Judge;  James  G.  Birney, 
Member  of  the  first  Legislature  of  Alabama,  and, 
on  removing  to  the  North,  tlie  first  candidate  of 
the  Republican  party  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
L^nited  States;  Arthur  F.  Hopkins,  Circuit  Judge 
and  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  from  Mobile, 
where  he  moved;  and  James  W.  McClurg,  twice 
Speaker  of  the  lower  house  of  the  Legislature. 

In  the  medical  profession,  during  the  early  days, 
were  two  men  of  scholarly  attainments  and  emi- 
nent skill,  both  as  surgeons  and  practitioners — 
Dr.  David  Moore,  elsewhere  sjioken  of,  and  Dr. 
Thomas  Fearn.  The  latter  served  under  General 
Jackson  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  spent  1818  and 
1819  in  the  medical  schools  and  hospitals  of  Eu- 
rope. An  article  he  afterward  published  on  the 
use  of  quinine  in  typhoid  fever  inaugurated  a  rev- 
olution in  the  treatment  of  that  dread  disease. 
He  represented  Madison  County  in  tlie  Legisla- 
ture in  1822,  and  twice  soon  after.  He  was  a 
Presidential  Elector  and  Member  of  the  Provis- 
ional Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  in  18G1. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


251 


He  was  a  handsome  man,  with  a  fine  mind,  great 
enterprise  and  public  spirit,  |)artieipating  in  many 
of  the  improvements  about  lluntsville  and  in  tlie 
various  projects  of  the  day.  I'r.  Alexander  Ers- 
kine  came  later,  from  Virginia  also,  and  survived 
his  distinguished  confreres.  He  was  jiopular  and 
beloved,  a  man  of  high  character.  He  practiced 
his  profession  after  Drs.  Moore  and  Fearn  had 
withdrawn,  and  long  did  a  lucrative  business. 

After  these.  Dr.  Francis  H.  Newman  came  to 
lluntsville  from  Maryland.  He  was  a  physician 
of  scientific  attainments  and  general  information. 
A  man  of  heart,  retiring  in  his  disposition,  devoted 
to  his  profession,  and  able  in  diagnosis  and  treat- 
ment, he  possessed  the  confidence  of  his  patients 
and  of  the  community  in  which  his  life  was  passed. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Alabama  Ter- 
ritory was  printed  at  lluntsville,  in  1812,  by  a 
Mr.  Parham,  and  called  The  Madison  Gazclte. 

The  first  bank  was  established  under  authority 
conferred  by  the  Legislature  upon  LeRoy  Pope, 
Jolin  P.  Hickman,  David  ^loore,  B.  Cox,  John 
M.  Taylor,  Thomas  Fearn,  J.  Searcy,  C.  C.  Clay 
and  John  W.  AValker  to  open  books  of  subscription 
for  that  purpose,  in  1810. 

Hunter  Peel,  who  came  to  HuntsviUe  in  1816, 
was  a  useful  citizen.  He  was  an  Englishman,  and 
had  served  in  the  Hritish  Army  as  an  engineer. 
He  surveyed  part  of  the  public  domain  in  1818, 
and  was  an  excellent  draughtsman.  His  admirable 
!nap  of  Madison  County  was  lost  or  destroyetl  dur- 
ing the  sectional  war.  His  map  of  the  old  Hunts- 
villa  corporation  is  extant ;  and,  in  connection 
with  J.  Barklay,  he  constructed  the  lluntsville 
Water-Works,  which  have  furnished  pure,  cold 
water,  by  iron  pipes,  throughout  the  town,  for 
sixty- five  years. 

Alabama  Territory  had  the  pre-re()uisites  to 
constitute  a  State.  A  convention  of  the  people 
was  called  to  frame  a  constitution  and  to  apply 
for  admission  into  the  Uliion.  This  body  con- 
vened at  lluntsville,  July  5,  1810,  and  wascompos- 
ed  of  forty-four  delegates  from  twenty-two  coun- 
ties. Madison  County  was  entitled  to  eight,  Mont- 
gomery and  Tuscaloosa  to  two  each,  i»nd  3Iobile 
and  Dallas  Counties  to  one  each.  John  W.  Walk- 
er, of  Madison,  was  made  presiding  officer.  A 
Territorial  Legislature  also  met  at  HuntsviUe, 
October  2.">,  181'.t.  On  the  Utli  of  December,  the 
same  year,  Congress,  by  joint  resolution,  approved 
by  President  Monroe,  admitted  Ahibanni  as  a 
State  into  the  Union.     The  first  Legislature  of 


Alabama  assembled  at  HuntsviUe,  on  the  first 
Monday  in  August,  1820.  And  the  first  (iovernor 
of  the  State  was  AVm.  W.  Bibb,  of  iladison 
County,  who  on  his  death  was  succeeded  by  Thomas 
Bibb,  his  brother.  President  of  the  Senate, 
also  of  Madison. 

In  the  history  of  Alabama  as  a  State,  nine  of 
its  Governors  have  been  identified  by  residence  or 
by  birth  with  iladison  County,  to-wit :  the  two 
Bibbs,  (iabriel  Jloore,  C.  C.  Clay,  Reuben  Chap- 
man, John  A.  Winston,  before  the  sectional  war; 
and  Robert  Patton,  D.  P.  Lewis  and  E.  A. 
O'Neal,  since  the  wai-.  Eight  United  States 
Senators,  and  two  Confederate  Senators,  have 
hailed  from  HuntsviUe,  namely  :  John  W. 
Walker,  who  served  from  181(»  to  1823  ; 
William  Kelly,  from  1822  to  1825  :  Henry  Cham- 
bers, from  1825  to  1820  ;  John  McKinley,  from 
1820  to  1831  ;  (iabriel  Moore,  from  1831  to  1837  ; 
C.  C.  Clay,  from  1837  to  1843  :  Jere  Clemens, 
from  1840  ta  1853,  and  C.  C.  Clay,  Jr.,  from 
1853  to  1801 ;  in  the  Confederate  States  Senate, 
C.  C.  Clay,  Jr.,  served  first  and  afterward 
Richard  W.  Walker.  Gen.  L.  P.  Walker  was 
Secretary  of  War  of  the  Confederate  States,  in 
1801.  in  1842  Dr.  David  Moore  was  defeated  for 
the  United  States  Senate  by  four  votes  from  his 
own  .section  of  the  State,  influenced  by  personal 
or  local  motives ;  otherwise  lluntsville  would 
have  had  an  unbroken  succession  of  Senators  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

Before  the  war,  in  the  Conventions  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  in  Alabama,  the  basis  of  representa- 
tion was  the  white  vote  in  each  county,  and 
Xorth  Alabama,  being  overwhelmingly  Democrat- 
ic, was  called  "The  Avalanche,"  because,  going 
down  solid  from  this  region,  it  overran  the  more 
Whiggish  counties  below.  Colonel  Galloway,  a 
native  of  iladison  County,  Ala.,  started  an  im- 
-portant  newspaper  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  and  mind- 
ful of  this  soubriquet,  callpd  it  -'TJie  Arahtiiclie," 
known  and  respected  to-day.  Under  the  new  system 
of  representation  in  Democratic  Conventions,  since 
the  redemption  of  the  State,  the  wliite  counties 
of  North  Alabama  have  lost  the  power  tliey  for- 
merly had  in  the  counsels  of  the  party,  and, 
through  the  material  used  in  State  elections.  Dem- 
ocrats of  "the  black  belt"  dominate.  There  is 
no  disposition  to  jeopardize  the  peace,  safety  and 
conservative  influence  of  that  section  of  the  State. 
But  the  party  is  organized  on  Federal  politics, 
not  on  State,  county,  town  or  ])ersonal  issues:  and 


252 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  election  of  the  Presidential  electors  is  the 
most  unfailing,  unmixed  and  important  criterion 
of  party  allegiance.  In  the  distribution  of  j^arty 
l>ower  in  the  State,  its  fairness  and  squarenesss 
can  not  be  questioned.  When  the  Democracy  of 
Xorth  Alabama  require  rejiresentation  on  that 
basis,  it  will  be  conceded  as  right :  but  not  until  a 
firm  and  decided  stand  is  taken.  In  the  mean 
time  this  section  is  dwarfed  of  the  power  justly 
belonging  to  it. 

In  18:23,  the  great  thoroughfares  of  the  country 
here  were  opened  in  various  directions  for  conven- 
ience and  to  facilitate  communication  and  the  busi- 
ness interests,  superseding  tlie  old  Indian  trails. 
Tlie  streets  of  Huutsville,  many  of  them  graded 
by  Hunter  Peel,  were  also  macadamized  with  blue 
limestone  rock  from  the  mountain  base.  Drains 
were  opened  next  to  the  sidewalks  and  deciduous 
trees  set  out  for  comfort,  health  and  adornment. 

Between  1820  and  18.30,  houses  of  worship  were 
built  in  Huntsville  by  the  different  denominations 
of  Methodists.  Baptists,  Presbyterians  and  Cum- 
berland Presbyterians.  They  were  occupied  by 
large  and  liberal  congi-egations,  as  they  are  now. 
Later  the  Episcopalians  raised  a  gothic  structure, 
and  for  several  decades  have  had  a  full  and  pros- 
perous church.  Since  the  war  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics have  built  a  stone  edifice  for  their  services,  on 
amain  street.  ''The  Christian"  sect  have  re- 
cently completed  a  modest  building.  And  the 
colored  peojjle  of  different  jiersuasions  have  their 
churches.  Among  all,  the  spirit  is  liberal  and  har- 
mony prevails,  with  absence  of  bigotry  and  jealousy. 

In  1830,  the  population  of  Madison  County  was 
27,990.  In  that  year  the  Pre-emption  Law  was 
passed,  having  been  earnestly  advocated  by  C.  C. 
Clay,  Representative  in  Congj-ess. 

In  1832,  great  land  sales  took  jilace  in  this  val- 
ley, with  additional  influx  and  settlement  by 
farmers  of  moderate  means. 

In  1831,  the  Female  Seminary  was  established 
by  Presbyterians,  and  has  continuously  sent  forth 
young  ladies  of  high  education. 

In  1832,  "The  Bell  Factory"  wasincorjjorated, 
as  "  Patton,  Donegan  &  Company,"  for  the  man- 
ufacturer of  cotton  clotlis.  It  ran  100  looms  and 
3000  spindles,  and  for  many  years  under  direction 
of  Dr.  C.  H.  Patton  distributed  its  excellent  pro- 
ducts at  a  handsome  profit. 

In  183G,  th-e  last  remnants  of  the  Indians  were 
removed  from  ^ladison  County  to  the  Indian 
Territorv. 


In  1838,  the  present  court-house  was  built  by 
Wilson  and  Mitchell  for  §.32,000:  and  at  the  same 
time  the  structure  of  the  National  Bank  was 
erected  by  George  Steel.  The  streets  were  ex- 
tended and  graded,  drainage  was  improved:  and 
many  private  residences  were  put  up. 

In  184:3,  the  Female  College  was  inaugurated  by 
Methodists,  and  has  since  been  an  admirable  insti- 
tution, popular  throughout  the  South. 

In  the  same  year  a  new  charter  for  Huntsville 
was  obtained  from  the  General  Assembly,  dividing 
the  town  into  four  wards  and  providing  for  a 
government  of  a  mayor  and  eight  aldermen. 

In  18.50,  the  Memphis  &  Charleston  Railroad 
was  projected  by  men  of  Huntsville,  and  soon  con- 
structed. The  second  president  of  the  enterprise 
was  George  P.  Beirne,  and  the  third  Archibald 
Mills,  of  this  place. 

In  1872,  "The  Huntsville  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  Association  "  was  organized,  for  giving 
Fairs  every  fall,  with  exhibitions  of  farm  produce 
and  fine  stock.  It  has  greatly  promoted  the  ob- 
jects sought,  has  been  well  managed,  and  is  un- 
doubtedly the  most  prosiserous  and  substantial 
Fair  association  in  the  Cotton  States.  In  1886, 
it  had  the  best  exhibit  of  farm  produce  at  the 
State  Fair  in  Montgomery,  and  last  fall  took  the 
first  j)remium  of  $400  tl}ere. 

In  1883,  the  population  of  Madison  County  was 
37,625 — White,  17,5'.»1:  colored,  19,034.  Acres 
in  cotton,  corn,  oats,  wheat,  rye,  tobacco  and 
sweet  potatoes,  213,221.  The  production  of  cot- 
ton, 29,879  bales.  The  rich,  red  valley  lands  con- 
stitute 300  square  miles;  the  coal  measures  table- 
lands, 150  square  miles;  and  sandy  lands  on  the 
mountains,  50  square  miles. 

The  latitude,  the  elevation,  the  configuration  of 
the  mountain  chains,  and  the  direction  of  the  val- 
leys and  of  the  jirevailing  winds  combine  to  create 
a   climate,    the  finest  throughout  the   year  to  be 

found  in  the  United   States.     The  beauty  of  the 

t 
women  of  Huntsville  is  as  j)roverbial  as  their  cul- 
ture.    And  the   numerous   ruddy   children    and 
robust,    athletic  men   give   the  most  substantial 
proof  of  beneficent  surroundings. 

•    •♦>"^^?^-<'-    • 

REUBEN  CHAPMAN  was  born  in  Caroline 
County,  \"a.,  in  18(i2.  His  father.  Col.  Reuben 
Chapman,  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1776  for  the 
independence    of    the    American    colonies.      His 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


253 


mother's  maiden  name  was  Reynolds,  and  she  was 
of  Essex  County,  Va.  Well  educated  in  his 
native  State,  he  came  to  Huntsville,  Ala.,  in 
lS'i4,  where  he  studied  law  in  the  ofticeofhis 
brother,  Judg;e  Samuel  Chapman,  wiio  had  pre- 
ceded him.  During  that  year  he  was  chosen  to 
carry  the  electoral  vote  of  the  State — the  second  it 
had  cast — to  Washington.  In  1825  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar.  He  practiced  a  year  in  Hunts- 
ville, and  then  removed  to  Morgan  County.  In 
1S:!2  he  was  elected  to  represent  that  county  in 
the  State  Senate  and  was  twice  re-elected,  when,  in 
183."),  he  was  sent  to  Congress  over  Jlessrs.  R.  T. 
Scott,  of  Jackson,  and  William  II.  Glasscock,  of 
Madison,  by  a  large  majority.  Two  years  later 
he  was  re-elected  over  ex-Gov.  Gabriel  Moore  by 
<i,30i)  majority,  after  a  close  canvass.  In  1841  he 
defeated  Hon.  John  T.  Rather,  of  Morgan,  the 
candidate  for  this  District  on  the  Whig  general 
ticket.  He  remained  a  member  of  Congress,  until 
1M47,  when  he  was  nominated  for  the  office  of 
governor  without  his  solicitation  aiid  to  concen- 
trate the  strength  of  the  Democratic  party, 
threatened  by  personal  divisions.  He  was  elected 
over  the  nominee  of  the  Whig  party.  Col.  Nicho- 
las Davis,  by  a  majority  of  (),25.t  votes. 

During  his  career  as  a  member  of  Congress, 
the  Hon.  Reuben  Chapman  was  bright,  humorous 
and  impressive  in  conversation,  with  courtly  man- 
nei-s.  Reared  in  the  school  of  "  John  Taylor,  of 
tiie  Carolinas,"  he  was  a  consistent  Democrat  of  the 
States'  Rights  wing  all  his  life.  On  the  great 
questions  of  the  tariff,  independent  treasury, 
Cumberland  road  bill.  United  States  bank.  Abo- 
lition petitions,  and  the  admission  of  Texas  into 
the  Union,  he  stood  squarely  with  the  Hons.  R.  B. 
Rhett.  Dixon  H.  Lewis,  William  L.  Yancey  and 
other  staunch  defenders  of  the  rights  and  safety  of 
the  Southern  States  under  the  Constitution,  against 
the  sectional  encroachments  of  the  Xorth.  His 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  political  history  of  the 
country,  his  strict  adherence  to  principle,  un- 
swerving devotion  to  tlie  true  interests  of  his  con- 
stituents, coupled  with  contempt  of  demagogism 
and  fine  judgment,  made  him  a  man  of  de- 
rideil  influence.  He  commanded  the  respect  and 
tonlidence  of  his  contemporaries.  Of  a  calm  and 
courageous  spirit  and  comprehensive  views,  he 
was  a  statesman  of  practical  ability.  Besides 
understanding  public  men,  his  sympathies  with 
the  people  were  strong. 

Wlien  elected  Governor  the  .State  was   suffering 


great  financial  embarrassment,  largely  brought 
about  by  the  gross  mismanagement  of  the  Bank  of 
the  State  of  Alabama  and  its  branches,  whose 
funds  had  been  scattered  broadcast  in  loans  to 
local  politicians,  producing  failure  and  general 
distrust.  From  1845  to  '47  the  affairs  of  these 
banks  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  three  com- 
missioners: F.  S.  Lyon,  C.  C.  Clayand  W.  Cooper, 
for  settlement,  and  to  apply  the  assets  to  the 
payment  of  the  State  bonds.  The  proceedings  of 
these  commissioners  were  formally  recognized  as 
faithful  and  able.  But  Governor  Chapman  con- 
ceived that,  in  negotiations  of  the  sort,  one  com- 
missioner was  better  than  three,  and  Mr.  Lyon  was 
constituted  "  sole  commissioner  and  trustee  to  ap- 
ply the  remaining  assets  of  the  banks,  with  power 
and  discretion  as  to  settlements  with  debtors,  in 
buying  exchange  and  taking  up  the  indebtedness 
to  the  State,  as  he  thought  best  for  the  public 
interest."  In  consultation  with  the  Governor, 
who  was  a  very  able  financier,  the  task  was  per- 
formed quietly,  on  the  best  information  obtainable 
in  each  case,  with  integrity,  firmness  and  good 
judgment.  The  result  turned  out  greatly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  State,  which  was  much  relieved, 
during  tliis  prudent  and  skillful  administration 
of  two  years. 

Governor  Chapman  was  brought  forward  as  a 
candidate  for  a  second  term  before  the  Democratic 
State  Convention  in  184!).  But,  Governor  J.  W. 
Martin,  who  preceded  him  in  the  office,  elected 
as  an  independent,  over  the  nominee  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  had  been  superseded  at  the  close  of 
his  first  term,  and  now  his  friends  within  the 
ranks  of  the  party  retaliated  on  Governor  Chap- 
man and  went  to  the  support  of  Judge  Henry  W. 
Collier,  of  the  Supreme  Court.  In  this  way  the 
two-thirds  majority  of  the  Convention,  requisite 
under  the  usage  of  that  date,  was  not  obtained  for 
Governor  t!hapman's  renomination,  although  he 
had  a  decided  majority  and  the  solicitous  support 
of  many  of  the  ablest  and  most  influential  men  in 
Alabama.  The  Whig  party  was  strong,  and  in  the 
next  Legislature  obtained  a  majority  of  the  Senate. 
In  the  face,  therefore,  of  a  severe  party  contest 
in  the  State,  and  to  avoid  a  heated  struggle  within 
the  Democratic  ranks.  Governor  Chapman  had 
his  name  withdrawn  and  lent  his  support  to  Judge 
Collier,  wlio,  after  two  days  ballotting  among  four 
candidates  from  Middle  Alabama,  was  uiuiiii- 
mously  Jiominated  and  elected  in  the  fall.  i 

On    November    VI,    1849,    Governor    Chapman 


254 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


transmitted  to  the  House  his  annual  message. 
Toward  its  conclusion  the  following  significant 
paragraphs  occur: 

"Having  thus  placed  before  yon,  for  j'our  con- 
sideration, ever}'  subject  connected  with  the  do- 
mestic policy  of  the  State,  and  the  immediate 
interests  of  her  people,  I  should  feel  that  I  had 
not  discharged  my  whole  duty,  if,  before  retiring 
from  office,  I  did  not  call  your  serious  attention 
to  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  Territories,  and 
the  action  of  Congress  on  that  subject.  A  more 
important  subject  never  presented  itself  to  the 
consideration  of  a  people:  for  it  concerns  not 
merely  our  property,  but  is  a  question  of  State 
and  individual  honor — of  self  preservation. 

"I  recommend  that  provision  be  made  by  the 
Legislature,  at  once,  for  the  calling  of  a  conven- 
tion of  the  peojjle  of  the  State  immediately  upon 
the  passage  of  the  AVilmot  Proviso  in  Congress,  or 
any  similar  measui-e  having  a  tendency  to  exclude 
slavery  from  the  Territories,  or  abolish  it  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  or  interfere  with  the  removal 
of  slaves  from  one  State  to  another.  I  recom- 
mend also,  that  provision  be  made  that,  in  any 
such  contingency,  our  sister  States,  similarly  af- 
fected, be  invited  to  unite  with  us  in  general 
convention,  to  consult  i;pon  the  state  of  the  Union, 
and  the  best  means  of  preserving  our  common 
rights.'' 

In  this  message.  Governor  Chapman  showed  his 
thorough  understanding  of  the  political  position 
between  the  Xorth  and  the  South,  and  suggested 
the  only  method  of  meeting  sectional  aggression. 
But  his  advice,  based  on  superior  knowledge,  was 
not  appreciated,  and  further  submission  to  uncon- 
stitutional exclusion  of  the  Southern  people  was 
submitted  to  under  the  so-called  compromise, 
adopted  in  regard  to  the  Territory  acquired 
through  the  Mexican  War.  This  postponed  for 
ten  years  the  inevitable  issue,  while  the  Xorth west 
was  filled  uj)  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  trained 
soldier  immigrants  from  Germany,  and  thousands 
of  miles  of  railroads  were  built  between  the  sec- 
tions, facilitating  the  invasion  and  conquest  of 
the  South. 

Governor  Chapman  retired  to  private  life  and 
removed  his  residence  to  Huntsville  in  1850.  He 
devoted  himself  to  his  large  landed  estates  in 
Madison.  Morgan,  and  Sumter,  Ala.,  and  in  Texas. 

In  Madison  County,  in  1855,  the  American  or 
Know-Nothing  party  gained  some  foothold,  and 
ex-Senator   Jere  Clemens  was  i)nt  uj)  as  a  candi- 


date for  the  lower  house  of  the  State  Legislature. 
Upon  the  demand  of  the  Democratic  party.  Gov- 
ernor Chapman  consented  to  run  against  him,  and 
defeated  Colonel  Clemens.  This  was  his  last 
official  service. 

In  1860  he  attended  the  Baltimore  Convention, 
held  after  the  break  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
Charleston,  and  used  his  utmost  efforts  to  bring 
about  an  understanding  between  Xorthern  and 
Southern  men  there.  He  came  near  succeeding, 
but  was  defeated  by  the  irrepressibles  on  both 
sides. 

During  the  war  the  Federal  troops  burned  his 
residence,  desolated  his  possessions,  imprisoned 
and  harrassed  him,  and  finally  forced  him  out  of 
their  lines.  And  his  cujo  of  sorrow  was  filled  by 
the  fall  of  his  young  son,  Steptoe  Chapman,  on 
the  field  of  battle. 

Governor  Chapman  survived  the  war,  residing 
in  Huntsville  until  his  death,  in  April,  1882. 
He  was  a  man  of  fine  proportions,  six  feet  high, 
straight,  sinewy  and  unencumbered  with  flesh. 
He  had  a  florid  complexion  and  chestnut  colored 
hair.  His  wife  was  Miss  Felicia  Pickett,  a  sister 
of  Hon.  E.  0.  Pickett,  of  Lauderdale,  and  a  rela- 
tive of  General  Pickett,  of  Gettysburg  fame.  He 
left  a  son  bearing  his  name,  and  four  daughters, 
one  of  whom  married  Captain  Humes,  a  ijromi- 
nent  lawyer  of  Huntsville:  another.  Col.  Turner 
Clanton,  of  Montgomery;  a  third,  Mr.  Hubbard, 
of  Virginia;  and  the  youngest,  Mr.  Taylor,  of 
Colorado. 

Notwithstanding  the  losses  of  the  war.  Gover- 
nor Chajiman  left  a  large  estate.  He  was  a  man 
of  public  spirit,  took  an  interest  in  all  matters  of 
general  beneflt,  and  befriended  those  who  were  in 
trouble,  with  his  credit  as  well  as  his  advice. 
During  his  later  years  his  mind  was  bright,  and 
his  social  qualities  and  great  fund  of  information 
and  dry  wit  was  greatly  apjjreciated.  He  was  a 
Xestor  among  the  young  men  of  the  community, 
often  sought  after  and  consulted.  Having  been 
for  years  a  consistent  member  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  he  died  suddenly  and  much 
regretted. 


MICHAEL  J.  and  JAMES  F.  OSHAUGH- 
NESSEY.  In  the  annals  of  Ireland  the  name  of 
O'Shauglinessey  is  among  the  oldest,  and  is  identi- 
fied with  those  patriotic  struggles  which  have 
commanded  the  sympathy  and  respect  of  all   true 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


255 


Americans.  For  hniulreds  of  years  its  represent- 
atives have  shown  qualities  of  inanliood  and 
sagacity  which  make  a  staying  race. 

"The  great  rebellion"  of  1041,  in  Irohuul.  was 
brought  on  by  penal  laws  as  to  the  Catholic  relig- 
ion, which  pressed  on  a  whole  people,  and  by  the 
systematic  iniquity  of  despoiling  them  of  their 
posisessious.  With  Roger  ^loore  and  other  promi- 
nent men,  the  O'Siiaughnesseys  suffered,  and  after 
the  conquest  of  Ireland,  effected  by  Oliver  Crom- 
well with  his  powerful  army  in  1040,  througli  sev- 
eral years  of  butchery  and  spoliation  exceeded 
only  by  the  Koman  Titus  in  his  destruction  of 
the  Jews,  the  landed  estates  of  the  O'Shangh- 
nesseys,  in  County,  Galway.  were  confiscated  and 
allotted  to  men  who  aided  in  the  reduction  of 
the  country,  as  were  those  of  many  other  so-called 
'•  insurgents."  For  nearly  two  hundred  years, 
until  1837,  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  numbering 
between  5,000.000  and  0,000,000  of  people,  were 
debarred  of  the  common  rights  of  civil  society  and 
of  political  privileges.  But  members  of  the 
O'Shaughnessey  family  survived  the  bloodshed 
and  the  forfeiture  of  estates,  and  have  held  posi- 
tions among  the  respected  and  2'""osiieroiis,  un- 
bought  and  unintimidated. 

In  1S30,  Thomas  O'Sluuighuessey  came  to  the 
United  States,  and  established,  in  Cincinnati,  a 
commission  house  for  the  sale  of  dry  goods  in 
package.s  imported  from  abroad  and  dispatched 
from  eastern  factories.  He  succeeded  in  building 
up  a  large  business,  and  acquired  a  considerable 
fortune. 

In  1846,  his  brother  James  O'Shaughnessey 
came  to  this  country,  settled  at  Newport.  Ivy., 
and  engaged  advantageously  in  the  manufacture 
of  cotton  goods. 

Michael  J.  O'Sh.^ighnessey  the  elder  son 
of  James,  was  born  in  1833  on  his  father's 
estate  in  Kildare  County,  Leinster — his  mother 
being  an  O'Kelly  and  the  blood  on  both  sides  purely 
Celtic.  lie  was  educated  at  St.  Xavier's  College, 
Cincinnati. and  then  entered  the  commission  house 
of  his  uncle  Thomas. 

In  1801,  when  Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  proved  to 
be  a  great  financier,  was  called  by  President  Lin- 
coln to  assume  the  arduous  responsibilities  of 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States 
on  the  eve  of  the  sectional  war,  he  found  the 
department  filled  with  -expert  officials  opposed 
to  the  Administration:  and,  looking  around  for 
the  means  of  securitv   for   himself  and  for    the 


Government,  he  sought  from  his  own  State,  Ohio, 
ten  competent  and  thoroughly  trustworthy 
young  men,  to  be  put  at  once  into  positions  of 
control. 

Among  these  Michael  J.  O'Shaughnessey  was 
selected  and  placed  at  the  head  of  the  important 
department  of  accounts,  under  General  Spinner, 
the  Treasurer.  At  that  period  the  forms  of  business 
and  of  bookkeeping  for  the  Government  were 
obstructive  and  dilatory  from  unnecessary  red 
tape  and  complicated  entries.  The  emergencies 
of  the  times  soon  developed  need  for  more  direct 
and  prompt  methods,  and  Major  O'Shaughnessey 
proposed  and  effected  a  change  in  the  entire  sys- 
tem, which,  while  securing  the  Government, 
offered  facilities  for  the  rapid  transaction  of  the 
enormous  and  vital  business  of  the  Treasury 
Department.  Those  improved  methods  are  in  use 
in  Washington  to-day. 

After  the  war,  having  no  special  interest  in  pol- 
itics or  in  the  society  of  Washington  he  joined  his 
brother  James,  who  had  opened  a  commission 
house  at  Xashville,  Tennessee. 

Later  on,  JIajor  O'Shaughnessey  purchased  the 
machine  shops  of  the  Memphis  &  Charleston 
Kailroad  at  Huntsville,  and  converted  them  into  a 
cotton-seed  oil  factory,  which  he  has  conducted 
with  great  success.  Through  his  influence  his 
brother  became  attracted  to  Alabama  and  embarked 
in  plans  for  the  development  of  Huntsville  on 
a  large  scale. 

Major  O'Shaughnessey  is  president  of  ihe 
Huntsville  Land  and  Improvement  Company, 
which  has  done  so  much  in  this  direction 
even  in  this,  the  commencement  of  its  career. 
Possessing  a  fine  residence  in  Nashville,  he  has 
just  completed,  north  of  Huntsville,  a  country-seat, 
"  Kildare,"  superior  in  style  and  finish  to  any  in 
the  State:  and  he  is  about  to  establish  in  the  town 
a  factory  for  the  production  of  a  first  class  fertil- 
izer. A  man  of  uncommon  business  ability,  he  is 
scholarly,  refined  in  manners  and  of  cultivated 
tastes,  an  educated  draughtman,  a  musician  and  a 
connoisseur  in  art.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  soci- 
able disposition  and  is  fond  of  field  sports,  fine 
horses  and  fox  hunting.  His  stable  contains  select 
thoroughbred  riding  horses  and  his  kennel  pro- 
bably the  best  fox-hounds  in  tlie  State.  He  mar- 
ried .Miss  Pyles,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  a  grand-niece 
of  John  C.  Calhoun  and  of  Major  Nichohvs  Hob- 
son  of  Nashville.  They  have  a  family  of  four  sons 
and  one  daughter. 


256 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


James  F.  O'Shaughnessey,  the  yoiniger  son 
of  James,  was  born  in  Dublin  in  1841,  and 
from  St.  Xavier's  College,  in  1859,  went  into  a 
commission  house  in  Cincinnati.  At  the  close  of 
the  sectional  war,  he  was  in  the  Quartermaster 
Department  under  General  Swigert  at  that  city, 
having  shown  great  ability  in  handling  transport- 
ation facilities 

Opening  a  commission  house  in  Xashville  in 
18G5,  Colonel  0'»Sliaughnessey  bought  the  first 
cotton  of  any  volume  which  passed  through  that 
place  in  commercial  circles.  In  1868,  he  and  his 
brother  originated  one  of  the  first  cotton-seed  oil 
factories  in  the  South.  In  order  to  conduct  sat- 
isfactorily the  sale  of  cotton  seed  products,  he 
moved  to  New  York:  in  1871,  and  was  the  first  to 
open  the  way  for  that  industry  in  the  east  and  in 
the  foreign  markets  of  the  world.  He  shij)jied 
the  first  cargo  of  cotton-seed  oil  to  the  olive  grow- 
ers of  the  Mediterranean.  Shortly  after  going  to 
New  York  he  married  a  daughter  of  Judge  N^el- 
son  J.  Waterbury,  a  gentleman  of  wealth  and 
influence  in  the  State  of  Connecticut.  In  1873, 
Jay  Gould's  corner  in  the  currency  of  the  coun- 
try, which  produced  Black  Friday,  and  wrought 
ruin  to  thousands,  caught  the  O'Shaughnesseys, 
and  temporarily  crijjpled  them:  but,  having  credit, 
they  soon  recovered.  Continuing  the  commission 
business  with  which  he  has  been  constantly  iden- 
tified. Col.  James  F.  O'Shaughnessey  established 
at  Brooklyn  a  refinery  of  cotton-seed  oil.  By  a 
judicious  purchase  made  by  him  some  years  ago, 
these  brothers  own  forty-three  acres  of  laud  in 
Harlem,  where  the  gaslights  and  sidewalks  of 
New  York  city  have  now  been  i^laced.  In  the 
rapid  spread  of  that  great  emporium,  it  may  not 
take  many  years  for  this  property  to  occui^y  an 
important  position  of  untold  value.  Colonel 
O'Siiaughnessey  also  purchased  from  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Nicaragua  the  franchise  of  the  Nic- 
aragua Canal,  for  the  sum  of  -^100,000.  The  fab- 
ulous expense  of  making  the  DeLesseps  Panama 
Canal  renders  it  impracticable  and  abortive,  and 
the  Nicaragua  enterprise  the  only  one  likely  to  be 
accomplished.  Colonel  O'Shaughnessey  has  organ- 
ized a  company  with  a  capital  of  $(50,000,000,  and 
has  obtained  the  passage  of  an  Act  by  Congress 
which  gives  the  protection  of  the  United  States 
Government  to  the  project.  Hence,  if  success- 
fully carried  through,  this  magnificent  improve- 
ment for  the  commerce  of  the  world  will  be  iden- 
tified with  the  administration  of  President  Cleve- 


land. Colonel  O'Shaughnessey  has  also  made  in- 
vestments in  Pensacola,  the  only  first-class  harbor 
of  the  United  States  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  from 
which  shijjs  of  large  tonnage  can  export  coal  and 
iron.  And  he  has  been  a  pioneer  in  establishing 
Brunswick,  Ga.,  with  its  bar  thirty  feet  deep 
and  land-locked  estuary,  as  the  great  seaport  of  the 
South  Atlantic  coast.  This  is  likely  to  become 
the  principal  place  of  entry  for  the  great  trade 
with  South  America,  and  also  the  Eastern  termi- 
nus of  the  Southern  Pacific  Eailroad,  which  runs 
on  the  best  line  of  latitude,  and  is  free  from  ob- 
structions of  ice  and  snow.  He  has  also  projected, 
and  is  engaged  in  arranging,  a  great  trunk  line 
railroad  from  Brunswick  to  St.  Louis,  through 
Huntsville,  Ala,  and  a  line  from  the  latter 
point  to  Cincinnati.  These  are  grand  enter- 
prises, showing  sagacity  and  breadth  of  mind, 
coupled  with  energy  and  courage,  which,  com- 
bined, constitute  genius.  But,  while  inaugurat- 
ing these  gigantic  improvements  and  promoting 
them  with  his  own  money,  as  well  as  that  of  his 
friends.  Col.  James  F.  O'Shaughnessey  prefers 
that  others  be  chosen  to  carry  out  the  details,  and 
keeps  himself  in  the  background,  free  from  care 
and  drudgery.  Never  dejaressed  and  of  great  re- 
sources, he  is  a  man  of  rare  business  intuition, 
buoyant  temper  and  elastic  spirit — as  fresli  in 
feeling  as  a  boy,  the  sort  of  man  to  accomplish 
great  results.  Among  the  exclusive  plutocracy 
of  New  England,  he  has  an  elegant  residence  at 
Buzzard's  Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts,  and 
on  j\[onte  Sano,  Alabama,  a  pretty  villa,  for  the 
accommodation  of  himself  and  his  guests  during 
his  trips  to  Huntsville. 


-^•-•i 


ROBERT  BARNWELL  RHETT,  the  father  of  a 
long  lineage  and  of  a  conspicuous  public  service, 
was  born  in  1800.  The  son,  of  whom  this  brief 
sketch  is  given,  was  born  in  Charleston,  S.  C'.,  in 
1828.  His  accomplished  mother  was  a  Burnets, 
whose  paternal  grandfather  came  from  Aberdeen 
in  the  colonial  days,  her  maternal  grandfather 
being  Daniel  DeSaussure,  whose  son  W.  H.  De- 
Saussure  was  first  Controller  of  the  United  States 
mint  and  whose  wife  was  Sarah  Mcpherson,  of 
Badenoch-Cluny  descent. 

On  both  sides  of  his  house  Mr.  Ehett  is  identi- 
fied with  the  history  of  the  United  States,  early 
and  late. 


>fe<^^l„*«^^».-<^^-txi^  M^ij:z^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


257 


Prepared  for  college  chiefly  bj'  William  \\.  Ab- 
bott, of  (ieorgetown,  D.  C,  he  entered  Harvard 
from  Charleston  in  1845.  At  the  June  exhibition 
of  "47,  being  one  of  ''the  first  eight  "of  a  large  class, 
he  was  a  speaker  ;  at  that  of  '48  he  was  again  a 
speaker  :  and  on  commencement  day,  1849.  For 
rank  in  scholarship  he  was  chosen  a  member  of 
"The  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society."  Ue  was  elected 
president  and  orator  of  "  The  Hasty  Pudding 
Club,"  and  he  was  an  active  member  of  "The 
Oneida  Boat  Club,"  pulling  in  several  eight-oared 
races  on  the  river  Charles  among  the  winning  crew. 

President  Everett  having  advised  against  a  two- 
years'  travel  in  Europe,  ho  returned  to  Charleston, 
studied  law  in  the  office  of  .James  L.  Petigru,  a 
jiersonal  friend  of  his  father,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  at  Columbia,  S.  C,  in  1851.  He  also 
served  on  the  staff  of  Governor  Means. 

In  1853,  sullering  from  laryngitis,  having  mar- 
ried a  handsome  and  popular  young  lady  of  Hunts- 
ville.  Ala.,  and  being  fond  of  country  life,  he 
became  a  rice-planter  in  Colleton  district,  S.  C, 
working  a  goodly  number  of  I'.egroes. 

After  two  years'  close,  practical  attention  to  the 
business,  supplemented  by  the  study  of  "  Leibig's 
.\gricultural  Chemistry,"  "  Watson's  Practice  of 
.Medicine,"  "  Youatt  on  the  Horse,"  etc.,  etc.,  he 
dispensed  with  the  services  of  an  overseer  and 
managed  his  own  planting.  At  the  same  time  he 
supervised  his  father's  plantations  and  overseer, 
W'ith  350  odd  slaves.  To  many  of  these  both 
father  and  son  were  strongly  attached,  and  the 
feeling  was  largely  reciprocated  and  practically 
exhibited  during  the  war. 

While  engrossed  in  these  occupations,  his  cousin, 
Wm.  R.  Taber,  editor  of  the  Charleston  Mer.vu-rij, 
was  killed  in  a  duel,  regularly  fought.  A  challenge 
had  been  accepted  for  publishing  an  anonymous 
communication  from  a  personally  responsible 
author,  who  criticised  in  stringent  terms  a  candi- 
liate  to  succeed  Hon.  Wm.  Aiken  in  Congress. 
Regarding  the  conduct  of  the  affair  as  pressed  too 
far,  especially  in  the  demand  for  a  third  fire,  which 
jiroved  fatal,  and  as  intended  or  tending  to  break 
down  the  politics  represented  by  the  paper,  those 
of  his  father.  Colonel  Rhett  bought  the  interests 
of  Taber  in  the  Mercunj  and  afterward  that  of 
his  partner,  .Tohn  Heart.  He  quit  jjlanting  with 
a  handsome  profit,  and  from  March,  1857,  edited 
the  Merrunj.  In  less  than  four  years  its  circula- 
tion quadrupled,  and  it  was  the  leading  political 
organ  of  the  Southern  States,  looked  to  by   the 


most  prominent  and  influential  public  men,  partic- 
ularly in  the  Cotton  States.  The  events  of  the 
Charleston  convention  and  the  results  of  the 
canvass  of  1800  were  the  culmination  of  the  long 
pending  sectional  issues. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  that  year  Colonel  Rhett 
lost  his  first  wife,  and  while  at  Saratoga  for  his 
health,  in  August,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, from  Charleston. 

Upon  the  electi'^n  of  Mr.  f.incoln  to  the  presidency 
of  the  United  States,  in  November,  Colonel  Rhett, 
through  the  Columbia  (luardian  newspaper,  called 
a  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature  at 
Kinsler's  hall,  on  Main  street,  at  ten  o'clock  \.  Ji. 
He  had  obtained  a  number  of  letters  from  public 
men,  of  the  different  Southern  States,  who  had  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  the  people  of  South 
Carolina.  The  letters  were  replies  to  specific 
questions,  propounded  as  to  the  course  which 
South  Carolina  should  pursue  in  the  contingency 
anticipated.  He  presented  them  to  the  meeting 
and  they  were  read  by  the  secretary,  Gen.  AVm.  E. 
Martin,  the  clerk  of  the  Senate.  Letters  of  similar 
character  were  offered  by  other  members  and  were 
read,  and  the  meeting  adjourned.  Colonel  Rhett, 
then  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  offered  a 
joint  resolution,  by  precedent,  for  the  call  of  a 
State  Convention,  and  named  December  6th  for  the 
election  of  delegates  and  December  17th  for  the 
assembling  of  the  body.  This,  by  consent,  was 
referred  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  and  the  prop- 
osition was  reported  back  in  the  form  of  a  bill, 
prepared  by  the  late  Hon.  Henry  Buist,  of  Charles- 
ton, and  was  unanimously  passed  by  both 
lIou.ses.  The  State  Convention,  thus  called,  met 
at  Columbia,  adjourned  to  Charleston,  and,  on  the 
20th  of  December,  unanimously  adopted  the 
ordinance  of  secession  dissolving  the  Union. 

On  the  24th  of  December  Major  Anderson  trans- 
ferred his  command  from  Fort  Moultrie  over  to 
Fort  Sumter.  As  this  was  held  contrary  to  the 
understanding  of  the  South  Carolina  commis- 
sioners, with  President  Buchanan,  Colonel  Rhett 
urged  its  immediate  seizure  by  the  State  authori- 
ties, a  stroke  then  easy  of  accomplishment ;  and 
this  course  was  pressed  on  two  considerations: 
first,  to  settle  the  issue  under  President  Buchanan 
rather  than  under  President  Lincoln:  and,  second, 
to  compel  Virginia  and  other  halting  border 
States,  to  take  sides  definitelyj  so  that  the  North 
might  know  what  to  e.vpect  in  the  event  of  war. 
But  these  views  did  not  prevail,  and  the  compli- 


258 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


cation  remained  until  April  12-13,  with  the 
results  which  followed.  For  the  flag  of  South 
Carolina,  Colonel  Rhett,  in  the  House,  proposed 
the  old  blue  field,  and  white  crescent,  with  a  color- 
less palmetto  added,  and  the  proposition  was  car- 
ried after  opposition. 

In  an  editorial  of  the  Mercury,  Colonel  Rhett 
first  suggested  ^Montgomery,  Ala.,  as  the  place 
of  meeting  for  the  convention  of  the  seceding 
ing  States.  The  suggestion  was  made,  not  merely 
on  account  of  its  central  ijosition  below  the 
mountains,  but  because  the  Montgomery  Advertiser 
was  thoroughly  in  accord  with  the  movement  and 
because  it  was  the  home  of  Wm.  L.  Yancey.  The 
State  convention  adopted  the  proposal,  and  invited 
the  delegates  to  assemble  at  Montgomery  on  the 
4th  of  February,  which  they  did. 

In  1861-1862  Colonel  Rhett  served  on  the 
staff  of  Gen.  R.  S  Kipley,  in  South  Carolina,  and, 
during  the  war,  he  was  repeatedly  under  fire  in 
Charleston  and  on  the  islands  adjacent.  He 
edited  the  Mercury,  and  served  as  a  member  of 
the  Legislature.  His  four  brothers  were  in  service 
under  Beauregard,  Johnston  and  Lee,  from  the 
beginning.  One,  Lieut.  Robert  W.  Rhett,  was 
killed  at  Cold  Harbor,  in  1862  ;  Capt.  Edmund 
Rhett  and  Maj.  A.  B.  Rhett,  survived  the  war, 
physical  wrecks,  to  linser  a  few  years.  Col. 
Alfred  Rhett,  of  Fort  Sumter  fame,  is  still  liv- 
ing in  Charleston,  S.  C.  After  the  evacuation  of 
Charleston,  Col.  R.  B.  Rhett  received  an  appoint- 
ment on  the  staff  of  Gen.  J.  E.  .Johnston,  but  the 
end  came  quickly. 

The  course  of  Colonel  Rhett,  in  editing  the 
Mercury,  was  throughout  the  war  distinct  and 
positive,  in  regard  to  foreign  dii^lomacy,  financial 
matters,  and  military  and  naval  affairs.  But  in 
this  brief  notice  it  is  impossible  to  convey  any 
idea  of  the  various  policies  projected,  or  the 
reasons  offered  in  their  support.  Results,  how- 
ever, of  the  management  pursued,  under  the  lights 
of  the  present,  go  far  to  prove  the  political  sagacity 
shown  in  the  Mercury  and  the  justice  of  its 
criticisms  of  the  Confederate  Government. 

After  the  war,  when  suffrage  was  conferred 
upon  the  negroes.  Colonel  Rhett,  at  a  meeting  of 
prominent  citizens,  held  at  the  office  of  "  Porter 
&  Conner,"  in  Charleston,  for  consultation, 
argued  the  importance  of  canvassing  among  the 
new  voters,  utterly  ignorant,  before  the  agents  of 
the  Freedman's  Bureau  could  array  them  solidly 
as  Republicans  against  their  white  neighbors  ;  but 


he  was  alone,  and  the  f  nion  League  had   it  their 
own  way  for  ten  years. 

In  November,  1866,  the  publication  of  the 
Mercury  was  resumed,  and  in  1808  its  editor  warm- 
ly advocated  the  nomination  of  General  Hancock, 
for  President,  by  the  Xew  York  Democratic  con- 
vention. When  the  motley  reconstruction  con- 
vention of  South  Carolina  was  held  in  Charleston, 
Colonel  Rhett  set  forth,  in  plain  terms,  the  un- 
savory antecedents  of  its  various  members :  and 
during  the  period  of  deepest  gloom,  he  contributed 
to  holding  up  the  hearts  and  hopes  of  the  people 
of  that  depressed  State,  notwithstanding  a  threat 
made  him  of  imprisonment  at  Castle  Pinckney  b}' 
General  Sickles  and  menaces  of  assassination  by 
Republican  politicians,  whom  he  had  shown  up. 

The  flush  times  following  the  war  subsided,  and  ' 
cotton  from  40  cents  a  pound  dropped  to  9  in 
1807-1808,  with  wide-sp)read  disaster  at  the  South. 
Colonel   Rhett   sunk    considerable   money  in  the 
Mercury  and  in  cotton  planting  at  this  period. 

Having  in  1807  married  a  second  time,  a  lady 
of  Huntsville,  Ala.,  of  rare  beauty,  he  moved  to 
Alabama  in  1S70,  and  since  that  time  has  attended 
to  cotton  planting  in  Madison  County  and  in 
Noxubee  County,  Miss. 

In  1872  he  opened  the  State  canvass  of  Alabama, 
with  Colonel  Herndon,  nominee  for  Governor, 
offering  resolutions  in  support  of  Mr.  Greeley,  not 
as  a  Democrat,  but  as  an  alternative  to  Grant. 

Soon  afterward  he  accepted  an  invitation  from 
"The  N.  0.  Printing  and  Publishing  Company" 
to  edit  the  Picayune,  and  through  that  canvass, 
and  for  a  year  after,  during  the  stormy  struggle  of 
the  people  of  Louisiana  against  Kellogg's  fraud 
and  usurpation,  he  controlled  its  columns.  He 
vigorously  and  fearlessly  exposed  the  great  wrong 
and  the  various  men  conspicuously  engaged  in  the 
enterprise,  when  an  effort  was  made  to  muzzle 
the  Picayune  by  two  $100,000  suits  for  libel, 
brought  respectively  in  behalf  of  Chief  Justice 
Ludeling  and  of  Hawkins,  made  Judge  of  the 
Superior  (or  political)  Court.  Without  going  into 
detail,  suffice  it  to  state,  that,  in  defending  the 
cause  of  Louisiana,  the  Picayune  and  himself. 
Colonel  Rhett  became  involved  in  a  personal 
difficulty  with  Judge  Wm.  H.  Cooley,  counsel  for 
Judge  Hawkins.  It  sprung  from  a  gratuitous  and 
baseless  imputation,  made  against  the  editor  by 
the  lawyer  in  his  speech,  and  followed  by  a  grossly 
insulting  card  in  the  Xew  Orleans  Times.  A  duel 
was  fought  between  the  parties,  at  Montgomery 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


259 


Station,  Miss.,  in  which  Judge  Cooley  fell  at  the 
second  fire.  Colonel  Rhett's  course  was  fully 
justified  by  people  of  the  South,  who  understood 
the  situation  and  the  circumstances  of  the  alTair. 
By  precept  and  example  he  inculcated  the  sjiirit 
wliicli  led  to  the  needed  ])olitical  change  in 
Louisiana  under  Wiltz,  Nicholls,  and  Ogden. 

In  187."),  in  Noxubee  County,  he  took  an  active 
and  responsible  part  in  the  canvass  which  freed 
Mississippi  from  carpet-bag  domination. 

In  1876,  on  account  of  dissatisfaction  with 
the  News  and  Courier,  the  Charleston  Journal  of 
Commerce  was  started  (without  the  Associate  Press 
dispatches,  however),  and  Colonel  Khett  was 
called  to  edit  it.  The  News  and  Courier  persist- 
ently advocated  the  support  of  Chamberlain, 
Republican,  for  Governor,  by  the  Democrats  of 
South  Carolina.  Colonel  Rhett  advised  a  straight 
struggle  under  a  Democratic  leader  of  sufficient 
prestige  and  popularity,  to  rouse  the  people  to  the 
supreme  effort  required,  Hampton  being  the  man 
indicated.  Hampton  was  nominated  in  tlie 
Jiiurnal  of  Commerce  by  Oeu.  M.  C.  Butler. 
This  programme  was  adopted  by  the  State  conven- 
tion of  the  party,  the  News  and  Courier  falling 
into  line.  An  ellort  was  then  made  to  separate 
the  S-.ate  canvass  from  the  presidential  election, 
and  confine  the  labors  to  the  former,  as  a  purely 
local  affair.  Colonel  Rhett  strenuously  insisted 
that  the  canvass  should  be  conducted  abreast  with 
and  as  a  part  of  the  presidential  election,  the 
issue  of  which  was  so  vital.  Tilden  and  Hendricks 
were  elected,  but  the  country  was  deprived  of 
Tilden's  administration  of  aflfairs.  Hampton, 
after  a  long  struggle,  secured  his  office  :  and  the 
(Jovernment  of  South  Carolina  got  again  in  the 
bands  of  white  men  and  Democrats.  Colonel 
Uhett  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  with  General 
ihitledgc,  at  the  head  of  the  large  delegation  from 
(Uiarleston;  and  he  assisted  in  the  rehabilitation  of 
the  State,  in  the  settlement  of  the  State  debt,  and 
in  the  reestablishment  of  her  high  credit. 

Having  returned  to  Iluntsville,  Ala.,  in  1878, 
in  1880  Colonel  Rhett  advocated  the  nomina- 
tion of  Hancock  and  engaged  actively  with 
voice  and  [len,  in  the  election  of  General  Wheeler 
to  Congress  from  the  8th  district. 

In  1882,  at  Atiiens,  Ala.,  he  opened  the  canvass 
for  State  offices,  by  the  first  speech,  taking  the 
highest  grounds  for  the  Democratic  party.  He 
also  spoke  effectively  on  this  iilane.  with  (iovernor 
O'Neal,  at  Montgomery  and  at  Mobile. 


In  1884  he  attended  the  Chicago  Democratic 
convention,  and  on  returning  home,  after  the 
nomination,  was  made  president  of  the  Cleveland 
Club,  at  Iluntsville.  He  canvassed  the  8th 
district  for  the  presidential  nominees  and  for 
(ieneral  Wheeler,  who  was  again  elected  to  Congress. 
At  the  Democratic  convention  of  Alabama,  in 
1880,  Colonel  Khett  was  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  platform  and  resolutions,  which  first  endorsed 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Cleveland.  Civil  service 
reform  and  an  equitable  revision  of  the  tariff  for 
revenue,  were  the  two  jilanks  proposed  by  him ; 
the  committee  struck  out  the  tariff  plank.  He 
was  also  elected  at  the  head  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  State :  and  he  was  appointed  by 
Governor  O'Neal  as  trustee  of  the  University  of 
Alabama. 

His  latest  work  in  politics  is  an  article  among 
the  "  War  Papers '■  of  the  Centurij  magazine  on 
the  Confederate  Government  of  Montgomery. 
In  terse  and  pregnant  sentences  it  throws  much 
light  on  the  events  of  that  historic  period. 

In  person.  Colonel  Rhett  is  five  feet  nine  inches 
tall,  with  straight  limbs,  and  weighs  140  pounds. 
His  eyes  are  dark  gray  and  clear.  His  bearing 
is  simple,  calm,  direct  and  courteous.  The  corre- 
spondent of  the  New  York  Herald,  from  New 
Orleans,  described  him  as  follows  :  •'  Personally 
Colonel  Rhett  is  represented  to  be  high-toned, 
gentle  and  chivalrous — a  quiet,  low-spoken  man, 
and  the  last  either  to  court  a  quarrel  or  to 
recede  from  one.  at  the  expense  of  his  own  honor: 
he  has  never  hesitated  to  hold  himself  responsible 
for  all  language  uttered  in  his  journalistic  columns 
or  elsewhere.'" 

Colonel  Rhett  is  deeply  interested  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Tennessee  River 
and  presided  over  the  first  public  meeting  in 
Iluntsville  for  the  building  of  the  Elora  Railroad 
to  connect  with  Nashville,  and  over  the  first  con- 
cerning the  Cincinnati.  Iluntsville  &  Birming- 
ham KMilroad. 

— «-j€i^--«^ — 

HENRY  CLAY  SPEAKE  was  born  in  Lawrence 
Countv,  Ala.,  .hinc  IT.  ls:)4,  and  is  a  son  of  James 
H.  and  Sarah  H.  (Lindsey)  Speake. 

James  R.  Speake  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1803, 
where  he  received  his  education  mostly  after  he 
was  grown.  He  came  to  Lawrence  County,  .\la., 
in     18:t2,  ami  located    near    Oakville.    where    he 


260 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


taught  school  and  followed  teacliing  for  a  liveli- 
hood forseveral  years.  He  married  in  June,  1833, 
and  settled  near  Oakville  on  a  plantation,  and  has 
remained  there  all  his  life.  He  and  his  wife,  who 
are  still  living,  have  reared  six  children,  of  whom 
the  subject  of  our  sketch  is  the  eldest.  He 
has  served  as  County  Suirerintendent  of  Law- 
rence County  several  terms,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  Convention  ihat  framed  the  Constitution  of 
Alabama  in  1865.  He  was  in  the  Legislature  in 
1870,  'n,  '76  and  1878.  He  has  been  very  active 
in  the  Baptist  Chv;rch,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity.  His  father,  Basil  Speake, 
came  from  Maryland  to  Kentucky  about  1790, 
and  his  ancestors  came  from  England  with  Lord 
Baltimore,  and  settled  in  Maryland. 

Henry  Clay  Speake  was  reared  on  a  farm;  re- 
ceived a  common-school  education,  and,  at  the  age 
of  twenty,  taught  school  to  procure  money  with 
with  which  to  attend  the  law-school  at  Cumber- 
land University,  from  which  institution  he  gradu- 
ated in  January,  1857.  In  February  of  that  year, 
he  located  at  Decaitur,  and  with  the  exception  of 
six  months  in  Texas  in  1860,  he  lived  there  until 
the  war.  He  entered  the  army  in  August,  186--i, 
as  a  private  in  Compai\y  D,  Fourth  Alabama  Cav- 
alry Regiment,  and  was  soon  afterward  promoted 
to  sergeant-major,  and,  later,  to  adjutant  of  the 
regiment.  About  January,  1864,  he  was  appointed 
quartermaster  of  the  regiment,  and  was  captured, 
with  a  part  of  Forrest's  command,  near  Columbus, 
Ga.  After  the  war  he  settled  in  Moulton,  and  in 
1874  was  elected  Chancellor  of  the  Northern 
Division  of  Alabama,  which  position  beheld  until 
1880.  In  August  of  that  year,  he  was  elected  Judge 
of  the  Eighth  Judicial  Circuit  of  the  State,  and 
re-elected  thereto  in  August,  1886.  His  present 
term  will  expire  in  1892. 

In  December,  1876,  Judge  Speake  located  at 
Huntsville,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He  was 
married  January  27,  1860,  to  Carrie  0.  Mayhew, 
daughter  of  Jonathan  Mayhew,  remembered  as  an 
educator  of  more  than  ordinary  ability.  He.  was 
originally  from  New  England.  The  three  chil- 
dren born  to  Judge  Speake,  now  living,  are  Kate 
M.,  Henry  C,  Jr.,  and  Paul  M.  He  has  three 
dead:  Sallie  May,  James  M.  and  Carrie  Belle. 

The  Judge  is  a  Campbellite  and  his  wife  a  Pres- 
byterian. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Judge  Speake  was  called 
to  the  chancellorship  and  afterward   to  the  judge- 


ship by  the  voice  of  the  people  who  considered  his 
eminent  fitness  for  the  position,  and  that  in  neither 
case  was  it  in  response  to  any  solicitation  upon  his 
part.  His  career,  both  as  Chancellor  and  Judge, 
have  shown  the  wisdom  of  the  selection. 


THOMAS  J.  TAYLOR,  Probate  Judge  of  Mad- 
ison County,  Ala.,  was  born  at  Maysville,  this 
county,  July  2,  1829,  and  his  parents  were  M. 
and  Nancy  J.  (McCartney)  Taylor,  natives  of 
Georgia.  He  received  a  common-school  education, 
and,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  began  teaching.  In 
1858,  he  was  elected  County  Surveyor,  and  held 
that  office  until  January,  1862,  at  which  time  he 
entered  the  army  as  second  lieutenant  of  Company 
K,  Forty-ninth  Alabama  Regiment.  After  the  bat- 
tle of  Shiloh,  in  which  he  participated,  and  at  the 
re-organization  of  the  regiment,  he  was  elected  cap- 
tain of  iiis  company.  He  was  captured  at  Port 
Hudson,  and  sent  to  Johnson's  Island,  at  which 
place.  Point  Lookout  and  Fort  Delaware,  he  was 
detained  until  the  close  of  the  war.  For  three 
years  after  returning  liome  he  taught  school.  At 
the  end  of  that  time  he  was  again  elected  county 
surveyor,  and  held  that  office  until  1871,  when 
he  was  elected  tax  assessor  for  the  six  succeeding 
years.  In  1880  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  held  that  office  tix  years,  and  in  August, 
1886,  was  elected  Probate  Judge. 

In  his  early  manhood  Judge  Taylor  married  a 
Miss  Douglas,  daughter  of  John  and  Catherine 
(Nowlin)  Douglas,  who  came  from  Lynchburg, 
Va.,  about  1819,  and  tlie  children  born  to  this 
union  are:  Kate  (wife  of  S.  M.  Seward):  Nannie 
J.  (wife  of  William  L.  Jones);  Lillie  (wife  of  W. 
A.  Walls);  and  Laura  L.  The  judge  and  his  wife 
are  members  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  he  is  of  the  orders  of  I  0.  0.  F.  and 
K.  of  H. 

The  senior  Mr.  Taylor  was  born  in  LexLngton, 
Ga.,  in  1801,  and  his  wife  in  Madison  County, 
Ala.,  in  1811.  He  came  with  his  parents  to  this 
county  in  1809,  from  Winchester,  Tenn.,  whither 
the  family  had  migrated  in  1805.  He  was  a 
farmer  and  merchant  by  occupation. 

Of  his  children  we  are  able  to  make  the  follow- 
ing notices:  (1)  The  subject  of  this  sketch.  (2) 
John  M.,  a  newspaper  man,  went  to  New  Orleans 
in  1852,  thence  to  Baton  Rouge,  as  editor  of  tlie 
Baton  Rouge  Advocate;  was  State  printer   at  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


261 


outbreak  of  the  war;  served  througli  tlie  war,  ris- 
ing from  the  ranks  to  the  command  of  a  regiment; 
after  the  war  lie  was  a  member  of  the  Louisiana 
[legislature,  and  died  while  of  that  body.  (3) 
(irant,  was  a  membei-  of  tlie  Twelfth  Alabama  Reg- 
iment; died  in  the  hotipital  soon  after  the  battle 
of  Seven  Piues.  (4)  Charles  was  a  private  in  the 
Seventli  Alabama  Cavalry;  now  a  railroad  man  in 
Louisiana.  (5)  Felix  M.  was  a  member  of  the 
Fiftieth  Alabama  Wegiment.  and  afterward  .Major 
of  the  Fourth  Alaljama  Cavalry;  served  through 
the  war;  died  in  Mem])his  in  188(i.  (fi)  Waverly 
K.  was  a  member  of  tiie  Seventh  Alabama  Lifan- 
try,  and  afterward  of  the  Second  Louisiana  Cav- 
alry: was  on  (ien.  Dick  Taylor's  staff;  now  a 
farmer  in  Louisiana.  (T)  (ieorge  L.,  at  the  ago 
of  fifteen  years,  entered  the  Seventh  Alabama 
Regiment;  became  a  courier  to  General  Wlieeler; 
was  killed  at  Murfreesboro  (8)  I\[ary,  wife  of 
Clinton  Hay  worth,  of  FiOuisiana.  (D)  Jjucy.  wife 
I  if  Pleas  Davison,  of  l^ouisiana. 

.Mr.  Taylor's  father,  George  Taylor,  was  born 
near  K'ichmond,  Va.,  in  17G2.  He  was  a  lieuten- 
ant under  Henry  Lee,  and  particii)ated  in  the 
battles  of  Monmouth,  (iuilford  Court  House  and 
King's  Mountain.  After  the  war-  he  settled  in 
Georgia,  and  was  many  years  captain  of  militia. 
He  moved  to  Tennessee  in  180.5,  and  to  Jfadisou 
County,  Ala.,  in  1800.  The  Taylor  family  came 
to  America  with  Lor<l  Baltimore,  and  tlie  -McCart- 
ney family  from  Scotland. 

— —■ '^-J^^-^— — 

MILTON  HUMES.  .Vttorney-at-law.  son  of  John 
N.  and  Jane  C.  (\\  iiite)  Humes,  was  born  at 
Abingdon,  Va.,  in  August,  1844.  Jolin  N.  Humes 
was  born  in  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  about  1800;  was 
educated  for  the  law  and  graduated  from  one  of  the 
New  England  Colleges.  After  marriage  he  settled 
in  Virginia  and  became  a  planter  on  an  extensive 
scale.  He  wa.'s  a  very  influential  man.  His  wife 
was  a  Presbyterian,  but  he  was  an  admirer  of  the 
Swedenborgian  doctrine.  They  raised  a  large 
family,  viz.:  Capt.  John  \.,  killed  at  .\ntietani; 
Gen.  W.  y.  C,  a  lawyer  at  .Memphis;  James  \V., 
deceased,  who  was  a  colonel  from  Tennessee  in  the 
Confederate  service,  aiul  afterward  an  attorney  at 
Abingdon;  Andrew  R.,  a  captain  from  \'irgiiiia 
in  the  Confederate  service — he  died  at  Memphis 
during  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  in  187S;  Thomas 
W..  a  teai'lierat  Hiintsvilli':  Frank  .\.,  an  attorney 


at  Abingdon,  Va.,  wasa  captain  in  the  Confederate 
service;  IHIton,  subject  of  this  sketch;  Elizabeth 
W..  now  widow  of  i)r.  L.  B.  Shcffey;  Ellen  W., 
wife  of  Dr.  D.  K.  Tuttle,  of  Baltimore — he 
was  a  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  University  of 
Virginia;  entered  the  army  with  the  rank  of  col- 
onel and  in  the  capacity  of  a  scientist. 

•  lohn  X.  Humes  died  in  1872.  He  was  a  .son  of 
John  -N.  Humes,  who,  with  two  brothers,  came 
from  Scotland.  They  settled  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  he,  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  where  he  became 
a  successful  merchant.  He  married  Margaret, 
widow  of  James  Cowan,  of  Knoxville,  and  sister 
of  Gen.  Gilbert  Russel,  of  ^'irginia.  Thev  had 
three  sons  and  two  daughters,  namely:  John  N.; 
'J'honuis  W.,  who  was  for  several  years  President 
of  the  University  of  Tennessee,  at  Knoxville;  An- 
drew R.,  a  farmer,  who  died  young;  Mary,  wife 
of  Hon.  John  White  of  Kentucky,  who  was,  at 
one  time,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
in  the  United  States  Congress;  and  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  a  Mr.  White,  of  Tennessee. 

Jane  C.  (White)  Humes,  our  subject's  mother, 
was  a  daughter  of  James  \Vhite,  of  Abingdon,  Va., 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  eminently  suc- 
cessful as  a  business  man.  and  became  very 
wealthy.  He  owned  a  large  number  of  planta- 
tions all  through  the  South  besides,  vast  interests 
in  iron,  lead  and  salt.  He  married  a  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Wilson,  of  Virginia,  and  reared  a  large  fam- 
ily, namely;  James  Tj.,  W.  Y.  C,  Thomas  W., 
\ewton  K.,  Addison,  Frank,  Milton,  Jane  V..,  our 
subject's  mother;  Eliza,  wife  of  Dr.  Hannum  of 
East  Tennessee;  and  Eleanor. 

Jlilton  Humes  received  his  early  education  in 
an  academy  at  Abingdon.  He  enlisted  in  the 
late  war  as  a  private  soldier  in  Company  A,  Sixt}-- 
third  Virginia  Infantry,  in  the  fall  of  1801.  He 
was  engaged  in  battle  at  Princeton,  W.  \'a., 
Charleston  and  Suffolk;  at  Chickamauga  and 
Missionary  Ridge.  He  was  made  captain  at 
Dalton;  received  a  severe  flesh  wound,  being 
shot  through  both  legs  near  .Marietta;  was  re- 
commended for  promotion  to  the  rank  of  major, 
and  assigned  to  the  Army  of  Tennessee,  and 
fought  at  Bentonville.  N.  ('.,  which  was  his 
last  liattle.  Captain  Humes'  mother  having  died 
during  the  war,  and  his  home  liaving  been  broken 
up,  he  came  to  Huntsville,  and  began  the  study 
of  law  with  Beirne  &  Gordon.  He  took  the 
degreeof  LI.,. D.  in  18fiTat  Lexington,  Va.;  located 
at  Huntsville.  and  has  been  enjoying  a  successful 


262 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


practice  there  ever  since.  He  has  a  large  railroad 
jsractiee,  having  for  years  been  attorney  for  the 
Memphis  &  Chattanooga  Railroad  Company,  the 
East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Kailroad 
Company,  and  the  Nashville,  Chattanooga  &  St. 
Louis  Railroad  Company  in  Alabama. 

In  1884  Milton  Humes  was  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature, and  was  made  chairman  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee.  He  is  attorney  for  and  director  of 
the  '•■  Xorth  Alabama  Improvement  Company," 
also  director  of  the  *"  Alabama  Black  Band  Coal, 
Iron  and  Railroad  Company"  of  Jackson. 

Captain  Humes  was  married  June  1,  1870,  to  a 
daughter  of  Reuben  Chapman,  ex-Governor  of 
Alabama.  He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Episcopal  Church. 


JOHN  PATTON  is  an  honored  representative  of 
an  old  and  distinguished  family.  His  parents 
were  William  and  Martha  Lee  (Hays)  Patton.  The 
former  came  from  theXorth  of  Ireland  to  America 
jn-ior  to  1800,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  and 
settled  in  Virginia,  where  he  was  subsequently 
married,  his  wife  being  a  native  of  that  State. 
In  1812  he  came  to  Huntsville  and  began  mer- 
chandising, and  in  1815  brought  his  family  from 
Virginia,  driving  his  wagon  the  entire  distance. 
Mr.  Patton  continued  to  sell  goods  up  to  18.'3(j, 
and  was  also  largely  interested  in  planting,  owning 
a  large  estate  in  Mississippi  and  two  in  Alabama. 
Mr.  Patton  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Beirne  & 
Patton,  and  was  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune. 
He  was  a  man  possessed  of  rare  business  judg- 
ment, and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1840,  left  a 
large  estate.  He  was  the  father  of  nine  children, 
all  of  whom  attained  an  advanced  age  and  had 
descendants.  Of  these,  Dr.  Charles  H.  Patton 
was  a  celebrated  physician  and  manufacturer,  and 
accumulated  a  large  property;  Robert  M.  Patton 
was  a  planter,  legis'ator  and  statesman;  he  achieved 
a  high  jDosition  among  public  men  of  Alabama; 
Jane  became  the  wife  of  Wm.  H.  Pope;  Martha 
manied  J.  B.  Bradford,  who  for  many  years  was  a 
merchant  of  Huntsville;  Wm.  R.  was  an  old  mer- 
chant and  also  a  planter  of  Mississippi ;  Eliza  became 
the  wife  of  Lawrence  Watkins,  well  known  in  Ala- 
bama and  Mississippi;  .Mary  Ann  became  the  wife 
of  Wm.  G.  Selleck,  and  after  his  death  married  N. 
M.  Groch,  and  is  again  a  widow;  Margaret  E.  be- 
came the  wife  of  Ned  Richardson,  a  native  of  Nortli 


Carolina,  who  subsequently  became  a  cotton  factor 
and  commission  merchant  of  New  Orleans.  Mr. 
Richardson  is  a  millionaire,  and  enjoys  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  largest  cotton  raiser  in  the  world, 
conducting  during  the  season  of  1886  twenty-four 
plantations.  Four  sons  and  one  daughter  have 
been  born  to  them.  Mrs.  Richardson  died  Dec-' 
ember  18,  1887. 

John  Patton  was  born  July  .5,  1S14.  in  Virginia, 
and  early  in  life  entered  his  father's  store,  where 
he  acquired  business  habits  and  methods  which 
fitted  him  to  succeed  to  his  father's  mercantile 
trade.  He  jDurchased  his  father's  interest  in  1830, 
and  successfully  conducted  it  until  1858,  acquiring 
a  handsome  fortune.  Mr.  Patton  has  also  been  a 
leading  planter,  and  was  the  owner  of  an  exten- 
sive plantation  in  Mississijipi,  which  he  ojierated 
until  1868,  since  which  he  has  retired  from  active 
business  life  and  is  now  enjoying  the  autumn  of 
life  in  his  beautiful  home  in  Huntsville.  July  11, 
1843,  he  was  united  to  Miss  M.  Louise  Walker,  a 
daughter  of  James  Walker,  of  Virginia,  wlio  had 
served  in  the  State  Legislature  and  was  a  large 
planter. 

Seven  children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Patton;  three,  only,  are  now  living:  James  II.,  of 
Huntsville,  a  planter  and  trader;  Robert  H.,  a 
merchant  of  Ellisville,  Miss.,  and  Leila  D.,  wife 
of  William  H.  Raymond,  a  prominent  mercliant 
and  citizen  of  S'elma,  Ala. 


OSCAR  R.  HUNDLEY,  Attorney-at-law,  was 
born  in  Limestone  County,  Ala.,  October  30, 1854, 
and  is  a  son  of  Orville  M.  and  Mary  E.  (Holding) 
Hundley,  both  natives  of  Alabama.  His  father  is 
of  English  descent,  and  is  a  graduate  of  Marietta 
College,  Marietta,  Ohio,  in  classical  course,  class  of 
1853. 

Oscar  R.  Hundley  received  excellent  educational 
advantages,  preparing  for  college  at  Phillips'  Exe- 
ter Academy,  of  Exeter,  N.  H,,  completing  his 
course  there  in  1872.  He  then  entered  ]Marietta 
College,  where  he  pursued  his  studies  during 
1873-4.  In  1876  he  entered  Vanderbilt  Univer- 
sity, and  graduated  from  the  law  department, 
with  distinction,  in  1877,  taking  the  degree  of 
B.  L.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Huntsville  bar  in 
December,  1S77,  and  has  been  in  active  and  suc- 
cessful practice  since. 

Mr.  Hundley  has  achieved  a  flaitering  and   ele- 


XOH  rUERX-  ALABAMA. 


203 


vated  position  for  a  young  man,  not  alone  in  the 
practice  of  iiis  chosen  profession,  but  in  public 
life,  into  whicli  he  lias  been  called  by  his  political 
party. 

In  18S"i  lie  was  elected  City  Attorney  of  Ihints- 
villc,  and  re-elected  in  1883.  While  an  incumbent 
of  this  office  he  prei)ared  and  published  the  revised 
code  of  the  city  ordinances  wiiich  are  now  in  use. 

In  itay,  188G,  he  received,  unsolicited,  the  nom- 
ination for  the  State  Legislature,  and  was  elected 
the  following  August,  by  the  largest  vote  of  any 
candidate  on  the  legislative  ticket.  lie  was  jilaced 
upon  important  committees  in  the  ensuing  ses- 
sion, and  made  an  exceedingly  favorable  impres- 
sion. He  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Fees 
and  Salaries,  and  a  prominent  member  of  the  Ju- 
diciary Committee.  He  was  recently  renominated 
for  another  term  in  the  Legislature,  by  the  con- 
vention of  iiis  party,  receiving  the  largest  vole  in 
the  convention,  over  nine  other  candidates,  on  the 
first  ballot. 

In  August,  1887,  he  was  appointed,  by  Governor 
Seay,  commissioner  to  represent  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama at  the  Constitutional  Centennial  Conven- 
vention,  held  at  Philadelphia,  the  ITtli,  18tli  and 
19th  of  September,  thai  year.  Jlr.  Hundley  was 
chairman  of  the  Huntsville  &  Klora  Hailroad  Com- 
mittee, and  assisted  materially  in  securing  and 
building  that  important  line  of  road.  He  is  at- 
torney for  the  Nashville,  Chattanooga  &  St.  Louis 
Railroiid  for  Alabama,  and  enjoys  a  general  lucra- 
tive practice  in  the  various  courts. 

-Mr.  Hundley  was  married  in  February,  187S,  to 
Miss  Anna  E.  Thomas,  of  Xa.<hville,  Tenn. 

He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason;  has  been  an 
officer  of  the  State  Crand  Chapter,  and  is  a  prom- 
inent member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.  and  Knights  of 
Pythias,  being  now  Past  (irand  Chancellor  of  the 
State  in  the  latter  ordei'. 

JOHN  D.  BRANDON,  Attorney-at-law,  was 
horn  at  lluiilsville.  December  18,  1837.  Tlie  sen- 
ior Brautloii  came  to  Alabama  from  T'ennessee, 
when  nineteen  years  of  age;  began  the  study  of 
law  in  the  office  of  Gov.  C.  C.  Clay,  at  Hunts- 
ville, and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1822.  He 
placticed  law  here  up  to  the  year  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  June  2,  1838.  He  died  in  the 
thirty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  Mr.  Prandon  was  a 
successful  lawyer  and  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest 


jurists  of  his  day.  He  died  the  possessor  of  a 
handsome  estate.  He  was  United  States  Attorney 
under  Jackson  seven  years,  and  the  Government 
Commissioner's  legal  adviser  in  their  treaty  with 
the  Creek  Indians.  In  182.5,  he  held  the  raTik  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  on  the  stalf  of  (iovernor  Pick- 
ens, and  in  1638, was  appointed,  by  President  Van 
Buren,  Consul  to  Canipeachy  and  Tabasco,  but 
died  before  assuming  the  duties  of  office.  He  left 
surviving  him  two  sons,  and  three  daughters,  of 
whom  John  D.  was  the  youngest  child. 

At  the  ages  of  fifteen  years  John  D.  Brandon 
accompanied  his  mother's  family  to  St.  Louis; 
there  studied  Latin  and  Greek  under  the  Rev. 
Reed,  and  the  following  year  entered  Rochester, 
N.  Y. ,  Academy  to  prepare  for  college.  In  the 
fall  of  IS.ji;  he  became  a  student  at  Cumberland 
University,  and  graduated  from  the  law  depart- 
ment of  that  institution  in  18.j9. 

Returning  to  St.  Louis,  he  engaged  at  once  in 
the  practice  of  law,  but  his  health  failing  him,  he 
came  the  year  following  to  Huntsville,  where  he 
has  since  given  his  time  to  the  profession.  April, 
1861,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  I, 
Fourth  Alabama  Infantry,  one  of  Bee's  regiments, 
and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war.  After  the 
first  battle  of  JIanassas  he  was  promoted  from  the 
ranks  to  second  lieutenant,  and  in  April,  1862, 
was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  captain.  He  served 
on  the  staff  of  the  Fourth  .Vlabama  with  this 
rank,  as  regimental  commissary;  and  as  captain 
he  was  assigned  to  duty  under  (ieneral  Law,  as 
assistant  brigade  commissary. 

At  Richmond,  \'a..  Captain  Brandon  was  en- 
trusted with  a  letter  from  President  Uavis  to  Gen- 
eral Lee.  As  he  delivered  the  letter  in  person,  he 
had  his  first  opportunity  of  meeting  the  most  dis- 
tinguished hero  of  the  war  face  to  face.  The 
(Jeneral  iiupiired  of  him  about  the  people  of  Rich- 
mond, and  of  what  they  had  to  say  regarding  the 
campaign:  and  upon  being  told  that  tlie  talk  was, 
that  the  Federal  Government  was  preparing. to 
confront  the  Army  of  Virginia  with  General  Grant, 
**  and,"  the  Captain  added,  "  in  which  case  General 
you  will  crush  him  as  you  have  his  predecessors"? 
(ieneral  Lee  replied  •'  It  must  be;  it  shall  be;  it  is 
our  only  hopel"  But  the  Grand  Army  of  N'ir- 
ginia,  under  even  the  incomparable  Lee,  could 
not  contend  against  fate. 

In  the  latter  part  of  IS'i.'i,  Captain  Brandon 
was  a,ssigned  to  duty  at  Camden,  Ala.,  was 
there  until  the  close  of  hostilities  and  surrendered 


264 


NOR  THERN  ALABAMA. 


finally  at  Mobile.  For  the  next  succeeding  three 
years  he  practiced  law  in  Wilcox  County,  whence 
he  returned  to  Huntsville,  where  he  is  known  as 
ail  able  lawyer,  ajiublic-spirited  and  energetic  citi- 
zen. 

The  Captain  was  married  in  November,  18G3,  to 
Mrs.  Rosalie  C.  Christian,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  John 
D.  Caldwell.  Mrs.  Brandon  died  October  19,  18C9. 
The  Captain  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order, 
Knights  of  Pythias,  and  Knights  of  Honor. 

The  mother  of  Captain  Brandon  was  Miss  Mary 
J.  Caldwell,  of  Kentucky,  whose  paternal  ances- 
tors came  from  Scotland  to  Ireland,  and  from  Ire- 
land to  Virginia;  and  her  immediate  family 
moved  into  Kentucky  in  the  latter  jjart  of  the  last 
century.  She  and  John  C.  Calhoun  are  descend- 
ants of  the  same  Caldwell  family,  she  being  a  third 
cousin  of  this  great  man  and  distinguished  states- 
man. 


L.  W.DAY,  Attorney-at-law,  Huntsville,  Ala., 
is  a  native  of  the  State  of  Maine,  and  was  living  in 
Illinois  at  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war.  He  came 
South  with  the  Illinois  troops,  and  after  the  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities,  located  at  Huntsville,  in  the 
practice  of  law.  He  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the 
United  States  District  Court,  in  January,  1866, 
held  that  office  eight  years,  and  was  subsequently 
appointed  Assistant  United  States  District  Attor- 
ney. He  retired  from  the  last  named  office  in 
1884. 

Mr.  Day  is  at  this  writing  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Huntsville.  and  is  ranked  as  one  of 
the  successful  lawyers  of  Northern  Alabama. 

ERNEST  ROBINSON,  Attorney-at-law,  was  born 
in  Huntsville,  February,  1866,  and  his  parents 
were  James  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Robinson. 

James  Robinson  was  born  in  Hopkins  County, 
Tenn.,  in  1805.  In  1814,  his  jiarents  immigrated 
to  Alabama,  and  settled  near  Huntsville,  where  he 
received  his  education  and  fitted  himself  for  the 
law,  in  which  profession  he  attained  considerable 
eminence.  He  served  as  City  and  County  Attor- 
ney, and  afterward  in  the  Legislature;  and  was  the 
father  of  three  children,  of  whom  our  subject  is 
the  youngest. 

Ernest    Robinson    received    his    education    in 


Huntsville  and  began  the  study  of  law  at  the  age 
of  seventeen,  in  the  office  of  his  father.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1ST7,  and  lias  been  prac- 
ticing since  that  time  with    considerable   success. 

CHARL-ES  P.  LANE,  Lawyer,  Politician  and 
Real  Estate  Dealer,  is  a  descendant  of  well-known 
Southern  ancestry.  He  is  a  son  of  George  W. 
and  Martha  (Davis)  Lane,  the  former  a  native  of 
Georgia,  and  the  latter  of  Virginia. 

George  W.  Lane  was  reared  in  Limestone 
County,  Ala.,  and  when  young  was  elected  probate 
judge  of  that  county.  He  was  subsequently 
elected  Circuit  Judge  of  Huntsville  District,  and 
in  1861,  was  appointed  .Judge  of  the  United  States 
District  Court  by  President  Lincoln,  which  office 
he  held  until  his  death  in  1865.  He  was  a  Whig 
in  politics,  and  a  strong  loyal  Union  man. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  the  daughter  of 
Capt.  Nicholas  Davis,  one  of  the  most  noted  men 
of  his  time. 

Charles  P.  Lane  was  born  in  Huntsville,  Ala., 
March  18.  1854,  and  is  the  youngest  of  a  family 
of  eleven  children.  He  received  a  good  education, 
and  before  attaining  the  age  of  eighteen  years  was 
licensed  to  practice  law  in  the  circuit  court  of 
Limestone  County.  He  began  his  public  career  in 
1880,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature 
from  his  county,  upon  the  Democratic  ticket.  In 
that  session  he  became  noted  by  his  independence 
of  strict  party  lines  in  favoring  the  minority  re- 
port on  elections,  offered  by"  B.  M.  Long,  the  only 
Republican  in  the  House.  By  this  action  he  be- 
came known  as  a  "Republican-Democrat."  In 
188"^,  he  was  nominated  by  the  Greenback  Con- 
vention as  their  candidate  for  attorney-general, 
making  the  camjjaign  upon  a  platform  favoring 
fair  elections  and  a  repeal  of  the  then  existing 
convict  laws.  In  1884,  he  was  honored  with  the 
nomination  by  the  Republicans,  Greenbacks  and 
Anti-Bourbons  for  governor,  but  declined  to  make 
the  race.  The  same  year  he  served  as  a  Blaine 
and  Logan  elector.  In  1885,  he  established  The 
New  South,  at  that  time  the  only  Republican 
paper  in  the  State. 

In  1886,  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  State  Legis- 
lature. He  is  a  young  man  of  j)leasing  address 
and  superiot  capabilities,  and  has  a  promising 
future.      During  the  year  188T,  he  was  the  rejire- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


205 


siMitative  in  tlie  North  of  four  large  land  coni})a- 
nies — Sheffiekl,  Decatur,  Florence  and  Iliints- 
villo.     Mr.  Lane  is  now  practicing  law. 

.Mr.  [iane  was  united  in  marriage  in  Issi  with 
Miss  Ella  Abercroinbie.  of  Tuskegee,  Ala., daugh- 
ter of  John  Abercromhie,  who  died  in  the  army, 
and  granddaughter  to  Col.  James  Abcrcrombie, 
long  known  a.s  the  "Whig  Congressman "  from 
the  Kufaula  District. 

Four  children  have  been  bo'-n  to  them;  Madge, 
George,  Mattie  and  Sarah. 

SAMUEL  H.  BUCK,  Vice-president  and  Man- 
ager of  "  The  North  Alabama  Land  and  Improve- 
ment Company,"  at  Iluntsville,  was  born  in  the 
blue-grass  region  of  Kentucky.  His  father  is 
Thomas  Mountjoy  Buck,  of  a  Virginia  family, 
prominent  in  the  time  of  Washington,  and  des- 
cended from  the  •'  cavaliers  "  of  tl)e  war  of  Charles 

I.  of  England.  His  mother  was  Catharine  Wat- 
kins,  also  of  high  lineage  in  "  the  Old  Dominion." 

The  son  was  educated  at  Bethel,  and  at  Union 
University,  Kentucky.  Before  he  graduated,  the 
war  between  the  States  came  on,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty  lie  entered  the  Confederate  service,  April 

II,  ISO!.  He  served  in  battles  around  I?ichmond, 
in  Tennessee  and  in  Kentucky,  under  General 
Whitetif-ld  and  General  Bragg.  By  both  of  these 
officers  he  was  complimented  for  "gallantry  on 
the  tield."  Early  in  1862  he  was  promoted  to  a 
captaincy,  and  in  1803  had  reached  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel.  He  was  then  assigned  to  the 
staff  of  (ieneral  Holmes,  in  command  of  the 
Trans-Mississippi  Department.  And  when  that 
officer  was  relieved,  he  was  assigned  to  the  staff  of 
Gen.  .lohn  B.  Magruder,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  the  campaigns  against  (Jenerals  Banks,  .Mc- 
Cook  and  Steele. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Colonel  Buck  settled  in 
New  Orleans,  and  in  one  year  was  a  member  of  the 
cotton  factorage  house  of  Morrison,  Buck  &  Co. 
He  soon  Ijccame  influential  in  the  cotton  interests 
of  that  great  mart.  For  three  years  from  1870  he 
was  secretary  of  "  tlie  National  Cotton  Hxchange 
of  America,"  an  office  afterward  held  by  Col.  C. 
1[.  Parker,  editor-in-chief  of  the  Picayune.  After- 
ward he  was  made  chairman  of  the  important 
"  Committee  on  Appeals,"  to  settle  business  mis- 
iinderstaiulinirs  among  its  members. 


Colonel  Buck  was  one  of  the  marshals  under 
Gov.  F.  N.  Ogden,  who  in  1874  led  the  citizen 
soldiery  of  "  the  White  League  "  against  the  plun- 
dering and  tyrannical  usuri)ers,  a  movement  that 
resulted  in  the  redemption  of  Louisiana  and  the 
re-establishment  of  a  State  government  by  the  peo- 
ple for  tiie  people.  He  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Democratic  Legislature  of  1870,  and  served 
in  three  State  conventions;  also  in  the  postal  con- 
vention held  at  Old  Point  Comfort.  And  he  was 
appointed,  with  Hoji.  Louis  Bush  as  a  colleague,  a 
delegate  from  Louisiana  to  tlie  Franco-American 
<"'ongress,  which  met  at  Paris  in  1878  to  frame  a 
commercial  treaty  between  the  United  States  and 
France.  But,  as  he  was  about  to  sail,  yellow-fever 
broke  out  in  New  Orleans  and  he  returned  to  the 
city. 

When  Congress  granted  a  charter  for  "The 
World's  Industrial  and  Cotton  Continental  Expo- 
sition" at  New  Orleans,  the  Act  autiiorized  "  The 
National  Cotton  Planters'  Association  "  to  nomin- 
ate six  out  of  the  thirteen  Governmental  Com- 
missioners to  constitute  the  Board  of  Manage- 
meiit.  Colonel  Buck  was  one  of  the  six  nomin- 
ated, and  he  was  commissioned  by  President 
Arthur.  And  when  Col.  E.  A.  Burke,  who  was 
made  Director-Cieneral  of  this  gigantic  enterprise, 
retired,  broken  down  by  the  strain  of  a  position 
so  responsible  and  arduous.  Colonel  Buck  was  se- 
lected to  complete  the  work  and  afterward  to  close 
up  the  business  of  this,  the  most  varied  and  inter- 
esting exposition  ever  held  in  the  civilized  world. 
In  fulfilling  the  trying  duties  of  Director-Gen- 
eral he  achieved  so  much  reputation,  that  Presi- 
dent Cleveland,  unsolicited  and  of  his  own  motion, 
appointed  him  postmaster  of  New  Orleans.  Here 
Colonel  Buck  instituted  many  desirable  reforms 
and  improvements,  and  then  resigned  the  best  office 
financially  at  the  South,  to  take  charge  of  the 
all'uirs  of  "The  North  Alabama  Land  and  Im- 
jirovement  Company,"  at  Huntsville.  This  fact 
alone  and  the  guiding  presence  of  such  a  man  in 
ihe  developments  here  projected,  furnished  the 
most  satisfactory  grounds  for  faith  in  the  value  of 
the  ad  vantages  and  in  the  great  destiny  of  thispoint 
in  the  valley  of  tlie  Tennessee  as  a  center  of  indus- 
trial enter))rises,  population,  thrift  and  progress. 

But  by  all  who  know  him.  Colonel  Buck  is  re- 
garded as  a  typical  southern  gentleman.  \\"\i\\  a 
keen  sense  of  honor,  he  is  broad  and  just  and  con- 
servative. Physically  fearless,  he  enjoys  a  reputa- 
tion for  moral  courage  and  candor,  and  is  a  safe 


266 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


man  in  difficulties.  In  the  social  world  he  is  the 
peer  of  the  best,  a  man  of  courtlj'  jiolish  as  well 
of  as  worldly  wisdom. 

Colonel  Buck  married  Miss  Annie  Douglas 
Fleming,  of  Natchez,  Miss.,  and  their  family  con- 
sists of  a  daughter  and  a  son. 

FRANK  COLEMAN,  of  Athens,  Ala.,  Register 
of  the  United  States  Land  Office,  Huntsville,  is 
the  youngest  son  of  the  late  Judge  Daniel  Cole- 
man. 

He  was  educated  at  the  Southern  University, 
Greensboro,  Ala.,  and  the  Washington  and  Lee 
University,  Lexington,  Va.  Graduating  from  the 
last  named  institution,  in  1S69,  he  read  law  with 
the  Hon.  Luke  Pryor,  at  Athens,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar.  He  taught  school  a  while; 
spent  some  time  in  the  far  West,  and  was  for 
about  one  year  connected  with  the  editorial  corps 
of  the  St.  Louis  Times.  At  the  instance  of 
Major  Henry  Heiss,  with  whom  he  had  done  jour- 
nalistic work  on  the  St.  Louis  Times,  he  came  to 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  was  for  five  years  one  of 
the  editors  of  the  Nashville  Banner,  a  morning 
daily.  His  health  failing,  in  1875,  he  retired  to 
his  old  home  at  Athens.  Li  November,  1876,  he 
became  editor  and  half  proprietor  of  the  Hunts- 
ville (Ala.)  Independent,  a  Democratic  journal. 
Under  his  administration,  the  Independent  became 
quite  an  influential  paper,  and  was  always  fully 
identified  with  the  greatest  interests  of  its  section 
of  the  county. 

Mr.  Coleman  was  four  years  a  member  of  the 
State  Democratic  Executive  Committee,  and  after 
the  election  of  President  Cleveland,  he  was 
strongly  endorsed  by  the  best  men  of  the  State 
for  the  position  to  which  he  was  subsequently  ap- 
pointed and  unanimously  confirmed.  His  com- 
mission as  Register  of  the  United  States  Land 
Office  was  dated  January  20,  1887,  and  upon  tak- 
ing possession  of  the  office  he  severed  his  connec- 
tion with  the  Independent. 


-«" 


DR.  DAVID  MOORE.  The  name  of  this  influen- 
tial and  broad-minded  gentleman  stands  con- 
spicuous in  the  list  of  prominent  and  useful  citi- 
zens of  Huntsville,  where  he  spent  the  greater 
part  of  his  life.     He  was  a  leading  spirit  in  all  the 


public  enterprises  which  made  it  fifty  years  ago 
the  most  beautiful  town  in  the  South. 

Dr.  Moore  was  born  in  Brunswick  County, 
Va.,  in  187!),  of  a  Virginian  mother,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Rebecca  Fletcher.  His  father, 
John  Moore,  was  a  man  of  scholarly  attainments 
and  eminent  piety  from  the  Cape  Fear  region  of 
Carolina. 

Dr.  David  Moore  received  his  education  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  was  graduated  in  medicine  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania.  Moving  to  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  he  entered  on  his  profession,  was  soon 
recognized  as  a  man  of  ability,  knowledge  and 
skill,  and  speedily  obtained  a  lucrative  practice. 
Here  he  married  first  Miss  Harriet,  an  accom- 
plished daughter  of  Judge  Haywood,  a  man  of 
note  in  Tennessee. 

In  1809,  at  the  first  sale  of  lands  in  Madison 
County,  Mississippi  Territory,  Dr.  Moore  became 
a  considerable  purchaser.  He  was  also  selected 
as  one  of  the  three  trustees  to  whom  LeRoy  Pope 
deeded  one-half  of  his  purchase  covering  the  site 
of  Huntsville,  with  authority  to  lay  off,  sell  lots 
and  use  the  proceeds  for  the  improvement  of  the 
projected  town;  and  this  work  in  the  beauty  of  the 
place  is  still  gratefully  visible,  for  it  is  well  done. 

At  Nashville  Dr.  Moore  had  been  the  family 
physician  and  attached  friend  of  Gen.  Andrew 
Jackson;  and  in  18i;5-14,  during  the  bloody  war 
which  crushed  the  power  of  the  Creek  Indians  in 
South  Alabama,  he  served  as  surgeon  on  the  staff 
of  the  General. 

After  the  finishing  battle  of  Tohopeka,  on  his 
return  home.  Dr.  Moore  was  appointed  one  of  five 
"justices  of  the  quorum"  of  Madison  County — 
an  English  and  Virginian  method  of  administer- 
ing law;  and  he  served  until  the  admission  of 
Alabama,  as  a  State,  into  the  Union. 

Under  an  act  passed  by  the  Territorial  Legisla- 
ture December  11,  1816,  Dr.  David  Moore  was 
one  of  nine  citizens  authorized  to  open  books  of 
subscription  for  "The  Planters'  and  Merchants' 
Bank,"  at  Huntsville;  and  this  was  the  first  bank 
established  in  Mississijipi  Territory. 

In  1820,  after  the  admission  of  Alabama  as  a 
State,  Dr.  Moore  was  elected  to  the  Legislature, 
and  was  returned  thirteen  times — five  times  at 
the  head  of  the  ticket  chosen.  From  1822  to 
1825  he  was  sent  to  the  State  Senate;  but,  for 
influence,  he  afterward  preferred  the  lower  house, 
of  which,  in  1841,  he  was  unanimously  elected 
the  Speaker. 


V  ^/  u^, 


.ayiyiA^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


267 


Among  the  many  important  measures,  which 
he  influenced,  it  should  be  stated,  that  Dr.  David 
Moore  inaugurated  and  carried  through  "  the  wo- 
man's law."  which  creates  a  statutory  settle- 
ment for  the  protection  of  married  women  from 
the  i)Ossible  vices  or  business  misfortunes  of  their 
husbands,  and  generally  considered  just  in  its 
provisions  without  humiliating  the  husbands  — 
a  most  wise  and  conservative  measure,  which 
has  saved  from  ruin  thousands  of  the  families 
of  Alabama. 

Dr.  Moore  was  eminent  in  his  iirofossion  ;  but 
he  had  faith  in  land  investments  and  in  cotton 
planting.  He  bought  the  best  lands,  employed 
the  best  overseers  and  required  them  to  account 
to  him  regularly.  lie  made  good  crops, 
shipped  his  cotton  to  Liverpool,  sold  it  at  his 
own  time,  and  furnished  exchange  to  the  people 
of  the  Tennessee  Valley.  He  became  the  owner 
of  nine  choice  plantations  and  many  negroes. 

In  January,  183:5,  the  Madison  Turnpike  Com- 
pany was  chartered  under  the  auspices  of  Dr. 
David  Moore  and  six  other  enterprising  (;itizens. 
This  comjiany  macadamized  the  roads  ten  miles 
south  to  the  Tennessee  Eiver,  and  northward  to 
Conally's,  and  west  in  the  direction  of  .\tliens. 
Limestone    County. 

On  the  ■24th  of  Xovember,  1841,  the  Legislature 
of  Alabama,  entered  on  an  election  of  a  United 
States  Senator,  to  fill  the  seat  vacated  by  (iovernor 
C.  C.  Clay's  retirement.  Two  ballots  were  taken. 
On  the  first  ballot.  Dr.  Moore  led  by  one  vote;  on 
the  second  ballot,  Bagby  was  elected  and  Moore 
defeated,  to  the  surprise  of  his  friends,  through 
the  defection  of  a  few  men  from  Xoith  Alabama, 
who  on  this  occasion  misrepresented  their  con- 
stituents. 

After  losing  his  first  wife,  childless,  he  married 
in  18;J4  Martha  L.  Harrison,  a  daughter  of  Ben- 
jamin Harrison,  of  Brunswick  Connty,  Va.,  who 
afterward  also  moved  to  Madison  County,  Ala. 
By  this  marriage  he  had  three  daughters  and  three 
sons;  ami  at  his  death,  he  left  his  widow  and  four 
cliildren  surviving  him. 

Dr.  David  Moore  was  a  man  of  the  blonde  type, 
medium  in  stature,  but  of  fine  physiijue:  calm  and 
dignified  in  his  bearing,  courtly  in  iiis  address,  he 
was  observant  of  men  and  careful  and  punctual 
in  business.  A  man  of  affairs,  he  was  successful 
beyond  his  contemporaries.  At  the  same  time,  he 
was  governed  by  princi]>le,  irreproachable  in  his 
habits   and   a  Christian  gentleman  in  the  highest 


sense  of  the  word.  His  charities  were  wide  and 
numerous.  Hospitable  and  public-spirited,  he 
was  liberal  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of 
which  he  was  a  member.  He  was  a  substantial 
friend  of  worthy  young  men  who  needed  help,  and 
was  not  only  generous  during  life  to  kindred,  but 
provided  in  his  will  for  the  education  of  those  of 
his  nephews  whom  he  considered  in  need  of  his 
aid. 

Although  a  man  full  of  the  cares  of  business, 
his  devotion  to  his  family  was  remarkable.  His 
heart  ivas  ever  at  home,  and  his  watchful,  tender 
love  for  his  wife  and  little  children  was  notably 
rare.  The  loss  of  sncli  a  guardian  and  guide  in 
their  early  youth  was  an  irreparable  misfortune  to 
his  sons  and  daughters.  He  gave  to  his  wife  and 
children  each  an  ample  fortune,  placed  in  the 
hands  of  trustees  for  safe  keeping  and  ultimate 
division.     He  died  in  184.5. 

DR.  GEORGE  M.  HARRIS  was  born  in  Madi- 
son County,  this  State,  .Fuly  II,  1820,  and  his 
parents  were  Frank  K.  and  JIahala  (Isbell)  Harris, 
natives  of  the  State  of  Virginia.  The  senior  Har- 
ris was  born  in  18ii0  in  Appomattox  County,  Va., 
and  came  with  his  parents  to  this  county  in  1809. 
The  family  settled  at  Blue  Springs,  four  miles 
north  of  Huntsville.  Some  time  in  1856  or  18.57, 
Francis  E.  Harris  removed  to  Jackson  County, 
this  State,  and  there  spent  the  rest  of  his  life, 
dying  in  1877. 

Dr.  Harris'  grandfather,  Richard  Harris,  held 
the  rank  of  captain  in  the  Colonial  Army,  and 
served  under  Washington  through  the  Revolution- 
ary struggle.  Coming  to  Madison  County  he 
purchased  a  large  tract  of  Government  land,  and 
became  one  of  the  extensive  farmers  of  that  early 
day.  He  died  near  Huntsville  at  the  great  age  of 
94  years.  His  wife  lived  to  be  S(i  years  of  age. 
The  house,  in  which  he  lived  for  many  years,  was 
enclosed  by  a  high  picket  fence,  with  blockhouses 
on  each  corner,  and  was  used  by  his  neighbors  as 
a  kind  of  fortress,  into  which  they  retreated 
nightly  for  protection  against  the  Indians. 

George  M.  Harris,  whose  name  forms  the  cap- 
tion of  this  sketch,  was  reared  on  his  father's 
farm,  and  at  the  age  of  19,  when  he  began  the 
study  of  medicine,  he  was  probably  as  well  in- 
formed as  most  any  young  man  of  his  dav,  and  he 


268 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


entered  upon  his  studies  with  a  fair  fiiiul  of 
general  information. 

Dr.  Geo.  K.  Wharton,  a  distinguislied  pliysi- 
cian,  was  his  uncle,  and  became  his  preceptor  in  the 
study  of  physic.  Dr.  Harris  was  graduated  from 
the  Lonisville  School  of  Medicine,  with  the  degree 
of  M.  D.,  in  1842,  and  located  at  once  at  Belle- 
fonte,  Jackson  County,  where  he  pursued  the 
practice  of  his  profession  ten  years.  He  was  also 
an  extensive  farmer,  and  about  1850,  established  a 
tannery,  in  connection  with  which  he  carried  on 
an  large  dry  goods  business.  He  also  manu- 
factured the  leather  produced  by  his  tannery  into 
such  articles  of  commerce  as  were  then  found  sala- 
ble. In  1857  he  removed  to  Meridianville,  then 
an  important  village  some  miles  north  of  Hunts- 
ville,  and  was  there  engaged  in  mercantile  business 
until  1863.  By  this  time  the  doctor  had  accumu- 
lated a  pretty  large  fortune  in  lands,  merchandise 
and  slaves.  He  owned  a  large  farm  in  Arkansas, 
to  which  he  sent  stock  and  negroes  from  North 
Alabama,  and  upon  it  annually  raised  many  bales 
of  cotton.  Though  he  still  owns  his  farms,  it 
seems  that  he  ceased  to  give  them  any  personal 
supervision  about  1870,  as  at  that  time  he  removed 
to  the  city  of  Huntsville.  Here  he  is  connected 
with  some  of  the  largest  and  most  important  en- 
terprises, and  gives  them  much  of  his  personal  at- 
tention. He  is  one  of  the  largest  stockholders  of 
the  cotton  factory  at  this  place;  in  fact,  is  the 
president  of  the  company  that  owns  it.  and  its 
great  success  is  probably  as  much  due  to  his  judi- 
cious management  and  direction,  as  to  any  other 
cause.  The  Doctor  was  one  of  the  organizers,  and 
is  now  a  director  of  the  North  Alabama  Improve- 
ment Company;  also  an  organizer  and  director  of 
the  Huntsville  Electric  Light  Company;  also 
largely  interested  in  the  hardware  business;  and 
to  all  of  these,  in  his  own  quiet  unostentatious 
way,  he  gives  his  personal  influence  and  supervi- 
sion. 

Doctor  Harris  is  a  broad-gauged,  wideawake, 
enterprising,  public-spirited,  isresent-day  man,  and 
it  is  to  such  as  he  that  Northern  Alabama  must  be 
indebted  to  the  grand  future  that  awaits  her,  and 
in  fact,  is  now  dawning  upon  her. 

JOHN  JEFFERSON  DEMENT,  M.D.,  was  born 
13th  May,  1830,  in  Madison  County,  Ala.,  and  is  a 
son  of  John  and  Celia  W.  (Loue)  Dement.     John 


Dement  was  a  native  of  Sumner  County,  Tenn. 
He  received  a  common-school  education,  became  a 
good,  substantial  farmer,  and  served  as  a  justice  of 
the  peace.  He  was  married  in  1819,  and  came  at 
once  to  ifadison  County,  Ala.,  which  was  there- 
after his  home.  He  died  in  1848,  and  his  wife 
in  1852.  They  raised  eight  children,  viz.:  Alfred 
T.,  now  dead;  Susan,  wife  of  G.  B.  Smith,  of 
Phillips  County,  Ark.;  John  J.,  our  subject  ; 
Elvertou  F.,  Cornelia  J.,  widow  of  Robert  Herel- 
ford,  and  now  wife  of  Dr.  11.  T.  Searcy,  of  Cull- 
man; MattieE.,  wife  of  L.  B.  Burnes,  of  Arkansas; 
Kate,  wifeof  B.  R.  Thompson,  of  Madison  County; 
and  Lowe,  a  soldier  under  Breckinridge  in  the 
late  war,  and  was  killed  at  Jackson,  Miss. 

John  Dement  was  a  son  of  Charles  Dement,  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  and  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  Sumner  County,  Tenn.  He  raised  alarge  family, 
viz.:  Cader,  Charles,  Abner,  James,  David,  John, 
and  two  daughters,  Mildred  and  Clara.  There  is 
a  tradition,  that  three  brothers  of  this  name  came 
from  France  in  the  Colonial  days,  and  were  soldiers 
in  the  Revolution.  One  settled  in  Tennessee,  one 
in  Maryland,  and  the  third  went  West. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  John  Jl  Dement, 
received  his  education  in  the  field.  The  early 
death  of  his  father  required  him  to  stay  on  the 
farm  and  take  charge  of  the  family,  which  fact 
precluded  the  possibility  of  his  receiving  as  good 
an  education  as  he  otherwise  would  have  had. 

At  twenty  he  began  the  study  of  medicine,  at 
Meridianville,  Ala.,  under  Dr.  G.  A.  AVyehe,  now 
of  Bossier  Parish,  La. 

He  took  his  first  medical  course  at  Louisville,  in 
the  winter  of  1851-52;  went  to  Philadelphia,  and 
was  graduated  from  the  Medical  Department  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1853.  He  tiien 
located  at  Meridianville,  where  he  practiced  with 
success  until  1862,  when  he  was  commissioned 
suigeon  in  the  Confederate  Army,  and  was  as- 
signed to  the  Twenty-seventh  Alabama  Regiment. 
He  served  with  this  regiment  until  the  surrender 
of  Fort  Donelson,  when  he  was  sent  a  prisoner 
to  Camp  Chase,  and,  later,  to  Johnson's  Island. 
He  was  released  in  June,  1862.  While  the 
Doctor  was  in  prison,  his  warm,  personal 
friend,  Judge  Peter  M.  Dox,  of  Huntsville, 
wrote  to  a  former  classmate  of  his  own,  Judge 
L.  Bates,  of  Ohio,  to  befriend  Dr.  Dement  and 
relieve  his  wants;  but  when  the  hospitality  of 
Judge  Bates"  home  was  extended  to  him,  in  con- 
sideration of    the  circumstances  he  declined  to  ac- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


269 


cept  it  and  preferred  to  remain  with,  and  minister 
to.  tlie  needs  of  liis  sick  and  imprisoned  comrades, 
and  the  Judge  supplied  him  with  money  for  his 
personal  needs.  After  the  war  was  over  the  Doc- 
tor felt  in  honor  bound  to  repay  Judge  ]$ates 
with  the  first  money  earned:  and  did  so,  with  lieart- 
felt  thanlvs  for  his  great  kindness  and  magnani- 
mous generosity. 

In  August,  18().>,  Dr.  Dement  was  assigned  to 
tlie  Forty-nintli  Georgia  Regiment,  at  (iordons- 
ville,  Va.,  under  General  Jackson,  and  remained 
with  this  regiment  until  it  was  surrendered  at  Ap- 
pomattox, and  during  this  time  was  surgeon 
of  General  Ed.  L.  Thomas'  Brigade.  lie  was  in 
all  the  battles  in  which  his  brigade  participated. 
After  the  war  he  came  to  Iluntsville,  and  has 
practiced  there  until  the  present  time.  He  was, 
for  a  few  years,  a  member  of  the  American  Medi- 
cal Association,  and  a  member  of  the  American 
Public  Health  Association.  lie  is  now  a  member 
of  the  Medical  Association  of  Alabama,  and  was  its 
President  in  1870.  He  is  a  member  of  the  State 
Board  of  Censors;  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Madison  County  iledical  Society  since  185.3,  and 
is  now  its  "president;  is  a  member  of  the  ilasonic 
fraternity.  Knights  of  Honor,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
Ancient  Order  United  Workmen,  and  a  Knight 
Templar.  He  is  vice-president  of  the  Home  Pro- 
tection Fire  Insurance  Company,  and  has  taken  a 
part  in  every  public-spirited  enterprise  in  Ilunts- 
ville. 

For  many  years  he  has  been  president  and  an 
active  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Ilunts- 
ville Female  College,  and  has  been  since  its  foun- 
dation a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
Vanderbilt  University.  He  was  twelve  years  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Alabama 
Insane  Hospital;  was  Surgeon-general  of  Ala- 
bama Militia  for  eight  years  under  Governors 
Houston  and  Cobb,  and  declined  to  act  longer. 
He  was  appointed  by  Governor  Seay  as  one  of 
the  examiners  under  the  Color  Blind  Law.  Dr. 
Dement  has  never  sought  office,  but  when  it  has 
been  tendered  him  he  has  considered  it  his  duty 
to  accept.  He  was  married  January  "^T,  18(19,  to 
Miss  Cornelia  ('..  daughter  of  Dr.  Henry  A.  Bin- 
ford,  of  Iluntsville.  'J'hey  have  seven  children: 
Henry  B.,  Koltert  S..  Sarali  B.,  John  J.,  William 
R.  and  Susie. 

The  hoctorand  his  wife  are  Methodists.  Henry 
A.  Binford,  Mrs.  Dement's  father,  was  a  leading 
physician  of  iluntsville.     11"  > f!v-..|  an  e.xcel- 


lent  education,  taking  the  medical  part  of  it  at 
Philadelpliia.  He  died  in  1875,  aged  sixty-two 
years.  He  reared  six  children:  William  H.,  Peter, 
Thomas  L.,  Henry,  Cornelia  C.  and  Sarah  E. 
Henry,  a  son  of  Peter  Binford;  married  Grace 
Lee,  a  near  relative  of  Gen.  R.  E.  Lee. 

Doctor  Dement's  mother  was  a  daughter  of 
Jesse  and  Susannah  Lowe.  They  raised  the  fol- 
lowing children:  George  E.,a  farmer,  who  died  in 
Virginia;  Thomas,  of  Mississippi;  John  .1.,  who 
died  in  Arkansas;  Mary,  of  West  Tennessee; 
Martha,  who  died  in  Alabama;  and  Celia  W. 


-<^« 


«^- 


SAMUEL  H.  LOWRY.  M.  D.,  one  of  the  leading 
young  physicians  of  .Mailison  County,  is  a  son  of 
John  T.  and  Virginia  H.  (Miller)  Lowry.  John 
T.  Lowry  was  of  Scotch- Irish  descent,  and  a  son 
of  Rev.  Samuel  Lowry,  a  divine  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church,  whose  wife,  Elizabeth 
Tate,  belonged  to  the  well-known  family  of  that 
name. 

The  fatlier  of  our  subject  was  an  old-time  mer- 
chant of  Huntsville  in  ante-bellum  days,  being  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Lowry,  Hamilton  &  Co., 
and  also  owning  large  jilantations.  Like  all 
Southern  planters,  he  lost  heavily  by  the  late  war 
having  a  great  number  of  slaves.  He  was  con- 
nected with  the  commissary  department  during 
the  struggle,  and  subsequently  resumed  farming, 
which,  with  an  interest  in  the  lumber  firm  of 
Mayhew  &  Lowry,  occupied  his  attention  until 
his  death  in  I88(;.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  Church,  and  left  one  son, 
Samuel  H. 

Our  subject  was  born  October  lii.  1850.  and 
received  a  superior  education,  commencing  with 
the  schools  of  Huntsville,  and  continued  at  the 
University  of  Virginia.  His  medical  studies  be- 
gan at  the  L'niversity  of  Virginia,  and  were  sup- 
j)lemented  by  lecturesat  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical 
College,  Xew  York,  from  which  institution  he  was 
graduated  in  1873.  He  began  the  practical  study 
of  his  chosen  profession  the  .•^ameyear  of  his  grad- 
uation in  association  with  Dr.  Dement,  of  Hunts- 
ville, and  has  been  a  successful  and  active  worker 
since. 

Dr.  Lowry  is  a  member  of  the  Madison  C'ounty 
Medical  Society;  is  secretary  of  the  County  Board 
of  Censors:  meml)er  of  the  College  of  Counsellors 

of     th.-      •>\:\\i-       M.Mlic.lI      As<ri,l.itinii;     is      Health 


270 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Officer  for  the  City  of  Huntsville  and  County  of 
Madison,  and  a  member  of  the  Order  of  Kniglits 
of  Pythias. 

ALBERT  RUSSEL  ERSKINE,  M.D.,  was  born 
January  17,  IS'-iT,  in  Huntsville,  and  was  the  sec- 
ond son  of  Dr.  Alexander  and  Susan  Catharine 
(Russel)  Erskine,  natives,  respectively,  of  Monroe 
and  Loudon  Counties,  Va. 

Dr.  Alexander  Erskine,  who  received  an  aca- 
demic education,  taught  school  for  awhile,  before 
entering  the  medical  dejiartment  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  from  which  institution  he  was 
graduated  in  1810.  In  January,  1817,  he  located 
at  Huntsville,  where  he  became  one  of  the  most 
successful  physicians,  and  where  he  remained  until 
his  death,  July  5,  1857.  He  took  a  great  interest 
in  church  and  State  affairs,  as  well  as  in  the  im- 
provement of  his  town.  He  was  for  many  years 
President  of  the  Board  of  Medical  Examiners  of 
the  State  Medical  Association,  of  which  he  was  a 
conspicuous  member.  He  was  the  first  prominent 
!Mason  in  Huntsville,  and  was  one  of  the  charter 
members  of  the  Masonic  lodge  at  this  place.  He 
became  a  wealthy  citizen,  and  wielded  much  influ- 
ence for  good  in  that  community.  Eleven  chil- 
dren were  born  to  him,  of  whom  nine  grew  to 
maturity. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  his  educa- 
tion at  Huntsville,  and  was  a  student  for  a  time 
at  Georgetown  College,  District  of  Columbia. 
While  at  the  latter  place,  he  received  an  appoint- 
ment to  West  Point  Military  Academy,  and  attend- 
ed that  school  two  years.  Finding  that  he  had 
no  taste  for  military  life,  he  resigned,  and  began 
the  study  of  medicine  with  his  father,  in  1849. 
He  took  his  first  course  of  lectures  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia,  and  was  graduated  in  medicine 
from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  spring 
of  1851. 

The  same  year  he  located  at  Huntsville,  in 
which  place  he  successfully  practiced  medicine 
until  the  war.  In  December,  186"-i,  he  joined  the 
Confederate  Army,  and  was  assigned  to  the  Fifth 
Tennessee  Regiment  as  Surgeon.  Eight  months 
later  he  became  Gen.  Pat  Claiborne's  Medical  In- 
sjiector,  and  was  in  this  capacity  for  four  or  five 
months,  after  which  he  was  assigned  to  the  Forty- 
fifth  Alabama  Regiment  as  its  Surgeon.      After 


the  battle  of  Jonesboro,  having  received  intelli- 
gence of  the  illness  of  his  wife,  at  his  request  he 
was  assigned  to  Convalescent-Camp  Wright,  which 
he  established,  and  finally  to  Marion,  Ala.,  Hos- 
pital, where  his  family  was  then  located. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Madison  County  Medical 
Society,  and  was  for  three  years  its  president:  was 
for  several  years  a  member  of  the  American  Board 
of  Health  Association  and  of  the  State  Associa- 
tion, and  is  a  member  of  the  County  Board  of 
Health,  and  has  been  secretary  of  the  County 
Board  of  Censors  for  some  years.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Dr.  Erskine  was  married  October  5,  1854,  to 
Maria  D.  ilatthews,  a  daughter  of  Luke  and 
Judith  (Peete)  Matthews,  of  Huntsville.  Her 
father  was  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  success- 
ful planters  in  Xorthern  Alabama.  He  came  from 
Campbell  County,  Virginia,  at  a  very  early  date. 

Dr.  Erskine  has  three  children:  Alexander, 
Luke  Matthews  and  Janet.  The  Doctor  and  his 
wife  are  Presbyterians,  and  he  is  an  elder  in  that 
Church. 

The  family  of  Alexander  Erskine,  as  far  as 
known,  sprang  from  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Erskine, 
of  Scotland,  who  was  the  founder  of  the  Secession 
Church,  and  who  was  born  in  1080.  Henry  Ers- 
kine, our  subject's  great-grandfather,  married 
Jean  Thompson,  of  Stirling,  moved  to  Amer- 
ica and  settled  in  Cecil  County,  ild.,  where  he 
died. 

Subsequently  his  wife  and  son  Michael 
moved  to  Monroe  C'ity,  Va.  Michael  married 
Margaret  Paulee,  wfeHanley,  of  Monroe  C'ity,  Va. 
They  had  five  children.  Dr.  Alexander  Erskine 
being  the  fourth.  His  mother,  with  her  first  hus- 
band, John  Paulee,  was  captured  by  the  Shawnee 
Indians  while  en  route  from  Virginia  to  Ken- 
tucky, whither  they  were  going  for  settlement. 
The  savages  promptly  slew  Mr.  Paulee  after  a 
desperate  struggle,  in  which  other  associates 
were  engaged:  and  the  chief  of  the  tribe  adopted 
her  ,as  his  daughter.  His  savage  highness  sub- 
sequently decided  npon  her  death,  but  was  dis- 
suaded by  other  members  of  the  tribe,  with 
whom  it  appears  she  had  grown  to  be  a  great 
favorite. 

The  son  born  to  her  soon  after  her  capture, 
grew  to  manhood  and  was  slain  in  battle  with  the 
Indians.  After  the  chief's  death,  her  friends  ran- 
somed her  by  the  payment  of  S200,  and  she  lived 
to  the  age  of  ninety-one  years. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


271 


MILTON     C.    BALDRIDGE,    M.  D.,  son    of 

William  F.,  and  Klizabeth  Caroline  (Mitchell) 
Baldridge.  was  born  in  Cornersville,  .Marshall 
County,  Tenn.,  May  VI,  18:5-.'. 

William  F.  Baldriilge  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina in  180'.i,  and  brought  in  his  infancy  to  Giles 
County,  Tenn.,  wherein  due  time,  he  learned  the 
tanner's  trade,  iu  which  business  he  afterward 
engaged  quite  extensively.  In  183(i,  he  removed 
to  Perry  County  and  embarked  in  merchandising 
and  in  1.S44  he  became  a  resident  of  Lauderdale 
County.  In  185."),  he  established  a  nursery  not 
far  from  Huntsville,  which  is  said  to  liave  been 
the  first  enterprise  of  the  kind  in  that  section;  and 
in  l!S6T,  he  removed  to  Piano,  Tex.,  where  he 
still  resides.  He  had  eleven  children:  Milton  C, 
James  A.,  Jane  C,  Virginia  C,  Mary  A.,  Par- 
iiiclla  K.,  Elizabeth,  William  F. .  John  C,  Henry 
H.  and  Oscar. 

.Mrs.  Caroline  Baldridge  died  in  Marcli,  1860, 
and  William  F.  was  again  married  to  a  Miss  Mc- 
Donald, of  Huntsville. 

.Milton  C.  Baldridge  was  reared  upon  a  farm. 
He  received  a  good  education,  and  in  Ls.iO  began 
the  study  of  medicine  at  Florence  with  Dr.  J.  P. 
Mitchell.  In  1853,  lie  attended  lectures  at  the 
^fedical  College  of  Ohio,  in  Cincinnati,  and  prac- 
ticed on  a  license  until  1874,  when  he  was  grad- 
uated from  the  Medical  College,  of  Xew  York. 

In  the  spring  of  l!-i6"^,  he  entered  the  army  as 
assistant  surgeon  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Alabama 
and  Forty-eighth  Tennessee  Begiments,  and  con- 
tinued there  until  ill-health  forced  him  to  abandon 
the  field.  After  returning  home,  he  practiced 
near  Huntsville  until  1871,  when  he  located  in 
that  city,  where  he  has  since  remained  and 
established  a  most  successful  practice.  He  is  a 
memberof  the  State  Medical  Association,  of  which 
he  has  been  Vice-president,  Orator,  and  is  now 
Grand  Senior  Counsellor  and  President.  He  has 
been  Ilealth-Oflicer  of  .Madison  County  since  1882: 
is  a  memberof  the  County  Medical  Society;  Chair- 
man of  the  .Medical  Board  of  Examiners,  and  is  a 
frequent  contributor  to  medical  journals. 

The  Doctor  is  a  Knight  Templar,  Scottish  Kite, 
Mason,  an  Odd  Fellow,  Knight  of  Honor  and  a 
Knight  of  Pythias. 

He  was  married  .January  10,  1855,  to  Miss  N.  C. 
Neely,  a  daughter  of  Anderson  P,  and  Eliza  il. 
(Cannon)  Neely.  Unto  them  were  born  seven 
children:  James  Alexander,  Viola  Beatrice,  Mol- 
lie    Bertie,    Felix    Edgar,    Stella    Corvin,    Percy 


and  Katie.  James  Alexander  died  October  6, 1856, 

Mollie  Bertie  died  Marcli,  1^06,  Percy  died  1872. 
Viola  Beatrice  is  the  wife  of  Bently  H.  jirooks, 
now  of  Paris,  Texas.  Felix  Edgar,  Stella  Corvin, 
and  Katie  reside  with  their  father  in  Huntsville, 
Ala.  The  Doctor's  first  wife  died  in  April,  1878, 
and  in  September,  1880,  he  married  Mis.s  Ella 
M.  Johnson,  who  has  one  child,  Milton  C,  .Jr. 
The  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Baldridge  are  members  of 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 


A.  B.  SHELBY.  M.D.,  was  born  in  .Madison 
County,  De('ember  lo,  1845,  and  is  a  son  of  Dr. 
David  and  Mary  (Bouldin)  Shelby.  In  April, 
18G1,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  Company 
I,  Fourth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  was  in  the  ser- 
vice until  the  close  of  the  war.  With  the  Fourth 
Regiment  he  remained  about  fifteen  months, 
taking  part  in  the  battles  of  the  first  Manassas, 
Seven  Pines,  and  the  Seven  Days  battle  around 
Richmond.  In  July,  180'2,  the  term  of  his  first  en- 
listment having  expired,  he  came  home,  and  three 
weeks  later  rejoined  the  Fourth  Regiment  as  a 
member  of  Captain  Hurley's  Company.  He  subse- 
quently participated  in  the  battles  of  Chicka- 
mauga,  the  Dalton  and  Atlanta  campaigns,  and 
was  with  Hood  in  his  advance  into  'i'ennessee. 
After  Hood's  retreat  he  was  in  Forrest's  command, 
and  at  Benton,  Ala.,  was  slightly  wounded.  After 
the  final  surrender  he  returned  home,  and  in  18G0, 
with  his  father  as  preceptor,  began  the  study  of 
medicine.  After  a  course  of  lectures  at  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  he  located  at  Meridianville,  and 
here  remained  in  the  practice  about  ten  years. 
He  came  to  Huntsville  in  October,  1SS"2. 


WILLIAM  J.  BARRON.  D.D.S.,  was  born 
near  Gurleysville,  Madison  County,  this  State, 
.January  22,  1832,  and  is  a  son  of  Samuel  B.  and 
Martha  (Cotton)  Barron,  natives,  respectively,  of 
.South  Carolina  and  Tennessee.  He  came  to 
Huntsville  in  1855,  as  a  salesman  in  a  dry  goods 
establishment,  and  in  !Marcli,  1802,  joined  For- 
rest's command.  He  was  with  Forrest  until  1863, 
when  he  was  transferred  with  the  Fourth  Alabama 
Cavalry  to  Wheeler's  command.  He  was  captured 
near   Winchester,   Tenn.,  in    September  of   that 


273 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


year,  and  sent  to  Johnson's  Island,  where  he 
remained  until  the  close  of  the  war.  In  June, 
1865,  he  returned  to  Huntsville,  and  was  engaged 
iu  the  dry  goods  business  until.  186T,  at  which 
time  he  took  uji  the  study  of  dentistry.  In  the 
winter  of  18G7-8,  he  attended  Dental  College  at 
Baltimore,  Md.,  and  has  since  that  date  given  his 
time  to  the  practice. 

Doctor  Barron  was  married  June  G,  1873,  to 
Miss  Emma  Ilalsey,  daughter  of  William  Irby  and 
Martha  (Cain)  Halsey,  and  has  had  born  to  him 
four  children:  Noel  Irby,  Eugene,  William  LeRoy 
and  Julia.  Both  he  and  his  wife  are  members  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 

Samuel  B.  Barron,  father  of  Doctor  Barron, 
was  born  March  23,  1793.  He  learned  the  black- 
smith's trade,  at  which  he  earned  sufficient  money 
to  educate  himself,  and  afterward  made  an  envi- 
able reputation  as  a  professional  educator.  He 
sjjent  many  years  of  his  life  in  Madison  County, 
where  he  died  May  15,  1843,  leaving  a  wife  and 
four  young  children.  His  father  came  from 
Ireland;  the  Cotton  family  came  from  England 
originally. 


REV.  JOHN    MONRO  BANISTER,  D.D.,  the 

son  of  John  ^[onro  and  Mary  Burton  (Boiling) 
Banister,  was  born  at  Battersea,  near  Petersburg, 
Va. 

His  father,  a  native  of  that  city,  was  edu- 
cated at  Princeton  College,  N.  J.,  and  was  the 
son  of  Col.  John  Banister,  who  was  educated  in 
England,  and  bred  to  the  law  at  Temple  Bar. 

He  was  a  Burgess  of  the  Assembly,  and,  after- 
ward, a  distinguished  member  of  the  Convention 
of  1776.  In  1778-9,  he  was  a  member  of  Con- 
gress from  Virginia,  at  New  York  and  at  Phila- 
delphia; and  in  September,  visited  headquarters 
as  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangement. 
He  was  one  of  the  frainers  and  signers  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation.  His  father,  a  wealthv 
and  distinguished  scientist  of  England,  iu  one  of 
his  botanical  excursions,  near  the  Falls  of  the 
Roanoke,  fell  from  a  precipice  and  was  killed. 
As  a  naturalist,  he  was  esteemed  not  inferior  to 
Bartram. 

Col.  John  Banister  married,  first,  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Col.  Theoderick  Bland,  Sr..  and  an  aunt  of 
John  Randolph  of  Roanoke.  His  second  wife, 
the  grandmother  of  our  subject,  was  Anne  Blair, 
sister  of  Judge  Blair  of  the  Federal  Court. 


The  children  of  this  marriage  were — Theoderick 
Blair  and  John  Monro.  The  latter  married  Mary 
Burton  Augusta  Boiling,  daughter  of  Robert  Boil- 
ing, of  Centre  Hill,  Petersburg,  Va. 

William  C.  Banister,  their  oldest  son.  fell 
bravely  defending  his  native  city,  on  the  9th  of 
June,  1864. 

Robert  Boiling  Banister,  a  graduate  of  the  Med- 
ical School  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  entered 
the  Navy,  as  Surgeon,  and  died  in  Petersburg  in 
the  year   1843. 

The  youngest  son.  Rev.  John  Monro  Banister, 
D.  D.,  was  reared  in  Petersburg,  Va.,  and  educated 
at  Princeton  College,  New  Jersey,  where  he  gradu- 
ated in  the  class  of  1840,  and  was  honored  as  its 
valedictorian.  He  read  law  under  Judge  Lomax, 
of  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  iu  1843;  after  which,  determining  to  enter  the 
ministry,  he  graduated  at  the  Episcopal  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  at  Alexandria,  Va. 

In  1848  he  married  Mary  Louisa,  a  daughter  of 
Gen.  William  H.  Brodnax,  a  distinguished  attor- 
ney of  Dinwiddle  County.  The  same  year,  he 
moved  to  South  Alabama,  and  after  spending  ten 
years  of  his  ministry  at  Greensboro,  he  moved  to 
Huntsville  in  November,  I860,  and  has  continued 
to  be  the  Rector  of  the  Cluircli  of  the  Nativity 
since  that  time. 


J.  A.  B.  LOVETT  is  the  youngest  son  of  A.  J. 
and  Mary  (llardwick)  Lovett,  and  was  born  in 
Walker  County,  Ala.,  March  3,  1847.  At  the  age 
of  thirteen  he  was  placed  in  the  village  school  at 
Ashville,  Ala  ,  where  he  continued  until  April, 
1863,  when  he  joined  the  Confederate  Army.  He 
was  captured  by  the  Federals  in  June,  of  the  same 
year,  and  was  held  in  Northern  prisons  two  years. 

On  September  2,  1866,  he  was  joined  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Frances  P.  Gilbert,  of  Shelby 
County,  Ala.  Soon  after  this  Mr.  Lovett  joined 
the  ministry  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  for  which  he  was  educated  at  Cumberland 
University,  Lebanon,  Tenn. 

Professor  Lovett  has  been  connected  with  South- 
ern education  about  twenty  years.  In  1883  he 
organized  tlie  Huntsville  Graded  Schools,  and  he 
is  now  their  efficient  Superintendent.  In  1885  he 
established  the  Alaiama  Teacher's  Journal,  of 
which  he  is  still  senior  editor  and  publisher. 

In  1886  Professor  Lovett  was  on  the  programme 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


273 


of  tlie  National  Eilucational  Assembly,  ami  read 
a  paper  on  Federal  Aid  to  Education,  wliich  was 
l)rinted  in  iianiphlet  and  furnished  to  the  United 
Stales  ("oiiEfress,  then  in  session,  lie  was  also  a 
member  of  the  same  body  in  ISSS,  when  he  ap- 
peared before  the  House  Committee  on  Kducation. 
Professor  Lovett  is  justly  regarded  as  being  one 
of  our  ablest  and  most  progressive  educators,  and 
he  enjoys  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  many 
patrons.  While  he  was  eminently  successful  as  a 
minister,  having  served  his  congregation  in 
Iluntsville  a  number  of  years  as  pastor,  his  jirin- 
cipal  qualifications  lie  in  the  direction  of  school 
management  and  class  instruction. 

REV.  AMOS  B.  JONES,    A.M..  D.D.,  LL.D., 

President  and  Proprietor  of  liuntsville  Female 
College,  was  born  December  4.  1841,  in  Randolph 
Macon  Clollege,  Boydtou,  Mecklenburg  County, 
\'a.  Ilis  father,  IJev.  Amos  W.  .Tones,  D.D., 
was  a  son  of  Amos  Jones,  a  local  preacher  of 
Xorth  Carolina,  and  a  native  of  Lewisburg,  that 
State.  lie  graduated  at  Kandolph  Macon  College 
in  18311.  with  the  highest  honors;  became  tutor  in 
his  Alma  Mater,  and  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcoi)al  Church;  located  in  Jackson,  Tenn.,in 
lS4.i,  where  he  still  resides.  He  has  been  Presi- 
dent of  the  Memphis  Conference  Female  Institute 
for  nearly  forty  years.  He  is  a  man  of  sterling 
worth  as  minister  and  educator,  and  is  much  be- 
loved by  his  hosts  of  friends.  His  wife's  maidt-n 
name  was  Caroline  HIanch,  a  daughter  of  Gen. 
William  Rlancli,  of  Virginia,  and  a  woman  of  the 
highest  type  of  Christian  ciiaracter.  She  died 
within  one  week  after  Amos  B.  was  born. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  received  his  early 
education  in  Jackson,  Tenn.  At  different  times 
he  attended  West  Tennessee  College,  Andrew  Col- 
lege. Union  University,  and  East  Alabama  Univer- 
sity, at  Auburn,  in  all  of  wliich  he  gave  evidence 
of  decided  thirst  for  knowledge  and  an  invincible 
determination  to  take  a  front  rank  in  the  world 
of  letters.  But  like  hundreds  of  Southern  boys, 
his  education  was  arrested  by  the  clash  of  arms. 
He  gave  up  iiis  studies  in  East  Alabama  Univer- 
sity, returned  to  his  home  in  Jackson,  Tenn..  and 
at  the  age  of  nineteen  entered  the  Confederate 
service  as  second  sergeant  in  the  Sixth  Tennessee 
Infantry.     On  the  reorganization  of  the  regiment. 


liis  comrades  in  arms  having  recognized  the  cour- 
age and  bravery  of  Sergeant  Jones,  elected  him 
Captain  of  Company  II.  which  position  he  re- 
tained until  the  war  was  over. 

As  Cajitain  he  was  in  many  battles  of  the  West, 
and  was  wounded  at  .Murfreesboro  and  Chica- 
maiiga.  Returning  from  the  war  he  undertook 
to  run  a  farm,  as  the  only  expedient  for  im- 
mediate employment.  But  his  old  thirst  for 
knowledge  began  to  revive,  and  by  diligent  study, 
he  gathered  up  the  fragments  of  his  shattered  edu- 
cation, and  heroically  began  anew  his  much  cher- 
ished asi)irations  for  a  professional  life. 

In  18G8,  he  was  ha])})ily  united  in  marriage  to 
Jliss  Mary  G.  Gates,  near  Aberdeen,  Miss.  They 
have  had  born  unto  them  two  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, of  whom  Amos  W.  and  James  T.,  are  living, 
and  Carrie,  Blanch,  Joseph  N.,  and  Mary  Sue  are 
dead.  In  18(i!i,  Dr.  Jones,  was  elected  to  a  promi- 
nent professorship  in  the  M.  C.  F.  Institute,  of 
Jackson,  the  home  of  his  boyhood.  This  position 
he  held  for  nine  years,  while  the  rapid,  solid  and 
continuous  growth  of  the  Institute  fully  demon- 
strated his  preeminent  qualifications  for  such 
work.  He  was  elected  president  of  this  institu- 
tion in  1878,  served  two  years  most  efficiently, 
and  resigned  in  1880  to  take  charge  of  the  liunts- 
ville Female  College. 

Under  the  conduct  of  Dr.  Jones,  with  his  broad 
culture,  liberal  education,  and  fine  business  ad- 
ininistrative  ability,  this  institution  has  enjoyed 
such  solid  and  continuous  prosperity  as  it  never 
did  before.  The  degree  of  LL.D.,  was  conferred 
upon  Dr.  .lones  by  the  Southwestern  Baptist 
University,  at  Jackson,  Tenn.,  his  old  home,  and 
where  he  was  best  and  most  favorably  known. 
The  degree  of  D.D.  was  conferred  upon  liiiii  liy 
the  State  University  of  Alabama. 

Aside  from  his  work  as  an  educator,  Dr.  Jones, 
is  an  able  and  eloquent  gospel  minister  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  which  he 
was  licen.sed  to  preach  in  18T3,  bv  the  Jlemphis 
Conference.  Wliile  in  Tennessee,  he  held  various 
offices  of  trust  and  honor  in  several  benevolent 
orders.  In  Masonry,  he  was  at  one  time  1{.W. 
Deputy  Grand  Master,  and  at  another.  Right  Emi- 
nent (irand  Captain-General  of  the  Grand  Com- 
maiulery,  of  that  State.  He  has  been  i)resident 
of  the  Alabama  Y.  JI.  C.  A.;  is  a  professor  in  the 
Correspondence  University  of  Chicago,  and  was 
lately  elected  a  menil)er  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Christian  Philosophy. 


274 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


REV.  HENRY  HARRISON  SMITH,  Pastor  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  C'hurcli,  Huntsville, 
Ala.,  was  born  in  Richmond  County,  A'.  C,  Oc- 
tober Tii,  1847. 

Mr.  Smith's  father,  Henry  Benjamin,  was  a 
planter  by  occupation,  and  was  born  in  South 
Carolina  in  1809.  His  ancestors  came  from  Eng- 
land. His  mother,  Sallie  (Nicholson)  Smith,  was 
born  in  1S"20,  in  North  Carolina,  and  was  of  Scotch 
descent.  They  emigrated  from  North  Carolina 
to  Mississippi  in  1841),  wheie  his  father  died  in 
1873.  His  mother  still  survives.  Mr.  Smitli 
joined  the  Confederate  Army  the  1st  of  August, 
18(i4,  as  a  member  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Missis- 
sippi Regiment,  and  at  the  battle  of  Jonesboro, 
Ga.,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  month  of  his 
enlistment,  he  was  severely  wounded.  He  is  a 
self-educated  man,  and,  after  his  education  was 
completed,  filled  for  some  time  the  Chair  of  Nat- 
ural Science  and  English  Literature  at  the  Cooper 
Institute. 

Feeling  called  to  preach  the  Gospel,  he  joined 
the  New  Hope  Presbytery,  of  Mississippi,  in  De- 
cember, 187.3,  and  in  July  following  was  licensed 
to  preach.  He  was  ordained  in  July,  1875,  and 
his  first  charge  was  Pleasant  Hill,  Ala.  In  1877 
he  accepted  a  call  to  Jackson,  Tenn.,  where  he 
remained  for  two  years,  when,  on  account  of  fail- 
ing health,  he  resigned.  In  1879,  his  health  hav- 
ing been  restored,  he  accepted  a  call  to  Selma, 
where  he  labored  with  great  acceptance  and  suc- 
cess until  May,  1887,  when  he  was  called  to  his 
present  charge  in  Huntsville.  He  was  married, 
October  7,  187.5,  to  Mrs.  Mattie  G.  Terrell,  of 
Crawford,  Miss.,  and  has  had  born  to  him  two 
children:     Guthrie  and  Henry  Harrison. 


about  two  years,  he  was,  in  May,  1870,  licensed  to 
preach.  He  joined  the  Northern  Alabama  Con- 
ference, in  November  of  that  year,  and  in  1880, 
after  having  been  several  years  in  the  pastorate, 
was  made  Presiding  Elder.  He  held  that  office 
two  years,  and  was  then  assigned  to  the  First 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  at  Birming- 
ham. He  was  appointed  to  Huntsville,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1885. 

Mr.  Newman  was  married,  in  October,  1869,  to 
Hannah  W.  Berry,  a  daughter  of  one  of  the 
old  and  substantial  families  of  DeKalb  County, 
and  has  had  born  to  him  four  eiiildren  :  Carrie 
S.,  Mary  S.,  Olin  B.  and  Albert  H.  Mrs.  New- 
man died  at  Gadsen,  Ala.,  November,  1885. 

Mr.  Newman  is  Treasurer  of  the  Mission  Board 
of  his  Conference;  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the 
^lutual  Insurance  Association  of  the  Northern 
Alabama  Conference ;  is  a  Mason  and  an  Odd 
Fellow. 

Moses  C.  and  Elizabeth  (Smith)  Newman,  jjar- 
ents  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  were  born  in 
South  Carolina,  the  former  in  1815,  and  the 
latter  in  1824.  Mr.  Newman  was  early  orphaned, 
and  virtually  thrown  upon  the  world  while  an  in- 
fant. His  mother  moved  from  South  Carolina  to 
Lincoln  County,  Tenn.,  and  from  there  to  De- 
Kalb County,  this  State.  He  married  in  the  lat- 
ter county,  and  there  followed  farming  for  some 
years  and  represented  that  county  one  term  in 
the  Legislature.  For  some  years  before  the  war 
he  was  merchandising,  and  resumed  that  business 
after  the  war,  and  followed  it  until  1874.  He 
always  took  an  active  interest  in  politics  ;  was  in 
full  sympathy  with  his  State  during  the  American 
conflict,  and  has  for  many  years  been  a  consistent 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.     He  reared  a  family  of  eight  children. 


REV.  JOHN  WALKER  NEWMAN,  Pastor  in 
charg;of  the  .Methodist  Ejiiscopal  Church,  South, 
Huntsville, was  born  in  Van  Buren,  DeKalbCounty, 
this  State,  October  -^3,  184(1,  and  was  educated  at 
the  common  and  high  schools. 

In  the  spring  of  1864,  he  entered  the  army  as  a 
private  in  the  Third  Confederate  Regiment,  and 
within  a  very  few  days  thereafter,  saw  actual  ser- 
vice near  New  Hope  Church,  Ga.  He  was  in 
AVheeler's  command,  and  participated  in  that 
General's  campaigns  to  the  end  of  struggle.  At 
the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  home  and  resumed 
hig  studies,  and  after  having   taught   school  for 


ADDISON  WHITE,  was  born  at  Abingdon.  Va., 
May  1,  1824,  and  was  a  son  of  James  and  Eliza 
(Wilson)  White,  natives  of  Pennsylvania  and  Vir- 
ginia, and  of  Irish  and  Scotch-Irish  descent,  re- 
spectively. When  a  youth  James  White  went  to 
Baltimore,  and  was  there  for  a  time  employed  by 
a  Avholesale  dry  goods  firm.  Later  on  he  went  to 
Abington,  Va.,  where  he  engaged  in  the  mercan- 
tile business,  and  was  married  to  Eliza  Wilson,  of 
Pittsylvania  County. 

He  became  largely  interested   in  tlie  production 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


275 


of  salt,  iron  and  lead,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  wliich  occurred  in  Wythe  County,  Va., 
l.s;{8,  was  reported  to  be  worth  over  a  mil- 
lion dollars.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  war  of 
1.S12.  holding  the  rank  of  colonel. 

His  father,  William  White,  was  a  farmer  near 
Carlisle,  Penn.,  and  spent  his  life  in  that  State. 

Addison  White  greiv  to  manhood  in  his  native 
village,  receiving  an  academic  education,  which  he 
completed  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  in  184"^.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1844.  he  was  married  to  iliss  Sarah 
Irvine,  a  daughter  of  Col.  David  Irvine,  of  Kich- 
mond,  Ky.  Soon  after  his  marriage  he  became  a 
resident  of  Kentucky,  and  was  elected  to  the 
'riiirty-second  Congress  for  the  Sixth  District  of 
that  State.  At  the  close  of  that  Congress,  coming 
into  possession  of  his  inheritance,  he  removed  to 
lluntsville,  Ala.,  and  engaged  in  planting  in  Ala- 
bama, Mississippi  and  Arkansas.  He  has  six  chil- 
dren: Alice,  wife  of  Dr.  G.  C.  Greenway;  Eliza 
\V.,  wife  of  0.  B.  Patton;  David  Irvine,  Susan 
McDowell,  Xewton  K.,  and  Shelby,  wife  of  Rich- 
ard W.  Walker.  Mrs.  Sarah  Irvine  White,  is  a 
grand-daughter  of  the  illustrious  Dr.  Ephraim 
McDowell,  of  Kentucky,  and  great-grand-daughter 
of  Gov.  Isaac  Shelby. 

Her  father.  Colonel  David  Irvine,  was  a  son  of 
Capt.  William  Irvine,  of  Madison  County,  Ky., 
who,  being  an  early  settler,  participated  in 
many  of  the  bloody  battles  with  the  Indians,  and 
•  in  one  of  them  known  as  ''  Estill'.s  defeat,"  or 
••the  battle  of  Little  Mountain,"  received 
wounds  from  which  he  ultimately  died.  He  and 
another,  named  Proctor,  were  the  only  whites, 
with  one  Indian,  left  to  recount  the  deeds  of  that 
sanguinary  fight.  Mr.  White's  family  are  mem- 
bers of  the  J^piscopal  Church. 

•    •*>'^^?^-^— 

BENJAMIN  POWELL  HUNT  was  born  in 
Franklin  County,  Tenn.,  in  September,  1849,  and 
is  a  son  of  George  W.  Hunt,  a  native  of  Franklin 
County.  His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Priscilla 
Powell. 

Ben.  P.  Hunt  spent  his  younger  days  near 
Salem,  Tenn.,  but  when  the  war  broke  out  his 
parents  moved  to  Winchester,  that  State,  and  there 
he  received  his  education.  When  twenty  years 
of  age  he  began  the  study  of  law,  and  in  1870 
entered  the  law  department  in  the  University  of 
Virginia,  remaining  there  about  six  months.     He 


was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  November  of  the  same 
year,  and  practiced  in  Winchester  until  February, 
1882,  when  he  located  at  lluntsville,  and  there 
practiced  law  one  year.  After  this,  he  became 
connected  with  the  lluntsville  Mercury  as  its 
editor,  and  began  the  publication  of  the  daily 
issue  of  tiiat  paper  August  '^I,  iss.i. 

When  Mr.  Hunt  first  took  charge  of  the  editor- 
ial columns  of  the  Mcrcuri/  it  was  a  weekly  paper 
with  a  patent  outside,  and  with  a  circulation  not 
exceeding  .")(iO,  but  whea  he  severed  his  connection 
with  it,  in  August,  1887,  the  weekly  had  a  sub- 
scription list  of  about  1,100,  and  the  daily  was 
fairly  upon  its  feet  and  making  money. 

Under  his  administration,  the  Mercury  was  the 
telling  champion  of  lluntsville  and  her  growing 
industries,  and  the  present  prosperity  of  her  var- 
ious manufactures  and  the  "great  boom"  of  the 
city  is  largely  due  to  ilr.  Hunt's  influence.  He 
was  the  prime  mover  in  the  organization  of  the 
lluntsville  &  Elora  Railroad,  and  he  devoted  the 
columns  of  his  pajier,  and  his  individual  influence 
to  the  consummation  of  that  important  enter- 
prise. 

Having  severed  his  connection  with  the  J/c/-i:-?<r^, 
Mr.  Hunt,  on  the  23d  of  August,  1887,  accepted 
the  editorship  of  llie  Iiulependenf,  a  rival  daily, 
then  but  recently  established  at  lluntsville,  and 
this  publication  has  since  been  the  chief  recipient 
of  his  labors.*  He  is  also  correspondent  for  sev- 
eral foreign  newspapers  and  magazines. 

Mr.  Hunt  is  justly  rankid  as  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  writers  in  the  South,  and  as  one  of  the 
most  perfect  gentlemen. 

•    •'>■  •;€!^-»'— -- 

AUGUSTUS  W.  McCULLOUGH  is  a  son  of 
.Tames  and  Sjnali  (Ijarvin)  .McCullough.  His 
parents  are  of  Irish  descent;  his  father,  coming  to 
America  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  settled  in  Lan- 
caster County,  Pa.,  where  he  resided  until  his 
death. 

Our  subject  was  born  in  Lancaster  County,  Pa., 
September,  18:?6,  and  received  a  good  education, 
graduating  from  the  Normal  School  at  Millersville, 
Pa.,  in  1854.  He  followed  teaching  for  several 
years  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1865,  came  to  Ala- 
bama as  the  agent  of   the  Freedman's  Aid  Society 

•  Sint-e  thf  above  was  written,  Mr.  Hunt  has  sovcreiJ  his  con- 
nwtion  with  T7i«  Iniliiitmlrnt,  and  Is  IdcntifleU  with  tht-  North 
.\laiiuina  ImproNcnienf  Comptuiy.— Ei>. 


276 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


of  Philadelphia  and  occupied  that  position  two 
years,  having  the  organization  and  control  of  the 
schools  at  Iluntsville.  He  was  appointed  superin- 
tendent of  Public  Schools  for  Madison  County  by 
the  State  authorities  in  1868,  and  in  1872  was 
elected  to  the  same  office.  In  1874,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Clerk  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court 
by  Judge  AVoods,  who  was  afterward  elevated  to 
the  Sui^reme  Bench,  and  has  held  this  important 
position  since.  In  1875,  he  was  appointed  Clerk 
of  the  United  States  District  Court  by  Judge  John ' 
Bruce. 

Mr.  McCullough  has  been  a  most  influential  man 
in  the  political  affairs  of  Alabama  since  his  residence 
here.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Chicago  Conven- 
tion which  nominated  Garfield,  and  was  one  of  the 
"  Old  Guard"  of  306,  who  voted  thirty-six  times 
for  Grant;  and  was  also  a  delegate  to  the  Conven- 
tion which  nominated  Blaine  in  1884.  He  has  been 
chairman  of  the  Kepublican  Central  Committee,of 
Madison  County,  for  fourteen  years;  was  chairman 
of  the  Congressional  C'ommittee  eight  years,  and 
a  member  of  the  State  Committee  several  years. 

Mr.  McCullough  has  been  twice  married.  July 
18,  1864,  he  was  united  to  Jliss  Mary  A.  Zell,  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  died  leaving  one  child.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Laura  B.  Jones,  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  1885. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  Knights  of 
Pythias,  A.  0.  U.  AV.,  and  of  the  Forresters. 


WISE  &  CO.,  Wholesale  and  Eetail  Grocers, 
are  located  on  Jefferson  street,  in  the  McGee 
Hotel  Block,  the  present  firm  consisting  of  Isaac 
H.  and  David  Wise,  two  brothers,  who  are  sons  of 
Bernhardt  and  Sarah  G.  (Alcon)  Wise. 

Bernhardt  Wise  was  born  in  Bavaria  in  1811,  and 
came  to  America  in  183'-i,  locating  in  Cincinnati, 
where  he  engaged  in  business.  He  was  a  charter 
member  of  Bethel  Lodge,  No.  4,  Independent 
Order  B'nai  Brith,  of  that  city.  He  came  to 
Huntsville  in  1805,  and  embarked  in  business, 
which  he  continued  for  about  fifteen  years.  He 
served  as  a  member  of  the  city  council  several 
times,  and  was  the  founder  of  the  Jewish  congre- 
gation of  Huntsville,  and  has  been  its  president 
since  its  organization  in  1870.  Five  children  are 
now  living:  Mrs.  Mary  Moss,  wife  of  a  large 
wholesale  clothing  merchant  of  Cincinnati:  David, 
who  was  born  in  Cincinnati  in  1847,  where  he  re- 


ceived a  commercial  education  and  followed  book- 
keeping for  a  number  of  years.  He  came  to 
Huntsville  in  1800  and  began  his  business  career, 
where  he  has  continued  since.  In  1877  he  became 
a  partner  in  the  present  firm  by  purchasing  the 
interest  of  his  brother,  Abe  W.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  Knights  of  Honor, 
and  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor,  and  is  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Huntsville  Building  and  Loan  Associa- 
tion. Meyer  B.  Wise  was  born  in  Cincinnati  in 
1849,  and  came  to  Huntsville  in  1805,  entering 
the  store  of  his  father  as  an  assistant.  In  1873  he 
established  the  present  firm  of  Wise  &  Co.,  and 
continued  as  the  senior  partner  until  he  withdrew 
on  account  of  his  health  in  1881,  consigning  the 
business  to  I.  H.  &  A.  W.  Wise.  He  subsequently 
went  to  Mobile,  and  from  thence  to  Texas.  He 
is  a  member  of  Knights  of  Pythias,  Knights  of 
Honor,  and  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor,  and 
has  served  as  a  member  of  the  city  council  six 
terms.  He  is  now  connected  with  the  firm  as  an 
assistant.  Isaac  H.  was  born  in  1851,  and  came 
with  the  family  to  Alabama  in  1865.  He  was  em- 
ployed by  his  father  for  a  time,  and  subsequently, 
in  1878,  went  to  Farmersville,  La.,  and  thence  to 
Ouchita  City,  where  he  was  elected  the  first  mayor. 
Peturning  to  Huntsville  in  1878,  he  has  since  resid- 
ed there  and  established  a  good  business  reputation. 
He  is  a  Mason  and  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor.  Mr.  Wise  was  married  in  January,  1878, 
to  Miss  Nettie  Shuster,  of  Louisiana.  Abe  W. 
Wise  was  born  in  Cincinnati  in  1853,  and  has  been 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  all  his  life.  He  was 
for  a  time  piartner  in  the  firm,  but  is  now  an 
assistant;  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor, 
Knights  of  Pythias,  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor, 
and  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  firm  and  assistants 
are  all  practical  business  men,  and  their  success  is 
the  legitimate  result  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
their  business.  They  have  the  largest  retail  gro- 
cery trade  in  Northern  Alabama,  employing  four 
delivery  wagons  in  the  city,  and  have  a  fair  whole- 
sale trade.  Tht-ir  salesrooms  are  among  the  finest 
in  the  citv. 


OLIVER  B.  PATTON  is  the  only  living  son  of 
Dr.  Chas.  H.  and  Susan  (Bierne)  Pattoii.  His 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  Andrew  Bierne,  wlio 
was  a  native  of  the  '•'  Old  Dominion  "  State. 

Oliver  was  reared  in  Huntsville  and  educated  at 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


277 


tlie  Tniversity  of  Virginia:  and  inherited  tlie  large 
estate  of  his  fatlier.  He  has  devoted  his  attention 
10  the  (iuv  and  development  of  his  property  and 
iia.<  lieen  a  successful  ])lanter,  and  ranks  as  a 
popular  and  generous  citizen. 

Mr.  Patton  formed  a  matrimonial  alliance  with 
Miss  Hettie  White,  daughter  of  the  lion.  Addison 
While,  of  Ilnntsville,  and  six  children  have  been 
born  to  this  union,  viz.:  Susie  B.,  Irvine  W., 
Oliver  B.,  Mattie  Lee,  Alice  G.  and  Milton  II. 

A  sister  of  Mr.  Patton,  Mary  B.,  married  Wni. 
Echols,  (manufacturer.)  a  graduate  of  West 
Point. 

Mr.  I'attoTi  and  family  belong  to  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

•    •'>•  •^^^-■»— 

BERNARD  F.  LUDWIG  was  born  in  Prussia 
April  .">,  1S4'.',  and  rame  with  hisparents  to  America 
in  1848,  settling  near  Memphis,  Tenn..  where  he 
was  reared.  He  lived  with  his  parents  until  he 
became  a  resident  of  Huntsville,  in  1856,  where 
he  finished  his  education,  and  afterward  engaged 
in  business  until  1876.  Mr.  Ludwig  was  initiated 
in  the  .Masonic  fraternity  when  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  and  has  served  for  several  years  as  ilaster 
of  llelion  Lodge.  Nu.  1.  lie  has  taken  all  of  the 
York  Kite  degrees,  and  is  now  (Jeneralissimo  of 
Huntsville  Commandery,  No.  1.  KnightsTemplar. 
He  was  for  several  years  High  Priest  of  Eunoinia 
Chapter,  No.  .5,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  and  in  the 
Royal  Masonic  Rite  he  has  taken  the  highest  de- 
grees. When  Monte  Sano  Lodge,  No.  1,  Knights 
of  Pythias,  was  organized  in  1870,  Mr.  Ludwig 
was  one  of  the  charter  members,  and  was  elected 
its  first  Vice-Cliancellor,  and  later,  Chancellor- 
Comnumder.  He  was  chosen  a  representa- 
tive to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State  in  1872, 
and  was  there  elected  a  Past  Grand  Chancellor 
of  the  State.  In  1874  he  was  elected  Supreme  Re- 
presentative of  Alabama  to  the  Supreme  Lodge, 
Knights  of  Pythias  of  the  World:  and  was  the 
tirst  to  submit  a  plan  which  resulted  in  the  en- 
dowment feature  of  the  Order,  at  the  Washington 
Session,  in  1875.  He  has  since  served  as  Supreme 
Representative  for  two  terms  of  four  years,  clos- 
ing said  service  in  1884.  At  the  recent  session  of 
the  Grand  Tiodge  of  Knights  of  Pythias  (188S) 
he  was  elected  as  G.  K.  of  R.  and  .S.  of  the  State. 
He  is  also  a  charter  member  of  Delphic  Lodge, 
No.  :K)0,  Knights  of  Honor,  having  served  as 
•  irand  Dictator  of  the  State  and  as  Representative 


to  the  Supreme  Lodge  at  Baltimore,  and  Galves- 
ton, Tex.,  Sessions.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen  and  the 
Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor,  and  is  the  secretary 
of  these  societies.  He  is  also  secretary  of  the 
•'  Huntsville  Building  and  Loan  Association," 
comi)rising  over  three  hundred  members,  which 
is  prospering  greatly  and  aiding,  in  a  marked 
degree,  the  building  up  of  Huntsville. 

Mr.  Ludwig  is  an  active  and  enterin-ising  citi- 
zen, progressive  in  his  views  and  charitable  in 
disposition. 

In  1876  Mr.  Ludwig  married  !Miss  Annie  Estes, 
daughter  of  L.  II.  Estes,  a  well-known  citizen 
of  Columbia,  'lenn.,  and  more  recently  of  Hunts- 
ville. Mrs.  Ludwig  is  a  sister  of  Judge  L.  H. 
Estes,  of  Memphis,  Tenn. 


— — *"1 


««►. 


WILLIAM  C.  WELLS  is  a  .son  of  Rev.  W.  G. 
Wells,  who  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  subsequently 
removing  to  Ohio,  where  he  engaged  in  the  min- 
istry of  the  United  Brethren  Church  for  some 
twenty-five  years,  when  he  retired  on  account  of 
bad  health.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania.  Her  nuiiden  name  was 
Sarah  Shupp.     They  reside  in  Dayton,  Ohio. 

William  C.  was  born  in  Ohio  August  16,  1843, 
and  was  educated  near  Dayton.  He  was  early 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits.  In  1864  he 
enlist-ed  in  Company  G,  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Thirty-first  Infantry  (Ohio  National  Guards), 
serving  one  hundred  days.  In  1870  he  came  to 
Huntsville,  and  engaged  at  farming  and  garden- 
ing. In  IS?-^  he  removed  to  Little  Rock.  Ark., 
where  he  was  engaged  in  growing  and  shipping 
vegetables.  Returning  to  Huntsville  in  1874,  he 
has  since  resided  there,  and  has  occupied  high 
positions  of  trust  with  honor  and  fidelity.  In 
1875  he  was  ai)pointed  Deputy  Clerk  of  the  United 
States  Courts,  under  A.  W.  McCullough.  In 
1879,  November  25th,  he  was  ai)pointed  United 
States  Commissioner  by  Judge  Woods,  of  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court. 

President  Arthur  appointed  him  Register  of  the 
United  States  Land  Office  at  Huntsville,  and  in 
December,  1884.  he  assumed  charge  of  the  office. 
He  was  removed  by  President  Cleveland,  and  va- 
cated tiie  ofiice  in  December,  1886. 

Mr.  Wells  is  interested  in  the  operation  of  a 
coal  mine  near  Birmingham,  and   also  in   the  de- 


278 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


velopment  of  coal  lands  on  the  Tennessee  Eiver, 
in  JaeksoTi  County,  Ala.  He  is  now  engaged  in 
the  real  estate  business. 

He  was  married  in  Huntsville  April  16,  1871, 
to  iliss  Emma  E.  Zell,  of  Lancaster  County,  Pa. 
Two  children  have  been  born  to  them:  Alice 
Frances,  deceased,  and  Koberta  A'irginia. 

JAMES  B.  WHITE,  son  of  Thomas  W.  and 
Susan  (Bradley)  White,  was  born  in  Huntsville, 
February  22,  1845,  where  his  home  has  always 
been.  He  received  the  advantages  of  the  schools 
of  his  native  city,  and  when  sixteen  years  of  age 
joined  Company  F,  Fourth  Alabama  Infantry, 
and  was  with  that  regiment  two  years,  participat- 
ing in  the  first  battle  of  Manassas,  Williamsburg, 
Yorktown,  the  entire  jieninsular campaign.  Seven 
Pines  (where  he  was  slightly  wounded),  and  the 
Seven  Days  Fight  around  Richmond.  He  was 
transferred  after  the  second  battle  of  Manassas  to 
Mobile,  and  promoted  to  sergeant  of  artillery, 
and  in  1803,  was  commissioned  lieutenant  and  as- 
signed to  General  Humes'  Cavalry  Brigade,  serving 
upon  his  commander's  staff  until  the  end  of  the 
war.  He  was  in  the  battles  of  New  Hojie  Church, 
Kesacca  (where  he  was  again  wounded),  Kenesaw 
Mountain,  Peach  Tree  Creek,  the  Atlanta  cam- 
paign, Wheeler's  raid  through  Tennessee,  and 
opposing  Sherman's  March  to  the  Sea.  He  was 
taken  prisoner  near  Macon,  in  186-1,  but  escaped 
after  three  week's  confinement,  and  Joined  his 
command  in  South  Carolina.  In  January,  1865, 
he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain,  in  the 
provisional  army.  His  command  was  in  Sher- 
man's front  until  the  battle  of  Fayetteville,  N.  C, 
where  his  commander.  General  Humes,  was 
severely  wounded,  and  our  subject  cari-ied  him 
from  the  field  to  Raleigh  and  remained  with  him 
until  General  Johnson  surrendered.  Truly  a  gal- 
lant record  for  the  young  soldier. 

After  the  war,  Mr.  White  became  connected 
with  the  Memphis  &  Charleston  Railroad  and  has 
been  associated  with  that  corporation  since.  He 
rose  from  the  position  of  brakeman,  to  that  of  a 
freight  and  subsequently  jiassenger  conductor,  and 
since  1876  has  been  the  company's  agent  in  the 
Law  and  Stock  Department.  Mr.  White  married, 
in  1866,  Miss  Susie  Withers,  of  old  and  reputed 
ancestors.  They  are  the  parents  of  five  children, 
and   members   of    the  Episcopal    Church.      Mr. 


White  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic,  K.  of  P.  and 
K.  of  H.  fraternities,  and  of  the  Order  of  Railroad 
Conductors. 


NICHOLAS  DAVIS,  deceased,  was  a  prominent 
representative  of  an  old  and  distinguished  family, 
a  sou  of  Col.  Nicholas  Davis,  of  Limestone  County, 
Ala.,  who  was  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion 
State,  and  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Alabama. 

He  at  once  became  prominent  in  the  public 
affairs  of  the  State  and  was  a  representative  in  the 
first  State  Legislature,  1819;  subsequently  he  was 
chosen  a  State  Senator,  serving  from  1820  to  1828 
inclusive,  and  for  five  sessions  he  was,  the  presid- 
ing officer. 

He  occupied  the  highest  rank,  in  the  estimation 
of  all  parties,  as  a  private  and  public  citizen,  and 
was  remarkable  for  his  eloquence.  In  184:4,  he 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Whig  electoral  ticket, 
and  in  1 847  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  Governor, 
of  the  State.  His  wife,  ^lartha  Hargrave,  be- 
longed to  an  old  and  wealthy  Quaker  family,  and 
was  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  lady.  Col.  Jere- 
miah Clemens,  in  dedicating  his  work  entitled 
''Mustang  Gray"  to  Nicholas  Davis,  the  son, 
after  speaking  of  the  endearing  friendship  with 
which  prompted  it,  uses  this  language:  "  But  it 
is  not  these  alone  that  move  me  to  write  your 
name  on  the  first  jjage  of  this  volume.  The  last 
words  your  mother  was  ever  heard  to  speak,  were 
words  of  warm  regard  for  me,  and  to  the  hour  of 
his  death  your  father  honored  me  with  a  friend- 
ship which  is  among  my  prwidest  recollections. 
In  the  whole  range  of  my  acquaintance  I  have 
never  known  two  jjersons  more  remarkable  for 
unswerving  integrity  of  thought  and  action  or 
more  distinguished  for  a  lofty  scorn  of  all  that 
was  low  or  vile  in  humanity.'' 

A  son,  Lawrence  Rijiley  Davis,  was  a  Whig  like 
his  father.  He  was  elected  to  the  lower  house 
in  1849,  and  by  his  fine  talents  and  address  con- 
tributed no  little  to  the  success  of  his  party.  He 
was  returned  in  1861  and  threw  his  influence  into 
the  secession  movement. 

Nicholas  Davis,  the  subject  of  this  biography, 
was  born  in  Limestone  County,  and  was  reared 
and  educated  in  Alabama.  He  served  as  a  lieu- 
tenant in  a  company  commanded  by  Captain  Hig- 
gins,  of  Col.  Jere  Clemens'  Regiment  through- 
out the  Mexican  War,  a  portion  of  which  period 
he  was  a  staff  officer. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


279 


He  subsequently  chose  the  legal  profession,  and 
\v!vs  admitted  to  the  bar,  at  Ituntsville,  in  ISo-i; 
and  also  became  a  prominent  political  factor  dur- 
ing tlie  exciting  jieriod  wliicii  followed.  lie  served 
two  terms  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  when  the 
secession  movement  was  agitated  he  took  a  de- 
cided stand  against  it.  and  vigorously  advocated 
his  views  by  stumping  Nortiiern  Alabama,  during 
which  he  developed  rennirkable  power  as  an  orator. 
He  also  advocated  the  election  of  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  was  an  elector  upon  the  Douglas  ticket. 
and  served  as  a  Union  delegate  from  his  county 
in  the  Secession  convention. 

Colonel  Davis  subsequently  became  lieutenant- 
colonel  of. the  Nineteenth  Alabama  Infantry,  but 
was  not  in  active  service;  and  after  tlie  close  of 
the  war  resumed  his  practice  in  Huntsvilie,  in 
which  he  attained  prominence,  devoting  much  of 
his  time  to  criminal  law. 

Colonel  Davis  died  in  Huntsvilie  in  1874. 

His  wife's  maiden  mune  was  Miss  Sophia  Lowe, 
and  was  also  a  descendant  of  an  old  and  noted 
family.  Her  paternal  ancestors  came  from  Eng- 
land to  Maryland  with  Lord  Baltimore.  Her 
father,  Gen.  Bartley  M.  Lowe,  was  a  native  of 
South  Carolina,  but  his  father,  who  was  a  captain 
in  the  Revolutionary  War,  soon  after  moved  to 
Florida,  and  accepted  service  under  the  Spanish 
Government,  for  which  he  secured  a  large  grant 
of  land.  General  Lowe  subsequently  came  to 
Huntsvilie  and  engaged  in  mercantile  pureuits, 
and  such  was  his  success  that  he  was  sometimes 
called  a  "merchant  prince."  He  was  the  first 
president  of  the  Huntsvilie  Hank  and  ])rominent 
in  many  business  movements. 

He  W!is  in  active  service  during  the  Indian  War 
of  18;Jii.  and  in  18."3.S  became  a  resident  of  New 
Orleans,  wliere  he  was  a  leading  cotton  factor 
until  his  death.  He  left  tliree  sons:  Dr.  John  T. 
Lowe,  who  was  chief  surgeon  of  General  Loring's 
Division  of  Infantry  during  the  late  war;  Itobert 
J.,  a  lawyer,  legislator  and  soldier;  and  William 
JI.  Lowe,  whose  sketch  appears  elsewhere  in  this 
volume. 

Mrs.  Davis  is  living  in  Huntsvilie  with  two 
children:  Nichols  C.  Jr.,  and  Sophie  L. 

THOMAS  W.  WHITE,  one  of  the  representa- 
tive Planters  of  Northern  Alabama,  is  a  native  of 
N'irginia,  where  his  father  and  mother  were  also 


born.  His  parents  were  Colonel  James  and  Eliza 
(Wilson)  White.  The  former  was  one  of  the  first 
business  men  in  Northern  Alabama,  and  a  large 
land  owner  in  the  vicinity  of  Huntsvilie.  He  died 
in  Virginia  in  1838. 

Oui- subject  was  born  in  Virginia  in  Isll.aiul 
resided  there  until  he  came  to  Huntsvilie  in  183'.). 
^Ir.  AVhite  has  been  a  planter  all  of  his  life,  and 
owns  a  fine  plantation  on  each  side  of  the  Ten- 
nessee River,  ac  Whitesburg.  While,  in  no  sense, 
a  politician,  he  has  been  honored  by  his  fellow- 
citizens  who  elected  him  to  tlie  mayoralty  of 
Huntsvilie  in  1881  and  188^'. 

.Ml'.  White  is  a  man  of  commanding  presence, 
and  a  noble  type  of  a  Southern  gentleman. 
In  1840  he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Susan  Bradley,  a  daughter  of  Major  .James 
Bradley,  a  cotton  broker  and  commission  merch- 
ant, well-known  in  Huntsvilie  and  New  Orleans. 
Twelve  children  have  been  born  to  them.  Three 
sons  were  in  the  Southern  army,  Ale.xander,  James 
and  William. 


JAMES  M.  HUTCHENS,  a  prominent  Contrac- 
tor and  Buililcr.  is  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth 
(Jordan)  llutchens.  His  father  was  a  native  of 
England  and  came  to  America  at  an  early  day, 
settling  in  South  Carolina,  subseipiently  removing 
to  Eastern  Tennessee,  where  he  remained  until 
his  death.     He  was  a  manufacturer. 

James  M.  was  reared  and  educated  in  East  Ten- 
nessee, and  early  learned  the  trade  of  a  carpen- 
ter, which  he  has  followed  with  success  all  of  his 
life.  He  served  gallantly  in  the  Confederate  service, 
entering  the  Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry,  Company 
B,  in  18(J1,  and  served  under  Forrest,  Wheeler  and 
Longstreet.  He  was  with  Forrest  through  all  the 
Tennessee  raids.  Fort  Donelson,  and  in  March, 
1853,  was  taken  prisoner  at  Unionville,  Tenn., 
and  confined  for  four  months  in  Camp  Chase,  at 
Columbus,  Ohio.  He  was  then  paroled  and  soon 
after  exchanged  and  re-entered  the  army,  parti- 
cipating in  Longstreet's  Campaign  in  East  Ten- 
nessee, and  serving  until  discharged  at  the  end  of 
the  war.  He  became  a  resident  of  Huntsvilie  in 
18.")7,  and  has  since  made  his  home  there.  He  is 
one  of  the  leading  contractors  of  that  city,  and 
employs  a  large  number  of  assistants.  He  is  an 
enterprising  and  respected  citizen  and  has  served 
asalderman  for  a  number  of  vears.     Mr.  llutchens 


280 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


was  married  to  Miss  Lucy  Hodges,  of  East  Ten- 
nessee, in  1859.  They  have  four  children,  and  are 
members  of  the  Cumberland  Presbvteriun  Churcli. 


JOHN  M.  CROSS,  a  prominent  Real  Estate 
Operator,  is  a  native  of  Iluntsville,  where  he  was 
born  in  1833  and  has  resided  all  of  his  life. 

He  is  ie  son  of  Andrew  Cross,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, who  was  of  English  stock,  and  one  of  the 
first  settlers  in  Huntsville. 

Our  subject  was  in  early  life  a  clerk,  and  from 
1859  until  1867  followed  planting.  He  was  op- 
posed to  the  war,  and  at  the  first  election  after 
the  war  he  was  elected  Tax  Assessor  by  tlie  Ke- 
iniblicans. 

In  1873  he  was  appointed  Register  of  the  United 
States  Land  Office  at  Huntsville,  and  held  that 
position  twelve  years.  Since  that  period  Mr. 
Cross  has  devoted  his  attention  to  real  estate 
transactions,  and  is  now  a  member  of  that  well- 
know  firm  of  Lane,  Cross  &  Gill. 

Mr.  Cross  was  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  Pro- 
bate Judge  on  the  Republican  ticket  in  1886,  and 
has  always  affiliated  himself  with  that  party.  He 
has  accumulated  some  jjroperty,  and  is  an  es- 
teemed citizen. 

Mr.  Cross  has  been  thrice  married  and  has  nine 
children  living. 


EDMUND  L  MASTIN,  Mayor  of  Huntsville, 
is  a  son  of  William  .J.  and  Mary '(Clark)  Mastin, 
both  natives  of  Virginia. 

Wm.  J.  Mastin  was  of  English  stock  and  his 
progenitors  came  to  America  with  Lord  Fairfax. 
Frank  Mastin,  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a 
captain  in  the  War  of  1813. 

Wm.  J.  Mastin  came  to  Alabama  in  his  youth, 
and  resided  in  Huntsville  until  his  death  in  18-45. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Law  and  Classical 
Department  of  Yale  College,  and  a  staunch  Whig 
in  politics.  He  was  a  member  of  the  convention 
which  nominated  Henry  Clay  in  1844.  His 
mother  was  also  of  English  lineage,  and  died  in 
1881. 

The  subject  of  this  biography  was  born  in 
Huntsville,  in  1841,  and  has  lived  here  all  of  his 
life  He  is  one  of  three  brotiiers.  Wm.  F.,  who 
served  as  adjutant-general  with   Geneial  Buckuer 


during  the  war,  died  while  Mayor  of  Huntsville 
in  1871.  Gustavus  B.  commanded  a  company  in 
the  Fourth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  was  killed  in 
the  battle  of  Seven  Pines,   in  1802. 

Our  subject  was  educated  in  the  schools  of 
Huntsville  and  at  the  Lagrange  Military  Institute, 
which  was  destroyed  during  the  war.  He  entered 
the  army  in  1801,  as  drill-master,  and  subsequent- 
ly became  adjutant  of  the  Eighth  Arkansas 
Regiment;  adjutant-general  of  Kelley's  Brigade  of 
Infantry  under  General  Buckner,  and  also  ad- 
jutant-general of  the  Fourth  Division  of  Cavalry, 
commanded  by  Gen.  J.  H.  Kelley,  in  Wheeler's 
Corps. 

He  was  taken  prisoner  at  Charleston,  Tenn.,  in 
1804,  and  sent  to  Camp  Chase  at  Columbus,  Ohio, 
and  from  there  to  Fort  Delaware,  where  he  was 
selected  as  one  of  600  men  for  special  retaliation, 
sent  to  Morris  Island  and  placed  under  the  fire 
of  Confederate  batteries.  He  was  fortunate 
enough  to  escape  unharmed,  and  was  released 
from  Fort  Delaware  in  June,  1865. 

Since  the  war  ^Mayor  Mastin  has  been  engaged 
in  the  family  grocery  trade;  as  contractor  on  the 
Memjjhis  &  Chattanooga  Railroad,  and  is  now  en- 
gaged in  brick  manufacture  and  contracting  and 
building.  He  has  served  as  City  Clerk  for  four 
years,  and  is  serving  his  sixth  year  as  Mayor  of 
the  city.  He  is  a  genial  and  accomplished  gentle- 
man, and  deservedly  popular  with  all  classes.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.  and  the  K.  of  P. 
fraternities. 


JAMES  H.  BONE,  United  States  Commissioner, 
was  born  October  27, 1836, in  Warren  County, Ohio. 
His  parents  were  John  and  Christiana  (Maple) 
Bone,  natives  of  Ohio  and  New  Jersey.  The  senior 
Bone  was  a  farmer  and  trader.  He  was  a  Whig 
before  the  war;  served  his  county  as  commissioner 
ten  or  twelve  years,  and  died  in  1887. 

The  Bone  family  first  appeared  in  America  in 
North  Cai'olina,  whence  James  Bone  removed 
to  Virginia,  where  he  married  Nancy  Hart,  and 
soon  afterward  emigrated  to  Warren  County.  He 
was  J.  H.  Bone's  grandfather.  He  served  as  an 
officer  in  the  war  of  1812.  His  father  came  from 
Scotland  and  settled  in  North  Carolina. 

J.  H.  Bone  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  educated 
at  Lebanon  Academy.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he 
entered  a  store  as  a  clerk  and  soon  began  dealing  in 
supplies  and  provisions  on  his  own  account  and  con- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


281 


tinned  this  businessuntil  IHdl.  In  July,  l.S<il,  he 
enlisted  in  Company  A,  Thirty-fifth  Ohio  Infantry, 
as  a  private,  and  in  a  very  short  time  was  pro- 
moted to  the  second  lieutenancy  of  that  company. 
He  was  at  Mill  Springs,  Kentucky,  and  Shiloh; 
wounilcd  in  the  shoulder  at  Corinth;  fought  at 
Perryville  and  'rullahoma,  and  in  the  campaign 
after  Stone  River;  was  promoted  in  ISfJlJ  to  a  first 
lieutenancy  and  soon  again  to  adjutant  of  the 
regiment.  In  this  capacity  he  had  been  acting 
during  the  most  of  the  time  of  liis  service.  He 
was  wounded  twice  at  Chickamauga,  but  did  not 
leave  the  field,  and  soon  after  was  commissioned  as 
captain,  lie  fought  at  ilissionary  Ridge,  King- 
gold,  Hesaca,  Kenesaw  Mountain,  Marietta,  Cliat- 
tahooche  River,  Kig  Shanty,  Peach  Tree  Creek, 
and  all  the  way  from  Ringgold  to  Atlanta.  In 
fact,  he  participated  in  all  the  battles  in  which  the 
Army  of  the  Ohio  and  of  the  Cumberland  Avere 
engaged,  and  was  with  Gen.  Geo.  II.  Thomas 
throughout  his  whole  career  after  he  received  his 
commission  as  brigadier-general. 

During  Slierman's  campaign  to  Atlanta,  Captain 
]?one  was  ranking  line  officer,  and  much  of  the 
time  in  command  of  his  regiment,  and  so  great 
was  the  attachment  between  himself  and  his  com- 
rades, that,  when  he  was  tendered  the  commission 
of  colonel  in  a  new  regiment,  by  the  Governor  of 
Ohio,  in  18iili,  he  declined  the  honor,  preferring 
to  serve  as  captain  in  his  old  regiment.  During 
the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  Captain  Bone's  regi- 
ment lost  two-thirds  of  its  number  in  killed  and 
wounded,  and  was  among  the  very  last  to  leave  the 
field.  In  the  battle  nearly  all  the  company  officers 
of  this  regiment  were  killed  or  wounded.  There 
was  only  one  line  officer  of  the  regiment  promoted 
to  the  field  during  the  whole  term  of  service. 

Captain  Hone  had  some  very  remarkable  experi- 
ences while  in  service.  During  the  siege  of 
Corinth,  lie  had  one  of  his  shoulder  straps  shot 
off  by  a  sharp-shooter;  on  the  second  day  of  the 
battle  of  Chickamauga  (September,  1803),  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fight,  he  was  struck  squarely  by  a 
minie  ball  on  the  buckle  plate  of  his  sword  belt. 
The  force  of  t lie  ball  dishing  the  ])late,  fiattened 
and  welded  the  ball  to  it,  and  heated  the  plate  to 
such  an  extent  that  an  impression  of  the  threads 
in  his  coat  was  left  on  the  back,  or  inside  of  the 
plate,  and  the  Captain  was  prostrated  and  uncon- 
scious. In  less  than  half  an  hour  after  this  inci- 
dent, in  whii-li  the  plate  had- saved  his  life,  another 
minie   ball    hit   a  large  silver  watch    in    the   fob 


pocket  of  his  pantaloons,  glanced  off,  making  a 
tlesh  wound.  This  watch  and  belt  plate  are  now 
in  jiossession  of  the  Captain's  family,  and  highly 
prized  as  mementoes.  The  Captain  was  also 
struck  by  a  minie  ball  at  the  battle  of  Missionary 
Ridge,  November  25,  1863.  Captain  Bone  was 
mustered  out  in  March,  18<i.").  In  that  same  year 
he  came  to  Huntsville,  and  became  interested  in 
mercantile  business  and  jflanting.  In  18()8  he 
was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court,  and  served 
six  years:  was  appointed  United  States  Claim 
Commissioner,  and  served  some  three  years  ;  was 
chief  deputy  in  the  United  States  Marshal's  office 
for  Northern  District  of  Alabama  four  years,  and 
is  now  United  States  Commissioner  by  appoint- 
ment of  late  Justice  Wm.  B.  Woods  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court. 

Captain  Bone  is  senior  member  of  the  North 
Alabama  Real  Estate  Agency,  doing  business 
under  the  firm  name  of  Jas.  H.  Bone  &  Co.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  F.  &  A. 
M.,  K.  of  P.,  K.  of  H.,  and  G.  A.  R,;  one  of  the- 
solid  citizens  of  Huntsville,  and  a  leading  spirit  in 
all  public  enterprises. 

He  was  married  in  1857  to  Anna  Hutchinson, 
daughter  of  Thos.  P.  Hutchinson,  Esq.,  of  War- 
ren County,  Ohio.  To  this  wife  were  born  two 
children:  Horace  J.,  now  of  Kansas  City,  Mo., 
and  Cynthia  Delia,  wife  of  William  Ilolloway,  of 
same  place.  Mrs.  Anna  Bone  died  in  March,  1880, 
and  in  March,  1883,  Captain  Bone  married  Mrs. 
Laura  Gunnell,  daughter  of  Hon.  Thomas  (ieorge, 
of  an  old  Virginia  familv,  and  a  grand-daughter  of 
Chapman  Lee,  who  was  a  cousin  of  Gen.  Robert 
E.  Lee. 

Capt.  J.  H.  lione  has  two  children  by  his  second 
wife:  James  Holding  Bone  and  Chapman  Lee 
Bone. 

•   •  C'  '^isjii^*"*^' — *~~ 

WM.  H.  ECHOLS  was  born  at  Huntsville, 
ilarch  11,  1834.  In  1854  he  entered  West 
Point  Academy,  and  after  graduating  therefrom 
in  1858,  was  an  engineer  in  the  L^nited  States 
Army.  In  18C1,  he  resigned  and  entered  the  en- 
gineeriiig  corps  of  the  Confederate  Army,  with  the 
rank  of  captain,  and  soon  rose  to  major.  He  was 
stationed  at  Fort  Jackson,  on  the  Mississippi 
River,  at  Savannah,  and  at  C!harleston.  After  the 
war  he  was  for  a  time  civil  engineer  on  the  Mem- 
phis v^  Charleston  Railroad.  From  there  he  became 
book-keeper   in    the    Bell    Factory    Cotton   Mills, 


282 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


near  Huntsville,  Ala.,  and  afterward  was  secre- 
tary, treasurer  and  superintendent,  a  position 
he  held  until  the  mills  were  closed  in  1884.  He 
is  now  a  director  in  the  Huntsville  National  Bank. 

Mr.  Echols  was  married  in  January,  1859,  to 
Miss  Mary  B.,  daughter  of  Dr.  Chas.  H.  Patton, 
and  they  have  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  Will- 
iam H.  Echols,  the  eklest,  is  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Virgrnia,  a  civil  and  mining  en- 
gineer, and  is  now  a  professor  in  the  Mining 
School  of  Rolla,  Mo.  His  daughter,  Susan  P.,  is 
the  wife  of  Robert  E.  Spragins.  Chas.  P.,  is 
now  a  cadet  at  West  Point  Academy. 

Mr.  Echols  is  a  Freemason  and  a  Knight  of 
Pythias. 

His  family  tree  is  old  and  full  of  branches. 
He  was  a  son  of  William  and  Mary  (Hobbs) 
Echols,  who  were  both  born  in  Virginia, — he  in 
ISOO  and  she  in  1806.  William  Echols  came  from 
Pittsylvania  County,  Ya.,  about  l»l-2,  with  his 
parents,  who  settled  near  New  Market.  When  a 
young  man  he  came  to  Huntsville,  and  clerked 
for  Patton  &  Bierne.  When  he  became  of  lawful 
age  he  embarked  in  merchandising  on  his  own  ac- 
count, and  continued  in  business  until  IS.5.3,  when 
he  retired. 

He  served  several  terms  as  Mayor  of  Hunts- 
ville, and  was  for  some  years  Probate  Judge 
of  the  county. 

He  was  an  active,  enterprising  business  man 
and  a  broad-gauged  citizen,  with  liberal  ideas. 
He  died  in  1864.  He  had  twelve  children,  of 
whom  W.  H.  Echols  was  the  eldest.  John  H. 
Echols  was  Secretary  of  State  of  Mississippi  dur- 
ing the  war;  Larkin  W.  Echols  was  a  soldier  in  an 
Alabama  regiment,  and  was  a  successful  planter 
and  merchant  at  Senatobia,  Miss.:  David  H. 
Echols  was  a  railroad  man — he  was  drowned  in 
the  Yazoo  River,  Miss.,  while  on  a  hunting  tour; 
James  H.  Echols  was  a  Lieutenant  in  Russel's 
Regiment,  Wheeler's  command,  and  was  killed  at 
Atlanta;  Chas.  P.  Echols  is  a  farmer  in  Missis- 
sippi; Martha,  was  the  wife  of  W.  H.  Muse,  an 
attorney,  who  was  once  Secretary  of  State  of 
Mississippi;  Mary  was  the  wife  of  Col.  E.  J.  Jones, 
of  the  Fourth  Alabama,  who  was  killed  at  the 
first  battle  of  Manassas;  Ellen  is  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Walker,  and  lives  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
Africa;  Eliza,  once  widow  of  Capt.  Oliver  Gaston, 
is  now  the  wife  of  Dr.  N.  D.  Richardson,  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.;  Susan  is  the  wife  of  Wm.  C.  Collier, 
Nashville,  Tenn. 


MURRAY  &  SMITH,  Books  and  Stationery,  are 
successors  to  the  well-known  merchant,  A.  F. 
Murray,  who  established  the  business  in  1866,  and 
successfully  conducted  it  for  twenty  years,  carry- 
ing the  largest  stock  in  North  Alabama. 

M.  R.  MuRKAY,  son  of  A.  F.  Murray,  was  born 
in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  in  1864,  and,  since  1866,  has 
been  a  resident  of  Huntsville,  where  he  received 
his  preliminary  education.  He  also  received  the 
benefits  of  the  State  University  at  Tuscaloosa  and 
of  the  State  Normal  School  at  Florence.  He  began 
his  business  career  as  clerk  in  his  father's  store, 
and,  January  1,  1887.  became  the  proprietor,  soon 
after  admitting  S.  F.  Smith,  thus  forming  the 
present  firm  of  ilurray  &  Smith. 

Mr.  Murray  was  married  in  January,  1886,  to 
Miss  Mary  Fearn,  of  Huntsville. 

S.  F.  Smith  is  a  son  of  R.  C.  and  Jennie 
(Farriss)  Smith,  the  former  a  native  of  East  Ten- 
nessee, and  the  latter  of  Mobile.  The  father  of 
Mr.  Smith  was  a  dry -goods  merchant  of  Huntsville 
for  many  years,  and  his  grandfather,  J.  L.  Fariss, 
was  an  old-time  merchant  and  broker  of  Hunts- 
ville. 

Our  subject  was  born  February  28,  1865,  in 
Huntsville,  where  he  received  his  education.  He 
was  an  assistant  of  Mr.  A.  F.  Murray  for  six 
years,  and  subsequently  had  business  experience 
in  Chattanooga  and  Nashville. 

Returning  to  his  home,  the  present  firm  of 
Murray  &  Smith  was  formed.  May  1,  1887,  and 
has  increased  its  business  one-third. 

Messrs.  Murray  &  Smith  are  young  men  possess- 
ing excellent  business  attributes,  and  enjoy  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  the  entire  community. 


BURWELL  J.  CURRY  is  a  distinguished  son  of 
Alabama,  who  has  won  fame  by  inventions  that 
are  destined  to  be  of  incalculable  value  to  the 
cotton-growing  States. 

IJis  father,  Jabez  Curry,  was  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent,  and  a  native  of  Georgia,  where  his  father, 
a  Revolutionary  soldier,  had  settled  at  an  early 
day.  He  came  to  Alabama  in  1823,  settling  in 
Perry  County,  where  he  was  one  of  the  largest 
planters  of  that  section.  He  died  in  1869.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  was  Rebecca  Jordan,  of 
English  and  French  origin;  she  was  a  descendant 
of  Lord  Burwell,  who  settled  a  colony  in  Virginia, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


283 


ami  also  of  the  Dupree  family,  early  settlers  in 
\'irj;iiiia.     Slie  died  in  18T4. 

Hin-woll  J.  Curry,  our  liubject,  was  bom  in 
I'erry  County,  Ala.,  in  1836.  He  received  a  lib- 
eral education,  first  under  a  private  tutor,  and  two 
vears  with  Professor  Tutwiler,  of  Green  Springs. 
In  his  fourteenth  year  he  entered  the  sophomore 
chiss  of  tiie  University  of  Alabama,  where  he 
pursued  his  studies  two  years,  going  thence  to 
tiie  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  remained 
two  years. 

He  commenced  his  business  life  in  Mobile,  and 
was  also  engaged  in  planting  in  Perry  County 
pi-ior  to  the  war.  He  entered  tlie  army  witli  a 
captain's  commission,  with  authority  to  raise  an 
independent  troop  of  cavalry — used  for  special 
service  and  scouting.  After  the  battle  of  Perry- 
ville  he  was  retired  from  active  service  on  account 
(if  disability,  and  served  as  ])Ost  quartermaster,  at 
Marion,  Ala.,  until  the  close  of  the  conflict. 

Subseipient  to  the  war  lie  was  engaged  in 
merciiandising  and  cotton  dealing,  also  planting 
in  Hale  anil  Marengo  Counties,  and  in  .January, 
lSf)S,  became  a  resident  of  Madison  County,  where 
he  purchased  a  large  plantation. 

He  accepted  a  lucrative  jiosition  as  general 
Southern  manager  for  an  insurance  comp;iny,  and 
was  connected  with  them  until  1874,  when  he 
resumed  the  management  of  his  plantation. 

Possessed  of  superior  mechanical  ideas,  and  be- 
ing a  practical  machinist,  he  soon  evolved  the  idea 
of  perfecting  machinery  wliich  would  solve  in  a 
great  measure  the  economic  question  of  liow  to 
raise  cotton  jn-ofitably.  This  he  has  done,  beyond 
l)eradventure,in  inventing  the  Curry  Cotton  Cul- 
tivating Machine,  which  has  lately  been  placed 
upon  the  market,  and  has  met  witli  unbounded 
favor. 

Mr.  Curry  removed  to  Huntsville  in  ISSl,  and 
commenced  manufacturing  and  experimenting 
with  his  different  inventions,  spending  a  large 
private  fortune  in  j)erfecting  them,  until  he  has 
tiiially  achieved  well-deserved  success.  His  inven- 
tions are  thus  briefly  described: 

The  Curry  Cotton  Cultivator  and  Chopjjer,  witli 
its  suitable  attachments,  may  be  used  to  fallow  or 
broadcast  the  land,  for  bedding  for  cotton, 
corn,  or  other  drilled  crojis.  In  one  single  action 
the  machine  forms  the  bed,  opens  the  drills,  sows 
and  covers  the  seed,  in  perfect  order;  also  a  device 
for  distributing  fertilizers  may  be  attached,  which, 
with   tlie  work  as  aliove  described,  will   save   the 


labor  of  tit  least  ten  men  and  mules,  as  compared 
with  the  old  method. 

In  chopping  cotton  the  machine  executes  the 
work  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  men,  cutting  out 
the  young  plants  with  uniformity,  and  imparting 
a  thorough  surface  cultivation;  and  can  be  used 
for  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  corn,  sugar-cane, 
peas  and  potiitoes,  etc.  The  machine  is  a  marvel 
of  mechanical  skill,  one  of  the  greatest  labor- 
saving  implements  that  can  be  used  by  agricul- 
turists, and  is  meeting  with  large  sales. 

The  Curry  Col  Ion  Covipresn. — The  first  working 
model  was  constructed  and  erected  by  Captain 
Curry  at  Huntsville,  in  the  fall  of  1885.  This 
machine,  although  crudely  made,  when  tested 
demonstrated  the  success  of  Captain  Curry's 
theory,  as  bales  of  cotton  of  500}}>  weight  upon 
this  experimental  machine  were  comiiressed 
to  a  density  of  twenty-four  pounds  to  the 
cubic  foot;  soon  thereafter  a  company  was  organ- 
ized to  manufacture  the  compresses,  and  a  con- 
tract was  made  with  W.  P.  Calahan  &  Co.,  of 
Dayton,  Ohio,  in  December,  1886.  The  first 
working  machine  was  erected  at  Huntsville,  and 
there  thoroughly  tested  in  compressing  several 
thousand  bales  of  the  crop  of  lS8fi.  It  was  then 
sold  to  Landman  &  Co.,  cotton  buyers  of  Hunts- 
ville. Ala.,  and  has  been  continuously  operated  by 
them,  and  has  stood  the  severest  tests,  meeting 
every  requirement  of  railroads  and  export  ship- 
pers. Other  presses  of  this  pattern,  but  greatly 
improved  in  material  and  construction  have  been 
erected  by  the  Curry  Press  Company  at  Holly 
Springs  and  Florence.  The  average  density  of 
bales  compressed  by  these  machines  is  twenty- 
eight  pounds  to  thecu!)ic  foot.  The  presses,  from 
their  etticiency,  durability  and  cheapness  in  cost 
and  great  economy  in  expense  of  operating,  have 
attracted  great  interest  toward  them.  These 
presses  cost  about  one-fourth  the  price  of  the 
steam  compresses  now  in  use,  and  will  run  ten 
hours,  consuming  only  about  one  ton  of  coal. 

Captain  Curry  has  also  invented  a  Portable  Hay 
Press,  which  is  remarkable  for  its  simplicity  and 
etticiency.  This  press  is  portable,  of  light  draft, 
can  be  traveled  through  the  meadow  between  the 
winrows  or  shocks  of  hay,  making  bales  as  it  goes. 
The  power  is  attached  lo  and  is  a  pari  of  this 
machine,  and  therefore,  unlike  other  portable  hay 
presses,  does  not  require  to  be  set  up  in  the  field, 
but  travels  through  to  its  work.  Captain  Curry 
is  also  the  inventor  and   patentee  of   fruit  (cider 


284 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and  wine)  presses,  tobacco  and  cheese  presses,  and 
of  several  other  mechanical  appliances. 

Captain  Curry  was  married  March  9,  1S(!5,  to 
Miss  Bettie  Hammond,  daughter  of  Judge  F.  L. 
Hammond,  of  Huntsville. 

Two  children  have  been  born  to  them:  P\  L. 
Hammond  Curry  and  Anna  Lamar  Curry. 

««5^J^"* 

ARCHIBALD  CAMPBELL  was  born  September 
0,  18"-i8,  in  Cavan  County,  Ireland,  and  is  a  son  of 
Robert  and  Elizabeth  (Coomey)  Campbell,  natives, 
respectively,  of  Derry  and  Cavan  Counties,  Ire- 
land. 

Robert  Campbell  was  a  Presbyterian  clergyman. 
He  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in  1829,  and 
settled  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  He  soon  after  connect- 
ed himself  with  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  spent 
a  short  time  in  Havana,  and  the  rest  of  his  life  in 
New  York.     He  reared  nine  children. 

Our  subject  received  a  good  commercial  educa- 
tion. At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  became  a  clerk  in 
a  dry-goods  store,  and  a  few  years  subsequently 
was  made  a  partner.  In  18G2  he  went  to  Mem- 
phis, Tenn.,  and  embarked  in  the  book  and 
stationery  business.  In  1865  he  located  in  Hunts- 
ville, and,  in  partnership  with  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Lutzell,  engaged  in  the  dry-goods  business. 
This  partnership  continued  for  two  years.  He 
then  carried  on  the  business  alone  for  two  years, 
and  formed  a  partnership  with  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Baily,  which  lasted  six  years.  Since  1878  the 
firm  name  has  been  Campbell  &  Son,  and  the 
business  has  been  very  successful.  Mr.  Campbell 
is  interested  in  the  North  Alabama  Improvement 
Company,  and  the  Huntsville  Land,  Building  and 
Manufacturing  Association .  He  married  Caroline 
E.  Berry,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Catharine 
(Coomey)  Berry,  natives  of  Ireland.  They  have 
six  children. 


JAMES  R.  STEVENS,  Banker,  was  born  in 
Caswell  County,  N.  C,  and  is  a  son  of  George  and 
Susan  P.  (Richardson)  Stevens,  natives  of  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina,  respectively.  George  Stevens 
was  a  minister  of  the  ilethodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  a  man  of  Scotch  blood.  He  married  in  North 
Caroliuaand  moved  to  Christian  County, Ky.,  where 
he  died.  His  wife  died  at  Huntsville  in  July, 
1887,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years.     She  was  a 


daughter  of  James  Richardson,  of  North  Carolina. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  six  years  old  when 
his  parents  settled  in  Kentucky.  He  received  his 
education  in  the  schools  of  the  vicinity,  mostly  at 
Penbrook  and  Ilopkinsville.  At  the  age  of  eighteen 
he  entered  the  store  of  his  uncle,  Edward  Richard- 
son, as  a  saleman  at  Brandon.  Miss.,  and  succeeded 
his  uncle  in  the  business  in  18G0.  In  July,  1861, 
he  entered  the  Confederate  Army  as  a  member  of 
Company  I,  Sixth  Mississippi  Regiment,  and  was 
elected  its  third  lieutenant.  He  participated  in 
the  battle  of  Shiloh,  and  after  this  battle,  when 
the  regiment  was  re-organized,  was  elected  its 
major.  He  fought  at  Corinth,  Fort  Gibson,  Fort 
Hudson,  Baker's  Creek  and  in  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
burg,  where  he  was  captured  July  4,  1863.  After 
the  war  he  returned  to  Brandon,  and  re-opened 
his  biisinessand  conducted  it  until  1874,  when  he 
moved  to  Huntsville,  Ala.,  and  there  engaged  in 
mercantile  business  until  1880,  when  he  retired. 
After  this  he  was  elected  president  of  the  National 
Bank  of  Huntsville,  in  January,  1881,  which  posi- 
tion he  now  holds.  He  was  one  of  the  incorpora- 
tors of  the  North  Alabama  Improvement  Company, 
and  is  a  director  and  treasurer  of  the  same. 
He  is  also  one  of  the  incorporators  and  a  director 
of  the  Decatur  Land,  Iron  and  Furnace  Company. 

He  was  married  in  December,  1867,  to  Miss  Mat- 
tie  Lee  Patton,  daughter  of  Dr.  Chas.  Patton,  of 
Huntsville.  He  has  one  son,  James  R.,  who  is 
now  in  the  Episcopal  High  School,  at  Alexandria, 
Va.     His  wife  died  on  the  22d  of  December,  1875. 

Mr.  Stevens  is  a  K.  of  H.,  K.  of  P.,  an  Odd 
Fellow  and  a  Freemason. 


►^- 


JOHN  LEWIS  RISON,  Druggist,  Huntsville, 
was  born  in  this  city  October  18,  1839.  His 
father,  Archibald  Rison,  was  born  near  Car- 
thage, Tenn.,  November  3,  1803.  After  receiving 
a  good  education,  he  came  to  Huntsville  about 
1822,  and  became  a  manufacturer  of  cotton  gins, 
his  being  among  the  first  establishments  of  that 
kind  in  the  city.  He  continued  this  business 
until  his  death  in  1862.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Church  and  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity.  He  reared  three  sons,  Wm.  R.,  John 
L.  and  Wilson  B.  William  R.  was  a  lieutenant 
in  the  Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry  Regimen:  in  the 
late  war;  AVilson  B.  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  Fourth 
Alabama    Infantry  and.    afterward  a  member   of 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


285 


Foiirtli  Alabama  Cavalry  Regiment,  and  was  killed 
at  Lexington,  Tenn.  The  mother  of  these  sons, 
Martha  (Bibb)  Kison,  was  born  in  Iluntsville  Feb- 
ruary 2"2,  ISU;.  J.  L.  Risen 's  grandfather,  Richard 
Eison,  a  native  of  Virginia,  immigrated  to  Ten- 
nessee about  ITSo,  became  a  planter,  and  spent 
the  balance  of  his  days  there.  He  reared  a  large 
family,  and  two  of  his  sons  fought  in  the  battle 
of  Xew  Orleans.     His  ancestors  came  from  Wales. 

Our  subject  was  reared  and  educated  in  Hnnts- 
ville.  Wiien  but  fourteen  years  of  age  he  began 
tlic  drug  business  as  a  salesman.  In  liS60  he 
established  a  drug  store  of  his  own,  and  has  con- 
ducted the  business  until  the  present  time  with 
marked  success.  i[r.  Rison  is  a  public-spirited 
man.  and  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  various 
schemes  to  develop  Uuntsville,  and  place  her 
upon  her  present  high  road  to  greatness. 

He  was  married  February  22,  LSOO,  to  iliss 
Martha  T.  Erwin,  daughter  of  Rev.  A.  R.  Erwin,  a 
minister  of  the  Tennessee  Conference  (Methodist 
Church),  and  President  of  the  Huntsville  Female 
College.     Her  mother  was  Louisa  Boyd  Erwin. 

Mr.  Rison  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  a  Knight  of  Pythias  and  a  Knight 
Templar  Mason. 

•    •♦>• S^}^-<'-    • 

HENRY  BENTLY  ROPER,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  Huntiville.  Ala.,  son  of  William  M.  and 
Lavinia  (Bently)  Roper,  was  born  near  Hunts- 
ville January  19,  1S30.  He  received  a  common- 
school  education,  and,  at  the  age  *f  lifteen  years, 
came  into  Huntsville,  where  he  was  clerking  in  a 
mercantile  establishment  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war.  In  the  spring  of  18G1  he  enlisted  in  the 
Fourth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  at  the  first  battle  of 
Manassas  was  wounded.  In  the  winter  following 
he  re-enlisted,  and  was  connected  with  the  service 
until  the  close  of  hostilities.  He  was  in  all  the 
battles  around  Richmond,  and,  in  the  second  day's 
fight  at  Cettysburg,  was  shot  through  the  body 
and  left  on  the  battle-field  for  dead.  He  was  at 
that  time  a  lieutenant.  He  lay  at  Gettysburg,  in 
hospital,  for  two  months,  when  he  was  taken  to 
Fort  McHenry,  and  there  and  at  Point  Lookout 
was  kept  in  prison  eight  months.  Being  ex- 
changed he  returned  to  Alabama,  where  he 
remained  to  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  married 
January  30,  1869,  to  Miss  Cornelia  Clopton,  the 
accomjilislied  daughter  of  Dr.  James  A.   Clopton, 


and  has  had  born  to  him  two  children:  Irene  C,  Feb- 
ruary 24,  ISTO.  and  Bell  (J.,  March  18,  1874. 
Mrs.  Roper  died  .Vpril  1,  1814. 

William  M.  Roper,  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  in  Cumberland  County,  Va., 
March  .31,  1801.  and  died  in  Madison  County, 
Ala.,  December  8,  1883.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
substantial  planters  of  this  county.  He  started 
in  life  without  money,  but  the  beginning  of  the 
war  found  him  pos.sessed  of  a  handsome  compe- 
tency. His  eldest  son,  William  M.,  was  born 
December  C,  1830;  was  clerk  to  the  quartermaster 
of  the  Fourth  Alabama  Regiment  during  the 
war,  and  is  now  a  farmer  in  Texas.  The  second 
son,  Ale.x  B.,  was  born  December  1 9, 1832,  and  died 
September  10,  183.5;  Mary  E.,  born  April  4, 
183.J,  died  September  22,  1837;  Elvira  G.,  born 
November  4,  1837,  died  November  1.5,  1878;  Ellen 
M.  born  March  8.  18.51;  Caroline,  born  June  17, 
18.55.  James  Roper,  father  of  said  William  M. 
Roper,  also  a  Virginian,  married  Mary  Sims,  and 
came  to  Alabama  in  1813.     He  died  in  1814. 

WILLIAM  T.  DUNCAN,  Merchant,  Huntsville, 
a  native  of  Buckingham  County,  Va.,  was  born  Jan- 
uary 31,  1844.  His  jjarents  Geo.  M.  B.  and  Mary 
Jane  (Gills)  Duncan,  were  natives  of  Tennessee  and 
Virginia,  respectively.  He  was  graduated  from  the 
Virginia  ililitary  Institute  in  1804,  and  was  at 
once  appointed  to  the  Engineering  Department  of 
the  Confederate  Government  with  the  rank  of 
captain.  He  was  connected  with  the  service  until 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  surrendered  with  Gen. 
Joe  Johnston  at  Greenboro,  N.  C.  Returning 
home  he  taught  school  one  year,  and  in  18ii7  em- 
barked in  mercantile  business.  In  January,  18tl, 
he  came  to  Huntsville,  in  a  clerical  capacity,  and 
in  187G  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  E.  S.  John- 
ston. In  addition  to  his  general  merchandise  busi- 
ness, he  is  prominently  identified  with  the  Hunts- 
ville Compress  Company  and  with  other  important 
industries.  He  was  married  in  February.  18G9,  to 
Miss  Louisa  Johnson,  the  accomplished  daughter 
of  Alex.  Johnson,  Esq.,  of  Virginia,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  six  children,  three  only  of  whom  are 
living.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  and  Mr.  Duncan  is  a  Knight  of  Honor. 

The  senior  Mr.  Duncan,  a  planter  by  occupation, 
and  teacher  by  i)rofession,  was  a  griduate  of  Nash- 
ville L'niversitv,  and  died  in  Virginia  in    iNSo,  at 


286 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  age  of  69  years.  His  father,  William  Duncan, 
was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  migrated  in  an  early 
day  to  Tennessee.  The  Duncans  came  originally 
from  Scotland,  and  the  Gill  family  came  to  this 
country  from  J]ngland. 


GEORGE  P.  LANDMAN,  Cotton  Broker, 
Huntsville,  son  of  George  P.  and  Eliza 
(Griffin)  Landman,  was  born  in  Madison  County, 
this  State,  in  January,  1839.  At  the  age  of  fif- 
teen years,  with  John  Reed,  at  Huntsville,  he 
began  life  as  a  clerk.  Two  years  later  he  was 
with  Bradley,  Wilson  &  Co,,  of  New  Orleaas,  in 
charge  of  their  branch  office  at  Huntsville.  Early 
in  the  beginning  of  the  war  he  joined  the  Fourth 
Alabama  Cavalrv,  and  remained  with  it,  partici- 
pating in  all  of  its  battles,  to  the  close  of  hostili- 
ties. After  the  war  he  engaged  at  merchandising, 
and  in  1869,  at  the  head  of  the  firm  of  Landman, 
Scruggs  &  Co.,  engaged  in  cotton  commission 
business.  At  this  writing  (and  since  the  fall  of 
1887),  the  style  of  the  firm  is  Landman  &  Co. 
This  firm  does  purely  a  cotton  brokerage  business, 
and  handles  from  l(i,000  to  18,000  bales  -per 
annum.  In  addition  to  his  cotton  interests,  Mr. 
Landman  is  variously  interested  in  other  import- 
ant Hunt.sville  industries,  and  is  altogther  one  of 
the  most  enterprising  and  successful  business  men 
of  his  city, 

Mr.  Landman  was  married,  August  30,  1860, 
to  Miss  Mary  F.  Sivley,  and  the  children  born  to 
this  union  are  named  respectively  :  Lucy  Lee, 
Lillie  B,  (Mrs,  R.  S.  Halsey),  Laura  M.  (Mrs. 
Kejjley),  EmmaE.,  Arthur,  Joseph  and  George 
P.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  Mr.  Landman  is  a 
K.  of  P. 

The  senior  Mr.  Landman,  was  born  in  this 
county,  near  Huntsville;  was  a  planter  by  occupa- 
tion, and  died  while  yet  a  j^oung  man.  His 
widow  married  a  Mr.    IJeedy,  and  is  still  living. 


years  he  began  clerking  in  a  store  at  Salem, 
Tenn.,  and  fi'om  there,  three  years  later,  he  moved 
to  Jackson  County,  Ala.,  where  he  was  similarly 
employed.  He  was  twenty-six  years  of  age  when 
he  came  to  Huntsville.  Here  he  was  for  a  while 
receiver  and  manager  of  stage  lines,  and  also  ran 
a  hotel  for  a  shoi't  time.  He  returned  to  Tennes- 
see, and  was  there  engaged  in  mercantile  and  mill- 
ing business  until  1861.  In  that  year  he  located 
at  Winchester,  and  in  1882  returned  to  Hunts- 
ville, where  he  has  since  resided,  retired  from  all 
business. 

Mr.  Hunt  was  married  in  18-14,  to  Miss  Priscilla 
J.  Powell,  at  Winchester,  Tenn.,  and  has  reared 
four  children:  Benjamin  P.,  David  (deceased), 
George  R.  and  Addie  B.  The  last  named  is  the 
wife  of  Samuel  L.  Nelson,  of  Baldwyn,  Miss.  The 
mother  of  these  children  died  July  24,  1873,  and 
in  November,  1882,  Mr.  Hunt  married  Mrs,  Mc- 
Calley,  a  daughter  of  Joel  Rice,  Esq, 

David  Hunt,  George  W. -Hunt's  father,  when  a 
lad,  accompanied  his  parents  to  South  Carolina,  and 
from  thence  to  Eogersville,  Tenn.,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  present  century.  In  1806,  he  located 
in  Franklin  County,  Tenn.,  where  he  lived  until 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1839. 
He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  held  the 
rank  of  major.  He  was  a  quiet,  unostentatious. 
Christian  gentleman.  He  reared  a  family  of  ten 
children.  His  father,  John  Hunt,  w;is  a  Virgin- 
ian by  birth,  and  was  a  Revolutionaiy  soldier.  It 
was  for  him  the  town  of  Huntsville  was  named. 
About  seventy-five  yards  south  of  the  Huntsville 
Springs  he  erected  the  first  building  at  this  place, 
a  small  log-cabin. 


GEORGE  W.  HUNT  was  born  in  Franklin 
County,  Tenn.,  October  20,  1813,  and  is  a  son  of 
David  and  Elizabeth  (Larken)  Hunt,  natives  of 
Virginia,  He  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  received 
a  common-school  education.  At  the  age  of  twenty 


A.  FRANKLE.  .^rerchant,  Huntsville,  was 
born  in  Russian  Poland  in  1835,  and  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1860.  He  located  first  at  Mobile, 
and  subsequently  joined  the  Twenty-second  Lou- 
isiana Regiment,  while  it  was  encamped  at  Mo- 
bile, He  served  with  this  regiment  until  the 
surrender  of  Vicksburg,  after  which  he  was  in 
heavy  artillery.  From  Mobile  he  moved  to  New 
Orleans,  and  from  there  to  Shelby ville,  Tenn,, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  and  clothing 
business.  In  November,  1886,  became  to  Hunts- 
ville, where  he  carries  on  one  of  the  largest  dry 
goods  establishments  in  Northern  Alabama^     He 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


287 


was  married  in  Shelbyville,  Tenn.,  to  Miss  Lizzie 
Yancey,  of  that  place.  Miss  Yancey  was  the 
(laughter  of  James  Yancey,  and  was  distinguished 
for  her  heauty.  The  Yanceys  are  among  the  old- 
est and  wealthiest  families  of  Tennessee. 

Mr.  Frankle  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, K.  of  P.,  K.  and  K.  A.  C.  In  addition  to 
his  IIuntsvillebusiness,he  still  carrieson  his  estab- 
lishment at  Shelbyville.  lie  began  life  in  Amer- 
ica penniless,  but  has  succeeded  in  amassing  a 
fortune. 


JOSEPH  HUMPHREY  SLOSS,  a  native  of 
of  Somerville,  Ala.,  son  of  tlie  Kev.  James  L.  and 
Letitia  (Campbell)  Sloss,  was  born  October  12, 
1820.  lie  was  educated  at  Florence  this  State; 
read  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the  age 
of  eighteen  years.  He  began  the  practice  of  law 
at  St.  F.ouis,  from  which  place,  at  the  end  of  three 
or  four  years,  he  moved  to  Edwardsville,  111. 
He  was  living  in  Illinois  at  the  outbreak  of  the  late 
war,  and  early  in  ISdl  came  to  Alabama,  and 
raised  a  company  of  which  he  became  captain, 
and  with  it  joined  the  Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry 
Kegiment.  He  was  ])romoted  to  major  in  l.sfj;5. 
lie  was  in  active  service  from  first  to  last,  and  took 
a  gallant  and  conspicuous  part  in  many  hotly  con- 
tested engagements. 

After  the  war  Major  Sloss  resumed  the  practice 
of  law  at  Tuscumbia,  this  State,  and  formed  a 
partnership  with  Robert  B.  Lindsay,  afterward 
(iovernor  of  Alabama.  This  partnership  continued 
until  Major  Sloss  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1871. 
He  served  in  both  the  Forty-second  and  Forty- 
third  sessions  of  the  United  States  Congress,  and 


in  1870  was  appointed  United  States  Marshal  for 
the  Northern  Disti'ict  of  Alabama.  This  office, 
which  he  held  three  years,  necessitated  a  change 
of  residence,  and  he  moved  to  Iluntsville  in  1879. 
He  resigned  the  marshalshiii  in  lss2  to  engage  in 
real  estate  business. 

Major  Sloss  is  prominent  in  both  the  Masonic 
and  Odd  Fellows'  societies.  He  was  married 
April  2,  1850,  at  Edwardsville,  111.,  to  Miss  Mary 
L.  Lusk,  and  has  had  born  to  him  five  children: 
James  L.,  deceased;  JIary  L.,  deceased;  Josie  L., 
deceased;  Percy  M.,  Annie  C. 

Rev.  James  L.  Sloss,  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  born  in  Northwest  Ireland  in 
17112;  came  to  the  United  States  when  a  boy  and 
settled  in  South  Carolina;  and  was  educated  at 
Princeton  (N.  J.)  College.  Immediately  after 
graduating  he  entered  the  Presbyterian  ministry 
and  located  at  Cahaba,  Ala.  He  was  there  married, 
and  soon  afterward  moved  to  Somerville.  In  1830 
he  moved  to  Florence,  and  there  died  in  1844r.  He 
was  a  teacher  in  the  schools  at  Somerville  and 
Florence.  He  reared  a  family  of  four  sons  and 
three,  daughters.  His  eldest,  daughter,  Ann  Eliza, 
became  the  wife  of  Col.  A.  1).  Cotfee;  Mary  L. 
married  M.  J.  Warren,  of  Tuscumbia;  Titia  V. 
married  Cen.  F.  S.  Rutherford,  now  of  Alton,  111. 
His  son,  Thomas  JI.  Sloss,  died  in  18T:5.  Thomas 
M.  was  captain  in  the  Seventh  Alabama  Cavalry 
during  the  war,  and  afterward  moved  to  Texas, 
where  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court. 
Another  son,  Robert  C,  is  a  farmer  in  JIadison 
County,  111.  His  wife,  nie  Letitia  V.  Campbell, 
was  born  at  Washington,  Tenn.,  in  1801.  Her 
father,  David  Campl)ell,  was  the  first  United 
States  Judge  of  Tennessee  Territorv. 


FLORENCE. 


Florence  is  situated  on  the  nortli  bank  of  the 
Tennessee  River,  at  the  foot  of  the  Mussel  Shoals, 
and  consequently  at  the  head  of  navigation  of 
the  Lower  Tennessee  River.  It  is  the  county  seat 
of  Lauderdale  County,  and  has  long  been  an  im- 
portant town.  Its  population  is  now  estimated  at 
3,000. 

In  the  year  1818  a  company  of  men,  operating 
under  the  name  of  the  Cypress  Land  Comjiany, 
bought  from  the  United  States  the  land  whereon 
the  town  is  situated.  In  the  year  following  the 
purchase  of  the  site,  the  land  company  had  a  great 
auction  sale  of  town  lots.  The  prices  realized 
were  almost  fabulous,  considering  the  amount  of 
land  then  open  for  settlement.  The  land  was  di- 
vided into  lots  of  a  half-acre  each,  and  one  of 
these  brought  the  sum  of  |;3,500,  the  purchaser 
being  James  Jackson,  who  was  afterward  one  of 
the  foremost  citizens  of  the  place.  A  lot  on  the 
river  bank,  near  the  present  railroad  bridge,  to- 
gether with  the  ferry  privilege,  was  sold  to  John 
J.  Winston  for  $10,100.  The  total  amount  of 
sales  aggregated  $319,513. 

It  is  naturally  a  matter  of  wonder,  wliat  were 
the  expectations  in  regard  to  Florence  that  caused 
real  estate  to  bring  such  enormous  prices.  The 
men  who  had  in  hand  the  work  of  building  up 
the  young  city  were  men  of  wealth  and  note,  and 
the  weight  of  their  reputation  possibly  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  it,  but  more  particularly  did  the 
unrivaled  location  and  the  wonderful  natural  ad- 
vantages of  the  place  lend  aid  to  the  project.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  Memphis 
was  simjily  a  ferry  landing,  Nashville  a  small  vil- 
lage, and  Louisville  a  town  of  only  a  few  thousand 
inhabitants.  All  this  vast  domain  west  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains  and  south  of  the  Ohio  River 
was  at  that  time  just  being  opened  up  to  the  white 
settlers.  The  East  was  sending  out  emigrants  in 
a  steady  stream.  The  land  was  found  to  be  pecul- 
iarly adapted  to  the  raising  of  cotton,  the  cultiva- 
tion of  which  had  just  begun  to  be  a  matter  of 


importance.  The  forests  were  filled  wth  fine  tim- 
ber of  endless  variety,  the  woods  and  streams  with 
fish  and  game.  It  was,  therefore,  not  unreason- 
able to  conclude  that  here,  at  the  head  of  naviga- 
tion of  A  large  river,  in  the  center  of  a  magnifi- 
cent agricultural  country,  there  would  soon  be 
built  a  great  city.  In  the  absence  of  railroads, 
the  Tennessee  River,  nature's  great,  highway, 
would  furnish  transportation,  and  the  founders 
of  Florence  no  doubt  often  pictured  it  as  a  busy 
metropolis,  its  streets  filled  with  rushing  throngs, 
and  the  air  resounding  with  the  hum  of  many  in- 
dustries. 

During  the  first  decade  of  the  young  city's 
history,  her  growth  was  tremendous.  Capital 
began  to  flow  in,  and  moneyed  men  began  to  show 
their  faith  by  their  works.  Florence  was  the 
great  distributing  point  for  all  the  merchandise 
brought  back  from  the  North  in  exchange  for  the 
agricultural  productsannually  sent  thither.  Large 
warehouses  were  built  on  the  banks  of  the  river  to 
receive  freight  and  goods  consigned  to  Huntsville, 
Athens,  Fayetteville,  Tenn.,  and  other  interior 
towns:  beautiful  residences  were  built,  storehouses 
were  being  erected,  and  a  large  wholesale  as  well 
as  a  retail  trade  was  growing  up. 

At  this  time  (183:2)  the  cultivation  of  cotton  in 
territory  east  of  Florence  had  become  so  great 
that  it  was  found  necessary  to  have  increased 
facilities  for  transi^ortation,  and  the  question  of 
digging  a  canal  around  the  Mussel  Shoals  began 
to  be  talked  of.  Congress  made  an  appropriation 
of  land  for  that  purpose,  and  by  the  year  1840 
work  had  so  far  adva::ced  as  to  enable  flat-boats  to 
pass  through  the  canal,  but  when  the  first  steam- 
boat attemjited  to  enter,  the  locks  were  found  too 
short.  In  the  following  year  a  break  occurred, 
and  the  Fedai'al  and  State  Governments  having 
both  refused  further  aid,  the  work  was  alloAved  to 
go  to  destruction.  In  1876,  however,  the  General 
Government  again  began  the  building  of  a  canal, 
this  time  on  a  larger  scale.     This  great  work  has 


288 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


289 


progressed  as  rapidly  as  could  be  e.\i)eeted.  and  it 
is  thought  will  be  completed  during  the  present 
year. 

Another  enterprise  almost  as  im]iortant  as  the 
canal,  and  one  begun  at  about  the  same  time,  was 
the  building  of  a  bridge  across  the  river.  This 
was  completed  at  a  great  cost  about  the  year  l.S4ti. 
The  bridge  was  partially  destroyed  by  a  tornado 
in  1S.">4.  and  in  l.S.io,  exactly  one  year  after,  the 
reniaiiuler  was  swept  away.  In  18")8  a  railroad 
bridge  was  built,  which  was  burned  by  Confeder- 
ate troops  during  the  war.  Since  that  time  the 
Memphis  &  Charleston  liailroad  Company  have 
built  a  third  bridge,  which  is  still  in  use. 

Although  farming  and  stock  raising  was  the 
principal  occupation  of  the  people  contiguous  to 
Florence, the  trade  of  these  people  being  the  princi- 
pal sourcefrom  which  the  town  derived  its  sujiport, 
yet  there  were  several  manufacturing  establish- 
ments of  no  mean  importance  erected  iu  the 
county.  Samuel  Vanlier  built  an  iron  furnace 
near  the  northern  edge  of  the  county,  and  the 
iron  manufactured  by  him  was  brought  to  Flor- 
ence in  wagons,  and  shijjped  to  market  by  river. 
Flowing  by  the  western  part  of  the  place  is  Cy- 
press Creek,  a  noble  stream  that  has  its  rise  in 
Tennessee  ;  on  the  banks  of  this  creek  were  erected 
cotton  mills,  woolen  mills  and  lumber  mills. 
Almost  within  sight  were  the  two  extensive  cotton 
factories  of  ^lartin,  Weakley  &  Co.  All  of 
these  establishments,  with  the  exception  of  one 
factory  owned  by  the  latter  firm,  were  destroyed 
during  tlie  war,  and  have  not  since  been  rebuilt. 
The  one  cotton  factory  remaining  jiassed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Cypress  Mills  Company,  and  was 
run  by  them  until  recently,  when  it  was  jnir- 
chased  by  a  syndicate  of  foreign  capitalists,  who 
are  at  present  operating  it  to  great  advantage. 

The  Kernachan  mills  is  another  cotton  factory 
situated  also  on  the  Cypress  Creek,  and  was  more 
recently  erected.  It  is  now  operated  to  its  fullest 
capacity,  and  pays  a  handsome  dividend. 

The  iron  foundry  of  Wright  &  IJice  was  another 
one  of  the  important  enterprises  of  early  days. 

Wiiilc  the  chief  advantage  of  early  Florence 
was  its  remirkable  facilities  for  water  transporta- 
tion, yet  her  citizens  were  not  slow  to  recognize 
the  importance  of  quicker  communication  by 
means  of  railroads.  Her  people  subscribed  liber- 
ally to  the  building  of  the  >remiihis&  Charleston 
Railroad,  expecting  that  the  line  at  tins  place 
would  run  on  the  north  side  of  the  river.     When 


the  road  was  located  on  the  opposite  side,  they 
secured  the  building  of  a  branch  from  Tuscumbia 
and  the  reconstruction  of  the  bridge  across  the 
Tennessee  Hiver.  The  importance  of  having  a 
northern  outlet  by  means  of  a  railroad  leading  to 
Nashville,  has  long  been  recognized,  and  the  want 
of  this,  together  with  the  failure  of  the  (Jovern- 
ment  to  complete  the  canal,  more  than  anything 
else  conspired  to  hold  the  town  at  a  stand  still 
for  forty  years.  Various  attempts  have  been 
made  to  have  this  road  built,  and  the  citizens 
of  Florence  have  always  been  ready  to  contri- 
bute liberally  to  its  construction.  It  has  oidy 
been  since  the  organization  of  the  Florence  Land 
Company  and  the  locating  of  many  new  enterprises 
at  Florence,  that  capitalists  have  looked  favorably 
upon  the  building  of  this  line.  The  Louisville  & 
Nashville  Kailroad  Company,  with  an  eye  to  the 
ever  increasing  freight  traffic  of  Florence  and 
Sheffield,  finally  closed  a  contract  with  representa- 
tives of  the  two  places,  by  which  they  bound  them- 
selves to  build,  equip  and  operate  the  road.  The 
greater  part  of  the  work  is  already  completed,  and 
trains  will  be  running  over  the  new  line  in  a  short 
while. 

Save  for  a  short  time  during  the  war,  Florence 
has  never  been  without  a  newspaper.  The  Flor- 
ence Gazette  was  established  in  ISIO,  by  W.  S. 
Fulton,  and  has  been,  since  its  foundation,  a  con- 
servative democratic  paper.  Its  founder  was  also 
the  first  editor,  atul  judging  from  the  public  re- 
cords, Fulton  must  have  been  a  leading  spirit  in 
the  early  history  of  the  place.  He  was  the  first 
.ludge  of  the  County  Court,  and  also  the  first  post- 
master of  the  place.  He  was  followed  by  numer- 
ous other  men  as  prominent  as  he,  and.  possibly  of 
his  successors,  the  one  most  widely-known  in 
newspaper  circles,  was  M.  C.  Galloway,  now  of 
Memphis,  and  until  recently,  the  editor-in-chief 
of  the  Memphis  Appial.  Colonel  Calloway  went 
to  Florence  from  .Moulton.  Ala.,  and  from  Florence 
to  Memphis,  where  he  now  lives  in  honored  retire- 
ment. There  have  been  many  other  papers  pub- 
lished in  Florence,  among  the  number  were  the 
Florence  Einjircr,  the  American  Democrat,  the 
Florence  Journal,  and  the  Lamlerdale  Timeit.  In 
the  latter  days,  many  papers  have  suddenly  bloomed 
forth,  and  almost  as  suddenly  faded  away.  The 
interests  of  the  town  are  now  zealously  guarded  by 
three  excellent  weekly  papers:  the  Gazette,  the 
linuiier  and  the  Wave. 

The  ]M-ini-ipal  churches  of  the  place  liavc  always 


290 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


been  the  Presbyterian,  Methodist,  and  tlie  Epis- 
copalian: but,  since  the  recent  growth  began, 
other  denominations  have  come  in.  The  Catho- 
lics have  already  erected  a  church,  and  the  C'amp- 
bellites  and  Baptists  are  now  preparing  to  build 
houses  of  worships. 

The  first  pastor  of  the  Jlethodist  Church,  and, 
j)robably,  the  first  one  of  the  place,  was  Xathaniel 
Garret,  and,  since  his  time,  there  is  a  long  list  of 
men,  who  liave  been,  and  are  yet,  more  or  less 
prominent  throughout  the  South.  Among  the 
number  were  Dr.  R.  H.  Rivers,  who  was  also 
president  of  the  Wesleyan  University;  Rev.  J.  D. 
Barber,  Dr.  R.  A.  Young,  Dr.  Ilardie  Brown,  and 
others  equally  as  well  known. 

The  first  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
was  Dr.  Campbell.  From  the  articles  of  faith 
which  were  adopted,  and  which  are  to  be  found 
on  the  county  records,  we  learn  that  the  church 
was  organized  on  July  'ii),  1837.  The  trustees 
were  five  in  number,  and  all  intimately  and  prom- 
inently connected  with  the  early  history  of  the 
town.  John  McKinley,  who  was  afterward  a 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  James  Irvine  and  John  Simpson,  two  lead- 
ing citizens,  Robert  M.  Patton,  a  merchant  and 
afterward  Governor  of  Alabama,  and  Dr.  Neal 
Eowell,  a  highly  respected  and  prominent  physi- 
cian of  the  county,  formed  the  board.  Rev.  J. 
L.  Sloss  and  Dr.  W.  II.  ^Mitchell,  both  accom- 
plished divines,  have  filled  this  pulpit.  The  pres- 
ent pastor  is  Rev.  M.  L.  Frierson. 

The  first  school  taught  in  Florence  was  presided 
over  by  Mr.  Charles  Sullivan,  and  the  next  by  Mr. 
Wall,  an  Episcopal  clergyman.  The  building  used 
by  him  is  still  standing.  One  of  the  most  prom- 
inent of  early  educators  was  Mr.  James  L.  Sloss, 
who  had  charge  of  the  male  academy  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  He  was  at  the  same  time  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church:  a  fine  scholar,  greatly 
beloved  and  esteemed  by  all  denominations. 

In  1864  the  project  of  removing  La  Grange  Col- 
lege to  Florence  was  started.  It  was  not  in  a 
flourishing  condition  at  that  place,  and  the  Meth- 
odist Church,  to  whom  the  projjerty  belonged,  de- 
sired to  move  it  to  some  place  where  the  field  of 
usefulness  would  be  enlarged.  The  citizens  took 
kindly  to  the  idea,  and  offered  such  inducements 
that  the  removal  was  finally  accomplished.  A 
large  and  commodious  three-story  brick  building 
was  erected  in  the  center  of  a  beautiful  grove,  near 
the  then  suburbs  of  the  town,  and  with  Dr.  R.  H. 


Rivers  as  president,  the  new  institution  of  learn- 
ing began  a  prosperous  career  under  the  name  of 
the  Wesleyan  University.  The  school  flourished 
until  the  war,  when  both  preceptor  and  pupil  were 
called  upon  to  shoulder  the  musket.  An  attemjit 
was  made  to  reorganize  it  after  the  war,  but  owing 
to  the  impoverished  condition  of  the  country  it 
never  succeeded.  The  building  and  grounds  were 
afterward  turned  over  to  the  State  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, and  in  the  year  1873  the  State  Normal 
College  was  established.  For  the  support  of  this 
institution  the  State  makes  an  annual  appropria- 
tion of  ^7,500:  and  since  its  foundation  the  school 
has  been  in  a  most  flourishing  condition,  steadily 
growing  in  popularity  and  strength.  Its  gradu- 
ates are  scattered  all  over  the  State,  and  their 
system  of  teaching  has  had  a  marked  influence 
over  the  public  schools  of  Alabama.  The  jiresi- 
dent  of  the  faculty  is  Prof.  T.  J.  Mitchell. 

There  have  been  good  female  schools  in  Florence 
since  the  founding  of  the  town,  and  among  the  best 
of  these  was  that  taught  for  a  long  while  by  Mr.  N. 
M.  Hentz  and  his  accomplished  wife,  Mrs.  Caro- 
line Lee  Hentz.  They  moved  away  in  1842,  much 
to  the  regret  of  the  jjeople,  and  took  up  their  resi- 
dence at  Tuscaloosa.  After  their  departure,  the 
Florence  Female  Academy  was  opened,  which  was 
afterward  merged  into  the  Florence  Synodical 
Female  College,  which  was  under  the  control  of 
the  Memphis  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  citizens  were  again  called  upon  to  assist  in 
erecting  buildings,  and  two  handsome  brick  edifices 
now  stand  as  evidence  of  the  high  estimate  placed 
upon  female  education.  The  school  had  for  a 
number  of  years,  as  its  efficient  principal,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  W.  II.  Mitchell,  who  was  also  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  It  is  a  quite  well-known 
fact  that  this  institution  was  the  especial  care  of 
the  late  lamented  ex-Gov.  R.  M.  Patton,  who 
was  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  till  his 
death.  He  lent  the  weight  of  his  influence  and 
his  purse  unstintingly  to  its  support,  and  his  name 
is  still  held  in  most  affectionate  remembrance  by 
its  many  pupils.  The  school  is  now  under  the 
charge  of  Miss  Sallie  Collier,  and  still  retains  its 
reputation  as  an  institution  of  learning  and  refine- 
ment. 

The  civil  administration  of  Florence  has  always 
been  in  the  hands  of  honest  and  capable  men. 
There  have  been  no  defalcations,  no  dishonesty  in 
high  places.  When  the  people  find  they  have  an 
efficient  officer  in  charge  it  has  been  their  custom 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


291 


to  re-elect  liim  with  persistent  regularity.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  County  officers.  William  W. 
Garrard,  who  was  one  of  the  foremost  of  the  early 
settlers,  held  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the  County 
Court  for  twenty  years.  He  was  succeeded  hy 
Wiley  T.  Hawkins,  who  remained  in  office  for 
ten  years,  till  the  County  Court  was  abolished 
and  the  office  of  Probate  Judge  created,  whicli 
office  he  filled  for  twelve  years  till  his  death 
in  \%^\i. 

The  city  government  is  in  the  hands  of  a  mayor 
and  five  aldermen  who  are  elected  annually. 

The  present  nniyor  is  Hon.  Z.  P.  Morrison,  a 
\'irginian  by  birth  and  a  man  higlily  esteemed  for 
his  integrity  of  character  and  great  executive  ca- 
pacity. He  was  first  elected  in  1881,  and  has  held 
the  ottice  since  that  time.  To  him  more  than 
any  one  else  is  the  town  indebted  for  the  reputa- 
tion it  enjoys  as  being  a  well  governed  community 
and  comparatively  free  from  crime.  Since  his 
coming  into  office  the  streets  h.ave  been  greatly 
improved,  drainage  ])erfected,  the  city  has  been 
lighted,  and  various  other  improvements  have  been 
made. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  give  an  idea  of  the  Flor- 
ence of  tlie  past;  but  the  wide-awake  business  man 
asks,  "  A\'hat  of  the  future?"  '•  A  beautiful  town, 
a  refined  community,  and  good  schools  are  very 
much  to  be  desired;  but  what  of  the  business 
prospect  ?  " 

The  same  reasons  that,  seventy  years  ago, 
brought  the  place  into  existence  still  hold  good, 
and  the  great  changes  wrought  in  the  indus- 
trial character  of  the  South,  during  that  time, 
have  added  others  equally  as  strong. 

A  glance  at  a  map  will  show  that  Florence  is 
the  centre  of  a  circle,  of  which  Birmingham, 
Memi)his,  Nashville  and  Chattanooga,  standing 
at  the  average  distance  of  Vlh  miles,  are  points  on 
the  circumference.  The  Tennessee  Kiver  might 
be  called  the  diameter  of  this  circle;  and  com- 
pleted lines  of  railroad,  running  from  each  of 
these  points,  form  its  radii.  Within  this  circle, 
on  the  north,  is  to  be  found  the  brown  hematite 
ore  of  Tennessee,  and  oii  the  south  and  east  are 
deposits  of  coal  practically  inexhaustible.  The 
farm  lands  of  the  Tennesssee  Valley  are  the  most 
productive  in  the  South,  and  throughout  Lauder- 
dale County  are  large  forests  of  timber  yet  un- 
touched. The  trade  of  this  region  must  have  a 
center:  there  must  be  a  distributing  point,  and 
that   point   must    have   transportation    facilities. 


Florence  replies  to  the  demand  with  the  Tennessee 
River  and  tliree  completed  lines  of  railroad. 

Nature  has  been  lavish  in  her  gifts  to  North 
Alabanni,  they  are  hid  underneath  the  surface,  it 
is  true,  but  they  are  here  nevertheless.  And  it 
was  to  develop  these  resources  that  our  forefathers, 
seventy  years  ago,  pushed  through  thicket  and 
wilderness  till  they  halted  on  the  banks  of  the 
beautiful  Tennessee,  and  like  the  red  man  said: 
•'Alabama:     Here  we  rest." 

A  celebrated  newspaper  writer,  speaking  of  the 
place,  say's:  "  Five  years  ago  Florence  was  as  dead 
as  a  town  could  be  killed,  but  now  it  is  brim-full 
of  energy  and  enterjjrise." 

What  brought  about  the  change? 

In  1880  her  citizens,  having  seen  Sheffield  spring 
up  from  almost  beneath  her  feet,  began  again  to 
jnit  their  wits  together,  to  evolve  some  plan  for 
the  advancement  of  the  place.  The  result  was 
the  formation  of  the  Florence  Land  Mining  and 
Manufacturing  Company.  This  company  had,  as 
a  basis  for  its  organization,  a  large  number  of 
valuable  town  lots,  extensive  tract  of  mineral 
lands,  and  about  *:{(iO,OOfi  in  cash  subscriptions. 
Its  object  is  the  building  of  manufacturing  enter- 
prises of  all  kinds,  inducing  immigration,  and,  in 
fact,  the  general  devclojunent  and  improvement  of 
the  place.  The  president  of  the  company  is  Hon. 
AV.  B.  Wood,  a  man  who  has  always  been  a  lead- 
ing spirit  in  every  movement,  looking  to  the  good 
of  the  place.  The  great  object  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  this  company  was  to  obtain  a  concentra- 
tion of  effort.  The  citizens,  with  a  strong  and 
abiding  faith  in  the  success  of  the  enterprise, 
subscribed  liberally  to  the  capital  stock.  It  was, 
in  fact,  a  popular  uprising,  a  determination  of 
the  people  to  combine  their  forces,  and  to  work 
together  for  the  common  good. 

The  scheme  has  been  a  success.  The  town  has 
been  well  advertised,  the  claimsof  her  people  have 
been  recognized  and  capitalists  have  not  been  slow 
to  invest  where  such  handsome  returns  have  been 
assured.  Within  the  last  twelve  months  the  town 
has  almost  doubled  her  population;  her  taxable 
values  have  largely  increased. 

The  enter))rises  which  have  already  been  estab- 
lished, will,  wlien  completed,  give  employment  to 
over  two  thousand  men,  thus  assuring  to  the  town, 
in  the  early  future,  an  additional  population  of 
ten  thousand  souls. 

In  a<ldition  to  those  manufacturing  establish- 
ments already  spoken  of,  there  are  other  corpora- 


292 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


tions  that  have  invested  largely  in  Florence.  The 
North  Alabama  Furnace,  Foundry  and  Land  Com- 
pany, organized  in  the  spring  of  1887,  is  now  build- 
ing an  iron  furnace,  whose  daily  output  will  be 
one  hundred  tons.  The  furnace  will  be  completed 
in  the  present  year.  The  stockholders  of  this 
company  are  among  the  wealthiest  men  in  the 
South,  and  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  company  to  in- 
crease, as  early  as  practicable,  the  amount  already 
invested  by  building  other  furnaces  or  rolling 
mills  as  the  occasion  may  demand.  The  caj)ital 
stock  is  $2,000,000,  and  the  president  of  the  com- 
pany is  Major  A.  S.  Lawton,  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 

The  Florence  Wooden-ware  Works,  and  the 
Russell  Handle  Factory,  are  two  manufacturing 
establishments  under  the  management  of  Mr.  H. 
W.  Russell.  There  is  abundance  of  material  in 
easy  reach  to  supply  these  factories.  They  are 
now  in  active  operation,  and  are  yielding  a  hand- 
some profit  on  the  investment.  Tlie  building  of 
these  concerns  is  but  the  first  step  toward  util- 
ising the  vast  forests  of  timber  in  North  Alabama, 
and  a  decade  more  will  show  the  number  greatly 
increased. 

The  W.  B.  Wood  Furnace  Company  is  erecting 
what  will  be  when  finished,  the  most  complete 
furnace  plant  in  Alabama.  It  will  be  of  loi)  tons 
daily  capacity,  and  its  early  comjiletion  is  an 
assured  fact.  The  company  has  as  its  superin- 
tendent of  construction  an  experienced  furnace 
builder,  in  the  person  of  Maj.  John  M.  Norton. 

The  Florence  Cotton  Compress,  erected  in  1887, 
was  built  entirely  by  local  capital.  There  are 
annually  received  at  Florence,  10,000  bales  of  cot- 
ton. The  building  of  a  compress,  and  large  ware- 
houses, will  materially  increase  this  amount,  and 
add  much  to  her  prospect  of  becoming  the  most 
important  cotton  market  on  the  Tennessee 
River. 

There  are  other  enterprises  in  Florence  that 
attest  the  steady  and  substantial  growth  of  the 
place.  A  system  of  water  works  have  been  built, 
which  supplies  the  town  with  pure  and  wholesome 
woter.  The  dull  glow  of  the  coal  oil  lamp  has 
given  place  to  the  brilliant  rays  of  the  electric 
light.  A  furniture  factory,  planing  mills,  and 
saw  mills  have  been  erected,  and  their  product 
fails  to  fill  the  orders  for  home  consumption;  and 
there  might  also  be  added  many  other  industries 
of  minor  importance. 

This  is  preeminently  a  building  age.  In  Ala- 
bama the  development  has  just  begun.     Decatur, 


Sheffield  and  Florence  have  well  advertised  the 
the  many  advantages  of  the  Tennessee  Vallej',  and 
the  rapid  growth  of  these  places  attest  the  strength 
and  truth  of  their  assertions.  There  can  nowhere 
be  found  a  locality  more  desirable  as  a  place  of 
residence,  nor  any  field  where  such  inducements 
are  held  out  to  the  business  man  of  the  rising 
generation. 

The  wise  old  heads  that  founded  Florence,  and 
predicted  for  it  such  a  brilliant  future,  have  long 
since  passed  away,  and,  even  now,  the  moss  is 
forming  on  their  headstones.  Their  dreams  will 
yet  be  realized.  A  rejuvenated  city,  merging 
from  the  stagnation  and  decay  of  forty  years,  will 
fulfill  her  destinv. 


^■1^ 


EDWARD  ASBURY  O'NEAL,  distinguished  in 
Alabama  as  a  Soldier,  Statesman,  Lawyer,  Citizen. 
His  parents  were  Edward  and  Rebecca  (Wheat) 
O'Neal,  the  former  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  the 
latter,  of  Iluguenotish  extraction,  of  South  Caro- 
lina. 

The  senior  O'Neal,  after  his  marriage  in  South 
Carolina,  came  early  to  Alabama,  and  settled  in 
Madison  County,  where  he  died,  when  his  son,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  but  three  months  old. 
His  widow  survived  him  several  years  and  died, 
also  in  Madison  County,  in  1856.  Of  their  two 
sons,  Edward  A.  is  the  younger.  The  elder, 
Basil  Wheat  O'Neal,  died  in  1881,  in  Texas,  where 
he  was  for  many  years  a  planter. 

Edward  Asbury  O'Neal,  after  receiving  an  aca- 
demic education,  mastering  the  classics  and  Eng- 
lish literature,  entered  La  Grange  College,  and 
graduated  as  A.B.  in  1836,  taking  the  first 
honors  of  his  class,  and  delivering  the  baccalau- 
reate address.  He  studied  law  under  Hon.  James 
W.  McClung,  of  Huntsville,  and  was  there  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1840.  He  began  the  prac- 
tice at  Florence,  and  made  his  first  appearance  at 
the  trial  of  a  cause  before  the  late  Daniel  Cole- 
man, and  so  successfully  conducted  the  issue  as 
to  place  himself  at  once  in  the  van  of  popular 
favor.  In  1841  he  was  elected  solicitor  of  the 
Fourth  Judicial  Circivit,  and  held  the  office  four 
years.  This  appointment  was  made  by  a  called 
session  of  the  Legislature  and  was  to  fill  out  the 
unexpired  term  of  George  S.  Houston,  who  was 
then  first  elected  to  the  United  States  Congress. 
From  that  period  it  seems  that  Mr.  O'Neal  de- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


293 


clined  further  official  position  for  many  years, 
prefering  to  devote  his  time  to  tlie  practice  of 
law,  although  never  losing  his  interest  in  politi- 
cal affairs  nor  abating  his  efforts  in  the  advance- 
ment of  his  friends  and  the  interests  of  his  party, 
of  which  he  was  so  conspicuous  a  member.  lie 
was  regarded  as  the  leading  Democratic  speaker 
in  Xorth  Alabama,  and  in  fact,  he  had  no  super- 
ior, and  but  few  e(|uals  in  the  State. 

June  4,  I8G1,  with  the  commission  of  captain, 
he  took  his  departure  from  Florence,  for  Rich- 
mond, \'a.,  taking  with  him  a  battalion  of  three 
companies  of  soldiers,  then  but  recently  recruited 
in  Northern  Alabama.  Arriving  at  the  seat  of 
the  Confederate  Government,  he  was  at  once  made 
major  of  the  Ninth  Alabama  Infantry.  In  the 
spring  of  18li"-i  he  was  commissioned  colonel  and 
assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Twenty-sixth 
Alabama  Infantry,  and  in  the  summer  of  1863 
was  promoted  for  gallantry  in  action  to  the  rank 
of  brigadier-general.  From  the  first  to  the  last 
he  was  in  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia,  and 
participated  in  almost,  if  not  every,  distinguished 
battle  fought  by  that  incomparable  army.  lie 
was  at  Williamsburg,  Seven  I'ines,  in  the  Seven 
Days"  Fight  in  front  of  Uichmoiul,  Boonesborough. 
South  Mountain,  Chancellorsville,  through  all  the 
battles  from  the  Hapidan  to  Petersburgh,  and  in 
many  others  eipially  famous  now  in  the  history  of 
the  American  coiiHict.  In  all  of  these  General 
O'Neal  conducted  himself  with  distinguished  gal- 
lantry, and  won  for  himself  fresh  laurels  with  each 
succeeding  engagement.  He  was  wounded  at 
Seven  Pines,  but  slightly;  also  at  Boonesborough. 
He  carries  upon  his  person  other  honorable  scars, 
as  souvenirs  of  the  terrible  war  through  which  he 
passed  as  one  of  its  most  conspicuous  actors. 

At  Ciumcellorsvile,  the  brigade  under  his  com- 
mand won  the  honors  of  the  day  by  whipping  and 
driving  from  tiie  field  Howard's  entire  division, 
and  capturing  two  or  three  thousand  prisoners. 
In  lS(i3,  in  Rhode's  division,  Jackson's  corps,  his 
brigade  accompanied  tiie  invasion  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  he  led  them  at  their  head  and  front,  like  a 
Navarre,  during  tliose  three  most  terrible  days  of 
a  war  unparalled  in  the  histories  of  battles. 

He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  just  four 
years  from  the  day  he  left  Florence,  and  returning 
directly  home,  resumed  the  practice  of  law. 

Of  the  many  advocates  of  secession  in  North 
Alabama  wlio  distinguished  themselves  as  its  ad- 
vocates, it  is  remarkable  that  O'Neil  and  not  to 


exceed  four  others  went  to  the  front  when  war  be- 
came a  reality.  With  him,  the  right  and  justice 
of  secession  was  accepted  as  fundamental,  and  he 
believed  in  it  and  advocated  it  prior  to  its  culmi- 
nation, and  had  the  courage  and  maniiood  to  fight 
for  his  conviction.s  when  it  had  resulted  in  war. 
In  1874  he  devoted  his  time  and  his  talents  to  the 
fight  that  was  that  year  waged  in  Alabama  for  the 
supremacy  of  the  Democratic  party  ;  and  in  August, 
1815,  was  elected  by  the  popular  voice  of  the  people 
to  the  Constitutional  Convention.  In  that  assem- 
bly, he  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  factors. 
He  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Education, 
and,  as  such,  framed  and  secured  the  adoption  of 
Section  0,  Article  XIII.,  which  gives  authority  for 
the  re-organization  of  the  Universities,  Normal 
Schools,  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College, 
etc.,  and  placed  the  educational  system  of  Alabama 
to  the  very  front  and  opened  the  doorway  to  the 
flood  gates  of  her  succeeding  prosperity  ;  for  it  is 
a  well-known  fact  that  without  superior  educational 
facilities,  immigration  would  never  render  the 
State  i)opulous. 

In  1880,  Gen.  O'Neal  was  elector  for  the  State 
at  large,  and  stumj)ed  the  State  in  behalf  of  Han- 
cock and  English. 

In  18S'2,  he  was  elected  (Governor  of  Alabama, 
and  succeeded  himself  in  that  high  otiice  in  1884. 
His  administration  of  the  affairs  as  chief  executive 
of  the  State  during  those  four  years  has  passed 
into  history,  and  we  can  not  better  gather  the  re- 
sults and  the  consequent  impressions  upon  the  peo- 
ple than  by  referring  to  the  evidences  of  public  senti- 
ment as  disclosed  through  the  then  leading  current 
publications. 

Upon  his  retirement  from  office,  the  Mobile 
Register  said:  "(iovernor  O'Neal  leaves  the  execu- 
tive office  with  the  proud  consciousness  that  tlie 
people  are  satisfied  with  his  rule,  and  can  heartily 
say  to  him  'well  done  good  and  faithful  servant.'" 
The  Montgomery  Dispatch,  in  a  leading  editorial, 
says:  •'  His  administration  has  been  characterized 
by  sincere  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  State  in 
her  various  departments,  and  his  policies,  in  the 
main,  bear  the  impress  of  a  statesmanship,  wise, 
broad  and  eidightened:  to  it  will  be  traceable  much 
of  the  good  of  future  administrations,  and  in  it 
ended  much  that  was  bad  of  those  that  indirectly 
preceded  it." 

These  are  but  specimens  of  the  utterances  of  the 
press,  not  alone  in  Alabama,  but  in  many  other 
States    of    the    Union,       Congratulations    were 


294 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


heaped  upon  him  by  newspapers  and  people,  to 
copy  which  would  of  themselves  fill  a  volume. 
His  final  message  to  the  Legislature,  Xovember 
10,  188<!,  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  greatest  State 
papers  that  has  ever  emanated  from  any 
governor. 

In  the  maxim,  "a  public  office  is  a  public  trust 
bestowed  for  the  good  of  the  country,"  he  preceded 
the  present  popular  chief  executive  of  the  United 
States  in  its  utterance  very  nearly  two  years,  for 
we  find  it  in  the  Governor's  inaugural  address, 
December  1,  188"2.  We  also  find  in  that  magnifi- 
cent address,  so  replete  with  wisdom,  the  follow- 
ing few  words,  which,  with  Governor  O'Neal, 
judging  from  the  part  he  took  in  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  18T5,  seems  to  be  a  motto: 
"The  test  of  a  country's  civilization  and'  pros- 
perity is  to  be  found  in  its  educational  institu- 
tions." 

Under  his  administration,  the  revenue  dejiart- 
ment  of  the  State  underwent  the  most  servere 
trials  of  its  history  ;  but  his  administration,  that 
was  confronted  at  the  outset  with  so  many  diffi- 
culties, survived  them  all,  and  the  future  will  ver- 
ify the  fact  that  it  was  one  of  the  strongest 
and  best  administrations  the  State  has  ever 
had. 

Brouglit  into  official  life  amid  those  stormy 
scenes,  with  a  plundered  treasury  and  the  conse- 
quent demoralization  of  finances,  the  prosjiect 
was  certainly  inauspicious  ;  but  despite  all  these 
unfavorable  conditions  he  bore  himself  as  a  cour- 
ageous and  incorruptible  public  servant,  earnestly 
devoted  to  Alabama  and  all  her  interests  ;  and 
the  historian  will  have  to  conclude  that  his  efforts 
to  correct  abuses  were  crowned  with  success. 

April  13,  1838,  at  Huntsville,  Ala.,  Mr.  O'Neal 
was  married  to  Miss  Olivia  Moore,  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Dr.  Alfred  Moore,  and  a  brother  of 
the  late  distinguished  Dr.  David  Moore.  To  this 
union  nine  children  were  born,  two  of  whom  died 
in  infancy.  The  eldest  son,  Alfred  M.,  is  a  mer- 
chant iu  New  York  City  ;  Edward  A.,  Jr.,  a  brill- 
iant young  lawyer,  died  February  13,  1876  ;  and 
Emmet  is  associated  with  his  father  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law.  One  of  his  daughters,  Rebecca,  is 
the  wife  of  Col.  R.  H.  Shotwell,  of  St.  Louis; 
another,  Georgie,  is  the  wife  of  Mr.  E.  F.  Wil- 
liams, of  St.  Louis  ;  the  third,  Sydenham  Moore, 
is  the  wife  of  George  H.  Dudley.  Esq.,  of  Mont- 
gomery, and  Miss  Julia  is,  at  this  writing  (1887), 
yet  of  her  father's  household. 


Governor  O'Neal  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  and  the  family  are  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal    Church. 


^.^^ 


RICHARD  0.  PICKETT,  Attorney-at-law,  Flor- 
ence, Ala.,  son  of  Steptoe  and  Sarah  0.  (Chil- 
ton) Pickett,  natives  of  Virginia  and  descended 
from  French  and  English  ancestry  respectively, 
was  born  in  Fauquier  County,  Va.,  August  23,  1823. 
The  family  came  into  Alabama  in  1829,  and  set- 
tled in  Limestone  County,  where  the  old  people 
spent  the  res:  of  theirlives.  They  reared  a  family 
of  six  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  the  second  son.  He  was  educated 
at  the  conimgn  schools  of  his  neighborhood;  be- 
gan the  study  of  law  in  1843  in  the  office  of  James 
Irvine,  at  Florence  ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1845,  and  began  the  practice  of  law  at  once  at 
Moulton,  where  he  remained  until  the  out-break 
of  the  war.  In  1862,  he  raited  a  comjiany  in  Law- 
rence County  of  twelve-months' men  forthe  State's 
service.  Owing  to  a  change  in  the  law,  requii'ing 
enlistments  to  be  for  three  years,  orduringthe  war, 
the  com])any  was  refused  admission  into  the  service; 
so  they  were  immediately  disbanded,  and  Pickett 
proceeded  to  raise  a  company  of  volunteers,  which 
became  Company  H,  Thirty-fifth  Alabama  Infan- 
try. In  November,  1863,  he  was  commissioned 
Colonel  of  the  Tenth  Alabama  Cavalry;  served  to 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  was  mustered  out  at 
Pond  Springs,  in  May,  1865.  While  with  the 
Thirty-fifth  Regiment,  Captain  Pickett  partici- 
pated in  the  battles  at  Baton  Rouge,  Champion 
Hill,  and  a  number  of  skirmishes;  in  the  Tenth 
Cavalry,  as  colonel,  he  led  that  regiment  under 
General  Roddy,  through  the  various  battles  in 
which  that  General's  command  participated  in 
Alabama,  (leorgia  and  Mississippi.  Colonel  Pick- 
kett  was  captured  at  Corinth,  Miss.,  in  May,  1862, 
upon  the  evacuation  upon  that  place,  ar.d  was  held 
until  the  Septeniber  following,  when  he  was  ex- 
changed at  Vicksburg.  His  regiment  was  not 
captured,  and  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy 
because  of  his  illness  which  rendered  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  get  away,  or  to  be  removed 
with  the  sick.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  he  re- 
turned to  Moulton,  resumed  the  practice  of  law, 
and  in  December,  1867,  removed  to  Florence. 

Mr.  Pickett  was  elected  Judge  of  liawrence 
County  away  back  in  1846,  and  was  in  the  Legis- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


295 


hitiire  from  that  county,  sessions  of  1853,  ISo"), 
is5T  iiiul  1861,  !Uk1  was  a  meniberof  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  from  Lauilerdale  County,  1875. 
He  was  again  in  the  Legishiture  (from  this 
county)  sessions  of  1884-5,  and  1886-T. 

Judge  Pickett  is  an  active  Democratic  worker 
at  all  times:  is  a  forcible  political  speaker,  and, 
as  a  lawyer,  is  regarded  among  the  best  in  North 
Alabama.  Tiie  Legislature  of  18G1  unanimously 
elected  him  adjutant-general  under  (iovernor 
Shorter,  but  he  declined  it  to  enter  the  Confed- 
erate service.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  National 
Convention  that  nominated  Seymour,  and  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  ensuing  campaign.  Before 
the  war  he  was  a  man  of  wealth,  a  large  planter 
and  slave-holder,  but.  like  most  others,  the  dawn 
of  peace  found  him  with  but  little  left  else  than 
honor. 

lie  was  nuirried  at  Florence,  when  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  to  Miss  Fannie  L.  F>oggs.  and,  of  the 
nine  children  born  to  him.  three  only  are  living: 
Mrs.  Chas.  H.  Patton,  Mrs.  Paul  King  and 
Mrs.  S.  E.  Rice. 

HENRY  C.  JONES,  Solicitor  of  the  Figlitli 
.ludicial  District  of  Alabama,  son  of  William  S. 
and  Ann  (Coy)  Jones,  natives  of  the  State  of  \'ir- 
ginia  and  of  English  descent,  was  born  in  l'"raiik- 
lin  County,  this  State,  January  'l'-'>,  18"2I. 

The  Jones  family  was  among  the  early  colonial 
settlers  of  Virginia,  and  H.  C.  Jones'  grand- 
father, Thomas  S.  Jones,  is  known  in  tlie  history 
of  the  United  States  as  a  gallant  colonel  in  the 
Hevolutionary  War.  Mr.  Jones'  father  came  to 
Alabama  in  1813,  settled  in  Madison  County,  and 
moved  from  there  to  Franklin  County  in  l.sl'.i, 
where  he  died  in  1874,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six 
years.  He  reared  a  family  of  four  sons  and  three 
daughters,  all  of  whom  are  now  living. 

Henry  C.  Jones  was  educated  primarily  at  the 
country  schools,  graduated  from  LaGrauge  College 
in  1S4<),  read  law  under  Professor  Tutwilerat  tliat 
college  and  the  Hon.  Daniel  Coleman,  of  Athens, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Franklin  County, 
in  1S41.  Soon  after  coming  to  the  bar — in  fact, 
during  the  same  year  he  was  elected  Probate  Judge 
of  Franklin,  and  resigned  the  office  at  the  end  of 
eighteen  months  to  go  to  the  I^egislature.  In 
speaking  of  Judge  Jones,  another  writer  says: 
"  Judge  Jones  brought  into  the  Legislature  a  mind 


well  cultivated  and  )>ractical,  with  ready  sjieaking 
abilities,  ami  soon  became  one  of  the  active  busi- 
ness members.  After  serving  many  years  in  the 
House,  lie  was  transferred  to  the  Senate,  exhibit- 
ing maturity  of  mind,  and  legislative  talent,  which 
gave  him  j)rominence  in  the  deliberations  of  that 
body.  He  was  a  Democrat,  and  entered  fully 
into  the  councils  of  the  party.  In  1861,  he  was  a 
member  of  the  State  Convention  called  upon  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  took  a  decided  stand 
against  tiie  ordinance  of  secession,  opposing  it 
with  all  his  influence  and  ability  in  debate.  Not- 
withstanding this,  he  was  elected  a  deputy  to  the 
Congress  of  States,  to  assemble  at  Montgomery, 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  separate  government 
for  the  South.  This  was  no  small  compliment  to 
him,  considering  how  he  liad  opposed  the  wishes 
and  views  of  the  majority." 

Judge  Jones  settled  at  Florence  in  1856,  and 
has  here  since  made  his  home.  He  was  a  Doug- 
las,elector  and  in  the  convention  of  18C0,  as 
lias  been  seen,  strenuously  ojiposed  secession. 
Notwithstanding  this,  he  was  elected  to  the  Con- 
federate Provisional  Congress,  in  which  body  he 
served  one  year.  During  the  war  he  was  engaged 
at  the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  woolens  in  Mis- 
sissippi, under  a  contract,  for  the  Confederate 
Government.  After  cessation  of  hostilities  he  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  law  at  Florence,  where  he 
readily  took  high  rank  in  the  profession.  He  was 
associated  at  different  times  with  two  of  the  most 
distinguished  lawyers  at  the  South,  viz. :  Sidney  C. 
Posey  and  the  Hon.  Josiah  Patterson,  the  latter 
now  of  Memphis. 

Judge  Jones  has  always  been  an  active  poli- 
tician in  the  higher  sense  of  that  term.  During 
the  ])eriod  of  re-construction  he  was  for  five  years 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  Central  Committee, 
and  displayed  therein  much  more  than  ordinary 
executive  ability.  In  ISTO  he  was  the  Tilden  and 
Hendricks  elector  from  his  district,  and  in  sup- 
port of  the  ticket  spoke  throughout  Northern 
Alabama. 

The  Legislature  of  18H  elected  Judge  Jones  to 
the  office  of  Solicitor  of  the  Eighth  District,  a 
position  to  which  he  has  been  successively  re- 
turned up  to  the  present  time,  and  is  now  serving 
his  third  term,  whidi  will  expire  by  limitation  in 
189:J.  He  is  a  j)ublic-spirited  man.  a  superior 
lawyer,  a  conscientious  prosecutor  of  the  pleas  of 
the  State:  is  identified  more  or  less  with  all  the 
le.-uliiig  industries  of  Florence,   ami.  thoufrh  well 


296 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


advanced  in  years,  gives  the  various  matters  in 
which  he  is  interested  his  personal  attention,  and 
brings  to  them  the  activity  of  a  vigorous  and  per- 
fect mind. 

At  Athens,  Ala.,  October  13,  1844,  Henry  C. 
Jones  was  married  to  Martha  L.  Keyes,  who  died 
at  her  home  in  Florence,  May  6,  1887.  She  was 
the  mother  of  ten  children,  six  sons  and  four 
daughters.  The  eldest  son.  William  S.,  a  gallant 
soldier  under  Forrest, was  killed  at  Pulaski,  Tenn., 
September  27,  1864;  the  second  son,  Geo.  P., 
is  a  prominent  lawyer  at  Florence;  Henry  C, 
Jr.,  also  a  lawyer,  is  located  at  Decatur;  Robert 
Y.  is  a  doctor  of  dental  surgery  at  Nashville  ; 
and  John  is  a  railroad  man  in  St.  Louis.  One 
of  the  daughters  is  the  wife  of  L.  M.  Allen, 
cotton  manufacturer,"  and  another  is  an  accom- 
plished teacher,  now  at  Birmingham. 

Judge  Jones  is  a  man  of  high-moral  character,  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  one  of 
North  Alabama's  most  prominent  citizens. 


-«- 


ROBERT  McFARLAND,  Attorney-at-law,  was 
born  in  County  Londonderry,  L-eland,  August  G, 
1836.  His  parents  were  William  and  Jane  (Mc- 
Cnlley)  McFarland. 

Robert  McFarland  was  educated  at  the  best 
schools  in  Ireland,  and  was  there  prejoared  for  the 
army,  but,  failing  to  get  into  the  Crimean  War, 
he  left  the  old  country  in  May,  18.54,  landed  in 
New  York,  and  soon  afterward  entered  Washing- 
ton College  (now  Washington  and  Lee),  from 
which  institution  he  was  graduated  third  in  the 
class  of  18.58.  At  Lexington,  Va.,  he  studied  law  un- 
der John  W.  Brockenborough,  and  was  graduated 
as  a  Bachelor  of  Law  in  1860.  He  came  to  Florence 
in  April  of  that  year,  and,  forming  a  partnership 
with  .James  B.  Irvine,  entered  at  once  into  the 
practice  of  his  chosen  profession.  April  :28,  1861, 
as  Captain  of  the  Lauderdale  Volunteers,  he  en- 
tered the  Confederate  service.  His  company  was 
subsequently  organized  into  the  Fourth  Alabama 
Infantry,  and  at  Harper's  Ferry  the  command 
joined  Stonewall  Jackson's  Cor23s,  and  participated 
in  the  flr.st  battle  of  Manassas. 

Major  McFarland  kaew  General  Jackson  per- 
sonally, having  frequently  met  him  while  in  Lex- 
ington. At  Manassas  the  Major  Was  watching  the 
progress  of  the  fight,  and  heard  General  Bee  refer 
to  Jackson's  command  in  the  memorable  words 


attaching  themselves  forever  thereafter  to  the 
great  hero  of  Manassas,  to-wit:  ''  See  Jackson's 
men  standing  like  a  stone  wall.''  (General  Bee 
was  killed  on  that  day.) 

The  twelve  months  for  which  Captain  McFar- 
land had  entered  service  having  expired,  he 
was  authorized  to  recruit  a  cavalry  regiment, 
which  he  did,  and  with  a  portion  of  it  joined  Gen. 
.John  H.  Morgan  at  Knoxville, Tenn.,  and  remained 
with  the  redoubtable  ^lorgaii  until  after  the  Ohio 
raid.  He  accompanied  Morgan  across  the  Ohio 
River  and  was  the  first  man  in  the  command  to 
leap  on  to  Indiana's  soil.  After  Morgan's  capture, 
McFarland  was  assigned  by  the  Secretary  of  War  to 
General  (.'leburne's  command,  and  was  with  him  to 
the  close.  He  led  the  famous  charge  at  Dug 
Gap,  and  for  gallantry  was  complimented  by  the 
commander.  At  Villa  Rica,  Ga.,  he  was  wounded 
by  having  his  horse  killed  under  him,  the  horse 
falling  upon  him  and  injuring  him  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  has  never  fully  recovered  from  it.  In 
December,  1864,  he  was  in  command  at  Hunts- 
ville,  and  remained  there  until  the  Federals  drove 
him  out  in  January,  1865.  He  was  finally  paroled 
at  Pond  Springs  and  came  to  Florence. 

He  had  no  money,  and  as  he  exjjressed  it,  "no 
home,"  and  the  only  clothing  that  he  had  was  his 
much  worn  Confederate  uniform.  This  he  con- 
tinued to  wear  until  a  Federal  officer  issued  a 
peremptory  order  that  the  Confederate  uniform  be 
taken  off.  Having  nothing  else  to  wear,  the  Major 
was  in  a  pretty  bad  fix  until  a  friend  who  was 
clerking  for  a  Jew  volunteered  to  go  his  security 
for  a  linen  duster. 

In  October,  1865,  he  opened  an  office  at 
Florence  and  began  the  practice  of  law,  and  here 
he  has  remained.  He  at  once  stepped  into  a  good 
paying  practice;  became  popular  with  his  clients 
and  rapidly  made  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  most 
successful  lawyers  of  the  North  Alabama  bar.  He 
was  married  in  March,  1868,  to  Miss  Kate  Arme- 
stead,  daughter  of  Fontaine  Armestead,  Esq., 
then  of  Franklin,  now  of  Colbert,  County,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  seven  children,  six  of  whom  are 
living.  Major  McFarland,  since  the  close  of  the 
hostitilities  in  which  he  took  such  a  prominent 
part,  has  openly  and  at  all  times,  advocated  a 
loyal  support  of  the  General  Government. 

He  was  a  Douglas  man  before  the  war,  and  a 
Union  man  up  to  the  time  his  State  had  with- 
drawn, when  he  gave  his  services  freely,  and  laid 
his  life,  as  it  were,  upon  the  altar  of  his  convic- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


297 


tions.  No  man  in  any  part  of  the' State  was  more 
loyal  to  the  South  than  Robert  McFarland. 

He  is  an  active  Democratic  worker:  takes  part 
in  all  the  National  and  State  campaigns:  is  a 
sjieaker  of  rare  force,  has  a  ready  command  of 
hmcrtiage,  quick  of  repartee,  and  possessed  of  the 
ready  wit  so  characteristic  of  his  race.  He  was 
a  delegate  to  the  Baltimore  Convention  that  nom- 
inated (ireeley. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  I'vthias. 


►^> 


ROBERT  TENNENT  SIMPSON.  ].romincnt 
Attuniey-at-law,  Flurenre.  Ala.,  snii  of  .lolin  and 
Margaret  (I'atton)  Simpson,  natives,  respectively, 
of  Tyrone  and  Belfast,  Ireland. 

The  senior  Mr.  Simpson  came  to  America  in 
18 IS,  settled  at  Florence,  engaged  at  mercantile 
business,  and  at  the  end  of  seven  years,  returned 
to  Ireland  and  married.  Bringing  his  wife  to 
.\inerica,  they  lived  at  Florence  the  rest  of  their 
days.  They  reared  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
Three  of  his  sons  were  in  the  Confederate  Army. 
John  Simj)son,  Jr.,  First  Lieutenant  of  Lauderdale 
\'(ilunteers,  was  killed  at  Manassas. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  graduate  of 
Princeton  College,  class  of  1S.">T,  and  of  the  law 
department  of  the  Cumberland  University,  Leba- 
non. Tenn.,  class  of  18.i0.  Immediately  after 
leaving  Lebanon,  he  began  the  })ractice  of  law  at 
Des  Arc,  Ark.,  and  was  there  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war. 

In  April,  1801,  he  enlisted  as  private  in  the 
Fourth  Alabama  Regiment,  and  took  part  with 
that  regiment  in  the  first  battle  of  Manassas,  and, 
shortly  thereafter,  was  appointed  second  lieuten- 
ant in  the  First  Alabama  Battalion  of  Artillery.  He 
was  afterward  promoted  to  first  lieutenant  in  that 
command.  He  was  cut  off  from  his  command  when 
Fort  Morgan  was  besieged,  and  assigned  to  duty 
as  adjutant-general  of  (ieneral  Liddell's  Brigade. 
While  serving  in  that  capacity,  he  was  elected 
captain  of  one  of  the  companies  in  the  Sixty-third 
Alabama  Regiment,  which  position  he  accepted, 
and  commanded  the  company  through  the  sieges 
at  ."Spanish  Fort  and  Blakely.  At  tlie  surrender 
of  his  command,  at  the  last  named  place,  on 
April  '.',  IS";."!,  he  was  taken  as  a  prisoner  of  war 
to  Sliip  Island,  where  he  remained  till  the  com- 
mand was  brought  to  Jackson,  Tenn.,  and  there 
l)aroled  in  May,  1805. 


After  the  close  of  the  war  he  settled  at  Camden, 
Ala.,  where  he  practiced  law  until  1870,  at  which 
time  he  returned  to  Florence.  He  was  elected  to 
the  Legislature  in  ]88-^',  and  to  the  Senate  from 
the  district  composed  of  Lauderdale  and  Lime- 
stone Counties  in  ISS-t.  In  both  houses  of  the 
(ieneral  Assembly,  Captain  Simpson  proved  him- 
self an  active  and  useful  member. 

He  was  married  at  Florence.  September,  ]8(il, 
to  Miss  Mattie  Collier,  daughter  of  Mr.  Wyat 
Collier,  of  Lauderdale  County.  To  this  union 
have  been  born  one  son  and  four  daughters  ;  the 
former  is  a  student  at  law,  in    Kansas. 

Captain  Simpson  is  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Honor  and  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor; 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Female 
Synodical  College  of  Florence,  and  is  an  elder 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

— — •■♦"J^ji^;-^' — ~- 

EMMET  O'NEAL,  prominent  Attorney-at-law, 
Floieiue,  Ala.,  son  of  the  Hon.  Edward  Asbury 
O'Neal,  a  sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  in  another 
part  of  this  volume,  was  born  at  Florence  Septem- 
ber i'i,  lf5:i. 

Mr.  O'Neal  was  educated  at  the  Florence  Wes- 
leyan  University,  University  of  Mississippi,  and 
wa.-;  graduated  from  the  University  of  Alabama  in 
18T3.  After  leaving  college  he  at  once  entered 
upon  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  his  father, 
iind  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  IsT'i. 

Before  entering  the  University.  ^Ir.  (J'Xeal  was 
tendered  and  accepted  an  appointment  to  West 
Point  Academy,  bnt  admission  was  refused  him 
on  account  of  his  politics. 

Since  his  admission  to  the  bar  Mr.  O'Neal  has 
given  the  profession  almost  his  undivided  atten- 
tion, and  it  is  but  just  to  say  of  him  that  he  has 
risen  by  merit  to  an  elevated  position  at  the  North 
Alabama  bar.  He  is  a  prominent  factor  in  the 
Democratic  party:  an  eloquent,  forcible  speaker; a 
lawyer  of  recognized  ability,  a  polished,  courteous 
gentleman:  a  terse  and  vigorous  writer;  and  alto- 
gether promises  to  l)e  a  brilliant  successor  to  a 
brilliant  father  in  the  hearts  and  confidences  of 
the  people.  He  was  married  at  Tuscaloosa  July 
'l\.  1881,  to  a  young  lady  of  Florence,  Miss  Lizzie 
Kirkman,  the  beautiful  and  accomplished  daugh- 
ter of  .Samuel  Kirkman,  Esq. 

Mr.  O'Neal  is  a  member,  at  this  writing  (1888), 
of  the  State  Democratic  E.xecutive  Committee:  a 


298 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  Florence; 
and  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Convention 
that  nominated  Hancock  and  English.  In  a  busi- 
ness way  he  is  a  director  in  the  W.  B.  Wood  Fur- 
nace Company,  ShefSeld  Marble  and  Phosphate 
Company,  and  is  more  or  less  identified  with  other 
Xorth  Alabama  enterprises. 

He   is  a  member  of   the  order  of   Knights   of 
Pvthias  and  of  the  Knights  of  Honor. 


GEORGE  P.  JONES,  prominent  Attorney-at- 
law,  Florence,  was  born  near  Russellville  this 
State,  January  11,  1850,  and  is  the  son  of  the 
Hon.  Henry  C.  Jones,  a  sketch  of  whom  will  be 
found  in  another  part  of  this  volume.  He  was 
educated  at  Florence;  read  law  nnder  Chancellor 
Keyes,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1871. 
After  spending  a  few  months  in  the  oflBce  of 
Josiah  Patterson,  he,  in  the  latter  part  of  18T2, 
embarked  fully  into  the  practice  of  the  law  and 
readily  took  high  rank  in  the  profession.  He  is 
now  of  the  firm  of  Simpson  &  Jones. 

Though  devoted  to  his  profession,  ilr.  Jones 
gives  much  attention  to  other  matters.  He  is 
President  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Nor- 
mal College  at  Florence  ;  identified  with  some  of 
the  leading  industries  of  the  place,  and  is  regarded 
as  a  wide-awake,  public-spirited,  present-day 
North    Alabamian. 


JOHN  JACKSON  MITCHELL,  Probate  Judge, 
Lauderdale  County,  was  born  at  Florence,  Sept- 
ember 15,  1854,  and  is  a  son  of  the  late  Kev.  Wm. 
H.  ^Mitchell,  D.D.,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Kev.  Dr.  Mitchell  was  a  native  of  Ireland.  He 
came  to  America  in  1843,  and  died  at  Florence  in 
1872,  at  the  age  of  5H  years. 

J.  J.  Mitchell  was  educated  at  Florence,  and  at 
the  University  of  Mississippi,  afterward  graduat- 
ing in  bookkeeping  at  Eastman  College,  at  At- 
lanta. He  studied  law  at  the  Lebanon  Law 
School,  Lebanon,  Tenn.,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  that  State.  He  subsequently  purchased 
the  Chilton  County  Courier,  published  at  Canton, 
Ala.,  conducted  it  a  few  months,  sold  out,  and 
came  to  Florence,  where,  in  1876,  he  purchased 
the  Gazette,  of  Jas.  B.  Ervine.  He  edited  the 
Gazette  up  to  January,  1881;  and,  having  in  No- 


vember of  the  preceding  year  been  made  Clerk  of 
the  Probate  Court,  he  sold  the  paper  to  Major 
Morgan. 

He  occupied  the  position  of  Clerk  of  Probate 
until  January,  1884,  and,  having  in  that  year 
purchased  the  Alabama  Progress,  published  at 
Florence,  he  changed  its  name  to  the  North  Star; 
conducted  that  paper  for  twelve  months,  and  sold 
it  out  to  Mr.  I.  S.  Barr,  who,  in  1885,  merged  it 
into  the  Banner. 

In  1886  he  was  elected  Judge  of  Probate. 

Mr.  Mitchell  was  married  at  Prattville,  Ala., 
June  25,  1879,  to  Miss  Etoile  Hurd,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  two  children. 

Thongh  quite  a  young  man.  Judge  ^litchell  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  best  officials  Lauderdale 
County  has  had.  His  popularity  is  attested  by 
his  successful  election  to  the  office  over  a  combina- 
tion of  independents  and  others,  of  supposed 
great  strength,  by  a  neat  majority. 

*JOHN  COFFEE  was  born  in  Prince 
Edward  County,  Va.,  on  June  2,  1772.  His 
father,  Joshua  Coffee,  was  born  in  the  same  county 
January  26,1745.  His  mother,  Elizabeth  Graves, 
was  born  in  Hanover  County,  Va.,  January  28, 
1751.     They  were  married  June  2,  1767. 

Joshua  Coffee  was  a  tobacco-planter,  and  after 
his  marriage  continued  to  reside  in  Prince  Edward 
County  until  1775,  when  he  removed  to  Gran- 
ville County,  N.  C,  where  he  remained  until 
the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  when  he 
removed  to  the  County  of  liockingham.  Here  he 
continued  to  reside  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  September  8,  1797.  During  1780  he 
commanded  a  company  of  mounted  gun-men. 

During  the  month  of  April,  1798,  John  Coffee 
removed  with  his  motlier  to  Davidson  County, 
Tenn.,  where  she  died  in  1804. 

Mr.  Coffee  engaged  in  merchandise  and  con- 
tinued in  it  until  1807,  and  (to  use  his  own  words) 
•'from  some  accidents  and  losses,  and  from 
bad  management,"  it  jsroved  to  be  a  losing  busi- 
ness. He  engaged  in  surveying  in  the  then  newly 
acquired  country  on  Duck  and  Elk  Rivers,  which 
business,  by  his  great  exertions,  and  unremitted 
attention,  proved  to  be  profitable.  In  the  course 
of   two  years  thereby  he  was  enabled  to   pay  the 

•The  sketch  of  General  Coffee  was  written  by  Col.  James  E. 
Saunders. 


KOR  TIIERX  ALABAMA. 


299 


arrearages  of  his  mercantile  debt,  ainoutiiig  to  six 
thoiisaiui  dollars,  besides  reserving  to  himself  sev- 
eral valuable  tracts  of  land. 

Clu  October  3,  1809,  he  married  .M:irv  Donelson, 
then  sixteen  years  of  age,  a  native  of  Tennessee, 
and  a  daughter  of  John  Donelson,  who  carried  the 
wives  and  children  of  the  part}',  who  went  in  ad- 
vance with  Gen.  James  Robertson  to  Nashville  in 
ITT'.i  to  build  houses.  The  voyage  was  performed 
in  boats  from  East  Tennessee,  down  the  Tennes- 
see River  and  up  the  Cumberland  through  a  nation 
of  hostile  Indians.  Rachel,  the  eldest  sister  of 
]\Iary  Donelson  (not  then  born),  would  sometimes 
fearlessly  take  the  helm,  when  the  boats  were 
jittacked,  to  enable  her  father  to  take  a  shot  at  the 
enemy.  This  Rachel  became  the  wife  of  Gen. 
Andrew  .lackson,  and  when  John  Coffee  married 
Mary  Donelson,  this  family  union  cemented  a 
friendship  which  had  existed  between  them  for 
some  years  before,  and  continued  during  their 
joint  lives.  About  this  time  ilr.  Coffee  was 
elected  Clerk  of  the  County  Court  of  Rutherford, 
a  position  he  was  holding  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
<'reek  War. 

(leneral  Coffee  was  engaged  with  General  Jack- 
son in  the  bloody  fight  which  occurred  between 
the  Jackson  and  Benton  factions,  just  before  the 
Creek  War  of  1813;  an  unfortunate  affair,  which 
was  brought  about  by  the  rashness  of  Jesse,  a 
brother  of  Thomas  H.  Benton,  afterward  the  dis- 
tinguished senator  from  Missouri.  In  a  few 
months  the  feud  was  at  an  end  between  the  prin- 
cijial  parties,  and  the  latter  was  actively  engaged 
in  making  speeches  to  raise  volunteers  to  serve 
under  (Jeneral  Jackson:  took  command  as  colonel 
of  one  of  the  regiments  raised,  and  was  the  confi- 
dential personal  and  political  friend  of  Jackson 
ever  afterward.  But  Jesse  Benton  never  made 
friends  with  any  of  the  other  party;  and,  it  is 
said,  never  spoke  to  his  brother  Thomas  after- 
ward. He  was  a  little  volcano  which  was  ahvuijs 
in  a  state  of  eruption. 

Coffee  was  not  only  a  sincere,  but  a  fearless 
friend.  An  amusing  illustration  of  this  is  given 
by  Judge  Guild.  Jackson  was  very  fond  of  the 
turf;  had  the  finest  horses,  and  for  some  years 
was  the  ruler  of  it.  At  length  his  competitors 
brought  in  a  chestnut  filly,  named  Haynies  .Maria, 
that  ran  away  from  every  horse  entered  against 
her.  This  worked  up  Jackson  to  a  lively  re- 
solve that  she  should  be  beaten.  lie  canvassed 
Virginia  and  gave  his  friends  carle  blanche  to  buy 


for  him  tl  -''f.l!  test  h-^rie  in  that  or  any  other 
State.  He  finally  bought  Pacolet  of  AVm.  R. 
Johnson,  at  a  fabulous  price,  with  which  he 
made  a  race  against  JIaria.  The  appointed 
day  and  hour  came.  Monkey  Simon,  who  rode 
Maria,  had  orders  to  i)ull  the  mare  at  the  end 
of  each  quarter  and  fall  back,  their  object  being 
to  get  bets.  This  order  was  strictly  carried  out. 
Jackson  was  thus  led  to  believe  that  Jfaria  would 
not  win,  and  proposed  to  bet  I>10,0(i0  that  she 
would  be  beaten.  Elliott  said  he  would  take  the 
bet.  General  Coffee,  who  was  a  giant  in  stature, 
endeavored  to  dissuade  Jackson  from  betting,  but. 
not  succeeding,  he  stepped  behind  him,  lifted 
him  on  his  shoulders  and  carried  him  out  of  the 
crowd,  kicking  and  cursing,  and  never  put  him 
on  the  ground  again  until  Monkey  Simon  applied 
the  whip  and  won  the  race. 

The  war  of  1812  was  ushered  in  with  so  many 
reverses  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Union 
that  the  fiery  Tennesseans  found  vent  for  their  en- 
ergies by  engaging  zealously  in  the  contest.  Gen- 
eral Jackson  and  his  friends  raised  a  brigade  of 
volunteers;  one  regiment  of  cavalry  was  com- 
manded by  Colonel  Coffee,  one  of  infantry  by 
Col.  Thomas  II.  Benton,  and  another  of  the  same 
by  Colonel  Hall.  The  infantry  descended  the 
river  in  boats,  under  the  immediate  command  of 
General  Jackson,  to  Natchez,  and  the  cavalry, 
under  Colonel  Coffee,  marched  by  the  overland 
route  to  the  same  place,  where  they  were  ordered 
into  a  cantonment  in  the  little  town  of  Washing- 
ton, Miss.,  and  remained  for  several  months.  At 
length  an  order  came  to  General  Jackson,  from 
the  War  Department,  '•  to  consider  his  force  dis- 
missed from  service,  and  to  take  measures  for  the 
delivery  of  all  articles  of  the  public  proj)erty  in 
his  possession  to  (ieneral  Wilkinson,"  who  was  a 
brigadier-general  in  the  regular  army. 

The  effect  of  this  disgraceful  order  would  have 
been  to  have  turned  these  patriotic  men  loose, 
hundreds  of  miles  from  home,  without  supplies  or 
transportation,  to  make  their  way  home  as  best 
they  could,  through  the  territories  of  two  Indian 
tribes,  where  subsistence  was  always  scant.  Gen- 
eral Jackson  assumed  the  responsibility  of  disobey- 
ing the  order,  and  marched  them  back  into  Tenn- 
essee. In  this  movement  he  was  firmly  sustained 
by  Colonel  Coffee,  and  his  attitude  M-as  remem- 
bered gratefully:  for  in  the  fall,  when  he  called  his 
men  to  fight  the  Creek  Indians,  two  regiments  in- 
stead of  one.  came  to  his  standard. 


300 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


This  call  occurred  in  Septembft'^,  1»13.  The 
massacre  at  Fort  Mims  on  the  30th  of  August 
sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  bosoms  of  the 
brave  Tennesseeans,  but  it  was  succeeded  by  a 
reaction  as  powerful.  As  slowl^vas  news  was  then 
transmitted,  a  strong  volunteer  force  came  to  ren- 
dezvous at  Fayetteville  on  the  3d  of  October.  On 
the  4th,  General  Jackson  dispatched  General  Cof- 
fee with  a  large  detachment  to  Hiintsville,  Ala., 
to  keep  an  eye  on  the  Creek  warriors,  and  shortly 
afterward  followed  with  his  whole  command.  He 
failed  to  get  the  supplies  he  expected  down  the 
Tennessee  River.  In  this  emergency  he  deter- 
mined to  forage  upon  the  enemy,  and  moved  his 
force  into  the  Indian  country. 

On  the  2d  of  November  he  issued  an  order  to 
Coffee,  now  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier,  to 
take  1,000  men  and  proceed  to  the  town  of  Tal- 
lascehatche,  thirteen  miles  distant  from  the  camp, 
and  destroy  it.  He  surrounded  the  town  about 
sunrise,  and  was  fiercely  met  by  the  savages,  with 
war-whoops  and  the  sounding  of  drums,  the  proph- 
ets being  in  advance.  The  troops  charged  them, 
with  great  slaughter.  After  a  short  but  terrible 
action  about  two  hundred  warriors  lay  dead  on  the 
field.  Not  a  solitary  one  begged  for  his  life. 
Late  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day  Coffee  re- 
crossed  the  Coosa,  and  returned  to  headquarters. 

Talladega  was  the  next  battle  fought  by  General 
Jackson  in  person.  Here  was  a  small  fort,  in 
which  a  number  of  friendly  Indians  had  taken 
refuge,  and  were  closely  surrounded  by  the  hos- 
tiles.  They  were  out  of  food  and  water  in  the 
garrison,  where  a  noted  chief  enveloped  himself 
in  a  hog-skin,  and  went  rooting  and  grunting 
around,  until  he  made  his  way  through  the  lines, 
and,  as  fleet  as  the  wind,  reached  the  camp  of 
General  Jackson.  He  implored  the  General  to 
march  immediately  to  the  rescue  of  his  friends, 
which,  midnight  as  it  was,  he  did.  He  forded  the 
Coosa,  here  600  yards  wide,  with  a  rocky,  uneven 
bottom.  Each  horseman  carried  behind  him  a 
foot-man  until  the  whole  army  was  over.  He  en- 
camped in  the  evening  within  six  miles  of  the 
fort.  At  four  o'clock  next  morning  he  surrounded 
the  enemy,  numbering  1,100  warriors.  After  a 
sharp  but  decisive  action,  he  defeated  them. 
They  left  295  warriors  dead  on  the  field.  •'  This 
brilliant  victory  exerted  a  powerful  influence  on 
the  enemy  as  well  the  country.  General  Coffee, 
with  his  force  of  1,000  mounted  volunteers,  par- 
ticipated  in  this  battle,  and  contributed   largely 


to  the  victory  achieved  on  that  hotly  contested 
field.  He  was  a  giant  in  stature,  finely  propor- 
tioned, taciturn,  with  nothing  of  the  braggart  or 
pretender  about  him.  While  he  was  deter- 
mined to  do  his  duty,  he  was  wholly  uncon- 
cerned as  to  who  should  reap  the  glory.  He 
was  the  first  in  the  field,  and  had  been  in  the  sad- 
dle for  a  month,  leading  his  brave  soldiers  up  and 
down  the  country,  keeping  the  enemy  from  the 
frontiers,  which  they  were  watching  like  a  wolf 
ready  to  pounce  on  the  flock.  His  presence  on 
the  frontier  dispelled  the  alarm  of  the  citizens, 
while  his  swift  movements  indicated  that  he  meant 
business,  and  made  him  a  terror  to  the  Indians. 
He  and  (Jen.  William  Carroll  were  the  right  arm 
of  General  Jackson,  and  faithfully  they  jx-rformed 
the  duties  entrusted  to  them."' 

After  this  battle  General  Jackson  marchetl  his 
small  army,  which  was  out  of  provisions,  back  as 
rapidly  as  possible  to  Fort  Strother.  Arriving 
there,  he  was  deeply  mortified  to  find  that  no  pro- 
visions had  arrived  at  that  point.  The  men  were 
hungry,  and  there  was  great  dissatisfaction  in  the 
camp.  Bonaparte  was  asked  once,  what  were  the 
two  things  most  essential  to  a  soldier,  and  his  re- 
ply was,  "  A  full  belly  and  astrong  pair  of  rshoes."' 
The  men  who  had  behaved  so  well  in  battle  were 
impatient  of  hunger,  and  took  up  their  line  of 
march  for  Tennessee.  He  threw  himself  ahead 
of  the  men  who  were  moving  off,  and,  with 
General  Coffee,  Carroll,  and  a  few  brave  fellows, 
he  formed  a  line  in  front  of  them,  seized  a 
musket  from  one  of  his  men  and  declared 
that  he  would  shoot  the  first  man  who  dared  to 
march.  They  only  saw  his  flashing  eye  and  de- 
termined look,  and  the  power  of  numbers  quailed 
before  the  iron  will — the  moral  greatness  of  one 
man.  He,  however,  promised  the  men,  that  if  in 
a  reasonable  time  i^rovisions  did  not  ari'ive,  they 
might  go,  as  their  time  of  service  was  about  to 
expire. 

He  kept  his  word,  and  in  a  few  days  he  was  left 
in  a  savage  land,  with  only  one  hundred  men. 
But  they  were  choice  spirits,  with  gallantry  enough 
to  leven  a  small  army,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  two 
following  battles,  in  which  there  were  feats  of 
valor,  not  excelled  in  the  pages  of  romance. 

At  length  two  regiments  arrived,  numbering 
about  850  men,  which  had  only  been  enlisted  for 
sixty  days.  As  their  time  was  short  he  employed 
no  drill-master;  determined  to  drill  them  in 
actual  battle.     He  marched  them  across  the  Coosa, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


301 


was  joinrd  by  "^HO  C'lierokees  and  friendly  Creeks, 
and  sought  the  enemy  at  Einiiekfaw.  Besides  tliese 
tliere  was  a  company  composed  of  ofliccrs  entirely, 
whose  command  had  returned  home,  forty-live 
in  number,  amongst  them  General  CotTee,  Inspec- 
tor-General Carroll,  and  Adjutant-Geneial  Sitter. 
'•  When  the  alarm  was  given  the  whole  line  was  led 
to  the  charge  by  General  Coffee,  and  the  Indians 
were  forced  to  abandon  the  ground  in  a  rapid 
manner.  Shortly  aftciward  a  body  of  the  enemy 
boldly  advanced  and  attacked  the  right  wing  of 
Jackson's  encampment.  Coffee  again  charged,  but, 
through  some  mistake, only  forty-tivemen  followeil, 
composing  liis  own  company  of  volunteer  oIKcers; 
but  the  friendly  Indians  were  sent  by  Jackson  to 
his  support.  Dismounting  his  men  he  soon  pur- 
sued tlie  '  Red  Sticks  "  to  the  swamj)  of  a  creek. 
Jackson  had  ordered  iiis  left  flank  to  remain  firm, 
and  now  the  Indians  came  rushing  with  yells 
against  it:  but  they  were  repelled  by  a  charge  made 
by  the  impetuous  Carroll.  In  the  meantime. 
Coffee  kept  the  enemy  at  bay,  who  had  now  re- 
turned upon  him  from  the  swamp,  until  (ieneral 
.lackson  strengthened  him  with  a  re-enforcement 
of  one  hundred  friendly  warriors.  Coffee  again 
charged,  when  the  Indians  once  more  gave  way; 
and  the  pursuit  was  continued  for  three  miles, 
with  the  loss  of  4.5  savages,"  The  brave  Creeks 
had  now  been  repulsed  on  every  attempt,  but 
they  exhibited  a  ferocity  and  daring  which 
commanded  the  serious  consideration  of  Gen- 
eral .Fackson.  He  had  no  forage  for  his  horses, 
and  very  few  rations  for  his  men,  and  his  force 
was  weaker  than  he  desired.  He  determined 
to  return  to  Fort  Strother,  with  all  possible  dis- 
patch. In  this  battle  Alexander  Donelson  aide- 
de-camp  of  (ieneral  Coffee,  and  eldest  brother  of 
his  wife,  was  killed.  Next  morning  the  army 
commenced  its  retrograde  movement,  bearing  the, 
Wounded  in  litters,  constructed  of  the  hides  of  the 
slain  horses.  In  one  of  these  lay  General  Coffee, 
who,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  third  charge,  was 
wounded,  as  it  was  thought,  mortally. 

Hefore  night  Jackson  encamped  near  the  ford 
of  the  Enotochopco.  which  they  had  crossed  in 
marching  down,  and  fortified  himself.  The  Indians 
were  prf>wling  around,  but  refrained  from  an  at- 
tack Dreading  an  onset  at  the  ford  of  the  creek, 
which  had  great  facilities  for  ambuscades,  he 
selected  another  crossing  six  hundred  yards  lower 
down. 

Next    morning    the    march    was   begun.     The 


front-guard  with  the  wounded  had  passed  the 
creek,  and  the  artillery  was  in  the  creek,  when  an 
alarm  gun  was  heard  which  was  succeeded  by  a 
fierce  attack  of  the  savages  on  the  rear-guard. 
The  new  regiments,  siezed  by  a  sudden  panic,  fled 
without  firing  a  gun.  A  scene  of  wonderful  con- 
fusion prevailed  for  awhile.  The  six  pounder  was 
brought  on  the  hill,  but  in  the  confusion  the  ram- 
rod was  lost  and  Constantine  Perkins  rammed 
down  the  charge  with  his  musket,  and  Craven 
.lackson  picked  the  touch-hole  with  his  ram-rod. 
While  Carroll  was  scarcely  holding  the  rear  with  a 
few  brave  men.  Gen.  Coffee  leaped  from  his  litter, 
mounted  his  horse  and  <lashed  forward  to  assist  in 
rallying  the  men  :  and  when  Jackson  with  surprise 
saw  his  tall  form,  pale  from  the  loss  of  blood  and 
swathed  in  white  bandages,  the  ap])arition  was  so 
unearthly,  that  he  exclaimed,  "We'll  whip  'em, 
boys,  we'll  whip  'em  —  even  the  dead  have  risen 
from  their  graves,  to  help  us." 

Tohopek  (or  tlie  Horse  Shoe)  was  the  closing 
scene  of  the  Creek  War.  About  five  miles  from 
the  battle  ground  of  Emuckfau  is  the  great  bend 
of  the  Tallapoosa,  where  the  warriors  of  the 
nation,  nearly  1,000  strong,  had  concentrated 
their  forces  for  a  last  desperate  struggle.  Across 
a  narrow  neck  of  land,  or  isthmus,  the  Indians 
had  erected  a  breast-work  of  logs,  from  five  to 
eight  feet  high,  with  double  port-holes,  arranged 
with  no  little  skill  and  ingenuity.  This  was  the 
entrance  to  the  great  beml  of  about  one  hundred 
acres  of  land.  The  center  was  high  ground,  and 
on  the  river  bottom  at  the  lower  extremity  of  the 
peninsula  was  the  Iiulian  village. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  this  battle,  General 
Coffee  with  his  brigade  of  cavalry,  the  friendly 
Indians  under  command  of  Col.  Gideon  Morgan, 
and  Captain  Russell's  company  of  spies,  was  de- 
tached by  General  Jackson,  with  instructions  to 
cross  the  river  two  miles  below  the  bend,  and 
take  possession  of  the  high  grounds  on  the  oppo- 
site bank,  so  as  to  cut  off  all  chance  of  escape 
in  that  quarter.  General  Jackson  then  marched 
the  remainiier  of  his  forces  to  a  position  in  front 
of  the  breast-work,  where  he  halted  his  men  until 
the  pre-arranged  signal  announced  that  General 
Coffee  had  drawn  a  cordon  of  soldiers  around  the 
elevated  ground  overlooking  the  river  and  the 
hostile  town  and  fortifications.  The  main  column 
immediately  moved  forward.  The  two  pieces  of 
artillery,  a  six  and  a  three  pounder,  were  planted 
on  a  hill,  and  about  10  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  the 


302 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


action  commenced.  The  firing  on  the  American 
side  was  mostly  confined  to  the  artillery.* 

For  two  hours  the  fire  of  the  artillery  was  kept 
up  without  doing  any  material  damage  to  the 
strong  log  wall.  Meanwhile,  General  Coffee  sent 
some  of  his  expert  swimmers  among  the  friendly 
Indians  across  the  river,  who  cut  loose  and  brought 
away  the  canoes  of  the  beleaguered  Creeks,  in  which 
he  transported  a  portion  of  his  force,  under  com- 
mand of  Colonel  jNIorgan,  to  the  side  of  the  river 
occupied  by  the  Indians,  landing  in  the  rear  of 
where  the  fight  was  going  on.  They  reached  the 
town  and  wrapped  it  in  flames. 

This  had  the  effect  of  distracting  the  attention 
of  the  Indians.  The  troops  had  been  clamoring 
for  some  time  for  permission  to  charge,  but  Jack- 
son waited  until  his  operations  in  the  rear  had  been 
perfected,  and  when  the  smoke  of  the  burning 
village  i-ose  to  the  heavens,  he  ordered  the  charge. 
Surrounded  as  they  were,  the  warriors  fought  with 
des23eration,and,  it  is  com2iuted,  that  they  were  all 
killed  except  about  two  hundred.  Thus  was  the 
power  of  this  brave  peojile  effectually  broken,  and 
they  sued  for  peace.  Every  reflecting  reader  will 
see  how  skillfully  General  Coffee  performed  his 
part  of  the  plan  of  this  battle. 

Florida  was  then  a  possession  of  Spain.  The 
Governor  residing  at  Pensacola  had  made  this 
place  a  harbor  for  our  enemies.  It  was  the  home 
of  the  British  fleet  on  the  (iulf.  One  of  their  war 
vessels  had  brought  in  a  supply  of  arms  which 
were  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Indians.  These 
savages  were  openly  drilled  by  a  British  officer  in 
the  streets  of  Pensacola,  under  the  eyes  of  its  Gov- 
ernor. When  the  massacre  occurred  at  Fort 
Mims,  British  agents  bought  the  scalps  at  five  dol- 
lars apiece  openly,  there,  and  its  perfidious  Gov- 
ernor had  written  a  letter  to  the  chief  Weather- 
ford,  congratulating  him  on  the  massacre.  Gen- 
eral Jackson  boiled  with  indignation  and  waited 
impatiently  for  his  reinforcements. 

At  length  General  Coffee  arrived  with  the  Ten- 
nessee Mounted  Volunteers  at  the  cut-off  above 
Mobile.  He  was  ordered  to  take  one  thousand 
of  his  men,  and,  with  two  thousand  more 
of  other  commands,  fJeneral  .Jackson  marched 
directly  on  Pensacola.  He  arrived  there  on  the 
6th  of  November,  1814.  Next  morning  he  sent  a 
flag  of  truce  which  was  fired  upon,  when  he  took 
the  place  by  storm.  The  Spanish  Governor  re- 
ceived a  most  vigorous  lecture,  the  peroration  of 
which  was:  "And  now  Sir,  you  must  behave  you  r- 

*  Walker's  Life  of  General  .lackson. 


self  hereafter,  or  by  the  Eternal  I  will  return  and 
hang  you  upon  the  first  tree  which  may  be  the  most 
convenient."  "Old  Hickory"  was  terribly  in 
earnest,  and  the  Governor  said  afterward,  that  he 
would  rather  encounter  a  Bengal  Tiger,  than 
General  Jackson. 

On  the  2d  of  December,  ISl-t,  General  Jackson 
entered  New  Orleans,  without  an  army  and 
attended  only  by  the  members  of  his  staff.  Why 
had  he  delayed  so  long?  An  expedition  of  so 
great  strength  had  been  planned  so  skillfully 
and  executed  so  secretly  that  it  was  not  known 
where  the  blow  would  fall.  A  squadron,  having 
on  board  a  strong  infantry  force,  sailed  from  Ply- 
mouth, in  England,  and  another  from  the  Chesa- 
peake, for  a  rendezvous  in  Jamaica,  both  giving 
out  that  they  were  bound  for  Halifax  and  setting 
out  in  that  direction,  and  then  changing  their 
course  for  their  destination.  Not  more  than  three 
officers  of  the  fleet  knew  (until  they  were  at  sea) 
the  object  of  the  expedition,  which  was  the  cap- 
ture of  New  Orleans.  They  united  in  Jamaica 
in  the  harbor  of  Negril  on  the  ■-iith  of  Novem- 
ber, and  had  a  general  review  of  the  ships  and 
troops  which  Great  Britain  had  so  marvelously 
assembled  in  this  remote  quarter  of  the  Globe. 
Two  large  squadrons  had  been  combined,  those  of 
Cochran  and  Malcolm.  Rarely,  if  ever,  had  Great 
Britain  collected  a  braver  or  more  powerful  fleet. 
It  was  commanded  by  chiefs  whose  valor  had  built 
up  for  England  those  impregnable  wooden  walls, 
which  enabled  her  to  defy  the  Conqueror  of  Europe. 
There  were  at  least  fifty  sail,  carrying  more 
than  one  thousand  guns.  Why  was  it  that  Great 
Britain  could  afford  to  send  such  an  expedition 
across  the  Atlantic?  It  was  because  Bonaparte 
the  Conqueror  had  been  conquered,  and  was  in 
prison  bound. 

This  great  fleet,  carrying  an  army  of  renowned 
soldiers  (of  whom  we  shall  speak  as  the  regiments, 
respectively,  come  into  action),  cast  anchor  in 
Lake  Borgne,  on  the  9th  of  December.  On  the 
14th,  they  destroyed  the  American  gunboats  off 
Pass-Christian,  after  a  bloody  action.  In  the 
meantime.  New  Orleans  was  galvanized  into  life 
by  General  Jackson.  He  organized  the  fighting 
men  of  the  city  into  regiments  and  companies, 
and  hurried  on  his  reinforcements  by  special  mes- 
sengers. 

"  Coffee's  brigade,  which  had  performed  a  long 
and  tedious  march,  from  Fort  Jackson  on  the 
Alabama,  around  Lake  Pontchartrain  to  the  Miss- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


303 


issippi  River,  which  tliey  reached  by  the  old  Span- 
isli  road,  at  Sandy  Creek,  a  few  miles  below  Baton 
Kouge.  Hastening  to  this  town,  he  found  a  mes- 
senger from  Jackson,  directing  him  to  push  for- 
M'ard  with  all  rapidity,  leaving  the  sick  and  bag- 
gage at  Haton  Rouge.  CofTee  immediately  select- 
ed all  his  strong  men  and  horses,  and  with  them 
started  for  New  Orleans  in  a  brisk  trot.  In  two 
days  he  reached  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  having  in 
that  time  marched  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
with  men  and  animals  who  had  just  performed  a 
wearisome  journey  of  eight  hundred  miles  through 
a  wilderness.  There  is  no  march  to  equal  this  in 
the  hi.story  of  modern  warfare.  Encamping  just 
above  the  city,  he  rode  to  town  to  report  to  Gen- 
eral Jackson.  It  was  a  warm  meeting  between 
these  two  gallant  soldiers,  who  had  shared  so 
many  perils  and  hardships  together."  General 
Carroll's  brigade,  which  came  in  boats  down 
the  Mississippi  River,  arrived  on  the  evening  of 
the  2'^d  December. 

-Major-General  Keane,  who  commanded  the 
British  Army,  was  a  young  officer,  gallant  and 
ambitious.  He  had  been  colonel  of  the  celebra- 
ted fighting  regiment,  the  Twenty-Seventh,  or 
Enniskillens.  After  careful  reconnoissances  he 
selected  an  obscure  bayou  leading  into  the  Mis- 
souri at  General  Villere's  jdantation,  twelve  miles 
below  New  Orleans,  and  started  his  advance  of 
three  regiments  under  Colonel  Thornton,  a  most 
active  and  most  enterprising  officer,  who  arrived 
at  daybreak  on  the  '^^id  of  December. 

General  Jackson  was  engaged  the  same  day,  at 
half  past  one  o'clock  i'.  M.,  when  his  attention 
was  drawn  from  certain  documents  he  was  perus- 
ing, by  the  sound  of  horses  galloping  rapidly,  and 
suddenly  stopping  before  his  headquarters,  Three 
French  gentlemen  who  lived  on  the  coast  below, 
came  in.  "  What  news  do  you  bring,  gentlemen?" 
eagerly  inquired  the  (ieneral.  "  Important  I 
The  British  have  landed  below."  Governor  Clai- 
borne, who  was  present,  inquired  into  all  the  facts, 
and  wheti  the  colloquy  came  to  a  full  stop,  (General 
Jackson  who  had  been  listening  with  his  head 
down,  raised  it  firmly  and  said  to  the  members  of 
his  stalT  :  "Gentlemen,  we  will  fight  them  before 
midnight."  Orders  were  sent  for  the  march  to 
commence  at  :S  p.  m.  The  rendezvous  was  old 
Fort  St.  Charles,  now  the  site  of  the  United 
States  Mint.  Mr.  Walker  mentions  each  com- 
mand as  they  passed  in  review  before  General 
Jackson,  and  says,   "Then  followed,  moving  in  a 


rapid  trot,  the  long  line  of  Coffee's  mounted  gnn- 
men.  Their  appearance,  however,  was  not  very 
military.  In  their  woolen  hunting-shirts  and 
copperas-dyed  })antaloons ;  with  slouched  wool 
hats,  or  caps  made  of  the  skins  of  raccoons  or 
fo.xes;  with  belts  of  untanned  deer-skin,  in  which 
were  stuck  their  hunting  knives  ;  but  they  were 
admirable  soldiers,  remarkable  for  endurance  and 
possessing  that  admirable  quality  in  soldiers,  of 
taking  care  of  themselves.  At  their  head,  rode 
their  gallant  leader,  a  man  of  noble  aspect,  tall 
and  herculean  in  frame,  yet  not  destitute  of  nat- 
ural dignity  and  ease  of  manner.  His  appear- 
ance, mounted  upon  a  line  Tennessee  thorough- 
bred, was  stately  and  impressive." 

Jackson's  plan  of  the  battle  was  very  simple. 
The  "Carolina,"  under  Commodore  Patterson,  was 
ordered  to  drop  down  and  anchor  abreast  of  the 
British  camp,  and  open  her  batteries  on  them  at 
half  past  seven  o'clock.  The  right  division  of 
his  army,  under  Jackson  himself,  at  this  signal 
was  to  attack  the  enemy's  camp  near  the  river, 
guided  by  Major  Villere.  Whilst  they  were  thus 
engaged  with  the  left  division,  Coffee  (guided  by 
Colonel  De  La  Ronde,  whose  jilantation  was  near) 
was  ordered  with  his  Brigade,  with  Hind's  Dra- 
goons and  Beale's  Rifles,  to  scout  the  edge  of  the 
swamp,  and,  advancing  as  far  as  was  safe,  to 
endeavor  to  cut  off  the  communications  of  the 
enemy  with  their  fleet,  and  thus  liem  in  and,  if 
possible,  capture  or  destroy  him.  And  what  reg- 
iments were  these  which  these  undisciplined 
Americans,  with  no  advantage  in  numbers,  are 
seeking  to  surround?  They  were  the  Fourth,  the 
Eighty-fifth  and  the  Ninety-fifth  Rifles,  all  tried 
Peninsular  soldiers ;  whilst  other  Regiments 
were  on  the  way,  which  might  arrive  at  any 
moment  during  the  battle  on  the  flank  or  rear  of 
Coffee's  division. 

About  seven  o'clock  a  vessel  was  stealing  slowly 
down  the  river,  and,  letting  go  her  anchor,  she 
swung  her  broadside  to  the  British  camp.  She 
was  hailed  but  returned  no  answer.  At  length,  a 
loud  voice  was  heard,  "  Give  this  for  the  honor 
of  America."  The  words  were  followed  by  a  per- 
fect tornado  of  grape-shot  and  musket-balls,  which 
swept  the  levee  and  the  JJritish  camjis.  The  havoc 
was  the  more  terrible  for  its  suddenness,  and  the 
enemy  was  struck  with  consternation.  It  was  the 
"Carolina,"  under  Commodore  Patterson,  which 
I  had  dropped  down  so  suddenly  to  perform  lier  part 
in  the  d:nk    triiiri'dv.     The  enemv  sheltei-cd  under 


304 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  levee.  Presently  a  blaze  of  fire  seemed  to 
encircle  the  camp,  and  it  was  evident  that  they 
were  surrounded.  They  were  soon  engaged  in 
one  of  the  fiercest  and  most  evenly  contested 
night  battles  which  ever  occurred. 

General  Coffee,  in  charge  of  tlie  left  division, 
had,  before  the  signal,  taken  the  position  assigned 
him.  When  he  believed  he  had  gained  the 
enemy's  right,  he  wheeled  his  column  and  ad- 
vanced with  front  face  to  the  river.  Beale's 
Rifles  on  his  left,  extended  in  open  order,  pene- 
trated to  the  center  of  their  camp.  Soon  tlie 
British  Eighty-fifth  rushed  forward,  and  the  two 
lines  became  warmly  engaged."  Coffee  seem.ed  to 
be  in  every  part  of  his  extended  lines  at  the  same 
time.  Cool  and  self-jrossessed,  he  kept  his  men 
well  together,  and  restrained,  within  the  bounds  of 
prudence,  the  natural  imjietuosity  of  the  frontier- 
fighter,  which  is  continually  pushing  him  on  to 
fight  "on  his  own  hook."  A  fog  settled  over 
them  and  the  battle  still  raged  fiercely,  but  it 
was  not  of  much  order  or  system.  Friends  could 
not  be  distinguished  from  foes.  The  British  Rifles 
among  Lacoste's  negro  cabins,  kept  up  a  running 
fire  on  Coffee's  right  companies.  The  Tennesse- 
ans,  however,  learned  to  distinguish  the  crack  of 
their  rifles,  and  directed  their  particular  attention 
to  them.  Concealing  themselves  behind  the  huts, 
the  British  waited  until  they  got  into  the  midst 
of  them.  Then  they  rushed  forwai'd  and  engaged 
them  hand  to  hand.  Neither  party  having  any 
bayonets,  they  were  forced  to  club  their  guns. 
But  the  more  cautious  of  the  Tennesseans  prefer- 
red their  long  knives  and  tomahawks.  The 
Ninety-fifth  Rifles  fell  back  before  Coffee's  steady 
advance,  rallying,  however,  whenever  they  re- 
ceived fresh  reinforcements.  At  last  they  gained 
the  old  levee,  and  took  refuge  behind  it  on  the 
river  side,  preferring  to  stand  the  artillery  of  the 
Carolina  to  the  rifles,  knives  and  tomahawks  of 
their  assailants.  This  position.  Coffee  thought, 
was  too  strong  to  be  assailed,  and,  moreover,  his 
men  were  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  "  Carolina." 
Accordingly,  he  sent  a  dispatch  toGeneral  Jackson, 
acquainting  him  with  the  position,  and  received 
in  return  an  order  to  Join  the  right  division.  As 
the  Ninety-third  Highlanders  were  expected  every 
moment  to  reach  the  field.  Major  ilitchell.  who 
commanded  in  the  fog  tlie  Ninety-fifth  Rifles, 
about  this  time  thought  he  saw  the  Highlanders 
coming.  But  he  mistook  the  hunting-shirt  for 
Scotch,  and  was  made  prisoner.     This  was  a  great 


mortification  to  that  rising  officer,  who  had  won 
great  distinction  in  heading  the  storming  party 
of  Ciudad  Rodrigo,  and  in  other  actions  in  the 
Peninsula.  The  Highlanders  did  arrive  on  the 
field  a  few  moments  afterward,  captured  a  large 
proportion  of  Beale's  Rifles,  and  they  were  ordered 
by  Keene  to  push  forward  with  bayonets  on  Cof- 
fee's division,  but  they  did  not  succeed  in  reach- 
ing it.  Coffee,  after  delivering  a  heavy  fire, 
continued  to  oblique  until  he  joined  Jackson's 
division.  Seven  hundred  Britisli  soldiers  were  in 
this  action  at  the  close — more  than  commenced  it, 
[The  above  is  a  condensed  account  of  the  battle  of 
the  23d  of  December,  taken  from  the  pages  of 
"Walker's  Life  of  General  Jackson,  The  author 
of  it  (a  journalist  of  high  order)  resided  in  New 
Orleans,  and  had  intercourse,  for  many  years,  witli 
with  the  most  intelligent  survivors  of  the  campaign 
of  New  Orleans,  and  his  book  is  one  of  great 
merit.] 

A  few  days  after  this  battle  General  Keane  was 
superseded  in  his  command  by  Lieu. -Gen.  Hon, 
Sir  Edward  Packenham,  the  hero  of  Salamanca, 
He  was  the  brother-in-law  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton; but  he  did  not  owe  his  promotion  to  his 
noble  birth  or  to  his  friends.  He  had  fought  his 
way  up  through  every  grade.  For  every  grade  he 
had  a  scar;  and  ere  he  had  reached  his  meridian 
his  body  was  all  scrolled  over  with  such  insignia 
of  his  gallantry,  Li  the  Peninsula  he  was  in  con- 
stant service  by  the  side  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, and  was  brigadier  of  that  impetuous  Welsh- 
man, General  Picton.  Since  the  death  of  Wel- 
lington and  the  publication  of  his  papers,  it  has 
come  to  light  that  in  the  British  Cabinet  the 
project  was  seriously  considered  of  placing  him 
in  command  of  the  expedition  to  New  Orleans. 
He  did  not,  from  his  letters,  seem  to  be  unwilling 
to  take  the  command:  and  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  troops  then  being  embarked  for  America 
must  be  very  badly  handled  if  not  victors  in 
any  contest  in  which  they  might  be  engaged. 
What  would  have  been  the  result  upon  the  des- 
tinies of  Europe  if  the  Duke  had  accepted  the 
command  and  shared  the  fate  of  Packenham? 
Waterloo  would  then  have  been  fought  without  a 
Wellington! 

Packenham  for  the  first  time  found  himself  at 
the  head  of  an  independent  command.  He  brought 
with  him  as  reinforcements  the  Seventh  Fusiliers 
(Packenham's  "Own")  and  the  Forty-third,  both 
under  tlie  command  of  ilajor-lienera!  Lambert,  a 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


305 


young  but  promising  officer.  I'ackenliam  ran  his 
eye  over  the  list  of  liis  regiments  witli  priile.  They 
consisted  of  ten  thousand  of  tlie  best  soldiers  in 
the  world,  all  veterans  under  Wellington,  except 
the  Ninety-third,  which  had  gained  distinction  in 
Africa,  and  was  the  strongest  one  in  the  army, 
nRnibering  l,(i.")U  Highlanders.  His  second  in 
command  was  Major-!  ieneral  Samuel  (iibbs,  a  very 
active  otticer  who  had  greatly  distinguished  him- 
self at  the  storming  of  Fort  Cornelius,  on  the 
Island  of  .lava,  and  in  the  Peninsula  War. 

(ieneral  .lackson  made  the  most  effective  pre- 
parations to  meet  the  enemy,  (ieneral  C'otfee  he 
placed  in  command  of  his  extreme  left.  It  was 
7iot  exactly  •'  in  the  air,"  or  on  the  earth,  but  ter- 
minated in  a  swamp.  .\t  first,  such  awful  tales 
were  told  to  the  Hritish  about  men  who  had  ven- 
tured into  it,  having  sunk  down,  gone  out  of 
.«ight,  and  never  been  seen  any  more,  that  they 
regarded  it  as  a  barrier  equal  to  the  Mississippi 
lliver  on  the  other  flank.  But  in  the  affair  of  the 
"•iSth  December  the  fearless  Colonel  llennie  (who 
lost  his  life  on  the  8th  of  .January  in  scaling  a 
redoubt)  entered  the  swamp  and  came  very  near 
turning  our  left.  After  that  (ieneral  Jackson  had 
Coffee's  men  constantly  employed  in  extending 
the  ditch  and  works  into  the  swamp  :  but  still 
the  condition  of  this  flank  rested  uneasily  upon 
his  mind. 

In  the  final  struggle  between  the  two  armies  on 
.January  IS,  ISl.'),  the  British  advanced  in  two  col- 
umns, one  near  the-  River  and  the  other  near  the 
.'~!wamp,  and  the  engagement  commenced.  "  The 
roar  of  cannon,  the  hissing  of  shells,  the  crack  of 
the  ritles,  the  wild  scream  of  the  rockets,  the 
whizzing  of  the  round  shot,  and  the  crash  of  grape 
formed  a  horrid  concert."  There  were  not  more 
than  fifteen  hundred  pieces  brought  to  bear  on  the 
British  columns,  but  in  the  hands  of  the  Tennes- 
seans  and  Kentuckians.  they  were  made  as  effect- 
ive as  ten  times  the  number  fired  by  the  regulars 
in  the  best  armies  of  Europe.  Whilst  the  terrible 
slaughter  was  going  on  upon  the  right  and 
left  of  the  American  lines,  the  center  remained 
inactive. 

It  is  a  rare  thing  in  battle  that  martial  music 
can  be  maintained  throughout  the  action;  but  the 
moment  the  British  came  into  view  and  their  sig- 
nal rocket  pierced  the  sky  with  its  fiery  train, 
the  band  of  the  Battalion  D'Orleans  struck  up 
''  Yankee  Doodle,"  and  thenceforward  during  the 
action  it   did  notecase  to  discourse  all  the  National 


and  military  airs,  in  wliich  it  had  been  instructed. 
.\bout  one-half  of  Coffee's  Brigade  were  in  the 
open  field,  and  united  with  Carroll's  men,  in  repel- 
ling the  attack  of  the  British  right  column.  But 
Coffee's  left  were  denied  the  luxury  of  firing  into 
the  solid  coUimn,  and,  through  the  leafless  trees  of 
the  forest,  had  an  indistinct  view  of  the  magnifi- 
cent spectacle.  They  were  mad  with  vexation, 
when  they  reflected  that  for  two  weeks  they  had 
been  ditching  in  the  mud  of  days,  and  sleeping 
on  boat  gunnels  and  logs  at  night;  without  even 
cleitn  water  enough  to  wash  their  faces.  A  detach- 
ment, however,  under  lieutenant-Colonel  .Jones, 
composed  mostly  of  black  troops,  from  the  West 
Indies,  was  sent  in  to  turn  Coffee's  left.  They  came 
quite  near  his  line,  when  the  leader  became  tired 
and  was  killed,  and  most  of  the  white  soldiers  who 
were  with  him,  and  the  rest  were  captured  by  the 
Tennesseans,  who  astonished  the  British  by  the 
squirrel-like  agility  with  which  they  leaped  from 
log  to  log,  '"  The  prisoners  were  mostly  black, 
and  were  greatly  comforted  in  their  forlorn  condi- 
tion by  the  idea  that  they  were  captives  of  their 
own  colorand  race;  deceived  by  the  appearance  of 
the  Tennesseans.  The  unfortunate  red-coated 
Africans  soon  discovered  their  error,  when  they 
were  required,  by  their  facetious  captors,  to  "dance 
juba,"  in  mud  a  foot  deep. 

The  Legislature  of  I^ouisiana  passed  a  resolu- 
tion of  thanks  to  General  Coffee  for  the  services  he 
had  rendered  during  this  campaign.  He  modestly 
answered  that  the  splendid  victories  ihey  had 
achieved  were  chiefly  due  to  his  commander.  Gen- 
eral .lackson. 

General  Coffee  was  made  Major-( Ieneral  after 
the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  He  was  several  times 
associated  with  (ieneral  .Jackson  as  Commissioner 
to  treat  with  the  Indian  tribes. 

In  181 7  he  was  ai)pointed  Surveyor-! ieneral  of 
Alabama,  and  moved  to  Huntsville.  In  181'.i  he 
moved  to  I^auderdale  County,  and  the  Land  office 
for  his  district  w-as  removed  to  Florence.  He  held 
the  office  of  Surveyor-General  during  the  remain- 
der of  his  life.  If  he  had  been  ambitious  he  could 
have  had  from  the  people  of  Alabama  the  highest 
office  within  their  gift. 

General  Coffee  was  a  robust  man.  six  feet  two 
inches  tall,  weighed  two  hundred  pounds,  rather 
dark  skin,  with  brilliant  bl.-ick  eyes.  A  handsome 
steel  j)late  engraving  of  him  embellishes  this  chap- 
ter, and  is  copied  from  an  oil  painting,  the  work 
of    the    celebrated    Karic,   who  lived   in   (ieneral 


306 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Jackson's   family  and  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  subject. 

General  Coffee  lies  buried  in  the  little  family 
cemetery  at  his  old  home,  three  miles  north  of 
Florence.  Upon  the  large  gray  stone,  which 
marks  his  resting  place,  is  the  following  epitaph 
written  by  General  .Jackson: 

"Sacred  to  Memory 

of 

General  John  Cof?ee, 

who  Departed  this  Life 

7th  Day  of  July  1833  ; 

Aged  61  years. 

As  a  husband,  parent  and  friend,  he  was  affec- 
tionate, tender  and  sincere.  He  was  a  brave, 
prompt  and  skillful  general,  a  distinguished  and 
sagacious  patriot,  an  unpretending  just  and  honest 
man.  To  complete  his  character,  relisrion  mingled 
with  these  virtues  her  serene  and  gentle  influence, 
and  gave  him  that  solid  distinction  among  men 
which  detractioii  can  not  sully,  nor  the  grave  con- 
ceal. Death  could  do  no  more  than  to  remove  so 
excellent  a  being  from  the  theatre  he  so  much 
adorned  in  this  world,  to  the  bosom  of  the  God  who 
created  him:  and  who  alone  has  the  power  to  re- 
ward the  immortal  spirit   with  exhaustless  bliss." 

The  children  of  (reneral  Coffee  are:  Mrs.  Mary 
Hutchings,  John  Donelson  Coffee,  Elizabeth 
Coffee.  Andrew  J.  Coffee,  Alexander  Donelson 
Coffee,  Mrs.  Rachel  Jackson  Dyas,  Catherine 
Coffee,  William  Donelson  Coffee,  Joshua  Coffee. 
Those  were  all  living  when  their  father  died. 


ROBERT  MILLER  PATTON.  II.  M.  Patton 
was  born  in  the  State  of  \'irginia  July  10,  1809. 
His  father  was  a  native  of  the  north  of  Ireland; 
his  mother  of  Virginia.  In  the  year  1812,  with 
three  small  children,  the  Pattons  came  to  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Alabama  (then  ^Mississippi),  then  occu- 
pied by  native  Indians  and  a  few  pioneer  settlers. 

This  family  settled  at  Huntsville,  where  the 
father,  William  Patton,  subsequently  did  a  large 
and  successful  mercantile  business.  William  Pat- 
ton was  one  of  the  founders  of  perhaps  the  first 
cotton-mill  in  the  (iulf  State.s.  It  was  known  as 
the  "  Bell  Factory,"  on  Flint  River,  ten  miles  from 
Huntsville,  established  more  than  half  century  ago. 
This  cotton-mill  continued  in  successful  operation 
during  the  lifetime  of  the  elder  Patton,  and  at  his 


death  the  ownership  vested  in  Dr.  Charles  Patton, 
brother  of  Robert  ililler  Patton,  who  operated  it 
with  more  than  ordinary  success  during  his  life- 
time, and  since  his  death  it  has  been  operated  and 
owned  by  his  children. 

Robert  M.  Patton,  in  one  of  his  letters,  writes: 
"  This  mill  has  enriched  three  generations  of  the 
Pattons,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  my  worthy 
and  enterprising  brother-in-law.  Col.  Ed.  Richard- 
son, was  encouraged  from  his  knowledge  of  the 
success  of  this  factory  to  take  hold  of  the  Wesson 
Mills,  which  have  proved  in  all  respects  so  valuable 
to  him,  and,  for  that  matter,  to  the  whole  South." 

In  the  year  \>^'ii\  R.  M.  Patton  moved  to  Florence. 
Here  he  began  a  long  and  prosperous  career  as  a 
merchant,  in  connection  with  large  jilanting  inter- 
ests. In  1859  he  was  succeeded  in  business  by  his 
two  sons. 

In  Vi'i'l  he  married  Jane  Locke  Brahan,  daugh- 
ter of  General  .lohn  Bralian,  of  Huntsville.  He 
and  his  accomplished  wife,  for  more  than  half  a 
century,  made  Sweet  AA'ater,  near  Florence,  the 
typical  home  of  Southern  hospitality. 

This  excellent  couple  were  blessed  with  gallant 
sons  and  charming  daughters.  Two  sons,  J.  B. 
and  W.  A.  Patton,  were  merchants  at  Florence 
until  the  breaking  out  of  the  late  civil  war.  John 
Brahan  Patton,  the  eldest  son,  enlisted  in  the 
ranks  of  the  gallant  '•  Florence  Guards;  "  survived 
the  dangers  of  the  field  and  is  now  quietly  domiciled 
at  the  pleasant  country  home  presided  over  by 
the  venerated  widowed  mother.  William  Ander- 
son Patton  was  educated  at  the  Military  college, 
LaCJrange,  Ala.  When  the  tocsin  of  war  sounded 
he  hastened  to  obey  the  call  to  defend  his  native 
State.  He  was  elected  first  lieutenant  of  his  com- 
pany, and  was  killed  at  Shiloh  6th  of  April,  186::^. 
Robert  Weakley  Patton,  then  a  student  at  the 
University  of  Alabama,  with  the  "Cadet  Corps" 
bravely  assisted  in  the  defence  of  Alabama.  He 
was  wounded  at  Selma,  April  .'!,  1865,  and  died 
in  hospital  April  6.  John  Simpson  Patton  died 
at  an  early  age.  Charles  Hays  Patton  resides  at 
Florence  and  is  at  present  engaged  in  the  banking 
business.  Mary  Jane  Patton  married  J.  J.  Mc- 
David,  attorney-at-law,  Huntsville,  ]\Iattie  Hays 
Patton,  married  Col,  John  Weeden,  a  prominent 
lawyer  of  Huntsville. 

The  friends  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  M.  Patton  were 
called  upon  to  sincerely  sympathize  with  them  in 
the  terrible  affliction  that  fell  upon  the  happy 
household   at   '"Sweet   Water."     The    war   over. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


307 


peiice  restored,  time  on  its  healing  wings  had 
broiiglit  resignation  and  a  chastened  sorrow  for  the 
hiss  of  the  gallant  sons;  the  daughters  were  happily 
married:  loved  and  loving  grandchildren  made  tiie 
halls  of  the  old  homestead  ring  with  mirth;  two 
sons  were  at  home,  but  misfortune  was  to  overtake 
the  youngest.  Andrew  Bierue  Patton  returned 
home  from  his  studies  at  (ireen  Spring,  to  be- 
come a  confirmed  invalid,  and  was  confined  to  his 
bed  or  room  for  nearly  seven  years  before  death 
released  him  from  his  terrible  suffering. 

From  this  outline  sketch  of  the  family  of  Robert 
M.  Patton  we  return  to  the  subject  of  himself, 
with  a  brief  record  of  his  public  life.  In  18:50. 
although  a  Whig  in  politics,  he  was.  at  the  early 
age  of  twenty-five,  elected  to  the  Legislature  from 
Lauderdale  t'ounty,  which  had  several  hundred 
Democratic  majority.  A  writer  says  of  him;  "  He 
was  chosen  by  the  people  for  his  energy,  prudence 
and  financial  capacity,  as  a  member  of  the  Special 
Legislature,  called  by(;overnor  Bagby,  in  1837,  to 
relieve  the  people  of  the  unprecedented  financial 
panic  of  that  year."  He  was  for  several  terms 
elected  President  of  the  Alabama  Senate,  and  al- 
ways occupied  a  prominent  jiosition  with  the  com- 
mittees which  required  financial  ability  and 
business  experience.  When  quite  a  young  man  he 
was  one  of  the  leading  directors  of  the  State  Bank 
at  Decatur,  and  also  a  Trustee  of  the  State  Uni- 
versity. He  was  a  member  of  the  National  con- 
vention which  met  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1860. 
A  biographer  says  of  him:  "  He  opposed  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Alabama  Ordinance  of  Secession, 
believing  that  such  measures  would  produce  war 
and  its  attendant  horrors.  But  when  the  ordi- 
nance was  passed,  he  bowed  to  the  inevitable,  and, 
uniting  with  the  will  of  the  people,  threw  his 
whole  soul  into  the  work  of  aiding  the  Southern 
ca'ise."  His  time  and  fortune  were  generously 
given  for  the  support  of  the  rights  of  his  loved 
Southland.  Three  sons  were  given  to  the  Con- 
federacy, two  of  whom  gallantly  fell  in  battle. 
As  commissioner  under  the  Confederate  (Jovern- 
ment.  he  raised  millions  of  dollars  in  cotton  and 
money  for  the  support  of  Alabanui  soldiers  in  the 
field,  lie  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Con- 
stitutiomil  convention  which  met  in  1865  for  the 
purpose  of  revising  the  Constitution  of  Alabama, 
to  meet  the  changed  condition  of  affairs. 

In  ISCS  Robert  M.  Patton  was  elected  (Governor 
of  the  State.  His  inaugural  adilress  was  an  embod- 
iment of  plain  practical  ideas,     lie  had  never  been 


an  ardent  disseverer  of  the  loved  Federal  Union. 
His  heart  still  lingered  amidst  the  dear  and  well- 
remembered  scenes  of  his  early  life  and  associations. 
Standing  before  the  vast  assemblage  gathered  in 
the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  with  his 
'■  blushing  honors  thick  u])on  him,"  his  memory 
reverted  to  the  days  of  Alaliama's  i)rosperity. 
'•The  land  so  fair;  its  people  so  happy."  Alas', 
how  changed  I  desolation  and  ruin  —  the  wrecks 
that  marked  the  foeman's  jiaths. 

Standing  with  the  changes  all  around  him,  he 
says:  "At  the  beginning  of  the  year  18C1,  Ala- 
bama contained  nearly  one  million  inhabitants, 
and  all  branches  of  industry  and  trade  were  pros- 
perous. \'illages,  towns  and  cities  were  flourish- 
ing, and  internal  improvements  were  rapidly  and 
satisfactorily    progressing.  *         *         *         * 

"On  the  nth  day  of  January,  18til,  a  conven- 
tion of  the  State  passed  an  ordinance  declaring,  in 
effect,  that  the  ])coi)le  of  Alabama  were  thence- 
forth absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States.  Those  who  took  this 
step  maintained  the  theory  that  a  State  had  the 
constitutional  right  to  dissolve  its  connection  with 
the  Federal  Union,  and  decided  that  the  time  had 
come  when  it  was  expedient  and  proper  to  sever 
the  relations  which  bound  us  to  the  (Jeneral  (iov- 
ernment.  I  trust  that  it  will  not  be  inconsistent 
with  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion  to  state  that  1 
did  not  concur  in  this  reasoning.  Jly  judgment 
did  not  approve  of  either  the  doctrine  or  act  of 
secession.  I  thought  that  the  position  assumed 
by  Alabama  and  th(i  other  Southern  States  would 
precipitate  the  Northern  and  Southern  States  into 
an  unnatural  and  protracted  war.  But  while 
firmly  entertaining  this  opinion,  I  deemed  it  a 
duty,  as  a  citizen  of  Alabama,  to  yield  a  peaceful 
obedience  to  what  had  been  done.  Painfully  ap- 
prehending that  the  step  which  had  been  taken 
would  bring  ruin  upon  us,  I  nevertheless  held  my- 
self bound  to  tlie  authoritative  decree  which  was 
deliberately  pronounced  by  the  people,  through  a 
convention  of  their  own  choice.  I  can  jioint  to 
this  action,  on  my  jiart,  as  at  least  attesting  my 
devotion  to  all  the  regular  forms  of  authority  in 
the  State  and  as  some  proof  of  my  readiness  to 
share  the  fate  of  my  fellow  citizens  under  any  aiul 
all  circumstances,  whatever  the  fate  may  be.  In 
this  brief  reference  to  the  events  of  the  last  four 
years  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  seeking  to 
vindicate  the  correctness  of  opinions  which  I  en- 
tertained   and  expressed  at  the    incipiency  of  our 


308 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


late  troubles.  It  is  true  that  disaster  and  ruin 
were  predicted;  but  Heaven  knows  I  take  no  pleas- 
ure in  pointing  to  the  fulfillment.  Tliose  events 
are  now  historic,  and  we  should  only  recur  to  them 
in  that  calm  and  philosophic  spirit  with  whicli  we 
may  appeal  to  any  other  history  for  profitable  les- 
sons to  guide  us  in  our  actions  wliile  dealing  with 
the  momentous  present,  and  preparing  for  the  du- 
bious and  even  threatening  future.  For  this  pur- 
pose I  think  we  may  all  profit  much  by  contrast- 
ing the  prosperity  and  liappiness  which  our  coun- 
try enjoyed  at  the  beginning  of  the  recent  war, 
with  its  crippled  and  almost  ruined  condition.  In 
doing  this,  we  slioiild  forget  the  contention,  bick- 
erings, passions,  excitements  and  dissensions 
through  which  we  have  passed  ;  or,  if  we  cannot 
forget,  let  us  at  least  rise  above  them  ;  let  us  be 
as  one  man  ;  and  if  we  are  unable  to  recover  that 
which  has  been  lost,  it  becomes  us  to  bend  our 
united  energies  in  saving  and  improving  that  which 
remains  to  us.  ' 

These  extracts  from  his  inaugural  address  con- 
clude the  sketch  of  his  political  career.  When 
his  term  of  Governor  expired  he  organized  an 
association  of  Eastern  capitalists  to  connect  Chat- 
tanooga, Mobile  and  New  Orleans  by  rail.  He 
was  made  President  of  the  road  from  Chattanooga 
to  Meridian,  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles, 
and  subsequently  succeeded  John  Whitney  as 
President  of  the  Soutli  &  North  Alabama  Rail- 
road Co.,  extending  from  Decatur  to  Montgomery. 
These  two  offices  lie  lield  at  the  same  time  and 
successfully  consolidated  the  several  incorporations 
of  these  two  roads.  He  was  active  in  building  the 
Memphis  &  Charleston  Railroad. 

In  18TG  he  received  an  appointment  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  honorable  Board  of  Finance  for  the 
Centennial  Exposition  at  Philadelphia.  He  was 
also  appointed  Vice-President  of  the  National 
Cotton  Planters'  Association,  and  a  member  of  the 
board  of  management  of  the  World's  Industrial 
and  Cotton  Exposition  at  New  Orleans, 

The  educational  interest  of  his  State  always 
found  in  him  an  earnest  advocate. 

Robert  M,  Patton  attended  school  at  Greene 
Academy,  Huntsville,  Ala.  When  quite  young  he 
was  placed  in  a  commer'-ial  liouse  to  learn  the 
routine  of  business.  His  education  was  somewhat 
limited,  and  this  fact  may  have  been  the  inspira- 
tion of  his  untiring  zeal  to  promote  the  advan- 
tages of  proper  educational  training.  For  many 
years,  and    up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  he  was 


President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Flor- 
ence Synodical  Female  College  and  also  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  State  Normal  College 
at  Florence.  At  an  early  age  he  joined  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  always  took  an  active  inter- 
est in  the  affairs  of  the  church  and  Sibbath-school, 
For  one  year  prior  to  his  death  he  was  the  senior 
elder  of  the  church,  and  Superintendent  of  the 
Sabbath-school,  at  Florence. 

The  Cotton  Exposition  of  New  Orleans  aroused 
all  the  waning  powers  of  the  venerable  ex-(iov- 
ernor.  (Col.  Ed.  Richardson,  his  esteemed 
brother-in-law,  was  its  projector.)  The  cotton 
interests  of  the  South  were  to  be  crowned  with  a 
national  outpouring  of  honor  and  success  at  the 
beautiful  Southern  city  of  New  Orleans.  It  was 
to  him  a  subject  of  eshaustless  merit,  and  the  re- 
alization of  a  life-long  cherished  hope  and  ambi- 
tion was  within  his  grasp.  Alas!  for  human 
expectation,  Governor  Patton  "had  crossed  over 
the  river "  ere  the  long  wished  for  event  trans- 
pired, and,  not  very  long  after.  Col.  Ed.  Richard- 
son wa3  borne  to  his  las*-  resting  place  (to  that 
dreamless  sleep)  amidst  the  proud  achievements  of 
his  success. 

On  the  31st  of  January,  1882,  the  halls  of  the 
hosjjitable  mansion  at  Sweet  Water  resounded 
with  mirth  and  good  cheer:  children  and  grand- 
children, with  many  friends,  gathered  to  celebrate 
the  "  Golden  Wedding"  of  this  esteemed  couple. 
Three  years  after,  in  tlie  month  of  February,  1885, 
friends  and  relatives  were  again  gathered  at  Sweet 
Water,  but  not  to  the  sounds  of  mirth;  the  dark- 
ened chamber  and  saddened  faces  revealed  the 
loss  of  a  loved  father  and  friend. 

Mrs.  Mattie  Weeden  (one  of  the  daughters)  faid 
to  the  writer,  "  history  will  tell  of  his  public  acts, 
of  which  we  too  are  proud,  but  w-e  love  best  to  re- 
member him  as  the  dear,  good  Christian  father." 

"We  live  in  deeds,  not  years:  in  thoughts,  not 
breaths  ;  in  feelings,  not  in  figures  on  a  dial.  We 
should  count  time  by  heart  throbs.  He  most  lives 
who  thinks  most,  feels  the  noblest,  acts  the  best." 


-■*-- 


WILLIAM  C.  SHERROD  is  a  native  of  Law- 
rence County,  this  State;  son  of  Col.  Benjamin 
and  Talitha  (Goode)  Sherrod,  and  was  born  August 
17.  1831. 

The  Sherrods  came  originally  from  England 
and  settled   in  North  Carolina,  and  the  Goodes, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


309 


also  English,  wer.t  from  the  lU'rtinulu  Islands  to 
iiifliinoiul,  Va.,  as  early  as  I'On. 

Tliu  subject  of  this  sketch  was  prejjared  for  col- 
lege at  Edgefield,  S.  C,  and  received  his  siij)ple- 
mentary  edtication  at  the  University  of  North 
t'aroliiKi.  In  early  life  he  engaged  in  cotton 
planting  in  Lawrence  County,  Ala.,  extending  his 
l)lanting  interests  into  Arkansas,  where  in  DeShay 
County,  on  the  Arkansas  Kiver,  he  is  tiie  owner 
of  an  immense  i)lantation  which  annually  yields 
him  many  bales  of  the  fibrous  fabric.  lie  also 
owns  and  manages  the  old  homestead  in  Lawrence 
County,  one  of  the  finest  plantations  in  the  Ten- 
nessee Valley.  As  was  his  father,  in  his  lifetime, 
Colonel  Sherrod  before  the  war  was  one  of  the 
most  extensive  planters  and  slave-owners  in  North- 
ern Alabama.  He  represented  [jawrence  County 
in  the  Legislature,  sessions  of  IS-")'.'  and  liSOO,  and 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Charleston  Convention  of 
the  latter  year.  In  the  Legislature  he  was  a 
I'nion  man,  and  distinguished  as  one  of  the  three 
members  that  refused  to  sign  the  ordinance  of  seces- 
sion. In  the  Charleston  Convention  he  supported 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  as  he  did  at  Baltimore, 
wjiere  he  was  also  a  delegate.  Notwithstanding 
his  opposition  to  secession,  after  his  State  with- 
drew from  the  Federal  Union,  he,  as  did  every 
other  true  man,  espoused  the  cause  of  the  South, 
and  at  once  volunteered  his  services  in  her 
defense,  lie  was  appointed  Captain  of  Commis- 
sary for  Patterson's  Brigade  of  Cavalry,  and  was 
connected  with  the  service  from  the  first  to  the 
last,  participating  in  many  hotly-contested  battles 
in  Alabama  and  other  Gulf  States.  At  the  close 
of  the  war,  he  returned  to  Lawience  County  and 
to  cotton  planting,  and  spent  his  time  thereat 
until  18S(i.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Forty-first 
United  States  Congress,  and  had  charge  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railway  Bill,  and  conducted  it 
to  its  final  passage.  During  his  term  in  Congress, 
the  records  show  that  he  devoted  his  time  and  his 
talents  to  the  advancement  of  internal  improve- 
ments, to  the  exclusion  of  political  discussion;  and 
the  history  of  legislation  during  that  period  attests 
the  fact  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  useful  mem- 
bers of  that  body. 

In  1.S79  he  represented  the  Second  Senatorial 
District  in  the  upper  house  of  the  State  Legisla- 
ture, and  as  a  member  of  the  Finance  Committee 
assisted  in  framing  the  revenue  bill  that  piloted 
the  .State  out  of  its  indebtedness.  He  came  to 
Florence  in  June,  188^!,  for  the  purpose  of  school- 


ing his  children,  and  in  June,  1886,  in  connection 
with  the  Hon.  \V.  B.  Wood,  formulated  the  idea 
of  the  Florence  "  boom."  He  was  one  of  the 
originators  of  the  Florence  Land,  Mining,  etc. 
Co.;  of  the  W.  B.  Wood  Furnace  Co.,  of 
which  he  is  vice-president;  also  of  the  Florence 
Coal,  Coke  and  Iron  Co.;  of  the  Florence, 
Tuscaloosa  &  Montgomery  Railroad  Co.;  of  the 
Tennessee  &  .\labama  Railway;  the  Alabama, 
Florence  &  Cincinnati  Railway;  the  Florence 
&  St.  Louis  Railway,  in  all  of  which  he  is  of  the 
several  boards  of  directors. 

To  recur  to  his  Congressional  record,  we  find 
that  the  Southern  Pacific  Railway  bill  was  turned 
over  to  him  after  it  had  been  abandoned  by  all 
others,  and  that  it  was  placed  in  his  hands  at  the 
special  request  of  General  Fremont. 

Colonel  Sherrod  knew  almost  intimately  every 
leading  man  in  the  Forty-first  Congress,  and  was 
upon  terms  of  amity  with  them  without  regard  to 
politics.  To  his  credit,  it  may  be  said  that  he  had 
at  all  times  labored  to  promote  aiid  rebuild  the 
country  and  that  he  participated  not  in  political 
dissensions. 

He  was  married  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  October 
21,  18G(i,  to  Miss  Amanda  Morgan,  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  Samuel  D.  Morgan,  whose 
body  lies  in  the  Capitol  by  order  of  the  Legisla- 
ture. Colonel  Sherrod's  five  sons  are:  Charles 
Morgan,  a  lawyer;  William  C,  a  planter;  St.  Clair 
il.,  in  the  iron  business;  Benjamin  and  Eugene, 
students;  and  his  two  daughters  are  named  Lilian 
atul  Lucille. 


WILLIAM  M.  JACKSON  was  born  in  Lauder- 
dale County,  this  State,  June  I'.t,  1824.  His 
parents  were  .James  and  Sarah  (Moore)  Jackson, 
the  former  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  the  latter  of 
the  State  of  North  Carolina.  Mrs.  Jackson  was 
a  great-granddaughter  of  the  celebrated  James 
Moore,  who,  in  his  lifetime,  filled  the  oHices  of 
governor,  at  different  times,  of  the  colonies  of 
both  North  and  South  Carolina. 

.lames  Jackson  came  to  this  county  from  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  in  18llt,  and  here  followed  planting 
and  stock  breeding  the  rest  of  his  life,  dying  in 
1840,  at  the  age  of  .")8  years. 

He  was  a  Whig  in  politics,  rej)resented  this 
county  several  terms  in  the  Legislature,  and  the 
district  two  or  three  times  in  the  State  Senate, 
of  which  he  was  twice  president.     He  w;is  one  of 


310 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  pioneers  of  Lauderdale.  In  fact,  he  was  oue 
of  the  company  of  five  that  composed  tlie  very 
first  settlers  of  the  county. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
University  of  Xorth  Carolina,  and  subsequently 
studied  law  at  Transylvania  University,  Lexing- 
ton, Ky.  Since  1848  up  to  the  present  time,  he 
has  been  interested  in  cotton  planting,  both  in 
Alabama  and  Arkansas.  He  has  made  his  home 
in  Florence  since  1875. 

He  was  the  representative  to  the  Legislature 
from  Franklin  County,  session  of  ISoT;  was  in 
the  Senate  from  18.59  to  1865;  and  was  a  mem- 
ber until  the  time  of  the  military  government. 
He  has  always  taken  an  active  interest  in  jjolitics, 
is  a  good  Democrat,  and  has  represented  his  party 
many  times  as  delegate  to  the  various  State  and 
Congressional  Conventions.  He  is  at  present 
living  in  virtual  retirement,  though  discharging 
the  duties  of  Notary  Public. 

He  was  married  in  Franklin  County  (now  Col- 
bert) in  1840,  to  Miss  Thirmuthies  McKiernan, 
daughter  of  Maj.  Bernard  ilcKiernan,  an  exten- 
sive planter  of  Colbert. 

Mr.  Jackson's  sons,  James,  Thomas  H.  and  B. 
M.  are  all  attorneys-at-law. 


first-class  and  rapidly  increasing  practice.  He  is 
regarded  as  a  skillful,  careful  and  reliable  phys- 
ician, and  is  a  man  with  encouraging  prospects. 


LEONARD  W.  ARNOLD,  M.  D.,  Piiysician 
and  Surgeon,  Florence,  Ala.,  native  of  Boyd 
County,  Ky.,  son  of  Dr.  Andrew  and  Martha 
J.  (Dupuy)  Arnold,  natives  of  the  States  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Kentucky,  and  of  Scotch  and  L-ish 
extraction,  res2iectively,  was  born  October  17, 185"2. 
He  was  educated  at  Ashland  Academy,  Ashland, 
Ky.,  at  the  Kentucky  University,  and  graduated 
from  Vanderbilt  University  in  1880  as  a  Doctor  of 
Medicine.  Coming  into  Alabama  immediately 
after  leaving  college,  he  located  at  Gravelly 
Springs,  Lauderdale  County,  where  he  entered  at 
once  into  a  successful  practice.  That  he  might 
be  nearer  to  schools  for  his  children,  he  removed 
into  Florence  in  January,  1887,  and  permanently 
located. 

He  was  married  in  this  county,  March  17, 
1884,  to  Mits  Cornelia  Darby,  and  has  had  born 
to  him  two  children.  The  family  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Ejiiscopal  Church,  and  the 
Doctor  is  a  Mason. 

Though  comparatively  a  stranger  in  this  part  of 
the  county,  Dr.  Arnold  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  a 


WILLIAM  M.  PRICE,  A.M.,  M.D.,  son  of  James 
B.  and  Frances  (Mason)  Price,  natives  of  Tennes- 
see and  Virginia,  and  of  Scotch-Irish  and  English 
extraction,  respectively,  was  born  near  Florence, 
June  3,  1837. 

The  senior  Mr.  Price  who  was  a  farmer  during 
his  lifetime,  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Lau- 
derdale County,  married  here,  reared  his  family  of 
four  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  here  died  in  1883, 
at  the  age  of  78  years. 

"William  JI.  Price  took  his  Baccalaureate  at  the 
Florence  Wesleyan  University,  class  of  18.57,  and 
received  the  degree  of  M.  A.  from  that  institution 
in  1800.  As  Doctor  of  Medicine  he  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Nashville  in  1805,  and  be- 
gan the  jiractice  at  Bayley  Springs,  Lauderdale 
County,  immediately  after  leaving  college,  and  was 
there  until  his  coming  to  Florence  in  1879.  He 
entered  the  army,  in  186"2,  as  a  private  and  served 
one  year,  most  of  the  time  on  detail  in  the  surgeon's 
office.  It  was  probably  while  in  this  department 
that  he  conceived  the  idea  of,  and  determined  up- 
on, the  profession  of  medicine. 

Dr.  Price  was  married  at  Corinth,  Miss.,  in  1858, 
to  Miss  JLirtha  J.  Fort.  She  died  in  1863,  leav- 
ing one  son,  now  Dr.  Percy  I.  Price,  at  Florence. 
The  Doctor's  second  marriage  occurred  in  Maury 
County,  Tenn.,  September  12,  1865,  when  he  led 
to  the  altar  Miss  Nannie  Henderson.  To  this 
marriage  are  eight  children  born. 

Dr.  Price  probably  stands  at  the  head  of  the 
medical  profession  in  Lauderdale  County.  He  is 
a  memberof  the  State  Medical  Society,  president 
of  the  Lauderdale  Medical  Society,  chairman  of 
the  County  Board  of  Censors,  a  Knight  of  Honor, 
and  a  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church. 

WILLIAM  E.  HARAWAY,  M.  D.,  was  born 
in  (;iles  County,  Tenn.,  January  rlh,  1817  ; 
received  his  primary  education  in  the  common 
schools  ;  read  medicine  under  Dr.  Kyle,  at  Rog- 
ersville,  Ala.,  and  began  practice  in  Limestone 
County  when  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age. 
At  the  end  of  one  year  he  removed   to  his  native 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


311 


county  ;  practiced  there  two  years,  coming  tiience 
back  to  liogersville,  where  he  devoted  his  time 
and  talents  to  the  practice  of  liis  profession  for 
thirty  jears.  In  1880,  lie  retired  from  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine,  moved  into  Florence,  and  was 
elected  Judge  of  the  Probate  t'ourt,  and  held  the 
oftice  one  term. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Doctor  Ilaraway 
volunteered  as  a  soldier,  but  being  the  only  l)hysi- 
cian  in  the  neighborhood  where  he  lived,  the  people 
entered  such  an  universal  protest  against  his  leav- 
ing, that  he  was  compelled  to  remain  at  home. 

The  Doctor  is  a  public-spirited  man,  fully 
abreiist  of  tiie  tide  of  modern  progress.  lie  is  at 
jiresent  largely  interested  with  other  gentlemen  in 
the  organization  and  construction  of  an  important 
line  of  railway.  lie  was  married  at  Fort  Hamp- 
ton, Limestone  County.  December  4.  1844.  to 
Eliza  C.  Bonner. 

The  Doctor  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Nancy 
(Williamson)  Haraway,  natives  of  Virginia,  and 
descendants  from  Scotch  ancestry.  He  is  a  self- 
made  man  and  his  present  ample  fortune  is  the 
result  of  his  individual  ctfort  and    industry. 

■    ■'>-{^^"<'-    • 

WILLIAM  BASIL  WOOD.  President  of  the  Flor- 
ence Land.  Mining  i^  .Manufacturing  Company, 
of  the  \V.  Ji.  \\  ood  Furnace  Company,  of  the 
Charcoal  &  Chemical  Company,  of  the  Florence, 
Tuscaloosa  &  Montgomery  Railroad  C'omi)any, 
of  the  Florence  &  Chicago  Railroad  Company, 
and  Secretary  of  the  Alabama  Improvement  Com- 
l)any,  was  born  at  Nashville.  Tenn.,  October  :{1, 
18'^(i.  His  parents  were  Alexander  II.  and  Mary 
H  (Evans)  Wood — his  father  a  native  of  \'irginia, 
his  mother  of  England. 

Wni.  V>.  Wood's  paternal  grandfather  was  secre- 
tary to  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  liad  commanded 
troops  in  the  Colonial  army:  his  father  was  an  of- 
ficer in  the  War  of  1812.  Upon  his  mother's  side, 
his  grandfather  Evans  was  a  colonel  in  the  British 
army,  hut  after  the  declaration  of  peace  he  chose 
to  return  to  this  side  of  the  water  and  cast  his  lot 
with  the  "  Rebels." 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  La 
Grange  College,  Franklin  County:  read  law  under 
.ludge  Coleman  (afterward  of  the  Supremebench): 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Florence  in  184:J;  be- 
gan the  i>ractice  of  law  at  once,  and  in  1S44,  was 
elected  Judge  of  Lauderdale  County  Court.   While 


in  the  army  in  1862,  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the 
Circuit  Court,  and  in  IsUtJ  was  re-elected,  and  co- 
pied the  bench  until  18.S0,  except  during  the  re- 
construction period.  In  August,  1801,  he  was 
elected  colonel  of  the  Si.xleenth  Alabama  Infantry; 
in  fact,  he  raised  that  regiment  and  organized  it 
at  Courtland,  became  its  colonel  and  commanded 
it  for  nearly  two  years. 

In  ISfiij  he  was  transferred  to  the  army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  appointed  by  Mr.  Davis, 
president  judge  of  the  Military  Court  of  the  First 
Army  Corps,  and  was  there  to  the  close  of  the 
war.  As  colonel,  he  jjarticipated  in  the  battle  of 
Fishing  Creek,  Ky.,  where  Zollicort'er  was  killed, 
lie  was  also  at  Triune,  Tenn.,  Murfreesboro,  and 
his  regiment  was  at  Shiloh  and  all  the  battles  of 
the  Army  of  Tennessee.  At  the  close  of  the  war 
he  returned  to  Florence,  and,  as  we  have  before 
seen,  presided  over  the  Circuit  Court  of  his  dis- 
trict. Prior  to  the  war  Mr.  Wood,  in  addition  to 
his  professional  duties,  was  largely  interested  in 
various  other  enterprises.  Hewasengaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  woolens;  was  interested  in  the 
steamboat  business:  was  principal  owner  and  con- 
trolled a  line  of  steamers  which  plied  the  Tennes- 
see, Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers.  lie  was  also  in 
the  steamboat  business  after  the  war.  His  com- 
pany built  the  "  Rapidan "  in  18G8,  and  the 
"Florence  Lee"  in  1870.  He  also  owned  the 
'•James  R.,"  built  the  '•  Sallie  AVood  "  and  the 
'•  William  Dickson,"  and  retired  Jully  from  steam- 
boat business  not  until  187G.  In  1882  he  began 
turning  his  attention  to  railroads.  lie  was  one  of 
the  organizers  of  the  Indiana,  Alabama  & 
Texas  Railway,  now  completed  between  Clarks- 
ville,  Tenn.,  and  Princeton,  Ky.,  and  was  its 
vice-president.  He  was  also  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  Birmingham  &  Tennessee  Railroad,  now 
known  as  the  Sheftield  &  Birmingham.  He  or- 
ganized the  Alabama  and  Tennessee  Railroad, 
and  sold  it  to  the  Nashville,  Florence  &  Sheffield 
Comjiany.  This  line  is  now  being  constructed  by 
the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad  Company. 
November  2'.i.  188t>,  as  one  of  the  organizers  of 
of  the  F'lorence  Land.  Jlining  and  Manufacturing 
Company,  he  was  made  president,  and  re-elected 
in  November,  1888. 

Judge  Wood  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
co])al  Church,  a  Master  Mason,  R.  A.  and  Knight 
Temjilar,  and  in  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows  was  (Ji-and  Master  of  the  State  two  years 
(180'.i-7O). 


313 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  originated  the  idea,  and  raised  the  subscrip- 
tion for,  the  Florence  Wesleyan  University  (now 
the  State  Normal  College):  gave  liberally  to  it 
himself,  and  was  for  some  years  president  of  its 
Board  of  Trustees.  Its  endowment  being  ex- 
hausted at  the  end  of  the  war,  he  succeeded  in 
having  it  sold  to  the  State,  and  it  was  converted 
into  the  State  Normal  Scliooi,  with  which  Judge 
Wood  has  been  since  officially  identified. 

Away  back  in  ]844,  he  organized  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Sunday-school,  to  which  he  has  since 
given  particular  attention  and  devoted  much  time 
and  money.  That  he  has  since  its  organization 
been  its  superintendent,  teacher  and  regular  at- 
tendant, he  says  he  "  regards  as  the  proudest 
achievement  of  his  life."'  He  has  been  steward  and 
trustee  in  his  church  since  1840.  He  organized 
the  Sunday-school  two  years  before  he  became  a 
member  of  the  church. 

He  was  married  April  21,  1843,  to  Sarah  B. 
Leftwich,  a  daughter  of  Major  Leftwich,  of  Vir- 
ginia. 


WILLIAM  P.  CAMPBELL,  Banker,  was  born 
in  the  County  Donegal,  Ireland,  December  3, 
184"2,  and  came  with  his  parents,  four  brothers 
and  two  sisters  to  America  in  1851.  The  family 
located  upon  a  farm  near  Franklin,  Tenn.,  and 
there  the  two  old  people  spent  the  lest  of  their 
lives.  The  oldest  son,  Joseph  L.,  color-bearer  of 
the  First  Tennessee  Infantry,  was  killed  at 
Chickamauga,  and  a  portrait  of  him  forms  the 
frontispiece  in  a  recently  ])ublished  history  of 
Tennessee. 

Wm.  P.  Campbell  was  educated  at  Franklin, 
Tenn.,  became  a  clerk  in  a  dry  goods  house  at 
Nashville  when  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  came  to 
Florence  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  September  1, 
1862,  he  entered  the  Confederate  service  as  a  pri- 
vate in  Company  F,  Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry, 
and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  participating 
in  all  the  engagements  for  which  the  Fourth  Reg- 
iment is  somewhat  famous  in  history.  He  was 
captured  at  Selma  in  April,  1805,  by  Wilson's 
Cavalry;  escaped,  rejoined  his  command,  and  sur- 
rendered finally  at  Wheeler's  Station.  Upon  his 
return  to  Florence  he  arrived  at  the  south  side  of 
the  Tennessee  River,  the  possessor  of  but  one 
dollar  in  the  world,  and  this  he  gave  to  the  ferryman 
to  carry  him  over.  To  his  best  friend,  Mr.  I.  W. 
McAlester,  he  was  indebted  for  clothes  and  money 


furnished  while  in  the  army.  So  if  the  roadto 
ultimate  prosperity  appeared  to  young  Campbell 
as  one  of  great  length,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at.  He  went  at  once  into  the  store  of  McAlester 
&  Ervine  and  clerked  for  them  six  years,  applying 
his  net  earnings  to  the  li(|uidation  of  his  war- 
time indebtedness.  In  1872,  he  engaged  in  the 
dry  goods  business  for  himself,  and,  \\\  1880,  organ- 
ized the  banking  house  of  W.  P.  Campbell  &  Co., 
in  the  mana.;emeut  of  whied  he  has  made  money 
and  reputation  as  a  financier.  He  is  largely  inter- 
ested in  agriculture  and  manufacturing:  is  treas- 
urer of  the  Florence  Land  Company,  president  of 
the  Florence  Compress  Company,  a  member  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  an  elder  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Campbells 
started  in  life  minus  the  advantages  of  wealth,  it 
appears  that  they  have  all  succeeded  reasonably 
well.  One  of  the  brothers,  John,  is  connected 
with  the  Nashville  Cotton-Seed  Oil  Company,  at 
Nashville;  Andrew  is  cashier  of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Natchez,  Miss.,  and  Patrick  is  a  prosper- 
ous merchant  in  the  capital  city  of  Tennessee. 

William  P.  Campbell  was  first  married  in  Flor- 
ence to  Miss  Sarah  Andrews,  in  1871.  She  died 
in  January,  1877,  leaving  one  child,  Sarah. 

January  20,  1886,  Mr.  Campbell  led  to  the  altar 
the  beautiful  and  accomplished  daughter  of  Capt. 
Alexander  D.  Coffee  and  the  granddaughter  of 
the  famous  Gen.  John  Coffee. 

CHARLES  HAYS  PATTON,  Banker,  Florence, 
Ala.,  son  of  ex-Governor  Robert  M.  Patton 
was  born  at  Sweet  Water,  near  Florence,  Ala., 
April  8,  1850,  and  was  educated,  primarily,  at 
Florence,  and  subsequently  at  the  University  of 
Virginia,  graduating  also  from  Eastman's  Busi- 
ness College,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Patton  read  law  in  the  Cumberland  Uni- 
versity, Tennessee:  graduated  therefrom  June  5, 
1873;  and  practiced  law  until  1887,  In  June  of 
this  year,  he  organized  the  banking  house  of 
Patton  &  Co.,  and  is  at  this  writing  (1888)  giving 
this  financial  institution  his  special  attention. 

He  represented  Lauderdale  County  in  the  Legis- 
lature (session  of  1880-1),  and  jn-oved  himself  a 
highly  useful  member. 

He  was  married  at  Florence,  December  27, 
1882,  to  a  daughter  of  Judge  R.  0.  Pickett. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


313 


Mr.  Piitton  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  o{ 
IIoiioi-,  the  Knights  and  Ladiesof  Honor,  director 
and  secretary  of  the  Synodical  Female  College, 
and  a  deacon  in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

HENRY  C.  WOOD.  Secretary  of  the  Florence 
Lund,  Mining  and  .Manufacturing  Company,  Flor- 
ence, .Ala.,  was  born  at  this  place  February  5,  1S31, 
and  is  a  son  of  .Vlexander  II.  and  Mary  E.  (Evans) 
Wood.     [See  W.  B.  Wood,  tliis  volume.] 

He  was  educated  at  LaGrange,  Ky.,  and  St. 
Joseph  College,  Hardstown,  Ky.  In  1850,  he  en- 
gaged in  the  drug  business  at  Florence  and  followed 
it  until  .\pril.  1S61,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Flor- 
ence (iuard^:  was  made  orderly  sergeant;  went- 
at  once  to  Fort  Morgan, and  joined  General  Hardee. 
He  served  over  four  years,  leaving  the  army  with 
the  rank  of  major.  He  was  promoted  to  lieutenant 
in  August,  1861,  and  was  acting  adjutant  of  the 
Si.xteenth  Alabama  when  assigned  as  aide-de-camp 
to  General  Wood  in  February,  18(;-2.  He  was  on 
the  staff  of  (ieneral  Wood  in  18(i;},  when  in  Janu- 
ary of  that  year,  he  was  promoted  to  major  and 
made  brigade-commissary.  He  surrendered  at 
(ireeensboro,  N.  C,  under  (ien.  Joe  Johnson, 
returned  to  Florence  at  the  end  of  the  war, 
and  engaged  in  mercantile  business.  At  the  end 
of  four  years  he  sold  out  and,  from  that  time  up 
to  the  organization  of  the  company  with  which  he 
is  now  connected,  was  in  the  cotton  and  insurance 
business.  He  was  married  at  Richmond,  \'a., 
October  !»,  1857,  to  Miss  Sallie  Shepard,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  two  sons  and  three  daughters. 
The  eldest  son  is  a  civil  engineer.  The  family 
are  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  Major 
Wood  is  a  member  of  the  I.«gion  of  Honor. 


invested  |i-.J0.000  in  a  cotton  factory.  It  was 
destroyed  in  1865  by  Wilson's  Cavalry,  and  with 
it  TOO  bales  of  cotton.  For  the  succeeding  six  or 
seven  years  he  purchased  cotton  at  Florence  for 
Eastern  dealers,  and  discovered  thereat  such  fa- 
cility that  he  was  employed  regularly  thereafter 
by  one  of  the  largest  cotton  houses  in  the  United 
States  as  an  expert  cotton  crop  statistician,  the 
only  man  employed  in  such  specialty  in  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Kirkman's  jiarents  were  Thomas  and  Eliza- 
beth (Mc('ulloch)  Kirkman,  the  former  a  native 
of  Irelaiul  and  the  latter  of  Tennessee. 

The  senior  Mr.  Kirkman  came  to  Florence  in 
1821;  here  carried  on  the  dry  goods  business  for 
upward  of  forty  years,  and  died  in  1864  at  the 
age  of  sixty-four  years.  He  reared  five  sons  to 
manhood,  four  of  whom  served  in  the  Confederate 
Army  during  the  late  war.  Mr.  Kirkman  was  a 
polished  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  a  careful, 
systematic,  business  man,  and  enjoyed  the  confi- 
dence and  respect  of  the  community.  He  gave 
particular  attention  to  the  education  of  his  chil- 
dren, and  placed  them  in  the  front  rank  of  social 
respectability. 

Samuel  Kirkman  was  probably  one  of  the  young- 
est men  that  ever  graduated  from  Harvard,  and  is 
to-day  regarded  as  one  of  the  shrewdest  business 
men  in  Northern  Alabama. 

He  was  married  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  in  1858, 
to  a  daughter  of  Mr.  James  AVoods.  She  died  in 
1865,  leaving  two  daughters,  the  eldest  now  the 
accomplished  wife  of  Mr.  Emmet  O'Neal,  a  brill- 
iant young  attorney  at  Florence. 

Mr.  Kirkman  has  been  for  fifteen  years  a  direc- 
tor in  the  Female  Synodical  College  of  Florence. 


SAMUEL  KIRKMAN  was  born  at  Florence, 
Ala.,  in  18:)"2.  and  was  educated  at  the  common 
schools,  primarily,  graduating  from  Harvard  Uni- 
versity when  eighteen  years  of  age,  the  youngest 
man  to  enter  thesenior  class  from  common  schools. 
Leaving  Harvard,  he  returned  to  Horence  and 
clerked  in  the  store  of  his  father  two  years:  going 
thence  to  St.  I.ouis,  where  he  established  a  com- 
mission house,  under  the  style  and  tirm  name  of 
Kirkmati  &  Luke.  At  the  end  of  eight  years  lie 
returned  to  Florence,  and  at  TusaJoosa,  in  18til, 


JOHN  H.  YOUNG.  Cotton  Broker,  native  of 
r>auderdale  County,  was  born  March  22,.  1848. 
His  father,  Wm.  B.  Young,  came  from  Tennes- 
see, and  is  now  a  farmer  in   this  county. 

John  H.  Y'oung  spent  the  first  twenty-one  years 
of  his  life  upon  his  father's  farm,  receiving  in 
the  meantime,  a  good  common-school  education. 
In  the  latter  part  of  1868,  as  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Rice  &  Y^oung,  he  embarked  in  mer- 
cantile business  at  Florence.  Mr.  Rice  retired 
from  the  firm  in  a  short  time,  and  was  succeeded 
by  a  brother  of  Mr.  Young.  At  tlie  end  of 
about  three  years,  they  gave  up  mercantile  busi- 


314 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ness,  and  Mr.  Young  engaged  at  once  as  a  cotton 
merchant.  He  is  at  present  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Embry,  Son  &  Young,  man- 
ufacturers of  cotton  yarns.  Their  mills 
are  located  seven  miles  north  of  Florence, 
upon  tlie  waters  of  Cypress  Creek,  and  have  a 
capacity  of  about  3,500  spindles. 

Mr.  Young  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors of  the  State  Normal  College  from  1884 
up  to  June,  1887,  at  which  time  tlie  school,  hav- 
ing been  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  delocalized, 
he  retired. 

He  was  married  at  Florence,  in  1870,  to  Miss 
Ella  Holt,  who  died  in  1881,  leaving  five  children, 
one  of  whom  has  since  died.  His  second  marri- 
age occurred  in  June,  1885,  at  Florence.  Ala.,  with 
Miss  I3e  LaTre  Bradley,  daughter  of  the  late  Dr. 
Jerry  Bradley.  To  this  union  two  children  have 
been  born. 

Mr.  Young  is  purely  a  self-made  man  ;  without 
the  advantages  of  pecuniary  inheritance,  he  has 
succeeded  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and 
in  establishing  a  most  enviable  name  and  reputa- 
tion as  a  citizen. 


SAMUEL  D.  WEAKLEY,  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  Florence,  is  a  native  of  Davidson  County,  Tenn., 
and  was  born  October  2,  1812. 

His  parents,  Samuel  and  Sarah  ( Vaughan)  Weak- 
ley, were  natives  of  Halifax  County,  Va.,  and  de- 
scended from  Irish  and  Welsh  parentage.  The 
senior  Mr.  Weakley  was  a  planter  and  surveyor 
during  his  life,  and  died  in  1833,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five  years.  Of  his  four  sons  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  is  the  youngest.  He  was  educated  at 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  came  to  Florence  in  1831, 
where  an  elder  brother,  James  H.  Weakley,  Sur- 
veyor-fxeneral  of   Alabama,  then   resided. 

Samuel  D.  Weakley  was  then  aboixt  twenty  years 
of  age.  He  had  learned  surveying  under  his  father, 
and  at  once,  upon  coming  into  Alabama,  took  a 
position  in  the  office  of  his  brother.  He  spent 
about  ten  years  re-tracing  old  survey  field-notes 
which  had  been  largely  obliterated  by  fire.  In 
1849,  in  company  with  James  Martin  and  others, 
he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton  goods 
and  yarns  near  Florence.  In  the  spring  of  1861 
he  was  elected  major-general  of  militia,  a  posi- 
tion he  held  about  one  year  and   a  half,  when. 


the  act  of  conscription  having  placed  every  able- 
bodied  man  from  seventeen  to  fifty  years  of  age 
in  the  army  and  leaving  him  nobody  to  command, 
he  resigned.  Early  in  his  life  he  was  a  lieuten- 
ant-colonel in  a  State  regiment,  so,  at  the  time  of 
his  appointment  as  major-general,  he  possessed 
more  than  ordinary  knowledge  of  military  affairs. 
Up  to  1803  (ieneral  Weakley  was  an  active  busi- 
ness man,  interested  largely  in  railroads  and  steam- 
boats, but  since  that  date  he  has  been  living  in 
virtual  retirement.  He  was  married  in  Lauder- 
dale County,  in  1836,  to  Miss  Eliza  B.  Bedford, 
a  daughter  of  the  late  John  R.  Bedford,  and  they 
have  reared  one  son  and  five  daughters. 


JAMES  HARVEY  WEAKLEY  was  born  in 
Halifax  C'ounty,  Va.,  in  17'J8,  and  was  brought  by 
his  parents  to  Davidson  County,  Tenn.,  in  1799. 
He  was  educated  at  the  Cumberland  University, 
and,  in  1817,  appointed  by  Gen.  John  Coffee 
surveyor  of  public  lands  of  Alabama.  General 
Coffee  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Samuel 
Weakley,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch. 

James  H.  Weakley's  first  position  in  the  sur- 
veyor-general's office,  then  located  at  Iliintsville, 
was  that  of  chief  clerk,  and  he  remained  in  that 
capacity  until  the  death  of  General  Coffee,  in 
1833.  when  he  was  immediately  appointed  by 
Andrew  Jackson  as  the  successor  of  his  late 
chief. 

Mr.  Weakley  remained  surveyor-general  of  pub- 
lic lands  until  that  office  was  abolished  in  1851  by 
an  Act  of  Congress.  He  then  at  once  embarked 
in  cotton  commission  business  at  New  Orleans, 
and  remained  there  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  died 
in  1856. 

To  his  many  friends  and  associates,  James  H. 
Weakley  was  known  as  "Judge,"  a  title  pecu- 
liarly appropriate  to  his  quiet  dignity  of  manner 
and  to  his  exemplary  character.  He  married  at 
Huntsville,  Ala.,  in  1830,  Ellen  M.  Donegan,  a 
a  native  of  the  city  of  Cork,  Ireland.  She  came 
to  America  with  her  brother,  and  spent  some 
time  with  a  relative  in  Baltimore,  and  afterward 
visited  Huntsville,  where  she  first  met  Mr. 
Weakley.  After  Mr.  Weakley's  death  she  removed 
to  Nashville,  and  spent  the  rest  of  her  life  at 
the  Convent  Academy  of  St.  Cecilia. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


315 


REV.  MARTIN  LUTHER    FRIERSON,  Pastor 

of  tlie  Florence  rresliytoriim  Cliurcii.  and  Profes- 
sor of  Knglisli  in  the  State  Normal  School  at  this 
jilaee.  was  born  in  Williamsburg  County.  S.  C, 
May  fi,  l>s:i8.  llis  j>arents  were  Daniel  and  Jane 
(.Mcintosh)  Frierson,  natives  of  South  Carolina, 
juul  of  Irish  and  Scotch  extraction,  respectively. 

Jlr.  Fiierson,  of  this  sketch,  received  his  acad- 
emic education  at  the  famous  Mt.  Zion  School, 
taught  by  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Beman,  I).  1).,  at  Mt. 
Zion,  Ga.,  and  subsequently  graduated  from  Ogle- 
thorpe I'niversity,  near  Milledgeville.  From  Ogle- 
thorpe, he  entered  the  Ninth  South  I'arolina  Kegi- 
■  inent  of  Infantry,  C.  S.  A.  The  Ninth  Regiment 
being  disbanded  in  1802,  he  entered  the  Fourth 
South  Carolina  Cavalry,  with  which  he  surrendered 
nt  Greensboro,  X.  C.  While  with  the  Ninth,  he 
participated  in  all  the  battles  fought  by  Long- 
street;  in  the  Fourth,  he  was  under  General  But- 
ler. At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  his 
native  county,  studied  law,  came  into  Alabama  in 
18<5!),  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Lawrence 
County  in  1870.  For  the  four  succeeding  years 
he  devoted  his  time  to  the  practice  of  law,  and,  in 
1ST4,  entered  the  Presbyterian  ministry,  taking 
charge  of  a  group  of  churches  comprising  Deca- 
tur, Somerville  and  Fairview,  all  in  Morgan 
County.  He  preached  at  those  places  about  one 
year,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  professorship  of 
English  language  and  literature  in  the  State  Nor- 
mal School  at   Florence. 

In  187T  Mr.  Frierson  succeeded  his  brother,  the 
Iiev.  E.  0.  Frierson  as  pastor  of  the  Florence 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  has  since  devoted  his 
time  to  the  Church  and  the  interests  of  education. 

While  a  resident  of  Lawrence  County,  Mr.  Frier- 
son established  the  Courtland  A>«'«  (1872),  which 
paper,  at  tiie  end  of  one  year,  he  removed  to  Deca- 
tur, and  there  published  it  as  Tlie  Keii'K  for  two 
succeeding  years, — and  it  is  written  of  him,  that 
'•  he  made  it  a  red-hot  political  jjaper. "' 

Since  going  into  the  ministry,  he  has  had 
nothing  to  do  with  politics.  In  .Vpril,  1888,  he 
was  elected  to  the  presidency  of  the  Florence  Syn- 
odical  Female  College. 

He  was  married  in  Williamsburg  County,  S.  C, 
August  21,  1862.  to  Miss  Margaret  Gordon,  and 
of  the  nine  cliildren  born  to  this  union,  we  quote 
the  following  :  The  eldest,  John  G.,  is  a  practic- 
ing physician  of  much  promise  at  Florence  ;  the 
second.  Daniel  Irving,  died  in  February,  1872,  at 
the  age  of  five  years  :  the  third,  William  Rogers, 


died  February,  1870,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  months, 
and  the  rest  :ire  named,  respectively,  Sarah  Camilla, 
Danella  Isidora,  Jane  Mcintosh,  Louise  .Margaret, 
Lucy  II.  and  Martin  Luther,  .Ir. 

JAMES  K.  POWERS,  A.M.,  Professor  of  Math- 
ematics.State  .Normal  College,  Florence,  Ala., was 
born  in  Lauderdale  County,  August  15,  1851.  He 
was  educated  at  Florence  Wesleyan  University,  in 
which  institution  he  was  a  tutor  in  1870-71,  and 
was  graduated  from  the  State  C^niversityjn  1873, 
receiving  therefrom  the  degree  of  A.M.  He  was 
appointed  to  his  present  position  in  the  Normal 
College  immediately  upon  his  graduation  from 
the  University;  accepted  the  place,  and  has  since 
discharged  the  duties  incumbent  upon  him  with 
much  credit  to  himself  and  to  the  highest  satis- 
faction of  the  many  patrons  of  this  most  popular 
school. 

He  was  appointed  County  Superintendent  of 
Education  in  188.5,  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term 
of  a  late  defaulting  incumbent  of  that  office. 

Professor  Powers  is  devoted  to  education.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
a  Knight  of  Pythias,  and  present  (!rand  Dictator 
for  the  State  in  the  order  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor. 

lie  was  married  January  30,  1870,  at  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  to  Miss  Lulu  Reynolds,  of  Giles  County, 
that  State,  and  the  daughter  of  the  late  Calvin 
A.  Reynolds. 

JOSEPH  C.  CONNER,  D.D.S.,  General  Admin- 
istrator of  the  County  of  Lauderdale,  was  born  in 
Owen  County,  Ky.,  March  !»,  1838,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Elkton,  in  his  native  State. 

He  began  the  drug  business  in  Nashville  in  1852, 
and  there  read  medicine,  attended  lectures,  and 
studied  dentistry.  He  began  the  practice  of  den- 
tal surgery  in  185'.i,  and  in  18(Jl,came  to  Florence. 

He  entered  the  Confederate  service  as  a  non- 
commissioned officer  in  C'o.  F,  Fourth  Alabama 
Cavalry,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war.  During 
the  last  year,  he  was  acting  assistant-surgeon.  He 
was  under  (ieneral  Forrest  about  a  year  and  a  half, 
and  the  rest  of  the  time  in  the  general  cavalry 
service.  He  surrendered  at  Selma  in  18(>o,  re- 
turned to  Florence,  and  again  took  up  the  prac- 
tice of  dentistry.     He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of 


316 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  Florence  Land,  Mining  and  Manufacturing 
Co.,  and  has  been  one  of  its  board  of  directors 
from  the  first.  He  is  also  a  director  in  the  Home 
Protection  Fire  Insuraiice  Co.,  of  Huutsville  :  of 
the  Synodical  Female  College,  of  Florence  ;  of  the 
Southern  Charcoal  and  Chemical  Co.,  of  Florence  ; 
of  the  W.  B.  Wood  Furnace  Co.  ;  and  secretary 
of  the  Cypress  Mills  Co.  He  is  also  interested  in 
agriculture,  deals  extensively  in  real  estate,  and, 
altogetlier,  is  successful  in  the  accumulation  of 
valuable  property. 

He  was  married  in  Lauderdale  C'ounty  in  1870, 
to  Miss  Mary  H.  Key,  daughter  of  W.  H.  Key, 
Esq.,  a  planter  of  this  county. 


JAMES  E.  PRIDE  was  born  at  Tuscumbia.  this 
State,  July  2,  isiiv!,  and  is  the  eldest  son  of  John 
F.  and  Susan  Smith  (Barrett)  Pride,  natives  of 
North  Carolina. 

The  senior  Mr.  Pride  was  married  in  Limestone 
County,  and,  in  182"^,  settled  at  Tuscumbia,  where 
he  lived  a  great  many  years.  From  there  the  old 
gentleman  removed  to  his  present  home  at  Pride 
Station,  and  at  this  writing  (1887)  is  upward  of 
ninety-six  years  of  age.  His  wife  died  in  August, 
1885,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-two  years. 

The  Prides  came  originally  from  Wales,  and  the 
Barretts  from  France.  John  F.  Pride  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  his  father  was  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  away  back  in  the  colonial 
days.  It  is  related  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pride  that, 
for  selling  a  negro  woman  that  she  might- go  with 
her  husband,  who  was  being  carried  to  another 
part  of  the  country,  the  authorities  of  the  Jletho- 
dist  Episcopal  Church,  of  whose  ministry  he  was, 
revoked  his  license  as  preacher.  The  old  grand- 
father Barrett  was  also  a  colonial  minister,  but  of 
what  church,  the  data  is  not  at  hand.  The  Prides 
settled  first  in  Virginia,  thence  into  theCarolinas, 
from  whence,  they  came,  later,  into  Alabama.  Of 
the  seven  children  born  to  John  F.  Pride,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  we  have  the  fol- 
lowing data:  two  of  the  sons,  William  ]\I.  and  Dr. 
J.  P.,  and  a  daughter.  .Jactjuiline,  who  married  Col. 
Sam  Thompson,  reside  at  Pride  Station;  George 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Fishing  Creek,  Ky., 
where  he  participated  as  a  member  of  the  Sixteenth 
Alabama  Infantry:  when  found  his  body  lay  beside 
that  of  ZoUicoffer.  .John  F. .  Jr. .  died  in  Mississippi ; 
he  was  also  a  member  of  the   Sixteenth  Alabama 


Infantry,  and  was  a  paroled  prisoner  at  the  time  of 
his  death;  one  daughter  died  in  infancy. 

William  M.  Pride  was  a  gallant  soldier  of  the 
late  war,  and  served  under  Forrest. 

James  E.  removed  from  Tuscumbia  to  Florence 
in  1885.  He  was  married,  at  Charlotteville,  Va., 
September  10,  185f>,  to  Miss  S.  A.  Price,  a  native 
of  that  place,  and  has  had  born  to  him  five  chil- 
dren, one  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  Mr.  Pride  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

JAMES  M.  CROW,  son  of  Thomas  J.  and  Eliza- 
beth Crow,  was  born  at  Florence,  March  16, 
1836.  His  father  imigrated  to  this  place  from 
Kentucky,  in  1821,  and  resided  here  until  he 
died  in  1869.  He  was  an  honest  man  and  left 
scores  of  friends  to  mourn  his  loss.  His  mother, 
Elizabeth  Hooks,  emigrated  from  Xorth  Carolina 
to  Tennessee  in  1824,  where  she  lived  until  she 
married  his  father  in  1833.  She  died  in  1886. 
She  was  loved  and  respected  by  the  entire  com- 
munity. 

James  M.  Crow  received  his  education  at 
the  Florence  High  School.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  war,  he  was  keeping  books  for  Kice 
Brothers.  In  April,  1861,  he  entered  Company 
D,  Ninth  Alabama  Infantry,  as  second-lieutenant, 
and  surrendered  at  Appomattox  with  the  rank  of 
major.  His  first  promotion  was  to  first-lieuten- 
ant, at  Broad  Run,  Va.,in  1861,  and  at  Williams- 
burg, in  1862,  he  was  commissioned  captain  of  his 
old  company.  At  Orange  Court  House,  in  the 
fall  of  1863,  he  was  commissioned  major.  He 
participated  in. all  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness; 
at  Petersburg,  second  Manassas,  Fredericksburg, 
Gettysburg,  etc.,  and  was  wounded  in  the  Seven 
Days'  Fight  around  Richmond,  but  so  slightly  as 
to  leave  no  permanent  effect. 

Major  Crow  was  one  of  the  most  gallant  soldiers 
that  went  into  the  army  from  North  Alabama. 
At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  at  once  to 
Florence,  and  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business 
for  about  a  year.  He  then  turned  his  attention  to 
steamboating  on  the  Tennessee  River,  and  fol- 
lowed it  for  ten  or  twelve  years.  At  Saltillo, 
Tenn.,  he  was  in  the  dry  goods  business  for  a 
short  time,  but  gave  it  up  to  return  to  steamboat- 
ing. He  retired  from  the  steamboat  business  in 
1884,  and  in  1885  or  '8(1,  was  made  deputy  United 
States     marshal     under     Captain     Kellar,     with 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


317 


heailqiiarters  at  Binningliam.  From  this  position, 
;it  the  end  of  eighteen  months,  he  returned  to 
l'"lorence,  to  engage  in  real  estate  business. 

Upon  the  oonii)letion  of  the  new  Florence  Hotel, 
Major  Crow  associated  with  T.  .1.  Patty,  became  its 
first  landlord,  where  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  that 
the  traveling  public  will  find  him  in  his  element. 

He  was  married  March  31,  1807,  to  Miss  Mary 
.1.  Hrandon,  daughter  of  the  late  Washington  M. 
Brandon.  Siie  died  in  ISTS,  leaving  two  children, 
a  son  and  a  daughter,  Thomas  Wood  and  Mary  F. 
The  former.  Thomas  Wood  Crow,  graduated  from 
the  State  N'omial  College  at  Florence,  and  immedi- 
ately entered  as  a  member  of  a  civil  engineer  corps. 

The  .Major  is  a  ]\[ason,  a  member  of  the  I.  0. 
0.  F..  and  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

JAMES  HANCOCK.  Wholesalcand  Retail  <iro- 
cer,  of  the  firm  of  J.  McPeters  &  Co..  Florence, 
was  born  in  Franklin  County,  this  State,  P'ebruary 
I'l,  IS.'i'i.  His  parents,  Benjamin  and  Mary 
(Ramsey)  Hancock,  natives  of  \'irginia  and  Ten- 
nessee, respectively,  were  married  in  the  latter 
State:  came  to  Alabama,  and  lived  in  Franklin 
County  from  1827  to  the  death  of  Mrs.  Hancock, 
which  occurred  in  1864.  Mr.  Hancock  died  in 
Lauderdale  County  in  18TG,  at  the  age  of  73 years. 
They  reared  a  family  of  two  sons  and  seven 
daughters;  one  of  the  former.  Benjamin  P.,  died 
in  the  Southern  Army. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in 
Franklin  County,  where  he  grew  to  manhood  on 
his  father'.s  farm.  At  the  age  of  about  twenty-one 
years,  he  accepted  a  clerkship  in  a  mercantile  es- 
tablishment at  Knssellville,  where  he  remained 
eight  years.  At  the  end  of  this  time  he  became  a 
])artner  in  the  concern,  the  style  of  the  firm  being 
llillman  it  Hancock.  The  firm  subsequently 
carried  on  business  in  Florence  for  some  time, 
winding  up  soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 

February  4,  18ii2,  Mr.  Hancock  enlisted  in  the 
Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry,  and  served  to  tlie  close 
of  the  war.  He  went  into  the  army  an  orderly 
sergeant  aiul  came  out  with  the  rank  of  captain. 
Returning  to  Florence  in  October.  18.5."),  he  again 
engaged  in  mercantile  business,  the  firm  being 
Hancock.  Jones  &  Co.  In  1871  Mr.  Hillman 
withdrew  from  the  firm,  and  the  business  was 
continued  up  to  1870,  under  the  style  and  firm 


name  of  Hancock  &  Jones.     In  1882  he  en£ 

in  his  present  business,  having  entire  charge   of 

the  concern. 

Mr.  Hancock  was  married  at  Russellville  in  1858 
to  .Mi.ss  Pauline  Ladd.  She  died  in  1876,  leaving 
four  children,  the  oldest  of  whom,  James  W.,  is  a 
merchant  in  Memphis;  Annie  H.,  is  the  wife  of 
Mr.  F.  F.  Woods;  the  others  are  named  Kate 
Rivers  and  Pauline  Wickliffe. 

In  1881,  at  Holly  Springs,  Miss.,  Mr.  Hancock 
was  married  to  Miss  Mattie  Jackson,  of  that 
place.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  a  Freemason,  a  Knight  of  Honor,  in  which 
organization  he  is  Past  Dictator,  ami  a  member 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 

-^— •^-JS}^— ^' — — 

JOHN  M.  NORTON,  Superintendent  of  W.  B. 
Wood  Furiuicc  Company,  Florence,  was  born  in 
1844,  at  Brownsville,  Pa.  He  was  reared  at  Wheel- 
ing, W.  Va.,  whither  his  parents  removed  when  he 
was  a  child,  and  there  learned  the  trade  of  nail 
maker.  His  father,  George  W.  Norton,  was  the 
pioneer  nail  manufacturer  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  and 
was  the  first  man  to  nuiuufacture  nails  at  Wheel- 
ing. In  1803-4,  the  senior  Mr.  Norton  erected  a 
nail  mill' at  Ironton,  Ohio,  and,  in  1867,  was  the 
president  and  principal  owner  of  the  Bellfonte 
Iron  Works  at  that  place.  He  was  killed  on  the 
4th  day  of  January,  1880,  near  Callipolis.  in  the 
explosion  of  a  steamboat. 

It  was  with  the  Bellfonte  Iron  Works  that  John 
M.  Norton  first  took  lessons  as  a  furnace  builder, 
and,  in  1871, as  superintendent,  he  constructed  the 
Norton  Iron  W'orks,  at  Ashland,  Ky.,  and  subse- 
quently managed  that  establishment  six  years. 
From  Ashland  Mr.  Norton  went  to  Wheeling  as 
the  superintendent  of  the  Belmont  Furnace; 
thence,  at  the  end  of  one  year,  to  Grand  Tower, 
111.,  as  manager  of  the  Lewis  Iron  Works;  and 
from  there  to  Alabama,  where,  at  O.xmoor,  he 
superintended  the  Eureka  Company's  Blast  Fur- 
nace three  years.  Returning  to  Ohio,  he  superin- 
tended the  Jefferson  Iron  Works  at  Steubenville 
for  three  years;  coming  thence  again  into  Ala- 
bama, in  March.  1807,  he  took  charge  as  superin- 
tendent of  construction  of  the  Alabama,  Tenn., 
Coal  and  Iron  Works  at  Shetlield.  In  August  fol- 
lowing, he  was  employed  by  the  W.  B.  Wood 
Funuice  Company  to  superintend  the  completion 


318 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


of  their  works,  of  which,  it  is  understood,  he  is  to 
become  general  manager. 

Mr.  Norton  was  only  nine  years  of  age  when  he 
began  the  trade  of  nail  maker,  as  "feeder,"  at 
the  Bellfonte  Works,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
the  time  devoted  to  obtaining  an  education,  he 
has  since  given  his  entire  time  to  machinery,  and 
the  construction  of  iron  furnaces.  He  was  unfor- 
tunately caught  under  a  locomotive  at  Wheeling 
and  lost  one  of  his  legs. 

Mr.  Xorton  is  regarded  by  iron  manufacturers 
as  one  of  the  most  thorough  furnace  men  in  the 
United  States.  He  was  married  at  Ironton,  in 
1880,  to  a  Miss  Crawford. 


JOHN  T.  FARMER  was  born  in  Giles  County, 
Tenn.,  July  7,  IS]."),  and  came  with  his  parents  to 
Lauderdale  County  in  1819.  His  father,  Thomas 
Parmer,  died  here  in  1864,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
two  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  partly  edu- 
cated at  the  Florence  common  schools;  moved 
to  Pulaski,  Tenn.,  in  January,  1837,  engaged  in 
the  boot  and  shoe  business,  and  remained  there 
four  years.  From  there  he  returned  to  Lauder- 
dale County,  and  in  185'-i  to  Florence,  where 
he  had  charge  of  the  bridge  spanning  the 
Tennessee  River.  The  bridge  blew  down  in  March, 
18.54,  and  Mr.  Farmer  kept  a  ferry  for  a  very  few 
months.  In  January.  1885,  he  purchased  the 
livery  business  of  McKee  &  Co.,  and  has  since 
conducted  it  in  a  successful  manner. 

Away  back  in  183(1,  Mr.  Farmer  joined  Colonel 
Ackland's  Mounted  Volunteers,  who  were  em- 
ployed against  the  Creek  Indians  in  Alabama 
until  the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed.  In  1804 
he  entered  the  Confederate  service  as  a  member 
of  Captain  Bonner's  Company,  Hardy's  Battalion, 
served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was  pa- 
roled at  Talladega,  Ala.,  after  which  he  re- 
turned to  Florence  and  resumed  livery  business. 


^^►^ 


JAMES  BURTWELL,  the  leading  Pruggis  tof 
Florence,  was  born  at  Florence  July  17,  1842.  His 
father,  John  T.  Burtwell,  came  from  England  with 


his  parents,  who  settled  in  Tennessee.  He  there 
grew  to  manhood ;  came  into  Alabama,  where  he 
married  Miss  Cornelia  Bedford,  and  returned  to 
Tennessee,  from  whence  after  a  few  years  he  re- 
moved to  Florence,  where  he  was  engaged  many 
years  in  steamboat  business.  He  died  in  1862, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-two  years. 

James  Burtwell  was  educated  at  Florence  Wes- 
leyan  University;  entered  the  Confederate  Army 
in  1862  as  a  private  soldier  in  a  regiment  which 
had  the  misfortune  of  being  captured  by  th& 
enemy  before  it  fairly  got  started  to  the  field. 
However,  it  was  but  a  short  time  before  Mr.  Burt- 
well was  again  in  the  service;  this  time  as  a  pri- 
vate in  the  Sixteenth  Alabama  Infantry  where  he- 
remained  three  years. 

His  only  brother,  John  R.  Burtwell.  was  a  grad- 
uate from  West  Point,  and  one  of  the  most  bril- 
liant young  men  that  went  from  Northern  Ala- 
bama into  the  army.  After  the  war,  he  was 
several  years  United  States  chief  engineer  of  the 
Mussel  Shoals  improvement,  and  it  was  while  in 
the  performance  of  his  duty  in  this  capacity,  that 
he  contracted  malarial  disease,  from  which  he  died 
in  187.5.  He  was  a  colonel  in  the  Ninth  Alabama 
Cavalry  during  the  late  war,  and  at  West  Point 
was  the  class-mate  of  General  Wilson,  the  famous 
LTnited  States  Cavalry  commander.  Immediately 
after  leaving  West  Point  with  the  rank  of  second 
lieutenant,  he  was  assigned  to  Fort  Wachita,  In- 
dian Territory,  and  was  there  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war  between  the  States,  when  he  immediately 
resigned  and  went  into  the  Confederate  service. 
He  went  out  as  adjutant  of  the  Ninth  Alabama 
Infantry,  which  command  he  joined  in  Virginia. 
At  the  end  of  about  one  year  he  was  made  aide-de- 
camp OTi  General  Hardee's  staff.  From  there  he 
was  within  a  short  time  assigned  to  a  position  on 
on  the  staff  of  (ieneral  Bragg,  and  later  was  made 
chief  of  artillery  in  Cheatham's  division.  lie  was 
next  promoted  to  inspector-general  on  Bragg's 
staff,  in  which  capacity  he  was  sent  to  Florence 
to  inspect  (ieneral  Roddy's  command,  and  while 
here  was  captured  by  (Jeneral  Phillips.  Phil- 
lips at  once  paroled  him,  and  left  him  at  his  home 
at  Florence.  Being  exchanged  in  about  three 
months,  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Ninth 
Alabama  Cavalry,  under  (ieneral  Roddy.  In  1871 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  United  States  (iov- 
ernment  as  an  engineer.  He  died  a  widower,  leav- 
ing five  daughters.  He  was  born  in  Lauderdale 
Countv  in  1834. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


319 


WILLIAM  W.  BAYLESS,  of  tlic  firm  of  Bayless 
&  liffdor.  Iiful  Kst;itc  Aijcnts.  I-'loicnce,  isanative 
of  IjOiTisville,  Ky.,  wliere  lie  was  boni  December 
f),  1841.  and  is  tlie  eldest  son  of  William  B.  and 
Ann  (Tannyliill)  Bayless,  nativesof  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee,  respectively. 

The  Bayless  family  removed  from  Kentucky  to 
Nashville,  Teiin.  in  1842  or  '4:i.  and  from  there 
several  years  later,  to  (iiles  County,  that  State. 

\V.  W.  Bayless  was  educated  at  Nashville,  and 
beti^an  business  as  a  clerk  in  his  father's  book  estab- 
lishment. At  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  he  enlisted 
as  a  private  in  Co.  B,  First  Tennessee  Infantry, 
C.  S.  A.,  and  was  in  the  army  until  ilay,  1865. 
He  was  jiromoted  first  to  a  lieutenancy  from  the 
ranks  and  placed  in  charge  of  a  cavalry  company 
in  Nixon's  regiment  (ISO.'i),  and  was  acting  adju- 
tant with  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  when  the  war 
ended.  lie  participated  in  the  battles  of  Perry- 
ville,  Jolinsonville,  and  Franklin,  Tenn.  He  was 
wounded  at  I'erryville  so  seriously  as  to  retire 
liim  from  active  service  for  one  year,  and  again  at 
Franklin,  or  Brentwood,  laying  him  up  for  three 
months.  At  I'erryville,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy  and  was  a  jirisoner  from  October,  18i)2, 
to  April,  1SG:{.  .\fter  the  clo.se  of  the  war  Captain 
Bayless  returned  to  Tennessee  and  in  the  following 
year  removed  to  C'olbert  County,  Ala.,  where  he 
subsequently  married  Mi.ss  Rebecca  Thompson, 
daughter  of  Lawrence  Thompson,  Ksf|.,oneof  the 
pioneers  of  that  county.  For  fifteen  years  he  de- 
voted his  time  to  farming  in  Colbert,  and  in  1881 
removed  to  Florence. 

C'aptain  and  Mrs.  Bayless  arc  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the  Captain  belongs 
to  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  to  the  Knights  of 
Honor. 

H.  McVAY  MOORE,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  liorii  in  Lauilcrclale  County.  Ala.,  May  15, 
18:)5.  He  was  the  eldest  of  five  children  (all  boys). 
His  parents  were  Lewis  C.  and  Attie  P.  (McVay) 
Moore,  both  now  deceased.  All  of  the  five  sons 
served  in  the  Southern  Army  until  the  close  of 
the  war.  John  M.  was  killed  near  Pulaski,  Tenn., 
under  General  Forrest.  Samuel  II.  was  killed  at 
second  Manassas.  .1.  Polk  died  January  10,  1887. 
Lewis  C,  the  only  surviving  brother:  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry,  is  now 
engaged  in  farming  near  his  old  homestead. 

II.  JlcVav  Moore  was  educateil  at  the  schools 


of  Florence,  and  followed  farming  until  the  out- 
break of  the  war.  April  28,  18(il,  he  enlisted  in 
Company  H,  Fourth  Alabama  Infantry,  as  a 
private,  and  served  under  (ieneral  Lee  in  the 
\'irginia  army  to  the  close  of  the  war.  He  par- 
ticipated in  all  of  the  battles  of  that  army.  He 
was  also  with  (ieneral  Longstreet  in  Tennessee. 
He  was  wounded  at  (iaines'  Farm,  Chickamauga, 
(iettysburg  and  Cold  Harbor.  At  the  latter  place 
he  was  so  severely  wounded  that  he  has  never 
fully  recovered.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned 
to  his  old  home  and  engaged  in  farming,  gin- 
ning and  milling.  His  fatlier  was  killed  by  a 
Tory  in  18(i:i. 

Mr.  Moore  was  appointed  Sheriff  of  Lauderdale 
County  in  July,  1887.  to  fill  out  the  une.xpired 
term  of  J.  W.  White,  deceased.  He  was  married 
near  where  he  now  lives,  four  and  a  half  miles 
north  of  Florence,  April  4,  18GC,  to  Miss  Fannie 
E.  Rice. 

Mr.  Moore's  grandfather,  the  late  Hon.  Hugh 
Mc\'ay,  represented  Lauderdale  County  in  the 
legislature  from  1821  to  1824.  inclusive,  as  Sena- 
tor, and  again  in  1828  and  1829;  also  from  1832 
to  18:i6,  inclusive;  and  1838  to  1848,  inclusive:  and 
was  in  the  lower  house  in  1820.  1826,  1830,  1831. 
lie  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  at  Hunts- 
ville,  in  181!»,  which  framed  the  first  Constitution 
of  Alabama,  and,  as  president  of  the  Senate  in 
1830,  became  e.e-ojficio  Governor  on  the  resigna- 
tion of  Governor  Clay,  who  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate.  Another  writer  has  said 
of  him  in  this  connection.  "His  messages  were 
unpretending,  plain,  frank  and  honest,  in  keeping 
with  his  whole  character  from  the  time  he  entered 
public  life,  in  the  zenith  of  his  manhood,  to  an 
advanced  age  wlien  he  voluntarily  retired."  He 
died  in  1850.  at  about  85  years  of  age. 

WILLIAM  P.  LUDIKE  was  born  in  Savannah, 
Ga..  July  30.  1841.  His  parents  were  Conrad  and 
Sarah  II.  (Leonard)  Ludike,  the  former  a  native 
of  Germany,  and  the  latter  of  Tennessee.  Both 
died  .so  many  years  ago  as  not  to  be  rememliered 
by  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

William  P.  Ludike  was  reared  by  an  uncle,  and 
educated  at  the  schools  of  Macon,  Ga.  In  the 
Ochmulgee  Foundry,  at  Macon,  fie  learned  the 
trade  of  machinist,  and  followed  it  at  various 
places  up  to  isi;-..'.     He  became  a  locomotive  engi- 


320 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


neer  in  that  year,  and  followed  the  business  up  to 
1882.  During  the  last  twelve  years  of  that  time 
he  ran  the  train  between  Florence  and  Tuscuni- 
bia,  discharging  the  duties  of  both  conductor  and 
engineer,  and  was  the  express  company's  messen- 
ger, in  charge  of  their  business  over  the  Florence 
branch,  during  that  same  period.  He  was  ap- 
pointed agent  of  the  Southern  Express  Company, 
and  took  charge  of  their  office  at  Florence  in  188"-i. 
To  this  he  has  since  given  liis  attention.  He  is  an 
active  business  man,  and  is  identified  more  or  less 
with  the  modern  progress  of  Florence. 

A.  J.  W.  HANNAH  was  born  at  Aberdeen, 
Miss.,  184:7;  was  educated  in  Scotland,  and  served 
four  years  in  the  British  naval  service.  He  re- 
turned to  America  in  18tJG;  took  a  tour  to  the  far 
west;  joined  the  '"Patriots"  and  made  a  filli- 
bustering  trip  with  them  into  Mexico,  where  he 
joined  Maximilian's  army  at  Acupulco.  It 
appears  that  he  only  remained  in  Mexico  about 
two  months,  and,  as  we  find  that  he  exchanged  a 
diamond  pin  presented  to  him  by  his  sister  for  a 
pound  of  tobacco,  we  opine  that  he  did  not  "  fare 
sumptuously"  while  sojourning  in  the  sister  re- 
public. He  is  now  settled  down  in  Lauderdale 
County,  married,  and  is  devoting  his  time  to 
farming  as  a  science. 


-«" 


JAMES  MARTIN,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  this 
county,  w'as  born  in  Jefferson  County,  Ky..  in 
1798.  He  was  a  son  of  Nicholas  Martin,  a  native 
of  Ireland,  who  was  educated  for  the  priesthood; 
emigrated  to  England,  where  he  married;  thence 
to  America  about  1794;  settled  in  Pennsylvania; 
removed  to  Kentucky,  where  he  resided  until  his 
death.     His  occupation  was  farming. 

James  JIartin,  the  eldest  son,  was  educated  at 
the  common  schools.  At  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
left  home,  went  to  Terre  Haute,  Iiid.,  and  appren- 


ticed himself  to  the  carpenter's  trade,  remaining 
there  six  months.  At  Louisville,  Ky.,  he  com- 
menced business  as  a  contractor.  He  removed  to 
Shelbyviile,  Tenn.,  and  finally,  in  18:21  or  18:22, 
came  to  Florence.  In  1839  or  1840,  associated 
with  others,  he  purchased  the  mills  known  as  the 
"  Skipworth  Cotton-Mills,"  on  Cypress  Creek. 

In  1843  the  mills  were  burned,  but  were  imme- 
diately rebuilt  on  a  larger  scale,  and  resumed 
operations  witli  eighty  looms.  About  this  time 
A.  D.  Hunt,  of  Louisville,  was  admitted  as  a 
partner,  and  the  firm  became  Martin,  Cassity  & 
Co.  This  firm  existed  about  five  years  when  Hunt 
resigned,  and  S.  D.  AVeakley  and  A.  D.  Coffee 
became  partners,  and  it  was  changed  to  Martin, 
Weakley  &  Co.  Under  this  partnershiji  the  mill 
property  was  greatly  improved,  and  operated  suc- 
cessfully until  1863,  when  the  mills  were  destroyed 
by  the  P^ederal  troops.  After  the  war  Mr.  James 
Martin  purchased  all  the  interests  in  its  ruins.  In 
1866  one  of  the  mills  was  rebuilt,  which  James 
Martin    successfully   operated    until    his    death. 

James  Martin  was  one  of  the  charter  members 
of  Cypress  Lodge,  F.  &  A.  M.,  of  Florence,  Ala., 
and  received  the  highest  considerations  of  that 
honorable  body.  In  politics  he  was  an  old-line 
Whig.  He  died  at  his  home  near  Florence,  in  the 
seventy-first  year  of  his  age. 


SARAH  HANNA,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  this 
county,  removed  from  here  with  her  family  to 
Louisiana  in  1836.  Her  daughter  there  married 
and  removed  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  where,  during 
our  late  war,  the  famous  Dr.  Gwinn  was  present 
at  the  marriage  of  Mrs.  Hanna's  granddaughter, 
and  performed  the  ceremony  of  "giving  away" 
that  young  lady  in  matrimony  to  a  dashing  officer 
on  Maximilian's  staff.  They  were  married  in  the 
Palace,  City  of  Mexico. 

Mrs.  Hanna's  grandson  was  killed  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  years  by  robbers  near  Vera  Cruz. 

Mrs.  Hanna's  sous  probably  reside  now  in 
Louisiana. 


V^a^v;>     9^^!-^^ 


III. 

DECATUR. 


'I'lie  State  of  Alabama  was  admitted  into  the 
Union  in  December,  1811).  Morgan  County,  tlien 
called  Cotoca  County,  was  a  part  of  the  reserva- 
tion of  the  Cherokee  Indians,  and  continued  to  be 
until  the  removal  of  the  Iiidian.s,  in  1837.  An 
old  map  published  in  1836  marks  tlie  Indian  Res- 
ervation of  the  Cherokees,  and  notes  no  town  in 
Xorthern  Alabama  e.\eept  lluntsville. 

The  first  mention  of  the  town  of  Decatur  is  in  a 
letter  from  President  Jlonroe  to  the  Register  and 
.Surveyor-(ieneral,  dated  January  13,  1820,  in 
which  the  President  reserves  a  site  for  a  town  to 
be  called  Decatur.  It  wa.s  named  in  honor  of 
Commodore  Decatur,  the  distinguished  officer  of 
the  United  States  Navy.  The  location  seems  at 
that  early  day  to  have  impressed  the  authorities  as 
a  very  favorable  one.  1  he  new  town  was  situated 
on  a  phiteau  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Tennessee 
River,  on  the  highest  land  between  tlie  Ohio  River 
and  tlie  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  also  niai'ked  tlie 
western  limit  of  the  navigation  of  the  Tennessee 
River,  for  between  this  point  and  Florence  inter- 
vened the  obstructions  called  tiie  Mu.ssel  Shoals. 

The  town  when  first  laid  out  embraced  an  area 
extending  about  half  a  mile  east  of  what  is  now 
the  Somerville  road,  thence  south  about  one  fourtli 
of  a  mile,  thence  west  to  where  tlie  Decatur  ceme- 
tery is  now  located,  and  thence  north  to  the  river. 
Kven  at  that  early  day  it  will  be  seen  towns  were 
laid  out  with  ample  room  for  growth  and  expan- 
sion. The  embryo  town  had  a  river  front  of  some 
three  milej,  and  shows  that  the  grea^  advantages 
of  the  river  were  recognized  by  tiie  officials  having 
the  matter  in  charge. 

In  tiie  year  1820.  there  was  formed  the  first 
]>ecatur  Laud  Company.  The  trustees  of  the 
company  were  Dr.  Henry  W.  Rhodes,  Oeorge 
i'l'ck,  Isaac  Lane,  Jesse  W.  Garth  and  McKinney 
Holderness.  This  company  entered  the  land 
from  the  Government,  on  which  Decatur  was  laid 
out.  The  Company  made  its  first  deed  on  the  0th 
of  July.  1821.  The  lot  so  deeded  was  lot  tiiirty- 
.six,  and  wjis  sold  to  Amos  Ilardiu  for  *51.     This 


lot  is  on  the  corner  of  Water  and  Canal  Streets 
and  fronts  on  the  river.  The  town  thus  organ- 
ized remainod  a  part  of  the  Ciierokee  Reservation 
under  jurisdiction  of  the  State  until  1820.  It 
was  then  officially  incorporated  by  an  act  of  the 
Alabama  Legislature.  The  town  had  been  known 
heretofore  rather  as  "Rhodes'  Ferry"  than  as 
Decatur,  but  from  this  time  forward  the  latter 
name  came  into  general  use  as  the  name  of  the 
place.  In  the  year  1830,  the  first  addition  was 
made  to  the  town.  This  was  an  area  of  ground 
extending  from  Line  street  east  to  Alabama 
street,  and  from  Lafayette  street  to  the  river. 
From  this  time  on  Decatur  seems  to  have  had  a 
slow  growth  and  an  uneventful  history.  The  pop- 
ulation did  not  increase  rapidly,  although  the 
place  became  one  where  considerable  building  was 
done.  A  branch  of  the  State  Bank  was  located 
here  and  the  building  occupied  by  it  yet  remains. 

During  the  war  Decatur  was  a  strategic  point 
and  was  alternately  occupied  by  the  forces  of  both 
armies,  but  most  of  the  time  was  in  possession  of 
the  Union  Army.  General  Hood,  on  his  march  to 
Nashville,  in  1804.  menaced  the  place,  but  found 
it  so  well  fortified  that  he  did  not  attack  it,  but 
marched  his  forces  toTuscumbia  and  there  crossed 
the  river.  Nearly  all  the  buildings  of  the  town 
were  destroyed  during  the  war,  the  bank  building, 
the  McCartney  hotel,  the  Hinds'  building  being 
the  principal  ones  left  standing.  The  latter  named 
building  was  used  as  headquarters  at  different 
times  by  the  officers  of  each  army,  ilarks  of  shot 
and  shell  can  yet  be  seen  upon  the  columns  of  the 
bank  building. 

After  the  war  had  clo.sed  the  old  citizens  re- 
turned, and  business  gradually  revived.  The  con- 
struction of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  to  the 
south  made  this  point  the  crossing  of  two  im- 
portant railroads  and  gave  business  an  upward 
movement.  About  18T0  the  corporate  limits  of 
the  town  were  increased  and  definitely  defined. 
Since  that  time  the  town  increased  but  little  in 
wealth  or  jiopulation,  and  in  1880  had  only  300 


321 


322 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


people.  From  that  time  the  town  slumbered  in 
obscurity  until  the  summer  of  188G. 

Its  very  eligible  location  had  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  Maj.  E.  C.  (rordon  and  others,  and  it 
was  determined  to  make  its  advantages  known  and 
utilized.  It  was  believed  that  a  prosperous  city 
was  to  grow  up  somewhere  in  Northern  Alabama, 
and  Decatur  was  thought  to  possess  the  superior 
location,  as  it  was  on  the  river  and  at  the  crossing 
of  two  great  systems  of  railroad.  Major  (iordon 
and  his  associates,  after  carefully  investigating  the 
matter  and  viewing  the  ground,  determined  upon 
the  rejuvenation  and  regeneration  of  what  was 
then  a  dead  old  village.  In  the  autumn  and  early 
winter  of  1886  they  bought  up  some  .">,60()  acres  of 
land  in  and  adjacent  to  Decatur,  and  50,00(»  acres 
of  mineral  land  in  Northern  Alabama.  A  land 
company  was  then  formed,  with  a  capital  of 
^7,500,000,  and  the  lands  so  purchased  were  sold 
to  the  company.  A  directory,  composed  of  prom- 
inent business  men  of  this  and  adjoining  States, 
was  elected  in  January,  1887,  and  the  directors 
elected  Major  E.  C.  Gordon  president,  H.  G. 
Bond  vice-president  and  general  manager,  and 
W.  E,  Forest  secretary.  The  company  formed 
their  plans  to  make  Decatur  an  industrial  city  of 
varied  manufactures.  The  merits  of  the  place 
were  made  known  through  pamphlets,  circulars 
and  newspapers,  and  within  a  few  months  several 
very  important  manufacturies  Avere  secured  for 
the  new  city.  These  embraced  such  establishments 
as  the  Charcoal  Chemical  Works,  the  American 
Oak  Extract  Works,  the  Ivins  &  Son's  Machine 
shops,  and  several  others  of  less  importance.  A 
beginning  was  thus  made,  and,  continuing  the 
work,  other  establishments  were  induced  to  locate 
here  until,  in  December,  1887,  the  number 
amounted  to  forty-one.  These  embrace  a  varied 
liue  of  wood  aud  iron  mauufactories,  chief  among 
which  may  be  mentioned  the  immense  car  and 
construction  shops  of  the  Louisville  A  Nashville 
Railroad.  These  works,  the  building  of  which  is 
now  under  contract,  comprise  some  fourteen 
buildings  of  large  size,  covering  with  the  necessary 
tracks  about  fifty-seven  acres  of  ground.  The 
works  will  employ  at  the  start  odO  skilled 
mechanics,  and  will  be  the  largest  shop  of  the 
kind  south  of  the  Ohio  River. 

In  addition  to  the  manufactories  located  at  De- 
catur, some  five  hundred  houses  for  residence  and 
business  have  been  erected  during  the  year  1887. 
Some  of  these   are    large   and  elegant  buildings. 


among  which  are  the  "  Tavern,"  the  Bond  Block 
and  the  Scott  Block. 

Under  the  management  of  the  Land  Company 
the  city  has  been  laid  out  by  a  competent  landscape 
engineer,  with  a  view  to  making  it  a  pleasant 
place  of  residence.  A  thorough  system  of  sewer- 
age and  drainage  has  been  put  in,  and  waterworks 
are  under  contract.  The  city  is  already  provided 
with  two  electric  light  plants,  telephone  service 
and  street  cars. 

The  population  of  the  city  increased  from  1,200 
in  January  to  5,000  in  December,  1887. 

Business  in  all  directions  has  kept  up  with  the 
increase  of  population,  and  all  branches  of  trade 
are  well  represented. 

Decatur  is  supplied  with  churches  of  different 
denominations  as  follows:  Baptist,  Catholic,  Chris- 
tian, Congregational,  Episcopal,  Methodist  Epis- 
copal, ]\Iethodist  Episcopal,  South,  and  Presby- 
terian. 

PROSPErXIVE    RAILROADS. 

The  Rome  &  Decatur  Railroad  is  being  built: 
also  the  Chesapeake,  Decatur  &  New  Orleans  Rail- 
road has  been  located,  and  will  be  built  this  year. 
The  Tombigbee  Railroad,  from  Columbus,  Miss., 
to  Decatur,  is  permanently  established.  The 
Warrior  Coal  Field  Railroad,  from  ]\Ieridan,  Miss., 
to  Decatur,  is  now  under  construction.  The 
Decatur,  St.  Louis  &  South  Atlantic  Railroad, 
from  Carbondale.  111.,  by  way  of  Paducah,  Ky.,  to 
Decatur,  connecting  with  the  Rome  &  Decatur 
Railroad,  is  now  being  built. 

The  Mussel  Shoals,  the  only  serious  obstruction 
between  Decatur  and  the  mouth  of  the  river,  will 
be  open  to  large  boats  this  year,  the  Government 
having  already  spent  82,700,000  to  open  it,  and 
only  $200,000  more  is  required  to  complete  the 
work. 

The  following  enterprises  have  been  located  in 
Decatur  since  February  1,  1887,  and  many  of  them 
are  in  operation: 

The  Decatur  Land  Improvement  and  Furnace 
Company  was  organized  on  the  11th  day  of  Janu- 
ary, 1887.  Since  that  time  there  have  been  com- 
menced the  following  enterprises: 

1st.  The  Charcoal  Company's  plant,  costing 
§120,000.  Fifty  ovens  are  erected  and  ready  for 
operation.     Employs  200  men. 

2d.  A  70-ton  charcoal  iron  furnace,  costing 
til20,000;  Gordon,  Laurea  &  Straubel,  of  Phila- 
delphia, builders:  employs  100  men. 

3d.  One  100-ton    blast    iron   furnace,    costing 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


32a 


*225,000,  by  the  Decatur  Land,  Improvement  and 
Furnace  Company:  employs  '-ioo  men. 

4th.  The  Heoatur  Iron  Bridge  and  Construc- 
tion Company;  Ceorge  A.  Mooar,  of  Keokuk, 
Iowa,  president,  Mr.  Robert  Curtis,  of  Chicago, 
vice-president; "cost  45100,000;  employs  150  men. 

5th.  The  American  Oak  E.vtract  Company,  J. 
E.  McCarty,  of  Barkville,  W.  Va.,  president;  the 
largest  enterprise  of  the  kind  in  the  world:  cost 
|;(i0,00O;  employs  150  men. 

Cth.  Ivens  &  Son,  of  New  Orleans:  steam  engines 
and  iron  working  plant;  building  2SOxl(tO  ffet; 
cost  |ilOO,()00:  employs  100  men. 

7th.  Morse  Cotton  Compress;  plant  cost  845,- 
100:  employs  52  men. 

8th.  Decatur  J^imber  Company,  of  Ohio:  W. 
H.  Mead,  president,  II.  8.  Doggett,  secretary,  and 
treasurer,  N.  K.  .Mead.. manager.  .Mammoth  saw 
and  planing  mills  and  sash,  door  and  blind  fac- 
tory, costing  *5n. (100;  employs  50  men. 

'.Hh.  Berthard  &  Co.,  of  Springfield,  Ohio;  sash, 
door  and  blind  factory;  cost  $15,000:  employs 
20  men. 

Kith.  Brush  Electric  I>ight  Company:  thirty- 
light  plant;  cost  8S, 000:  employs  5  men. 

11th.  The  Iron  (Ohio)  Wheelbiirrow  Company: 
cost,  $25,000;  employs  50  men. 

12th.  Inman  &  Co.,  of  New  York  City;  Water 
Works  system;  cost  of  plant,  $200,000. 

13th.  Blymeyer  Artificial  Ice  Company;  now  in 
operation;  cost  of  plant,  $10,000. 

14th.  Three  brick  yards  are  in  operation  at  this 
j)lace.  One  Eureka  Dry  Press  steam  machine;  two 
Anderson  Chief  machines;  cost,  $40,000;  men  em- 
ployed, iiO. 

15tli.  Jones,  Poley  &  Co.,  lumber  dealers;  B.  E. 
I'oley,  of  Auburn,  111.,  manager;  carries  500,000 
feet  of  lumber  in  stock. 

IGth.  Hoosier  Mills  liuilding  Material  Co., 
(Jraber  &  Son,  proprietors;  employs  .'!0  men. 

ITth.  The  (Jate  City  Sash  and  Door  Company; 
Siddons  &  Co.,   projirietors;  employs  25  men. 

ISth.  The  Alabama  Farmers'  Fence  Company; 
employs  2(i  men. 

19th.  The  Decatur  Artifical  Stone  Company: 
employs  5  men. 

20tli.  About  25(»  carpenters  are  engaged  in 
erecting  cottages. 

21st.  Natural  (ias  Company,  A.  F.  .Murray,  pres- 


ident, H.  G.  Bond,  of  New  York,  treasurer;  capi- 
tal stock,  $200,000. 

22d.  First  National  Bank;  capital  $100,0(tO;  C. 
C.  Harris,  president,  W.  W.  Littlejolin,  treasurer. 

23d.  -Merchants'  Insurance  Company  of  Deca- 
tur; capital,  $100,00(1;  J.  W.  Nelson,  of  Chicago, 
president,  C.   I'eacher,  of  Montgomery,  secretary. 

24th.  Decatur  Building  Association:  Capital, 
$300,000. 

25tli.  The  Decatur  .Mineral  Water  and  Bottling 
Establishment;  B.  F.  Bucheit,  proprietor;  em- 
ploys 10  men. 

26th.  The  Decatur  Printing  Company;  II.  (1. 
Rising  and  B.  W.  Brigg,  proprietors;  publishers 
Decatur  Daily  Journal. 

27th.  The  Gate  City  Telephone  Company;  op- 
erating 50  stations. 

28th.  The  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad 
have  contracted  to  locate  at  Decatur  their  consoli- 
dated Car  Construction  and  Repair  Shops.  Ground 
has  already  been  broken  for  these  works,  and  they 
will  be  built  as  rajiidly  as  possible.  They  will 
etnploy  over  500  men,  and  will  add  2,000  popula- 
tion to  the  city. 

29th.  The  Street  Car  line  from  the  corner  of 
Lafayette  and  Bank  streets  to  Grant  street,  a  dis- 
tance of  two  miles,  is  in  successful  operation. 

30th.  An  Incandescent  Electric  Light  plant  of 
500  lights,  lighting  the  new  hotel  and  adjacent 
cottages,  is  in  operation. 

31st.  Gas  and  Water  Works  are  in  process  of 
construction,  and  will  be  completed  in  the  shortest 
possible  time. 

32d.  The  United  States  Rolling  Stock  Company 
is  now  building  an  immense  plant  at  Decatur  for 
manufacturing  railway  cars,  and  will  remove  its 
entire  plant  from  I'rbana,  Ohio,  to  Decatur.  The 
works  here  will  occupy  fifty  acres  of  land,  and  it 
is  estimated  will  employ  l,(iOO  skilled  mechanics, 
besides  a  large  number  of  ordinary  laborers.  This 
is  one  of  the  largest  rolling  stock  companies  in  the 
woild,  matiufacturing  cars,  both  freight  and  pas- 
senger, including  (uir  wheels,  and  everything  inci- 
dent to  the  rolling  stock  of  a  railroad.  The 
capital  stock  of  the  company  has  been  recently 
increased  from  $3.ti00,(i0(»  to  $4,(i00,((00. 

33d.  The  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad  Com- 
pany handle  daily  in  their  yard  here  ')4(t  cars 
— 360  going  south  and  2H0  north.     Th«-y  employ 


324 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


eighty- five  men,  and  payout  to  their  employes  the 
sum  of  $6,000  per  month. 

In  March,  1887,  the  number  of  inhabitants  was 
1,300;  in  March,  1888.  it  is  estimated  at  7,000. 

The  municipal  government  in  18S8  is  in  charge 
of  R.  P.  IJaker,  Mayor,  and  Councilmen  H.  'A. 
Freeman,  H.  A.  Skeggs,  P.  J.  Edwards,  \i.  W. 
Falk.  C.  P.  Sykes. 

The  location  of  Decatur  is  also  a  natural  one  for 
a  great  city,  and  although  this  fact  has  been  known 
for  years  by  well-informed  persons,  it  was  only  in 
the  past  year  that  the  advantages  of  its  situation 
were  seized  upon.  The  promoters  of  tliis,  the 
"  Chicago  of  the  South,"  point  with  pride  to  what 
has  been  accomplished  here  since  the  first  of  Janu- 
ary, 1887.  No  other  city  of  the  South  has  made  so 
rapid  progress  in  the  same  time.  The  work  done 
has  insured  the  future  of  the  city;  it  has  been  done 
on  a  firm  foundation  and  without  any  mere  empty 
pretense;  everything  has  been  sought  after  with  a 
view  of  endurance  and  permanence,  not  specula- 
tion. 

Let  it  be  understood,  that  the  development  of 
Decatur  and  the  adjacent  country  is  no  longer  an 
exj)eriment;  its 'future  growth  and  pVo'sperity  iS"- 
fully  assured;  and  its  prospects  have  become  better 
with  every  day  that  has  passed  since  the  work  of 
increase  has  begun;  ever^  step  has  been  carefully 
taken,  and  every  enterprise  so  well  guarded,  that 
no  standing  still  or  backward  movement  could 
be  observed,  lieal  estate  has  continued  to  grow 
in  value;  stock  of  the  various  corporations  has 
steadily  advanced  in  price  for  several  months  past, 
and  is  now  held  as  a  permanent  investment. 

The  prosperity  and  lapid  growth  of  Decatur 
has  i^roven  the  wisdom  of  its  enterprising  citizens. 
It  will  be  observed,  that  from  an  obscure  village, 
it  now  numbers  its  population  by  thousands;  so 
rapidly  has  the  city  increased  by  new  arrivals,  that 
every  mind  south  of  Mason  and  I^ixon's  line  has 
been  attracted  by  its  prosperity.  In  the  olden 
days  of  slave  labor,  many  people  in  the  South 
looked  with  disfavor  on  the  immigration  of  free 
labor,  fearing  it  might  prove  a  disturbing  element 
and  interfere  with  their  existing  system.  But 
now  all  is  changed ;  the  old  system  is  gone,  and 
the  people  generally  want  immigration,  and 
heartily  welcome  all  who  come  to  invest  capital  or 
to  labor  and  live  among  them. 

Decatur  is  now  virtually  but  in  the  second  year 
of  her  existence,  with  no  cloudobscuring  her 
future.     The  events  of   the   year  just  past  have 


crowded  her  beyond  obscurity.  The  wondrous 
changes  that  have  been  wrought  were  scarcely 
conceivable,  and  to  the  greatest  extent  they  were 
realized  by  her  home  people. 

Inured  by  this  time  to  the  strokes  of  adversity, 
with  characteristic  energy  the  people  proceeded 
to  grapple  the  material  interest  which  remained  to 
them.  What  has  been  accomplished  is  only  an 
earnest  of  what  is  to  be  done.  The  future  of  De- 
catur is  bright  with  the  halo  of  promise. 

The  wondrous  treasure  locked  within  her  bosom; 
her  very  superior  location,  combined  with  the 
energies  and  •^'irtues  of  her  people,  will  surely  give 
her  proud  pre-eminence  in  the  South. 

The  i^ast  is  secure;  it  is  only  the  future  that  can 
give  concern,  and  if  left  to  the  energies  of  her  peo- 
ple,and  they  entrusted  with  the  privileges  of  solving 
the  problem  of  their  own  destiny,  the  happiest  re- 
sults may  be  pre-pictured .  Emulous  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  a  noble  ancestry,  endowed  with  the  rich 
legacy  of  modern  knowledge,  and  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  contemporary  progress,  her  people  may 
well  hope  to  compass  the  loftiest  aims  of  mortal 
asjiiration. 


ROBERT  PERRY  BAKER,  Ma}  or  of  Decatur, 
was  born  in  Jersey  Shore,  Lycoming  County,  Pa., 
December  24,  1837,  of  Scotch-Irish  parentage; 
received  an  academic  education  in  the  West 
Branch  High  School;  learned  the  printing  trade 
under  his  father,  and  assisted  in  the  publication 
of  the  organ  of  that  county. 

In  January,  1859,  he  came  South,  and  aided  in 
the  publication  of  the  Decatur  Times,  assisted  by 
Joe  W.  Furey.  In  1861  he  published  The  Consd- 
tution  at  Tuscumbia,  Ala.  In  1862  he  enlisted  in 
the  Thirty-fifth  Alabama  Regiment,  C  S^  A.,and 
served  gallantly  at  the  battles  of  Corinth, 
Baton  Rouge  and  Vicksburg.  In  1864  he  re- 
turned to  Pennsylvania  and  remained  there  until 
the  fall  of  1865,  when  he  returned  to  Decatur. 
In  1872  he  was  appointed  Southern  Claims  Com- 
missioner by  theTreasury  Department,  at  Washing- 
ton. In  1875  he  was  appointed  by  President  U.  S. 
Grant  United  States  Marshal  for  the  Northern 
District  of  Alabama,  where  he  served  four  years, 
making  many  friends  and  few  enemies  by  his 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  revenue  laws.  In  1880 
he  purchased  the  McCartney  Hotel  property,  and 
added   greatly  to  its   beauty  by  remodeling  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


325 


buildings  and  yards.  In  188()  he  was  elected 
Mayor  of  Decatur,  announcing,  as  his  {ihitforni, 
"free  jniblic  schools,  internal  improvements  and 
sanitary  regulations,'"  tlius  taking  an  almost  fore- 
most step  in  Decatur's  present  bootn. 

He  is  a  member  of  Decatur  Chapter,  No.  38,  H. 
A.  M.;  Hising  Sun  Lodge,  \o.  29,  A.  F.  &  A.  M.: 
K.  of  1'.,  and  A.  (>.  U.  \V.,  in  all  of  which  orders 
he  has  received  the  highest  honors  and  held  the 
highest  offices.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Stock 
Exchange,  etc. 

Mr.  Maker  is  a  man  of  conservative  views,  social 
pl^iracteristics  and  jpleasant  manneFe.  He  has 
filled  his  position  as  chief  officer  of  the  city  in  an 
admirable  maiiner  and  gives  general  satisfaction. 
All  that  he  committed  liimself  to  in  the  canvass 
lias  been  faithfully  observed  in  his  adniitiistration 
of  the  city's  government,  and  his  :idministration 
has  been  a  success. 

Robert  I'.  Baker  was  married  June  5,  1807,  to 
Miss  Mary  E.,  daughter  of  .Michael  and  Nancy 
(Ihivis)  Sensabaugh,  whocame  to  Decaturin  1818. 
They  have  two  sons  and  three  daughters:  Robert 
S.,  .Mary  K..  Thomas  E.,  .Margaret  I).,  and 
Mattie  E. 

J.  R.  STUART,  Attorney  and  Counselor-at- 
law,  Decatur,  was  born  in  .Morgan  County,  this 
State,  and  educated  at  Union  University,  Mur- 
freesboro.  Tenn.  A  short  time  before  he  was  due 
to  graduate  in  special  course  in  languages,  he 
was  called  home  to  engage  in  business.  He  sub- 
secpiently  read  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1ST4.  He  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  C^ity  of 
Decatur  in  1ST8,  and  has  continued  since  in  that 
oHicc.  He  was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
1880.  and  re-elected  in  1884.  In  law  he  has  been 
remarkably  suc<'essful,  while  in  official  posi- 
tions he  has  discharged  his  duties  with  distin- 
guished ability.  He  is  at  this  time  active  in  the 
advancement  of  the  City  of  Decatur,  and  is  identi- 
fied with  many  of  her  most  prominent  enterprises. 

John  B.  Stuart.  the,father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  in  Morgan  County,  June  l."i, 
1S2.J;  learned  the  carpenter's  trade  while  a  young 
nuin,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years  embarked 
in  mercantile  business.  He  came  to  Decatur  in 
1H42,  and  from  there  two  years  later,  moved  to 
Somerville.  In  1851  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the 
Circuit  Court;  in  1858  he  was   a   traveling  man, 


and,  in  18G1,  resumed  the  mercantile  business  at 
Somerville.  After  the  war  he  returned  to  Deca- 
tur, where  he  has  since  been  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful merchants  of  tliis  jdace.  He  entered  the 
army  in  18G1  as  captain  of  a  company:  the  regi- 
ment to  which  he  was  attached  failing  to  be 
received  into  seivice,  it  was  disbanded.  He 
therefore,  in  the  sj)ring  of  1S62,  joined  Company 
H,  Twenty-seventh  Alabama,  and  was  soon  after- 
ward made  its  captain.  At  Fort  Donelsoii  he 
fell  into  the  hands  <if  the  enemy  and  was  held 
many  months  as  a  prisoner  of  war  at  Camp  Chase, 
and  Johnsoti's  Island.  After  his  exchange,  which 
took  place  in  September  following  his  capture,  he 
was  tendered  the  colonelcy  of  a  Mississipjii  Reg- 
iment, but  declined  it.  j)referring  to  remain  with 
his  old  command.  He  afterward  took  part  in  the 
battles  of  (Jorinth,  Baker's  Creek,  Resaca.  Cass- 
ville.  Lost  Mountain  and  Atlanta.  During  Hood's 
raid  into  Tennessee,  lie  had  charge  of  a  scouting 
party,  and  at  the  head  of  about  one  hundred  ran- 
gers met  General  Wilson  at  Elytou.  This  engage- 
ment proved  decidedly  unfortunate,  as  he  lost  all 
his  command. 

In  1846,  Captain  Stuart  was  married  to  .Miss 
Sarah  J.  (ireelram,  of  Somerville,  and  has  reared 
two  children:  John  W.  ami  Mary,  now  .Mrs.  Banks. 

Cajjtain  Stuart's  father  was  named  Robert  A.,  a 
native  of  White  County.  Tenn.,  and  the  faniilv 
are  of  Scotch-Irish  extraction. 

JOHN     D.     ROQUEMORE,      Attorney-at-law, 

and  President  of  the  E.xchange  Bank  of  Decatur, 
was  born  in  Barbour  (^unty,  this  State,  .\ugust 
27,  184(),  and  is  a  sou  of  Zaehariali  and  Julia  A. 
(McGibony)  Roquemore,  natives  of  Georgia. 

The  senior  Mr.  Rofjuemore  was  born  in  ISiiit, 
and  his  wife  in  1818.  They  came  to  Alabama  in 
183<i,  locating  first  in  Russell  County,  and  later 
on  in  ii.irbour.  Mr.  Roquemore  was  a  self-made 
man.  He  was  a  planter  by  occupation,  and  car- 
ried that  business  on  quite  extensively  for  some 
years  prior  to  his  death;  he  died  in  1868. 

John  I).  Roquemore  was  reared  on  his  father's 
plantation,  aiid  received  his  primary  education  at 
the  common  schools.  In  1864  he  left  the  State 
University,  where  he  had  but  recently  matricula- 
ted, and  joined  "Nelson's  Rangers."  llis  com- 
pany  was  assigned,  to  (len.   Stephen    D.    Lee's 


326 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


escort,  and  with  it  young  Roqnemore  participated 
in  many  conflicts  of  arms. 

Iteturning  from  the  army  after  the  linal  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities,  Mr.  Roquemore  began  the 
study  of  law  at  Eufaula,  and  in  May,  1867,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  lie  began  the  practice  at 
once  at  Eufaula,  and  readily  rose  to  prominent 
rank  in  the  profession.  The  Montgomery  &  Florida 
Railway  Company,  of  which  he  was  a  director, 
made  him  their  general  counselor,  and  he  is  now, 
and  has  been  for  some  years,  one  of  the  trusted 
attorneys  of  the  Central  Railroad  &  Banking  Com- 
pany of  Georgia. 

In  1876  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  codify  the  Alabama  statutes,  and  from 
1878  to  188:2  he  represented  his  district  in  the 
State  Senate.  In  1886  he  was  Adjutant-General 
of  the  State,  and  in  the  same  year  the  Alabama 
University  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  A.M. 

He  came  to  Decatur  in  September,  1887,  for  the 
purpose  of  continuing  the  law  practice,  the  style 
of  his  firm  being  Roquemore,  White  &  Long,  with 
offices  also  at  Montgomery  and  Eufaula.  Here  he 
soon  became  identified  with  various  jjopular  enter- 
prises, and  is  at  this  writing  President  of  the  De- 
catur Water-works  Company,  Vice-President  of 
the  Decatur  Street  Railway  Company,  President 
of  the  Exchange  Bank,  and  one  of  the  directors  of 
the  Deoatur  Land,  Improvement  and  Furnace 
Company. 

In  addition  to  the  duties  incumbent  upon  him 
by  reason  of  his  connection  with  these  various  in- 
dustries, Mr.  Roquemore  continues  the  practice  of 
law,  and  the  firm  of  which  he  is  the  head  is  rec- 
ognized throughout  the  State  as  being  among  the 
very  best. 

At  Eufaula,  in  1867,  Mr.  Roquemore  was  mar- 
ried to  ^liss  Mary  L.  Hunter,  of  that  place, 
and  to  this  marriage  five  children  were  born. 
Mrs.  Roquemore  was  the  daughter  of  James  L. 
Hunter,  and  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Gen.  H.  D.  Clayton, 
Mrs.  J.  L.  Pugh  and  Mrs.  B.  J.  Hoole,  and  a 
cousin  to  A.  H.  Merrill,  Esq.  Her  mother  was  a 
sister  of  John  Gill,  Eli  S.  and  Henry  R.  Shorter. 
Mrs.  Roquemore  died  .June  13,  1882,  leaving  five 
children:  Charles  H.,  Annie  D.,  Mary  L.,  John 
D.  and  "  Zach." 

The  present  Mrs.  Roquemore,  to  whom  Mr.  Ro- 
quemore was  married  October  'li>,  1887,  is  the 
accomplished  danghter  of  Capt.  David  Brown,  of 
Massachusetts.      She  is  noted   for  her  many  rare 


and  admirable  qualities  and   her  superior  educa- 
tional attainments. 

Mr.  Roquemore  is  a  Knight  Templar  i^Iasonand 
a  Knight  of   Pythias. 


WILLIAM  E.  SKEGGS,  son  of  Henry  and  Mary 
J.  (Hunt)  Skeggs,  was  born  in  Huntsville,  Ala., 
April  27,  1852.  He  was  educated  in  Huntsville 
Academy  under  Prof.  C.  G.  Smith,  late  president 
of  the  State  University;  came  to  Decatur  in  1871; 
taught  school  at  Decatur  and  Somerville,  and 
studied  law  until  1878;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
Somerville  and  practiced  there  until  January, 
1887,  when  he  opened  an  office  in  Decatur. 

Mr.  Skeggs  represented  his  county  in  the  Legis- 
lature in  1880-81.  He  served  as  Register  in 
Chancery  of  Morgan  County  from  1883  until  Sep- 
tember, 1887.  Since  1880.  he  has  been  a  delegate 
to  various  State  Conventions.  He  is  a  stock- 
holder in  both  Land  Companies  of  Decatur,  the 
First  National  Bank,  the  P^lectric  Light  Company, 
and  the  Cotton  Compress  Company. 

Mr.  Skeggs  was  married  November  22,  1869,  to 
Miss  Celia  E.  Bean,  of  Morgan  County,  daughter 
of  Maj.  Benjamin  F.  and  Mary  J.  (Garner)  Bean, 
and  has  four  children:  Henry  A.,  John  H.,  Ella 
B.,  and  Olive  H.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  Knights  of  Honor. 


EDGAR  W.  GODBEY,  Attorney-at-law,  Deca- 
tur, son  of  Crockette  and  Evaline  (Forgey)  Godbey, 
was  born  in  ilarch,  1861,  at  Morristown,  Tenn. 

The  senior  Godbey  was  a  native  of  Halifax 
County.  Va., where  he  was  born  in  May,  1818.  In 
early  manhood,  he  moved  with  his  parents  to  Lou- 
don County,  Tenn.,  and  was  for  many  years  a 
preacher  of  the  Methodist  Church,  South,  and  a 
member  of  Ilolston  Conference.  Upon  the  outbreak 
of  the  late  war.  he  took  sides  with  the  South,  and 
entered  Gracey's  command  as  a  chaplain  in  the 
army,  holding  this  position  throughout  the  entire 
war.  After  its  close,  he  came  to  Alabama  and  lo- 
cated near  Huntsville,  in  which  city  he  was  for  a 
short  time  pastor  of  a  congregation  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  South,  and  afterward  united  with  the 
North  Alabama  Conference.     He  was  the  father  of 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


337 


five  children,  four  of  whom  are  living:  PItlgar  W.  is 
the  eldest;  the  others  are  l.aiira.  (lias.  ('.  and  Al- 
bert S. 

Wm.  Godbey,  great-grandfather  of  Edgar  W., 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Hevolutionary  War.  and 
among  the  early  settlers  of  Virginia. 

Mr.  (iodbey's  mother  was  born  in  Ha\vkin.s 
County.  Tenn.,  in  1835.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Win.  Korgey,  of  Irish  descent. 

Edgar  W.  Godbey  graduated  at  lliawassee  Col- 
lege. Tenn.,  in  18S-2,  taught  school  seven  months 
atSomerville.  Ala.,  and  subsequently  was  Principal 
of  Dyersburg  District  High  School,  an  institution 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  located  near  Memphis,  Tenn. 
After  teaching  here  eighteen  months,  he  entered 
the  law  department.  University  of  Alabama,  and 
graduated  in  February,  1S85 ;  after  which  he 
located  at  Decatur,  and  commenced  the  practice 
of  law,  in  which  he  was  quite  successful.  lie  was 
for  a  time  County  Solicitor. 

Mr.  Godbey  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  and  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  was 
during  college  life  a  member  of  the  Kappa  Alpha 
fraternity. 

— • — •■•?•-•  ^sij^^*~**^'    *~~ 

CHARLES  C.  SHEATS,  United  States  Com- 
iiiissiiincr.  Decatur,  was  born  April  10,  1831),  in 
\\  alker  County,  Ala.  Tie  was  reared  on  a  farm; 
received  a  good  English  education  at  Somerville 
Academy,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  began 
teaching  school.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Seces- 
sion Convention  which  met  at  Montgomery  in 
18G1,  and  there  gave  his  infiuence  in  opposition  to 
.secession.  In  1801,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature from  Winston  County,  and  was  expelled 
in  18(i-i,  on  account  of  his  alleged  disloyalty  to  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  lie  was  arraigned,  indicted 
and  imprisoned  for  treason,  but  General  Thonnis, 
of  the  Federal  Army,  retaliated  by  arresting  Gen- 
eral .McDowell,  and  holding  him  as  hostage  until 
Mr.  Slieats  was  released  in  reciprocity.  However, 
he  remained  in  duress  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
Septeijiber.  186."),  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  for  the  same  county, 
and  was  a  candidate  for  Congress  from  the  Si.xth 
District  in  the  same  year.  In  1808  he  was  a 
Grant  elector,  and  in  180tt  was  api)ointed  T'nited 
States  Consul  to  Denmark,  where  he  remained 
three  years. 

In  1872  he  was  a  delegate  to  tiie  Fhiladelphia 


convention  which  nominated  Grant  for  his  second 

term,  and  in  the  same  year  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress from  the  State  at  large  by  a  majority  of  10,- 
000,  over  Gen.  Ali)heus  Haker.  In  18T4,  he  was 
re-elected  to  Congress,  receiving  09,000  votes, 
but  was  counted  out  by  13,000.  In  18T.5  he  was 
Si.xth  Auditor  of  the  United  States  Treasury  for 
the  postoffice  department  and  in  1877,  resigned 
and  was  appointed  Appraiser  of  ilerchandise  for 
the  port  of  .Mobile.  He  served  in  this  capacity 
until  1878,  when  he  was  appointed  Assistant  Col- 
lector of  Internal  Revenue  for  the  State  of 
Alabama,  and  served  until  Cleveland  was  inaugur- 
ated. 

Mr.  Sheats  was  married  .January  27,  1880,  to 
Jlrs.  Mary  Anderson,  niv  Dickson.  Her  grand- 
father and  grandmother  were  English. 

Mr.  Sheats  has  been  a  great  stump  speaker,  and 
is  said  to  have  spoken  on  political  questions  in 
every  county  in  the  State.  He  is  a  son  of  William 
W.  and  Mary  (Garner)  Sheats.  His  father  was 
born  in  Wilkes  County,  Ga.,  October  22,  1809; 
came  to  Lawrence  County,  Ala.,  in  1822,  with 
his  parents,  and  became  a  farmer.  He  located 
in  Walker  County,  January  1,  1845,  and  now 
lives  in  Cullman,  on  a  farm  which  has  been  in 
five  counties  since  he  has  lived  there.  He  is  a 
son  of  Archibald  and  Amanda  (Gibson)  Sheats, 
who  were  natives  of  (Jeorgia,  where  the  father 
was  born  in  1776. 

Our  subject's  mother  was  born  in  Tennessee  in 
1811,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Jacob  and  .Mary 
(  Hunter)  Garner.  Mr.  Garner  was  a  soldier  under 
General  Houston  in  1830,  and  in  the  Mexican 
War. 

— • — ■■'>— tji;3>'— •^'    '  ' 

REV.  THOMAS  ARMSTRONG  was  born  in 
Wilcox  County,  Ala.,  Suiitcinljei-  10,  1835;  reared 
on  a  farm;  attended  an  academy  in  his  early  days; 
received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Centenary  Col- 
lege, Louisiana,  In  early  life,  he  began  to  teach 
near  Hamburg,  Ala.  Was  not  engaged  in  the 
war.  In  1803,  taught  with  his  brother.  Rev. 
James  K.  Armstrong,  in  Marion  Female  Sem- 
itiarv.  In  1804,  was  elected  principal  of  Eutaw 
Male  and  Female  Academy,  where  he  remained 
till  the  spring  of  1807;  then  engaged  in  farming 
in  the  Black  IJelt  of  .\labama.  between  Greens- 
boro and  Demopolis.  In  1871,  he  bought  of  Foot 
&  Maloue,  of  Mobile,  a  half  interest  in  the  plant- 


328 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ations  of  the  late  Colonel  Barney,  of  Marengo 
County,  and  farmed  till  1874,  in  the  summer  of 
which  year  he  was  elected  president  of  Mansfield 
Female  College,  which  position  he  resigned  in 
1880.  He  then  taught  in  the  Alabama  Central 
Female  College,  at  Tuscaloosa,  and  in  Birming- 
ham, Ala.,  until  1684,  when  he  entered  the  North 
Alabama  Conference  as  an  itinerant  Methodist 
minister.  His  first  charge  was  at  Tuscumbia, 
Ala.,  which  he  served  two  years  and  three  months. 
At  this  time.  Rev.  Mr.  Law,  then  in  charge  of  the 
church  lit  Decatur,  resigned  his  position,  and 
Bishop  Wilson,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  appointed  Kev.  ^Ir.  Armstrong  to  succeed 
him.  Mr.  Armstrong  married  Miss  Mattie 
DuBois,  of  Greensboro,  Ala.,  a  daughter  of  llev. 
John  DuBois,  the  inventor  of  the  DuBois  Cotton 
Gin.'  He  has  two  children:  Marielon  and  Samuel 
D.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 


DR.  L.  HENSLY  GRUBBS,  Editor  and  Pro- 
prietor of  the  Decatur  Weekly  News,  and  son  of 
Thomas  Washington  and  Lucy  D.  (Brown) 
Grubbs.  was  born  at  Pulaski,  Tenn.,  September 
28,  1838.  His  early  boyhood  was  spent  on  a 
farm.  At  the  age  of  twelve  years  he  procured 
employment  in  a  dry  goods  store  in  his  native 
town,  and  continued  as  a  salesman  several  years. 
He  spent  two  years  in  La  Grange  College,  and 
went  to  Leighton,  Ala.,  in  1852,  where  he  was 
again  employed  in  a  dry  goods  store,  railroad 
office  and  assistant  postmaster.  In  April,  185(i, 
he  was  licensed  to  preach  in  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  and  continued  in  the  pasto- 
ral work  of  the  itinerant  ministry  fourteen  years. 
In  18.72  he  located  in  Decatur,  Ala.,  and  engaged 
in  the  drug  business,  in  which  he  continued  until 
1886.  In  1873  he  established  the  Decatur  Weekly 
Neivs,  which  was  the  only  paper  published  in  the 
city  until  1885.  The  News  has  a  large  and  rap- 
idly increasing  circulation,  and  has  been  a  potent 
factor  in  controlling  local  politics  and  county, 
judicial  and  congressional  elections.  The  News 
has  been  foremost;  in  promoting  the  development 
and  2>rogress  which  has  so  signally  characterized 
the  city  of  Decatur  during  the  last  twelve 
months. 

Dr.  Grubbs  was  appointed  postmaster  at  De- 
catur March  27,  1885,  it  being  the  first  appoint- 


ment of  a  Southern  man  made  by  President  Cleve- 
land except  his  cabinet  officers.  The  following 
year  he  was  chosen  president  of  tlie  first  national 
convention  of  postmasters  held  in  the  city  of 
Chicago.  As  a  citizen  and  business  man  he  is 
prominent,  and  has  exerted  his  influence  for  the 
advancement  and  upbuilding  of  every  interest  in 
the  community  where  he  resides.  He  owns  stock 
in  the  Decatur  Land,  Improvement  and  Furnace 
Company  and  the  Morgan  County  Building  and 
Loan  Association.  As  a  newspaper  writer  he  is 
strong,  forcible  and  incisive,  and  expresses  bis 
convictions  with  a  clearness  that  is  easily  under- 
stood. 

Mr.  Grubbs  was  united  in  marriage  with  Jliss 
Mary  J.  Perry,  second  youngest  daughter  of  Kev. 
Francis  A.  and  Rhoda  (Thompson)  Perry,  at 
Cornersville,  Tenn.,  March  20,  18(10.  To  this 
union  seven  children  have  been  born,  six  daugh- 
ters and  one  son.  Four  of  them  are  now  living, 
namely:  Minnie  Lou  Ilense,  now  Mrs. B.H.Lambert 
of  New  York  City;  Walter  Marvin,  Lelia  Virginia 
and  Nona  Aline.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grubbs  and  their 
children  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  Order  of  Knights  of  Pythias,  Knights 
of  Honor,  and  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen, 
and  is  prominently  connected  as  a  State  officer 
with  each  of  these  secret  societies. 

Our  subject's  father,  Thomas  W.  Grubbs,  was 
born  in  Brunswick  County,  Ya.,  about  1792.  His 
wife  was  a  native  of  the  same  county,  and  just 
thirty  days  younger  than  her  husband.  In  early 
married  life  they  moved  to  Giles  County,  Tenn., 
where  they  lived  on  a  farm  and  where  their  dust 
now  repose.  He  filled  various  offices  of  trust, 
such  as  sheriff,  collector  and  census  taker, 
and  in  1840,  it  is  said,  was  jiersonally  ac- 
quainted with  every  householder  in  (iiles  County. 
He  was  a  son  of  Ezekiel  Grubbs  of  Revolutionary 
fame. 

DR.  WILLIAM  EDWARD  FOREST,  President 
of  tlie  Decatur  Building  and  Investment  Com- 
pany, was  born  March  17, 1850,  in  Burlington,  Yt. 
He  is  a  son  of  John  R.  and  Caroline  (Powers) 
Forest,  the  former  a  native  of  England. 

William  E.  Forest  graduated  at  the  University 
of  Yermont,  at  Burlington,  in  1874,  in  the  classical 
course,  and  again  at  the  University  of  New  York, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


329 


ill  187G.  in  the  medical  course.  He  practiced  ten 
yt'ar.s  in  the  hospitals  of  New  York  City  and  else- 
wiicre.  was  conneotod  with  tlie  Women's  Asylum 
and  the  New  Yori<  Dispensary,  and  contributed 
many  monograplis  to  medical  journals,  lie  was  a 
MU'inber  of  several  medical  so<neties  while  actively 
in  the  practice. 

Ill  issii  l)i-.  i'lHcst  invested  extensively  in  real 
i'.statc  ill  Nortli  AlabaiiKi.  and  in  these  speculations 
was  remarkably  successful.  In  1887  he  made 
Decatur  his  home,  and  became  one  of  the  organ- 
izers of  the  Decatur  Laud  and  Improvement  Com- 
pany, and  has  since  become  a  stockiiolder  in  nearly 
all  the  enterj)rises  in  tiiat  booming  city.  lie  is 
president  of  the  Building  and  Investment  Com- 
]iaiiy  and  of  two  hrick  manufacturing  companies: 
president  of  the  Wire  Fence  Company;  largest 
stockholder  and  director  in  the  Gas  &  Oil  Com- 
pany; and  secretary  in  the  Artificial  Ice  Comjiany. 
He  is  a  Knight  of  Honor,  a  member  of  the  An- 
cient Order  of  United  Workmen,  Knights  and 
Ladies  of  Honor,  and  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Dr.  Forest  was  married  February  4,  1879,  to 
Miss  Lucia,  daughter  of  Augustus  Kimball,  of 
liiirlington,  Vt.  They  have  two  children;  Lucia 
and  Edith. 

Dr.  Forest's  grandfatlier  came  to  tlie  United 
States  from  England  in  ls:iG:  settled  at  ^lontreal, 
Canada,  and  there  s])ent  the  rest  of  his  life.  His 
son,  Jolin  R.,  w.as  born  in  1821,  and  was  fifteen 
years  of  age  when  his  parents  came  to  tliis  country. 
He  grew  to  manliood  in  Vermont,  and  there  for 
some  years  edited  a  jiaper.     He  died  in  188-1. 


.^^ 


««►► 


WILLIAM  GARDNER  GILL,  M.D..son  of  Dan- 
iel and  Catlieriiie  (Threat)  (Jill,  was  born  in  Frank- 
lin County,  Tenn.,  April  24,  1819.  He  was  reared 
on  a  farm,  educated  at  the  common  sciiools,  and 
at  the  age  of  nineteen  attended  school  in  Athens, 
where  he  undertook  the  study  of  medicine.  He 
graduated  with  the  highest  honors  from  the  Lou- 
isville Medical  College  .March  4,  lS4;{,.and  prac- 
ticed in  Soinerville  until  18^,  when  he  removed 
to  Decatur,  and  lias  practiced  there  ever  since. 
Dr.  (till  was  president  of  tlie  Morgan  County 
Medical  Association  four  years,  and  is  now  its 
vice-president.  He  lias  served  as  United  States 
-Medical  Examiner  for  North  Alabama  eight  years. 

Hefore  the  war  Dr.  (Jill  owned  a  plantation  of 
iicarlv  live  thousand  acres,  and  had  many  slaves. 


He  was  a  man  of  great  influence  in  his  commu- 
nity, and  was  administrator  of  a  number  of  large 
and  important  estates. 

He  was  married  November  19,  1S4."),  to  Miss 
Catherine,  daughter  of  Josepli  and  Rachel 
(Boyd)  Kolb,  of  South  Carolina,  and  they  iiave 
had  bom  to  them  seven  children,  namely;  Marga- 
ret C.,  Rachel  C.  (now  dead),  ^lartlia  E.,  Nancy 
Elloise,  William,  Etta  (now  dead)  and  Elizatieth 
J.  (now  dead). 

]\Irs.  fiillilied  April  1.  18.37,  and  Dr.  Cill  was 
again  married  November  19,  1857,  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth J.  Evans,  of  Christian  County,  Ky.,  daugh- 
ter of  Maj.  Isaac  I^vaiis.  Eight  children  were 
born  to  the  second  marriage,  and  all  died  in  in- 
fancy, exceiiting  three  sons;  William  Robert,  Clar- 
ence and  Eugene.  William  Robert  was  killed  by 
a  fall  of  a  house. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  (iill  died  October  Li.  ls7S.  She 
was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcoj)al  Churcli, 
South,  of  which  denomination  her  husband  has 
been  a  incinber  fifty-four  years,  and  a  steward  forty- 
five  year.s. 

Daniel  Gill  was  born  in  Dinwiddie  County,  Va., 
March  4,  1793,  and  his  wife  in  1798.  He  was  a 
Idacksmith  by  trade;  served  in  the  war  of  1S12, 
and  afterward  located  in  A\'illiainsoii  County, 
Tenii.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  became  a 
farmer.  In  1822  he  went  to  Bainbridge.  and  in 
182G  to  West  Tennessee.  In  1848  he  settled  on  a 
farm  near  Somervilie,  Morgan  County,  Ala., 
wjiere  he  remained  until  his  death,  in  1858.  His 
wife  was  a  daugiiter  of  a  Revolutionary  soldier 
who  lost  several  sons  in  the  war  of  1812.  They 
reared  seven  children. 

James  Gill,  grandfather  of  Dr.  W.  (i.  Gill,  was 
a  soldier  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  served  with 
four  brotliers  under  General  Washington,  and  was 
present  at  the  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis. 

The  ancestors  of  this  family  were  among  the 
founders  of  Jamestown,  Va.,  and  the  name  Gill, 
which  is  derived  from  the  French,  was  originally 
spelled  Gillae. 

'  ■<•  ■    ■ 


0.  B.  CARTRIGHT.  M.  D..  was  born  in  Lime- 
stoneCounty,  Ala.,  in  lb"i;.  His  parents  were  II. 
B.  and  .Martini  A.  (IJailey,  Jic'e  Vaughan)  Cart- 
riglit.  'I'he  father  was  a  farmer  and  merchant 
at  Shoal  Ford,  where  he  died  some  year",  ago. 
The  mother  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  came  to 


330 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Alabama  at  an  early  day.  They  had  five  children, 
of  whom  0.  B.  was  the  third. 

n.  B.  Cartright  was  twice  married,  the  first 
time  to  Martha  Gray.  By  her  he  had  born  to  him 
sevea  children. 

Dr.  Cartright  was  reared  in  Limestone  County, 
and  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  J.  A.  Pettus,  of 
Elkmont,  that  county.  He  was  graduated  fi'om 
Vanderbilt  University,  Nashville,  in  1870,  and 
practiced  medicine  five  years  in  his  native  county. 
He  came  to  Decatur  in  the  spring  of  1884,  engaged 
in  the  drug  business,  and  has  established  a  fine 
and  growing  trade,  to  which  he  has  devoted  his 
entire  attention. 

He  was  married,  in  1883,  to  Miss  J.  Blanche 
Preuit,  of  Lawrence.  They  have  two  children, 
Bradley  P.  and  Lamar.  The  Doctor  is  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and 
his  wife  is  of  the  Christian  Church. 


DR.  WILLIAM  HENRY  BANKS  was  born 
February  28,  1835,  in  Madison  County,  Ala.  He 
was  educated  as  a  physician  at  the  University 
of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and,  in  1861,  entered  the 
army  as  a  member  of  Captain  Bowie's  Cav- 
alry. After  its  organization,  this  company  be- 
came a  part  of  the  Eighth  Confederate  Regi- 
ment, under  Colonel  Wade.  Dr.  Banks  was  after- 
ward made  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Seventh  Ala- 
bama Cavalry,  and  placed  in  charge  of  Allen's 
Division  Hospital,  where  he  served  with  Wheeler 
in  all  his  raids,  and  surrendered  at  Greensboro,  N. 
C,  with  Gen.  Joe  Johnston's  army. 

After  the  war.  Dr.  Banks  practiced  medicine  in 
Decatur,  Ala.,  until  December  16,  1868,  when  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Jane  Stuart,  daughter  of  J.  B. 
Stuart,  merchant  of  Decatur,  and  became  a  partner 
in  the  business  of  his  father-in-law. 

After  their  store  ivas  burned  Dr.  Banks  turned 
his  attention  to  farming  and  insurance,  and  he 
now  rejiresents  some  of  the  leading  companies  of 
the  country  and  does  an  immense  business  in  that 
line.  His  son.  Noble  Banks,  is  associated  with 
him. 

The  Doctor  is  of  Scotch-Huguenot  descent.  His 
father.  Colonel  L.  S.  Banks,  was  a  merchant,  a 
prominent  man  and  Mason,  and  a  colonel  of  mili- 
tia. He  married  a  lady  of  Irish  blood,  Miss  Mar- 
garet Jared  Noble,  of  a  prominent  Methodist 
family.     They  have  seven  sous  and  two  daughters. 


Dr.  Banks  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal, Church,  Knights  of  Pythias,  Odd  Fellows, 
Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen,  Knights  of 
Honor  and  Knights  of  the  Golden  Rule. 

«"J^^-4^ 

DR.  SHE?  WALTER  FOSTER  was  born  near 
Troy,  Pike  County,  Ala.,  June  11, 1861.  He  was 
reared  on  a  farm,  received  his  education  in  the 
common  schools,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty  entered 
a  store  in  Troy  as  a  clerk.  He  remained  in  this 
position  three  years,  and  employed  such  leisure 
time  as  he  could  get  at  the  study  of  dentistry. 
He  graduated  from  Vanderbilt  Dental  College  in 
the  spring  of  188?,  with  the  degree  of  D.D.S. 
and  is  now  located  in  Decatur  with  a  successful 
practice.  , 

Dr.  Foster  is  a  son  of  .John  L.  and  Martha  E. 
(Roundtree)  Foster.  The  father  was  born  in 
Monroe  County,  Ga.,  in  1836.  He  was  a  teacher 
all  his  life.  He  served  in  the  army  in  the  Forty- 
sixth  Alabama  Regiment  from  the  spring  of  1862 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  captured  at 
Nashville  when  Hood  invaded  Tennessee,  and  sent 
to  prison  at  Camp  Douglas,  where  he  remained 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  Upon  returning  to 
civil  life  he  resumed  teaching,  and  continued  until 
1880;  he  died  March  1.5,  1883.  His  wife  was  born 
in  Hawknisville,  Ga  ,  and  is  still  living  near  Troy, 
Ala.     Thev  reared  three  children. 


WILLIAM  B.  BLACK.  M.D.,  son  of  James  and 
Sarah  E.  (Thompson)  Black,  was  born  in  Lincoln 
County,  N.  C,  Sejitember  10,  1823.  He  lived  on  a 
farm  until  he  was  18  years  of  age,  when  he  began 
studying  dental  surgery,  at  which  pursuit  he  spent 
two  years.  After  this,  he  studied  medicine  and 
practiced  several  years  on  a  certificate.  He  at- 
tended medical  lectures  in  Mobile  in  ISoii,  and 
located  at  Fayette  C.  H.,  Fayette  County,  Ala.,  in 
1800.  He  practiced  there  until  1866,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Decatur,  and  has  been  a  successful  prac- 
titioner there  ever  since.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
State  and  County  Medical  Associations,  and,  al- 
though quite  busy  in  his  jirofessional  work,  found 
time  to  direct  the  management  of  a  farm  until  the 
last  four  years. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


331 


Dr.  Black  was  married  in  April,  1848,  to  Miss 
Martha  A.,  daiighterof  Henry  and  Frances  (Lowe) 
SlieUon,  of  Lincoln  County,  N.  C,  and  has  ten 
childien,  viz.:  James  IL,  George S.,  Julius  O.,  W. 
A..  Samuel  A.,  Sarah  F..  Martha  J  ,  ('has.  B.  and 
Klizabeth. 

Tiie  Doctor  and  his  wife  are  members  of  tlic 
Methodist  Episcoj>al  Church,  and  he  is  a  Mason. 

James  Black  was  born  in  Lincoln  County,  N.  C, 
in  18n2;  came  to  Alabama  in  18:58.  located  first  in 
Cherokee  C'ounty,  and  subsequently  in  Pickens 
County,  where  he  died  in  18.5.5.  He  had  eight 
children. 

William  Black,  the  Doctor's  grandfather,  was 
born  at  the  same  place,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the 
War  of  1812.      He  was  of  Irish  descent. 

— — *•- ;<s^— *'— 

CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS  HARRIS,  Tresi- 

dcnt  of  tile  l'"irst  XatiuiKil  Ikuik  nf  |)e<-atur,  and 
son  of  William  II.  and  Nancy  L.  (Stovall)  Harris, 
was  born  in  I^awrence  County,  Ala.,  January  28, 
1842 

William  II.  ILiiris,  a  native  of  Grainger  County, 
Tenn.,  was  born  in  180G,  moved  to  Lawrence 
County,  Ala.,  in  early  life,  lost  his  wife  there  in 
18G!t,  came  to  Decatur  in  187.5,  and  died  here 
.lune  28,  1884.  His  early  life  was  a  struggle  witli 
jioverty,  and  his  opportunities  were  tliereby 
limited,  but,  by  persistent  efforts  and  honest 
industry,  he  accumulated  a  liandsome  fortune. 
His  wife,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Wm.  Stovall,  was 
born  in  Lawrence  County,  Ala.  They  had  thir- 
teen children. 

C.  C.  Harris  obtained  his  early  education  under 
the  parental  roof  by  a  private  instructor,  who  was 
employed  to  teach  the  children  of  his  parents, 
according  to  a  custom  that  very  frequently 
obtained  in  the  South  in  ante-bellum  days.  In 
18(U  he  joineil  Com])any  F,  Sixteenth  Alabama 
Regiment  of  Infantry,  Confederate  Army,  as  a 
]private.  He  soon  became  a  lieutenant,  and  was 
wounded  at  the  battles  of  Shiloh,  Chickamauga, 
Jonesboro,  and  at  Franklin,  Tenn.,  and  from  the 
effect  of  the  wound  received  at  the  latter  place, 
was  contiiied  four  months  in  a  jjrivate  house  in 
Franklin,  Tenn.  He  was  afterward  captured,  and 
spent  some  time  in  prison  at  Camp  Chase. 

After  the  war  he  returned  home  penniless. 
His  father's  fortune  too,  for  the  most  part,  was 
gone,  so  that  his  future  depended  entirely  upon 


his  own  energy  and  industry.  He  renewed  his 
literary  labors,  in  connection  with  the  study  of 
the  law,  and  in  ISiifi  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
his  own  jiative  county.  About  that  time  he  was 
Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court;  afterward  County 
Solicitor,  and  in  18T2  removed  to  Decatur,  where 
he  has  since  resided,  and  where  he  has  been  a  prom- 
inent figure  in  society  and  in  church,  and  in  every 
move  that  had  for  its  end  the  upbuilding  of  the 
community  and  general  welfare  of  the  country. 
In  1881,  in  connection  with  three  other  gentletner, 
he  established  the  Bank  of  Decatur,  with  a  capital 
of  $20,000,  which  enterprise  was  so  successfully 
managed  as  to  soon  obtain  a  i)rominent  position 
among  the  moneyed  institutions  of  the  country. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Harris,  is  regarded  as  safe, 
wise  and  reliable.  In  matters  of  business,  lie  ad- 
lieres  strictly  to  the  established  rules  governing 
the  same  in  all  transactions  and  with  all  men  alike. 
He  has  no  taste  for  politics  and  no  thirst  for  office. 
His  name  has  been  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the  circuit  judgeship,  congress,  and  with  the  chief 
e.xecutive  office  of  the  State,  but  being  averse  to 
politics, he  has  invariably  discouraged  the  expressed 
wishes  of  his  friends  in  these  particulars. 

Colonel  Harris  is  one  of  the  three  men  who  less 
than  two  years  ago,  inaugurated  the  move  at  De- 
catur which  has  now  assumed  such  gigantic  pro- 
l)ortioiis.  With  Major  E.  C.  (Jordon  and  Mr.  W. 
W.  Littlejohn  as  his  associates,  the  enterprise  was 
cautiously  projected  and  all  preparations  for  the 
organization  of  the  company  carefully  made  before 
the  public  was  aware  that  anything  of  the  kind 
was  in  contemplation.  When  the  Decatur  Land, 
Improvement  and  Furnace  Company  was  organ- 
ized, he  became  its  attorney,  and  when  the  Bank 
of  Decatur  was  converted  into  the  F'irst  National 
Bank  of  Decatur,  he  was  elected  its  president.  In 
the  practice  of  law  he  is  associated  with  Uobert  C. 
Brickell,  late  Chief-Justice  of  Alabama. 

Jlr.  Harris  was  married  February  15,  1809,  to 
Mi.ss  Juli,  daughter  of  M.  A\'ert,  of  .Moulton.  They 
have  had  seven  children,  of  whom  five  are  now 
living. 

Colonel  Harris  is  a  man  of  high  moral  character, 
and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church. 


WILLIAM  WHITSON  LITTLEJOHN.  Cashier 
of  tlie  First  National  Bank  of  Decatur,  son  of 
Wiley  J.  and  Margaret  H.  (Chisholm)  Littlejohn, 


332 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


was  boru  in  Fayette  County,  Tenn.,  Sejitember 
18,  1845.  The  senior  Littlejohn  was  in  liis  clay 
a  prominent  farmer  in  Fayette  County,  Tenn., 
and  a  sugar  planter  on  Bayou  LaFourclie,  La., 
until  18.50,  when  he  moved  to  Memphis,  Tenn., 
where  he  remained  until  his  death  which  occurred 
in  1873.  He  reared  five  children,  of  whom 
William  W.,was  the  second. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in 
Memphis,  Tenn.  In  the  spring  of  18G2,  he 
entered  the  C^onfederate  service  as  a  member  of 
the  One  Hundred  and  Fifty-fourth  Tennessee 
Volunteers;  was  soon  after  detailed  and  acted  as 
a  courier  at  General  Lee's  headquarters  during 
the  remainder  of  the  war.  After  the  war,  he 
was  first  employed  as  messenger  in  the  Tennessee 
National  Bank  at  Memjjhis,  which  position  he 
held  two  years.  He  was  messenger  for  si.x  months 
in  the  Merchants  National  Bank,  book-keeper  for 
eight  months,  and  teller  for  about  three  years, 
until  the  bank  closed  in  1873.  He  acted  as  book- 
keeper in  the  State  National  Bank  several  years, 
in  the  German  National  Bank  one  year,  and  in 
1877  removed  to  Decatur,  where  he  assisted  in 
the  management  of  Polk  Hotel.  In  1880,  he 
became  one  of  the  incorporators  and  cashier  of 
the  Bank  of  Decatur,  now  the  First  National 
Bank   of  Decatur. 

Mr.  Littlejohn  was  one  of  the  prime  mover.-;  in 
the  early  enterprises  of  Decatur,  which  have 
resulted  in  achievements  exceeding  the  expecta- 
tion of  the  most  sanguine.  It  has  been  said  of 
him  and  his  work  in  ijrojecting  this  enterprise 
"  that  he  built  better  than  he  knew." 

^Ir.  Littlejohn  was  married  in  April,  1872,  to 
Miss  Martha  R.,  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Thomas 
G.  and  Levinia  C.  (Wood)  Polk,  and  they  have 
two  children,  namely  :  Tliomas  P.  and  ifargaret  C. 

STEWART  CHURCH,  Superintendent  of  the 
Decatur  Charcoal  and  Chemical  Works,  was  born 
in  Monroe  County,  N.  Y.,  September  10,  18-45. 
His  parents  were  Dennis  and  Mary  (Stewart) 
Church. 

Dennis  Church  was  a  native  of  Monroe  County, 
N.  Y.,  and  a  son  of  Elihu  Church,  who  came  from 
Berkshire,  Mass.,  in  1806,  and  became  tlie  first 
settler  in  Monroe  Count}'.  He  served  several 
terms  in  the  New  York  Legislature.     The  ances- 


tors of  this  family  were  English,  and  landed  at 
Plymouth  Rock  about  lfJ40. 

Stewart  Church  received  a  common-school  edu- 
cation. About  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  became  a 
salesman  in  a  woolen  house  in  New  York  City.  In 
1868,  he  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business  at  Bay 
City,  Mich.  In  1870.  he  returned  to  his  home, 
and  worked  one  of  his  father's  farms  until  1878, 
when  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  charcoal 
and  the  bi-product  of  wood  alcohol  and  acetate  of 
lime,  with  Dr.  H.  M.  Pierce,  the  patentee  of  that 
process,  at  Bangor,  Mich.  In  1880,  the  Elk  Rap- 
ids Iron  Company,  Michigan,  erected  the  same 
kind  of  works,  and  Mr.  Church,  as  superintendent, 
remained  with  them  until  January,  1887,  when  he 
removed  to  Decatur,  and  supervised  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Decatur  Charcoal  and  Chemical  Works, 
the  second  enterprise  of  this  kind  in  Alabama. 
(The  first  one  is  at  Calera.)  Tliese  woi-ks  have  a 
capacity  of  forty  thousand  cords  of  wood  per  year. 
They  were  begun  in  1880.  Their  officers  are: 
Colonel  S.  A.  Champion,  president:  il.  A.  Spurr, 
treasurer;  and  J.  A.  Bishop,  secretary. 

Stewart  Church  was  married  in  May,  1872,  to 
Miss  Anna,  daughter  of  Henry  Gustin,  merchant, 
at  Bay  City,  Mich.  Tliey  have  four  children, 
viz.:  Dennis,  Anna,  William  Stewart,  and  Fred- 
erick. 

]Mr.  Cliui'ch  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor  and  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

J.  D.  JERVIS,  the  General  :\Ianager  of  the  J. 
D.  Jervis  &  Co.  jilaning  mill,  was  born  in  Wales, 
in  August,  1843.  He  is  the  son  of  Richard  and 
Anne  Jervis.  Mr,  Jervis  received  a  common-school 
education,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  began 
to  learn  the  carjienter  trade  with  his  father.  At 
the  age  of  nineteen  he  moved  to  Liverpool,  Eng- 
land, and  followed  his  trade  there  and  attended 
night  school  at  the  Institute,  and  took  four-month 
course  in  a  commercial  school  in  Liverpool,  In 
1868  he  emigrated  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  fol- 
lowed his  trade  there  till  the  fall  of  1870,  when 
he  moved  to  Iron  ton,  Ohio;  there  started  in 
the  building  and  contracting  business,  and  in  con- 
nection with  that  had  a  large  planing  mill.  After 
twelve  years  of  successful  business  he  sold  out 
his  interest  in  the  building  and  planing  mill  busi- 
ness, and,  in  connection  with  three  other  gentle- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


333 


men,  started  tlie  Ii-onton  Hoe  and  Tool  Company, 
in  matuifacturing  picks,  mattocks  and  lioes,  wheel- 
barrows and  railway  trucks.  In  April,  1887,  lie 
moved  the  wheelbarrow  dejiarttnent  to  Uecatiir, 
and  built,  in  connection  with  the  barrow 
department,  a  large  planing  mill,  and  is  at  the 
head  of  tliisenteri)i'ise.  manufacturing  sash,  doors, 
blinds  and  hardwood  finishing.  Mr.  .Tervis  is  a 
married  man.  He  married  .Miss  Lizzie  E.  Jones, 
of  Ironton.  Ohio,  in  December,  1877.  His  family 
consist  of  himself  and  wife.  They  both  are  active 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


OSCEOLA  KYLE,  JR.,  son  of  Ponsonby  and 
Adaiinc  (Tranum)  Kyle,  was  born  in  Tuskegee, 
Macon  County,  Ala.,  January  it,  18()"^. 

He  was  reared  in,  and  received  his  early  train- 
ing at,  the  schools  of  his  native  village.  At  the 
age  of  fifteen  he  attended  the  L'niversity  of  Ala- 
bama for  one  year;  but  his  father  and  elder 
brother  dying  in  1878,  he  was  called  home,  and 
went  to  work.  In  1880  he  began  the  stndy  of  the 
law  in  the  office  of  Brewer  &  Hrewer,  in  Tuskegee, 
and  in  April,  1881,  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 

Like  most  young  men  who  aspire  to  follow  the 
legal  profession,  he  was  poverty  stricken:  and,  after 
his  admission  to  the  bar,  was  without  means  to  begin 
practice,  lie  went  to  Hirmingham,  Ala.,  and 
worked  at  various  employments  for  two  years — 
sometimes  clerking,  and  for  awhile  staying  in  a 
lumber  yard  in  said  city.  In  1883  he  went  to 
llpelika,  Ala.,  and  for  awhile  studied  law  over 
again  in  the  oflice  of  Gen.  (ieo.  P.  Harrison,  who 
kindiy  assisted  him  in  many  ways. 

Early  in  1884  he  formed  a  copartnership  with 
W.  J.  Sanford,  and  a  few  months  later  established 
an  office  of  his  own. 

In  188C,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  after  a 
spirited  canvass,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature 
by  a  handsome  majority,  as  one  of  the  represent- 
atives of  Lee  County,  and  served  with  credit  to 
himself  and  people.  His  record  is  worthy  of 
special  remark,  on  account  of  his  being  the 
youngest  member  of  the  General  Assembly. 

While  in  Opclika  he  was  elected  and  served  as 
City  Attorney  for  one  year,  filling  the  position 
satisfactorily  to  the  municipal  government.  In 
1887  he  located  in  Decatur,  practicing  his 
profession,  and  ujion  the  organization  of  Company 


I,  Third  Regiment  Alabama  State  Troops,  was 
elected  first  lieutenant;  and  also  joined  the 
Knights  of  Pythias. 

-Mr.  Kyle's  father  was  born  in  New  York  City  in 
1S23,  located  in  \Vetumi)ka,  Ala.,  aljout  1848, 
and,  with  the  exception  of  one  year  spent  iji  Lib- 
erty, Mo.,  lived  in  Alabama  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  He  served  through  the  late  war  as  assistant 
surgeon  in  the  C^onfederate  States  Army,  and  was 
captured  and  imprisoned  one  year  at  Ship  Island. 
This  was  near  the  close  of  hostilities.  He  died  in 
1»78. 

0.  Kyle's  mother  was  a  native  of  Montgomery 
County,  Ala.,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Tombs  Tra- 
num, a  large  i)lanter,  and  a  pioneer  who  served  in 
early  Indian  wars,  and  was  a  resident  of  Alabama 
many  years  before  the  Indians  left  the  country. 
Ponsonby  Kyle  roared  five  children,  of  whom  our 
subject  was  the  youngest. 

GEORGE  JORDAN  SCOVEL.son  of  Lyman  and 
Mariali  L.  (Sheppard)  Si-ovei,  was  born  in  Mont- 
gomery, Ala.,  August  3,  18-58. 

Lyman  Scovel  was  a  native  of  Connecticut.  He 
came  to  Montgomery,  Ala.,  about  18.50,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  grocery  business.  He  was  married 
twice,  and  George  J.'s  mother  was  his  second 
wife.  She  died  in  May,  1859,  and  he  in  1862, 
the  latter  aged  about  si.xty  years. 

Having  thus  been  left  an  orphan,  the  subject  of 
our  sketch  was  adopted  by  Mrs.  T.  B.  Jordan, 
with  whom  he  lived  until  grown.  He  attended 
the  common  schools  of  Montgomery,  and  for 
two  years  at  Itoanoke  College,  Salem,  Va.,  after 
which  he  clerked  for  a  few  years,  and  began 
business  on  his  own  acconnt  as  a  grocer  in 
Montgomery.  Having  conducted  this  business 
for  two  years,  he  sold  it  and  acted  as  assistant 
register  in  chancery  three  years.  In  January, 
1S87,  he  came  to  Decatur,  and  as  one  of 
the  firm  of  Joseph  iS:  Scovel,  real  estate  agents, 
stock  brokers  and  insurance  men,  is  doing  a  flour- 
ishing business.  Mr.  Scovel  was  married,  De- 
cember 12.  1883,  to  Miss  Willie  .M.,  daughter  of 
of  Dr.  W.  C.  and  F.  E.  (Bibb)  Jackson,  of  Mont- 
gomery.    They  have  but  one  child,  Marie. 

Mr.  Scovel  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist p]piscopal  Church,  and  he  is  a  Knight  of 
Pythias. 


334 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


MARIUS  CHAMPE  BURCH,  son  of  Edward 
William  and  Kiiza  (Tiionipsoii)  Burch,  was  born 
near  Mount  ileigs,  in  Montgomery  County,  Ala., 
June  14,  1849.  He  spent  his  early  days  on  a 
farm,  and  received  a  good  education  in  the  high 
school  at  Tiiskegee,  Ala.  Since  1809  he  has  been 
engaged  in  milling  and  agricultural  pursuits.  In 
1872  he  went  to  Danville,  Montgomery  County, 
Tex.,  and  kejit  books  two  years,  at  the  same  time 
supervising  property  in  that  vicinity  which  he  had 
inherited  from  an  uncle.  In  January,  1887,  he 
located  at  Decatur,  purchased  property,  and, 
in  partnership,  with  David  T.  Morgan,  established 
a  real  estate  and  stock  brokerage  business. 

E.  W.  Burch,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Georgia,  came 
to  Montgomery  County,  Ala.,  with  his  parents  at 
a  very  early  day,  and  became  an  e.xtensive  planter. 
He  served  as  an  officer  of  cavalry  during  the  Ci'eek 
War.  He  moved  to  Macon  C'ounty,  Ala.,  about 
1850,  and  died  there  soon  after.  He  was  twice 
married,  and  reared  six  children. 

Tlie  mother  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  a 
daughter  of  Geo.  W.  Thompson,  a  native  of 
Georgia,  and  one  of  the  j)ioneer  settlers  of  Mont- 
gomery, Ala.  He  surveyed  that  city  for  Colonel 
Dexter  about  1833,  and  was  afterward  employed 
by  the  United  States  Government  in  Louisiana. 


-«" 


JAMES  L.  ECHOLS,  son  of  James  M.  and  Sarah 
E.  (Simpson)  Echols,  was  born  in  Jlorgan  County, 
Ala.,  October,  1857.  He  remained  on  a  farm  un- 
til he  was  seventeen:  leceived  his  education  in  the 
common  .schoo-ls,  and  became  a  salesman  at  Hart- 
sell's,  Ala. ;  and  was  married  to  Sue.  J.  Bean,  of 
Priceville,  December  7,  r879.  When  about  twen- 
ty-seven, he  established  a  mercantile  business  at 
that  village,  and  conducted  it  successfully  for  three 
years.  In  January,  1887,  he  came  to  Decatur, 
where  he  owned  property  which  he  sold  for  a  hand- 
some price.  He  has  been  trading  in  real  estate,  and 
is  a  director  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Decatur, 
a  stockholder  in  the  Electric  Light  Company,  the 
Decatur  Land,  Improvement  and  Furnace  Com- 
jiany,  and  other  institutions.  He  also  has  large 
landed*  interests  in  Giles  County,  Tenn. 

Mr.  Echols  has  been  the  sole  author  of  hi.s  own 
fortunes. 

James  M.  Echols  came  from  Mississijipi  to  Mor- 
gan County  with  his  jjarents  when  but  a  child; be- 


came a  farmer  at  Danville,  and  was  a  soldier  in  the 
late  war.  He  reared  ten  children,  viz.:  W.  Y.,  a 
a  prominent  merchant  of  Hartsell's;  Sarah  E. ,  wife 
of  J.  31.  Speake;  Geo.  T.  and  John  S.;  Samuel  Q. 
and  Mattie  E.  arenowdead;  James  L.,  thesubject 
of  this  sketch,  Rufns  E.,  lieuben  H.,  and  Minnie 
D.,  wife  of  R.  T.  Puckett. 


MALLETT  C.  HOOPER,  son  of  George  William 
and  Charlotte  .1.  (Waddell)  Hooper,  was  born  in 
Crawford,  Ala.,  May  6,  1801.  He  was  reared  and 
educated  in  Opelika ;  became  a  civil  engineer  at 
the  age  of  seventeen,  and  followed  that  business 
for  five  years,  when  he  engaged  in  the  loan  and 
brokerage  business  at  Ojjelika,  and  continued  it 
there  one  year.  He  was  at  Haynesville,  Ala.,  a 
short  time,  and  in  February,  1887,  located  in  De- 
catur, where  he  is  still  conducting  the  same  busi- 
ness, in  addition  to  which  he  is  identified  with 
various  enterprises  in  that  city. 
.  Mr.  Hooper's  father  was  born  in  LaFayette, 
Chambers  County,  Ala.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession, and  as  such  ranked  very  high.  He  was  a 
soldier  during  the  late  war  and  held  the  I'ank  of 
lieutenant  colonel  in  the  Confederate  Army.  At 
the  battle  of  Seven  Pines  he  was  wounded  and  in- 
capacitated for  further  service.  After  the  war  he 
resumed  the  practice  of  law  and  continued  it  the 
rest  of  his  life.     He  died  in  August,  1883. 


-■e— 


ANDREW  CALHOUN  FREY  was  born  in 
Brockville,  Canada,  September  29,  lbo2,  and  was 
a  son  of  Samuel  C.  Frey.  When  six  years  of 
age,  our  subject  was  brought  by  his  parents 
to  Canton,  Ohio,  where  he  received  his  edu- 
cation. In  1850,  he  became  a  telegrapher  in  San- 
dusky, Ohio,  and  afterward  train  dispatcher  of 
tiie  Cincinnati  &  Sandusky  Railway,  in  which 
position  he  remained  until  180!),  when  he  came 
South.  In  1870,  he  became  train  dispatcher  of 
the  L.  i^t  X.  Railroad  at  Decatur,  Ala.,  and 
remained  with  that  company  until  February, 
1887,  when  he  retired.  Some  time  before  this, 
he  and  his  father  had  purchased  forty-four  acres 
of  land  in  what  is  now  the  city  of  Decatur,  and, 
during  the  year  1887,  he  sold  eighteen  acres   of  it 


.^«>  ^ 


^^^x^,.^-^^^^^  ■    ^-  *^ 


^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


335 


to  tlie  Decatur  Land  Company,  and  retained  tlie 
balance  for  liis  own  use.  This  fortunate  invest- 
ment resulted  so  favoral)ly  tliat  he  thought  it 
unnecessarj'  to  continue  loiiser  in  the  service  of 
tile  railroad  company,  lie  is  now  a  stock-holder 
in  the  First  National  liank,  the  Decatur  Land, 
Improvement  iS:  Furnace  Conipany.  and  other 
enterprises. 

lleinrich  (or  Henry)  Frey  was  a  native  of  the 
City  of  Zurich,  Switzerland,  which  place  he  left  in 
11188,  and  accompanied  by  his  wife,  sailed  for 
America.  The  Hurgoniaster  of  Zui-ich  gave  him 
then  an  open  letter  addressed  to  "Whom  it  may 
concern,''  recommending  the  bearer  as  a  worthy 
and  honest  man.  [This  letter  is  still  in  the 
possession  of  the  family.]  He  traveled  down  the 
l{hine  to  Amsterdam,  where  he  took  passage  for 
New  York.  His  vessel  was  stranded  on  the  shore 
of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  he  was  transferred  to  an 
English  ship.  The  (iovernor  of  the  Island  gave 
him  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  (iovernor  of 
Xew  York.  He  landed  in  that  city  in  1689,  and 
the  Governor  of  Xew  York  gave  him  a  free  grant 
of  a  liundred  acres  of  land,  near  that  city.  But 
he  subsequently  abandoned  this,  and  located  near 
I'alatine  Bridge,  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  where 
he  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land,  which  is 
known  to  this  day  as  Prey's  Bush.  He  was  acci- 
<lentally  drowned;  left  oiie  son,  Henry  Frey,  who 
married  a  Miss  Keyser.  They  had  three  sons  and 
three  daughters.  Of  tiiese,  Henry  Frey  (the 
third),  being  the  eldest  son,  by  English  law  of 
j)rimogcniture  became  sole  heir  of  the  entire  estate, 
but  subsequently  gave  three  hundred  acres  of  land 
to  each  of  his  brothers,  and  one  hundred  acres  to 
each  of  his  sisters.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Hei'kinier.  He  received  his  education  at  Cherry 
^'alley  School,  and  became  a  profound  scholar,  and 
a  surveyor.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  John  J. 
Herkimer,  the  first  settler  in  Herkimer  County, 
X.  Y.  J.  J.  Herkimer  and  wife  came  from  the 
Palatinate  of  the  Rhine,  and  brought  with  them 
their  first  born,  a  boy,  who  subsequently  became  a 
brigadier-general  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Henry  Frey  (the  third)  had  one  son  and  one 
daughter.  The  son,  Philip  Rokel  Frey,  was  a  sur- 
veyorand  an  attorney  of  great  reputation  in  hisday. 
He  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Six 
Nations  of  Indians  who  occupied  the  territory  of 
New  York  (as  he  did  of  the  white  settlers  gener- 
ally) to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  very  often 
called    upon  to  settle  their   disputes  about  lanil 


claims.  He  also  surveyed  the  township  of  land 
which  the  Continental  Congress  awarded  to  Baron 
Steuben  as  a  reward  for  his  services  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War.  Eliza  (Frey)  Conkling,  mother  of 
Roscoe  Conkling,  of  New  York,  was  the  daughter 
of  the  above-mentioned  Henry  Frey  (the  third), 
ami  sister  of  Philip  R.  Frey.  Philip  was  first 
married  to  Marie  Louise  St.  Martin,  to  whom  one 
son  and  three  daughters  were  born,  namely:  Henry, 
F^lizabeth,  Mary  .\nn  and  Catherine.  The  second 
wife  of  Philip  R.  Frey  was  F^lizabeth  Tyrrell, 
to  whom  two  sons  and  six  daughters  were  born. 
The  sons  were:  Samuel  Chollet  Frey  (the  father 
of  our  subject)  and  John  \V.  Frey. 

Samuel  C.  Frey  was  born  in  St.  Johnsville, 
Montgomery  County,  N.  Y.,  February  T,  1709. 
In  his  early  life  he  thoroughly  learned  the  busi- 
ness of  watch  and  clock-maker  and  goldsmith, 
which  he  followed  for  many  years.  He  resided  in 
Brockville,  Canada,  from  1831  until  1837,  and 
prosecuted  his  business  with  marked  success  until 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Patriot  War.  In  this  he 
sympathized  entirely  with  the  ])atriot  side,  and 
enjoyed  the  confidence  and  friendship  of  the  most 
prominent  men  in  that  country,  including  the 
present  chief-justice  of  the  Dominion.  He  was  a 
remarkable  scholar,  possessed  of  extraordinary  in- 
telligence; was  very  familiar  with  Latin  and 
Greek,  and  could  speak  French  and  (lerman  with 
fluency.  He  was  a  man  full  of  patriotic  impulses, 
but,  being  without  personal  ambition,  was  content 
with  the  private  walks  of  life.  In  1838  he  removed 
to  Canton,  Ohio,  and  afterward  to  Springfield,  in 
that  State.  After  this,  becomijig  desirous  of  a 
warmer  and  more  equable  clinuite,  he  located  in 
Decatur  (in  1869),  where  he  took  great  jjleasure 
in  establishing  and  beautifying  his  home.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Susan  C,  daughter  of  An- 
drew Calhoun,  of  Boston,  Mass.  She  died  March 
10,  1883,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three. 

Samuel  C.  Frey  died  at  Decatur,  .Via..  Febru- 
ary 24,  1877.  He  was  aged  seventy-eight.  His 
wife  had  seven  brothers  and  one  sister,  and  some 
of  the  former  were  among  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  Massachusetts.  William  B.  was  a  member 
of  Congress  from  Springfield  four  terms,  served 
in  the  ^Massachusetts  legislature  ten  years,  was 
speaker  of  the  house  four  years,  and  president  of 
the  senate  for  some  time.  Charles,  the  second 
son,  was  clerk  of  the  senate  of  Massachusetts  for 
many  years.  Andrew,  the  third  son,  remained  in 
Ni'w  ^'ork.  pubji-jjit'd  a  paper  in  Owego,  and  filled 


336 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


many  offices  of  public  trust.  Henry  was  a  mer- 
chant in  Kew  York  City.  He  was  a  Whig,  and 
was  appointed  deputy  collector  for  the  Port  of 
New  York  by  President  Fillmore.  He  died  since 
the  war.  Howard,  the  sixth  child,  was  educated 
at  AVilliams  College,  served  as  a  tutor  for  a  few 
years,  and  spent  forty  years  as  missionary  in  Pales- 
tine, where  he  was  held  in  such  veneration  by  the 
natives  and  Arabs  that  they  called  him  "  Saint." 
During  the  bloody  wars  between  the  Druses  and 
Maronites,  both  })arties  had  such  confidence  in 
him  that  they  brought  him  valuable  presents  and 
sought  protection  under  his  roof.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  personal  magnetism.  John  C.  Calhoun  (of 
Massachusetts),  the  seventh  child  of  this  family, 
was  formerly  Surveyor-General  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska,  and  president  of  the  Lecompton  Con- 
vention in  Kansas.  Martha  Calhoun,  the  young- 
est of  the  family,  died  recently  at  Chelmsford, 
Mass.  The  Calhouns  came  from  County  Done- 
gal, Ireland,  their  parents  having  gone  there  from 
Ayrshire,  Scotland,  to  enjoy  in  peace  the  bless- 
ings of  religious  liberty. 

Samuel  C.  Frey  and  Susan  (Calhoun)  Frey,  had 
three  children,  viz.:  George  H.,  Mary  A.  and 
Andrew  C,  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Mr.  Frey 
is  now  j)i"esident  of  the  Decatur  &  South  Moun- 
tain Improvement  and  Railroad  Company. 


JAMES  McLURE  BUFORD,  son  of  John 
Eagsdale  and  Esther  Eaves  Buford,  is  a  native  of 
Chester  District,  S.  C.  His  parents,  while  he 
was  yet  a  child,  emigrated  to  Fayette  County, 
Teun..  where  he  spent  most  of  his  boyhood  days 
on  the  farm.  In  June,  1841,  having  lost  his 
father,  he  removed  to  Eufaula,  Ala.,  and,  in  the 
early  part  of  1848,  entered  college  at  Columbia, 
S.  C,  where  he  graduated  in  December,  185U. 
Returning  to  Eufaula,  he  read  law  under  his 
brother  Jefferson  Buford,  a  leading  attorney  of 
Barbour  County.  He  subsequently  attended  the 
law-school  at  New  Orleans,  where  he  graduated 
and  received  his  law  diploma,  upon  which  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  of  Alabama  in  1852.  He  was 
editor  of  "  The  Spirit  of  the  South,"  prior  to  and 
during  the  war,  and  of  the  same  paper  under  the 
name  of  "  Tlie  Eufaula  Nncs^iox  a  great  portion 
of  the  time  down  to  November,  1874.  On  the 
first   of  November,   1883,  he  moved  to   Atlanta, 


Ga. ;  but  in  May,  1887,  returned  to  Alabama,  and 
set^led  in  Decatur,  Morgan  County,  where  he  still 
continues  the  law  practice. 

Mr.  Buford  was  united  in  marriage  at  Eufaula, 
June,  1859,  with  Mrs.  M.  C.  Wallace,  eldest 
daughter  of  Dr.  W.  L.  Cowan,  by  whom  he  has 
had  eight  children — William  Cowan,  Carrie  Eloise, 
Jefferson  Pugh,  Annie  Esther,  Rosa  Theresa, 
LeRoy  Eaves,  JIary  Melton  (now  dead)  and  Emily 
Alexander.  His  ancestors  were  of  an  ancient 
family,  among  whom  was  Margaret  Buford,  or 
Beaufort,  the  mother  of  Kings  Henry  VII.  and 
YIII.:  his  grandfather  emigrated  from  England  to 
Yirginia  in  the  early  settlement  of  this  country, 
where  his  father  was  born  July  5,  lT?'.t.  married 
December  ".io,  1804,  and  settled  in  Chester  District, 
South  Carolina.  He  had  eleven  children,  the 
ninth  of  whom  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Mr.  Buford  has  long  been  an  elder  in  the  Pres- 
byterian Church — the  church  of  his  family  and 
forefatliers. 

C.  T.  ROBINSON  was  born  in  lluntsville.  Ala., 
in  1S49.  and  is  a  son  of  William  and  Caroline  P. 
(Moore)  Robinson,  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  The 
father  was  a  native  of  Yirginia,  and  one  of  the 
earliest  settlers  of  Huntsville,  where  he  resided 
until  his  death.  He  was  a  speculator  and  farmer, 
and  had  large  landed  interests  in  North  and  South 
Alabama  and  Mississippi,  besides  450  slaves.  His 
mother  was  born  in  Alabama.  Of  their  five  chil- 
dren but  three  are  now  living,  viz. :  Fannie,  wife  of 
Doctor  Ridley;  Mary,  wife  of  A.  R.  Burritt,  and 
C.  T.,  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  who  was  reared 
and  educated  in  Huntsville.  In  18G8  he  went  to 
Pulaski,  Tenn.,  where  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  T.  W.  McLean  and  C.  L.  Ridley,  in  what  was 
at  first  a  private,  but  afterward  a  national  bank. 
They  conducted  this  business  three  years,  when 
Mr.  Robinson  began  farming  near  Pulaski,  which 
he  has  continued  since.  In  the  winter  of  1887  he 
was  associated  with  P.  H.  Flynn,  in  organizing  the 
Decatur  ^lineral  &  Land  Company,  and  is  still  a 
stockholder  and  director  in  it.  He  was  master  of 
the  Giles  County  (Tenn.)  Grange,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  proceedings  of  that  body. 

Mr.  Robinson  was  married  in  May,  1878,  to 
Miss  Madora  Reynolds,  of  Tennessee,  and  they 
have  three  children — Carrie,  ^linnie  and  Lola. 
Mrs.  Robinson  is  a  Presbyterian. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


337 


William  Robinson,  our  subject's  father,  was  u 
captain  in  the  Seminole  War  in  Florida.  He  was 
a  man  of  commanding  presence,  ami  measured 
six  feet,  four  inches  in  his  stocking  feet. 

P.  H.  FLYNN,  Uealer  in  Keal  Estate,  Stocks  and 
Uoiids.  Decatur,  was  born  in  Worcester  County, 
Mass.,  July  4.  LS'll,  where  he  was  reared  and 
received  his  early  education.  He  graduated  from 
the  high  schools  of  Worcester,  and  learneil  the 
trade  of  draughtsman  and  cutter  with  Isaac  Prouty 
&  Co.,  of  Spencer,  Mass.,  one  of  the  largest  boot 
and  shoe  factories  in  the  world.  In  1S82  he  came 
to  Ohio,  and  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  cutting 
departmeut  of  Ide  &  Wilson,  of  Columbus,  and 
remained  with  them  for  a  year  and  a  half.  He  was 
with  Hugh  McKenzie,  of  Cincinnati,  two  years  as 
Southern  salesman,  and  with  W.  F.  Throne  & 
Co.,  the  largest  shoe  house  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
several  vears  as  Southern  salesman.  In  18.S6  he 
made  investments  in  Decatur,  and  in  January. 
ISST,  he  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Decatur  Mineral  Land  Company,  and  subsefpiently 
one  of  its  directors,  and  a  member  of  the  executive 
committee.  He  is  also  the  originator  and  busi- 
ness manager  of  the  Gateway  Land  Company: 
treasurer  of  the  Decatur  Building  and  Supply 
Company,  capital  *2.5,000:  one  of  the  owners  of 
Casa  (iraude  Stable,  stock  capitalized  at  fi2.j,O0O, 
a  magnificent  building  of  elegant  and  elaborate 
architectural  design.  Mr.  Flynn  is  also  a  director 
and  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Exchange 
Bank. capital  |!100,000:  astockholder  of  the  Deca- 
tur Land,  Improvement  and  Furnace  Company:  the 
Electric  Light  Company: a  member  of  the  Decatur 
Stock  P'/Xchange  and  Real  Estate  Association,  and 
the  head  of  the  firm  of  P.  H.  Flynn  iS:  Co.;  also 
originator  and  secretary  of  the  Fairvicw  Land 
Company,  capital  stock  |i3T.i.OOO. 


W.  W.  HEDGES,  Heal  Estate  and  Insurance,  De- 
catur, son  of  .lohn  W.  and  Martha  (Thomas) 
Hedges,  was  l)orn  in  Bourbon  County.  Ky.,  in 
1S54.  His  father's  ancestors  came  from  England, 
and  settled  first  in  Maryland,  and  afterward  in 
Kentucky.  His  father  is  a  farmer  and  still  living. 
His  mother's  family  came  from  Virginia  to  Ken- 


tucky at  a  very  early  day.  They  have  eight  chil- 
dren, of  wiiom  W  W.  is  the  eldest.  He  was  reared 
in  Bourbon  County,  Ky.,  and  graduated  at  the 
University  of  Lexi?igton,  in  civil  engineering,  and 
subse<|uently  taught  school  two  years:  was  book- 
keej)er  in  the  Deposit  Bank  of  Xortii  Middletown, 
Ky.,  eighteen  months:  spent  two  years  in  the 
West,  returned,  and  was  cashier  of  the  same  bank 
seven  years.  In  .Inly,  1SS7,  he  came  to  Decatur, 
and  engaged  in  the  real  estate  and  insurance  busi- 
ness with  P.  II.  Flynn.  He  assisted  in  organiz- 
ing the  Exchange  Bank,  of  Decatur,  with  a  capital 
stock  of  §100,0(10,  and  was  elected  its  cashier. 
He  is  a  stockholder  in,  and  the  treasurer  of.  the 
(iateway  Land  Company  and  of  the  Mutual  Build- 
ing Company,  also  stockholder  in  the  Mineral 
Land  CJompany,  Decatur  Building  Company,  and 
the  Casa  Cfrande  Stables  Co.  Mr.  Hedges  is  a 
member  of  the  Christian  Church  and  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

JOHN  S.  REED,  Manager  of  the  Decatur  Tav- 
ern, was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Mass.,  in  183'.t, 
and  is  of  the  old  Puritan  stock.  He  was  educated 
at  Troy,  N.  Y.  In  1S.3.">.  he  went  to  Davenport, 
Iowa,  where  he  engaged  in  runningasaw-mill,  and 
lost  his  right  arm.  He  entered  tiie  Quarternnister's 
De))artment  of  the  Federal  Army,  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Cumberland,  where  he  became  chief 
clerk  under  ^lajor  Smith,  and  in  which  depart- 
ment he  went  through  the  Georgia  campaign,  and 
finally  to  Texas.  He  came  to  Huntsville  in  1865, 
and  engaged  in  business  with  A.  F.  Murray. 

In  1880,  he  was  apjiointed  postmaster  at  Hunts- 
ville, and  held  that  otKce  until  the  spring  of  188;, 
when  he  accepted  the  management  of  the  Decatur, 
Ala.,  Mineral  Company.  In  the  fall  of  the  same 
year  he  accepted  the  management  of  the  "The  Tav- 
ern," at  Decatur,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  hotels 
in  .Mabama.  It  lias  a  capacity  for  three  hundred 
guests. 

Mr.  Reed  was  married,  in  1881,  to  ^liss  Theo. 
Temple,  of  Tennessee,  a  lady  of  superior  education 
and  musical  accomplishment. 

They  are  members  of  tlie  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  he  is  an  Odd  Fellow. 

EDWIN  D.  OLMSTEAD,  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  the  l>ecatur  li'in  Uridge  ami  Construction  Co., 


338 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


was  born  in  New  York  in  1855.  His  parents,  L. 
J.  and  !Mary  W.  (Campbell)  Olmstead,  are  natives 
of  the  same  State. 

His  father  is,  by  occujiation,  an  architect  and 
builder,-  and  has  been  a  resident  of  the  South 
since  18G6.  He  was  for  a  time  engaged  in  refining 
sugar  in  A'ew  Orleans,  but  subsequently  resumed 
his  j^rofession.  In  ISSO  he  came  to  Alabama  and 
is  now  a  resident  of  Hirmingham. 

E.  D.  Olmstead  came  South  when  a  youth,  and 
has  always  since  been  identified  with  Southern  in- 
terests. Altliough  but  a  young  man,  he  has 
achieved  an  honorable  business  record  in  Birming- 
ham, where  he  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Olm- 
stead &  Kiernan.  which  subsequently  became 
Olmstead  &  Varney.  After  two  years  of  success- 
ful business  in  Birmingham,  he  disjiosed  of  his  in- 
terest there  to  become  an  officer  in  one  of  the  lead- 
ing corporate  industries  of  Xorthern  Alabama,  the 
duties  of  which  he  is  now  fulfilling  in  a  most 
creditable  manner. 

Mr.  Olmstead  was  united  in  marriage  in  1885, 
to  Miss  Annie  Head,  of  New  Orleans.  They  are 
blessed  with  one  child.  He  is  a  Mason,  and  a  gen- 
tleman of  the  most  excellent  character  and  repu- 
tation. 


J.  MONROE  NELSON,  Dealer  in  Eeal  Estate. 
Decatur,  son  of  .James  and  Barbara  (Fifer)  Nel- 
son, natives  of  (Jreensboro,  N.  C,  was  born  in 
Orange  County,  N.  C,  on  Christmas  day,  1823. 
He  was  reared  in  Scipio,  Ind.,and  received  a  ?ood 
English  education  at  the  common  schools  in  that 
vicinity.  He  began  teaching  school  at  the  age  of 
fifteen,  and  continued  it  for  some  years,  studying 
law  as  occasion  permitted,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  at  Vei'non,  Ind.,  about  1845.  He  prac- 
ticed law  till  about  1850,  and  then  went  upon  a 
farm.  In  1856,  he  was  elected  County  Auditor, 
and  heldtliat  position  until  1804.  He  represented 
the  Third  Congressional  District  as  member  of  the 
State  Board  of  Education,  when  he  moved  to  New- 
ton County,  Ind.,  and  again  farmed.  While  here, 
he  served  as  County  Superintendent  of  Education 
for  three  years.  In  January,  1873, he  came  to  Deca- 
tur, where  he  has  since  resided.  After  com- 
ing here  he  followed  farming  for  some  years,  but 
having  sold  a  portion  of  his  farm  at  an  enormous 
profit,  and  bought  other  property  near  the  city, 
he  was  enabled  to  effect  large  transactions  in  real 


estate,  and  is  now  making  that  his  exclusive  busi- 
ness. 

Mr.  Nelson  was  married  February  14,  1850,  to 
Miss  Abbie  Adams,  of  Dearborn  County,  Ind., 
and  daughter  of  Moses  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  a 
soldier  of  the  War  of  1812.  Mr.  Nelson  has  seven 
children,  namely:  George  A.,  Ruth  A.,  James  B., 
John  C.  F.,  Mattie  Jennie,  Mary  Addie  and  Willie 
W.  Mr.  Nelson  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity. 

James  Nelson,  tlie  father  of  J.  ]\I.  Nelson,  was  of 
Scotch-Irish  descent;  moved  from  North  Carolina 
to  Jennings  County,  Ind.,  in  1830,  and  settled  in 
Scipio,  where  he  died  in  1845,  at  about  seventy-five 
years  of  age.  He  reared  three  children.  His 
wife  W!is  a  lady  of  German  descent,  and  died  in 
1858,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 


JOHN  PEACHER,  Jr.,  of  the  firm  of  Elsberry, 
Peacher  &  Co.,  Music  Dealers,  Decatur,  son  of 
John  and  Louisa  (Barnett)  Peacher,  was  born  in 
Oxford,  Scott  County,  Ky.,  October  7,  186'.i;  re- 
ceived his  edueation  at  Montgomery,  Ala.,  and 
when  about  twenty  years  of  age  began  traveling 
for  a  prominent  wholesale  hat  house  of  New  York 
City.  He  continued  in  the  hat  business  and  other 
mercantile  and  traveling  jmrsuits  until  June  15, 
1887.  when  he  located  at  Decatur,  Ala.,  and  en- 
tered the  real  estate  business  in  partnershijj  with 
Mr.  M.  C.  Hooper.  He  is  now  Secretary  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Eeal  Estate  Association  of  Deca- 
tur, and  a  Knight  of  Pythias. 

John  Peacher  was  a  native  of  A'irginia  and  his 
wife  of  Kentucky.  He  now  resides  in  Louisville. 
His  wife  died  in  February,  1885,  in  Montgomery, 
Ala. 

William  Barnett,  ]\Ir..Peacher's  maternal  grand- 
father, was  a  pioneer  farmer  of  Kentucky.  Mr. 
Peacher's  parents  moved  to  Montgomery,  Ala.,  in 
1872,  where  his  father  became  a  dealer  in 
stock.  The  Peachers  are  of  English  origin  and 
members  of  the  Christian  Church,  except  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  who  is  a  Bajitist. 

-^--S^t^-i— — 

J.  E.  McRRIDE,  Manager  of  the  Decatur  Ice 
Company,  was  born  in  Brockport,  N.  Y.,  in  1857. 
He  received  his  education  at  the  State  Normal 
School    at    Brockport;     learned   his   trade   as   a 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


339 


machinist  at  Rochester,  X.  Y.,  and  then  spent 
two  vears  at  school  at  meclianical  engineering; 
came  South  in  1881  and  engaged  in  tlte  cotton- 
seed oil  business:  was  with  Valley  Oil  Mill  one 
season:  the  two  following  years  was  engaged  in 
erecting  mills  all  through  the  South:  was  coji- 
nected  with  the  Sunflower  Oil  Comiianyat  Clarks- 
dale.  Miss.,  three  years:  in  May,  1887.  came  to 
iK'taturaiul  jiut  up  the  Decatur  Ice  Company's 
niailiiiu'.  (if  whicli  he  is  now  general  manager. 

I'lic  Kfcatur  Ice  Company  was  oi-ganized  in  the 
s|)ring  of  188],  hy  .1.  V .  Scott.  W.  W.  Littlcjohn, 
C.  C.  Harris.  A.  1-".  .Murry  and  others:  capital 
stock,  ?;•,'(•. 1(10. 

'Pile  factory  has  a  capacity  of  six  Ions,  and  is 
now  adding  twenty  tons  more  per  day.  The  ma- 
chines are  of  the  absorption  pattern,  and  made  by 
the  Cincinnati  Ice  JIachine  Company  of  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio. 

Mr.  McHride,  was  married  at  Huffalo,  X.  Y.,  in 
,Sei>tember,  1885,  to  Miss  Kittie  A.  Smith,  of 
LockiKirt,  \.  Y.     They  iiave  one  child. 

GEORGE  W.  VANDEGRIFT,  son  of  John  and 
Lydia  (llardwick)  Vandegrift,  was  born  in  St. 
(lair  County,  Ala.,  July  H,  1848. 

Ilis  education,  which  was  somewhat  limited  on 
account  of  the  war,  was  received  at  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  couiity.  When  about 
twenty-one  years  of  age  he  became  a  salesman  in 
the  store  of  his  brother,  where  he  remained  five 
years.  In  IST^J  he  engaged  in  mercantile  business, 
on  his  own  account,  at  Athens,  this  State,  and 
built  up  the  largest  and  most  extensive  general 
merchandise  trade  in  that  place.  In  the  spring 
of  lS8(i  he  sold  out  his  business,  and  began  dealing 
in  real  estate,  and  has  now  become  a  large  land- 
Inilder  in  Limestone  County. 

Mr.  \'an(legrift  located  at  Decatur,  September 
1,  1887. 

John  Vandegrift  was  born  in  Chester,  S.  ('.,  in 
18tt2.  and  is  now  quite  an  active  man  at  the  age 
of  eighty-si.\".  His  wife  was  born  in  Georgia  in 
18rj.  He  came  to  St.  Clair  County,  Ala.,  at  an 
early  day.  and  entered  lauds  there,  an<l  has  been 
an  extensive  farmer  all  his  life.  He  has  never 
raised  cotton,  but  dealt  in  stock,  and  has  been 
successful  in  his  business.  He  and  his  wife  have 
ten  <-hildren. 


Our  subject's  grandfather,  James  llardwick, 
was  a  native  of  (ieorgia,  and  became  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  St.  Clair  County.  Ala.  He  was  an 
extensive  planter,  and  was  elected  to  the  Slate 
Legislature  seven  consecutive  terms  frdm  that 
(bounty. 

•■<»■    ■ 


DANIEL  L.  DOWNS,  son  of  D.  L.  and  Ann 
K.  (Kvans)  i)owns,  was  Ijorn  in  Iluntsville, 
December  'I't,  184(t.  He  received  a  common- 
school  education,  and  in  18.57  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  with  his  father  at  Tuscumbia.  In 
1802  he  became  a  member  of  the  La(i range 
Cadets,  Company  15,  Thirty-fifth  Alabama  Kegi- 
nient,  was  made  orderly  sergeant,  and  partici- 
pated in  the  attack  on  Baton  Kouge,  August  5th. 
After  si.x  months'  service  he  was  sent  home  on 
detached  duty  under  Estes,  who  promoted  him  to 
a  captaincy.  After  remaining  in  this  service 
about  twelve  months,  his  conqnmy  was  disbanded, 
and  he  was  ordered  back  to  his  original  regiment. 
With  it  he  was  in  the  column  in  front  of  Sherman 
in  (ieorgia,  and  at  the  engagement  of  Peach  Tree 
Creek.  He  went  with  Hood  into  Tennessee,  and 
was  in  the  bloody  battle  of  Franklin,  where  his 
regiment  lost  half  its  forces  in  killed  and  wounded, 
and  where  he  received  a  wound  in  the  leg,  which 
disabled  him  for  life.  After  this  he  was  taken  to 
Xashville,  and  thence  to  Tuscumbia,  where  he 
became  a  merchant  in  ]8(iO,  and  remained  four 
years.  The  ne.xt  four  years  were  spent  at  Hart- 
selle,  and  in  1874  he  located  in  Decatur,  where  he 
has  since  remained,  successfully  conducting  his 
business  and  directing  the  management  of  his 
farm. 

He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Decatur  Land,  Im- 
provement and  Furnace  Co.,  and  in  one  of  the 
banks. 

Mr.  Downs  was  nianird  in  lsi;7  to  Miss.lennie 
E. .  daughter  of  William  and  Minerva  (Stephen- 
son) Burleson.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  also  of  the  Knights 
of  Honor. 

D.  L.  Downs.  Sr.,  was  a  native  of  Enghind,  and 
married  there  to  a  Welsh  lady.  They  had  a  family 
of  live  children,  whom  they  brought  with  them  to 
the  United  States  in  1836,  and  settled  at  Ilunts- 
ville,  Ala.  The  subje»'t  of  our  sketch  was  the 
only  chilli  born  to  tliem  in  America,  and  the  five 
of  English  birth  are  now  all  dead.     The  senior 


340 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Mr.  Downs  was  a  shoemaker  by  trade,  but  in  1857 
engaged  in  general  merchandising  at  Tuseumbia, 
and  accumulated  considerable  j^roperty.  He  died 
while  on  a  visit  to  his  son  at  Franklin,  Teun., 
in  1864. 

Wm.  Burh^son,  Mrs.  Downes'  father,  was  a 
planter  and  a  son  of  Jonathan  Buileson,  a  pioneer 
and  Indian  fighter,  and  one  of  the  first  settlers  in 
Morgan  County. 


SAMUEL  H.  GRUBER,  son  of  Jacob  and  Susan 
(Emerick)  Gruber,  natives  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio,  respectively,  was  born  in  Preble  County,  in 
July,  1849.  His  fatlier  was  a  minister  of  the 
Lutheran  Church.  He  settled  in  Piqua  Plains, 
in  Ohio,  about  180.5,  removed  to  LaSalle  Count}', 
111.,  in  18.56,  and  is  still  living  there. 

The  ancestors  of  tliis  family  came  from  the 
country  of  the  Rhine  many  generations  back,  and 
were  among  the  first  settlers  of  tlie  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Samuel  II.  Gruber  was  born  near  Louisburg, 
Ohio,  went  with  his  parents  to  Illinois,  received  a 
good  education  at  a  seminary  in  LaSalle  County, 
and  in  1871  entered  college  at  Ann  Arbor,  Mich., 
where  he  took  the  law  course.  In  1873,  he 
removed  to  Yankton,  Dak.,  where  he  opened  a 
law  office,  and  met  with  encouraging  success  for 
about  twelve  and  a  half  years,  acting  for  a  part  of 
the  time  as  city  attorney. 

During  this  time  he  organized  the  Yankton 
Fire  Insurance  Company,  aiid  became  one  of  its 
directors,  and  served  as  its  treasurer  for  several 
years.  In  the  fall  of  the  year  188.5,  he  went  to 
the  far  South,  but  soon  returned  to  Montgomery, 
and  later  on  to  Decatur,  wliere  he  has  since  re- 
mained. 

Mr.  Gruber  was  married  to  Jliss  Harriet,  daugli- 
ter  of  Col.  Pinkney  Lugenbeel,  of  Fort  Kandall, 
Dak.,  a  colonel  of  tlie  United  States  Army,  a  grad- 
uate of    West  Point  with  Sherman  and  Hancock, 

Mr.  Gruber  practiced  law  while  he  was  in  Mont- 
gomery, and  in  1887  assisted  in  organizing  "The 
State  Abstract  Conapany,"of  wliich  he  is  a  director 
and  the  president.  At  Decatur,  he  is  president 
of  the  Gateway  Land  Company,  an  institution 
which  was  organized  in  September,  1887. 

He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  He  is  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  Knight 
Templar  Mason. 


ALBERT  FRANK  MURRAY,  President  of  the 
Decatur  Oil  and  Gas  Co.,  was  born  in  Iowa  City, 
Iowa,  in  1845.  He  was  educated  and  grew  to  man- 
hood in  the  city  of  his  nativity,  and  althougii  a 
mere  boy  in  1861,  when  the  tocsin  of  war  was 
sounded,  like  many  chivalrous  and  patriotic 
youths,  both  Xorth  and  South,  he  buckled  on  the 
armor  and  went  forth  to  face  danger  in  the  dis- 
charge of  duty.  During  the  memorable  battle  at 
Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  in  1862,  he  served  as  army 
director,  and  afterward  was  placed  in  charge  of 
tlie  mail  for  General  TJosecrans'  army.  In  1864  he 
was  given  charge  of  the  Xews  Agency  of  the 
military  department  of  Mississippi  under  General 
Sherman.  \\\  186-5  lie  located  in  Huntsville, 
where  he  resided  continuously  until  January, 
1877.  During  his  residence  there  he  was  proprie- 
tor of  a  large  book  and  stationery  store,  and  in 
187<i  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  for  several 
years  was  treasurer  of  the  Huntsville  Agricultural 
and  Mechanicil  Fair  Association,  and  subse- 
quently, in  188'2.  was  chosen  president  of  the  same, 
which  office  he  now  fills,  having  been  unanimously 
re-elected  since  his  removal  to  this  city.  This  as- 
sociation, largely  through  his  efforts,  has  become 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  successful  in  the 
South.  It  holds  a  fair  every  year,  and  has  never 
failed  to  pay  since  his  connection  with  it. 

Upon  leaving  Huntsville  he  came  to  Decatur, 
and  is  here  an  honored  and  prominent  citizen. 
Coming  here  astranger,  his  commanding^jpr.swji^e?, 
established  business  character  and  firm  integrity, 
at  once  gave  him  prominence  in  a  marked  degree, 
and  he  soon  became  a  leading  spirit  in  many  of  the 
enterjirises  that  have  done  so  much  to  build  uji  the 
town.  When  tlie  Decatur  Mineral  and  Land  Com- 
pany was  organized,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
Board  of  Directors,  and,  subsequently,  elected  its 
secretary.  He,  associated  with  Doctor  Eckford,  or- 
ganized the  Electric  Light  Company,  with  a  capital 
of  S10,000,  in  May,  1887,  and  is  now  its  president. 
He  also  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  Decatur 
Oil  and  (ras  Company,  with  a  capital  of  ^•iOO.OOO, 
and  he  is  now  its  president.  This  company  has  ne- 
gotiated some  of  the  largest  real  estate  transactions 
in  the  town,  and  is  most  influential  in  financial 
operations.  Mr.  Murray  was  also  most  influential 
in  organizing  the  lee  Company  and  in  getting  its 
factory  in  operation,  and  is  now  one  of  its  direc- 
tors. He  is  also  a  director  in  the  Cotton 
Compress  Company. 

Mr.  Murray  was   among  the   first   to   establish 


^^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


341 


liimself  here  after  the  move  of  progress  li;ul  coiii- 
iiieiiced,  as  ii  real  estate  aj;ent.  stock  and  boml 
broker,  and  as  a  member  of  the  linn  known  l)y  the 
name  of  Haldridge,  Murray  O^  Ilalsey,  wliieh  is 
now  known  as  15aldridge,  Murray  &  Scruggs, 
lie  is  an  adept  in  tliis  business,  and  liis  very  gen- 
eral ac(iuaintance  in  the  North,  and  with  the 
])rominent  men  in  Alabama,  gives  him  an  advan- 
tage enjoyed  but  by  a  few. 

Colonel  Murray  is  a  man  of  splendid  physi(|iie, 
imposing  presence,  graceful  and  dignified  manner, 
and  most  pleasing  and  instructive  conversational 
power.  He  is  at  the  zenith  of  a  well-developed 
piiysical  and  mental  manhood,  and  is  most  agree- 
able in  his  business  and  social  relations.  Ilis  life 
has  been  a  decided  success,  and  this  is  not  attrib- 
utable to  what  the  world  calls  luck,  but  through 
superior  business  qualifications,  unremitting  at- 
tention-to  what  he  undertakes,  and  an  inflexible 
purpose  of  rectitude  in  all  bis  pursuits. 

.•V.  F.  Murray  is  a  son  of  Jlalcolm  and  Minerva 
(C'atlett)  Murray.  Ilis  father  is  a  native  of  Dub- 
lin. Ireland,  and  his  mother  was  born  in  Ken- 
tucky. 

.Mr.  .Murray  was  married  in  lSi;4to  Miss  Alice 
lieed,  of  Iowa  City.  She  died  in  18^!t,  leaving 
him  two  children:  Malcolm  K.,  now  of  the  firm 
of  Murray  &  Smith,  Iluntsville,  and  Cora  P. 

Mr.  Murray  is  a  member  of  the  Presliyterian 
Ciuirch. 


ROBERT  M.  CURTIS,  general  manager  of  the 
Decatur  Iron  Hridge  and  Construction  Company, 
son  of  Julius  C.  and  Eliza  I*.  (Skinner)  Cui-tis, 
natives  of  Vermont  and  Ohio,  rcsjiectively,  was 
born  in  Delphos,  Ohio,  January  2ii,  18.55. 

Julius  C.  Curtis  was  a  merchant  and  contractor 
at  Dayton,  Ohio,  where  the  firm  of  Morrison  it 
Curtis,  manufacturers  of  iron  bridges,  were  the 
pioneers  of  that  business,  and  built  the  first  iron 
bridge  in  Ohio,  at  Pirpia,  in  ]S.5:i.  In  ]8().5  he 
retired  from  business  and  locatetl  at  Keokuk,  Iowa. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  lower  house  in  the  Ohio 
Legislature:  was  horn  1810,  and  is  still  living. 

IJobert.  Skinner.  Mr.  Curtis"  maternal  grand- 
father, published  the  first  newspa])er  in  Dayton, 
Ohio,  and  domited  grounds  for  the  city  buildings. 

Ifobert  M.  Curtis  received  liis  early  education  in 
Ohio  and  Iowa,  graduateil  at  Kenyon  College, 
(iambier,  Ohio,   in   187.5,  and  attended  the  Poly- 


technical  Institute  at  Troy,  N.  V.,  one  year,  there 
comjjleting  his  education  .is  a  bridge  engineer. 
After  this  he  engaged  with  his  uncle,  D.  H.  Mor- 
rison, at  Dayton.  Ohio,  as  designer  and  contractor, 
and  when  he  severed  his  connection  with  that  in- 
stitution, had  charge  of  the  entire  works. 

In  1SS2  he  became  general  manager  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  '•  Mor.se  Bridge  Company,"  of  Young- 
town,  Oiiio,  for  the  Western  and  Southern  States, 
with  ollices  at  Chicago,  Dayton,  Dallas,  Te.x.,  and 
Augusta,  (ia.  In  April,  188T,  Mr,  Curtis  organ- 
ized the  '•  Decatur  Iron  Hridge  and  Construction 
Comj)any,"  with  a  paid  up  cajutal  of  ^100,000, 
and  was  made  its  vice-president  and  general  man- 
ager. 

Mr.  Curtis' uncle,  Gen.  Samuel  K.  Curtis,  was 
distinguished  in  the  ^lexican  and  the  late  wars. 
Henry  B.  Curtis,  law  partner  of  Columbus  De- 
lano (Sei-retary  of  Interior  under  Crant),  and 
(ieorge  William  Curtis,  of  New  Yuik.  are  near 
relatives. 

THOMAS  M.  SCRUGGS,  Secretary  of  the  De- 
catur Mineral  atid  Land  Company,  was  born  in 
Decatur,  Ala.,  in  September,  185.5.  He  attended 
school  in  his  younger  days  at  Grenada,  Miss.; 
entered  the  University  of  the  .South  in  Tennessee 
in  18T"J,  and  remained  there  three  years.  In  1875 
he  was  matriculated  at  the  University  of  Virginia, 
and  graduated  from  that  institution  with  the 
degree  of  LL. B.  in  ISI'i.  He  immediately  began 
the  practice  of  law  in  JIemi)his,  Tenn..  in  ])art- 
nership  with  J.  E.  K.  Hay,  now  associated  with 
11.  W.  Eraser  of  that  city. 

The  Decatur  Mineral  and  Land  Company  was 
organized  February  '.I,  188T,  with  ^Milton  Humes, 
])resident:  Noble  Smithson,  vice-president;  C.  F. 
Kobinson,  secretary;  and  W.  W.  Littlejohn, 
treasurer:  capital  stock,  !:;{5(),(i(i0.  Mr.  Scruggs 
was  made  its  secretary  in  July,  1887,  which  posi- 
tion he  occu))ies  to  the  present  time. 

He  is  interested  financially  in  the  Decatur 
National  Bank,  the  Electric  Light  Company, 
Decatur  Lainl  and  Improvement  Company,  and 
in  other  matters  at  ilemphis.  Mr.  Scruggs  is  an 
active  member  of  the  Episco]>al  Church  and  of 
the  I.  0.  0.  F. 

T.  M.  Scruggs  is  the  only  child  of  Phineas 
Thonuis  Scruggs,  wlio  was  born  in  Colbert  County, 
-Via.,  in  1830.     He  became  a  druggist  at  Decatur; 


342 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


married  Elizabeth  Marshall  .Arnrphy,  and  died  in 
1855. 

PhineasT.  Scruggs  was  the  youngest  son  of  Kev. 
Finch  C.  Scruggs,  who  was  born  in  Buckingham 
County,  Va.,  about  1790.  He  went  to  Tennessee 
at  an  early  day,  and  became  minister  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  married  a  Miss 
Thomas,  of  that  State,  and  settled  in  Colbert 
Reserve,  in  Colbert  County,  Ala.,  in  the  thirties; 
came  to  Decatur  about  18-iO,  and  remained  there 
the  balance  of  his  life.  Their  children  were: 
Louis  S.,  a  merchant  at  Holly  Springs,  and  a 
major  in  the  Confederate  Army:  Solomon  K.,  a 
captain  in  the  late  war,  and  now  in  Mexia, 
Texas;  Edward,  a  soldier,  who  was  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Chickamauga:  and  Phineas  T. 

P.  T.  Scruggs  was  married  the  second  time  to 
Mrs.  Susan  J.,  widow  of  Captain  Thomas  B. 
Murphy,  of  Memjiliis,  Tenn.,  in  1849,  by  whom 
he  had  a  daughter,  Catharine,  who  is  now  the 
wife  of  C'harles  (Uithry,  an  artist  of  Paris,  France. 

Mrs.  Susan  Mnrjiliy  had  three  children  by  her 
first  husband,  one  of  whom  was  the  wife  of 
Phineas  T.  Scruggs,  and  the  mother  of  our  sub- 
ject. 

Thomas  Murphy  was  an  Irishman;  a  captain  in 
the  War  of  1813,  and  a  wealthy  jalanter  in  Ala- 
bama. 

Rev.  F.  C.  Scruggs  died  in  1881,  while  on  a 
visit  at  Holly  Springs,  at  the  age  of  about  eighty 
years. 


HARRIS  &  WATKINS  HARDWARE  COM- 
PANY. D.  T.  Harris,  of  the  above  firm,  was  born 
in  Hollidaysburg,  Pa.,  in  1860,  and  is  a  son  of  T. 
R.  and  Margaret  J.  Harris,  natives  of  Wales,  who 
first  came  to  this  country  and  settled  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. In  1801  they  moved  to  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
and  in  1865  moved  back  to  Ohio,  to  a  place  called 
Ironton.  At  an  early  age,  D.  T.  Harris  left  school 
to  work  in  a  machine  shop,  staying  there  for  about 
six  months.  He  was  employed  as  salesman  in  a 
hardware  store,  and  was  quite  successful;  he  was 
in  the  hardware  business  for  about  eleven  years. 
Coming  to  Decatur  in  1887,  he  organized  the  now 
flourishing  and  enterprising  firm  of  Harris  & 
Watkins  Hardware  Company.  He  was  married 
in  1885  to  Miss  Mary  S.  Jones,  of  Ironton,  Ohio. 
Mr.  Harris  is  a  Knight  of  Pythias  .and  member  of 


the  Uniformed  Rank,  also  a  member  of  the 
National  Fire  Insurance  Association. 

L.  R.  Watkins,  son  of  Thomas  B  and  Mary  A. 
Watkins,  was  born  in  Portsmouth,  Scioto  County, 
Ohio,  September  7,  1862. 

His  father  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  mother 
of  Ireland.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  Portsmouth,  Ohio.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
was  engaged  in  the  shoe  business,  after  which  he 
went  to  stove  moulding,  which  he  followed  for 
six  years. 

He  was  in  1885  married  to  Miss  Eliza  Williams, 
of  Portsmouth,  Ohio.  They  have  one  child,  Elsie. 
They  are  members  of  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Decatur,  Ala. 


L.  H.  SCRUGGS  was  born  in  Madison  County, 
Ala.,  in  is.'i;,  and  is  a  son  of  Henry  F.  and  Sarah 
(Scruggs)  Scruggs,  both  natives  of  Virginia.  The 
ancestors  of  this  family  came  from  Wales,  and  were 
among  the  very  early  settlers  in  Virginia.  Henry  F. 
■Scruggs  came  with  his  father  to  Madison  County  at 
an  early  date,  and  settled  on  a  plantation.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  bar  in  Madison  County,  and,  after 
moving  to  Sumter  County,  was  C'ircuit  .Judge 
about  1844.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature 
from  Sumter  for  several  years:  moved  to  Morgan 
County  and  practiced  law  there  until  his  death. 
Five  of  his  children  arc  still  living. 

L.  H.  Scruggs  was  reared  and  educated  in  Sum- 
ter and  Madison  Counties,  and  in  1861  he  entered 
the  Confederate  Army  as  a  private  in  Company  I, 
Fourth  Alabama  Infantry.  He  spent  four  years 
in  the  Army  of  Virginia,  and  was  in  all  the  battles 
except  that  of  the  Wilderness.  He  was  also 
engaged  at  Chickamauga,  in  the  Seven  Days'  Fight 
before  Richmond,  Antietam  and  Farmersville.  He 
was  wounded  four  times.  When  the  war  closed 
he  was  lieutenant-colonel  of  his  regiment,  and 
commanded  it  after  the  battle  of  Antietam.  He 
surrendered  with  General  Lee  at  Appomattox. 

After  the  war  he  entered  the  cotton  trade  at 
Iluutsville,  and  followed  it  there  until  the  fall  of 
1887.  Mr.  Scruggs  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  a 
Knight  of  Pythias,  a  Knight  of  Honor,  and  a 
member  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Working- 
men. 

Mr.  Scruggs  was  married  in  1871,  to  Miss  Em- 
ma Cooley,  of  Nashville.     They  have  five  children. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


343 


and    are   members   of    tlie    Metliodist     Episcopal 
Cliiiri-li,  Sotilh. 

Mr.  Suruggs  is  a  memberof  tin'  tirin  nf  .Miirmy. 
Soniggs  tS:  Co.,  real  estate,  stoclv  ami  i)f)n(l  brokers, 
ill  Decatur. 

JOSEPH  MONROE  HINDS  was  bom  i.i  Illi- 
nois January  G,  18-i"-i.  His  father,  Simeon  Hinds, 
of  Ilopkinsville,  Ky.,  was  one  of  the  most  exten- 
sive farmers  of  his  county,  and  raised  and  traded 
largely  in  stock.  Ilis  mother  was  from  Knoxville, 
Tcim. 

.losi'ph  M.  llinds'early  (lays  were  spent  in  herd- 
ing cattle  upon  the  broad  prairiesof  Illinois,  work- 
ing on  the  farm,  and  in  attending  country  schools. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  commenced  the  st^idyof 
law  with  Greathouse  (a  partner  of  Stephen  A. 
Oouglas),  but  upon  the  beginning  of  the  war 
abandoned  his  studiesand  volunteered  asa  private 
in  the  Eighth  Illinois  Infantry.  He  was  in  all 
the  battles  in  which  his  regiment  participated. 
After  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  he  was  promoted 
to  a  second  lieuteiumcy,  and  iu  18G4  was  trans- 
ferred to  tiie  First  Alabama  (Federal)  Cavalry  as 
acting  regimental  quartermaster.  In  this  regi- 
ment he  accompanied  Sherman  in  his  famous 
■•  march  to  the  sea,"  and  was  at  the  surrender  of 
(len.  Joe  Johnston,  in  Xorth  Carolina.  The  regi- 
ment came  to  Iluntsville after  that  event,  and  was 
there  mustered  out  in  October.  I.S(i5.  At  the  close 
of  the  war  Decatur  was  in  ruins  and  had  but  two 
inhabitable  dwelling-liouses  left,  but  tlie  Hinds 
brothers,  pleased  with  the  location  and  prospects, 
determined  to  unite  their  interests  with  the  South, 
and  bc'Ught  property  there,  including  the  house 
in  which  had  been  headquarters  for  each  army  in 
turn.     Captain  Hiiuls  now  lives  in  the  house. 

Captain  Hinds,  associated  witli  his  brother, 
traded  in  stock  and  merchandise,  and,  aftcrsecur- 
ing  some  mail  contracts,  put  a  line  of  steamboats 
on  the  Tennessee  Iiiver.  They  also  had  stage 
lines  running  in  ditferent  directions  throughout 
the  country. 

In  1872  our  subject  was  aiipoinlcil  Consul- 
General  for  the  United  States  at  Hio  Janeiro, 
Brazil,  whence,  in  1878,  he  returned  to  De- 
catur. In  1882  he  was  appointed  United 
States  Marshal  for  the  Northern  District  of  Ala- 
bama, and  removed  to  Iluntsville.  While  in  this 
jiosition  many   notable  events  occurred,   and   he 


had  for  a  time  the  custody  of  the  notorious  Frank 
James  and  Dick  Liddle. 

When  his  term  as  Marshal  had  expired  Captain 
Hinds  again  returned  to  Decatur,  where  he  is  en- 
gaged in  trying  to  improve  his  property  in  tiie 
city  and  his  farm.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Re- 
publican (Jonvention  in  Chicago  whicii  nominated 
Garfield.  In  1873  he  was  married,  while  in  Rio 
Janeiro,  to  Miss  Lucia  Annita  Trillia,  of  Buenos 
Ayres,  a  lady  of  English  and  Italian  blood.  Tiiey 
have  four  children,  two  boys  and  two  girls. 

H.  S.  FREEMAN,  maiiufaeturer,  Decatur.  Ala., 
son  of  Gurdon  and  Lucinda  (Baker)  Freeman,  na- 
tives of  Connecticut,  was  born  in  Saratoga  County, 
Conn.,  September  15,  1838.  He  lost  his  parents 
when  about  nine  years  of  age.  Ilis  education,  in 
the  common  schools  and  academy,  was  obtained 
as  the  result  of  his  own  determined  effort.  He 
worked  on  the  farm  in  the  summer  to  acquire 
means  wherewith  to  attend  school  in  the  winter. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  began  operating  a  saw- 
mill, and  has  since  conducted  saw-mills,  grist- 
mills, paper-mills  and  planing-mills  in  various 
places.  When  the  war  broke  out,  he  was  pros- 
pecting at  Detroit,  Mich.,  and  there  recruited  a 
company  for  service  in  the  Federal  .\rmy.  During 
the  war,  his  health  failed  him.  and  in  1804,  he 
came  to  Nashville  in  search  of  a  better  climate. 
Subse(piently  he  engaged  in  lumber  business  at 
Jackson,  Tenn.,  and  in  1870,  located  in  Decatur, 
where  he  has  since  resided. 

Ca|)tain  Freennm  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial and  influential  citizens  of  Decatur.  He  is 
still  interested  in  the  milling  business,  and  is  an 
extensive  stockholder  in  nearly  all  the  corporations 
and  insitutions  which  have  been  projected  for  the 
development  of  the  town.  He  was  married  in 
August,  18';.i.  to  Miss  Rachel  E.  Southerland,  a 
daughter  of  Frank  Southerland,  of  Jackson 
County,  Ala.  They  have  one  child,  Olive  0. 
Mrs.  Freeman  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 
Captain  Freeman  has  been  an  aldcrnian  ever  since 
he  has  lived  in  Decatur. 

GEORGE  ARANTZ,  son  of  Phillip  and  Rebecca 
(Zweir)  .Vranlz,  natives  of  Pennsylvania,  was  born 
in  Lebanon,  Pa.,  September,  1850. 


344 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  received  a  common  education  at  the  schools 
to  which  he  liad  access,  worked  for  his  father 
until  June,  1880,  when  he  located  in  Decatur,  and 
engaged  extensively  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber. 
He  was  probably  the  first  man  to  introduce  the 
band-saw  in  Alabama  for  the  purpose  of  working 
heavv  timber.  He  manufactures  all  sorts  of  lum- 
ber  for  building  purposes,  giving  special  attention 
to  hardwood  and  finishing  stuff. 

WILLIAM  W.  SCOTT,  son  of  William  and 
Koxet  L.  (Wandley)  Scott,  was  born  in  Luzerne 
County,  Penu.,  December  25,  1852.  He  was 
reared  in  Philadelphia,  and  received  his  education 
at  the  public  schools.  He  began  life  as  a  bell-boy 
at  the  Jefferson  Hotel,  that  city.  After  a  varied 
experience  in  all  the  different  positions  connected 
with  hotels  and  their  management,  he  came  to 
Huntsville,  Ala.,  in  1872,  and  was  there  connected 
with  the  Huntsville  House;  thence  he  went  to 
Elount  Springs,  and  later  on  to  New  Orleans. 
He  sjDent  some  time  in  different  hotels  in  Mont- 
gomery; was  proprietor  of  the  Clifton  House,  Ver- 
bena; was  connected  with  hotels  in  Xew  York, 
Long  Branch  and  Birmingham,  where  he  specu- 
lated in  real  estaie.  In  March,  1887,  he  became 
a  real  estate  dealer  and  speculator  in  Decatur. 
He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Decatur  Laud  Com- 
pany, and  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
Mineral  Land  Company. 

William  Scott,  Sr.,  was  a  native  of  Scotland, 
and  his  wife  was  born  in  Pennsylvania.  He  came 
to  the  United  States  in  184(),  and  was  here  for  a 
time  a  fur  dealer,  and  afterward  a  contractor  on 
public  works.  In  the  latter  business,  he  assisted 
in  the  construction  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  Canal,  in 
Pennsylvania.  He  died  in  1854.  His  wife  still 
survives  him. 


JOHN  FLETCHER  SCOTT,  son  of  Charles  and 
Anna  (Cully)  Scott,  natives  of  Brooke  County, 
Va.,  was  born  October  10,  18:511;  went  with 
his  parents  in  his  infancy  to  North  Illinois,  and 
later  to  Lancaster,  Wis.,  where  he  received  his 
early  instructions  in  the  common  schools,  and 
worked  in  lead  mines.  When  but  nineteen  he 
engaged  in  commercial  business,  and  in  18G5  went 


to  Mexico  and  became  a  contractor  on  a  railroad 
running  from  the  City  of  Vera  Cruz  to  the  City 
of  ]\Iexico.  After  remaining  there  fifteen  months, 
he  returned  to  AVisconsin,  and  soon  after  went  to 
Memphis,  Tenn.,  and  thence  to  Decatur,  Ala., 
where  he  located,  in  1806,  as  a  merchant.  In  1887 
he  erected  the  well-known  brick  building  on  the 
corner  of  Bank  and  Lafayette  streets.  He  is  a 
stockholder  in  the  Exchange  Bank  of  Decatur, 
the  Decatur  Land  and  Improvement  Company, 
the  Decatur  Building  and  Loan  Association,  and 
has  a  tine  orange  grove  in  Florida,  He  has  been 
very  active  in  building  up  the  town  of  Decatur. 

Mr.  Scott  was  married  January  1,  1877,  to  Mrs. 
Mary  J.  ^IcCallum,  nve  Smith. 

Charles  Scott  was  born  about  17U0,  and  his  wife 
in  1T!)0.  He  was  a  merchant,  and  afterward  con- 
ducted a  hotel  in  Lancaster,  Wis.,  where  he  died 
in  1842.  His  wife  died  in  l)ecatur  in  January, 
1876.  They  reared  seven  children,  of  whom  John 
Fletcher  is  the  youngest. 


MATHEW  T.  CARTWRIGHT,  son  of  Hezekiah 
Bi'adley  and  ilartha  (Cray)  Cartwright,  natives  of 
Wilson  County.  Tenn.,  and  Alabama,  respectively, 
was  born  in  Limestone  County,  Ala.,  February  (I, 
184<).  He  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  in  a  country 
store,  and  received  an  ordinary  education  in  the 
common  schools.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
Confederate  Army,  Company  F,  Ninth  Alabama 
Infantry,  June  6.  1861  ;  was  in  engagements  at 
Frazer  Farm,  Seven  Days'  Fight  before  Kichmond, 
Sliarpesburg,  second  battle  of  Manassas,  the 
Wilderness,  Seven  Pines,  Chaucellorsville,  Antie- 
tam,  Gettysburg,  and  nearly  all  the  battles  in 
which  Lee's  army  participated.  He  served  with 
a  battalion  of  sharjjshooters  during  the  last 
twelve  months,  and  was  in  Lee's  army  at  the 
cluse  of  the  war.  After  the  surrender,  he  farmed 
for  a  time,  came  to  Decatur  in  18?],  and  engaged 
in  general  mercantile  business,  which  he  has 
jjrosecuted  with  considerable  success,  and  now 
owns  desirable   property. 

Mr.  Cartwright  was  married,  November  10, 
1867,  to  Miss  Carrie,  daughter  of  Samuel  F.  and 
Eugenia  (Bayley)  Mitchell.  They  have  one  child, 
Herbert.  Mrs.  Cartwright  died  in  the  fall  of 
1869,  and  in  18T2  he  was  married  to  Miss  Ella, 
daughter  of  Hugh  and  Elizabeth  (Parks)  Thomi- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


345 


son.  of  Lincoln  County,  Tenn.  The  second  wife 
(lied  in  1881,  and  in  Ma\',  188."),  he  was  married, 
to  Miss  Anna  T.,  a  sister  of  liis  second  wift-. 

Mr.  f'artwright  is  a  Knight  of  Honor,  and  a 
Knight  of  the  (Jolden  Hule. 

II.  r>.  Cartwriglit,  our  subject's  father,  was  horn 
in  181"->,  and  came  to  Limestone  County,  Ala., 
with  liis  parents  about  18--.*5;  conducted  a  farm  and 
two  stores:  served  in  the  Creek  War:  married  twice, 
reared  seven  children,  and  died  in  Limestone 
County  in  18G0.  M.  T.  Cartwright  is  a  son  of  the 
first  wife,  who  was  born  in  181<),  and  died  in  18(10. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  Matthew  and  Matilda 
(\'ining)  Gray,  pioneers  of  Limestone  (^'ounty. 

C.  W.  JOSEPH,  son  of  Thomas  and  Sarah  A. 
(Hiley)  Josepli  was  born  in  Montgomery,  Ala., 
February  8,  18.i'.i:  reared  in  Montgomery,  and 
educated  there  and  at  Auburn  College.  He  spent 
some  years  i7i  the  Montgomery  Mills  with  iiis 
fatiier,  and  about  six  years  on  a  farm.  He  came 
to  Decatur  in  .January,  188T,  and  engaged  in  the 
real  estate  and  commission  business,  and  is  now  a 
stockholder  in  Ijotli  the  land  coiniiaiiiesand  banks 
of  the  town. 

Mr.  Joseph  was  married  in  January,  1881,  to 
Miss  JIattie  E.  Jackson,  daughter  of  Dr.  W.  E. 
and  Fannie  (Bibb)  Jackson,  of  Montgomery. 

They  have  three  children:  Mattie.  Tiiomas  and 
Charles  W.     ilr.  Joseph  is  a  Knigiit  of  Pythias. 

Tliomas  .Joseph  was  born  on  the  Island  of  Flo- 
rico,  in  the  .\zores,  and  came  to  Montgomery. 
Ala.,  about  184".2,  where  he  became  a  merchant, 
and  proprietor  of  the  Montgomery  Mills.  He 
operated  the  mills  during  and  since  the  war,  and 
sold  them  to  his  son.  In  1871  he  organized  the 
Capital  City  Insurance  Company,  and  was  elected 
its  president,  a  position  which  he  held  until  liis 
death  in  18S3.  This  insurance  company  ranks 
among  the  strongest  in  the  South.  .A[r.  .Joseph 
was  also  a  director  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville 
liailroad.  He  was  the  father  of  seveti  children: 
was  a  succe.<sful  business  man.  ami  accumulated  a 
large  property  by  his  personal  exertions. 

LOUIS  M.  FALK,  .Men  hant.  Decatur,  was  born 
in  Schneidemnhl,  Pru.ssia,  December  7,  1.S.30,  and 
is  a  son  of  Mver   \V.  Falk.  a   native  of  the  same 


city.  He  received  a  good  Oerman  education,  be- 
came a  merchant,  and  in  1S5<>  landed  in  Philadel- 
phia. He  spent  a  short  time  in  New  York, 
and  came  to  Florence,  .Via.,  wliere  he  clerked  in  a 
store. 

In  18.")7,  he  established  a  store  of  his  own, 
twenty-two  miles  south  of  Decatur,  and  named 
the  i)lace  Falkville,  a  station  on  the  Louisville  & 
Nashville  Railroad.  When  the  war  broke  out,  he 
enlisted  in  the  Confederate  Army  for  one  year,  but 
this  company  was  not  received,  and  in  the  summer 
of  18(;2  he  enlisted  in  Company  A,  Fourth  Alabama 
Cavalry,  and  served  mostly  in  this  State  and  Ten- 
nessee. In  1864,  he  was  captureil  near  Pond 
Spring,  Ala.,  and  sent  to  Camp  Douglas,  where 
he  was  imprisoned  until  the  close  of  the  war.  Sub- 
sequently, he  clerked  for  a  while  in  Nashville,  and 
in  Danville,  Ala.,  where  he  afterward  went  into 
business  in  partnership  with  an  uncle. 

In  18G9,  ilr.  Falk  located  in  Decatur,  where  he 
hjis  since  been  successfully  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising, and  where  he  is  now  the  oldest  merchant 
in  the  city.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Decatur 
Land  Company,  the  Electric  Light  Company,  the 
Artilicial  Ice  Company,  and  vice-president  of  the 
Decatur  Wire  Fence  Manufacturing  Company.  He 
is  a  director  in  the  First  National  Bank,  an  alder- 
man and  member  of  the  School  Board. 

Mr.  Falk  was  married  in  1S73,  to  Miss  Ilattie 
(loodheart,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  three  children 
have  been  born  to  this  union,  viz.:  Morrey  L., 
Harvey  L..  and  Estella  May.  Mrs.  Falk  died  July 
5,  188(i.  Mr.  Falk  is  a  Hoyal  Arch  Mason,  a  Knight 
of  Pvthias.  and  a  member  of  the  I.  0.  B.  B. 


-«-!^^-»' 


JOHN  T.  BANKS.  Druggist.  Decatur,  son  of 
Jolin  F.  and  Frances  E.  (Roberts)  Banks,  was 
born  in  Somerville,  Morgan  County,  Ala., 
March  28,  1837:  was  reared  in  Somerville, 
lived  with  and  was  educated  by  his  uncle, 
John  T.  Kather,  (who  was  a  captain  in 
the  War  of  181'^):  received  his  education 
in  Decatur,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  entered 
the  drug  busines.";  with  J.  W.  Cain,  and  after- 
ward with  T.  F.  Scruggs.  In  1858  he  purchased 
the  business  and  conducted  it  until  18iil,  wlien  he 
was  broken  up  by  the  war.  The  first  Federal 
force  which  entered   Decatur    burned  the  bridge, 


346 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and  destroyed  his  stock.  He  enlisted  in  the 
Sixth  Alabama  Regiment  soon  after  the  battle  of 
Shiloh,  and  was  immediately  detailed  on  duty  in 
the  hospital  department  as  a  jiharmacist.  He 
spent  his  first  eighteen  months  at  Okolona,  Miss., 
thence  was  sent  to  Meridian,  and  just  before  the 
close  of  the  war,  was  returned  to  Okolona,  where 
he  surrendered  in  18G5.  He  walked  home  and 
opened  another  drug  store  in  Decatur,  and  has 
followed  the  business  there  ever  since,  excepting 
two  years. 

Mr.  Banks  was  appointed  Notary  Public 
and  ex-officio  Justice  of  the  Peace.  In  May, 
1887,  he  sold  his  drug  store  to  Dr.  T.  H.  Hughes, 
and  is  now  erecting  a  handsome  three-story  build- 
ing for  a  drug  store,  on  the  corner  of  Oak  and 
Cain  streets.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Decatur 
Land,  Furnace  &  Improvement  Company. 

Mr.  Banks  was  married  in  December,  18G8,  to 
Miss  Maria  L.  Long,  at  Tuscumbia.  They  have 
four  children,  viz. — Fannie  Lee,  John  Ellis, 
Margaret  L.  and  Mary  Fields. 

Mr.  Banks  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  he  is  a  Free  Mason  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  City  Council. 

In  November,  1885,  Mr.  Banks  was  a  prime 
mover  in  locating  and  obtaining  stock  for  the  De- 
catur Charcoal  and  Chemical  Works,  and  neglected 
his  business  for  a  time  in  the  interests  of  that  in- 
stitution. 

John  F.  Banks,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  in  Oulpeper  County,  Va.,  in  17',i7,  and  his 
wife  in  1815.  They  came  to  Alabama  about  1828, 
and  settled  in  Morgan  County.  He  was  a  tanner 
by  trade,  and  probably  the  first  man  in  that  busi- 
ness in  the  county.  He  afterward  became  a  drug- 
gist in  Somerville  and  died  at  the  residence  of 
his  son  in  Newburg,  Franklin  County,  in  1884. 
He  wa?  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812.  He  reared  a 
family  of  six  children. 


BERT  E.  FOLEY,  son  of  Elisha  and  Mary  C. 
(Thrasher)  Poley,  was  born  in  Austin  City,  Nev., 
February  8,  1860;  received  his  early  education  in 
the  common  schools,  and  graduated  from  the  col- 
lege at  Vali)araiso,  Ind.,  1884. 

He  was  engaged  in  the  mail  service  on  the 
Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  one  year,  spent  a  short 
time  at  Maryville,  Mo.,  and  located  at  Clarinda, 


Iowa,  where  he  became  assistant  teller  in  the  bank 
of  an  uncle,  I.  J.  Poley.  Having  remained  there 
a  short  time  he  went  to  Quitman,  Mo.,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  grain  business.  In  1875  he  became 
assistant  book-keeper  and  secretary  in  Smith, 
Poley  &  Co.'s  mills  at  Brewton,  Ala.,  and  in 
February,  1887,  came  to  Decatur,  and  established 
a  lumber  business  in  partnershiiD  with  M.  D. 
Jones,  whose  interest  he  bought  out  later.  He 
has  a  successful  trade. 

Elisha  Poley  was  born  in  Fayette  County,  Ky., 
in  182G,  and  Mary  C.  Thrasher  was  born  in 
Waverly,  111.,  in  1844.  He  was  a  self-educated 
man,  and  taught  school  from  1648  until  185C. 
near  Auburn,  111.  He  went  to  California  in  1865, 
and  spent  six  years  in  speculating  and  mining  in 
that  State  and  Nevada.  After  various  adventures 
in  Illinois,  he  located  in  Maryville,  Mo.,  in  1874, 
and  dealt  in  grain  there  until  his  death  in  the 
same  year.  He  had  seven  children  born  to  him, 
of  whom  Bert  E.  was  the  second. 


JOSEPH  S.  SUGARS  was  born  in  Decatur.  May 
13,  1845,  and  was  reared  and  received  his  education 
at  the  common  schools  of  this  place.  In  the  fall 
of  1862  he  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  Army,  in 
Company  E,  First  Alabama  Cavalry,  and  was  de- 
tailed on  special  duty  in  General  Roddy's  Escort. 
He  was  in  the  engagements  at  Pond  Springs  and 
continuous  skirmishes  in  front  of  Wilson.  He 
was  i^resent  at  the  battles  of  Harrisburg  and 
Tupelo,  Miss.,  East  Point,  Ga.,  and  the  siege  of 
Atlanta,  which  was  his  last  battle  in  the  war.  He 
was  at  Montgomery  at  the  time  it  surrendered, 
and  at  once  returned  to  his  father's  farm,  where 
he  remained  about  two  years.  He  then  came  to 
Decatur,  and  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Levy, 
Sugars  &  Son,  jewellers,  met  with  good  success. 
He  is  a  director  in  the  North  Alabama  Oil  and  As- 
phalt Company,  of  Birmingham,  Ala.,  and  owns 
considerable  property  in  Decatur. 

Mr.  Sugars  was  married  in  November,  1872,  to 
Miss  Ann  Callahan,  daughter  of  AVilliam  and 
Elizabeth  (Bird)  Callahan,  of  Decatur,  and  they 
have  three  children,  viz.:  Ethel,  Chas.  C.  and 
Josephine. 

Mr.  Sugars  and  wife  are  members  of  the  ileth- 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  is  a  member 
of   the    Masonic   fraternity,  Knights   of  Pytliias, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


347 


Kiiiglits  of  Honor,  and  of  tlie  Knights  and  T.adies 
of  Honor. 

.1.  S.  .Sugars  is  a  son  of  Levy  and  Mary  .lane 
{  Lock)  Sugars.  'I'lie  father  was  born  in  f^ancaster, 
I'a.,  in  LsO'.i.  He  learned  clockniaking  in  Con- 
necticut, and  remained  there  seven  years,  after 
which  lie  travelled  selling  clocks  in  \'irginia, 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  eight  years.  About 
1M4(>  he  located  at  Huntsville,  Ala.,  and  manufac- 
tured surveyors'  compasses,  and  did  a  general 
watclimaking  and  silvercinith  business  in  connec- 
tion with  David  Knox.  xVbout  1842  he  located  in 
Uecatur,  and  engaged  in  the  jewelry  business, 
which  he  continued  until  liST'i,  excepting  three 
years  during  the  war,  which  he  spent  on  a  farm 
in  Lawrence  County.  He  died  in  1875.  He  was 
married  three  times,  and  reared  two  children. 

Mary  Jane  Sugars,  our  subject's  mother,  died 
in  1.S4T. 


WILLIAM  R.  JONES,  was  born  in  Tuscunibia, 
June  1,  IS.'iH,  and  is  a  son  of  John  Wesley  and 
-Mary  Martha  (Rather)  Jones.  His  father  was 
also  a  native  of  Alabama,  and  was  born  in  Mar- 
shall County  about  18'^7,  reared  as  a  farmer,  and 
received  a  common-school  education.  W.  15. 
Jones,  grandfather  of  our  subject,  was  a  soldier 
in  the  War  of  1.812,  and  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Marshall  County.  He  was  a  minister  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church. 

\y .  K.  Jones  entered  one  of  the  first  printing 
otlices  in  the  State,  at  Somerville,  and  worked 
as  a  printer  five  years.  He  subserpiently  became 
one  of  the  first  merchants  of  Decatur,  where 
he  remained  eight  years.  He  spent  four  years 
at  Tuscunibia  as  Superintendent  of  the  Hunts- 
ville iS:  Decatur  liailroad,  and  upon  the  comple- 
tion of  that  line  was  appointed  its  agent  at  Deca- 
tur, where  he  remained  iu  charge  of  the  company's 
atfairs  until  his  death,  in  December,  1884. 

Mr.  .Jones  entered  tiie  Confederate  service  in 
the  spring  of  1802,  as  Second  Lieutenant  of  Com- 
pany D,  .Seventh  Alabama,  and  served  with  his  regi- 
ment until  tlie  close  of  the  war.  He  was  for  a 
while  a  statT  oHicer  to  (ieneral  Hood,  and  was  pro- 
moted to  a  captaincy.  Captain  Jones  returned  to 
Decatur,  was  an  esteemed  citizen,  and  served  as  a 
representative  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  in 
XXIh.  He  was  thrice  elected  Mayor  of  Decatur, 
and  was  a  leading  member  of  tlie  Masonic  and  K. 


of  H.  fraternities.  He  was  twice  married.  His 
fiist  wife  died  iu  18(j.i,  leaving  him  seven  children, 
of  whom  four  are  living:  William  R.  Paul,  in  the 
railroad  business  at  Houston,  Te.xas;  Samuel  E., 
in  the  same  business  at  St.  Louis:  Edwin  T.  and 
Mrs.  IJessie  East. 

His  second  wife  was  .Mrs.  Zelia  Ilartstield,  of 
Morgan  County.  She  is  still  livina;  at  Decatur, 
and  has  three  children:  Mattie  M.,  Nettie  O..  and 
Frank  D. 

W.  R.  Jones  has  made  Decatur  his  home  since 
his  youth;  he  received  an  academic  education  and 
began  to  learn  raili'oad  business  with  his  father  at 
the  age  of  si.xteen.  In  187G  he  was  appointed 
agent  at  Grand  Junction,  thence  went  to  Memphis, 
and  subsequently  to  New  Orleans.  In  April, 
1887,  he  was  appointed  agent  of  the  M.  &  C.  R.  R., 
at  Decatur,  and  is  in  every  way  worthy  of,  and 
well  fitted  for,  this  important  trust.  While  Gen. 
Albert  Sydney  Johnston  was  at  Decatur,  William 
R.  Jones  served  as  his  private  messenger  for  four 
months. 

Mr.  .Jones  was  united  in  marriage  December 
12,  1871,  to  Miss  Matilda  W.  Banks,  daughter  of 
Col.  L.  S.  Banks.  One  child  has  been  born  to 
them,  -Maury  Wesley. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  are  members  of  the  ]\Iethod- 
ist  Episcopal  t'hurch.  South,  and  he  is  a  Knight 
of  Honor. 

■    •''>"'^§^'<"    — 

WILLIAM  FRANKLIN  BALDRIDGE.  was  born 
in  Lauderdale  County,  Alabama,  in  l.s4il.  He  is 
a  son  of  T\'illiam  K.  and  Caroline  E.  (Mitchell) 
Bald  ridge.  His  father  is  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  came  to  Tennessee,  in  1809,  with  his  par- 
ents, being  then  quite  young.  His  mother  was  of 
Irish  descent,  and  born  in  Tenncsee.  They  were 
married  in  ilurray  County,  came  to  Alabama 
about  1S40,  and  settled  in  Lauderdale  County, 
From  here  he  removed  to  Madison  County,  where 
he  became  a  farmer,  and  remained  until  1881. 
He  then  moved  to  Te.xas  where  he  now  lives.  His 
wife  died  in  Madison  County  in  18C.5.  They  had 
born  to  them  ten  children,  of  whom  seven  are  now 
living. 

W.  F.  Baldridge,  was  reared  in  Madison  County, 
received  his  early  education  there,  and  has  been 
interested  in  farming  all  his  life.  He  now  owns  a 
farm  of  a  thousand  acres  near  Huntsville,  and 
takes  a  special   interest  in   raising  and  breeding 


348 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


stock,  especially  Holsteiii  and  Jersey  cattle,  and 
lie  has  found  this  i^ursuit  quite  profitable.  He 
entered  the  real  estate  business  in  Huntsville,  in 
connection  with  Ben.  P.  Hunt,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Baldridge  &  Hunt.  The  firm  of  Bald- 
I'idge,  Murray  &  Scruggs,  was  organized  in   1887. 

Mr.  Baldridge  was  married  in  1870,  to  Miss 
Julia  A.,  daughter  of  James  Landman,  of  Madi- 
son County.  They  have  six  children  living,  viz.: 
Lula  B.,  James  H.,  Ella  May,  Oscar,  Lee,  and  an 
infant.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Ejois- 
copal  Church,  South,  and  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
Knights  of  Honor  and  Knights  of  Pythias. 

Li  18G4,  Mr.  Baldridge  eniered  the  Confederate 
Army  in  Company  K,  Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry, 
which  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Russell,  and 
under  General  Forrest.  He  served  in  this  com- 
mand eighteen  months,  mostly  on  detached  duty 
as  a  scout.  He  had  two  brothers  killed  in  the  army. 
James  at  the  siege  of  Port  Hudson,  and  .John  at 
the  Battle  of  Shiloh. 

HENRY    A.    SKEGGS,   Sp.,   son    of    Leonard 

Thomas  and  iliilialaii  (llice)  Skeggs,  was  born  in 
Frederick  County,  Md.,  in  Xovember,  1815;  be- 
came a  merchant  tailor:  came  to  Huntsville  in 
1846,  and  subsequently  carried  on  his  business  at 
Huntsville,  New  Orleans  and  other  places.  He 
served  through  the  war  principally  in  General 
Wheeler's  Cavalry,  and  was  captured  twice,  once 
witli  Wheeler  and  once  with  Forrest.  Returning 
from  the  army,  he  went  first  to  Huntsville,  then  to 
Chattanooga,  and  in  18^ "i  came  to  Decatur,  where 
he  still  resides. 

His  father,  L.  T.  Skeggs,  was  a  soldier  in  the 
War  of  1812,  and  his  grandfather,  John  Skeggs, 
of  Greenbrier  County,  Va.,  served  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War. 

H.  A.  Skeggs,  Sr.,  reared  three  sons:  Will- 
iam E.,  Rufus  H.,  now  dead:  and  Henry  A. 
Skeggs,  .Jr.,  who  was  born  May  12,  1854,  at 
Huntsville,  Ala.  His  mother,  Mary  J.  (Hunt) 
Skeggs,  was  a  daughter  of  Major  Hunt  of  Hunts- 
ville, and  a  great-granddaughter  of  the  man  who 
located  that  city,  and  from  whom  it  takes  its 
name. 

Mr.  Skeggs,  Jr.,  was  reared  in  Huntsville;  re- 
ceived his  early  education  in  the  common  schools 
of  that  place;  lost  his  mother  in  1852,  and  during 


the  war  lived  with  Col.  Russell  Kelley,  near 
Maysville  After  the  war  he  attended  school  in 
Huntsville  until  1872,  when  he  became  a  sales- 
man in  the  grocery  of  J.  B.  Trotman  &  Son.  In 
October,  1875,  he  was  employed  as  book-keeper 
and  salesman  with  L.  M.  Falk,  of  Decatur.  In 
May,  1874,  he  traveled  for  J.  H.  Goodhart  & 
Co.,  of  Cincinnati,  buying  cotton,  and  subse- 
quently for  other  houses  until  June,  1877;  then  he 
went  to  Colorado,  and  engaged  in  mining  at 
Georgetown.  In  November,  1878,  he  returned  to 
Decatur,  and  was  again  salesman  for  L.  M.  Falk. 
In  1880  he  established  a  store  of  his  own,  which 
he  conducted  successfully  u:;til  1887,  and  then 
sold  it,  having  embarked  in  the  real  estate  busi- 
ness in  January  of  that  year.  He  is  a  stockholder 
in  nearly  all  of  the  stock  companies  of  Decatur: 
is  prominent  in  the  Mineral  Land  Company,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  City  Council. 

Mr.  Skeggs  was  married  June  7,  188.3,  to  Miss 
Sue  A.  Burkett,  of  Trinity,  Ala.,  a  daughter  of 
Thaddeus  and  Mary  (Tie)  Burkett,  natives  of 
Kentucky. 

H.  A.  Skeggs.  Jr.,  has  three  children:  William 
T.,  Annie  C.  and  Thomas  H.  Mrs.  Skeggs  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  and  he  is  a  Mason  and  a  Knight  of 
Pythias. 


EUSTACE  C.  BENSON,  :\Ierchant,  Decatur, 
made  his  advent  into  life  February  20,  1853,  at 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  and  there  received  his  educa- 
tion and  business  training.  He  went '  into 
business  on  his  own  account  as  the  junior  member 
of  the  firm  of  Benson  Bros»,  long  well  known  in 
Montgomery  and  elsewhere.  John  M.  Benson, 
the  senior  member,  died  in  1881,  and  E.  C.  Ben- 
son conducted  the  business  under  the  old  name 
until  June,  1887.  when  John  L.  Brown,  who 
married  Mr.  Benson's  sister,  became  an  equal 
partner  in  the  business,  and  the  firm  name 
became  Benson  &  Brown.  They  still  continue 
their  business  on  Dexter  Avenue,  Montgomery, 
and  in  1887  established  a  house  on  LaFayette 
street,  Decatur,  under  the  supervision  of  Mr. 
E.  C.  Benson,  who  has  resided  here  since  that 
time.  The  business  conducted  by  him  has  been 
eminently  satisfactory. 

James  R.  Benson,  our  subject's  fatlier,  was  a 
native  of  Virginia,  and  came  to  Alabama  in  1845; 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


349 


he  was  a  fanner  and  merchant.  His  wife,  also  of 
Virginia,  was  Susan,  (laughter  of  ^\  in.  Hell. 
They  had  seven  sons  and  four  daughters,  our  sub- 
ject being  among  the  younger  members  of  the 
family. 

lie  is  a  membei-  of  the  Baptist  Church,  a 
prominent  Knight  of  Pythias,  and  an  active,  ener- 
getic man,  devoted  to  the  progress  of  Decatur. 

►^ 


R.  L.  TODD  was  born  in  .Montgomery  in  1804, 
and  is  a  son  of  James  J.  and  Louisa  R.  (String- 
fellow)  Todd,  both  natives  of  Virginia.  Jas.  J. 
Todd  was  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Atlanta 
&  Western  Railroad  and  the  Montgomery  &  Ku- 
faula  Itailroad  until  his  death,  in  1S85.  The 
mother  also  died  in  1883.  They  had  two  children, 
William  E.,of  Montgomery,  and  R.  L.  Todd,  who 
was  reared  and  educated  in  Montgomery,  and  con- 
ducted the  grocery  business  there  for  four  years. 
He  came  to  Decatur  in  August,  in  1887,  and 
formed  a  partnership  with  James  A.  EUsberry, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Todd  &  Ellsberry. 

James  A.  Ellsberry  was  born  in  Montgomery  in 
185!<.  He  is  a  son  of  James  H.  and  Fannie  E. 
(Oleason)  Ellsberry,  natives  of  (Jeorgia  and  Nortli 
Carolina.     The  father  died  in  Montgomery. 

J.  A.  Ellsberry  was  reared  and  educated  in 
MdUtgomery,  and  commenced  his  active  life  as  a 
baggage-master  on  the  M.  &  f.  Railroad,  where 
he  subserjuently  became  a  conductor,  and  finally 
was  employed  in  the  running  and  forwarding  de- 
partments of  the  Central  &  Western  Railroad.  He 
then  became  a  member  of  the  present  firm. 

A.  G.  BETHARD  was  born  in  I'niou  County, 
Ohio.  1840;  was  a  soldier  in  the  late  war,  of  Com- 
pany E,  Sixty-sixth  Ohio  Volunteer  Infantry.  He 
served  through  the  war.  and  was  a  musician  for 
one  year  and  a  half  of  the  time  of  his  service.  He 
learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter  in  his  younger 
days,  and  after  the  war   became  a  foreman,  con- 


tractor and  builder,  in  Springfield,  Ohio,  until 
March.  18T'2,  in  connection  with  other  parties. 
After  that  time  his  business  was  entirely  on  his 
own  account  and  in  the  same  city.  He  continued 
it  successfully  until  he  camQ  to  Decatur,  in  1887, 
where  he  organized  the  Bethard  Manufacturing 
Company.  This  company  consists  of  A.  G. 
and  D.  1'.  Bethard.  They  are  now  doing  a 
very  extensive  atid  profitable  business  in  buildcs' 
supplies. 

Mr.  Bethard  was  married  in  1864,  toMiss^fary 
Roberts,  who  died  in  187G,  leaving  him  one  child. 
He  was  married  again  in  1877,  to  Jliss  Adenia 
Gates,  and  they  have  two  children. 

^Ir.  Bethard  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Con- 
gregational Church.  He  is  a  member  of  I.  0.  0. 
E.,  K.  of  P.,  G.  A.  R..  K.  of  G.  R.,  and  1. 0.  R.  M. 


►^^ 


C.  H.  ALBES.  Proprietor  Hotel  Bismarck,  De- 
catur, sou  of  Henry  and  Mary  E.  (Deppe)  Albes, 
was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  October  13,  183.5; 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1854,  and  settled  in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  lie  established  a  wholesale 
grocery  and  provision  business,  and  remained  un- 
til 1804.  He  then  moved  to  Xashville,  Tenn., 
and  was  connected  with  a  newspaper  for  a 
few  years.  In  1870,  he  came  to  Decatur,  and  was 
agent  of  the  Southern  Express  Company  three 
years.  He  began  keeping  hotel  on  a  small 
scale,  and  being  fortunate  in  location,  has  been 
successful  in  securing  a  patronage,  heretofore  un- 
known to  Decatur,  and  largely  in  excess  of  his 
now  greatly  increased  capacity.  Mr.  Albes  was 
married  February  27,  1807,  to  Miss  Fredrica  La- 
croix,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  three  children 
have  been  born  to  their  union,  of  whom  Charles 
Edward  is  now  a  member  of  the  Senior  Class  in 
Vanderbilt  University  (December,  1887). 

Mr.  Albes' grandfather,  Conrad  D.  Albes,  served 
eighteen  years  in  the  German  Army,  and  fought 
under  Wellington  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo. 

C.  H.  Albes  is  a  member  of  the  A.  0.  U.  W., 
and  has  served  in  the  Council  of  Decatur  several 
years. 


IV. 
GADSDEN. 

Bv  Prof.  J.  W.  Dc  Bose. 


The  county  of  Etowah  is  situated  in  tlie  north- 
eastern joart  of  the  State,  just  above  the  thirty- 
fourth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  and  is  nearly  di- 
vided by  the  eighty-sixth  meridian  of  west  longi- 
tude. 

It  is  located  in  that  section  of  the  State,  which 
is  so  rich  in  mineral  wealth.  The  county  also 
contains  very  productive  lands,  and  large  forests 
of  the  most  valuable  limber. 

The  name  "Etowah"  is  an  Indian  word,  and 
signifies  large  trees.  The  county  was  first  organ- 
ized under  the  name  of  Baine  County,  in  March, 
18fi7.  It  was  composed  of  parts  of  Cherokee,  St. 
Clair,  Marshall,  Blount,  Calhoun  and  DeKalb 
Counties,  and  contained  520  square  miles.  The 
Constitutional  Convention  of  the  sam.e  year,  1867, 
abolished  the  county  of  Baine,  and  in  December, 
of  the  following  year,  18(38,  the  Legislature  re- 
established the  county  with  the  name  of  Etowah. 

The  territory,  out  of  which  Etowah  County 
was  formed,  was  originally  known  as  the  Missis- 
sippi Territory,  and  was  formerly  occupied  by  the 
Creek  and  Cherokee  Indians. 

The  first  white  settlers,  of  whom  we  have  any 
knowledge,  were  John  Radclilfe  and  James  Leslie, 
who  settled  in  this  county  about  the  year  180<i, 
the  former  settling  at  what  is  now  called  Atalla, 
and  the  latter  at  Turkeytown. 

In  18r2  (ieneral  Jackson,  with  his  army,  passed 
through  this  county  in  a  southerly  direction,  cut- 
ting a  road  through  it  to  Fort  Strother,  at  Ten 
Islands,  on  the  Coosa  Eiver.  From  that  point  he 
marched  to  the  battle-fields  of  Tallassahatchee, 
Horseslioe  and  Talladega.  On  his  return  from 
these  battle-fields  he  marched  through  the  county 
again,  halting  at  Turkeytown,  a  few  miles  north- 
west of  Gadsden,  where  he  concluded  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  the  Cherokee  Indians.      This  treaty 


put  an  end  to  the  hostility  of  the  Indians,  and  in 
a  few  years  the. county  began  to  fill  up  with  white 
settlers.  In  181G  there  was  quite  a  large  number 
of  white  settlers  here,  most  of  whom  lived  in  the 
western  portion  of  the  county. 

The  eastern  and  northern  portions  of  the 
county  were  not  settled  up  until  1833-4,  when  a 
large  influ.x  of  immigration  flowed  into  the  whole 
State,  In  1830  the  Creek  Indians  opened  hostil- 
ities on  the  whites,  but  were  soon  overpowered, 
and  they  surrendered  in  June  of  the  same  year. 
The  leaders  were  captured  and  sent  West  in 
chains.  All  of  the  hostile  Creeks  were  sent  by 
the  United  States  Government  that  year  to  the 
Indian  Territory.  The  friendly  Creeks  were  re- 
moved the  following  year,  which  was  1837;  the 
Cherokees  were  removed  in  1838.  They  were  all 
collected  at  Ross'  Landing,  on  the  Tennessee 
River,  which  is  now  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  and 
were  removed  to  their  present  location  in  the 
Indian  Territory.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  the 
general  reader,  to  state  here  that  Stan  Wattle,  a 
Cherokee  Chief,  who  was  a  Confederate  General, 
in  the  Trans-Mississippi  Department,  was  born  in 
Etowah  County,  in  the  little  village  now  known 
as  Turkeytown. 

Montgomery  and  Selma  were  the  only  markets 
for  this  county  up  to  1836  ;  after  that  Wetumka, 
the  head  of  navigation  on  the  lower  Coosa, 
became  the  principal  market  until  1846. 

The  first  steamboat  that  jjlied  the  waters  of 
the  upper  Coosa,  was  built  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
and  brought  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers 
to  New  Orleans,  and  through  the  Gulf  of  Jlexico 
to  ^lobile,  Ala.  From  ^Mobile  it  was  carried  up 
the  Alabama  and  Coosa  Rivers,  to  Wetumka. 
There  it  was  taken  to  pieces,  and  hauled  on  wag- 
ons around  the  shoals  to  Greensport,  where  it  was 


350 


NORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


351 


rebuilt  by  C'apt.  James  Lafferty,  and  launched 
on  the  4th  of  July,  IS-lo,  and  named  the 
"  Coosa."  I'lying  between  Greensport,  thirty 
miles  below  Gadsden,  and  Rome,  Ga.,  it  diverted 
tlie  trade  from  Montgomery,  and  Augusta, 
Ga.,  became  the  principal  market  for  all  this 
country. 

(iadsden,  the  present  county  seat,  was  located 
and  laid  out  in  1S4<!.  by  (iabriel  Hughes,  Joseph 
lluglies  and  John  S.  .Moragne,  and  was  platted 
by  W.  S.  Brown,  engineer  of  the  Coosa  &  Ten- 
nessee Rivers  Railroad,  who  was  here  locating  that 
road  running  from  (iadsden  on  the  Coosa,  to 
Guntc'sville  on  the  Tennessee    River. 

The  first  jiostoftice  established  at  Gadsden  was 
in  IS.'Ji!,  and  was  called  Double  Springs,  and  the 
name  of  the  first  jiostmaster  was  Mr.  William 
Walker,  who  was  succeeded  by  Gabriel  Hughes, 
who  held  the  office  until  1840,  when  the  name 
was  changed  to  (Jadsden.  The  next  postmaster 
was  J.  D.  McMichael,  who  held  the  position  until 
1SG.">.  (iadsden,  nearly  Arl  years  old,  has  had 
three  postmasters.  Dr.  AV.  T.  Ewing  succeeded 
Mr.  ilcMichael  In  18G.5,  and  held  it  for  twenty 
years,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  present  incum- 
bent, Mr.  Daniel  Liddel. 

The  town  of  Gadsden  grew  very  slowly  until 
after  the  formation  of  the  county  in  lS(i7,  when 
it  was  incorporated  and  received  a  fresh  impetus. 
Tiie  jiresent  court-house  was  built  in  1870,  and 
the  jail  in  1874.  The  present  population  of  the 
city  is  about  5,000  inhabitants.  The  Alabama 
Great  Southern,  which  is  now  a  division  of  the 
Queen  &  Crescent  Route,  was  built  through  this 
county  during  the  years  of  18(J7  and  1870.  and 
was  known  as  the  Alabama  A  Chattanooga  Rail- 
road. 

'i"lu'  iron  on  the  Tennessee  &  Coosa  Railroad  was 
laid  in  IS71.  between  Gadsden  and  Atlanta,  on 
the  Alabama  Great  Southern  Railroad.  During 
the  past  year,  the  Tennessee  &  Coosa  I{ailroad  has 
been  extended  a  few  miles  beyond  Atlanta  to  the 
foot  of  Sand  Mountains. 

Among  some  of  the  old  inhabitants  of 
(iadsden.  who  are  now  living,  we  mention  Dr. 
Josejih  Bevans,  A.  L.  AVoodliff  and  R.  B.  Kyle. 
Doctor  lie  vans  has  practiced  medicine  over 
thirty  years  in  Gadsden,  and  is  to-day  a  valu- 
alile  citizen.  At  the  close  of  the  war  in  18G5, 
Captain  Woodliff  was  elected  Senator  from  Chero- 
kee County,  as  it  was  then  known,  and  introduced 
the  bill  creating  the  county  of  Baine,   which  was 


passed  in  1S67.  Col.  R.  B.  Kyle,  for  thirty  years 
has  been  so  intimately  associated  with  Gadsden 
and  Etawah  County,  and  has  been  such  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  their  development  that  any  histoiy 
of  Gadsden  without  him  would  be  incomplete. 
We  refer  you  to  hisbiograi)hy.  which  you  will  find 
in  this  volume. 

'J'he  city  of  Gadsden  was  named  for  (ieneral 
(iadsden,  of  South  Cai-olina.  Hon.  I.  P.  Moragne 
and  his  brother,  J.  S.  Moragne,  were  from  South 
Carolina,  and,  being  great  admirers  of  (ieneral 
(iadsden,  named  the  infant  city  for  him.  It  is 
situated  at  the  southern  terminus  of  Lookout 
Mountain,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Coosa  River. 
It  is  about  ninety  miles  south  of  Chattanooga, 
Tenn.,  fifty-two  miles  west  of  Rome,  Ga.,  and 
fifty-five  miles  northeast  of  Birmingham,  Ala. 

It  is  beautifully  located  at  the  foot  of  Lookout 
Mountain,  which  rises  like  a  wall  on  the  north" 
to  shelter  it  from  the  cold  winds.  The  beautiful 
Coosa,  a  bold,  navigable  stream,  flows  at  its  feet, 
and  furnishes  water  transportation  for  a  large  part 
of  its  traffic.  Until  the  great  awakening  in  the 
mineral  region,  (iadsden  was  content  to  be  the 
center  of  trade  for  about  seven  or  eight  counties 
that  surrounded  her.  (iadsden  for  man\' years  has 
controlled  a  large  trade  from  the  sirrrounding 
counties,  and  not  knowing  the  great  mineral 
wealth  placed  by  nature  at  her  very  door,  has 
directed  her  energies  in  the  commercial  line. 
When  Birmingham  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
whole  country,  and  sprang  into  such  wonderful 
activity,  Gadsden  found  itself  right  in  the  heart 
of  the  great  mineral  region  of  North  Alabama, 
and  has  begun  the  development  of  her  groat  min- 
eral wealth.  \\'e  believe  no  city  in  the  South  has 
more  assuring  prospects  or  a  brighter  future 
than  (iadsden.  Certainly  no  city  in  the  mineral 
region  of  North  Alabama  has  any  natural  ad- 
vantages overit.  Coal,  ironand  limestone  abound 
in  the  mountains  around  it,  while  manganese, 
marble,  slates  and  building  stones  of  the  best 
quality  are  to  be  found  at  its  very  door. 

(iadsden  is  situated  on  a  large  plateau,  T'lO  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  about  fifty  feet  above 
the  highest  water,  with  sufficient  inclination  to- 
ward the  river  to  give  it  the  finest  natural  drain- 
age possible. 

Nortii  and  west  of  it  are  Lookout  ilountains, 
which  furnish  the  most  delightful  sites  for 
residences,  and  all  within  easy  reach  of  the  ])res- 
ent  business  part  of  the  city. 


352 


NORTHERX    ALABAMA. 


On  the  east  side  of  the  city  flows  the  beautiful 
Coosa.  There  is  not  a  more  important  stream  in 
the  State  than  this  river.  It  jjasses  right  through 
the  center  of  the  great  mineral  region  of  the 
State,  and  empties  its  waters  into  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  through  Mobile  Bay.  This  river  supjjlies 
the  city  of  Gadsden  with  the  finest  water,  while 
it  afl^ords  the  opportunity  foT  the  cheapest,  as  well 
as  the  finest  sewerage  system  in  the  world. 

Northeast  of  the  city  about  three  miles,  tliere 
is  a  rapid  mountain  stream,  wliich  overleaj)s  a 
large  rock  bluff,  descending  one  hundred  feet  be- 
low into  a  mountain  gorge,  forming  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  scenes  to  be  found  on  the  Amer- 
ican Continent.  These  falls  are  known  as  "No- 
chalula,"'  or  Black  Creek  Falls.  They  will  be  de- 
scribed hereafter. 

While  Gadsden's  future  will,  in  a  great  measure, 
be  directed  to  development  of  the  mineral  wealth 
all  round  her  door,  she  is  not  dependent  ui:)on  it 
for  her  prosperity.  At  a  convenient  distance  ujj 
and  down  the  Coosa  River  are  vast  forests  of  long- 
leaf  yellow  pine,  which  excels  all  other  wood  in 
the  production  of  fine  lumber.  This  is  now  a 
very  lucrative  industry  in  Gadsden.  For  fifteen 
years  it  has  been  the  principal  industry  of  the  city, 
and  Gadsden  is  now  manufacturing  lumber  at  the 
rate  of  twenty  millions  of  feet  annually. 

The  lumber  interest  is  at  present  represented 
by  the  Kyle  Lumber  Company,  the  Gadsden  Lum- 
ber Company,  and  the  "  Red  .Jack  Company." 
These  establishments,  as  before  said,  have  an 
annual  capacity  of  twenty  million  feet.  These  mills 
have  attached  to  each  of  them  large  dry  kilns  and 
planing  mills.  So  superior  is  the  lumber  manu- 
factured in  Gadsden  that  nine-tenths  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  these  mills  have  been  marketed  north  of 
the  Ohio  River,  and  some  of  it  going  even  to 
Canada. 

The  Elliott  Car  Works  have  started  under  as 
favorable  auspices  as  any  similar  enterprise  in  the 
South.  They  have  four  immense  buildings,  50x 
xJOO  feet  each,  and  when  in  operation  can  turn  out 
twelve  cars  per  day.  The  works  now  employ 
about  four  hundred  hands,  and  will  doubtless  be 
enlarged.  The  advantages  enjoyed  by  this  com- 
pany are  superior.  The  Kyle  Lumber  Company 
has  contracted  to  furnish  all  the  lumber  required, 
both  of  yellow  pine  and  oak,  necessary  for  the 
construction  of  cars,  while  the  Round  Mountain 
Charcoal  Blast  Furnace  has  contracted  to  furnish 
the  iron  for  car-wheels.     Capt.  J.  M.  Elliott,  who 


is  president  of  the  car  works,  has  also  the  manage- 
ment of  the  furnace,  which  is  just  above  Gadsden, 
on  the  Coosa  River.  This  furnace  turns  out  a 
cold-blast  charcoal  iron  equal  to  any  on  the  conti- 
nent, and  the  Elliott  Car  Company  has  made  fair 
terms  with  this  furnace  for  the  iron  to  be  used  in 
the  construction  of  ics  cars. 

All  the  wood  and  iron  necessary  for  the  con- 
struction of  cars  are  manufactured  and  produced 
right  here,  and  with  no  expense  for  freight. 

Gadsden  has  two  iron  furnaces,  which  j^erhaps 
it  would  be  better  to  describe  separately. 

The  first,  known  as  the  Gadsden  Iron  Company's, 
is  a  large  charcoal  furnace,  with  a  capacity  of 
sixty  tons  jjer  day.  The  iron  made  by  this  furnace 
is  of  the  finest  quality,  and  is  made  of  the  red  fos- 
siliferous  ores,  which  are  mined  within  one  mile 
of  the  furnace.  This  ore  is  worked  direct  from 
the  mines  without  roasting,  and  contains  sufficient 
limestone  to  render  it  self-fluxing.  The  charcoal 
for  this  furnace  is  obtained  from  extensive  forests 
up  and  down  the  Coosa,  and  the  wood  is.  brought 
to  the  ovens  in  barges.  These  forests  will  supply 
charcoal  enough  for  several  furnaces  for  an  in- 
definite time. 

The  second  furnace  owned  by  the  Gadsden 
Furnace  Company  is  one  of  the  largest  coke  fur- 
naces in  the  South,  and  will  have  a  capacity  of 
120  tons  per  day.  The  furnace  will  go  into  blast 
about  April  1,  1888.  This  furnace  comjjany  owns 
thirteen  miles  of  the  finest  soft  red  ores  in  Ala- 
bama. Tlie  furnace  plant  is  located  on  the  Coosa 
River,  and  immediately  on  the  line  of  the  Rome 
&  Decatur  Railroad,  one  mile  northeast  of  the 
city  of  Gadsden. 

GADSDEN  L.'VIfD  AND  IMPROVEMENT  COMPANY. 

This  company  was  organized  a  year  ago,  and 
owns  some  of  the  finest  property  in  and  around 
the  city  of  Gadsden.  It  has  700  acres  of  land, 
much  of  which  is  beautifully  situated  for  the  ex- 
tension of  the  city.  It  also  owns  a  large  tract  of 
land  on  the  Highlands,  immediately  north  of  the 
city,  and  near  to  Nochalula  Falls,  which  furnishes 
some  of  the  most  picturesque  scenery  to  be  found 
anywhere.  These  Highlands  are  very  valuable 
for  residences,  as  they  command  a  magnificent 
view,  stretching  southward  for  a  number  of  miles, 
and  taking  in  the  whole  city  of  Gadsden. 

Just  north  of  the  city,  on  the  Rome  &  Decatur 
Railroad,  is  located  a  $12,000  plant,  in  the  shape 
of  a  paint-mill.      This  mill  is  newly  built,  with 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


35:3 


the  finest  and  most  iipjiroved  machinery  for  mak- 
ing metiiUic  paint.  The  capacity  of  tiic  mil!  is 
twelve  tons  jjcr  day. 

One  of  the  oldest  as  well  as  one  of  the  hest 
paying  institutions  of  Gadsden  is  the  iron  foundry. 
In  it  all  iron  and  hrass  castings  are  maiie,  and 
everything  made  of  iron,  from  an  engine  to  the 
smallest  castings. 

Besides  the  industries  already  iianuHl.  we  men- 
tion a  machine  shop,  two  sash,  door  and  hliml 
factories,  and  a  large  cotton  warehouse. 

In  addition  to  these,  we  have  one  ^I'ational 
Bank,  good  schools,  churches  of  all  denominations, 
and  a  fine  system  of  water  works. 

Uadsden  has  lodges  in  fine  working  order  of 
the  following  secret  organizations  : 

The  .Masons,  including  Blue  Lodge,  ]{oyal 
Arch  Chapter.  ;ind  Commandery. 

Also  an  Odd  Fellows  lodge,  a  lodge  of  Knights 
of  Pythias,  one  of  the  Knights  of  Honor.  .\lso 
a  Knights  of  Labor  lodge. 

There  is  a  Masonic  lodge  for  colored  persons,  in 
addition  to  the  above  mentioned  lodges. 

The  streets  of  Gadsden  are  beautifully  lighted 
with  electricity,  and  nearly  all  the  business  houses 
are  using  the  incandescent  lights.  The  churches 
are  lighted  also  with  them. 

One  of  the  finest  opera  houses  of  the  State  is 
to  be  found  in  the  city.  Its  recent  furniture  is 
all  of  the  most  approved  style.  It  has  a  seating 
capacity  of  800. 

.\  year  ago  a  stock  company  was  organized  with 
a  cash  capital  of  815,000,  for  the  purposoof  build- 
ing an  ice  factory.  About  the  1st  of  July  every- 
thing was  completed,  and  the  city  of  (iadsden  was 
using  ice  made  in  her  own  limits.  Tlie  factory  is 
complete  in  every  particular,  and  works  most  ad- 
miral)iy.    Its  capacity  is  tw'elve  tons  per  day. 

Gadsden  has  three  hotels,  the  E.xchange,  the 
.lohuson  House  and  the  Printup.  The  Printnp, 
which  is  just  now  nearing  completion,  is  a  gem  of 
beauty  and  architectural  skill.  It  is  made  of  stone 
and  brick,  four  stories  besides  a  basement,  and  is 
conceded  tobeoneofthe  finest  hotels  in  the  South. 

There  is  a  fiourishing  Young  Men's  Ohristian 
Association  in  the  city.  It  has  a  hall  open  day 
and  night  to  receive  visitors  and  strangers. 

Without  mentioning  any  of  the  projected  rail- 
roads which  will  be  built  to  Gadsden  in  the  near 
future,  we  name  the  following  railroads  which  are 
now  running  trains  in  and  through  (iadsden. 

The  Tennessee  &   Coosa  Hailroail,  which  is  in- 


tended to  connect  the  two  rivers  from  which  it  gets 
its  name.  It  is  completed  from  Gadsden  to  a 
l)oint  beyond  .\talla,  a  rlistance  of  about  ten  miles. 

The  .\nniston  &  Cincinnati  Railroad  is  near- 
ing comj)letion,  and  \s\\\  soon  run  through  trains 
between  the  points  which  give  the  name. 

The  Rome  &  Decatur  Railroad  is  running  its 
trains  through  the  city,  but  in  a  short  time  will 
have  the  road  completed  from  Rome.  Ga.,  to 
Decatur,  on  the  Tennessee  River. 

At  the  foot  of  Locust  street  is  the  bridge  of  the 
Anniston  &  Cincinnati  Railroad.  This  bridge  is  a 
nuignificent  iron  structure,  so  arranged  as  to  allow 
wagons  and  passengers  to  cross  on  it.  It  is  a  free 
bridge,  and  furnishes  a  thoroughfare  to  and  from 
Gadsden  for  the  eastern  portions  of  the  county. 

The  society  of  (iadsden  is  refined  and  cul- 
tivated. 

The  hcaltlifulness  of  the  place,  and  the  beauty 
of  its  surroundings,  have  conspired  to  draw  to  it 
the  best  class  of  population,  and  in  a  few  years  no 
doubt  its  society  will  rival  in  culture  some  of  the 
older  cities  of  the  New  Kngland  States. 

Fine  private  schools,  a  graded  public  institute, 
with  excellent  churches  of  all  denominations, 
leave  nothing  to  be  desired  to  those  seeking  a 
beautiful  home  with  nice  surroundings. 

The  First  National  Bank  of  Gadsden  was  estab- 
lished April  1,  1S8T.  Its  cash  capital  is  #50,000. 
It  has  an  extensive  line  of  deposits,  aggregating 
over  «!  100,000. 

The  president, -Mr.  A.  L.  (ilenn,is  known  in  finan- 
cial circles:  while  its  popular  cashier,  Mr.  W.  G. 
Brockw-ay,  was  in  a  manner  born  to  the  business, 
having  from  his  earliest  boyhood  been  trained  to 
banking. 

The  vice-president  is  Major  R.  0.  Randall,  a  man 
of  large  experience  and  fine  success  in  business 
matters.  The  directors  are  among  the  best  men 
of  (iadsden  and  men  who  own  large  interests  in 
the  city. 

The  Bank  has  done  a  line  business,  and  its 
future  is  very  bright.  The  probability  is  that  the 
capital  will  be  increased  to*100,000  this  fall  (1888). 

Gailsden  up  to  a  year  ago  had  two  weekly  papers, 
the  Timea  and  the  News'.  On  February  1,  1887, 
these  two  weeklies  consolidated  for  the  purpose  of 
running  a  ilaily  at  a  very  early  period.  The  con- 
solidated pajjer  is  known  as  the  Gadsden  Times 
finil  News,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best 
weeklies  published  in  the  State. 

Meeks  and  Johnson,  the  editors  and  proprietors. 


354 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


are  lifelong  newspaper  men,  and  have  succeeded 
always  in  fnrnisliing  a  good  paper  to  the  people. 

The  Tiniest  and  Xeus  will  merge  into  a  daily  as 
soon  as  the  railroads  now  in  process  of  construc- 
tion to  Gadsden  are  completed.  At  present  it  is  a 
weekly  devoted  to  agriculture,  politics,  general 
literature  and  the  news  of  the  day.  Its  politics  are 
Democratic.  The  Times  before  its  consolidation 
with  tlie  Xeirs  was  one  of  the  oldest  papers  in  the 
State,  having  been  established  in  1867.  They  were 
consolidated  in  1887.  The  News  was  established 
in  1880. 

Three  miles  northwest  of  Gadsden  are  situated 
the  beautiful  and  picturesque  Xochalula  Falls. 

Black  Creek  flows  along  the  summit  of  the 
southern  spur  of  Lookout  Mountain,  for  some 
distance,  until  it  abruptly  widens  over  a  vast 
ledge  of  rock,  falling  one  hundred  feet  into  a 
whirlpool    below. 

Like  nearly  all  fine  scenes  in  nature,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  give  such  a  description  as  would  convey  to 
the  mind  of  the  reader  an  accurate  idea  of 
the  beauty  to  be  seen  here. 

While  not  so  grand  as  Niagara  Falls,  they  exceed 
them  in  beauty  and  picturesque  appearance.  It  is 
all  nature's  work,  as  art  has  done  nothing  to 
change  or  modify  their  appearance,  but  they  pos- 
sess all  the  wild  beauty  that  they  had  in  days  of 
yore,  when  the  Indian  legend  tells  us,  that  the 
beautiful  Star,  Alivilda,  of  the  Cherokee  tribe, 
leaped  over  them  to  avoid  going  with  the  Creek 
chief  to  his  dista,nt  wigwam. 

Five  miles  west  of  the  City  of  Gadsden  is  the 
thriving  little  City  of  Atalla. 

It  is  situated  right  in  the  middle  of  the  mineral 
wealth  of  the  county. 

Its  present  railroad  facilities  are  superior  to 
those  of  Gadsden.  It  is  immediately  on  the  line  of 
the  great  Queen  &  Crescent  Route,  which  is  one 
of  the  finest  and  longest  railroad  lines  in  the 
South. 

Besides  the  Queen  &  Crescent  Route,  Atalla 
has  all  the  other  railroads  of  the  county  centering 
and  crossing  there.  The  Anniston  &  Cincinnati 
Railroad,  the  Rome  &  Decatur,  and  the  Tennessee 
&  Coosa  Railroads,  all  center  in  Atalla. 

This  little  city,  like  many  other  towns  in  the 
mineral  belt,  for  a  number  of  years  has  relied  on 
agriculture  for  its  support.  Atalla  has  awakened 
from  its  slumber,  and  its  enterprising  citizens  are 
now  bending  their  energies  toward  the  develop- 
ment of  her  great  mineral  wealth.      Her  popula- 


tion is  increasing  very  rapidly,  and  it  numbers 
now  over  l,-<;00.  The  city  is  improving  quite  rap- 
idly, and  in  a  short  while  several  furnaces,  which 
are  now  in  process  of  erection,  will  be  converting 
the  fine  iron  ores  around  her  doors  into  merchant- 
able pig-iron.  The  society  of  this  little  city  is 
very  good,  having  excellent  churches  and  fine 
schools.  The  location  of  the  city  is  indeed  fine 
and  attractive,  being  surrounded  on  two  sides  by 
high  hills,  with  two  beautiful  valleys  coming  to- 
getlier  right  above  it.  Atalla  has  a  bright  future 
before  her,  and  her  enterprising  citizens  are  exert- 
ing themselves  for  her  growth  and  prosperity. 

Atalla  is  largely  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business,  besides  mining  large  quantities  of  iron 
ore,  which  is  shipped  to  farmers  in  Tennessee  and 
Georgia. 

The  city  has  two  newspapers,  the  Netv  Age, 
published  and  edited  by  A.  G.  Lee,  and  the  At- 
alla Herald,  published  and  edited  by  T.  J.  Wat- 
kins.  Both  of  these  papers  are  Democratic  in 
politics,  and  are  working  for  the  development  and 
prosperity  of  Atalla  and  Etowah  County.  In 
addition  to  the  cities  of  Gadsden  and  Atalla  the 
county  of  Etowah  has  several  other  prosperous 
villages,  among  which  we  mention  Walnut  Grove, 
as  remarkable  for  its  good  society,  excellent 
churches  and  fine  schools.  [See  Etowah  County, 
this  volume.] 


ROBERT  B.  KYLE,  distinguished  citizen  and 
business  man,  of  Gadsden,  was  born  in 
Rockingham  County,  N.  C,  May  24,  1826,  and  is 
a  son  of  James  and  Elizabeth  (Jones)  Kyle,  the 
former  a  native  of  County  Tyrone,  Ireland,  and 
the  latter  of  Henry  County,  Va.  The  senior 
Mr.  Kyle  came  to  America  and  settled  in  Rock- 
ingham County  in  1820,  and  there  in  1824 
married  Miss  Jones.  They  had  born  to  them  two 
sons  and  five  daughters.  Mr.  Kyle  was  a  tobacco 
manufacturer  at  Leaksville,  N.  C,  where  he 
died  in  1836. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  from  his  early  youth, 
was  reared  by  his  stepfather.  Col.  Joseph  Kyle,  a 
prominent  business  man  at  Columbus,  Ga.  Early 
in  1861  he  joined  the  Thirty-first  Alabama  Infantry 
as  first  lieutenant,  and  at  the  organization  of  the 
regiment  was  made  quartermaster.  His  health 
failing  him,  he  was  some  time  thereafter  appointed 
to  the  local  quartermaster's  service,  and  assigned 


'/ 


//^^^^ 


C L 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


355 


to   Columbus,    f!a.,    where   lie    retnained    to    tlie 
close  of  the  war. 

Col.  lvol)ert  B.  Kyle  was  one  of  the  contractoi's 
who  built  the  railroad  from  Opelika,  Ala.,  to 
Columbus,  Cia,,  in  1852.  In  thelatterpart  of  that 
year  he  moved  to  Cherokee  County,  Ala.,  and 
oommcneed  farming;  but,  being  of  an  active 
temperament  and  restless,  unless  engaged  in 
trade  and  handling  money,  he  left  his  farm,  moved 
to  (iadsden  in  September,  1857,  and  commenced 
merchandising.  Gadsden  at  that  time  had  a 
]H)i)ulation  of  but  one  hundred  and  fifty  people 
and  l)ut  three  small  stores.  Through  his  energy 
and  management,  Colonel  Kyle  at  once  built  up  a 
tine  trade  with  all  the  surrounding  counties  of 
Northeast  Alabama,  and  with  others  in  Central 
Alabama. 

The  shipping  facilities  of  (Jadsden  at  that  time 
were  very  inadequate,  but  Colonel  Kyle,  perceiv- 
ing the  necessity  of  more  enlarged  means  of  trans- 
jiortation,  organized  a  company  and  built  a  steam- 
boat for  the  Coosa  River  and  its  tributaries.  This 
accomplished,  Gadsden  became  a  considerable 
cotton  market,  and  trade  generally  more  than 
trebled  itself  in  a  remarkably  short  time.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  war.  Colonel  Kyle  had  built  up  a 
very  large  business,  and  the  population  of  the  town 
had  greatly  increased. 

After  the  war.  Colonel  Kyle  returned  to  (Jadsden 
and  set  about  the  rebuilding  of  his  fortune.  With 
the  eye  of  a  far-seeing  intellect,  he  understood  the 
natural  advantages  of  this  location,  and  proceeded 
without  delay  to  develop  them.  He  engaged  at 
the  mercantile  business  and  soon  afterward  under- 
tosk  the  construction  of  the  Alabama  &  Chatta- 
nooga Railroad,  and  subsequently,  in  connection 
with  the  late  W.  V.  Hollingsworth,  built  the  (iads- 
(ieii  branch  from  Atalla.  This  was  the  first  im- 
portant step  toward  the  development  of  the  nat- 
ural resources  of  this  town,  and  gave  him  addi- 
tional facilities  for  handling  lumber,  cotton  and 
other  products  of  the  county.  His  enterprise  and 
business  tact  brought  this  business  to  the  notice  of 
the  world,  and,  through  him,  fiadsden  has  become 
one  of  the  largest  interior  manufacturing  points  of 
the  long-leaf  yellow  pine  lumber.  His  trade  rap- 
idly spread  out  to  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  he 
shipped  lumber  as  far  north  as  Chicago,  as  far 
west  as  Kansas  City,  and  eastward  to  the  Atlantic 
seaboard. 

Under  Colonel  Kyle's  management,  the  lum- 
ber interest  at  Gadsden  has  become  a  gigantic  in- 


dustry, and  gives  employment  to  over  one  thousand 
men. 

Colonel  Kyle  has  been  equally  active  in  the 
u{)building  and  development  of  almost  every  other 
meritorious  enterprise  so  far  established  at  Gads- 
den. He  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  (Jadsden  Furnace  Company,  and  of  the 
Elliott  Car  Works  ;  is  president  of  the  Gadsden 
Ivand  and  Improvement  Company,  and  holds  a 
directorship  in  almost  every  other  iiicorj)orated 
institution  at  this  place. 

Colonel  Kyle  isaniodest.unassiiminggentleinan, 
takes  a  deep  interest  in  the  moral  and  intellectual 
advancement  of  his  city  and  country,  and  is  alto- 
gether one  of  the  most  progressive  citizens  of 
Northern  Alabama.  Knergetic,  far-seeing,  brave 
and  daring,  he  allows  no  obstacle  to  stand  be- 
tween him  and  the  objects  at  all  times  in 
view. 

In  speaking  of  him,  a  recent  publication 
says:  "He  has  liewn  down  all  obstacles,  and 
brought  his  section  of  the  country  from  a  wild 
wilderness  to  be  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and 
inviting  of  the  South.  He  is  now  a  '  sentinel 
upon  the  watch-tower' that  looks  out  to  warn  off 
all  danger,  as  well  as  to  see  the  necessities  and  ad- 
vantages of  his  country,  and  at  once  forms  all 
combinations  necessary  to  meet  and  utilize  them 
to  the  interests  of  the  community.  No  truer  man 
lives:  no  jiolitician,  yet  an  anxious  wisher  for 
good  and  honest  government.  Such  is  Col.  Rob- 
ert B.  Kyle,  one  of  nature's  noblemen." 

Colonel  Kyle  was  married  December  1.  1848,  to 
Miss  Mary  Thornton,  a  daughterof  Dozier  Thorn- 
ton, of  Cherokee  County,  and  had  born  to  him  two 
children,  one  of  whom  is  dead.  The  other,  Mary 
A.,  is  the  wife  of  ^farcns  L.  Foster,  of  Gadsden. 
Mrs.  Kyle  died  in  Cherokee  County,  Ala.,  1855; 
in  October,  185'i,  the  Colonel  was  married  to  Miss 
Mary  Nuckolls,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Nuckolls, 
of  Columbus,  Ga.  To  this  union  twelve  children 
were  born,  si.\  of  whom  are  dead.  The  living 
are  -Mrs.  Nena  Kyle  Elliott,  wife  of  James  M. 
Elliott,  Jr.,  Miss  Bessie  Eee  Kyle,  Miss  Edith 
Marion  Kyle,  MifS  Robbie  E.  Kyle,  Miss  Florie 
Male  Kyle,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Stonewall  Kyle, 
who  is  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Kyle  Lumber 
Company. 

In  consideration  of  Colonel  Kyle's  prominence 
and  popularity  as  a  citizen  of  Gadsden,  the  pub- 
lishers take  pleasure  in  presenting  with  this  chap- 
ter a  steel  plate  portrait  of  that  gentleman. 


356 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


DANIEL  C.  TURRENTINE  was  born  October 

18,  1807,  at  ii  place  now  covered  by  the  town  of 
Milledgeville,  in  (leorgia.  He  was  a  merchant  in 
his  early  days;  came  to  Alabama  aboi;t  1839,  and 
entered  a  large  tract  of  land  near  Lebanon,  in  De 
Kalb  County,  njion  which  he  settled  and  farmed. 
About  1845  he  moved  to  the  present  site  of  Gads- 
den, and  ujion  the  banks  of  the  river  erected  the 
first  house  of  that  city.  Here  Mr.  Turrentine  kept  a 
tavern  and  store.  There  were  six  lines  of  stages 
running  by  this  place  and  making  it  their  head- 
quarters; it  was  also  the  landing  for  James  Laffer- 
ty's  steamboat,  the  fir.st  ever  run  on  the  Coosa 
Eiver,  and  these  things  made  the  place  an  excel- 
lent location  for  business. 

After  a  time  his  wife's  declining  health  com- 
I^elled  Mr.  Turrentine  to  relinquish  his  activity, 
and  about  1851  he  purchased  a  farm  about  a  mile 
from  the  landing,  and  built  a  residence  ujaon  it, 
in  which  his  family  now  reside.  As  a  general  of 
militia  he  got  the  title  by  which  was  ever  after- 
ward known.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  Florida 
War  and  a  quartermaster  in  the  Confederate  States 
Army. 

The  amj>le  fortune  of  which  he  became  possessed 
was  the  result  of  his  own  energy,  and  was  accumu- 
lated in  spite  of  his  numerous  charitable  bequests, 
and  kindhearted  disijosition  to  become  security  for 
his  friends  by  which  means  he  lost  largely.  He 
was  also  an  active  member  of  the  ilethodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  organized  the  first  Sunday-school 
in  Gadsden,  and  made  his  house  a  home  for  all 
the  preachers.  In  his  capacity  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  which  office  he  held  for  nine  years,  he  per- 
formed nearly  all  the  marriage  ceremonies  in  the 
community.  His  death  occurred  in  September, 
1883. 

Mr.  Turrentine  was  married  to  Miss  Caroline 
E.  Lucy,  daughter  of  Joshua  and  Louisa  A. 
(Hunnicutt)  Lucy,  natives  of  Virginia,  and  of  Eng- 
lish descent.  Mrs.  Turrentine  died  in  July,  1881. 
They  had  seven  sons  and  seven  daughters  born  to 
them,  twelve  of  whom  grew  to  maturity:  William 
A.,  Louisa  J.,  Virginia  A.,  James  L.,  Caroline 
L.,  Joshua  L.,  Samuel  M.  (now  dead),  Lillie  A., 
Daniel  ('.,  George  Edward,  Mary  Ellen,  and 
Albert  T.  A\'illiam  A.  died  of  a  wound  received  in 
the  fight  before  Ilichmond. 

Daniel  C.  Turrentine  was  a  son  of  James  and 
Catharine  (Clower)  Turrentine,  both  natives  of 
North  <^arolina.  James  Turrentine  was  a 
farmer.     They  were  married  September  19,  1793, 


and  had  nine  sons  and  three  daughters  born  to 
them;  the  names  of  these  were:  William,  Samuel, 
George,  Morgan  C,  Allen,  Dan,  Thomas  C, 
Joseph  T.,  James,  Frances,  Elizabeth  and  Xancy. 
They  nearly  all  lived  to  be  quite  old,  and  most  of 
them  raised  children,  among  whom  were  after- 
ward many  of  the  leading  families  of  the  State. 

James  Turrentine,  Sr.,  moved  to  Georgia,  prob- 
ably about  1795.  He  and  his  family  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  very 
pious  people.  He  died  in  September,  1831, 
aged  sixty  years.  His  wife  died  in  18'iO,  aged 
eighty-four  years.  The  Turrentine  family  were 
originally  from  France. 


WILLIAM    PERRY    HOLLINGSWORTH   was 

born  in  St.  Clair  County.  Ala.,  August  'li,  18'iS, 
and  was  a  son  of  Jacob  and  Delphia  (Henderson) 
Hollingsworth,  natives  of  Virginia.  At  the  age 
of  eleven  years  he  began  clerking  for  his  brother 
ill  a  mercantile  establishment  at  Gadsden,  and  at 
the  age  of  sixteen  was  given  a  partnership  in  the 
business.  From  that  time  to  within  a  short  time 
of  his  death,  he  was  an  active  business  man.  He 
started  in  the  world  as  a  poor  boy,  and  rounded 
up  at  a  ripe  old  age,  possessed  of  an  elegant  for- 
tune, and  with  the  happy  consciousness  of  having 
never  wronged  a  man  out  of  a  penny.  No  man 
in  Gadsden  ever  stood  higher  in  the  esteem  of  the 
people,  than  did  Mr.  Hollingsworth.  In  August, 
18(31,  he  was  elected  captain  of  a  company  in  the 
Nineteenth  Alabama  Regiment,  and  he  remained 
in  the  service  until  the  close  of  the  war.  After 
his  first  year  in  tLe  army  be  was  transferred  to  the 
Commissary  Department,  and  remained  there  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  the  time.  The  war  depleted  his 
fortune  almost  entirely,  but  he  subsequently,  in 
mercantile  business,  recouped  it  to  a  large  ex- 
tent, and  when  he  died  he  was  one  of  the  wealth- 
iest men  in  his  county.  He  was  by  far  the  most 
extensive  dry  goods  merchant  ever  at  Gadsden,  if 
not  in  all  Northeastern  Alabama.  Throughout 
his  entire  life  his  efforts  appear  to  have  been 
crowned  with  success.  It  is  said  of  him,  that  he 
never  took  hold  of  anything,  in  a  business  way, 
that  he  did  not  turn  into  money.  He  was  a  de- 
voted member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South;  was  always  actively  interested  in  educa- 
tion, and  was  noted  for  his  charity,  his  liberal- 
ity, and  his  punctuality  in  all  things. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


357 


Mr.  llolliiigs worth  was  married  November  27. 
1S.">1,  to  >riss  .Mary  J.  Lewis,  diiugiiter  of  Joel  and 
Ann  0.  (Krider)  Le\vi:3.  and  reared  six  children: 
Annie  0.  (now  the  wife  of  -Mr.  Paden),  Lanra  J. 
(now  Mrs.  Lay).  Katie  M.  (.Mrs.  Standifer),  Willie 
A.  (wife  of  \V.  1'.  .lohnson).  Kdinond  '1'.,  and 
Alice  M 

William  llollingsworth,  the  great-grandfather 
of  the  sul)ject  of  this  sketch,  catne  from  England 
with  William  Penn.  Mrs.  llollingsworth's  father, 
.loel  Lewis,  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and 
her  mother,  Ann  C.  Krider.  was  horn  and  reared 
in  Philadelphia. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  DENSON.  United 
States  District  Attorney,  was  born  in  Knssell 
County,  Ala.,  March  4,  IS-ttJ.  His  parents, 
Augustus  K.  and  Elizabeth  (Ivey)  Denson,  were 
born,  respectively,  in  Franklin  County,  X.  C, 
in  lSl-2,  and  Baldwin  County,  Ga.,  in  1810. 

The  senior  Mr.  Denson,  a  plant<;r  by  occupa- 
tion, took  part  in  the  War  of  1S3(;,  going  into  the 
army  from  Alabama,  whither  he  had  moved  in 
is:i3.  lie  lived  in  Russell  County,  this  State,  and 
there  reared  tive  sons  and  three  daughters.  'l"he 
eldest  son,  .lohn  B.,  of  Waddell's  Artillery,  was 
killed  at  Resaca,  Ga. ;  Robert  II.  lives  at  Trenton, 
Mo.;  X.  D.  is  an  attorney-at-law  in  Chambers 
County,  this  State;  Augustus  M.,  late  sheriff  of 
Etowah  County,  died  in  April,  1S,S,");  and  the  snl)- 
ject  of  this  sketch,  one  of  the  leading  attorneys  of 
Alabama,  will  be  treated  of  hereafter.  The  old  gen- 
tleman was  a  son  of  ,Iohn  K.  Denson,  a  \'irginian, 
who  moved  into  Xortli  Carolina  at  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  and  there  married  Frances 
Hill-Smau.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  A\'ar  of  1812, 
and  reared  a  large  family  of  children. 

The  Deiisons  came  originally  from  England,  and 
were  (^usikers.  The  first  one  that  came  to  this 
country  was  William  Denson.  He  settled  in  West- 
moreland County,  \'a.,  aiul  reared  three  sons;  one 
of  the  sons  settled  in  Maryland,  anothei-  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  third  in  Xorth  Carolina.  They 
were  farmers,  and  from  them  iiave  descended  many 
noble  men  and  women,  distinguished,  some  of 
tiiem.  in  the  history  of  the  Cliurch  and  of  State. 
The  Ivey  family,  from  wliom  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  descends  in  the  maternal  line,  came  origi- 
nally from  Wales  in  the  person  of  Barney  Ivey. 
Barney  married  .Vlcey  Davis,  a  native  of  Georgia, 


and  lived  to  be  ninety-one  years  of  age.     He  died  in 
Xovember,  l.S)S(i.     He  reared  a  large  family  of  sons 
and  daughters,  all  of  whom  it  appears  heeiled  well  * 
the   injunction   of   the   Bible   in    nuiltii)lying  and 
reiilcnishing  the  earth. 

William  Henry  Denson  spent  the  first  seventeen 
years  of  his  life  on  his  father's  farm,  at  the  neigh- 
boring schools  and  at  the  University  of  Ahibama. 
He  entered  the  army  in  February,  IS'iiJ,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  Waddell's  Battalion  of  Artillery,  and  was  in 
every  battle  from  Dalton  to  Atlanta.  In  i.s04  he 
was  furloughed  on  account  of  his  protracted  sick- 
ness: rejoined  his  command  at  Macon,  (ia.,  and 
remained  to  the  close  of  the  war.  For  the  first 
year  after  the  restoration  of  peace  he  turned  his 
hand  to  farming,  raised  a  crop,  sold  it,  and  with 
the  jiroceeds,  went  to  Columbus,  Ga.,  where,  in 
the  olhce  with  R.  .1.  Moses,  he  began  the  study  of 
law.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  February, 
18t>i,  but  it  appears  did  not  enter  the  practice 
until  1«70.  In  that  year  he  hung  out  his  shingle 
at  IjaFayette,  Ala.,  and  was  at  once  recognized 
as  a  brilliant  and  successful  attorney.  In  18T'>  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  where  he  served 
with  marked  ability  on  the  Judiciary  Committee, 
and  as  a  member  of  the  joint  committee  on  the 
revision  of  the  Code.  After  a  trip  West,  he,  in 
the  fall  of  1877,  settled  in  Gadsden,  were  he  has 
since  remained,  and  where  he  unquestionably 
stands  at  the  very  head  of  his  profession. 

Colonel  Denson  is  an  active  politician,  an  un- 
compromising Democrat,  and  serves  his  party 
with  much  zeal  and  distinguished  effect.  He  was 
a  Cleveland  elector  in  1884,  and  in  June,  1885, 
was  appointed  United  States  District  Attorney 
for  the  Xorthernand  Middle  Districts  of  Alabama. 
He  is  a  Royal  Arch  -Mason  and  a  Knight  of  Pyth- 
ias: is  an  active  business  man,  live,  energetic, 
wide-awake,  broad-guaged,  and  belongs  to  the  noble 
army  of  modern  Southern  men,  now  growing  rap- 
idly famous  for  their  energy  and  enterjirise.  As  a 
public  man,  his  record  is  without  a  blemish.  Op- 
posed to  rings  and  monopolies  of  all  kiiuls,  he  be- 
lieves in  a  Government  of  the  peojile.  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  for  the  people.  With  him  jobbery, 
"chicanerv.  scheming  and  iiusillanimity  linds  no 
abiding  place,  nor  lias  he  any  patience  with  any 
man,  be  he  ever  so  great,  who  panders  to  such 
things  and  demagoguery  in  his  efTorts  for  jiolitical 
advancement.  He  has  implicit  faith  in  the  intel- 
ligence and  integrity  of  the  people  at  large,  and 
believes  that  the  whole  people  should  and    must 


358 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


have  a  voice  in  the  Government.     In  speaking  of 
the  people,  it  should  be  understood  that  Colonel 
'  Denson  means  the  white  jieople. 

Physically,  Colonel  Denson  is  a  broad-shoul- 
dered, heavy-set,  I'otund  sort  of  a  man;  florid 
complexion,  hair  and  beard  slightly  tinged  with 
gray.  Before  a  jury  he  is  a  powerful  advocate;  on 
the  stump  he  is  a  forcible,  logical  and  eloquent 
speaker;  in  conversation  he  is  pleasing,  cordial  and 
entertaining.  The  publishers  take  pleasure  in 
prefacing  this  article  with  the  portrait  of  the  gen- 
tleman as  a  mark  of  distinction  and  of  their  ap- 
preciation of  his  high  merit  as  a  citizen. 

Colonel  Denson  was  married  December  'l\,  1SC8, 
to  Kosa  H  Cowan,  a  native  of  Eufaula,  and 
daughter  of  Dr.  William  Cowan,  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  that  town,  known  first  as  Irwinton. 
Mrs.  Denson's  mother  is  a  sister  of  the  Hon.  J.  L. 
Pagh,  United  States  Senator.  Colonel  and  Mrs. 
Denson  have  five  children:  Annie  L.,  Hugh  C, 
William  A.,  John  and  Lola  E.  The  family  are 
Presbyterians. 

REV.  JOHN  A.  THOMPSON,  Pastor  in  charge 
of  the  Metliodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
located  at  Gadsden,  is  a  native  of  Fi'anklin 
County,  this  State,  and  was  born  December  15, 
1842.  His  early  years  were  spent  in  the 
country  on  his  father's  farm  and  in  attend- 
ance at  the  common  schools.  At  fourteen 
3'ears  of  age  he  entered  the  academy  at  Lib- 
erty Hill,  and  was  there  at  school  when  the 
war  came  on.  In  August,  1861,  he  enlisted  as  a 
private  soldier,  and  served  up  to  and  partially 
through  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro.  Here  he  was 
so  seriously  disabled  as  to  necessitate  his  dis- 
charge, and  he  remained  at  Murfreesboro  to  the 
close  of  the  war.  From  his  earliesi  youth,  Mr. 
Thompson  was  religiously  disposed,  and  he  be- 
gan preaching  when  seventeen  years  of  age, 
joining  the  Tennessee  Conference,  October  10, 
1860.  His  studies  were  always  pursued  with  a 
view  to  the  ministry.  In  1870  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  North  Alabama  Conference.  He  was 
ordained  elder  in  October,  ]86.i,  since  when  he 
has  given  his  time  and  study  to  his  profession. 
He  has  been  fifteen  years  secretary  of  the  North 
Alabama  Conference;  was  at  one  time  the  corres- 
ponding editor  of  the  Alabama  Advocafe;  has  been 
editor  of  the  Times  and  News  of  Gadsden;  served 


as  presiding  elder  of  the  Huntsville  District,  and 
has  been  for  several  years  gathering  data  prepara- 
tory to  a  publication  of  the  history  of  Methodism 
in  North  Alabama,  particularly  of  the  North  Ala- 
bama Conference. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  son  of  T.  W.  and 
Mary  D.  (Wilder)  Thompson,  natives  of  Georgia 
and  Virginia,  respectively.  The  senior  Mr.  Thomp- 
son was  born  in  1813,  and  his  parents  settled  in 
Lauderdale  County  about  18'20.  He  was  educated 
in  that  county,  became  an  extensive  planter,  and  a 
popular  public  man.  He  held  the  office  of  county 
commissioner  and  magistrate  for  over  thirty  years. 
At  this  writing  (1888)  he  resides  in  Colbert 
County.  His  wife  died  in  March.  18?.').  They 
reared  a  family  of  eight  sons  and  five  daugliters: 
three  of  the  sons  were  in  the  army  under  General 
Forrest,  and  Wni.  J.,  the  eldest,  was  killed  in 
Georgia  in  1864;  Emmet  B.,  the  second  son,  is 
now  a  ilethodisc  Episcopal  minister  in  Texas. 
The  Thompsons  came  from  North  Carolina  into 
Georgia  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  and 
Henry  Thompson,  the  grandfather  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  was  an  officer  in  the  War  of  1812. 
The  Thompsons  came  originally  from  England, 
and  were  Baptists,  but  it  appears  that  all  of  the 
younger  generations  were,  and  are  identified  with 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Thomi)son  is  a  Knight  Templar  ^lason.  and 
has  also  been  connected  with  the  I.  0.  0.  F.,  K. 
of  P.,  K.  of  II.  and  I.  O.  R.  M.  He  is  happy  in 
his  domestic  relations,  enjoying  the  companion- 
ship of  his  excellent  wife,  who  is  a  daughter  of 
General  Patterson,  of  Huntsville,  Ala.,  and  his 
interesting  child,  John  Rison. 


-«" 


JAMES  A.  TALLMAN,  Probate  Judge  of  Eto- 
wah County,  was  born  at  Abbeville  Court  House,  S. 
C,  November  27,1818.  His  father  was  Thomas  W. 
Tallman,  and  his  mother,  before  marriage,  was 
Margaret  Taggart. 

The  senior  Mr.  Tallman  was  orphaned  when 
very  young,  and  was  by  his  gnardian  bound  to  a 
tailor  in  New  York  City.  At  an  early  age  he  ran 
away  from  his  employer  and  shipped  on  a  steamer 
for  Ciiarleston,  S.  C,  at  which  place  he  afterward 
made  his  home.  He  lived  to  be  eighty  four  years 
of  age.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Moses  Taggart, 
a   native   of   Ireland,  who   came   to    the   United 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


359 


States  about  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  AVar, 
and  settled  in  South  Carolina,  in  the  ChIIiouu 
Settlement.  He  was  a  school  teacher  by  profes- 
sion. He  served  as  Ordinary,  or  Probate  Judge, 
of  his  county  a  number  of  years,  lie  died  in 
1S40,  ui)ward  of  eighty  years  of  age. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  spent  tiie  first  twelve 
years  of  his  life  in  the  village  of  his  nativity,  going 
thence  to  the  country  upon  a  farm,  and  later,  re- 
turning to  Abbeville,  turned  his  liand  for  a  while 
to  the  printing  business.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
years,  he  accepted  a  clerkship  in  a  country  store, 
and  in  liS;58,  came  to  Alal)ama,  located  in  Greene 
County,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  salesman  and 
book-keeper  in  a  mercantile  establisiiment  until 
18."):i.  In  that  year  he  engaged  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account  at  (Jreensboro,  and  was 
there  until  IMfil.  Daring  the  war  he  was  post- 
nuister  at  (ireensboro,  Ala.,  to  which  he  was 
appointed  by  President  Davis.  From  1SG6  to 
lS(;,s,  lie  was  interested  in  the  hotel  business  at 
(ireensboro  and  Selma.  and  in  the  lattei- year  came 
to  (Jadsden  as  book-keeper  for  AV.  P.  Hollings- 
worth.  In  IMTT  he  was  elected  tax  assessor,  held 
that  office  ten  successive  years,  and  in  November, 
1S,S7,  resigned  to  accept  the  probate  judgeship. 

.ludge  Tallmaii  is  one  of  the  active,  wide-awake, 
progressive  citizens  of  the  modern  city  of  Oails- 
den.  lie  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  October,  lS4->, 
in  Greene  County,  he  was  married  to  .Julia  A. 
Dorroii,  daughter  of  James  and  Malinda  (Wright) 
Dorroh.  She  died  in  isoij,  leaving  three  chil- 
dren, to-wit:  Klizabetli,  Timothy  T.  and  Harriet 
W.  (Mrs.  Samuel  W.  Smith,  of  Monticello,  (ia). 
In  1S.")S,  the  Judge  was  married  to  Miss  Annie  11. 
Webb,  daughter  of  Dr.  Henry  Webb,  and  they  have 
had  born  to  them  two  children:  Julia  D.,  wife  of 
.lames  F.  WoiniiitT.  and    .Maigaiet.  now  deceased. 

JAMES  L.  TANNER,  prominent  young  Attor- 
ney-al-law,  Gadsden,  Ala.,  a  native  of  Macon 
County,  this  State,  son  of  Lemuel  H.  and  (tphelia 
(Masters)  Tanner,  was  born  Sejitember  IS,  iy.")8. 
The  senior  .Mr.  Tanner,  a  Georgian  by  birth,  was 
an  extensive  i)lanler:  came  to  .Mabama  in  1S44, 
settled  in  Macon,  now  Hullock,  County,  and  from 
there  entered  the  Confederate  Army,  wherein  he 
served  gallantly  as  a  member  of  the  Third  Ala- 


bama, in  General  Lee's  army,  for  three  years  or 
more  in  the  late  war.  He  was  a  prominent  Free- 
mason, and  a  consistent  member  of  the  -Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  died  at  Union 
Springs  July  13,  188.5.  His  widow  yet  survives 
him,  and  resides  at  Tallassee,  this  State.  The 
Tanners  are  of  F"rench  and  English  extraction, 
and  the  Masters  are  descendants  from  the  English 
and  Irish. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  at  Union 
Springs  and  educated  at  tiie  State  University  of 
.Vlabama,  graduating  from  the  law  department, 
class  of  1880.  For  a  short  time  before  entering 
college  he  was  on  the  road  as  a  traveling  man, 
selling  dry  goods,  and,  after  graduating,  was  con- 
nected for  a  while  with  the  Eufaula  Times  ami 
Neios.  In  February,  1881,  he  opened  a  law  office 
at  Union  Springs,  and  from  there,  in  June,  ls,s:j, 
came  to  (iadsden.  WtiYa  he  formed  a  partnership, 
in  .May.  1887,  with  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Denson.  At 
this  writing  (1888)  Denson  &  Tanner  are  recog- 
nized as  the  leading  law  firm  at  the  Gadsden  bar. 
He  is  a  member  of  (iovernor  Seay's  staff. 

Mr.  Tanner  was  married,  December,  188i!,  to 
Miss  Sallie  Ward,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Ward, 
widow  of  0.  W.  Ward,  deceased,  of  this  city. 

JAMES  AIKEN,  prominent  Attoriiey-at-law, 
(iadsden.  Ala.,  native  of  Fairfield  District.  S.  C, 
son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Stitt)  Aiken,  was 
born  August  8,  18;5(i.  The  senior  .Mr.  .\iken  was 
born  in  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  toward  the 
latter  part  of  the  last  century,  and  with  his 
parents  migrated  to  .Vmerica  in  18"20.  The 
family  settled  in  Fairfield  District,  and  there  the 
two  old  people  *]ient  the  rest  of  their  lives.  They, 
William  and  Elizabeth,  reared  four  children,  two 
of  whom.  Robert  S.  anil  William  M.,  died  from 
wounds  received  in  battle  during  the  late  war. 
The  Stitt  family  came  also  from  Ireland,  away 
back  in  the  present  century,  and  settled  in  South 
Carolina,  where  they  became  highly  respectable 
and  substantial  farmers. 

'i'he  subject  of  this  sket  h  was  reared  on  a  farm 
until  he  was  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  received 
during  that  iieriod.  at  the  common  scliools,  a  good 
English  education.  In  1847  he  was  appointed 
cadet  to  the  South  Carolina  Military  Academy  at 
Charleston,   graduated    from    that   institution    in 


360 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


1851,  and  taught  school  for  several  years,  probably 
until  1856.  In  1854  he  came  to  Alabama,  settled 
in  Randolph  County,  taught  school  two  years, 
read  law  in  the  meantime,  and  was  admittetl  to 
the  bar  in  November.  1  56.  From  the  time  of  his 
admission  to  the  bar  he  has  been  continuously  to 
the  present  identified  with  the  profession.  In 
July,  1861,  he  raised  a  company  of  volunteers  for 
the  Southern  Army,  and  upon  its  organization, 
was  made  captain.  It  was  known  as  Company  D, 
Thirteenth  Alabama,  and  Captain  Aiken  led  it 
gallantly  in  many  a  hotly-contested  battle.  He 
was  seriously  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines, 
and  did  not  I'ejoin  his  command  nntil  the  fall 
thereafter.  lie  was  also  wounded  at  Chancellors- 
ville,  and  again  at  Bristow's  Station.  After  the 
battle  of  Seven  Pines  he  was  promoted  to  major,  \ 
after  Chanctillorsville  to  lieutenant-colonel,  and 
within  a  very  short  time  was  promoted  to  colonel.  | 
With  this  rank,  he  remained  in  the  service  until  I 
Lee's  surrender,  at  which  time  he  returned  home 
and  resumed  the  practice  of  law.  He  located  in 
Gadsden  in  1869,  and  here  he  has  since  made  his  ] 
home.  In  1875  Colonel  Aiken  was  elected  delegate 
to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and  in  February, 
1885,  was  appointed  Circuit  Judge  by  (Governor 
O'Neal. 

During  the  war,  from  captain  to  major,  lieuten- 
ant-colonel and  colonel,  in  regular  order  and 
rapid  succession,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  rose 
upon  his  merits,  and  without  any  solicitation  upon 
his  own  part;  so  in  civil  life,  by  merit,  by  real 
worth,  he  has  risen  in  his  jn-ofession  until  he  is 
recognized  as  one  of  its  leaders.  His  appoint- 
ment to  the  judgeshi]!  was  without  solicitation 
upon  his  part,  and  was  in  keeping  with  the 
wisdom  exercised  by  Governor  O'Neal  in  all  of 
his  appointments.  While  in  the  army,  and  at  the 
front,  the  people  of  his  county  elected  him  to  the 
Legislature,  and  he  left  the  service  long  enough 
to  serve  one  session. 

Judge  Aiken  was  married  January  26,  1877,  to 
Mrs.  L.  N  McClelland,  daughter  of  Linsey  and 
Lucinda  (Pace)  Weaver,  of  Calhoun  County,  and 
has  had  born  to  him  four  children:  Lucy  A., 
James,  Robert  S.  and  Annie. 


ROBERT  A.  D.  DUNLAP,  Attorney-at-law  and 
Register  in  Chancery,  Gadsden,  son  of  Sam- 
uel C.  and  Angeline  C.  (Tatum)  Dunlap,  was  born 


in  Henry  County,  Tenn.,  October  18,  1843.  The 
senior  Mr.  Dunlap  was  born  in  Lancaster  District, 
S.  C,  1808,  in  and  his  wife,  six  years  before,  was 
born  in  North  Carolina.  They  were  married  in 
North  Carolina,  and  from  there  migrated  to  Ken- 
tucky about  the  year  1834.  From  Kentucky  they 
moved  to  Tennessee,  and  settled  at  Caledonia, 
where  the  old  gentleman  died  in  1856. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  Cale- 
donia, there  received  his  education,  and,  in  1862, 
entered  the  Confederate  Army.  Though  not  an 
enlisted  soldier,  he  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Shiloh.  At  Corinth  he  was  taken  sick  and  returned 
home.  In  September,  1863,  he  enlisted  in  the 
Seventh  Tennessee  Cavalry  (Forrest's  command), 
and  his  company  took  part  in  many  cavalry  en- 
gagements in  Mississippi  and  Tennessee.  He 
was  wounded  at  Guntown,  Miss.,  and  finally  sur- 
rendered at  Gainesville,  Ala.  For  a  short  time 
after  the  war,  he  taught  school,  and  in  November, 
1866,  he  located  in  DeKalb  County,  Ala.,  began 
the  study  of  law,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1867, 
and  has  practiced  law  ever  since.  He  moved  to 
Chattanooga  in  the  fall  of  1874,  and  from  there,  a 
year  later,  came  to  Gadsden.  Here,  in  partnership 
with  Colonels  Denson  and  Disque,  he  practiced  law 
two  years;  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Dortch  he  prac- 
ticed some  years;  and  since  January,  1885,  he  has 
been  unassociated.  November,  1886,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Register  in  Chancery,  which,  aside  from 
that  of  alderman  in  the  City  of  Gadsden,  appears 
to  constitute  the  sum  of  his  office  holding. 

Mr.  Dunlap  was  married  in  July,  1868,  to  Susan 
G.  Jacoway,  daughter  of  John  G.  and  Nancy  Mid- 
dleton  Jacoway,  of  DeKalb  County,  and  to  them 
have  been  born  nine  children,  viz.:  John  1).,  Sam- 
uel D.,  Horace  E.,  Jessie  M.  (since  deceased), 
Maggie  PI,  Robert  H.,  William  W.,  Susan,  and 
Frank  C.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church,  and  Mr.  Dunlap  is  a 
member  of  the  Order  of  Knights  of  Pythias. 


.H^— 


JOHN  HAROLD  DISQUE,  Attorney-at-law, 
tiadsden,  was  lioni  in  New  Orleans  March  23, 
1848,  and  is  a  son  of  Charles  H.  Disque,  a  native 
of  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  Charles  H.  Disque 
accompanied  his  parents  to  America.  They  set- 
tled at  New  Orleans,  and  there  Charles  H.  was 
educated.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Paris,. 
France. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


361 


John  II.  Disqiie  was  educated  in  New  Orleans. 
After  coming  to  Gadsden  be  studied  law,  and  in 
IS^"-'  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Immediately  after 
coming  to  tbe  bar  he  was  elected  Prosecuting  At- 
torney, and  held  the  office  four  years.  In  the 
meantime  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  Gadsden,  and 
held  the  office  three  years.  In  1880,  he  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Democratic  National  Convention,  and 
in  1887,  witiiout  solicitation  upon  his  part,  the 
people  of  Gadsdpu  again  called  him  to  the  mayor- 
alty. 

Mr.  Disque  is  an  able  and  populai-  attorney,  in 
fact,  as  a  criminal  lawyer  he  is  ranked  among  the 
foremost  of  the  State.  lie  was  married  ilarch  30, 
18f'>9,  to  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Judge  L. 
,1.  Standifer.  of  this  city. 

— «-!^^-*- — 

JOHN  SANFORD  PADEN  was  born  in  Cobb 
County,  Ga.,  February  14,  1S4J,  and  is  a  sou  of 
John  T.  and  Margaret  (Foster)  Paden,  natives  of 
South  Carolina. 

John  T.  Paden  was  a  farmer,  and  alucal  minis- 
ter of  the  Methodist  Episcojjal  Church.  When  a 
young  man,  he  moved  to  Forsyth  County,  Ga.,  and 
later  to  Cobb,  where  he  lived  until  his  death.  He 
reared  five  sons  and  four  daughters  by  his  first 
marriage,  to-wit  :  Robert  S.  died  in  (ieorgia: 
James  Washington  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Hull 
Klin:  John  Sanford  (our  subject);  Elijah  P.,  is 
now  a  Methodist  Episcopal  minister.  He  served 
through  the  war  in  the  Fifty-sixth  Georgia  Regi- 
ment; Samuel  Renau  died  in  Texas:  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  J.  A.  Gunter,  of  Georgia;  Susan  ('.,  wife 
of  Nathaniel  Sherman,  a  manufacturer  of  (ieor- 
gia, and  Emma,  wife  of  John  Fowler,  of  Georgia. 
The  mother  of  our  subject  died  about  185^,  and 
later  on,  Mr.  Paden  was  married  to  Mrs.  Sampler, 
who  bore  him  one  child,  Aaron.  The  senior  Mr. 
Paden  died  in  1881. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  Ros- 
well.  Cobb  County,  Ga.,  where  he  received  a 
limited  education.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he 
entered  the  Confederate  service  with  Company  H, 
Seventh  Georgia  Infantry,  and  was  in  the  first 
battle  of  Bull  Run.  He  participated  in  all  the 
battles  in  and  around  Richmond;  was  with  General 
Longstreet  at  Chickamauga,  and  surrendered  with 
(ieneral  Lee"s  army  at  Appomattox.  Shortly  after 
coming  home  he  went  to  Indiana  and  Kentucky, 


in  which  States  he  spent  about  two  years.  Return- 
ing to  Georgia  »gain,  he  entered  into  mercantile 
business  with  T.  1).  Evans,  of  Cherokee  County, 
that  State,  and  in  the  fall  of  1809,  located  at 
tJadsden.  Here  he  entered  mercantile  business 
on  a  small  scale,  building  up  gradually  as  his 
business  increased,  and  at  the  present  time  has 
the  largest  country  trade  of  any  merchant  in 
Northern  Alabama.  In  1878  he  began  the  busi- 
ness known  as  "advancing  and  crediting."  taking 
cotton  in  return.  This  latter  business  proved  very 
lucrative  to  him,  and  he  now  handles  on  an  ave- 
rage of  four  thousand  bales  of  cotton  a  year. 

ilr.  Paden  is  largely  interested  in  the  two  Min- 
eral Land  Companies  of  Gadsden  ;  is  vice-pres- 
ident of  the  Gadsden  Land  and  Improvement  Com- 
pany: is  a  director  and  stockholder  in  the  Gadsden 
Metallic  Paint  Company,  an<l  is  largely  interested 
in  the  Gadsden  xVir  Furnace  Company.  He  is  also 
interested  in  the  Electric  Light  Company,  the  Prin- 
tup  Hotel,  and  the  First  National  Bank  of  Gads- 
den, and  is  connected  with  every  industry  and  enter- 
prise that  tends  to  develop  this  city.  Aside  from  all 
the  business  enterprises  above  mentioned  he  owns 
several  large  farms,  and  considerable  property  in 
the  city. 

He  was  nianicd  I-'eliruary  •">.  IS, 4,  to  .Miss  .\nnie 
Ilollingsworth,  daughter  of  William  P,  and  .Mary 
J.  (Lewis)  Ilollingsworth,  and  has  had  born  to 
him  five  children,  viz.:  William  C,  John  S., 
Joseph  P.,  Anna  J.  and  Alice  M.  Thefamilyare 
members  of  the  Methodist  Ejiiscopal  Church. 

JOHN  WESLEY  DuBOSE.  A.M.,  was  born  in 
.Marengo  County,  Ala.,  October  31,  1849,  and  is 
a  son  of  Joel  C.  and  Esther  G.  (Cleland)  DuBose, 
natives  of  Darlington  District,  South  Carolina. 

The  senior  Mr.  DuBose  was  a  merchant  in  early 
life  at  Charleston,  S.  C.  He  came  to  Alabama  in 
1838,  settled  in  JIarengo  County,  and  as  he  owned 
a  large  number  of  slaves,  turned  his  attention  to 
farming.  He  served  his  county  in  various  offices, 
and  was  a  very  popular  Whig  in  politics.  He  was 
the  only  member  of  that  ])arty  ever  elected  to 
office  in  that  county.  He  and  his  wife  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  They 
reared  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  to-wit: 
Joseph  L.,  served  in  Stewart's  Cavalry  during  the 
war  and  died   in  the  West;  Mavbank  D.,  teacher 


362 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


in  Alabama,  served  in  General  Khodes'  Brigade  in 
Virginia,  and  was  wounded  at  Spotsylvania  and 
Snicker's  Gap;  Abner  G.,  a  farmer  and  merchant 
near  Corsicana,  Texas;  and  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  Mr.  DuBose  died  in  1858,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-six  years,  and  his  wife  in  1S64.  Mrs.  DuBoso 
was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  his 
native  county,  attended  schools  near  Linden,  and 
when  a  youth  was  sent  to  Goodman  Institute, 
where  he  remained  several  years.  The  Southern 
University  of  Greensboro,  Ala.,  in  1874:,  conferred 
ujion  him  the  blaster  of  Arts  degree.  Since  1880 
to  the  present  time  he  has  been  continuously  in 
charge  of  the  Gadsden  Public  Institute. 

Professor  DuBose  before  coming  to  Gadsden  was 
Superintendent  of  Sumter  County,  and  since 
coming  here,  he  has  been  Superintendent  of 
Etowah  County.  He  was  married  in  October, 
1877,  to  Miss  Lizzie  Lake  Cobbs,  the  accomplished 
daugliter  of  .Judge  James  Cobbs,  of  Mobile,  Ala., 
and  has  had  born  to  him  four  children:  Edgar  L. 
(deceased),  Maggie  C,  John  W. ,  Jr.,  and  James 
Guei'in. 

Professor  DuBose  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Professor  is 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  is  the  author  of 
the  history  of  Gadsden  and  Etowah  County,  as 
published  in  this  volume,  and  it  will  be  found  to 
be  one  of  the  most  accurate,  as  well  as  one  of  the 
most  readable  chapters  in  the  book. 


ROBERT   NORMAN  KITTRELL.    M.    D.,  son 

of  Dr.  \Villiam  Jones  and  Elizabeth  Martha 
(Came)  Kittrell,  natives,  resi5ectively,of  the  States 
of  North  and  South  Carolina,  was  born  in  Cam- 
den, Wilcox  County,  Ala. 

The  senior  Dr.  Kittrell  was  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Noi'th  Carolina,  and  from  the  Ala- 
bama Medical  College,  Mobile.  He  died  at  Cam- 
den in  1803,  leaving  eight  children.  His  eldest 
son,  Benjamin  F.,  now  a  physician  at  Black 
Hawk,  Miss.,  served  as  a  surgeon  in  a  ^Mississipjii 
regiment  during  the  late  war  ;  one  of  his  daugh- 
ters, Sarah  B.,  is  now  the  wife  of  Dr.  Anson  AVest; 
William  P.  died  at  Talladega:  Mary  N.  (Mrs.  E. 
E.  Craig,  of  Dallas,  Texas)  ;  Bryant  J.,  merchant 
in  Gadsden  and  a  leading  citizen,  died  in  1881  ; 
Laura  W.,  wife  of  Dr.  W.  G.  Stone,  of  West  Sta- 


tion, Miss.,  and  Alice  H.,  married  Dr.  M.  C. 
Marshall,  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.  Mrs.  Marshall  is 
not   living. 

The  Kittrell  family  came  from  England,  and 
the  Cames  originally  from  Ireland.  The  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  reared  at  Camden,  Ala.,  there 
acquired  the  elements  of  an  education,  and  in 
1883  graduated  from  the  L^niversity  of  Missis- 
sippi. From  1873  to  1878  he  had  clerked  in  a 
mercantile  establishment  at  Black  Hawk,  that 
State,  and,  after  graduating,  taught  one  year  in 
the  Female  Synodical  Institute  at  Talladega. 
From  Talladega  he  returned  to  ^lississippi  and 
taught  a  term  at  Meridian.  In  the  summer  of 
1884,  at  Black  Hawk,  he  took  up  the  study  of 
medicine,  and  in  1886  graduated  from  Vander- 
bilt  LTniversity  as  an  M.  D.,  taking  the  first  hon- 
ors of  his   class. 

After  graduating  he  remained  one  year  on  duty 
at  the  city  hospital  in  Nashville,  and  in  March, 
1887,  returned  to  Black  Hawk,  and  married  Miss 
Cora  Meek,  the  accomijlished  daughter  of  Dr.  E. 
D.  Meek,  of  that  place.  Immediately  after  mar- 
riage he  came  to  Gadsden  and  settled  down.  He 
is  at  this  writing  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  first-class 
and  lucrative  practice. 


WHITLEY  THOMAS  EWING,  M.D.,  was  born 
in  Washington  County,  Va.,  December  '.^8,  1823, 
and  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  Mary  (Davis)  Ewing, 
of  that  State. 

The  senior  Mr.  Ewing  was  a  teacher  by  profes- 
sion; reared  a  family  of  seven  children,  and  died 
in  1825  at  the  age  of  about  forty-five  years. 

Dr.  Ewing  was  reared  in  the  country;  went 
West  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  stopping  first  at 
Rogersville,  Tenn.;  from  there  traveled  through 
Alabama  to  Memphis,  and  down  the  river  to 
Arkansas.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  brother 
when  he  left  home;  they,  it  appears,  having  ran 
away  from  a  disagreeable  step-father.  From  Ar- 
kansas he  drifted  into  Louisiana,  where  he 
worked  a  while  as  a  common  laborer  for  seven 
dollars  a  month.  From  home  his  brother  William 
Ewing  went  almost  directly  to  Illinois,  and  at 
Quincy,  that  State,  Whitley  Thomas  joined  him. 

He  worked  four  years  in  Quincy  at  the  Manual 
Labor  School,  and  from  there  entered  the  Mari- 
etta,   Ohio,    College,   from   which    institution    he 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


363 


received  his  education.  To  pay  his  expenses, 
while  at  college,  he  kept  books  and  taught 
schodl  in  tlie  neigliliorhood  of  JIurietta.  Leaving 
college  he  returned  to  Quincy,  and,  with  Dr. 
Stalil,  began  the  study  of  medicine,  lie  received 
his  first  course  of  lectures  at  Jacksonville,  111., 
and  graduated  from  the  St.  Louis  Medical  Col- 
lege in  184S.  \\\  \i\\\\  he  began  jiractice  in  the 
city  last  named,  remained  there  one  year,  and  in 
1IS.")U.  accompanied  again  by  his  brother,  went, 
over-land,  to  California.  There  he  entered  into  a 
good  practice,  made  money,  ran  a  ho.spital  for  a 
time  between  Ilangtown  (now  I'lacerville)  and 
Cold  Springs. 

Doctor  Ewing  returned  to  St.  Louis  in  18.")o, 
and  there,  on  the  'l\W\  day  of  August,  that  year, 
marrieii  Hannah  L  I'ettcngill,  a  native  of  Massa- 
cliusetts  From  St.  Louis,  at  the  end  of  eight 
months,  lie  went  to  Cass  County,  Georgia,  and 
practiced  medicine  eight  years,  lie  was  a  strong 
Union  man,  which  accounted  for  his  leaving  the 
latter  State  in  ISii-^,  at  which  time  he  came  to 
Gadsden.  Here  he  has  since  given  much  of  his 
attention  to  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Reconstruction  Conventions  of  1867 
and  18(18,  and  lias  been  more  or  less  in  politics  ever 
since.  He  has  been  several  times  a  candidate  for 
office,  and  he  is  the  most  popular  Republican  in 
this  part  of  the  State. 

Doctor  Pawing  was  ainiDintcd  postmaster  in 
ISiiti,  and  held  the  office  until  18S.">.  He  was 
the  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Republican  party  for  the  Seventh  Congressional 
District  during  almost  that  entire  period.  >.'ot- 
withstanding  his  radicalism,  he  was  a  jiopnlar 
official,  and,  by  his  courtesy  and  gentlemanly 
treatment  of  everybody,  gained  and  held  tlie 
respect  of  the  people.  His  chief  deputy,  during 
his  entire  incumbency  as  postmaster,  was  an  old 
line  Wliig,  now  acting  with  tiic  Democrats.  His 
wife  died  in  June.  188<i,  leaving  five  children: 
Artluir  H.,  gradiuite  of  Dartmouth  College,  finish- 
ing his  education  in  Germany,  now  of  the  firm  of 
Green,  I'o.-t  &  Ewing,  oculists  ami  aurist.*, 
St.  Louis:  -Munetta  J.,  wife  of  Wm.  !'.  Shahan, 
merchant  of  Alalia,  Ala.;  Charles  W..  in  com- 
pany with  J.  S.  Paden,  merchant  of  (iadsden; 
Stella  ^L  :  aiul  Thomas  (i.,  broker,  Gadsden. 

Tlie  family  is  identified  with  the  Baptist  Ciiuroh, 
but  the  Doctor,  himself.is  an  Old  School  Fresbyter- 
rian  Church  member,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Masonir  fraternitv. 


MILTON  R.  WRIGHT.  M.  D.,  Physician  and 
Surgeon,  (iadsden,  son  of  Rufus  W.  and  Annie 
(Gilchrist)  Wright,  was  born  in  Chester  County, 
S.  C,  November  8,  1834.  The  senior  Mr. 
Wright  came  to  Alabama  in  18:j5,  located  in 
Calhoun  County  in  18.'37,  and  lived  on  his  planta- 
tion five  miles  below  (iadsden,  on  the  Coosa  River, 
the  rest  of  his  days.  He  died  in  1874,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-five  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  his 
father's  plantation,  acquired  a  good  English  edu- 
cation at  tiie  common  schools,  and  gave  a  few 
years  of  his  time  to  teaching.  In  1859,  he  took 
his  first  course  of  lectures  in  the  study  of  medicine 
at  Atlanta,  and  in  October,  186'-i,  joined  the  First 
Alabama  Cavalry  as  assistant-surgeon.  A  few 
months  later,  he  was  transferred  to  the  Thirty- 
first  Alabama  Infantry,  and  remained  with  the 
army  until  the  fall  of  18G4,  when  on  account  of 
ill  health  he  was  compelled  to  resign.  Returning 
to  Etowah  County,  he  resumed  the  j)ractice  of 
medicine  a  short  time,  accumulating  thereat 
means  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  prosecute  his 
collegiate  studies.  In  the  spring  of  1870,  he  grad- 
uated from  the  Alabama  Medical  College,  at  Mo- 
bile, and  since  that  time  has  been  regularly  and 
successfully  in  the  practice.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  State  and  County  Medical  Associations,  and  is 
one  of  the  counselors  in  the  former. 

Dr.  Wright  was  married  in  May,  18(;(i,  to  Mary 
E.  Bevens,  daughter  of  Dr.  Bevens  and  has  had 
born  to  him  five  children,  to-wit:  Fannie  B. 
(deceased),  JIary  J.  (Mrs.  Dr.  J.  D.  Liddell), 
James  M.  (deceased),  Rufus  B.  and  Jlilton  R. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  the  Doctor  is  a  Mason. 


JOSEPH  BEVENS.  M.D.,  Physician  and  Sur- 
geon, came  to  Gadsden  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  January,  18.52,  and  from  here,  in  Jan- 
uary, 18C3,  entered  the  Confederate  service  as 
surgeon  of  the  Thirty-first  Alabama  Regiment. 
This  regiment  was  with  General  Pembertoii  at 
Vicksburg,  and  at  the  surrender  of  that  place,  the 
Doctor  was  paroled.  In  September  following,  he  re- 
joined his  command,  and  was  with  it  until  March, 
186.">,  when  he  resigned  and  returned  to  Gadsden. 
Here  he  has  since  been  actively  engaged  in  tlie 
practice  of  medicine,  and  is  at  this  writing  (1888) 


3G4 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


in  the  enjoyment  of  a  handsome  competency,  the 
result  of  his  success  as  a  doctor  of  medicine.  He 
joined  the  State  iledical  Association  in  1878;  is 
now  the  president  of  the  County  Association,  and 
is  recognized  by  the  profession  generally  as  a 
physician  of  fine  attainments.  In  addition  to  his 
practice  he  carries  on  an  extensive  drug  store. 

Doctor  Bevens  was  married  in  July,  184'-i,  to  Miss 
Temperance  Gandy,  daughter  of  Edward  Gandy,  of 
Gaudy's  Cove,  Morgan  County,  Ala.,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  six  children,  to-wit:  Mary  E.  (Mrs. 
Wright),  John  "\V.,  James  M.  (iihysician),  Jannie 
(Mrs  Hughes),  Edward  G.,  M.  D.,  of  Gadsden: 
Idella  (]\Irs.  Young).  The  mother  of  these  chil- 
dren died  in  1870,  and  in  1873  the  Doctor  mar- 
ried Mrs.  Nancy  Pett}',  nee  Sibly.  He  and  his 
wife  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  the  Doctor  has  been  a  Mason  since  1853.  He 
is  at  this  writing  a  member  of  tlie  Board  of 
Health  and  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Censors  of 
the  county. 

MARCUS    LAFAYETTE    HICKS,  son  of  Tal- 

bertlL,  ami  Comfort  (Britton)  Ilicks,  natives,  re- 
spectively, of  Tennessee  and  North  Carolina,  was 
born  in  Monroe  County,  Tenn.,  December  25, 
184G.  He  was  educated  at  the  village  schools; 
began  clerking  in  a  store  at  Merry  Valley,  East 
Tennessee,  when  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  in 
February,  1862,  entered  the  army  as  a  member  of 
Monsaret's  Light  Artillery,  which  in  1803  consoli- 
dated with  the  Second  Alabama  Battery,  and  1864 
with  Barrett's  Tenth  Missouri  Battery.  From 
first  to  last  he  was  in  the  battles  of  Farmington, 
Corinth,  luka,  Vicksburg,  Missionary  Ridge, 
Resaca,  New  Hope  Church,  around  Atlanta,  and, 
finally,  at  Columbus,  Ga.,  surrendered  to  General 
Wilson.  He  returned  to  Tennessee  and  worked 
a  while  in  a  tanyard;  came  South  with  horses  and 
mules,  and  in  the  sjiring  of  1800,  at  Morrisville, 
Ala.,  apprenticed  himself  to  a  millwright.  He 
remained  at  that  trade  about  three  years,  located 
at  Oxford  as  a  clerk  two  years,  and  at  the  town  of 
Bowden,  Ga.,  in  May,  1870,  married  Miss  Lizzie 
Morris.  In  the  following  year,  at  Oxford,  he 
began  work  in  a  sash,  door  and  blind  factory,  and 
from  there,  in  1870,  came  to  Gadsden.  At  this 
place,  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Vowell,  Bac- 
chus &  Ilicks,  he  manufactured  sash,  doors  and 
blinds  a  short  time,   when  he  was  made  superin- 


tendent of  the  planing  department  of  the  Red 
Jacket  Mills.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Kittrell,  in 
partnership  witli  ]\Ir.  Standifer,  Mr.  Hicks  pur- 
chased the  Red  Jacket  Mills,  which  in  six  months 
thereafter  (1882)  burned  down.  In  1883  the 
large  works  of  Kinnebrew  &  Hicks  were  started. 
In  April,  1884,  Kinnebrew  withdrew  from  the  firm, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Gwinn,  and  in  ^larch, 
1887,  Mr.  Lane  came  into  the  firm,  which  is  now 
Gwinn,  Hicks  &  Lane.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
enterprising  concerns  and  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful at  Gadsden. 

Mr.  Hicks  is  a  member  of  the  ilasonic.  Odd 
Fellows,  and  K.  of  P.  fraternities. 

The  senior  Mr.  Ilicks,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  j^ar- 
ticipated  in  the  Indian  War  of  1836,  and  died  soon 
after  the  late  war  between  the  States,  at  the  age 
of  s'eventy  years.  He  was  the  son  of  Charles 
Hicks,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  East  Tennessee.  His 
wife  died  about  1852.  They  reared  seven  children, 
viz.:  George  (deceased),  Jane  (Mrs.  John  Ed- 
wards), Asberry  H.,  Amanda  (Mrs.  John  C.  Ma- 
son). Sarah  (Mrs.  James  Belt),  Nancy  Ann  (Mrs. 
Elisha  Webb),  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Asberry  H.,  a  farmer  of  Monroe  County,  Tenn., 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  War,  and  .served  in 
the  last  war  as  a  member  of  an  artillery  com- 
pany. 


DANIEL  LIDDELL,  Postmaster,  Gadsden,  is 
a  native  of  Gwinett  County,  Ga.,  where  he  was 
born  May  30,  1850.  He  was  reared  on  his  father's 
farm,  and  at  the  neighborhood  schools  received  a 
good  English  education.  Soon  after  arriving  at 
twenty-one  years  of  age  he  nligrated  to  Texas,  and 
was  there  for  two  years  in  the  mercantile  business. 
Coming  thence  into  Alabama  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  farming,  and  on  November  10,  18T4,  at 
Gadsden,  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  V.  Nuckolls. 
In  1876  he  again  entered  mercantile  business,  and 
followed  it  up  to  the  time  he  was  aj^jjointed  to  his 
present  position,  April,  1885.  He  took  charge  of 
the  office  on  ^lay  1st,  and  was  confirmed  by  the 
Senate  in  January,  1886. 

Mr.  Liddell  is  an  active  Democratic  worker, 
and  was  the  Chairman  of  the  County  Democratic 
Executive  Committee  from  1884  until  after  he 
was  appointed  postmaster.  He  has  living  three 
children,  and  has  buried  two. 

ilr.  and  .Mrs.  Liddell  are  members  of  the   Baj^- 


■  f 


iJ 


NORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


305 


list  Chiircli,  and  i[r.  Liddell  is  a  member  of  the 
I.  0.  0.  F. ,  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Masonic 
fraternities. 

Tiie  Liddc'll  family  were  among  the  very  earliest 
settlers  of  (ieorgia,  and  several  of  them,  among 
whom  was  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  were  soldiers  in  the  Kcvolutionary 
AVar.  Mr.  Liddell's  parents  were  William  C.  P. 
and  Evaline  K.  (Wynne)  Liddell,  natives,  respect- 
ively, of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  They  came 
into  Alabama  in  18.!)(J,  and  settled  near  llokes 
Bluff,  in  Etowah  County.  The  senior  ^[r.  Liddell 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Southern  Army  in  the  late 
war,  and  held  the  rank  of  third  lieutenant.  He 
was  discharged  from  the  service  on  account  of  ill- 
health,  lie  entered  the  army  from  Gadsden, 
where  he  had  been  living  since  18.5'.t. 


GEORGE  E.  TURRENTINE,  In.surance  Agent 
and  Keal  Estate  Broker,  (iadsden,  was  born  in 
this  town  April  IT,  1857,  and  is  a  son  of  Daniel 
C.  and  Caroline  E.  (Lucy)  Turrentiue,  natives, 
respectively,  of  Milledgeville,  Ga.,  and  Petersburg, 
Va. 

The  senior  Mr.  Turrentine  was  born  in  18(iT: 
received  a  good  education;  was  a  merchant  early 
in  life;  came  to  Alabama  in  184".i,  and  was  the 
first  settler  and  erected  the  first  house  ever  built 
upon  the  site  where  now  stands  the  flourishing 
city  of  Gadsden.  A  part  of  the  house  is  still 
standing,  and  is  located  on  the  corner  of  Broad 
aud  First  streets.  It  was  built  for  a  hotel  and 
stage  stand,  and  was  the  popular  rendezvous  and 
relay  station  for  the  early  travelers  between  Xew 
Orleans  and  the  capital  of  the  United  States.  In 
addition  to  his  hotel,  ^Ir.  Turrentine  carried  on  a 
small  mercantile  business.  lie  was  also  the  first 
merchant  in  (iadsden,  and  was  an  active  temper- 
ance organizer  and  influential  politician.  Mr. 
Turrentine  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  organized  the 
first  Sunday-school  ever  known  in  Etowah  County. 
He  was  also  a  prominent  Mason,  a  general  of 
militia  in  ante-beUum  days,  and  i)articipated  in 
behalf  of  the  South  during  the  war  between  the 
States.  He  died  in  September,  iss:i.  and  his  wife 
in  -Tuly,  1881.  He  reared  a  large  family  of  chil- 
dren, several  of  whom  survived  him.  One  of  his 
sons,  William  T..  was  killed   in  the  Seven    Davs' 


Fight  around  Richmond;  another  son,  James  L., 
served  through  the  war;  Samuel  M.  is  dead; 
Joshua  L.,  1).  C.  Jr.,  (ieorge  E.  and  Albert  F. 
constitute  the  surviving  male  members  of  his  fam- 
ily. Of  his  daughters,  Catherine  and  Leila  I.  are 
dead;  Josephine  is  the  wife  of  1{.  0.  Randall; 
Adelaide  V.  is  the  wife  of  A.  Harris;  Lillie  A.  is 
the  wife  of  J.  J.  Anshutz;  ilinnie  E.  is  the  wife 
of  N.  N.  Polk;  Carrie  L.  is  single. 

George  E.  Turrentine  was  reared  in  Gadsden, 
where  he  received  such  education  as  was  practi- 
cable before  attaining  the  age  of  fourteen  years. 
He  began  life  after  leaving  school  as  a  farmer,  and 
to  that  and  the  teaching  of  school  applied  himself 
for  several  years.  In  1883  he  entered  into  his 
present  business.  He  and  his  partner  represent 
twenty-three  large  companies  and  carry  about  all 
the  insurance  of  (iadsden. 

Mr.  Turrentine  was  appointed  justice  of  the 
peace  in  1883,  resigned  it  in  1884,  and  was 
appointed  notary  public.  He  is  a  Mason,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South. 

.    ..>.  ■^^^>^»>->- 

WILLIAM  MARION  MEEKS,  President  of  the 
Alabama  Press  Association,  was  born  in  Floyd 
County,  Ga.,  the  Kith  of  February,  1845.  His 
parents  moved  to  Cherokee,  Ala.,  when  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  but  four  years  of  age, 
so  he  may  be  considered  the  product  of  Alabama. 
When  a  lad  of  twelve  years  he  entered  the  office 
of  the  Coosa  River  Argus,  published  at  Centre, 
Ala.,  by  L.  !M.  Stiff.  He  served  out  the  full  term 
of  the  contract,  which  ran  three  years. 

Soon  after  this,  in  1800,  he  went  into  the  office 
of  the  National  Democrat,  which  had  but  a  brief 
existence,  being  but  a  campaign  paper,  and 
suspended  upon  the  election  of  Lincoln.  Young 
Meeks  then  returned  to  his  native  State,  and  early 
in  the  spring  of  1801,  entered  the  office  of  the 
True  Flaij,  published  in  Rome,  Ga.  He  continued 
as  foreman  of  this  paper  until  its  suspension,  in 
the  fall  of  the  same  year.  He  then  entered  the 
office  of  the  Rome  Courier,  where  he  remained 
until  the  early  part  of  1863,  when  he  entered  the 
volunteer  service  with  a  company  from  Cherokee 
County,  Ala.,  and  continued  in  the  service  until 
the  war  closed.  Although  but  seventeen  years  of 
age,  he  made  a  faithful  and  gallant  soldier.      At 


366 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  close  of  the  war,  in  1866,  he  connected  him- 
self with  the  Advertiser,  at  Centre,  Ala.,  from 
wliich  he  retired  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year. 

Xovember  10,  1866,  he  married  Mary  J.  Coth- 
ran,  of  Centre,  and  returned  to  Atlanta,  6a. 
Here  he  worked  as  a  journeyman  printer  until 
1869,  when  he  returned  to  C'entre  to  take  charge 
of  the  Advertiser. 

He  began  at  this  time  to  show  that  ability  which 
has  since  made  him  conspicuous  in  Alabama  jour- 
nalism. 

The  1st  of  July,  1871,  he  purchased  the  Gadsden 
Times  and  continued  its  editor  and  projjrietor  un- 
til last  February,  when  that  paper  and  the  Neros 
consolidated  and  have  been  published  as  the  Times 
and  News,  Meeks  &  Johnson  being  the  lirojirietors. 

Mr.  Meeks  began  life  without  means,  or  influ- 
ential friends,  and  with  but  a  limited  education, 
which  he  gathered  at  the  case. 

He  purchased  the  Gadsden  Times,  by  giving  a 
mortgage  on  the  plant,  and  making  a  small  cash 
jjayment.  The  sale  included  the  books  and  good- 
will of  the  paper.  As  an  evidence  of  his  business 
capacity,  he  collected  from  the  old  accounts 
enough  to  pay  the  concern  out  of  debt.  The  Times 
since  that  day  until  its  consolidation  was  an  influ- 
ential journal  and  a  decided  financial  success. 
Through  that  means  Mr.  Meeks  has  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  a  handsome  fortune. 

He  is  a  man  of  superior  natural  endowment,  and 
of  great  energy  and  industry.  He  seldom  indulges 
in  an  idle  hour,  generally  keeping  himself  full  of 
business.  He  is  one  of  Gadsden's  most  j^rogressive 
men,  and  has  contributed  his  time,  talent,  and 
money  to  her  success  and  development. 

Mr.  Meeks  is  a  man  of  strong  convictions  and 
has  the  courage  of  them.  When  he  settles  down 
on  a  question,  neither  fear  nor  force  can  shake  him. 
The  same  energy  and  tact  he  has  brought  to  jour- 
nalism would  have  rendered  him  successful  in  any 
department  of  business. 


--^ 


^^^ 


WM.  P.  JOHNSON,  the  joint  publisher  and 
editor  of  the  Times  and  News,  Gadsden,  Ala.,  was 
born  in  Cherokee  County,  this  State,  March  14, 
1855,  and  is  therefore  at  this  writing  less  than 
thirty  years  of  age.  Mr.  Johnson  entered  upon 
the  profession  of  the  art  preservative  at  the  age  of 
fourteen,  and  has  since  followed  it  without  inter- 


mission. His  first  work  was  on  the  Advertiser  at 
Centre,  Ala.  In  1871  he  came  with  Mr.  W.  M. 
Weeks,  to  Gadsden.  Ala.,  and  was  on  the  Times 
until  1870. 

This  year  he  concluded  to  try  his  fortune  in  the 
Lone  Star  State,  and  made  that  his  home  for  two 
years.  During  this  time  his  life  was  without  in- 
cident, only  as  usually  happens  to  the  craft.  The 
love  of  the  home  of  his  youth  was  an  attraction  so 
strong,  that  he  no  longer  resisted  it,  and  returned 
in  1878  and  resumed  his  place  on  the  Times, 
which  i-elation  he  continued  to  sustain  until  1881. 
He  was  for  some  time  the  foreman  of  that  excel- 
lent paper  and  its  local  editor,  both  of  which 
places  he  filled  to  the  eminent  satisfaction  of  all 
concerned.  In  the  year  1880  he  married  one  of 
the  accomplished  daughters  of  Maj.  AV.  P.  Hol- 
lingsworth.  He  was  fortunate  in  his  marriage, 
finding  in  his  wife  not  only  a  congenial  companion, 
but  one  who  had  a  just  appreciation  of  his  iirofes- 
sion  and  work,  to  which  he  proposes  to  devote  his 
life. 

In  January,  1881,  Mr.  .Johnson,  in  connection 
with  Mr.  Wellington  Vandiver,  established  the 
News.  Soon  Mr.  A^andiver  retired,  leaving  Mr. 
Johnson  sole  editor  and  proprietor.  He  was  now 
in  position  to  show  the  world  his  tact  and  ability 
in  the  conduct  of  a  newspaper.  Nobly  did  he  meet 
exjjectatious,  and  even  went  beyond  them.  The 
Netvs  was  an  ably  conducted,  clean  and  pure  paper. 
Jlr.  Johnson  gave  it  his  entire  time  and  attention, 
and  put  it  on  a  i:iaying  basis.  Last  February  the 
Times  and  the  News  were  consolidated,  since  which 
time  Mr.  .Johnson  has  been  joint  publisher  and 
editor. 

Mr.  Johnson  is  a  painstaking  business  man. 
Seldom  does  an  item  of  any  kind  go  into  his  paper 
which  has  not  passed  under  his  eye.  He  is  a 
genial  and  jJeasant  companion,  a  true  and  tried 
friend.  He  is  prosperous  so  far  as  the  world  is 
concerned,  and  a  bright  future  awaits  him. 

JOHN  W.  DUNCAN  was  born  at  Kingston, 
Tenn.,  August  'I'l,  184o.  His  great-grandfather 
on  his  father's  side,  came  from  Virginia,  and  was 
killed  by  the  Indians  in  1780,  in  Washington 
County.  Tenn. 

His  grandfatlier,  Robert  Duncan,  moved  from 
Washington  County,  Tenn.,  to  Roane  County,  that 


NORTHERK  ALABAMA. 


367 


State, ami  died  therein  181-4.  Ilisfatlier,  liobert  D. 
DuiicHii.Wiis  born  in  Kouiie  County, Teiin.,  Febuary 
1."),  isd.s;  iind  married  Nancy  K.  Liggett  at  Kings- 
ton, Tenn.,  January  10,  IS.'ili.  Eight  children  were 
born  unto  them,  five  of  whom  still  survive.  Robert 
D.  Duncan  was  a  merchant  at  Kingston,  Tenn., 
for  many  years  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
war:  came  South  at  its  close  and  located  near 
Fort  Payne,  Ala.,  engaging  in  agricultural  per- 
suit  until  1ST8,  when  he  removed  to  Atalla,  Ala., 
and  again  entered  and  continued  in  the  mercan- 
tile business  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
March,  1SS5.  lie  was  a  consistent  Christian  fifty- 
three  years,  being  a  member  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  His  mother,  who  was  also 
a  member  of  the  same  church,  survived  until 
October  8,  1887.  His  grandfather  on  his  moth- 
er's side  was  Henry  Liggett.  He  served  in  the 
War  of  \^\i.  He  came  from  Wythe  County, A'a.,  in 
1816,  to  Kingston,  Tenn;  married  Elizabeth 
Center,  of  that  place,  and  engaged  in  the  hotel  and 
mercantile  business.  He  amassed  a  considerable 
fortune;  was  a  prominent  Mason,  and  held  various 
offices  of  trust,  among  wiiich  that  of  County 
Judge.     Died  in  18(;i. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  entered  the  cavalry 
branch  of  the  Confederate  Army  as  private,  at  an 
early  age,  serving  in  Tennessee  and  Virginia;  with 
Creneral  Early  in  .Maryland  in  1884,  and  with 
Armstrong's  Scouts,  operating  inside  the  Federal 
lines  till  the  war  closed:  was  paroled  at  Kingston, 
(ia.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  came  to  Alabama, 
and  had  his  first  experience  as  a  plow  boy,  making 
a  crop.  Growing  weary  with  farming,  sought  and 
obtained  a  position  as  clerk  in  a  railroad  store, 
and  soon  after,  in  connection  with  a  fellow  clerk, 
bought  a  small  stock  of  merchandise  and  opened 
uj)  in  a  tent,  following  the  line  of  construction  of 
the  Alabama  Great  Southern  Railroad.  June  1, 
1S70,  was  married  to  Mary  F.,  daughter  of  J.  S. 
Morgan  and  Sarah  J.  Revel.  Four  children  have 
been  born  to  them  as  the  result  of  this  union. 
Eula  M.,  Oscar  D.,  and  Charles  O'Connor,  still 
survive,  while  little  Myrtle  has  gone  to  join  the 
angels.  In  l,s72,  with  a  small  stock  of  merchan- 
dise, he  again  commenced  business  in  Atalla — a 
place  that  was  then  justly  celebrated  for  the  fail- 
ures of  her  merchants,  not  one  of  whom  up  to 
that  time  had  proved  a  success.  But  with  untir- 
ing energy,  coupled  with  a  determination  to  win, 
he  con(|uerei!  all  (>l)stacles  and  scored  the  first  suc- 
cess  that  had   been  achieved    at  that   place.     In 


1873,  in  connection  with  John  S.  Morgan,  he  took 
a  contract  to  mine  and  shiii  the  first  lot  of  ore 
ever  sent  from  this  section  of  North  Alabama, 
hauling  the  same  in  ox  wagons.  The  ore  was 
mined  on  lands  owned  by  J.  S.  Morgan,  the 
pioneer  in  the  mineral  business  of  this  country. 
He  was  born  in  Abbeville  District,  S.  C.,  in  1S14: 
came  to  Alabama  when  a  young  man.  and 
settled  in  what  was  then  Cherokee  County:  rep- 
resented that  county  in  the  Legislature  in  1851-52; 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  (Jadsden,  giving  her 
the  name  she  bears;  gave  the  name  of  Etowah  to 
our  county,  and  also  that  of  Atalla  to  our  neigh- 
boring town.  He  devoted  thirty  years  of  his  life 
to  the  investigation  of  minerals,  predicting,  years 
ago,  a  great  future  for  our  country;  but  he  did 
not  live  to  see  the  fulfillment  of  his  prediction,  as 
he  died  March  22,  1881. 

Subject  of  this  sketch,  after  successfully  prose- 
cuting the  mercantile  business  in  Atalla  till  18b2, 
moved  to  Gadsden  and  continued  to  carry  it  on 
until  January  1,  1867,  when  he  closed  out,  and 
has  since  devoted  his  time  to  other  duties,  being 
one  of  the  incorporators  and  secretary  and  treas- 
urer of  the  (Jadsden  Ice  Comi)any.  Is  a  member 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  as  is  also 
his  wife. 


WILLIAM  B.  WYNNE.  Real  Estate  Broker, 
(nidsden,  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Benson) 
Wynne,  natives,  respectively,  of  Virginia  and  Soutli 
Carolina,  was  born  in  Greenville  District,  S.  C, 
October  2,  1820. 

The  senior  Mr.  Wynne  was  an  officer  in  the 
AVar  of  1812.  In  1826  he  migrated  to  Georgia, 
where  he  died  in  1830.  His  widow  survived  him 
until  18G6.  He  was  a  planter  by  occupation,  be- 
gan life  as  a  poor  boy,  but  at  his  death  was  pos- 
sessed with  an  ample  fortune.  The  Wynne  family 
came  originally  from  Wales,  and  settled  in  Vir- 
ginia away  back  in  the  early  colonial  days,  and 
removed  thence,  as  has  been  seen,  into  the  South 
Atlantic  Colony  of  Carolina.  The  Benson  family 
are  of  Saxon  origin,  and  many  of  them  are  found 
in  this  country  and  throughout  England  at  this 
day.  William  B.  Wynne's  maternal  grandfather 
was  Maj.  Thomas  Benson,  of  Revolutionary  fame. 
He  married  into  the  Prince  family,  for  whom  old 
Fort  Prince  was  Tianied.  A  history  of  the  collat- 
eral branches  of  these  various  families  wouhl  intro- 
duce many  characters  prominent  both  in  Church 


368 


NORTHERJSF  ALABAMA. 


and  State,  and  would  make  a  volume  of  interesting 
reading. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  spent  the  first  four- 
teen years  of  his  life  on  his  father's  farm,  and 
during  that  i^eriod  acquired  such  learning  as  was 
possible  at  the  schools  of  his  neighborhood.  While 
yet  a  boy  he  was  emjDloyed  by  a  relative  as  a  sales- 
man in  a  mercantile  establishment  at  Anderson, 
S.  C,  and  he  remained  there  four  years.  At  the 
death  of  his  father  he  returned  to  Georgia,  and 
for  two  years  peddled  merchandise  about  the 
country.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  in  partnership 
with  his  brother,  he  embarked  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness at  Pine  Mountain,  Ga.  From  here  he  re- 
moved to  Franklin,  Ga.,  where  he  married  Mary  A. 
Cowden.  In  1845  he  came  into  Alabama,  and  at 
Jacksonville  was  engaged  in  mercantile  business 
until  1850.  In  that  year  he  moved  to  Etowah 
County,  and  there,  at  two  or  three  difiEerent  places, 
carried  on  mercantile  business.  In  1857  he  located 
at  (iadsden,  where,  in  partnership  with  Col.  R.  B. 
Kyle,  he  was  engaged  at  mercliandising  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  late  war.  The  mercantile  business 
was  suspended  during  the  war,  and  he  established 
a  tannery,  which  carried  on  an  extensive  traffic 
until  1867.  From  1808  to  1876  he  was  in  mer- 
cantile business  in  New  York  City,  and  made 
thereat  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  In  the 
latter  named  year  he  removed  to  Atlanta,  Ga., 
and  from  that  time  he  has  been  variously  engaged 
at  mei'chandising,  as  traveling  salesman,  etc., 
and,  in  December,  1885,  was  at  Birmingham, 
manufacturing  wire  fence.  He  located  finally, 
and  in  his  present  business,  at  Gadsden,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1886,  and  became  one  of  the  prime  movers  in 
the  Gadsden  "boom."  It  is  recorded  of  him 
that  he  has  sold  more  real  estate  than  any  other 
man  in  Gadsden. 

Mr.  ^Vynne  was  married  August  "^9,  184-4,  and 
has  reared  a  large  family  of  children.  Of  the  lat- 
ter we  make  the  following  memoranda:  Thomas 
F.,  assistant  chief  engineer  of  the  Metropolitan 
Street  Railway  Company,  Kansas  City;  William 
C,  clerk  for  same  concern:  John  F.,  of  Atlanta, 
Ga. ;  Joseph  A.,  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  at 
Gadsden;  Mary  W.  (Mrs.  E.  N.  Meade),  of  Kirk- 
wood,  Ga. ;  Emma  W.  (Mrs.  A.  P.  Evans), 
deceased;  Katie  P.  (Mrs.  Charles  Weatherly).  of 
Kansas  City;  Charles  C,  of  Chattanooga;  Annie 
(^[rs.  B.  B.  Hay,  of  Edgewood,  Ga.);  and  Minnie 
W.,  deceased.  The  entire  family  are  members  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  and  Mr.  Wynne  is  a  Mason. 


OBADIAH  WARD  was  born  near  Spartanburg, 
S.  C,  December  14,  1817,  and  died  at  Gadsden, 
April  21,  1880.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  at 
the  old  field  schools  of  his  neighborhood  acquired 
a  limited  education.  To  this,  however,  he  subse- 
quently, by  diligent  apialication,  added  nntil 
he  was  possessed  of  more  than  ordinary  infor- 
mation. 

While  quite  a  young  man,  he  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  in  De  Kalb  County  ;  first  as  a 
clerk  and  soon  afterward  as  proprietor.  He 
inherited  no  fortune,  but  through  industry  and 
the  exercise  of  a  sound  business  judgment,  he 
built  up  an  ample  income.  He  was  married,  in 
August,  1850,  in  Cherokee  County,  to  Sarah  Sed- 
berry,  daughter  of  S.  H.  and  Annie  J.  (Fletcher) 
Sedberry,  of  that  county,  but  natives  of  Xorth 
Carolina.  Mr.  Ward  remained  in  De  Kalb 
County  until  1868,  at  which  time  he  came  into 
Gadsden.  Here  he  engaged  at  the  mercantile 
business,  and  continued  thereat  until  driven  by  ill 
health  to  a  discontinuance  of  all  labors,  some 
five  or  si.x  years  before  his   death. 

Mr.  Ward  was  a  strong  uncompromising  tem- 
perance man,  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, and  a  consistent  Christian.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  was 
noted  for  his  charity.  He  reared  a  family  of  five 
children,  to-wit  :  John,  now  of  Xashville,  Tenn. ; 
Charlsie,  wife  of  J.  B.  Martin  ;  Mary,  deceased  ; 
Sallie,  wife  of  James  L.  Tanner;  and  Charles. 

Mr.  Ward's  parents  were  Samuel  and  Susanna 
(Cannon)  Ward.  The  senior  Mr.  Ward  was  a 
planter  in  South  Carolina,  and  was  a  soldier  in 
the  War  of  181"2.  He  reared  a  family  of  four 
sons  and  four  daughters,  and,  in  about  1834, 
removed  to  Alabama,  and  settled  in  Cherokee 
County;  later  on  he  removed  to  De  Kalb  County, 
this  State,  and  here  spent  the  rest  of  his  life. 
His  wife  died  prior  to  his  leaving  South  Caro- 
lina. 

;■  ■<«■  • 


JOHN  L.  POGUE,  Manufacturer,  Gadsden,  was 
born  in  Chambers  County,  this  State,  June  23, 
1850,  and  is  a  son  of  John  L.  and  Elizabeth  (Pratt) 
Pogue,  natives  of  Georgia.  His  earlier  life  was 
spent  at  Wetumpka,  receiving  there  a  common- 
school  education,  and  from  the  age  of  seventeen 
to  twenty-one  was  engaged  in  farming.  In  1871 
he  came  to  Gadsden  and  accepted  employment  on 
salary  until  1883,  at  which  time  he  engaged  in  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


369 


lumber  business.  In  1887  he  formed  a  partiier- 
ship  with  II.  Herzberg,  in  the  manufacture  of 
himber.  Tiie  mills  were  established  in  187.">,  by 
B.  J.  Kittrell,  burned  down  in  1.S82,  re-built  in 
1884. 

Mr.  I'ogue  is  also  interested  in  dtlicr  business 
enterprises,  and  is  one  of  Gadsden's  live,  wide- 
awake business  men.  He  was  married  in  Decem- 
ber, 1883,  to  Mrs.  B.  J.  Kittrell,  daughter  of 
John  and  Sarah  (Pressley)  Miller,  natives  of 
South  Carolina.  Mr.  Miller  was  a  Presbyterian 
minister;  moved  to  South  Alabama  in  1843,  and 
spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  Wilcox  County.  In 
addition  to  the  ministry,  he  was  a  ])opular  educa- 
tor and  taught  many  years  in  the  Wilcox  Institute, 
lie  reared  a  family  of  five  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. Of  tiie  fornier,  Joseph  is  an  attorney,  at 
Camden;  John  is  a  professor  in  Erskine  College, 
South  Carolina;  James  is  a  citizen  of  Gadsden; 
.^leek  is  a  student  at  law;  and  David  is  a  sopho- 
more in  Krskine  College,  Ilis  daughters  are  all 
married  to  gentlemen  of  higli  standing  in  the 
various  communities  where  they  live.  The  ilillers 
came  originally  from  Ireland. 

John  I^.  Pogue  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Old  School  Presliyterian  Church.  To  her  first  hus- 
band, Mr.  Kittrell,  Mrs.  Pogue  bore  five  children. 

■  •    •«>•  '^^'  <"    •  ■ 

JAMES     M.     ELLIOTT,    Jr.,     Manufacturer, 

Gadsden,  Al;i..  was  born  in  Rome,  Ga.,  November 
12,  1854.  there  attended  the  common  schools,  and 
graduated  in  1874.  from  Kmory  and  Henry  Col- 
lege. Virginia.  Leaving  school,  he  engaged  in 
steamboat  business,  and,  in  connection  with 
lumber  manufacture,  continued  thereat  until  1S85. 
Since  the  latter  year,  having  closed  out  his  steam- 
boat interest,  he  has  given  his  entire  attention  to 
the  production  of  and  traffic  in  lumber.  From 
18S3  to  188G  he  operated  in  lumber  in  Alabama, 
Kansas  and  Te.xas,  and  in  1887  organized  the 
Elliott  Car  Company,  of  whicli  he  is  president  and 
general  manager.  He  is  also  connected  with  the 
Kyle  Lumber  Company  and  tlie  Elliott  Pig  Iron 
Company.  In  January.  1878,  he  married  .Miss  Nena 
Kyle,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Col.  Itobert 
Kyle,  of  Gadsden. 

Mr.  Elliott  is  a  son  of  James  .M.  and  Emily  J. 
(lloss)  Elliott,  natives,  respectively,  of  Virginia 
and  Alabama.     J.  M.  Elliott,  Sr.,  settled  at  Home, 


Ga.,  in  1847.  and  from  that  time  until  1881  was 
in  the  steamboat  business  on  the  Coosa  River.  He 
was  the  second  man  that  ever  ran  a  boat  on  this 
river.  He  began  life  a  poor  boy,  but  at  this 
writing  he  is  possessed  of  a  handsome  competency. 
In  187i.  he  organized  the  Kound  Mountain  Pig 
Iron  Works,  and  was  the  general  superintendent 
of  that  concern  a  number  of  years.  He  is  now 
the  president  of  the  Elliott  Pig  Iron  Company, 
located  at  Round  .Mountain.  His  forefathers 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  \'irginia.  He 
has  roared  a  family  of  three  sons  and  three 
daughters.  The  sons  are  all  active  business  men, 
and  the  daughters,  with  one  exception,  are 
married. 


-«« 


►^- 


WILLIAM  J.  SIBERT,  was  born  October  17, 
183.3.  in  St.  Clair  County,  Ala.,  and  is  a  son  of 
David  and  Elizabeth  (Cook)  Sibert,  natives  of 
Abbeyville  District,  S.  C.  The  senior  Mr.  Sibert 
was  a  planter.  He  moved  to  St.  Clair  County  in 
181!t,  and  thence  to  DeKalb  County  in  1833, 
where  he  purchased  land  from  the  Indians,  eighty 
acres  of  which,  according  to  their  tradition,  had 
been  in  cultivation  over  one  hundred  years.  The 
old  gentleman  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  DeKalb 
County.  He  was  the  father  of  eleven  children,  eight 
of  whom  grew  to  adult  estate,  to-wit:  John  W., 
farmer  died  in  Arkansas;  Henry,  farmer,  DeKalb 
County;  Martha,  widow  of  William  Waddell,  of 
Arkansas;  Geo.  W.,  deceased;  Jasper,  a  minister  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, now  of  Ar- 
kansas; Julia  (Mrs.  .Vrthur  A.  Parr),  both  she 
and  her  husband  are  dead;  Hulda.  deceased;  Mary 
(Mrs.  W.  B.  Beeson,  of  DeKalb  County).  John 
W.  and  Henry  were  both  soldiers  in  the  Southern 
Army  during  the  late  war.  David  Sibert's  father 
came  to  .Vmerica  as  a  soldier  in  the  British  .\rmy, 
served  his  term  of  enlistment,  and  at  once  joined 
the  Colonial  Army  under  tieneral  Marion,  and 
adopted  this  country  as  his  home.  He  married  a 
Miss  Wilmore,  of  Virginia,  reared  three  sons  and 
three  daughters,  and  died  in  South  Carolina, 
where  he  had  been  a  farmer,  and  a  preacher  in  the 
Lutheran  Church.  The  Cook  lamily.  from  which 
the  subject  of  tliis  sketch  is  descended  through  the 
maternal  line,  were  probably  of  mixed  German  and 
Englisii  extraction. 

William  .1.  Sibert  was  reared  on  a  farm,  received 
a  common-school  education,  and  was    thirtv-five 


370 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


years  of  age  when  he  enlisted  in  Company  I,  Tenth 
Alabama,  as  a  second  lieutenant.  He  served  a  few 
months,  when  ill-health  forced  him  to  resign.  In 
the  sjiring  of  1862,  he  joined  Company  G,  Forty- 
eighth  Alabama,  and  with  that  regiment  partici- 
pated in  the  battles  of  second  Manassas,  the  Wilder- 
ness, Petersburg,  etc.  He  was  wounded  at  Manassas, 
and  at  Petersburg  was  forced  from  its  effects  to 
retire  from  field  duty.  He  then  accepted  a  posi- 
tion in  the  quartermaster's  dejiartment  and  re- 
mained to  the  close  of  the  war. 

After  farming  two  years,  he,  in  1867,  came  to 
Oadsden,  engaged  in  hotel  business, until  1879, then 
in  mercantile  business,  to  which  he  has  since  given 
his  attention.  His  first  piartner  was  named  Bar- 
rett, firm  of  Barrett  &  Sibert.  Mr.  Barrett  retired 
in  1883,  and  the  firm  has  since  been  Sibert  &  Ward. 
He  is  also  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Sibert 
&  Blair,  wholesale  and  retail  dealers  in  hardware. 
In  addition  to  mercantile  business,  he  has  been  and 
is  now  interested  in  agriculture.  He  was  married 
September  20,  185(5,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Ward.  Of 
the  ten  children  born  to  them,  six  are  living: 
Charlcie  (Mrs.  A.  J.  Blair);  William  L.,  graduate 
of  the  West  Point  Class  1884,  also  in  corjDs  of  en- 
gineers at  Willett's  Point,  N.  Y.,  class  of  1887, 
and  a  lieutenant  in  the  United  States  Engineers 
Corps;  Samuel  11.,  Martin  D.,  Fannie  B.,  Olin  W. 
The  family  is  connected  with  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  and  Mr.  Sibert  is  a  Free- 
mason. 


RODOLFHUS  OGILVIE  RANDALL,  Jeweler 
and  yueensware  Merchant,  was  born  at  Brockport, 
Monroe  County,  N.  Y.,  April  15,  1840,  and  is  a  son 
of  Myrick  0.  and  Lucy  N.  (Kingsbury)  Randall, 
natives,  respectively,  of  Vermont  and  New  York. 
He  was  reared  and  educated  at  Brockport,  and  wliile 
quite  a  youth  learned  the  trade  of  watchmaker. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  went  to  New  York 
City,  and  there,  under  .James  M.  Bottom,  at  the 
time  the  leading  watchmaker  of  this  country,  per- 
fected his  trade.  He  came  to  Gadsden  in  Sep- 
tember, 1858,  took  charge  of  Kyle,  Wynne  &  Co.'s 
jewelry  department,  and  remained  with  them 
until  January,  1860.  At  that  date  his  employers 
dissolved  partnership,  and  he  j^urchased  their 
jewelry  stock  and  started  in  business  for  himself. 
March,  1862,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in 
Company  A,  Thirty-first  Alabama  Infantry,  and 


with  that  command  served  one  year.  Leaving 
the  service  at  Vicksburg,  he  returned  to  Gadsden, 
resumed  the  jewelry  business  and  followed  it  until 
1872.  His  was  the  first  jewelry  store,  exclusively, 
established  at  Gadsden. 

From  1872  to  18  5  he  devoted  his  time  to  life 
insurance  business,  and  spent  j^art  of  that  period 
at  Mobile,  Atlanta  and  Louisville.  In  the  fall  of 
the  last-named  year  he  returned  to  Gadsden,  and 
in  the  latter  part  of  1886  established  his  present 
business.  He  has  the  finest  establishment  of  the 
kind  in  North  Alabama. 

February  22,  1860,  Mr.  Randall  married  Miss 
Josephine  Turrentine,  daughter  of  the  late  Gen. 
D.  C.  Turrentine,  and  has  had  born  to  him 
ten  children,  eight  of  whom  are  now  living, 
namely:  Carrie  L.  (j\lrs.  John  L.  Caldwell), 
James  W.,  Robert  E.,  Ruth,  Bianca,  Josejih  P., 
Edith  and    Daniel  M. 

The  family  are  connected  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  Mr.  Randall  is  a 
Knight  of  Honor  and  a  Knight  Templar  Mason. 

In  addition  to  his  mercantile  business,  Mr.  Ran- 
dall is  vice-president  of  the  First  National  Bank, 
I^resident  of  the  Gadsden  Metallic  Paint  Company, 
and  is  more  or  less  interested  in  several  other  of 
Gadsden's  leading  enterprises. 

The  senior  Mr.  Randall  was  a  watchmaker  and 
jeweler  for  many  years.  Of  his  three  children  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  eldest.  His  second 
son,  Eugene  A.,  was  a  jeweler  also,  and  died  at 
the  age  of  thirty  years.  His  only  daughter,  Bianca, 
is  the  wife  of  C.  F.  Miller,  of  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 
The  old  gentleman  is  yet  living,  and  is  seventy- 
one  years  of  age.  His  father  was  Nathaniel  Ran- 
dall, a  farmer  by  occupation,  born  at  Pembrook, 
Mass. ;  married  Betsy  Brown,  who,  like  himself, 
was  of  old  Puritan  stock.  He  reared  a  family  of 
eight  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  but  two  of  whom 
married  and  brought  up  families.  The  Kingsbury 
family  is  also  of  Massachusetts  Puritan  stock,  and 
lived  near  Boston.  There  are  living  in  various 
States  of  the  Union  a  large  number  of  Kings- 
burys,  all  descendants  of  the  same  stock. 


JOSEPH  R.  HUGHES  was  born  at  Gadsden 
ilareli  14,  1842,  and  is  a  son  of  Gabriel  and 
Asenath  I).  (Young)  Hughes,  natives  of  Hay- 
wood, Lincoln  County,  N.  C. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


371 


The  senior  Jlr.  Hughes  migrated  to  Georgia  in 
early  life.  There,  in  1S32,  was  married,  and  in 
1.S3S  came  to  Alabama.  He  located  near  Jack- 
sonville, in  Calhoun  County,  and  in  1840  moved 
to  Double  Springs,  near  (iadsden,  and  in  184."), 
with  his  associates,  James  Hughes  and  John  8. 
^lorgan,  founded  the  now  thriving  city  of  (iads- 
den. He  died  in  March,  1886;  his  wife  died 
in  1885.  He  was  one  of  the  first  postmasters  at 
(iadsden,  then  known  as  Houble  Springs.  It 
seems  that  he  made  his  home  where  now  stands 
the  town  of  Atalla  from  185T  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death.  He  was  a  jjrominent  llason,  and  his 
wife  a  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist  Kpis- 
copal  Church.  The  Hughes  family,  after  coming 
to  America,  settled  first  in  Pennsylvania,  remov- 
ing thence  to  the  Carolinas.  This  brancii  of  the 
Young  family  are  of  German  descent. 

'I'he  subject  of  this  sketch  lived  on  his  father's 
farm  until  the  year  18.")T.  He  was  attending  school 
in  April,  18G2,  when  he  entered  the  Confederate 
Army  as  a  member  of  Company  (i.  Forty-eighth 
Alabama,  and  with  that  regiment  participated 
in  the  Seven  Days'  l-'ight  around  Kiclimond.  at 
Manassas,  where  he  was  slightly  wounded,  and  at 
Sharpesburg.  In  October,  18G2,  he  was,  on 
account  of  failing  health,  honorably  discharged: 
came  home,  and  in  November  following  joined 
Tracy's  Hrigade  as  chief  clerk  of  the  Commissary 
Department,  under  Major  Hollingsworth.  He 
was  in  the  memorable  siege  of  \'icksburg;  was 
present  at  the  surrender  of  (ieneral  Pemberton.  on 
Fourth  of  July,  18G3,  and,  being  jiaroled,  joined 
his  command  at  Missionary  Kidge,  in  September, 
ISGIJ.  He  was  afterward  in  the  campaigns  of 
Halton  and  .Vtlanta;  at  the  battle  of  Jonesboro: 
was  with  Hood  in  his  raid  into  Tennessee,  and  all 
the  battles  from  Nashville  to  North  Carolina, 
where  he  surrendered  with  .Johnston. 

IJeturning  home,  he  entered  a  dry  goods  estab- 
lishment as  clerk,  and  in  a  short  time  moved  to 
Cherokee  County,  where  he  was  deputy  in  the  Cir- 
cuit Clerk's  office.  He  came  to  Gadsden,  and  on 
December  14,  18GT,  was  married  to  Mary  E. 
Davis,  daughter  of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  (Adams) 
Davis  of  this  place. 

Mr.  Hughes  Iniilt  the  Exchange  Hotel,  and  was 
its  first  proprietor  ;  erected  the  first  steam  flour 
mill  at  (iadsden,  and  was  in  the  milling  business 
until  18T4,  when  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  C'ir- 
cuit  Court  of  Etowah  County.  He  was  re-elected 
Clerk  in  1880,  and  since  188G  has  been  engaged  in 


the  real  estate  business.  He  owns  a  large  number 
of  acres  of  land  :  gives  some  attention  to  agricul- 
ture ;  is  interested  in  the  new  Gadsden  Hotel,  and 
is  also  secretary  of  the  GadsdeJi  Ileal  Estate  Com- 
pany. 

Aside  from  the  oflice  of  Clerk  of  the  Court  he  has 
been  several  times  a  member  of  the  City  Council. 
He  is  an  extensive  owner  of  mineral  lands,  and  is 
more  or  less  identified  with  the  leading  industries 
of  the  booming  town  of  (iadsden. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  Mr.  Hughes  is  a  Knight  of 
Honor  and  a  staunch  Democrat. 

Their  three  sous  are  named  William  F.,  Robert 
(t.  and  Preston  M. 


-«-; 


«^- 


JAMES  RUSH  NOWLIN,  Manufacturer,  Gads- 
den, was  li(ini  in  IxMlfonl  County,  Va.,  January 
18,  1846,  and  is  a  son  of  Dr.  .lames  II.  and  .Ma- 
linda  B.  (Staples)  Nowlin. 

Dr.  Nowlin,  in  addition  to  practicing  medicine, 
was  a  druggist  in  Virginia,  and  in  18G2  removed 
from  there  to  (ieorgia,  where  he  continued  the 
same  profession  and  line  of  business.  He  died  in 
May,  188G.  He  reared  three  children;  the  eldest, 
Samuel  H.,  served  through  the  war  under  Gen. 
Fitzhugli  Lee,  was  three  times  a  prisoner,  and 
made  two  escapes — he  is  now  of  Little  Rock,  Ark.; 
the  third  son,  Casper  W.,  was  in  the  army 
toward  the  latter  part  of  the  war,  and  is  now  also 
at  Little  Iiock.  Dr.  Nowlin's  first  wife  died 
while  her  children  were  quite  young,  and  his 
second  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  some  years 
afterward,  bore  him  one  daughter,  Olivia,  now 
Mrs.  Noble.  The  Doctor  was  a  graduate  from 
the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  was  a  brilliant  scholar  and  skillful 
physician,  and  during  his  life  contributed  much 
valuable  literature  to  the  profession. 

'i'he  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at 
Roanoke  College,  \'irginia,  from  which  institution 
he  was  graduated  as  A.  B.  in  IbG'.i,  and  in  187'.J 
received  the  degree  of  M.  A.  He  was  clerking  in  his 
father's  drug  store  at  the  outbreak  of  the  late 
war,  and  in  February,  18G3.  joined  Company  D, 
Fifth  \'irgiiiia  Cavalry;  with  that  conunand  par- 
ticijiated  in  the  battles  of  Yellow  Tavern,  Spot- 
sylvania Court  House,  Winchester,  New  Town, 
Harrisburg,  Five   Forks,   all   the   battles  of   the 


37i 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Shenaudoah  Valley,  and  was  with  General  Lee  at 
Appomattox.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned 
home,  and  to  the  drug  business,  and  later  on  had 
some  experience  as  a  dry  goods  clerk.  In  18(i7  he 
located  at  Gadsden,  and  entered  into  the  drug 
business.  In  1868  he  entered  Roanoke  College, 
from  which  institution  he  graduated  with  honors, 
and  in  metaphysics  took  the  gold  medal.  After 
graduation  he  resumed  the  drug  business,  and 
since  1870  has  been  interested  in  farming.  He 
was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Gadsden  Ice 
Company,  and  is  its  president;  he  is  secretary, 
treasurer  and  business  manager  of  the  Gadsden 
Metallic  Paint  Company,  and  is  interested  in 
various  enterjirises,  manufacturing  and  other- 
wise. 

Mr.  Xowlin  is  regarded  by  the  people  of  Gads- 
den as  one  of  their  most  enterprising,  wide-awake, 
jjublic-spirited  citizens.  He  started  in  life  with- 
out a  dollar,  and,  without  the  intervention  of 
"windfalls  "  or  legacies,  has  accumulated  a  com- 
petency. 

Mr.  Nowlin  was  married  Xovember  3,  18G9,  to 
Adella  L.  Nuckolls,  daughter  of  Col.  Nathaniel 
M.  Nuckolls,  a  prominent  capitalist  of  Columbus, 
Ga.,  and  the  children  born  to  him  are,  .Jennie  L., 
Linda  S.,  Adella  L.,  .James  R.,  Emma  0.,  Henry 
Clay,  Corrie  May  and  Robert  Lee.  The  family 
are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church. 


SAMUEL  HENRY,  Merchant,  Gadsden,  was 
born  in  Sevier  County,  East  Tenn.,  July  17, 
18"-25,  and  is  a  son  of  Samuel  and  ^largaret  (Bryan) 
Henry. 

The  senior  Mr.  Henry  was  born  in  the  same 
county  in  1788,  and  his  wife  in  1798.  They 
reared  three  children:  ]\Iary  A.,  wife  of  A.  G. 
Henry;  John  B.,  merchant  and  farmer;  and  the 
subject  of  this  sketch.  John  B.  was  a  soldier  in 
the  Confederate  Army  during  the  war,  and  the 
senior  Mr  Henry,  a  farmer  all  his  life  by  occupa- 
tion, was  with  General  Jackson  in  the  War  of 
181'2,and  by  him  appointed  collector  of  commissary, 
associated  witli  .Judge  Porter.  He  died  at  Henry's 
C'ross  Roads,  East  Tenn.,  1835.  His  widow  died  in 
1845.  They  were  both  members  of  tlie  ilethodist 
Episcopal  Church.  The  family  came  from  Vir- 
ginia into  Tennessee  away  back  in  the  early  set- 
tlement of  the  latter  State. 


Colonel  Herbert  [see  Ramsay's  History  of  Ten- 
nessee], the  maternal  grandfather  of  our  subject, 
was  a  distinguished  Indian  fighter  during  his  days. 
He  was  a  prominent  farmer,  and  served  many 
times  in  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee. 

Samuel  Henry  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  re- 
ceived a  West  Point  education.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-three  years  he  entered  mercantile  business 
with  his  cousin,  A.  G.  Henry,  at  Gunter's  Land- 
ing, and  was  there  until  1861.  In  April,  18G1, 
he  raised  a  company  and  went  into  the  war,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Ninth  Alabama  Infantry; 
and  later  became  a  member  of  the  Eighth  Ala- 
bama Cavalry,  Clanion's  Brigade.  He  left  the 
service  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

In  the  spring  of  1866,  he  located  at  Gadsden, 
where  he  has  since  been  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness. He  was  married  in  18.56  to  Miss  Charity  E. 
Fennell,  daughter  of  Dr.  James  W.  Fennell. 

Mr.  Henry  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity and  the  Knights  of  Honor. 


.r.^^ 


WILLIAM  HAG  AN,  born  in  Denmark,  April 
9,  18-15,  is  a  son  of  Carl  Frederick  and  Elizabeth 
Ilagan.  He  came  to  this  country  in  18GIJ,  landed 
at  Quebec,  going  thence  to  Chicago,  where  he  fol- 
lowed his  trade  (that  of  moulder)  for  several  years. 
Soon  after  the  late  war  he  came  South  on  a  pros- 
pecting tour,  and  in  1872  located  at  Rome,  Ga., 
and  remained  until  1879.  In  that  year  lie  came 
to  Gadsden,  where,  in  partnership  with  John 
Flynn,  he  established  a  small  foundry  and  machine 
shop.  In  18s:5,  Mr.  G.  E.  Line  came  into  the 
firm,  and  they  organized  and  established  the  Gads- 
den Foundry  and  ^lachine  Works,  with  a  capital 
stock  of  S^IO.OOO.  This  was  the  first  iron  working 
concern  started  at  Gadsden,  and  the  success  of 
the  enterprise  has  been  even  greater  than  its 
founders  ever  expected. 

Messrs.  Hagan  &  Flynn  imrchased  Line's  inter- 
est in  the  foundry  and  machine  works  in  March, 
1887,  and  are  now  its  exclusive  owners. 

Mr.  Hagan  was  married  in  September,  1872,  at 
Rome,  Ga.,  to  Miss  Jennie  Martin,  and  their  two 
children  are  named,  respectively,  Daisy  and  Fred- 
erick. Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hagan  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  Mr.  Hagan  is  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor  and  Knights  of 
Pythias. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


373 


JOHN  FLYNN  was  born  in  Jefferson  Count}-, 
Iiul..  in  ls:)t,  wlicre  lie  learned  the  trade  of  ma- 
chinist. He  came  South  in  IS.")!  ;  since  then  has 
been  a  continuous  resident  of  the  South,  princi- 
pally Alabama. 

In  IST'.i,  in  connection  with  .Mr.  Ilauun,  he  es- 
tablished the  first  foundr}'  in  (iadsden,  in  which 
business  they  have  been  very  successful.  lie  is  at 
present  writing  a  member  of  the  l^oard  of  .Mder- 
men  of  Gadsden. 

.Mr.  Flynn  is  a  married  man  with  five  children, 
namely  :  Mildred,  .lames,  .Inhn.  lleiii-y  and 
JIamie. 

Mr.  Flynn  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  and  Odd 
Fellows  fraternities,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
sterling  business  men  of  Gadsden. 


AUGUSTIN  L.  WOODLIFF  was  i)orn  in  Hall 
County,  (ia.,  October  7,  l.S"27,,  and  is  a  son  of 
(n'orgeand  Isabella  (Henderson)  Woodlill,  natives, 
respectively,  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina.  The 
former  was  born  in  1780,  and  the  latter  in  170"-3. 

The  senior  Mr.  Woodliff  migrated  to  (ieorgia, 
locating  in  Clarke  County  in  1820,  and  it  was 
there  he  was  married  to  Miss  Henderson.  He  was 
a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  a  man  of  considerable 
local  influence.  They  reared  a  family  of  si.\-  chil- 
dren, of  whom  we  make  the  following  mention: 
Josiah  H.  is  a  farmer  in  Forsyth  County,  Ga.: 
Nancy  J.  is  the  wife  of  Col.  James  A.  (irecne,  of 
Milledgeville,  Ga.  Colonel  Greene  was  once  sur- 
veyor-general of  Georgia,  and  has  been  a  member 
of  the  l^egislature  of  that  State.  George  F.  is  a 
farmer  near  Gainesville.  Thomas  J.  was  killed  at 
the  battle  of  Fredericksburg.  Ho  was  a  lieuten- 
ant, and  entered  the  army  from  Arkansas,  and 
participated  in  the  Missouri  campaign.  Oliver 
P.,  now  of  Belton,  (Ja.,  served  in  the  Fourteenth 
(ieorgia  Regiment  during  the  war.  The  senior 
Mr.  Woodliff  was  in  the  War  of  1812.  He  died  in 
184'J.  His  father  was  also  a  native  of  Virginia,  and 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Warof  the  Revolution  and  aft- 
erward in  the  War  of  1812.  The  family  came  from 
Scotland  to  America. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  sj)ent  the  first  seven- 
teen years  of  his  life  on  his  father's  farm,  and  re- 
ceived a  fair  education  at  the  common  schools  of 
the  neighborhood.  In  1840  he  accepted  aclerksiiip 
in  a  mercantile  establishment  at  Niickelsville,  Ga., 


and  from  there,  at  the  end  of  one  year,  went  to 
Gainesville,  where  he  remained  until  1850.  In 
the  latter  year  he  migrated  to  California  in  search 
of  gold,  and  there  he  was  both  miner  and  specu- 
lator. He  returned  to  the  States  in  18.")3,  pos- 
sessed of  a  considerable  sum  of  money. 

Mr.  Woodliff  was  married  in  January,  1854,  to 
Miss  LaviniaC,  Law,  daughter  of  James  and  Mary 
(Ingram)    Law. 

.Mr.  Law  was  for  twenty-one  years  Clerk 
of  the  Court  of  Hall  County,  Ga.,  and 
was  a  popular  and  wealthy  man.  He  died  in 
I8.")!<,  and  his  wife  in  1870.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  has  had  born  to  him  the  following  named 
children:  Ida  A.  (Mrs.  M.  1).  Lowe),  James  F.; 
George  II.,  at  Foit  Worth,  Texas;  Thomas  J.,  Au- 
gustin  Wyly,  Henry  L.,  at  Galveston,  Te.xas:  Mollie 
B.  (Mrs.  Dr.  Ralph  M.  J{ussell),  Sallie  Law, 
deceased;  Olive  G.;  >«annie  L.  deceased;  William 
.loe:  Paulina  Chester,  deceased;  Eddie  (iuv, 
Bessie  Clark . 

Soon  after  his  marriage  Mr.  Woodliff  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business,  and  followed  it  at 
Cumming,  (ia.,  until  18.">7,  in  which  year  he  came 
to  (iadsden  and  engaged  at  farming.  In  1861  he 
enlisted  in  Company  ({,  Nineteenth  Alabama 
Regiment,  as  first  orderly,  and  was  soon  after- 
ward promoted  to  third  lieutenant.  He  resigned 
in  18»;2  on  account  of  ill  health,  and  in  May 
following  re-entered  the  army  as  first  lieutenant 
of  Company  J),  Forty-eighth  Alabama.  He  was 
promoted  to  captain  in  less  than  a  month  after- 
ward, and  participated  in  the  Seven  Days'  Fight 
around  Richmond,  Cedar  Run,  near  Culpeper 
Court  House,  second  battle  of  Manassas,  siege  and 
capture  of  Harper's  Ferry,  Antietam,  Fredericks- 
burg, and  in  March,  1803,  resigned  to  accept  the 
appointment  of  Tax-Assessor,  which  jiosition 
he  filled  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

In  the  fall  of  180-')  Mr.  Woodliff  was  elected  to 
the  State  Senate,  and  introduced  the  bill  forming 
Baine  County.  This  county,  abolished  by  the 
Reconstructionists  in  18G8,  was  afterward  re-es- 
tablished and  called  Etowah  County.  In  the  last 
named  year  he  turned  his  attention  to  merchan- 
dising and  followed  it  four  years,  going  thence 
into  the  lumber  and  machine  business.  Since  that 
time  he  has  been  engaged  variously  at  mercantile 
aiul  livery  business,  and  is  now  devoting  his  time 
to  the  sale  of  wagons,  buggies,  real  estate,  etc. 
He  is  one  of  the  largest  real  estate  owners  in  the 
the  countv. 


374 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Mr.  Woodliff  is  a  very  active  man.  Having  lost 
every  dollar  of  his  property  during  the  war,  what 
of  his  worldly  possessions  he  has  since  acquired  is 
the  result  of  his  individual  effort  and  industry. 
He  is  variously  interested  in  the  principal  enter- 
prises of  Gadsden,  and  owns  the  largest  livery 
stable  in  that  place,  and  probably  the  largest  in 
the  State,  outside  of  Birmingham.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  of  the  Knights 
of  Honor. 

WILLIAM  PATRICK  LAY  is  a  native  of  Chero- 
kee County,  Ala.,  sun  of  Cumins  M.  and  Eliza- 
beth (McGhee)  Lay,  was  born  in  June,  1S53.  The 
senior  Mr.  Lay,  a  native  of  Tennessee,  came  to 
Alabama  in  1835,  and  engaged  at  flat-boating, 
and  subsequently  at  steamboating  on  the  Coosa 
River;  and  to  that  business  devoted  his  entire 
time.  He  reared  seven  children,  to-wit :  .John 
H.,  carpenter  and  builder;  William  Patrick  (sub- 
ject of  this  sketch);  James  M.,  merchant  at 
Rome,  Ga. ;  AVashington  C,  steamboat  captain; 
Sallie  B.,  wife  of  H.  B.  Myers;  Mary  L.  and 
Minnie  L.  His  father,  John  Lay,  was  an  English- 
man; came  to  America,  settled  first  in  Virginia, 
thence  migrated  to  Tennessee;  came  into  Ala- 
bama in  1835,  and,  in  1859,  removed  to  Dallas, 
Texas,  and  there  died  in  1866. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  an  acade- 
mic education,  and,  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  began  the  machinist  trade  in  the  engine 
department  of  extensive  railroad  shops,  and 
worked  at  that  trade  six  years.  From  the  shop 
he  went  on  the  road  as  a  locomotive  engineer;  and 
in  18T4:  came  to  Gadsden  as  a  book-keeper  for  W. 
P.  Hollingsworth.  At  the  death  of  Mr.  Ilollings- 
worth,  Mr.  I^ay  was  appointed  managing  executor 
of  his  estate,  the  settlement  and  management  of 
which  has  since  that  date  (1880)  required  much 
of  his  time.  He  is  also  largely  interested  in  the 
manufacture  of  lumber,  is  general  manager  of 
the  Gadsden  Electric  Light  Company,  jn-esident 
of  the  Gadsden  Hotel  Company,  director  in  the 
Woodlawn  Land  Company,  an  extensive  cotton 
buyer,  and  more  or  less  interested  in  various 
other  Gadsden  enterprises. 

Mr.  Lay  was  married  in  April,  1876,  to  Miss 
Laura  J.  Hollingsworth,  daughter  of  the  late 
W.  P.  Hollingsworth,  and  the  four  children  born 
to  him  are  William  E.,   Carl  S.,  Tracy  H.,  and 


Ralph.  He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  Mr.  Lay  is  a 
member  of  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 
He  has  served  the  city  several  terms  as  council- 
man, and  is  now  chief  of  her  fire  department. 

— " — **J*  '^St^^'  '^**    *^ 

WILLIAM  HENDERSON  STANDIFER  is  a  na- 
tive of  Clierokee,  Ala.,  son  uf  Lemuel  J.  and  Sarah 
F.  (Underwood)  Standifer,  and  was  born  in  De- 
cember, 1850. 

The  senior  Mr.  Standifer  is  a  native  of  Tennes- 
see, came  to  Alabama  wiien  a  young  man,  read 
law,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Rome,  Ga.,  prac- 
ticed a  while  in  Floyd  County,  that  State,  married 
at  Cold  Springs,  returned  to  Alabama,  and  was  a 
farmer  in  Cherokee  County  until  1860.  In  that 
year  he  was  elected  probate  Judge;  soon  afterward 
entered  the  army,  served  a  short  time,  was  dis- 
charged for  disability,  came  back  to  his  Judgeship, 
and  filled  that  office  until  1868.  From  1868  to 
1874  he  gave  his  time  to  the  practice  of  law',  and, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-nine  years,  located  at  Gadsden, 
where  he  served  as  United  States  Commissioner 
several  years.  He  is  at  this  writing  (1888)  retired 
from  all  business.  Of  his  eight  children  we  make 
the  following  memoranda:  Leoni  (Mrs.  John  L. 
Daughdrill),  L.  V.  (widow  of  H.  C.  Harrison), 
Augusta  G.  (Mrs.  John  H.  Disque),  Walter  S., 
Florence  (Mrs.  William  W.  Stevenson),  John  H., 
Ada,  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  was  the 
second  in  order  of  birth. 

The  Stand  if  ers  migrated  from(Teorgia  into  Ten- 
nessee probably  in  the  person  of  William  H.  Stan- 
difer, and  settled  in  Bledsoe  County.  He  was  a 
merchant  and  farmer;  married  a  Miss  Hogue,  and 
reared  seven  sons  and  three  daughters.  From 
Bledsoe,  at  a  very  early  date,  he  moved  into  Cher- 
okee County,  Ala.,  and  there  died  in  1860,  at  the 
age  of  se\enty  years.  His  wife  died  in  1S8"-J,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-eight  years.  They  ^vere  the  grand- 
parents of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  They  were 
nice  old  people,  strict  Presbyterians,  and  wielded 
a  marked  influence  for  good  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  Underwood  family  were  (ieorgians. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  the 
country,  educated  at  the  common  schools,  studied 
law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  DeKalb 
County,  this  State.  He  began  the  practice  at 
Gadsden,  where   he  has  since  resided.      He  has 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


375 


been  three  times  Afayor  of  this  city,  and  in  18&"-J 
lie  was  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace,  to  which 
ortice  lie  was  elected  in  1884.  Jle  declined  tlic 
ottice  of  I'nited  States  Commissioner  in  lo  "i,  and 
is,  at  this  writing,  discharging  the  duties  of  Jus- 
tice. It  is  recorded  of  hirn  that  he  made  one  of 
the  best  Mayors  that  Gadsden  ever  had.  'I'lu' 
water-works  were  established  under  his  aihninis- 
tration:  a  system  of  street  improvement  was  inau- 
gurated, and  really  the  foundation  of  what  has 
since  become  known  as  the  (iadsden  boom  was 
laid  while  he  was  Mayor. 

JOSEPH  R.  HUGHES  was  born  at  (iadsden, 
March  14.  1S4'.'.  and  is  a  son  of  Gabriel  Hughes, 
native  of  Haywood  County,  X.  C. 

The  senior  .Mr.  Hughes  migrated  to  (Jeorgia  in 
early  life,  there  married  and  came  to  Alabama. 
He  located  at  Jackson,  Calhoun  County,  snbse- 
(juently  moving  to  l)ouble  Springs,  near  Gadsden, 
and  became  one  of  the  founders  of  this  place.  He 
died  in  JIarch,  18?5ti. 

He  was  the  first  jiostniaster  at  Gadsden,  then 
known  as  Double  Springs.  It  seems  that  he  made 
his  home  where  now  stands  the  town  of  Alalia 
from  185T  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  a 
]irominent  Mason  and  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Methodist  Ki)iscopal  Church.  The  Hughes  fam- 
ily, after  coming  to  America,  settled  fii'st  in  Penn- 
sylvania, removing  thence  to  the  Carolinas. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  lived  on  his  father's 
farm  until  the  year  1857.  He  was  attending 
school  in  April,  18fi2,  when  he  entered  the  Con- 
federate Army  as  a  member  of  Company  B,  Forty- 
eighth  .Vlabama,  and  with  that  regiment  partici- 
j)ated  in  theSeven  Days' Fight  around  Richmond, 
at  Manassas,  where  he  was  slightly  wounded,  and 
at  Sharpesburg,  in  October,  188'2.  he  was  dis- 
charged, came  home,  and  in  Xovember  following 
joined  Tracy's  Brigade  as  chief  clerk  of  the  Com- 
missary Department.  He  surrendered,  with  (ien- 
eral  Pembcrton.  at  Vicksburg,  and  after  being 
paroled  joined  his  command  at  Missionary  I{idge 
in  September,  18C:5.  He  was  afterward  in  the 
campaigns  of  Dalton  and  Atlanta,  at  the  battle  of 
.Jonesboro;  was  with  Hood  in  his  raid  into 
Tennessee,  and  all  the  battles  from  Nashville  to 
North  Carolina,  where  he  participated  in  the  last 
battle  of  the  war,  and  surrendered  with  Johnson. 


Returning  home  he  entered  a  dry  goods  estab- 
lishment as  clerk,  and  in  a  short  time  moved  to 
Cherokee  County,  where  he  was  deputy  in  the 
circuit  clerk's  otHce.  He  came  to  Gadsden,  and 
on  December  14,  was  married  to  Mary  Davis, 
daughter  of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  (Adams) 
Davis. 

-Mr.  lluglu's  built  the  Exchange  Hotel,  and 
managed  it  two  years;  erected  the  first  steam  flour 
mill  at  Gadsden,  and  was  in  the  milling  business 
until  18T4,  whenhe  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Court. 
He  was  re-elected  Clerk  in  1880,  and  since  1886 
has  been  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business.  He 
owns  a  large  number  of  acres  of  land,  gives  some 
attention  to  agriculture:  is  interested  in  the  new 
(iadsden  hotel,  and  also  in  the  Gadsden  Land  and 
Iron  Company. 

Aside  from  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the  Court,  he 
has  been  several  times  a  member  of  the  City 
Council.  He  is  an  extensive  owner  of  mineral 
lands;  is  more  or  less  identified  with  the  leading 
industries  of  the  booming  town  of  (iadsden. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  ^[ethodist  Epis- 
copal Cliurcii,  and  Mr.  Hughes  is  a  Knight  of 
Honor.  I'heir  three  sons  are  named  William  F., 
Robert  S.  and  Preston  M. 

WILLIAM  CLINTON  BELLENGER,  Merchant, 
(iadsden,  was  born  in  Fulton  County,  (ia.,  .\pril 
15,  1850;  spent  the  first  fourteen  years  of  his  life 
upon  his  father's  farm,  and  received  his  education 
at  the  schools  of  Decatur,  that  State.  After 
leaving  school  he  followed  railroading  for  a  period 
of  about  si.x  years,  and  in  March,  18T4,  came  to 
Gadsden,  where,  with  Messrs.  Hodges  &  AV right, 
he  established  a  supply  store,  the  style  of  the 
firm  being  Hodges,  Bellenger  &  Wright.  In 
1875  Mr.  Hodges  withdrew,  and  the  firm  be- 
came Bellenger  &  Wright.  At  this  writing, 
and  after  two  or  three  changes  in  the  firm, 
the  style  of  the  firm  is  Bellenger  Bros.  Aside 
from  his  mercantile  business,  Mr.  Bellenger  is 
largely  interested  in  agrictilture,  and  is  more  or 
less  identified  with  various  leading  iiuhistries  in 
(iadsden.  He  started  in  life  relying  wholly  upon 
his  individual  effort  and  industry,  and  though 
yet  a  young  man,  he  has  succeeded  in  plac- 
ing himself  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest 
establishments  of   the  citv,  and  of  accumulating 


376 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


some  of  the  most  valuable  property  in  the  county. 
He  belongs  to  that  modern  class  of  Southern 
men  who  appear  to  have  come  to  the  surface  as 
if  by  magic,  and  whose  feats  in  enterprise  and 
progress  are  attracting  the  attention  of  the  civilized 
world . 

Mr.  Bellenger  was  married  October  \i,  18y2,  to 
Miss  Sallie  S.  Ealls,  the  accomplished  daughter  of 
Dr.  John  P.  Ealls,  of  Gadsden,  and  has  had  born 
to  him  two  cliildren:  Mary  and  Harry. 

John  Nelson  Bellenger,  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  a  native  South  Carolinian  and  a  pio- 
neer of  Georgia,  was  a  prominent  attorney,  and 
served  several  terms  as  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  house  of 
Representatives  in  the  Legislature  of  his  State 
several  terms;  was  prominently  identified  with 
church  work,  and  equally  prominent  as  a  Mason 
and  an  Odd  Fellow.  In  addition  to  the  law  and 
other  matters,  he  gave  much  attention  to  agricul- 
ture. At  the  Forks  of  Peach  Tree  Creek,  near 
Atlanta,  at  a  place  known  as  Bellenger  Springs, 
taking  its  name  from  Sir  Edward  Bellenger,  of 
England.  Judge  Bellenger  owned  an  extensive 
plantation,  which  is  probably  in  the  family  at  this 
writing.  Judge  Bellenger  died  in  July,  1853. 
Two  of  his  sons  served  gallantly  in  the  Confederate 
Army.  His  wife  was  Miss  Sarali  Ann  Collier  be- 
fore her  first  marriage.  She  was  a  native  of 
Atlanta,  and  was  the  widow  of  John  Patey. 


HERMAN  HERZBERG,  Merchant,  Gadsden,  was 
born  in  Westphalia.  Prussia,  September,  1837,  and 
is  a  son  of  Isaac  and  Helene  (Aronstein)  Ilerz- 
berg. 

Mr.  Herzberg  was  educated  in  the  old  country, 
graduated  at  Minden,  Prussia,  and  served  one 
year  as  volunteer  in  the  Prussian  Army.  He  i-e- 
ceived  his  commercial  training  at  Dortmund, 
Westphalia,  and  at  Cologne,  Rhenish  Prussia.  In 
1859  he  came  to  America  on  a  visit  to  relatives  in 
Georgia,  and  while  here  had  his  attention  called 
to  Gadsden  through  Civil  Engineer  Hardee,  then 
surveying  a  line  of  railroad  from  Dalton  to  Gads- 
den. The  latter  place  being  pointed  out  as  tlie 
terminus  of  the  Coosa  &  Tennessee,  the  Alabama 
&  Tennessee,  the  Wills"  A'alley,  and  other  rail- 
road lines,  he  was  induced  to  settle  at  this  place, 
and  did  so  in  the  summer  of  IS'iO.  In  the 
spring  of  1801  he  entered  the  Confederate  service 


as  a  private  soldier  in  Company  I,  Tenth  Ala- 
bama Infantry,  and  remained  in  the  service  until 
after  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg.  While  in  the 
army  he  participated  in  hard-fought  battles,  and 
at  Dranesville,  Ya.,  received  a  severe  gun-shot 
wound,  which  ultimately  necessitated  his  dis- 
charge from  the  service.  After  leaving  the  army 
he  returned  to  Gadsden,  and  has  here  since  made 
his  home. 

Mr.  Herzberg  brought  with  him  to  America  a 
considerable  sum  of  money,  but  the  close  of  the 
war  found  him  comparatively  penniless.  So  soon 
as  he  was  able  to  arrange  matters  he  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business,  which,  begun  in  a  small 
way,  has  long  since  grown  into  one  of  the  most 
extensive  enterprises  of  its  kind  in  Xorth  Ala- 
bama; in  fact,  it  is  probable  that  his  store  at 
Gadsden  is  the  largest  individual  concern  of  its 
character  north  of  Montgomery.  In  addition  to 
his  mercantile  business,  Mr.  Herzberg  is  exten- 
sively interested  in  the  manufacture  of  raw  lum- 
ber; is  a  large  stockholder  in  the  Gadsden  Fur- 
nace Company;  is  president  of  the  Gadsden 
Mineral  Land  Company;  president  of  the  Queen 
City  Electric  Light  Company;  director  in  the 
Gadsden  Land  and  Improvement  Company;  direc- 
tor in  the  First  National  Bank  of  (iadsden;  director 
in  the  Gadsden  Ice  Company,  and  is  more  or  less 
identified  with  various  enterprises' and  industries. 
He  was  the  first  buyer  of  cotton  at  Gadsden  since 
the  war;  is  active  in  every  way  in  developing  the 
town  and  its  best  interests;  owns  several  large 
farms  in  the  county,  and  acres  upon  acres  of  the 
finest  mineral  land  in  the  world.  He  was  one  of 
the  commissioners  to  call  an  election  to  in- 
corporate the  town  of  Gadsden,  and  afterwa^rd 
held  the  office  of  Alderman.  He  is  a  prominent 
Mason;  member  of  the  Chapter,  and  has  been  pre- 
siding officer  of  the  Council. 

Mr.  Herzberg  was  married  in  ilarch.  1S<;3,  to 
Miss  ^[ary  I.  Liddell,  daughter  of  W.  C.  Liddell, 
and  has  had  born  to  liim  five  children:  William  I., 
Albert,  Louis  L.,  Herman  and  Eva  B.  Mrs. 
Herzberg  died  in  October,  1884. 


SAMUEL  W.  BERGER,  Merchant,  Capitalist  and 
Manufacturer,  Gadsden,  was  born  in  Hungary, 
Austria,  May  12, 1857:  came  to  America  in  June, 
1870,  and  landed  in  New  York  City,  the  possessor 
of  Austrian  coin,  equivalent  in  value  to  forty  cents. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


377 


His  fiither,  Joseph  Berger,  was  a  fanner  and  flour 
(K'aler  in  Austria,  and  there  died  in  1S(;4. 

Tlie  subject  of  this  sketcli  was  educated  at  tlie 
scliools  of  llungar}-,  and  since  coming  to  America, 
by  dint  of  close  application  and  perseverance  in 
study,  he  has  possessed  himself  of  a  fair  English 
education. 

From  New  York  y[\\  Berger  came  direct  to 
Xashville,  Tenn.,  wiiere  for  the  first  two  years 
he  did  little  else  than  attend  school.  In  187"-i 
he  came  into  Alabama,  located  at  Tuscaloosa, 
and  was  there  in  the  ca})acity  of  a  salesman  in  a 
mercantile  establishment  eight  years.  He  came  to 
fJadsden  in  18<s0  from  Chattanooga,  whither  he 
had   gone  from  Tuscaloosa,  and  here  engaged  in 


the  dry  goods  business,  carrying  a  line  of  clothing, 
boots,  shoes,  etc.,  under  the  style  and  firm  name 
of  S.  W.  Berger  &  Co.  His  partner,  Mr.  Love- 
man,  died  in  the  spring  of  1887,  since  which  time 
Jlr.  Berger  has  been  solo  proprietorof  the  immense 
business. 

In  addition  to  his  mercantile  interests,  in  which 
he  lias  regularly  invested  about  *4(t,000,  Mr.  Ber- 
ger is  identified  with  various  other  important  in- 
dustries. He  was  one  of  the  incorporators  and 
prime  movers  in  the  establishment  of  the  Gadsden 
Metallic  Paint  Mill,  and  is  its  vice-president.  He 
is  a  large  stockholder  and  a  director  in  the  First 
Natioiuil  Bank.  Altogether,  he  is  one  of  the 
active,  progressive  business  men  of  Gadsden. 


V. 
CULLMAN. 


The  founder  of  the  above-named  colonv,  Mr. 
John  (j.  Cullmaun,  brought  the  first  immigrants 
into  the  State  of  Alabama,  to  Tuscumbia  and 
Florence,  during  the  years  1871  and  1873.  As 
the  land  at  these  cities  and  their  surroundings 
was  chiefly  private  property,  it  had  to  be  either 
purchased  or  secured  by  contract  for  the  settle- 
ment of  immigrants,  which  was  a  difficult  task, 
as  under  the  then  existing  circumstances  and  the 
condition  of  the  country,  many  large  real  estate 
property  holders  were  not  in  favor  of  immigration 
on  the  one  side,  and,  on  the  other,  the  Xortliern 
and  Eastern  press  did  all  in  their  power  to  discour- 
age immigration  to  the  South.  On  the  29th  of 
September,  1872,  the  railroad  from  Decatur  to 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  was  completed;  the  South  & 
North  Alabama  Kailroad  Company  did  own,  on 
both  sides  of  said  road,  large  tracts  of  lands  in  the 
mountain  regions,  of  which  Mr.  Cullmann  about 
349,000  acres  for  the  establishment  of  a  colony 
secured  said  lands  were  situated;  in  Townships  9, 
10  and  11,  and  extending  fifteen  miles  on  each  side 
of  the  said  railroad,  east  and  west. 

On  January  5,  1873,  Mr.  John  G.  Cullmaun 
called  the  first  meeting  of  citizens  at  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  for  the  jJurjjose  of  inviting  and  encouraging 
immigration  to  the  South,  and  especially  to  estab- 
lish his  colony  on  the  table-lands  of  Nortli  Ala- 
bama, on  the  South  &  North  Alabama  Railroad; 
fifteen  families  declared  their  intention  to  immi- 
grate to  the  Sunny  South  at  that  meeting. 

The  spot  selected  for  the  location  of  the  colony 
was  then  a  jjerfect  wilderness;  no  roads,  no 
bridges  across  the  streams,  no  houses,  nor  any 
signs  of  life  in  the  surrounding  country  was  visi- 
ble, with  the  exception  of  the  huts  formerly  oc- 
cujiied  by  laborers  engaged  in  constructing  the 
railroad.  It  was  a  difficult  task  to  turn  the  tide 
of  immigi-ation  South,  as  the  natural  course  of  the 
the  same  was  from  the  East  to  the  West,  where  great 
and  attractive  inducements  were  offered  to  the 
immigrants,  to  accomplish  the  object  of  inducing 
immigrants  to  go  South,  he  found  large  and  many 


obstacles  in  his  way  as  well  in  the  North  and  the 
East,  as  in  the  South  itself. 

What  energy  and  perseverance  can  accomplish 
has  been  proved  by  the  success  of  the  colony.  At 
the  end  of  the  month  of  April,  187.3,  the  first  five 
families,  consisting  of  ten  persons,  arrived  here 
from  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  on  the  1st  day  of  May, 
187.3,  the  first  tree  was  felled  for  the  founding  of 
the  first  house  of  the  colony;  and  that  the  colony 
has  been  a  success  its  present  prosperous  condition 
is  a  living  proof.  As  a  general  rule,  the  first  set- 
tlers in  such  colonies  are  chiefly  poor  and  need 
assistance.  So  was  it  here.  All  necessary  jiro- 
visions,  building  materials — in  fact,  everything — 
had  to  be  brought  here,  in  the  beginning,  from 
abroad,  and  thereby  were  the  expenses  and  i^rices 
for  the  same  considerably  increased. 

In  the  month  of  January,  1874,  already  123 
families  had  settled  here,  and  stej^s  were  taken  to 
incorjjorate  the  town  of  Cullman.  A  Catholic 
and  a  Protestant  church  were  in  jirogress  of  erec- 
tion, schools  opened,  and  the  streets  of  the  town, 
100  feet  wide,  were  cleared  of  trees  and  under- 
growth. Everywhere  could  be  seen  the  industry 
and  energy  of  the  sturdy  settler. 

Lumber  was  a  scarce  article,  with  no  saw- 
mills in  the  colony.  Mr.  T.  C.  Wilhite  offered 
to  locate  one  near  the  present  town,  which  mill 
was  in  operation  shortly  afterward,  and  he  re- 
ceived one  block  of  building  lots,  where  his  jjres- 
ent  residence  is  standing,  as  a  gift  from  the  rail- 
road company.  The  building  of  houses  then  com- 
menced, and  in  a  few  weeks  a  nice  and  thrifty 
town  had  risen  from  the  ground  where  a  few 
months  previous  had  been  a  wilderness,  the  resort 
of  the  deer,  fox  and  catamount.  The  first  hotel, 
the  '•■  Pioneer  Hotel,"  was  from  hewn  logs,  con- 
structed two  stories  high,  but  unhappily  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  1878.  On  the  site  of  it  the 
present  "Pioneer  Hotel"  was  erected  of  brick 
made  in  the  colony.  Until  the  same  was  com- 
pleted, immigrants  had  to  content  themselves  with 
most  anything  in  the  shape  of  quarters,  and  dur- 


378 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


379 


ing  rainy  days  or  nights  had  to  use  the  umbrella 
to  prevent  getting  drenched  with  the  rain  oven 
inside  their  quarters,  ^'ery  often  immigrants  were 
from  one  to  two  miles  either  above  or  below  the 
colony  disembarked  from  the  passenger  trains, 
which  generally  arrived  here  about  one  or  two 
o'clock  at  night,  and  had  to  hunted  for  witli  the 
lantern,  so  that  they  could  be  made  as  comfortable 
as  possible  for  the  remainder  of  the  night. 

In  the  surrounding  country  of  the  town  of  Cull- 
man farms  were  located,  lands  cleared,  fences 
built,  grape  vines  and  orchards  planted  out,  roads 
opened;  in  the  town  the  streets  were  cleared  of  all 
the  stumps,  and  houses  built  to  accommodate  the 
new-comers  and  the  many  mechanics  needed  in 
the  erection  of  the  many  houses.  At  the  same  time, 
Mr.  John  G.  Cullmann,  the  father  of  the  colony 
and  the  soul  of  the  whole  enterprise,  went  to  the 
East  and  to  the  West,  held  meetings,  made  speeches 
and  lectured,  stating  to  the  people  the  many 
advantages  tiie  South  did  offer  to  industrious 
immigrants  in  preference  to  the  West,  with  its 
cold  climate,  long  winters  and  blizzards. 

In  the  fall  of  1873  ilr.  (f.  A.  Prinz  commenced 
the  building  of  his  storehouse,  and  supplied  the 
-same  with  well-selected  stocks  of  general  merclian- 
dise,  which  establishment  was  of  great  benefit  and 
advantage  to  the  colony.  Mr.  John  G.  Cullmann 
employed  agents  everywhere  to  distribute  his 
pamphlets;  he  advertised  the  colony  extensively  in 
the  leading  papers  in  the  East  and  the  West,  in 
conssfpience  of  which  tlie  immigration  during  the 
years  1874-'75  considerably  increased.  In  the 
same  years  the  cultivation  of  grapes  was  extensive- 
ly commenced,  and  the  furniture  factory  estab- 
lished. 

The  press  also  was  not  neglected;  a  German 
paper  was  established  in  1875,  and  in  1870 
an  English  print — The  Southern  Immigranl — by 
.Mr.  Charles  A.  Beckert.  From  the  latter  we  copy 
the  following  article,  dated  May  ".^7,  1876: 

"  The  town  of  Cullman  is  situated  witliin  four 
or  five  miles  of  the  summit  of  Sand  Mountain,  in 
Xorth  Alabama,  and  is  on  the  line  of  the  South 
&  North  Alal)ama  Railroad,  which  is  in  direct 
connection  with  the  L.  N.  and  (u-eat  S.  R.  R.  It 
is  thirty-three  miles  from  Decatur,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-eight  miles  from  Montgomery,  the 
capital  city  of  Alabama. 

"  In  1872,  upon  the  completion  of  the  South  & 
Xorth  Alabama  Railroad,  the  Com])any  laid  off 
a  section  of  land  for  the   purpose   of   building  a 


town,  and  Col.  John  G.  Cullmann.  who  had  been 
very  successful  in  building  up  towns  and  bringing 
immigration  to  the  South,  conceived  the  idea  of 
building  up  a  German  colony.  The  future  town 
was  then  laid  off  into  avenues  and  streets,  and 
received  the  name  of  Cullman,  after  the  honora- 
ble gentleman  of  that  name.  Colonel  Cullmann, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  W.  0.  Meisner,  his  able  assist- 
ant, soon  after  came  to  the  new  colony,  and 
for  some  time  lived  in  a  small  log  cabin,  the  only 
house  then  in  the  place.  Immigration  of  Ger- 
mans from  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois  then  com- 
menced. 

"  The  first  families  arrived  in  JIarch,  18T:5.  In 
June,  187:3,  the  sale  of  Government  and 
Railroad  lands  commenced  in  earnest,  and  over 
one  hundred  thousand  acres  have  been  sold  since 
then,  and  upward  of  fifteen  hundred  souls  have 
been  added  to  Blount  and  Winston  Counties — and 
the  land  which  was  considered  as  valueless,  is  now 
producing  fine  crops  of  grain,  cereals  and  fruit. 
In  1874,  new  arrivals  of  immigrants  were  daily 
occurrences,  and  the  niiijority  of  them  either  en- 
tered Government  or  bought  Railroad  lands  and 
proceeded  at  once  to  build  homes  and  to  cultivate 
the  soil.  "While,  however,  the  county  was  increas- 
ing in  farmers,  the  town  was  fast  building  up. 
Colonel  Cullmann  had  built  his  palatial  residence, 
numerous  mechanics,  store-keepers,  hotels  and 
business  houses  sprang  into  existence,  and  the 
town  commenced  to  assume  business  proportions. 
A  spacious  and  handsome  depot  was  built  by  the 
Railroad  Company,  and  in  a  few  months  after,  the 
Legislature  of  Alabama  passed  an  act  incorporating 
Cullman  as  a  town.  A  mayor  was  elected,  also 
the  other  municipal  officers,  and  it  ranked  among 
the  towns  of  Alabama.  Immigration  from  the 
West  still  continued  to  fiow  in  ;  many  came  from 
Ohio  to  see  the  new  colony,  and  returned  aston- 
ished at  its  progress. 

"The  first  fire  occurred  on  the  17th  day  of 
^farch,  187<i,  and,  singularly,  the  first  house 
built  was  destroyed. 

'•  In  l87-t  an  agricultural  fair  was  held  here,  and 
and  the  productions  displayed  astonished  even  the 
natives  themselves. 

"Cullman  at  the  j)resent  writing  is  in  a  high  state 
of  improvement.  Tiie  colony  presents  a  glorious 
scene  to  tlu-  eye  of  the  practical  farmer.  The  sub- 
stantial and  improved  buildings  erected  by  the 
German  immigrantsattractattention,and  the  well- 
kept  fences  show  an  amount  of  industry  and  thrift 


380 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


only  to  be  found  with  this  incomparable  people. 
The  hillsides  are  covered  with  grapevines,  the 
summits  with  promising  young  orchards,  while 
orchards,  while  the  valleys  and  coves  are  full  of 
waving  grain.  Thrift  and  industry  everywhere 
Ijrevail,  and  lands  are  now  selling  readily  at  from 
$5  to  §20  per  acre,  while  a  few  years  since  a  whole 
farm  of  from  forty  to  oighty  aci'es  was  ''  swapped 
for  a  wagon  and  yoke  of  steers.'  The  taxable 
amount  of  property  was  very  little,  and  this  por- 
tion of  the  county  was  regarded  as  the  poorest. 
Now  the  taxes  amount  to  thousands  of  dollars. 

'•■  The  town  presents  fully  as  much  improvement 
as  the  colony— from  nothing  the  population  has 
sprung  to  fully  eight  hundred,  or  about  fifteen 
hundred  in  the  whole  colony.  Manufacturing  has 
a  firm  foothold  here,  as  also  the  mechanical  arts. 
The  four  hotels  and  private  boarding  houses  are 
constantly  full,  and  the  merchants  are  doing  a 
good  business.  Trade  that  formerly  went  to 
Decatur  now  comes  here,  and  our  merchants  keep 
on  hand  large  and  varied  stocks.  Xew  buildings 
are  constantly  being  built,  and  there  is  now  in 
course  of  erection  a  fine  hotel,  to  be  built  entirely 
with  brick,  and  to  contain  twenty  rooms,  besides 
office,  waiting  room  and  bar.  The  isostofRce  is  in 
a  separate  building  and  is  also  a  money  order  office, 
the  only  one  between  Decatur  and  Birmingham. 

"  Communications  by  mail  and  telegrajih  are  here 
found,  uniting  Cullman  with  the  outside  world, 
and  the  products  of  the  vine  or  orchard  can  be 
put  upon  the  Louisville  or  Cincinnati  markets  in 
less  than  twenty-four  hours.  The  lots,  in  size, 
are  165  feet  front  by  1.3'^  feet  deep,  and  are  sold 
at  $50,  payable  in  four  yearly  installments,  and 
the  deeds  are  given  warranty;  no  danger  what- 
ever exists  as  to  legality  of  titles,  as  Congress  and 
the  State  Legislature  have  turned  over  these  lands 
in  full. 

•'  There  are  now  in  the  town  three  first- 
class  hotels,  and  another  in  course  of  erection — 
two  churches,  Catholic  and  Lutheran,  also  two 
daily  schools,  which  are  ably  conducted;  a  new 
school-house,  intended  as  a  high  school,  will  soon 
be  erected,  and  it  is  expected  students  from  a 
distance  will  attend.  Five  grocery  and  dry  goods 
establishments  supply  the  wants  of  the  people, 
and  a  first  class  tannery  is  doing  a  good  business 
in  home-made  leather.  A  merchants'  flour  and 
grist  mill  is  kejit  constantly  running,  and  put  up 
flour  in  barrels  and  sacks. 

"  The  large  amount  of  tobacco  here  raised  is  man- 


ufactured into  cigars  by  our  home  manufactory, 
which  cigars  command  a  ready  sale  and  have 
acquired  a  first-class  reputation.  The  lager  beer 
brewery,  situated  about  a  mile  from  town,  makes 
a  large  fjiiantity  of  beer,  which  finds  a  ready  mar- 
ket in  the  adjoining  towns,  as  well  as  in  the  four 
saloons  and  beer  garden  erected  for  the  recreation 
of  the  people.  One  drug  store,  one  butcher 
shop,  watchmaker,  hardware  store,  and  several 
millinery  establishments  are  doing  well,  and  a 
large  building,  intended  as  a  cabinet-maker's 
shop,  also  a  large  house,  intended  for  a  merchant 
tailor's  business,  are  in  course  of  erection.  The 
furniture  factory  is  in  full  operation  and  turns 
out  furniture  of  any  description,  as  well  as  win- 
dow sash,  blinds  and  doors ;  the  business  is  con- 
ducted on  the  co-ojieration  plan. 

"We  have  two  able  jjhysicians,  and  the  legal 
fraternity  is  represented  here  liy  four  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Blackstone.  Several  saw-mills  are  kej^t 
constantly  running  to  supply  the  demand  for  lum- 
ber for  building  jnirposes,  and  good  mechanics 
find  ready  emjjloyment.  The  soil  is  well  adapted 
to  the  culture  of  grajies,  and  vegetables  grow  lux- 
uriantly. The  town  is  well  supplied  with  farm 
pi-oduce,  and  large  quantities  of  butter  and  eggs 
are  shipi^ed  to  southern  ports,  while  early  fruit 
and  vegetables  find  ready  sale  in  the  northern  mar- 
kets. About  two  miles  from  the  town  a  splendid 
'  show '  of  coal  may  be  seen,  and  ere  long  this 
commodity  will  be  excavated  and  utilized. 

"  That  the  colony  and  town  will  be  a  grand  suc- 
cess is  nowhere  for  one  moment  doubted.  The 
immense  stream  of  immigration  which  daily  jaours 
in,  made  up,  as  it  is,  of  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the 
Northwest  and  Europe,  must,  ei'e  longj  with  their 
indomitable  perseverance,  drag  out  success  and 
fortune  from  the  heretofore  barren  hills.  The 
tobacco  crop  is  J'early  increasing  and  will  prove  a 
piaying  investment.  The  immense  amount  of 
early  fruit  which  can  be  thrown  from  here  into 
the  Northern  market,  insures  alone  a  good  return — 
then  there  are  hundreds  of  investments  which 
will  follow  in  the  train  of  these  successes.  Iron 
foundries  are  sure  to  be  erected  at  no  late  day — 
indeed,  the  land  is  now  being  jirepared  for  the 
erection  of  an  iron  foundry  by  a  gentleman  from 
Cincinnati.  On  every  hand  Cullman  jiresents  the 
grand  motto  of  '  Excelsior.' 

"  After  this  attempt  to  give  an  idea  of  the  re- 
sources of  Cullman  and  vicinity,  we  will  close  by 
earnestly  inviting  the  men  of   the  bleak  North- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


381 


west  to  come  and  cast  their  lots  with  us,  and  also 
tiiDse  who  are  dissatisfied  with  their  homes  fur- 
ther South  to  come  to  North  Alabanui.  Our 
summers  are  pleasant  and  never  too  hot;  our 
winters  uro  moderate,  witli  frost  and  snow  ahnost 
unknown.  The  best  free-stone  water  is  in  abund- 
anue,  and  can  be  obtained  by  digging  only  fifteen 
or  twenty  feet.  Wheat,  rye,  oats,  peas,  beans, 
corn,  ])otatoes,  sugar-cane,  clover,  liay,  all  descrij)- 
tions  of  vegetables  and  fruits,  are  yearly  raised 
alnindantly,  and  the  soil  appears  chemically  suited 
to  the  production  of  grapes — indeed,  the  grapes  of 
Alabama  rival  those  of  Italy  and  Germany. 

'•The  health  of  the  colony  is  such  that  but  one 
death  has  taken  place  since  IST-t,  and  no  grave- 
yard has  yet  been  started.  Those  who  intend  to 
go  into  stock  raising  will  find  this  an  admirable 
country.  Great  i|uantities  of  grass  can  be  ob- 
tained all  the  year  round,  while  the  woods  abound 
with  all  descriptions  of  timber. 

•' (ireat  quantities  of  (iovernment  land  ran  be 
ol)tained  near  here,  and  a  number  of  Union 
soldiers  have  entered  lands  here,  are  doing  well, 
and  invite  their  old  comrades  to  join  them  in 
this  modern  Eldorado.  The  railroad  company 
has  also  tracts  of  land  which  can  be  bought 
at  low  figures  and  on  liberal  terms,  while  improved 
farms,  ready  to  walk  into,  can  be  found  any  time, 
and  at  very  reasonable  figures.  Immigrants  com- 
ing South  to  Cullman  are  passed  over  the  several 
railroads  at  half  fare,  and  their  freight  at  greatly 
reduced  rates.  When  you  arrive,  comfortable 
hotels  will  take  care  of  you  at  reduced  prices,  and 
real  estate  agents  will  take  pleasure  in  showing 
you  land  until  you  are  satisfied.  We  invite  you  to 
come — come  with  all  your  own  ideas,  creeds  and 
opinions — come  in  your  independence  of  manhood, 
as  you  have  a  right  to  do,  and  settle  here  in  the 
garden  spot  of  the  South.  Here  you  will  find  men 
from  nearly  all  portions  of  the  world,  all  uniting 
to  earn  a  competency,  and  to  unite  with  their 
Southern  brethren  in  healing  uji  the  old  sore  of 
sectional  dislike  and  hatred." 

In  the  year  IST'.t,  ilr.  John  G.  Culinuinn  com- 
menced the  publication  of  the  i^'nr/Ii  Alahnmii 
Colonist,  in  the  English  and  (ierman  languages. 
This  paper  was  entirely  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  immigration  to  the  South,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  mineral  and  agricultural  resources  of 
Alabama,  and  especially  of  North  Alabama,  and 
has  been  to  some  great  extent  the  means  of  turn- 
ing the  tide  of  immigration  to  the  South. 


Until  February.  1877,  the  present  county  of 
Cullman  was  still  part  of  lilount,  Winston  and 
Morgan  Counties:  to  organize  a  separate  county  a 
population  of  9,.5UU  inhabitants  was  required, 
and,  in  1810,  after  the  census  had  been  taken,  it 
showed  the  required  population,  and  a  bill  was 
introduced  in  the  upper  house  of  the  Legislature 
of  Alabanui,  by  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Inzor,  to  organize 
the  county  of  Cullman,  which  bill  was  also 
defeated  by  the  same  Senator  Inzor  in  the  House 
of  the  Legislature,  after  it  ]>assed  in  the  Senate, 
as  will  be  seen   from    the  following  letters: 

Blouxtsville,  Al.\.,  .March  .">,  IST'!. 
Hon.  L.  M.   Wihon: 

On  reaching  this  place,  I  find  the  ])eople  here 
much  opposed  to  the  creation  of  the  new  county 
of  Cullnum.  They  say  they  have  had  no  oppor- 
tunity to  be  heard.     Please  oppose  the  bill. 

Yours  truly,  .1.    W.   Ixzoi:. 

Bl.OLXT.sviLLE,  Al.\..  .March  C,  1S;0. 
Hi))(.  John  M.  C.   Wharton: 

De.\k  Sik:  On  arriving  here,  I  find  the  peoiile 
much  opposed  to  the  creation  of  the  new  county 
of  Cullman.  I  trust  you  will  vigilantly  oppose 
the  measure.  They  say  they  have  had  no  chance 
to  be  heard  on  this  subject. 

Yours  truly,  J.   W.   Ixzoi;. 

This  defeat  did  not  discourage  the  sturdy  set- 
tlers. In  the  following  election,  lion,  liret  Ran- 
dolph, of  Blount  County,  was  elected  State  Sena- 
tor, who  promised  to  use  all  his  influence  to  secure 
us  the  organization  of  a  new  county:  and  lion.  W. 
M.  Crump,  of  \'iola,  Blount  County,  was  elected 
liepresentative.  lie  was  a  true  friend  to  the  colo- 
nists, and  did  prove  so  by  the  interest  he  took  in 
securing  the  bill;  he  introduced  the  .same  in  the 
House,  which  was  jtassed  with  eighty-two  against 
two  votes.  In  the  Senate  a  Senator,  who  was 
elected  on  the  pledge  of  supporting  the  bill, 
opjiosed  the  same.  He  went  so  far  as  to  say:  "  It 
would  be  better  to  build  a  poor-house  at  Cullman, 
instead  of  a  court-house."  Notwithstanding  his 
opposition,  the  bill  for  the  creation  of  the  county 
of  Cullman  passed  in  the  Senate  on  the  ••i4th  day 
of  February,  l.sT?,  with  twenty-two  against  seven 
votes,  and  was  signed  by  the  Governor  at  once. 

As  the  State  at  that  time  had  not  the  means  to 
practically  further  immigration,  the  creation  of 
the  new  county  was  an  advertisement  that  the 
State  wanted  immigration,  and  every  one  of  the 


382 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  gentlemen  who  voted  for  the  bill  will  i^robably 
by  this  time  have  noticed  the  grand  fruits  har- 
vested from  the  seed  sown  by  the  i:)assage  of  the 
bill. 

An  election  was  ordered  by  the  Governor  of 
Alabama,  to  be  held  on  March  G,  1877,  for  all  the 
necessary  county  officers,  and  the  organization  of 
the  countv  was  comjileted. 

In  March,  1878,  steps  were  taken  for  the  build- 
ing of  a  court-house  in  the  town  of  Cullman, 
which  place  had  been  selected  as  the  county  seat, 
and  in  April  of  tlie  same  year  the  contract  for  the 
building  of  the  same  was  awarded  to  Mr.  Nelson, 
a  resident  of  the  town,  for  15,100.  The  same  was 
completed  and  received  by  the  county  commis- 
sioners on  February  10,  1879,  costing  in  all,  with 
extra  labor,  about  So, GOO,  and  Cullman  has  one 
of  the  finest  conrt-houses  on  the  line  of  railroad 
or  in  North  Alabama,  built  of  brick  made  at 
home. 

Immigration  increased  rapidly  since  tlie  county 
had  been  organized,  industries  of  all  kinds  were 
inaugurated,  among  them  a  furniture  factory 
operated  by  Mr.  Adam  Dreher,  an  energetic  and 
enterprising  business  man;  a  steam  flouring  mill; 
wagon  factory  carried  on  by  the  Hammer  Bros. ; 
cigar  factories  which  jjrincipally  manufacture 
cigars  from  tobacco  raised  in  the  colony;  a  tannery 
and  many  other  enterprises  which  have  been  car- 
ried on  with  success. 

On  the  14th  day  of  June,  1883,  the  Wine  Com- 
pany of  Cullman  organized  itself  with  a  capital  of 
$20,000;  Col.  John  G.  Cullmann,  president;  his 
son,  Astor  Cullmann,  as  secretary  and  treasurer; 
and  G.  P.  H.  Fruhauff,  superintendent,  and  built 
large  and  magnificent  cellars  and  buildings  for  the 
manufacture  and  storage  of  domestic  wines,  the 
grapes  of  which  were  raised  by  the  colonists,  and 
are  of  a  superior  quality. 

This  establishment  did  give  the  grape  culture 
a  new  impetus,  and  many  acres  were  planted  out 
with  the  finest  and  best  varieties.  !Many  farmers 
commenced  to  pay  special  attention  to  the  culture 
of  strawberries,  and  has  proved  to  be  a  success,  so 
that  to-day  hundreds  of  bushels  of  that  delicious 
fruit  are  shipped  daily  to  the  Northern  and  even 
Southern  markets.  This  all  has  been  accom- 
plished through  the  indomitable  energy  and  perse- 
verance of  the  founder  of  the  colony,  Mr.  John 
6.  Cullmann,  without  any  aid  from  the  State  of 
Alabama  or  any  other  person  or  organization. 

There  are  about  twenty-seven  saw-mills  in  the 


county,  and  in  the  town  four  hotels  fitted  up 
with  all  the  comforts  for  travelers:  eighteen  stores- 
filled  with  the  necessary  articles  used  for  the  set- 
tlers; one  bank;  two  livery  stables;  two  steam  cot- 
ton gins;  two  tailor  shops;  two  millinery  estab- 
lishments; five  saloons;  one  saddler  shop;  one  real 
estate  agency,  carried  on  by  Capt.  Charles  A. 
Beckert;  one  tonsorial  saloon;  two  drug  stores; 
one  permanent  photograph  gallery,  one  cooper 
shop,  which  manufacture  large  quantities  of  barrels 
for  the  oil  factories  in  the  different  jiarts  of  the 
South  from  our  own  sjilendid  timber;  we  have  also 
six  churches,  one  high  school,  and  public  and  pri- 
vate schools,  in  fact,  what  concerns  education, 
there  is  no  other  place  of  the  same  age  and  size 
which  has  the  same  facilities  for  educating  the 
growing  up  generation  as  we  have,  and  especially 
on  account  of  our  healthy  and  invigorating  cli- 
mate, students  from  abroad  are  coming  in  daily, 
and  are  well  pleased:  the  highschool  is  under  the 
efficient  management  of  Professor  Wood,  for- 
merly of  Ilartsell's,  Ala.,  a  town  about  twenty 
miles  north  of  Cullman. 

All  kinds  of  products  and  cereals  are  raised  here, 
and  find  an  excellent  home  market  and  in  the  ad- 
jacent mining  and  manufacturing  cities.  As  a 
summer  as  well  as  a  winter  resort  this  town  can  not 
be  excelled,  as  the  average  temperature  in  the 
spring  is59. 8°  Fahrenheit,  in  summer  77.7,  and  in 
the  winter  4.5°,  with  a  light  breeze  all  the  summer 
through,  being  about  eight  hundred  feet  above 
sea  level.  The  town  of  Cullman  has  at  present 
over  2,500  inhabitants,  and  the  number  is  steadily 
increasing.  The  population  of  the  county  is  esti- 
mated at  about  17,000,  including  several  jirosper- 
ous  towns  and  villages. 

From  1873  to  1886,  Col.  John  (i.  Cullmann  was 
agent  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad,  and 
had  the  control  and  sale  of  500,000  acres  of  land 
belonging  to  said  Louisville  ilt  Nashville  Rail- 
road Comjiany,  lying  within  fifteen  miles  on  each 
side  of  said  railroad,  from  Decatur  to  Montgonier}', 
including  about  200,000  acres  of  valuable  mineral 
lands;  through  his  energy  and  perseverance  he 
sold  many  thousands  of  acres  of  said  lands  to  actu- 
al settlers  and  immigrants,  who  have  built  them- 
selves p)leasant  and  comfortable  homes,  and  made 
out  of  a  wilderness  the  garden  spot  of  North  Ala- 
bama. 

To  have  a  better  field  of  operation  and  to  be 
more  independent  Colonel  Cullmann  organized  in 
the  month  of  February,  188G,  the  North  Alabama 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


383 


Land  Company,  with  paid  up  capital  of  ^150, 000. 
Col.  John  (t.  Ciillmann  was  elected  general  man- 
ager of  said  company,  on  account  of  his  knowl- 
edge as  to  induce  immigration  to  the  colony,  and 
his  excellent  business  qualitications;  this  company 
purchased  from  the  Louisville  I'i:  Nashville  Railroad 
Company  about  loii.OOO  acres  of  land,  besides  all 
the  vacant  lots  in  the  town  of  Cullman. 

Jluring  the  summer  of  the  same  year.  Colonel 
Cullmann  went  to  Europe,  visited  Germany  and 
Switzerland,  appointed  immigration  agents,  and 
made  all  the  necessary  arrangements  for  a  future 
large  immigration  to  this  colony  and  the  South 
gei»erall3'.  He  met  in  all  parts  of  the  old  country, 
where  he  is  well-known,  with  great  encourage- 
ment. 

On  June  10,  188i,  the  North  Alabama  Land 
and  luimigration  Company  was  organized  and 
chartered,  with  a  capital  stock  of  ^2.50(1,000,  and 
purchased  all  the  above-mentioned  lands  from  the 
North  Ahibama  Land  C'ompany,  including  town 
lots:  the  following  gentlemen  were  elected  officers 
of  said  company:  -M.  L.  Jloses,  of  Montgomery, 
Ala.,  president:  IL  liulman,  Terre  Haute,  Ind., 
vice-president;  Louis  Duenweeg,  Terre  Haute, 
Ind.,  secretary:  W.  L.  Chambers,  Sheffield,  Ala., 
treasurer;  John  G.  Cullmann,  Cullman,  Ala., 
manager. 

These  gentlemen  are  all  wide-awake  and  ener- 
getic business  men,  and  prominently  known  in 
business  circles,  and  are  giving  tlie  enterprise  the 
positive  assurance  of  success. 

Tiie  Company  has  purchased  a  Diamond  Drill 
and  steam  power  to  operate  the  same,  and  are  at 
l)resent  engaged  \inder  the  superintendency  of  J[r. 
A.  (J.  ilanmann,  in  boring  and  prospecting  for 
coal  and  other  minerals  along  the  line  of  the  rail- 
road, and  are  meeting  with  fair  prosjiect  of  suc- 
cess. 

Another  company,  the  Cullman  Land  and  Im- 
provement Company,  was  organized  in  January, 
l!S87,  with  a  capital  of  ¥1(1,000,  uiuler  the  man- 
agement of  Mr.  George  H.  Parker,  president, 
and  Wm.  Bauer  as  secretary  and  treasurer.  This 
company  commenced  the  boring  of  an  artesian 
well  in  the  town  of  Cullman,  to  supply  the  town 
with  sufficient  water  for  all  manufacturing  pur- 
poses. A  well  to  the  depth  of  1,-ioO  feet  was  sunk, 
wlien  the  auger  stuck  fast  and  could  not  be  re- 
moved. The  well  affords,  as  it  is  now,  abund- 
ant water  for  all  demands,  but  the  same  has  to  be 
pumped,  and  a  steam  pump  has  for  this   purpose 


been  purchased  by  the  company,  and    is   now   in 
progress  of  erection. 

We  advise  all  who  desire  to  select  a  new  home 
for  themselves  in  the  South,  to  pay  the  thriving 
town  of  Cullman  and  the  colony  of  Cullman  a 
visit  before  they  make  their  selection,  and  we  are 
confident  that  they  will  be  jileased  and  satisfied 
with  their  choice.  There  are  thousands  of  acres 
of  lands  vacant  and  awaiting  the  sturdy  arm  of 
the  settler  to  open  tiie  same  for  cultivation. 

JOHN  GOTTFRIED  CULLMANN.  General 
^lanager  of  the  Xoith  Alabama  Laud  and  Immi- 
gration Company,  Culman,  Ala.,  was  born  on 
the  Rhine,  in  Bavaria,  July  'I,  18"23;  came  to 
America  in  18G5,  and  to  Alabama  in  1811.  In 
January  of  the  latter  year  he  arrived  first  at 
Florence,  where  he  met  the  Hon.  Robert  M.  Pat- 
ton,  ex-Governor  of  Alabama,  wiio,  taking  an 
interest  in  Mr.  Cullmann  and  his  enterprise,  fur- 
nished horses  and  wagons  for  the  explorations  of 
the  surrounding  country,  which  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  German  colony  in  that  part  of  the 
State. 

Colonel  Cullmann  remained  at  Florence  for 
something  like  two  years,  when  he  removed  to 
Tuscumbia,  and  there  made  his  home  probably 
twelve  months.  Having  met  in  December,  1S72, 
Mr.  Fink,  of  the  North  and  South  Railroad,  and 
with  him  traveled  over  the  Louisville  it  Nashville 
Railroad,  he  succeeded  through  that  gentleman 
in  closing  a  contract  with  said  railroad  company, 
for  about  3411,000  acres  of  land.  The  terms  of 
the  conveyance  in  brief  were  to  the  effect  that 
Colouel  Cullmann  sliould  pay  all  the  exi)enses  of 
advertising,  and  those  incident  to  the  bringing  to 
America  the  desired  immigration  for  this  particu- 
lar territory.  In  lo73  Colonel  Cullmann  located 
where  now  stands  the  town  of  Cullman,  a  small 
colony  consisting  of  fourteen  (ierman  families,  and 
proceeded  to  lay  out  the  town  which  thenceforth 
had  an  existence,  and  has  since  grown  to  be  one 
of  the  most  important  places  of  its  kind  in  the 
South. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  this  sketch,  the 
writer  wishes  to  lay  down  in  general  terms  this 
proposition,  to-wit:  That  Col.  .John  (L  Cullmann 
has  done  more  during  the  brief  period  of  his 
citizenship  towards  building  up  and  advancing 
the  interests  of  Alabama  and  the  South  than  any 


384 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


other  twenty  men  in  the  State.  True,  he  has  not 
develojjed  any  immense  Red  Mountain  ore  banks, 
nor  has  he  manipulated  any  city  building  schemes, 
such  as  converting  old  fields  into  corner  lots;  he 
has  not  built  many  '•  dummy  lines,"  nor  any  iron 
furnaces  on  paper,  and  many  other  things  he  has 
not  done,  but  he  has  brought  into  the  State  and 
located  over  100,000  people,  and  all  under  his 
immediate  personal  supervision.  His  son,  Otto 
Cullmann,  came  to  America  in  1878,  and  was  asso- 
ciated with  him  for  some  time  in  the  management 
of  the  Cullmann  Land  Company.  Otto  died  in 
1884,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years. 

Col.  Cullmann's  eldest  son  was  associated  with 
him  as  one  of  the  original  founders  of  Cullman. 
He  was  a  young  man  of  extraordinary  attainments, 
and  was  the  pride  of  an  indulgent  father.  He 
died  in  18T3,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years.  It 
was  some  time  after  his  death  that  Otto  came  to 
America. 

Colonel  Cullmann,  at  the  schools  of  his  native 
country,  received  a  thorough  education,  and  he 
was  there  a  man  of  marked  influence.  He  was 
a  wholesale  merchant  in  his  native  citj%  and 
exported  many  goods  to  America,  but  entertaining 
some  ideas  not  altogether  comjjatible  with  those 
of  the  German  Government,  and  being  a  man 
possessed  to  the  fullest  extent  of  the  courage  of 
his  convictions,  he  was  soon  in  the  midst  of  a 
revolution,  at  least  in  an  attempt  at  a  revolu- 
tion, and  he  acquired  his  title  of  Colonel  at  that 
time,  by  being,  as  he  says,  for  the  period  of  one 
day,  in  the  command  of  a  regiment  of  revolu- 
tionists. 

In  1878,Colonel  Cullmann  entered  into  additional 
contracts  with  the  L.  &  N.  R.  R.  Co.,  whereby 
he  came  into  possession  of  600,000  acres  of  land, 
lying  along  that  railroad,  between  Decatur  and 
Montgomery  ;  and  it  is  to  the  sale  and  settlement 
of  these  lands  that  he  is  now  giving  his  special  at- 
tention. In  January,  1880,  he  organized  the 
North  Alabama  Land  Company,  with  a  paid  up 
capital  of  ^150,000.  In  ]\[ay  of  that  year  he  made 
a  trip  to  Europe  in  the  interest  of  immigration, 
and  returned  the  following  fall  to  find  the  North 
Alabama  •'  boom"  at  its  highest  tide.  Seeing  his 
opportunity,  he  at  once,  in  February,  1888,  organ- 
ized the  j)resent  company  of  which  he  is  General 
Manager,  with  a  capital  of  -S2, 500,000.  The  com- 
pany owns  about  160,000  acres  of  land  and  a  thou- 
sand lots  in  Cullman. 

It  is  proper  to  state  in  this  connection  that  there 


exists  in  some  quarters  an  erroneous  impression  to 
the  effect  that  Cullman  is  a  German  town.  While 
there  are  a  great  many  Germans  in  and  around  the 
little  city,  there  are  a  great  many  others,  and  all 
are  alike  invited  and  welcome.  It  is  not  a  town 
of  race,  of  church,  or  politics,  but  is  open  and  free 
to  all  good  people.  Though  a  German  by  birth 
and  education.  Colonel  Cullmann  proudly  says:  "I 
live  in  America,  and  I  am  an  American  I "  In  1876 
he  founded  Garden  City,  now  a  little  place  of  three 
hundred  people.  He  also  located  immigrants  in  all 
settlements  along  the  railroad  and  at  other  jjlaces  in 
theState.  Hewas  invited  by  Governor  Houston, dur- 
ing that  gentleman's  administration,  to  formulate 
a  plan  of  immigration.  This  he  proceeded  to  do, 
and  the  plan,  though  adop)ted  by  the  Senate,  was 
defeated  in  the  House.  At  the  succeeding  session 
of  the  Legislature,  the  bill  was  again  before  the 
General  Assembly,  and  was  at  that  timeadojjted  by 
the  House,  but  defeated  by  the  Senate. 

It  is  now  known  that  those  results  were  jiurposely 
planned  by  the  enemies  of  immigration.  That  any 
one  should  opjaose  the  influx  of  immigration  is  as- 
tonishing, but  that  there  have  been  men  (now 
quite  scarce)  that  were  willing  to  do  anything  to 
retard  it,  is  a  fact  well  known.  It  is  not  necessary 
in  this  sketch  to  discuss  the  matter  jsro  or  con. 

The  publishers  take  pleasure  in  presenting  to 
their  readers  in  this  volume  a  handsome  steel  plate 
portrait  of  Colonel  Cullmann,  engraved  especially 
for  this  work.  The  small  dent,  almost  invisible, 
in  his  forehead  is  the  result  of  a  dastardly  assault 
made  upon  him  in  the  early  history  of  the  town 
of  Cullman.  It  was  in  1874,  some  rough  charac- 
ters, thinking  that  the  building  uji  of  a  town  in 
their  midst  might  operate  in  time  to  interfere  with 
their  vile  practices,  decided  to  put  a  stojj  to  the 
growth  of  the  town  by  removing  its  founder.  The 
immediate  agent  selected  for  the  perpetration  of 

this  foul  deed  was  a  villain  by  the  name  of 

,  who  attacked  Colonel  Cullmann  with  a  huge 

knife,  plunging  it  twice  in  his  forehead,  destroy- 
ing a  large  section  of  the  skull  and  exposing  the 
brain.  That  he  ever  survived  may  be  attributed 
to  Providence.  It  is  somewhat  gratifying  to  know- 
that  his  assailant  was  subsequently  caught  in  the 
act  of  horse-stealing  near  Macon,  Ga.,  and  paid 
the  penalty  of  his  misdeeds  at  the  end  of  a  rojie. 

Colonel  Cullmann  was  married  in  his  native 
country,  in  1846,  to  Miss  Loew,  and  there  was 
born  to  him  two  sons  and  two  daughters.  Mrs. 
Cullmann  and  her  daughters  are  in  Europe.    The 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


385 


Colonel  is  ami  always  lias  been,  even  before  coming 
to  America,  a  stauncli  Democrat.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Masonic  fraternity  ami  of  the  Evangel- 
ical Protestatit  Church.  lie  is  an  active,  energetic, 
wide-awake  and  progressive  man,  in  full  sympathy 
with  the  progress  of  .\labania  and  its  people:  a 
liberal  giver  to  charity,  and  a  substantial  snijjiorter 
and  champion  of  legitimate  enterprise.  Churches, 
schools,  and  all  charitable  institutions  are  at  all 
times  the  recipients  of  his  liberal  bounty. 

ASA  BRINDLEY  HAYS,  Judge  of  the  Probate 
Court  of  (,'ullman  County,  was  born  in  I51ount 
County,  Ala.,  .May  IT,  184-,'.  His  father,  lieuben 
Hays,  a  man  of  Scotch  extraction  and  a  native  of 
Xiirth  Carolina,  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Hlounl  County.  He  was  a  farmer  and  a  black- 
smith. 

-Vsa  1$.  Hays  was  one  of  a  family  of  nine,  the 
most  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  He  attended  the 
common  schools  in  ^[urphrees'  Valley.  After  the 
war  he  taught  penmanship  in  different  places  in 
Tennessee  and  Alabama.  He  was  appointed  Clerk 
(if  the  Circuit  Court  of  Winston  County,  Ala.,  in 
ISGC.  He  resigned  that  position,  and  clerked  for 
the  Probate  Court  of  that  county  for  a  short  time. 
Upon  the  resignation  of  the  Probate  Judge,  in 
1871,  Jlr.  Hays  was  appointed  his  successor,  and, 
after  serving  out  the  unexpired  term,  was  elected 
to  the  same  office,  and  held  it  nearly  eight  years 
in  all.  He  resigned  that  position  in  November,  1878, 
and  came  to  Cullman,  where  he  was  Register  in 
Chancery  for  a  short  time,  and  was  elected  Probate 
Judge  in  August,  1880.  He  has  filled  that  posi- 
tion with  great  credit  until  the  jjresent  time. 

.fudge  Hays  is  a  Mason  ami  a  Knight  of  Pythias. 
He  was  married  in  Winston  County,  in  18(>7,  to 
Miss  Minerva  C.  Williams,  who  has  borne  him  five 
children,  four  of  whom  are  now  livinjr. 


-♦- 


GOTTFRIED  A.  PRINZ.  County  Treasurer, 
Cullman,  was  l)orn  in  Xieder  Ingelheim,  Hesse 
(on  the  River  Rhine),  in  December,  18.51.  His 
grand-parents  were  Huguenots,  and  were  driven 
from  France  on  account  of  their  religion.  Gott- 
fried was  left  an  orphan  when  twelve  years  of  age. 


He  came  to  the  I'nited  States  in  18(58,  located 
first  at  Cincinnati,  where  he  remained  until  1872, 
and  then  returiied  to  Germany  to  settle  up  his 
father's  estate.  In  l.s7:j  he  returned  to  Cincin- 
nati, and,  finding  business  dull  there  on  account 
of  the  {)anic  of  that  year,  he  accompanied  Mr. 
Cullmann  to  the  town  bearing  his  (Mr.  C.'s)  name, 
embarked  in  mercantile  business,  and  has  re- 
mained here  ever  since. 

Jlr.  I'rinz  was  postmaster  at  Cullman  fi-ijin  IS74 
until  1.S77.  He  was  elected  County  Treasurer  in 
188"^  and  is  still  satisfactorily  performing  the 
duties  of  that  office.  He  was  Mayor  of  the  town 
in  1S7G  and  ]8^s,  and  is  now  councilman,  city 
clerk,  trustee  of  the  public  schools,  and  is  one  of 
the  largest  merchants  in  the  jilace. 

Mr.  Prinz  was  married  at  Tuscumbia,  Ala., 
November,  1875,  to  Miss  Ingeborg  fjueddemann,  of 
Milwaukee,  a  lady  of  American  birth,  l)ut  of  Nor- 
wegian and  German  descent.  Her  father  posses.<ed 
large  land  estates  in  Germany.  Her  mother's 
father  was  Secretary  of  War  and  of  the  Navy  in 
Norway. 

Mr,  Prinz  is  a  uiembei-  of  the  Evangelical 
Protestant  Church  and  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. 


— ^' — 


.^^ 


JOHN  A.  JOHNSON.  Editor  of  the  Cullman 
Tribune,  was  Ijoni  in  Limestone  County,  Ala., 
March  5,  1825.  He  commenced  the  printing 
business  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  in  1837,  and  re- 
mained in  that  city  four  years.  He  then  returned 
to  Alabama  and  ])ublished  the  Weekly  Chronicle 
in  Athens,  in  1844,  at  which  time  he  became  of 
age,  and  deposited  his  first  vote  for  James  K. 
Polk.  He  was  Mayor  of  Athens,  two  years,  and 
Justice  of  the  Peace  there,  twelve  years.  He 
was  elected  Sheriff  of  Limestone  County  in  1858, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  until  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war,  at  which  time  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  Confederacy,  in  Major  Hamilton's 
Battalion,  .\fter  the  war,  Mr.  Johnson  lived  on 
a  farm  until  1808,  when  he  started  the  Limestone 
JVeicx  in  Athens,  and  continued  its  publication 
until  1875.  He  then  came  to  Cullman  and  was 
engaged  on  the  '"  Soulhern  Imvufjraut "  with 
Beckert  &  Watlington.  He  was  apjiointed  Cir- 
cuit Clerk  of  Cullman  County  in  1K7'.>  by  Gover- 
nor Cobb,  and  elected  to  that  position  in  1880, 
but  in  consefpience  of  imperfect  returns,  a  contest 


386 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


of  the  election  arose,  which  was  compromised  by 
consolidating  i}\Q  Alabama  2'ribune  and  the  Soutli- 
ern  Immigrant,  under  Mr.  Jolinson's  management. 
The  contestants  for  the  office  were  the  editors  of 
the  two  papers.  He  was  appointed  Judge  of  the 
County  Court  of  Cullman  in  ISSO,  and  retained 
that  position  until  1884. 

From  the  time  Mr.  Johnson  took  charge  of  the 
Tribune  (November  1,  1880),  until  the  present 
writing,  the  paper  has  never  missed  an  issue,  and 
although  opf)ositiou  jiapers  have  frequently  arisen, 
the  Tribune  is  now  the  only  iJajjer  published  at 
Cullman,  and  it  has  a  larger  circulation  than  any 
other  jjaper  ever  had  in  this  county.  Mr.  Johnson 
claims  to  be  the  oldest  editor  in  the  State  now 
actively  engaged  in  business.  When  he  began 
his  career  as  printer,  in  1837,  with  the  jjublication 
of  the  Nashville  Christian  Advocate,  he  was  asso- 
ciated with  the  Hev.  Thomas  Stringfield,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Mr.  Johnson's  father,  Cliristian  A.  Johnson, 
was  a  resident  of  Danville,  Ya.  He  was  a  farmer, 
and  died  in  1883.  ilr.  Johnson's  mother,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Nancy  W.  Franklin,  was  born 
in  Eichmond  County,  Ga.,  and  died  in  Athens, 
Ala.,  in  18.57. 

•<♦■    • 


SAMUEL  H.  HERRIN,  Mayor  of  the  City  of  Cull- 
man, was  born  near  (hmtersville,  Ala.,  January 
'Z'i,  1837,  and  is  a  son  of  Curtis  Herrin,  a  native  of 
Tennessee,  and  who  was  for  some  years  prior  to 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  Sheriff  of  Marshall 
County,  this  State.  The  senior  Mr.  Herrin  was  a 
promineTit  Mason,  a  man  of  wealth;  participated 
in  the  Indian  wars,  and  took  part  in  the  removal  of 
the  Red  Men  to  the  Indian  Territory.  His  wife  was 
Martha  A.  Cooper,  a  native  of  Virginia.  Her 
father  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812. 

S.  H.  Herrin  spent  his  early  life  in  the  neigli- 
borhood  of  (xuntersville,  and  at  the  common 
schools  acquired  the  rudiments  of  an  education. 
In  1859,  he  moved  to  Morgan  County,  this  State, 
and  there  married  Miss  ilellissa  C.  Henson,  Octo- 
ber, 1860.  (Miss  Henson  was  a  niece  of  the  late 
General  Lee,  who  was  a  colonel  in  the  Me.xjcan 
War.)  Mr.  Herrin  taught  school  in  Morgan 
County  until  1863,  at  which  time  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  Confederacy,  as  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry.  Returning  home  at 
the  close  of  the  war  he  followed  farming  until  1871, 


at  which  time  he  embarked  in  mercantile  business, 
which  he  followed  about  three  years.  He  was  six 
years  Commissioner  of  Morgan  County,  and  about 
the  same  length  of  time  agent  of  the  L.  &  N.  R.  R. 
He  is  now  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Cullman,  and 
Judge  of  the  County  Court.  He  served  nineteen 
years  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  Morgan  County, 
and  in  1886  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Cullman. 
He  was  appointed  a  postmaster  in  1857.  He  be- 
longs to  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  the  Knightsof 
Pythias. 


GEORGE  H.  PARKER,  Banker  and  Attorney- 
at-law,  Cullman,  was  born  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
September  17,  185"2,  and  was  educated  at  Pox- 
bury  High  School,  Boston,  Mass.,  from  which 
institution  he  graduated  in  1870.  Upon  leaving 
school  he  embarked  in  the  commission  business 
in  Boston,  followed  it  two  years,  came  to  Ohio, 
studied  law  at  Hillsboro,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1873.  He  i^racticed  law  a  short  time  at 
Hillsboro,  and  in  August,  1874,  came  to  Cullman. 
Here,  in  addition  to  the  practice  of  law,  he  en- 
gaged for  a  tiuie  in  the  drug  business,  and  in  1884 
established  the  banking  house  of  Parker  &  Co. 
Though  the  banking  concern  bears  the  name 
of  Parker  &  Co.,  Mr.  Parker  is  its  sole  owner, 
and  at  this  writing  it  is  tlie  only  banking  house 
between  Decatur  and  Birmingham. 

Mr.  Parker  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  takes  an  active  interest  in  the  cause  of 
education,  and  is  a  wide-awake,  thorough-going 
2iresent-day  man.  He  was  married  June  17,  1874, 
to  iliss  Cora  A.,  daughter  of  Dr.  (ieorge  Heidel- 
berg, of  Hillsboro,  Ohio,  and  has  had  born  to  him 
five  children:  George  H.,  Mary  A.,  Robert  B., 
Hattie  and  Sarah  Seaver. 

Thomas  H.  Parker,  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  in  Dorchester,  Mass.,  in  1821, 
and  his  family  own  land  to  this  day  at  that  point, 
that  came  into  their  possession  in  1631.  On  the 
maternal  side  of  his  familj'  he  was  descended  from 
the  Seavers,  some  of  whom  have  been  conspicuous 
in  the  history  of  the  country.  His  grandfather, 
Ebenezer  Seaver,  was  a  noted  man  during  Jack- 
son's administration  as  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  many  years  a  member  of  Con- 
gress, but  was  particularly  distinguished  for 
having  been  forty  years  mayor  of  his  native  city 
Mr.  T.  H.  Parker  was  many  years  a  merchant  in 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


387 


Cincinnati,  but  since  1804  has  been  engaged  at 
fiirniing  nearllillsboro.  lie  is  a  man  of  consider- 
able wealtii,  a  consistent  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  and  has  held  the  office  of  school  trustee 
for  twenty  consecutive  years.  lie,  on  October  4, 
1849,  married  Mary  Joanna  Cheever,  of  one  of  the 
oldest  families  of  Providence,  \\.  I.,  and  lias  reared 
eiglit  children,  viz.:  Howard  J.,  George  II.,  Ed- 
ward M..  William  II.,  Abbott  A.,  Seaver.  Omar, 
Stella. 


JAMES  A.  McMINN  was  born  near  the  place 
wliero  now  stands  the  city  of  Cullman,  in  18")7, 
and  is  the  son  of  Thaddeus  W.  Mc.Minn,  a  native 
of  Marion  County,  this  State,  and  of  Scotcli-Irish 
descent.  The  senior  Mr.  McJIinn  was  the  first 
Probate  Judge  of  Cullman  County:  he. afterward 
served  two  or  tliree  terms  as  Siieriff,  and  died 
while  holding  that  office.  His  wife,  before  mar- 
ri:ige,  was  Sarah  IJeyer,  of  South  Carolina.  Her 
family  came  from  Germany.  She  was  tlie  second 
wife  of  Mr.  McMinn;  the  McMinn  children,  three 
sons  and  two  daughters,  were  by  a  second  wife, 
and  tlieir  names  are  :  John  K.  McMinn,  farmer, 
Cullman  County:  Elizabeth,  now  widow  of  X. 
Quartlibome;  James  A.,  subject  of  this  sketch: 
Charles,  a  farmer,  and  Sonora,  deceased. 

James  A.  McMinn  was  reared  on  a  farm  in  this 
county,  and  lie,  in  December,  18To,  married  Miss 
Xancy  Speegle,  and  lias  four  children:  T.  D., 
Lora,  Oscar  and  Ab. 


ROBERT  THOMAS  SEARCY.  M.  D.,  was  born 

in  lU'ilford  County,  Tenn..  .hiiiuary  11,  18".24. 
His  father,  Orville  II.  Searcy,  was  born  in  Xash- 
ville,  Tenn.,  in  1800,  and  was  of  French  and 
(Jerman   origin. 

Our  subjeqt  was  taken  to  Missouri  when  but 
seven  years  of  age,  but  was  educated  in  Bedford 
Count V,  Tenn.  He  took  his  degree  of  M.  D.  at 
Xashville.  He  subsequently  located  in  Lincoln 
County,  that  State,  and  practiced  there,  and  in 
Fayetteville,  until  the  breaking  out  of  tlie  war, 
when  he  entered  the  Confederate  Army,  as  surgeon 
of  the  post,  at  Camp  Trous<lale.  After  the  war, 
Dr.  Searcy  practiced  medicine  in  Iluntsvilic,  Ala., 
from   ISGtJ  to  18T;!,  wiien  he  moved  to  Decatur. 


In  1876  he  located  at  Cullman,  and  has  practiced 
here  ever  since.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Madison 
County  Medical  Society,  while  in  lluntsville  : 
secretary  of  Morgan  County  Medical  Society,  wliiJe 
in  Decatur  :  and  is  now  chairman  of  Cullman 
County  ^ledical  Society,  and  chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Censors.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist Cliurcii.  South,  and  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
in  wliich  he  lias  been  master  of  the  lodge. 

Dr.  Searcy  was  first  married  in  184!i.  to  Miss 
Rebecca  M.  Eddins,  of  Bedford  County,  Tenn., 
who  died  in  18.")0,  leaving  liim  one  son,  Louis  J. 
Searcy,  now  living  in  lluntsville.  His  second 
marriage,  in  1854,  was  to  Jliss  Martha  T.  (ireg- 
ory,  who  died  in  18.5*!.  He  was  married,  the  third 
time,  in  18''il,  to  Mrs.  Cornelia  J.  Hereford,  of 
Madison  County,  Ala.  She  has  borne  him  two 
sons  and  three  daughters,  all  of  whom,  except  the 
youngest  son,  are  now  grown  and  gone  from  the 
parental  roof.     One  daugliter  died  in  infancy. 

Dr.  Searoy  is  a  public-spirited  man,  and  has 
taken  a  very  active  iiart  in  the  upbuilding  of  the- 
town  of  Cullman. 

DR.  PHILIP  M.  MUSGROVE  was  born  in  Edge- 
field District,  S.  C,  Manli  VI.  181  7.  His  fatlier, 
John  T.  Musgrove,  was  a  native  of  South  Caro- 
lina, and  a  minister  of  the  Baptist  Church.  The 
ilusgroves  are  an  old  family,  and  resided  in  South 
Carolina  before  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  wliicli 
William  Musgrove,  our  subject's  grandfather, 
served  as  a  private  soldier.  William  H.  3Ius- 
grove,  a  brother  of  John  T.,  served  in  tlie  Ala- 
bama Legislature  in  1829,  and  was  a  number  of 
times  a  member  of  both  House  and  Senate  when 
the  capital  of  the  State  was  at  Tuscaloosa.  He 
served  in  the  Creek  War  in  18:)(i,  and  was  a  cap- 
tain in  the  Confederate  Army.  He  died  while  in 
the  Confederate  service  at  Pensacola. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  brouglit  by  his 
parents  to  a  farm  near  Blount  Springs,  Ala.,  in 
1822,  and  has  resided  in  Blount  and  Cullman 
Counties  since  that  time.  He  farmed  until  1841, 
taught  school  in  the  years  1841-2,  and  coni- 
nienced  preaching  as  a  minister  of  the  Baptist 
Churcii  in  1842.  He  was  a  missionary  for  the 
'•  Mussel  Shoals  Association"'  from  184G  to  1848, 
and  for  the  Board  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Con- 
vention, four  years. 


388 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA, 


Dr.  Musgrove  commenced  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine in  1853,  and  has  continued  it,  more  or  less, 
since  that  time.  He  was  licensed  to  practice  law 
in  1857. 

In  1862,  our  subject  organized  a  cavalry  com- 
pany, and  joined  the  Twelfth  Battalion  of  Parti- 
san Rangers,  which  was  subsequently  included  in 
the  First  Alabama  Cavalry,  under  General  Wheeler. 
In  1804  he  resigned  his  commission  and  came 
home.  lie  had  three-  sons  in  the  army,  one  of 
whom,  John  W.,  was  killed  in  battle.  William 
TI.  Musgrove,  his  second  son,  became  captain  of 
the  company,  in  the  place  his  father  had  resigned. 

Since  the  war,  Philip  M.  Musgrove  has  prac- 
ticed medicine,  law,  and  preached,  as  occasion 
required.  In  LSil  he  went  to  Bangor,  and  with 
his  son,  Edward  G.,  published  a  paper  called  the 
Broad-Axe.  In  January,  188T,  he  moved  to  Cull- 
man, and  has  recently  published  the  Trumjiet. 
He  was,  by  appointment  of  the  Governor  of  Ala- 
bama, Judge  of  the  County  Court  of  Cullman 
County,  from  July  1,  1884,  to  July,  1886. 

Mr.  Musgrove  was  married  in  1836  to  Miss 
Louisa  White,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  but  who 
was  reared  in  Tennessee.  They  have  four  chil- 
dren, all  sons.  Three  of  these  have  been  men- 
tioned; the  fourth,  Joseph,  is  a  resident  of  Ban- 
gor. 

Mr.  Musgrove  has  always  been  a  tempei'ate 
man,  has  eschewed  tobacco  and  all  kinds  of  excesses. 
Never  was  intoxicated  by  spirituous  liquor.  He 
thinks  that  his  present  remarkably  fine  health  is 
due  to  this  course  in  life.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fratei-nity.  Can  now,  in  his  seventy-second 
year,  ride  horse-back  (his  usual  manner  of  trav- 
eling) thirty  miles  a  day  with  but  little  fatigue; 
never  was  thrown  from  a  horse  while  riding. 
Politically  he  has  always  been  a  Democrat.  In 
all  his  varied  secular  pursuits  his  religious  duties 
have  been  strictly  attended  to;  so  arranging  his 
temporal  business  as  not  to  conflict  with  his  re- 
ligious duties.  This  is  the  result  of  habits  per- 
formed in  early  life  of  doing  everything  by  sys- 
tem, and  now  in  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality  he 
waits  the  coming  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour  .Jesus 
Christ. 


in  Germany  about  1810.  He  came  to  the  United 
States  in  18'26,  traveled  over-land  from  Balti- 
more to  Pittsburgh,  and  floated  down  the  river  from 
Pittsburgh  to  Cincinnati  on  a  flat-boat.  He  was  a 
mechanical  engineer.  He  married  Mary  A.  Gre- 
fenkamp,  who  was  also  of  German  birth.  They 
had  seven  children. 

John  H.  Karter  was  educated  at  St.  Xavier's 
College,  in  Cincinnati,  where  he  graduated  in 
1855,  and  immediately  began  mei'chandising,  which 
pursuit  he  has  continued  until  the  jiresent  time. 
He  came  to  Morgan  County,  Ala.,  in  1878,  and 
settled  in  Cullman  in  1880,  where  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  Mr.  Gerdes  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness. Karter  &  Gerdes,  after  being  associated  five 
years,  dissolved  partnership,  and  ilr.  Karter  has 
conducted  the  business  since.  His  store  is  the 
largest  one  in  Cullman.  He  was  married  in  1868 
to  Miss  Mary  Kurwinkel,  who  has  borne  him  nine 
children,  five  of  whom  are  now  dead. 

Mr.  Karter  has  been  an  Alderman  in  CuUnum 
for  several  years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  and  of  the  Catholic  Knights  of 
America. 


JOHN  H.  KARTER,  Merchant.  Cullman,  is  a 
native  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  was  born  January 
6,  1845.     His  father,  George  H.  Karter,  was  born 


WILLIAM  RICHARD  was  born  at  Mannheim, 
Provinz  Baden,  (Germany,  Alarch  10,  1856;  his 
father,  Charles  Richard,  held  the  responsible  office 
of  Inspector  of  Revenues,  and  was  highly  esteemed. 

Mr.  Wm.  Richard  was  educated  at  the  college 
at  Bensheim,  Germany;  after  being  graduated  he 
entered  a  prominent  manufacturing  and  mercan- 
tile business  at  Mannheim  as  apprentice,  and,  after 
serving  the  required  time,  was  emjDloyed  by  some 
of  the  leading  mercantile  houses  at  Mannheim, 
and  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  In  July,  1878, 
he  emigrated,  in  company  with  Mr.  Otto  Cullmann, 
the  son  of  John  G.  Cullmann,  founder  of  the 
colony  of  Cullman,  to  America,  and  to  Cull- 
man, where  he  assisted  Mr.  Cullmann  in  his 
ardous  work  of  founding  the  said  colony.  He  was 
appointed,  bj-  the  Louisville  &  Kashville  Railroad 
Company,  to  the  responsible  position  of  collector 
in  the  land  dejiartment  of  said  comiDany,  which 
position  he  holds  at  present  to  the  satisfaction  of 
his  employers. 

^Ir.  Richard  was  married  on  January  IT,  1881, 
to  Miss  Bettie  Graflfenstatt,  born  in  the  State  of 
Minnesota  of  German  parents,  a  highly-respected 
family.     He  has  four  children,  one  son  and  three 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


389 


daughters,  lie  is  a  member  of  tlie  llomaii  Ciitliolic 
C'liiirch;  has  been  for  several  years  a  notary 
l)iiblie,  and,  at  present,  is  also  the  general  land 
agent  of  the  North  Alabama  Land  and  Immigration 
('omj)any.  lie  is  an  energetic  and  persevering 
business  man,  and  has  contributed  largely  toward 
building  np  of  the  colony  and  the  development 
of  the  country. 

PAUL  MOHR,  Professional  (ieologist.  (nil- 
man,  was  Ixirn  in  Wiirtemberg,  (rermany,  in 
18'-i<>:  his  ancestors  were  all  of  that  country. 

.Mr.  Mohr  was  educated  in  the  best  schools  of 
his  native  land,  not  only  in  the  classics,  but  he 
made  a  specialty  of  the  sciences  of  geology  and 
mineralogy  at  the  University  of  Tiibingen,  Wiirt- 
emberg, (iermany.  Afterward  he  acted  as  col- 
lector for  the  museum  at  ^'ienna,  the  British 
Museum  at  London,  and  others.  In  1S4S  he 
went  to  London,  and  was  employed  in  the  miner- 
alogical  department  of  the  British  Museum  for  a 
considerable  time. 

Mr.  Mohr  left  London  and  came  to  the  L^nited 
States;  he  went  first  to  Cincinnati,  then  to 
Indiana,  and  returned  to  Cincinnati  in  lS5:i, 
where  he  organized  the  firm  of  Mohr,  Sol- 
omon &  Mohr,  in  the  distilling  and  rectifying 
business.  This  firm  was  very  widely  known.  In 
ls»;4  Mr.  Mohr  went  to  Clermont  County,  Ohio, 
and  farmed  there  for  about  ten  years  near  Ban- 
tam. In  1S74  his  brother,  who  had  been  connect- 
ed with  him  in  the  distillery,  died,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  return  and  take  charge  of  that  busi- 
ness in  Cincinnati.  The  firm  was  thereafter 
known  as  "  Mohr  Company."  In  1.S84  our  sub- 
.  jectcame  to  Cullman,  on  account  of  the  health 
of  his  wife.  He  bought  a  farm  here,  and 
has  since  been  engaged  in  farming  and  cultiva- 
ting fruit.  Since  May,  1S87,  Mr.  Mohr  has  been 
employed  by  the  Xorth  Alabama  Land  and  Immi- 
gration Company  as  land  examiner  and  geologist. 

The  subject  of  tliis  sketch  was  married  in  Ger- 
many, in  18-tfI,  to  Miss  Fredericka  Dieterlen, 
daughter  of  a  professor  in  one  of  the  schools  there. 
They  liave  seven  children,  two  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters: Paul  F.  Mohr,  the  eldest  of  these,  is  chief 
engineer  in  construction  of  the  Spokane  &  Palouse 
Kailway,  in  Washington  Territory:  Augustus 
Mohr  is  with  his  father  in  the  fruit  and  distilling 
business.     Of  Mr.  Mohr's  five  daugiiters  three  are 


teachers:  Mary  is  in  Culhnan,  Theckla  in  Cincin- 
nati and  Emma  in  Indiaiiaj)olis;  Emily  and  Ma- 
tilda are  at  home. 

Mr.  Mohr  is  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Natural 
History,  in  Cincinnati,  and  he  and  his  daughters 
are  members  of  the  American  Association  of  Sci- 
ence. 

Mr.  ^lohr's  ancestors  were  prominent  people  in 
the  Fatherland,  and  a  numlier  of  them  lost  their 
lives  in  the  Thirty  Vcars^  War,  under  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden. 


l^-fy^ 


-«-J 


ANDREW  J.  YORK,  Sheriff  of  Cullman  County, 
was  born  in  Maron  County,  this  State,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1S61.  His  father,  AV'illiam  York,  moved  to 
Alabama  in  early  times.  He  was  a  farmer  and  a 
member  of  an  old  Georgia  family.  He  married 
Delilah  World,  also  a  native  of  (Jeorgia.  Thej' 
had  a  family  of  ten  children,  three  sons  and  seven 
daughters. 

Mr.  York's  grandfather.  Singleton  York,  was 
a  prominent  man  in  Colbert  County,  Ga.,  and 
held  a  number  of  public  offices  there.  He  owned 
a  large  number  of  slaves  before  their  emancipa- 
tion. 

Andrew  .J.  York  was  reared  and  educated  at 
Cedar  Plains,  Morgan  County,  Ala.  He  taught 
school  two  years,  farmed  for  awhile  and  went  into 
the  livery  business  in  Cullman  in  1881.  Under 
his  management  this  business  has  increased,  not- 
withstanding a  lively  competition,  until  it  is  now 
more  than  five  times  as  great  as  it  was  at  first. 
Mr.  York  has  been  Marshal  of  the  town  for  two 
years,  and  was  appointed  Sheriff  in  1884.  He  is 
blaster  of  the  Masonic  Lodge  here,  and  Past 
Chancellor  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

Our  subject  was  married.  January  \^,  ISTU,  to 
Miss  Sallie  A.  Wallace,  whose  father  was  killed 
by  the  bushwhackers  during  the  war.  Mr.  York 
has  one  son. 

— — -^--i^j^i-^ — — 

S.  L.  FULLER,  Land  Agent,  Cullman,  was  born 
near  this  town  in  1855,  and  spent  the  early  part 
of  his  life  on  the  plantation  and  in  attendance  at 
the  old-field  schools.  Later  in  life  spent  part  of 
1872-3  at  .school  in  .Morgan,  adjacent  county,  and 
on   January  9,   1870,  married    Miss    Evelyn   E. 


.^90 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Hubert,  daughter  of  J.  G.  Hubert,  of  Cincinnati, 
•Ohio.  Mr.  Hubert  was  born  in  Germany  in  1817, 
and  came  to  this  countr}'  in  early  life,  and  served 
as  an  officer  in  the  Florida  War.  After  the  war 
Mr.  Hubert  located  in  Iowa,  and  there  laid  out 
the  town  of  Lansing,  and  subsequently  moved  to 
Cincinnati.  He  was  in  the  Federal  Army  com- 
missary department  during  the  latewar,  and  was 
afterward  connected  for  several  years  with  the 
Volkshlait  paper  at  Cincinnati.  In  1875  he  came 
to  Cullman,  where  he  is  at  this  writing  Dep- 
uty Postmaster,  his  .daughter,  wife  of  the  subject 
•of  this  sketch,  being  the  Postmistress.  3Ir.  Fuller, 
having  a  fondness  for  law,  although  a  limited  edu- 
•cation  and  a  family  to  supjDort,  was  forced  to 
abandon  his  studies,  and  engaged  in  various  pur- 
suits to  make  his  living  and  gather  uj)  enough  of 
this  world's  goods  to  renew  his  studies.  He 
■divided  his  attention  between  farming  and  lumber 
business  until  1883,  at  which  time  he  began  a  land 
speculation  in  the  new  West  in  buying,  selling  and 
locating  soldiers'  additional  land  claims.  He  has 
been  for  some  time  and  is  now  particularly  engaged 
in  the  location  of  town  sites  on  the  line  of  the 
Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy  Eailroad,  for  the 
railroad  company,  through  Kansas,  Xebraska, 
Dakota,  Colorado  and  Wyoming;  and  has  now,  at 
this  late  date,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three  years,  en- 
tered the  college  to  complete  his  studies  prejiara- 
tory  to  his  old  favorite  business  (law  and  politics). 
Mr.  Fuller  has  five  children  living:  Asa,  Xellie, 
Dwightie,  Harry  and  Forney.  The  family  are  of 
the  Baptist  faith.  Mr.  Fuller  is  a  land  agent  and 
notary  public. 

— «-;^t^'-<'-  •  ■ 

McENTIRE  BROTHERS,  Dealers  in  General 
Merchandise,  Cullman.  This  firm  is  composed  of 
Harrison  P.,  Bennett  P.,  Leroy  and  Millard 
McEntire.  Mr.  McEntire,  the  father  of  these 
gentlemen,  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and 


descended  from  Scotch-Irish  parentage.  He  was 
a  farmer  by  occupation,  was  many  years  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  and  at  one  time  a  captain  of  State 
militia.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Plum- 
mer,  a  native  North  Carolinian,  was  descended  from 
the  French.  They  reared  a  family  of  nine  children, 
seven  sons  and  two  daughters.  Two  of  the  for- 
mer, Albana  and  Robert,  were  soldiers  during  the 
late  war,  and  gave  up  their  lives  during  that  con- 
flict. One  of  them  died  in  prison,  and  the  other 
in   hospital   from    exposure    while  on    the  field. 

Harrison  P.,  of  McEntire  Brothers,  since  the 
war,  has  been  engaged  in  mercantile  business  and  in 
the  United  States  mail  and  internal  revenue  ser- 
vice. He  was  married,  in  18T5,  to  Miss  Emma  K. 
McCullough. 

Bennett  P.,  the  second  sou,  went  to  Texas  in 
1871,  and  was  there  engaged  at  stock  raising  until 
1883.  In  that  year  he  returned  to  Alabama,  and 
was  in  stock  business  at  Cullman  until  188.5,  at 
which  time  he  engaged  as  at  present. 

Leroy  McEntire,  the  third  brother,  as  did  the 
rest  of  the  family,  spent  his  earlier  life  in  North 
Carolina.  The  family  settled  in  De  Kalb  County, 
this  State,  in  1859,  and  from  there,  in  1875,  Leroy 
removed  to  Indian  Territory.  In  1877,  he 
migrated  to  Texas,  whence  he  returned  to  De- 
Kalb  County.  His  father  died  in  1878,  and  he 
took  charge  of  and  managed  the  farm  until  1885. 
In  that  j'ear  he  came  to  Cullman,  as  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  McEntire  Brothers. 

Millard  ^IcEntire  also  spent  some  time  in 
Texas,  where  he  went  in  1878,  and  was  there  a 
farmer. 

Rufus,  another  brother,  has  made  his  home  in 
Texas  continuously  since  1876. 

The  business  now  conducted  by  McEntire 
Brothers  at  Cullman  was  established  in  1885  by 
Bennett  P.  Beginning  in  a  small  way,  it  has 
steadily  grown,  until  it  has  become  one  of  the  most 
substantial  and  extensive  concerns  of  this  flour- 
ishing town. 


.,^.^^^! 


p^T^ 


VI. 
GUNTERSVILLE. 


Bv    Edwin    O.   Neelv. 


In  the  general  chapter  on  the  county  will  be 
found  the  early  history  of  its  seat  of  government. 
This  sketch  will  treat  tlie  town  as  it  is  to-day.  At 
this  writing  (March,  1888),  the  town,  which  has 
for  fortr\'  years  been  content  to  do  the  shijijiing 
and  furnisliing  for  the  country  around  (a  radius 
of  from  fifteen  to  thirty  miles),  has  been  thor- 
oughly aroused,  and  is  taking  such  active  steps  as 
will  cause  a  speedy  increase  of  population,  and  a 
change  from  the  all-cotton  policy  to  becoming  a 
mart  of  trade  and  a  hive  of  industry— ;  paying 
close  attention  to  manufacturing  and  the  handling 
of  those  diversified  products  which  are  so  well 
adapted  to  this  section. 

This  town  has  been  heretofore  dependent  upon 
the  Tennessee  Hiver  for  transportation,  and  has 
done  a  business  of  about  *750,000  per  year  for  the 
past  five  years — a  business  consisting  principally 
of  furnishing  supplies  to  cotton  planters.  The 
])resent  population  is  about  oOd  souls. 

Here  are  two  commodious  houses  of  worship, 
both  of  which  are  situated  in  the  southern  portion 
•of  town.  These  churches  are  tlie  Methodist  I^pis- 
•copal.  South,  and  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian. 
A  large  and  commodious  public  school  building  is 
4ilso  on  the  same  square,  in  which  is  conducted  a 
liigli  school  and  a  normal  course  of  instruction. 

There  are  sixteen  business  liouses  in  Gunters- 
ville,  and  the  commercial  standing  of  these  mer- 
chants is  unsurpa.ssed  by  any  town  of  twice  its 
l)opulation  in  the  United  States. 

The  large  brick  court-house  is  situated  in  the 
center  of  a  spacious  yard,  and  is  surrounded  by 
the  court  square,  so  often  seen  in  the  South. 

The  postottice  at  Ountersville  does  a  business  of 
forty  thousand  dollars  per  annum. 

Immediately  under  the  western  portion  of  Gun- 
tersville  runs  a  ridge  of  low  hills,  which  extend  to- 


ward Birmingham  on  the  southwest,  and  continue 
toward  Cliattaiiooga  in  the  opposite  direction. 
These  hills  carry  red  fossiliferous  hematite,an  ore  of 
iron  very  rich  in  pure  metal,  in  such  quantities 
as  to  apijear  inexhaustible.  The  ridge  extends 
through  the  county,  a  length  of  about  twentv-five 
miles. 

Guntersville  is  tiie  most  important  point  in  this 
county,  and  is  one  of  the  oldest  places  in  North 
Alabama.  It  derives  its  name  from  an  Indian  fam- 
ily for  whom  the  (iovernment  made  a  reservation 
of  nearly  one  thousand  acres  of  land  just  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Tennessee  Kiver,  opjiosite  the 
site  of  Guntersville.  There  was  a  ferry  across  the 
river  at  this  point  and  a  common  and  j)opular  place 
for  barge  boats  coming  from  up  the  river  to  land 
and  dispose  of  their  loads  of  grain,  provisions,  etc. 
Hence  the  name  of  (Junter's  Landing  orCiunters- 
ville. 

In  the  very  early  history  of  the  country  a  con- 
siderable trade  grew  up  at  this  place,  and  business 
at  Gunter's  Landing  compared  well  with  any  trad- 
ing-post in  the  State;  consequently  when  the  peo- 
ple cast  about  to  locate  theircounty  seat,  Gunter's 
Landing  was  best  situated  and  was  voted  the 
place.  The  population,  however,  was  small  and 
it  was  not  until  some  years  after  the  late  civil  war 
that  it  became  of  such  importance  as  to  demand 
municipal  government.  At  last,  however,  this 
became  necessary,  and  in  LS73,  an  act  was  passed 
by  the  Legislature  of  Alabama,  granting  her  cor- 
porate limits,  powers  and  authority.  The  act  re- 
quired a  Mayor  and  five  Councilmen,  and  limited 
the  taxing  power  of  the  municipal  government  to 
one-half  of  one  per  ceuliim.  The  mayoralty 
passed  around  from  one  man  to  another,  until 
1884.  when  James  L.  Burke  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature,  and  a  new  charter  was  granted  to  the 


391 


393 


NORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


town,  giving,  power  to  the  Mayor  <is  if  he  were 
a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  making  executions 
from  his  court  have  the  same  lien  as  executions 
from  the  Circuit  Court,  and  also  granting  larger 
fees  for  services.  In  1887  this  law  was  repealed, 
and  the  powers  are  now  substantially  tlie  same  as 
in  the  original  charter. 

To  enumei-ate  the  different  Mayors  and  particu- 
larize improvements  would  be  no  easy  task  ;  let  it 
suffice  to  say  that  during  the  year  1886  and  188T, 
the  entire  debt  which  had  been  lianging  over  it  for 
years  was  liquidated  and  some  money  left  in  the 
treasury.  Xow  the  city  government  is  free  from 
debt,  and  a  great  deal  of  work  can  and  will  be  done 
upon  the  streets. 

There  is  no  need  for  a  Marshal,  and  nearly  all 
the  money  poured  into  the  coffers  of  this  treasury 
c»n  be  expended  upon  improvements. 

The  present  officers  are :  Mayor,  James  L. 
Burke ;  Councilmen,  James  L.  Jordan,  J.  P. 
Whitman,  A.  J.  Baker,  Andrew  Miller,  Wendolyn 
Seibold. 

Their  term  of  office  is  one  year  from  January, 

1,  1888. 

BEXCH  AXD  BAR. 

The  judicial  character  of  tliis  county  has  always 
been  of  the  best.  Upon  its  organization  and  from 
thiit  day  down  to  the  jiresent,  our  County  Courts 
and  Judges  have  been  of  the  highest  order  of  men, 
beginning,  as  we  may,  with  the  late  lamented 
Montgomery  Gilbreath,  and  ending  with  our  pres- 
ent learned  Probate  Judge,  Thomas  A.  Street. 
Because  of  this,  Marshall  County  has  her  records 
all  intact,  and  there  are  but  few,  if  any,  of  the 
deed-books  that  can  not  be  had.  In  fact,  all  the 
records  belonging  to  the  offices  of  this  county  are 
in  better  condition  than  will  generally  be  found. 

This  county  is  now  located  in  the  Ninth  Judi- 
cial Circuit,  which  is  a  new  division  of  the  State, 
and  has  the  youngest  Judge  in  Alabama  upon 
its  bench.  The  Prosecuting  Attorney  is  also  the 
youngest  in  his  position,  and  yet  it  is  a  fact  that 
we  have  fewer  violations  of  our  criminal  code  than 
any  other  circuit  in  Alabama.  Whether  this  is 
attributable  to  the  stringSnt  punishment  adminis- 
tered, or  to  the  few  negroes  and  scarcity  of  whisky 
is  a  matter  that  may  be  equally  debated;  to  say 
the  least  of  it,  Judge  Tally  and  Solicitor  Lusk  are 
both  strict  members  of  the  Church,  and  the  evil- 
doer can  assuredly  expect  the  heavy  hand  of  the 
law. 

While  we  are  yet  speaking  of  the  bench  we  must 


not  fail  to  say  that  Marshall  was  one  of  the  origi- 
nal counties,  and  her  courts  were  held  as  far  back 
as  1836  by  the  Supreme  Judges  of  the  State,  in  fact 
nearly  every  prominent  jurist  in  the  history  of 
Alabama  has  at  some  time  held  court  or  attended 
the  bar  in  this  county.  And  it  will  be  conceded, 
without  argument,  that  Marshall  has  supplied  this 
country  with  one  of  the  most  able  and  astute  jurists 
that  the  South  has  yet  produced;  we  speak  of  the 
Hon.  Louis  Wyeth,  whose  learnii>g  in  the  law  was 
so -precise  and  whose  decisions  were  so  clear  that 
it  may  have  been  well  said  of  him, — his  advice  was 
always  right.  Few,  if  any,  men  in  Xortli  Alabama 
have  been  his  peers  in  the  full  and  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  common  law  of  the  land.  His  memory 
will  ever  be  cherished  in  this  county  as  the  found- 
er of  the  bar  and  the  father  of  the  profession.  It 
was  always  said  of  him  that  he  felt  kindly  toward 
his  brothers  and  lent  aid  to  his  fellows,  being  an 
especial  friend  to  him  who  aspired  to  legal  lore; 
and  among  hi.«  disciples  may  be  found  the  names  of 
Porter,  Barclay  and  Boyd,  and  perhaps  a  dozen  of 
less  fame.  The  bar  of  this  county  may  be  well 
said  to  be  the  child  of  his  own  begetting,  for  it  was 
him  ^\;ho  first  rocked  it  in  its  infancy,  and  it  was 
him  that  left  it  as  a  legacy  to  his  own  professional 
child,  the  late  Eufus  K.  Boyd,  whose  mind  was  as 
bright  as  a  meteor,  and  whose  training  brought 
forth  the  craftiness  and  genius  of  his  nature.  Few- 
men  in  the  history  of  Alabama  had  such  perfect 
control  of  the  people  as  the  above  mentioned  B. 
K.  Boyd.  As  a  friend  he  was  true  and  abiding, 
and  as  an  advocate  he  was  warm  and  zealous. 

Boyd  was  a  maji  of  great  personal  magnetism, 
and  therefore  a  successful  politician.  In  187.3  he 
was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of  this  State  by  an 
overwhelming  vote,  and  from  that  time  his  poj)- 
ularity  began  to  grow  until  1876,  when  he  was 
unanimously  nominated  for  Secretary  of  State,  and 
in  August  of  that  year  he  was  triumphantly 
elected,  in  which  office  he  served  the  peojile  most 
satisfactorily,  and  retired  to  his  practice. 

The  late  Mr.  Porter,  in  whose  name  appears  the 
early  State  reports  of  the  Alabama  Supreme  Court, 
was  in  his  younger  days  a  practicing  lawyer  at  this 
bar,  and  it  was  here  that  he  conceived  the  idea  of 
publishing  the  reports. 

It  was  at  this  place  that  the  Hon.  Sol.  Palmer 
first  entered  the  active  practice  of  the  law,  in  co- 
partnership with  Hon.  C.  F.  Hamill,  of  Blounts- 
ville,  afterward  forming  a  partnership  with  11.  K. 
Boyd,  whose  popularity  and  friendship  lent  him 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


393 


considerable  aid   in  attaining  his  present  position 
of  State  Siiperinteiideiit  of  Education. 

John  1).  Weeden,  now  dean  of  the  law  faculty 
of  tlie  University  of  Alabama,  first  entered  the 
practice  at  the  .Marshall  County  bar. 

But  this  chapter  would  be  incomplete  should 
we  fail  to  say  that  its  present  status  is  greatly  due 
to  the  influence  of  visiting  attorneys  such  as  W. 
C  Chapman,  David  I'.  Lewis,  \\.  C.  Hrickell,  L. 
P.  Walker,  Sep.  Cabiness  and  others,  of  llunts- 
ville,  Ala.  The  present  bar  is  composed  of  young 
men,  scarcely  one  of  whom  has  reached  the  merid- 
ian of  life,  but  of  whose  ability  the  reader  may 
judge  by  the  illustrious  examples  made  by  their 
renowned  and  honored  pi'edecessors. 

The  litigation  in  this  county  has  always  been 
necessarily  light,  on  account  of  so  few  wealthy  citi- 
zens. There  have  been  a  few  cases  concerning 
the  titles  to  the  ricli  bottom  lands  that  were  of 
considerable  importance,  but  generally  the  titles 
to  property  in  this  county  are  clear,  being  but  a 
few  removes  from  the  common  source,  the  Govern- 
ment. The  general  grounds  of  litigation  thus  far 
liavebeen  suits  for  the  collection  of  debts  and 
trials  concerning  personal  property.  • 

Crime  in  JIarshall  is  a  small  matter,  there  being 
but  few  cases  of  higher  grade  than  misdemeanors; 
in  fact,  nearly  all  the  felonies  on  the  docket  now 
or  for  years  past  have  been  against  transient  and 
floating  defendants.  The  term  of  court  here  is 
two  weeks  in  the  spring  and  two  in  the  fall,  and 
the  criminal  side  of  the  docket  is  easily  disposed 
of  in  a  few  days.  If,  liowever,  this  county  is  pen- 
etrated by  railroads,  and  the  floating  tide  of  hu- 
manity turned  in  upon  it,  like  Birmingham  and 
other  places,  its  courts  will  soon  be  full.  At  pres- 
ent, however,  good  order,  good  government  and 
good  debt-paying  citizens  make  .Marshall  County, 
in  a  sense,  free  from  litigation. 

MEDICAL  PHOFESSIOX. 

The  facts  herewith  presented,  constitnte  brief 
biographical  sketches  of  leading  members  of  the 
medical  profession  who  have  in  years  past  practiced 
in  .Marshall  County.  Doctors  Andrew  Jloore  and 
<>.  X.  riieemster  were  the  first  regular  practition- 
ers of  medicine  here. 

Dr.  Axduew  Mooke  was  a  native  of  Xorth 
Carolina;  he  came  to  this  county  about  the  year 
1H23.  He  was  a  citizen  liere,  and  was  practicing 
medicine  at  Claysville,  the  former  county-seat, 
before  the  Countv  of  Marshall  was  constituted,  lie 


practiced  here  first  as  an  undergraduate  for  some 
years  before  receiving  a  diploma;  he  graduated 
from  the  Louisville  Medical  College,  while  under 
the  tuition  of  the  celebrated  S.  D.  (iross,  of  that 
institution. 

Dr.  Moore  was  a  man  of  fine  physifjue  and 
wonderful  jiowers  of  endurance.  He  was  emi- 
nently fitted  for  the  duties  of  a  pioneer  physician, 
being  a  man  of  great  courage,  and  withal  a  man 
of  more  than  the  average  attainments.  He  was 
a  man  of  close  study  and  rjuick  observation:  came 
to  conclusions  logically,  and  fully  merited  the 
title  of  father  of  JIarshall  County  physicians. 
Being  intelligent  and  well-informed,  he  was  con- 
sidered a  model  for  all  ambitious  young  men  in 
the  profession.  A  number  of  students  were  taught 
under  his  eye  before  going  to  a  medical  college, 
and  it  is  said  each  one  felt  the  impress  of  his  in- 
dividuality in  a  variety  of  ways.  Dr.  Mookk 
died  in  Larkinsville,  Ala.,  in  1805,  at  the  age  of 
seventy  years. 

Dr.  0.  M.  Pheemster  was  another  of  the 
pioneer  physicians  who  did  a  large  amount  of 
good,  and  who  had  a  large  jjractice;  but  lie  re- 
moved to  the  West  about  the  year  1840. 

Dr.  J.  \V.  Fexxell  was  also  among  the  early 
physicians.  He  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  a 
graduate  of  a  leading  medical  college  in  that 
State.  He  removed  here  some  years  after  the 
organization  of  the  county.  Dr.  Fennell  was 
far  above  the  average  of  his  profession  at  his 
day  in  general  literature  and  those  qualities 
which  go  to  make  a  man  polished  and  urbane. 
He  gained  a  large  circle  of  warm  friends  by  his 
gentlemanly  bearing,  and  was  the  leading  phy- 
sician in  the  county  during  his  whole  career  as 
practitioner.  He  died  near  Deposit  Ferry,  five 
miles  below  Guntersville,  in  the  year  18'!:!,  loved 
and  honored  by  all  who  knew  him. 

Dr.  W.m.  II.\rhisox,  who  died  in  Talladega 
County,  Ala.,  about  the  year  18fi4,  was  for  a 
number  of  years  a  successful  practitioner  in  this 
county.  He  was  noted  for  painstaking  methods 
in  sickness,  and  for  unusual  jirudence  and 
caution. 

Of  the  many  good  physicians  now  in  practice 
in  Guntersville  and  ilarshall  County,  there  are 
now  (ISSS)  only  three  who  were  practicing  here 
before  the  late  war  between  the  States.  These 
are  Doctors  William  Smith,  of  A\'arrenton, 
James  M.  Jackson,  and  William  .M.  liicketts, 
of  (•untcrsville. 


394 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


THE  PRESS. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  ^larshall 
County  was  about  the  year  1852,  as  well  as  we  I 
have  been  able  to  learn.  It  waS  called  the  Mar-  I 
shall  County  yeirs,  and  was  published  by  James  ! 
Peebles,  who  afterward  sold  out  to  Judge  B.  F.  I 
Porter.  Judge  Porter  changed  its  name  to  the 
Mar  shall  County  Eagle.  \ 

AVilliam  M.  Ricketts  and  Samuel  Manning  suc- 
ceeded to  the  ownership  shortly  after,  and  again, 
after  twelve  months,  the  latter  ran  the  paper  alone 
for  a  time.  Manning  sold  out  to  James  Eubanks, 
who  kept  the  paper  in  operation  up  to  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  late  war,  when  he  entered  the 
army  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Chickamauga. 
For  some  years  after  hostilities  ceased  no  paper 
was  published  in  Marshall  County. 

Some  time  during  18G9  the  Guntersville 
Post  was  started  here  by  Joe  A.  Walden,  which 
suspended  after  six  months. 

The  Etowah  Sliield  was  removed  to  Gunters- 
ville from  Gadsden  in  1871,  by  James  L.  Burke, 
who  in  187'-i  changed  the  name  of  the  jjaper  to  the 
Marshall  Tribune,  and  admitted  George  Harper 
to  a  partnership.  In  1873  they  sold  the  paper  and 
plant  to  Cullman  parties,  who  removed  it  to  that 
place. 

The  Guntersville  Democrat  was  established  in 
1880  by  W.  M.  Meeks,  who  disposed  of  his  inter- 
ests to  E.  D.  Byars  in  1882.  The  latter  was  in 
feeble  health  on  coming  here,  and  sold  out  to  Hon. 
Solomon  Palmer  the  following  year.  The  latter 
conducted  the  Democrat  until  the  first  of  Novem- 
ber, 1»85,  when  he  leased  it  to  Robert  M.  Bell, 
who  sub-let  it  to  Broussais  Coman  and  W.  R. 
Walker. .  They  ran  the  Democrat  during  1886. 

On  January  1, 1887,  Solomon  Palmer  again  took 
hold  of  the  paper,  assisted  by  his  daughter.  Miss 
Lillie  (now  Mrs.  R.  X.  Bell). 

On  May  1st  of  the  same  year,  Major  Palmer 
leased  the  Democrat  for  twelve  months  to  E.  0. 
Neely,  who,  in  January,  IbSS,  purchased  the 
paper,  together  with  the  building  and  lot  on  the 
Public  Square  in  Guntersville  where  it  is  printed. 

The  Democrat  is  a  live  paper.  Democratic  in 
politics,  and  devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
people  of  Marshall  County. 

RAILROADS. 

The  Tennessee  &  Coosa  Railroad  is  surveyed 
and  graded   from  Gadsden  to  Guntersville,  and 


the  surveyors  have  completed  the  locating  of  th« 
line  to  Huntsville.  The  newly  elected  oflBcers, 
representing  Xew  York  capital,  have  given  a 
guarantee  to  finish  the  line  from  Gadsden  to 
Guntersville  by  October  1,  1888,  and  to  cross  the 
river  at  Guntersville  and  over  to  Huntsville  by 
the  nest  eight  months. 

This  road  will  make  part  of  a  trunk  line  from 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  via  Milan,  Tenu.,  to  Brunswick, 
Ga.,  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 

It  is  being  rapidly  built,  and  bids  fair  to  be  a 
formidable  rival  of  the  Louisville  &  Xashville 
system. 

The  Birmingham  mineral  division  of  the  Louis- 
ville it  Nashville,  surveyed  from  Bessemer  to 
Huntsville,  has  a  large  force  of  hands  engaged  on 
the  lower  end,  and  will  be  completed  to  the  Ten- 
nessee River  at  Beard's  Bluff  or  Manchester  within 
twelve  months. 

The  Scottsboro  &  Guntersville  Railroad  Com- 
pany was  organized  in  March,  1888,  and  incorpor- 
ated with  R.  C.  Hunt,  Scottsboro,  jiresident;  J. 
L.  Jordan,  Guntersville,  secretary;  and  T.  B. 
Lusk,  Guntersville,  treasurer. 

This  road  will  be  built  to  intersect  the  Mem- 
phis &  Charleston  Railroad  at  Scottsboro. 


ALBERT  G.  HENRY,  the  most  distinguish- 
ed Merchant,  Capitalist  and  citizen  of  North- 
eastern Alabama,  was  born  in  Sevier  County, 
Tenn.,  December  5,  1816.  His  educational 
training  was  limited  to  juvenile  and  youthful 
years,  and  to  the  common  schools.  He  was  twelve 
years  of  age  when  he  came  to  Alabama  with  his 
father,  Hugh  Henry,  who  established  a  small 
mercantile  house  in  Jackson  County,  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Tennessee,  opposite  (Gunters- 
ville. At  eighteen  years  of  age  he  quitted  school 
and  entered  his  father's  establishment  as  a  clerk. 
At  the  age  of  twenty  he  was  given  an  interest  in 
the  concern,  and  five  years  later,  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river,  at  Gunter's  Landing,  he  established 
himself  in  business,  and  was  the  first  merchant 
on  this  side  of  the  river  at  this  point.  With  the 
excejjtion  of  two  years  during  the  war,  he  has 
been  continuously  since  that  date  a  merchant  at 
Guntersville.  For  many  years  prior  to  the  war, 
he  held  almost  entire  control  of  the  traffic  at  that 
place.     He  was  probably  the  first  man  in  North- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


395 


eastern  Alahama  to  introduce  the  continued  credit 
system.  From  yeiir  to  year  lie  carried  his  patrons 
tijion  his  books,  and  many  of  them,  among  whom 
wi're  some  of  the  wealthiest  in  that  part  of  the 
country,  depended  as  entirely  u])on  him  and  his 
resources  for  money,  clotiiing  and  jirovisions  as  if 
he  had  been  by  them  appointed  special  guardian. 
The  return  of  peace  finding  his  patrons,  almost 
without  exception,  financially  broken  up,  it  was 
necessary  tiiat  he  should  devise  some  method  of 
securing  himself  against  loss  w-hile  he  advanced 
to  them  the  means  necessary  to  their  existence, 
lie  had  about  §r>(l,000  in  money,  and  being  with- 
out legal  remedy,  under  the  statutes  at  that  time, 
he  conceived  the  idea  of  the  mortgage  law  as  at 
present  in  vogue.  With  this  protection  he  could 
again  advance  to  the  people  the  necessaries  of  life, 
and  enable  them  to  recruit  their  lost  fortunes. 
That  his  kindness  has  been  appreciated  is  evi- 
denced, not  only  by  his  success  as  a  business  man, 
but  by  the  iiigh  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  the 
community  at  large. 

A.  (;.  Henry  has  been  for  more  than  a  decade 
recognized  as  one  of  the  most  skillful,  reliable  and 
substantial  business  men  in  the  South.  Never  a 
lioliticiaii;  never  a  speculator;  never  an  adventurer, 
lie  has  built  no  iron  furnaces,  laid  out  no  cities,  in- 
vented no  schemes  whereby  the  money  of  other 
people  might  be  transferred  to  his  own  pockets; 
but  as  an  every-day,  steady,  thorough-going  busi- 
ness man,  he  has  prospered,  he  has  grown  wealthy 
while  thousands  have  failed.  The  result  of  his 
life  comes  as  nearly  being  the  reward  of  merit  as 
does  that  of  any  man  in  modern  history.  While 
he  has  been  careful  in  his  financial  dealings,  and, 
economical  in  his  living,  it  has  never  been  charged 
that  he  has  been  dishonest,  that  he  has  sought 
another  man's  money  without  giving  in  return  an 
ample  ef|uivaleiit.  Nor  has  he  been  charged  with 
any  petty  meanness,  with  any  smallness,  with  any 
cruelty  to  those  who,  through  accei)ting  his 
bounty,  had  come  to  exist  almost  at  his  mercy. 

In  personal  appearance  Jfr.  llenry  is  somewhat 
imposing.  lie  is  over  six  feet  tall,  straight  as  an 
arrow,  always  cleanly  shaven  and  neatly  dressed. 
His  face  is  somewhat  mobile,  his  eyes  set  deep  in 
his  head,  his  nose  is  rather  aquiline,  and  his 
mouth  and  chin  denote  both  longevity  and  exceed- 
ing firmness. 

As  a  mark  of  distinction  and  as  a  memorial  to 
the  worth  and  merit  of  Mr.  Henry  as  a  citizen, 
the  publishers  are  pleased  to  embellish  this  volume 


with  a  portrait  of  what  they  consider  a  genuine 
type  of  a  self-made  man. 

Mr.  Henry  was  first  married  August  18,  1838, 
to  ,Mary  Ann  Henry,  of  Tennessee.  She  became 
the  mother  of  eight  children,  and  on  December  31, 
1884-,  died  at  Ciuntersville  at  the  age  of  04  years. 
The  present  Mrs.  Henry  was  Mrs.  Julia  Waitt,  nee 
Julia  Brown.  Of  Mr.  Henry's  children  we  make 
the  following  memoranda:  Wallace  H.  (deceased), 
Hugh,  Margaret  (Mrs.  Dr.  Clifton,  Waco,  Texas), 
Mary  (Mrs.  1).  J.  Miller,  Texas),  Sallie  H.  (Mrs. 
J.  D.  Bell,  Waco,  Texas),  Albert  G.,  Jr.,  and  Sam- 
uel. Mr.  Henry  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  his  wife  is  of  the 
Christian  C'hui'ch. 


«4i- 


LOUIS  WEISS  WYETH  was  born  in  Harris- 
burg,  I'a.,  Juneau,  181:.'.  and  is  a  son  of  John 
and  Louisa  (Weiss)  Wyeth,  natives,  respectively, 
of  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
reared  and  educated  at  Harrisburg ;  began  the 
study  of  law  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  and 
three  years  thereafter  w^as  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
Carlisle,  Pa.  In  18:{.3,  he  located  in  the  practice 
of  law  at  Harrisburg,  and  in  March,  1836,  came 
South,  landing  at  (iuntersville,  April  :2!t,  183G. 
Here  he  immediately  began  the  practice  of  law, 
and  soon  became  one  of  the  most  successful  attor- 
neys in  this  part  of  the  country.  In  1837  he  was 
appointed  County  Judge,  and  was  afterward  elect- 
ed by  the  Legislature  to  that  office  for  a  te>-m  of 
six  years.  He  held  the  office,  however,  only 
about  six  months  and  resigned,  and  from  that 
time  until  1874,  when  he  was  elected  Judge  of 
the  Fifth  Judicial  Circuit,  he  never  asked  for 
any  official  preferment.  He  was  married,  Ajiril 
0,  183'.l,  to  Miss  Euphemia  Allan,  a  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  John  Allan,  a  Presbyterian  minister  wlio 
came  from  England,  settled  in  Georgia,  and  finally 
at  Iluntsville.  To  this  marriage  three  chil- 
dren were  born  and  have  been  reared,  namely  : 
ilary,  wife  of  Hugh  Carlisle,  a  prominent  con- 
tractor ;  Louisa  Weiss,  wife  of  A\'m.  Todd,  of 
Guntersville  ;  and  John  A.,  a  surgeon  of  distinc- 
tion in  New  York  City.  The  family  are  all  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

In  thus  hastily  scanning  over  the  life  of  one  of 
the  most  prominent  men  of  Northeastern  Ala- 
bama,  we  have  taken  no  occasion   to  comment. 


396 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


eulogize  or  state  conclusions.  Those  that  know 
Judge  Wj'eth,  and  their  number  is  legion,  are  of 
but  one  mind  as  to  his  worth  as  a  citizen,  his 
ability  as  a  lawyer,  his  sound  discrimination  and 
justice  as  a  judge.  He  has  lived  long  in  this 
community,  here  reared  his  family,  amassed  a  for- 
tune, and  in  his  ripe  old  age  has  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  he  is  loved,  honored,  trusted 
and  respected  by  the  entire  community,  jirobably 
in  a  degree  enjoyed  by  no  other  man. 

The  Judge  takes  an  active  interest  in  the  up- 
building and  developmejit  of  all  Northeastern 
Alabama,  and  particularly  of  the  vicinity  of 
Guntersville.  The  new  and  promising  town  but 
recently  laid  out  and  designed  as  the  manufactur- 
ing center  of  this  immediate  portion  of  the  State, 
has  been  named  in  his  honor,  Wyetli  City.  He 
is  president  of  the  Tennessee  &  Coosa  Railroad  ; 
director  in  the  Wyeth  City  Land  Company,  and 
more  or  less  identified  with  other  important 
industries.  | 

John  Wyeth,  the  father  of  Judge  Wyeth,  was 
born  at  Fresh  Pond,  three  miles  from  Boston, 
and  when  twenty-one  years  of  age,  from  there 
went  to  Philadelphia.  Here  he  accepted  employ- 
ment in  a  printing  office,  where  he  was  at  work, 
when,  in  response  to  an  invitation  of  a  French 
gentleman,  he  sailed  to  San  Domingo.  Here  he 
edited  a  Republican  paper  until  the  outbreak  of 
an  insurrection,  which  forced  him  to  flee  from  the 
island  for  safety.  He  returned  to  Philadelphia, 
and  later  on  to  Harrisburg.  At  the  latter  place 
he  established  and  jiublished  the  Oracle  of 
Daupliln,  the  first  newspajjer  ever  printed  in 
Harrisburg.  In  addition  to  his  newspaper  he  ran 
a  book  store,  and  was  the  first  postmaster  appointed 
at  Harrisburg.  His  commission  was  signed  by 
George  Washington.  He  retired  from  all  business 
in  18'-i6,  returned  to  Pliiladelphia,  and  there  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  His  wife,  Louisa  Weiss, 
was  a  daughter  of  Louis  Weiss,  chaplain  to  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  Germany.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  jsrofonnd  scholars  of  his  day, 
but  for  his  espousal  of  the  Moravian  doctrine  was 
removed  from  his  office  by  the  Grand  Duke,  and  at 
once  came  to  America.  He  settled  in  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  held  the  ofiice  of  notary  public, 
and  was  many  years  employed  as  translator  of 
foreign  papers  and  languages. 

Of  Judge  Wyeth's  brothers  and  sisters  we  have 
the  following  data:  John  Wyeth  is  an  attorney  at 
Harrisburg,    Pa.;  Francis  Wyeth,  a  book-dealer; 


Charles  A.,  a  printer;  Samuel  D.,  a  stereotyper  in 
Philadelphia^  Louisa,  wife  of  Samuel  Douglass,  an 
eminent  attorney  at  Harrisburg;  and  Mary,  wife 
of  the  Rev.  Daniel  McKinley.  The  Wyethscame 
originally  from  England  and  settled  at  Boston,  or 
near  there,  when  that  place  was  a  small  village. 


WASHINGTON  T.  MAY  was  born  near  Win- 
chester, Tenn.,  October  1,  1810,  and  his  jmrents 
were  named  LeRoy  and  Elizabeth  (Davis)  May. 

LeRoy  May  was  born  in  Virginia  about  the 
year  1782,  and  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  North 
Carolina  in  179.5.  From  there  the  family  migrated 
to  Tennessee  in  the  year  1800,  settling  first  in 
McMinn  County  and  afterward  in  Franklin.  Le- 
Roy was  a  surveyor  by  profession  and  devoted  his 
life  thereto.  In  1845  he  moved  to  Arkansas 
where  he  died  in  1870.  He  was  under  General 
Jackson  during  the  Creek  War  as  a  topographical 
engineer. 

The  children  reared  by  Mr.  May  are  as  follows: 
Washington  T.  (the  sixbject  of  this  sketch),  Musi- 
dora  (Mrs.  William  Duncan),  Attilia  (Mrs.  Ed- 
mond  Wagner),  Mary  (Mrs.  George  Wagner), 
Virginia  (Mrs.  Greathouse),  Ann  (Mrs.  Norcross), 
Elizabeth  (Mrs.  James  Smith),  Tennessee  May, 
Gibson  May  and  Bolivar  May. 

John  May,  LeRoy  May's  father,  was  also  a  Vir- 
ginian by  birth.  He  died  in  Polk  County,  Tenn., 
in  18-15. 

Washington  T.  May  was  reared  at  Winchester, 
Tenn.,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years  began 
life  for  himself  as  an  employe  in  the  county  clerk's 
office.  He  soon  afterward  studied  law,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1831.  In  the  spring  of 
that  year  he  came  to  Alabama,  and  located  at 
Bellefonte,  Jackson  County,  in  the  practice  of  law. 
In  January,  1836,  he  was  elected  County  Judge  of 
Marshall,  and  held  that  office  twelve  or  fifteen 
years.  In  18i)"2  he  was  appointed  Probate  Judge 
of  this  county,  and  in  18'j6  was  elected  to  that 
office,  but  two  years  later  was  turned  out  by  the 
Reconstructionists.  Since  that  time  he  has  given 
his  attention  to  farming. 

Mr.  May  is  one  of  the  most  progressive  men  in 
^Marshall  County,  and  as  a  citizen  is  held  in  very 
high  esteem  by  the  people. 

He  was  married  April  VI,  1840,  to  Margaret  W. 
Johnson,  and  of  the  children  he  has  had   born  to 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


397 


him  we  make  the  following  notice:  Washington 
W.  (lied  at  C'larksonville,  Tenn.,  in  ItSGl,  wliile  in 
the  Confi'ilerate  Army  and  on  the  staff  of  Colonel 
.Taekson:  William,  a  physician,  was  a  captain  in 
tlie  late  war;  John  was  killed  in  battle  in  18<I'2; 
i.eh'oy  was  a  soldier  in  the  war,  and  died  soon  aft- 
erward: (Juss,  a  farmer  and  general  merchant; 
Thomas  S.;  Elizabeth,  wife  of  f.  P.  Heard:  Hhoda 
II.,  wife  of  John  S.  Uennett:  and  Maiv  W. 


MONTGOMERY  GILBREATH  was  born  in  Kast 
Tenncs.-^ee  January  2:!,  1814.  He  was  a  son  of 
Col.  John  (iilbreath,  who  was  a  native  of  East 
Tennessee,  and  participated  as  a  lieutenant  in  the 
battle  of  (Quebec,  under  (ieneral  Montgomery. 
He  was  taken  prisoner  theie,  and  after  his  re- 
lease returned  to  Tennessee  and  married  'a  Miss 
Fields,  who  bore  him  tliree  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters, of  whom  Montgoniei-y  was  the  eldest. 

Col.  John  Gilbreath  came  to  Blountsville.  Ala., 
between  1815  and  1820,  and  ran  a  hotel  there  for 
a  time.  About  1830  he  moved  to  Jackson  County, 
and  settled  near  (Junter's  Landing,  where  he  sjjent 
the  rest  of  liis  days. 

Montgomery  Gilbreath  received  a  greater  part 
of  his  education  at  Blountsville.  When  nineteen 
years  of  age  he  became  a  salesman  in  a  store  at 
Claysville,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Tennessee 
liiver.  In  183.5  he  did  business  for  General  Ray- 
burn,  and  in  1830  went  to  Tuscaloosa,  where  he 
clerked  for  John  C.  Johnson:  while  here  lie  vol- 
unteered in  a  company  in  the  command  of  Captain 
Chisholm,  and  served  with  it  through  the  Florida 
War.  After  the  war  he  again  clerked  with  Mr. 
Johnson  for  a  short  time,  and  later  returned  to 
(iuiitersville,  where  he  was  employed  by  Hugh 
Iloiry,  who  sent  him  to  Arkansas  to  look  after 
interests  in  the  Indian  Territory.  He  traveled 
through  the  Indian  Territory  and  Te.xas,  and 
after  returning,  continued  with  Mr.  Henry  until 
he  was  api)ointed  clerk  of  the  County  Court  in 
1830.  In  .Vugust,  1840,  he  was  elected  to  the 
same  oflice,  and  held  it  uiitil  the  office  was 
abolished  by  the  Legislature.  About  1852  he  was 
elected  Probate  Judge,  and  continued  in  that  po- 
sition until  18iil,  when  he  resigned,  raised  a  com- 
pany for  the  Confederate  .Wmy,  and  was  elected 
its  captain.  When  the  Forty-eighth  Alabama  Reg- 
iment was  organized   at  Nashville,  Captain   (iil- 


breath was  elected  its  lieutenant-colonel,  and  par- 
ticipated with  it  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  This  reg- 
iment was  re-organized,  and  on  account  of  age 
and  failing  health.  Colonel  Gilbreath  resigned 
and  returned  toGuntersville,  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing until  18<i(j.  In  that  year  he  re-entered  the 
mercantile  business  and  conducted  it  successfully 
until  his  death,  Octobers,  1ns5. 

Colonel  Gilbreath  was  a  member  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  in  1875,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
active  and  popular  men  in  that  body.  lie  was 
highly  esteemed  and  greatly  beloved  by  all  who 
knew  him.  His  wife,  a  daughter  of  Peter  Kilfoile, 
was  born  in  Blount  County,  this  State,  and  her 
fatlier  was  a  native  of  County  Queen,  Ireland. 
Of  their  ten  children,  ^lary,  John,  Emmett,  E. 
W.,  Montgomery,  Katie  and  Gordon,  are  living, 
and  Sallie  F.,  died  in  18^5 ;  Ale.x.  and  Albert 
Sidney  both  died  young. 

Mr.  Kilfoile  landed  in  Xew  '^'ork  City  when  he 
was  seventeen  years  of  age,  migrated  thence  to 
Blount  County,  Ala.,  and  later  on  to  Marshall 
County,  where  he  served  as  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  for  eleven  years.  He  afterward  ran  a  hotel 
a  while  at  Warrenton.  His  wife  before  marriage 
was  JIary  Berry,  of  South  Carolina.  He  reared  a 
family  of  three  sons  and  two  daughter-:.  'Thi-  fam- 
ily belong  to  the  Baptist  Church. 


EMMETT  GILBREATH,  Merchant,  Gunters- 
ville,  son  of  M.  Gilbreath,  was  born  near  this 
place  March  24,  1853,  and  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated at  the  common  schools  of  Gunterville  and 
Mulberry,  Tenn.,  and  at  a  Business  College  in 
Xashville.  Leaving  school  he  clerked  awhile 
for  his  father,  and  in  18S()  accepted  a  position 
in  a  mercantile  bouse  at  Cincinnati.  From 
there,  in  1882,  he  went  on  the  road  as  a  travel- 
ling salesman  for  a  Charleston,  W.  ^'a.,  shoe  house, 
and  remained  on  the  road  until  1885.  In  that 
year  he  returned  to  Guntersvijle,  where,  associ- 
ated with  a  Mr.  Whitman,  he  has  since  been 
engaged  in  the  general  mercantile  business. 

JOHN  GILBREATH.  Merchant,  (.unicrsville, 
son  of  M.  (iiilireath,  was  born  at  Warrenton, 
Marshall  County,  Ala.,  December  27,  184!t.     He 


398 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


was  educated  at  the  common  schools  of  his 
native  village,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one, 
accepted  a  position  as  salesman  with  Gilbreath 
&  Whitman,  and  remained  with  them  several 
years.  He  was  afterward  for  two  years  in  the 
stave  business.  He  next  purchased  an  interest 
in  the  grocery  house  of  W.  L.  Boggus,  and  in 
18T6  became  the  sole  owner  of  the  concern.  In 
1878  he  purchased  an  interest  in  the  firm  of 
Noble  &  Whitman,  which  he  disposed  of  in  188G, 
Mr.  Gilbreath  is  one  of  the  successful  business 
men  of  Guntersville.  What  of  this  world's  goods 
he  possesses  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
is  the  result  of  his  individual  industry.  He  was 
married  in  May,  1881,  to  Miss  Bettie  G.  Jordan, 
daughter  of  David  C.  Jordan,  Esq.,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  two  children:  Burton  and  Clebron. 

JAMES  P.  WHITMAN,  Merchant,  Gunters- 
ville, was  born  in  Madison  County,  Ala.,  June  -1, 
18-10,  and  is  a  son  of  William  F.  and  Ann  B. 
(Powell)  Whitman,  natives  of  Halifax  County, 
Va.  He  spent  the  first  seventeen  years  of  his 
life  on  his  father's  farm  and  in  attendance  at  the 
neighborhood  schools.  He  also,  after  that  time, 
attended  school  at  Winchester,  Tenn.,  and  in 
March,  1801,  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  the 
Seventh  Alabama  Infantry.  His  time  expired  in 
twelve  months,  and  he  re-enlisted  as  a  member  of 
Company  D,  Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry,  with 
•which  command  he  remained  until  the  close  of 
the  war.  He  was  in  the  battles  of  Chickamauga, 
the  Dal  ton  and  Atlanta  campaign:  was  wounded 
at  Parker's  Cross  Roads:  was  in  Hood's  raid  into 
Tennessee;  after  which  he  was  in  Tennessee  and 
Alabama  in  various  places,  and  surrendered  in 
Madison  County,  the  latter  State,  in  May,  18iJ5. 
He  at  once,  after  leaving  the  army,  resumed  farm- 
ing, and  in  1806  located  at  Guntersville  and  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  business.  In  addition  to 
mercantile  business,  he  has  given  some  time  to  in- 
surance; has  served  the  city  several  terms  as 
Councilman  from  his  ward,  and  is  at  this  writing 
engaged  in  the  real  estate  business.  February  'I'l, 
1860,  Mr.  Whitman  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
Gilbreath,  daughter  of  M.  Gilbreath,  and  has  had 
borne  to  him  nine  children:  Edward  F.,  Mont- 
gomery G.,  Albert  P.,  Robert  E.,  John  A.,  Ilor- 
race,   HoUice,    Sallie,   Tex  and    Katie   B.     The 


family  belong  to  the  Baptist  Church,  and  Mr. 
Whitman  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity 
and  the  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor. 

William  F.  Whitman,  the  father  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  came  to  Alabama  in  183'^,  and  some 
seventeen  miles  northeast  of  Iluntsville,  in  Mad- 
ison County,  located  upon  a  large  tract  of  land, 
and  here  has  since  made  his  home.  He  is  at  this 
writing  eighty  years  of  age.  His  wife  died  in 
1853.  They  reared  a  family  of  seven  children,  of 
whom  we  make  the  following  notice:  Thomas  W., 
farmer  in  Blount  County,  served  in  the  Southern 
Army  through  the  late  war:  Rebecca,  widow  of 
Richard  Petty,  deceased;  W.  Robert,  a  traveling 
salesman,  was  a  captain  in  the  Fourth  Alabama 
Cavalry  during  the  war;  James  P.;  Mary  L.,  de- 
ceased wife  of  Thomas  Nichols;  Albert  F.,  attor- 
ney at  Nashville,  Tenn.:  and  Margaret  T.,  de- 
ceased wife  of  John  Lawler. 

After  the  death  of  bis  first  wife,  Mr.  Whitman 
married  Unity  Miller,  who  bore  him  two  children: 
Rufus  P.  and  Emmet  G.  The  Whitman  family 
in  America  came  from  England  some  time  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  last  century. 


JOHN  A.  LUSK.  District  Attorney,  Gunters- 
ville, was  born  in  Pickens  District,  S.  C,  Novem- 
ber 29,  1859.  He  came  with  his  parents,  Erastus 
C.  and  Elenor  (Alexander)  Lusk,  to  Marshall 
County,  and  here  for  some  years  made  his  home. 
After  receiving  an  academic  education  he  began 
the  study  of  law,  and  in  October,  1877,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Gadsden.  After  coming 
to  the  bar  he  immediately  removed  to  Blount 
County,  and  there  pursued  his  profession  with 
considerable  success  until  1883,  when  he  returned 
to  Guntersville.  Here,  for  a  while,  he  was  in 
liartnership  with  C.  F,  Hamill,  now  of  Birming- 
ham, and  is,  at  present,  associated  with  Robert 
M.  Bell.  He  was  appointed  solicitor  by  (iovernor 
O'Neal  in  1885,  and  in  1800  was  retained  in  that 
office  by  the  voice  of  the  peoj^le.  He  was  married 
October  27,  1887,  to  Miss  Lelia  Fern,  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  Robert  and  J]liza  (Coles) 
Fern,  of  ilarshall  County. 

Mr.  Lusk  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and 
promising  attorneys  of  North  Alabama,  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Cluirch,  South,  and  a 
Freemason. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


399 


Erastus  V.  Lusk  was  a  member  of  the  First 
.South  Carolina  Regiment,  Hampton's  Brigade, 
and  participated  in  all  the  battles  fought  by  that 
distinguished  conimand.  lie  came  to  Marsliall 
County  in  180<i.  and  at  (hintersvillc  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business,  which  he  followed  until 
187");  since  that  date  he  has  been  farming.  His 
grandfather  came  from  Ireland,  and  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Kevolutionary  War.  John  A.  Lusk  has  in 
his  possession  an  eight  dollar  Continental  note, 
])aid  his  grandfather  fur  services  as  a  soldier  in 
the  Colonial  Army. 

JULIUS  L.  BURKE,  Attorney-at-law,(;unters- 
ville,  was  born  at  Kome,  (Ja.,  March  "^4,  18.50,  and 
is  a  son  of  Yancey  and  Sarah  (Lindsay)  Burke, 
the  former  a  native  of  County  Connaught,  Ireland, 
and  the  latter  of  Scotland.  In  April,  lSC-"5,  he 
enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  Compatiy  D,  Nine- 
teenth Alabama  Infantry,  and  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Chickamanga  and  Missionar\-  IJidge. 
He  was  wounded  at  the  former  place,  and  taken 
out  of  the  army  by  his  father,  who  procured  his 
discharge  while  the  army  waS  encamped  at  Dalton. 
His  first  emjiloyment  after  leaving  the  service  was 
with  a  railroad  company,  and  he  applied  his  earn- 
ings thereat  toward  the  procurement  of  an  educa- 
tion. He  had  been  to  school  some  years  before 
entering  the  army,  and  afterward  diligently  pur- 
sued his  studies  at  Adairsville  and  Athens,  Ga. 
At  Rome  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  printing 
business,  became  local  editor  of  the  Rome  Daily, 
and  subsequently  worked  on  various  papers  in 
(ieorgia.  In  18T0,  at  Gadsden,  Ala.,  he  established 
the  ElowdJi  Shield,  removed  the  paper  in  187'2  to 
(iuntersville,  and  in  1874  sold  it  to  the  Southern 
Immigrant  Company.  For  a  short  time  there- 
after he  was  connected  with  the  Nashville  lianner, 
and,  after  its  consolidation  with  the  American, 
traveled  a  wliile  in  the  interest  of  that  paper.  He 
came  to  Guntersville  in  1877,  atid  married  Miss 
Mary  C.  Adams,  daughter  of  James  Adams,  a 
prominent  attorncy-at-law,  who  was  drowned  in 
tlie  (iulf  of  .Mexico  in  18.5fi.  After  his  marriage 
.Mr.  Burke  took  up  the  study  of  law,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  at  (iuntersville  in  lS7"-i.  Between 
that  period  and  1SS4  he  employed  his  time  variously, 
stoamlioating,  i)rincipally,  t)eing  for  awhile  Secre- 
tary of  tlie  Decatur  &   Chattanooga  Packet  Com- 


pany. He  represented  Marshall  County  one  term 
in  the  Legislature.  He  began  the  practice  of  law 
in  1884,  and  is  now  associated  with  (i.  W.  Jones. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  His  five 
children  are:  James,  Lilian,  Mamie,  Yancey  and 
Robert. 

The  senior  .Mr.  Burke  came  to  America  in  18'-i7, 
settled  near  Lincolnton  Court  House,  N.  C.,  and 
removed  to  Rome,  Ga.,  in  18:!5.  In  the  former 
place  he  was  connected  with  charcoal  and  iron 
works,  and  at  the  latter  he  was  speculating  and 
merchandising.  In  18.53  he  settled  at  Fairview, 
Cherokee  County,  Ala.,  where  he  was  a  farmer 
and  speculator  in  lands.  He  reared  a  family  of 
seven  sons  and  two  daughters.  Of  them  we  have 
the  following  memorandum:  William,  deceased; 
]M.  L.  served  on  (Jeneral  Wheeler's  staff  during 
the  war,  and  died  while  in  the  service:  Caroline, 
wife  of  Asa  Davis;  F.  M.,  of  Atalla,  Ala.;  Reeves, 
a  physician  during  his  life,  died  near  Gadsden; 
Mary,  wife  of  John  W.  Walker,  deceased;  John, 
deceased;  Yancey,  who  was  educated  for  the  min- 
istry, died  near  (iadsden. 

— ■ — ■•^•— [^SJ^^]— ^' — *— 

JOHN  GADDIS  WINSTON.  Jr.,  Attorney-at- 
law,  (iuntersville.  son  of  Jiiliu  (Jaddis  and  Lucinda 
(Wilson)  Winston,  who  were  born  in  Tennessee, 
in  181.3  and  181.5,  respectively,  was  born  in  Leb- 
anon, DeKalb  County,  Ala.,  November  14,  1846. 
He  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  attended  one  year 
at  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  spent  some 
time  in  teaching  school,  and  in  1871  became  a 
merchant  in  Collinsville,  where  he  remained  three 
years.  His  next  two  years  were  spent  in  Te.xas  as 
a  teacher.  He  then  returned  to  ^Marshall  County, 
where  he  farmed  and  studied  law,  and  in  187*! 
was  admitted   to  the  bar.     In  January,  1883,  he 

]  located  at  Guntersville,  where  he  has  since  jjrac- 
ticed  law  with  success.  He  first  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  George  W.  Jones,  which  continued  two 

!  years.     He  is  now  alone,  witli  a  lucrative  practice. 

Mr.  Winston  was  married  September  14,  ls71. 

to  Elizabeth   Kirby,  daughter  of  Francis  M.  and 

J  Mary  (Cowan)  Kirby,  natives  of  Alabama  and 
Tennessee,  respectively.  Mr.  Kirby  located  in 
Marshall  County  about  1840. 

Mr.  Winston  has  a  family  of  live  children,  viz.: 

I   Cora  L.,  Tempy  0.,  John  Gaddis  (died  December 

I   24,  1887),  Frank  Kirby  and  Emma  Lucy.    Jlr.  and 


400 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Mrs.  Winston  .are  members  of  the  Churcll  of 
Christ,  and  he  belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity 
and  is  interested  in  several  imjirovements  in 
Gnntersville,  Ala. 

Mr.  Winston's  parents  came  to  DeKalb  County, 
Ala.,  in  1837,  and  his  father  lived  there  until 
1803,  when  he  moved  to  Marshall  County,  where 
he  still  resides  on  a  farm  twelve  miles  northeast 
of  Gnntersville.  He  reared  two  sons  and  five 
daughters,  viz.:  Edward  and  Lucy,  living;  Mar- 
garet, Mary,  Martha,  John  G.  and  Fannie,  de- 
ceased. The  elder  Mr.  Winston  was  Eeceiver  of 
the  Land  Office  under  Polk's  administration.  He 
had  been  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  resigned 
that  position  to  accept  the  receivership. 

He  was  a  son  of  John  Gaddis  Winston,  who 
married  a  Miss  Julia  Kenner,  and  was  one  of  the 
early  pioneers  of  Hawkins  County,  Tenn.  He  was 
a  farmer,  and  died  in  DeKalb  County,  Ala.,  in 
1848.  His  wife  died  in  Tennessee.  The  Winstons 
are  of  English  origin.  Patrick  Henry's  mother 
was  a  Winston. 

The  subject  of  our  sketcii  is  of  Irish  origin  on 
the  maternal  side. 

•    ■'>-^€^"»— — 

THOMAS  A.  STREET,  Judge  of  the  Probate 
Court  of  Marshall  County,  son  of  Oliver  D.  and 
Mary  A.  (Atkins)  Street,  natives  of  Winchester, 
Tenn.,  and  Madison  County,  Ala.,  resjDectively, 
was  born  near  Warrenton,  this  county,  July  30, 
1838.  He  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm,  attended 
the  neighborhood  schools,  and  in  July,  1860, 
graduated  from  the  Cumberland  University,  Ten- 
nessee. December,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  Company 
E,  Forty-ninth  Alabama,  and  in  the  spring  of 
1863  was  commissioned  captain.  He  took  part 
in  the  battles  of  Baton  Rouge,  Corinth,  siege  of 
Port  Hudson,  at  which  latter  place  he  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  After  the  battle  of 
Corinth  he  was  promoted  to  major,  and  after 
becoming  a  prisoner  he  was  confined  on  Johnson's 
Island  until  March,  1865.  After  leaving  John- 
son's Island  he  went  to  Point  Lookout,  Maryland, 
where  he  was  at  the  time  of  Lincoln's  assassina- 
tion. He  was  held  pi'isoner  until  June  follow- 
ing. After  the  war  he  returned  to  Warrenton, 
and  was  engaged  at  farming  until  November, 
1874,  when  he  was  elected  Judge  of  Probate,  the 
oflBce  he  has  since  continuously  held.     The  Judge 


is  an  extensive  land  holder,  and  is  largely  inter- 
ested in  the  modern  development  of  Marshall 
County.  The  proposed  town  of  Manchester, 
designed  as  a  manufacturing  place,  on  the  Tennes- 
see River,  its  site,  as  laid  out  covering  over  three 
thousand  acres  of  ground,  is  upon  land  recently 
owned  by  the  Judge  and  others,  and  by  them  sold 
to  the  Manchester  Company. 

Judge  Street  was  married  December  6,  1865,  to 
Julia  A.  Beard,  daughter  of  A.  C.  and  Jane 
(Moore)  Beard,  of  ilarshall  County,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  seven  children:  Oliver  D.,  Jane  M., 
Thomas  A.,  Julia,  Mary  T.,  Edwin  C.  and  Ernes- 
tine. The  family  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Judge  is  a  prominent 
Mason.  He  lives  on  his  farm  some  three  miles 
west  of  Gnntersville,  and  near  the  proposed  town 
of  Manchester. 

Oliver  D.  Street  was  a  minister  in  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church.  He  came  to  ilarshall 
County  in  1837,  and  died  soon  afterward.  His 
widow,  in  isi-t,  married  the  Hon.  James  L.  Shef- 
field. 

Judge  Street's  grandfather,  Thomas  Atkins, 
native  of  Lawrence  District,  S.  C,  came  to  Madi- 
son County,  Ala.,  in  1813;  there  met  and  mar- 
ried Rebecca  Tate,  a  native  of  Fayette  County. 
Ky.  Mr.  Atkins  was  a  substantial  farmer,  and 
was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1813. 


GEORGE  W.  JONES,  Attorney-at-law,  Gnn- 
tersville, son  of  William  B.  and  Martha  J.(Erwin) 
Jones,  was  born  in  ^fadison  County,  this  State, 
April  1(),  1850.  He  received  his  primary  educa- 
tion at  the  common  schools  of  Madison  County, 
and  was  graduated  from  the  law  department  of 
Cumberland  LTuiygi-gi^y^  Tennessee,  in  18T4.  In 
January,  1875,  he  located  at  Gnntersville,  formed 
a  partnership  with  R.  K.  Boyd,  then  Secretary  of 
State,  and  has  since  given  his  attention  to  the 
practice  of  law.  The  partnership  referred  to 
lasted  six  years,  and  after  practicing  alone  for  two 
years  he  was  associated  with  J.  G.  Winston,  and 
in  March,  1885,  with  J.  L.  Burke. 

Mr.  Jones  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading 
lawyers  in  Northeastern  Alabama,  and  as  a  crimi- 
nal lawyer  he  has  but  few,  if  any,  superiors  in  the 
north  part  of  the  State.  He  married,  December 
24,   1829,    Miss    Lavina    C.  Jones,  daughter    of 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


401 


George  W.  Jones,  Esq.,  of  Jradison  County,  and 
lias  hail  born  to  him  one  child,  Bessie  (iay.  •  lie 
and  his  wife  are  divided  in  their  denominational 
allegiance,  the  one  being  a  member  of  the  Cum- 
lierland  Presbyterian  Church,  and  tlieothera  com- 
municant of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Jlr.  Jones  is 
a  -Mason,  having  joined  that  fraternity  in  1S71.  at 
\ew  .Market. 

Tiie  senior  .Mr.  Jones  was  born  in  iladison 
County,  this  State,  in  1812,  and  his  wife  was  born 
in  Tennessee,  in  July,  181 7.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  substantial  farmers  of  the  day.  Prior  to  the 
war  he  cultivated  over  a  thou.sand  acres  of  land, 
and  owned  quite  a  number  of  slaves.  He  was  an 
elder  in  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church. 
He  was  assistant  quartermaster  during  the  late 
war,  and  held  the  rank  of  colonel.  His  brother, 
(Jeorge  \V.  Jones,  is  known  in  history  as  chief 
quartermaster.  Colonel  Jones,  after  the  war,  re- 
turned to  his  farm.  He  was  a  man  of  limited  edu- 
cation, but  of  great  influence  in  the  community 
where  he  resided.  He  reared  a  family  of  seven 
children,  viz. :  Rebecca,  deceased;  Eliza  B.,  wife 
of  .lames  M.  Walker:  Nannie,  wife  of  W,  J. 
A\'alker;  George  W. ;  John  K.,  a  physician;  .James, 
deceased;  and  Henry  L.  The  old  gentleman  and 
his  wife  both  live  in  Madison  County.  His  father 
was  (ieorge  T.  Jones,  a  native  of  Scotland,  who 
was  brought  by  his  grandmother  to  the  United 
States  when  an  infant.  His  name  was  really  Tan- 
nehill,  but  being  reared  by  his  grandmother  Jones, 
he  took  her  name.  He  nuirried  Rebecca  Brown, 
and  immediately  afterward  located  in  Madison 
County,  where  he  was  one  of  the  first  settlers.  He 
represented  that  county  several  terms  in  the  Leg- 
islature, and  was  known  in  his  day  as  an  active 
public  spirited  citizen. 


ROBERT  N.  BELL  was  born  at  (Jaylesvilie,  Ala., 
on  X('>vember  17.  180"i.  He  was  educated  at  the 
State  I'niversity  at  Tuscaloosa,  graduating  from 
the  law  school  at  that  institution  .lune  11,  188-1. 

Mr.  Bell  located  at  (iuntersville,  October  "iO, 
1S.S4,  having  already  been  admitted  to  practice 
law  the  July  previous.  He  at  once  began  to 
build  up  a  good  practice,  having  entered  into  a 
partnership  with  Hon.  Solomon  Palmer. 

On  January  4,  lS8<i,  Mr.  Bell  was  elected  JIayor 
of  Guntersville  and  again  re-elected  the  year  fol- 


lowing. He  was  editor  of  the  Guntersville  Demo- 
crat from  November  1,  188."),  to  March  1,  1886. 
On  January  14,  1880,  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  C.  F.  Ilamill  and  .John  A.  Lusk,  under  the 
firm  mime  of  Hamill,  Lusk  &  Bell.  C.  F.  ILimill 
withdrew  in  Jfay,  1887,  leaving  the  others  to  con- 
tinue as  Lusk  &  Bell.  As  a  firm  they  have  been 
the  leading  lawyers  in  the  town  of  Guntersville, 
each  possessing  strong  traits  of  character  that  go 
to  insure  success. 

Mr.  Bell  was  married  on  May  4.  I.s87,  to  Miss 
Lillie,  daughter  of  State  Superintendent  of  Edu- 
cation Solomon  Palmer.  In  ]inlitics  Mr.  Bell  is  a 
straight-out  Democrat. 

EDWIN  0.  NEELYwus  born  ,Iune  -25,  1859, 
near  Coliu]il)ia.  'i'eiiii. 

His  father,  J.  N.  Neely,  was  a  carriage'maker 
by  trade,  who  had  amassed  a  comfortable  income 
from  his  business,  and  who  had,  about  the  year  of 
our  subject's  birth,  purchased  a  flouring  mill  at 
Columbia.  It  thus  came  about  that  young  Neelj' 
had  to  learn  the  trade  of  flour  milling,  in  which 
business  he  continued  at  various  jioints  until 
twenty-three  years  of  age. 

He  then  stopped  work  as  a  miller  and  went  to 
school  in  order  to  fit  himself  for  a  business  life. 
After  a  course  at  Goodman's  Kno.xville  Business 
College  he  engaged  with  a  Nashville  businesshouse 
(Oman  &  Stewart,  contractors  and  builders),  in 
whose  employ  he  remained  four  years,  a  greater 
portion  of  the  time  being  spent  in  traveling. 

He  came  to  Alabama  in  the  spring  of  18S7  and 
leased  the  (Juntersville  Democrat  ioT  the  term  of 
one  year  from  May  1st.  On  January  1,  1888.  he 
bought  the  good-will,  type,  presses,  building,  etc., 
of  the  above  paper  from  Hon.  Solomon  Palmer, 
the  State  Superintendent  of  Education. 

Jlr.  Neelv  was  married  on  October  4.  1884,  to 
Miss  l^oisPeck,  daughterof  Hon.  Joseph  \.  Peck, 
of  Monroe  County,  Tenn.  They  removed  to  Gun- 
tersville during  the  spring  of  1887,  One  little 
daughter,  Ethel,  brightens  their  home. 

■    'V'  •^5s^^"~*^'    • 

WILLIS  W.  CURREY.  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  (Juntersville,  native  of  Oglethorpe  County, 
Ga.,  son  of  Willis  and  Esther  (Waller)  Currey, 
was  born  April  20, 18:j,3.     He  grew  to  manhood  in 


402 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  country  and  on  his  father's  farm,  and  at  the 
common  schools  acquired  a  liberal  education.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-one  he  began  teaching,  which 
he  followed  for  two  years.  At  the  outbreak  of 
the  late  war  he  was  farming;  in  1805  he  enlisted 
as  a  private  in  Company  B,  Forty-first  Georgia  In- 
fantry, and  with  that  command  participated  in 
the  battles  of  Corinth,  Mumfordsville  and  Perry- 
ville.  At  the  latter  place  he  was  wounded,  and 
soon  afterward,  at  Harrisbui'g  (Ky.)  Hosf)ital,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  In  December  fol- 
lowing he  was  exchanged,  and  in  March  of  1863 
rejoined  his  command  at  Yicksburg,  and  took 
part  in  the  battles  of  Champion  Hill,  Black  Eiver, 
etc.,  and  surrendered  with  Pemberton's  army 
July  4.  Being  again  exchanged,  December  19 
of  that  year  he  entered  the  army  at  Dalton, 
Ga.,  and  particijiated  in  all  the  battles  from  Dal- 
ton to  Atlanta,  except  New  Iloi^e  Church.  He 
was  also  at  Franklin  and  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and, 
finally,  at  Bentonville,  N.  C,  the  last  battle  fought 
by  General  John.son.  After  the  surrender  he  re- 
turned to  Georgia,  and  for  some  years  gave  his 
attention  to  teaching  and  farming  alternately. 
In  187T,  having  lost  the  use  of  a  leg  as  a  result  of 
the  wound  received  at  Perryville,  he  was  compelled 
to  abandon  farming  entirely,  and  thereafter  de- 
voted liis  time  to  teaching.  In  1883  he  came  into 
Alabama,  located  in  Marshall  County,  taught 
school  until  1886,  and  in  October  of  that  year  was 
elected  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court.  Since  that 
date  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Guutersville. 

Mr.  Currey  was  married  in  November,  18.54,  to 
Miss  Jane  Maddox,  of  Butts  County,  Ga. ,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  three  children:  William,  Mary 
and  Lottie,  ilary  is  the  wife  of  B.  A.  Fortson, 
and  Lottie  is  the  wife  of  Wm.  E.  Groover.  Mrs. 
Currey  died  in  July,  1864,  and  in  November,  1865, 
Mr.  Currey  was  married  to  Miss  Henrietta  Crowel, 
daughter  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  (Caston)  Crowel, 
of  Georgia.  To  this  union  seven  children  have 
been  born:  Lizzie,  Mattie,  Henry,  Charlie,  Nina, 
Nim  and  Nellie.  The  family  are  identified  with 
the  Methodist  Eiiiscopal  Church. 


LORENZI  D.  LUSK.  M.  D.,  Physician,  Sur- 
geon and  Druggist,  (hintersville,  son  of  Nathan 
and  Eosanna  (Capehart)  Lusk,  natives  of  South 
Carolina,  was  born  in  Pickens  District,  that  State, 
October  7.  1829. 


Eeared  to  manhood  upon  his  father's  farm, 
alternating  the  duties  incident  to  rural  life,  with 
attendance  at  the  common  schools  of  his  neigh- 
borhood, young  Lusk,  in  early  life,  acquired 
the  elements  of  an  education.  He  came  to  Ala- 
bama in  18.52,  located  in  Marshall  County,  and 
for  two  years  taught  school.  He  began  reading 
medicine  while  presiding  over  his  school  ;  came 
to  Guntersville  in  18.56,  and  in  the  winter  of 
1857-8,  attended  lectures  in  Nashville.  He  began 
practice  at  Guntersville  in  connection  with  the  drug 
business,  which  he  established  in  1858,  and  here 
he  has  remained  xtntil  he  has  become  so  thorough- 
ly identified  with  the  place  and  its  jieople,  that 
he  has  long  since  been  recognized  as  a  fixture. 
In  1868  he  was  elected  Probate  Judge  of  Marshall 
County,  and  held  that  office  one  term. 

As  a  business  man,  as  well  as  professional. 
Dr.  Lusk  has  scored  a  decided  success.  He  left 
South  Carolina  three  hundred  dollars  in  debt, 
and  with  barely  money  enough  to  bring 
him  to  Guntersville.  At  this  writing  (1888) 
he  is  the  possessor  of  an  ample  fortune.  He  is 
vice-president  of  the  Wyeth  City  Land  and  Im- 
provement Company,  is  interested  in  the  Coosa  & 
Tennessee  Eailroad  Company,  is  a  large  land 
holder,  and  is  altogether  one  of  the  most  sub- 
stantial, enterprising  and  popular  citizens  of 
Northeastern  Alabama.  He  was  one  of  the  organ- 
izers of  the  Wyeth  City  Land  and  Improvement 
Company,  and  probably  owns  a  greater  area  of  its 
territory  than  any  other  man. 

Dr.  Lusk  was  married  September,  1859,  to  Mary 
E.  Loveless,  daughter  of  Allen  Loveless,  of  Mar- 
shall County,  and  has  had  born  to  him  five  chil- 
dren: Emerson  (deceased),  Margaret  E.,  Pliocian 
B.,  Thurston  G.  and  Mary  E.  The  Doctor  is  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and 
has  been  many  years  Master  of  the  lodge  at  that 
place. 

Nathan  Lusk  was  born  in  Anderson  District, 
S.  C,  in  IT'.i."),  and  with  his  7)arents,  who  died 
when  he  was  thirteen  years  of  age,  moved  into 
Pickens  District,  in  1800.  He  worked  at  the  hat- 
ter's trade,  and  afterward  at  farming.  He  reared  a 
family  of  ten  children,  to-wit  :  Angeline  (ilrs. 
Eobert  Wiggington),  Emily  (Mrs.  Thomas  Little- 
ton), Lorenzi  D.  (subject  of  this  sketch),  Leroy 
W.,  Erastus  C,  Nathan  B.  (deceased),  Thomas  B., 
Vilena  (Mrs.  Leonard  Eogers)  and  Eufus  (de- 
ceased). Erastus  C,  Nathan  B.,  Leroy  W.  and 
Thomas   B.  were  all   soldiers  in  the  Confederate 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


403 


Army  during  the  late  war.  Jfr.  Lusk  died  in  South 
Carolina  in  187:2.  His  widow  is  si  ill  living  in 
Oconee  County,  S.  C.  The  Lusks  came  origi- 
nally from  Ireland,  and  the  descendants  of  the 
pioneers  of  that  family  to  America  are  found  now 
in  every  State  in  the  I'nion. 

As  a  eomjiliinent   to    l>r.    Lusk,  the   iniblishcrs 
present  lierewilh  a  luuulsotne  ])ortruit  of  jiim. 


-«« 


««►► 


JAMES  MONROE  JACKSON.  M.  D.,  son  of 
llarhard  and  .Martha  (Gill)  .lackson,  was  born  at 
Cnlleoka,  Maury  County,  Tenn.,  -Vpril  12,  1S2<I. 
lie  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  graduated  from 
.Icickson  College  in  Maury  County,  in  1844,  with 
the  degree  of  A.  M.  He  came  at  once  to  Morgan 
County,  Ala.,  and  settled  in  Somerville  in  184.5, 
where  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  with  his 
cousin.  Dr.  W'm.  B.  Gill.  He  attended  his  first 
courseof  lectures  at  Louisville  Medical  College,  and 
graduated  from  the  .Medical  College  of  South  Caro- 
lina, at  Charleston,  in  184'.».  He  then  returned  to 
Somerville  and  there  practiced  medicine  success- 
fully until  18<)tl,  when  he  moved  to  Guntersville, 
and  has  been  in  the  practice  there  ever  since.  It 
is  probable  that  his  has  been  the  most  successful 
})ractice  of  any  doctor  in  the  county.  For  a  year 
past  he  has  also  been  conducting  a  farm. 

In  .\pril.  18'il,  Dr.  Jackson  entered  the  Con- 
federate Army  as  surgeon  of  the  Forty-second 
Tennessee  Regiment,  and  remaineil  with  it  until 
the  fall  of  Fort  Donelson,  after  which  he  was 
held  as  a  prisoner  at  Camp  Chase  until  July  of 
that  year,  when  he  was  sent  to  Johnson's  Island. 
After  his  release  lie  joined  the  Forty-ninth  Ten- 
nessee IJeginient,  and  remained  witli  it  until 
ISi!.'),  when  he  surrendered  at  Franklin,  Tenn., 
then  holding  the  rank  of  major.  After  this  he 
was  ordered  to  renuiin  with  the  wounded  "joldiers. 
He  wassubscijuently  taken  to  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and 
imprisoned  in  the  penitentiary.  In  April,  he  with 
three  other  surgeons  was  sent  to  Indianapolis  and 
held  as  hostages  for  four  surgeons  of  the  Federal 
Army,  who  were  missingat  thebattleof  Franklin. 
Those  four  were  8ubse<|uently  discovered  to  have 
returned  to  their  homes,  and  Dr.  Jackson  was 
released  in  .June.  1S0.">,  when  he  returneil  to  Gun- 
tersville. 

Dr.  Jackson  was  married  in  November,  18.50, 
to  Eliza  D.,  daughter  of  Dr.  James  and  Martha 


(Berry)  Wilkinson,  of  Somerville,  both  natives  of 
Georgia.  Tiie  Doctor  haci  three  children  Ijorn  to 
him,  and  has  buried  one.  The  living  are  Alice 
Lee  (now  wife  of  Robert  McKinney,  of  Mem- 
phis), and  James  L.,  a  farmer  of  Guntersville. 
The  Doctor  lost  his  wife  in  188(;.  He  is  a  mem- 
l)er  of  the  .Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the 
Masonic  fraternity. 

Dr.  .Jackson's  father  was  born  at  Madison,  Ga., 
and  liis  mother  in  Botetourt  County,  Va.  The 
father,  Harbard  .Jackson,  moved  with  his  parents 
to  Tennessee  at  a  very  early  day  and  became  a 
substantial  farmer.  They  reared  si.x  children,  viz. : 
Elizalieth,  Susan,  Priscilla,  Floyd,  Joseph,  and 
•James  Monroe,  who  was  tlie  third  in  order.  Harb- 
ard Jackson  died  in  Tennessee  in  1842.  His 
father,  Mark  .Jackson,  a  native  of  Georgia,  came 
to  Maury  County,  Tenn.,  in  the  early  settlement 
of  that  State.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  War  of 
1S12. 

WILLIAM  L.  THOMASON,  M.  D..  Physician 
and  Surgeon,  Guntersville,  son  of  William  B. 
and  Sarah  A.  (Willcox'son)  Thomason,  both  na- 
tives of  Georgia,  was  born  November  22,  184'.t,  in 
Coweta  County,  Ga.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm, 
received  an  academic  education,  and.  when 
eighteen  years  of  age,  began  studying  medicine 
with  his  father.  He  attended  the  Augusta  Medi- 
cal School  in  186!i  and  187i»,  graduated  in  the 
medical  course  from  Nashville  University,  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  in  1871,  and  immediately  thereafter 
located  at  I'nion  Springs,  Ala.  In  1874  he  went 
to  Lafayette,  and,  in  1875,  again  moved  into 
Blount  County,  where  he  was  engaged  in  mer- 
chandising, and  conducted  a  farm.  In  December, 
1882,  he  located  at  Guntersville,  where  he  opened 
a  drug  store  under  the  firm  name  of  Thomason  & 
Roden,  in  connection  with  his  practice.  lu 
August,  1887,  Mr.  Roden  retired. 

During  his  residence  in  Blount  County,  Dr. 
Tiiomason  was  president  of  the  County  iledical 
Society,  and  was  the  organizer,  and  is  the  present 
secretary  of  the  Marshall  County  Medical  Society. 
The  Doctor's  present  success  in  life  is  entirely 
the  result  of  his  individual  effort  and  energy. 
He  was  married  in  May,  187"),  to  Miss  Ida, 
daughter  of  Tilman  I.  and  Nancy  (Thomason) 
Pearce,  of  Columbus,  (ia.  Mr.  Pearce  was  a 
mechanic  and  contractor,  and  owns  a  large  amount 
of  property. 


404 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Dr.  Thomason  and  wife  have  five  children,  viz.: 
William  Pearce,  Paul,  Mary  Irene,  James  and 
Lilian.  Mrs.  Thomason  is  a  member  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church,  and  the  doctor  is  a  prominent  Meth- 
odist, and  represented  his  church  in  the  General 
Conference  lield  at  Richmond,  May,  1886.  He  is 
also  a  prominent  Mason.  He  is  a  public-spirited 
and  enterjirising  citizen,  and,  as  a  physician  and 
surgeon,  ranks  high  in  the  profession. 

William  B.  Thomason,  the  doctor's  father,  was 
also  a  physician.  He  was  educated  at  the  Medical 
College  of  Georgia,  from  which  institution  he 
graduated  in  1851.  In  1855  he  located  in  Henry 
County,  Ala.,  thence  to  Calhoun  County  in  180<i, 
and  in  1803  removed  to  Bullock  County,  where 
he  now  resides.  He  has  been  constantly  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  since  his  gradua- 
tion. As  a  consequence  of  the  late  war,  he  lost 
his  entire  possessions,  but  afterward  accumulated 
a  goodly  estate,  and  gave  each  of  his  children  a 
good  education. 


PATRICK  HENRY  was  born  in  Blount  County, 
Ala.,  March  z8,  1835,  and  is  a  son  of  Hugh  and 
Anna  Henry.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  ed- 
ucated primarily  at  the  common  schools  of  his 
neighborhood.  He  spent  two  years  at  the  Cum- 
berland University,  Tennessee,  and,  after  leaving 
that  institution,  entered  his  father's  store  as  a 
clerk,  at  Henryville,  about  five  miles  north  of 
Guntersville.  At  his  father's  death,  which 
occurred  in  1856,  he  was  given  an  interest  in  the 
business,  in  connection  with  a  younger  brother, 
T.  B.  Henry,  who  was  killed  near  his  home  during 
the  late  war. 

Mr.  Henry,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  closed 
out  his  business,  and  enlisted  in  Company  E, 
Forty-ninth  Alabama,  as  a  private,  and  partici- 
pated in  the  battle  of  Shiloh.  In  the  fall  of  1862 
he  was  commissioned  commissary,  with  the  rank 
of  captain,  which  position  he  held  until  the  reg- 
iment was  surrendered- at  Port  Hudson,  July, 
1858.  He  was  sent  to  Johnson's  Island,  and  in 
March,  1865,  was  taken  to  Fort  Delaware,  where 
he  remained  until  the  final  surrender.  He  took 
the  oath  of  allegiance  and  returned -to  his  home, 
where,  in  partnership  with  his  brother  and 
nephew,  he  entered  mercantile  business.  This 
partnership  lasted  until  1873,  when  Wallace 
Henry  was  succeeded  by  D.  J.  Miller.     The  sub- 


ject of  this  sketch  retired  from  the  firm  in  18T6, 
and  accepted  emjiloyment  with  his  brother, 
Albert  G. 

In  1884  he  formed  a  partnership  with  his 
brother,  which  lasted  until  January,  188T.  At 
that  time  he  began  business  with  his  sons,  the 
style  of  the  firm  being  P.  Henry  &  Sons.  At  this 
writing  (March,  1888),  he  has  discontinued  busi- 
ness, with  a  view  to  emigrating  to  Indian  Terri- 
tory, where  he  has  large  landed  interests. 

Mr.  Henry  is  the  owner  of  some  of  the  most 
fertile  farm  lands  in  Marshall  County,  and  has 
the  finest  residence  at  Guntersville  in  this  part  of 
the  country.  He  was  married  in  October,  1856, 
to  Miss  Sarah  Stearnes,  daughter  of  Isham  R. 
Stearnes,  of  this  county,  and  has  four  children: 
Hugh  B.,  Patrick,  Thomas  B.,  and  Myra,  wife 
of  George  A.  Samuels. 

Mr.  Henry's  wife  died  in  April,  1866,  and  he 
afterward  married  AUie  Alford,  who  lived  but 
three  months.  In  May,  18T1,  he  married  Mrs. 
Laura  A.  Todd,  nee  Gibbs,  who  bore  him  three 
children:  Gibbs,  Albert  G.,  and  ]\Iarie.  The 
third  Mrs.  Henry  died  Xo^rember  19,  1887. 

Mr.  Henry  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 


-«-: 


ANDREW  J.  BAKER,  Hardware  Merchant, 
Guntersville,  son  of  William  and  ilary  (Manning) 
Baker,  was  born  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Tennes- 
see River,  near  (iuntersville,  Xovember  It,  1837. 
He  was  reared  on  a  farm;  received  a  good  educa- 
tion, considering  the  times,  and  when  of  lawful 
age  began  the  study  of  medicine,  and  was  graduated 
from  Shelby  Medical  College,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  in 
1861.  In  November,  of  the  same  year,  he  en- 
listed in  the  Confederate  Army  as  a  member  of 
Company  G,  Fourth  Alabama  Cavalry,  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Russell,  and  was  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Eagleville,  Tenn.  He  was  subsequently 
transferred  to  the  secret  service,  with  which  he 
remained  until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  partici- 
pated in  the  battle  at  Bull's  Gaj)  and  in  the  fights 
about  Nashville.  He  was  captured  by  a  squad  in 
the  fight  at  Nashville,  and  the  squad  was  cap- 
tured in  its  turn. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Nash- 
ville, in  which  place  he  had  removed  with  his 
family  in  1860,  and  farmed  and  speculated  there 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


4U5 


until  IS'iT,  when  he  returned  to  his  native  county 
and  engaged  in  farming  and  merohandising.  lie 
conducted  his  store  three  years,  and  after  that 
devoted  his  entire  attention  to  his  farm.  In  188:! 
lie  removed  to  (iuntersville  and  opened  the  first 
hardware  store  at  this  place.  In  addition  to  his 
mercantile  husiness  and  farming  he  lias  given  con- 
siderable time  tosiirveyiiig. 

Mr.  Baker  was  married  February  21,  18G0,  to 
Jliss  Mary  E.,  daughter  of  Jacob  and  P^lizabeth 
(Prince)  Foriaii,  of  Nashville,  and  has  had  born 
to  him  one  child,  Elizabeth  Boyd.  The  family 
are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  Mr.  Baker  is  a  Freemason. 

— «"!«^"4^ 

SAMUEL  K.  RAYBURN  was  born  at  Beach 
drove,  in  Bedford  County,  Tenn.,  October  1.5, 
1S12,  and  his  parents  were  John  and  Eliza- 
lieth  (Shaiiklin)  llayburn,  both  natives  of  Bote- 
tourt County,  Va.  He  was  reared  on  his  fatii- 
er's  farm,  educated  at  the  common  schools; 
came  to  Alabama  with  his  parents  in  1810, 
and  to  Guntersville  in  1834,  where  he  engaged 
at  mercantile  business.  With  the  exception 
of  two  years,  he  was  a  merchant  until  1S47, 
at  which  time  he  volunteered  as  a  member  of  Capt. 
James  M.  Gee's  Independent  Company,  and  served 
in  the  Mexican  War.  In  1848  he  returned  to 
Guntersville;  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  in  1840,  and  held  the  office  eight  years.  In 
18.57  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate.  In  No- 
vember, 1858,  he  was  elected  President  of  the 
Tennessee  &  Coosa  Railway  Company,  and  held 
the  othce  until  18(18.  In  I'8(;i,  by  the  people  of 
Marshall,  Jackson,  DeKalb  and  Cherokee  Coun- 
ties, he  was  elected  Major-Geiieral  of  the  militia. 
In  18ii"2  he  resigned,  and  was  appointed  on  the 
staff  of  Governor  Moore,  and  in  the  fall  of  the 
same  year  raised  a  company  of  volunteers,  was 
commissioned  Captain  (Company  B,  Forty-eighth 
Alabama),  served  until  compelled  by  sickness  to 
resign,  returned  home,  and  in  the  early  jiart  of 
1SG3  received  the  appointment  of  I)ei)uty  Col- 
lector of  Revenue.  lie  Jield  this  position  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  In  ISfiO  he  was  appointed 
Register  in  Chancery,  and  has  been  continued  in 
that  oHice  ever  since.  From  lS7it  to  1870  he  was 
also  County  Solicitor,  and  for  the  past  live  or  six 
vears  has  acted  as  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  has  been 


several  times  Mayor  of  Guntersville.  Ue  was  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  Tennessee  &  Coosa  Rail- 
road, has  been  one  of  its  Directors  ever  since,  and 
its  Secretary  for  the  past  ten  years.  He  is  one  of 
the  foremost  men  in  the  upbuilding  and  improve- 
ment of  tlie  country,  and  is  particularly  interested 
in  the  welfare  of  Guntersville. 

March,  1840,  Mr.  Rayburn  was  married  to  Sarah 
Davenport.  His  only  son,  by  this  marriage,  ('apt. 
John  Rayburn,  was  a  graduate  of  Cumberland 
University;  was  a  captain  in  the  Ninth  Alabama 
Infantry,  commanded  by  Colonel  Wilcox,  and  lost 
his  life  at  Sharpsburg,  Aid.  Sarah  (Daven- 
port) Rayburn,  having  died  January,  1860,  Mr. 
Rayburn,  in  May,  18G1,  was  married  to  Mrs. 
Evergreen  Findley,  nve  Rainney.  She  was  killed 
in  1862  by  the  explosion  of  a  shell  thrown  into 
the  town  of  (iuntersville,  by  the  enemy. 

December,  1863,  at  Guntersville,  Ala.,  Air.  Ray- 
burn was  married  to  Miss  Nannie  Nix,  and  to  this 
union  five  children  have  been  born:  Bessie,  John, 
Samuel  K.,  AVilliam  C,  and  Jennie.  Mrs.  Ray- 
burn died  November,  1874,  and  on  May  1,  1880, 
Miss  Jane  Warren,  of  DeKalb  County,  this  State, 
became  the  fourth  Mrs.  Samuel  K.  Rayburn. 

BENJAMIN  W.  TIPTON,  son  of  Vance  S.  and 
Nellie  (Smith)  Tipton,  was  born  in  Jackson 
County,  Ala..  March  24,  1828.  He  spent  the 
early  years  of  his  life  on  his  father's  plantation, 
and  at  the  neighboring  schools  acfpiired  an  ordin- 
ary English  education.  In  the  fall  of  18i)2  he  ' 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Confederate  Army, 
and  remained  in  the  service  until  after  his  cap- 
ture at  the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  after  which  he 
returned  to  .Jackson  County. 

Mr.  Tipton  wiis  married  to  a  daughter  of  Asa 
M.  Green.  She  became  the  mother  of  twelve 
children,  several  of  whom  survive  her.  She  died 
in  1882,  and  in  1884  Mr.  Tipton  married  Mrs. 
Mary  Kitchens,  uve  Capehart. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tii>ton  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcojial  Church,  South,  and  Mr. 
Tipton  is  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

The  senior  Jlr.  Tipton  was  born  in  1800.  He 
settled  near  Scottsboro,  Jackson  County,  in  1818, 
and  there  spent  the  rest  of  liis  life.  (Jf  the  seven 
cJiildren  born  to  him,  five  grew  to  maturity.  His 
son  John  was  drowned  accidentally  in  Short  Creek, 


406 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


near  Guntersville:  he,  Benjamin  and  LaFayette— 
three  brothers  —  were  in  the  C'onfederate  Army. 
Mrs.  Nellie  (Smitli)  Tipton  died  in  1837, and  Vance 
B.  subsequently  married  Mrs.  Thomas,  nde  Green, 
widow  of  Charles  Thomas.  She  was  the  mother 
of  four  children  by  her  first  husband,  and  became 
the  mother  of  two  by  Mr.  Tipton.  The  two  lat- 
ter. Jonathan  and  Thomas  J.,  died  in  the  army 
during  the  late  war. 

Mrs.  Theresa  Tipton  died  in  1858,  and  her  re- 
lict afterward  intermarried  with  Lucinda  HoUis,  of 
Jackson  County,  and  she  bore  him  two  children. 
The  old  gentleman,  Vance  B.  Tipton,  died  in 
1881,  and  his  widow  survived  him  until  1885. 


WILLIAM  M.  BAKER  was  born  on  the  farm 
where  he  now  resides,  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Tennessee  River,  three  miles  northwest  of  Gun- 
ter's  Landing,  April  16,  1841,  and  is  a  son  of 
William  and  Mary  (Manning)  Baker.  He  was 
reared  at  this  place  and  educated  at  the  common 
schools  of  the  neighborhood,  where  he  received  a 
fair  education. 

December  16,  1801,  he  enlisted  as  a  23rivate  in 
Company  E,  Forty-ninth  Alabama,  and  with  that 
command  participated  in  the  battles  of  Shiloh, 
Corinth,  Baton  Rouge,  Port  Hudson  (where 
he  was  captured),  and  the  first  fighting  at  Vicks- 
burg.  After  being  paroled  he  returned  to  his 
home,  where  he  was  again  taken  jjrisoner  and  sent 
to  Camp  Chase,  and  there  remained  until  1865. 
From  Camp  Chase  he  was  sent  to  Richmond,  Va., 
paroled,  and,  in  March  of  that  year,  reached 
home  in  time  for  the  final  surrender.  He 
came  to  Guntersville  where  he  took  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  since  tliat  time  has  given  his  atten- 
tion to  farming.  He  owns  a  magnificent  farm  ex- 
tending along  the  river,  and  in  connection  with  it 
runs  a  cotton-gin,  saw,  grist  and  lumber-mill 
combined.  In  partnershij^  with  his  brother,  he 
erected  the  first  portable  engine  ever  brought  to 
that  jjart  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Baker  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful farmers  of  Marshall  County.  He  is  well 
fixed  in  this  world's  goods,  the  result  of  his  own 
enterprise;  the  close  of  the  war  found  his  ex- 
chequer entirely  depleted. 

He  was  married  in  December,  1867,  to  Alabama 
McKee,  daughter  of  William  McKee,  one  of  the 


pioneers  of  Marshall  County.  Mr.  McKee  came  to 
the  Tennessee  Valley  from  Fast  Tennessee  in  181!t, 
and  was  one  of  the  most  successful  farmers  of 
his  day.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  owned  a« 
large  estate  in  lands  and  other  property.  Mrs. 
Baker  died  in  1880,  and  in  September,  1881,  Mr. 
Baker  was  married  to  Julia  V.  Burnett,  daughter 
of  John  Burnett,  of  DeKalb  County.  Mr.  Bur- 
nett was  also  a  soldier  in  the  late  war,  and  died  in 
prison  on  Rock  Island.  By  his  present  wife  Mr. 
Baker  has  four  children,  to-wit:  James  B.,  Julia 
E.,  Mary  J.  and  Robbie  May.  The  family  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
Mr.  Baker  is  a  Mason. 

JOHN  D.  TAYLOR,  son  of  Theojihilus  and  Anna 
(Dykes)  Taylor,  natives  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  respectively,  was  born  in  Habersham 
County,  Ga.,  May  9,  18.30.  He  spent  his  younger 
days  on  a  farm  ;  received  his  education  at  liome, 
and  when  twenty  years  of  age  began  clerking  in 
Jackson  County,  this  State.  In  1855,  he  came  to 
Guntersville  and  for  some  time,  sold  goods.  While 
in  Jackson  County,  he  began  the  study  of  law,  and 
at  Guntersville,  in  1857,  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  practiced  law  here  two  years.  In  1860  he 
was  employed  by  a  wholesale  house  in  Nashville, 
and  in  March.  1862,  enlisted  in  the  Confederate 
Army,  in  Companj'E,  Forty-eighth  Alabama  Reg- 
iment of  Infantry,  as  a  private,  and  was  soon  after- 
ward promoted  to  ordnance  sergeant.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1804,  he  returned  to  his  home  and  to  a  clerk- 
ship in  a  store.  In  1871  he  entered  the  warehouse 
and  commission  business  at  the  landing,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1885,  erected  a  large  warehouse  in  the  town, 
and  dealt  in  all  sorts  of  produce.  He  has  served 
as  justice  of  the  peace  or  notary  since  1869. 

Mr.  Taylor  was  first  married  June  4,  1861,  to 
Mrs.  Virginia  Moore,  daughter  of  William  Patton, 
who  came  from  Virginia,  settled  near  lluntsville, 
and  married  a  iliss  Miller.  Mr.  Taylor  was  the 
father  of  three  children  by  liis  first  marriage,  viz.: 
Warren  P.,  Clarence  M.  and  Herbert  Lee.  His 
wife  died  August  9,  1869,  and  he  was  married  the 
second  time,  October  10,  1870,  to  Catherine  Black, 
daughter  of  George  and  ^Margaret  (Phinizee)  Bell, 
of  Jackson  County,  A'a.  Mr.  Bell  is  a  farmer  and 
blacksmith. 

Mr.  Taylor  is  a  public-sjjirited  citizen.     He  is  a 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


407 


inember  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F. ,  and  he  and  his  wife  be- 
lonfj  to  the  Methodist  Ei)iscopal  Church,  South. 

Theophihis  Taylor  was  a  hatter  by  trade,  and 
was  also  a  farmer.  He  was  born  in  IT'.'O,  and  was 
a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1S12.  Ilec-ameto  (ieorgia 
when  but  a  boy,  and  died  there  in  185,3.  Ilis 
father,  Jerry  Taylor,  was  born  and  reared  in  Vir- 
ginia and  took  part  in  the  Kevoliitionary  War, 
although  but  a  boy.  lie  married  Lea  White,  and 
raised  a  large  family.  He  moved  to  South  Caro- 
lina when  a  young  man,  and  afterward  to  Georgia, 
where  he  remained  until  his  death.  The-Taylors 
and  Whites  are  both  of  Knglisli  origin. 

Mr.  Taylor's  maternal  grandmother  was  twice 
married.  Her  first  husband's  name  was  John 
l)ykes;  lier  second  husband  was  a  \g\\  Moltke — 
he  was  Mr.  Taylor's  grandfather,  and  a  relative 
of  the  famous  (ieneral  \'on  .Moltke,  of   Germany. 


DAVID  CARNES  JORDAN  was  born  in  Blount 
(bounty,  Ala.,  February  :.'l,  182!!,  and  is  a  son  of 
William  Grant  and  Elizabeth  G.  (Carnes)  Jordan. 
He  was  reared  at  Bristol  Cove,  where  he  received 
a  common-school  education. 

He  was  married  in  December,  1848,  to  Miss 
Sarah  E.  Ligon,  daughter  of  .Tames  and  JIatilda 
(Burns)  Ligon,  of  this  city. 

.Mr.  Jordan  has  been  a  farmer  nearly  all  his  life- 
time, and  at  present  owns  about  fifteen  hundred 
acres  of  land  in  this  county.  Before  the  war, 
he  held  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the  county,  and 
he  was  again  elected  to  that  office  during  the  war. 
In  18tlti  he  engaged  in  mercantile  business  at  Gun- 
tersville,  which  he  still  contiiiues,  under  thetirm- 
name  of  .Jordan,  .Manning  &  Co.,  and  in  addition 
thereto  he  is  operating  a  cotton-gin  and  grist-mill. 

Mr.  Jordan's  first  wife  died  in  L"^.")."?,  leaving  two 
children,  James  L.  and  Elizabeth  E.  On  June 
20,  18.53,  he  was  wedded  to  Martha  ¥..  Rivers, 
daughter  of  Eldridge  Rivers,  one  of  the  jjioneers 
of  .Madison  County,  and  the  children  born  to  this 
union  are  Sarah  E.,  Mary  A.  (Mrs.  .John  Green- 
wood), William  G.,  John,  and  David  C. 

William  fJ.  .Jordan  was  born  in  Buncombe 
County,  X.  C,  about  180O,  and  was  taken  by  his 
parents  to  Franklin  County,  Tenn.,  when  he  was 
an  infant,  and  there  was  reared  and  educated. 
.Vt  the  age  of  about  twenty-three  years  he  came  to 
Blount    County,    Ala.,    married,    entered    lands 


from  the  Government,  and,  at  Bristor  Cove,  that 
county,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  Marshall  County,  he  owned  ISoo  acres  of  land. 
He  was  for  many  years  Commissioner  of  Jlar- 
shall  County,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was 
Postma.-<ter  at  Aurora.  He  reared  si.\  children, 
of  whom  we  have  the  following  data  :  Mary  E., 
(Mrs.  Levi  Murphee),  Alexander,  Emily  (.VIrs. 
Elisha  R.  (^handler),  David  C.  and  John.  Alexan- 
der, now  deceased,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Confeder- 
ate Army,  as  was  John.  The  old  gentleman 
diedin  18T"J.  The  .Jordan  family  came,  originally, 
from  Scotland;  and  John  .Jordan,  a  iiativeof  Bun- 
combe County,  N.  C,  was  among  the  early  settlers 
of  Franklin  County,  Tenn.  He  removed  from 
there  to  Rush  County,  Texas,  where  he  and  his 
wife  died.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of  1812, 
a  substantial  farmer,  and  distinguished  as  a  turf- 
man. The  Carnes  family  came  from  Ireland,  in 
the  person  of  David  Carnes,  and  lived  at  Paint 
Lick,  Ky.,  where  Elizabeth  C.  Carnes  was  born. 

WENDOLYN  SEIBOLD,  Merchant,  Gunters- 
ville,  sou  (jf  Lorenzo  and  Celia  Seibold,  of  Baden, 
Germany,  was  born  in  Sakingen,  Baden,  Ger- 
many, October  8,  1823,  and  was  the  youngest  of 
five  sons,  lie  received  his  education  in  his  na- 
tive village,  and  learned  the  trade  of  shoemaker. 
He,  with  three  of  his  brothers,  left  Amsterdam 
on  a  sailing  vessel,  and  on  May  4,  1 847,  landed  in 
New  York  after  a  voyage  of  forty  days.  He  worked 
in  Xew  York  City  for  si.x  months,  went  to  Cin- 
cinnati and  remained  there  one  year,  then  went  to 
St.  Louis  and  remained  six  months.  Coming 
thence  to  lluntsville,  he  worked  at  his  trade  for  a 
year,  and  in  August,  184M,  located  at  tiunter's 
Landing,  where  he  opened  the  first  shoe-shop  at 
that  place.  From  1870  to  1878  he  was  in  the  gro- 
cery business.  He  then  purchased  a  tract  of  land, 
five  miles  up  the  river,  and  ran  a  farm  until  1882. 
Leaving  three  of  his  sons  in  charge  of  the  farm, 
he  and  his  wife  returned  to  Guntersville,  and 
opened  a  grocery  and  furniture  store.  In  1887, 
he  turned  his  entire  attention  to  the  furniture 
business,  and  now  owns  the  only  exclusive  fur- 
niture establishment  in  the  county.  He  began 
life  without  any  capital,  but  has  succeeded  in  ac- 
cumulating a  competency. 

Mr.  Seibold  was  married  in  1852,  to  Elizabeth, 


408 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


daughter  of  Allen  Loveless,  and  they  had  five 
children,  viz.:  Charles  M.,  Allen,  Green  B.,  John 
and  Wendelin.  Mrs.  Seibold  died  in  1869,  and  in 
1872  Mr.  Seibold  was  married  to  Eliza  Johnson, 


who  has  borne  him  one  child,  Logan.  Mr.  Sei- 
bold is  a  director  in  the  Tennessee  &  Coosa  Kail- 
road,  and  uses  his  influence  for  the  benefit  of  the 
country. 


VII. 

SHEFFIELD. 

B^    William  Garrett  Brown. 


When  a  newly-founded  city  bases  its  hopes  o"n 
the  advantages  of  its  location,  as  is  the  case  with 
most  of  the  growing  towns  of  >.orthei-n  Alabama, 
one  is  apt  to  inquire,  why  these  advantages  were 
not  sooner  discovered  ;  why  the  euterjirises  now 
under  way  were  not  sooner  undertaken  ;  why  the 
riches  now  amassing  were  not  sooner  won  ?  The 
failure  to  furirish  a  satisfactory  explanation  might 
even  be  held  sufficient  to  generate  a  doubt  as  to 
the  genuineness  of  the  ]iresent  growth. 

In  the  case  of  Sheffield,  it  is  peculiarly  difficult 
to  answer  this  pertinent  question.  Tuscumbia 
and  Florence,  both  of  which  are  among  the  oldest 
towns  of  the  State,  are  situated  witluTi  three  and 
five  miles,  respectively,  and  yet  their  citizens  have 
never  discovered  (or  else  have  failed  to  act  on  tiieir 
discovery  to  any  practical  result)  the  sujireme 
attractions  that  belong  to  the  site  of  their  younger 
rival.  Few  regions  in  Alabama  have  been  more 
thoroughly  known  for  years  than  the  Tennessee 
^'alley ;  and  yet  it  has  only  lately  been  declared, 
and  a  proof  attempted,  that  in  the  very  midst  of 
it  the  future  greatest  iron  city  of  the  continent 
must  be  built. 

And  yet  there  has  been  no  lack  of  2irophecy 
and  prediction  in  connection  with  Sheffield.  The 
opinion  of  Commodore  Maury,  as  to  the  jiart 
which  this  region  is  destined  to  play  in  the  indus- 
trial life  of  the  nation,  has  been  frequently 
quoted.  The  impression  made  upon  Andrew 
.Jackson,  when  he  visited  the  neighborliood  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  ago  (the  place  where  he 
crossed  the  Tennessee,  is  still  marked  by  the 
rougli  roadway  made  for  the  passage  of  his  army), 
is  also  frequently  alluded  to;  and  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  enumerate  tiie  private  predictions  that 
have  only  come  into  notice  (if  not  into  existence), 
since  the  last  few  years  have  given  such  striking 
indications  of  tlieir  truth. 


It  was  not  until  the  year  188.3,  however,  that 
there  was  made  an  impression  that  bore  fruit.  It 
was  in  this  year,  that  Capt.  Alfred  II.  Closes, 
senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Moses  Bros.,  of 
ilontgomery,  became  interested  in  a  railroad  pro- 
ject which  promised  to  result  in  substantial  benefit 
to  the  town  of  Florence,  and,  on  his  return  from 
the  Louisville  Exposition,  visited  that  place  with 
a  view  of  investing  in  real  estate.  While  there,  he 
was  persuaded  to  undertake  an  excursion  to  the 
mineral  lands  of  Franklin  County,  on  which 
journey  he  passed  over  the  rolling  plateau  which 
lay  across  the  river,  almost  directly  opposite  Flor- 
ence. He  was  struck  with  the  beauty  and  adapt- 
ability of  the  site,  and,  on  his  return,  entered 
into  negotiations  with  Col.  Walter  8.  (Jordon,  one 
of  his  companions  on  the  trip,  by  which  they  be- 
came joint  owners  of  a  jirojierty,  then  estimated  at 
a  few  thousands  of  dollars,  but  which  it  would  now 
require  millions  to  purchase. 

This  was  the  beginning.  The  attention  of  vari- 
ous business  men  throughout  the  South,  especially 
in  the  States  of  Georgia  and  Alabama,  had  already 
been  tiioroughly  aroused  by  the  wonderful  history 
of  Birmingham,  and  had  been  for  some  time  direct- 
ed to  the  Tennessee  Valley.  It  was  not  a  difficult 
task  to  make  Sheffield  the  special  object  of  their 
inquiries.  This  once  accomplished,  the  natural 
attractions  and  advantages  of  the  location  did  the 
rest.  A  body  of  these  men,  guided  by  Moses  and 
Gordon,  came  together,  organized,  and  made  pur- 
chases. They  secured  2,700  acres  of  land,  to  be. 
used  as  a  site  for  the  projected  city,  at  a  cost  of 
>!50,000.  At  the  same  time,  they  acquired  mineral 
rights  on  30,000  acres  of  coal  and  iron  lands  in 
Franklin,  Winston  and  Walker  Counties,  paying 
out,  ill  all,  about  *100,000.  A  corjjoration  was 
then  formed,  under  the  name  of  '"The  Sheffield 
Land,  Iron  and  Coal  Company,"  with  a  capital 


409 


410 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


stock  of  |;500,000,  afterward  increased  to  SI, 000,- 
000.  Of  this  company,  the  directors  were  Alfred 
H.  Moses,  David  Clojiton,  0.  0.  Nelson,  and  W. 
S.  Chambers,  of  Montgomery,  Ala.;  W.  S.  Gor- 
don, F.  M.  Coker,  J.  F.  Burk,  H.  B.  Tompkins, 
D.  M.  Bain,  C.  A.  Collier,  and  W.  A.  Hemphill, 
of  Atlanta,  Ga. ;  and  E.  C.  Gordon,  of  Clarksville, 
Tenn.  W.  S.  Gordon  was  made  president,  A.  H. 
Moses  vice-president  and  general  manager,  and 
F.  M.  Coker  secretary  and  treasurer. 

The  first  act  of  the  new  corporation  was  the 
extensive  advertisement  of  what  it  had  done,  and 
the  announcement  of  a  sale  of  lots  to  take  place 
in  May,  1884.  The  crowd  which  gathered  on  the 
9th  of  that  month,  in  the  desolate  field  of  which 
such  great  things  were  hoped  and  prophesied,  tes- 
tified to  the  public  interest  in  all  that  pertained 
to  the  material  development,  then  so  general 
throughout  the  South,  to  the  Sheffield  movement 
in  particular. 

There  was  remarkable  enthusiasm  from  the  be- 
ginning. The  bidding  never  lagged,  but  increased 
in  eagerness  from  first  to  last.  The  first  lot  offered 
brought  81,000.  The  highest  price  paid  was  88,900, 
which  was  bid  by  an  Atlanta  man  for  a  lot  at  the 
intersection  of  Montgomery  and  Alabama  avenues. 
In  all,  there  were  five  hundred  sales,  making  a 
transfer  of  about  seventy-five  acres,  and  aggre- 
gated about  835<i,ii00. 

The  enterprise  was  now  fairly  afoot,  but,  scarcely 
had  the  remarkable  sale  been  finished,  when  the 
tide  set  the  other  way.  Within  a  week  the  finan- 
cial world  was  shocked  and  shaken  by  the  failure 
of  the  Metropolitan  and  Grant  &  Ward  banks. 
The  depression  that  followed  will  be  remembered. 
For  nearly  two  years  there  existed  a  condition  that 
was  little  short  of  a  continued  panic  in  every 
money  center  in  the  Union. 

That  Shefiield  should  escajie  the  disaster  that 
was  so  widespread  was  not  to  be  expected,  and  her 
rapid  rise  was,  in  itself,  a  partial  cause  of  a  reac- 
tionary feeling  that  was  equally  as  rapid.  Even 
those  who  had  been  most  eager  to  make  invest- 
ments became  thoroughly  frightened,  and  were 
not  prudent  enough  to  conceal  their  anxiety  to 
escape  the  consequences  of  the  mistake  which  they 
thought  they  had  made.  Immediately  the  entire 
property  began  to  depreciate.  The  first  transfer 
at  a  reduction  was  the  alarm  note  that  brought 
on  a  number  of  others:  till  the  same  lots,  which  a 
few  weeks  before  had  been  knocked  down  at  prices 
that  appeared  extravagantly  high,  were  now  dis- 


posed of  at  prices  that  were  yet  more  extravagantly 
low.  Some  who  had  bought  on  time  payments, 
preferred  to  forfeit  their  lots  rather  than  pay 
another  installment.  Companies  which  had 
entered  into  agreements  to  build  smelters  and  fur- 
naces, refused  to  fulfill  them  until  affairs  bright- 
ened. The  stock  of  the  Sheffield  Company  could 
find  no  purchasers.  On  all  sides  the  enterprise 
was  held  to  be  a  failure;  by  many  it  was  looked 
upon  as  a  swindle.  The  fortunes  of  the  infant 
city  were  at  their  lowest  ebb.  It  was  still,  in 
reality,  only  a  "city  on  paper,"  and  bade  fair  to 
be  nothing  more. 

It  now  appears,  however,  that  this  early  unsuc- 
cess,  as  is  so  often  the  case,  was  in  reality  good  for 
the  scheme,  for  the  reason  that  it  served  to  reveal 
the  character,  faith  and  resolution  of  the  men 
who  had  originated  and  were  to  execute  it.  Not 
once  do  they  seem  to  have  desi^aired,  or  even 
doubted,  of  ultimate  success.  Not  once  did  they 
halt  in  the  prosecution  of  the  measures  by  which, 
if  at  all,  success  must  be  won.  In  the-se,  ('aptain 
Moses,  as  General  Manager,  was  called  on  to  take 
the  lead.  He  met  the  responsibility  fully  and 
well.  He  built  houses,  graded  streets,  laid  off 
sites  for  manufacturing  enterprises,  used  his  in- 
fluence and  business  knowledge  and  experience  in 
every  possible  way  for  the  advancement  of  the 
work.  He  also  successfully  negotiated  with  vari- 
ous railroads  to  the  end  that  they  should  run  their 
lines  into  the  Sheffield  that  was  to  be.  He  and 
his  associates  simply  ignored  the  prevailing  dis- 
trust, suffering  it  in  no  degree  to  lessen  their  en- 
ergy or  shake  their  faith.  The  grounds  of  their 
confidence  it  is  now  time  to  consider. 

Sheffield  is  in  Colbert  County,  in  the  north- 
western corner  of  the  State,  on  the  southern  bank 
of  the  Tennessee  Kiver,  in  latitude  34^  45'  north 
and  longitude  87"^  45'  west  from  Greenwich.  It  is 
in  the  central  portion  of  the  Tennessee  Kiver  Val- 
ley, and  is  at  the  head  of  navigation  on  that 
stream,  as  the  impassable  Mussel  Shoals  lie  only 
a  few  miles  above.  The  importance  of  this  fact 
we  will  again  have  occasion  to  refer  to.  At  pres- 
ent, it  is  enough  to  say  that  Sheffield  is  thus  700 
miles  nearer  by  water  to  St.  Louis  than  is  Pitts- 
burgh, that  the  Tennessee  below  Sheffield  is  con- 
sidered a  more  navigable  river  than  the  Ohio,  and 
that  Sheffield  is  nearer  by  rail  to  all  important 
jilaces  and  regions  in  Alabama,  Georgia,  Eastern 
Mississippi,  South  C'arolina,  Florida,  and  a  part 
of  East  Tennessee  than  is  any  other  point  con- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


411 


nected  witli  this  river  system.  It  lies  on  the  edge 
of  the  mineral  belt  of  the  South,  recently  brought 
into  j)rominenfe  as  the  probable  center  of  the  iron 
industry  in  America,  and  next  to  the  great  West, 
whicli  is  to  be  the  best  market  for  this  product. 

The  agricultural  advantages  of  this  section  of 
the  country,  the  adajitation  to  the  successful 
growth  of  all  sorts  of  fruits,  and  the  breeding  of 
all  kinds  of  farm  stock,  and  the  wonderful  ad- 
vancement and  development  of  those  resources, 
are  fully  set  forth  in  Parts  I.  and  II.  of  this  vol- 
ume. 

The  southern  counties  of  Alabama  are  usually 
spoken  of  as  constituting  the  "timber  belt,"  as 
contrasted  with  the  "agricultural  belt"  and  the 
"  mineral  belt."  But  in  fact,  there  is  hardly  to 
be  found  a  single  district  of  any  considerable  area 
throughout  the  State  that  is  not  well  supplied 
with  forests.  This  is  especially  true  of  the 
region  adjacent  to  Siieftield — north,  east  and 
south. 

It  is  only  relatively  to  its  agricultural  advan- 
tages, which  have  been  somewhat  neglected,  even 
by  those  whose  interest  it  has  been  to  magnify 
them  that  the  estimate  of  Sheffield's  facilities  for 
manufacture  is  here  lowered.  Its  chief  hope  and 
ambition,  from  the  first,  has  been  to  become  a 
great  iron  city,  after  the  order  of  the  English  city 
from  which  it  takes  its  name.  Its  present  endeav- 
ors are  all  in  that  direction,  and  such  a  single- 
ness of  aim  may  be  desirable.  The  future  of  the 
town  may  safely  be  staked  upon  its  ability  to  make 
and  manufacture  iron  cheaply — as  cheaply  as  any 
other  place  in  America.  Its  claims  in  this  respect 
are  based  upon  its  possession  of  (.\)  the  materials 
and  (b)  the  transportation  facilities.  In  both  these 
essentials  it  is  peculiarly  and  richly  blessed  by  na- 
ture. 

The  timber  supply  immediately  accessible  to 
Sheffield  is  only  secondary  in  importance  to  the 
supply  of  minerals.  Of  these  last  coal  and  iron 
are  the  chief.  Concerning  these,  however,  it  will 
not  be  necessary  to  here  treat  at  any  length.  The 
account  of  them  in  Professor  McCally's  articles  in 
this  volume  will  be  found  accurate,  full  and 
scientific.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  the  wealth  of 
the  northwestern  part  of  Alabama  in  both  these 
important  minerals  is  something  that,  until  very 
recent  years,  was  not  even  suspected  by  the  ma- 
jority of  her  citizens,  althougli  to  the  scientific 
mind  sufficient  evidence  had  long  been  apparent 
to  create  tlie  brightest  expectations. 


It  should  also  be  remembered  that  in  Southern 
Tennessee  there  are  ore  deposits  that  rival  those  of 
Alabama  in  abundance  and  in  excellence  of  qual- 
ity. To  these  Sheffield,  of  all  the  manufacturing 
towns  of  Alabama,  has  easiest  access. 

The  other  essential  to  the  manufacture  of  iron 
— limestone — is  to  be  found  in  inexhaustible  quan- 
tities in  the  corporate  limits  of  the  town  itself, 
the  face  of  the  blu2  on  which  it  is  situated  being 
composed  entirely  of  this  formation  in  the  con- 
dition best  suited  to  the  purpose  for  which 
it  will  be  employed.  Thus  the  three  materials, 
iron,  limestone  and  coal,  whose  combination  at 
Birmingham  constitutes  the  great  advantage  of 
that  place,  are  equally  convenient  here. 

The  opinion  of  James  C.  Anderson,  an  expert 
who  is  nothing  unless  empirical,  whose  practical 
knowledge  of  the  matter  in  hand  has  been  gained 
by  a  life  spent  in  various  quarters  of  the  globe 
and  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth  by  numerous  paths, 
and  whose  honesty  and  reliability  as  a  prospector 
is  beyond  question,  is  here  quoted : 

"  It  beats  anything  along  Lake  Superior.  You 
walk  along  and  stumble  against  whole  hills  of 
coal  and  iron.  It  is  the  best  ore  I  ever  saw  to 
work.  The  very  lowest  of  it  assays  fifty  percent, 
metallic  ore,  much  of  it  is  sixty-five  per  cent., 
and  tons  upon  tons  of  it  go  up  as  high  as  seventy- 
four  per  cent.  It  is  freer  from  phosphorus  than 
any  I  ever  saw  elsewhere  in  the  South,  and  is  very 
free  from  silicate.  Silicate  injures  the  iron  and 
makes  articles  in  which  much  of  it  is  retained, 
brittle.  Of  this  objectionable  qualitj-,  Sheffield 
iron  is  free.  There  are  large  bodies  of  fossilifer- 
ous  ores  with  forty-two  per  cent,  metallic  gravity. 
You  see  the  singular  combination  here  is  that  you 
can  stand  on  a  limestone  rock  and  touch,  so  to 
speak,  the  iron  mine  with  one  hand  and  the  col- 
liery with  the  other.  Sheffield  is  the  only  place 
in  the  world  where  the  iron  manufacturer  can 
find  all  he  wants  right  in  a  heap.  The  coal  meas- 
ures are  four  feet  thick,  whole  acres  over.  An- 
other thing  here  is  the  large  quantity  of  hard 
woods  to  be  found  in  proximity  in  all  places. 
Along  the  nortJi  side  of  Bear  River,  are  immense 
fields  of  iron,  underlaid  by  thick  cakes  of  lime- 
stone. On  the  south  side  the  solid  masses  of  coal 
stretch  away  out  of  sight." 

From  quarries  near  the  city,  building  stone  of 
the  highest  grade,  some  of  which  has  been  in  use 
for  sixty  years  without  any  apjiarent  deteriora- 
tion, is  obtained.     Within  a  few  miles,  also,  there 


412 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


are  deposits  of  yellow  ochre,  from  which  the  best 
grades  of  jiaint  are  made.  Other  mineral 
resources  are  constantly  being  discovered  and 
will  be  developed  and  utilized. 

Iron  and  coal  in  untold  abundance  are  to  be 
found  both  north  and  soutli  of  Sheffield.  To 
reach  these  she  must  have  railroads.  Eivers  alone 
can  be  spoken  of  as  natural  aids  in  transportation,' 
and  the  fact  that  Sheffield  is  situated  upon  the 
largest  and  best  of  all  the  streams  that  make  Ala- 
bama the  best  river  State  in  the  Union,  taken  in 
connection  with  her  other  natural  endowments,  is 
the  strongest  reason  for  confidence  in  her  future. 
The  importance  of  this  fact  justifies  the  following 
quotation  from  a  current  j^ublication  uj^ou  the 
Tennessee  Eiver  in  Alabama: 

"  The  primitive  tribes  called  this  majestic 
stream,  which  scoops  in  the  northern  tier  of 
counties,  the  Great  Bend,  which  is  said  to  be  the 
meaning  of  Tennessee.  Having  its  source  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  Virginia,  it  flows  toward 
the  southwest  280  miles,  to  Knoxville,  Tenn. ; 
sixty  miles,  still,  to  the  southwest,  it  reaches 
Loudon,  Tenn.  At  this  point  it  turns  at  right 
angles,  and  flows  toward  the  northwest,  making 
its  way  through  several  subordinate  ridges,  twenty- 
four  miles,  to  Kingston,  Tenn.,  where  it  forms  a 
junction  with  the  Chinch  Kiver,  one  of  its  largest 
tributaries.  At  the  last  named  point  the  river 
resumes  a  southwest  course  for  110  miles,  where 
it  reaches  the  bustling  city  of  Chattanooga,  Tenn. 
Here  it  alternates  again,  swooping  abruptly  to  the 
northwest,  nineteen  miles,  and  pushing  its  way 
through  the  eastern  brancli  of  the  Cumberland 
range  to  what  is  known  as  the  Boiling  Pot,  once  a 
natural  obstruction,  which  is  now  removed. 
Again  alternating,  the  river  turns  sharply  to  the 
southwest,  and  flows  in  a  tortuous  course  for 
forty-one  miles  to  Bridgeport,  Ala.  ;.and  on  in  the 
same  direction  it  pursues  its  way  seventy-four 
miles  further  to  the  promising  town  of  Guntei-s- 
ville,  Ala.  Turning  to  the  northwest  again  at 
this  last  named  point,  it  gradually  bends  its  way 
toward  the  north,  for  the  distance  of  fifty-one 
miles,  to  Decatur,  Ala.  Just  two  miles  below 
this  point,  at  Brown's  Ferry,  is  met  the  head  of 
the  famous  natural  obstruction.  Mussel  Shoals. 
This  obstruction  embraces  about  thirty-eight 
•  miles  of  this  splendid  stream.  It  does  not  termin- 
ate until  the  stream  comes  within  sight  of  Flor- 
ence [and  Sheffield],  Ala.  Just  thirty-four  miles 
from  Florence  is  Waterloo,  Ala.,  where  the  Ten- 


nessee bends  northward,  and,  after  traversing  '^OG 
miles,  it  empties  into  the  Ohio  at  Paducah,  Ky. 
Thus  the  total  distance,  from  its  fountain  head  to 
Paducah,  is  1,03 T  miles.  Xearly  one-third  of  the 
river  is  embraced  in  Alabama.  It  flows  through 
five  great  States,  to  each  of  which  it  is  of  immense 
benefit.  It  is  almost  equal  to  the  Ohio  in  length, 
breadth,  and  volume,  and  ranks  sixth  in  magni- 
tude among  the  rivers  of  the  North  American 
continent.  It  is  only  necessary  to  comjjlete  the 
removal  of  the  natural  impediment  at  the  Mussel 
Shoals  to  make  it  a  channel  of  commerce,  the 
value  of  which,  to  our  own  State  as  well  as  to 
others,  can  not  be  computed.''  Bilei/s  Guide 
Book]. 

The  character  and  extent  of  the  waterway  on 
which  Sheffield  is  situated,  is  sufficiently  ex- 
hibited in  this  extract,  and  the  advantages  of 
such  a  situation  are  at  once  apjiarent.  Outside  the 
central  fact  that  the  cheajjest  of  all  means  of 
transporting  her  products  to  the  Western  markets 
is  thus  afl'orded.  it  would  be  a  great  natural  bless- 
ing to  have  such  a  line  of  communication  with 
the  various  points  of  note,  above  and  below,  that 
are  to  be  found  on  the  banks  of  the  stream. 

The  comjiletion  of  the  Mussel  Shoals  Canal, 
which  must  soon  take  jilace,  will  make  the  Ten- 
nessee a  thoroughly  available  means  of  transporta- 
tion between  these  and  Sheffield.  St.  Louis,  as 
has  been  said,  is  the  best  pig-iron  market  in  the 
world,  and  from  Sheffield  to  St.  Louis,  and  to  all 
points  on  the  Mississipi^i  below  St.  Louis,  there  is 
an  uninterrupted  waterway  that  has  no  superior 
in  the  Union.  Steamboats  will  carry  iron  from 
Sheffield  to  St.  Louis  for  one  dollar  per  ton,  and 
when  tugs  or  barges  are  used  the  cost  will  not  be 
much  above  half  that  amount.  The  cost  of  trans- 
jDortation  to  the  same  point  from  any  other  city  in 
Alabama  where  iron  is  made  is  not  less  than  S3. 50 
per  ton.  Iron  can  be  made  at  Sheffield  at  least  as 
cheai^ly  as  anywhere  else  in  the  State.  Admit 
these  two  facts — and  there  is  no  reason  for  con- 
trsverting  them — and  the  basis  on  which  her  hopes 
are  built  is  obvious  and  plain. 

When  .Senator  John  Sherman  was  in  Xasliville. 
on  his  return  from  a  tour  through  the  recently 
developed  region  of  Alabama,  he  was  asked 
whether  he  was  prepared  to  concede  to  the  South 
all  that  she  is  claiming  in  the  way  of  jiresent 
and  prosjiective  material  jDrosperity.     He  rejilied: 

"Yes,  and  more.  But  I  am  not  prepared  to 
concede  to  Birminsham.  or  the  Birmingham  dis- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


413 


trict  proper,  all  or  any  considerable  proportion 
of  what  lilie  and  it  are  claiming;  hrcausc  it  is  man- 
ifest lh<it  the  TeiDiessee  Nirer  is  to  be  the  base  of 
operations  in  the  upbiiilding  of  the  great  Xew 
South." 

James  Bowron  and  Lowtliian  Bfll,  English- 
men, who  kave  api)lied  the  knowledged  gained  in 
their  own  country  to  a  criticism  of  the  iron  indus- 
try in  America,  s])eakiiig  before  t lie  founding  of 
Shellield,  both  declared  their  faith  in  North  Ala- 
bamik,  as  the  best  adapted  to  this  industry  of  all 
the  regions  of  the  Union  that  have  attempted  it, 
giving,  as  reasons,  the  abundance  and  proximity 
of  the  several  materials  and  the  means  of  trans- 
portation afforded  by  the  Tennessee  River,  in 
both  of  which  respects  their  argument  a[)plies 
most  fully  to  Sheffield. 

Of  a  like  general  nature,  but  equally  capable  of 
special  application  to  Sheflield,  are  the  remarks  of 
Hon.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  of  Xew  York,  who  said  in 
ISU,  speaking  of  this  section: 

'•  It  is,  in  fact,  the  only  place  upon  the  American 
continent  where  it  is  profitable  to  make  iron  in 
competition  with  the  cheap  iron  of  England, 
measured,  not  by  the  wages  paid,  but  the  number 
of  days'  labor  which  enter  into  its  production. 
In  Alabama  the  coal  and  the  ore  are  in  many 
pla'.-es  within  a  half  a  mile  of  each  other,  and  the 
cost  of  the  iron  is  only  about  ten  days'  labor  to 
the  ton,  or  not  far  from  the  labor  cost  in  Cleve- 
land. Throwing  aside,  then,  all  questions  of 
tariffs  for  protection,  here  is  a  possibility  upon 
the  American  Continent  of  producing  iron  at  as 
low  a  cost  in  labor  as  in  the  most  favored  region 
of  the  world,  and  allowing  for  the  expense  of 
transportation  to  compete  with  them,  paying  a 
higher  average  rate  of  wages  than  is  paid  in  Great 
Britain.'" 

Mr.  James  P.  Withrow,  of  Pittsburgli,  Pa.,  who 
controls  the  C'la)ip-(iriHiths  process  of  making 
steel,  pronounces  Sheffield  the  best  point  in  the 
United  .States  for  the  manufacture  of  iron  and 
steel  ;  allowing  liberally  for  every  item,  he  esti- 
mates the  cost  of  manufacturing  ]iig  iron  here  at 
^l"  per  ton,  including  the  labor,  material,  expense, 
interest,  rejiairs  and  contingencies. 

The  fact  that  the  Alal)ama  &  Tennessee  Coal  and 
Iron  Company  (now  consolidated  with  several 
other  companies  into  a  corporation  with  *8,(i(i0,- 
CMin  cajiital)  is  at  present  erecting  three  large  blast 
furnaces  at  Shctfield  is  a  sufficient  indication  of 
the  views  of  the  President,  Col.  E.  W.  Cole,  the 


well-known  Xashville  financier,  who  built  the  East 
Tennessee  Hailroad  system.  But  his  verbal  ex- 
pression of  them  is  equally  emphatic: 

"  I  have  looked  into  the  advantages  of  Sheffield, 
and  of  every  other  business  point  in  Alabama,  and 
the  result  is  that  I  have  planted  myself  right  here, 
and  made  this  city  the  headquarters  of  my  com- 
pany, as  well  as  the  center  of  my  expenditure. 
Here  is  the  river  upon  which  the  jiig-iron  of  the 
world  can  be  sent  to  market,  and  reaching,  through 
its  tributaries,  every  city  in  the  valleys  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, the  Missouri,  the  Ohio,  and  away  down 
to  the  (iulf,  and  thence  to  the  ocean.  I  have 
already  planted  here  myself  over  *!200,000,  with 
more  following.  I  have  absolute  faith  in  Sheffield's 
future.  In  two  years  from  now  you  will  see  300 
carloads  of  coke  being  delivered  daily  at  my  fur- 
naces here.  You  will  see  100  carloads  daily  of 
pig-iron  being  exported  from  the  same  furnaces. 
You  will  see  the  Tennessee  River  alive  with  Shef- 
field's ship])ing,  and  there  will  not  be  a  river  in 
the  great  Mississippi  valleys  which  will  not  be 
coursed  by  Sheffield's  jiilots." 

A  glance  at  the  attractions  of  the  site  of  this  city 
must  conclude  this  inadequate  summary  of  the 
facts  and  reasonings  that  justify  the  confidence  of 
Captain  Moses  and  his  associates.  These  are,  in 
general,  beauty,  healthfulness  and  remarkable 
adaptability  to  varied  activities  of  a  commercial 
and  manufacturing  center  such  as  is  sought  to  be 
established. 

From  a  precipitous  bluff  of  limestone  that  rises 
abruptly  from  the  river  to  a  height  of  several  hun- 
dred feet,  and  whose  rounded  shajjc  conforms  to 
the  slight  bend  of  the  stream,  a  rolling  plain,  which 
might  almost  be  called  a  plateau,  extends  south- 
ward to  Tuscumbia,  two  miles  distant,  and  on  sev- 
eral miles  further  to  a  range  of  hills  which  divides 
that  portion  of  the  Tennessee  Valley  from  east  to 
AVest,  and  which  is  locally  known  as  the  Little 
Mountain.  The  bluff-wall,  which  is  densely 
wooded  at  the  top,  with  trees  and  bushes,  in  every 
available  crack,  where  soil  has  accumulated  to  a 
sufficient  extent,  is  imposing  and  belongs  to  a  sort 
of  natural  scenery  that  is  by  no  means  common  in 
Alabama.  Springs  of  clear  water,  moss-covered 
ledges,  native  vines,  foliage  of  tropical  luxuriance, 
and  cavernous  recesses  (among  the  latter  Ilinda's 
Cave,  which,  to  tell  the  truth,  is  somewhat  disap- 
pointing in  view  of  the  extensive  legend  connected 
with  it)  abound  along  its  face.  The  rivei-  at  its 
base  is  usually  soniewhat  muddy,  but  is  sufficiently 


414 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


broad  and  tranquil.  The  whole  is  to  be  reserved 
as  a  park,  and  if  the  hand  of  the  "improver"  is 
not  allowed  too  great  license,  will  constitute  a  point 
of  superiority  over  most  towns  of  the  State.  The 
plain  is  not  wooded  beyond  the  band  of  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  in  width  that  extends  along  the  edge  of 
the  ciiff. 

The  elevation,  the  absence  of  marshes  that  might 
cause  malaria,  contiguity  of  the  mountains,  the 
openness  to  breezes,  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  do 
blow  almost  continuously,  insure  the  healthful- 
ness  of  the  locality,  and  the  records  bear  out  the 
expectations  in  this  regard  that  are  naturally 
formed  from  the  character  of  the  environment. 
The  rolling  nature  of  the  soil  also  is  exception- 
ally favorable,  and  the  thorough  system  of  drain- 
age which,  it  may  as  well  be  stated  here,  is  to  be 
applied. 

There  is  no  respect  ajiparent,  so  far,  in  which 
the  site  will  fail  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the 
busy  community  that  will  eventually  occupy  it. 
It  is  level,  and  will  therefore  present  no  obstacle 
to  the  grading  for  streets  and  houses.  The  soil  is 
firm,  and  affords  good  foundations  for  the  loftiest 
edifices.  The  water  sujiply  is  abundant,  and 
"  Reservoir  Ilill,"  an  elevation  near  the  river, 
already  chosen  for  the  future  water  tower,  is  high 
enough  to  supply  the  tallest  buildings  and  give 
them  protection  from  fire.  Once  freed  of  its  mud, 
the  water  from  the  Tennessee  is  pure  and  whole- 
some. The  natural  landing,  extending  for  three- 
fourths  of  a  mile  along  the  base  of  the  blu£F,  is 
admirably  fitted  for  the  construction  of  a  wharf 
that  shall  be  adequate  to  all  the  demands  that 
will  be  made  upon  it  by  a  growing  commerce. 
The  rock  and  lime  and  lumber  with  which  to 
make  the  needed  improvements  are  just  at  hand. 
The  river,  as  has  been  shown,  could  and  will  be 
employed  for  the  transjjorting  of  the  manufac- 
tured product  to  its  Western  market,  and  will, 
moreover,  constitute  a  perpetual  protection  against 
railway  monopoly,  but  it  was  never  for  a  moment 
supposed  that  railroads  could  be  dispensed  with. 
Accordingly,  as  has  been  said.  Captain  Moses  and 
his  associates  bent  their  energies,  from  the  first, 
to  the  securing  of  these  most  effective  promoters 
of  material  development. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  the  Memphis  & 
Charleston  was  the  first  of  already  existing  lines 
to  attract  their  attention,  and  it  was  not  difficult 
to  i^ersuade  the  directors  of  this  road  to  extend 
their  track  to  Sheffield.     It  was  decided  that  here 


should  be  located  the  main  shops  of  the  entire 
road;  and  the  workmen  and  their  families  will 
make  an  increase  of  at  least  2,000  in  the  popula- 
tion of  the  town.  The  Memphis  &  Charleston  is 
a  part  of  the  Richmond  &  Danville  system,  and 
through  it  Sheffield  has  direct  connection  with 
Memphis,  Chattanooga,  Knoxville,  Lynchburg, 
Danville,  Richmond  and  other  points  of  import- 
ance in  Tennessee  and  Virginia,  and  with  Rome, 
Atlanta,  Macon  and  Brunswick,  Ga. 

The  immediate  and  particular  need  of  the  vouug 
community,  however,  will  be  principally  supplied 
by  a  road  which  owes  its  existence  entirely  to  the 
need  itself.  This  is  the  Sheffield  &  Birmingham, 
which  was  organized  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing 
raw  material  to  the  furnaces.  By  it  immediate 
and  direct  connection  is  obtained  with  nearly  every 
trunk  line  operating  in  the  South.  A  large  por- 
tion of  the  mineral  region  through  which  it  jiasses 
has  hitherto  been  totally  neglected  on  account  of 
the  absence  of  any  means  of  transportation,  ^ow 
that  such  means  have  been  sujjplied,  not  Sheffield 
alone,  butevery  community  interested  in  the  devel- 
opment of  these  resources  must  reap  the  benefit. 

Along  the  line  of  the  road  are  inexhaustible 
brown  hematite  iron-ore  beds,  which  will  assay 
over  fifty  per  cent,  of  metallic  iron,  inexhaustible 
quantities  of  limestone  lying  along  the  line  of  the 
road  for  many  miles,  which  will  be  useful  for 
building  purposes,  for  fiux  in  the  furnaces  and  for 
ballasting  the  line  of  railroad  so  as  to  make  it  one 
of  the  safest  and  best  in  the  South.  The  road 
runs  through  immense  depths  of  sand  and  sand- 
stone, the  sandstone  being  fine  for  building  jiur- 
poses  and  the  sand  being  of  rare  qualities  and  fit 
to  be  used  in  the  furnaces  for  making  glass. 
Also,  the  road  runs  through  great  quantities  of 
cement-gravel,  which  is  the  very  finest  material 
for  ballasting  railroads  and  making  streets.  Lower 
down  in  Walker  County  it  strikes  the  inexhaus- 
tible coal  measures  and  runs  through  them  for 
many  miles.  Thus  we  have  iron,  coal,  limestone, 
sand,  sandstone  and  cement-gravel — six  different 
raw  products,  besides  quantities  of  red  ochre — 
all  being  immediately  along  the  line  and  all  in 
inexhaustible  quantities.  This  railroad  is  de- 
signed to  be  run  and  managed  as  much  as  pos- 
sible to  advance  the  interests  of  Sheffield. 

The  Nashville,  Florence  &  Sheffield  came  next. 
It  is  a  branch  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  sys- 
tem. It  passes  through  some  of  the  finest  ore 
and  timber  lands  of  Southern  Tennessee,  afford- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


415 


ing  a  second  means  of  obtaining  a  supply  of  the 
materials  necessary  to  inaniifaL'turiiii;  iron,  and 
giving  connection  directly  with  Nashville,  Lonis- 
vilk",  Evansville,  St.  Louis.  Cincinnati,  Birming- 
ham, Montgomery,  ^lobile,  Pensacola,  Chatta- 
hoochee, New  Orleans  and  other  places  of  promi- 
nence. 

These  three  lines  give  Sheffield  the  benetit  of 
competion  in  nearly  every  direction.  With  them 
alone,  added  to  her  river  transportation,  she 
would  be  well  equipped.  Concerning  those 
which  have  been  organized  or  projected  at  various 
times  since  the  founding  of  the  city:  some  of 
them  are  already  building,  and  the  probability  is 
that  the  majority,  at  lea.st,  of  them  will  be  carried 
through  to   completion. 

The  ShetHeld  cS:  Seaboard,  which  is  under  con- 
tract to  locate  its  principal  shops  at  Sheffield,  has 
two  lines  surveyed  to  Aberdeen,  ^liss.,  where  it 
will  connect  with  the  Illinois  Central  and  the  J[o- 
bile  iS:  Ohio,  giving  communication  with  Mobile, 
Xew  Orleans,  Jackson,  etc.,  and  crossing  the 
Kansas  City,  JFemphis  &  Birmingham  this  bide  of 
Aberdeen,  with  the  latter  making  a  competing 
line  to  Memphis  and  Kansas  City.  The  Ohio 
\'alley  Railroad  is  in  operation  from  Henderson- 
ville,  Ky.,  to  Marion,  Ky..  and  has  been  surveyed 
to  the  bank  of  the  river  opposite  Sheffield. 
The  Tennessee  Central  &  Alabama  is  graded  from 
Trenton  to  ^filan,  Tenn.,  and  surveyed  thence  to 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  river.  These  will  give 
additional  competition  to  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City, 
Chicago,  and  other  ])oints  west  and  north.  The 
Oulf  &  Chicago  is  projected  as  an  air-line  from 
Mobile  to  Chicago,  vin  Sheffield.  The  Chicago, 
Montgomery  &  Florida,  another  road  that  is  only 
])rojected  so  far,  will  extend  from  Sheffield,  cia 
.Montgomery,  to  Chattahoochee.  The  Sheffield  it 
Atlantic,  now  in  process  of  organization,  will  ex- 
tend from  Sheffield,  ?•(>  Cullman  and  Anniston  or 
(ladsden.  to  the  Georgia  State  line.  'J'he  jieople 
of  Atlanta  have  recently  successfully  applied  to 
the  Alabama  Legislature  for  certain  rights  to  be 
granted  to  the  Atlanta,  ^[ississippi  ii  Atlantic 
Railroad,  which,  if  completed,  would  extend 
from  Shetlield  to  Atlanta,  and  thence  to  some  sea- 
port in  South  Carolina  or  Georgia.  Steps  are 
now  being  taken  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad 
to  I'aducah,  and  of  one  from  Sheffield,  in  a  north- 
easterly direction,  to  Somerset,  Ky.  A  road  to 
<;allatin,  Tenn.,  via  Pulaski,  has  been  projected. 
The  Nashville,  Chattanooga  &  St.  Louis  Railroad 


Company  think  of  extending  their  line  in  the 
direction  of    Sheffield. 

The  historian  has  j)urposely  abandoned  the 
order  of  time  in  s])eaking  of  the  various  as.sured 
and  ))robablo  railroad  enterprises  connected  with 
Sheffield,  in  order  that  the  entire  view  of  this 
phase  of  the  city's  growth  might  be  presented  at 
once.  He  has  also  endeavored  to  be  thoroughly 
candid,  admitting  that  there  is  doubt  and  uncer- 
tainty in  regard  to  the  majority  of  the  projects 
mentioned.  However,  he  must  not  be  understood 
as  conveying  the  idea  that  the  weight  of  proba- 
bility is  not  in  favor  of  the  oi)inion  that  they  will 
be  undertaken  (where  not  idrcady  begun)  and  suc- 
cessfully carried  out.  Again,  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  those  already  secured  are  enough  to 
establish  Sheffield  as  a  railway  center,  and  that  the 
river  will  always  serve  as  a  protection  against 
their  possible  abuse  of  the  power  they  unrpiestion- 
ably  possess. 

But  the  making  of  iron  was  always  the  chief 
end  of  Sheffield.  Accordingly  the  securing  of 
furnaces,  equally  with  the  securing  of  railroads, 
was  the  object  of  its  leading  s])irits,  and  when 
consummated,  has  served  to  mark  the  successive 
steps  in  its  growth. 

The  beginning  of  recovery  from  the  financial 
depression  of  the  spring  of  lt84  was  signalized  by 
the  organization  of  the  first  furnace  company. 
It  was  in  the  summer  of  ISSO,  and  the  style  of  the 
corporation  is  The  Sheffield  Furnace  Company. 
It  began  with  a  capital  of  8150,000,  and  closed  a 
contract  for  a  r2.5-ton  blast  furnace.  The  work 
began  in  September. 

In  the  following  February  (1887),  a  more  im- 
posing triumph  was  scored.  The  Alabama  and 
Tennessee  Iron  and  Coal  Company,  with  a  capital 
of  ?i2, •^'00,000,  besides  7(),000  acres  of  increasingly 
valuable  coal  and  iron  lands,  during  that  month 
decided  to  make  Sheffield  the  center  of  its  opera- 
tions. A  contract  was  let  for  the  erection  of  three 
furnaces,  each  of  a  capacity  of  l.'iO  tons  daily,  to 
be  completed,  one  in  thirteen,  one  in  fifteen  and 
one  ill  seventeen  months,  for  the  sum  of  ^.">("4,000. 
Fifty  teams  and  100  men  were  put  to  work  level- 
ing the  ground,  and  making  excavations  for  the 
foundations. 

Soon  after,  the  Lady  f]nsley  Furnace  Company 
let  a  contract  for  a  l'^5-ton  furnace,  to  be  ready 
early  in  the  year  1888.  This  completed  the  secur- 
ing of  the  five  furnaces  so  often  spoken  of  in  the 
enumeration  of  the  city's  enterprises.    These,  when 


416 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


completed,  will  have  an  aggregate  daily  cajiacity 
of  TOO  tons  of  pig-iron.  * 

The  railroads  and  furnaces  brought  in  their  train 
a  number  of  lesser  industries,  which  will  be  noticed 
further  on.  A  general  brightening  up,  a  firmer  feel- 
ing that  soon  became  an  enthusiastic  hojjef  ulness, 
was  the  immediate  result.  The  stock  of  the  Sheffield 
Land,  Iron  and  Coal  Company,  which  by  grants  of 
land  and  other  inducements  had  been  very  active  in 
bringing  in  these  enterprises,  ran  np  from  $30 
to  §"^00  a  share,  the  par  value  being  $100. 
The  prices  of  real  estate  rose  in  jiroportion.  In- 
vestors flocked  in  from  all  directions.  The  pros- 
perous state  of  things  throughout  the  recently  de- 
veloped South,  in  general,  affected  favorably  the 
public  attitude  toward  the  youngest  product  of 
the  new  order  of  things  in  Alabama.  Throughout 
the  winter  greatest  activity  and  excitement  pre- 
vailed. Fortunes  were  rapidly  acquired  ;  popula- 
tion greatly  increased  ;  houses  were  built  and  com- 
panies organized  for  the  purj^oseof  building  more  ; 
stores  were  set  ujj ;  two  banks — The  First  National, 
C.  D.  Woodson,  president ;  and  Bank  of  Sheffield, 
Alfred  H.  ]\Ioses,  president  ;  each  with  a  capital 
of  1100,000— were  organized  ;  real  estate  agents 
came  in  swarms  ;  tents  were  necessary  for  the 
temporary  accommodation  of  the  workmen,  pros- 
pectors and  settlers.  There  could  be  no  doubt 
that,  for  success  or  failure,  wisely  or  unwisely,  a 
vast  amount  of  energy  had  been  called  into  play. 

The  fluctuations  that  so  constantly  and  so 
strangely  jirevail  in  the  business  world  have  not 
failed  to  show  themselves  throughout  the  history 
of  the  Sheffield  undertaking.  Stocks  in  the  Shef- 
field Land,  Iron  and  Coal  Comjjany  and  in  the  vari- 
ous furnace  and  railroad  comijanies  have  risen  and 
fallen,  and  so  have  the  prices  of  real  estate.  But 
the  work  on  which  all  these  things  ultimately  de- 
pend has  gone  steadily  on.  Pojjulation  has  stead- 
ily grown,  and  the  only  way  in  which  the  story 
could  be  told  would  be  to  chronicle  the  successive 
arrivals  of  enterprises  and  men. 

PARTIAL  LIST  OK    ENTERPIilSES  NOT  AI.ItEADY  MENTIONED. 

The  Sheffield  Pipe  and  Nail  Works,  capital  $100,000;  the 
Electric  Light  and  Gas  Fuel  Works,  .f2.5,000;  the  Sheffield 
Ice  Company,  .$'25,000;  the  Sheffield  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, 130,000;  the  Sheffield  Contracting  Company,  $60,000; 
the  Alabama  ifc  Tennessee  Construction  Company,  a  branch 
of  the  St.  Louis  Planing  Jlill  Company,  $500,000;  the  Eu- 
reka Brick  and  Lumber  Company,  $30,000;  the  Sheffield 
Furniture  Manufactory;  the  Doud  Brick  Company;  the 
Richmond  Brick  Company;  the  Sheffield  Bakery  and  Bot- 


tling Works;  the  Sheffield  Mineral  Paint  Company,  capital 
.«i50,000;  the  Sheffield  Agricultural  Works,  $40,000;  the 
Sandstone  Quarry  Company;  the  Coleman  Cotton  Cleaner 
and  Gin  Company,  capital  $100,000;  the  Sheffield  Cotton 
Compress  Company,  $60,000;  Morris  Brothers  &  Co.,  Steam 
Laundry  and  Dyeing  AVorks;  Floiu'ing  Mills;  EiiterpHse 
Publishing  Company;  AVater-AVorks  ($30,000  already  ex- 
pended); Sheffield  Street  Railway  Company,  capital  $50,- 
000;  Sheffield  &  Tuscumbia  Street  Railway  Company, 
$50,000,  .Jo.  H.  Nathan  it  Co.'s  Savings  Bank;  Cleveland 
Hotel  Company,  capital  $50,000;  Sheffield  Hotel  Company, 
$120,000;  East  Sheffield  Land  Company,  $.500,000;  East 
Sheffield  Brick  Company;  East  Sheffield  Water-AVorks 
Company;  Hull  ct  Keller's  Fern  Quarries;  A'oorhees'  Gal- 
vanized Iron  Cornice  Factory;  Sheffield  Marble  and  Phos- 
phate Company,  capital  $100,000;  the  Sheffield  Quarries; 
Jlobile  Real  Estate  Company,  capital  $50,000;  Sheffield 
Real  Estate  Company.  $50,000;  Sheffield  iz  Jlobile  Im- 
provement Company,  $100,000;  and  the  Sheffield  Stone- 
AVorks.  Reasonably  certain  to  be  secured  in  the  near 
future  are,  a  charcoal  iron  furnace  and  chemical  plant;  a 
rolling-mill  and  a  large  machine  shop. 

Many  of  these  enterprises  have  been  inaugur- 
ated since  the  writers  last  and  only  visit  to  Shef- 
field— in  July  and  August,  1 887 — and  of  those 
which  were  already  resolved  on  many  had  not 
been  started.  The  consolidation  of  the  several 
corporations  which  now  form  the  Sheffield  and 
Birmingham  Coal,  Iron  and  Railroad  Company, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  -S7,5"-i."),000,  took  place  at 
that  time.  None  of  the  furnaces  mentioned  was 
then  in  blast;  they  now  all  approach  completion. 
The  jiopulation  was  between  two  and  three  thou- 
sand, although  there  were  scarcely  houses  sufficient 
to  accommodate  one  thousand  comfortably. 
Everything  indicated  incompleteness.  Even  the 
attractions  were  such  as  pertain  to  change  atid 
growth.  Some  of  the  streets  were  graded,  while  a 
few  were  only  staked  off,  though  all  were  named. 
Montgomery  avenue,  the  central  business  street, 
running  north  and  south,  was  well  lined  with 
buildings — business  blocks  toward  the  south,  and 
dwellings,  some  of  them  quite  handsome,  toward 
the  north  and  near  the  river.  The  other  streets 
and  avenues  presented  a  somewhat  curious  appear- 
ance. On  nearly  every  one  of  them  there  were 
buildings  of  some  sort,  but  the  distances  between 
them,  and  the  varied  characters  of  the  buildings 
themselves — here  a  block  of  stores  standing  alone 
in  a  grassy  field;  there  a  finely-constructed  resi- 
dence touching  a  hut  or  tent,  intended  for  tem- 
porary use — showed  plainly  the  diflerence  between 
a  town  that  has  taken  years  to  form  itself,  such  as 
the  Old  South  abounds  in,  and  a  town  which  is 
springing  up  in  fulfillment   of   a   plan   that   was 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


4ir 


matured  before  the  first  corner-stone  was  laid. 
The  one  is  a  growtli,  tlie  other  is  more  properly  a 
conscious  creation.  The  one  is  a  result  of 
the  unprompted,  sometimes  undiscerned,  action  of 
natural  causes  and  possibilities,  and  the  other  is  a 
result  of  the  discovery,  and  bringing  into  play,  of 
such  causes  and  possibilities  by  the  intelligence 
and  power  of  men  who  seek  their  own  ends  in  a 
broad  and  liberal  way.  It  would  be  unfair  as  yet 
to  express  a  preference  for  the  one  or  the  other  of 
these  two  methods  of  city  building,  for  the 
conscious  evolution  of  such  a  town  as  Sheffield 
is  a  new  phenomenon  to  which  tliore  is  no 
parallel. 

Asyet,  we  have  only  the  beginning  of  the  process, 
and  the  beginning  can  scarcely  be  taken  as  a  fair 
basis  of  opinion  concerning  the  ap]iearance  of  the 
end — or  rather  of  a  later  stage  in  the  develop- 
ment, to  which,  let  us  hope,  there  will  be  no  end. 
The  first  stages  of  this  development  do  not 
present  many  features  of  beauty,  but  there  are  in- 
dications of  a  coming  attractiveness. 

Industrialism  is  not  altogether  unlovely.  Ke- 
pellant  as  are  many  of  its  characteristics,  selfish 
as  are  its  aims,  doubtful  as  are  the  means  it  fre- 
quently uses,  it  does  yet  sometimes,  perhaps  al- 
ways, conduce  to  the  accomplishment  of  worthier 
objects  in  better  ways  than  those  that  fill  the 
minds  of  its  moving  spirits.  Great  cities  are  built 
that  money  may  be  made;  but  great  cities,  when 
built,  are  the  nurses  of  art  and  letters,  the  centers 
of  enlightenment,  the  fields  of  charity.  Sheffield 
has  come  into  existence  because  certain  capitalists 
thought  that  through  the  establishment  of  certain 
industries  at  this  particular  sitetheir  wealth  might 
be  increased,  and  because  in  the  interests  of  those 
few  who  are  rich  are  bound  up  the  interests  of 
many  who  are  poor.  For  the  same  reasons  it  will 
continue  to  grow.  But  the  lower  aims  are  united 
with  higher  purposes:  and  the  iron  city  on  the 
Tennessee,  that  will  give  wealth  to  hundreds  and 
bread  and  homes  to  thousands,  nuiy  and  shall  con- 
tribute somewhat  to  the  better  riches  that  are  the 
pro])erty  of  all  men.  Here,  perhaps,  lessons  of 
civilization  will  be  learned;  the  power  of  intellect, 
through  machinery  and  contrivance,  will  be  aug- 
7nented;  institutions  of  learning  will  be  built;  art 
will  be  cherished:  philanthropy  will  be  exercised; 
apjilied  Christianity  will  show  its  inestimable  value 
and  receive  its  fitting  lionor.  Let  us  hope,  at 
least,  that  from  the  co-operation  of  so  many  en- 
ergies something  better  and  fairer  than  furnaces 


or  mills  can   fashion    may  be  contributed  to  the 
life  of  our  country  and  of  the  world. 

ALFRED  H.  MOSES,  distinguished  citizen  and 
capitalist,  Sheffield,  is  a  native  of  Charleston,  S. 
C,  and  was  born  September  IC,  IS-io.  After 
passing  through  the  high  schools  of  that  city,  he 
entered  Charleston  College,  and  was  graduated 
therefrom  with  first  honors  in  the  class  of  ISGO. 
Immediately  after  graduating  he  entered  the  office 
of  Watts,  .Judge  &  Jackson,  at  Montgomery,  this 
State,  and  began  the  study  of  law.  Some  time  in 
ISCl  he  was  appointed  to  a  clerical  jiosition  in  the 
Circuit  Court  of  the  .Middle  District  of  Alabama, 
and  was  thereby  precluded  from  taking  any  very 
conspicuous  part  in  the  war.  It  aj)pears,  how- 
ever, that  toward  the  close  of  hostilities  he  was 
made  captain  of  a  company,  and  saw  some  service 
in  and  around  Pensacola  and  .Mobile. 

With  the  dawn  of  jieace  Captain  Moses,  associ- 
ated with  other  gentlemen,  embarked  in  the  real 
estate  business  at  Montgomery.  This  concern, 
which  soon  became  one  of  the  most  extensive  of 
its  character  in  the  State,  still  has  an  existence; 
and,  though  Captain  Moses  is  a  resident  of  Shef- 
field, his  business  interest  is  retained  therein. 
In  May,  18S-i,  he  accepted  the  position  of  Vice- 
President  and  General  Manager  of  the  Sheffield 
Land,  Iron  and  Coal  Company,  and  at  once  moved 
with  his  family  to  this  place.  From  that  time  to 
the  present,  the  history  of  Sheffield  is  the  history 
of  Cajitain  Closes,  and  the  reader  is  here  referred 
to  the  incomparable  chapter  written  by  I'rofessor 
Brown  especially  for  this  work,  ;uui  entitled 
'•Sheffield." 

To  undertake  the  creation  and  construction  of 
a  city  upon  a  hitherto  barren  field,  and  somewhat 
isolated  from  the  business  world,  required  no 
small  amount  of  nerve,  to  say  nothing  of  an  in- 
calculable outlay  of  money,  and  yet  to  do  this, 
Ca[)tain  Moses  left  a  lucrative  and  well  established 
business  in  one  of  the  pleasantest  cities  in  the 
world,  and  how  well  he  lias  succeeded  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  gigantic  undertaking,  may 
be  read  in  the  liistory  of  Sheffield. 

Captain  Jloses  is  a  gentleman  of  polislied  ad- 
dress, superior  education,  and  makes  a  pleasant 
and  agreeable  impression  upon  all  with  whom  he 
comes  in  contact.  He  is  an  excellent  judge  of 
men  and  things,  forms  his   conclusions  rapidly. 


418 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and  with  remarkable  correctness.  He  is  noted  for 
his  courteousness,  for  his  honesty,  and  sincerity  of 
jjnrpose.  He  is  liberal  in  his  dealings  with  his 
fellow  men,  broad  in  liis  ideas,  far-seeing  in  spec- 
ulation, patriotic  in  his  devotion  to  the  State  and 
her  best  interests,  and  enjoys  the  reputation  of 
having  done  as  much  to  advance  the  interests  of  all 
Northern  Alabama  as  any  other  one  man.  From 
a  recent  publication  we  quote:  "Mr.  Moses,  at 
the  organization  of  Sheffield  as  a  municij)ality,  was 
appointed  by  Governor  O'Xeal,  Mayor,  which 
office  he  still  retains.  He  was  elected  president  of 
the  Bank  of  Sheffield  in  February  last,  and  is  a 
director  in  the  Sheffield  Furnace  Company,  Shef- 
field Pipe  and  Nail  Works,  and  the  Sheffield  & 
Tuscumbia  Street  Railway  Company.  His  resi- 
dence is  located  on  the  highest  spot  in  Sheffield, 
overlooking  the  Tennessee,  and  would  do  credit 
to  a  city  of  500,000  inhabitants.  It  is  a  marvel  of 
taste,  beauty  and  simplicity,  and  strangers  are 
cordially  welcomed  by  him  and  his  charming 
family." 

Captain  Moses  was  married  November  8,  1871, 
to  Miss  Janett  Nathan,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  five  children:  Sarah  A.,  Alfred 
H.,  Adaline  L.,  Lee  J.  and  Joseph  W. 


CHARLES  D.  WOODSON,  President  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Sheffield,  M'as  born  in 
Madison  County,  Ga.,  August  10,  1856,  and  is 
a  son  of  William  D.  and  Martha  R.  (Floyd) 
Woodson.  He  was  educated  at  the  common 
schools  and  at  Emory  College,  Georgia,  and  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  years  accepted  a  clerical 
position  in  the  freight  department  of  the  Georgia 
Central  Railroad.  From  here,  at  the  end  of  one 
year,  he  transferred  to  Atlanta,  where  he  was 
employed  for  the  next  succeeding  eleven  years  in 
the  State  National  Bank,  being  promoted  from 
messenger  to  teller.  In  January,  1887,  he  located 
at  Sheffield,  organized  the  First  National  Bank, 
and  became  its  i^resident.  Though  a  young  man, 
Mr.  Woodson  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  skill- 
ful and  successful  bank  managers  in  Northern 
Alabama.  He  is  a  director  of  the  Sheffield  Land 
and  Coal  Company  and  treasurer  of  the  Sheffield 
and  Birmingham  Railway  Coal  and  Iron  Company. 
He  is  also  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  East 
Sheffield  Land  Company,  treasurer  of  the  Lady 
Ensley  Furnace  Company,   treasurer  of  the  Shef- 


field Street  Railway  Company,  treasurer  of  the 
W.  B.  Wood  Furnace  Company  of  Florence,  and 
treasurer  of  the  Southern  Charcoal  and  Furnace 
Company  of  that  city.  [For  particular  informa- 
tion regarding  these  industries,  see  histories  of 
Sheffield  and  Florence,  this  volume.] 

In  consideration  of  the  high  esteem  in  which 
Mr.  Woodson  is  held  in  Northern  Alabama,  the 
publishers  take  pleasure  in  illustrating  thi.s  work 
with  his  jjortrait. 

William  D.  Woodson,  father  of  Charles  D. 
Woodson,  was  born  in  Prince  Edwards  County, 
Va.,  in  1810,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
located  at  Thomaston,  Ga.,  where  he  afterward 
became  postmaster,  and  carried  on  a  mercantile 
business.  He  landed  at  that  place  with  but  fifty 
cents  in  money,  but  before  the  outbreak  of  the  late 
war  he  had  accumulated  a  large  fortune.  He  took 
part  in  the  Florida  Indian  War,  during  which  he 
held  the  rank  of  colonel.  He  died  in  1865,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-five  years. 

Colonel  Woodson's  wife  was  the  daughter  of  the 
late  Stewart  Floyd,  a  prominent  jurist  of  Georgia. 


WASHINGTON  R.  WESTON,  a  prominent 
business  man  of  Sheffield,  was  born  at  Weston, 
Ga.,  March  24,  1847,  and  was  the  son  of  Joseph 
L.  and  Elizabeth  (Rose)  Weston.  In  December, 
1861,  he  left  school  to  enlist  in  the  army,  and 
was  soon  afterward  made  a  lieutenant  on  the 
staff  of  Gen.  W.  H.  T.  Walker.  He  remained  in 
this  position  about  six  months,  when  the  command 
to  which  he  was  attached  was  disbanded,  and  he 
immediately  Joined  Cutts'  Artillery  as  a  private. 
He  was  the  youngest  man  in  that  command,  and, 
probably,  in  consideration  of  that  fact,  he  was 
made  mail-carrier  between  Richmond  and  Cutts' 
headquarters.  On  the  last  of  the  Seven  Days' 
Fight  in  front  of  Richmond,  he  was  run  over 
by  a  caisson,  and  so  seriously  injured,  as  to 
lead  to  his  discharge  from  the  service.  He  was 
taken  home  by  his  father,  who  thereafter  bitterly 
opposed  his  re-entering  the  service;  notwith- 
standing this  opposition,  however,  he  rejoined 
the  army  as  a  private  in  the  Sixty-Fourth 
Georgia  Regiment,  in  which  command  he  re- 
mained until  July,  1864,  when  he  was  captured 
by  some  of  General  Grant's  men,  while  in  the  act 
of  trading  tobacco  for  pork.  He  was  sent  to 
Washington,  where  he  subsequently  took  the  oath 


^r^-^  ^.-^-^-^(^-zJ^ 


-ny^/^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


419 


of  allegiance,  and  remained  at  the  North  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  From  the  cessation  of  hostili- 
ties until  1886,  at  which  time  he  located  at  Shef- 
field, he  was  variously  employed  at  railroading, 
attending  school,  farming,  manufacturing,  orange- 
growing,  milling,  merchandising,  etc.  After 
coming  to  this  place,  he  engaged  in  the  lumber 
business,  and  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
Sheffield  Manufacturing  Company,  of  which  he 
became  secretary,  treasurer  and  business  manager. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  incorporators,  and  is  secre- 
tary, treasurer  and  business  manager  of  the 
Sheffield  Ice  Company,  aiul  is  variously  interested 
with  other  important  industriesof  this  place.  He 
was  the  first  City  Treasurer  of  Slicffield.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco])al  Church 
and  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 

Captain  Weston  is  a  wide-awake,  public-spirited, 
present-day  man,  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity and  of  the  Knights  of  Honor. 

DR.  HUGH  W.  BLAIR  was  born  in  Savannah, 
Ga..  (lotobt-r  '.'.  isi;-.',  and  is  the  son  of  Hugh  A. 
and  Maggie  A.  (Howard)  Blair.  He  received  his 
primary  education  at  Kno.wille.  Tenn.,  and,  in 
the  spring  of  1883,  was  graduated  at  Cumberland 
University  as  an  A.B  After  an  interval  of  a 
short  time  he  entered  \'anderbilt  University,  Med- 
ical Department,  where  he  graduated  as  the  val- 
edictorian of  his  class  in  1885. 

He  began  the  practice  of  medicine  at  Carthage, 
Tenn.,  soon  after  leaving  college,  where,  in  a  short 
time,  he  built  uj)  for  himself  a  good  practice,  and 
was  honored  by  being  made  president  of  his 
County  Board  of  Health,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  until  he  came  to  Sheffield  in  March,  1R8T. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  State  and  County  -Medical 
Societies  and  a  member  of  the  American  Medical 
Association . 

As  a  practitioner  Dr.  Blair  has  met  with  re- 
markable success  from  the  beginning,  and,  pos- 
sessed of  a  thorough  education  and  a  well-bal- 
anced mind,  the  future  for  him  is  altogether 
bright. 


J.O.  H.NATHAN. Lawyer  and  Banker.Sheffield. 
was  I'orii  in  Louisville,  Ky., , January  7,  ]s.">G,  and  at 
the  age  of  thirteen  years  was  employed  in  his  father's 
dry  goods  establishment  in  that  city.     In  18?.")  he 


located  at  Austin,  Miss.,  in  general  mercantile 
business,  and  at  the  same  time  took  up  the  study 
of  law.  He  also  about  that  time  edited  the  Cotton 
Plant.  In  188:5,  after  having  suffered  various 
reverses  by  flood  and  tire,  he  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  at  .Montgomery,  and  in  188'1  located 
at  Shetiield.  After  practicing  law  a  while  at  Tus- 
cumbia,  he  opened  an  office  at  Sheffield,  and  began 
business  as  a  speculator.  His  returns  in  this  busi- 
ness soon  enabled  him  to  meet  all  obligations  and 
furnish  him  with  ample  capital  with  which  to 
engage  in  the  general  brokerage  and  banking  busi- 
ness. His  investments  have  proved  profitable, 
and  he  is  at  this  time  identified  with  the  most 
prominent  industries  of  the  city.  lie  is  one  of 
the  directors  of  the  bank  of  Sheffield,  and  is  treas- 
urer of  the  Sheffield  &  Tuscumbia  Street  Kail- 
way  Company.  He  has  recently  formed  a  law  co- 
partnership with  Col.  Thomas  R.  Roulhac,  of 
Greensboro,  Ala.,  and  they  are  said  to  have  a  large 
and  growing  practice. 

THOMAS  J.  TURPIN.  M.  D..  son  of  Thomas 
J.  and  Eliza  (Bobo)  Turpin,  was  born  November 
29,  184'.>.  in  Claiborne  County,  Miss.  He  attended 
the  common  schools  in  his  vicinity  until  1850, 
when  he  entered  the  Virginia  Military  Institute 
at  Lexington,  where  he  remained  two  years.  He 
then  returned  to  Louisiana,  began  the  study  of 
medicine,  and  was  graduated  from  the  University 
of  Louisiana,  at  New  Orleans  (now  known  as  the 
Medical  Department  of  Tulare  I'niversity).  in  the 
spring  of  18T1. 

Dr.  Turpin  first  located  in  Madison  I'arish, 
Louisiana,  and,  one  year  later,  went  to  Forkland, 
Ala.  In  1883  he  moved  to  Eutaw,  (ireene  County, 
this  State,  and  in  August,  1887,  located  at  Shef- 
field, W'here  he  still  remains.  Dr.  Turpin  was 
married  in  April,  1S7:5,  to  Miss  Anna  Blocker, 
of  Greene  County,  daughter  of  Col.  John  R.  and 
Amanda  (Watson)  Blocker.  They  have  three 
children,  Anna,  Fannie  and  Alice. 

Dr.  Turpin  is  a  member  of  the  Medical  Socie- 
ties of  Greene  County  and  of  the  State.  He  and 
his  wife  are  communicants  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 

Dr.  Turpin's  father  was  born  in  Maryland;  took 
his  degree  of  .M.  D.  from  the  I'niversity  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  located  in  Claiborne  County,  Jliss. 
He   afterward    moved    to   Hindes   County,   that 


420 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


State,  and  subsequently  settled  on  a  plantation  in 
Morehouse  Parish,  La.,  where  he  died  in  18C3. 
His  wife  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  came  to 
Mississippi  with  her  father  at  a  very  early  day. 
The3'  reared  two  sons  and  four  daughters,  of 
whom  but  three  are  now  living,  viz. :  Mrs.  Fannie 
Amos,  of  Madison  Parish,  La.;  Mrs.  G.  A.  Peter- 
kin,  of  Bastrop,  La.,  and  the  subject  of  our 
sketch. 


WILLIAM    WARREN    PRATER.  M.    D.,  was 

born  in  Loudon  County,  Tenn.,  and  is  a  son  of 
Hugli  G.  and  Elizabeth  J.  (Warren)  Prater.  He 
received  his  primary  education  at  the  Loudon 
High  School,  and  was  graduated  from  Cumber- 
laud  University,  as  A.  B.  in  1870.  In  1880,  he 
entered  Vanderbilt  University,  Medical  Depart- 
ment, and  graduated  therefrom  in  the  class  of 
1882.  He  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
Wilson  County,  Tenn.,  and  located  at  Sheffield  in 
October,  1880. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  practice,  Dr.  V.  has 
met  with  flattering  success.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  International  Medical  Congress,  which  met  in 
Washington  City  in  September,  1887,  and  is  at  this 
writing,  secretary  of  the  Colbert  County  Medical 
Association.  He  was  married,  ilarcli  1,  1882,  to 
Miss  Maggie  H.  Blair,  daughter  of  Dr.  Hugh  A. 
Blair. 

The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  is  prominently  identi- 
fied with  the  advancement  of  the  best  morals  of 
Sheffield. 

The  Pi-ater  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  Ten- 
nessee. Hugh  G.  Prater  was  born  in  Loudon 
County  in  1824  ;  his  father,  Samuel  Prater  was 
born  at  the  same  place  in  1800,  and  his  grand- 
father, who  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  ITT'i, 
was  one  of  the  first  settlers  on  the  Tennessee 
River. 

W.  S.  WHITE  was  born  in  Barbour  County, 
Ala.,  January  1.5,  1844,  and  at  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  village  acquired  a  fair  English  educa- 
tion. June  17,  1801,  he  enlisted  in  the  Confeder- 
ate Army,  his  company  being  the  first  one  to  leave 
the  State,  and  remained  in  the  service  to  the  close 
of  the  war.     With  the  First  Alabama,  he  was  at 


Pensacola  one  year,  the  term  of  his  enlistment. 
At  the  end  of  that  time  he  joined  the  Thirty-ninth 
Regiment,  and  with  it  served  under  General  Bragg 
in  his  Kentucky  campaign  and  was  subsequently 
in  every  battle  fought  by  the  Western  Army,  from 
Shiloh  in  1862  to  Bentonville  in  18Gi.  He  was 
four  times  wounded,  and  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  he  never  missed  a  day  from  actual  service 
that  was  not  the  direct  result  of  a  gun-shot. 

From  1866  to  1876  Captain  White  was  farming. 
He  was  elected  Sheriff  of  his  native  county  and 
enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  man  who 
ever  filled  the  office  without  a  rule  having  been  in- 
stituted against  him.  At  the  end  of  his  term  as 
Sheriff,  he  was  elected  Tax  Assessor,  in  which  po- 
sition, the  record  shows,  he  exercised  such  energy 
and  tact  that  the  county  revenue  was  not  only 
doubled,  but  the  rate  of  taxation  was  reduced  one- 
half,  the  first  year  of  his  administration. 

With  the  exjjiration  of  his  term  as  Tax  Assessor 
Captain  White  retired  from  public  life,  and  as 
the  head  of  the  firm  of  W.  S.  White  &  Co.  he 
embarked  in  the  cotton  business  at  Eufaula  and 
Clayton.  In  January,  1887,  he  was  elected  busi- 
ness manager  of  tlie  East  Sheffield  Land  Company, 
and  immediately  moved  to  this  place.  He  was 
one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Sheffield,  and  is  a  member  of  its  board 
of  directors.  He  was  one  of  the  projectors  of  the 
Sheffield  Street  Railway  Company,  and  is  now  its 
Superintendent  and  General  Manager.  As  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sheffield  City  Council  he  is  consf)icuous 
as  chairman  of  some  of  the  most  imj)ortant  com- 
mittees. 

Cajitain  White  was  first  married  December  26, 
1870,  to  a  Miss  Richards,  of  Augusta,  Ga.  She 
died  five  years  later;  and  in  September,  1878,  he 
married  a  sister  of  the  Hon.  Henry  B.  Tompkins, 
of  Atlanta. 


GEORGE  P.  KEYES  was  born  at  Athens,  this 
State.  St'jiteniber  S,  JS20,  and  is  a  son  of  Gen. 
George  and  Nelly  (Rutledge)  Keyes.  He  gradu- 
ated at  LaGrange  College  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
and  soon  thereafter  commenced  the  study  of  the 
law.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  but  having  lit- 
tle taste  for  the  profession,  became  editor  of  the 
Athens  Herald,  which  lie  conducted  for  two  years. 
He  then  located  in   Montgomerv,  and  for  several 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


421 


years  lield  the  office  of  Register  and  Master  in 
Chancery.  In  1S61  lie  was  among  tlie  volunteers 
at  Fort  -Morgan.  In  18ii2  he  entered  "  Hilliard's 
r.egion  "  (afterward  "  The  Alabama  Legion  "), 
and  served  as  sergeant-major.  After  the  retreat 
from  Kentucky,  his  liealtli  being  greatly  impaired, 
he  was  discharged  from  the  service.  Jle  returned 
to  Montgomery  and  was  in  command  of  a  regi- 
ment of  home  guards  at  the  date  of  the  surrender. 
After  tiie  war  he  was  ajipointed.  without  solicita- 
tion on  his  part,  again  to  the  office  of  Register  and 
blaster  in  Chancery,  and  was  filling  that  office 
when  ousted  by  the  Reconstruction  Act.  Some- 
time thereafter  he  became  associated  editorially 
with  the  Jlontgomery  Advertiser ,  a  position  he 
tilled  for  several  years.  In  IsSO  he  established 
the  Alnhama  Progress,  as  the  official  organ  of  the 
department  of  education.  After  conducting  this 
paper  two  years,  he  located  at  Florence,  expecting 
that  to  be  tiie  principal  Tennessee  River  town:  but 
when  it  was  determined  to  build  the  '■'new  city" 
on  the  lovely  site  on  which  Sheffield  is  now  lo- 
cated, he  became  an  enthusiastic  friend  and  advo- 
cate of  the  enterprise.  It  was  he  who  induced 
the  Moses  Brothers,  of  ^Montgomery,  to  make  an 
investigation,  the  result  of  which  led  to  their  be- 
coming such  ini]iortant  factors  in  the  success  of 
Sheffield.  ^Ir.  Keyes  was  a  member  of  the  first 
firm  to  start  a  business  of  any  character  in  the  in- 
fant city.  He  was  the  first  man  to  declare  him- 
self a  citizen  of  Sheffield.  After  the  land  sale  he 
had  the  first  (frame)  residence  erected,  and  his 
present  residence  must  be  known  as  the  first  brick 
residence  ever  built  in  Sheffield.  He  is  now  offi- 
cially connected  with  several  of  Sheffield's  impor- 
tant enterprises,  and  the  increase  in  values  has 
made  him  one  of  the  prosperous  men  of  the  place. 

Before  his  connection  with  the  leading  Demo- 
cratic jiaper  of  the  State,  Mr.  Keyes  had  already 
achieved  reputation  as  a  writer.  Thereafter,  he 
was  counted  one  of  the  most  forcible  writers  of 
Alabama.  lie  is  also  the  author  of  a  number  of 
poems,  several  of  which  liave  been  read  on  Con- 
federate memorial  occasions  in  Jlontgomery. 
Ilis  longest,  and  perhaps  best,  poetical  production, 
'•  The  Old  Grave  Digger,"  \ras  once  read  before  a 
select  audience  in  Montgomery,  and  thofigh  much 
admired,  was  never  printed. 

Mr.  Keyes  is  a  member  of  tlic  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Cliurch,  South,  and  has  fci-  many  years  heM 
official  positions  in  the  Church;  he  is  also  widely 
known  as  a  most  earnegt  and  able  advocate  of  pro- 


hibition. His  pen  and  his  example  and  influence 
have  alwiiys  been  in  favor  of  education,  temper- 
ance and  religion. 

Mr.  Keyes  was  married  in  August,  18.59,  to  Miss 
Fannie  Gayle,  of  Montgomery,  who  died,  leaving 
one  child.  His  second  wife,  to  whom  he  was  mar- 
ried in  18TH,  was  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  R.  II. 
Rivers,  of  Louisville.  She  died  in  188-2,  and  in 
18S7  Mr.  Keyes  was  married  to  ^liss  Jennie  S. 
Rainey,  of  North  Carolina. 

The  senior  Mr.  Keyes  was  born  in   Washington 
County,    Va.,    November   8,   1T9'2,    and    died    at 
Athens,  June   l-"5,  1833.     His   wife    was   born    in 
17!)!),  and  died  at  Athens,  October  n,  1834.     He 
came  to  Alabama  when  it  was  a  territory;  was  a 
a  captain  in  the  Florida   war,    and  afterward   a 
brigadier-general  of  the  militia.     He  was  known 
as  General  Keys,  and,  though  a  young  man,  was 
very  popular,  and  wielded  much  influence  in  pub- 
lic matters  throughout   the   State.     One  of   his 
sons.  Wade  Keyes,  was  a  prominent  attorney  and 
j   jurist:    he  was  Assistant  Attorney-General  of  the 
j   Confederate  States,  and  was  the  author  of  several 
,   law  publications.     Another  of  his  sons,  John  W., 
I   was  a  lieutenant  in   Hilliard's  l^egion  until  trans- 
'   f erred  to  the  medical  department,  where  he  re- 
j   mained  till  the  close  of  the  war.     He  now  resides 
I   in   Florida.      Hon.  Hetiry  C.  Jones,  of  Florence, 
married  a  daughter  of  General  Keyes,  and  another 
of   his  daughters  was  the  first  wife  of  Gen.  John 
D.  Rather,  of  Tuscumbia. 

QUINCY  C.  HUNTER  was  born  in  Chambers 
County,  Ala.,  September  •2(),  184L  He  was 
brought  up  on  a  plantation,  and  received  his  edu- 
cation at  the  common  schools.  He  lost  his  father 
when  but  five  years  of  age;  his  mother  dieil  in  Feb- 
I   ruary,  1880. 

In  March,  18<!2,  Mr.  Hunter  enlisted  as  a  ))ri- 
1   vate  soldier  in   Company  I,  Thirty-seventh 'Ala- 
bama Regiment,  and  participated  in  several  battles 
near  Vicksburg,   being  then   in   General   Baker's 
brigade.     He  was  in  all   the  fights  about  Chatta- 
j   nooga  and  .Missionary  Ridge,  and  in  a  number  of 
[   those  of  the  Atlanta  campaign,  including  the  bat- 
j   tie  of  Peach  Tree  Creek  and  one  before  Atlanta.  He 
went  from  that  city  to  Mobile  in  the  fall  of  l.sr;3; 
I   was  transferred  again  to  North  Carolina,  and  sur- 
i  rendered   in   April,  180.').     In   18T!i   Mr.  Hunter 


422 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


engaged  in  mercantile  business  at  Ozark,  Ala.,  and 
in  Jul}'.  1885,  located  at  Sheffield,  where  he  made 
successful  investments  in  real  estate  and  erected  a 
residence  which  was  among  the  first  built  in  that 
city.  Hunter  Block,  built  by  him,  is  one  of  the 
institutions  of  this  place. 

Mr.  Hunter  was  married  in  Xovember,  1885,  to 
Miss  Fannie,  daughter  of  S.  L.  and  Frances  (Dis- 
nuke)  Hill,  of  Chambers  County,  Ala. 

Mr.  Hunter's  parents  were  Alsey  and  Martha 
A.  (Stillwell)  Hunter,  natives  of  Georgia.  He 
was  a  minister  in  the  Baptist  Church.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  .John  Stillwell,  who  served  as  a  soldier 
in  the  War  of  1812. 


GEORGE  T.  McGregor.  Merchant,  Sheffield, 
was  born  in  Halifax  County,  Va.,  July  Vl,  1849, 
and  his  parents  were  Stokley  and  Dallie  E. 
(McDaniel)  McGregor,  of  Halifa.x  County,  Va. 
AVhat  education  he  received  was  from  the  common 
schools  of  that  State.  Soon  after  the  close  of  the 
war  he  removed  to  Mississippi,  where  he  became 
an  extensive  farmer,  and  remained  until  1881. 
In  January,  1887,  he  invested  in  Sheffield  pro- 
perty, and  in  April  following  located  there  in  his 
present  business. 

He  was  married  in  October,  1870,  to  Miss 
Jennie  Gray,  daughter  of  Frederick  Gray,  Esq., 
of  Noxubee  County,  Miss.,  and  has  had  born  to 
him  six  children:  Maggie  E.,  Fred.  W.,  Georgie, 
Sallie,  Rossie  and  John  G. 

The  senior  Mr.  McGregor  was  a  large  planter 
and  slave-holder  in  Halifax  County  prior  to  the 
War.  He  migrated  to  Columbus,  Miss.,  in  1800, 
■  and  from  there  to  Tennessee  in  1867.  Plis  father, 
John  McGregor,  came  from  Scotland  to  the 
United  States  in  1808,  and  located  in  Halifax 
County,  Va.,  where  he  became  a  wealthy  planter 
and  slave-owner,  and  where  he  spent  the  rest  of 
his  life.  The  McDaniel  family  also  came  from 
Scotland,  and  were  wealthy  planters  in  Halifax 
County. 


WILSON  R.  BROWN,  was  born  in  Marion,  Ala., 

September  5,  ISijO.  He  received  his  education  at 
Howard  College,  that  city,  and  became  teller  in 
the  bank  there  when  but  fifteen  years  of  age.  A 
year  later  he  accepted  a  situation  in  a  wholesale 
dry   goods   store   at    Selma,  Ala.,  and    while   en- 


gaged in  that  concern,  made  good  use  of  his  spare 
time  by  reading  Blackstone.  In  1883  he  went  to 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  engaged  as  traveling  sales- 
man for  a  large  wholesale  establishment.  Three 
years  later  he  returned  to  Marion  and  edited  the 
Marion  Standard  for  one  year.  In  December, 
1880,  he  engaged  in  the  real  estate  business  at 
Sheffield,  and  is  now  the  president  of  the  Real 
Estate  Association  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Brown  is  one  of  the  most  active  and  brill- 
iant young  men  of  Sheffield,  and  has  been  recog- 
nized as  among  those  who  take  the  most  interest 
in  the  progress  of  that  rapidly  advancing  city. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  son  of  Wilson  K. 
and  Mary  C.  (Parrish)  Brown.  The  senior  Mr. 
Brown  was  born  in  Mathews  County,  Va.,  in  1815, 
came  to  Marion  County,  this  State,  in  1836,  and 
resided  there  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1882.  He  was  first  a  merchant  and  planter,  and  in 
his  later  years  carried  on  a  banking  business.  He 
was  a  very  wealthy  man  before  the  war.  His  wife, 
Mary  C,  was  born  in  Hillsborough,  N.  C.  Her 
mother,  Elizabeth  Huntington,  was  a  native  of 
Connecticut.  The  Huntington  family  are  of  Eng- 
lish descent.  Our  subject's  parents  reared  seven 
sons  and  one  daughter,  viz. :  Charles  G.,  an  attor- 
ney at  Birmingham;  Wilbur,  Henry  P.,  Wilson 
R.,  David  H. ,  Eugene  L.,  and  W.  G.,  a  professor 
in  the  Marion  Jlilitary  Institute. 


J.  M.  TURNER,  one  of  the  most  accomplished 
photographers  in  Alabama,  with  studios  at  Shef- 
field and  Gadsden,  Ala.,  is  a  native  of  Mobile, 
where  he  was  born  August  25,  1863.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Greensboro,  this  State,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  engaged  in  photography  at  Marion. 
From -Marion  he  moved  to  Florence  in  1884,  and 
from  there,  within  a  few  months,  to  Anniston. 
Later  on  he  located  at  Gadsden,  and  in  1887 
established  himself  at  Sheffield.  At  this  writing 
he  is  running  galleries  in  both  Sheffield  and  Gads- 
den, and  has  the  reputation  of  turning  out  the 
best  work  north  of  Montgomery.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  is  deservedly  a 
po^nilar  young  man. 


ABRAM  I.  MOSES,  resident  Director  of  the 
ilobile  Real  Estate  Company,  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  in  the  Sheffield  enterprise.     Mr.  Moses 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


423 


is  a  native  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  one  of  the 
seven  sons  of  the  hite  Ira  Moses,  a  rice  planter  of 
St.  James'  rarisli,  in  that  State.  After  graduat- 
ing at  the  High  School  in  his  native  city,  tlie  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  went  to  California,  and,  after 
serving  four  years  in  tiie  revenue  service  of  the 
United  States  (iovernmeiit,  returned  East,  and 
became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Wyman,  Moses 
it  Co..  hardware  dealers,  Montgomery,  Ala.  In 
the  war  between  tlie  States  .Mr.  Moses  joined  the 
Fifty-third  Alabama  Regiment  and  served  on  Gen- 
eral Harmon's  staff.  In  1804,  ill  health  forced 
111  in  to  resign  lus  commission,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  war  he  took  uj)  his  residence  in  Mobile. 
Becoming  interested  in  the  Sheftield  land  jiurcliase, 
.Mr.  Moses  induced  a  few  of  his  .Mobile  friends  to 
join  him  in  organizing  the  .Mobile  Keal  Estate 
Company,  a  corporation  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  buying  and  improving  lots  in  the  future  great 
city  of  the  Tennessee  Valley.  P^lected  manager 
of  the  comjjany,  Mr.  Moses  took  up  his  residence 
near  Shettield  in  June,  1884,  and  at  once  oom- 
inenced  the  erection  of  the  block  on  the  corner  of 
First  street  and  Raleigh  avenue,  now  recognized 
as  "  Mobile  Block.''  The  completion  of  this  work 
was  followed  by  the  construction  of  twelve  neat 
cottages,  two  livery  stables,  eight  stores  on  the 
corner  of  Montgomery  avenue  and  Second  street, 
a  three-story  addition  to  Mobile  Block,  and  the 
company's  office  on  Montgomery  avenue.  The 
large  expenditures  made  on  behalf  of  this  com- 
pany show  Mr.  Moses'  confidence  in  Sheflield.and 
after  three  years  labor  in  pushing  ahead  the  build- 
ing up  of  this  vast  and  growing  enterprise,  he 
lives  to  see  his  work  a  success,  and  his  company 
enjoying  a  fair  return  from  a  venture  which  many 
predicted  would  end  disastrously  to  all  who  were 
bold  enough  to  brave  the  results  growing  out  of 
the  distressful  panic  which  passed  over  the  entire 
country  in  1SS4.  Mr.  Moses  is  firmly  impressed 
with  the  belief  that  Sheffield,  with  its  advantages, 
is  destined  to  become  the  second  Pittsburgh  of 
America. 

PAUL  W.  SMITH,  son  of  Wm.  H.  and  Julia  P. 
(ilainioii)  Sniitii.  was  born  at  Montgomery,  Ala., 
August  'Ih,  18<l(i.  He  was  for  a  number  of  years  in 
the  employ  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad 
Company  at  Montgomery,  and  for  several  years 
was   book-keeper  and  teller  of  the   Commercial 


F'ire  Insurance  and  Banking  Company,  of  that 
city. 

He  came  to  Sheffield  in  February,  lss7,  to  ac- 
cept the  position  of  Cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Shef- 
field. He  resigned  tliis  position  to  devote  his  time 
to  his  mineral  interests,  and  is  now  Vice-President 
and  (ieneral  .Manager  of  the  Sheffield  .Mining  and 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  Vice-President  of 
the  North  Alabama  Abstract  and  Real  Estate 
Company  of  Slieffield. 

In  April,  1S88,  lie  married  Eugenia  M.  Bragg, 
daughter  of  W.  L.  Bragg,  of  Montgomery,  who 
is  now  one  of  the  Inter-State  Commerce  Commis- 
sioners of  the  United  States. 

Wni.  II.  Stnith,  our  subject's  father,  was  born 
at  Suffield,  Conn.,  in  1814.  He  came  to  Mont- 
gomery in  183.5,  and  was  for  a  number  of  years  a 
partner  in  the  mercantile  firm  of  Sayre  &  Smith. 
-Vfter  Mr.  Sayre's  death  Mr.  Smith  entered  the 
cotton  business,  in  which  he  continued  until  1882, 
when  he  was  elected  Treasurer  of  the  city  of 
Montgomery,  which  position  he  still  holds. 

Our  subject's  mother,  .Julia  Pauline  Ilannon, 
daughter  of  Rev.  John  Hannon,  was  born  at 
Knoxville,  Crawford  County,  Ga.,  in  18-32,  and 
died  March  12,188.-).  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  H.  Smith 
reared  seven  children,  viz.:  Lester  C.,an  attorney- 
at-law  at  Montgomery,  and  who  represented  that 
county  in  the  last  Legislature;  Mary  E.  (deceased), 
who  was  wife  of  W.  J.  Cameron,  now  president  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Birmingham:  Y,.  H., 
\S.  II.,  P.  S.,  Paul  W.  and  II.  II.  The  Smith 
family  are  of  English  origin,  and  they  came  to  New 
F]ngland  in  lf;38.  In  1S3.').  W.  H.  Smith  came  to 
Alabama. 

"    *  V*  'Wij2S^"  'C*' — ' — 

J.  B.  SULLIVAN,  son  of  W.  ,M.  and  Elizabeth 
(Bostick)  .Sullivan,  was  born  in  ^laury  County, 
Tenn.,  January  10,  184<i,  and  received  his  educa- 
tion at  .Jackson  College,  Columbia,  Tenn. 

Mr.  Sullivan  enlisted  in  Company  Fl,  First  Ten- 
nessee Cavalry,  in  ]8ti2.  He  was  engaged  in  the 
battles  of  Chickamauga,  Lookout  Mountain, 
Missionary  Ridge,  New  Hope  Church,  Resaca,  and 
nearly  all  the  campaigns  from  Chattanooga  to 
Atlanta,  including  two  figlitsat  the  latter  city.  He 
was  also  in  two  raids  into  Tennessee  under  General 
Wheeler  and  one  uiuler  General  Forrest.  He 
served  under  General  Wheeler  in  his  last  fight  at 
Bentouville,  X.  C,  and  surrendered  at  Charlotte, 


424 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


N.  C,  May  23,  1865.  After  the  war  he  returned 
to  his  home  at  Columbia,  Tenn.,  and  attended 
school  one  year.  He  then  became  a  farmer  and 
traded  in  stock,  in  which  pursuits  he  met  with 
Tery  good  success.  He  located  in  Sheffield  August 
15,  1887,  and  there  engaged  in  the  livery 
business. 

Mr.  Sullivan  was  married  September  20,  1867, 
to  Martha  E.  Xeeley,  daughter  of  A.  J.  and 
Parrilee  (Drake)  Xeeley,  natives  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  Alabama,  respectively.  Mr.  Drake  was 
one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Maury  County,  Tenn. 
Mr.  Sullivan  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  he  is  a  Mason. 

Mr.  Sullivan's  father,  W.  M.  Sullivan,  was  born 
in  Dickson  County,  Tenn.  He  was  sheriff  four 
years  of  Maury  County,  and  was  a  soldier,  and 


served  as  a  captain  in  the  Forty-eighth  Tennessee 
(Confederate)  Regiment  three  years  during  the 
late  war.  He  was  the  father  of  seven  children, 
namely:  J.  B.  (the  subject  of  this  sketch),  ilary 
D.,  Anna,  (wife  of  W.  F.  Goodrum),  Ophelia  (wife 
of  J.  M.  Warley),  F.mma  and  W.  13.  (a  jjliysician 
at  Sheffield). 

Thomas  Sullivan,  grandfather  of  J.  B.  Sullivan, 
came  from  Ireland  at  a  very  early  day.  He  was  a 
blacksmith,  lived  in  Tennessee,  married  Ruth 
Warley,  and  reared  a  large  family  of  children. 

Elizabeth  Bostick,  Mr.  Sullivan's  mother,  was  a 
daughter  of  Bailey  Bostick,  who  was  born  in 
North  Carolina,  and  moved  to  Georgia  at  a  very 
early  day.  He  was  a  millwright.  He  married 
Tabitha  Wood,  and  shortly  afterward  moved  into 
Tennessee.     They  also  reared  a  large  family. 


VIII. 

TUSCUMBIA. 


By  Cai't.  a.  II.  Kki.lek. 


This  is  one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  Alabama, 
with  a  history  full  of  interest  to  those  who  are 
the  descendants  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Ten- 
nessee Valley,  as  well  as  to  the  student,  who  can 
find  in  its  pages  the  record  of  adventures  as 
thrilling,  and  achievements  as  heroic,  as  any  that 
have  been  depicted  by  either  historian  or  novelist. 

This  sketoli,  hoAvever,  will  be  confined  mainly 
to  chronological  events  and  statistical  matters 
connected  with  the  settlement  and  development 
of  Tuscumbia  and  the  country  immediately  sur- 
rounding it. 

As  far  bacii  as  1780,  the  Trench  Colony  on  the 
Wabash  River  established  a  trading  post  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Occocoposo,  or  Cold  Water,  Creek  on 
the  Tennessee  River,  about  one  mile  from  the 
northern  limit  of  the  present  site  of  Tuscumbia. 
This  creek  runs  through  the  town,  and  is  the  out- 
let for  the  immense  spring  which  rises  from  the 
earth  near  the  center  of  the  town  and  flows  in  a 
circuitous  route  to  the  Tennessee  River  two  miles 
away.  It  affords  a  fine  power  for  mills  and  fac- 
tories, and  has  been  utilized  as  such  for  many 
years. 

Professor  Toumey,  in  his  "Geological  History 
of  Alabama,"  gives  the  measurement  of  this  spring 
at  17,724  cubit  feet  of  water  flowing  from  it  per 
minute,  or  enough  to  furnisii  every  person  in  the 
United  States  about  four  gallons  each  per  day. 
The  temiwrature  is  58^,  and  although  strongly 
limestone  it  is  pleasant  to  drink. 

At  tiie  tune  of  the  establishment  of  the  colony 
alluded  to  at  the  mouth  of  Spring  Creek,  Kash- 
ville  was  the  most  important  trading  station  in 
the  Southwest,  and  was  not  exempt  from  hostile 
incursions  by  the  Indians,  who  held  the  country 
from  the  Alabama  River  to  the  Cumberland.  For 
a  number  of  years  depredations  by  them  upon  the 
Cumberland    settlements  were  frequent  and  de- 

38  425 


structivc.  In  the  early  part  of  1787,  Col.  James 
Robertson  organized  an  expedition,  which  de- 
scended the  Cumberland  and  ascended  the  Ten- 
nessee, as  far  as  the  moutli  of  Duck  River,  but  at 
this  point  he  was  defeated  and  forced  to  return. 
In  June,  1787,  he  started  on  a  second  and  more 
successful  trip,  marching  south  from  Nashville 
with  1.30  men  to  Bainbridge,  a  small  village  on  the 
Tennessee,  about  ten  miles  from  Tuscumbia.  Mov- 
ing from  this  point  westward,  along  tlie  south 
bank  of  the  river,  he  found  the  Indian  village,  at 
or  near  the  mouth  of  Spring  Creek,  or  Occocoposo, 
as  it  was  then  called.  The  Indians,  and  tlieir 
French  allies,  retreated  to  a  strong  position,  a 
sliort  distance  up  the  creek,  where  Robertson 
attacked,  and  defeated  them  with  heavy  loss,  and 
destroyed  their  village  and  captured  the  trading 
post  and  a  large  quantity  of  supplies. 

The  French  prisoners  were  taken  to  Colbert's 
Ferry,  ten  miles  below,  and  allowed  to  return  to 
the  Wabash  Colony,  Colonel  Robertson  returning 
to  Xashville  by  land.  [See  Pickett's  History  of 
Alabanui.] 

In  180:i  General  Wilkerson  made  a  treaty  with  the 
Chickasaw  Indians,  whereby  he  secured  from  tliem 
permission  to  cut  out  a  wagon  road  from  Natchez, 
Miss.,  to  Niishville,  Tenn.,  crossing  the  Tennes- 
see River  at  Georgetown,  twenty  miles  below  Tus- 
cumbia. In  1814  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson  aiul  Col. 
Benjamin  Hawkins  were  empowered  to  make  trea- 
ties with  the  Indians,  with  a  view  to  securing 
some  of  the  vast  and  fertile  territory  tiien  held  by 
them.  In  the  fall  of  ISIG  they  granted  to  the 
United  States  all  the  territory  from  the  headwaters 
of  the  Coosa  westward  to  Cotton  Gin  Port,  Miss., 
and  thence  north  to  the  mouth  of  Caney  (now 
Cane)  Creek  on  Tennessee  River,  ten  miles  below 
Tuscumbia. 

The  first  white  family  to  settle  in  Tuscumbia 


i-iQ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


was  that  of  Michael  Dickson  in  1815.  Soon  after- 
ward, four  of  his  brothers-in-law,  from  Smith 
County,  Tenn.,  Isaiah  McDill,  James  McMann, 
Matthews  and  Hugh  Finley,  arrived.  The  fol- 
lowing year,  1816,  was  remarkable  for  an  unprece- 
dented drought,  which  prevailed  all  over  this  ter- 
ritory. Capt.  Jno.  T.  Rather,  who  died  in  Tus- 
cumbia  a  few  years  ago,  when  nearly  ninety  years 
old,  often  spoke  of  the  distress  of  the  people  on 
account  of  the  scarcity  of  breadstuffs  at  that 
time.  Corn  sold  at  five  dollars  per  bushel.  The 
nearest  mills  were  at  Huntsville,  Ala.,  and  Mt. 
Pleasant,  Tenn.,  about  seventy  miles  distant, 
from  whence  all  of  their  meal  and  flour  was  hauled 
in  wagons. 

The  first  white  child  born  in  Tuseumbia  was 
Miss  Anna  Dickson,  who  married  Dr.  W.  H. 
Wheaton,  who  died  in  Nashville  since  the  late 
war.     She  was  living  but  a  short  time  ago. 

Hugh  Finley  was  a  blacksmith,  and  owned  the 
first  shop  opened  in  the  jjlace.  In  1816-17  quite 
a  number  of  families  arrived  and  settled  in  the 
present  limits  of  Tuscnmbia,  which  was  then 
known  as  Big  Spring.  Col.  James  McDonald  was 
afterwards  ajipointcd  Postmaster  for  the  Big  Spring 
office.  He  was  a  distinguished  officer  of  the  United 
States  Army,  having  won  distinction  in  the 
battles  of  Chippewa  and  Lundy's  Lane,  and  came 
to  Tuseumbia  from  Knoxville,  Tenn.  He  was 
joined  here  by  his  brother-in-law,  David  Keller, 
from  the  same  place,  and  both  moved  to  Russell's 
Valley,  remaining  two  years,  when  they  returned 
and  purchased  farms  near  Tuseumbia.  Colonel 
McDonald  died  on  his  farm,  "  Glencoe,"  in  1827, 
and  Mr.  Keller,  having  sold  his  farm  and  accepted 
the  office  of  Superintendent  of  the  Tuseumbia 
&  Decatur  Railroad,  died  ten  years  later.  Mr. 
Keller  and  a  man  named  George  Sliller,  from 
Fayetteville,  Tenn.,  owned  the  first  stocks  of 
goods  ever  sold  in  Franklin  County,  or  rather  in 
the  territory  afterwards  embraced  in  that  county. 
Col.  Thomas  Hmdman,  father  of  Gen.  Thos. 
Hindman,  of  Confederate  fame,  brought  Mr.  Kel- 
ler's stocks  from  Knoxville,  and  sold  it  out  at 
York  Bluff,  on  the  present  site  of  Sheffield. 

In  1817  a  battalion  of  United  States  soldiers 
arrived  at  Tuseumbia,  and  began  the  work  of  cut- 
ting out  a  new  wagon  road  from  Nashville,  Tenn., 
to  Columbus, Miss.,  called  the  Military  Road.  This 
was  done  under  General  Jackson's  supervision,  and 
the  point  at  which  he  crossed  the  Tennessee  is  now 
known  as  Jackson's  Lauding,  in  the  limits  of  Shef- 


field. About  this  time  General  Jackson  purchased 
the  large  tract  of  land  lying  between  the  river  and 
Tuseumbia  and  upon  which  the  larger  part  of 
Sheffield  is  now  located.  In  1816-17,  a  number  of 
families  located  at  York  Bluff,  which  was  laid  off 
by  General  Coffey  in  1820  as  a  city,  with  broad  and 
regular  streets  running  north  and  south  and  east 
and  west.  This  town  was  soon  abandoned,  its  cit- 
izens moving  to  the  more  prosperous  town  of  Tus- 
eumbia, and  had  not  a  house  left  when  Sheffield 
was  formed,  to  tell  where  a  town  had  been. 

Mr.  Miller,  who   first  sold  goods  at  York  Blufi 

moved  to  Tuseumbia  and  built  the  first  brick  house, 

now  known  as  the  Glendall  House  on  Sixth  street, 

I  in  1819.     He  afterwards  moved  to  West  Tennessee 

I  and  died  there. 

Tuseumbia  was  surveyed  and  laid  off  as  a  city  by 
General  Coffey  in  1817.  Its  limits  were  a  mile  and 
a  half  east  and  west  and  a  mile  north  and  south. 
None  of  the  streets  are  less  than  ninety-nine  feet 
wide,  and  the  commons  on  the  margin  are  much 
wider,  that  on  the  north  being  .334  feet.  These 
streets  and  commons  were  dedicated  by  the  Gov- 
ernment for  the  use  of  the  citizens  of  Tuseumbia, 
and  the  Supreme  Court  of  Alabama  has  decided 
that  the  fee  to  them  is  still  in  the  Government 
and  they  can  not  be  dis2iosed  of  by  the  city  author- 
ities. 

In  March,  1817,  Congress  passed  an  act  estab- 
lishing the  Territory  of  Alabama.  At  that  time  only 
seven  counties  had  been  organized  in  the  Territory. 
These  were  Mobile,  Balonni,  Washington,  Clark, 
Madison,  Limestone  and  Lauderdale,  and  they  had 
been  organized  under  the  territorial  government 
of  Mississippi.  Upon  the  assembling  of  the  Ter- 
ritorial Legislature  at  the  town  of  St.  Stephens, 
Franklin  County  was  organized,  but  the  act  jiro- 
vided  that  the  jurisdiction  should  not  extend  be- 
yond Cane  Creek,  ten  miles  west  of  Tuseumbia, 
that  being  the  boundary  line  between  the  lands 
granted  by  the  Indians  and  those  reserved  by  them 
under  the  treaty  of  1816.  The  lauds  west  of  Cane 
Creek  were  held  by  the  Indians  until  they  were 
removed  beyond  the  Mississippi  in  1836. 

The  first  sui:)erior  or  circuit  court  ever  held  in 
Franklin  County  was  at  the  house  of  William 
Neeley,  on  Spring  Creek,  a  few  miles  southeast  of 
Tuseumbia,  September  7,  1818.  Obadiah  Jones 
was  judge,  Henry  Miner,  district  attorney,  and 
Richard  Ellis,  clerk.  The  grand  jury  was  com- 
posed of  William  Neeley  (foreman),  Jacob  Hum- 
ble, AV'illiam  Welch,  Andrew  Blackmoor,  Strange 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


427 


Caltliarp,  John  Bell,  Goldman  Kinibro,  Isaac 
Pickens,  Aigylo  Taylor,  James  Wikx,  I'ryor 
Laiidsford,  JIatlhew  Marec,  ^lattliew  Gwyiiii, 
and  William  Scott.  For  lack  of  a  room  largo 
enough,  tlie  court  adjourned  <o  the  house  of 
Michael  Dickson,  at  Cold  Water  (Tuscumbia). 

Antliony  Winston  was  the  first  representative 
from  Franklin  County,  in  the  Legislature.  lie 
was  the  grandfiitlicr  of  Col.  Jolin  Anthony 
Winston,  who  was  Governor  of  the  S;;ite  after- 
ward. He  was  raised  in  Tuscumbia.  Robert  B. 
Lindsay,  Esq.,  of  this  place,  a  native  of  Scot- 
land, and  a  hrother-in-law  of  Governor  Winston, 
was  elected  Governor  of  the  State  in  1870.  Tus- 
cumbia was  also  the  former  home,  if  not  the 
birthplace,  of  two  United  States  senators.  Rob- 
ert Ransom,  the  father  of  Senator  Matt  Ransom, 
of  Xorth  Carolina,  was  one  of  the  early  settlers 
of  Tuscumbia,  and  opened  the  hotel  called  the 
Franklin  House. 

Thonuis  Hereford,  father  of  the  West  Virginia 
ex-Senator  Hereford,  was  also  a  hotel  keeper 
here,  and  was  projjrietor  of  the  Mansion  House, 
near  the  Big  Sjjring. 

Ex-Senator  Henry  S.  Foote  also  commenced  his 
career  hero  as  a  lawyer  and  editor,  and  fought  a 
duel  with  Edmund  Winston,  an  uncle  of  Governor 
Winston.  Tuscumbia  has  also  had  a  represent- 
ative in  the  lower  house  of  Congress,  in  the  per- 
son of  Major  Josepli  II.  Sloss,  now  of  lluntsville. 

Upon  the  assembling  of  the  first  Legislature  of 
the  State,  at  lluntsville,  on  the  first  Jfonday  in 
October,  1819,  a  bill  was  passed,  incorporating 
the  town  of  Occocoposo  (now  Tuscumbia). 
Thomas  Limerick  was  a^jpointed  mayor,  witli 
Philip  G.  Godlcy,  Micajali  Tarrer,  Abrani  W. 
Bell,  and  Littleton  Johnson,  aldermen.  At  the 
next  session  of  tlic  Legislature,  the  name  of  the 
town  was  changed  to  Big  Spring,  and,  the  fol- 
lowing year,  to  Tuscumbia,  after  a  celebrated 
chief  of  tho  Chickasaws. 

The  first  railroad  that  was  built  west  of  the 
Alleglianics  was  that  from  Tuscumbia  to  the  Ten- 
nessee River.  It  was  commenced  in  18ol  and 
finished  in  1832,  and  was  two  an<l  one-eighth  miles 
in  length.  In  1834  it  was  merged  into  the  Tus- 
cumbia &  Decatur  Railroad.  For  twenty-five 
years  after  this  road  was  built  there  was  an  im- 
mense trade  done  with  Kew  Orleans  by  the  river. 
Magnificent  steamers  ran  to  that  place,  some  of 
them  carrying  G,(»)0  bales  of  cotton.  They  were 
palatial  iu  their  appoiutmcuts  and  accommoda- 


tions for  passengers.  Parties  in  search  of  pleasure 
could  find  no  plcasanter  nor  more  enjoyable  pjis- 
time  than  an  excursion  on  one  of  tJiese  elegant 
boats  to  the  Crescent  City.  Other  steamers  ran 
regularly,  as  they  now  do,  to  the  cities  on  the 
Ohio  and  to  St.  Louis;  but  the  Xew  Orleans  trade 
was  broken  up  soon  after  the  completion  of  the 
Memphis  &  Charleston  Road  in  1857,  which  road 
bought  the  Tuscumbia  &  Decatur  Road,  and  aban- 
doned the  branch  to  tho  Tuscumbia  Landing. 

For  a  number  of  years  previous  to  the  great 
financial  crisis  in  1837,  Tuscumbia  did  a  large 
wholesale  business.  Most  of  this  was  done  in  two 
rows  of  brick  storehouses  known  as  '•  Commercial" 
and  '•' Planters' Row."'  The  latter  was  destroyed 
by  fire  about  the  year  1837.  The  former  is  still 
standing,  all  of  the  stores  being  occujjied  and  in 
a  good  state  of  preservation.  A  street  railway 
from  the  depot  to  Main  and  Sixth  streets,  for  the 
delivery  of  freights,  was  built  in  1834. 

Until  tlie  completion  of  tlie  Memphis  &  Charles- 
ton Railroad  the  Tuscumbia  postoflice  was  a  dis- 
tributing ofiice,  and  probably  the  largest  and 
most  imjjortant  from  Nashville  to  Xew  Orleans. 
A  number  of  stage  lines  converged  here,  which 
were  owned  by  such  veteran  stagers  as  Patrick, 
Ficklin,  Chichester,  and  others.  The  immense 
warehouses  at  the  Tuscumbia  Landing,  which 
were  constructed  of  stone  and  brick,  were  burned 
in  1802  by  Turchin's  Brigade  of  Mitchell's  Division 
of  Federal  troops. 

In  its  former  and  better  days,  probably  no  town 
of  its  population  in  the  South  had  more  wealth 
in  its  immediate  vicinity;  but  that  did  but  little 
towards  building  up  the  town.  The  j'lii'itera 
bought  their  supplies  in  Xew  Orleans  and  Louis- 
ville, and  sent  tlieir  children  abroad  to  he  edu- 
cated, leaving  only  the  poorer  classes  to  do  then- 
trading  at  home. 

In  the  fearful  struggle  between  the  Xorth  and 
the  South — 18C1-.J — there  was  no  part  of  the 
South  more  completely  devastated  than  was  the 
beautiful  Tennessee  Valley.  Tuscumbia  was  in 
the  center  of  tlie  fiery,  desolating  track  of  the 
iirmies  of  both  sides.  Large  blocks  of  brick  stores 
and  many  jjrivate  houses  were  destroyed  and  con- 
demned. Cavalry  horses  roamed  at  will  through 
grounds  that  were  formerly  the  pride  of  their 
owners.  Upward  of  thirty  of  Tuscumbia's  young 
men  were  killed,  and  for  years  after  the  sound  of 
battle  had  died  away  she  sat  on  the  ashes  of 
desolation,  waiting  for  tho  dawn  of  a  better  day, 


428 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


which,  although  long  delayed,  lias  come.  The 
giant  young  city  of  Sheffield  has  stretched  her 
limits  to  within  half  a  mile  of  her  gates,  and  she 
has  caught  the  contagion  of  progress  and  enter- 
prise, and  within  tlie  last  two  years  has  doubled 
her  population.  She  is  experiencing  some  of  the 
doubtful  effects  of  a  hot-house  boom,  but  observ- 
ant and  far-seeing  men  recognize  the  fact  that 
she  has  every  natural  advantage  that  any  other 
place  in  Northern  Alabama  has,  and  that  which 
money  can  never  secure.  Her  society  is  as  good 
as  can  be  found  anywhere.  She  has  claurches  of 
all  denominations  and  first  rate  schools.  TJie 
Deshler  Female  Institute  stands  in  the  front  rank 
of  Southern  schools.  It  stands  as  a  monument 
to  the  memory  of  Brig,  Gen.  James  Deshler, 
of  Tuscumbia,  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of 
Chickamaiiga.  The  sum  of  six  thousand  dol- 
lars has  been  voted  by  the  City  Council  to  enlarge 
the  free  school  for  white  males,  and  the  rapidly 
increasing  revenue  from  taxes  will  amply  justify 
the  expenditure,  and  support  the  school. 

Tuscumbia  challenges  comparison  with  any 
town  in  the  South  as  to  its  healthfulness  and  ex- 
emption from  epidemics. 

An  examination  of  the  tables  of  mortality  for 
the  last  twenty  years  will  not  show  an  excess  of 
OTie  per  cent,  per  annum,  as  the  death  rate,  includ- 
ing both  black  and  white. 

Where  parties  desire  to  engage  in  business  at 
Sheffield,  they  can  reside  at  Tuscumbia  and  avail 
themselves  of  the  convenience  of  two  "dummy" 
lines  to  reach  their  business  in  a  few  minutes. 
Real  estate,  although  greatly  enhanced  recently, 
is  still  comparatively  cheap.  A  water  works  com- 
l^any  has  been  organized  to  supply  East  Sheffield 
and  Tuscumbia  from  the  spring,  and  gas  or  elec- 
tricity will  speedily  be  introduced  to  light  up  the 
streets. 

CHURCHES. 

The  Presbyterian  Church. — This  church  was 
organized  in  1824,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Blackburn,  of 
Frankfort,  Ky.,  and  the  church  building  now 
standing  was  commenced  and  conijileted  in  182G-7. 
For  several  years  the  large  franie  building  near 
the  spring  was  used  for  cjiurcli  services. 

Eev.  Dr.  Campbell  was  the  first  pastor  of  the 
church,  and  Messrs.  Arthur  Beatty  and  James 
Elliott  were  the  original  elders,  with  Susan  Wins- 
ton, Elizabetli  Johnson,  Ann  Beatty,  A.  W.  Mit- 
chell, Eliza  MitchtJl,  and  Sarah  Mitchell  as  mem- 


bers. Soon  after  this  Eev.  G.  W.  Ashbridge,  of 
Philadel2ihia,  Pa.,  took  charge  of  the  church, 
which  received  many  additions  from  this  time  on. 

Mr.  Ashbridge  was  pastor  from  1827  to  1830; 
Mr.  Arnold  was  pastor  from  January  1,  1831,  to 
June,  1831;  James  AVeatherby  was  pastor  from  1831 
to  1837;  J.  0.  Steadman  was  pastor  from  1837  to 
18i5;  N.  A.  Penland  was  pastor  from  1845  to  1852; 
0.  Foster  Williams  was  j)astor  from  1853  to  1855; 
Abram  Kline  was  pastor  from  1856  to  18G0;  B.  N. 
Sawtelle  was  pastor  from  1861  to  1872;  Mr.  Brown 
was  pastor  from  January,  1873  to  June,  1873; 
Horace  P.  Smith  was  pastor  from  1873  to  1S77; 
James  G.  Lane  was  jiastor  from  1878  to  tlie 
present  time.  Messrs.  Sawtelle  and  Smith  died 
during  their  jjastorate. 

In  1828  a  Presbyterian  CamiJ-meeting  was  held 
near  La  Grange,  Ala.,  and  was  largely  attended, 
and  a  great  revival  took  place. 

During  Dr.  Steadman's  pastorate  there  was  a 
series  of  meetings  held  in  the  cliurcli  by  Rev. 
Daniel  Baker,  of  Texas,  resulting  in  a  great  re- 
ligious awakening;  also  another  in  1848  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Hall,  and  still  another  several  years  ago, 
when  Mr.  Lane  was  aided  by  Rev.  J.  AY.  Hoyte, 
and  many  additions  were  made  to  the  membership. 

Tlie  Baptist  Cliurcli. — This  church  was  estab- 
lished in  1823,  Elders  J.  Davis  and  Jeremiah 
Burns  composing  the  Presbytery.  J.  Burns  was 
pastor  until  1832.  John  L.  Townes  was  the  next 
pastor,  and  filled  the  pulpit  ten  or  twelve  years. 
He  was  succeeded  by  R.  B.  Burleson,  and  he  by 
Jackson  Gunn.  Rev.  James  Shackleford  and  his 
son-in-law,  C.  W.  Hare,  have  filled  the  place 
since  Mr.  Gunn's  pastorate. 

The  church  building  was  erected  by  the  Camp- 
bellites,  or  Christians,  mainly  through  the  per- 
sonal efforts  of  Dr.  W.  H.  Wharton,  but  it  was 
not  paid  for,  and  the  contractor,  W.  II.  Patter- 
son, sold  his  claim  to  George  W.  Carroll,  who  sold 
it  to  Edmund  Elliott,  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church.  Through  liim  the  title  passed  to  his 
church. 

The  Metliodist  Church  was  organized  in  1822  by 
Thomas  Strongtield,  then  stationed  at  Huntsville. 

The  first  Quarterly  Conference  was  held  March 
13,  1824.  Alexander  Sale  was  presiding  elder, 
and  David  Owen  and  James  Smith  were  local 
preachers;  W.  S.  Jones  was  steward,  and  Richard 
Thompson  class  leader.  In  this  j-ear  Rufus  Led- 
bctter  was  assigned  to  the  Franklin  Circuit. 

In  1826  Finch   P.    Scruggs  had  charge  of  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


429 


Circuit.  He  died  in  Holly  Springs,  Miss.,  in 
1881.  At  that  time  J.  B.  McFen-in,  who  died  in 
Nashville  a  year  or  two  ago,  and  who  was  editor 
of  the  Cliridian  Advocate,  and  author  of  a  work 
called  "Methodism  in  Tennessee,"  was  a  young 
preacher  at  this  place.  Jfayor  James  Lockhart 
was  an  earnest  and  influential  member  of  the 
church  at  that  day,  and  it  is  said  that  lie  paid 
one-halt  of  the  expenses  of  it.  Mr.  jMcFerrin, 
aided  by  John  Sutherland  and  Mr.  Haynie,  raised 
the  money  to  erect  the  present  building,  which 
was  commenced  in  182G.  Edward  Stegar  did  the 
brick  and  Nelson  Anderson  the  wood  work.  The 
first  sermon  was  preached  in  the  church  by  John 
Haynie  in  May,  1827. 

Kev.  Mr.  Shoemaker  is  the  present  incumbent, 
and  the  membershij)  is  about  250,  being  the 
largest  in  the  town,  except  that  of  the  colored 
Baptists,  which  is  over  500.  During  the  pastorate 
of  Kev.  F.  A.  Owen,  in  1828,  the  largest  revival 
ever  known  in  the  church  took  place. 

St.  John's  i^EpiscopaV)  Ch ii rch.— This  church 
was  built  in  1852,  mainly  by  Dr.  William  H.  New- 
sum,  who  died  in  February,  1802.  He  donated  the 
lot  upon  which  it  stands,  and  contributed  more  to 
build  the  house  than  any  one  else. 

The  l\t.  Rev.  N.  H.  C'obbs  was  then  bishop  of 
the  diocese,  and  liis  son,  Rev.  R.  A.  C'obbs,  was 
the  first  rector,  and  remained  in  charge  six  years. 
The  rite  of  confirmation  in  this  church  was  ad- 
ministered for  the  first  time  on  November  14, 1852, 
when  six  persons  were  presented  by  the  rector. 

Upon  the  occupation  of  Tuscumbia  by  the 
Federal  Army  in  18G2,  they  camped  in  this  church 
and  destroyed  the  large  part  of  tlio  register,  in 
consequence  of  which  a  complete  and  accurate 
history  of  it  can  not  be  given  to  include  the  period 
between  1858  and  18C6.  Rev.  George  White,  the 
venerable  rector  of  Calvary  Church,  Memphis, 
Tenn.,  lately  deceased,  Rev.  W.  H.  Thomas,  of 
ilaryland,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Whiteside  were  rectors 
during  tliat  period.  On  April  1,  1880,  Rev.  J.  B. 
firay,  now  of  Washington  City,  took  charge  of  the 
parish.  At  that  time  there  wore  only  fourteen 
communicants,  some  having  moved  away  and 
others  having  died.  Rev.  T.  J.  Beard,  now  of  Bir- 
mingham, was  next  in  charge  and  he  was  succeed- 
ed by  Iicv.   I'eter  Wager,  who  remained  six  years. 

Rev.  B.  F.  Jfower  came  to  the  south  pastorate 
of  the  Tuscumbia  and  Florence  churches  in  June 
18TH.  and  resigned  in  October,  188".  The  church 
building  was  much  injured  by  the  cyclone  of  Nov- 


ember 22,  1874,  and  Mr.  V.  D.  Hodgkine,  his  wife 
and  four  children  were  killed  at  the  same  time. 
ilr.  Hodgkins  was  sujierinteiident  of  the  Sunday- 
school  of  this  church.  Two  handsome  memorial 
windows  in  the  church  attest  the  loving  remem- 
brance in  which  they  were  held.  The  three  chancel 
windows  are  memorials  to  Dr.  W.  II.  Newsum,  the 
founder  of  the  church,  and  to  his  two  sons,  AVil- 
liam  0.  and  Alexander  M.  The  former  was  killed 
at  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May  G,  1804,  and 
the  latter  died  of  yellow  fever  contracted  in  ]\[em- 
phis  in  1878.  There  are  also  memorial  windows 
for  Jlr.  John  Curry,  Jlrs.  Lou  McFarland,  Mrs. 
Emma  Eggleston  and  Mrs.  Jlaria  Hicks.  These 
windows  are  of  stained  glass,  and  the  interior  of 
the  church  presents  quite  a  handsome  appearance. 
This  church  is  in  the  diocese  of  Bishop  R.  H.  Wil- 
mer,  whose  first  ofiicial  act  in  the  church  was  the 
confirmation  of  a  class  of  12,  presented  by  Rev.  J. 
B.  Gray,  March  24,  18C7. 

Rev.  Mr.  Phillips,  of  Baltimore,  has  recently 
taken  charge  as  rector. 

The  Catholic  Church. — The  commencement  of 
Catholicity  in  Tuscumbia  is  associated  with  two 
families  of  the  great  Celtic  branch  of  the  common- 
wealth of  nations.  One  was  an  Irish  family,  the 
other  French.  The  name  of  the  former  is  no 
longer  anything  more  than  a  local  reminiscence; 
the  latter  is  still  identified  with  all  the  active  en- 
terprises— religious,  educational  and  social — of  the 
growing  town  and  its  vicinity.  Far  from  the  in- 
fluences attaching  to  the  environment  of  the  house 
of  worship,  and  the  accustomed  and  established 
services  of  religion,  the  heads  of  those  two  fami- 
lies, Mr.  John  Baxter  and  Dr.  William  Desprez, 
exhibited  in  their  lives  the  teachings  of  their 
faith  and  how  deep  were  the  roots  of  their  early 
religious  training.  Mr.  John  Baxter  was  born  in 
Ireland  and  came  early  to  this  country.  Ho  died 
of  apoplexy  in  1874.  A  son  of  his,  John  B. 
Baxter,  lives  in  New  York.  Dr.  Desprez  was 
born  in  Paris  in  1806.  He  lived  some  years  in 
Ireland  and  came  subsequently  to  this  country. 
He  died  in  Tu.-icumbia  of  yellow  fever  during  an 
epidemic  of  that  disease,  in  October,  1878.  He 
was  a  man  of  most  upright  character  and  sincere 
piety.  He  accomplished  what  is  found  by  expe- 
rience to  be  the  most  dillicult,  alt)eit  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  the  duties  of  a  parent;  he  educated 
his  children  so  thoroughly  in  the  knowledge  and 
obligations  of  religion  that  they  and  their  chil- 
dren are  to-day  the  most  prominent  and  edifying 


430 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


in  its  observance.  Dr.  Desprez  married  an  Irish 
Presbyterian  lady,  sincerely  and  earnestly  attached 
to  her  own  faith,  but  who,  seeing  what  a  potent 
factor  Catholic  doctrine  was  in  moulding  her  hus- 
band's character  and  inspiring  his  conduct,  could 
with  difficulty  believe  that  faith  to  be  wrong,  and 
consequently  seconded  his  efforts  in  the  training 
of  their  children  in  the  religion  which  gave  lustre 
to  his  own  life.  Shortly  after  the  death  of  her 
husband,  Mrs.  Desprez  embraced  the  Catholic 
faith.  She  still  lives,  surrounded  by  her  children 
and  grandchildren,  honored  and  respected  by  her 
neighbors. 

The  first  Catholic  Church  was  built  in  ISOO, 
through  the  exertions  of  Dr.  Desprez  and  jMr. 
Baxter,  assisted  very  liberally  by  the  non-Catholic 
portion  of  the  community.  The  site  upon  which 
it  was  erected  was  donated  by  Mr.  Baxter.  It 
was  solemnly  dedicated,  under  the  title  of  "'Our 
Lady  of  the  Sacred  Heart,"  on  the  30th  day  of 
September,  1809,  by  the  Rt.  Eev.  John  Quinlan, 
Bishop  of  Mobile,  assisted  by  several  priests,  and 
attended  by  a  large  concourse  of  people.  Eev. 
Father  John  B.  Baasen,  who  is  at  jsresent  pastor 
of  Pensacola,  Fla.,  was  the  first  pastor  of  the 
young  community.  This  church  was  never  fully 
comjjleted,  and  it  was  destroyed  by  the  tornado 
which  did  so  much  damage  to  the  town  in  Novem- 
ber, 1874.  Father  Baasen  again  built  a  small 
temporary  chapel,  still  standing,  and  now  used  as 
a  store-room  by  the  Benedictine  Sisters,  where  the 
people  worshiped  until  1878.  In  that  year,  the 
Rt.  Rev.  Boniface  Wimmer,  Abbot  of  the 
Benedictine  Order  in  Pennsylvania,  purchas- 
ed from  Father  Baasen  the  house  and  pro- 
perty situated  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 
town.  Eev.  Matthew  Sturenberg,  0.  S.  B.,  was 
sent  by  the  Abbot  to  take  charge  of  the  congre- 
gation. By  his  exertions  a  new  church  was 
erected,  and,  on  the  8th  of  August,  1880,  was 
solemnly  consecrated,  imder  the  same  title  as  the 
old  one,  by  Bishop  Quinlan,  assisted  by  Eev. 
Benedict  Menges,  0.  S.  B.,  and  Eev.  Joseph 
Keeler,  0.  S.  B.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  da}', 
the  bell  of  the  church  was  blessed  by  the 
Bishop. 

On  February  24th,  of  the  following  year,  four 
Benedictine  Sisters  arrived,  and  have  since  con- 
ducted the  parochial  school.  They  liave  also 
kept  a  few  children  as  boarders.  Their  accom- 
modation for  this  class  of  scholars  has  been  and 
is  still  very  limited,  but  the   increasing   demand 


will  necessitate  the  erection  of  more  extensive  build- 
ings. The  Catholic  congregation  of  Tuscumbia  is 
increasing.  .Tliere  are  two  masses  every  Sunday, 
at  8  and  10  o'clock,  and  vespers  and  benediction 
in  the  afternoon  at  three  o'clock.  Every  morning 
there  is  mass  at  7.30  o'clock,  at  which  the  chil- 
dren of  the  parochial  school  attend.  The  Bene- 
dictines are  established  in  ferpctiium  in  the  two 
counties  of  Colbert  and  Lauderdale,  and,  besides 
Tuscumbia,  have  churches  and  stations  in  St. 
Florian,  Florence,  Sheffield,  Decatur,  Iluntsville, 
Cullman,  ILinceville,  Dickson,  Courtland,  Moul- 
ton  and  some  minor  jilaces.  They,  are  hard 
workers,  and  self-denying  men.  The  character  of 
the  men  sent  on  these  southern  and  arduous  mis- 
sions may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  tliat,  when 
the  Right  Eev.  Abbott  Wimmer,  a  most  ardent 
friend  of  the  South  and  of  Southern  missions, 
died,  the  Pastor  of  Tuscumbia,  Eev.  Andrew  Ilint- 
erach.  Order  of  Saint  Benedictine,  was  chosen  as 
his  successor  to  govern  one  of  the  most  extensive 
religious  Orders  in  America.  Eeverend  Oswald 
Moosmuller,  Order  ot  Saint  Benedictine,  pastor  of 
Cu.llman  has  been  ajjpoiuted  Prior  of  the  head 
house  of  the  Order  in  Pennsylvania.  He  is  the 
founder  of  the  Industrial  School  for  Colored  Boys 
in  Skidaway  Island,  near  Savannah,  Ga.  By  the 
product  of  his  own  literary  labors  and  without 
collecting  a  cent,  except  two  or  three  times  having 
an  innocent  "strawberry  festival,"  which  brought 
not  much,  he  has  accomplished  what  perhaps  no 
other  priest  in  America  has  ever  done.  He  has 
built  three  churches;  one  at  Skidaway  for  the  col- 
ored boys  and  people  of  the  island,  and  two  at 
Savannah,  one  for  white  and  the  other  for  colored 
Catholics.  Eev.  Benedict  Menges,  Order  of  Saiijt 
Benedictine,  for  ten  years  identified  with  the  mis- 
sions of  Alabama,  has  recently  been  appointed 
Suf)erior  of  those  missions,  and  will  shortly  reside 
in  Tuscumbia. 

The  development  of  the  mineral  resources  and 
the  growing  industries  of  North  Alabama  will 
necessarily  induce  immigration  and  create  a  com- 
mensurate demand  for  educational  facilities,  and 
it  is  the  intention  of  the  Benedictines,  as  soon  as 
circumstances  will  permit,  to  select  a  suitable 
site  for  a  college,  in  which  tlie  youth  of  our  own 
and  neighboring  States  may,  at  little  cost,  receive 
an  education  to  fit  them  for  tlie  positions  and 
callings  which  may  oflFer,  and  enable  them  to  con- 
tribute to  the  future  material  and  moral  well-being 
of  our  city  and  State. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


431 


SCUOOLS. 


Tlie  Deshler  Female  Institute  is  a  handsome 
two  story  brick  building  on  Main  street,  located 
in  the  center  of  tlio  block  or  square  which  includes 
the  residence  of  the  late  David  Deshlcr,  who  be- 
queathed the  entire  property  as  a  site  for  a  female 
scliool.  The  building,  whicli  cost  about  ^12,000, 
was  destroyed  by  a  cyclone  in  1875,  was  rebuilt, 
and  has  been  well  patronized  and  is  now  in  a 
flourishing  condition  under  the  management  of 
Mr.  Dell.  It  is  called  "  The  Deshlcr  Institute,"  in 
iionorof  General  James  Deshlcr,  who  was  a  native 
of  Tuscumbia  and  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  and 
was  killed  in  the  late  war  at  the  battle  of  Chick- 
amauga. 

The  city  council  have  recently  appropriated 
$0,000  for  tiic  benefit  of  the  public  male  school  for 
the  whites,  which  will  put  it  on  a  good  footing. 

In  addition  to  the  above  there  arc  several  smaller 
private  schools. 


ROBERT  BURNS  LINDSAY,  a  native  of 
Lowhuids,  Scotland,  was  born  in  1824,  and 
educated  at  the  parochial  schools,  and  from 
thence  was  sent  to  the  University  of  St  Andrews 
He  was  a  prize  student  of  Burser  under  the  prin- 
cipalship  of  the  celebrated  Sir  David  Brewster. 
In  1844:  he  came  to  the  United  States  on  a  visit 
to  his  brother,  David  R.  Lindsay,  who  was  a 
teacher  in  the  State  of  Xorth  Carolina.  He  con- 
cluded to  remain  in  this  country,  and  located  in 
the  latter  State,  where  he  became  a  teacher.  In 
1849  he  removed  to  Alabama,  located  at  Tuscum- 
bia, and  taught  school  until  1852.  While  in 
North  Carolina  he  began  the  study  of  law  under 
Col.  Robert  Treat  Paine,  and  after  coming  to 
Alabama  continued  his  studies.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  the  last  named  year.  In  the 
fall  of  1853  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of 
the  State  Legislature  as  a  representative  of  Frank- 
lin County,  and  in  1857  was  elected  to  the  State 
senate  as  a  Democrat.  In  18G0  he  was  appointed 
an  elector  for  his  district  on  the  Democratic 
ticket,  but  refused  to  serve.  He,  however,  ac- 
cepted a  similar  position  on  the  Douglas  ticket, 
being  a  conservative  and  opposed  to  secession. 
He  resisted  .secession  with  all  his  might  and  power, 
but  after  tlie  ordinance  was  jta-ssod  he  remained 
loyal  to  the  State  of  his  adoption. 


After  the  war  he  was  again  elected  to  tiie  sen- 
ate, where  he  remained  until  reconstruction 
times.  From  that  period  until  18T0  he  i>racticed 
his  profession  with  success.  In  the  latter  named 
year  he  was  elected  Governor  of  the  State  and 
served  one  term,  refusing  to  allow  his  name  to  be 
presented  for  a  second  term.  Two  months  after 
his  term  expired  he  was  stricken  with  jjaralysis, 
and  has  ever  since  been  an  invalid;  but  he  has 
still  retained  his  practice,  although  not  as  sictively 
as  before.  Since  his  retirement  from  the  Gover- 
nor's office  he  has  taken  no  part  in  jiolitics. 

Governor  Lindsay  was  married,  in  1854,  to  Miss 
Sarah  Jliller  Winston,  the  accomplished  daughter 
of  William  Winston,  and  a  sister  of  Gov.  John 
Anthony  Winston.  She  is  also  a  sister-in-law  to 
Governor  Pettus,  of  Mississippi.  This  union  has 
been  blessed  with  numerous  offspring,  but  only 
four  daughters  survive,  the  eldest  being  the  wife 
of  Robert  II.  Watkins,  Esq.,  of  the  Birmingham 
Age. 

The  family  belongs  to  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  the  Governor  is  distinguished  as  being  one  of 
the  oldest  members  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F.  of  this 
State. 


JOSHUA  BURNS  MOORE,  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch  is  a  noted  ex- 
ample of  what  can  be  achieved  by  industry  and 
indomitable  resolution.  He  is  a  leading  and  dis- 
tinguished lawyer  of  the  Xorth  Alabama  bar,  and 
as  an  advocate  before  juries  has  few  equals  in  the 
State. 

Mr.  Moore's  grandfathers,  Moses  Moore  and 
William  Burgess,  were  South  Carolinians,  and 
emigrated  to  Alabama,  locating  in  Franklin 
County,  in  the  early  history  of  the  State.  Each 
lived  to  an  unusually  old  age;  the  former  died  at 
the  age  of  eighty-six,  and  the  latter  at  the  age 
of  ninety-six  years.  ^Ir.  Moore's  father,  Willi;im 
Moore,  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  died 
in  1849.  He  was  a  poor  man,  and  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  received  only  such  education  as  could 
be  picked  up  at  the  old-field  schools,  which  he 
attended  in  the  interim  of  working  in  the  fields 
during  crop  season  until  he  was  fourteen  years  of 
age.  At  this  time  he  quit  scliool,  undertook  a 
course  of  study  without  a  teacher,  and  a  year 
aftcrwarils  borrowed  a  copy  of  BIack.>!tone's  Com- 
mentaries, commencing  the  study  of  law,  which 


432 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


he  diligently  prosecuted  until  admitted  to  the 
bar  at  the  early  age  of  seventeen  years. 

His  first  practice  at  the  bar  foreshadowed  the 
marked  success  that  has  attended  his  professional 
career. 

As  an  advocate  in  criminal  cases,  Mr.  Moore  is 
eminently  successful.  Not  only  is  he  formidable 
in  argument,  but  there  is  scarcely  a  passion  of  the 
human  heart  he  can  not  play  upon.  In  the  man- 
agement of  either  civil  or  criminal  causes  he  is  so 
reticent  of  the  points  relied  ujjon  that  among  his 
contemiDoraries  he  is  called  the  ''silent  lawyer.'' 

His  adversary  can  never  anticipate  when,  where, 
or  how  he  will  be  stricken. 

His  impressive,  earnest,  and  eloquent  addresses 
to  juries  are  well  calculated  to  carry  conviction 
home  to  them. 

Mr.  Moore  served  as  a  senator  in  the  Legislature 
of  Alabama  during  the  sessions  of  1874—5  and 
1875-(J,  taking  a  leading  j^art  in  all  the  measures 
of  reform  enacted  during  those  important  sessions. 

In  1858,  Mr.  Moore  was  married  to  Thomas 
Ella,  youngest  daughter  of  Edward  and  Parthenia 
Pearsall — a  beautiful  and  accomj)lished  woman. 
Their  union  was  blessed  with  four  daugliters,  t^yo 
of  whom  are  still  living.  In  1874,  while  Mr. 
Moore  was  at  Montgomery,  attending  a  session  of 
the  Legislature  as  a  member  of  the  senate,  a 
tornado  swept  over  the  city  of  Tuscumbia,  in  which 
his  wife  and  two  youngest  daughters  were  killed, 
his  large  brick  residence  being  leveled  with  the 
ground. 

Mr.  Moore,  before  the  war,  took  no  active  part 
in  politics,  but  confined  himself  exclusively  to  his 
profession.  With  a  large  majority  of  the  people 
of  the  northern  section  of  the  State,  he  opposed  the 
secession  of  Alabama  from  the  Union,  but  when 
the  war  came,  every  sympathy  he  had  was  with 
the  Southern  people.  From  ill  health  he  took  no 
active  part  in  the  war,  but  in  every  other  way 
contributed  to  the  Confederate  cause.  After  the 
surrender,  when  President  Johnson's  proclama- 
tion was  issued,  he  urged  the  people  to  acquiesce 
in  the  inevitable  course  of  events,  and  when  a  Con- 
stitutional Convention  was  called  to  meet  in  Mont- 
gomery in  September,  18G5,  to  revise  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  State  in  conformity  with  the  aboli- 
tion of  slaves,  he  was  elected  a  delegate  from 
Eranklin  County,  and  took  a  leading  part  in  its 
proceedings.  But  the  policy  of  the  President  was 
not  acceptable  to  Congress,  and  the  action  of  the 
Convention  was  not  recognized.      Reconstruction 


measures  were  enacted  by  which  the  intelligence 
of  Alabama  and  other  Southern  States  were  dis- 
franchised, and  illiteracy  ruled  the  hour.  It  cul- 
minated finally  in  a  great  upheaval  in  Alabama,  in 
which  local  government  was  the  issue. 

Mr.  Moore,  like  many  others,  abandoned  his 
profession  and  took  the  stump  for  many  months. 
It  was  the  most  memorable  contest  ever  fought  in 
the  State,  and  there  are  many  who  will  never  for- 
get the  grand  appeals  he  made  in  favor  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  white  peojile  over  the  ignorant 
negro  race  in  the  local  government  of  the  State. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  Mr.  Moore  is  a 
Democrat  in  politics. 


-«" 


WILLIAM  COOPER,  was  born  in  Brunswick 
County,  Va.,  January  11,  1802,  and  died  at  Tus- 
cumbia, Ala.,  August  16,  1887.  He  was  educated 
at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  there  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  He  located  first  in  the 
jiractice  of  his  profession  at  Russellville,  Ala., 
from  which  place,  at  the  end  of  three  years,  he 
moved  to  Tuscumbia,  where  he  spent  the  rest  of 
his  life.  From  an  almost  obscure  youth,  without 
the  benefit  of  financial  inheritance,  he  rose  to  be 
one  of  the  most  jirominent  attorneys  in  the  State 
and,  prior  to  the  war,  one  of  the  wealthiest  men 
in  the  South.  He  continued  the  practice  of  his 
profession  up  to  within  a  very  few  days  of  his 
death.  He  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic and  Odd  Fellows  fraternities. 


v^^ 


-♦- 


T.  F.  SIMPSON,  Proprietor  and  Editor  of  the 
Weekly  Dispatch,  Tuscumbia,  Ala.,  was  born  in 
this  city,  in  September,  1865.  He  received  a 
high-school  education,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
years  entered  the  printing  office  of  the  Tuscum- 
bia Democrat,  which  paper  was  established  in 
1878.  He  remained  in  this  office  about  one  year, 
and  then  entered  the  North  Atdbanuan  office, 
where  he  spent  two  years.  He  then  attended 
school  for  about  two  years,  after  which  he  was 
engaged  in  the  office  of  his  father  (who  was  tax 
assessor)  for  a  short  time.  He  spent  one  year  in 
a  printing  office  at  Entaw,  Ala. ;  returned  to  Tus- 
cumbia, and  established  the  Weelly  Dispatch,  in 
October,  1886.  From  the  very  start  Jlr.  Simp- 
son has  been  its  editor,  and  he   has  filled   that 


tJ^^^t^^^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


433 


position  with  marked  ability.  His  brother,  0  (!. 
Simpson,  is  connected  with  him  ;is  associate 
editor. 

The  Weekly  DispaicJt  started  with  a  circulation 
of  about  350,  but  at  the  present  writing  it  has  a 
circulation  of  over  700,  and  does  the  largest  adver- 
tising business  of  any  paper  in  Northern  Alabama. 

Mr.  Simpson  is  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias. 

— ^-^i^^-  <■  ■    ■ 

ARTHUR  HENLEY  KELLER,  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 5,  183G,  near  Tuscumbia,  and  is  a  son  of 
David  and  JIary  Fairfax  (Moore)  Keller. 

lie  was  reared  and  educated  in  Tuscumbia, 
where  he  also  received  instructions  from  Governor 
Lindsay.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  entered 
the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Virginia, 
and  when  twenty-two  years  of  age  received  his 
license  to  practice  from  Gov.  A.  B.  Moore,  who  was 
then  circuit  judge.  In  November,  1801,  he  en- 
listed as  a  private  in  the  Confederate  army.  He 
was  detailed  as  a  quartermaster-sergeant  under 
Dr.  D.  R.  Lindsay,  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Ala- 
bama, stationed  at  Fort  Henry.  He  had  charge 
of  the  stores,  and  after  they  were  destroyed  at 
Florence,  he  was  assigned  temporarily  to  the 
staff  of  Gen.  Sterling  AVood.  In  July,  18G2, 
he  joined  General  Roddy's  cavalry  as  a  private, 
and  in  September  of  that  year  rejoined  his  old 
regiment  as  quartermaster  at  Vicksburg,  with 
which  he  remained  until  July,  1SG4,  when  he 
was  made  paymaster  of  General  Roddy's  division 
of  cavalry,  a  position  he  held  to  the  close  of  the 
war. 

When  peace  once  more  reigned  supreme  over 
the  land.  Captain  Keller  engaged  in  tlie  receiving 
and  forwarding  business  at  Keller's  Landiiig  until 
the  courts  were  opened,  when  he  practiced  law 
until  1874.  In  December  of  that  year,  he  pur- 
chased the  Xorfh  Alafiriiniaii,  and  was  its  editor 
ten  years.  In  .July  ISS.'),  he  was  appointed  United 
States  Marshal  for  the  Northern  District  of  Ala- 
bama, and  in  June,  188G,  was  confirmed  by  the 
Senate. 

Captain  Keller  was  married  November  12,  18G~, 
to  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Rosscr,  daughter  of  William 
Simpson,  a  well-known  commission  merchant  at 
.Memphis.  She  died  in  March,  1877,  leaving  two 
sons.  In  July,  1S7S,  Captain  Keller  led  to  the 
altar  Kate  Adams,  daughter  of  General  Charles 


W.  Adams,  of  Memphis,  and  to  this  union  have 
been  born  two  children,  Helen  Adams  and  Mil- 
dred Campbell;  the  older  lost  her  hearing  and  sight 
when  but  eighteen  months  old,  and  is  now  being 
educated  by  Miss  Annie  Sullivan,  from  Perkins 
Institute  for  Blind  at  Boston. 

Captain  Keller  and  wife  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Honor  and  the  A.  0.  U.  W.  The 
Captain  has  never  solicited  political  preferment, 
but  represented  his  party  as  a  delegate  to  the  St. 
Louis  Convention  in  187G,  and  also  as  a  delegate 
at  large  to  the  Cincinnati  Convention  in  1880. 

The  father  of  our  subject  was  born  in  Ilager- 
town,  Md.,  in  1788,  where  he  received  a  good 
edncation.  He  migrated  to  Kno.xville,  Tenij., 
where  he  entered  mercantile  business,  hauling 
his  goods  in  wagons  twice  a  year  from  Philadel- 
phia, generally  making  the  trip  on  horseback.  In 
1820  he  removed  to  Alabama,  locating  near  Tus- 
cumbia, where  he  remained  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1837.  He  was  engaged  at  farming 
until  one  year  before  his  death,  when  he  became 
superintendent  of  the  Tuscumbia  &  Decatur 
Railway.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  in  politics  was  a  staunch  Whig.  He 
reared  seven  sons  and  three  daughters.  The 
Kellers  came  originally  from  Switzerland  to 
America  in  the  person  of  Caspar  Keller,  the  grand- 
father of  our  subject.  He  came  to  this  country 
during  colonial  days  and  settled  in  Maryland. 
He  reared  a  large  family,  descendants  of  whom 
can  be  found  priiicijiully  in  ^Maryland,  Virginia, 
Missouri  and  North  Alabama. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  born  in  Rock- 
bridge County,  Va.,  in  17'JG.  Her  father.  Col. 
Alexander  Moore,  was  an  aide  to  General  LaFay- 
ette  at  the  surrender  of  Yorktown,  and  she  was 
a  second  cousin  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee.  The 
Moore  family  were  wealthy  planters  of  Virginia. 
They  trace  their  lineage  to  Sir  Thomas  Moore  of 
England,  and  were  among  the  first  settlers  in  Vir- 
ginia. They  were  communicants  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church. 

SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  COOPER,  M.  D.,  was 
born  September  4,  1845,  and  is  a  son  of  L.  B. 
Cooper,  of  Tuscumbia.  He  received  a  common 
school  education,  and  in  ilarch,  1863,  enlisted  in 
Co.  I.,  of    W.  A.  Johnson's  Cavalry  Regiment. 


434 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  participated  in  the  battles  of  Harrisburg,  Miss., 
Newnan,  Ga.,  and  was  with  Forrest  at  the  surren- 
der of  Athens,  Ala.  He  was  also  in  all  the  fights 
as  far  as  Pulaski,  Tenn.,  and  at  the  battle  of 
Selma.     He  surrendered  at  Pond  Springs,  Ala. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war  he 
returned  home  and  entered  a  mercantile  establish- 
ment as  clerk,  and  in  18G6,  in  connection  with 
other  gentlemen,  entered  mercantile  business  on 
liis  own  account,  the  firm  name  being  Nelson, 
Wilson  &  Cooper.  In  18(38  he  began  the  study  of 
medicine  with  Dr.  Abernathy,  and  graduated  from 
the  Memphis  Medical  College  in  1871.  He 
remained  in  the  hospital  at  Memphis  for  one  year, 
then  returned  to  Tuscumbia,  where  he  has  since 
been  engaged  in  the  practice,  and  has  built  np  for 
himself  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best 
and  most  skillful  physicians  of  that  city. 

In  the  winters  of  1873  and  1874,  Dr.  Cooper 
spent  some  time  in  New  York  at  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  where  he  received  pri- 
vate instructions  under  Drs.  Wyeth  and  Loomis. 

Dr.  Cooper  is  a  member  of  the  Medical  Associa- 
tion of  Colbert  County  and  of  the  Board  of  Cen- 
sors. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  of  the  Orders  of  Knights  of  Honor 
and  Knights  of   Pythias. 


DR.  ROBERT  TOWNS  ABERNATHY,  son   of 

John  T.  and  Sarah  (Ellitt)  Abernathy,  was  born 
in  Lawrence  County,  Ala,  November  22,  1824. 

John  T.,  the  senior  Mr.  Abernathy,  was  born 
near  Lunenburgh  Court  House,  Va.,  about  1806, 
where  he  received  a  limited  education.  He  was 
a  farmer  and  mercliant  in  Virginia;  removed  to 
South  Florence,  Ala  ,  and  later  on  to  Tuscumbia, 
before  the  Mexican  War.  From  the  latter  place 
he  went  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  was  engaged 
up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  when  he  returned 
to  Alabama  and  turned  his  entire  attention  to 
farming.  He  started  in  life  comparatively  a  poor 
m.in,  but  succeeded  in  accumulating  a  handsome 
fortune.  He  reared  a  large  family,  and  died  a 
few  years  after  the  war.  His  father,  David  Aber- 
natliy,  was  of  Scotch-Irish  extraction.  He  was 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Virginia;  served  during 
the  Revolutioiuiry  War,  and  later  on  became  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  Iluntsvillc,  Ala. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  a  daughter  of 
Richard  Ellitt,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  also  a 


soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  was  of 
Scotch  ancestry. 

The  subject  of  this  sketcli  was  reared  on  a 
farm  and  received  an  academic  education  from 
La  Grange  College,  this  State.  He  then  began 
reading  medicine,  and  graduated  in  March, 
1849,  from  the  L^niversity  of  New  York.  After 
liis  graduation  he  located  at  New  Orleans,  from 
whence  he  removed  to  Macon,  Miss.,  aiid  in  1851 
located  at  Tuscumbia.  For  some  time  prior  to 
the  war,  and  while  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  he 
edited  the  Tuscumbia  Constitution. 

After  the  evacuation  of  Corinth,  he  enlisted  in 
the  Confederate  service  as  surgeon  of  the  Fifth 
Alabama  Regiment,  with  which  he  remained  until 
the  surrender  at  Pond  Springs,  with  Gen.  P.  D. 
Roddy's  command.  After  the  surrender  he  re- 
turned home  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. In  connection  with  his  lucrative  practice 
he  conducts  an  extensive  farm. 

Doctor  Abernathy  was  married  March  12,  1856, 
to  Caledonia  Carrol,  daughter  of  George  W.  and 
Lucy  H.  Carrol,  and  has  had  born  to  him  five 
children — Lucy,  Willie,  Tracy,  George  and  St. 
Elmo.  The  doctor  is  a  Presbyterian,  and  his  wife 
is  a  communicant  of  the  Ejjiscopal  Church. 


►-»► 


DR.  WILLIAM    R.  JOHNSTON    was  born  at 

Tuscumbia,  April  7,  1825,  and  is  a  son  of  Amos 
A.  and  Elizabeth  R.  (Ward)  Johnston,  natives  of 
Bertie  and  Edgecombe  Counties,  N.  C. 

Tlie  senior  Mr.  Johnston  was  born  in  179.5. 
He  reared  a  family  of  seven  children,  viz.:  Mar- 
tha A.,  deceased;  William  R.,  our  subject;  Lucy 
M.  (Mrs.  John  L.  Bunch);  John  Robert,  steam- 
boatman;  Patrick  Henry,  died  in  his  youth; 
Sarah  E.  (Mrs.  William  Challen),  and  James  W., 
adjutant  of  brigade,  Cheatham's  Division,  and 
was  killed  at  Franklin,  Tenn.  The  senior  John- 
ston located  at  Tuscumbia  in  1824,  where  he 
became  a  very  prominent  man.  He  served  as 
magistrate,  and  was  colonel  of  the  militia,  and 
was  also  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 
He  died  in  1852.  The  Johnston  family  came 
originally  from  England,  and  it  is  from  tliis  same 
family  that  the  famous  Gen.  Albert  Sidney  Johns- 
ton is  a  lineal  descendant. 

Dr.  William  R.  Johnston's  father  being  a  poor 
man,  his  education  was  somewhat  limited,  and  at 
the    age  of    sixteen  years    lie  began   work  in  a 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


435 


printing  office.  Tie  began  reading  medicine,  and 
graduiited  from  tlie  University  of  Louisville 
(old  school)  in  1851.  He  practiced  medicine 
for  eight  years,  then  drifted  into  dentistry, 
which  profession  lie  lias  followed  with  marked 
success. 

Dr.  .Johnston  was  the  first  man  to  raise  a 
company  for  the  Confederate  service  in  ^liddle 
Tennessee,  which  was  known  as  the  First  Tennes- 
see Regiment.  Tiiis  regiment  participated  in  the 
l)attle  of  Cheat  Mountain  under  General  Lee,  and 
was  later  transferred  to  General  Jackson's  com- 
mand, uiuler  whom  they  participated  in  the  battles 
of  Shiloh  and  Perryville.  After  these  latter  battles 
Dr.  Johnston  joined  Forrest's  Regiment,  with 
which  he  remained  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
He  was  on  hospital  duty  two  months  prior  to  the 
surrender. 

Before  the  war  the  Doctor  accumulated  con- 
siderable money,  but  when  peace  once  more 
returned  he  found  himself  apparently  a  poor 
man.  He  immediately  began  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  and  by  his  own  perseverance 
and  skill  has  again  accumulated  a  handsome  com- 
petenc}'. 

Dr.  Johnston  was  married  October  26,  1852,  to 
Mrs.  JIartha  Franklin,  nee  Houston,  daughter  of 
James  B.  and  Rebecca  (Herndon)  Houston,  and 
niece  of  e.\-Gov.  Sam  Houston,  of  Tennessee, 
afterwards  President  of  the  Republic  of  Te.xas 
and  United  States  Senator.  The  Doctor  is  a 
member  of   the  F.  &  A.  M.  and  the  L  0.  0.  F. 

RICHARD  L.  ROSS,  Druggist,  Tuscumbia, 
was  Ijoru  October  2(i,  liS:i5,  near  Triana,  Madison 
County,  Ala.  He  received  a  good  English  edu- 
cation, having  attended  school  five  years  at 
Tuscumbia.  Leaving  school  at  the  age  of  eigh- 
teen years  he  entered  a  grocery  store  as  salesman, 
where  he  remained  until  November,  184G,  when 
he  engaged  in  the  drug  business.  With  tlie  ex- 
ception of  two  years  during  the  war  he  has  con- 
tinuously followed  this  latter  business,  and  has 
been  quite  successful  in  building  up  a  large  trade. 

He  entered  the  Confederate  service  in  May,  1804, 
and  W!is  detailed  to  the  medical  department  as 
cK-rk  for  the  chief  surgeon  of  General  Roddy's 
(■ommand,  where  lie  served  until  tlie  war  closed. 
In  1883  he  was  appointed  county  treasurer  of  Col- 


bert County,  and  was  elected  to  that  office  in  1884 
by  a  large  majority. 

Mr.  Ross  had  lost  all  of  liis  hard  earnings  by 
the  results  of  the  war,  but  by  indomitable  will  and 
energy,  and  by  close  application  to  business,  he 
has  succeeded  in  recuperating  his  fortune.  By 
his  well-stocked  shelves  and  pleasant  home  one 
would  scarcely  believe  that  he  had  ever  met  with 
any  loss  or  reverse  during  his  life.  He  is  much 
respected  by  those  who  know  him,  and  is  regarded 
as  one  of  Tuscumhia's  best  business  men. 

He  w:is  married  in  October,  1871,  to  Martha  E. 
Cooper,  daughter  of  L.  B.  Cooper,  of  this  city, 
and  one  bright,  interesting  and  highly  accom- 
plished daughter,  Frances  H.,  lives  to  cheer  this 
happy  union. 

Mr.  Ross  is  a  leading  member  of  the  I.  0.  0.  F., 
Knights  of  Honor,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and 
Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor.  His  wife  is  an 
active  and  devoted  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

Our  subject's  father,  Alexander  Ross,  was  born 
in  Spotsylvania  County,  Va.,  about  1783,  and 
learned  the  trade  of  biickmaker. 

He  married  Elizabeth  Cooper,  of  Virginia, 
and  in  1810  migrated  to  Frankfort,  Ky.,  where 
he  followed  brick-making  and  contracting 
until  1825 ;  then  located  near  Triana,  Madison 
County,  Ala ,  where  he  engaged  in  farming, 
and  also  at  his  trade  to  some  extent.  In  1834 
he  located  at  Decatur;  moved  to  Tuscumbia  in 
1847;  and  finally  located  in  Lawrence  County, 
where  he  died  in  1840.  He  reared  an  interesting 
family  of  eleven  children:  Ann,  Elizabeth,  Francis 
H.,  Mildred  Ann,  William  J.,  Frederick  A.  (now 
postmaster  at  Tuscumbia),  Mary  B.,  Henry  V., 
Richard  L.,  Martha  E.  and  Amanda  M.  The 
Ross  family  came  originally  from  Italy,  in  the 
person  of  tlie  grandfather  of  our  subject,  Vincent 
Ross,  who  came  to  America  when  but  eighteen 
years  of  age  and  located  in  Virginia,  where  he 
married  and  reared  a  large  family.  From  this 
family  descended  many  of  the  leading  citizens  of 
Northern  Alabama. 

JAMES  JACKSON,  Attorney-at-law,  Tuscum- 
bia, was  born  July  20,  1848,  in  Franklin 
County,  this  State,  and  is  a  son  of  William  M. 
Jackson. 


436 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  received  his  education  at  Florence  and 
Tuscumbia  (Ala.),  St.  Mary  (Ky.),  and  St.  Louis 
(Mo.)  University.  After  leaving  school  he  farmed 
and  clerked  for  about  three  years.  In  1872  he 
began  reading  law  with  William  Cooper,  at  Tus- 
cumbia, and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Frank- 
fort, this  State.  He  returned  to  Tuscumbia  and 
at  once  entered  into  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
From  the  very  start  he  came  into  prominence,  as 
an  attorney  of  more  than  ordinary  ability,  and  is 
now  enjoying  a  large  practice. 

Mr.  Jackson  takes  a  deep  interest  in  politics. 
In  1877  he  was  elected  county  treasurer,  and 
served  in  that  office  one  term.  In  1882  he  was 
elected  to  the  Senate,  on  the  Republican  ticket, 
and  in  1886,  made  the  race  for  Congress,  as  an 
Independent,  against  General  AV  heeler. 

Mr.  Jackson  is  a  member  of  the  Free  and  Ac- 
cepted Masons. 

EDWARD  BENTON  ALMON,  Attomey-at- 
law,  Tuscumbia,  was  born  April  18,  18G0,  at 
Moulton,  this  State,  and  is  a  son  of  George  W. 
and  Nannie  (Eubank)  Almon.  He  was  reared  on 
a  farm;  attended  a  common  school  until  about 
seventeen  years  of  age,  when  he  entered  the 
State  Normal  School  at  Florence,  from  which 
institution  he  graduated,  and  in  1883  was  grad- 
uated from  the  State  University. 

He  began  the  study  of  law  with  his  brother,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Bel  Green,  in  1884. 
He  practiced  there  until  1885,  when  he  located  at 
Tuscumbia,  where  he  has  since  continued  his  prac- 
tice with  marked  success.  In  May,  188G,  Mr. 
Almon  formed  a  partnership  with  James  T.  Kirk, 
and  the  firm  is  now  known  as  Kirk  &  Almon. 
He  is  Chairman  of  the  Democratic  Executive 
Committee  of  Colbert  County;  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity  and  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor,  and  is  also  identified  with  the  Methodist 
Ejiiscopal  Church. 

Mr.  Almon's  father,  George  W.  Almon,  was  born 
at  Pulaski,  Tenn.,  in  1817;  came  to  Lawrence  Coun- 
ty, Ala.,  with  his  parents  in  1822,  and  here  received 
a  common-school  education.  He  afterwards  en- 
gaged at  farming,  in  which  he  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful. His  wife.  Miss  Nannie  Eubank,  was  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  Eubank,  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia. She  was  born  in  Huntsville,  Ala.,  Decem- 
ber 28,  1822.     Both  the  old  people  are  still  living. 


They  had  born  to  them  seven  sons,  of  whom  six 
have  grown  to  maturity,  viz. :  William  M.,  farmer; 
Thomas  N.,  farmer;  George  C,  attorney  and  State 
Senator  from  the  Twelfth  District;  Lorenzo  Dow, 
farmer;  Henry  G.,  farmer;  and  the  subject  of 
this  sketch.  The  Almon  and  Eubank  families 
are  descendants  from  English  ancestry. 

Mr.  Almon  was  married  on  December  13,  1887, 
to  Miss  Luie  Clopper  of  Tuscumbia. 

-  •*>-^^^-  ■■:♦•  •  ■ 

ROBERT  CLOUD,  born  May  4,  1844,  in  Mar- 
shall County,  Miss.,  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Joseph  F.  and 
Mariali  (Vaughan)  Cloud.  He  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  his  native  county,  and  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen years,  went  to  Arkansas,  from  which  State,  in 
1861,  he  enlisted  in  Company  E,  Tenth  Arkansas 
Regiment,  and  was  afterwards  taken  out  by  his 
father  on  account  of  his  youth.  In  1862  he  joined 
Company  E,  Thirty-fourth  Mississippi,  and  partic- 
ipated in  the  battles  of  Farmington,  Perryville  and 
Lookout  Mountain,  at  which  latter  place  he  was 
cajjtured  in  November,  1863.  He  was  kept  in 
prison  at  Rock  Island  eighteen  months ;  was  ex- 
changed at  Acklin's  Landing,  at  the  mouth  of  Red 
River  in  May,  1865,  and  returned  to  his  native 
town,  where  he  engaged  in  the  confectionery  busi- 
ness one  year,  and  later  on  in  the  drug  business. 

In  1869  he  located  at  Tuscumbia,  engaged  in 
the  drug  business,  and  is  now  one  of  the  most 
prosperous  and  influential  business  men.  He  is  a 
wide-awake,  f)ublic-spirited  citizen  ;  always  takes 
an  active  interest  in  the  development  of  the  coun- 
try and  in  the  welfare  of  the  community.  He  has 
served  the  people  as  alderman  and  as  ma-yor  two 
terms. 

Mr.  Cloud  was  married  in  October,  1871,  to  Miss 
Francis  E.  L.  Deprez,  daughter  of  Dr.  William 
and  Susan  (Giffney)  Deprez.  This  union  has  been 
blessed  with  four  children,  namely:  Susan  D., 
Lillie  Vaughan,  Willoughby,  Robert  E.  and  Fan- 
nie J.  B.  The  family  are  devoted  members  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church. 

Dr.  Joseph  F.  Cloud,  the  father  of  our  subject, 
was  a  descendant  of  English  ancestry.  He 
was  married  at  Whitesburg,  Ala.,  from  which  jilace 
he  moved  to  Mississippi,  where  he  has  continually 
been  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  died  in  1862, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-eight  years.  He  reared  eight 
children,  namely:  John  B.,  deceased;  William 
D.,  was  killed  while  with  Morgan  on  his  raid  in 


"^tM^^^ 


NORTHERN  ALA  Ji  A  MA. 


43r 


Oliio.  lie  was  a  sergeant  in  Duke's  Regiment,  and 
was  a  gallant  soldier;  Jerry  II.,  deceased;  J.  V., 
was  a  gallant  soldieriuider  Longstreet;  Robert  E. 
died  in  iMississippi,  while  serving  in  the  Confed- 
erate Army;  Robert,  the  subject  of  thissketcli; 
Lillie  0.,  deceased;  and  Henry  C,  who  died  in 
Texas.  The  mother  of  our  subject  was  also  of 
English  lineage. 

In  appreciation  of  the  merits,  and  of  the  high 
esteem  in  which  Mr.  Cloud,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  held,  the  publishers  take  pleasure  in  em- 
bellishing this  volume  with  a  liandsome  steel  plate 
engraving  of  that  gentleman,  which  is  a  true  like- 
ness of  one  of  Northern  Alabama's  distinguished 
citizens. 

DAVID  W.  HICKS  was  born  in  Davidson 
County,  'I'cnu.,  July  ol,  1830,  and  is  a  son  of  John 
C.  and  Ann  JIaria  (Waters)  Ilicks.  lie  received  a 
good  education  at  Eureka  College,  Richland,  Miss., 
and  at  the  age  of  18  years  engaged  as  a  salesman 
in  a  commission  liouse  at  Yazoo  City,  that  State. 
In  1853  he  went  to  Gonzales,  Tex.,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  the  dry  goods  business,  and  nine  months 
later  returned  to  Mississippi,  and  engaged  in 
business  for  about  seven  years.  In  1860  he  came  to 
Tuscumbia  and  married  Miss  Sarah  A.  Hobgood, 
daughter  of  John  and  Martha  A.  (Alsobrook) 
Hobgood,  of  that  city. 

After  his  marriage,  Mr.  Hicks  engaged  at 
planting,  and  in  1802  he  entered  Captain  Kum- 
pie's  Company  for  six  months,  after  which,  said 
comj)any  was  re-organized  and  known  as  Com- 
pany K,  Eleventh  Alabama  Regiment,  and  Mr. 
Ilicks  was  elected  second  lieutenant.  lie  par- 
ticipated in  the  first  fight  at  Decatur,  the  battles 
of  Fishing  Creek,  Sulphur  Trestle,  Tenn.,  Moul- 
ton  and  Selma,  and  was  in  Forrest's  command 
at  the  time  of  the  surrender.  After  the  war  he 
resumed  farming  and  now  owns  a  large  plantation 
near  Tuscumbia. 

Mr.  Hicks  and  wife  are  communicants  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the 
I.  0.  0.  F.  They  had  eight  children  born  to  them, 
viz.:  John  C;  Martha  A.,  wife  of  W.  T.  Elam,  of 
Mississippi ;  David  B.,  deceased  ;  Ann  M.,  deceased; 
Lottie  H.,  Sarah  B.,  McReynolds,  and    Edgar  W. 

The  father  of  our  subject  was  born  near  Rich- 
mond, Va..  and  at  the  age  of  about  18  years 
located  in  Davidson  County,  Tenn.  He  was  an 
aide,  with  the  rank  of  major,  to  General  Jackson, 


and  had  command  of  the  post  at  Mobile  while 
Jackson  was  at  New  Orleans.  After  his  marriage 
he  studied  medicine,  and  in  1830  located  iu  Law- 
rence County,  Ala.,  about  twelve  miles  east 
of  Tuscumbia,  where  he  lived  nine  years,  then 
removed  to  Sumter  County,  and  thonce  to  Carroll 
County,  Miss.,  where  ho  lived  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  August,  1865,  at  the  age  of 
73  years.  Ho  was  a  planter,  anH  accumulated  con- 
siderable property  while  in  Jlississippi.  He  was 
Grand  Master  of  Freemasons  for  many  years 
while  in  Alabama,  and  was  a  devout  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  reared  a 
family  of  six  children,  viz.:  Sarah  (Mrs.  Judge 
Jas.  J.  Chewning,  of  Mississippi);  B.  M.,  physi- 
cian, now  deceased;  David  W.,  our  subject;  Ma- 
rianne W.  (Mrs.  A.  J.  Tidwell,  of  Mississippi); 
John  W.,  of  Memphis;  and  Robert  H.,  of  Mis- 
sissijipi.  The  Ilicks  family  came  originally  from 
England,  and  the  Waters  are  descendants  of  Scotch 
ancestry, 

'   "v*-*f^y^M*  ^**   * 

JAMES  A.  PATTERSON  was  born  March  17, 
1813,  in  Trumbull  Cnunty,  Ohio,  and  is  a  son  of 
John  ami  Susan  (Adams)  Patterson. 

The  senior  Mr.  Patterson  was  born  in  Fayette 
County,  Ky.,  and  was  a  saddler  by  trade.  .He 
moved  to  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  where  he  was 
married;  later  on  he  removed  to  Mt.  Vernon,  and 
finally  to  Mansfield,  where  he  died  in  1820.  He 
reared  three  children,  viz.:  James  A.,  our  subject; 
Margaret,  wife  of  James  Raymond;  Augusta,  wife 
of  Elijah  Worley,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  The  Patterson  family  were 
originally  from  Ireland.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  a  daughter  of  John  Adams,  a  native 
of  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  and  a  relative  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts.  After  Mr.  Pat- 
terson's death,  his  wife  moved  back  to  Trumbull 
County,  where  the  subject  of  our  sketch  received 
his  education  in  the  common  schools. 

James  A.  Patterson,  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
years,  came  to  Alabama,  settled  at  Decatur, 
aiul  immediately  began  teaching  a  private  school. 
He  taught  about  three  months,  when  he  en- 
tered a  store  as  salesman,  where  he  remained 
three  years.  Shortly  after  entering  this  store 
he  was  made  postmaster  of  that  city,  which 
position  he  filled  seventeen  years.  In  June,  1830, 
ho  removed  to  Tuscumbia,  where  ho  has  resided 
ever  since. 


438 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


While  at  Decatur,  Mr.  Patterson  built  a  large 
cotton  factory,  and  was  one  of  tlie  stockhold- 
ers of  the  first  railroad  in  Alabama.  When 
he  came  to  Tuscumbia  he  25iirchased  2,200  acres 
of  land,  on  a  part  of  which  the  city  of  Sheffield 
is  located.  He  farmed  until  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  at  which  time  he  owned  about  100  slaves. 
After  the  war  he  engaged  in  the  cotton  commission 
business  in  Cincinnati  for  about  three  years,  when 
he  again  resumed  farming. 

Mr.  Patterson  was  married  at  Decatur,  July  6, 
1837,  to  Nancy  C,  daughter  of  Dabney  A.  Martin. 
They  reared  eight  children,  viz. :  James  A. ;  Susan 
G.,  wife  of  John  E.  Young;  Laura,  wife  of  H. 
Carloss;  Ida,  widow  of  Hiram  Crawford;  Martin 
D.;  A.  A.;  Ann  E.;  and  A.  W.  Mrs.  Patterson 
died  in  September,  1 853,  and  Mr.  Patterson  was 
married  to  Mrs.  Malenia  J.  Lightfoot,  daugh- 
ter of  Archibald  McKissach,  of  Pulaski,  Tenn. 
She  died  in  the  fall  of  1862. 

Before  the  war,  Mr.  Patterson  had  accumulated 
a  large  fortune,  but  sharing  the  fate  of  many 
others,  he,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  found  that  he 
had  lost  considerable  of  his  fortune.  He  still  owns 
156  acres  of  land  near  Sheffield,  which  affords  him 
a  comfortable  living.  He  has  been  a  leading  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  over 
forty-five  years,  and  all  his  children  are  connected 
therewith.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

— «>-;€^'  <♦•  • 

JAMES  E.  KEENAN,  was  born  in  Centre 
County,  Pa.,  in  18-11,  and  is  a  son  of  Stephen  and 
Ellen  (Kiernan)  Keenan. 

The  senior  Mr.  Keenan  was  a  native  of  County 
Cavan,  Ireland.  He  came  to  the  United  States 
about  1824,  settled  in  New  York  City,  where  he 
was  engaged  as  a  tailor  seven  years,  and  then 
located  in  Pennsylvania.  He  reared  a  family  of 
four  sons  and  tliree  daughters. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  an  academic 
education,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  en- 
gaged in  the  printing  business  for  a  short  time. 
In  the  fall  of  1859  he  came  South,  and  in  1861 
joined  an  independent  company  at  luka.  Miss., 
under  P.  D.  Koddy,  which  company  formed  a  part 
of  Major  Baskeville's  battalion.  He  participated 
in  the  battles  of  Shiloh,  Ilarrisburg,  Miss.,  Sul- 
phur Trestle,  Tenn.,  and  others  in  Northern  Missis- 
sippi and  Northern  Alabama,  and  was  in  several 
skirmishes  on  the  retreat  to  Selnia.     He  also  par- 


ticipated in  the  battle  of  Selma  and  in  all  the 
engagements  in  which  his  command  took  pwt. 
In  1863  he  was  promoted  to  second  lieutenant, 
and  surrendered  at  Pond  Springs,  Ala. ,  May  5, 
1865. 

After  the  war,  Mr.  Keenan  came  to  Tuscumbia, 
and  in  1870  engaged  in  general  merchandise  busi- 
ness, in  which  he  has  been  very  successful.  He  is 
an  enterjirising,  public-spirited  man,  and  takes  a 
great  interest  in  the  development  of  the  public 
schools. 

Mr.  Keenan  was  married  in  May,  1868,  to  Let- 
tie  Warren,  of  Tuscumbia.  She  is  a  daughter  of 
Mervyn  and  Mary  (Sloss)  Warren,  natives  of  Ire- 
land and  the  State  of  Alabama,  respectively.  To 
this  union  were  born  nine  children,  viz. :  Mervyn 
W.,  William  S.,  Mary,  Ellen,  deceased,  James  E., 
Lettie,  John,  Margaret  and  Belle.  The  family 
are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  Mr. 
Keenan  is  a  F.  &  A.  M. 


SAMUEL  HINDMAN  was  born  March  22,  1818, 
in  Chester  County,  Pa. .and  is  a  son  of  Matthew 
and  Sarah  (Welsh)  Ilindinan. 

The  senior  Mr.  Hindman  was  born  in  Ireland; 
came  to  America  when  quite  young,  and  settled 
in  Chester  County,  Pa.,  where  he  lived  the  bal- 
ance of  his  life.  He  reared  a  family  of  eleven 
children,  viz.:  John  0.,  Samuel,  Matthew,  Rob- 
ert, Joseph  P.,  Lucinda  (Mrs.  Wilson),  Susan 
(Mrs.  Elijah  Gretchell),  Sarah  (deceased),  Nancy 
A.  (Mrs.  Eobert  Douglas),  Martha  J.  (deceased), 
Elizabeth  (Mrs.  John  Wright).  The  family  were 
all  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Mr. 
Hindman  died  before  the  late  war,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-three  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  his 
native  town,  where  he  received  a  common-school 
education,  and  at  the  .ige  of  sixteen  years  was 
employed  in  a  cotton  factory.  Five  years  later, 
he  learned  the  trade  of  carjoenter  and  mill- 
wright, then  removed  to  JetTerson  County,  Va., 
where  he  helped  to  build  an  iron  works,  and  later 
on,  moved  to  Loudon  County,  that  State. 

Mr.  Hindman  was  married  in  ]  846,  to  Barbara 
Hosttler,  of  Jefferson  County,  Va.,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  seven  children,  five  of  whom  grew  to 
maturity,  to-wit :  Matthew  J.,  Joseph  W.,  John 
W.,  Sarah  E.  (Mrs.  John  E.  Tribbey,  of  Vir- 
ginia), and  Emma  (Mrs.  R.  R.  Guvaghmey.) 


XOA'  T1IEK\   AJ.Ali.  \MA. 


43f) 


Mr.  Iliiulmaii  entereil  the  army  in  1802,  as 
(jiiiirtoniiiistor,iind  was  in  tlie  battles  of  Ball's  Bluff, 
st'coml  Manassas,  and  in  many  of  the  battles  of 
the  Shenandoah  Valley.  lie  was  taken  prisoner 
at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  in  the  spring  of  1865, 
after  the  sui  render,  returned  to  his  home.  In 
1871  ho  migrated  to  Alabama,  locating  at  Tus- 
cumbia,  where  he  iias  been  engaged  in  the  milling 
business  ever  since. 

LEWIS  B.  THORNTON,  born  May  28,  1815, 
in  Spotsylvania  County,  ^  a.,  is  a  son  of  Philip 
and  Sarah  Taliaferro  Thornton,  (wee  Miss  Sarah 
Taliaferro  Conway). 

His  father,  Mr.  Philip  Thornton,  was  born  in 
Caroline  County,  Va.,  Ajjril  28,  1777.  lie  was  a 
merchant  for  some  years,  and  farmer  most  of  his 
life  time,  and  was  the  first  man  to  introduce  and 
run  a  cotton  gin  in  Spotsylvania  County.  He 
represented  his  county  in  the  State  Legislature, 
lie  had  born  to  liim  ten  children,  of  whom  five 
grew  to  maturity,  viz. :  Sarah  T.,  wife  of  John  C. 
Stanard,  of  Virginia;  Rowland,  died  in  Arkan- 
sas; F.  Fitzhugh  Conway,  died  in  St.  Louis;  Lewis 
B.,  our  subject;  Philij),  who  went  on  a  whaling 
expedition  and  was  lost  at  sea  in  1842,  and  Thomas 
J.,  died  in  Washington  Territory.  Mr.  Philip 
Thornton  died  in  September,  1829.  The  Thorn- 
ton family  were  originally  from  England. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  a  daughter  of 
Cajitain  Francis  Conway,  a  native  of  Virginia, 
and  a  soldier  in  the  Kevolutionary  War. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  the  best 
education  that  the  common  schools  of  his  time 
afforded.  Being  ambitious  to  further  advance 
his  studies,  he  taught  school  and  thus  procured 
enough  money  to  attend  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia. At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  began  the 
study  of  law  at  llichmond,  Va.  In  1841  he 
migrated  to  Shelbyville,  Iil.,  and  in  1843  to  North- 
ern Alabama,  where  he  spent  a  few  years  teaching 
school,  finally  locating  at  Tuscumbia,  where  he 
taught  school  in  connection  with  his  law  practice 
until  1850.  In  the  latter  year  he  turned  his 
entire  attention  to  the  practice  of  law,  which  he 
has  continued  ever  since.  In  1855-C  he  rejiresent- 
ed  his  county  in  the  Legislature,  and  in  1857  was 
appoiYited  Register  in  Chancery  which  office  he 
held  twenty-eight  consecutive  years.  He  also 
served  as  mayor  of  Tuscumbia  before  the  war. 


Mr.  Thornton  was  married  July  29,  1849,  to 
Miss  L.  Virginia  Nooe,  of  this  State.  She  died 
about  a  year  after  their  marriage,  aiul  on  October 
28,  1850,  he  was  married  to  Miss  M.  Louii-e 
Meredith,  daughter  of  Col.  Sam  Meredith,  of 
Tuscumbia.  Colonel  Meredith  served  under  Gen- 
eral Jackson  in  all  his  battles  with  the  Indians. 
He  came  to  Alabama  when  a  young  man,  and 
died  in  1853,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven  years. 

Mr.  Thornton  had  born  to  him  eight  children, 
viz:  Jleredith,  Bedford,  Conway,  Hunter  (de- 
ceased), Sarah,  Oola,  Fitzhugh  (deceased),  and 
Laura.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  which  ^\\\  Thornton  is  an  elder, 
and  has  been  for  more  than  thirty  years. 


-*-: 


-^^ 


JAMES  T.  KIRK  was  born  April  7,  1858,  in 
Frunklui  County,  Ala.,  and  is  a  son  of  James  I. 
and  Louisa  Cleerc  Kirk. 

Mr.  Kirk  was  left  an  orphan  ai  an  early  ago 
and  dependent  upon  his  own  resources.  He  nuide 
the  best  of  the  advantages  offered  at  the  common 
schools,  alternating  his  time  with  farming  and 
teaching  until  he  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age, 
when  he  took  a  clerkship  in  Winston  County.  lu 
September,  1870,  he  began  reading  law  with  J. 
B.  Moore,  of  Tuscumbia;  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  spring  of  1880,  and  has  since  been  in 
the  practice  at  this  place.  In  188G  lie  formed  a 
partnership  with  E.  B.  Almon  under  the  firm 
name  of  Kirk  &  Almon.  Sir.  Kirk  was  married 
December,  1880,  to  Ella  P.  Rather,  daughter  of 
Gen.  John  D.  Rather. 

James.  M.  Kirk,  grandfather  of  Mr.  K.,  was 
born  in  North  Carolina  in  1794;  moved  to  Frank- 
lin County,  Ala.,  in  his  early  life,  and  is  identi- 
fied with  the  oldest  interests  of  said  county.  He 
fought  through  the  Seminole  War,  and  still  lives 
on  his  old  homestead  near  Russellville,  Ala.  His 
family  consisted  of  three  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. James  T.  Kirk,  father  of  J.  T.  Kirk,  Jr., 
was  born  in  Franklin  County  in  1828,  and  died 
April  7,  1858.  He  married  Louisa,  daughter  of 
George  D.  Cleere,  an  extensive  jjlanter  and  mer- 
chant in  Lawrence  County. 

— • — •••>— J^^3*-<»^ — •— 

LYDAL  B.  COOPER,  born  December  12,  1813, 
in  Davidson  County,  Tenn.,  is  a  son  of  Edmund 
and    JIartha  (Jackson)  Cooper.     His  fallier  died 


440 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


when  he  was  very  young,  and  consequently  his 
educational  opportunities  were  limited. 

In  1833  he  settled  in  Tuscumbia  and  began  the 
study  of  law  with  his  brother,  William  Cooper; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1834,  and  on  January 
1,  1836,  located  in  the  practice  at  Courtland, 
Lawrence  County,  this  State.  In  1838  he  returned 
to  Tuscumbia,  where  he  has  lived  ever  since,  and 
practiced  law.  Since  the  war,  in  connection 
with  his  law  business,  he  has  conducted  a  farm. 

Mr.  Cooper  was  married  January  3,  1839,  to 
Frances  M.  Harrington,  daughter  of  Burt  Har- 
rington, who  came  to  this  county  in  1827.  They 
had  born  to  them  seven  children,  viz.:  Martha  E. 
Ross;  Burt  H.,  farmer;  John  P.,  farmer;  Samuel 
J.,  physician;  William  W.,  physician,  in  Indian 
Territory;  Harriet  C.  and  Langston  M.  The  fam- 
ily are  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
Mr.  Cooper  is  an  A.  F.  &  A.  M. 

Edmund  Cooper,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was 
born  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  18,  1760.  When 
a  young  man  he  was  a  cabinet-maker  by  trade,  and 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  About 
1815  he  migrated  to  Tennessee,  settled  in  David- 
son County,  and  engaged  in  farming.  Later  on, 
he  became  an  inspector  of  tobacco  in  Nashville, 
a  position  he  held  until  his  death  in  Janu- 
ary, 1822.  He  was  a  prosperous  business  man, 
and  his  main  object  in  going  to  Nashville  was  to 
educate  his  children.  His  third  wife,  who  was 
the  mother  of  our  subject,  was  born  in  Bruns- 
wick County,  Ya.  The  Cooi^ers  came  originally 
from  Great  Britain,  and  the  Jacksons  from  Ire- 
land. 

JAMES  H.  SIMPSON  was  born  June  20,  1832, 
in  Lincoln  County,  Tenn.  and  is  a  son  of  Sol.  P. 
and  Lucinda  (Conway)  Simpson.  He  was  reared 
on  a  farm,  where  he  received  a  good  English  edu- 
cation, and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  began  teach- 
ing school,  at  the  same  time  advancing  his  own 
studies.  He  taught  school  for  about  fifteen  years, 
then  entered  a  store  at  Barton  Station  as  salesman 
and  book-keepefl'. 

In  the  spring  of  1^62  he  enlisted  in  Captain 
Julian's  command,  under  Colonel  Roddy;  served  as 
orderly  sergeant  one  year  in  Capt.  Julian's  com- 
mand; was  then  transferred  to  Colonel  Forrest's 
regiment,  where  he  served  three  years  in  the  ord- 
nance department,  after  which  he  was  discharged 
from  the    service.      He   returned   home,    taught 


school,  and  in  1865  came  to  Tuscumbia,  where  he 
entered  the  wholesale  and  retail  grocery  business 
under  the  firm  name  of  Inman,  Simpson  &  Co. 
The  firm  changed  hands  several  times,  and  in 
1S75  Mr.  Simpson  sold  out  his  interest. 

In  1876  he  resumed  teaching,  which  he  fol- 
lowed for  about  one  year,  when  he  was  elected  tax 
assessor  of  Colbert  County,  which  oflice  he  held 
seven  years.  In  July,  1887,  he  was  appointed 
clerk  of  the  circuit  court,  to  fill  out  an  unexpired 
term.     Mr.  Simj)son  was  first  married  January  25, 

1853,  to  Miss  Ada  White.     She  died  in  February, 

1854,  leaving  one  child.  In  October,  1800,  Mr. 
Simpson  was  married  to  Sue  E.  Gibbs,  daughter 
of  John  and  Mary  (Mason)  Gibbs,  and  to  this 
union  six  children  were  born.  She  died  in  Octo- 
ber, 1872,  and  his  present  wife  was  a  Miss  Sally 
C.  Gibbs,  who  has  born  him  four  children.  The 
family  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  Mr.  Simpson  is  a  member  of  the  A. 
F.  &  A.  M.  and  Knights  of  Honor.  He  has  served 
as  secretary  of  the  board  of  aldermen  of  Tuscum- 
bia, and  takes  a  wide-spread  interest  in  the  devel- 
opment of  his  city  and  that  section  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Simpson's  father  was  born  in  Union  Dis- 
trict, S.  C,  in  the  year  1805.  When  a  young 
man  he  moved  to  Lincoln  County,  Tenn.,  where 
he  was  engaged  at  farming.  He  served  in  the 
Florida  War,  and  in  1850  located  on  a  plantation 
about  ten  miles  from  Florence,  Ala.  He  next 
moved  to  Lawrence  County,  Ala.,  where  he  lived 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1875.  He  was 
a  son  of  Edwin  Simiison,  who  was  born  in  Ireland 
and  migrated  to  America  during  colonial  days,  and 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  bom  in  Lincoln 
County,  Tenn.,  and  was  a  daughter  of  Frederick 
and  Winnie  Conway,  natives  of  Georgia. 


GUIDE  LUEDDEMANN,  of  the  firm  of  Lued- 
demann  &  Co.,  dealers  in  fancy  dry  goods,  silks, 
etc.,  Tuscumbia,  Ala.,  was  born  in  Erfurt,  Ger- 
many, and  is  a  son  of  Frederick  A.  and  Christiana 
(Linsdorff)  Lueddemann. 

The  senior  Mr.  L.,  an  officer  of  the  Prussian 
army,  came  to  America  in  1847,  locating  in  Ohio, 
and  later  on  at  Milwaukee,  AYis. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  when  a  young  man,  and  in  lb64,  loca- 
located  in  Nashville,  Tenn. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


441 


In  the  succeeding  year, '  he  came  to  Tus- 
cumbia,  where  lie  formed  a  partnership  witli  II. 
Leiforth,  and  was  engaged  in  tlie  dry  goods 
business  until  18G8.  In  that  year  Mr.  Leiforth 
withdrew,  and  was  succeeded  by  James  X.  Sani])- 
son,  of  New  York,  under  the  style  and  firm 
name  of  Lueddemann  &  Co.  This  is  now  the 
oldest  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the  city,  and 
is  the  leading  dry  goods  house  of  Colbert  County. 
Their  business  has  steadily  increased  from  the  very 
beginning,  until  it  has  assumed  vast  projiortions, 
and  they  have  now  erected  a  large  building  in 
order  to  facilitate  their  rajoidly  increasing  trade. 
They  were  the  first  merchants  in  that  city  to  intro- 
duce lady  clerks. 

Mr.  Lucddeman  was  married  to  Johanna  Chis- 
holm,  of  Nashville,  and  this  union  has  been 
blessed  with  four  children,  viz.:  Frederick,  Max, 
Ernest,  and  Frieda.  ^Mrs.  Lueddeman  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Christian  Church,  and  Mr.  Lueddemann 
is  a  member  of  the  A.  F.  &  A.  M.  and  Knigiits  of 
Pythias. 

JOHN  A.  McWILLIAMS  was  born  March 
5,  1841,  in  Colbert  County,  Ala.,  and  is  a  son  of 
Hugh  and  Elizabeth  (Quillin)  McWilliams,  natives 
of  Tennessee. 

The  senior  Mr.  McWilliams  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Alabama,  and  was  an  extensive 
planter.  He  was  married  in  Franklin  County, 
aiul  had  born  to  him  six  children,  to-wit:  James 
W.,  farmer,  served  in  the  Twenty-seventh  Alabama, 
during  the  late  war;  William  F.,  deceased;  Mary  C, 
deceased;  John  A.,  our  subject ;  Elizabeth  Ann, 
wife  of  Stephen  Aycock  ;  Virginia  I.,  widow  of 
Russell  Askew.  The  elder  McWilliams  died  in 
184G,  aiul  his  widow  survived  him  until  187G.  The 
McWilliams  family  came  originally  from  Ireland, 
in  the  person  of  the  great-grandfather  of  our  sub- 
ject. Ue  settled  in  Tennessee,  and  later  on  re- 
moved to  Alabama. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a  farm 
and  received  a  common-school  education.  In 
December,  18G2,  he  enlisted  in  Company  A, 
Twenty-seventh  Alabama,  and  participated  in  the 
battle  of  Perryville  and  several  skirmishes  around 
Corinth.  In  the  spring  of  1864,  he  returned 
home,  thence  went  to  Tennessee,  where  he  was 
engaged  at  farming  one  year.  lie  returned  to 
Alabama,  where  he  resumed  farming,  and  followed 
it  until  1872,  when  he  entered  mercantile  business 


near  Tuscumbia.  In  1880,  he  was  elected  sheriff 
of  Colbert  County,  and  located  in  the  latter  city, 
where  he  is  still  merchandizing,  and  has  been 
very  prosperous.  In  connection  witii  his  store  he 
conducts  a  farm,  cotton-gin  and  grist-mill. 

In  April,  1807,  Mr.  McWilliams  was  married  to 
Lucinda  B.  Stockwell,  of  Colbert  County,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  nine  children,  viz.:  Hugh  A.,  Will- 
iam E.,  Mary  \\.,  MattieE.,  Adcle  B.,  LucindaE., 
John  W.,  James  B.,  and  Charlie  A.  The  family 
are  members  of  the  Baptist  Chureh,  and  Mr.  Mc- 
Williams is  a  member  of  the  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  Knights  of 
Honor. 

J.  N.  SAMPSON  was  born  in  Palmyra,  N.  Y., 
in  1843,  where  he  received  a  common-school 
education.  He  served  in  Company  A,  One  Hun- 
dred and  Eleventh  Xew  York,  from  July,  18G:;i,  to 
the  close  of  the  war. 

Immediately  after  the  war  he  came  south  and 
located  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  where  he  worked  for 
the  Adams  Express  Co.  In  18G0  he  removed  to 
Tuscumbia,  and  engaged  in  mercantile  business. 
In  188.5,  in  connection  with  other  parties,  he 
purchased  a  brick  3'ard  and  planing  mill,  which 
they  run  one  year,  and  in  December,  188G,  was 
merged  into  the  Eureka  Brick  &  Lumber  Co. 
This  company  was  organized  with  G.  Lued- 
demann, as  president,  but  shortly  afterwards  II. 
Ilabbeller  was  made  its  president.  The  other  officers 
are  Charles  Beck,  of  Florence,  Ala.,  secretary, 
and  J.  N.  Sampson,  treasurer.  The  above  named 
officers,  together  with  M.  I.  Moses  and  E.  Tray,  of 
Cincinnati,  compose  the  board  of  directors.  The 
capacity  of  the  brick  yard  is  twenty  thousand 
brick  per  day.  This  company  established  the 
first  planing  mill  in  the  town. 

Jlr.  Sampson  was  married  in  his  native  State. 

___  ^.^  J^^i — «►  — — 

JOHN  H.  FISHER  was  born  May  4,  1843,  in 
Vanderburg  County,  Ind.,  and  is  a  son  of  Philip 
and  Catharine  ((lottsclialk)  Fisher. 

The  senior  Mr.  Fisher  was  born  in  Darmstadt; 
his  wife  in  Hesse.  He  located  in  Evansville.  Ind. 
where  he  was  married  and  reared  one  child,  the 
subject  of  our  sketch. 

John  II.  Fisher  was  reared  in  Evansville,  Ind., 
and  in  1852,  moved   with  his  grandfather  to  Mt. 


443 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Vernon,  Ind.,  where  he  received  his  education.  In 
1857  he  began  the  tinner's  trade  but  did  not  com- 
plete it  on  account  of  the  war.  In  May,  1861,  he 
enlisted  in  Company  C,  Twenty-fifth  Indiana  Vol- 
unteers, and  particiijated  in  the  battles  of  Donel- 
son  and  Shiloh  and  the  siege  of  Corinth,  where  lie 
was  wounded  in  the  foot  and  sent  to  the  hospital. 
In  January,  1863,  he  was  discharged  from  the  hos- 
pital and  came  home,  where  he  was  engaged  in  a 
drug  store  for  three  months,  after  which  he  was 
employed  in  the  postoffice  eighteen  months.  In 
1864  he  located  in  Sedalia,  Mo.,  and  clerked  in  a 
dry  goods  store  four  months.  He  returned  to  Mt. 
Vernon,  and  shortly  afterward  started  a  tin 
shop  of  his  own  which  he  conducted  for  a 
short  time,  thence  removing  to  Evansville,  and 
accepting  a  position  as  traveling  salesman,  in 
which  he  was  engaged  for  about  twelve  years. 
He  then  entered  business  for  himself  in  Posey- 
ville,  and  in  January.  1S84,  located  at  Tus- 
cumbia,  where  he  opened  a  hardware  and  queens- 
ware  house  and  has  since  been  doing  a  large 
business.  He  is  a  very  enterjjrising  and  public 
spirited  citizen  and  is  always  active  in  the  interest 
of  the  town.  He  is  now  serving  the  people  as 
alderman. 

Mr.  Fisher  was  married,  in  June,  1866,  to  Miss 
Nettie  Grant,  of  Evansville,  Ind.,  and  has  had  born 
to  him  four  children,  namely:  Catherine  E.,  Fan- 
nie G.,  Alice  C,  and  Edward  A.  Mrs.  Fisher  died 
March  16,  1873,  and  on  November  9,  1876,  Mr. 
Fisher  was  married  to  Miss  Liddie  A.  Mears, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  F.  Mears,  of  Daviess  County, 
Ind.  To  this  union  four  children  have  been  born, 
of  whom  two  are  living,  namely  :  Frank  A.  and 
William  H.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church,  and  Mr.  Fisher  is  a  Knight  of 
Honor  and  a  Knight  of  Pythias. 

ORLANDO  MERRILL  was  born  April  27, 1828, 
at  Tuscumbia,  and  is  a  son  of  Thomas  B.  and 
Ann  E.  (Rhea)  Merrill,  natives,  respiectively,  of 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

He  received  a  good  education,  and  spent  a  short 
time  at  the  University  of  Texas.  During  the  war 
he  was  in  the  Ordinance  Department  at  Jackson, 
Miss.,  in  the  capacity  of  clerk  and  inspector  of 
arms.  After  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg  he  went 
North  and  lived  in  St.  Louis  and  Chicago,  in 
which  places  he  was  engaged  in  the  jewelry  busi- 


ness. In  1871  he  removed  to  Memphis,  where  he 
remained  for  a  few  years;  thence  came  to  Tus- 
cumbia, where  he  has  since  been  engaged  in  the 
jewelry  business. 

Mr.  Merrill  was  first  married  in  February, 
1802,  to  Sue  Dunham,  of  Newark,  0.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  Asa  and  Susan  (Whales)  Dunham, 
natives  of  Connecticut.  To  this  union  two 
children  were  born:  Louella  and  Clark.  Mrs. 
Merrill  died  in  Burlington,  Iowa,  while  on  a  visit 
in  1867,  and  in  May,  1871,  Mr.  Merrill  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Emily  Shaw,  daughter  of  James  P. 
Shaw,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.  She  bore  him  three 
children,  of  whom  two  are  living:  Ruth  and 
Percy.  The  family  are  communicants  of  the 
Episcopal  Church. 

The  father  of  our  subject,  with  his  brother,  B. 
Merrill,  came  to  Alabama  in  1832,  and  located  in 
Tuscumbia,  where  they  were  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising. They  did  an  extensive  business,  and  in 
connection  with  their  merchandise  business  they 
leased  and  operated  the  Tuscumbia,  Courtland  & 
Decatur  Railroad,  afterward  known  as  the  Ten- 
nessee Valley  Railway.  They  also  ran  the  line  of 
steamers  on  the  Tennessee  River.  Before  the  war 
Mr.  Thomas  H.  Merrill  moved  to  Memphis,  where 
he  speculated  in  real  estate,  and  died  in  the  fall  of 
1860.  He  reared  a  family  of  eight  children: 
Angle,  Orlando,  Edwin,  Ella,  Emma,  William, 
Thomas  and  Lulu. 


BENJAMIN  F.  LITTLE,  born  November  30, 
1842,  near  Russell ville,  Ala.,  is  a  son  of  Clai- 
borne and  Sarah  (Brviton)  Little. 

The  senior  Mr.  Little  was  born  in  Tennessee, 
and  with  his  parents  migrated  to  Russell's  Val- 
ley, Ala.,  in  early  times.  He  was  a  merchant,  and 
died  in  1849.  He  reared  a  family  of  eight  chil- 
dren, viz.:  William  M.,  Edwin  (deceased),  Fran- 
cis M.,  Rufus  L.,  Coleman  R.  (deceased),  John 
C.  (deceased),  Mollie  (wife  of  Robert  Martin),  and 
the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Coleman  R.  and 
John  C.  were  members  of  the  Tenth  Mississipjii 
Regiment  during  the  late  war,  and  both  died 
while  in  the  service.  The  Little  family  came 
originally  from  Ireland. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  a  common- 
school  education,  and  at  the  age  of  twelve  years 
entered  a  store  with  his  uncle,  where  he  remained 
some  time,  and  became  a  partner  with  J.  0.  Jones 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


443 


at  Riissenvillc  and  Florence.  This  partnersliij) 
was  continued  with  niucli  success  until  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  war.  In  18(!1  Mr.  Little  enlisted 
in  Conij)any  II,  Fourth  Alabama  Regiment,  as 
second  sergeant,  and  participated  in  the  first  bat- 
tle of  Manassas,  after  which  he  was  promoted  to 
second  lieutenant.  In  the  winter  of  1SG1-G2  he 
was  transferred  to  the  Army  of  Mississippi,  where 
he  served  in  the  forage  department  of  Bragg's 
army  until  that  general  started  on  his  Kentucky 
raid.  Prior  to  the  battle  of  Munfordville  he  was 
as  second  lieutenant  appointed  to  the  command  of 
a  comiiany  of  sharpshooters,  and  was  engaged  at 
Bryantsville  and  Perryville.  On  the  retreat  from 
Kentucky  lie  was  made  aide-de-camp  of  Woods' 
brigade.  '  After  reaching  Dalton,  Ga.,  he  was  ap- 
pointed captain  of  the  Fifth  Alabama  Cavalry, 
and  was  in  that  capacity  at  Moulton,  Ala.  He 
was  then  ap])ointed  recorder  of  military  court  for 
tlie  northern  ilistrict  of  Alabama,  where  he  served 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  lie  was  promoted  to 
major,  but  did  .not  receive  his  commission  until 
after  tlie  surrender. 

When  peace  once  more  reigned  over  the 
land,  Mr.  Little  located  at  Tuscumbia,  where 
he  engaged  in  mercantile  business.  In  1871  he 
turned  his  .attention  to  farming,  which  he  con- 
tinued until  1878,  when  he  was  engaged  as  gen- 
eral agent  to  procure  tlie  right  of  way  for  the 
Sheffield  &  Birmingham  Railroad.  Shortly  after 
he  was  made  paymaster  of  that  road,  which  posi- 
tion he  filled  until  the  spring  of  188G,  when  he 
engaged  in  the  real  estate  business  at  Sheffield. 

Captain  Little  was  married  August  2,  18G4,  to 
Miss  Mattie  Inman,  only  daughter  of  John  D.  In- 
man,  Esq.,  an  old  and  respected  citizen  of  Tus- 
cumbia. This  union  was  blessed  with  three  chil- 
dren: John  C,  Mattie  R.  (^Irs.  F.  W.  Ross),  and 
Sac.  •  Mrs.  Little  died  December  5,  1SC8,  and 
the  captain  was  married  to  ^liss  Emma  Jones, 
daughter  of  Daniel  Jones,  of  Holly  Springs,  Miss. 
She  bore  him  five  children,  viz. :  Lulie  W.,  Ed- 
ward, Laura  F.,  Henry  and  Benjamin. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  the  captain  is  a  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Honor  and  the  Knights  and  Ladies 
of  Honor. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  great-grandson 
of  Maj.  William  Russell,  who  passed  through  Al- 
abama with  General  Jackson  on  his  way  to  fight 
the  liattle  of  New  Orleans,  crossing  the  Tennes- 
see River  at  the  now  city  of  Sheffield.     After  par- 


ticipating in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  as  chief 
cf  Jackson's  staff,  he  returned  and  settled  in 
Russell's  Valley,  and  for  him  the  valley  and  the 
beautiful  and  thriving  city  of  Russellsville  are 
named.  There  he  lived  and  died,  honored  and 
loved  by  all  who  knew  him. 

'    ">'  't^^t^;'  ■<»•    ■ — 

EDWARD  P.  RAND,  M.  D.,  was  born  November 
7,  1848,  in  Lawrence  County,  Ala.,  and  is  a  son  of 
Dr.  John  W.  and  Catharine  (Pearsall)  Rand. 

The  senior  Dr.  Rand  was  born  at  Raleigh,  N. 
C,  in  1822,  came  to  Alabama  with  his  parents  in 
1831,  and  settled  near  Leighton.  He  was  graduat- 
ed from  La  Grange  College,  and  also  from  Louis- 
ville, where  he  received  his  dijjloma  as  M.  D.  He 
practiced  his  profession  at  Leighton  until  1859, 
when  he  engaged  extensively  in  planting.  From 
the  disastrous  results  of  the  late  war  his  fortune 
was  considerably  despoiled.  He  resumed  farming 
after  the  war,  but  is  now  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  medicine  at  St.  Joseph,  Tenn. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  his  education 
at  the  Cumberland  L'niversity;  began  the  study  of 
medicine  at  Stark ville,  ^liss.,  when  twenty  years 
of  age,  and  graduated  in  1872  from  the  University 
of  Louisiana.  He  located  at  Tuscumbia  in  1878, 
where  he  has  practiced  his  profession  ever  since. 
He  is  a  ver)'  successful  physician  and  enjoys  a  large 
jiractice.  He  is  a  member  of  the  North  Alabama 
Medical  Association  and  the  County  Medical 
Society. 

Dr.  Rand  was  married  January  1.5,  1880,  to 
Miss  Mattie  White,  daughter  of  the  late  ^[r.  James 
M.  White,  of  Jlemphi.s,  Tenn.  This  union  has 
blessed  with  two  childreii:  James  and  Edward. 
The  doctor  is  a  Presbyterian,  and  his  wife  is  a  com- 
municant of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

JOHN  ANTHONY  STEELE,  Probate  Judge, 
Tuscumbia,  Ala.,  was  born  at  (iainesville,  Sump- 
ter  County,  this  State,  July  2.">,  183."i,  and  is  a  son 
of  William  J.  and  Mary  (Winston)  Steele. 

The  senior  Mr,  Steele  was  born  in  Woodford 
County,  Ky.,  August  10,  1800;  graduated  at  Dan- 
ville, that  State;  read  law  with  John  J.  Critten- 
den at  Frankfort,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar; 
came  to  Alabama  and  at  Gainesville  practiced  law. 
In  lS.i2  he  returned  to  Versailles.  Kv.,  and  there 


444 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


continued  the  joractice;  was  elected  judge,  and 
conducted  extensive  farming  operations.  He 
reared  eight  children:  John  A.,  Tliomas,  Jane  A., 
Mary  P.,  Andrew  F.,  William  J.,  James  "W.,  and 
Theopliilus,  deceased. 

The  Steeles  originally  came  from  Ireland. 
Thomas  Steele,  and  his  son  John,  grandfather  of 
John  Anthony  Steele,  were  the  first  of  that  family 
to  come  to  America,  and  they  settled  in  Woodford 
County,  Ky.,  where  John  Steele  became  a  man  of 
considerable  local  prominence.  He  was  sheriff  of 
the  county  a  time  or  two,  and  a  representa- 
tive to  the  Legislature  two  terms.  He  was  an 
officer  in  the  War  of  1812;  was  a  Whig  in  politics, 
and  a  devout  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
Mary  Winston  was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Ala., 
in  1819.  Her  father,  Anthony  Winston,  a  Virginian 
by  birth,  settled  in  Alabama  in  1818,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  first  Legislature  held  in  this  State. 

Judge  Steele,  the  gentleman  whose  name  stands 
at  the  liead  of  this  article,  was  reared  on  a  farm 
in  Kentuky;  graduated  in  classical  course  from 
Princeton  (Xew  Jersey)  College,  class  of  1852; 
afterward  read  law  at  Transylvania  L^niversity, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1854. 


Immediately  after  being  admitted  to  the  bar 
Mr.  Steele  came  to  Alabama,  married  and  settled 
upon  a  farm  in  Colbert  County.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Secession  Convention  of  1861,  and  took 
a  strong  stand  against  that  measure.  However, 
when  Alabama  declared  her  withdrawal  from  the 
Federal  Union,  he  at  once  espoused  her  cause,  and 
in  the  early  part  of  1862,  joined  the  army  as  a 
captain  of  a  company  in  Forrest's  Regiment.  He 
was  with  the  gallant  Forrest  through  all  his  Bliss- 
issippi,  Alabama  and  Tennessee  campaigns,  and 
surrendered  finally  at  Selma  in  1865.  At  once 
after  the  war  he  engaged  in  farming,  and  in  1870- 
71-72,  rejjresented  his  county  in  the  Legisla- 
ture. He  was  again  in  the  Legislature  in  1878-9; 
was  elected  i)robate  judge  in  1880  and  re-elected 
in  1886. 

Judge  Steele  was  married  in  April,  1856,  to  Miss 
Martha  B.  Winston,  and  had  born  to  him  nine 
cliildren:  William  W.,  John  A.,  Thomas  W., 
Annie  H.,  Mary  B.,  Judith  M.,  Sarah  W.,  Andrew 
M.  and  Edmund  W. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  the  Judge  is  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
tiie  K.  of  H.  and  the  K.  of  P. 


lUII 


RECORDS  OF  FOUNDING! 
OF  TALLADEGA  FOUND 


"Talladega  Battle  Ground"  Turned 
Into  Seat  Of  Justice 

T.\LL.\DEGA,  .\la..  Dec.  15.— (Spe- 
cial.)— Kecorcls  clatiiifi:  back  to  the 
foundina  of  Talladesa  and  Us  lo- 
cation a."!  the  county  seat  were  ex- 
amined Tuesday  by  Judge  M.  N. 
Mannins  in  an  effort  to  locate  titles 
to    certain  .  local     property. 

The  records  were  dated  April  4, 
1834.  and  were  made  between  Wil- 
im  H.  Moore  and  others,  owners 
of  the  land,  and  James  H.  McCann 
and  others,  representing  the  commis- 
sioners   of    Talladega,    as    appointed 

•by  tlie  county  judge  rndcr  the  act 
of  December  13,  1833.  "to  per- 
manently   locate    tho    seat   of   justice 

.  In  the  county  of  Talladega."  An 
election  was  held  to  locate  the  county 
seat  and  tho  battle  ground  was  de- 
cided on.  This  was  certified  -by  tha 
sheriff  to:  the  county  judge  and  he 
designated  the  site-  of  the  present 
city  of  Talladega.  January  1?.  lS3o. 
thev  sheriff  certified  to  the  com.mis- 
sloners  that  the  "Talla-dcga  battle 
pround"  be  returned  to  the  Judge  of 
the  county  court  as  a  alte  duly 
elected  for  the '  seat  of  Justice  of 
eaid.   county. 


IX 

TALLADEGA 


By  Otis  NicKLEg 


[III  iitt<in|itin(.'  thf  followinir  sketili,  the  writer  is  eim  fronted 
from  the  out.^set  by  one  of  the  greatest  tiisativantiiift'S  tliat  ean 
attend  an  effort  of  this  kinii— the  having  more  than  onee  treateil 
thesnlijeot,  ami  lieinKav'ain  ealled  upon  to  take  it  up  anil  present 
it  in  a  new  dress.  Several  of  the  descriptions  referred  to 
appeared,  originally,  in  the  .l/ipim/<ii)i  Uniiie,  a  well  conducted 
weekly  of  this  eit.v,  and  have  since  been  widel.v  republished.  If, 
in  the  eourse  of  this  sketch,  therefore,  I  occasionally  and 
unavoidably  infrin»^e  upon  their  language  and  ideas,  I  will  hold 
it  a  privih'ge  that  I  am  justly  entitled  to.  but,  at  the  same  time,  I 
wish  to  make  a  public  avowal  of  the  fact  before  hand.  This 
eourse  will  be  in  conformity  with  the  etiquette  of  journalism, 
and  also  an  act  of  eourtes.v  that  I  am  glad  to  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  ri'ndering  Mr.  John  C.  WilUame,  the  editor  of  the  Home, 
a  gentleman  whose  eaferprise  and  worth  I  esteem,  and  whose 
kindness  I  have  often  e.\perionced.] 

Talladega  is  on  the  East  Tennessep,  Virginia  iS: 
Georgia  Kailroad,  nine  and  a  fraction  degrees 
west  from  the  Wasliington  meridian,  and  fifty 
miles  northeast  from  the  geographical  center  of 
.\hibama.  By  reason  of  its  situation  and  extreme 
beauty,  it  is  termed,  by  the  Aiabamians,  the 
"  Bride  of  the  Mountains,"  an  appropriate  and  not 
inelegant  title  borrowed  from  the  famous  appella- 
tion of  Venice, — "TheBniil^of^the  Adriatic." 

To  the  west,  approaching  within  fen  miles,  and 
skirting  the  entire  western  border"  of  Talladega 
County,  flows  Coosa  River,  a  broad  and  sjjarkling 
stream,  of  considerable  volume,  which  here  varies 
from  three  hundred  yards  to  nearly  half  a  mile  in 
width. 

The  magnificent  valley  in  which  the  town  lies 
also  bears  the  same  name,  and  is  noted  for  its  min- 
eral wealth,  its  salubrity  and  fertility,  and  the 
diversified  charms  of  its  .scenery. 

No  interior  city  is  more  admirably  ]»laced  for 
development  and  growth.  Vet  we  find  little  in  the 
annals  of  Talladega  up  to  a  period  of  the  present 
deciiile  that  could  entertain  or  attract    the  reader. 

There  are  yet  living  those  who  remember  its  lo- 
cation as  a  wilderness,  teeming  with  wild  fruits 
and  starred   with  forest    flowers;  when   deer,  and 


other  noble  game,  were  common  objects  of  the 
chase,  and  when  the  wolf,  and  even  the  fierce 
panther,  infested  the  neighboring  mountains. 
-^  In  1832,  the  wiiite  man  fixed  his  permanent 
home  in  this  county.  Jlost  of  the  pioneer  immi- 
grants were  from  adjoining  counties  and  from  the 
States  contiguous  to  .Mabama. 

In  that  year  were  harvested  the  first  crojis  raised 
in  the  county  by  European  descendants,  and  was 
also  formed  the  nucleus  of  fhe  beautiful  town  of 
which  this  narrative  treats,  and  which  now  lies  in 
full  prospect  before  the  writer. 

Although  spring  is  not  yet  far  advanced  into 
April,  a  time  when  the  North  is  still  sheeted  with 
ice,  more  than  one  mocking-bird  is  trilling  his 
notes  from  a  tree  near  by;  and  the  landscape, 
which,  if  transferred  to  canvas,  would  adorn  the 
walls  of  the  most  elegant  art  gallery,  is  robed  in 
all  the  different  shades  of  green.  The  pastures 
and  front  yards  are  a-bloom  with  multitudes  of 
fragrant  flowers  of  brilliant  hue;  strawberries  and 
early  vegetables  are  ripe  in  the  gardens,  and  the 
wild  woods  are  spangled  with  the  many  thousand 
blooms  of  the  semi-tropics. 

(iazing  upon  this  picture,  it  is  difficult  to  fancy 
the  transformation  that  has  l)een  wrought  here 
since  the  years  prior  to  l^'.i'i,  when  the  red  man 
and  the  animal  life  that  yielded  him  subsistence 
or  roamed  as  unrestrained  as  he  through  the 
forest,  were  tlie  only  tenants  of  the  scene. 

But  events  that  have  become  historical,  and  of 
which  the  site  of  Talladega  was  the  theatre,  have 
associated  its  origin  in  the  minds  of  many  with  an 
earlier  period. 

Prominent  among  these  events  was  the  battle  of 
Talladega,  fought  November  '.>.  I>il3—  more  than 
eighteen  years  before  the  founding  of  the  town. 

'{"he    iminbers    ei)L'aL'c<l    in    this    conflict    were 


44.0 


446 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


scarcely  equal  to  the  advance  guard  of  a  great  army, 
yet  it  has  derived  a  certain  luster  from  the  fact 
that  the  Americans  were  commanded  by  Andrew 
Jackson,  and  their  foes  were  the  heroic  braves  of 
the  Creek  Confederacy. 

A  review  of  the  engagement,  which  was  one  of 
the  most  sanguinary  of  tiie  long  and  bloody  drama, 
known  as  tlie  Creek  War,  may  not  be  uninteresting, 
and  comes  fairly  within  the  pale  of  the  present 
sketch. 

In  1813-'13,  inflamed  by  the  arts  and  speeches 
of  the  celebrated  Shawnee  Chief,  Tecumseh,  the 
various  Muscogee,  or  Creek,  tribes  entered  the 
powerful  league  then  being  formed,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  the  British,  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf, 
among  the  frontier  Indians. 

The  Muscogces,  or,  as  they  were  termed  by 
Americans,  the  Creeks — a  name  suggested  by  the 
many  beautiful  creeks  that  coursed  their  terri- 
tory—  were  naturally  imbued  with  a  sjslendid  yet 
ferocious  courage,  combined  with  the  hereditary 
spirit  of  revenge  implanted  in  their  race.  They 
came  into  the  United  States  from  northwestern 
Mexico,  where  they  held  a  separate  republic  of 
their  own,  and  were  allies  of  Montezuma,  in 
defense  of  his  great  capital,  Mexico,  that  most 
superb  of  all  aboriginal  cities.  Fleeing  from  the 
cruelties  and  oppression  of  Cortez  (1530),  they 
■wandered  across  the  Red  and  Mississippi  Rivers, 
and  lived  for  a  number  of  years  on  the  banks  of 
the  Ohio.  Thence  they  came  south  in  pursuit  of 
their  old  enemies,  the  Alabamas,  and  dispossessed 
the  latter  of  their  lands  upon  the  Yazoo. 

Eventually  (about  ir,20),  the  Creeks  drove  the 
Alabamas  from  their  homes  in  this  State,  whither 
they  had  fled,  and  to  which  they  left  a  glorious 
lieritage  —  the  name,  Alabama. 

Here,  enchanted  by  thefruitfulness  and  beauty 
of  the  country,  and  the  abundance  of  game,  the 
Creeks  determined  to  reniaiji,  and  the  Alabamas 
were  finally  merged  into  their  confederacy. 

Tecumseh,  the  greatest  Indian  warrior  known 
to  history,  was  gifted  with  an  eloquence  rarely 
equalled,  and  was  magnificent  in  his  personal 
appearance.  His  father  and  mother  were  riatives 
of  Alabama,  born  and  reared  on  the  Tallapoosa 
Eiver,  at  a  phu-e  called  Old  Augusta. 

In  addition  to  these  advantages,  he  laid  claim 
to  the  gif*'  of  prophecy,  which  liad  been  imparted 
to  him  by  his  brother,  the  Sliawnee  Prophet,  who 
was  at  that  time  more  widely  known  and  powerful 
than  even  Tecumseh  himself. 


Having  ascertained  from  the  British  officers  in 
Canada  when  a  comet  would  appear,  he  used  this 
eccentric  star  to  delude  the  Creeks,  telling  them 
that  his  arms  would  be  seen  glittering  in  the 
heavens  at  a  certain  time,  and  that  their  appear- 
ance would  be  the  signal  for  beginning  the  war. 

He  also  accurately  foretold  an  earthquake,  but, 
unless  it  was  a  mere  coincidence,  his  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  that  jihenomenon,  whether  he 
evolved  it  from  his  own  philosophy,  or  whether  it 
had  been  handed  down  to  him  from  the  wisdom 
of  the  Aztecs,  is  something  in  which  the  wise  men 
of  the  world  would  be  glad  to  receive  instruction. 

As  a  further  incentive  to  war,  he  gave  assur- 
ance that  Great  Britain  was  ready  to  lend  the 
league  her  unstinted  aid  and  support. 

It  is  not  surprising  then  that  this  splendid  en- 
chanter, with  his  fame  as  a  warrior  and  his  sur- 
passing eloquence,  shotild  have  thrilled  the  hearts 
of  the  Creeks,  and  incited  the  majority  of  them  to 
vengeance. 

He  had  not  long  left  their  country  for  I)etroit 
when  his  two  jirophecies  were  fulfilled,  and  the 
direful  effects  of  his  mission  quickly  became  mani- 
fest. 

The  comet  flamed  in  the  sky,  and  an  earth- 
quake, more  severe  than  that  which  desolated 
Charleston,  visited  the  entire  South,  extending  as 
far  north  as  Missouri.  In  this  convulsion  wig- 
wams tottered  and  fell,  giant  trees  of  the  forest 
came  to  the  ground  with  a  crash;  the  county  of 
New  Madrid  in  Southeastern  Missouri  sunk  sev- 
eral feet,  and  the  town  of  Xew  Madrid  was  en- 
gulfed in  the  waters  of  the  Jlississippi.  Hostilities 
soon  commenced.  Many  murders  and  other  enor- 
mities were  committed  between  February  and  Au- 
gust, 1813,  by  way  of  prelude.  The  first  encoun- 
ter of  the  war  took  place  July  28th  at  Burnt 
Corn,  in  South  Alabama,  and  on  August  ;30th,  of 
the  same  year,  the  storm  broke  in  earnest.  On 
that  day  occurred  the  terrible  massacre  of  Fort 
Minis,  one  of  the  most  atrocious  horrors  in  the 
annals  of  border  warfare. 

/rhe  distressing  news  of  this  tragedy  rapidly 
spread  abroad,  and  called  down  on  the  Creek  Con- 
federacy the  full  wrath  of  the  Anglo-Americans. 
Seven  thousand  men  were  at  once  called  to  arms 
by  the  Governors  of  Tennessee.  Georgia  and  Miss- 
issippi Territories.  \The  Tennesseans  were  the 
first  to  take  the  field;  with  General  Jackson  in 
command,  they  descended  into  Alabama,  and 
passed  through  Iluntsville  October  11th.     Great 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


447 


(liffioulties  were  experienced  in  crossing  the  broad 
mountain  plateau  south  of  the  Tennessee  River, 
and  much  time  was  consumed  at  tlie  southern  base 
of  the  plateau  in  collecting  supplies.  Black 
Warrior,  a  town  on  the  river  of  that  name,  and  the 
village  of  Littefueliee,  on  the  headwaters  of  Big 
Canoe  Creek,  were  laid  in  ashes.  On  November 
3d  the  short,  but  fierce,  engagement  of  Talhis- 
hatchee  took  ])lace,  at  the  Creek  town  of  Tallus- 
hatchee,  in  Calhoun  County.  In  this  action  up- 
ward of  '.'OO  Indians  perished,  among  whom  were, 
unfortunately,  several  women.  The  Americans 
were  commanded  by  General  Coffee,  and  had  five 
killed  and  eighteen  woundecl.  .Jackson  now 
crossed  the  Coo.^a  Mountains  with  the  main  army, 
and  massed  his  forces  at  Ten  Islands,  on  Coosa 
River,  about  thirty  miles  from  Talladega  and  a 
few  miles  below  Greensport.  He  here  erected  a 
second  depot  for  supplies  (Fort  Deposit,  in  Xorth 
Alabama,  having  been  the  first),  which  ho  named 
Fort  Strother. 

Ou  the  evening  of  November  9Ui  tliree  natives, 
including  Jim  Fife,  a  warrior  of  some  distinction, 
arrived  at  Fort  Strother  with  the  intelligence  that 
a  few  friendly  Indians  were  beleaguered  in  Fort 
Lashley,  in  Talladegatowii,  and  implored  assist- 
ance. Notice  had  been  served  on  the  garrison  that 
it  must  surrender  by  the  morning  of  the  'Jth,  else 
the  fort  would  be  stormed  and  the  inmates  mas- 
sacred. The  characteristic  stratagem  by  which 
Fife  escaped  from  Fort  Lashley  in  the  presence  of 
his  enemies,  envelojjed  in  tlie  skin  of  a  large  hog 
(with  the  bead  and  legs  attached),  is  as  historical 
us  the  battle  itself. 

Jackson  immediately  crossed  Coosa  River  witli 
1,2(10  infantry  and  Ono  cavalry. 

He  encamjjed  the  night  before  the  liattle  on  the 
beautiful  grounds  now  owned  by  Mr.  S.  M. (Shack) 
Jemmison,  on  Cheaha  Creek,  six  miles  in  a  direct 
line  from  Talledaga.  At  an  early  houi-  the  next 
morning  the  army  resumed  its  nnircli  on  a  trace- 
way*  leading  across  by  the  General  .McClelland 
(now  the  McKibbon)  i)lantation,  and,  before  sun- 
rise, had  surrounded  the  Creek  encamj)ment,  in- 
closing it  in  almost  a  complete  circle. 

The  infantry  under  (Jenerals  Hall  and  Roberts 
formed  the  northern  semi-circle;  the  cavalry  and 
mounted  riflemen,  the  southern.  Roberts'  brigade 
was  stationed  along  the  hill  where  the  Exchange 

Markson  dlil  iii)t  ennic  mi  the  .luckson  Truce,  ox  many  sup- 
IMi*-.  Tlmt  rnuto  was  l>lu»-ilaiicl  iiit  out  by  \\U  pioneers,  fortlie 
ri'liirii  to  Fort  Stmther.  ufUT  the  tmttle. 


Hotel  stands.  .Jackson's  position  was  on  the  same 
hill,  a  little  west  of  Roberts'  brigade,  but  was  af- 
terward changed  to  a  j)oint  on  the  eminence 
west  of  town,  near  the  site  of  Mr.  T.  Ij.  Isbell's 
residence.  Hall's  brigade  was  posted  along  the 
brow  of  Talladega-College  Hill.  The  mounted 
riflemen  took  position  on  the  slope  where  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Institute  buildings  are  located.  The 
cavalry  oceujiied  the  hills  in  the  vicinity  of  South- 
wood,  south  of  the  cemetery.  One  thousand  and 
eighty  Creeks  were  ensconced  among  the  reeds 
and  willows  that  fringed  the  margin  of  the  brooks 
to  the  southwest,  or  were  encamped  about  the 
large  spring  which  bursts  from  the  base  of  the  hill 
where  the  pump-rooms  of  the  water-works  stand, 
a  few  yards  below  Battle  street. 
/  The  ninth  of  November  had  dawned,  and  they 
were  awaiting  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  or  the 
signal  to  take  it  by  storm,  either  of  wliich  events 
meant  the  massacre  of  the  besieged — a  hundred 
and  sixty  friendly  braves,  with  their  wives  and 
children.  At  eight  o'clock,  a  heavy  fire  was 
jjonred  into  this  encampment  by  .Jackson's  advance 
under  C'arroll,  when  the  American  lines  closed  up, 
and  the  battle  (or  rather  carnage,  for,  owing  to  the 
nature  of  the  Creeks,  not  one  of  whom  begged 
for,  or  would  receive,  quarter,  it  was  more  of  a 
carnage  than  a  battle)  became  general.  The  In- 
dians first  made  a  rush  in  the  direction  of  Roberts' 
brigade,  and  fiercely  attacked  his  position.  Terri- 
fied by  the  diabolical  screams  and  yells  of  their 
painted  assailants,  a  few  militia  companies  gave 
way  at  the  onset.  The  breach  was  at  once  filled 
by  the  mounted  reserve  under  Col.  Dyer,  who  dis- 
mounted and  sustained  the  charge.  Seeing  this, 
the  Hying  militia  retui'iied  and  fought  with  much 
gallantry. 

After  a  brief  but  brave  resistance,  the  Creeks 
began  to  retreat  before  the  discipline  and  great 
odds  of  the  Americans.  Their  flight  was,  of 
course,  disorderly,  as  had  been  their  mode  of 
attack,  and  soon  became  a  rout.  Attempting  to 
gain  their  Town  House  on  Talladega  Creek,  most 
of  them  fled  through  tlie  gap  between  Hall's  and 
Alcorn's  position,  and  were  j)ursued  and  killed 
by  Alcorn's  cavalry. 

The  Town  House  was  on  the  lands  now  known 
as  the  Terrj'Mill  place,  and  was  called  the  Talla- 
dega (or  Border  Town)  Town  IIou.se,  the  word 
Talladega  signifying,  in  its  original  dialect.  Bor- 
der Town. 

I'pward   of  six  tuindred  Creeks  ix'rislu'd  '•'  'i>i- 


448 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


action.  Two  hundred  and  ninety-nine  warriors 
were  left  dead  on  the  field.  Fully  as  many  more 
were  cut  off  in  the  flight,  and  the  woods  for  sev- 
eral miles  were  strewn  with  the  slain.  They 
would  listen  to  no  terms,  and  utterly  refused  to 
surrender  or  be  taken  alive.  Their  implacable 
nature  had  taught  .Jackson  that  they  fled  only  in 
hopes  of  future  revenge,  and  the  single  resource 
left  him  was  to  wage  a  war  of  extinction. 

Fifteen  Americans  were  killed  outright,  and 
eighty-five  wounded.  Three  of  the  latter,  includ- 
ing Lieutenant  Barton,  died  on  the  return  march 
to  Fort  Strother,  and  were  brought  back  to  Tal- 
ladega for  burial.  A  dismantled  and  dilapidated 
piece  of  stone-masonr}-,  in  a  field  southwest  from 
town,  marks  the  final  resting  place  of  these  eigh- 
teen soldiers.  —This  small  rock  structure  was  once 
roofed  over  so  as  to  shelter  the  burial-pit,  but  the 
roofing  is  gone,  and  the  inclosure  has  fallen  into 
almost  complete  decay. 

Five  more  desperate  encounters  took  place  be- 
fore the  treaty  of  Fort  Jackson,  among  them  that 
of  the  Holy  Ground,  the  scene  of  Weatherford's 
daring  feat  of  horsemanship.  It  was  there  that 
the  celebrated  leader  of  the  Creeks  eluded  capture 
by  leaping  his  horse  from  the  top  of  a  high  bluff  into 
the  Alabama  River.  With  a  mighty  bound  his 
powerful  gray  steed  rose  from  the  precipice 
and  plunged  into  the  river  below.  Both  horse 
and  rider  sank  out  of  sight  beneath  the  waters,  but 
presently  re-appeared,  and,  as  his  pursuers  did  not 
care  to  imitate  the  deed,  reached  the  opjjosite  shore 
in  safety,  and  escaped. 

The  war  was  closed  by  the  battle  of  Tohopeka, 
or  the  Horse  Shoe  of  Tallapoosa  Eiver,  ilarch  27, 
1814.  The  Muscogee  braves  were  almost  obliter- 
ated from  existence.  Of  all  that  Tecumseh  had 
stirred  to  arms,  not  more  than  two  hundred  war- 
riors remained,  and  most  of  these  were  so  badly 
maimed  and  gashed  with  wounds,  that  they  could 
not  again  go  into  battle.  Some  of  them  fled  to 
Pensacola  and  the  swamps  of  Florida,  and  were 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  Seminole  War. 
Their  confederacy  was  crushed,  their  power  was 
broken  and  they  were  compelled  to  sue  for  peace, 
which  they  proudly  did,  not  for  themselves,  but 
for  their  women  and  children. 

The  speech  of  Weatherford  to  General  Jackson, 
and  his  conduct  subsequent  to  the  defeat  at  Toho- 
peka, have  shed  a  brilliancy  around  his  name  that 
will  not  soon  fade.  Jackson  had  issued  special 
orders  that  this  chief  should  be  captured,  if  pos- 


sible, and  brought  to  him  for  punishment. 
Weatherford  did  not  wait  to  be  taken.  3Iounting 
the  same  noble  animal  which  had  borne  him  over 
the  bluff  and  out  of  the  reach  of  his  pursuers  at 
the  Holy  Ground,  he  rode  into  the  American 
camp  at  sunset  and  went  direct  to  the  tent  of 
Jackson. 

"•I  am  Weatherford,"  said  he,  confronting  the 
General.  '' I  do  not  fear  you  General  Jackson. 
I  have  nothing  to  ask  for  myself.  I  am  come  to 
ask  peace  for  my  people.  If  I  had  an  army  I 
would  fight  you.  Once  I  could  animate  my  war- 
riors to  battle.  I  can  not  animate  the  dead.  My 
warriors  can  no  longer  hear  my  voice.  Their 
bones  are  at  Talladega,  Tallushatchee  and  Toho- 
jjeka.  They  are  gone.  I  ask  peace  for  my  peo- 
ple, not  for  Weatherford." 

As  he  concluded,  several  who  had  come  up  ex- 
claimed "  Kill  him  I  Kill  him  I  Kill  him  I  "  But 
Jackson  commanded  silence  and  said  :  "Any 
man  who  would  kill  as  brave  a  man  as  that,  would 
rob  the  dead  !  ^ , 

The  foregoing  epitome  of  the  Creek  ^\'ar  has 
been  comjjiled  from  various  sources.  When  the 
same  thing  is  related  by  all  the  writers  differently, 
the  preference  has  been  naturally  given  Pickett,  the 
historian  of  Alabama,  save  in  two  or  tkree  instances, 
when  he  was  manifestly  in  the  wrong.  He  severely 
arraigns  the  biograjihers  of  Jackson  for  falsely  re- 
porting Weatherford's  speech,  when  the  truth  is, 
he  is  at  fault  himself..  They  record  it  as  it  was 
remembered  by  Jackson's  oflScers  who  were  present 
and  heard  it  delivered.  He  relates  it  as  it  was  told 
bv  Weatherford  years  afterward  in  conversation 
with  friends,  and  in  a  colloquial  manner.  The 
substance  in  all  the  versions  is  virtually  the  same, 
and  we  have  preferred  to  follow  the  biographers, 
who  hand  down  a  speech,  the  manly  eloquence  of 
which  so  much  impressed  them  at  the  time. 
Pickett  confutes  himself  immediately  afterward, 
by  presenting  a  specimen  of  Weatlierford's  elo- 
quence, which  is  directly  in  keeping  with  his  ad- 
dress to  Jackson  as  quoted  above. 

In  1820,  an  old  gentleman  was  brutally  murdered 
by  two  ruffians,  at  a  sale  near  Weatherford's  home. 
A  justice  of  the  peace  in  vain  urged  the  by-stand- 
ers  to  seize  the  two  men,  who  defied  arrest.  At 
this  juncture,  Weatherford  stepjied  forward  and 
said  : 

"These,  I  suppose,  are  white  men's  laws.  You 
stand  aside  and  see  a  man,  an  old  man,  killed,  and 
lot  one  of  you  will  avenge  his  blood.     If  he  had 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


449 


one  drop  of  Indian  blood  mixed  with  that  which 
runs  upon  the  grouiid  there,  I  would  instantlj' 
kill  his  murderers  at  the  risk  of  my  life."' 

The  justice  then  besought  him  to  take  them, 
telling  him  that  the  white  man's  law  would  com- 
mend the  act.  Thus  adjured,  he  drew  from  its 
sheath  a  long  silver-handled  butcher  knife  which 
he  carried  with  him,  and  advanced  toward  the 
murderers,  who  stood  brandishing  their  knives 
some  thirty  paces  distant.  Heing  well  ac<|uainted 
with  the  fearless  nature  and  herculean  strength 
of  the  man  with  whom  they  had  to  deal,  they 
dropped  their  weajions  at  his  approach,  and  sub- 
mitted without  resistance. 

More  than  three  centuries  ago,  however,  if  the 
Sjiaiiish  and  Portuguese  historians  are  to  be  be- 
lieved, De  Soto  and  his  cavaliers  entered  the  prov- 
ince of  Coosa,  and  traversed  the  county  and  valley 
of  Talladega  (.Inly,  l."i4<i)  in  search  of  gold. 

A  prolific  vein  of  that  precious  metal  existed, 
and  is  now  being  mined  with  success,  in  the  Ap- 
palachian foot  hills,  six  miles  southwest  from 
town.  Hut  the  Indians  were  either  ignorant  of 
its  presence,  or  cunningly  deceived  the  Spaniards. 

The  latter  left  with  the  natives  a  negro,  a  brass 
kettle-drum,  and  several  shields.  The  drum  and 
shields,  we  are  informed,  were  in  possession  of  the 
Talladegas  at  a  late  date  (probably  at  the  close  of 
last  century),  and  were  used  as  trophies  in  their 
annual  festivals. 

The  province  of  Coosa,  so  highly  extolled  by  the 
historians  of  the  expedition  for  its  fertility  and 
charms,  is  at  present  comprised  in  Cherokee,  Cal- 
houn, Talladega  and  Coof^a  counties. 

The  fame  of  this  wealthy  province,  of  which  the 
most  attractive  portion  is  embraced  in  Talladega 
County,  extended  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  had 
reached  the  ears  of  the  Spaniards  on  the  Atlantic 
seaboard,  and  the  province  was  held  by  the  un- 
tutored, but  nature-loving  children  of  the  forest, 
to  be  the  fairest,  the  healthiest,  and  the  richest  of 
lands. 

While  the  Spaniards  were  at  his  capital — a  town 
situated  in  the  territory  now  comprised  in  Talla- 
dega County — the  chief  of  the  province,  a  young 
man  twenty-six  year.s  old,  always  dined  with 
lie  Soto.  One  day  he  rose  from  the  taltle  and 
earnestly  entreated  the  cavalier  to  establish  a 
colony  in  his  dominions,  offering  him  choice  of 
any  region  he  might  select.  De  Soto  indeed  con- 
templated peopling  some  delightful  country,  and 
he  liked  this  better  than  any  he  had  yet  seen;  but 


dreams  of  golden  cities  a::d  fabulous  wealth,  sur- 
passing that  of  the  Incas  and  Montezumas, 
dazzled  his  imagination  and  lured  him  farther 
west. 

Thus,  during  the  long  interval  that  has  elap.sed 
since  the  march  of  De  Soto  to  his  grave  in  the 
Mississippi,  this  valley  has  been  known  to  history, 
and  esteemed  as  one  of  the  most  inviting  spots  on 
the  globe. 

Among  those  who  settled  here  in  \^:Vl  were 
Hon.  Ct.  T.  McAfee,  the  first  Probate  Judge  of 
the  county:  Mr.  Hugh  Harclay,  the  first  post- 
master of  the  town;  his  first  wife,  Mrs.  Barclay, 
the  first  person  buried  in  ^the  city  cemetery; 
Major  James  llogan,  who  yet  resides  in  the 
county,  at  his  home  in  Mardisville;  and  Mr.  W. 
L.  Lewis,  who  is  also  still  with  us,  a  hale  and 
venerable  citizen  of  this  city.  \  His  memory  is  a 
store-house  of  useful  information,  and  from  him 
the  writer  has  obtained  the  facts  in  this  sketch 
pertaining  to  the  pioneer  days  of  Talladega. 
%:.  On  the  evening  of  his  arrival  Mr.  Lewis  was 
shown  over  the  village  and  its  vicinity  (October  7, 
183ii).  The  embryo  city  was  at  that  time  called 
by  its  inhabitants,  not  Talladega,  but  the  "  Battle 
Ground."  Albeit  nineteen  years  had  passed  away 
since  the  battle,  Mr.  Lewis  found  abundant  evi- 
dence that  a  bloody  conflict  had  once  occurred 
here.  The  slight  eminence  occupied  by  the  Deaf, 
Dumb  and  Blind  Institute  buildings  to  the  east, 
and  the  city  cemetery  to  the  west,  and  the  interval 
between  it  and  Southwood,  were  strewed  with 
Indian  bones.  These  were  scattered  about  mostly 
on  the  southern  slope,  increasing  in  number  toward 
Cemetery*  Hill. 

The  dwellings  and  store  rooms  of  the  early  set- 
tlers consisted  of  log  cabins,  located  east  of  the 
spring,  on  the  Mcintosh  Trace,  a  public  highway 
leading  from  Mcintosh  Ferry,  on  the  Chattahoo- 
chee Kiver,  to  Kymulga  Ferry,  on  the  C'oosa. 

By  the  treaty  of  Fort  Jackson  (August  9.  1.S14) 
all  the  Creek  territory,  except  that  lying  between 
the  Coosa  and  'i'allapoosa  nivers,  embracing  Tal- 
ladega I'ounty  (or,  rather,  that  portion  south  of 
Coosa  Hi\'>r.  and  north  of  a  straight  line  drawn 
from  Wetun'ipka  eastward),  was  ceded  to  the 
United  States.  The  Creeks  were  confined  totliese 
bounds  in  order  to  secure  them  against  the  in- 
triguesof  the  British  and  Spanish,  and  toseparate 
them  from  the  Seminoles.  To  each  head  of  a 
family  was  ajiportioned  330  acres,  and  to  each 
chief    a  section.       These   lands   were  afterward 


450 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


bought  in  by  the  Government,  and   in  1834  were 
surveyed  and  offered  for  sale  (July  1::^)'. 

At  an  election  held  the  same  year,  Talladega 
was  chosen  county  seat  of  Talladega  County,  over 
Mardisville,  or  Jumper's  Spring,  and  Middleton, 
a  hamlet  at  the  ford  where  the  Anniston  &  At- 
lantic railroad  bridge  spans  Talladega  Creek.  The 
Presbyterian  and  Methodist  Churches  were  estab- 
lished toward  the  close  of  that  year,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1835,  the  Good  Hope,  since  named  the 
Talladega  Baptist  Church,  was  founded.  The 
Episcopal  Church  did  not  obtain  a  firm  footing 
until  after  tlie  civil  war. 

In  1830,  the  Creeks,  at  the  instance  of  Osceola, 
the  Seminole  Chief,  again  rose  to  arms,  but  their 
forces  were  meager  and  they  were  soon  quelled. 
Peace  was  restored  during  the  summer,  and  the 
remnant  of  this  ill-starred  people  was  removed  to 
their  reservation  beyond  the  borders  of  Arkansas. 

As  foes,  they  were  merciless  to  the  utmost 
verge  of  cruelty,  yet  we  can  not  dismiss  them  from 
this  narrative  without  a  tribute  to  their  valor. 
Despite  the  military  genius  of  Jackson,  and  the 
superiority  of  civilized  over  savage  tactics,  he 
would  never  go  into  battle  against  them  without 
overwhelming  odds  in  his  favor.  Whenever  the  ■ 
numbers  were  with  them,  as  at  Burnt  Corn  and 
Fort  ]\Iims,  they  invariably  came  off  conquerors, 
and  then,  woe  to  the  conquered  I 

They  were  taller  than  the  Americans,  and 
straight  as  their  own  arrows.  Most  of  their 
braves  were  above  six  feet  in  height,  but  their  wo- 
men were  small,  yet  very  pretty  and  exquisitely 
formed.  They  were  exceedingly  graceful  in  gesti- 
'  culation  and  movement,  and  "some  of  their  chiefs 
pos.sessed  an  eloquence  unexcelled  by  the  orators 
of  civilized  nations.  History  records  no  finer  il- 
lustration of  the  typical  Indian  warrior,  now  a 
thing  of  the  past,  than  the  Muscogee  brave. 

The  city  of  Talladega  is  at  the  gathering  and 
radiating  point  of  Talladega  County,  on  a  series 
of  sloping  hills,  which  swee;)  in  successive  tiers 
or  benches  from  the  h-^ights  north  of  town  to  the 
mountains  south  and  east.  The  crests  or  which 
it  is  built  and  the  green  clad  hills  on  eicher  side 
add  to  its  salubrity,  and  heighten  the  charms  of 
its  apjiearance. 

Mineral  waters  of  various  descriptions  are  plen- 
tiful and  easily  accessible.  Chandler  and  Talla- 
dega Springs,  watering  places  of  celebrity,  are 
within  the  confines  of  the  county.  At  Shocco. 
two  miles  from  town,  are  chalybeatB,  sulphur  and 


freestone  springs.  The  city  itself  is  noted  as  a 
health  resort,  and  visitors  are  flocking  hither 
more  and  more  every  summer  to  get  the  benefit 
of  the  pure  air  that  comes  down  from  the  moun- 
tains, and  of  the  superb  scenery  around. 

The  area  of  Talladega  is  two  by  two  miles  at 
the  maximum  length  and  breadth,  but  until  the 
past  year  the  corporate  lines  were  so  circumscribed 
within  these  limits  that  the  town  was  almost  out 
of  town;  hence  the  census  was  given,  and  stands 
on  the  statistics,  at  about  one-half  the  real  popula- 
tion.    The  estimate  at  present  is  3,800. 

There  are  some  seventy-five  business  firms  and 
establishments,  including  a  wholesale  grocery,  a 
wholesale  tobacco-house,  three  banks,  three  hotels, 
a  first-class  opera  house,  two  livery  and  feed  stables, 
three  newspaper  and  printing  offices,  two  land 
companies,  two  real  estate  agencies,  an  ice-factory, 
and  the  Eagle  Works,  comprising  a  flouring  and 
grist  mill,  a  steam  ginnery,  extensive  planing-mills 
and  cabinet  shops,  and  an  iron  foundry.  There  are 
also  six  law  firms  and  five  physicians.l 

Our  Muuntiiin  Home,  a  weekly  newspaper,  John 
C.  Williams,  editor,  was  established  in  1867.  The 
Sun,  J.  W.  Huston,  editoi',  is  an  enterprise  of  the 
current  year.  The  Talladega  Reporter,  a  weekly 
newspajier,  T.  J.  Cross  &  Son,  editors,  was  estab- 
lished in  18^  The  Banking  House  of  Isbell  & 
Co.,  Captain  li.  H.  Isbell,  president,  was  founded 
by  Major  James  Isbell  in  1848.  The  Bank  of  Tal- 
ladega, Captain  T.  S.  Plowman,  president,  was 
founded  by  William  H.  Skaggs  in  1886.  The  Cit- 
izens' Bunk,  William  H.  Skaggs,  president,  is  just 
established. 

There  are  two  fire  companies,  splendid  gas  and 
w-ater  systems,  reckoned  among  the  best  in  the 
State,  a  military  company  (the  Talladega  Rifles), 
and  five  secret  organizations,  to-wit:  Masons,  Odd 
Fellows,  Knights  of  Pythias.  Knights  of  the  Gold- 
en Rule  and  Knights  of  Honor. 

The  nearest  marble  quarry  is  at  Cragdale.  four 
miles  distant;  the  Waldo  gold  mines  are  six  miles; 
the  nearest  furnace  in  blast  is  at  Ironaton,  eight 
miles;  the  city  furnace  sites  are  at  the  western 
corporate  limits  of  Talladega,  on  the  East  Ten- 
nessee, Virginia  &  Georgia  Railroad.  These 
furnaces  are  in  active  in-oeess  of  construction. 
The  brick  and  tile  works  are  at  Lake  View,  close 
to  the  base  of  the  heights  that  rise  above  North 
Talladega. 

Two  railways,  the  Anniston  &  Atlantic  and  the 
East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia,  intersect  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


town,  and  a  third,  the  Talladega  &  Coosa  Valley, 
liiis  its  eastern  terminus  at  this  point.  This  line 
has  only  twenty-five  miles  of  track,  but  is  by  no 
means  the  least  important  of  the  three,  connect- 
ing, as  it  does,  with  the  Georgia  Pacific  and  East 
&  West  roads  at  Pell  City,  tapping  the  Coosa 
coal  fields,  and  leading  througli  diversified  and 
attractive  landscapes.  Its  trains  run  on  the  An- 
niston  iV  Atlantic  track  for  two  miles,  and  thence 
switch  off  10  tlieir  own  lire,  which  skirts  the  base 
of  the  Sleeping  Giant,  extends  througli  the  moun- 
tain i)assat  Henfroe.and  penetrates  broad  forests  of 
long-leaf  yellow  i)ine.  on  its  way  to  Pell  City.  The 
early  trip  over  this  road,  through  a  section  of  the 
valley,  and  through  the  hills  that  border  Coosa 
Kiver,  is  delightful.  The  beams  of  the  morning 
sun  slanting  through  the  aisles  of  pines,  tinging 
with  yellow  the  rich  grasses  and  cryptogamic 
growth  beneath,  give  additional  beauty  to  a 
picture  wliich  has  a  peculiar  charm.  esi)ecially  fur 
those  unused  to  such  scenes. 

y^n  intelligence,  the  people  of  Talladega  are 
superior  to  those  of  any  city  of  the  same  size  in 
Alabama,  and  perhaps  in  the  South.  The  town 
has  been  entitled  the  ''School  of  Alabama's  In- 
tellect," and  the  number  of  distinguished  men 
she  lias  sent  forth  to  hel})  shape  the  destinies  of 
the  State  and  Nation,  seem  to  verify  the  saying. 
The  scenic  and  atmospheric  conditions,  and  the 
narrow  limits  of  Attica  were  no  more  favorable 
for  im])arting  brilliancy  and  intellectual  vigor  to 
the  cultured  Athenians  than  are  the  intluences  of 
Talladega  Valley. 

Among  the  noted  men  now  dead  who  have  nnvle 
this  city  their  home  in  the  past,  were:  Felix  G. 
lloConnell,  Franklin  W.  Bowden,  Sr.,  Marcus  II. 
Cruikshank,  Taul  Bradford.  Alexander  Bowie,  A. 
J.  Walker  and  William  P.  Chilton.  The  first  four 
of  these  gifted  men  .served  with  ability  in  the  halls 
of  Congress  (.Mr.  Cruikshank  in  the  Confederate 
Congress);  the  remaining  three  did  honor  to 
themselves  and  their  State  in  the  Judiciary  De- 
partment of  Alabama — Messrs.  Chilton  and  Walker 
as  Chief-Justices  of  the  Supreme  Bench, 
and  Mr.  Bowie  as  Chancellor  of  the  Northern 
Division. 

Of  the  eminent  men  yet  living,  who  belonged 
to  the  same  school,  are  (ien.  Jcdii^.  T.  Morgan,  one 
of  the  most  illustrious  member.sj  of  the  United 
States  Senate;  Hon.  Alexander  White,  an  effect- 
ive orator,  and  author  of  the  wijely-knewn  '•  Bon- 
nie Blue  Flag"  si)eech;  Uon.  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  the 


present  United  States  Minister  to  Spain;  Gen.  C. 
M.  Shelley,  ex-Congressman  from  the  Selma  Dis- 
trict; Judge  Sam.  F.  Pice,  formerly  a  Justice  of 
the  Alabama  Supreme  Court;  Hon.  George  W. 
Stone,  the  Presiding  Chief-Justice  of  that  Court; 
<iov.  Lewis  K.  Parsons,  the  Provisional  (Jovernor 
of  Alabama  and  ex-United  States  Senator;  Judge 
John  T.  Heflin,  prominent  in  legal  circles  for  his 
knowledge  of  jui'isprudence;  and  Hon.  John  W. 
Bishoj),  a  brilliant  orator  of  this  city. 

This  high  order  of  intelligence  demands  and 
has  brought  about  an  elegant  and  dignified  state 
of  society.  Every  community  in  the  county  has 
one  or  more  clinrches,  and  there  are  one  or  more 
good  schools  in  each  precinct.  In  the  city  are 
eight  churches,  four  for  the  white  and  four  for 
the  colored  people.  For  the  white  people  are  the 
Presbyterian,  Methodist,  Baptist  and  Epi-scopal 
churches,  whose  pulpits  are  filled  by  able  minis- 
ters; for  the  colored,  the  Congregational,  Meth- 
odist and  two  Baptist  churches. 

Educational  opportunities  are  ample,  and  the 
schools  under  excellent  supervision.  The  Ala- 
bama Institute  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  and  Acad- 
emy for  the  Blind  are  located  here.  D^iring  the 
present  city  administration  an  admirable  system 
of  jjublic  schools  has  been  introduced.  Here  is 
also  situated  theSynodical  Female  Institute.  This 
seminary  stands  on  an  eminence  shaded  with  beau- 
tiful oaks,  north  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Its 
location  is  healthy  and  delightful.  The  building- 
is  a  substantial  brick  structure,  with  a  colonnade 
of  jieavy  Doric  columns  in  front.  The  collegiate 
department  of  the  school  comi)rises  the  four  con- 
ventional classes,  from  freshman  to  senior.  There  * 
is,  moreover,  a  post-graduate  course,  which  is  not 
obligatory,  but  left  to  the  will  of  the  ])upil  or 
])atron,  and  intended  for  those  wishing  to  i)repare 
themselves  for  special  callings. 
^li  On  the  brow  of  a  hill  in  North  Talladega,  and 
overlooking  that  part  of  town  beyond  the  East 
Tennessee  Pailroad,  is  the  city  school,  a  commodi- 
ous and  handsome  building  after  the  modern  style 
of  architecture.  \  This  seat  of  learning  is  fur- 
nished with  the  latest  ajiijointniuits,  apparatuses, 
maps  and  charts;  is  well  nninaged;  has  a  fine  corps 
of  teachers,  and  its  method.s  are  formulated  from 
the  most  approved  systems.  Its  curriculum  em- 
braces nine  grades,  and  two  hundred  students  are 
on  the  rolls.  It  is  controlled  by  the  city  council, 
and  has  Mayor  Skaggs  for  its  i)resident.  A  pros- 
perous  public   sciiool   for  the  colored  people  has 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


oeen    established  on  the  same   basis,  and    is   also 
controlled  by  the  city  council. 

The  view  from  the  observatory  of  the  public 
school  is  most  enchanting.  Subjacent,  to  the 
south,  is  the  main  portion  of  Talladega.  Over 
the  roofs  of  the  houses  are  seen  the  Appalachian 
foot-hills,  beginning  at  Cragdale  Heights,  and 
spreading  out  for  miles  beyond,  while  still  far- 
ther off  is  the  majestic  purple  of  the  Blue  Eidge, 
looking  just  as  grand  and  tranquil  in  the  distance 
as  the  C'atskills.  Due  west  is  the  Sleeping 
Giant,  northeast  is  Mount  Parnassus,  north,  and 
inclining  southwesterly,  is  the  connecting  ridge 
between  Parnassus  and  the  Sleeping  Giant,  and 
southwest  are  the  Kahatchee  Hills,  miles  awa}'  in 
the  background;  a  beautiful  vale  in  front,  and 
rolling  lands  in  the  interval,  traversed  by  Talla- 
dega and  Wewoka  Creeks,  altogether  constituting 
a  panorama  which  seems  to  belong  rather  to 
fairyland  than  the  realm  of  reality.  Slightly 
tinged  with  azure,  and  invested  with  the  rich 
verdure  of  the  South,  these  scenes  are  such  as  ttjlf 
most  skillful  artist  can  not  adequately  depict. 

This  brings  us  to  those  two  noble  schools,  the 
Alabama  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  and 
the  Academy  for  the  Blind,  at  the  mention  of 
■which  every  Ala-bamian  should  feel  a  glow  of 
honest  pride.  These  deserve  a  more  e.xtended 
sketch  than  the  compass  of  this  chapter  will 
admit. 

Since  October,  1858,  a  school  for  the  deaf  and 
dumb  has  been  located  in  Talladega,  and  during 
that  time,  with  the  exception  of  one  year,  has 
been  conducted  by  Dr.  Jo.  H.  Johnson,  the  pres- 
ent principal,  with  extraordinary  fidelity  and  suc- 
cess. Prior  to  1858,  one  or  two  fruitless  attempts 
were  made  to  establish  an  institution  of  this 
nature  in  Alabama,  and  in  February  of  that  year 
communication  was  opened  with  Dr.  Johnson, 
then  of  Cave  Springs,  (ia.,  by  Governor  A.  B. 
Moore  and  Gen.  William  F.  Perry,  our  first  State 
Superiniendent  of  Education.  The  latter  once 
lived  in  this  city.  His  symi>athies  and  conspic- 
uous talents  were  enlisted  in  the  cause,  and  to 
him  is,  in  a  great  measure,  due  the  rise  of  deaf- 
mute  education  in  Alabama. 

In  this  correspondence  it  was  determined  to 
open  a  seminary  for  deaf-mutes  in  the  town  of 
Auburn,  the  ensuing  April;  but,  on  inspection,  the 
building  engaged  proved  entirely  unsatisfactory, 
and  this,  together  with  other  circumstances — 
chiefly  the  resignation  of  General  Perry — delayed 


the  undertaking  until  the  1st  of  October.  On 
that  day  school  was  opened  by  Dr.  Johnson  in  the 
sjjacious  building  still  used  for  the  purpose,  and 
was  conducted  as  a  private  work,  or  rather  a  work 
of  private  benevolence,  for  the  income  was  very 
inadequate,  until  February  4,  1860.  The  rooms 
were  furnished,  and  a  large  cistern — the  first  in 
the  county,  and  still  in  use — was  built  at  the 
principal's  expense.  William  S.  Johnson  was  the 
first  student  enrolled.  Mr.  Johnson  afterward 
graduated  at  the  National  College  for  Deaf-^Iutes, 
in  AVashiugton.  and  is  now  a  professor  in  the 
Alabama  institution. 

By  an  Act  of  the  Legislature  1859-'00  to  establish 
"the  Alabama  Institute  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb," 
a  board  of  commissioners  was  appointed  to  locate 
the  site  and  take  necessary  steps  for  the  perpetua- 
tion of  the  school.  The  Commissioners  were:  G«n. 
Jacob  T.  Bradford,  Dr.  William  Taylor,  Marcus  H. 
Cruikshank,  Esq.,  G.  B.  DuVal,  Esq.,  and  Gen. 
James  B.  Martin.  Dr.  William  Taylor  alone  sur- 
vives, and  is  jiresident  of  the  existing  board. 
They  at  once  entered  into  negotiations  for  the 
purchase  of  the  property,  at  that  time  known  as 
the  Masonic  Female  Institute,  and  rented  aild 
used  by  Dr.  Johnson,  for  a  deaf-mute  school. 

A  purchase  was  soon  effected  for  sixteen  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  sum  was  paid  over  to  Gen. 
John  T.  Morgan  (now  United  States  Senator),  as 
attorney  for  the  judgment-creditors,  and  this  ele- 
gant property  passed  into  the  hands  of  th.e  State, 
dedicated  to  one  of  the  noblest  objects  that  can 
engage  the  benevolence  of  man. 

The  buildings  crown  a  slight  eminence  in  East 
Talladega,  "opened,"  says  the  Principal 'in  his 
first  report,  "to  every  refreshing  and  purifying 
breeze,  and  commanding  a  most  extensive,  varied 
and  animated  prospect."  The  main  structure  is 
one  of  the  most  classical  and  substantial  looking 
pieces  of  architecture  in  the  State,  albeit  some 
others  have  cost  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars. 
It  is  built  of  dark-colored,  pressed  bric-k,  consists 
of  four  stories,  and  is  after  the  Corinthian  style, 
with  a  row  of  massive  and  beautiful  columns  in 
front.  Within  the  same  inclosure  are  two  other 
four-story  brick  buildings,  which  would  be  orna- 
ments to  any  city.  A  brick  hospital,  a  much- 
needed  convenience,  has  just  been  added.  The 
grounds  are  spacious,  and  delightfully  laid  off  and 
beautified  with  an  elegance  that  would  have 
charmed  Shenstone. 

No  one  better  understands  the  influence  of  local 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


453 


suiToumlingsou  the  physical  ami  intellectual  facul- 
ties than  the  instructor  of  this  class  of  unfortunates. 
In  tiie  report  just  c|uote<l  from  we  tind  tiie  following 
thought,  bearing  ilirectly  on  this  subject:  ''What- 
ever captivates  the  eye,  if  properly  directed,  neces- 
sarily enlarges  knowledge,  elevates  character, 
and  gives  the  mind  resources  within  itself,  which 
are  peculiarly  valuable  to  those  whom  calamity 
deprives  of  a  full  share  of  that  mental  occupation 
derived  from  social  intercourse." 

Witli  this  in  view, the  large  lawn  in  front  was  set 
with  elms,  maples,  and  oaks,  and  the  grounds 
were  sowed  with  perennial  grasses  in  1IS61.  The 
site  of  the  lawn  is  now  occupied  by  a  superh  grove 
of  beautiful  trees,  whose  branches  meet  above  a 
rich  carpet  of  grass.  A  plot  east  of  the  main- 
building  is  adorned  with  shrubbery  and  briglit 
colored  flowers,  and  near  the  front  steps  is  a  basin 
designed  for  a  fountain  and  a  fountain  jet. 
■  In  lS(i"2,  Dr.  Johnson  being  absent  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Confederate  States,  Professor  Fannin,  of 
(leorgia,  avted  as  princijjal  of  the  institute.  From 
the  records  we  tind  that  he  discharged  the  duties 
of  that  responsible  position  in  a  satisfactory  man- 
ner. In  18(ji!  the  blind  department  was  added, 
and  the  school  assumed  a  dual  character,  under  the 
name  of  the  Alabama  Institute  for  the  I>eaf  and 
l)umb  and  the  Hlind. 

Hy  an  Act  of  the  last  (ieneral  Assembly  the  sum 
of  *20,000  was  appropriated  for  the  erection  of  an 
academy  for  the  blind.  'I'he  building  is  receiving 
its  finishing  touches,  and  stands  on  a  command- 
ing hill  outside  the  eastern  limits  of  the  city.  Its 
design  is  very  attractive,  and,  when  completed, 
the  structure  will  be  one  of  the  handsomest  and 
best  equipped  for  school  purposes  in  Alabama. 

The  mode  of  instruction  in  the  Deaf.  Dumb  and 
Bliiul  Institute  is  the  combined  method — signs, 
the  manual  alphabet  and  oral  speech  are  all  used 
as  seems  best  in  each  special  case.  The  buildings 
are  all  lighted  with  gas,  and  the  whole  premises 
supplied  with  water  by  the  water-works.  All 
deaf-mute  and  blind  children,  so  deaf  or  blind 
that  they  can  not  be  taught  at  the  common  schools, 
are  entitled  to  admission  free  of  cost,  save  for 
clothing  and  traveling  expenses.  The  pupils  are 
kindly  treated  and  faithfully  taught.  So  admira- 
ble lias  been  the  management  of  the  institution  as 
to  attract  the  attention  of  foreign  Governments. 
Only  last  year  the  Court  of  Spain  wrote  to  Dr. 
Johnson,  inquiring  into  his  plan  of  instruction, 
with  a    view  to   improving   their   own    methods. 


Very  curious  is  this  in  light  of  the  fact  that  Peter 
Ponce,  a  Spaniard  who  lived  before  Alabama  was 
discovered,  was  the  first  instructor  of  deaf-mutes 
of  whom  we  have  any  knowledge,  and  that  John 
Paul  Bonet,  also  a  Spaniard,  was  the  first  to  write 
a  treatise  on  tlie  subject. 

Scarcely  inferior  in  appearance  to  the  Deaf, 
Dumb  and  Blind  Institute  is  Talladega  College,  for 
colored  people,  with  its  cluster  of  buildings  on 
the  brow  of  a  hill  west  of  town.  The  water  tower 
is  a  conspicuous  object  from  almost  any  part  of 
the  city,  and  the  court-house,  the  several  churches, 
and  the  Eagle  Works  are  model  structures.  Talla- 
dega is  also  noted  for  the  beauty  of  many  of  her 
private  residences.  Inviting  shade  trees  and  tasty 
flower  yards  ai)])ear  on  all  sides.  Lit  up  and  sil- 
vered by  the  full  moon  of  a  June  evening,  the 
scene  can  not  be  excelled,  even  in  Andalusia.  The 
most  fragrant  flowers  are  there  in  bloom,  and  the 
mockingbird  sings  all  night  long. 

The  city  authorities,  with  William  H.  Skaggs 
as  Mayor,  are  men  of  energy,  and  talent.  Under 
their  administration  Talladega  has  put  on  new 
life,  and  is  making  jirogress  unprecedented  in  her 
history.  Her  industrial  forces  are  thoroughly 
vitalized,  and  the  immense  wealth  immediately 
around  her,  sooner  or  later  to  be  developed  and 
turned  into  the  channels  of  commerce,  assures 
her  a  brilliant  future. 


'«-5; 


REV.  GEORGE   AUGUSTUS  LOFTON.  D.D., 

distinguished  .Minister  of  tiie  liaptist  Church  at 
Talladega,  was  born  in  Pontotoc  County,  Miss., 
December  'Ih,  1839,  and  is  a  son  of  James  B.  and 
Olivia  Ann  (Settle)  Lofton,  natives  of  Edgefield 
District,  S.  C.  He  was  educated  at  the  common 
schools  of  Mississippi,  at  Starsville,  Fayetteville, 
and  Monticello,  Ga.,  and  was  attending  Mercer 
University  at  tlie  outbreak  of  the  late  war.  In 
June,  18<J1,  he  joined  the  "  Gate  City"  Guards  at 
Atlanta,  and,  as  a  member  of  the  First  (ieorgia 
Volunteers,  jiarticipated  in  the  battle  of  Cheat  , 
Mountaiu.  In  November  following  he  was  dis- 
charged on  account  of  ill  health,  and  in  the  spring 
of  lSO"i  joined  the  Ninth  Georgia  Battalion  of 
Artillery,  of  which  lie  was  at  once  elected  adju- 
tant. He  served  in  Kentucky  with  Humphrey 
Marshall,  in  the  fall  of  18*i"J:  in  Virginia  the  win- 
ter of  18tJ2-0:i.  and   in   the  spring  of  the  latter 


454 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


year  was  stationed  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.  He  took 
part  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga  and  in  the 
Chattanooga  campaign.  At  Chattanooga  he  re- 
signed as  adjutant,  and  was  made  General  Buck- 
ner's  aid  to  chief  of  staff;  in  November,  1863, 
he  took  command  of  Battery  A,  Ninth  Battalion, 
and  joined  General  Longstreet  in  the  battles  of 
Campbell's  Station  and  Knoxville.  At  the  latter 
place  he  took  a  conspicuous  part,  and  was  compli- 
mented by  General  Longstreet.  In  the  Lynchburg 
campaign  he  was  presented  with  a  captured  bat- 
tery, and  in  the  latter  part  of  1864  rendered  dis- 
tinguished service  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley.  He 
was  next  transferred  to  Richmond,  and  on  the 
James  River  and  at  Drury's  BlufE  commanded, 
with  commendable  skill,  two  batteries.  From 
November,  1864,  to  the  retreat  from  Richmond 
he  was  actively  engaged,  and  he  surrendered  at 
Appomattox  with  General  Lee. 

After  the  war  Colonel  Lofton  taught  school  in 
"Webster  County,  Ga.,  until  1867,  at  which  time, 
having  studied  law,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
Weston,  that  State,  and  entered  upon  the  prac- 
tice at  Americus.  In  1858,  at  the  time  of  his 
conversion  to  religion,  he  was  impressed  with  the 
idea  of  entering  the  ministry.  This  imjiression 
having  remained  with  him,  he  was,  in  the  fall  of 
18G7,  licensed  as  a  Baptist  minister.  His  first 
ministerial  work  was  near  Americus;  and,  in  the 
beginning  of  1868,  he  was  called  to  Antioch,  Lee 
County,  Ga.,  and  ordained  regularly  to  the  minis- 
try. He  was,  directly,  called  to  Shiloh,  that 
State,  and  he  preached  at  various  places  until 
1869.  Under  his  ministration  the  little  churches 
at  Shiloh,  Sharon  and  Smithville  were  materially 
benefited  and  their  small  congregations  much 
increased.  In  1870  he  was  called  to  Dal  ton,  where 
he  founded  the  Crawford  High  School,  which 
was  subsequently  changed  to  the  "Joseph  E. 
Brown  Institute."  His  next  call  was  in  July, 
1873,  to  the  First  Baptist  Church  at  Memphis, 
to  which  he  added  300  members.  He  remained 
there  through  the  yellow-fever  epidemic  of  1873. 
In  1876,  he  canvassed  Tennessee  in  the  interest 
of  the  Centennial  Endowment  for  the  Southern 
Baptist  University,  which,  largely  through  his 
influence,  was  moved  from  Murfreesboro  to  Jack- 
son. 

In  January^  1877,  Dr.  Lofton  accepted  a  call  to 
the  Third  Baptist  Church  at  St.  Louis,  where  his 
efforts  were  happily  rewarded,  having  added  dur- 
ing his  stay  about   .JOO  new    members.     In  No- 


vember, 1881,  having  become  prostrated  from 
much  work,  he  resigned,  and  some  time  after- 
ward returned  to  Georgia:  and  in  January,  1884, 
again  took  charge  of  the  church  at  Dalton.  He 
came  to  Talladega  in  October,  1886,  and  here  his 
efforts  in  the  cause  of  Christ  have  been  highly 
satisfactory  to  himself  and  his  people. 

Dr.  Lofton  takes  an  active  interest  in  public 
matters  generally,  and  particularly  in  the  causes 
of  education  and  temperance.  He  was  one  of  the 
prime  movers  in  transferring  Howard  College 
from  Marion  to  Birmingham.  He  devotes  much 
of  his  time  to  literature,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
forcible  lecturers  and  writers  upon  religious  top- 
ics in  the  South.  He  was  married,  March  29, 
18G4,  to  Miss  Ella  E.  Martin,  of  Atlanta,  Ga. 


JOHN  MARTIN    PHILIP   OTIS,  D.D.,  Pastor 

of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Talladega,  was 
born  in  L'nion  District,  S.  C,  in  1838.  He 
graduated  at  Davidson  College,  North  Carolina,  in 
1859,  and  from  the  Theological  Seminary,  in 
Columbia,  S.  C,  in  1862.  He  was  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  at  Greensboro,  Ala.,  from 
1862  to  1867;  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
Columbia,  Tenn.,  from  1867  to  1873:  of  the  West 
Presbyterian  Church  at  Wilmington,  Del.,  from 
1873  to  1877;  of  the  Chambers  Memorial  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  from 
1877  to  1884,  and  has  since  then  been  in  charge  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Talladega. 

He  is  a  writer  of  ability,  and  has  been  from  his 
college  days  a  frequent  contributor  to  magazines 
and  reviews.  He  has  published  the  "Southern 
Pew  and  Pulpit,"  "Nicodemus  with  Jesus," 
"  Laconisms  on  Timely  Topics,"  the  "  (Jo^iJel  of 
Honesty  and  Essays  on  the  Beautiful,"  "Our 
Educational  Policy,"  "Lay  Evangelism,"  "The 
Huguenots,"  etc. 

He  took  and  successfully  held  in  the  General' 
Assembly  at  St.  Louis  in  1887,  the  position  as 
leader  of  the  movement  toward  the  re-union  of 
the  Southern  with  the  Northern  Presbyterian 
Church. 

His  father.  Prof.  Robert  G.  Otts,  was  a  school 
teacher  in  South  Carolina.  His  grandparents 
were  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  on  the  paternal 
side  were  of  German  descent,  and  on  the  maternal 
side    of    Scotch-Irish    extraction.     His   mother's 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


455 


maiden  name  was  Becknell7  Her  fatlier  was  an 
Eiiglislnnan,  and  her  mother  was  of  a  mixed  de- 
scent of  Scotch-Irisli  and  Huguenot  blood.  Dr. 
Otts  was  married  tlie  .'ilst  of  December,  1803.  to 
Lelia  J.  McCrary,  the  only  child  of  Col.  D.  F. 
McCrary,  of  Greensboro,  Ala.,  and  has  had  born 
to  him  nine  children  (all  sons),  of  whom  eight  are 
living:  Hobert  F.,  John  M.  P.,  Laelins  M., 
I'aul  B.  (deceased),  Mark  C  James  \V.,  Earnest 
v.,  Octavius  M.  and  Louis  K. 

JAMES  ISBELL  was  born  in  Wilkes  County, 
N.  ('.,  in  October.  18(10.  He  was  the  youngest 
son  in  a  fatnily  of  eight  children,  and,  as  the  name 
indicates,  was  descended  from  French  ancestors. 
His  father  was  a  man  of  comfortable  circum- 
stances, and  gave  to  the  son  such  educational 
advantages  as  the  schools  of  the  county  afforded. 
When  he  was  twenty-five  years  of  age,  having  lo- 
cated in  Lowndesborough,  Ala.,  he  embarked  in 
mercantile  business  with  limited  means.  In  the 
spring  of  1830  he  moved  to  Talladega  where  he 
resided  until  his  death,  December  0,  1871.  For 
many  years  he  made  but  little  progress  in  his  mer- 
cantile career,  other  than  the  establishment  of  a 
rejiutation  for  punctuality  and  integrity  in  all  his 
dealings.  These  traits,  however,  furnish  the  kev 
to  the  success  which  afterward  attended  his  labors. 
I'ntil  the  period  of  middle  life  he  was  actively 
engaged  in  merchandising,  gradually  restricting 
this  pursuit  to  moneyed  matters  or  transactions, 
and  laying  what  proved  to  be  the  foundation  of 
the  banking  house  of  James  Isbell,  afterward  Is- 
bell  iS:  Son.  Later  on  in  life  he  established  the 
City  Xational  Bank  of  Selma,  and  of  this  he  was 
president  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

\\\  1840  Mr.  Isbell  made  a  public  profession  of 
his  faith,  and  joined  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
From  that  time  on  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  never 
forgot  that  he  was  a  professor  of  religion,  and  dur- 
ing the  later  years  of  his  life  he  dwelt  much  upon 
the  subject.  Commenting  upon  his  death  the 
Talladega  AVw«  said:  "A  great  man  has  well  said 
that  '  success  is  the  rule  by  which  men  must  be 
tried."  Tried  by  this  rule,  J[ajor  Isbell  will 
stand  the  test.  He  grew  to  wealth  in  onr  midst, 
but  not  in  disregard  of  a  good  name.  He  main- 
tained for  himself  the  bearing  and  position  of  a 
real  gentleman;  honest  in  his  dealings  with  n>en, 
and  upright  in  the  vast  business  life  which  occu- 


pied so  much  of  his  time.  His  life  had  an  object 
in  view,  and  his  energies  were  spent  in  attain- 
ing that  object.  The  object  was  the  honest  ac- 
cumulation of  a  fortune  which  should  be  useful 
to  himself  and  others,  useful  to  business  and 
morals,  nsefnl  to  society  and  religion.  His  life 
was  a  success  in  that  it  attained  that  object.  Hi.s 
natural  politeness,  general  kindness,  and  unobtru- 
sive suavity  of  manner,  with  his  almost  uniform 
habit  of  not  speaking  of  a  man  at  all,  unless  he 
could  mention  him  kindly,  were  features  in  his 
character  worthy  of  praise  and  imitation." 

When  Alabama  passed  the  Ordinance  of  Seces- 
sion, and  by  the  terms  of  the  Sequestration  -Vet, 
creditors  who  owed  Northern  debts  were  required 
to  pay  them  to  the  newly-established  f;o.'-°rn- 
ment,  Major  Isbell  owed  several  large  debts  to 
Xorthern  creditors,  which  he  paid  over  to  the 
(iovernment,  as  required.  After  the  surrender 
some  of  his  creditors  offered  to  share  the  losses 
with  him,  and  accept  a  portion  of  the  amount  in 
settlement.  He  promptly  declined  the  offer,  and 
paid  the  debts  dollar  for  dollar. 

Toward  young  men  of  steady  habits  he  was 
always  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  and  give  an 
encouraging  word.  As  a  master,  he  was  kind, 
considerate  and  humane.  As  a  citizen,  he  en- 
joyed the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  com- 
munity. 

REV.  WILLIAM  MABRY,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  was  born  in  Cleveland 
County,  X.  C,  ilay  2,  1837,  and  is  the  son  of  Dr. 
William  H.  and  Margaret  (Barr)  Mabry,  also  na- 
tives of  North  Carolina. 

Dr.  W.  II.  i[abry  was  born  in  Lincoln  County, 
N.  C.,  September  4,  18(i0:  was  early  in  life  identi- 
fied with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  for 
eight  years  was  a  member  of  the  South  Carolina 
Conference.  He  afterward  studied  medicine, 
and  adopted  that  as  a  profession.  His  father, 
Thomas  Mabry,  was  born  in  London,  England, 
and  came  to  the  United  States  with  his  father 
when  about  twelve  years  of  age.  The  elder 
Mabry,  who  came  to  this  country  to  superintend 
the  construction  of  the  Stroup  Iron  Works,  served 
a  short  time  in  the  Colonial  .\rmy  in  the  Revalu- 
tionary  War. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  came  to  Talladega 
County  in  18."i."),  here  taught  school  some  time, 
and  later  on  engaged  in  the  drug  business.     He 


V 


■...>; 


"^ 


I 


456 


NORTHERN  A  LAB  A  iM A. 


afterward  studied  medicine,  but  he  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  given  that  any  particular  attention. 
He  first  joined  the  Alabama  Conference  in  1859, 
and  his  first  charge  was  at  Blue  Springs.  He 
spent  five  years  on  circuits,  and  was  presiding 
elder  seven  years.  He  has  been  stationed  variously 
at  Meridian,  Miss.,  Tuscaloosa,  Decatur,  Athens, 
Gadsden,  Oxford,  and  Talladega,  this  State.  He 
joined  the  North  Alabama  Conference  in  1870. 
October  -2.3,  18(i3,  he  married  Miss  Sarah  R.  De- 
(xrafenreid,  and  has  had  born  to  him  seven  chil- 
dren: Mary  E.,  William  E.  H.,  Sarah  L.,  Annie 
S.,  Xannie  B.,  John  ilaury  and  Tliomas  A. 

Mr.  Mabry  is  prominently  identified  with  the 
Masonic  and  Odd  Fellow  fraternities. 

GEORGE  KNOX  MILLER,  Judge  of  Probate, 
Talladega  County,  was  born  at  the  town  of  Talla\ 
dega,  December  30,  183G,  and  is  a  son  of  George 
and  Cynthia  (Hamilton)  Miller.  His  parents 
moved  to  Memphis,  Teun.,  when  he  was  quite 
young,  and  there  he  learned  the  painters  trade. 
In  1857,  he  returned  to  Talladega,  where  he 
attended  the  Male  High  School  one  year,  and 
from  there  entered  the  University  of  Virginia. 
From  this  institution  he  was  graduated  in  the 
<Jlassical  Course  in  1860,  and  he  was  in  the  Law 
Department  of  the  University  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  late  war.  Returning  immediately  to  Ala- 
bama, he  enlisted,  June,  1861,  as  a  private  in  the 
Eighth  Confederate  Cavalry,  and  remained  in  the 
service  until  the  close  of  the  war.  From  a  pri- 
vate he  was  promoted  in  regular  order  to  the  cap- 
taincy of  his  comjjany,  and  from  first  to  last  he 
participated  in  most  of  the  battles  of  the  Army  of 
Tennessee.  Near  Shelbyville,  Tenn.,  in  January, 
18C3,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and 
was  a  prisoner  about  three  months.  This  period 
constitutes  the  sum  of  his  absence  from  actual 
duty  during  the  whole  time  of  his  connection 
with  the  army. 

After  the  final  surrender,  Captain  Miller 
remained  in  South  Carolina  until  1866,  in  May  of 
which  year  he  came  to  Talladega,  and  entered 
regularly  upon  the  study  of  law.  He  was  apjooint- 
ed  Register  in  Chancery  in  September,  1868,  and 
held  that  office  until  January  30,  1884.  He  was 
Mayor  of  Talladega,  continuously,  with  the 
exception  of  one  year,  from  April,  1874,  to   Jan- 


uary, 1884.  In  the  latter  year  he  was  ajipointed 
Probate  Judge  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term,  and 
in  1886,  he  was  elected  to  that  office  without 
opposition. 

Judge  Miller  is  secretary  of  the  Talladega  Real 
Estate  and  Loan  Association,  and  is  more  or  less 
interested  in  various  popular  enterprises  of  this 
city.  He  was  married,  December  31,  1863,  to 
Miss  Celestine  McCann,  and  has  had  born  to  him 
five  children  :  Rosa,  Jessie,  Hampton  K.,  Celes- 
tine and  Zemma. 

George  Miller,  the  father  of  Judge  Miller,  was 
born  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  March,  1802.  He 
came  to  Talladega  in  1834,  and  moved  to  Tennes- 
see in  1844.  In  lo49,  he  moved  to  Arkansas,  and 
in  1856,  returned  to  South  Carolina,  and  from 
there  came  again  to  Talladega,  where  he  died  Au- 
gust 23,  1873.  His  wife  dietl  in  Memphis  in  June, 
1846.  His  father  was  John  Jliller,  a  native  of 
England,  who  came  to  the  United  States  about 
1798.  Having  been  accused  of  publishing  the 
famous  Junius  letters,  he  was  driven  from  Eng- 
land into  France,  coming  thence,  in  a  short  time, 
to  America.  He  was  connected  with  Wood- 
fall  in  the  i)ublication  of  the  London  Post.  He 
settled  in  Sotith  Carolina,  and  established  the 
Pendleton  Messenger,  a  paper  he  conducted  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  his  life. 

Cynthia  (Hamilton)  Miller  was  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  Hamilton,  a  soldier  under  General  Ma- 
rion, in  the  Revolution,  and  whose  ancestors  came 
from  Scotland. 


CECIL  BROWNE,  prominent  Attorney  and 
Counsellor-at-law,  Talladega,  was  born  in  Shelby 
County,  this  State,  January  27,  1855,  and  is  the 
son  of  Hon.  William  P.  and  ilargaret  (Stevens) 
Browne.  He  received  his  education  at  the  com- 
mon schools  in  Alabama  and  at  the  University  of 
the  South,  Sewanee,  Tenn.  He  removed  to  Talla- 
dega in  1877,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1878, 
and  has  since  given  the  j)ractice  of  law  his  entire 
attention.  He  was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  ses- 
sion of  1882  and  1883,  and  to  the  State  Senate  in 
1886.  In  both  houses  he  took  prominent  parts, 
being  chairman  of  Committee  on  Revision  of  the 
Laws  in  the  Senate.  He  married  Miss  Sallie  B. 
Mosley,  daughter  of  Dr.  R.  A.  Mosley,  Sr.  She 
died  May  14,  1887,  leaving  one  child. 

Hon.  William  P.  Browne,  father  of  the  subject 


t 

1 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


457 


of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  Vermont,  in  1804. 
He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  came  South  in 
lS"i2,  anil  settled  in  New  Orleans,  where  he  was 
variously  interested  in  real  estate,  speculation,  etc. 
He  located  in  Mobile  in  18;Jii.  and  was  in  the  Legis- 
lature from  that  place  while  the  State  capital  was 
at  Tiiscalocisa.  About  18.50  he  located  in  Shelby 
County,  where  he  opened  and  developed  the  ^fonte- 
vallo  coal  fields.  He  was  colonel  of  an  .Alabama 
regiment  in  the  Mexican  War.  Mis  death 
occurred  in  1808.  His  father,  Phineas  Browne, 
was  born  in  1747,  at  ^\■altham,  Mass.,  and  subse- 
quently moved  to  Vergennes.  Vt.  He  was 
a  soldier  in  the  Revolutioiuiry  War,  and  served 
several  terms  as  representative  in  the  Fjegislature 
of  Vermont.  He  was  twice  married.  The  second 
time  toadescendant  of  (tov. William  Bradford.  His 
father,  Capt.  John  Browne,  of  Waltham,  Mass., 
was  born  in  1705,  and  iiis  grandfather,  Abraham 
Browne,  was  born  was  born  at  Watertown,  in  that 
State,  in  1071.  Jonathan  ]?rowne,  father  of 
Abraham  Browne,  was  born  at  Watertown,  Mass., 
ill  ir,;{5. 

His  father,  also  named  .\braliam  Browne,  came 
from  Hawkedom,  Suffolk  County,  England,  and 
was  one  of  the  tirst  settlers  in  Watertown,  and  a 
prominent  citizen  of  that  place.  The  Brownes 
held  important  positions  in  England,  and  many 
of  them  have  occupied  honorable  positions  in  this 
countrv  for  the  past  two  hundred  and  tifty  years. 


►^. 


HENRY  S.  DeFORREST,  President  of  Talla- 
dega College,  was  liorii  in  Oswego  County,  N.  Y., 
J[arch  17,  18:5.'5.  and  is  a  son  of  Lee  and  Cynthia 
(Swift)  DeForrest,  natives  of  New  York  and  Con- 
necticut, respectively. 

liCe  DeForrest  was  a  son  of  (iideon,  who  was  a 
native  of  Stratford,  Conn.,  and  a  soldier  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  He  moved  to  Oswego  County 
in  1875,  and  there  married  Hannah  Byrdseye.  He 
reared  a  family  of  five  sons  ami  three  daughters, 
all  of  whom  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age,  the  youngest 
to  die  having  reached  the  age  of  seventy-eight 
years.  Tiie  DeForrests  were  Huguenots,  and 
came  from  France  to  this  country  in  the  first  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century. 

Isaac  DeForrest,  a  French  Huguenot,  sailed 
from  Holland  to  New  Amsterdam  in  October,  10.30. 
He  reared  a  family  of  fourteen  children,  and  from 


them  have  sprung  all  the  DeForrests  of  the  United 

States. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  Oswego 
County,  and  was  graduated  from  Yale  College  with 
distinguished  honors  in  the  class  of  18.")7.  While 
in  college  he  studied  theology,  which  he  after- 
ward pursued  in  the  University  of  New  York  City. 
He  left  the  position  of  tutor  in  Yale  to  become 
for  two-and-one-half  years  chaplain  of  the  Eleventh 
Connecticut  Regiment  in  the  late  war.  After  the 
war  he  was  for  some  years  a  minister  of  the 
(tospel,  and  presided  over  congregations  at  Des- 
Moines  and  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  altogether  for 
the  period  of  fourteen  years.  He  came  to  Talla- 
dega in  1879,  and  took  charge  of  the  Talladega 
College.  He  was  married  August  25,  1809,  to 
Jfiss  Anna  Robbins.  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  A. 
B.  Robbins,  of  Muscatine,  Iowa,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  three  children:  Mary,  Lee  and 
Charles  M. 


WILLIAM  TAYLOR,  M.  D.,   son   of  John  K. 

j  and  Jane  W.  (Caldwell)  Taylor,  was  born  August 
18,  lo20,  in  Sumner  County,  Tenn. 

The  senior  ilr.  Taylor  was  a  native  of  England; 
came   to   the   United    States  when  quite  young; 

!  spent  some  years  in  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio;  lo- 
cated in  Tennessee  in  ls21,  and  in  1839  settled  in, 
Talladega  County,  Ala.,  where  lie  was  engaged  in 

I  agriculture  and  milling.     He  died  in  April,  1877. 
Dr.  William  Taylor  attended   in  his  youth  such 

I  schools  as  his  neighborhood  afforded,  which  were 
meagre.  However,  he  made  good  use  of  his  lim- 
ited opportunities,  and  entered  the  Medical  De- 
partment of  the  University  of  Kentucky,  at  Lou- 
isville, from  which  institution  he  was  graduated 
in  1848.  Previous  to  his  entering  the  medical 
college,  he  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Henry  .Mc- 
Kenzie,  of  Talladega.  He  began  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  1848,  in  the  State  of  Louisiana, 
where  he  practiced  one  year.  In  1S50,  he  went  to 
California,  remained  one  year  there  and  returned 
to  Talladega,  where  he  was  actively  engaged  in  the 
practice  until  1801.     He  entered  the  Confederate 

I  Army,  and  was  appointed  surgeon  of  the  Seventh 
Alabama  Regiment  remaining  with  the  command 
until  it  disbanded,  in  April,  1802.  He  was  then 
assigned,  as  surgeon,  to  the  Tenth  Alabama  (in 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia),  was  made  senior 

I  surgeon  of  Wilcox's  Brigade,  anil  subsequently  pi-o- 

1 


458 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


moted  to  chief  surgeon  of  division,  which  jjosition 
he  held  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

For  a  number  of  years  Dr.  Taylor  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Alabama  State  Medical  Association, 
participating  in  its  deliberations  and  contributing 
papers  to  its  published  jiroceedings.  As  the 
chosen  orator  to  appear  before  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  association  at  Mobile,  in  January,  1855,  he 
selected  as  his  subject,  ''The  Eligibility  of  Mobile 
as  s  Site  for  a  School  of  Medicine."  The  oration 
proved  the  inspiration  which  founded  the  medical 
school  at  Mobile,  and  under  the  wise  and  judi- 
cious management  of  Drs.  Nott,  Ketchum,  An- 
derson, and  other  prominent  physicians  of  that 
city,  the  Mobile  Medical  College  was  speedily  or- 
ganized and  put  in  operation. 

During  the  stormy  joolitical  period  from  1858 
to  1861,  Dr.  Taylor  edited  the  WafcJi  to  tee  r,  at  Tal- 
ladega. He  warmly  espoused  and  advocated  the 
doctrines  of  the  States'-rights  wing  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  which  culminated  in  secession.  For 
a  brief  period  after  the  war  he  was  connected  with 
the  management  of  the  Daily  Messenger,  of  Selma. 

After  the  war  he  returned  to  Talladega,  where 
he  still  resides.  Owing  to  failing  health  after  his 
return  he  retired  from  the  active  practice  of  his 
profession  and  has  since  devoted  his  time  to  agri- 
culture and  milling  at  Cragdale,  near  the  town  of 
of  Talladega. 

Dr.  Taylor  was  one  of  incorporators  of  the  Tal- 
ladega Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  and  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Management  sii)ce  its  or- 
ganization. He  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in 
1876,  and  re-elected  in  1880. 

The  Doctor  was  married  in  January,  1855,  to 
Mary  F.,  daughter  of  Allen  and  Annie  (Blair) 
Elstou.  She  died  in  May,  1857,  leaving  onechild, 
William  E. 

The  present  Mrs.  Taylor,  to  whom  the  Doctor 
was  married  in  Calhoun  County,  this  State,  in 
December,  1871,  is  a  daughter  of  Koss  and  Eliza- 
beth (Boyd)  Green.  To  this  union  three  children 
have  been  born:  .John  R.,  .Joseph  J.  and  Mary  E. 

■  ■    ■«>■  -^^t^-  ■<'•    ■  ■ 

JOSEPH  H.  JOHNSON,  M.  D.,  was  born  in 
Madison  County,  Ga.,  in  1832,  and  came  with  his 
father.  Seaborn  J.  Johnson,  to  Floyd  County, 
that  State,  in  18-34.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm, 
and  at  the  earl V  ,1 -jr     '  ^'^venteen  began  teaching 


in  the  Georgia  Institute  for  the  Deaf,  and  at  the 
same  time  prosecuting  the  study  of  medicine.  He 
attended  lectures  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  1853 
and  1854,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Jefferson 
Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  in  1856.  He 
continued  to  teach  in  the  Institute  for  the  Deaf 
until  1858,  at  which  time  he  was  elected  Princi- 
pal of  the  Georgia  Institute  for  the  Deaf,  a  posi- 
tion he  declined.  In  September,  1858,  he  came 
to  Talladega,  under  a  contract  with  Gov.  Andrew 
B.  Moore  and  State  Superintendent  W.  F.  Perry, 
to  undertake  the  founding  of  a  State  School  for 
the  Deaf.  Here  his  life  has  been  spent.  The  in- 
stitution which  has  grown  up  under  his  manage- 
ment, and  the  Alabama  Academy  for  the  Blind 
just  now  completed,  stand  as  monuments  to  his 
life  work.  He  is  the  principal  of  the  latter  school 
also. 

Dr.  Johnson  is  an  ardent  Mason.  He  was  the 
first  master  of  Talladega  Lodge,  Xo.  '^61,  and  is 
the  only  person  who  has  ever  been  elected  to  pre- 
side over  all  of  the  Grand  Masonic  Bodies  in  Ala- 
bama. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church:  is 
still  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  actively  engaged  in 
his  ofhcial  capacity.  He  finds  time  to  devote  to 
the  raising  of  thoroughbred  Jerseys,  in  which  busi- 
ness he  is  the  pioneer  in  this  section  of  the  State. 


HARRY  R.  BOS  WELL,  M.D.,  isanative  of  Tal- 
ladega County,  sun  of  John  W .  and  Damaris  (Cox) 
Boswell,  and  was  born  in  December,  1849.  In  1871 
he  began  the  study  of  medicine  at  Talladega,  and 
in  1874  was  graduated  from  the  Louisville  Medi- 
cal College  as  il.  D.  In  the  autumn  of  1876  he 
returned  to  Talladega,  entered  at  once  upon  the 
practice  of  his  profession,  in  which  he  rajjidly 
rose  to  high  rank,  and  has  here  contiuuoush', 
since  that  time,  devoted  himself  thereto.  He  is 
the  Secretary  of  the  County  Medical  Society,  a 
member  of  the  State  Medical  Association,  and  was 
a  delegate  to  the  Xational  Medical  Convention  in 
1887. 

Dr.  Boswell  married  Miss  Celia  Parsons,  the 
accomijlished  daughter  of  ex-Gov.  Lewis  E.  Par- 
sons, and  their  only  child,  a  daughter,  is  named 
for  its  mother. 

John  AV.  Boswell,  Dr.  BoswelFs  father,  was 
born  in  Jasper  County,  Ga.,  in  18"i6;  and  his  wife 


MyT/U9^1pLlytj^, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


459 


was  born  in  Lee  County,  in  that  State,  in  1830. 
Mr.  Boswell,  a  planter  bv  occupation,  located  in 
Talladega  County  in  1850,  and  here  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life,  dying  in  1881.  His  fathei',  llarry 
Boswell,  was  a  native  of  Maryland,  from  which 
State  he  migrated  to  Georgia  in  an  early  day, 
and  there  married  Eliza  Koby.  The  Boswells 
came  originally  from  England. 

■  .    ■  .>.  .'^^^tf^-^- 

PAUL  GIST,  M.D.,  is  a  native  of  Sevier  County, 
Tennessee,  and  was  born  December  10, 1837.  He 
was  educated  at  the  common  schools  and  at  Barrett 
College,  Spencer,  that  State.  At  the  age  of  si.x- 
teen  years,  he  began  the  study  of  medicine  at 
Knoxville,  and  in  the  winter  of  1858-9,  attended 
lectures  at  Nashville.  In  18G0  he  entered  the  At- 
lanta Medical  College  and  was  soon  thereafter 
graduated.  He  at  once  located  at  Talladega,  en- 
tered upon  a  successful  practice,  and  soon  rose  to 
an  eminent  {position  in  the  profession.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Talladega  Medical  Society,  and 
secretary  of  the  Board  of  Censors. 

Doctor  Cist  was  married  September  4,  1800,  to 
Miss  Sallie  J.  McXally,  daughter  of  James  and 
Elizabetli  (Henderson)  McNally,  natives  of  Ten- 
nessee, and  the  three  children  born  to  this  union 
and  now  living,  are  Willie  S.,  Fannie  and  Paul  M. 
The  Doctor  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church,  and  he  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
and  Odd  Fellow  fraternities. 

Lieut.  S.  C.  Gist  and  Angloria  Frances  (Porter) 
Gist,  the  parents  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  were 
native  of  Sevier  County,  Tenn.  l^ieutenant  Gist 
was  educated  at  Annapolis;  served  twenty-one 
years  in  the  United  States  Navy  and  died  of  yellow 
fever  at  Vera  Cruz,  Mexico,  in  1847.  At  the  time 
of  hisdeath  he  held  the  rank  of  Commander.  His 
father,  MordecaiGist,  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
Tennessee,  and  was  military  governor  of  the  Terri- 
tory, preceding  Governor  Sevier. 

JOHN  HARRINGTON  VANDIVER,  M.D..  is 
a  descendant  of  .lolin  X'andiver,  a  Pennsylvania 
planter,  who  migrated  to  South  Carolina  prior  to 
the  American  Revolution,  and  there  married  into 
the  Cannon  family,  of  Carolina,  one  of  the  largest 


and  staunchest  families  of  that  State,  The  an- 
cestors of  both  families  were  of  Welch  descent. 

John  Harrington  Vandiver,  M.D.,  was  born  in 
S|)artanburg  District.  S.  C,  January  17,  1815. 
He  was  reared  on  a  farm,  received  a  common- 
school  education,  and,  when  nearing  manhood, 
began  the  study  of  medicine  in  the  city  of  Spar- 
tanburg, S.  C. 

In  1844  he  was  selected  by  the  Electoral  College 
of  South  Carolina  as  the  messenger  to  carry  the 
presidential  vote  of  that  State  to  Washington, 
and  immediately  thereafter  he  entered  .Jefferson 
Medical  College  in  Philadelphia,  from  which  insti- 
tution he  graduated  in  March,  1845. 

In  the  autumn  of  that  year  he  located  in  Cal- 
houn Cou7ity,  Ala.,  where  he  practiced  his  profes- 
sion twelve  years,  removing  to  the  city  of  Talla- 
dega in  1857. 

In  1847  he  was  married  to  Mary  Eliza  Emma 
ilcAfee,  daughter  of  Hon.  Green  Taliaferro  Mc- 
Afee, the  first  County  Judge  of  Talladega  County, 
and  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  prominent  set- 
tlers in  this  city. 

In  1858,  in  addition  to  his  professional  duties. 
Dr.  Vandiver  engaged  in  the  drug  business  at 
Talladega,  which  he  has  continued  uninterrupt- 
edly for  thirty  years. 

He  is  an  active  member  of  the  ^lethodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  a  Koyal  Arch  ^lasoii  of 
forty  years  standing,  and  a  conservative  man  in 
all  things. 

— ««; 


D.  W.  ROGERS,  President  of  the  Talladega  & 
Coosa  Valley  (Narrow  Guage)  Railroad,  was  born 
October  4,  1845,  at  Calhoun's  Jlills,  in  Abbeville 
County,  S.  C,  and  is  a  son  of  Theophilus  A.  and 
Ann  YA'uA  (Brown)  Rogers,  natives,  respectively, 
of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

The  senior  3Ir.  Rogers  was  a  merchant  in  Abbe- 
ville County  for  many  years,  and  he  died  in  April, 
1883. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  D.  W.  Rogers,  at- 
tended the  common  schools  of  his  native  county 
from  the  age  of  ten  up  to  seventeen  years,  and  in 
18G3  he  entered  the  Confederate  Army  as  a  private 
in  Company  A  (Capt.  Benj.  F.  Johnson),  Twenty- 
seventh  Georgia  Battalion,  and  remained  in  active 
service  until  his  surrender  at  (ireensboro,  N.  C. 
After  the  war  he  returned  penniless  to  his  old 
home  in  South  Carolina,  and  for  two  years  was 


460 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


engaged  in  the  merchant  milling  business  with 
his  father,  Subsequently  he  went  to  Bartow 
County,  Ga.,  where  he  was  similarly  engaged,  in 
addition  to  farming,  until  1870.  In  that  year,  he 
and  liis  brother,  I).  M.  Kogers,  engaged  in  the  saw- 
mill and  lumber  business  near  Taylorsville,  Ga. ; 
and  in  1883  they  projected  and  built  the  Etowah 
&  Deatons  Eailroad,  from  Deatons  Station  on  the 
East  &  West  Railroad  to  Seney  on  the  East  Ten- 
nessee, Virginia  &  (ieorgia.  They  built  this  road 
for  their  own  use  iu  tlie  transportation  of  lum- 
ber. 

In  1883  they  moved  their  entire  plant  from  the 
State  of  Georgia  to  Talladega  County,  and  after 
rebuilding  a  muoh  larger  plant,  and  putting 
in  improved  nuichinery  for  handling  the  product 
of  their  mills,  they  named  the  place  Renf  roe.  After 
the  saw-mills  were  completed,  they  began  building 
the  railroad  from  Talladega  to  a  connection  with 
the  Georgia  Pacific  and  the  East  &  West  Railroads. 
This  undertaking  was  completed  in  September, 
1887,  to  a  point  known  as  Pell  City,  a  junction  of 
of  the  three  roads,  twenty-sis  miles  distant  from 
Talladega.  The  company  controlled  by  Messrs. 
Rogers  employ,  in  the  aggregate,  in  their  mills 
and  railroad,  about  150  men. 

Through  the  enterprise,  energj'  and  business 
tact  of  these  gentlemen,  this  county  is  being  rap- 
idly built  up  and  developed  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
railroad  in  a  way  that  is  astonishing,  and  the  esti- 
mation in  which  they  are  held  in  the  county  is 
certainly  to  be  envied. 

The  Rogers  Bros,  are  regarded  as  business  men 
of  the  highest  standard,  and  it  may  be  safely  pre- 
dicted that  with  a  few  such  enterprising,  wide 
awake,  public-spirited  men  as  they  are,  this  county 
will  rapidly  come  to  the  front  in  the  race  for  pop- 
ular favor. 

D,  W.  Rogers  was  married  in  November,  187C, 
to  Miss  Laura  A.  Martin,  niece  of  Judge  G.  M. 
Stokes,  of  Lee  County,  Ga.,  and  to  this  union 
has  been  born  one  child,  Edward  A. 

Mr.  Rogers  is  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  has  for  many  years  taken  an  active 
part  in  Sabbath-school  work. 

ROBERT  H.  ISBELL,  President  of  the  Talla- 
dega Real  Estate  and  lioau  Association,  is  a  son  of 
the  late  Major  James  Isbell,  and  was  born  at  this 


place.  He  received  his  primary  education  at  the 
schools  of  Talladega  ;  was  graduated  from  the 
Kentucky  Military  Institute  in  1857,  and  from  the 
Law  Department  of  Cumberland  University,  Le- 
banon, Tenn.,  in  1859.  He  began  the  practice  of 
law  at  Talledega,  and  on  March  1,  18G1,  entered 
the  army  as  captain  of  Company  D,  First  Alabama. 
At  Port  Hudson  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy 
iind  was  sent  to  Johnson's  Island,  and  from  there, 
iu  April,  1865,  to  Fort  Delaware,  where  he  was  de- 
tained to  the  close  of  the  war.  Returning  to  his 
native  place  he  engaged  in  banking  business  in 
partnership  with  his  father,  the  style  of  the  firm 
being  Isbell  &  Son.  In  1871,  this  bank  was 
changed  to  the  banking  house  of  Isbell  &  Co. 

Captain  Isbell  is  connected  with  the  City  Na- 
tional Bank  ;  is  a  director  in  the  Anniston  & 
Atlantic  Railway  Co.,  and  is  treasurer  of  the 
Talladega  &  Coosa  Valley  Railroad  Co.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  enterprises  he  has  other  important 
interests  in  North  Alabama,  and  is  Grand  Treas- 
urer of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  I.  O.  0.  F.  for  the 
State, 


CHARLES  CARSON  WHITSON,  Attorney-at- 
law,  Talladega,  son  of  Joseph  McD.  and  Rachael 
R.  (Carson)  Whitson,  was  born  at  this  place  Nov- 
ember, 18G2.  He  received  his  primary  education 
at  the  schools  of  Talladega,  and  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  years,  iu  the  office  of  Governor  Parsons, 
began  the  study  of  law.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  October  "26,  1884,  and  entered  at  once  upon 
the  practice.  \\\  March,  1885,  he  formed  a  part- 
nership with  John  W.  Bishop,  and  the  firm  of 
Bishop  &  Whitson  is  one  of  the  most  poj)ular  and 
successful  in  Eastern  Alabama. 

The  senior  Mr.  Whitson  was  born  in  Bucking- 
ham County,  N.  C. ;  came  to  Talladega  in  1852, 
and  here  died  November  7,  1885,  at  the  age  of 
about  sixty-six  years.  During  the  late  war  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Tenth  Alabama  Regiment 
as  a  private  soldier.  He  reared  a  family  of  two 
sons  and  two  daughters.  His  father,  Joseph 
Whitson,  also  a  North  Carolinian,  was  a  planter 
by  occupation,  and  his  grandfather  was  one  of 
the  first  settlers  of  Buckingham  County.  He 
was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Colonial  Army  during  the  Revolution- 
ary War.  The  Whitsons  came  originally  from 
England.     One   of  the   ancestors  of   the  subject 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


461 


of  this  sketcli  married  a  Miss  McDowell,  the 
name  whereof  is  retained  yet  in  the  family. 
The  Carjions  came  from  Ireland,  and  Samuel  far- 
son,  a  rehitive  of  .Mr.  Whitson'.s,  was  a  member  of 
Congress  from  North  t'arolina.  lie  fought  a  duel 
with  Dr.  Vance  some  years  ago,  wliile  drielingwas 
more  popular  than  at  present,  lie  afterward 
moved  to  Texas,  where  he  rendered  the  State 
much  valuable  service,  and  was  I'ewarded  there- 
for by  the  donation  by  the  State  of  an  immense 
tract  of  land. 

OTIS  NICKLES,  one  of  tlie  most  talented  and 
accomjilished  y<)inig  men  of  Talladega,  was  born 
at  (auiter.sville,  this  State,  July  :i7,  lfS.56,  and  is 
a  son  of  IJiciimond  and  Sarah  A.  (Patton)  Nickles. 
He  was  educated  at  the  University  of  the  South, 
Sewanee,  Tenn.,  and  has  given  most  of  his  life  to 
literature.  Since  coming  to  this  place  he  has 
been  continuously  identitieil  witli  the  local  press, 
aside  from  which  he  is  correspondent  for  several  of 
the  leading  periodicals  of  the  country.  He  is  the 
author  of  the  history  of  Talladega  as  found  in  this 
volume,  and  the  publishers  take  pleasure  in  com- 
mending it  to  the  general  reader  as  one  of  the 
most  interesting  and  instructive  chapters  in  the 
book. 

The  senior  Mr.  Nickles  is  a  native  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  came  to  Alabama  about  fifty  years  ago. 
He  located  first  at  AVetumpka,  going  thence  to 
(iuntersville  where  he  was  many  years  in  mercan- 
tile business.  Directly  after  the  late  war  he  came  to 
Talladega.  His  wife  is  a  native  of  Huntsville, 
this  State.  They  reared  a  family  of  three  chil- 
dren. Mr.  -Nickles  is  a  highly  esteemed  citizen 
of  Talladega. 


HUGH  L.  McELDERRY,  Attorney  at-law,  Tal- 
ladega, was  born  in  this  county  June  "-.".),  1850,  and 
is  the  son  of  Thomas  McElderry,  of  Leesburg,  Va. 
He  was  graduated  from  Emory  and  Henry  Col- 
lege, X'irginia,  and  in  18T!-i,  returned  to  liis  native 
place  and  engaged  in  farming  and  mercantile  busi- 
ness. Having  studied  law  in  the  meantime,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  has  since  devoteil 
himself  to  tlie  j)ractice  thereof.  He  was  m.irried 
•  lanuary  "i,  1887,  to  Miss  Kuth  Van  Ausdal,  of 
Katoii.  Ohio. 


Mr.  McElderry,  though  a  young  man,  has  for 
several  years  occupied  an  enviable  i)osition  at  the 
bar,  and  it  is  no  flattery  to  bespeak  for  him  a  fu- 
ture successful  career. 

•    ■'>"?^{^"<«-    • 

WILLIAM  HUGHSON  BURR,  was  born  in 
Camden,  S.  ('.,  .May  '11.  Js37,  and  is  a  son  of 
Aaron  and  Elizabeth  K.  (Hughson)  Burr,  natives, 
respectively,  of  Rhode  Island  and  South  Carolina. 
He  was  thirteen  years  of  age  when  his  father 
came  to  Alabama  and  located  at  Selma.  His  first 
employment  was  as  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  P.  J. 
Weaver,  and  he  remained  with  AVcaver  six  years. 
In  ISo'i,  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Savage,  he  en- 
gaged in  business  for  himself. 

The  firm  of  Savage  &  lUirr  continued  until 
1S50,  at  which  time  Mr.  Hurr  moved  to  a  plantation 
on  the  Coosa  River,  some  eighteen  miles  southwest 
of  Talladega.  In  the  spring  of  18<J1,  associated 
with  others,  he  raised  a  company  of  volunteers,  of 
which  he  was  made  first  lieutenant,  and  tendered 
its  services  to  the  State.  Arriving  at  Selma  en 
ronfe  to  Montgomery,  and  finding  his  father  ujion 
his  death  bed,  he  was  compelled  to  forego  army 
service  at  that  time.  In  the  fall  of  that  year, 
however,  he  again,  with  others,  raised  a  company 
for  the  Thirtieth  Alabama,  and  immediately  after 
the  organization  of  that  regiment  he  was  ap- 
pointed adjutant.  At  the  end  of  four  months 
he  was  elected  captain  of  Company  H,  and  one 
year  later  .he  was  promoted  to  major.  On  the 
field  at  Nashville  he  was  promoted  from  major  to 
colonel,  and  assigned  to  the  First  Alabama. 
Having  been  seriously  wounded,  however,  he  was 
unable  to  take  command  of  the  regiment. 

While  leading  a  charge  at  New  Hope  Church, 
Colonel  Burr  was  pretty  badly  wounded.  He  was 
also  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  and  at 
the  battle  of  Nashville.  After  the  last-named  en- 
gagement he  never  rejoined  his  regiment,  though 
he  was  on  his  way  to  it  when  notified  of  the  final 
surrender  and  the  cessation  of  hostilities. 

In  the  fall  of  ISOo  he  engaged  in  mercantile 
business  at  Talladega,  and  continued  it  until  18<1S. 
From  that  date  to  the  present  time  he  has  been 
employed  as  a  traveling  salesman  for  various  New 
York  houses.  It  is  proper  to  state,  however,  that 
since  1S81  he  has  also  carried  on  a  general  mer- 
chant business  at  Talladega,  in  addition  to  which 


462 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


he  lias  been  variously  interested  in  other  impor- 
tant enterprises. 

July  20,  IboS,  the  Colonel  was  married  to  ^[iss 
Sarah  C.  Borden,  of  Greene  County,  Ala. ;  and  has 
had  born  to  him  six  children:  Aarona  A.  (Mrs. 
James  A.  Blackburn),  Zaidee  L.  (Mrs.  S.  H.  Hen- 
derson), Esther,  Wallace,  Willie  ]\[iltou,  Lydia  A. 
and  Borden  II. 

Colonel  Burr  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors of  the  Institutions  for  the  Deaf,  Dumb  and 
Blind,  and  a  trustee  of  the  Synodical  Institute. 
He  is  a  Royal  Arch  Mason,  a  Knight  of  Honor,  and 
a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Aaron  Burr,  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  born  in  1804,  and  was  twelve  years 
of  age  when  he  moved  from  Providence,  R.  I.,  to 
Charleston,  S.  C.  In  Charleston  he  engaged  in 
the  shoe  business,  and  in  18.'30  established  a  branch 
store  at  Camden,  that  State,  and  lived  there  until 
1850.  In  that  year  he  moved  to  Selnia,  and  was 
there  in  business  until  his  death,  August  2,  1802. 
He  reared  a  family  of  two  sons  and  one  daughter. 
The  latter,  Annie,  became  Mrs.  Frazier,  of 
Sumter  District,  S.  C.  Charles  H.,  his  second 
son,  was  a  member  of  the  Seventh  Alabama  Regi- 
ment during  the  late  war,  and  was  killed  at  Seven 
Pines,  Va.     He  was  only  eighteen  years  old. 

William  Burr,  Colonel  Burr's  father,  was  a 
native  of  Providence,  R.  I.  Tracing  tlie  lineage 
of  Mr.  Burr  we  find  the  following  as  their  family 
tree:  Wm.  Hughson  Burr  was  born  May  27, 18.'S7, 
in  Camden,  S.  C;  Aaron  Burr,  of  Selma,  Ala., 
was  born  in  Providence,  R.  I.;  William  Burr  was 
born  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  in  1T6S:  Ezekiel  Burr, 
of  Providence,  R.  I.,  was  born  in  Rehoboth,  Mass., 
June  14, 1T.30;  David  Burr,  of  Rehoboth,  was  born 
in  Hingham,  Mass.,  February  28,  1703;  Simon 
Burr  was  born  in  England,  February  25,  1655; 
Rev.  Jonathan  Burr  was  born  in  Suffolk  County, 
England,  in  1604,  migrated  to  America  in  1639, 
signed  the  Presbyterian  Covenant  in  December, 
1039,  died  August  9,  1641. 

Joseph  Burr,  the  first  of  this  family  of  whom 
we  have  any  account,  was  born  in  Suffolk  County, 
England,  in  1579. 

'  ■♦>  ■;^{^'"»>— 

D.  MORGAN  ROGERS,  General  Manager  of 
the  Talladega  it  Coosa  Valley  Railroad,  was  born 
in  January,  1850,  in  Abbeville  District,  S.  C,  at 
Calhoun's  Mills,  and  is  a  son  of  Theophilus  A.  and 


Annie  E.  (Brown)  Rogers,  natives,  resjjectively,  of 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

Theophilus  A.  Rogers,  many  years  a  merchant  in 
South  Carolina,  was  a  descendant  of  Huguenotish 
ancestry.  Several  years  previous  to  his  death,  in 
1881,  he  engaged  at  merchant  milling,  and  D. 
Morgan  Rogers,  when  the  father  had  returned 
from  the  war,  in  which  he  had  served  four  years 
with  the  Confederate  Army,  engaged  with  him  in 
that  business.  This  was  at  Calhoun's  ilills,  S.  C.,. 
and  at  Stilesboro,  Ga.  Afterward,  in  connection 
with  his  brother,  DeWitt  Rogers,  D.  M.  Rogers 
engaged  in  the  lumber  and  saw-mill  business  near 
Stilesboro.  They  there  did  an  extensive  business 
for  three  years,  and  then  moved  to  Floyd  County, 
that  State,  where  they  remained  until  1883. 

These  brothers  were  projectors  and  builders  of 
the  Etowah  Railroad  from  Deaton's  Station  on  the 
East  &  West  Railroad  to  Seney  on  the  East  Ten- 
nessee, Virginia  &  Georgia  and  the  Talladega  & 
Coosa  Valley.  The  building  of  this  latter  road  was 
originated  by  ilr.  Rogers  and  was  the  means  of 
facilitating  their  extensive  lumber  business  in  Ala- 
bama, besides  developing  a  large  section  of  the 
country  and  building  up  several  prosjjerous  towns, 
some  of  which  have  bright  futures. 

D.  M.  Rogers  has  been  the  general  managev  of 
this  road  from  the  time  the  scheme  was  originated 
until  the  present  date.  He  is  vice-president  of  the 
Pell  City  Land  Comiian}',  a  town  that  was  organ- 
ized by  him  at  the  junction  of  the  Georgia 
Pacific,  East"&  West,  and  Talladega  &  Coosa  Valley 
Railroads. 

ilr.  Rogers  is  full  of  energy  and  vim.  He  is  a 
shrewd  financier,  a  cultured  gentleman,  and  a 
valuable  acquisition  to  any  community.  He  wa& 
married  in  June,  1873,  to  Mary  E.,  daughter  of 
Dr.  William  and  Rebecca  (Harris)  Ware,  of  Lee 
County,  Ga.,  and  has  had  born  to  him  one  child: 
Kittle  A. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  F. 
&  A.  M.,  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

JAMES  C.  KNOX,  M.D.,  was  born  in  Jackson 
County.  Ga..  ilareh  28,  1812. 

Dr.  Knox  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  those  grand 
men  who  illustrated  the  early  history  of  Talladega 
County;  he  adopted  the  medical  profession  as  his 
vocation  in  life,  graduating  from  Transylvania 
LTniversity,  Lexington,  Ky.,  in  1834.     Endowed 


.^^t:^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


463 


by  nature  witli  a  strong  and  vigorous  mind,  ener- 
getic, paiiistalving  and  tiiorough,  lie  soon  rose  to 
eminence,  and  for  many  years,  and  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  stood  at  the  liead  of  his  profession, 
and  was  regarded  as  tlie  foremost  surgeon  in 
Northeast  Ahibama. 

He  possessed  all  the  elements  of  a  surgeon  in  a 
marked  degree.  lie  was  a  thorough  anatomist, 
well  grounded  in  the  i)rinciples  of  surgery,  with 
mechanical  skill  to  execute  any  work  his  ingenu- 
ity contrived,  and  nerve  to  perform  the  most  im- 
portant operation.  There  was  nothing  within 
the  domain  of  surgery,  sanctioned  by  sound  sense 
and  the  leaders  of  the  profession,  which  he  hesi- 
tated to  undertake,  and  witli  that  measure  of 
success,  which  would  have  made  him  world-fam- 
ous, had  he  located  in  a  large  city  where  his  abili- 
ties could  have  been  properly  appreciated. 

But  his  success  in  his  profession  was,  by  no 
means,  confined  to  the  domain  of  surgery:  he  was 
a  master  of  the  science  of  medicine  in  all  its 
braiu'hes;  kept  abreast  with  its  progress,  and  was, 
liimself,  bold  and  original  in  the  treatment  of  dis- 
ease in  whatever  form  it  appeared.  His  extensive 
practice  was  not  confined  to  his  immediate  com- 
munity, but  extended  through  adjoining  counties, 
and  to  other  parts  of  the  State.  During  the  active 
portion  of  his  life  he  was  in  the  saddle  almost 
constantly,  requiring  two  horses  to  meet  tlie  strain 
of  continuous  service.  Possessing  fine  business 
qualities,  notwithstanding  a  large  and  expensive 
family,  his  wealth  accumulated  rapidly,  and,  but 
for  the  results  of  the  war,  would  have  made  him  a 
haiulsome  fortune. 

Dr.  Knox  was  of  exalted  and  commanding  char- 
acter, and  no  one  could  come  into  his  presence 
without  at  once  recognizing  him  as  a  man  of 
ability  atid  great  reserve  power.  In  personal  ap- 
pearance he  presented  a  handsome  and  striking 
presence,  being  six  feet  in  height:  possessing 
an  erect  and  well-proportioned  figure,  he  spoke 
his  cliaracter  in  his  carriage  and  dignified 
bearing. 

He  early  connected  himself  with  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  in  which  organization  he  soon  be- 
came a  ruling  elder,  and  during  his  long  life  was 
one  of  the  leading  members  and  mainstays  of  the 
cliurch  at  Talladega.  He  was  especially  devoted 
to  the  educational  interests  of  the  church,  and 
was  one  of  the  moving  spirits  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  present  Synodical  Female  Institute, 
finally  succeeding,  in  connection  with  others,  in 


placing  the  school  upon  a  permanent  and  prosjier- 
ous  basis. 

Soon  after  coming  to  Talladega  he  married  ^[ary 
.7.  Bowie,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Chancel- 
lor Alexander  W.  Bowie,  wiio  is  well  ren)embered 
by  all  who  knew  her  as  a  gifted  and  beautiful 
woman.  The  fruit  of  this  union  was  a  large  fam- 
ily of  most  interesting  children.  Doctor  Knox 
died  at  his  residence  in  Talladega,  March  27, 
18TT.  He  was  three  times  married.  His  second 
wife  was  Mary  E.  Barnett.  lie  afterward  married 
Mrs.  Margaret  E.  Rice,  nie  Johnston,  who  sur- 
vived him. 

Alexanhkr  B.  Knox  was  the  eldest  son  of  Dr. 
.lames  C.  Knox.  He  was  warm-hearted,  brave 
and  generous,  and  yielded  up  his  life  a  sacrifice 
upon  the  altar  of  his  country  in  the  battle  of  Cor- 
inth. Miss.  He  was  born  .Tune  15,  1?<38,  and  died 
January  "-i'.t,  lSG:i. 

Samuel  L.  Kn'Ox,  the  second  son  of  Dr.  James 
C.  Knox,  was  the  pride  of  his  father's  heart.  He 
was  regarded  by  all  who  knew  him,  as  the  most 
promising  young  man  in  Talladega  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war.  He  was  a  classmate,  fellow- 
graduate  and  most  intimate  friend  of  the  poet, 
Sydney  Lanier,  who  cherished  for  him  the  warm- 
est affection,  and  whose  estimate  of  his  intellect- 
ual pre-eminence  was  of  the  most  exalted  char- 
acter. 

He  graduated  at  Oglethorpe  College,  Georgia, 
sharing  the  first  honors  of  his  class  with  his  inti- 
mate friend.  After  leaving  college,  he  continued 
his  studies  under  the  direction  of  the  Hon.  J.  L. 
M.  Curry,  his  uncle  by  marriage,  who  took  the 
greatest  interest  in  stimulating  his  ambition  and 
broadening  his  scope  of  usefulness.  He  had 
chosen  the  law  for  his  vocation,  but  just  before 
applying  for  admission  to  the  bar  he  answered  his 
country's  call,  and  entered  the  Confederate  Army 
as  first  sergeant  of  the  Talladega  Ritles,  which 
composed  a  part  of  the  First  Alabama  Kegiment. 
He  was  soon  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy,  and,  at 
the  eiul  of  twelve  months,  on  the  re-organization 
of  tlie  regiment,  he  was  elected  major.  He  was 
afterward  promoted  for  gallantry  to  lieutenant- 
colonel,  and  was  killed  leading  a  brigade  storm- 
ing the  breastworks  in  front  of  Franklin,  Tenn. 
In  personal  appearance.  Colonel  Knox  was  tall 
and  finely  proportioned,  being  about  six  feet  one 
inch  in  height.  He  had  a  magnificent  carriage, 
and  such  was  the  admiration  and  affection  of  his 
men  for  him,  that  he  seldom  rode  in  their  front 


464 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


without  receiving  cheers  from  the  regiment.  lie 
was  fluent  and  eloquent  in  debate,  and,  during  his 
service  in  the  army  made  many  stirring  speeches, 
stimulating  and  encouraging  his  troops.  He  was 
mortally  wounded  at  Franklin,  and  died  before 
his  friends  could  reach  him,  at  the  early  age  of 
twenty-four.     He  was  born  at  Talladega,  March 

20,  1840,  and  died  in  Franklin,  Tenn.,  December 

21,  1804 

John  B.  Knox,  the  youngest  son  of  Dr.  James 
C.  Knox,  was  born  February  16,  1857.  He  came 
to  the  bar  uj)ou  reaching  his  majority  and 
formed  a  partnership  with  the  late  Frank  AV.  Bow- 
den,  who  had  been  admitted  several  years  before. 
Although  not  yet  thirty-two  years  old  he  is  regard- 
ed as  the  equal  at  the  bar  of  any  lawyer  in  the 
State.  While  of  delicate  physique  he  is  a  diligent 
student  and  most  persistent  worker.  He  is  now 
located  at  Talladega,  and  is  engaged  in  the  active 
practice  of  his  profession. 

He  is  not  only  j)rominent  as  a  lawyer,  but  stands 
high  in  the  councils  of  the  Democratic  jiarty, 
which  will,  no  doubt,  be  ready  to  crown  him  at  no 
distant  day  with  its  much  coveted  honors. 

He  married  Miss  Carrie  McClure,  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  Dr.  IJobert  G.  McClure,  of 
Lewisburg,  Tenn. 


J.  A.  EDWARDS,  Dealer  in  Real  Estate,  Talla- 
dega, was  born  in  the  Tallasahatchee  Valley,  No- 
vember 7,  1S5T,  and  is  a  son  of  William  and  Mary 
A.  R.  (Heacock)  Edwards.  He  came  to  Talla- 
dega in  1878,  as  Deputy  Sheriff,  and  in  1880,  was 
elected  Sheriff.  In  1884  he  moved  to  South  Flor- 
ida for  his  health,  and  in  188T  returned  to  Tal- 
ladega, and  engaged  in  real  estate  business.  He 
is  a  prominent  stockholder  in  the  Talladega  Land 
and  Iron  Company,  and  president  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  Talladega  Ice  Company.  Aside  from 
these  corporate  institutions  he  is  interested  in 
other  important  enterprises  at  this  place.  He  was 
married,  in  October,  1883,  to  Miss  Mary  Mallory, 
daughter  of  Col.  James  Mallory,  of  this 
county. 

AVilliam  Edwards,  with  his  parents,  came  to 
Talladega  in  1840.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Thirty-first  Alabama  Infantry,  during  the  war. 
He  reared  a  family  of  two  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters.    His  father,  Zaehariah  Edwards,  was  a  na-  I 


tive  of  North  Carolina.  His  wife  was  a  daughter 
of  Dr.  Joseph  D.  Heacock,  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Dr.  Heacock  was  a  surgeon  in  the  War  of  1812, 
and  afterward  located  in  Tallasahatchee  Valley. 
He  came  to  Talladega  in  18;5'J  or  1840,  and  here 
practiced  medicine  many  years.  He  died  at  the 
age  of  eighty-five.  Some  of  his  sons  participated 
in  the  late  war  and  acquitted  themselves  with 
much  gallantry. 


WILLIAM  NATHAN  BOYNTON,  merchant, 
Talladega,  was  born  at  New  Haven,  Addison 
County,  A't.,  July  28,  1831,  and  is  a  son  of  Kev. 
Henry  and  Abigail  (Barton)  Boynton.  He  was 
graduated  from  Hamilton  College,  New  York, 
in  the  classical  course,  in  1854,  and  from  the 
law  department  of  the  New  York  University  in 
1857.  He  came  to  Alabama  in  1854,  taught  school 
one  year  in  Wilcox  County,  and  in  1857,  located  at 
Cahaba,  in  the  practice  of  law.  In  the  summer  of 
1862,  he  joined  the  First  Alabama  Regiment,  and 
remained'  in  the  service  till  the  close  of  the  war. 
Soon  after  leaving  the  army  he  located  at  Selma, 
where,  in  jiartnership  with  Alex.  White,  he  prac- 
ticed law  until  1882.  He  came  to  Talladega  in 
August,  1883,  and  engaged  in  mercantile  business. 

As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Boynton  was  ranked  among 
the  foremost  in  Central  Alabama,  and  since  enter- 
ing into  mercantile  business  he  has  been  remark- 
ably successful.  Pie  was  married  June  28,  1859, 
to  Miss  Fannie  A.  Isbell,  daughter  of  Maj.  James 
Isbell,  late  of  Talladega,  and  the  children  born  to 
this  union  are  William  H.,  a  student  in  Cornell 
University,  Theodore  Dwight,  and  four  others 
that  are  now  dead. 

The  senior  Mr.  Boynton,  ».  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter by  profession,  was  educated  at  Middlebury 
College,  Vt.,  entered  the  ministry  immediately 
after  graduatitig,  and  remained  in  that  profes- 
sion until  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  born 
in  179:',  and  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  years. 
He  reared  a  family  of  four  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, all  of  whom  received  collegiate  educations. 
The  Boyntons  came  oiiginally  from  Scotland,  in 
the  persons  of  three  brothers,  one  of  whom  settled 
in  Connecticut,  another  in  Georgia,  and  the  third 
in  Ohio.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  lineal 
descendant  of  the  one  who  settled  in  Connecticut. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


465 


Ilia  father,  John  Hoyiiton,  migrated  from  Con- 
necticut to  Vermont  at  an  early  day.  and  was  a 
soldier  in  tlie  Colonial  Army  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War. 

— -«-^;^^-<"  ■ 

CHARLES  W.  STRINGER,  Merchant,  Talla- 
dega, was  born  at  Wetunipka.  Ala.,  October  'l'-\, 
1^54,  and  is  a  son  of  Philip  (!.  and  llenrietta  M. 
(Xelins)  Stringer.  He  was  reared  and  educated 
at  Talladega,  and  in  ls70,  accepted  a  clerical  po- 
sition in  a  mercantile  establishment  at  tliis  place. 
He  was  afterward  associated  with  his  father  in 
mercantile  business,  and  at  the  death  of  the  latter, 
he  associated  with  him  one  of  his  brothers,  and  tlie 
style  of  the  firm  became  E.  J.  Stringer  &  Co. 
He  was  appointed  County  Treasurer  in  December, 
1884,  and  has  been  several  terms  the  Alderman 
from  his  ward.  He  was  married  in  December, 
issd,  to  Mary  E.  Mayfield  of  this  place,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  two  children  :    Nettie  and  Ethel. 

Mr.  Stringer  is  a  popular  and  succes.sful  mer- 
chant and  is  variously  identified  with  other  meri- 
torious enterprises,  at  this  place. 

The  senior  Mr.  Stringer,  is  a  native  of  South 
Carolina,  whence  he  moved  into  Georgia  in  183<>, 
and  from  there  to  Wetumpka  in  1848  or  '49. 
He  married  in  Kussell  County,  this  State,  in 
1853.  and  came  to  Talladega  in  1859.  Here 
he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  business  until 
•the  time  of  his  death  which  occurred  in  188.1. 
He  was  appointed  Treasurer  of  this  Company  in 
18T4.  and  held  that  office  the  rest  of  his  life.  In 
this  office  he  was  succeeded  bv  his  son  Charles  W. 


..^^ 


?-<►- 


JERE.  T.  DUMAS.  Wholesale  Hoot  and  Shoe 
Merchant,  Talladega,  son  of  Joel  and  Mary  Lucy 
Dumas,  natives  of  North  Carolina,  was  born  in 
Wilcox  County,  this  State.  March  Vi,  1847.  He 
was  reared  on  a  farm,  received  an  academic  educa- 
tion, and  was  attending  the  State  University  in 
18''>3,  when  called  home  by  sickness.  In  the 
spring  of  18G4,  he  joined  Company  E.  Eighth 
Alabama  Cavalry,  and  remained  in  the  service  un- 
til the  close  of  the  war.  After  the  final  surrender 
he  engaged  in  mercantile  and  warehouse  business 
at  Clifton,  in  partnership  with  hi.s  brother,  Oba 
Dumas.     They  subsequently  established  a  store  at 


Arlington,  and  in  March,  1886,  entered  into  busi- 
ness at  Talladega.  All  of  these  concerns  are  in 
full  operation,  and  the  one  at  Talladega  was  the 
first  wholesale  house  established  here. 

Mr.  Dumas  was  married,  September  7,  1809,  to 
Miss  KUa  DeVan,  who  died  in  188"^,  leaving  six 
children:  Alice,  Sallie,  Lula,  Ellie,  Henry  and 
Jerry.  February  G,  1884,  Mr.  Dumas  married 
-Miss  Lelia  DeVan,  sister  of  his  first  wife,  and  to 
this  union  have  been  born  two  children:  William 
Lawrence  and  Annie  Lu;  the  latter  died  in 
Mav,  1887.  The  family  belong  to  tlie  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  !Mr.  Dumas  is  a 
Mason  and  a  Knight  of  I'ythias. 

The  senior  ilr.  Dumas,  prior  to  the  war,  was  an 
extensive  planter  and  slave  owner  in  Wilcox 
County.  He  came  into  .\labama  in  1836,  and 
died  in  lsi;;j  at  the  age  of  fifty-three  years.  He 
reared  a  family  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters, 
five  of  whom  are  living  in  this  State,  and  one 
daughter,  the  wife  of  Judge  C.  D.  Clark,  in 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.  He  was  a  son  of  Benjamin 
Dumas,  a  North  Carolina  planter,  and  his  ances- 
tors came  from  France. 

— — '■^'^f^t^' <"    ■ 

WILLIAM  J.  RHODES.  Merchant,  Talladega, 
was  born  at  Mobile,  November  9,  18:j-^,  and  was 
reared  and  educateil  at  Talladega.  In  early  life 
he  learned  the  carriage-maker's  trade,  and  was 
engaged  in  that  business  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
late  war.  In  April,  186-.i,  he  joined  Company  G, 
Thirty-first  Alabama,  was  made  orderly  sergeant, 
and  remained  in  the  service  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  He  was  at  the  battle  of  Chattanooga  and 
the  siege  of  Vicksburg;  at  Kingston,  N.  C,  and 
in  General  Smith's  Kentui-ky  campaign.  He  was 
promoted  to  first  lieutenant,  and  was  a  captain 
at  the  close  of  the  war.  He  surrendered  at  Salis- 
burv,  N.  C. ;  returned  to  Talladega,  and  from 
there  to  Calhoun  County,  where  he  followed 
farming  four  years.  In  187'2  he  again  came  to 
Talladega,  and  engaged  in  tlie  mercantile  busi- 
ness, which  he  has  since  followed,  with  much  suc- 
cess. He  was  appointed  Tax  Collector  of  this 
county  in  18.6,  and  held  the  office  one  year.  He 
was  married  March  2"2,  is.i."),  to  Miss  Sarah  A. 
McLean,  daughter  of  William  Mcl^ean,  Esq.,  one 
of  the  early  settlers  of  this  place. 

M.  G.  and  .Mary  A.  J.  (.\rrington)  Rhodes,  the 


466 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


parents  of  William  J.  Rhodes,  were  natives  of  the 
States  of  Georgia  and  Xorth  Carolina,  respectively. 
Mr.  Rhodes  was  a  carriage-maker  by  trade.  He 
came  to  Alabama  and  settled  in  Clark  County  in 
1831.  He  shortly  afterward  moved  to  ^[obile, 
where  he  was  in  the  carriage  business  nntil  183G. 
From  there  he  moved  to  Morgan  County,  and  in 
1839  to  Talladega  County.  He  came  into  Talla- 
dega City  in  1841,  and  was  here  in  the  carriage 
business  until  1855,  when  he  engaged  with  the 
Southern  Express  Company,  and  remained  with 
them  until  his  death,  which  occurred  September 
30,  1885.  He  reared  five  sons,  four  of  whom  were 
soldiers  in  the  Confederate  Army  during  the  late 
war. 

JOHN  T.  ADAMS  was  born  in  Winchester,  Frank- 
lin County,  Tenu.,  May  25,  1833;  moved  to  Tal- 
ladega, Ala.,  Xovember  1833;  married  Miss  Char- 
lotte Miller,  .June  7,  1855;  served  through  the  late 
war  as  a  member  of  Comjiany  G,  Thirty-first  Ala- 
bama Infantry,  and  is  now  the  oldest  citizen  of  the 
city  of  Talladega,  Ala. 

W.  K.  McCONNELL  was  born  in  Talladega 
County,  Marcli  'Ih,  1841,  and  was  reared  from  the 
time  he  was  eight  years  of  age  by  an  uncle  in  Teur 
nessee.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war  he 
was  a  student  at  LaGrange  College,  and  from 
there,  in  May,  1861,  joined  Company  B,  Sixteenth 
Alabama  Regiment,  as  a  private.  He  was  soon 
afterward  made  color-bearer  of  his  company,  and 
was  subsequently  detailed  as  drill  master  of  volun- 
teers. He  participated  in  the  battles  of  Wild  Cat 
(Ky.),  Mill  Springs  or  Fishing  Creek,  Shiloh. 
Farmington,  Corinth,  Boonsville,  etc.  He  was 
promoted  to  lieutenant  of  engineers  after  the 
battle  of  Fishing  Creek,  and  later  on  given  com- 
mand of  his  company.  Before  the  final  surrender, 
he  was  made  adjutant,  and  held  that  position 
until  the  close.  He  also  took  jjart  in  the  battles 
of  Chattanooga,  Munfordville,  Perryville,  and  at 
Vicksburg  was  transferred  to  the  Thirtieth  Ala- 
bama. With  this  regiment  he  was  at  Chickasaw 
Bayou,  Warrenton,  Baker's  Creek — where  he  was 
placed  in  command  of  his  company  by  order  "of 
Gen.  Stephen  D.  Lee— Big  Black  River  Bridge, 
and  afterward  at  Lookout  Jlountain,  Atlanta  and 


Jonesboro.  At  Jonesboro  he  was  made  adjutant- 
general  of  Shelley's  Brigade,  and  was  afterward 
at  Dalton,  Franklin  and  Xashville.  After  the 
war  he  returned  home  and  proceeded  at  once  to 
Mexico,  where  he  remained  two  years.  From 
Mexico  he  came  back  to  Alabama,  located  at 
Selma,  and  was  there  when  appointed  Command- 
ant of  the  State  University.  He  remained  at  the 
University  something  over  a  year,  and  in  ISTl  en- 
gaged in  railroad  business.  He  was  subsequently 
appointed  tax  collector  of  Dallas  C'ounty,  and  held 
that  office  seven  years.  In  August,  1884,  he  came 
to  Talladega,  where  he  has  been  since  em- 
ployed as  railroad  and  express  agent.  He  was 
married  May  7,  1868,  to  Miss  Ellen  Smith,  of 
Columbia,  Tenn.,  and  has  had  born  to  him  four 
children.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fratern- 
ity and  the  Knights  of  Honor. 

•    •♦>■.  f^I^«^^^ 

GEORGE  W.  CHAMBERS,  an  active  and 
enterprising  business  man  of  Talladega,  was 
reared  and  educated  at  this  place,  and  in  the  fall 
of  1861,  joined  the  Talladega  Artillery,  and 
served  with  that  command  one  year.  In  1863  he 
entered  Captain  Bowie's  Company,  which,  within 
six  months,  was  transferred  to  the  Thirty-first  Ala- 
bama Infantry.  With  this  command,  betook  part 
in  the  battles  of  Tazewell  and  Cumberland  Gap, 
was  with  Bragg's  army  07i  its  famous  raid  into 
Kentucky,  and  at  the  battles  of  Perryville,  Port 
Gibson,  Baker's  Creek,  Vicksburg,  Murfreesboro 
(Tenn.),  Chickamauga,  Missionary  Ridge,  the  Dal- 
ton campaign,  New  Hope  Church,  Franklin, 
Xashville,  and  helped  to  bring  up  the  retreat  of 
the  army  from  Nashville,  Resaca  (Ga.)  and  At- 
lanta. He  surrendered  with  his  regiment  at  Sal- 
isbury, N.  C. 

From  first  to  last  he  was  in  all  the  engagements 
in  which  his  regiment  took  part.  After  the  war 
he  engaged  in  the  grocery  business  at  Talladega, 
and  here  has  since  made  his  home. 

Mr.  Chambers  has  the  rejiutation  of  being  one 
of  the  most  sterling  business  men  in  this  part  of 
the  country.  He  is  wide-awake,  public-spirited, 
and  takes  an  active  interest  in  any  and  everything 
that  tends  to  develop  Alabama.  In  1887  he  erected 
the  Chambers  Opera  House,  and  since  1880  has 
been  particularly  active  in  real  estate  transactions. 
Over  half  a  million  dollars'   worth  of  lands  have 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


467 


passed  through  his  hands  since  tlie  beginning  of 
the  Nortli  Alabama  boom,  and  he  now  owns  sev- 
eral thousand  acres  of  the  most  valuable  timber 
and  mineral  lands  in  the   State. 

He  was  married,  on  January  :i.  18T^.  to  Miss 
Emma  S.  Hopkins,  native  of  Wrmingham,  England, 
and  has  had  born  to  him  six  children  :  Joseph 
Sheritf,  Maud  Helen,  Dollie  Ida.  George  Oscar, 
Bennett  [.ester  and  Jilmma  Fannie.  The  family 
are  communicants  of  the  Ejiiscopal  Church. 

Mr.  Chambers  was  tlie  originator  of  the  orga?u- 
zation  of  an  English  company  with  a  capital  of 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  is  now  erect- 
ing two  100-ton  coke  furnaces  at  Talladega.  This 
will  cause  other  manufactories  to  be  built  here. 
In  fact,  Mr.  Chambers  proposes  to  have  an  English 
colony  located  at  or  near  Talladega. 

— — -"S"— S^j^— ^^^ — — 

GEORGE  A.  JOINER  was  b,.in  in  Talladega, 
October  •l'.\,  1843,  and  is  a  son  of  James  H.  and 
Rachel  (Williamson)  Joiner.  At  the  age  of  18 
years  he  entered  the  Confederate  Naval  Academy, 
near  liiohmond  Va.,  and  was  graduated  in  18(!-i. 
He  was  for  a  short  time  in  the  service  as  an  officer 
on  the  '■•  Huntsville,"'  and  was  wounded  at  Fort 
Blakley,  Mobile  Bay.  He  held  the  rank  of  past 
midshipman,  and  was  recommended  for  promo- 
tion a  short  time  before  the  final  surrender.  After 
Fort  Blakley  was  stormed  and  taken,  he  was 
transferred  to  the  "  Xasiiville,"'  and  surrendered 
■with  that  vessel.  Soon  after  the  war,  he  became 
associated  with  iiis  father  in  the  publication  of  a 
newspaper,  and  remained  in  that  business  until 
1S73,  since  which  time  he  has  been  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits.  He  is  at  present  an  alderman 
of  Talladega,  and  is  secretary  of  the  City  lioard  of 
Education.  He  is  also  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
Alabama  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Alabama 
Academy  for  the  Blind,  having  been  appointed  to 
tliat  position  in  October,  ISSii,  by  Governor  0"Xeal. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
worshipful  master  of  his  Lodge,  and  has  for  a 
number  of  years  been  reporterfor  the  Knights  of 
Honor,  and  an  active  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 

Mr.  Joiner  was  married  May  14,  1874,  to  Miss 
Jennie  Sinon,  who  died  August  4,  1880,  leaving 
two  children,  Enfield  and  Harvey.  The  present 
Mrs.  Joiner  was  ^liss  Mary  F.  Broadstreet.  To 
this  union  has  been  born  one  child,  Jeannette. 


The  senior  Mr  Joiner  was  a  native  of  Abbeville 
District,  8.  C,  and  at  theage  of  twelve  years  came 
with  his  parents  to  St.  Clair  County,  Ala.  \\^ 
located  at  Talladega  in  the  spring  of  18:37, 
engaged  in  the  grocery  business  for  a  short  time, 
and  in  1838  entered  a  printing  office,  in  which 
business  he  continued,  as  editor  and  publisher,  up 
to  about  1808.  He  died  in  1881.  He  published 
the  Talladega  Watr/ifower,  and  was  for  nearly 
three  years  Grand  High  Priest  of  the  Grand 
Chapter  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  for  eleven 
years  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  AVork  in  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  Alabama.  He  was  forty-five 
years  prominent  in  the  Baptist  Church,  and 
twenty  years  sujierintendent  of  Sunday-school. 


THOMAS  LIVINGSTONE  ISBELL,  son  of  the 

late  Jlujor  Isbell.  was  rLurtd  and  educated  at  Tal- 
ladega and  when  a  boy  entered  the  mercantile 
establishment  of  his  father  as  a  clerk.  In  ]8C"2  he 
joined  the  First  Alabama  Regiment,  and  partici- 
pated therewith  in  the  battle  of  Corinth  and  siege 
of  Port  Hudson,  and  remained  with  the  army  nntil 
the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  captured  at  Port 
Hudson,  and  was  afterward  in  the  service  as  a  ma- 
chinist, doing  detail  work  at  Selma,  Ala.,  where  he 
was  when  that  place  surrendered  to(ieneral  Wilson. 
After  the  war  he  again  engaged  in  business  at  Tal- 
ladega and  was  here  several  years,  when  he  turned 
his  attention  to  farming.  He  was  married  Janu- 
ary 8,  1868,  to  Jliss  Mattie  J.  Xorris  at  Selma. 

Mr.  and  ilrs.  Isbell  and  children  are  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

MARCUS  McELDERRY  was  born  in  this 
county,  .January  18,  is.'is.  He  was  reared  on  a 
farm,  and  educated  at  the  schools  of  Talladega 
and  at  La(i range  College.  Hi  the  spring  of  1861, 
he  joined  Company  A.  Eighth  Confederate  Cavalry, 
ajid  jiarticipated  in  the  battles  of  Shiloh,  Murfrees- 
boro,  Perryville.  Chickamauga,  Chattanooga,  At- 
lanta, etc.,  and  in  fact  he  never  missed  an  oppor- 
tunity for  a  battle  from  the  beginning  to  the  final 
close,  at  Beutonville,  X.  C.  After  the  war  he 
came  home  and  for  a  short  time  followed  farming. 
For  several  years  prior  to  188t!,  he  was  employed 


468 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


as  a  book-keeper  ;  since  that  time  he  has  been  in 
mercantile  business  for  himself.  He  was  married 
in  September,  1808,  to  Miss  Georgia  Bowdou.  To 
this  union  have  been  born  three  children  :  Fan- 
nie C,  Elbert  J.  and  Horace  T. 

BENJAMIN  F.  WILSON,  Attorney-at-law,  is  a 
native  of  Montevallo,  this  State,  son  of  Dr.  John 
B.  and  Mar}'  A.  (Bandie)  AVilson,  and  was  born  in 
1854.  After  receiving  an  academic  education,  he 
took  uj]  the  study  of  law,  and  in  18TT.  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar.  He  located  at  Talladega  in 
1885,  where  he  is  now  prosecuting  the  pleas  of  the 
State.  He  was  married  in  November,  1883,  at 
Selma,  to  Miss  Allie  Smith,  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Washington  M.  Smith,  and  has  had  born  to  him 
two  children:  Susie  Parker  and  Frank  M. 

Mr.  Wilson  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church,  and  he  is  a  Mason  and  master  of  his 
lodge  at  Talladega.  He  has  also  held  several 
State  positions  in  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Dr.  John  B.  Wilson  is  a  native  of  Sevier 
County,  Tenn.  His  father,  Benjamin  Wilson, 
was  born  in  Xortli  Carolina,  whence  he  migrated 
to  Tennessee  and  later  to  Alabama.  He  lived 
some  years  at  Huntsville,  and  moved  from  there 
to  Montevallo,  Shelby  County. 

THOMAS  J.  CROSS.  Sr.,  was  born  in  Hunts- 
ville, Ala.,  the  •<!5th  day  of  Novembei-,  18"^2,  and 
is  the  son  of  Andrew  and  Rutha  Cross.  Andrew 
Cross  was  a  native  of  Petersburg,  Va.  He  married 
Mies  Eutha  Duskin,  of  Raleigh,  N.  C,  and  soon 
after  emigrated  to  Huntsville,  Ala.,  where  he 
carried  on  an  extensive  saddlery  business  until  his 
death  in  1836.  His  widow  survived  him  until 
1872. 

Thos.  J.  Cross,  Sr.,  came  to  Talladega  in  1843, 
and  was  at  once  connected  with  the  Reporter,  a 
Whig  paper,  started  that  year,  and  has  remained 
with  it  ever  since. 

In  1870  T.  J.  Cross  and  M.  II.  Cruikshank,  the 
proprietors  of  the  Reporter,  imrchased  the  Watch- 
tower,  an  old  Democratic  paper,  that  was  started 
about  the  year  1841.  After  the  death  of  Mr. 
Cruikshank,  Mr.  Cross  purchased  the  decedent's 


interest  in  the  pajjer.  The  title  Watchtoiver  was 
dropped  some  time  since,  and  it  is  now  published 
as  the  Talladega  Reporter. 


-^^ 


THOMAS  P.  PLOWMAN,  Agent  of  the  Ala- 
bama Great  Southern  Railroad,  Talladega,  Ala., 
was  born  in  this  place  June  8,  1843,  and  is  a 
son  of  George  P.  and  Agatha  C.  (Scales)  Plow- 
man, natives  of  Tennessee.  In  May,  1802,  he 
enlisted  in  Company  F,  Fifty-first  Alabama  Cav- 
alry as  a  private  soldier,  and  participated  in  all 
the  battles  from  Murfreesboro  to  Chattanooga. 
He  was  wounded  on  the  same  day  that  General  Mc- 
Pherson  was  killed,  and  was  thereafter  unable 
for  service.  In  1807  he  engaged  in  me'"cantile 
and  tanning  business  with  his  father.  He  dis- 
continued the  mercantile  business  about  1870,  and 
continued  the  tannery  until  1873.  In  the  latter 
year  he  was  ap2)ointed  agent  of  the  A.  G.  S. 
Railway  at  this  jDlace.  Mr.  Plowman  has  been 
twice  married.  His  first  wife,  to  whom  he  was 
married  in  1872,  was  a  Miss  MijClellan;  the  present 
Mrs.   Plowman  was  Miss  Annie  Montgomery. 

Mr.  Plowman  has  been  three  times  Mayor  of 
the  city  of  Talladega,  and  several  times  a  member 
of  her  Common  C'ouncil.  He  was  eight  or  ten 
years  chairman  of  the  County  Democratic  Execu- 
tive Committee,  and  is  now  the  Vice-Grand  Dic- 
tator of  the  Knishts  of  Honor  for  the  State. 


ROBERT  A.  MOSLEY,  Jr.,  is  a  native  of  Monte- 
vallo, Shelby  County,  this  State,  a  son  of  Dr.  Rob- 
ert A.  and  Mariah  B.  (Stevens)  Mosley,  and  was 
born  in  July,  1841.  He  received  his  primary  edu- 
cation in  his  native  county  and  at  Howard  Col- 
lege ;  read  medicine  with  his  father,  took  a  course 
of  lectures  at  Mobile,  and  subsequently  spent  some 
time  at  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadelphia. 
He  joined  the  array  in  June,  1801,  first  with 
Curry's  Rifles,  and  afterward  with  Blythe's  Bat- 
talion. He  participated  in  the  battle  of  Belmont, 
and  from  there  returned  home,  where,  assisted  by 
his  brother,  he  raised  Company  E,  for  the  Forty- 
first  Alabama.  He  was  made  company  surgeon 
upon  the  organization  of  the  regiment.  At  the 
end  of  about  a  vear  he  resigned  as  surgeon  and  was 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


469 


made  a  lieutenant.  He  was  with  his  command  up 
to  tlie  battle  of  ^lurfreesboro,  at  which  place  he 
was  seriously  wounded.  IJeturiiing  home  he  en- 
tered the  drug  business,  and  followed  it  until 
1 8GS.  In  that  year  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  the  city, 
and  established  "Our  Mountain  Home,"  a  weekly 
newspaper,  which,  in  comjiany  with  his  brother, 
he  published  for  ten  successive  years.  In  187"^,  at 
O.xford,  Ala.,  he  established  the  ''  Risiuy  Star," 
and  at  about  the  same  time,  the  Konie  (Georgia) 
Daily.     Some  time  later,  he  started  the  National 


Weekly  and  Tri-  Weekly  Republican,  at  Selma, 
Ala.  In  18?;},  he  was  ajipointed  Post  blaster 
at  Talladega,  and  held  that  office  until  August, 
18-5. 

Captain  Mosley,  was  a  delegate  to  the  Xational 
Republican  Conventions  of  1 870, 1880  and  1  s84 :  and 
in  188(i-'T  was  the  Washington  correspondent  of  the 
Chattanooga  Commercial  Since  February,  1887 
he  has  been  engaged  in  real  estate  and  insurance 
business.  In  June,  18<>2,  he  married  Miss  Josie 
Ware. 


X. 

ANNISTON. 

By  Edward  A.  Oldham. 


During  the  year  1872,  Daniel,  Alfred  L.  and 
E.  L.  Tyler,  and  James,  Jolm,  Samuel  and  Will- 
iam Noble,  organized  the  AVoodstock  Iron  Com- 
pany. The  history  of  Anniston  may  be  said  to 
date  from  this  event,  as  this  company  and  the  fur- 
naces subsequently  built  by  it  formed  the  nucleus 
around  which  has  clustered  an  industrial  commu- 
nity whose  fame  has  gone  abroad  throughout  the 
land  and  beyond  the  sea. 

At  Oxford,  contiguous  to  the  jjresent  site  of 
Anniston,  the  Confederate  Government  during 
the  war  had  built  a  furnace,  which  had  been  de- 
stroyed by  a  raiding  party  under  the  command  of 
■General  Croxton,  whose  brigade  had  been  separated 
from  the  command  of  General  Wilson  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Selma.  The  reputation  of  this  old 
plant,  and  the  exceptional  quality  of  its  former 
outjiut,  reached  the  ears  of  the  Nobles,  then  pros- 
perous ii-onmongers  at  Home,  Ga.,  and  Samuel 
Noble,  imbued  with  a  desire  to  become  better 
acquainted  with  the  mineral  resources  of  this  sec- 
tion, sallied  forth,  five  years  prior  to  the  formation 
of  the  company,  and  visited  the  ruins  of  the  old 
furnace  and  explored  the  red  hills  north  of  the 
quaint  little,  old-fashioned  village  of  Oxford, 
where  the  city  of  Anniston  now  stands.  He  was 
■quick  to  perceive  the  enormous  quantities  of  ore, 
and  his  iron  sense,  for  which  he  is  so  justly  dis- 
tinguished, took  in  at  a  glance  the  richness  of  the 
deposits.  Before  his  English  eye,  accustomed  to 
the  beauty  of  landscape  and  sky,  there  lay  spread 
out  a  lovely  valley,  gracefully  undulating,  through 
which,  in  serpentine  course,  wound  a  little  stream 
whose  waters  sparkled  and  sang  as  they  frolicked 
over  rocks  and  pebbles.  To  the  north  rose  Blue 
Mountain,  rich  in  a  vestment  of  green,  while 
grouped  around  the  valley  ranged  lesser  heights, 
children  of  the  Blue  Kidge  wandered  away  from. 


their  mighty  parent.  Mr.  N^oble  was  impressed 
with  the  natural  beauty  of  the  situation,  and  its 
fitness  for  the  location  of  a  great  city  presented 
itself  to  him,  and  the  desire  to  become  one  of  its 
founders  filled  his  bosom  with  a  proud  ambition. 

Through  the  assistance  of  the  Quintards  of  New 
York,  old  friends,  he  jjurchased  the  largest  and 
main  ore  deposits,  and  continued  adding  to  the 
property  until  the  formation  of  the  company, 
which  also  added,  by  judicious  purchases,  from 
time  to  time,  until  the  projjerty  became  a  vast 
territory  of  mineral  lands,  aggregating  one  hun- 
dred thousand  acres. 

The  romantic  manner  in  which  Mr.  Noble  and 
General  Tyler  became  interested  in  their  subse- 
quent enterprise,  is  concisely  narrated  in  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  written  by  Mr.s  Noble  to  Alfred  L. 
Tyler,  soon  after  the  death  of  the  latter's  father 
in  1883.     Mr.  Noble  writes: 

"The  death  of  the  General  recalls  as  vividly  as 
if  it  were  but  yesterday  my  first  meeting  with  him. 
In  the  spring  of  18T2,  when  you  were  acting 
vice-2iresident  of  the  South  Carolina  Eailroad,  I 
visited  you  at  your  ofSce  in  Charleston  on  busi- 
ness, bearing  a  letter  of  introduction  from  J.  M. 
Selkirk,  superintendent  of  the  Rome  (Ga.)  Rail- 
road. While  at  your  desk  talking  to  you,  I 
noticed  an  aged  gentleman  whose  whole  attention 
was  fixed  on  the  morning  paper.  Presently  he 
laid  it  down,  and  went  to  one  corner  of  your 
office  and  consulted  a  map  on  the  wall.  A  few 
moments  after  he  came  to  the  desk  were  you  and 
I  were  talking,  and  said  to  me:  'When  I  was 
building  the  Macon  &  Western  Eailroad  some 
thirty  years  ago,  I  heard  from  men  who  were  at 
work  for  me,  of  large  bodies  of  iron  ore  in  your 
part  of  the  State.  Do  you  know  anything  about 
it?'     His   earnest   manner,   and   the    interest  he 


470 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


471 


manifested  in  putting  the  question,  impressed  me 
at  once.  I  said  to  liim  he  could  not  have  ques- 
tioned  ine  on  a  subject  with  which  I  was  more 
familiar;  that  there  was  hardly  an  iron  property 
in  Georgia  or  Alabama  I  did  not  know,  lie  then 
said: 

"  W'iieii  I  was  a  youiii;  man  I  went  into  the  iron 
business  in  Pennsylvania,  and  made  one  of  the 
first  attempts  to  make  iron  with  anthracite  coal. 
I  went  over  to  Wales,  and  brought  over  a 
founder  to  run  the  furnace,  as  at  that  time  it  was 
not  supposed  that  there  was  any  founder  in  the 
United  States  who  could  blow  an  anthracite 
furnace.  We  had  trouble  from  the  start  with  the 
fdunder,  who  dictated,  and  the  furnace,  which 
chilled  up  every  time  we  started.  The  difficulties 
wo  encountered,  and  the  disadvantages  we  con- 
tended against,  were  so  great,  that  I  resolved  never 
to  touch  or  become  interested  in  any  iron  property 
that  lacked  a  single  advantage — that  had  not  on 
it  everything  in  abundance,  and  accessible  for 
the  cheap  production  of  good  iron.  I  have  had 
the  iron  business  burned  into  me,  and  have  not 
forgotten  my  first  experience;  but  if  I  can  find  a 
[irojierty  that  has  on  it  every  thing  for  making 
iron  without  buying  any  raw  material,  or  bring- 
ing any  to  it,  I  might  be  tempted  to  go  into  the 
business  again." 

"  I  said  I  had  been  in  the  iron  business  myself, 
and  then  owned  a  property  that  combined  in  it- 
-self  advantages  over  every  other  property  I  knew. 
\  told  him  I  believed  there  was  no  jilace  in  the 
.•^outh  then  accessible  to  equal  it  for  making  good 
and  cheap  iron.  Nature  could  hardly  have  done 
more  for  it,  and  it  would  be  real  pleasure  to  me,  I 
continued,  if  he  would  come  to  see  it,  as  I  was 
sure  it  would  interest  him  greatly.  Hesitating  a 
moment,  he  said:  '1  will  try  and  come  up  and 
look  at  it  within  the  ne.xt  two  weeks.' 

•'I  had  but  little  idea  thataman  of  hisage  would, 
on  a  second  thought,  take  such  a  long  and  un- 
comfortable journey,  and  was  surprised  at  his  com- 
ing to  Home  some  ten  days  afterward  for  a  visit 
of  inspection.  At  that  time  there  was  no  railroad 
station,  and  only  three  old,  unfinished  houses  at 
what  is  now  the  town  of  Anniston.  So  we 
stopped  at  Oxford,  two  miles  below,  where  we 
fouml  horses.  He  rode  with  me  over  the  country, 
exploring  every  hill  and  valley,  gathering  in- 
formation from  everybody  he  met.  and  from  the 
inmates  of  every  house  he  passed,  about  the  tim- 
ber lands,  limestone  and  rock  quarries — their  lo- 


cation and  extent — and  then  going  to  the  places 
indicated  and  examining  them  himself. 

Familiar  as  I  thought  I  was  with  the  whole 
country,  I  found  while  with  him  how  much  there 
was  I  had  not  looked  into  or  thought  of  investi- 
gating. Nothing  escaped  his  observation.  In  iiis 
company  I  made  the  mo.st  thorough  and  exhaust- 
ive exploration  of  the  country  I  ever  made  before 
or  since.  I  was  surprised  at  his  knowledge  and 
practical  ideas  concerning  the  requisites  for  iron 
manufacture.  We  rode  for  three  days  in  suc- 
cession, returning  to  the  hotel  in  Oxford  after 
dark,  I  thoroughly  tired  out,  but  the  General 
fresh  as  ever.  He  would  go  down  from  his  room, 
and  with  some  choice  tea — a  present  from  an 
English  sea  captain,  make  a  hot  cup  for  both; 
the  hotel  people  did  not  know  how  tea  was 
'cooked.'  Sipping  our  Hyson,  we  talked  over 
what  had  been  seen  during  the  day,  and  planned 
for  the  next.  The  General,  I  knew,  was  sur- 
prised and  pleased  with  theproperty,  although  he 
said  but  little.  After  enquiring  about  the  market 
for  and  price  of  iron,  and  the  probable  consump- 
tion at  Ivome,  he  said:  'I  will  go  back  and 
bring  up  Alfred  to  look  at  it.' 

"The  rest  you  know.  The  visit  led  to  the  or- 
ganization of  the  AVoodstock  Iron  Company,  and 
shortly  after  the  foundation  of  the  town  of  An- 
niston. Then  came  the  building  up  of  a  business 
of  such  magnitude  and  prosperity  as  led  to  a 
great  increase  of  wealth  and  population  in  this 
section  of  the  State. 

"  I  never  think  of  my  first  meeting  with  the  Gen- 
eral without  being  deeply  impressed  with  its  bene- 
ficial results  to  this  portion  of  the  country,  a 
meeting  which,  at  the  time,  was  apparently  a 
mere  accident.  From  that  time  to  my  last  inter- 
view with  him  in  New  York,  two  months  before 
his  death,  his  clear  and  active  mind  was  always 
planning  and  suggesting  something  for  the  benefit 
of  Anniston  and  its  people.  Plans  and  suggest- 
ions that  to  us  seemed  impracticable  and  prema- 
ture, we  found,  from  his  clear  reasoning  and 
hearty  co-operation,  not  only  could  be  carried  out, 
but  were  needed.  In  acting  on  his  suggestions 
and  plans,  we  found  how  wuse  he  was  in  fore- 
thought, and  wondered  why  we  had  not  thought 
of  the  plans  ourselves.  To  his  earnest  exertions 
and  liberality  we  are  indebted  for  the  water  works, 
the  cotton  factory  and  the  car  works,  the  promo- 
tion of  immigration,  the  succesf^ful  cultivation  of 
the  grasses,  the  introduction  of  blooded  cattle  and 


472 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


improved  stock,  large  and  more  comfortable  dwell- 
ings for  the  workingmen,  the  building  of  churches 
and  schools  for  them,  and  facilities  for  the  educa- 
tion of  their  children.  He  was  a  grand  old  man — 
one  of  the  most  generous  and  unselfish  I  ever 
knew,  always  interested  in  and  planning  for  the 
welfare  of  others,  and  never  so  happy  as  when 
those  he  aided  profited  by  his  advice  and  assist- 
ance. I  hoped  he  would  have  lived  for  years  to 
come,  and  enjoyed  the  proud  satisfaction  of  see- 
ing the  plans  he  had  so  generously  and  prudently 
formed  for  the  welfare  of  the  people  of  the  town 
he  had  founded,  grown  to  perfection.  We  shall 
miss  him  greatly.  Who  will  impress  us  with  the 
feeling  of  confidence  in  every  new  plan  and  un- 
dertaking that  he  was  wont  to  give?  To  whom 
shall  we  look  for  the  sound  advice  his  age,  experi- 
ence and  clear  mind  alone  could  impart?  We 
miss  him  daily.     We  will  always  miss  him." 

In  April,  1873,  the  first  furnace  of  the  company, 
at  a  cost  of  $100,00(>-,  was  completed  and  went 
into  blast.  This  furnace,  from  that  time,  has  run 
without  intermission,  day  and  night  (Sundays  in- 
cluded), without  stopping,  except  for  enlargement 
or  repairs,  turning  out  an  annual  product  of  10,000 
tons  of  iron.  Not  even  the  protracted  depression 
which  accompanied  the  great  panic  of  1873  was 
sufficient  cause  to  bank  the  fires  of  their  furnace, 
the  demand  for  whose  output  being  so  much  in 
excess  of  its  capacity  that  another  furnace  was 
called  into  being,  and  in  August,  1879,  it  was 
completed  and  put  into  operation.  The  follow- 
ing year  witnessed  the  re-building  and  enlarge- 
ment of  the  first  furnace  and  the  organization,  by 
Mr.  Noble  and  his  associates,  of  a  new  company, 
known  as  the  Clifton  Iron  Company,  which  ab- 
sorbed the  Alabama  Furnace  at  Jenifer,  together 
with  12,000  acres  of  land  environing  it.  This 
company,  in  1884,  erected  its  second  furnace  at 
Ironaton,  twenty  miles  from  Anniston,  which 
was  blown  in  April  6,  188.5,  and  has  an  annual 
output  of  13,000  tons. 

On  the  12th  day  of  July,  in  1873,  an  election 
was  held  among  the  voters  of  the  community  to 
decide  the  question  of  ineorijoratiou,  and  a  major- 
ity having  favored  this  step,  the  place  was  incor- 
jiorated  as  the  Town  of  Anniston  by  order  of  the 
County  Judge  of  Probate,  and  named,  in  honor  of 
Annie,  the  wife  of  Alfred  L.  Tyler.  On  Febru- 
ary 4,  1879,  Anniston  received  a  charter  from  the 
State  Legislature,  and  Charles  O'Rouke  was 
chosen  first  Intendant.     This  charter  was  amended 


and  amplified  by  the  Legislature  of  1887,  and 
Anniston  then  received  its  baptism  as  a  city.  Dr. 
R.  P.  Huger  becoming  the  first  Mayor,  followed 
the  succeeding  year  by  F.  W.  Foster,  both  of 
whom  were  faithful  and  efficient  officers. 

To  provide  profitable  emploTment  for  tlie  wives 
and  children  of  the  ojieratives  em])loyed  in  the  fur- 
naces and  other  manufacturing  establishments,  a 
cotton  factory  with  twelve  thousand  spindles,  was 
erected  in  1881,  and  the  following  year  the  ear- 
wheel  workers  of  Noble  Brothers,  were  moved 
from  Rome  to  Anniston.  During  the  same  year 
(1882)  the  construction  of  the  water- works  was  be- 
gun by  the  sinking  of  a  well  ten  feet  in  diameter 
and  eighty  feet  deep,  the  whole  lined  with  a  heavy 
cast-iron  curbing  put  in  in  segments  all  bolted 
securely  together.  A  150  horse-power  beam 
engine  was  brought  into  requisition  to  pump 
the  water  from  the  well  and  force  it  to  the  reser- 
voir at  an  elevation  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-six 
feet,  on  one  of  the  hills  east  of  the  city  one  and  one- 
half  miles  distant.  Water-pipes  were  laid  through 
the  princijial  streets,  forty-five  hydrants  located  at 
points  where  property  was  most  exposed,  and  an 
ample  supjily  of  jiure  water  was  distributed  over  the 
town  at  a  pressure  of  one  hundred  pounds  to  the 
inch,  being  great  enough  to  dispense  with  the  use 
of  fire  engines,  and  only  requiring  the  employ- 
ment of  hose  carriages  to  afford  the  town  ample 
fire  protection. 

In  the  meanwhile  an  ideal  city  had  been  laid 
out,  a  perfect  system  of  drainage  designed,  the 
streets  macadamized,  waterworks,  stores,  churches 
and  schools  built,  and  railroad  connections  secured. 
The  entire  business  of  the  place  was  carrfed  on  by 
the  company,  who  owned  the  furnaces,  machine 
shoj)s,  saw-mills,  stores,  etc.  The  real  estate 
which  composed  the  town  was  not  in  the  market, 
and  the  Woodstock  Company  owned  the  whole  of 
it.  Their  policy  was  not  one  of  exclusiveness  by 
anv  means;  the  proprietor  simply  desired  to  lay, 
undisturbed,  the  basis  of  a  model  city,  to  carefully 
arrange  the  drainage,  to  systematically  lay  ofE  and 
macadamize  the  streets,  and  perfect  such  embel- 
lishments and  establish  such  industries  as  would 
have  been  impossible  in  a  heterogeneous  popula- 
tion. By  1883  the  germ  of  a  great  city  had  been 
deposited,  and  Anniston  was  then  formally  oj^ened 
to  the  public;  having  better  streets,  sidewalks, 
parks,  shade-trees,  water-works,  schools,  churches, 
hotels,  etc.,  than  many  older  cities  with  thou- 
sands of  inhabitants.     The  streets  run  north  and 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


473 


south,  east  and  west,  and  are  niucailaiiiizL'd  with 
the  hiva-like  slag  from  tlie  furnaces,  making  a 
roadway  which  will  last  for  ages.  The  side- 
walks of  many  of  the  streets  are  laid  with  hard 
cement  pavements  and  granite  curbings,  while 
long  rows  of  beautiful  shade-trees  of  the  water 
oak  variety  are  an  attractive  embellishment  to  a 
number  of  thoroughfares. 

At  this  time,  the  company  had  secured  for  An- 
niston  the  Oeorgia  Pacilic  and  the  East  Tennessee, 
^'irginia  &  Georgia  Railroads,  and  with  their  own 
capital  had  built  the  Anniston  &  Atlantic,  and 
projected  the  Anniston  &  Cincinnati.  The  con- 
struction of  these  railroads  and  all  of  the  local 
improvements  did  not  entail  a  dollar  of  expense 
ujion  the  town,  which  at  that  time  contained 
about  four  thousand  people. 

Systematic  endeavor  has  characterized  the 
founders  of  Anniston  from  the  very  inception  of 
the  undertaking,  and  in  order  to  insure  the  per- 
fection of  every  detail,  three  organizations  were 
effected — the  Woodstock,  the  Clifton,  with  its 
quartette  of  charcoal  furnaces  and  its  bee-hives 
of  industrious  inhabitants,  known  to  the  world  by 
the  musical  names  of  Ironaton  and  Jenifer,  and 
the  Anniston  Land  and  Improvement  Company. 
This  latter  body  expended  vigorous  efforts  to«-ard 
the  building  up  of  the  city,  and  held  out  liberal 
inducements  to  new  industries  and  additional 
population.  The  different  religions  denomina- 
tions were  aided  by  the  donation  of  building  lots, 
and  to  this  generous  policy  may  be  attributed  the 
prosperous  growth  of  the  churches  of  Anniston. 

In  1883,  Murray  &  Stevenson  were  induced  to 
move  their  foundry  from  Cartersville,  Ga.,  to 
Anniston,  and.  about  the  same  time,  an  ice  manu- 
facturing comjtany  was  organized  with  W.  J, 
Iiushton  as  president,  W.  J.  Cameron  as  secretary 
and  treasurer,  and  F.  AV.  Dixon  as  manager.  In 
1884  a  Brush  electric  plant  to  light  the  town  was 
establisiied,  using  arc  lamps  of  two  thousand 
candle-power.  The  same  year  was  made  notable 
for  the  commencement  of  the  work  of  erecting 
the  Inn,  a  graceful  specimen  of  Queen  Anne 
architecture,  and  a  hostelry  whose  luxurious  ap- 
j)ointments  and  external  attractions  have  won  for 
it  the  title  of  "the  famous  Anniston  Inn."  It 
occupies  an  elevated  position  in  the  centre  of  a 
twenty-acre  lawn,  and  commands  a  splendid  view 
of  the  city.  A  few  years  later  the  Parker  House, 
now  known  as  tlie  Anniston  Tavern,  was  built, 
iuid    during  1888  the  Hotel  Wilmer  will   be  com- 


pleted.   There  are  other  houses  of  accommodation 

ill  the  city. 

Ill  November,  1880,  a  company,  with  a  capital 
of  I'.'iCnOd,  was  organized  to  erect  and  operate  the 
Alabama  Car  Works.  John  W.  Noble  was  chosen 
president,  and  E.  E.  (i.  Roberts  becaine  secretary 
and  treasurer.  The  capacity  of  the  works,  at  that 
time,  was  atiout  ten  cars  a  day,  giving  emjjloy- 
ment  to  over  two  hundred  men. 

So  quietly  have  the  projectors  of  Anniston  la- 
bored, that,  when  the  city  was  thrown  open  to  the 
world  in  188o,  those  visiting  it  were  not  prepared 
to  see  a  model  city  in  embryo.  The  ihnoncment 
was  complete,  and  the  fame  of  Anniston  spread 
rapidly  throughout  the  couiitr}',  drawing  hither  a 
steady  stream  of  people. 

The  handful  of  enthusiastic  founders  who  com- 
posed the  trio  of  companies  before  alluded  to 
began  to  be  oppressed  by  a  sense  of  responsibility, 
as  they  saw  their  cherished  undertaking  assume 
such  rapidly  enlarging  proportions.  'J'heir  prop- 
erties had  become  too  cumbersome  for  individual 
management,  when  outside  capital  stejiped  for- 
ward with  proposals  for  the  purchase  of  a  portion 
of  the  holdings.  The  Woodstock  and  the  Land 
Companies  were  each  capitalized  at  f'3,000,000, 
this  valuation  having  been  fixed  by  the  prospec- 
tive purchasers,  and  was  accepted  by  their  owners 
as  a  basis  for  the  sale  of  one-third  of  the  former 
company  and  one-half  of  the  latter,  consequently 
on  January  'I'l,  1887,  the  transfer  was  made  to  the 
new  organization,  since  which  time  the  original 
owners  of  the  i)roperty  have  owned  two-thirds,  or 
§2,000,000  in  the  Woodstock  Iron  Comjiany  and 
one-half,  or  81,500,000  of  the  stock  of  the  Annis- 
ton City  Land  Company.  Of  the  latter  company. 
Col.  John  il.  McKleroy,  of  Eufaula,  is  president, 
and  Duncan  T.  Parker,  president  of  the  First 
National  Hank,  is  treasurer. 

On  Monday,  January  ■•i4th,  following  the 
date  of  organization  a  land  sale  was  held,  lasting 
half  the  day,  during  which  nearly  half  a  million 
dollars"  worth  of  property  was  sold.  The  growth 
of  Anniston  from  this  time  forward  was  remark- 
ably rapid,  and  by  the  spring  of  that  year  thepoji- 
ulation  had  increased  to  over  7,000. 

In  addition  to  the  Anniston  City  Land  Company 
there  were  organized  the  Mechanicsville,  AVest 
Anniston,  South  Anniston  and  the  Draper-Riddle 
Land  Companies,  and  the  Ledbetter  Land  and 
Loan  Association,  all  of  which  have  exerted  a 
healthful  influence  in  building  uj)  the  city. 


474 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


The  reorganization  of  the  land  company  and 
the  inauguration  of  a  vigorous  policy  on  the  part 
of  Colonel  McKleroy,  the  president,  was  produc- 
tive of  much  benefit  to  the  young  city,  and  a 
number  of  new  enterprises  was  set  on  foot.  The 
Anaiston  Pipe  Woriis  Company  was  organized  in 
February,  188T,  with  D.  T.  Parker  as  president^.  L. 
H.  Smith  as  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  Kobert 
T.  Carter  as  superintendent.  This  company  was 
formed  with  a  cash  capital  of  8300,000,  and  owns 
120  acres  of  valuable  laud  adjoining  the  city  limits. 
These  works,  which  are  in  process  of  erection, 
will,  when  completed,  have  the  distinction  of  be- 
ing the  most  extensive  gas-and-water  pipe  foundry 
in  the  world.  This  plant,  including  the  yards, 
cover  an  area  of  twenty  acres,  the  main  building 
being  504x130  feet,  with  two  wings,  each  275x30 
feet.  Over  300  men  will  be  emjiloyed,  working  up 
300  tons  of  iron  per  day. 

The  construction  of  this  huge  plant  called  into 
existence  additional  furnaces  to  supply  it  with 
the  crude  material;  therefore,  simultaneous  with 
the  commencement  of  the  pipe  works,  construc- 
tion began  on  two  new  coke  furnaces,  projected 
by  the  Woodstock  Company,  and  located  in  con- 
venient proximity  to  the  great  plant,  which  alone 
will  consume  nearly  the  entire  output  of  the  new 
furnaces.  The  latter  are  being  built  throughout 
by  Anniston  workmen,  including  the  five  large 
engines,  thirty-six  boilers,  furnace  stacks,  hot 
blast  ovens,  and  other  general  iron  work.  When 
completed  these  furnaces  are  to  have  a  capacity 
of  100,000  tons  per  annum.  To  provide  an  inex- 
haustible supply  of  fuel  for  this  immense  filant, 
the  Woodstock  Company  secured  a  controlling 
interest  in  valuable  coal  mining  properties  lying 
in  Bibb,  Shelby  and  Jefferson  Counties,  consisting 
of  30,000  acres,  and  composing  the  richest  portion 
of  the  Cahaba  Coal  Field. 

Close  in  the  wake  of  the  foregoing  enterprises 
came  the  steel  bloomary,  the  extensive  fire-brick 
works  of  Taylor  &  Sons,  planing-mills  and  numer- 
ous brick  yards,  the  Barbour  Machine  Works, 
transplanted  from  Eufaula,  the  cotton  compress, 
and  a  number  of  lesser  industries;  but  the  greatest 
industrial  event  of  18S7  was  the  coming  to  An- 
niston of  the  United  States  Kolling  Stock  Com- 
pany, a  New  York  corporation,  rejiresenting  im- 
mense capital.  This  concern  absorbed  the  car 
works,  and  at  the  time  of  this  writing,  are  enlarg- 
ing that  plant  to  a  capacity  of  twenty-five  freight 
cars  per  day  and  six  passenger  coaches  a  month, 


giving  employment  to  over  a  thousand  skilled 
workmen,  and  adding  to  the  population  of  the  city 
several  thousand  souls. 

Wlien  the  original  plans  of  Anniston  were  for- 
mulated, it  was  intended  by  her  founders  that  this 
should  not  only  be  a  model  city  in  perfect  streets 
and  attractive  architecture,  but  that  it  should  be 
a  model  city  in  point  of  morality  and  religious 
observances ;  Anniston  has,  therefore,  become 
noted  for  her  handsome  churches,  and  from  its 
earliest  inception,  the  town  has  enjoyed  the  whole- 
some benefits  of  a  prohibitory  liquor  law. 

The  founders  of  Anniston  being  Episcoi:)alians, 
a  church  of  this  denomination  was  the  first  to  be 
built  here.  The  parish  was  organized  in  Febru- 
ary, 1881,  the  town  having  previously  been  a  mis- 
sionary station  under  the  charge  of  Rev.  J.  F. 
Smith.  When  the  parish  was  organized,  Eev. 
Wallace  Caruahan,  of  San  Antonio,  Texas,  was 
called  to  the  rectorship,  and,  during  his  incum- 
bency, Grace  Church  was  built,  the  means  being 
furnished  by  the  families  of  Alfred  L.  Tyler  and 
Samuel  Noble.  It  is  built  of  cut  sandstone  from 
quarries  within  the  city,  and  the  interior  is  fin- 
ished throughout  in  red  cedar,  higlily  polished, 
and  the  windows  are  of  stained  glass.  The  build- 
ing cost  835,000.  Rev.  Mr.  Caruahan  was  suc- 
ceeded in  188(;  by  Rev.  Philip  A.  Fitts,  of 
Clarksville,  Tenn.  The  Episcopalians  have 
several  successful  missions  in  other  parts  of  the 
city. 

The  next  denomination  "  to  build  an  altar  to 
the  Lord  "  in  Anniston  were  the  Methodists.  In 
1883-4  they  erected  a  house  of  worship  and  placed 
Rev.  T.  H.  Davenport  in  charge.  He  was  fol- 
lowed in  1885  by  Rev.  F.  T.  J.  Brandon,  and  the 
next  two  years  by  Rev.  J.  T.  JEorris,  who  was 
succeeded  in  1888  by  Rev.  Alonzo  Monk,  D.D. 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  with  Rev.  Dr. 
J.  T.  Mann,  jjastor,  are  erecting  a  costly  and  beau- 
tiful stone  edifice  on  Leighton  avenue.  There 
are  several  Methodist  missions  elsewhere  in  the 
city. 

The  Baptists  have  two  congregations.  Rev.  E. 
T.  Smyth  has  been  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church 
since  its  formation  in  Ajiril,  1883.  The  increase 
of  the  denomination  necessitated  the  organization 
of  another  church,  and  in  July,  1887,  the  Twelfth 
Street  Church  was  formed.  Rev.  G.  A.  Nun- 
nally,  D.D.,  was  chosen  pastor.  This  congrega- 
tion will  erect  a  handsome  structure  during  1888. 

In  1884  the  Presbyterians  organized  a  congre- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


475 


gation.  Rev.  James  D.  McLean  becoming  stated 
supply.  A  building  comniittee  was  ajuiointed. 
who  secured  plans  for  an  imposing  house  of 
worsliip  from  \'alk.  the  celebrated  Xew  York 
architect.  liy  April,  ISiSl,  the  chapel,  with 
capacity  for  three  hundred,  was  completed.  It  is 
a  model  of  taste  and  elegance,  finished  in  natural 
woods,  with  most  improved  seatings,  large  stained 
glass  windows,  and  both  arc  and  incandescent 
electric  lights.  Upon  the  resignation  of  ]\*ev.  Mr. 
McLean,  in  April,  1887,  l!ev.  Jv.  iL  DuBose,  of 
Fayetteville,  Tenn.,  became  pastor.  The  Presby- 
terians also  have  successful  missions  in  other 
parts  of  the  city. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  Christians  anrl 
Catholics  have  comfortable  houses  of  worship, 
and  the  Hebrews  contemplate  the  erection  of  a 
handsome  synagogue  during  the  present  year. 
The  colored  people  are  well  provided  with 
churches,  the  Congregational  having  a  large  mem- 
bership and  a  handsome  building.  The  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  was  organized  in  188t, 
and  is  in  comfortable  quarters.  This  body  intend 
erecting  a  fine  building  shortly. 

Penetrated  with  a  desire  for  the  benefit  of  the 
rising  and  coming  generations,  schools  of  the  best 
kind  have  been  established  in  Anniston.  By  an 
Act  of  the  Legislature,  this  city  is  made  a  separate 
school  district,  the  schools  being  controlled  by  the 
Mayor  and  Council  and  School  Superintendent.  A 
handsome  public  school  building  lias  just  been 
completed  in  the  western  part  of  town,  and  an- 
other in  the  eastern  portion.  Beside  these  are  the 
Noble  Listitute  for  Girls  and  the  Noble  Listitnte 
for  Boys,  both  occupying  beautiful  buildings, 
erected  through  the  munificence  of  Samuel  Noble. 
There  are  several  schools  for  the  colored  popu- 
lation. 

In  August,  1883,  the  first  newspaper  of  Annis- 
ton, The  Weclily  Hot  BJant,  was  issued,  with  C. 
II.  Williams  as  editor.  He  was  succeeded  a  few 
years  later  in  the  editorship  by  Walter  M.  Ryals, 
and  afterward  by  J.  H.  Kinnebrew,  W.  0.  Bntler, 
S.  E.  Noble  and  W.  H.  McKella.  In  March,  1887, 
a  stock  company  was  formed,  and  the  pajjcr  was 
changed  to  a  morning  daily,  taking  the  Associated 
Press  dispatches.  James  R.  Randall,  author  of 
the  famous  war  lyric,  "My  JIaryland,"  and  at 
that  time  principal  editorial  writer  of  the  Augusta 
{(i&.)('/iroiiicle,  was  called  to  the  editorship  of  the 
Hot  Blast,  and  Edward  A.  Oldham,  editor  and 
proprietor  of  the  Winston  (N.  C.)  Sentinel,  became 


the  manager.  At  the  close  of  l)S,s;  W.  II.  Ed- 
monds, of  Baltimore,  purchased  the  paper  from 
the  company,  and  it  has  since  been  conducted 
under  his  proprietorship. 

In  1885  the  En-nituj  Watchimtn  made  its  ap- 
pearance, with  Milton  A.  Smith,  of  Gainesville, 
Ga.,  iis  editor  and  publisher,  and  who  has  con- 
tinued its  jjublication  to  the  present  writing. 
Both  the  //(//  Blast  and  the  Watchman  i)ublish 
weekly  editions.  In  February  of  the  present 
year,  W.  0.  Butler,  previously  city  editor  of  the 
Hot  Blast,  began  the  publication  of  a  small  but 
neat  afternoon  paper  called  the  Dailji  Picayune. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  of  18».'5,  after  the 
city  had  been  thrown  open  to  the  public,  the 
First  National  Bank  began  business  with  a  paid  up 
capital  of  *100,0()0.  The  business  of  this  institu- 
tion has  enjoyed  a  steady  increase,  until  within  a 
period  of  less  than  five  years,  it  has  attracted  de- 
posits amounting  to  over  §1,000,000,  and  it  has 
paid  regular  semi-annual  dividends  of  four  per 
cent.,  and  accumulated  a  surplus  of  nearly  *i200,- 
000.  The  officers  of  the  First  National  iirc:  D.  T. 
Parker,  president:  Samuel  Noble,  vice-president: 
O.  E.  Smith,  cashier. 

In  March,  1887,  with  a  capital  stock  of  |!50,000, 
the  Anniston  Savings  Bank  and  Safe  Deposit 
Company  was  organized,  with  John  B.  Rees  as 
president,  W.  S.  Earned  as  vice-president,  T.  C. 
Stephens  as  cashier,  and,  in  the  following  June, 
the  Bank  of  Anniston,  with  8100,000  capital 
stock,  began  its  career,  with  J.  R.  Draper  as 
president,  W.  G.  Ledbetter  as  vice-president,  and 
C.  D.  Woodruff  as  cashier. 

The  fraternal  order,  have  a  large  membership  in 
Anniston.  The  JIasons,  Odd  Fellows,  Knights  of 
Pythias,  Red  Men,  Knights  of  Honor,  and  the 
L'nited  Workmen  have  lodges,  and  the  Knights  of 
Labor  have  two  assemblies.  The  fire  department 
consists  of  three  organizations,  excellently 
equipped:  the  Glen  Addie,  Dan  Tyler,  and  Annis- 
ton City  Hose  Reels.  The  Anniston  Rifles  was 
organized  in  18T7,  and  is  a  prosperous  military 
company.     John  B.  Rees  is  the  present  captain. 

There  is  at  this  time  in  course  of  erection  a 
handsome  city  building,  and,  being  completed,  is 
a  commodious  Union  Passenger  Depot,  constructed 
of  native  sandstone  and  ornamental  brick.  There 
is  also  an  opera-house,  the  interior  of  which  is 
being  rearranged  and  furnished  in  an  elegant  man- 
ner with  all  modern  improvements.  These  are 
Anniston 's  only  ])ublic  buildings  aside  from  the 


476 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


churches,  but  when  the  city  is  okler  she  hojies  to 
induce  a  Goverument  approjjriation  for  a  postoffice 
building,  commensurate  with  her  growth  and  the 
business  necessities  of  the  place.  Anniston 
further  calmly  contemplates  the  day  when  she 
will  be  a  county  seat,  and  when  this  dream  is 
realized,  there  will  ascend  toward  the  blue  sky 
above  her  an  imposing  temple  of  justice,  which 
will  be  a  triumph  of  the  combined  genius  of  the 
architect  and  the  contractor. 

Among  the  business  houses  of  the  city  are 
many  commodious  brick  structures,  some  with 
handsome  iron  fronts  and  large  plate-glass  show 
windows,  and  others  with  fronts  of  terra  eotta, 
ornamental  brick  and  blue  sandstone  trimmings. 
The  magnificent  Constantine  building,  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  Tenth  and  Noble  streets,  is 
an  enduring  monument  to  the  public  spirit  and 
farsightedness  of  its  owner,  Mr.  D.  F.  Constan- 
tine. 

Some  one  has  said,  "show  me  the  architecture 
of  a  city  and  I  will  tell  you  what  kind  of  people 
live  there."  If  beautiful  architecture  is  any  indi- 
cation of  the  intelligence  and  culture  of  a  commu- 
nity, then  Anniston  will  leave  a  pleasurable  and 
highly  favorable  impression  upon  the  mind  of  the 
visitor  within  her  gates.  The  elegant  mansions  of 
the  wealthy  and  the  picturesque  cottages  of  the 
humble  toilers  all  bear  the  impress  of  the  archi- 
tect. 

As  a  place  of  residence  and  resort  Anniston 
possesses  the  advantages  of  pure  air,  good  water, 
and  a  salubrious,  even-tempered  climate.  The 
site  of  the  town  has  every  feature  that  an  exper- 
ienced engineer  would  desire  in  selecting  a  perfect 
location  for  a  city.  The  valley  in  which  it  is  sit- 
uated is  eight  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  sloping 
from  the  east  and  west  to  the  center,  with  a  gentle 
fall  toward  the  south,  affording  a  perfect  natural 
drainage.  One  thousand  feet  above  the  valley 
towers  the  Blue  Mountain  range,  and  the  pictur- 
esque slopes  present  attractive  building  sites,  from 
which  the  eye  is  charmed  by  a  panorama  of  beau- 
tiful views,  extending  to  a  distance  of  thirty  miles 
or  more. 

Enjoying  the  facilities  afforded  it  by  four  rail- 
roads, and  the  probability  of  still  another,  the 
East  Alabama  being  extended  from  Eoanoke, 
Anniston  has  already  become  a  jobbing  centre  of 
considerable  importance.  Messrs.  Comer  &  Trapp, 
wholesale  grocers,  do  a  million  dollars'  worth  of 
business  annually.      Draper,  Mathis  &  Co.,  and 


a  new  corporation  known  as  the  ifercantile  Com- 
pany, enjoy  a  tremendous  trade  with  the  surround- 
ing country.  Coming  years  will  witness  the  exten- 
sion of  Anniston's  commerce  into  other  lines  of 
the  jobbing  trade. 

The  Electric  Street  Railway  is  the  only  street  rail- 
road whose  track  is  laid  in  Anniston,  but  the 
present  line  which  runs  between  Oxford  and 
Anniston  were  given  j)ermission  by  the  city  coun- 
cil, a  few  months  ago,  to  enter  the  city  and  extend 
its  tracks  through  a  number  of  streets. 
.  In  preparing  a  chronicle  of  the  early  history, 
initial  influences,  its  government  and  growth,  and 
the  industrial,  social  and  religious  life  of  an  old  set- 
tled town,  the  writer  has  a  comparatively  easy  task; 
to  leisurely  record  the  important  events  in  their 
chronological  order,  easily  obtainable  from  num- 
erous authentic  sources;  to  describe  the  social  warp 
and  religious  woof,  the  legal  acumen  and  medi- 
cal lore,  interspersed  with  picturesque  traditions — 
treasured  creations  of  the  old  civilization,  which 
still  flourished  in  grey  hairs,  behind  gold  rimmed 
glasses,  old-fashioned  stocks,  an  impenetrable 
dignity,  under  the  outstretching  arms  of  umbra- 
geous oaks.  To  depict  this  repose  and  portray 
the  characteristics,  born  of  an  elegant  leisure,  is  a 
pleasurable  undertaking  because  of  its  comparative 
freedom  from  retarding  obstacles;  but  to  write  of 
the  vigorous  young  life  of  a  town  like  Anniston, 
the  embodiment  of  the  energizing  influences  of  a 
rejuvenated  South,  is  quite  a  different  thing.  The 
young  town,  though  a  full-fledged  citj',  is  yet  in 
its  formative  state  and  dissimilar  in  every  particular 
to  the  older  community.  While  the  historian 
wasn't  looking  Anniston  attained  its  magical 
growth,  and,  like  the  traditional  Irishman's  flea, 
keeps  moving  so  rapidly  that  the  Argus  eyes  of  the 
chronicler  can  scarce  count  the  towers  thereof, 
consider  the  palaces,  or  mark  well  her  bulwarks. 
The  industrial  activity  of  the  place  is  so  great 
that  it  is  difficult  for  even  the  jiress  of  the  place  to 
keep  accurate  pace  with  the  develo'ijments  con- 
tinually being  consummated.  Among  the  new 
enterj)rises  now  building,  or  whose  early  establish- 
ment in  Anniston  is  fully  assured,  are  a  grist- 
mill, a  model  gas  plant,  another  ice  factory;  an 
extensive  stove  works,  projected  by  Samuel  Xoble 
and  his  asssociates  in  the  Woodstock  Company;  a 
locomotive  works,  being  an  enlargement  of  the 
machine  shops  of  Pindar  &  Co. ;  and  the  Universal 
Horseshoe  Works,  which  has  a  cash  capital  of 
|!yO0,OOO.     During   the  first  year  the  number  of 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


477 


inhabitants  lias  swelled'  from  T.OOO  up  to  fully 
1",'. 0(111,  and  the  industries  alreaily  projected,  to- 
gether with  tliose  certain  of  establishment,  will 
give  employment  to  a  sufficient  number  of  opera- 
tives to  make,  with  their  families,  a  i)opulation  of 

fully -^li, I by  l!SS9. 

In  the  language  of  James  If.  Kandalj.  the  poet- 
editor,  ••  Here,  then,  at  Anniston,  we  have  all  the 
material  and  natural  advantages  of  any  favored 
spot  the  world  over.  Here  we  have  much  the 
larger  part  of  all  the  demands  of  industry,  civili- 
zation and  wealth-i)roduction.  Here  we  have  en- 
trancing beauty,  cultivated  associations,  and  all 
that  makes  opulence,  happiness  and  reput;Uion. 
The  foundations  of  our  city  have  been  laid  soundly, 
deeply,  securely.  Its  growth  will  be  serene,  safe 
and  unshakeable.  In  no  place  in  the  wonderful 
mineral  region  of  Alabama  can  be  seen  a  better  or 
an  equal  illustration  of  the  maxim  that  it  is  with 
the  life  of  a  town  as  the  life  of  a  man — that  '  he 
who  builds  solidly  labors  long  under  ground.'" 

FELIX  W.  FOSTER,  flavor  of  the  city  of 
AnnistiMi.  .<on  of  Rev.  \V.  S.  and  Jane  (Hancock) 
Foster,  natives  of  South  Carolina. was  born  in  Union 
County,  S.  C,  March  12,  lS4.i.  The  senior  Mr. 
Foster,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  migrated  from  South  Carolina  to 
Cherokee  County,  (ia.,  in  l!S.52,  and  is  there  living 
at  this  time  (1888)  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years. 
His  father  came  from  J^nglaud  to  South  Carolina, 
as  did  also  the  Hancock  family.  Dr.  Hancock, 
an  eminent  physician,  came  to  this  country  prior 
to  the  Uevolutionary  War,  settled  in  South  Caro- 
lina, and  was  one  of  the  original  importers  and 
dealers  in  negroes  as  slaves.  He  reared  a  family 
of  five  <laughters,  one  of  whom  Itecanie  the  wife 
of  the  Kev.  W.  S.  Foster. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a  farm, 
and  educated  in  Georgia.  He  entered  the  army 
in  March,  1.SC2,  as  a  member  of  Company  E, 
Cobb's  fJeorgia  Legion  of  Cavalry,  and.  with  that 
command,  jiarticipated  in  the  battles  of  I'pper- 
ville.  Harper's  Ferry,  (iettysljurg,  Williamsport, 
Funkstown,  Culpepjie^,  Hrandy  Station.  Ma- 
nassas, Stevensburg.  siege  of  Petersburg,  etc.  At 
the  battle  of  White  Oak  .'^wamp  he  acted  courier 
for  Generals  Young  and  Hampton,  and  finally 
surrendered  at  Greensboro,  X.  C. 


At  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Foster  returned  to 
Georgia,  and  for  ten  years  followed  farming. 
After  merchandising  for  a  period  of  five  years  in 
(feorgia  he  removed  to  Mississippi,  where  he  for 
three  years  followed  farming,  and  in  November, 
1882,  located  at  Anniston,  in  the  real  estate  busi- 
ness. In  1885  he  engaged  in  the  lumber  business, 
to  which  he  is  yet  giving  attention,  and  in  Janu- 
ary, 1888,  was  elected  ^fayor  of  this  city. 

Mr.  Foster  was  married,  August  10,  188.5,  to 
Miss  Emma  F]vans,  daughter  of  ^tajor  T.  I). 
]"]van8.  and  tlic  children  born  to  him,  are  ^linnie 
(J.,  Mattic  B..  Thomas  W.,  .lennie  J.,  F^mmet 
Everett,  and  Ella  .May. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  aiul  ^Ir.  F'oster  is  a  Mason. 

— — *— jsj^:— »— ^ 

REV.  G.  A.  NUNNALLY.  D.D.,  Pastor  of  the 
Twelfth  Street  Baptist  Church,  Anniston,  is  a 
native  of  Walton  County,  Ga..  son  of  William  B. 
and  Mary  Talbot  Xunnally.  and  was  l)oru  March 
24,  1841.' 

The  senior  ilr.  Nunnally,  a  native  of  Virginia, 
migrated  to  Georgia  in  1817.  He  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation,  and  had  been  a  gallant  soldier  in 
the  War  of  1812.  He  wasason  of  John  Xunnally, 
also  a  native  ^'irginian,  and  who  had  been  a  soldier 
in  the  Ivevolutionary  War.  His  wife  was  the 
daughter  of  F^dmond  Talbot,  also  of  N'irginisl. 
The  Talbots  likewise  moved  into  (icorgia  at  an 
early  day. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Georgia  in  18.5(t,  and  soon  thereafter 
was  elected  to  a  professorship  in  the  F'emale  Col- 
lege at  Hamilton,  that  State.  He  was  subse- 
fpiently,  and  for  many  years,  principal  of  John- 
son Institute,  at  Monroe.  Ga.  During  the  war  he 
was  fjuartermaster,  with  headcpiarters  at  Rome, 
and  in  18C>5  he  entered  the  ministry.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  minister 
he  was  teaching  until  18^il.  At  that  time  he  ac- 
cepted the  pastorate  of  the  church  at  Rome,  and 
since  that  date  has  devoted  his  entire  time  to  the 
ministry.  In  18S">  he  received  a  call  to  Eufaula, 
Ala.,  wliere  he  remained  two  years,  and  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  congregation  over  which 
he  presided  greatly  augmented  by  the  addition  of 
many  new  converts  to  the  cause  of  the  Master. 
In  .luly.  188T.  he  came  to  Anniston,  in  response 


478 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


to  the  urgent  call  of  a  newly  organized  church. 
Here  his  efforts  have  been  amijly  rewarded,  and 
he  is  held  in  the  highest  esteem,  not  alone  by  the 
members  of  his  congregation,  but  by  all  who 
know  him. 

Dr.  Nunnally  is  a  profound  scholar,  and  a  man 
of  fine  literary  tastes.  Since  he  was  sixteen  years 
of  age  he  has  been  connected  variously  with  dif- 
ferent publications.  He  was  for  some  time  editor 
of  the  Christian  Index,  a  denominational  paper, 
published  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  and  is  still  indirectly 
connected  with  it.  He  is  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
temperance,  and  has  been  for  many  years  promi- 
nently identified  with  that  movement.  While  in 
Georgia  he  was  one  of  the  prime  movers  of  the 
temperance  legislation  that  has  since  brought  that 
State  so  conspicuously  before  the  eyes  of  the  world 
as  a  stronghold  of  prohibition. 

November,  1859,  Dr.  Nunnally  was  married  to 
Miss  Mary  Briscoe,  the  accomplished  daughter  of 
Ealph  and  Sarah  (Dougherty)  Briscoe,  of  Georgia, 
and  his  children  are  named,  respectively,  Alonzo 
H..  William  .J.,  Lucius  M.,  Sarah  and  Kate. 

REV.    ROBERT    MEANS    DU  BOSE,   of    the 

Presbyterian  Church,  Anniston,  was  born  at  Lib- 
erty Hill,  S.  C,  in  July,  1849,  and  is  a  son  of 
the  Rev.  Julius  J.  and  Margaret  (Thompson)  Du 
Bose. 

The  elder  Du  Bose,  also  a  minister  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  attained  prominence  as  a 
preacher  and  as  editor  of  the  South  Carolina 
Temj)erance  Advocate.  He  was  also  at  one  time 
Treasurer  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina.  He 
died  on  the  eve  of   his  removal    to   Alabama,  in 

'  1S52.  After  his  death,  instead  of  coming  direct 
to  Alabama,  as  was  previously  jjurposed,  the  fam- 
ily remained  many  years  in  South  Carolina.'  Of 
his  three  sons,  Dr.  W.  S.  Du  Bose,  now  of  Shelby 
County,  this  State,  was  a  surgeon  in  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  during  the  late  war  ;  Rev. 
Hampden  C.  Du  Bose  (of  the  Presbyterian 
Church)  also  served  through  the  late  war  as  a 
member  of  the  State  Cadet  Corps  of  South  Car- 
olina.    He  married  a  Miss  McAlpine,  of  Tallade- 

'^ga,  Ala.,  and  has  been  for  fifteen  years  a  mission- 
ary in  China. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  reared  at  Dar- 
lington, S.  C,  and  was  graduated  from  the  Fni- 


versity  of  that  State,  in  1871.  Subsequently,  in 
the  spring  of  1874,  he  was  graduated  from  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Columbia,  S.  C  and 
came  at  once  to  Alabama.  From  here,  within  a 
short  time,  he  removed  to  Tennessee,  where  he 
remained  about  two  years.  From  there  he  re- 
turned to  Lawrence  County,  Ala.,  and  spent  five 
years  in  evangelistic  work.  In  January,  1883,  he 
accepted  a  call  from  the  Fourth  Presbyterian 
Church,  at  Louisville.  From  there,  in  the  spring 
of  1884,  he  was  called  to  Fayetteville,  Tenn.,and 
in  September,  1887,  he  came  to  Anniston.  He 
was  married.  July  4,  1876,  to  Miss  Kate  G.  Garth, 
daughter  of  George  M.  and  Kate  (Gilchrist) 
Garth,  and  the  three  children  born  to  this  union 
are  named,  respectively,  Nannie,  Margaret  and 
Katharine. 

REV.  ALONZO  MONK,  D.D.,  Pastor  in  charge 
of  the  First  ^[cthodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
at  Anniston,  son  of  tlie  llev.  Francis  M.  and  Mar- 
garet (Henderson)  Monk,  natives,  respectively,  of 
the  States  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  was  edu- 
cated at  DeWitt  College  and  Vanderbilt  Universi- 
ty. In  1872,  at  Pine  Bluff,  Ark. ,  he  joined  Confer- 
ence, having  been  on  the  12th  of  October  of  that 
year  duly  licensed  to  preach.  The  following  three 
years  he  was  on  circuit  work,  stationed  four  years 
in  Little  Rock,  Ark,  and  four  years  in  Camden. 
He  was  ordained  Deacon  by  Bishop  Kavanagh,  and 
Elder  by  Bishop  Keener,  of  New  Orleans.  Coming 
to  Alabama  he  spent  four  years  at  Tuscaloosa,  and 
in  December,  1887,  came  to  his  present  charge.  He 
is  now  only  tliirty-four  years  old.  The  State  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama  conferred  upon  him  the  degree 
of  D.D.,  June  22,  1877.  November  14,  1887.  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Betty  Carl,  of  Somerville, 
Tenn.,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Jacob  E. 
(Cart Wright)  Carl,  and  the  four  children  born  to 
this  union  are  named,  respectively,  Carl,  Era, 
Alonzo  and  Marion. 

The  senior  Mr.  Monk  was  born  in  1829,  and 
gave  his  lifetime  to  the  ministry.  He  died  in 
Little  Rock,  Ark.,  December,  1880.  He  was 
considered  one  of  the  bright  lights  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  ij^outh,  and  was  a  distin- 
guished Mason.  He  was  chaplain  of  the  Fifty- 
sixth  Alabama  Cavalry  during  the  war,  and  com- 
manded that  regiment  a  short  time  toward  the 
close  of  hostilities.     He  reared  a  family  of  six  sons 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


479 


and  one  (laughtor,  viz. :  Walter,  deceased;  Camilla, 
wife  of  G.  A.  Harris  (she  was  first  married  to  W. 
II.  Ilagan,  of  Little  Rock):  Alonzo,  subject  of  this 
skctcli;  Basi'oni,  Methodist  Episcopal  minister,  in 
Arkansas;  Frank,  deceased;  Harry,  a  fanner,  in 
Arkansas  and  Simeon  a  teacher. 

Simeon  Monk  was  the  name  of  the  grandfather 
of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He  was  born  in  Ala- 
bama in  1?'.>2,  and  died  in  1S7G.  He  was  a  soldier 
in  the  War  of  \t>Vl,  and  also  in  the  war  with  Mex- 
ico. He  reared  a  family  of  three  sons  and  six 
dauglitcrs.  The  Monks  came  originally  from 
Scotland. 

— ^«— ^^•■<*-    • 

REV.  SAMUEL  P.  WEST,  Pastor  of  the  Glen 
Addie  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  Annis- 
ton,  was  born  at  Montevallo,  Shelby  County, 
this  State,  October  30,  ]!S.">S,  and  is  a  son  of  John 
P.  and  Mariah  (Mills)  West.  He  received  his  ed- 
ucation at  the  schools  of  his  native  county,  and 
afterward  taught  for  a  period  of  two  years.  He 
was  licensed  to  preach  in  November,  1881,  and  as- 
signed as  his  first  charge  to  Cullman.  From  Cull- 
man he  was  sent  to  St.  Clair  County,  where  he  re- 
mained two  years.  He  was  ordained  Deacon  in 
November,  188:!,  and  Elder  in  tlie  fall  of  1885. 
In  the  autumn  of  188-i,  he  was  assigned  to  Talla- 
dega, remained  there  three  years,  and  in  Decem- 
ber, 1887,  came  to  his  present  ciiarge. 

Mr.  West  is  a  successful  and  popular  minister 
of  the  gospel.  All  the  churches  that  have  been 
under  his  charge  have  prospered.  He  was  married 
July  5,  18811,  to  Miss  Ava  Cowen.  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  Elijah  and  Kuth  Cowen.  of  'J'aliadega. 
lie  is  a  member  of  both  the  Masonic  and  Odd 
Fellow   fraternities. 

The  senior  Mr.  West,  now  a  farmer  in  Shelby 
County,  entered  the  Confederate  Army  at  the  out- 
break of  the  late  war  as  captain  of  a  comj^any  ; 
was  soon  afterward  jiromoted  to  the  rank  of  col- 
onel, and  assigned  to  the  Tenth  Alabama  Cavalry. 
He  commanded  that  regiment  four  years.  Prior 
to  the  war  he  had  served  his  county  as  sheriff,  and 
liad  represented  it  in  the  lower  house  of  the 
Legislature.  His  father,  Joshua  West,  migrated 
from  Kockingham  County,  Ya.  to  East  Tennessee 
at  an  early  day,  and  in  181G,  came  from  the  latter 
place  to  Slielby  County,  He  was  a  physician  and 
a  minister  of  the  gosj>ei. 

The  Wests  came  originally  from  England. 


JOHN  MARTIN  McKLEROY,  prominent  Attor- 
ney and  Counselor-at-law.  Anniston,  son  of  Will- 
iam H.  and  Martini  Gill  (Siiorter)  McKleroy,  was 
born  at  Eufaula,  this  State,  May  l.'J,  1843.  He  was 
graduated  from  Howard  College  in  18')(1,  and  the 
following  year  migrated  to  Texas.  After  a  few 
months'  service  with  a  Texas  frontier  comjiany  in 
Indian  Territory,  he,  in  May,  ]8iil,  enlisted  as  a 
private  soldier  in  the  Third  Texas  Cavalry,  and 
with  that  command  served  one  year  in  the  West. 
In  ]8ii2  he  was  appointed  adjutant  of  Hilliard's 
••  Legion,"  with  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant. 
With  the  "Legion"  he  saw  service  in  Tennessee, 
Kentucky,  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas. 

At  the  formation  of  the  Tenth  Confederate 
Cavalry,  of  which  Hilliard's  command  formed  a 
part,  McKleroy  was  elected  third  lieutenant  of 
Company  A.  He  was  afterward  made  captain 
of  that  company,  and  later  on,  his  superior  officers 
having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  com- 
manded the  regiment  for  a  time.  He  was  wounded, 
March  10,  18G.5,  near  Fayettevilie,  X.  ('..  and 
returned  to  Eufaula  soon  after  the  final  sur- 
render. 

Immediately  upon  reaching  home,  Captain 
McKleroy  began  the  study  of  law,  and  in  Novem- 
ber, 1805,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Entering 
at  once  upon  the  practice,  he  rose  rapidly  to  a 
conspicuous  position  in  the  profession. 

He  was  elected  State  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction  in  1874,  held  the  office  one  term,  and 
declined  re-election.  In  187'J  he  was  a  member  of 
the  State  Legislature,  acquitted  himself  with  dis- 
tinguished credit,  declined  re-election,  and  in 
188"2  was  a  formidable  candidate  for  gubernatorial 
honors.  He  was  chairman  of  the  State  Demo- 
cratic Executive  Committee  in  188G,  and  exhibited 
therein  eminent  executive  ability. 

January,  1887,  Captain  McKleroy  was  made 
president  of  the  Anniston  City  Land  Compajiy, 
and  soon  thereafter  located  in  this  city. 

He  is  a  director  in  the  Woodstock  Iron  Com- 
pany, and  in  the  Anniston  &  Cincinnati  Railway 
Company  besides  being  financially  interested  in 
various  other  important  corporations. 

Captain  McKleroy  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
very  brilliant  attorneys  of  Alabama,  and  in  the 
management  and  direction  of  the  .\nniston  City 
Land  Company  has  jjroved  himself  a  financier  of  < 
far  more  than  ordinary  ability.  He  was  married 
February  28,  18G7.  to  Miss  Martha  I.  Wood.s, 
daughter  of  Clayton  R.  Woods,  of  Eufaula,  and 


480 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  two  children  born  to  this  union  are  named, 
respectively,  William  H.  and  Hattie  H. 


WILLIAM  FRANCIS  JOHNSTON.  Attorney- 
at-liiw,  was  born  in  Pickens  County,  this  State, 
July  10,  1853,  and  is  a  son  of  Robert  T.  and 
Mildred  C.  (Terry)  Johnston,  natives  of  South 
Carolina. 

lie  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native 
county,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1873.  In 
November  of  that  year  he  was  elected  County 
Solicitor  of  Pickens;  held  the  office  one  term,  and 
in  1887  came  to  Anniston,  where  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  John  M.  Caldwell. 

Mr.  Johnston  is  considered  a  brilliant  lawyer, 
and  one  of  Anniston's  most  enterprising  and 
popular  citizens.  He  was  married^  October  13, 
1880,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  B.  Weir,  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  Gen.  Andrew  Weir,  of  Pickens 
County,  and  the  names  of  the  children  born  to 
this  union  are  William  Frank,  Walter  Weir 
and  Edith  A.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnston  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  senior  Mr.  Johnston,  a  lawyer  by  profession, 
came  with  his  j^arents  to  this  State  in  1818.  He 
was  graduated  from  Danville  (Ky.)  College  in 
1837,  and  subsequently  received  the  degree  of  A. 
M.  from  the  Alabama  University.  He  located  in 
Pickens  County,  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  and 
there  spent  the  rest  of  his  life.  In  1841  he  edited 
the  Pickens  Register.  He  was  twice  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  the  last  time  while  the  cajsital 
was  at  Tuscaloosa.  From  1858  to  1861  he  was  in 
charge  of  Pickensville  Female  Institute,  and  from 
18C1  to  18G4  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Govern- 
ment as  Tax  Assessor,  and  was  a  colonel  in  the 
militia.  From  the  close  of  the  war  until  1868  he 
had  charge  of  the  Pickensville  Institute,  and 
from  1868  to  1870  was  in  charge  of  a  school  at 
Mayfield,  Ky.  In  the  latter  year  he  returned  to 
Pickens  County  and  resumed  the  practice  of  law. 
He  died  in  February,  1877,  at  the  age  of  sixty 
years. 

Of  the  five  sons  and  three  daughters  reared  by 
Col.  R.  T.  Johnston,  we  have  the  following  brief 
data:  John  D.  (deceased)  was  a  physician  and 
soldier  in  an  Alabama  regiment  during  the  late 
war;  Kobert  T.  J.  (deceased)  was  captain  of 
Company  I,  Seventh  Alabama  Cavalry.  He 
studied    law    after    the   war;   was  an   O'Connor 


Elector  in  1873,  and  died  at  Mayfield,  Ky.,  in 
1874;  Job  C,  now  an  attorney-at-law  in  Pickens 
County,  was  also  a  member  of  the  Seventh  Ala- 
bama; William  F.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  and 
Samuel  T.,  a  farmer  in  Texas. 

David  Johnston,  grandfather  of  tlie  subject  of 
tills  sketch,  was  a  native  of  Scotland;  came  to 
America  in  WM),  and  was  a  planter  in  South  Car- 
olina. 

JOHN  M.  CALDWELL,  Attorney  and  Counselor- 
at-law,  Auniston,  son  of  John  H.  Caldwell,  Esq., 
was  born  at  Jacksonville,  this  State,  July  6,  1851. 
He  was  educated  at  the  schools  of  his  native  town, 
and  from  the  age  of  seventeen  to  nineteen  years 
gave  his  time  to  teaching.  He  studied  law  under 
his  father,  and  in  February,  1873,  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  He  came  to  Anniston  in  1883,  and 
was  the  first  City  Attorney  authorized  by  this  cor- 
poration. He  is  the  present  representative  of  Cal- 
houn County  in  the  Legislature.  Though  a  young 
man,  Mr.  Caldwell  is  recognized  as  one  of  the 
foremost,  if  not  the  leading  lawyer  of  Calhoun 
County.  He  was  married  in  November,  1881,  to 
Miss  Carrie  L.  Randall,  the  accomplished  daughter 
of  Mr.  E.  0.  Randall,  of  Gadsden,  and  has  had 
born  to  liim  two  children:  Mary  J.  and  Edith. 

In  the  Jjegislature  Mr.  Caldwell  takes  a  con- 
spicuous and  active  part  and  performs  much  ardu- 
ous duty.  He  is  chairman  of  the  Committee  ou 
Corporations,  and  a  member  of  the  Committees  on 
Judiciary  and  on  Public  Roads  and  Highways.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity. 

JOSEPH  J.  WILLETT,  Attorney-at-law,  An- 
niston. is  a  native  of  Carrolton,  Pickens  County, 
this  State,  where  he  was  born  Sejotember  29,  1861, 
and  is  a  son  of  Elbert  D.  and  Candace  (Bostick) 
Willett.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the  State  University, 
and  received  from  that  institution  the  degree  of  A. 
M.,  in  1880.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1882, 
and  in  18S3  located  at  Anniston,  where  he  is 
recognized  as  one  of  the  brightest  young  attorneys 
of  the  Calhoun  bar. 

The  senior  Mr.  Willett  is  a  native  of  Tennessee, 
and  a  graduate  of  Emory  and  Henry  College,  Vir- 
ginia. He  came  into  Alabama  in  1854.  located  at 
Carrolton,inthe  practice  of  law,  and  there,  withthe 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


481 


exception  of  the  time  spent  in  the  army,  lias  con- 
tinuously remained.  Huring  the  Wiir  he  was 
major  of  the  Fortieth  Alabama.  lie  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1875,  and 
of  the  Legislature,  session  of  18IS-9.  He  is  tlie 
father  of  five  sons:  Frank,  Elbert,  Joseph,  George, 
anil  Archil)ald.  Ilis  father  was  named  .Iose])h 
Willett.  also  a  native  of  Tennessee,  and  his  grand- 
father was  Zadok  Willett,  a  native  of  ifaryland. 
Zadok  Willett  was  a  soldier  in  the  Kevolutionary 
War.  and  helped  to  fight  the  battle  of  King's 
Jloimtain  under  General  Sevier.  His  father  was 
also  )nuned  Zadok.  whose  grandfather  came  from 
England  with  Lord  Baltimore.  The  IJosticks 
came  from  England,  and  settled  in  South  Caro- 
lina in  the  colonial  days,  and  many  of  them  have 
been  prominent  in  various  Southern  States,  in 
politics  and  at  the  bar. 


-«" 


.-^> 


GORDON  MAC  DONALD,  Attorney-at-law. 
Aiiniston,  son  of  Dr.  Alfred  and  Olivia  (Cooper) 
JIacUonald,  natives,  respectively,  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  Pennsylvania,  was  born  at  Mount  Meigs, 
Montgomery  C'onnty,  this  State,  October  10,  ISS-I. 
lie  received  his  primary  education  at  home  under 
private  instructors.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  in  the 
office  of  Fitzpatrick,  Williamson  &  Goldthwaite, 
he  began  the  study  of  law  at  Montgomery,  and  in 
April,  1S74,  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  prac- 
ticed his  profession  in  .Montgomery  until  April, 
1887,  when  he  located  at  Aiiniston,  and  formed  a 
partnership  with  Howard  AYillianis,  Esq.  In 
April,  188"i,  he  was  married  to  iliss  Belle  Cary, 
of  Iiichmond,  Va.  She  is  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  the  late  gallant  Capt.  G.  .\.  Cary,  of 
X'irginia.  To  this  union  has  been  born  one  child, 
Olivia. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  MacDonald  are  communicants  of 
the  Episcopal  Church. 

Dr.  .\lfred  MacDonald  was  educiited  in  I'hila- 
delpliia,  came  to  .\labama  in  1840,  and  in  18.1.") 
was  killed  by  one  of  his  slaves.  It  appears  that 
the  negro  had  applied  to  the  Doctor  for  permis- 
sion to  visit  his,  the  negro's  wife,  and  having  been 
refused,  he  attacked  the  Doctor  with  a  rail  and 
killed  him.  The  negro  was  burned  to  death  for 
the  crime.  Of  the  r)octor's  three  sons,  Alfred 
was  killed  during  the  war,  Kobert  T.  is  chief 
engineer   of  the   Mexican  National   Railway,  and 


Gordon  forms  the  caption  of  this  sketch.  His 
only  daughter,  Louisa,  is  now  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Hallonquist.  Dr.  ilacDonald's  grandfather  was 
born  in  Scotlaiul,  and  came  to  this  country  with 
Alfred  JlacDonald's  father  after  the  Scotch  rebel- 
tion  in  174."). 

The  Doctor's  wife  was  a  descendant  of  the  cele- 
liratcd  tragedian.  Thomas  Cooper. 

N.  DUNHAM  VAN  SYCKEL,  IVin.ipal  of  the 
Noble  Institute  for  Boys,  Aiiniston,  was  born  at 
Bound  Brook,  N.  ,L,  October  30,  18G1.  He  is  a 
graduate  of  Kutgers  (N.  .T.)  College,  and  an  e.x- 
]ierienced  educator.  After  leaving  college,  he 
taught  some  time  on  Long  Island,  and  was  subse- 
((uently  employed  by  the  United  States  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey.  In  18ol,his  health  being  some- 
what impaired,  lie  removed  to  Southwestern  Vir- 
ginia. In  1885  he  came  to  Alabama,  and  at 
Birmingham  was  made  principal  of  Paul  Hayne 
Grammar  School.  He  remained  in  that  position 
one  year,  when  he  was  promoted  to  principal  of 
the  Birmingham  High  School.  This  position  he 
resigned  in  1887  to  accept  the  principalship  of  the 
Noble  Institute. 

It  is  not  the  province  of  this  work  to  state  con- 
clusions in  writing  of  current  men,  but  it  is  only 
justice  to  say  in  this  connection  that  Prof.  Van 
Syckel  meets  in  an  eminent  degree,  as  professional 
educator,  the  highest  expectations  of  his  patrons. 

The  Professor  is  a  son  of  Elbridge  and  Bethany 
(^Dunham)  Van  Syckel,  natives  of  New  Jersey. 
Elbridge  Van  Syckel  was  a  son  of  Daniel  Van 
Syckel,  and  in  his  diiy  was  a  wealthy  merchant  of 
New  York  City.  Daniel  was  a  son  of  Aaron  Van 
Syckel,  a  native  of  New  Jersey.  Aaron  was  the 
son  of  Rynier  Van  Syckel,  whose  father  was  also 
named  Kynier,  and  whose  grandfather,  Ferenan- 
dus,  came  to  this  country  from  Holland  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  settled 
on  Long  Island.  The  \-m\  Syckels  are  quite  nu- 
merous in  the  Middle  .States,  and  many  of  them 
have  filled  high  public  jiositions.  Both  the  Van 
Syckels  and  the  Dunhams  are  among  the  oldest 
families  of  Hunterdon  Countv,  N.  J. 

Bethany  (Dunham)  Van  Syckel  is  a  daughter  of 
Nehemiah  Dunham,  a  son  of  .Tames  Dunham,  who 
was  a  son  of  Nehemiah  Dunham,  of  Clinton,  N.  J. 
The  latter  Nehemiah  Dunham  distinguished  him- 


482 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


self  as  an  officer  in  charge  of  commissary  during 
the  Kevohitionary  War,  and  his  children  were  all 
ardent  patriots. 

The  Dunhams,  also,  are  numerous,  partic- 
ulary  in  New  Jersey,  and  many  of  them  figure 
■prominently  in  the  history  of  Church  and 
State.  Neheniiah  Dunham,  last  referred  to,  was 
a  grandson  of  Eev.  Edmond  Dunham,  who  was 
horn  in  Xew  England  in  1(J60,  and  Edmond  was  a 
son  of  Benajah  Danham,  whose  father,  John 
Dunham,  came  to  Massachusetts  from  Lincoln- 
shire, England,  in  1G;5(),  and  was  among  the  first 
settlers  of  Dartmouth. 

WILLIAM  H.  EDWARDS,  Editor  and  Proprietor 
of  the  Anniston  Hid  Blasf,  one  of  the  most  pojiu- 
lar  newsjjajjers  published  in  North  Alabama,  and 
one  whose  opinions  receives  more  attention  and 
favorable  comment  at  the  hands  of  the  metropoli- 
tan journals  of  the  United  States  than  probably 
any  other  paper  in  the  State,  barring  the  Mont- 
gomery Adrei-tiser,  is  a  native  of  Norfolk,  Va. 
lie  was  born  in  September,  1853,  and  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  University  of  his  native  State. 

For  some  years  prior  to  his  coming  to  Anniston 
he  was  connected  with  the  Baltimore  3Ianufac- 
turer's  Record,  an  antecedent  of  eminent  degree; 
and  that  he  brings  with  him  the  highest  endorse- 
ment of  that  great  paper  would  be  sufficient  guar- 
anty of  his  merit,  were  it  needed,  and  were  it  not 
true  that  he  is  a  man  possessed  of  the  happy  fac- 
ulty of  establishing  himself  at  once  in  the  good 
graces  of  a  community,  nolens  volens. 

Mr.  Edwards  took  charge  of  the  Hot  Blast  in 
June  of  the  present  year. 

— "— ■^•^ij^^-  <'  ■    • 

CHARLES  C.  McCARTEY,  President  of  the 
Anniston  Bloomary,  is  a  native  of  Lewis  County, 
N.  Y. ;  son  of  Francis  and  Loxina  (Dorwin) 
McCartey,  respectively  of  the  States  of  Massachu- 
setts and  New  York;  was  born  May  14,  18'28. 
When  eight  years  old,  he,  with  his  parents,  emi- 
grated to  Green  Bay,  Wis.  While  there  he 
learned  the  arts  of  the  different  tribes  of  Indians, 
to  speak  seven  different  languages  (the  French  as 
fluently  as  his  own),  to  excel  in  the  use  of  the  gun 


and  the  bow  and  arrow,  and  to  paddle  a  canoe  to 
the  admiration  of  the  red  men. 

When  eleven  years  old,  he  was  pursued  by 
hostile  Indians,  and  ran  ten  miles  to  save  his  life, 
on  a  very  hot  day.  For  some  time  the  white  set- 
tlers lived  in  constant  fear  of  being  scalped.  All 
retired  at  night  with  their  clothes  on,  to  be  ready 
for  the  signal  (which  was  the  ringing  of  a  bell)  to 
flee  to  Fort  Howard,  Soon  after  this  reign  of 
terror,  old  Zack  Taylor  removed  the  hostile  In- 
dians to  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Mr.  McCartey  moved  to  Fon  du  Lac  in  184'2. 
While  living  there  he  engaged  in  different 
branches  of  business.  He  went  to  Glen  Arbor, 
Mich.,  in  1855,  and  engaged  in  lumbering,  wood- 
ing and  milling;  working  between  300  and  500 
men.  At  that  point  he  built  one  of  the  largest 
and  finest  piers  on  the  chain  of  lakes;  it  is  known 
as  Mack's  Dock.  He  was  also  agent  for  the 
Northern  Transportation  Company  of  Ohio,  run- 
ning a  daily  line  of  steamers  from  Ogdensburg  to 
Chicago.  From  Glen  Arbor  Mr.  McCartey  moved 
to  Pontiac,  Mich.,  and  engaged  in  the  hardware 
business  and  farming.  He  went  to  Knoxville, 
Tenn.,  in  1876  for  his  health,  and  there  embarked 
in  the  wholesale  drug  trade,  and  in  1887  came  to 
Anniston.  While  in  partnershiji  with  Morrison 
Bros.,  he  organized  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Anniston  Bloomary,  an  incorporated  concern, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  S50,000. 

Mr.  McCartey  started  in  the  world  without 
money,  but  he  was  a  genius,  and  in  many  things 
an  expert.  The  results  of  his  undertakings  attest 
these  facts. 

He  was  married  in  January,  1850,  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Darwin,  of  New  York,  daughter  of  Hubby 
and  Elizabetli  (Jones)  Darwin.  He  and  wife  are 
Episcopalians,  and  Jlr.  McCartey  is  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellow  fraternities. 

This  branch  of  the  McCartey  family  sprang 
from  an  Earl  of  Scotland. 

Francis  ilcCartey  was  a  soldier  in  the  War  of 
18r2,  and  drew  the  first  pay-roll  at  Sackets'  Har- 
bor. He  was  the  son  of  Clark  ^IcCartey,  who  was 
an  officer  under  General  Washington,  and  who 
was  with  that  General  in  his  historical  crossing  of 
the  Delaware  in  December,  1776.  Tradition  says 
that  Washington  asked  who  was  in  charge  of  the 
crossing,  and  when  told  "  McCartey,"  exclaimed, 
"  Thank  God!   it  is  in  safe  hands." 

The  McCarteys  were  all  a  large,  brave  and  pow- 
erful race. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


483 


HUGH  STEVENSON  is  a  native  of  Scotland, 
iiiiil  was  horn  in  ls:;'.i.  He  was  educated  in  liis 
native  town  of  Jolmston,  and  there  learned  the 
moulder's  trade.  He  came  to  the  United  States  in 
is;i,  worked  some  years  at  his  trade  in  Brooklyn, 
\.  ^'  ,  and  came  to  Home,  (ia.,  in  1881,  as  fore- 
man in  the  foundry  of  Xohle  Hros.  From  ]{ome 
lie  went  to  Cartersville.  that  State,  where  he  began 
business  for  himself,  and  in  ISS-'J  came  to  Annis- 
ton,  where,  in  partnership  with  Edward  JFurvcy, 
he  established  the  foundry  works,  which  he  has, 
since  the  death  of  his  jiartner  in  1885,  continued 
to  manage.  lie  manufactures  engines,  general 
machinery,  and  everything  in  that  line.  lie  was 
without  means  when  lie  came  to'this  country,  but 
his  industry  has  been  rewarded  until  at  this  writ- 
ing he  is  side  proprietoi-of  a  manufacturing  estab- 
lishment valued  at  8-10. OUO. 

Mr.  Stevenson  was  married  in  Scothind  to  .Miss 
Annie  Johnston:  she  died  prior  to  his  leaving 
that  country.  In  1878  he  nnirried  Miss  Annie 
Wilson,  a  native  of  England. 

Jlr.  Stevenson  is  a  member  of  the  city  council, 
and  is  fully  identified  with  the  best  interests  of 
tiie  progressive  city  of  Anniston. 

— — -^—JSj^;  *-•<►■ — — 

WILLIAM  S.  LARNED,  \  ice-President  of  the 
Aiinistiiii  Savings  liank  and  Safe  Dejjosit  Co.,  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Oxanna  Building  Association, 
was  born  at  Fishkill.  N.  V..  .June  :{0,  1854.  and  is 
a  son  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  (Newell)  Larned,  na- 
tives, respectively,  of  Michigan  and  New  York. 
He  was  an  only  son,  and  was  given  a  classical  edu- 
cation at  Cornell  University,  after  which  he 
attended  oneyear  at  an  architectural  school  in  Bos- 
ton. From  1877  up  to  his  coming  to  Anniston,  in 
1885.  he  was  cashier  of  the  Buffjilo  Courier  Com- 
pany. He  came  South  in  search  of  health,  and, 
taking  a  fancy  to  the  •' ^lodel  City,"  located  here. 
He  was  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Anniston.  Oxford  &  Oxanna  Street 
Kail  way  Company,  of  which  corporation  he  has 
from  its  i>egiuning.  l)een  secretary  and  treasurer. 
Associated  with  his  father,  he  established  the 
South  Anniston  Hardware  Company,  and  he  was 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Anniston  Savings  Bank 
and  Safe  Deposit  Co.  and  of  the  Oxanna  Building 
Association.  In  addition  to  the  above-named 
enterprise,  she  is  more  or  less  identified  with  and 


interested  in  various  other  incorporated  and  pri- 
vate concerns.  He  was  married  August  20,  1878, 
to  Miss  N.  I*.  Livingston  of  Carlyle,  I'enn.,  and 
has  one  son,  Samuel  W.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Larned 
are  communicants  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

— ■ — ••^•-J^^;— ^' — •— 

WILEY  A.  PATRICK,  Doctor  of  Dental  Sur- 
gery, Anniston.  native  of  Monroeville,  this  State, 
son  of  Miiigan  and  JIartha  (Salter)  Patrick,  was 
born  January  1,  1855.  After  receiving  an  acad- 
emic education  in  his  mitive  town  he  spent  a  few 
years  in  a  clerical  position,  and  in  1SS4  took  up 
dentistry.  He  Avas  graduated  from  ^'anderbilt 
I'niversity,  with  the  degree  of  D.D.S.,  in  188<>,  and 
has  since  that  time  devoted  himself,  with  marked 
success  and  manifest  skill,  to  his  chosen  profes- 
sion. He  located  at  Anniston  in  1888,  and  is  at 
this  writing  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  lucrative  and 
aristocrat ii;  patronage. 

•    •♦>  •^^^— »— — 

SAMUEL  BLOUNT  BREWER,  Dealer  in  lical 
Estate  and  Insurance,  Anniston,  is  a  native  of 
Covington,  Ga.,  son  of  the  Kev.  Aaron  (L  and 
Martha  (Taylor)  Brewer,  and  was  born  November 
i,  1834.  Prior  to  eighteen  years  of  age  he  had 
devoted  his  time  to  such  duties  as  v/ere  incident 
to  rural  life  and  to  the  acquisition  of  such  educa- 
tion as  was  practicable  at  the  common  schools. 
His  father  located  in  .Vtlanta,  Ga.,  about  1852, 
and  was  there  in  charge  of  the  Christian  Tdc- 
(jriiph.  subsefjuently  the  Sniithern  Olive  Tree,  and 
Samuel  was  his  assistant  editor  for  two  years.  In 
1854,  he  returned  to  Montgomery,  this  State, 
whence  the  family  had  moved  to  Atlanta,  and 
taught  school  until  185!i.  In  the  latter  year 
he  was  elected  Assistant  Clerk  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  in  ISfil  joined  the  Third 
Alabama  State  'I'roops  in  their  expedition  to  the 
Pensacola  Navy  Yard.  He  was  called  home  by 
the  Legislature  to  resume  the  duties  of  Assistant 
Secretary.  Subsequently  he  acted  as  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  the  Secession  Convention.  Some 
time  later  he  was  nuide  Chief  Clerk  of  the  Com- 
missary Department,  and  in  IHfT:!  he  was  com- 
missioned major  in  the  Confederate  Army  and 
placed  in  charge  of  the  records  of  the  Commissary 


484 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Department  at  Richmond.  He  left  the  Confeder- 
ate capital  in  company  with  Mr.  Davis,  and  was 
acting  Commissary  when  they  reached  Greens- 
boro, N.  C. 

After  the  war  Major  Brewer  returned  to  Mont- 
gomery, and  in  ISGo  was  elected  Jourii^l  Clerk 
of  the  Provisional  Legislature  in  the  permanent 
State  Government,  a  position  he  held  until  ousted 
by  Reconstruction  in  18T0.  In  1874  he  was  elected 
Secretary  of  the  State  Senate,  and  in  ISTf  he 
returned  to  Atlanta,  where  he  was  in  business 
until  1883.  In  July  of  that  year  he  came  to  An- 
niston,  where  he  has  since  been  actively  engaged 
in  real  estate  and  insurance  business. 

He  was  married,  October  1,  LS61,  to  Miss  Marion 
(t.  McFarland,  of  Richmond,  Va.,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  eight  children  :  Maggie  G.,  Daisy, 
Walter,  Annie  T.,  Charley  B.,  Alpine  G.,  Mary 
H.,  and  Irving  K.  The  family  are  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Rev.  Aaron  G.  Brewer  was  born  near  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  in  1795;  was  ordained  as  a  preacher  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Cliureh  by  presiding  Elder 
Soule,  afterward  the  distinguished  Bishop  Soule, 
and  became  a  prominent  minister  in  Kew  York 
City.  He  severed  his  connection  with  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  in  1831,  and,  associated 
with  four  others,  organized  the  Methodist  Protes- 
tant Church,  in  New  York  City,  in  1820.  He  was 
sent  South  by  the  new  denomination  in  1830,  and 
organized  stations  therein  at  many  places  in 
Alabama,  Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  He  died 
at  Opelika,  in  1877.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he 
was  President  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Con- 
ference of  this  State. 

C.  H.  CANFIELD,  President  of  the  Anniston 
(Jranite  Company,  was  born  at  Augusta,  Ga.,  July 
15,  1834,  and  is  a  son  of  Joseph  G.  and  Emily 
Canfield,  tlie  former  a  native  of  New  Jersey  and 
the  latter  of  Georgia. 

The  senior  Mr.  Canfield,  in  early  life,  located  in 
Georgia  and  there  died  of  yellow  fever  in  183ii. 
His  widow  survived  liim  but  two  years,  and  his 
son  was  reared  principally  by  his  grandparents, 
who  educated  him  at  the  common  schools. 

April  28,  18()1,  C.  H.  Canfield  joined  Company 
H,  Fourth  Georgia  Regiment,  Confederate  States 
Armv,  from  which  he  was  transferred  the  follow- 


ing September,  at  Yorktown,  A'a.,  to  Cobb's 
Cavalry. 

In  December,  1801,  he  was  promoted  to  Junior 
second  lieutenant,  and  in  Sei^tember,  1802,  "for 
distinguished  gallantry  in  action,"  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  major.  In  a  cavalry  charge 
between  Buckstown  and  Middleton,  Md.,  Septem- 
ber 13,  1802,  he  Avas  seriously  wounded. 

Major  Canfield  remained  in  the  army  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  when  he  returned  to  Georgia  and 
embarked  in  mercantile  business.  In  1887  he 
came  to  Anniston  and  engaged  in  real  estate 
business.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Granite  Company,  and  has  been  its  president  from 
the  first.  He  is  a  director  in  the  Anniston  Sav- 
ings Bank,  and  is  variously  interested  in  other 
popular  enterprises. 

In  December,  1855,  ilajor  Canfield  was  married 
in  Stewart  County,  Ga.,  to  Miss  Sarah  M.  Talbot. 
She  died  November  4,  1884,  leaving  one  daughter. 
The  present  Mrs.  Canfield,  to  whom  the  major 
was  married  in  August,  188*!,  was  Mrs.  J.  F. 
Alston,  of  Columbus,  Miss. 


-«-i 


JOHN  J.  Mcpherson,  Dealer  in  Real  Es- 
tate, Anniston,  son  of  Neill  and  Eliza  Mc- 
Nair  McPherson,  natives  of  Richmond  County, 
State  of  North  Carolina,  was  born  in  Walton 
County,  Fla.,  August  17,   1847. 

The  senior  Mr.  ilcPherson,  after  his  marriage 
in  North  Carolina  in  1829,  migrated  to  Florida, 
where  he  jiracticed  law  for  several  years,  and  held 
various  official  positions  up  to  1862.  During  the 
Creek  and  Seminole  War  he  held  the  rank  of  adju- 
tant in  the  regiment  commanded  by  Col.  Levin 
Brown,  and  was,  altogether,  a  man  of  consider- 
able prominence  and  influence.  He  held  a  United 
States  office  during  the  administration  of  Presi- 
dents Pierce  and  Buchanan,  and  up  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  civil  war  in  1861.  He  alsa 
held  various  minor  civil  offices  in  Walton  County; 
and  was  elected,  six  years  in  succession,  Enrolling 
and  Engrossing  Clerk  in  the  Legislative  Council 
of  the  Territory  of  Florida,  a7id  was  elected  Sec- 
retary of  the  Senate  of  the  State  of  Florida. 

In  1863,  he  came  into  Alabama,  located  at  Haw 
Ridge,  and  from  there,  in  1806,  moved  to  Union 
Springs.  In  1884  he  came  to  Anniston,  where  he 
yet  resides.     He  is  now  in  the  eighty-first  year  of 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


485 


his  age,  and  his  wife,  who  died  on  tlie  20th  day 
of  April  last,  was  in  her  seventy-eighth  year. 
They  reared  a  family  of  three  sons  aiul  two 
daughters,  of  whom  we  have  the  following  brief 
information  :  William  was  a  member  of  the  Third 
Florida  Kegiment  during  the  war,  entering  the 
army  as  a  private,  and  coming  out  with  the  rank 
of  captain.  After  the  war  he  moved  to  Los  An- 
geles, Cal.,  and  there  practiced  law  until  the  day 
of  his  death.  His  only  son,  William  B.  McPher- 
son,  is  now  a  resident  of  raducah,  Ky.  Sally 
('.,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  Mr.  (ieorge  Shack- 
elford. Annie  Bell  is  the  wife  of  Robert  \V.  Allen, 
a  teacher  at  Palestine,  Tex.  Malcom  is  a  mer- 
chant in  Anniston  ;  he  was  a  member  of  theSi.xth 
Florida  Kegiment. 

The  grandfathers,  ilcPherson  and  McXair, 
came  originally  from  Scotland.  John  J.  McPher- 
son.  and  his  sisters  and  brothers,  acquired  the 
principal  part  of  their  education  at  a  school 
taught  by  the  Rev.  John  Newton,  a  Presbyterian 
})rcacher,  at  Kno.xhill,  in  Walton  County,  Fla. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  years  he  entered  the  drug 
business  as  a  clerk  and  a  student  of  pharmacy, 
and  was  thus  emloyed  for  a  period  of  twelve 
years.  In  1873  he  established  a  pharmacy  of 
his  own  at  I'nion  Springs.  He  came  to  Annis- 
ton .luly  1,  1884,  and  was  engaged  in  the  drug 
business  here  until  July  1,  1887.  He  was  in  real 
estate  business  until  January  1,  1888.  He  was 
married,  Xovember  (i,  18;<>,  to  Miss  Fannie  A. 
McCarty,  daughter  of  Rev.  W.  A.  McCarty,  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  at  Midway,  Bul- 
lock Countv.  Ala. 


WILLIAM  HOWARD  WILLIAMS.  Healer  in 
IJeul  Estate,  Anniston,  i<  a  n;itivc  of  W'illiamsport, 
Maury  County,  Tenn.:  was  born  .March  C,  184(1, 
and  reared  and  educated  at  Columbia,  tiiat  State. 
In  1S(U  he  joined  the  First  Tennessee  Cavalry, 
and  remained  in  the  service  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  He  began  business  in  Columbia  in  18G5  as 
a  druggist,  and  was  afterward  dealing  in  cloth- 
ing, lie  came  to  Anniston  in  18S3,  and  was  here 
iti  the  clothing  business  three  years.  Since  1886 
he  has  been  giving  his  entire  attention  to  real 
estate,  although  he  is  now  much  interested  in 
numufactures. 

Mr.  Williams  is  regarded  as  one  of  Auuiston's 


most  enterprising  and  successful  business  men. 
His  wife,  before  marriage,  was  Jiary  E.  Sarven, 
daughter  of  Mr.  John  Sarven,  a  large  carriage 
manufacturer  of  Columbia,  Tenn.  They  were 
married  in  June,  1873,  and  there  has  been  born 
to  this  union  the  following  named  children:  Nellie, 
Sadie,  Howard  S.,  .lames  E.,  Mary  and  Edith. 
Mr.  AVilliams  is  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason. 

Edward  and  P^lizabeth  (Dedman)  Williams,  par- 
ents of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  were  married  in 
Tennessee.  The  Williams  family  were  North 
Carolinians.  They  came  early  into  Tennessee, 
and  the  town  of  Williamsport  was  named  in  honor 
of  them.  Edward  Williams  is  now  about  seventy 
yearsof  age.  He  has  long  been  an  active  business 
man;  was  a  merchant  at  Columbia,  and  was  the 
president  of  the  Dutch  River  Valley  Rai-lroad. 
He  was  largely  interested  in  building  that  road, 
and  has  been  officially  connected  with  it  from  its 
inception. 

BRAXTON  B.  COMER,  extensive  Planter  aud 
Wholesale  Dealer  in  Merchandise,  Anniston,  is  a 
native  of  Barbour  County,  this  State,  son  of  John 
F.  and  Catherine  (Drewry)  Comer,  and  was  born 
November  7,  1843.  He  was  educated  in  his  native 
village,  at  the  State  University,  and  at  Emory 
and  Henry  College,  Virginia,  graduating  from 
the  latter  institution  in  1869.  He  is  now  one  of 
the  largest  farmers  in  the  State;  runs  a  retail 
store  at  Spring  Hall;  is  the  owner  of  extensive 
orange  groves,  pineapple  orchards,  etc.,  in  the 
South,  and  is  interested  in  milling  and  various 
other  enterprises.  He  came  to  Anniston  in  1886, 
and,  in  partnership  with  S.  B.  'J'rapp,  established 
the  present  wholesale  concern  with  which  he  is 
identified.  His  wife,  before  marriage,  was  Miss 
Eva  J.  Harris,  of  Cuthbert,  Ga.,  and  his  children 
are  named,  respectively:  Sallie  B.,  J.  Fletcher, 
ilacDonald,  !Mignon,  Catherine,  Beverly  and  Eva. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

The  senior  Mr.  Comer  came  from  Georgia  to 
Alabama  in  1840,  located  at  Spring  Hill,  and 
there  erected  the  first  steam  mill  of  that  county. 
Before  leaving  (leorgia  he  had  been  Judge  of  a 
nisi prius  court,  and  after  coming  to  Alabama  he 
servecl  in  the  Legislature.  He  died  at  the  age  of 
forty-seven  years.     He  reared  a  family  of  six  sons. 


486 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


His  father,  H.  M.  Comer,  was  a  native  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  of  English  descent.  He  migrated  to 
Georgia  at  an  earl\-  day,  and  there  became  an  ex- 
tensive planter. 


M.  F.  McCARTY,  is  a  native  of  Bullock  County. 
Ala.,  son  of  Dr.  W.  A.  and  Belinda  (Connor) 
McCarty,  and  was  born  July  4,  1846. 

Mr.  McCarty  was  educated  at  the  East  Alabama 
Male  College— now  known  as  the  Agricultural 
and  Mechanical  College— and  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  late  war  was  attending  the  Military  Institute  at 
Crlenville.  In  the  spring  of  18G3  he  enlisted  in 
Company  A,  Sixty-first  Alabama,  and  remained 
until  the  close  of  the  war,  participating  in  the 
battles  of  the  Wilderness,  Spotsylvania,  around 
Petersburg;  etc.  He  was  captured  at  Spotsylvania, 
but  paroled  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  last  battles 
about  Petersburg.  He  surrendered  with  fieneral 
Lee  at  Appomattox,  returned  immediately  home, 
and  for  several  years  devoted  his  time  to  planting. 
So  soon  as  he  had  accumulated  means  sufficient,  he 
entered  college.  While  in  the  senior  class,  he  met 
and  married  Miss  Sal  lie  Judkins,  of  Montgomery, 
and  soon  thereafter,  in  his  native  county,  resumed 
farming.  In  1880  he  engaged  in  the  drug  busi- 
ness at  Auburn,  and  in  1883  located  at  Anniston. 
Here  he  es.tablished  the  second  furniture  house 
started  in  this  place.  He  sold  out  his  furniture 
business  in  188T. 

Dr.  W.  A.  McCarty  came  from  South  Carolina 
and  settled  in  Bullock  County  when  a  young  man, 
and  preached  regularly  as  a  Methodist  minister 
for  about  thirty-five  years.  Of  his  two  sons,  M. 
E.  only  is  living.  William  E.  was  a  member  of 
the  Sixth  Alabama  Regiment  during  the  late  war, 
after  which  he  moved  to  Texas,  and  there  died. 
The  Doctor's  four  daughters  are  all  married;  two 
living  in  Florida  and  two  in  Alabama.  Before 
entering  the  ministry  the  Doctor  was  a  lawyer  by 
profession. 


BENJAMIN  F.  SAWYER,  Mayor  of  the  city  of 
Oxanua,  a  suburb  of  Anniston,  is  a  native  of  Talla- 
dega County,  son  of  Ansel  and  Sarah  (Xorris) 
Sawyer,  and  was  born  May  18,  1833,  at  Jumper's 
Springs,  now  the  town  of  Mardisville.  He  was 
reared  to  manhood  on  a  farm ;    is  self-educated. 


and  from  the  age  of  18  to  iZ  superintended  the 
business  of  his  mother.  He  began  business  as  a 
merchant  at  Columbiana,  continued  there  four 
years,  and  was  farming  when  the  war  broke  out. 
In  June,  1801,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Com- 
pany K,  Tenth  Alabama,  and  in  July  following 
was  commissioned  to  raise  a  company.  This  he 
proceeded  to  do ;  and  he  armed  and  equipped 
them  at  his  own  expense.  At  the  head  of  this 
company,  then  an  independent  command,  he  par- 
ticipated in  the  battles  of  Belmont  and  Columbus, 
and  was  shortly  afterward  assigned  to  heavy 
artillery.  In  the  fall  of  1861,  he  joined  a  Missis- 
sippi regiment,  and  at  the  battle  of  Shiloh  was 
wounded.  This  retired  him  from  active  service 
for  a  short  time,  but  he  rejoined  the  army  in  Sep- 
tember, 18G-2,  and  was  at  the  battle  of  i\Iumfords- 
ville,  from  which  place,  on  account  of  his  wound, 
he  was  assigned  to  post  duty  at  Chattanooga.  He 
re-joined  his  command  at  Shelbyville,  where  his 
company  was  transferred  to  the  Twenty-fourth 
Alabama  in  the  spring  of  '63.  At  Murfreesboro 
he  was  again  wounded,  but  slightly.  About  this 
time  Captain  Sawyer  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel,  and  as  such  he  participated 
in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  the  Atlanta  cam- 
paign, and  in  Hood's  Tennessee  campaign.  After 
the  battle  of  Franklin  he  was  promoted  colonel, 
and  for  some  time  before  the  close  to  the  final  sur- 
render he  commanded  a  brigade.  For  a  few  years 
succeeding  the  war  he  was  variously  employed  in 
farming  and  mercantile  business,  and  in  186'J  he 
established  the  Mountain  Home  at  Talladega.  He 
edited  this  paper  about  a  year,  and  in  1870  took 
charge  of  the  Rome  (Georgia)  Daily.  From  the 
Daily,  within  a  short  time,  he  transferred  to  the 
Rome  Coiirier,  which  paper  he  edited  about  five 
years.  He  then  established  the  Rome  Tribune,  and 
conducted  it  about  two  years.  In  1874  he  edited 
the  Atlanta  Evening  Commonirealth,  and  in  18T9, 
he  was  at  Newark,  X.  J.,  in  the  interest  of  an  in- 
vention of  his  for  the  manufacture  of  paper  bags. 

Colonel  Sawyer  came  to  Anniston  in  1883,  and 
soon  afterward  established  the  Oxanna  Tribune. 
At  this  time  his  literary  work  is  confined  princi- 
pally to  correspondence,  and  he  contributes  vari- 
ously to  the  Atlanta,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  and 
New  York  papers.  In  1887,  associated  with  S. 
and  W.  S.  Earned,  he  established  the  South  Annis- 
ton Hardware  Company. 

September  7,  1857,  Colonel  Sawyer  was  married 
to  Miss  Charlotte  Ambrester,  of  Talladega  County. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


487 


JOHN  CLARK  LE  GRAND,  M.D.,  prominent 
I'hysiciiin  and  Surgeon,  Anniston,  is  a  native  of 
Calhoun  Count}',  this  State,  son  of  J.  C.  and 
Martha  A.  (Watson)  r^eGrand,  and  was  born  De- 
cember (i,  1854,  at  llie  town  of  White  IMains.  lie 
spent  tlie  first  eigliteen  years  of  his  life  on  liis 
father's  plantation,  and  in  attendance  at  the  com- 
mon schools.  He  subsequently  attended  a  higii 
school  in  Cieorgia,  read  medicine  and  graduated 
from  Atlanta  Medical  College  in  the  spring  of 
1880.  lie  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
his  native  county,  and  was  located  at  Weaver's 
three  years.  In  autumn  of  1883  he  located  at 
Anniston,  and  here  readily  took  rank  among  the 
foremost  of  his  profession.  He  was  one  of  the 
charter  members  of  the  t'allioun  Medical  Society, 
organized  April  ."}0,  1880,  and  has  been  its  secre- 
tary ever  since.  He  is  at  present  .\ssistant  Health 
Officer  for  Calhoun  County  at  Anniston,  and  the 
representative  of  tlie  county  society  to  the  State 
Medical    Association.     He  is  a  member  of  various 


fraternities  and  societies,  and  is  altogether  one 
of  the  most  promising  young  professional  men 
of  East  Alabama.  He  was  married  December  2, 
1880,  to  Miss  Jennie  Lee  Avers,  of  Carncsville, 
Ga.,  and  his  three  children  are  named,  respectively, 
JIary  Ruth,  Bessie  and  Annie  Forney.  The 
Doctor  and  his  wife  are  consistent  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  the 
Doctor  is  prominent  as  a  Mason,  Odd  Fellow, 
Knight  of  Honor  and  United  Workman. 

Since  coming  to  Anniston  the  Doctor  has  been 
not  only  successful  in  the  practice  of  medicine, 
but  it  appears  from  the  records  tliat  his  invest- 
ments in  real  estate  have  been  highly  profitable. 

The  senior  Mr.  LeGrand  came  from  Georgia  to 
this  State,  settled  near  White  Plains,  followed 
teaching  several  years,  entered  the  Confederate 
Army  in  18<i:!,  and  died  at  Atlanta  in  April,  1864. 
He  reared  a  family  of  four  sons  and  two  daughters. 
His  father  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and 
the  Le(irands  were  French  Huguenots. 


,,.,Jb^^|.^>;^rL,.,._ 


XI. 
JACKSONVILLE. 


The  town  of  Jacksonville  is  situated  on  the 
lEast  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Eailroarl,  and 
has  a  poj)ulation  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hun- 
dred people.  It  was  settled  in  the  very  earliest 
history  of  the  county,  and  while  the  Indians  were 
still  resident  here.  The  county  records  were 
destroyed  in  1864  by  the  raid  of  Federal  troops 
that  came  through  on  their  way  South,  and  only 
left  one  book,  which  has  in  it  the  map  of  the  old 
town.  This  book  shows  the  town  was  laid  off  in 
1833.  The  county  was  then  named  Benton;  the 
earliest  settlers  were  composed  of  emigrants  from 
the  States  of  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina, 
Georgia  and  Tennessee,  the  lineal  descendants  of 
whom  comprise  a  large  jiart  of  its  present  popu- 
lation. Its  early  settlers  were,  some  of  them,  men 
of  large  means  and  lived  in  elegance  and  ease, 
and  gave  to  the  town,  in  its  former  days,  its  wide 
distinction  for  social  hospitality,  benevolence  and 
Christian  charity  which  it  still  holds. 

The  town  is  situated  on  the  foothills  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  and  is  surrounded  by  beautiful  valleys 
on  all  sides;  the  scenery  is  lovely,  and  the  vision 
never  tires  in  looking  on  the  mountains  and  the 
undulating  valleys  that  go  out  in  all  directions. 
It  has  a  jierfect  system  of  natural  drainage,  all 
water  flowing  rapidly  into  large  streams  that  run 
along  near  the  town.  There  is  a  large  and  bold 
limestone  spring  that  flows  from  the  foot  of  the 
hill  on  which  the  town  is  situated,  and  affords 
more  than  a  million  gallons  of  pure,  fresh  water 
per  day.  In  addition  to  this  there  is  a  system  of 
water  works,  owned  and  controlled  by  the  town, 
which  cost  several  thousand  dollars,  and  brings, 
through  large  iron  pipes  a  great  quantity  of  water 
from  a  freestone  spring  that  rises  in  the  mountain 
some  two  miles  east  of  the  city.  The  natural 
pressure  of  this  water  in  the  pipes,  from  its  eleva- 
tion above  the  town,  will  throw  the  water  over  the 
highest  buildings,  and  is  an  excellent  jirotection 
against  fire. 

Jacksonville  was  the  county  seat  of  Benton 
County,  and  was  established  as  such  on  the  organ- 


ization of  the  county.  AVlien  the  name  of  the 
county  was  changed  to  Calhoun,  which  it  now 
bears,  it  still  remained  the  county  seat,  and  is  to 
this  day  the  capital  of  one  of  the  wealthiest  and 
most  progressive  counties  in  the  State.  Its  first 
court  house  was  built  of  brick,  in  1838,  and  has 
stood  in  the  middle  of  the  public  square  for  fifty 
years  until  a  few  days  ago,  when  it  was  torn  down, 
the  county  having  erected,  two  years  ago,  a  large 
and  more  modern  and  convenient  structure,  and 
one  more  in  keeping  with  the  needs  and  progress 
of  the  county. 

The  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Rail- 
road passes  within  the  corijorate  limits  of  the  town. 
The  East  &  West  Railroad  of  Alabama,  which  is  at 
present  a  narrow-gauge  railroad,  leading  from 
Oedartown,  Ga.  to  the  coal  fields  of  St.  Clair 
County,  passes  within  about  one  mile  of  the  cor- 
porate limits,  and  negotiations  have  been  pending 
for  the  introduction  of  the  road  into  the  town. 
There  is  a  road  partly  graded  between  this  place 
and  Gadsden,  Ala.,  and  known  as  the  Jackson- 
ville, Gadsden  &  Atalla  Railroad.  There  has 
been  a  road  surveyed  by  the  Georgia  Central  re- 
cently, through  the  town,  contemplating  the 
construction  of  a  road  from  Carrollton,  Ga.,  via 
Jacksonville,  to  Decatur,  Ala.  There  is  also  a 
mineral  railroad  from  this  place  to  Anniston, 
twelve  miles  south,  in  contemplation. 

For  many  years  the  bar  at  Jacksonville  ranked 
along  with  the  highest  in  the  State,  and  has  fur- 
nished a  number  of  very  prominent  judges,  chan- 
cellors, legislators  and  members  of  Congress; 
one  of  whom,  A.  J.  Walker,  was  a  member  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Alabama,  and  was  at  one 
time  Chief-Justice.  The  medical  profession  have 
had  a  number  who  were  distinguished  in  their 
line.  The  most  of  the  older  members  of  this  pro- 
fession have  recently  passed  away,  and  their 
places  have  been  filled  by  younger  men,  who  are 
achieving  distinction  in  their  calling. 

The  .Jacksonville  Republican  is  a  staunch  Dem- 
ocratic journal,  and  was  established  here  fifty-one 


488 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


489 


years  ago.  It  has  always  been  one  of  the  leading 
weekly  papers  in  the  State.  Almost  from  its 
foiUHiation  it  was  edited  by  the  late  J.  F.  Grant, 
wlio  was  at  one  time  Treasurer  of  the  State,  and 
after  his  death  tlieeditoria!  management  fell  upon 
Hon.  r,.  W.  Grant,  wiio  is  liis  son  and  who  has 
given  much  character  to  it  throughout  tlie  State 
for  its  sound  principles  and  its  able  editorials. 
It  is  held  in  liigh  esteem  by  tlie  people  of  the 
county,  and  is  a  familiar  visitant  to  almost  every 
fireside. 

Tiiere  are  Presbyterian,  Methodist  Episcopal, 
Bai)tist  and  Episcopal  chnrclies  in  the  town,  and 
tliere  are  Lutheran  and  Catholic  congregations  in 
the  place  that  are  visited  regularly  by  ministers  of 
tlieir  faith,  but  tliey  have  no  organized  chnrclies 
as  yet. 

Tlie  chief  pride  of  the  town  is  tlie  State  Normal 
School,  situated  here,  which  is  doing  a  valuable 
work  in  turning  out  enthusiastic  teachers,  whose 
intluence  will  soon  be  felt  throughout  this  entire 
section  of  the  State.  It  has  the  aid  and  encour- 
agement of  the  entire  community,  and  connected 
with  it  is  a  high-school  of  the  very  first  class, 
which  has  an  attendance  of  from  two  to  three 
hundred  pupils. 

The  disasters  of  the  war  left  the  people  of  the 
town  impoverished,  and  quite  a  number  of  its  dis- 
tinguished and  public  spirited  citizens  fell  vic- 
tims to  what  they  deemed  the  cause  of  their  coun- 
try in  the  late  contest — some  on  the  field  of  battle, 
and  some  succumbed  to  the  fatal  maladies  that  are 
incident  to  a  soldier's  life.  On  account  of  these 
depressing  influences  the  town  has  not  stepped 
forth  in  the  nnirch  of  industrial  progress  as  rap- 
idly as  has  been  the  wish  of  its  public-spirited  citi- 
zens. With  the  recent  outburst  of  improvement, 
and  the  ui)heaval  of  the  industrial  energy  through- 
out the  mineral  district  of  North  Alabama,  Jack- 
sonville has  kept  pace,  and  has  put  on  the  garb  of 
imi)rovement,  and  taking  advantage  of  the  rich 
and  exhaustless  mineral  wealth  that  lies  imbedded 
in  the  hills  in  the  town  and  in  the  immediate 
vicinity,  a  number  of  men  from  other  cities,  who 
have  abundant  faith  in  the  final  outcome  of  this 
entire  section,  and  a  number  of  resident  citizens 
here,  about  a  year  ago  organized  a  corporation 
known  as  the  Jacksonville  Land  Company.  This 
company  acquired  by  purchase  about  twelve 
thousand  acres  of  valualjle  land  lying  in  the  cor- 
porate limits,  suitable  for  business  lots  and  for 
j)laces  for  dwellings,  and    of   valuable   iron  and 


timber  lands  adjacent  to  the  town.  Some  months 
ago  tlie  entire  property  of  the  Jacksonville  Land 
Company  was  sold  to  the  Jacksonville  Mining 
and  Manufacturing  Company,  another  corpor- 
ation, with  a  capital  stock  of  *l,5(iO,0(iO.  This 
new  company  has  recently  purchased  about  one 
thousand  acres  of  valuable  land  in  the  corporate 
limits  of  the  town,  for  which  they  paid  a  large 
sum,  and  now  have  a  corps  of  engineers  in  the 
field  laying  off  their  property  into  town  lots,  with 
a  view  of  putting  a  limited  amount  of  them  on  the 
market.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  company  to 
build  up  a  model  and  thriving  industrial  and  man- 
ufacturing town,  and  to  do  it  they  have  abundant 
means  in  the  nnignificent  resources  of  their  prop- 
erty. Negotiations  are  now  pending,  with  every 
prospect  of  a  speedy  settlement,  for  the  establish- 
ment here  of  two  or  three  industries  that  are  new 
for  the  South,  and  will  be  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance to  the  upbuilding  of  the  county*  and 
town. 

On  account  of  its  elevation  above  the  sea,  Jack- 
sonville is  a  place  of  refuge  in  the  hot  summer 
months  for  the  j^eople  in  the  cities  south  of  us, 
and  its  mild  winters  are  a  temptation  to  the  i)eople 
of  more  arctic  regions  to  come  and  dwell  with  us. 
To  accommodate  this  class  of  people  a  large  hotel, 
with  all  modern  conveniences,  which  is  to  be  ele- 
gantly furnished,  is  now  in  process  of  erection, 
and  will  cost  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars. 

The  spirit  of  progress  is  among  our  people,  and 
all  things  point  to  the  coming  future,    which    is 
near  at  hand,  when  .Jacksonville  will  be  known  and 
called  "  TlieC^ueen  of  the  South," 
* 

THOMAS  A.  WALKER,  whose  portrait  embel- 
lishes this  chapter,  was  born  in  Jasper  County, 
(ia.,  January  5, 1811,  and  his  parents  were  Thomas 
F.  and  Feribee  (Smith)  Walker.  The  family  came 
to  Alabama  in  1810,  and  here  afterward  made  their 
homes. 

Thomas  A.,  familiarly  known  as  Judge  Walker, 
was  educated  at  the  State  University;  began  the 
study  of  law  wlien  twenty  years  of  age,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  two  years  later.  He  located 
first  in  the  practice  at  Elyton,  and  remained  there 
until  1830.  He  had  been  elected  Solicitor  for  the 
Ninth  Judicial  Circuit  in  1835,  and  it  was  the 


490 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


year  following  that  he  moved  to  Jacksonville.  He 
is  now  the  only  man  living  at  this  place  who  was 
here  at  that  time. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Creek  Indian  War,  he 
was  holding  the  office  of  brigadier-general,  and 
by  order  of  Governor  Clay,  he  raised  a  battalion 
of  troops  for  the  service,  and  led  them  to  Colum- 
bus, Ga.,  where  they  were  mustered  into  the  com- 
mand of  General  Jessuji. 

Judge  Walker  has  served  three  terms  in  the 
Kepresentative  brancli  of  the  State  Legislature 
and  six  years  in  the  Senate.  At  the  time  of  his 
first  election  to  the  lower  house  (1839),  he  was 
holding  the  office  of  Solicitor,  which  disqualified 
him  as  a  legislator.  However,  a  new  election  was 
at  once  held  in  his  county,  and  he  was  again 
chosen,  and  took  his  seat  two  days  before  adjourn- 
ment of  the  session. 

He  was  first  elected  to  the  Senate  in  184"2,  for  a 
term  of  three  years;  and  he  was  the  president  of 
that  body  at  the  close  of  the  late  war.  Under  the 
Reconstruction  Act  he  was  for  a  time  disfran- 
chised. The  negroes  that  blacked  his  boots  and 
groomed  his  horses  could  vote  and  hold  office,  but 
the  Judge,  having  had  intelligence  enough  to  en- 
tertain opinions  of  his  own,  and  courage  enough 
to  exj^ress  them,  was  not  the  sort  of  man  a  car- 
pet-bag and  blatherskite  Congress  deemed  fit  to 
exercise  the  right  of  franchise  in  the  South.  Un- 
der the  domination  of  that  scum  of  Northern 
society  that  settled  down  upon  the  Southern 
States  like  a  pestilence,  in  the  wake  of  the  tri- 
umphant army,  the  servant  was  to  become  the 
master,  ignorance  and  crime  should  wield  the  lash, 
and  intelligence  and  virtue  should  tread  the  wine 
press.  But  it  is  God  that  directs  the  destinies  of 
Nations,  and  in  the  fullness  of  His  own  good  time 
all  things  are  righted. 

While  Judge  Walker  has  survived  many  of  the 
evils  that  beset  him  in  those  days  and  seen  many 
of  his  unofficial  opinions  verified  by  the  highest 
tribunal  of  the  land,  he  has  not  held  or  sought  to 
hold  any  office  since  his  re-enfranchisement.  Prior 
to  1858,  he  was  nine  years  a  Circuit  Court  Judge. 
From  1858  to  the  close  of  the  war  between  the 
States  he  was  president  of  the  Alabama  & 
Tennessee  Railroad  Company  and  that  road  was 
built  under  his  administration  from  Columbiana 
to  Blue  Moutain  station  in  Calhoun  county.  The 
road  was  afterwards  completed  to  Dalton,  Georgia, 
by  New  York  parties,  and  later  on  went  into  bank- 
ruptcy and  the  Judge  was  made  one  of  its  receivers. 


Judge  Walker  was  married  August  30,  1836,  to 
Sarah  MeGehee.  She  died  in  April,  1880.  Thomas 
T.  Walker,  Judge  Walker's  father,  was  a  native  of 
Hancock  County,  Ga.  He  came  to  Bibb  County, 
Ala.,  in  1819,  and  in  1820  moved  to  Montevallo, 
in  Shelby  County,  where  he  remained  until  his 
death. 

The  father  of  Thomas  T.  Walker  was  named 
David  Walker,  a  native  of  Buckingham  County, 
Va.  He  was  a  soldier  under  Washington  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  The  family  originally  came 
from  England.  Feribee  Smith,  the  wife  of 
Thomas  T.  Walker,  was  a  daughter  of  Ezekiel 
Smith,  a  native  of  South  Carolina.  He  was  also 
a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  was  descended  from 
English  parentage. 

REV.  MARSHALL  HALL  LANE,  D.D.,  of  the 

Baptist  Church,  Jacksonville,  was  born  at  Wash- 
ington, Wilkes  County,  Ga.,  July  9,  1845,  and  is 
a  son  of  Dr.  James  H.  and  Mary  C.  (Simpson) 
Lane,  natives  of  the  same  county. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Lane  was  educated  at  Mercer  Uni- 
versity in  classical  course,  and  was  a  graduate 
from  the  medical  department  of  the  State  Uni- 
versity. He  is  devoted  to  his  jjrofession,  and  has 
been  a  remarkably  successful  physician.  He 
reared  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Bajjtist  Church  and  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

His  wife  is  a  daughter  of  William  Simpson,  one 
of  the  original  settlers  of  Wilkes  County.  Mr. 
Simpson  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  of  Scotch- 
Irish  ancestry.  The  Simpson  family  are  among 
the  oldest  and  best  known  families  in  the  State  of 
Georgia. 

Dr.  Lane's  father,  Rev.  Micajah  A.  Lane,  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  came  from  Virginia  to  Georgia 
when  he  was  but  six  years  of  age.  After  a  long 
and  popular  service  in  the  ministry,  he  died  in 
1887,  at  the  great  age  of  ninety-seven  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  his  na- 
tive county;  educated  at  Wright  and  Hoyt  High 
School,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years  entered 
the  army  as  a  member  of  Wingfield's  Battery  of 
Cutt's  Battalion  (A.  P.  Hill's  Corps),  Army  of 
Virginia.  He  was  at  the  battles  of  Gettysburg 
and  Petersburg,  and  all  the  engagements  from  Get- 
tysburg to  the  close  of  the  war;   but  was  at  home 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


491 


on  a  furlough  at  the  time  of  the  final  sur- 
render. 

Immediately  after  the  war  he  attended  IJockhy 
Institute,  Georgia,  taught  hy  Col.  Ii.  JI.  Johnson, 
a  i)rominent  Southern  author.  From  this  insti- 
tution he  entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  and 
studied  law  two  j'ears.  Returning  home  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  (Jenerals  Toombs  & 
Du  Rose,  and  practiced  law  three  years.  Since 
then  he  has  given  his  whole  attention  to  the  min- 
istry and  the  cause  of  education.  He  has  been 
pastor  of  several  churches  in  (ieorgia;  of  the  Cen- 
tral Baptist  Church,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  from  which 
place  he  returned  home  on  account  of  ill  health; 
traveled  two  years  as  an  evangelist  in  Kentucky, 
Tennessee  and  Arkansas,  and  for  six  years  prior 
to  his  coming  to  Alabama  had  charge  of  llern  In- 
stitute, Cave  Springs,  Ga. 

He  came  to  Jacksonville  to  live  in  December, 
IXiT;  he  had  been  pastor  of  the  church  here  five 
years  while  living  at  Cave  Springs,  Ga.  It  may 
be  said  that  during  his  pastorate  at  this  place  the 
membership  of  the  church  grew  most  wonder- 
fully, having  increased  from  a  roll  of  twenty-one 
to  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven.  He  has  also 
been  pastor  of  Alpine  Church,  in  Talladega 
County,  for  two  years,  and  during  the  two  years 
the  membership  of  that  church  has  been  more  than 
doubled.  The  honorary  degree  of  D.D.  was  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  the  Alabama  State  University 
at  the  commencement  exercises  of  188(5. 

Dr.  Lane  was  married  October  <>,  18G8,  to  Un- 
dine Brown,  of  Hancock  County,  Ga.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Algeron  S.  Brown, 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  ])hysicians  who  ever 
lived  in  Georgia.  To  this  happy  union  were  born 
twelve  children,  viz. :  John  S.,  Edward  Mcintosh, 
Mary  Undine,  Louise  E.,  Sidney  B.,  Eugene  C, 
Mluebell  C,  James  A.,  Marshall  H.,  Jr.,  Margue- 
rite  T.  and  Reynolds.     One  boy  died  in  infancy. 

Dr.  Lane  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  pulpit  ora- 
tors in  the  State. 

CARLETON  BARTLETT  GIBSON,  President 
of  the  State  Xornia!  Colli't'f.  was  l)orn  at  Mobile, 
Ala.,  Septemljer  IS,  1804,  and  is  a  son  of  James 
S.  and  Antoinette  Julia  (Powers)  Ciibson.' 

The  senior  Mr.  Gibson  was  born  in  South  Dum- 
fries, Scotland,  in  1824,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen 


years  came  to  the  United  States.  Ife  settled  in 
New  York  City,  and  in  184G  moved  to  Mobile, 
where  he  was  engaged  in  the  commission  business, 
lie  was  a  first  lieuteiumt  in  the  British  Guards  under 
Capt.  Daniel  Wheeler  during  the  late  war.  After- 
wards he  moved  to  Clarke  County,  Miss.,  where  he 
conducted  a  large  cottoTi  farm.  He  was  married 
in  New  York,  and  reared  a  family  of  eight  sons, 
viz.:  James  S.,  a  sea  captain;  Francis  S.,  wholesale 
and  retail  grocer  of  Mobile;  Wallace  W.,  clerk  in 
Mobile;  Jefferson  Davis,  deceased:  Frederick  P., 
teacher  in  Clark  County,  Ala.:  Eniile  L.,  student; 
and  Alex  J.,  student  in  the  State  Normal  College. 
The  senior  Mr.  Gibsoii  was  a  member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  and  died  in  X'AI'l.  His  wife  was 
a  native  of  New  York,  and  of  English  extraction. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  Mobile. 
He  was  graduated  from  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama as  A.  B.  in  the  class  of  1884,  and  received 
from  the  same  institution  the  next  year  the  hon- 
orary degree  of  A.  M.  After  having  taught  school 
at  Mulberry,  Autauga  County,  this  State,  about 
one  year,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Faculty 
of  the  State  Normal  College  (through  the  influence 
of  Colonel  Lewis,  of  the  State  University),  and 
after  the  resignation  of  J,  II.  Chappell.  he  was 
elected  president  of  the  College,  which  position  he 
is  now  filling. 

Professor  (iibson  has  certainly  won  for  himself 
much  distinction,  having  worked  his  way  up  to 
the  present  position  by  his  own  energy  and  hard 
study.  He  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
educators  of  the  State.  He  is  an  eloquent  speaker, 
a  ready  debater,  and  a  man  capable  in  all  respects 
of  filling  the  high  position  to  which  he  has  been 
called.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church. 

JOHN  D.  HAMMOND  was  born  in  St.  Clair 
County,  Ala.,  Oetolier  I'^t,  1838,  and  is  a  son  of 
Richmond  and  Mary  (Ash)  Hanunond. 

The  senior  Jlr.  Hammond  was  born  in  Law- 
rence District,  S.  C,  in  August,  1801.  He  came 
to  Alabama  with  his  parents  in  181G,  and  settled 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Coosa  River,  near  (!reens- 
port;  there  entered  lands,  and  remained  until  his 
death,  which  occurred  in  July,  1861.  lie  was  an 
active  farmer,  and  succeeded  in  accumulating  a 
large  fortune.  At  his  death  lie  owned  about  six 
thousand  acres  of  land.     He  was  in   the  Legisla- 


492 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ture  at  different  times  from  1835  to  1848,  and 
assisted  in  the  organization  of  many  of  the  earlier 
counties  and  did  much  toward  shaping  the  devel- 
opment of  the  State.  He  reared  six  children,  as 
follows:  Mary  E.,  wife  of  Isaac  Looney;  Jane  C, 
wife  of  William  Cross,  of  Shelby  County;  William 
C,  of  St.  Clair  County;  Kichmond  F.,  deceased; 
Peter  LaFayette,  physician,  was  killed  at  Shiloh; 
and  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  The  grandfather 
of  our  subject  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and 
was  a  descendant  of  English  ancestr3\ 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  a  native  of  Frank- 
lin County,  Ga.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
John  Ash,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of  1812. 
The  Ash  family  came  originally  from  Ireland. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  his  native  county.  He  was  married  May 
18,  1858,  to  Fannie  A.  Whisenant,  daughter  of 
William  J.  Whisenant,  of  Calhoun  County,  this 
State.  To  this  union  were  born  seven  children, 
viz.:  Walter  E.,  Willie  B.,  Anna  L.,  Peter  L., 
Mary  A.  E.,  Fannie  W.  and  Katie.  Mrs.  Ham- 
mond died  in  1884. 

Mr.  Hammond  entered  the  army  in  the  fall  of 
1863,  as  a  member  of  a  cavalry  company  of  State 
troops.  He  served  until  the  close  of  the  war, 
when  he  resumed  farming.  He  was  engaged  at 
farming  until  coming  to  Jacksonville  in  1867; 
here  he  run  a  hotel  about  ten  years. 

Mr.  Hammond  was  elected  to  the  Legislature 
from  Calhoun  County,  in  1880,  and  served  two 
terms,  taking  an  active  part  in  the  passage  of  the 
Railroad  Commission  Bill  and  in  the  law  regulat- 
ing the  convict  system  of  the  State.  He  was  in- 
defatigable in  the  interest  of  education,  and  was 
conspicuous  in  the  establishment  of  normal 
schools  at  Jacksonville  and  Livingston,  and  in 
aiding  the  State  University,  the  A.  and  M.  College, 
and  the  common  schools. 

His  politics,  like  those  of  his  father's,  have 
always  been  Democratic.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Ef)iscopal  Church,  South,  and  of  the 
Masonic  and  Knights  of  Honor  fraternities. 


WILLIAM  MARK  HAMES,  Attorney-at-law, 
Jacksonville,  was  born  in  Hancock  County, 
6a.,  and  is  a  son  of  William  and  Rizpah  Z. 
(Moore)  Hames,  natives  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  resi^ectively. 


Mr.  Hames'  parents  were  married  in  Hancock 
County,  Ga. ,  and  there  reared  five  sons  and  two 
daughters.  The  elder  Mr.  Hames  died  in  Decem- 
ber, 1857.  He  was  many  years  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  was 
much  beloved  by  those  who  knew  him.  His  wife 
was  a  daughter  of  Jeremiah  iloore,  a  native  of 
Scotland. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated at  LaGrange,  Ga.  In  1844  he  came  to  Macon 
County,  Ala,  where  he  taught  school  four  years, 
removing  thence  to  Oxford,  where  he  taught  two 
years.  He  read  law  under  A.  J.  Walker,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  .Jacksonville  in  September, 
1855.  He  has  been  in  the  practice  ever  since  and 
has  built  up  for  himself  a  reputation  as  a  brilliant 
and  successful  attorney. 

Early  in  1861,  Mr.  Hames  entered  the  Second 
Alabama  State  Troojis  as  a  first  lieutenant,  and 
later  became  captain  of  Company  A,  Second  Ala- 
bama Regiment.  This  command  was  disbanded  at 
Fort  Pillow,  and  he  returned  home,  reorganized 
his  comjDany,  and  joined  the  Fifty-first  Alabama 
Cavalry  as  captain.  He  was  out  but  a  short  time, 
when, on  account  of  his  ill-health, he  was  compelled 
to  resign  and  return  home. 

In  1857-8,  he  was  Assistant  Clerk  of  the  State 
Legislatiwe,  and  in  1863-4,  was  elected  member  of 
that  body.  In  1875  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  and  took  an  active  part  in 
its  deliberations. 

In  January,  1866,  he  was  married  to  Mar}-  E. 
Jones,  daughter  of  James  Jones,  of  Tennessee. 
The  children  born  to  this  union  are:  Leonidas 
G.,  Lizzie  R.,  James  (}.,  John  N.,  Ezra  and  Will- 
iam. The  family  are  members  of  the  Old  School 
Presbyterian  Church. 

SAMUEL  D.  G.  BROTHERS,  Attorney-at-law, 
Jacksonville,  was  born  in  C'alhoun  County,  this 
State,  June,  19,  1858,  and  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Philip 
H.  and  Jennie  (Downing)  Brothers,  natives,  re- 
spectively, of  St.  Clair  and  Calhoun  Counties,  this 
State. 

Doctor  Brothers  has  been  a  jn-aeticing  physician 
in  Calhoun  Count}',  nearly  jill  his  jn-ofessional  life; 
he  spent  five  years  in  Texas  and  Louisiana.  He 
and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian Church.     They  reared    eight    children. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


493 


viz.:  Samuel  D.  G. ;  William  P.,  now  deceased; 
was  a  gi'adiiate  of  the  University  of  Alabama  and 
(.'ollcgo  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  IJaltimorc, 
Md. ;  Hlizabeth  F.,  Mary  Emma,  (leorge  A., 
Philij)  II.,  Zulah  Zarah  and  Thomas  J.  The 
Brothers  family  were  originally  from  England. 

Mrs.  Doctor  Brother.-;  is  a  daughter  of  Thomas 
J.  Downing,  an  early  pioneer  of  St.  Clair  County. 
He  was  a  descendant  of  Irish  parentage,  and  was 
horn  in  Tennessee,  or  Xorth  Carolina.  He  located 
in  Calhoun  County  in  18:5.5,  where  he  died  in  1800. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  in  his  na- 
tive county;  was  graduated  from  the  Fniversity 
of  Alabama  in  the  class  of  1880,  and  from  the  law 
department  in  1881.  After  leaving  college  he 
located  at  .Jacksonville  and  formed  a  partnership 
with  Willett  A  AViliett,  of  Anniston,  the  style  of 
the  firm  being  Brothers,  Willett  &  Willett. 

Mr.  Brothers  was  married  October  21,  1885,  to 
Ella  Wyly,  of  Jacksonville.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Benjamin  C.  and  Elsie  (Snow)  Wyly,  natives 
of  Georgia  and  Alabama,  respectively.  Mr.  Broth- 
ers and  wife  are  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 


JOHN  HENRY  CALDWELL,  Attorney-at-law, 
Jacksonville,  son  of  John  M.  and  Emily  (i. 
(Bell)  Caldwell,  natives,  respectively,  of  the  States 
of  Kentucky  and  ^'irginia,  was  born  at  llunts- 
ville,  this  State,  April  -1,  \'6'IV).  He  was  educated 
in  his  native  town,  and  at  Bacon  College,  Ilarrods- 
burg,  Ky.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  began 
teaching  school,  and  continued  at  that  vocation 
four  yeai's  in  Limestone  County.  He  came  to 
Jacksonville  in  1848,  and  for  four  years  had  charge 
of  the  Jacksonville  Female  Academy;  the  suc- 
ceeding four  years  he  was  in  charge  of  the  Male 
School  at  Jacksonville,  and  in  1851  and  1852 
edited  the  Jacksonville  liepnblicau.  In  1855  he 
assumed  the  editorshij>  of  the  Sunny  South,  and 
was  conducting  this  paper  in  1857,  when  he  was 
elected  to  ihe  Legislature.  In  185'.l  he  was  elected 
Solicitor  of  the  Tenth  Judicial  Circuit,  was  re- 
elected in  18C:i,  and  in  18G5  was  removed  for  po- 
litical reasons  by  Governor  Parsons.  He  was  im- 
mediately re-elected  to  the  Legislature,  but  for 
similar  reasons  was  removed  by  the  military  in 
ISiiT.  Having  been  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1850, 
he  at  once  entered  the  practice  of  his  ])rofession. 
He  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1882,  and  re-elected 
in  1884. 


Mr.  Caldwell  is  a  talented  gentleman  of  easy 
address,  an  agreeable  and  fluent  speaker,  and  in 
all  of  his  official  trusts  has  acquitted  himself 
with  dignity  and  credit.  He  was  married  in  No- 
vember, 1840,  to  Miss  Mary  1).  Greer,  of  Fayette- 
ville,  Tenn. 

—    •  '>  •^g^"^— — 

LEONIDAS  W.  GRANT.  Editor  and  Proprietor 
of  the  .lacksonvilie  lltpiihUcan,  was  born  August 
8,  1843,  in  this  city,  and  is  a  son  of  J.  F.  and 
Elizabeth  (Riley)  Grant,  natives  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee,  respectively. 

The  senior  Mr.  Grant  came  to  Calhoun  County, 
Ala.,  in  1834,  to  take  charge  of  a  Baptist  paper. 
In  1837,  he  became  proprietor  of  the  jiaper, 
changed  its  name  to  the  Jacksonville  Repuhlican, 
and  published  it  until  the  day  of  his  death.  In 
1870  he  was  elected  State  Treasurer,  and  in  1872 
was  renominated  for  that  office,  but  in  common 
with  the  Democratic  State  ticket,  was  defeated. 
He  was  a  prominent  Mason,  and  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He 
reared  one  son  and  four  daughters. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated at  Jacksonville.  He  attended  the  Wesleyan 
University  at  Florence,  and  was  about  to  enter 
upon  the  junior  year  when  the  war  broke  out. 
In  June,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  service  as  a 
private  in  Company  G,  Tenth  Alabama  Regiment, 
and  in  18(;2  was  promoted  to  sergeant-major.  In 
1803  he  was  promoted  to  adjutant  of  the  regi- 
ment. He  participated  in  the  battle  of  Dranes- 
ville,  and  in  all  the  engagements  in  wiiich  his 
regiment  took  part,  except  the  battles  of  Cold 
Harbor  and  the  Wilderness.  He  surrendered  with 
General  Lee. 

In  1807,  ^lajor  Grant  founded  the  (Jadsden 
Times,  remained  with  that  paper  until  his  father 
was  elected  State  Treasurer,  when  he  returned  to 
Jacksonville  and  purchased  a  half-interest  in  the 
Rcpublirtin.  In  1874  he  was  elected  to  the  lower 
house  of  the  State  Legislature,  and  in  1880,  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate,  in  which  body  he 
served  with  distinction  four  years.  At  this  writing 
(1888),  he  is  the  Democratic  nominee  for  State 
Senator  from  the  Seventh  District. 

He  is  a  brilliant  speaker,  a  terse  and  vigorous 
writer,  and  one  of  the  most  enterprising  men  of 
Xorth  Alabama.  He  is  prominently  identified 
with   the  Masonic  and   Knights  of   Pythias  fra- 


494 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ternities,    and   is   a  consistent    member    of    the 
Metliodist  Episcojial  Churcli,  South. 

ilaj or  Grant's  wife  was  Miss  Annie  Foster,  tlie 
aeeomplished  daughter  of  Chancellor  Jolin  Foster, 
of  this  citv. 


JOHN  M.  CROOK,  M.D.,  Physician  and  Sur- 
geon, Jacksonville,  was  born  August  4,  184T,  at 
Alexandria,  Calhoun  Count}-,  this  State.  He  was 
reared  in  his  native  village,  received  a  common 
school  education,  and,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  }-ears, 
entered  the  University  of  Alabama,  where  be  re- 
mained until  he  reached  the  senior  class,  when  he 
enlisted  as  first  lieutenant  in  the  Army  of  the  Con- 
federate States.  After  his  father's  death  he  took 
charge  of  his  plantations,  and  subsequently,  in 
18T2,  at  Alexandria,  engaged  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness, and  continued  thereat  until  1ST8.  In  the 
last  named  year  he  moved  to  Jacksonville,  and  re- 
mained there  four  years,  engaged,  in  the  meantime, 
at  farming.  In  1883  he  began  the  study  of  medi- 
cine, and  in  1885  was  graduated  from  Baltimore 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  Immediately 
after  graduating  he  was  appointed  resident  physi- 
cian of  the  Maryland  Woman's  Hospital:  remained 
there  one  year;  spent  six  months  at  Bay  View,  and 
returned  to  Jacksonville,  where  he  has  since 
devoted  his  time  to  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

Dr.  Crook  is  one  of  the  most  accomplished 
physicians  in  Northeastern  Alabama,  and  is  held 
in  highest  esteem  by  the  jjeople  and  the  profession 
generally.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  is  always  identified  with  every  movement 
tending  to  advance  the  best  interests  of  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  i-esides.  He  served  the  city 
of  Jacksonville  from  1880  to  1883,  inclusive,  as 
Mayor. 

In  April,  IbTtJ,  the  Doctor  was  married  to  Miss 
Annie  Whateley,  the  accomplished  daughter  of 
the  gallant  Col.  Ceorge  C.  Whateley,  who  fell  at 
the  head  of  his  regiment,  the  Tenth  Alabama,  at 
the  battle  of  Sharpsburg,  Md.  Mrs.  Crook  died 
in  January,  1878. 

CHARLES    H.    MONTGOMERY,    M.    D.,    of 

Jacksonville,    was    born    at    La  Grange,    Troup 
County,  Ga.,  January  2,  1845.     He  was   reared 


in  his  native  town,  where  he  received  a  good  edu- 
cation and  was  prepared  to  enter  the  senior  class 
of  the  Southern  University  at  Greensboro,  this 
State. 

On  the  announcement  of  the  secession  of  Ala- 
bama, his  heart  beat  in  unison  with  the  people  of 
his  adopted  State,  and  in  A])ril,  1801,  he  enlisted 
in  an  artillery  company  made  up  at  Selma,  and 
commanded  by  his  father.  The  first  year  of  his 
service  was  in  Virginia;  after  which  he  served  in 
artillery  with  Forrest's  Cavalry,  in  whose  command 
his  company  saw  much  active  service.  At  Selma, 
for  •'courage  and  bravery,"  he  was  recommended 
for  promotion  to  a  lieutenantcy.  His  last  engage- 
ment was  at  West  Point,  Ga.,  in  April,  ISOo. 

Immediately  after  the  war,  he  settled  at  Ever- 
green, Conecuh  County,  Ala.,  where  he  began  the 
study  of  medicine,  and  inl8U8  was  graduated  as 
M.  D.  from  the  Washington  University,  ]\Iedical 
Department,  Baltimore.  He  attended  lectures 
also  at  Atlanta,  where  he  afterwards  practiced  his 
profession  for  a  long  time.  For  the  past  fourteen 
years  he  has  been  located  near  and  at  Jackson- 
ville, where  he  has  met  with  much  success,  and  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  best  and  most  skillful  phy- 
sicians of  Xorth  Alabama. 

Dr.  Montgomery  was  married,  January  fi,  1870, 
to  Jennie  Chamberlain,  whose  father  was  a 
nephew  of  General  Warren,  of  Revolutionary 
fame.  Two  children,  Paul  and  Julia,  bless  this 
union.  The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian church,  of  the  Masonic  and  I.  0.  0.  F.  fra- 
ternities, and  of  the  Knights  of  Honor  and  Im- 
proved   Order  of    Red  Men. 

The  father  of  Dr.  Montgomery,  Col.  Joseph  T. 
Montgomery,  was  born  in  the  Waxhaw  Settlement, 
X.  C,  and  when  a  boy  came  with  his  parents  to 
DeKalb  County,  Ga.,  where  he  was  reared.  He 
was  the  founder  of  LaGrange  Female  College,  and 
was  widely  known  as  a  most  thorough  educator. 
He  moved  to  Summerfield,  Ala.,  in  185 T,  and  there 
presided  over  Centenary  Institute.  From  the 
latter  city  he  entered  the  army  as  captain  of  the 
Jeff.  Davis  Artillery,  and  later  on  he  was  advanced 
to  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Fourteenth  Georgia 
Artillery,  in  General  Bragg's  army.  Impaired 
health  compelled  him  to  resign  before  the  close  of 
the  war,  and  in  1870  he  moved  to  ^larshall,  Tex., 
where  he  founded  the  Marshall  Female  College, 
and  where  he  remained  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  July,  1872. 

He  was  an  active  and  leading  member  of  the 


.-^: 


':%(^. 


'*•=> 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


495 


Methodist  Plpiscopal  Church,  South,  and  was  a 
man  of  superior  mental  ability.  He  was  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  popular  educators  of  the  South, 
and  was  highly  respected  and  beloved  as  a 
fitizeii  and  Christian.  He  married  Julia  A.  F. 
Cameron,  of  Troup  County,  Ca.  They  reared 
three  children,  viz.:  Charles  II.  (our  subject), 
Walter  \ .  and  .Mamie  E.,  wlio  died  at  Jacksonville 
in  18S5.  Sjie  was  an  eminent  teacher,  and  at  the 
time  of  her  death  was  a  member  of  the  Normal 
School  faculty,  at  Jacksonville.  Walter  V.  Mont- 
gomery is  a  member  of  the  Doctor's  family,  and 
is  at  jiresent  studying  medicine  with  him. 

JAMES  CROOK,  Jr.,  was  born  at  Alexandria, 
Caliimin  Ccjuiity.  Ala.,  October  l"^',  1841,  and  is  a 
son  of  John  M.  Crook,  Sr.,  and  Margaret  (.Miller) 
Crook,    natives    of   Spartanburg   District,    S.    C. 

John  JI.  Crook,  Sr.,  was  born  in  1810,  and 
came  to  Alabama  in  18134.  lie  was  a  lawyer 
and  farmer  by  profession  and  occupation,  and  took 
an  active  part  in  politics,  though  declining  all 
official  position  for  himself.  He  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Secession  Convention  of  ISCO,  and  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  deliberation  of  that  body. 

The  Crook  family  came  originally  from  Wales, 
settling  first  in  Virginia,  and  moving  from  there 
into  South  Carolinia.  James  Crook,  Sr.,  the  pa- 
ternal grandfather  of  JIaj.  James  Crook,  Jr.,  was 
reared  and  educated  in  South  Carolina,  and  had 
the  honor  of  representing  the  county  (then  dis- 
trict) of  Spartanburg,  at  different  times  in  both 
branches  of  the  State  Legislature.  He  married  a 
Miss  Owen,  a  lady  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and, 
in  ls;i4,  came  to  Alabama.  Here  he  purchased 
large  tracts  of  fertile  lands  and  devoted  himself  to 
agriculture.  Samuel  Miller  (the  maternal  grand- 
father of  JIaj.  James  Crook,  Jr.)  and  his  wife, 
who  was  a  -Miss  Dean,  were  of  Scotch-Irish  ex- 
traction, and  Samuel  Miller  was  a  soldier  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  A  few  years  prior  to  the  War 
for  Indci)endence,  a  large  number  of  Scotch-Irish 
settled  along  the  foothills  of  the  Blue  I>idge  in 
Pennsylvania,  \'irginia.  North  and  South  Caro- 
lina, when  their  farther  j)ilgrimage  was  arrested 
by  the  beautiful  scenery,  fertile  lands,  and  salubri- 
ous climate  of  upper  South  Carolina. 

Here  they  built  their  cabins  near  springs  of  cool 
and   delicious   water,    erected   school-iiouses  and 


churches,  and  were  soon  living  in  peace  and  plenty, 
such  as  they  had  never  known  in  the  Mother 
Country.  There  both  had  been  denied  them  by 
the  cruelties  of  religious  persecution. 

No  grander  specimens  of  humanity  have  been 
produced  anywhere  on  earth  than  those  who  were 
born  and  reared  in  thi.s  '■  I'iedmont  Region,"  and 
should  we  take  their  achievements  from  American 
history,  it  would  be  robbed  of  some  of  its  grandest 
success  in  war,  in  statesmanship  and  religion. 

Not  long  were  those  noble  pioneers  left  in  the 
enjoyment  of  tlie  blessings  wiiich  Providence  had 
so  bountifully  bestowed  upon  them.  When  the 
oppressions  of  tiie  JEother  Country  began,  some  of 
those  same  Scotch-Irish  were  the  first  at  Meck- 
lenburg to  declare  their  independence  of  a  govern- 
ment which  they  had  learned  to  distrust  before 
crossing  the  ocean.  Among  the  first  to  take  up 
arms,  were  Crook,  Owens,  Dean  and  John  Miller, 
of  the  Tiger  River  s(j;ttlement,  in  wliat  is  now 
called  Spartanburg  County,  S.  C.  All  four  of 
those  men  were  great-grandfathers  of  Maj.  James 
Crook,  Jr.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  The  three 
first  named  served  gallantly  throughout  the  War 
for  Independence  in  the  American  Army.  The 
last  named,  John  Miller,  was  killed  by  Tories  and 
Indians  during  the  year  17T5.  The  assassins  were 
hidden  under  a  bridge  over  which  he  had  to  pass 
on  his  way  from  Fort  Nicholas  to  his  home.  Fort 
Nicholas  was  situated  a  short  distance  from  the 
scene  of  the  occurrence,  on  North  Tiger  River, 
and  Miller  was  going  for  supplies  for  liis  own  and 
other  families  then  being  protected  at  the  Fort. 
A  thrilling  account  of  his  death  is  recorded  in 
Howe's  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
South  Carolina.  He  left  one  son,  Samuel  Miller, 
who,  seven  years  later,  took  part  in  the  battle  of 
Cowpens.  Tiie  last  named  was  the  maternal 
grandfather  of  Major  Crook,  who  thus  had  four 
great-grandfathers  and  a  grand  father  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary War — an  lionor  of  ancestry  which  can  be 
claimed  by  but  few  living  men.  Samuel  Miller 
was  subsefpiently  sheriff  of  Spartanburg  County, 
at  a  time  when  that  office  combined  the  duties  of 
the  present  clerk  and  probate  judge. 

Major  Crook  was  educated  at  the  Universities  of 
Alabama  and  Virginia.  From  tiie  latter  institu- 
tion he  took  his  departure  a  short  time  before  the 
end  of  his  last  term,  and  in  June,  lS(;i,  enlisted 
in  Company  D,  Tenth  Alabama  Regiment,  as  a 
private  soldier.  In  18C'2  he  was  promoted  to  first- 
lieutenant;    in   1804  he  was  made  captain,  and 


496 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


later  ou  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major  of 
Cavalry.  Soou  after  his  transfer  to  the  Cavalry 
service,  lie  was  captured,  and  was  imprisoned  on 
Johnson's  Island  until  the  close  of  the  war.  Prior 
to  his  capture  he  had  jiarticipated  in  many  hotly- 
contested  battles. 

After  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  he  returned  to 
Alexandria,  and  during  the  following  year,  at 
Jacksonville,  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office 
of  Hon.  W.  H.  Forney.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1867  and  at  once  entered  upon  success- 
ful practice  of  his  profession.  In  that  year  he 
was  made  chairman  of  the  Democratic  Executive 
Committee  of  liis  county,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  for  six  years,  and  was  contemporaneously  a 
member  of  the  State  Democratic  Executive  Com- 
mittee. In  1868  he  was  a  Seymour  and  Blair  elec- 
tor, and  made  a  very  thorough  and  active  canvass 
of  his  district.  In  1861)  he  was  elected  as  the 
nominee  of  the  Democratic  Party  to  the  lower 
House  of  the  General  Assembly.  In  1876  he  was 
ajjpointed  by  Governor  Houston  to  the  highly  honor- 
able and  responsible  position  of  a  trustee  of  the 
State  University,  and  in  1883  he  was  made,  by 
statute,  a  director  in  the  Normal  School  at  Jack- 
sonville, in  botli  of  which  capacities  he  is  still  act- 
ing. He  continued  to  give  his  attention  to  the 
practice  of  his  profession  until  1881,  when  he  was 
elected  Eailroad  Commissioner,  with  Hon.  Walter 
L.  Bragg  as  president  and  Hon.  Charles  P.  Ball, 
associate.  He  continued  in  this  position  four 
years,  since  which  time  he  has  been  giving  his 
attention  to  his  private  business — principally  man- 
ufacturing, farming,  and  the  breeding  of  blooded 
stock. 

Major  Crook  was  married  to  Miss  Annie  E. 
Ponder,  of  Montgomery,  Ala.,  in  1868,  by  wliich 
marriage  he  has  a  son,  James  Flournoy  Crook. 
Mrs.  Crook  died  in  1869,  and  in  1871,  Major  Crook 
was  married  to  Miss  Reynolds,  a  daughter  of 
Major  "Walker  Reynolds,  an  influential  citizen  of 
Talladega  County.  To  this  union  four  children 
have  been  born  :  Hannah,  Walker  R.,  Martin  and 
Ei^pie,  the  latter  now  deceased. 

— ^-^S^^-  <'•    • 

ISAAC  LEONID  AS  SWAN,  Clerk  of  the  Pro- 
bate Court,  Jacksonville,  was  born  September  24, 
1832,  in  McMinn  County,  Tenn.,  and  is  a  son  of 
John  and  Elizabeth  (Woods)  Swan. 

Tlie  senior  Mr.  Swan  was  born  in  Knox  Countv, 


Tenn.,  in  1798;  was  a  captain  in  the  Seminole 
War  in  1836;  died  in  Bradley  County,  Tenn.,  to 
which  he  moved,  about  1840;  left  living  seven  chil- 
dren, of  whom  three  were  sons,  viz.:  Isaac  L.,  our 
subject,  Samuel  Jones,  a  farmer  of  Tennessee, 
who  served  in  the  Southern  Army  from  that  State, 
and  William  Alexander,  who  died  in  Arkansas. 
His  father  married  a  Miss  Gamble,  and  was  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  Knox  County,  Tenn.,  where  he 
lived  until  his  death.  He  reared  a  large  family. 
The  Swan  family  catne  originally  from  England, 
and  the  Woods  family  are  of  Scotch  origin. 

Isaac  Leonidas  Swan  was  reared  and  educated 
in  Tennessee,  and  in  September,  1853,  came  to 
Jacksonville,  where  he  was  soon  afterward  ap- 
pointed Clerk  of  the  Probate  Court.  He  filled 
this  office  six  years,  and  then  accepted  a  position 
as  book-keeper  for  J.  B.  &  G.  H.  Forney.  In  the 
sjiring  of  1861  he  entered  the  army  as  a  member 
of  Company  G,  Tenth  Alabama,  and  participated 
in  the  battles  of  the  second  Manassas,  Wilderness, 
Petersburg,  a  short  siege  below  Richmond,  and 
other  minor  contests. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Jackson- 
ville, and  shortly  removed  to  Selma,  where  he  was 
employed  as  book-keeper  until  1870.  From  Selma 
he  returned  to  Jacksonville,  and  in  1874  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  position  he  has  since  continuously 
filled:  Clerk  of  the  Probate  Court.  He  is  identi- 
fied with  the  leading  industries  of  Jacksonville, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor. 

Mr.  Swan  was  appointed  County  Treasurer  in 
1875,  and  having  been  elected  to  that  office  in 
1877,  held  it  until  1880.  He  was  married  June  6, 
1866,  to  Miss  Mary  F.  Cannon,  of  this  city.  Her 
father.  Judge  L.  W.  Cannon,  a  native  of  South 
Carolina,  was  among  the  early  settlers  of  Calhoun 
County. 

The  children  born  to  ilr.  and  Mrs.  Swan  are 
named,  respectively:  Mary  E.,  William  Gordon, 
Mattie  P.,  Fannie  Lee,  Emma  A.  J.,  Samuel  L., 
John  R.,  Flora  Alabama,  Hannah  Cleveland,  and 
James  Hugh. 

«"J^^-^— — 

JOHN  P.  WEAVER,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  Jacksonville,  was  born  near  Weaver's 
Station,  Calhoun  County,  February  26,  1860,  and 
is  a  son  of  Lindsey  and  Lucinda  (Pace)  Weaver, 
natives  of  Putnam  County,  Ga. 

The  senior  Mr.  Weaver  came  to  Callioun  County 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


497 


about  183ii,  and  liere  followed  farming  the 
rest  of  his  life.  He  and  his  wife  were  members 
of  the  Haptist  Church,  of  which  he  was  a  deacon, 
lie  died  in  1801,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven  years, 
and  she  in  187'.),  iit  tlie  age  of  sixty-four  years. 
They  reared  nine  children,  viz. :  Richard.  David 
F.,  Thomas  L.,  John  I'.,  Lizzie  (Mrs.  Woodrutf); 
Louisa,  wife  of  Judge  James  -Viken.  of  (fadsden; 
Fannie,  wife  of  P.  M.  Watson;  Ilattie,  wife  of  A. 
Scarbrough;  and  Arcadia,  wife  of  W.  J.  Allen, 
of  Bessemer,  Ala.  Kichard,  Havid  F.  and  Thomas 
L.  are  farmers  by  occupation;  the  two  first  named 
were  soldiers  in  the  .Southern  army  during  the  war 
between  the  States. 

The  Weavers  came  originally  from  (Jermany, 
and  Lindsey  Weaver's  father  was  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  Putnam  County,  Ga.  Richard  Pace, 
Mrs.  Weaver's  father,  was  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  C^alhoun  County.  He  was  a  Baptist 
minister,  and  as  such  was  held  in  highest  esteem. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  on  a  farm 
in  his  native  county,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
years  engaged  as  clerk  for  the  East  Tennessee, 
Virginia  &  Georgia  Railway,  at  Weaver's  Station, 
a  position  he  hehl  until  1886.  In  August  of  that 
year  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court. 

Mr.  Weaver  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  a  pojiular  citizen  of  .Tncksonville. 

HENRY  FLOYD  MONTGOMERY,  United 
States  Commissioner,  was  honi  near  Atlanta,  Ga., 
in  Ni)vember,  18rKi,  and  is  a  son  of  James  F.  and 
Elizabetii  (Young)  Montgomery,  natives  of  South 
Carolina.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and  educated 
at  the  common  school.  February,  18(!4,  he  enteretl 
Ferrel's  Battery  (General  Forrest's  command),  and 
subsequently  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Decatur, 
Florence,  Selma,  etc.  He  was  paroled  at  or  near 
Atlanta  ^lay  14, 18(15.  After  the  final  surrender 
he  returned  to  Georgia,  and  from  there  later  on 
moved  to  Te.xas,  where  lie  remained  until  18<iT. 

Returning  again  to  his  native  State,  Mr.  Mont- 
gomery engaged  in  mercantile  business,  and  in 
1869  he  came  to  .Jacksonville.  He  was  liere  in 
business  till  18T1.  and  after  a  few  years,  absence 
returned  in  1880  and  is  now  here  with  at  least  a 
degree  of  permanency. 

Mr.  ^[ontgomery  has  been  very  successful  in 
business,  and  is  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  in- 
telligence and  judgment.     He  was  married  in  Feb- 


ruary, 1873,  to  Miss  Mary  Linder,  daughter  of 
Dr.  I).  P.  Linder,  of  Jacksonville,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  six  children,  viz.:  Bessie,  Floy,  Lillie, 
Joe  Linder,  .lohii  and  Grace.  The  family  are 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which 
Mr.  .Montgomery  is  an  elder.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  tiie  Masonic  fraternity  and  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor. 

.Tames  F.  Montgomery,  the  father  of  Henry  F., 
when  a  boy,  accompanied  his  parents  to  Georgia 
where  he  was  reared  and  educated, and  where  he  be- 
came a  substantial  planter.  During  tlieFlorida  War, 
(183G)  he  held  the  rank  of  captain  and  took  part 
in  several  hard  fought  battles.  He  reared  a  family 
of  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  of  whom  three 
are  now  living,  viz.:  Henry  F.,  William  R.  and 
Emma  Haynes.  He  was  a  highly  esteemed  citi- 
zen and  a  man  of  considerable  local  influence.  He 
died  in  1847,  and  his  widow,  some  years  afterward, 
married  .Matthew  Osborne,  of  Marietta,  Ga. 

Mr.  ilontgomery's  father,  Maj.  James  M.  C. 
Montgomery,  was  a  son  of  James  Montgomery, 
who  came  from  the  north  of  Ireland  in  1740,  and 
settled  in  South  Carolina.  Priorto  18"21  he  moved 
to  DeKalb  County,  (Ja.,  and  located  on  the 
Chattahoochee  River,  near  Atlanta.  Here  he 
met,  and,  in  due  process  of  time,  married  Nancy 
Farlow,  a  noble  Christian  woman,  native  of  South 
Carolina.  Their  home  was  in  what  is  known  as 
the  South  Bend  of  the  Chattahoochee,  and  was 
a  familiar  rendezvous  for  the  early  travelers 
through  that  part  of  the  State.  The  old  gentle- 
man, remembered  now  by  few  of  the  many  wlio 
enjoyed  this  hospitality,  the  rest  having,  like 
himself,  joined  the  silent  majority,  was  of  the 
same  stock  from  which  descended  Gen.  Richard 
Montgomery,  who  fell  at  the  Battle  of  Quebec 
in  1775.  He  was  well-informed  on  all  topics  of 
the  day,  and  represented  his  county  in  the 
Legislature  several  terms.  He  was  noted  for  his 
charity  and  for  the  kind  treatment  of  his  slaves, 
and  was  beloved  and  honored  by  all  who  came 
in  contact  with  him.  He  reared  a  family  of  six 
sons  and  five  daughters,  all  of  whom  received  the 
best  education  that  was  available,  and  who  in 
later  years  became  worthy  citizens  of  this  section 
of  the  country. 

PEYTON  ROWAN  was  born  in  Pendleton  Dis- 
I  trict,  S.  ('..  Oct()l)er  18,  181'>,    and    is  a  son  of 


498 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


James  and  Sarah  Rowan,  natives  of  the  same 
place. 

The  senior  Mr.  Rowan  was  a  planter  by  occuj^a- 
tion.  and  reared  five  sons  and  three  daughters.  In 
about  1820  he  came  to  Jefferson  County,  near 
where  Birmingham  is  now  situated,  and  in  1824 
removed  to  St.  Clair  County,  where  he  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life.  lie  died  in  September,  1880,  at 
the  advanced  age  of  ninety-three  years.  His  wife 
died  about  1802.  The  grandfather  of  our  subject 
was  a  native  of  Spartanburg  District,  S.  C,  and  of 
Irish  extraction. 

The  mother  of  Peyton  Rowan  was  a  daughter 
of  William  Pullen,  a  native  of  Virginia.  He 
took  part  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  soon 
afterward  moved  to  South  Carolina,  whence,  in  1820 
he  came  to  this  State  and  settled  Hear  Birming- 
ham, where  he  died  at  the  age  of  ninety-six  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketcli  was  reared  and  edu- 
cated in  this  State.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  years 
he  entered  a  store  as  salesman  at  Ashville,  and  in 
1842  became  a  partner,  which  partnership  lasted 
until  1805.  In  1866  he  came  to  Jacksonville, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  and 
in  January,  18T1,  took  in  as  partners  W.  H.  and 
Walter  Dean;  the  firm  name  being  Rowan,  Dean 
&  Co.  This  firm  has  done,  and  is  at  the  present 
writing  doing,  the  largest  business  of  any  house  of 
the  kind  in  Calhoun  County. 

Mr.  Rowan  was  married  April  10,  1856,  to  Miss 
Ann  Forney,  sister  of  General  Forney,  of  Confed- 
erate fame.  This  Union  has  been  blessed  with 
four  children,  viz:  Dr.  John  F.,  of  Xew  York 
City;  Sallie  L. ;  Emma  M.,  wife  of  Bernard  Gas- 
ton, of  Montgomery;  and  George  H. 

The  family  are  communicants  of  the  Ejiiscopa- 
lian  Church,  and  ilr.  Rowan  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity. 


Gated  in  his  native  county,  and  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  years  entered  a  store  as  salesman.  In 
1874  he  engaged  in  general  merchandising  at 
Alexandria,  and  he  continued  thereat  until  1883. 
In  1880  he  was  elected  Probate  Judge.  He  has 
always  been  active  in  politics,  has  taken  part 
in  all  the  State  conventions  since  1870,  and  was 
chairman  of  the  county  conventions  of  1882  and 
1884. 

ilr.  Crook  was  married  December  lit,  isr^,  to 
^liss  Sallie  Walker,  daughter  of  Whitfield  and 
jMary  (Mangum)  Walker,  natives  of  South  Caro- 
lina. Mr.  Walker  was  colonel  of  an  Alabama 
regiment  during  the  war.  He  is  now  Collector 
of  Internal  Revenue  for  the  District  of  Florida. 
Mr.  Crook  has  had  born  to  him  four  children, 
viz.:  Maud,  Ida,  Whitfield  Walker  and  John  M. 
The  family  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  j\Ir.  Crook  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity and  of  the  Knights  of  Honor. 

WILLIAM  H.  DEAN  was  born  in  St.  Clair  County, 
this  State,  October  6,  184.5.  He  was  reared  and 
educated  in  his  native  county,  and  from  there,  in 
1861,  entered  the  Southern  Army,  as  a  member  of 
I  Company  A,  Tenth  Alabama  Infantry.  He  was 
with  his  command  in  its  many  engagements  up  to 
and  including  Gettysburg.  On  the  retreat  from 
the  latter  place  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy 
and  was  imprisoned  at  Point  Lookout  and  Fort 
Delaware  for  several  months.  He  located  at 
Jacksonville  in  1867,  where  he  has  since  been 
actively  engaged  in  business.  Mr.  Dean  was 
married  July  24,  1884,  to  Miss  Ida  M.  Steel.  Mrs. 
Dean  died  in  1885. 


EMMETT  F.  CROOK  was  born  at  Alexandria, 
Calhoun  County,  this  State,  July  27,  1851,  and 
is  a  son  of  John  M.  aod  Narmeza  (Woodruff) 
Crook. 

Mrs.  Crook  is  a  daughter  of  Caleb  Woodruff,  a 
native  of  Spartanburg,  S.  C,  who  came  to  Cal- 
houn County  in  1834.  His  father  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  was  of  English 
ancestry. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  and  edu- 


GIDEON  C.  ELLIS,  Attorney-at-law.  was  born 
in  Blount  County,  this  State,  November  7,  1825. 
He  was  reared  in  his  native  county  and  received 
his  primary  education  at  the  common  schools. 
He  came  to  Jacksonville  in  1851,  and  in  the  office 
of  Mr.  Geo.  C.  Whately  began  the  study  of  law. 
In  1852  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  at  once 
formed  a  partnership  with  his  preceptor. 

This  partnership  continued  until  April,  1861,  at 
which  time  Mr.    Ellis  enlisted   in  defense  of  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


499 


South  as  a  member  of  the  First  Alabama  Regi- 
ment. He  liad  been  but  a  few  montlis  in  the  ser- 
vice, however,  when  liis  protracted  ill-health 
necessitated  liis  discharge.  Soon  after  returning 
home  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  and  has 
since  devoted  his  time  and  talents  thereto. 

In  1S55  ilr.  Ellis  represented  Calhoun  County 
in  the  Legislature:  during  the  period  of  the  war  he 
held  theofKceof  Register  in  Chancery,  and  in  ISfJo 
he  was  returned  to  the  Legislature  and  kept  there 
two  terms.  This  seems  to  constitute  the  sum  of 
his  office  holding.  As  a  legislator  he  was  faithful, 
active  and  efficient,  in  fact  it  is  doubtful  if  Cal- 
houn— somewhat  prolific  in  the  production  of  tal- 
ented men — has  ever  been  better  represented  in 
the  General  Assembly  than  during  the  period  of 
Mr.  Ellis'  incumbency.  A  lawyer  of  rare  attain- 
ments, he  not  only  knew  the  needs  of  his  people, 
but  he  had  the  ability  to  present  them,  and,  if 
need  be,  the  courage  to  defend  them. 

As  an  attorney  and  counselor-at-law,  he  is 
ranked  among  the  foremost  of  the  Calhoun  bar, 
and  as  an  advocate  his  reputation  is  by  no  means 
local.  He  is  recognized  by  all  who  know  him  as 
a  gentleman  and  a  scholar;  and  as  a  citizen  of 
Jacksonville  he  is  held  in  high  esteem. 

Mr.  Ellis  was  married  in  January,  18Gfi,  to  Miss 
Mary  Turney,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  the 
Hon.  Hopkins  L.  Turney,  late  United  States  Sen- 
ator from  Tennessee.  She  died  in  1S83.  The 
present  wife  of  Mr.  Ellis  was  a  Miss  Combs  before 
her  marriage  to  Mr.  Kins,  her  first  husband. 


JOSEPH  A.  GABOURY.  distinguished  as  hav- 
ing, as  civil  engineer,  constructed  the  first  jirac- 
tical  and  successful  Electric  Street  Railway  sys- 
tem in  the  United  States — viz.,  that  of  Jlont- 
gomery,  Ala. — is  a  native  of  Montreal,  Canada, 
and  was  born  in  April,  185"^.  After  a  thorough 
Ijreparatory  training  in  his  native  city,  graduating 
from  St.  Hyacinthe  College,  he  visited  Paris, 
France,  and  there  completeil  his  study  of  mining 
and  civil  engineering.  Returning  to  Canada  in 
1871,  he  followed  his  profession  until  1874.  In 
that  year  he  came  South,  where  his  eminent 
ability  as  civil  engineer  found  ready  recognition. 
In  the  practical  pursuit  of  his  profession  he  visited 
the  principal  cities  of  the  Gulf  and  South  Atlantic 
States,  and  in  188.3  located  at  Montgomery,  where, 
as  before  noted,  he  constructed  the  Electric  Street 
Railway  system  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Gaboury  came  to  Jacksonville  in  Septem- 
ber, 1887,  and  in  February,  1888,  associated  with 
others,  perfected  the  organization  of  the  .Tackson- 
sonville  Mining  and  Manufacturing  Company,  a 
gigantic  joint-stock  concern  with  »»500,OOU  capital. 

It  is  to  Mr.  Gaboury  that  the  people  of  this 
vicinity  are  indebted  for  the  discovery  near  here 
of  the  immense  beds  of  kaolin,  which  chemists 
and  porcelain  men  pronounce  equal  to  any  found 
in  the  world.  Under  his  direction  and  manage- 
ment this  kaolin  is  to  be  developed,  and  as  its 
virtue  ana  quantity  is  unquestioned.  Jacksonville 
may  be  looked  to  at  an  early  day  as  the  seat  of  one 
of  the  most  important  industries  of  the  South. 


Xll. 
ATALLA. 


This  enterprising  and  thriving  town  is  situated 
on  the  Ahxbama  Great  Southern  Kailroad,  and 
not  far  from  the  center  of  Etowah  County.  It  was 
founded  in  the  year  1870,  and  was  the  outgrowth 
of  the  railroads  that  were  being  constructed  about 
tliat  period.  Its  beginning  was  marked  by  the 
usual  cliaracteristics  of  new  towns  —  a  few  rude 
buildings  thrown  together  by  the  pioneer  carpen- 
ter, a  store,  a  blacksmith  shop,  dwelling,  tavern, 
etc.  A  part  of  the  plantation  of  W.  C.  Ham- 
mond, donated  by  him  for  the  purpose,  was 
selected  as  the  site  of  the  town.  Upon  the  con- 
struction of  the  railroad,  a  station  was  established 
here,  which  gave  impetus  to  the  growth  and 
develo])ment  of  the  place.  Subsequently  the 
town  was  incorporated,  and  new  additions  were 
made  to  accommodate  and  meet  the  wants  of  the 
population,  which  now  numbers  about  one  thou- 
sand souls,  and  is  rapidly  increasing. 

Some  of  the  oldest  families  settled  in  and  about 
the  country  now  known  as  Atalla  and  its  vicinity, 
and  many  of  them  and  their  descendants  yet 
dwell  here  and  occuj)}-  jirominent  positions  in  soci- 
ety and  in  the  professions.  The  chapters  on  Eto- 
wah County  and  the  city  of  Gadsden,  found  else- 
where in  this  volume  are  replete  with  historical 
and  biographical  matter  that  will  be  found  of  much 
interest  to  the  peojile  of  Atalla. 

The  word  Atalla  is  of  Indian  origin,  and  was 
used  by  the  Cherokees  to  express  the  two  words 
that  in  all  languages  seem  most  to  thrill  the  ten- 
derest  chords  of  the  heart:     "  My  Home." 

The  town  was  laid  out  with  a  good  deal  of  care, 
taste  and  judgment;  its  streets  and  avenues  hav- 
ing been  run  at  right  angles  with  each  other, 
greatly  facilitate  improvements  and  add  much  to 
the  symmetry  and  mechanical  or  artificial  beauty  of 
the  place. 

The  town  was  incorporated  as  a  city  in  1872. 
In  that  year  a  destructive  fire  swept  over  it  —  in 
fact,  very  nearly  the  whole  place  was  reduced  to 
ashes.     The   people,    undismayed,   went  to  work 


with  renewed  energy  to  replace  what  the  fire  had 
taken  away,  and  it  was  not  long  before  all  eviden- 
ces of  the  conflagration  had  disappeared. 

The  first  move  made  toward  the  establishment 
of  a  school  and  church  at  this  place  w-as  in  1872 
by  Judge  Henry  Pickens.  He  inirchased  ihe  site, 
and  gave  it  to  the  town  on  the  condition  that  it 
should  be  used  for  school  and  church  purposes 
only.  These  institutions,  churches  and  schools, 
have  since  become  prominent  among  the  attrac- 
tions of  the  city. 

The  first  newspaper  established  at  Atalla  was  by 
P.  J.  Smith,  during  the  days  of  Keconstruction. 
It  was  called  the  Republican-  Union.  Being  rad- 
ical in  politics  it  was  necessarily  short-lived. 
However,  it  prospered  for  a  time,  and  finally  went 
down  with  flag  at  full  mast.  After  the  Kejruhlican- 
Union  had  ceased  to  cast  its  effulgent  beams  ujjon 
the  unfortunate,  the  people  of  Atalla  were  mimis  an 
organ  wherewith  their  jiraises  might  be  sounded, 
until  1885.  That  year  saw  the  birth  of  the  Pick  afld 
Shovel.  The  name  at  least  was  the  embodiment 
of  industry.  But  whether  its  founders  were  un- 
used to  these  tools,  or  had  no  affiliation  with  the 
labor  they  sought  to  represent,  or  an  unsympa- 
thetic and  unappreciative  juiblic  met  its  smiling 
face  with  a  cold  and  stony  glare,  is  not  known. 
Certain  it  is,  however,  that  Pick  and  Shovel  did 
not  stimulate  the  authors  of  its  being  to  that  exer- 
tion necessary  to  perpetuate  its  existence,  and  it 
followed  the  fate  of  its  predecessor,  to  be  suc- 
ceeded in  due  time  by  the  Crescent. 

Atalla  was  prosperous  for  several  years,  and 
until  the  railroads  upon  which  it  depended  went 
into  bankruptcy.  After  that  it  had  a  precarious 
existence  for  almost  a  decade  of  years. 

The  resuscitation  of  the  railroads  subsequently, 
did  not  benefit  Atalla,  at  least  for  some  time,  for 
trafle  went  to  other  places  and  through  other 
channels;  and  some  of  its  most  prominent  busi- 
ness men  located  elsewhere,  thus  dejiriving  it  of  a 
very  important  auxilliary  to  its  jjrogress. 


500 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


501 


In  a  stagnant,  listless  condition  the  town  re- 
mained until  the  opening  of  tlie  iron  mines  in 
the  mountains  surrounding  it.  The  development 
of  this  new  industry,  with  all  of  its  various  ac- 
companiments, put  new  life  and  vigor  into  the 
place  and  started  it  on  a  safe  and  solid  road  to 
prosperity. 

Atalla  is  advantageously  and  picturesquely  lo- 
cated—  resting  whore  the  two  valleys  seem  to 
blend  together,  and  looking  up  to  the  beautiful 
ranges  of  mountains  towering  above.  Its  adja- 
cent lands  are  fertile,  capable  of  producing  liber- 
ally any  of  the  cereals,  vegetables  and  grasses 
familiar  to  Tennessee.  Added  to  this  is  a  climate 
that  for  sahibrity  and  liealthfulness,  is  unsurpassed 
by  Soutfiern  Italy.  All  these  things  considered, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  future  prosperity  of 
Atalla — and  of  all  Xorthcrn  Alabama  as  well. 

HENRY  W.  PICKENS,  Mayor  of  Atalla,  was 
born  near  lluntsville,  this  State,  April  1,  18'i4r. 
He  was  reared  on  a  farm,  received  a  liberal  educa- 
tion, and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  began  the 
study  of  law.  Not  finding  the  legal  profession 
suited  to  his  taste,  he  abandoned  it,  and  turned 
his  attention  to  school-teaching,  which  he  followed 
for  sixteen  successive  years.  About  lS5'-i  he 
lovated  at  Gadsden,  and  engaged  in  real  estate 
business.  In  1802  he  entered  the  army  as  third 
lieutenant  in  the  Thirty-first  Alabama,  and  in 
August  following  was  promoted  to  captain.  In 
November,  18<'i2,  on  account  of  ill-health,  lie  was 
detailed  to  the  supply  department  of  the  army. 
Prior  to  secession  he  was  a  strong  Union  man, 
and  advocated  that  doctrine  publicly  from  the 
stump,  and  with  much  force.  After  the  war  he 
engaged  in  farming,  and  in  1870  located  at  Atalla, 
where  he  gave  his  attention  principally  to  real 
estate  business.  In  ISTO  he  was  Superintendent 
of  Education  for  the  county  of  Etowali.  He  was 
married  October  7,  1845,  toiliss  Lucy  W.  Xowlin, 
of  Madison  (bounty.  To  this  union  thirteen  cliil- 
dren  iiave  been  born,  three  of  whom  died  young: 
William  K.,  Sarah  E.  (Mrs.  J.  C.  Nobles).  Susan 
(Mrs.  W.  T.  Wimpee),  Cornelia  (Mrs.  J.  B.  Rog- 
ers), Katie  (deceased),  David  W.,  t'laudie  "(de- 
ceased), Henry  W.,  George  B.  and  Jennie. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pickens  are  consistent  members 
of  the  Cumberland  I'resbvterian  Church. 


Joseph  and  Selina  (Brazelton)  Pickens,  were 
the  parents  of  Henry  W.,  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch.  .Joseph  was  born  in  Pickens  District,  S. 
C,  and,  liis  father  having  died,  he  came  with  his 
mother  and  four  sisters  to  Alabama  at  an  early 
day,  and  settled  near  Huntsville.  He  became  .a 
prominent  farmer  of  .Madison  County,  and  owned 
a  place  seven  miles  east  of  Huntsville,  where  for 
many  years  he  maintained  an  extensive  camp- 
meeting  ground.  He  was  a  prominent  member 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church.  He 
reared  a  family  of  eleven  children,  viz.:  Hypasia, 
wife  of  Uev.  W.  G.  Milligan;  Dr.  A.  V%.  Pickens, 
deceased;  Henry  W.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch; 
Catherine,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  Leonard 
Lamberson;  Elizabeth,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of 
Preston  Mills,  who  died  in  the  Confederate  Army; 
Jane,  deceased,  was  the  wife  of  John  H.  Iladen, 
and  was  the  mother  of  Charles  J.  Haden,  known 
to  the  newspaper  world  by  the  name  "  C.  Aytch"; 
Margaret,  now  w-ife  of  Mr.  Trice,  of  Ocolona, 
Miss.;  Joseph  William;  James  C.:JohnM;  and 
Lydia,  deceased:  she  was  the  wife  of  Mr.  Barnett. 
The  old  gentleman  died  in  1870.  His  widow  still 
survives  liini  at  the  age  of  about  eighty-six  years. 
His  father  was  Andrew  Pickens,  a  native  of  South 
Carolina.  The  family  came  originally  from  Ire- 
land, and  all  the  Pickenses  in  this  country  sprung 
from  the  satne  stock.  The  history  of  the  I'ickens 
family  is  identified  prominently  with  tiuit  of  South 
Carolina. 

WILLIAM  P.  SHAHAN  was  born  near  Atalla 
October  :},  1S4."),  and  is  :t  sou  of  John  and  Editha 
(Chandler)  Shahan.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm 
and  educated  at  the  common  schools  and  at  At- 
lanta College.  When  a  young  man  he  taught 
school  some  five  or  six  years,  and  at  the  age  of  2.") 
turned  mill-wriglit.  In  1878  he  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  in  the  country  seven  miles  west 
of  Atalla,  in  partnership  with  J.  Shahan,  now  a 
wholesale  grocer  at  Birmingham;  in  1881.  associa- 
ted with  M.  L.  Foster,  he  engaged  in  business  at 
Gadsden,  and  was  there  for  two  years.  In  April, 
188(i,  he  started  in  business  at  Atalla. 

Mr.  Shahan  began  life  when  a  young  man  with- 
out money,  but  at  this  time  he  is  rated  all  the  waj' 
from  ^."in.OOO  to  *!75,0(iO,  and  is  recognized  as  one 
of  the  most  successful  business  men  in  Northeast- 
ern Alabannv.     He  was  married  February  28, 1S7G, 


502 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


to  Miss  Minnie  Ewing,  of  Gadsden,  and  the  five 
children  born  to  this  union  are  named,  respectively: 
Willie,  Whitley,  Arthur,  Flora  and  Charley. 

John  Shahan  moved  from  Georgia  to  Alabama 
in  1836,  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  at  Chandler, 
this  State  He  reared  a  family  of  four  sons  and 
five  dauorhters.     lie  died  in  185G. 


-«•- 


DANIEL  T.  HAMNER  was  born  in  Marion 
County,  Ga.,  June  3,  1S38,  and  is  a  son  of  Wesley 
and  Mary  M.  (James)  Hamner,  natives,  respect- 
ively, of  the  States  of  Georgia  and  North  Carolina. 
In  his  early  life  he  attended  the  common  schools, 
and  afterward  an  accademy  in  Bullock's  County, 
this  State. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  years  he  was  licensed  to 
preach  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 
He  afterward  taught  school  a  few  years  in  ad- 
dition to  preaching,  as  opportunity  afforded.  He 
entered  the  Alabama  Conference  in  1802,  and  was 
ordained  elder.  At  the  end  of  three  years  his 
health  having  failed,  he  returned  to  farming,  and 
later  on  to  teaching.  In  1800  he  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  at  Echo,  Dale  County,  Ala.,  and 
in  1877  he  moved  to  Wynnville,  where  he  remained 
until  January,  1880,  at  which  time  he  came  to 
Atalla.  Here  he  engaged  in  mercantile  business 
in  addition  to  looking  after  his  farming  interests 
in  Blount  County.  He  was  married  in  February, 
1861,  to  Miss  D.  M.  Miller.  One  of  his  sons, 
George  W.,  is  clerk  in  the  United  States  Treas- 
ury Department;  another  son,  Charles  AV.,  is  at 
school;  Edward  D.  is  in  the  United  States  Pension 
Office.  The  others  are  Homer  H.,  a  student; 
John  M.,  Ida  E.  and  Lois.  The  eldest  three  are 
all  college  graduates,  and  the  others  are  in  school. 

Wesley  Hamner  was  born  in  1812,  in  Putnam 
County,  Ga.,  and  moved  into  Marion  County  when 
t'young  man;  being  a  cripple — from  accident — he 
learned  the  shoe-making  trade,  which  he  followed 
F  a  good  many  years.  He  was  an  independent 
*•  soldier  in  the  War  of  1836;  came  to  Alabama  in 
1843,  and  returned  to  Georgia  in  1847.  In  1856 
he  returned  to  Alabama  and  located  in  Pike 
County.  After  the  war  he  moved  into  Butler 
County,  where  he  died  in  1886.  He  was  an  earn- 
est Christian  gentleman,  and  much  devoted  to  his 
family.  He  reared  two  sons  and  seven  daughters: 
Sarah  J.,  wife  of  N.  Cowart,  of  Georgia;  Daniel 
"T.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch;  Martha,  wife  of 


Benjamin  Hudson;  Mary  E.,  wife  of  Augustus 
Parker;  Julia  S.,  wife  of  R.  H.  J.  Hilldreth; 
Frances  (deceased)  was  the  wife  of  William 
McKinney  and  the  mother  of  five  children,  all  of 
whom  were  drowned  in  attempting  to  cross  a 
stream  of  water  in  1876;  Ellen,  wife  of  N.  D. 
Hathorn;  Susan  W.,  wife  of  Sidney  Williams; 
John  W.T.,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. 


JAMES  HARDEN  WOOD,  M.  D..  was  born  in 
ilacon  County,  Ga.,  March  30,  1857,  and  is  a  son 
of  William  II.  and  Susan  (Harden)  Wood,  natives 
of  Monroe  County,  Ga.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm 
and  received  his  primary  education  at  the  North 
Georgia  Agricultural  College.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years  he  began  the  study  of  medicine 
at  home,  and  in  the  spring  of  1882  was  graduated 
from  Vanderbilt  University.  Immediately  after 
leaving  the  university  he  located  at  Atalla,  where 
he  entered  at  once  upon  a  most  flattering  practice. 
He  was  married,  March  22,  1883,  to  Miss  Ida 
Lester,  daughter  of  Dr.  J.  H.  and  Elizabeth 
(Cox)  Lester,  of  Atalla. 

Dr.  Lester,  a  surgeon  in  the  late  war,  was  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  Atalla, 

William  H.  Wood,  the  father  of  Dr.  James  H. 
Wood,  was  born  in  1828,  and  his  wife  in  1831. 
He  was  a  substantial  planter,  and  owned  abont 
seventy-five  slaves.  He  tendered  his  services  to 
the  United  States  in  the  War  with  Mexico,  but  it 
ajipears  they  were  not  particularly  needed. 

He  moved  into  Alabama  in  1870,  and  lo- 
cated in  DeKalb  County,  where  he  died  in  De- 
cember, 1886.  He  reared  eleven  children,  as  fol-. , 
lows:  Dr.  .James  H.,  Leola  (wife  of  Lemuel  M. 
Small),  Su.san  (wife  of  James  M.  Tidmore),  Tom- 
mie,  AVilliam  H.,  Hattie  (wife  of  John  Monroe), 
Ernest,  Lena,  Beulah,  Pearl,  and  Claud. 

Allen  AVood  was  the  father  of  AA'illiam  H.  He 
was  a  native  of  Monroe  County,  Ga.,  and  was  a 
soldier  under  General  Jackson  in  the  war  of  1812. 
He  reared  six  sons  and  five  daughters,  all  of  whom 
grew  to  be  men  and  women,  and  the  sons  were  all 
Confederate  soldiers  during  the  late  war.  Two 
of  them,  Henry  and  Cleveland,  were  killed  in 
A^irginia,  and  the  other  at  Chickamauga.  AVill- 
iam H.  was  a  member  of  the  Twenty-ninth 
Georgia  Regiment  during  the  late  war,  and  held 
the  rank  of  lieutenant. 


XORTIIERN  ALABAMA. 


503 


The  Wood  family  came  originally  from  England, 
and  settled  in  South  Carolina.  Fernando  Wood, 
of  New  York,  was  of  the  same  stock.  The 
Harden  family  were  numerous  in  Georgia.  Dr. 
Wood's  maternal  grandfather,  .Tames  Harden, 
owned  aliout  ;5(i<<  slaves  ]irior  to  l.sdl. 

DR.  DUFF  CHILD,  prominent  citizen  and  a 
retired  Physician  and  Surgeon,  of  Atalla,  was  born 
in  Pickens  County,  this  State,  November  7,  1833, 
and  is  the  son  of  George  G.  and  Lucinda  0.  (Mit- 
chell) Cliild,  natives  respectively  of  Connecticut 
and  South  Carolina.  Ilis  primary  education  was 
acquired  at  a  common  school,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  entered  the  Military  Institute  of  Ken- 
tucky, where  he  remained  one  year.  In  18.i.i  he 
began  the  study  of  medicine  in  Jlobile.  Gradua- 
ting from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  Phila- 
delphia, in  18.iT,  he  returned  to  Mobile,  to  which 
])lace  his  parents  had  moved  when  he  was  seven 
years  of  age,  and  was  there  in  the  practiceof  medi- 
cine at  the  time  the  civil  war  broke  out.  Early 
in  Aj^ril,  18'il,  he  joined  the  Third  Alabama 
Regiment  as  a  private  in  Company  K.  lie  was 
soon  afterward  made  junior  second  lieutenant, 
and  again,  subsequently,  appointed  assistant- 
surgeon,  and  transferred  to  the  Army  of  the  Ten- 
nessee. From  assistant-surgeon  he  was  in  diie 
time  promoted  to  the  rank  of  full  surgeon,  and 
was  in  the  Army  of  Tennessee  to  the  close  of 
the  war.  As  army  surgeon  he  was  noted  for  his 
impartiality  in  the  treatment  of  the  sick  and 
wounded.  It  mattered  not  to  him  to  which  army 
a  man  belonged  when  once  he  was  assured  that  he 
was  in  need  of  medical  treatment.  After  tlie  war 
he  spent  some  years  in  practice  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  including  Louisville,  Nashville, 
and  some  of  the  western  cities.  He  gave  up  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  1875,  and  retired  to  a 
farm  near  Hirmingham,  where  he  remained  until 
188"),  when  he  moved  to  Atalla,  where  he  now 
resides. 

JAMES  S.  STEWART  was  born  at  Falcon, 
Ark..  .May  'l'.\,  ls."i."),  and  is  a  son  of  0.  W.  and 
Mary  A.  (Pope)  Stewart,  natives  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  Alabama,  respectively.     He  received  an 


academic  education,  and  after  his  father's  death, 
spent  three  years  at  farming.  He  afterward  en- 
gaged in  the  drug  business  at  Gadsden  and  fol- 
lowed it  two  years.  In  August,  187<),  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Lula  Coker,  of  Cherokee  County,  Ala., 
and  has  had  born  to  him  two  children:  Vivian 
and  Estella. 

Some  time  after  his  marriage,  Mr.  Stewart 
moved  to  Atalla,  where  he  has  since  been  engaged 
in  business.  He  is  largely  interested  in  mining 
and  shipping  iron  ore,  and  is  a  stockholder  in 
the  Gadsden  Furnace  Company.  He  began  life 
with  little  money,  but  l)y  jjcrsistent  industry  and 
skillful  management,  he  has  succeeded  in  the 
acquisition  of  a  reasonable  competency. 

The  senior  Mr.  Stewart,  moved  from  Winches- 
ter, Tenn.,  in  1852,  to  Falcon,  Ark.,  and  was 
there  some  time  oigaged  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness. After  his  marriage  he  returned  to  Winches- 
ter, and  was  there  merchandising  some  time. 
Having  taken  up  the  study  of  medicine,  he  en- 
tered Transylvania  Medical  College,  Lexington, 
Ky.,  and  was  graduated  in  1858.  He  entered  the 
army  in  18(il,  and  was  appointed  resident  surgeon 
at  Cooper  Iron  Works,  near  Cartersville,  Ga.  He 
was  there  when  the  army  fell  back  to  Dalton, 
when  he  was  transferred  to  Montgomery,  where 
he  remained  until  nearly  the  close  of  the  war. 
After  the  war  he  embarked  in  mercantile  business 
at  Auburn,  Ala.,  and  in  1870  sold  out  and  moved 
to  Gadsden.  Here  he  devoted  himself  to  farming 
and  the  practice  of  medicine. 

Dr.,  Stewart  was  one  of  the  most  successfnl 
practitioners  in  this  part  of  the  country.  In  1873 
he  went  to  Memphis,  where  he  some  time  after- 
ward died  with  yellow  fever.  He  left  a  family  of 
seven  children,  namely  :  Ale.xander  11. ,  a  farmer; 
James  S.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch;  John  P.,  a 
physician  at  Atalla;  flattie  B.  wife  of  A.  J. 
Coats;  Benjamin  L.,  a  merchant;  Willie  May, 
wife  of  1).  H.  Coats;  and   Edwai^d  K. 

ROBERT  HUSTON  DUNCAN  was  born  at 
Kingston,  Tenn.,  October  I'.i,  1853,  and  is  a  son 
of  Robert  and  Nancy  K   (Liggett)  Duncan. 

Mr.  Duncan  spent  the  first  thirteen  years  of 
his  life  at  his  native  place,  and  came  with  his 
parents  to  DeKalb  County  in  1866.  From  there 
the  family  moved  to  Dade  County,  Ga.,  whence 


504 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


they  returned  to  Alabama  ten  years  later  and  lo- 
cated at  Fort  Payne.  In  1870  young  Duncan  was 
emjjloyed  as  a  clerk  in  a  mercantile  establishment, 
and  later  on  he  was  with  the  Roane  Iron  Com- 
pany, at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.  He  next  returned 
to  Fort  Payne,  and  was  engaged  in  the  book  busi- 
ness, which  he  pursued  for  some  years,  and  which 
he  continued  afterward  at  Gadsden.  He  located 
at  Gadsden  in  1874,  and  was  afterward  on  the 
road  as  a  drummer  for  an  Atlanta  copying  house. 

His  father  having  died  in  1885  he  took  charge 
of  his  business,  which  required  his  attention  there- 
after for  some  time.  He  was  married  December  7, 
1885,  to  Miss  Anna  Vincent,  of  Etowah  County. 

Mr.  Duncan  comes  from  one  of  the  old  and 
respected  families  of  the  South.  As  a  citizen  and 
a  business  man  he  has  always  held  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  the  ])eople. 


M.  K.  CLEMENTS  was  born  on  the  ISth  of 
March,  1856,  in  Talledaga  County,  Ala.  His 
ancestors  came  from  Europe  and  settled  in  Virginia 
about  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  His 
great-grandfather,  James  Clements,  moved  from 
Virginia  to  Georgia  just  before  the  Revolutionary 
War.  There  a  son,  William,  was  born,  and  about 
the  close  of  the  last  century  the  family  moved  to 
Alabama  and  settled  in  Randolph  County.  Here 
William  married  Miss  Winnie  Hortou,  and 
on  the  10th  day  of  April.  1820,  Benjamin  N.  was 
born;  he  married  Miss  Tempa  Forrel.  To  this 
couple,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born.  Ben- 
jamin N.  Clements  is  a  farmer,  and  M.  K.  Clements 
was  reared  on  the  farm  amid  the  romantic  scenery 
of  the  Hillobee  part  of  Talladega  County.  He 
taught  school  in  1873-3,  and  in  the  fall  of 
the  latter  year  entered  the  A.  and  M.  College  at 
Auburn,  where  he  was  graduated  with  distinc- 
tion in  1876.  Soon  after  leaving  college  he  married 
Miss  Sophia  Thomas.  He  taught  school  in  Clay 
County  in  1877,  in  Tallapoosa  County  in  1878, 
and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  joined  the  North 
Alabama  Conference  and  was  appointed  to  the  Val- 
ley Head  Circuit  in  Wills  Valley,  DeKalb  County, 
Ala.,  which  he  traveled  until  the  session  of  the 
Conference  in  1879,  when  he  was  appointed  prin- 
cipal of  the  Guntersville  District  High  School, 
located  at  CoUinsville.  He  continued  in  charge 
of    this   school  for    seven   years,    and   succeeded 


in   building  up   one  of    the  best  institutions   of 
learning  in  that  part  of  the  State. 

In  the  fall  of  1886  he  moved  to  Atalla,  and 
established  the  Atalla  High  School,  which  is  one 
of  the  best  of  the  kind  in  North  Alabama.  He 
has  three  children:  Edna,  Earl,  Victor  Hugo  and 
Merit  DeWitt. 

EDWARD  W.  COX  is  a  native  of  this  county 
and  was  born  December  13,  1841.  He  was  reared 
on  a  farm  and  educated  at  the  common  schools.  He 
entered  the  army  in  the  spring  of  1861,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Thirty-first  Alabama  and  served  a  short 
time,  when  he  was  discharged  on  account  of  ill 
health.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  joined  Cap- 
tain Webb's  Battalion,  and  served  with  it  through 
the  war.  In  the  Thirty-first  Regiment  he  held  the 
rank  of  first  lieutenant;  in  the  Twelfth  Battalion  he 
was  tendered  a  captaincy,  but  declined  it.  He  took 
part  in  the  battles  of  Murfreesboro,  Chickamauga, 
the  Dalton  Campaign,  and  in  all  the  engagements 
from  Chatanooga  to  Atlanta.  After  the  war  he 
returned  home  and  engaged  at  farming,  to  which 
he  has  since  given  much  of  his  attention.  He  was 
in  mercantile  business  from  1881  to  1887,  and  for 
the  past  year  has  been  milling.  He  was  married 
February  1,  1865,  to  Jliss  Elizabeth  Hughes,  and 
has  had  born  to  him  three  children:  Miles  E.,  Oscar 
and  Lester.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cox  are  members  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

Thomas  J.  and  Elizabeth  Cox,  parents  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  were  natives  of  Tennessee 
and  Alabama  respectively,  the  former  being  born 
in  181-2  and  the  latter  in  1818.  The  family,  when 
Thomas  J.  was  but  five  years  of  age,  settled  at  Gun- 
tersville, this  State,  and  the  senior  Mr.  Cox,  was 
there  in  the  hotel  business  for  some  years.  He  con- 
structed the  first  turnpike  that  crossed  Sand  ^loun- 
tain. 

Thomas  J.  Cox  lived  at  Fisher's  Gap  a  great 
many  years,  and  there  died  in  the  summer  of  1880. 
Elizabeth  (Boyd)  Cox,  his  wife,  died  in  1850. 
His  second  wife  was  a  Miss  Walker.  By  his  first 
wife  he  reared  four  sons  and  one  daughter;  by  his 
second,  five  sons  and  two  daughters. 

Mr.  Cox  was  an  extensive  planter  and  slave- 
holder, and  a  citizen  of  considerable  influence  in 
the  community  where  he  resided.  His  widow  yet 
survives  him. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


505 


JOHN  B.  MORAGNE  was  born  at  Gadsden, 
this  State,  October  "•.".i,  \^'A\  received  a  ooinmon- 
school  education,  and,  since  18iS'.?,  has  been  in 
mercantile  business.  His  grandfather,  John 
^[oraofne,  a  silver-sniitli  by  occiqiation,  came  from 
France,  settled  in  Soutii  Carolina,  where  he  be- 
came a  wealthy  planter,  and  in  IS.'Jo,  moved  to 
Alabama. 

John  .S.  and  Sarah  (Kevel)  .Moragne,  parents  of 
John  B.,  were  natives  of  Abbeville  District,  S. 
C.  Mr,  Moragne  came  with  his  father  and  set- 
tled in  Cherokee  County,  this  State,  in  1830.  lie 
was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  and  much  interested 
in  the  mineral  deposits  of  his  part  of  the  country. 
He  sunk,  probably,  the  first  shaft  in  search  of 
minerals  that  was  put  down  in  Northeastern 
Alabama.  In  18-J9  he  purchased  a  large  tract  of 
mineral  lands  near  Atalla,  and  in  IbTl  shipped 
to  Wheeling,  Va,,  the  first  ore  leaving  this  State. 
He  subsequently  leased  the  mines,  from  which 
the  family  have  since  received  a  handsome  royalty. 
He  died  in  .March,  188-^,  leaving  a  family  of  six 
sons  and  three  daughters. 

■  •    ■'>  •^g^"»— 

THOMAS  A.  WATKINS  was  born  in  Calhoun 
County,  this  State,   Dijcember  25,   185(3,  and  is  a 


son  of  James  P,  and  Mary  (Walker)  Watkins,  He 
was  reared  on  a  farm  and  educated  at  Cal- 
houn College,  (ieorgia,  and  at  Jacksonville,  this 
State. 

In  early  life  he  moved  to  Te.xas,but  soon  afterward 
returned  and  engaged  in  business  at  Jacksonville, 
from  which  place  he  came  to  Etowah  County. 
Here  he  engaged  some  years  in  farming,  and  for 
the  last  four  years  has  given  his  attention  princi- 
pally to  real  estate. 

He  has  bought  and  sold  over  100,000  acres 
of  mineral  land  since  engaging  in  the  busi- 
ness, and  now  owns  several  fine  farms  in 
this  part  of  the  country.  In  1888  he  established 
the  Atalla  Herald,  a  sprightly  newspajjcr  of 
much  local  popularity.  Mr.  Watkins  is  public 
spirited,  and  one  of  the  progressive  men  of  the 
county. 

He  was  married  in  October,  1879,  to  Mrs.  Lizzie 
E.  Coleman,  the  daughter  of  Rev.  Enoch  Ellis,  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Coleman 
was  a  native  of  Soutli  Carolina,  moving  thence 
into  Georgia  before  the  war,  and  later  on  into 
Alabama. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Watkins  are  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  Mr. 
Watkins  is  a  Mason. 


Xlll. 
TUSCALOOSA. 


By  W.   C.  Richardson,  Ph.   D. 


Black  Warrior  Town. — On  the  IStli  day  of 
October,  a.d.  1540,  Hernando  de  Soto,  a  distin- 
guised  Spanish  cavalier,  whose  name  is  associated 
with  perhaps  the  most  romantic  expedition 
recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  Western  Continent, 
fought,  as  Spanish  chronicles  relate,  the  battle  of 
Manvilla  with  the  natives,  headed  by  their  re- 
nowned Chief  Tuscaloosa.  This  ajjpellation  gave 
name  directly  to  the  river,  and  remotely  to  the 
Creek  Settlement — Black  AVarrior  Town,  which 
ultimately  developed  into  the  town  of  Tuscaloosa. 
The  Indian  Village  at  that  time  occupied  a  site  on 
the  banks  of  the  Warrior  just  below  what  is  now 
known  as  Newtown. 

A  strip  of  land  several  miles  in  width,  skirting 
both  sides  of  the  river,  and  extending  from  the 
falls  of  the  Warrior  to  its  junction  with  the  Big- 
bee,  had  been  left  by  mutual  consent  as  neutral, 
or  at  least  as  disputed  ground  between  the  Creeks 
and  Choctaws. 

When  trading  posts  were  established  by  the 
Government  at  Washington,  throughout  Missis- 
sippi Territory,  which  included  the  present  domain 
of  Alabama,  at  which  goods  were  to  be  furnished 
to  the  Indians  "atcost  for  their  furs  and  peltries," 
a  Creek  Chief,  by  name  Ocechemotla,  obtained 
consent  of  the  Choctaws  (in  1809)  to  locate  a 
settlement  known  as  Black  Warrior  Town  at  the 
falls  of  the  Warrior,  to  be  held  as  a  general  ren- 
dezvous for  the  hunters  and  traders  of  his  tribe. 

When  the  Shawnee  Chief,  Tecumseh,  was  re- 
turning from  "the  Alabama  towns"  to  his  lodge 
on  the  banks  of  the  Wabash,  after  his  famous  ex- 
pedition in  1812,  undertaken  with  a  view  to  enlist 
the  Southern  Indians  in  a  general  uprising  against 
"  the  pale  faces,"  he  passed  through  the  settle- 
ment, which  had  already  grown  to  be  a  consider- 
able village. 


In  the  fall  of  1812,  a  party  of  jMuscogees,  re- 
turning from  a  foray  through  Tennessee,  after 
brutally  murdering  two  of  her  children,  bore  off 
into  captivity  a  white  woman,  by  the  name  of  Mrs. 
Crawley.  She  was  brought  to  the  ''Falls  of  the 
Warrior,"  and  there  inhumanly  treated.  Finally, 
after  great  suffering,  she  was  ransomed  by  the 
noble  efforts  of  a  trader  and  interpreter  at  St. 
Stephens,  known  as  Tandy  Walker,  and  restored 
to  her  home — an  act  which  was  publicly  recog- 
nized and  rewarded  by  the  Legislature  of  Ten- 
nessee. Mrs.  Crawley  was  thus,  much  against  her 
will  probably,  the  first  white  inhabitant  of  this 
locality. 

Soon  after  the  occurrence  narrated  above,  the 
Black  Warriors  trading  at  the  St.  Stejjhens  fac- 
tory, while  under  the  influence  of  "fire-water," 
betrayed  their  jjurpose  of  siding  with  the  British 
in  the  war  then  impending — a  design  which,  in  the 
near  future,  provoked  the  battle  of  Burnt  Corn, 
and  led  to  the  massacre  at  Fort  Mims.  Only  the 
promptitude  of  the  superintendent,  George  S. 
Gaines,  who  sent  a  runner  to  (Jovernor  Blount,  of 
Tennessee,  and  secured  the  aid  of  General  Jack- 
son's mounted  volunteers,  enabled  the  whites  to 
cripple  the  plans  of  the  Creeks,  and  save  the 
other  defenceless  white  settlements  from  exter- 
mination. 

In  the  sanguinary  events  that  followed,  the 
treachery  of  the  inhabitants  of  Warrior  Town 
was  not  overlooked.  Enticed  from  the  shelter  of 
their  stronghold,  known  as  Seminole  Fort,  by  a 
feint  of  their  wily  foe,  the  garrison  was  captured 
and  the  settlement  destroyed.  The  savage  occu- 
pants were  killed,  except  a  few  who  sought  refuge 
in  the  swamps  below  the  town. 

Davy  Crockett,  who  was  in  General  Coffee's 
Tennessee  command,  states  in  his  autobiograjihy. 


506 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


507 


that  when  they  reached  the  "Falls  of  the  War- 
rior," the  Indian  town,  which  was  "  a  large  one," 
had  been  abandoned,  and  that  the  soldiers  after  pos- 
sessing themselves  of  the  "corn  and  dried  beans" 
which  the)'  found  in  ((uantities  in  the  cribs  and 
adjacent  fields,  reduced  the  town  to  ashes.  In 
1818,  Crockett  again  visited  the  spot,  hut  found  it 
only  a  place  of  skulls  and  desolation. 

Isaac  Cannon,  who  moved  to  Alabama  in  181.'), 
informed  Captain  McEaeliin,  from  whose  frag- 
mentary "History  of  Tuscaloosa,"  this  incident  is 
derived,  that  he  a!id  John  AVilson  came  to  War- 
rior Town  in  18IG,  and  selected  an  Indian  old 
field,  near  Seminole  Fort  as  a  place  of  settlement. 
The  fort  at  that  time  was  in  ruins,  and  Mr.  Can- 
non counted  "  more  tlian  twenty  human  skeletons, 
supjtosed  to  be  of  Indians,  bleaching  in  a  place 
hard  by."  He  stated  that  a  large  mound  or  cir- 
cular fortification  occupied  the  site  of  the  park, 
now  in  front  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Female  College, 
and  that  all  along  the  bluff  below  were  "the 
charred  remains  of  Indian  huts,  indicating  the 
recent  destruction  of  an  Indian  town  by  fire." 

Who  built  Seminole  Fort?  Who  reared  the  for- 
tification at  Hill's  Park?  I>id  C'ol.  John  McKee, 
as  held  by  Meek  and  others,  with  a  band  of  Chick- 
asaws,  aided  by  Pushmataka,  and  his  friendly 
Choctaws,  destroy  Hlack  Warrior  Town,  or  did 
Major  Hinds,  with  his  Mississippi  dragoons,  as 
conjectured  by  McEachin,  perform  the  redoubta- 
ble deed?  All  we  know  is  the  town  was  sacked, 
its  inhabitants  killed  or  driven  off,  and  that  it  was 
subse(|uently  laid  in  ashes  by  Coffee's  men.  A 
few  years  ago,  on  its  site  traces  of  the  old  stone 
corn-mills  and  arrow-heads  were  still  to  be  found. 
It  now  sleeps,  however,  unciuestioned  and  un- 
trodden. The  spot  where  Tuscaloosa  stands  was, 
at  that  period,  surrounded  by  a  dense  and  impene- 
trable forest.  Immense  cane-brakes  lined  the 
banks  of  the  Warrior,  and  even  invaded  the  up- 
lands. Game,  including  bear  and  panther,  was 
everywhere  abundant. 

The  early  inhabitants  of  this  immediate  section 
were  principally  inhabitants  of  the  upper  districts 
of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  who  had  at  first 
immigrated  to  the  fabled  Kdens  of  the  Tennessee 
Valley,  and  afterward  allured  by  the  glowing  ac- 
counts of  Coffee's  returning  soldiers,  sought  an  El- 
dorado in  Jones'  Valley,  along  the  trails  and  mil- 
itary roiuls  opened  by  Jackson  and  Coffee  in  their 
descent  upon  the  Alabama  towns. 

As  a  wild  beast  steals  from  its  lair,  so  emerged 


Tuscaloosa  from  the  surrounding  wilderness. 
Timid  and  shrinking,  she  did  not  come  forth  at 
one  fiery  bound.  Her  posture  was  drooped  and 
crouching,  her  pace  was  slow  and  stealthy.  She 
waited  for  the  burial  of  the  tomahawk,  for  the 
husliingof  the  ringing  war-wh()0]i.  She  stayed  for 
the  fires  of  Seminole  Fort  to  die  out,  for  the  bones  of 
tiie  painted  denizens  of  old  Warrior  Town  to  bleach 
beside  its  charred  and  blackened  ruins,  and  then 
gently  parting  the  rank  growth  of  cane  that  cov- 
ered the  spot,  she  stealthily  crept  forth. 

Her  growth  was  at  first  slow  and  tedious.  Im- 
penetnvble  forests  hedged  in  her  ste])S.  Pathless 
solitudes  and  trackless  defiles  everywhere  bounded 
her  view.  From  Jones'  Valley  to  the  Falls  of  the 
Warrior,  the  cry  of  the  panther  alone  broke  the 
awful  stillness.  The  Mudtown  trail  and  the  St. 
Stephens  Iload  alike  led  through  a  howling  wilder- 
ness. 1  he  rude  settler  had  exj)elled  the  savage, 
but  the  famishing  "wolf"  was  at  his  "door." 
Constructing  a  hut  of  pine  saplings  with  a  clap- 
board roof  which,  in  some  sort,  shielded  him  from 
the  asperity  of  the  weather,  the  deadly  struggle 
for  food  began.  Game  was  abundant,  but  bread 
had  to  be  wrung  from  the  "  unwilling  glebe." 
Often  planted  with  the  a.xe,  nest  to  the  rifie  the 
frontiersman's  chief  possession,  the  tardy  harvest 
was  welcomed  with  general  rejoicing.  Through 
toil,  through  suffering,  through  drouth,  through 
famine,  the  infant  city  grew.  Xo  savage  longer 
threatened  its  rising  towers,  but  through  many 
a  vicissitude,  it  very  slowly,  very  painfully 
advanced.  It  is  narrated  that  pioneers  venturing 
into  the  wilderness  west  of  Tuscaloosa  were  com- 
pelled to  pack  their  corn  on  horses  from  east  of 
the  Warrior. 

The  i)opulation  of  that  period  was  very 
rude.  It  was,  in  })art.  made  up  of  adventurers 
and  land-sharks  whom  the  recent  wars  had  de- 
moralized or  rendered  desperate — men  who  chafed 
under  civil  yokes,  and  who  flocked  to  these  inhos- 
pitable wilds  because  they  were  fiavored  with  peril. 
They  came  and  squatted  upon  the  reserved  section 
at  the  Falls  of  the  Warrior,  till  they  were  dis- 
lodged by  the  land  sales  in  1821.  The  lands  then 
passed  into  the  hands  of  bona-fule  settlers,  men  of 
a  better  type,  who  in  time  built  homes  that  wore 
the  air  of  comfort  if  not  of  refinement. 

As  stated,  the  present  site  of  Tuscaloosa,  being 
at  the  Falls  of  the  Warrior,  or  head  of  navigation, 
had  been  reserved  from  entry  and  sale  by  the  Gen- 
eral Government.     The  fine  expanse  west  of  the 


508 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


city  had  been  included  in  a  grant  to  the  Hartford 
Deal  and  Dumb  Asylum.  Seeing  its  advanta- 
geous location,  a  company  composed  of  ^[arr, 
Perkins,  Lewin,  and  others,  purchased  it.  They 
knew  it  would  one  day  be  a  city,  or  at  any  rate  a 
valuable  suburb,  whenever  the  United  States 
should  throw  open  to  buyers  the  reserved  section. 
They  proceeded  to  lay  off  the  village  of  Newtown, 
selling  alternate  lots  to  purchasers,  burdened  with 
the  condition  that  they  should  build  upon  them 
in  a  specified  time.  As  our  people  had  but  just 
whipped  the  British  and  expelled  the  Indians,  they 
were  in  no  mood  to  listen  to  conditions,  so  they 
petitioned  the  General  Government  to  lay  off  the 
present  site  of  Tuscaloosa  in  lots  and  sell  them 
without  reserve.  Much  against  the  interests  of 
the  Newtownites,  this  was  done  by  the  Govern- 
mental Surveyor,  Coffee,  in  1821. 

Uence  arose  a  jealous  rivalry  between  the  two 
factions,  that  was  protracted  for  many  years. 

Newtown  had  a  court-house,  a  jail,  and  a  ferry. 
It  had  a  hotel,  a  steam  mill,  a  cigar  factory,  a 
market-house  and  numerous  stores,  offices  and 
dwellings.  As  population,  however,  like  every- 
thing else  movable,  takes  the  Hue  of  least  resist- 
ance, it  naturally  distributed  away  from  monop- 
oly and  restriction.  It  spread  along  the  bluU 
between  the  present  Broad  and  Spring  streets, 
where  they  could  overlook,  beyond  the  Warrior, 
the  expanse  later  known  as  "New  Kentuck,"  and 
where  it  could  draw  its  supplies  of  water  from  the 
bold  and  sparkling  springs  that  gurgled  in  the 
grassy  coves  below. 

In  time  Newtown  began  to  pale  its  "ineffectual 
fires  "before  the  rising  sun  of  Tuscaloosa.  Her 
abandoned  tenements  were  either  torn  down  or 
wheeled  into  the  rival  village,  until  finally,  in 
1827,  she  was  deprived,  by  the  popular  vote,  of  the 
court-house  and  jail,  so  that,  to  use  the  expressive 
language  af  another,  "when  Newtown  was  visited 
by  the  tornado,  in  184-2,  it  found  little  to  de- 
stroy." 

On  the  establishment  of  peace  in  181.5,  among 
those  who  repaired  to  the  land  of  promise' were 
Patrick  Scott,  Jonathan  York,  John  Barton,  Jo- 
siah  Tilley  and  William  Wilson.  It  is  stated  that 
this  last  worthy  built  the  first  log-hut  near  where 
the  old  State  capitol  now  stands,  and  that  Jona- 
than York  erected  the  first  board  shanty  in  the 
county  of  Tuscaloosa.  An  old  log  tavern  arose 
on  the  south  side  of  what  is  now  Mr.  Ed.  Snow's 
lot.     In  time  this  was  demolished,  and  what  was 


afterward  known  as  the  "  Yellow  Tavern,"  a 
weather-boarded  structure,  was  built  by  Colonel 
Holbert  on  the  southeast  corner  of  the  same  lot, 
and  facing  the  present  Bai^tist  Church.  The  first 
frame  residence  of  consequence  was  erected  by 
William  R.  Colgin,  on  Pine  street  near  the  "  Big 
Gully."  This  was  occupied  for  many  years  by 
Constantine  Perkins.  The  second  was  the  Chil- 
dress place,  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Dr.  John 
B.  Read.  The  first  brick  residence  in  Tuscaloosa 
was  built  by  Dr.  James  Guild.  It  is  still  a  part 
of  the  "old  Guild  place,"  on  Broad  street,  and 
occupied  by  Dr.  Pearson. 

John  Barton  was  a  blacksmith,  and  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Jonathan  York,  both  having  married 
daughters  of  Patrick  Scott.  Josiah  Tilly  also  re- 
sided in  Tuscaloosa,  and  married  a  daughter  of 
Patrick  Scott.  John  G.  Ring,  a  Kentuckian, 
was  also  joined  in  wedlock  to  one  of  the  irresist- 
ible daughters  of  Patrick  Scott,  who  seems  to 
have  been  expressly  raised  up  by  providence  to 
furnish  helpmates  to  the  early  settlers  of  our  ris- 
ing city.  .  lie  should  be  canonized  as  the  Patron 
Saint  of  Tuscaloosa. 

Hiram  P.  Cochran,  father  of  our  respected  fel- 
low-citizen, Dr.  William  A.  Cochran,  came  to 
Tuscaloosa  on  Christmas  day,  1816.  The  Doctor 
did  not  enter  the  village  until  the  fall  of  1817. 
The  population  at  that  period  numbered  about 
300  souls.  At  the  time  of  the  land  sales  in  1821 
the  pofiulation  had  increased  to  600.  The  first 
white  child  born  in  the  city  was,  probably,  Lucius 
Holbert,  whose  father  was  the  proin-ietor  of  the 
"  Yellow  Tavern." 

According  to  Hon.  Washington  Moody,  who 
wrote  a  manuscript  history  of  Tuscaloosa,  Wm. 
L.  Adams  was  the  first  lawyer  that  came  to  the 
county,  John  L.  Tindall  the  first  physician, 
John  Click  the  first  mercl\ant,  Richmond  Car- 
roll the  first  blacksmith,  and  Nathan  Roberts 
the  first  printer. 

Tuscaloosa  is  situated  on  a  fine  plateau  at  the 
falls  of  the  Warrior,  202  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea.  The  Alabama  Great  Southern  Railroad 
touches  its  southern  margin.  It  is  108  miles  from 
Chattanooga,  55  miles  from  Birmingham,  and  07 
from  ileridian.  Miss.  On  the  west  lies  the  fruit- 
ful corn  belt,  next  the  river,  where  stock-raising 
is  easy  and  remunerative.  South  of  it  the  white 
fields  of  cotton  cross  the  State,  while  above  it  lies 
the  mineral  district,  which  stretches  far  up 
through  Jones'  Valley. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


509 


The  climate  of  Tuscaloosa  is  e(|uable  and  salu- 
brious. It  is  alike  exempt  from  the  rigors  of 
northern  latitmles,  and  the  scorching  heats  of  the 
torrid  zone.  From  observations  taken  by  Mr.  J. 
C  Perkins,  of  the  Alabama  weather  service,  we 
learn  that  for  the  year  beginning  Sei>tember  1. 
1880,  and  ending  August  :il,  1887,  the  following 
results  were  obtained:  The  lowest  temperature, 
in  the  early  part  of  .January,  was  (J  degrees  above 
zero,  and  the  highest,  about  the  middle  of  July, 
9-t  degrees  — a  range  of  only  88  degrees.  The 
mean  temperature  for  the  year  was  05.9'^.  There 
were  only  four  days  in  the  year  when  the  mercury 
did  not  rise  above  the  freezing  point,  and  only 
fifty-six  days  when  the  temperature  was  at  or 
below  ;52".  The  mean  relative  humidity  for  the 
year  was  97..").  which  shows  a  comparatively 
uniform  condition,  neither  too  wet  nor  too  dry. 
Only  three  inches  of  snow  fell  in  all  during  the 
winter.  The  rainfall  during  the  year  was  30. 1 
inches.  The  dry  season  was  during  the  fall  and 
winter,  when  the  farmer  was  gathering  his 
crops.  , 

The  town  of  Tuscaloosa  was  first  incorporated 
by  an  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Alabama, 
approved  December  \'.\,  1819,  and  only  compre- 
hended the  fraction  of  land  known  as  tlie  south 
fraction  of  Section  3"J.  Township  til.  Range  10 
west. 

By  an  Act  of  the  session  of  18'-i5-G,  establishing 
and  permanently  locating  the  seat  of  government 
for  the  State  of  Alabama,  the  corporate  limits  of 
Tuscaloosa  were  extended  so  as  to  include  frac- 
tional sections  "^1  and  2"-i,  and  sections  23,  20,  2T 
and  28  of  the  same  township  and  range. 

The  charter  of  January  12,  1828,  and  all  subse- 
quent charters  confine  its  limits  to  fractional 
sections  21  and  22  south  of  the  Warrior  Kiver. 

It  would  seem  that  a  title  of  a  city  established 
as  early  as  Tuscaloosa,  and  which  had  once  been 
the  capital  of  the  State,  would  have  been  beyond 
dispute.  Yet  in  June,  1887.  certain  jiarties  pre- 
sented themselves  at  the  United  States  Land 
Office  at  Jlontgomery,  and  regularly  ap|ilied  to 
enter  the  entire  city  under  the  homestead  law. 
Their  applications  were  rejected,  ami  on  apjjcal  to 
the  (Jencral  Land  Otliceat  Washington,  the  action 
of  the  Kegister  was  sustained  by  an  able  decision 
rendered  November  29,  18,s7.  The  parties  who 
proposed  to  enter  the  city  fell  into  error,  by  find- 
ing no  note  of  entry  upon  the  tract  book.  The 
facts  were  that  the  town  was  originally  laid  off  by 


the  Surveyor-(teneral  of  the  L'^nited  States,  and 
sold  by  lots  from  1  to  511,  and  patented  to  each 
purchaser — the  proclamation  for  such  sale  being 
issued  by  I'residcTit  Monroe,  August  23,  1823. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Mayors  of  the  city, 
as  far  as  they  can  be  ascertained:  William  K. 
Boiling,  Harvey  AV.  Ellis,  Dr.  John  Owen,  Geo. 
N.  Stewart.  Wm.  W.  Smith,  Hobt.  S.  Inge,  D. 
Henry  Robinson,  Robert  Blair,  James  L.  Ciiil- 
dress,  Joseph  C.  Cniild,  David  A\'oodrufF,  L.  S. 
Skinner,  Itobt.  Blair,  Robert  Lacey,  Jesse  E. 
Adams,  Obadiah  Berry,  Joseph  C.  Guild,  S.  B. 
Smith,  Jno.  S.  (iarvin,  Josiah  J.  Pegues,  T.  F. 
Samuel,  Robert  Blair,  Obadiah  Berry,  John  J. 
Harris,  Obadiah  Berry,  William  C  Jemison. 

A  new  code  has  lately  been  prepared  by  Wood 
&  Wood,  attorneys  of  the  city,  from  which 
these  r/«/«  are  derived. 

Alabama  was  admitted  into  the  Federal  L'nion 
in  1.S19.  Tuscaloosa  County  has  sent  no  Senator 
to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  The 
h'epresentatives  from  this  county,  in  the  lower 
house  have  been  as  follows:  1829  to  1831,  Robert 
E.  B.  Baylor;  1838  to  1844,  George  W.  Crabb; 
1823  to  1839,  John  McKee;  1851  to  18.57,  William 
R.  Smith.  In  1874  Burwell  B.  Lewis  was  elected 
to  Congress  from  the  State-at-large.  He  was 
elected  again  in  1878,  and  again  in  188<i.  1884 
to  1880,  John  M.  Martin. 

Robert  Jemison  was  Senator  to  the  Confederate 
Congress  from  1803  to  1805,  and  William  R. 
Smith  Representative  in  the  lower  house  from  1^02 
to  180.-). 

From  the  organization  of  the  State  Government 
till  ls4o,  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature  Avere 
annual.  On  the  removal  of  the  capital  from  Tus- 
caloosa, they  were  made  biennial.  By  the  Se- 
cession Convention,  they  were  changed  back  to 
annual,  and  on  account  of  the  exigencies  of  the 
war,  there  were  three  sessions  in  1801.  V>\  the 
Constitution  of  18;.">,  they  were  again  made 
biennial. 

The  State  Convention  in  1819  provided  for  the 
taking  of  the  census  and  for  the  apportionment  of 
State  Senators.  L'nder  the  first  apportionment, 
Tuscaloosa  and  Pickens  (then  including  Fayette), 
was  constituted  one  senatorial  district,  and  was 
entitled  to  one  Senator  and  three  Representatives. 
The  following  is  a  list  of  the  Senators:  1819, 
Thomas  Hogg:  1822  to  1832,  Levin  Powell:  1833, 
Dr.  James  Guild;  1834,  Constantine  Perkins; 
1830,   Samuel  Johnson;  1837,   George  W.  Crabb; 


510 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


1838  to  1849,  Dennis  Dent;  1851  to  1862,  Eobert 
Jamison;  18C3  to  1865,  E.  A.  Powell;  1807  (no 
election),  John  M.  Martin;  1S76  to  1884,  A.  C. 
Hargrove. 

Levin  Powell  came  from  Huntsville  in  1816. 
He  was  a  Virginian  by  birth,  and  fought  with 
General  Jackson  in  the  War  of  1812.  He  was 
the  first  Judge  of  Probate  and  the  first  Post- 
master of  Tuscaloosa.  He  was  elected  President 
of  the  Senate  in  1828,  and  again  in  1832.  He 
died  while  in  office  in  1833,  and  his  unexpired 
term  was  filled  out  by  Dr.  James  Guild. 

Constantine  Perkins  came  to  Tuscaloosa  in 
1819.  In  the  same  year  he  was  elected  District 
Solicitor,  and  in  1825  he  became  Attorney-General. 
He  died  September  IT,    183i:. 

General  Crabb  was  a  Virginian.  He  was 
elected  Comptroller  in  1829.  In  1836  he  served 
in  the  Florida  War,  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
Alabama  troo25s.  He  represented  Tuscaloosa 
County  in  the  Legislature  in  1837.  In  1838,  he 
was  sent  to  Congress  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term, 
and  was  elected  to  the  same  position  in  1839. 
Later,  he  removed  to  Mobile,  where  he  was  elected 
Judge  of  the  Criminal  Court  in  1845.  His 
death  occurred  August  lo,  1846. 

Dennis  Dent  was  a  Georgian.  He  came  to 
Tuscaloosa  in  1820.  He  served  in  the  Legislature 
in  1834,  and  was  twice  re-elected.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Senate  for  thirteen  years,  and 
was  elected  President  of  that  body  in  1849,  by 
one  vote.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  Creek  War  in 
1830. 

Eobert  Jemison  was  born  in  Georgia  in  1802. 
He  came  to  Alabama  in  1821.  He  moved  to  Pick- 
ens County  in  1826,  wliere  he  was  a  cotton  planter 
for  ten  years.  Returning  to  Tuscaloosa,  he  rep- 
resented the  county  in  the  lower  house  for  eight 
years.  In  1851  he  was  advanced  to  the  Senate, 
■where  he  remained  twelve  years.  In  1862  he  was 
elected  President  of  the  Senate.  The  following 
year  he  was  called  to  the  Confederate  State  Sen- 
ate, to  succeed  the  Hon.  Wm.  L.  Yancey.  In 
1861  he  represented  Tuscaloosa  in  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention.  He  died  in  the  city  of  his 
adoption,  October  17,  1871.  Mr.  Jemison  was 
noted  for  his  great  force  of  character,  his  enter- 
prise and  his  public  spirit.  Brewer  has  well  said 
of  him,  that  ''Among  the  citizens  of  Tuscaloosa 
Eobert  Jemison  stood  like  Saul  among  the  chil- 
dren of  Kish,  a  head  and  shoulders  above  his 
brethren." 


E.  A.  Powell  is  a  South  Carolinian.  He  en- 
tered public  life  in  1835.  For  many  years  he  was 
a  member  of  the  lower  house.  In  1863  he  was 
elected  to  the  Senate.  His  recollection  of  public 
men  and  measures  is  marvelous,  and  he  is  at 
present  engaged  in  publishing  his  fifty  years'  rem- 
iniscences of  Tuscaloosa,  Fayette  and  Walker 
Counties.  Colonel  Powell  is  a  lawyer  in  good 
standing  at  tiie  bar,  and  is  a  deacon  in  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South. 

There  have  been  three  Presidents  of  the  Senate 
from  Tuscaloosa  County,  viz. :  Levin  Powell, 
Dennis  Dent  and  Eobert  Jemison.  Eobert  Jemi- 
son and  Wm.  E.  Smith  represented  Tuscaloosa  in 
the  "Secession,"  and  Moses  McGuire  and  John 
C.  Foster  in  the    ''Eeconstruction  "    Convention. 

Tuscaloosa  has  furnished  three  State  Treasurers, 
as  follows:  1829  to  1834,  Hardin  Perkins;  1834 
to  1840,  William  Hawn;  1840  to  1840,  S.  G.  Frier- 
son.  Also  two  Comptrollers  or  Auditors,  viz.: 
1829  to  1830,  Geo.  W.  Crabb;  1848  to   1855,  Joel 

Eiggs. 

BENCH  AND  BAR. 

Prior  to  1820,  the  Courts  of  Tuscaloosa  had  ju- 
risdiction over  all  the  Alabama  territory  west  of 
her.  What  was  then  known  as  the  County  Court 
consisted  of  five  judges  elected  by  the  Legislature, 
with  power  to  choose  one  of  their  own  members 
Chief-Justice.  This  Court  was  competent  to  try 
civil  cases,  to  sit  as  a  Court  of  Probate,  and  to 
perform  the  duties  afterward  assigned  to  the 
Commissioners  of  Eoads  and  Eevenues. 

Till  1832  the  Sujjreme  Court  was  comjjosed  of 
the  Judges  of  the  Circuit  Court  sitting  en  banc. 
Between  1832  and  1852  it  consisted  of  three  Jus- 
tices; it  was  then  increased  to  five,  but  on  the 
repeal  of  this  law,'  in  1854,  it  reverted  to  three  as 
before. 

The  Judges  of  this  Court  from  Tuscaloosa  were 
as  follows:  1828  to  1832,  Siou  L.  Perry;  1828,  Eli 
Shortridge;  1828  to  1832,  Henry  W.  Collier;  1836 
and  1837,  Henry  W.  Collier. 

Collier  was  Chief  Justice  from  1837  to  1849; 
1837  to  1847,  John  J.  Ormand;  1868  to  1873; 
Elisha  W.  Peck.  Judge  Peck  was  elected  in  1868, 
and  took  his  seat  by  virtue  of  the  Eeconstruction 
measures.  1880  to  the  present  time,  H.  M.  Somer- 
ville.  Judge  Somerville  has  worn  his  honors  so 
worthily  that  Tuscaloosa  would  feel  a  just  pride  in 
seeing  him  seated  on  the  Supreme  Court  Bench  of 
the  United  States. 

Separate  Supreme  and  Circuit  Courts  were  es- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


511 


tablished  in  18."5"-i;  tlie  Judges  were  elected  by 
the  Legislature  till  185(1,  they  are  now  elected  by 
the  people  and  hold  tlieir  office  six  years. 

Tuscaloosa  has  furnished  the  following  Circuit 
Judges:  l.s:3t>  to  18:ifi,  H.  ('.  Collier;  l.s;W  to  1834, 
Sion  L.  Terry;  18.W  to  184:S,  Peter  Martin;  1830 
and  1840,  Henj.  F.  Porter;  1841  to  18")2,  John  D. 
IMiehin:  1845,  Lincoln  Clark:  1850  and  1851,  Wm. 
i;.  Smith. 

.Matthew  Click  was  the  first  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court. 

Thomas  Owen  was  one  of  the  earliest  Judge.*  of 
the  County  Court.  He  was  succeeded  by  .Marma- 
duke  Williams,  who  held  office  till  he  was  dis- 
qualified by  the  age  limitation.  Alexander  B. 
Meek  was  appointed  to  fill  his  unexpired  term. 
S.  D.  J.  Moore  held  the  office  for  some  years 
and  resigned.  Washington  Moody  was  appointed 
to  fill  his  unexpired  term.  Arthur  Foster  was  the 
last  Judge  of  the  Connty  Court. 

The  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Probate  have  been: 
1852  to  18G8,  iMoses  McCuiire:  18G8  to  1877,  Will- 
iam Miller  ;  1874  till  present  time,  Newborn  H. 
Urown. 

Separate  Courts  of  Chancery  were  established  in 
183'j.  The  Chancellors  from  Tuscaloosa  were: 
1839,  E.  W.  Peck;  1841,  Joshua  L.  Martin. 
.  From  1819  to  18(i5  the  Attorney-General  was 
Solicitor  for  the  Judicial  District  in  wliich  the  cap- 
ital was  situated.  Since  that  time  the  two  offices 
have  been  separated.  Until  18(;8  t'ley  were  chosen 
by  the  Legislature.  The  Attorney-Generals  from 
Tuscaloosa  were:  1825  to  1832,  Constantino 
Perkins:  1836,  Alexander  B.  Meek;  1838  and  1839, 
Lincoln  Clark;  1847,  William  H.  Martin. 

TWY.  MEDICAL  PROFESSION. 

in  ISl'.i  to  1820  several  hundred  persons  lived  in 
Tuscaloosa  and  its  environs. 

The  medical  profession  at  this  early  day  was 
represented  by  Drs.  Inge,  Hunter,  Purnell  and 
Isbell,  names  almost  unknown  to  the  present 
generation. 

Dr.  John  L.  Tindall  was  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
He  came  to  this  place  about  1820.  He  was  at  one 
time  president  of  the  State  Bank.  He  left  Tusca- 
loosa about  the  year  ls39,  and  settled  in  Aber- 
deen, Miss. 

Dr.  John  P.  Drish  arrived  in  Tuscaloosa  from 
Loudon  County,  Va.,  about  1820.  Being  a  man 
of  handsome  fortune,  he  retired  from  the  prac- 
tice  in    1837.       He   cotitinued  to  live  in  Tusca- 


loosa till  his  death,  which  occurred  soon  after  the 
late  war. 

Dr.  Samuel  .M.  Meek  came  to  this  place  about 

1820,  and  was  a  practitioner  of  medicine  till  his 
death,  which  occurred  about  1845.  The  name  of 
his  oldest  son,  Alexander  B.  Meek,  as  a  man  of 
letters  and  as  an  orator,  will  long  shed  lustre  on 
the  State  of  Alabama.  Only  two  of  Dr.  ileek's 
children  are  living,  Col.  Sam  Meek,  a  prominent 
criminal  lawyer  in  Columbus,  Miss.,  and  B.  F. 
Meek,  LL.D.,now  Professor  of  English  Language 
and  Literature  in  the  University  of  Alabama. 

Dr.  James  Hullum  was  the  son  of  a  -Methodist 
preacher.  lie  came  from  Georgia  to  this  place  in 
1824.  He  retired  to  the  country  in  1860,  and  died 
soon  after  the  war  at  a  ripe  old  age. 

Dr.  James  Somerville  came  from  near  Freder- 
icksburg, Va.,  in  1837.  lie  died  suddenly  of  ap- 
oplexy in  1842.  One  of  his  sons,  H.  il.  Somer- 
ville, is  a  distinguished  lawyer,  and  is  at  present 
one  of  the  Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Alabama. 

Dr.  Wm.  A.  Leland  came  to  this  State  from 
Virginia  about  the  year  1836,  and  in  1843  entered 
on  the  practice  of  medicine.  He  was  a  graduate 
from  the  ^ledical  College  at  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  D.  S.  Ball  arrived  in  Tuscaloosa  in  1830. 
He  was  a  Georgian.  He  married  Miss  Henrietta 
Jemison,  an  accomplished  sister  of  the  late  Robert 
Jemison.  He  was  a  planter  as  well  as  a  physician. 
He  removed  to  New  Orleans  in  1840,  at  which 
place  he  died.  He  left  a  widow  and  three 
children. 

Dr.  Rufus  Haywood,  a  descendant  of  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  families  of  Raleigh,  X.  C.. 
came  to  this  place  from  (Jreensboro,  Ala.  He  was 
a  skillful  physician  and  good  surgeon.  He  retired 
from  the  practice  in  1856,  in  consequence  of  an 
attack  of  paralysis  from  which  he  never  entirely 
recovered.  He  died  a  few  years  ago,  at  the  resi- 
dence of  his  relative,  ilrs.  Anna  Prince,  at  the 
advanced  age  of  eighty  years.  Dr.  Haywood  was 
never  married. 

Dr.  W.  I.  Hays  was  a  graduate  of  the  Medical 
School  at  Lexington,  Ky.  He  began  the  practice 
of  medicine  here  in  1840.  He  was  a  consistent 
meml^er  of  the  Baptist  Church  till  about  1882, 
when  he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-three. 

Dr.    James  Guild,  Sr.,   came  to  Tuscaloosa   in 

1821.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Hon.  Marma- 
duke  Williams.  He  was  a  tine  surgeon  as  well  as 
physician.     In  1833,  he  was  elected  Senator  to  fill 


512 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  unexpired  term  of  Levin  Powell,  who  died  in 
office.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  lower  house 
as  late  18-1:5.  He  died,  leaving  several  children, 
one  of  whom  Dr.  Fayette  Guild,  was  a  surgeon  on 
General  Lee's  staff,  and  another.  Dr.  James  Guild, 
a  popular  physician  of  this  city.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  enjoyed  the 
respect  and  confidence  of   the  entire  community. 

Dr.  Reuben  Searcy  was  one  of  the  pioneer  physi- 
cians in  Tuscaloosa.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  in  1838-9.  He  had  much  to  do  with 
the  founding  of  the  Alabama  Lisane  Hospital,  of 
which  he  was  an  honored  trustee  to  the  time  of  his 
death.  He  left  several  children,  one  of  whom.  Dr. 
James  Searcj',  is  a  prominent  ishysician,  and  an- 
other, George  Searcy,  who  is  now  president  of  the 
Merchants  National  Bank  of  this  city. 

In  1826  the  State  capital  was  removed  from 
Cahaba  to  Tuscaloosa.  The  first  session  of  the 
Legislature  was  held  in  November,  1826,  in  what 
was  then  known  as  the  Bell  Tavern.  Work  began 
on  the  new  capitol  in  1827.  In  the  interim,  the 
sessions  of  1827  and  1828  were  held  in  a  two-story 
frame  building  erected  for  the  purjjose.  The 
Legislature  held  its  first  session  in  the  new  build- 
ing in  1829,  and  continued  to  occupy  it  till  the 
removal  to  Montgomery  in  1845. 

In  the  wake  of  the  removal,  judges,  lawyers, 
politicians,  lobbyists,  and  men  of  desperate  for- 
tunes flocked  to  the  place.  The  great  crowd  had 
to  be  transported,  clothed,  fed,  wined  and 
amused.  Hence  hotels,  saloons,  restaurants, 
gaming  hells  and  theatres  sprang  up.  Ladies, 
the  wives  and  daughters  of  senators  and  repre- 
sentatives, as  well  as  the  mere  pleasure-seekers 
and  votaries  of  fashion,  assembled  from  all  parts 
of  Alabama.  Imperial  citizens  vied  with  each 
other  in  fetes,  that  ''inebriated"  if  they  did  not 
"cheer."  Each  session  brought  its  lobbyings,  its 
junketings,  its  "Sol  Smith"  carousals,  its 
"Fougera"  balls.  The  circus  was  attended  by 
day,  the  "tiger"  was  vigorously  fought  by  night. 
It  was  a  season  of  carnival,  of  dissipation;  mad 
gayety  was  in  the  ascendant.  For  twenty  long 
years  this  inebriety  grew,  till  one  unlucky  morn, 
in  18-15,  the  capital  was  removed  from  Tuscaloosa, 
and  you  may  imagine  the  stampede  and  the  city's 
awful  shrinkage.  Tuscaloosa  suddenly  collapsed 
— like  a  dream,  "like  a  vision  in  the  night,"  like 
the  host  of  Roderick  Dhu: 

"Along  Ben  Ledi's  living  side" 
the  whole  gorgeous  show  and  spectacle  fled.    Poor 


Tuscaloosal  Now  came  vows  of  penitence  and  acts 
of  retrenchment.  She  had  been  living  too  fast; 
the  costly  mansion  had  to  be  given  up,  the 
carriage  and  horses  sold,  and  the  expensive  furni- 
ture carted  to  auction.  A  sudden  fit  of  enforced 
economy  invaded  every  household.  Improvement 
came  to  a  .dead  lialt.  Paint  and  whitewash,  mop 
and  broom,  were  things  of  the  past.  Neglect  was 
followed  by  decay.  Old  signs  creaked  over  the 
doors  of  deserted  offices,  old  fences  reeled,  old 
tenements  tottered.  There  was  no  annual  meet- 
ing, in  fact — no  meeting  at  all — that  would  bring 
back  again  the  whole  wealth  and  glitter  of  the 
State  to  our  doors,  to  fill  once  more  every  tavern, 
saloon  and  theatre  with  the  clatter  of  life  and 
vivacity.  The  old  rookery  was  abandoned.  One 
by  one  the  State  officials  moved  away,  following 
the  fortunes  of  the  fair  Montgomery,  "the  rise 
and  expectancy  of  the  fair  State  followed  in  their 
wake,  the  butterflj'  belles  followed  after  them,  and 
the  old  town  was  left  to  i^lod  on  in  darkness  as 
before." 

What  nest?  How  repair  her  shattered,  her 
seemingly  irreparable  fortunes?  Should  she  look 
to  the  soil?  Evidently,  the  further  growth  of  the 
city  must  be  maintained  from  other  sources  than 
from  agriculture  alone.  The  lands  on  the  west  of 
the  city  were  deltas  of  fertility,  but  those  in  the 
east  were  comparatively  sterile.  No  coal  nor  iron 
had  yet  been  unearthed  in  quantity  to  suggest, 
by  anticipation,  that  the  town  might  some  day 
rival  a  Pittsburgh  or  a  Msnchester.  Providence, 
however,  came  to  the  rescue. 

Though  the  capital  had  come  and  gone,  the 
University  still  stood  flrm.  The  old  capitol  build- 
ing was  not  to  be  delivered  over  to  the  bats  and 
}  owls.  Its  fretted  arches  should  ring  again.  The 
School  should  take  the  place  of  the  Senate,  and 
education  should  succeed  jobbery.  In  the  mean- 
time the  University,  which  had  been  a  success 
from  the  first,  advanced  in  popular  favor.  The 
"  Tuscaloosa  Institute"  and  the  old  "  Atheneum  " 
had  already  taken  the  field.  Woodrufl',  the  great 
pioneer  bookseller,  kept  reminding  the  people 
that  he  "sold  books  ojijiosite  Donaldson's  tavern." 
Price's  "Thrashing  Machine  "  had  not  been  idle. 
Everything  began  to  point  to  Tuscaloosa  as  an 
educational  centre.  Its  health,  its  fine  water,  even 
its  inaccessibility  were  quoted  in  its  favor.  Schools 
and  boarding-houses  sprang  up,  and  boys  and 
girls  repaired  from  all  i)arts  of  Alabama  to  this 
"  Auburn,  loveliest  village  of  the  plain." 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


513 


SCHOOLS. 

Tliere  liave  been  a  great  many  private  male 
schools  in  this  city,  but  few  of  them  have  been 
prominent  or  of  long  duration.  Of  the  earlier 
schools,  i)erhaps.  that  of  William  Price  \va.<  the 
most  noted,  lie  opened  his  school  for  boys  in 
1820.  calling  it  in  his  advertisement  "  The  Thrash- 
ing .Machine."  and  every  trembling  urchin  whose 
luckless  fate  it  was  to  enter  its  portals  knew  to  his 
cost  that  this  was  no  misnomer. 

Sims'  Female  Academy  was  opened  in  what  is 
now  the  iieach  dwelling  in  IS'i'.i.  Jvinety  pupils 
were  enrolled  the  first  session.  There  were  five 
teachers.  Annand  1'.  Pfi.stcr,  the  author  of  the 
"University  JIarch."  and  (irand  Secretary  of  all 
the  Masonic  orders  in  .Miiliuina,  w;is  instructor  in 
music. 

The  Tuscaloosa  Female  Academy  was  organized 
August  1.  18;51.  It  was  presided  over  by  the 
gifted  and  aceomplislied  wife  of  A.  M.  Hobinson, 
Esq.,  in  the  building  known  in  Tuscaloosa  as  the 
Eddins  place,  it  was  well  patronized,  and  no 
doubt  did  good  work  for  tiiat  day. 

The  building,  afterward  known  as  the  Athen- 
eum,  was  erected  by  Dr.  Drish  for  his  private 
residence  about  18o(i.  In  183.")  it  had  been  en- 
larged by  the  addition  of  wings  and  opened  as  a 
female  school.  It  was  placed  in  charge  of  Rev. 
John  Dagg,  an  eminent  divine  and  theological 
writer  of  the  Baptist  Church.  After  183T  it  un- 
derwent many  vicissitudes.  It  was  conducted 
during  the  war  by  Professor  Saunders  and  his 
accomplished  wife,  who  afterward  spent  many 
years  in  Berlin.  At  one  time  the  building  was 
used  as  a  school  for  boys  by  Dr.  .J.  II.  Foster  and 
Eldred  B.  Teague.  Again  it  was  purchased  and 
occupied  as  a  private  residence  by  Dr.  Landon  C. 
Garland,  now  Chancellor  of  Vanderbilt.  Then  it 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Xorth  Alabama  Con- 
ference, which  for  several  years  maintained  a  Con- 
ference school  there.  It  then  acquired  the  name 
of  •'  Methodist  College,"  by  which  it  was  popu- 
larly known.  It  was  subsequently  purchased  from 
the  Conference  by  Prof.  B.  F.  Larrabee,  who 
added  a  concert  hall  and  a  suite  of  rooms. 

Prof.  Alonzo  Hill,  the  present  incumbent,  next 
became  the  proprietor.  He  has  enlarged  and  beauti- 
fied it  to  meet  the  demands  of  his  popular  institu- 
tion. The  imposing  building,  now  two  stories  in 
height,  is  surmounted  by  a  mansard  roof,  and 
tower  which  commands  a  wide  jirospect  of  the 
city  audits   environs.    A  beautiful  park  with    its 


tasteful  summer  house  and  alleyed  walks  charms 
the  eye  of  the  visitor. '  The  school  has  18  ofKcers 
and  'Vlh  matriculates,  of  which  about  100  are 
boarders. 

When  the  State  capital  was  rcmovcdfrom  Tusca- 
loosa, the  capitol  building  was  donated  by  the 
Legislature  to  the  University.  As  that  institu- 
tion found  it  impossible  to  derive  an  income  from 
it  sufficient  to  defray  the  expense  of  repairs,  it 
was  leased  by  the  State  to  a  stock  company  for 
ninety-nine  years,  on  condition  that  it  should  be 
kept  open  for  a  school.  It  was  organized  by  the 
Baptists,  who  owned  a  controlling  interest  in  tha 
tlic  stock,  and  it  is  now  widely  and  favorably 
known  as  the  Alabama  Central  Female  College. 
At  different  periods,  it  was  presided  over  by 
Bacon,  Brown,  Lanneau,  Yancey  and  others.  It 
isnow  under  the  able  management  of  Prof.  Sum- 
ner B.  Foster. 

During  the  war,  ^Irs.  Tuomey,  relict  of  the 
distinguished  Michael  Tuomey,  kept  the  "Home  " 
School  in  Tuscaloosa,  in  the  building  now  occu- 
pied as  a  residence  by  Mr.  K.  X.  C.  Snow.  She 
was  assisted  by  her  two  accomplished  daughters. 

We  should  be  recreanc  to  the  highest  interests 
of  education,  and  to  worth  which  is  as  rare  as  it 
is  estimable,  should  we  fail  to  record  that  private 
schools  were  long  kept  by  Mrs.  Dr.  Little  and 
iliss  JIary  Irving.  Their  sacred  memories  are 
embalmed  in  the  hearts  of  huiulreds  of  their 
grateful  pupils. 

The  Alabama  Female  Institute  was  chartered 
in  18"24.  At  that  period,  it  was  jjerhai^s  "the 
only  star  that  flung  its  beams  over  a  State  lying 
in  ignorance. "'  There  was  one  contemporary  school 
at  Huntsville,  of  similar  rank,  presided  over  by 
blisses  Southmayd,  Smith  and  Stone.  The  first 
principal  of  the  school  was  Hev.  W.  H.  Williams; 
with  him  Miss  Maria  Belle  Brooks,  afterward 
Mrs.  Stafford,  was  honorably  associated.  Miss  Abby 
Fitch,  afterward  the  venerated  ilrs.  B.  Searcy,  was 
also  connected  with  the  school.  Later  it  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Professor  Hentz  and  his  accom- 
plishefi  wife,  Jlrs.  Caroline  Lee  Hentz,  a  distin- 
guished authoress.  In  ISoO,  Professor  Stafford 
and  lady  assumed  direction  of  the  school.  With 
them,  at  a  later  date,  Mrs.  W.  C.  Bichardson  and 
Mrs.  B.  F.  Rodes  were  associated. 

Tiie  University  High  School,  under  the  propri- 
etorship of  Prof.  W.  II.  Verner,  was  incorporated 
in  1887.  The  number  of  officers  are  three.  In- 
struction  is  given  in  military  tactics  for  the  jnir- 


S14 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


pose  of  discipline,  and  the  pupils  have  been  pro- 
vided by  tlie  State  with  a  stand  of  arms.  About 
one  hundred  have  matriculated  the  current  session. 
The  building  is  large  and  imposing,  having  a 
capacity  for  sixty  boarders.  It  was  formerly 
known  as  the  Ursuline  Convent,  and  is  one  of  the 
handsomest  places  in  the  city. 

The  Univerdty  of  Alabama  was  established  by 
an  Act  of  the  Legislature,  approved  December  18, 
1819.  It  was  opened  for  the  reception  of  students 
April  17, 1831.  The  first  president  was  Rev.  Alva 
Woods,  D.D.,who  was  assisted  by  three  professors. 
In  1805,  the  original  buildings,  exce^jt  the  astro- 
nomical observatory,  were  burnt  by  a  brigade  of 
United  States  Cavalry  under  General  Croxton. 
The  new  building,  or  University  Hall,  was  erected 
in  1808.  In  1800  the  military  system  was  adopted, 
and  for  many  years  has  been  under  the  able  man- 
agement of  Commandant  T.  C.  McCorvey.  The 
library  has  about  10,000  volumes.  The  buildings 
have  lately  been  increased  by  the  addition  of  Manly 
and  Clark  Halls.  Garland  Hall  is  also  in  process 
of  erection.  Two  new  residences,  one  for  the 
Quartermaster  and  one  for  the  Commandant,  are 
now  going  up.  The  number  of  cadets  during  the 
current  year  is  about  900. 

The  University  is  under  the  management  of  a 
Board  of  Trustees,  who  hold  office  for  the  term  of 
six  years.  The  Governor  of  the  State  is  ex  officio 
president  of  the  Board. 

The  University  Fund,  from  the  interest  of  which 
the  University  is  mainly  supported,  consists  of 
$300,000,  the  proceeds  of  the  original  land  grant 
of  Congress. 

The  recent  land  grant  by  Congress  to  the  State 
of  Alabama  for  the  benefit  of  the  University,  was 
40,080  acres.  The  land  selected  by  the  commis- 
sioners were  coal  and  timbered  lands.  Ujj  to  Jan- 
uary 25,  1888,  about  11,000  acres  of  these  had 
been  sold  for  the  sum  of  $130,000. 

Gen.  H.  D.  Clayton,  of  Barbour  County,  has 
been  president  sinoe  the  fall  of  1880. 

Public  ScJkkiJs.  An  Act  approved  February  17, 
lb 85,  constituted  the  city  of  Tuscaloosa  j,  sepa- 
rate school  district.  This  Act  provided  for  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  schools  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
district.  The  schools  are  under  the  care  of  a 
Board  of  Education,  composed  of  the  Mayor  of 
Tuscaloosa,  who  is  j^resident  e.r  officio,  and  four 
other  residents  of  said  district.  The  first  mem- 
bers of  this  board  were  :  Mayor  Jemison,  presi- 
dent, ex  officio;     E.  N.  C.  Snow,    Capt.    Festus 


Fitts,  Dr.  E.  C.  Chisholm,  and  Capt.  H.  P.  Wal- 
ker. 

The  white  school  is  divided  into  ten  grades,  the 
colored  into  seven. 

Only  the  children  and  wards  of  actual  residents 
of  the  school  district,  from  seven  to  nineteen 
years  of  age  are  eligible  to  matriculation. 

For  two  successive  years,  the  school  received  a 
donation  of  S300  from  the  Peabody   fund. 

By  a  special  Act  of  the  Legislature,  the  city  was 
authorized  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $18,- 
000  for  the  erection  of  suitable  buildings.  In 
pursuance  of  this  Act,  the  large  and  commodious 
structure  known  as  the  Tuscaloosa  Female  Insti- 
tute, with  its  spacious  and  beautiful  grounds,  was 
purchased  for  the  sum  of  $10,000.  On  the  east 
side  of  this  building,  and  connected  with  it,  a 
very  imposing  and  tasteful  edifice  is  now  rapidly 
nearing  completion.  When  finished  it  will 
comfortably  accommodate  500  pupils.  Number 
of  teachers  at  present  employed  in  the  white 
school,  nine ;  in  the  colored,  five.  Number  of 
pupils  enrolled  during  the  present  session  :  white 
school,  370  ;  colored   school,  200. 

The  school  was  organized  in  the  summer  of 
18-5.  Superintendent  Mitchell  is  comparatively 
a  young  man,  but  he  has  thus  far  shown  himself 
to  be  "  the  right  man  in  the  right  place." 

CHURCHES. 

1'lie  fii'st  church  in  Tuscaloosa  was  built  of 
clapboards,  by  the  Bajitists,  in  1817,  near  where  the 
Star  stable  recently  stood.  This  denomination 
afterward  built  a  brick  c'lurch  on  a  corner  of 
Washington  and  Union  streets,  and  worshiped 
there  until  1885.  In  that  year  the  jjresent  elegant 
structure  on  Market  and  Pike  was  completed, 
largely  through  the  liberality  of  j\Iiss  Sallie 
Moody,  now  Mrs.  D.  T.  Purser,  of  Birmingham. 

Tlie  Methodists  first  worshiped  in  a  church 
that  stood  on  a  corner  of  Pike  and  Washington 
streets.  It  was  a  frame  structure,  and  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire  many  years  ago.  The  present 
building  on  Market  is  a  grand  old  relic.  Its  walls 
have  echoed  the  utterances  of  Bishops  Keenan, 
Robert  Kennon,  Thomas  Summers,  Dr.  Hamilton, 
Robert  Xabors.  and  other  distinguished  divines. 
It  was  repaired  and  modernized  during  the  recent 
pastorate  of  Rev.  Alonzo  Monk. 

The  Presbyterian  Church,  also  on  Market 
street,  is  a  time-honored  structure.  Among  its 
early  pastors,  we  record  the  names  of  the  eccen- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


515 


trie  Daniel  Baker  and  the  learned  and  eloquent 
Dr.  William  A.  Scott,  of  San  Francisco  memory. 
It  was  (luring  his  pastorate,  that  it  became  neces- 
sa.i_v  to  add  the  western  wing.  For  many  years  it 
has  been  in  charge  of  Dr.  A.  C.  Stillman. 

Christ  Church  was  organized  in  January,  182.S. 
The  church  building  was  erected  in  182'.l-3(l.  It 
was  regularly  consecrated  in  April,  183."),  by  the 
lit.  Rev.  Tliomas  f'hurch  lirownell.  Bishop  of 
Connecticut.  About  six  years  ago  (1882)  the 
church  building   was  remodeled  and  modernized. 

The  first  Hector  of  the  church  was  the  Rev. 

.Tudd.  He  was  elected  in  1820,  but  on  account  of 
ill-health,  served  only  a  few  months.  He  died  of 
consumption  in  J[ol)ilc,  Ala. 

The  Hev.  .1.  H.  Strinufellmv  is  the  present 
Rector. 

The  Catholics  of  this  city  held  their  meetings  in 
the  basement  of  the  JIasonic  Hall,  until  the 
CountyCommissioners  purchased  that  building  for 
a  court-house.  This  necessitated  a  removal,  and.  for 
some  months,  they  occupied  the  upper  story  of  Mr. 
Harghey's  house  asa  place  of  worshij).  In  1845their 
pastor,  the  Rev.  P.  R.  Uackett,  procured  over  $2,000 
in  subscriptions  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  suit- 
able church  building.  In  the  same  year  a  lot  was 
purchased  of  Joel  White,  on  a  corner  of  Pike  and 
Washington  streets,  and  the  contract  let  to  Gran- 
ger and  Doncho  to  build  "a  church  of  brick." 
On  the  25tli  of  January,  184ii,  the  church,  being 
finished,  was  dedicated  with  impressive  ceremonies 
by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Portier,  of  Mobile. 
Prominent  among  tlie  former  pastor.s  was  Father 
F.  M.  McDonough.  He  was  long  a  citizen  of 
Tuscaloosa,  and  was  noted  for  his  fine  intelli- 
gence and  large  charity.  The  present  pastor,  the 
Rev.  J.  M.  Cassidy,  is  unobtrusive  and  scholarly, 
and  seems  to  be  very  acceptable  to  his  Hock. 

The  Ursuline  Convent  was  founded  September 
2(»,  1800.  It  flourished  for  many  years  under  the 
management  of  the  indefatigable  McDonough, 
and  the  good  religiouses,  Charles,  Josejjhine  and 
Teresa.  The  diocese  was  not  able  to  sustain  it, 
however,  and,  as  the  postulants  for  admission 
grew  fewer  from  year  to  year,  the  school  was  final- 
ly closed  out  in  1885. 

THE  PKK8S. 

The  first  newspaper  published  in  Tuscaloosa  was 
the  Amen'ran  Mirror.  This  was  commenced  in 
1820.  It  was  issued  weekly  by  Thomas  M.  Daven- 
])ort.     It  was  small,  containing  only  four  columns 


to  the  page,  and  was  printed  in  long  primer  and 
brevier. 

In  1826  the  Ahibama  Sentinel  was  j)ublished  by 
Thomas  Grantland.  The  sheet  was  small  and  the 
j)aper  inferior.  It  was  edited  by  Washington 
Moody,  and  contained  the  proceedings  of  the  first 
sessions  of  the  Legislature  held  in  Tuscaloosa. 

In  1X27  the  American  Mirror  was  merged  into 
the  Tuscaloosa  Chronicle,  and  published  by  Dugald 
McFarlane,  who  married  Kliza,  one  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  Thomas  Davenport.  This  paper  had  five 
j3olumns  to  the  page,  and  was  an  improvement  on 
the  Mirror. 

In  1829  A.  M.  Robinson,  Esq.,  established  in 
Tuscaloosa  the  Spirit  of  the  Aye,  a  weekly  journal. 
This  was  conducted  for  several  years  with  marked 
ability.  Mainly  political,  it  was  very  largely  lit- 
erary. Its  columns  contained  many  educational 
articles  and  teemed  with  poetry;  the  paucity  of 
locals,  however,  shows  how  flat  and  uneventful 
were  those  Arcadian  days. 

'The  Alaliania  Stale  Itifellif/eucfr  waa  published 
by  the  Bradfords  from  1827,  and  edited  by  R.  T. 
Brumly  until  about  1835,  when  Brumly  resigned 
to  accept  the  position  of  Professor  of  Chemistry 
in  the  University  of  Alabama. 

The  Independent  Monitor  was  started  in  1836 
by  M.  D.  ,T.  Slade,  with  A.  .M.  Robinson  as 
editor.  This  sheet  afterward  enjoyed  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  presided  over  by  Prof.  F.  A. 
P.  Barnard,  a  man  of  profound  scholarship  and 
of  acknowledged  versatility  and  genius. 

In  1843  the  State  Journal  and  Flag  was  pub- 
lished in  Tuscaloosa.  It  was  owned  and  edited 
by  John  McCormick,  who  was  also  State  printer. 

After  tiie  removal  of  the  capital  from  Tusca- 
loosa in  1845,  the  i)aper  was  purchased  of  ^IcCor- 
mick  by  James  W.  Warren,  who  changed  the 
name  to  the  Tuscaloosa  Observer,  and  as  editor 
and  proprietor  he  continued  its  publication  till 
1865.  It  was  then  purchased  by  his  son,  John 
F.  Warren,  who  continued  its  publication  until 
1870. 

At  tjiis  period  the  Mnnitor  was  bought  from 
Mr.  Ryland  Randolph,  and  merged  with  the 
Observer  into  the  Tuscaloosa  Times,  published 
by  John  F.  Warren,  and  edited  by  .1.  W.  Tay- 
lor. In  1875  a  dissolution  of  the  firm  of  Tay- 
lor &  Warren  was  declared,  and  the  jiaper  was 
afterward  published  by  J.  F.  Warren  and  II.  II. 
Brown,  Mr.  Brown  purcha-sing  a  half-interest,  and 
assuming  the  editorial  control. 


516 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


While  Randolph  had  control  of  the  Monitor,' 
Tuscaloosa  saw  her  darkest  days.  In  that  trying 
crisis  he  was  the  fearless  exponent  of  Southern 
feeling,  and  often  suffered  for  what  others  felt. 
It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  he  bared  his 
breast  to  receive  the  thrusts  that  were  leveled  at 
his  section  and  his  party,  and  flung  himself  into 
the  breach  with  a  gallantry  which  sometimes  bor- 
dered on  recklessness. 

In  July,    18.55,  the  Times  was  purchased  from 
Warren  &  Brown   by  the  Times  Publishing  Com- 
pany, which  has  recently  sold  the  pajierto  ^Messrs. . 
W.   C.   Jemison  and   t'arl   Gantzhorn,    with    the 
latter  gentleman  as  editor  and  business  manager. 

In  1871  Eyland  Randolph  started  a  sheet  called 
the  Blade.  This  was  no  misnomer,  for  it  was  as 
trenchant  as  the  scimeter  of  Saladin. 

In  187C  Mr.  if.  I.  Burton  bought  out  the  Blade 
and  merged  it  into  the  Gazette.  This  he  con- 
veyed to  the  Nunnelys  in  1878,  who  continued 
its  publication  till  1888.  The  Daily  Gazette  began 
its  career  in  March,  1887. 

Mr.  Burton  also  started  the  Clarion  in  the  fall 
of  1879,  and  discontinued  its  publication  in  1881. 

In  about  the  year  1840,  a  literary  magazine, 
entitled  the  Sovtliron,  was  published.  It  sur- 
vived only  a  few  months.  Its  columns  were 
graced  by  the  effusions  of  such  able  writers  as 
Alexander  B.  Meek,  William  R.  Smith  and  F.  A. 
P.  Barnard.  It  brought  to  light  a  great  deal  of 
native  talent.  In  its  jDages  first  appeared  B.  W. 
Huntington's  "Bacon  and  Greens"  and  a  very 
pretty  song  by  Thomas  A.  Maxwell,  beginning 
"  Lady,  Sing  that  Song  Again."  It  was  after- 
ward set  to  music,  and  was  quite  popular. 

SOCIETIES. 

Tuscaloosa  has  boasted  at  different  periods 
many  clubs  and  literary  societies.  We  can  only 
glance  at  the  more  prominent. 

The  Franklin  InMitute  was  set  on  foot  in  1830. 
It  numbered  among  its  members  such  distin- 
guished names  as  Washington  Moody,  A.  M.  Rob- 
inson, Geo.  D.  Shortridge,  Robert  Inge  and 
others.     The  object  was  imjjrovenient  in  debate. 

Tlie  Lyceitm  was  organized  in  May,  ISIil.  It 
contained  a  galaxy  of  talent.  We  find  among  its 
managers  the  names  of  Dr.  Alva  Wood,  President 
of  the  University;  Judge  Minor,  George  AV. 
Crabb,  H.  W.  Ellis,  H.  Tutwiler  and  A.  U.  Rob- 
inson. Its  programme  called  for  discussions  and 
scientific  essays. 


The  Ciceronian  Club  sprang  into  existence 
about  1838,  and  comprised  the  best  literary  and 
forensic  talent  of  the  city.  This  will  be  apparent 
when  Ave  recall  among  its  members,  A.  B.  Mead, 
Wm.  R.  Smith,  Thomas  Burke,  F.  A.  Barnard, 
Newton  L.  Whitfield,  Washington  Moody,  Alex- 
ander M.  Robinson  and  A.  W.  Richardson. 

The  Druid  City  Club  held  its  first  meeting  in 
.  It  included  both  sexes  in  its  member- 
ship: anil  the  learned  lectures,  the  stirring  de- 
bates, the  witty  sallies  and  spicy  rejoinders  which 
enlivened  those  Attic  nights  can  never  be  for- 
gotten. It  was  ably  presided  over  for  many  years 
by  Dr.   B.  F.  Meek  of  the  State  University. 

Tlie  Historical  Society  held  its  first  annual 
meeting  at  the  University  of  Alabama,  July 
14,  1851.  Its  officers  were:  Alexander  Bowie, 
of  Talladega,  President;  Albert  J.  Pickett,  of 
Montgomery,  First  Vice-President;  Washington 
Moody,  Tuscaloosa,  Treasurer;  Joshua  11.  Foster, 
Secretary.  Its  Executive  Committee  consisted  of  r 
John  J.  Ormond,  Basil  Manly,  D.  D.,  Rt.  Rev.  N. 
H.  Cobbs,  Landon  C.  Garland  and  Michael 
Tuomey,  all  of  Tuscaloosa. 

An  oration  was  delivered  on  this  occasion  by  the 
president  of  the  society,  the  Hon.  Alexander  Bowie, 
of  Talladega,  which  oration  was  afterward  printed 
in  the  first  volume  of  the  Transactions  of  the  So- 
ciety, in  1852. 

At  the  last  session  Dr.  AV.  S.  AVyman,  of  the 
State  University,  was  requested  to  jDrepare  a  his- 
tory of  the  State  of  Alabama.  His  learning,  his 
extensive  knowledge  of  the  aborigines,  and  his 
fine  literary  tastes  eminently  fit  him  for  such  a 
work,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  he  will  not  permit 
the  stores  that  he  has  amassed  to  die  with  him. 

ALABAMA  INSAXE  HOSPITAL. 

The  Hospital  was  established  by  an  Act  of  the 
Legislatui-e,  ajiproved  February  G,  1852.  It  wa& 
opened  to  the  public  in  1860.  Trustees,  appointed 
by  the  Governor,  have  control  of  the  institution. 
This  colossal  establishment  covers  an  immense 
area.  As  you  come  upon  it  suddenly  it  looks,  as 
some  one  has  well  remarked,  "like  a  spur  of  the- 
AUeghanies."  The  grounds,  about  one  hundred 
acres  in  extent,  are  beautifully  laid  out.  Conserv- 
atories, summer-houses,  fountains,  arrest  the  eye, 
and  eVery  device  is  employed  to  cultivate  the  tastes 
and  direct  the  minds  of  the  patients.  It  is  th& 
theory  of  Dr.  Peter  Bryce,  who  is  the  able  super- 
intendent, that  "kindness  should  be  substituted 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


517 


for  force  in  the  treatment  of  the  insane."  The 
novel  anil  humane  mode  of  troatniont  has  attract- 
ed the  attention  of  even  foreign  institutions  and 
has  given  the  Hospital  a  wide  celebrity. 

Then  the  war  came.  Ah,  how  chopfallen!  The 
•old  town  put  on  "sackcloth  and  ashes."  !She 
mourned  like  Rachel  for  her  children,  and  refused 
to  be  comforted.  Siie  no  longer  aspired  to  wealth, 
l)ut  was  content  to  struggle  for  a  bare  subsistence. 
She  delved,  she  wove,  she  spun.  Her  daughters 
put  on  calico,  her  sons  wore  jeans.  She  no  longer 
sung  the  old  refrain,  '•Cotton  is  King,"  for  she 
knew  it  was  a  hollow  mockery.  She  abased  herself. 
Her  people  did  not  disdain  the  plough,  the  wash- 
tub  or  any  menial  occupation.  She  counted  the 
bead-roll  of  her  heroes,  she  embroidered  the  ban- 
ner, she  placed  the  flag  in  the  hands  of  her  depart- 
ing sons,  and  turned  aside  to  weep  through  the 
long,  long  nights  that  awaited  her.  She  gave  lier 
jewels  to  cover  the  naked,  bleeding  feet  of  her 
soldiery.  With  blinding  tears  she  scattered  flow- 
ers over  fresh  made  graves,  and  enshrined  in  her 
heart  of  hearts  the  names  of  Rodes,  of  Eddins, 
of  Burton  and  other  of  her  heroes.  Detested 
era  I  Blessed  era  I  Era  of  darkness  and  gloom  I 
Kra  of  light  and  splendor  I  Era,  baptized  in 
l)lood  —  how  we  deplore,  abhor,  honor  thee  I 

But  Peace  came,  and  with  it  a  brighter  day. 
Blood  and  tears  cemented  all  hearts.  She  had 
had  her  gala  day,  and  also  her  day  of  despair. 
Seasoned  by  adversity  she  comes  forth  from  the 
fiery  furnace  more  sober,  more  earnest,  more 
trustful  than  before.  On  honest  toil,  on  prudent 
thrift,  on  careful  and  painstaking  economy,  she 
grounded  lier  hope  of  prosperity.  Like  a  widow 
in  her  weeds,  by  her  unattractiveness  she  hoped  to 
win  her  way  to  place  and  approbation. 

For  three  decades  after  the  war  she  "  made 
haste  slowly."  She  became  an  easy-going  old 
town,  with  good  social  and  educational  advan- 
tages, a  place  to  live  in,  but  not  to  make  a  living. 
Her  sons  went  abroad  to  work,  her  daughters  to 
teach.  By  dint  of  furbishing  she  managed  to 
maintain  a  dingy  respectability.  She  was  re- 
marked ui>on  for  her  culture,  and  merited  and 
attained  the  appellation  of  the  "Athens  of  Ala- 
bama."' In  time  her  trade  grew,  her  shops  multi- 
plied, her  financial  record  was  of  the  best.  By 
indu.<try  and  thrift  her  fortunes  advanced,  there 
came  a  revulsion.  The  "  Magic  City  "  began  to 
emerge  into  prominence.  She  began  to  e.vhibit 
those  auroral  displays  of  prosperity  that  startled 


the  entire  continent.  Iler syren  promises  to  capi- 
tal and  enterprise  were  so  alluring  and  so  trust- 
worthy, that  she  drew  away  hundreds  of  our 
citizens,  and  thousands  of  our  money,  which  had 
lain  idle  in  vaults,  or  had  been  locked  up  in  petty 
enterprises  since  the  war.  The  year  1880  closed  on 
the  city  almost  a  wreck.  Her  business  men, 
soured  by  disappointment,  were  breaking  up,  and 
following  their  investments,  when  suddenly,  and 
most  unexpectedly,  a  new  era  dawned.  Distrust, 
growing  out  of  repeated  failures,  had  broken  up 
cooperative  enterprises.  In  this  year,  too,  prohi- 
bition came  in  to  distract  the  community,  and 
political  acrimony  reached  its  height.  Men,  who 
had  been  life-long  friends,  seemed  rushing  to  ab- 
solute antagonism.  Brought,  thus,  to  the  verge 
of  madness  and  folly,  they  saw  their  peril,  and 
beat  not  too  soon  a  hasty  and  wise  retreat.  Sink- 
ing, for  a  time  at  least,  the  exiting  questions  of 
the  hour,  they  suddenly  agreed  to  ignore  all,  to 
expend  all,  to  dare  all,  for  the  security  and  safety 

of  the  city. 

BANKS. 

There  are  three  banks  in  Tuscaloosa,  viz. :  The 
Bank  of  J.  H.  Fitts  »&  Co.,  the  First  National 
Bank,  and  the  Merchants  Xational  Bank. 

Mr.  J.  H.  Fitts  organized  the  Bank  of  J.  II. 
Fitts  &  C'o.  in  1S05,  with  Mr.  Samuel  A.  Fitts  as 
a  copartner.  This  was  the  first  bank  established 
in  Tuscaloosa  after  the  ever  memorable  crash  of 
1830-37,  and  from  180.5  to  the  year  1873  it  was 
the  only  bank  in  the  city.  Its  affairs  have  been 
managed  with  ability  and  i)rudence,  and  it  was 
one  of  the  banks  which  paid  all  demands  on 
it  in  cnrrency  during  the  money  panic  in  1873. 
Although  its  present  cajiital  is  only  $56,(iOO, 
the  individual  property  of  each  member  is  legally 
liable  for  its  transactions,  which  gives  it  the  high- 
est credit  and  the  entire  confidence  of  the  com- 
munity. 

The  First  National  Bank  was  organized  in  1871. 
Its  incorporators  were  Washington  Moody,  Frank 
Moody,  Dr.  Peter  Bryce,  B.  Friedman,  R.  C.  Mc- 
Lester,  and  others.  Capital  stock,  |iGO,000.  At 
the  death  of  Judge  iloody.  March  31,  187!», 
Frank  S.  Moody  became  president,  and  Mr.  Joe 
McLester  succeeded  him  as  cashier.  On  removal 
of  the  latter  to  Birmingham,  Dr.  John  Little  was 
appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

The  Merchants  National  Bank  of  Tuscaloosa 
was  organized  principally  by  tlie  young  merchants 
of  the  city  February  'J,  1887.     It  opened  its  doors 


518 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


for  business  May  5,  in  the  office  of  the  Land  and 
Loan  Company.  Capital  stock,  flOOjOOO.  It 
moved  into  the  new  Bank  building,  on  Broad 
street,  November  17,  1887. 

Its  officers  are  George  A.  Searcy,  president,  and 
Will  Foster,  cashier. 

HOTELS,   ETC. 

Tuscaloosa  has  two  fine  hotels:  the  Wash- 
ington, which  has  been  long  enough  before 
the  public  to  need  no  description  or  com- 
mendation, and  the  McLester  House,  a  %"25,000 
structure,  which  is  on  the  eve  of  completion. 
The  building  is  four  .stories  high,  has  a  mansard 
roof  and  elevator,  a  mammoth  bay  window,  ex- 
tending from  the  second  floor  to  the  roof,  and  a 
magnificent  glass  tower  of  similar  extent  on  the 
southeast  corner.  It  will  have  all  the  modern 
appliances  for  comfort,  and  even  luxury. 

The  principal  streets  of  Tuscaloosa  are  very 
spacious,  being  120  feet  in  widtli,  and  thickly 
overlaid  with  gravel,  making  them  firm  road- 
beds for  vehicles. 

The  trees  make  Tuscaloosa  the  admiration  of 
every  new-comer.  Her  principal  streets  have  a 
line  of  water-oaks  in  the  middle,  and  one  on  each 
side,  so  as  to  present  the  appearance  and  the  shade 
and  coolness  of  forest  arcades.  This  has  imparted 
to  the  city  the  appellation  of  the  Druid  City,  or 
City  of  Oaks. 

The  Tuscaloosa  Cotton'  Mill  was  organized 
in  1879,  with  a  cash  capital  of  .«;40,n00.  This  mill 
makes  a  specialty  of  dyeing  and  weaving,  buying 
its  yarns  on  a  guarantee  of  their  being  of  the  best 
quality.  This  company  has  from  its  earnings 
nearly  doubled  its  cajiacity,  and  has  declared  and 
paid  dividends  to  its  stockholders  amounting  in 
the  aggregate  to  eighty-one  per  cent,  of  its  origi- 
nal capital.  During  the  eight  years  of  its  present 
administration  it  has  i^aid  out  in  this  community, 
in  salaries  and  for  labor,  over  a  quarter  of  a  million 
of  dollars.  It  has  172  check  or  plaid  looms,  a 
spacious  dye  house,  with  cylinder  drying  machine, 
beaming  room  and  work-shops,  all  run  by  a  150 
horse-power  engine,  made  by  William  Wright,  of 
Newburg,  N.  Y.  The  principal  owners  are  Mr. 
J.  H.  Fitts  and  his  sons.  Its  officers  are:  J.  H. 
Fitts,  president;  Festus  Fitts,  secretary  and  treas- 
urer; and  Arthur  Fitts,  superintendent  and  gen- 
eral manager. 

Tuscaloosa  Coal,  Iron  and  Land  Company 
was  formally  organized  Jan.  15, 1887.    The  capital 


stock  of  the  company  is  $1,000,000,  represented  by 
.33,000  acres  of  mineral  lands,  and  about  4.000  acres 
of  city  and  suburban  lands.  These  form  a  belt  on 
three  sides  of  the  city,  the  Warrior  River  bound- 
ing the  fourth  side.  A  year  ago,  the  lands  were 
old  fields;  now  they  teem  with  a  new  population 
and  new  industries.  Streets  and  avenues  have  been 
opened  and  graded,  and  the  city  has  extended  her 
arms  to  embrace  stores,  lumber  yards,  brick-yards 
and  various  other  enterprises  that  have  sprung  up 
on  her  outskirts  like  magic.  A  hundred  and 
twenty  houses  have  gone  up  in  the  last  twelve 
months,  but  the  demand  for  new  homes  is  undi- 
minished. The  population  has  increased  at  least 
a  thousand  souls  during  the  past  year,  and  there 
has  been  a  steady  augmentation  of  trade. 

Coal. — If  you  will  examine  a  geological  map  of 
the  State  of  Alabama,  you  will  be  struck  with  the 
fact  that  the  lines  of  fracture  which  brought  the 
coal  and  other  minerals  to  the  surface,  converge 
from  a  wide  area  in  North  Alabama  to  Tuscaloosa, 
where  the  Warrior  begins  to  be  navigable.  It 
looks  like  a  vast  funnel,  through  which  the  min- 
eral treasures  of  Alabama  are  poured  into  our  lap, 
to  be  distributed  by  the  Warrior  to  the  cis-Atlan- 
tic  cities.  Brown  and  red  iron  ore,  fire-clay  of 
fine  quality,  limestone  and  coal  have  been  dis- 
covered near  the  city  in  inexhaustible  quantities. 
Within  ten  miles  of  the  city,  veins  of  coal  from 
four  to  six  feet  thick  have  been  found,  some  of 
which  afford  superior  gas  and  steam  coal,  and 
others  a  coking  coal  that  bore  off  the  prize  from 
all  competitors  at  the  Piedmont  Exposition. 

According  to  an  old  number  of  the  Mobile 
Patriot,  coal  was  first  tested  in  Mobile  for  fuel  in 
1830.  It  brought  $9  per  chaldron.  It  was  mined 
from  the  banks  of  North  River.  It  was  at  that 
early  day  considered  by  experts  to  be  "  33^  per 
cent,  better  than  the  Liverpool  Orell  coal." 

Iron. — The  first  Alabama  iron  tested  in  the 
Tuscaloosa  smithies,  was  from  the  iron  works  con- 
ducted by  the  Messrs.  McGehee,  located  about 
twenty-eight  miles  from  this  place,  on  the  line 
between  this  county  and  Jefferson.  It  was  jsro- 
nounced  to  be  of  excellent  quality. 

The  Tuscaloosa  Water  Works  were  organiz- 
ed in  February,  1888,  with  J.  M.  Wilcox,  Macon, 
Ga.,  president;  A.  E.  Boardman,  treasurer;  Wm. 
C.  Fitts,  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  secretary;  the  works 
to  cost  about  $75,000.  The  water  will  be  ob- 
tained from  the  Warrior  River  above  the  Alabama 
Insane  Hospital,  where  powerful  duplex  pumps. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


519 


with  a  capacity  of  a  million  gallons  per  day,  will 
be  jilaced.  The  water  will  be  uonveyed  from  that 
point  through  a  large  main,  and  conducted  into  a 
reservoir,  thirty-five  feet  deep  by  twenty-five  feet 
in  diameter,  to  be  constructed  on  top  of  a  tower  of 
masonry  one  hundred  feet  high.  This  will  furnisii 
works  having  both  a  direct  and  a  reserve  pressure, 
and  when  completed  will  attord  excellent  fire  pro- 
tection, as  well  as  good  and  wholesome  water  for 
domestic  purjioses. 

lUVEH  NAVIGATION'. 

The  Warrior  River  is  generally  navigable  for 
steamboats  as  high  as  Tuscaloosa  for  seven  months 
in  the  year.  Attempts  heretofore  made  for  the 
improvement  of  the  lower  Warrior  have  been 
confined  to  clearing  out  obstructions,  trimming 
the  banks,  etc.  Jiy  the  provisions  of  the  River 
and  Harbor  Bill,  |!l(iO,0(iO  was  set  apart  to  build 
locks  and  dams  in  the  upper  Warrior,  so  as  to 
secure  slack-water  navigation. 

Surveys  have  been  made  and  plans  and  esti- 
mates are  under  consideration  to  open  the  river 
below  Tuscaloosa  to  boats  and  barges  for  twelve 
instead  of  .seven  months  in  the  year.  If  this  work 
is  accomi)lished  and  a  good  system  of  tonnage 
established,  there  is  no  reason,  according  to  the 
carefully  prepared  estimates  of  Col.  Horace  Hard- 
ing, United  States  Engitieer  in  charge,  why  the 
cost  of  transportation  from  Tuscaloosa  to  Mobile 
should  e.xceed  thirty-five  cents  per  ton. 

RAILKOADS. 

The  Alabama  Great  Southern  Railroad,  from 
Chattanooga  to  Meridian;  the  Tuscaloosa  North- 
ern Railroad,  nearly  graded,  and  bridge  piers 
under  contract,  will  connect  with  the  (Jeorgia 
Pacific,  Kansas  City,  Memphis  &  Birmingham, 
and  the  Sheffield  i'^  Tk-catur  Railroads,  at  or  near 
Jasper. 

The  following  are  projected:  'I'he  Ciiicago  (Julf 
Air  Line,  from  Florence  to  .Mobile:  the  Louisville 
&  Nashville  (Mineral),  from  Birmingham  to  Tus- 
caloosa; Houston  (Te.\as),  Natchez,  Macon,  Tusca- 
loosa &  liirmingham;  Montgomery  Northwestern, 
via  Prattville  and  Centreville  to  Tuscaloosa,  and 
to  connect  with  (ieorgia  Pacific,  Kansas  City, 
Memphis  &  Birmingham,  and  the  Sheffield  & 
Decatur  Railroads,  at  or  near  .lasper. 

INDUSTRIES. 

The  Tuscaloosa  Brick  and  'J'ile  Company:  the 
Warrior  Brick  and  Building  Company;    the  T.  K. 


Adams  &  Company  Brick  Yard;  G.  T.  Ingraham's 
Lumber.  Coal  and  Wood  Yard;  Allen  &  .Jemison 
Lumber  and  Planing  Mill;  the  Steam  Cotton  Gin 
of  the  T.  C.  S,  Oil  Mills;  Black's  Suspender  Fac- 
tory. 

The  Tuscaloosa  Street  Railway,  whose  cars  run 
regularly  from  the  Union  Depot  through  the 
heart  of  the  city  to  the  I'niversity  of  Alabama,  the 
Insane  Hospital  and  to  Lake  Lorraine,  a  beautiful 
sheet  of  water  that  nestles  among  the  woody 
knolls  of  Castle  Hill.  This  lake,  which  is  fur- 
nished with  row  and  sail  boats,  and  a  miniature 
steam  yacht,  is  destined  to  become  the  most  poji- 
ular  resort  around  Tuscaloosa. 

The  Tuscaloosa  Belt  Railway  is  furnished  with 
a  dummy  engine  and  a  passenger  car  that  plies 
between  the  depot  and  the  city.  The  line  will  be 
extended  in  time,  so  as  to  make  the  entire  circuit 
of  the  suburban  lands  of  the  T.  C.  L  L.  Company. 

On  the  Tuscaloosa  Northern  Railway,  iron  has 
been  laid  on  the  first  section  and  the  piers  for  a 
stone  and  iron  bridge  across  the  Warrior  placed 
under  contract. 

There  was  a  time  when,  from  the  Falls  of  the 
Warrior  to  Jones'  \'alley  naught  could  be  heard 
but  the  cry  of  the  panther.  Now  the  roar  of  a 
hundred  locomotives  scream  along  the  path.  On 
this  beautiful  plain,  where  once  curled  only  the 
smoke  of  the  lonely  wigvvam,  anon  wiil  be  seen 
the  furnace  belching  its  black  vapors  to  the  sky. 
Tuscaloosa  aspires  to  be  a  (|ueen  among  cities. 
She  is  already  decking  herself  in  the  well-earned 
tiara  of  success.  Placing  one  hand  upon  her  beds 
of  iron,  and  touciiing  with  her  other  her  vast 
deposits  of  coal,  she  is  calling  to  her  sister  city  by 
the  sea,  and  bidding  her  open  her  port  to  receive 
the  mighty  treasure  that  she  will  soon  set  afloat. 


HENRY  De  La  MAR  CLAYTON.  Among  the 
more  di.stinguislicd  and  gallant  oHicers  of  the  Con- 
federate Army,  (ien.  Henry  De  La  Mar  Clayton 
occupied  the  highest  position.  To  him  may 
justly  be  ascribed  the  many  (lualities  of  which  are 
made  great  soldiers.  From  a  private,  he  became, 
through  the  various  gradations  of  military  rank, 
a  General  of  Division.  Only  true  merit,  and  that 
magnificent  courage  he  so  signally  instanced  in 
every  battle,  could  have  lifted  him  into  a  position 
of  such  high  honor,  (ieneral  (May ton  was  born  in 
Pulaski   County,   Georgia,    Marcii   7,   18"^7.     His 


520 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


father  was  Xelson  Clayton,  a  native  of  Georgia, 
but,  for  many  years  prior  to  his  deatli,  a  resident 
of  Lee  County,  Ala.  His  mother  was  Sarah 
•Caruthers.  General  Clayton's  paternal  ancestry 
was  English  and  his  maternal  ancestry  Scotch 
and  French. 

His  father  was  a  farmer  and  repi'esented  Pulaski 
County  in  the  Georgia  Legislature  for  maiiy  years. 
He  moved  to  Alabama,  settling  near  Opelika, 
in  1838,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his 
■death,  in  1869.  He  enjoyed  the  distinction  of 
being  one  of  the  best  farmers  in  the  State.  He 
was  patriotic  and  kind,  never  losing  an  opportun- 
ity to  carry  comfort  and  cheer  to  the  heart  of  the 
soldier.  His  liberality  in  this  direction  was  a 
source  of  much  gratification  to  him  and  to  his 
friends.  At  the  close  of  the  late  war,  he  would 
•carry  a  supply  of  sandwiches  every  day  to  the 
depot  to  distribute  among  the  passing  soldiers, 
who  were  returning  home.  His  home  was  for  the 
time  converted  into  a  hospital  for  the  sick  and 
-wounded.  His  memory  will  ever  be  revered  by 
these  survivors  of  the  conflict,  in  which  his  son 
bore  so  distinguished  a  part.  His  eldest  son, 
Cajst.  Joseph  C.  Clayton,  a  gallant  ofhcer,  received 
his  death-wound  at  Murfreesboro. 

Gen.  H.  D.  Clayton  received  his  early  education 
.at  Vineville,  in  the  suburbs  of  Macon,  Ga.,  at  a 
school  taught  by  Mr.  M.  M.  Mason,  an  instructor 
of  great  celebrity  at  that  day.  His  subsequent 
scholastic  training  was  received  at  Emory  and 
Henry  College,  Virginia,  where  he  was  graduated 
with  distinction,  in  1848.  He  read  law  in  theoffice 
of  Shorter  &  Brother,  a  firm  composed  of  the  Hon. 
■John  Gill  Shorter  and  the  Hon.  Eli  S.  Shorter, 
afterward  a  member  of  Congress,  in  Eufaula,  Ala., 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1849.  He  married, 
in  1850,  Miss  Victoria  V.  Hunter,  the  daughter  of 
Gen.  John  L.  Hunter,  of  Eufaula.  So  attentive 
had  he  been  in  all  of  his  business  affairs  as  to  have 
■acquired  a  considerable  fortune. 

In  185 T  he  was  elected  to  the  Alabama  Legisla- 
ture, without  opposition,  having  received  the 
unanimous  nomination  of  the  Democratic  party, 
to  the  principles  of  which  he  had  always  adhered. 
He  was  re-elected  in  1859.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  House  in  18G1,  and  chairman  of-  the  Military 
Committee  at  the  time  Governor  Moore  called  for 
twelve-months'  volunteers  to  relieve  those  who  had 
■been  called  out  for  thirty  days  to  capture  the  navy 
yard  and  forts  near  Pensacola,  Florida.  A  portion 
•  only  of  the  volunteer  regiment  of  which  he  had 


been  elected  colonel,  was  received  into  the  service. 
As  he  failed  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Gov- 
ernor to  muster  the  whole  regiment  into  service, 
notwithstanding  that  every  company  was  willing 
to  enlist,  he  joined  the  Clayton  Guards,  a  com- 
pany composed  of  his  neighbors  and  friends,  as  a 
private.  As  the  Governor  was  thus  disappointed 
in  securing  Colonel  Clayton's  services  to  the  Leg- 
islature, and  being  convinced  that  he  intended 
going  into  service  at  all  hazards,  sent  him  a  com- 
mission as  aide-de-camp,  with  orders  to  repair  to 
Pensacola,  and  organize  the  Alabama  troops  on 
their  arrival  there  into  regiments.  L"pon  the 
organization  of  the  First  Alabama  Regiment,  he 
was  elected  its  colonel.  Among  the  jjrivates  in 
this  regiment  were  the  Hon.  John  Cochran,  Hon. 
J.  L.  Pugh,  Hon.  E.  C.  Bullock,  Hon.  Thos.  J. 
.Judge,  and  others  of  distinction. 

Colonel  Clayton,  the  period  of  service  of  the 
First  Alabama  having  exjjired,  desiring  more 
active  service,  returned  home  and  organized  the 
Thirty-ninth  Alabama  Regiment,  which  he  com- 
manded in  General  Bragg's  Kentucky  campaign 
in  18G"^,  and  until  after  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro. 
In  this  battle  he  received  a  severe  wound  in  the 
right  shoulder,  and  upon  his  return  to  his  com- 
mand, his  wound  having  partially  healed,  without 
any  previous  knowledge  or  intimation  of  it,  he  was 
commissioned  a  brigadier-general,  and  placed  in 
command  of  a  brigade  composed  of  the  Eigh- 
teenth, Thirty-sixth,  Thirty-eighth,  and  the 
Thirty-second  and  the  Fifty-eighth  (as  one)  regi- 
ments of  Alabama  troops,  and  assigned  to  Gen. 
A.  P.  Stewart's  division. 

Clayton's  brigade  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
battles  of  Chickamauga,  Rocky  Face  Mountain, 
Resaca  and  New  Hope  Church.  In  the  last  named 
engagement  he  succeeded  in  defeating  an  at- 
tempted surprise  of  the  enemy  of  his  division,  for 
which  splendid  achievement  he  was  elevated  to  the 
rank  of  major-general,  and  given  command  of  the 
division  to  which  he  had  been  attached.  General 
Stewart  having  been  promoted  to  lieutenant- 
general,  Clayton's  division  was  composed  of 
Holtzclaw's  (formerly  Clayton's)  and  Baker's  Ala- 
bama brigades,  Stovall's  Georgia  brigade  and  Gib- 
son's Louisiana  brigade.  Clayton's  division  bore 
a  prominent  part  in  the  battles  around  Atlanta, 
Jonesboro  and  at  Nashville. 

General  Clayton  was  several  times  slightly 
wounded,  and  at  Jonesboro  had  three  horses  killed 
under  him,  escajiing  death  or  serious  injury  as  by 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


521 


\ 


a  miracle.  The  day  following  a  very  affecting 
scene  occurred  as  his  division  was  passing  his  old 
regiment,  the  Thirty-ninth  Alabama,  some  of  the 
members  of  which  had  seen  him  fall  from  his 
horse,  as  they  sujiposed  never  to  rise  again.  The 
sight  of  him  alive  and  well  gave  place  to  tlie  most 
extravagant  demonstrations  of  delight,  and  many 
wept  for  very  joy.  The  strongest  exhibition  of 
General  Clayton's  skill,  judgment  and  valor  was 
shown  during  Hood's  retreat  from  Nashville. 
The  Federal  General  Thomas,  in  his  official  re- 
port, mentions  Clayton's  division  in  this  language: 
"The  rear  guard  stood  undaunted  and  firm." 
(icneral  Thomas  admitted  the  killing  and 
wounilingof  ■-i,U()0  Federals  in  front  of  Clayton's 
division. 

I,ieut.-(ien.  .Stephen  D.  Lee,  his  corps  com- 
mander, said  of  General  Clayton:  "I  have  never 
seen  the  personal  gallantry  displayed  by  him  in 
the  battles  of  Jonesboro  and  Nashville  excelled 
during  the  war." 

General  Hragg,  General  Stewart,  Gen.  I).  II. 
Hill,  and  (ieneral  Hindman,  under  whom  he 
served,  often  complimented  him  and  his  com- 
mand. After  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  his 
neighbors  presented  him  with  a  sword  that  cost 
^2,000,  and  the  finest  that  could  be  produced  in 
the  Confederacy,  beautifully  engraved  with  the 
inscription:  "  Presented  to  General  II.  D.  Clay- 
ton by  the  citizens  of  Barbour  County." 

One  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of 
General  Clayton  is  his  pc-fect  devotion  to  what- 
ever he  undertakes.  He  was  re-elected  .Judge,  a 
position  he  had  formerly  held,  in  1S80,  by  the 
almost  unanimous  vote  of  the  Third  Judicial  Cir- 
cuit. He  continued  to  serve  in  this  capacity  un- 
til April  10,  1886,  when  he  resigned  to  become  a 
candidate  for  (iovernor  of  Alabama.  Although 
defeated  at  the  Nominating  Convention,  he  bore 
it  with  calmness  and  retired  to  his  home  at  Clay- 
ton. In  a  few  days  a  dispatch  was  handed  him 
announcing  his  election  as  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama.  The  occasion  of  this  fact  was 
followed  by  numerous  congratulatory  telegrams 
and  letters,  going  to  show  the  great  satisfaction 
experienced  by  his  hosts  of  friends  at  this  bestowal 
of  honor  upon  him.  June  24,  188G,  was  the  dav 
upon  wliich  he  received  notice  of  his  election  as 
President  of  the  University  of  Alabama,  and  it 
was  hailed  with  great  joy  by  the  people  of  Tusca- 
loosa and  the  whole  State  of  .Mabama,  who  have  a 
just  pride  in  the  proper  direction  and  management 


of  their  splendid  and  richly-endowed  institution  of 
learning. 

Under  tlie  General  Clayton's  management,  the 
University  of  Alabama  has  already  shown  marked 
improvement  in  various  directions,  and  the 
number  of  students  of  the  present  session  will 
compare  very  favorable  with  any  in  its  history,  if 
it  does  hot  exceed  any  previous  session.  Gen- 
eral Clayton  fills  the  chair  of  International  and 
Constitutional  Law  as  a  professor  of  the  Univer- 
sity, and  has  had  conferred  upon  him  the  degree 
of  LL.D.  He  is  the  father  of  eleven  children — 
seven  sons  and  four  daughters.  Four  of  the  sons 
are  grown,  two  of  whom  are  farmers,  one  a  prac- 
ticing lawyer,  and  the  other,  a  graduate  of  West 
Point  Military  Academy,  is  a  lieutenant  in  the 
Eleventh  United  States  Infantry.  The  other  sons 
are  at  home — two  attending  the  University  and 
one  a  pupil  of  University  High  School. 

General  Clayton  discharges  his  duties  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  University  of  Alabama  as  he  did  when 
a  soldier,  and  no  greater  praise  can  be  bestowed 
upon  him,  nor  would  he  require  it. 

HENDERSON     M.     SOMERVILLE,     LL.    D. 

Proiiiinciit  ;in)oiig  tlie  new  school  of  lawyers  that 
have  made  their  advent  since  the  war  and  who 
wears  the  mantle  of  such  illustrious  disciples  of 
Themis  as  Lipscomb,  Ormoiid,  (ioldthwaite,  Dar- 
gan,  Chilton, AValker,  Elmore,  and  their  compeers, 
is  Henderson  M.  Somerville,  Associate  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Alabama.  In  juridical 
scholarship  and  forensic  power  he  is  without  a 
superior,  and  the  tiara  of  the  most  brilliant  of 
these  great  lawyers  can  be  gracefully  worn  by  him. 

Judge  Somerville  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1837, 
and  was  brought  to  Alabama  by  his  parents  in 
early  infancy.  His  father  was  Dr.  James  Somer- 
ville, one  of  the  most  distinguished  physicians  of 
his  day,  and  his  mother  was  Miss  Helen  Wallace, 
a  lady  of  illustrious  lineage. 

Judge  Somerville  was  graduated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama  in  the  class  of  18.56,  and  his 
collegiate  course  was  characterized  by  the  logical 
operations  of  a  highly  analytical  mind.  In  1859  he 
took  the  degree  at  the  Lebanon  (Tenn.)  Law  School, 
and  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Memphis.  At 
the  same  time  he  was  political  editor  of  the  ^lem- 
phis  Apimd,  and  his  articles  were  "caustic,  logical 


532 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and  classically  elegant."  From  1863  to  the  close 
of  the  war  he  veiT  ably  filled  the  chair  of  Classics 
and  Mathematics  in  his  Alma  Mater,  and  in  I860 
he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law  with  Judge 
Ormand  and  Mr.  Nicholson.  This  connection 
was  shortly  dissolved,  and  Judge  Sonierville 
formed  a  partnership  with  Capt.  A.  B.  McEachin, 
of  Tuscaloosa.  For  ten  years  this  firm  did  as  lu- 
crative a  practice  as  any  in  West  Alabama.  In 
1873,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  organized  the  Law 
Department  in  the  University.  The  natural  re- 
sult of  his  labors  as  a  teacher  of  the  law  was  to 
refresh  his  mind  with  its  fundamental  principles 
as  enunciated  by  the  great  masters.  Bacon,  Coke 
and  Blackstone,  and  to  augment  his  profound  legal 
learning. 

Judge  Sonierville  came  very  prominently  before 
the  people  of  Alabama  in  1868,  in  defense  of  Eyland 
Randolph,  the  famous  editor, of  the  Tuscaloosa 
Monitor,  tried  before  a  military  commission  in 
Selma,  on  the  charge  of  intimidating  colored  citi- 
zens. The  press  of  that  day  speak  in  the  most 
complimentary  terms  of  his  management  of  this 
case,  and,  while  he  was  already  a  great  lawyer, 
this  was  the  first  complete  recognition  of  the  fact 
by  the  public,  and  since  then  he  has  been  a  poten- 
tial factor  in  the  jurisprudence  of  Alabama.  In 
1877  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  was  conferred  on  him 
by  Georgetown  College,  Kentucky,  and  the  same 
degree  was  conferred  on  him  by  the  University  of 
Alabama  in  1884,  and  by  the  Southwestern  Pres- 
byterian University,  at  Clarksville,  Tenn.,  in  1887. 
He  has  twice  been  elected  vice-president  of  the 
Alabama  Bar  Association.  A  very  able  member 
of  the  Alabama  bar,  in  alluding  to  Judge  Sonier- 
ville, says  he  "is  wonderfully  gifted  in  evolving 
principles  from  abstruse  questions  of  law,  and  in 
deducing  truth  from  confusion  of  facts.  His  legal 
knowledge  is  broad  and  remarkably  accurate;  his 
powers  of  expression  ready,  clear  and  incisive,  and 
the  cast  of  his  mind  eminently  analytical." 

One  of  our  Chancellors,  in  sketching  his  char- 
acter in  1871,  said:  "  As  a  sjjeaker  he  is  fluent, 
forcible,  pointed  and  coi-rect.  His  taste  is  criti- 
cal, and  his  style  more  polished  than  is  usually 
the  case  with  public  speakers  in  this  country. 
His  mind  is  quick,  analytical  and  well  cultivated; 
his  morals  are  upright  and  pure;  his  judgment 
sound,  and  he  has  an  undisguised  contempt  for 
whatever  is  mean  and  low."  For  the  jiast  fifteen 
years  Judge  Sonierville  has  been  an  elder  in  the 
Presbyterian  church,  and  throughout   his  career 


he  has  been  a  faithful  and  zealous  laborer  in  the 
moral  vineyard.  His  intercourse  with  his  fellow- 
man  has  beautifully  illustrated  Bacon's  deduction 
in  his  essay  on  "  Truth  " — "  No  pleasure  is  com- 
parable to  the  standing  on  the  vantage  ground  of 
Truth."  In  1880  he  was  appointed  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Alabama,  and  has  since  been 
elected  to  fill  that  important  office.  The  wisdom 
of  his  selection  has  been  vindicated  by  his  investi- 
gating mind,  legal  erudition,  capacity  to  eliminate 
principles,  tireless  application,  splendid  physique, 
excellent  health,  equable  temperament,  delicate 
sense  of  justice,  fixed  determination  to  discover 
latent  but  i^otential  facts  and  to  penetrate  the 
inmost  recesses  of  subjects  submitted  for  his 
adjudication. 

Judge  Sonierville  was  prominently  spoken  of 
to  fill  the  vacancy  of  the  supreme  bench  of  the 
United  States  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Associate 
Justice  Wood  and  for  the  position  he  received 
the  endorsement  of  an  overwhelming  majority  of 
the  Bar  and  Press  of  the  State.  His  eminent  fit- 
ness for  the  jiosition  is  unquestionable,  and  that 
he  is  the  peer  of  any  member  of  that  august  tribu- 
nal is  equally  beyond  doubt. 


-♦► 


ELIJAH  WOLSEY  PECK,  son  of  David  and 
Christiana  Peck,  was  born  at  Blenheim,  Sehoha- 
rieCounty,  N.Y., August  7,171)9.  Afteracommon- 
school  education  he,  in  1819,  began  the  study  of 
law,  and  in  the  spring  of  1834  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  the  Superior  Court  at  Albany,  N.  Y. 
He  there  continued  jiracticing  in  the  inferior 
courts  until  July,  1834,  when  he  and  another  young 
man  drove  a  buggy  with  a  single  horse  to  Ilunts- 
ville.  After  remaining  in  Huntsville  a  few  weeks, 
and  seeing  no  opportunity  for  a  young  man  with- 
out acquaintance  or  money,  he  procured  a  horse 
and  left  for  Cahaba,  then  the  capital  of  the  State. 
On  his  way  to  Cahaba  he  met  3Ir.  Streeter,  a  mer- 
chant of  Elyton,  who  persuaded  him  to  sta}"  over 
night  with  him,  and  subsequently  induced  him  to 
return  to  and  make  Elyton  his  home.  Soon  after 
settling  at  Elyton,  Peck  was  seized  with  typho- 
malarial  fever  from  which  he  recovered,  after  a 
lingering  illness,  to  find  himself  without  money 
and  in  a  land  of  strangers.  At  that  time  there 
were  two  factions  in  the  county,  the  leaders  of 
which  became  involved  in  a  law  suit,  which  ere- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


523 


ated  a  great'  deal  of  bitter  feeling.  Peck  was 
cniployed  to  represent  one  side.  It  was  due  to  the 
admirable  manner  in  wliicli  he  managed  liis  cause, 
and  tlie  triumph  he  scored,  that  he  never  after- 
ward lacked  for  friends  or  money.  Jle  became 
tlie  leading  lawyer  of  the  county,  and  achieved 
distinction  in  tlie  Supreme  Court.  He  formed  a 
cojiartnership  at  Tuscaloosa  with  Harvey  W. 
Ellis,  and  removed  his  residence  to  that  city  in 
1S3'2.  The  new  firm  secured  a  very  lucrative 
practice,  and  upon  its  dissolution  by  the  death  of 
Ellis,  Peck  and  the  Hon.  Lincoln  Clark  became 
partners,  and  were  associated  up  to  IS-t?. 

About  the  year  1840  Judge  Peck  was  elected 
one  of  the  Chancellors  of  Alabama,  and  held  the 
office  until  184"^.  Up  to  1807  he  continued  in  the 
leading  law  practice  at  Tuscaloosa,  and  amassed  a 
fortune  of  several  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

The  Judge's  mind  was  acute,  analytical,  strong 
and  vigorous.  He  was  a  formidable  opponent  at 
tlie  bar.  and  in  his  practice  as  a  special  pleader 
was  an  antagonist  whom  few,  if  any,  cared  to  en- 
counter. In  politics  he  was  a  Federalist,  a  strict 
follower  of  the  school  of  Ale.xandcr  Hamilton  and, 
in  after  life,  a  great  admirer  of  Henry  Clay.  He 
was  an  earnest  Whig,  intensely  opposed  to  the 
Democratic  party,  and  repudiated  secession.  Dur- 
ing the"  late  war  he  contributed  liberally  to  the 
wants  of  the  wives,  widows  and  orphans  of  the 
soldiers,  but  positively  refused  to  give  anything  in 
aid  of  the  Confederate  cause.  He  was  a  candi- 
date for  Representative  to  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  18G5  from  Tuscaloosa  County,  but  was 
defeated.  In  ISGT,  under  the  Reconstruction  Act, 
he  was  again  a  candidate,  and  was  elected.  Upon 
the  organization  of  the  Convention  he  was  chosen 
its  president,  and  wlien  the  State  election  for 
executive  judicial  officer  was  called  by  that  con- 
vention, he  was  elected  Chief-.Justice  of  Alabama, 
whici)  position  he  held  until  June,  1873. 

Judge  Peck's  address  to  the  members  of  tlie 
State  bar,  .lanuary,  IStJ'.i  (Forty-third  Alabama 
Reports),  commends  itself  to  every  Alabamian. 
It  was  the  first  offer  of  the  olive  branch,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  restoration  of  the  judicial  depart- 
ment of  the  State  long  before  the  political  de- 
partment had  ceased  to  be  oppressive.  Like  all 
great  men,  Judge  Peck  had  many  peculiarities, 
(^uiet,  undemonstrative  and  retiring  in  his  man- 
ners, he  was  never  known  to  do  anything  for  mere 
.show  or  display.  Possessed  of  a  moral  courage 
scarcely  equalled,  he  held  to  his  convictions  with 


unfaltering  tenacity,  and  never  shrank  from  the 
discharge  of  duty,  however  painful,  hazardous  or 
onerous. 

He  lived  honored,  respected  and  esteemed 
among  his  fellow-men,  and  died  at  his  home  in 
Tuscaloosa  February  13,  1888,  in  the  fiill  hope  of 
a  glorious  immortality  as  a  reward  of  a  correct, 
e.xemplary  Christian  life. 

Judge  Peck  was  many  years  a  member  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

«-f^5^"«^ 

WASHINGTON    MOODY.        The     man    who 

achieves  brilliant  success  in  l)usiness  life,  or  rises 
to  eminence  in  a  learned  profession  unaided  by  the 
auxiliary  support  of  rank,  powerful  friends,  or 
scholastic  advantages,  is  a  monument  to  the  intel- 
lectual grandeur  of  his  race.  Such  a  man  was 
Washington  Moody.  He  was  born  in  Mecklen- 
burg County,  Va.,  in  1807,  and  came  with  his 
parents  to  Tuscaloosa  when  a  boy  but  thirteen 
years  old.  Having  soon  after  been  left  one  of  a 
large  family  of  or])hans,  whose  means  of  support 
were  small,  he  commenced  tlie  battle  of  life  with 
little  capital  other  than  that  which  s2irings  from 
honest  purposes,  a  clear  head  and  a  brave  and 
dauntless  heart.  With  an  education  limited  to 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  English  grammar  and 
arithmetic,  and  to  tliree  [months' study  of  Latin 
during  which  he  read  several  books  of  Ca?sar  and 
acquired  some  knowledge  of  Virgil,  he  began  the 
study  of  law.  He  clerked  in  the  postoffice,  and 
did  writing  for  Judges  Minor  and  Crabb,  to  de- 
fray his  current  expenses.  Day  by  day  and  night 
by  night  he  toiled  over  his  books,  never  abating 
his  zeal  and  energy  until  he  had  mastered  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries,  and  become  familiar  with 
the  history  of  his  own  and  that  of  foreign  coun- 
tries. His  range  of  reading  included  the  polite 
literature  of  the  day  and  tlie  classical  learning  of 
past  ages.  He  assisted  Judge  Minor  in  the  pre- 
paration of  his  volume  of  reports,  and  systemati- 
cally i)rogressed  in  tiie  study  of  the  law  until  he 
attained  the  proud  distinction  of  being  one  of  the 
safest  and  soundest  counselors  of  the  Tuscaloosa 
bar.  His  mind,  though  quick  and  penetrating, 
was  pre-eminently  cautious,  acenrate  and  logical, 
and,  consequently,  he  rarely  reached  a  false  judg- 
ment or  an  erroneous  conclusion.  His  speech  was 
deliberate ;  at  times  hesitating ;  but  his  argu- 
ments were  invariably  of  clear  expression. 


524 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  possessed  an  unusually  retentive  memory 
and  a  remarkably  accurate  knowledge  of  fact  and 
date.  His  style  of  writing  was  terse,  polished, 
and  incisive.  Few  men  knew  better  than  him  the 
peculiar  force  and  beauty  of  the  English  language. 
He  was  engaged  in  many  a  gladiatorial  contest  at 
the  bar  with  Ormond,  Peck,  tlie  two  Martins, 
Cochrane  and  Nicholson,  all  of  whom  found  in 
him  a  professional  foeman  worthy  of  their  steel. 
Toward  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  he  retired 
from  the  active  practice  of  law  and  engaged  in 
more  quiet  pursuits.  Honest,  industrious,  and 
economical,  he  had  2:)rospered  in  his  financial 
affairs.  In  the  year  1872,  aided  by  some  of  his 
friends,  he  founded  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Tuscaloosa,  and  was  elected  its  first  president. 
His  own  character  he  impressed  upon  the  conduct 
of  the  bank,  and  gave  to  it  the  reputation  of  being 
a  safe  and  jirudent  institution.  It  is  a  somewhat 
remarkable  fact  that  in  times  of  stringency,  when 
money  could  be  easily  lent  at  one,  one  and  a  half, 
or  even  two  per  cent,  per  month.  Judge  Moody,  as 
the  president  of  that  bank,  adhered  to  his  life- 
long rule  of  charging  at  the  rate  of  only  eight  per 
cent,  per  annum.  For  fifty  years  he  was  connect- 
ed with  most  of  the  public  enterjirises  in  Tusca- 
loosa, and  throughout  that  whole  time  no  stain 
ever  soiled  his  business  character.  He  rendered 
unto  every  man  his  due,  lind  often  more. 

He  was  firm  and  decided,  but  kind  and  gentle. 
Young  men  of  limited  means,  struggling  to  acquire 
an  education  had  for  him  a  peculiar  attraction, 
and  toward  thgm  he  was  ever  ready  to  turn  a  lis- 
tening ear.  He  was  a  fond  husband  and  a  devoted 
father,  and  in  all  his  social  relations  he  was  kind 
and  sympathetic. 

He  died  suddenly  of  apojjlexy  at  his  home  in 
Tuscaloosa,  on  March  31,  18T9.  At  a  meeting 
called  in  honor  of  his  memory  by  the  Tuscaloosa 
bar,  the  following  touching  remarks  were  made 
by  the  Hon.  E.  W.  Peck,  who  became  eminent  as 
a  lawyer  and  a  Jurist  in  the  same  courts  of  law 
which  witnessed  the  rise  and  success  of  Judge 
Washington  Moody: 

'•■  Gentlemen  of  the  Bar:  We  have  come  to- 
gether to  pay  a  becoming  tribute  of  resi^ect  to  the 
memor}'  of  our  deceased  professional  friend  and 
brother,  Hon.  Washington  Moody,  who,  by  an  in- 
scrutable and  startling  Providence,  has  been  so  sud- 
denly taken  from  among  us.  I  have  known  Judge 
Moody  some  fifty  years — longer,  I  have  no  doubt, 
than  any  one   in  this  assembly.     When  I  first 


knew  him  he  was  quite  a  young  man,  and  was 
reading  law  with  the  late  General  Crabb,  of  this 
city,  and  writing  in  the  office,  I  suppose  to  help 
jsay  his  way;  for,  like  many,  and  perhaps  most,  of 
the  earlier  members  of  the  bar  in  this  State,  he 
began  the  struggle  of  professional  life  poor. 

"Judge  Moody,  in  some  respects,  was  a  remark- 
able man — a  striking  example  of  what  may  be 
accomplished  by  industry,  economy  and  perse- 
verance, aided  by  a  good  judgment.  Without 
any  of  those  factitious  heljjs  which  sometimes 
usher  a  young  man  into  public  notice  and  give 
him  fame  and  fortune.  Judge  Moody,  by  his  own 
unassisted  energies,  with  a  good  character,  which 
he  has  left  without  stain  or  blemish  as  an  ines- 
timable heritage  to  his  children,  secured  a  reason- 
able share  of  both.  During  a  long  life,  actively 
engaged  in  professional  and  much  other  import- 
ant business.  Judge  Moody  merited  and  enjoyed, 
among  his  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens,  the  rep- 
utation of  an  honest  and  honorable  man.  For 
the  many  vii'tues  of  our  deceased  brother,  let  us 
(it  is  grateful  for  us  to  do  so)  put  on  record  a  just 
and  generous  testimony  of  our  sincere  regard  for 
his  memory,  and  convey  to  his  family  our  deep 
and  heart-felt  symjDathy  in  their  affliction." 


BENJAMIN  F.  MEEK,  A.  M.,  LL.  D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  English  lianguage  and  Literature  in 
the  University  of  Alabama,  was  born  at  Tusca- 
loosa, this  State,  September  20,  183').  His  father 
was  the  Kev.  Samuel  M.  Meek,  M.  D.,  many 
years  a  iirominent  divine  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church.  He  came  from  South  Carolina  to 
Tuscaloosa  in  1819,  and  here  jiracticed  medicine 
many  years  in  addition  to  filling  the  pulpit  at 
various  places.  In  the  latter  years  of  his  life  he 
united  with  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  of 
which  he  was  a  minister  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1846.  His  wife,  Annie  A. 
(McDowell)  Meek,  was  a  native  of  Charleston,  S. 
C,  and  like  her  husband,  was  descended  from  the 
Scotch-Irish.  Their  eldest  son,  Alex.  B.  Meek, 
figures  i^rominently  in  the  history  of  this  State. 
He  was  many  years  the  Judge  of  the  Probate 
Court  at  Mobile,  and  a  member  of  the  Alabama 
Legislature  from  1853  to  1855,  and  again  from 
18G1  to  18G3.  In  the  latter  years  he  was  SjDeaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  was  recog- 
nized as  the  founder  of  the  public  school  system 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


525 


of  Alabama.  In  1845-6,  while  James  K.  Polk  was 
i'resitlent,  he  was  connected  with  the  'rreasurv 
I)e|>artinent  at  Wasliingtou,  and  in  184T-M  was 
I'nitod  States  District  Attorney  for  the  Southern 
District  of  Alabama.  lie  had  served  as  Attor- 
ney-deneral  in  le;!'),  being  appointed  thereto  by 
(Jovernor  Clay.  From  1S40  to  1853  he  was  editor 
of  the  Mobile  Register,  but  he  is  better  known  to 
the  literary  world  as  the  author  of  "  Red  Eagle,"' 
"  ]?omantic  Passages  in  South-Western  History," 
and  "  Songs  and  Poems  of  the  South.''  He  died 
at  Columbus,  Miss.,  November  1.  ISiIS. 

.fohii  William  Meek,  M.  D.,  another  brother, 
was  a  prominent  practitioner  of  medicine.  He 
died  in  1S50.  Samuel  M.  Meek,  now  of  Colum- 
Inis,  Miss.,  a  noted  criminal  lawyer,  was  lieuten- 
ant-colonel of  the  Thirty-fifth  Jlississippi  Regi- 
ment during  the  war.  Henry  F.  Meek,  a  profes- 
sional teacher,  died  at  Lauderdale  Springs,  iliss., 
while  yet  a  young  man. 

Benjamin  F.  Meek,  whose  name  heads  this 
.-sketch,  was  the  youngest  of  the  family  of  five  sons. 
He,  as  were  his  four  brothers,  was  graduated  from 
the  State  University,  taking  his  degree  in  July. 
1854.  The  degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  upon 
him  by  the  University  of  Mississippi  in  18T!t.  He 
has  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  as  an  educa- 
tor, and  is  recognized  by  the  brightest  minds  in 
tiie  State  as  standing  at  the  head  of  his  profession. 
He  was  connected  with  the  State  University  as 
assistant  professor  of  Ancient  Languages  from 
1803  to  18<i5.  From  18(i8  to  1870,  inclusive,  he 
Was  professor  of  Ancient  Languages  in  the  Flor- 
ence Wesleyan  University,  coming  from  there  to 
his  present  position  in  1S71. 

Professor  Jfeek  is  an  eloquent  and  forcible  speak- 
er, a  terse  and  vigorous  writer,  a  brilliant  scholar, 
and  is  more  than  ordinarily  endowed  with  all  of 
the  essential  pre-requisites  that  go  to  fit  him  for 
the  chosen  profession  of  his  life.  He  is  a  member 
of  \.  0.  0  F.,  a  regular  communicant  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  has  been  super- 
intendent of  the  Sabbath-school  for  more  than 
twenty  consecutive  years.  He  was  appointed  the 
lay  delegate  from  the  North  Alabama  Conference 
to  the  .Methodist  Ecumenical  Conference  held  at 
TiOndou.  England. 

■  ■    ■>■  ;^^.0'  ■ 

ROBERT  A.  HARDAWAY,  Professor  of  Civil 
Kngineering,   rniversitv  <>f  Alabannx,  is  a  native 


of  Morgan  County,  Ga.,  where  he  was  born 
February  2,  1829.  Hisfather  was  the  Hon.  Robert 
S.  Hardaway,  native  of  Virginia,  and  many  years 
member  of  the  Alabanui  State  Senate. 

Robert  A.  Hardaway  was  educated  at  the  Jesuit 
College  (St.  Joseph),  Mobile,  and  Emory  College, 
Georgia,  graduating  from  the  latter  institution  in 
184T.  Of  him,  Mr.  Brewer,  in  his  "Alabama," 
says  :  '*He  went  to  Mexico  as  an  otticerof  Seibe's 
Battalion,  and  distinguished  himself  as  an  officerof 
artillery  in  Virginia  during  the  late  war,  rising 
to  the  rank  of  colonel.  From  the  first  Manassas, 
where  he  was  not  actively  engaged,  to  his  sur- 
render at  Appomattox,  he  was  a  participant  in, 
or  was  present  at,  forty-one  engagement.s,  in- 
cluding all  the  great  battles  of  tlie  Army  of 
North  Virginia.  And  the  guns  of  the  Third 
Richmond  Howitzers,  a  company  of  his  artillery 
regiment,  tired  the  last  shot  of  that  immortal 
army  at  Appomatto.x." 

During  the  war  with  Mexico,  he  held  the 
rank  of  adjutant  of  Alabama  \'olunteers;  and  he 
was  chief  civil  engineer  and  superintendent  of  the 
Mobile  &  Girard  Railroad  from  185U  to  1857.  At 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  between  the  States,  he 
left  his  plantation  to  become  captain  of  artillery 
from  Alabama,  and  on  December  5,  l.si;2,  was 
promoted,  for  distinguished  service,  to  the  rank  of 
major,  in  the  Confederate  States  Army,  and  as- 
signed to  the  First  Regiment  of  Virginia  Artillery, 
Second  Corps  A.  X.  V.  The  colonel  and  major 
of  his  regiment  having  been  killed  during  the 
battles  of  the  Wilderness  and  Spotsylvania,  he 
was  assigned  to  the  permanent  command  as  lieu- 
tenant-colonel; he  had,  however,  been  for  some 
time,  and  up  to  the  date  of  his  promotion,  in 
command  of  the  regiment.  After  the  "  Wilder- 
ness" the  regiment  was  reorganized,  and  became 
"  Hardaway's  Battalion,"  by  which  name  it  was 
known  thereafter  to  the  close  of  the  war.  As  de- 
tailed by  Mr.  Brewer,  a  part  of  this  command 
fired  the  last  shot  at  Appomattox,  aiul  it  still 
retains  its  organization  as  the  Howitzer  Battalion 
of  Richmond,  ^'a. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war,  he  was 
appointed  chief  engineer  and  superintendent 
of  the  East  Alabama  Railroad,  and  held  that  posi- 
tion four  years.  From  1S72  to  1881,  he  was  com- 
mandant and  professor  of  engineering  of  the  State 
College,  at  Auburn,  and  from  there  took  a  posi- 
tion in  the  engineering  department  of  the  'i'am- 
pico    Division  of  the  Mexican  Central  Railroad, 


526 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


where  he  remained  until  he  came  to  his  present 
position  with  the  State  University,  October  1, 
1882. 

As  civil  engineer  and  professional  educator,  no 
man  in  the  South,  if  indeed  in  the  United  States, 
ranks  higher  than  Colonel  Hardaway.  Of  the 
hundreds  of  young  men  educated  under  and  by 
him,  many  of  them  are  now  filling  successfully 
high  and  important  positions  in  various  parts  of 
the  world.  As  a  soldier,  lie  was  brave,  chivalrous 
and  efficient,  and  a  complete  history  of  his  life 
would  make  a  volume  of  entertaining  and  instruct- 
ive literature. 

Colonel  Hardaway  was  married  June,  1857,  at 
Columbus,  Ga.,  to  Miss  Hurt.     She  died  in  1887. 

The  Colonel's  two  sons,  R.  E.  and  Benjamin 
H.  Hardway,  are  both  professional  civil  engineers, 
and  the  latter  is  now  chief  engineer  of  the  East 
Alabama  Railroad. 

SUMNER   B.    FOSTER,   the  son   of  the   Rev. 

Joshua  Hill  Foster,  a  distinguished  professor  of 
Natural  Pliilosophy  and  Astronomy  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alabama,  was  born  at  Tuscaloosa,  October 
15,  1854.  His  mother  was  Frances  C.  Bacon. 
Professor  Foster's  ancestors  were  English,  and 
among  the  earliest  settlers  in  Tuscaloosa  County. 
He  was  prepared  for  college  under  the  instruction 
of  Dr.  Meek  and  the  Rev.  J.  T.  Yerby.  He  at- 
tended Howard  College  in  1871-72,  and  entered 
the  University  of  Alabama,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  1876  with  the  degree  of  A.M.  in  the 
literary  and  LL.B.  in  the  law  department.  After 
graduation,  he  taught,  in  connection  with  Professor 
Dill,  a  high  school- for  boys,  subsequently  becom- 
ing its  principal.  After  this,  he  took  charge  of 
the  Institute  at  Union  Springs,  Alabama,  with 
Professor  Dill.  He  assumed  the  presidency  and  the 
chair  of  Mathematics  and  Xatural  Sciences  of 
the  Alabama  Central  Female  College,  with  Dr.  G. 
W.  Thomas,  vice-principal,  in  1885. 

Professor  Foster  is  endowed  with  rare  mental 
culture,  and  has  proven  equal  to  the  task  of  con- 
ducting the  celebrated  institution  of  which  he  is 
president.  As  an  educator,  few  young  men  of 
the  South  are  more  justly  celebrated,  and  he  is 
destined  to  take  high  rank  in  the  list  of  those  who 
have  given  their  lives  to  the  cause  of  knowledge 
and  its  proper  dissemination  in  the  minds  of  youth. 


The  curriculum  of  the  College  is  thorough,  and 
Professor  Foster  is  ably  assisted  in  his  duties  by  a 
corps  of  competent  teachers  for  the  various  depart- 
ments involved  in  a  young  lady's  thorough  educa- 
tion. 

W.  C.  RICHARDSON  was  born  in  Maysville,  Ky., 
June  "'3,  ls-<!o.  His  father  was  Thomas  Gaines- 
Richardson,  and  his  mother  Sarah  (Peri'v)  Rich- 
ardson. 

The  ancestors  of  his  father  were  English;  those 
of  his  mother  of  Welsh  extraction,  and  were  among 
the  settlers  of  Culpeper  County,  Va.,  at  an  early 
period  in  the  history  of  that  State.  The  descend- 
ants of  both  families  removed  to  Kentucky  toward 
the  end  of  tlie  eighteenth  century.  The  father  of 
W.  C.  Richardson,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
a  large  tob  icco  manufacturer;  at  a  later  date  a 
contractor  and  builder,  and  many  of  the  older 
structures  in  Maysville,  notably  the  market,  the 
academy  and  the  first  bank  building,  were  designed 
and  erected  by  him.  The  mother  was  born  in 
Woodford  County,  Ky.,  between  Versailles  and 
Lexington,  in  the  heart  of  the ''Blue  Grass  re- 
gion," on  a  farm  adjoining  the  celebrated  Ashland 
estate.  She  was  a  relative  of  the  distinguished 
Lee  family  of  Virginia,  and  also  of  Bland  Ballard, 
a  noted  Indian  fighter  of  the  '"dark  and  bloody 
ground." 

The  father  came  to  Alabama  about  the  year 
1837,  and  entered  his  three  sons,  Austin  W.,  War- 
field  C.  and  Wilson  G.,  at  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama, where  they  were  graduated  with  distinction. 
Professor  Richardson  early  embarked  in  teaching 
and  steadily  followed  that  honorable  vocation  until 
1878.  He  was  twice  connected  with  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alabama  —  once  as  a  lecturer  on  Chemistry 
and  Geology,  and  later  as  an  instructor  in  Greek, 
and  was  in  active  service  there  wlien  Croxton's 
raiders  burnt  and  destroyed  the  buildings.  He 
received  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  from  the  Agricul- 
tural and  ^fechanical  College,  at  Auburn,  Ala. 

In  his  earlier  life.  Dr.  Richardson  was  an  ardent 
devotee  of  the  muses  and  is  the  author  of  "  (ias- 
par,"  a  romauht,  a  jjoem  written  in  the  verse 
known  as  the  olfava  rima  of  the  Italians.  This 
production  clearly  evidences  the  poetic  genius  and 
ripe  knowledge  of  Dr.  Richardson  at  an  age  when 
men  are  rather  inclined  to  frivolous  amusement 
than  to  sober  reflection  and  its  concomitant  ad- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


527 


vantagps.  Had  the  learned  doctor  persisted  in 
wooing  the  chartning  idealistic  fancies  which  con- 
stitutes so  important  and  predominant  an  element 
of  his  nature,  his  name  would  have  descended  to 
the  ages  as  one  of  the  leading  American  poets. 

The  Doctor  was  however,  at  a  later  period,  in- 
duced hv  the  Alabama  Historical  Society  to  write 
"The  Fall  of  the  Alamo,"  an  epic,  which  has  not 
as  yet  appeared  in  j)rint.  He  has  from  time  to 
time  contributed  very  creditable  minor  articles  to 
the  leading  American  magazines,  which  have  at- 
tracted much  'attention  from  the  literati  of  this 
country  and  Europe. 

Dr.  liichardson  was  married,  in  the  year  \%hh, 
at  Camden,  Wilcox  County,  Ala.,  to  iliss  Kate 
C.  Jones,  a  lady  of  rare  worth  and  intelligence. 
Her  father  was  the  Kev.  J.  C.  Jones,  and  her 
brothers  are  men  of  prominence  in  Alabama. 
Three  children  have  been  born  to  thi.s  union,  a 
son.  Clement  \V. .  and  two  daughters,  Lucy  Belle 
and  Ida  May.  The  former  daughter,  some  years 
ago,  married  Mr.  J,  C.  Harrison,  of  Tuscaloosa, 
and  the  latter,  quite  recently,  ilr.  Sterling  A. 
Wood,  of  Birmingham,  Ala.  For  several  years. 
Dr.  Richard-son  has  been  successfully  engaged  in 
the  book  and  stationery  business.  His  store  is  the 
resort  of  old  friends,  and  he  never  appears  so 
happy  as  when  enlivened  by  their  presence  and 
their  friendly  converse.  Dr.  Richardson  is  truly 
a  man  of  letters  and  a  gentleman  in  every  rela- 
tion of  life.  To  visit  Tuscaloosa  without  meeting 
him  would  be  to  the  literatteiir  and  savant  a  mis- 
fortune indeed. 

He  delights  to  dwell  upon  the  glories  of  the 
past,  which  are  yet  green  in  his  memory,  and  to 
recall  his  youthful  days  at  school.  Xo  man  is 
more  beloved  by  the  people  of  Tuscaloosa  than 
thi.-i  venerable  educator  and  literary  genius,  and 
no  man  to  whom  they  are  ever  more  willing  to 
pay  a  grateful   homage. 

— — *— •^^-*-— 

WILLIAM  H.  VERNER,  the  son  of  E.  P.  Ver- 
ncr  and  i'.inily  C.  ( l'oster|  Verner,  was  born  at 
Walhalla,  Oconee  County,  S.  C,  August  31,  ls4(i. 
His  early  education  was  received  at  various  pri- 
vate schools.  He  was  graduated  from  Davidson 
College.  N.  C,  in  18(i!i,  with  the  degree  of  A.  B., 
and  three  years  later  with  the  degree  of  A.  M. 
He  enlisted  in  the  military  service  of  the  Confed- 


eracy as  captain  of  a  company  of  cavalry,  in  the 
Nineteenth  South  Carolina  Regiment  in  lSfi4,  and 
served  witli  distinction  to  the  close  of  the  conflict. 
Ifeturning  to  civil  life  he  taught  a  school  in 
Eutaw,  Ala.,  where  he  had  located,  and  afterward 
at  Pleasant  Ridge,  w-here  he  was  principal  of  the 
celebrated  Archibald  Institute.  He  came  to  Tus- 
caloosa in  1877.  and  conducted  a  High  Sdiool  for 
boys,  and  in  1886  established  the  University  High 
School  as  a  i)rcparatory  school  for  the  University 
of  Alabama. 

Professor  Verner  has  demonstrated  great  ability 
and  efficiency  as  an  instructor,  and  his  institution 
is  noted  as  being  a  model  school  for  training  young 
men  and  boys  for  higher  scholastic  attainments, 
as  well  as  in  the  true  essentials  of  morals  and  the 
true  princijdes  of  manhood.  Professor  Verner 
married  Miss  Julia  L.  Oliver,  of  (ireene  County, 
Ala.,  in  is;."),  and  has  three  children. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  a 
deacon  and  president  of  the  Board  of  Deacons. 
His  parents  are  still  living  on  the  old  homestead 
|n  South  Carolina,  and  are  proud  of  their  son  who 
holds  high  rank  among  the  great  educators  of  the 
South. 

— — •^•— S^j^-^* — — 

ALONZO  HILL,  the  son  of  Thomas  J.  Hill  and 
Martha  Foster,  was  born  in  Tuscaloosa  County, 
Ala.,  April  1,  1846.  His  early  education  was 
received  at  Manly  Academy  and  the  famous  Green 
Springs  school  under  the  learned  Dr.  Tutwiler. 
He  was  graduated  with  distinction  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia  and  had  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  by  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama. His  career  as  a  teacher  began  at  Bellevue 
High  School,  near  Lynchburg,  Va.,  and  was  con- 
tinued by  meritorious  service  in  the  Oreen 
Springs  School,  Alabama,  and  Calhoun  Institute, 
Macon,  .Miss,  In  1876,  Professor  Hill  purchased 
the  property  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Female  College, 
which,  as  its  president,  he  has  since  conducted  in 
a  manner  to  command  the  highest  laudation  of  its 
patrons.  The  session  of  lSS(;-7  of  this  institution 
was  especially  a  prosperous  one,  and  is  to  be  fol- 
lowed bv  the  present  session  in  a  record  of  greatly 
increased  attendance  and  a  much  improved  curri- 
culum. 

Among  the  great  educators  of  the  South,  no 
man  has  been  more  entitled  to  merit  than  Profes- 
sor Hill,  who  has  amply  demonstrated  his  ability 


528 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


to  satisfactorily  meet  so  grave  a  responsibility  as 
is  involved  in  the  management  and  direction  of 
the  institution  created  and  fostered  hyhim.  Pro- 
fessor Hill  has  succeeded  in  securing  the  services 
of  the  ablest  and  most  experienced  educators  in 
the  various  departments,  which,  under  his  super- 
vision and  control,  presupposes  the  acquisition  of 
a  thorough  scholastic  training.  Young  ladies 
are,  through  the  systems  here  practiced,  fitted  for 
the  affairs  of  life  in  which  nature  or  art  may 
direct  them,  and  are  taught,  above  all  things,  how 
essential  are  morals  and  manners  to  the  security 
and  integrity  of  woman. 

Professor  Hill  served  his  country  in  her  hour  of 
direst  need.  As  a  private  soldier  of  the  Second 
Alabama  Cavalry,  he  passed  through  the  fiery 
ordeal.  He  married,  in  1873,  Miss  Sallie  B.  Rob- 
ertson, of  Charlottesville,  Va.,  and  has  four  chil- 
dren. 

The  identity  which  has  ever  attached  to  the 
English  race  is  con.spicuously  instanced  in  Professor 
Hill,  who,  while  a  dignified  and  learned  gentle- 
man, is  still  so  staunch  an  advocate  of  duty  as  to 
permit  no  invasion  of  what  he  rightfully  esteems 
its  sacred  relation.  A  devout  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  he  is  not,  nevertheless,  inclined 
to  be  sectarian  or  dogmatic,  and  permits  his  pupils 
to  attend  any  church  toward  which  natural  train- 
ing or  proper  prompting  may  lead  them. 

Tuscaloosa  may  well  be  proud  of  this  most  ex- 
cellent tutor  of  the  female  mind,  and  to  him 
should  ascribe  the  honor  and  renown  he  has  so 
worthily  won,  but  which  his  innate  modesty  would 
cause  him  to  disclaim. 

THOMAS  CHALMERS  McCORVEY.  Among 
the  prominent  young  men  of  Alabama,  who  have 
grown  to  manhood  since  the  close  of  the  war  be- 
tween the  States,  there  is  no  one  better  or  more 
favorably  known  than  Col.  Thomas  C.  McCorvey, 
A.M.,  LL.B.,  who  now  fills  the  position  of  Com- 
mandant of  Cadets  and  Professor  of  Mental  and 
Moral  Philosophy  and  Political  Economy  in  the 
University  of  Alabama.  As  his  name  indicates, 
Colonel  ^IcCorvey  is  of  Scotch  descent.  His 
grandparents  on  both  sides  came  from  North  Car- 
olina and  settled  in  Monroe  County  in  this  State 
in  1818 — about  the  time  that  Alabama  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  Union.     His  father  was  the  Hon. 


Murdoch  McCorvey,  who  was  for  fifteen  years  the 
Judge  of  Probate  of  Monroe  County,  and  it  was 
under  the  personal  supervision  of  his  father  that 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  prepared  for  col- 
lege. 

Colonel  McCorvey  was  born  in  Monroe  County, 
near  the  spot  where  his  grandfather  had  settled 
nearly  a  half  century  before,  and  his  boyhood  was 
spent  in  that  county.  In  the  fall  of  1870  he  en- 
tered the  sophomore  class  in  Erskine  College, 
South  Carolina:  but  when  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama was  rescued  from  the  mismanagement  of 
the  "  Reconstruction  "  era,  he  returned  and  en- 
tered that  institution,  from  which  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  the  class  of  1873,  with  high  academic  hon- 
ors and  as  captain  of  Company  C  in  the  Univer- 
sity Corps  of  Cadets.  Only  three  days  after  re- 
ceiving his  diploma,  and  without  his  solicitation, 
or  even  his  knowledge,  he  was  elected  to  the  posi- 
tion he  now  holds,  and  he  entered  upou  the  dis- 
charge of  his  difficult  duties  before  he  had  reached 
his  majority — at  a  time  when  there  were  a  num- 
ber of  cadets  in  the  corps  older  than  himself. 

In  1875  Colonel  McCorvey  was  graduated  in  the 
University  Law  School,  and  at  that  time  it  was 
his  intention  to  enter  the  practice  of  law;  but  he 
subsequently  decided  to  retain  his  position  in  the 
University.  In  1880  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Netta  L.  Tutwiler,  a  daughter  of  the  distin- 
guished scholar  and  educator.  Prof.  Henry  Tut- 
wiler, LL.D.,  who  was  the  first  Professor  of 
Ancient  Languages  in  the  University  of  Alabama, 
and  the  founder  of  the  famous  Green  Springs 
High  Schools.  In  1880  President  Cleveland  ap- 
pointed Colonel  McCorvey  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Visitors  to  the  United  States  ^Military  Academy 
at  West  Point. 

From  boyhood  Colonel  McCorvey  has  had  a  de- 
cided taste  for  literary  and  journalistic  work,  and 
he  has  been  a  paid  contributor  of  occasional  arti- 
cles upou  historical,  political  and  literary  subjects 
to  the  Xew  York  Nation,  The  Herald,  Tlie  Sun, 
Hie  Home  Journal,  the  Xew  Orleans  Times-Demo- 
crat, and  other  leading  publications. 

The  present  prosperity  of  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama is  in  a  large  measure  due  to  Colonel  McCor- 
vey's  able  and  efficient  services  as  Commandant 
of  Cadets.  To  keep  two  liundred  and  fifty  cadets 
under  good  discijiline  requires  such  decision  of 
character  and  thorough  knowledge  of  the  various 
phases  of  human  nature  as  are  rarely  found  com- 
bined in  one  individual.     The  hundreds  of  young 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


529 


men  tliroughout  Alabama  and  the  South  wlio  have 
been  under  liis  command,  bear  testimony  to  his 
;idmirable  executive  ability.  It  was  under  Colonel 
.McCorvey's  supervision  that  the  famous  ''Com- 
}iaiiy  E  "  of  University  Cadets,  was  trained  —  a 
company  which,  under  the  immediate  command 
of  C'adet  Captain  L.  ^'.  Clark,  carried  otT  the  first 
prize  at  the  New  Orleans  Kxposition  Prize  Drill, 
und  won  the  most  unqualided  praise  for  drill  and 
discipline  in  the  otticial  report  of  the  United 
States  Army  oflicers  who  acted  as  judges  upon 
that  occasion. 

It  is  in  the  lecture  room,  however,  that  Colonel 
McCorvey  impresses  himself  most  npon  the  minds 
and  characters  of  the  young  men  with  whom  he  is 
brought  in  contact.  As  a  teacher  of  Philosophy 
he  is  thoroughly  informed,  and  his  lectures  are 
clear,  forcible  and  entertaining.  He  has  the  art 
of  enlisting  the  deepest  interest  of  his  students  in 
the  subjects  wiiich  he  teaches.  Political  Economy 
is  his  special  delight,  and  his  broad  and  accurate 
acquaintance  with  its  principles  and  his  ajit  illus- 
trations make  a  lasting  impression  upon  his  stn- 
<ients. 

In  personal  appearance  Colonel  McCorvey  shows 
his  Celtic  blood.  He  is  tall,  erect  and  muscular. 
In  the  full  uniform  of  his  rank  he  presents  a  com- 
manding military  appearance. 

— ~-»-fagi^-^ — ^ 

DR.  DAVID  L.  FOSTER,  tlie  son  of  J.  Eilis 

and  Susan  A.  Foster,  was  born  at  Monticello,  Ga., 
October  'It,  1831.  lie  removed  with  his  parents 
to  Tuscaloosa  in  l.s:54.  His  education  was  re- 
ceived at  the  University  of  Alabama,  and  he  was 
graduated  from  that  institution  in  1853.  In  18.57 
he  received  his  diplomaas  M.l).  from  the  .letTerson 
.Medical  College  of  Philadelphia,  and  commenced 
the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Mobile.  He  re- 
turned to  Tuscaloosa  in  1800,  where  he  has  since 
liveil.  Dr.  Foster  was  in  1804  married  to  Miss 
Maria  Bealle,  of  a  distinguished  Maryland  family. 
He  has  been  surgeon  to  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama since  1877,  and  has  proven  a  vigilant  and 
faithful  officer  of  his  Alma  Mater.  Dr.  Foster 
enjoys  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  and  is  highly 
esteemed  as  a  physician  and  a  gentleman  of  cul- 
ture. He  has  four  children.  His  eldest  son, 
(ilenn.  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama, and  is  a  book-keeper  in  the  Merchants  Na- 


tional Bank  of  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.  Dr.  Foster  is  a 
member  of  the  Medical  Society  and  of  the  Board 
of  Health  of  Tuscaloosa.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church  and  is  a  Knight  Templar. 

■    ■  »>— ?^^-  <»  ■    ■ 

STERLING   ALEXANDER    MARTIN    WOOD, 

son  of  Alexander  H.  Wood,  of  Kichniond,  Va., 
and  Mary  E.  (Evans)  Wood,  a  native  of  Wolver- 
hampton, England,  was  born  at  Florence,  Lauder- 
dale County,  Ala.,  on  March  17,  18^3.  His 
jiaternal  ancestry  was  English  and  his  maternal 
origin  Welsh.  His  maternal  grandfather  was  a 
major  in  the  English  Army,  who  served  in  Am- 
erica during  the  devolution,  and  who  was  placed 
in  charge  of  the  military  stores  belonging  to  the 
British  Government  in  New  York  at  the  close  of 
hostilities,  afterward  returning  to  England.  He 
died  at  sea  on  his  voyage  to  this  country,  whither 
he  was  proceeding  to  settle.  The  paternal  grand- 
father, Leigh  ton  W'ood,  an  early  resident  of 
Philadelphia,  became  a  citizen  of  Richmond,  Va., 
in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
engaged  in  literary  pursuits,  assisting  Chief-Jus- 
tice ilarshall  in  the  preparation  and  revision  of 
the  '•  Life  of  Washington."  The  father,  Alex- 
ander H.  Wood,  was  born  in  tlie  historic  city  of 
Richmond,  Va.,  in  1795,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
noted  Richmond  Artillery,  one  of  the  more  promi- 
nent military  organizations  participating  in  the 
war  with  (ireat  Britain  in  181'^.  At  the  close  of 
the  conflict  he  removed  to  Xashville,  Tenn., 
where  he  married  Miss  JIary  E.  Evans,  as  has 
been  stated,  subsequently  locating  at  Florence, 
Ala.,  with  .Tames  Jackson,  James  and  Thomas 
Kirkman  and  Gen.  John  Coffee,  all  of  whom  had 
been  induced,  by  the  advice  of  the  celebrated  Gen. 
.\ndrew  Jackson,  to  cast  their  fortunes  with  that 
auspicious  settlement.  When,  in  18:S0.  (General 
Jackson  visited  the  infant  town,  since  grown  into 
prominence,  and  now  taking  conspicuous  posi- 
tion among  the  rising  cities  and  towns  of  Xortli 
Alabama,  xMexander  II.  Wood,  although  ac- 
counted one  of  the  staunchest  Whigs  of  that  sec- 
tion, was  appointed  chairman  of  one  of  the  recep- 
tion committees,  and  made  such  strenuous  exer- 
tions toward  the  proper  entertainment  of  the  dis- 
tinguished guest,  as  to  have  incurred  the  strong- 
est and  most  enduring  approbation  and  acknowl- 
edgments of  the  Democratic  party.     This  useful 


530 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


citizen  and  liberal-minded  partisan  for  many 
years  conducted  a  large  furniture  manufactory  at 
Florence,  and  was  afterward  largely  interested  in 
mercantile  ventures. 

S.  A.  M.  Wood,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  re- 
ceived instruction  at  various  schools  in  Florence, 
and  was  prepared  for  college  by  the  Eev.  James 
L.  Sloss,  a  distinguished  Presbyterian  divine,  en- 
tering St.  Joseph's  College,  Bardstown,  Ky.,  in 
1839,  from  which  institution  he  was  graduated 
with  high  honors  in  Jnl.y,  1841.  He  began  the 
study  of  the  law  under  the  Hon.  Edmund  Dille- 
hunty,  at  Columbia,  Tenn.,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  of  Lebanon,  Tenn.,  as  an  associate  of  the 
Hon.  Charles  Ready,  a  memorable  and  talented 
jurist  of  Murfreesboro,  in  1844. 

On  account  of  failing  health,  consequent  ujjon 
the  arduous  duties  of  his  profession,  he  returned 
to  his  father's  home  at  Florence  in  1847,  where  he 
continued  in  the  practice  of  his  jirofession  until 
the  outbreak  of  hostilities  between  the  States,  in 
1861.  He  M'as  an  active  particii^ant  in  the  canvass 
for  Breckinridge  and  Lane  in  1860,  as  editor  of 
the  Florence  LiazeUe,  and  had  represented  through 
his  numerous  and  stirring  speeches  in  the  jiopular 
cause,  a  vigorous  enthusiasm  and  a  ready  fund  of 
approjiriate  knowledge,  which  stamped  him  as  a 
leader  and  as  the  vigilant  and  gallant  military 
commander  he  afterward  became.  He  was  elected 
captain  of  the  "Florence  Guards,"  the  first  com- 
pany organized  in  Lauderdale  County,  which  was 
incorporated  with  the  Seventh  Alabama  Regiment, 
to  the  command  of  which  he  was  speedily  called, 
and  afterward  rose  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general. 

General  Wood  saw  very  active  service  with 
Bragg  during  the  bloody  campaigns  of  that  veteran 
commander,  and  won  the  plaudits  of  his  superior 
officers  through  his  sj)lendid  courage  in  many  a 
hotly-contested  battle.  At  Shiloh,  Murfeesboro, 
Chickamauga,  and  Perryville,  his  troops  covered 
themselves  with  glory.  At  Chickamauga,  the 
prominent  and  decisive  part  played  by  his  brigade, 
is  made  the  subject  of  laudation  by  Gen.  D.  H. 
Hill  in  his  paper  in  the  April  (1887)  Centnrn,  in 
the  following  extracts: 

"Wood's  [Confederate]  brigade  on  the  left  had 
almost  reached  Poe's  house  [the  burning  house] 
on  the  Chattanooga  road,  when  he  was  subjected 
to  a  heavy  enfilading  and  direct  fire  and  driven 
back  with  great  loss.  [The  plan  of  successive  at- 
tacks, of  course,  subject  the  troops  which  drive 
the  enemy  from  any  position  of  the  line  to  a  cross 


fire  from  those  who  remain  in  the  line.]  Cleburne 
withdrew  his  division  four  hundred  yards  behind 
the  crest  of  a  hill.  The  gallant  young  brigadier 
Deshler  was  killed  while  executing  the  movement. 
It  was  an  unequal  contest  of  two  small  divisions 
against  four  full  ones  behind  fortifications.  It 
was  a  struggle  of  weakness  against  strength,  of 
bare  bosoms  against  breastworks.  Surely,  there 
were  never  nobler  leaders  than  Beckinridge  and 
Cleburne,  and  surely,  never  were  troops  led  on  a 
more  desjjerate  'forlorn  hope' — against  odds  in 
numbers  and  superiority  in  jiosition  and  equipment. 
But  their  unsurpassed  and  unsurpassal.)le  valor 
was  not  thrown  away." 

Of  this  famous  charge,  in  which  (ieneral  Wood's 
brigade  bore  so  distinguished  a  part.  General  Stew- 
art says:  '' For  several  hundred  yards  both  lines 
l^ressed  on  under  the  most  terrible  fire  it  has  ever 
been  my  fortune  to  witness.  The  enemy  retired, 
and  our  men,  though  mowed  down  at  every  step, 
rushed  on  at  double-quick,  until  at  length  the  bri- 
gade on  the  right  of  Brown  broke  in  confusion, 
exposing  him  to  an  enfilading  fire.  He  continued 
on,  however,  some  fifty  to  seventy-five  yards  far- 
ther, when  his  two  rigiit  regiments  gave  way  in 
disorder,  and  i-etired  to  their  original  position. 
His  center  and  left,  however,  followed  by  the  gal- 
lant Clayton  and  the  indomitable  Bate,  pressed  on, 
passing  the  cornfield  in  front  of  the  burnt  house, 
and  to  a  distance  of  two  to  three  hundred  yards 
beyond  the  Chattanooga  road,  driving  the  enemy 
within  his  line  of  intrenchments  and  passing  a 
battery  of  four  guns.  Here  new  batteries  being 
opened  by  the  enemy  on  our  front  and  flank,  heav- 
ily sujiported  by  infantry,  it  became  necessary  to 
retire,  the  command  re-forming  on  the  ground 
occupied  before  the  advance." 

"  This"  says  (ieneral  Hill,  "  was  the  celebrated 
attack  upon  Reynolds  and  Brannau,  which  led 
directly  to  the  Federal  disaster."' 

General  AVood  received  a  severe  wound  in  the 
head  from  a  fragment  of  shell  at  Perryville,  and 
was  in  consequence  retired  from  service  for  some 
time. 

General  W^ood  was  married  in  184'j  to  Miss 
Lelia  Leftwich,  the  daughter  of  ]\Iaj.  Jesse  Left- 
wich,  a  Virginian  of  distinguished  parentage,  and 
has  had  eight  children — three  sons  and  five  daugh- 
ters. Of  the  sons,  William  J.  Wood  is  a  promi- 
nent lawyer,  of  Evansville,  Ind.;  Sterling  A.,  his 
father's  associate  in  the  practice  of  the  law  at  Tus- 
caloosa, and  a  secretary  to  the  Chief-.lustice  of  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


531 


Supreme  Court  of  Alabama;  and  Bernard  A.,  a 
civil  engineer,  now  engaged  in  building  the  exten- 
sion of  the  Louisville  iS:  Nashville  Knilroad  to 
Florence. 

The  daughters  are  Rosa,  tlie  wife  of  Alfred  l>. 
Beall,  of  W'lu'eiing,  JetTerson  County,  Ala. ;  r^ily  Iv, 
the  wife  of  Walter  C.  Harris,  a  prominent  merchant 
of  Tuscaloosa;  Leiia  B..  Beulah  K.  and  Mary  \'., 
wlio  are  unmarried.  The  General  has  since  his 
residence  iu  Tuscaloosa  had  a  large  and  lucrative 
law  practice,  which  embraces  the  County.  State 
and  Federal  courts.  He  represented  Lauderdale 
County,  Ala.,  in  the  Legislature  of  185T-S,  and 
Tuscaloosa  County  in  188"-i-:i.  He  had,  prior  to 
his  removal  to  Tuscaloosa,  been  Solicitor  for  the 
Fourth  .ludicial  Circuit  of  North  Alabama  for  six 
years. 

General  Wood  has  never  offered  for  any  office 
to  which  he  has  not  been  elected.  He  he  has 
made  his  home  in  Tuscaloosa  since  1865,  where 
he  has  won  not  only  the  most  eminent  distinc- 
tion in  his  profession,  but  secured  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  all  who  have  been  brought  into 
contact  with  him.  He  still  retains  in  his  sixty- 
fifth  year  all  of  the  grace  and  dignity  of  his 
younger  years,  which  signalized  him  as  one  of  the 
most  splendid  specimens  of  physical  manhood  in 
the  military  service  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  court  record  of  General  Wood  is  quite 
remarkable,  especially  as  regards  his  career  in  crim- 
inal practice.  He  is  known  to  have  successfully 
defended  fifteen  cases  in  which  indictments  have 
been  found  for  murder.  It  is,  perhaps,  Acting 
that  in  his  son  Sterling  A.  Wood  the  father  may 
continue  his  legal  celebrity,  as  the  young  attorney 
already  gives  promise  of  great  talent,  which,  com- 
bined with  his  indomitable  energy,  must  make  him, 
if  not  the  superior,  at  least  the  peer,  of  his  illus- 
trious sire.  Surrounded  by  his  children  and 
grandcliildren,  amid  the  lights  and  blessings  of 
his  charming  home  in  Tuscaloosa,  General  Wood 
will  continue  to  the  end  of  his  days  to  find  sur- 
cease from  the  stormy  period  of  war  and  the 
arduous  duties,  self-imposed,  which  have  linked 
his  name  with  the  great  chain  of  events  belonging 
to  his  history. 

ANDREW  COLEMAN  HARGROVE,  the  son  of 
John  Hargrove  and  .Martha  (Hinton)  Hargrove, 
was  born  in   Tuscaloosa  Countv,  Ala.,  December 


18,  18;J7.  His  father  wag  a  native  of  Georgia  and 
his  mother  of  North  Carolina.  The  ancestry  of 
the  family  is  Knglish.  His  paterjial  grandfather, 
the  Rev.  Dudley  Hargrove,  was  an  early  settler  in 
I'ickens,  and  also  in  Tuscaloosa  County,  Ala.  His 
father  was  a  prosperous  planter.  Young  Hargrove 
left  home  at  the  age  of  twelve  to  enter  the 
academy  of  .Jacob  Baker,  at  old  Jonesboro,  in  Jef- 
ferson County,  Ala.,  near  the  site  of  the  present 
flourishing  town  of  Hessemer.  Here  he  continued 
his  studies  until  October,  lis.")2,  when  he  became 
a  student  in  the  University  of  Alabama,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  the  class  of  IS.iifi.  He 
taught  a  school  in  Tuscaloosa  for  three  months  in 
the  fall  of  185(j.  During  the  following  year  he 
read  law  in  the  office  of  Judge  E.  W.  Peck,  In 
.lanuary,  1858,  he  entered  the  Cumberland  Law 
School,  at  Lebanon,  Tenn.,  remaining  one  session, 
and  from  there  going  to  the  Harvard  Law  School, 
at  Cambridge,  JIass.,  from  Avhich  he  was  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  in  1859.  lie  began 
the  practice  of  law  at  Tuscaloosa  in  the  latter  part 
of  18(i0,  which  was  interrupted  by  the  outbreak  of 
hostilities  between  the  States  and  his  departure 
for  the  seat  of  war  as  a  private  soldier  of  the  War- 
rior Guards,  under  the  command  of  the  gallant 
Captain,  afterward  General,  I{.  E.  Uodes.  in  18G1. 
After  service  with  the  army  in  Virginia  for  twelve 
months,  he  was  commissioned  a  lieutenant  in 
Lumsden's  Battery  of  Light  Artillery  from  Tnsca- 
loo-sa,  which  belonged  to  the  Western  Division  of 
the  Confederate  Army,  and  with  which  he,  as 
lieutenant,  continued  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
During  his  military  career  he  participated  in  the 
battles  at  Farmington,  I'erryville,  Murfreesboro, 
Chickamauga,  Hesaca,  I'eacli  Tree  Creek.  Frank- 
lin. Nashville,  and  numerous  other  minor  engage- 
ments during  (Jen.  Joseph  E.  Johnson's  (Jeorgia 
campaign.  In  fact.  Lieutenant  Hargrove  fol- 
lowed the  fortunes  of  the  Western  Army  under 
Bragg,  Johnson,  Hardee  and  Hood  through  Mis- 
sissippi, Tennessee,  Kentucky,  (icorgia  and  Ala- 
bama. He  was  twice  dangerously  wounded — once 
in  front  of  Atlanta  in  ISOi,  being  struck  upon  the 
forehead  by  a  fragment  of  wood  from  a  tree  which 
had  been  shattered  by  a  bursting  shell,  and  the 
second  tin»e  at  .Spanish  Fort,  near  Mobile,  in 
April,  1805,  where  he  received  a  minie  ball 
in  the  head,  which,  from  the  fact  that  it 
lodged  beyond  reach  of  probe  or  knife,  he  still 
carries,  though  with  but  little  inconvenience  or 
pain. 


632 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


No  one  of  the  many  gallant  sons  of  Alabama 
who  shared  in  the  conflict  is  entitled  to  a  braver 
or  a  better  record  tlian  Lieutenant  Hargrove,  of 
whom  his  comrades  relate  prodigies  of  valor.  His 
fame  as  a  soldier  was  as  marked  as  has  since 
been  his  career  as  a  lawyer  and  a  legislator. 

December  5,  18G5.  Lieutenant  Hargrove  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Cherokee  M.  Jemison, 
the  daughter  and  only  child  of  the  Hon.  Kobert 
Jemison,  Jr..  distinguished  in  Alabama  history  as 
a  legislator  and  as  a  member  of  the  Confederate 
States  Senate.  ^Ir.  Hargrove  resumed  the  prac- 
tice of  law  in  Tuscaloosa  in  the  spring  of  18(50,  as 
a  juirtner  of  the  law  firm  of  Hargrove  &  Fitt.s, 
the  members  of  which  were  himself  and  Philip 
A.  Fitts,  now  the  llev.  I'liilip  A.  Fitts,  of  Annis- 
ton,  Ala.  In  ISTl  Jlr.  Hargrove  became  associa- 
ted with  the  Hon.  \\.  \\.  Lewis  in  the  practice  of 
law,  under  the  tirm  name  of  Hargrove  &  Lewis,  a 
l>artnership  continued  until  the  election  of  Colo- 
nel Lewis  as  president  of  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama in  188L  Mr.  Hargrove  has  well  and 
worthily  filled  many  high  jniblic  j)ositions.  He 
was  elected  and  served  as  a  member  of  the  Consti- 
stitutional  Convention  of  Alabama  in  August, 
L'^Td.  He  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  from 
the  district  composed  of  Tuscaloosa  and  Bibb 
Counties,  in  187(;,  and  again  in  1880.  His  period 
of  service  as  .Senator  lasted  for  eight  years.  In 
1884  he  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives of  Alabama.  While  in  the  Senate,  he 
was  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  and 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  while 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Judiciary  Committee 
and  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Corpora- 
tions. 

In  July,  1884,  Colonel  Hargrove  was  appointed 
by  Governor  O'Xeal,  together  with  Dr.  E.  A. 
Smith  and  Hon.  I.  Burns  iloore,  to  select  the 
4i!,080  acres  of  tlie  i>ul>lic  huids  granted  by  the 
Act  of  Congress  of  April  24,  1884,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  I'niversity  of  Alabama.  He  is  land  com- 
missioner of  the  University  of  .\labama.  Colonel 
Hargrove  is  still  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Hargrove  & 
^'an  de  (iraaf.  Colonel  Hargrove  is  a  genial,  cul- 
tivated and  hospitable  gentleman,  and  impresses 
at  first  sight  by  his  splendid  physique  and 
diatinfjuf  manner,  lie  has  acquired  great  suc- 
cess in  his  profession,  and  is  possessed  of  a  charm- 
ing home  and  an  accomplished  wife.  His  two 
children.  Miss  Jlinnie  Cherokee,  vet  in  her  teens. 


and  Robert  Jemison,  a  student  at  University  High 
School,  in  Tuscaloosa,  go  to  make  up  the  sum- 
iiiiiin  bonnm  of  a  happy  family. 

DR.  PETER  BRYCE  was  horn  in  Coliimliia.  S. 
C.,  on  the  4th  day  of  March,  1834.  His  father 
came  from  Scotland  when  quite  young  and  settled 
in  South  Carolina,  where  he  accumulated  a  for- 
tune sutJicient  to  give  his  children  a  liberal  educa- 
tion and  a  respectable  start  on  the  journey  of 
life.  At  tlie  age  of  seventeen  he  entered  the 
South  Carolina  Military  Institute,  and  after  re- 
maining four  years  was  graduated  with  distinction. 
This  famous  institution  of  learning  was  closed  by 
the  war,  and  the  building  was  occupied  as  barracks 
by  the  United  States  soldiery.  It  has  recently  been 
opened,  however,  and  promises  to  regain  its  in- 
fluence and  popularity.  The  high  and  important 
jiositions  occupied  by  the  graduates  of  this  col- 
lege during  the  war,  and  since  then  in  the  re- 
organization of  the  State  (iovernment.  is  very 
remarkable,  and  has  done  more  to  impress  the 
Carolinas  with  the  value  of  a  purely  scientific  edu- 
cation than  all  the  theories  of  Herbert  Spencer 
and  his  school.  Having  decided  to  make  medi- 
cine his  profession,  he  entered  the  University  of 
New  York  in  1857,  and  was  graduated  there  in  the 
spring  of  18.")!t.  After  graduating  he  spent  some 
time  abroad,  i)rincij)ally  in  the  hospitals  of  the 
city  of  I'aris.  He  became  deeply  impressed  very 
early  in  his  career  with  the  importance  as  well  as 
tlie  difficulties  attached  to  a  correct  knowledge 
of  diseases  of  the  nervous  system,  and  at  once 
conceived  the  idea,  and  concluded  to  devote  him- 
self to  that  exclusively,  as  a  specialty.  He  jirose- 
cuted  his  studies  in  the  State  Asylums  of  South 
Carolina  and  New  Jersey,  and  in  July,  ISiiO,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-six,  he  was  rewarded  by  being 
called  to  the  superinteiulancy  of  the  Alabama  In- 
sane Hospital,  which  position  he  has  held  con- 
tinuously up  to  the  present  time.  It  might  not 
be  amiss  to  add  that  he  is.  perhaps,  the  youngest 
man  ever  called  to  such  a  responsible  position  in 
this  country. 

Dr.  Bryce  is  a  man  of  commatuliug  appearance 
and  untiring  energy.  His  pleasant  and  social 
disposition  wins  all  hearts,  and  although  he  is 
always  in  a  hurry,  he  has  time  for  a  pleasant 
smile  and  a  kiml    word    for  evervone.      He   has 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


80  mnch  on  his  mind  that  he  \*.  compelled 
to  move  and  think  rapidly.  lie  in  a  fine  writer, 
a  graceful  speaker  and  an  accomplished  gentle- 
man anrl  scholar  of  many  and  rare  attainments. 
I)r.  Bryce  held  has  many  positions  of  lionore.  among 
which  was  {(rei^ident  of  the  State  Historical  .Soci- 
ety, president  of  the  State  .Medical  Association, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Health, 
lie  was  summoned  as  an  expert  in  the  trial  of 
Charles  J.  Guiteau  for  the  killing  of  President 
Garfield,  but  declined  to  serve,  not  Ijcing  able  to 
leave  his  duties  by  reason  of  the  absence  of  his 
assistants  during  the  time  he  would  have  to  be  in 
Washington.  The  degree  of  LL.  D.  was  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  the  University  of  Alabama,  a 
distinction  truly  deserved. 

Dr.  Bryce  married  Miss  Ellen  riarkson,  a 
lineal  descendant  of  the  great  Thomas  Boston 
on  her  father's  side  and  of  George  Ilerriott, 
who  built  the  celebrated  George  Herriot  Hospital, 
on  her  mother's  side.  ifrs.  Bryce  is  a  charming 
la<ly  and  wields  an  influence  for  good  wherever 
she  appears.  Kind  and  gracious  in  her  manner, 
she  captivates  all  hearts  and  exemplifies  that 
nobility  of  character  and  devotion  to  duty  which 
have  rendered  her  so  truly  a  helpmeet  to  her  dis- 
tinguished hasband,  whose  home  in  the  midst  of 
his  onerous  duties  she  so  gracefully  adorns. 


DR.  WILLIAM  ALLEN  COCHRANE.  There 
is  pcrliaps  in  no  town  of  its  size  in  the  United 
States  more  talent  in  the  medical  profession  than 
can  truthfully  be  cited  of  Tuscaloosa.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  is  an  able  physician,  besides 
being  a  cultivated  gentleman  of  the  old  reyimt, 
and  a  worthy  and  useful  citizen,  full  of  honor  and 
lofty  purpose  for  the  benefit  of  his  kind. 

He  was  born  in  Hall  (  ounty,  Ga.,  Jinuary  'ih, 
IMIT.  His  father  was  Hiram  P.  Cochrane,  and 
his  mother  Ann  Stoker.  His  paternal  grandfather 
was  a  native  of  Botetourt  County,  Va. ,  but  removed 
to  Pendleton  District,  S.  C,  where  Hiram  P.,  his 
father,  was  bom.  Hiram  P.  Cochrane  settled  in 
Hall  County,  fJa.,  where  he  married,  and  removed 
to  Tusf.-aloosa  County,  .Via.,  in  1817.  The  edu- 
cation of  W.  A.  Cochrane  was  received  in  the  best 
schools  of  the. day  and  the  L'niversity  of  Alabama, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1>:!4.  He  taught  a 
school  for  the  two  succeeding  years,  and  entered 


Transylvania  University,  at  f^exington,  Ky.,  where 
he  received  a  course  of  lectures  on  medicine.  He 
was  graduated  from  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania in  \x'-\'.K  Returning  to  Tuscaloosa  he  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he  has  con- 
tinued to  the  present  time.  Dr.  Cochrane  has 
perpetuated  the  hardy  and  multiform  good  quali- 
ties of  his  Irish,  Scotch  and  Welsh  ancestors,  and 
has  been  ever  a  consistent  and  upright  man.  He 
is  a  meml>er  of  the  Tus^.-aloosa  .Medical  Society, 
and  has  been  health  officer  of  'i'u.scaloosa  County 
since  1HH.">.  For  the  past  ten  years  he  has  been 
Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alabama.  Dr.  Co<;hrane  was  married  in 
1862  to  Miss  .\nnie  E.  Coleman,  of  I^wrence 
County,  Ala.,  and  has  four  children.  William  C. 
Cochrane,  his  son,  is  an  extensive  manufacturer 
of  carriages  and  baggies  in  Birmingham,  and  a 
daughter,  Lucy,  is  the  wife  of  F.  IJ.  .Maxwell,  of 
the  wholesale  grocery  house  of  Maxwell  Brothers, 
Tuscaloosa.  The  other  children  are  yet  under 
age.  Dr.  Cochrane  is  a  Knight  Templar,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  member  of  the 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  of  the  University  of 
AJ^bama.  He  has  been  for  the  jtast  eight  years 
the  Tax  Assessor  of  the  city  of  Tuscaloosa,  and 
had  previously  held  that  office  for  several  years. 

Dr.  Cochrane  still  retains  in  his  declining  years 
vivid  remembrances  of  past  events,  and  is  pos- 
sessed of  more  information  about  Tuscaloosa  than 
perhaps  any  one  in  it  now  living.  In  all  of  the 
varied  relations  of  life  he  may  truly  be  cited  as  a 
fitting  exemplar,  and  the  evening  of  his  days  will 
reflect  the  halo  that  crowned  his  youth  with  hon- 
or's wreath. 

•    ■«>•  ■  Yii'3A •  ■<"    ■ 

DR.  WILLIAM  C.  CROSS.  The  history  of  the 
<  arolinas  involves  that  of  numerous  exiles  who 
found  an  asylum  within  their  borders.  The  pro- 
genitors of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  by  reason  of 
their  attachment  to  the  cause  of  Oliver  Cromwell, 
were  expatriated  by  Charles  II.,  and.  settling  in 
North  Carolina,  became  large  landed  proprietors. 
There  were  nine  brothers  of  this  family,  and  they 
located  in  Northampton  and  Gates  Counties,  N*. 
C.  William  C.  Cross,  the  son  of  Dr.  William 
C.  Cross,  and  Mary  (Harris)  Cross,  was  born  in 
Colbert  County,  Ala.,  July  M,  18.>C.  _  His  father 
was  an  eminent  physician  in  his  day.  Of  five 
brothers,  four  were    iihy?icians.     Wm.   C.   Cross 


534 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


was  educated  in  Virginia,  at  Norwood  and  Ran- 
doljih  Macon  College,  and  was  graduated  with  the 
degree  of  A.M.  from  the  University  of  Alabama, 
and  M.  D.  from  Vanderbilt  University,  Xashville. 
Tenn.  lie  began  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  Bibb  County,  where  he  continued  for  two 
years,  coming  to  Tuscaloosa  in  188?. 

Dr.  Cross  is  an  able  physician  and  has  been 
successful  in  his  practice,  lie  is  the  Surgeon- 
General  of  the  Alabama  State  Troops,  and  ranks 
as  senior  colonel;  is  a  senior  counselor  of  the 
Alabama  Medical  Association,  member  of  the 
American  Microscopical  Association,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Tuscaloosa  Gun  Club.  Dr.  Cross  rep- 
resented Tuscaloosa  and  Bibb  Counties  in  the 
Alabama  Senate  in  LSSti  and  1887.  Of  Dr.  Cross 
it  may  truly  be  said  that  not  only  is  he  destined  to 
attain  the  acme  of  his  profession,  but  to  render 
himself  distinguished  for  the  talents  and  qualities 
of  which  great  men  are  made. 

DR.  EDMUND  S.  CHISHOLM.  The  profession 
of  dentistry  has  of  recent  years  exhibited  very  great 
advancement,  and  its  zealous  advocates  have  ac- 
•complished  many  and  highly  important  adjuncts. 
Among  these,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  pre- 
eminently deserving  of  notice. 

Dr.  Edmund  S.  Chisholm  was  born  in  Franklin 
County,  Ala.,  May  'l\\  1840.  His  father  was 
c;illington  Chisholm,  and  his  mother  Cynthia 
Hill.  His  father  was  a  mechanic.  His  paternal 
ancestors  were  Scotch;  matei'nal,  English.  He 
attended  school  in  Franklin  County,  Ala.  His 
father  was  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Tuscum- 
bia,  settling  there  after  the  AVar  of  1812.  He  had 
been  a  soldier  under  (Joneral  Andrew  Jackson. 
The  subsequent  education  of  Dr.  Chisholm  was 
received  at  LaCirange  College,  in  Franklin  County, 
Ala.,  and  he  was  perfected  in  dental  science  by 
•competent  instructors  and  through  his  enthusi- 
astic and  laborious  studies  and  a  large  practice. 
He  married  Miss  Mary  Hall,  a  teacher  at  the  time 
in  the  Alabama  Centi'al  Female  C'ollege,  of  Tusca- 
loosa. He  has  practiced  his  profession  in  Tusca- 
loosa since  1873.  He  has  had  a  large  and  lucra- 
tive practice  and  is  generally  acknowledged  the 
leading  dentist  in  the  State  of  Alabama.  His 
library  of  standard  works  on  dentistry  is  one  of 
the  best  in  the  country,  and  is  very  select  and 


complete.  For  five  years  past  Dr.  Chisholm  has 
been  the  secretary  of  the  Southern  Dental  Asso- 
ciation, and  has  been  once  its  president,  once  its 
vice-president,  and  presided  over  it  as  vice- 
president  once.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of 
the  State  Dental  Association,  and  has  since  been 
chaii'man  of  the  Board  of  Dental  Examiners  for 
the  State.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of 
the  Section  on  Dental  and  Oral  Surgery  at  the 
Xinth  International  Dental  Congress,  held  at 
A\'asliington.  D.  C,  September  .5,  1887,  when  he 
submitted  a  very  able  paper  on  "The  Influence  of 
Weather  Changes  on  the  Human  Organism."  Dr. 
Chisholm  has  contributed  largely  to  various  peri- 
odicals on  subjects  involved  in  the  consideration  of 
dentistry,  and  was  the  first  to  treat  of  the  subject 
of  weather  changes  and  meteorological  influences. 
He  has  given  fifteen  years  to  a  consideration  of 
and  investigation  into  thesesalient  points,  and  has 
done  more  to  bring  them  to  public  notice  than  any 
other  individual.  He  has  been  connected  in  vari- 
ous ways  with  the  constitution  of  the  Dental  As- 
sociation of  the  United  States,  and  is  a  correspond- 
ing secretary  of  that  bodv',  and  through  it  is 
brought  into  relation  with  all  of  the  more  noted 
dental  surgeons  of  the  world.  Dr.  Chisholm 
has,  unquestionably,  done  more  for  the  cause  of 
dentistry  than  any  one  at  the  South,  perhaps  in 
the  country,  and  remains  a  living  monument  to 
his  great  acts. 


-«5- 


DR.  ROBERT  AUSTIN  ELLIS,  the  son  of 
Richard  !•".  Ellis  and  Nancy  C.  Lee,  is  of  Scotch- 
Irish  extraction,  and  was  born  April  17,  1848. 
His  progenitors  were  among  the  earliest  settlers 
in  Pickens  County,  Ala.,  and  were  prosperous 
planters.  None  of  them  were  in  iniblic  life.  Dr. 
Ellis  was  prepared  for  college  in  the  schools  of 
Tuscaloosa,  and  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of 
M.  D.  from  Tulain  University,  New  Orleans,  in 
1871.  He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Tuscaloosa,  but  continued  it  afterward  in  Greene 
and  Pickens  Counties  until  January,  1887, when  he 
returned  to  Tuscaloosa.  Dr.  Ellis  is  reckoned 
among  the  leading  physicians  of  Tuscaloosa  and 
is  a  refined  and  affable  gentleman.  He  was  mar- 
ried February  L'i,  1873,  to  Miss  Jennie  C.  Sanders, 
daughter  of  Dr.  William  Sanders,  of  Newnan, 
{Ja.,  and  has  five  children. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


535 


JOSIAH  JAMES  PEGUES  belongs  to  one  of 
the  lujinv  Huguenot  fuinilies  wliicli,  at  au  early 
period  of  South  Caroliua's  history,  found  an 
asylum  in  that  State,  and  which  have  since  exer- 
cised great  influence  in  the  affairs  of  tlie  American 
Republic.  The  great-grandfather  of  tlie  subject 
of  this  sketch  settled  in  South  Carolina  before 
the  Revolution.  The  father  of  Josiah  James 
Pegnes  was  Christoplier  B.,  whose  wife  was  Eliza- 
beth II.  Evans  and  the  mother  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch.  It  was  in  Soutli  Carolina  that  this  son 
resided  until  his  fifteenth  year.  It  was  his  birth- 
place—  the  date  of  his  birth  being  July  19, 
1825. 

In  1839,  lie  removed  with  his  parents  to  Dallas 
Connty,  Ala.  He  received  his  principal  education 
at  Mount  St.  Mary's  College,  Emmittsburg,  Md., 
graduating  from  that  institution  in  lS4.i.  Return- 
ing to  the  parental  home,  he  devoted  his  attention 
to  farming  pursuits  until  1801,  when  he  came  to 
Tuscaloosa.  It  was  from  this  famous  town  that 
he  marched  with  the  first  troops  that  left  the 
county — the  famous  "Warrior  Guards,"  com- 
manded by  the  gallant  captain,  afterward  (Jen.  R. 
E.  Rodes,  who  fell  at  Winchester,  Va.,  as  General 
Early  grandly  remarks,  '■  in  the  very  moment  of 
triumph,  and  while  conducting  the  attack  with 
great  gallantry  and  skill."  This  company  was  at- 
tached to  the  Fifth  Alabama  Regiment,  and  won 
nndying  fame  on  many  an  ensanguined  field.  Its 
fortunes  and  its  perils  were  alike  shared  by  the 
valiant  Pegues,  who  subsequently  became  a  cap- 
tain of  a  company  of  cavalry  in  the  Second  Ala- 
bama Regiment,  wiiich  he,  later  on,  as  its  colonel, 
commanded. 

The  military  history  of  Colonel  Pegues  in- 
volves the  record  of  the  Alabama  troops  who 
followed  Bragg  and  Johnston  through  the  num- 
erous engagements  in  which  valor  brightly  shone, 
but  which,  though  disastroirs  in  the  end  to 
the  Confederate  arms,  must  ever  adorn  the  his- 
toric page,  as  exemplifying  the  noblest  heroism 
and  the  most  devoted  patriotism  displayed  by  any 
people  in  any  age. 

On  his  return  to  Tuscaloosa  Colonel  Pegues  be- 
gan to  investigate  the  various  systems  of  civic- 
progress,  and  in  1806  received  the  appointment  of 
Sheriff  of  tlie  county,  pending  Reconstruction,  and 
filled  the  ofJice  very  satisfactorily  for  two  years. 
In  188-2  he  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Tuscaloosa  County,  and  in  ISOil  elected 
to  the  same  position,    which   he  has  •creditably 


filled,  and  which  he  still  retains  to  the  general 
satisfaction. 

Colonel  Pegues  was  married  in  1848  to  Miss 
Cornelia  C.  Alston,  by  whom  he  had  two 
children,  both  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  an  afflic- 
tion augumented  by  the  loss  of  his  wife,  soon 
after.  In  I8"i4  he  married  his  second  wife,  Miss 
Caroline  M.  Fitts,  by  whom  he  has  had  three 
children:  Joe  E.,  Samuel  F.  and  Ida,  who  is  Mrs. 
Eugene  Eaton,  of  Gadsden,  Ala.  Colonel  Pegues 
is  a  courteous  and  affable  gentleman,  and  exhibits 
in  manner  and  conversation  the  true  essentials  of 
his  illustrious  ])rogenitors,  whose  impress  has  been 
so  indelibly  stamped  ujion  the  destinies  of  the 
Carolinas  and  of  Alabama. 

Colonel  Pegues  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  is  a  Mason  of  high  standing.  He, 
although  in  liis  sixty-third  year,  is  hale  and 
strong,  and  gives  promise  of  adding  many  more 
years  to  liis  sum  of  life. 


►^^ 


NEWBERN  HOBBS  BROWNE,  Judge  of  Pro- 
bate, Tu.scaloosa,  was  born  I>fc<iuber  10,  1824.  His 
parents,  John  Allen  and  I'atsy  (Hobbs)  Browne, 
were  natives  of  North  Carolina.  Ilis  grandfather, 
Henry  Browne,  came  from  Ireland  and  settled  in 
Virginia,  migrating  thence  into  Xorth  Cai'olina, 
where  he  married  Lucy  Warnock.  The  Judge's 
grandmother  Hobbs'  maiden  name  was  Xewbern  ; 
hence  his  name,  as  written,  contemplates  three 
families. 

.John  Allen  Browne  came  to  Alabama  in  1834; 
settled  in  Tuscaloosa  County,  and  there  he  and 
his  wife  spent  the  rest  of  their  lives.  Mr.  Browne 
died  in  ilarch,  1866,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years. 
Mrs.  Browne  died  in  ilay,  18.i9.  at  the  age  of  sixty 
years.  Of  the  three  sons  reared  by  them  to  man- 
hood, the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  second  in  order 
of  birth. 

In  1846,  Judge  Browne  was  graduated  from  the 
State  University  of  Alabama  ;  read  law  with  Judge 
B.  F.  Porter,  and  in  1848,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.  He  was  practicing  law  at  the  time  the  war 
broke  out,  and  early  in  1802  enlisted  as  a  jirivate 
soldier  in  Lumsden's  Battery,  and  served  with  that 
command  about  two  years,  participating  in  the 
battles  around  Mobile  and  Atlanta.  He  left  tiie 
army  on  account  of  ill-health,  but  returned  to  his 
company  in  1804,  and,  as  a  jirivate  soldier,  served 
to  the  close  of  the  war. 


536 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


From  1853  to  1H59,  .Tiulge  l?rowne  occupied  a 
seat  in  the  lower  house  of  tiie  State  Legislature, 
and  in  18.j!i  was  elected  Circuit  Solicitor,  which 
oflBce  he  resigned  to  enter  the  army.  He  was 
again  in  the  Legislature  in  1873,  and  in  1874,  was 
elected  Probate  Judge,  an  otKce  he  lias  since 
continuously  held. 

Judge  Browne  is  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
Alabama  Insane  Hospital  and  Alabama  Central 
College:  member  of  the  order  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor;  identified  at  all  times  with  the  best  inter- 
ests of  education,  and  is  a  consistent  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church.  Away  Imck  in  1851,  185'.J 
and  1853  he  was  a  newsiiaper  man;  edited  the 
Tuscaloosa  Observer,  a  strong  Democratic  paper, 
now  the  Tuscaloosa  Times.  In  lSC"-i  he  was  favor- 
ably mentioned  for  Congress,  but  about  that  time 
the  duties  of  a  soldier  were  requiring  so  much  of 
his  attention  that  he  was  unable  to  look  after 
political  preferment,  even  had  he  desired  it. 

The  Judge  was  married  in  Tuscaloosa  County, 
January,  1874,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Prude,  daughter 
of  W.  W.  Prude  and  L.  A.  I'rude.  Mrs.  Brown 
died  March  8,  1886,  leaving  six  children. 


JOSEPH  JOHN  ALSTON.  The  Alston  family 
has,  from  its  earliest  settlement  in  the  Carolinas, 
been  celebrated  for  tlie  many  admirable  character- 
istics which  distinguished  its  English  and  Welsh 
progenitors. 

The  first  representatives  of  the  name  in  America 
were  three  brothers  from  Wales,  who  settled  in 
North  Carolina,  in  the  region  now  embraced  in 
Halifax  County,  where  they  acquired  extensive 
landed  possessions,  and  speedily  became,  through 
their  great  wealth  and  many  estimable  qualities, 
the  ruling  people  of  that  section.  They  were 
famous  for  their  fine  horses  and  a  love  for  racing, 
the  natural  outburst  of  their  lofty  and  imperious 
spirits.  They  maintained  a  state  and  style  of 
living  in  accordance  with  that  of  their  Welsh  sires, 
who  ranked  high  among  the  landed  gentry  of  that 
country,  and  in  conformity  to  the  family  record 
for  a  splendid  and  prodigal  hospitality. 

The  next  of  the  Alstons  to  arrive  in  America 
were  two  brothers  of  the  English  branch,  first 
cousins  of  their  Welsh  predecessors,  who  settled 
in  South  Carolina,  and,  like  their  relatives,  be- 
came the  possessors  of  large  landed  estates  and 


numerous  slaves.  Equally  noted  for  their  magni- 
ficent mode  of  living,  and  their  character  for 
honor,  dignity  and  chivalrous  gallantry,  as  had 
been  their  Welsh  cousins,  they  were,  l)y  common 
consent,  accorded  the  distinction  which  comported 
with  that  which  it  wjis  their  evident  ability  to 
achieve.  Neither  the  mutations  of  time,  nor  the 
reverses  of  fortune,  have  ever  dimmed  the  bright 
escutcheon  of  these  gentlemen  of  the  old  reainie, 
which  has  been  zealously  guarded  by  their  de- 
scendants. 

Notable  among  the  South  Carolina  members  of 
this  family  were  Washington  Alston,  the  poet  and 
I  artist;  Gov.  John  Alston,  who  married  the  accom- 
plished  but    ill-fated  Theodosia    Burr;   and   Gov. 
Robert  Francis  William  Alston. 

Joseph  .John  Alston,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
the  son  of  William  Williams  Alston  and  Mary  Hay- 
wood (Burgess)  Alston,  was  born    at  Grove  Hill, 
Clarke  County,  Ala..  May  15,  1835.    His  paternal 
grandfather,  Lemuel  J.  Alston,  the  son  of  Samuel 
Alston,  one  of  the  Welsh  brothers  mentioned  as 
settling   at    Halifax,    X.    C.,    in    colonial     days, 
removed    to   South    Carolina    and    located    near 
the  little  town  of  Greenville,  famed  at  that  time 
I  as  the  seat  of  a   law   school.     Here  William   Wil- 
I   Hams  Alston,  the  father  of   Joseph  John  Alston, 
received  legal  instruction  preparatory  to  his  grad- 
uation from  the  more  advanced  law  school  atColum- 
bia. -He,  however,  never  ])racticed  his  profession — 
the  care  of  his  inheritance  of  extensive  tracts  of  land 
and  numerous  slavesdemandingliis  exclusivetime. 
Several  years   before  the    birth  of  Josejih  J.,  his 
father  removed   to     Clarke    County.   Ala.,   loca- 
ting upon  his  patrimonial    estate.     Here    the  son 
received  that  kindly  tutelage  and  exemplary  train- 
ing, which  have   since  guided  and  distinguished 
him.     His  first    venture  after  receiving   such  an 
education  as  the  schools  of  that  time  afforded,  was 
the  establishment  of  a  boot  and  shoe  manufactory 
at  Selma,   Ala.,  which  he   successfully  conducted 
I  up  to  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  between  the  States 
I  in  18C1.     Among  the  first  volunteer  troops  of  Ala- 
I  bama,  as  a  member  of  an  artillery  comjmny,  he  was 
;  assigned  to  duty  at  Fort  ^^organ,  and  was  subse- 
I  quently  given  the  command,  with  the  rank  of  caj)- 
tain,  of  a  comjiany  of   infantry,  which  he  always 
led  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  with  that  splendid 
courage   which    has  ever   attached  to  the    Alston 
,   name.     Returning  to  his  little  family  at  the  close 
I   of  the  war,  denuded  of  his  property,  Jfr.  Alston 
i  embarked  in  the  real  estate  business,  in  which  he 


% 


I 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


537 


hiis  since  continued. and  from  which  he  has  secured 
a  coni[)etency.  Coming  to  Tuscaloosa  in  ISSd.  he 
at  once  became  identified  with  the  rising  fortunes 
of  that  historic  ol<l  town,  wliich  lias  put  on  the 
smiling  garb  of  progress,  woveii  from  the  abun- 
dant natural  resources  in  coal  and  iron  around  it. 

Mr.  Alston  married  a  daughter  of  Charles  H. 
Jones,  of  Petersburg,  \'a.,  and  has  six  children: 
Josephine,  Mrs.  JIaxwell,  of  Tuscaloosa;  Caddie, 
Samuel  K.,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  'J'usca- 
loosa  and  Castle  Hill  Real  Estate  and  Manufactur- 
ing Co.;  (ieorge  J.,  senior  member  of  the  firm  of 
Alston  kS:  Maxwell,  the  leading  jewelers  of  Tusca- 
loosa; Mary  Hamilton,  arecent  distinguished  grad- 
uate of  the  Tuscaloosa  Female  College;  and  Henry, 
a  puj)il  of  the  High  School  of  Professor  \'erner, 
and  a  promising  and  intelligent  youth. 

Mr.  Alston  represents  in  a  conspicuous  degree 
the  characteristics  of  his  illustrious  ancestry  and 
remains  a  veritable  ty[)e  of  the  race  from  which  he 
is  descended,  and  which  has  for  many  generations 
preserved  its  reputation  for  manly  and  noble  qual- 
ities undimmed  and  untarnished.  The  owner  of 
a  beautiful  home,  embowered  in  the  floral  and  ar- 
boreal beauties  so  characteristic  of  Tuscaloosa,  and 
surrounded  by  a  family  in  whom  are  concentrated 
his  strongest  hojies  of  affections,  he  is  quietly  and 
gracefully  enjoying  the  reward  <if  his  many  years 
of  earnest  and  intelligent  labor. 

•    ■♦>-?^^-<»-    •  - 

JAMES  OSCAR  PRUDE.  The  history  of  the 
Prude  family,  from  which  was  descended  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  is  invested  with  peculiar  in- 
terest as  involving  to  some  extent  a  consideration 
of  the  earliest  settlers  in  the  Soutliern  .States. 
The  family  of  Prude  was  among  the  first  English 
settlers  in  South  Carolina,  .Fohn  Prude,  a  native 
of  London,  coming  to  America  and  locating  in 
Lauiens  District  of  that  State  in  ITTi.  John 
Prude.  Jr..  the  eldest  son,  was  liorn  in  London, 
England,  in  ITG'.t.  Jind  came  with  his  parents  to 
South  Carolina,  and  William  Prude,  the  second 
son,  was  born  there  October  1.5.  ITT-I-.  John 
Prude,  Jr..  married  Margaret  Whitmore,  of  South 
Carolina,  by  whom  he  had  eleven  children,  nota- 
l)le  in  the  early  history  of  that  State.  William 
Prude  married  Sarah  Garrett,  a  native  of  Charles- 
ton. S.  C,  but  settled  at  Abbeville.  S.  C.  To  this 
marriage  eight  children  were  born,  who  bore  the 
distinction  of  promiiu'iice  and  importance  in  that 


State  during  their  lives.  William  Prude  was  mar- 
ried a  second  time  to  .Mrs.  Celia  ^[cAdory,  nie 
McShan,  of  Jefferson  County,  Ala.  Of  this  union 
was  born  William  Wellington  Prude,  January  31, 
1S24.  the  only  child,  and  the  father  of  James  Oscar 
Prude,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  whose  mother 
was  Lucretia  El.za  Owen,  of  a  noted  Vii-ginia 
family  of  the  county  of  Prince  George,  who  re- 
moved to  Franklin  County,  Ala.,  and  subsequently 
to  Okolona,  .Miss.,  where  she  was  married.  The 
parents  of  James  Oscar  Prude  settled  in  Jefferson 
County,  Ala.,  near  Jonesboro,  and  in  184.5  came 
to  Tuscaloosa  County,  locating  about  six  miles 
east  of  the  city.  Here  was  born.  September  "^3, 
1S.5G,  .Tames  Oscar,  one  of  five  children,  and  the 
youngest. 

Here  he  grew  up  and  was  trained  for  college  in 
various  private  schools.  lie  was  graduated  from 
the  University  of  Alabama  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
with  the  degree  of  A.  M.,  and  taught  school  for  two 
years  following.  He  was  appointed,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one.  Clerk  of  the  Probate  Court  of  Tusca- 
loosa County  and  filled  that  position  with  honor 
and  credit.  In  1S84,  he  was  elected  Sheriff  of 
Tuscaloosa  County,  and  still  continues  in  the 
office,  the  duties  of  which  he  discharges  with 
signal  ability. 

Mr.  Prude  was  married  December  "20,  ]8S"-i,  to 
Miss  Lucy  A.  Browne,  the  daughter  of  Alonzo  L. 
Browne,  a  large  merchant  and  planter  of  Raymond. 
Miss.  The  maternal  ancestors  of  Mrs.  Prude  were 
Richard  and  Elizabeth  Hainsworth,  natives  of 
Switzerland,  who  settled  in  Sumter  District,  S.  C  , 
about  the  year  1T33.  From  this  family  were 
descended  the  Hainsworths,  Greenings,  Brumbys 
and  (Jastons. 

Both  Dr.  liicliard  Urumby  and  Dr.  .\rnoldus 
Brumby  were  distinguished  professors  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama,  and  were  connected  with  edu- 
cational institutions  in  South  Carolina.  Some  of 
the  more  noted  people  of  South  Carolina,  Ala- 
bama. Georgia  and  Louisiana  were  sprung  from 
the  branches  planted  by  the  Swiss  progenitors  of 
Mrs.  Prude  in  .South  Caroliini.  Mrs.  Prude  unites 
in  a  rennirkable  degree  the  many  noble  qualities 
of  her  distinguished  family,  and  is  a  shining 
ornament  of  the  social  circle.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Prude  have  three  children:  Agnes  Emily.  James 
Oscar,  Jr.,  and  William  W. 

.Sheriff  Prude  is  a  jjrudent  and  active  officer, 
and  enjoys  the  highest  respect  and  confidence  of 
all  who  know  him. 


538 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


SEWALL  JONES  LEACH,  the  eldest  son  of 
Epliraiiii  Ia'uc-1i  and  So]>l>ia  (Jones)  Leacli,  was 
born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  November  14, 
18r^.  When  Sewall  was  eight  years  old  his  father 
removed  to  Owego,  X.  Y.  Here  wasac<|uired  the 
ruling  motive  in  the  life  of  Sewall  Jones  Leach, 
whose  subsequent  career  exemplified  the  rarest 
mechanical  ability,  which  raised  him  to  the  acme 
of  his  profession  as  a  machinist.  His  educational 
advantages  were  very  limited  —  four  months  in 
any  one  year  comprising  the  greatest  length  of 
time  he  ever  attended  school.  His  studious  appli- 
cation and  indomitable  energy,  however,  coupled 
with  his  facility  to  acquire  knowledge,  had,  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  [U'ei)ared  him  as  a  teacher,  and  for 
two  years  he  successfully  and  satisfactorily  con- 
ducted a  school  in  the  State  of  New  Y'ork. 

But  the  bent  of  his  mind  and  the  inclination  of 
his  studies  were  ever  in  the  direction  of  mechanics. 
He  studied  dentistry  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  and  in  1837, 
having  decided  to  locate  in  the  South,  he  went  to 
Mobile,  Ala.,  where  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession  with  the  eminent  Dr.  Palmer.  It  is 
related  of  Dr.  Leach  that,  he  reached  Mobile  with 
but  nine  iMUirs  in  his  pocket,  a  fund  which  had 
increased  to  as  many  hundred  one  year  later.  In 
18138,  he  removed  to  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  and  was  for 
some  time  engaged  in  the  jewelry  business  with  a 
younger  brother.  Their  place  of  business  will  be 
remembered  by  the  older  citizens  of  -Tuscaloosa, 
as  the  book-store  of  Joel  White,  now  of  Mont- 
gomery. 

Dr.  Leach  was  married.  Octobei'  lu,  l.^li'.t.  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  F.  Fitts,  of  Tuscaloosa,  and  in 
1840  was  confirmed  as  a  meniber  of  the  Ejiisco- 
pal  Church  by  Bishop  Scott.  For  several  years  he 
continued  the  practice  of  dentistry  in  connection 
with  his  jewelry  business.  In  liS44-4."),  he,  with 
the  learned  Dr.  F.  A.  P.  Barnard,  very  success- 
fully conducted  a  series  of  experiments  in  produc- 
ing sun  pictures,  antedating  the  promulgation  of 
the  discovery  by  the  distinguished  Frenchman, 
Daguerre,  whose  name  was  given  to  tlie  art. 

Had  Dr.  Leach  prosecuted  his  researches  in  this 
direction,  he  doubtless  would  have  advanced  the 
process  beyond  the  jioint  gained  by  his  famous 
contemporary.  But  his  love  of  machinery  and 
the  labors  connccied  with  its  intelligent  utiliza- 
tion were  more  to  his  liking,  and  he  was  selected 
to  purchase  the  machinery  and  outfit  for  the  cot- 
ton mills  erected  in  Tuscaloosa  in  1.S40,  and 
which  wiTi' iiuistniitid  nmliT  lijs  personal  super- 


vision and  direction  in  Philadelphia.  To  the 
operation  of  this  enterprise.  Dr.  Leach  devoted 
the  most  unremitting  attention  and  his  valuable 
services  were  continued  for  many  years.  The 
mills  were  destroyed  by  fire  during  the  war. 

In  185"..',  Dr.  Leach  established  at  Tuscaloosa 
an  iron  foundry  and  plow  factory,  which  was  car- 
ried on  for  many  years  through  his  able  adminis- 
tration, under  the  firm  name  of  F^each  &  Avery. 
The  enterprise  proved  one  of  great  profit,  while  it 
was  one  of  the  most  useful  industries  in  Alabama. 
It  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  185!i:  rebuilt,  and  dur- 
ing the  war,  employed  in  casting  cannon  for  the 
Confederate  Government,  and  was  burned  down 
by  the  Federals  in  18fI4.  It  was  rebuilt  after  the 
war  and  used  as  a  plow  manufactory  by  Leach, 
Avery  &  Co.,  and  later  by  Leach  &  Co.,  in  the 
additional  manufacture  of  sorghum  mills,  castings, 
etc.  On  account  of  declining  health  Dr.  Leach 
sold  out  his  interest  and  accepted  a  less  arduous 
position  with  the  Tuscaloosa  Cotton  Mills. 

He  was  a  devoted  hiborer,  neglecting  nothing 
that  could  insure  satisfaction,  and  equally  inter- 
ested in  music  after  his  hours  of  labor.  In  both 
relations  he  e.xhibited  the  strongest  and  most 
marked  characteristics,  performing  both  purely 
and  simply  from  the  love  of  them.  He  could  do 
nothing  except  in  the  most  thorough  and  satisfac- 
tory manner,  and  his  fame  as  a  musician  attracted 
to  him  many  discijiles  of  the  art.  Aniong  the 
companions  of  Dr.  Leach  at  that  time  was  the 
venerable  Langdon  C.  (iarland.  tiien  a  I'rofes- 
sor  in  the  University  of  Alaljama.  and  now 
Chancellor  of  Vanderbilt  University,  who  was 
never  so  happy  as  when  listening  to,  or  play- 
ing witii  his  musical  friend.  Although  of  North- 
ern birth.  Dr.  Leach  was  a  man  of  strong  South- 
ern feeling  and  an  advocate  of  the  Confederate 
cause.  Two  of  his  sons  served  with  honor  with 
the  Alabama  troojis. 

Dr.  Leach  was  of  uniform  temjieranient  and 
habitually  cheerful.  He  was  a  mail  of  great 
humility  ;  wholly  incorruptible  and  honest.  Few 
men  bear  so  blameless  and  so  honorable  a  name 
among  their  fellows. 

He  was  both  an  Odd  Fellow  and  a  .Mason.  He 
died  August  U,  liSiS,"),  and  never  was  a  man  more 
regretteil  by  the  people  among  whom  he  lived. 
He  left  to  mourn  her  irreparable  loss,  a  devoted 
widow,  who  is,  however,  consoled  and  comforted  in 
her  grief  by  the  knowledge  of  her  husband's 
stfiiiiless  e;irtlilv  (•iir<<-r.     His  six  children,   three 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


539 


sons  ami  three  daughters,  iiri'  wortliy  and  highly 
respected  citizens. 

■    ■'>-^€^'-<»-    • 

THOMAS  B.  ALLEN,  son  of  Saimiel  V>.  and  Lucy 
M.  (<iray)  Allen,  was  born  in  Hale  County,  Ala., 
June  i8,  1850.  He  received  his  education  at  pri- 
vate schools,  and  at  Greene  Springs  Academy,  Hale 
County,  Ala.,  under  the  princijialshii)  of  Prof. 
Henry  Tutwiler.  Mr.  Allen  had  the  misfortune 
to  lose  his  mother  on  the  eve  of  going  to  college. 
This  rendered  him  without  a  parent,  his  father 
having  died  some  years  before.  Although  under 
age  he  was  permitted  by  the  Legislature  to  take 
charge  of  his  father's  estate,  which  he  successfully 
managed  for  live  years.  He  continued  the  occu- 
pation of  farming  until  about  eight  years  ago, 
when  he  became  interested  with  Mayor  W.  C, 
Jemison,  as  Allen  &  Jemison,  and  subsequently 
the  Allen  &  Jemison  Warehouse  Company.  Mr. 
Allen  has  been  very  active  in  this  business  while 
superintending  his  large  real  estate  interests  in 
Tuscaloosa  and  Hale  Counties.  The  immediate 
male  progenitors  of  Mr.  Allen  were  natives  of 
Prince  Edward  County,  \'a.  His  mother  was  born 
in  Hale  County,  Ala.  His  father  was  a  leading 
cotton  and  commission  merchant  of  Mobile  until 
his  death.  It  was  in  this  city  that  he  located  after 
leaving  his  Virginia  home. 

The  Allen  &  .Jemison  Company,  of  which  Mr. 
Allen  is  the  senior  memlier,  conducts  the  largest 
business  in  builders'  hardware,  building  materials, 
wood  and  coal  in  Tuscaloosa.  A  number  of 
modern  appliances,  including  a  planer  will  be 
intrC'QUced.  This  firm  has  a  large  storage  ware- 
house for  cotton. 

Mr.  Allen  is  a  practical  farmer  and  a  business 
man  of  rare  sagacity.  He  enjoys  the  highest 
esteem  of  his  neighbors  and  is  a  kind  and  affable 
gentleman. 

— • — •4'— [•^^^— ^^^ 

WILEY  A.  HAGLER,  the  son  of  William 
Hagler  and  Elizabeth  (.Mullins)  Hagler,  was  born 
March  8,  181S,  in  Wilkes  County,  N.  C.  His 
education  was  received  at  such  schools  in  his 
native  State  as  the  times  afforded.  He  came  to 
Tuscaloosa  County  in  183T,  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, a  pursuit  which  he  has  since  followed  very 
successfullv. 


The  family  from  which  .Mr.  Hagler  is  descended 
was  of  Swiss  origin,  and  were  among  the  earliest 
settlers  in  North  Carolina.  His  paternal  grand- 
father served  in  the  Colonial  Army  under  Wash- 
ington and  was  present  at  Braddock's  defeat. 

Mr.  Hagler  married  .Miss  Hazy  Ann  Lee,  of 
Tuscaloosa  County,  the  daughter  of  Isaac  Lee, 
one  of  the  first  settlers,  and  has  si.x  children,  who 
are  all  grown  and  settled  in  life.  One  of  his 
sons,  Edward  I.,  is  the  largest  individual  land- 
owner in  Tuscaloosa  County. 

The  family  of  Mrs.  Hagler  were  early  settlerson 
Flint  Kiver,  in  Madison  County,  near  Huntsville, 
but  removed  many  years  ago  to  the  vicinity  of 
Northport.  Her  father  owned  large  tracts  of 
land  here,  and  raised  a  large  and  interesting  family 
of  children. 

In  Wiley  A.  Hagler  is  clearly  typified  the 
Southern  planter  of  the  old  regime,  kind,  hospi- 
table and  noble,  who  lives  at  his  ease  and  comfort 
amid  the  scenes  of  his  young  manhood,  respected 
by  all  who  know  him. 


GEORGE  A.  SEARCY,  son  of  Dr.  Keuben 
Searcv,  was  born  in  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  September 
27,  1851;  began  business  as  a  bookseller  and  sta- 
tioner in  18T0,  and  continued  in  this  line  until 
1881,  at  which  time  he  engaged  in  the  wholesale 
grocery  business.  This  has  proved  a  profitable 
and  largely  increasing  business,  and  is  still  con- 
tinued under  the  firm  name  of  George  A.  Searcy 
&  Co.  He  was  elected  treasurer  of  the  Tuscaloosa 
Coal,  Iron  and  Land  Company  January  15,  1887: 
president  of  the  Merchants'  National  Bank 
February  It,  1887;  treasurer  of  the  Tuscaloosa 
Northern  Railway  I'ompaiiy  .March  20,  1887;  and 
treasurer  of  Gray  Stone  Land  Company  June  10, 
18S7. 

— ^«— ;jg«^-  <>  •    • 

WILLIAM  GILBERT  COCHRANE,  son  of  Will- 
iam Cochrane,  a  native  of  New  York,  and  a 
lawyer  by  profession,  was  born  in  Tuscaloosa 
March  29,  1S48.  His  mother  was  Miss  S.  S. 
Louisa  Perkins,  daughter  of  Major  Harden  Per- 
kins, a  native  of  Tennessee  and  one  of  the  early 
settlers  in  Tuscaloosa.  His  father  began  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law  in  New  York  City,  but  by  reason 
of  failing  health  removed  to  'j'uscaloosa,  and  be- 
came associated  with  the  gallant  General  Crabb, 


540 


NORTHERX   ALABAMA. 


of  Mexican  War  fame,  with  whom  he  resumed  his 
professional  career. 

Williiim  (iilltert  Cochrane  received  liis  early  ed- 
ucation at  preparatory  schools,  and  entered  the 
University  of  Alabama,  wliere  he  was  still  a  stu- 
dent wiien  Croxton's  raiders  invaded  the  city  of 
'I'uscaloosa  and  burned  the  buildings  of  that  in- 
stitution. As  a  member  of  the  Corps  of  Cadets, 
he,  in  May,  ISf  15.  assisted  in  repelling  the  raiders. 
He  was  subsequently  for  two  years  a  student  at 
Washington  College,  Lexington,  Va.,  under  the 
presidency  of  Gen.  IJobert  E.  Lee.  Returning  to 
Tuscaloosa,  he  read  law  in  the  office  of  Hargrove 
&  Fitts,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  18T0.  He 
has  since  been  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
his  i)rofession.  During  tlie  period  of  the  "Ku- 
Klux  "  excitement  he  was  County  Solicitor,  and 
Assistant  County  Solicitor,  and  so  faithfully  and 
fearlessly  did  hedischarge  incumbent  duties  that 
he  won  the  gratitude  and  regard  of  his  fellow-cit- 
zens.  Perhaps  no  young  man  was  ever  placed  in 
a  position  more  trying,  and  one  demanding  the 
exercise  of  that  calm,  cool  and  inflexible  courage, 
which  it  is  greatly  to  the  credit  and  honor  of  Mr. 
Cochrane  that  he  exhibited. 

Mr.  Cochrane  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Legislature  during  the  session  of  1S78-79,  and 
served  with  that  rare  ability  which  has  been 
characteristic  of  his  public  life.  He  is  chair- 
man of  the  Democratic  Executive  Committee 
of  Tuscaloosa  County,  and  is  a  staunch  adherent 
of  his  party's  platform.  He  is  a  liberal  advocate 
of  Tuscaloosa's  industrial  progress:  was  one  of 
the  originators  and  organizers  of  the  Tuscaloosa 
Coal,  Iron  and  Land  Company,  and  is  a  director 
and  one  of  its  legal  advisers.  Mr.  Cochrane  asso- 
ciati  d  with  him  in  his  law  practice  in  October, 
1S8"!.  Mr.  William  C.  Fitts,  his  nephew,  and  a 
jjroniising  young  attorney. 

Mr.  Cochrane  married  August  Vi..  IST'-i,  Miss 
Lily  E,  Taylor,  daughter  of  the  late  JohnT.  Tay- 
lor, of  Mobile,  one  of  Alabama's  most  eminent 
jurists.  One  child,  John  Taylor,  named  for  his 
illustrious  grandfather,  has  been  born  to  this 
marriage. 

Mr.  Cochrane  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  and  a  Knight  Templar.  For  twelve 
years  he  was  master  of  the  Blue  Lodge,  and  is  a 
grand  junior  warden  of  the  Grand  (.'ommandery 
of  Knights  Templar  of  Alabanui,  and  the  eminent 
commander  of  Tuscaloosa  I'ommandery,  No.  13,  of 
Knights  Templar.    He  is  a  fine  specimen  of  physical 


manhood,  of  pleasing  and  engaging  manner,  and 
a  graceful  dignity.  Devoted  to  his  chosen  pro- 
fession, he  seems  careless  of  the  high  legisla- 
tive and  congressional  honors  his  constitu- 
ents are  ready  to  Ijcstow  upon  him,  and  for 
which  he  is  eminently  qualified.  The  world  is 
before  him.  and  he  will  win  its  surest  favors 
through  his  stern  allegiance  to  duty  and  to 
justice. 

WILLIAM  C.  JEMISON.  .Mayor  of  Tuscaloosa, 
was  born  in  tliis  city  December  ti,  IS.iO,  and  is  a 
son  of  William  H.  and  Elizabeth  (Patrick)  Jemi- 
son,  natives  of  Alaljama.  and  descendants  from 
Irish  ancestry,  Wm.  II.  Jemison,  before  the  war 
a  successful  planter,  was  one  of  those  who  at  its 
close  found  themselves  with  fortunes  destroyed, 
and  as  a  consequence  his  sons  had  their  own  ways 
to  make  in  the  world,  from  the  bottom  round  of 
the  ladder. 

It  being  impossible  to  begin  the  course  of  study 
to  which  he  had  looked  forward,  W,  C.  Jemison 
turned  his  attention  to  agriculture,  but  being 
forced  by  a  combination  of  adverse  circumstances, 
he  left  the  plantation  and  accepted  the  situation 
of  master  of  .St.  John's  Parochial  School  near 
Baltimore.  While  teaching  he  studied  under 
juivate  tutors,  and  after  a  time  entered  the  law 
class  of  the  University  of  Alabama,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1ST4.  He  practiced  his  profession 
until  the  spring  of  1S8T.  when  he  left  the  bar  to 
assume  the  presidency  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Coal.  Iron 
and  Land  Company,  a  position  he  now  fills. 

In  1879  Mr.  Jemison  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
Mayor  of  the  city  of  Tuscaloosa,  which  position  he 
has  since  held,  having  been  elected  and  re-elected 
five  successive  times.  He,  like  all  self-made  men, 
being  a  man  of  enterprise  and  public  sjiirit.  the 
city  quickly  caught  the  contagion  of  his  uutiring 
energy,  and  under  his  administration  has  made 
many  and  striking  improvements. 

Mr.  Jemison  is  a  man  of  undoubted  executive 
ability;  in  his  private  business  he  has  been  suc- 
cessful, and  in  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  city, 
as  well  as  of  the  large  corporation  of  which  he  is 
the  leading  officer,  he  has  pursued  a  straightfor- 
ward, conservative  course  that  has  been  attended 
with  the  happiest  results. 

More  than  any  other  man  of  his  section  of  coun- 
try, Mr.  Jemison  deserves  the  credit  of  inaugurat- 


XOR  rilKRiX  A  I. A  J!  AM  A. 


541 


ing  and  conducting  tlie  series:  of  iniprovi-nieiits 
and  dcvclo|>nients  thiit  have  marked  tlie  recent 
history  of  the  city  of  Tuscaloosa  and  l)routjht  it 
into  prominence.  To  his  efforts  was  due  the  iioh!- 
iiig  of  the  IJiver  and  ITarbor  Convention  which 
sat  ill  Tuscaloosa  in  ISS'i.  and  wliich  was  the 
lieginning  of  the  work  of  improvement  in  the 
Warrior  IJiver  (as  well  as  of  other  Alabama  water- 
ways) Tiow  being  prosecuted  by  the  (Jeiieral  (iov- 
eriimenl.  lie  will,  perhaps,  be  longest  and  most 
gratefully  remembered  in  his  native  city  as  the 
nnui  to  whom  that  city  is  indebted  for  its  tine  sys- 
tem (if  graded  public  schools. 

To  him  also,  in  the  greater  j)art.  is  du"  the 
organization  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Coal,  Iron  and 
[iand  Company,  a  powerful  corporation  who.se  ob- 
ject and  intention  is  to  develop  the  wonderful 
mineral  and  timber  resources  of  the  adjoining  re- 
gion: to  establish  barge  communication  with  Mo- 
bile, New  Orleans  and  the  entire  Gulf  coast,  and 
to  make  of  Tuscaloosa  the  great  manufacturing 
center  whicji  nature  has  fitted  it  to  be.  thus  giving 
it  that  high  rank  among  commercial  centers  which 
he  wisely  foresaw  iuid  has  since  earnestly  striven 
to  have  it  attain. 

Mr.  .lemison  was  married  at  Ocean  Springs. 
Miss..  Feljruary  •24,  187'.i.  to  Miss  Eliska  Leftwich, 
daughter  of  J.  (i.  \V.  Leftwich.  at  one  time  a 
wealthy  planter  of  that  ]>lace.  She  died  August 
14.  lsS-2,  leaving  two  children,  a  daughter  and 
a  son. 


HARVEY  H.  CRIBBS.  the  .son  of  Uaniel  and 
Amy  (La  \'ergy)  Cribbs,  was  born  in  Tu.scaloosa, 
June  17,  18132.  He  received  his  early  education 
at  the  best  schools  of  the  day.  embarked  in  busi- 
ness as  clerk  in  a  store  in  Tust-aloosa  at  the  age 
of  fourteen,  and  continued  in  the  same  occupation 
nntil  his  twenty-eighth  year,  wlien  he  wa.s  elected 
Sheriff  of  Tuscaloosa  County  by  a  larger  vote 
than  had  ever  j)reviously  been  cast  in  the  county. 
This  position  he  resigned  in  the  spring  of  18ti2, 
to  assist  in  the  organization  of  Lumsden's  Bat- 
tery, of  which  he  was  elected  first  lieutenant.  He 
saw  very  active  service,  and  achieved  distinction 
for  courage  and  soldierly  rpialities.  In  18(U  he 
resigned  his  commission,  to  take  the  post  of  scout 
by  detail,  .serving  under  Lieutenant  Wright,  of 
the  Second  Alabama  Cavalry,  and  in  this  relation 
performed   important  and    valuable   service.     He 


had  the  misfortune  to  be  captured  on  the  eve  of 
the  surrender,  near  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  was  for 
some  time  confineil  in  that  city.  Restored  to 
liberty,  he  returned  home  and  secured  a  clerkship, 
first  ill  Tiiscaloo.sa,  and  a  month  later  in  a  whole- 
sale grocery  in  Mobile,  and  subsef|uently  purchas- 
ing the  business  afterward  conducted  by  the  firm  of 
Cribbs,  David.soii  &  Co.  He  continued  a  thriving 
merchant  of  .Mobile  for  twelve  years,  when  he  sold 
out  his  interest  and  returned  to  Tuscaloosa,  where 
he  has  since  been  engaged  in  business  as  a  broker 
and  insurance  agent.  In  1870  he  married  Miss 
(!arrie  Hoper,  who  has  had  seven  children.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and  is  a 
Mason. 

Ill  adilitiou  to  his  brokerage  and  insurance  busi- 
ness, Mr.  Cribbs  manages  a  large  and  valuable 
estate  near  Tuscaloosa.  His  lands  contain  de- 
posits of  iron,  coal  and  several  varieties  of  kaolin 
and  fire-brick  clay.  Mr.  Cribbs  is  a  man  of  rare 
liusiness  experience,  and  a  cultivated  and  highly 
respected  citizen. 

•    ->-!^^-<-    • 

DANIEL  CRIBBS,  the  son  of  Teter  Criiibs  and 
Christina  (Williams)  Cribbs.  was  born  May  8, 
18(111,  at  (ireensboro,  Westmoreland  County,  Pa., 
and  Came  to  Tuscaloosa  in  1828.  He  removed 
from  Pennsylvaniu  in  ISO<i.  with  his  parents,  to 
New  Philadelphia,  Ohio,  and  from  there  returned 
to  Pennsylvania  and  lived  two  years  in  Pitts- 
burgh. In  1823  became  to  Alabama  and  resided 
in  Greene  County  until  1828,  when,  as  has 
been  above  noted,  he  first  settled  in  Tuscaloosa 
County,  two  miles  from  the  city.  His  early  edu- 
cation was  sadly  neglected  by  reason  of  the  lack 
of  schools  near  his  liirthplace,  an  obstacle  en- 
countered elsewhere  in  his  youth.  He  established 
the  first  stoneware  manufactory  in  the  State  in 
Tuscaloosa,  and  conducted  it  successfully  until  the 
outbreak  of  the  civil  war. 

Mr.  Cribbs  was  the  Sheriff  of  Tuscaloosa  County 
from  1842  to  1845.  He  was  in  those  early  times 
engaged  in  the  steamboat  business  and  lost  heavily 
by  the  explosion  of  the  '"Tuscaloosa'"  in  1845. 
In  1850  "  he  caught  the  gold  fever  "  and  went  to 
California,  from  which  he  returned  with  lots  of 
cash,  wiiich  he  invested  in  slaves  to  cultivate  his 
farm  near  Tuscaloosa,  He  married,  in  1828,  Miss 
Amy  La  Vergy,  of  Greene  County,  Ala.,  and  has 


o43 


XORThEKX   ALABAMA. 


had  nine  chiklrtn,  only  tliree  of  whom  are  liviiiLr. 
one  ill  Texas  and  two  in  Tuscaloosa. 

Mr.  Cribbs  is  in  his  eighty-eighth  year,  still  hale 
and  hearty,  and  delights  fo  sjjeak  of  his  boyhood 
days.  The  majority  of  those  he  knew  when  he 
i-ame  to  Tuscaloosa  liave  passed  away,  and  he  has 
lived  through  many  changes  and  many  wars.  In 
]8i;{,  while  living  at  New  Philadelphia,  Ohio, 
at  the  time  of  Hull's  surremler,  (iovernor  Meigs, 
of  Ohio,  tlien  on  a  visit  to  his  father,  desired  to 
send  a  message  to  Detroit,  and  the  mission  of  ex- 
treme peril  was  undertaken  and  accomplished, 
much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  (iovernor.  by  the 
adventurous  boy.  Daniel  Cribbs. 

Jlr.  Cribbs  remains  as  a  link  in  the  chain  of  the 
"Old  South"  which  binds  it  to  the  new,  and 
bears  upon  him  the  impress  of  the  days  when  ho.s- 
pitality  was  as  boundless  as  the  forests,  and  when 
honor  and  chivaliy  were  united  in  the  hearts  of 
all  true  men. 


but  selected  Alabama  as  a  more  inviting  Held  for 
future  operations.  Mr.  Castlemaii  wjvs  educated 
in  the  best  schools  of  Nashville  and  St.  Louis. 

lie  married  Miss  Kllie  Harding,  of  Shelbyville, 
Tenn.,  and  has  two  children,  Ellie  and  .Tames 
Woods.  Mr.  Castleman  was  instrumental  in  per- 
fecting the  organization  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Coal, 
Iron  ami  Land  Company,  and  was  elected  its  sec- 
retary, an  office  which  he  has  well  and  wisely 
filled.  He  had,  prior  to  iiis  present  association  iis 
secretary  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Coal,  Iron  and  Land 
Comjiany,  been  manager  of  the  Hriartield  Coal 
and  Iron  Company's  furnace  propert\,  and  had 
charge  of  the  blast  furnace.  He  was  subsc<iuently 
placed  in  position  as  Auditor  of  this  County,  i)ut 
having  ac(|uired  large  interests  in  the  Tuscaloosa 
property,  he  removed  to  this  place.  He  has  been 
a  prime  mover  in  every  direction  which  promised 
success,  and  Tuscaloosa  is  fortunate  in  having  in 
its  midst  a  man  so  capable  of.  and  zealous  in, 
advancing  its  material  interests. 


JAMES  WOODS  CASTLEMAN.  The  '-booms" 

wiiicli  li.-ivc  swi-iii  iiM'i-  XdiIIici-ii  Alabama  have 
been  iiistnirncnt;il  in  bringiiig  into  notice  and 
prominence  many  useful  and  enterprising  men, 
and  men  capable  of  successfully  founding  such 
institutions  and  inaugurating  such  systems  as 
would  the  more  surely  secure  the  most  permanent 
and  prosperous  results.  Of  such  is  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  James  Woods  Castleman,  the  son  of 
ii.  B.  CJiistleman  and  Annie  (Woods)  Castleman. 
born  at  Nashville,  Tenn..  November  24,  1848. 
The  family  of  his  jirogenitors  were  of  German 
extraction.  His  grand))arents  were  natives  of  the 
SluMiaiuloali  Valley,  in  Virginia.  His  paternal 
grandfather  was  married  in  the  old  log  fort,  the 
lirst  structure  built  at  Nashville,  and  the  wedding 
was  the  lirst  ever  solemnized  at  that  jilace.  .\n 
interest  in  the  first  steamboat  that  plied  the  Cum- 
berland River  was  owned  by  his  maternal  grand- 
father. His  father  was  mayor  of  Nashville  for 
several  years,  and  a  member  of  the  Tennessee 
Legislature  for  several  terms.  His  maternal  grand- 
father was  the  largest  iron  factor  in  the  South, 
and  the  head  of  the  firm  of  Woods,  Yeatman  & 
Co.,  who  owned  two  iron  furnaces  and  rolling 
mills  in  the  Cumberland  clistrict.  which  were 
burned  by  the  Federals  after  the  evacuation  of 
Fort  Donelson.  With  this  firm  James  Woods 
Castleman  became  in   his  early  years  associated, 


— — — •5*-fS*^j^;-^' — *— 

EDMUND  RUSH  KING,  son  of  .Mi.huel  A. 
and  .\iiiiic  .s.  ( Hc.illi-)  King,  was  born  in  Tusca- 
loosa County.  Ala  .  June  Hi,  18.")5.  His  f;ither 
was  among  the  prominent  citizens  of  lluJitsville. 
Ala.,  and  re])resented  the  district  embracing  that 
county  in  the  State  Legislature.  Edmund  h'usli 
was  ])iit  to  school  in  'i'liscaloosa  County,  to  which 
his  fjither  had  removed,  and  attended  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia,  ami  subsefjuently  the  rnivcrsily 
of  Alaliama.  He  followed  agricultural  pursuits 
for  three  years.  He  was  elected  City  Marshal  of 
Tuscaloosa  in  I8,S4.  ami  has  since  filled  that  office 
in  a  highly  commendable  manner. 

-Mr.  King  married  Miss  A.  .»Iellie  Foster, 
daughter  of  the  Itev.  JtJin  C.  Foster,  of  Tusca- 
loosa, and  has  five  children:  Tosca,  Velnia,  Geor- 
gia .Vnnie,  John  Foster  and  Kobert  51. 

The  maternal  grandfather  of  Mr.  King,  John 
S.  Healle.  was  a  Raltimorean,  and  one  of  the 
earliest  settlers  in  Tuscaloosa  County. 

As  City  -Marshal.  Jlr.  King  has  been  peculiarly 
efficient,  and  has  demonstrated  that  strict  and 
unswerving  devotion  to  duty  which  has  ever  been 
a  ruling  characteristic  of  the  worthy  family  from 
which  he  sprang.  In  the  zenith  of  his  manhood, 
this  faithful  officer  gives  promise  of  the  future 
occupancy  by  him  of  higher  positions,  to  which  he 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


543 


will  doubtless  be  called,  as  a  more  suitable  recog- 
nition of  his  eminent  qualifications.  In  person, 
Mr.  King  is  the  embodiment  of  grace  and  manly 
dignity,  and  in  manner  and  conversation  exhibits 
strong  evidences  of  parental  training  and  a  good 
education.  \o  young  man  in  Tuscaloosa  is  more 
highly  or  more  justly  respected  than  Edmund  K. 
King,  who  is  destined  to  retain  the  confidence 
and'  esteem  of  all  who  know  him.  through  his 
inherent  honesty  of  purpose  and  sterling  integrity 
of  character. 


JOHN  ROBIE  KENNEDY,  the  son  of  John  S. 
Ki-nneily  and  Mary  K.  Kennedy,  was  born  in  Flor- 
ence, Lauderdale  t'ounty.  Ala.,  June  0,  1848.  His 
parents  moved  to  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  in  the  year 
18G2.  Here  he  entered  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama, and  continued  a  cadet  there  until  shortly 
before  the  buildings  of  the  University  were  burned 
by  the  Federals. 

In  18(>9  he  entered  the  Cumberland  I'niversity 
at  Lebanon,  Tenn.,  and  was  graduated  in  the  Law 
Department  in  187i>.  In  I.s?l  he  married  Jliss 
•Jodie  McLester,  the  daughter  of  K,  C.  and  Mary 
T.  McLester,  of  Tuscaloosa,  Mr.  McLester  during 
liis  lifetime  being  one  of  the  most  prominent  and 
prosperous  merchants  of  his  county. 

Mr.  Kennedy  did  not  long  pursue  his  practice 
of  law,  preferring  the  more  active  life  of  farming 
and  other  interests  he  has  engaged  in.  He  is  sec- 
retary and  treasurer  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Land  and 
Loan  Cnniiany,  also  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Huilding 
and  Loan  Association,  and  upon  the  organization 
of  the  Tuscaloosa  Coal,  Iron  and  Land  Company 
was  elected  one  of  its  directors. 

He  and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episi'oi)al  Church.  South.  IFeis  a  meini)er  of  the 
Knights  of  Honor  ami  the  .Vlphu  Tau  Omega 
fraternity. 

ISAAC  OLIVER,  tiie  son  of  Isaac  Oliver  and 
Julia  Oliver,  was  born  at  Pleasant  Kidge,  Creene 
County,  Ala.,  .March  22,  18<;i,  and  is  of  English 
and  Scotch  e.xti-action.  His  father  came  from 
\'irginia  to  Alabama,  settling  in  Eutaw,  about 
lS4<i.  Ilere.Iulia  Murphy  became  Mrs.  Oliver, 
and  here  had  been  her  home  before  lier  marriage. 
Iler  son.  Isaac,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  jjut 


to  school  at  an  early  age,  and  received  instruction, 
after  preliminary  training  in  private  schools,  at 
Archibald  Institute  in  Greene  County,  Ala.,  grad- 
uating from  the  academic,  and  subsequently  from 
the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Alabama, 
with  the  degree  of  LL.  15.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  .\labama  in  1884, 
and  practiced  his  profession  for  three  years  at 
Houston,  Texas.  After  this,  he  traveled  for  recre- 
ation in  California.  Mr.  Oliver  has  recently  re- 
turned to  his  native  State,  aii<l  recommenced  his 
law  i)ractice,  making  commercial  law — in  which, 
while  in  Texas  he  had  excellent  experience,  as 
deputy  clerk  of  Brown  County,  as  through  his  po- 
sition he  had  access  to  the  records  of  deeds,  con- 
veyances, probate  minutes,  etc. — a  specialty  at 
Tuscaloosa.  Jlr.  Oliver,  although,  as  a  practicing 
attorney,  new  to  Tuscaloosa,  has  rapidly  won  pub- 
lic confidence  and  secured  a  position  at  once  com- 
mendable, and  indicative  of  superior  qualifications, 
considered  in  the  light  of  the  prestige  which  has 
for  so  many  years  been  shed  upon  its  bench  and 
bar.  The  father  of  this  young  attorney  was  for 
several  years  the  sheriff  of  Greene  County,  and  is 
happily  remembered  for  his  efficient  service  in 
that  relation,  as  well  as  for  his  uniform  courtesy 
and  kindness,  conspicuously  evidenced  in  all  his 
acts.  Of  his  gifted  son,  Alabama  will  yet  be 
proud^  as  he  is  fitted  to  represent  her,  and  will,  in 
the  near  future,  doubtless,  be  called  to  champion 
her  interests  in  legislative  council. 

Mr.  Oliver's  literary  prominence  has  recently 
been  suitably  recognized  in  his  election  as  secretary 
of  the  .\labama  Historical  Society,  a  position  for 
which  he  is  eminently  qualified  and  upon  which 
he  will  reflect  distinguished  honor. 

HENRY  BACON  FOSTER,  son  of  Joshua  Hill 
Foster  and  Frances  ('.  (Hacon)  Foster,  was  born 
near  Tuscaloosa  May  0,  186.3.  The  ancestors  of 
Mr.  Foster  were  English,  and  among  the  earliest 
settlers  in  Tuscaloosa  County.  His  father,  the 
Kev.  Joshua  Hill  Foster,  is  Profes.sor  of  Natural 
Philosophy  and  Astronojny  in  the  University  of 
Alabama.  The  excellent  educational  advantages 
of  Tuscaloosa  were  eagerly  embraced  by  Henry  B. 
Foster,  and  he  was  graduated  in  1882  from  the 
academic  department  of  the  L'niversity  of  Ala- 
bama, with  the  degree  of  A.M.,  and  in  LS84  from 
the  law  department,  with  tiie  degree  of  LL.B. 


544 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  begiin  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  1884. 
In  the  interval  between  18s-,>  and  1884  he  taught 
in  a  public  school  at  Gailsilen.  Ala.  He  received 
the  nomination  by  tiie  Democratic  party  for  the 
State  Legislature  in  1880.  but  was  defeated  by 
eleven  votes.  He  was,  at  the  time  of  his  nomina- 
tion, but  twenty-three  years  old,  and  the  high 
compliment  thus  paiil  him  by  his  party  augurs  well 
for  his  political  future.  Mr.  Foster  inherits,  in  a 
remarkable  degree,  the  literary  abilities  of  his 
father,  and  has  exhibited  in  his  legal  practice  the 
surest  evidences  of  culture  and  proficiency.  He 
is  associated  with  the  celebrated  jurists,  the  Hon. 
Jolm  M.  Martin,  e.x-Congressman  from  this  dis- 
trict, and  Capt.  A.  B.  McEachin,  one  of  the  great 
lights  of  the  Tuscaloosa  bar,  under  the  firm  name 
of  McEachin,  Martin  I't  Foster.  As  the  resident 
partner,  Mr.  Foster  conducts  the  Tuscaloosa  busi- 
ness of  the  firm,  Messrs.  Martin  and  McEachin 
liaviug  their  otlice  and  residences  in  Birmingham, 
ilr.  Foster  is  the  .'solicitor  for  Tuscaloosa  County, 
and  discharges  the  incumbent  duties  in  a  manner 
generally  acceptable.  He  is  the  captain  of  tlie 
noted  "  Warrior  (Juards,"  which  derive  peculiar 
distinction  from  having  been  the  coujpany  wliicli 
the  gallant  Capt.  (afterward  General)  K.  E.  Rodes 
led  to  the  field  in  18<il.  Captain  Foster  gives 
am))le  promise  of  reaching  tlie  acme  of  his  profes- 
sion and  of  making  a  record  that  shall  grace  the 
history  of  the  period  in  wliich  he  lived. 


JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN,  the  son  of 
James  iL  Calhoun,  of  Dallas  County,  Ala.,  and 
Susan  I'ickens,  of  distinguislied  South  Carolina 
parentage  and  connections,  was  born  at  the  par- 
ental homestead  near  Richmond  and  Carlowville, 
Ala.,  December  4,  lM.">ii.  'J"he  father  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  a  nephew  of  the  distin- 
guished statesman  and  vice-president,  John  Cald- 
well Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  and  his  mother 
was  a  sister  of  Governor  F.  W.  Pickens,  daughter 
of  Governor  Andrew  Pickens,  and  granddaughter 
of  General    .\ndrew    Pickens,  of  South  Carolina. 

.\fter  the  usual  ])reliniiiuiry  trainingin  vogueat 
that  day.  young  Calhoun  was  preparei!  for  college 
by  Professor  T.  J.  Dill,  now  of  Howard  College, 
Birminghan).  Ala.,  and  entered  Washington  Col- 
lege (since  Washington  and  Lee  University), 
under   the    presiilency   of    (ien.    Robert    E.    Lee. 


From  this  institution  he  was  graduated  with  the  de- 
grees of  C.  E.  and  B.  S.,  in  June.  I8T'2.  and  .M.  A. 
in  June,  187:5,  and  was  appointed  a  resident 
master,  a  position  he  thought  proper  to  decline. 
He  taught  with  Frank  H.  .\lfriend  in  Cai)e  Fear 
Academy,  Wilmington,  N.  C,  subse<|uently  suc- 
ceeding to  the  principalship,  which  he  held  for 
two  years.  In  1870  he  attended  a  course  of  in- 
struction in  Heidelberg  L^niversity,  (iermany.  and 
spent  some  time  in  Paris.  On  his  return  in  1S7T 
to  Alabama,  he  was  elected  professor  of  (ireek  in 
the  University  of  Alabama,  the  chair  which  he 
still  holds  and  creditably  fills.  Professor  Calhoun 
is  well  adapted  to  his  profession,  having  been 
thoroughly  inducted  into  the  best  systems  of 
teaching  that  obtain  in  this  country  and  in 
Eurojie.  He  has  taught  mathematics,  Latin  and 
Spanish.  He  was  married  July  II,  1S78,  to  Miss 
Mary  R.  (Jraham.  of  Selma,  Ala. 

Professor  Calhoun  is  a  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  and  a  deacon,  and  has  taken  much 
interest  in  the  Young  Men's  Christian  .Association 
and  Sunday-school  work.  A  plain,  unostentatious 
gentleman,  Professor  Calhoun  commands  the 
highest  respect,  and.  as  a  professor,  the  affection 
of  his  pupils  and  the  approbation  of  their 
custodians. 

WALLACE  B.  EDMUNDSON  was  Iwru  near 
Xashville.  Tenn.,  March  2,  ISoi).  His  father  was 
John  K.  Kdmundson  and  his  mother  >Litilda  (J. 
Wilson.  He  was  educated  in  Xashville  and  at 
Franklin  College,  Tenn.  Conducted  a  farm  until 
the  age  of  twenty-seven,  when  he  embarked  in 
the  cotton  business,  and  continued  in  that  line 
until  188G  in  Tuscaloosa,  to  which  place  he  re- 
moved in  1878.  In  1837  he  engaged  in  the  real- 
estate  business  as  a  necessary  measure  to  manage 
his  large  property  in  and  around  Tuscaloosa.  Mr. 
Edmundson  has  become  rapidly  identified  with 
leading  interests  and  was  one  of  the  incor|)orators 
of  the  electric  light  system,  the  ice  refrigerating 
process,  and  various  other  movements  directed  to 
the  development  of  the  rising  fortunes  of  'I'usca- 
loosa.  Mr.  Edmundson  is  vigilant  and  enterpris- 
ing, and  exhibits  the  most  unmistakable  evidences 
of  business  capacity  in  the  directions  in  which  he 
is  interested.  He  belongs  to  the  advancing  men 
of  tlie  period,  and  will  make  his  mark  on  the 
pages  of  Tuscaloosa's  history  in  the  years  to  come. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


545 


lie  is  a  gentleman  of  lipnor  and  integrity,  and  en- 
joys the  respect  of  all   who  know  him. 

Mr.  Edmundson  married  Miss  Teunie  Venable, 
of  Tuscaloosa,  on  January  13,  1HT9,  and  lias  two 
children. 


CHARLES  C.  SEED,  the  son  of  Dr.  Frederick 
C.  Seed  and  (iertnule  (Lazon)  Seed,  was  born  at 
Louisville,  Ky.,  January,  .'Sd,  lS3<i.  His  ances- 
tors w^xn  English  and  German,  who  settled  in 
Kentucky  at  an  early  period  in  the  history  of 
that  State.  His  father  was  educated  at  the  noted 
University  of  Heidelberg,  (Jermany,  and  received 
the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  that  institution.  Ifis 
his  mother  was  educated  at  a  Catholic  seminary 
in  Maryland.  The  literary  disposition  of  his 
father  was  put  to  profit  during  the  financial  crisis 
of  1.S33,  when  he  taught  as  the  professor  of  lan- 
guages in  a  school  of  which  he  was  the  principal. 
The  son  derived  his  eaily  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  Louisville,  and  has  since  perfected  him- 
self in  various  kiiuls  of  knowledge.  The  loss  of 
his  parents,  when  he  was  but  thirteen  years  of 
age,  put  him  upon  his  own  resources,  which  he 
was  in  various  ways  successfully  utilized,  lie  left 
Louisville  when  he  was  seventeen,  and,  for  several 
years,  served  as  clerk  in  a  grocery  store.  At  the 
age  of  twenty  he  began  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count as  an  agent  in  the  produce  line,  handling 
large  consignments  from  New  Orleans,  St.  Louis, 
Peoria,  and  otlier  cities,  with  head(|uarters  at 
Mempliis,  Tenn.  At  the  beginning  of  the  civil 
war  he  was  the  possessor  of  a  considerable  for- 
tune, which  he  had  secured  entirely  from  his  own 
efforts. 

\\\  lsi:i  he  marrieil  Miss  .Matlie  ('.  Wliite. 
daughter  of  Charles  White,  of  Camden,  .\rk.. 
of  the  well-known  South  Carolina  family  of 
that  name.  'J'he  original  entry  of  the  lands  of 
the  White  family,  made  in  17<>o,  is  still  in  their 
possession,  and  four  generations  lie  buried  in  the 
district  where  they  had  lived. 

Mr.  Seed  enlisted  in  the  Shelby  (Jrays.  but  saw 
no  active  service,  giving  his  attention  to  liis  ex- 
tensive business  interests,  wliich  he  liad  the  mis- 
fortune to  lose,  as  a  consequence  of  the  war.  In 
18*i"2  he  removed  to  Tuscaloosa,  and  became  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Kirkman,  Hays  &  Co., 
engaged   in    the    manufacture   of    cotton    goo<ls, 


principally  for  the  Confederate  Government. 
D;iring  the  invasion  of  Tuscaloosa  by  Croxton's 
raiders  in  ISOa,  the  mill  was  burned  and  de- 
stroyed, as  was  a  large  quantity  of  cotton  stored  in 
an  adjacent  warehouse.  After  this  he  operated  as 
a  cotton  buyer  for  two  years,  anJ,  subsequently, 
took  charge  of  numerous  shipments  of  cotton, 
aggregating  about  3.2nO  bales,  at  Liverpool,  Eng- 
land. While  in  England  he  imported  the  larger 
portion  of  the  machinery  for  the  mills  at  Cotton- 
dale,  about  seven  miles  east  of  Tuscaloosa.  Mr. 
Seed  was  largely  interested  in  these  mills,  which 
were  conducted  under  the  firm  name  of  Haugh, 
Kennedy  &  Co.,  and  which  were  thus  continued 
up  to  18^6.  Owing  to  the  panic,  which  began  in 
18T3  and  continued  to  1870,  and  which  was  pecul- 
iarly disastrous  to  all  enterprises,  particularly 
manufactures,  Mr.  Seed  lost  his  entire  invest- 
ment, which  had  cost  him  about  §"^".J."),0(iU. 

He  retired  from  this  connection  without  a 
penny  and  began  life  anew,  but  with  strong  hope 
and  undiminished  energy.  He  was  determined  to 
succeed,  and  accepted  a  position  as  traveling 
salesman  for  several  New  York  houses,  on  a  sal- 
ary. He  afterward  embarked  in  the  cotton-bale 
tie  business,  which  he  built  up  to  large  proi)or- 
tion.  For  the  past  six  years,  having  abandoned 
the  tie  business,  by  reason  of  the  annoyance  of 
threatened  suits  for  infringement -of  patent,  by 
the  American  Cotton  Tie  Supj)ly  Comj)any,  he 
has  been  engaged  in  buying  and  selling  cotton, 
for  export  and  for  mills,  and  in  real  estate  vent- 
ures since  the  "  booms.'' 

He  has  by  his  undaunted  and  unwearied  energy 
and  splendid  business  abilities  been  once  more 
lifted  into  a  position  of  success.  Jlr.  Seed  has 
two  sons:  Charles  C.  jr.,  associated  with  his  father 
in  business,  and  W.  I).,  a  hardware  merchant  of 
Tuscaloosa  and  a  distinguished  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Alabama. 

-Mr.  Seed  has  had  truly  a  remarkable  career, 
eventful,  and  filled  with  altei  natinggcc.d  and  evil 
fortune,  but  he  has  always  preserved  the  strictest 
honesty  and  the  most  unblemished  reputation.  No 
man  in  Tuscaloosa  is  more  highly  esteemed  tlian 
he,  and  no  man  more  deserving  of  the  ultimate 
triumph  over  multitudinous  and  afflictive  disas- 
ters. He  has  gained  that  for  which  he  has  since 
his  boyhood  so  ardently  and  so  persistently  toiled, 
and  the  evening  of  his  days  will  be  passed  in  ease 
and  comfort,  rewards  that  wait  upon  true  diligence 
and  upright  purpose. 


546 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


EDWARD  N.  C.  SNOW.  The  Snow  family  of 
Tusf-aluosii.  Ala..  !.■;  (it'sci'iidecl  from  Dr.  Peter 
Snow,  of  Fitcliburg,  Mass..  and  Elizabeth  Adams. 

William  Snow  was  born  in  England  in  1<J"24, 
and  came  to  America  in  lfi37,  being  one  of 
the  first  settlers  of  Bridgewater,  Mass.  The 
American  family  is  a  large  one,  and  is  distributed 
over  the  greater  part  of  tiie  United  States.  Many 
of  them  have  been  physicians,  others  clergy- 
men, lawyers  and  merchants.  Elizabeth  Adams, 
the  consort  of  Dr.  Peter  Snow,  was  a  first  cousin 
of  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  a  niece  of  John 
Adams,  both  Presidents  of  the  United  States. 
The  Adain.s  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  the 
English  families  in  America.  Henry  Adams,  who 
came  from  Hraintree,  England,  and  settled  at 
Braintree  (now  Quincy,  >[as:s.)  in  the  early  part 
of  tiie  seventeenth  century,  traced  his  family  back, 
through  the  peerage  of  England,  to  about  the  year 
l:iOO:  the  (M)nnections  of  this  family  are  the  Al- 
den  and  Bass  families  of  New  England.  Charles 
and  Henry  Adams  and  Z  B.  Snow  settled  in 
'J'usealoosa  County  about  the  year  18".il.  Charles 
Adams  was  a  physician  by  education,  but  prac- 
ticed his  profession  very  little.  The  three  broth- 
ers became  interested  together  in  merchandising. 
Z.  B.  Snow  died  about  the  year  1840.  Charles 
soon  after  retired  from  business,  and  Henry  A. 
continued  it  until  his  death  in  18ti5.  He  lived 
antl  died  loving  the  State  and  city  of  liis  choice, 
and  was  identified  with  Tuscaloosa  in  every  enter- 
prise of  any  moment  occurring  in  its  history  dur- 
ing his  long  residence.     Charles  died  in  188."). 

E.  N.  C.  Snow,  the  son  of  Henry  A.  Snow  and 
Abby  Hazard,  was  born  in  Tuscaloosa  in  1S45.  He 
served  in  the  Confederate  Army  a  short  time, 
having  been  discharged  by  reason  of  severe  illness. 
He  took  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  the  University  of 
Alabama  in  18().t.  after  which  he  served  four  years 
as  clerk  for  R.  iS:  .1.  McLester.  He  began  business 
as  a  dry  goods  merchant  in  18T<i,  which  he  con- 
tinued with  fair  success  until  18,sT,  when  he  sold 
it  to  accept  the  position  of  cashier  of  the  Mer- 
chants National  Bank  of  Tuscaloosa. 

y\x.  Snow  was  married  in  IST",;  to  Miss  Carrie 
T.  McLester,  of  Tuscaloosa. 

The  celebrity  whicli  attaches  to  this  family  has 
nowhere  been  more  conspicuously  evidenced  than 
through  the  Alai)ama  branch,  to  which  E.  N.  0. 
Snow  belongs.  These  peojile  have  exerted  an  in- 
fluence and  ilemonstrated  a  principle  that  will  sur- 
vive as  long  as  the  name,  which  is  one  to  be  proud 


of,  as  one  that  has  never  known  dishonor,  but  has 
reflected  the  fame  of  its  escutcheon  wherever  it  is 
borne.  Tuscaloosa  is  justly  proud  of  this  grand 
old  family,  and  honor  will  belong  to  it  as  long  as 
it  remains  so  true  and  noble  as  it  has  ever  been — 
fulfilling  its  mi.s.sion  in  honesty,  truth,  justice  and 
morality. 


JOHN  SNOW,  only  son  and  youngest  child  of 
I>r.  Chark's  and  N'irginia  (Penn)  Snow,  natives, 
respectively,  of  Massachusetts  and  Virginia,  was 
born  May  '^4,  184.J,  on  his  father's  farm,  about 
one  mile  north  of  Tuscaloosa,  where  his  early 
youth  was  spent.  He  went  to  school  until  about 
eighteen  years  old.  when  the  war  broke  out  and  he 
enlisted  in  liUmsdcn's  Battery,  with  which  he 
remained  about  four  years,  or  until  the  sur- 
render. Though  much  broken  in  health  he  began 
merchandising  in  a  small  way,  and  he  has  been  in 
the  mercantile  business  since.  He  first  sold  gro- 
ceries, then  kept  a  general  store,  but  having  a 
fondness  for  the  hardware  trade,  he  eventually 
converted  his  business  into  this  line,  and  for  many 
years  his  house  has  done  most  of  the  business  in 
that  line  in  West  Alabanui.  There  have  been  sev- 
eral changes  in  the  firm,  but  at  present  it  is  known 
as  John  T.  Snow's  Hardware  Company,  of  which 
he  is  president.  They  deal  largely  in  machinery 
of  all  kinds,  and  have  done  the  people  a  good  service 
by  introducing  improved  agricultural  implements. 
His  firm  is  noted  for  its  fair  dealing,  and  has 
always  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  its  customers  to 
the  fullest  extent. 

He  was  married  August  28,  18i!8.  to  Norma, 
daughter  of  Dr.  S.  J.  Leach,  and  has  had  born  to 
him  fourchildren:  Lizzie  P.. \'irginiaC..  Charles 
Henry  Boylston,  and  John  Adams.  All  are  liv- 
ing e.vcept  Charles,  who  was  accidentally  killed 
by  machinery  on  October  IT,  1884. 

Since  the  surrender  he  has  lived  in  Tuscaloosa, 
e.xcept  during  the  summers,  which  he  has  usually 
spent  on  his  farm  '•  Hurricane."' on  Hurricane 
Biver.  six  miles  wist  of  Tuscaloosa.  It  is  a  beau- 
tiful place,  with  about  .ii«'  acres  attached,  and  he 
has  recently  made  it  his  permanent  home. 

Mr.  Snow  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  was  a  vestryman  and  treasurer  many  years. 
He  is  inclined  to  a  literary  taste,  and  has  one  of 
the  largest  libraries  in  the  ))lace,  and  though  he 
hai!  always  l)ei'n  dee]ily  immersed  in  bu.siness,  is 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


547 


never  so  liiippj'  as  when  he  can  steal  a  half  hour 
to  spend  with  a  favorite  book.  He  is  an  enthusi- 
astic Mason,  and  has,  at  different  times,  been 
presiding  otticer  of  the  I.odge,  Chapter  and  Com- 
niandcrv. 

WILLIAM  E.  MAGEE.  the  son  of  Whiting 
Magee  and  Elizal>eth  (Bass)  Magee,  was  born  in 
Lawrence  County,  Miss.,  December  i'-\,  ISo.'i. 
He  received  a  good  training  in  the  schools  of  his 
native  State,  and  adopted  photograpiiy  as  a  pro- 
fession in  1879.  He  came  to  Tuscaloosa  in  1884, 
and  has  since  won  an  enviable  reputation  as  an 
artist.  He  has  succeeded  in  making  a  large  nnm-  ' 
ber  of  very  handsome  views  of  Tuscaloosa  and  j 
vicinity,  which  are  considered  great  artistic  tri- 
umphs. In  1880  ifr.  ^lagee  was  married  to  Miss 
Laura  E.  Butler,  and  has  two  children.  Mr. 
Magee  is  a  reputable  citizen  and  thoroughly  in 
earnest  in  his  profession,  which  he  is  destined  to 
more  thoroughly  adorn,  while  keeping  pace  with 
advances  in  photograjihy. 

BERNHARD  FRIEDMAN.  Ameiican  history 
involves  the  consideration  of  many  nations  and 
manv  peoples,  who  have  found  in  the  freedom  of 
the  Republic  a  proper  exercise  of  the  talents  com- 
mitted to  them;  and  to  none  of  them  can  be  as- 
cribed more  fortitude  and  more  facility  in  secur- 
ing great  ends  than  the  German  element  of  its 
jiopulation. 

Bernhard  Friedman,  the  son  of  Simon  and 
Rosa  Friedman,  was  born  in  Hungary,  and, 
coming  to  America  in  1850,  settled  in  the  State 
of  ^lississippi  and  sub-sequently  removed  to  Geor- 
gia. The  date  of  his  advent  in  Tuscaloosa  was 
IsCd.  His  early  education  was  received  in  Hun- 
gary. His  .\merican  history  begins  with  his  first 
entrance  into  the  mercantile  business.  The  pur- 
chase of  the  cotton  mill  at  t'ottondale,  near  Tusca- 
loosa, represented  his  power  to  engineer  and  man- 
age successfully  great  industrial  enterprises,  which 
has  since  been  amply  demonstrated  and  which 
has  placed  liim  in  the  front  rank  of  the  many 
prime  movers  in  forwarding  the  natural  interests 
of  Xorthern  Alabama.  Not  alone  has  he  shown 
his  ability  in  the  conduct  of  great  manufacturing 
enterprises,  but  has  exhibited  that  conservative 
and    cautions    management  of   mercantile  affairs 


which  clearly  indicates  his  financial  power  and  in- 
tegrity. 

Upon  the  organization  of  the  Tuscaloosa  Coal, 
Iron  and  Land  Company,  in  January,  1XH7,  he 
was  elected  its  vice-president.  He  sold  to  this 
company  4:5,000  acres  of  his  vast  landed  possessions 
in  this  section.  Mr.  Friedman  has  contributed  in 
large  measure  to  the  varied  industrial  enterprises 
of  Tuscaloosa,  and  has  projected  a  large  iron  fur- 
nace, now  rapidly  nearing  completion,  and  which 
will  materially  assist  the  progressive  tciulencies  of 
liis  remarkable  section. 

Mr.  Friedman  married  Miss  Linka  Loveman, 
of  Dalton,  Ga.,  and  has  three  children.  He  is 
yet  in  the  prime  of  life  and  will  worthily  bear 
the  enviable  distinction  of  having  largely  assisted 
in  securing  Tuscaloosa's  great  iiuhistrial  future. 


WILLIAM  H.  WILDS.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  at  Sparta,  (ia.  His  father  was 
W.  W.  Wilds,  and  his  mother  Sarah  E.  Farmer. 
He  received  scholastic  training  in  Tuscaloosa. 
At  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  between' the  States, 
in  18i;i,  he  enlisted  in  the  Twentieth  .Vlabama 
Regiment,  and  served  until  wounded  in  dune, 
1864,  in  the  engagement  at  Smyrna  Church,  near 
Marietta,  Ga.,  where  he  lost  his  right  forearm. 
This  disabled  him  for  future  military  service,  and 
he  returned  to  Tuscaloosa  and  taught  school  for 
seven  years  succeeding.  After  this  he  was  ap- 
pointed Tax  Collector,  a  poiition  which  he  very 
satisfactorily  filled  for  ten  years.  July  1,  1885, 
he  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Tuscaloosa,  and 
is  the  present  incumbent. 

Mr.  Wilds  thoroughly  enjoys  llie  respect  and 
esteem  of  his  townsmen,  and  is  a  faithful  and 
zealous  officer.  Duty  is  his  watchword,  and  he 
ever  heeds  it.  Mr.  Wilds  was  married  in  1870  to 
Miss  Fannie  Y..  Hamner,  of  Tuscaloosa,  and  is 
the  father  of  seven  children.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church. 

"     'V'  'f3s^!^*  '»•  *    "* 

REV.  JAMES  H.  STRINGFELLOW,  Hector  of 
Christ  Church,  Tuscaloosa,  was  born  in  Alexan- 
dria, Va.,  December  14,  1850.  He  is  the  eldest 
son  of  Rev.  H.  Stringfellow.  D.I).,  rector  of  St. 
John's  Church,  Montgomery,  Ala.  He  was  pre- 
pared for  college  in  the  public  schools  of  Indian- 


548 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


apolis,  Ind.,  and  is  an  ahinutusot  the  University  of 
the  South,  Sewanee,  Tenn.,  and  of  Berkeley  Di- 
vinity School,  Middletowii.  Conn.  He  was  or- 
dained deacon  in  St.  John's  Church,  Montgomery, 
Ala.,  May  Vi,  IST^,  by  Kt.  Rev.  R.  II.  Wilnier, 
I).  I).,  Bishop  of  Alabama,  and  Priest  in  Trinity 
Church,  Columbia,  S.  C,  December  15,  lf<74,  by 
Kt.  Rev.  W.  B.  W.  Howe,  D.  D.  In  his  early 
ministry  lie  served  as  assistant  minister  in  St. 
John's  Cijurch.  Montgomery,  Ala..  Trinity 
Church.  Xi'W  Orleans,  La.,  and  Trinity  Church, 
Columbia,  S.  C,  ami  subsequently  as  rector  of 
Meade  Memorial  Church,  Manchester,  Va.,  and 
Church  of  Our  Saviour.  Baltimore,  Md.,  from 
which  he  was  called  to  his  present  charge. 

In  IsT'.t.  Mr. Springfellow  married  Lula  Brocken- 
borough,  daughter  of  1'.  J.  and  Lucy  W.  lluskins, 
of  Powhatan  County.  Va..  by  whom  he  has  had 
four  children,  named  Mary  Muir,  Horace,  Lucy 
Haskins  and  Ethel  Grey,  respectively.  Both  on 
his  paternal  and  maternal  side  he  is  of  Englisli- 
Scotcii  descent,  while  his  wife  is  descended  from 
the  good  old  English  stock  that  has  made  Virginia 
famous  through  the  Greys,  the  Meades,  Brocken- 
borougiis,  Haskins,  and  many  others,  noted  in  the 
military  and  civil  life  of  the  Old  Dominion,  among 
whom  was  the  great  lawyer  and  jurist.  Wa'kins 
Leigh,  who  was  her  mother's  double   tir^;t  cuisin. 

— ^ — ■^^i^^.-<*-    ' 

REUBEN  SEARCY,  son  of  Thomas  and  Ann 
Marl  in  Scarry,  was  born  at  Chapel  Hill,  X.  ('., 
December  'UK  1IS05. 

Mr.  Searcy  moved  to  near  Madison,  that  State, 
and  there  received  snch  education  as  the  country 
afforded.  In  It^'id  he  came  to  Tuscaloosa,  his 
brother-in-law  and  wife  having  preceded  him. 
His  father's  family  failed  to  follow  him  as 
expected,  and  he  decided  to  remain  anyway.  He 
at  once  applied  for  and  procured  employment  on 


a  steamboat  on  the  Warrior  River,  first  as  a  clerk, 
and  subsequently  as  an  engineer.  About  that  time 
he  began  the  study  of  medicine  under  Dr.  James 
Guild,  the  most  prominent  physician  of  Tusca- 
loosa. So  reduced  was  he  in  financial  circumstan- 
ces that  he  was,  as  he  has  been  heard  to  relate, 
driven  to  the  necessity  of  i>icking  up  from  the 
street  stray  pieces  of  cloth  with  which  to  mend  his 
wearing  apparel.  After  teaching  school  a  short 
time,  he  raised  a  small  amount  of  money, 
suHicient  to  enable  him  to  take  a  winter  course  of 
lectures  at  the  Le.xington  (Ky.)  Medical  College. 
He  subsequently,  after  finishing  his  course  of  lec- 
tures, returned  to  Tuscaloosa,  and  again  taught 
school — continuing  his  medical  studies.  The  fol- 
lowing winter  he  attended  another  course  of  lec- 
tures ami  received  his  diploma.  Immediately 
thereafter  he  settled  at  Carthage,  Ala.,  where  he 
built  up  a  successful  practice.  After  paying  up 
his  small  indebtedness  he. returned  to  Tuscaloosa, 
and  formed  a  partnership  with  his  old  preceptor. 
Dr.  Guild.  His  practice  soon  became  very  exten- 
sive in  this  and  adjoining  counties.  The  partner- 
ship was  mutually  dissolved. 

B'or  nearly  thirty  years  he  was  president  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  for  the  Insane  Asylum.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  for  upward 
of  fifty  years,  and  during  his  long  life  filled  many 
l)laces  of  trust  and  resjioiisibility.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  October  1834  to  3Iiss  Enieline  S.  Nore. 
She  died  in  18.3t!.  leaving  an  infant  daughter,  who 
survived  but  a  few  months. 

The  Doctor's  second  wife  was  Miss  -M.  .\.  Fitch, 
and  they  lived  together  as  man  and  wife  for  nearly 
half  a  century.  To  them  were  born  three  sons 
and  two  daughters.  One  of  his  sons  died  from 
wounds  received  at  the  battle  of  JIurfreesboro. 

Dr.  Searcy  was  a  most  kind    and    affectionate 
husband,   father   and    grandfather.     He   died    at 
Tuscaloosa  March  lu.  ISsT,  regretted   by  all  who 
I   knew  him. 


XIV. 
GREENSBORO. 


Bv  W.M.   !•:.  \V.  Ykrijv. 


Ill  the  befriimiiiir  of  the  year  181ii.  the  first  set- 
tlements were  made  in  the  vicinity  of  (ireensboro 
by  some  half  dozen  or  more  families  from  Tennes- 
see, (ieorgia  and  North  Carolina.  Of  the  num- 
ber may  be  mentioned  M.  Kinnard,  his  two  sons- 
in-law,  Met'onnico  and  C'orzine  ;  T.  A.  Kinnard, 
Mr.  Davis  and  Mr.  IJennett.  A  large  family  of 
IJiissells  also  resided  in  the  neighborhood  at  that 
rime,  and  for  several  years  the  country  in  a 
radius  of  four  or  five  miles  was  known  as  the 
"  Kiissell  Settlement."' 

These  hardy  pioneers,  upon  their  arrival,  found 
nothing  here  except  an  unbroken  forest,  wliich 
they  at  once  began  to  clear  away,  and  to  build 
rude  cabins,  which  they  furnished  in  primitive 
simplicity.  Their  bedsteads  were  made  by  bor- 
ing holes  in  the  logs  of  the  houses,  into  which 
pieces  of  wood  were  driven  and  boards  laid  upon 
them;  a  three-legged  stool  for  each  member  of 
the  family  and  a  high  bench  for  a  table  consti- 
tuted the  household  furniture. 

The  country  around  Greensboro,  in  these  early 
times,  is  said  to  have  been  indescribably  beautiful. 
Tiie  primeval  forests,  consisting  of  hickory,  oak, 
chestnut  and  pine,  were  unbroken,  (iame  of  all 
kinds  was  very  plentiful.  Large  number  of  deer 
were  frequently  killed  by  the  settlers  only  a  short 
distance  from  the  cabins.  The  low  places  to  be 
seen  around  the  town  of  to-day  were  then  exten- 
sive reed-brakes,  into  which  cattle  fre(|uently  went 
never  to  come  oAt  alive,  on  account  of  the  boggy 
nature  of  the  soil. 

The  year  ISIT  brought  new-comers  into  the 
•  Uussell  Settlement.''  Of  the  number  C'apt.  James 
Veates,  Louis  8tei)hens.  Benjamin  Baldwin.  Fred- 
erick Peck,  William  Lovell  and  others.  They 
erected  houses  near  the  present  site  of  the  South- 
ern University,  and  gave  the  place  the  name  of 
Trov.  under  wliiili  name  it  soon  became  a   thriv- 


ing little  village.  Jlost  of  the  inhabitants  culti- 
vated the  soil  for  a  livelihood,  and  were  contented 
and  happy. 

The  first  L'nited  States  mail  ever  received  in 
Troy  was  brought  from  Cahaba  on  horseback,  by 
S.  (r.  Briggs,  and  opened  in  the  store  of  Frederick 
Peck,  the  first  Postmaster,  on  the  3il  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1818.  This  mail  had  been  carried  to 
Cahaba  on  a  barge  coming  from  Blakely. 

The  first  house  built  in  Greensboro  proper  was 
in  the  year  1818 — a  one-room  log  structure — by 
.John  Nelson.  It  was  located  on  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  square  on  which  Dr.  Thomas  R. 
Ward's  residence  now  stands.  In  this  hut  Mr. 
Nelson  kept  a  small  stock  of  powder,  shot,  whis- 
ky, tobacco,  etc. ;  but  he  soon  tired  of  merchandis- 
ing, and  in  181H  sold  out,  and  settled  upon  forty 
acres  of  land  on  the  ]>lantation  now  known  as 
'•  Midway,"  and  engiiged  at  farming. 

He  died  in  1858  or  18.59,  leaving  a  fortune  of 
some  8250,000,  all  of  which  he  had  accnnuilated 
by  tilling  the  soil. 

The  second  house  built  in  the  town  was  in  1819, 
by  Silas  Baggett,  who  used  it  as  a  wheelwright 
shop.  This  building  was  situated  on  the  present 
Presbyterian  Clnircli  lot. 

In  1819  .Mabama  was  admitted  into  the  Union, 
and  Troy  being  situated  ujjon  tlie  sixteenth  sec- 
tion, which  is  by  an  Act  of  Congress  reserved  to 
every  State  for  the  benefit  of  public  schools,  was 
broken  up,  and  the  inhabitants  moved  to  the 
present  site  of  Greensboro. 

In  1820,  James  Veates  erected  a  frame  building 
on  the  east  corner  of  the  lot  on  which  Governor 
Searcy's  residence  now  stands,  and  used  it  as  a 
boot  and  shoe  shop. 

Samuel  G.  Briggs  located  in  the  town  the  same 
year  and  opened  a  hotel  on  the  lot  now  owne<l 
bv    Professor    Peterson.     Just   across   the   street 


549 


550 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


from  him  was  ii  tailor's  shop,  kept  by  one  Clark. 
The  number  of  stores  in  Greensboro  at  the  be- 
ginning of  18".il  had  increased  to  five.  Malone  & 
Lake  kept  one  where  D.  J.  Castleman  is  now  do- 
ing business;  Blanton  &  McAIpine  had  a  grooery 
on  a  part  of  the  present  hotel  lot;  William 
Lovell  also  kept  a  grocery  in  a  building  on  the 
east  corner  of  the  Uornian  Block;  Frederick  Peck 
did  business  in  a  house  where  Ward  &  iSon  now 
keep;  and  J.  \.  Wemyss  kept  a  stock  of  goods  in 
a  btiiklitig  situated  where  the  hotel  now  stands. 
.\bsiilom  Alston  had  a  hotel  on  the  lot  known  as 
the  "Jack.soiL  stable''  lot;  Miles  Johnson  also 
kept  one  in  a  frame  house  located  on  the  lot 
on  which  Dr.  Peterson's  residence  is  now  sitnated: 
and  still  another  was  kept  by  Edward  Clements 
in  a  building  where  the  court-house  now  statuls. 

In  liS".il  or  1S2".J,  Kzekiel  Pickens  opened  the  first 
law  office  in  Greensboro,  in  a  house  where  Mrs.  S. 
W.  Itiigger  now  resides.  The  second  was  soon 
afterward  opened  by  W.  C.  Chapman,  near  where 
.1.  W.  McCrary's  store  is  located. 

In  December,  18"i;5,  "  An  Act  to  incorporate  the 
Town  of  (ireensborough,  in  the  County  of  (ireene." 
was  jiassed  by  the  Legislature  of  Alabama.  Among 
the  first  ordinances  j)assed  undei-  this  charter  was 
one  ])rohibiting  horse-racing — which  had  become 
the  favorite  amusement  of  the  inhabitants — within 
the  corporate  limits.  The  main  street  of  the  town, 
at  present  presenting  such  an  active,  busy  apjiear- 
ance,  was  u.sed  as  a  race-course.  It  is  said  that 
half  of  the  citizens  belonged  to  the  jockey  club, 
and  great  was  their  sorrow  when  this  ordinance 
went  into  effect.  The  jockeys  made  another  race 
track  about  two  miles  west  of  the  present  court- 
house, near  the  plantation  known  as  the  "Jenkins 
place."  now  owned  by  J.  W.  .McCrary,  aiul  kept 
up  their  favorite  sport  for  many  years. 

In  these  early  times  the  mode  of  visitingdistant 
points  was  on  horseback  or  by  stage-coach.  The 
merchants  fre(|uently  rode  horses  to  New  York, 
where  they  purchased  their  stocks  of  goods,  which 
they  had  sliipjied  by  water  to  Mobile,  thence  to 
C'ahaba.  from  which  place  the  mcrcliai\dise  was 
hauled  to  Greenboro  in  wagons. 

But  to  return  to  the  government  of  the  town: 
The  citizens  seemed  soon  to  have  permitted  their 
charter  to  lapse  from  non-use,  and  on  January  ",'1, 
183"2.  an  Act  was  passed  "To  revive,  repeal  iu  part 
and  amend  an  Act  to  incorporate  the  town  of 
Greensboro  in  the  County  of  (ireene,  approved 
December  •l\.  18-^3." 


By  this  Act  the  following  taxes  only,  could  be 
assessed  and  levied  : 

1.  Not  exceeding  one-fonrth  of  one  percent,  on 
real  property. 

•-.'.  A  poll-ta.x  of  *I  on  each  wiiite  male  over 
twenty-one  years  old. 

3.  Not  exceeding  *1  each  on  all  four-wheeled 
pleasure  carriages. 

4.  On  all  retailers  of  liquors,  goods  and  mer- 
chandise, not  exceeding  *1(>  per  annum. 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  income  of  the 
town  was  small,  but  the  expenditures  were  e<|ually 
so.  The  oHicers  received  no  salaries.  The  In- 
tendant  was  allowed  a  small  fee  for  the  trial  of 
criminal  offenses,  and  the  Constable  also,  but 
rarely  was  a  case  reported  to  the  Intendant. 
Cases  for  breaches  of  the  peace,  if  noted  at  all, 
came  up  before  the  Justices  of  the  Peace.  For 
breaches  of  by-laws,  the  limit  of  fines  was  *10, 
with  right  of  appeal  if  over  ?i. 

The  limits  of  the  town  were  the  quarter  section. 
An  Act  was  passed  on  January  VI,  18^3,  extending 
the  limits  to  embrace  the  residence  and  lot  of  John 
Morrast  —  now  occupied  by  Thomas  H.  Iioiilhac. 
The  object  was  to  relieve  Dr.  Morrast  from  lia- 
bility to  work  on  roads  outside  of  the  town. 

On  January  '27,  1845,  an  Act  was  passed  "to 
alter  and  amend  the  several  Acts  in  incorporating 
the  town  of  Greensboro."  It  enlarged  the  powers 
of  the  Intendant  and  Constable  somewhat. 

On  February  1"^'.  IS.iO,  another  Act  to  amend  was 
piissed,  authorizing  the  erection  of  a  jail,  or  cala- 
boose, for  the  detention  of  .sltircs. 
.  Sections  four,  five  and  six  of  the  Act  of  Jan- 
uary 'io.  18.">r.,  incorporating  the  Southern  L'ni- 
versity  forbids  the  sale  of  liquors  in  Greensboro, 
except  by  druggists. 

It  was  not  until  18o8that  the  limit.-;  of  the  town 
were  extended  beyond  the  original  quarter  section 
and  the  Morrast  lot.  There  under  the  provisions 
of  the  general  statutes,  sections  I'i'iO  to  Vi'io,  in- 
clusive, a  petition  was  filed  in  the  Probate  Court  of 
(ireene  County  for  an  extension,  so  as  to  embrace 
in  all  the  northeast,  the  sontheiU*.  the  southwest 
quarters  of  section  seventeen,  and  the  southwest 
(|iiarter  of  section  sixteen.  The  question  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  ]ieo]ile.  The  vote  stood  sixty  for 
and  forty-two  against  the  extension.  The  exten- 
sion took  effect  in  April,  18.iM.  In  185'.t  the  char- 
ter was  further  amended,  so  as  to  authorize  the 
imprisonment  of  white  persons,  etc.,  and  the  In- 
tendant made  eligible  I'V  the  i)eoi)le  instead  of  the 


XORTIIERN  ALABAMA. 


001 


Council,  aif  heretofore.  Tlie  ottii'e  of  .Marsluil  was 
also  created. 

Originally,  the  jurisdiction  of  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace  was  confined  to  liis  own  beat;  but  prior  to 
18.30,  by  Act  of  the  Legislature,  the  Justices  for 
(ireensboro  Beat  could  issue  process  to  any  part 
of  the  county,  returnable  at  (ireensboro.  Later, 
by  Act  of  December,  18:iG,  any  Justice  in  the 
county  might  issue  process  returnable  li>  any 
place  in  the  county  he  might  think  proper. 

In  1841  or  1843  an  Act  was  passed  allowing  real 
estate  and  slaves  levied  upon  by  the  .Sheriff  or 
Constable  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  to  be  sold 
at  (ireensboro  instead  of  at  the  court-house  in 
Eutaw.  The  cliarter  was  again  amended,  in  some 
particulars,  in  187n  and  in  1884-8.").  The  charter 
of  the  Southern  University  was  also  amended  by 
the  Legislature  of  1884-8.5,  so  as  to  prohibit  even 
druggists,  or  anyone  else,  from  selling  or  giving 
awav  spirituous,  vinous  or  malt  liquors  in  Greens- 
boro or  within  five  miles  of  the  corporate  limits 
of  the  town.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  historical  note 
that  (ireensboro  has,  since  that  time,  enjoyed  a 
prahUiition  Jaw  which  does  prnhihit. 

In  the  early  times,  the  village  was  divided  into 
three  imaginary  wards.  From  the  eastern  end  of 
Main  street  (by  the  court-house),  extending  to  the 
street  east  of  the  present  Corwin  House,  was  called 
the  *•  White  settlement."  Thence  to  the  street  at 
Scarff's  corner,  (T'uscaloosa street)  was  the  •'  Hlack 
settlement."  Thence  to  the  western  line,  near 
Boardman's,  was  •' Dogsboro."  The  wet,  swampy 
hollow  in  front  of  Colonel  Tunstall's.  was  then 
much  deeper  that)  now. 

In  the  "  White  settlement  "  was  a  fnime,  paint- 
ed white,  two-story  hotel,  where  now  stands  'he 
court-house.  (>pposite.  was  a  fine-looking  white 
frame  house,  with  a  portico,  the  residence  of  Dr. 
Hunter.  Farther  on,  on  eitlier  side  of  the  street, 
were  buildings  variously  occupied — two  dry  goods 
stores  (in  one  of  which  was  kept  the  jiost-cttice), 
a  tinner's  office,  a  tailor  shoj).  a  lawyer's  office,  a 
printing  office  and  two  dwellings. 

In  the  "  Bhick  settlement."  on  the  upper  block, 
were  four  or  five  dry  goods  houses,  two  liquor 
saloons — then  called  "doggeries" — two  lawyers' 
offices  antl  three  tlwellings.  On  Bowers'  corner 
was  a  one-story  double  log  cabin,  ke)it  as  a  hotel, 
its  swinging  sign  a  "  stag."  ScarfT's  cabinet  shop 
and  residence  stood  on  tiie  western  corner  of  this 
block,  opposite  which  was  a  red  frame  house,  a 
hotel,    ki-pt    in   IS.'id  by   Maj.    \.    L.  Descourt,  a 


French  refugee,  who  had  served  under  Napoleon, 
and  was  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo;  farther  up  was 
a  store  and  a  tailor's  shop. 

In  "  Dogsboro,"  the  village  blacksmith's  shop 
(Coleman  W.  (Jarrett,  proprietor)  stood  near  the 
west  corner  of  the  present  Methodist  Church, 
about  as  far  back  from  the  street  as  the  church 
now  stands.  On  the  corner,  was  a  two-story 
frame  store  which  was  used,  at  the  times  of  the 
races,  as  an  open  gambling  house,  tilled  with  faro 
tables  and  bystanders.  Subsequently,  for  a  short 
while,  it  was  occupied  by  Levin  Gayse  as  a  dry 
goods  store.  Below  this,  with  the  e.xeejition  of  a 
cabinet  shop  (that  now  occupie<l  by  Wesley  Jones) 
and  the  law  office  of  Ezekiel  Pickens,  which  now 
forms  a  portion  of  Mrs.  Dugger's  house,  having 
been  added  to  and  converted  into  a  dwelling  by 
her  father,  Dr.  (ireene  B.  Williams,  there  were 
only  dwellings,  and  not  many  of  them. 

The  road  from  Erie,  the  county  seat,  made  no 
square  turn  at  X.  B.  Jones'  gate,  as  now,  but  con- 
tinued at  an  angle  in  the  rear  of  Mr.  Beuner's 
liouse,  near  the  present  location  of  the  Pasteur 
residence,  and  across  Boardman's  front  yard,  enter- 
ing Main  street  not  very  far  east  of  his  house.  The 
now  Al.  Stollenwerck  lot  extended  to  the  then  road, 
and  a  private  dwelling,  the  •'  L'ed  House,"  so  called, 
stood  very  near  the  road,  so  tliat  looking  down 
Main  street,  it  seemed  to  block  it.  Beyond 
Boardman's  was  the  home  of  Mrs.  Aske.  Farther 
on,  as  far  as  Dr.  Wm.  Jones'  plantation,  back  of 
Judge  Hobson's  lot,  all  was  forest,  with  a  thick 
undergrowth.  In  the  exact  center  of  ilain  street, 
at  the  intersection  of  ^lain  and  Tuscaloosa  streets, 
was  a  public  well,  covered  by  a  square  shelter  with 
a  four-sided  roof:  shading  it  was  a  large,  thrifty, 
beautifully  shaped  oak,  quite  an  ornament  to  that 
l)ortionof  the  town.  At  one  time,  in  after  years,  a 
small  market  house  was  erected  at  the  entrance  of 
Tuscaloosa  street,  in  its  center,btit  it  did  not  remain 
long.  In  1843. the  Town  Council  had  this  well  filled 
up  and  the  tree  removed.  So  great  was  the  indig- 
nation of  the  public  at  tlie  removal  of  this  old 
landmark  and  ornament,  that  John  Smith,  then  a 
member  of  the  Council  and  prominent  in  procuring 
its  destruction,  was  hung  in  effigy  over  the  spot. 

The  financial  crisis  of  18"-J">  was  felt  in  Alabama, 
and  from  18"^ti  to  1828  were  many  bankruptcies 
and  much  business  for  the  lawyers,  who  then 
prospered.  This  over,  came  a  dull  time — till  the 
crisis  of  183T,  when  the  whole  Union  nearly  be- 
came bankru]>t,  and  the  effects  of  which  continued 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


to  1S4>'  and  1S4:{,  at  which  hitter  date  (ireene 
County  had  about  recovered  from  it.  During  this 
period  the  lawyers,  clerks  of  court,  sheriffs,  and 
all  judicial  officers,  flourished. 

There  are  a  number  of  scattered  graves  in 
Greensboro,  of  which  but  few  of  the  present  popu- 
lation have  any  knowledge.  In  the  corner  of  the 
woods  in  the  rear  of  ]).  F.  McCrary's.  are  many 
—  the  dead  of  Troy,  as  the  first  settlement  was 
i-alled,  were  buried  there.  Two  graves,  now  so 
obliterated  as  not  to  be  recognizable,  were  near 
the  door,  by  the  side  of  the  (-nioke-house  of  the 
residence  of  Jolin  Erwin,  on  ••  Strawberry  Hill.'' 
There  is  one  in  the  middle  of  the  lot  in  the  lear 
of  L.  J.  Lawson's  garden,  and  one  outside  the 
north  rt-est  corner  of  the  same  lot.  So  in  many 
other  places.  Tiie  .McAlpine  graves  are  yet 
visible. 

The  burials  made  at  the  Stokes  cemetery  weie 
on  private  ground.  When  the  question  came  up 
for  the  purchase  of  land  for  a  public  graveyard, 
this  was,  of  course,  under  consideration,  T'he 
land  was  poor  and  uneven,  unfit  for  cultivation, 
and  of  little  value.  The  owners,  knowing  the 
interest  the  public  and  the  relatives  and  friends 
of  those  buried  there  felt  in  the  matter,  asked  an 
exorbitant  price  for  the  land,  which  engendered 
bad  feelings,  and  the  result  was  that  the  present 
site  was  bought. 

The  fall  of  18:i:i  was  very  sickly.  Congestion 
and  fevers  carried  off  a  great  number,  and  among 
the  rest  some  five  or  six  very  promising  young 
men,  whose  loss  was  mentioned  and  mourned  for 
years  afterward. 

The  fall  of  ls:{<i  was  also  a  sickly  one,  and  many 
wortliv  people  died.  Tlie  young  men  were  kind, 
and  most  willing  y  devoted  themselves  to  the  care 
of  the  sick,  watching  and  nursing  by  day  and  by 
night.  The  country  was  new.  and,  like  all  new 
countries,  was  subject  to  malarial  diseases;  but 
there  were  some  other  causes  at  Gi-eensboro.  The 
swamps  and  reed-brakes  extended  to  the  very 
streets  of  the  town.  The  character  of  the  dis- 
eases is  now  entirely  changed  from  that  of  the 
early  days. 

I'p  to  18:{.J,  the  school  lands (IGth  section)  were 
rented  out.  On  .January  K?,  I.s3x'.  they  were  sold 
at  auction,  John  M.  Hate.-;.  Patrick  May  and  Hugh 
Mct'ann  being  the  commis.sioners. 

The  plat  (which  shows  the  location  of  the  roads 
at  that  time),  with  the  mimes  of  the  purchasers, 
is  recorded  in  Hook  K,  jiageoll,  Greene  County. 


After  the  sale,  the  lands  were  cultivated  by  the 
owners,  or  rented  out.  Some  of  the  lots — that,  for 
instance,  on  which  now  stands  D.  F.  McCrary's 
house,  and  others  about  that  street,  rented  at  *12 
per  acre  per  year  for  growing  cotton.  The  crops 
were  very  fine. 

On  the  lot  in  the  rear  of  Wood  &  Son's 
store  stood,  in  1S3(I,  and  after,  a  gin  house  and 
screw.  The  merchants  bought  cotton  in  the  seed 
and  had  it  ginned,  and  the  small  planters  brought 
in  their  crops  to  be  ginned  for  toll.  The  mer- 
chants also  bought  much  cotton  in  bales.  The 
hauling  to  Erie,  the  then  shipping  point,  gave 
employment  to  several  professional  white  team- 
sters. The  mule  teams  of  these  wagons,  as  well  as 
the  teams  of  the  neighboring  planters,  were  dec- 
orated with  bells,  high  up  over  the  liames,  bright 
and  glistening,  which,  besides  setting  off  the 
beauty  of  the  teams,  made  the  streets  quite  musi- 
cal and  lively  by  tiieir  jingle. 

In  1830  there  stood  on  the  vacant  lot  just  west 
of  the  present  Dorman  building,  a  wall-like  erec- 
tion of  plank,  supported  by  braces  behind  (say 
30  feet  long  by  -^5  feet  high)  like  the  side  of  a 
Ijuilding,  for  the  purpose  of  ball-play — the  game 
of  "  fives,"  which,  at  an  earlier  day,  seems  to  have 
been  an  amusement  of  the  men  of  the  town  during 
the  dull  business  season  of  the  summers. 

In  February,  l.s.54,  the  Planters"  Insurance  Com- 
pany was  incorporated.  Hooks  for  subscription 
to  the  capital  stock  were  opened  March  17,  1S54, 
and  stock  to  the  amount  of  $130,000  subscribed. 
The  company  did  a  general  insurance  business, 
and  also  a  banking  business.  It  was  of  great  con- 
venience to  the  citizens,  and  proved  very  profitable 
to  the  stockholders.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war.  in  1801.  all  but  *50,000  of  the  capital  was 
returned  to  the  stockholders,  this  amount  being 
retaiueil  to  keep  alive  the  charter,  and  business 
was  abandoned  till  better  times.  The  war  lusted 
so  long,  and  its  termination  was  so  uncertain,  that 
the  company  sold  its  real  estate  and  personal  effects 
and  closed  out  the  whole  concern,  paying  to  the 
stockholders  the  capital  and  surplus  in  full. 
This  was  done  in  February,  18(!5.  Had  they 
waited  until  after  the  surrender,  in  April,  the 
company  would  probably  have  again  opened  its 
books  for  subscription,  increased  its  capital,  and 
"begun  business  once  more.  Hut  it  has  never  been 
revived. 

On  January  3ii.  180?,  the  Legislature  passed  an 
Act  creating  Hale  County.     The  first  election  for 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


553 


county  officials  was  held  in  March  of  the  same 
year,  and  resulted  in  the  election  of  Alfred  H. 
Hutchinson  as  Probate  Judge;  J.  E.  Griggs  ns 
Sheriff :  James  A.  Tallniaii  as  Circuit  Clerk 
(Mr.  Tallinan  failing  to  qualify  for  the  ofHce, 
\'oIney  Boardnian  was  appointed  by  the  (Jov- 
ernor  to  fill  the  ])Osition.  which  he  has  occu- 
pied eversince — 21  years):  Ed  Xurting.  Tax  Assess- 
or: Dan  II.  Britton,  Ta.x  Colleetor:  I  F.  Lewis, 
R.  B.  Allen,  Burrell  Johnson  and  A.  S.  Jeffries. 
Commissioners:  I'.  T.  Wright.  Justice  of  the 
Peace:  and  Benj.  E.  Doruian.  Constable. 

At  this  election  the  matter  of  selecting  a  county 
seat  was  also  submitted  to  the  people  of  the  county, 
(ireensboro.  Bucksnort  and  Five-Mile  Clnn-ch 
were  candidates.  The  vote  stood  as  follows:  For 
(Ireensboro,  .")70:  for  Bucksnort,  "^iSO;  for  Five- 
Mile  Church,  \l\.  (ireensboro,  as  will  be  seen, 
received  I'ii".  majority  of  all  the  votes  cast,  and 
the  court-house  was  located  here. 

It  would  be  well  to  state  in  tliis  connection  that 
pending  the  decision  of  the  location  of  the  county 
seat,  the  citizens  of  (Jreensl)oro  promised  that  in 
the  event  that  town  should  be  selected  as  the 
place,  and  the  public  buildings  located  in  the  cor- 
porate limits  thereof,  they  would  furnish  and 
donate  to  said  county  a  lot  and  court-house 
thereon,  for  the  use  of  said  Hale  County,  so  long 
as  (Ireensboro  remained  the  county  seat,  and  all 
public  buildings  connected  therewith  should  also 
be  placed  in  the  corporate  limits  of  said    town. 

In  accordance  with  this  agreement,  the  Intend- 
ant  and  Council  of  Greensboro,  on  the  13th  day 
of  December.  18r>7,  purchased  from  the  Alabama 
Baptist  State  Convention  the  middle  building  of 
the  present  court-house,  then  known  as  "Salem 
Baptist  Church,"  for  the  sum  of  *8,0(Mi.  The  deed 
to  this  property  is  signed  by  J.  L.  M.  Curry  and 
Charles  .Manly,  for  the  Baptists,  and  witnessed  by 
James  I).  .Spiller  and  U.  P.  Walker. 

On  the  5th  day  of  April.  l.SOS,  the  '•  lutciulant 
and  Council  of  the  town  of  Greensboro"  conveyed 
the  property  to  Hale  County,  on  the  following 
conditions:  "  The  use  and  right  of  juojlerty  to  the 
premises  conveyed  shall  he  and  remain  in  the 
county  of  Hale  so  long  as  (ireensboro  shall  remain 
the  county  seat;  but  if  at  any  time  or  in  any  event 
the  said  Greensboro  should  cease  to  be  the  county 
seat  of  said  county,  and  the  purposes  for  which  the 
the  deed  is  given  should  fail,  then  all  right,  title 
and  interest  in  and  to  the  said  land  and  buildings 
conveye<l  shall   revert  to  be  vested  in  and  belong 


to  the  said  town  of  (ireensboro,  which  shall  then 
have  the  right  to  enter  upon  and  take  possession 
thereof." 

This  document  is  signed  by  Aniasa  M.  Dorman 
as  Mayor,  who  was  one  of  the  most  useful  and 
public-spirited  citizens  (ireensboro  ever  had.  He 
was  a  native  of  Xew  Haven,  Conn.,  and  came  to 
this  place  in  18.33.  In  184(t  he  engaged  in  the 
grocery  business,  and  was  very  successful;  in  1852 
he  had  accumulated  sufficient  capital  to  erect  the 
fine  brick  buildings  on  Main  street,  known  as  the 
"Dorman  Block."  He  continued  in  the  mercan- 
tile business  for  many  years,  and  became  quite 
wealthy,  but  the  late  civil  war  swept  much  of  his 
fortune  away.  In  18T3  he  was  again  elected 
Mayor  of  the  town  and  served  continuously  for 
twelve  years.  During  his  administration  he  la- 
bored earnestly  to  advance  the  best  interests  of 
Greensboro,  and  to  his  untiring  efforts  is  due,  in 
a  large  measure,  the  enviable  reputation  the  town 
sustains,  at  home  and  abroad,  for  being  one  of  the 
prettiest  in  the  State.  Mr.  Dorman  died  March 
■iO.  1pS5,  lamented  by  all  who  knew  liim  well. 

BENCH  AND  BAR. 

Among  the  most  prominent  men  who  have 
figured  at  the  bar  of  Greensboro,  and  who  have 
left  the  imprints  of  their  lives  upon  the  liistory  of 
the  State  and  county,  may  be  mentioned  John 
Erwin,  Wm.  M.  Murphy.  John  Gayle,  Israel 
Pickens,  Jas.  D.  Webb.  Robert  B.  Waller,  Augus- 
tus Benuers,  and  Henry  Watson.  A  brief  history 
of  the  lives  of  the  gentlemen  mentioned  will  prove 
of  interest,  so  we  give  it: 

JoHX  Erwix  was  born  in  Pendleton  County, 
Va..  in  1800.  His  school  advantages  were  very 
limited,  but  by  hard  study  and  constant  applica- 
tion to  his  books,  he  managed  to  acquire  a  knowl- 
edge of  law  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  gain 
admittance  to  the  bar.  He  came  to  (ireensboro 
in  182-i,  and  opened  an  office.  He  rose  rapidly  in 
his  profession,  and  in  1831  was  elected  Senator 
from  (rreene  County,  and  was  chosen  as  president 
of  the  Senate.  In  1836-37  he  was  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  again  in 
1842.  the  latter  year  being  elected  Speaker  of 
the  House.  He  was  twice  a  candidate  for  Con- 
gress, but  was  defeated,  first  in  1854  by  Jlr.  Payne, 
and  again  in  1851  by  Wm.  R.  Smith.  At  the 
time  of  his  death.  December  U*,  18C0,  he  was 
very  wealthy,  and  ranked  with  the  most  emi- 
nent lawver?  in  the  State.      His  only    son,   Hon. 


554 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


George  Erwin,  who  represented  Hale  County  in  the 
Legislature  in  1S84-85,  now  resides  in  (ireens- 
boro. 

William  M.  Mlkpuv  was  born  in  North  Caro- 
lina in  180C,  and  came  to  this  section  when  but 
fifteen  years  of  age.  He  read  law  at  Tuscaloosa, 
and  opened  an  office  at  Erin  in  1828,  then  the 
countv  seat  of  (Jreene.  He  afterward  resided  in 
Greensboro,  and  represented  Greene  County  in  the 
Legislature  in  1840,  and  in  the  State  Senate  in 
1849-51.  He  was  a  succe-sful  practitioner,  a 
brilliant  speaker  and  an  able  rciiresentative.  He 
died  in  Selma,  Ala.,  in  18.">5. 

JoHX  Gayle  was  at  on«  time  a  resident  of 
Greensboro.  He  was  born  in  South  Carolina  in 
179-^,  but  came  to  Alabama  when  quite  a  young 
man.  He  represented  Monroe  County  in  the 
Legislature  in  18'-J'.J-"-i3.  In  the  latter  year  he  was 
elected  by  the  General  Assembly  to  the  Supreme 
bench,  in  place  of  Judge  Webb,  deceased,  which 
position  he  lield  for  five  years,  and  then  resigned. 
In  1829-:i0  he  represented  Greene  County  in  the 
Legislature,  and  in  1831  he  was  elected  Governor, 
and  served  two  terms.  At  the  exjjiration  of  his 
second  term  as  Governor  he  settled  in  Mobile,  and 
practiced  law  until  elected  as  Congressman  in 
1847.  In  1849  he  was  appointed  Federal  District 
Judge,  vice  Judge  Crawford,  which  office  he  held 
until  his  death,  in  1858.  His  daughter,  Mrs. 
James  W.  Locke,  now  resides  in  Greensboro. 

Israel  Pickens  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in 
1780,  and  came  to  Alabama  in  1817,  and  settled 
at  St.  Stephen's.  He  soon  afterward  moved  to 
Greene  County,  and  located  near  Greensboro.  In 
1821  he  was  elected  Governor,  and  again  in  1823. 
In  1826  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Murphey 
to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  Federal  Senate  occasioned 
bv  the  death  of  Dr.  Chambers,  a  position  he  held 
for  only  a  short  while,  on  account  of  his  health. 
Hoping  to  be  benefited,  he  went  to  Cuba  in  1827, 
but  died  there  a  few  months  after  his  arrival.  His 
remains  were  brought  to  Alabama,  and  interred 
near  his  home,  three  miles  south  of  Greensboro. 

James  D.  Wehb  was  a  North  Carolinian  by 
birth.  He  was  born  in  Lincoln  County  in  1818, 
but  came  to  Alabama  soon  afterward  with  his 
parents.  He  opened  a  law  office  in  Gieensboro  in 
1838,  and  made  a  most  enviable  reputation  as  a 
practitioner.  He  represented  Greene  County  in 
the  lower  house  of  the  Legislature  in  1843  and 
1S51.     Ho  was  a  gallant  Confederate  soldier,  and 


was  mortally  wounded  at  Chattanooga.  Tenn.,  on 
the  2d  of  July,  1863.  and  died  on  the  9th  of 
the  same  month.  His  widow,  Mrs.  J.  S.  Webb, 
is  now  living  at  Forkland,  Ala. 

R.  B.  Waller.  One  among  the  most  polished 
gentlemen  and  eminent  lawyers  that  ever  graced 
the  Greensboro  bar,  was  Robert  B.  Waller,  a  Vir- 
ginian by  birth.  He  moved  to  this  place  in  1832, 
and  practiced  his  profession  with  marked  success 
for  many  years.  He  represented  Greene  County 
in  the  Legislature  in  1866-67,  and  was  the  author 
of  the  bill  creating  Hale  County.  Mr.  Waller 
spent  about  twenty-five  years  in  collecting  a  cabi- 
net of  minerals,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  to  be 
found  in  the  United  States.  This  cabinet  is  now 
in  possession  of  his  children  in  (ireensboro.  He 
died  in  1877,  leaving  a  bright  and  honored  name 
as  a  heritage  to  his  children. 

AiousTis  Benxers  was  a  modest,  retiring 
man,  but  an  able  lawyer.  He  was  born  in  New 
Berne,  N.  C,  in  1818.  and  came  to  Greensboro 
when  but  twenty-two  years  of  age.  He  repre- 
sented the  county  in  the  Legislature  in  1853,  and 
was  twice  afterward  honored  with  the  same  posi- 
tion. He  enjoj'ed  the  utmost  confidence  and 
esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He 
died  in  Greensboro  in  1885,  leaving  a  name  with- 
out spot  or  blemish. 

Hexky  Watsox  is  a  native  of  Connecticut.  He 
came  to  Alabama  in  1833.  and  settled  at  Erie,  then 
the  county  site  of  Greene,  where  he  taught  school 
for  some  months,  after  which  he  located  in  Greens- 
boro and  associated  himself  in  the  practice  of  law 
with  Col.  .John  Erwin,  a  copartnership  which  ex- 
isted for  a  number  of  years.  He  was  a  hard  stu- 
dent, an  untiring  worker,  and  gave  the  business  of 
his  office  the  strictest  attention.  He  accumulated 
a  considerable  fortune  during  his  practice  of  about 
twenty  years  in  Greensboro.  As  a  speaker  he  was 
not  considered  brilliant,  but  as  an  office  lawyer  he 
did  not  have  a  peer  in  the  State. 

The  war  between  the  States  breaking  out  in 
1861.  amf  Mr.  Watson,  being  a  Northern  man 
(though  his  sympathies  were  deeply  allied  with 
the  Southern  cause),  found  it  unpleasant  to  reside 
in  Greensboro,  and  moved,  in  consequence,  to 
Massachusetts,:  but  the  peo/le  there  manifested 
toward  him  a  spirit  of  intolerance  because  of  his 
sympathy  with  the  South,  so  he  took  his  family  to 
the  old  world,  spending  about  four  years  in  (Jer- 
manv  and  France.    After  the  conflict  at  arms  had 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ceased,  he  returned  to  the  l'nite<l  States  witli  his 
family,  and  settled  at  Korthamptoii,  Mass.,  wliere 
he  has  since  resided. 

The  Pkksent  Bak. — 'I'lie  liar  of  Greensboro 
to-day  is  composed  of  the  following  able  gentle- 
men: Augustus  A.  Coleman,  Tiiomas  R.  Roul- 
liac.  Charles  E.  Waller,  Pascal  A.  Tutwiler, 
Alfred  II.  Henners,  I'hares  Coleman,  and  Alfred 
M.  Tutistall.  The  present  Governor  of  Alabama, 
Thomas  tSeay,  was  for  many  years  an  eminent 
j)ractitioner  at  the  Hale  Couiity  15ar.  Phares 
Coleman,  Esq.,  is  now  private  secretary  to  the 
Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Alabama, 
but  keeps  up  his  practice  in  the  Hale  County 
courts. 

CHURCHES. 

Methodist  Episcopal,  Soith. —  The  earliest 
records  of  this  church  were  lost,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  copied  from  the  proceedings  of 
the  Quarterly  Conference  held  April  'Ih,  183.5: 
"A.  B.  Sawyer,  Jno.  DuBois  and  S.  G.  Field  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  search  for  and  arrange 
the  records  of  the  church,  and  have  them  re- 
corded." If  these  gentlemen  found  the  records, 
they  are  nowhere  recorded  in  the  books  now  in 
the  possession  of  the  church. 

It  is  known  however,  that  as  early  as  the  year 
l^'l'l,  there  was  a  Methodist  church  in  Greens- 
boro. The  edifice  stood  where  the  colored  -Metho- 
dists now  have  their  brick  church.  Rev.  Mr. 
Hawkins  was  one  among  the  first  Methodist  min- 
isters to  preach  in  the  town. 

Some  time  between  the  years  182".i  and  1833, 
Greensboro  was  made  a  station.  The  records 
before  us.  beginning  with  1833,  show  that  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Hearn  was  presiding  elder  of  the  dis- 
trict, and  Rev.  Robert  L.  Kenon,  pastor.  The 
stewards  were :  Robert  Dickens  and  Franklin 
Shaw. 

Again  there  is  another  lapse  in  the  minutes 
until  1835.  at  which  time  Rev.  E.  V.  Le  Vert  was 
presiding  elder,  and  Rev.  S.  B.  Sawyer,  pastor. 

Nothing  of  interest  is  recorded  until  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Quarterly  Conference,  JIarch  11,1837. 
At  this  Conference  a  committee  was  appointed, 
consisting  of  Robert  Dickens,  Tiionias  M.  John- 
son and  Andrew  Walker,  to  take  under  considera- 
tion the  necessity  and  cxiiediency  of  building  a 
parsonage  for  the  station.  This  committee 
reported  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Conference, 
held  June  10,   1837.  recommending  that  a  parson- 


age be  purchased  as  soon  as  possible,  and  asked 
the  Conference  to  allow  them  to  open  a  subscrip- 
tion for  the  pur|)ose  of  buying  said  parsonage, 
the  subscriptions  to  be  paid  in  on  January  1, 
183«.  The  report  was  received,  and  the  commit- 
tee were  urged  to  press  the  matter.  Pending  the 
purchase  of  a  building.  Dr.  Wm.  Jones  offered 
the  church  the  use  of  the  house  just  east  of  the 
pasture  lot,  for  a  parsonage,  which  was  accepted 
and  used  as  such  until  the  church,  a  number  of 
years  afterward,  bought  the  Randolph  lot  south  of 
Andrew  Johnson's  residence. 

At  this  same  meeting.  June  10,  1837,  'J'hos.  M. 
Johnson  and  Joel  Reynolds  were  appointed  stew- 
ards in  place  of  Stephen  (t.  Field,  removed,  and 
Greene  B.  Williams,  deceased. 

Another  matter  of  interest  in  connection  with 
this  meeting  is  that  the  stewards  were  appointed 
a  building  committee  to  "  build  a  new  Methodist 
church  in  the  town  of  Greensboro,  Ala.,  and  it 
is  recommended   that  the  house  be  built  at  once." 

It  was  not  until  March  IG.  1839,  that  a  commit- 
tee to  superintend  the  building  of  the  new  church 
was  appointed.  It  consisted  of  Dr.  Wm.  Jones, 
Dr.  Thos.  Cottrell,  Thos.  M.  Johnson,  John  M. 
Bates  and  Andrew  Walker.  The  contractor  was 
Robert  Dickens.  From  the  minutes  of  the  Con- 
ference held  April  4,  lc4(»,  the  following  is  taken: 
"  The  new  Methodist  Episcopal  church  [/.  «.,  the 
one  now  in  use. — Ed.]  in  this  place,  being  so  far 
finished  as  to  admit  the  congregation,  was,  on 
yesterday,  dedicated  to  God  by  E.  V.  LeVert.  His 
text:  1  Tim.,  i.,  1.5:  '  This  is  a  faithful  saying, 
and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus 
came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners.'  " 

At  the  time  of  its  dedication  the  church  had  a 
membership  of  one  hundred  and  sixteen  whites; 
the  Sunday-school  consisted  of  two  superinten- 
dents, nine  teachers  and  sixty  scholars. 

The  church  seems  not  to  have  been  in  a  pros- 
perous condition  in  184G.  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
following,  copied  from  the  records  of  the  Quar- 
terly Conference  held  Feb.  2,  1840:  '•  In  view 
of  the  indel)tedness  and  expenses  of  this  station, 
be  it  Resolved,  That  it  be  returned  to  the  Circuit; 
Provided,  That  first  the  matter  be  brought  before 
whole  Society  on  next  Sabbath,  and  that  if  they 
will  come  forward  and  pay  all  arrearages  and 
promise  to  sustain  the  Station,  it  shall  remain  as 
such."  The  congregation  complied  with  the  above 
provision,  and  the  church  was  not  put  back  on 
the  circuit. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


In  March,  18Uii,  tlie  lot  on  wliicli  the  present 
parsonage  is  situated  was  purcliased  with  tlie 
money  derived  from  the  sale  of  tlie  Randolph 
property,  a  short  time  previous.  The  parsonage 
was  not  built  until  1875. 

One  of  the  most  successful  revival  meetings  in 
the  history  of  the  church  was  held  in  the  spring 
of  188G,  at  which  time  about  seventy  persons 
joined  the  Methodist  Church,  and  many  united 
themselves  witli  the  other  denominations  of  the 
town. 

The  Methodist  C^hurch  owns  jn'operty  to  the 
amount  of  ¥lun,0(»0  in  Greensboro.  The  present 
memltership  of  tiie  church  is  three  hundred.  The 
Sunday-school  has  an  enrollment  of  three  hun- 
dred and  seven  officers,  teachers  and  pupils. 

The  following  is  almost  a  complete  list  of  the 
presiding  elders  and  pastoi's  who  inive  served  this 
station: 

Prexidituj  Ehhr.t—Wcx.  Mr.  Hearn,  ls:i:3:  E. 
V.  LeVert,  l835-:iG;  Francis  II.  Jones,  1838;  E. 
V.  LeVert,  18:3!t-41:  Charles  McCloud,  184-2-45: 
Edmund  Pearson,  184G-48:  P.  P.  Xeely.  1849: 
(xreenberry  (rarrett,  1850-51:  T.  J.  Kager,  185'.i- 
55;  I.  \V.  Starr,  1850;  J.  J.  Hutchinson,  1857-58; 
Edward  Wadsworth,  18ii0;  I.  \V.  Starr,  1801:  C. 
C.  Calhiway,  18t;v*-05:  Abrani  Ailams.  18(;0:  J.  L. 
Cotton,  1807-08:  A.  11.  Mitchell,  1871-7!t:  8.  II. 
Cox,  1880;  H.  Urfjuhart,  1881-84;  J.  Bancroft, 
1884-80;  T.  F.  Mangum,  1880  to  present  time. 

Ministers — Robert  L.  Kenon.  1833;  8.  B.  Saw- 
yer, 1835;  F.  II.  Jones,  1830;  Claibourne  Pirtle, 
1837;  v..  V.  LeVert  and  C.  Shannon,  A.  P.,  1838: 
James  A.  Boatriglit,  ].S39-4ii;  \V.  \V.  Bell.  1.S41: 
Charles  W.  Dorman,  1843:  Thomas  Capers,  1)S45: 
C.  C.  Cillespie,  1840;  T.  P.  Siielman,  1848:  C.  D. 
Oliver,  1849-50;  A.  II.  Powell,  1851-5^':  J.  J. 
Hutchinson,  1853:  C.  C.  Callaway,  1854-55:  Ed- 
ward Wadsworth.  1850-57;  William  Shapard, 
18.'i8-5!(:  T.  T.  Ramsey,  18ti0-t!l:  I.  A.  Heard, 
180-i;  R.  K.  Hargrove.  1803;  T.  T.  Ramsey.  1804- 
05;  T.  0.  Summers.  1800;  J.  C.  Wells.  1800;  T. 
C.  Weir,  1807-08;  John  S.  Moore,  180 'to  1871; 
A.  S.  Andrews,  l.s7-,'  to  1875;  0.  R.  Blue,  1875; 
H.  I'rfiuinirt,  1870:  J.  Lewis.  Jr.,  187/  to  1880; 
F.  M.  Paterson,  1881  to  1884;  A.  S.  Andrews, 
1885;  W.   P.   nickinson,  1880  to  present. 

Pkesbyteiu.\n'. — So  far  as  can  now  be  ascer- 
tained, tiie  first  sermon  ever  preached  in  Greens- 
boro by  a  Presbyterian  minister  was  by  a  Mr. 
Hunter,  some  time  prior  to  the  year  18"i".J. 

In  tiiat  vear.  wlion  thi.<  countrv  was  an  almost 


unbroken  forest.  Rev.  James  Ilillhouse,  of  ."^outh 
Carolina,  came  to  this  place  and  delivered  his  first 
sermon  in  a  small  house  used  as  a  tavern.  The 
ne.xt  year  (1823)  he  organized  a  church  of  twenty 
members.  On  the  first  roll  are  the  names  }\ orris, 
Knox,  Hall,  Hunter,  Ilillhouse,  Ihirragh.  Bell  and 
Barron.  Except  during  the  period  from  1830-3'-2 
Mr.  Ilillhouse  served  tiie  church  from  its  organi- 
zation till  his  death  in  lt'o5.  Such  was  the  growtii 
of  the  church  under  his  ministry  that  the  congre- 
gation was  able  to  offer  a  salary  in  1830  of  1:2. ooo. 

In  1837  Rev.  T.  S.  Withersjioon,  related  to  the 
signer  of  the  •'  Declaration  of  Independence."  be- 
came the  pastor  of  the  church,  and  continued  to 
hold  that  position  until  1843.  Under  his  ministry 
the  church  was  greatly  blessed,  one  hundred  and 
nine  having  been  added  to  its  membership 

The  following  ministers  subsefiuently  served  the 
church  either  as  stated  supplies  or  as  regular  pas- 
tors, viz.: 

Rev.  I).  L.  Hatch,  spring  of  1843:  Rev.  R.  C. 
Yale,  1843  and  1844:  Rev.  R.  II.  Chapman.  1845  to 
1850:  Rev.  J.  C.  .Mitchell,  1850  to  1859:  Rev.  F. 
H.  Bowman, 1859  and  1800;  the  church  was  vacant, 
1801  to  1802;  Rev.  J.  M.  P.  Otts,  D.D.,  18(12  to 
18(i7;  Rev.  D.  D.  Sanderson,  1808  to  1871;  vacant, 
1871  and  1872;  Rev.  W.  J.  Frierson,  1872 and  1873; 
Rev.  T.  W.  White,  1874  to  1879;  Rev.  J.  J. 
Anderson,  1880  and  1881;  Rev.  W.  C.Clark.  May. 
1881,  to  present  (1888). 

During  the  present  pastorate  there  iiave  been 
nearly  a  hundred  additions,  a  parsonage  has  been 
built  and  the  church  has  maile  gradual  progress. 
It  reported  to  the  last  spring  meeting  of  Presby- 
tery one  hundred  and  five  members.  This  church 
has  numbered  among  its  members  someof  Greens- 
boro's most  honored  and  prominent  men.  Look- 
ing over  the  roll  we  find  such  names  as  Wilher- 
spoon,  Kerr,  Locke.  Lowry,  May,  Strudwick  and 
Webb.  The  number  of  persons  brought  into  this 
ciiurch.  since  its  organization,  has  been  about 
'  six  hundred.  This  church  has  furnished  seven  or 
eight  ministers,  and  several  ministers'  wives. 
There  have  been  associated  with  this  church,  as 
pastors,  five  ministers:  Witherspoon,  Chapman, 
.Mitchell.  Otts  and  Clark:  ami  as  stated  supjilies, 
nine:  Hillhouse,  Murphy.  Hatch,  Yale,  Bowman, 
•Sanderson,  Frierson.  White  and  Anderson.  There 
have  been  nineteen  elders  and  fourteen  deacons. 
There  are  now  three  elders  and  seven  deacons. 
Three  houses  of  worshij)  have  been  erected  —  in 
1823.  1S41  and  185'.i,  respectively. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


557 


Episcopal. — The  first  service  by  a  clergyman 
of  the  Protestant  Episcojial  Church,  so  far  as  can 
now  be  ascertainetl,  was  held  inOreenboro,  March 
14,  1830.  At  tliat  time  a  congregation  was  duly 
organized,  an<l  the  original  compact  is  preserved, 
signed  by  the  following  persons:  K.  E.  Meade, 
K.  W.  Witliers,  Wm.  '1''.  Boiling.  '!'.  H.  Randolph, 
J.  B.  Stickney,  J  no.  F.  Abbott,  Ryland  Randolph. 
T.  S.  Washington.  John  Morrast,  .lohn  Malone 
and  D.  M.  Witherspoon.  These  parties  elected 
the  following  vestrymen:  Dr.  Ricliard  K.  Meade, 
Dr.  R.  Inge.  Dr.  R.  ('.  Randolph.  Frank  Inge, 
Esq..  Dr.  R.  W.  Withers,  Wm.  Murphy,  Esq.,  J. 
I?.  Stickney,  Esq..  Col.  Saul  Pickens  and  .J.  Bell, 
Esq.  At  a  meeting  of  this  vestry,  August  ii, 
1831,  it  was  resolved  to  open  a  co7itract  for  the 
erection  of  a  church  building,  but  this  plan  was 
not  carried  out,  and  the  attempt  to  organize  a 
parish  at  this  time  ocems  to  have  failed. 

At  a  meeting  of  citizens,  held  December  24, 
1833,  certain  parties  were  appointed  vestrymen, 
and  St.  Paul's,  (ireensboro,  was  selected  as  the 
name  of  the  parish.  About  1840  this  parish  was 
duly  incorporated. 

From  the  minutes  of  the  vestry,  it  appears  that 
in  1834  the  Rev.  C.  S.  Ives  was  connected  with 
the  parish,  but  how  long  this  connection  existed 
is  not  now  known.  The  Rev.  J.  Ii.  (Joodinan 
took  charge  of  the  parish  in  183T,  atul  was  suc- 
ceeded in  1842  by  Rev.  .lulian  E.  Sawyer.  The 
next  rector  was  Rev.  S.  Patterson,  and  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  J.  S.  Marbury,  who  took  charge 
in  184.1,  and  continued  his  work  till  1850.  lie 
resigned  tiie  parish  on  account  of  ill-iiealth,  and 
died  in  Greensboro,  and  was  buried  in  the  church- 
yard September  1,  1851.  The  next  rector  was 
Rev.  J.  M.  Bannister,  D.D.,  who  remained  in  the 
pari-ih  from  1851  to  1860.  The  present  rector. 
Rev.  R.  H.  Cobbs,  D.D.,  took  charge   September 

1.  i8t;i. 

Tlie  church  l)uiMing  was  erected  in  1840;  a 
rector's  chancel  was  added  in  18.")5:and  the  build- 
ing was  enlarged  and  much  improved  in  18T3. 

The  first  recorded  baptism  in  this  parish  bears 
date  of  January  14,  1838. 

Confirmation  was  administered  for  the  first 
time  on  Good  Friday,  April  13,  1838,  by  Rt. 
Rev.  Dr.  Kemper.  Missionary  Bishop  of  Missouri. 

In  18411  Bishop  I'olk  visited  this  parisii.  and  in 
May,  1844,  Rev.  Dr.  Cobbs  was  elected  the  first 
Bishop  of  Alabama,  by  a  convention  sitting  in 
this  church. 


Baptist. — The  Baptist  denomination  was  prob- 
ably the  earliest,  and  certainly  at  one  time  the 
most  important,  of  the  Christian  denominations  of 
Greensboro  and  vicinity.  In  1830  their  church 
was  a  large  frame  building,  without  laths  or  plaster, 
with  wooden  shutters,  without  glass,  and  with 
benches,  and  stood  in  the  neighborhood  of  what  is 
known  as  the  Williamson  ])laee,  at  the  forks  of  the 
Marion  and  Xewbern  roads.  The  corner  was  not 
then  a  right  angle  as  now,  and  the  church  stood 
on  the  south  side  of  the  main  road,  and  east  of  the 
present  Newbern  road.  Near  the  head  of  the 
swampy  hollow  in  the  rear  of  the  Williamson  place 
was  the  "'  pool"  for  baptism — a  square  reservoir 
with  steps  descending  into  it — without  a  roof.  In 
this  neighborhood,  east  of  the  pool,  in  after  daj's, 
w^as  established  a  Baptist  school  or  college,  with  a 
corps  of  professors  and  a  large  number  of  pupils, 
and  was  known  as  the  Manual  Labor  School.  The 
pupils  were  required  to  do  a  certain  amount  of 
labor  in  the  field  or  elsewhere,  for  wiiich  they 
were  allowed  a  small  sum  per  hour.  It  proved  a 
failure,  and  the  buildings  were  afterward  sold  at 
auction.  These  buildings  were  a  row  of  one-story 
frame  houses  of  two  rooms  each,  with  shutters  at 
the  windows.  They  were  six  or  more  in  number. 
In  1842,  Peter  Mclntyre,  for  the  consideration  of 
?2,70O,  sold  to  the  Baptists  the  lot  on  which  the 
court-house  now  stands,  and  by  deed  of  October 
25,  1842,  conveyed  the  same  to  Daniel  P.  Bestor, 
Wiley  I.  Crooni,  John  May,  Jesse  Shivers  and 
Harris  Tinker,  as  trustees  in  trust,  that  they  per- 
mit the  same  to  be  used  for  a  place  of  worship  by 
the  "  Baptist  denomination  of  Christians  in  said 
town  and  vicinity,"  with  provision  that  they  might, 
when  duly  required  by  said  Baptist  denomination, 
convey  the  same  to  such  person  or  persons  for  such 
uses,  and  upon  such  trusts,  as  the  said  Baptist  de- 
nomination should  order  and  direct. 

Tlie  Baptists  proceeded  at  once  to  build. and  what 
is  now  the  central  part  of  the  court-housebuilding 
was  erected.  .lol.n  Crossland  was  the  contractor 
and  builder. 

This  church,  for  many  years,  exercised  great 
social  ani\  poll'/ ica I  influence  in  this  section.  By 
reason  of  violent  quarrels  between  the  members, 
and  the  death  and  removal  of  many  of  its  most 
influential  men,  tlie  church  went  out  of  existence. 
l>r.  Tlios.  R.  Ward  is  now  the  only  Baptist 
left  in  Greensboro,  of  what  was  once  the  most 
popular  and  prosperous  denomination  in  the 
vicinitv. 


558 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


SCHOOLS. 
The  Southern  University  is  located  at 
Greensboro.  It  was  establisheil  by  the  Alabama 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
South,  and  cksigiied  to  be  an  institution  of  high 
grade  and  general  cliaracter  for  the  promotion  of 
literature,  science,  morality  and  religion  within 
the  limits  of  said  Conference. 

The  University  was  incorporated  January,  IS.iil. 
Rev.  Robert  Paine.  Kev.  .James  0.  Andrew,  Rev. 
Edward  Wadsworth.  Rev.  Jefferson  Hamilton, 
Rev.  Tiiomas  0.  Summers.  Rev.  Archelaus  II.  Mit- 
chell, Rev.  Thomas  J.  Koger,  Rev.  Christopher 
C.  Callaway,  Rev.  .loseph  J.  Hutchinson,  Rev. 
Joshua  T.  Heard.  Rev,  Philip  P,  Neely,  Rev. 
Lucius  Q.  C.  DeYampert,  Rev.  Henry  W.  Hilliard, 
Rev.  Thomas  Y.  Ramsey,  John  Erwin,  Gideon 
E.  Nelson,  Robert  A.  Raker,  John  W.  Walton, 
Thomas  .M.  Joiinston,  Gaston  Drake,  Thomas  W. 
Webb,  Augustus  A.  Coleman  and  Duke  W.  (Jood- 
man  are  named  in  the  Act  of  Incorporation  as 
"  Trustees." 

The  first  regular  meeting  of  the  Trustees  was 
held  in  Greensboro,  on  the  17th  of  March, 
185<;,  Rev.  Bishop  Paine  was  elected  president 
and  Hon.  John  Erwin  vice-president  of  the  Board. 
Steps  were  taken  promptly  to  carry  out  the  pro- 
visions of  the  charter.  On  the  11th  of  June, 
1857,  the  corner-stone  was  laid;  on  the  3d  of 
October.  1851t,  the  halls  of  the  University  were 
opened  for  the  admission  of  students.  From  that 
time  until  the  present,  except  during  the  session 
of  18<>4-().i,  its  halls  have  remained  open  and  the 
institution  has  been  meeting  the  ends  of  its  estab- 
lishment. 

The  following  composed  the  first  faculty:  Rev. 
W.  M.  Wightman,  DD.,  LL.D.,  Chancellor  and 
I'rofessor  of  Biblical  Literature:  Rev.  Edward 
Wadsworth,  .\.M..  DD.,  Professor  of  Moral  Physi- 
ology: Oscar  F,  Casey,  A.^L.  Profest.tr  of  Ancient 
Languages;  Rev.  J.  .C.  Wills.  .V.M..  Professor 
of  Mathematics;  N.  T.  Lupton,  A..M.,  Professor 
of  Chemistry;  Rev.  J.  A.  Reubelt.  A.M.,  Professor 
of  .Modern  Languages  and  Hebrew;  J.  A.  Gatcli, 
A.M.,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Mathematics. 

Tiie  Rev.  C.  C-  Callaway  had  been  appointed 
Financial  and  Endowment  Agent. 

During  his  agency  the  excellent  building,  which 
now  stands,  was  erected,  and  the  University  com- 
menced operations  with  a  productive  endowment 
of  more  tlum  *-2:i8.(i(iU.  It  suffered,  however,  in 
common   with    the    whole  South,  from   the   civil 


war.  The  endowment  was  lost,  patronage  was 
limited,  and  the  institution  soon  became  financial- 
ly embarassed.  Succeeding  Rev.  C.  C.  Callaway, 
Rev.  R.  K.  Hargrove,  Rev.  J.  T.  Heard,  Rev. 
Jefferson  Hamilton  were  endowment  agents. 
The  hand  of  a  kind  Providence  was  guiding  the 
University  through  those  dark  and  stormy  peri- 
ods. Its  history  is  a  record  of  heroic  struggles, 
of  discouraging  failures,  of  renewed  efforts,  of 
final  triumph. 

In  18CG,  Dr.  Wightman  was  called  to  the  office 
and  work  of  bishop.  He  retained  his  connection 
with  the  University  until  July,  1807.  From  that 
time  until  1871  there  was  no  president,  one  of 
the  faculty  acting  as  ciiairman.  In  July,  1871, 
the  following  faculty  Wiis elected:  Rev.  A.  S.  An- 
drews, .\..M.,  D.D.,  Chancellor  and  Professor  of 
Moral  Philosophy;  0.  F.  Casey,  A.M.,  Professor 
of  Ancient  Languages;  Rev.  John  S.  Moore,  A.M., 
Professor  of  Mathematics;  Rev.  T.  0.  Summers, 
A.M..  M.D.,  Professor  of  Chemistry.  Subse- 
cpiently.  Rev.  D.  M.  Rush.  A.M.,  and  Rev.  R.  T. 
Nabors,  A.M  ,  were  added  to  the  faculty. 

The  administration  of  Dr.  Andrews  was  suc- 
cessful, the  enrollment  during  1872-73  being 
larger  than  during  any  previous  session. 

He  organized  the  College  of  Medicine,  which 
continued  in  operation  during  three  sessions,  and 
graduated  five  students  Doctors  of  Medicine. 
His  connection  with  the  institution  ended  in 
1874.  In  July,  1875,  Rev.  L.  M.  Smith  was 
elected  Chancellor.  He  associated  with  himself: 
Rev.  I.  F.  Hopkins,  A.M.,  M.D.,  Professor  of 
Chemistry:  Rev.  J.  Lewis,  .\.M.,  D.D.,  Professor 
of  English  Literature  and  History;  0.  F.  Casey, 
A.M.,  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages;  Rev.  J. 
S.  Moore,  A.M.,  Professor  of  Mathematics;  C.  A. 
Grote,  A.M.,  Professor  of  Modern  Languages; 
Charles  Lane,  A.B.,  Principal  of  Preparatory  De- 
partment. 

Professors  Casey  and  Lane  renuiined  only  dur- 
ing the  session  of  187-">-7ii,  and  were  succeeded, 
'  respectively,  by  C.  M,  Verde)  and  A.  W.  Smith. 
Rev.  W.  I.  Powers  was  endowment  agent.  He 
labored  zealously  and  faithfully,  and  with  some 
measure  of  success,  but  did  not  ]irocure  any  per- 
manent endowment. 

The  laborsof  Dr.  Smith  ended  witli  his  death  in 

July,  187!'.     At  the  ensuing  commencement.  Rev. 

J.  Lewis  was  elected  Chancellor.     His  co-lal)orers 

I   were  Rev.  J.  S.  Moore.  A.M..  D.D..  Profcs.-<or  of 

I   .Mathematics;  C.    M.    Verdel.    A.M..   Professor  of 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


559 


Natural  Science:  C.  A.  Grote,  A.M.,  Professor 
of  -Modern  Languages;  Rev.  F.  Af.  Peterson,  A.M., 
B.I).,  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages;  W.  P. 
Stott,  B.P.,  Principal  of  the  Preparatory  School. 

Dr.  Lewis  resigned  his  position  and  retired  from 
the  school  in  December,  1881.  No  president  was 
elected  at  the  ensuing  commencement.  The  for- 
tunes of  the  school  seenicd  tci  be  waning  and  the 
outlook  discouraging,  but  at  this  juncture  meas- 
ures were  taken  looking  to  its  rehabilitation. 

The  charter  was  so  amended  as  to  constitute 
the  institution  the  joint  jtroperty  of  the  Alabama 
and  North  Alabama  Conferences.  In  July,  1.SS3, 
Kev.  A.  S.  Andrews  was  again  elected  president, 
the  whole  Church  became  interested,  and  the 
University  entered  upon  a  career  of  prosperity 
unequalled  in  its  history,  and,  it  may  be  added, 
unexampled  ])atronage  has  increased  each  year, 
there  being  at  present  "^10  matriculates.  The 
present  Faculty  are  Rev.  A.  S.  Andrews,  A.  M., 
I).  D.,  President  and  Professor  of  Moral  Philoso- 
phy C.  A.  (irote,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Natural 
Science  and  Modern  Languages;  Rev.  F.  M.  Peter- 
son, A.  M.,  B.  D.,  Professor  of  Ancient  Lan- 
guages; Rev.  J.  A.  Moore.  A.  M.,  Professor  of 
Mathematics;  Rev.  J.  F.  Sturdivant,  A.  M.,  Pro- 
fessor of  English  Literature  and  History:  Rev.  W. 
II.  Giesler,  A.  B  ,  Princijial  of  Preparatory  De- 
l)artment:  L.  P.  fJiddens.  Tutor  in  Mathematics; 
E.  L.  Brown,  Tutor  in  Ancient  Languages. 

The  endowment  agent  is  Rev.  J.  0.  Andrew, 
who  has  just  entered  upon  his  work,  succeeding 
Rev.  W.  C.  McCoy,  D.D. 

Dr.  McCoy  was  elected  agent  in  1884.  He  was 
successful  not  only  in  securing  a  considerable 
amount  of  productive  endowment,  which  has 
been  safely  invested,  but  also  in  materially 
improving  and  enhancing  the  value  of  the  L^ni- 
versity  Iniildings.  The  present  agent  has  a  work 
full  of  encouragement.  The  friends  of  the  Uni- 
versity take  just  pride  in  the  high  character  made 
and  sustained  by  the  institution.  Graduates, 
numbering  117,  have  taken  position  in  school  and 
in  Church,  in  the  Senate  chamber,  and  at  the  head 
of  government.  The  present  Governor  of  Ala- 
bama, Hon.  Thomas  Seay,  is  an  alumnus  of  the 
Southern  University.  The  University  to-day  ranks 
with  the  first  colleges  in  the  Southern  Church, 
and  with  the  first  colleges  in  the  State.  It  was 
never  before  on  so  jiermanent  a  basis,  its  sphere 
of  usefulness  never  so  large,  and  the  outlook  for 
the  future  was  tiever  more  hopeful. 


Rev.  Llther  M.  Smith,  D.  D.,  Chancellor  of 
of  Southern  University  18T5  to  18T!i,  was  born  in 
Oglethorpe  County,  Ga.,  September  10,  ]8'^(I,  and 
died  in  Birmingham,  Ala.,  July  4,  IST'.i. 

In  1844  he  entered  Emory  College,  O.xford,  Ga., 
antl  was  grailuated  therefrom  with  the  highest  dis- 
tinction in  1848.  In  the  year  1840  he  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  Eliza  Greenwood,  step-daughter  of 
Bisho])  .James  0.  Andrew.  He  studied  law,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  began  the  practice  with 
rtattering  prospects.  However,  by  the  influence 
of  Dr.  Pierce,  afterward  bishop,  he  was  induced  to 
connect  himself  witli  the  faculty  of  Emory  Col- 
lege, wliere  he  remained  for  twenty  years,  filling 
various  positions,  successively,  with  great  efficiency 
and  honor.  In  1851  he  was  licensed  to  preach. 
In  18.")9  he  lost  his  estimable  wife — a  sudden  and 
terrible  blow  from  which  he  never  entirely  recov- 
ered. In  1861,  on  account  of  the  war,  it  became 
necessary  to  discontinue  the  exercises  of  the  Col- 
lege. In  1805,  Professor  Smith  led  to  the  altar 
Miss  Callie  B.  Lane,  daughter  of  Professor  George 
Lane.  At  the  close  of  the  war.  chiefly  through 
the  entreaties  of  Professor  Smith,  Emory  College 
was  reopened,  and,  upon  the  resignation  of  Dr. 
Thomas  in  1807,  he  was  elected  its  president, 
which  position  he  held  until  1871. 

During  his  administration  the  {'ollege  became 
very  popular  and  it"!  patronage  steadily  increased 
In  October,  1875,  he  became  Chancellor  of  the 
Southern  University. 

The  institution  was  deeply  in  debt — a  fact  not 
known  to  Dr.  Smith,  when  he  accepted  the  posi- 
tion— the  patronage  small,  the  trustees  disheart- 
ened. Lender  his  administration  the  debt  was 
almost  cancelled,  the  curriculum  enlarged,  and 
public  confidence  in  the  perpetuity  of  the  institu- 
tion re-established. 

He  was  a  man  of  superior  intellect,  of  fervid 
imagination,  of  inflexible  will.  His  learning  and 
culture  were  extensive  and  free  from  pedantry. 
He  was  csist  in  the  heroic  mould  and  seemed  un- 
susceptible of  fear. 

As  a  minister  he  wasable.  eloquent  and  fearless; 
as  a  teacher  he  was  competent  and  efficient. 

Rev.  Josiah  Lewis,  Ju.,  D.  I).,  Chancellor  of 
the  Southern  University  from  is;!)  to  1881,  was  a 
native  of  Georgia.  He  was  graduated  at  Emory  Col- 
lege in  1850,  bearing  off  the  first  honors  of  a  class 
composed  of  some  of  the  best  minds  that  have 
ever  been  trained  in  that  Institution.  After  leaving 
school,  he  began  studying  law,  but  the  opening  of 


560 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


tlie  war  in  J.SOl  culled  him  to  the  service  of  his 
country,  ami  he  volunteered  in  the  first  company 
that  went  from  his  town  to  Virginia,  and  served 
as  a  private  soldier  to  the  end  of  the  struggle. 
His  fellow-soldiers  of  the  Sixth  Georgia  Regiment 
loved  and  honored  him  as  a  Christian  gentleman. 

Peace  returning,  he  accepted  and  obeyed  a  long- 
felt  call  to  the  gospel  ministry,  and  was  admitted 
on  trial  by  the  Cieorgia  Conference  in  InCC.  From 
that  time  he  was  annually  appointed  professor  in 
Emory  College  until  the  session  of  1871,  when  he 
was  stationed  at  Athens,  and  served  the  first 
church  in  ls;-2,  1873  and  1874.  In  LSTo  he  was 
stationed  at  Katonton.  Fini.«hing  his  year's  work 
in  that  town,  he  located  and  removed  to  Alabama, 
where  he  became  a  member  of  the  Alabama  Con- 
ference and  a  professor  in  the  Southern  Univer- 
sity at  Greensboro,  and  afterward  president  of 
that  Institution.  In  1882  he  was  transferred  to 
the  Xortii  (Jeorgia  Conference,  and  served  the 
latter  half  of  the  year  on  the  Kome  station.  He 
was  stationed  in  Lalirange  in  1883  and  1884.  He 
died  at  the  home  of  his  mother,  in  Sparta,  Ga  , 
February  13,  1885. 

During  Dr.  Lewis'  residence  in  Greensboro  he 
served  the  Methodist  Church  as  pastor  for  four 
years.  His  sermons  were  always  of  the  highest  or- 
der, anil  his  pulpit  became  a  power  for  good  in  (he 
community.  He  was  greatly  beloved  by  all  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact,  because  of  his  many 
virtues.  The  writer  of  these  lines  was  a  pupil  of 
his  at  the  Southern  University,  and  feels  honored 
that  lie  has  this  oi)portuuity  of  saying  that  Dr. 
Lewis  was  one  of  the  most  intellectual,  as  well  as 
one  of  the  sweetest,  gentlest,  most  saintly  men  he 
ever  knew.  The  influence  of  his  consecrated. 
Christian  life  is  still  felt  in  Greensboro,  and  his 
memory  is  revered. 

FK.M.\r,E  Af.vDKMV. — For  some  ycars  the  Greens- 
boro  Female  Academy  was  abandoned,  but  in  Oc- 
tober, 1887',  its  doors  were  again  opened  to  the 
public,  and  since  that  time  it  has  received  a  lib- 
eral patronage,  not  only  from  the  citizens  of  the 
town,  but  from  abroad. 

Its  president,  Hev.  W.  ('.  Clark,  pastor  of  the 
Greensboro  Presbyterian  Church,  is  a  gentleman 
in  every  way  fpialified  to  fill  the  responsible  posi- 
tion he  oc'iupies,  and  has  given  universal  satisfac- 
tion in  the  management  of  the  school. 

He  has  associated  with  him  as  teachers  Mrs. 
^lary  H.  Ilajjpel.  Misses  Margaret  and  Kate  S. 
Boardman.  Mrs.  Pierce  and  Mi?s  Hertha  Campbell. 


Additions  will  be  made  to  the  present  Academy 
buildings  in  the  near  future,  and  it  is  only  a  ques.- 
tion  of  a  short  time  when  Greensboro  can  point 
with  as  much  pride  to  her  female  schools  as  she 
does  to  the  Southern  University,  located  in  her 
midst. 

K.\ILKOADS 

It  was  not  until  the  fall  of  ls7o  that  the  Cin- 
cinnati. Selma  &  Mobile  Hailroad  (then  known  as 
the  Selma.  Marion  &  Memphis)  was  completed  to 
Greensboro,  giving  the  town  railroad  connection 
with  the  outside  world.  For  twelve  years  this 
station  was  the  terminus  of  the  Cincinnati,  Selma 
&  ilobile  Hailroail,  but  in  188"^  it  was  completed 
to  Akron  .lunction.  on  the  Alabama  Great  South- 
ern, putting  (ireensboro  in  direct  communication 
with  the  west  and  northwest.  This  ha<  proved  of 
Tast  benefit  to  the  town  and  surrounding  country. 

The  Cincinnati,  Selma  &  Mobile  intersects 
the  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  (ieorgia,  and  the 
Mobile  &  Birmingham  Railroads  at  Marion 
Junction.  It  is  at  present  under  the  management 
of  the  Western  Railway  of  Alabama,  and  trains 
are  run  every  day  from  (ireensboro  to  Jlont- 
gomery,  Ala. — thence  to  Atlanta.  Ga..  without 
change  of  cars. 

The  Chicago  and  (!ulf  Railroad —  a  line  to  run 
from  Chicago  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — has  been 
surveyed,  and  passes  through  (ireensboro  near  the 
Southern  University.  This  road  will  open  up  a 
vast  territory  of  fine  timbered  and  agricultural 
lands  hitherto  of  but  little  value,  and  will  prove 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  town  and  county. 
The  jirospects  for  building  the  road  are  at  present 
very  bright. 

NE\V.SPAPEKS. 

Early  in  IS'-'.")  Thomas  Eastin  began  the  luibli- 
cation  of  a  small,  four-page  paper  in  Greensboro, 
entitled  The  Greene  Connty  Pa/riot,  which  he 
printed  continuously  for  a  number  of  years. 

In  October.  1834.  Daniel  F.  Brown  started  the 
pul)lication  of  7'/ie  (ireeiie  County  Seiitiuel.  Brown 
soon  sold  it  to  Thomas  DeWolf,  who  had  posses- 
sion of  it  for  some  time,  and  then  sold  out  to  one 
MeCorn)ic.  who.  in  a  year  or  two  disposed  of  the 
paper  to  .lohn  B.  Rittenhouse.  Rittenliouse  soon 
sold  the  proi)erty  to  Charles  Briggs.  Some  one  of 
the  Sen/iiie/'s  owners  changed  its  name  to  Tlie 
Alabama  Beacon,  under  which  title  Col.  John  G. 
Harvey  luirchased  it  in  1843.  and  has  since  that 
time  published  it  in  (ireensboro  under  the  same 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


561 


name.  The  Beacon  has  always  been  Democratic  in  I 
politics,  and  has  rendered  efficient  aid  to  this 
party  in  both  State  and  county  affairs.  Colonel 
Harvey,  the  editor,  is  a  gentleman  of  ability,  and 
has  made  for  himself  a  name  and  reputation  as  a 
journalist  of  which  his  posterity  may  well  be 
jiroud. 

It  will  be  seen   that   the   Beacon,  including  its 
existence  under  the  name  of  7'/ir  (Ireetie  County 
Senfiuvl  has  been  jjublished  continually  for  fifty- 
four  years,  making  it  one  of  the  oldest  papers  in   j 
the  State.     It  has  been  in  Colonel  Harvey's  charge   ! 
for  forty-five  years  past. 

In  November,  1876,  William  C.  (iarrett  begun 
the  publication  of  The  Sotdfieni  Watchman  in 
Greensboro,  which  he  edited  for  several  years,  and 
then  sold  the  property  to  Alex.  H.  Williams, 
under  whose  niainigement  it  remained  until  his 
death  in  November,  188.5.  The  paper  was  then  pur- 
chased by  Wm,  E.  \\ .  Yerby,  the  present  editor 
and  proprietor.  Mr.  Yerby  changed  the  name  of 
the  paper  from  The  SoutJiern  Watchman  to 
The  Greens/joro  Watchman,  under  which  title  it 
Is  now  published.  The  Watchman,  labors  earn- 
estly for  the  upbuilding  of  this  section  and  for 
the  success  of  the  Democratic  party. 

At  no  time  during  the  past  sixty-three  years  has 
Greensboro  been  without  u  newspaper. 

GUEEXSliOKO  OF  TO-DAY. 

As  may  be  seen,  (ireensboro,  including  its  exist- 
ence under  the  name  of  Troy,  is  now  seventy-one 
years  old. 

It  consists  of  eighteen  general  merchandise 
stores,  five  confectioneries,  one  hotel,  two  sad- 
dlery and  harness  manufactories,  one  millinery 
establishment,  one  tinshop,  one  livery  stable, 
numerous  wood  and  smith  shops,  one  dentist's 
office,  one  photograph  gallery,  one  Masonic  and 
Odd  Fellow  hall,  one  bank,  one  watchmaker's 
and  jeweler's  shop,  seven  law  offices,  one  restau- 
rant, one  female  academy,  one  public  and  one 
private  school,  the  Methoilist  college — Southern 
University,  three  doctors'  offices,  the  court-house 
and  jail;  one  Methodist,  one  Presbyterian  and 
one  Episcopal  church:  also  two  colored  Method- 
ist, one  Baptist  and  one  Presbyterian  church:  and 
two  printing-offices,  publishing  the  Alabama  Bea- 
con and  the  Greensboro  Watchman.  The  town  is 
laid  off  in  beautiful  sipiares.  The  main  street,  on 
which  all  of  the  business  houses,  the  court-house 


and  many  fine  residences  are  situated,  runs  east 
and  west  about  one  mile  and  a  half,  and  is  lined 
on  both  sides  with  young  water-oaks,  which  a>ld 
much  to  the  appearance  of  the  street. 

The  corporate  limits  of  Greensboro  embrace  the 
west  half  of  northwest  (piarter  of  southwest  (piar- 
ter,  and  west  half  of  southeast  quarter  of  section 
sixteen,  township  twenty,  range  five  east:  also  east 
half  and  southwest  quarter  of  section  seventeen, 
township  twenty,  range  five  east;  and  north  half 
of  northwest  quarter,  northwest  quarter  of  north- 
east quarter  of  .section  twenty,  townshi])  twenty, 
range  five  east.  Its  present  population  is  about 
two  thousand. 

The  surrounding  countrv  is  composed  of  very 
fine  agricultural  lands.  Indeed,  Bishop  Keener, 
who  has  traveled  over  the  greater  portion  of  the 
globe,  asserted  a  few  years  ago  that  in  all  of  his 
journeyings  he  had  never  seen  a  section  better 
adapted  to  farming  than  this  portion  of  Alabama. 

A  few  miles  south  and  west  of  the  town  begin 
the  famous  black  or  prairie  lands,  which  will  pro- 
duce crops  of  corn,  cotton,  oats,  grasses,  etc., 
equal  to  those  of  any  State  in  the  Union,  when 
properly  cultivated.  Before  the  war  these  lands, 
sold  readily  at  thirty  to  forty  dollars  per  acre,  but 
can  now  be  bought  for  a  much  less  sum. 

Xorth  and  east  of  the  town  the  soil  is  what  is 
termed  "  sandy  "  and  "hill-lands."  Good  crops 
are  uniformly  grown  on  these  farms  —  in  some 
instances,  as  fine  as  those  produced  in  the  cane- 
brake  region. 

The  health  of  Greensboro  and  surrounding  coun- 
trv will  compare  favorably  with  that  of  any  portion 
of  Alabama,  while  the  social,  religious  and  edu- 
cational advantages  of  the  place  are  unsurpassed. 
It  is  truly  a  patrician  town.  Its  homes  are 
stamped  with  old-time  comfort  and  hospitality. 
It  is,  too.  a  picturesque  place,  with  wide,  undu- 
lating straets,  canopied  with  rich  foliage,  and  spa- 
cious yards  filled  with  beautiful  trees  and  fiowers. 
It  is  a  place  to  which  its  citizens  return,  after 
trying  the  e.xperinient  of  residing  elsewhere,  con- 
tented to  remain. 

AcKXowLEDtiMEXTs. — The  author  is  greatly 
indebted  to  Mr.  Henry  Watson.  Dr.  John  H.  Par- 
rish,  Mr.  Samuel  G.  Briggs,  Rev.  W.  C.  Clark, 
Prof.  F.  M.  Peterson,  Mr.  S.  W.  Chadwick  and 
Rev.  Dr.  1{.  II.  Cobbs,  for  much  of  the  data  con- 
tained in  the  foregoing  history  of  (Jreens- 
boro. 


562 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


AUGUSTUS  A.  COLEMAN,  prominent  Attor- 
ney and  (  ouiisilor-at-law.  was  born  in  South 
Carolina.  His  father,  James  B.  Coleman,  also  a 
native  of  South  Carolina,  was  a  physician  by  pro- 
fession, although,  in  Dallas  County,  this  State, 
where  he  lived  many  years,  he  was  known  best  as 
an  extensive  cotton  planter.  While  on  a  visit  to 
Louisville,  Ky.,  he  died  suddenly  in  that  city. 

A.  A.  Coleman,  an  only  son.  was  schooled,  pri- 
marily, at  Sunimerfield.  this  State,  and  graduated 
sul>seqnently  from  Yale  College.  He  read  law  at 
Cahaba  with  Charles  0.  Edwards,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  Dallas  County,  where  he  be- 
gan the  practice  of  his  chosen  profession.  From 
Dallas  he  removed  to  Sumter  County,  and  was 
practicing  law  at  Livingston  when  the  then  (iov- 
ernor,  A.  H.  Moore,  ap])ointed  him  Judge  of  the 
Seventh  Judicial  District.  Coleman  was  then  but 
twenty-seven  years  of  age.  He  was  subsequently 
twice  elected  to  the  Circuit  Judgeship,  and  held 
that  office,  in  all,  nine  years.  He  came  to  Creens- 
boro  in  18'i7  and  is  here,  at  this  writing,  the 
recognized  "  Nestor  of  the  Bar." 

Judge  Coleman  was  a  conspicuous  member  of 
the  Secession  Convention  of  IStil.  It  was  he  that 
drew  and  presented  to  that  memorable  assembly, 
the  resolution  of  withdrawal  from  the  Federal 
Union  by  separate  State  action,  asserting  the  doc- 
trine of  State  sovereignty  and  the  right  and  duty  of 
each  State  to  juilge  for  itself  whether  or  not  the 
Federal  compact  had  been  broken.  [The  question 
whethereach  State  should  act  alone  in  withdrawing 
from  the  Federal  Union,  or  whether  or  not  there 
should  be  a  co-operation  of  sevenil  or  all  the  South- 
ern States,  was  of  deepest  moment  to  the  people.  ] 
This  fact,  Jiot  having  hitherto  been  given  publica- 
tion, coupled  with  the  furtlicr  fact  that  the  Honor- 
able W.  L.  Yancey  was  chairman  of  the  Ordinance 
Committee,  it  may  occur  to  the  casual  reader  that 
the  preceding  statement  lacks  authority;  but  when 
it  is  remembered  that  Judge  Coleman  was  then,  as 
he  is  now,  recognized  as  one  of  tiie  most  accom- 
plished scholars  in  the  State;  was  noted  for  his 
impartial  fairmindodness  upon  all  questions  com- 
ing before  him,  and  that  he  was,  in  consequence 
thereof,  the  accei)ted  representative  of  all  parties 
from  his  district  to  the  Secession  Convention,  and 
that  he  was  a  member  of  Yancey's  committee, 
the  probabilities  are  not  wanting,  even  if  it  were 
not  an  ascertainable  truth  entitled  to  a  place  in 
history. 

The  .Judge  represented  Hale  County  in  the  Leg- 


islature, session  of  1884,  and  as  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Convict  System,  drew,  presented 
and  had  passed  the  present  higlily  popular  con- 
vict law  of  the  State. 

When  war  between  the  .States  was  no  longer  a 
matter  of  high-sounding  rhetoric  and  fascinating 
theory,  but  had  retolved  itself  into  a  real  tragedy, 
where  the  lurid  lights  from  actual  fields  of  carnage 
illumined  the  half  of  a  continent  like  Greek  fire 
the  play-house  stage.  Judge  Coleman  was  presiding 
over  his  Circuit  Court.  Feeling  that  he  could 
better  serve  his  country  as  a  soldier  than  as  an 
officer  of  peace,  he  tendered  his  resignation  as 
Judge  and  proceeded  to  organize  a  regiment  for 
the  army.  His  regiment  was  known  as  the  For- 
tieth Alabama,  and  he  commanded  it  twelve 
months.  In  the  meantime.  Governor  Shorter 
having  declined  his  resignation  from  tiie  Judici- 
ary, the  people  of  his  circuit  were  without  recourse 
or  remedy  at  law.  He  therefore  resumed  his 
seat  on  the  bench  an(f  continued  to  hold  court 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  It  may  be  remarked, 
however,  that  the  fact  of  his  having  left  the  bench 
to  fight  tlie  enemy  went  no  further  toward  recom- 
mending him  to  the  "military  successors"  for  a 
continuation  in  office  than  did  the  further  fact  of 
his  refusal  to  draw,  and  allowing  to  remain  in  the 
treasury  for  the  benefit  of  her  soldiery,  several 
years  of  his  salary  as  'nisi  priiic  judge;  for  no 
sooner  had  the  victorious  army  taken  control  of 
affairs  than  Coleman  was  notified  that  his  "time 
was  out." 

The  matter  of  payment  of  his  salary  justly 
due  him  for  years  of  judicial  service,  amounting 
to  thousands  of  dollars,  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  became  a  question  before  the  .State  Su- 
preme Court,  and  that  august  body  held  that 
"on  account  of  his  disloyalty,  A.  A.  Coleman 
was  disqualified  for  office,"  and  gravely  decided 
that  " /te  had  served  the  rebel  State  nf  Alabama, 
and  must  look  to  the  said  rebel  State  for  his 
pail !  " 

The  Judge  was  probably  the  first  man  ejected 
from  office  in  this  State  by  military  authority; 
and  it  should  be  written  that  the  great  State  of 
Alabama  has  never  re-imbursed  him  in  the  amount 
of  his  salary  appropriated  to  her  use  in  the  wag- 
ing of  war. 

Of  the  original  founders  of  the  Southern 
I'niversity.  Judge  Coleman  and  Dr.  A.  II.  Mit- 
chell are,  at  this  writing  (March,  IS.ss),  the 
onlv   survivors  within    the  State.     Alwavs  inter- 


^^-^^oe^' 


<5^<^ 


CCCC^&^Sl.r^' 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


563 


ested  in  the  advancement  of  education,  the 
University  has,  from  its  inception,  never  ceased 
to  be  an  object  of  the  Judge's  affection;  and  it 
is  to  him  as  much  as  to  any  other  one  man, 
that  this  great  institution  of  learning  is  indebted 
for  its  success. 

Judge  Coleman  was  married  in  Sumter  County, 
this  State,  to  tlie  accomplished  daugliter  of  John 
C.  Phares,  a  successful  planter  and  merchant; 
and  of  the  three  sons  born  to  them,  one  is  a 
merchant,  another  a  physician,  and  the  third  a 
lawyer. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  Freemason,  an 
Odd  Fellow,  and  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  is  a  profound 
scholar,  a  polished  gentleman,  a  superior  lawyer,  a 
graceful  orator,  an  entertaining  conversationalist, 
and,  above  all,  a  man  in  whom  there  is  no  guile,  and 
a  citizen  of  Greensboro  against  whose  character 
and  good  name  there  never  has  been  a  mark. 
Such  is  Augustus  A.  Coleman,  and  such  does 
the  biographer  delight  to  portray  him  in  this 
volume. 

JAMES  M.  HOBSON.  Probate  Judge  of  Hale 
County,  was  born  in  liockingham  County,  >,'.  C, 
April  ■•i'.i,  184<i.  His  parents,  Samuel  A.  and 
Ann  (Morehead)  Hobson,  natives  of  the  ••  North 
State."' were  married  in  Rockingham  County,  and 
from  there  removed  to  Davy  County  in  1849, 
where  the  senior  Mr.  Hobson  died  in  18(j3,  at  the 
age  of  sixty  years,  and  where  Jlrs.  Hobson  yet 
resides.  Mrs.  Hobson  is  a  sister  of  (iov.  Jno.  M. 
-Morehead,  of  North  Carolina,  and  a  cousin  of  the 
two  gentlemen  bearing  that  name  wlio  have  tilled 
the  gubernatorial  chair  in  Kentucky.  Mr.  Hob- 
son was  a  farmer  in  his  lifetime  and  reared  his 
sons  to  that  honorable  vocation. 

James  M.  Hobson  was  ediu'ated  iit  the  Univer- 
sity of  North  Carolina:  read  law  under  Chief- 
.Tustice  I'earson,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that 
State,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  18GT.  Im- 
mediately after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  he  came 
to  .Mabama.  and  at  (ireensboro,  hung  out  his  shin- 
gle. In  1871.  (iovernor  Lindsay  appointed  him  to 
the  I'robate  Judgeship  for  the  unexpired  term  of 
a  late  incumbent  of  that  office;  but  at  the  ensuing 
election,  he  was  forced  to  give  way  for  a  IJepubli- 
can.  However,  the  successful  candidate  died  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  term,  and   Governor  Houston 


named  Hobson  for  the  office.  In  1880,  he  suc- 
ceeded himself  by  election,  as  he  did  again  in 
188IJ;  thus,  when  his  present  term  ends  (in  1802), 
he  will  have  held  the  office  altogether  about  eigh- 
teen years.  In  18T"i,  he  represented  tlie  county  in 
the  Legislature. 

Judge  Hobson  entered  the  army  from  (iuilford 
County,  N.  C,  in  18<11,  as  a  private  of  Company 
E,  Second  North  Carolina  State  Troojjs,  and 
served  to  the  close  of  the  war.  This  command 
formed  a  part  of  the  Army  of  Virginia  (Jackson's 
Corps),  and  participated  in  all  the  historic  battles 
fought  by  that  indomitable  hero.  Hobson  was 
thrice  wounded:  at  Malvern  Hill.  Chancellorsville 
and  Spotsylvania,  and  at  the  last-named  place 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  and  was  held 
to  the  close  of  hostilities — about  fourteen  months. 
He  was  a  first  lieutenant  at  the  time  of  his  cap- 
ture, and  was  in  immediate  line  of  promotion. 

In  1867,  at  Richmond  Hill.  Yadkin  County, 
N.  C,  he  married  the  daughter  of  Chief-Justice 
Pearson,  and  now  has  four  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. Samuel  A,  the  eldest  son,  is  a  law  student, 
and  Ivichmond  P.  is  at  the  United  States  Naval 
Academy,  Annapolis,  Md. 

Judge  Hobson  is  identified  with  the  Episcopal 
Church,  an  affiliated  Mason,  Knight  of  the 
(Jolden  Rule,  Prelate  in  K.  of  P.,  member  of  the 
A.  0.  U.  W.,  and  an  active  worker  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party. 

THOMAS  R.  ROULHAC.  Attorney -at -law, 
Greensboro,  was  born  at  Raleigh,  N.  C,  on  the 
8th  day  of  November,  184i;.  The  Roulhacs  are 
of  French  origin  and  first  came  to  America  in  the 
person  of  Capt.  Joseph  Grcgoire  Roulhac,  an 
officer  under  Marquis  de  La  Fayette.  After  the 
declaration  of  peace,  Captain  Roulhac  returned  to 
France,  married,  brought  his  wife  to  America,  and 
settled  in  Eastern  North  Carolina,  in  the  practice 
of  law.  The  Roulhacs  were  of  the  first  settlers  of 
that  part  of  the  "North  State,"  and  the  old  resi- 
dence of  that  time,  known  as  the  Roulhac  House, 
erected  in  the  last  century,  constructed  of  brick 
imported  from  England,  still  stands  in  a  good 
state  of  preservation. 

Joseph  B.  G.  Roulhac,  a  man  of  cons'dei-able 
wealth,  member  of  the  State  Convention  of  North 
Carolina  in  is:i:?,  president  of  the  Raleigh  & 
(iiiston  Railroad  itli.-  lirst    railroad  in  that  State). 


564 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and  a  leading  mereliaiit,  married  a  Miss  Huflfin. 
daughter  of  C'liief-.Tustice  Thomas  Hiittin,  of 
North  Carolina,  distinguished  as  having  tilled 
that  position  thirty-five  consecutive  years.  He 
died  at  IJaleigh  in  1S54  at  the  age  of  gi.xty -eight 
years.  Of  his  four  sous,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  the  second  in  order  of  birth. 

From  Dr.  Wilson's  school  in  North  Carolina, 
Thomas  1{.  entered  the  military  .school  at  llills- 
boro,  N.  C,  and  from  that  institution,  when  but 
fourteen-and-a-half  year.*  of  age,  was  ordered  by 
the  State  (Joverument  to  the  duty  of  drill  master. 
He  was  but  little  past  fifteen  years  of  age  when  he 
was  maile  adjutant  of  the  Twenty-ninth  North 
Carolina  Infantry.  Upon  the  re-organization  of 
that  regiment  he  returned  to  the  military  school 
for  a  short  time,  when  he  again  entered  the  serv- 
ices as  a  jirivate  iu  Ramseuer's  Artillery.  After 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  where  he  participated 
with  McLaw's  Division,  he  was  commissioned  a 
lieutenant  in  the  Fortj'-niuth  North  Carolina 
Infantry.  With  this  regiment  he  took  part  in  the 
battles  of  (ieneral  Lee's  Army  up  to  Five  I'^orks, 
where  he  commanded  a  company  of  sharpshooters 
and  where  he  was  captured  by  the  enemy  and  held 
until  August  1,  18ii5.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he 
returned  to  North  Carolina  and  read  law  with  his 
grandfather.  Judge  Huftin.  and  in  June,  18(1?, 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  lower  courts.  The 
year  following  he  received  his  second  license, 
which  admitted  him  to  the  bar  of  all  the  courts 
of  the  State.  In  ISiiS  he  sailed  from  New  York 
to  California,  and  there  located  in  Merced  County, 
where  he  practiced  law  for  three  years.  In  De- 
cember, 18Tn,  he  came  to  Gree-  sboro,  e.xpecting 
to  return  to  California,  but  here  he  met  a  daugh- 
ter of  Col.  Allen  C.  Jones,  which  probably  had 
something  to  do  with  the  change  that  came  over 
hi.s  purpose.-;,  for  we  find  that  he  nuirried  iier  and 
settled  down  at  once  in  the  practice  of  law.  He 
soon  formed  a  copartnership  with  Robert  II. 
Smith,  of  .Mobile  (one  of, Alabama's  most  dis- 
tinguished lawyers),  and  as  a  member  of  this 
firm,  had  charge  of  its  business  at  the  office  in 
Green.-!boro  up  to  the  death  of  the  senior  member, 
which  occurred  in  LSTS  or  l!S7'.'. 

.Mr.  Roulhac  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  coining 
young  men  of  the  State.  He  is  an  active  Demo- 
cratic worker  and  was  a  prominent  candidate  for 
Congress  before  the  nominating  convention  of 
1880.  He  has  been  umniimously  electeil  -Mayor  of 
(ireensboio.    is    a    nuMiibcr    of    the    Kniirhts   of 


Pythias,  an  ardent  advocate  of  the  public  school 
system,  an  accomplished  scholar,  and  a  speaker  of 
rare  force  and  eloquence. 

He  was  married  December  JO,  is7n,  and  hashad 
born  to  him  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

CHARLES  E.  WALLER,  Attorney-at-law, 
Greensboro,  son  of  the  late  Robert  Ji.  Waller,  a 
native  of  Virginia,  was  born  -at  Greensboro,  Feb- 
ruary Vi.,  ls41t.  The  senior  Waller  came  to  Ala- 
bama in  l^!3ti;  settled  at  Greensboro,  where  he 
practiced  law  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  died  in  IStT, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-nine  years. 

Charles  E.  Waller  was  educated  at  the  Southern 
University,  from  which  institution  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1S08.  Ilestudied  law  under  his  father,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  18T<>,  since  which  time 
he  has  been  in  the  practice  in  this  and  adjoining 
counties.  He  has  been  ten  years  Assistant  Solici- 
tor of  the  county — four  years  under  J.  N.  ."^uttle 
and  six  years  under  P.  H.  Pitts.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  lower  house  of  the  Leg  slature,  session 
of  1878-9,  and  again  in  1880-1.  In  the  ses.sion  of 
1878,  he  was  of  the  Committee  on  Corporations, 
and  was  a  member  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  in 
the  session  of  188<i-l.  He  declined  re-nomination 
in  188".J,  jireferring  to  devote  his  time  to  his  pro- 
fession. 

Mr.  Waller  is  treasurer  and  superintendent  of 
the  Diocesan  Missions,  superintendent  of  the 
Episcopal  .Sunday-School,  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity.  .Master  Workman  in  the  .\ncit.-nt  Order 
of  United  \\orkinen,  and  Chancellor  in  the  Order 
of  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 

He  was  married  in  Dallas  County,  June  'l\, 
1.S73.  to  Miss  Kate  Ellerbe.  daughter  of  A.  W. 
Ellerbe,  a  retired  lawyer,  who  lost  his  life  at  the 
battle  of  Selma.  Mr.  Ellerbe  and  his  five  sons 
were  in  the  Confederate  Army.  -One  of  the  sons 
was  killed  and  another  died  from  the  effect  of  an 
amputation  of  a  leg.  Mr.  Ellerbe  was  one  of  the 
leading  men  of  Dallas  County,  a  profound  lawyer 
and  a  man  of  the  highest  moral  character. 

By  this  union  Mr.  Waller  has  had  born  to  him 
three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

He  is  an  active  worker  in  the  Democratic  i)arty 
at  all  times,  and  is  at  present  a  member  of  the 
county  executive  committee.  He  was  president 
of  the  convention  that  nominated  Mr.   Davidson, 


f*] 


y^T-Z^o^ 


/^  cut^^c^i^ 


^^CZr^^^--^^^^, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


565 


present  member  of  Congress.  He  Wiis  too  voiiiii;  to 
participate  at  any  great  length  in  tlie  late  war  be- 
tween the  States:  however,  he  saw  about  six 
weeks'  actual  service,  and  commanded  a  comi)any 
of  State  niiliiia  about  one  year. 


PHARES  COLEMAN,  son  of  Hon.  A.  A.  Cole- 
man, was  born  in  this  city  .March  :il,  ISOa.  He 
was  graduated  as  A.  B.from  the  Southern  Univer- 
sity at  the  age  of  eigiiteen  years,  and  subse(|iieiUly 
received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  from  the  State  Uni- 
versity. At  both  these  institutions  of  learning 
young  Coleman  took  first  rank;  and  in  the  law 
department  of  the  latter,  frotii  which  he  was 
graduated  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  he  won 
the  gold  medal  of  his  class. 

Leaving  college  he  at  once  entered  the  practice 
of  law,  in  partnership  with  his  father,  at  (Greens- 
boro. At  this  writing  (  888),  while  retaining 
his  practice  at  Greensboro,  he  is  occuiiying  the 
jiosition  of  Secretary  to  the  State  Supreme  Court. 

Mr.  Coleman  is  captain  of  the  Greensboro 
(iuards,  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  and  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


FRANCIS  MARION  PETERSON.  M.D..  promi- 
nent I'liysician  and  Surgeon,  (Greensboro,  was  born 
in  Pickens  County,  this  State,  August  "-ill,  18"21. 

His  father,  James  Peterson  (an  extensive  plant- 
er), native  of  Soutli  Carolina,  came  to  Alabama  in 
l^ll^  and  lived  many  years  near  Pickensvillle. 
In  the  earlier  history  of  the  State  he  represented 
iiis  county  two  or  three  times  in  the  Legislature. 
His  wife  was,  before  marriage,  a  Miss  Cox,  also  a 
native  of  South  Carolina.  They  reared  a  family 
of  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  and  in  1850  re- 
moved to  the  State  of  Jlississippi,  where  the 
senior  Mr.  Peterson  died  in  1854,  at  the  age  of 
tifty-two  years.  Mrs  Peterson  survived  him  two 
years,  and  died  at- the  age  of  tifty-two.  Of  their 
four  sons  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  only 
one  that  adopted  a  professional  life.  He  received 
his  j)rimary  ediu-ation  at  the  High  Schools  of  Ala- 
bama and  Missi.ssippi:  began  the  study  of  medicine 
at  home  when  about  twenty  years  of  age.  and  pur- 


sued it  subseipiently  at  Columbus,  that  State. 
I'rior  to  going  to  Columbus  in  the  study  of  medi- 
cine, he  had  taught  in  the  High  Schools  of  Ala- 
bama from  the  time  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age 
to  twenty-one.  It  was  during  the  last  years  of  his 
teaching,  probably,  that  he  began  thestudy  of  medi- 
cine. At  Columbus  he  read  medicine  with  Dr. 
Lincecum,  and  in  1845  attended  lectures  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  Twenty-three  years 
later,  in  response  to  his  indomitable  thirst  for 
knowledge,  he  took  a  course  at  the  L"niJ•er^ity  of 
•New  York,  and  received  a  diploma  from  that  in- 
stitution in  1.S08.  Ajiril  !•,  184i;,  he  came  to 
Greensboro,  and  established  himself  in  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine,  and  since  that  date  has  made 
this  place  his  home.  It  is  of  record  that  between 
the  dateof  his  attendance  at  the  Uuiversityof  Penn- 
sylvania and  his  graduation  at  Xew  York,  he  re- 
ceived a  diploma  from  a  Western  college;  the 
character,  however,  of  this  institution  not  being 
up  to  what  lie  considered  the  standard,  he  decided 
upon  a  course  at  the  L^niversity  of  New  York. 
While  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  he  at- 
tended the  Block  ley  Aims-House. 

Dr.  Peterson  is  a  member,  in  high  standing,  of 
the  State  and  County  Medical  Societies,  and  was 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica  and  Obstetrics  at  the 
Southern  University,  Greensboro,  until  the  medi- 
cal department  of  that  institution  was  abandoned. 
In  188'i  he  was  president  of  the  State  Medical 
Association,  and  at  Anniston  delivered  the 
annual  addiess.  He  is  now  senior  counselor  of 
the  State  Medical  Association,  and  president  of 
the  Greensboro  Board  of  Health. 

The  Doctor  is  devoted  to  his  profession,  and 
is  one  of  the  closest  readers  and  students  of  his 
age  in  the  State. 

To  the  literature  of  the  profession  he  has  con- 
tributed many  valuable  papers,  among  which  may 
be  noted:  "  Criticism  on  r)raper*s  Theory  of  the 
Production  of  Butter  from  (.'lover,"  a  general 
treatment  of  evolution:  *'  New  Tiieory  of  the 
Production  of  Puerperal  Eclampsia,"  read  at 
Selma;  '"Advances  in  Gynecology,  and  Sims' 
Drainage  Tube  for  Treatment  of  Ovariotomy;'" 
"  Monograph  on  Diphtheria, "a  large  pamphlet  of 
80  pages,  read  at  .Montgomery,  session  of  1881; 
"  Dysentery  in  Alabama,"  read  at  Greenville,  ses- 
sion of  1M85;  and  a  number  of  other  papers  on 
the  science  of  medicine,  the  treatment  of  diseases, 
etc.  In  addition  to  his  published  matter.  Dr. 
Peterson    occasionallv     lectures     before     vaiious 


566 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


bodies,  scientific,  and,  otherwise,  elucidating  the 
most  advanced  theories  of  his  profession. 

Tiie  Do.'tor  was  niurried  in  184t;,  at  Greensboro, 
to  Miss  Amanda  Shivers,  wlio  died  in  1858,  leav- 
ing three  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom.  Dr.  .James  J., 
a  graduate  of  the  University  of  New  York,  died  at 
the  age  of  thirty  years.  He  was  a  young  man  of 
extraordinary  i)romise,  graduating  with  the  first 
honors  of  his  class  and  taking  the  first  prize.  A 
second  son,  Kev.  John  A.  Peterson,  a  graduate  of 
the  Southern  University,  is  !iow  in  charge  of  the 
>[ethodi8t  Ei)iscopal  Churcli  at  Evergreen,  Ala. 
A  tiiird  son.  Prof.  Francis  M.  Peterson,  Chair  of 
Ancient  Languages  Southern  University,  is  also  a 
licensed  preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. 

Doctor  Peterson's  second  marriage,  also  at 
Greensboro,  occurred  in. June,  1801,  to  a  daughter 
of  Alexander  Sledge.  Esq.  To  this  union  have 
been  born  three  daughters,  the  eldest  of  whom  is 
now  the  wife  of  Dr.  H.  T.  Inge,  of  Mobile.  The 
family  are  all  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  and  the  Doctor  says  •'  his  sons 
took  to  preaching  as  naturally  as  a  duck  takes  to 
the  water." 

He  has  never  been  in  polities,  his  highest 
ambition  having  been  to  be  a  good  doctor,  and  in 
this,  according  to  the  testimony  of  those  wlio  have 
known  him  longest  and  l)est.  and  of  the  members 
of  his  profession  througliout  the  State,  he  has 
been  eminently  successful. 

_ — .^.-.t^i^,^. — _ 

ELISH A  YOUNG  » as  born  in  1 TOU.  The  writer 
knows  little  of  his  early  history,  but  he  was  a 
professor  in  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  at 
Chapel  Hill,  and  came  from  Virginia  to  Alabama 
in  18-.>4. 

He  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  Congress  in  the 
Tuscaloosa  district  in  18.3T. 

In  1840,  Mr.  Young  was  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature, and  was  among  the  most  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  House.  He  was  thoroughly  versed  in 
classical  literature,  and  in  this  respect  far  in 
advance  of  his  fellow-members.  His  diction  was 
pure,  and  his  arguments  were  often  adorned  by 
apt  f|uotations  from  the  standard  authors  of 
antiquity  and  from  the  traditions  of  mythology. 
His  voice  was  soft,  pleasant  and  highly  cultured, 
and  his  delivery  most  pleasing   to   his   listeners. 


His  person  was  well  proportioned,  erect  and  com- 
manding, and  he  had  a  natural  dignity,  which 
completed  the  physical  man.  With  these  supe- 
rior qualifications  he  never  failed  to  command  the 
attention  of  the  House.  When  called  to  preside 
temporarily,  as  he  often  was.  Mr.  Young  displayed 
his  superior  skill  in  the  forms  of  proceeding,  and 
left  the  impression  on  the  majority,  which  all 
must  have  shared,  that  whatever  was  gained  for 
his  opjwnents  by  party  tactics  and  for  party  objects, 
was  dispelled  by  him,  when  filling  the  chair,  by 
administrative  force. 

In  1841,  when  Governor  Bagby  convened  a 
special  session  of  the  Legislature,  an  unfriendly 
attack  svas  made  on  Mr.  W^ebster,  the  Secretary 
of  State,  as  hostile  to  the  institutions  of  the 
South.  Mr.  Young  took  the  floor  in  defense  of  that 
eminent  statesman.  His  speech  wa.s  a  beautiful 
specimen  of  parliamentary  eloquence,  and  was 
much  admired   by  the  public. 

In  1843  Mr.  Young  was  again  the  Whig  candi- 
date for  Congress,  but  was  defeated  by  Mr.  Payne, 
and  soon  thereafter  removed  to  Marengo  County, 
where  he  sought  hajipiness  in  the  society  of  his 
large  family  connection,  and  in  the  planting  in- 
terests in  which  he  was  concerned.  His  wife  was 
Martha  L.  M.  Strudwick.  He  died  in  Marengo 
County,  in  185"^.  He  was  a  gifted  and  talented 
gentleman,  and,  if  he  had  been  with  the  political 
majority,  his  laudable  ambition  would  undoubt- 
edly have  been  fully  gratified. 

ELISHA  YOUNG.  M.  D..  son  of  the  late  Elisha 
Young.  lawyiT.  planter  and  politician,  was  born 
in  Hale  County.  Ala..  April  i,  1837,  and  was 
educated  at  Greene  Springs.  He  began  the  study 
of  medicine  at  Deniopolis.  in  is.iT.  with  Drs.  Ashe 
and  Ruffin,  and  was  graduated  from  the  .TefTerson 
Medical  College  of  Philadelphia  in  18")!'.  He  began 
practice  in  Washington  County.  Miss.,  whence  he 
came  into  Hale  County  at  the  end  of  about  one 
year  thereafter.  Here  he  was  married,  February 
'li,  18G1,  to  Miss  Anna  Eliza  Tutwiler.  second 
daughter  of  Prof.  Henry  Tutwiler,  the  distin- 
guished educator  of  Greene  Springs. 

The  Doctor  first  established  himself  near  New- 
bern.  this  county.  In  lsCi->.  he  entered  the  army 
at  Fort  Morgan  as  surgeon,  and  remained  in  that 
position  until  the  capture  of  the  Fort.     After  re- 


e  - 


-j'T'^-n^'c^t^^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


567 


lease  from  the  enemy's  prison  he  was  assigned  to 
hospital  duty  at  Mobile,  where  he  remained  about 
six  months.  After  leaving  tlie  service  he  moved 
to  (Jreensboro,  where  he  lias  since  enjoyed  a  lucra- 
tive practice  in  his  profession. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  State  and  County  Medi- 
cal Societies,  and  is  recognized  as  a  physician  of 
the  first  rank.  His  wife  died  at  Greensboro, 
August  'II,  1SS7.  The  children  born  to  them  were 
eight,  of  whom  are  living  four  daughters  and  two 
sons.  The  family  belong  to  the  Presbyterian 
Ohurch,  and  the  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity. 

RICHARD  INGE.  M.  D.,  Physician  and  Sur- 
geon. (Ireensboro.  was  born  in  Greene  County, 
this  State,  January  18,  1851.  He  was  educated  at 
the  Southern  University;  studied  medicine  at,  and 
was  graduated  from  the  University  of  Virginia, 
July,  1870;  also  was  graduated  in  medicine  from 
the  University  of  New  York  in  February,  1871. 
March,  187;5,  he  began  the  practice  of  medicine  at 
Greensboro,  the  time  between  his  graduation  and 
the  date  of  his  locating  at  (ireensboro  having  been 
spent  in  the  New  York  City  IIosp  tal.  He  devotes 
his  time  to  the  practice  and  is  regarded  as  one  of 
the  brightest  and  most  successful  young  men  in 
the  profession.  lie  is  a  member  of  the  State 
and  County  Medical  Societies;  is  an  industrious 
student,  and  fully  abreast  with  the  most  ad- 
vanced theories  of  the  science  of  medicine. 

The  Inge  family  came  from  North  Carolina  to 
Alabama  away  back  in  the  early  history  of  the 
State.  Dr.  Inge  is  a  son  of  Wm.  B.  Inge,  a  planter 
during  his  lifetime.  Wm.  H.  Inge  married  an 
Alabama  lady,  reared  four  sons  and  two  daughters, 
and  died  at  Greensboro  in  January.  1873,  at  the 
age  of  tifty-five  years.  Two  of  his  sons  are  doctors 
and  the  other  a  lawyer.  His  eldest  son,  the  Hon. 
Wm.H.  Inge,  is  the  present  State  Senator  from  this 
district. 

Dr.  Richard  Inge  was  married  at  Mobile  in 
November.  187'.t,  to  Miss  Caroline  Herndon, 
daughter  of  the  late  Col.  'i'homas  H.  Herndon,  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  United  States  House 
of  Representatives. 

Dr.  Inge  is  a  prominent  Mason,  member  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  and  meini)erof  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South. 


THOMAS  R.  WARD,  M.D.,  a  successful  Practi- 
tioner of  Mpiiiiinc  anil  Surgery,  (ireensboro,  is  a 
native  of  Chatiiam  County,  N.  C,  son  of  Edward 
H.  and  Cintha  Ward,  also  of  North  Carolina,  and 
was  born  in  18x*<J.  His  father  came  to  Alabama, 
with  his  family,  in  183:i,  and  settled  in  Perry 
County.  The  senior  Ward  was  a  planter  by 
occupation,  and  removed  into  Greene  County 
in  18.i3,  where  he  died  in  IBGB,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
eight  years.  His  widow  survived  him  about  nine 
years.  They  reared  two  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters, the  subject  of  this  sketch  being  the  youngest 
of  the  sons  and  the  only  one  now  living.  He  re- 
ceived his  primary  education  in  Perry  County,  at 
Oak  Grove,  and  began  the  study  of  medicine  in 
1850,  with  Dr.  F.  M.  Peterson,  of  (iieensboro. 
He  afterward  attended  a  regular  course  in  Charles- 
ton Medical  College,  South  Carolina,and  was  grad- 
uated from  the  Cincinnati  .Medical  College  as  M.D. 
in  1853.  The  same  year  he  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  in  Greensboro,  where  he  has 
remained,  and  where  he  is  known  as  one  of  the 
leading  physicians.  He  was  married  in  this 
town  in  lfe58,  to  Miss  Bettie  Burton,  daughter 
of  the  late  Col.  John  H.  Burton,  a  planter, 
and  has  had  born  to  him  two  sons  and  a  daugh- 
ter. His  eldest  son.  Dr.  E.  B.  Ward,  is  one 
of  the  prominent  phj'sicians  of  Selma;  his  young- 
est, T.  R.  Ward,  Jr.,  is  a  successful  merchant  of 
Greensboro. 

Dr.  Ward  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Churcii, 
also  an  active  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity 
and  of  the  State  and  County  Medical  Associations. 

— • — •^^♦-•j^yiM*  "V "    ■ 

REV.  ALLEN  S.  ANDREWS.  D.  D..LL.D..  Pres- 
ident of  the  Southern  University,  (ireensboro, 
was  born  in  Randolph  County,  N.C..  Aug.  18, 18"24. 
His  father  was  Ilezekiah  Andrews,  a  native  of 
North  Carolina  and  of  English  descent,  and  his 
mother's  family  name  was  Fuller,  lineal  desceiid- 
ants  from  the  celebrated  Captain  Fuller,  of 
(ireen's  Army  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

The  senior  Andrews  was  a  farmer,  and  was  for 
many  years  high  sheriff  of  his  county.  He  died  of 
apoplexy  in  North  Carolina  in  18»!3,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two  years. 

Dr.  Andrews  was  graduated  from  Trinity  College, 
Randolph  County.  N.  C.  as  Bachelor  of  Arts  in 
185-i,  and  in  1857,  Centenary  College,  Louisiana, 


568 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  A.  M.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  yeiirshe  began  teaching  school:  in 
1845  he  was  licensed  to  preach:  in  18.")()  he  was 
elected  to  a  professorship  in  Greensboro  Female 
t'ollege,  North  Carolina.  His  first  engagement  in 
Alabama  was  at  Glenville,  where  for  two  years  he 
had  charge  of  the  Glenville  Collegiate  Institnte. 
From  there  he  went  to  Mobile  as  pastor  of  St. 
Francis  Street  Methodist  Episcopil  Church. South, 
and  at  the  end  of  two  years  was  transferred  to 
Eufaula.  From  Eiifaula  he  was  sent  to  Dayton, 
where  he  was  preaching  at  the  outbreak  of  the  late 
war.  He  served  three  years  as  chaplain  in  tlic 
armv,  and  was  at  the  close  of  the  war  elected  pres- 
ident of  the  Female  Institute,  Columbus,  Miss. 
He  held  this  jjosition  two  years  and  returned  to 
Mobile. 

I>r.  Andrews  came  to  Greensboro,  Ala.,  first,  in 
ISTI,  as  president  of  the  Southern  University: 
held  that  position  four  years,  and  resigned  to  ac- 
cept the  pastorate  of  Court  Street  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South.  Montgomery.  The  nine 
vears  preceding  his  coming  to  the  presidency  of 
the  Southern  University  (1882),  were  spent  by  him 
at  Montgomery,  Opelika  and  Selma — four  years 
in  Montgomery,  four  years  in  Opelika,  and  one  in 
Selma.  While  in  Ojielika,  the  Methodist  F]pisco- 
pal  people,  under  his  supervision,  and  mainly 
through  his  efforts,  erected  a  new  and  elegant 
church  edifice.  Since  coming  to  Greensboro,  tlie 
University  has  claimed  and  received,  approximate- 
ly, his  entire  attention. 

Intellectually.  I>r.  .\ndrews  is  a  man  of  supe- 
rior cast,  and  as  an  educator  he  has  but  few,  if 
any,  equals  in  the  South.  As  president  of  the 
University  lie  has  made  that  institution  one  of 
the  most  popular  and  successful  in  Alabama. 
Ue  is  a  man  of  profo.md  learning,  a  powerful 
and  effective  preacher,  a  ready  debater,  and  a 
pungent,  forcible  writer. 

'L'he  Alnhamn  Cliristinn  Advocate  was  estab- 
lished in  1881,  with  publication  office  in  Bir- 
mingham, and  with  Dr.  .\ndrews,  then  located 
at  Opelika.  a-s  its  first  editor.  During  that 
year  he  represented  the  Methodist  Fpiscoi>al 
Church.  South,  at  the  Ecumenical  Conference, 
London,  England. 

In  18.i0,  at  Trinity,  N.  C  Dr.  Andrews  was 
married  to  Miss  Margaret  C.  Leach.  She  became 
the  mother  of  two  children,  and.  in  18.').'(.  died  at 
(ilenville,  in  this  State.  Their  son.  Julian  L.,  a 
bright   and   promising  youth,   dieil  at   the  age  of 


sixteen  years,  in  Mobile.  Ala.  The  daughter. 
Lizzie  M.,  married  the  Hev.  R.  T.  Xabors.  now- 
deceased. 

Mr.  Xabors  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
young  men  of  his  day.  He  was  born  in  Shelby 
County,  Ala.,  on  the  13th  day  of  July,  18.")ti,  and 
died  at  the  Vanderbilt  University,  April  1,  1884. 
A  beautiful  biographical  sketch  of  him,  written 
by  Dr.  Andrews,  is  jiublished  in  a  volume  of  his 
sermons  and  lectures,  b'  the  Southern  Methodist 
Publishing  House.  Nashville,  TVnu.  A  second 
edition  of  the  work  is  now  in  course  of  prepara- 
tion. 

While  in  Mobile  (1801)  the  Doctor  was  married 
to  Miss  Virginia  F.  Hudson,  daughter  of  Llew- 
ellyn Hudson,  Esq..  and  of  the  five  children  born 
to  them  we  make  the  following  mention:  Willie  F. 
was  gra<luated  from  the  State  University  as  V>.  E. 
in  1883,  and  from  the  Southern  University  in 
188(i  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  He  is  now  a 
nvinister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  in  the  North  Alabama  Conference;  Allen 
L.,  A.  il..  also  a  preacher  in  the  North  Alabama 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  was  graduated  at  the  Southern  I'niversity 
in  1887:  Lila  L.,  Leigh  K  and  John  H.  comprise 
the  home  members  of  the  family.  Doctor  An- 
drews received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  the  South- 
ern University  in  1870,  and  the  degree  of  LL.D., 
in  1888.  from  the  Southern  University  and  from 
the  A.  and  M.  College  at  Auburn,  Ala. 

— ' — -*~f^?^:-  -^ 

JOHN  C.  HARVEY.  Kditor  and  Proprietor  of 
of  the  Ahtbitma  Beacon,  was  born  in  Beaufort, 
County.  N.  C,  March  1."),  180^. 

His  father,  John  Harvey,  also  a  native  of  North 
Carolina,  was  a  farmer,  and  died  in  that  State  at 
a  ripe  old  age. 

Colonel  Harvey,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
educated  at  West  Point  .\cademy,  from  which  in- 
stitution he  graduated  in  July,  18.'{1,  as  second 
lieutenant  in  the  regular  «rmy  of  the  L'nited 
States.  He  was  in  the  army  one  year  and  eight 
months,  ten  months  of  the  time  in  Northeastern 
Maine,  near  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick. 
His  wife's  health  became  such  that  it  necessitated 
his  coining  South  on  furlougii.  and  finally  led  to 
his  resignation  from  the  army.  After  about  two 
years  residence  in  Eastern  North  Carolina  he 
came  to  .\labania.  and  in  June,   1835,  settled  at 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


569 


(Jreensboro  as  a  merchant.  After  a  residence  in 
(ireeiisboro  of  near  six  years,  he  moved  to  New 
York,  where  he  resided  about  eigliteen  montlis, 
and  then,  owing  to  liis  wife's  poor  health,  he 
returned  to  (Jrtensboro,  where  he  has  resided 
ever  sinoe. 

On  his  return  from  New  York  he  read  law,  but, 
soon    after  obtaining  license  to  practice,  he   en-   I 
gaged  in  the  publication    of   the  Ahihiima   Bea- 
con, and  with  the  excejition  of  a   few  months  at   1 
the  outbreak  of    the  late   war,  has  continued  in   j 
tliat  business  down  to  the  present  time.  j 

'riioujrii  an  ardent  lover  of  the  South,  Colonel 
llarvey  opposed  secession  from  tlie  beginning. 
He  opposed  it  from  principle  and  from  a  firm  con- 
viction that  such  a  movement  would  lead  to  the 
utter  destruction  of  the  very  institution  it  was 
designed  to  perpetuate.  As  to  wliether  he  was 
right  need  not  here  be  discussed. 

Colonel  llarvey  has  always  been  an  active,  earnest 
supporter  of  the  Democratic  party,  and,  as  editor 
and  speaker,  has  wielded  an  influence  for  much 
good  in  the  community  where  he  has  so  long 
resided.  At  no  time  in  life  has  he  sought  nor 
wanted  oftice,  preferring  to  act  his  own  jiart  in  the 
quiet  unostentatious  way  that  has  so  well  become 
him. 

His  first  wife,  Miss  Xelms,  to  whom  he  was 
married  in  Halifax  County,  X.  C,  when  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  died  at  Greensboro,  June,  1871. 
The  present  Mrs.  Harvey  was  Mrs.  Evarlyn  Bon- 
durant,  nvc  DuBose. 

Colonel  Harvey  has  been  at  all  times  an  active 
advocate  of  and  participant  in  every  measure  look- 
ing to  the  interest  and  ))romotion  of  his  section 
and  county.  His  private  life  has  afforded  a  shin- 
ing example  of  i)robity,  courage  and  lofty  character. 
His  has  been  truly  a  godly,  righteous  and  sober 
life.  Of  a  delicate  constitution,  his  chaste  and 
temperate  living  has  preserved  him  to  a  venerable 
age;  and  now  when  he  has  passed  the  usual  span 
of  man's  days  he  can  look  back  with  the  satisfac- 
tion that  he  has  injured  no  one  nor  treated  any 
man  unjustly.  A  friend  who  knew  him  well 
remarked,  tlmt  if  he  was  required  on  penalty  of 
his  own  life  to  find  an  honest  man,  when  he  found 
Colonel  Harvey  he  would  stop  the  searcli. 


ern  University,  Greensboro,  son  of  Dr.  F.  JI.  Peter- 
son (whose  biograpliy  appears  in  this  volume),  was 
born  at  (ireensboro,  October  2!),  18.')4. 

He  was  educated  at  the  Southern  I'niversity, 
from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  as  A.  M. 
in  July,  18T.'5,  and  as  B.I),  one  year  later.  He  was 
licensed  to  preach  .July  2,  1873,  and  admitted  on 
trial  into  the  Alabama  Conference,  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  December,  1874.  In 
187.5  he  was  appointed  to  the  Citronelle  Circuit, 
Mobile  District;  in  1876  he  took  charge  of  the 
Mobile  City  Mission,  and  in  1877.  was  made  Assist- 
ant Pastor  of  Franklin  Street  Ciiurch,  that  city. 
In  October  of  the  latter  year  he  was  called  to  the 
preparatory  dei)artment  of  the  Southern  Univer- 
sity at  Greensboro,  and  in  July,  1878,  was  elected 
to  the  Chair  of  Ancient  Languages. 

Professor  Peterson  preaches  at  various  places 
throughout  the  county  as  occasion  requires.  He 
is  devoted  to  the  ministry  by  natural  inclination, 
but  his  health  is  such  that  it  will  notpermitof  his 
applying  himself  steadily  to  the  pulpit,  therefore 
we  find  him  in  the  Southern  University,  where  he 
is  recognized  as  an  educator  of  superior  ability. 

He  was  married  in  Sumter  County,  Ala.,  De- 
cembers, 1880,  to  Helen  Amanda  Winston,  daugh- 
ter of  William  0.  Winston,  Esq. 


FRANCIS   MARION    PETERSON.  Jr.,  A.  M., 
B.D..  I'riifco.sorof  .\ncient  Languages  in  the  South- 


JOEL  FLETCHER  STURDIVANT.  A.B.,  A.M., 
Professor  of  English  Literature  in  the  Southern 
University,  Greensboro,  son  of  the  Eev.  AVilliam 
^I.  Sturdivant,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  was  born  at  Alexander  City,  Tallapoosa 
County,  Ala.,  May  11,  1859. 

The  senior  Mr.  Sturdivant  retired  from  active 
ministry  about  18IJ1,  since  which  time  he  has  been 
a  local  preacher.  His  family  resides  at  Kellyton, 
this  State. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at 
Iliawassee  College,  Tenn.,  from  which  institution 
he  was  graduated  in  1881.  He  subsequently  taught 
Greek  in  that  school  for  three  years.  He  began 
preaching  when  about  twenty  years  of  age,  and 
joined  the  North  Alabama  Conference  at  Talla- 
dega, in  1884.  He  was  ordained  at  Talladega  by 
Bishop  J.  C.  Keener,  and  sent  at  once  to  the 
Southern  University,  where  he  assumed  the  chair 
of  English  Literature.  He  preaches  now  regularly 
at  Mount  Hermon  and  Union  Chapel,  in  Hale 
Countv. 


570 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  was  married  at  Greensboro,  December  22, 
1887,  to  .\[iss  Sadie  E.  Lawsoii,  daughter  of  Louis 
Livwson,  late  a  mercliaiit  at  Greensboro. 

Professor  Sturdivant  is  a  member  of  the  His- 
torical Society  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  a  life 
member  of  Monteagle  Sunday-sfliool  Assembly 
and  Southern  School — the  Southern  Chautauqua. 

He  is  an  ardent  student,  and  is  devoted  to  the 
ministry  and  the  promotion  of  education. 

WILLIAM  NEWTON  KNIGHT,  present  member 
of  the  Statu   Lcgiihiture  froni   Hale  County,  is  a  , 
native  of  Kussell  County,  this  State,  where  he  was  1 
born  February   18,    1810.     His   father,  Epbraim 
Knight,  Esq.,  came    to  Alabama   from    Laurens 
District,  S.  C,  in  183'J,  and  resides  now  (.March, 
1888)   at   Uniontown,   Perry  County,   at  the  ad-   i 
vanced  age  of  seventy-eight  years.     Mrs.  Knight, 
the  subject's  mother,  and  to  whom  the  senior  Mr. 
Knight  was  married  in  South  Carolina,  was  a  Miss 
Medley,  of  one  of  the  oldest  families   of   the  old 
"South  State."     She  died  in  1883,  having  lived   ! 
sixty-six  years.    They  reared  three  sons,  all  plant-  I 
ers,  as  was  the  father  when  in  active  life,  and  all 
honored  and  honorable  men. 

Wdliam  N.  Knight,  familiarly  known  as  Cap- 
tain Knight  (a  title  fully  earned,  as  will  be  seen 
further  on),  was  the  first-born  son  of  this  family. 
The  common  schools  of  the  neighborhood  supiilied 
the  source  of  his  early  education,  while  an  inquir- 
ing mind,  a  well-balanced  head  and  a  retentive 
memory,  served  well  their  purposes  in  after  life. 

Early  in  1861  he  entered  the  army  as  orderly- 
sergeant  of  Company  C,  Thirty-sixth  Alabama 
Regiment,  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  and  re- 
t-  '  with  the  well-merited  rank  of  captain. 
His  11. ou  promotion  occurred  at  Chattanooga,  after 
the  retreat  of  the  Tennessee  Army  from  Tulla- 
homa;  and  at  Dalton,  Ga.,  early  in  18G;{,  his 
worth  as  a  soldier  was  further  recognized  by 
making  him  captain  of  his  company. 

From  first  to  last  he  saw  and,  in  fact,  partici- 
pated in  a  score  or  more  of  battles.  He  was  at 
Manassas,  Hoover's  Gap,  llockyface  Mountain, 
Ilesaca,  New  Hope  Church,  Missionary  IJidge, 
Lookout  Mountain,  Chickamanga,  the  Atlanta 
campaign,  .lonesboro  and  Spanish  Fort,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  minor  engagements  not  dignified 
in  history  as  battles. 


Leaving  the  army,  he  returned  to  Greensboro, 
and  here  on  December  27,  180."),  married  Miss  Eva 
Happel,  daughter  of  Philip  Happel,  Esq.,  and 
has  now  a  family  of  three  children. 

Captain  Knight's  first  civil  ortice  was  that  of 
Sheriff  of  the  county,  to  which  he  was  elected  in 
1877,  He  has  been  twice  County  Commis- 
sioner, ajid,  in  18Sfi,  as  elected  to  the  State  Legis- 
lature, where,  as  member  of  several  important 
committees,  he  proved  one  of  the  most  useful 
factors. 

Though  at  all  times  an  active  worker  in  the 
Democratic  party.  Captain  Knight  is  more  the 
farmer  than  the  politician,  and  his  large  agri- 
cultural interests  receive  his  personal  attention. 
His  appointment  by  Governor  Seay  as  the  State's 
representative  to  the  Farmers'  National  Congress 
which  met  in  Chicago  in  Xovembcr,  1887,  is  con- 
clusive as  to  his  rank  as  an  agriculturalist. 

Captain  Knight  is  truly  a  modern  broad-gauge 
man.  In  him  public  enterprise  at  all  times  tinds 
a  friend  and  substantial  supjiorter.  He  believes 
in  the  upbuilding  of  Central  Ala))ama  by  united 
effort  upon  the  part  of  the  people,  and  heartily 
advocates  the  encouragement  of  immigration. 
Recognizing  the  fact  that  Northern  Alabama  is 
to  become  the  great  manufacturing  center  of  the 
South,  he  believes  with  equally  as  much  reason 
that  Central  Alabama  must  be  the  home  of  the 
higher  order  of  agriculturalists,  and  to  this  end  he 
is  straining  his  efforts. 


^1  ^  - 


CHARLES  A.  GROTE,  A.M.,  of  the  Chair  of 
Modern  [languages,  Sciutlifrn  University,  and  the 
present  County  Superintendent  of  Hale,  was  born 
in  Fredericksburg,  Texas,  5Iay  29,  1851.  His 
father  was  the  Rev.  Charles  A.  Grote,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  was  a 
native  of  (iermany.  He  came  to  America  in  1845, 
and  settled  at  Galveston,  Texas.  He  was  at  that 
time  a  Lutheran,  but  subsequently  joined  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  Texas  Conference  in  1848.  In 
1870  he  became  a  membi-r  of  the  Texas  and  I^ouis- 
iana  German  Mission  Conference,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  that  body  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which 
occurred  November  18,  1887.  He  was  sixty-eight 
years  of  age.  While  in  New  Orleans,  he  had 
charge  of  Craps  Street  Church  for  three  years. 


:i 


^-^t-ti~ytu^  ^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


571 


Otiriiig  the  late  war,  he  was  presiding  elder  in 
'I'l'xas,  and  iield  that  otiice  for  seven  years.  In 
(ialveston  lie  married  Miss  Rene,  by  whom  he  had 
horn  to  him  six  cliildren,  four  sons  and  two 
ilaiighters. 

Charles  A.  (irote  was  gradiiateil  fidin  the 
Southern  University  as  A.M.,  in  IST.I.  lie  after- 
ward continued  tlie  study  of  French  in  tlie  city  of 
Xew  Orleans,  and  in  1887  took  a  special  course  of 
chemistry  in  Harvard  College.  He  began  teacli- 
ing  in  his  native  place  when  seventeen  years  of 
ago,  and  in  187<i  was  a  professor  in  Soule  Uni- 
versity, Texas.  In  August  of  that  year  he  came 
to  Greensboro  as  I'i'ofessor  of  Modern  Languages. 
In  1881  he  was  appointed  County  Superintendent, 
and  has  held  that  otHce  ever  since.  lie  was  mar- 
ried at  Greensboro  in  187!>,  to  Miss  Flossie  G., 
daughter  of  Rev.  L.  M.  Smith,  D.D.,  who  was 
once  president  of  the  Southern  University. 

WILLIAM  D.  LEE,  member  of  the  State  Board 
of  Inspectors  of  Convicts,  is  a  native  of  Perry 
County,  Ala.,  where  he  was  born  August  18, 
18:i:J.  Ifis  father,  David  Lee,  was  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  as  was  his  mother,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Holmes.  The  senior  Lee  came  to  Perry 
County  in  1818,  and  remained  one  year,  when  he 
returned  to  North  Carolina,  got  married,  and 
brought  his  bride  to  Alabama.  Here  he  became 
one  of  the  largest  planters  in  the  country,  and 
accumulated,  before  the  war,  an  extensive  fortune. 
He  died  December  Jil,  1803,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
four  years. 

William  I).  Lee  was  graduated  from  Howard 
College  in  l.S.")-^,  and  spent  two  years  subsequently 
at  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  read  law. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Perry  County  in 
IS.')."),  and  was  in  the  practice  of  law  at  Marion, 
Ala.,  when  the  war  broke  out.  In  18C2  he  entered 
the  service  of  the  Confederacy  as  a  jirivate  in  the 
Kighth  Alabama  Cavalry,  and  served  to  the  close  ! 
of  the  War.  After  the  final  surrender  he  returned  ! 
to  I'erry  County,  and  settled  on  the  old  homestead, 
where  he  was  engaged  at  planting  until  1800.  lu 
that  year  he  came  to  Greensboro,  where  he  has 
still  retained  his  interest  in  farming.  Though 
always  an  active  Democratic  worker  he  has  at 
no  time  sought  oflice  for  himself.  Without  solic- 
itation on  his  part,  but  at  the  instance  of  iiis 
friends,   (iovernor  O'Neal   appointed    him  to  his 


present  position  March  1,  1883,  and  re-appointed 
him  at  the  end  of  two  years  for  tlie  succeeding 
four  years.  His  term  will  expire  in  Marcli,  1889. 
Mr.  Lee  was  married  at  Greensboro,  in  July,  1860, 
to  Jliss  Imogen  Ilobson,  the  accomplished  daugh- 
ter of  Matthew  Ilobson,  one  of  Hale  County's 
most  substantial  planters. 

V.  GAYLE  SNEDECOR,  Register  in  Chancery, 
(ireensboro,  was  lioni  in  (ireene  County,  this  State 
December  6,  IfS'^-l.  His  father,  the  late  Isaac  C. 
Snedecor,  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and  was 
twelve  years  Clerk  of  the  County  Court  of  (Jreene 
County.  He  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  of 
Holland-Dutch  descent.  He  married,  in  Jlont- 
gomery  County,  Ky.,  a  Miss  Sarah  C.  Chambers, 
a  native  of  Virginia,  and  removed  to  Alabama  in 
1822.  He  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  Greene 
County,  and  died  in  the  year  1857,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-seven  years.  His  only  child  is  the  gentleman 
whose  name  heads  this  sketch. 

V.  Gayle  Snedecor  was  educated  at  the  common 
schools  and  at  Cumberland  College,  Kentucky. 
He  began  life  clerking  in  county  offices  and  for 
several  years  occupied  different  positions  in  various 
county  offices  and  mercantile  establishments.  He 
was  appointed  Tax  Assessor  of  Greene  County  in 
1852,  and  in  1855  he  published  a  map  of  that 
county,  which  so  familiarized  him  with  the  lands 
thereof  that  he  was  afterward  elected  by  the  people 
to  the  office  of  Assessor  and  held  it  twelve  consecu- 
tive years.  In  1807,  the  county  of  Hale  was  formed 
out  of  a  part  of  Greene,  and  in  1870  Mr.  Snedecor 
published  a  map  of  the  new  county.  He  was,  in 
that  year,  appointed  Register  in  Chancery  for 
Hale  County,  and  has  since  been  continuously 
kept  in  that  position. 

He  was  married  at  Forkland,  Greene  County, 
May  1,  1849,  to  iliss  Ann  George,  daughter  of 
Solomon  George.  She  died  in  1800,  leaving  four 
sons.  Again  at  Forkland,  April  10,  1807,  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Louise  Harris,  daughter  of  Hamlin  Har- 
ris, Esq.,  farmer  and  educator.  By  this  marriage 
he  has  one  daughter. 

Probably  one  of  the  most  important  accomplish- 
ments of  Mr.  Snedecor's  life  was  the  drafting  of 
the  revenue  laws  adopted  by  the  State  in  1805. 
This  important  legislation  fornisa  part  of  the  liis- 
tory  of  the  State,  and  reflects  great  credit  upon 
its  author. 


572 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


VOLNEY  BOARDMAN.  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Ihilu  (  Muntv,  was  born  in  Franklin 
County,  Ohio,  lie  came  to  Alabama  in  1832, 
since  which  time  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Greens- 
boro, lie  was  educated  in  Ohio,  and  there  learned 
the  trade  of  watchmaker  and  jeweler.  He  estab- 
lished the  first  jewelry  store  at  this  place,  and 
followed  that  business  up  to  ISHl. 

He  was  married  in  1 840  to  Miss  Margaret  Locke, 
who  died  in  1844,  leaving  two  children.  His  sec- 
ond marriage  was  in  1840.  to  Miss  Harriet  E. 
Harrison,  of  Tuscaloosa  County.  She  died  in 
18TG,  having  born  to  him  seven  children — six 
daughters  and  one  son. 

He  was  first  appointed  Clerk  of  this  county  un- 
der the  military  government  in  1867,  and  since 
that  time  has  been  continuously  kept  in  that 
oflBce  by  election. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 


HENRY    TUTWILER.    A.    M..    LL.    D..   one 

of  the  most  learned  ami  ctuiiieiit  eduoators  of 
the  South,  was  born  at  Harrisonburg,  Rocking- 
ham County,  Va.,  November  10,  18(i7,  and  died 
at  his  home,  the  site  of  his  noted  School  for  Roys, 
Greene  Springs,  Hale  County,  Ala.,  on  the  22d 
of  September,  1884.  The  first  twenty-three 
years  of  his  life  were  spent  in  his  native  State. 
Between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  fourteen,  he  was  a 
pupil  of  Dr.  Daniel  Baker,  the  distinguished 
Presbyterian  minister  and  revivalist,  together 
with  his  life-time  friend,  Gessner  Harrison,  for 
many  years  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  at 
the  University  of  Virginia.  These  young  men  en- 
tered that  University  during  its  first  term,  in  1825. 

Henry  Tutwiler  and  Gessner  Harrison  were  the 
first  graduates  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  in 
1829,  Mr.  Tutwiler  being  the  first  A.  M.  of  that 
institution.  After  attending  law  lectures  there, 
and  teaching  in  Charlottesville  nearly  two  years, 
he  was  chosen  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  in 
the  new  University  of  Alabama,  and  came  to 
Tuscaloo.-a  in  the  spring  of  18:51,  to  aid  in  its 
organization.  He  resigned  this  position  in  1837, 
and,  for  the  next  two  years,  was  Professor  of 
Mathematics  in  an  Iiulustrial  College,  begun  at 
that  time  near  Marion,  Ala. 

While  in  Tuscaloosa,  he  united  with  the  Meth- 
odist Ciiurch,  of  wiiifh  he  was  a  most   exemplary 


and  devoted  member  for  fifty  yeais.  Yet,  so 
catholic  was  his  spirit  always,  and  so  earnest  was 
his  belief  that  the  broad  principles  of  Christian- 
ity are  the  only  essentials  of  a  truly  religious  life, 
that  many  of  his  best  friends  did  not  know  to 
what  branch  of  Christ's  Church  lie  belonged, 
and  different  denominations  claimed  him  at  times. 

Christmas  Eve,  183.">.  witnessed  his  marriage  in 
Tuscaloosa  to  Miss  Julia  Ashe,  second  daughter  of 
Paoli  Pascal  and  Elizabeth  Strudwick  Ashe,  from 
which  happy  union  ten  children  survive  out  of 
eleven  born  to  them.  Mrs.  Tutwiler  died  April 
0,  1882. 

In  1840,  by  recommendation  of  Bishop  Robert 
Paine,  then  President  of  La  Grange  College,  in 
North  Alabama,  Professor  Tutwiler  was  selected 
to  fill  there  tils' ehairs  of  Mathematics  and  Chem- 
istry. In  this  faculty  he  was  associated  with  Dr. 
Carlos  G.  Smith  and  Rev.  R.  H.  Rivers.  The 
former  was  afterward  with  Dr.  Tutwiler  in  his 
famous  (Jreene  Springs  School,  and  married  Miss 
Martha  Ashe,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Tutwiler,  being  sub- 
sequently President  of  our  State  L^niversity,  and 
President  of  the  Alabama  Normal  College  for 
Girls,  at  Livingston.  Mr.  Rivers,  in  his  life 
of  Bishop  Paine,  says  of  Professor  Tutwiler,  at 
this  period:  "He  was  a  i>rofound  and  rich  lin- 
guist, a  thorough  mathematician,  and  a  sui)erior 
chemist.  He  was  learned  without  pedantry,  pious 
without  bigotry,  a  gentleman  without  a  blemish,  a 
character  without  a  flaw." 

After  seven  years'  service  at  La  Grange,  Pro- 
fessor Tutwiler  resigned,  and  bought  the  property 
of  Greene  Springs,  then  in  Greene  County,  Ala., 
—  a  famous  watering  place  previously,  because  of 
its  fine  chalybeate  sjirings.  Here,  in  the  fall  of 
1847,  he  established  his  well-known  classical,  sci- 
entific and  practical  High  School  for  Bofts. 

In  this  entirely  private  institution,  managed 
according  to  his  personal  views  of  the  best  mental, 
moral  and  physical  training  for  young  men,  he 
continued  his  peerless  labors  as  an  advanced  edu- 
cator. 

This  was  his  final  life-work,  lasting  thirty-seven 
years,  up  to  .June,  preceding  his  death,  in  1884, 
the  school  .having  been  discontinued  only  two 
years  of  that  time — 1877  to  1879. 

No  teacher  was  ever  more  generally  beloved 
than  he,  or  more  sincerely  venerated  in  the  after 
years  of  his  numerous  students.  Indeed,  few  men 
have  lived  who  possessed  minds  of  sucli  broad 
scope  as  his,  and  such  rare  and   versatile  acquire- 


y/y.  Ju2u)  l/u}- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


573 


merits  as  ii  linguist,  a  scientist,  a  iirofoinul  scholar 
in  every  (k'liartment  of  knowledfje. 

In  his  school,  Prof.  Tiitwiler  ruled  by  moral 
suasion  and  personal  influence  alone.  No  rod, 
no  form  of  corporal  punishment,  was  ever  used 
there.  So  soon  as  lie  found  a  boy  incurably  bad 
and  obstinate,  he  (|uiet]y  and  kindly  sent  him 
home,  or  advised  his  parents,  when  the  term  ended, 
not  to  send  liim  buck.  His  large  patronage  en- 
abled him  to  do  this  independently.  He  could 
readily  fill  their  places.  His  long  experience 
proved  that  these  methods  suffice  for  the  strictest 
discipline  in  a  boarding  school  like  his.  Frequently 
was  he  offered  professorships  and  presidencies  in 
various  in.'<titutions,  notably  the  presidency  of  the 
University  of  Alabama,  but  to  all  these  he  pre- 
ferred his  indejiendent  work  at  (ireene  Springs. 

The  degree  of  LL.D.,  was  conferred  upon  him 
by  several  colleges.  In  1853  he  was  appointed, 
by  President  Pierce,  on  the  Board  of  Examiners 
for  West  Point.  In  188"2  he  delivered  the  Alumni 
Address  at  the  University  of  Virginia — fifty-three 
years  after  graduation  —  giving  valuable  reminis- 
cences of  its  early  history. 

Deeply  versed  as  he  was  in  the  sciences  and 
classical  lore,  he  always  made  astronomy  a  favorite 
study  and  pastime;  and  few  scientists  have  more 
fully  mastered  its  mysterious  and  sublime  truths. 
His  profound  knowledge  of  the  stars  was  clearly 
evinced,  when,  on  the  evening  of  May  12,  1800, 
he  became  one  of  the  first  discoverers  —  if  not,  in- 
deed, the  very  first  —  of  the  "  New  Star,"  as  it  is 
now  described  in  text-books  on  astronomy. 

This  interesting  discovery  by  Professor  Tutwiler 
was  at  once  communicated  to  Prof.  Joseph  Henry 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institute.  Prof.  Stephen  Alex- 
ander of  Princeton,  and  other  Xorthern  scientists, 
and  it  soon  became  known  that  this  "  New  Star" 
had  been  seen  the  same  night  by  an  observer  in  a 
Northern  State,  and  by  two  in  Europe.  It  was 
then  a  mere  question  of  a  few  hours  whether  it 
was  first  seen  by  Professor  Tutwiler  or  by  one  of 
its  three  other  discoverers. 

Though  to  Professor  Tutwiler,  and  through  him 
to  Alabama,  belongs  the  credit  of  being  one  of 
the  first  discoverers  of  this  great  phenomenon 
of  the  heavens,  he  never  received  in  the  perma- 
nent records,  controlled  by  Nortliern  scientists, 
proper  recognition  for  this  interesting  discovery. 
This  omission  probably  arose  from  feelings  that 
remained,  even  in  the  pure  fields  of  science,  im- 
niediatelv  after  the  close  of  our  civil  war. 


In  personal  appearance  Professor  Tutwiler  was 
slightly  above  medium  height,  and  possessed  of  a 
remarkably  pleasing  presence  and  address.  Few 
men  have  had  such  an  iron  constitution  as  his. 
Intimate  friends  often  remarked  a  striking  resem- 
blance in  his  shaggy  eyebrows  and  full,  over- 
hanging brow,  and  in  the  general  contour  of  his 
features,  to  Massachusetts'  distinguished  son — 
Daniel  Webster. 

Vast  as  was  the  good  done  by  Professor  Tut- 
wiler, proud  as  Alabama  may  well  be  of  his  record 
in  his  long  and  useful  life,  the  world  can  never 
know  his  many  and  constant  acts  of  quiet  and 
unostentatious  benevolence.  All  the  grand  work 
which  the  (rood  Father  allotted  him  to  do,  he  did 
in  the  pure  spirit  of  Gospel  truth. 

A  life-long  friend  in  Philadelphia,  whose  father 
was  professor  in  the  I'niversity  of  Virginia 
while  Professor  Tutwiler  was  a  student,  wrote  of 
him  at  his  death:  "  So  passes  away  a  man  as  per- 
fect in  his  generation  as  it  is  permitted  to  man  to 
be.  In  all  my  experience,  I  can  not  recall  his 
superior  in  all  that  exalts  humanity — the  mind 
and  the  heart  both  great,  inspiring  admiration  and 
love  in  all  who  were  brought  near  him." 

-  ■  ■•>■  -'(^m'  <••  '  • 

WILLIAM  E.  W.  YERBY,  Editor  and  Proprie- 
tor of  the  Greensboro  Watchman,  and  author  of 
the  history  of  Greensboro  published  in  this  vol- 
ume, may  be  safely  written  as  one  of  the  coming 
young  men  of  the  State.  He  was  born  at  Greens- 
boro on  October  Id,  1862,  and  is  a  son  of  Prof. 
Miles  II.  Yerby,  who  for  thirty  years  was  a 
teacher  in  the  schools  of  tliis  place.  He  received 
his  first  instructions  under  the  tutelage  of  his 
father,  and  subsequently  took  a  primary  course  at 
the  Southern  University.  He  was  only  fourteen 
years  of  age  when  he  entered  the  office  of  the 
paper  he  now  owns  and  edits,  for  the  purpose  of 
learning  to  be  a  printer.  From  office  boy,  or 
"devil,"  he  steadily  worked  his  way  up  to  pro- 
prietor and  editor. 

Mr.  Y'erby  is  a  careful,  painstaking  and  inter- 
esting writer.  His  paper  is  one  of  the  most  pop- 
ular of  the  State  provincial  press,  and  his  history 
of  Greensboro,  as  jtublished  in  this  volume,  is  one 
of  the  most  thorough  and  readable  chapters  in 
the  book.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fratern- 
ity and  an  official  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South. 


XV. 
MONTGOMERY. 


Bv  Thomas  H.  Ci.akk. 


The  earliest  wliite  settlers  on  the  spot  wliere  tlie 
city  of  Montgomery  now  stands,  found  on  tiie 
high  river  bank  west  of  the  phice  two  earthen 
mounds  of  a  kind  common  throughout  the  Soutli- 
west.  One  of  these  mounds  was  ninety  feet 
square  and  twcnty-five  feet  high,  and  when  razed 
to  tlie ground,  in  1833,  a  quantity  of  human  bones, 
primitive  pottery,  arrow-heads  and  trinkets  were 
discovered  buried  underneath.  Mounds  similar  to 
these  have  been  found  in  various  sections  of  Ala- 
bama, and  it  has  been  conjectured  that  the  ancient 
race  that  left  such  imposing  remains  in  the  Valleys 
of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Kivers  dwelt  here  also, 
and  left  at  Montgomery  these  traces  of  their  mode 
of  life. 

The  historian  of  Alabama,  Albert  James  Pickett, 
was  of  the  opinion,  in  which  lie  is  supported  by 
the  authority  of  many  leading  American  ethnolo- 
gists, that  the  Indians  themselves  built  the  mounds 
in  this  State.  Jle  cites  some  instances  in  which 
mounds  like  those  in  question  were  thrown  uj)  by 
Indians  years  after  the  country  had  been  peopled 
by  the  whites.  He  thus,  in  some  degree,  lends 
countenance  to  the  hypothesis,  that  the  Indians 
and  mound-builders  were,  if  not  ihe  same  race,  as 
so  many  s])ecialists  on  this  subject  now  believe, 
then  closely  allieil.  The  [)rofound  obscurity 
that  has  rested  on  the  life  of  prehistoric  man  on 
this  continent,  is  being  gradually  dispelled,  and  it 
is  likely  that  science  will,  in  no  great  while,  have 
something  definite  to  say  upon  the  relations  of 
these  two  races  during  the  prehistoric  epoch. 

It  is  more  to  be  regretted  tliat  an  obscurity 
almost  as  deep  rests  upon  the  early  history  of  the 
Indian  tribes  proper  in  Alabama.  De  Soto  made 
his  famous  mardi  tlirough  this  State  in  l.-)40,  and 
it  remains  aa  unseltleil  problem  whether  or  not 
the  natives  whose  fields  he  pillaged  and  whose 
jKM'sons  lie  led    captives   wore  of   tlii'   .<anii'    tribes 


with  those  the  English  and  French  found  here  at 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Pickett 
thinks  the  later  Indian  occupants,  the  Muscogees 
or  Creeks,  came  in  after  DeSoto  reached  the  Mis- 
sissippi, that,  in  fact,  his  presence  there  drove  the 
Muscogees  to  take  refuge  in  the  territory  he  had 
but  lately  abandoned.  General  Woodward,  in  his 
reminiscences  of  this  tribe,  gives  it  as  a  tradition, 
and  states  his  own  belief,  that  the  Muscogees  were 
living  in  Alabama  when  DeSoto  first  came;  that 
he  found  them  here  and  left  them  here. 

We  reach  the  first  entirely  trustworthy  ground 
in  the  history  of  Montgomery  in  the  story  of  the 
discovery  by  English  traders  of  the  Indian  village 
of  Chunnanugga  Chatte,  or  High  Red  Bluff,  or 
Hostile  Bluff,  which  stood  on  the  river  bank  near 
the  mounds  already  referred  to.  The  precise  date 
of  the  appearance  of  the  English  trader  at  Hos- 
tile Bluff  is  uncertain,  but  his  coming  made  the 
town  known  to  the  merchants  of  the  extreme 
.southwestern  border,  and  then  it  became  a  ques- 
tion of  time  only  when  its  advantages  as  a  trading 
point  would  become  more  generally  recognized. 

The  French,  it  is  true,  had  held  dominion  here 
before  the  English  came  in.  They  had  founded 
Fort  Toulouse,  in  1T14,  at  the  junction  of  the 
Coosa  and  Tallapoosa  Rivers,  and  plainly  meant  to 
hold  the  territory  for  the  French  crown.  But  as 
colonizers  they  were  overmatched  by  the  English. 
That  old  French  Governor  in  America  who  as- 
sured the  Indians  that  the  French  King  would 
preserve  their  hunting  grounds  while  the  English 
would  destroy  them  touched  the  secret  of  the 
one  race's  failure  and  the  other's  success  in  the 
great  colonization  schemes  with  which  both  sides 
alike  pushetl  over  the  New  Continent.  When  the 
first  English  traders  penetrated  the  wilds  of  .\la- 
bama,  the  French  were  busy  setting  up  forts  at 
all  convenient  |)oints  between   Louisiana  and  the 


574 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


575 


Caiiadas.  Tlieir  aim  seems  to  liave  been  to  crowd 
tlie  English  to  tlie  seaboard  and  then  out  of  the 
country,  just  as  Grant  proposed  after  the  cap- 
ture of  Viciisburg  to  assault  Mobile,  and  by  as- 
cending the  Alabama  Uiver  still  further  divide 
and  weaken  the  Confederacy.  The  building  of 
Fort  Toulouse  was  in  ai<l,  apparently,  of  sucii  a 
general  design  against  the  English.  The  English 
trader,  however,  destroyed  all  hope  of  making  this 
jiolicy  successful.  His  pack  and  pack-horse  were 
more  potent  colonizers  than  many  forts.  lie  went 
everywhere.  Penetrating  to  the  uttermost  bounds 
iif  the  French  settlements,  he  tradcil  under  tlie 
mouths  of  the  guns  in  their  forts.  At  hi.s  licels 
marched  the  advance  guard  of  an  army  that  car- 
ried axes  and  not  bayonets  as  symbols  of  con- 
quests. A  great  hemming-in  process  of  another 
kiiul  was  inaugurated. 

The  Indians  saw  their  hunting-grounds  giving 
way  to  little  patches  here  and  there,  where  corn 
and  potatoes  were  planted.  l?y  the  time  the  Rev- 
olutionary War  began,  English  traders  and  settlers 
liad  scattered  all  over  the  Mississippi  Territory. 
Their  numbers  are  not  known,  of  course,  but 
there  is  a  suggestive  tradition  to  the  effect  that 
the  Tories,  during  the  Kevohitionary  War,  were 
accustomed  to  use  Hostile  Bluff,  near  Montgom- 
ery, as  a  drill-ground  for  such  settlers  as  remained 
loyal  to  the  British  crown.  Peace  was  declared, 
and  the  settlement  of  the  Southwestern  region 
proceeded  more  rapidly  than  ever,  until  the  year 
lSi:i.  Pickett  states  that  as  early  as  lT8.i  several 
white  traders  had  established  themselves  at  Ecun- 
chate,  or  Hostile  Bluff.  Altram  Mordecai,  a 
shrewd  Israelite  from  Pennsylvania,  settled  in  the 
same  year  on  Lime  Creek,  in  what  is  now  Mont- 
gomery County.  Near  him  dwelt  "Jlilly,"  a 
white  woman  with  an  Indian  huslmnd.  and  in  the 
jjrairies  south  of  Milly's. lived  William  Ciregory,  a 
white  man  with  an  Indian  wife.  Gregory  was  a 
cattle-king  of  that  early  time,  and  counted  his 
cattle  by  the  thousands. 

The  first  wiiite  man  to  settle  at  ilontgoinery 
and  build  a  home  was  Arthur  Moore.  He  set  up 
a  cabin  on  the  river  bank,  south  of  the  ferry.  He 
was  visited  here  in  1  SI 4 by  Thomas  S.Woodward,  a 
young  Georgian  with  Indian  lilood  in  him,  who 
was  fond  of  roaming  and  fighting.  While  Wood- 
ward was  on  this  visit  he  killed  two  deer,  as  he 
relates  in  his  "  Reminiscences,"'  in  a  pond  near 
where  the  Episcopal  Churcli  now  stands.  The 
cabin  of  .\rthur  Moore  has  long  since  disappeared, 


the  very  ground  upon  which  it  stood  having  been 
carried  away  by  the  river. 

When  Arthur  Moore  lived  here  in  181:5,  Ala- 
bama was  a  part  of  the  Mississippi  Territory,  and 
between  the  Territory  and  Georgia  lay  the  Creek 
Nation.  The  Creeks  occupied  all  of  what  is  now 
the  middle  eastern  part  of  the  State,  imduding 
among  others  the  counties  of  Randolph,  Cham- 
bers, Coosa,  Tallapoosa,  Lee,  Macon,  Bullock  and 
Russell.  The  continual  gradual  encroachments 
of  the  whites  upon  the  western  borders  had  e.^icited 
great  alarm  among  the  Creeks,  and  the  bloody 
massacre  at  Fort  Minis,  in  1813,  was  the  earliest 
blow  struck  by  the  natives  for  the  e.xpulsion  of 
the  dreaded  wiiites.  The  massacre  carried  terror 
into  the  Southwestern  settlements  and  stayed 
for  awhile  the  movement  among  immigrants. 
Jackson  hastened  down  with  his  Tennesseeans; 
the  Creek  country  was  overrun;  several  bloody 
battles  were  fought;  the  Indians  were  badly  beaten 
and  finally  subdued,  in  1817  Mississippi  was 
admitted  as  a  State,  and  in  March  of  the  same 
year,  a  Territorial  Government  for  Alabama  was 
established.  The  security  offered  by  the  new 
Government  incited  immigration  afresh,  and 
1817  marks  the  beginning  of  a  tide  of  population 
so  great  that  it  astonished  a  race  of  immigrants 
even. 

AI-.\B.\.'\I.V  IN  1817. 

Niles  Register oik^xW  5,  1817,  says:  "The sud- 
den and  very  numerous  immigrations  into  the 
Alabama  country  threaten  many  with  absolute 
starvation  unless  they  are  shortly  relieved  by  sup- 
plies from  other  parts."  Again  in  the  issue  of 
July  2(5tli:  '"In  consequence  of  the  great  im- 
migration provisions  have  been  very  high — corn 
%,h  per  bushel,  and  flour  820  per  barrel."  A  few 
years  later  he  had  to  say  of  Alal)ania  that  "  There 
is  probably  no  portion  of  the  world  of  similar  ex- 
tent which  can  exhibit  such  an  astonishingly 
rajiid  increase  of  population  produced  by  the  vol- 
untary immigration  of  .enterprising  individuals." 

The  immigrants  came  in  by  thousands  overland 
from  the  Carolinas  and  (Jeorgia,  and  many  hun- 
dreds came  from  New  York  by  water  to  Mobile. 
Speculation  and  the  multiplying  schemes  of  a 
speculative  period  were  the  order  of  the  day.  The 
land  was  supposed  to  have  a  great  and  inexhaust- 
ible fertility.  "  The  Alabama  lowlands,"  said 
iWfes",  "will  produce  for  an  almost  indefinite  term 
of  years  in  constant  cultivation  one  hundred 
bushels  to  the  acre."     He  assures  his  readers  that 


576 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


he  has  lieanl  this  statement  so  often,  and  on  sucli 
good  authority,  that  tiiere  can  be  no  question  of 
its  trutli. 

Alabuma  was  on  a  "boom"'  at  this  time,  and 
town  lots,  corner  lots  and  river  bottoms  were  at 
the  basis  of  many  imaginary  fortunes.  Three 
million  dollars'  worth  of  public  lands  were  sold  at 
one  sale  in  Iluntsville;  284  lots  in  the  town  of 
Florence  brought  ?i"i20,411,  and  one  lot  brought 
$3,500.  In  May,  1819,  when  the  State  fiovern- 
ment  sold  some  lands  that  had  been  granted  by 
the  General  Government,  to  jirovide  a  fund  for 
public  buildings  at  Cahaba,  101  lots  brought 
$96,000,  and  one  lot  brought  the  hand- 
some sum  of  $5,025.  Bottom  lands  were  in 
great  demand,  and  brouglit  from  $-10  to  8-")0  per 
acre.  A  fraction  of  1  TO  acres,  a  part  of  the  Big 
Bend,  just  opposite  .Montgomery,  was  sold  for  $T0 
per  acre.  The  high  land  on  the  "Ten  Mile 
Bluff,"  opposite  the  Big  Bend,  and  which  was  early 
reputed  to  be  a  fine  site  for  a  town,  sold  in  part 
for  $50  per  acre,  and  purchasers  were  readily 
found  for  all  the  sections.  The  mad  hunger  for 
land  gave  rise  to  various  plans  for  swindling  the 
Government,  and  it  was  reported  at  the  time  that 
a  favorite  scheme  of  the  s[>eculators  was  to  have 
irresponsible,  parties  attend  the  sales,  bid  enor- 
mous amounts  for  land,  and  then  disap]iear  alto- 
gether, leaving  the  would-be  owners  to  secure 
the  land  at  private  sale  and  on  their  own  terms. 
At  one  of  the  Cahaba  land  sales,  forty  men  put  up 
*1,000  each,  and  agreed  not  to  bid  over  two  dol- 
lars per  acre.  Two  valuable  townships  were  bid 
off,  when  the  Register  ordered  the  sale  stopped. 
The  speculators  then  sold  their  purchases,  clear- 
ing $1,980  each,  by  the  transaction. 

Andkew  Dextek. — .\mong  those  infected  with 
the  land  fever  of  1817  was  Andrew  Dexter,  a 
member  of  the  distinguished  Dexter  family  of 
Massachusetts,  and  a  lawyer  by  profession.  He 
attended  the  sale  of  public  lands  at  Milledgeville, 
(Ja.,  in  this  year,  and  purchased  one  section, 
namely,  section  seven,  township  sixteen,  range 
eighteen,  less  one  quarter  lying  east  of  the  Indian 
town  already  several  times  referred  to  as  Hostile 
Bluff.  It  is  not  known  what  information  Dexter 
possessed  upon  the  desirableness  of  Hostile  Bluff 
as  a  trading  point,  but  it  may  not  be  supposed  that 
a  Yankee  lawyer  was  buying  in  the  dark.  Dexter 
had  jirobably  talked  with  some  one  of  the  numer- 
ous traders  or  hunters  who  had  traversed  the 
region  lying  along  the  .\labama  Hiver. 


Tlie  Indian  town  was  on  the  road  from  Mil- 
ledgeville, to  Fort  t'laiborne.  It  was  near  the  head 
of  navigation  on  the  Alabama  and  the  best  natural 
site  for  a  trading-post  for  many  miles  along  the 
river.  It  is  probable  that  any  one  acquainted  with 
the  central  region  of  the  State  would  know  of  the 
attractions  of  this  higii  bluff  and  the  higher  hills 
above  as  a  place  for  building  a  town. 

Dexter  came  on  immediately  to  examine  his 
purchase  and  made  his  tirst  stop  at  Line  Creek, 
and  put  up  there  with  Jesse  Evans,  the  most  fam- 
ous fist  fighter  for  his  size  in  the  territory.  Dex- 
ter found  several  merchants  already  located  here 
to  catch  the  trade  at  the  crossing  of  two  great 
roads.  These  were  Meigs  and  Mitchell,  James 
Powers,  Major  Flanagan,  Arterberry  and  Denton 
and  J.  G.  Klinck. 

THE  FOUNDING  OF  NEW  Pnil-VDELPHIA. 

Mr.  Klinck  in  a  letter  written  to  the  Mont- 
gomery Mail,  and  published  in  that  paper  Novem- 
ber 24,  1858,  tells  of  Dexter's  visit  and  the  out- 
come of  it.  Dexter  it  seems,  while  stopping  with 
Jesse  Evans,  made  an  arrangement  with  Klinck 
by  which  the  latter  should  remove  his  stock  of 
goods  to  the  site  of  the  projected  town,  and  join 
Dexter  in  inducing  other  traders  to  locate  there 
also.  The  customary  inducement  was  offered. 
Each  trader  who  came  was  to  have  a  lot  as  a  i)res- 
ent  from  the  founder  of  the  place.  The  town  was 
laid  off  at  first  on  a  plan  by  which  vv-hat  is  now  Col- 
umbus street  should  be  the  leading  thoroughfare. 
Fearing  that  the  location  was  dangerously  low, 
Mr.  Dexter  moved  his  town  southward  to  the  more 
elevated  site  directly  west  of  the  present  State 
capitol.  The  place  was  baptized  "  Xew  Philadel- 
phia." Five  trading  concerns  were  established  at 
once,  namely:  Messrs.  Klinck,  Carpenter  &  Har- 
ris, Falconer,  (Joldthwaite  and  Fades.  The 
founder  showed  his  confidence  in  the  future  of  the 
place  by  setting  apart  a  square  to  be  used  as  a  site 
for  the  capitol  when  the  seat  of  government 
should  be  removed  to  New  Philadelphia.  The 
advantages  of  the  place  must  have  been  consid- 
ered great  even  at  this  early  period,  for  in  the  next 
year  (1818).  the  Alabama  Company,  consisting  of 
a  number  of  Georgians,  bought  a  large  tract  in  the 
section  adjoining  New  Philadelphia  on  the  west, 
and  laid  out  the  town  of  "  East  .\labama."  In 
the  same  year  still  another  town,  "  Alabama,"  was 
founded  in  a  section  still  further  west  on  what  ig 
now  known  as  the  Chajijiell  place. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


577 


This  last  luinied  town  was  the  real  and  danger- 
ous rival  of  Xew  I'liiladeli)hia  or  "  Yankee  Town," 
as  New  Philadelphia  was  coming  to  ho  called  on 
account  of  the  number  of  New  Englanders  who 
bad  settled  there. 

The  Commissioners  who  were  appointed  in  1818 
to  select  a  temporary  seat  of  justice  for  the  county, 
passed  Fort  Jackson  (former  county  seat)  by, 
Augusta,  also  East  Alabanui  and  New  Philadel- 
phia, to  choose  Alabama.  This  was  done  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  residents  of  New  Philadelphia 
had  entered  into  a  bond  to  pay  ^"20,0011  to  build  a 
court-house  if  their  town  should  be  selected.  Mr. 
Klinck  more  than  hints  that  "politics"  were  at 
the  bottom  of  the  decision. 

In  tlie  letter  of  Mr.  Klinck,  already  referred  to, 
there  is  a  trace  of  the  embittered  relations  between 
the  good  people  of  New  Pliiladelphia  and  Alabama 
Town,  lie  there  attempts  to  enumerate  the  inhab- 
itants in  each  place.  In  Alabama  Town  he  finds 
Capt.  John  Gause  and  family,  William  Oause  and 
family,  James  (iause  and  family,  old  lady  Gause, 
and  her  daughter  Eliza  (who  that  fall  married 
Willburn),  Major  Peacock  and  family,  Mr.  Ashley 
and  family.  Mi'.  Jones  and  family,  a  Mr.  Perry, 
Judge  Bibb,  Major  Johnson  (mail  contractor), 
Edmondson  (Clerk  of  the  Court),  and  his  mother- 
in-law,  Mrs.  Moulton — an  entire  military  and 
civic  population — no  merchant  or  trader  in  town. 

"  Such  as  I  can  now  name,"  he  adds,  ''  of  the  in- 
habitants in  ilontgomery  (now  called)  are  De.xter, 
Loftin,  first  justice  in  town;  James  Vickers,  inn- 
keeper; Stone  (son  of  Judge  Stone,  and  son-in- 
law  of  Esquire  Loftin);  Eades,  merchant;  Drs. 
Gullett  &  Co.;  J.  C.  Farley,  merchant;  Carpenter, 
merchant;  John  Falconer.niercliant  and  first  post- 
nuister:  Dr.  .Morrow;  J.  Goldthwaite,  merchant: 
John  llewett.  Widow  Ilewett  and  family;  Mr.  Lar- 
kin.  innkeeper  and  farmer;  Henry  Farley,  brother 
of  J.  C!.  Farley;  -\.  M.  Reynolds  and  family;  Mr. 
Maker;  John  Belew,  carpenter;  K.  Moseley,  and  a 
number  of  other  families  of  the  same  name  on  the 
hill;  Ximrod  Benson,  Esq.;  Sims,  attorney,  and  a 
dense  population." 

It  would  seem  that  at  this  early  day, the  colonels' 
voice  was  a  potent  one  in  our  politics,  that  the  en- 
tire military  and  civic  population  of  the  onejtlace, 
though  without  a  merchant  or  trader  in  their 
midst,  outweighed  in  influence  the  dense  popu- 
lation of  the  shopkeepers  in  tlie  other.  The  colo- 
nels secured  the  court-house  for  Alabama  Town. 

On  IkHcmber  3,  1819,    the   Legislature   passed 


an  Act  consolidating  New  Philadelphia  and  East 
Alabama,  jiroviding  substantially,  that  all  that 
tract  of  land,  situate  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Ala- 
bama River,  of  the  following  description,  namely: 
Fraction  number  twelve,  township  si-\'teen,  range 
seventeen,  southeast  and  southwest  quarters  of 
section  number  seven,  township  sixteen,  range 
eighteen,  including  all  that  jiart  of  the  river  lying 
opposite  to  said  fraction,  within  si.xty  yards  of 
its  margin  in  the  county  of  Montgomery,  is  here- 
by incorporated,  and  shall  be  called  and  known 
by  the  name  of  the  town  of  Montgonieiy. 

With  consolidation  came  a  change  of  name. 
Contrary  to  the  received  opinion,  Mr.  Klinck 
states  that  the  town  was  named  after  the  county. 
The  weight  of  authority  seems  to  be  that  the 
county  was  named  after  Major  Lemuel  Montgom- 
ery, who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  the  Horseshoe, 
in  ISI4.  and  that  the  town  was  named  after  Gen. 
Richard  Montgomery,  who  fell  at  Quebec  early  in 
the  Revolutionary  War.  This  statement  of  the 
origin  of  the  names  was  made  by  Jonathan  Bat- 
telle  in  1821,  in  the  first  issue  of  the  first  news- 
paper published  in  Montgomery,  and  Battelle  was 
followed  by  Pickett  in  his  history.  It  may  seem 
odd  that  the  citizens  of  a  small  frontier  town 
should  single  out  for  honor  a  Revolutionary  sol- 
dier who  had  been  killed  more  than  forty  years 
before.  The  reverence  for  the  heroes  of  the  Rev- 
olution was  then  at  its  height,  it  is  true,  but  this 
fact  alone  would  hardly  explain  the  choice  in  this 
instance.  There  is  a  circumstance  that  removes 
the  difticulty.  In  1818  the  Legislature  of  New 
York  adopted  a  resolution  looking  to  the  removal 
of  the  body  of  (ieneral  Montgomery  from  Quebec 
to  that  State.  In  July  of  that  year  his  body  was 
removed  to  New  Y'ork  City.  Congress  soon  after- 
ward made  an  appropriation  to  erect  a  monument 
over  Montgomery's  new  grave.  These  incidents 
were  fresh  in  tiie  public  mind,  and  the  Legisla- 
ture merely  reflected  a  prevailing  sentiment  when 
they  called  the  united  villages  "  Montgomery," 
after  the  young  Irishman  who  had  been  killed 
beneath  the  bluffs  of  a  Canadian   city. 

Montgomery  was  incorporated  December  'i, 
1H19.  Eleven  days  later,  on  December  14,  Ala- 
bama was  admitted  into  the  Union.  The  wild 
character  of  the  State  ivhen  admitted,  in  spite  of 
additions  in  population,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
a  few  days  later,  on  December  IC,  the  Legislature 
passed  an  .Vet  for  the  encouragement  of  the  killing 
and    destroying    of    wolves   and   pantliers.     The 


578 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


bounties  paiil  under  this  Act  were  three  dollars 
for  any  wolf  or  panther,  not  exceeding  six  months 
old,  and  five  dollurs  for  one  over  six  months  of  age. 
The  aggregate  disbursements  under  this  law  were  so 
large  that  they  threatened  disaster  to  the  young 
Commonwealth,  one  county  having  used  all  its 
State  taxes  in  paying  for  wolves  and  panthers. 
The  Legislature  made  haste  to  repeal  the  Act  at  its 
next  session. 

iSKAT   OF  .JUSTICE. 

At  this  same  session,  on  December  lU,  1820, 
^Montgomery  was  made  the  temporary  seat  of 
justice  for  the  county.  One  year  from  that 
time,  December  17,  1821,  Commissioners  were 
a])pointed  to  select  a  permanent  location  for 
the  court-house  of  the  county,  and  they  selected 
Montgomery.  The  new  town  had  distanced  all 
her  rivals.  Henceforth  relieved  from  all  appre- 
hension t)y  rea.son  of  the  competition  of  the  places 
in  immediate  proximity,  the  town  measured  itself 
against  Cahaba,  Tuscaloosa  and  others  of  the  more 
promising  villages  of  the  Central  Alabama  of  this 
time. 

Immigrants  continued  to  pour  into  the  State 
from  every  quarter  of  the  Union,  and  Montgomery 
shared  in  tiiis  increase.  'J'he  bulk  of  the  new  pop- 
ulation, however,  came  from  the  South,  as  is  shown 
indirectly, by  the  composition  of  the  Legislature  of 
1820.  According  to  Niles,  one  native  Alabamian, 
one  Pennsylvanian,  two  Marylanders.  two  Tennes- 
seeans,  seven  \orth  Carolinians,  eight  Georgians, 
thirteen  South  Carolinians,  and  eighteen  A'irgin- 
ians.  If  it  be  true  that  the  composite  races  have 
establisiied  their  institutions  \\\io\\  a  more  endur- 
ing basis  than  others,  -Vlabama  may  be  considered 
fortunate  in  the  character  of  her  early  settlers. 
When  it  is  considered  how  much  of  wiiat  was 
finely  typical  and  best  in  the  older  States  of  the 
Union,  in  manners  and  lawsalike,  found  congenial 
soil  in  .\labama,  -Mabamians  may  be  i)ermitted  to 
refer  their  admiration  of  their  State  to  striking 
and  suflicicnt  causes.  Alabama  has  been  conspic- 
uous among  the  Southern  members  of  the  Union 
for  a  .spirit  of  conservatism,  joined  to  impulses, 
toward  orderly  progress,  a  spirit  that  is  the  nat- 
ural outcome  of  the  varieil  stream  of  immigration 
that  early  jioured  into  the  State. 

TIIK   FIKST   NEWSPAPER. 

In  1S20  the  town  had  grown  so  much  that 
there  was  a  demaiul  for  a  newspaiier,  aiul.  on  .laii- 


uary  G,  1821,  in  response  to  this  demand,  Jonathan 
Batteile,  a  young  man  from  Bi>ston,  Mass..  pub- 
lished the  first  number  of  the  Montgomery  Repub- 
lican. Fortunately  for  the  chronicler,  the  file  of 
this  paper  from  its  earliest  is.sue  to  May  20,  1824, 
has  been  preserved.  In  these  early  numbers  of 
the  RepuhUran,  we  have  mirrored,  with  more  or 
less  fidelity,  the  business,  the  pleasures,  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  Montgomery's  founders. 
They  themselv^  are  all  gone,  and  in  this  file  of 
old  papers,  if  anywhere,  must  be  found  the  story 
of  their  every-day  life. 

In  his  prospectus  Mr.  Hattelle  gives  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  place  where  his  pajjer  is  to  be  pub- 
lished, and,  as  the  first  sketch  of  Montgomery 
ever  published,  it  possesses  unusual  interest. 

"  Montgomery."  he  says,  "'formerly  called  Hos- 
tile Hhitf,  lately  East  Alabama  and  New  Philadel- 
phia (the  former  established  by  a  company  in 
Georgia,  and  the  latter  by  A.  Dexter,  Esq., 
both  having  been  incorporated  into  one  town  by 
the  Lsgislatureof  1810),  is  situate  in  the  healthy, 
fertile  and  thickly-settled  county  of  the  same 
name,  of  which  it  is  the  seat  of  justice  (intended 
to  perpetuate  two  distinguished  martyrs  to  the 
cause  of  the  Hepublic),  directly  opj)osite  the  east- 
ern point  of  that  highly-cultivated,  extensive  and 
fertile  tract  of  laiul  known  by  the  name  of  '  Hig 
Bend.'  It  adjoins  the  fraction  on  which  the 
town  of  Alabama  stands,  and  bordering  on  the 
celebrated  river  of  that  name,  to  which  it  is  navi- 
gable at  all  seasons,  from  the  (iulf  of  Mexico,  for 
steamboats  of  a  large  class;  distant  about  two  hun- 
dred miles  from  Milledgeville,  a  similar  distance 
from  the  seaports  of  .Mobile  and  Hlakely,  about 
fifty-five  miles  above  Cahaba,  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, and  about  twelve  miles  below  the  junction 
of  the  Coosa  and  Tallapoosa.  It  is  the  point  at 
which  the  Atlantic  mails  reach  tiieir  first  stopping 
place  in  the  State,  and  from  whence  News  may 
be  distributed  through  the  countrj'  with  great 
facilities,  Montgomery,  fiom  its  high  and  airy 
situation,  the  purity  of  the  waters  flowing  from 
its  several  springs,  and  the  elevation  of  the  banks 
along  the  river  on  both  sides,  which  exclude  stag- 
nant water,  is  considered  jieculiarly  healthy;  in- 
deed, many  resort  to  that  section  during  the 
summer  months  on  that  account.  It  contains 
many  romantic  as  well  as  level  sites  for  building, 
and,  for  an  infant  establishment,  it  may  be  called 
a  pleasant,  flourishing  town." 

In   the  next  issue  of  the  Repuhlicon  "  A  Vis- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


579 


itor,"  had  a  conimuiiication  describing  the  town  ' 
in  which  the  following  occurs:  "  Krom  the  top 
of  the  blulT,  which  in  some  places  is  one  hun- 
dred feet  al)ove  low  water  mark,  the  land  rises 
gradually  until  it  terminates  in  high  and  ronuin- 
ti<'  iiills,  the  prospect  from  which  is  beautiful  and 
sublime — a  meandering  river,  verdant  meadows, 
well  cultivated  farms,  rude  forests  and  lofty 
mountaius.  Its  present  population  is  about  fioo, 
c-oUi'cti'd  fi-oin  almost  every  State  in  the  Union. 
There  are  nnuiy  respectable  mercantile  establish- 
ments, and  barges  carrying  from  five  huiulred  to  one 
tliousand  barrels  are  constantly  plying  between 
this  and  Mobile.  When  the  contemplated  im- 
])roveinents  in  the  navigation  of  the  Coosa  shall 
have  been  ofTected.  and  the  fine  country  in  the 
vicinity  become  thickly  ])opulated, events  neither 
distant  or  uncertain,  Montgomery  will  probably 
increase  and  flourish  beyond  almost  any  town  on 
the  Alabanni."  That  "A  Visitor"  was  really  a 
visitor  is  attested  by  his  being  deceived,  as  so 
many  strangers  in  Montgomery  are,  by  the  Au- 
tauga hills,  and  mistaking  them  for  "  lofty  moun- 
tains." The  editor  added,  by  way  of  endorse- 
ment of  this  stranger's  description  of  Montgomery, 
"that  the  town  enjoys  local  and  public  advant- 
ages, such  (in  our  estimation)  as  render  its 
future  growth  and  importance  no  longer  problem- 
atical." 

In  his  prospectus,  as  has  been  seen,  Mr.  Battelle 
had  boasted  of  Montgomery  as  a  place  whence 
news  might  be  distributed  through  the  country 
with  "  great  facilities."  The  commentary  on  this 
boast  was  a  statement  made  elsewhere  in  the  same 
issue  that  the  publication  of  his  paper  had  been 
postponed  for  several  weeks  owing  to  a  delay  in  the 
transportation  of  his  printer's  outfit.  This  outfit 
had  been  shipped  from  Savannah  to  Mobile,  but 
the  vessel  bearing  it  put  back  to  Savannah  on 
account  of  stress  of  weather,  and  the  i)ress,  type 
and  paper  were  hauled  overland  from  Savannah 
to  Montgomery,  a  distance  of  3">0  miles.  In  dis- 
trii)utiiig  his  ])ai)er  he  complained  that  the  mail 
for  Cahaba  left  .Montgomery  on  Sunday  at  two 
o'clock,  proceeded  to  .Alabama  Town,  a  distance  of 
three  fpiarters  of  a  mile,  where  it  remained  until 
Tuesday.  On  its  return  it  met  with  some,  if  not 
similar,  detention.  Hut  this  was  not  the  worst, 
the  great  Atlantic  and  Southwestern  mails  between 
Georgia  and  .\labanni  were  out-traveleil  without  a 
change  of  horses  by  travelers,  both  in  carriages 
and  on  horseback.     It  was  two  davs  on  its    wav 


between  the  Creek  Agency  and  Fort  Mitchell,  a 
distance  of  sixty  miles.  On  a  part  of  the  route 
through  the  Creek  Nation  the  mail  was  carried  in 
an  open  wagon,  and  a  part  of  the  way  on  horse- 
back. 'I'he  consequence  was,  the  newspapers  were 
frequently  detained  for  weeks,  and  in  some  in- 
stances months,  and  at  last  arrived  so  wet  and  muti- 
lated tinit  it  was  difficult  to  read  them.  In  the 
news  column  of  the  fir.st  issue  appeared  this  bit  of 
intelligence:  "  We  regret  to  learn  that  the  horses 
and  carriage  belonging  to  Mr.  Calfrey  (one  of  the 
mail  contractors),  on  their  way  hither,  were  lost 
last  week  at  Icheeconnah  Creek,  between  Fort 
Hawkins  and  the  Creek  Agency — the  mail  was 
taken  over  in  safety  on  a  log."  Nearly  all  the 
editorial  matter  of  this  date  was  devoted  to  dis- 
cussing imperfect  mail  facilities,  but  the  editor 
had  the  satisfaction  befoi-e  he  finished  writing 
them  of  chronicling  an  itnin-ovement.  The  post- 
office  at  Alabama  Town  was  discontinued,  and  with 
the  removal  of  the  postoftice  to  Montgomery,  dis- 
appeared the  last  vestige  of  rivalry  between  the 
two  places. 

In  the  way  of  pure  news  this  initial  number 
of  the  Republican  contained  accounts  of  a  fire, 
and  an  accident  by  which  a  negro  was  thrown  from 
a  horse  and  killed,  the  announcement  of  a  horse- 
race and  another  of  a  ball.  The  fire  totally  con- 
sumed the  house  and  its  contents.  The  editor 
recommends  the  passage  of  an  ordinance  against 
gunpowder,  and  expresses  a  hoi)e  that  the  town 
would  soon  have  a  bell  belonging  to  some  public 
building,  with  which  to  sound  fire  alarms.  The 
horse-race  was  to  be  a  mile  heat,  for  one  thousand 
dollars,  to  be  run  by  lilack  John  and  Quaker  Girl, 
on  Saturday,  the  13th  inst.,  about  three  miles 
from  town,  on  or  near  the  road  leading  to  Cahaba. 
The  ball,  a  Jackson  l)all,  was  to  be  on  the  suc- 
ceeding Monday,  January  8th,  and  was  to  be  given 
"in  commemoration  of  the  glorious  victory  at 
New  Orleans,  on  the  8th  of  January,  1815, 
which  shed  so  much  lustre  on  the  arms  of  our 
country." 

Rut  it  is  to  the  advertisments  rather  than  to  the 
news  items  that  tlie  reader  of  to-day  will  turn  in 
theseold  papers.  Iti  the  first  number  we  have  the 
announcement  of  the  result  of  the  election  for 
members  of  the  town  council,  when  Messrs.  Will- 
iam (irahani,  N.  E.  Benson,  John  Edmondson, 
James  Faries,  James  Humphreys,  II.  W.  Henry, 
and  George  Wilkinson,  were  elected  members  of 
the  council.     And,  on  the  day  following,  N.   E. 


580 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Benson  was  elected  Intendant.  and  Charles  Shon 
re-elected  Clerk  of  the  Council. 

The  retiring  Intendant,  William  Graham,  has 
affixed  his  name  to  two  ordinances  that  appear, 
one,  extending  licenses  granted  merchants  and 
retailers  of  spirituous  liquors,  and  the  other,  pro- 
viding for  raising  a  committee  to  examine  the 
landing  and  make  report  of  what  would  be  the 
probable  expense  of  making  a  good  and  sufficient 
landing.  Anuinberof  merchants  offer  their  goods 
for  sale  and  describe  them.  MacNamara,  Hell  and 
Hanrick  had  just  received,  i)er  barge  Triton,  bag- 
ging, twine  and  herring,  which  would  be  sold  low 
for  cash  or  cotton.  CiiristophcrtiiS;  Parkin  had  just 
received  whisky,  gin,  cognac  brandy,  .sugar  and 
molasses  per  barrel,  best  green  coffee,  cheese,  soap 
and  candles  by  the  box,  a  lot  of  domestic  goods, 
consisting  of  ginghams,  stripes,  checks,  denims, 
ahirting,  slieeting,  an  assortment  of  fine  and  coarse 
shoes,  cotton  bagging,  bale  rope,  Swedes  iron, 
German  steel,  powder,  shot  and  lead;  also  a  light 
Jersey  wagon  with  harness  for  two  horses,  all  to 
be  sold  low  or  exchanged  for  cotton. 

Mr.  E.  D.  Washburn  offered  for  sale  six  barrels  of 
sugar,  five  of  gin,  four  of  whisky,  four  of  rum, 
one  bag  of  coffee,  7.'>5  pounds  of  iron,  one  and  one- 
half  dozen  sifters,  an  elegant  horse  and  gig.  several 
town  lots  in  Jlontgomery  and  two  shares  in  the 
town  of  Selma. 

Messrs.  George  Wilkinson  &  Co.,  who  had  a 
store  near  the  landing,  offered  a  general  assort- 
ment of  goods,  among  which  were  broadcloths, 
cassi meres,  negro  clothes,  flannel,  calicoes,  cam- 
bric, muslins,  silks,  sugar,  five  bags  of  coffee, 
forty  barrels  of  whisky,  four  barrels  of  gin,  to- 
bacco, cigars,  crockery  and  glassware. 

Graham  and  Lewis  had  jufet  received  from  New 
York  a  general  assortment  of  sugar,  tea,  coffee, 
rum,  wine,  tobacco,  shoes,  boots,  powder,  lead 
and  shot,  bagging  and  dry  goods.  These  were 
offered  for  cash  or  for  cotton. 

J.  S.  Walker  had  several  thousand  acres  of  Ala- 
bama lands,  with  the  prices  affixed,  ranging  from 
#70  down  to  H'i.  There  had  been  but  one  install- 
ment paid  on  these  lands  to  tlie  Government,  and 
Mr.  Walker  urged  on  the  public  the  advantage  a 
buyer  would  have  from  •'the  relief  anticipated 
from  the  Acts  of  the  j)resent  session  of  Congress." 
The  high  prices  paid  for  lands,  it  appears,  had 
borne  fruit,  and  Congress  was  overwhelmed  with 
petitions  for  relief  bills. 

The  editor  of  the  RepuhUcan\i\w\&e\\  anuounced 


that  he  would  give  immediate  employment  to  a 
compositor  and  pressman,  and  that  he  desired  an 
apprentice  in  his  office  of  uiK|uestionable  morals. 
He  would  also  do  job  printing  of  every  kind:  he 
was  daily  expecting  a  consignment  of  Murray's 
Readers  and  Grammars,  Walker's  Dictionaries, 
Testaments,  Bibles,  Adams's  Geography,  Daboll's 
Arithmetic,  Webster's  Spelling  Hooks,  New 
England  Primers,  Watts'  Psalms  and  Ilymns,  and 
.Song  and  I)ream  Hooks.  A  handsome  light  four- 
wheel  carriage,  with  plated  harness  complete, 
could  be  bad  on  terms  to  be  learned  on  applica- 
tion at  the  office.  One  double-barrel  and  one 
single-barrel  fowling  piece  would  be  exchanged 
for  shingles,  plank  and  scantling:  a  good  draft- 
horse,  also  pleasant  under  the  saddle,  would  be 
exchanged  for  bricks  or  lumber. 

Our  ancestors  loved  their  patent  medicines.  A 
large  consignment  of  these,  none  of  which  were 
genuine  unless  they  bore  the  signature  "  T.  \\  . 
Conway,"  were  hourly  expected  to  arrive  by  the 
boat  Patriot.  In  the  medical  profession  Dr.  C. 
Billingslea.  having  purchased  the  possession  lately 
occupied  by  Dr.  Andrew,  tendered  his  services  to 
the  citizens  in  various  branches  of  the  medical 
profession.  In  the  law,  A.  A.  McWhorter  had 
removed  his  office  to  a  small  new  building  on 
Court  Square,  south  of  the  market  house.  John 
D.  Bibb  had  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law  and 
would  attend  the  courts  of  Montgomery  and  Au- 
tauga, lie  would  be  found  at  home  three  miles 
above  the  town  of  Montgomery,  except  when 
abroad.  Mr.  S.  Dennis  and  Mr.  J.  P.  Lewis,  re- 
spectively, offered  their  services  as  tailors.  They 
would  make  clothes  for  gentlemen  in  the  newest 
fashion  on  the  shortest  notice.  Clement  Frecny 
was  then  proprietor  of  the  Montgomery  Hotel. 
His  place  was  in  the  western  part  of  the  town. 
Private  rooms  with  fire  places  could  be  furnished 
to  those  who  wanted  them.  His  bar  was  siijiplied 
with  the  best  liquors:  his  stables  were  commodious. 
J.  P.  .\all  and  G.  W.  B.  Towns  kept  the  Globe 
Tavern,  and  set  as  good  a  table  "  as  the  country 
affords."  They  kept  the  most  genuine  liquors  and 
a  stable  well  furnished  with  provender. 

There  was  one  "for  rent"  in  the  paper. 
Fleming  Freeman  offered  to  rent  two  stores  oppo- 
site the  Montgomery  Hotel. 

Such  was  the  Montgomery  of  the  first  week 
in  .January.  1S21,  so  far  as  the  facts  can  be  col- 
lected from  the  first  issue  of  the  Montgomery  Re- 
piihliraii. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


581 


The  Republican  of  Febriuiry  17,  suminarized  the 
growtli  of  the  town  up  to  that  date.  There  were 
then  in  that  portion  of  .Montgomery,  formerly 
known  as  New  I'hihidelphia.  of  frame  hiiihlings, 
buiUling  or  already  finished,  ten  twostory  struc- 
tures and  fourtee!!  one-story  .structures;  of  log- 
houses,  nine  "tolerable,"  and  of  inferior  lo^- 
hou.ses  eighteen.  In  that  part  of  the  place  form- 
erly known  as  East  Alabama,  there  were  eighteen 
one-story  frame  buildings,  and  seven  two-story 
buildings;  si.x  tolerable  log-houses  and  five  infe- 
rior ones,  making  a  total  in  the  town  of  eighty- 
seven  dwelling  houses  and  stores.  "  liesides 
which,"  adds  the  RepuhUcan,  "we  are  about  to 
begin  prei)arations  for  erecting  a  jilace  of  public 
worship,  an  academy,  a  court  house  and  a  jail. 

"  We  have,"  it  continues,  "  at  j) resent  ten  stores 
of  assorted  merchandise,  three  public  houses,  four 
or  five  practicing  lawyers,  two  or  three  regular 
bred  physicians,  one  teacher,  several  carpenters, 
two  master  brick-layers,  one  cabinet  maker,  one 
saddle  and  harness  maker,  two  smith's  shops,  one 
watchmaker  and  silversmith,  one  tinner's  shop, 
and  one  shoemaker.  When  we  reflect  how  short 
a  period  has  elapseil  since  this  was  an  inhospitable 
wilderness,  and,  how,  recently,  was  lieard  the  sav- 
age yell,  we  may  exclaim,  in  the  language  of  sur- 
jirise,  what  astonishing  changes  have  taken  place 
at  '  Hostile  Bluff  '  in  the  short  space  of  two 
years." 

A  glance  through  others  of  the  early  numbers 
of  the  Rcjiu/jlica)!.  will  show  more  clearly  what 
was  the  life  of  the  citizens  of  Montgomery  at  that 
time.  In  the  main  the  editor's  own  language  can 
be  used,  and  with  better  effect  than  any  possible 
paraphrase. 

February  "-24,  l.s-^'l. — The  Circuit  Court  closed 
its  term  the  Saturday  preceding,  having  disjiosed 
of  100  causes,  leaving  a  number  on  the  docket  that 
were  not  reached.  "Citizen  "  writes  a  communi- 
cation accusing  the  town  Council  of  rottenness  in 
the  management  of  the  town's  finances.  "  An 
Observer  "  writes  to  say  that  the  Coosa  River  must 
be  opened  up  to  navigation  in  order  to  assure 
the  commercial  supremacy  of  Montgomery.  A 
ta.\  ordinance  appears,  in  which  a  tax  of  one-half 
per  centum  is  levied  on  the  real  estate  of  the 
town,  a  poll  tax  of  one  dollar,  fifty  cents  for  every 
dog  more  than  one  kept  by  any  family,  and  a 
license  fee,  of  four  dollars  per  year,  is  imposed  for 
merchandising,  or  keeping  a  hotel.  Charles  Hodg- 
ers  advertises  a  dancing  school  in  this  issue. 


March  3,  1821. — .Jonathan  JIayhew  opened  a 
school,  charging  five  dollars  for  twelve  weeks'  tui- 
tion in  the  common  branches  and  ten  dollars  for 
tuition  in  the  higher  branches.  A  boat  arrived 
from  West  Point,  in  East  Tennessee,  loaded  with 
flour.  This  boat  came  down  the  Tennessee  to  the 
Iliwiissee,  thence  sixty-five  miles  to  the  entrance 
of  the  Okoa;  up  the  Okoa  some  distance,  when  it 
was  ti'ansported  into  the  head  waters  of  the  Coosa; 
thence  down  to  the  Alabama  and  to  Montgomery, 
a  distance  of  one  thousand  miles  in  all.  This  trade 
had  been  jirofitably  carrie<l  on  for  two  years  past. 

June  i,  IS-^l. — The  town  was  visited  by  a  party 
of  Creek  Indians,  headed  by  Captain  McKintosh. 
They  brought  a  drove  of  fine  looking  cattle,  and 
sold  fresh  beef  in  the  market  house  for  several 
days.  They  had  been  accustomed  for  some  time 
to  sell  the  citizens  poultry,  eggs,  bacon  and  wild 
game.  Fish,  and  es2iecially  shad,  received  by 
boat  from  Mobile,  were  common. 

July  4,  IS'il. — A  grand  ball  was  given  at  Mont- 
gomery Hall,  in  honor  of  Independence  Day. 
Cannons  were  fired  at  intervals  during  the  day. 
Mr.  Henry  Goldthwaite  delivered  the  oration. 

August  2(i,  1821.— The  Rev.  Mr.  :Mellord  con- 
ducted divine  service  in  the  court-house,  the  town 
being  without  any  church. 

October  22,  1821.— The  Harriet,  the  first  steam- 
boat to  ascend  the  Alabama,  arrived  at  Montgom- 
ery. She  was  greeted  by  a  crowd  of  citizens.  On 
the  next  day  the  Harriet  took  an  excursion  party 
up  the  river,  making  six  miles  an  hour.  A  com- 
pany was  projected  to  put  on  a  line  of  steamboats 
between   Montgomery   and    Mobile   and    Hlakeh'. 

April  20,  1822. — An  immense  rainfall  caused 
the  Tallapoosa  and  Alabama  to  rise  higher  than 
any  of  the  white  settlers  had  ever  known  to  be  the 
case  before  in  these  streams.  The  frequent  in- 
undation of  our  river  lands  for  the  last  two  j'ears 
ha.s  changed  very  much  the  public  estimatio'^of 
their  value.  When  the  Alabama  lands  were  first 
offered  for  sale  there  was  a  general  rage  for  river 
lands,  so  much  so  that  purchasers  seemed  to  lose 
sigiit  of  everything  in  the  great  fertility  of  tlie 
soil,  and  if  they  could  raise  but  one-fourth  of  the 
purchase  money  they  Were  satisfied.  Things  are 
very  different  generally  now.  Lands  in  the  Big 
Bend,  immediately  opposite  this  place,  wJiich 
which  were  sold  at  upward  of  seventy-two  dollars 
an  acre,  if  now  offered  for  cash  wonhl  not  bring 
five  dollars  an  acre. 

May    1(1,    1822.— Arrived    on    the    2^11    ult., 


582 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


a  flat  bottomed  boat  witli  flonr.  The  wheat 
of  wliicli  this  flour  is  made  was  raiseil  in 
Washington  County,  in  the  State  of  Virginia. 
Tiie  mill  wliicli  manufactuieil  the  flour  is  on  the 
liolston  River,  in  the  State  of  Tennessee,  within 
two  miles  of  tlie  Virginialine.  The  owner  started 
with  ninety  barrels  of  flour,  and  descended  the 
Holston  300  miles,  then,  entering  the  Tennessee, 
descended  that  river  about  150  miles:  then,  arriv- 
ing at  the  Hiwasste,  he  ascended  that  river  forty 
miles,  until  he  reached  the  entrance  of  the  Okoa, 
then  ascended  that  river  10  miles  to  Hiltebrand's 
landing,  whci-e  the  flour  was  landed  and  carried 
by  land  twelve  miles  to  O'Dear's  landing,  on  the 
Connusawga,  where  this  flat  was  built  and 
freighted  with  the  flour  to  this  place.  The  owner 
left  the  Virginia  line  February  :;JOth,  and  reached 
Montgomery  A})ril  ".JTth. 

June  7,  X^i'l. — The  mercantile  business  done 
here  very  far  e.\'ceeds  that  of  any  town  of  the  same 
magnitude  we  have  ever  known.  The  amount  of 
goods  landed  and  sold  is  almost  incredible,  and  it 
is  with  diflficulty  the  merchants,  during  the  whole 
year,  keep  supplies  adequate  to  the  demand. 

July  20,  ltf2"2. — We  are  glad  to  hear  a  nine 
o'clock  bell  rung  for  some  evenings  past.  Mr. 
Bostick,  the  proprietor  of  the  Globe  Tavern,  has, 
we  understand,  kindly  offered  to  continue  to  have 
it  rung  till  a  town  bell  is  provided.  We  doubt 
not  the  same  will  be  done  at  the  hotel  at  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  town. 

August  l'.\,  \^l-l. — There  is  a  loud  and  general 
complaint  of  the  people  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
town  against  the  Town  Council,  that  the  wells  are 
not  put  in  order.  The  putnp  in  the  upper  one  is 
useless  and  should  be  taken  out.  A  common  curb 
and  windlass,  with  buckets,  would  answer  in  place 
of  a  pump,  and  greatly  accommodate  the  inhabi- 
itants.  K(pial  justice  —  in  some  parts  of  the 
streets  there  are  good  wells. 

The  other  night  a  wagoner  plunged  his  horses 
aiul  himself  into  one  of  our  gutters:  and  a  fellow 
returning  late  from  a  three  days'  meeting  came 
near  breaking  his  neck.  One  of  our  Market 
street  loungers  lately  met  a  hair-breadth  escape  in 
the  eminently  deep,  dirty  gutter,  in  gallanting  a 
nymph  home  from  a  jtarty.  There  is  no  telling 
what  accidents  nuiy  happen  in  the  dark,  if  our 
ways  are  not  mended. 

September  20,  1822. — Some  attempts  have  lately 
been  made  to  jjut  this  town  to  rights,  but  things 
were  not  bettered  by  the  nocturnal  labors  of  these 


reformers.  It  requires  no  stretch  of  art  to  put 
rubbish  before  a  shop  door:  to  takedown  a  ginger- 
bread maker's  sign:  to  take  the  wheels  from  a 
lady's  carriage  and  put  them  on  a  silver-smith's 
shop,  and  make  noise  enough  to  disturb  the  slum- 
bers of  the  sick  by  beating  stirrups  for  triangles 
and  blowing  conch  shells  for  French  horns. 

October  18,  1822. — Divine  service  will  be  per- 
formed at  the  court-house  in  this  place  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Graves,  on  Sunday  ne.xt,  between  the 
hours  of  three  and  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

We  are  pleased  to  hear  that  there  will  be  a  pub- 
lic ball  in  this  town  on  Wednesday,  the  ;50th  inst. 
The  managers  are  Mr.  F.  Brown,  Doctor  Hoxey 
and  n.  Goldthwaite,  Esq.  This  elegant  amuse- 
ment, which  tends  so  much  to  refine  and  to  polish 
the  manners  and  to  soften  the  asperities  of  life, 
we  hope  will  not  be  discontinued  during  the 
winter. 

October  25,  1822. — On  Tuesday  evening  last, 
while  passing  from  the  printing  office  to  his  dwell- 
ing (the  night  being  unusually  dark)  the  editor  of 
this  paper  fell  over  some  logs  which  were  thrown 
into  one  of  the  gullies  to  prevent  the  earth  from 
washing  away,  and  fractured  his  arm.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  this  will  be  deemed  a  sufticient  apology 
for  the  dearth  of  original  matter  in  this  week's 
paper.  We  sincerely  trust  that  the  Town  Council 
will  use  every  e.xertion  to  make  their  "crooked 
paths  straight." 

Novembers,  1822. — The  recent  transactions  in 
this  village  are  such  as  would  disgrace  even 
Algerines.  We  allude  more  particularly  to  the 
shameful  and  barbarous  deeds  committed  on  the 
nights  of  the  :5otli  of  October  and  the  (1th  of  No- 
vember. This  is  is  the  third,  if  not  the  fourth, 
attempt  at  homicide  in  this  place  within  a  few 
months.  We  have  too  many  among  us  who  have 
left  the  older  and  better  regulated  States  to  escape 
the  penitentiary  and  the  gallows. 

December  20,  1822. — 'J'he  Tragedy  of  Julius 
C'fBsar  was  brought  forward  on  Tuesday  evening 
last,  in  a  style  which  did  great  credit  to  the  Thes- 
pian Society  of  this  town.  3Ir.  Benjamin  Fitz- 
)>atrick  appeared  as  Jnlius  Cavar,  Mr.  G.  W.  B. 
Towns  as  Octavius  and  Sir.  Henry  (ioldthwaite 
as  .Mark  .\nthony. 

January  2o,  1823. — Notice  is  herehy  given  that 
all  jiersons,  who  shall  hereafter  cut  down  trees  for 
firewood  or  rails,  on  town  lots  belonging  to  the 
subscriber  [.\.  Dexter]  will  be  prosecuted.  The 
public  is  welcome  to  all  wood  lying  on  the  ground 


NORTH EKN  ALABAMA. 


583 


liiililo  to  decay,  provided  the  same  shall  be 
removed  within  three  months.  About  eight  acres 
of  land  in  and  H(ljoinin<j  what  was  formerly  a 
pond,  may  be  tended  by  any  person,  free  from 
rent,  he  clearing  np  the  same  and  fencing  it  with 
rails  previously  furnished  )iim. 

February  1'),  lSx'3. — It  is  pleasing  to  our  citi- 
zens to  see  that  the  new  board  have  commenced 
their  labors  by  preparing  the  streets.  Not  less 
than  twenty  planks  have  been  sawed  in  the  last 
fortnight.  Query:  If  forty  be  sawed  in  one  month, 
how  many  months  will  be  necessary  to  furnish  a 
sufficient  quantity  to  form  a  sewer  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  in  length? 

February  21,  18"-i:i. — The  gicat  natal  day  of  the 
Father  of  our  Country  was  ushered  in  by  the  dis- 
charge of  cannon  and  acclamations  of  joy.  As 
the  weather  is  tine  a  numerous  assembly  of 
fashion  and  beauty  is  expected  at  the  ball  this 
evening  to  finish  the  gladsome  festival. 

April  21,  1823. — The  Circuit  C'ourt  for  this 
county  closed  on  Friday  night,  after  a  tedious  and 
laborious  session  of  nearly  two  weeks.  About  250 
cases  were  tried,  or  otherwise  disposed  of.  There 
was  but  one  trial  that  excited  general  interest, 
which  was  that  of  Harvey  for  slave  stealing.  This, 
by  the  law  of  our  State,  is  a  capital  offense. 
Harvey  was  acquitted.  Wilson  and  Lane,  who 
were  confined  in  Gaol  on  a  charge  of  passing 
counterfeit  money  (a  capital  offense  also),  broke 
prison  before  the  sitting  of  the  C'ourt. 

July  7,  1823. — We  are  recpiested  to  inform  our 
readers  that  there  will  be  an  Indian  ball  play  at 
sub-agency  (Captain  Walker's  stand)  on  the  IGth 
inst.,  to  commence  at  10  o'clock  of  that  day. 
There  will  be  a  large  collection  of  the  red  brethren 
from  ten  or  twelve  towns. 

December  (I,  1823. — The  Montgomery  races  will 
commence  on  Thursday  next,  and  continue  three 
days.  A  new  race-course  is  preparing  near  the 
village.  The  gentlemen  of  the  turf  meet  at  the 
court-house  this  day  to  form  a  jockey  club.  It  is 
piobable  that  a  jockey  club  ball  will  be  given 
(luring  next  year's  race  for  the  gratification  of  the 
ladies. 

February  21,  1K24. — At  a  certain  phicc  in  Ala- 
bama the  Fourth  of  July  last  was  advertised  to 
be  celebrated.  Each  man  to  come  with  his  part- 
ner; the  ladies  that  wore  stockings  were  to  dance 
Congoes,  those  tlmit  wore  shoes  only  were  to  dance 
reels,  and  those  that  came  barefooted  were  to 
dance  jigs. 


April  3,  1834. — Montgomery's  growth  is  sure, 
whether  the  Tennessee  and  the  Coosa  are  ever 
united  by  a  canal  or  not.  It  already  engrosses  the 
commerce  of  the  greater  part  of  the  large  and  fer- 
tile county  of  the  same  name,  as  well  as  that  of  a 
])art  of  Pike  on  the  one  side,  and  Autauga  on  the 
other,  and  is  at  present  one  of  the  most  flourishing 
towns  in  the  State.  When  the  Indian  title  to  the 
fine  lands  lying  between  the  Coosa  and  Chatta- 
hoochee siuill  have  been  extinguished,  an  event  as 
certain  as  that  the  tide  of  population,  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  of  empire  is  rolling  westward,  Jlont- 
goniery  will  Itecome  the  centre  of  trade  for  an  ex- 
tensive, prolific  and  healthy  country,  abounding 
in  every  variety  of  produce  that  can  be  raised  in 
any  part  of  the  Union.  We  would  observe,  too, 
that  Montgomery  is  situated  within  ten  miles  of 
tlie  centre  of  our  State,  if  regard  be  had  to  its  ulti- 
mate limits,  and  that  it  is  without  dispute  by  far 
the  most  eligible  place  for  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment. 

April  17,  1824. — llesolccd,  htj  thv  Inlendant  and 
Council  of  the  Town  of  Moninomery,  That  a  com- 
mittee of  three  persons  be  appointed  by  the  In- 
tendant,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  contract  with 
some  person  or  persons  to  dig  a  ditch  or  drain  for 
the  purpose  of  draining  the  water  from  the  pond 
near  the  center  of  the  town,  on  the  north  side  of 
JIarketand  east  side  of  Court  street,  in' a  northerly 
direction,  and  also  to  remove  and  destroy  all  the 
perishing  trees,  timber  and  wood  in  said  pond  and 
within  fifty  yards  of  the  edge  of  it. 

The  file  of  the  Republican  fails  us  with  the 
completion  of  the  third  volume,  on  May  8,  1824. 
The  first  number  of  the  next  volume  preserved 
bears  date  October  7,  1825.  and  the  name  had 
then  been  changed  to  the  Alabama  Journal,  the 
term  Repuhliran  having  lost  its  Democratic  sig- 
nificance. 

LAFAYETTE'S    VISIT. 

In  the  meantime,  Montgomery  had  enjoyed 
the  memorable  pleasure  of  a  visit  from  LaFay- 
ette,  who  was  making  a  triumphant  tour  of  the 
Union,  the  guest  at  various  times  of  every  one  of 
the  States.  Great  preparations  were  made  to 
give  ''the  American's  friend"  arecejition  befitting 
his  rank  and  fame.  An  escort  of  three  hundred 
men  proceeded  from  Montgomery,  as  a  central 
point,  to  the  banks  of  the  Chattahoocliee,  in  Rus- 
sell County.  They  were  accompanied  by  large 
numbers  of  Indians,  who  were  as  curious  as  the 


584 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


whites  to  see  LaFayette,  and  as  anxious  to  do 
liiin  honor.  LaFayette  arrived  at  the  river  on 
the  morning  of  the  ;{lst  of  March,  and  the  Geor- 
<rians  who  accomjianied  him  here,  relinquished 
tiieir  charge  to  fifty  stalwart  Indians,  naked  and 
wearing  their  war  paint.  Arrived  on  the  Ala- 
bama bank  of  the  river.  I.aFnyette  was  welcomed 
by  the  Alabama  escort  as  the  guest  of  their  State. 
After  witnessing  an  Indian  game  of  ball  play,  the 
jtrocession  started  on  the  route  to  Montgomery, 
reaching  their  destination  on  the  morning  of 
April   ;5. 

Oil  Capitol  Hill,  or  (ioat  Hill,  as  it  was  then 
called,  was  assembled  the  largest  crowd  that  had 
ever  been  seen  in  Montgomery.  Governor  Pickens 
and  all  the  dignitaries  of  the  State  were  there  to 
honor  the  illustrious  visitor.  Some  hundred  yards 
east  of  the  hill  there  was  a  heavy  sand  flat,  and  in 
this  flat  LaFayette  with  his  attendants  left  their 
carriages,  formed  in  a  line,  and  marched  up  the 
hill  to  the  air  "  Ilail  to  the  Chief."  The  Gover- 
nor greeted  tlie  visitor  imi)ressively,  if  quietly. 
He  was  so  overcome  with  his  emotions,  that  he 
was  scarcely  able  to  utter  a  word.  Col.  Artliur 
Hayne  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Governor,  and  be- 
haved with  such  knightly  grace  and  courtesy,  that 
Gen.  Thos.  Woodward,  wlio  was  an  eye-witness, 
gives  it  as  his  opiuioii,  that  if  the  Earl  of  Chester- 
field hai)pened  there  in  that  couii)any,  he  would 
have  felt  as  1  did  the  first  time  I  saw  a  fine  carpet 
on  the  floor,  and  was  asked  to  walk  in:  I  declined, 
saying,  "I  reckon  I  have  got  in  the  wrong  place." 
The  home  of  .John  Edmondson,  on  Commerce 
street,  a  few  doors  below  where  the  First  National 
IJank  building  now  stands,  had  been  engaged  and 
fitted  up  e6j)ecially  for  LaFayette's  use,  and  he 
was  conducted  there  after  the  reception  on  the 
hill.  During  his  stay  the  citizens  largely  gave 
over  business,  and  devoted  themselves  to  showing 
in  every  possible  way  their  reverence  and  affection 
for  the  llevolutionary  hero.  Several  survivors  of  tlie 
Revolutionary  ^\'ar  were  present,  and  together 
with  LaFayette  they  recounted  their  experiences 
in  that  historic  struggle.  On  the  night  of  April 
4th,  the  citizens  gave  a  grand  ball  to  further  honor 
their  visitor.  The  ball,  which  was  one  of  unpar- 
alleled brilliancy  in  the  village,  came  off  in  the 
second  story  of  the  brick  building  now  standing 
on  the  southwest  corner  of  Commerce  and  Talla- 
poosa streets.  At  twelve  o'clock,  LaFayette  bade 
the  citizens  farewell,  and  left  by  way  of  the  river 
for  Cahaba.  at  that  time  the  capital  of  the  State. 


In  his  annual  message  to  the  Legislature,  Gov- 
ernor Pickens  commended  the  generosity  and 
public  sj)irit  of  the  gentlemen  who  went  to  meet 
LaFayette  at  the  Georgia  line  and  escort  him  to 
Montgomery.  These  gentlemen  had  done  this 
service  for  the  sake  of  the  courtesy  in  it,  but  this 
was  not  always  the  case  during  the  visit.  The 
total  cost  to  the  State,  as  shown  by  the  treasurer's 
report,  was  *1."),715.18.  In  the  account,  John 
Barleycorn  was  conspicuous  enough  to  scandalize 
the  present  generation. 

THE  SE.A.T  OF  GOVEKNMKNT. 

LaF'ayette  was  hardly  well  out  of  the  country 
before  the  young  towns  in  Alabama  were  called 
on  to  determine  a  matter  of  deep  concern  to  sev- 
eral of  them — namely,  where  should  tlie  seat  of 
government  be  located?  Cahaba  had  proved  a 
failure.  The  freshets  of  lS"iO  and  \'t>'l\  had  over- 
spread a  great  part  of  the  place,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1822  nearly  the  whole  town  was  under  the 
water.  The  State  House  itself  was  threatened. 
The  population  which,  in  1821,  was  one  thousand, 
had  dwindled  down  to  less  than  two  hundred. 
Public  sentiment  demanded  that  a  change  should 
be  made.  It  was  said  by  a  wag  of  the  time 
tiiat  if  the  pale  ghosts  of  the  Yankees  and  Ten- 
nesseeans,  whose  bones  were  then  niolderingin  the 
mud  of  Cahaba.  could  appear  in  the  State  House 
at  the  opening  of  the  session,  the  destiny  of  the 
place  would  be  decided  without  debate.  Selma, 
(Jreensboro,  Montevallo,  Wilson's  Hill,  Tuscaloosa 
and  Montgomery  were  the  places  prominently 
mentioned,  but  the  contest  at  once  narrowed 
down  to  a  struggle  between  Tuscaloosa,  favored  by 
North  Alabama,  and  Montgomery,  backed  by  the 
southern  sections  of  the  State.  The  papers  were 
full  of  .-irgument  and  debate,  and  the  editor  of  the 
Jlontgoniery  jiaper  in  particular  was  earnest  in 
making  adisjilay  of  the  resources  and  advantages 
of  his  own  town  and  enforcing  the  wisdom  of  locat- 
ing the  capital  here.  It  was  the  geographical 
centre,  it  was  on  the  great  stage  line  from  the 
North  to  New  Orleans,  it  was  healthy,  it  was 
prosperous.  As  for  Tuscaloo.sa  he  was  saved 
much  trouble.  If  she  had  any  claims  they  existed 
in  some  sonnet  and  in  sonnets  only. 

Tuscaloosa  captured  the  prize  by  a  vote  of  '.V^ 
to  21!.  Dexter's  dream  of  having  the  capitol  at 
Montgomery  was  not  yet  to  be  realized.  The  dis- 
appointment of  the  citizens  in  not  securing  the 
location  of  the  State  capital  here  was  not  the  most 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA, 


585 


serious  trial  of  the  year  1825.  The  suninier  sea- 
son of  that  year  had  been  the  most  unhealthy  of 
the  town's  history,  anil  this  fact  doubtless  had 
something  to  do  with  the  good  fortune  of  Tus''a- 
loosa.  The  summers  of  1825  and  lS2ii  were  re- 
nienil)cred  as  periods  of  horror  in  the  life  of  Mont- 
gomery. A  fever,  the  origin  of  which  was  un- 
known, raged  with  great  violence,  more  tliaii 
decimating  the  population  of  the  place.  Immi- 
gration ceased  altogether,  and  the  outlook  was 
gloomy  enough.  The  year  1827  went  by,  however, 
without  a  recurrence  of  the  epidemic,  and  the 
Jdiirnnl  of  December  7th  was  able  to  say  that 
'■  during  the  last  season  our  town  has  been  re- 
markably healthy,  scarcely  a  case  of  fever  during 
the  wliole  summer.  The  county,  generally  here- 
tofore so  sickly,  has  this  year  presented  a  healthy, 
industrious  and  vigorous  population.  The  de- 
stroying angel  appears  to  have  dcjiarted,  and  the 
returning  of  our  visiting  brethren,  the  daily  com- 
ing in  of  cotton,  the  rolling  of  wagons  under  their 
heavy  weights,  give  Montgomery  an  air  of  busy 
importance  and  indicate  its  future  greatness." 

During  the  ue.xt  decade  or  until  the  year  1837, 
nothing  happened  to  retard  the  steady  growth  of 
Jlontgomery.  In  February,  183(!,  the  ground  was 
broken  for  a  railroad  from  Montgomery  to  the 
Chattahoochee,  and  in  the  next  year,  December 
23,  1837,  a  charter  was  granted  to  the  place  as 
a  city,  and  in  January,  1838,  the  first  election  oc- 
curred under  the  charter. 

WHAT  MANNKR  OF  PEOPLE  TIIEV  WERE. 

There  is  a  wide  contrast  between  the  ilontgom- 
ery  of  those  early  years  and  the  Montgomery  of 
to-day. 

Undoubtedly  Jlontgomery  at  this  time  was  a 
rough  town.  In  this  it  Avas  like  scores  of  other 
frontier  settlements  in  tlie  Southwest.  The  place 
had  been  peojiled  in  the  first  instance,  it  is  true, 
by  an  unusually  good  class  of  settlers.  The  ex- 
travagant expectations  excited  by  fanciful  accounts 
of  the  productiveness  of  Alabama  lands  had  in- 
duced many  people  to  hazard  their  fortunes  in  the 
Territory  who  would  otherwise  have  remained  at 
home.  Montgomery  was  settled,  too,  when  the 
country  was  passing  through  one  of  its  periodical 
paper-money  crazes,  when  values  were  greatly  in- 
flated and  speculation  was  rife.  This  craze  had 
spent  itself  when  New  Philadelphia  and  Kast  Ala- 
bama were  consolidated.  Tiie  dreams  of  wealth 
suddenly  to  be  acquired  were  then  dispelled,  and 


Montgomery  and  its  destiny  were  committed  to 
that  mixed  class,  half  working,  half  idling,  half 
good,  half  virions,  that  from  the  first  have  made 
homes  of  new  towns  in  America.  p]ven  so  late 
as  September,  1828;  the  New  York  Christian  Ad- 
vocate, in  setting  out  the  facts  that  proved  the 
need  of  missionary  work  in  certain  (piarters  in 
the  South,  stated  among  others  that  a  half-built 
church  had  stood  for  years  in  Montgomery,  and 
concluded  its  indictment  thus:  '"  Why  a  place 
containing  1,2(KI  inhabitants  should  be  left  so 
destitute  is  a  question  which  presents  itself  with 
awful  force  to  the  Christian  community.  Five  or 
six  only  are  professors  of  religion.  We  are  not 
certain,  therefore,  that  there  is  even  one  real 
Christian  in  tlie  whole  town.  As  to  the  Bible, 
it  is  seldom  seen  except  in  courts  of  justice,  and 
even  then  it  seems  it  is  used  with  the  same  spirit 
as  the  ancient  sorcerers  used  their  philters  when 
they  wished  to  charm  the  object  of  their  attention, 
for  its  truths  and  sanctions  are  unknown  and  un- 
heeded." 

A  reply  was  made  to  this  in  the  Jnurtud.  The 
population,  the  Journal  .said,  was  probably  not  so 
great  as  stated,  and  it  consisted  mainly  of  a  peo- 
ple from  the  North,  whose  residence  hitherto  had 
not  been  of  a  permanent  character.  It  was  ac- 
knowledged with  regret  that  the  statement  with 
regard  to  the  Church  and  the  number  of  profess- 
ing Christians  was  but  little  short  of  the  truth. 
It  was  difficult,  however,  tlie  reply  ran,  to  find  an 
apology  for  the  rest  of  the  communication,  for  it 
was  not  only  untrue  in  relation  to  Montgomery, 
but  a  libel  on  the  character  of  the  people  of  the 
South  and  West.  In  the  next  succeeding  issue 
a  correspondent  was  at  some  pains  to  disprove  the 
charge  that  the  Bible  was  used  to  conjure  with  in 
Courts  of  Law,  but  has  nothing  to  urge  against 
the  truth  of  the  other  charges. 

The  town  needed  some  missionary  work  certainly, 
as  what  town  does  not,  and  it  must  not  be  inferred 
because  the  citizens  had  built  a  court-house  and  a 
jail  ten  years  since,  and  had  not  yet  built  a  church, 
that  they  were  entirely  given  over  to  iniquity.  If  this 
population  had  its  defects  it  had  good  qualities  also. 
There  were  many  horse-racing,  cock-fighting  and 
whisky-drinking  people  here  and  the  bowie-knife 
gleamed  more  frequently  and  the  pistol-shot  rang 
out  more  often  than  was  comfortable  for  the  citi- 
zens who  loved  law  and  order.  At  the  same  time 
there  was  a  marked  hospitality  of  sjurit,  much 
real  and  formal  courtesy  and  a  devotion  to   public 


586 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


aflfairs.  Every  new  community  calls?  the  hospitable 
spirit  into  play.  All  the  members  of  such  a  com- 
munity are  early  brought  to  feel  a  dependence. 
The  neighbor  must  be  asked  for  some  assistance  or 
the  neighbor  himself,  it  may  be,  needs  heli>  of 
some  kind.  Then,  too,  the  stranger  is  making 
constant  demands  upon  the  kindness  of  the  settlers, 
and  in  caring  for  him,  they  are  imbuing  themselves 
still  more  deeply  with  the  temper  that  regards 
others. 

On  the  side  of  their  public  interests,  the  citi- 
zens of  the  ilontgomery  of  this  early  time  are  not 
less  interesting.  The  town  was  granted  its  char- 
ter, and  Alabama  was  admitted  into  the  Union, 
in  the  year  that  the  slave  question  and  its  related 
issues  came  prominently  to  the  front  in  politics. 
In  1819  Missouri  applied  for  admission  as  a  State, 
and  the  '•  misery  question,"  as  it  was  called  by 
some,  was  debated  with  a  clamor  everywhere  in 
the  Union.  That  the  citizens  of  Montgomery 
profited  so  well  by  the  opportunity  for  discussion, 
is  the  grief  of  the  chronicler  of  to-day.  When  he 
looks  at  old  newspapers  for  material  to  be  used  in 
depicting  the  daily  life  of  these  people,  he  finds 
lonf',  tedious  and  angry  discussions  upon  the 
power  of  Congress  to  exclude  slavery  from  the 
Territories,  or  to  make  tlie  abolition  of  slavery  in 
a  Territory  a  condition  precedent  to  admission 
into  the  Union,  Public  opinion  was  already 
gathering  itself  into  the  two  great  opposing 
volumes  that  were  to  meet  finally  in  the  horror  of 
civil  war.  The  history  of  Montgomery,  to  be 
complete,  would  have  to  include  in  its  narrative 
the  animated  political  contests  that  are 
here  only  hinted  at.  It  would  show  how 
the  larger  issues  of  the  National  cam- 
paigns controlled  the  narrower  issues  in  the 
State  elections,  and  how  again  both  of  these  gave 
shape  to  municipal  contests.  In  such  a  history 
we  should  be  able  to  discover  the  gradual  growth 
and  expansion  of  the  splendid  civic  spirit  that 
prompted  the  people  of  Montgomery  to  illustrate, 
with  the  full  measure  of  their  devotion,  the  cause 
tliev  had  so  often  contended  for.  in  the  arena  of 
public  discussion. 

The  mind,  quickened  into  activity  by  debates 
on  atlairs,  found  its  interests  extended  and  ex- 
tending into  other  fields.  We  have  .seen  how  the 
various  anniversaries  were  celebrated — the  aTini- 
versary  of  .Jackson's  victory  at  New  Orleans,  Wash- 
ington's birthday  and  the  Fourth  of  July.  Tlic 
court-house  in  those  days  stood  where  the  present 


city  fountain  is.  Here  the  inhabitants  assembled 
for  celebrations  of  every  kind,  and  also  to  delib- 
erate ujjon  the  conduct  of  local  atTairs.  In  1821, 
the  Franklin  Literary  Society  was  organized.  On 
July  10,  18:i3,  a  meeting  was  called  to  discuss  the 
ways  and  means  of  building  a  church.  On  May 
•23,  182!),  a  like  meeting  debated  the  building  of  a 
theatre,  and  in  July  of  this  year  another  meeting 
was  called  to  establish  a  bank.  In  September, 
1828,  a  public  demonstration  w.is  made,  and  the 
National  Government  was  denounced  for  inter- 
ference in  Creek  affairs.  On  the  20th  of  October, 
in  the  same  v'ear,  a  banquet  was  tendered  by  the 
citizens  to  Colonel  Brearly  for  his  services  in  re- 
moving the  Indians  from  the  State. 

This  ability  to  combine,  and  the  spirit  that 
prompted  combinations,  extended  to  matters  of 
quite  other  sorts  than  such  as  have  been  men- 
tioned. When  the  first  steamboat,  the  Harriet, 
arrived,  in  October,  1821,  an  agitation  was 
promptly  begun  for  the  formation  of  a  company, 
whose  object  should  be  the  establishment  of  a  line 
of  steamboats  to  ply  between  Montgomery  and 
Blakely.  So,  also,  when  the  streets  reached  that 
state  of  bad  repair,  where  the  resources  of  the  infant 
municipality  were  unequal  to  their  proper  care, 
some  public-spirited  citizens  contributed  money 
and  labor,  for  use  in  filling  the  gullies  in  the  streets 
and  the  sinks  in  the  sidewalks. 

This  watchful  guard  upon  the  welfare  of  the 
place,  ran  into  an  excess  now  and  then,  and  an 
occasional  offender  against  the  prevailing  standard 
of  decorum  in  S])eech  or  conduct,  paid  the  i>cn- 
alty,  and  that  was,  to  be  soused  in  some  one  of  the 
three  or  four  ponds  in  the  village,  and  afterward 
to  be  ridden  on  a  rail.  On  one  occasion,  a 
stranger,  suspected  of  passing  counterfeit  money, 
was  publicly  whipped  with  a  lash,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  a  committee  of  citizens,  and  ordered  to 
leave  the  countr}'. 

The  curse  of  Montgomery  at  this  time  was 
gambling  and  gamblers.  The  liepvbUcan  is  tilled 
with  comj)laints  against  the  gamblers  and  their 
pernicious  and  destructive  influence  upon  the 
morals  of  the  community.  "  Philanthropos," 
writing  in  the  issue  of  January  20,  1821,  called 
on  the  authorities  to  enforce  the  law  against  those 
men  in  their  midst,  '"a  portion  of  the  dregs  of 
creation  " — men  who  had  fled  the  law  in  other 
States.  Gamblers  have  little  to  do,  however, 
when  they  arc  fleecing  one  another.  On  Decem- 
ber 15,  1821,  the  Governor  approved  a  bill  "au- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


58? 


thorizing  a  lottery  for  the  benefit  of  building  an 
aciulemy  in  the  town  of  Montgomery."  Gambling, 
evidently,  had  a  congenial  soil  in  which  to  grow  and 
nourish.  To  oj)en  a  lottery  was  a  common 
nu'thod.  at  this  time,  to  furtiier  the  construction 
of  a  school-house  or  a  Masonic  lodge. 

When  we  read  the  advertisements  in  the  Ala- 
hamu  .hurnal  Q)i  April,  1831,  a  little  more  than 
ten  years  after  the  first  issue  of  tlie  Repnlilican, 
its  predecessor,  we  begin  to  tread  ground  that  will 
seem  familiar  to  many  of  the  citizens  of  to-day. 
The  number  for  .\j)ril  loth  contains  an  announce- 
ment of  the  t'oosawda  Academy,  with  John  A.  El- 
more as  president  of  the  Board.  T.  B.  Maddox 
&  Co.  offered  drugs;  John  Giiidrat  &  Co.,  dry 
goods;  McGehee&  Gilmer,  groceries;  Pond  &  Con- 
verse, hardware;  William  Sayre,  dry  goods  and 
groceries,  and  Charles  T.  Pollard  representing  the 
Augusta  Insurance  &  Banking  Company  offered 
to  insure  buildings  and  merchandise  against  fire, 
and  to  take  risks  upon  cotton  shipped  to  Mobile. 
These  names  put  us  fairly  in  touch  with  the  Mont- 
gomery of  that  year  (1831)  The  life  of  Mr. 
Charles  T.  Pollard  alone  covered  nearly  the  entire 
period  of  our  local  history,  he  having  lived  here 
for  nearly  sixty  years  of  his  life.  His  energy  gave 
Montgomery  her  first  railroad,  and  with  a  railroad 
she  rapidly  took  the  lead  among  all  the  cities  of 
the  State  except  Mobile. 

A  charter  was  granted  in  .January,  183'^,  to  the 
Montgomery  Ifailroad  Company,  and  a  preliminary 
survey  to  West  Point,  (ia., was  ordered.  The  com- 
pany was  re-organized  January  15,  1834,  and  ob- 
tained a  new  charter  at  that  time.  It  was  not  till 
February,  1830,  that  ground  was  broken.  In  the 
meantime  causes  were  at  work  that  still  further  de- 
layed the  completion  of  this  enterprise.  In  July, 
1832,  a  branch  of  the  State  Bank  of  Alabama  was 
established  in  Montgomery.  The  opening  of  the 
new  bank  was  but  one  feature  of  a  movement  tiien 
spreading  all  over  the  country,  a  movement  des- 
tined to  produce  one  of  the  most  violent  financial 
convulsions  of  our  history.  Money  was  plenty  and 
prices  ruled  high  in  the  cheap  money  of  the  day. 
Town  lots,  farms  and  negroes  brought  uniieard  of 
prices,  and  prices  continued  to  grow  bigger  and  big- 
ger, and  fortunes  grander  and  grander,  until  the 
whirlwind  of  disaster  in  1837  swept  these 
paper-built  castles  out  of  existence.  Tiie  financ- 
ial cra.<h  put  an  end  to  railroad  building,  and 
it  was  June,  1840,  before  any  portion  of  the 
road    at    Montgomery    was    thrown   open    to   the 


public,  and   then   only   twelve   miles  of  it  could 
be  used. 

TIIK  MOONKV  WXM. 

The  speculative  mania  that  preceded  the 
panic  of  1837  gave  an  imjietus  to  gambling, 
and  for  several  years  "  the  gentry  "  had  virtual 
control  of  the  town.  Their  headquarters  were 
at  the  Montgomery  Exchange,  just  south  of 
where  Fleming's  restaurant  is  at  present.  Here 
were  occasionally  enacted  scenes  of  the  wildest 
disorder.  (Jambling  and  drinking  were  varied  by 
loud  quarrels  and  frequent  fights  in  which  pistols 
and  bowie  knives  were  freely  used.  The  heroes 
of  these  brawls  were  finally  put  down,  and  the 
gang  broken  up,  by  Col.  .John  H.  Thorington,  at 
the  head  of  a  volunteer  organization  of  citizens. 
In  183G  a  large  number  of  these  rowdies  drifted 
away  into  Texas  toaid  in  fighting  the  Texas  battle 
for  independence. 

The  vigor  with  which  Colonel  Thorington  sup- 
pressed the  lawless  element  in  the  place  established 
his  reputation  in  the  county,  and,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  he  became  a  target  for  the  abuse 
of  the  worse  classes.  It  was  opposition  to  him,  as 
tradition  has  it,  that  precipitated  the  famous 
"  Mooney  war."  In  August,  1837,  at  the  Mont- 
gomery Ilall,  Kenyon  Mooney  and  his  father  in- 
dulged in  some  free  and  boisterous  criticism  of 
Colonel  Thorington.  This  was  done,  it  was 
thought  by  some,  to  provoke  a  difficulty  with  the 
Bells,  a  family  who  were  friends  and  supjjorters  of 
(Jolonel  Thorington.  The  Mooneys  got  the  diffi- 
culty they  wanted. 

The  result  was  the  elder  Bell  was  mortally 
wounded.  "  Kin  "  Mooney  was  shot  in  the  arm 
and  his  father,  the  elder  Mooney,  was  disembow- 
elled at  one  stroke  with  a  bowie  knife  in  the 
hands  of  Bushrod  Bell,  Jr.  "Kin"  Mooney  was 
captured  and  lo<lged  in  jail.  In  December,  1838, 
the  jail  was  raided  by  his  friends  and  Kin  was  re- 
leased. Repeated  efforts  were  made  to  re-capture 
him  and  without  success.  In  1840,  Deputy 
SheritT  Raiford  proceeded  with  a  posse  to  Carter's 
Hill  and  surrounded  Mooney's  house.  The  occu- 
pants, however,  made  such  a  warlike  demonstra- 
tion that  the  sheriff  prudently  drew  off  his  forces 
and  sent  back  to  town  for  a  cannon  to  be  used  in 
bombarding  the  Mooney  stronghold.  The  party 
that  went  out  with  the  piece  of  artillery  were 
waylaid  by  some  of  Mooney's  friends.  The  outlaws 
routed  the    Sheriff's  posse  and  Mooney  escaped. 


588 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


In  December,  1839,  the  grand  jury  of  the  county 
presented  as  a  grievance  the  fact  that  Mooney  was 
still  allowed  to  go  at  large,  and  they  described  him 
then  as  roaming  the  country,  principally  infesting 
the  neighborhood  of  his  former  residence,  and  in 
company  generally  with  divers  lawless  associates, 
committing  almost  every  species  of  atrocity,  from 
a  si\nple  assault  to  the  most  wanton  and  unpro- 
voked murder.  He  was  never  recaptured  and  he 
finally  left  the  State. 

Montgomery's  charter  as  a  city  was  granted 
in  183T,  and  it  is  significant  of  the  lawless  charac- 
ter of  the  place  at  that  time,  that  this  charter 
contained  a  clause  requiring  the  Mayor  and  Alder- 
man, before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  their 
offices,  in  addition  to  the  oath  prescribed  for  civil 
officers  of  the  State,  to  make  and  subscribe  an 
affidavit,  that  they  would  endeavor  to  prevent  and 
punish  ail  tumultuous  and  riotous  assemblies,  as- 
saults an<l  batteries,  game-keeping,  gaming  houses, 
and  all  other  public  offenses. 

The  year  1840  witnessed  an  attempt  to  remove 
the  court-house.  By  an  Act  approved  Jan.  30, 
1840,  the  sheriff  of  Montgomery  County  was  re- 
quired to  take  the  vote  of  the  people  at  the  next 
August  election  on  the  subject  of  the  removal  of 
the  court-house  to  the  centerof  said  county.  The 
court-house,  under  this  Act,  if  a  removal  was  de- 
cided upon,  was  to  be  located  at  the  center  or 
witiiin  two  miles  of  the  center  of  the  county. 
This  proved  to  be  in  a  swamp,  and  this  fact  prob- 
ably explains  the  small  interest  the  question  of  re- 
moval e.xcited  in  the  city.  In  the  Alabama  Jour- 
nal oi  1840,  I  have  been  unable  to  find  a  single 
reference  to  the  subject,  all  discussion  of  the 
question  having  given  place  to  an  abundance  of 
log-cabin  and  hard  cider  literature.  The  attempt 
to  change  the  county  seat  failed,  and  Montgomery 
pushed  steadily  along  the  road  of  progress  and 
prosperity. 

In  1843  an  agitation  was  begun  for  the  removal 
of  the  capital  from  Tuscaloosa.  Tuscaloosa  had 
never  been  very  popular  as  the  capital,  because  it 
was  too  far  west,  away  from  the  centre  of  jwpula- 
tion,  and  inaccessible  from  any  direction,  except 
over  very  bad  loads.  Wetumpka,  LaFayette, 
Selma,  Monlgomery,  and  a  number  of  other  places, 
were  mentioned  as  proper  places  for  the  location  of 
the  capital  in  the  event  of  removal.  The  people  of 
Wetumj)ka  were  especially  active.  This  place  was 
at  this  time  a  threatening  rival  to  Montgomery. 
It  was  at  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  river,  and 


it  was  doing  a  large  and  growing  trade  with  the  up- 
land country  beyond,  for  a  hundred  miles  or  more. 
The  penitentiary  had  been  established  just  the  year 
before  and  loi-ited  at  Wetumpka.  This  much  ac- 
complished, Wetumpka  was  prepared  to  take  a 
higher  flight,  and  claimed  the  ca|)ital  also.  The 
agitation  proceeded,  gaining  in  volume,  and  on 
January  ■■i4,  1843,  the  Legislature,  under  the  lead 
and  nniinly  under  the  influence  of  the  friends  of 
Wetumpka,  decided  to  submit  the  question  of  re- 
moval to  the  people  of  the  State.  The  t'onstitu- 
tional  amendment,  providing  for  a  change  of  the 
seat  of  government  was  voted  on,  in  August,  1845, 
and  adopted  by  a  majority  of  (j,4^8,  the  vote 
standing  33,71(8  for  removal,  and  27,32(1  against. 
To  incorporate  this  amendment  in  the  Constitu- 
tion it  was  necessary  that  it  be  ratified  by  the 
I^egislature.  Montgomery  had  been  up  and  doing 
to  capture  the  prize  for  herself.  She  sent  a  strong 
delegation  to  Tuscaloosa,  with  Judge  Benajah  S. 
Bibb  at  its  head.  Bowdon,  of  Talladega,  who  had 
been  prominent  throughout  the  agitation  for  re- 
moval, was  there  working  with  might  and  main 
for  Wetumpka. 

The  places  voted  for  were:  Tuscaloosa,  Wetump- 
ka, Mobile,  Montgomery,  Statesville,  Selma,  Mar- 
ion and  Huntsville.  Tuscaloosa  led  in  the  bal- 
loting from  the  first  because  of  the  rivalry  between 
Wetumpka  and  Montgomery.  On  the  first  ballot 
out  of  a  total  of  127,  Tuscaloosa  received  311, 
Wetumpka  28  and  Montgomery  33.  On  the  fifth 
ballot  Tuscaloosa  had  38,  Wetumpka  33,  and  ilont- 
gomery  27.  On  the  tenth  ballot  Tuscaloosa  had  41, 
AVetnmpka  33,  Montgomery  4<!.  Evidently  if  Tus- 
caloosa was  to  be  beaten  the  two  central  towns 
would  have  to  combine  their  strength.  This  was 
done  on  the  sixteenth  ballot,  anil  the  vote  stood: 
Tuscaloosa  39,  Wetumpka  9,  Mobile  3,  Selma  11 
and  Montgomery  08.  Montgomery  had  carried 
off  the  prize.  The  dream  of  Andrew  Dexter  was 
to  be  realized.  Xew  Philadelphia  was  to  be  the 
capital  of  Alabanni,  and  Goat  Hill,  so  long  reserved 
for  that  purpose,  was  to  be  adorned  by  the  capitol. 

The  news  of  the  result  was  received  with  great 
rejoicing  in  Jlontgomcry.  There  was  a  grand 
procession  by  day  and  bonfires  and  other  illumi- 
nations at  night  to  celebrate  the  event. 

The  seat  of  government,  however,  was  to  remain 
at  Tuscaloosa  until  a  State-house,  equal  in  every 
respect  to  the  one  then  occupied,  should  be  erected 
at  Montgomery,  the  land  and  the  building  to  he 
a  present  to  the  State.     The  city  rose  to  the  oc- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


589 


casion.  Work  was  begun  June  0,  184»>,  tlie  corner- 
stone was  laiil  on  July  4th,  of  that  year,  and  in  No- 
vember, 1S4T,  it  was  coni))lete(l,  the  building  itself 
approved  by  the  proper  authorities  and  the  keys 
delivered,  as  ref|i  ircd  by  law,  to  the  Secretary  of 
State. 

The  archives  of  the  Slate,  packed  in  boxes  and 
weighing  ■^0,704  pounds,  were  hauled  from  Tusca- 
loosa to  Montgomery  in  a  train  of  thirteen  wagons. 
The  cost  of  the  removal,  ^1,."J2.">,  was  defrayed  by 
the  Montgomery  Huiiding  Committee,  it  liaviiig 
been  stipulated  that  the  State  should  be  put  to  no 
expense  whatever  by  the  removal. 

The  Legislature  met  in  the  new  Ijuilding  on  the 
<ith  day  of  December,  1847,  "and  the  novelty  of  the 
occasion,"  says  Garrett,  "  together  with  greater  fa- 
cilities for  reaching  the  seat  of  government  brought 
together  an  immense  concourse  of  jieople — more 
visitors  than  I  ever  saw,  before  or  since,  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Legislature.  The  hotels  were  crowded 
to  inconvenience;  private  boarding-houses  were 
increased  in  number  and  thronged,  and  every  ave- 
nue to  the  Capitol,  i)resented,  at  all  hours  of  the 
day,  a  stirring  multitude.  Candidates  for  the  va- 
rious offices  were  as  thick  as  blackbirds  in  a  fresh- 
plowed  field  in  tlie spring."  Tlie  citizens  felt  their 
good  fortune.  Heal  estate  advanced;  new  hotels 
were  erected  and  additional  railroads  were  project- 
ed. In  l!S49  the  rising  hopes  of  the  place  were 
overcast  by  an  unxpected  calamity.  The  new  cap- 
itol.  the  pride  and  boast  of  the  citizens  was  laid  in 
ashes  and  the  agitation  for  another  removal  was  at 
once  renewed,  Tuscaloosa,  in  particular,  calling 
loudly  for  a  restoration  to  her  old  place.  The 
better  sense  of  the  j)eople  asserted  itself.  The  mis- 
fortune was  treated  as  a  public  one,  and  an  aj)pro- 
priation  of  *!0(i,00(t  was  made  to  rebuild  the  cajjiiol. 
It  was  rebuilt  on  the  same  spot  and  with  the  same 
dimensions,  except  that  the  walls  were  made  a  few 
feet  higher  than  in  the  burned  structure.  The 
capitol  of  to-ilay  is,  in  design,  substantially  the 
same  building  as  that  erected  in  18.'>(). 

Ill  18.">(>  the  population  of  Montgomery  was 
8.7'^8.  Of  these,  ii,.jll  were  whites  and  •3,v*I7 
negroes;  a  proportion  of  almost  three  whites  to 
one  negro.  What  the  population  was  in  1840,  the 
census  does  not  show,  but  it  does  show  how  many 
negroes  there  were  in  the  place  at  that  time. 
There  were  "2, Kit.  The  increase  in  jiopulation. 
between  184iiand  18."iO.  had  been  of  the  best  kind. 
In  the  next  decade,  that  between  18.i(»  and  iStJO. 
there  was  a  great  change.     In  this  time,  the  Mont- 


gomery and  Wetumpka  plank  road  was  begun 
(1850);  the  Montgomery  &  West  Point  Road  was 
opened  to  West  Point  (1851);  the  Hank  of  Mont- 
gomery was  established  under  the  Fi'ee-banking 
Act  (1852);  the  court-house  was  moved  from  the 
square  and  the  present  handsome  building  erected 
(1852);  the  large  artesian  well  was  bored  (1853); 
$500,000  was  voted  by  the  city  in  aid  of  the  Mont- 
gomery &  Mobile  Railroad  (1853);  the  city  was 
first  lighted  with  gas  (1854);  and  *300,000  was 
voted  in  aid  of  the  South  &  North  Alabama 
Railroad  (18G0).  In  these  years,  however,  Mont- 
gomery was  several  times  visited  by  yellow  fever, 
her  white  population  was  much  reduced,  and  again 
and  again  was  the  cry  raised  to  have  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment changed  once  more,  and  to  a  place  where 
the  lives  of  the  State  officials  and  the  members  of 
the  Legislature  would  not  be  imperiled.  That 
the  fever  ceased  its  ravages  in  the  winter  season 
and  permitted  the  Legislature  to  go  and  come  in 
safety,  was  the  saving  cause  in  the  capital  being 
retained  where  it  was. 

There  was  a  noteworthy  change  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  population  between  1850  and  18G0,  but 
there  was  a  more  potent  cause  than  yellow 
fever  to  produce  the  change.  The  frightful 
scourge  of  slavery,  worse  than  the  dreaded  fever 
in  its  consequences,  was  slowly  sap})ing  the  ener- 
gies of  tlie  South,  and  its  blight  was  plainly  seen 
on  Montgomery.  In  1800  the  population  of  Mont- 
gomery was  only  115  more  than  in  1850,  number- 
ing in  all,  in  1800,  8,843.  Of  these  4,341  were 
whites — a  decrease  in  white  population  of  2,170  in 
the  ten  years;  4,502  were  negroes — an  increase  in 
negro  population  during  the  ten  years  of  2,285. 
The  proportion,  that  in  1&5(I  had  been  three  to 
one  in  favor  of  the  whites,  had  changed  for  the 
worse,  and  there  were  now  101  more  negroes  than 
whites  in  the  place.  Tiiese  figures  tell  their  own 
story.  The  city,  like  the  State,  was  being  Afri- 
canized. Industrial  death  was  creeping  over  the 
place. 

M'hat  was  lacking  to  the  cajiital,  during  these 
years,  in  excitement  of  material  growth  was  sup- 
plied by  the  warmth  of  political  discussion. 

As  the  war  issues  began  to  define  themselves, 
and  the  sections  became  mord  and  more  plainly 
arrayed  against  each  other.  Montgomery  became 
the  theatre  of  many  bitter  contests  between  the 
Whigs  and  the  Democrats.  The  Whigs  were  bat- 
tling for  life,  and  their  opponents  were  sustained 
by  the  tide  of  passionate  anger  and  apprehension. 


590 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


aroused  by  the  growing  ascendency  of  Republican- 
ism at  the  North.  There  could  be  but  one  result 
to  the  local  conflicts  at  the  South.  In  .Montgom- 
ery, the  Whigs,  under  the  leadership  first  of  Hil- 
liard,  then  of  Watts  and  Judge,  struggled  on,  but 
all  in  vain.  Ililliard,  who  was  a  partisan  with 
one  hand  only — the  hand  that  received — scented 
danger,  and  made  terms  with  the  Democrats  at 
his  earliest  convenience,  leaving  the  contest  to  be 
carried  on  by  others. 

The  greatest  debates  Montgomery  has  ever  lis- 
tened to  were  heard  in  those  days.  Estelle  Hall 
was  commonly  the  scene  of  these  oratorical  en- 
counters. Here  it  was  tliat  Yancey  gave  final 
shape  to  the  style  and  the  logic  that  was  later  to 
carry  him  to  the  forefront  among  those  who  ex- 
pounded and  defended  the  cause  of  "Southern 
Rights  "  before  the  civilized  world.  Here  it  was 
that  he  forged  the  bolt  with  which,  in  18G0,  he 
shattered  the  Charleston  Convention,  and  so  in- 
directly precipitated  the  Civil  War. 

The  war  came  on,  and  Montgomery,  like  the 
South  generally,  made  ready  for  it  with  some  of 
that  gayety  of  spirit  that  marked  the  famous  mil- 
itary parade  of  1870. 

To  adequately  treat  "  Montgomery  in  the  War" 
would  require  a  separate  sketch.  Such  a  sketch 
should  include  an  account  of  the  assembling  here 
of  the  Provisional  Congress  and  the  establishment 
of  the  Provisional  (Jovcrnment.  It  should  picture 
all  the  incidents  of  life  in  a  small  capital,  where 
the  streets  were  crowded  with  citizens  and 
strangers,  all  alike  aglow  with  the  ardor  of  im- 
minent conflict  in  arms.  It  should  show  how 
speculation  and  conjecture  passed  into  certainty, 
when  out  of  the  Winter  building  on  Court  Square 
flashed  Secretary  Walker's  order  to  Heauregard  at 
Charleston  to  fire  on  Fort  Sumter.  Then  would 
be  heard  the  tramp  of  the  volunteers,  as  they 
mustered  here,  now  as  infantry,  now  as  cavalry, 
and  now  as  artillerymen  hurrying  to  the  scene  of 
war.  Some  of  these  will  defend  the  coast,  others 
will  join  the  army  of  the  Tennessee,  and  yet  others 
will  face  and  beat  back  the  enemy  from  the  soil 
of  Virginia.  Then  follows  the  period  of  suspense 
when  the  citizens  begun  to  awake  to  the  grave 
character  of  the  contest  before  them,  that,  in 
fact,  they  were  engaged  in  a  desperate  and  bloody 
war;  a  period  of  varying  hopes  and  fears  of 
alternating  joy  and  dismay  as  the  news  came  from 
the  front,  bringing  the  intelligence  of  victory  only 
to  be  followed   by  disaster.     Such   a  sketch,  too. 


would  tell  how  the  heroism  of  man  on  the  field 
was  matched  by  the  devotion  of  woman  at  home: 
how  indefatigable  she  was  in  making  clothing  and 
gathering  food  for  the  soldiers'  needs,  liow  ten- 
derly she  waited  upon  and  watched  over  the  sick, 
how  she  bore  up  under  the  sad  stories  told  by  the 
lists  of  killed  and  wounded  in  every  battle,  liow 
patiently  she  wrought  on,  and  how  earnestly  she 
prayed  for  the  success  of  the  Southern  arms. 
Then  it  would  be  told  how,  despite  manly  valor 
and  womanly  devotion,  the  end  came.  The  end 
came  for  Montgomery  three  days  after  the  sur- 
render of  Lee's  army  at  Appomatto.x.  Wilson's 
cavalry  reached  Montgomery  on  the  Vl\.\\  of  April, 
1S()5.  Of  this  period  and  of  the  ten  years  imme- 
diately following  the  close  of  the  hostilities 
there  is  less  need  even  than  in  the  case  of  the  war 
itself  to  atteni))t  detailed  treatment.  The  car- 
petbagger is  a  picturescpie  figure — birds  of  prey 
usually  are — but  anydiscussion  of  himand  his  rule 
at  the  South,  might,  j)erhaps.  lead  the  most  judi- 
cious into  a  betrayal  of  too  strong  a  bias  for 
decency  and  law  and  order. 

In  spite  of  misgovernment  and  the  uncertainty 
and  unrest  incident  to  the  violent  changes 
wrought  by  the  war,  Montgomery  had  not  only 
held  her  own,  but  was  steadily  increasing  in 
wealth  and  population.  In  1870  the  population 
numbered  1(1,588,  showing  a  much  larger  increase 
for  the  decade  than  was  shown  for  the  period  be- 
tween 18.50  and  1860.  A  sounder  industrial  con- 
dition was  already  at  work,  with  a  myriad  of  in- 
fluences, to  build  up  and  restore  the  waste  places 
of  the  South. 

From  1870  to  1880  the  town  made  even  more 
rapid  progress  in  every  direction.  The  city  gov- 
ernment was  during  the  greater  part  of  this  time 
wisely  and  economically  administered,  the  schools 
were  well  patronized,  much  building,  both  of 
store  houses  and  dwellings,  was  accomplished,  and 
the  commerce  of  the  place  was  largelv  added  to. 
In  1880  the  population  had  mounted  to  1G,713, 
showing  an  increase  of  over  O.OdU  since  1870.  The 
same  rate  of  increase,  57  per  cent.,  would  make 
-  the  population  in  1890,  26,383,  and  it  is  probable 
'  that,  owing  to  the  large  additions  to  the  population 
by  immigration,  this  estimate  will  be  under,  rather 
than  over,  the  figures  of  the  ne.xt  census. 

This  sketch  may  be  concluded  i)roperly  with  a 
statement  of  the  present  condition,  and  the  out- 
look   for  the  immediate    future  of  Montgomery, 
■   but  it  will  not    be    amiss    to  collect  here,  first. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


591 


some  facts  in  tlie  history  of  the  place  that  the 
course  of  tlie  narrative  up  to  this  point  has  made 
it  seem  proper  to  ignore. 

(•lU'KfllES. 

We  have  seen  the  (lilliciilty  tliis  young  com- 
munity had  in  its  early  years  in  adopting  any 
religious  observances,  and  the  long  time  that 
elapsed  before  a  church  was  built.  Religious  ser- 
vices were  held  generally  in  the  court-house,  and 
sometimes  in  private  houses.  The  movements, 
began  in  1S"2.'>,  terminated  in  18"2.")  in  the  erection 
of  a  small  church  to  be  used  by  all  the  denomina- 
tions represented  in  the  place  at  that  time.  It 
was  so  used  until  lS3'i,  when  it  was  relinquished 
to  the  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
This  church  ha<l  been  organized  September  15, 
18"2ft.  A  new  building  was  dedicated  in  183.")  on 
the  same  spot  where  the  tirst  church  stood,  and 
where  the  present  edifice  was  erected.  This  last  was 
dedicated  by  Bishop  George  F.  Pierce  on  Jlarch 
3,  18.i().  The  Ilerron  Street  ilethodist  Church  was 
organized  in  18.i!t,  and  their  structure  dedicated 
March  20,  1803. 

The  Baptist  Church  was  organized  November 
29,  1829.  Tliis  first  was  a  feeble  eflfort,  and  the 
Church  was  reorganized  in  1832,  when  a  house 
of  worship  was  erected.  The  present  First  Church 
was  dedicated  in  18.">-1;  the  Adams  Street  Baptist 
Church  in  October,  1804. 

The  Presbyterians  first  organized  as  a  congrega- 
tion in  1824,  and  as  a  church  in  November,  1829. 
The  present  church  edifice  was  dedicated  Febru- 
ary 21,  1847. 

St.  John's  Protestant  Episcopal  (hiinli  was  or- 
ganized January  9,  1834,  and  their  building  was 
dedicated  December  9,  ISS.'i.  The  Church  of  the 
Holy  Comforter,  on  Hoot  street,  was  de<licated  in 
188T. 

The  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  on  the  corner 
of  Bibb  and  Moulton  streets,  was  dedicated  Octo- 
ber 30,  1842.  St.  Peter's  Catholic  Church  was 
founded  April  25,  1834,  and  dedicated  anew  in 
1854.  Kahl  Montgomery  was  founded  June  3, 
1849.  A  Universalist  Church  was  established  in 
June,  1834.  All  the  leading  religious  denomina- 
tions now  worship  in  handsome  structures,  and 
several  of  them  each  have  a  membership  exceeding 
five  hundred  in  number.  From  b(Mng  a  frontier 
village  where  non-observance  of  the  rites  of  religion 
was  a  reproach,  Montgomery  has  grown  to  be,  in 
some  sort,  a  city  of  churches.     It  should  be  added. 


too,  that  the  colored  people  of  the  ilethodist  and 
Baptist  denominations  have  several  handsome 
structures  and  their  organizations  are  in  a  flour- 
ishing condition. 

SCHOOLS  AND  NEWSPAI'KIiS. 

During  the  earlier  years  of  its  history  Mont- 
gomery had  many  noteworthy  p''ivate  schools,  but 
in  common  with  most  other  Southern  cities  waited 
upon  the  extinction  of  slavery  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  free  public  school  system.  This  last, 
founded  in  late  years,  has  beeii.  carried  forward 
under  successive  city  administrations  to  a  high 
degree  of  efticiency.  The  total  expenses  for  the 
year  ending  April  30,  1887,  were  ^22,729.."2.  For 
the  same  year  there  was  a  total  enrollment  of 
teachers,  34;  of  pupils,  1,752;  and  the  average  at- 
tendance was  1,845. 

The  one  crying  need  of  Montgomery's  school 
system  is  a  public  library,  and  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  there  is  another  city  in  the  Union 
of  the  size  and  importance  of  this  without  that 
crowning  ornament  to  its  schools  and  to  the 
municipality  itself. 

It  is  to  the  newspapers  of  a  city,  if  we  are  to 
credit  the  splendid  compliments  so  often  lavished 
upon  the  fourth  estate,  that  we  must  look  for  the 
highest  and  best  manifestations  of  the  life  of  a 
community.  The  columns  of  the  Nejnil/Iicaii  have 
given  us  a  glimpse  of  Montgomery  as  it  was  in  its 
early  years.  In  the  intervening  period  scores  of 
newspapers  have  been  founded,  existed  their  short 
span,  and  died  of  competition  or  neglect. 

The  Platilers'  Gazette  was  the  first  rival  of  the 
Republican.  It  was  founded  in  1828,  and,  under 
its  changed  title  of  Advertiser,  assumed  in  1833, 
it  has  weathered  all  storms,  and  holds  now  a  com- 
manding position  among  the  dailies  of  the  State. 
Tlie  decade  immediately  preceding  the  war  was 
prolific  of  journalistic  ventures.  The  State  Regis- 
ter s-Awf  the  light  in  18.'>0.  the  Times  in  1852,  the 
Mail  in  1854,  the  Messenger  in  1850  (being 
merged,  in  1858,  into  the  Confederation),  and  the 
Daily  Post  in  1860.  Just  prior  to  these,  we  have 
the  Metropolitan,  started  in  1847,  and  the  Atlas 
in  1><49. 

The  editors  of  those  days  rarely  pursued  jour- 
nalism alone  as  a  profession.  They  commonly  joined 
their  newspaper  work  with  the  law  or  the  minis- 
try, or  a  land  agency.  The  press  was  then,  more 
than  it  is  now,  jjerhaps,  the  training  school  of  the 
young   wits  and  young  professional    men    about 


592 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


town.  Tliat  the  careers  of  some  of  tliese  were 
eveiitfully  picturesque,  goes  without  saying. 
Thus  Moseley  Baker,  a  lawyer,  at  one  time  editor 
of  the  Jimrnnl,  became  involved  in  some  question- 
able transaction,  by  which  the  State  Bank  was 
defrauded  of  a  sum  of  money  amounting  to 
many  thousands  of  dollars.  Baker  was  arrested, 
and  thrown  into  prison,  but  succeeded  in  making 
his  escape,  and  went  to  Texas.  In  Texas  he  be- 
came a  distinguished  and  wealthy  lawyer.  lie 
was  prominent  in  the  Texan  War  for  Inde- 
pendence; was  promoted  for  gallantry  at  San 
Jacinto;  became  a  brigadier-general;  and  was  sub- 
sequently elected  to  the  Congress  of  this  new 
empire  in  the  Southwest.  His  life  in  Texas  had 
always  been  invested  with  more  or  less  of  mystery, 
and  this  mystery  was  to  be  dramatically  dispelled. 
He  rose  one  day  in  the  Texan  Congress,  and  told 
the  members  the  story  of  his  shame  in  his  old 
home.  He  had  achieved  his  ambition,  he  said, 
and  was  then  able  and  ready  to  pay  in  full  the 
debt  he  owed  the  State  of  Alabatna.  He  there- 
upon resigned  his  position,  and  put  himself  in 
communication  with  the  authorities  of  the  State 
Bank  at  Tuscaloosa,  offering  to  pay  what  lie  owed, 
with  interest.  Mr.  Joel  White,  now  of  Mont- 
gomery, then  of  Tuscaloosa,  and  a  director  in  tlie 
State  Bank,  i>i-oceeded  to  Houston,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Bank,  and  collected  every  dollar 
of  Baker's  debt,  in  gold. 

The  best  known  editor  in  Montgomery  during 
the  antv-hellum  period  was  jirobalily  Johnson  J. 
Hooper,  of  the  Mail.  Hooper  was  the  author  of 
"Simon  Suggs, "and  the  J/rt/7,  foumled  by  him  in 
18.")4,  was  distinguished  throughout  the  time  ho 
edited  it  by  the  wit  anil  liiinmi-  that  iiiudu  I  he  faiiu' 
of  his  book. 

The  Daihj  Adrer/iser  and  the  Daili/  Dispatch 
(18.S5)  more  than  maintain  at  the  present  time 
the  traditions  of  the  press  of  Montgomery.  Their 
superiority  to  the  best  of  their  predecessors  is  but 
an  index  to  tlie  signal  improvements  in  every  field 
of  journalism  during  the  last  twenty  years.  A 
number  of  excellent  weeklies,  like  the  Ahihaiiia 
Blip/ ix(  iiiid  the  Affririil/Krisf.  still  further  broaden 
the  sphere  of  the  newspapers'  usefulness  at  the 
capital.  Tiie  colored  |)0)iulation  have  an  organ 
for  their  race  in  the  Herald. 

DISTINOriSIIF.n  VISToHS. 

LaFayettc  visited  Montgomery,  as  already  relat- 
ed, in   l.S"-J."i.  and  we  have  seen  the  nature  of  the 


reception  given  him.  The  next  distinguished 
visitor  was  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimer,  the  patron 
of  (ioethe  and  .Schiller.  Washington  Irving  came 
in  I.s:j-.i,  on  his  return  from  his  expedition  in  John 
Jacob  Astor's  interest  to  the  Pacific  Cofist.  John 
C.  Calhoun  stopped  in  Montgomery  for  some  hours 
on  April  10,  1841;  returning  in  a  few  days  from 
Jlississippi  he  delivered  a  political  address  to  a 
mass  meeting  of  the  citizens.  Several  of  the  ex- 
Presidents,  while  on  their  Southern  tours,  made 
stops  in  Montgomery.  Van  Buren  was  here  April 
3,  184:i,  Polk  in  1840,  and  I'illmore  on  April  15, 
1854.  Henry  Clay  came  up  by  way  of  Mobile  in 
March,  lc44,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Octavia 
Le  Vert,  the  authoress.  He  made  one  of  his 
stirring  public  speeches  to  an  immense  concourse 
of  people.  Louis  KoESuth,  the  Hungarian  patriot, 
who  is  still  alive  in  Turin,  Italy,  was  in  Mont- 
gomery in  185"2.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  came  South 
in  the  campaign  of  1800,  and  included  Mont- 
gomery among  the  other  cities  visited  by  him. 
War  was  imminent,  however,  and  he  here  spoke 
to  dull  ears. 

The  two  most  memorable  visits  to  the  place, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  LaFayette's,  were 
those  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  in  April,  1886,  and 
of  President  Cleveland  in  October,  1887.  The 
receptions  given  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr.  Cleveland, 
respectively,  had  much  of  fine  historic  color 
for  an  eye  anxious  to  watch  the  progress  of  social 
and  political  sentiment  at  the  South.  Mr.  Davis 
had  an  enthusiastic  welcome  from  a  j)cople  who 
considered  that  his  days  were  well  nigh  spent,  but 
that  in  his  prime  he  hud  stood  u])  before  the  world 
and  had  l)een  blasted  in  the  service  of  a  cause  once 
unsjieakablydear  to  them  all.  Jlr.Cleveland,  as  the 
first  President  of  the  United  States  who  had  ever 
visited  Montgomery  during  his  incumbency  of  that 
office,  as  the  first  President  elected  through  the 
aid  of  the  South  since  Buchanan,  as  the  rej)resenta- 
tive  of  a  restored  Union,  and  himself  an  ex- 
emplar of  so  many  of  the  finest  qualities  of  Ameri- 
can citizenship,  had  a  reception  befitting  his  great 
station,  and  one  alike  honorable  to  him  and  to  the 
community  whose  guest  he  was.  The  city  that 
had  given  Yancey  to  the  cau.se  of  '•Southern 
Rights,'"  that  had  itself  been  the  seat  of  the  pro- 
visional government  of  the  Confederate  States, 
had  now  within  its  gates  and  was  spending  a  gen- 
erous courtesy  upon  a  President  who,  above  all 
things  else,  stood  for  an  indissoluble  and  non-sec- 
tional union,  a  nniii  who  in    his  official  capacity 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


593 


directed  all  his  cares,  his  hopes  and  sispinitions, 
to  the  future  of  oiir  common  country.  President 
Cleveland's  visit  may  be  said  to  mark  an  epooli  in 
our  local  history.  Not  that  his  visit  had  any  wide- 
reaching  influence,  but  because  of  the  proof  the 
visit  olTered,  with  its  holiday  aocoinpaniments, 
that  Montgomery  was  facing  toward  tiie  morning, 
that  she  had  taken  her  place  in  the  ranks  of  that 
greater  army,  the  army  of  industry,  before  whose 
arms  slavery  had  gone  down. 

THK   FUTl'UE. 

.Montgomery  will  celebrate  its  Centennial  in 
I'.'IT,  and  doubtless  will  celebrate  it  with  all  the 
pomp  and  circumstance  befitting  the  event.  What 
is  there  of  j)romise  in  our  town  of  to-day  that  the 
Centennial  of  I'JIT  shall  illustrate  a  progress  in 
every  direction  of  sound  municipal  development':' 

Our  [)opulation  still  consists  of  a  disproportion- 
jitely  large  number  of  the  coloi'ed  race,  but  it  is  of 
good  omen  for  the  future  that  the  negroes  are  build- 
ingthemselves  homes  in  larger  number  every  year. 
Then,  too,  many  of  them  manifest  a  passion  for 
educational  advantages,  and,  by  a  growing  atten- 
tion to  work,  to  saving,  and  to  conduct,  are  aiding 
instead  of  impeding  the  progress  of  the  place.  On 
the  purely  induotrial  and  economical  side  the 
record  of  the  current  decade  is  the  most  remarka- 
ble in  the  history  of  the  place. 

Already  there  are  si.x  railroads  m  operation  that 
run  into  .Montgomery:  the  Louisville  &  Xashville, 
the  Western  of  Alabama,  the  Montgomery  & 
Eufaula,  the  Montgomery  &  Florida,  tiie  Mobile 
&  ilontgomery,  and  the  road  leading  to  Selma. 
There  are  projected,  and  under  survey  at  present, 
the  Midland,  another  route  southeast  to  the 
Chattahoochee  and  the  ilontgomery  &  Maplesville, 
to  connect  this  place  with  the  East  Tennessee, 
Virginia  &  Georgia,  in  Chilton  County. 

The  merchants  are  fully  alive  to  the  advantages 
of  river  competion,  and  have  organized  and  had  in 
operation,  since  ISiSd,  a  line  of  steamers  between 
Montgomery  and  ilobile.  The  merchant  can  noW 
get  through  bills  of  lading  on  this  line,  4-iii  Mobile, 
to  New  York  and  Liverpool. 

The  volume  of  .Montgomery's  trade  now  amounts 
annually  to  nearly  *;JO,()0(i.(iO(i.  made  up  largely  of 
the  busine.ss  done  by  wliolesale  dry-goods  and  gro- 
cery mercliantsand  the  handling  of  tliecottoncrop. 
The  annual  receipts  of  cotton  are  never  less  tinin 
lOO.OiHi  bales,  and  in  one  year  they  amounted  to 
140,0(10  bales.     Hut  cotton  and  dry  goods  and  gro- 


ceries Montgomery  has  always  had,  and  the  beads 
she  likes  best  to  tell  over  just  now  are  the  new 
manufacturing  enterprises  that  promise  so  solid  a 
foundation  for  commercial  growth  and  greatness. 
More  than  *^*, 000, 000  are  now  invested  in  facto- 
ries of  various  kinds,  among  them  the  following: 
One  cotton-mill,  three  cotton-seed  oil  mills,  one 
oil  refinery,  one  cracker  factory,  two  grist-mills, 
five  wood-working  establishments,  si.x  carriage  and 
wagon  factories,  si.x  brick  and  tile  works,  one 
boiler  works,  three  foundries  and  machine  shops, 
one  candy  factory,  two  ice  factories,  one  soap  fac- 
tory, one  fertilizer  factory,  two  railroad-car  shops, 
one  cigar  factory,  one  furniture  factory,  one  pa- 
per-box factory,  one  sausage  factory,  one  vinegar 
factory,  an  alcohol  distillery,  four  cotton-gineries 
and  one  iron  furnace — in  all,  forty-seven  manu- 
facturing establishments. 

The  desirableness  of  Montgomery  as  a  residence 
city  has  been  quite  generally  acknowledged  during 
late  years.  There  lias  been  but  one  epidemic  of 
yellow  fever  since  the  war,  and  that  was  in  1873. 
At  the  present  time  the  city's  death  rate  is  one  of 
the  lowest  in  the  Union,  and  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  record  in  this  respect  will  be 
maintained.  The  capital  feature  in  the  sanitary 
advantages  of  the  place,  is  the  new  water  works 
system,  the  capacity  of  which  is  .5,000,000  gal- 
lons daily,  and  the  water  itself  the  purest  kind 
raised  from  artesian  wells.  The  city  is  now 
engaged  in  supplementing  this  admirable  system 
by  putting  in  the  Waring  system  of  sewerage. 
The  last  General  Assembly  granted  the  corpora- 
tion the  right  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
f^'ioH.OOO,  the  proceeds  of  which  are  to  be 
expended  in  putting  down  this  perfected  system 
of  drainage. 

In  addition  to  these  improvements  there  have 
been  others  made,  and  tiiere  are  now  in  operation 
a  fine  electric  light  plant  and  fifteen  miles  of 
electric  street  railway. 

It  is  the  jiledge  of  her  homes,  her  churches, 
her  schools,  her  commerce,  her  manufactories  and 
the  character  of  her  citizens  that  the  Montgomery 
of  to-day  gives  to  the  Montgomery  of  101 T  that 
our  city  will  tiieii  be  worthy  of  the  best  traditions 
of  her  past. 

THOMAS  HILL  WATTS,  distinguished  Attorney 
and  Counselor-at-law,  son  of  John  11.  and  Pru- 
dence (Hill)  Watts,  natives,  respectively,  of  Fan- 


594 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


quier  County,  Va.,  and  Clarke  County,  Ga.,  was 
born  in  Butler  County,  this  State,  January  3, 
1819. 

The  Watts  family  came  into  the  province  of 
Virginia  from  Wales,  and  the  Hills  came  from 
"  merry  old  England." 

Thomas  Watts,  the  grandfather  of  the  gentle- 
man whose  name  forms  the  caption  of  this  sketch, 
was  a  soldier  under  John  Marshall  (afterward 
the  renowned  Chief-Justice  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court)  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  and 
held  the  rank  of  a  non-couimissioned  officer. 
In  17!»7  he  removed  into  Georgia  and  settled  in 
Greene  County,  where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life. 
His  widow  became  the  wife  of  Governor  Rabun  of 
that  State. 

In  1818.  John  Hughes  Watts,  who  married  Pru- 
dence Hill,  daughter  of  Thonms  Hill,  of  Clarke 
County,  Ga.,  moved  into  Butler  County,  Ala.,  the 
latter  ])lace  being  a  wild,  unsettled  country  and 
the  home  of  the  Creek  Indians.  Of  his  children, 
Thomas  Hill  Watts  was  the  eldest. 

In  a  small,  one-story  log  school-house,  with 
puncheon  floor,  receiving  light  and  air  through 
the  unchinked  recesses  of  the  building,  and  pre- 
sided over  by  Mr.  Burwell  Rogers,  who  called  the 
boys  "  to  books  "  viva  voce,  and  literally  spared  not 
the  rod  with  which  he  ruled  them  from  the  rising 
of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  of  the  same,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch'  began  the  arduous  undertaking 
of  mastering  the  English  alphabet. 

Who  has  forgotten  the  magnitude  of  this  task? 
And  who  does  not  remember  the  stern,  relentless 
vi.sage  of  the  master,  whose  keen  eye  detected  the 
slightest  infraction  of  his  iron-clad  rules,  and  who 
punished  stupidity  as  crime?  How  long  ago  this 
seems,  and  yet  how  short  a  time  it  really  has  been! 
What  mighty  things  have  transpired  since  then, 
and  through  what  stirring  scenes  have  we  passed! 

And  with  many  of  the  most  important  events 
of  this  wonderful  period  the  life  of  Thomas  Hill 
Watts  is  identified.  Though  yet  in  the  prime  of 
a  mature  anil  well-preserved  manhood,  he  is  famil- 
iarly known  in  the  pages  of  our  common  country's 
history,  and  while  it  is  the  province  of  this  work 
to  give  but  the  briefest  outline  of  his  career,  the 
future  chronicler  of  his  noble  deeds  will  find 
abundance  of  theme  for  encomium  and  panygyric. 

At  the  age  of  si.vteen  years  his  father  sent  him 
to  Airy  Mount  Academy.  Dallas  County,  where  he 
fitted  himself  for  college. 

The  senior  Mr.  Watts  was  not  a  weallliv   inan. 


and,  having  a  large  family  of  children,  did   not 
I   feel  justified  in  conferring  upon  any  one  of  his 
I  sons  an  University  education,  as  he  was  not  able 
j   to  do  so  unto  all  of  them.     This  objection,  how- 
ever,  was  readily  overcome  as  to  his  eldest;  for 
upon  his  father's  agreeing  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  his  schooling,  young  Watts  agreed  to  and  did 
,   relinquish  his  every  further  claim  to  his  parent's 
bounty.     This  arrangement  enabled  him  to  enter 
the  University  of  Virginia,  from  which  institution 
I   he  was  graduated  in   l,S4(i.     During  the  year  fol- 
I  lowing  his  graduation  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
I   in  Butler  County,  and  there  practiced  law   until 
:   1847.     In  January  of  that  year,  he  removed  frcmi 
'   Greenville  to  Montgomery,  and  here  he  has  since 
made  his  home. 

Prior  to  the  late  war  (ioveriior  Watts  was  an 
I  extensive  planter  and  slave-owner,  although  at  the 
same  time  he  was  giving  his  very  best  energies  to 
the  practice  of  the  law. 

His  public  life  began  in  1840.  when  he  took  an 
active  part  in  the  presidential  campaign,  support- 
ing Harrison  as  against  Van  Buren.  In  184"2, 
1844,  and  184."),  he  represented  Butler  County  in 
the  Legislature:  in  184!t  he  represented  Montgomery 
in  the  Lower  House;  and  in  18.">.'{  he  was  Senator 
from  Montgomery  and  Autauga.  In  1848  he  was 
the  General  Taylor  presidential  elector  for  the 
State-at-large,  and  in  18,">G,  the  ''Know  Xothing" 
candidate  for  Congress,  and  was  defeated  by  a 
small  majority.  In  18G(i  he  was  a  prominent  sup- 
porter of  Bell  and  Everett. 

Opposed  from  ])rinciple  to  the  idea  of  secession, 
he  labored  assiduously  to  jirevent  the  arrival  of 
such  an  emergency.  But  the  election  of  Lincoln 
upon  a  platform  purely  sectional,  satisfied  him 
that  there  was  no  further  ground  for  hope  of  a 
compromise  of  the  great  disturl)ing  question,  and 
he  at  once  announced  himself  as  with  his  State 
in  her  withdrawal  from  the  Federal  L'nion. 

Thos.  H.  Watts  and  Wm.  \j.  Yancey  represent- 
ed Montgomery  County  in  the  Convention  of  Janu- 
ary T,  ISOl.  and  Mr.  Watts  was  made  chairman  of 
the  Judiciary  Committee.  Through  all  the  deli- 
berations of  that  important  body  he  played  a  con- 
spicuous part. 

In  the  summer  following  the  formation  of  the 
Provisional  Confederate  Government,  Mr.  Watts 
raised  the  Seventeenth  Alabama  Regiment  of  In- 
fantry, and  became  its  colonel.  While  in  com- 
mand of  this  regiment  at  Corinth,  Miss.,  Mr. 
Davis  selected   him  as  the  Attornev-General  for 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


59» 


the  Confederate  (iovernintMit,  an  lionor  wholly  un- 
solicited upon  his  part.  However,  he  at  once  re- 
signed his  command,  and  proceeded  to  Richmond, 
where  he  took  the  oath  of  office  on  iUli  of  April, 

In  August,  1803,  he  was  elected,  against  his  ex- 
j)ressed  wishes,  to  the  (iovernorship  of  Alabama, 
and  filled  that  position  from  December,  18()3, 
to  the  spring  of  ISCa,  the  most  momentous  and 
trying  jieriod  through  wliich  tlic  State  has  ever 
passed. 

Tiie  war  swept  away  (iovernor  Watts'  fortune, 
and  drove  him  temporarily  under  cover  of  bank- 
ruptoy,  but  he  despaired  not,  neitiier  did  he  com- 
plain. Possessed  of  a  strong  and  vigorous  con- 
stitution, mentally  the  peer  of  the  foremost  of  his 
contemporaries,  full  of  unadulterated  energy,  he 
proceeded  to  re-construct  his  affairs,  and,  it  is 
l)lea5ing  to  -note,  success  rewarded  his  efforts. 
Applying  himself  persistently  to  his  profession,  at 
no  time  a  speculator,  and  appropriating  his  vast 
energies  at  all  times  to  legitimate  uses,  he  has 
paid  off  his  indebtedness,  principal  and  interest, 
over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  about 
three-fourths  of  this  vast  sum  represents  liabili- 
ties incurred  by  him  for  other  people. 

Kind-hearted  and  generous;  of  spotless  integ- 
rity, and  with  an  e.xaltcd  sense  of  honor — his  noble 
character  has  made  him  respected  and  beloved, 
and  has  gained  liima  lasting  place  in  the  hearts 
of  his  fellow-citizens.  And  yet  these  very  char- 
acteristics ]iroi)ably  disclose  the  key  to  his  j)ast 
financial  embarassmenis. 

(iovernor  Watts  has  occupied  the  leading  posi- 
tion at  the  Alabama  Bar  for  matiy  years,  and  both 
as  advocate  and  lawyer  he  has  few  equals  and 
no  superiors.  His  practice  is  largely  in  the  Sn- 
jireme  Court,  where  he  is  identified  with  nearly 
every  important  case  occurring  before  that  august 
body.  Thoroughly  jtroficient  in  every  department 
of  his  profession,  he  is  not  excelled  by  any  lawyer 
in  the  country.  His  speech  on  the  constittition- 
ality  of  the  electoral  law  before  the  United  States 
Court,  December,  1K78,  was  pronounced  a  master- 
piece of  exhaustless  reasoning,  and  for  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  subject  far  surpassed  any  speech 
made  in  Congress  on  that  question. 

Earnest  and  forcible,  terse  and  vigorous  in  the 
use  of  language;  possessed  of  strong  natural  sense, 
and  a  deep  sympathy  with  human  nature — he 
wields  an  immense  influence  over  men  at  all  times. 
He  is  a  {lolished  orator  and  a  finished  scliolar;  and 


his  mind  is  one  vast  storehouse  of  useful  know- 
ledge, upon  which  he  can  draw  at  jjleasure. 

Since  his  advent  into  public  life  he  has  taken 
an  active  and  prominent  part  in  every  question  of 
importance,  State,  municipal  and  national,  that 
has  been  brought  before  the  people.  With  one 
single  exception,  he  has  never  sought  an  office. 
Away  back  in  the  '40s  he  came  to  the  Legislature 
from  Kutler  County  at  his  own  request.  Since 
then  he  has  adhered  to  the  principle  that  ''  the 
office  should  seek  the  man." 

Yet  in  the  prime  of  manhood.  Governor  "Watts 
bids  fair  to  remain  many  years  a  useful  citizen  of 
a  country  that  honors  itself  by  honoring  him. 

He  has  been  twice  married;  first,  to  Miss  Eliza 

B.  Allen  January  10.  1842.  She  died  .\ugust 
31,  1873,  leaving  six  children.  His  second  wife, 
to  whom  he  was  married  in  September,  1875,  was 
the  widow  of  the  late  J.  F.  Jackson.  She  died 
February  3,  188T. 

SAMUEL  F.  RICE,  distinguished  Attorney-at- 
law,  ilontgoinery,  was  born  in  Union  District,  S. 

C,  June  2,  1810.  His  father,  William  Rice,  also 
a  native  of  South  Carolina,  was  upward  of  twenty 
years  the  Judge  of  Ordinary  in  Union  District;  his 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Herndon.  The  Kices 
probably  came  to  America  from  Wales;  the  Hern- 
dons  from  England,  and  both  families  have  played 
conspicuou.<  parts  at  various  times  and  places  in 
the  United  States. 

Samuel  F.  Rice  was  the  third  in  a  family  of 
four  sons,  and,  with  one  e.^ception  (the  oldest  son 
who  resides  on  the  old  homestead  in  South  Caro- 
lina), is  the  only  one  living.  There  were  also  four 
daughters  in  the  family,  and  of  these  there  is  but 
one  living.  She  is  the  widow  of  the  late  William 
H.  Gist,  once  Governor  of  Soutli  Carolina. 

Mr.  Rice  was  graduated  from  Columbia  (S.  C.) 
("ollege  in  1833;  read  law  with  William  C.  Preston, 
who  afterward  became  distinguished  as  United 
States  Senator,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  June,  1837.  After  spending  a  year  at  Winns- 
boro,  he  came  to  this  State  and  located  at  Talle- 
dega,  in  the  practice  of  law,  and  remained  there 
until  1852,  when  he  removed  to  Montgomery. 
During  the  last  four  years  of  liisstay  at  Talledega, 
he  was  in  partnership  with  the  distinguished 
John    T.    Morgan.     In   1840-41,   he   represented 


596 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Talledi'ga  f'ounty  in  the  Legislature,  and  in  the 
latter  niinieil  year  was  made  State  Printer.  An- 
other writer  has  said  that  he  was  made  State  Prin- 
ter because  of  his  connection  with  the  W'tifchloicer, 
a  Democratic  paper  establislied  by  him  at  Talla- 
dega. He  was  beaten  for  Congress  in  184.5  by 
General  McConnell.  In  184M  he  was  one  of  the 
General  Taylor  electors  from  his  district.  When 
the  Southern  Hights  party  was  formed  in  18.")1, 
he  united  witli  it,  ran  again  for  Congress  upon 
the  i)latform  of  that  party  and  was  defeated  by 
Ale.xander  White.  In  1S5!I  he  represented  .Mont- 
gomery County  in  the  Legislature,  and  in  LSGl 
represented  .Montgomery  and  Autauga  Counties 
in  the  Senate.  In  lS7,i  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  and  in  187G-T7  he  was 
again  in  the  Legislature. 

We  have  thus  hastened  over  the  life  of  one  of 
Alabama's  most  distinguished  citizens.  Judge 
Rice  is  probably  known  personally  to  more  men 
than  any  other  one  man  in  the  State.  In  the 
halls  of  the  Legislature  he  always  ranked  among 
the  leaders,  and  as  a  debater  he  jjrobably  never 
met  his  sui)erior.  .\nother  writer  has  said  of  him 
'•  that  his  record  is  peculiar,  abounding  in  lights 
and  shadows  to  a  romantic  extent,"  and  that  it 
may  be  summed  up  as  follows:  "  A  college  gradu- 
ate, a  good  lawyer,  an  efficient  editor,  a  legislator. 
State  Printer,  Democrat,  Taylor  man.  Southern 
Rights  man,  Know-Nothing,  twice  a  candidate 
for  Congress,  a  .Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  a 
Secessionist  in  ISGl,  and  a  Republican  in  1S70.'' 
A  )iart  of  this  summing  up,  at  least,  is  true,  but 
that  .Judge  Rice  was  ever  a  Republican  is  not 
accejited  by  his  present  biographer.  Tiiat  he  dif- 
fered with  many  men  high  in  authority  in  the 
State  of  .\labama  as  to  the  best  policy  to  be  pur- 
sued in  the  days  of  Reconstruction  is  well  known, 
but  that  he  ever  went  further  than  to  advocate  a 
peaceable  submission  to  the  inevitable  is  doubtful. 

Judge  Rice  took  his  seat  upon  the  Supreme 
Court  bench  of  the  State  in  18.55.  but  resigned  it 
in  1850,  to  resume  tlie  practice  of  law. 

It  was  relateil  of  him  that  for  ten  or  twelve 
years  before  the  war,  he  tried  his  hand  at  planting, 
but  finding  that  it  re<|uired  his  professional  earn- 
ings to  supjjort  his  Jiegroes,  he  gave  it  up. 

He  is  one  of  the  hanlest  working  men  in  the 
profession  to  wiiich  he  is  devote<l.  and  that  he  is 
one  of  the  most  succe.-^sful  lawyers  of  the  State 
is  universally  atlmitted. 

[As  a  matter  of  information   it    may  be   stated 


that  his  decisions  while  upon  the  Supreme  bench, 
may  be  found  in  volumes  ■■it;  to  34,  inclusive. — Ed.] 

The  Judge  was  married  in  South  Carolina,  in 
1835,  to  iliss  Pearson,  a  native  of  the  little  village 
where  he  first  began  the  practice  of  law.  Airs.  Rice 
died  in   18G!),  leaving  one  child,  now  ilrs.  Glaze. 

In  1872,  the  Judge  led  to  the  altar  in  Mont- 
gomery, Miss  Fitzgibbons,  of  Autauga  County, 
and  by  this  marriage  has  had  born  to  him  one 
son  and  one  daughter.  The  Judge  was  brought 
up  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  but 
whether  he  is  a  member  of  that  or  any  other 
denomination  at  this  writing,  the  writer  is  not 
advised. 

JEFFERSON  M.  FALKNER.  Attorney-at-law, 
Montgomury,  is  a  native  of  liaiulolph  County,  this 
State,  and  a  son  of  Jefferson  Falkner,  a  retired 
attorney  and  now  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  in 
charge  of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Mountain 
Creek,  Chilton  County,  this  State. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Falkner  retired  from  the  ])ractice 
of  law  in  1S77,  and  has  since  that  time  given  his 
attention  to  the  ministry.  He  came  from  (ieorgia 
to  Alabama  more  than  forty-five  years  ago.  His 
wife  live  Miss  Breed,  a  descendant  of  the  family 
that  gave  name  to  Breed's  Hill.  .Mass.,  was  born 
in  Georgia,  and  there  Mr.  Falkner  married  her. 
The  Falkners  came  originally  from  Wales  and 
settled  in  M.irvland.  The  Breeds  were  from 
England. 

Of  the  two  sons  born  to  this  family,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  the  youngest.  He  was  educated 
at  L;iFayette,  in  Chambers  County,  and  at  Mercer 
liiiversity,  Penfield,  (ia.  He  left  Mercer  Uni- 
versity in  the  sjjring  of  18G1  to  enter  the  army  as 
a  private  in  a  company  commanded  by  his  father. 
At  the  end  of  about  thirteen  months,  he  was  made 
second  lieutenant  of  the  company;  was  promoted 
to  first  lieutenant  in  the  summer  of  18G3,  and 
commissioned  captain  in  18(;4.  He  left  the  army 
with  .Johnson's  final  surrender  in  North  Carolina. 

Captain  Falkner  was  in  all  the  battles  of  the 
Army  of  Tennes.see.  and  accomjianied  the  re- 
doubtable Joe  Wheels  in  his  active  camjiaigns. 

.\fter  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  Captain  Falk- 
ner came  to  Montgomery,  where  he  was  engaged 
at  milling  and  ])lanting  until  1SG7.  In  August  of 
this  year  he  began  reading  law  witli  his  father  at 
Montgomery:  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Feliruary, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


597 


1S6S,  and  has  since  devoted  liis  time  to  tiie  prac- 
tiee. 

Ill  l.s74.as.<<)(;iated  with  hisfathei-,  heestal)lishe(l 
the  Sdullicni  Phin/afivii.  an  agriciiltiiral  jiaper, 
and  conducted  it  successfully  tlirougli  the 
ensuing  four  years.  This  paper  was  afterward 
absorbed  by  the  Soii/heni  AijricidluraUst.  The 
Plantation  was  estal)lished  as  tlie  organ  of  the 
I'atronsof  Husbandry  and,  as  such,  wielded  agreat 
inihience  tlii'ougliout  the  country. 

Captain  Falkner  has  at  no  time  in  life  been  a 
politician,  but  as  a  Democratic  worker,  in  the  in- 
terests of  his  friends,  he  has  at  times  been  fpiite 
conspicuous.  Prior  to  the  ousting  of  the  Radicals 
from  power,  he  made  the  race  on  the  Democratic 
ticket  for  representative  to  the  Legislature.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  say  that  he  was  defeated. 

In  June,  188.5,  he  was  elected  City  Attorney., 
and  held  the  office  two  terms.  lie  has  also  been 
Alderman  of  Montgomery  two  terms,  which  ap- 
l)ears  to  constitute  the  sum  of  his  office  holding. 
In  December,  I880,  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Col.  Thomas  G.  Jones,  and  the  law  firm  of  Jones 
&  Falkner  is  now  one  of  the  most  prominent  and 
successful  in  the  State. 

Captain  Falkner  was  married  at  Mountain 
Creek,  Chilton  County,  July  19,  1887,  to  Miss 
Lizzie  Cameron,  daughter   of  Andrew  Cameron, 

Esq. 

As  a  matter  of  history,  we  recur  to  Captain 
Falkner's  war  record.  His  company  entered  the 
service  July  25,  1801,  and  was  known  afterward 
as  the  Chambers'  Cavalry,  Eighth  Confederate 
Cavalry  Regiment,  which  consisted  of  si.\  Ala- 
bama and  four  ilississippi  companies,  and  the 
senior  Falkner  was  made  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
regiment,  which  position  he  held  until  after  the 
battle  of  Murfreesboro,  wlien,  owing  to  ill-health, 
he  resigned.  Colonel  Falkner  afterward,  under  a 
commission  from  Governor  Watts,  organized  a 
battalion  of  troops  for  the  State  service. 

EDMUND  PENDLETON  MORRISSETT.  promi- 
nent Attorney-at-law,  ilontgomery,  was  born  in 
Monroe  County,  this  State,  January  .'Jl,  1837. 

His  fatiier,  the  late  Hon.  John  Morrissett,  law- 
yer, planter  and  legislator,  was  a  native  of  Ten- 
nessee, and  his  mother,  nee  Frances  Gaines,  was 
born  in  Culpeper  County,  Va. 


The  Morrissetts  came  originally  from  France, 
settling  first  near  Williamsburg,  Va.,  and  the 
(iaines  family  were  among  the  earlier  colonists 
from  Wales.  Tiie  senior  Mr.  .Morrissett  was  a  sol- 
dier in  the  War  of  1812,  and  at  its  close  settled 
at  St.  Stephens,  the  territorial  capital  of  .\labama, 
where  he  nnirried  a  relative  of  his  old  commander, 
Gen.  E.  P.  (iaines.  In  1821  he  located  in  Monroe 
County,  theti  one  of  the  most  populous  counties  in 
the  State,  and  the  home  of  some  of  Alabama's 
most  noted  men.  Bagby,  Dillett,  .Murphy,  Par- 
sons, Cooper,  and  others  equally  prominent  in  tiie 
affairs  of  the  State  then  and  afterward,  were 
from  Monroe,  and  the  truth  of  history  justifies 
the  statement  that  Jlr.  Morrissett  was  the  peer  of 
any  of  them.  He  rej)reseiited  that  county  in  the 
lower  house  of  the  Legislature,  sessions  of  1829, 
1832,  1833,  1842,  1843,  and  1844;  and  in  the  Sen- 
ate,  sessions  of  1845,  1847,  1849,  and  1851.  The 
records  and  brevier  reports  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  General  Assembly  during  those  years  show 
that  Monroe  had  no  idle  representative  of  her  in- 
terests; and  more,  that  she  was  sending  there  a 
man  capable  of  holding  his  own  with  the  strong- 
est of  his  adversaries;  a  man  that  had  the  courage 
of  his  convictions  upon  all  questions:  a  man  tiiat 
made  himself  heard  and  felt. 

Mr.  Morrissett  was  educated  for  the  law;  gave 
the  profession  some  attention,  and  divided  the 
rest  of  his  time  between  politics  and  his  lai-ge 
agricultural  interests. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  the  Hon.  John  Morris- 
sett in  the  "Puijlic  Men  in  Alabama, "by  (iarrett, 
has  among  many  others  in  that  sketch,  the  error, 
that  his  marriage  with  iliss  Gaines  "brought  him 
fortune  and  influence."  Miss  (iaines.  though  a 
lovely  and  accomplished  young  woman,  was  of 
limited  fortune,  and  whatever  fortune  and  in- 
fluence that  were  afterward  attained  by  Mr.  Mor- 
rissett, was  due  to  his  patient  industry  and 
economy,  cheerfully  aided  by  his  noble  wife.  In 
Garrett's  book  occurs,  also,  an  unnecessary  allu- 
sion to  an  almost  forgotten  controvei-sy  between 
Mr.  Jlorrissett  and  Governor  Bagby,  which  the  de- 
scendants of  both  parties  doubtless  regret,  and 
would  have  buried  with  the  past.  Garrett  was  an 
intense  admirer  and  partisan  of  (iovernor  l?agl)y, 
and  after  dragging  into  the  sketch  of  Hon.  John 
ilorrissett,  a  defense  of  Governor  Pagby,  did  great 
injustice  to  Mr.  Morrissett  in  the  account  he  gave 
of  that  matter.  Mr.  Morrissett,  in  an  ojien  letter 
to   the   public,    publisiied    in    pamphlet  form    in 


-598 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


October,  l>!3fi,  states  the  causes  which  inipellefl  him 
to  such  a  course.  It  was  a  time  of  great  political 
interest.  .Mr.  Morrissett  and  Mr.  IJagby  were 
j>rominent  men.  A  question  of  veracity  had  arisen 
between  Ihem  in  regard  to  some  political  matters 
attracting  public  attention.  Mr.  Morrissett  pub- 
lished a  minute  statement  of  tlie  grounds  of  the 
controversy.  In  support  of  the  charges  made 
against  Mr.  Bagby,  he  cites  in  proof  the  records  of 
the  courts,  and  vouches  us  witnesses  some  of  the 
foremost  citizens  of  the  State.  Garrett,  in  the 
«ketch  alluded  to,  seeks  to  create  the  impression 
that  the  difference  between  ilr.  Morrissett  and  Mr. 
Bagby  naturally  resulted  from  a  congenital  dis- 
similarity that  prevented  mutual  appreciation.  In 
his  pamphlet  Mr.  Morrissett  states  that  for  nearly 
twenty  years  —  since  ISllS —  they  had  been  friends, 
he  often  voting  for  Bagby  and  Hagby  for  him, 
though  generally  differing  j)olitically.  Mr.  Mor- 
rissett never  asjjired  to  soar  among  the  stars,  when 
dealing  with  the  business  affairs  of  men.  While 
he  was  capable  of  discerning  and  honoring  high 
intellectual  endowments,  and  appreciating  noble 
and  sensitive  natures,  he  never  hesitated,  when  it 
came  in  his  way,  to  ruthlessly  tear  off  the  nuisk  of 
hy])ocrisy  and  falsehood,  regardless  of  whom  the 
wearer  might  be.  In  the  same  sketch  the  author, 
who  had,  perhaps  himself,  not  escaped,  at  some 
time,  the  "  grasp  "  of  this  "vigilant  adversary,"' 
takes  occasion  to  determine  that  Mr.  iforrissett 
was  sometimes  on  the  extreme.  He  cites,  as  an  in- 
stance of  this,  the  course  of  Mr.  Morrissett  in  ad- 
vocating in  the  Legislature  a  bill  to  regulate  the 
sampling  of  cotton  in  Mobile,  whicli  was  after- 
ward adopted,  and  has  long  been  on  the  statute 
books  of  Alabama.  The  sampling  of  cotton  had 
been  intrusted  chiefly  to  negroes  and  a  low  class 
of  foreigners;  the  rapacity  of  these  samplers  be- 
came so  reckless  that  it  aroused  the  indignation  of 
the  planters  of  the  State,  who  demanded  some  re- 
striction or  limitation  as  to  the  quantity  of  cotton 
to  be  taken  from  a  bale  in  sampling  it.  Mr.  Mor- 
rissett championed  the  bill,  and  as  he  did  not  use 
sugar-coated  words  in  describing  the  existing  jirac- 
tice  of  sampling  cotton,  a  crowd  of  these  people 
with  those  who  shared  with  them  the  fruits  of 
their  calling,  sought  to  insult  him  afterward  in 
Mobile.  No  commission  merchants  or  other  gen- 
tlemen took  part  in  the  "hostile  demonstration," 
so  far  as  could  be  ascertained.  The  lion.  John 
Morrissett,  was  simple  in  dress,  and  candid  and 
fearless  in  speech.    He  was  devoted  to  his  friends. 


but  like  Wolsey,  "  he  was  lofty  and  sour  to  them 
that  loved  him  not." 

He  occupied  a  prominent  and  honorable  posi- 
tion among  the  distinguished  men  who  early 
settled  in  Alabama.  To  his  biography,  as  the 
father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  is  devoted 
space  for  the  correction  of  certain  eiTors  in  a  book 
that  may  hereafter  be  referred  to  by  the  historian 
of  the  early  settlement  of  the  State. 

Edmund  P.  Morrissett  possesses  many  of  the 
traits  of  his  father,  perhaps  somewhat  mellowed 
by  the  less  rugged  and  .siiavifer  in  modo  qualities 
of  his  maternal  ancestry.  Descended  from  the 
sturdy  pioneer  stock  that  resolutely  wrought  out 
fortune  by  subduing  the  forests,  Edmund  P.  in- 
herited a  robust  constitution  and  vigorous  intellect. 
Early  left,  by  the  death  of  his  father,  to  the  in- 
struction and  guidance  of  a  cultivated  mother, 
proud  of  her  lineage,  he  was  taught  to  esteem  in- 
tegrity and  manly  virtues  beyond  riches.  Gradu- 
ating at  the  State  University,  at  Tuscaloosa,  in 
the  class  of  185(5,  he  was  admitted  to  the  practice 
of  the  law  before  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  his 
State,  in  185tt.  He  entered  the  army  soon  after 
the  commencement  of  hostilities  between  the 
States,  as  a  private  in  the  Cavalry  company  com- 
manded by  Capt.  Robert  W.  Smith,  of  Mobile, 
and  which  was  afterward  united  with  the  Third 
Alabama  Cavalry  Kegiment.  Remaining  with  the 
army  till  the  close  of  the  war,  he  surrendered  with 
(len.  Joseph  E.  Johnson  at  Greensboro,  X.  C,  and 
repaired  to  his  old  home-stead  in  Monroe  County, 
where  he  remained  only  long  enough  to  rent  out 
his  lands,  and  then  moved  to  Montgomery,  to 
engage  in  the  practice  of  the  law. 

Devoting  himself  to  his  profession  and  to  his 
farming  interests,  he  has  taken  but  little  part  in 
politics,  except  in  18T4,  when  he  entered  actively 
into  the  canvass  that  resulted  in  the  election  of 
Governor  Houston,  as  well  as  the  restoration  of  the 
Democratic  party  to  power  and  the  final  over- 
throw of  the  carpet-bag  rule  in  the  State;  and 
afterwards  in  1884,  when  he  was  a  candidate  for 
the  ottice  of  Attorney  General  of  the  State,  when 
he  was  defeated  by  the  Hon.  Thomas  N.  -McClel- 
lan. 

In  187"^  Mr.  Morrissett  married,  in  Montgomery, 
Miss  Katie  Hutcheson,  the  accomjilished  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  John  D.  Hutcheson,  and  a  grand- 
daughter of  Judge  B.  S.  Bibb,  of  this  city.  He 
now  ranks  among  the  foremost  lawyers  of  the 
Montgomery  bar. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


599 


HENRY  C.  SEMPLE,  Attorney-at-law,  Mont- 
gomery, was  born  .laniiary  14,  \'&l'i,  ;vt  Willitims- 
1)11  rg,  Va.,  and  is  a  sou  of  James  and  Joanna 
(McKenzie)  Senijile,  natives,  resjic'tivcly,  of  New 
Kent  and  Cliestcrfield  Counties,  tiiat  State. 

The  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  a  Scotch- 
man, and  came  to  America  in  1750.  He  was  a 
minister  of  tiie  Church  of  England,  and  was 
rector  of  St.  Peter's,  New  Kent  County,  Va.  He 
was  one  of  the  few  ministers  of  tiie  Cliurch  of 
England  (in  Virginia)  who  were  Whigs  during 
the  Kevolution. 

James  Semplc,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  a 
Judge  of  the  (Jeneral  Court  of  Virginia,  and 
professor  of  law  at  William  and  Mary  College. 
Tie  had  practiced  law,  presided  on  the  bench  in 
\'irginia,  or  served  as  professor  of  law  from  1796 
up  to  18;U,  at  which  time  he  died  at  AVilliams- 
burg,  Va.,  at  the  age  of  about  seventy-seven 
years. 

Henry  C.  Seiuple  was  educated  at  William  and 
Mary  College,  Virginia;  graduated  from  the  law 
school  of  Harvard  University  in  September,  1845, 
and  began  tiie  practice  of  his  profession  at  Mont- 
gomery, Ala.,  in  1846.  He  is  said  to  be  tlie  oldest 
practitioner,  now  living,  of  those  who  were  at  the 
Montgomery  bar  in   1846. 

His  first  association  in  the  practice  was  with 
George  C.  Ball,  which  lasted  but  a  short  time.  In 
1856  he  became  associated  witli  Judge  George 
Goldthwaite,  the  firm  name  being  Goldthwaite 
«fe  Semplc;  subsequently  Judge  Rice  was  added  to 
the  firm.  In  1870  this  firm  was  dissolved.  In 
1868,  October,  he  formed  a  copartnership  with 
Judge  R.  C.  Hrickell,  of  Huntsville,  and  ^\'illiam 
A.  Gunter,  the  style  of  the  firm  being  Briokell, 
Semple  &  Gunter. 

In  1861  Mr.  Semple  entered  the  army  as  aide- 
de  camp  on  General  liragg's  staff.  He  remained 
with  that  General  until  March,  186'2,  when  he  was 
placed  in  charge  of  a  command  known  as  Semple's 
Battery,  with  which  he  went  into  the  campaign 
of  Kentucky  under  General  Bragg,  and  partici- 
pated in  every  general  action  from  Perryvillc  to 
Missionary  Ridge.  While  cai)tain  of  Semj)le's 
Battery  he  had  at  times  command  of  the  artillery 
of  Cleburne's  Division  and  of  Hill's  and  15reckiii- 
ridge's  Corjis.  In  1864  he  was  promoted  to' major 
and  transferred  to  the  command  of  the  artillery 
of  the  District  of  the  Gulf,  at  Mobile,  and  surren- 
dered to  General  Canby  May  Vi,  1865,  at  .Merid- 
ian, Miss.,  witli  Dick  Taylor's  army.    At  the  close 


of  the  war  he  returned  to  Montgomery,  and  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  law,  to  which  he  has  since 
devoted  his  time. 

Mr.  Semple  is  a  director  of  the  Merchants  and 
Planters  Natioiuil  Bank  and  of  the  Western  Rail- 
road of  Alabama.  lie  is  a  member  of  the  National 
Democratic  Committee,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Convention  of  1867  that  framed  the  Constitution 
of  1868.  Disapproving  of  tluit  Constitution,  he 
witlidrew  from  tlie  Convention.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  that  effected  the 
payment  of  the  city  debt  in  1875. 

Mr.  Semple  was  married  in  November,  1848,  to 
Miss  Emily  V.,  daughter  of  Lorenzo  and  Eliza 
(Scott)  James,  of  Clarke  County,  Ala.  Of  the 
seven  living  children  born  to  this  union  we  make 
the  following  mention:  McKenzie  is  at  the  pres- 
ent writing  Assistant  District  Attorney  of  the 
city  of  New  York;  Henry  is  a  Jesuit  priest,  and 
is  a  Professor  at  Spring  Hill  College,  Mobile,  Ala. ; 
Mary  C.  is  a  nun  at  the  Convent  of  Visitation,  at 
Mobile;  Barrington  is  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
law  at  Birmingham,  Ala.;  Lorenzo  is  an  ensign 
in  the  United  States  navy;  Irene  and  Emily  are 
still  under  the  parental  roof. 

Mr.  Semple  and  family  are  all  devoted  members 
of  the  Catholic  Church. 

DANIEL  SHIPMAN  TROY,  prominent  Attor- 
ney-at-law, Montgomery.  President  of  the  Ala- 
bama Fertilizer  Company,  President  of  the  Dis- 
patch Publishing  Company,  and  Director  in  the 
Elyton  Land  Company,  was  born  October  9,  1832. 
He  read  law  with  his  brother-in-law,  Wni.  Hun- 
ter, at  Cahaba,  and  in  1851,  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen years,  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  nisi 
prius  courts.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the 
Supreme  Court  in  1854.  He  lived  at  Cahaba 
until  18G0,  and  from  there  came  to  Montgomery. 
In  January,  1861,  lie  joined  the  Jlontgomery 
"True  Blues,"  as  a  private,  in  an  expedition 
against  Fort  Barancas,  Pensacola.  After  this  he 
recruited  a  company  known  as  the  "  Gilmer 
Greys,"  and  went  out  as  its  captain.  The 
"Bhus"  were  mustered  into  and  became  a  part 
of  the  Ililliard  Legion  early  in  1862.  In  the  fall 
of  1862  Captain  Troy  was  promoted  to  major,  and 
in  186.3  the  Infantry  of  this  Legion  was  reorgan- 
ized into  the  Fifty-ninth  and  Si.xticth  Alabama 
Regiments,  and  he  was  made  lieutenant-colonel  of 


600 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  Sixtieth.  He  took  part  in  Longstreet's  attaelc 
upon  Kiioxville,  siege  of  Cunibeiland  Gap,  bat- 
tle at  Mean's  Station.  Kiury's  Bluff  anil  Bermuda 
Iluiitlred.  He  was  wouiuled  at  Drurv's  Bluff.and  on 
tlie  "^.ith  of  March,  1805,  near  Petersburg,  he  was 
shot  entirely  through  the  left  lung,  and  left  upon 
the  battle-field  for  dead.  He  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  where  he  remained  to  the  close  of 
the  war.  Some  time  after  the  cessation  of  liostil- 
ities,  he  resumed  the  i)ractice  of  law,  at  which  he 
has  been  remarkably  successful,  both  as  a  lawyer 
and  in  the  accumulation  of  wealth.  He  is  now 
at  the  head  of  the  law  firm  of  Troy,  Tompkins 
&  London.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Senate 
from  1878  to  1880  ;  was  an  active  Democratic 
worker  during  the  period  of  Reconstruction,  but 
is  Jiow  entirely   out  of  politics. 

Colonel  Troy  is  a  scholarly  man  with  a  decid- 
edly literary  turn  of  mind,  which  finds  vent 
through  several  of  the  most  popular  periodicals 
and  newspapers  of  the  day.  He  writes  with 
equal  facility  upon  law,  politics  and  science. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church,  to 
which  religion  he  was  converted  while  in  the 
Federal  Hospital. 

THOMAS  GOODE  JONES,  i>rominent  Attorney- 
at-law,  Montgomery,  distinguished  as  Speaker  of 
tlic  House  of  l{epresentatives,  and  colonel  of  the 
Second  Regiment  Alabama  State  Troops.  His 
father  was  the  late  Colonel  Samuel  G.  Jones,  and 
his  mother  was,  before  marriage,  Martha  W. 
(ioode,  the  former  being  a  native  of  Brunswick 
and  the  latter  of  Jlecklenburg  County,  Va. 

The  Joneses  are  traced  back  to  the  Colonial  days 
of  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  and  the  Goode 
family  came  originally  from  England.  The  senior 
Jones  was  an  eminent  civil  engineer,  a  graduate  of 
Williams  College,  Massachusetts,  where  he  took 
one  of  the  honors  in  the  class  of  1S;57,  and  was 
one  of  the  pioneers  in  railroad  building  in  the 
South.  He  came  to  Georgia  in  18.5'J,  and  was  en- 
gineer iu  charge  of  hication  of  the  roads  of  the 
old  Monroe  Railroad  &  Banking  Company,  one 
of  the  first  roads  in  (ieorgia.  The  thriving  town 
of  Jonesboro,  (ia.,  was  named  in  his  honor.  In 
1849  he  came  to  .Montgomery  as  chief  engineer  of 
the  Mourgomery  &  West  Point  Railway.  He  was 
one  of  the  projectors  of  and  a  chief  spirit  in  the 
building  of  the  Alabama  &  Florida  Road  to  Pensa- 


I  cola,  and  the  railroad  from  Montgomery  to  Selma. 
He  removed  to  Tennessee  in  1877,  and   died  at 

I   Sewanee,  October  4,  1880.  in  the  seventy-second 

:  year  of  his  age,  universally  respected  for  his  high 
character  and  piety. 

Col.  Tlios.  G.  Jones,  whoi-c  name  is  placed  at 

I  the  head  of  this  sketch,  is  the  eldest  of  the  four 
sons  born  to  his  parents.  Of  these  four  sons,  two 
are  lawyers,  one  a  civil  engineer,  and  one  a  loco- 
motive engineer. 

Colonel  Jones  was  born  in  Macon.  Ga.,  Xovem- 
ber  ■•'0,  1844,  and  came  with  his  parents  to  ^[ont- 
gomery  in  18,i(i,  and  here  has  since  made  his  home. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  was  a  cadet  at  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  and  was  ordered  to 
Richmond  as  drill-master  of  volunteers. 

In  180"^  he  served  in  Jackson's  celebrated  Valley 
campaign,  and  at  its  conclusion  enlisted  in  a  com- 
pany of  "Partisan  Rangers.'"  General  Jackson, 
who,  as  a  professor  at  the  Institute,  had  known 
young  Jones  as  a  cadet,  gave  him  a  recommenda- 
tion for  appointment  in  the  regular  army.  Upon 
this,  and  the  refjuest  of  Gov.  Thos.  H.  Watts, 
then  Attorney-General,  at  Richmond,  Brigadier- 
General  Jno.  B.  Gordon  appointed  young  Jones 
his  aide-de-camp.  He  served  on  (ieneral  Gordon's 
staff  during  the  remainder  of  the  war,  being  twice 
promoted  and  several  times  wounded. 

For  "gallant  conduct  at  Bristoe  "  he  was  com- 
mended in  orders,  and  personally  thanked  by 
Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee.  The  same  officer  sent  his 
"  thanks  to  the  brave  young  Alabamian"  for  his 
services  at  Hare's  Hill,  where  in  the  presence  of 
General  Lee,  young  Jones  volunteered  to  cross  the 
space  between  the  works  of  the  two  armies,  which 
was  plowed  by  a  terrific  fire  of  cannon  and  small 
arms,  to  bear  (iordon's  order  for  the  withdrawal 
of  his  troops  from  the  positions  they  had  captured. 
He  was  in  the  last  action  at  A]iponiattox,  and 
bore  one  of  the  flags  of  truce  sent  into  the  enemy's 
lines  just  before  the  surrender. 

During  Ex-President  Davis'  visit  to  ilontgom- 
ery,  in  1880.  to  hiy  the  corner  stone  of  the  Confed- 
erate Monument,  Colonel  Jones,  at  the  request  of 
the  Memorial  Association,  delivered  a  lecture  at 
McDonald's  Opera  House,  on  "The  Last  Days  of 
the  Army  of  Northern  ^'irginia."  General  Gordon 
in  introducing  Colonel  Jones  to  the  audience, 
spoke  of  his  career  as  a  soldier,  as  follows: 

"  Rarely,  if  ever,  have  I  had  a  greater  pleasure 
than  the  one  assigned  to  me  this  evening.  It  is 
my  privilege  to  introduce  to   you   one   who  was 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


601 


assigned  to  my  staff  when  a  beardless  boy;  who 
was  with  me  in  wliatever  trials  I  experienced  my- 
self during  the  war;  who  never  failed  to  discharge 
his  duty,  not  only  willingly  but  gladly,  whatever 
might  be  the  promised  cost.  I  think  I  may  truth- 
fully say,  without  one  particle  of  exaggeration, 
that  if  the  bare  facts  connected  with  his  services 
in  the  Confederate  Army  were  written  out,  it 
would  furnish  as  thrillitig  a  romance  as  one  ever  i 
read.  I^et  me  relate  to  you  one  or  two  instances 
which  I  recall  at  this  moment:  On  one  occasion 
I  directed  him  as  a  staff-officer  to  carry  an  order 
several  miles,  through  an  unbroken  forest  to  an- 
other jiortion  of  the  army,  from  which  we  had  been 
detached.  The  sun  was  just  setting.  At  night- 
fall he  still  found  himself  in  the  forest  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  Federal  pickets;  but  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  his  cool  bearing — genius  lam  pleased 
to  term  it,  and  I  think  I  am  doing  justice  to  him 
in  saying  so — ihe  captive  became  the  captor,  and 
marched  to  my  tent  nine  Federal  soldiers.  As  to 
how  he  did  it,  I  had  his  simple  story  at  the  time. 
I  have  often  related  it,  and  I  have  never  found  a 
listener  who  did  not  say  that  it  was  without  par- 
allel in  the  history  of  personal  heroism.  Chilly 
night  came  on  and  he  induced  those  F^ederals  to 
kindle  a  blaze  and  to  stack  their  arms.  No  sooner 
was  it  done  than  he  possessed  himself  of  their  guns, 
and  ordered  them  to  march  to  the  Camp. 

"  On  another  occasion,  during  the  fearful  attack 
on  Hare's  Hill,  near  the  close  of  the  war  at  Peters- 
burg, it  became  necessary  for  an  order  to  be  car- 
ried to  the  troops  who  were  in  front,  and  across 
the  most  deadly  portion  of  that  field,  where  it  had 
been  utterly  impossible  to  move  large  bodies  of 
men.  So  fearful  was  this  fire,  that  I  hesitated  to 
designate  any  one  of  my  staff  for  the  service;  and 
I  asked  if  there  was  one  who  would  volunteer  to 
carry  the  order.  No  sooner  had  I  uttered  the 
words  than  this  boy,  not  yet  out  of  his  teens, 
sprang  to  his  feet  with  the  words:  '  General,  I 
will  carry  your  order.'  He  carried  it,  but  left 
his  track  in  his  blood  in  doing  so.  I  know  that 
this  audience  does  not  need  to  be  told,  that  such  a 
career  in  one  so  young  gives  promise  of  a  great  and 
useful  future.  It  is  your  young  and  brilliant  fel- 
low citizen,  whom  I  introduce  to  you.  Col.  Thos. 
G.  Jones.'' 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  home,  and 
engaged  in  planting,  and  at  the  same  time  read 
law  in  the  oHice  of  the  late  John  A.  Elmore,  and 
afterward,  under  the  direction  of  his  near  neigh- 


bor and  friend,  the  late  Chief-Justice  A.  .1. 
Walker.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  ISOO,  and 
the  same  year  married  Miss  Georgena  Bird,  of 
Montgomery,  who,  with  their  seven  children,  con- 
stitute his  household.  His  planting  operations 
resulted  disastrously,  and  he  surrendered  every- 
thing to  creditors,  not  even  reserving  a  home- 
stead, and  devoted  a  large  share  of  his  professional 
earnings  afterward  to  paying  these  debts. 

In  18C8  he  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Daihj 
Picaijune,  a  Democratic  paper  published  in  ilont- 
gomery,  and  evinced  much  ability  as  a  writer. 

In  1809  he  was  one  of  the  Democratic  nominees 
for  Alderman  of  the  city,  but  was  defeated  with 
the  rest  of  the  ticket. 

His  oration  at  Montgomery  on  '•  Memorial  Day," 
1804^,  was  a  classical  production,  full  of  thought 
and  beauty,  and  at  onte  brought  him  jirominently 
before  the  country.  The  press  throughout  the 
Union  published  extracts  from  it,  pronouncing 
them  high  types  of  Southern  oratory  and  feeling. 
The  earnest  and  thoughtful  words  of  the  young 
Confederate,  who  "  would  not  wrong  the  cause  by 
arguing  its  right,"  and  yet  hojied  that  "something 
higher  and  nobler  would  rise  from  the  graves  of 
all  our  heroic  dead  than  a  sectional  vendetta 
between  the  North  and  the  South,"  created  a  pro- 
found impression,  and  were  not  the  least  among 
the  happy  causes  which  combined  in  1874  to  check 
the  further  tide  of  vindictiveness  against  the 
Southern  people. 

He  was  one  of  Governor  Houston's  military 
staff  in  1874,  but  resigned  in  1870  to  accept  the 
captaincy  of  the  Montgomery  Greys.  He  resigned 
command  of  the  Greys  in  1880  to  accept  the 
colonelcy  of  the  Second  Regiment  of  State  troops, 
which  office  he  still  holds.  This  regiment  is  one 
of  the  best  in  the  country,  and  in  morals,  disci- 
pline and  manly  deportment  is  excelled  by  none. 
On  several  occasions  portions  of  it  have  been 
ordered  out,  under  his  command,  to  supress  law- 
lessness, and  each  time  peace  was  restored  without 
bloodshed  or  bitterness.  The  triumphs  of  moral 
power,  rather  than  that  of  mere  physical  force, 
were  due  not  more  to  the  splendid  body  of  men 
under  him  than  to  the  firm  and  humane  hand 
which  guided  them. 

Of  his  conduct  as  commander  of  the  State 
troops  at  Birmingham  on  the  night  of  December 
4,  1883,  the  then  Governor,  in  a  general  order, 
said:  "  Colonel  Jones,  the  commanding  officer, 
was  charged  with  a  grave  responsibility  and  a  large 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


discretion,  under  circumstances  of  the  greatest 
difficulty,  and  to  his  courage,  temper,  prudence 
and  skill  is  mainly  due  the  repression  of  a  dan- 
gerous revolt  against  the  laws  and  dignity  of  the 
State." 

In  1875,  when  the  affairs  of  the  city  of  Mont- 
gomery were  in  a  deplorable  condition, and  required 
almost  Herculean  efforts  to  set  matters  to  rights, 
he  was  one  of  the  Democratic  nominees  for  Alder- 
man, and  was  elected.  During  four  successive 
administrations  he  took  a  laborious  and  prominent 
part  in  shaping  and  executing  the  various  meas- 
ures and  policies  which  aided  inre.storing  its  pros- 
perity. The  reports  written  by  him  on  the  nu- 
merous important  matters  arising  during  this 
period  of  the  city's  history  would  make  an  ordi- 
nary printed  volume,  and  add  greatly  to  his  reputa- 
tion as  a  writer  and  thinkeV.  AVhile  in  the  City 
Council  lie  published  a  paper  on  "Quarantine  Law" 
which  was  extensively  copied  in  medical  and  legal 
periodicals,  and  is  now  quoted  as  authority  on  such 
subjects.  He  resigned  from  the  Council  after  nine 
years'  service. 

In  1880  he  resigned  the  office  of  reporter  of  the 
Supreme  Court  which  he  had  long  filled  with  credit 
to  himself,  and  satisfaction  to  the  bench  and  bar, 
to  give  his  entire  attention  to  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  in  which  he  had  gradually  but  surely 
attained  high  rank. 

In  1S84,  he  was  nominated  and  elected  in  a  most 
flattering  manner  to  a  seat  in  the  General  Assem- 
bly. He  took  a  prominent  and  useful  part  in  the 
session  of  1884-8,")  and  soon  became  one  of  the  ac- 
knowledged leaders  of  the  House.  His  services 
were  highly  appreciated  by  his  constituents,  and 
lie  was  renominated  by  practically  a  unanimous 
vote  at  the  Democratic  primaries  and  convention 
in  the  spring  of  1880,  and  elected  in  August  fol- 
lowing. 

He  is  the  author  of  the  "  Code  of  Legal  Ethics," 
recently  adopted  by  the  Alabama  State  Bar  Asso- 
ciation, which  has  already  attracted  wide  atten- 
tion, and  won  many  encomiums  from  the  profes- 
sion in  this  and  other  States.  Of  his  lecture  at 
McDonald's  Opera  House,  on  "The  Last  Days  of  the 
Army  of  Nortliern  Virginia,"  ex- President  Davis, 
who  was  an  interested  listener,  said  it  was,  "not 
only  a  faithful  and  valuable  history  of  the  closing 
struggles  of  that  illustrious  army,  but  a  produc- 
tion of  rare  literary  merit." 

He  was  Speaker  of  the  Alabama  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives,   session     of    188C-87,    and    by  his 


prompt,  intelligent  and  impartial  rulings,  won  for 
himself  the  unstinted  respect  and  affection  of  all 
parties. 

[The  publishers  are  indebted  to  the  deservedly 
popular  metropolitan  journal,  the  Montgomery 
.If/re/Vi'.'if;- for  many  of  the  foregoing  facts.] 

Of  irreproachable  integrity  and  stainless  char- 
acter in  all  the  relations  of  life;  hospitable,  gen- 
erous and  public-sjtirited;  tolerant  of  opposition, 
yet  tenacious  of  his  own  convictions:  of  an  open 
nature,  pleasing  address,  and  a  great  kindliness  of 
heart,  he  has  long  enjoyed,  in  full  measure,  the 
confidence  and  good  will  of  hi.s  fellow-men. 

«-J^^««- 

EDWARD  ALFRED  GRAHAM.  Attorney-at- 
law,  -Montgomery,  and  Senator  fmm  the  Twenty- 
eighth  District,  was  born  at  Wetumpka,  this 
State,  October  18,  1852.  His  father,  the  late 
Malcolm  D.  (Jraham,  was  a  member  of  Congress, 
Confederate  States  of  America,  from  Texas,  and 
was  Attorney-General  of  that  State  from  1859  to 
1801.  He  returned  to  Alabama  in  1800,  and 
spent  tlie  rest  of  his  life  at  Montgomery,  where  he 
died  in  October,  1878,  at  the  age  of  fifty-two 
years. 

Senator  Graham  was  educateil  at  Henderson, 
Tex.,  Jlontgomery,  Ala.,  and  Washington  and 
Lee  University,  Lexington,  Va.  He  began  the 
study  of  law  in  1872,  in  the  office  of  his  father 
and  Judge  'i'homas  5L  Arrington,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  tliebar  in  June,  18?;^  In  JIarch,  1877,  lie 
was  aiipointed  by  Governor  Houston,  clerk  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Montgomery  County,  and  in 
ISSO,  was  elected  to  fill  that  office,  but  at  the  end 
of  one  year,  he  resigned  for  the  purpose  of  devot- 
ing himself  to  the  practice  of  law.  He  was  first 
elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives  from  this 
county  in  1882,  served  one  term,  and  in  1880  was 
elected  to  the  Senate.  He  has  served  Montgomery 
twice  as  Recorder,  and  di.^charged  tlie  duties  of 
that  office  in  a  highly  satisfactory  manner.  He 
has  always  taken  a  great  interest  in  public  edu- 
cation, and  was  for  a  long  time  a  member  of  the 
City  School  Hoard.  He  distinguished  himself  as 
the  captain  of  the  famous  Montgomery  Greys, 
and  commanded  that  company  at  the  troubles  at 
McGehee's  Switch,  Opelika  and  Hirmingh-im.  At 
the  latter  place  his  cool  determination  and 
soldierly  bearing  contributed  much  to  the  preven- 
i  tion  of  bloodshed. 


c^ 


C-l^-i-T/Wv-^    "^^      ^*~^*''T--v-.--^/L^t-c-«_A=> 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


603 


Senator  Graham  is  an  active  Deinocratio  worker, 
member  of  the  order  of  the  Kniglits  of  I'ythias, 
iti  winch  organization  he  is  Past(iraiul  Chancellor 
and  at  present  one  of  the  representatives  from 
Alabama  to  the  Supreme  Lodge. 

lie  \vas  married  December,  lS7fi,  at  Eufaiila,  to 
Miss  S.  ('.  Thornton,  daughter  of  the  late  Dr. 
William  H.  'I'hornton  of  that  ])lace. 

LLEWELLYN  ADOLPHUS  SHAVER,  Attorney- 
at-law  and  County  Superintendent  of  Education, 
Montgomery,  was  born  at  Howling  Green,  Ky., 
.lauuary  18,  1844.  and  is  the  son  of  the  Kev.  0. 
II.  Shaver,  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church, 
who  died  in  this  city  October.  IS.'iS. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Shaver  came  to  this  State  in  1S47, 
and  will  be  remembered  as  for  many  years  the 
popular  minister  of  tlie  Metliodist  Protestant 
Church  of  this  city.  His  wife's  maiden  name  was 
Taylor,  of  the  prominent  Kentucky  family  of  that 
name. 

L.  A.  Shaver  was  educated  at  Jfontgomerv 
})riinarily,  and  graduated  at  Lynchburg,  \'a.,  in 
I8iil,  with  the  degree  of  A.  H.  In  February,  ISfili, 
he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  F,  Sixtieth 
Alabama  Infantry,  and  served  two  years  and  four 
months.  December  14,  18C3,  at  Bean's  Station, 
he  was,  for  gallantry  in  action,  promoted  to  ser- 
geant-major, and  later  on,  was  advanced  to  tlie 
rank  of  acting-adjutant  of  the  regiment.  He 
was  one  of  the  men  under  arms  who  surrendered 
with  General  Lee  at  Appomatto.x.  After  the  war 
he  read  law  in  the  office  of  Watts  &  Troy,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1H68,  and  has  since  given 
his  attention  to  the  practice.  In  18i9  he  was 
elected  ciuiirman  of  the  Democratic  County  Com- 
mittee, a  position  he  has  since  continuously  filled. 
He  was  appointed  County  Superintetuient  in  1880, 
and  at  tliis  writing  has  been  eight  years  in  that 
otiice.  He  was  a  presidential  elector  from  the 
second  district  in  1884,  and,  with  Colonel  Herbert, 
canvassed  the  district  in  the  interest  of  the  Demo- 
cratic nominee. 

In  18I1T  Captain  Shaver  published  a  history  of 
the  Sixtieth  Alabama  Regitnent,  General  Gracy's 
Brigade,  the  first  edition  of  which  has  long  been 
exhausted,  and  the  second  one,  we  are  informed, 
is  now  in  course  of  preparation. 

He  was  married  in  .Montgomery,  \ovember  2.">, 


1873,  to   Miss  Clara  A.   Wilson,  daughter  of  Dr. 
A.  A.  Wilson,  of  that  city. 

•    -^-^gf^-^ 

WILLIAM  PARISH  CHILTON,  Attorneyat- 
hiw.  Montgomery,  son  of  the  late  Chic^f-Justice 
W.  P.  Chilton  (whose  biography  will  be  found  in 
another  part  of  this  book),  was  born  at  Talladega, 
September  '^7,  1838,  and  was  educated  at  Howard 
College  and  the  State  University.  He  read  law  in 
the  office  of  his  father  at  Tuskegee,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  October  11,  1858.  In  18(il  he 
was  admitted  to  practice  before  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State,  since  which  time  he  has  given 
his  attention  to  the  law,  having  in  the  meantime 
served  one  year  as  Solicitor  of  the  Ninth  District. 

Though  physically  disabled  to  a  very  large  ex- 
tent, the  result  of  having  jumped  from  a  third- 
story  window  of  the  State  University  building  at 
the  time  of  its  conflagration  some  years  since,  he 
offered  his  services  to  his  State  at  the  beginning 
of  the  late  war.  He  was  at  once  assigned  to 
special  duty  by  order  of  Governor  Shorter,  with 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

He  is  a  profound  scholar,  a  good  lawyer,  an 
able  speaker,  and  one  of  the  most  facile  and 
charming  writers  in  the  South.  The  Colonel  has 
been  more  than  once  prominently  spoken  of  in 
high  circles  in  connection  with  the  governorship 
of  the  State,  and  while  these  pages  will  not  reach 
the  eye  of  the  public  until  after  the  successor  to 
the  present  incumbent  of  the  gubernatorial  chair 
shall  have  been  named,  it  is  not  at  all  improbable 
that  the  future  historian,  in  chronicling  the  life 
of  Colonel  Chilton,  will  speak  of  him  as  having 
held  the  highest  office  within  the  gift  of  the 
people  of  the  State. 

— — -^^J^t^]— ^^^ — —. 

HENRY  C.  TOMPKINS,  distinguished  Attor- 
ney-at-hiw,  Montgomery,  is  a  native  of  P^sse.x 
County,  Va.,  where  he  was  born  Sei)teniber  14, 
1845.  His  father,  Joseph  Temple  Tompkins,  was 
a  planter  and  coal  operator  in  Virginia  for  many 
years,  and  there  died  in  18C3,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
two  years.  His  mother's  family  name  was  Ford, 
and  she  was  born  at  Fredericksburg,  \'a. 

The  Tompkinses  came  to  America  from  England, 
though  it  is  understood  they  are  of  Celtic  origin. 


604 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Three  brothers  of  them  came  over  prior  to  the 
Revolution,  one  of  them  settling  in  New  York, 
from  whom  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States  under  Monroe,  sprang,  and 
the  other  two  going  into  A'irginia.  So  far  <is  is 
known  the  Tompkins  family  in  America,  and  it  is 
quite  numerous,  springs  from  the  three  pioneers 
mentioned.  One  of  the  brothers  subsequently 
moved  to  South  Carolina.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  a  descendant  of  the  Virginia  branch. 

II.  C.  Tompkins  was  educated  at  the  Virginia 
academies,  and  was  pursuing  his  studies  when  his 
State  seceded  from  the  Federal  Union.  In  18G2 
he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Fourth  Virginia 
Cavalry,  and  with  this  command  served  two  years 
under  General  Stuart.  Being  then  transferred  to 
infantry  he  was  commissioned  lieutenant,  and  was 
acting  adjutant  of  the  regiment  to  the  close  of  the 
war.  Having  been  captured  at  Sailor's  Creek, 
April  6,  1SC.5,  he  witnessed  the  dawn  of  peace 
from  Johnson's  Island.  He  participated  in  many 
hotly-contested  engagements,  and  at  Brandy  Sta- 
tion, June  9,  18C3,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  He  was  released  in  July  following,  too 
late  for  the  Gettysburg  fight. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  he  returned  to  Virginia, 
and  the  following  year  came  to  Alabama,  where 
he  taught  school  until  January,  1869.  Having 
devoted  his  spare  hours  to  the  study  of  law  in  the 
meantime,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Union 
Springs,  in  February,  1809,  and  at  once  embarked 
in  the  practice. 

Colonel  Tompkins  was  yet  at  Union  Springs  in 
June,  1878,  when  nominated  by  tlie  Democratic 
Convention  for  the  office  of  Attorney-General. 
His  election  followed,  as  of  course,  and,  being 
twice  re-elected,  he  held  the  office  until  December, 
1884. 

As  chairman  of  the  Democratic  County  Com- 
mittee, from  1874  to  1877,  inclusive,  Colonel 
Tompkins  saw  the  downfall  of  the  Radical  party 
in  his  county,  a  result  largely  augmented  by  his 
e.xcellent  management  and  direction  of  the  forces 
at  his  command.  Indeed,  it  is  conceded  tliat  the 
executive  ability  brought  into  the  campaign  com- 
mittee by  Colonel  Tonii)kins  gave  the  Democratic 
party  confidence,  and  united  them,  as  never  be- 
fore, in  the  effort  that  was  so  grandly  crowned  with 
success.  He  was  elected  chairman  of  the  State 
Committee  in  February,  18SG,  and  has  held  that 
position  up  to  this  time. 

Colonel  Tomiikins  first  became   identified   with 


the  State  Troops  in  1875,  and  in  1877  he  was 
elected  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Second  Regi- 
ment. He  was  continued  in  that  rank  for  some 
years,  when  business  affairs  compelled  his  decli- 
nation of  further  acceptance  of  the  office. 

As  a  lawyer  Colonel  Tompkins  is  the  recognized 
peer  of  any  man  in  the  State.  He  is  a  forcible 
and  logical  speaker,  a  ready  debater,  and  a  man  of 
extraordinary  executive  ability.  He  was  one  of 
the  organizers  of,  and  is  now  a  director  in,  the 
Commercial  Fire  Insurance  Company,  of  Montgom- 
ery; is  president  of  the  Alabama  Bar  Association, 
and  the  attorney  of  several  of  the  great  corpora- 
tions of  the  State. 

He  represented  the  State  at  large  as  delegate  to 
the  National  Convention  that  nominated  Cleve- 
land, and  stumped  the  State  in  support  of  his 
election. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Legion  of 
Honor,  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  a  Knight  Tem- 
plar, and  has  been  twice  Grand  Master  of  the 
Masons  of  the  State  (1879-81). 

He  was  married  at  Union  Springs,  April,  1869, 
to  a  daughter  of  Hon.  M.  A.  Baldwin,  distin- 
guished as  having  held  the  office  of  Attorney- 
General  of  the  State  for  eighteen  consecutive 
years.  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Tompkins  have  two 
children,  a  son  and  daughter. 

DAVID  T.  BLAKE Y,  Attorney-at-law,  Mont- 
gomery, was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  August 
1-2,  183;). 

His  father  was  Dr.  Boling  .\.  Blakey,  a  native  of 
the  State  of  Georgia.  Dr.  Blakey  came  into  Ala- 
bama in  1818,  settled  first  at  Mount  Meigs,  this 
County,  and  removed  into  Montgomery  in  1835. 
Here  he  was  many  years  associated  with  Dr.  Silas 
Ames.  In  1841  he  moved  to  Macon  County,  this 
State,  and  there  died  in  1873. 

The  Blakey  family  came  originally  from  Eng- 
land, settling  first  in  N'irginia;  thence  into  Georgia, 
where  they  formed  a  part  of  the  Broad  River 
colony. 

David  T.  Blakey  was  graduated  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Georgia  in  1851  as  A.  B. ,  and  soon  af- 
terward, at  Tuskegec,  began  reading  law  in  the 
office  of  the  late  Judge  Chilton.  Though  admit- 
ted to  the  bar,  it  appears  that  he  was  planting  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  late  war.     Farlv  in  18(51,  he 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


605 


enlisted  us  a  private  in  the  Tiiird  Alabama  Infan- 
try, and  in  September  of  that  year  was  jjromoted 
to  ordnance  otlioer  under  General  Withers.  In 
this  capacity  he  was  at  Mobile  a  few  montiis.when 
by  permission  he  raised  a  comj)aiiy  of  volunteer 
cavalry,  and  became  its  captain.  It  was  known 
as  Company  E,  First  Alaljama  Cavalry.  Colonel 
Blakey  was  with  this  regiment  to  the  close  of  the 
war.  His  first  promotion  took  jilace  in  August, 
1S(!"^,  when  he  was  made  major  of  the  regiment; 
in  October  following  lie  was  promoted  to  lieuten- 
ant-colonel, and  in  -March,  18(i3,  was  made  colonel 
of  the  regiment. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  war.  and  duiing  the 
\orih  Carolina  campaign,  he  commanded  the 
brigade  to  which  his  n^giment  was  attached,  and 
surrendered  the  brigade  at  Charlotte  in  May,  18(15. 
As  the  captain  of  Company  E,  he  participated  in 
the  battle  of  Sliiloh;  was  major  at  I'erryville,  and 
lieutenant  colonel  at  Mnrfrecsboro.  At  Chicka- 
maugaand  Knoxville  he  commanded  the  regiment, 
and  at  the  battle  of  Bentonville  he  cotiimanded 
tiie  brigade.  At  Dandridge,  East  Tennessee,  he 
received  his  first  and  only  wound,  a  gunshot 
through  the  body. 

Of  the  many  gallant  soldiers  whose  records  go 
to  make  up  Alabama's  history  in  the  war  between 
the  States,  there  is  no  one  more  deserving  than 
Colonel  HIakey.  Entering  the  army  as  a  jjrivate, 
he  rose  rajiidly,  as  has  been  seen,  to  captain,  ma- 
jor, lieutenant-colonel  and  brigade  commander, 
and  tlie  distinguished  battles  in  which  he  partici- 
pated are  conclusive  that  his  promotions  were 
based  upon  merit. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war  he  again 
engaged  in  planting.  In  18ii7  he  began  the  prac- 
tice of  law  in  Montgomery,  to  which  he  has  since 
devoted  his  entire  time. 

He  was  married  at  Union  Springs  in  December, 
IsOfi,  to  Miss  Mary  S.  Mabson,  daughter  of  the 
late  I>r.  William  S.  Mabson,  of  that  place.  Of  the 
children  born  to  Colonel  HIakey  and  wife.  Holing 
A.,  A.  H.  and  .M.  S.  are  in  mechanical  business: 
William  M.  is  a  student  at  the  State  University, 
and  David  T.,  Jr.,  attends  school  in  Montgomery. 

JAMES  T.  HOLTZCLAW  was  born  December 
IT,  is;i:i,  at  .MrDonougii,  (Ja.,  though  his  father 
at  the  time  was  a  citizen  of  .\labama.     The  senior 


Mr.  Iloltzclaw  was  a  planter  and  died  in  186T,  his 
widow  still  survives  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
seven,  and  resides  at  Salem,  Ala. 

James  T.  Iloltzclaw  received  an  academic  edu- 
cation at  the  P^ast  Alabama  Institute:  came  to 
Montgomery  in  December,  185;{;  studied  law  with 
W.  L.  Yancey,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  be- 
fore the  Supreme  Court  of  Alabama  in  January, 
1856. 

During  the  late  war,  in  wliiili  .Mr.  Iloltzclaw 
took  an  active  part,  he  made  a  record  as  a  brave 
and  courageous  soldier,  and  one  that  he  may  well 
be  proud  of.  In  1860  he  was  first  a  lieutenant  of 
State  troops,  and  in  1861  he  volunteered  with 
his  company  (the  Jlontgomery  True  Blues)  and 
was  at  the  capture  of  the  I'ensacola  Navy  Yard. 
In  August  of  the  same  year  he  was  aj)pointed  by 
President  Davis,  as  major  of  the  Eighteenth  Ala- 
bama Infantry,  and  in  December  following  was 
promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel.  April  6,  1862, 
he  was  shot  through  the  lung  and,  though  his 
wound  was  considered  mortal,  he  was  back  at  his 
post  within  ninety  days.  After  the  battle  of  Shi- 
loh  he  was  commissioned  colonel  of  his  regiment, 
and  in  June,  1864,  was  commissioned  brigadier- 
general,  in  which  capacity  he  served  until  the 
close  of  the  war. 

Another  writer  says  of  him:  "  In  the  spring  of 
1863,  he  was  recommended  for  promotion  by  Gen- 
erals Beauregard  and  Buckner,  and  by  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Legislature  of  the  State;  again  by  Gen- 
erals Bragg,  Ilardec,  Hill  and  Stewart:  and  by 
Gen.  J.  E.  Johnson,  when  he  took  command  of 
the  Army  of  Tennessee. 

Colonel  Holtzclaw  was  prominently  engaged  in 
some  of  the  most  important  battles,  among  which 
may  be  mentioned:  Shiloh,  Chickamauga, 
Lookout  Mountain,  Missionary  Iiidge,  Xashville, 
Spanish  Fort,  at  which  latter  place  he  took  com- 
mand of  a  division,  consisting  of  his  own  and 
Ector's  Te.xas  Brigade,  which,  with  Gibson's 
Brigade  and  Patton's  artillery,  formed  the  garrison 
at  this  fort.  Here,  for  twenty  days,  2. TOO  Con- 
federates held  25,000  Federal  troops  at  bay. 

After  the  war.  General  Holtzclaw  returned  to 
Montgomery:  resumed  the  practice  of  law  and  con- 
tinued it  to  the  present  time.  His  practice  has 
steadily  increased  and  it  has  now  assumed  e.xten- 
sive  proportions.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Demo- 
cratic County  Committee  from  the  time  of  Recon- 
struction up  to  the  time  the  Democrats  got  con- 
trol of  the  State  and  countv. 


606 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  was  a  delegate  from  tlie  second  district  to 
the  Convention  tliat  nominated  Seymourand  Hlair 
in  1868,  and  was  an  elector  for  Tilden  and  Hen- 
dricks in  187fJ.  He  has  always  taken  an  active 
part  in  politics,  and  held  himself  subject  to  the 
orders  of  the  County  and  State  Committees  in  all 
elections. 

General  Holtzclaw  was  married  in  April,  ISoii, 
to  Mary,  daughter  of  John  A.  and  Lucy  (White) 
Cowles,  of  Montgomery.  Ala.,  and  has  had  born 
to  him  two  children:  Carrie  W.,  now  wifeof  John 
A.  Kirkpatriok,  a  prominent  attorney-at-law,Opel- 
ika,  Ala.,  and  James  T.,  Jr. 

General  Iloltzclaw  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason, 
and  is  Past  Grand  Commander  of  the  Order. 

^—■^—\^^."^-^- 

JAMES  S.  PINCKARD,  Attorney-at-law,  was 
born  at  I'"'orsyti).  <ia.,  August  4.  IS.i'.t,  and  his 
parents  were  .lames  S.  atid  Martha  W.  (Herbert) 
Pinekard. 

The  senior  .Mr.  Pinekard  was  a  prominent  law- 
yer forty  years  at  Forsyth,  and  died  at  his  home 
in  1879.  His  ancestors  were  among  the  pioneers 
of  Monroe  County,  Ga.,  and  his  grandfather  was 
foreman  of  the  first  grand  jury  called  in  his  dis- 
trict. 

James  S.  Pinekard  was  educated  at  Forsyth, 
studied  law,  and  in  188'-i,  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
He  began  the  practice  at  his  native  place,  and 
from  there  soon  afterward,  came  to  Montgomery. 
Here,  at  the  end  of  two  years,  he  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Mr.  \\.  K.  Collier,  under  the  style  and 
firm  name  of  Collier  &  Pinekard.  for  the  general 
practice  of  law  in  all  of  its  various  branches. 

This  firm,  though  composed  of  young  men,  is 
one  of  the  best  known,  and  is  deservedly  one  of 
the  most  popular  in  Central  Alabama.  They  have 
an  extensive  commercial  difutde  both  within  iwul 
without  the  State,  and  a  valuable  and  remunera- 
tive correspondence  with  financial  concerns  and 
parties  in  London,  Glasgow  and  Dundee,  Scotland. 
Through  this  latter  channel  they  have  been  the 
means  of  bringing  much  foreign  capital  into  Ala- 
bama, which,  being  loaneil  at  low  rates  and  on 
long  time,  has  had  a  tendency  to  materially 
lighten  the  burden  of  the  debtor  class  through- 
out the  cotton  belt. 

Messrs.  Collier  and  Pinekard  probable  own  the 
most  complete  set  of  title  al)stracts  in  the  State — 
that  of  Montgomery  County. 


WILLIAM    GILMER    HUTCHESON   was   born 

in  MontLToiiRTv.  Septomlx.'!-  .' 1 .  l^."il.  His  father 
was  the  late  John  D.  Hutcheson,  a  South  Caro- 
lina gentleman,  who  came  to  Alabama  in  1840, 
and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  Montgomery, 
dying  in  1865  at  the  age  of  forty-eight  years. 
He  was  the  most  prominent  dry-goods  merchant 
in  this  city:  was  noted  for  his  intelligence  and 
integrity,  and  distinguished  for  his  personal  good 
looks.  His  wife  was  the  ilaughter  of  the  late 
Judge  B.  S.  Hibb. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  survivor  of 
three  sons.  He  received  his  primary  education  at 
the  schools  of  Montgomery,  and,  subsequently, 
graduated  from  the  Virginia  Military  Institute, 
Lexington,  Va.  He  afterward  attended  the  law 
department  of  Vanderbilt  University,  which  insti- 
tution conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Laws  in  IST'.i. 

ilr.  Hutcheson  was  admitted  to  the  bar  before 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Alabama  in  June,  18T9, 
and  has  since  given  his  time  and  talents  to  his 
profession.  lie  formed  a  partnership  for  the 
practice  of  law  with  L.  A.  Shaver,  Esq.,  in  1881, 
and  the  firm  is  recognized  throughout  the  State  as 
one  of  the  best  at  the  Capital  City. 

Mr.  Hutcheson  was  married  at  Nashville. 
Tenn.,  October  3,  1881,  to  Miss  Kate  Baxter, 
daughter  of  Edmund  Baxter,  Esq.,  a  prominent 
lawyer  of  that  city,  and  there  has  been  born  to 
them  three  children. 


ALEXANDER  TROY.  Attorney-at-law.  .Mont- 
gomery, Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  -Mabama 
State  Bar  Association,  was  born  in  Bladen  County, 
N.  C,  March  14,  1853,  and  is  a  sou  of  Alexander 
J.  Troy,  a  prominent  citizen  and  i)lanter  of  Col- 
umbus County,  that  State. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
common  schools  of  North  Carolina,  and  at  the 
Commercial  College  in  Montgomery.  He  came 
first  to  this  city  in  1870,  but  returned  again  to  his 
native  State  two  years  later.  In  1874,  in  the 
office  of  Colonel  D.  S.  Troy,  Montgomery,  he  be- 
gan the  study  of  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1875.  Since  comi)>gtothe  bar  young  Troy 
has  devoted  himself  assiduously  to  the  require- 
ments of  his  profession,  and  at  this  writing  he  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  promising  young  men 
in  the  State.     He  began  the  practice  in   partner- 


nar 


NORTHRRN  ALABAMA. 


607 


ship  with  George  F.  Moore,  Esq.,  then  and  now  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Montgomery  Har.  He 
coTitinued  a  member  of  this  firm  until  January, 
18S0,  when  lie,  with  Colonels  Troy  and  Tompkins, 
formed  a  partnership,  the  style  of  the  firm  being 
Troy  &  Tompkins.  In  January,  188."),  Mr.  A.  T. 
London,  being  taken  into  the  firm,  the  style  and 
firm  name  became  Troy,  Tompkins  &  Ivondon, 
which  was  changed  on  the  first  day  of  January, 
1S8S,  when  Colonel  Troy  retired  from  the  practice, 
and  the  style  of  the  firm  became  Tompkins,  Lon- 
don &  Troy,  and,  undoubtedly,  stands  well  at  the 
head  of  the  profession  in  the  State.  In  .January, 
187!t,  when  the  State  Bar  Association  was  organ- 
ized, Mr.  Troy  was  selected  for  tlie  position  he 
has  since  held.  Secretary  and  Treasurer. 

Mr.  Troy  was  married  in  this  city  December  20, 
187'!,  to  Miss  Alice  H.  Watts,  daughter  of  ex-Gov- 
ernor Thomas  H.  Watts,  and  they  have  added 
unto  tliem  two  children. 

ARIOSTO  A.  WILEY,  prominent  Attorney-at- 
law,  Montgomery,  son  of  J.  McCaleb  and  Corne- 
lia A.  (Appling)  Wiley,  was  born  at  Clayton,  Bar- 
bour County,  this  State,  November  tJ,  1848,  and 
graduated  from  Emory  and  Henry  College,  Vir- 
ginia, in  class  of  1871.  Having  been  admitted  to 
the  bar,  he  in  1872  located  in  the  city  of  Mont- 
gomery, and  engaged  in  the  jiractice  of  the  law. 
Shortly  after  coming  to  Montgomery,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  before  tlie  State  Supreme  Court, 
and  formed  a  partnership  with  the  Hon.  Samuel 
F.  Uice,  which  association  still  exists  and  is  rec- 
ognized as  one  of  the  strongest  legal  firms  in  the 
South.  In  1877  he  was  admitted  to  practice 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Wiley  at  an  early  day,  after  coining  to  the 
bar  essayed  the  management  and  personal  direc- 
.  tion  of  many  of  the  most  important  cases  coming 
before  this  popular  firm.  This  gave  him  rare  op- 
portunity, and  naturally  developed  the  powers  of 
clear  analysis,  cogent  reasoning,  and  the  pleas- 
ing and  often  highly  eloquent  address  which  sub- 
sequently characterized  him  as  lawyer.  The  re- 
sult is  that  althougli  a  young  man,  we  find  him  in 
the  front  rank  of  his  profession  at  a  bar  noted  for 
its  men  of  ability. 

Col.  Wiley  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  for  the 
session  of  1884-5  and  as  chairman  of  the  Commit- 


tee on  tlie  Revision  of  Laws,  and  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Commerce  and  Common  Carriers, 
wielded  an  immense  influence  in  that  body,  and 
was  an  able,  useful  and  efficient  representative. 
To  his  energy  and  watchfulness  is  due  to  a  large 
extent  the  measures  authorizing  the  purchase  and 
embellishment  of  the  capitol  grounds.  He  has 
been  for  several  years  an  active  member  of  the  city 
council  of  Montgomery,  and  his  uniiring  efforts 
have  contributed  very  greatly  to  the  improvement 
of  this  goodly  city.  As  an  evidence  of  the  esteem 
in  which  he  is  held,  and  the  high  regard  that  his 
people  have  for  him  as  councilman,  a  petition  was 
signed  by  nearly  every  citizen  of  his  ward,  request- 
ing him  not  to  resign  when  he  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature.  He  is  one  of  the  progressive  men 
who  have  helped  to  re-create  the  cajjital  city  of 
Alabama. 

Colonel  Wiley's  name  has  been  repeatedly  men- 
tioned by  his  friends  in  connection  with  a  nomin- 
ation for  the  United  States  Congress,  but,  pre- 
ferring to  give  his  time  to  his  profession,  he  has 
thus  far  declined  to  become  a  candidate.  He  was 
a  delegate  to  the  National  Democratic  Convention 
in  1880  and  again  in  1884.  He  takes  a  deep  in- 
terest in  politics,  and  is  a  member  of  the  State 
Executive  Committee.  At  this  writing  (1888),  be 
is  a  member  of  Governor  Seay's  staff,  with  the 
rank  of  colonel;  is  a  Presidential  Elector  for  his 
District;  and  will  be  a  member  of  the  Legislature 
of  1888-!l. 

Colonel  Wiley  is  a  devoted  and  faithful  friend, 
and  a  courageous  adversary;  possessed  of  the  in- 
separable concomitants  of  sincerity  of  purpose, 
honesty  in  intentions,  and  of  firm  and  decided 
opinions.  His  temperament  is  eminentlv  positive. 
He  is  a  born  polemic,  intellectually  pugnacious 
and  combative,  and  he  resolutely  defends  or  in- 
trepidly attacks  any  position  he  is  called  on  to 
maintain  or  assault.  His  brilliant  success  is  due 
entirely  to  this  mental  characteristic,  for  what- 
ever success  he  has  achieved  is  the  result  of  his 
tireless  energy  and  the  zealous  advocacy  and  asser- 
tion of  his  rights.  With  such  mental  and  moral  at- 
tributes, of  commanding  appearance  and  s])lendid 
physique,  he  bids  fair  to  leave  a  rich  inheritance 
of  fame  to  his  family  and  friends.  The  publish- 
ers, in  consideration  of  the  distinguished  esteem 
in  whicli  the  Colonel  is  held  in  Alabama,  take 
pleasure  in  illustrating  this  chapter  with  his  por- 
trait. 

In  November,  1877,  Colonel  Wiley  married  Miss 


608 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Mittie  A.  Xoble,  the  accomplished  daughter  of 
B.  F.  and  Mary  T.  (Cook)  Xoble.  of  Montgomery, 
and  has  had  born  to  him  one  child,  Noble  J. 

TENNENT  LOMAX,  Solicitor  for  the  County  of 
M(jiiti,'(iiiui-y.  was  liditi  in  the  city  of  ^[ontgomery, 
April  ".'O.  ISojS.  His  father  was  the  late  gallant 
Colonel  Lomax,  of  the  Third  Alabama  Infantry. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
CTniversity  of  Alabama,  from  which  institution 
he  was  graduated  in  the  .\cademic  Department  in 
1878,  and  from  the  Law  Department  one  year 
later.  Associated  with  Captain  Ferguson,  he  at 
once  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  chosen  pro- 
fession at  Montgomery,  and  has  since  devoted  his 
time  and  his  talents  thereto.  The  Legislature  of 
1880  elected  him  to  his  present  position  as  Solic- 
itor for  the  County  of  Montgomery,  an  office  of 
equal  rank  and  power  with  the  Circuit  Solicitor- 
ship,  the  territory  being  less. 

Mr.  Lomax  isVecogiiizedasone  of  the  prominent 
young  Democrats  of  the  State;  he  is  president  of 
the  Democratic  Central  Council  of  the  city  of 
.Montgomery,  and  has  been  secretary  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic State  Executive  Committee  since  1878. 
With  the  exception  of  about  one  year,  he  was  con- 
tinuously, since  June  1,  18S1,  up  to  the  summer 
of  1887,  lieutenant  of  the  famous  "  Montgomery 
Blues."  Ilis  father  was  captain  of  this  popular 
company  for  many  years  prior,  and  up,  to  the  out- 
break of  the  liite  war. 

— .. — ..^,-.;^^g>v.»i    .   , 

WILLIAM  SEWELL  THORINGTON,  City  .U- 
torney,  Montgomery,  was  born  in  this  city, 
July  30,  1847.  His  father,  the  late  Jack  Thoring- 
ton,  native  of  Ireland,  came  here  when  a  boy  and 
here  spent  most  of  his  life,  dying  in  August,  1871, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-three  years.  He  was  some 
time  a  merchant,  but  afterward  entered  the  law  to 
which  he  gave  his  attention  thereafter — in  part- 
nersiiip  with  Hon.  H.'W.  Ililliard  before  the  war, 
and  afterward  with  Hon.  \V.  P.  Chilton.  In 
18(13  he  entered  the  army  as  colonel  of  the  First 
Battalion  of  the  Ililliard  Legion,  and  in  1804,  on 
Colonel  Ililliard's  resigning,  succeeded  to  the 
command  of  the  Legion.  He  was  colonel  of  the 
Legion  when  he  left  the  service  by  resignation  on 
account   of   ill-health.     Of  three  sons  reared    bv 


him  to  manhood,  Robert  D.,  a  merchant,  died  at 
Montgomery,  in  1879 — he  was  a  gallant  soldier 
during  the  late  war,  and  served  on  CeneraKJracy's 
staff;  Jack,  the  second  .son,  also  served  through 
the  war  with  General  Hucker's  escort,  was  Vice- 
Consul  to  Aspinwall  from  1871  to  1883,  and  is  now 
in  the  Land  Office  at  Montgomery:  and  William  S., 
who  Wiis  educated  at  the  University  of  Alabama, 
left  that  institution  in  1805.  served  in  the  army  as 
a  member  of  the  Alabama  Corps  of  Cadets,  during 
a  portion  of  18C4  and  1865.  After  the  war  he 
read  law  with  Chief-Justice  Chilton,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  January  24.  1807,  under  a 
special  Act  of  the  Legislature  authorizing  his 
examination,  he  being  then  under  twenty-one 
years  of  age.  As  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Chil- 
ton &  Thorington,  he  embarked  at  once  into  the 
practice.  He  was  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Chil- 
ton and  his  father,  under  the  firm  name  of  Chilton 
&  Tiiorington,  until  that  firm  was  dissolved  at  the 
death  of  Judge  Chilton  in  1871,  when  he  became 
associated  with  John  T.  ilorgan  and  Walter  L. 
Bragg.  Thi.<  firm  ceased  to  exist  with  Captain 
Bragg's  appointment  to  the  presidency  of  the 
State  Railway  Commission.  General  Morgan  had 
withdrawn  before,  having  been  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate.  Colonel  Thorington  was 
appointed  trustee  of  the  University  of  Alabama, 
by  Governor  Cobb,  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term 
of  the  Hon.  H.  A.  Herbert,  and  was  twice  re- 
appointed to  that  board  by  (iovernor  O'Xeal.  and 
confirmed  by  the  Senate.  He  was  also  judge-ad- 
vocate general  on  Governor  O'Xeal's  staff',  during 
that  gentleman's  incumbency  of  the  gubernatorial 
chair.  In  1880,  the  city  council  appointed  him 
City  Attorney,  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term,  and 
in  1887  he  was  elected  to  that  office.  In  1884 
Colonel  Thorington  was  a  strong  competitor  for 
nomination  before  the  State  Democratic  Conven- 
tion for  the  office  of  Attorney-General,  and  was 
defeated  for  the  nomination  by  Jlr.  McClellan,  by 
a  very  small  vote,  notwithstanding  there  were  two 
other  candidates  from  his  county. 

He  W!is  married  at  Montgomery.  October  'i\, 
18(i7,  to  Miss  Wilella  Ciiilton,  daughter  of  the 
late  Chief-Justice  Chilton.  Of  this  marriage 
there  are  nine  living  children. 

THOMAS  HENRY  WATTS,  commonly  known 
as  Thomas  11.  Watts.  .Ir..  .\ttornev-at-law.  Mont- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


609 


gomery,  son  of  Hon.  Tlioinas  Hill  Watts,  was 
born  in  that  city,  August  li,  ISoIi. 

Thomas  Henry  Watts  received  his  primary  edu- 
cation at  the  private  school  of  (Jeorge  W. Thomas, 
in  the  city  of  Montgomery,  where  he  attended 
from  1800  to  lS(il»,  and  in  KS(;it  went  to  15elle- 
vue  High  School,  Bedford  County,  Va.,  the 
presided  over  by  Hon.  James  P.  Holcombe,  where 
lie  remained  for  two  years,  and  was  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Alabama,  in  July,  1874, 
taking  the  degree  of  Hachelor  of  Laws,  and  the 
academic  degree  of  B.  S.  at  tlie  same  time.  He 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  city  court  at 
Montgomery,  in  July,  1874,  and  in  the  State  Su- 
l)renie  Court,  January,  \%Vi.  After  practicing 
law  for  over  one  year,  he,  on  January  1,  187(i, 
went  into  partnership  with  his  distiiigoished 
father,  and  the  firm  is  now  familiar  throughout 
the  State  of  Alabama  as  Watts  &  Son.  .Mr.  Watts 
was  assistant  secretary  of  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  187.5.     He  was  elected  Alderman  May, 

1885,  for  a  term  of  four  years  to  the  City  Council 
of  Montgomery,  from  Ward  Three,  and  is  still 
(1888)  serving  as   such.     On  the   1%i\\   of  April, 

1886,  during  the  Jetferson  Davis  celebration,  as 
acting  Mayor  of  Montgomery,  he  delivered  the 
address  welcoming  to  the  city  (ten.  John  B.  (ior- 
don. 

He  was  married,  December  S,  LSi."),  at  Tusca- 
loosa, to  Johness  B.,  the  estimable  daughter  of 
the  late  r)r.  S.  J.  Eddins,  and  has  had  Ijorn  to  him 
five  children,  four  sons  and  a  daughter.  The  eld- 
est sou,  Thomas  Hill  Watts,  Jr.,  died  in  1880. 

Mr.  and  Mrs-.  Watts  are  members  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  and  Mr.  Watts  is  past  chancellor  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  and  is  one  of  the  most  active 
Democratic  workers  in  the  State. 

One  fact  about  Mr.  W^atts,  singular  in  its  na- 
ture, is  tliat,  although  he  is  now  (1888)  nearly 
thirty-five  years  of  age  and  weighs  over  two 
hundred  pounds,  he  has  never  during  his  whole 
life,  eaten  either  '•  fish,  flesh  or  fowl." 

•  •*>• -i^i^' •<♦■  • 

BUCKNER     K.    COLLIER.     Attorney-at-law, 

Montgomery,  was  born  in  Upolika,  this  State,  and 
is  tlie  son  of  the  late  Thomas  Collier,  a  native 
North  Carolinian,  who  died  at  Opclika,  188;5,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-eight  years.  The  subject's 
mother  was,  before  marriage.  Miss  Killibrew,  a 
native   of   Tennessee.      She   died    at    Ojielika    in 


1877,  at  the  age  of  fifty-si.x  years.  The  Colliers' 
came  originally  from  England;  the  Killibrews 
from  Scotland. 

Of  the  eight  sons  born  to  Thonia.<  and  Mrs. 
Collier,  Bnckner  K.  is  next  to  the  youngest.  He 
was  educated  at  Decatur,  Ga.,  High  School,  and 
the  Auburn,  Ala.,  College.  At  0])elika,  in  1875, 
he  began  tlie  study  of  law  with  the  late  Hon. 
William  H.  Barnes  as  his  preceptor,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1877.  He  began  the 
practice  immediately  after  his  admission  in  the 
city  of  Opelika,  associated  with  Augustus  Barnes, 
the  son  of  his  late  preceptor.  He  came  to  Mont- 
gomery in  1S8.">,  and,  forming  a  partnership  with 
Mr.  Pinckard,  has  since  devoted  his  time  to  the 
practice,  and  the  firm  of  Collier  &  Pinckard  are 
ranked  among  the  leading  lawyers  of  this  city. 

Mr.  Collier  has  been  si.x  years  attorney  for  the 
Corbin  Banking  Company  of  New  York,  and, 
as  such,  has  had  supervision  of  their  immense 
financial  interests  in  Alabama.  From  1877  up  to 
the  time  of  his  coming  to  Montgomery,  he  filled 
the  office  of  Assistant  Solicitor  for  Lee  County, 
which,  aside  from  the  chairmanship  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Executive  Committee  of  that  county, 
appears  to  be  about  the  only  office  of  a  political 
character  he  has  ever  held.  He  is  vice-president 
of  the  State  Abstract  Company  of  this  city,  and  a 
director  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Opelika. 

^fr.  Collier  was  married  at  Opelika,  in  1881,  to 
Miss  Charlotte  Isabella  Hooper,  daughter  of  the 
late  Col.  (ieorge  W.  Hooper,  who  so  gallantly  com- 
manded the  Third  Alabama  Regiment  during  the 
war. 

The  firm  of  Collier  &  Pinckard  number  among 
their  clients,  some  of  the  leading  corj)oration8  of 
Alabama  and  some  of  the  largest  capitalists  in 
Great  Britain. 

ALEXANDER  TROY  LONDON.  Attorney-at- 
law,  .Montijoniciv,  u:is  burn  at  Wilmington,  N.C., 
February  "..'8,  1847.  His  lather,  ^[auger  l.,ondon, 
was  also  a  native  of  Wilmington,  and  his  grand- 
father, came  from  London,  England,  and  settled 
in  Carolina  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  Wil- 
mington, and  left  school  to  go  into  the  army  in 
iMay,  18<I4.  He  joined  the  North  Carolimi  Reserves 
as  a  private  and  served  about  one  year,  having  been 
almost    immediately   after   going   into    the  com- 


610 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


mand  promoteil  to  regimental  adjutant;  when 
he  left  the  service  he  was  acting  in  the  capacity  of 
adjutant-general  of  the  brigade.  He  read  law  in  the 
oftice  of  his  father,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
at  Wilmington,  in  June  ISOit.  He  there  practiced 
up  to  about  1881),  and  after  "roughing  it"  for 
nearly  four  years  in  South  Carolina,  and  ridding 
himself  of  the  dyspepsia,  came  to  Montgomery, 
and  again  entered  the  practice  of  law.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1885,  he  formed  a  jmrtnership  with  his  uncle, 
D.  S.  'I'roy  and  Col.  H.  C.  Tompkins,  and  is  now 
of  the  firm  of  Troy,  Tompkins  &  London,  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  law  firms  in  the  State. 

lie  is  a  close  student,  a  safe  lawyer,  and  is  re- 
garded by  the  profession  at  large  as  one  of  the 
most  promising  young  men  in  Montgomery. 

•    ■ »  ''^^.-  <•  ■    • 


LESTER  C.  SMITH.  Attorney-at-law,  Mont- 
gomery, was  born  in  this  city,  March  "JO,  18.i0, 
and  is  a  son  of  William  II.  Smith,  now  Mont- 
gomery's City  Treasurer.  He  was  educated  pri- 
marily at  Jlontgomery;  graduated  from  Emory 
and  Henry  (Va.)  College:  read  law  in  the  otHce  of 
Judge  David  Clopton:  began  the  practice  in  Jan- 
uary, 1870.  The  present  firm  of  Thorington  & 
Smith  has  existed  since  1885.  Mr.  Smith  served 
as  member  of  House  of  Kejiresentatives  from 
this  county  during  the  session  of  ]88i!-7.  He  is 
devoted  to  the  practice  of  law.  He  married  Miss 
Annie  Jackson,  of  this  city. 

•    '  '>  '^^i^'  <'  ■    • 

JOHN  FREDERICK  WHITFIELD.  Attorney-at 
law.  aiul  (iiiuMal  .Vir.nt  of  tlio  L.  Oc  X.  R.  \\.  Co., 
at  Montgomery,  was  born  at  Ilayneville.  Lowndes 
County,  Ala.,  March  16,  183T,  and  his  parents 
were  (Jeo.  B.  and  Sarah  (\'arner)  Whitfield,  na- 
tives, respectively,  of  the  .States  of  North  Carolina 
and  Virginia. 

The  senior  Mr.  Whitfield  was  a  farmer  by  occu- 
pation. He  died  at  Ilayneville  when  .John  F.  was 
but  three  years  old,  and  his  widow  survived  him 
only  four  years, 

•lohn  F.  at  an  early  age  entered  a  newspaper 
office  at  (irittin,  (ia.,  and  there  learned  the  print- 
er's trade.  He  was  afterwards  foreman  of  the 
Adrer/iser  ottice  in  Montgomerv,  and  in   is5'.t.  in 


company  with  other  gentlemen,  organized  the 
Montgomery  Daily  Mail,  and  became  one  of  its 
editors.  In  1801,  he  joined  the  Montgomery  True 
Blues,  and  as  orderly  sergeant,  was  with  them  at 
Pensacola,  and  later  on,  as  a  part  of  the  Third 
Alabama  Infantry,  in  the  Army  of  Virginia.  Just 
before  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines,  he  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  captain,  which  commission  he  soon 
afterward  re-signed  and  returning  to  Montgomery, 
raised  a  coin]iany  for  the  First  Alabama  Infantry, 
and  as  captain  of  Company  K,  with  that  regiment 
joined  Bragg's  army.  After  the  battle  of  Corinth, 
he  was  sent  to  Island  No.  !(•.  where  he  was  after- 
ward taken  prisoner  and  carried  to  Johnson's 
Island.  At  the  end  of  si.\  months  he  was  ex- 
changed, and,  at  Port  Hudson  commanded  a  com- 
pany-of  artillery,  under  (ieneral  (iardner.  He 
was  captured  again  at  Port  Hudson,  and  as  pris- 
oner of  war.  was  taken  to  New  Orleans,  and  later 
on  to  Johnson's  Island,  where  he  was  retained 
until  the  latter  part  of  1804,  when  he  was  paroled 
and  sent  through  the  lines.  He  never  was  ex- 
changed, and  reached  Montgomery  as  the  war 
closed. 

Here,  he  again  entered  the  office  of  the  Mail, 
beginning  as  type-setter,  was  soon  made  foreman, 
and,  later  on,  purchased  a  half-interest  in  the 
plant.  The  paper  was  then  enlarged,  and  he  was 
connected  with  it  until  18T0.  (Jivingup  newspaper 
business  he  turned  his  attention  to  railroading,  first 
with  the  Montgomery  i  Eufaula  IJailroad,  and 
later  with  the  L.  &  N.,  in  his  present  position. 
He  read  law  in  18T8;  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 
is  now  a  member  of  the  State  Bar  Association. 

He  was  married  in  this  city  in  18i;i. 

— — ••♦"J^^^-^' — •— 

JOHN   GINDRAT    WINTER.   Attorney-at-law, 

Montgomery,  i.-  a  graduate  nf  Columbia  College 
■  Law  Institute,  class  of  18»!8.  He  was  ailmitted  to 
the  bar  in  New  York,  came  to  Montgomery,  and 
at  once  (1808)  began  the  practice  of  law.  In  1870 
he  was  appointed  County  Solicitor  to  fill  out  the 
unexpired  term  of  a  preceding  incumbent,  and 
held  the  office  two  years.  He  is  now  actively  en- 
gaged at  tlie  law.  and  is  enjoying  a  lucrative  prac- 
tice. 

Mr.  Winter  was  born  in  this  city  March  21. 
1840,  and  is  the  son  of  Joseph  S.  and  Mary  E. 
(Gindrat)  Winter. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


611 


From  tlie  State  riiiversity,  in  18()2,  he  entered 
tlie  army  us  a  jirivate  in  tlie  'I'uscaloosa  Cadets, 
and  remained  in  tlie  service  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  His  first  promotion  was  from  the  ranks  to  a 
third  sergeant,  and  took  place  soon  after  the  or- 
ganization of  the  company.  He  was  next  made 
color-bearer  of  the  Seventh  Alal)ama  Cavalry, 
and,  later  on,  commissioned  second  lieutenant  in 
the  line.  At  Columbia,  Tenn.,  he  was  promoted 
to  adjutant  of  the  regiment,  with  which  rank  he 
left  the  service  after  the  final  surrender.  His 
regiment  formed  a  part  of  F'orrest's  command, 
and.  later  on.  was  attached  to  Hood,  and  with 
both  of  those  distinguished  fighters  he  participated 
in  all  the  engagements  of  his  regiment.  At  the 
close  of  the  war  he  entered  the  Columbia  (New 
York)  College,  Law  Department,  and.  as  has  been 
seen,  was  graduated  in  l.S*J8.  ] 

For  about  six  years  after  the  war  he  was  the   ' 
commanding  officer  of  the  (Jovernor's  Guard,  who   i 
have  since  adopted  the  name  of  the  ilontgomery 
True  Ulues  in  honor  of,  and  as  a  revival  of  tlie  old   i 
and  famous  anti'-heUum  military  organization  of 
that  name. 

Captain  Winter  was  married  January  ■l\\,  1S(j7, 
at  Tuskegee,  Ala.,  to  Miss  Sallie  V.  Calhoun, 
daughter  of  the  late  James  \i.  Calhoun,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  two  daughters. 

The  family  are  communicants  of  the  Episcoj)al 
Church,  and  Captain  Winter  is  a  Knight  Templar 
Mason.  lie  is  an  active  Democratic  worker, 
though  at  no  time  an  office  seeker. 

i 

HORACE    STRINGFELLOW.   Jr.,    Attorney-  i 
at-law,      Montgomery,    son  of     the    Rev.     Hor- 
ace  Stringfellow,    D.D.,  of  St.    John's    Episco-  ' 
cal  Church,  this  city,  was  born   in  Indianapolis, 
Ind.,  September  Vi,  1860.     Dr.  Stringfellow  is  a   ' 
native  of  \'irginia,  and  came  to   Montgomery  in 
ISTO. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at 
Howard  College,  the  Epi-scopal  High  School  at 
Alexandria,  and  the  University  of  Virginia. 
After  an  experience  of  about  five  years  as  clerk 
in  the  wholesale  dry  goods  house  of  LeCirand  & 
Co..  he,  in  1S81,  entered  the  law  department  of 
the  University  of  Virginia,  took  a  summer  course, 
returned  to  Montgomery,  and.  with  Clopton,  Her- 
bert   &    Chambers,  began    the  studv  of    law.     In 


June,  188li,  he  was  graduated  by  the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  State  University  of  Alabama,  as  L.  B., 
and  with  the  maximum  rank  of  loo.  He  was  the 
first  student  of  th:it  institution  to  attain 
that  rank,  and  whether  any  other  graduate  has 
since  reached  the  maximum,  the  writer  is  not  in- 
formed. He  began  the  i)racticeof  law  in  October, 
1SS:J,  at  Montgomery,  and,  in  1884,  formed  a 
paitnership  with  M.  P.  LeOrand,  Jr.  In  1887 
the  strength  of  the  firm  was  augmented  by  the 
addition  of  Scott  Sayre.  The  style  of  the  firm  is 
now  Sayre,  Stringfellow  &  f,e(;rand,  and  it  num- 
bers among  its  many  patrons  several  of  the  large 
corporations  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  Stringfellow  is  of  the  Central  Council  of 
the  Alabama  State  Bar  Association,  and  is  the 
author  and  compiler  of  an  Indexed  Digest  to  the 
Alabama  Supreme  Court  Reports  (published  1888), 
covering  al)out  loo  volumes. 

— — -^-E^J^I—J^- — — 

JOSEPH  M.  WHITE,  Attorney-at-Law,  Mont- 
gomery, son  of  Robert  and  Mary  White,  na- 
tives of  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  of  Irish  descent, 
was  born  on  the  20th  day  of  April,  184(1.  The 
senior  Mr.  While  came  to  Alabama  about  1830, 
and  lived  and  died  in  Barbour  County,  where  he 
was  an  extensive  planter. 

J.  M.  White,  at  the  ago  of  sixteen  years,  en- 
listed in  the  service  of  the  Confederacy  as  a  pri- 
vate in  the  JetT.  Davis  Legion,  and,  with  Stuart's 
Cavalry,  served  in  the  Armies  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina  to  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  wounded 
at  Bentonville,  and  in  186.")  returned  to  Bar- 
bour County,  read  law,  and  at  Clayton  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  lSi!9.  He  began  the  j)ractice 
at  Clayton,  and  was  there  until  1885,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Montgomery,  where  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  firm  of  Roquemore,  White  &  Long,  now 
one  of  the  leading  law  firms  of  the  capital  city. 

Mr.  Rorjuemore  has  his  office  in  Decatur,  Jlr. 
Long  at  Eufanla,  while  Mr.  White  looks  after  the 
interests  of  the  firm,  and  conducts  the  businessat 
headquarters. 

Mr.  White  represented  the  County  of  Barbour 
in  the  Legislature  in  188U  and  1881,  and  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Ways  and  .Means  and  other  important 
committees,  rendered  much  valuable  service.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  C'hicago  Convention  that 
nominated    Jlr.    Cleveland    in    1884.    and   subse- 


612 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


quently  labored  hard  for  the  success  of  the  ticket, 
tliough  he  was  originally  a  Bayard  man. 

Mr.  White  was  married  in  Barbour  County  in 
18fi9,  to  ^liss   Cowart. 

Mrs.  White  died  in  the  summer  of  1887,  leaving 
two  children,  a  son  and  daughter. 

— • — ■  1^  *^jg»^?— *^» — • — 

THOMAS  HARVEY  CLARK,  Attorney-at-law, 
^lontgoiiifiy,  was  Imru  at  I'iiie  Level,  Mont- 
gomery County,  this  State,  November  10,  1857, 
and  was  educated  at  the  common  schools,  Howard 
College,  and  Harvard  Univt  rsity.  He  studied  law 
at  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  subsecjuently  at 
Montgomery,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the 
latter  jilace  in  1880. 

Krom  the  time  of  his  coming  to  the  bar  up  to 
188G  he  practiced  at  the  capital  with  commend- 
able application  and  success.  In  I'ebruary,  188G, 
he  took  editorial  charge  of  the  Selma  ytwe.v, where 
he  at  once  proved  himself  a  writer  of  far  more 
than  ordinary  ability.  In  December  following,  he 
returned  to  .Montgomery  and  accepted  a  place  on 
the  staff  of  the  Advert imr.  July,  1887,  he  gave 
up  newspaper  work  and  resumed  the  practice  of 
law,  to  which  he  is  now  devoting  only  a  portion  of 
his  time.  He  was  a])pointed  Recording  Secretary 
to  (Jovernor  Seay  in  1887,  and  the  duties  of  this 
office  require  most  of  his  attention.  He  was  As- 
sistant Secretary  of  the  State  Senate,  sessions  of 
1882-3,  1884-.i,  and  188C-7. 

Mr.  Clark  is  the  author  of  the  history  of  Mont- 
gomery as  found  in  this  volume,  and  the  publish- 
ers take  pleasure  in  recommending  it  to  their 
many  readers  as  the  most  thoroughly  reliable  work 
ever  published  on  the  subject.  Tiiough  not  volum- 
inous, it  covers  the  material  points  and  preseTits 
all  salient  matter  in  such  a  concise  and  succinct 
form  as  only  the  adept  at  condensation  can  accom- 
plish. 

Mr.  Clark  is  but  at  the  threshold  of  a  life 
fraught  with  brilliant  promise  and  rare  possibil- 
ities. 

THOMAS  SEAY.  (iovernor  of  Alabama,  was 
born  in  (ireene  County,  this  State,  in  1846.  His 
parents,  Heuben  and  Ann  Seay,  were  natives  of 
Georgia,  and  descended  from  English  and   Irish 


ancestry,  respectively.  The  senior  Mr.  Seay  was 
a  planter  by  occupation;  died  at  (Ireensboro  Jan- 
uary 12,  1872.  at  the  age  of  si.xty-five  years,  and 
Mrs.  Seay  died  March  9,  1883,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
nine.  They  reared  seven  children,  Thomas  being 
their  only  son.  He  received  his  primary  educa- 
tion at  the  common  schools  of  this  State,  and  was 
graduated  in  18G7  from  the  Southern  University 
with  the  degree  of  A.M.  Immediately  after  leav- 
ing college  he  began  the  study  of  the  law  with 
the  Hon.  A.  A.  Coleman  at  Greensboro,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  February,  l^•i9.  He 
entered  at  once  into  the  practice,  and,  readily, 
took  high  rank  in  the  profession,  and  to  it  gave 
almost  his  entire  time  until  he  was  called  to  the 
gubernatorial  chair.  He  wjvs  defeated  (1874)  for 
the  Senate,  but  at  the  ensuing  election  he  suc- 
ceeded by  a  handsome  majority,  and  he  retained 
his  seat  for  ten  successive  years,  finally  retiring 
from  that  body  as  its  president.  He  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  National  Convention  that  nominated 
Hancock,  and  in  1884  presided  over  the  State 
C'onvention  held  at  Montgomery. 

It  will  be  seen  that  he  stepped  at  once  from  the 
presidency  of  the  Senate  to  the  governorship  of 
the  State. 

It  is  not  tiie  jirovince  of  the  biographer  to 
eulogize  current  public  men  in  a  work  of  this 
kind,  no  matter  how  deserving  they  may  be,  nor 
how  great  tiie  temptation  therefor.  This  fact  is, 
undoubtedly,  at  once  obvious  to  every  intelligent 
reader.  Therefore  we  are  limited,  in  this  brief 
sketch,  to  a  bare  presentation  of  literal  truths, 
which,  when  stated  in  the  present  instance,  can 
lead  up  to  but  one  conclusion,  and  that  is,  that  of 
the  many  brilliant  young  men  of  a  State  prolific 
in  their  production,  there  is  none  to  whom  is 
more  universally  accorded  the  palm  of  sujierior 
merit  than  to  Tliomas  Seay.  He  ha.*  virtually 
made  hisown  way  in  the  world:  and  while  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  handsome  fortune,  it  is  the  result  of  his 
individtial  effort  and  industry.  Always  devoted 
to  his  profession,  never  failing  in  his  duty  to  a 
client,  ever  wide  awake  to  the  great  interests  of 
the  Democratic  party,  vigilant  alike  in  all  things, 
he  has  deserved  success,  earned  recognition,  and 
realized  fully  upon  both.  Tliough.  but  a  youth 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  he  particijiated  in  the 
struggle,  and  was  as  gallant  a  young  soldier  a« 
Alabama  sent  to  the  front. 

Thomas  Seay  was  married  July  12,  1875.  to 
Miss  Smaw,  who  died    February  15.  I87'.>,  leaving 


£/^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


613 


two  little  children  named,  respectively,  Fannie 
and  Reuben.  March.  1881,  in  the  city  of  New 
Orleans,  Miss  Clara  De  Lesdernier.  of  that  city, 
became  Jlrs.  Thomas  Soay,  and  the  four  children 
that  have  been  born  to  them  are  Fiank,  Amie, 
Annie,  and  Howard.  The  (iovernor  is  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

As  a  compliment  to  the  high  merit  of  the 
Governor,  and  that  the  world  may  know  just  how 
the  popular  young  Executive  of  the  great  State  of 
Alabama  looks,  the  publishers  preface  this  chap- 
ter with  a  handsome  portrait  of  him. 

—    ■»>'  ■?^^-  <»■    •  ■ 

GEORGE  W.  STONE,  Chief-Justice  of  the 
State  of  Alabama,  was  born  in  Bedford  County, 
Va..  October  11,  ISll. 

The  Stone  family  came  to  America  some  time  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  probably  in  the  person  of 
ilicajah  Stone,  who  was  grandfather  to  the  gen- 
tleman whose  name  stands  at  the  head  of  thi.s 
sketch.  Judge  Stone's  father,  also  named  Micajah, 
was  a  native  of  Virginia;  there  married  Sarah 
Leftwich,  and  came  to  Tennessee  in  1818,  where 
he  lived  all  the  rest  of  his  life,  dying  in  Lincoln 
County  in  October,  1827,  at  the  age  of  fifty-two 
years.  His  widow  survived  him  ten  years,  and 
died  at  the  same  place  at  the  age  of  fifty-four 
years.  They  reared  a  family  of  seven  sons  and 
three  daughters,  of  wiiom  there  are  now  living 
but  two  of  the  former  and  one  of  the  latter. 

George  \V.  Stone  was  but  si.x  years  of  age  when 
the  family  migrated  to  Tennessee.  At  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Lincoln  County  he  acquired  a  fair 
English  education,  and  when  about  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  in  the  office  of  James  Fulton,  at 
Fayetteville,  began  the  study  of  law.  He  was 
admitted  to  practice  at  the  age  of  twenty-two, 
and  at  once  came  to  Alabama  and  opened  an  office 
at  Talladega.  There,  in  1840,  he  formed  a  part- 
nership with  the  late  W.  P.  Chilton,  who  after- 
ward became  Chief-Justice  of  the  State  Supreme 
Court.  This  partnership  existed  two  years,  when 
Mr.  Stone  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term  of  the  theii 
late  incumbent.  At  the  ensuing  election,  he  was 
chosen  by  the  ))eople  to  succeed  himself  upon  the 
bench,  but  he  resigned  the  office  before  the  expi- 
ration of  his  term.  Removing  from  there  to 
Lowndes  County,  he  practiced  law  seven  years. 


two  years  of  the  time  in  partnership  with  the  late 
Thomas  J.  Judge,  distinguished  as  one  of  the 
Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court.  In 
18.5C,  Judge  Stone  was  elected  to  the  Supreme 
Court  bench,  and  removed  immediately  to  Mont- 
gomery. He  held  the  Judgeship  until  the  winter 
of  18t;(J-7,  when  he  retired  at  the  request  of 
the  Reconstruction  party.  For  ten  years  there- 
after he  devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  law, 
associated  in  the  meantime  with  the  Messrs. 
Clopton  &  Clanton,  whose  names  are  familiar  in 
the  history  of  the  legal  profession  of  Alabama. 

In  187G,  his  late  partner,  Justice  Judge,  hav- 
ing been  removed  by  death  to  the  courts  of  a 
higher  tribunal.  Judge  Stone  was  again  appointed 
to  the  Supreme  Court  bench,  and,  in  October, 
188-1,  was  made  the  Chief-Justiee. 

In  all.  Justice  Stone  has  served  on  the  Supreme 
bench  for  twenty-seven  years.  His  present  term 
will  expire  in  1892. 

He  was  married  in  Lincoln  County,  Tenn.,  in 
1834,  to  a  Miss  Gillispie,  who  died  at  Talladega, 
in  1848.  His  second  marriage  was  in  Lowndes 
County  in  September,  1849..  to  a  Miss  Moore,  who 
died  January,  18(52.  The  present  Mrs.  Stone's 
maiden  name  was  Harrison.  Her  first  husband's 
name  was  Wright.  She  and  the  Judge  were  mar- 
ried February,  18G6. 

Justice  Stone  is  rather  a  self-made  man.  The 
little  inheritance  that  fell  to  liim  from  his  father's 
estate,  was  exhausted  while  he  was  pursuing  his 
studies.  His  opinions  since  his  advent  upon  the 
Suj)reme  bench  will  aggregate  fourteen  volumes 
of  the  Alabama  Reports,  and  they  are  regarded 
both  within  and  without  the  State,  as  the  highest 
exponents  of  the  law.  They  are  found  in  forty- 
two  different  volumes,  or  about  one-third  of  the 
entire  Alabama  Reports. 

DAVID  CLOPTON,  Associate  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  is  a  na- 
tive of  Putnam  County,  Ga.  His  father  was  Dr. 
Alford  Cloptouj  a  native  of  ^'irginia,  and  descend- 
ed from  English  ancestors,  and  his  mother  was, 
before  marriage,  Sarah  Kendrick,  a  native  of 
(ieorgia.  His  parents  were  married  in  (Jeorgia, 
and  Dr.  Clopton  there  practiced  medicine  many 
years.  He  came  to  .Mabama  in  1843,  lived  two 
years  at  Tuskegee.  and   tlicn  removed   to  Mont- 


614 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


gomery.  He  abandoned  the  practice  of  medicine 
when  about  thirty  years  of  age,  and  thereafter 
gave  his  attantion  to  planting.  He  died  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1870,  at  Montgomery,  in  the  eighty-third 
year  of  his  age. 

At  Macon,  Ga.,  Judge  Clopton  was  fitted  for  col- 
lege, and  he  was  graduated  from  Randolph-Macon 
in  1840,  with  the  first  honors  of  his  class.  After 
leaving  college  he  read  law  at  Macon,  under  A. 
H.  Chappel,  and  was  there  subsefpiently  admitted 
to  the  bar.  He  was  twenty-one  years  of  age  when 
he  began  the  practice  of  law  at  Griftin,  Ga.,  and 
from  there,  at  the  end  of  eighteen  months,  moved 
to  Tiiskegee,  where  he  was  living  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war.  He  represented  his  district  in  the 
United  States  Congress  in  I8.j!t-G0,  and  was  a 
seceding  member  in  18()1.  In  the  spring  of  the 
latter  year  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Twelfth 
Alabama  Infjuitry.  In  the  fall  of  1801  the 
people  of  his  district,  without  any  solicitation 
upon  iiis  part — without  his  knowledge,  in  fact — 
elected  him  Kepresentative  to  the  regular  Confed- 
erate Congress,  of  wiiich  body  he  remained  a  mem- 
ber to  the  end  of  the  Confederacy.  He  returned 
to  Tuskegee,resumed  the  practice  of  law,  and  in  the 
fall  of  1800  moved  to  Montgomery,  where  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  George  AV.  Stone  (the 
present  Chief -Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court),  and 
Gen.  James  H.  Clanton,  under  the  style  and  firm 
name  of  Stone,  Clopton  &  Clanton.  General  Clan- 
ton  having  been  killed  in  186!t  at  Kno.wille, 
Tenn.,  the  firm  became  Stone  &  Clopton.  This 
firm  existed  until  Stone  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Houston  (1876)  to  the  Associate  Judgeship  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  After  that  Judge  Clopton  formed 
a  partnership  with  H.  L.  Herbert  and  William  L. 
Chambers,  which  partnership  lasted  four  years. 
Mr.  Herbert's  desire  to  remain  in  Congress  led  to 
its  dissolution,  and  Mr.  Chambers  entered  the 
banking  business.  In  October,  1884,  Governor 
O'Neal  appointed  Judge  Clopton  to  the  Supreme 
Court  bench,  where  he  is  at  this  writing. 

Judge  Clopton  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
First  National  Hank  of  Sheftield,  also  of  the 
SlieHield  Coal  and  Iron  Company,  and  is  a  director 
in  each  of  these  great  corporations. 

In  1878  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of 
the  Legislature,  and  was  the  .Speaker  of  the  ensu- 
ing session.  He  refused  a  second  term,  preferring 
to  devote  him.self  to  the  practice  of  law. 

Judge  Clopton  has  been  thrice  married.  First, 
to    Miss    Martha    E.    Ligon,    sister   of    Governor 


Ligon.  She  died  in  November,  1867.  The 
Judge's  second  marriage  occurred  at  Columbus, 
Ga.,  in  1871,  when  he  led  to  the  altar  Mrs.  Marj' 
F.  Chambers.  She  died  in  February,  1S85;  and 
November  29,  lfi87,  the  Judge's  third  marriage 
took  place  at  Huntsville,  Ala.  The  present  Mrs. 
Clopton  was  the  brilliant  and  accomplished  widow 
of  the  late  distinguished  Clement  C.  Clay. 

The  Judge  is  a  member  of  the  Mjisonic  fraternity, 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and 
has  been  for  nearly  twenty  years  superintendent 
of  the  Sabbath-school. 

SOLOMON  PALMER  was  born  in  Blount  County, 
Ala.,  August  'l'-\,  18.(9.  His  father,  Solomon 
Palmer,Sr.,of  South  Carolina,  was  born  in  1787, and 
came  to  Alabama  in  1819.  He  settled  in  Blount 
County,  and  there  spent  the  rest  of  his  life,  dying 
in  1807  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years.  Of  the  six 
sons  reared  by  him  to  manhood,  Solomon  was  the 
youngest. 

In  1861,  Solomon  Palmer,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  graduated  from  the  State  University, 
and  at  once  entered  the  Southern  army  as  a  tecond 
lieutenant  of  Company  K.  Nineteenth  Alabama 
Infantry,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war.  His 
first  promotion  took  place  immediately  after  the 
battle  of  Shiloh.  when  he  was  advanced  from 
second  lieutenant  to  the  rank  of  captain.  At 
Chickamauga  he  was  promoted  to  major,  and 
afterward  commanded  the  regiment  through  sev- 
eral important  engagements. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Blount 
County,  and  the  same  year  was  sent  to  the  lower 
house  of  the  Legislature.  After  teaching  school 
in  Blount  some  three  or  four  years,  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the 
spring  of  1870.  In  1874  he  removed  to  Gunters- 
ville,  and  there  continued  the  practice  until  1884, 
when  he  was  called  by  the  voice  of  the  people  to 
preside  over  the  educational  interests  of  the  State. 
His  successful  management  of  this  important 
branch  of  the  State  Government  produced  the 
very  natural  result  of  his  re-election  for  the  ensu- 
ing term.  He  is,  therefore,  at  this  writing,  well 
advanced  in  his  second  incumbency,  and  as  the 
office  is  not  one  to  be  hawked  around  to  the  high- 
est political  bidder,  but  is  rather  one  requiring 
peculiar  fitness  and  adaptation,  the  people  in  their 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


615 


wisdom  would  be  justified  should  tliey  see  fit  to 
retfiin  him  for  even  an  indefinite  period.  It  is  not 
necessary  in  this  connection,  nor  in  tliis  publica- 
tion, to  discuss  this  proposition,  and  the  sugges- 
tions arc  here  merely  thrown  in  as  a  compliment 
due  to  the  man  who  has  conducted  tlie  educational 
interests  of  the  State  for  the  past  four  years  with 
such  signal  ability.  The  question  of  the  succes- 
soiship  to  this  office  will  have  been  settled  be- 
fore these  pages  reach  the  eyes  of  the  public. 

In  188"-J,  Major  Palmer  purchased  the  Giiulers- 
ville  Democrat,  and  presided  over  its  editorial  col- 
umns up  to  some  time  in  1888,  when  he  disposed 
of  it  to  the  present  capable  and  accomplished 
management. 

Major  I'almer  has  always  taken  an  active  inter- 
est in  politics,  and  whether  he  has  for  himself 
been  asking  the  support  of  that  party,  or  has 
been  aiding  his  friends  in  tlieir  laudable  ambition 
in  that  direction,  his  services  have  been  equally  as 
freely  given.  In  Blount  County,  he  was  many 
years  ciiairman  of  the  I)emocratic  Central  Com- 
mittee ;  also  in  Marshall,  after  he  became  a  citizen 
of  that  county,  he  presided  with  the  same  devo- 
tion and  interest  over  the  committee  that  forms 
one  of  the  stones  in  the  great  foundation  that 
supports  the  grand  superstructure  —  the  mighty 
Democratic  party  of  the  Nation. 

He  is  a  consistent  member  of  the  .Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  represented  that  body  as  the 
lay  delegate  of  the  Korth  Alabama  Conference  to 
the  (ieneral  Conference  held  at  Atlanta  in  1878 — 
the  highest  honor  the  Church  confers  upon  any 
lay  member. 

-Major  I'almer  was  married,  in  Cherokee  Coun- 
ty, Ala.,  in  18(17,  to  Miss  Virginia  A.  Law,  and 
he  and  his  wife  are  the  parents  of  seven  daughters 
and  one  son.  The  Major  is  a  member  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor  and  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
-Masons. 

CHARLES  CARTER   LANGDON.  Secretary  of 

State,  is  a  native  of  (■oniii-i-tiriit.  where  he  was 
born  .\ugM!it  .'>,  lS(i."). 

Cliarles  C.  Langdon  was  educated  at  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Connecticut,  attending  thereat 
during  winters  only,  as  he  sjjcnt  his  time  during 
the  rest  of  the  year  upon  his  father's  farm.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen  years,  he  began  teaching  school 
and  taught  several  winters.     He  came  to  Alabama 


in  18"i5,  locating  first  at  Marion,  where  he  was  in 
mercantile  business  for  a  period  of  ten  years.  In 
the  fall  of  18;)4  he  removed  to  Mobile  and  was 
there  for  three  years  engaged  in  the  commission 
business.  In  1838  he  purchased  the  .Mobile  Jdver- 
tispr,  of  which  he  was  editor  up  to  18">:5,  and  with 
which  he  was  more  or  less  identified  until  ISOI.  It 
was  then  the  leading  Whig  paper  of  the  State,  and 
the  conduct  of  its  editorial  columns  placed  Mr. 
Langdon  high  up  in  the  counsels  of  that  party. 
He  directed  its  editorial  pages  during  the  famous 
campaign  of  1800  and  made  the  paper  the  strong 
opponent  to  secession.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
war. he  engageJ  in  agriculture,  and  established  a 
nursery  for  fruits  and  flowers  near  the  city  of 
Mobile". 

While  a  resident  of  Perry  County,  Mr.  Langdon 
appeared  first  before  the  public  as  the  Union  can- 
didate for  the  Legislature  as  against  nullification, 
and  was  defeated  by  a  very  few  votes.  In  1838  he 
was  a  Whig  candidate  for  the  Legislature  from 
Jlobile  County  and  was  defeated;  in  1839  he  was 
elected,  and  succeeded  himself  in  1840.  At  the 
end  of  the  latter  session  he  declined  further  offi- 
cial preferment,  as  his  business  interests  were  such 
as  to  claim  his  whole  attention. 

In  1848  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  Mobile  and  held 
the  office  for  six  successive  years.  In  I8.j.">-C,  and 
in  1802  lie  was  in  the  Legislature  from  Mobile, 
lie  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion of  1865,  also  of  1870.  He  was  in  the  Legis- 
lature again  in  1881-2-3,  and  was  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Education  in  1881,  and  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Common  Carriers  in  I8S3. 

lie  was  a  prominent  candidate  for  Goveruor  in 
1872,  but  was  beaten  by  Jlr.  Herndon,and  again  in 
1878,  when  he  was  beaten  by  ilr.  Cobb.  He  was 
elected  to  Congress  the  first  year  after  the  war, 
but  was  not  allowed  to  take  his  seat,  for  be  it  re- 
membered that  while  he  opposed  secession  from 
principle,  and  heartily,  too.  that  after  the  State 
withdrew  from  the  Union,  he  gave  the  Southern 
cause  his  earnest  support. 

In  1885  Governor  0"Neal  appointed  him  Secre- 
tary of  State  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term  of  the 
Hon.  Ellis  Phelan.  This  appointment  was  to  him 
a  complete  surprise,  as  he  in  no  manner  had  in- 
dicated the  desire  for  that  position  or  for  any 
other  under  that  administration.  His  conduct  of 
this  office  led  to  the  very  natural  result  of  his 
election  thereto  in  the  fall  of  1880. 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  Mr.  Langdon's  politi- 


«16 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


<;al  career.  A  fair  and  impartial  history  of  his 
public  acts  would  make  a  volume  of  interesting 
reading,  and  show  that  he  has  been,  as  he  is  now, 
one  of  Alabama's  noblest  and  best  citizens. 

He  was  married  in  Soutliington,  Conn.,  in 
1829,  to  Eliza  Moore,  a  native  of  that  town, 
and  an  eld  schoolmate  of  his.  Their  fathers 
had  been  firm  friends  and  had  served  in  the  State 
Legislature  together.  Mrs.  J^angdon  died  in  1884, 
at  Mobile,  after  a  married  life  of  fifty-five  years. 
The  five  children  born  to  them  are  all  dead,  the 
two  daughters  dying  quite  young.  The  oldest 
5on,  Henry  Clay,  died  in  185G,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two  years.  Charles  C,  Jr.,  died  in  18C7, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-seven  years,  from  an  illness 
resulting  from  exposure  while  in  the  t'onfederate 
Army,  where  he  was  a  gallant  soldier  during  the 
entire  war. 

The  Langdons  came  originally  from  England, 
And  were  among  the  early  Xew  England  colonists. 
Capt.  Giles  Langdon,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary 
War. 

They  are  a  long-lived  people.  Secretary  Lang- 
don's  father  lived  to  be  eighty-five  years  of  age, 
one  of  his  brothers  to  seventy-four  years,  and 
Another  to  eighty  six  years. 

-« — *«5^^-«— 


HENRY  R.  SHORTER.  President  of  the  Rail- 
road Commission  of  tliu  State  of  Alabama,  was 
born  at  Montieello,Ga.,Feb.28,1833.  His  father. 
Dr.  Reuben  C.  Shorter,  a  native  of  Culpeper 
County,  Va.,  was  graduated  in  early  life  from  the 
jnedical  department  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  practiced  medicine  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  in  Georgia.  He  settled  at  Eufaula, 
^then  L'winton),  in  the  fall  of  1836,  removing 
thither  from  .Jasper  County,  Ga.  He  was  an  ac- 
complished scholar  and  gentleman  of  the  old 
school,  a  strict  disciplinarian,  a  jiopular  physician 
and  a  man  of  much  influence  in  the  community. 
Jle  served  several  terms  in  the  Georgia  Legisla- 
ture, and  was  distinguished  as  a  useful  legislator. 
After  coming  to  Alabama  he  devoted  his  time  to 
cotton  planting,  and  the  rearing  and  training  of 
his  children.  How  well  he  succeeded  in  the  last 
mentioned,  but  most  important  subdivision  of  his 
life's  efforts,  may  be  ])artially  gathered  from  the 
printed  pages  of  our  State's  history,  and  the  vol- 


umes of  biography  chronicling  the  lives  of  her 
noblest  sons.  He  died  July  14,  18")3,  at  the  age 
of  sixty-six  years.  His  wife  was  Mary  Gill,  a  na- 
tive of  Hancock  County,  Ga.  They  reared  four 
sons,  and  the  brilliant  achievements  of  eadi  of 
these  noble  sioiis  illumine  the  pages  of  history  and 
reflect  honor  upon  the  State  of  their  adojition. 
The  eldest  son,  John  Gill  Shorter,  served  tlie  peo- 
ple of  Alabama  as  Solicitor  (184'.J),  as  Senator 
(1845),  Legislator  (l.*s.')l).  Judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court  nine  years.  Commissioner  to  the  Secession 
Convention  of  Georgia  (18G1),  member  of  the 
Confederate  States  Congress  and  as  Governor 
(18(;i  to  18G3).  He  died  May  20,  1872,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-five  years.  The  second  son,  the  late  Col. 
Eli  S.  Shorter,  distinguished  lawyer  and  politician; 
member  of  the  United  States  Congress,  1855  to  1859, 
in'clusive;  an  able  defender  of  Southern  rights; 
indentified  with  the  Southern  Confederacy  from 
its  inception  to  its  close;  commander  of  a  volunteer 
regiment  at  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  died  at  Eufaula, 
Ala.,  in  May,  1875.  The  third  son,  Reuben  C. 
Shorter,  was  also  a  brilliant  lawyer.  After  mar- 
riage he  settled  in  the  city  of  Montgomery  and  com- 
menced the  study  of  the  law,  with  every  prospect 
of  a  successful  future.  He  died  at  the  early  age 
of  twenty-six. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  graduated  from 
Chapel  Hill  (North  Carolina)  University  in  June, 
1853;  read  law  with  his  brother,  Eli  S.  Shorter,  at 
Eufaula.and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  May,  1<S54. 
Associated  with  his  brother  under  the  firm  name 
of  Shorter  &  Brother,  he  was  actively  engaged  in 
the  practice  from  that  time  to  the  outbreak  of  the 
war.  liarly  in  1801,  he  enlisted  as  a  private 
soldier  in  Company  A,  First  Regiment  Alabama 
Volunteer  Lifantry,  and  served  twelve  months. 
He  then  joined  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia  as 
first  lieutenant  and  aide-de-camp  on  the  staff  of 
Brigadier  General  C.  A.  Battle.  He  remained  on 
General  Battle's  staff  to  the  close  of  the  war;  was 
wounded,  May  5,  1804,  by  a  minie-ball  flesh  cut 
on  the  left  breast,  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness, 
and  left  the  service  with  the  full  rank  of  n)ajor, 
acting  adjutant  and  inspector-general.  At  .Spot- 
sylvania, on  ilay  12,  1804,  Gen.  R.  E.  Rodcs  ten- 
dered him  promotion, on  the  battle-field,  on  his  staff 
with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  but  he 
was  warmly  attached  to  General  Battle  and  pre- 
ferred a  lower  rank  upon  liis  staff  to  a  more  exalted 
one  with  some  one  else.  At  Cedar  Creek,  \'a., 
October    19,    1804,    General    Battle  was  severely 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


CI  7 


wontuled,    and   Major    Shorter  arcoiiiiiaiiifil    liiin 
home  to  Alahuma. 

After  tlie  war  ended,  Major  Shorter  resumed  the 
liractice  of  hiw,  with  what  success  can  readily  be 
gathered  from  a  perusal  of  this  but  partial  outline 
of  liis  life.  He  is  a  lawyer  of  acknowledged  abil- 
ity, and  while  in  the  j)raotipe  had  a  large  and 
lucrative  patronage. 

In  February,  I88.1,  without  solicitation  upon 
Ills  part,  the  Senate  elected  him  president  of  the 
Railroad  Commissioii  of  Alabama,  one  of  the 
State's  most  important  departments.  In  this  the 
succeeding  Executive  consulted  the  public's 
best  interest  by  continuing  him  without  interrup- 
tion. His  peculiar  fitness  for  the  position  he  so 
ably  fills  is  familiar  to  the  intelligent  people  of 
the  State,  and  has  been  acquired  by  the  most  pa- 
tient and  devoted  study  of  railroads  and  tiieir 
great  and  growing  influence  in  this  rapidly  devel- 
oping country. 

In  the  unprecedented  political  struggle  which 
preceded  the  overthrow  of  rotten  carpet-bag  and 
negro  rule  in  Alabama,  no  one  took  a  more  active 
and  effective  part  that  did  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  With  what  diabolical  tenacity  those 
vampires  held  on  to  the  control  of  public  affairs  is 
now  a  (uirt  of  iiistory;  with  what  savage  determi- 
nation they  waged  their  last  battle  is  familiar  to 
all,  but  is  probably  no  more  vividly  remembered 
by  any  man  than  by  Col.  H.  R.  Shorter. 

At  the  November  election,  18i4,  at  Eufaula, 
while  contending  for  the  rights  of  his  State  and 
her  people,  and  protesting  against  the  continua- 
tion in  power  of  the  most  dastardly  pack  of  rob- 
bers that  ever  fastened  themselves  upon  a  com- 
munity, a  regular  street  battle  was  fought  be- 
tween the  Democrats  and  Radicals,  in  which  he 
received  two  pistol  shots,  one  through  the  left 
arm,  the  other  shot  being  squarely  over  his  heart, 
the  ball  lodging  in  a  memorandum  book  in  his 
coat  breast-pocket.  These  shots  failed,  as  if 
through  the  intervention  of  ProvideTice,  in  their 
purpose  of  removing  him  from  the  further  affairs 
of  this  life.  However,  as  that  day  settled  the 
Radicals  in  Alabama,  and  as  his  life  was  spared 
for  yet  many  years  of  usefulness,  there  was  enough 
and  to  spare  "to  thank  CJod  on." 

Colonel  Shorter  lias  at  no  time  in  life  been  a 
place-hunter,  though  he  has  always  served  his  party 
and  friends  in  every  political  contest.  He  was 
the  elector  from  his  district  on  the  Greeley  ticket, 
and  canvassed   the  State   in    its  interest.     When 


Tliomas  Seay  was  candidate  for  Governor,  Colonel 
Shorter  canvassed  tiie  State  with  him,  ntider  the 
direction  of  the  executive  committee,  and  struck 
many  hard  and  telling  blows  in  his  behalf.  He 
is  a  ready  debater  and  pleasing  s])eaker. 

May  9,  18r)4,  at  Eufaula,  Colonel  Siiortcr  mar- 
ried Miss  Addie  Keitt,  daughter  of  the  late  Mr. 
John  Keitt,  of  Orangeburg,  S.  C,  and  a  cousin 
of  the  brilliant  Col.  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  who, 
while  commanding  his  regiment,  lost  his  life  at 
Petersburg.  Of  this  union,  one  son,  Henry  R., 
Jr.,  now  a  student  at  the  State  University,  and 
three  daughters,  were  born,  all  of  whom  are  now 
in  life.  Colonel  Shorter's  friends  and  admirers 
all  over  Alabama  are  confident  that  future  honors 
are  in  store  for  him. 

MALCOLM  C.  BURKE,  Auditor  of  State, 
was  born  at  'ruscaloosa  July  14,  1836,  and  was 
educated  at  the  University  of  Alabama.  He 
was  teaching  school  in  Tuscaloosa  when  the 
war  broke  out,  and,  in  fact,  up  to  the  time 
of  his  entering  the  service  of  the  CJonfederate 
Government,  which  he  did  in  December,  1862, 
as  a  first  lieutenant  of  artillery.  He  was  as- 
signed to  duty  at  Fort  Morgan,  having  previously 
been  examined,  by  the  authorized  board,  for  ord- 
nance duty,  to  which  he  was  commissioned  at  once. 
In  1863  he  was  assigned  to  the  staff  of  General 
Cantey  as  ordnance  officer".  With  Cantey's  Brigade 
he  w'ent  to  Johnson's  army  in  Northern  Georgia, 
and  served  through  that  campaign  as  first  lieuten- 
ant of  ordnance  and  brigade  ordnance  officer. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  Major  Burke  returned  to 
Tuscaloosa  County,  farmed  one  year  and  removed 
to  Marengo  County,  where  he  devoted  three  years  to 
agriculture.  In  1872,  at  Demopolis,  he  started 
the  Marengo  Nexcs,  erecting  it  upon  the  plant  of 
an  old  and  defunct  paper.  He  conducted  the 
NfXL'S  twelve  years,  and  during  the  period  of  Re- 
construction, made  it  what  his  many  patrons  de- 
clared to  be  a  "  red-hot  paper."  Demopolis  being 
near  the  center  of  the  black  belt,  the  jS(it'$  had 
ample  opportunity  in  those  days  to  distinguish  it- 
self as  the  opponent  of  radical  rule,  for  it  was  in 
the  black  belt  that  Republicanism  was  most  arro- 
gant and  oppressive,  and  the  verdict  is  that  Major 
Burke  improved  the  opportunity  to  the  fullest  ex- 
tent.    In  1872  he  was  appointed   Superintendent 


618 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


of  Education  of  Marengo  County;  held  the  office 
eighteen  months  and  resigned  it.  From  1881  to 
1884  he  was  Mayor  of  Demopolis.  In  the  latter  j'ear 
he  was  elected  Auditor  of  State,  and  was  re-elected 
in  188(i.  His  connection  with  the  Marengo  News 
ceased  upon  his  election  to  the  Auditorship. 

Major  Burke  was  married  at  Tuscaloosa  Decem- 
ber T,  18C5,  to  Miss  Annie  Inge,  a  native  of  that 
place  and  a  daughter  of  the  late  Robert  S.  Inge. 
She  died  April  11.  18sr,leaving  five  children— one 
daughter  and  four  sons. 

Major  Burke's  administration  of  the  Auditor's 
office  has  been  of  such  character  as  to  receive  the 
notice  of  the  leading  press  of  almost  every  State 
in  the  Union.  In  1884,  the  first  year  of  his 
incumbency,  the  delinrjuent  tax  at  the  end  of  the 
tax  year  amounted  to  but  I^Sj.'JOO,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  tax  year  for  \%%h,  there  was  only  due  his 
office  from  the  entire  State,  the  sum  of  $49.70. 
This  fact  was  commented  upon  as  being  without 
precedent  in  the  history  of  any  State  in  the 
Union.  The  delinquent,  or  unpaid  tax.  due  tiie 
office,  when  he  took  charge  of  it,  aggregated 
$;J0,OOO,and  in  1881  the  books  show  that  there  was 
over  ^100,000  delinquent,  and  that  the  average 
for  twenty  years  preceding  his  election,  was  over 
$50,000.  AVhen  asked  as  to  how  this  remarkable 
condition  of  the  State  taxes  had  been  brought 
about,  the  Auditor  replied  to  the  writer  "  simply 
by  executing  the  law  as  found  upon  the  statute 
books."  The  laws  of  the  State  regulating  the 
collection  of  tax  have  been  somewhat  changed, 
and  at  his  suggestioti,  since  he  came  into  office. 
A  provision  of  law  which  has  existed  since  the 
adoption  of  the  code  of  1870,  and  to  which  he 
attributes  the  greatest  importance,  is  that  of  giving 
the  (iovernor  the  power  to  suspend  for  cause  any 
delinquent  tax  collector  in  the  State.  In  the  office 
machinery,  improvement  is  noticeable  in  many 
ways.  In  short,  the  Auditor's  office  of  the  State 
of  Alabama  may  be  referred  to  as  the  model  of  its 
kind. 

All  the  State  taxes  charged  against  collectors 
for  the  fiscal  years  ending,  respectively,  September 
;J0,  1885,  1880  and  1887,  have  been  paid  into  the 
State  Treasury  or  legally  settled,  not  a  dollar  re- 
maining unaccounted  for.  There  are  some  small 
amounts  outstanding  which  are  in  litigation  by 
suits  brought,  not  against  revenue  officers,  but  by 
revenue  officers  against  corporations  for  taxes 
claimed  to  be  due  the  State  from  such  corpora- 
tions.    When  these  suits  are  all  settled,  there  will 


be  an  absolutely  clean  sheet  for  all  the  years  of 
5Ir.  Burke's  administration. 

THOMAS  N.  McCLELLAN,  Attorney-General 
of  the  Stall'  (if  Al;iliaiii:i.  native  of  Limestone 
County,  this  State,  son  of  Thomas  J.  McClellan, 
who  died  October  14,  1887,  was  born  February  23, 
1853.  He  was  educated  at  Oak  Hill  Academy, 
Tennessee;  studied  law  at  Cumberland  University, 
and  was  graduated  from  that  institution  as  liach- 
elor  of  Laws  in  June,  1872.  In  September  of  that 
year,  associated  with  his  brother,  the  Hon.  W.  A. 
McClellan,  he  began  the  practice  of  his  chosen 
profession  at  Athens,  and  readily  took  rank  as  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  young  men  of  the  North  Ala- 
bama bar.  In  1874,  1875  and  1870  he  held  the 
office  of  Register  in  Chancery  for  Limestone  Coun- 
ty, and  in  1880  was  elected  Senator  from  the  Dis- 
trict composed  of  Limestone  and  Lauderdale,  and 
served  till  1884.  In  1884  he  was  elected  Attorney- 
General,  to  which  high  office  he  succeeded  himself 
in  1880.  His  conduct  of  this  trust  has  been  of 
such  character  as  to  demonstrate  his  eminent  fit- 
ness for  the  place,  and  attest  the  wisdom  of  the 
people  that  elected  him. 

Though  the  youngest  member  of  the  State  Sen- 
ate, while  of  that  body  he  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  several  of  its  most  important  committees,  and 
in  every  ease  proved  himself  equal  to  the  tasks 
imposed  upon  him.  As  Attorney-General  some 
of  the  most  important  legal  questions  have  come 
before  him.  and  at  this  writing  (1888)  he  enjoys 
the  distinction  of  not  having  had  any  of  his  de- 
cisio7i8  reversed  or  overruled. 

In  the  prosecution  of  Vicen*',  the  defaulting 
State  Treasurer,  one  of  the  most  famous  cases  in 
the  history  of  the  State,  General  McClellan  took 
the  leading  part,  and  so  acquitted  himself  as  to 
win  the  applause  of  law-al)iding  people  through- 
out the  South. 

JAMES  L.  SHEFFIELD,  native  of  Ilunts- 
ville,  Ala.,  son  of  Xicliolas  and  Mary  (Martin) 
Sheffield,  natives,  respectively,  of  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  was  born  December  5,   1819. 

The  senior  Mr.  Sheffield  came  to  Alabama  in 
1818,  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  at  Huntsville, 
where  he  died  in  1840,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven 
years. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


619 


Jamos  Ij.  Slicttielil  was  etlucateil  at  the  common 
schools  of  Miulison  County,  and  in  183?,  took  uj) 
liis  abode  in  Marshall  County,  and  has  there 
since  made  his  home.  He  was  Sheriff  from  1844 
to  1847,  inclusive;  represented  the  county  in  the 
Legislature  in  1852-.'i-4-r) ;  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Secession  Convention  in  1800,  and  opposed 
recession  with  all  his  power.  However,  when  the 
State  withdrew  from  the  Union,  he  went  with  it  and 
entered  into  her  defense  heart  and  soul.  lie 
joined  the  army  early  in  18111,  as  a  lieutenant  of 
Company  K,  Ninth  Alabama  Infantry;  was  pro- 
moted .shortly  afterward  to  captain  of  his  company, 
and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  raised  the  Forty- 
eighth  Alabama  Infantry  and  became  its  colonel. 
He  led  this  regiment  at  Cedar  Jlountain,  Sharps- 
burg,  Fredericksburg,  Suffolk,  Gettysburg  and  at 
Chickamauga,  where,  as  senior  colonel,  he  com- 
manded Law's  Brigade.  At  the  last  named  battle 
he  received  such  injury  from  the  concussion  of  a 
shell,  as  to  compel  his  retirement  from  the  army 
sometime  afterward,  but  not  until  he  had  com- 
manded the  brigade  at  Fredericksburg,  Suffolk 
and  Gettysburg.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that 
Colonel  Sheffield  raised  the  Forty-eighth  Regi- 
ment at  his  own  personal  expense,  paying  out 
therefor,  ^57,(iOO  in  money.  A  part  of  this  sum 
was  afterward  returned  to  him  by  the  Govern- 
ment, but,  as  he  had  it  on  deposit  in  a  bank  at 
Kichmond,  he  subsequently  lost  it  entirely. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Marshall 
County,  and  was  a  delegate  to  tlie  Constitutional 
Convention  in  1865,  and  a  representative  to  the 
lower  house  of  the  Legislature  in  1806-7.  In  1886 
he  represented  Marshall,  Jackson  and  DeKalb 
Counties  in  the  Senate,  for  which  position  he  was 
nominated  by  acclamation  and  chosen  without 
opposition. 

Colonel  Sheffield  was  one  of  the  most  bitter 
opponents  of  the  Fifteenth  Constitutional  Amend- 
ment and,  after  Reconstruction,  he  was  for 
a  period  of  two  years  the  only  man  in  Xorth- 
ern  Alabama  that  openly  and  publicly  spoke  in 
behalf  of  the  Democratic  party;  and,  despite  the 
iiitter  and  hostile  attitude  of  the  Federal  party, 
he  canvassed  the  counties  of  Xorth  Alabama,  and 
in  doing  so  won  for  himself  the  distinction  of  be- 
ing one  of  tlie  most  powerful  stump  speakers  in 
the  State.  In  1860  he  supported  Douglas,  and 
made  at  least  a  half  hundred  speeches  in  his  be- 
half, and,  as  has  already  been  seen,  did  every- 
thing in  his  power  to  save  the  Democratic  party 


and  the  old  Constitutional  Union.  Since  Sep- 
tember, 1886,  he  has  been  connected  as  clerk  with 
the  educational  department  of  the  State. 

His  speech  made  on  Decoration  Day,  1886,  was 
pronounced  one  of  the  finest  efforts  of  its  character 
everdelivered.  In  the  Senate,  when  the  ipiestion  of 
appropriation  for  the  erection  of  the  Confederate 
monument  came  up,  he  took  an  active  stand  in 
its  favor,  and  the  success  of  the  movement  was 
undoubtedly  largely  due  to  his  influence.  His 
address  upon  that  occasion  was  one  of  the  ablest 
ever  delivered  on  that  subject. 

June  27,  1844,  he  was  married  at  Warrington, 
Marshall  County,  to  Mary  A.  Street,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  eight  children,  si.x  of  whom,  two  sons 
and   four  daughters,  are  now  living. 

■    ■  *>  '^^.'^^*- 

JOSEPH  DAY  BARRON  is  a  native  of  Upson 
County,  (i;i.,  wlu're  he  was  Ijorn  March  19,  1833. 
His  father  was  the  Rev.  Hiram  Barron,  forty 
years  a  minister  of  the  Baptist  Church.  He 
was  a  native  of  Georgia,  came  to  Alabama  in 
lived  eleven  years  in  Russell  County,  and  from  1837, 
1848  to  1872  in  Randolph  County,  where  he  died 
in  the  last  named  year  at  the  age  of  about  seventy- 
two  years.  His  wife  was,  before  marriage,  named 
Pool,  and  her  ancestors  fought  under  General 
Greene  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Joseph  Day  Barron  was  educated  at  the  com- 
mon schools  of  Russell  County,  and  in  1856 
assumed  the  editorship  of  the  Louina  Eagle. 
Two  years  later  he  removed  this  paper  to  AVedo- 
wee,  Randolph  County,  changed  its  name  to  the 
Southern  Mercury,  and  run  it  up  to  1861.  He 
was  afterward  associated  with  the  Ashland  Times 
for  about  a  year;  his  last  newspaper  work  was 
with  the  Montgomery  Advertiser  during  the  years 
of  1879,  '80,  '81,  '82,  '83. 

Most  of  his  time  during  the  late  war  was  given 
to  the  milling  business,  but  during  the  latter  part 
of  1864  he  was  connected  with  the  Sixth  Alabama 
Cavalry,  and  remained  with  it  to  the  close.  He 
represented  Clay  County  in  the  lower  house  of 
the  Legislature,  session  of  1874-5,  and  again  in 
1875-0.  During  both  sessions  he  was  at  the  head 
of  the  Committee  on  Enrolled  Bills,  on  Commit- 
tee of  Public  Printing,  and  Federal  Relations. 

In  1878  he  came  into  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
State  as  chief  clerk  to  Maj.  William  W.  Screws, 
and  has  continued  in  that  position. 


620 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


lie  was  mariierl  in  Randolph  County,  in  1854, 
to  Miss  Hebecca  Wood,  a  native  of  Georgia,  and  a 
daughter  of  the  Kev.  Allen  Wood,  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 

His  continuation  in  the  position  which  he  has 
filled  tiirough  so  many  administrations  attests  his 
eminent  qualifications  for  the  duties  of  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  State,  for  which  position  his 
thorough  acquaintance  with  all  the  details  of  the 
office,  as  well  as  his  close  application  to  business 
and  his  well-known  honesty  and  integrity  of  char- 
acter, peculiarly  fit  him.  It  is  quite  likely  that 
the  people  will  at  no  distant  day  advance  him  to 
the  head  of  the  department. 

It  may  be  proper  to  add  that  Mr.  Barron  is  a 
Democrat  of  the  old  sciiool. 

— — -^-i^^-^' — ^ 

FREDERICK  HORTON  SMITH.  Treasurer  of 
State,  was  born  in  Hancock  County,  Ga.,  of  Ver- 
mont and  \'irginia  ancestry,  Octobers,  1822.  He 
was  taught  in  boyhood  at  the  primary  schools  of 
the  period  and  supplemented  his  learning  in  the 
intercourse  of  daily  business  by  private  study  and 
instruction.  At  an  early  age  (being  an  orphan), 
he  familiarized  himself  with  farming  and  mercan- 
tile pursuits,  which  as  a  vocation  he  has  contin- 
uously followed.  He  removed  to  Alabama  in 
1844,  and  married  in  Dallas  County  in  1851.  He 
has  since  made  Dallas  County  his  home.  He  has 
has  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters  born  to  him; 
is  a  member  of  the  .Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  of  the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellow  fraternities 
and  of  the  Grange.  He  served  the  Confederacy 
during  the  war  in  a  civil  capacity,  and  afterward 
the  county  of  Dallas  (with  others)  in  extricating 
it  from  burdensome  indebtedness  and  taxation 
inflicted  upon  its  taxpayers  during  the  Reconstruc- 
tion period  by  unscrupulous  aliens  and  corrupt 
officials. 

Mr.  Smith  was  a  representative  in  the  State  leg- 
islature in  1883-3  and  was  appointed  during  that 
session  by  Governor  O'Xeal  to  the  State  Treasury- 
ship,  and  at  the  expiration  of  that  term,  elected 
by  the  people  to  that  office  for  that  and  the 
next  succcding  term. 

Mr.  Smith  has  made  a  good  and  efficient  officer 
and  retires  from  the  position  with  the  thanks  of 
the  peoj)le  for  the  excellent  manner  in  which  he 
has  conducted  the  financial  afifairs  of  the  State. 


REUBEN  F.  KOLB,  Commissioner  of  Agricul- 
ture for  tlie  State  of  Alabama,  was  born  in  Eu- 
faula.  Ala.,  April  10,  183!>,  and  has  resided  in 
Barbour  County  since  the  day  of  his  birth,  ever 
active  in  the  promotion  of  its  best  interests.  At 
the  commencement  of  the  war  between  the  States, 
he  entered  the  Confederate  service  by  enlisting  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Eufaula  Rifles,  commanded  by 
that  intrepid  soldier  and  matchless  orator,  Capt. 
Alpheus  Baker.  The  second,  third  and  fourth 
years  of  that  memorable  struggle,  he  commanded 
Kolb's  Battery  in  the  Western  Army.  His  ser- 
vice and  that  of  his  gallant  command  were  signal- 
ized by  bravery  and  patriotic  devotion.  He  was  a 
courageous,  bold  and  energetic  officer,  never 
shrinking  from  danger,  but  meeting  it  with  the 
fortitude  of  one  deeply  impressed  with  the  righte- 
ousness of  his  patriotic  convictions.  When  he 
was  finally  compelled  to  sheath  his  trusted  sword, 
he  returned  to  his  native  county  to  restore  his 
lost  fortunes,  and  to  assist  in  elevating  Alabama 
from  the  debris  of  financial  and  political  desola- 
tion to  a  plane  of  progress  and  prosperity.  During 
the  dark  days  of  Reconstruction  no  man  was  truer 
to  the  cause  of  good  government  and  to  party 
fealty  than  was  Captain  Kolb. 

His  devotion  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  his 
sacrifices  in  its  behalf,  are  jiart  of  the  unwritten 
political  history  of  Alabama,  and  familiar  to  those 
who  were  most  zealous  in  securing  for  the  State 
the  blessings  of  local  self-government.  His  pri- 
vate life  has  been  devoted  to  his  favorite  pursuit, 
progressive  agriculture.  He  has  made  it  a  practi- 
cal study,  and  his  ideas  in  that  direction  are 
broad  and  comprehensive,  and  will  be  of  material 
benefit  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  State  in 
the  administration  of  his  jiresent  official  duties. 
Recognizing  his  capacity,  (iov.  Thonuis  Seay  ap- 
pointed him  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  in  July 
last,  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term  of  Judge  Betts, 
and  again  in  September,  1887,  he  was  appointed  for 
the  full  term  of  two  years  from  that  date.  In  No- 
vember, 1887,  the  Farmers'  National  Congress,  in 
session  at  Chicago,  elected  him  president  of  that 
distinguished  body,  which  was  a  compliment  to 
the  State  and  a  handsome  tribute  to  his  capabil- 
ties.  As  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  he  has  in 
his  brief  service  given  evidence  of  the  successful 
results  that  will  accrue  to  his  administration  of 
the  trust.  The  department  overwhich  heprcsides 
is  already  an  important  factor  in  the  State  Govern- 
ment, and  under  his  energetic  and  wise  adminis- 


^.  A  /cV^ 


) 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


621 


tr:itioii,  it  promises  to  accomplisli  much  good  to- 
ward tiie  develoi)ment  of  tlie  material  resources  of 
Alabama  and  in  restoring  to  agriculture  its  for- 
mer prestige. 

Captain  Kolb  is  a  genial,  whole-souled,  generous 
gentleman,  and  enjoys  the  esteem  of  a  host  of 
friends  in  Alabama;  and  embodying,  as  he  does  so 
many  superior  traits  of  character,  the  publishers 
take  pleasure  in  embellishing  this  short  and 
imperfect  sketch  with  his  portrait. 

■  •  •»-;^^-»— ^ 

WILLIAM  WALLACE  SCREWS  has  been  a 
citizen  of  Montgomery  since  the  first  day  of  .Janu- 
ary, 18.58.  When  a  boy  eighteen  years  of  age,  he 
entered  the  office  of  Watts,  .Judge  &  Jackson  as 
a  law  student,  lie  was  born  in  Barbour  County 
I'^ebruary  2.5,  IS.'Jl).  The  only  school  advantitges 
he  enjoyed  were  those  of  the  high  scliooi  of  (ilen- 
ville,  the  town  in  which  he  was  reared.  He  was 
a  Whig  in  political  sentiment,  and  his  first  vote 
was  cast  for  Hell  and  Everett.  He  was  opposed 
to  secession,  but  went  off  with  Alabama  troops 
before  the  State  went  out  of  the  Union,  and  was 
at  I'ensacola  .January  11,  18G1,  wlien  news  was 
received  that  the  ordinance  of  secession  had  been 
a<lopted  by  the  Convention.  Witli  the  troops  then 
at  I'ensacola,  under  the  command  of  (!oloneI  T. 
Lomax.  he  was  engaged  in  the  capture  of  the  navy 
yard  and  Fort  Harancas.  He  was  afterward,  and 
to  the  close  of  the  war,  in  what  was  known  as 
Ililliard's  Legion,  and,  when  thrown  into  regi- 
ments, he  was  in  the  Fifty-ninth  Alabama  Regi- 
ment, commanded  by  Colonel  Doling  Hall.  He 
was  first  lieutenant  in  a  company  of  which  John 
C.  Henley  was  cai)tain.  His  military  service  was 
ill  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and  Virginia,  and  in 
many  of  the  memorable  engagements  of  the  war, 
until  the  surrender  at  Appomatto.x  in  18C.5. 

Returning  to  Montgomery,  he  became  one  of 
the  editors  of  the  Advertiser,  his  connection  be- 
ginning with  the  first  issue,  July  20.  1»65.  He 
has  been  connected  with  it  without  intermission 
since  that  time.  His  services  to  the  State  and  to 
the  Democratic  party  have  been  constant,  but 
always  cheerfully  rendered.  It  is  safe  to  say  that 
no  man  in  Alabama  has  done  more  to  put  the 
State  upon  the  solid  footing  she  now  occupies 
than  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

He  has  never  sought  office,  though  he  was 
elected   Secretary  of  State   in    lSi8,  and   was  re- 


elected in  1880.  He  declined  a  third  term,  al- 
though he  could  have  been  easily  elected,  and 
since  then  his  whole  time  has  been  devoted  to  the 
Advertiser,  he  being  the  president  of  the  company 
and  editor-in-chief.  Throughout  the  State  he 
has  many  devoted  friends,  who  would  gladly  see 
him  occupy  official  station,  as  he  has  shown  that  he 
possesses  a  vast  store  of  practical  knowledge  about 
everything  in  which  the  State  is  interested.  He 
has  canvassed  the  State  several  times  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  Democratic  candidates.  No  man  is 
more  devoted  to  his  friends,  and  it  isa  notewortliy 
fact  that  at  every  State  Convention  he  is  the  warm 
advocate  of  some  friend  who  is  a  candidate  for 
nomination. 

WILLIAM  WIRT  ALLEN.  United  States  Mar- 
shal for  the  Middle  and  Southern  Districts  of  Ala- 
bama, comes  so  near  being  a  native  of  this  State, 
that  it  may  well  claim  him.  He  was  born  in  the 
city  of  New  York  while  his  mother  was  on  a  visit 
to  that  city,  September  11,  1835.  His  father. 
Wade  Allen,  a  South  Carolinian,  came  to  the  site 
of  Montgomery  in  1818;  here  located,  and  spent 
the  rest  of  his  life,  dying  in  18.51  at  the  age  of 
fifty-eight  years. 

The  Aliens  came  originally  from  England  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  and  settled  in  Vir- 
ginia, going  later  to  South  Carolina.  Mrs. 
Allen's  family  name  was  Sayre;  she  was  born  in 
New  .Jersey,  and  her  people  came  to  Alabama  in 
1820.  Her  father  was  for  many  years  a  merchant 
in  New  York  City.  Mrs.  Allen  is  yet  living  in 
Montgomery  (1888),  at  the  age  of  eighty-three 
years.  Of  the  four  sons  born  to  her  and  that  grew 
to  manhood,  William  W.,  is  the  eldest,  and  two 
of  them  are  dead. 

William  Wirt  Allen  was  educated  primarily  at 
Montgomery  and  graduated  from  Princeton,  N.  J., 
in  18.54.  After  leaving  college  he  read  law,  and 
when  twenty-one  years  of  age  turned  his  attention 
to  planting.  April,  18fil,  he  was  elected  first  lieu- 
tenant of  the  Montgomery  Mounted  Rifles,  with 
(ieneral  Clanton  then  as  captain.  The  Rifles 
were  that  fall,  merged  into  the  First  Alabama 
Cavalry,  with  Allen  as  major  and  Clanton  as  col- 
onel. 

Soon  after  the  Hattle  of  Shiloh,  Major  Allen  was 
commissioned  colonel  of  his  regiment,  and  com- 
manded it  in   the  campaign    of    Kentucky  until 


622 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


after  the  battle  of  Perryville,  wliere  he  was 
wounded.  About  tliat  time,  Gen.  Joe  Wheeler 
having  been  made  chief  of  cavalry,  Colonel  Allen 
succeeded  to  the  command  of  Wheeler's  Brigade, 
and  commanded  it  up  to  and  including  the  first 
day's  battle  at  Mufreesboro.  During  this  engage- 
ment he  was  wounded  cjuite  seriously  through  the 
hand,  and  was  compelled  thereby  to  lay  up  until 
the  winter  of  18G3-4.  In  the  meantime  he  was 
commissioned  brigadier-general. 

He  soon  afterward  reported  to  (Jen.  Joseph 
E.  Jolnison  at  Dalton,  Ga.,  and  was  assigned  at 
once  to  the  command  of  a  brigade.  In  August, 
1864,  he  took  command  of  a  division,  composed 
of  six  Georgia  regiments,  six  Alabama  regiments, 
to  which  was  added  later  "the  Confederate 
Brigade,"  and  in  the  winter  of  1804  lie  was  pro- 
moted to  major-general.  lie  was  with  Johnson 
in  Georgia,  and  started  with  Hood  into  Tennes- 
see; but  left  the  latter  General,  just  before 
the  battle  of  Franklin,  to  pursue  Sherman,  whom 
he  followed  through  to  the  sea.  General  Allen 
surrendered  with  (ieneral  Johnson  in  North  Car- 
olina, returned  to  Montgomery  and  engaged  in 
planting,  which  he  followed  up  to  1874. 

From  1874  to  1875,  inclusive,  he  was  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  New  Orleans  &  Atlantic  Short  Line 
Kailroad,  as  Freight  and  Passenger  Agent  at  New 
Orleans.  In  1881,  when  the  office  of  City  Re- 
corder of  Montgomery  was  established,  he  became 
its  first  incumbent,  and  continued  as  such  until 
June,  188."),  when  he  was  appointed  by  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  to  the  position  in  which 
we  now  find  him,  and  for  which  his  eminent  fit- 
ness is  universally  acknowledged.  General  Allen 
was  the  first  president  of  tlie  organization  known 
as  the  "  C'onfederate  Survivors"  of  this  city 
County. 

He  was  married  in  1857,  at  Montgomery,  by 
Bishop  Cobbs,  to  Miss  Sue  Ball,  of  this  city, 
and  has  had  born  to  him  seven  sons  and  three 
daugliters. 

«>-!^g^-  ■<'  ■    ■ 


JOSEPH  W.  DIMMICK,  Clerk  of  the  United 
States  Circuit  and  District  Courts,  Montgomery, 
was  born  in  Schuyler  C'ounty.  111..  November  tl, 
18H8,  and  is  the  son  of  Ebenezer  Dimmick,  a 
native  of  New  York  State,  and  of  English  an- 
cestry. 

J.  W.  Dimmick  was  educated  at  the  common 
schools  of  Illinois,  and  at  Kashville  Academy,  and 


was  teaching  school  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
between  the  States.  May  8,  1861,  he  enlisted  as 
a  private  in  Company  G,  Sixteenth  Illinois  In- 
fantry, and  served  three  years  and  three  months. 
^Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Corinth,  he  was 
promoted  from  the  ranks  to  a  second  lieutenancy, 
and  held  that  position  when  he  left  the  army. 
In  1860,  President  Grant  appointed  him  post- 
master at  Montgomery,  and  he  held  that  office 
four  years.  In  1875,  Justice  Woods,  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  (then  of  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court),  appointed  him 
Clerk  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court, 
a  position  he  has  since  filled  with  credit  to  him- 
self, and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people. 

Captain  Dimmick  was  one  of  the  organizers  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  -Montgomery:  many 
years  a  member  of  its  Board  of  Directors,  and  is 
now  its  vice-president.  He  is  officially  connected 
with  the  Sheffield  Land  Company,  the  Sheffield  and 
Birmingham  Coal,  Iron  &  Railroad  Company, 
president  of  the  Montgomery  Iron  Works,  and  a 
director  of  the  Capital  City  Water  Works. 

September  7,  1869,  Captain  Dimmick  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Annie  Savage,  a  daughter  of  the  late 
Professor  Polk  Savage,  of  this  city,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  tliree  daughters  and  one  son. 


'■^«:< 


««►► 


JOHN  BRUCE,  Judge  of  the  United  States 
District  Court  for  the  Jliddle  and  Northern  Dis- 
tricts of  Alabama,  was  born  in  Sterlingshire, 
Scotland,  February  16,  18:W,  and  came  with  his 
parents,  James  and  .Margaret  (F.,iddell)  Bruce,  to 
America  in  1840.  The  family  located  in  Wayne 
County,  Ohio,  and  there  the  two  old  people  are 
buried,  Mr.  Bruce  dying  in  1848,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-eight  years,  and  his  widow  in  1874,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-two. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at 
Franklin  College,  from  which  institution  he  was 
graduated  as  A.  B.  in  1854.  From  college,  he 
went  to  Keokuk.  Iowa,  there  read  law  with  lian- 
kin  &  Miller,  the  latter  now  a  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,  and,  in  1856, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Burlington.  Associa- 
ted with  George  W.  McCreary,  afterward  Secre- 
tary of  War,  he  began  the  practice  of  law  at  Keo- 
kuk, and  was  there  at  the  outbreak  of  the  late 
war. 

As  cajitain  of  Company    A.    Nineteenth   Iowa 


pl/^ 


aJiJ^-^c^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


623 


Volunteer  Infantry,  John  ]{riu;e  entered  the 
United  States  service  in  18G:i.  From  captain  he 
was  soon  afterward  jjromoted  to  major.  In  1863, 
lie  was  made  lieiitenaiit-ooloiiel,  and  in  1804,  was 
commissioned  colonel.  At  the  close  of  the  w-ar, 
"  in  consideration  of  distiiiguislied  valor  and 
meritorious  services,"'  Colonel  Uruce  was  [jronio- 
ted  to  the  rank  of  brevet  brigadier-general.  Dur- 
ing hostilities.  Colonel  Bruce  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Prairie  (Jrove,  Ark.,  the  seige  of  Vicks- 
burg,  Yazoo  City,  Port  Hudson,  New  Orleans 
atid  Banks'  e.xpedition  to  Texas.  From  Browns- 
ville, Tex.,  his  command  returned  to  New  Orleans 
in  18(14,  and,  as  landsmen,  took  part  in  tiie  attack 
on  Fort  Morgan.  He  was  afterward  engaged  in 
the  battles  around  Mobile  and  at  the  surrender  of 
Spanish  Fort. 

Being  mustered  out  of  the  service  in  18G5,  at 
Davenport,  Iowa,  General  Bruce  returned  to  Keo- 
kuk, and,  the  following  fall,  came  Soutli  for  the 
purpose  of  entering  into  the  production  of  cotton. 
He  located  in  Wilcox  County,  this  State,  and  was 
sent  from  there  to  the  Legislature  in  18Tti  and 
again  in  1874.  In  187">  he  was  apjtointed  by  Pres- 
ident Grant,  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  Judge 
of  the  Thiited  States  District  Courts  for  the  Dis- 
tricts of  Alabama. 

Judge  Bruce  was  married,  in  Keokuk,  Iowa,  in 
1870,  to  Anna  J.  Hamil,  daughter  of  Smith 
Hamil,  an  extensive  wholesale  merchant  of  that 
city,  and  has  had  born  to  him  five  children,  two 
of  whom  were  buried  in  infancy  ;  the  others  are 
William  Hamil,  Maggie  and  Martha. 

Judge  and  Mrs.  Bruce  are  members  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  of  Montgomery,  Ala. 


'««; 


"«- 


JOHN  GIDEON  HARRIS.  The  subject  of  this 
sketcli  is  not  oiily  diu'  of  the  most  extensively 
known,  but  is  also  one  of  the  best  and  purest  men 
in  the  State.  His  father  was  Page  Harris,  a 
North  Carolinian,  who  settled  in  Hale  County  in 
181!l,  became  a  planter,  and  in  1887  died  at  the 
extreme  old  age  of  ninety-three  years. 

There  were  few  men  more  esteemed  in  the  cul- 
tivated and  intelligent  business  and  social  circles 
of  West  Alabama  than  Page  Harris,  and  his 
death  was  universally  regretted.  The  Harris 
family  came  origimilly  from  England  and  Wales, 
and    settled    in    N'irginia    about    1(;80.  and    from 


there  passed  into  North  Carolina,  from  whence  it 
migrated  to  Alabama. 

Major  Harris  was  educated  at  Greene  Springs, 
under  the  celebrated  Professor  Henry  Tutwiler, 
and  after  leaving  that  institution,  taught  school  for 
about  five  years.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he 
entered  the  Cumberland  University,  at  Lebanon, 
Tenn.,  and  in  1858  was  graduated  in  law.  He 
began  the  practice  immediately  after  his  gradu- 
ation at  Greensboro,  in  this  State.  He  was  finite 
successful  at  the  bar,  especially  as  an  advocate. 
It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  Major  Harris  made 
the  money  with  which  he  was  educated,  and  when 
he  reached  his  native  county,  on  his  return  from 
the  law  school,  he  did  not  possess  a  dollar.  But, 
illustrative  of  his  thrift  and  superior  business 
qualities,  he  still  possesses  the  first  fee  he  earned 
as  an  attorney. 

He  entered  the  Confederate  Army  as  a  private 
in  the  Greensboro  Light  Artillery  Guards,  State 
troops,  that  were  sent  to  Fort  Jlorgan  to  take  and 
hold  possession  of  that  fortress.  His  company 
was  relieved  in  April  of  the  same  year,  and  during 
that  summer,  he  raised  a  company  of  volunteers, 
known  as  the  Planters'  Guards,  that  became  apart 
of  the  Twentieth  Alabama  Infantry. 

During  the  winter  of  1863,  at  Dalton,  Ga.,  he 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major,  and  there- 
after had  command  of  the  regiment  at  various 
times.  This  regiment  was  shut  up  in  Vicksburg 
during  the  siege;  it  had  operated  with  Kirby 
Smith  in  Kentucky,  participating  in  the  battles 
of  Crab  Orchard,  Richmond  and  Perryville. 
After  Vicksburg  he  joined  Bragg's  army,  and  was 
with  that  command  through  all  the  campaign  of 
Tennessee  and  Georgia,  i)articipating  in  all  those 
hotly-contested  battles.  During  the  latter  part  of 
the  war  he  was  on  detached  duty  in  charge  of 
transportation  between  Selma  and  Meridian,  and 
finally  surrendered  at  (iainesville. 

After  the  war  he  located  in  Sumter  C(>unty, 
and  practiced  law  at  Livingston  until  appointed 
to  his  present  position  in  March,  J886. 

Major  Harris  has  always  taken  an  active  jiart  in 
politics.  He  made  the  race  for  Congress  in 
1870  in  the  Fourth  District,  and  was  defeated  by 
the  Republican  nominee,  Charles  Hays,  by  a  very 
much  reduced  majority.  Hays  defeated  him  by 
only  about  8.i0  votes,  while  at  the  preceding  elec- 
tion the  Republican  ticket  received  a  majority  of 
at  least  Ki.OOO.  As  an  evidence  of  his  popularity, 
it    may    be   mentioned    that   after  declining   the 


024 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


nominiitioii  in  1872  the  district  went  over  0,000 
Rei)iiljlic:iii.  In  1?S7C  he  was  an  alternate  elector 
for  the  State  at  large  on  theTilden  and  Hendricks 
ticket,  anil  in  l!S8o  was  an  elector  on  the  Hancock 
ticket  from  the  Sixth  Congressional  District.  In 
loK4  he  was  again  alternate  elector  for  the  State 
at  large. 

In  1ST4  his  nomination  to  the  office  of  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor WHS  regarded  as  an  assured  fact,  but 
calmly  considering  the  responsibility,  and  the 
necessity  of  leaving  home,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
Montgomery  Advertiser,  declining  to  have  his 
name  presented  to  the  State  Convention.  This 
course  was  a  surprise  to  his  many  friends,  who 
were  entiiusiastic  in  his  support  and  confident  in 
the  belief  that  he  would  be  nominated. 

In  IsT.'j,  by  invitation  of  the  State  Democratic 
Executive  Committee  of  Mississippi,  Major  Harris 
made  a  canvass  of  the  State,  aiding  those  people 
to  redeem  their  country  from  Radical  thraldom. 
His  services  were  highly  appreciated,  and  the 
Democracy  in  Mississippi  carried  the  strong-holds 
of  the  enemy,  and  became  the  victors  in  a  glorious 
cause.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Major  Harris 
not  only  aided  to  a  very  large  extent  in  vindicat- 
ing our  cause  and  driving  the  Kepublicans  from 
the  offices  in  Alabama  in  1874,  but  his  voice  was 
heard  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  in  a  sister  State 
in  1875. 

In  1880  he  was  appointed  by  President  Cleve- 
land, without  any  solicitation  on  iiis  part.  Regis- 
ter of  the  United  States  Land  Office  at  Mont- 
gomery. This  is,  perhaps,  the  most  important 
office  in  the  State.  Very  many  difficult  legal 
questions  arise  that  the  Register  must  decide,  but 
the  sagacity,  conservatism,  and  legal  training  of 
the  present  incumbent,  has  enabled  him  to  dis- 
charge the  difficult  duties  of  his  office  satisfac- 
torily to  all  parties  concerneil. 

During  his  term,  the  largest  amount  of  business 
has  been  transacted  since  the  office  was  estab- 
lished. When  he  took  charge  of  it,  there  was  a 
vast  accumulation  of  unfinisiied  business,  and  now, 
for  the  first  time  in  its  history,  there  is  no  un- 
finished business  in  this  office.  This  fact  is  a 
grand  tril)ute  to  .Major  Harris'  rare  executive 
ability.  Owing  to  his  great  personal  popularity, 
his  appointment  gave  much  satisfaction  through- 
out the  State,  and  his  successful  administration  of 
the  office  vindicates  the  wisdom  of  the  President 
in  selecting  him. 

In  1885  he    was  elected  (J rand   Master  of   the 


Grand  Lodge  of  F.  and  A.  Masons,  of  Alabama, 
and  held  this  office  during  the  constitutional 
limit  of  two  years.  His  administration  of  the 
high  office  was  wise,  prudent,  and  full  of  eminent 
service  to  the  Craft:  and  it  is  hardly  possible  that 
any  one  of  the  long  line  of  distinguished  and 
worthy  grand  masters  of  the  State  is  more  highly 
appreciated,  loved  and  admired  than  the  subject 
of  this  sketch.  It  may  also  be  asserted  that  the 
daily  walk  and  conversation  of  no  Mason  more 
beautifully  illustrates  the  grand  teachings  of  that 
ancient  and  honorable  order  than  does  that  of 
I   Major  Harris. 

He  was  married  in  Sumter  County,  in  1801,  to 
Miss  Mary  J.  Brown,  daughter  of  John  E.  Brown, 
a  large  planter  of  that  county,  and  was  on  his 
wedding  tour  when  he  joined  the  army  at  Mobile. 
He  has  only  two  children:  Mary  Julia,  now  Mrs. 
L.  G.  Dawson,  whose  husband  is  a  progressive 
farmer  and  merchant  in  Elmore  County,  and 
Annie  B.,  now  Mrs.  Dr.  J.  T.  Rushin,  of  Talla- 
hassee, Ala.,  and  her  husband  is  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  successful  physicians  of  his  age  in  the 
State,  having  graduated  and  entered  the  practice 
at  the  age  of  twenty. 

Major  Harris  is  a  pleasing  and  forcible  writer, 
and  for  several  years  ably  edited  the  Alabama  Bap- 
tist, a  religious  paper  of  great  influence  in  this 
State. 

Together  with  all  the  members  of  his  family,  he 
is  a  communicant  of  the  Baptist  Church,  with 
which  he  has  long  been  identified.  For  many 
years  he  has  been  a  zealous  and  faithful  worker  in 
the  Master's  vineyard,  and  his  course  iis  a  Chris- 
tian has  been  characterized  by  an  earnest  and 
sweet-toned  piety.  He  has  always  manifested  a 
lively  interest  in  the  religious  welfare  of  young 
men,  and  his  electioti,  a  few  days  since,  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in 
Alabama,  is  a  deserved  compliment  and  an  appro- 
priate recognition  of  his  faithful  labors  in  that 
field. 

Major  Harris  has  been  identified  with  every 
movement  for  the  advancement  of  education  in 
the  State,  and  the  negro  lias  been  to  him  an  ob- 
ject of  much  concern  in  that  direction.  He  has 
left  no  stone  unturned  that  would  tend  to  advance 
that  race,  believing  that  tlie  country  will  be  best 
served  by  raising  them  as  much  as  possible  out  of 
their  ignorance. 

He  is  fearless  in  the  denunciation  of  wrong,  and 
asks   no   quarter    when    vindicating    the    right. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


625 


Major  Harris  is  well  known  tiirougliout  the  State 
for  liis  liheral  and  conservative  views  in  politics 
anil  religion,  and  while  he  is  fixed  and  iinmovaljle 
in  his  nnitnred  convictions,  he  maintains  them  in 
a  dignified,  manly  way,  showing  great  courtesy  to 
those  differing  with  him.  His  manners  are  unas- 
suming and  agreeable.  Possessing  a  fair  share  of 
personal  magnetism,  he  secures  at  once  the  good 
will  of  his  associates,  which  ripens  into  a  warm  re- 
gard when  his  estimable  social  and  moral  qualities 
arc  fully  known.  He  is  unselfish  and  generous, 
and,  like  Hen  Adhem,  he  loves  his  fellow-man,  and 
it  is  therefore  not  a  source  of  wonder  that  he  has 
such  a  stronghold  upon  upon  the  affections  of  the 
people  of  .Vlabama. 

"  So  his  life  lind  flowed. 
From  its  mysterious  urn  a  sacred  stream 
III  whose  calm  depth  the  beautiful  and  pure 
.Vlone  are  mirrored;  which,  though   shapes  of  ill 
May  hover  around  its  surface,  glides  in  light, 
And  takes  no  shadow  from  them." 

:-» — 


WILLIAM  C,  JORDAN,  Heceiver  of  the  United 
States  Land  Office,  -Montgomery,  Ala.,  native  of 
Talbot  County,  Ga.,  was  born  July  10,  1834. 
His  fatlier,  Thomas  (!.  Jordaii,  of  North  Caro- 
lina, a  farmer  by  occupation,  died  in  187"<!,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-five  years. 

Tiie  Jordan  family  probably  came  from  Ireland, 
and  the  Chambliss  family,  from  whom  the  mother 
of  William  C.  Jordan  was  descended,  was  prob- 
ably from  France.  Hotli  of  our  subject's  grand- 
fathers were  soldiers  in  the  Colonial  Army  during 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  Jordan  was  a  prisoner 
at  Wilmington,  N.  C,  when  Cortiwallis  surrend- 
ered. From  \'irginia  the  .Jordan  family  removed 
into  Xortli  Carolina,  and  from  there  their  descend- 
ants came  into  Georgia. 

William  C.  Jordan  is  the  youngest  of  fourteen 
cliildren.  He  was  educated  at  Glenville  High 
Scliool,  in  Barbour  (now  Russell)  (.'ounty,  this 
State,  whe'e  he  was  farming  up  to  the  spring  of 
IHiJi.  He  served  as  captain  of  militia  under 
<Jeneral  Shorter  in  1801,  and  in  18<i2  entered 
the  army  as  a  private  soldier,  and  with  eighteen 
other  men,  whom  he  carried  with  him.  joined 
Company  \\  of  the  Fifteenth  Alabama  Infantry  in 
Virginia.  He  served  with  this  command  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  and  participated  in  the  battles 
of  Suffolk,  Gettysburg,  Battle  Mountain,  Chicka- 


mauga, Raccoon  Mountain,  Lookout  Valley,  Camp- 
bell's Station,  Kno.xville,  the  Wilderness,  Spot- 
sylvania, Cold  Harbor,  Chester  Station,  Deep 
Bottom  and  Hazel  Mill,  and  probably  enjoys  the 
distinction  of  being  the  one  man  in  a  thousand 
to  decline  promotion  from  the  ranks. 

He  was  on  duty  at  Mrs.  Christian's  (grand- 
daughter of  General  Harrison,  e.x-Presideut),  on 
the  Chickahominy,  when  his  regiment  surrend- 
ered. Longstreet's  army  had  withdrawn  without 
his  notice,  and  he  was  left  probably  the  last  man 
on  duty  in  Virginia.  He  footed  it  over  .560  miles 
of  the  way  from  Chickahominy  to  his  home,  leav- 
ing Mrs.  Christiaii'd  on  April  3d  and  arriving  at 
his  destination  on  the  2Sth. 

After  the  war,  he  settled  down  to  farming  at  his 
old  place  and  devoted  his  time  to  it  until  he  was 
ajipointed  Receiver  of  the  irnited  States  Land 
Office.  In  1884,  he  was  sent  to  the  Legislature  to 
fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Col.  R.  II. 
Powell.  Prior  to  this  he  had  filled  several  posi- 
tions in  the  county,  such  as  assistant  tax  asses- 
sor, collector,  deputy  sheriff,  census-taker  (in 
1880),  etc. 

Mr.  Jordan  was  bitterly  opposed  to  secession  from 
the  start,  but  when  his  State  withdrew  from  the 
Federal  Union,  he  entered  into  her  defense  with 
heart  and  soul,  and  it  may  be  truthfully  written 
that  no  individual  soldier  saw  more  service,  nor 
conducted  himself  more  galhintly  than  he.  He 
was  never  a  prisoner,  never  wounded  nor  put  under 
arrest.  He  left  at  home  a  wife  and  three  children 
of  his  own,  and  three  widows,  fourteen  wards  and 
over  one  hundred  slaves  depending  wholly  upon 
him.  After  the  war,  he  settled  all  the  estates  of 
the  widows  and  orphans  of  whose  property  he  was 
in  charge  without  the  necessity  of  litigation. 

He  was  married  in  Barbour  (now  Bullock) 
County,  February  14,  18.56,  to  Miss  Fannie  A. 
Thornton,  and  has  had  born  to  him  thirteen  chil- 
dren, nine  of  whom  are  now  living.  He  has  ever 
been  an  active  worker  in  the  Democratic  party, 
since  its  re-organization.  He  is  a  good  ilason  and 
a  member  of  the  Bajjtist  Church. 

EDMUND  WEBSTER  BOOKER,  United  States 
Collector  "f  IiiliMiiai  Keveiiue  for  the  District  of 
Alabama,  was  born  in  Madison  County,  this  State, 
April  14,  1837.     His  j)arents  were  from  Virginia, 


626^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and  his  father  represented  Madison  Count)'  in  the 
Legishiture,  when  tlie  capital  was  at  Tuscaloosa. 

The  family  removed  from  North  to  South  Ala- 
bama and  settled  in  Perry  County,  where  the 
subject  of  this  sketcii  attended  the  common 
schools,  acquiring  thereat  the  rudiments  of  an 
English  education.  He  entered  the  State  Univer- 
sity in  1855,  and  was  there  until  1858.  For  three 
years  preceding  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  was  in 
mercantile  business  at  Uniontown.  On  the  25th 
of  April,  18(il.  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Com- 
pany D,  Fourth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  remained 
with  that  command  until  February,  18'i3.  Intlie 
summer  of  18();j  he  enlisted  in  the  Eighth  Ala- 
bama Cavalry,  and  with  that  regiment  surren- 
dered at  Livingston.  While  in  the  service  he 
particijiated  in  the  battles  of  Seven  Pines,  South 
Mountain,  Antietam,  Second  Manassas,  Freder- 
icksburg, and  innumerable  skirmishes. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  took  up  his  abode  in 
Hale  County,  and  there  resided  until  187!t.  In 
1875  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Houston  Tax 
Collector  of  that  county,  which  appears  to  be 
about  the  only  po.sition  of  consequence  held  by 
him,  prior  to  his  appointment  to  his  present  posi- 
tion. He  was  appointed  Collector  of  Revenue  by 
President  Cleveland  in  1885. 

Captain  Hooker  was  married  in  (Jreenc  County, 
in  18G3,  to  Miss  Martha  F.  Knight,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  twelve  children,  two  of  whom  are 
dead.  Tlie  family  are  members  of  the  Jlethodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  Captain  Booker  is  a  Free- 
mason, a  Knight  of  Pythias  and  a  Knight  of 
Honor. 

•    'V'  •f^t^^'  ''' '    ' 

EMMET  SEIBEL,  Special  Agent  of  the  Interior 
Department  of  the  United  States  Government, 
Montgomery. 

Major  Seibel  is  a  native  of  Lexington  District, 
S.  C,  where  he  was  born  Octobers,  1821.  His 
father  was  John  Temple  Seibel.  a  native  of 
Charleston,  and  descended  from  German  ancestry. 
His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Smith,  a  native  of 
Virginia  and  of  Knglish  descent. 

The  senior  Seibel  was  a  large  planter  in  South 
Carolina,  where  he  died  in  185:5,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-three  years.  Mrs.  Seibel  died  in  18(i7,  at 
seventy  years  of  age. 

The  grandfather  Seibel,  while  on  a  visit  to 
General   Hampton,  of  South  Carolina,  met  there 


Miss  Sarah  Temple,  a  niece  of  the  celebrated  John 
Temple.  He  was  the  agent  of  the  King,  sent  to 
America  with  imj)ortant  papers,  wliicli  he  deliv- 
ered irregularly  to  Henjamin  Franklin,  and  which 
caused  his  dismissal  from  the  service  of  the  King. 
He  was  afterward  reinstated  in  the  King's  favor, 
and  sent  by  him  on  important  missions  to  Boston. 
He  subsequently,  married  Miss  Tcmjile  and  settled 
at  (Jranby,  where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life. 
Miss  Temple  was  an  own  cousin  of  the  famous 
Robert  Emmet,  the  young  Irish  statesman. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  second  of 
four  sons,  two  of  whom  are  now  living.  He  was 
educated  at  Columbia  (S.  C.)  College,  from  which 
institution  he  was  graduated  in  1844.  He  read 
law  with  William  (Jriggs;  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1851,  and  began  practice  at  once  at  Edgefield, 
wheVehe  was  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  He  joined 
thearmy  and  wa.s  major  of  the  Seventh  South  Caro- 
lina Infantry,  which  regiment  formed  a  jiart  of  the 
First  Brigade,  First  Division,  First  Corps  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  participated  in  the  first 
battle  of  Manasses,  as  field-ofliccr  of  that  brigade. 
Soon  after  Manasses,  the  colonel  and  lieutenant 
colonel  of  the  regiment  having  left  the  service. 
Major  Seibel  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  colonel. 

Upon  the  re-organization  of  the  regiment  in 
May,  1862,  he  left  it  and  accepted  a  position  on 
the  staff  of  General  Haygood,  then  operating 
on  the  coast.  In  18C4  he  accepted  a  position 
on  the  staff  of  (Jeneral  Butler,  where  we  find  him 
at  the  close  of  the  war.  He  participated  from 
first  to  last  in  many  of  the  hardest-fought  l)attles 
during  the  war.  At  Travillion,  or  near  Louisa 
Court  House,  Va.,  his  command  was  ambuscaded 
and  over  half  of  it  shot  down.  His  sword  and  belt 
v/ere  carried  away  by  a  minie  ball. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Colum- 
bia, and  from  there  to  Montgomery  in  18G5,  and 
has  here  since  resided.  He  followed  planting  up 
to  1875,  after  which  be  was  railroading,  and  he 
was  holding  a  position  with  the  L.  &  N  II.  R. 
when  appointed  Special  Agent  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

He  was  married  at  Montgomery,  in  1808,  to 
Miss  Ann  Goldthwaite,  daughter  of  the  late  Sena- 
tor (ioldthwaite,  and  has  had  born  to  him  four 
sons  and  one  daughter. 

Major  Seibel  was  a  gallant  soldier;  is  a  good 
citizen:  and  the  Administration  showed  its  wis- 
dom in  h's  selection  for  the  responsible  position 
he  is  filling  with  marked  ability. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


627 


PARHAM  N.  BOOKER,  Chief  Deputy  of  the 
Unitutl  States  Iiitci-iial  KV'vennc  Collector's  office, 
.Moiitgoinerv.  was  Imrii  in  .Madison  County,  this 
State,  in  April,  ISli'^,  and  his  parents  were  I'arluun 
N.  and  Mary  M.  (I'ool)  Booker,  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia. 

The  senior  Mr.  Hooker  was  a  planter  and  hotel 
man;  lived  many  years  at  I'liiontown,  Perry 
County,  and  there  died  in  18(1],  at  tlie  age  of 
sixty-six   years. 

P.  N.  Booker,  Jr.,  received  liis  scliool  ti'ain- 
ing  at  Uniontown,  and  was  there  for  five  years 
engaged  in  mercantile  business  as  clerk  and 
proprietor.  From  Uniontown  he  removed  to 
(ireensboro,  and  five  years  later  to  the  State  of 
Mississippi.  lie  was  living  on  the  Sunflower 
Uiver  in  the  latter  State,  when  appointed  to  his 
present  position. 

Being  physically  unfitted  for  field  duty,  he  gave 
his  services  to  tiie  Confederate  (iovernnient  duiiiig 
the  late  war  in  a  civil  department. 

As  chief  deputy  of  the  Revenue  Collector's  office, 
Mr.  Booker  has  almost  exclusive  charge  of  its 
management,  and  that  he  discharges  the  duties  to 
the  satisfaction  of  his  chief  is  fully  attested  by 
his  retention.  He  is  an  affable,  courteous  gentle- 
man, and  never  fails  to  make  a  favorable  impres- 
sion upon  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact. 


-^« 


y-^- 


THOMAS  MANN  ARRINGTON,  Judge  of 
the  City  Court  of  .Montgomery,  was  born  in  North 
Carolina  August  v'i),  18v'9;  graduated  from  the 
University  of  that  State  in  1849;  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  18."it»,and  came  to  Alabama  in  1850.  He  be- 
gan the  practice  of  law  at  Tarborough,  N.  C,  im- 
mediately after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  and  re- 
mained there  up  to  the  time  of  his  coming  to 
Montgomery.  Associated  with  Hon.  Milton  J. 
Saffold.  and  later  with  General  Iloltzclaw,  he 
was  in  the  practice  of  law  up  to  the  outbreak  of 
the  war.  In  April,  18'il,  he  volunteered  as  a  pri- 
vate in  the  Metropolitan  Guards,  which  became  a 
jiart  of  the  Thinl  Alabama  Infanti-y,  and  served 
with  this  command  about  eigiit  months.  While 
absent  in  X'irginia  he  was  elected  to  the  Alabama 
Legislature,  which  distinction  exempted  him,  un- 
der the  law,  from  army  service  for  the  period  of 
two  years;  but  declining  this  legal  privilege,  he  at 
once,  after  the  fall  of  Fort  Donelson,  helped  to 
raise  a  company,  of  which  he  became  captain,  and 


entered  the  Thirty-first  Alabama  Infantry.  At 
the  formation  of  this  regiment,  in  April,  18(12,  he 
was  elected  lieutenant-colonel,  with  which  rank  he 
left  the  service  at  the  close  of  the  war.  Immedi- 
ately upon  its  organization,  the  regiment  was 
ordered  to  East  Tennessee,  where  it  soon  after  took 
part  i!i  the  battle  of  Tazewell  and  the  investment 
of  Cumberland  (iap,  and  thence  went  on  General 
Bragg's  march  to  Frankfort.  On  the  return  from 
Kentucky,  but  before  the  battle  of  Jlurfreesboro, 
it  was  ordered  to  Mis8issi]ipi. 

The  brave  Colonel  Hundley,  who  commamled  the 
regiment,  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Port  Gib- 
son, and  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  This 
threw  the  command  upon  the  lieutemmt-colonel, 
who  led  the  regiment  subsequently  in  many  hotly- 
contested  engagements.  He  commamled  it  at 
Baker's  Creek  and  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  for 
gallantry  was  commended  by  Gen.  Stephen  1). 
Lee.  He  was  surrendered  at  Vicksburg,  July, 
18C3,  with  the  rest  of  General  Pemberton's  com- 
mand, which  retired  him  from  active  service  until 
after  his  exchange. 

In  1804:,  again  in  command  of  the  Thirty-first, 
he  went  on  Hood's  march  to  Tennessee.  His  was 
one  of  the  three  regiments  of  Pettus'  brigade  that 
forced  the  passage  of  the  river  at  C-olumbia  and 
captured  the  enemy's  rifle  pits,  making  what  Lieut. - 
Gen.  S.  U.  Lee,  pronounced  "a  most  gallant 
charge  "  in  his  official  report — and  was  among  the 
last  to  leave  the  trenches  at  Nashville.  Though 
suffering  much  from  ill-health  he  participated  in 
every  battle  in  which  bis  command  was  engaged 
except  that  of  Missionary  Kidge,  from  which  he 
was  detained  by  protracted  sickness.  One  of 
tha  sad  consequences  of  the  war  to  him  was  the 
loss  of  two  youTig  brothers — the  elder,  Samuel,  a 
delicate  boy,  who  had  won  the  golden  medal  for 
oratory  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  died  from 
fatigue  and  exposure  in  the  battle  of  Tazewell :  the 
other,  Archibald,  wlio  had  left  the  University  of 
North  Carolina,  to  join  the  Confederate  service, 
died  from  a  wound  received  in  the  charge  on  Mal- 
vern Hill. 

At  the  close  of  hostilities.  Colonel  Arrington 
resumed  the  practice  of  law,  and  in  the  spring  of 
18()6,  was  elected  Judge  of  the  City  Court  by  the 
white  people  of  the  city  and  county  of  Mont- 
gomery. [The  City  Court  of  Montgomery  is  of 
concurrent  dignity  and  jurisdiction  with  the  Cir- 
cuit Court,  and  has  in  addition  chancery  jurisdic- 
tion.— Ed.  J 


628 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


In  the  fall  of  1808  he  was  removed  from  office 
through  tlie  intervention  of  the  Reconstruction 
laws,  and  he  again  resumed  the  practice,  associated 
with  the  late  brilliant  Malcolm  I).  Graham,  a 
partnership  that  existed  for  a  period  of  ten  years. 
He  was  again  elected  to  the  City  Judgeship  in 
1880,  and  re-elected  in  188.5. 

Judge  Arrington  was  married  in  1801  to  a 
daughter  of  the  late  .Judge  Oeorge  Goldthwaite. 
and  has  nine  cliildren. 

The  ance-stors  of  the  .\rringtons  came  originally 
from  England,  settling  first  in  .Southampton 
County,  Va.,  and  removing  thence  to  North  Car- 
olina in  the  year  1704,  in  the  person  of  two 
brothers — .\rthur  and  Joseph.  The  former  was 
the  great-grandfather  of  Judge  Arrington.  .John 
Arrington,  the  Judge's  grandfather,  was  for  many 
years  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Legislature, 
and  also  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  1830  that 
revised  the  Constitution  of  that  State.  The 
Judge's  father,  known  as  Col.  Samuel  L.  Arring- 
ton, who  moved  to  Montgomery  in  18.52,  was  edu- 
cated for  the  law,  but  on  account  of  ill-health 
took  to  agricultural  pursuits.  He  represented 
Nash,  his  native  county,  for  ten  years  in  the  State 
Senate,  and  his  brother,  Archibald  H.  Arrington, 
was  twice  a  member  of  the  I'nited  States  Congress, 
and  later  of  the  Confederate  Congress.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Con- 
stitutional Convention  of  1870.  Thomas  N.  Mann, 
a  half  brother  of  the  Colonel,  and  for  whom 
Judge  Arrington  was  named,  was  a  distinguished 
lawyer,  a  member  of  the  I^egislature,  and  was  sent 
by  President  Monroe  as  Minister  to  Central 
America.  On  his  way  out  he  died  at  Hampton 
Roa<ls,  Va. 

FRANCIS  CORBIN  RANDOLPH,  Judge  of  Pro- 
bate, .MoiitiroiiiiTV.  was  liorii  at  Tuscaloosa,  Dec. 
6,  1841.  His  fatlier  was  B.  F.  Randolph,  native 
of  Virginia,  whence  he  removed  to  Tuscaloosa  in 
1810.  He  constructed  the  second  house  erected 
at  that  place,  and  removed  to  Montgomery  in 
1850.  .Judge  Randolph  was  educated  at  Greene 
Springs  and  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  from 
which  latter  institution  he,  on  January  9,  ISCl, 
entered  the  Metropolitan  Guards  as  a  private  sol- 
dier, and  remained  in  the  service  to  the  close  of 
the  war.  At  the  re-organization  of  the  command 
to   which    he  was  atiacluMl.    in    April,    ISOl,   the 


Metropolitan  Guards  were  merged  into  the  Third 
Infantry.  He  left  the  Third  the  following  fall, 
and  joined  Scrapie's  Battery,  in  which,  in  January, 
186"^,  he  was  made  a  sergeant.  April,  1803,  he  was 
promoted  to  adjutant  of  the  Seventh  Alabama 
Cavalr}',  and  a  week  later  was  commissioned  captain 
of  Company  A,  remarkable  only  in  the  fact  that  the 
captain  was  not  personally  acquainted  with  an 
individual  of  that  company.  He  commanded 
Company  A  for  about  one  year,  when  he  was 
made  major  of  the  regiment,  and  as  such  com- 
manded it  to  the  close  of  the  war.  At  the 
cessation  of  hostilities  he  returned  to  Montgom- 
ery, where  he  had  read  law  and  been  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  entered  into  the  practice  of  his  chosen 
profession.  In  August,  1880,  he  was  elected 
Judge  of  Probate,  and  was  re-elected  in  1880. 

Judge  Randoljjh  takes  an  active  interest  in  pol- 
itics; is  now  >'hairman  of  the  Democratic  County 
Central  Committee,  a  member  of  the  State  Com- 
mittee, and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  political 
workers  in  the  State. 

He  was  married  at  Uniontown,  .\la.,  December 
0,  18G0,  to  >riss  Sallie  T.  Nicholson,  daughter  of 
Robert  W.  Nicholson,  of  that  place. 

The  Judge  is  a  prominent  Knight  of  P'thias, 
Knight  of  Honor,  and  a  member  of  the  Ancient 
Order  of  I'nited  Workmen. 


>^^ 


ROBERT  BARBER,  I'nited  States  Commis- 
sioner, was  born  at  I'tica,  N.  Y.,  in  1840.  and  is 
a  son  of  Milo  G.  Barber. 

Mr.  Barber's  great-grandfather  was  a  captain, 
and  commanded  a  Vermont  Company  in  tiie  Revo- 
lutionary War,  and  his  grandfather  was  a  captain 
in  the  War  of  1812. 

The  father  of  our  subject  was  born  at  Enos- 
burgh,  Vt.,  in  1810,  and  died  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  in 
1855.     His  wife  was  of  Irish  descent. 

Robert  Barber  was  educated  at  the  High  School 
at  I'tica,  N.  Y.  After  leaving  school  he  was 
engaged  in  the  drug  business  until  1800,  when  he 
enlisted  in  the  Union  Army  as  a  private  in  Com- 
pany E.  Twenty-seconil  New  York  Volunteer 
Infantry,  with  which  command  he  served  two 
years.  He  re-enlisted  as  a  veteran  in  the  New 
York  Cavalry,  and  was  mustered  in  as  adjutant. 
He  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Antietam,  and 
was  mustered  out  of  service  at  Talladega,  Ala.,  in 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


62J) 


18(!5,  us  assistant  adjutant-general  of  the  field 
forces  of  Alabama. 

Jlr.  Hiirber  eaine  to  Montgomery  in  18(>f!,  as 
chief  clerk  of  the  Civil  Bureau,  wJiich  position  he 
held  until  the  time  of  holding  the  Constitutional 
Convention  in  18i!7,  at  which  time  he  was  elected 
secretary  of  the  Convention.  In  the  fall  of  181)7 
he  was' elected  SherifT  of  Montgomery  County  for 
the  term  of  tliree  years,  wliich  is  as  long  a  time 
as  one  man  could  liold  that  office  under  the  law, 
but  lie  acted  the  following  three  years  as  Deputy 
Sheriff.  He  was  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Kepre- 
sentatives,  session  of  187-2-3,  and  was  then 
appointed  clerk  for  the  United  States  Attorney, 
and  was  subsequently  appointed  United  States 
Commissioner.  He  has  held  both  positions  ever 
since. 

Jlr.  Barber  was  the  organizer  of  the  firand  Army 
Post,  of  Montgomery,  and  is  at  present  its  com- 
mander. He  was  married  in  ^[ay,  18CG,  to  Miss 
Alice  B.,  daughter  of  Frank  P.  Hall,  of  Talla- 
dega. Ala.  They  have  two  children:  Thomas  M. 
and  Mary. 


S.  HENRY  BARTLETT,  Superintendent  of  Pub- 
lic Schools,  Montgomery,  was  born  June  13, 1841, 
at  Petersburgii,  Va.  He  is  a  son  of  Charles  L.  and 
Emma  (.Nforton)  Bartlett,  natives,  respectively,  of 
Connecticut  and  New  York. 

The  senior  Mr.  Bartlett  traces  his  ancestry  to 
the  Bartletts  of  tlie  Pilgrim  Fathers.  He  located 
at  Petersburgh,  about  1837.  The  mother  of  our 
subject  was  of  English  descent. 

S.  H.  Bartlett  received  the  best  educational  ad- 
vantages that  were  offered  in  his  earlier  days,  and 
at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  entered  Hampden-Sid- 
ney  College,  Prince  Edward  County,  Va.,  from 
which  institution  he  was  graduated  in  185'J.  He 
came  to  Alabama  in  Decemberof  that  year;  located 
at  Dayton,  Marengo  County,  and  began  the  study 
of  law  under  Judge  Wm.  E.  Clark.  He  taught 
school  at  Dayton  at  the  same  time  he  was  study- 
ing law,  and  continued  to  teach  and  study  law 
until  the  war  broke  out. 

He  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  Army  as  a  pri- 
vate in  Company  D,  Eleventh  Alabama  Infantry, 
under  Col.  Sydenham  Moore,  and  was  in  the  army 
of  Northern  Virginia  one  and  a  half  years  when 
his  health  failed.  He  came  home,  remained  a  few 
months,  regained  his  health,  went  back  to  the  army, 


and  in  what  is  known  as  the  Petersburgh  Battalion, 
located  at  Petersburgli,Va.  He  was  engaged  in  the 
first  fight  at  Petersburgh  in  the  fall  of  1803,  and 
was  i)romoted  to  first  lieutenant  of  Company  B, 
Petersburgh  Battalion,  in  which  capacity  he  served 
until  the  cessation  of  hostilities. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war  he  re- 
turned to  Dayton.  lie  began  the  practice  of  law 
in  1800,  and  continued  it  until  187."),  at  which 
time  an  accident  befell  him  which  injured  his 
health  to  such  an  extent  as  to  necessitate  his  giv- 
ing up  the  practice.  In  187(i  he  resumed  teaching 
at  Tuskegee,  where  he  was  associated  with  the 
Park  High  School.  He  held  that  position  five 
years;  went  to  Scottsville,  Ala.,  as  principal  of  the 
school  of  that  place,  remained  one  year,  resigned 
and  accepted  the  position  as  principal  of  the  high 
school  at  Columbus,  Ua.  After  four  years  at  the 
latter  place,  he  came  to  Montgomery  in  1885  for 
the  purpose  of  organizing  the  Montgomery  High 
School,  of  which  he  was  chosen  principal  before 
he  came  here.  He  acted  one  year  after  the 
school  was  organized,  and  was  then  elected 
general  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  of 
Montgomery  City.  He  has  under  his  control  five 
school  buildings  and  about  fifteen  hundred  pupils. 

Professor  Bartlett  was  married  July  10,  1807,  to 
Miss  Julia,  a  daughter  of  Col.  John  II.  Prince,  a 
large  planter  of  Marengo  County.  Of  this  union 
six  children  have  been  born:  Charles  H.,  Belle 
M.,  Henry  T.,  Oliver  P.,  Robert  L.  and  John 
Edmund. 

The  Professor  and  family  are  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church, and  he  has  been  an  officiating 
elder  over  fifteen  years.  He  has  always  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  Sabbath  school,  and  has  been 
superintendent  several  years. 

EDWARD  R.  HOLT,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court, 
Montgomery  County,  native  of  Augusta,  Ga.  (son 
of  the  late  Hon.  Wm.  W.  Holt,  who  was  for  nice- 
teen  years  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  the 
Middle  District  of  Georgia,  a  gallant  officer  in  the 
War  of  181"2,  a  distinguished  lawyer  and  politician, 
and  who  died  in  1804  at  the  age  of  75  years),  was 
born  January  25,  1833. 

E.  K.  Holt  was  educated  at  Augusta:  came  to 
Alabama  in  1855,  and  has  since  lived  in  Mont- 
gomery.    Physically  unable  to  shoulder  arms  in 


630 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


behalf  of  his  country  during  the  late  war,  he  was 
compelled  to  leave  the  ranks  of  a  soldier,  into 
which  he  had  so  willingly  volunteered,  and  accept 
service  as  agent  of  the  commissary  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  In  September,  1881,  Governor  Cobb 
appointed  him  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court,  to  fill 
out  the  unexpired  term  of  E.  A.  Graham,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1880  he  was  elected  to  the  office  with- 
out opposition.  Mr.  Ilolt  married  in  Montgomery 
County,  in  1857,  Miss  Mary  Augusta  Bellinger, 
daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Carnot  Bellinger,  and 
has  had  born  to  him  seven  children,  two  of 
whom  are  dead.  The  living  are  three  sons  and 
two  daughters. 

WILLIAM  P.  CHILTON.  The  name  of  Will- 
iam 1'.  Cliiltdii,  Sr..  i-s  iilt'Utified  with  the  history 
of  Alabama,  from  1834,  to  the  occurrence  of  his 
death,  in  1871.  He  contributed  much  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  State;  as  he  shared  also  its  honor  in 
adversity. 

He  was  born  in  1810,  in  Christian  County, 
Ky.  His  mother  (a  Bledsoe)  was  of  distinguished 
family,  and  his  father  was  a  Bapti.st  divine,  widely 
known  and  of  great  influence. 

William  I'.  Chilton  was  "  the  self-made  man." 
Ilis  motiier  died  when  he  was  but  three  years  old, 
and  his  father  soon  after;  and  he  was  left,  witli 
Lysias,  a  still  younger  brotlier,  to  the  care  of  his 
sister  Jane,  who  married  Rev.  Charles  Metcalfe. 
These  noble  people  were  to  him  as  father  and 
mother. 

He  read  law  with  Judge  Meggs  (of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Tennessee),  and  while  at  Nashville,  met, 
and  afterward  married,  his  first  wife,  Mary  C. 
Morgan,  a  most  accomplished  lady,  daughter  of 
Oeorge  Morgan.  Esq.,  of  Athens,  and  a  sister  of 
Hon.  John  T.  Morgan,  now  of  the  LTnited  States 
Senate. 

With  a  young  wife,  without  money,  and  with- 
out the  influence  of  friends,  in  18.34,  he  located  at 
Mardisville,  in  Talladega  County  (from  which  the 
Indians  had  not  been  removed),  and  there  began 
the  practice  of  law. 

Mr.  Chilton  was  associated  with  Geo.  P.  Brown, 
Esq.,  and  the  firm,  by  dint  of  hard  and  systennitic 
work,  soon  acquired  a  lucrative  practice,  and  with 
it  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  people. 

In  1830,  though  a  Whig  in  a  strongly  Demo- 
cratic county,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature, 


where  he  readily  took  and  retained  notably  high 
rank.  He  declined  re-election  to  devote  his  time  to 
law. 

In  1840  he  actively  supported  Harrison  for  the 
presidency,  and  in  1844  worked  equally  as  ardu- 
ously for  Clay.  He  was  recognized  as  one  of  the 
most  powerful  debaters  of  his  time  in  the  State. 
In  1845  he  ran  against  Gen.  F.  McConnell  for 
Congress,  but  the  General's  pereonal  popularity, 
and  the  large-standing  Democratic  majority  of  the 
district  prevailed. 

Though  a  Whig  he  was  elected  in  1848,  by  a 
Democratic  Legislature  to  the  Supreme  Court 
bench,  and  in  1852  succeeded  Judge  Collier  as 
Chief-Justice.  It  was  as  a  judicial  officer  that 
Judge  Chilton  illustrated,  in  the  highest  manner, 
those  qualities  of  purity,  honesty  and  integrity, 
which  were  his  most  prominent  characteristics. 
He  was,  in  the  most  exalted  sense,  a  model  judge. 

In  185C  he  resigned  the  office  of  Chief-Justice 
to  resume  the  practice  of  law  at  Tuskegee. 

He  was  elected  in  18.^9  to  the  Senate  from  the 
Macon  District.  The  political  events  of  that 
period.  State  and  National,  were  of  the  most 
exciting  character.  Tiiough  Judge  Chilton  depre- 
cated disunion,  he  could  not  submit  to  dishonor 
in  the  Union.  He  earnestly  desired  the  perpetua- 
tion of  the  Government  as  the  Fathers  had 
bequeathed  it;  but  not  in  violation  of  the  Consti- 
tution. He  favored  measures  having  in  view  the 
cooperative  action  of  the  Southern  States,  and  ulti- 
mately the  conventional  power  of  all  the  States  of 
the  Union,  if  necessary,  to  an  honorable  and  final 
settlement,  by  compromise,  of  the  great  question  at 
issue.  His  speech  in  advocacy  of  this  policy  was 
the  greatest  of  his  life.  It  became  the  basis  of 
action  of  several  of  the  Southern  States;  but, 
lacking  in  unanimity,  it  was  not  successful. 

Judge  Chilton  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate, 
and  with  his  sons  Thomas  G.  Chilton,  and  W.  P. 
Chilton,  Jr.,  in  connection  with  William  L.  Yan- 
cey aiul  his  son  Benjamin  C.  Yancey,  established 
the  law  firm  of  Chilton  &  Yancey,  with  offices  at 
Montgomery  and  Tuskegee.  The  two  offices  were 
consolidated  on  the  death  of  Thomas  G.  Chilton, 
a  lawyer  of  brilliant  promise,  in  1860. 

After  the  secession  of  Alabama,  Judge  Chilton 
was  unanimously  chosen  by  the  State  Convention 
a  member  of  the  Provisional  Confederate  Congress; 
and  was  afterward  twice  elected  to  the  Congress 
of  the  Confederacy.  Of  this  body  he  was  one  of 
the  most  influential  members;  and,  in  the  absence 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA, 


631 


of  tlie  Speaker  was  often  elected  to  preside  over  its 
delibenitioiis. 

In  tlie  fall  of  the  Confederacy  .liulj^e  Chilton,  in 
common  with  his  tSoiithern  countrymen,  sustained 
a  severe  loss  in  property  of  every  kind. 

Undaunted  by  reverses  he  resumed,  after  the 
war,  the  practice  of  law  at  Montgomery,  associat- 
ing with  him  Col.  Jack  Thorington  and  Col.  W. 
P.  Chilton,  and  engaged  in  a  first-class  law  prac- 
tice, C'olonel  Chilton  afterward  retiring  from  the 
firm,  W.  S.  Thorington  and  John  M.  Chilton  be- 
came members  of  it. 

Judge  Chilton  contributed  nuR'h  by  his  conserv- 
atism and  influence  toward  restoring  the  State 
Government  to  its  former  relations  in  the  Union. 
In  a  conference  of  leading  gentlemen  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  State's  action  on  the  jilan  of  Congres- 
sional Reconstruction,  he,  with  lion.  Benjamin 
Ficzpatriek,  favored  action  instead  of  the  policy  of 
inactiun  (or  not  voting)  adopted  by  the  Commit- 
tee of  the  Democratic  and  Conservative  party.  Had 
his  views  prevailed  many  of  the  evils  endured 
afterward  could  have  been  avoided. 

Judge  Chilton  in  person  was  over  six  feet  in 
height,  well  proportioned,  erect  and. of  command- 
ing appearance.  In  character  he  was  as  pure  as  a 
virgin.  He  was  a  devoted  husband,  a  kind  and 
affectionate  father.  He  was  an  ardent  jiaptist,  and 
during  his  life  was  president  of  the  Hajjtist  State 
Convention  and  vice-president  of  the  South- 
ern Baptist  Convention.  He  was,  at  the  period  of 
hisdeath,(irand  Master  of  Masons,  and  High  Priest. 
The  degree  of  LL.  D.  had  been  conferred  on  him 
by  a  Tennessee  University. 

His  death  resulted  from  an  accident  January 
20,  1871,  and  was  announced  the  day  following 
by  Gov.  R.  B.  Lindsay,  in  the  following  fitting 
words: 

State  of  Ai..\h.\ma. — Executive  Department. 
Montgomery,  January  21,  1871. 

Genthmen  of  the  Senate  and  Hou.te  of  Representa- 
tives: 

It  is  with  feelings  of  sorrow  and  regret,  that  I 
inform  you  of  the  death  of  the  Hon.  W.  P.  Chilton, 
of  the  city  of  Montgomery.  The  event  occurred 
last  night  about  tlie  hour  of  eleven. 

Judge  Chilton  was  one  of  the  best  beloved  citi- 
zens; eminent  as  a  jurist,  and  the  people  of  Ala- 
bama had  often  honored  him  with  their  confidence 
and  esteem.  As  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  as 
a  member  of  Congress,  and  as  Chief  Justice  of  our 


Supreme  Court,  he  discharged  his  duties  with  de- 
votion and  zeal. 

In  the  Halls  of  Legislation,  he  was  a  statesman, 
and  he  adorned  the  Bench  by  his  integrity  and 
learning. 

The  loss  of  such  a  man  is  a  public  calamity,  and 
it  is  fit  that  the  departments  of  dovernment  of  a 
State  he  loved  so  well  should  jniy  a  tribute  to  his 
memory. 

Robert  B.  Lindsay, 

Governor  of  Alabama. 

The  Legislature,  by  appropriate  resolutions, 
gave  additional  testimony  of  appreciation,  and 
adjourned  in  respect  to  his  memory. 

In  1875  the  county  of  Chilton  was  named  in 
honor  of  him,  and  attests  the  love  and  respect  of 
the  people  for  his  memory,  and  worthily  contri- 
butes to  its  perpetuation. 

—- »-;^i^-  <'•  •  ■ 

TENNENT  LOMAX  was  born  in  Abbeville  Dis- 
trict, S.  C,  on  the  2Uth  day  of  September,  1820. 
His  father  was  Hon.  "William  Loma.x,  a  lawyer  of 
distinction,  who  served  in  the  Legislature  of  South 
Carolina.  His  mother  was  a  Miss  Tennenl,  a 
lineal  descendant  of  the  celebrated  family  of  Pres- 
byterian preachers  of  that  name,  the  founders  of 
the  famous  Lay  College  in  Pennsylvania.  He 
grew  to  manhood  in  South  (Carolina,  and  was  ed- 
ucated at  Randolph-Macon  College,  graduating 
fourth  in  a  class  of  which  Mr.  Justice  Clopton,  of 
the  Alabama  Supreme  Court,  was  valedictorian, 
and  the  late  Hons.  Joseph  F.  Dowdell  and  R.  H. 
Powell,  of  this  State,  and  Bishop  H.  N.  McTyeire, 
of  the^Southern  Methodist  Church,  were  members. 
After  his  graduation  he  removed  to  Alabama,  and 
began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  John 
A.  Calhoun,  who  was  then  practicing  his  profes- 
sion at  Eufaula  in  this  State.  Completing  his 
studies,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  practiced 
law  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  Mexican  War. 
Upon  the  President's  call  for  troops,  he  raised  a 
company  in  the  county  of  Barbour,  and  was 
made  its  captain.  The  command  was  must- 
ered into  the  service  at  Mobile,  in  1847,  and  be- 
came a  part  of  the  Fifth  Battalion,  Alabama  In- 
fantry Volunteers,  commanded  by  Lieut.-Col. 
John  J.  Seibel.  The  batfalion  sailed  for  Vera 
Cruz,  and  was  in  service  at  that  place  and  also  at 
San  Juan,  Cordova  and  Orizaba,  being  stationed 


632 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


at  the  latter  place  on  garrison  duty  for  several 
months  prior  to  the  close  of  the  war. 

The  snhjectof  thissketch  was  for  a  short  period 
of  this  time  ^[ilitary-Goveriior  of  Orizaba.  While 
stationed  at  the  last  named  place,  he,  with  a  select 
party  of  companions  attempted  the  ascent  of  the 
famous  Volcano  of  Orizaba,  a  feat  in  which  Hum- 
boldt had  failed.  He,  with  one  of  his  companions 
reached  the  summit,  being  the  first  man  who  had 
ever  climbed  that  dizzy  height  and  looked  down 
into  the  extinct  crater  of  Orizaba,  an  honor  which 
has  since  been  claimed  by  other  persons.  This  in- 
cident is  vouched  for  by  the  survivors  of  the  bat- 
talion, one  of  whom  Col.  T.  T.  Tnnstall,  who 
uow  resides  in  Baldwin  County,  Ala.,  and  who 
was  of  the  party  that  went  with  Captain  Lomax, 
having  related  it  to  the  writer.  After  the  close 
of  the  Mexican  War,  Captain  Lomax  returned  to 
Eufaula  and,  in  1849,  was  married  to  Miss  Sophie 
Shorter,  a  member  of  the  distinguished  family  of 
that  name,  so  widely  known  in  Alabama.  His 
wife  dying  f.oon  after  his  marriage,  he  removed 
from  Eufaula  to  Columbus,  (Ja.,  and,  abandoning 
the  practice  of  law,  he  entered  journalism,  and 
was,  for  a  number  of  years,  one  of  the  proprietors 
and  the  editor  of  the  Columbus  Times  and  Senti- 
nel. While  editor  of  this  paper,  he  achieved  a 
wide-spread  reputation  as  an  able  and  brilliant 
writer,  not  only  in  Georgia,  but  throughout  the 
Southern  States,  ranking  as  the  peer  of  Forsyth 
and  other  distinguished  Southern  journalists. 
While  engaged  in  this  profession,  he  held  the  po- 
sition, by  election  of  the  Legislature,  of  State 
Printer  of  Georgia.  While  never  a  candidate  for 
a  political  office,  he  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  pol- 
itics, and  was  presiilent  of  the  Democratic  Con- 
vention which  first  nominated  the  present  Senator 
Joseph  E.  Brown  for  Governor.  He  was  at  one 
time  tendered  the  position  of  Charge  d'Aflfaires  of 
the  United  States  to  Belgium,  but  declined  the 
appointment.  In  March,  1857  he  was  married  to 
Mrs.  Carrie  A.  Shorter,  iii'e  Miss  Billingsled,  of 
Georgia,  and  shortly  after  his  marriage  he  sold  out 
Ills  paper  and  removed  to  Montgomery,  Ala.  After 
coming  to  Alabama  he  devoted  his  time  to  plant- 
ing until  the  beginning  of  the  war  between  the 
States. 

In  the  great  political  campaign  of  1860,  Colonel 
Lomax  was  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  the  election 
of  Breckenridge  and  Lane,  and  by  his  brilliant 
pen  and  his  elor|uence  as  an  orator,  he  used  his 
best  endeavors  tnwanl  srcuring  that  result,  con- 


tributing many  articles  to  the  newspapers  of  his 
party,  and  taking  an  active  part  on  the  stump, 
both  in  Alabama  and  Georgia.  The  natural 
inclination  of  his  life  seemed  to  be  toward  a  mili- 
tary career.  While  a  resident  of  Columbus  he 
was  captain  of  a  military  company  for  several 
years,  and,  shortly  after  his  removal  to  Mont- 
gomery, he  became  captain  of  the  Montgomery 
True  Blues,  a  position  he  held  until  the  out- 
break of  the  civil  war.  Through  his  infiuence  the 
Second  Volunteer  Regiment  was  organized  soon 
after  the  Harper's  Feriy  raid.  In  1861.  as 
colonel  of  this  regiment,  he  was  ordered  to  Pen- 
sacola  by  Governor  Moore,  to  assist  the  Florida 
authorities  in  taking  possession  of  the  forts  and 
the  navy  yard,  and  Forts  Baraneas  and  McRae 
were  surrendered  to  him  by  Lieutenant  .Slemnier 
of  the  United  States  Army,  who  withdrew,  with  a 
mere  handful  of  men,  to  Fort  Pickens,  on  Santa 
Kosa  Island.  Colonel  Lomax  recognizing  the  fact, 
that  for  the  latter  fort  to  remain  in  the  hands  of 
the  Federals  rendered  the  other  forts  useless,  and 
placed  the  navy  yard  at  the  mercy  of  the  Federals, 
desired,  and  insisted  upon  being  allowed,  to  take 
Fort  Pickens,  but  the  Florida  authorities  refused 
their  assent  to  such  a  course.  He  urged  upon  the 
officer  in  command  of  the  Florida  forces  the  im- 
portance of  taking  P'ort  Pickens  before  it  was  re- 
inforced, and  insisted  that  the  fort  could  easily  be 
taken  without  a  struggle,  even  if  it  was  not  sur- 
rendered upon  a  demonstration  of  force.  But  his 
prayers  were  unheeded,  and  instead  of  prompt 
action,  a  council  of  war  compo.sed  of  militia 
officers  gravely  determined  that  the  taking  of 
Pickens  was  impracticable  at  that  time — it  was 
soon  i-endered  impo.ssible  by  its  reinforcement, 
and  thus  were  the  Federals  left  in  command  of 
the  approaches  to  Pensacola  Harbor,  and  from 
this  "coign  of  vantage"  they  battered  down  the 
other  forts  at  their  leisure  and  rendered  the  navy 
yard — the  second  best  in  the  Southern  States — 
useless  to  the  Confederate  cause.  Finding  him- 
self thwarted  in  tliC  main  jnirpose  of  his  mission, 
and  recognizing  the  futility  of  his  command  re- 
maining longer  in  their  state  of  masterly  inactiv- 
ity, Colonel  Loniax  wrote  to  Governor  Moore  ask- 
ing their  recall,  and  shortly  after  its  return  to 
Montgomery,  the  regiment  disbanded,  the  terms 
of  service  of  the  men  having  expired.  In  April, 
1861,  Colonel  Lomax  was  elected  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  afterward  famous  Third  Alabama 
Regiment,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  Virginia.    He 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


033 


80011  became  colonel  by  tlie  promotion  of  Colonel 
Witliers.  'L'lie  regiment  was  stationed  at  Norfolk 
until  the  spring  of  18ii"2,  and  was  perfected  in 
drill  and  disciidine,  under  his  command  and  in- 
struction, so  that  when  it  jiassed  through  Rich- 
mond on  its  wa}'  to  the  front  it  was  the  subject  of 
universal  admiration.  Ex-(Jovernor  "Watts,  of 
Alaliama,  having  declared  to  the  writer  that  the 
unstinted  praise  bestowed  upon  it  made  him  proud 
of  his  State. 

t'olonel  Loniax  was  commissioned  a  brigadier- 
general  just  before  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines,  but 
not  having  been  assigned  to  a  brigade,  he  remained 
in  command  of  his  regiment  and  leil  it  in  that 
battle.  On  the  1st  day  of  June,  186:2,  while  at 
the  head  of  the  regiment,  leading  it  to  its  "bap- 
tism of  fire,"  he  was  instantly  killed,  his  body 
falling  into  the  iiands  of  the  Federal  troops,  by 
reason  of  the  necessary  withdrawal  of  the  com- 
mand, so  far  in  advance  of  the  Confederate  line 
had  the  regiment  been  thrown  by  the  blunder  of 
some  general  officer.  His  remains  were  subse- 
quently recovered  and  interred  in  the  cemetery  at 
Montgomery,  where  his  widow  lias  erected  a  mar- 
tial shaft  to  mark  his  resting  place.  "No  event 
of  that  terrible  war  sent  a  deeper  pang  of  regret 
to  the  public  heart,"'  says  Mr.  Brewer  in  his  "Ala- 
bama," "  than  the  death  of  Tenncnt  Lomax,"  and 
his  fame  is  cherished  to-day  throughout  the  State, 
as  furnishing  one  of  the  brightest  pages  in  the 
history   of  the  Commonwealth. 

General  Lomax  was  six  feet  four  inches  in 
height,  as  straight  as  an  Indian  warrior,  and  in 
form  and  feature  was  one  of  the  handsomest  of 
men.  "  His  bearing  was  knightly  and  his  man- 
ners polished."  He  was  remarkable  for  his  stern 
devotion  to  duty,  his  patient  endurance  and  manly 
self-reliance.  Unflinching  in  his  principles,  he 
was  gentle  and  courteous  to  others  and  had  a 
broad  charity  for  all.  Said  one  of  his  comrades 
in  the  Mexican  War:  "  It  is  worth  the  hardships 
of  the  service  to  have  secured  the  friendship  of 
such  a  man  as  Teniient  Lomax."  The  nobility  of 
his  nature,  his  gentle  kindness  and  unselfish  char- 
acter are  attested  by  the  fact  that  the  survivors  of 
his  gallant  and  famous  regiment,  without  excep- 
tion, cherish  his  memory  with  a  devotion  that  is 
unjiaralleled,  and  this  sketch  can  not  be  mor« 
appropriately  closed  than  by  quoting  from  one  of 
tiiem  the  following  tribute  to  his  beloved  leader  : 
"Firm  in  the  advocacy  of  a  cause,  and  outspoken 
in  the  expression  of  his  sentiments,  he  never  for- 


got   the   courtesy  due  an  opponent,   nor  failed 
to    command    the    respect     to    which     he    was 

entitled." 

•  •   ■  •>■  •^^i^>-»— - 

WILLIAMJOSEPH  HOLT.  M.D.,  was  born  in 
Augusta,  Ga.,  January  Ki,  1S29,  and  died  at 
Montgomery,  Aj)ril  28,  1881. 

Dr.  Holt  imbibed  principles  of  heroic  justice 
from  his  honored  father.  Judge  William  W.  Holt, 
who  for  nineteen  years  presided  in  the  Superior 
Court  of  Georgia. 

Imbued  with  an  earnest  desire  for  knowledge, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  after  an  academic 
course  in  his  native  city,  entered  the  University  of 
South  Carolina  and  graduated  at  Columbia. 
Choosing  a  medical  career,  he  studied  with  the 
venerable  L.  A.  Dugas,  the  Xestor  of  the  profes- 
sion in  Georgia. 

After  graduating  in  the  Medical  College  of 
Georgia,  Dr.  Holt,  desiring  to  have  the  advantages 
of  every  avenue  to  professional  science,  went  to 
Europe  and  studied  in  the  medical  schools  of  Ber- 
lin, Vienna  and  Paris.  While  in  the  latter  city, 
and  after  an  arduous  course  of  lectures,  he  tend- 
ered his  services  to  the  Czar  of  Russia,  and  en- 
tered the  medical  department  during  the  C'rimean 
war.  The  then  Czar,  Nicholas,  as  a  token  of  ap- 
preciation for  his  services,  conferred  upon  him  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  knighted  him  and 
honored  him  with  several  badges  and  marks  of 
distinction.  Returningtohishomein  18.")<i,  heinar- 
ried  early  in  185T,  the  daughter  of  his  medical  pre- 
ceptor, Dr.  Dugas,  and  shortly  afterward  moved  to 
Alabama,  settling  in  T>owndes  County  as  a  planter. 
He  was  pursuing  that  vocation  when  the  troubles 
of  IStiO  arose,  and  with  the  call  to  arms  he  offered 
his  services,  and  was  with  the  earliest  troops  that 
reached  Pensacola.  From  then  unf/il  tlie  close  of 
hostilities  he  was  constantly  on  duty,  and  thou- 
sands of  Confederate  soldiers  have  showered  bless- 
ings and  benedictions  upon  Jiis  head. 

After  18ii,")  he  lived  in  Montgomery:  and  who 
in  this  community  did  not  know,  honor  and 
love  liim?  His  heart  was  open  as  day;  his  life  as 
pure  as  snow.  He  was  not  only  the  kind  physi- 
cian— but  he  was  the  watchful  nurse,  and  often 
the  pious  prayer  from  his  lips  wended  its  way 
heavenward  in  behalf  of  the  dying  and  suffering. 
He  was  in  deed  and  in  truth  the  thoughtful  friend, 
the  constant  attendant  and  the   Christian  physi- 


634 


uYOU  THERN  ALABAMA. 


cian.  More  careful  of  others  than  himself,  his 
death  can  be  literally  called  a  sacrifice  for  the 
good  of  his  fellow  mortals.  Ilis  constant  minis- 
trations upon  the  sick  and  dying,  even  when  his 
own  failing  system  gave  him  warning  to  desist,  at 
last  prostrated  him  and  compelled  him  to  retire 
from  work.  After  a  short  respite  and  temporary 
rally,  he  again  buckled  on  his  armor,  only  to  fall 
at  last  a  victim  to  his  high  sense  of  duty  and  self- 
sacrificing  charity. 

Speaking  of  Dr.  Holt,  the  Montgomery  .irfccr- 
tiser  said: 

"  Yesterday  morning  the  light  went  out  from 
as  noble  a  soul  as  ever  graced  a  human  body. 
The  poor  and  needy  will  miss  him,  for  he  was 
indeed  their  friend.  Society  will  miss  him,  for 
he  was  an  ornament  to  any  circle.  His  State  and 
country  will  miss  him,  for  he  ever  stood  ready  to 
discharge  any  public  duty  incumbent  on  him. 
The  high  and  lowly  will  miss  him,  for  he  was 
gentle  and  kind  alike  to  both. 

"  Since  early  manhood  he  was  a  consistent  com- 
municant of  the  Episcopal  Church.  He  leaves 
surviving  him  a  wife  and  two  children,  brothers 
and  sisters,  and  other  relatives  and  friends  with- 
out number,  who  will  never  cease  to  cherish  his 
name  and  honor  his  memory." 


JEROME  COCHRAN.  M.  D.,  State  Health 
Officer,  Senior  Censor  of  the  State  Medical  Asso- 
ciation and  Chairman  of  the  State  Board  of  Medi- 
cal Examiners,  was  born  at  Moscow,  Fayette 
County,  Tenn.,  December  4,  18.31.  He  was  eld- 
est of  the  four  sons  of  Augustine  Owen  and  Fran- 
ces (Bailey)  Cochran,  natives,  respectively,  of 
Georgia  and  Tennessee,  and  descended  from  Scot- 
land; the  Cochrans  tracing  their  ancestry  back 
full  six  iiundred  years.  Augustine  0.  Cochran 
removed  from  Tennessee  to  Jlississippi  wlien  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  quite  young,  and  there 
spent  most  of  his  life  as  a  planter.  He  died  in 
Indian  Territory,  in  LSTO,  while  visitingoneof  his 
sons. 

Jerome  Cochran  spent  his  youth  upon  his 
father's  plantation,  in  Marshall  County,  ^Hss., 
alternating  rugged  physical  labor  with  attend- 
ance at  the  old-field  schools  of  his  neighborhood — 
the  one  developing  brawn  and  the  other  brain, 
each  to  serve  him  to  good  purpose  in  after  life. 


Meagre  as  were  the  opportunities  of  young  Coch- 
ran for  learning,  he  there  laid  the  foundation 
upon  which  he  .subseijuently  reared  a  superstruc- 
ture of  most  grand  proportions.  Early  appre- 
ciating the  advantages  of  learning,  we  find  him. 
while  yet  in  his  boyhood,  by  dint  of  persistent  ap- 
plication to  reading  and  study,  far  outstripping  the 
wisdom  of  his  whilom  preceptor — he  of  the  ferule 
and  birchen  rod — and,  in  fact,  approximating 
excellence  in  many  important  studies. 

Possessed  of  a  retentive  memory  and  a  voracious 
appetite  for  learning,  he  devoured  everything  that 
came  in  his  way,  and  it  is  pretty  generally  con- 
ceded by  those  who  know  him,  appropriated  and 
retained  it.  Mathematics,  logic,  political  econ- 
omy, metaphysics,  theology,  biology,  general  lit- 
erature, general  science,  modern  languages,  his- 
tory, philoso]>hy,  poetry  and  fiction, — all  were  fish 
that  came  to  his  net.  From  nineteen  to  twenty- 
five  years  of  age  he  taught  country  schools,  there- 
by earning  some  money,  accumulating  books  and 
widening  his  field  of  study.  In  18.J5  he  began 
reading  medicine,  and  in  1857  graduated  from 
the  Botanic  College  of  Medicine  at  Memphis, 
delivering  the  valedictory  of  his  class.  After 
practicing  his  profession  for  two  years  in  Missis- 
sippi, he  placed  himself  as  private  student  un- 
der W.  K.  Bowling,  Professor  of  Theory  and 
Practice,  Medical  Department  of  the  University 
at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  obtaining  at  once  the  posi- 
tion of  resident  student  in  the  State  Hospital. 
In  180U  he  was  put  in  charge  of  the  iiospital  as 
resident  physician,  and  in  February,  1801,  after 
having  attended  two  winters  and  one  summer 
course  of  lectures,  received  the  regular  degree. 

Early  in  18ijl  he  entered  the  Confederate  hospi- 
tal at  Okolona,  Miss.,  as  a  contract  physician,  and 
was  soon  thereafter  promoted  to  the  full  rank  of 
surgeon.  He  remained  in  the  Confederate  service 
to  the  close  of  the  war,  and  in  June,  18G5,  located 
at  Mobile,  where  he  entered  readily  uj)on  a  lucra- 
tive practice.  In  18(18  he  was  elected  Professor 
of  Chemistry  in  the  Medical  College  of  Alabama, 
and  remained  with  this  institution  about  nine 
years,  occuitying,  during  the  last  four  years  of 
the  time,  the  chair  of  Public  Hygiene  and  Med- 
ical Jurisprudence. 

In  18TS  he  Wiis  a  member  of  the  Yellow-Fever 
Commission  under  the  auspices  of  the  United 
States  Marine  Hospital  service,  and  in  18T9  of 
the  Board  of  Yellow-Fever  FLxperts.  In  April  of 
the  last-named  year  he  wae  honored  by  apjioinl- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


635 


merit  to  the  position  he  has  since  so  ably  filled,  at 
the  iiead  of  tlie  State  Medical  l)epartineiit. 

Among  the  many  able  addresses  delivered  by 
Dr.  C'oehran  before  various  societies  and  scientific 
l)(>dies,  and  most  of  which  are  now  in  print,  we 
note  the  following  titles:  "On  the  Principles 
of  Organization  and  the  P^volution  of  Organic 
Forms":  "'-Medical  Education  and  the  Degrada- 
tion of  the  Profession  by  Medical  Colleges";  '''riie 
Law  of  Duty  ami  Its  Helations  to  Success  in  Life"; 
Memorial  Addresses,  etc.  And  from  the  long  list 
of  scientific  papers  published  by  him,  and  recog- 
nized by  the  profession  everywhere  as  of  pro- 
nounced merit,  we  select  the  following:  "The 
Administration  of  Chloroform  by  Deglutition" 
(ISilT):  "  Kndeinic  and  Kjiidemic  Diseases  of  Mo- 
bile, their  Cause  and  Prevention  "  (18T1);  "His- 
tory of  the  Yellow  Fever  Epidemic  of  18T3 " 
(18T4);  "  The  AVhite  Blood  Corpuscle,  its  Phys- 
iology and  Pathology"  (1874);  "History  of  the 
Small-Pox  Epidemic  of  1874-75  in  the  City  of 
.'Mobile"  (lb75);  "  Yellow  Fever:  in  Kelation  to 
Its  Cause "  (1877);  "Hermaphroditism"  (1878); 
"What  is  Puerperal  Fever?"  (1878);  "Sanitary 
Administration,  and  the  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Quarantine"  (1870). 

The  Doctor's  miscellaneous  articles  (published) 
treating  upon  various  subjects  are  numerous  and 
important.  Among  them  are:  "  The  Health  Or- 
dinance of  the  City  of  Mobile":  "The  Act  Es- 
tablishing Hoards  of  Health  in  Alabama";  "The 
Constitution  of  the  iledical  Association  of  tlie 
State  of  Alabama":  "The  Annual  l{eports  of  the 
Board  of  Censors  of  the  Medical  Association  of 
Alabama  from  1843  to  1888,  inclusive";  and  "The 
Zymotic  Diseases  in  their  Relation  to  Public  Hy- 
giene." 

While  we  are  driven  to  the  necessity  of  modera- 
tion in  j)rinting  conclusions  as  to  the  merits  or 
demerits  of  living  men,  it  is  right  that  we  should 
jiay  just  tribute  where  it  is  unquestionably  due, 
and  to  this  end,  we  quote  the  following  extract 
from  an  address  delivered  at  Eufala  in  .\pril, 
1878,  by  the  distinguished  Dr.  B.  H.  Higgs,  the 
orator  of  the  State  .Medical  Association,  and  en- 
dorse it  as  fully  sustained  by  the  facts: 

"  As  Bichat  and  Hunter  were  the  geniuses  of 
the  origin  of  the  new  era,  which  I  have  attempted 
to  briefly  portray  to  you  to-night,  and  Sims  and 
Sayres  are  its  choicest  fruit  and  greatest  mo<lern 
exemplars,  so  there  sits  within  the  sound  of  my 
voice  one   whom    I   may  appropriately   style  the 


genius  of  medical  organization.  Our  Medical 
Association,  with  its  complex  machinery  already 
in  operation  and  an  adumbration  of  more,  owes 
its  present  excellence  an<l  preeminence  largely  to 
the  zeal,  fidelity  and  energy  of  one  mind.  Patient, 
far-reaching,  tenacious,  learned,  indefatigable, 
oftentimes  misunderstood  and  sometimes  misrep- 
resented, Dr.  Jerome  Cochran  builded  wiser  than 
he  knew  in  creating  the  plan  of  the  State  Associa- 
tion. He  deserves  to  rank  as  the  apostle  of  organ- 
ized medical  action  in  the  new  era.  As  the 
British  Medical  Association  has  come  to  the 
United  States  for  a  code  of  ethics,  so  have  older 
States  in  the  American  Union,  and  others  are  still 
to  come,  sought  inspiration  in  studying  our  plan 
of  organization." 

Dr.  Cochran  was  married  in  DeSoto  County. 
Miss.,  in  185G,  to  the  daughter  of  the  late  Jared 
Collins,  of  that  county.  She  died  in  1870,  leav- 
tw.0  sons  and  one  daughter. 

■  •   •♦>"5^^-<"   ■  - 

JAMES  KIRKMAN  JACKSON,  Private  Sec- 
retary to  Governor  Seay,  Montgomery,  Ala.,  was 
born  at  Florence,  this  State,  April  7,  180"-2,  and 
received  his  education  under  a  private  tutor  and 
at  the  State  Normal  College,  Florence. 

He  came  into  the  State  service  in  March,  1883, 
as  clerk  of  the  Alabama  Railroad  Commission, 
and  remained  in  that  department  until  called  to 
his  present  position  by  the  (iovernor,  in  January, 
1887. 

In  speaking  of  his  appointment  to  this  highly 
important  office — a  place  hitherto  regarded  as  one 
especially  adapted  to  political  favorites — the  Mont- 
gomery Advertiser  of  February  13,  lfc87,  says: 

"  When  Governor  Seay  came  into  office  last 
November,  he  immediately  began  to  cast  about  for 
a  private  secretary.  This  is  a  high  and  respon- 
sible office.  The  incumbent  is  the  confidant  of 
the  Governor  and  must  be  trustworthy.  The 
duties  are  confidential  and  require  fidelity.  They 
are  onerous  and  require  industry.  They  are  com- 
plicated and  difficult,  and  require  intelligence. 
The  incumbent  must  meet  and  receive  at  the  capi- 
tol  of  the  State  the  people  of  the  State,  and  his 
address  and  manners  must  uphold  the  dignity  of 
the  State.     He  must  also  be  a  Democrat. 

"The  Governor  found  Mr.  Jackson  up  to  the  full 
measure    of    every    requirement,    and    appointed 


636 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


him  to  this  responsible  office,  never  before  filled 
by  ao  young  a  man.  It  is  only  necessary  to  add 
that  the  Governor  has  found  iiis  private  secretary 
all  that  he  hoped,  a  priceless  acquisition." 

-•    ■'>-^^?^-<"    ■ 

DR.  JOHN  HOWARD  BLUE  was  born  Novem- 
ber 0,  1848,  at  iIol)ile,  Ala.,  and  is  a  son  of  Rev. 
0.  K.  and  Ann  E.  (Howard)  Blue. 

Tlie  grandfather  of  our  subject  was  one  of  the 
original  settlers  of  Montgomery,  and  was  one  of 
the  men  who  first  located  this  town.  The  father, 
Rev.  0.  R.  IMue,  is  a  Methodist  minister,  and  has 
been  actively  engaged  in  ministerial  work  in  Ala- 
bama for  many  years.  The  mother  of  our  subject 
was  a  native  of  Georgia. 

J.  H.  Blue,  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  began  the 
study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  J.  W.  Hunter,  of 
Tuskegee,  Ala.,  in  18C8;  subsequently  entered  the 
Washington  University  of  Baltimore,  and  was 
graduated  in  1870.  He  immediately  returned  to 
Montgomery  and  began  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, to  which  he  has  since  devoted  his  time. 

Dr.  Blue  was  married  October  24,  ISTG,  to  Miss 
Mary  Wood  Cook,  sister  of  G.  W.  and  E.  T.  Cook, 
grocers  of  Montgomery.  They  have  five  children, 
viz.:  John  R.,  Mary  E.,  Annie  K.,  Harvey  Jlorris, 
and  Ann  H. 

The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  the  Medical  Associ- 
ation of  Alabama,  and  also  of  the  Montgomery 
Medical  and  Surgical  Society. 

THOMAS  ALEXANDER  MEANS,  A.M..  M.D.. 
was  born  in  Covington,  Ga.,  October  1],  1831; 
received  an  academic  education  in  Emory  College, 
Georgia,  class  of  1851 ;  read  medicine  for  four  years 
under  his  father;  attended  his  first  course  of  lec- 
tures in  the  Medical  College  of  Georgia, at  Augusta, 
in  1855;  second  course  in  the  Atlanta  Medical  Col- 
lege, class  of  185G;  and  immediately  set  sail  for 
Europe,  under  tiie  chaperonagc  of  Prof.  Willis  F. 
Westmoreland,  of  Atlanta,  to  further  complete  his 
studies.  After  three  years  abroad,  attend- 
ing the  medical  schools  of  [..ondon,  Paris,  Dub- 
lin, and  Edinburgh,  he  returned  home,  and  settled 
in  Memphis,  Tenn.,  in  1859. 

Spurred  by  the  love  of  country,  and  the  ambition 
to  further  enlarge  his  field  of  operations,  he  re- 


turned to  his  native  State,  was  commissioned 
surgeon  in  the  Confederate  States  Army  July, 
1861,  and  had  his  initial  experience  at  the  first  bat- 
tle of  Manassas.  He  continued  in  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  until  the  battle  of  tJettysburg. 
After  tlie  retreat  of  Lee's  army  he  was,  by  order 
of  tieneral  Longstreet,  left  in  charge  of  the 
wounded  of  his  corp.s,  and  the  divisions  of  Hood 
and  Pickett.  He  remained  in  the  field  for  one 
month,  and  was  then  transferred,  with  the  wounded 
under  his  charge,  to  Camp  Letterman,  near  Get- 
tysburg, and  placed  on  duty  as  surgeon  of  Confe- 
derate officers,  jirisoners  of  war,  reviaiiiing  three 
months.  When  this  hospital  was  broken  up  he 
was  transferred  to  Fortress  McHenry,  near  Balti- 
more, and  was  held  for  one  month  as  prisoner  of 
war.  He  was  exchanged  shortly  afterward,  and 
ordered  to  hospital  duty  further  south,  locating  at 
Columbus,  Ga.,  in  charge  of  the  Marshall  Hospi- 
tal, where  he  remained  until  the  close  of 
hostilities. 

In  181)7,  the  Doctor  located  in  Montgomery, 
where  heat  once  took  high  rank  in  his  profession. 
Among  the  many  positions  of  honor  and  trust  to 
which  he  has  been  called,  and  in  the  discharge  of 
which  he  has  acquitted  himself  with  the  highest 
credit,  may  be  mentioned  the  following:  Secre- 
tary of  the  Medical  and  Surgical  Society,  Secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Health.  City  Piiysician  and  Regis- 
trar of  Vital  Statistics,  Surgeon  in  charge  of  City 
Hospital,  President  aiul  Secretary  of  City  Scliool 
Board,  President  Medical  and  Surgical  Society, 
one  of  tlie  consulting  physicians  to  the  Montgom- 
ery City  Infirmary,  Superintendent  Public  Schools, 
President  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
etc,  etc. 

To  the  literature  of  the  profession  of  wliich  lie 
I   is  so  distinguished  a  member  he  has  contributed 
I   the  following  important  papers  and  lectures:    The 
f   Anatomy  of  F^xjiression,  or  the   Human   Counte- 
I   nance  in  Health  and   Disease  (lecture);   Parisian 
j   Hospitals,  their  more   Striking  Features  and  Ad- 
vantages (letters  from  Scotland);  Total  Ablation  of 
the  Inferior  Maxilla  (translation);  Spcrmatorrhd'a, 
I   Care, Treatment  and  Cure;Di]>htheritisorDij)lithe- 
ritic  Sore  Throat;  (Jelsemium  Semper  \'irens  as  a 
Remedy  in   Gonorrhiea;  Renal  and  Vesical  Disor- 
ders; On  the  Influence  of  Weather  in   Relation  to 
I    Disease;    Constipation   and    Costiveness;    Oxone, 
its  Definition,  Mode  of  Generation  and  its  Jlffects 
upon    the    Health  of  Human    Beings;    the    Dry 
Method  in  the  Treatment  of  T'terine  Diseases  (in 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


637 


prepanitioii);  ami  many  otliers  of  equal  import- 
ance, iind  all  attractinff  the  widest  attention  and 
most  favoralile  criticism. 


-^^ 


JOHN  BROWN  GASTON.  M.D.,  distinguished 
rhy.sician  and  Surgeon,  .Montgomery,  one  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Alabama  Insane  Hospital,  and 
President  of  the  Hoard  of  Health  of  Montgomery 
County,  is  a  native  of  Chester,  S.  C,  and  was  born 
.Tanuary  4,  1S:J4. 

His  father,  also  named  John  Brown  Claston, 
was  a  prominent  physician  during  his  life;  and  his 
mother  was  before  marriage  Mary  15.  McFadden, 
also  a  native  of  Chester. 

Tlie  Gastons  came  origirally  from  France:  the 
McFaddens  from  Scotland.  When  the  Huguenots 
were  driven  out  of  France,  John  Gaston  lied  into 
Ireland,  and  from  there  came  to  America  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  settled  fir.st 
in  Pennsylvania  and  removed  subsequently  to 
South  Carolina.  This  .Tohn  Gaston  was  the  grand- 
father of  the  gentleman  whose  name  stands  at  the 
head  of  this  sketch.  The  senior  Dr.  Gaston 
practiced  medicine  many  years  in  South  Carolina, 
and  there  died  in  18fJ3,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three 
years.  His  widow  survived  him  until  18)S(i,  and 
died  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  her  life.  They 
reared  si.\  sons  to  manhood,  .John  B.  Gaston,  Jr., 
being  tliird  in  order  of  birth.  Three  of  the  sons 
became  professional  men — one  doctor  and  two 
lawyers  —  and  the  otliers  farmers. 

Dr.  (lastou  received  his  primary  education  at 
the  common  schools  of  South  Carolina,  entered 
Columbia  College,  that  State,  in  1850,  and  was 
graduated  in  December,  18")'-J,  as  A.  B.  Leaving 
college,  he  entered  the  office  of  his  brother,  Dr. 
.1.  McFadden  Gaston,  and  read  medicine  with  him 
about  a  year,  going  thence  to  the  medical  de|iart- 
ment  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, from  which 
institution  he  was  graduated  as  M.  D.  in  18.")."). 
He  returned  to  his  native  State,  and  in  York  Dis- 
trict began  the  practice  of  medicine,  at  which,  as 
he  says,  he  "earned  victuals  and  clothes  of  an 
inferior  quality."  He  came  to  Montgomery  in 
ls.")T.  Here  his  talents  were  readily  recognized, 
and  he  rose  rapidly  to  a  front  rank  iu  tlie  jjrofes- 
sion  to  which  he  has  since  devoted  liis  time  and 
talents.  His  first  partnership,  after  coming  to 
this  city,  was  with  the  famous  Nathan  Bozeman. 


M.D.,  now  of  New  York  city.  After  the  war,  he 
was  associated  with  the  late  Dr.  W.  .J.  Holt.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  Dr.  (iaston's  association  with 
those  two  eminent  men  gave  him  many  advantages 
that  otherwise  might  have  been  deferred,  if  not 
wanting. 

In  April,  18tU,  Dr.  (iaston  was  made  surgeon 
of  a  .Militia  Regiment  which  was  assigned  to  Fort 
Morgan.  In  July  following  he  was  commissioned 
surgeon  of  the  Fourteenth  Alabama  Infantry,  and 
during  the  summer  of  18(it.'  was  made  senior 
surgeon  of  Wilcox's  Brigade,  which  position  he 
filled  until  the  spring  of  18G4.  During  the  last 
year  of  the  war  he  was  in  charge  of  the  Alabama 
Division  of  Howard's  (irove  Hospital,  at  Richmond. 

Since  the  war  he  has  occupied  the  highest  rank 
of  his  profession,  both  in  Montgomery  and  in  the 
State  at  large.  He  was  annual  orator  of  the 
Medical  Association  of  the  State  of  Alabama  in 
1809,  and  its  president  in  1S8-.J.  Though  he  has 
not  contributed  largely  to  the  literature  of  the 
profession,  some  of  his  papers  have  been  of  excep- 
tional interest  and  value.  His  articles  on  "Med- 
ico-Legal Evidence  of  Independent  Life  in  a  New 
Born  Child"  (1870),  has  placed  a  very  important 
question  on  correct  jihysiological  grounds,  and 
must  have  the  effect  of  establishing  a  uniform 
ruling  in  the  courts  of  law  in  this  distinguished 
subject.  It  has  been  accepted  by  the  profession 
as  determining  definitely  the  correct  doctrine  on 
this  hitherto  unsettled  question. 

Dr.  Gaston  has  never  taken  an  active  part  in 
politics.  He  has,  however,  felt  a  deep  interest  in 
public  affairs,  and  at  times  has  participated  in  the 
discussion  of  questions  prominently  before  the 
people  of  the  State.  But  in  view  of  the  splendid 
results  accomplished,  he  has  contributed  nothing 
to  the  press  that  can  afford  him  more  pride  and 
satisfaction  than  the  incisive  articles  which,  as 
President  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  he  pub- 
lished in  188:i,  and  in  wliich  the  then  existing 
penal  system  of  Alabama  was  fearlessly  and  vigor- 
ously attacked.  He  arraigned  the  State,  and 
pointed  to  the  sanitary  condition  of  her  prisons, 
the  disregard  of  the  comfort,  and  especially  to  the 
mortuary  record  of  her  convicts,  to  show  that 
Alabama  had  '•  not  been  a  protector  and  friend  to 
her  dependent  children  of  crime."  The  evidence 
on  which  he  "  held  up  the  results  of  penal  servi- 
tude in  Alabama  to  the  reprobation  of  good  men 
everywhere"  was  found  in  the  annual  reports  of 
the  inspectors  of  the  penitentiary;   and  the  con- 


638 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


•Insion  at  which  he  arrived  was  "  that  more  than 
seven  per  centum  of  tiiose  who  had  been  sent  to 
penitentiary  hud  died  of  the  unnecessary  rigors  of 
prison  discijilinc."  '•  There  is  a  right  to  punish," 
wrote  the  Doctor,  "  but  there  is  an  obligation  to 
protect,  and  tiiis  obligation  is  nowhere  more  bind- 
ing than  in  regard  to  the  convict.  He  may  have 
placed  himself  in  the  attitude  of  an  enemy  to  soci- 
ety, but  the  State  should  not  become  his  enemy." 

These  papers  produced  a  profound  impression 
throughout  the  State,  and  the  interest  and  inves- 
tigation which  they  aroused  have  resulted  in  the 
thorough  reformation  of  the  prison  discipline  of 
the  State.  The  great  reduction  of  the  death  rate 
which  he,  in  the  face  of  much  opposition,  claimed 
was  practicable,  has  been  accomplished,  and  the 
condition  of  prisonsand  convicts  in  Alabama  is  no 
longer  a  reproach  to  her  people. 

Dr.  Gaston  was  elected  Mayor  of  ilontgomery 
in  ls81,  aud  re-elected  without  opposition  in  1885. 
As  chief  magistrate  of  that  growing  city  he  has 
had  no  superior  in  an  impartial,  faithful,  intelli- 
gent and  successful  administration  of  her  ailairs. 
Under  his  administration  the  finances  of  the  city 
have  been  kept  in  a  most  satisfactory  condition, 
order  has  prevailed,  the  streets  have  been  beauti- 
fied and  improved,  sanitary  inspection  and  street 
cleaning  have  been  organized  and  systematized  as 
never  before,  and  almost  without  expense,  so  tliat 
Montgomery  is  one  of  the  cleanest  and  liealthiest 
towns  of  the  country.  He  has  large  capacity  for 
work,  and,  although  occui)ied  with  an  extensive 
practice,  he,  when  emergency  refjuired  it,  person- 
ally superintended  the  most  minute  details  of  his 
administratio)!. 

He  is  reflective  and  analytical  in  the  treatment 
of  any  subject  of  investigation,  and  as  a  writer 
and  speaker,  is  clear,  concise  and  energetic. 

Dr.  (iaston  was  nnvrried  in  Mecklenburg  County, 
N.  (-'..  November  11.  18.">7,  to  Miss  Sallie  J.  Tor- 
rence,  and  of  the  five  children  born  to  them,  two 
died  in  infancy. 

RICHARD  FRASER  MICHEL,  M.D..  was  born 
February  l.">,  ls27,  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  is  a 
son  of  Dr.  William  and  Eugenie  (Fraser)  Michel, 
nativesof  that  city,  and  of  French  and  Scotch  de- 
scent, respectively. 

The  elder  Michel  was  an  eminent  physician  of 
Charleston,  where  he  practiced  many  years.     Both 


he  and  his  wife  died  in  that  city;  the  former  in 
1870.  and  the  latter  in  18:5«. 

R.  F.  Michel  was  educated  in  Ciiarloston:  was 
graduated  from  tlie  Medical  College  at  that  city  in 
March,  l.s4T,  ami  there  immediately  began  the 
practice  of  medicine.  In  1S48  he  was  elected 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica  of  the  Charlefcton 
Medical  Institute,  which  position  he  held  until 
ISfiO.  He  entered  the  Confederate  Army  as  a 
surgeon  with  (ieneral  Evans"  Brigade,  and  was  in 
the  Virginia  .\rmy  until  very  nearly  the  close  of 
the  war.  During  his  services  in  the  army  he  was 
actively  engaged  all  the  time,  and  was  called  upon 
frequently  to  [)erform  the  most  ditlicult  operations. 
He  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  first-class  surgeons 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  went  into  the 
Confederate  Army  Christmas  P-ve,  1800,  in  Fort 
Moultrie,  Charleston  Harbor,  and  only  left  at  the 
surrender  of  (ien.  Robert  E.  Lee. 

After  the  war  he  located  at  Montgomery, 
where  he  has  since  devoted  himself  to  the  prac- 
tice. In  187"i  he  was  elected  vice-president  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  which  position 
he  held  one  year.  In  18G9  he  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  Medical  Association  of  the  State  of 
Alabama,  and  in  November  of  the  same  year  was 
elected  president  of  the  Medical  and  Surgical  So- 
ciety of  Montgomery.  He  was  appointed  Sur- 
geon-General of  the  State  of  Alabama  (in  1S8:J)  on 
Governor  O'Neal's  staff;  and  was  the  orator  of  the 
Medical  Association  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  at 
Jlobile.  in  187G.  He  was  elected  Counselor  of 
the  Medical  Association  of  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  in  1850  and  18<i(».  aud  is  nowthetirand 
Senior  Counselor  of  the  Medical  .Association  of 
the  State  of  Alabama. 

The  Doctor  has  officiated  as  a  member  of  the 
Hoard  of  Health  of  Montgomery  since  1869,  act- 
ing part  of  the  time  as  president  of  that  body. 
His  practice  since  coming  to  Montgomery  has  been 
very  extensive,  and  he  is  ranked  to-day  among  the 
foremost  physicians  of  the  .South.  He  was  married 
in  Fel)ruary.  1854,  to  Mjss  Annie,  daughter  of 
William  and  Susan  Rivers,  of  Charleston,  S.  C, 
and  has  had  born  to  him  three  children,  viz.: 
Eugene  F.,  deceased;  Susan  F..  wife  of  F.  S. 
Hammond,  of  Montgomery;  Middleton,  who  is  an 
expert  nnichinist  at  Montgomery. 

The  Doctor  and  family  arc  communicants  of  the 
St.  John's  Ejiiscopal  Church,  of  which  he  has  been 
a  vestrynnui  for  ten  years.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic    fraternity,  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


039 


American  Legion  of  Honor,  and  is  president  of 
the  Social  Medical  Clnb,  of  ilontgoniery,  of  which 
lie  has  been  president  sixteen  years.  Dr.  Michel 
is  a  man  of  higii  social  .standing,  an  honorable 
citizen,  and  a  di.stinguished  physician  and  surgeon. 
Dr.  W.  F.  Michel  is  the  author  of  the  following 
papers:  "Anatomical  and  Physiological  Reflections 
on  some  parts  of  the  Eye "  —  Richmond  and 
LouixriUe  Medical  Journal,  September,  ]ST1: 
"History  of  Break-Hone  Fever" — Southern  Journal 
o/lhe  Medical  Sciences.  February,  ISCT;  "A  Mono- 
graph on  Ilseinorrhagic  Malarial  Fever" — New 
Orleans  Journal  of  Medicine,  October,  18G!t; 
"  I'urpura'mia";  "Transactions  iledical  Associa- 
tion of  the  State  of  Alabama  ";  "  Analysis  of  the 
Life  of  \V.  0.  Haldwin,  M.  D." — Richmond  and 
LoiiiKville  Medical  Journal,  May.  18'!(i:  "Address 
to  the  Medical  Association  of  the  State  of  Alabama, 
1S70";  "  Review  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Ameri- 
can Medical  Association  for  1868" — Neiv  Orleans 
Medical  Journal,  July,  1868:  "Dr.  Michel's 
Surgical  Cases" — Richmond  Medical  Journal, 
August,  1866;  "Michel  on  Yesico-Vaginal 
Fistula" — Jieio  Orleans  Journal  of  Medicine, 
April.  1860;  ".\  Lecture  on  the  Life  and  Writings 
of  Col.  Paul  H.  Hayne,  the  Poet";  "Epidemic  of 
Yellow  Fever  in  Montgomery,  18T3  ";  "Pathology 
of  Yellow  Fever  "; — Transactions  of  the  Medical 
Association  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  18'i'4. 

BENJAMIN  J.  BALDWIN,  M.  D.,  Physician, 
Surgeon  and  Specialist,  aii(l  founiier  of  the  "Mor- 
ris Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,"  at  Montgomery.  Ala., 
the  largest  and  most  elegantly  equipped  institu- 
tion of  the  kind  in  the  South,  is  a  native  of  Bul- 
lock County,  Ala.,  where  he  was  born  November 
17.  18.')G. 

His  father,  Benj.  .T.  Baldwin,  Sr..  was  born  in 
Alabama,  and  his  mother,  .Manila  .1.  (Barnett) 
Baldwin,  in  (Jeorgia. 

The  senior  Baldwin  graduated  from  the  law 
department  of  the  University  of  Yirginia,  and 
subsefjuently  practiced  for  a  short  time.  He  is 
also  well  known  as  an  extensive  planter  in  Bullock 
County,  where  he  spent  many  years  of  his  life. 
He  now  resides  at  Yerbena,  Ala.,  and  looks  after 
liis  ])lanting  interests. 

After  a  thorougli  preliminary  training,  young 
Mr.   Baldwin  entered    Randolph-Macon    C'ollege, 


Ashland,  Ya.,  from  which  institution  he  came  to 
-Montgomery,  and  began  the  study  of  his  chosen 
profession  in  the  office  of  Dr.  R.  F.  Michel. 

At  the  end  of  one  year  he  entered  Bellevue 
Medical  College,  New  York  City,  and  graduated 
therefrom  as  Doctor  of  Meaicine  in  18TT. 

Immediately  upon  receiving  his  diploma  from 
Bellevue,  Dr.  Baldwin  was  appointed  physician  to 
the  New  York  Lunatic  Asylum.  From  the  Asy- 
lum he  was  appointed  house  surgeon  of  Charity 
Hospital,  New  York,  a  position  lie  filled  for 
about  eighteen  months  with  much  credit  to 
himself. 

In  1878  Doctor  Baldwin  located  at  Louisville, 
Ky.,  where  his  abilities  were  readily  recognized  by 
men  already  high  in  the  profession,  and,  at  the 
end  of  one  year,  formed  a  partnership  with  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Preston  B.  Scott,  which  continued 
for  about  two  \ears.  In  1881  he  abandoned  the 
practice  of  general  medicine,  and  returned  to  New 
York  for  a  special  course  of  instruction  in  diseases 
of  the  eye  and  ear.  Here  his  progress  was  so 
rapid  that  at  the  end  of  two  months  he  recieived 
the  appointment  as  resident  surgeon  of  Manhat- 
tan Eye  and  Ear  Hospital,  the  duties  of  which 
position  he  discharged  with  excellent  skill  for  a 
period  of  one  and  a  half  years.  After  visiting 
Europe  and  the  great  schools  and  hospitals  of 
London,  Paris  and  Heidelberg,  he  returned  to 
Montgomery  and  entered  at  once  upon  the  prac- 
tice of  his  specialties:  and  in  this  connection  it  is 
our  duty  to  say  that  his  success  has  been  in  the 
highest  degree  complimentary  to  his  acknowledged 
accomplishments. 

October,  1887,  the  "Morris  P]ye  and  Ear  In- 
firmary" was  opened  to  the  public.  It  is  a  hand- 
some pressed-brick  building,  of  the  now  popular 
Queen-Anne  style  of  architecture,  two  stories 
high,  with  all  the  modern  ajjpointments  and  con- 
veniences. Doctor  Baldwin  is  a  jirominent  mem- 
ber of  the  Surgical  and  Medical  Association  of 
this  State.  In  1887  he  was  the  chosen  orator  for 
the  former  and  delivered  an  address  which  at- 
tracted much  attention  and  favorable  comment. 
The  State  Medical  Association,  of  which  he  is 
Counselor,  have  named  him  as  their  orator  for  the 
year  1888.  He  iseditor  of  the  Eye  and  Ear  Depart- 
ment of  the  Alabama  Medical  Journal  and  is  the 
author  of  several  scientific  and  instructive  papers. 
The  Doctor  was  married  at  Montgomery,  De- 
cember 16,  1884,  to  Miss  Ilulit,  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  Hon.  Josiah  Morris. 


C40 


KORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


DR.    JOSEPH     MILWARD    WILLIAMS    was 

born  six  nii.e.s  soutlieast  of  Montgoinery,  in  .Mont- 
gomery County,  Ala.,  August  i,  1832,  and  died  in 
Klniorc  County,  this  State,  October  15,  188'-J,  in 
liis  fifty-first  year. 

At  the  age  of  twelve  jears  he  attended  the  high 
sc-hool  in  the  town  of  Marion,  Ala.,  and  at  the 
age  of  si.xteen  years,  entered  the  University  of 
Alabama,  graduating  with  high  honors  ;  his  pre- 
ceptors declaring  him  to  be  the  best  belles-lettres 
scholar  of  the  class  or  school. 

.\fter  completing  his  literary  studies,  he  entered 
the  office  of  Drs.  lioUing  &  Haldwin,  as  a  student, 
in  the  fall  of  1849.  After  two  years'  diligent 
study,  he  attended  lectures  in  the  University  of 
Pennnsylvania,  graduating  in  18,i3.  Keenly 
api>reciating  the  value  of  bed-side  instruction,  he 
determined  to  remain  one  year  longer  among  the 
hosi)itals  of  Philadelphia,  so  as  to  better  fit  him- 
self for  the  resjionsible  duties  of  his  profession. 
On  his  return  to  Montgomery  in  18.54:,  he  formed 
a  partnershi])  with  one  of  his  former  preceptors, 
Dr.  William  O.  Haldwin.  In  18.59.  he  abandoned 
practice  and  went  into  the  drug  business  with 
Mr.  Stephen  Hutchings,  of  this  city.  In  1807  he 
withdrew  from  the  firm  of  Hutchings  &  Williams, 
and  resumed  the  practice.  In  the  autumn  of 
ISiiii,  he  formed  a  second  jjartnei'ship  with  Dr. 
Baldwin,  and  remained  until  the  winter  of 
l.sr;i. 

In  the  summer  of  18<il,  prompted  by  that  love 
of  country  which  so  stimulated  all  true  Southern- 
ers at  the  time,  he  entered  the  Confederate  Army 
as  surgeon,  an<l  was  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia,  serving  under  (Jen.  B.  D. 
Fry,  then  colonel  of  the  Thirteenth  Alabama  Heg- 
iment.  After  eighteen  months'  service  in  the 
field,  he  was  transferred  to  Mobile,  in  January, 
18fi3,  and  placed  in  charge  of  hospitals  in  that 
city,  and  so  remained  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

He  married  Miss  Mary  L.  ilarks,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  William  H.  Marks,  of  this  city. 
Possessed  of  wealth  and  extensive  family  connec- 
tion, he  had  little  difficulty  in  securing  a  large 
and  lucrative  practice.  His  wife  and  four  chil- 
dren survive  him. 

Dr.  Williams  was  a  man  of  unusual  ability,  both 
natural  and  accpiircd,  and  was  gifted  with  a  singu- 
larly retentive  memory.  His  tastes  were  literary, 
and  so  well  did  he  learn  anything  he  read,  he  be- 
came authority  when  questions  of  doubt  arose  upon 
matters  of  history.     In  fact,  his  mind  was  a  store- 


house of  knowledge,  and  so  well  arranged  as  to  be 
at  a  moment  ready  for  use.  Handsome  and  pleas- 
ing in  his  address,  easy  and  jiolished  in  manners, 
intelligent,  with  a  keen  sense  of  humor  and  rep- 
artee, he  drew  around  him  a  host  oi  rare  compan- 
ions. Whilst  he  emphasized  the  importance  of  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  standard  works  on  medi- 
cine and  surgery,  he  did  not  undervalue  the  bene- 
fits to  be  gained  from  the  numerous  periodicals  of 
the  day.  Hence  he  kejit  abreast  of  the  times  in 
the  literature  of  his  profession,  and  in  current 
events.  Hi.s  fondness  for  polite  literature,  especi- 
ally relating  of  j)oetry,  criticism  and  philology, 
naturally  led  him  to  select  and  store  upon  the 
shelves  of  his  library  the  writings  of  the  most 
classical  authors. 

Dr.  Williams  was  entlowed  with  those  higher 
social  qualities  of  head  and  heart,  which  gave  him 
ready  access  to  cultivated  society,  and  endeared 
him  to  a  wide  circle  of  friends.  In  the  treatment 
of  his  patients  he  was  conscientious,  faithful,  and 
attentive,  manifesting  an  interest  in  their  welfare, 
well  calculated  to  inspire  and  hold  their  confi- 
dence. Therefore,  throughout  his  professional 
life,  he  had  the  patronage  and  esteem  of  both 
rich  and  poor,  who  looked  upon  him  as  their 
trusted  physician  and  counselor.  His  peculiari- 
ties were  few.  Sometimes  he  sought  seclusion, 
and,  when  alone,  mused  and  studied.  The 
asperities  of  his  nature  were  rubbed  down  by  that 
self-respect  which,  at  all  times,  remained  with 
him.  As  a  surgeon  he  was  jiarticularly  skilled, 
having  performed  many  important  and  difficult 
operations  successfully.  As  a  physician  he  was 
thorough  and  discriminating  in  the  investigation 
of  disease;  was  never  hasty  in  his  decision,  but, 
when  his  opinion  was  once  formed,  it  was  not 
readily  given  up.  He  had  great  confidence  in  the 
recuperative  forces  of  nature,  and  less  in  the 
potency  of  drugs,  which  rendered  him  popular 
with  the  intelligent  and  jirogressive  of  both  sexes. 
He  was  j)roud  of  his  jtrofession,  and  so  impressed 
with  its  dignity  and  responsibilities,  he  exercised 
great  caution  in  diagnosis,  and  at  t'le  l)edside 
never  applied  remedies  without  knowing  their 
effects.  He  had  the  highest  sense  of  all  the  rules 
of  professional  courtesy,  and  a  strong  abhorence 
of  quackery  aiul  empiricism  in  whatever  shape. 
His  sympathies  were  on  the  side  of  humanity 
and  progress:  and,  however,  men  might  differ 
with  him  in  opinion,  they  never  could  doubt  the 
honesty  of  his  convictions  or  integrity  of  his  pur- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


(Ul 


pose.  With  aji  intense  dislike  of  contention,  and 
:in  anient  love  of  harmony,  he  was  too  proud  to  yield 
his  lofty  princi{)les  to  the  dictates  of  ex])edieney, 
and,  if  any  have  cause  to  remember  his  intlexi- 
liility,  all  must  recognize  and  accept  the  manli- 
ness of  his  social  as  well  as  professional  life.  His 
ethical  dejiortment  was  honorable,  and  above  airs, 
or  arts,  whereby  he  might  promote  unmanly 
ends. 

Dr.  Williams,  early  in  his  professional  career, 
became  an  active  and  zealous  member  of  the  Med- 
ical and  Surgical  Society  of  .Montgomery,  and  was 
elected  president  and  vice-president  in  18ii!S-G9; 
was  a  member  of  the  iledical  Association  of  the 
State  of  -Mabama  (then  in  its  infancy),  and  elected 
valedictorian  in  1870.  In  18T4  he  was  chosen 
Alderman  from  Ward  Six,  and  served  a  faithful 
term  of  two  yesirs.  He  wrote  nothing  for  the 
secular  or  medical  press,  a  fact  due,  perhaps,  to 
a  want  of  ambition  and  indifference  to  notoriety. 

Such  was  the  life  and  brief  history  of  one  of 
the  brightest  medical  lights  of  this  State  and 
city. 


WOOTEN  M.  WILKERSON.  M.  D.,  prominent 

I'hysiciun  and  Surgeon.  Montgomery,  was 
born  in  I'erry  County,  this  State,  December  ;5, 
18.")T,  and  is  a  son  of  William  W.  and  Sarah  (Moore) 
Wilkerson,  both  natives  of  this  State.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  graduated  in  classical  course 
from  Howard  College  in  I8T7,  from  the  Medical 
l>ej)artment  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  in  18T0 
and  from  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  New  York  in  1S8U.  For  a  short  time  prior 
to  his  entering  the  University  of  Virginia, 
he  taught  school  and  read  medicine  under  his 
father.  He  began  tlie  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion in  Orrville,  Dallas  County,  from  which 
place,  at  the  end  of  eighteen  months,  he  returned 
to  New  York,  spent  some  time  in  reviewing  his 
studies, and  in  givingparticular  attention  to  special 
diseases.  In  188"2  he  located  in  Montgomery, 
where  he  entered  at  once  upon  a  flattering  practice. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Medical  .\ssociation  of  Ala- 
bama, and  is  one  of  its  Board  of  Counselors.  He 
has  been  president  one  term,  of  the  Medical  and 
Surgical  Society  of  .Montgomery  County,  and  is 
the  County  Health  Officer  at  this  writing. 

Dr.  Wilkerson  was  married  Novembers.  1884, 
to  Miss  Williams  of  Clayton.  Ala.  I)r.  and  ^Irs. 
Wilkerson  are  members  tjf  trlie  lJa^)tist  ChntcJu 


DR.  SAMUEL  DIBBLE  SEELYE,  born  March 
14,  18v!'.i.  at  Bethel,  Conn.,  is  a  son  of  Frederick 
and  I'olly  M.  (Dibble)  Seelye,  natives  of  Con- 
necticut. The  senior  Mr.  Seelye  resided  many 
years  in  New  York  ('ity. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  after  completing  his 
academic  education,  followed  mercantile  business 
until  18.53  in  New  York  City  and  Vicksburg, 
Jliss.  During  the  latter  year  he  entered  the 
Medical  College  of  New  York,  and  was  graduated 
from  that  institution  in  18.i.").  He  immediately 
began  the  practice  of  medicine  in  New  Y'ork 
City  and  continued  it  for  two  years,  when,  on 
account  of  ill-health,  he  abandoned  the  practice 
for  two  yeirs.  In  18.")'.)  he  came  to  Montgomery 
and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In 
18(!!>  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Dr.  E.  A. 
Semple,  which  partnership  continued  until  the 
hitter's  death,  which  occurred  in  1871,  since  which 
time  Dr.  Seelye  has  been  alone  in  the  practice. 

Tlie  Doctor  was  vice-president  of  the  American 
-Medical  Association  in  187i');  has  been  a  censor  for 
ten  years  in  the  Medical  Association  of  Alabama; 
was  president  of  this  .Vssociation  in  188G-7,  and 
has  been  twice  president  of  the  Montgomery 
County  Medical  Society. 

Dr.  Seelye  was  married  in  November.  188,">,  to 
Miss  Amelia  J.,  daughter  of  William  and  Eliza- 
beth Bigelow,  of  New  York  City.  They  have  one 
child,  a  daughter. 

The  Doctor  is  a  member  of,  and  is  officially  con- 
nected with,  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  has  for 
years  occuj)ied  a  prominent  jiosition  in  his  pro- 
fession, both  at  home  and  throughout  the  State. 

JOB    SOBIESKI    WEATHERLY.    M.  D.,  is  a 

native  of  South  Carolina,  and  is  descended  fiom 
a  sturdy  and  highly  meritorious  Scotch  ancestry. 
He  was  boin  .July  ".'8,  18"-'8:  educated  primarily  at 
the  high  school  of  his  native  town,  and  there  for 
about  two  years  read  medicine  under  Dr.  McLeod. 
Graduating,  in  18.51,  from  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  New  York,  he  located 
at  Adairsville,  Ga. ,  and  at  once  entered  ujion  the 
practice  of  his  chosen  profession.  From  Adairsville 
he  removed  to  Palmetto,  that  State,  and  in  18.57 
came  to  Montgomery.  Here  he  readily  took  rank 
among  recognized  men  of  skill  in  the  sciences  of 
materia  medica  and  therapeutics. 


642 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


In  response  to  tlie  call  of  his  country,  in  186'-J 
he  hurried  to  the  fatal  field  of  Shiloh,  where, 
in  charge  of  tlic  hospital  for  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers,  he  toiled  for  many  days  earnestly,  ardu- 
ou.<ly  and  skillfully.  From  there  he  was  appointed 
Medical  Purveyor  at  Savanna!),  Ga.,  a  position  he 
was  soon  after  forced  by  ill-health  to  abandon. 
He  returned  to  Montgomery  and  devoted  himself 
faithfully  to  tiie  relief  of  ailing  humanity  and  the 
elevation  of  the  profession  of  which  lie  is  so  con- 
spicuous a  member,  lie  is  of  the  State  Board  of 
Health,  and  president  of  the  local  Board  of  Cen- 
sors; member  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, and  was  its  first  jjresident  (ISTI);  member 
of  the  Montgomery  Medical  and  Surgical  Society. 
and  its  president  for  four  full  terms;  an  hon- 
orary member  of  the  California  State  .Medi- 
cal Society,  and  of  the  (iynecological  Society  of 
Boston. 

In  18tj~  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the  reorgani- 
zation of  the  State  Medical  Association,  now  the 
State  Board  of  Health,  of  which  he  is  an  officer. 
The  Censors  (of  the  State  Board),  of  which  he  has 
been  fifteen  years  president,  were  established  under 
his  auspices,  ami,  associated  with  Drs.  Gaston  and 
Michel,  of  this  city,  their  combined  influence 
finally  led  to  tl-e  necessary  legislation  upon  the 
the  important  question  of  "re-organizing  tlie 
Board  as  a  State  institution,  appropriating 
funds  therefor,  and  regulating  the  practice  of 
medicine  in  conformity  with  their  advanced 
ideas." 

In  18(i8,  as  a  delegate  to  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  American  iledical  Association  held  at  Wash- 
ington, 1).  C,  Drs.  Weatherly  and  Baldwin  ap- 
peared first  as  new  members.  Sectional  prejudices 
were  yet  rife  in  our  country,  and  l»r.  Weatherly 
felt  that  an  opportunity  wa.s  then  offered  for  an 
exhibition  of  that  conciliatory  spirit  so  much 
talked  of  and  so  nieagerly  practiced.  He  pre- 
sented Dr.  Baldwin  for  president  of  the  Associa- 
tion. It  is  unnecessary  to  here  recount  the  stormy 
scenes  which  followed:  but  the  fact  that  the  final 
vote,  taken  after  many  ballots  and  much  discus- 
sion, was  unanimously  for  Baldwin,  as  against  tlie 
united  opposition  of  the  Northern  and  Western 
members  at  the  beginning  of  the  contest,  is  highly 
suggestive  of  the  forensic  ability  of  the  subject  of 
our  sketch.  Such  was  the  impnossion  he  ma»le. 
in  fact,  that  in  ]S7(i  the  same  .Vssociation,  though 
he  was  not  present,  elected  him  unanimously  to 
the  vice-presidency. 


In  1871  the  annual  meeting  was  held  in  San 
Francisco,  where,  though  r)Ve-i)resident,  he  pre- 
sided over  most  of  their  deliberations,  and  at  the 
close  received  the  thanks  of  the  Association  for 
•'his  impartial  and  judicious  conduct  in  the 
chair." 

Before  the  State  Association  at  .Mobile,  in  1871, 
he  deliveretl  his  address  (now  published):  "  The 
Elevation  of  the  Profession  and  How  it  May  be 
Accomi)lislied, ''attracting  much  attention  and  fav- 
orable comment.  He  further  pursued  the  subject 
in  187-2,  at  Philadelphia,  before  the  American 
.\ssociation,  and  the  fact  that  these  discussions 
led  to  the  required  legislation  upon  the  question 
is  nowhere  doubted. 

Dr.  Weatherly  was  the  first  president  of  the 
Hocky  Mountain  Medical  Association,  formed  by 
its  members  for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating  to 
the  end  of  their  individual  lives,  the  friendships 
inaugurated  at  their  first  meeting  at  the  '•  Golden 
Gate." 

Among  the  many  valuable  papers  and  addresses 
contributed  by  the  Doctor  to  the  profession  may 
be  mentioned  an  article  on  "  Glossitis  "  (18.")3);  on 
'■  Puerperal  Convulsions,"  advocating  chloroform 
instead  of  bleeding  (1857);  -'An  Operation  for  Poly- 
poid Tumor  of  the  Uterus,"  aTid  "  Diabetes  and  Its 
Treatment,"  {^Neic  Orleans  Junrual  of  Medicine): 
"The  Opium  Habit";  "Medical  Education": 
••Woman — Her  Rights  and  Wrongs";  "  Ha>mor- 
rhagic  Malarial  Fever"  (187">);  "Anatomy  and 
Diseases  of  the  Cervix  Uteri ";  "Syphilis  and  its 
Prevention  by  State  Action";  "  (Quarantine  against 
Yellow  Fever"  (1878),  etc. 

September,  185"-J,  Dr.  Weatherly  married  .Miss 
Eliza  G.,  daughter  of  the  late  Col.  C.  B.  Talia- 
ferro, and  a  grand-niece  of  ex-Governor  Gilmer, 
of  Georgia.  Of  the  six  children  born  to  this 
union  we  make  the  following  memoranda:  Charles 
Taliaferro,  graduate  of  Atlanta  Medical  College, 
a  promising  yonng  physician  at  Benton,  Ala.: 
James  Merriweather,  graduate  of  the  Law  Depart- 
ment, University  of  Alabama,  and  now  the  gifted 
young  attorney  of  the  (Jeorgia  Pacific  Hailroad. 
located  at  Birmingham,  where  he  is  recognized  as 
one  of  the  rising  young  men  of  the  State;  (iilmer, 
a  planter  near  Benton,  where  he  is  also  interested 
in  mercantile  business:  Thaddeus.  William  and 
(ieorge.  ■ 

The  entire  family  are  communicants  of  the 
Episcopalian  Church,  wherein  the  Doctor  has 
been  many  years  a  vestryman. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


643 


DR.  BENJAMIN    RUSH    PEARSON  was  born 

Aii<;ust  I.  ism,  at  l)!i(lovilk\  Ala.,  ami  is  a  son 
<if  .lames  .Madison  anil  Elizaljutii  Ann  (Brown) 
Pearson. 

The  parents  of  our  subjet't  wore  natives  of 
(Jeorgia.  and  on  the  father's  side  the  family  is 
traced  l)aek  to  William  I'enn.  The  great-great- 
grandfather t-ame  to  Pennsylvania  with  -Mr.  Penn, 
from  whence  the  great-grandfather  moved  to 
South  Carolina.  Tiie  fatiier  was  a  distinguished 
attorney  of  'I'allapoosa,  Ala.,  and  is  now  one  of 
the  wealthiest  men  of  that  county.  He  reared 
eight  sons  and  two  daughters.  Of  the  eight  sons, 
seven  were  professional  men  and  one  was  a  nier- 
<-hant. 

V>.  \\.  Pearson  attended  the  private  schools  of 
his  county  until  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age, 
then  entered  the  Mrginia  Military  Institute  at 
Lexington,  from  which  institution  he  graduated 
in  July,  1S71.  lie  had  a  brother  who  was  gradu- 
ated in  the  same  class,  and  who  is  now  j)racticing 
medicine  in  Autauga  County.  Ala. 

Our  subject,  after  his  graduation  at  Lexington, 
took  a  course  of  studies  at  the  Montgomery  Com- 
mercial College,  in  1871.  In  February.  1872,  he 
went  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  remained  but  a  short 
time,  returning  to  Montgomery  and  engaging  in 
the  shoe  department  of  the  wholesale  dry  goods 
liouse  of  .M.  P.  LeOrand  &  Co.  lie  was  with  this 
hou.se  until  187.'5,  when  he  engaged  in  farming, 
which  avocation  he  followed  until  187^.  In  the 
last-named  year  he  began  teaching  school  and 
reading  medicine,  and  in  the  winters  of  1870, 
1S8(I  and  188]  attended  lectures  at  the  Alabama 
Medical  College,  at  Mobile. 

in  18S1  lie  located  at  Montgomeiy,  where  he 
began  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  is  to-day 
one  of  the  leading  physicians  in  this  city.  Having 
built  up  a  large  practice,  and  being  successful  in 
;il!  his  undertakings,  he  has  commanded  the  re- 
spect and  tlie  recognition  of  the  members  of  his 
profession. 

Jle  is  a  member  of  the  Medical  and  Surgical 
•Society  of  Montgomery  County,  and  has  held  the 
])osition  of  both  president  and  vice-president  of 
that  body.  He  was  also  County  Health  Officer 
three  years. 

Dr.  Pearson  was  married  in  December,  1873, 
to  -Miss  Sallie  Coleman,  daughter  of  Capt.  C.  V>. 
Ferrell.  of  Montgomery,  and  has  had  born  to  him 
three  i-liildren:  Annie  E.,  Coleman  V .  and 
James  .M. 


Dr.  Pearson  and  wife  are  members  of  the  First 
Baptist  Church. 

DR.  LUTHER  L.  HILL  was  born  in  Montgom- 
ery. .Ian.  'VI,  isi'i"*.  He  is  a  son  of  Hev.  Luther  L. 
Hill  and  Laura  Croom  Hill,  natives  of  Alabama. 
'J'lie  senior  Mr.  Hill  is  a  Protestant  Methodist 
minister,  and  preached  in  this  city  for  many 
years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  attended  the  private 
school  of  Prof.  Geo.  W.  Thomas,  of  Montgomery, 
until  1.S78,  at  which  time  he  entered  Howard  Col- 
lege at  Marion,  Ala.  After  a  special  course  of 
studies  he  went  to  New  York,  and  was  graduated  in 
the  Jledical  Department  of  the  I'niversity  of  that 
State  in  1881.  From  February  to  October,  1881, 
he  attended  lectures  at  the  diffeient  hospitals  of 
New  York  C'ity;  then  went  to  Philadelphia,  where 
he  took  a  regular  course  of  studies  and  was 
graduated  from  the  .Jefferson  Medical  College  in 
188-.i.  He  continued  visiting  the  different  hospi- 
tals in  Philadelphia  nntilJanuary,  1883,  and  from 
that  time  until  June,  of  that  year,  attended 
the  New  York  Polyclinic  College,  where  he 
studied  surgery  and  the  diseases  of  the  eye,  ear 
and  throat.  In  July,  1883,  he  visited  Europe, 
and  entered  the  Medical  Department  of  King's 
College,  of  London.  He  studied  surgery  under  the 
iustructions  of  Sir  Joseph  Lister  and  Dr.  John 
Wood, both  distinguished  surgeons;  remained  there 
until  April  of  the  following  year,  and  returned  to 
America,  after  visiting  the  principal  cities  of  con- 
tinental Europe:  located  in  Montgomery  in  1884 
and  began  the  practice  of  his  profession,  making 
a  specialty  of  surgery. 

Dr.  Hill  has  built  up  a  large  practice  in  the  few 
years  that  he  has  been  in  Montgomery,  and,  to  .say 
the  least  of  him,  he  has  as  bright  and  promising 
a  future  as  any  other  pliysician  in  the  State.  The 
knowledge  that  he  has  obtained  from  the  various 
medical  institutions,  and  the  results  of  some  of  the 
most  difficult  operations  ]ierformed  by  him  in  this 
city,  has  placed  him  in  the  foremost  rank  of  the 
profession. 

In  .lanuaiy,  1881,  he  was  elected  president  of 
Montgomery  Medical  and  Surgical  Institute,  and 
is  probably  the  youngest  niau  that  has  held  that 
position.  In  tiiat  sameyear  he  wasappointed  by  the  . 
l)resident  of  the  State  Medical  Association  as  dele- 
gate to  the  American   Medical  Association,  which 


644 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


met  at  Chicago,  lie  was  elected  Surgeon  of  the 
Montgomery  County  Hosi)ital  for  the  years  188T-8: 
has  been  Surgeon  of  the  ^fontgomery  True 
Blues  (a  military  company)  since  188.").  and  is  at 
this  time  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Health  for 
Montgomery  County. 

■  '">  -i^^-  <«  ■    • 

MILTON  PAUL  LeGRAND,  President  of  the 
Commercial  Fire  Insurance  Company,  Montgom- 
ery, and  \'ice-l'resident  of  the  Montgomery  & 
Florida  Railroad  Company,  is  a  native  of  Wades- 
boro,  X.  C,  and  was  born  Xovember  10,  183'-i. 
Ills  |)arents,  William  C.  and  Jane  (Paul)  LeGrand, 
were  natives  of  North  Carolina,  and  descended, 
respectively,  from  a  Huguenotish  and  English  an- 
cestry. They  came  to  Alabama  in  183T,  and 
settled  at  Tuskegee,  where  they  spent  the  rest  of 
their  lives,  Mr.  LeGrand  dying  in  1839  at  the  age 
of  thirty-nine  years,  and  Mrs.  LeGrand  in  1842. 

The  senior  Let;  rand  was  an  educated  gentleman, 
and,  after  coming  to  this  State,  devoted  his  time 
to  teaching  and  farming.  His  early  demise  fell 
with  crushing  force  upon  his  little  family,  and,  as 
his  widow  survived  him  only  three  years,  it  will 
be  seen  that  his  children,  one  son  and  four 
daughters,  were  doubly  orplianed  before  they 
had  reached  that  age  at  which  peojde  are  expected 
to  be  fully  equip])ed  for  the  battle  of  life.  How- 
ever, we  have  no  records  of  failure  or  of  unusual 
hardships  to  chronicle  in  the  history  of  the 
LeGrands.  If  left  without  fortune  in  worldly 
goods,  they  were  bountifully  blest  in  that  which 
the  Prophet  tells  us  is  better  than  gold. 

The  meagre  data  at  the  command  of  the  writer, 
limits  this  chapter  to  a  brief  resume  of  the  life 
of  the  gentleman  whose  name  forms  its  caption. 

Milton  P.  LeGrand  acquired  at  the  schools  of 
Tuskegee  a  pretty  thorougli  knowledge  of  the 
elementary  studies,  and  was  fully  jn-epared  to  enter 
college.  He  had  also  read  the  tc.\t  books  on  med- 
icine and  was  ready  to  attend  lectures,  but  instead 
of  so  doing,  he  accepted  service  with  a  druggist  at 
Marion,  Aia.,  with  the  understanding  that  he 
should  be  taught  in  the  mysteries  of  pharmacy 
and  educated  for  a  j)hy8ieian.  It  appears,  how- 
ever, that  at  the  end  of  four  years  he  became  sat- 
isfied that  at  least  one  imiiortaiit  branch  of  his 
employer's  undertaking  was  lacking  in  fultillnient. 
He  had  learned  the  drug  business — in  this  he  could 


be  serviceable — but  the  schooling  necessary  to  a 
professional  M.  1).  was  for  some  reason  neglected. 
Notwithstanding  this  default  upon  the  part  of  his 
employer,  young  Le<iraiul  had  imin-oved  his  op- 
portunities ;  he  had  devoted  himself  to  study  and 
made  up  much  for  his  lack  of  collegiate  training  : 
he  had  waded  through  the  authorized  te.\t  books 
of  materia  medica.  and  probably  knew  as  much  of 
the  theories  of  physics  as  many  a  young  scion  of 
Esculapius  fresh  from  the  disi)ensatory  of  sheej)- 
skins  and  hard  Latin  phrases.  So  when  he  returned 
to  Tuskegee  for  the  purpose  of  embarking  in  the 
drug  traffic  for  himself,  he  was  pretty  well  pre- 
pared to  make  a  success  of  it. 

At  the  end  of  three  or  four  years  he  sold  out  his 
pharmacy  at  Tuskegee  and  removed  to  Montgom- 
ery, where  he  continued  in  tliat  business  on  a  little 
more  elaborate  scale,  until  advised  hv  his  j)hysi- 
cians  that  liis  health  demanded  his  immediate  re- 
tirement. 

After  a  rest  of  two  or  three  years.  Or.  LeGrand 
(by  that  title  is  he  known)  engaged  in  the  grocery 
business,  subsequently  adding  dry  goods,  which 
soon  grew  to  be  the  largest  concern  that  has  ever 
flourished  in  Montgomery;  the  annual  sales,  whole- 
sale and  retail,  aggregating  one  and  a  half  million 
dollars.  He  withdrew  from  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness in  1882  with  the  reputation  of  having  been 
one  of  the  most  successful  merchants  in  the 
State. 

He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Montgom- 
ery &  Florida  Hailroad  Company,  and  became  its 
president  upon  the  retirement  of  the  late  Tlioma.* 
Josejjh.  in  1881.  At  the  June  election  in  ISfSf.,  the 
Doctor,  finding  other  business  affairs  too  press- 
ing, declined  the  further  chief  executorship  of  the 
company,  and  accepted  the  vice-presidency. 

The  Commercial  Fire  Insurance  Co.  was  organ- 
ized in  18:<;.  with  a  capital  stock  of  *100.0(Hi.  and 
with  Dr.  LeGrand  as  president.  He  has.  there- 
fore, been  at  the  head  of  this  popular  concern 
from  its  inception.  It  was  only  in  the  beginning 
of  1887,  however,  that  he  took  upon  himself  the 
personal  direction  and  nmnagement  of  its  affairs. 
Since  that  time  the  busine.<s  has  very  materially 
increased,  and  while  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  reflect 
in  any  degree  upon  the  )iast  c<  nduct  of  this  large 
enterprise,  we  think  we  are  justified  in  saying  that 
Dr.  LeGrand"s  great  business  reputation,  when  it 
became  known  that  he  wiis  at  the  helm  in  person, 
gave  the  already  flourishing  condition  of  the 
comimny  fresh  imjictus. 


'^Uu/  (I/cu/y^iL 


U(  f3^^^^.z.JL 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


645 


As  almost  every  true  man  in  Alabama  lent  his 

aid  io  the  State  in  the  days  of  her  greatest  peril, 
we  should  not  forj^et  the  fact  tliat  the  subject  of 
our  sketch  gave  two  years  to  the  service  of  the 
Confederacy,  retiring  only  when  his  physical  con- 
dition was  such  as  to  no  longer  permit  of  his  re- 
maining. It  might  be  remarked,  however,  that 
lie  remained  long  enough  to  Hnd,  "  when  the  bat- 
tle was  over,"'  that  seventy-five  cents  constituted 
the  whole  sum  of  his  wordly  possessions. 

Dr.  Milton  Paul  Le(iraiid  was  married  at  Tus- 
kegee  in  February,  185-4,  to  Aliss  Louisa  Jones, 
daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  E.  W.  Jones,  of  that 
place,  and  has  three  children,  two  sons  and  a 
daugliter.  The  oldest  son,  Milton  P.  LeGrand, 
.Ir.,  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  rising  young  law- 
yers of  the  Capital  City;  William  Homer  is  a  stu- 
dent at  Montgomery,  and  the  daughter,  Eloise,  an 
accomplished  young  lady,  is  at  home. 

The  modesty  of  all  living  subjects  of  biography 
would  prohibit  all  conclusions  on  the  part  of  a 
writer.  Therefore  the  latter  must  either  incur 
the  displeasure  of  the  man  who  places  him  under 
restraint  by  cautioning  him  against  eulogium,  or 
else  do  violence  to  his  own  inclinations  by  confin- 
ing himself  to  a  mere  recital  of  facts.  A  wise 
writer  adopts  the  latter  alternative. 

EDWIN  B.  JOSEPH.  President  of  the  Capital 
City  Iiisiirame  Company,  was  born  October  111, 
1852,  in  this  city,  and  is  a  son  of  Thomas  and 
Sarah  A.  (Riley)  .Joseph. 

The  mother  of  our  subject  was  born  in  New 
York,  and  came  to  Alabama,  with  her  parents,  in 
infancy.  The  father  was  born  on  the  Island  of 
Flores,  of  Portuguese  jiarents.  lie  wasa  merchant 
for  more  than  forty  years  at  Montgomery,  Ala., 
and  died  in  1883.  His  widow  survived  him  but 
one  year. 

K.  li.  Joseph  attended  the  high  schools  of  Mont- 
gomery and  of  Bellevue,  Va.,  and  subsequently 
entered  college  at  Auburn,  Ala.,  where  he  com- 
pleted his  studies  in  1870.  He  returned  to  Mont- 
gomery, and  was  engaged  as  book-keeper  for  the 
wholesale  grocery  house  of  Joseph  &  Allen.  lie 
remained  with  this  house  several  years,  and  sub- 
sequently became  book-keeper  with  the  Capital 
City  Insurance  Company.  In  1875-C-T,  he  was 
engaged  iil  the  tobacco  manufacturing  businessat 


Oxford,  N.  C.  In  the  latter  named  year  he  ac- 
cepted the  position  as  Secretary  of  the  Capital  In- 
surance Company  of  Montgomery,  with  which 
company  he  has  been  connected  ever  since.  He 
was  elected  president  of  that  company  in  1887, 
and  is  holding  that  office  at  this  writing  (188h). 

Mr.  Joseph  is  President  of  the  Highland  Park 
Imjirovement  Company,  which  operates  the  entire 
street  railroad  system,  and  is  also  a  director  of  the 
South  and  North  Division  of  the  South  &  North 
Alabama  Railroad  (now  known  as  the  L.  &  N.). 
In  1885  he  wsis  elected  to  fill  a  vacancy  as  Alder- 
man of  the  city,  and  was  re-elected  at  the  general 
election  in  May,  1887,  for  the  term  of  four  years. 

Mr.  Joseph  was  married  in  August,  187fi,  to 
Miss  Bessie  H.,  daughter  of  P.  Chancey  and  Eldna 
(Terry)  Smith,  of  ilontgomery.  They  have  four 
children,  viz.:  Edwin  B.,  Jr.,  Chauncey  S.,  Edna 
and  William  F. 

Mr.  Joseph  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias  and  of  the  A.  0.  U.  W.  He  is  largely 
interested  in  the  development  and  upbuilding  of 
Northern  Alabama.  He  is  a  director  in  the  De- 
catur Land  Company,  and  is  a  stockholder  and 
director  in  several  of  Northern  Alabama's  enter- 
prises. 

WILLIAM  LEA  CHAMBERS,  President  First 
National  Bank  of  Montgomery,  Mce-President 
Montgomery  Land  and  Improvement  Company, 
member  of  the  board  of  directors  Bank  of  Shef- 
field, Treasurer  .Sheffield  T«and  and  Improvement 
Company,  and  President  of  the  Montgomery  Board 
of  Kducation,  was  born  at  Columbus,  Ga. .  March 
4,  1852.  His  parents,  William  H.  and  Annie  L. 
(Flewellen)  Chambers,  natives  of  Georgia,  and,  as 
their  names  unmistakaliiy  indicate,  of  Scotch  and 
Welsh  ancestry — the  former  in  direct  line  from 
the  same  stock  as  were  Sir  Robert  and  Sir  William 
C'hambers,  of  Hdinburg,  and  the  latter  from  the 
Llewellyns,  a  name  in  Wales  familiar  to  his- 
tory of  Church  and  State,  and  as  old  as  the  Celtic 
race.  These  families  were  among  the  pioneers  of 
the  American  colonies,  and  probably  settled  first 
in  the  South,  as  we  find  the  names  of  Chambers 
and  Flewellen  in  the  early  reconls  of  Georgia  and 
other  South  Atlantic  States.  James  M.  Chambers 
and  Abner  11.  Flewellen,  the  two  immediate 
grandfathers  fo  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  were 
natires  also  of  (Georgia,  and  are  distinguished   in 


646 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


political,  social  and  religious  history.  The  late 
Hon.  William  H.  Chambers,  William  L.'s  father, 
estaljlislied  the  Columbus  (Ga.)  Sun,  and  edited 
it  several  years  prior  to  bis  coming  to  Alabama. 
He  settled  at  Eufaula  in  IS — ,  and  was  subse- 
quently for  several  years  joint  proprietor  and 
editor  of  the  Eufaula  Tiinex.  He  was  a  lawyer  of 
marked  distinction;  prominent  in  the  Grange 
movement  of  which  organization  he  was  many 
years  grand  master,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  ix'curred  July  5,  1881.  was  professor  of  ag- 
riculture in  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege at  .\uburn.  He  represented  Barbour  and 
Kussell  Counties  in  several  sessions  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and  much  important  legislation  of 
the  State  bears  the  impress  of  his  superior 
direction. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  acquired  the  rudi- 
ments of  an  education  at  the  old  field  schools  of 
his  neighborhood,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years 
entered  Emory  College,  Oxford,  Ga.  After  leav- 
ing Emory  he  taught  school  in  Russell  County 
(Ala.)  about  two  years,  and  came  to  Montgomery 
in  July,  1873.  Here  he  read  law  in  the  oftice  of 
the  Hon.  David  Clopton;  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and,  associated  with  his  preceptor  and  the 
Hon.  Geo.  W.  Stone,  practiced  successfully  about 
nine  years. 

Though  readily  u(laj)tiiig  liimself  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  legal  profession,  in  which,  indeed, 
be  early  took  honorable  rank,  it  is  clear  that  his 
true  genius  was  to  be  developed  in  the  world  of 
finance. 

Quitting  the  law,  he  accepted  the  position  of 
casiiierof  the  Kirst  National  Bank,  an  institution 
then  already  noted  for  its  monetary  strength,  its 
liberal,  yet  conservative  policy,  and  the  high  char- 
acter of  its  management.  It  is  no  reflection  upon 
his  predecessors,  to  say  that,  in  this  responsible 
capacity  Mr.  Chambers  fully  met  the  most  san- 
guine expectations  of  his  friends,  and  that  under 
his  administration  the  bank  matured  the  splendid 
reputation  it  continues  to  enjoy.  From  cashier 
be  became  president,  and  it  is  in  this  position  he 
now  (1887)  directs  the  affairs  of  this  popular  con- 
cern. 

Mr.  Chambers  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Montgomery  Land  and  Improve- 
ment ('oni)>any  (of  which  he  is  vice-president), 
an  industrial  enterprise  which  has  accomplished 
more  in  the  one  year  of  its  existence  toward  the 
development,    improvement    and    upbuilding    of 


Montgomery  than  the  combined  efforts  at  such  in 
her  preceding  history. 

Broail  in  his  views,  liberal  in  his  dealings,  pub- 
lic spirited  at  all  times,  Wm.  L.  Chambers  is 
truly  a  modern,  present-day  man — a  man  with 
the  full  courage  of  his  convictions;  believing  in 
the  future  of  Alaiiama,  her  brilliant  promises,  and 
in  the  continuation  of  the  prosperity  and  growth  of 
her  cities,  manufactories,  and  other  great  indus- 
tries. In  the  earlier  days  of  Birmingham  be  laid 
money  upon  the  promises  of  that  city;  when 
Sheffield  was  in  embryo  he  took  stock  in  her  bank- 
ing houses  and  land  companies;  and  at  Mont- 
gomery, every  legitimate  enterprise,  going  to  the 
advancement  of  the  city,  has  found  in  him  a  sub- 
stantial supporter. 

While  ever  ready  to  advance  the  interests  of 
friends  whose  ambitions  run  to  politics  and  the 
emoluments  of  office,  he  has  himself  at  no  time 
been  an  aspirant  to  position  in  the  public  service — 
State  or  Nationjil.  On  the  contrary,  he  has  re- 
peatedly declined  honorable  stations  of  trust  and 
profit,  preferring  to  serve  the  people,  as  he  has,  in 
quite  different  ways. 

He  is  most  actively  interested  in  the  educa- 
tional institutions  of  the  city,  and  gives  to  them 
much  of  his  time.  He  was  first  elected  member 
of  Montgomery's  School  Board  in  1885,  a  position 
he  has  continued  since  to  honor.  At  this  writing 
(October,  1887),  he  is  serving  his  tenth  year  as 
president  of  the  Board — a  fact  needing  no  com- 
ment upon  the  part  of  his  biographer. 

November  4,  1873,  at  the  city  of  Montgomery. 
Mr.  Chambers  was  married  to  Miss  Laura  L.,  the 
handsome  and  accomplished  daughter  of  that 
distinguished  jurist,  the  Hon.  David  Clopton, 
now  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and 
to  this  union  bivs  been  born  four  children: 
Annie  L.,  David  Clopton,  William  Henry  and 
Louise. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Chambers  are  consistent  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  with  which 
they  both  became  associated  while  yet  quite  young, 
and  Mr.  Chambers  is  a  patron  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  of  which  he  is 
trustee. 


JOHN  McGEHEE  WYLY,  General  Contracting 
Freight  Agent  of  the  E.  T.  Y.  &  G.  R'y  was  born 
at  Jacksonville,  .\la.,  July  7,  1837. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


04; 


His  father,  tlie  late  Ben  jam  in  Cleveland  Wyly, 
was  a  native  of  (Jeorgia.  and  his  mother,  who  be- 
fore marriage  was  Ann  Maria  Mc'(!ehee — at  the 
time  of  marriage  an  orphan  living  with  her  uncle, 
William  Mc(ieliee — was   born    in  Nortli   Carolina. 

'I'iie  senior  Mr.  W  yly  came  into  Calhoun  County 
in  \'6'.Vl  and  lived  there  until  his  death  in  1885. 
He  there  married  the  daughter  of  John  Mctiehee, 
originally  from  Milton,  N.  C.  He  was  one  of  the 
wealthiest  planters  in  that  county:  an  honorable, 
upright  citizen;  a  consistent  Christian  gentleman, 
and  ae  such  held  in  the  highest  esteem  of  the 
many  good  people  who  knew  him. 

John  MctJehee  was  an  only  son.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  the  Kentucky  Military  Institute,  Frank- 
fort, Ky.,  and  after  graduating,  studied  law  at 
.lacksonville,  Ala.,  never  designing  to  adopt  the 
profession.  In  1857  he  turned  his  attention  to 
))lanting,  and  followed  it  successfully  until  the 
outbreak  of  the  war.  Early  in  1801  he  enlisted 
as  a  private  soidier  in  Coni{)any  (t.  Tenth  Ala- 
bama Regiment,  and  at  the  end  of  one  year  was 
promoted  to  first  lieutenant,  and  assigned  to  the 
staff  of  General  John  IJ.  Forney,  as  aide-de-camp. 
He  remained  with  General  Forney  to  the  close  of 
the  war,  acting  as  major, — adjutant-general's  de- 
partment.— on  the  staff  of  Major-CJeneral  John 
11.  Forney,  then  in  the  Trans-Mississijipi  Depart- 
ment in  1864. 

The  reverses  of  the  war  dissipated  the  large 
fortune  once  at  his  command,  and  when  he  again 
resumed  planting  upon  the  old  homestead,  it  was 
under  adverse  circumstances,  indeed.  After  a 
two-years'  struggle  he  gave  up  modern  cotton 
raising  and  turned  his  attention  to  railroading. 

At  the  end  of  two  years  apprenticeshij)  as  trav- 
eling freight  agent  of  the  Selnia,  Rome  li  Dalton 
Hailroa<l,  that  company  advanced  him  to  the  posi- 
tion of  general  agent,  the  important  duties  of 
which  highly  responsible  position  he  filled  for 
about  two  years,  acrpiitting  himself  with  much 
credit,  and  resigning  to  accept  the  general  south- 
ern freight  ageny  of  the   Piedmont  Air  Line. 

In  187ti,  he  returned  to  his  old  company,  (the 
Selma,  Kome  &  Dalton  Railroad,  now  a  part  of 
the  F.  T.  V.  &  G.,)  in  his  present   capacity. 

As  a  railroad  man,  Mr.  Wyly  occujiies  an  envi- 
able position  in  the  merited  esteem  of  that  exact- 
ing and  discriminating  fraternity,  and  among  bus- 
iness men  throughout  the  South,  with  the  most 
prominent  of  whom  his  duties  constantly  throw 
him,  he  is  regarded  with   highest   of  favor. 


At  Jacksonville,  Ala.,  October  -'n,  1858,  Mr. 
Wyly  led  to  the  altar.  Miss  Amelia  C,  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  the  late  .Jacob  Forney,  and  of 
the  si.\  children  born  to  them,  two,  George  M. 
and  Nora  C,  each  died  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  We 
make  the  following  brief  memoranda  of  the 
remaining  four  : 

Annie  M.  (Mrs.  David  F.  Lowe,  of  Montgom- 
ery) ;  Benjamin  F.,  general  agent  of  the  (Jeorgia 
Pacific  Railroad,  (married  Miss  Flla  Peck,  of  At- 
lanta); Henry  Forney,  student  at  the  State  Uni- 
versity, and  Sadie  S.,  student  Xoiinal  School, 
Jacksonville,    Ala. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  Mr.  Wyly  is  identified  with  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity. 


I       IGNATIUS  POLLAK,  Wholesale  and  Retail  Dry 

Goods   Mcreliant.    .Montgomery,  was    born   March 

I  22,  1840,  in  Austria,  and  was  educated  in  Vienna. 
He  received  an  academic  education:  came  to 
America  in  18(j0,  and  located  at  Milwaukee,  Wis. 

!   He  was  engaged  there  for  two  years  in  the  manu- 

j   facture  of  cloaks. 

In  18G8  he  came  South,  and  started,  with  little 

j  capital,  at  Montgomery  in  the  business  known  as 
the  *' Dollar  Store,"  the  first  of  the  kind  in  the 
South.  From  the  beginning,  he  favored  the  em- 
ployment of  ladies,  and  was  the  first  man  that  in- 
troduced the  employment  of  ladies  as  clerks  in  his 
store.     His  business   Increased  very  rapidly,  and 

I   it  now  has  no  equal  south  of  Baltimore,  not  e.x- 

;  cepting  New  Orleans.     Its  annual  sales  amount  to 

j   about  *1, 00(1,000. 

Mr.  Pollak  has  always  identified  himself  with 
the  interest  of  this  city  and  State.  The  city  is, 
in  a  measure,  due  to  his  enterjjrise  and  energy  for 
some  of  its  most  important  improvements.  At 
his  own  expense,  and  at  actual  loss,  he  started 
the  electric  light  plant  of  Montgomery,  never 
asking  any  aid  from  the  people  of  the  city. 
The  improvements  of  the  Exchange  Hotel  are 
largely  due  to  his  energy.  He  jiut  up  the  build- 
ings for  the  soap  works,  the  corner  of  Dexter 
Avenue  and  Perry  Street,  and  there  has  not  been 
a  sound  enterprise  started  in  Montgomery,  during 
his  residence  here,  that  has  not  received  his 
encouragement  and  assistance. 

In  the  development  of  Xortli  Alal)ama,  he  is 
one  of  the  most  active  workers;  he  was  one  of  the 


us 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


onginators  of  the  building  of  Sheffield:  is  presi- 
dent of  the  lloene  Consolidated  Coal  and  Iron 
Company,  which  Company  has  three  mines  (War- 
rior, Jefferson  and  IJrake)  in  successful  operation. 
He  is  largely  interested  in  the  development  of  the 
North  Alabama  Improvement  Company,  and  the 
Improvement  and  Innnigration  Company:  the 
latter  eomiiany  owns  nearly  200,000  acres  in  coal, 
iron  and  agricultural  lands,  and  is  the  only  com- 
l)any  of  its  kind  in  the  State  that  has  regular 
established  immigration  bureaus  all  through 
Europe. 

Mr.  I'oliak  has  been  several  times  tendered 
political  offices,  but  declined  them,  preferring  to 
devote  his  time  to  his  business,  and  to  the  devel- 
opment and  advancement  of  his  State  and  city. 
He  takes  an  active  interest  in  behalf  of  education. 
He  is  a  warm  supporter  of  Prof.  Felix  Adler,  the 
leader  of  ethical  culture  in  this  country,  and  in 
whose  society  he  is  an  active  worker.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Metropolitan  Jluseum  of  Art  of 
New  York  City,  and  of  different  charitable  and 
educational  institutions. 

Mr.  Pollak  is  prominently  connected  with  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  having  received  the  Thirty- 
second  Degree. 

OWEN  0.  NELSON  was  born  in  Limestone 
€ounty,  Ala.,  November  'J-t,  1823,  and  is  a  son  of 
Frederick  H.  and  Winnie  (Owens)  Nelson,  natives 
of  North  Carolina. 

The  senior  Mr.  Nelson  came  to  Limestone 
County  in  181T.  He  was  a  lawyer,  and  was 
Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  this 
county  in  the  year  184L  He  served  this  county 
as  Representative  several  years  while  the  capital 
was  at  Tuscaloosa.     He  died  in  1848. 

Thesuljject  of  this  sketch  attended  the  common 
schools  of  his  neighborhood,  where  he  acquired  a 
good  business  education.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  he  was  representing  Franklin  County  in  the 
Legislature.  He  was  induced  by  Governor  Shorter 
to  resign  that  duty,  and  take  a  contract  to  manu- 
facture arms  for  the  State.  The  works  were 
first  erected  in  North  Alabama.  They  subse- 
quently removed  to  IJome,  Ga.,  and  were  driven 
thence  to  Dawson,  (Ja.  There  Mr.  Nelson  built 
a  large  factory,  put  iti  imi)roved  machinery, 
and  continued  the  manufacture  of  arms  until  the 
dose  of  the  war. 


In  1866  he  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  rail- 
road cars,  ami  did  an  extensive  business  up  to 
18T6,  at  which  time  he  came  to  Montgomery,  and 
built  the  oil- mill  located  at  the  corner  of  Law- 
rence and  Randolph  streets.  He  was  immediately 
elected  president  of  this  mill  company,  and  four 
years  later  organized  the  Alabama  Oil-Mill  Com- 
pany, of  which  he  is  also  the  president.  He  was 
the  organizer  of  the  Gulf  City  Oil-Mills,  Mobile, 
and  Rome  Oil-Mills,  Rome,  (Ja.  These  mills  all 
belong  to  the  American  Cotton-Seed  Oil  Trust, 
and  are  being  managed  by  Mr.  Nelson  as  presi- 
dent, as  well  as  the  Union  Springs  Oil  Company, 
and  Eufaula  Oil  Company,  and  Albany  Oil  and 
Refining  Company,  of  Albany,  Ga.  The  capacity 
of  these  mills  combined  is  3(iO  tons  of  cotton  seed 
daily,  and  they  employ  about  400  men. 

Mr.  Nelson  was  one  of  the  original  promoters 
of  the  town  of  Sheffield;  is  interested  in  the  Shef- 
field Furnace  Company,  and  has  considerable 
real-estate  there.  He  is  also  largely  connected 
with  various  enterprises  in  Sheffield  and  Mont- 
gomery. 

Mr.  Nelson  is  a  wide-awake,  public-spirited  cit- 
izen, sagacious  in  business,  and  is  always  alive  to 
the  advancement  and  development  of  the  indus- 
tries of  the  South. 

He  was  married  in  December.  184?,  at  Athens, 
Ala.,  to  Miss  .Margaret  S.,  daughter  of  Dr.  David 
Hobbs,  of  Limestone  County,  this  State.  The 
family  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

JOHN  C.  OCONNELL  was  born  October  12, 
1837,  at  Mobile,  and  is  a  son  of  Bernard  and  Cath- 
arine (.Smith)  O'Connell,  both  natives  of  Ireland. 
His  parents  came  to  America  early  in  life,  ami  set- 
tled at  Mobile  in  l.s:}G.  The  father  wasa  contrac- 
tor and  builder,  which  avocation  he  followed  until 
his  death,  which  occurred  at  Mobile  in   1871. 

John  C.  O'Connell  received  a  common-school 
education,  and  at  the  age,  of  seventeen  years,  be- 
gan to  learn  the  trade  of  marine  engineer  under 
Henry  P.  Wolley.  of  Lousville,  Ky.  After  becom- 
ing proficient  in  his  business,  he  was  appointed 
assistant  engineer  and  was  subsecpiently  jjromoted 
to  chief  marine  engineer  in  186fi:  Mobile 
was  his  headquarters.  He  followed  engineering 
thirteen  or  fourteen  years,  then  engaged  with  his 
father-iu-law,  B.  A.  Weems  in  the  wholesale  gro- 


NORTHERN  ALABA.VA. 


649 


eery  and  feed  business  at  Mobile,  where  they  had 
an  extensive  business  until  ]b71,  at  wliich  time, 
Jfr.  O'f'onnell  witlidrew  from  the  firm  and  en- 
gagt'il  ill  tho  coiiHiiissioii  liiisincss  at  Jfobile  for  a 
short  time. 

In  tlie  hitter  ))art  of  1871  lie  came  to  Montgom- 
ery where  he  was  engaged  as  engineer  and  shipping 
cleric  for  The  J.  C.  Hurler  I't  C'o.  Cotton  Com- 
jiress  ('omj)any  of  Montgomery.  After  serving 
one  season  in  this  capacity  he  purchased  the  inter- 
est of  N.  W.  Perry  and  became  an  ecpial  partner 
with  Mr.  Hurter.  The  business  has  enlarged  from 
small  proportions  to  its  present  enormous  capacity 
of  fifteen  to  sixteen  hundred  bales  of  cotton  j)er 
day,  and  the  employment  of  about  seventy  men. 
This  company  has  two  enormous  presses  of  twenty- 
live  hundred  tons  ])ressure  each. 

Mr.  O'C'onnell  entered  the  Confederate  service 
in  1.S61,  as  sergeant  of  Company  A,  Twenty- 
fourth  Alabama  Infantry;  was  promoted  to 
lieutenant,  and  subsequently  appointed  engineer 
of  the  navy,  which  position  he  held  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  was  first  assistant  engineer 
on  the  ram  ''Tennessee,"  and  was  engaged  in 
the  battle  on  Mobile  Bay.  He  was  wounded  in 
this  fight,  captured  and  taken  to  Xew  Orleans, 
where  lie  was  imprisoned  a  short  time,  and  then 
taken  to  Ship  Island,  where,  after  im])rison- 
ment  for  five  months,  he  was  exchanged.  He 
was  then  appointed  engineer  in  chief  of  the 
ironclad  steamer  "  Iluntsville,"  which  boat  was 
destroyed  at  the  evacuation  of  Mobile,  and  he  was 
ordered  aboard  the  blockade  steamer  "Heroine," 
with  which  he  remained  until  the  close  of  the 
war. 

Mr.  O'Connell  is  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  also  a 
member  of  the  Commemorative  Society  of  the 
Twenty-fourUi  Alabama  Regiment,  Confederate 
troops. 

He  was  married,  in  1870,  to  Miss  Lucy,  daughter 
of  George  W.  Jlerritt,  of  Mobile,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  six  children:  Mary  C,  Bernard  VI., 
Lucy  G.,  John  C,  Jr.,  George  A.  and  Alice  E. 
ilr.  O'Connell  and  family  are  members  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 

Mr.  O'Connell  has  no  ambition  for  political 
favors,  preferring  to  devote  his  time  strictly  to 
his  business.  He  has  been  very  successful  in 
life,  and  is  to-day  recognized  as  a  man  of  wealth, 
and  stands  high  in  the  ranks  of  Montgomery's 
enterprising  citizens. 


ERWIN  W.  THOMPSON,  Manager  of  the 
Southern  Cotton-Oil  Conipany,  of  Montgomery, 
Ala.,  was  born  April  1.5,  1859,  at  Greenfield,  Col- 
quitt County,  Ga.,  and  is  a  son  of  William  W.  and 
Sarah  (Graves)  'i'hompson,  natives  of  (Jeorgia. 

The  senior  .Mr.  Thompson  was  a  manufacturer 
and  lumber  dealer  in  Smithville,  Ga.,  for  over 
thirty  years,  and  is  now  a  horticulturist,  and  has 
the  best  pear  grove  in  the  United  States,  at  said 
town. 

Erwin  W.  Thompson  attended  the  private 
schools  of  his  native  county,  and  subsequently 
the  Cornell  University,  at  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  studied  mechanical  engineering,  and  was  grad- 
uated in  1881.  He  then  went  to  Thomasville, 
<ia.,  and  organized  the  Thomasville  Oil  Company, 
of  which  he  was  superintendent  three  years. 
In  1885,  he  resigned  that  position  and  accepted 
another  as  sujierinteiulent  of  the  Oliver  Oil  Com- 
pany, at  Charlotte,  N.  ('.,  which  position  he  held 
until  December,  1886,  when  he  resigned  in  order 
to  take  position  as  manager  of  the  Augusta 
Oil  Company,  Augusta,  Ga.  He  remained  with 
this  company  until  April,  1887,  when  he  resigned 
to  accept  his  present  position.  He  has  built  up 
this  mill  until  it  has  a  capacity  of  '^00  tons  per  day 
(the  largest  in  the  State),  and  employs  about  100 
men.  The  buildings  of  this  concern  cover  five 
acres  of  ground. 


v^^ 


--*- 


WILLIAM  F.  JOSEPH,  was  born  in  Montgom- 
ery, Ala.,  November  IG,  1847,  and  is  a  son  of 
Thomas  and  Sarah  A.  (Kiley)  Joseph,  also  of  this 
city. 

He  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Alabama, 
and  was  attending  that  institution  in  1865,  at  the 
time  the  school  was  abandoned,  owing  to  the  Fed- 
eral soldiers  taking  the  city. 

Mr.  Joseph's  first  engagement  in  business  was 
as  book-kee})er  for  Joeeph  &  Forss,  wholesale  gro- 
cers at  Jlontgomery.  He  remained  with  this  firm 
and  its  successors  four  years,  then  assisted  in  the 
organization  of,  and  was  connected  with  the 
Capital  City  Insurance  Company  four  years,  after 
which  lie  engaged  in  the  commission  business  in 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  for  about  five  years.  He  then  re- 
turned to  Montgomery  where  he  identified  himself 
with  the  insurance  business,  aiul  has  lived  here 
ever  since. 


650 


NORTHERN   ALABAAfA. 


In  1887,  in  connection  with  the  insurance  busi- 
ness, Mr.  Joseph  embarked  in  real  estate  broker- 
age and  banking.  He  is  secretary  and  treasurer, 
and  a  director  of  the  Capital  City  Electric  Railroad 
Company:  secretary  and  treasurer  and  director  of 
the  Highland  Park  Improvement  Company:  presi- 
dent of  the  Montgomery  Stone  and  Building  Com- 
pany, and  a  director  in  the  Lost  Creek  Coal  and 
Land  Company.  This  latter  named  company's 
lands  are  located  in  Walker  County,  Ala.  He  is 
also  a  stockholder  in  the  Walker  County  Coal  and 
Mineral  Land  Company,  and  is  largely  interested 
in  several  North  Alabama  enterprises. 

Mr.  Joseph  was  married  April  •20,  1807,  to  Miss 
Mary  E.  daughter  of  Joseph  P.  Saffold,  of  Mont- 
gomerv,  and  has  had  born  to  liim  four  children, 
one  of  which  only  is  living,  ."^atlold. 

5[r.  Joseph  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  in  whicli  order  he  has  held  high  offices. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor,  and 
is  captain  of  the  Montgomery  Mounted  Rifles,  a 
calvary  company  belonging  to  the  State  troops. 
He  has  filled  the  latter  position  with  eminent 
satisfaction.  He  received  his  military  training 
at  the  University  of  Alabama. 

He  has  several  times  been  tendered  political 
offices,  but  refused  them,  preferring  to  devote  his 
time  to  business.  He  is  a  man  of  sterling  business 
qualities,  and  largely  interested  in  the  develop- 
ment of  enterprises  in  Alabama. 

— ^-^^^'-^►^^ 

WILLIAM  H.  WILLIAMS,  Ceneral  Agent  of 
Mont^'onurv  \  Kufaula  liailroad  Company,  and  of 
Western  Railroad  of  Alabama,  was  born  July  2, 
18-11,  in  Screvei\  County,  <ia.,  and  is  a  son  of  Ed- 
ward W.  and  Catherine  R.  (Daly)  A\illiams,  na- 
tives, respectively,  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

The  senior  Mr.  Williams  was  a  merchant  in  Sa- 
vannah, (ia.  He  died  in  Columbus,  that  State, 
in  1814,  at  the  age  of  thirty  years. 

William  II.  Williams  attended  the  private 
schools  of  Muscogee  County,  Ga.,  received  a  fair 
English  education,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years 
embarked  in  tlie  cotton-market  businesson  liisown 
account,  at  Columbus,  Ga.  At  the  end  of  two 
years,  he  dropped  the  cotton  to  engage  in  the  dray 
and  transfer  business  to  which  he  devoted  his  time 
until  lS(il.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  Mr. 
Williams  entered    in   the  Confederate   service  as 


orderly  sergeant  in  Company  A,  Second  Georgia 
Battalion,  and  in  July,  1861,  was  promoted  to 
junior  second  lieutenant  of  that  company.  (They 
were  originally  twelve  months'  troops.) 

In  April,  18G2.  at  Wilmington,  X.C,  Company 
A  was  reorganized  and  he  was  elected  first  lieuten- 
ant. He  remained  with  thii?  company  until  the 
battle  of  Fredericksburg  (18ii:f),  when  he  resigned 
owing  to  disability.  He  came  back  to  Columbus, 
Ga. ,  where  he  was  ajipointed  agent  of  the  Mobile 
&  Girard  Railroad.  He  acted  in  that  capacity  up 
to  1882,  when  he  removed  to  Montgomery  to  take 
the  position  as  agent  of  the  .Montgomery  i'^  Eufaula 
Railroad.  In  October,  1882,  lie  was  made  gen- 
eral agent  of  both  the  Montgomery  &  Eufaula, 
and  Western  Railroads,  which  jiosition  he  has  filled 
to  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Williams  is  vice-))resident  of  the  Home 
Building  &  Loan  Association  of  Montgomery:  a 
prominent  Mason,  and  a  member  of  the  National 
L'^nion  and  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen. 

He  was  married  December  6,  I8G.1,  to  Mary 
Frances,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Mary  (Taylor) 
Chaffin.  of  Columbus,  Ga.  She  died  in  Septem- 
ber, 1871S,  leaving  eight  children.  In  April, 
1881,  Mr.  Williams  was  married  again  to  Martha 
Jane,  daughter  of  Dr.  J.  J.  Mason,  also  of  Col- 
umbus, Ga.,  and  to  this  union  two  children  were 
born. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
of  which  ilr.  Williams  is  a  deacon.  He  has 
always  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  Sunday- 
school  work,  and  was  superintendent  of  the  Sun- 
day-school at  Columbus,  (Ja. 


PEYTON  B.  BIBB,  General  Manager  of  the 
Montgomery  Iron  Works,  and  familiar  to  the  peo- 
ple of  this  State  as  ca]>tain  of  the  "  Montgomery 
True  Blues,"  was  born  in  this  city  in  18.")7.  His 
father  was  the  late  Col.  Joseph  H.  Bibb,  who  com- 
manded the  Twenty-third  Alabama  Infantry  dur- 
ing the  late  war.  Colonel  Bibb  died  in  this  city 
in  1868.  from  the  effects  of  wounds  received  at 
the  battle  of  Franklin,  Tenn.,  and  was  at  the 
time  of  his  death  about  forty-eight  years  of  age. 
Captain  Bibb's  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  late 
distinguished  Benajah  S.  Bibb. 

P.  B.  Bibb  w!is  edmated  at  the  Virginia  Mili- 
tary Institute,  and  from  there  in  1874,  entered  the 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


651 


Annapolis  Naval  Academy,  from  which  institution 
he  was  graduated  in  1878.  He  made  one  cruise 
to  Europe,  one  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  spent  two 
years  in  the  Uniteil  States  Coast  Survey,  and,  in 
1884,  resigned  for  the  purpose  of  devoting  his 
time  to  civil  enstineeriiig.     He  located   in   Jlont- 


gomery  wliere  he  has  since  remained.  He  gave  up 
civil  engineering  in  188G,  to  accept  the  general 
managership  of  the  Montgomery  Iron  Works.  He 
was  made  captain  of  the  "The  True  Blues"  in 
1S85,  and  as  their  commander  won  distinction  for 
himself  and  fresh  laurels  for  the  company. 


XVI. 
SELMA. 

Bv    S.    W.    John. 


The  city  of  Selma  is  situated  on  the  north  bank 
of  the  Ahibama  River,  near  the  geographical 
center  of  tlie  Stale. 

On  the  IGth  and  18th  of  ^larch,  1819,  before 
Ahvbama  was  admitted  as  a  State  into  the  Union, 
W  in.  K.  King  and  George  Phillips  bought  of  the 
United  States  all  of  section  30,  township  17,  range 
10,  and  section  31,  township  17,  range  11,  lying 
north  of  the  river,  about  1,101  acres.  A  company 
had  been  organized  for  the  purpose  of  laying  these 
lands  off  into  a  town.  The  stockholders  of  this 
company  were  A.  P.  Fore,  Benjamin  Clements, 
William  Walton,  William  Aylett,  Samuel  Walker, 
L.  H.  .\dams,  Caleb  Tate,  William  Harris,  Alex. 
S.  Outlaw,  Thomas  J.  Campbell,  George  Phillips, 
William  Blevins,  Jesse  Wilson,  William  Cowles, 
.lames  Hatcher,  J.  M.  C.  Jlontgomery,  J.  P  Cun- 
ningham, John  Simpson,  Benjamin  L.  Saunders, 
James  .McCarty,  William  K.  King,  David  Keller, 
.lolin  Taylor,  David  McCord,  Samuel  Greenlee, 
Henry  Lucas,  J.  K.  C.  Pool,  C.  Sledge,  William 
Taylor,  C.  L.  Mathews,  James  .lackson,  Thomas 
-Moore,  and  Jesse  Beene.  William  R.  King,  upon 
perfecting  its  organization,  was  given  the  privi- 
lege of  naming  the  town.  He  named  it  "Selma." 
(iwin  Washington,  a  surveyor,  laid  off  the  town 
into  Via  lots  and  37  out-lots.  The  two  principal 
streets.  Broad  and  Water,  were  laid  out  1"20  feet 
wide,  and  all  others  100  feet  wide.  Lot  107,  cor- 
ner of  Alabama  and  Church  streets,  was  given  to 
the  Baptist  denomination  for  a  church.  Lot  112, 
corner  Church  and  Dallas  streets,  was  given  to 
the  Methodists  for  a  church,  and  lot  I'i'i,  cor- 
ner of  Washington  and  Dallas  streets,  was  given  to 
the  Presbyterians  for  a  church.  The  square 
bounded  by  Selma,  Broad,  Alabama  and  Church 
streets  was  reserved  for  a  public  square,  and  out- 
lot  9  was  set  apart  for  a  cemetery,  and  the  north 
half  of  out-lot  26  was  set  apart  for  a  school  lot. 


In  May,  1819,  the  town  company  sold  off  all  the 
lots,  except  those  reserved  and  set  apart  for  public 
purposes,  and  the  total  proceeds  amounted  to 
$37,930.  On  November  29, 1828,  the  out-lots  and 
ferry  across  the  Alabama  River  were  sold,  which 
increased  the  total  proceeds  of  sale  to  !ii-14,7.")4.93. 

The  highest  price  paid  for  one  lot  was  I80(i,  at 
which  sum  lot  29  was  sold  to  E.  M.  BoUes.  The 
St.  James  Hotel  now  covers  this  lot.  The  next 
highest  price,  $790,  was  paid  by  Wm.  Read  for 
lot  101,  which  fronts  on  the  west  side  of  Broad 
Street,  from  Walter  Street  to  Hinton  Alley. 

In  1831  the  ground  reserved  for  a  public 
Square,  was  divided  into  lots,  and  sold  off  for  the 
sum  of  12,099. 

Although  Selma  is  located  on  a  beautiful,  com- 
paratively level  plateau,  about  fifteen  feet  above 
the  highest  water  kuown  in  the  Alabama  River— 
that  of  March  28-April  4,  1886— yet,  for  the  want 
of  proper  drains,  the  town  suffered  severely  from 
fevers;  so  much  so,  that  some  of  these  sickly  sea- 
sons had  the  effect  to  materially  reduce  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  town,  so  that,  after  twenty  years  of 
existence,  there  were  only  431  white  people  living 
in  Selma,  out  of  a  total  of  1,053. 

In  June,  1836,  the  people  of  Selma  became  in- 
terested in  connecting  the  waters  of  the  Alabama 
and  Tennessee  Rivers  by  railroad.  The  first  step 
was  taken  by  John  W.  Lapsley,  William  H.  Fel- 
lows and  George  W.  Parsons  calling  a  citizens' 
meeting  at  the  law  office  of  John  W.  Lapsley,  the 
"  father"  of  railroad  building  in  Selma. 

This  meeting  took  such  action  as  resulted  in 
the  grant  of  a  charter  to  "  The  Sclnia  &  Tennes- 
see Railroad  Company "'  in  December.  1830,  by 
the  Legislature  of  .Mabama,  under  which  the 
company  organized  in  March,  1837,  by  the  elec- 
tion of  (iilbert  Shearer  as  president,  and  Thornton 
B.  Goldsby,  .Middleton  (i.  Woods,  James  C.  Sharp, 


652 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


053 


Daniel  II.  Norwood,  Joliu    Brantly,  ITriah   (irigs- 
by  and  Jainca  M.  Calhoun  as  directors. 

The  comj)any  located  the  road  over  the  line 
now  ociMipicd  by  the  track  of  the  Selma,  Rome 
&  Daltoii  division  of  the  East  Tennessee,  A'ir- 
giiiia  I'i:  Georgia  Railway,  and  let  the  contract 
for  grading  the  first  ten  miles  to  David  Cooper 
A-  Hros.  Col.  A.  A.  Dexter,  of  Montgomery, 
was  the  cliief  engineer,  and  made  a  survey  and 
located  the  line  of  the  road  as  far  as  Monte- 
vallo,  -Ma.  Tiie  great  financial  depression  follow- 
ing the  "  (lush  times  of  Alabama,"  so  embarrassed 
tliis  company  as  to  put  a  stop  to  the  construc- 
tion of  the  road,  and  finally  resulted  in  the  death 
of  the  company. 

In  ]8:{s  a  medical  society,  a  military  com- 
pany (■•The  Selma  Rangers'"),  iin  educational 
society  and  the  Real  Estate  Banking  Company, 
were  all  organized,  and  the  town  bought  its  first 
fire  engine,  a  public  library  was  established,  and 
the  building  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  was  begun.  In  183'.t  was  laid  the  corner 
stone  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  corner  of  Alabama 
and  l^auderdale  streets,  which  was  afterward 
burned  by  ''  Wilson's  Raiders"  in  18G5. 

The  Ladies  Educational  Society  of  Selma  was 
organized  and  chartered  by  the  Legislature,  and 
did  much  to  aid  in  building  the  churches  begun 
about  that  time  and  soon  afterward,  and  also 
built  four  large,  commodious  school  buildings — 
three  of  which  are  now  standing,  but  all  of  them, 
except  "The  Dallas  Academy,"  have  passed  into  the 
hands  of  other  owners,  and  are  used  for  other 
than  .school  purposes,  —  one  being'the  "'Court 
House  of  Dallas  County."' 

The  prevalent  sickness  of  the  years  1840  and 
ls41,  drove  many  of  the  most  active  business  men 
of  Selma  to  seek  other  homes,  and  the  very  great 
monetary  stringency  of  the  period.  1840-7,  cast  a 
gloom  over  the  town.  This  may  be  called  its 
•"  darkest  hour."' 

In  1848  business  began  to  improve,  jiopulation 
increased,  and  Selma  took  a  new  lease  on  life,  and 
John  \V.  Lapsley,  Thornton  H.  Goldsby,  Philip  J. 
Weaver,  .lohn  Brantley,  William  Johnson,  Hugh 
Fergusson.  and  others,  were  granted  a  charter — 
as  ''The  Alabama  &  Tennessee  Rivers  Railroad 
Company'" — for  the  purpose  of  building  a  railroad 
from  Selma  to  some  point  on  the  Tennessee  River. 
For  some  years  (iuntersville  was  the  objective 
jKiint,  but  the  liberal  contributions  of  citizens  of 
Slielbv,   Talladesra  and   Calhoun    Counties,   com- 


bined with  the  great  energy  and  ability  of  such 
men  as  Walker  Reynolds,  Judge  Thos.  A.  Walker, 
and  associates,  caused  the  road  to  be  built  by 
Columbiana  Talladega  and  Jacksonville,  and 
finally,  under  the  name  of  "The  Selma,  Rome  & 
Dalton  Railroad,"  to  Rome  and  Dalton,  CJa.,  a 
total  length  of  230  miles. 

The  first  "spike"  was  driven  in  IS-il,  and  the 
Coosa  River  was  crossed,  eighty-seven  miles  from 
Selma,  in  185.i,  and  Blue  Mountain,  13.5  miles 
from  Selma,  was  reached  in  18GI>,  where  the  war 
put  a  stop  to  all  building. 

The  starting  of  this  enterprise  seemed  to  infuse 
new  life  into  Selma,  and  was  (piickly  followed  by 
the  building  of  the  Alabama  &  Mississippi  River 
Railroad,  of  which  enterprise  Jos.  R.  John,  Jas. 
L.  Price,  Philip  J.  Weaver.  Thornton  B.  (Joldsby, 
Wm.  L.  Davidson,  John  W.  La])sley  and  others, 
were  the  leading  spirits.  This  road  was  begun  in 
1855,  and  built  to  Uniontown  in  ISGO,  where  it 
was  stopped  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  but 
in  1861-2  the  Confederate  Government  furnished 
the  means  to  build  it  to  York  in  Sumter  County, 
where  it  was  united  with  twenty-seven  miles  of 
track  of  the  Northeast  &  Southwest  Railroad, 
running  into  Meridian,  Miss. — thus  giving  a  con- 
necting line  of  railroad  between  the  waters  of  the 
Alabama  and  ilississippi  Rivers,  the  purpose  indi- 
cated by  the  name  of  the  first  corporation. 

This  company  had  its  origin  among  the  people 
of  Uniontown,  who  sought  raj)id  transit  to  the 
Alabama  River,  and  was  chartered  to  run  -from 
Cahaba,  west,  but  the  wealthy  men  of  Cahaba 
refused  to  subscribe  a  dollar  to  its  building,  and 
greeted  the  public  statement  of  its  first  advocate, 
sent  to  them  to  solicit  aid,  Hon.  Joseph  R.  John, 
"that  if  they  would  build  thirty  miles  of  railroad  and 
put  a  train  on  it,  it  would  never  stop  till  it  reached 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,"  with  shouts  of 
derisive  laughter,  and  with  the  bold  assertion  that 
"a  railroad  could  never  l)e  built  through  the  cane- 
brake,"  "the  cars  would  sink  out  of  sight  in  the 
mud."' 

This  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Ca- 
haba, opened  the  way  for  Selma  to  step  in  and 
give  the  desired  aid,  which  she  did.  following  the 
lead  of  Philip  J.  Weaver  and  Thornton  B.  Golds- 
by. and  at  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature  the 
charter  was  so  amended  as  to  allow  the  road  to  be 
built  from  Selma.  west.  In  ten  years  from  the 
time  that  Cahaba  refused  to  subscribe  to  the 
building  of  this    road,    the  thirty  miles  of    road 


654 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


had  been  built,  and  then  extended,  as  we  have 
seen,  so  that  trains  running  west  from  Selma 
were  not  Inilted  till  they  had  reached  the  banks  of 
the  great  Mississippi  River.  And  C'ahaba?  From 
a  flourishing  town,  the  rival  of  Selma  declined 
steadily  till,  in  18CG,  the  court-house  was  removed 
to  Selma,  and  soon  there  were  not  more  than 
twenty  whites  and  a  few  negroes  living  in  the 
limits  of  the  former  capital  of  Alabama,  and  now 
it  is  a '' deserted  village,"  and  Selma  a  thriving 
city  of  15,000  inliabitants,  seven  railroads,  and 
*15,0(iO,000  of  taxable  property. 

Tiie  spirit  of  building  railroads  to  Selma  was 
not  satistied  by  the  building  of  these  two  roads, 
and  in  18.")7  John  W.  Lapsley,  William  T.  ilinter, 
Willis  S.  Burr,  Dan.  C.  Langley,  J.  J.  Hawthorne 
and  others  projected  the  Selma  &  fJulf  Railroad, 
to  be  built  from  Selma  to  Pensacola.  When  most 
of  the  grading  of  the  first  twenty  miles  of  this 
road  had  been  finished,  it  was  suspended  by  the 
war.  After  the  war  forty  miles  from  Selma  were 
built,  aud  the  road  from  Pensacola  north  to  Pen- 
sacola Junction,  and  on  to  Repton — eighty  miles — 
was  built,  and  these  two  ends  are  now  owned  and 
operated  by  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad 
Company,  leaving  an  unfini-shed  gaj)  of  thirty- 
three  miles  between  Pineapple  and  Repton. 

From  the  organization  of  the  Alabama  &  Ten- 
nessee Rivers  Railroad  Company  to  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war,  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Selma 
were  wonderful.  Population  and  capital  flowed 
in,  banks  and  insurance  companies  were  formed 
and  successfully  operated,  and  the  volume  of  busi- 
ness grew  from  a  few  thousand  to  several  millions 
of  dollars  annually.  The  receipts  of  cotton  in 
1860  were  100,nOO  bales,  much  of  which  was 
bought  from  the  producers  by  the  merchants  of 
Selma. 

During  this  period  of  growth  there  were  erected 
six  handsome  brick  churches,  three  large  brick 
and  one  frame  school-house,  and  many  other 
buildings. 

It  would  not  be  just  to  the  "  builders"  of  Sel- 
ma to  leave  unnoticed  the  fact  that  Thornton  B. 
(ioldsby  built  and  owned  more  business  houses  in 
Selma  than  any  other  man,  and  that  William  J. 
Xorris  built  more  handsome  dwellings  than  any 
one  else. 

During  this  period  of  building  activity,  many 
artesian  wells  were  bored,  one  of  which  was  num- 
bered among  the  notable  wells  of  the  world.  At 
the  same  time  the  yards  and  grounds  of  the  private 


residences  were  adorned  with  trees  and  shrubs,  and 
the  sidewalks  planted  with  a  species  of  oak,  which 
is  evergreen,  and  very  like  the  "live  oak,"  thus 
making  it  much  more  pleasant  as  a  dwelling  place 
in  the  summer.  The  city  might  well  be  called  the 
"City  of  Wells  and  Trees." 

This  active  building  of  a  city  was  interrupted 
by  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  between  the  States, 
when,  at  the  call  of  Alabama,  nearly  every  able- 
bodied  man  in  Selma  donned  the  gray  and  went 
to  battle. 

The  great  natural  advantages  of  Selma,  and  its 
superb  location  near  the  coal,  iron,  limestone, 
sandstone  and  timber  of  the  mineral  region  of 
Alabama,  and  in  the  heart  of  the  great  "black 
belt,"  the  then  "corn  and  hog"  raising  section  of 
Alabama,  together  with  the  great  navigable  river 
flowing  past  it  by  Mobile  to  the  Gulf,  soon  attract- 
ed the  attention  of  the  Confederate  Government, 
and  it  erected  here,  under  the  command  of  Col. 
J.  L.  White,  the  largest  arsenal  of  the  Confeder- 
acy, where  immense  quantities  of  fixed  and  small 
arm  ammunition  and  ordnance  stores  and  supplies 
of  every  kind,  were  made  and  shipped  to  the 
armies  of  the  Confederacy.  The  Confederacy 
also  erected  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Catesby 
R.  ap  Jones  (who  designed  and  directed  the  build- 
ing of  the  famous  "  ram,"  "  Virginia,"  the  first 
iron-clad  vessel  ever  taken  into  action,  and  super- 
intended her  armament,  and  was  her  executive 
officer  and  commander  on  the  wounding  of  Admi- 
ral Buchanan),  a  large  and  well-organized  naval 
foundry  and  rolling  mill. 

In  this  foundry  were  cast  the  heavy  guns 
mounted  on  the  harbor  and  sea  coast  defenses, 
and  guns  used  by  the  Confederate  gunboats  in 
Mobile  Bay  under  Admiral  Buchanan  in  the  en- 
gagement with  the  United  States  fleet  under  Ad- 
miral Dahlgren.  All  of  the  nnichiiies  and  tools 
used  in  the  foundry  and  rolling  mills  were  made 
in  the  shops  erected  in  connection  with  the.se 
works,  ilany  of  these  were  new  inventions — 
notably  a  revolving  lathe  for  turning  off  the 
trunnions  of  the  eleven  and  twelve  inch  "  Colum- 
biads."  This  machine  carried  the  tool  around  the 
trunnion,  whereas  before  its  invention  the  gun 
was  strai)j)ed  to  the  wheel  of  an  immense  lathe 
and  revolved  "end  over  end"  around  the  center 
of  the  trunnion,  while  the  cutting  tool  was  sta- 
tionary. 

Many  of  the  machines  and  tools  used  in  the 
arsenal  were  likewise  built   therein,  and  the  first 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


G55 


machine  for  milking  liorse  shoes,  at  one  blow,  was 
iiuule  and  operated  here.  The  gun  boat  "  Ten- 
nessee," Admiral  Buchanan's  flag  ship  in  Mobile 
May,  was  built  and  launched  here,  and  floated 
down  the  river  to  Mobile,  where  her  armor  and 
armament  were  placed  upon  her. 

The  concentration  of  tliese  (iovei'nment  works 
at  Seinia  drew  to  this  phice  many  contractors  who 
erected  shops  and  factories  of  various  kinds,  to 
make  and  supjjly  materials  and  munitions  of  all 
sorts  to  the  Confederate  Slates  Government,  so 
thatSelma  became,  next  to  IJiclimond,  the  greatest 
depot  of  supplies  of  the  Confederate  armies. 
This  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Federal  gen- 
erals, and  in  Maicli,  18i!."i.  a  corps  of  cavalry,  com- 
manded by  (ieneral  Wilson,  marched  from  the 
Tennessee  Kiver  direct  to  Selma.  arriving  in  front 
of  the  earthworks,  which  had  been  thrown  up 
around  the  city,  on  the  afternoon  of  Sunday, 
April  l,  186.5. 

The  works  were  about  live  miles  in  length,  and 
were  manned  by  (ieneral  Armstrong's  Cavalry 
Brigade,  about  400  strong,  one  battery  of  field  ar- 
tillery (Fjouisiana):  the  citizens  of  Selma,  the  work- 
men from  the  arsenal  and  foundry,  and  a  few 
hundred  Dalhis  County  militia,  old  men,  in  all 
about  l,.iOO  or  "^,000.  (ieneral  Wilson  attacked 
with  Long  and  Upton's  divisions,  about  8,000 
strong.  The  main  attack  was  nuide  on  the  Sum- 
merfield  Road,  across  which,  behiiul  the  earth- 
works, was  posted  Armstrong's  Brigade.  This 
gallant  brigade,  although  posted  ten  to  fifteen  feet 
apart,  repulsed  the  Federals  twice  with  great  loss 
to  them.  Upon  the  third  advance  the  Federal's 
assaulted  the  works  to  Armstrong's  left,  where 
the  militia,  strung  out  twenty  to  thirty  feet  apart, 
held  the  works.  Carrying  the  works  at  this  point, 
the  Federals  attacked  Armstrong  in  front  and  on 
histlank  simultaneously,  and  drove  him  from  the 
works. 

The  Federals  then  look  the  city  by  storm, 
burned  dwellings,  storehouses,  warehouses,  arse- 
nal, foundry,  and  shops  and  stores  of  every  kind, 
and  gave  the  city  over  to  be  sacked  and  plundered 
by  drunken  soldiers.  In  this  engagement  Major- 
General  Long,  Unitetl  States  Army,  and  168  offi- 
cers and  men  were  killed,  and  about  800  were 
wounded.  The  Confederate's  militia  and  citizens 
lost  thirty  killed  and  about  :500  wounded.* 

•Amoiitf  the  kUleil  witi-;  rajit.  Wm.  T.  Mintor  mid  A.  W 
Ellfrti<.f.of  DalliLs  County;  Hi'V.  \.  M.  Siimll.of  tin-  rrcsbylfriaii 
Chiin-h:  iiiiil  H.  N.  Pliilpot.  A.  M.  Huvy  iiml  Tims.  Kiirirs,  of  .-^I'lma: 
Captain  Uonalioo.of  Talladoira,  and  KoImtI  Pulton,  of  Florencf. 


(ieneral  Wilson  occupied  Selma  about  ten  days 
while  a  pontoon  bridge  was  being  thrown  across 
the  river,  upon  which  he  crossed  his  army — now 
about  r2,000,  (ieneral  McCook's  division  having 
come  up  with  the  trains,  and  marched  on  to  Mont- 
gomery, burning  and  plundering  as  he  went. 

His  last  act  before  leaving  Selma  was  to  have 
killed  in  yards,  in  staoles,  on  lots,  on  the  streets, 
wherever  they  happened  to  be,  800  disabled  horses, 
which  were  buried  by  the  few  old  men  and  boys 
left,  to  save  the  people  from  the  direful  elfects  of 
their  decay. 

While  the  city  was  occui)ied  by  the  Federals 
General  Lee  surrendered,  and  in  a  month  there- 
after all  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy  had  laid 
down  their  arms  and  returned  to  their  desolated 
homes. 

When  Selma's  sons  returned  from  Lee's,  John- 
son's and  Taylor's  armies,  they  found  the  once 
beautiful  city  in  ruins,  and  the  people,  many  of 
them,  receiving  food  from  their  friends  in  the 
surrounding  country,  who  had  escaped  j)inage. 

Without  money,  many  of  them  with  only  the 
threadbare  suit  of  gray  they  wore,  they  set  to 
work  to  ••rebuild  the  city" — no  small  task,  under 
the  circumstances,  for  tiie  place  had  been  literally 
destroyed. 

At  this  time  there  was  not  a  train  of  cars  run- 
ning into  Selma,  and  nearly  all  of  the  boats,  which 
had  made  the  Alabama  River  a  famous  highway, 
had  been  destroyed  by  the  Federal  troops  when 
they  captured  Mobile  and  ^lontgomery,  but  the 
men  of  Selma  did  not  despair,  but  worked  with  a 
will,  and  soon  had  cleared  away  the  rubbish  of  the 
destroyed  houses,  and  were  actively  engaged  in 
building  a  new  city. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  "  Wilson's  raiders" 
left  the  whole  of  the  business  part  of  the  city  in 
ruins,  and  that  there  was  not  a  single  storehouse 
of  any  kind  open  for  business,  all  the  banks  closed, 
all  offices  closed,  and  no  postoffice,  the  wonderful 
progress  made  by  her  citizens  in  this  work  can  be 
seen  by  contrasting  their  then  coiulition  with  their 
present  condition.  Probably  no  better  index  on 
this  material  growth  can  be  given  than  that  of  the 
banks  of  Selma.  Tiie  City  National  Bank,  with 
*4(iO,(KtO  of  capital,  *H»0,00o  surplus,  and  *800,- 
(100  deposits,  and  the  Commercial  Bank,  with  *i:iOO,- 
OOO  capital,  |i10i>,(M)0  surplus  and  «;t;(iO,(HiO  de- 
posits, now  do  an  immense  business,  whereas,  the 
two  banks  of  Selma  during  the  war  were  ruined 
and  their  vaults  empty  and  doors  closed. 


656 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


In  ISGO,  Selma  received  2<i,(>00  bales  of  cotton; 
now  her  annual  receijits  vary  from  80,000  to  Wl.- 
00(»  bales.  Then  all  cotton  received  had  to  be 
shipped  to  Mobile  to  be  compressed  and  thence 
shipped  to  market;  now  nearlj'  every  bale  received 
is  compressed  in  Selma  and  shipjied  direct  to  New 
England  spinners,  or  to  j)orts  for  e.xjiort  to  Europe. 
Then  not  a  dollar's  worth  of  goods  were  made  in 
Selma;  now  her  factories  and  shops  turn  out  an- 
nually over  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  cotton 
goods,  oil,  oil-cake,  cotton-seed  meal,  engines, 
presses,  wagons,  sash,  doors,  blinds,  cars,  car- 
wheels,  brooms,  castings  and  ice. 


K.\IIJ!UAI)S. 


MUNICIPAL  DEPAUTMENT. 

The  town  of  Selma,  was  first  organized  on  the 
first  Monday  in  April,  18-^1,  by  the  election  of 
Carter  15.  Hnddleston,  James  Reynolds,  .lames 
Cravens,  Gilbert  Sheaner,  and  Wm.  Read,  as 
councilmen,  who  elected  James  IJeynolds  as  In- 
tendant. 

In  1851,  the  charter  was  changed  by  the  Legis- 
lature, and  "The  City  of  Selma"  was  created, 
and  John  M.  Strong  was  elected  the  first  Mayor, 
who  was  re-elected  annually  till  1858,  and  snc- 
ceeded  by  the  following  named  incumbents  of  that 
office  to  the  present  time,  namely:  1  58,  JI.  J.  A. 
Keith;  18<i2,  Geo.  F.  Plunt,  who  died  in  office, 
and  was  succeeded  by  .Joseph  R.  John:  18GI5.  il.  J. 

A.  Keith;  18G4,  John  II.  Henry;  18(1.-),  M.  J. 
AVilliams:  186G,  .Tatnes  T.  Reese. 

On  May  14,  18G7,  (Jeneral  Pope  usurjied  the 
authority  of  ajjpointing  a  Mayor  and  Council.  He 
appointed  Hen  F.  SafFold  as  Mayor,  who  continued 
in  office  till  Septeml)er  4,  18GS,  when  Win.  II. 
Smith,  who  had  been  legislated  into  the  office  of 
(iovernor  of  Alabama   by  Congress,  appointed  W. 

B.  Gill  as  Mayor,  who  served  till  a  new  charter 
was  granted  by  the  Legislature,  under  which,  on 
the  first  Monday  in  December.  18G8,  Jas.  L. 
Perkins  was  elected  Mayor  for  a  term  of  two  years. 
In  1870  .lames  M.  Dedman  was  chosen,  and  con- 
tinued in  office  till  .\pril,  18T:i,  when  John  Hardy 
was  elected.  During  this  administration  the 
charter  was  amended,  fixing  the  election  on  first 
Monday  in  May,  1875.  and  biennially  thereafter. 
In  lS7."i,  N.  WoodrutT:  1877,  N.  Woodruff:  18;'.), 
N.  Woodruff  was  elected,  but  R.  J.  Davidson  was 
elected  by  the  council  till  the  contest  was  decided 
in  favor  of  Woodruff  bv  the  Supreme  Court;  1881, 
A.  K.  Haker:  18s:J,  R.  J.  Davidson:  188.-|.  Hugh 
S.  D.  Mallorv:  1S87.  S.  Maas. 


The  railroad.s  running  into  Selma  are  the  Hir- 
mingiiam.  Selma  &  New  Orleans  road,  "-il  miles 
long,  to  Martin's  Station,  Dallas  County;  Pine- 
apple Division  of  Louisville  &  Nashville  System, 
40  miles  long,  to  Pineapple  Station,  Wilcox 
County;  the  Western  Railway.  Selma  Division,  5ii' 
miles,  to  Montgomery:  the  Cincinnati,  Selma  & 
^loljile  Railway,  to  Akron,  in  Hale  County,  via 
Marion  Junction,  71  miles:  Alabama  Central  Di- 
vision of  E.  T.,Va.  &  Ga.  Railway  to  Lauderdale, 
Miss.,  110  miles;  Mobile  &  Hirmingham  Railway, 
E.  T.,Va.  &  Ga.  System.  l.">0  miles,  from  Mobile 
to  Marion  Junction,  thence  over  Alabama  Central 
Division:  Selnui,  Rome  &  Dalton  Division  of  E. 
T.,Va.  it   Ga.  Railway,  -^30  miles,  to  Dalton.  Ga. 

PRO-JECTED   HO  ADS. 

Cahaba  Valley  Railroad,  Selma  to  Birmingham; 
Alabama  &  Atlanta,  Selma  to  Atlanta,  Ga. :  Selma 
&  Greenville,  Selma  to  Greenville,  Ala. 

STREET   RAILWAY. 

The  Selma  Street  Railway  Company  was  organ- 
ized in  1872.  and  laid  about  two  miles  of  track 
through  Broad,  Water  and  other  streets.  This 
was  operated  with  little  or  no  profit,  till  recently 
it  lijis  been  relaid  with  lieavier  rail  and  a  steam 
engine  ("dummy")  put  on,  and  about  three  miles 
of  additional  track  laid  in  East  Selma  and  North 
Selma,  the  latter  a  newly  laid  out  suburb. 

BANKS. 

Tiie  tir.-;t  bank  organized  in  Selma,  was  the 
"  Real  Estate  Banking  Company  of  South  Ala- 
bama,'" which  began  business  in  18;$8  on  a  cash 
cai)ital  of  1^28, G35,  and  did  a  flourishing  business 
till  the  crash  after  the  "  flush  times"  forced  it 
out  of  business. 

"The  Commercial  Bank  of  .Mabaiua  "  began 
business  in  185G,  with  a  cash  cajiilal  of  ^500,(100. 
William  .1.  Norris  was  jtresident  from  its  organ- 
ization till  it  ceased  to  do  business  at  the  close  of 
the  war. 

Under  the  management  of  Mr.  Xorris,  this 
bank  made  a  r<'markable  financial  record.  It 
never  lost  a  dollar,  or  had  to  l>ring  a  suit  for  the 
recovery  of  a  debt  due  it. 

On  the  outbreak  of  the  war  it  had  in  its  vaults 
gold  coin  enough  to  redeem  every  bank  note  issued 
bv  it.     This  coin  was  taken  bv  the  .State  and  used 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ill  oi|iiii)iiiii<;  .soldiors  and  in  projiariiig  coast  de- 
f  I' rises. 

•' 'i'lie  Hank  of  Si'iiiia  "  was  organized  in  18."i7, 
witli  *:i(io,()O0  capital  :  Wasliington  M.  Smith, 
jircsident.  It  assets  were  all  converted  into  Con- 
feiiei'atc  I'linency.  and  tlie  l)aiik  ceased  to  do  busi- 
ness at  the  close  of  liie  war. 

In  18(>"),  "  Tlie  First  National  Hank  of  Selnia" 
was  organized  under  the  National  Banking  Act, 
with  *l()(i,(KKl  capital  :  John  JI.  Parkman  was  the 
jirincipal  stockholder  and  jiresideiit.  Speculation 
soon  baiiknii)ted  this  institution  and  its  deposit- 
ors lost  nearly  all  they  had  deposited  therein. 

'•  The  City  National  Hank  of  Selnia''  and  the 
•'Selnia  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company" 
were  chartered  by  the  State  soon  after  the  close  of 
the  war,  and  did  a  banking  business  for  a  year  or 
two,  till  its  capital  had  been  reduced  nearly  a  half, 
when  its  officers  induced  Jos.  Isbell,  Esq.,  of  Tal- 
ladega to  invest  %!-.J."),(H)()  and  take  charge  of  its 
business.  With  a  capital  thus  made  up  to  $75,0(M), 
Mr.  Isbell  named  W'm.  P.  Armstrong  as  its  cashier. 
Shortly  afterward  the  name  was  changed  to  "  The 
City  Hank."  and  its  capital  increased  to-?!lO(),()On. 
In  187i>  tliis  bank  was  converted  into  a  National 
Hank,  and  so  successfully  has  it  been  managed 
that  its  capital  stock  has  grown  to  1400,000,  with 
a  surplus  of  *109,OuO.  Since  its  organization  it 
has  jiaid  large  annual  dividends  to  its  sliarehold- 
ers.  Its  management  has  been  at  all  times  ju- 
dicious and  its  success  remarkalde. 

•'  Tlie  Commercial  Hank  of  Selma"  is  organized 
under  the  law  of  Alabama.  It  was  formerly  the 
"  Selma  Savings  Hank."  Under  the  management 
of  U.  .M.  Nelson  as  president,  the  business  of  the 
bank  has  grown  to  a  very  large  volume,  and  the 
value  of  its  stock  has  increased  nipidly.  Capital 
stock,  *:i(i(»,()Ou;  surplus,  *loO,On(). 

SC'IK  )()L.s. 

Selma  has  a  very  fine  system  of  public  scliools, 
under  the  control  of  the  School  Hoard,  which  is 
elected  by  the  City  Council.  J,  W.  Mabry  is  the 
Superintendent  of  Schools.  Under  the  control  of 
this  Hoard  is  "The  Dallas  Academy,"  a  public 
school  building  built  by  the  citizens  on  a  lot  given 
for  that  purpose  by  William  Johnson.  This 
academy  was  converted  into  a  public  school  for 
white  children  in  ISflS,  with  Joseph  1{.  John  as 
[•resident  of  the  Hoard  of  Trustees,  C.  J.  Clark, 
secretary,  and  N.  I).  Cross,  superintendent  of  the 
school. 


It  has  continued  to  improve  ever  since  its  organ- 
ization, and  now  has  over  ."lOd  children  in  daily 
attendance,  with  a  corjis  of  very  efficient  teachers. 

The  City  School  Hoard  rent  the  "Hurrell 
Academy,"  a  large  and  commodious  building,  and 
liavc  a  good  school  conducted  therein  for  the  negro 
children,  of  whom  there  are  over  40((  in  daily 
attendance. 

CHUHC'IIKS. 

Selnia  is  renowned  for  her  churches,  their  num- 
ber, the  number  of  members,  and  their  zeal  and 
piety.  For  the  white  people  there  are  two  Pres- 
byterian, two  Southern  .Methodist,  one  Haptist, 
one  Protestant  Episcopal,  one  Christian  (Haptist), 
one  Cumberland  Presliyteriaii,  and  one  Roman 
Catholic  Church. 

The  negroes  have  ten  or  twelve  large  churches, 
and  there  is  a  Congregational  Church  wiiose  mem- 
bers are  negroes  and  white  people.  The  Hebrews 
have  a  synagogue,  and  a  large,  well-organized 
congregation — "  Mishkeii  Israel." 

SECJHET  S0CII:TIE8. 

The  following  secret  and  benevolent  societies 
are  represented  here:  Masonic — Selma  Fraternal 
Lodge,  No.  --i?,  Central  City  Lodge,  No.  .305,  St. 
.John's  Chapter,  Selma  Council,  and  Selma  Coni- 
maiidery.  No.  ,5;  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows,  Knights  of  Pythias,  Knights  of  Honor, 
and  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 

YOING  MEN'S    CHHIsTI.\N  ASSOCLVTIdX. 

In  the  spring  of  18SG,  the  Rev.  D.  T.  Moody, 
during  a  series  of  sermons  preached  in  Selma,  de- 
livered a  lecture  on  Christian_  work  among  the 
young  men.  There  had  been  a  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  at  Selnia  for  many  years, 
but  it  had  no  local  habitation.  Immediately  after 
Mr.  Moody's  sermon  a  liberal  contribution  was 
made,  and  that  was  followed  by  an  organized 
movement,  which  resulted  in  building  a  three- 
story  building  on  Hroad  street,  which  has  been 
elegantly  fitted  up,  anrl  is  one  of  the  best  and 
most  tasteful  buildings  of  the  Association  in  the 
United  States. 

SANITARY.  ETC. 

The  healthfuliiess  of  Selma  has  steadily  im- 
proved under  the  wise  direction  of  tlie  Hoard  of 
IFealth,  led  by  Dr.  Walter  P.  Reese,  and  after  his 
death  liy  Dr.  Hen  II.  Riggs.  After  long  and  pa- 
tient work  in  the  direction  ofdrainage.  Dr.  Riggs 
procured    the   adoption  of   Colnncl  Waring"s  plan 


658 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


of  sanitary  sewers,  which  are  now  being  laid  under 
the  principal  streets  of  the  city.  In  June,  I88I1,  a 
complete  system  of  water  works  was  opened,  fur- 
ishing  pure  artesian  well-water  for  drinking  and 
other  purposes'  in  almost  inexhaustible  quantity. 
The  benefits  following  these  two  great  improve- 
ments are  very  marked,  and  the  reduction  of  the 
death  rate  among  the  white  citizens  of  Selma  be- 
low the  average  of  the  United  States  shows  the 
great  wisilom  of  these  sanitary  improvements;  and 
these,  with  her  superior  public  schools,  her  numer- 
ous churches,  well  organized  and  zealous,  her 
seven  railways,  her  unrivaled  banks,  her  facilities 
for  handling  a  large  cotton  crop,  her  manufacto- 
ries, the  finest  water  supply  in  the  known  world, 
the  grand  river  navigable  all  the  year  round,  her 
geographical  position,  and  tlie  fact  that  Selma  is 
and  always  will  be  the  market  of  the  finest  body 
of  farming  lands  in  the  world,  the  ''  Canebrake  " 
of  Alabama,  assures  her  of  a  i)!ace  in  the  front 
rank  of  Alabama's  cities. 

•    •*>  •?^^>-»— 

PHILIP  J.  WEAVER  was  born  at  Uniontown, 
near  Manchester,  .Md.,  .lune  11,  1707,  of  German 
parentage,  his  father  and  mother  being  natives  of 
the  Palatinate  on  the  Hhine.  The  family  was 
large  (there  being  many  sons  and  daughters),  and 
poor.  But  with  (icrman  industry,  honesty,  and 
economy,  a  plain  good  living  was  obtained,  and, 
as  each  child  started  out  in  the  world,  his  por- 
tionate  jiart,  amounting  to  $".J,()00,  was  given  him. 

While  a  child  Philip  J.  was  bitten  by  a  moccasin 
snake  in  his  right  ankle,  from  the  effects  of  which 
he  never  recovered,  and  which  disabled  him  more 
as  years  increased.  He  often  lamented  that  this 
misfortune  prevented  him  from  undertaking  many 
things  which  he  otiierwise  would  have  done. 
The  necessity  of  taking  care  of  himself  at  an  early 
age,  deprived  him  of  an  education;  but  constant 
intercourse  with  all  classes  of  men,  and  a  facility 
in  letter  writing,  made  this  deficiency  unnoticed, 
i)oth  in  Ills  conversation  and  in  his  letters,  lie 
had  the  singular  faculty  of  being  able  to  write 
business  letters  and  carry  on  a  business  conver- 
sation at  the  same  time. 

Mr.  Weaver  was  first  articled  to  a  large  mercan- 
tile firm  in  Baltimore,  to  learn  the  business,  and 
after  a  few  years  (ISl.")).  he  was  sent  as  a  clerk  to 
the  firm  of  Trevis  i^  Mc<Jim]isey,  in  Cahaba.  .\la. 


Such  was  his  activity  and  efficiency  in  this  capac- 
ity that  he  soon  became  a  junior  partner,  and 
finally  sole  proprietor.  In  a  short  time  (1S18), 
he  moved  his  business  to  the  Falls  of  the  Caliaba, 
now  Centreville,  and  after  a  brief  jieriod  to  Ma- 
plesville,  and  then  (1S20)  to  what  was  called 
Moore's  Bluff,  now  Selnui.  Here  he  bougiit 
Moore's  log  house,  the  only  building  on  the  blufT, 
and  filled  it  with  Indian  goods.  He  very  soon 
(18"-J4)  built  himself  a  large  warehouse,  where 
Waller.  Welch  &  Co.'s  office  now  is.  and,  blasting 
out  the  rock,  made  a  way  to  the  water,  where  he 
constructed  a  wharf  :  at  the  same  time  running, 
in  connection  with  Jiis  warehouse,  what  were 
known  as  keel  boats  from  Mobile.  On  one  occa- 
sion, while  coming  uj)  from  .Mobile  witii  his  boat 
loaded  with  goods,  the  cook  fell  sick.  and.  rather 
than  break  up  his  crew  of  boatmen  by  taking  one 
of  them  to  cook,  he  did  the  cooking  for  the  crew 
until  the  regular  cook  recovered  :  hence  the  story 
that  at  one  time  in  his  life  he  was  a  cook. 

He  soon  found  (18'-J5)  the  Moore  log  house  too 
small,  and  built  him  a  large,  long  double-room 
store,  on  the  corner  of  Lauderdale  and  Water 
streets,  on  the  present  V.  (i.  Weaver  lot.  .Mso, 
in  rear  of  tlie  store  he  erected  a  liaiiilsonie  (for 
those  days)  framed  residence. 

All  these  years  he  had  been  doing  a  safe  and  ever 
growing  business  with  the  early  settlers,  who  were 
rajiidly  increasing,  and  with  the  Indians.  In 
183n  he  opened  a  branch  house  at  Pontotoc,  Miss., 
Chickasaw  Nation,  witli  his  clerk,  J.  N.  Wiley,  at 
its  head.  .V  marked  success  attended  this  venture. 
A  large  amount  of  money  was  made  and  many 
thousand  acres  of  land  acquired.  Somewhere 
about  this  time  (KS.'Jo).  his  log  store  liouse  becom- 
ing too  small,  he  built  a  large  two-story  frame 
house  on  the  northwest  corner  of  Alabama  and 
Broad  streets,  which  he  occupied  until  184."),  when 
he  built  a  large  double  three-story  brick  building, 
in  which  he  did  business  until  it  was  destroyed  by 
Wilson.  Ai)ril  'l,  lSf;5.  In  18.30  he  received  let- 
ters and  an  invitation  from  (leneral  Coffee  who 
had  a  commission  to  run  off  the  township,  range 
and  section  lines  of  the  State,  to  accompany  him. 
He  accepted,  and  thereby  gained  accurate  informa- 
tion as  to  the  value  of  every  section  of  land  in  any 
part  of  South  .Mabama.  to  which  he  had  directed 
ilia  thoughts.  In  this  way  his  wonderful  luck  in 
land  trades,  as  some  of  his  acfpiaintances  were 
wont  to  say.  is  fully  accounted  for.  In  addition 
to  his  mercantile  business  and   his  land  specula- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


659 


tions,  he,  without  beiiij;  a  phmter,  carried  on  suc- 
cessfully a  large  planting  interest. 

At  the  time  of  the  Emancipation  he  owned 
seven  hundred  negroes,  and  in  one  year  (1855) 
made  thirteen  hundred  iiales  of  cotton,  for  which 
he  received  |!8.),0(iu.  In  addition  to  these  eni- 
ploymonts,  he  took  great  interest  in,  and  contrib- 
uted largely  to,  the  construction  of  tlie  Alabama  & 
Tennessee  Hivers  Railroad  (as  it  was  then  called) 
and  the  Alal)ama  and  Mississijipi  Kivers  Railroad 
(as  then  called). 

He  married  Aiini-  1'.  Gardner  May  S,  1823. 
Their  surviving  children  are:  L.  (i.  Weaver,  Chat- 
tanooga, Tenn. ;  W.  M.  Weaver  and  V.  G.  Weaver, 
of  iSelina,  Ala.  Mr.  Weaver  died  Xovember  10, 
186.5,  in  Selina,  from  the  effects  of  a  blow  on  the 
back  of  his  head,  received  from  one  of  Wilson's 
raiders  while  standing  in  the  side  portico  of  his 
house.  In  his  old  school  Bible  there  is  found  a 
paper  containing  the  following  words,  forming  a 
broken  sentence: 

'■  My  motto  has  ever  been  Truth,  Haiiesti/,  Punctu- 
iiUty  c(-  Policy  to  my  fellow  men; 
to  which  I  (ixcribe  mainly  my 
sucie>is." 

— — '-^t^g^-  •<»•    • 

WILLIAM  M.  WEAVER,  .son  of  I'hilip  .lohn 
Weaver,  was  born,  reared  and  educated  at  Selina, 
Ala.  Soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war,  he 
joined  Gen.  John  H.  Morgan's  command,  and 
served  with  that  general  and  was  with  him  when 
he  was  killed.  After  the  death  of  (ieneral  Mor- 
gan, Captain  Weaver  joined  the  Thirty-seventh 
Alabama  Infantry,  and  was  made  adjutant  of  that 
regiment.  He  left  the  army,  at  the  close  of  the 
war.  at  Greensboro,  N.  C. 

lie  was  married  in  Dallas  County,  1S.">T,  to  Miss 
FiUcy  Frances  Winter.  She  died  in  1S8II.  leaving 
two  sons  and  four  daughters. 

Mr.  Weaver  and  family  are  communioaiits  of 
the  Episcopal  church. 

•    '•J'  'fSt^^'  '^* '    * 

WILLIAM  J.  NORRIS  was  identilied  with  the 
]irogress  and  liistory  of  Selma  for  fifty-nine  years. 
lie  was  born  at  Madison,  (Ja.,  in  1808,  and  came 
to  Dallas  County  about  the  year  1820  with  his 
parents  and  settled  near  Cahaba.  In  IS^ii  he 
came  to  Selma  and  engaged  in  business  as  a  clerk. 


and  in  18:52  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Douglass,  Wood  &  Norris.  In  a  short  time  there- 
after he  became  associated  with  William  .lohnson, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  and  wealthy  merchants 
in  the  place,  under  the  firm  name  of  Johnson  & 
Norris.  Mr.  Johnson  retired  from  the  bu.-iiness 
in  a  few  years  with  a  large  fortune,  when  Mr. 
Norris  associated  his  brother,  James  A.  Norris, 
with  him  in  the  business,  which  continued  as  one 
of  the  most  successful  and  prosperous  in  the  city, 
and  from  it  he  realized  a  fortune. 

In  18.if),  with  P.  J.  Weaver,  E.  K.  Carlisle,  Sr., 
Benjamin  Marshall,  John  W.  Lapsley,  A.  L.  Ha- 
den,  and  others  of  the  then  prominent  and  wealthy 
citizens  of  Central  Alabama,  he  organized  the 
Commercial  Bank  of  Alabama,  at  Selma,  with  a 
cash  capital  of  8!.")00,UOO  and  was  made  its  ])re8i- 
dent,  which  position  he  held  until  the  bank  was 
closed  by  the  results  of  the  war,  in  18(j.">.  This 
bank  was  one  of  the  three  largest  banks  in  the 
State,  and  it  was  one  of  the  most  successful  and 
popular,  its  stock  being  at  a  high  premium.  It 
was  in  the  management  of  this  bank  that  he 
showed  great  judgment  and  financial  skill,  and 
established  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best 
financiers  in  the  State. 

In  1806,  he  began  a  large  dry  goods  business  in 
Selma,  with  Mr.  Thomas  Johnson,  of  (ireensboro, 
Ala.,  but  on  account  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Johnson, 
the  business  was  closed.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  and  was  one  of  its  trustees, 
and  it  was  largely  due  to  his  energy  and  liberality 
and  attention  to  the  duties  in  this  office,  that  the 
elegant  brick  church  building  on  Church  street 
was  erected  in  1S.")(;. 

During  the  epidemic  of  yellow  fever  in  Selma  in 
the  fall  of  the  year  1853,  he  was  one  of  the  few 
wealthy  citizens  who  remained  in  the  place  to  aid, 
by  his  personal  attentions  and  benefactions,  its 
stricken  citizens.  During  his  long  residence  in 
Selma  he  was  identified  with,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  every  public  and  j)rivate  enterprise  for  the 
advancement  of  the  interests  of  its  citizens.  He 
constructed  three  or  four  of  the  handsomest 
residences  in  the  city,  which  he  occupied  at  dif- 
ferent times  as  his  home,  and  he  did  much  by  his 
example  in  planting  shaile  trees,  shrubbery  and 
flowers,  in  inciting  among  his  neighbors  that  taste 
for  beautifying  their  homes  and  their  surround- 
ings, which  has  resulted  in  making  the  shade 
trees  and  shrubbery  of  the  city  the  pride  of  its 
citizens,  and  the  admiration  of  all  visitors. 


660 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


In  stature  lie  was  of  medium  height,  slightly 
stont,  of  shapely  figure,  and  of  haiukome  appear- 
ance. He  was  scrupulously  neat  in  his  dress.  In 
manners  he  was  reserved,  but  at  all  times  polite, 
courteous  and  considerate  of  the  feelings  and 
opinions  of  others,  yet  firm  in  his  own  oi)inions 
and  in  his  dealings  with  every  one. 

His  honesty  was  a  proverb  in  the  community. 
He  died  July  VI,  l.ss.").  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven 
years. 

His  brotliers  were  all  men  of  high  character, 
and  identified  with  the  early  commercial  history 
of  the  State.  The  eldest,  John  B.  Norris,  was  a 
successful  merchant  at  Mobile,  and  the  president 
of  the  Branch  of  the  Hank  of  the  State  at  Mobile, 
which  was  the  largest  bank  in  the  State,  and  did 
an  immense  business  throughout  the  Southwest. 
Another  brother,  Thomas  ]5.  Norris,  was  a  suc- 
cessful commission  and  grocery  merchant  in 
Mobile,  and  accumulated  a  large  fortune;  after- 
ward removing  to  Xew  York  City  he  engaged  in 
business  and  died  there  a  millionaire.  Another 
brother,  Calvin  Xorris,  became  a  wealthy  planter, 
and  died  leaving  a  very  large  estate.  The  young- 
est brother,  James  A.  Xorris,  was  associated  with 
liim  as  a  partner  in  business  at  Selma,  and  ac- 
quired a  fortune. 

He  married  in  1837  ^[is8  Rutherford,  the 
daughter  of  William  Rutherford,  a  wealthy  planter 
of  Dallas  County,  who  was,  by  birth,  a  Georg- 
ian, and  a  member  of  the  well-known  family  of 
that  name  in  that  State.  He  left,  surviving  him, 
his  widow,  a  son,  and  three  daughters.  His  eldest 
daughter  marrieil  J.  C.  Compton,  p]sf|.,  of  the 
Selma  bar;  another  daughter  married  Capt.  David 
M.  Scott,  of  Selma;  and  the  third  daughter  mar- 
ried Mr.  H.  B.  Franklin,  of  Xashville,  Tenn. 
His  son,  Frank  Xorris,  is  at  present  engaged  in 
business  in  Selma. 

JOEL  EARLY  MATTHEWS  was  born  at  the 
<ioose  Pond  in  (ieorgia.  on  the  "ilst  day  of  Octo- 
ber, ISOO,  and  diod  at  Selma,  Ala.,  May  11,  18T4. 

He  was  the  second  son  of  Col.  Charles  Lewis 
Matthews  one  of  the  .sons  of  Gen.lJeorgeMatthew.-s, 
a  distinguished  Revolutionary  soldier,  wlio,  emi- 
grating from  Augusta  County,  Va.,  to  Georgia  in 
17S4:  was  one  of  tlu-  first  three  representatives  in 
Congress  from  that  .State,  and  twice  its  Governor. 
His  mother  was  Lucy  Karlv,  a  daughter  of  Joel 


Early,  and  a  sister  of  (iov.  Peter  Early,  a  distin- 
guished jurist  and  statesman.  These  families, 
with  the  Merriwethers,  Barnetts,  Taliaferros, 
3Iarks  and  (iilmers,  migrated  from  Virginia  to 
(ieorgia  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War 
and  settled  in  Oglethorpe  County. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  was  educated  at  the 
Universities  of  Georgia  and  \'irginia,  where  he  was 
thoroughly  grounded  in  the  classics  and  sciences, 
and  also  in  the  principles  of  the  common  law. 
Soon  after  his  graduation  he  removed  to  Alabama 
and  fixed  his  residence  on  a  plantation  on  the 
Alabama  River  near  Cahaba,  in  l>allas  County. 
His  whole  life  was  spent  at  this  place,  which 
became,  under  his  taste  and  care,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  attractive  family  seats  in  the  county. 
This  home  was  the  center  of  a  generous  hospital- 
ity, as  its  hoit  was  the  type  and  representative  of 
the  Southern  planter  of  the  old  rvyime.  Here  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  management  of  his  large 
planting  interests,  and  was  very  successful.  He 
received  a  handsome  patrimony  from  his  father, 
which  was  improved  by  judicious  management, 
and  at  the  commencement  of  the  war  he  had 
grown  quite  wealthy.  He  took  great  interest  in 
all  that  tended  to  improve  society  and  develop 
the  resources  of  the  country.  He  was  a  liberal 
patron  of  schools  and  churches,  and  public-spirited 
and  liberal  in  his  aid  to  enterprises  of  a  public 
nature. 

Mr.  Matthews  possessed  a  strong,  discriminating 
mind,  which  wa.<  highly  improved  by  reading  and 
study.  His  leisure  hours  were  spent  with  his 
Bible,  Shakespeare.Gibbon,Bolingbroke,  Calhoun, 
thecurrent  jtolitics  and  literature  of  the  day,  and 
he  made  the  science  of  government  a  study. 

In  his  political  school  of  thought  he  was  a  dis- 
cijile  of  Jefferson  and  Calhoun,  and  acce])tcd  their 
interpretation  of  the  powers  and  limitations  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  and.  when  all  other  means 
had  failed,  favored  resistance  and  secession. 
Though  too  old  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  war 
which  followed,  he  gave  largely  of  his  means  to  the 
State. 

Soon  after  .Mabama  seceded  he  sent  his  check 
to  the  Governor  for  fifteen  thousand  dollars  in 
gold,  stipulating  that  the  sum  should  be  used  at 
his  discretion  for  the  defense  of  the  State. 

The  letter  bears  datethe  "^'oth  of  January,  IsCil. 
ami  though  both  of  these  jiatriotic  men  have 
"  shuffled  off  this  mortal  coil"  and  sleep  under  the 
sod  thev  loved  so  well,  the  bold  characters  convey- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


G61 


iiig  this  inunificeiit  contribution  to  the  State  are 
as  frosli  as  if  they  were  written  yestenhiy.  The 
(iovenior  acknowU'dsrod  its  ddnatioii  in  the  fnlhiw- 
ing  letter: 

"  ExEcvTiVE  Depautmext, 

MoNTUOMEUY,  Ai.A..  Jan.  28,  ISCl. 
"  Mk.  Joel  K.  Matthews, 

Caiiaba,  Ala. 

•'  Dear  Siu: — Your  muniticencefor  t}ie  protei'- 
tion  of  the  State  is  accepted,  and  the  evidence  of 
it  placed  upon  record  in  this  office. 

The  i)raise  of  one  man,  although  hespeak  as  one 
having  authority,  is  but  a  small  part  of  the  reward 
which  your  patriotism  deserves  and  will  receive. 
When  the  present  time  shall  have  become  historic, 
this  donation  will  bean  heirloom  to  your  posterity, 
and  the  example  you  have  set  will  be  a  source  of 
power  to  vour  State,  compared  to  both  of  which 
the  liberal  sum  of  money  you  have  given  will  be 
as  nothing.  As  Chief  Executive  of  the  State,  and 
acting  under  a  deej)  sense  of  responsibility,  I  have 
been  compelled  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  strengthen 
the  sense  of  resistance  in  the  Southern  mind,  and 
to  deepen  the  current  flowing  toward  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  State  in  defense  of  her  constitu- 
tional rights.  What  I  have  been  compelled  to  do 
by  conviction  of  duty  you  have  done  voluntarily, 
and  to  that  extent  deserve  more  freely  the  grati- 
tude of  your  fellow-citizens. 

Trusting  that  an  approving  conscience  and  the 
gratitude  of  your  State  maybe  your  ample  reward, 
and  commending  you  and  the  State  to  the  protect- 
ing goodness  of  Providence,  I  remain 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

A.  B.  Moore, 

Gnvemnr  nf  Alabama." 

During  the  war  Mr.  Matthews  was  liberal  to 
those  in  need  of  aid  or  assistance,  and  was  very 
kind  and  generous  to  the  sick  and  wounded.  He 
uniformed  and  eriuipped  several  military  com- 
I)anies  at  his  own  expense.  JIany  of  his  neighbo'-s 
were  killed  or  died  in  the  army,  and  many  families 
were  impoverished  by  the  fortunes  of  the  war,  but 
this  noble  man  permitted  none  to  suffer  or  want 
within  the  limit  of  his  means.  Those  to  whom  he 
rendered  assistance  were  told  that  he  was  only 
discharging  a  debt  and  obligation  that  every  pat- 
riot owed  to  those  wiio  had  fallen  in  the  service  of 
the  State. 

After  the  termination  of  the  war  many  persons 
in    the  South,    smarting   under   misfortunes  and 


disappoinments.  desired  to  leave  the  country,  and 
some,  attracted  by  the  similarity  of  its  climate  anil 
institutions,  turned  their  attention  to  Urazil. 
Liberal  inducements  were  held  out  to  them  by  the 
government,  as  the  Emperor  was  exceedingly 
anxious  to  secure  the  accession  of  citizens  from  the 
South,  familiar  with  the  culture  of  cotton  and  its 
agricultural  system.  In  18<i7,  Mr.  Matthews  vis- 
ited and  explored  a  large  part  of  that  country.  lie 
was  treated  with  great  consideration  by  Dom  Pe- 
dro, who  endeavored  in  every  way  to  induce  him  to 
become  a  citizen  of  the  empire.  When  the  Em- 
j)eror  visited  the  Centennial  in  18TG,  one  of  the 
first  inquiries  made  of  a  gentleman  from  Alabama 
after  having  been  introduced  to  him,  was  about 
his  old  friend  and  acquaintance,  Mr.  Matthews. 
When  told  of  his  death  he  expressed  great  regret, 
and  spoke  of  him  in  the  highest  terms. 

Mr.  Matthews,  however,  was  not  pleased  with 
the  conditions  of  the  country,  and  returned  to 
Alabama  determined  to  remain  among  his  old 
friends  and  in  his  own  State.  He  was  a  philoso- 
pher, and  resigned  himself  with  cheerfulness  and 
dignity  to  the  results  of  the  war.  No  vain  mur- 
murings  were  expressed.  He  devoted  theremain- 
der  of  his  life,  with  great  energy,  to  the  labor  of 
restoring  his  wrecked  fortunes.  He  gave  liberally 
of  his  means  to  aid  those  who  were  less  fortunate, 
and  invested  a  part  of  his  capital  in  the  erection 
and  equipment  of  a  large  cotton  factory  at  Selma. 
This  work  has  been  continued,  and  its  success  is  a 
monument  to  his  wisdom  and  foresight  in  direct- 
ing the  energies  of  the  South  into  new  channels 
and  industries. 

His  views  and  opinions  upon  all  (piestions  of 
business  and  public  policy  were  greatly  valued 
and  respected.  He  was  a  profound  and  correct 
thinker,  and  a  conversationalist  of  great  flu- 
ency and  power.  Xever  but  once  did  he  appear 
as  a  public  speaker,  and  then  it  was  on  an  occa- 
sion of  great  political  imjiortance. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  the  county, 
without  distinction  of  party,  held  to  consider  the 
dangers  ivliich  threatened  them  after  the  election 
of  Jlr.  Lincoln  to  the  presidency,  he  was  called 
upon  to  express  his  views,  as  one  of  the  leading 
planters,  and  one  deeply  interested  in  public 
affairs.  He  astonished  those  who  knew  him  only 
as  a  private  citizen,  by  the  soundness  of  his  views, 
the  wisdom  of  his  opinion.^,  and  the  ease  and 
clearness  with  which  they  were  expressed.  His 
8i)eech,  on  that  occasion,  was  a  revelation  to  his 


662 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


neighbors  and  friends,  and  convinced  bis  hearers 
that  he  iiiiilerstood  tlie  exigencies  of  the  situation, 
and  had  tiie  courage  to  express  his  convictions. 

Simple  and  courteous,  always  ready  to  serve 
those  wiio  applied  to  him  for  assistance  and 
advice,  he  was  the  central  figure  in  the  commun- 
ity in  which  he  lived.  None  envied  him,  none 
slandered  him,  many  loved  liim,  while  all  honored 
and  respected  him.  His  charities  were  bestowed 
■cjuietly  and  unostentatiously,  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  parties  wlio  were  the  objects  of  his 
benefactions,  and  it  may  truly  be  said  of  him. 
that  his  left  hand  never  knew  the  good  which  his 
right  hand  did.  In  all  his  dealings  he  was 
governed  by  the  high  standard  of  right  and  justice 
between  man  and  num.  He  was  a  man  of  good 
feeling,  and  good  sense;  unselfish,  sympathetic, 
and  considerate  of  the  feelings  of  others.  In  this 
sense  he  was  a  man  of  true  courtesy.  "  Tliou 
.shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  and  "Do  unto 
others  as  you  would  that  others  should  do  unto 
you,"  were  the  golden  rules  by  which  he  endeav- 
ored to  sqnare  his  actions  toward  others. 

Few  were  more  entertaining  and  instructive; 
his  gentle  kindness  made  him  a  great  favorite 
■with  the  young  and  the  old,  and  a  pleasant  guest 
in  every  circle  and  at  every  fireside,  while  his 
sympathetic  nature  rendered  him  a  welcome  vis- 
itor at  every  home  where  sickness  and  grief  were 
present. 

Few  men  ever  lived  in  a  community  wlio  were 
so  highly  respected  for  their  virtues,  and  who 
have  been  more  universally  regretted  and  la- 
mented. Tliis  good  man  passed  his  whole  life  in 
private  station,  i\ever  aspiring  to  pnblic  or  polit- 
ical honors.  In  his  case  the  post  of  honor  was  the 
private  station.  He  was  one  of  nature's  great  and 
wise  men. 

Mr.  >[atthews  was  ardent  and  strong  in  his  at- 
tachments, and  devoted  and  unselfish  in  his 
friendships. 

In  all  the  relations  of  life  he  was  gentle,  consid- 
erate ana  atfectionate.  His  home  was  the  world 
in  which  he  lived,  and  he  made  it  tlie  center  of 
liis  life  and  happiness.  It  was  tiiere,  that  he  gave 
full  expression  to  the  warm  current  of  his  tender- 
ness and  love.  As  a  husband  .-md  father  he  was 
indulgent,  gentle  and  alTectionate.  Upon  his 
family  was  lavished  the  wealth  of  tenderness  which 
filled  his  bosom.  These  (pialities  welled  up  from 
his  heart,  like  the  juire  waters  that  flow  along  the 
current  of  the  smooth  ami  limpid  stream. 


As  a  master  few  were  more  kind  and  indulgent. 
He  provided  for  his  dependents  with  the  same  gen- 
erous hand  with  which  he  bestowed  the  comforts 
and  luxuries  of  life  upon  his  own  family. 

In  his  intercourse  with  them  the  master  was 
merged  in  the  friend:  he  was  more  like  a  patriarch 
than  a  master.  He  was  fully  rewarded  by  them 
for  this  kind  treatment.  After  the.'r  emancipa- 
tion few  of  them  deserted  him,  and  most  of  them 
now  live  in  the  old  homes  where  they  have  long 
resided,  and  where  most  of  the  present  generation 
were  born  and  raised. 

He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Woods  Poague,  of  Al- 
bemarle County,  Va.,  who  was  born  August  31,1814, 
and  died  Novemljer  5,  1800.  She  was  a  woman  of 
rare  virtues  and  lovely  character,  and  the  gentle 
almoner  of  her  husband's  benefactions.  The  rich, 
and  the  poor  and  the  distressed  were  alike  the  recip- 
ients of  lier  kindness  and  ministrations.  Gladness 
followed  her  presence  into  every  household,  and 
envy,  hatred,  nuilice,  and  all  uncharitableness 
were  silent  in  her  presence.  They  passed  through 
life  with  nniny  trials  and  griefs;  they  were  blessed 
with  lovely  and  loving  children,  whom  they  lived 
to  see  wither  under  the  north  wind's  breath  and 
sink  into  early  and  untimely  graves. 

They  survived  all  their  children  but  one.  who 
died  a  few  years  after  their  death  without  chil- 
dren. Two  daughters,  Anne  Eliza,  and  Lucy 
Early,  married,  respectively,  Col,  N.  II.  K.  Daw- 
son, of  ]>allas.  and  Col.  Daniel  S.  Troy,  of  Mont- 
gomery. Both  died  young,  and  the  latter  child- 
less, the  former  leaving  an  only  daughter,  now  the 
wife  of  Dr.  John  I'.  Furniss,  of  Selma. 

For  forty  years  they  lived  in  the  same  home, 
dispensing  a  generous  and  hearty  hospitality. 
.\nd  now,  after  the  cares  and  sorrows  of  life  are 
ended,  they  repose  alongside  of  their  children  and 
cherished  kindred,  in  the  beautiful  family  reme- 
tery  at  Evergreen  (irove  on  the  Alabama  Uiver. 
in  tiie  shade  of  the  magnolia  and  cypress  trees 
planted  by  their  own  hands.  Let  us  hope  that  a 
blissful  immortality  awaits  them  in  the  realms  of 
eternity. 

FRANK  NORRIS  was  born  at  ."^elnia,  Ala., 
-March  S,  1S4T.  His  father  was  William  .JelTer- 
son  Norris,  one  of  Sehna's  most  distinguished  and 
oldest  citizens,  who  located  here  in  early  life. 

Our  subject  first  went  to  the  foinuion  school  of 


-^ 


^  Z;/^  ^  ^^^^^^tt. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


663 


liis  native  place,  and  in  1863-4,  attended  the  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama.  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  he 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  M.  Sixty-second 
Alabama  Infantry,  and  was  cajitnred  at  Blakely 
tills  State,  in  Aj)ril,  1S().").  He  was  held  a  prisoner 
thirty  days,  paroled  and  retnrned  to  his  home, 
lie  engaged  as  a  clerk  in  a  dry  goods  house  at 
Selma,  and  was  occnpied  in  that  caimcity  most  of 
the  time  up  to  January,  ISSM,  wlien  lie  bought  an 
interest  in  the  wholesale  grocery  house  of  Mr. 
Montgomery,  his  present  partner.  The  business 
is  now  conducted  under  the  firm  name  of  Mont- 
gomery &  Xorris,  and  is  in  a  llourisliing  condition, 
with  increasing  patronage. 

Mr.  Xorris  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity and  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churcli, 
South.  lie  is  one  of  the  young  men  indentiticd, 
with  the  social  and  industrial  life  of  the  Central 
City,  who  has  won  for  himself  an  enviable  name 
by  his  sterling  qualities,  and  who,  to  his  fine  busi- 
ness capacities,  adds  good  social  requisites.  It  is 
reasonable  to  expect  that  with  the  growth  of  his 
native  city,  his  expansion  and  progress  will  bear  a 
proportionate  relation. 

NATHANIEL    HENRY    RHODES    DAWSON. 

son  iif  l,;iuri-nrc  H.  :ind  Mai'v  \V.  (Kiiodt-s)  l)au- 
son,  was  born  in  Charleston,  S.  C.  His  j)arents 
were  of  Huguenot  and  English  extraction,  and 
were  descended  from  among  the  oldest  families  in 
Carolina — a  rich  heritage  which  no  sensible  man 
will  either  overvalue  or  underestimate.  His 
fatlier  moved  to  Alabama  in  1S4"-.',  and  settled 
near  Carlowville.  in  i)allas  County.  He  was  a 
prominent  lawyer  in  South  Carolina,  and  was  rap- 
idly securing,  by  his  zeal,  ability  and  professional 
learning,  a  high  reputation  and  an  extensive  and 
lucrative  practice  in  the  courts  of  Alabama,  when 
he  was  arresteil,  in  the  meridian  of  life,  by  the 
hand  of  death.  To  his  professional  attainments 
were  added  that  peculiar  refinement  which  comes 
of  high  culture  and  a  generous  nature,  exquisite 
grace  and  courtesy,  which  charm  us  in  the  man 
of  genial  manners  and  gentle  spirit.  He  was 
loved  during  his  lifetime  for  his  stanch  and  manly 
adherence  to  principle,  his  loyalty  to  his  Christian 
duties,  and  his  devotion  to  his  family  and  friends. 
The  son  attended  the  local  schools,  and  was 
matriculated  at  St.  Jo.seph's  College,  -Mobile,  and 
there  received  those  advantages  of  a  well-rounded 


classical  education,  without  which  even  the  most 
intellectual  men  feel  themselves,  in  some  sense, 
poorly  equipped  all  through  life.  Upon  leaving 
college  he  at  once  entered  ujjon  the  study  of  the 
law  with  the  Hon.  (ieorge  R.  Evans,  of  Cahaba. 
In  1852  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  com- 
menced the  practice  of  that  noble  i)rofession, 
which,  in  his  native  State,  is  illustrated  by  such 
names  as  those  of  Drayton,  Harper,  linger  and 
Pettigrue,  and  in  Alabama  by  Uargon,  Williams, 
Elmore,  Evans  and  (ioldthwaitc,  who  were  then 
in  the  zenith  of  their  fame. 

Surrounded  by  this  jirofessiomd  atniosi)here,  it 
is  not  surprising  that  he  should  have  formed  a 
very  high  view  of  the  excellencies  and  require- 
ments of  that  profession,  success  in  which,  as  has 
been  well  said,  demands  the  "  hicubrationi'S  rigi)ili 
annormn." 

In  1855  he  was  one  of  the  candidates  of  the 
Democratic  party  for  the  Legislature  in  the  memo- 
rable ''Know-nothing"  canijjaign.  His  party 
was  largely  in  the  minority,  yet  such  was  the  hold 
he  had  upon  popular  confidence  and  favor,  that 
he  barely  failpd  of  election.  From  then  to  the 
stirring  and  critical  Presidential  canvass  of  1860, 
he  devoted  himself  unsparingly  to  the  demands 
of  his  profession.  In  1860  he  was  a  delegate  at 
the  Charleston  and  Baltimore  Conventions,  and 
withdrew  from  the  former  with  the  Alabama 
delegation,  under  instructions  from  the  State  Con- 
vention. 

As  a  result  of  this  campaign  ilr.  Lincoln  was 
elected,  simply  because  the  conserving  forces  of 
the  country  were  frittered  away  between  Bell, 
Douglas  and  Brecken ridge. 

In  April,  18111,  upon  the  secession  of  Alabama, 
he  was  elected  captain  of  the  Cadets  of  Sehna. 
a  company  composed  of  the  very  best  material  of 
the  young  manhood  of  the  South.  The  writer 
was  a  member  of  that  company,  and,  at  this  late 
date,  bears  willing  testimony  to  the  pojnilarity  of 
Colonel  Dawson  with  his  comrades,  and  to  the 
fidelity  with  which  he  discharged  the  various  du- 
ties of  his  position.  En  route  to  Virginia,  at 
Dalton,  Ga.,  the  company  was  incorporated  into 
the  Fourth  Alabama  Regiment,  an  organization  of 
which  every  Southern  man,  and  especially  every 
Alabamian,  should  feel  justly  proud,  for  so  nobly 
did  the  regiment  bear  itself,  under  the  lead  of 
.Jones  and  Law  and  others  that  no  man  ever  spoke 
invidiously  of  that  historic  command  which,  when 
brigaded  with  the  invincible  Texans,  helped  Hood 


6G4 


yORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


and  Law  on  to  martial  fame.  After  his  service 
with  that  regiment,  he  commanded  during  tlie 
last  two  years  of  the  war  a  battalion  of  cavalry. 

During  this  period  he  was  elected  to  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  at  the  annual  sessions  of 
18*i3  and  18ti4,  faithfully  served  his  constituents, 
returning  to  his  command  at  the  close  of  the  ses- 
sion.* of  tiie  Legislature.  At  the  close  of  the  war, 
Colonel  Dawson  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in  the 
city  of  Selma.  Li  common  witii  all  the  good  and 
true  men  of  the  .South,  the  war  had  brought  no 
little  trouble  and  sorrow  to  him.  He  had  lost 
heavily  financially,  but  by  far  the  greatest  loss  to 
him  was  the  fall  of  those  noble  friends  who,  at 
their  country's  call,  after  faithfully  serving  in  the 
cause  of  the  South,  had  passed  from  warring  earth, 
we  trust,  to  peaceful  Heaven.  He  sought  not  to 
forget  the  past  in  Lethean  waves  of  dissipation, 
but  with  nobler  aim  of  rigliting  up  the  wreck, 
addressed  himself  with  greater  energy  than  ever 
before  to  the  duties  of  his  profession,  and  sought 
to  appiv  to  the  youth  of  the  South  the  vast  powers 
of  rec'iperation  embodied  in  the  aphorism  of  the 
great  Virginian,  when  amid  the  classic  shades  of 
Fjcxington  he  taught  the  world  "  How  to  suffer 
and  grow  strong."  not  by  repining,  but  by  work 
and  labor.  During  this  period  of  depression,  he 
took  an  active  part  in  politic.",  and  was  nnvde 
chairman  of  the  county  and  congressional  com- 
mittees. In  187-J  when  the  South  was  struggling 
to  swing  loose  from  Radical  rule,  and  to  rehabili- 
tate herself  in  the  constitutional  habiliments  of 
Statehood,  he  was  appointed  an  elector  on  the 
Presidential  ticket,  and  canvassed  his  district. 
From  18Tf!  to  188*!  he  was  a  member  of  the  State 
Executive  Committee,  and  from  188-t  to  1880  was 
its  chairman,  and  rendered  valuable  and  accept- 
able service  to  his  party  and  State.  In  this  posi- 
tion he  gave  universal  satisfaction,  and  his  candi- 
dacy for  (iovernor  in  18S2  was  the  reward  of  the 
zeal,  discretion  and  executive  ability  which  char- 
acterized his  administration.  Under  his  guidance 
the  Cleveland  State  canvass  of  1884  was  conducted 
ably  and  successfully.  In  March,  18HC,  he  re- 
signed this  position  in  order  properly  to  become  a 
candidate  for  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  State. 
In  the  heated  and  prolonged  canvass  which  fol- 
lowed, and  ill  the  contest  before  the  State  conven- 
tion for  the  noniiiiation,  he  had  a  very  strong  fol- 
lowing and  came  near  being  the  choice  of  the 
people. 

In    1870,  when    the  State  University  was  reor- 


ganized, his  interest  in  popular  and  higher  educa- 
tion W!is  recognized  by  his  a])pointnient  by  Gov. 
{Jeorge  F.  Houston  as  one  of  the  trustees,  an 
honor  which  has  been  continued  to  the  present 
time.  In  the  midst  of  political,  professional  and 
business  duties,  so  economical  has  Colonel  Daw- 
son shown  himself  in  the  wise  expenditure  of 
time,  as  to  be  able  to  look  carefully  after  one  of 
the  most  important  duties  of  the  citizen,  and  the 
present  success  of  the  State  University  in  her 
ability  to  keep  pace  with  the  advancement  in  the 
various  departments  of  a  rounded  education,  has 
found  a  zealous  and  capable  advocate  and  friend 
in  him. 

Colonel  Dawson  has  enjoyed  many  honors  at  the 
hands  of  his  fellow-citizens.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  of  188(i-8I,  and  was  made 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  IJepresentatives.  His 
conduct  in  the  chair  justified  the  choice; 
his  dignity  and  courtesy,  his  impartiality  and 
vivid  sense  of  justice,  his  knowledge  of  parlia- 
mentary law,  and  his  executive  ability,  greatly 
facilitated  the  public  business.  It  was  partly 
owing  to  the  popularity  obtained  by  him  during 
this  session  of  tlie  Legislature  that  he  was  placed 
in  nomination  by  his  friends  for  Governor  in  188"..', 
develoi)ing  great  strength  in  the  convention. 

He  was  urged  for  the  same  position  in  1884, 
but  declined  to  antagonize  the  Hon.  E.  A. 
O'Neal,  taking  the  ground  that,  according  to  the 
usages  of  the  party,  the  incumbent  was  entitled 
to  a  second  term  for  the  faithful  manner  in 
which  he  had  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office. 

In  1884  he  was  President  of  the  State  Bar 
Association.  Among  such  eminent  lawyers  as 
Hrooks,  Watts,  Pettus,  Walker,  and  Semple,  to 
say  nothing  of  many  others  whose  fine  talents 
shed  a  lustre  on  the  profession,  this  was  no  empty 
compliment.  To  a  mind  clearly  judicial,  and 
honestly  discriminating,  he  had  brought  that 
delicately  shaded  power  of  expression  in  all  that 
comes  from  pen  or  lip,  which  attaches  to  the 
diligent  study  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics 
as  a  basis  for  the  superstructure  which  the  best 
English  authors  sujjply. 

Colonel  Dawson  has  rendered  conspicuous  ser- 
vice to  his  party,  both  as  a  private  in  its  ranks 
and  as  one  of  its  leaders.  He  was  a  laborer  in  the 
vineyard  when  the  State  was  struggling  in  the 
throes  of  Reconstruction  and  Radical  rule,  and 
continued  to  work  throughout  the  heat  and  bur- 
den of  the  day,  for  the  good  of  the   people  of  bis 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


665 


State,  witliout  reward  or  preferment.  He  is  a 
j)iiblic-.spirite(l  and  liberal  citizen,  a  true  and 
generous  friend,  and  an  upright  and  honorable 
gentleman.  His  large  practice  and  long  expe- 
rience at  the  bar  and  in  pul)lic  affairs,  his  pru- 
<lence,  ability,  integrity  and  industry,  eminently 
<|ualify  him  for  oflicial  position,  and  his  friends 
have  not  been  surprised  at  the  fitness  he  has  ex- 
hibited in  every  place,  he  has  been  called  upon  to 
lill.  .Sympathetic  in  his  nature,  he  has  always 
felt  an  intense  interest  in  questions  of  public  pol- 
icy, while  liis  manly  character,  his  genial  man- 
ners, and  his  friendship  for  young  men  have  won 
him  hosts  of  friends  in  every  portion  of  the  State. 
These  talents  seem  to  be  inherited,  for  he  is  a  de- 
scendant of  the  distinguished  Paul  Hamilton, 
who  was  Governor  of  South  Carolina  when  it 
was  a  distinction  to  be  the  Chief  Magistrate  of 
that  little  State  of  great  men,  and  afterward  Sec- 
i-etary  of  the  Xavy  under  Mr.   Jladisom 

In  August,  1886,  the  President  appointed  Colo- 
nel l)awson  to  the  importaTit  position  of  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Education,  This  appoint- 
ment was  unsought  and  unsolicited  by  him.  Since 
he  has  assumed  charge  of  the  Hureau  of  Educa- 
tion he  has  devoted  hinipelf  to  the  performance  of 
his  duties  with  rare  patience,  tact,  and  industry; 
he  has  studied  carefully  the  condition  and  work 
of  his  ofHce,  and  directed  his  energies  with  results 
extremely  gratifying  to  his  friends,  and  useful  to 
the  educational  public. 

He  has  planned  and  comjdeted  two  reports,  and 
is  now  busy  in  collecting  materials  for  the  prepar- 
ation of  another,  and  has  brought  the  work  of  the 
office  substantially  up  to  date. 

Xor  have  his  labors  lacked  public  appreciation. 
The  educational  men  of  the  country  have  expressed 
their  approval  of  his  diligence  and  judgment, 
while  the  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
confide  implicitely  in  him,  and  Columbia  College, 
one  of  the  oldest,  wealthiest,  and  worthiest  educa- 
tional institutions  of  America,  at  the  centenary 
anniversary  of  its  founda'ion,  conferred  upon  him 
the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Letters.  His 
associates  and  co-laborers  respect  and  esteem  liim 
as  a  gentleman  and  friend,  and  wise  supervisor  of 
their  work;  strangers  tind  him  an  impartial, 
courteous,  and  obliging  respondent  to  their 
demands,  and  his  old  friends  discover  no  abate- 
ment of  the  honor,  loyalty,  faith  and  affection, 
which  endeared  him  to  them  before  his  assump- 
tion of  these  new  duties. 


Among  the  many  flattering  notices  of  his  ap- 
pointment. Education,  in  noticing  his  address  of 
JIarch  l.ith  before  the  Department  of  Superin- 
tendence, makes  the  following  comments: 

'•  It  was  evident  that,  in  the  short  time  which 
had  elapsed  since  he  assumed  the  duties  of  the 
responsible  position  of  Commissioner,  he  had  ac- 
quainted himself  with  the  details  of  the  office 
work,  while  the  policy  which  his  address  foreshad- 
owed, the  large,  liberal  iuid  patriotic  spirit  which 
it  evinced,  afforded  his  friends  a  gratifying  assur- 
ance that  his  administration  would  be  strong,  effi- 
cient and  fruitful  in  results.  His  recognition  of 
the  importance  of  the  public-school  work  of  the 
country  may  be  best  expressed  in  his  own  words: 

"  '  While  it  may  be  said  that  the  life  of  a  State 
and  the  preservation  of  its  liberties  depend  upon 
the  courage  of  the  people,  it  is  equally  true  that  a 
wise  administration  of  its  laws  and  the  mainte- 
nance of  order  and  happiness  rest  upon  the  virtue 
and  intelligence  of  its  citizens.  If  this  proposi- 
tion is  admitted,  then  it  follows  that  theeducation 
of  the  people  becomes  one  of  the  highest  duties  of 
the  State,  and  no  subject  is  more  worthy  the  con- 
sideration of  the  enlightened  statesman. 

"  *  The  public-school  system  is  the  common 
fountain  from  which  the  higher  branches  of  edu- 
cation draw  their  living  waters.  You  are  its 
chosen  guardians,  and  you  should  see  that  no  step 
backward  is  taken,  either  in  perfecting  its  excel- 
lencies or  in  extending  its  usefulness.  The  time, 
I  trust,  is  rapidly  approaching  when  its  advantages 
will  be  offered  to  all  the  children  of  the  land,  with- 
out distinction  of  race,' 

"While  thus  heartily  indorsing  the  common 
schools  of  our  country,  the  Commissioner's  refer- 
ences to  work  of  a  higher  grade  indicated  that  dis- 
criminating andcomjirehensive  view  of  the  subject 
which  preserves  the  just  relation  of  all  scholastic 
agencies.  It  is,  indeed,  matter  of  congratulation, 
that,  at  a  time  when  suppression  of  illiteracy  has 
become  a  problem  of  serious  consideration,  the 
section  of  the  country  upon  which  the  burden  of 
illiteracy  presses  most  heavily  has  given  to  this  rep- 
resentative official  position,  a  statesman  who  thor- 
oughly comprehends  the  conditions  of  the  prob- 
lem. Xor  is  it  less  a  subject  of  congratulation, 
that  at  a  time  when  higher  institutions  feel  the  im- 
pulse of  a  larger  and  fuller  life,  the  Commissioner 
is  prepared  by  his  training  and  affiliations,  to 
appreciate  the  great  importance  of  these  institu- 
tions, the  colleges  and  universities  from  which  all 


666 


NORTH ERX  ALABAMA. 


the  inferior  grades  must  draw  their  worthiest  in- 
spiration." 

In  eonohision,  it  may  he  permitted  one  wlio  lias 
known  him  intimately  for  nearly  thirty  years,  to  say 
that,  if  to  his  rare  (pialities  of  mind  and  heart,  his 
exemplary  character,  his  fine  judgment,  his  well- 
nigh  unerring  intuition  of  right,  liis  high  sense  of 
honor,  his  loyalty  to  friendship — in  fact,  if  to  him 
as  he  is — had  heen  given  more  of  self-assertion, 
more  of  disregard  for  the  consideration  and  rights 
of  others,  he  would  to  day  be  occupying  a  posi- 
tion far  more  commanding  than  the  important 
and  honorable  one  lie  now  fills  with  so  much  grace 
and  dignity.  He  is  yet  in  the  very  prime  of  life, 
with  fine  powers,  and  we  hope  to  see  him  reflect 
the  confidence  of  a  large  circle  of  appreciative 
friends  from  high  positions  for  many  long  years 
to  come.  His  talents  as  a  writer,  and  his  ability 
and  eloquence  as  a  speaker  are  well  attested.  In 
fortune,  dignity,  culture,  the  strength  of  his  con- 
victions, and  the  courage  and  fidelity  with  which 
they  are  maintained,  and  his  unfailing  courtesy 
and  politeness,  he  is  a  representative  of  the  high- 
est type  of  American  character. 

His  refined  and  courteous  manners  leave  their 
impress  on  every  one  with  whom  he  comes  in  con- 
tact, and  there  is  no  man  in  Alabama  who  more 
fully  enjoys  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
people  of  the    State. 

— • — '  0*  'f^it^^'  '^'  *    ' 

JOHN  TYLER  MORGAN,  United  States  Sena- 
tor, was  horn  at  Athens,  'i'enn.,  June  2(1.  1824. 
His  father  was  tJcorge  .Morgan,  a  native  of  Xew 
York  State  and  of  Welsh  descent.  His  mother 
was  Frances  Irby,  of  Virginia,  and  related  to  the 
renowned  Chancellor  Tyler,  of  that  State. 

The  senior  Mr.  Morgan  was  a  merchant  by  oc- 
cupation. He  came  to  Alabama  in  1834;  lived  a 
short  time  at  Talladega,  going  from  there  to  Ben- 
ton County,  now  C'alhoun.  He  died  in  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  in  1882.  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety- four 
years. 

John  T.  Morgan  was  educated  primarily  at  an 
academy  near  Athens,  Tenn.  At  the  age  of  six- 
teen years,  in  the  office  of  the  late  William  P. 
Uhilt<m,  he  began  the  study  of  law.  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1845.  From  that  time  up  to 
18o.)  he  practiced  at  Talladega  and  in  the  sur- 
rounding counties,  and  in  the  latter  year  came 


to  Selma.  In  1858  he  removed  to  Cahaba,  and 
was  there  at  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

Karlv  in  18l!l,  being  then  in  the  service  of  the 
State  as  an  aide-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  (ieneral 
Clements,  and  holding  the  rank  of  major,  he  re- 
signed and  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  Com- 
pany G,  Fifth  Alabama  Infantry.  At  the  end  of 
about  two  months  he  was  elected  major  of  that 
regiment,  and  after  the  first  battle  of  Manassas  he 
was  made  lieutenant-colonel.  Being  about  that 
time  commissioned  by  the  war  department  to  raise 
a  regiment  of  cavalry,  he  proceeded  to  Alabama, 
and  at  O.xford,  in  due  season,  organized  the  Fifty- 
first  Cavalry.  At  the  head  of  this  regiment,  he 
was  ordered  to  join  Gen.  John  II.  Morgan,  but  tn 
mule  he  metGeneral  Forrest, who ajipropriated  him 
at  once  to  his  command.  Immediately  after  the 
Battle  of  Murfreesboro,  he  joined  (Jeneral  Lee  in 
Virginia,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  charge  of  iiis 
old  brigade,  having  in  the  meantime  received 
notice  of  liis  promotion  to  the  rank  of  brigadier- 
general.  Arriving  at  Richmond,  he  there  learned 
of  the  death  of  Colonel  Webb,  who  had  succeeded 
him  as  colonel  of  the  Fifty-first,  and  deeming  it 
his  duty  to  return  to  the  command  of  that  regi- 
ment, he  resigned  his  commission  as  brigadier- 
general  for  that  purpose.  In  November,  1 803,  he 
was  again  commissioned  brigadier- general  of  cav- 
alry, and  assigned  to  the  brigade  of  which  his  regi- 
ment was  a  part.  During  the  winter  of  lSii3-4  he 
was  in  command  of  the  division,  and  operated  with 
Longstreet  in  Ejist  Tennessee,  and  afterward  with 
the  armies  of  Johnson  and  Hood.  He  partici- 
pated in  the  battles  around  Atlanta,  and  was  left 
by  Hood  in  (ieorgia  and  Alabama  while  that  (ien- 
eral marched  into  Tennessee.  He  finally  surren- 
dered at  West  Point,  Miss. 

(ieneral  Morgan  also  participated  in  the  battles 
at  Manassas,  around  Nashville,  in  Forrest's  skir- 
nii.<hes.  at  Murfreesboro.  Chickamauga.  Kno.wilk , 
and  everywhere  jiroved  himself  a  courageous,  gal- 
lant, skillful  soldier  and  commander. 

At  the  close  of  hostilities  he  returned  to  Caha- 
ba, and,  not  being  allowed  to  enter  at  onqe  into 
the  practice  of  law,  turnetl  his  hand  to  farming. 
Karly  in  18Gi;  he  opened  a  law-office  in  Selma.  and 
immediately  stejijied  into  a  splendid  practice. 

He  was  an  elector  for  the  State-at-large  on  the 
Breckiniidge  and  Lane  ticket  in  18(50;  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Secession  Convention,  and  an  earnest 
sujiporter  of  that  movement;  and  was  again  elector 
for  the  State-at-large    on    the  Tilden   and  .Hen- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


007 


(Irick's  ticket.  lie  was  elected  to  tlie  United 
States  Senate  by  the  l^egislature,  session  of  ]  870-7, 
iiiul  re-elected  in  lSS"2-3.  In  tiiat  august  body 
lie  is  a  most  important  factor,  and  stands  to-day 
the  recognized  peer  of  any  man  in  the  nation. 
In  aU  important  questions  he  takes  a  prominent 
)iart.  He  has  tlie  faculty  of  making  himself 
understood,  and,  without  effort,  enjoys  the  respect 
of  his  opponents  and  the  love  and  conlidence  of 
his  friends. 

•-4— — 


EDMUND  WINSTON  PETTUS,  a  distinguished 
juri-st  and  citizen  of  Selma,  was  born  in  Lime- 
stone County,  this  State,  July  0,  lS"il.  His  par- 
ents, .lohn  and  Alice  Taylor  (Winston)  Pettus, 
were  natives  of  Virginia  and  descendants,  respec- 
tively, from  Welsh  and  English  ancestors. 

John  Pettus,  a  planter  by  occupation,  migrated 
from  Virginia  to  Tennessee,  and  in  Davidson 
County,  that  State,  met  and  married  Miss  Wins- 
ton. He  came  to  Alabama  in  1809,  locating  first 
ii.  .Madison  County,  but  going  soon  afterward  to 
Limestone,  where  he  died  in  Wl'l,  at  the  age  of 
forty  years.  His  widow  died  in  1878,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-two  years. 

E.  W.  Pettus  was  educated  at  the  old-field 
schools  and  at  Clinton  College,  Smith  County, 
Tenn.  lie  began  the  study  of  the  law  at  Tus- 
cumbia,  in  1840,  with  William  and  L.  V>.  Cooper, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1841.  lie  began 
the  practice  at  Gainesville,  this  State,  and  re- 
mained there  until  1848.  The  gold  e.xcitement  of 
I.s4'.i  attracted  him  to  California,  and  he  remained 
there  two  years.  Returning  to  Alabama,  he  lo- 
cated at  Carrolton  and  there  practiced  law  until 
18.")8.  From  Carrolton  he  moved  to  Cahaba,  and 
from  there,  in  1860,  came  to  Sehna. 

Recurring  to  an  earlier  period  in  General  Pettus' 
life,  we  find  that  in  1S44,  he  was  elected  Solicitor 
of  Sumter  County,  and  that  he  resigned  to  go  to 
California.  In  l8o"-i  he  was  appointed  Solicitor  of 
Pickens  County,  and  iield  the  office  two  years.  In 
is,5.")  he  was  elected  .Judge  of  the  Seventh  Judicial 
Circuit  and  resigned  before  moving  to  Cahaba. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  sectional  war,  Judge 
Pettus,  as  he  was  then  known,  was  appointed  com- 
missioner of  Alabama  to  the  State  of  Mississippi. 
In  August,  ISOl,  he  entered  the  army  at  Cahaba 
and  was  made  major  of  the  Twentieth  Alabama 
Infantry.     He  was  soon   afterward    promoted   to 


lieutenant-colonel  and  held  that  rank  until  the 
siege  of  Vicksburg.  lie  first  saw  actual  war  in  the 
Kentucky  Cainpaign  of  1802,  and  commanded 
(ien.  Kirby  Smith's  advance  when  the  enemy  were 
driven  into  Covington  and  Cincinnati.  I  hiring 
the  winter  following  he  was  ordered  to  Mississippi, 
and  there  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Port  (iibson 
and  Baker's  Creek.  At  Port  (iibson  he  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy,  but  readily  effected  an 
escape,  rejoined  his  command,  and  with  it  entered 
the  fated  \'icksburg.  During  the  siege  of  the 
latter  place  he  was  commissioned  colonel. 

An  incident  of  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  and 
with  which  (ietieral  Pettus  was  connected,  has 
been  many  times  related  in  print,  and  while  in 
the  main  it  has  been  correctly  reported,  the  real 
truth  as  to  at  least  one  feature  of  it  appears  to 
have  been  somewhat  overdrawn.  It  is  related  that 
(Jen.  Stephen  D.  Lee  wished  to  drive  ihe  enemy 
from  a  redoubt  captured  by  them  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  day,  and  that  (_'olonel  Pettus  proffered 
his  services  for  the  undertaking,  but  could  find 
none  of  his  own  men,  nor  any  otiiers,  in  fact, 
w^illing  to  join  in  the  perilous  enterprise.  How- 
ever, Waul's  Te>as  Legion  did  volunteer  f«  wfrt.sae, 
and  forty  of  them  were  selected.  Led  by  Colonel 
Pettus,  tliose  brave  men  easily  retook  the  redoubt 
without  loss,  and  carried  away  ion  prisoners  and 
three  of  the  enemy's  flags. 

The  only  correction  to  be  made  in  the  narrative 
is  as  to  Colonel  Pettus  vohniteeriiig  for  the  mani- 
festly hazardous  undertaking.  In  conversation 
with  the  writer,  General  Pettus  said:  "  I  did  not 
volunteer  my  services  on  that  occasion,  as  has  been 
published.  I  was  j)eremptorily  ordered  by  (ien- 
eral  Lee  to  take  the  redoubt.  Waul's  Legion  and 
three  gallant  Alabamians  did  volunteer,  but  I,  as 
their  commander,  was  acting  in  response  to 
orders. '' 

In  October,  180:i,  Pettus  was  promoted  to  brig- 
adier-general and  placed  in  command  of  a  brigade 
composed  of  the  Twentieth,  Twenty-third.  Thir- 
tieth, Thirty-first  and  Forty-sixth  Alabama  Regi- 
ments, and  led  that  command  until  its  final  sur- 
render at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

From  first  to  last  General  Pettus  took  an 
active  part  in  the  following  engagements:  Be- 
ginning with  the  skirmishes  around  Covington, 
in  which  he  commanded  the  advance,  he  was 
afterward,  and  in  rapid  succession,  at  Port  (iib- 
son. Baker's  Creek,  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Lookout 
.Mountain  and  Missionarv   Ridjre,  where  he   held 


668 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  right  under  Hardee;  (row's  Valley,   Daltoii,   j 
Rocky  Face,  Hesaca,  New  Hope  Church,  Kenesaw   | 
Jlountain,  siege  of  Atlanta.  Jonesboroand  C'olum- 
bia.Tenn.,  where  he  forced  a  crossing  of  the  river,   \ 
and  at  the  head  of  three  regiments  charged  and 
captured    the    enemy's    breastworks  ;    both    the 
battles   of   Nashville:  thence  by  the  way  of   Flo- 
ence,    through    Mississipi)i    to    South    Carolina, 
where  he  took  part  in  the  battles  about  Columbia; 
on  to  Kingston,  and  finally  at  Bentonville,  N.  C. 

At  the  last-named  place  he  was  seriously  wound- 
ed, which,  aside  from  his  capture  at  Port  Hudson, 
appears  to  be  about  the  only  j)ersonal  mishap  tiuit 
overtook  him.  Soon  after  the  cessation  of  hostil- 
ities. General  Pettus  located  at  Selma,  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  law. 

Another  publication  describes  the  General  as  of 
"  imposing  personal  ap]iearance,  a  man  six  feet 
tall,  broad-shouldered,  with  a  large  head  some- 
what leonine  in  its  contour":  and  a  distinguished 
citizen  of  Alabama,  in  writing  of  him.  says:  "  In 
general  intercourse  he  is  cordial  and  genial;  at 
the  bar  he  is  diligent  and  laborious  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  causes.  His  style  of  sj)eaking  is  argu- 
mentative, clear  and  convincing.  While  on  the 
bench  he  was  distinguished  for  his  decision  and 
dispatch  of  business,  and  for  his  clear  exposition 
of  the  law.  As  a  soldier  he  was  noted  for  devo- 
tion to  duty,  strictness  in  enforcing  discipline,  and 
promptness  in  obeying  orders.  He  was  always 
prudent,  cool  and  brave.  No  otticer  was  more 
jealous  of  the  welfare  of  his  men,  and  he  was  re- 
paid by  their  respect." 

Though  ajiproaching  in  years  the  allotted  three 
score  and  ten,  (Jeneral  Pettus  is  apparently  but  in 
the  prime  of  life.  Blessed  with  an  iron  constitu- 
tion, in  the  enjoyment  of  robust  healtli  and  in  the 
daily  exercise  of  a  vigorous  and  perfect  manhood,  he 
is  intellectually  the  peer  of  the  greatest,  and  prom- 
ises yet  many  years  of  a  brilliant  and  useful  citizen- 
ship, in  a  community  that  honors  itself  by  honor- 
ing him. 

A  brilliant  soldier,  a  great  lawyer,  an  esteemed   , 
citizen,  an  eloquent  speaker,  a  terse  and  vigorous 
writer,  the  biographer  ])laees  General   Pettus  in 
the  fore  front  rank  of  the  greatest  men  of  a  State 
prolific  in  the  production  of  intellectual  genius. 


CHARLES  MILLER  SHELLEY,  Fourth  Auditor 
of  the  Treasury  1  k-jiartnient  of  the  United  States, 


is  a  native  of  Sullivan  County,  Tenn.,  and  was  born 
December  "^8,  1833.  His  father  was  William  P. 
Shelley,  also  a  native  of  Tennessee,  from  which 
State  he  came  into  Alabama  in  1837,  located  at 
Talladega,  and  followed  building  and  contracting. 
He  died  in  1804,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four 'years. 
Two  of  his  sons,  Henry  E.  aiul  Gen.  N.  G.  Shel- 
ley, both  of  Austin,  Tex.,  are  lawxers  by  pro- 
fession. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  Tal- 
ladega, and  learned  the  trade  of  builder  under  his 
father.  lu  February,  18f;i,  he  enlisted  in  the  Tal- 
ladega .\rtillery  as  a  lieutenant.  At  the  reorgan- 
ization of  the  artillery,  while  at  Pensacola,  during 
the  spring  of  1861,  he  was  made  captain.  In 
May  of  that  year,  the  command  was  sent  to 
Virginia,  and  there  joined  Lee's  army.  In  Feb- 
ruary, ISO'^i,  he  was  made  Colonel,  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  Thirtieth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  re- 
ported to  (ieneral  Stevenson  in  East  Tennessee. 
After  participating  in  the  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see campaigns,  he  was  ordered  to  Mississip))i,  and 
was  in  Vicksbiirg  when  that  city  fell.  After  be- 
ing exchanged  he  joined  Bragg'sarmy  at  Mission- 
ary Hidge.  In  18(54,  he  was  promoted  to  briga- 
dier-general and  assigned  to  Cantey's  brigade,  at 
the  head  of  which  he  participated  in  the  battles 
at  Franklin  and  Nashville.  Toward  the  close  of 
the  war  he  was  assigned  to  a  l)rigade  composed  of 
the  remnants  of  various  connnands  and  there- 
after known  as  Shelley's  brigade.  As  captain  of 
a  company,  he  was  in  the  advance  on  the  march 
to  Bull  Run;  he  was  engaged  at  Tazewell.  Tenn.. 
the  bombardment  at  Cumberland  Gap,  Chicka- 
saw, Port  Gibson,  Baker's  Creek,  Siege  of  N'icks- 
burg.  Missionary  Hidge.  Rocky  Face,  Resaca,  the 
Georgia  campaign,  Jonesboro,  and  at  Franklin, 
Tenn.,  where  he  lost  432  men  and  all  his  staff 
officers,  and  had  his  own  horse  killed  under  him. 
In  the  consolidation  at  Greensboro,  N.  C,  he  and 
(teneral  I'ettus  were  the  only  general  officers 
retained.  He  was  at  Danville,  Va.,  when  (ieneral 
Lee  surrendered.  During  his  stay  in  Mrginia  he 
held  the  rank  of  cajitain.  but.  as  has  been  seen, 
he  was  thereafter  promoted  to  i)rigadier-general: 
and  in  no  instance  was  promotion  in  response 
to  his  own  solicitation.  In  fact  it  is  known  that 
in  one  case  at  least  he  insisted  tlmt  another  than 
himself  should  be  elevated  to  the  command  of  the 
brigade. 

General  Shelley  always  shared  the  perils  and 
hardships  of  the  men   under  him.     lie  was  com- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


669 


jiliinented  by  Gen.  8.  D.  Lee  for  gallantry  on  the 
hattlc-fickl  at  Baker's  Creek;  and  (ieneral  Hood 
said:  "that  the  strategy  of  (Jeneral  Shelley 
saved  Stewart's  corps  from  capture  at  Franklin." 
When  the  army  was  concentrating  in  North  Caro- 
lina, General  Shelley  was  sent  with  his  brigade 
to  protect  the  stores  at  Danville,  but.  as  peace 
followed  soon  after,  we  find  that  he  returned  to 
.Mabania,  and,  on  .June  1^,  18(!5,  was  married  in 
Talladega  to  Miss  McConneli,  daughter  of  Hon. 
Felix  G.  McConneli.  .June,  ISfJii,  he  removed  to 
Selma,  where  he  again  took  up  building  as  a  busi- 
ness, and  followed  it  uji  to  ]S74,  at  which  time  he 
was  appointed  Sheriff  of  Dallas  C'ounty.  lie  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  Congress  in  1870, 
1878.  1880  and  1882,  and  in  May,  188.'),  at  the  in- 
stance of  Senator  Pugh.  was  appointed  to  his 
present  position  in  the  Treasury  Department. 

It  is  of  history,  that  the  Republicans  contested 
his  every  election  for  Congress,  and  that  they 
succeeded  twice  in  unseating  him. 

General  Shelley  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, a  Knight  of  Honor,  and  of  the  Metho- 
dist Kjiiscoiial  Church,  South. 

Another  biographer  says  of  him:  "General 
Shelley  is  of  ordinary  stature,  and  as  unpretentious 
in  appearance  and  bearing  as  he  is  sensible  and 
sincere  in  conduct  and  language.  As  a  soldier  he 
was  faithful,  etHcient  and  intrepid,  beloved  by  his 
men  and  piized  by  his  superiors." 


"^►^ 


♦■*« 


JOHN  COLEMAN  REID.  Attorney-at-law,  was 
born  in  Tuscaloosa  County,  this  State,  December 
•!,  1824.  His  father,  Thomas  Reid,  planter,  a 
native  of  North  Carolina,  came  to  Alabama  in 
1818,  lived  in  Tuscaloosa  County  many  years,  re- 
moved to  .Memphis  in  1830,  and  died  in  IM.'ifi  at 
the  age  of  forty-one  years.  His  wife's  maiden 
name  was  Mary  Coleman,  of  Nortii  Carolina.  She 
died  in  Memphis  Iti  183:5. 

The  Reids  came  originally  from  Ireland,  and 
this  particular  branch  of  the  Coleman  family  trace 
their  ancestry  to  (iermany. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in  Jlem- 
})his:  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  an<l  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Jack- 
son, Tenn.,  in  1843.  He  began  the  practice  at 
Purdy,  Tenn.,  going  thence  to  Kingston,  Ala., 
where  he  lived  from   184.")  to  ls.51.     From  Kings- 


ton he  moved  to  Prattville,  and,  later  on,  to  Jhirion 
(where  he  remained  seventeen  years),  coming  to 
Selma  in  1871,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home. 
At  the  head  of  a  company  of  twenty-eight  men. 
Colonel  Reid,  iu  185C,  started  on  a  volunteer 
e.xpedition  to  explore  the  "  Gadsden  Purchase," 
the  territory  now  composing  Arizonaaml  that  part 
of  New  Mexico  lying  west  of  the  Rio  Grande  River. 
This  expedition  lasted  ten  months.  It  is  written 
up  in  graphic  style,  and  was  published  in  1858, 
under  the  title  of  "  Reid's  Tramp."  Colonel  Reid 
was  at  that  time  prominently  in  politics;  was  a 
member  of  the  Legislature  and  a  Fillmore  elector, 
and  it  was  for  the  j)ur]iose  of  getting  out  of  poli- 
tics that  he  conceived  the  idea  of  this  "  tramp." 

In  April,  1801,  he  entered  the  army  as  first 
lieutenant  of  Company  A,  Eighth  Alabama  and 
in  October  following  was  conimi.ssioned  by  the 
Secretary  of  War  to  raise  a  regiment  of  infantry. 
This  regiment  was  afterward  known  as  the  Twen- 
ty-eighth Alabama,  and  Reid  was  its  lieutenant- 
colonel  until  just  before  the  battle  of  Murfrees- 
boro,  when  he  was  ])romoted  to  the  rank  of  colonel. 
In  the  fall  of  1864  General  Johnson  advanced 
him  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general,  and  from 
that  time  until  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  in  com- 
mand, in  North  Alabama,  of  a  part  of  a  cavalry 
brigade.  From  first  to  last  General  Reid  was 
engaged  in  many  hotly-contested  battles.  He  was 
on  Magruder's  expedition  across  the  peninsula  of 
the  James  and  York  Rivers,  and,  as  colonel  of  his 
regiment,  took  part  in  the  battles  of  ilurfreesboro 
and  Chickamauga.  At  the  time  of  tiie  final  sur- 
render he  was  in  Alabama,  where  he  had  been 
sent  from  North  Carolina  by  General  Reaurcgard. 
.\fter  the  war  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law  at 
Marion,  and  in  1871  removed  to  Selma.  He  has 
not  been  in  politics  since  the  days  of  '*  Raid's 
Tramp."  He  was  married  at  Prattville  in  1850, 
to  Mrs  Alice  Coughlin.  She  only  lived  about 
eighteen  months  after  their  marriage.  Tiie  Gen- 
eral's second  marriage  took  place  at  Robertson's 
Springs,  where  he  led  to  the  altar  Miss  . Adelaide 
0.  Reid.  She  died  October  2-,».  1883.  The  pres- 
ent Mrs.  Reid.  to  whom  the  Colonel  was  married 
at  Selma  in  February,  188<i.  was  Miss  Mary  Fran- 
ces Erwin,  second  daughter  of  the  late  Francis 
Erwin,  Esq.,  of  Dallas  County,  Ala.  While  in 
the  army,  as  was  many  another  good  man,  Colonel 
Reid  was  converted   to  the  Catholic  religion. 

In  the  campaign  of  1860  he  supported  Bell  and 
Everett.     He  was  opposed  to  secession,  but,  after 


670 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  election  of  Lincoln,  lie  gave  the  South  his  un- 
qualified support. 

Away  back  before  the  war  he  was  a  ''Know- 
nothing. "and  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislatnre, 
as  such.  At  this  writing  (1888),  he  is  actively 
engaged  at  the  practice  of  law.  He  is  an  educated 
gentleman  of  the  old  school,  polished  in  his  man- 
ner, courteous  alike  to  everybody,  modest,  retiring, 
unassuming.  He  is  deserving  of  the  high  esteem 
as  a  citizen  in  which  he  is  universally  held. 

Colonel  Reid  is  a  man  of  marked  (-haracteristics.  \ 
He  verifies  the  truth  of  the  line  '•  the  bravest  are 
the  tenderest."  His  comrades  in  the  Twenty-  , 
eiglith  Alabama  Infantry,  which  he  commanded, 
through  the  hardshipsand  trials  of  three  years  cam- 
paigning, are  certainly  good  judgesof  what  the  man 
is.  Such  experiencesas  the  Twenty-eighth  Alabama 
was  called  upon  to  pass  through  while  Keid  was 
its  colonel,  tries  a  man's  soul  as  gold  is  tried  in 
the  crucible.  As  to  what  manner  of  man  Colonel 
Reid  was,  there  is  but  one  opinion  among  field 
anil  staff  of  that  very  splendid  regiment.  He  was 
as  brave  a  man  as  ever  followed  his  country's  flag,  I 
and,  at  the  same  time,  he  was  the  tenderest  and  ( 
most  sympathetic.  Many  instances  might  be  re-  ' 
lated  to  illustrate  the  eminence  of  the  rare  com-  | 
binations  of  tiiese  noble  qualities,  but,  of  course, 
this  brief  notice  will  not  admit  of  reference  to  but 
one  or  two.  Colonel  Keid  had  been  absent  from 
his  command  while  they  were  encamped  at  Mur- 
freesbnro.  for  about  two  weeks,  and  there  was  not  ; 
a  day  during  that  period  that  he  was  not  spoken 
of,  and  his  absence  regretted.  It  was  at  the  time 
that  Rosecrans  began  his  advance.  The  two  or  , 
three  days'  skirmishing  occurred  before  the  Colo- 
nel's return,  and  the  morning  of  the  third  day, 
when  a  general  advance  had  been  ordered  by  (Jen- 
eral  Bragg,  suddenly  Colonel  Keid  presented  him- 
self, and  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  line.  .\ 
'•  Confederate  yell  "  went  up  from  a  thousand 
throats,  and  every  heart  was  inspired  with  a  fresh 
courage.  Colonel  Reid  seemed  as  much  delighted 
to  reach  hi.s  regiment,  and  to  lead  them  into  the 
charge,  as  if  he  were  going  to  feast  and  banquet  in- 
stead of  intooneof  the  bloodiest  and  deadliest  con- 
flicts in  the  history  of  the  world.  There  seemed  to 
be  the  intensest  joy  beaming  from  his  eyes  at  the 
thought  that  he  had  arrived  in  time  to  share  the 
dangers  of  his  gallant  and  devoted  men.  History 
has  never  done  that  legiment  justice  for  that  day's 
fighting,  but  it  is  a  truth,  that  "  in  all  the  tides  of 
time."  a  more  faithful  set  of  men  never  marched 


into  battle,  and  a  truer  or  more  courageous  man 
never  led  men  to  battle.  In  the  evening  of  this 
day,  after  the  Twenty-eighth  Regiment  had.  in 
response  to  the  very  letter  of  the  battle  order, 
''advanced,  turning  on  their  right  as  on  a  pivot." 
until  they  occupied  a  line  at  right  angle  to  their 
original  position.  Colonel  Reid.  while  sitting  upon 
his  horse,  received  a  severe  wound.  A  minie 
ball  struck  the  pommel  of  his  saildle  and  glanced 
through  his  thigh.  The  writer  of  this  wa.-i  stand- 
ing near  enough  to  hear  the  peculiar  thud  of  the 
ball,  and  looked  at  once  to  see  its  effects,  but  not 
an  expression  of  pain  escaped  Colonel  Reid's  lips. 
A  spasmodic  twinge  of  the  muscles  of  the  face 
was  the  only  expression,  and  the  Colonel,  as  im- 
movable as  ever,  sat  facing  the  foe.  It  was  not 
until  evening — until  after  the  fight  was  all  over 
—  that    the  Colonel    took    time  to  examine  his 

WOU!ld. 

Through  every  battle  and  skirmish  to  the  close, 
the  same  kindness  and  affectionate  tenderness  for 
his  men  in  camp  and  on  the  march,  and  the  same 
invincible  coolness  hi  liattle,  characterized  Colo- 
nel Reid  in  an  eminent  degree. 


JOHN  WHITE,  prominent  Attorney-at-law, 
Selma,  was  born  atCourtland,  Ala.,  on  the  17th  of 
April,  18-.J9.  His  parents  were  John  and  Abigail 
(Dickinson)  White,  natives  of  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land, and  of  English  and  Welsh  extraction  re- 
spectively. 

The  senior  Mr.  White,  a  lawyer  Ijy  profession, 
removed  from  X'irginia  to  Tennessee,  and  from 
there  to  Northern  Alabama  in  1814.  He  lived  at 
Courtland  until  1835,  when  he  removed  into 
Talladega  county,  where  he  died  in  1842  at  the 
age  of  fifty-eight  years.  Being  elected  Judge  of 
the  Fourth  Judicial  Circuit,  on  Heeeniber  i1, 
182.5,  his  |)osition  on  the  nisi priiis  bench,  under 
the  then  existing  law,  constituted  him  a  member 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  As  .liidge  of  the  Fourth 
Circuit,  he  jiiesided  over  the  first  court  ever 
convened  in  Sumter  County.  He  reared  three 
sons  to  manhood,  to-wit:  Alexander,  who  was  a 
member  to  the  United  States  ('ongre.<s  from  the 
Talladega  district  in  IS.M,  and  Robert  W.,  a  phy- 
sician. Both  these  gentlemen  now  reside  in 
Texas.  The  third  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Of  the   two   daughters   of  the  senior  W'liite,  one 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


671 


married  Joseph  J.  Baldwin,  the  eelebrsited  suithor 
of  '' Flush  Times  in  Alabama  and  Mississippi," 
and  "  Party  Leaders."  Mr.  Baldwin  afterward 
removed  to  California,  wliere  he  became  a  member 
of  the  State  Supreme  Court,  and  died  there  during 
the  late  war.  The  other  daughter  married  Samuel 
II.  Dixon;  both  she  and  her  iiusband  are  dead. 

.John  White,  who.se  name  .stands  at  the  head  of 
this  sketch,  was  educated  at  Talladega,  began 
reading  law  in  the  oHice  of  his  brother  and  L.  E. 
Parsons  in  1848,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1849.  He  removed  to  Cahaba  in  18.")8,  and  to 
Selma  after  the  war.  JEarch  2,  1802,  he  entered 
the  army  at  Cahaba,  as  a  private  in  Company  F, 
Fifth  Alabama  Regiment,  and  served  with  that 
command  about  three  months,  when  he  was  pro- 
moted to  captain  and  made  quartermaster  of  the 
regiment.  July  4,  18'i.'5,  he  was  captured  on  the 
retreat  from  Gettysburg,  and  taken  to  Johnson's 
Island,  where  he  was  detained  until  March  13, 
180.5.  lie  arrived  at  Selma  on  April  1st,  and 
found  Wilson's  Cavalry  in  possession  of  the  town. 

Captain  White  was  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  War 
— a  member  of  the  First  Alabama  Kegimeiit. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  between  the  States, 
Captain  White  settled  down  to  the  practice  of  law, 
and  to  this  he  has  since  given  his  time  and  his 
talents.  He  is  also  largely  interested  in  agricul- 
ture, but  under  tlie  peculiar  system  prevailing  in 
the  agricultural  districts  in  Dallas  County,  and 
other  parts  of  the  State  as  well,  it  appears  that 
about  the  only  men  that  make  money  in  farming 
are  those  that  do  nothing  at  it.  In  other  words, 
the  nnin  who  furnishes  the  provisions  and  the  sup- 
jjlies  to  the  agriculturist,  is  the  man,  who,  if  he 
•loes  not  reap  the  harvest,  "gathers  it  in."  A 
history  of  the  methods  practiced  by  the  '"supply 
men"  so  extensively  in  Central  and  Southern 
Alabama,  would  open  the  eyes  of  Jay  (Jonld  to 
new  methods  of  '•  srpieezing,"  that,  for  elabora- 
tion in  detail,  and  completeness  in  the  appropria- 
tion of  the  products  of  others,  would  make  him 
green  with  envy. 

Captain  White  was  married  first  in  Talladega 
to  .Miss  Mary  J.  Finley  in  1840.  She  died  in 
18T4,  leaving  one  son  and  two  daughters,  viz.: 
John  Finley  White,  attorney,  Selma  ;  Mrs. 
George  II.  Craig,  and  Mrs.  Charles  Ueidt. 
His  second  marriage  occurred  at  Greensboro,  this 
State,  in  December.  18tT,  when  he  led  to  thealtar 
ilrs.  S.  A.  Nelson,  nh  Waller,  of  that  town. 
Captain  White  is  a  public-spirited,  highly-pro- 


gressive man  ;  is  an  advocate  of  modern  methods 
and  modern  enterprise  as  ojiposed  to  "mossback- 
ism"  and  antiquated  ideas.  He  is  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Dallas  .\cademy;  in  fact  he  is  one 
of  the  originators  of  that  school,  and,  with  others, 
labored  successfully  for  a  share  of  the  Peabody 
Fund.  This  is  now  one  of  the  best  schools  in  the 
State,  and  the  people  recognize  the  fact  that  Cap- 
tain White  is  entitled  to  much  credit  therefor. 

The  Captain  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity and  a  communicant  of  the  Episcopal 
Church. 


JOURDAN  CHAPPELL  COMPTON,  Attorney- 
at-law,  Selma,  and  the  present  Senator  from  Dal- 
las County  in  the  General  Assembly  of  Alabama, 
is  the  eldest  son  of  P.  JI.  Compton.  who  was  for 
many  years  the  surveyor-general  of  the  State  of 
Georgia,  and  who  now  is  a  successful  and  pros- 
perous business  man  at  Milledgeville.  He  was 
born  forty-five  years  ago,  at  Jackson,  in  Butts 
County,  Ga.,  and  was  removed  in  his  infancy 
with  his  family  to  Milledgeville,  at  the  time  his 
father  was  elected  to  the  office  of  surveyor-general 
by  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  in  1842.  His 
family  is  of  English  extraction,  and  came  to 
America  and  settled  in  Maryland  in  its  colonial 
days;  from  thence  to  Virginia,  Georgia  and 
other  Southern  States.  His  mother  was  a  Miss 
Lvdia  Ii.  Devereux,  and  her  mother  a  Harrison, 
from  the  well-known  family  of  that  name  in  Vir- 
ginia. His  paternal  grandfather  removed  from 
Dinwiddle  County,  Va.,  to  Jasper  County,  that 
State,  in  18nrj.  He  has  two  brothers  living,  one  of 
whom,  Lyman  II.  Compton,  is  engaged  in  busi- 
ness with  his  father,  and  the  other.  Dr.  (iuy  D, 
Comjiton,  is  a  surgeon  on  one  of  the  steamers  of 
the  Pacific  Mail  Steam  Ship  Company  at  San 
Francisco,  Cal.  He  was  educated  at  Oglethorpe 
University,  in  (ieorgia,  and  at  the  Classical  and 
Mathematical  School  of  Benjamin  Hallowell  & 
Sons,  at  Alexandria,  Va,,  the  celebrated  Quaker 
School,  and  one  of  the  best  known  in  the  United 
States  at  that  time.  While  engaged  in  the 
study  of  the  law,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
Company  H,  Fourth  Regiment  (ieorgia  Volun- 
teers, in  1801,  which  regiment  was  the  first  to 
reach  Virginia  from  that  State.  This  regiment 
was  sent  to  Portsmouth,  Va.,  to  protect  the  navy 
vard  and  other  j)roperty  there  not   destroyed   by 


672 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  Federal  forces  in  their  hastened  departure 
from  that  city.  The  fires  started  by  che  Federals 
at  tiie  navy  yard  were  still  burning  when  tlie  regi- 
ment reached  it.  He  served  with  this  regiment  at 
Norfolk,  and  at  Richmond  until  after  the  series  of 
battles  around  Richmond  in  isi;-^,  when  he  was  com- 
missioned in  tiie  Provisional  Army  of  the  Confed- 
erate States,  and  ordered  to  Chattanooga,  Tenn., 
for  duty.  Arriving  at  Chattanooga  at  the  time 
General  Bragg  was  about  to  move  his  army  into 
Kentucky,  he  was  assigned  to  duty  on  tiie  staff  of 
Maj.-Gen.  Henry  Heth,  who  commanded  a  divis- 
ion in  that  army,  and  he  served  on  that  General's 
staff  during  (ieneral  Bragg's  Kentucky  campaign. 
After  the  return  of  that  army  to  Tennessee  he  ac- 
companied General  Stevenson's  division  from 
Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  to  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  arriv- 
ing there  with  it  too  late  to  take  part  in  the  de- 
feat of  General  Sherman's  army  at  Chickasaw 
Bayou  in  its  attempt  to  capture  Vicksburg.  In 
January,  1803,  he  went  before  the  board  of  offi- 
cers at  Jackson,  Miss.,  organized  in  Richmond, 
with  Col.  LeRoy  Brown  as  its  president,  for  ex- 
amination for  appointment  to  the  artillery  and 
ordnance  service,  and  was  one  of  the  three  chosen 
by  the  board  from  a  large  number  of  applicants 
for  such  duty,  and  was  commissioned  a  lieutenant 
of  artillery  and  assigned  to  duty  at  Vicksburg. 
During  the  siege  of  that  city  by  General  (Grant's 
army  he  was  the  officer  in  personal  cliarge  of  the 
ordnance  depot  of  tiie  besieged  army,  a  place  of 
great  responsibility  and  peril.  After  the  capitu- 
lation of  (ieneral  Pemberton's  besieged  army,  and 
his  exchange,  he  was  ordered  to  duty  under  Col. 
James  M.  Kennort,  chief  of  ordnance  of  Gen. 
Joseph  E.  Johnson's  army  at  Meridian,  Miss., 
and  in  January,  I8C4,  he  was  ordered  by  Gen.  J. 
(iorgas,tlie  chief  of  ordnance  at  Richmond,  to  the 
Selma  Arsenal.  During  that  year  he  was  twice 
assigned  to  duty  by  (ien.  Joseph  E.  Johnson — 
once  as  chief  ordnance  officer  on  the  staff  of  Ma- 
jof-(ieneral  Walthall,  and  again  to  the  same  posi- 
tion on  the  staff  of  Major-General  French;  both 
of  these  assignments  were  countermanded  by  the 
Secretary  of  War,  and  by  his  order  he  was  con- 
tinued on  duty  at  the  Selma  Arsenal  as  second 
officer  in  command  to  Col.  J.  L.  White  and  after- 
ward under  Colonel  Moore,  its  respective  com- 
mandants. 

He  jiarticipated  in  all  the  engagements  in  Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  in 
which    his   respective   commands    were   engaged, 


and  surrendered  with  the  Confederate  forces  at 
Meridian,  Miss.,  in  May,  18G.5. 

He  married  at  Selma,  Ala.,  in  April,  18C.J,  Miss 
Ada  Xorris,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Mr.  William  J. 
Norris,  president  of  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Ala- 
bama at  that  place,  made  Selma  his  home,  and 
began  the  practice  of  law,  having  been  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  (ieorgia,  by  the  Superior  Court  before 
entering  tlie  army.  He  was  admitted  to  tlie  bar 
in  Alabama,  by  tiie  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  in 
June,  I8(j'.i. 

He  has  always  been  an  active  member  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  has  served  as  the  cliairman 
of  its  Congressional  Committee,  in  his  district  and 
its  county  committee,  and  is  now  the  chairman  of 
the  county  committee. 

In  1884  he  was  chosen  by  the  Democratic  State 
Convention  a  delegate  from  tlie  Fourth  Con- 
gressional District  to  the  National  Democratic 
Convention,  held  in  Chicago,  whicli  nominated 
President  Grover  Cleveland,  and  served  in  that 
position.  In  188G  he  was,  by  acclamation,  un- 
animously nominated  by  the  county  convention 
of  his  party  for  State  Senator  from  Dallas  County, 
and  was  elected  without  opposition.  He  served 
his  first  term  in  the  winter  of  1880,  in  tlie  State 
Senate,  as  chairman  of  the  C'ommittee  on  Local 
Legislation  and  as  a  member  of  tiie  .huliciary  Com- 
mittee and  the  Committees  on  Privileges  and  Elec- 
tions and  the  Revision  of  the  Journal.  He  took 
an  active  part  in  all  the  legislation  of  that  session, 
speaking  only  a  few  times,  and  then  briefly,  but 
successfully,  for  or  against  the  measures  he  advo- 
cated or  opposed. 

He  has  devoted  himself  to  his  profession,  and 
has  a  lucrative  practice. 

JONATHAN  HARALSON,  .ludgo  of  the  City 
Court  of  Selma,  was  born  and  reared  in  Lowndes 
County,  and  his  parents  were  William  B.  and  T. 
M.  (Dunklin)  Haralson,  natives  of  the  States  of 
Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  and  descended,  re- 
spectively, from  English  and  Irish  ancestry. 

The  senior  Mr.  Haralson  was  among  the  very 
first  settlers  of  Lowndes  County,  and  assisted  in 
laying  off  and  locating  that  county's  seat.  He  was 
a  wealthy  planter,  and  died  in  1ST9,  at  the  age  of 
eighty  years.  The  Haralson  family  in  Georgia 
number  among  them  some  of  the   best  people  of 


^->--^^<£4 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


675 


that  State.  The  present  governor  of  Georgia 
((leneral  J.  B.  (iordon)  married  a  daughter  of  Gen- 
eral Haralson  and  a  cousin  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  So  did  the  Hon.  F.ogan  E.  Hleci<ley,  the 
present  Ciiief-Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
that  State. 

Jonathan  Haralson  was  educated  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Alabama  and  was  graduated  therefrom  as  A. 
V>.  in  18.")1.  In  1853,  he  was  graduated  by  the  Law 
l>epartment  of  the  University  of  Louisiana  in  the 
degree  (if  i,L.  H.,  and  began  the  practice  at  once, 
in  Sclinu.  He  gave  his  time  and  talents  to  the 
jiractice  of  law  until  18T0  when  he  was  a)ipointed 
by  Governor  Houston  to  the  City  .Judgeship.  He 
was  re-appointed  to  that  office  by  Governor  Cobb 
in  188'2,  and  again  by  Governor  Seay  in  1888. 

.\s  a  lawyer,  Judge  Haralson  ranks  among  the 
foremost  in  the  State,  and  as  Judge,  his  character 
and  reputation  are  as  spotless  as  snow.  He  is  the 
educated,  polished,  courteous  gentleman  at  all 
times:  actively  interested  in  the  cause  of  education 
and  consistent  alike  in  jtretense  and  practice. 

He  was  for  many  years  trustee  of  Howard  Col- 
lege; is  at  present  a  trustee  of  Dallas  Academy; 
has  been  continuously  pi'esident  of  the  Alabama 
J^aptist  Convention  since  18T4,  and  is  one  of  the 
trustees  of  the  .Vgricultural  and  Afechanical  Col- 
lege at  Auburn.  He  is  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
Commercial  Bank  of  Selma,  and  its  vice-president, 
and  is  largely  interested  in  agriculture. 

Judge  Haralson  was  first  married  near  Colum- 
bus, (Ja.,  in  IS.iS,  to  a  daughter  of  the  late  John 
W.  Thompson,  of  that  place.  She  died  in  18G7, 
in  I'aris,  France,  whither  she  had  accompanied 
her  husband  the  jirevious  year.  He  was  married 
a  second  time  at  Selma  in  .May,  ISOS,  to  Miss  Lida 
.1.  McFadden,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Hobert  H.  Mc- 
i'adden,  of  (ireensboro,  Ala. 

'     ■  'J'  'fSjtM"  *V  •     • 

PLEASANT  GREEN  WOOD  was  born  near 
Centerville,  in  Bibb  County,  Ala.,  January  31, 
183'^.  When  about  si.x  years  of  age  he  removed, 
with  his  mother  to  Cahaba.  where  he  received 
such  education  as  the  common  schools  of  that  day 
couhi  furnish.  During  his  leisure  hours,  while 
attending  school,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study 
of  tclegrajihy,  and  after  having  become  proficient 
in  tluit  art,  was  given  charge  of  the  company's 
office  at  Cahaba.     He  remained  in  tiiis  position 


about  two  years,  when  he  was  given  a  "sit'"  on 
the  Dallas  Gazette,  a  paper  then  published  at 
Cahaba. 

In  1852  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office 
of  Jlessrs.  Dawson  vi  Pegues,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1854.  He  then  devoted  himself  to 
the  practice  of  his  profession  till  the  commence- 
ment of  the  civil  war,  at  which  time  he  enlisted 
in  the  Twenty-eighth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  was 
made  first  lieutenant  of  Com])any  I.  He  served 
during  the  entire  war  with  this  regiment,  and  at 
the  close  of  hostilities  held  the  rank  of  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  regiment,  having  been  three  times 
promoted  on  the  field  for  bravery.  Immediately 
after  the  surrender  of  the  Confederate  armies,  he 
returned  to  his  home  and  resumed  the  practice  of 
law.  In  18G<1  he  was  elected  .Judge  of  the  City 
Court,  and  resigned  immediately  after  the  passage 
of  the  Heconsti'uction  Act. 

Retiring  from  the  bench,  .Judge  Wood,  at 
Selma,  resumed  practice  at  the  bar. 

In  18TT  he  was  appointed  by  (Jov.  George  S. 
Houston  to  the  I'robate  Judgeship  of  Dallas 
County;  in  1880  he  was  elected  to  that  office  by 
the  people  of  his  county,  and  in  ISSfJ,  was  re- 
elected; each  time  without  opposition. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  been,  since  boy- 
hood, a  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  He  is  the  present  president  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Sel- 
ma, and  also  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  South- 
ern University, — the  only  male  institution  of 
learning  endowed  and  sustained  by  the  Methodist 
Church  in  Alabama. 

Judge  Wood  has  tieen  twice  married,  having 
wedded  Miss  Kate  Webb, of  Greene  County,  X.  Y., 
on  the  seventh  day  of  February,  185ti,  and  after 
her  death  in  18T4,he  married  .Miss  Julia  V.  Roach, 
of  Charleston,  S.  C,  on  the  fifth  day  of  August, 
1875. 

He  has  been  for  many  yars  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  Conimcroial  Bank  of  Selma. 

SAMUEL  W.  JOHN.  Attomey-at-law,  Selma, 
was  born  at  L'niontown,  Perry  Co.,  this  State, 
June  29.  1845,  and  is  a  son  of  the  Hon.  .Joseph  R. 
John.  He  was  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Alabama  in  18i!o,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
.June,  ISGO.     He  entered  the  army  during  the  first 


674 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


year  of  tlie  late  war,  as  a  private  in  Company  F, 
Third  Kegimont  of  Alabama  Cavalry,  and  on  the 
expiration  of  iiis  term  of  enlistment  left  the  service, 
on  account  of  his  yontli,  and  returned  to  school. 
Kver  since  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  has  been 
regularly  at  the  practice,  and  it  is  proper  to  state 
that  he  occupies  a  high  rank  in  the  profession. 

Mr.  John  was  solicitor  of  Dallas  County  in  1,^71 
and  187".J,  and  has  been  in  the  Legislature  contin- 
uously since  18K-i.  In  the  Legislature  he  is  one  of 
the  most  active  members,  and  many  of  the  most 
salutary  laws  are  to  be  credited  to  his  efforts.  In 
the  reformation  of  the  convict  system  he  took  a 
leading  part:  he  was  the  author  of  the  law  of  increas- 
ing the  jurisdiction  of  the  justices  of  the  peace 
of  Dallas  County;  also  of  tlie  law  prohibiting  the 
system  of  "rebates,"  and  the  Dallas  Jury  Law, 
which  insures  the  best  juries  possible;  and  many 
other  similar  statutes  are  due  almost  entirely  to 
his  wisdom.  One  of  the  most  important  changes 
in  the  old  laws  of  Alabama,  that  of  the  Rights  of 
Married  Women,  is  to  be  credited  to  Mr.  John. 
In  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  the  most  honor- 
able committee  of  the  lower  house.  He  was  also 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Codification  of 
tlie  Alabannx  Laws,  and  the  author  of  the  law  pro- 
viding for  the  establi-shment  of  an  Experiment 
Station  at  L^niontown.  He  was  one  of  the  organ- 
izers of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  of  which 
he  is  now  a  life  member. 

Mr.  .John  is  also  the  author  of  the  law  making 
gambling  a  felony  in  this  State.  In  April,  ISS.i, 
he  organized  the  Third  Regiment  of  State  troops 
of  which  he  is,  and  ha.-*  been  since  its  organization, 
the  colonel.  The  present  jiopular  military  laws 
of  the  State  are  almost  entirely  due  to  the  efforts 
of  Colonel  John  and  Col.  Thomas  0.  Jones  of 
Montgomery.  The  law  providing  for  the  indict- 
ment of  cor])orations,  and  requiring  judges  to  fix 
the  amount  of  bail  as  soon  as  an  indictment  is 
found,  are  due  to  his  genius,  as  well  as  the  law 
amending  the  school  fund  statute,  providing  that 
the  money  shall  be  paid  into  the  State  Treasury, 
instead  of  distributed  as  heretofore.  He  was  the 
author  of  the  law  providing  for  an  expert  exam- 
iner of  public  oflicers'  accounts.  Thus  it  will  be 
seen  that  .Vlabaina  has  probably  never  had  a  more 
indu.strious  legislator  tlum  Colonel  John.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  Knights  of 
Honor.  Ancient  C>nler  United  Workmen  and  of 
the   Mctliodist   Kpi-ci)pal  Clnu'Oi.  South. 


As  a  speaker  Colonel  John  is  ranked  among  the 
foremost  of  the  State,  and  as  a  writer  he  is  fluent, 
polished,  logical  and  readable.  The  history  of 
Selma.  as  found  in  this  volume,  was  written  by 
Mr.  John,  and  is  one  of  the  most  elegantly  pre- 
pared chapters  in  the  book. 

JOHN    FINLEY     WHITE.     Attorney-at-law, 

Selma,  was  liorii  at  Tall.nlega.  this  State,  March 
.3.  1S51,  and  is  the  eldest  sdu  of  Capt.  John 
White. 

He  was  educated  at  Caliaba — Stonewall  Institute 
— and  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  from  which 
latter  school  he  was  graduated  in  ISTL  During 
ISTI,  187'^.  and  part  of  1873,  he  was  clerking  in  a 
mercantile  establishment  in  New  Orleans,  and,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-four  years,  in  the  office  with 
his  father,  began  the  study  of  law.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1874,  and  has  since  that  time 
been  regularly  in  the  practice.  The  firm  of  which 
he  is  now  a  member.  White  &  White,  is  composed 
of  himself  and  Capt.  John  White,  whose  sketch 
apjiears  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

John  F.  White,  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  was 
Covernor  Cobb's  adjutant-general  during  l)Oth 
that  gentlennin's  terms  of  office,  and  was  by  Gov- 
ernor O'Neal  appointed  brigadier-general  of  mili- 
tia. He  was  appointed  city  attorney  for  the  city 
of  .Selma  in  ISSO.  and  has  been  since  regularly 
continued  in  that  office.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  session  of  18S4-.">,  and  there  bore 
himself  in  a  manner  in  full  keeping  with  his 
exalted  character  and  reputation. 

Colonel  White  is  a  good  lawver.  a  shrewd 
politician,  an  eloquent  si)eaker,  and  a  gentleman 
of  high  re]nite.  He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason, 
a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor,  and  a  com- 
municant of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

While  in  the  Legislature,  Colonel  White  served 
on  the  Committee  on  Corporations,  Committees 
on  I'ublic  Huildings  and  Institutions,  Accounts 
and  Claims,  .Military,  and  was  the  author  of  the 
bill  to  protect  and  encourage  industries  in  the 
State,  and  the  law  providing  against  strikes. 

He  was  married  October,  1S7'>.  in  Clark  County, 
this  State,  to  Miss  Alice  C.  Jackson,  who  died  in 
November,  1879.  The  present  Mrs.  White,  nee 
Miss  Sadie  Waller  Nelson,  is  a  daughter  of  the 
late  A.  S.  Nelson,  of  (ireensboro. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


675 


T.  B.  ROY,  attoriu'V-iit-law,  Selma.  was  born 
Octoljer  VI.  1.S38,  near  Front  IJoyal,  Wari'eii 
County.  Va..  anil  is  the  son  of  honorable  parent- 
age, traciiij;  their  ancestry  back  to  the  early  set- 
tlers of  the  01(1  Dominion,  ami  among  whom  have 
been  men  clistinguishetl  in  both  C'hureli  anil  State. 

April  18,  18t!l,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier 
in  Company  B,  Seventeenth  Virginia  Infantry, 
and  was  snbsef|uently  promoted  successively  to 
captain,  major  and  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 
Adjutant-General's  Department.  Confederate 
States  of  America.  In  April,  isi;-^,  he  was  ap- 
pointed adjutant-general  and  chief  of  staff  to 
Lieutenant-General  Hardee,  and  held  that  position 
to  the  close  of  the  war. 

Colonel  Hoy  participated  in  the  battles  of  Siii- 
loh.  I'erryville,  Murfreesboro.  Missionary  Ridge, 
the  Daltou  and  Atlanta  campaign,  the  battles  of 
Atlanta,  siege  of  Savannah,  the  battles  of  Ayres- 
boro  av.d  Hentonville.  X.  C.  He  was  in  active 
service  from  April  18th,  1861,  to  Johnson's  sur- 
render at  Greensboro,  N.  C.,  April.  18()."). 

Having  been  educated  for  the  bar,  at  the  close 
of  hostilities.  Colonel  Roy  settled  down  to  the 
practice  of  law.  He  came  to  Selma  in  1867,  and 
soon  afterward  became  a  member  of  the  firm 
known  for  five  years  as  Brooks,  Haralson  &  Roy. 
After  the  retirement  of  .Judge  Haralson,  the  firm 
of  Mrooks  &  Roy  continued  for  ten  years.  Judge 
Brooks  having  removed  to  Birmingham,  Colonel 
Roy  is  at  this  time  unassociated  in  the  ))ractice. 
He  is  recognized  as  a  polished,  scholarly  gentle- 
man, standing  high  in  the  legal  i)rofession,  and 
in  the  esteem  of  all  those  who  claim  his  acfjuaint- 
ance.  He  is  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Commer- 
cial Bank  of  Selnni. 

Colonel  Roy  was  married,  April  18.  ISTI,  to 
Miss  .*^allie  Hardee.  He  is  a  communicant  of  the 
H|>iscopal  Church,  and  has  been  vestryman  of 
St.  Paul's  Cliurcii.  Selma.  for  seventeen  vears. 


-»-^ 


JOSEPH  REED  JOHN.  :.  retiri-d  lawyer  of 
some  distinction,  was  born  at  Mecklenburg.  N. 
C.  March  16,  1814.  His  father  was  Abel  John, 
of  that  State,  and  his  mother's  famiiv  name  was 
Reed. 

The  John  family  came  originally  fi'om  Wales, 
and  this  i)articiilar  branch  of  the  Rteds  was 
Scotch-Irish.     'I'lie  J(dins  settled   first   in   renn- 


sylvauia.  removing  thence  into  South  Carolina, 
and  later  on  into  the  North  State,  whence,  as 
has  been  seen,  they  came  into  Alabama. 

Joseph  R.  .John  was  educated  at  the  common 
and  high  scliools  of  his  native  State;  visited  Ala- 
bama ill  1836,  and  the  following  year  located  at 
Uniontown.  Here  he  began  the  study  of  law 
with  Col.  C.  W.  Lee,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1830.  From  the  time  of  his  coming  to  the  bar 
up  to  IS.iO,  he  practiced  law  at  Uniontown.  In 
.lanuary,  of  tne  latter  year,  he  came  to  Selma, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  While  a  resident  of 
Perry  County  he  held  the  office  for  a  time  of 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  in  1847  represented 
that  county  in  tlie  Legislature.  In  1862  he  was 
Mayor  of  Selma,  and  in  1863  was  appointed 
Chancellor  of  the  iliddle  Division,  which  office  he 
was  holding  at  the  time  of  the  overthrow  of  the 
State  Government  by  the  Federals  in  1805.  Since 
that  time  Mr.  .John  has  neither  sought  nor  held 
any  political  oflice.  He  devoted  his  time  to  the 
practice  of  law  until  1883. 

Another  biographer  says  of  him:  "  Chancellor 
John  is  a  profound  lawyer,  and  a  citizen  of  the 
highest  moral  and  social  standing." 

Jlr.  John  has  always  been  more  or  less  identified 
with  the  very  best  interests  of  education.  The 
excellent  school  system  of  Uniontown  is  due  lo  his 
efforts,  and  the  Dallas  Academy,  of  which  he  was 
many  years  a  trustee,  is  jn'obably  the  result  of  his 
labors.  He  was  one  of  the  original  organizers  of 
the  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  (ieorgia  Railway 
(then  the  East  &  West  Alabama),  and  as  attorney, 
procured  its  right  of  way,  its  charier,  and  the  sub- 
sequent appropriations  to  its  construction.  Dur- 
ing the  war  his  sympathies  were  with  the  South, 
and  it  was  under  his  direction  that  the  fortifica- 
tions at  Selma  were  constructed.  He  was  ap- 
pointed receiver  by  the  court  to  take  and  care  for 
the  property  of  Northern  people  sequestered  here 
during  the  conflict,  and  in  that  capacity  became 
for  a  time  the  trustee  of  immense  sums  in  money 
and  valuables. 

Chancellor  John  has  always  taken  an  active  part 
in  politics  and  has  been  one  of  the  most  jiersistent 
and  effective  workers  in  the  Democratic  party. 
He  is  also  equally  interested  in  the  cause  of 
temperance,  to  which  he  has  given  much  of  iiis 
time.  At  this  writing  he  has  completely  retired 
from  active  labor,  and  is  spending  the  declining 
years  of  his  life  in  absoluie  quietude  at  his  beauti- 
ful residence  in  the  citv  of  Selma. 


676 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


He  was  married  at  Mecklenburg,  X.  C,  in  1837, 
to  Miss  Jiine  Smitli,  of  that  place,  and  has  had 
born  to  him  five  sons  uiid  two  daughters. 

GASTON  ALEXANDER  ROBBINS  is  prominent 

uiiiiinir  the  rcjirc-i'iiuttivf  men  of  Alabama.  He 
was  born  September  "^0,  1659,  and  is  the  son  of 
the  late  Capt.  .Julius  A.  Hobbins. 

Captain  bobbins,  the  fatlier  of  tlie  subject  of 
tliis  sketcli,  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  a 
graduate  of  the  University  of  that  State.  He 
married  ^liss  Alford,  of  Eastern  Carolina,  a  lineal 
descendant  of  Henry  Alford,  Dean  of  Canterbury, 
and  removed  to  Selma,  Ala.,  where  he  commenced 
the  practice  of  law.  iSoon  afterward.  Alabama 
acceded  from  the  Union,  and  he  was  one  of  the 
first  to  answer  the  call  for  volunteers.  After 
spending  four  years  in  active  service,  lie  was  killed, 
just  before  the  surrender,  at  Mt.  Sterling,  Ky., 
while  leading  a  cavalry  charge,  made  by  a  division 
of  the  brigade  of  (ien.  John  H.  Morgan. 

His  company  was  composed  of  citizens  from 
Dallas  County,  and  of  Jones  Valley,  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  Birmingham.  The  valor  of  the  "  Robbins 
boys"  is  well-known  to  the  soldiery  of  the  State. 
and  particularly  to  the  remnant  of  the  Fourth 
Alabama  Regiment.  Four  of  the  six  brothers  were 
killed  in  their  country's  service. 

Gaston  A.  Robbins  is  the  only  male  representa- 
tive of  the  family  now  living  in  Alabama.  He 
graduated  at  Chapel  Hill,  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  in  187!i.  The  Supreme  Court  of  that 
State  granted  him  license  to  practice  law,  when  he 
immediately  returned  to  his  home  and  began  the 
practiee'of  his  chosen  profession. 

In  18S1.  Mr.  Robins  became  the  editor  of  the 
Soulhern  An/iis,  published  in  Selma.  This  paper 
was  for  some  years  successfully  conducted  by  him 
and  finally  sold  to  the  Times  rublisliing  Company, 
and,  by  consolidation,  became  the  Time.i  Aifjvs. 

He  was  elected  by  the  Democratic  State  Con- 
vention of  18S4,  the  Presidential  elector  for  the 
Fourth  Congressional  District.  (The  Democratic 
electors  of  .Mabama  were  elected  by  a  hundred 
thousand  majority).  He  therefore  had  the  privi- 
lege of  voting  for  the  first  Democratic  president 
after  the  war. 

Mr.  Robbins  has  applied  liimself  closely  to  the 
practice  of  the  legnl  jirofession,  and  with  a  dis- 
tinguished degree  of  success. 


FRANCIS  F.  PETTUS,  Attorney-at-law,  Selma, 
son  111'  (ieii.  K.  W.  I'ettus.  is  a  graduate  of  David- 
son (.\.  C.)  College;  read  law  with  his  father,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  18TU.  Since  that  date, 
with  the  exception  of  the  years  1S81-84,  spent  as 
secretary  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he  has  devoted 
his  time  to  the  profession,  and  attained  enviable 
rank  therein.     He  was  elected  to  the  Legislature 

I   in  1880,  and,  as  a  member  of  the  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee and  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means, 

'   performed  much  valuable  service. 

Mr.  Pettus  is  a  prominent  member  of  the   ila- 

I   sonic  fraternity  and  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

I    He  was  married  at  Selma,  in  1880,  to  Miss  Mary 

1   Knox,   daughter  of   the  late    William  S.    Knox, 

'   Esq. 


GEORGE  H.  CRAIG,  son  of  James  D.  and 
Elvira  S.  ( Herry)  Craig,  natives  of  South  Carolina 
and  Mississijjjii,  and  descendants  of  Scotch-Irish 
and  English  ancestry,  respectively,  was  born  at 
Cahaba,  December  '^."1,  184,5. 

The  senior  Mr.  Craig  wasa  lawyer  by  profession 
and  held  office  many  years  under  the  old  riijimc 
as  Clerk  of  the  County  Court  of  Dallas  County. 
He  removed  to  California  in  18T4.  and  was  there 
filling  the  office  of  Master  and  Examiner  in 
Chancery  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
at  SanFranciscoin  February,  1882.  He  was  eighty- 
three  years  of  age. 

The  subject  of  this  sketcii  was  educated  at  the 
I'niversity  of  Alabama,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
years,  entered  the  army  as  a  lieutenant  of  Company 
C,  Alabama  Corps  Cadets,  and  was  in  the  service 
about  twelve  months. 

He  began  the  study  of  law  in  18f;.")  in  the  office 
of  White  &  Portiss,  and  was  admitted  to  the  l>ar 
December  •-.':.  18G6.  Of  the  firm  of  White.  Por- 
tiss &  Craig,  ne  practiced  law  until  February  I8t!7, 
when  he  was  elected  l)y  the  Hoard  of  Commissioners 
to  the  office  of  County  Solicitor.  It  may  be  re- 
marked, however,  that  Federal  tJeneral  Pojie 
never  allowed  him  to  discharge  tlie  duties  of  the 
office.  In  18(18,  the  Governor  appointed  him 
Sheriff  of  Dallas  County,  and  he  held  that  office  one 
year.  He  was  but  twenty-four  years  of  age 
when  elected  Judge  of  the  Criminal  Courtof  Dal- 
las County,  and  was  but  twenty-eight  years  of  age 
when  Governor  Lewis  appointed  him  Circuit 
Judge  to  fill  out  an  unexpired  term.  At  the  ex- 
piration of  this  ajipoiiitiaent  he  was  elected  Judge 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


677 


of  the  Circuit,  held  tho  office  one  term,  six  years, 
and  declined  re-election,  to  resume  the  practice 
of  law.  In  188:2,  lie  was  the  Kepublioan  candidate 
for  Congress,  nominally  defeated  at  the  polls,  but 
given  his  seat  after  a  contest.  At  the  e.xpiration 
of  his  term  in  Congress,  he  was  appointed  by  Tres- 
ident  Arthur  as  United  States  Attorney  for  the 
Northern  and  Middle  Distriots  of  Alabama,  and 
held  that  othce  until  July,  1885.  Since  retiring 
from  officii  he  has  devoted  his  time  to  the  law, 
and  is  at  this  writing  senior  memberof  the  firm  of 
Craig  &  Craig,  one  of  tlie  leading  law  firms  of 
Sehna. 

lie  was  married  at  Selma,  April  15,  1868,  to 
Miss  Alvina  White,  the  accomplished  daughter  of 
Capt.  John  White,  and  has  had  born  to  him  five 
children — three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

FRANK  BOYKIN.  jF.,'rax  Collector  for  Uallas 
County,  son  of  Frank  lioykin,  native  of  .South 
Carolina,  was  born  in  this  county,  Jfarch  3, 
184"2.  He  was  attending  the  University  of 
Virginia  at  the  outbreak  of  the  l"ate  war,  atid  left 
that  institution  to  enter  the  army  in  April,  1861. 
In  Wilcox  County,  where  the  family  was  then 
residing,  he  joined  the  Alabama  Mounted  Hifies 
as  a  private,  but  served  only  a  few  months,  ill- 
health  necessitating  his  discharge.  After  a  few 
months  at  home,  having  in  a  degree  regained  his 
health,  he  joined  the  Second  Alabama  Cavalry, 
and  at  the  organization  of  that  regiment  in  the 
spring  of  18<!"-i,  was  made  sergeant-major.  In 
the  spring  of  1863,  while  campaigning  in  North- 
ern (ieorgia,  he  was  promoted  to  lieutenant  for 
gallantry  on  the  battle-field.  The  promotion  was 
in  compliance  with  an  Act  of  Congress  and  an 
order  of  the  War  Department — the  order  setting 
forth,  among  other  things,  that  the  commission 
was  issued  in  consideration  of  "  Particular  skill 
and  valor  upon  every  battle-field  upon  which  he 
(Frank  Boykin)  was  engaged." 

Lieutenant  Boykin  was  assigned  to  the  .staff  of 
Colonel  Earle.  with  the  rank  of  regimental  adju- 
tant, and  was  with  Earle,  who  was  afterward 
a  brigadier-general,  until  the  death  of  the  latter, 
which  occurred  late  in  lb64.  After  the  death  of 
(ieneral  Earle,  Lieutenant  Boykin  wasassigned  to 
the  staff  of  (Jeneral  Ferguson,  and  with  him  sur- 
rendered at  Washington,  Ga.,  to  which  point  they 
had  escorted  President  Davis  from  South  Carolina. 


(Lieutenant  Boykin,  under  special  orders  from 
General  Ferguson,  had  escorted  John  C.  Breck- 
inridge, Secretary  of  War,  to  Washington,  Ga.) 

While  in  the  service,  he  participated  in  all  the 
cavalry  engagements  from  Kesaca  to  Savannah. 
At  the  close  of  the  war,  he  returned  to  Alabama, 
and  in  Dallas  County,  took  charge  of  his  father's 
plantations,  and  gave  his  attention  to  cotton  rais- 
ing until  1880.  In  1878,  he  was  the  unanimous 
choice  of  the  Democratic  Convention  for  repre- 
sentative to  the  Legislature,  and  was  one  of  the 
first  members  returned  as  a  Democrat  from  this 
county  after  the  war.  He  was  elected  Tax  Col- 
lector in  1882  and  re-elected  in  1884. 

Captain  Boykin  has  been  ratlier  active  in  poli- 
tics ever  since  1878,  and  was  chairman  of  the  del- 
egation in  the  interest  of  Colonel  N.  II.  K.  Dawson 
(campaign  of  1886),  for  Governor,  and  managed 
the  interests  of  his  candidate  with  commendable 
skill.  During  the  days  of  Republican  rule,  he 
was  OMe  of  the  most  active-  and  persistent  Demo- 
cratic workers,  and  distinguished  himself  as  a 
member  of  the  "  Lightning  Committee.'' 

He  was  married  in  Dallas  County,  1865,  to  a 
daughter  of  the  late  Burwell  Boykin,  Esq.,  and 
has  had  born  to  him  two  sons  and  a  daughter: 
the  former  a  graduate  of  Auburn.  The  family 
are  communicants   of  the  Ej)iscopal  Church. 

BENJAMIN  H.  CRAIG,  Attorney-at-Iaw,  and 
Register  in  Chancery,  Selma,  was  born  at 
Cahaba,  April  27,  1835,  and  is  a  son  of  James 
D.  t'raig,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and  of  Irish 
descent. 

The  Craigs  were  among  the  first  settlers  in 
Dallas  County,  and  many  relatives  of  the  family 
now  reside  here. 

B.  H.  Craig  was  educated  at  Oglethorpe  Col- 
lege, Milledgeville,  Ga.,  and  graduated  therefrom 
in  1856.  Immediately  after  leaving  college  lie 
began  reading  law  at  Cahaba  with  Gayle  &  Will- 
iams, and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1857.  He 
was  in  the  practice  when  the  war  broke  out,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1862  went  into  the  service  as 
quartermaster-sergeant,  being  promoted  some- 
time afterward  to  the  rank  of  <|uartermaster  in 
the  Forty-second  .\labama.  After  the  surrender 
of  Vicksburg  he  left  the  service  on  accoutit  of  ill- 
health.     His  wife  was  visiting  him   when  C! rant's 


678 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Army  invested  Vicksbnrg.  tiiiis  she  became  a 
prisoner  witii  him  diiriiifr  that  memorable  siege. 

He  was  appointed  Register  in  Chancery  by 
Judge  Hyrd  in  ISi;:},  and  has  held  the  office  con- 
tinuously since  that  time.  With  the  exception  of 
John  F.  Conly,  who  became  a  Hepublican,  Captain 
Craig  W!i8  the  only  officer  retained  during  tlie 
period  of  Reconstruction,  and  when  tlie  new  Con- 
stitution went  into  effect  he  was  the  only  Demo- 
crat in  office  in  the  State.  January,  1887,  he 
formed  a  law  partnersliip  with  his  brother, 
the  Iloti.  (Jeorge  H.  Craig. 

Caj)tain  Craig  was  married  at  Milledgeville, 
Ga.,  in  December,  18.5C,  to  a  Miss  Tucker.  She 
died  at  Selma  in  December,  1808,  leaving  two 
sons  and  two  daughters.  'J"he  eldest  son,  James 
H.,  is  now  a  banker  in  Rutte  County,  Neb.  The 
daughters  are  married.  One  is  a  Mrs.  II.  M.  Tan- 
ner, and  the  other  Mrs.  R.  B.  McAlpine.  The 
Captain's  second  marriage  occurred  at  Selma  in 
18T0  to  Miss  Weedon.  She  died  in  May,  1884. 
The  present  .Mrs.  Craig  was  a  .Miss  Barr,  of  Jack- 
son, Miss.  The  family  are  members  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

«"!^5^-<^ 

REV.  THOMAS  W.  HOOPER.  D.  D.,  Pastor 
in  cliai-;:o  nf  \\\y  l'ii->t  I'rr.-liytc-rian  Church,  of 
Selma;  Trustee  of  llampdeii-Sidney  College,  Vir- 
ginia; Director  in  the  t'olumbia  Theological  Sem- 
inary, South  Carolina;  Member  of  the  Executive 
Committee  Colored  Theological  Institute,  and  of 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Orphans'  Home, 
Tuskegee,  Ala.,  is  a  native  of  Hanover  County, 
Va.,  and  was  born  November  'i,  \&i.  His 
father  was  Josepli  Hooper,  a  native  of  Virginia, 
and  a  descendant  from  the  Hoopers,  one  of  whom, 
William,  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pen<lence. 

.loscph  Hooper  was  a  farmer,  mill  owner  ami 
lumber  manufacturer  in  his  day.  He  died  in  Han- 
nover County,  Va..  in  18.">'i,  at  the  age  of  forty-five 
years.  His  wife,  before  marriage,  was  Miss  Haw. 
of  \'irginia,  and  a  descendant  probably  from  Irish 
parentage.  Shedied  in  Richmond,  Va..  in  18S1.  ut 
tlie  age  of  seventy-three  years. 

The  subject  of  tiiis  sketch  was  educateil  pri- 
marily in  Hanover  County,  and  graduated  from 
Hampden-Sidney  College  as  A.  B.  in  18.i.">,  with 
the  first  honors  of  his  class.  From  Hampden- 
Sidney,  he  went  to  the  Union  Theological  Semi- 


nary, of  New  York,  and  from  there  returned  to 
Union  Seminary,  Va.,  completed  a  theological 
couise.  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in  18.")T.  In 
18.")8,  he  was  ordained  at  Pole  (Jreen,  and  was 
installed  pastor  of  Pole  Green  and  Salem 
Churches,  where  he  preached  five  years.  From 
Hanover  he  went  to  Liberty,  ^'a  ,  as  pastor  and 
chaplain  of  the  hospital,  and  remained  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  was  next  at  Christians- 
burg  five  years;  thence  to  Lynchburg,  where 
he  was  in  charge  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  up  to  the  time  of  his  coming  to  Selma  and 
to  his  jiresent  charge  (18T(i).  In  18T:J,  he  visited 
Europe  on  a  pleasure  trip,  taking  in  the  World's 
Fair  at  Vienna,  and  in  1884  he  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Presbyterian  Alliance  which  met  at  Belfast, 
Ireland.  While  abroad,  his  letters  (published) 
under  the  caption  of  a  "  Memphian's  View  of 
Europe  '"  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention,  and 
showed  him  to  be  a  man  of  versatile  literary  attain- 
ment. He  was  instrumental  in  the  compilation 
and  publication  of  a  popular  book  of  family 
worship:  his  sermons  and  addresses  have  been  pub- 
lished, and  his  monograph,  "Our  Pastor's  View 
of  the  People,  as  Seen  by  Himself,"  and  his 
lectures  on  his  travels  of  LST-'J,  delivered  for 
benevolent  purposes,  are  all  replete  with  interest 
and  disclose  much  originality  of  thought.  Tiie 
title  of  D.  D.  was  conferred  upon  him  in  ]8T<i  by 
Roanoke  College,  Salem,  \'a. 

Dr.  Hooper  was  married  at  Liberty,  \'a.,  Jan- 
uary 18,  18'!(),  to  Miss  Lettie  W.  Johnson, 
daughter  of  James  F.  Johnson,  Esq.,  a  prominent 
lawyer  and  politician  of  that  place,  and  has  living 
four  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  buried  two 
infants,  and  a  little  girl  at  the  age  of  ten  years. 
One  of  his  sons  is  a  student  at  Hampden-Sidney 
C'oliegc.  one  is  a  book-keejjor,  and  the  third  is  in 
mercantile  business. 

The  Doctor  is  a  Knight  Teniplar  Mason,  and  a 
Knight  of  Honor. 


"»-'i^^-  <»•   ■ 


HAMILTON  C.  GRAHAM,  Editor-in-chief  of 
the  Si'lnia  Tiiiits,  a  daily  morning  llemocratic 
paper  of  a  large  and  growing  circulation,  was 
born  in  Warren  County,  N.  ('.,  July  -id,  1,S40. 
He  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  North  Car- 
olina, which  institution  conferred  upon  him  the 
degrees  of  A.  B.  and  A.  M.  Before  entering 
Chajiel  Hill,  he  spent  three  years  at  Trinity  Col- 


^^=5^2£^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


679 


lege,  Iliirtfonl.  Conn.  Tie  left  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  to  enter  the  army,  and  became  a 
member  of  Hamsenr's  Artillery  as  a  jtrivate.  At 
tlie  end  of  four  months,  he  was  promoted  tolieu- 
teiiaut.  and  assigned  to  the  Twenty-second  \orth 
Carolina  Infantry.  At  the  end  of  twelve  months, 
he  was  transferred  to  tlie  Seventli  North  Carolina 
Infantry.  He  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
(iaines' Mill,  and  promoted  captain  of  his  com- 
pany. .\flerward  lie  was  assigned  to  (ieneral 
Hroeiiinridge's  staff  in  Southwest  Virginia  as 
judge-advocate  of  that  department.  He  remained 
ill  tiiat  position  to  tlie  close  of  the  war,  at  which 
time  lie  came  to  Dallas  County,  ami  engaged  at 
planting.  In  1870,  Governor  Houston  ap[)ointed 
him  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court,  a  position  he  held 
four  years.  In  1884.  he  represented  Dallas 
County  in  the  Legislature,  and  in  November, 
188(>,  identified  himself  with  the  Times. 

He  is  a  public  speaker  of  rare  force  and  ability, 
and  as  a  newspaper  man,  he  ranks  among  the  fore- 
most of  the  State. 

At  New  Heme,  N.  C,  in  1885,  he  delivered  the 
address  at  tlie  unveiling  of  the  Confederate  monu- 
ment, in  response  to  a  special  invitation  of  the 
ladies  of  that  city. 

(laptain  (Jraliam  was  married,  in  Dallas  Countj', 
July.  188().  to  Miss  Mary  J.  Moseley,  daughter  of 
L.  li.  Moseley,   Ksq. 

■  •  ■  ■  0-  '^^^-^  ^—^ 

ALEXANDER  WILLIAMSON  JONES  was  born 
November  :!,  1840,  in  Somerville.  I'ayette 
County.  Tenn.  His  father,  the  late  Honorable 
Calvin  Jones,  Chancellor  of  the  Northern  District 
of  Tennessee  for  a  period  of  eight  years,  was  a 
North  Carolinian  of  English  e.xtraction.  and  was 
educated  at  Chapel  Hill,  University  of  North 
Carolina,  receiving  the  first  honorsin  a  large  class. 
His  mother,  Mildred  Williamson,  also  of  North 
( 'arolina,  was  of  Scotch  parentage,  she  being  of  the 
first  generation  in  the  United  States.  His  father, 
after  retiring  from  the  Bench,  continued  in  the 
active  practice  of  law  until  his  last  illness.  He 
died  on  the  8th  of  Marcli,  18(jS,  in  the  seventy- 
eighth  year  of  his  age.  His  mother  is  still  living 
at  the  family  residence,  near  Somerville,  Tenn., 
in  her  seventy-first  year. 

Alexander  W.  Jones  received  his  preparatory 
education  in  the  schools  of  his  native  county,  and 
afterward  a  classical  education  at  West  Tennessee 


College,  located  at  Jackson.  Selecting  medicine 
as  his  profession,  he  prei>ared  himself  under 
the  guidance  of  Dr.  A.  J.  I'eebles.  of  Som- 
erville, Tenn.,  then  attended  the  usual  course  of 
lectures,  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  com- 
pleting the  same  in  the  spring  of  18G1.  Return- 
ing to  his  home  immediately  after  the  Southern 
States  had  commenced  to  withdraw  from  the 
Union,  ke  early  enlisted  in  the  volunteer  troops  of 
Tennessee  as  private  in  the  Di.xie  Kifles, Thirteenth 
Tennessee  Infantry,  then  stationed  at  Randolph, 
Tenn..  on  the  Mississippi  I!iver.  He  remained 
with  his  regiment  until  some  time  after  it  had 
moved  to  New  Madrid.  Mo.  While  there  he  was 
appointed  to  a  position  in  the  medical  department, 
State  Troops,  and  afterward,  when  mustered  into 
the  Confederate  service,  was  appointed  assistant 
surgeon  and  ordered  before  the  Confederate  States 
Examining  Board  of  Surgeons,  composed  of  Doc- 
tors Ross,  Miller  and  Hall,  at  Mobile,  Ala.  Pass- 
ing the  e.xainiuation  with  credit,  he  was  ordered 
back  to  duty  at  the  Confederate  States  Hospitals  at 
Lauderdale  Springs,  -Miss.,  where  he  had  been  on 
duty  since  the  battle  of  Shiloh;  remaining  at  this 
point  nntil  1802,  he  was  ordered  to  Port  Hud- 
son, La.  While  at  that  place,  early  in  1803,  he 
was  again  examined  by  the  Confederate  States 
Examining  Board,  composed  of  Drs.  0.  B.  Knode, 
J.  F.  Fauntleroy  and  (ieorge  Maughs,  easily  pass- 
ing his  examination  for  surgeon.  Before  the  sur- 
render of  Port  Hudson,  he  was  ordered  back  to 
Jackson,  Miss.,  and  then  to  Lauderdale  Springs, 
(after  Vicksburg  had  fallen):  remaining  there 
until  November  1803.  Then  orders  came  for 
.Surgeon  Jones  to  report  to  Gen.  .Stephen  D. 
Lee,  in  command  of  the  district  of  North  Missis- 
sippi. Reporting  promptly  to  this  officer,  then 
with  his  command  at  New  Albany,  Miss.,  Surgeon 
Jones,  was,  at  the  request  of  (ieneral  Forrest,  who 
was  present,  assigned  to  his  (Forrest's)  command. 
At  that  time  (ieneral  Forrest  had  orders  to  i)ro- 
ceed  to  West  Tennessee,  and  organize  for  his  spe- 
cial command  a  cavalry  force  to  consist  of  one  or 
more  brigades,  having  as  a  nucleus  for  his  opera- 
tions one  battalion  of  cavalry  and  one  four-gun 
battery.  (_'ros8ing  the  Memphis  it  Charleston 
Railroad,  under  the  escort  of  Stephen  D.  Lee's 
cavalry,  driving  off  the  Federal  troops  guarding 
that  road,  lie  with  liis  battalion  and  battery,  ren- 
dezvoused at  Jackson,  Tenn.,  and  there  ojiened  a 
recruiting  camp  for  volunteers  and  conscripts, 
and,  sending  for  Surgeon  Jones,  ordered  him  to 


€80 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


organize  a  medical  examining  board  for  conscripts, 
of  wliich  he  was  to  be  president,  instructing  him 
not  to  allow  an^'one  excused  who  could  stand 
ninetj-  days'  service.  Under  this  stern  and  posi- 
tive order,  but  few  were  excused  from  military 
duty,  and  the  result  was  that  Forrest  soon  had 
a  large  number  of  unarmed  men,  which  he  car- 
ried through  the  enemy's  lines  successfully, 
had  them  efiuipj^ed  and  armed,  and,  with  this 
■command,  made  himself  still  more  distinguished 
by  his  numerous  battles  and  victories,  prominent 
among  which  are  Fort  Pillow,  Tishomingo  Creek 
-and  Atliens,  Ala.,  capturing  at  the  last-named 
place  more  prisoners  than  he  had  soldiers,  by  the 
surrender  of  Camj>bell.  the  Federal  commander  at 
that  jroint. 

From  the  time  of  Surgeon  Jones'  assignment 
to  (ieneral  Forrest's  command,  November,  18(53, 
until  the  surrender  of  that  command  at  (Jaines- 
ville,  Ala.,  May  5,  186.5,  when  he  was  paroled, 
he  served-  on  Forrest's  staff;  was  with  him  in 
«very  battle  he  fought,  and  by  his  side  most  of 
the  time  during  the  engagements,  waiving  the  pro- 
tection thrown  around  the  medical  department. 
He  wore  the  usual  anns  of  staff  ofticers,  and 
used  them  effectively  as  occasion  presented.  A 
notable  instance  was  when  he  came  to  (.ieneral 
Forrest's  aid  a  few  miles  above  Plantersville,  Ala., 
■during  General  Wilson's  raid,  in  the  spring  of 
1805,  when  Forrest  was  surrounded  by  six  Federal 
-cavalry  soldiers,  and  materially  assisted  his  com- 
mander by  disposing  of  twoof  his  assailants,  while 
Col.  M.  G.  Galloway,  also  an  aide  on  his  staff, 
helped  the  General  care  for  the  others. 

Surgeon  Jones  had  the  privilege  of  having  his 
clothes  and  horses  shot  occasionally,  but  never 
the  honor  of  a  tlesh  wound. 

After  the  war  was  over.  Dr.  Jones,  remember- 
ing the  dark-eyed  witchery  of  a  girl  he  saw  in  one 
of  his  campaigns,  returned  to  Alabama,  wooed 
and  won  her,  one  of  Alabama's  fairest  daughters, 
Miss  Augusta  Carlisle,  only  daughter  of  E.  K. 
and  Lucy  \V.  Carlisle,  and  they  were  mairied  on 
the  30th  of  January,  18(56,  at  the  family  residence, 
near  -Marion.  Ala.  Returning  with  his  fair  bride 
to  his  native  Tennessee,  he  lived  thereuntil  18T0, 
when  he  formed  a  copartnership  with  E.  K.  Car- 
lisle, of  the  firm  of  Carlisle  &  Humphries,  of  Mo- 
bile. Ala.,  and  opened  a  commission  house  in 
Selma,  under  the  firm  name  of  Carlisle  & 
Jones.  In  1S7'2  E.  K.  Carlisle,  Jr.,  was  admitted 
<o  the  lirm,  the  name  of  which  was  changed   to 


Carlisle,  Jones  &  Co.  In  January,  1873,  E.  K. 
Carlisle.  Sr.,  died,  and  a  new  firm  was  formed, 
composed  of  A.  W.  Jones  and  E.  K.  Carlisle,  Jr. 
This  firm  retained  the  old  name  of  Carlisle, 
Jones  &  Co.,  and  remained  unchanged  until  they 
retired  from  business  on  August  7,  1881.  From 
the  time  of  commencing  business  in  Selma,  Ala., 
under  the  firm  name  of  Carlisle  &  Jones,  until  the 
retirement  of  Carlisle,  Jones  &  Co.  in  18S4,  this 
firm  did  a  large  business,  and  established  and 
maintained  a  commercial  reputation  and  financial 
standing  second  to  none  in  Alabama. 

E.  K.  Carlisle,  Jr.,  of  the  above-named  firm, 
and  brother-in-law  of  Dr.  A.  W.  Jones,  died  on 
the  18th  day  of  October,  1880,  leaving  a  widow 
and  two  daughters.  All  who  knew  him  loved  him 
and  lamented  his  death. 

On  the  r2th  of  August,  1.S78,  A.  W.  Jones  and 
associates  purchased  at  public  sale  in  the  town  of 
Marion,  Ala.,  the  Selma,  Marion  &  Memphis  Rail- 
road and  its -f rand) ises.  This  was  an  uncompleted 
road,  in  poor  condition,  both  as  to  road-bed  and 
rolling  stock,  and  extended  from  the  town  of 
Greensboro  to  Marion  Junction,  a  station  on  the 
Alabama  Central  Railroad  some  fourteen  miles 
from  Selma.  Soon  after  the  purchase  a  new  rail- 
road corporation  was  formed,  under  the  name  of 
Selma  &  Greensboro  Railroad  Company,  of  which 
A.  W.  Jones  was  elected  president.  Under  his 
active  and  capable  management  the  road  and  roll- 
ing stock  was  put  in  fine  condition,  and  eight 
miles  of  new  road  built  from  the  earnings  of  the 
road  the  second  year,  not  calling  on  his  company 
for  a  dollar.  This  eight  miles  of  new  road  con- 
nected the  Selma  and  (ireensboro  with  the  New 
Orleans  &  Selma  Railroad,  over  which  a  favorable 
lease  had  been  obtained  by  him  to  run  the  trains 
of  the  Selma  &  Greensboro  Railroad  into  Selma, 
the  effect  of  which  was  a  saving  to  the  Selma  & 
Greensboro  Railroad  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  putting  this  road  at  once  on  a  sound  footing 
for  taking  care  of  itself  under  proper  manage- 
ment. 

In  the  summer  of  188"^  he  went  to  New  York 
with  the  view  of  making  arrangements  for  extend- 
ing his  road  to  a  western  connection,  but,  before 
doing  so.  some  negotiations  sprung  up,  looking  to 
th»  purchase  of  the  Selma  &  Greensboro  Railroad, 
which  he  deemed  would  be  more  to  the  interest  of 
his  stockholders  than  an  extension  of  the  road. 
He  returned  South,  and  the  negotiations  he  in- 
augurated by  the  favorable  presentation  he  made 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


681 


of    the    Selnia    &    Greensboro  Railroad,  and  its 

future  i)ossiljilitics,  finally  resulted  in  all  of  iiis 
stockholders  selliug  their  stock  at  handsome  and 
satisfactory  profits.  The  name  of  this  road  now 
is  the  Cincinnati,  Solnia  &  Mobile  Railway. 

On  the  4th  of  October,  1)S8C,  .\.  \V.  Jones  and 
associates  became  the  purchasers,  at  public  sale  at 
Selma,  Ala.,  of  the  New  Orleans  &  .Selnia  Hail- 
road  and  its  franchises,  an  uncompleted  road  run- 
ning out  from  Selma  in  a  direct  line  toward  New 
Orleans,  with  its  present  western  terminus  at 
Martin's  Station.  After  the  sale,  a  new  coriiora- 
tion  was  formed  under  the  name  of  Birmingham, 
Selma  &  New  Orleans  Railway  ('omj)any,  with  A. 
W.  Jones  as  president,  and  he  is  having  the  road 
put  in  fine  condition,  preparatory  to  extending 
it  to  a  western  connection,  which,  when  opened, 
will  give  it  a  short  line  to  New  Orleans.  Besides 
being  president  of  this  company,  he  is  also  one 
of  the  directors  of  the  t'ity  National  Bank  of 
Selma,  the  strongest  and  most  successful  bank  in 
tiie  State.  These,  and  his  other  interests,  claim 
his  active  attention. 

Dr.  A.  W.  Jones  resides  in  Selma,  Ala.,  his 
family  consisting  of  his  wife  and  eight  children, 
four  sons  and  four  daughters,  the  four  eldest  of 
whom,  with  himself  and  wife,  are  communicants 
of  the  Protestant  Kpisco])al  t'hurch. 

-  •    •♦>— ^^j^'-^— 

COURTNEY  J.  CLARK,  M.D..  President  of 
the  City  Board  of  Education  and  of  the  Selma 
Medical  Society,  was  born  in  Laurens  District, 
S.  C,  October  ".i 7,  1810.  His  parents  were  John 
and  Susan  (Parks)  Clark,  natives  of  South  Caro- 
lina, and  respectively  of  English  and  Irish  descent. 

The  senior  .Mr.  Clark  removed  from  South 
Carolina  to  Georgia  away  back  when  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  a  small  boy,  and  he  lived  in 
Jasper  County  in  the  latter  State,  aiul  was  a 
planter  up  to  18G'.t,  when  he  died  at  the  advanced 
age  of  ninety-two  years.  His  wife  lived  to  be 
eighty-eight  years  of  age.  So  the  Clark  family, 
particularly  this  branch  of  it,  is  evidently  long 
lived. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  first-born  of 
a  large  family  of  children.  He  was  educated  at 
the  common  schools  of  (ieorgia,  at  least  to  the  e.\- 
tent  of  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  elementary  studies, 
which  were  augmented  by  8elf-ap])lication,  to  the 
end   that  when  he    had  reached    his  majority  he 


was  well  up  in  literary  attainments.  He  began 
the  study  of  medicine  when  eighteen  years  of  age, 
and  at  this  writing  (Ib8S)  he  says  he  is  still  a 
student  of  medical  and  physical  science.  He  was 
graduated  from  the  Louisville  College  of  Medi- 
cine in  184.'],  and  from  Jefferson  (Philadelphia) 
1S44.  He  began  the  practice  at  Jacksonville, 
Ala.,  in  183T,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the 
time  spent  as  suigeon  in  the  Jlexican  War  and 
as  assistant  surgeon  during  the  late  war,  re- 
mained at  Jacksonville  until  ISHl. 

He  was  appointed  surgeon  in  the  Mexican  War 
by  President  Polk,  and  was  with  Colonel  Butler's 
Palmetto  Regiment  in  all  the  batt'es  of  the  valley 
and  the  city  of  Mexico.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  between  the  States,  he  started  out  as  a 
regimental  surgeon,  but  was  transferred  to  the 
charge  of  the  Alabama  Hospitals  in  Richmond, 
where  he  remained  two  years,  coming  thence  to 
^lontgomery,  where  he  was  again  in  charge  of  hos- 
pitals until  toward  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was 
finally  at  Columbus,  (ia.,  and  there  surrendered 
to  Wilson. 

Dr.  Clark  came  to  Selma  in  the  fall  of  18C5, 
and  has  here  remained  in  the  practice.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  State  and  County  Medical  Socie- 
ties, a  contributor  to  medical  journals,  a  physician 
and  sui-geon  of  pronounced  ability,  and  a  citizen 
of  the  highest  character.  As  president  of  the 
Board  of  Education,  he  has  labored  for  the  past 
fifteen  years  earnestly  and  faithfully. 

He  was  married  at  Jacksonville,  Ala.,  in  1853, 
to  Nancy  W.,  daughter  of  Thomas  J.  Davis, 
and  now  has  a  family  of  one  son  and  five  daugh- 
ters. His  son,  Percy  Clark,  is  a  journalist,  now 
employed  as  a  newspaper  correspondent  at  Wash- 
ington City. 

BENJAMIN  HOGAN  RIGGS,  M.  D.,  was  born 
in  Mobile,  August  l!i,  18:58,  and  died  at  Selnia, 
on  the  11th  day  of  January,  1888.  His  father 
was  Daniel  JI.  Riggs,  a  native  of  Surry  County, 
N.  C.  The  senior  Riggs  was  once  cashier  of  the 
.State  Bank  of  Alabama  at  Tuscaloosa,  and  from 
there  removed  to  Mobile,  where  he  was  in  the 
banking  business  for  some  years.  He  came  into 
Dallas  County  in  184.">,  and  here  followed  planting 
the  rest  of  his  life.  Ho  dicil  in  18."»!i.  at  the  age 
of  fifty-nine  years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  Mo- 
bile and  studied    medicine   at   Selma  in  18oo   in 


682 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


the  oflRce  of  Drs.  Mabiy  &  Kent.  lie  attended 
lectures  in  New  Orleans  during  the  winters  of 
185")_(i,  spent  the  summers  of  lK."iT-8  at  the 
Marine  Hospital,  Mobile,  and  was  graduated  from 
the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  in  the  spring  of  1850. 

Dr.  Riggs  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
Wilcox  County  the  summer  following  his  gradua- 
tion, and  in  the  spring  of  1801  enlisted  as  a  pri- 
vate soldierin  Ca])tain  Kobbins'  "Wilcox  Rangers." 
He  was  soon  afterward  made  assistant  surgeon, 
and  rose  rapidly  to  surgeon,  and  senior  surgeon  of 
the  brigade.  He  was  in  the  Army  of  Tennessee 
and  most  of  the  time  on  field  duty.  At  the  close 
of  the  war,  he  returned  to  Selma  and  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  medicine  at  which  he  was  very  suc- 
cessful, and  in  which  profession  he  occupied  a  high 
position.  He  was  active  always  in  sanitary  mat- 
ters and  devoted  special  attention  to  hygiene,  upon 
which  subject  he  lectured  at  various  times  and 
places.  He  also  wrote  upon  the  subject  for  some 
of  the  leading  newspapers  and  medical  journals. 
He  was  an  ex-president  of  the  ^ledical  Association 
of  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  Grand  Senior 
Counselor  in  and  member  of  the  State  Board  of 
Health.  He  took  an  active  interest  in  all  current 
matters,  political,  professional  and  social.  He 
was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Masonic  fratern- 
ity, and  held  high  official  positions  in  the  C'om- 
maiulery,  having  been  Eminent  Commander,  Past 
Deputy  Grand  Commander,  etc. 

The  Doctor  was  married  in  June,  18<)T.  to  Miss 
Fannie  Gray  Robertson,  daughter  of  Henry  C. 
Robertson.  Esq.,  and  has  had  born  to  him  three 
sons  and  one  daughter. 

The  doctor  was  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Church. 

■    •'>"'(^^.' <'•    • 

ABRAHAM  MINTHORNE  WOOLSY  was  a  na- 
tive of  Connecticut,  and  belonged  to  the  immedi- 
ate family  from  which  descended  the  distinguished 
Dr.  Woolsy,  Cbancellor  of  Yale  University.  In 
early  life,  he  removed  to  Augusta.  Ga.,  and  was 
there  married  to  Miss  Emily  Wingfield  Sims,  who 
was  of  the  families  of  the  Simses  and  the  Wing- 
fields  of  that  State.  From  this  union  seven  chil- 
dren were  born,  of  wlioui  Benjamin  Minthorne. 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  the  oldest  child. 
Mr.  Woolsy  was   a  very  handsome   man,   and  his 


wife  was  a  very  beautiful  woman,  and  both  of  them 
were  noted  for  their  elegant  manners  and  pleasing 
address.  The  son  inherited  the  physical  features 
and  acquired  the  jiolished  manners  of  his  parents, 
and  was  from  boyhood  remarkable  for  his  fine 
appearance  and  graceful  address. 

In  183G  the  family  removed  to  Mobile.  Ala., 
where  the  father  died,  leaving  the  mother  with 
the  son  and  two  sisters,  younger  than  himself. 
Reverses  of  fortune  had  overtaken  them,  and  in 
widowhood  this  splendid  woman  leaned  upon  her 
son,  who  became  her  comforter  and  her  counselor. 
Never  did  a  son  more  honor  a  mother;  never  was 
a  mother  more  worthy  of  honor.  In  early  boy- 
hood young  Woolsy  joined  the  Methodist  Church 
with  his  mother,  and  remained  in  that  communion 
until  the  day  of  his  death.  At  sixteen  years  of 
age  he  was  sent  to  Emory  College,  Ga.  Here  he 
remained  two  years,  boarding  in  the  family  of 
Bishop  James  C.  Andrew.  He  was  graduated  at 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  returned  to  Mobile, 
where  he  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.  In  the  summer  of  1847  young  Woolsy  was 
chosen  to  deliver  the  commencement  oration  at 
the  Centenary  Institute,  at  that  time  a  very  large 
and  flourishing  female  college,  located  at  Summer- 
field,  Ala.  On  the  rostrum  of  the  college  chajiel 
he  saw  for  the  first  time  Miss  Lucinda  Swift. 
She  was  a  member  of  the  graduating  class.  Bright, 
beautiful,  wealthy,  and  of  excellent  family,  she 
won  the  heart  of  the  brilliant  young  orator,  and 
was  won  by  him. 

Of  his  sons,  only  two  are  now  living.  They  are 
men  of  honorable  positions,  both  in  the  social  and 
business  circles  of  Selma. 

Mr.  Woolsy  was  a  man  of  very  decided  views — 
a  very  positive  character.  He  read  largely, 
thought  clearly,  spoke  fluently,  and  felt  strongly. 
In  youth  he  was  a  political  disciple  of  the  great 
Henry  Clay,  and  identified  himself  with  the  old 
Whig  party.  As  a  Whig  he  was  elected  from 
Dallas  County  and  served  in  the  Legislature  of 
18,'')i>,  and  again  in  1858.  In  1860  he  was  nomi- 
nated for  Congress  by  a  couvention  of  his  jiarty, 
but  refused,  for  ))rivate  reasons,  to  accept  the 
nomination.  lie  was  an  elector  on  the  Bell  and 
Everett  ticket,  in  18G(t. 

In  the  best  sense,  Colonel  Woolsy  was  a  typical 
Southern  gentleman.  He  had  a  fine  physique 
and  a  handsome  face.  He  was  polite  to  all,  rude 
to  none.  His  nnmners  were  winning;  his  fortune 
was  ample;  his  knowledge  was  large,  and  he  had 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


683 


as  much  leisure  for  reading  and  study  as  lie  wislied. 
His  friends  were  numerous  and  enthusiastic;  his 
home  was  ha])])v:  his  wife  loved  him  and  wasanibi- 
tiousfor  his  distinction.  Everything  combined  to 
secure  for  him  success  in  politics,  if  he  had  only 
entered  on  that  pursuit  with  the  ardor  that  char- 
acterized him  in  other  matters.  But  he  preferred 
the  pleasures  of  home  to  the  strife  and  confusion 
of  political  life.  Frec|uently  he  was  called  upon 
to  preside  over  jiolitical  meetings,  and  to  address 
political  assemblies,  and  always  acquitted  himself 
to  the  satisfaction  of  his  friends,  though  his 
heart  never  seemed  to  he  fully  in  these  atTairs. 
From  his  political  standpoint,  he  thought  the  war 
between  the  States  could  be  avoided,  and,  hence, 
was  unnecessary.  But  when  it  began,  he  accepted 
the  situation.  fJov.  T.  H.  Watts  appointed  him 
Salt  Commissioner  for  Alabama,  a  most  important 
ottice  at  that  time.  This  trust  he  discharged  with 
fidelity,  managing  this  very  vital  interest  to  the 
■entire  satisfaction  of  the  Governor,  the  people  and 
the  Confederate  authorities.  At  the  close  of  the 
war,  though  strongly  solicited  to  engage  in  poli- 
tics, he  persistently  refused  to  do  so.  His  shat- 
tered fortune  he  determined,  if  possible,  to  restore, 
and  removed  to  the  city  of  Selma,  to  engage  in 
the  cotton  business.  There  he  spent  the  remnant 
of  liis  days,  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  and  sur- 
rounded by  friends  and  acfjuaintances,  who  had 
known  him  amid  all  the  changes  of  fortune,  lie 
died  at  his  own  liome  August  19,  1880. 

ALBERT   GALLATIN    MABRY.    M.     D..    was 

burn  near  the  town  of  .lerusiik-iu,  Southamj)ton 
County,  Va.,  on  the  7th  day  of  September,  1810, 
and  died  in  the  city  of  Selma,  Ala.,  on  the  2;3d 
day  of  February,  1874,  of  pneumonia.  His  father, 
a  farmer,  of  high  standing  in  the  community  in 
which  he  lived,  died  when  Albert  was  a  small 
boy.  He  was  the  only  child  of  his  father's  second 
marriage.  His  mother  married  the  second  time  ; 
but  her  husband  did  not  i)rosper  in  worldly  mat- 
ters, so  that  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  taught, 
at  an  early  age,  habits  of  self-reliance,  which  bore 
much  fruit  in  after  life. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  he  went  to  the 
town  of  Jerusalem  and  engaged  in  business. 
The  dormant  capacities  witliin  him,  soou  made 
him  discontented  and  caused  him    to   long   for  a 


higher  field  of  usefulness.  By  the  advice  of  his 
friends  he  studied  medicine.  He  had  the  fac- 
ulty of  fastening  friends  to  him  "witli  hooks  of 
steel,"  and  those  friends  of  his  early  youth  who 
survived  him,  in  a  rijw  old  age,  felt  with  keen 
sorrow  his  taking  away.  Among  his  earlier 
friends  was  Dr.  Wm.  Spark,  a  man  of  liberal  and 
cultivated  mind,  who  befriended  him  in  an  effec- 
tive manner  ;  and  thus  began  an  attachment 
which  lasted  until  death  severed  the  tie.  In 
later  years  this  benefactor,  wasted  with  age  and 
infirmity,  came  to  Dr.  Mabry's  elegant  residence 
in  Selma,  and  there,  administered  to  by  this 
friend  and  his  family,  surrounded  by  comfort  and 
luxury,  he  breathed  his  last,  when  mourning  hands 
bore  his  remains  to  the  family  burial  lot  in  Selma, 
where  now,  side  by  side,   lie  the  remains  of  both.' 

Dr.  Mabry  graduated  from  the  Jledical  Depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Peinisylvania,  Phila- 
delphia, March  3,  1S.37.  After  a  short  residence 
at  the  town  of  Whitesville,  (ia.,  he  came  to  Selma 
early  in  the  year  1843.  Here  he  began  a  long 
and  useful  career  as  a  public-spirited  citizen 
and  as  a  high-toned  physician,  fully  imbued  with 
the  ethics  of  his  profession  and  alive  to  her  inter- 
ests and  behests.  Arriving  in  Selma,  Dr.  JIabry 
became  a  member  of  the  local  medical  society, 
and  associated  in  the  practice  of  medicine  with 
Dr.  Drewry  Fair,  now  deceased.  They  remained 
associated  for  many  years  in  active  practice,  when 
Dr.  Fair  moved  from  Selma. 

July,  1845,  Doctor  Mabry  was  married  to  Mrs. 
Martha  (Kiggs)  Tartt,  widow  of  Thomas  E. 
Tartt,  formerly  of  the  head  of  the  firm  of 
Tartt,  Stewart  &  Co.,  commission  merchants, 
of  Jlobile.  ilrs.  Tartt  was  a  sister  of  Daniel 
M.  and  Joel  Riggs,  lately  of  this  State.  She 
had  one  child  by  this  first  marriage,  a  daughter, 
Gertrude  T.  Tartt,  now  the  widow  of  the  late 
Catesby  ap  Roger  Jones,  captain  in  the  Confed- 
erate States  Navy. 

Through  this  marriage  Doctor  Mabry  became 
intimately  associated  with  the  late  Gov.  John  A. 
AVinston,  who  was  guardian  of  Miss  Tartt,  and 
this  association  developed  a  friendship  between 
these  men  of  sterling  worth  wliich  lasted  until 
severed  by  the  scythe  of  death.  Governor  Winston 
dying  first.  There  were  six  children  born  from 
their  marriage,  five  sons  and  one  daughter.  There 
are  now  living  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  The 
oldest  boy,  named  for  his  father,  in  the  midst  of 
a  budding  manhood  of  great    promise,   a  young 


G84 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


lawyer  in  Selma,  preceded  his  father  but  a  few 
years  to  tiie  grave;  William  Spark  Mabry,  a  civil 
engineer,  and  John  Winston  .Mabry,  both  grad- 
uates of  the  Virginin  Military  Institute,  of  Lex- 
ington; Rioliard  II.  Mabry  and  Miss  Virginia 
Mabry,  named  for  his  much-loved  native  State. 

Doctor  Mabry  continued  constantly  emi)loyed  in 
an  e.xtensive  and  lucrative  jiractice  at  Selina,  from 
1843  to  1857,  and  remained  at  his  post  in  the 
faithful  discharge  of  iirofessional  duty  during  the 
prevalence  of  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  in  the  fall 
of  1853. 

In  1855  he  associated  with  him  in  the  practice 
Dr.  James  Kent,  and  to  a  great  degree  turned  tlie 
work  over  to  him,  for  his  health  had  become  im- 
paired. In  the  year  1857  he  was  elected  to  tlie 
Legislature,  and  was  there  continuously  to  18C7. 
In  politics  he  was  a  State's  Rights  Democrat. 

Dr.  Mabry  was,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Medical  Association  of  the  State  of  Alabama  to 
the  day  of  his  death,  an  earnest  and  efficient  mem- 
ber thereof,  and  its  zealous  friend.  In  an  elabor- 
ate address  delivered  before  tlie  association  soon 
after  his  death,  the  distinguished  Dr.  (ieorge 
A.  Ketclium  of  Mobile,  said:  "The  medical  his- 
tory of  Alabama  and  its  State  Association  would 
be  incomplete,  indeed,  did  not  the  name  of  A.  (J. 
Mabry  adorn  its  brightest  ]iage. 

•'  His  brain  conceived  this  organization;  he  was 
present  at  its  birth;  he  stood  sponsor  for  it  in  its 
helpless  infancy;  he  succored  it  in  its  days  of 
progress;  and  now,  when  in  its  approaching  ma- 
turity he  dies,  he  bequeaths  to  it  the  lionors  in- 
separably connected  with  his   example  and  name. 

'•  Whilst  we  drop  a  tear  on  his  newly-made 
grave,  let  us  rejoice  and  be  proud  that  he  so  hon- 
ored his  profession  in  his  life." 

As  a  pul)lic  man  and  legislator,  Dr.  ilabry's 
service  gave  eminent  satisfaction  to  his  constitu- 
ents; as  a  i)liysiciaii,  he  was  successful  aiul  cautious 
in  treatment,  and  his  character  was  above  re- 
proach. He  was  a  consistent  and  prominent  mem- 
ber of  the  Protestant  Episcojial  church;  a  kind 
and  indulgent  father,  and  a  considerate  and  atten- 
tive husband. 

Dr.  Mabry  was  a  man  of  medium  physical 
stature,  being  about  five  feet  and  eight  inches  in 
height,  weighed  about  14<ipound.s;  sligiitly  stoopeil 
in  the  shoulders;  complexion  dark,  hair  black  and 
well  trimmed,  eyes  deep  brown,  soft  and  express- 
ive. His  temperament  was  well  marked  bilious. 
His    countenance,    in    repose    was    serious    and 


thoughtful,  but  readily  lit  up  with  a  kindly 
smile,  and  his  laugh  was  an  index  of  the  good 
heart    within. 


JOHN  P.  FURNISS.  M.  D.,  was  born  at  Colum- 
bus, Miss.,  September  ',\.  \s\\.  His  father  was 
Dr.  Johj)  P.  Furniss,  of  Maryland:  he  removed 
to  Louisiana  in  1835,  and  from  there  to  Missis- 
sippi in  1844,  and  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-five 
years.  Though  an  educated  and  skillful  doctor,  he 
practiced  only  gratuitously  and  upon  his  i)lauta- 
tion. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  Prof. 
Tutwiler's  Greene  Springs  School,  and  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama,  from  which  institution  he  was 
graduated  in  18(i(i.  Immediately  after  leaving 
the  University,  he  entered  the  New  Orleans  School 
of  Medicine,  and  from  there  soon  afterward  en- 
listed as  a  jirivate  soldier  in  Company  K,  Four- 
teenth Mississippi.  At  the  end  of  about  nine 
months  he  was  transferred  to  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment Confederate  States  Army,  as  assistant  sur- 
geon, and  was  promoted  soon  afterward  to  the  rank 
of  surgeon.  He  remained  in  the  service  to  the 
close  of  tlie  war.  After  spending  one  year  in  Mis- 
sissipjii  he  came  into  Selma,  and  in  18t>r.,  entered 
upon  the  practice  of  medicine. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  State  and  County  Medical 
Societies,  and  is  Grand  Senior  Counselor  of  the 
former.  In  addition  to  his  practice,  which  is 
large  and  lucrative,  he  is  much  interested  in 
manufacture  and  agriculture. 

Dr.  Furniss  was  married  in  Selma,  in  December, 
1876.  to  Miss  R.  M.  Dawson,  daughter  of  Hon. 
N.  H.  R.  Dawson. 

—    ■  •>  -S^^-  <»  ■    ■ 

CLIFFORD  DANIEL  PARKE.  M.  D..  was  born 
at  \\  adesburo,  N.  C.,  September  ",.'7.  18;.'i!.  and 
died  in  Selma,  May  Id,  1885.  His  jjarents  were 
Thomas  Duke  and  Ann  (Shipman)  Parke,  the  for- 
mer a  native  of  Ireland,  and  the  latter  of  Jiorth 
Carolina.  They  came  to  Alabama  in  184".?,  and 
settled  near  Kufaula,  in  Harbour  County. 

After  his  academic  education,  C.  D.  Parke 
attended  the  iledioal  College  of  Louisville.  Ky., 
and  in  1850  was  graduated  as  a  doctor  of  medi- 
cine from  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Philadcli)hia. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


085 


He  first  began  tlie  practice  of  medicine  in 
Montgomery  County,  coming  froni  tliere  to  Seltna, 
wliere  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life,  giving  liis 
entire  time  to  his  cliosen  profession,  ami  mak- 
ing tiierein  distinguished  success.  lie  was 
devoted  to  his  profession  and  was  recognized 
by  liis  fellows  as  one  of  the  foremost  doctors 
in  the  S*atc.  Tiiougli  always  a  decided  Dem- 
ocrat, he  never  sougiit  political  preferment  for 
liimsfif,  and  the  only  otlicial  position  he  is  re- 
corded as  having  licld  was  that  of  President  of 
tlie  State  Medical  Society. 

Dr.  Parke  was  a  quiet,  unassuming  gentleman, 
polished  in  his  manner,  s)niewliat  reserved  in  his 
intercourse  with  men,  though  always  possessing 
the  confidence  of  his  patients  and  the  highest  es- 
teem of  the  people.  lie  was  married  in  Dallas 
County,  January  10,  185.5,  to   .Miss    Louisa  Swift. 

DR.  THOMAS  P.  GARY.  Wholesale  (Jrocerand 
Cotton  -Merchant,  was  born  September  'l'-\.  1829, 
in  Abbeville  District,  S.  C,  his  parents,  William 
L.  and  Frances  R.  Gary,  being  natives  of  that 
State.  His  father  moved  to  Lowndes  County, 
.Via.,  in  1831,  and  was  for  many  years  a  prominent 
planter  in  that  county.  He  then  found  a  home 
at  Tuskegee,  in  Macon  County,  where  he  died  in 
1S.V.>. 

After  going  to  that  place,  Thomas  P.  tiary  at- 
tended the  Literary  College  at  Ogelthorpe,  Ga., 
and  afterward  studied  medicine  in  the  oHice  of 
Dr.  William  .Mitcliell,  at  Tuskegee;  took  a  course 
of  medical  lectures  at  Charleston  (S.  C.)  College 
of  Medicine,  and  graduated  in  185".i.  Immediately 
afterward  he  began  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
Tuskegee,  where  he  remained  three  years,  and 
then  located  at  Cotton  Valley,  and  followed  his 
profession  at  that  place  two  years. 

We  ne.\t  find  Dr.  Gary  at  his  plantation  in 
Lowndes  County,  farming  and  practicing  medi- 
cine, which  he  continued  until  1871,  when  he 
moved  to  Wesson,  Miss.,  and  followed  the  mercan- 
tile business  for  several  years. 

In  18T7  we  find  him  in  Selma,  engaged  in  the 
wholesale  grocery  and  cotton  business,  to  which 
he  has  given  his  attention  ever  since,  and  has 
maintained  his  place  as  one  of  the  first  merchants 
in  the  central  city.  He  formed  a  i)artnership 
with  William  IJ.   liavmond,  which  continued  to 


January,  1888,  under  the  firm  name  of  Gary  & 
Uaymond.  It  was  at  that  time  dissolved  by 
mutual  consent,  and  Dr.  Gary's  son-in-law,  D. 
A.  Kennedy,  became  his  partner. 

Dr.  Gary  was  married  in  Tuskegee,  Ala.,  in 
1853,  to  Miss  Amanda  W.  Ligon.  daughter  of 
Robert  and  Wilhelmina  Ligon,  of  Georgia.  To 
them  si.x  children  have  been  born,  two  of  whom 
died  in  infancy.  The  remaining  four — Mina,  wife 
of  Law  Lamar;  Leila,  wife  of  D.  .\.  Kennedy; 
Eleanor,  wife  of  .1.  F.  Hooper,  and  Thomas  K. — 
are  now  living  in  Selma. 

Our  subject  has  for  many  years  been  an  earnest 
and  zealous  member  of  the  Presbyteiian  Church, 
and  has  sustained  different  official  relations 
therein.  He  has  been  a  successful  citizen,  a  val- 
uable member  of  society  in  its  moral  and  social 
relations,  and  always  ready  to  extend  encourage- 
ment to  any  enterprise  calculated  to  advance  the 
common  good. 

— — «-?€?^"<"    •  - 

GOLDSBY  KING,  M.  D.,  a  promising  young 
Pliysiciau  and  .Surgeon,  of  Selma,  son  of  the 
late  E.  B.  King,  Esq.,  an  extensive  planter  of 
Dallas  County,  was  born  in  this  city  April  2'.!, 
18(Jl,  and  here  received  his  primary  education. 

After  completing  his  studies  at  Prof.  Tutwiler'.s, 
Greene  Springs,  he  entered  the  South  Carolina 
Medical  College  at  Charleston,  and  in  March, 
1880,  was  graduated  therefrom  as  Doctor  of  Med- 
icine. After  receiving  his  diploma,  he  remained 
one  year  at  Charleston  as  House  .Surgeon  of  Ropei 
and  City  Ilosjiital,  coming  thence  to  Selma.  where 
he  began  the  practice  in  July,  1881.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Censors,  Dallas  County, 
and  present  City  Physician  and  Health  Ofticer.  lie 
was  ajjpointed  one  of  the  Board  of  Color  Blind 
E.xaminers  of  the  State  by  (iovernor  Seay,  Octo- 
ber, 188T,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  active 
and  efficient  members  of  that  imjiortant  Itody. 
He  was  made  .Secretary  of  the  Dallas  County  Jled- 
ical  Society  in  May,  1883,  and  has  continued  in 
that  office  since.  He  was  at  the  same  time 
appointed  Health  Officer  of  the  city,  and  has  been 
since  continued  in  that  position. 

Dr.  King  was  marrieil  at  Selma,  October  11, 
1S83,  to  Miss  Annie  (Jraham,  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  Dr.  C.  W.  Graham,  of  Kenansville. 
N.  C.  The  Doctor  is  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 


C86 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


The  name  of  Ooldsby  is  so  prominently  indenti- 
fied  with  Diillas  County  and  Selmii  as  to  form  a 
part  of  their  history. 

■ — ' — •■*5*~*i^jiM'  '0  •    *~" 

JOHN  ALEXANDER  McKINNON.  M.  D.. 
llealtli  Officer  of  Dallas  CouMty,  and  Kegister  of 
X'ital  Statistics  of  Selma,  was  born  in  Pike 
County,  tliis  State.  He  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools,  and  began  reading  medicine 
at  .Macon,  Ga.,  when  nineteen  years  of  age. 
lie  was  graduated  from  the  University  of  Louis- 
iana as  -M.  1).  in  1807,  and  in  1874  took  the 
ad  eundem  degree  from  Hellevue  Medical  College. 
He  began  the  practice  with  Dr.  Fahs,  at 
Selma,  in  1807,  and  remained  with  him  eighteen 
moutiis. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  various  medical  societies 
in  his  county  and  State,  and  is  Grand  Senior 
Counselor  of  the  State  Medical  Association 
of  Alabama,  which  he  represented  at  the 
International  Medical  Congress  at  Piiiladelphia, 
in  1870. 

He  was  eighteen  years  of  age  when  he  entered 
the  army  from  Lowndes  County  as  a  private  in  the 
Third  Alabama  Infantry.  He  remained  with  that 
regiment  until  after  the  battle  of  Malvern  Hill, 
at  which  time  he  was  commissioned  a  lieutenant 
in  the  regular  army,  and  was  placed  in  charge  of 
the  medical  laboratory  in  ifacon,  Ga.,  when  only 
twenty  years  old,  where  he  remained  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  While  a  private  soldier,  he  took 
part  in  the  battles  of  Drewry"s  Bluff,  Seven  Pines, 
and  the  Seven  Days'  Fight  in  front  of  Hichmond. 
He  came  to  Selma  in  February,  IS'lO.  and  here 
clerked  awhile  in  a  drug  store,  subsequently  com- 
pleting hi.s  education  and  entering  regularly  into 
the  practice  of  medicine. 

He  is  a  prominent  Knight  'remi)lar  Mason  and 
has  filled  the  chair  of  Eminent  Commander;  is  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor,  the  National 
Union  and  Ancient  Order  United  Workmen.  He 
is  also  connected  with  the  Railroad  Conductors' 
Insurance  .\s.sociation  and  the  Hrotherhood  of 
Locomotive  Engineers,  as  Medical  Examiner. 

He  has  been  surgeon  for  the  railroads  run- 
ning into  Selma  for  the  past  fifteen  years,  and  has 
gained  (|uite  a  reputation  in  his  section  as  being 
very  successful.  He  is  a  man  of  strong  convic- 
tions and  untiring  cnergv. 


RICHARD    MARSHALL   NELSON,    President 

of  the  CiiMnnciri;il  liaiik  nf  Selma,  was  born 
in  Wayne  County,  X.  C,  in  1843.  Appointed 
by  President  Hnchanan,  he  entered  West  Point  as 
a  cadet  in  185'.t.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war 
he  resigned  his  cadetship,  and  in  May,  1801, 
entered  the  military  service  of  the  Confederate 
States.  He  served  throughout  the  war.  mainly  as 
captain  of  ordnance.  The  technical  knowledge 
of  young  West  Pointers  created  a  demand  for 
theirservices  in  the  ordnance  and  engineer  depart- 
ments and  the  like,  where  promotion  was  slow 
and  slight,  as  compared  with  the  line,  and  it  thus 
not  unfrcquently  liapj)ened  that  conspicuous  merit 
and  fitness  operated  as  a  bar  to  rank  and  promo- 
tion. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  he  studied  law,  and 
was,  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  North  Cjtrolina, 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1800.  The  same  year  he 
removed  to  Selma.  Ala.,  where  he  formed,  with 
Joseph  F.  Johnston,  Esq.,  now  president  of  the 
Alabama  National  Hank,  of  Birmingham,  Ala., 
the  law  firm  of  Johnston  iS:  Nelson,  and  continued 
in  active  and  successful  practice  until  January, 
1878,  when,  on  account  of  his  already  recognized 
financial  abilities,  he  was  chosen  President  of  the 
Selma  Savings  Bank,  the  oldest  incorporated  bank 
in  Central  .Vlabama.  He  accepted  the  oflice,  and 
has  ever  since  been  the  head  of  this  prosperous 
institution,  the  name  of  which  was  in  1880 
changed  to  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Selma. 

In  1881  he  also  became  President  of  the  Loan 
Company  of  Alabama,  at  Selma,  the  pioneer  in 
the  South  in  the  now  extensive  business  of  negoti- 
ating farm  loans. 

In  1873  he  was,  by  President  Grant,  appointed 
one  of  the  Commissioners  for  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama to  the  Centennial  Exposition  at  Philadel- 
phia: and  was,  l)y  the  Commissioners,  elected  a 
member  of  the  finance  committee,  chargetl  with 
the  auditingof  the  millions  of  dollars  disbursed  in 
that  enterprise. 

He  was  Deputy  for  the  Diocese  of  Alabama  to 
the  several  General  Conventions  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Churcli  of  the  United  States,  which  sat, 
respectively,  at  Baltimore  in  18i  1,  at  Boston  in 
1877,  at  New  York  in  188(i,  at  Philadelphia  in 
1883,  at  Chicago  in  1886.  He  was  also  one  of  the 
deputation  to  the  1880  Synod  of  the  Church  in 
Canada,  appointed  by  the  General  Convention  of 
1883. 

He  has,  for  rnanv  vears.  been  an  active  member 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


687 


of  the  Aiiiericiin  Bankers'  Association,  was,  in 
1878,  elected  to  the  Executive  Council  of  the  As- 
sociiition,  and  has,  annually,  ever  since,  been  re- 
electeil  to  tliat  responstl)le  jiosition.  It  may  justly 
be  said  of  liiin  that  few  men  of  his  age,  or,  indeed, 
of  any  age,  in  this  country,  have  maintained  a 
liigher  standard  of  business  sagacity  and  execu- 
tive ability. 

He  has  made  an  honorable  record  in  the  various 
spheres  and  relations  of  life,  but,  while  he  is 
Ivcenly  alive  to,  and  faithfully  discharges  the 
duties  of  good  citizenship  and  good  neighborship, 
it  is  as  a  business  man  that  he  is  most  widely 
known  and  appreciated.  Whether  as  an  officer 
of  the  several  financial  institutions  with  which  he 
is  identifieil,  member  of  the  Bar  Association, 
chairman  of  boards  and  committees,  member  of 
the  Court  of  C'ounty  Revenues,  vestryman,  trus- 
tee of  the  public  schools,  or  what  not,  he  is  prom- 
inently a  man  of  aifairs,  of  which  it  may  be  truly 
added,  none  of  them,  to  his  sense  of  duty,  has 
seemed  too  small  for  careful  attention,  and  none 
of  them,  to  his  facile  grasp,  has  been  too  large 
for  easy  mastery. 

Captain  Xelson  was  married  at  Selma,  in  1808, 
to  >riss  Ella  nines,  step-daughter  of  Hon.  Thos. 
.T.  Portis,  now  of  St.  Louis.  Mrs.  Nelson  died  in 
is;(>.  Their  only  son,  William  P.  Nelson,  is  now 
a  clerk  in  the  Commercial  Bank.  In  December, 
ISTli,  Captain  Nelson  married  Miss  Mary  McFad- 
din,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Robert  H.  McFaddin, 
of  Creensboro,  Ala. 

Rev.  Charles  J.  Nelson,  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
Goldsboro,  N.  ('.,  is  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
tliis  sketch.  He  is  a  native  of  the  old  '"North 
State,"  and  a  descendant  from  Irish  ancestors. 
His  father  was  "  High  Sheriff  "of  Craven  County, 
N.  C,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  and  was 
otherwise  a  very  influential  man  in  his  day. 

Prior  to  going  into  the  ministry.  Rev.  Mr.  Nelson 
was  an  active  military  man,  and  was  quite  con- 
spicuous in  public  affairs  generally.  Since  he  be- 
gan preaching,  ho  has  devoted  his  time  and  liis 
talents  to  religious  work. 

Three  Nelson  brothei's  left  the  North  of  Ire- 
land sometime  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  came  to  America,  one  of  them  set- 
tling in  Ma'Tland,  another  in  New  York, and  a 
third  in  Virginia.  From  these  pioneers  a  large 
number  of  the  Nelsons  now  in  the  United 
States,  and  many  of  them  honorable  men,  have 
sprung. 


WILLIAM  PARK  ARMSTRONG,  President  of 

the  t;ily  XatiuiKil  Bank  of  Sulmaand  of  the  Selma 
Press  and  Warehouse  Company,  of  this  place,  was 
born  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  on  May  7,  184;i.  His 
father  was  James  II.  Armstrong,  a  merchant  of 
Knoxville,  where  he  spent  the  most  of  his  life, 
and  his  mother  was,  before  marriage,  Ann  Eliza 
Park,  a  daughter  of  William  Park,  of  one  of  the 
old  and  first  families  of  East  Tennessee. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
University  at  Knoxville,  and  in  1859  entered 
Princeton  (New  Jersey)  College,  which  institu- 
tion (now  a  University),  in  1880,  conferred  upon 
him  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  as  acomjiliment- 
ary  recognition  of  his  scholarship.  For  be  it  un- 
derstood that  in  May,  18G1,  he  left  Princeton  to 
enter  the  Confederate  Army,  and  we  find  him 
almost  immediately  afterward  acting  as  volunteer 
aide  on  the  staff  of  General  ZollicofTer.  He  was 
with  (ieneral  ZollicofFer  at  Fishing  Creek:  was  be- 
side him  when  he  was  killed,  and  assisted  Major 
Fogg,  another  aide,  mortally  wounded,  from  off 
the  battle-field.  After  Fishing  Creek  Mr.  Arm- 
strong was  assigned  to  the  staff  of  Gen.  John  P. 
McCown  as  aide-de-camp,  with  the  rank  of  lieuten- 
ant. After  Murfreesboro,  Lieutenant  Armstrong 
received  his  appointmentf  rom  the  Secretary  of  War 
as  captain,  with  instructions  to  raise  a  company  of 
cavalry  for  independent  and  scouting  service.  At 
the  head  of  this  command  he  remained  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  it  being,  during  the  last  year,  a 
part  of  General  Vaughan's  cavalry  brigade. 

Captain  Armstrong  surrendered  with  (ieneral 
Warford  at  Kingston,  Ga.,  May,  18G.5.  During 
the  service  he  participated  in  many  of  the  most 
hotly-contested  battles,  and  at  Wilsonville,  Tenn., 
was  seriously  wounded;  so  seriously  in  fact,  that  it 
was  thought  to  be  mortal,  and  he  was  left  upon 
the  battle-field  for  dead.  lie  wasactively  engaged 
at  Fishing  Creek,  Shiloh,  Perryville,  Wild  Cat, 
^lurfreesboro,  and  was  under  d'en.  John  H. 
Morgan,  at  (ireenville,  when  that  brilliant  officer 
was  assassinated. 

At  the  close  of  hostilities  he  went  to  New  York 
City,  where  he  accepted  employment  as  a  traveling 
salesman  for  the  boot  and  shoe  house  of  J.  II. 
Ransom  &  Sons,  and  for  them  .=old  goods  through 
the  Southern  States  during  18<!.')-<;.  In  Decem- 
ber of  the  latter  year,  at  Talladega,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  the  youngest  daughter  of  Major  James 
Isbel  (now  deceased),  and  from  that  gentlenniu 
learned  the    lianking  business.     In    1808   he  ac- 


688 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


cepted  the  position  of  secretary  and  casliier  of  tlie 
Selma  Fire  Insurance  Company,  tiien  doing  also  a 
general  l>anking  business  at  Selma.  In  January, 
ISfO,  that  institution  was  merged  into  the  City 
Bank,  he  acting  as  cashier,  'i'lie  City  Bunk  was 
merged  into  the  City  National  Bank  January  1. 
1871,  with  Captain  Armstrong  as  cashier.  At  the 
death  of  Major  Isbel.  which  occurred  in  Septem- 
ber, 1871,  he  was  made  president. 

Captain  Armstrong  has  made  hi.s  home  in 
Selma  since  1808.  In  addition  to  his  banking 
interests  in  this  city  he  is  also  interested  in  similar 
institutions  in  other  cities  of  Alabama  and  in 
Tennessee.  He  is  regarded  throughout  tlie  South 
as  one  of  the  most  skillful  financiers  of  the  day. 

He  is  a  man  of  a  high  moral  character,  liberal 
in  deeds  of  charity,  and  a  conscientious  member 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association. 


He  was  made  cashier  of  the  Selma  Savings  Bank, 
in  18.5,  and  has  been  since  continuously  in  that 
position:  the  l)ank  having  been  changed  to  its 
))resent  style  anil  title  in  1881. 

Mr.  Biker,  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  served 
a  short  time  during  the  war  as  a  member  of  the 
Fourth  Alabama  State  Troops.  He  was  Mayor  of 
Selma  two  years  (]881-8.i),  which  appears  to  be 
about  the  extent  of  his  public  service.  lie  was 
married  in  Mobile,  in  18.i7,  to  a  daughter  of 
Geneial  Strang.  She  died  in  1881,  leaving  two 
sons  and  two  daughters.  Mr.  Baker's  second 
marriage  occurred  at  Marion,  in  188:!. when  he  led 
to  the  altar  a  Jliss  Clancy. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  ^Masonic  fraternity, 
Knights  of  Honor,  National  Union,  and  is  treas- 
urer and  deacon  of  the  Presbyterian  Cluircli. 


ALPHEUS  E.  BAKER.  Casliier  of  the  Commer- 
cial Hank  i)f  Svlnui.  and  president  of  the  Central 
Alabama  Fruit  Company,  was  born  near  Leigh- 
ton,  Ala.,  March  X'4,  1834.  His  parents  were 
John  W.  and  .Martha  J.  (Estes)  Baker,  natives  of 
Tennessee  and  Virginia,  and  of  English  and  Irish 
extraction,  respectively. 

The  senior  .Mr.  Baker  was  an  architect  by  pro- 
fession. He  removed  from  Franklin  County,  in 
1837,  to  the  State  of  Mi.^sissippi,  and  from  there, 
in  1842.  to  Sumter  County,  this  State,  where  he 
manufactured  plows  and  wagons  until  the  time  of 
his  death,  which  occurred  in  1858.  He  was  killed 
by  a  drunken  wretch. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  pursued  his  elemen- 
tary studies  in  an  old  log  school-house,  and  grad- 
uated, lie  says,  between  a  pair  of  plow  handles. 
From  the  age  of  sixteen  to  nineteen  years,  lie 
learned  the  wagon  maker's  trade  under  his  father, 
jind  when  about  twenty  went  to  Mobile,  and  there 
clerked  in  a  grocery  store  for  six  years.  In  1854  he 
went  to  Baltimore,  Md..  and  was  there  graduated 
from  Chamberlain  Commercial  College.  He  came 
to  Selma  in  185(i,aiul  here,  in  partnership  with  his 
brother,  Iv.  H.  Baker,  carried  on  a  wholesale  and 
j'etail  grocery  business  until  1873.  In  that  year  a 
bank  failure  forced  them  into  liquidation,  but  not 
out  of  business.  In  188<'>.  lie  withdrew  from  the 
concern,  which  has  ceased  to  do  a  jobbing  busi- 
ness in  1873. 


WILLIAM  R.  NELSON.  In  charge  of  the  Law 
Department  anil  (ieneral  .Manager  of  the  Loan 
Company  of  Alaliama;  President  of  the  Selma 
Board  of  Trade;  Director  in  Selma  (Jas  Light  and 
Electric  Light  Co. 

Mr.  Nelson  was  born  in  Petersburg.  Va.  in  1844, 
and  is  a  son  of  Hugh  Nelson  and  Elizabeth  (Har- 
rison) Alinge,  who  were  natives  of  Virginia,  and 
they  were  descended  from  old  English  families. 
.Mr.  Nelson's  mother  was  a  neice  of  President 
Harrison,  and  she  was  also  a  granddaughter  of 
Benjamin  Harrison.  Jr.,  who  was  one  of  the  sign- 
ers of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  On  his 
]iaternal  side  Mr.  Nelson  is  a  grandson  of  Col. 
William  Nelson,  a  distinguished  officer  of  the 
.Vmerican  army  during  the  Hevolutionary  War. 
(Colonel  Nelson  served  under  (Jeneral  Washing- 
ton, and  participateil  in  several  of  the  hitter's 
great  battles  with  the  British  forces.) 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who 
married  Miss  .Minge,  died  at  Petersburg  in  18'i2, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-seven  years.  He  was  for  some 
years  the  treasurer  of  the  old  .South-Side  Hailroad 
Co. .and  died  holding  that  position.  (Thisroatl  is 
now  a  part  of  the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad 
system.)  Previous  to  his  connection  with  the 
above  railroad,  the  elder  Mr.  Nelson  had  for  some 
years  been  engaged  in  flour  manufacturing  at 
Petersburg. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  given  a  common- 
school  education,  and  had  just  entered  the  lower 
class  at  Ilampilen-Sydncy  College  when  the  war 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


r.S9 


came  on.  He  at  once  left  college  for  tlie  army, 
altlioiigli  under  tlie  military  age.  He  entered  Coni- 
])any  A  of  the  Twelfth  Virginia  Infantry,  and 
was  with  that  conunaiul  for  over  two  years,  when 
he  was  overtaken  by  serious  illness  contracteil  in 
t  lie  swamj)!  around  liichniond.  He  was  then  trans- 
ferred to  Selden's  Light  Artillery,  and  remained 
with  it  until  the  close  of  the  war,  never  having 
missed  a  whole  day  from  duty  while  connected 
with  this  battery.  .Mr.  Nelson  saw  active  .service 
in  Virginia,  North  Georgia,  and  with  General 
Hood  in  his  disastrous  Tennessee  C'aniiiaign.  a)id 
])articipated  in  the  battles  of  Seven  Piiios.  Kesaca, 
i'each  Tree,  tlie  figiits  around  Atlanta,  at  Tiltoii, 
and  at  Nashville.  At  tlie  close  of  the  war  he  went 
to  New  Orleans  as  a  clerk  in  the  employ  of  an  e.x- 
jiress  company,  and  was  engaged  there  at  first 
without  the  promi.se  of  any  pay,  he  having  accejit- 
ed  the  place  merely  to  be  employed,  and  being 
quite  sure  he  could  make  himself  too  useful  to  he 
dispensed  with.  He  had  been  there  but  a  short 
time  before  he  was  placed  in  a  responsible  i>osition 
and  i)aid  a  fair  salary.  In  188G,he  came  to  Selina 
as  a  clerk  for  Kno.x  &  Adams,  cotton  factors,  and 
after  remaining  with  them  for  a  year,  and  until 
they  went  out  of  business,  he  accepted  a  place  as 
clerk  in  the  law  otlice  of  jV[organ  &  Lajisley,  and 
after  his  duties  for  the  day  were  over  he  studied 
law,  most  of  his  studies  having  been  carried  on 
v.ery  late  at  night.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
18fi'.t,  and  in  1870  was  admitted  to  the  fii'm,  the 
style  of  which  was  Morgan,  Lapsley  &  Nelson. 
The  firm  had  a  very  large  practice  and  existed 
until  1887  when  General  Morgan  was  elected  to 
the  I'nited  States  Senate. 

He  then  practiced  with  i[r.  (now  Judge)  Laps- 
ley  for  a  short  time,  then  alone  for  some  time, 
and  then  as  a  partner  with  ('a])t.  Joseph  F.  John- 
ston, now  j)resident  of  a  National  bank  in  Hirm- 
ingham.  After  the  latter  retired  from  practice,  he 
.•igain  practiced  alone,  and  always  with  a  go(  d  cli- 
entage and  with  niucii  success.  He  gave  up  the 
general  law  practice  in  18'>6  to  accept  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Loan  Company  of  Alabama,  in  which 
jyosition  he  has  charge  of  all  the  abstracts  of  title 
aiul  all  law  matters  connected  with  their  large  bus- 
iness. In  18()lt-70  lie  represented  Dallas  County 
in  the  Legislature,  and  as  a  member  of  the  .ludic- 
iary.  and  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Cor- 
l>orations,  he  was  (|nite  a  prominent  member.  He 
was  always  engaged  with  his  duties,  and  framed 
and  had  passed  some  of  the  iin|)ortant  bills  of  the 


session.  About  this  dale  he  was  very  active  in  the 
county  Democratic  commitlccs  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  and  for  four  years  was  a  member  of  the 
State  E.xecutive  aiid  Disti'ict  Congressional  Com- 
mittees of  his  party. 

Mr.  Nelson  was  married  in  October  ISTO,  at 
Selma,  to  ilrs.  Octavia  L.  .Jones,  nue  Owen,  the 
daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Robert  Owen,  of  Mobile, 
and  a  cousin  of  Hon.  R.  B.  Owen,  the  present 
.Mayor  of  Mobile,  and  they  have  seven  beautiful 
and  very  interesting  children.  Mi'.  Nelson  is  an 
elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


.^^ 


^.^^ 


A.  M.  FOWLKES.  secretary  and  Treasurer  and 
General  .Superintendent  of  the  Birmingham, 
Selma  &  New  Orleans  Railroad,  and  wholesale 
dealer  in  hardware,  agriciltural  implements,  etc., 
Selma,  was  born  at  Lewi.sburg.N.  C,  in  November, 
1838.  His  father,  Edward  L.  Fowlkes,  wasa  law- 
yer by  profession:  he  came  to  Alabama  in  18."iO, 
located  at  Marion  and  there  died  the  same  year. 

TheseniorMr.  Fowlkes  was  a  native  of  Virginia, 
and  the  family  came  originally  from  Wales.  The 
Welch  members  of  the  family  spelled  their  names 
Ffowlke^.  His  wife's  maiden  name  was  Foster, 
also  a  native  of  Virginia.  She  died  in  .Marion,  in 
in  IST.i. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  the  eldest  of  their 
two  sons,  graduated  from  Howard  College  in  1856, 
as  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Early  in  ]8<>1,  he  joined  the 
army,  and  was  made  lieutenant  in  Company  A, 
Twenty-eighth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  commanded 
the  company  for  the  two  succeeding  years.  His 
captain  having  been  made  major  of  the  regiment. 
Lieutenant  Fowlkes,  without  the  commission  of 
captain,  was  left  in  command  of  the  company.  In 
1803,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major  and 
assigned  to  the  staff  of  Gen.  Joe  Johnson,  where 
he  remained  to  the  close  of  the  war.  -Major 
Fowlkes  participated  actively  in  the  battles  of 
Shiloli,  Farinington, Perry ville.Muifresboro, Chat- 
tanooga, Chickainauga,  Missionary  iJidge.  siege  of 
.\tlanta,  Bentonville,  etc. 

[When  Hood  superseded  Johnson,  he  retained 
Major  Fowlkes  upon  his  staff,  and  when  Johnson 
resumed  the  command,  the  Major  remained  with 
the  latter.— Ed.  J 

At  the  close  of  the  war.  Major  Fowlkes  turned 
his  attention  to  farming.     In    isiis.  he  was  made 


690 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


treasurer  of  the  Selnia,  >rarion  &  Memphis  Rail- 
road (now  tlie  Cincinnati,  Selnia  &  Mobile),  and 
in  iJSTi  was  made  the  receiver  of  that  compauj-, 
and  controlled  it  as  such  until  its  sale  under 
foreclosure  in  1878.  He  remained  with  the  road 
afterward  as  superintendent  and  treasurer  until 
l.s8".i.  At  the  sale  of  the  New  Orleans  &  Selma 
road,  in  October,  188<J.  he  became  one  of  its  pur- 
chasers, and  has  since  that  date,  been  its  superin- 
tendent, and  the  treasurer  of  the  company. 

Major  Fowlkes  was  the  president  of  the  Selma 
Bridge  Company  ;  superintended  its  construction, 
and  managed  it  after  its  completion  one  year. 

The  JIajor  is  one  of  the  trustee.-i  of  the  public 
schools  of  Selma;  a  director  in  the  Selma  Land, 
Improvemetit  and  Furnace  ('ompany;  is  an  active, 
wide-awake  business  man,  a  courteous  gentleman, 
and  worthy  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is  held 
by  all  that  know  him.  He  was  married,  at  Ma- 
rion, Ala.,  in  18.")!i,  to  Miss  Bettie  Jemison,  and 
has  had  born  to  him  two  daughters.  He  is  largely 
interested  in  farming,  from  which,  he  informed 
the  writer,  his  returns  are  as  satisfactory  as  from 
any  other  business  in  which  he  is  engaged.  He  is 
a  civil  engineer  by  profession,  which  stands  him 
in  good  hand,  in  the  business  to  which  he  is  giving 
much  attention. 

— — -^"f^^^-^— - 

NOADIAH  WOODRUFF,  Cotton  Factor,  is  a 
native  of  Farmington,  Conn.,  son  of  Sylvester  and 
Nancy  (Andrews)  Woodruff,  and  was  born  Decem- 
ber 28,  ISv'S. 

Mr.  Woodruff  was  educated  at  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  State:  spent  the  first  twenty- 
one  years  of  his  life  on  his  father's  farm;  came 
south  in  1852,  and  at  'J'alladega,  accepted  a  clerk- 
ship in  a  mercantile  e^^tablisllnK•nt.  At  the  end 
of  a  year  and  a  half  he  became  a  jiartner  of  the 
concern  and  was  there  in  business  until  the  war 
broke  out.  He  came  to  Selma  in  the  fall  of  18<i(;, 
and  engaged  in  the  cotton  i)usiness,  the  firm  being 
Woodi-ufT  v^  Huncan.  H  apj)ears  that  this  firm 
succumbed  within  a  year  from  the  time  of  its 
orgaiiizatinn,  and  Mr.  Woodruff  then  M-ent  into 
jiartncrship  with  Mr.  Woollty,  as  Woodruff  & 
A\'oolley.  Mr.  Woolley  having  withdrawn  in  18T0, 
the  firm  became  Woodruff  &  Co.  In  18T5  E.  W. 
North  was  admitted  as  partner,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Woodruff  &  North,  and  it  remains  thus 
at  thi.s  writing. 


Mr.  Woodruff  is  a  large  real  estate  owner,  bis 
magnificent  farm  lands  being  in  Dallas.  Talladega, 
Shelby  and  other  counties.  In  addition  to  buy- 
ing and  selling  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  bales  of 
cotton  per  annum,  he  produces  on  his  plantations 
several  hundreds  of  bales. 

He  has  been  three  times  Mayor  of  Selma 
(1875,  ISTT.  1879).  When  he  first  accepted  the 
mayoralty,  the  city  had  no  money  and  was  borne 
down  with  a  large  floating  debt.  At  the  end  of  his 
third  administration,  he  left  it  in  much  better 
condition. 

In  .May,  18<!ti.  in  Talladega  County,  .Mr.  Wood- 
ruff was  married  to  Miss  .Sarah  K.  Keith,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  one  child — a  daughter.  This, 
however,  was  Mr.  Woodruff's  second  marriage. 
His  first  wife  died  in  18C3.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Miss  Mary  Smoot.  Her  only  child,  Nannie,  an 
accomi)lislied  young  lady  of  nineteen  years,  died 
in  Selma  in  187!i. 

— — ••'^"J^^!— •^' — "— 

GEORGE  0.  BAKER  is  a  native  of  I'enn- 
sylvaiiia,  and  came  South  in  1855  from  New 
York,  and  was  for  some  years  in  the  employ  of 
I  the  iloiitevallo  Coal  ('omi)any.  Later  on  he 
'  came  to  Selnia,  and  engaged  in  the  grain  business, 
in  which  he  was  very  successful  in  a  financial 
^  way,  and  to  which  he  was  giving  his  attention 
j  at  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war.  After  the  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities,  he,  in  company  with  others, 
engaged  in  the  foundry  business,  and  in  1870, 
with  a  Mr.  Barker,  bought  out  the  cotton-seed  oil 
mill  that  had  been  established  here  by  some  North- 
ern men,  and  at  once  converted  it  into  one  of  the 
niostsuccessful  enterprises  of  the  South.  .Mr.  Baker 
also  takes  an  active  interest  in  agriculture,  and 
for  some  years  gave  the  cultivation  and  production 
of  cotton  much  attention.  He  is  one  of  the  direc- 
tors of  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Selma,  and  is  re- 
garded altogether  as  one  of  the  most  public-spirited 
and  enterprising  men  in  Central  Alabama.  He  is 
always  to  the  forefront  in  the  encouragement  of 
legitimate  enterprise,  and  the  people  of  Selma 
regard  him  as  one  of  their  most  progressive  and 
substantial  citizens. 

Mr.  Baker  is  a  man  of  literary  taste,  polished 
in  his  manner,  a  ready  and  forcible  speaker,  a 
terse  and  vigorous  writer,  and  is  possessed  of  ex- 
traordinary executive  ability.     His  modesty  is  pro- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


691 


verbial,  and  tliat  liis  humor  is  always  of  tlie  most 
l)leasant  kind  is  seen  in  the  following  extract  from 
a  letter  written  by  iiim  to  the  publishers  in  re- 
sponse to  a  modest  request  to  furnish  the  least  bit 
of  data  with  reference  to  his  life,  upon  which 
could  be  based  something  of  a  sketch  a^jiproximat- 
ing  in  a  degree  what  everybody  knows  he  merits. 
His  reason  for  declining  to  give  the  information 
is  based  upon  the  fact,  as  he  says,  of  his  being 
"  an  exceptional  case."  Tiien,  continuing,  he 
says:  ''  I  have  killed  nobody,  never  held  or  aspired 
to  oHice,  am  only  a  plain,  modest,  retiring  and 
retired  citizen.  Anyone  under  similar  circum- 
stances could  have  done  anything  I  have-  done, 
hence  (I  regret  exceedingly)  I  can  write  nothing 
about  myself  that  would  be  of  interest."  The 
jiublishers  in  their  correspondence  with  Jlr. 
Baker,  having  mentioned  tho  name  of  a  particular 
friend  of  iiis  in  connection  with  the  required 
data,  Mr.  Raker  continuing  in  the   letter  before 

quoted,  says:     "  Never  mind.  Captain  X ,  his 

high  estimate  of  some  of  his  friends  is  due  to  his 
kind-hearted  partiality.  lie  is  in  mid-ocean  just 
now,  so  we  we  will  '  let  him  roll '  while  we  quietly 
pursue  the  even  tenor  of  our  several  ways  on 
terra  firma.'' 

— 4"J 


NATHANIEL  WALLER,  Cotton  Factor,  was 
born  in  Ualdwin  County,  (ia.,  lOth  day  of  Octo- 
ber, 18i:i,  and  is  therefore  well  up  into  his 
seventy-fifth  year.  Ilis  parents  were  Nathaniel 
and  Telitha  (Toole)  Waller,  natives  of  Maryland. 
His  i)arents  came  to  Alabama  in  1818  and  located 
at  Wetumpka.  where  his  father  was  engaged  in 
planting  until  he  died.  His  mother  and  her 
family  moved  to  Dallas  County,  in  1S-^>(I,  where 
Nathaniel  and  his  brother  Thomas  Flint  Waller 
engaged  at  farming. 

A  Sabbath-school  was  organized  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  Nathaniel,  then  a  mere  lad,  became 
a  member.  His  teacher  here  was  the  gentlennin 
(Mr.  Hughes)  to  whom  he  had  gone  as  a  pupil  for 
a  sliort  time  in  a  day  school.  This  gentleman 
took  a  great  interest  in  the  lad,  and  spoke  to  Mr. 
Anthony  Minter  concerning  him.  As  it  was  then 
jirior  to  the  days  of  public  schools,  it  was  arranged 
between  these  two  to  give  the  promising  boy  a 
chance  for  an  education  without  expense  to  his 
mother,  wlio  was  too  poor  to  afford  him  such 
advantages.     He  attended    school    three   or  four 


years  under  this  fortunate  turn  of  events.  W'i' 
then  obtained  a  clerkship  with  I'arkman  & 
Douglas,  dry  goods  dealers  at  Selma.  Remaining 
with  them  only  a  short  time,  he  accepted  a  situa- 
tion at  a  country  store,  wliere  he  remained  until 
1836.  Mr.  Minter  then  procured  a  situation  for 
him  with  Philip  .1.  Weaver,  at  that  day  one  of  the 
)nerchant  princes  of  the  State.  He  ren)ained  with 
this  gentleman  during  the  year  183G,  and  was  paid 
^(!(iO  per  annum  for  his  services.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  was  in  the  mercantile  business  on  his 
own  account.  In  the  year  succeeding  he  again 
engaged  with  Mr.  Weaver:  here  he  renuvincd until 
the  year  180.").  He  was  advanced  step  by  step, 
until  he  became  head  book-keeper  and  general 
manager  of  Mr.  Weaver's  vast  business,  which  at 
that  time  was  perhaps  second  to  none  in  the  State. 
His  salary  was  increased  from  time  to  time,  until 
he  came  to  receive  i^:!,:}:!:!  per  annum.  This 
lucrative  pay  was  accorded  him  for  several  years  in 
succession  before  Mr.  Weaver's  death.  Perhaps 
there  is  no  more  crucial  scst  of  one's  capabilities 
than  that  afforded  by  the  daily  routine  of  business 
life;  and  the  idea  is  intensified  in  ten-fold  ratio 
when  one  is  subjected  to  the  scrutiny  of  a  careful 
and  painstaking  business  man,  such  as  was  our 
subject's  worthy  employer.  And  were  there  no 
further  evidence  of  his  ability  as  a  successful 
man  of  business,  these  facts  alone  would  entitle 
him  to  a  place  among  the  foremost  commercial 
men  of  his  day.  At  the  dawn  of  peace  in  18()5, 
Mr.  Waller  farmed  for  a  short  time;  then  for  an 
equally  brief  space  of  time  he  was  engaged  in  a 
clerical  capacity.  Afterward  with  Major  Wailes 
and  A.  M.  Treadwell,  as  partners,  he  was  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business  until  the  year  18^3. 
Since  that  time  he  has  given  his  attention  to  the 
cotton  trade.  In  1875,  Mr.  Waller  admitted  his 
son,  George  L.  Mailer.  This  firm  continued  for 
ten  years,  when  the  firms  of  Joseph  Hardie  &  Co. 
and  N.  Waller  &  Co.  consolidated.  This  firm  was 
composed  of  N.  Waller,  (ieorge  L.  Waller,  .Joseph 
Hardie  and  William  II.  Welch,  and  was  known 
under  the  firm  name  of  Waller,  Welch  &  Co. 
This  association  lasted  until  January,  1888.  The 
partnership  was  then  dissolved,  and  Mr,  Waller 
and  his  son  (ieorge,  continued  the  business  under 
the  original  firm  title  <>f  N.  Waller  &  Co. 

Mr.  Waller  was  married  February  9,  1842,  to 
.Miss  Annie  A.,  daughter  of  Griftin  and  Matilda 
(<iamnnxge)  Bender,  of  Baldwin  Connty,  (Ja. 
'I'hey  have  four  children  now  living:  George  L., 


692 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Maria.!.,  I{ev.<.  William  '1".  and  Ciiarles  D.:  the 
last  two  are  Fresb3'terian  ministers.  Mr.  Waller 
himself  has  been  for  fifty  j'ears  a  member  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church;  he  and  his  son 
(feorge  are  both  elders  in  that  churcli. 

Mr.  ^Valler  is  now  in  vigorous  health,  with  the 
promise  of  many  years  of  added  usefulness.  This 
is  attributable  to  his  regular  habits  of  rest  and 
eating  and  drinking.  A  life-long  opponent  of 
licentious  living,  he  has  ever  lent  hi.s  inthienee  to 
the  cause  of  temperance.  Modest  even  to  extreme 
diflidence,  he  has  not  perhaps  exerted  that  wide 
influence  over  the  public  mind  which  such  a  life 
as  his  would  otherwise  have  wielded.  Yet  in  his 
own  family  and  among  his  more  intimate  friends, 
liis  iuHuonce  has  been  deeply  felt  and  powerfully 
exerted  in  the  formation  of  character.  As  already 
said,  he  lives  to  see  one  son  in  his  own  church. 
and  two  younger  sons  in  the  gospel  ministry. 

■    ■ »  •i^^"»'— — 

SAMUEL  D.  HOLT.  Wholesale  Grocer  and 
Cotton  Factor,  was  born  in  November,  1844,  at 
Danville,  Va. .  and  is  a  son  of  .lames  G.  and  liucy 
(Burton)  Holt,  natives,  respectively,  of  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina.  The  senior  .Mr.  Holt  was  a 
merchant  during  his  life,  and  devoted  himself 
exclusively  lo  tliat  calling.  He  died  at  Yancey- 
ville,  N.  C,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three  years. 

Our  subject  received  a  common-school  educa- 
tion, and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  commenced 
business  life  by  engaging  as  a  clerk  in  a  dry-goods 
store,  at  Yanceyville,  N.  C,  in  which  he  contin- 
ued until  the  fall  of  18G1.  In  1803  he  enlisted  in 
the  Confeilerate  Army,  and  was  assigned  to  duty 
with  tlie  Staunton  Hill  Artillery,  from  Charlotte 
County,  A'a.  He  was  in  active  service  until  the 
close  of  the  war. 

After  the  close  of  the  war.  Samuel  Holt  went  to 
Montgomery,  Ala,,  where  he  was,  for  a  time, 
clerk  in  a  wholesale  grocery  business,  and  was 
afterward  admitted  as  a  partner  into  the  same 
house,  which  was  known  as  Warren.  Hurch  iS: 
Company.  In  187".J  he  sold  out  his  interest,  and 
was  then  quite  extensively  engaged  in  the  coal 
business  at  Montevallo,  where  he  continued  for 
several  years.  In  1881  he  came  to  Selma.  and,  in 
company  with  Mr.  Starr,  and  others,  an  old  resi- 
dent of  this  city,  engaged  in  the  wholesale  gro- 
cery and  cotton  brokerage  business,  under  the  firm 


name  of  Holt,  Starr  «S  Co.  This  business  has 
prosjjered  in  the  hands  of  these  gentlemen,  and 
they  rank  among  the  deserving  and  worthy  citi- 
zens of  the  community. 

ilr.  Holt  was  married  in  November,  l8G!t.  to 
Miss  Catherine,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Mary 
Venablc.  of  Prince  Edward  County,  ^'a.  They 
have  four  living  children:  Lucy,  Vennie,  Mary, 
and  Ellie. 

Our  subject  is  a  member  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church,  of  Selma.  also  an  elder  in  the 
same,  and  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school. 
He  is  also  connected  with  the  City  Government  as 
a  member  of  the  Hoard  of  Councilmen.  represent- 
ing the  First  Ward. 

JOSEPH  H.  ROBBINS,  head  of  the  firm  of 
Hobbins  iV  Sons,  W  iiolc-ale  Dealers  in  Hardware. 
Selma,  was  born  in  Hertie  County,  N.  C.,  Marcli 
IT,  18:]0.  His  father,  .lohn  Robbins.  a  native  of 
Virginia,  and  of  English  descent,  was  a  farmer  of 
considerable  wealth.  He  died  in  North  Carolina 
in  1846,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years.  His 
mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Ilarrall.  came 
with  her  sons  to  Alabam:i.  in  18.5ii,  and  here  died 
in   18<i4. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  second  of 
three  sons.  He  was  educated  primarily  at  Bertie 
Academy,  and  graduated  as  a  Doctor  of  Medicine 
from  the  University  of  Louisiana  in  18.')4.  He  prac- 
ticed medicine  on  his  plantation  until  the  close  of 
the  war.  The  oldest  son  was  a  private  soldier, 
fought  in  the  battle  of  Manassas,  was  wounded, 
and  afterward  became  a  captain  of  a  company  in 
the  Fifty-first  Alabama  (Joiin  T.  Morgan's  old 
regiment).  He  lives  now  in  this  county  and  is  a 
farmer. 

Dr.  Robbins  engaged  in  the  hardware  business 
in  comjiany  with  his  brother  and  a  Mr.  Aram,  at 
Selnui.  in  ISil.i.  In  18t>'.»,  he  purchased  the  inter- 
est of  iiis  ])artners.  and  became  the  sole  owner. 
Up  to  18TT  the  business  had  been  confined  to  re- 
tailing. In  that  year  they  began  jobbing  in  a 
small  way.  At  this  time  it  has  growji  to  be  one 
of  the  most  extensive  concerns  in  Central  \\a- 
baina.  The  firm  is  composed  of  .loseph  IL,  Eu- 
gene and.T.Syd.  Robbins.  the  two  latter  being 
the  sons  of  the  former.  Eugene  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  firm  in  18T4,  and  J.  Svd.  in  1883. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


693 


Dr.  Robhiiis  was  married  in  Dallas  Comity,  in 
1S.">4.  to  .Miss  Mary  Ann  .Jackson,  of  North  Caro- 
lina yimkor  descent,  an<l  a  daughter  of  Natlian 
, Jackson,  a  wealthy  planter,  in  bis  day,  of  Dallas 
County. 

Dr.  Hobbins  is  a  progressive,  public-spirited 
citizen,  fully  identified  with  the  best  interests  of 
the  community,  and  a  meniber  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  of  the  Metlioilist  Episcopal  Churcii, 
South. 


JOSEPH  W.  STILLWELL,  President  of  the 
Mathews  Cotton  .Mill  Cuinpany,  Selma,  and  Su- 
l)erintendent  of  tlie  Dallas  Comjiress  Company, 
and  the  Selnia  Press  and  Warehouse  Company, 
was  born  at  Rome,  (ia.,  November  IT,  IS-t-i. 
His  father  was  the  Kev.  Ciiarles  II.  Stillweli,  min- 
ister of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  his  mother,  be- 
fore marriage,  was  a  Miss  Marshall.  Kev.  Mr. 
Stillweli  resided  at  Home,  Ga.,  upward  of  forty 
years,  and  there  died  September,  lb87,  at  the  age 
of  eigiity-two  years,  lie  was  a  minister  of  the 
gospel  from  early  maniiood,  and  in  active  ministry 
up  to  within  live  years  of  his  death. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
schools  of  Rome,  and  there,  in  February,  1SG;5, 
entered  Gartrell's  Legion,  and  served  to  the  close 
of  the  war  in  Forrest's  command.  He  partici-- 
pated  in  the  battles  of  Nashville,  Franklin  and 
Columbia,  Tenn.,  and  in  all  the  Tennessee  cam- 
paigns. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Rome, 
and  was  appointed  agent  of  the  Rome  Railroad,  at 
that  city.  In  187(1,  he  came  to  Selma  as  superin- 
tendent of  tlie  Selma  Press  and  Warehouse  Com- 
pany. In  1887,  he  was  elected  president  of  the 
Mathews  Cotton  Mills  Company,  and  is  at  this 
time  (1887)  giving  his  attention  to  those  import- 
ant industries,  having  under  his  immediate  super- 
vision from  si.\ty  to  eighty  men.  He  was  married 
at  Selma,  in  187i,  to  .\nuie  Haralson,  daugiiterof 
William  15.  Haralson.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  frateinity  and  of  the  Rai)tist  Church. 

JOHN  R.  KENAN,  IVesident  of  the  .Selma 
<ias  and  Electric  Light  Company,  was  born  in 
Duplin  County,  N.  C,  July  ^4,  1814,  and  his 
parents  were  Thomas  and    Mary. (Rand)   Kermn, 


natives  of  North  Carolina,  and  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent. 

The  senior  .Mr.  Kenan  came  to  Dallas  County 
in  18:i;$,  where  he  followed  jjlanting  many  years, 
and  died  iit  the  age  of  seventy-three. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  nineteen  years  of 
age  when  the  family  came  into  Alabama.  He  ha<l 
been  educated  in  the  North  Carolina  schools,  and 
since  coming  liere  has  been  engaged  as  a  lumber, 
lime  and  iron  dealer.  His  father  was  a  public 
man  in  North  Carolina  of  much  repute.  He  i-ep- 
resented  the  Wilmington  District  in  the  United 
States  Congress  twelve  yeai's,  and  was  a  member 
of  that  body  during  the  War  of  181-.J-14.  He  also 
served  many  years  in  North  Carolina  Legislature, 
but  after  coming  to  Alabama  he  withdrew  entirely 
from  jiuldic  life. 

John  R.  Kenan  was  living  in  .Shelby  County 
when  the  war  broke  out,  and  he  opposed  secession 
upon  the  ground  particularly  of  its  ine.xjiediency, 
and,  secondarily,  becau.se  he  favored  the  Union. 
While  in  New  Orleans  on  business  in  18'>(>,  the 
people  of  Shelby  County,  without  any  solicitation 
upon  his  part,  elected  him  to  tlie  Secession  Con- 
vention by  a  good  round  majority,  thougli  his  op- 
ponent, a  known  secessionist,  was  counted  in. 
Thus  a  majority  of  the  voting  people  of  Shelby 
County  were  misrepresented  in  that  memorable 
Convention. 

In  response  to  the  earnest  entreaty  of  his  friends, 
he  attended  the  Convention,  but  was  peremptorily 
refused  a  seat  in  that  body  until  <tfler  the  adoplion 
of  the  secession  ordhianre. 

He  was  in  the  Legislature  from  Shelby  County  in 
18'J3,  and  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  deliber- 
ations of  that  body. 

ilr.  Kenan's  iron  works,  lime  works,  etc.,  were 
destroyed  during  the  war,  and  the  cessation  of 
hostilities  found  him  penniless.  However,  he 
despaired  not,  but  readily  set  about  the  recuper- 
ation and  accumulation  of  fortune,  and  at  this 
witing  (1888)  we  find  him  in  the  enjoyment  of  a 
handsome  competency.  He  came  to  Selma  in 
18011,  and  engaged  in  comjiress  and  warehouse  busi- 
ness, to  which  he  has  since  adhered.  He  became 
interested  in  the  gas  company,  in  187."),  and  has 
been  its  president  since  1879.  That  company 
bought  the  electric  plant  in  1885,  and  merged  it 
into  the  present  styled  concern. 

He  was  married  at  Selma  in  18.58.  to  Jfrs.  M. 
L.  Kimball,  live  Co.x,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  first  .settlers  in  the 


694 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


valley  of  tlie  Delaware.  Mr.  and  ilrs.  Kenan  are 
members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  whicii  Mr. 
Kenan  is  an  el<ler. 

WILLIAM  E.  WAILES,  Cotton  Factor,  Selnia. 
was  burn  al  Salisbury.  -Md..  August  \'l,  183^,  and 
is  a  son  of  William  H.,  and  Sarah  (Leonard) 
Wailes,  of  that  State.  1'he  senior  ilr.  Wailes 
was  a  doctor  of  iledicine  for  thirty  years  in  Som- 
erset County,  Md.,  where  he  died  in  1841t. 

William  E.  Wailes  was  educated  at  the  private 
schools  of  his  native  village,  and  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen years  began  clerking  in  a  dry  goods  store, 
which  avocation  he  followed  until  the  breaking 
out  of  hostilities  between  the  States.  In  1801,  he 
enlisted  as  a  i)rivate  in  the  Confederate  service,  in 
Captain  JIurphy's  Company  which  was  raised  in 
Perry  County,  this  State.  Colouel  Wailes  came  in- 
to Alabama  in  January,  ItOO.  He  continued  in 
the  war  until  its  close,  and  for  meritorious  conduct, 
was  promoted  successively  from  lieutenant  to  lieu- 
tenant-colonel. He  was  also  assistant  adjutant- 
general  on  the  staff  of  Heneral  Joe  Wheeler.  He 
was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro,  at 
Ringgold  (iaj),  and,  in  1804,  near  (iadsden,  Ala., 
while  guarding  the  movement  of  (ieneral  Hood's 
army  into  Tennessee,  and  was  paroled  with  his 
command  near  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

After  the  war  Colonel  Wailes  returned  to  Selina 
and  was  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business,  until 
January  1880.  In  1X80,  he  engaged  in  the  cotton 
commission  busine.ss,  which  he  has  followed  suc- 
sessfully  since  that  time.  He  has  been  connected 
with  other  worthy  and  staunch  concerns  in  Selma. 
to  which  he  has  lent  timely  assistance  and  sound 
advice.  He  has  been  a  director  of  the  Central  City 
Insurance  Company  for  fourteen  years,  and  sus- 
tained the  same  relation  to  the  City  National 
Hank  of  Selma  for  a  long  time,  after  its  organiza- 
tion. 

CidoTiel  Wailes  was  married  in  December,  18t'4, 
to  Miss  Georgia,  daughter  of  Thomas  S.  and  Emily 
(McGhee)  Driskell.  of  Plantersville,  Ala.,  and  five 
children  have  been  born  to  them,  viz.:  Laura  S., 
Sarah  E.,  Wni.  D.,  Catharine  K.  and  Wm.  E. 

Our  subject  has  for  many  years  been  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcojial  Church,  South,  and 
has  been  an  ofti(;ial  therein  for  more  than  a  score. 
He  is  particularly  active  in  Sunday-school  work. 


is  a  trustee  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  a   member  of 
the  Masonic  fraternity. 

The  Colonel  is  a  staunch  and  true  friend  of  edu- 
cation, and  has  proved  his  devotion  to  that  cause 
by  an  active  participation  in  educational  matters. 
He  is  at  this  writiiig  (1888)  a  member  of  the  Hoard 
of  Trustees  of  the  Dallas  Academy  and  of  the  City 
Board  of  Education  of  Selma,  Ala. 

JOSEPH  HARDIE  was  born  near  Huntsville, 
Ala.,  June  ".''i,  l)-i:}3.  His  parents  were  John  and 
Mary  M.  (Hale)  Hardie.  His  mother  was  a  Vir- 
ginian: his  father  came  from  Scotland  to  America 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  and  settled  near  Rich- 
mond, Va. ;  then  came  to  Huntsville,  where  he 
remained  eight  years,  and  went  to  Talladega,  Ala., 
in  1S34.  where  he  was  a  merchant  until  the  time 
of  his  death  in  1848.  The  family  consisted  of 
seven  boys  and  two  girls,  all  of  whom  attained 
their  majority  and  were  married. 

Josej)h  Hardie  received  his  i)rimary  education 
at  the  common  schools,  nuvtriculated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama,  and  afterward  attended  coU 
lege  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  from  which  institution  he 
was  graduated  in  18.55.  During  that  year  he  went 
to  Selma,  and  became  a  clerk  in  the  grocery-house 
of  Phil  pot  &  Lapsley.  After  one  year's  clerical 
work,  he  became,  by  jnirchase,  a  partner  in  the 
house.  This  partnershiji  lasted  until  1851t,  when 
lie  became  sole  jtroprietor,  and  conducted  the 
business  until  ISOl.  when  he  sold  out  ami  enlisted 
in  the  Confederate  army. 

Mr.  Ilardie's  army  experience  commenced  by 
his  being  nuule  adjutant  of  the  Fourth  Alabama 
Infantry,  in  which  position  he  served  for  one 
year.  He  then  left  that  regiment  and  raised  a 
battalion  of  cavalry,  which  was  known  as  Hardie's 
Battalion,  and  remained  with  this  command  until 
the  close  of  the  war. 

After  the  war,  Mr.  Hardie  merchandised  at  Tal- 
ladega until  the  fall  of  18(!o.  when  he  returned  to 
Selma  and  pursued  the  same  business  in  part- 
nership with  James  11.  Robinson,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Hardie  &  Robinson  until  the  following 
fall.  He  then  sold  out  and  began  dealii:g  in  cot- 
ton, and  jiursued  that  business  until  ]S8(i,  when 
he  wa.s  forced  to  make  ao  assignment  for  the  bene- 
fit of  his  creditors. 

Being  allowed  an  ojiportunity  to  reconstruct  his 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


695 


fortunes,  he  resumed  business  in  June,  1^<S1. 
Ilis  course  tliereafter  jiroved  the  wisdom  of  his 
creditors.  lie  was  etnineiitly  successful  luid  j)aiil 
off  his  entire  indebtedness  in  18S."). 

In  the  fall  of  IS81I.  he  made  investments  in  real 
estate  in  California,  in  which  the  appreciation  of 
value  lias  by  far  exceeded  his  most  sanguine  ex- 
pectations, and  this  has  demonstnited  tliat  he  is  a 
man  of  business  foresight  and  sagacity. 

Mr.  Ilardio  was  married  in  Uecember,  1S.")(I,  to 
Miss  .Margaret  ]).,  daughter  of  .lames  and  Hubelia 
Houston  Isbel.of  Talladega.  Mr.  llardie  has  been 
for  s^me  years  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  He  is  prominently  known  in  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  throughout  the 
United  States,  and  is  a  member  of  its  Interna- 
tional Committee  for  the  United  States  and  the 
Hritish  Provinces. 


-^►' 


ALEXANDER  W.  CAWTHON.  Wholesale  and 
Retail  Druggist,  Selma,  was  born  January  2.  1841, 
at  Hutaw,  Greene  County,  this  State,  and  is  a  son 
of  W.  T.  and  Sarah  (Camp)  Cawthon,  natives, 
resi>ectively,  of  Georgia  and  North  Carolina. 
Some  time  after  the  birth  of  our  subject,  Mr. 
Cawthon,  Sr.,  moved  to  Whistler,  Ala.,  where  he 
lived  many  years,  and  devoted  himself  to  architec- 
ture and  merchandising.  He  has  retired  from 
active  life  and  is  now  living  at  Stonewall,  Miss., 
and  is  seventy-eight  years  of  age. 

Alexander  Cawthon  was  educated  at  Barton 
Academy,  Mobile,  and  when  sixteen  years  old, 
began  clerking  in  his  brother's  drug  store  in  that 
city,  where  he  remained  until  the  war  came  on. 

In  the  year  IHGl.  our  subject  enlisted  in  the 
'I'wenty-First  Alabama  Kegiment  (Woodruff's 
IJitles),  but  owing  to  his  superior  knowledge  of  the 
drug  business,  he  was  appointed,  soon  afterward, 
hospital  steward,  and  acted  in  that  capacity  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  During  this  time  he  was 
several  times  transferred,  and  when  the  surrender 
of  the  Southern  Army  occurred  lie  was  at  Selma. 

Mr.  Cawthon  was  identified  with  the  drug 
business  in  Selma  as  far  liack  as  18G5,  and  at  the 
time  above  referred  to  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  James  L.  McVoy,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Cawthon  &  Mc\'oy.  A  partnership  was  formed 
at  a  later  period  with  Mr.  Coleman,  and  the  new 
tirm  was  and  still  is  known  as  Cawthon  &    Cole- 


man. Mr.  Cawthon  is  one  of  the  most  experi- 
enced and  skillful  druggists  in  Dallas  County. 
Til  is  is  but  a  natural  conclusion  to  arrive  at,  when 
we  consider  that  he  has  devoted  his  life  to  the 
drug  business,  and  has  had  an  exjjerience  extend- 
ing from  ]8.")7  to  the  present  time. 

The  firm  of  Cawthon  &  Coleman  possibly  do  the 
largest  drug  business  in  the  State.  Having  a 
most  suitable  location  for  the  transaction  of  a 
large  business,  they  have  not  been  at  all  slow  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  advantage  it  offered. 

Personally  we  may  say  of  Mr.  Cawthon  that  he 
is  a  public-spirited  man,  and  has  lent  his  efforts 
to  other  meritorious  things  than  his  immediate 
business.  He  is  ready  at  all  times  to  give  ail  the 
assistance  in  his  power  to  the  furtherance  of  all 
laudable  undertakings  which  have  as  their  object 
tlie  general  upbuilding  and  advancement  of  his 
locality.  He  is  a  director  of,  and  takes  a  deep 
interest  in,  the  Selma  Land,  Improvement  and 
Furnace  Company. 

Mr.  Cawthon  was  married  in  April,  18G7,  to 
Miss  Laura  J.,  daughter  of  Thomas  A.  and  Ade- 
laide Keith,  of  Winchester,  Tenn.  They  have 
five  children:  .Marshall  0.,  Carrie  L.,  Alexander 
K.,  Sadie  ^I.  and  Frank  !•". 

LAWRENCE  H.  MONTGOMERY.  Wholesale 
Grocer,  .Selma,  was  born  at  Summcrtield,  this 
State,  in  Jlay,  1849,  and  is  a  son  of  John  II.  and 
Hannah  (Moore)  Montgomery,  natives  of  North 
Carolina. 

John  H.  Montgomery  located  at  Summerfield 
in  1847,  and  there  carried  on  the  saddle  and  har- 
ness business.  He  was  a  local  minister  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  many 
years,  and  died  in  186:5. 

Our  subject  attended  the  Centenary  Institute 
at  Summerfield  until  he  was  sixteen  years  old,  and 
then  began  to  clerk  for  Hosser  &  Morey.  of  Selma, 
with  whom  he  remained  seven  years.  Graduating 
from  Poughkeepsie  (X.  Y.)  business  College  in 
1809,  he  returned  home,  and  was  engaged  with  his 
old  firm  for  three  years.  In  1872,  he  embarked  in 
the  wholesale  grocery  business  in  Selma,  and  has 
built  up  a  trade  equal  to  the  best  in  Middle  and 
Southern  Alabama. 

Mr.  Montgomery  was  married  in  October,  1872, 
to  Miss  Annie,  daughter  of  Joseph  li.   and  Jane 


690 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


(Smith)  .John,  of  this  city.  Their  union  lias  been 
blessed  with  five  children:  Lawrence,  William  V., 
Hosa  Helle.  Emaline  and  diaries  G.       • 

Our  subject  i.s  a  member  of  the  Kniji^hts  of 
Honor  and  of  tlie  Methodi.st  Episcopal  Clmrcli. 
South. 

REV.   ROBERT   WOODWARD    BARNWELL, 

Hector  in  char<;e  of  ?^i.  I'iiurs  Kjiisiojiui  Ciiuiuh, 
Selma,  is  a  native  of  Beaufort,  S.  C,  and  was 
born  December  il,  l)S4".t.  His  father,  John  G. 
Harnwell,  now  a  retired  citizen  of  Home,  (ia., 
reared  six  sons  to  manhood,  and  four  of  them  are 
ministers  in  the  Episcojjal  Ciiurch,  to-wit  :  Rev. 
Stephen  Elliott  Haniwell.  of  Louisville,  Ky.  : 
Rev.  William  Ilaversham  Harnwell,  of  Paris,  Ky. : 
Rev.  R)bert  Haversham  Harnwell,  and  thesubject 
of  this  sketch.  This  <fentleman  was  educated  at 
Trinitv  College,  Hartford,  Conn.,  graduating 
from  that  institution  as  A.H.  in  1872.  He  sub.se- 
f|uently  spent  two  years  in  a  theological  seminary 
in  Xew  York  City;  was  ordained  deacon  at  .Mid<llc- 
town,  Conn.,  in  1873,  and  located  at  Griffin,  Ga. , 
in  the  spring  of  1874.  From  Griffin,  in  the  fall  of 
187ti,  he  removed  to  Demopolis,  this  State,  and  was 
in  charge  of  the  church  there  until  .Iaiuii\ry,  lss((. 
at  which  time  he  came  to  Selma. 

.Mr.  Barnwell  was  ordained  priest  in  Atlanta, 
Ga.,  by  Bishop  Beckwith,  in  1875.  He  began  his 
studies  in  his  youth  with  a  view  to  the  ministry, 
and  has  ever  since  his  ordination  devoted  his  time 
to  the  profession.  He  was  married  at  Demopolis, 
November  6,  1870,  to  Miss  Margaret  C.  Blair,  of 
that  place  and  has  had  born  to  him  two  sons  and 
two  daughters. 


— >-:< 


EDWARD  G.  GREGORY.  I're.-ident  of  the  Union 
Iron  Works  tJomjiany,  .*^elnia;  Secretary  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Gregory  &  Coe  Ijumber  Com- 
pany, Stanton,  .\la.,  and  Director  in  the  Selma 
and  Cahaba  Railroad  C'ompany,  was  born  in  Liv- 
erpool, England,  July  11,  1833,  and  came  to 
.\merica  in  185'2.  He  learned  the  machinist  trade 
at  .Manclnster,  P'ngland. 

Mr.  Gregory  was  edn.-uted  for  a  profession,  but 
preferred  mechanics,* and  therefore  luriied  his  at- 
tention ill  that  direction.  Aftercoming  to  .\merica 
he  began  work   in    Hicbmond.  Va..   where   he  re- 


mained until  18.>7,  in  which  year  he  came  to  Selma 
as  an  engineer  and  machinist  on  the  Alabama  & 
Tennessee  River  Railroad  (now  the  E.T.,V.  t.>t  G.). 
lie  was  with  that  company  four  years,  at  which 
time  he  was  made  -Master  .Mechanic  of  the  .\la- 
baniait  Mississippi  Railroad,  and  he  held  that  posi- 
tion lip  to  1S(;7.  In  this  year  he  began  business 
for  himself  in  a  small  way,  establishing  a  shop  for 
the  repairing  of  machinery,  engines,  etc.  In 
18C9,  in  partnership  with  Mr.  Coe  (fiim  of  (ireg- 
ory  &  Coe)  he  liegan  themanufactureof  macliinery. 
The  firm  afterward  became  Gregory ,  Coe  &  Pol- 
lock, adding  to  that  of  machinery,  a  foundr; . 
The  firm  was  merged  into  and  liecanie  The  LTiiion 
Iron  Works  Company,  in  December,  1885.  with 
Mr.  Gregory  as  president.  They  now  manufac- 
ture steam  engines,  cotton  presses,  castings,  etc., 
making  a  specialty,  however,  of  stationary  engines 
for  all  pur])oses. 

Mr.  Gregory  is  a  director  in  the  Commercial 
Bank  of  Selma,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
thorough-going  business  men  in  Central  Alabama. 
He  was  married  in  Southwestern  Virginia,  in 
1S57,  to  a  Miss  Ewing.  Both  .Mr.  and  .Mrs.  Greg- 
ory are  communicants  of  the  Episcopal  C'hurch, 
and  for  ten  years,  the  former  has  been  a  vestryman 
of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Selma. 

HUGH  S.  D.  MALLORY.  Attomey-at-law.  Sel- 
ma, President  I'f  the  Hume  Heal  Estate  and  Loan 
Company,  and  of  the  Selma  Council  of  the  Xa- 
tional  Union:  Member  of  tlie  Board  of  Directors 
Selma  &  Cahaba  \'alley  Railroad;  Superintendent 
of  the  Baptist  Sabbath-school,  and  Member  of  the 
State  Mission  Board,  Alabama  Commission,  was 
born  in  Talladega  County,  .\la.,  February  6,  1848, 

and   his  parents  were  .lames  and (Darby) 

.Mallory,  of  \'irginia. 

The  senior  Mr.  Mallory,  a  planter  by  occupa- 
tion, came  into  Alabama  in  183"2,  and  died  in 
August,  1877,  at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  His 
widow  now  lives  (1888)  at  Talladega  at  the  age  of 
seventy  years.  They  reared  four  sons,  three  of 
whom  are  living. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
Talladega  Male  Academy,  and  the  University  of 
Alabama,  and  from  the  University  of  \'irginia  in 
1808,  received  the  degree  of  LL. I).  He  entered 
into  the  practice   of  law  at   Selma   in  1.SG9,  and 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


097 


since  that  time  has  served  two  j'ears  as  magistrate; 
a  short  time  as  t'ommissioner  of  the  United  States 
<^'ircuit  Court,  and  Mayor  of  this  city  two  terms 
(ISS")-<S7).  lie  has  been  a  member  of  the  City 
15oard  of  Education  since  187T,  and  was  Su- 
perinteiukMit  of  Education  for  tiie  city  of  Selma 
from  187T  to  1885.  lie  is  at  present  a  member  of 
tlie  Hoard  of  Trustees  State  Colored  University, 
and  is  otherwise  connected  with  various  educa- 
tional institutions.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  Home  Real  Estate  and  Loan  Company,  of 
which  he  is  president;  also  of  the  Selma  &  (Jaliaba 
\'alk'y  h'ailroad  Company.  He  has  been  president 
of  the  Selnni  Bar  Association  four  or  five  terms; 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Legion  of  Honor 
and  of  the  National  Union;  is  a  Knight  Templar 
Mason,  pi'esiding  oHicer  of  the  Chapter,  and  Past 
Grand  Dictator  of  the  Knights  of  Honor  for  the 
State  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  Mallory  was  married  at  Sumnierfield,  tliis 
county,  in  October,  18t"2,  to  a  daughter  of  Dr.  C. 
B.  Moore,  of  that  place,  and  has  had  born  to  him 
five  children  —  four  (laughters  and  one  son. 


W.  T.  BROOKS.  Secretary  of  the  Union  Iron 
WorksConipany.souof  theHon.AV.  M.  Brooks, now 
of  Birmingham,  Avas  born  in  Marengo  County,  this 
State,  in  September.  184.i.  He  was  educated  at  Ma- 
rion and  Tuscaloosa,  and  entered  the  army  from  tlie 
latter  place  in  18<5-i,  as  sergeant-major  of  the 
Twenty-Fifth  Alabama.  He  served  to  the  close  of 
the  war  under  Hood  and  Johnson,  and  surrendered 
in  North  Carolina.  He  took  part  in  the  battles  of 
Chickamauga,  Missionary  Ridge,  New  Hope 
Church,  Resaca,  siege  of  Atlanta,  Nashville  and 
Franklin,  and  left  the  service  with  the  rank  of 
first  lieutenant.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  went 
to  Mobile,  remained  two  years  in  the  cotton  com- 
mission business;  tlience  to  San  Francisco,  and, 
returning  to  Alabama,  engaged  at  cotton  planting 
in  the  Cane-brake  district  for  the  then  succeed- 
ing seven  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he 
came  to  Selma,  wliere  he  was  for  two  years  en- 
gaged in  the  drug  business.  Becoming  interested 
in  manufacturing,  in  jiartnership  with  a  Mr. 
Tyler,  he  established  a  foundry  and  machine  shop, 
which,  in  November,  188.'>,  was  merged  into  the 
Union  Iron  Works  Conii)any. 

Mr.    Brooks    was    married    at    (iosheii.    Conn., 


August,  1878,  to  Miss  Carrie  T^.  Tuttle.  He  i.s  a 
member  of  the  order  of  Knights  of  Honor,  and  is 
a  communicant  of  the  Episcojial  Church. 

GEORGE  PEACOCK,  Iron  and  Brass  Founder, 
was  born  on  a  farm  near  Stockton-on-Tees,  in  the 
County  of  Durham,  F^ngland,  May  5,  18'^3,  and 
came  to  America  in  1848. 

His  father,  Joseph  Peacock,  came  to  America 
in  1851  on  a  visit  to  his  three  sons  (all  of  whom 
were  then  living  in  this  country),  and  was  acci- 
dentally killed  by  a  New  York  Central  Railroad 
train.  He  was  an  old  man  aiul  very  deaf.  His 
widow  returned  to  England,  and  there  spent  the 
rest  of  lier  life. 

The  subject  of  this  sketcli  was  educated  in  his 
native  town,  and,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  was  ap- 
prenticed to  the  trade  of  moulder.  It  requires 
seven  years  to  learn  that  trade  in  England,  and  soon 
after  his  twenty-first  birthday  he  accepted  employ- 
ment as  a  journeyman  in  the  city  of  Liverpool. 
Before  coming  to  America,  he  had,  through  cor- 
respondence, been  engaged  by  the  famous  Erick- 
son  as  an  expert  to  assist  in  heavy  castings  in  the 
construction  of  the  Caloric  engine,  but,  after 
arriving  in  this  country,  some  misunderstanding 
led  to  a  cancellation  of  the  engagement,  and  Mr. 
Peacock  accepted  a  situation  inTownsend's  foun- 
dry and  machine  shop  at  Albany.  He  was  there 
for  two  years,  and  he  distinguished  himself.  He 
moved  to  Troy,  where,  in  less  than  a  year,  he  was 
made  superintendent  of  a  large  plant  making  a 
spec'alty  of  iron  pipe.  He  remained  with  them 
three  and  a  half  years,  and  had  under  him  as 
many  as  five  hundred  men  at  a  time,  and  worked 
into  piping  as  much  as  fifty  tons  of  iron  jier  day. 
When  he  went  into  this  establishment,  liowever, 
they  were  working  less  than  one  hundred  men, 
and  using  about  ten  tons  of  metal  per  day.  The 
great  increase  in  facilities  and  product,  was  owing 
to  inventions  first  introduced  by  Mr.  Peacock. 

Mr.  Peacock  invented  what  is  known  as  the 
casing  system  of  making  piping;  the  system  of 
making  cores,  known  now  as  the  green  sand  core; 
the  core  bar  system  by  which  all  cores  for  crooks, 
crosses,  etc.,  in  green  sand  are  now  made;  system 
of  making  small  size  pijjing  on  a  match-board; 
the  collapsable  core  bar,  so  valuable  in  manufact- 
uring large  size  pipes,  tlicreViy  dispensing  with  the 


698 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


use  of  hay  rope  aiul  much  other  expense  well- 
known  to  the  manufacturer,  and  many  other 
inventions  efjually  familiar  now  to  scientific  men 
ami  manufacturers  in  all  partsof  the  world.  From 
Troy  he  was  induced  to  go  to  Cleveland,  where  he 
remained  three  years.  He  built  the  first  works 
ever  erected  on  the  Cleveland  Plats,  where  now 
stands  over  two  huudre<l  millions  of  dollars'  worth 
of  machinery  and  manufactories.  Ilis  firm  put  in 
the  first  water  works  for  the  city  of  Cleveland. 
From  Cleveland  Mr.  Peacock  went  to  Louisville, 
Ky.,  built  the  water  works  for  that  city,  and 
erected  a  new  foundry,  lie  was  next  at  Natchez, 
Miss  ,  and  was  managing  Churchill  &  Co.'s  large 
iron  works  at  that  place  when  the  war  broke  out. 
It  was  liis  knowledge  of  manufacturing  munitions 
of  war  that  secured  for  the  Katchcz  house,  their 
first  contracts  with  the  Confederate  States  (iov- 
ernment.  This  concern,  after  the  fall  of  the  low- 
er .Mississippi,  in  180'<J,  removed  their  plant  to 
Alabama,  and  located  at  Columbia.  From  there 
Mr.  Peacock  came  to  Selma,  in  the  spring  of  IS'Jli, 
as  superintendent  of  the  Xaval  Cannon  Foundry. 
The  office  of  sui)erintendent  was  created  by  a 
special  act  of  Congress  at  that  time.  While  in 
this  capacity,  Mr.  Peacock  invented  a  system  of 
core-making  for  shells,  whereby  three  times  as 
many  shells  could  be  made  in  any  given  length  of 
time  as  was  possible  under  the  system  then  in 
vogue.  He  also  invented  a  system  of  tapping 
iron  from  furnaces,  by  which  any  desired  (juantity 
of  molten  metal  could  be  withdrawn  at  pleasure 
from  a  reverberatory  furnace  and  the  metal  stojijied 
at  the  will  of  the  furiuice  man,  though  there 
might  be  twenty  tons  of  molten  metal  in  the  fur- 
nace. It  was  under  his  supervision  that  reverbera- 
tory furnaces  were  i)ut  into  successful  operation  in 
the  melting  of  iron  for  ihenumufactureof  cannon 
by  the  use  of  wood.  The  introiluetion  of  wood  as 
a  heater  was  novel  and  ju'oved  the  greatest  suc- 
cess. They  melted  there  as  high  as  fifty  tliousand 
pounds  at  one  lighting:  reducing  it  to  fiuid  in  eight 
liours,  thus  increasing  the  tensile  strength  of  the 
metal  froui  thirty  to  forty  per  cent.  It  was  from 
this  they  made  the  greatest  cast  iron  cannon  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  It  was  while  in  search 
of  coal  for  this  furnace  tliat  Mr.  Peacock  discov- 
ered in  Nortii  Alabama,  a  fine  (|uality  of  tripoli 
which  was  afterward  used  in  polishing  fire-arms. 
This  mineral  was  found  in  Calhoun  and  8t.  Clair 
Counties,  where  was  also  discovered  the  first  cok- 
ing coal  in  the  State.   Since  the  war,  Mr.  Peacock 


has  been  variously  employed  in  the  manufacture 
of  nuichiuery,  the  conduct  of  foundries  and  other 
important  enterprises.  He  is  the  inventor  of  the 
celebrated  Peacock  Car  Wheel,  many  of  which  are 
now  in  use  throughout  tiie  United  States.  His 
self-lubricating  tram  wheel,  invented  in  1887,  is  a 
great  success.  He  is  now  manufacturing  this 
wheel  as  a  specialty,  and  isemploying  from  thirty- 
five  to  forty  men.  Mr.  Peacock  put  uj)  the  first 
coke  oven  in  Alabama  (so  far  as  we  can  find  out); 
this  oven  he  erected  at  Columbiana  in  180:5,  bring- 
ing the  coal  from  St.  Clair  County.  He  is  one  of 
the  few  great  students  in  mechanical  philosojdiy 
possessed  of  vast  inventive  genius,  as  is  proved 
by  his  many  inventions  in  labor-saving  foundry 
machinery,  as  also  railroad  and  agricultural 
machinery,  notably  a  cotton  press  and  a  plow. 
Neither  did  he  neglect  to  help  the  tinsmith  out  by 
his  patent  seaming  tongs,  used  mainly  in  j)utting 
on  tin  roofs.  He  is  possessed  of  a  vast  amount  of 
executive  ability  and  skill  in  the  management  of 
large  bodies  of  men.  It  has  been  well  said  that  he 
is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  iron  workers. 

Mr.  Peacock  was  married  in  England,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two  and  a  half  years,  to  Miss  Mary 
Eipley.     She  died  at  Selma  in  18T5. 

He  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason,  an  Odd  Fellow 
and  a  communicant  in  the  Episcopal  Church. 

SIMON  GAY,  Foreman  of  the  East  Tennessee, 
\'irginia  aiui  (ieorgia  Railroad  roundhouse,  Selma, 
was  born  in  Sussex  County,  A'a.,  in  18"^1,  and 
learned  the  trade  of  machinist  at  IJichmond  and 
Petersburg.  He  sul}se(|uently  learned  the  trade 
of  gun  making  at  the  Tredegar  Works,  llichmond, 
and  for  a  time  pursued  that  vocation  at  Belona 
Arsenal,  Chesterfield  County,  Ya.  When  thirty- 
three  years  of  age,  he  was  employed  as  superin- 
tendent of  the  gun-making  establishment  of  Dr. 
Junius  l>.  Archer,  then  the  largest  (Jovernment 
contractor  for  the  manufacture  of  heavy  ordnance 
in  the  United  States.  I'nder  a  contract  with  Col- 
onel McUay,  he  came  to  Selma  in  180-2,  and  took 
charge  of  that  gentleman's  shops,  then  manufact- 
uring arms  for  the  Confederate  Government.  In 
18(i3,  McKay's  works  were  transferred  to  the  Con- 
federate States,  who  converted  them  at  once  into 
a  manufactory  of  arms  and  ef|ni]iments  for  both 
the  army  and  navy.  These  shops  were  in  a  Short 
time  converted  wholly  to    the  uses   of   the   navy 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


G09 


department,  ami  Mr.  (Jay  was  made  superintend- 
ent of  gun  making,  and  retained  that  position  to 
the  close  of  the  war.  During  his  engagement  in 
that  capacity  he  invented  many  useful  tools  and 
improvements,  for  use  in  gun-maki"g,  that  have 
since  been  ado])ted  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, and  probably  by  foreign  countries  as  well. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Mr.  Clay  was  so  well 
known  as  a  skillful  meclianic,  and  especially  in 
the  art  of  gun-making,  that  the  United  States 
(iovcrnment  offered  him  special  inducements  to 
enter  its  service,  but  his  political  preferences 
led  him  to  the  South.  At  the  close  of  the  war, 
he  began  work  for  the  Alabama  Central  IJailroad, 
and  remained  with  them  seventeen  years,  being 
tlie  last  four  years  of  that  time  in  the  capacity 
of  master  mechanic. 

In  ISSI.  ,Mr.  Gay  began  work  fur  the  East  Ten- 
nessee, Virginia  &  Georgia,  as  general  foreman, 
and  wa.s  within  a  few  months,  promoted  to  master 
mechanic,  a  position  he  held  until  1880,  when  a 
change  in  the  general  management  replaced  him. 
Since  that  time  he  has  been  in  his  present  posi- 
tion. 

It  was  prol)ably  due  to  his  ingenuity  that  the 
Confederate  Government  was  able  to  manufac- 
ture, at  Selma,  the  superior  cannon  used  by  it 
upon  so  many  hattle-lieids,  and  won  for  it  the 
reputation  of  having  produced  some  of  the  best 
guns  ever  brought  into  use.  The  iron  from  which 
those  guns  were  made  was  melted  with  pine  knots, 
a  feat  hitherto  unheard  of.  There  has  been  some 
controversy  as  to  who  was  the  real  inventor  of 
the  system  employed  in  the  conversion  of  iron  by 
the  use  of  wood  alone,  but  investigation  satisfies 
the  writer  that  Mr.  <iay  was  undoubtedly  that 
man. 

Simon  Gay  was  married  in  Chesterfield  County, 
Va.,  in  1-45,  to  Miss  Mary  Andrews.  Of  the 
eleven  children  born  to  them,  six  are  living. 

CHARLES  C.  TYLER.  Superintendent  of  the 
Union  Inm  Works  Company,  Selma,  was  born 
in  Boston  in  1846,  there  learned  the  machinist 
trade,  and  worked  at  it  a  few  years.  From  Bos- 
ton he  went  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  was  em- 
ployed in  the  Union  Iron  Works  in  that  city  for 
some  time.  He  was  afterward  an  engineer  on 
one  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamers.  He  came  to 
Selma  in  18S-.>,  and  took  service  with  .1.    II.   Rob- 


bins  &  Co.,  then  in  the  foundry  business.  At  the 
end  of  a  few  months,  in  company  with  Mr. 
Brooks,  under  tlie  stylo  and  firm  name  of  Brooks  & 
Tyler,  he  purchased  the  Bobbins  Works,  and  sub- 
sequently merged  them  into  the  Union  Iron  Works 
Company.  Since  the  organization  of  this  com- 
pany, in  which  lie  is  part  owner,  he  has  continu- 
ously filled  his  present  position. 

JOSEPH  POLLOCK,  Vice-President  of  the 
Union  Iron  Works,  Selma,  is  a  native  of  Belfast, 
Ireland;  was  born  in  183'-?,  and  came  to  America 
in  1855.  He  learned  the  moulders'  trade  in  his 
native  city,  and  after  coming  to  America  first  ob- 
tained work  in  Philadelphia.  From  there  he 
drifted  into  New  Jersey,  thence  to  Brooklyn, 
to  St.  Louis,  and  to  Mobile,  where  he  was  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  war.  He  was  in  Mobile  until 
18G2,  and  was  employed  by  the  Confederate  States 
Xavy  Department  at  Selma  from  .January,  18(!3, 
to  the  close  of  the  war.  In  187(1,  as  one  of  the 
firm  of  Pierce  &  Pollock,  he  established  a  repairing 
and  machine  shop,  and  in  1873  merged  it  into  the 
company  of  (Jregory,  Coe  «fc  Pollock,  increasing 
their  facilities  and  extending  the  branches  of  their 
trade.  In  188fi,  the  Union  Iron  Works  Company 
was  incorporated,  with  Mr.  Pollock  as  vice-presi- 
dent, and  it  is  now  manufacturing  his  patent  brake 
shoes  in  large  (piantities.  He  is  also  superinten- 
dent of  the  foundry  department. 

Mr.  Pollock  is  a  skillful  mechanic,  and  gives 
his  personal  attention  to  the  business. 

He  was  married  in  St.  Louis,  in  1859,  to  Miss 
Susan  JIuldoon.  She  died  in  New  York,  in  1844, 
leaving  seven  children. 


^.^»- 


B.  S.  BIBB,  of  the  firm  of  B.  S.  Bibb  &  Co., 
general  bankers,  real  estate  and  insurance  agents, 
Selma,  was  born  February  5,  1847,  at  Mont- 
gomery. Ala.,  and  is  a  son  of  George  I{.  and  Mary 
E.  (Lipscomb)  Bibb.  The  father  was  a  native 
Alabamian  and  the  mother  a  Virginian. 

Mr.  Bibb  was  educated  at  the  schools  of  Mont- 
gomery in  his  early  years,  and  sub-sequently  at  the 
Universities  of  Georgia  and  Alabama.  I'pon  leav- 
ing the  latter  institution  he  engaged  in  railroad 
business,  which  he  actively  followed  for  twelve 
years  in  his  initive  citv. 


700 


NORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


In  1881  he  came  to  Sehnu,  and  was  a  merchan- 
dise broker  for  two  years,  after  which  he  entered 
the  general  brokerage  business.  He  took  a  lead- 
ing part  in  tlie  organization  of  the  Selma  Land,  Im- 
provement and  Furnace  Company,  of  which  he  is  a 
director,  and  is  its  agent  for  the  sale  of  lands. 
During  his  residence  in  the  Central  City,  Mr. 
Bibb  has  been  more  or  less  identified  with  the 
city  government. 

He  was  married  first  in  February,  18T4,  to  Miss 
l^lla,  daughter  of  Frederick  and  Margaret  Smith, 
of  Dallas  Couiity.  To  them  were  born  two  chil- 
dren, Sophie  and  Adgatc.  Mrs.  Bibb  died  in 
18T8.  Mr.  Bibb  was  married  the  second  time  in 
1885,  to  Miss  Helen  E.,  daughter  of  Dr.  J.  11. 
and  Mary  Uobbius,  of  Sc-lma.  They  have  one 
child,  Benajah  S.,  Jr. 

WILLIAM  B.  GILL  was  born  in  Louisville, 
Ky.,  .hiiiu  i;,  IS-.*;,  and  is  a  son  of  William  B.  and 
Ihith  Gill,  natives  of  ilaryland. 

The  senior  Mr.  (Jill  came  from  Baltimore  to 
Louisville  about  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  and  was  there  until  about  1820  in  the 
mercantile  business,  in  company  with  his  brother. 
He  died  in  Louisiana  in  18:!8  while  on  a  visit  to 
that  State. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in 
Louisville,  there  learned  the  trade  of  carriage- 
maker,  transferred  thence  to  Xashville  in  184(). 
to  New  Orleans  in  185(i,  and  to  Selina  in  18.")2. 
Here  he  engaged  in  the  carriage  manufacturing 
business  in  a  small  way,  with  a  capital  of  about 
|il,800.  |)uring  the  late  war,  under  a  contract 
with  the  Confederate  States  Government,  lie  manu- 
factureil  wagons,  ambulances,  and  pontoons.  The 
clo-^e  of  the  war  found  him  without  money^  but 
the  owner  of  a  great  deal  of  real  estate,  which, 
with  the  advance  in  values,  renders  him  at  this 
writing  in  quite  comfortable  case.  He  has  never 
been  a  politician,  but  always  an  active  business 
man,  and  much  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the 
town. 

Mr.  Gill  was  the  largest  contributor  to,  and 
one  of  the  most  earnest  workers  in,  the  Young 
Men's  Ohristian  Association,  whose  magnificent 
hall  is  a  monument  to  his  generosity.  He  has 
madi'  his  fortune  by  degrees;  never  a  speculator. 


he  has  adhered  strictly  to  legitimate  dealing.  He 
is  noted  for  his  punctuality  and  promptness  in  the 
discharge  of  his  obligations.- 

After  the  war  he  resumed  business,  adding,  in 
18G7,  to  his  carriage-making  that  of   furniture. 

!  He  was  married  at  West  Point,  (Ja.,  February  22, 
1852,  to  Miss  Ann  X.  Evans,  daughter  of  Captain 
Evans,  an  old  seafaring  man,  who  jilied  his  ships 

I  between  New  York  and  India.  To  this  union 
two  sons  and  one  daughter  have  been  born.     The 

'  latter,  Elnora,  died  in  18t;5,  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
months. 

Mr.  Gill  is  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 

'  and  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

In  180!i  he  erected  the  block  now  known  as  Gill's 
Hotel,  and  has  been  giving  it  his  personal  super- 
vision since  June,  1887. 


EDMUND  D.  BOWLES,  Real  Estate  and  In- 
surance .Vgi'ut  and  Xegotiator  of  Loans,  was  born 
Septeml)er4,  1855,  at  Wytheville,  Va.,  and  is  a  son 
of  Zachariah  H.  and  Mary  F.  (Pettit)  Bowles. 

Edmund  D.  Bowles  removed  to  Selma  with  his 
parents  in  18G2.  At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  be- 
gan the  battle  of  life  by  engaging  with  the  Selma 
Savings  Bank  (now  the  Couimercial  Bank  of  Sel- 
ma), with  which  institution  he  remained  until 
J885,  when  he  resigned  the  responsible  i)ositionof 
first  book-keeper,  to  engage  in  his  present  business 
under  the  firm  name  of  Bibb  &  Bowles.  This 
partnership  continued  one  year. 

Having  been  reared,  as  it  were,  in  one  of  the 
leading  financial  concerns  in  the  South,  and  being 
in  daily  intercourse  with  the  people  of  Dallas  and 
surrounding  counties,  Mr.  Bowles  has  acquired 
a  knowledge  of  business  and  peojile  which  well 
qualifies  him  for  the  position  he  now  fills  in  the 
business  world. 

In  addition  to  the  real  estate  and  insurance 
business,  Mr.  Bowles  has  succeeded  in  distributing 
among  farmers  in  Central  Alabama,  during  past 
twelve  months,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  of 
foreign  capital  in  farm-land  loans,  and  he  is  yet  in 
correspondence  with  leading  banking  houses  and 
loan  agencies  in  Xew  York  and  other  cities. 

He  was  married  December  .3ii,  1880,  to  Miss  II. 
L.  Brown,  daughter  of  Josiah  H.  Brown.  They 
have  one  child,  Bessie  Garland. 


XVII. 
MARION. 

Bv    Wll  I  lAM     (iAKKoTl     BkOWN. 


[The  history  of  Marion  has  been  written  by  Samuel  Townes,  a 
former  resident,  and  I  have  seen  the  book,  but  have  not  been 
alile  to  obtain  a  copy  to  aid  mo  in  the  present  slteteh.  To  some 
papei-s  on  the  same  subject,  wliieli  appeared  two  years  airo  in  the 
Marion  :^iiiiiliiril.  I  am,  however,  much  indebted  for  informa- 
tion 1  eould  not  liave  obtained  otherwise.] 

Perry  County,  with  six  otliers,  was  formed  by 
the  first  Legislature  which  was  assembled  after  the 
admission  of  Alabama  into  the  Union  as  a  State. 
This  was  done  at  Iluntsville,  in  the  autumn  of 
1819.  The  new  county  was  at  the  time  almost  a 
wilderness.  There  were  a  few  unimportant  In- 
dian settlements  and  some  white  pioneers  from 
South  Carolina  and  Tennessee.  Andei'son  West,  a 
Tennesseean,  was  the  sole  inhabitant  of  the  place 
afterward  known  as  Muckle'.s  Kidge,  and  which  we 
now  call  ilarion.  Tlie  former  name  was  taken 
from  that  of  the  first  settler,  Michael  Muckle.who 
came  in  1817,  built  a  cabin,  cleared  an  acre  of 
land,  remained  a  year,  and  then  sold  out  to  .Mr. 
West  and  departed — I  know  not  whither.  The 
latter  is  perhaps  more  intimately  associated 
tlian  any  other  with  the  earlier,  and  much  of 
what  may  properly  be  called  the  later,  history 
of  Marion. 

Immigration  geems  to  have  been  peopling  the 
county  with  considerable  briskness  during  the  two 
or  three  years  following  the  coming  of  Anderson 
West.  In  lS2-i  the  Legislature  authorized  the 
election  of  five  commissioners  to  locate  the  county 
seat,  Perry  Hidge,  which  had  until  then  enjoyed 
that  distinction,  having  been  found  inconvenient 
when  the  boundaries  were  defined.  When  the 
commission  had  been  chosen  and  had  assembled, 
several  sites  were  nominated.  It  was  finally  de- 
cided, chiefly  through  the  influence  of  Joseph 
Evans,  a  member  of  thecommis^on,  that  Muckle's 
Ridge  was  the  most  eligible  spot.  Soon  after,  the 
name  Marion  was  chosen,  again  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Mr.  Evans,  who  came   from   tiie  State 


which  had  given  the  "  Swamp  Fox  "  to  the  Colonies 
in  their  struggle  with  (ireat  Britain. 

In  the  same  year,  If^'i'i,  Siloam  Baptist  Church 
was  established.  The  Hev.  Charles  Crowe  was 
pastor  until  18:3U.  In  the  spring  of  18:23,  the  first 
court-house  was  built — a  veritable  log  cabin,  sus- 
tained by  wooden  blocks.  It  was  not  replaced  by 
a  more  substantial  building  of  brick  until  lfc37. 
The  present  court-house,  which  is  among  the  first 
in  the  State,  was  built  in  185")  or  1850. 

For  a  number  of  years  after  receiving  its  name, 
Marion  appears  to  have  remained  little  more  than 
a  chance  assemblage  of  squatter  homes,  dignified 
by  its  possession  of  the  seat  of  justice  for  the 
sparsely-inhabited  county,  and  slowly  taking  on 
the  proportions,  not  unaccompanied  by  the  rough- 
ness, of  a  frontier  town.  The  record  of  its  growth 
is  little  more  than  a  chronicle  of  the  various  indi- 
viduals and  families  that  from  time  to  time  came 
from  the  Carolinas,  N'irginia,  (ieorgia,  and  occa- 
sionally from  others  of  the  States,  some  to  remain 
for  a  few  years  and  then  resume  a  life  of  wander- 
ing somewhat  characteristic  of  the  period,  others 
to  remain  permanently  and  have  descendants  who 
now  constitute  a  reasonably  large  pi'oportion  of 
the  citizens  of  the  town  and  county.  Among 
tliese  are  to  be  found  our  best  ami  worthiest  jieo- 
ple — people  of  education  and  refinement.  They 
arc  in  no  way  ashamed  of  their  pioneer  fathers; 
they  are,  on  the  contrary, proud  of  the  manly  and 
sterling  chai'acters  thoy  so  generally  gave  evidence 
of  possessing:  but  our  present  reputation  for  cul- 
ture need  not  blind  us  to  the  fact  that  the  earlier 
settlers  of  this  region  were  not  representative  of 
the  refinement  to  which  the  old  South,  justly  or 
not,  laid  claim.  It  has  been  asserted  frequently 
enough,  and  never  disproved,  that  immigrants, 
j  as  a  class,  are  not  apt  to  belong  to  the  more  cul- 
tured portion  of  the  communities  from  which 
-.01 


702 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


they  come,  whatever  merits  of  a  diiferent  sort 
they  may  and  often  do  possess.  Indeed,  tlie  work 
which  tliey  liave  to  do  in  developing  a  new  terri- 
tory is  such  as  to  demand  lather  the  sterner  and 
rougher  than  the  humaner  and  gentler  virtues. 
The  strength  and  endurance  which  they  need  is 
more  often  found  in  the  rough  hands  and  coarsely 
clad  bodies  and  unkempt  heads  than  iu  hands  and 
heads  and  bodies  adorned  with  the  graces,  wiiich 
have  been  so  closely  associated  with  the  weak- 
nesses of  civilization.  To  the  rough,  strong, 
pioneer  class,  our  fathers,  as  a  rule,  belonged,  and 
they  betrayed  it  in  their  speech  and  customs.  Let 
us  count  it  a  ground  of  self-gratulation  that  in 
so  short  a  time  we  have  gained  distinction  for 
qualities  of  an  entirely  opposite  sort. 

The  best  idea  of  the  maniiersand  customs  of  the 
time,  is  to  be  obtained  from  such  books  as  Long- 
street's  Georgia  Scenes,  and  the  stories  of  Richard 
JIaleolm  Johnston,  who  has  for  some  time  been 
depicting  the  life  of  the  period  with  a  humor  that 
is  somewhat  milder  than  Longstreet's.  Such 
scenes  as  the  fight,  the  horse-swap,  the  lockout  of 
the  school-teacher,  the  school  rebellion,  all  have 
their  parallels  in  the  early  history  of  Marion. 
Simon  Suggs  appears  less  of  an  e.xaggeration  and 
caricature  than  we  are  wont  to  consider  him, 
when  we  hear  or  read  authentic  accounts  of  the 
doings  of  the  spirited  youth  who  gave  life  and 
animation  to  the  community  whose  chief  fault 
at  present  is  an  excess  of  order.  It  is  hard  for  us 
to  believe  that  there  was  a  time,  not  more  than 
half  a  century  ago,  when  the  absorbing  topic  of 
conversation  at  corn-shuckings  and  log-rollings 
was  not  the  latest  sermon  (which  was  probably  a 
month  back),  nor  the  Sunday-school  lesson  (there 
was  no  Sunday-school),  nor  the  concert,  nor  the 
chances  for  prohibition  legislation,  but  the  beau- 
tiful style  in  which  "  Red  Fox,"  the  pugilistic 
champion  from  "Sinncr'.s  Beat,"  had  demolished 
Weaver,  "  the  boastful  Goliath  from  Hamburg" — a 
combat  in  honor  of  which  the  market  bell  had  rung 
and  the  entire  community,  white  and  black,  male 
and  female,  had  assembled  around  the  prize  ring. 
A  bar-room  was  set  up  as  soon  as  the  first  court- 
house was  built,  and  became  the  rendezvous  of  a 
number  of  choice  spirits,  who  accepted  the  phi- 
losophy, though  they  could  only  vaguely  conject- 
ure the  meaning  of  its  classical  sign  —  "  Duin 
Viviiiius,  Viramus."  The  sjjring  and  fall  assizes 
are  still  apt  to  bring  to  the  surface  the  rougher 
elements  of  our  society:  but  the  orderly  adminis- 


tration of  justice  we  now  enjoy  could  hardly  sug- 
gest the  original  and  ingenious  punishments  which 
were  resorted  to  in  the  good  old  days. 

Of  thete,  '•Chandler's  Coach,"  a  device  em- 
ployed by  an  organization  of  friends  of  law  and 
order,  known  as  "Captain  Slick's  Company,"  was 
one  of  the  most  striking  and  effective.  There 
were  two  lines  of  coaches  under  the  control  of 
this  company,  and  under  the  immediate  superin- 
tendence of  David  Chandler,  who  was  elected 
Sheriff  in  1834  ;  one  running  from  what  is  now 
the  intersection  of  (ireen  and  Main  streets  to  the 
Plupnix  stables  ;  the  other  from  the  jail,  down  the 
hill,  to  a  brooklet  then  known  as  ''Hangman's 
Branch."  The  coaches  were  large  hogsheads,  such 
as  were  used  in  shipping  crockery,  with  a  movable 
head  in  one  end,  through  which  the  passenger 
was  received.  Pegs  were  driven  through  the 
sides,  to  which  the  occupant  might  hold  when 
enjoying  his  ride. 

If  the  objectionable  character  lived  east  of  .Ma- 
rion, the  coach  was  brought  up  before  Gains 
.Johnson's  store  and  the  offender  headed  up  and 
rolled  to  the  stable  :  then  required  to  walk  back 
to  the  starting  point,  and  given  another  ride,  and 
as  many  as  the  crowd  thought  his  wickedness 
deserved. 

A  tramp,  found  asleep  and  drunk  on  the  street, 
was  nailed  up  in  a  box  made  after  the  fasliion  of 
a  chicken-coop,  and  exhibited  like  a  wild  beast  in 
a  menagerie  for  a  day.  Drunkards  were  frequently 
ducked  in  mud-pools  to  the  point  of  suffocation. 
A  man  detected  in  the  act  of  taking  money  from 
a  merchant's  cash-drawer  was  first  given  several 
rides  in  the  "  coach,"  then  carried  off  on  a  sharp 
rail,  followed  by  half  the  adult  population  of  the 
village,  and  thrown  into  a  mud-pool  to  repent. 

But  the  contrast  between  the  old  and  new  order 
of  things  is  most  strikingly  apparent  in  the  mat- 
ter of  education. 

The  first  school  was  a  log  cabin,  built  a  mile 
west  of  Marion,  in  IS'ii.  by  Thomas  Billingslea, 
assisted  by  his  neighbors.  The  second  was  taught 
in  18"2,5,  in  a  cabin  where  the  Second  Baptist 
Church  now  stands.  Xext  j'ear  David  McCul- 
lough  taught  at  the  same  place.  Joseph  Walker 
opened  a  school  near  Gen.  E.  0.  King's  residence, 
and  divided  the  town's  patronage  with  McCul- 
lough. 

Descriptions  of  these  schools  would  read  like 
extracts  from  Longstreet  and  Johnston.  The  in- 
struction and  discipline  were  barbarous.       Of  the 


NORTH  ERA'  ALABAMA. 


T03 


former  we  are  told  that  "  spelling  was  the  princi- 
pal stiuly,  and  the  pupils  were  not  only  rcqiiireil 
to  spell  the  lesson,  hnt  to  eominit  it  to  memory. 
After  the  sjjelling-ljook  was  mastered,  j)tipi!s  were 
permitted  to  have  a  slate  and  copy-hook  and  learn 
to  read.  One  thing  at  a  time  was  the  rule.  Geo- 
graphy was  not  embraced  in  the  (curriculum. 
Teachers  were  expected  to  know  how  to  sing, 
ami  ''singing  geogra])hy  "  was  the  usual  method 
of  teaching  this  scicnrc  The  teacher  formed 
his  school  in  line,  and,  marching  either  in.side 
or  outside  of  the  liouse,  beating  time  with  his 
switch,  he  sang  the  States,  capitals  and  rivers, 
to  some  tune  improvised  by  himself.  After  this 
manner  the  multiplication  table  was  learned. 
Of  the  discipline  we  are  told  that  the  teachers  en- 
deavored to  e.xcel  each  other  in  the  mnltijilicity 
of  their  useless  rules,  the  penalty  for  the  violation 
of  which  was  invariably  a  wliijiping.  "  I'arents 
estimated  their  sons'  progress  at  school  by  the 
number  of  whij)pings  they  received.  If,  at  any 
time,  tlie  boy  thrashed  the  teacher,  the  fond  father 
was  never  so  elated,  and  usually  boasted  of  it  in  a 
•liiict  way  to  his  neighbors  as  evidencing  his  son's 
early  jjliysical  development."'  Teachers  were  often 
"  barred  out  "  to  secure  holidays,  and  when  there 
was  a  pond  near  the  school-house  the  instructor 
always  received  at  least  one  ducking  during  the 
year,  the  patrons  assisting  if  the  pupils  were  un- 
able to  coiisumnuite  the  rebellion  unaided. 

In  many  other  ways,  evidence  of  a  low  stage  of 
moral  ami  intelleciual  development  was  given. 
The  pastimes  and  amusements  were  rude;  the 
Sabbath  was  not  properly  observed:  drunkenness 
was  common:  such  records  as  we  have  are  filled 
with  accounts  of  incidents  that  could  never  have 
occurred  in  a  community  where  a  high  standard 
of  morality  and  refinement  j)revailed. 

1  have  no  doubt  that  a  similar  state  of  things 
existed  in  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  towns  whose  his- 
tories recorded  in  this  volume  run  back  as  far  as 
that  of  .Nfarion,  The  only  reason  I  can  give  for 
referring  so  |)lainly  to  a  period  whose  true  history 
is  so  generally  palliated,  or  left  unwritten  by 
admirers  of  the  old  order  is,  that  .Marion's  present 
claim  to  pre-eminence  in  culture  among  Alabama 
communities  is  so  generally  admitted  that  she 
need  not  fear  a  revelation  of  the  extremely  differ- 
ent  state  which  was  formerly  hers.  There  was 
never  any  sudden  change  of  course,  anil  there  was 
probably,  from  tlie  very  first,  a  certain  progress, 
just  as  there  was  a  gradual  increase  in  wealtli  and 


population.  Hut  the  founding  of  the  Marion 
Female  Semimvry  in  ISIJC,  nuiy  serve  as  well  as 
any  other  particular  forward  step  to  mark  tlie 
beginning  of  a  period  in  which  the  upbuilding  of 
schools  and  colleges,  and  a  continuous  growth  in 
refinement,  have  been  the  leading  features. 

This  was  accom|)lislied  through  the  united  exer- 
tions of  the  citizens,  irrespective  of  denomina- 
tional or  other  distinctions.  The  school  was  con- 
trolled by  Methodists,  rresbyterians  and  Baptists 
until  183'.i,  when  the  latter  seceded  and  built  the 
.ludson.  Since  then  it  has  been  controlled  by  the 
Episcopalians,  Methodists  and  Presbyterians, 
The  building  was  at  one  time  destroyed  by  fire, 
and  had  to  be  replaced:  there  have  been  many  diffi- 
culties and  distresses:  the  war,  of  course,  was  a 
great  interruption,  but  the  Seminary  now  numbers 
near  3(>0  graduates  among  its  alumni,  living  and 
dead,  and  over  4,000  pupils  have  received  instruc- 
tion within  its  walls.  The  work  it  has  done,  and 
helped  to  do,  in  civilizing  and  elevating  its  envi- 
ronment, and  the  refining  influence  it  has  directly 
and  indirectly  exerted  throughout  Alabama  and 
other  States,  have  been  great  and  valuable.  It  is 
the  oldest  female  college  in  the  State,  and  was 
founded  at  a  time  when  there  was  much  need  of 
just  such  work  and  influence.  Hut,  perhaps  its 
most  important  mission,  was  thedemonstiation  of 
the  fact  that  an  attempt  toward  the  iiigher  educa- 
tion of  their  youth  was  possible  to  the  citizens  of 
Clarion. 

Through  some  dissatisfaction  wMth  the  nninage- 
ment,  or  with  their  share  of  the  management  of 
the  school  they  had  helped  to  build,  tlie  Baptists, 
as  I  have  said,  seceded  in  1830,  and  set  about  es- 
tablishing a  school  of  their  own.  It  was  a  great 
undertaking  for  a  single  denomination,  in  a  com- 
munity where  religious  affinities  were  not  yet  the 
strongest  incentives  to  coi'>peration,  and  where  the 
population  was  not  yet  large  enough  to  create  a 
necessity  for  more  thati  one  institution  J^voted  to 
the  education  of  a  single  sex.  But  the  Baptists 
ajipeared  to  have  already  become  strong,  relatively 
and  absolutely,  and  they  persevered.  Fortunate- 
ly, they  secured  at  the  start  the  services  of  Milo 
I'.  .Jewett,  afterward  somewhat  celebrated  as  the 
first  president  of  Vassar  College,  as  principal,  and 
with  no  great  array  of  pupils  and  a  rather  unpre- 
tentious building,  the  career  of  the  .Judson  was 
begun. 

Tiie  Baptists  throughout  the  State  soon  became 
interested  in  a  scliool  whicli  represented  almost 


704 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


completely  their  efforts  as  a  denomination  in  the 
way  of  education.  This  insured  the  success  of 
the  boarding  department,  and  the  local  patronage 
was  good  from  the  first.  AVith  intervals  of  mis- 
fortune arising  from  various  causes,  but  with  much 
steady  progress,  and  with  a  high  aim,  the  institu- 
tion has  grown  into  an  important  factor  in  the 
educational  development  of  the  State,  and  a  con- 
stant source  of  pride  and  profit  to  the  place  of  its 
location.  Of  late  years  its  policy  has  been  especi- 
ally progressive,  and  its  standard  and  aims  seem 
to  have  grown  higher  and  higher;  it  has  become  a 
practical  and  effective  plea  for  the  fuller  education 
of  women  —  a  demonstration  of  its  practicability 
and  beneficence.  Of  late,  too,  its  success  financi- 
ally has  been  greater  than  ever. 

Howard  College  was  probably  a  sort  of  after- 
thought from  the  Judson,  in  the  minds  of  the 
Baptists.  If  the  denomination  was  able  to  build 
and  sustain  a  female  school  of  high  grade,  why 
not  a  male  school  of  like  grade  also?  Such, 
doubtless,  was  the  way  in  which  they  looked  at 
it;  and,  accordingly,  in  184i,  five  years  after  the 
building  of  the  Judson,  they  made  the  attempt. 
Again  the  beginning  was  such  as  tlie  size  of  the 
community  and  the  state  of  opinion  concerning 
the  value  and  need  of  higher  education  rendered 
necessary.  But  the  same  co-operation  which  had 
sustained  the  Judson,  secured  the  success,  though 
somewhat  gradual,  and  with  the  inevitable  war- 
time delay,  of  the  Howard  also.  From  the  first 
it  was  a  school  of  high  grade,  and  the  standard 
has  been  constantly  rising.  During  the  last  de- 
cade the  drill  has  been  a  feature  of  importance, 
and,  under  the  superintendence  of  Dr.  J.  T.  ^lur- 
fee,  who  was  at  one  time  commandant  of  Cadets 
at  the  University  of  Alabama,  the  college  has 
taken  on  the  aspect  of  a  thorough  military  estab- 
lishment. 

The  removal  of  the  Howard  to  Birmingham  is 
still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  people  of  Ala- 
bama. It  was  accomplished  through  the  efforts, 
probably  disinterested,  of  a  number  of  leading 
Baptists  throughout  the  State,  backed  by  the  fin- 
ancial inducements  held  out  by  Birmingham's 
citizens.  It  is  useless  now  to  question  the  wisdom 
of  the  change.  There  was  much  bitterness  in  the 
feeling  with  which  it  was  contemplated  by  the 
people,  especially  the  Baptists  of  Marion,  and 
when  Ih'.  Murfee  announced  his  resolution  to  re- 
sign the  presidency  of  the  college  and  endeavor  to 
establish  in    the    abandoned    buildings  a   school 


which  should  carry  out  the  ideas  he  had  formed 
during  a  long  experience  as  a  teacher  concern- 
ing the  peculiar  educational  needs  of  Alabama 
and  the  neighboring  Gulf  States,  it  was  at  once 
apparent  that  he  would  receive  the  earnest  sup- 
port of  a  community  which  felt  itself  injured  by 
the  removal  of  an  institution  it  had  fostered, 
and  whose  progress  it  had  watched  with  so  much 
sympathy  and  pride.  Marion  ililitary  Institute 
began  its  first  session  in  the  old  Howard  build- 
ings in  October,  1887,  and  its  work  so  far  is 
more  than  a  promise  of  a  great  and  useful  ca- 
reer in  the  future. 

The  same  year  that  saw  the  Howard  removed, 
saw  also  the  removal  of  another  educational  insti- 
tion  from  Marion.  Lincoln  Normal  University 
was  a  school  for  negroes,  first  built  uj)  and  sup- 
ported by  Northern  philanthropists,  and  afterward 
controlled  by  the  State.  Under  the  presidency  of 
Prof.  W,  B.  Patterson  it  had  been  remarkably  suc- 
cessful, the  attendance  during  the  last  two  or  three 
years  having  averaged  about  four  hundred.  Certain 
unpleasantnesses  between  students  of  the  Howard 
and  students  of  the  University,  however,  and  the 
general  opinion  that  it  was  not  fit  that  large 
schools  for  whites  and  blacks  should  be  located  in 
the  same  community,  caused  the  sending  to  the 
(ieneral  Assembly  of  a  petition  for  the  removal  of 
Lincoln.  It  was  granted  ;  and  in  the  summer  of 
1887,  while  Birmingham  was  exulting  over  the 
capture  of  the  Howard,  iloiitgomery,  by  a  much 
less  effort,  secured  our  second  great  male  school. 

An  excellent  system  of  public  school  instruction, 
facilitated  by  the  building  of  an  adequate  school- 
house,  has  grown  up  within  the  last  several  years. 
It  has  not  diminished  the  prosperity  of  our  pay- 
schools,  however,  but  has  supplemented  them,  and 
in  a  measure,  completed  the  grounds  on  which  to 
base  our  claim  to  be  considered  as  an  educational 
center. 

In  order  to  bring  together  all  the  reasons  for 
this  claim,  I  have  followed  the  development  of  our 
institutions,  without  reference  to  the  increase  of 
population  and  the  growth  of  other  interests  by 
which  they  were  accompanied.  From  a  view  of 
the  situation  at  present,  it  surely  ajipears  that  the 
claim  is  valid.  The  Judson  and  Seminary,  each 
under  the  direction  of  an  experienced  educator, 
and  with  able  faculties,  are  doing  much  for  the 
cause  of  the  higher  education  of  women,  and  the 
patronage  they  receive  would  indicate  that  their 
work  is  not  unappreciated.     Marion  Military  In- 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


705 


stitute  is  applying  the  ideas  of  Herbert  Spencer 
to  tiie  tniiiiiiig  of  Vjoys,  witii  a  practical  consist- 
ency, that  is  a  new  thing  in  the  South,  if  not  in 
the  entire  country,  and  the  indications  arc  that 
the  result  will  fully  realize  Doctor  Murfee's  ex- 
pectations, and  the  academy  is  serving  as  a  feeder 
to  the  institutions  of  higher  grade.  There  has 
been  no  period,  at  which  our  people  had  better 
right  to  feel  contented  and  hopeful  concerning 
the  schools  which  have  now  for  years  been  the 
subject  of  their  greatest  atixiety  and  care. 

Keturning  to  the  consideration  of  the  growth 
in  pojiulation  and  wealth,  through  which  alone  the 
progress  in  educational  development  Itecame  pos- 
sible, we  must  state,  in  general,  that  ifarion  has 
had  no  sudden  influx  of  either  at  any  period  in  its 
history.  Such  quiet  developments  ai'e  not  char- 
acteristic of  agricultural  districts  or  towns;  and 
•Marion  and  Perry  County  are  agricultural  if  any- 
thing, forming  a  portion  of  the  Black  Belt,  which 
is  the  agricultural  part  of  the  State.  To  speak  at 
length  concerning  the  natural  resources  of  the 
county,  must  be  to  repeat  what  has  been  written 
with  surticient  fullness  and  correctness  already.  1 
therefore  borrow  from  Kiiey's  Guide  Book  the 
following  paragraph: 

"  The  noi'thern  end  of  the  county  is  of  an  uneven 
surface.  The  central  and  southern  portions  are 
level.  In  the  northern  portion  there  are  brown 
uplands:  in  the  southern,  there  is  the  genuine 
prairie  soil.  These  are  the  only  two  characteris- 
tics attaching  to  the  lands  of  the  county.  Both 
these  soils  possess  very  great  inherent  fertility. 
Upon  tiie  highest  of  the  hill  lands  in  north  I'erry 
there  is  a  prevalence  of  sand,  in  which  grows 
chiefly  the  yellow  or  long-leaf  pine.  Descending 
to  the  base  of  these  hills,  or  rather  to  the  uplands, 
w'e  find,  as  we  said  above,  a  brown  loam  soil.  Be- 
neath tills  fertile  surface  there  is  a  red  loam  sub- 
soil, said  to  l)e  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet  thick. 
The  prairies  proper,  which  embrace  the  central 
and  southern  portions  of  Perry,  are  broken  here 
and  tbere  by  sandy  elevations,  upon  which  are 
usually  located  the  towns  and  settlements  of  the 
county.  These  knolls  areadmirablysnited  for  the 
location  of  homes,  as  they  place  one  beyond  the 
reach  of  prairie  mud,  and  at  the  same  time  fur- 
nish him  with  an  abundant  supply  of  excellent 
water.  Corn  and  cotton  are  the  chief  crops,  and 
their  yield  is  oftentimes  amazing.  Like  many  in 
the  adjoining  counties,  tiie  farmers  of  Perry  are 
turning  their  attention  to  tiie  remunerative  pur- 


suit of  raising  stock.  Excellent  stock  farms  can 
now  be  seen  in  the  county,  superior  grasses  are 
being  cultivated,  and  the  profits  annually  realized 
are  most  gratifying.  Tiiese  lands  can  not  be  sur- 
passed for  jnirposes  of  stock  raising." 

The  same  writer  also  adds:  "Many  delicious 
fruits  are  grown  in  the  county.  Peaches,  pears, 
figs  and  grapes,  together  with  strawberries  and 
watermelons,  are  the  jjrincipal  fruits  produced. 
Tlie  timbers  of  the  county  are  the  usual  upland 
oaks,  hickory,  short  and  long-leaf  or  yellow 
pine." 

A  region  of  this  sort  could  only  become  the 
home  of  planters  and  small  farmers,  and  after  the 
organization  of  the  county  the  planters  and  small 
farmers  came,  not  in  crowds,  but  one  by  one  and 
family  by  family.  They  settled  at  the  most  ad- 
vantageous spots — those  who  were  rich  enough  and 
owned  slaves  enough,  taking  large  plantations 
in  the  central  and  southern  parts,  where  the 
nature  of  the  soil  and  the  absence  of  hills  and 
other  obstacles  made  agriculture  on  the  large 
scale  profitable;  the  poorer  class,  who  are  now 
known  locally  as  "  Ilillians"  and  "  I'oor  Whites," 
and  more  widely  as  "Crackers,"  spreading  thinly 
over  the  northern  portion.  Because  of  its  cen- 
tral situation  and  its  importance  as  the  county 
seat,  as  well,  perhaps,  as  from  the  somewhat  en- 
terprising character  of  its  first  settlers,  Clarion 
became  the  distribnting  point  for  both  of  these 
classes.  The  trade  could  not  at  first  have  been  ex- 
tensive, and  it  has  not  yet  become  colossal,  because 
there  were  not  enough  j)eople  within  the  territory 
adjacent  to  require  a  large  quantity  of  supplies;  be- 
cause, also,  it  is  the  good  fortune  of  jilanters  in 
this  part  of  the  State — of  whieli,  however,  they 
have  not  fully  taken  advantage — to  be  able  to  farm 
their  own  lands,  to  supply  themselves  with  many 
of  the  necessities  and  luxuries  of  life. 

But  with  each  addition  to  the  population  of  the 
the  country  the  business  of  the  town  grew;  there 
was,  prol)ably,  an  almost  constant  ratio  between  the 
number  of  inhabitants  in  the  "territory"  which 
Marion  supplied  and  the  number  in  Marion.  The 
courts  and  the  county  oflices  were  also  a  source  of 
increase,  as,  from  the  nature  of  our  politics.  I  be- 
lieve they  always  are  in  every  capital,  county, 
State  or  Xational.  Slowly,  (piietly,  almost  im- 
l)erce[)tibly,  Marion  ceased  to  be  a  private  neigh- 
borhood, passed  the  village  stage,  and  became  a 
veritable  "  town." 

Thegoodsof  which  Marion  was  the  disti-iliMf ing 


706 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


point,  were  obtained  mostly  from  Mobile.  'J  here 
were  tio  railroads,  and  they  were  only  to  be  ob- 
tained by  the  use  of  pole  boats  on  the  Alabama 
Hiver,  on  which  they  were  brought  up  to  Cahaba. 
'riienee  they  were  hauled  to  Marion  with  teams. 

In  1830  the  town  had,  including  taverns,  eleven 
business  houses,  mostly  stores:  there  were  three 
doctors,  and  four  lawyers  divided  the  meagre 
docket  among  them. 

In  1831),  there  must  have  been  a  larger  amount 
of  property,  or  the  building  of  the  Seminary  could 
not  have  been  undertaken  and  accomplished. 
The  dates  of  the  construction  of  the  Judson  and 
Howard  may  also  serve  to  indicate  the  rate  of 
progress.  But  thougli  there  was,  during  the 
whole  of  this  period,  and  up  to  a  few  years  before 
the  war,  the  same  gradual  growth,  accompanied 
by  an  increase  of  retinement  and  morality  equally 
steady,  but  more  rapid,  there  was  no  event  of 
preeminent  business  importance  until  about  1853, 
when  the  first  effort  to  build  a  railroad  to  Marion 
was  made.  In  order  to  gain  connection  by  rail 
with  the  rest  of  the  world,  it  was  necessary  to 
construct  a  road  to  the  point  now  known  as 
Marion  Junction,  to  which  the  road  that  is  now 
the  Alabama  Central  division  of  East  Tennessee, 
Virginia  &  fJeorgia  system,  had  been  built.  From 
the  Junction,  the  road  already  constructed, 
afforded  a  passage  to  Selma.  The  people  of 
Marion  and  those  living  between  Marion  and 
the  Junction  were  unaided  in  the  enterprise. 
They  were  compelled  to  raise  every  cent  of 
the  money  themselves,  and  there  were  among 
them  few,  if  any,  capitalists  able  to  contri- 
bute largely.  A  wide  cooperation  was  therefore 
necessary;  and  much  praise  is  due  the  nion  who 
effected  this  cooperation  and  the  spirit  wliirli 
made  it  possible.  The  work  was  slow;  it  was 
three  years  before  it  was  completed,  and  only  for  a 
short  time  after  its  completion  was  Marion  permit- 
ted to  enjoy  the  connection  with  Selma.  Some 
dilticulty  arising  between  the  two  roads  meeting 
at  the  Junction,  the  more  recently  built  was 
debarred  the  privilege  of  using  the  older  line  from 
the  .Junction  to  Selma,  and  the  object  for  which 
the  former  was  constructed  was  thus  left  unac- 
complisiied. 

In  this  emergency  a  commendable  spirit  was 
shown.  Determined  not  to  surrender  the  benefits 
of  their  enterprise,  the  directors  and  the  people 
abandoned  the  idea  of  a  connection  with  Selma, 
and  bv  another  great  effort  e.xtended    the  road 


from  the  Junction  to  Cahaba,  thus  making  con- 
nection with  Mobile  through  the  boat  lines  on 
the  Alabama  River.  Such  was  the  situation  at  the 
opening  of  the  great  civil  conflict,  which,  while 
bestowing  temporary  disaster  so  liberally  on  every 
portion  of  the  South,  did  not  forget  to  bring  a 
special  misfortune  to  JIarion.  The  Government, 
needing  iron  for  purjioses  of  its  own,  took  the 
rails  from  the  track  between  Cahaba  and  the 
Junction,  and  employed  them  elsewhere,  and  for 
a  long  time  it  was  necessary  to  change  cars  be- 
tween Marion  and  Selma.  Immediately  after  the 
war,  Gen.  X.  W.  Forrest  became  largely  interested 
in  our  road,  and  the  Government  offering  a 
bounty  of  filU.OOd  a  mile  for  every  twenty  miles 
of  new  railroad,  by  skillful  management  suc- 
ceeded in  extending  it  six  miles  beyond  ilarion  in 
the  direction  of  Greensboro,  to  which  place  it 
was  soon  completed.  From  Greensboro  it  has 
been  extended  to  Akron,  connecting  with  the  Ala- 
bama Great  Southern.  This  is,  so  far,  our  only 
railroad.  It  has  unquestionably  helped  much  in 
the  development  of  the  business  possibilities  of 
the  place,  both  by  affording  a  cheaper  means  of 
obtaining  goods,  and  by  the  activity  and  enter- 
prise which  it  could  not  fail  to  arouse  and  encour- 
age. Chiefly  because  of  its  existence,  the  eleven 
business  houses  of  1830  have  grown  into  near 
seventy-five,  and  the  cotton  trade,  which  has 
always  been  the  index  to  our  prosperity,  has  been 
greatly  increased. 

At  present  the  hopes  of  our  people  are  directed 
to  the  securing  of  the  ilobile  &  Birmingham  Rail- 
road, which  must  pass  near  Marion,  and  for  which, 
in  the  opinion  of  many,  it  would  be  profitable 
not  to  ignore  so  important  a  place,  which  it  might 
touch  with  small  additional  expense  and  with  mu- 
tual   benefit. 

Some  account  of  Marion's  "  war  record"  will 
perhaps  be  expected;  but  my  desire  to  make  this 
sketch  as  little  as  jiossibleof  a  personal  and  family 
narrative  leads  me  to  confine  myself  to  generalities. 
It  is  enough  to  say  that  no  community  responded 
more  generously  than  this  to  the  call  of  the  South. 
No  soldiers  of  theSouthern.Vrmy  conducted  them- 
selves with  more  heroism  on  the  battle-field:  none 
returned  with  records  freer  from  blemish  or  stain. 
The  Fourth  Alabama,  perhaps  the  most  celebrated 
of  all  the  regiments  of  the  State,  was  largely  com- 
posed of  men  from  Perry  County,  and  the  youth 
of  Marion,  among  whom  were  many  students  of 
Howard  College,  vied  with  the  hardy  yeomen   of 


^t/-6'4.-^^ 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


707 


north  Perry  and  tlie  wealtliy  iiiul  Iiigh-spirited 
jtlanters  of  the  prairies  in  t'ourageand  endurance. 
Our  cemeteries  are  not  without  sohiier  graves,  and 
on  our  nionurnent  to  the  "  rnreturiied  ])ead'' 
there  are  names  wliose  fame  is  not  merely  local. 

Having  so  plainly  indicated  my  opinion  that 
there  was,  during  the  earlier  period  of  our  history, 
a  state  of  morality  and  an  absence  of  refinement 
hard  to  conceive  of.  it  i.s  only  proper  that  at  the 
close  I  should  again  refer  to  the  widely  dilTerent 
condition  of  our  society  now.  The  work  of  our 
schools  in  this  respect  has  been  simply  marvelous, 
and  the  schools  have  been  nior*;  than  supplemented 
by  the  churches.  I  do  not  think  there  is  another 
community  in  .'Mabama  whei'e  so  much  deference 
is  paid  to  the  mi?iistry  and  to  the  teachings  of 
Christianity.  There  is  something  almost  I'uritan- 
icai  in  the  supremacy  of  moral  consiilerations  over 
all  others,  and  the  censorship  to  which,  willingly  or 
unwillingly,  our  people  submit.  The  result  is  that 
whatever  may  be  said  on  the  score  of  dullness,  no 
justaccusationof  anything  approaching  license  can 
be  brought  against  the  town  which  Captain  Slick's 
Company  used  formerly  to  keep  in  order  only  with 
the  greatest  difficulty. 

A  quiet,  moral,  refined  community,  spreading 
comfortably  over  a  ridgy  congregation  of  hills, 
divided  by  pret*y  brooklets,  with  an  abundance  of 
fine  trees;  a  fair  proportion  of  handsome  residences 
and  well-kept  yards;  the  Seminary,  a  solid-looking 
brick  edifice,  hiding  among  the  elms  which  cover 
its  grounds;  the  Judson,  an  imposing  structure, 
with  a  front  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  crown- 
ing a  flight  and  gentle  rise  near  the  eastern  slope 
of  the  ridge:  ^^lriou  .^^ilitary  Institute,  with  three 
adequate  buildings,  but  in  the  suburbs  toward  the 
southwest:  the  court-house,  at  the  center  of  the 
whole,  facing  Main  Street  and  the  business  houses 
— such  is  Marion,  a  town  of  near  3,000  souls. 
Such,  or  nearly  such,  in  all  human  probability,  it 
will  remain  for  years  to  come,  playing  no  brilliant 
part  in  the  life  of  the  State,  yet  not  without  a 
power  and  influence  for  good  through  the  morality 
and  refinement  it  inculcates  and  exemplifies  and 
the  young  characters  it  is  shaping. 

JESSE  B.  SHIVERS,  Judge  of  Probate,  was 
born  in  M:iren;,'o  County,  this  State,  April  •.J7, 
is:{!t.  His  father.  Dr.  0.  L.  Shivers,  a  North  Car- 
olinian, came  into  Alal)ama  at  an  early  date,  and 


settled  first  in  what  is  now  Hale  County.  Some- 
time after  his  marriage  to  Mi.ss  Wood  fin,  a  Vir- 
ginia lady,  he  settled  in  I'erry  County,  where  lie 
resided  during  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  died  in 
1S81,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  years. 

Jesse  B.  Shivers  was  graduated  fron;  Howard 
College,  ilarion,  in  18.i9,  and  was  i)ursuing  the 
study  of  law  at  Cumberland  (Tenn.)  University 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war.  Coming  directly 
homo,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  the  Eighth 
Alabama  Infantry,  from  which  he  was  subsequent- 
ly transferred  to  the  Eleventh  Uegiment  Alabama 
lufantry.  and  with  this  command  remained  up  to 
and  including  the  Seven  Days'  Fight  around  Hich- 
motid.  At  Glendale,  or  Frazer's  Farm,  he  received 
seven  severe  wounds,  one  of  which  resulted  in  the 
loss  to  him  of  his  left  arm.  The  operation  of 
amputation,  which  was  immediately  performed 
while  he  was  yet  upon  the  battle-field,  was  for 
some  cause  unsuccessful,  and  he  was  compelled, 
after  arriving  at  the  hospital,  to  undergo  a  second 
amputation.  lie  was  brought  from  Virginia  to  his 
home  by  his  father,  and  was  eleven  months  in  re- 
covering. 

Judge  Shivers  entered  the  army  fr(mi  juirely 
patriotic  motives,  and  as  a  soldier  he  made  an 
enviable  record  for  personal  bravery  and  a  patient 
submission  tb  hardship  and  misfortune. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  18li3,  and  has 
now  long  been  recognized  as  one  among  the  very 
best  lawyers  in  Cen'ral  Alabama.  About  the  time 
of  his  coming  to  the  bar,  he  was  elected  Mayor  of 
JIarion,  and  held  that  office  by  re-election  until 
ousted  by  the  Reconstructionists  in  18ii7.  He  was 
subsequently  again  called  to  the  mayoralty,  and 
was  retained  in  that  office  for  a  jieriod  of  about  six 
years.  From  187l>  to  1881!  he  held  the  office  of 
County  Superintendent,  discharging  the  duties 
thereof  with  characteristic  ability,  and  in  the 
latter  year  he  was  elected  Probate  Judge.  In  the 
performance  of  the  functions  of  this  important 
office,  he  is  notably  faithful,  painstaking,  obliging 
and  correct. 

Judge  Shivers  is  decidedly  a  nunlest,  unassuming 
gentleman;  retiring  and  somewhat  diffident  in  his 
nature.  In  repose  his  countenance  is  stern  and 
gives  out  the  impression  of  austerity,  but  in  con- 
versation his  whole  expression  i;-  entirely  changed, 
and  his  face  lights  up  with  softness,  humor  and 
good-nature. 

As  a  testimonial  of  the  high  resrard  in  which  he 
is  held,  the  publishers  take  pleasure  in  embellish- 


ro8 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ing  tliis  chapter  with  a  life-like  steel  plate  portrait 
of.  Judge  J.  B.  Shivers. 

The  Judge  was  married  at  Huiitsville,  this  State, 
in  1871,  to  a  Miss  Robinson. 

PORTER  KING,  an  extensive  Planter  and  a  dis- 
tinguished c'iti/en  of  Marion,  was  born  in  Perry 
County,  tills  State,  April  30,  18"^4,  and  is  a  son  of 
the  late  Edwin  D.  King,  a  native  of  Greene 
County,  Ga. 

Gen.  Edwin  D.  King  came  to  Alabama  in  1810, 
settled  in  Perry  County,  and  here  followed  plant- 
ing until  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
January,  hSO^i,  and  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his 
life.  He  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  Georgia,  and 
was  equally  prominent  after  coming  to  Alabama. 
His  first  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  his  n*- 
tive  county,  was  a  Miss  Hunter.  She  died  in  \'6hi. 
leaving  two  sons,  William,  an  extensive  planter 
during  his  lifetime  (now  deceased),  and  the  subject 
of  this  sketch. 

General  King  was  [>rominently  identified  with 
the  Baptist  Cinirch,  and  gave  to  that  organization 
substantial  aid  and  support  so  long  as  he  lived. 
He  was  by  far  the  wealthiest  man  in  Perry  County 
at  the  time  of  his  deatii,  and  it  is  written  of  him 
that  he  gave  from  his  ample  means  unto  all  worthy 
objects  of  charity  with  a  liberal  hand.  In  a  lengthy 
article  devoted  to  him,  and  published  in  the  Ala- 
bama Baptist,  we  learn  much  of  this  worthy  man. 
The  author  of  that  article,  Samuel  Henderson, 
says:  "  .My  acquaintance  with  General  King  com- 
menced about  the  time  his  influence  and  useful- 
ness began  to  assume  their  denominational  power, 
that  is,  about  the  year  184(i.  In  the  establishment 
at  Marion  of  the  Judson  Female  Institute,  one  of 
the  grandest  institutions  of  its  kind  in  the  South, 
he  took  a  leading  and  conspicuous  iiart.  He  ])ut 
his  shoulder  to  the  wheel,  and,  in  connection  with 
otiier  good  men,  reared  it  from  its  foundation,  and 
from  e.xperinient  to  permanent  success.  General 
King  took  an  active  part  in  theestablishmentof  the 
Howard  College,  and  gave  that  worthy  institution 
his  strongest  support.  He  was  a  man  of  few 
words,  always  meant  more  than  he  said,  and  his 
deeds  were  beyond  his  promises." 

Speaking  further  of  him,  Mr.  Henderson  said: 
"  Perhaps  it  would  be  invidious  to  say  that,  but 
for   (ieneral    King,  neither  the  Judson   nor   the 


Howard  would  have  been  in  Marion,  for  there 
were  other  noble  spirits  there  and  elsewhere  in 
the  State,  who  gave  to  them  their  hearty  coopera- 
tion, but  thus  much  may  be  said  most  truthfully, 
that  to  no  man  in  Alabama  is  the  denomination 
more  indebted  for  what  tiiese  grand  institutions 
have  been  in  the  past,  are  to-day,  and  promise  to 
be  in  the  future,  than  to  Gen.  E.  D.  King.  His 
name  is  so  interwoven  with  them  that  the  history 
of  neither  him  nor  them  can  be  written  with- 
out writing  the  history  of  each.  And  so  long 
as  these  institutions  shall  exist  to  bless  the  denom- 
ination and  the  State,  so  long  will  his  name  be 
as.sociated  in  grateful  hearts  with  all  that  is  praise- 
worthy in  Ciiristian  philanthropy.  Nor  less  was 
he  distinguished  in  other  departments  of  Chris- 
tian beneficence.  God  gave  him  a  large  estate, 
and  a  large  heart  to  nse  it  wisely.  God  blessed 
him,  that  he  might  be  a  blessing  to  others.  The 
support  of  his  pastor,  to  whom  he  was  always 
devoted,  the  missionary  enterprise — indeed,  every 
institution  that  looked  to  the  advancement  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom  or  the  elevation  of  his  fellow- 
men,  always  awakened  his  liveliest  sympathies  and 
the  most  generous  responses.  Thus  he  lived, 
thus  he  laboreil,  thus  he  gave — laying  up  in  store 
a  good  foundation  against  time  to  come. 

"  General  King  was  twice  married.  In  his  later 
years,  accompanied  by  his  second  wife,  he  made 
a  trip  to  Europe,  visiting  many  places  of  interest, 
and  on  his  return  enlivened  many  a  circle  of  his 
friends  by  his  impressions  of  men,  places,  and 
things.  I  remember  to  have  listened  with  no 
little  interest  to  some  of  the  incidents  of  his  tra- 
vels in  Great  Britain,  where  he  first  met  the  Eng- 
lish after  having  foiight  them  in  the  battle  of 
Xew  Orleans  under  General  Jackson.  Some  of 
his  bouts  with  them  were  amusing  and  entertain- 
ing. He  was  as  destitute  of  fear  in  war  as  in 
peace,  and  could  speak  his  mind  to  an  English 
nobleman  with  as  much  dignity  and  confidence  as 
any  King  that  ever  walked  their  soil."' 

General  King  received  his  title  as  a  major- 
general  of  militia;  in  the  war  of  181"^  he  held  the 
rank  of  major.  His  father  was  an  officer  in  the 
Revolutionary  struggle. 

Porter  King  was  educated  in  the  University 
of  Alabama,  and  in  Brown  University,  Rhode 
Island,       He    began    reading    law    in    1843,    at 

I   Marion,  with  Tom  Chilton,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in   184.5,  and    practiced    law   until    1850.     In 

I   this  vear  he    was   elected    Judge   of   the    Circuit 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


709 


Court.  While  in  this  capacity  and  presiding 
over  the  Bibb  (County)  Circuit  Court  in  18fil,  he 
received  notice  of  the  formation  of  a  company  of 
volunteers,  composed  mostly  of  Howard  College 
boys,  and,  calling  his  grand  jury  together,  he 
handed  in  his  resignation  as  Judge,  and  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  Jlarion,  where  he  was  made 
captain  of  the  company.  This  company  became 
part  of  the  Fourth  Alal)ama  l{egiment,  and  Judge 
King  commanded  it  twelve  months.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  he  returned  home  and  resumed  his 
seat  upon  the  bench,  and  was  there  until  ousted 
by  Military  (iovernor  I'arsons.  Since  that  time 
he  has  given  his  attention  entirely  to  his  planting 
interests. 

Away  back  in  18.")l-.")"-i.  .ludge  King,  though  a 
Democrat  in  a  strong  Whig  county,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  f.,egislature,  and  there  took  an 
active  part  in  the  establishment  of  the  insane 
hospital.  He  was  sul)se<|uently  made  one  of  the 
trustees  of  that  institution,  a  position  he  held  up 
to  the  close  of  tlie  war.  He  was  many  years  one  of 
the  trustees  of  the  Alabama  University;  is  now, 
and  has  been  a  great  while,  one  of  the  trustees  of 
Howard  College,  and,  from  ISCC  to  1886,  was 
president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Judson  Fe- 
male Institute.  He  was  prominently  identified 
with  the  construction  of  the  Selma,  Marion  & 
Memphis  IJailroad,  and  was  its  president  until 
succeeded  by  (ieneral  Forrest. 

The  Judge  was  married  February  "-io,  1849,  at 
Greensboro,  this  State,  to  a  daughter  of  Col. 
John  Erwin,  a  distinguished  lawyer  in  his  day. 
Jlrs.  King  died  in  18.")(i,  and  Judge  King,  on  the 
litth  of  February,  18,it2,  at  Athens,  Ga..  married 
the  youngest  daughter  of  Chief  Justice  Lump- 
kins,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State.  To 
this  union  eight  children  were  born,  five  of  whom 
died  in  infancy.  The  living  are:  Joseph  Henry 
Lumpkins  King,  attorney-at-law,  Anniston;  Por- 
ter King,  Jr.,  attorncy-at-law.  Atlanta,  Ga.,  and 
Thomas  King,  of  the  lie.-;semer  Steel  Works, 
Troy,  N.  Y. 

Judge  King  and  family  afe  members  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  the  Judge  is  a  Knight  Tem- 
plar Mason. 

JOHN  MOORE,  Judge  of  the  Fourth  Judicial 
Circuit,  was  lioiii  in  Wake  County,  N.  C,  March 
i;3,  18".i'.».     His  father,  Wooteii   Moore,  a  native  of 


Chatham,  N.  C,  came  to  Alabama  in  1833,  and 
in  1834  -settled  in  Perry  County,  nine  miles  west 
of  Marion.  He  was  an  e.xtensive  cotton  planter, 
and  died  in  185.i,  at  the  age  of  si.xty  years.  He 
reared  three  sons,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  being 
second  in  order  of  birth. 

John  Moore  was  educated  j)riniarily  at  Howard 
College,  and  in  184!)  was  graduated  from  the  State 
University  with  the  degree  of  A.B. ;  the  same  in- 
stitution conferring  u])on  him,  subsequently,  the 
degree  of  A.  M.  He  began  reading  law  in  1850, 
at  Jfarion,  in  the  office  of  I.  W.  Garrott  (after- 
ward General  Garrott),  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  18-51.  Associated  with  his  preceptor,  he  at 
once  entered  upon  the  practice,  but  was  soon 
afterward  called  from  it  to  enter  the  army.  Early 
in  1861  he  raised  a  short-term  company  at  .Marion, 
and  went  out  as  its  captain.  At  the  expiration 
of  the  term  for  which  his  comi)any  was  enlisted, 
Mr.  Moore  entered  the  regular  service  and  was 
made  a  lieutenant  in  the  Fortieth  Alabama  In- 
fantry. He  was  captured  at  Xoon  Day  Creek,  Ga., 
June  1.3,  1864,  taken  to  Johnson's  Island,  and 
was  there  detained  until  the  following  winter. 
Having  been  exchanged  he  rejoined  his  command, 
but  illness,  contracted  while  on  Johnson's  Island, 
disqualified  him  from  further  service,  and  he  soon 
afterward  returned  to  Marion. 

In  186,5-0  Judge  Aloorc  represented  Perry 
County  in  the  Legislature,  and  in  May  of  the  lat- 
ter year  was  elected  Judge  of  what  was  then  the 
First  Judicial  Circuit,  composed  of  Autanga, 
Bibb,  Perry  and  Dallas  Counties.  He  was  occu- 
pying this  position  in  1808,  when  he  was  removed 
by  the  Reconstructionists,  and  from  that  time 
until  1880  he  devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of 
law.  In  the  year  last  named  he  was  elected  Judge 
of  the  Fourth  Circuit,  and  was  re-elected  in  1880. 

Judge  Moore  was  at  one  time  oHicially  con- 
nected with  what  is  now  the  Selma,  Marion  & 
ilemphis  Pailroad.  He  was  many  years  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Howard  College,  and 
at  this  writing  (1888)  is  jiresident  of  tlie  Board 
of  Trustees  of  Judson  Female  Institute.  He  was 
married  at  Marion,  February  18,  18-51,  to  Miss 
Emily  Billingsly,  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  C.  C. 
Billingsly,  who,  before  coming  to  this  county, 
represented  Montgomery  once  or  twice  in  the 
Legislature.  To  this  marriage  have  been  born 
two  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  sons  are  now 
residing  in  Tenne.=see.  The  family  are  members 
of  the  liaptist  Church. 


710 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ROBERT  TIGNAL  JONES,  was  born  iu  Meck- 
lenlim;:  Coimty.  \'a.,  October  8,  1815,  and 
was  killed  at  tlie  battle  of  Seven  Pines,  in  May, 
180-2. 

Me  was  graduated  fi-oiu  West  Point  in  183Tand 
served  in  the  regular  army  until  and  during  the 
Floiida  War,  after  which  he  resigned  and  retired 
to  private  life  on  his  plant. ition  in  Perry  County. 
He  was  married  at  Marion  in  184T,  to  a  daughter 
of  Leonard  H.  SeawelKand  had  born  to  him  three 
sons  and  two  daughters.  lie  was  a  prominent  cit- 
izen and  a  gallant  soldier.  He  survcye^l  and  con- 
structed the  Cahaba  &  Marion  Kailroad.  now  the 
C,  S.  &  M..  and  was  its  first  president.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  between  the  States  he  left  his 
plantation,  tendered  his  services  to  the  Confeder- 
ate Government,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  raise 
what  became  the  Twentieth  Alabama  Infantry. 
Before  the  organization  of  this  regiment,  the  Con- 
federate Government  commissioned  him  colonel, 
and  assigned  him  to  the  command  of  the  Twelfth 
Alabama  Infantry,  which  regiment  he  was  leading 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  In  1801.  and  prior  to  his 
being  made  colonel  of  the  Twelfth,  he  was  ten- 
dered the  rank  of  brigadier-general  and  a  seat  on 
the  military  board  of  the  State  by  Governor  Moore, 
but  declined  it  and  repaire.l  at  once  to  Fort  Mor- 
gan, wher*^  he  was  placed  in  command  of  a  battal- 
ion of  artillery  and.  for  a  short  time,  in  command 
of  the  fort. 

Colonel  Jones  was  a  strict  disciplinarian,  yet  so 
great  in  him  was  the  confidence  of  his  men  that  at 
the  reorganization  of  his  regiment,  in  180:2,  he  was 
unanimously  chosen  by  them  as  their  colonel. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  day  at  Seven  Pines,  and 
while  in  the  act  of  turning  the  captured  guns  upon 
the  enemy,  a  ininie  ball  pierced  his  breast,  and  he 
fell. 

He  was  a  man  of  sound  judgment,  inflexible 
will,  lofty  sense  of  honor,  upright  character,  and 
one  who  always  preferreil  deeds  to  words. 

Early  in  1802,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  new 
battle- flag  adopted  by  the  Government  was  sent  to 
the  various  commands,  and  its  reception  was  made 
the  object  of  many  addnsses  by  various  colonels. 
Colonel  Jones'  men  of  the  Twelfth  anxiously 
waited  the  address  that  he  should  deliver  at  the 
time  it  was  to  be  unfurled  as  their  banner,  ilount- 
inghis  horse  he  had  the  regiment  drawn  upiu  line, 
and  turning  to  an  orderly,  he  said:  "Unfold  that 
flag;"  and  then  to  the  men,  he  continued  "there 
is  your  new  battle-flasr.     Wherever  vou  see  it  mov- 


ing, do  you  follow."  This  was  the  end  of  his 
speech,  and  he  dismissed  his  regiment  and  rode 
away. 

Colonel  Jones'  lirst  wife  was  a  ^liss  Jones  of  this 
county.  His  second  was  a  sister  of  Caiitain  J.  J. 
Seawell.  He  left  living  several  children,  and 
among  them  we  will  notice  L.  S.  .(ones  in  another 
chapter. 

■  ■■^•— ;-£*5>]— ^' — ■ — 

L.  S.  JONES,  .^on  c.f  the  late  Col.  b'oliert  T. 
Jones,  was  born  in  Peny  County,  .Via.,  in  ]8")0, 
and  was  educated  at  Iiichmond  (\'a.)  Bajitist  Col- 
lege. 

He  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
Perry  County  in  1871,  and  again  in  1874;  the  lat- 
tei'  appointment  was  the  result  of  necessity — the 
Negroes  having  elected  a  nnm  to  that  position  who 
was  unable  to  give  the  rerpiired  bond.  He  has 
been  twice  elected  to  the  same  oflice,  and  in  all 
had  held  it  over  si.vteen  years,  when  he  resigned 
for  the  purpose  of  going  iu  business.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor,  a  communicant 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  is  an  upright,  hon- 
orable, highly-respected  citizen. 

Mr.  Jones  was  married,  in  1877,  to  a  daughter 
of  Capt.  John  Howz,  of  .Marion. 

■  ■  *>  •^^t^:-^— 

JAMES  DOUGLAS  WADE.  A.  M..  President  of 
the  .Marion  Fcnialc  Seminary,  was  born  at  Chris- 
tiansburg.Va.,  in  18;i"2,  and  was  educated  at  P^mory 
and  Henry  College,  that  State, and  at  DickinsonCol- 
lege,  Carlisle,  Pa.,  graduating  from  the  last  named 
institution  in  185.).  Soon  after  leaving  Dickin- 
son he  accepted  a  position  as  teacher  in  Andrew 
Female  -College,  Ctithbert,  Ga.,  and  remained 
there  eight  years.  In  1803  he  was  elected  to  a 
professorship  in  Monticello  (Fla.)  Academy,  and 
tnught  there  nine  years.  From  here  he  went  to 
Tallahassee,  where  he  took  charge  of  the  Western 
Florida  Seminary,  liow  University,  and  was  there 
eight  years. 

At  Troy,  Ala.,  he  established  an  academy,  be- 
ginning with  only  thirteen  students,  and  building 
it  up  to  one  of  the  first  institutions  of  the  State, 
with  an  average  attendance  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  pujiils.  He  came  to  Marion  in  the 
fall  of  1884.  as  president  of  the  Marion  Female 
Seminary.    Under  his  wise  supervision,  the  school 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ill 


lias  rupiilly  lulvuiK-ed  in  poiuilitrity,  and  is  now 
one  of  tlie  leiuliug  institutions  for  the  education  of 
girls  in  Alabama.  It  is  claimed  that  this  is  the 
oldest  female  college  in  the  world."  It  was  founded 
in  183i;.  The  Seminary  now  belongs  to  the  Pres- 
byterians, Methodists  and  Episcopalians  jointly. 
Tiie  art  teacher.  .Miss  Mary  K.  Jones,  visits  Europe 
and  our  Northern  cities  frc(|iieiitly.  in  the  interest 
of  her  department.  Miss  Harriet  A.  Woodliarn,  an 
English  lady,  a  graduate  of  Leipsic,  (icrmaiiy,  is 
jirincipal  of  the  music  scliool.  Over  4,0li!i  young 
ladies  have  lieen  taught  at  this  school,  and  there 
has  not  been  a  death  among  its  hiardiiuj  pujiils  in 
thirty-five  years. 


CYRUS  D.  HOGUE,  Attorncy-at-law,  Marion, 
was  born  in  I'erry  County,  near  fScott's  Station, 
this  State.  December  T,  lS4s.  His  father,  Jolin 
Hogue,  was  also  a  native  of  this  county,  and  his 
mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Wallace,  was  a 
native  of  South  Carolina.  His  grand  father  Hogue 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  I'erry  County,  and  his 
father  lived  here  all  his  life,  and  died  in  1870,  at 
the  age  of  fifty-two  years.  'I'he  Ilogues  are  of 
Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  the  Wallaces  came  orig- 
inally from  Scotland. 

Cyrus  I).  Hogue  was  educated  at  Howard  Col- 
lege, the  Alabama  State  l^^niversity,  and  Washing- 
ton and  Lee  University,  \'irginia,  attending  each 
of  these  institutions  in  the  oi'der  nanie<l.  He  be- 
gan the  study  of  law  with  Judge  Powhattan  Lock- 
ett,  at  .Marion,  in  1872,  and  was  soon  afterward  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar.  He  rapidly  took  rank  as  one 
of  the  leading  attorneys  at  the  Perry  County  bar, 
and  has  maintained  that  position  ever  since.  He 
was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in  188"^,  and  was 
successively  returned,  sessions  of  1884-5  and 
lsst;-7.  Ill  the  first  named  session,  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Federal  Kelations,  and 
was  of  the  Committee  on  Education;  sessions  of 
1884-.T,  he  was  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  Com- 
mittees on  P^ducation,  Rules,  etc.,  and  in  session 
of  188(i-7  was  chairman  of  Committee  on  Privi- 
leges and  Elections,  and  member  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  Committee  on  Unles  and  Committee 
on  Penitentiary.  In  all  these  committees,  Mr. 
Hogue  was  ever  active,  and  won  for  himself  the 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  persistent 
working  members  of  the  House. 

Jlr.    Hogue   stumped    the   district    in    General 


Shelley's  interest  in  1878,  and  in  every  succeeding 
campaign,  both  State  and  National,  his  voice  lias 
been  raised  in  the  interest  of  the  only  party  that 
stands  etei-nally  as  the  exponent  of  individual 
American  liberty.  He  has  the  reputation  of  being 
an  elofpient  speaker,  and  is  now  a  ])rominent  can- 
didate for  State  Auditor. 

Mr.  Hogue  was  married  at  .Marion.  .May,  1872, 
to  Miss  ^[ary  .\.  Hrown.  the  accomplislied  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  (icn.  W.  W.  Brown  of  this  place, 
and  has  had  born  to  him  three  sons.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Honor, 
and  tiic  family  are  identilicd  with  the  Presltyterian 
Clnircii. 

JAMES  H.  STEWART,  Attorney-at-law,  was 
born  in  (Ireene  Conntv.  this  State,  February  10, 
1841,  and  is  a  son  of  Warren  I).  Stewart,  a  native 
South  Carolinian.  The  family  came  to  Alabama 
at  an  early  daj",  and  settled  in  what  is  now  Tusca- 
loosa County,  on  the  bank  of  tlie  Black  Warrior. 

Warren  D.  Stewart's  father  was  a  planter,  and 
spent  his  life  in  the  cultivation  of  tlie  fertile  val- 
leys of  the  Warrior.  He  resided  in  Greene 
County  until  1848,  at  which  time  he  moved  to 
Mississippi,  where  he  died  in  1849,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-eight  years.  His  only  son,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  educated  at  Doctor  Tutwilcr's 
famous  Greene  Springs  School,  and  at  the  law 
department  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  He 
left  the  latter  institution  to  join  the  Eleventh  Ala- 
bama Infantry  as  a  private,  and  with  that  com- 
mand participated  in  the  battles  of  Seven  Pines, 
(iaines"  Mill,  Gettysburg,  etc.  He  was  wounded 
at  Gaines'  Mill  and  at  Gettysburg,  arid  surrendered 
with  Lee  at  A|iponiatto.K.  After  the  death  of  his 
father  in  Mississippi,  his  mother  removed  to 
Marengo  County,  this  State:  and  there  he  re- 
returned,  after  leaving  the  army. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  IS'iC,  and  prac- 
ticed law  at  Uniontown  until  1880.  In  that  year 
he  was  elected  Proliate  Judge  of  Perry  County  for 
the  term  of  si.\  years.  Since  the  e.xpiration  of  his 
official  term  he  has  lived  at  Clarion  and  devoted 
himself  to  the  practice  of  law.  He  was  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  and  until  very  recently,  one  of  the 
trustees  of  Marion  Female  Seminary. 

Judge  Stewart  is  a  popular  citizen,  a  lawyer  of 
pronounced  ability,  and  as  Judge  of  the  Probate 
Court  li«  made  a  record  for  fairness  and  fitness  of 
which  he  may  well  be  proud. 


712 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


CHARLES  H.  SEAWELL,  Hegisterin  Chancery, 
MiiriDii.  was  liorii  :it  this  j)hice,  March  18,  184-4. 
His  father,  L.  II.  Seawell,  a  North  Carolinian  by 
birth,  came  to  Ahibania  in  1833.  He  was  an  ex- 
tensive planter  and  a  highly  respected  citizen.  He 
died  at  Marion  in  1858. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  for  a  time  a  stu- 
dent at  Sumnierfield  Academy,  Dallas  County, 
and  subsecjuently  at  St.  James  College,  ^lary'and. 

lie  entered  the  army  early  in  1801,  and  with 
his  command  proceeded  to  Ft.  Morgan.  The  short 
term  of  his  lirst  enlistment  having  expired,  he 
joined  tlie  Eighth  Alabama  Infantry,  and  was 
soon  afterward,  "'  for  gallantry  on  the  battle-field,'" 
promoted  to  first  lieutenant  of  his  company. 
Toward  the  latter  part  of  the  war,  he  was  com- 
missioned captain  in  the  Provisional  Army,  and 
held  that  rani<  to  the  close.  He  participated  in 
all  the  battles  fought  by  the  Eighth  Alabama  Reg- 
iment and  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,and  it  is 
no  flattery  to  say  that  that  incomparable  army  had 
in  it  no  more  gallant  and  worthy  soldier  than  he. 

At  the  close  of  hostilities  he  returned  to  Perry 
County  and  was  engaged  in  farming  until  1881, 
when  he  was  elected  Register  in  Ciiancery,  which 
office  he  has  held  ever  since.  He  is  an  active  po- 
litical worker,  takes  a  live  interest  in  public  af- 
fairs, and  is  altogether  one  of  Perry  County's  best 
citizens. 

Mr.  Seawell  was  married  at  Mobile,  in  1880,  to 
Miss  Ravasies.  Both  he  and  wife  are  members  of 
the  Episcopal  Church. 

JAMES  H.  GRAHAM,  Mayor  of  the  City  of 
Marion,  was  lioni  at  (iallatin,  Teiiii.,  February  0, 
1817.  His  parents  migrated  to  Tennessee  during 
the  Territorial  days  of  that  Commonwealth,  and 
there  reared  a  family  of  six  sons  and  six  daughters. 
The  senior  Jlr.  (iraham  was  educated  for  tlie 
ministry,  but  it  appears  tliat  he,  from  choice, 
devoted  his  life  to  farming  and  the  breeding  of  fine 
stock,  lie  died  in  1840,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six 
years.  Two  of  his  sons  became  lawyers,  and  two 
doctors;  one  of  his  daughters  is  now  the  wife  of 
Dr.  Daniel  Johnson,  of  Covington,  Ky. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in 
Sumner  County,  Tenn.,  came  to  ilarion  in  1835, 
and  began  life  as  a  clerk  in  a  store.  In  183T  he 
visited  his  brother  in  Texas,  and  there  spent  three 
years,  engaged  principally  in  chasing  Indians  on 


the  frontier.  He  returned  to  Tennessee  in  1840, 
and  in  1843  married  Jliss  Louisa  Wheelock.  of 
Kentucky.  After  merchandising  for  two  years  at 
Hartsville,  that*  State,  he  returned  to  Marion,  and 
here,  barring  short  intervals,  continued  tl)at  busi- 
ness until  1801.  In  the  fall  of  18T0  he  was  elected 
to  the  State  Legislature,  and  from  1872  to  1876 
he  was  enrolling  clerk  of  the  State  Senate.  From 
1877  to  1881  he  was  Marshal  of  Marion.  He  was 
Mayor  of  Marion  in  1870,  and  in  1884  he  was 
called  again  to  that  office,  and  has  since  been 
retained  therein. 

Captain  (iraham  earned  bis  title  upon  the  bat- 
tle-field in  the  conflict  between  the  States.  His 
army  service  covered  the  period  between  the 
autumn  of  1801  and  the  battle  of  Chickamauga. 
At  the  latter  place  he  was  so  seriously  wounded 
by  a  minie  ball  that  he  was  compelled,  soon 
afterward,  to  retire  from  the  army.  As  captain 
of  Company  A,  Twenty-eighth  Alabama  Infantry, 
he  had  under  him  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
men,  and  led  them  gallantly  at  Murfreesboro  and 
Chickamauga.  At  the  latter  place,  as  has  been 
seen,  he  was  wounded. 

Though  a  married  man,  Captain  (iraham  has 
not  had  born  to  him  any  children.  He  and  his 
goodly  wife,  however,  have  reared  and  educated 
four  orphans,  who  have  grown  u])  under  their 
training  to  adult  estate  and  taken  their  places  in 
the  world  and  such  positions  in  society  a.s  to  reflect 
the  greatest  credit  and  honor  upon  their  foster 
parents.  Captain  and  Mrs.  Graham  are  members 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and 
the  Captain  is  a  Mason. 

■— — »"S€{^- ■<'■    • 

JAS.  A.  MOORE.  President  of  the  Clarion  Sav- 
ings I'.ank.  alsd  I'lesident  of  the  Marion  Fenuile 
Seminary,  and  present  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Marion, 
was  born  at  Palo  Alto,  Miss.,  December  10,  1830. 
and  is  a  son  of  Thomas  Moore,  a  native  of  South 
Carolina. 

Mr.  Moore  was  educated  at  Marion,  to  which 
place  he  came  when  fourteen  years  of  age.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  late  war  he  was  attending  com- 
mercial school  at  New  Orleans;  he  came  at  once 
to  Alabama,  entered  tlie  army  as  a  member  of  the 
Fourth  Alabama  Regiment,  and  served  with  it 
until  the  close  of  tlie  war.  In  all  the  hotly-con- 
tested fights  in  which  his  regiment  i>artici])ated, 
including    Gettysburg,    Richmond.     Petersburg, 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


713 


Fredericksburg,  the  second  Manassas,  and  many 
others  wliose  names  are  not  now  recalled,  Mr. 
Moore  took  an  active  part.  At  the  close  of  the 
war  he  returned  to  Marion  and  soon  after- 
ward established  the  mercantile  firm  of  J.  A. 
Moore  &  Co.  This  tirm  subsequently  became 
Moore  &  Fitzgerald,  and  went  out  of  mercantile 
business  in  1883.  The  .Marion  Savings  Bank  was 
established  in  187"-2,  and  he  became  its  president 
in  18s:i. 

The  cajiital  stock  of  this  bank  is  ^50,000, 
and  something  of  the  skill  with  which  Mr. 
Moore  has  managed  it  may  be  gathered  from 
the  fact  that  in  1883  its  stock  was  selling  at  fifty 
cents  on  the  dollar,  while  now  it  sells  at  about 
par. 

It  is  proper  to  say  that  Mr.  Moore  is  a  self-made 
man.  What  of  this  world's  goods  he  has,  have 
been  acciuired  by  his  individual  effort  and  indus- 
try. He  was  ilayor  of  Marion  in  188"-?,  which 
seems  to  constitute  the  sum  of  his  public  services. 

At  ITuntsville,  this  State,  in  October,  187"-J,  he 
married  Miss  Sarah  F.  Hobinson. 

THOMAS  HUDSON,  Editor  and  Proprietor  of 
the  Marion  Slandard.  a  weekly  Democratic  paper, 
published  every  Wednesday  morning,  was  born  at 
Uniontown,  Ferry  County,  Ala.,  August  28, 
1841. 

His  father.  Richard  H.  Hudson,  many  years  a 
successful  merchant,  came  from  ^'irgi^ia  when 
seventeen  years  of  age,  and  lived  at  Uniontown 
until  the  day  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
18tI3.  He  married  a  Miss  Chambers,  of  Clarke 
County,  this  State,  a  granddaughter  of  Gen. 
Joseph  Chambers,  of  the  War  of  1812. 

Thomas  Hudson  was  educated  at  Uniontown, 
and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  entered  the  State  Uni- 
versity, leaving  there  in  1859  to  attend  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia.  He  was  at  the  latter  place 
when  Alabama  seceded  from  the  Union.  He 
came  immediately  home  and  entered  the  army  as 
a  member  of  an  old  military  comi)any,  which  had 
at  that  time  tendered  its  services  to  the  Governor 
and  been  accepted.  They  left  for  the  field 
April  10,  18i>l.  At  Dalton,  this  command  was 
reorganized  and  becanie  the  Fourth  Alabama  Heg- 
iment,  and  took  j)art  in  the  first  battle  of  Manas- 
sas, where  tiie  subject  of  this  sketch  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemv.     He  was  taken    to   the   Old 


Capitol  prison,  and  held  to  November  following, 
when  he  wsis  paroled.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
about  this  time  the  Confederate  States  (iovern- 
ment,  as  a  stroke  of  economy,  ordered  the  dis- 
charge from  the  service  of  all  paroled  prisoners. 
Therefore,  young  Hudson  was  at  liberty  to  enlist 
into  another  command  when  once  he  had  been  ex- 
changed, and  we  find  that  early  in  1863,  he  joined 
Captain  Storr's  Cadet  Company  from  Tuscaloosa, 
and  became  a  part  of  the  Seventh  Alabama  Cav- 
alry, with  which  command  he  remained  to  the 
close  of  the  war.  Having  married  while  on  parole, 
he,  in  18G5,  returned  to  Uniontown,  settled  down 
upon  a  plantation  and  followed  farming  until 
1874.  His  wife  was  a  Miss  I'itts,  daughter  of  P. 
H.  Pitts,  Sr.,  and  a  niece  of  the  Hon.  A.  C.  Da- 
vidson, the  present  member  of  Congress  from 
that  district.  She  died  in  August,  1873,  leaving 
four  children,  one  daughter  and  three  sons. 

Mr.  Hudson  is  Grand  Keeper  of  Records  and 
Seals  of  the  Order  of  Knights  of  Pythias,  member 
of  the  Knights  of  Honor  and  of  the  Order  of  Iron 
Ilall.  He  has  been  twice  vice-president  of  the 
Alabama  Press  Association;  held  the  office  of  As- 
sistant Tax  Assessor,  and  was  elected  Tax  Asses- 
sor and  served  three  years.  It  is  proper  to  mention 
that  the  records  kept  by  the  County  Commissioners 
show  that  they,  upon  three  occasions,  passed  reso- 
lutions declaring  that  "  Thomas  Hudson  was  the 
best  Tax  Assessor  the  county  ever  had." 

In  the  fall  of  1880  he  came  to  Jfarion  to  take 
charge  of  the  Probate  Judge's  office  for  Judge 
Stewart,  who  was  incapacitated  from  illness  to 
attend  to  the  duties  of  the  oflHce.  While  liere  he 
jiurchased  the  Southern  Standanl,  and  changed 
its  name  to  the  Marion  Standard,  the  present 
popular  provincial  paper. 

— — -?"^^^;-<'-  ■ 

BENJAMIN  M.  HUEY,  prominent  Attorney 
and  Counselor-at-law,  Marion,  Ala.,  and  present 
State  Senator  from  this  district,  is  a  native  of 
Talladega  County,  this  State,  where  he  was  born 
•June  l.">,  1840,  and  is  a  son  ot  General  James  G. 
L.  Huey. 

Captain  Huey  was  educated  at  Oxford.  Ga., 
primarily,  and  graduated  from  tlie  Southern  Uni- 
versity, Greensboro,  Ala.,  as  A.  B.,  class  of  1860. 
Immediately  after  leaving  college,  aiul  in  the 
office  of  Hon.  A.  J.  Walker,  of  Talladega,  he  be- 
gan the  study  of   law.     In  June,  1861,  he  joined 


714 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Company  E,  Tenth  Alabama  Infantry,  as  a 
sergeant,  and  was  with  that  command  about 
eighteen  months.  At  'Williamsburg,  Va.,  he  was 
promoted  by  the  War  Department  (C.  S.  A.),  for 
gallantry  in  action,  to  second  lieutenant,  and  as- 
signed to  Talladega  as  drill  master.  He  remained 
in  that  position  from  October,  1862,  to  July,  18G4, 
at  which  time  he  raised  a  company  of  infantry, 
and  was  assigned  to  a  battalion  at  Mobile.  At 
the  latter  place  his  company  fell  into  the  hands 
of  General  Farragut — he,  being  absent  with  his 
sick  family  at  the  time,  escaped  imprisonment. 
His  company  was  never  exchanged,  and  he  was 
assigned  to  post  duty  again  at  Talladega,  where 
he  remained  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

AVhile  in  the  service.  Captain  Huey  partici- 
pated in  the  battles  of  Dranesville,  Williams- 
burg, Seven  Pines,  Gaines'  ilill,  Frazier's  Farm, 
Malvern  Hill,  second  Manassas,  Harper's  Ferry, 
Sharpsburg,  and  any  number  of  skirmishes  not 
dignified  in  history  with  the  name  of  battle. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  he  came  to  Marion, 
and,  with  e.x-Governor  Moore  and  Hon.  William 
M.  Brooks,  resumed  the  study  of  law.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  18GG,  and  at  once 
entered  into  the  practice. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  from  Perry 
county  in  1878-9,  and  for  the  succeeding  term 
declined  nomination.  He  was  Mayor  of  Marion  in 
1881,  and  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  in  1886. 
In  1887  he  was  appointed  on  the  staff  of  Governor 
Thomas  Seay  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  by  which 
title  he  will  hereafter  be  familiarly  known. 

Colonel  Iluey  is  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  and  is  a  member  of  Selma  C'om- 
mandery,  Xo.  5;  is  Past  Chancellor  of  E.  D.  King 
Lod^e,  Knights  of  Pythias,  in  which  order  he  has 
been  the  representative  to  the  Grand  Lodge  four 
times  in  succession;  and  is  also  an  officer  in  the 
Grand  Lodge.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor,  in  which  he  is  Dictator  of  Marion  Lodge, 
No.  2780. 

The  Colonel  is  one  of  the  Trustees  of  Marion 
Female  Seminary,  and  is  otherwise  variously  in- 
terested in  JIarion  and  her  most  reputable  insti- 
tutions. He  is  one  of  the  most  earnest  Democratic 
workers  in  Central  Alabama;  takes  an  active  part 
in  all  political  campaigns,  and  does  much  effective 
work.  lie  stumped  the  State  at  the  request  of 
the  State  Central  Committee,  for  Seymour  and 
Blair,  Greeley  and  Brown,  Hancock  and  English, 
and  Cleveland  and  Hendricks,  and  is  always  to 


the  forefront  when  any  duty,  political,  social  or 
religious,  calls  him. 

As  a  lawyer,  Colonel  Huey  ranks  among  the 
best;  as  a  speaker,  he  is  forcible,  logical  and  elo- 
quent; as  a  legislator,  he  is  active,  diligent, 
progressive  and  energetic.  He  introduced  a  bill 
in  the  last  Senate  of  Alabama  to  establish  a  State 
Female  Industrial  School  and  Vniversit)- — the 
first  move  in  that  line  ever  attempted  in  this  State, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  such  a  bill  will  yet  become  a 
law  at  the  approaching  session  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  Alabama. 

Colonel  Huey  was  married  in  Perry  County,  June 
9,  1863,  to  Miss  Sarah  E.  King,  daughter  of  the 
late  E.  W.  King,  and  has  had  born  to  him  four 
sons  and  four  daughters.  Three  of  his  sons  are 
already  fine  business  men.  The  family  are  all 
members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 

Indicative  of  the  esteem  in  which  Colonel  Huey 
is  held  in  Alabama,  and  of  his  high  social  posi- 
tion, wealth  and  attainments,  the  publishers  take 
pleasure  in  presenting  herewith  a  life-like  portrait 
of  one  of  the  representative  men  of  Alabama, 
which  speaks  for  itself. 

Gen.  James  G.  L.  Huey  came  to  Alabama  from 
Georgia  in  1835.  His  grandfather,  born  in  Ire- 
land, came  to  America  prior  to  the  Kevolutionary 
War,  and  was  a  captain  in  the  Continental  Army 
during  the  struggle  for  liberty.  The  llueys  were 
French  Huguenots,  and  this  particular  brunch  of 
them  are  the  descendants  of  those  who  left  France 
under  the  persecutions  of  Catholicism  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  General  Huey 
settled  at  Talladega,  and  there  married  Miss  Vir- 
ginia V.  Maclin,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  a  near 
relative  of  the  Hon.  James  M.  and  John  Y.  Ma- 
son, of  that  State.  He  lives  now  in  Bibb  County, 
this  State,  where  he  is  a  wealthy  farmer.  He  rep- 
resented Talladega  County  in  the  State  Senate, 
away  back  in  1845,  and  during  the  late  war  took 
an  active  part,  holding  the  rank  of  major-general 
in  the  command  of  State  troops.  He  removed  to 
Marion  in  1872,  and  from  here  to  Bibb  Count}- 
in  1874. 

Col.  B,  iL  Iluey's  mother  nie  Virginia  V. 
Maclin  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Maclin, 
a  high-toned  Virginia  gentlemaii  of  the  old  school 
and  of  large  means,  who  reside  near  Petersburg. 
Gen.  G.  L.  Huey  removed  from  Lancaster,  S.  C, 
in  1833,  to  Harris  County,  (ia.,  where  he  filled 
several  public  positions  of  trust,  and  where  he  is 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


715 


universally  esteemed  for  his  excellent  judgment 
and  high  integrity  of  character.  He  accumulated 
ft  considerable  fortune  and  is  ever  ready  to  assist 
in  benevolent  charities. 


^^►- 


WM.W.WILKERSON.  M.D.,son  of  P.H.  and 

E.  W.  (Foster)  Wilkerson,  natives,  respectively,  of 
the  States  of  Kentucky  and  (Georgia, and  of  English 
extraction,  was  born  in  Tuscaloosa  County,  Ala., 
August  15,  1833. 

Of  the  seven  sons  reared  to  manhood  by  the  j 
senior  Wilkerson,  two  of  them  are  doctors  of  medi- 
cine, three  of  dental  surgery,  and  two  are  farmers. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  at  the 
State  University  and  began  reading  medicine  at 
Tuscaloosa  when  twenty-one  years  of  age.  In 
1855,  he  was  graduated  from  Jefferson  Medical 
College,  Philadelphia,  and  at  once  began  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  Perry  County.  Since  18(55, 
he  has  lived  in  the  town  of  Marion,  where  he 
stands  at  the  head  of  his  profession. 

In  186"2,  he  entered  the  army  as  assistant  sur- 
geon and  remained  in  the  service  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  The  last  eighteen  months  of  his  ser- 
vice was  as  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  hospital  at 
Eufaula;  the  first  eighteen  months  were  spent 
in  the  field.  •• 

Tiie  Doctor  has  been  many  years  prominently 
identified  with  the  Baptist  Church,  in  which  he 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  substantial  pillars. 
For  fifteen  years  he  was  president  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  Howard  College,  the  denomina- 
tional literary  institution  of  this  Church,  then 
located  in  Marion.  During  this  period,  the  col- 
lege did  some  of  the  grandest  work  of  its  history, 
notwithstanding  it  had  lost  its  large  and  munifi- 
cent endowment  bj'  the  results  of  the  war. 

The  Doctor  furnished  the  means  for  starting 
the  Alabama  Baptixt  in  Marion,  and,  a'S  business 
manager,  in  connection  witli  Rev.  E.  T.  Winkler, 
D.I).,  as  editor-in-chief,  carried  the  paper  on  for 
five  or  six  years,  during  which  time  it  made  a 
Xational  reputation.  After  the  successful  estab- 
lishment of  tiie  i>aper,  they  turned  it  over  to  the 
Alabama  Baptist  State  Convention. 

He  was  married  in  Perry  County,  in  1857,  to 
.Miss  Moore,  a  sister  of  Judge  John  Moore,  of  this 
city,  and  they  have  had  born  to  them  four  sons, 
the  eldest  of  whom.  Dr.  Wooten  M.  'Wilkerson, 
is  practicing  medicine  in  Montgomery.     William 


is  an  attorney  in  Birmingham.  Another  son  is  in 
the  drug  business  at  Marion,  and  Chas.  W.,  the 
youngest,  is  in  business  in  Marion. 

WILLIAM  F.  HOGUE,  son  of  the  late  John 
Hogiie,  and  lircither  of  the  Hon.  Cyrus  D.  Ilogue, 
of  JIarion,  was  born  in  Perry  County  in  1853,  He 
was  graduated  from  AVashiugton  and  Lee  Univer- 
sity in  1873;  subsequently  read  law  at  Marion,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  187'j.  For  a  short 
time  after  coming  to  the  bar  he  gave  his  time  to 
the  practice,  but  his  planting  interests  were  of 
such  character  as  to  require  his  personal  atten- 
tion. He  therefore  withdrew  from  the  law,  and 
is,  at  this  writing  (1888)  devoting  his  time  to  the 
growing  of  cotton.  He  lives  upon  his  plantation, 
near  Scott's  Station,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  successful  farmers  in  the  county. 

He  represented  Perry  County  in  the  Legislature, 
sessions  of  1880-81,  in  which  he  proved  himself  an 
energetic  and  useful  member,  and  he  is  the  present 
nominee  of  the  Democratic  party  for  that  position. 
Having  no  opposition,  he  will  of  course  be  the  next 
representative  from  this  county. 

Mr.  Iloguc's  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  in 
Hale  County,  this  State,  in  1880,  is  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  William  II.  Lavender,  Esq. 

JOHN  BINION  COCKE,  Postmaster,  Marion, 
was  born  at  this  jilace  May  4,  1845. 

His  father  was  a  planter  by  occupation,  and 
died  at  Marion  in  18G7,  at  the  age  of  fifty-three 
years.  His  brother,  the  Hon.  J.  F.  Cocke,  was 
sixteen  years  a  State  Senator  from  his  district. 
The  family  to  which  John  B.  Cocke  belongs  con- 
sists of  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  The  old- 
est son  was  a  member  of  the  Fourth  Alabama 
Regiment,  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Gettys- 
burg. One  of  the  daughters.  Mis.  Zitila,  was 
graduated  with  honors  from  the  Judson  Female 
Institute,  JIarion,  and,  after  traveling  extensively, 
located  at  Baltimore,  ^Id.,  where  she  is  engaged 
in  literary  work  and  in  teaching  German  and 
music.  She  is  a  well-known  contributor  of  recog- 
nized merit  to  various  literary  publications. 

John  Binion  Cocke  was  educated  at  Marion  and 
at  the  L'niversity  of  Alabama.  In  18G3  he  en- 
listed in  the  Twentieth  Alabama  Regiment,  then 


716 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


located  at  Vicksburg,  aud  was  made  first  lieuten-   | 
ant  of  Company  G.   With  this  command  he  served 
to  the  close  of  the  war,  and  participated  in  the   I 
battles  of  Jackson,   Lookout  Mountain,  i[ission-   i 
ary  Ridge  and  Nashville,  and  left  the  service  as  a   i 
member  of  Gen.  E.  AV.  Pettus'  staff.     For  some 
years  after  the  war  he  gave  his  attention  to  farm- 
ing,   and    in    1879   was   elected  sheriff   of  Perry   ' 
County.     He  was  appointed  postmaster  by  Presi-   ! 
dent  Cleveland  in  1885  in  response  to  the  wishes 
of  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  best  people  of 
Marion,     lie  is  an  active,  simon-pure  Democratic 
worker,  in  whom  there  is  no  guile,  and,  at  this 
writing,  he  is  a  member  of  the  State  Executive 
Committee. 

Mr.  Cocke  was  married  in  1870  to  Miss  Moda- 
well,  daughter  of  W.  B.  Modawell,  Esq.,  and  has 
had  born  to  him  six  children. 

CARLOS  REESE,  probably  the  best  representa- 
tive of  j)ioncer  life  now  living  in  Perry  County, 
was  born  in  Pendleton  District,  S.  C.,  in  1815. 
II is  father,  Henry  Dobson  Reese,  was  a  planter, 
but  Carlos  Reese, it  seems,  began  life  as  a  mechanic. 
He  learned  the  carriage-maker's  trade,  and 
followed  it  about  fourteen  years.  He  came  to 
Alabama  in  the  fall  of  1832,  aud  carried  on  a  little 
carriage  manufactory  at  Marion  for  six  or  seven 
years.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  he  removed  to 
the  plantation,  about  three  miles  south  of  the  town 
of  Marion,  upon  which  he  has  since  resided.  As 
before  stated,  he  came  to  Alabama  in  1832.  At 
the  end  of  a  couple  of  j'ears,  he  returned  to 
Charleston,  where,  in  1836,  we  find  that  he  was  a 
member  of  Captain  Henry's  Company  of  Irish 
Volunteers,  and  with  this  command  fought  the 
Indians  in  the  Florida  War  about  three  months. 
Before  returning  to  Alabama,  he  spent  some  time 
in  Augusta,  Ga.,  where  as  a  mechanic,  he  assisted 
in  the  construction  of  the  first  passenger  coach 
that  ever  ran  into  the  city  of  Atlanta. 

January  5,  1841,  he  married  Mary  Catharine 
Crenshaw,  by  whom  he  had  born  to  him  eight 
children;  now  living,  three  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. Two  of  his  sons,  Joseph  R.,  and  Carlos  R., 
Jr.,  were  soldiers  in  the  late  war  from  the  first  to 
the  last,  and  participated  in  all  the  battles  of  the 
Eastern  Army  from  Manassas  to  Appomattox. 

Away    back    in  its  early  history,  the   town   of 


Marion  probably  had  the  reputation  of  being  one 
of  the  toughest  places  in  the  State,  and  we  have 
an  idea  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch  knows  more 
of  its  history,  during  those  times,  than  any  other 
man  now  living.  Xone  but  the  oldest  inhabitants 
can  remember  one  of  the  most  ridiculous  incidents 
that  ever  occurred  in  this  vicinity.  A  circus 
company,  after  their  performance,  had  occasion 
to  put  up  at  Marion  for  a  night.  Jess  Price,  a 
painter,  was  one  of  the  characters  of  that  time, 
and,  at  the  head  of  a  party  composed  of  Round- 
tree,  Gilmer,  Pennell,  Cocke,  Comer,  Scuddy, 
Dozier,  Lee  and  others,  took  charge  of  the  menag- 
erie accompanying  the  circus,  and  turned  many 
of  the  animals  loose  in  the  village.  It  is  said  that 
there  were  stray  monkeys,  babboonsand  other  wild 
animals  circulating  in  the  woods  of  Perry  County 
for  months  afterward.  If  Carlos  Reese  was  a 
member  of  that  party,  it  does  not  appear  from  the 
data  at  hand. 

Nevertheless,  a  jollier,  better-hearted,  more 
whole-souled  set  of  men  probably  never  congre- 
gated together  than  were  those  who  formed  the 
pioneers  of  the  town  of  Marion,  and  the  descend- 
ants of  many  of  them  are  to-day  among  the  most 
respected  citizens  of  Perry  County. 

Sam  Houston  married  here  to  Margaret  Lee, 
sister  of  the  Lees  who  participated  in  the  sports 
hinted  at.  ^Ir.  Reese  was  present  at  that 
wedding,  and  remembers  many  interesting  inci- 
dents connected  therewith.  Gen.  John  F.  Thomp- 
son waited  on  Houston  as  his  ''  best  man,"  and  a 
week  later  Thompson  married  Dr.  Benson's  daugh- 
ter, four  or  five  miles  west  of  Marion,  and  Hous- 
ton waited  on  Thompson.  As  the  hour  of  the 
ceremony  approached  at  the  latter  wedding,  Hous- 
ton concluded  that  Thompson  was  too  drunk  to 
go  through  with  it,  and,  in  order  to  sober  him  up, 
he  procured  a  bottle  of  cologne  and  saturated  the 
General's  head.  It  ran  down  into  his  eyes,  and 
caused  Thompson  to  think  that  Houston  was  try- 
ing to  kill  him.  The  misapprehension  came  very 
near  leading  to  bloodshed.  One  of  the  Misses  Lee 
suggested  to  Houston  that  they  "  trot  the  General 
around  the  square  a  few  times  to  sober  him  up." 

These  and  hundreds  of  other  interesting  remi- 
niscences are  vividly  remembered  and  dwelt  upon 
by  Captain  Reese,  and  an  hour  or  two  may  be 
spent  more  pleasantly  in  his  company  than  most 
any  other  place  the  writer  knows  of. 

He  has  for  some  years  past  been  experimenting 
with  Texas  blue  grass,  and  has  fully  demonstrated 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ri7 


that  it  fiiii  he  grown  with  tlie  most  jjerfeet  success 
in  Perry  County,  iiiul  consequently  auywliere  in 
Central  Alabunui. 


JOHN  E.  FRAZIER,  D.D.S.,  Marion,  was  born 

at  Trussville,  this  Stale,  and  is  a  son  of  Colonel 
J.  11.  Frazier,  a  j)!anter,  of  Jefferson  County. 

The  senior  Frazier  came  with  his  parents  to 
Jefferson  County  when  he  was  but  tliree  years  of 
age,  and  when  tiiere  were  but  few  others  living  in 
that  part  of  the  State. 

Or.  Frazier  was  educated  at  tlie  Trus.^ville 
Academy:  began  tlie  study  of  dentistryat  Oxford, 
Ala.,  and  in  the  spring  of  1884  was  graduated 
from  Vanderbilt  University,  Xashville,  Tenn.  He 
began  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Springville, 
and  in  April,  1885,  came  to  Marion.  At  this 
place  he  has  since  made  his  home,  and  is,  at  this 
writing,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  well-deserved, 
aristocratic  and  lucrative  patronage.  He  is  a 
young  man  of  highly  moral  character,  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  belongs  to  the  orders  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias  and  of  the  Iron  Hall,  and  is 
altogether  a  popular  and  much-esteemed  citizen. 


-•»- 


^^^ 


E.  P.  THOMPSON.  M.  D.,  was  born  in  this 
county,  March  11,  18-11,  and  is  a  son  of  the  late 
John  F.  Thompson,  well  remembered  as  a  civil 
engineer.  He  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina, 
and  a  member  of  the  celebrateil  Thompson  family 
of  that  State.  He  spent  many  j'ears  in  Perry 
County,  and  here  died,  in  1852,  at  the  age  of 
fifty-two  years. 

Dr.  Thompson  was  educated  at  ilarion  and  at 
the  State  University.  He  left  the  latter  institu- 
tion to  join  the  army,  and  he  served  gallantly  for 
three  years  as  a  member  of  the  Eleventh  Alabama 
Infantry. 

At  the  close  of   the  war,  he  returned  to  Marion 


and  began  the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  R. 
Foster  as  his  preceptor.  He  was  graduated  from 
tlicMedical  Department  of  theUniversityof  Louisi- 
ana in  187'.t,  and  at  once  thereafter  began  the  prac- 
tice in  Perry  County.  He  moved  into  Marion  in 
1872,  and  has  liere  since  been  actively  engaged  in 
his  profession.  He  is  chairman  of  the  Hoard  of 
Censors  of  the  Perry  County  Medical  Society,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  State  Medical  Association. 
He  is  devoted  to  the  profession,  and  contributes 
much  to  the  literature  thereof. 

The  Doctor's  wife,  nh  Miss  Rosa  Townes,  to 
whom  he  was  married  in  1882,  died  in  1885. 

— —■ ^— ?^*^-  <•  ■    • 

J.  ANDREW  FRAZIER,  D.D.S.,  Marion,  Ala., 

brother  of  Dr.  .Idhn  l).  Frazier,  is  a  native  of 
Trussville,  this  State,  and  a  graduate  of  ^'ander- 
bilt  University.  He  began  the  practice  of  his 
jirofession  at  Marion  in  1885,  where  he  is  at  this 
writing,  associated  with  his  brother,  with  whom 
he  eciually  ranks  as  a  skillful  and  reliable  dentist. 
They  are  both  members  of  the  Alabama  State 
Dental  Association. 

WILLIAM  G.  BROWN,  author  of  the  histories 
of  .Marion  and  ShefKeld,  as  found  in  this  volume, 
and  Professor  of  Ancient  and  Modern  Languages 
at  the  Marion  Military  Institute,  was  born  in  this 
city  April  10,  1808.  He  was  graduated  with  first 
honors  from  Howard  College  in  188G,  and  bears 
the  distinction  of  having  the  best  scholarship  re- 
cord in  the  history  of  that  educational  institution. 
Since  his  graduation,  and  prior  to  his  coming  to  his 
present  position  with  the  Marion  Military  Institute, 
he  has  devoted  his  time  to  literary  work,  and  has 
contributed  much  valuable  and  highly  appreciated 
matter  to  the  Montgomery  Advertiser.  His  chap- 
ters on  JIarion  and  Shetheld  in  this  volume,  will 
be  found  among  the  most  valuable  in  the  work. 


XVIII. 
TROY. 

Bv  Joel  D.  Murphree,  Sr. 


Pike  is  one  of  the  oldest  counties  in  the  State, 
liaving  been  organized  in  the  year  1822. 

Louisville  was  her  first  seat  of  justice,  Monti- 
cello  next,  and  then  Troy. 

The  first  court  in  Pike  was  held  in  1823.  In 
1836,  General  Welborn  drove  the  last  red  men  of 
the  forest,  tlie  Creek  Indians,  out  of  the  county; 
the  last  battle  being  fought  in  the  swamps  of  Pea 
River,  near  Ilobdy's  Bridge,  on  the  road  now 
leading  from  Troy  to  Louisville,  in  Barbour 
County. 

Two  years  from  that  time  the  first  house  was 
built  in  Troy,  by  Peter  J.  Coleman,  for  Mrs.  Ann 
Love,  familiarly  known  as  "  Granny  ''  Love. 

October  0,  1838,  John  Coskrey  donated  to  Pike 
County  fifteen  acres  of  land,  and  on  the  8th  of 
tiie  same  month,  John  llanchey  donated  fifteen 
acres,  Coskrey  on  the  north  and  Hanchey  on  the 
south  of  the  section  line  running  east  and  west 
tlirough  the  court-house,  afterward  built  about 
the  center  of  said  thirty  acres. 

Troy  was  then  laid  off  by  Robert  Smiley,  County 
Surveyor,  the  first  lot  being  the  Court-House 
Square,  the  remainder  of  the  thirty  acres  being 
divided  into  business  and  dwelling  lots. 

In  the  year  1839,  the  first  court-house,  a  wood- 
en structure,  was  built  by  Nubel  A.  Moore,  who, 
I  am  informed,  is  now  living. 

Pike  was,  at  that  time,  a  wilderness,  abounding 
in  game  and  fish,  furnishing  sport  for  the  early 
settlers,  most  of  whom  had  moved  into  this  county 
from  Xorth  Carolina,  and  settled  in  neighbor- 
hoods coniposed  principally  of  those  who  had  been 
neighbors  in  the  old  State.  Of  the  first  inhabi- 
tants of  Pike,  we  find  the  Fitzpatricks,  Baldwins, 
Evanses,  Townsends,  Talbots,  Youngbloods,  Den-" 
nises.  Mays,  Stinsons,  Loves,  Griffins,  Keeners, 
Reeves,  Simmonses,  Dixons,  McLeods,  Stringers, 
llobdys,  Flowerses,  Grimses,  Sharplesses,  Crowd- 


ers,  Walterses,  Catretts,  Whites,  Harrises,  Faulks, 
Powels,  Burgesses,  Wingards,  Jeffcoats,  Flomars, 
Hodges,  Grangers,  Davises,  Coskreys,  Hancheys, 
AVilliamses,  Spiveys,  Rodgers,  Darbys,  Pughs, 
Carters,  Soleses,  Joneses,  Wilsons,^[ancflls,Oatses, 
Sellerses,  Gainers,  Hendersons,  Silers,  Gibsons, 
Kellys,  Wm.  M.  Hill,  Enzors,  Madisons,  Fryers, 
Stanalands,  Brookses,  Wileys,  Worth  ys,  Segars,  Lees, 
Bryans,  Laws,  Redmons,  ilillses,  Mullinses,  Kirk- 
seys.  Hurleys,  Herndons,  Stanleys,  McLures,  Bur- 
neys,  Hilliards  and  Howards. 

The  first  hotel,  or  inn,  was  erected  in  1839,  for 
"Granny"  Love,  it  being  the  old  court-house 
building  removed  from  Monticello  to  Troy. 
Shortly  afterward  another  hotel  was  built  by 
Nathaniel  Soles. 

The  first  mercantile  enterj)rise  wasby  James  M. 
Thompson  and  Stephen  I).  Smiley,  who  did  a  gen- 
eral merchandise  business.  The  next,  and  at 
about  the  same  time,  was,  what  was  then  known 
as  a  grocery  (now  called  a  whisky  saloon),  kept 
by  John  Hanchey  and  'Zach.  Collinsworth.  And 
we  find  the  grand  jury,  in  its  general  present- 
ment, mentioning  the  evils  res\ilting  from  the 
excessive  use  of  intoxicants,  as  the  juries  have, 
from  time  to  time  since,  and  will  continue  to  do, 
as  long  <as  time  lasts  and  liquors  are  drunk  as  a 
beverage.  Two  hotels,  one  store,  one  grocery  (or 
saloon),  one  blacksmith  shop,  two  lawyers' oflSces, 
one  doctor's  shop  and  a  postofiice,  was  all  of  Troy 
from  1839  to  1844. 

James  R.  Granger,  who  now  lives  in  Florida, 
was  the  blacksmith;  Richard  T.  Johnson  and  John 
F.  Beecher,  a  cousin  of  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
were  the  lawyers,  and  one  Harris  the  physician. 
Daniel  Mclnnis  was  postmaster,  at  which  time 
postage  was  d^  to  25  cents,  according  to  distance. 
Mclnnis  kept  the  office  in  his  hat. 

The  jail  was  built  of  pine  logs  hewn  twelve 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


719 


inches  square,  the  walls,  floor  and  ceiling  being  a 
thickness  of  two  layers  of  these  logs.  The  two 
windows,  ten  inches  sqnare,  with  inch  square  iron 
bars,  securely  fastened  therein,  two  inches  apart. 
Andrew  P.  Love  was  the  first  jailor,  and  one  Lin- 
ton the  first  prisoner. 

About  the  year  1845,  one  Stokes  committed  sui- 
cide in  this  prison  by  cutting  his  throat  with  a 
razor. 

Mrs.  Ann  Love,  '•  Oranny,"  and  her  family  are 
entitled  to  special  notice,  being  the  first  family 
that  settled  in  Troy,  and  because  of  her  extensive 
acquaintance,  having  been  in  the  hotel  business 
from  1S39  until  her  death,  October  4,  18.")8,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-seven. 

At  her  hotel  the  wayworn  traveler,  liowever 
humble,  was  bountifully  and  tenderly  cared  for. 
The  pride  of  her  life,  as  a  liostess,  was  to  make 
her  guests  feel  that  in  her  they  had  a  friend  that 
would  look  after  their  wants.  Iler  family  con- 
sisted of  herself  and  two  sons  and  four  daughters. 

Her  daughters  married,  respectively,  Peter  J. 
Coleman  (father  of  Walter  S.  Coleman,  who  is  at 
this  time,  and  lias  been  from  his  birth,  a  citizen 
of  Troy,  and  for  several  years  one  of  lier  foremost 
business  men),  Ira  Hobdy  (a  brother  of  Hon. 
Harrel  Hobdy,  who  figured  in  politics,  and  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature,  as  Representative,  in 
1844  and  1845,  and  to  the  Senate  in  1853  and 
1855)   David  Hudson  and  James  Key. 

After  Key's  death  his  widow  married  James  ]\I. 
Tliompson,  who  has  heretofore  been  mentioned, 
and  who  served  the  people  of  his  county  as  Circuit 
Clerk,  from  1843  until  the  fall  term  of  1853.  All 
Mrs.  Love's  daughters  and  their  husbands  are  now 
deceased. 

Her  two  sons,  Andrew  P.  and  William  M.,  are 
living  in  this  Qounty,  the  former  at  China  Grove, 
and  the  latter  at  Troy.  They  conducted  a  mer- 
cantile business  in  Troy,  as  partners,  from  1843  to 
1840,  at  which  time  their  nephew,  John  Key,  was 
associated  with  them,  and  they  were  in  business 
till  1801. 

Andrew  Love  was  Sheriff  during  1848,  1840  and 
and  1850,  and  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  18G0 
that  passed  the  ordinance  of  secession.  Wm.  M. 
Love  is  at  present  a  citizen  of  Troy,  and  is  the 
only  one  residing  here  now  who  was  present  at 
the  founding  of  our  little  city  \\\  1838. 

Andrew  P.  and  Wm.  M.  Love  have  always  been 
peaceable,  law-abiding  citizens.  John  Key,  their 
nephew,  was  a  noble  man,  loved  and  respected  by 


all  who  knew  him.  He  was  elected  Sheriff  in  1859, 
and  served  out  his  term.  He  died  in  18'J4.  He 
was  a  bright  Mason,  and  served  Troy  Lodge  as  W. 
JL  for  several  years. 

SCHOOLS  IN  TIFE  EARLY  DAYS. 

Troy's  first  school  was  taught  by  one  John 
Carr,  the  next  by  Duncan  JIaloy,  and  the  third 
by  James  Key. 

Then  followed  Alfred  Boyd  (father  of  our 
townsman.  Dr.  H.  DeWitt  Boyd),  H.  A.  Gaston 
and  John  Iv.  Goldthwaite,  who  taught  through 
the  '40s  and  into  the  '50s. 

About  1845,  business  increased  somewhat.  Mr. 
James  S.  Murphree,  having  arrived  from  Tennes- 
see, opened  a  store  of  general  merchandise.  Being 
a  fine  business  man,  full  of  energy  and  enterprise, 
he  stimulated  others,  and,  in  a  few  years,  Troy 
could  boast  of  several  new  business  houses. 

"Dexter  Straight"  was  the  favorite  drink.  Sat- 
urdays were  the  principal  business  days  with  the 
grogshopmen,  and  whisky  then,  as  now,  aroused 
men's  passions,  giving  them  an  inclination  to  an- 
tagonize their  neighbors  and  friends  in  fisticuff 
fights,  which  were  regarded  by  some  as  innocent 
amusement,  especially  for  the  bystanders,  who  saw 
that  no  foul  play  was  indulged  in.  To  be  regarded 
as  the  best  man  and  the  best  fighter  in  a  neigh- 
borhood, was  an  honor  that  was  sought  after; 
hence  a  test  of  manhood  was  the  order  of  the  day, 
and  Saturday  was  the  time  set  apart  to  settle  the 
question  as  to  who  should  wear  tlie  belt. 

Troy  made  no  material  progress  until  after  tiie 
completion  of  tlie  Mobile  &  Girard  Railroad  from 
Columbus,  Ga.,  to  Troy,  in  1870. 

The  population  which  did  not  exceed  500  in 
1870,  increased  until  it  reached  3,000  in  ten  or 
twelve  years,  and  the  business  houses  from  five  or 
six  stores  in  1870  to  fifty  in  1878,  several  of  them 
doing  a  business  of  from  one  to  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  annually. 

Troy  is  located  fifty  miles  southeast  of  Mont- 
gomery, sixty  miles  west  of  Eufaula,  and  fifty 
miles  east  of  (ireenville,  there  being  no  trading 
point  of  importance  southward  to  the(iulf,  hence 
there  is  no  place  in  Alabama  where  there  is  as 
much  business  done,  according  to  the  population, 
as  is  done  in  Troy. 

There  is  no  city  or  town  in  the  State  that  excels 
Troy  in  the  amount  of  commercial  fertilizers  sold 
to  farmers,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  a 


720 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


city  or  town  in  the  State  that  sells  more  mules 
and  wagons  to  farmers  tlian  are  sold  in  Troy. 

All  sales  by  business  men  of  Troy,  of  fertil- 
izers, mules,  wagons,  buggies,  and  goods  of  every 
character,  are  made  directly  to  the  consumers. 
Troy  is  strictly  a  city  of  retail  dealers. 

Of  the  ;50,000  bales  of  cotton  marketed  annually 
at  Troy,  2'J,5(I0  are  brought  to  market  on  wagons 
by  the  producers,  and  sold  to  her  merchants. 

Xearly  every  dollar  for  which  this  cotton  is  sold 
finds  a  lodgment  in  the  vaults  of  lier  banks  or  in 
the  iron  safes  of  her  mercliants,  in  payment  of 
debts  contracted  for  monej',  merchandise,  etc. 

Troy  has  but  recently  awakened  to  the  imj)ort- 
ance  of  industries,  in  the  way  of  manufactories. 

She  now  has  in  successful  operation  two  facto- 
ries for  the  manufacture  of  commercial  fertilizers 
and  one  cotton-seed  oil  mill. 

The  Troy  Iron  Works,  under  tjie  able  manage- 
ment of  llev.  B.  II.  Rider,  is  doing  well,  but 
would  do  much  better  if  a  few  thousand  dollars 
were  added  to  the  capital  stock. 

Mearly  all  tlie  cotton  produced  in  this  part  of 
the  State  is  ginned  by  steam  power.  There  are 
also  many  steam  saw  and  grist  mills  in  Pike  and 
adjoining  counties. 

The  Conecuh  steam  works  do  a  general  planing 
and  wood-working  business,  including  sash,  doors, 
blinds  and  scroll  work,  (ieorge  X.  liuchanan, 
also,  has  a  steam  planing-mill  and  gin,  in  connec- 
tion with  Ills  wagon  and  buggy  manufactory. 

Troy  can  boast  of  as  good  business  men  as  can 
be  found  in  any  town  or  city  in  the  State.  It  is 
to  be  regretted,  however,  that  her  fair  record  in 
financial  circles  should  have  been  subjected  to  the 
withering  touch  of  unprincipled  men  in  her 
midst.  Hut  there  is  a  consolation  in  knowing 
that  the  men  who  did  the  crooked  work  were  not 
of  her  citizenship  proper.  They  came  to  Troy 
because  of  her  good  name,  wliereby  they  could 
the  more  successfully  accomj)lish  their  diabolical 
designs.  Some  of  them  succeeded  admirably  in 
securing  to  themselves  a  luxurious  living,  but  at 
the  same  time  they  secured  to  themselves  a  name 
that  is  a  reproach  and  by-word  wherever  they  show 
their  faces,  or  tlieir  names  are  mentioned.  Some 
unavoidable  failures,  leaving  no  stain  or  reproach 
upon  the  good  name  and  character  of  the  unfor- 
tunate, have  occurred. 

Troy  is  much  relieved  by  having  gotten  rid  of 
this  fungus  growth,  and  she  is  now  in  a  healthy 
financial  condition. 


BANKS  AND  BANKERS. 

Troy's  first  and  only  bank,  the  Pike  County 
Bank,  was  organized  in  1879,  with  John  Butter- 
field  as  president.  In  1880  it  changed  hands  and 
became  the  jjroperty  of  Col.  E.  B.  Wilkerson  and 
Captain  Henry  \).  Green,  the  former  being  presi- 
dent and  the  latter  cashier.  In  the  summer  of 
1881,  it  again  changed  hands,  Messrs.  Fox  and 
Clem  Hender.son  becoming  the  owners  and  the 
name  being  changed  to  the  Farmers'  and  5Ier- 
chants'  Bank,  Fox  Henderson  president,  Clem 
Henderson  vice-president,  and  L.  M.  Bashinsky 
cashier,  all  thorough  business  men. 

Troy's  merchants,  capitalists  and  bankers,  fur- 
nish all  the  money  to  the  farmers  of  the  surround- 
ing country  that  their  necessities  demand,  and 
cheerfully  extends  to  her  patrons  every  possible 
aid. 

Tlie  city  lias  seven  cotton  warehouses,  to  all  of 
which  are  attaclied  commodious  wagon  yards,  with 
water  and  shelter  for  man  and  beast,  free  of 
charge. 

Her  hotels  are  erpial  to  the  best  in  the  State. 
The  City  Hotel,  built  in  1800,  and  the  Parker, 
built  in  1878,  are  the  leading  hostelries. 

Nearly  every  branch  of  mercantile  traffic  is  re- 
presented in  Troy,  and  prosperity  appears  to  be 
the  rule. 

Of  lawyers,  we  have  a  full  dozen,  embracing 
some  of  the  best  talent  in  the  State;  of  doctors 
we  have  only  six,  but  they  must  be  mighty  good 
ones,  for  our  death  rate  is  only  seven  to  the  thou- 
sand. 

Troy's  Military  Company  was  organized  in 
1885,  with  0.  C.  Wiley,  captain:  J.  T.  David- 
son, first  lieutenant;  and  T.  \\.  Hill,  second 
lieutenant. 

In  July,  1880,  the  roster  was  changed  by  elect- 
ing L.  E.  Gellerstedt,  captain;  J.  T.  Davidson, 
first  lieutenant;  and  E.  il.  Shackleford,  second 
lieutenant. 

In  May,  1887,  Shackleford  was  elected  captain, 
Davidson  first  lieutenant,  and  Ti|i.  Griffin,  sec- 
ond lieutenant. 

In  January,  IS88,  Davidson  resigned,  and  Grif- 
fin was  elected  first  lieutenant,  and  J.^\'.  .Morgan, 
second  lieutenant. 

The  company  was  named  in  honor  of  William 
C.  Gates,  Representative  in  Congress,  I'ike  being 
the  county  of  his  nativity. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


721 


THE  CITY   GOVERNMENT. 

Troy  was  iiicorporutinl  Fchniarv  4,  ls43,  but 
has  no  record  of  city  olticials  until  1S(J8,  at  wiiich 
time  Mr.  U.  L.  Jones  was  elected  Intcndant.  and 
serveii  as  sudi  dining  ISfiS  and  IS'i'.i,  witli  H.  S. 
Urfjiihart,  .lolin  1{.  (Joidtliwaite  and  Joel  H.  .Mur- 
lihree,  ( 'oiincilnien. 

In  18'0,  Mr.  Jones  was  elecle<l  Mayor,  with 
William  H.  Parks,  W.  H.  Lane  and  II.  S.  l'rf|u. 
hart,  CouiK'ihnen,  and    Joel  I).  Jlurphree,  Clerk. 

After  this  the  following  named  persons  were 
elected  to  the  Mayoralty  of  the  city:  1S71,  E.  B. 
Wilkerson;  IS?".'  to  ISrtl.  N.  W.  (iriffin;  ISTT,  T. 
]{.  Hrantley:  1878,  DeKalb  Williams:  1870  to 
1881,  E.  B.  Wilkerson;  188-^-83,  James  Folmar; 
1884,  A.  St.  C.  Tennille:  188.V8(;,  E.  B.Wilk- 
erson;  1887-8S,  Charles  Henderson.  With  the 
following  Clerks:  1871  and  1880,  Henry  C.Wiley; 
187v'  to  1878,  L.  H.  Bowles;  18711,  G.  F.  Halloway; 
1881-82,  Moses  N.  Carlisle;  1883  to  1888,  A.  C. 
Worthy. 

Too  much  can  not  be  said  in  praise  of  our  first 
Mayor,  Mr.  I'rban  L.  Jones,  for  his  untiring  and 
l)ersisteiit  work  in  securing  the  extension  of  the 
.Mobile  &  (iirard  Kailroad  to  Troy.  Not  only  for 
weeks  and  months,  but  for  years,  single  handed, 
and  with  very  little  encouragement,  he  continued 
to  labor  for  his  town.  He  manifested  a  determin- 
ation to  succeed,  not  only  witli  the  work  of  his 
head  and  his  hands,  but  his  money  and  his  credit 
also. 

After  overcoming  many  ditliculties  in  getting  the 
consentof  theMeniphisA  (iirard  Iv.  K.  authorities 
to  bring  their  road  to  Troy,  the  conditions  were  such 
that  it  became  necessary  for  Tj-oy  to  take  the  re- 
sponsibility of  having  the  grading  done  at  her  own 
expense.  She  did  not  have  the  means,  and  the 
road  would  have  been  lost  to  Troy,  had  it  not  been 
that  Mr.  Jones  staked  his  all  to  save  the  town, 
and  took  the  contract  to  do  the  grading,  together 
with  one  Homer  Blackman,  and  trusted  the  good 
faith  of  the  town  for  reimbursement  by  the  issue 
and  sale  of  her  bonds. 

How  well  she  kept  faith  with  her  promise,  the 
records  of  the  courts  disclose. 

Mr.  Jones  devoted  several  years  of  his  life  and 
all  his  property  to  secure  the  road.  He  succeeded 
in  giving  Troy  a  railroad,  but  at  the  sacrifice  of 
his  entire  estate.  He  secured  the  prize  for  which  ho 
had  80  long  and  so  diligently  labored,  saved  Troy 
and  her  real  estate  owners,  many  of  whom  nuule 


big  money  by  the  enhancement  of  values,  while  he 
lost  all  his  worldly  possessions,  and  after  some 
years  died  insolvent,  leaving  a  wife  and  several 
children  dependent  upon  their  own  exertions  for 
a  living.  The  ingratitude  of  the  then  citizens  of 
Troy  should  cause  them  to  hang  their  heads  for 
shame,  at  the  manner  in  which  they  treate<l  their 
best  and  truest  friend. 

Our  present  Mayor,  Mr.  Charles  Henderson,  is 
a  young  man  full  of  pluck  and  energy,  and  is 
giving  Troy  the  benefit  of  both.  He  has  done  a 
great  deal  in  advancing  the  interests  of  her  citi- 
zens in  the  improvement  of  her  streets,  in  which 
he  has  displayed  superior  judgment,  overcoming 
dirticulties  that  bafHed  his  preilecessors. 

But  the  greatest  work  of  his  administration  is 
the  securing  for  Troy  her  i)resent  excellent  school 
advantages. 

STATE  NOHMAL  SCHOOL. 

The  year  1887  marked  an  era  in  the  educational 
history  of  Troy. 

The  last  Legislature  appropriated  ^3,0(10  a  year 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  Normal  School  here  on 
the  condition  that  the  city  would  furnish  and  equip 
a  suitable  building.  A  large  and  handsome  brick 
building  was  immediately  erected,  at  a  cost  of 
*r^,000,  and  furnisiied  throughout  in  tiie  most 
approved  style,  including  chemical  and  philo- 
sophical apparatus  necessary  for  such  an  institu- 
tion. The  school  was  organized  in  September, 
1887,  with  the  following  faculty:  Jos.  M.  Dill, 
President;  E.  M.  Shackleford,  Professor  of  Science 
and  Fnglish  Literature:  J.  W.  Morgan,  Professor 
of  Mathematics  and  Latin;  iliss  Nettie  Uousseau, 
Teacher  of  Methods;  Edward  II.  Kruger,  Director 
of  Music;  Miss  Laura  Jenkins,  Art  Teacher. 

THE  COUHSE  OF  STUDY. 

I.  The  Professional  Studies,  consisting  of  P.sy- 
cliology.  School  Management,  History  of  Systems 
of  Education,  Methods  and  Practice  in  Teaching. 

II.  The  Sciences,  Physiology,  Physics,  Chem- 
istry, etc. 

III.  The  English  Language,  (iranimur.  Hhet- 
oric  and  Literature. 

IV.  Mathematics,  Algebra,  Arithmetic.  Ge- 
ometry, Trigonometry,  and  Surveying. 

V.  Foreign  Languages — Latin,  French  and 
(Jerman.  Besides  these,  pupils  receive  instruction 
in  Music,  Drawing.  Elocution  and  Calisthenics. 

The  instruction  in  all  departments  is  made  thor- 
ough and  practical,  the  teachers  using  the  natural 


723 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


methods  of  teaching,  by  which  the  mental  facul- 
ties are  systematically  developed. 

The  number  of  pupils  enrolled  this  session  has 
been  120,  of  whom  78  are  Xormal  students, 
i.  e.  those  who  receive  free  tuition  on  condition 
that  they  teach  two  years  in  the  State. 

CITY  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

In  connection  with  the  Normal  School,  and 
under  the  same  management,  the  city  of  Troy  has 
established,  and  maintains  by  local  taxation  and 
a  small  incidental  fee,  a  system  of  public  graded 
schools. 

The  following  is  the  Faculty:  Prof.  W.  E. 
Griffin,  seventh  and  eighth  grades;  ]\[iss  Mary  J. 
Moore,  fifth  and  sixth  grades;  Mrs.  L.  H.  Bowles, 
fourth  grade;  Miss  Catherine  (Jardner,  third  grade; 
Miss  Abbotte  Spratlen,  second  grade;  Miss  Laura 
Montgomery,  first  grade  and  lowest  primary. 

The  number  of  pupils  enrolled  in  this  school, 
during  the  present  session,  is  'Mi. 

The  total  enrollment  in  normal  and  graded 
schools  is  4:34,  of  whom  60  are  now  residents. 

Normal  students  not  only  have  the  advan- 
tage of  observing  the  work  of  skilled  teachers 
in  the  graded  school,  but  it  is  so  arranged  that 
they  may  work  in  these  schools  under  the  eye  of 
the  normal  teachers. 


Troy  Lodge,  No.  50,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, 
was  organized  on  Tuesday,  March  30,  1841,  by 
the  Right  Worshipful  John  A.  Whetstone,  Deputy 
Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Alabama, 
under  a  dispensation  from  said  Grand  Lodge. 

The  following  officers  were  elected :  Wiley  White, 
W.  M.;  John  D.  Curtis,  S.  W.;  Luke  R.  Simmons, 
J.  W.;  Kob't  Smiley,  Treas.;  John  F.  Beecher, 
Sec'y;  Wm.  B.  AUred,  S.  D.;  Hamilton  Kyle, 
J.  D.;  Jas.  Hutchison,  Tyler;  and  installed  by 
R.  W.  1).  G.  Master  Whetstone,  in  the  court- 
house, having  no  Lodge  hall  at  that  time. 

The  lot  where  the  Lodge  now  stands  was  pur- 
chased in  1841. 

Tlie  first  person  buried  with  Masonic  honors 
was  James  Hutchison,  in  January,  1842. 

TEMPERANCE. 

The  Good  Templars  have  had  an  organization  in 
Troy  for  a  great  many  years.  Their  prosperity, 
however,  has  been  spasmodic.  But  the  good  they 
have  done  is  almost  beyond  compute.     The  senti- 


ment of  the  people  of  Troy  and  surrounding 
country  has  undergone  a  wonderful  change  for 
good,  in  the  last  decade,  upon  the  subject  of  tem- 
perance, and  this  change  of  sentiment  is  the  out- 
growth of  temperance  organizations,  abetted 
always  by  the  religious  denominations.  We  have 
now  only  two  whisky  saloons  in  the  county,  with 
a  population  of  about  25,000;  ten  years  ago  we 
had  a  dozen,  with  a  population  of  much  less. 

EARLIEST  COURTS,  JLTilES,  ETC. 

At  the  first  term  of  the  Circuit  Court,  Septem- 
ber, 1823,  Hon.  R.  Saffold  was  Judge,  lienjamin 
Fitzpatrick,  Solicitor;  Obediah  Pitts,  Circuit 
Clerk,  and  James  Pugh,  Sheriff. 

The  first  case  on  the  civil  docket  was  an  action 
commenced  June  16,  1823.  Suit  on  note  of  Blake 
Jernigan,  for  *!540:  Henry  Goldthwaite,  attorney 
for  plaintiff. 

The  first  case  on  the  criminal  docket,  wa.s  The 
State  vs.  Alva  Fitzpatrick  .and  John  Falconn, 
for  selling  in  less  quantities  than  a  quart,  rum, 
brandy,  whisky  and  gin. 

Lemuel  Tranum  was  foreman  of  the  first  grand 
jury,  September  term,  1823. 

JUDGES  OF  CIRCUIT  COURT, 

1839  to  1888,  inclusively:  Abram  ilartin,  Peter 
Martin,  John  P.  Booth,  Eli  Shortridge,  Ezekiel 
Pickens, W.  R.  Baylor.George  Goldthwaite.  George 
W.  Stone,  George  I).  Shortridge,  John  D.  Plielan, 
Samuel  Chapman,  Thos.  A.  Walker,  Robert  Dough- 
erty, John  Gill  Shorter,  Nathan  Cook.E.  W.  Pettus, 
C.  W.  Rapier,  S.  D.  Hale,  John  Cochran,  J.  Mc- 
Caleb  Wilev,  H.  D.  Clayton,  J.  E.  Cobb,  John  P. 
Hubbard. 

St.\te  Solicitors,  1838  to  1888. — Tames  E. 
Belser,  Sampson  W.  Harris,  Clarion  A.  Baldwin, 
James  N.  Arringtou,  John  D.  Gardner.  James  N. 
Arrington,  Henry  C.  Wiley,  Alto  V.  Lee,  Fred 
S.  Ferguson,  J.  F.  Stallings. 

SiiEHiFFS,  1838  to  1888.— Wiley  White,  Burrell 
W.  Hodges,  AViley  White  (second  term),  Allen 
Frazier,  Andrew  P.  Love,  Wm.  C.  Brooks,  M.  M. 
Nail,  James  P.  Nail,  John  Key,  John  B.  Voung- 
blood,  AVm.  H.  Stricklan,  Hugh  R.  Segars,  Jas. 
W.  Scuirborough,  John  N.  Folmar,  John  H.  Mor- 
gan, R.  A.  Ross. 

COUXTY     COURTS. 

First  County  Court,  June  10,  1839,  Joseph  W. 
Townsend,  Judge.    Then  follow,  in  order,  Judges 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


723 


Charles  A.  Dennis,  A.  C.  Townsend  and  Wm.  H. 

MiMiniiig. 

Probate  Court  was  established  in  1850,  and  the 
Judges  thereof  have  been  as  follows:  Hird  Fitz- 
j)atrick,  fourteen  years  ;  J.  P.  Null,  one  year  :  D. 
W.  Slier,  about  three  years  ;  W.  C.  Wood,  about 
six  years;  U.  L.  Jones,  six  years  ;  \V.  J.  Ililliard, 
the  present  incumbent.  His  term  will  exjjire 
November,  189"-i. 

COUNTY     COURT    CLERKS. 

Daniel  Mclnnis  was  County  Court  Clerk  from 

1841  to  1S4I{;  then  follow   Jesse    W.  Loe,  James 

A.  DeWitt.  and  Wm.  M.  Murphreo.  Otlice  abol- 
ished. May,  1850. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

Tlie  first  newspaper  published  in  Troy  was  the 
PdUadinm,  by  James  M.  Norment,  in  April,  18.51. 
Kiciiard  F.  Cook  purchased  it  and  changed  it  to 
the  Bulletin,  December,  18.i3.  It  was  Democratic 
in  politics,  and  edited  by  A.  W.  .'^tarke  and  Kiciiard 
F.  Cook.  In  December,  1853,  a  Wliig  paper.  The 
Union  Advocate,  was  started  by  Hinds  Goode, 
Edward  L.  Mclntyre  and  Samuel  M.  Adams. 
Tiie  next  was  tlie  Independent  American  (Kiiow- 
Nothing),  June  20,  1855,  by  E.  B.  Arme s.  Edited 
by  A.  N.  Wortiiy  and  C.  J.  L.  Cunningham.  In 
1850,  Samuel  M.  Adams  became  the  proprietor, 
and  A.  N.  AVorthy,  editor.  In  18G0,  Worthy  re- 
tired from  tlie  editorship,  and  Adams  became  edi- 
tor and  ))roprietor,  until  July  10,  18(!1,  on  which 
day  the  last  number  was  issued. 

The  Southern  Advertiser  took  tlie  place  of  the 
Bulletin  (Democratic)  under  tlie  management  and 
direction  of  the  party  so  far  as  the  editorial  work 
was  concerned.  A.  W.  Starke  was  editor,  and  A. 
A.  Griffin  publisher.  It  soon  passed  into  the 
hands  of  D.  A.  Hobble,  with  the  understanding 
tiiat  the  paper  should  be  run  in  the  interest  of  the 
Democratic  jiarty. 

In  18<i(»,  Mr.  Starke  was  very  unexpectedly 
ousted  from  his  petition  by  a  sale  of  the  paper  by 
Hobbie  to  Bird  Fitzpatrick  and  Barton  II. 
'i'hresher,  who  changed  it  from  a  Breckinridge  to 
a  Douglas  jiaper. 

After  Starke's  deposition,  the  Breckinridge  party 
secured  another  press,  and,  in  two  weeks,  com- 
menced the  issue  of  the  Stale  Bights  Advocate, 
with  Joel  D.  Murpliree  as  proprietor  and  A.  W. 
Starke  aseditor.  Soon  after  the  election  the  .-Irfrc/-- 
tiser  again  changed  hands,  becoming  the  property 


of  Thomas  L.  Fielder  and  John  P.  Hubbard  as 
editors,  and  with  Hobbie  as  publisher.  Under  this 
management  it  was  run  during  the  war,  and  was 
then  discontinued. 

The  Slate  llightx  Advocate,  Democratic  and 
Secession  in  politics,  was  published  until  July 
17,  1861,  Mr.  Starke  retiring  to  accept  a  lieuten- 
antcy  in  Company  I,  Fifteentli  Alabama  Regiment. 
The  American  was  tlien  mixed  with  the  Advocate 
and  continued  under  the  name  of  the  Advocate 
and  .l«ipriVrt«,with  C.  J.  L.  Cunningham  aseditor, 
until  about  May,  1802,  when  it  passed  out.  Novem- 
ber 20,  18G(i,  the  Southern  Messenger,  Anti-Scala- 
wag, in  politics,  was  issued  by  Samuel  M.  Adams. 
Mr.  Adams  continued  the  publication  of  this  sheet 
until  June,  1808,  when  lie  sold  the  office  to  Wm. 
J.  Blan,  who  united  with  it  the  Southern  Adver- 
tiser. The  consolidated  papers  became  the  ^fes- 
senger  and  Advertiser,  Hon.  John  P.  Hubbard 
editor  and  Wm.  .1.  Blan  publisher.     In  tlie  fall  of 

1869,  Hubbard  sold  hisinterest  to  .lohn  Post,  who, 
March  24,  1870,  bought  Blan's  interest.  The 
paper  then  liecame  the  Troy  Messenger,  with  Rev. 
W.  M.  .Jones  local  editor.  On  the  13tli  day  of 
October,  1870,  Sidney  Herbert  Lancey's  name  ap- 
peared as  editor,  who  filled  the  place  until  Novem- 
ber 11,  1875,  when  Hon.  L.  H.  Bowles  became 
editor. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1875,  John  Post  sold 
the  Messenger  to  William  J.  Blan,  who  retained 
the  former  editor.  October  21,  1875,  Fletcher  P. 
Cowart  bought  a  half  interest,  and  on  the  11th 
of  November,  Bowles  and  Cowart  became  the 
editors  and  Blan  and  Cowart  publishers.  Febru- 
ary 15,  1877,  Cowart  sold  his  proprietary  interest 
to  Messrs.  Blan  and  Jeff  .1.  Darby,  and  Cowart 
and  Darby  became  the  editors.  On  the  4tli  of 
September,  Cowart  purchased  Darby's  interest. 
In  March  1880,  Mr.  A.  L.  Brooks,  of  Tuskegee, 
bought  Cowart's  interest,  and  on  the  25th  of  that 
month,  Cullen  A.  Battle  assumed  the  editorial 
chair. 

On  the  1st  day  of  November  following,  William 
J.  Blan  bought  Mr.  Brook's  interest,  and  changed 
the  form  to  an  eight-page  paper.  Mr.  Blan  has 
since  been  sole  proprietor. 

The  Troy  A'/iyi/i'/rr  (Democratic)  was  started  on 
the  sixth  day  of  February,  1H75,  by  Frank  Bait- 
yell,  editor  and  proprietor.  It  is  still  published 
under  the  same  management. 

The  Primitive  Pathivag  was  started  January  1, 

1870,  by  John  Post,  a  religious  jiaper  in  the  inter- 


724 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


est  of  the  sect  known  as  Primitive  and  Hardshell 
Baptists,  with  John  Post  publisher  and  J.  E.  AV. 
Henderson  editor.  The  last  issue  apjieared  De- 
cember 15,  1885. 

CIIIHCHES. 

There  are  seven  Cliurches  in  the  city:  Old- 
School  or  Primitive  Baptist,  First  and  Second 
Missionary  Baptist,  Metliodist,  Presbyterian.  Epis- 
copal and  Methodist  Protestant.  The  first-named 
was  constituted  in  1832.  Her  first  pastor  was 
named  Wood.  The  following  were  of  her  mem- 
bership when  organized:  John  Bryan  and  wife, 
Jesse  Pugli,  Britton  Jones  and  wife,  Peter  Law- 
rence, and  Silas  Lee  and  wife.  There  were  others 
whose  names  we  have  been  nnable  to  ascertain. 
Among  her  first  preachers  were  John  Summersett, 
Elisha  Mancell,  Matthew  Burk  and  a  Mr.  Little. 
Of  the  original  membership  only  one  is  living: 
Mrs.  John  Bryan. 

The  Methodist  C'HiRrH  was  organized  in  the 
year  1843,  in  the  first  story  of  the  Masonic  Lodge 
Building,  there  being  no  house  of  worship  in  the 
town  except  the  one  just  named.  Mrs.  Ann  Love 
was  one  of  the  first  members.  The  Church  is  at 
present  in  a  flourishing  condition,  having  over  300 
members.  The  new  church  building  is  valued  at 
$7,000,  with  parsonage.  IJev.  W.  S.  Wade  is  tlie 
present  pastor. 

The  First  Baptist  C'HURrH  (Missionary)  was 
constituted  in  April,  18.i0,  in  the  first  story  of  the 
Masonic  Lodge  Building.  A  Presbytery  was 
formed,  consisting  of  Ehlers  Zacheus  Xi.\  and 
Alfred  X.  Wort liy.  The  following  persons  were 
of  the  organization:  Elders  Zacheus  Xix  and  A. 
X.  Wortiiy,  Urban  L.  Jones  and  wife,  Elizabeth 
Jones,  Matilda  S.  Murphree,  ^lary  B.  Murphree, 
Kichard  F.  Cook  and  wife,  Jane  Cook  and  Mary 
Jane  Allen.  The  Church  held  first  Conference 
that  same  day.  Elder  A.  X'.  Worthy  presidcil 
over  its  deliberations;  Bichard  F.  Cook  was  the 
first  clerk,  and  Elder  A.  X.  Worthy  first  pastor. 
Afterward  the  following  persons  preached  for  the 
Church,  as  pastors,  in  the  order  named:  Elders 
Matthew  Bishop,  J.  T.  S.  Park.  Dabney  P.  :Mur- 
phy,  James  Harris,  Dr.  Williams,  James  P.  X'all, 
J.  S.  Yarborongh,  K.  \\.  Priest,  W.  B.  Carroll, 
E.  Y.  Van  Hoose,  Thomas  Stout.  —  Xorris,  M.  M. 
Wombolt  and  John  F.  Purser,  wlio  is  now  serving 
the  Church,  in  the  third  year  of  his  pastorate. 
The  church  building  now  in  course  of  erection 
■will   be   worth,  when    completed,   11.5,000,  and 


will  compare  favorably  with  the  finest  in  the 
State. 

The  Skcoxd  B.vptist  Chirch. — This  church 
was  organized  during  the  year  18.8,  Rev.  Wm.  A. 
Cnmbie  being  her  first  pastor.  The  following 
were  the  organizers:  W.  D.  Wood  and  wife, 
Mary  L.  Wood;  A.  Y.  Cosby  and  wife,  Jane 
Cosby;  T.  R.  Mullins  and  wife,  A.  H.  Mul- 
ins,  Josiah  Jernigan,  A.  M.  Jones,  Rev.  J.  L. 
Youngblood  and  wife,  Margaret  Youngblood  and 
Lizzie  Youngblood. 

The  Episcopal  Church. — The  first  Episcopal 
service  was  held  in  187ii,  Rev.  De  B.  Waddell, 
pastor.  The  church  was  consecrated  in  1880  by 
Bishop  Wilmer. 

Rev.  De  B.  Waddell  has  been  her  pastor  since 
the  church  was  organized  until  this  year,  having 
been  called  elsewhere. 

The  Presbyterian  Chirch  was  organized  in 
1871,  by  the  late  Rev.  G.  B.  Foster,  of  Tuskegee. 
Rev.  F.  B.  Webb,  of  Birmingham,  was  the  first 
stated  supply,  followed  by  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Sturgeon, 
Rev.  G.  R.  Foster,  Rev.  J.  G.  Duncan,  Rev.  J. 
McG.  Richardson,  and  Rev,  Wm.  II.  White,  the 
present  supply. 

The  Methodist  Protestant  ('hurch. — Al- 
though this  church  has  no  organization  at  this 
time  in  Troy,  yet  they  have  a  nice  building,  nearly 
completed. 

A  Chl'rch-goi.vg  People. — The  people  of 
Troy  are  distinctively  a  church-going  people,  and 
the  various  denominations  are  on  the  best  of  terms. 
Bickerings,  heart-burnings  and  jealousies  find  no 
place  among  ministers  or  members,  but  all  mingle 
in  various  entertainments  and  social  gatherings 
as  if  not  separated  by  denomiiuitional  lines. 


JOEL  D.  MURPHREE.  Sr.,  was  born  in  Smith 
County,  Tenn.,  on  the  .")th  of  X'ovember.  1827.  and 
his  parents  were  James  S,  and  Matilda  (Dyer)  Jlur- 
phree.  natives,  respectively,  of  Xorth  Carolina 
and  Tennessee.  They  came  into  Alabama,  located 
where  the  town  of  Ti'oy  now  stands,  in  January, 
184.").  and  there  spent  the  rest  of  their  lives.  The 
old  gentleman  was  a  merchant  many  years,  and 
succeeded  thereat  in  accumulating  a  handsome 
competency:  he  died  in  1856  at  the  age  of  sixty 
years. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  in  his  youth,  at- 
tended the  private  schools  of  his  neighborhood, 


y OR  T HERN  ALAJSAMA. 


and  acquired  tlie  rudiments  of  an  education.  At 
the  age  of  eleven  years  he  was  taken  from  school, 
and  made  salesman  in  his  father's  store,  and  from 
that  time,  it  may  be  said,  dates  his  business 
career.  What  lie  lacked  in  school-room  advan- 
tages, has  been  lar<;ely  made  up  by  the  practical, 
and  he  is  to-day  not  only  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful business  men  in  his  part  of  the  State,  but  is 
also  a  man  possessed  of  far  more  than  ordinary 
information.  He  remained  in  his  father's  store 
ten  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  engaged  in 
business  (merchandising)  for  himself,  and  con- 
tinued therein  until  the  commencement  of  the 
war  between  the  States.  He  entered  the  Confed- 
erate service  as  (juartennaster  sergeant  of  the 
Fifty-Seventh  Alabama  Infantry,  in  the  early  part 
of  18i;4.  and  remained  to  the  close  of  the  war. 
Kcturning  from  the  army  he  resumed  business  at 
Troy,  where  he  has  since  remained. 

From  a  recent  publication,  we  learn  "that  ilr. 
Murphreo  is  now  living  on  the  lot  that  he  first 
settled."  In  18.")5  (January  ISth),  he  married 
Miss  Ursula  A.  Mullins,  daughter  of  the  late 
lamented  Thomas  K.  Mullins.  All  of  his  children, 
five  in  number,  now  reside  in  Troy,  the  place  of 
their  nativity,  The  three  eldest  are  married;  Jo- 
sephine (now  Mrs.  ('.  B.  Goldthwaite),  Thomas 
E.  and  Allie  (now  ilrs.  J.  S.  Carroll),  and  are 
living  in  beautiful  homes  presented  to  them  by 
their  father  at  the  time  of  their  marriage.  The 
other  two,  Joel  D.  and  Nettie,  not  having  attained 
the  years  of  maturity,  are  living  with  their 
parents. 

Mr.  -Murpliree  is,  and  has  been  for  years,  one  of 
the  leading  spirits  of  the  city  and  county,  not 
only  in  politics,  but  in  public  matters,  and  in 
business  also.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  in  18."i7,  and  again  in  187"2,  and  was 
a  member  of  the  Convention  of  1875  that  framed 
Alabama's  present  State  Constitution.  He  was 
a  delegate  to  tlie  National  Convention  of  1884 
that  nominated  Cleveland  and  Hendricks  for  the 
Presidency  and  Vice-Presidency  of  the  United 
States.  For  several  years,  he  has  been  chairman 
of  the  County  Democratic  Executive  Committee, 
which  i>osition  he  fills  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
partyand  thecreditof  himself.  He  is  noaspirant, 
yet  his  superior  business  tact  places  him  in  many 
positions  of  honor  and  trust.  For  many  years  he 
has  been  a  director  of  the  Mobile  &  Girard  ifail- 
road,  and  a  stockholder  in  and  nninager  of  many 
successful  business  enterprises  in  the  city. 


Mr.  Murphree,  by  careful  management  and 
close  application  to  business,  has  accumulated 
considerable  property,  and  thougii  it  is  esti united 
that  his  real  estate  is  worth  more  than  that  of  any 
other  individual  in  the  county,  he  does  not  boast 
of  it.  He  is  possessed  of  a  kind  and  generous 
spirit;  is  always  ready  to  help  the  deserving  poor, 
and  many  gifts  of  charity  flow  freely  from  his 
hands  that  the  world  never  knows  anything  of. 

Though  not  a  member  of  any  religious  denom- 
ination, he  does  his  share  toward  upholding  the 
preacher's  hands  and  toward  the  building  of 
church  houses. 

In  his  dealings  in  business,  Jlr.  Mur|)hree  is 
agreeable  and  straight-forward,  observing  the 
golden  rule,  doing  unto  others  as  he  would  have 
them  do  unto  him.  He  is  a  strong  enemy  to  the 
sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage, 
and,  when  an  opportunity  affords,  never  lets  it 
pass  without  giving  a  black  eye  to  the  liquor  traf- 
fic. He  says  that  if  putting  whisky  out  of  the 
county  would  depreciate  real  estate,  he  would  be 
one  of  the  principal  losers,  yet  he  would  be  willing 
to  make  the  sacrifice  for  the  public  good. 

Mr.  Murphree  is  a  prominent  and  consistent 
member  of  the  ilasonic  fraternity,  and  is  other- 
wise one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  Pike  County. 
His  name  and  his  credit  have  always  been  above 
reproach. 

The  history  of  Troy,  as  published  in  this 
volume,  was  written  by  him,  and  it  will  be  found 
upon  perusal  to  be  one  of  the  most  readable,  as 
well  as  one  of  the  most  reliably  correct,  chapters 
in  the  book.  It  is  succinct,  concise,  and  shows  a 
familiarity  with  the  subjects  treated,  that  is  at 
once  inviting,  entertaining  and  instructive. 

As  a  mark  of  the  distinguished  esteem  in  which 
he  is  held,  and  as  a  compliment  to  him  as  a  citizen 
in  whom  there  is  no  guile,  the  publishers  i)resent 
herewith  a  handsome  engraving  of  Mr.  ilurphree. 

JOHN  D.GARDNER.  Attorney-at-law.  was  born 
at  FliireiRc.  (Ja..  July  :20.  1830.  His  father, 
Benjamin  Gardner,  was  a  native  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Catinirine  Collins,  was  born  in  South  Carolina. 

The  senior  Jlr.  Gardner  was  a  lawyer  by  pro- 
fession, and  for  some  years  prior  to  the  war.  was 
editor  of  the  Alabama  Journal,  a  paper  then  pub- 


726 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


lished  at  ilontgomery.  In  1872,  he  was  elected 
Attorney-General  of  this  State,  and  filled  the 
office  one  term.  Retiring  from  official  life  he  re- 
sumed tlie  practice  of  law,  and  pursued  it  until 
compelled  by  the  loss  of  eyesight  to  abandon  it. 

John  D.  Gardner,  received  his  earliest  education 
at  the  old  field  schools,  studied  law  under  his 
father,  and,  in  1859,  was  admitted  to  tlie  bar.  He 
began  practice  at  Troy,  and  resumed  it  after 
the  war.  He  occupies  a  high  position  at  the 
Alabama  bar,  and  is  one  of  the  most  popular  men 
in  the  profession.  Early  in  1801  he  entered  the 
Confederate  Army  as  first  lieutenant  of  Company 
F,  First  Alabama  Cavalry,  and  remained  in  the 
service  until  the  close  of  the  war,  leaving  the  army 
with  the  rank  of  captain.  In  1805,  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor  to  the  office  of  Solicitor 
of  tlie  Eighth  Judicial  Circuit,  and  discharged 
the  duties  tliereof  one  term. 

Captain  Gardner  takes  an  active  interest  at  all 
times  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  is  at  this 
writing,  president  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Troy  Normal  School.  He  was  married  in  Jan- 
uary, 180G,  to  Miss  Belle  Starke,  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  Bowling  Starke,  of  Richmond,  ^'a., 
and  lias  liad  born  to  him  four  children:  AddieB., 
Catharine  C,  Ann  S.  and  Lucian  J). 

Tlie  family  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South. 


WILLIAM  H.  PARKS,  Attorney-at-law,  son  of 
William  X.  and  Eliza  \V.  (llayne)  Parks,  natives, 
respectively,  of  the  States  of  Xorth  aTid  South 
Carolina,  was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County,  !N. 
C,  in  January,  1T34,  and  was  educated  at  Davidson 
College,  Charlotte,  N,  C.  Leaving  college,  he 
came  directly  to  Troy,  where  he  taught  school  for 
about  three  years,  studied  law,  and,  in  1859,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  In  1872,  he  was  elected  to 
the  State  Senate  and  for  four  years  was  a  member 
of  that  body,  taking  a  prominent  part  in  all  im- 
portant legislation  during  that  period.  He  was  a 
member  of  several  committees,  and  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Local  Laws. 

Aside  from  being  one  of  the  most  prominent  at- 
torneys in  Southeastern  Alabama,  Mr.  Parks  is 
somewhat  distinguished  as  a  literary  man. 

He  was  married  in  185'>,  to  Miss  Catharine  Ben- 
bow,  daughter  of  Richard  Benbow,  Esq.,  of  Pike 


County,  this  State,  and  the  children  born  to  him 
and  now  living  are:  Richard,  a  promising  young 
attorney  at  Troy;  AVilliam  L..  also  an  attorney  at 
Troy;  Isaac  T.,  Clifford,  Samuel,  Selden  and 
Irene. 

The  family  are  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
coi)al  Church,  South,  and  Mr.  Parks  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

*--   *^  'f4iJ2S^*  V'    ' 

JOHN  P.  HUBBARD,  Judge  of  the  Second 
Judicial  Circuit  of  Alabama,  was  born  in  this 
county  in  1830,  and  is  the  son  of  William  T.  and 
Amy  (Youngblood)  Hubbard.  The  senior  Mr. 
Hubbard  was  an  extensive  planter  in  his  lifetime, 
and  represented  Pike  County  in  the  Legislature, 
sessions  of  1847-8.     He  died  in  1873. 

John  P.  Hubbard  was  graduated  from  Howard 
College,  Marion,  Ala.,  in  1859,  read  law  un- 
der David  Clopton  and  R.  F.  Ligon,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  before  the  State  Supreme  Court, 
in  1800.  In  1861,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier 
in  Company  I,  Twenty-second  Alabama  Infantry, 
and  after  the  war  returned  to  Troy  and  entered 
the  practice  of  law.  In  1808  he  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  and  was  a 
member  of  that  body  until  18T3,  being  Speaker 
of  the  House  during  the  latter  session.  He  was 
returned  to  the  Legislature  in  1870:  was  elected 
Judge  of  the  Second  Circuit  in  1880,  and  re-elected 
in  18S6. 

Judge  Hubbard  is  one  of  the  most  ])opular  men 
on  the  nisi  priits  bench  of  the  State.  As  a  law- 
yer he  ranked  among  the  foremost  while  at  the 
bar,  and  as  a  citizen  he  is  held  in  the  highest  es- 
teem. He  was  married  in  18G9,  to  Miss  Ann  (J., 
daughter  of  John  S.  and  Mary  E.  (Provost) 
Coombs,  and  has  had  born  to  him  three  children: 
Graph  J.,  Amy  and  Ann.  The  family  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Baptist  Church,  in  which  the  Judge 
has  been  many  years  a  deacon.  He  was  also  some 
years  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath-school. 

HENRY  C.  WILEY,  prominent  Attorney-at- 
law,  was  born  in  Clayton,  Barbour  County,  this 
State,  in  1840,  and  is  a  son  of  Judge  J.  McCaleb 
and  Elizabeth  (Duckworth)  Wiley,  natives,  re- 
spectively, of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Til 


The  senior  Mr.  AViley  was  a  lawyer  by  profes- 
sion, and  practiced  at  the  Troy  bar  about  twenty- 
eight  years.  He  wits  elected  Judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court  in  1S67,  and  held  the  oHice  one  term.  lie 
came  to  Alabama  in  IfS'iS  with  his  parents,  who 
settled  in  Lawrenoe  County;  removed  to  Louisiana 
in  IS-^!),  and  in  is:5v',  being  in  bad  health,  took 
up  his  residence  in  ilatamoros,  Mexico.  After 
varied  experiences,  some  of  which  were  highly 
romantic,  lie  joined  the  regular  Mexican  Army  as 
aide-de-camp,  on  the  staff  of  General  Santa  Anna, 
with  the  I'ank  of  major  of  infantry. 

Having  been  ordered,  in  l.S;i6,  to  march  against 
Texas,  he  deserted  the  Mexican  Army.  While  in 
Mexico,  he  passed  tiirough  some  of  the  most  peril- 
ous adventures.  He  was  at  one  time  tried  by 
court  martial,  and  sentenced  to  be  shot  for  dis- 
obedience of  orders;  again  he  was  confined  in 
the  Castle  of  San  Juan  de  Ulloa  at  Vera  Cruz, 
wlien  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  was  fought  on  the 
■.'1st  of  April,  18:J0,  and  was.  finally,  discharged 
from  the  Castle,  and  from  arrest,  without  any  inti- 
mation from  any  human  being  as  to  whom  he 
owed  his  deliverance.  He  always  thought,  how- 
ever, that  there  was  a  certain  mystic  iuftuence, 
which,  by  its  labor  of  love,  wrought  his  libera- 
tion. 

At  that  time  the  Americans  in  ^lexico  were  in 
very  bad  odor,  and  he  took  the  first  opportunity 
to  escape,  and  to  return  to  Alabama.  Here,  in 
Barbour  County,  he  began  the  practice  of  law  in 
l><:i6,  and  three  years  later,  was  appointed  Kegis- 
ter  in  Chancery,  and  moved  to  Clayton.  In 
1843,  he  was  elected  major-general  of  militia,  and 
in  lS."iO,  came  into  Pike  County,  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  died  in  1878,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-two  years. 

In  18ti.")  he  was  appointed  to  the  Circuit  Court 
Uench,  and  in  ISCC  was  elected  to  Congress,  but 
was  not  permitted  to  hold  the  seat. 

Judge  Wiley  was  of  portly  figure  and  impressive 
a])pearance.  He  was  dignified  and  impartial 
on  tiie  bench,  and  wa.-;  a  citizen  of  moral  habits  ] 
and  public  spirit.  In  politics  he  was  an  old  I 
fashioned  Whig,  and  in  1850  took  an  active 
part  with  the  Union  men  in  trying  to  prevent  the 
trouble  between  the  States  which  afterward 
occurred. 

He  was  a  zealous  Mason,  having  taken  thirty- 
two  degrees,  and  was  for  two  years  (irand  Master 
of  the  (J rand  Lodge  of  Alabama. 

From  his  return  from  Mexico  till  the  time  of  ' 


his  death.  Judge  Wiley  was  prominently  identi- 
fied with  the  temperance  cause,  being  at  one  time 
Grand  Worthy  I'atriarch  of  the  Sons  of  Temper- 
ance. 

In  social  circles.  General  Wiley  was  affable, 
communicative  and  companionable. 

Henry  C.  AN'iiey  was  educated  at  Davidson  Col- 
lege, Davidson,  N.  C,  and  at  Oglethorpe 
University,  near  Milledgeville,  Ga.  In  18(;i  he 
entered  the  Confederate  Army,  as  a  private  in 
"Terry's  Texas  Hangers,"' afterward  the  Eighth 
Texas  Cavalry,  and  subsequently  rose  to  the  com- 
mand of  his  company.  He  remained  in  the  ser- 
vice to  tiie  close  of  the  war,  when  he  returned  to 
Troy,  studied  law  with  his  father,  and  in  October, 
18ii5  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  In  18G8,  he  was 
admitted  to  practice  before  the  State  Suj)reme 
Court,  and  at  this  writing  is  of  the  firm  of  (iard- 
ner  &  Wiley,  the  most  prominent  law  firm  in 
Southeastern  Alabama. 

Captain  Wiley  was  the  only  solicitor  ever  elected 
in  Pike  County  by  the  people.  This  was  under 
the  old  law;  he  received  flattering  majorities  of 
the  popular  vote,  and  held  the  office  two  terms, 
or  eight  years. 

He  is  a  fine  lawyer,  a  profound  scholar,  and  a 
gentleman  of  tact  and  foresight,  and  of  jiro- 
nounced  business  ability. 

Captain  Wiley  is  a  Knight  Templar  Mason,  and 
Master  of  Troy  (Hlue)  Lodge,  a  position  he  has 
acceptably  filled  for  several  years. 

He  was  married,  in  1800,  to  Miss  Henrietta 
Worthy,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Dr.  A. 
N.  and  Ann  (Pace)  Worthy,  natives  of  the  State 
of  Georgia.  By  this  marriage  has  been  born  to 
him  three  children:  Lizzie,  Rhydonia  and  (Ophe- 
lia. 

Mrs.  ^Vilcy  having  died,  Ca))tain  Wiley,  in 
1874,  married  her  younger  sister,  Jliss  Oi)helia 
Worthy,  and  to  this  union  have  been  born  two 
children:     Henrietta  and  Walter  Harry. 

CHARLES  HENDERSON.  Mayor  of  the  city  of 
Troy,  was  i)orn  in  Pike  County,  this  State.  April 
20,  180n,  and  is  the  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Jlildred 
(Hill)  Henderson.  He  was  instructed  through  boy- 
hood in  Troy  under  the  various  distinguished  jK'd- 
agogues  who  have  been  instrumental  in  nniking 
tiie  town   famous  as  the  educational  center  of 


728 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Southeast  Alabama.  In  1875,  he  entered  Howard 
College  at  Marion,  and  in  18TG  wlien  nearing  the 
completion  of  his  literary  training,  was  obliged  to 
abandon  his  studies  (being  called  home  by  the 
death  of  his  father)  to  enter  vigorously  ujion  the 
business  pursuits  of  life.  At  the  age  of  seventeen 
years  he  was  relieved  of  the  disabilities  of  nonage 
by  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  and  has  since 
been  conducting  a  large  and  successful  business 
on  his  own  responsibility.  He  is  now  the  junior 
member  of  the  wholesale  and  retail  estab- 
lishment of  Henderson  Bros.  &  f  "o.  His  kind  and 
generous  nature  has  won  for  him  many  friends, 
especially  among  his  associates,  the  young  men, 
and  to  their  efforts  may  be  accredited  his  victory 
in  the  formidable  race  for  Mayor  of  this  city,  on 
December  7,-  188G. 

Among  all  Troy's  young  men  of  wealth,  wisdom 
and  induence,  Charles  Henderson  is  certainly  the 
most  fitting  one  to  fill,  with  honor  and  credit  to 
himself  and  lasting  benefit  to  the  city,  the  respon- 
sible position  he  now  holds.  Since  he  entered  the 
office  of  Mayor,  he  has  been  constantly  on  the 
alert,  ever  watchful  of  the  city's  interests,  and  has 
already  done  much  for  Troy.  The  phrase  •'Suc- 
cess in  business,"  is  almcst  inseparably  linked 
with  the  name  of  Henderson,  one  of  the  principal 
characteristics  of  the  wliole  family  being  industry 
and  energy. 

The  progenitors  of  the  family  came  from  Edge- 
field District,  S.  C.  Eli  Henderson,  the  first  to 
immigrate  to  Alabama,  settled  tlie  old  homestead 
nine  miles  below  Troy  in  1828.  He  married  a  Miss 
Darby,  whose  family  was  also  from  Edgefield. 
They  had  thirteen  children,  twelve  of  whom  grew 
to  manhood  and  womanhood.  Eli  Henderson, 
who  was  tlie  grandfatlier  of  the  present  generation 
of  younger  Hendersons  now  residing  in  this  city 
and  county,  died  in  1859,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year 
of  his  age. 

J.  A.  Henderson  was  born  in  1831,  and  after  he 
came  to  years  of  maturity,  married  Miss  ^I.  E. 
Hill,  who  is  of  another  old  and  noted  family  of 
this  county.  He  settled  at  what  is  known  as 
Henderson,  twelve  miles  below  Troy.  Seven 
children  were  the  fruits  of  their  union,  all  of 
whom  are  yet  living.  In  1870  he  moved  to  Tro)', 
where  he  resided  until  his  death,  in  1870. 

Fox  Henderson  was  born  in  1852,  J.  C.  Hen- 
derson in  1857,  Ciiarles  Henderson  in  1860,  and 
W.  J.  Henderson  in  18G.3.  "  Toodle  Dink  "  and 
Miss  Gussie  are  yet  under  age,   and   the  oldest 


daughter,  now  Mrs.  Brock,  of  Montgomery,  was 
married  in  187'J. 

LaFayette  Henderson  and  Willis  D.  Henderson, 
were  born  in  18.33  and  1830,  respectively,  and  are 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  in  this  city. 
They  came  to  Troy  in  1870,  from  the  neighbor- 
hood of  ■■•Henderson's  Store,"  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county. 

J.  il.  Henderson,  another  brother,  also  does  a 
large  and  prosperous  business  in  this  city. 

At  a  rough  estimate,  this  family  owns  property, 
both  personal  and  real,  in  Pike  County,  amounting 
to  nearly  a  million  dollars,  and  perha])s  more,  if  it 
were  summed  up.  They  have  a  large  connec- 
tion in  the  county,  and  number  among  them, 
aside  from  those  already  enumerated,  many  of  tlie 
county's  very  best  and  most  highly  esteemed  citi- 
zens. 

As  a  fitting  testimonial  to  true  personal  worth 
and  merit,  the  publishers  preface  this  sketch  with 
a  life-like  engraving  of  probably  the  youngest, 
municipal  executive  in  Alabama — C'harles  Hen- 
derson, Mayor  of  Troy. 

>-^ 


JOSEPH  M.  DILL,  President  of  the  Troy 
Normal  School,  and  Superintendent  of  the  Troy 
City  Schools,  was  born  in  Dallas  County,  this 
State,  in  1852,  and  is  a  son  of  Thomas  J.  and 
Jane  L.  (Allison)  Dill,  natives  of  the  State  of 
South  Carolina.  The  senior  Mr.  Dill  is  now 
president  of  Howard  College,  East  Lake,  Birming- 
ham. 

Professor  Dill  was  educated  at  Howard  College, 
when  that  institution  was  located  at  Jlarion,  and 
was  graduated  from  there  in  1874.  Immediately 
after  graduating  he  began  teaching  in  the  high 
school  at  Tuscaloosa,  and  was  there  two  years 
when  he  accepted  the  Chair  of  Natural  Science  at 
Howard  College.  He  remained  in  the  Chair  of 
Natural  Science  two  years,  and  returned  to  Tus- 
caloosa as  principal  of  the  high  school.  In  the 
year  1884,  he  came  to  Troy  as  superintendent  of  the 
high  school,  and  in  1887,  upon  the  establishment 
of  the  Normal  School  at  this  place,  he  was  made  its 
president.  At  this  writing  he  has  the  supervision 
of  all  the  schools,  lioth  white  and  colored,  in  Troy. 
The  I'rofessor  is  devoted  to  the  advancement  of 
education,  and,  though  yet  a  young  man,  is  known 
throughout  the  State  as  an  educator  of  rare  ac- 
complishments and  ability. 


^^OJi  TJIERN  ALABAMA. 


729 


He  was  married,  in  1878,  at  Tuscaloosa,  to  Miss 
F^ucy  Foster,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Joshua 
II.  and  Lucy  (IJillingsly)  Foster,  ami  has  one 
child.  Joseph  M. 

I'rofessor  and  .Mrs.  Dill  are  incnibers  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  wherein  the  Professor  holds  the 
ofHce  of  deacon  and  is  superintendent  of  the  Sab- 
batli-.^chool. 

PUGH  H.  BROWN,  M.D.,  son  of  Enoch  G.  and 
Peruielia  (l-"ioiinio\ )  Hrown,  natives  of  (Georgia, 
was  born  in  Monroe  County,  in  this  State,  in 
1833.  The  senior  Mr.  Brown,  a  planter  by  occu- 
jiation,  re[»resented  Marion  and  Caliioun  Counties 
in  the  lower  house  of  the  Georgia  Legislature 
two  sessions,  and  was  ten  years  .Judge  of  the  Court 
of  Ordinary.  He  was  also  a  local  iireacher  of  the 
Metiiodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  officiating  in 
that  cajjacity  upward  of  twenty  years.  During 
the  Creek  War  he  commanded  a  company  of  vol- 
unteers, and  participated  in  many  of  the  hard- 
fought  battles  of  that  campaign.  He  died  at 
Dawson,  Ga.,  in  1S83,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
eighty-six  years. 

Dr.  Pugli  H.  Brown  received  his  primary  educa- 
tion at  the  high  schools  in  Slarion  County,  Ga., 
and  in  lS.i4  was  graduated  as  a  doctor  of  medi- 
cine from  the  L'niversity  of  New  York.  He  began 
the  practice  of  medicine  near  Auburn,  this  State, 
immediately  upon  leaving  college,  and  removed 
from  there  in  a  siiort  time  to  Hussell  County.  He 
•came  into  Pike  County  in  18oT.  and  has  had  an 
office  in  Troy,  and  given  most  of  his  time  and  tal- 
ent to  his  chosen  profession  regularly  since  that 
day.  Early  in  18iJl  he  enlisted  as  a  private  sol- 
dier in  Company  L  Fifteenth  Alabania  Infantry, 
and  remained  in  the  service  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  At  the  battle  of  Cohl  Harbor,  in  18<!2,  he 
was  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy  ''for  gallantry  in 
action,"  and  held  that  rank  one  year  with  Com- 
pany K,  Fifteenth  Alabama.  He  was  ne.xt  as- 
signed to  duty  as  acting  surgeon  of  tiie  Forty- 
eighth  Alabama.  From  the  Forty-eighth  he  was 
transferred  to  his  old  regiment,  the  Fifteenth  In- 
fantry, and  commissioned  assistant  surgeon.  He 
remained  with  the  Fifteenth  until  he  was  wounded, 
at  the  battle  of  Turkey  Kidgc,  near  Richmond, 
and  from  that  date  he  was  confined  to  hospital 
duty  at  Opelika,  Ala. 

Leaving  the  service  of  the   Confederacy,  Dr. 


Brown,  returned  to  Troy  and  resumed  the  practice 
of  medicine.  Here  he  is,  and  has  been  for  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  centary,  recognized  by  the  profes- 
sion and  the  people,  as  a  safe,  cautious,  and  skill- 
ful physician.  He  is  a  member  of  the  State  Col- 
lege of  Counselors,  and  has  been  vice-president 
of  the  State  Medical  Association.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Pike  County  Medical  Society,  president 
of  the  local  Board  of  Censors,  and  is  at  present, 
holding  the  position  of  County  Health  Otticer. 

Doctor  Brown  married,  in  1854,  Miss  Calista 
M.  Tawer,  daughter  of  Benjamin  S.  and  Lucinda 
Tawer.  of  (ieorgia,  and  has  had  born  to  him  si.x 
children,  viz.:  Milton  T. ,  Charles  K.,  Mortimer 
P.,  Pugh  U.,  Alfred  P.  and  George  G.  The 
mother  of  these  children  died  in  1877.  and  in 
1.S78,  the  Doctor  led  to  the  altar  Miss  Louise  T. 
Perry,  daughter  of  Thomas  W.  Perry,  of  Russell 
County,  this  State. 

The  family  are  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  Doctor  Brown  is  identified  with  the 
Masonic  fraternity. 

DR.  A.  ST.C.  TENNILLE,  prominent  citizen  of 
Troy,  was  born  in  Washington  County,  Ga.,  Sep- 
tember 16,  1838.  His  father,  Maj.  A.  S.  Tennille, 
a  planter  by  occupation,  was  also  a  native  of  Geor- 
gia, and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Louisa  D.  Roe,  was  a  native  of  the  same  State. 

He  graduated  in  medicine  from  the  University 
«f  Tennessee  in  1801,  and  almost  immediately  af- 
terward entered  the  Confederate  service  as  a  pri- 
vate in  the  Fort  Gaines  Guards,  Ninth  Georgia 
Regiment.  He  was  soon  afterward  made  assistant 
surgeon  of  his  regiment,  a  position  he  held  for 
about  one  year,  when  he  was  made  commissary 
of  the  regiment.  He  surrendered  at  Appomattox 
C.  II.,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  as  assistant  division 
commissary  of  General  Field's  division.  He  moved 
to  Jackson  County,  Fla.,  in  1811.5,  and  commenced 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he  continued 
with  success  until  18T1,  when  he  moved  to  Troy. 

In  Troy  he  established  a  retail  drug  store, 
in  contiection  with  the  practice  of  medicine;  and, 
after  three  years,  he  retired  from  the  jtractice,  to 
more  closely  watch  his  large  and  growing  busi- 
ness in  other  fields.  He  soon  became  a  leading 
spirit  in  all  public  enterprises;  his  jirogressive 
views  caused  his  election  as  Councilman,  and  after- 


730 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ward  Mayor  of  the  city,  in  both  of  which  oflBces 
he  was  fully  alive  to  the  best  interests  of  the  city 
and  her  people. 

Dr.  Tennille  is  original  and  inventive,  with  ex- 
cellent judgment,  and  is  decidedly  practical  in  his 
plans  and  methods.  He  was  the  originator  of  the 
scheme  that  built  the  Troy  Fertilizer  Factory, 
which  was  the  pioneer  industry  of  that  kind  at  an 
interior  point.  He  was  also  the  originator  of  the 
plan  to  build  the  Alabama  Midland  Kailroad,  and 
was  its  first  vice-president;  and  his  limitless  re- 
sources of  invention  have  kept  it  before  the  public, 
gradually  working  its  way  to  success,  and  will 
eventually  secure  the  consummation  of  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  undertaken. 

He  is  one  of  the  clearest-headed  business  men 
in  Alabama,  and  would  bring  to  any  enterprise  in 
which  he  might  be  enlisted  the  energy  and  sagacity 
necessary  to  render  it  a  success.  Most  of  the  lead- 
ing citizens  of  Troy  have  unbounded  confidence  in 
any  undertaking  he  would  lead;  and  his  judgment 
in  regard  to  all  local  enterprises  is  sought  and 
accorded  great  weight. 


OLIVER  C.  WILEY  was  born  at  Troy,  Pike 
County,  Ala.,  January  :j<i,lS51,  and  is  the  youngest 
son  of  J.  JlcCaleb  and  Cornelia  Ann  (Appling) 
Wiley. 

June  25,  18T4,  Mr.  Wiley  was  married  to  Miss 
(lussie  Murphree,  daughter  of  lion.  James  K. 
and  Adelaide  (Henderson)  Murphree,  and  to 
this  union  have  been  born  three  children,  viz. : 
Olive,  James  McCaleb  and  Lois. 

^Ir.  Wiley  was  educated  chiefly  at  Troy,  the  late 
war  depriving  him  of  the  advantage  of  a  collegiate 
education,  but  in  1871  he  took  a  course  at  Bryant 
&  Stratton's  Business  College,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

In  18T3  he  entered  the  mei-cantile  business 
with  W.  S.  Coleman  as  partner.  In  1876  he  was 
associated  with  James  K.  Murphree,  and  in  1880, 
with  Clarence  JIurphrec,  with  whom  he  still  is. 
He  has  been  in  business  for  fifteen  years,  making 
him  one  of  the  oldest,  as  well  as  youngest,  business 
men  i_ji  Troy. 

In  1883,  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Troy 
J'ertilizer  Company  (of  which  he  is  a  director  and 
large  stockholder),  a  position  he  still  retains. 

In  1884,  and  again  in  188G,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  State  Democratic  Executive  Commit- 
tee, and  in  1888  an  alternate  delegate  to  St.  Louis 


National  Democratic  Convention.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Central  Executive  (Democratic) 
Committee  for  Pike  County. 

In  1885.  upon  the  organization  of  the  "  Gates 
Rifles,"  Southeast  Alabama's  crack  military  com- 
pany, he  was  elected  its  first  captain,  and  resigned 
only  after  he  had  made  it  in  every  respect  one  of 
the  best  companies  in  the  State. 

On  March  2,  1887,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Directors  of  the  Alabama  Midland  Eailroad,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  incorporators,  Captain 
Wiley  was  elected  President  of  the  company.  He 
is  also  a  Director  in  the  Southeast  Alabama  Land 
and  Immigration  Company,  a  Director  of  the 
State  Normal  School  at  Troy,  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  of  the  city  of  Troy,  and  one 
of  the  incorporators  of  the  Southeast  Alabama 
Fair  Association.  In  these  positions,  he  is  using 
every  energy  to  build  up  the  educational,  financial 
and  agricultural  interests  of  Troy  and  Southeast- 
ern Alabama. 

Captain  Wiley  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most 
thorough  and  accomplished  business  men  in  South- 
eastern Alabama.  He  is  a  Poyal  Arch  Mason,  a 
strong  temperance  worker,  and  in  politics  an  un- 
compromising Democrat. 

His  great  popularity  with  all  classes  and  the 
success  he  has  achieved  in  business  warrant  the 
publishers  in  illustrating  this  chapter  with  a 
handsome  life-like  engraving  of  him. 

-— ^--S^^-  <'■    • 

JOHN  RANDALL  GOLDTHWAITE  was  born 
in  Spartanburg  District,  S.  C.,  on  the  2'Jth  of  May, 
1823,  and  died  at  Troy,  Ala.,  on  February  20, 
1887.  When  but  a  child,  his  father  located  in 
Montgomery  County,  this  State,  and  here  he  re- 
ceived his  early  training,  acquiring  at  the  neigh- 
boring schools  a  fair  education.  Arriving  at  his 
majority,  he  began  the  study  of  law  with  Judge 
John  A.  Campbell,  and  in  1847,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  In  1845,  he  located  at  Troy,  where  he 
remained  but  a  short  time,  when  the  death  of  his 
father  recalled  him  to  Montgomery,  to  take  charge 
of  the  estate  and  business  as  administrator. 
While  so  engaged,  he  married  ^liss  Julia  A.  Mock, 
of  Lowndes  County,  and  in  1850,  returned  to 
Troy.  Here  he  engaged  at  teaching,  in  which  he 
became  distinguished,  and  gave  his  time  and  tal- 
ents thereto  for  a  number  of  years.  Evidences  of 
his  skill,  zeal  and  faithfulness  in  the  school-room 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


r:u 


are  now  to  be  seen  in  this  community  on  every 
lianil,  nuiny  of  tlie  leading  citizensand  most  prom- 
inent I)usinc88  men  of  Troy,  having  finifhed 
their  education  under  him.  'I'he  confinement  of 
the  school-room  having  finally  threatened  to  im- 
])air  his  healtli.  he  abandoned  the  profession  of 
educator,  and  in  ISo.'t  returned  to  Montgomery, 
where,  for  a  short  time,  he  was  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business.  Returning  again  to  Troy,  he 
was  soon  afterward  elected  C'lerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  a  position  he  held  by  rci-lection  through  a 
seriesof  terms.  In  tliis  position,  as  in  every  other 
one  lilled  by  him,  he  acquitted  himself  as  a  skill- 
ful, painstaking,  energetic,  capable  num,  and  the 
improvements  made  in  the  methods  of  that  otlice 
are  to  be  seen  and  enjoyed  till  now.  At  the  close 
of  the  war  between  the  States,  Mr.  Goldthwaite, 
for  a  short  time,  resumed  teacdiing,  when,  by  the 
most  thittering  vote  ever  cast  for  any  man  in  Pike 
County,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and 
kept  there  for  two  terms. 

Mr.  Goldthwaite  was  made  a  ^lason  in  Troy 
Lodge  in  is.jd,  and  kept  his  membership  here  to 
tlie  day  of  his  death.  lie  filled  all  the  offices  in 
the  Blue  Lodge  at  various  times,  and  rose  rapidly 
through  the  various  degrees  to  the  exalted  rank  of 
Knight  Templar.  As  a  Mason  he  was  widely 
known  throughout  the  State  and  was  much 
beloved  by  the  fraternity. 

He  was  a  man  not  only  of  superior  natural 
intellect,  but  was  possessed  of  a  highly- 
cultivated  mind.  He  was  an  honorable  re- 
fined citizen,  sincere  and  faithful  in  his 
friendshijis,  and  always  identified  with  every  en- 
terprise or  measure  that  had  for  its  aim  the  good 
of  the  community.  He  is  remembered  as  a  man 
of  fine  business  tact  and  foresight  and  as  a  Chris- 
tian gentleman. 

In  his  actions  he  was  honorable.  He  was  in 
his  nature,  refined:  in  his  instincts,  pure;  in  his 
friendships  he  was  sincere  and  faithful;  in  his 
hal)its  he  was  temperate,  industrious,  system- 
atic and  painstaking.  As  a  citizen,  he  was  ex- 
emplary, public-spirited  and  useful,  and  he  was 
closely  identified  with  every  measure  or  enterprise 
for  the  good  of  this  city  and  county,  and  the 
fruits  of  the  labor  of  his  han(ls  and  brain  are  felt 
and  seen  in  the  greatly  improved  condition  of  this 
section.  In  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men, 
he  was  social,  genial  and  refined,  which,  with  his 
most  superior  conversational  powers,  not  only 
nutde  him  a  welcome  guest,  but  caused  him  to  be 


sought  after  by  the  lovers  of  true  worth  and  in- 
tellect. 

Charles  V>.  (ioldthwaile,  son  of  John  K.  (Jold- 
thwaite,  was  born  in  April,  is,")."),and  educated  atthe 
Troy  schools  and  at  Wake  Forest  College,  \.  C. 
Completing  his  education  in  IS^O,  he  returned  to 
Troy,  where  he  was  admitted  as  a  jiartner  with 
his  father  in  the  drug  business,  and  where,  since 
the  death  of  the  latter,  he  has  continued  to  this 
day  under  the  style  and  firm-name  of  (ioldthwaite 
&  Son.  Mr.  Goldthwaite  is  a  registered  pharma- 
cist, and  understands  the  business  as  thoroughly 
as  does  any  man  in  the  State.  In  addition  to  the 
drug  business,  he  is  the  authorized  agent  of  the 
Southern  Express  Company  at  Troy. 

ilr.  Goldthwaite  was  married  in  June,  isTO,  to 
Josie,  the  accomplished  daughter  of  Joel  D.  Mur- 
phree,  and  his  three  children  are:  Charles  B., 
Eugene  and  John  Randall.  The  family  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  P>piscopal  Church,  South. 

•  ■'>-?^?^-  <'■    • 

JAMES  K.  MURPHREE.  a  Merchant  of  Troy, 

is  a  son  of  Janie.s  S.  ami  .Matilda  (Dyer)  Murphree, 
and  a  luitive  of  Smith  County,  Tenn.  He  came 
with  his  father  to  Troy  in  lS4.i,  and  here  attended 
the  common  schools  and  clerked  in  the  mercantile 
establishment  of  the  senior  Mr.  ilurphree  for  a 
number  of  years.  He  engaged  in  business  for 
himself  while  yet  a  very  young  man,  and  from 
that  time  up  to  1887,  he  was  recognized  as  one  of 
the  active  business  men  of  Troy.  Early  in  1862, 
he  joined  the  Fifty-ninth  Alabama  Infantry,  be- 
came its  assistant  fjuartermaster,  and  remained 
in  the  service  to  the  close  of  the  war.  As  before 
indicated,  from  the  close  of  the  war  almost  to 
the  present  time,  he  has  been  actively  engaged  in 
business,  and  that  he  has  been  reasonably  success- 
ful thereat  goes  without  telling. 

Mr.  Murphree  was  married,  in  1854,  to  Miss 
Adelaide,  daughter  of  Eli  and  Mary  (Darby)  Hen- 
derson, of  Pike  County,  and  has  had  born  to  him 
nine  children  :  Augusta,  C"larence,  Fannie,  Ella, 
-Mary,  James,  Robert,  Bettie  B.  and  Jake. 

•  ■♦>— -^^j-^ — •— 

JOHN  B.  KNOX,  a  prominent  Merchant  of 
Troy,  was  born  in  I'pson  County,  (ia..  May  1, 
18.">0,  and  is  the  son  of  0.  F.  and  Susan  (Kendall) 
Knox,  also  natives  of  that  State.     From  a  recent 


732 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


publication,  we  take  the  following:  "  Mr.  Knox 
has  been  in  business  in  Troy  for  eight  years,  and  is 
considered  one  of  the  best  business  men  in  our 
prosperous  little  city.  *  *  *  lie  has  always 
been  engaged  in  millinery  and  dry  goods  business, 
keeping  the  finest  and  largest  stock  of  ladies' 
goods  and  millinery  in  Southeastern  Alabama.  He 
has  done  much  to  advance  the  educational  and 
financial  interests  of  Troy.  His  superior  business 
tact  has  made  him  secretary  of  the  Alabama  Ter- 
minal and  Improvement  Company,  which  lias  the 
contract  for  building  tlie  Alabama  Midland  Rail- 
road. He  is  also  secretary  and  a  large  stockholder 
in  the  Troy  Fertilizer  Company.  Mr.  Knox  is  a 
quiet,  straightforward,  unassuming  gentleman  in 
every  sense  of  the  word,  and  has  made  a  ho3t  of 
warm  friends  in  Pike  and  adjoining  counties." 

Mr.  Knox  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Pike 
Coutity,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  years  began 


business  as  a  clerk  in  a  mercantile  establishment 
at  Brundidge,  Ala.,  and  subsequently  became  as- 
sociated as  partner.  He  came  to  Troy  in  1880, 
where,  in  addition  to  the  various  enterprises  here- 
inbefore enumerated,  he  is  at  this  time  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Troy  Xormal  School. 

He  was  married  February  f!,  1873,  at  Brund- 
idge, this  county,  to  Miss  Lula  Dinkins,  daughter 
of  Edward  and  Lucy  (Perry)  Dinkins,  of  Mid- 
way, Ala.,  and  has  had  born  to  him  seven 
children:  Edward  0.,  Mabel,  John  B.,  C.  Ken- 
dall, Evalyn,  Lucy  and  Susan.  Mr.  Knox  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  of  the  Knights  of  Honor,  and  of  the  An- 
cient Order  of  L^nited  A\'orkmen. 

The  senior  Mr.  Knox,  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  a  physician  by  profession,  and,  in 
1800,  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature.  He  died 
in  Pike  County  in  1873. 


^,^.^^^^, 


XIX. 

OPELIKA. 

Rv  W.   I.  Samford. 


Lee  County,  nunieil  in  honor  of  (icn.  liobert  E. 
I.ee,  was  created  by  Act  of  the  General  Assembly 
Mecember  1">,  ISiHi,  out  of  portions  of  the  coun- 
ties of  Chambers,  Tallapoosa,  ^lacon  ami  Russell. 
A  few  months  after  tiie  county  was  formed,  by 
a  j)opuiar  votej  Opclika  was  designated  as  the 
seat  of  justice.  The  city  has  about  4,(1(10  inhab- 
itants, and  is  situated  on  the  southern  line  of  the 
hill  country  of  Alabama.  The  word  is  from  the 
soft  dialect  of  the  Indian  (a  language  fertile  in 
beautiful  names),  and  was  the  name  of  an  Indian 
local  chief,  which,  translated,  means  "Owl  in  the 
Bush."  The  un romantic  insist  that  it  means 
"  Rod  Mud,"  and  yet  it  might  be  difficult  to  have 
a  loftier  significance  tlian  the  vulgar  rendering, 
since  "Adam"  means  "red  earth"  or  "red 
man,"  and  man  was  made  out  of  dust. 

]?ut  it  matters  little  as  to  "  the  classics  "  of  the 
word:  Oiiclika  is  here  as  one  of  the  live  cities  of 
Alabama,  and  V>ids  fair  to  measure  her  growth 
with  the  increase  of  years. 

FIRST  SETTLED. 

The  town  was  settled  in  lS:3(i  or  1837,  while  the 
Indians  were  here.  Among  tlie  early,  if  not  the 
first,  settlers  were  Abijah  Hennett,  William 
.Mangrum,  Amos  Mizell,  David  Lockhart  and 
Luke  Mizell,  all  higlily  respectable  citizens,  and 
the  last  named  a  Methodist  minister,  so  exemplary 
and  upright  in  liis  life  and  walk  that  he  won  the 
esteem,  not  only  of  his  own  race,  but  of  the  sav- 
ages as  well.  And  wlien  the  Indians  began  hos- 
tilities, they  carefully  refrained  from  molesting 
this  good  man's  house,  while  many  others  were 
burned.  Among  tiiose  who  settled  early  in  and 
around  Opelika,  besides  tliose  mentioned  above, 
were  J.  C.  W.  Rogers,  Nathaniel  Sledge,  J.  R. 
Greene.  Charles  Bird,  Elisha  Thomas,  Peter 
Bogia,  Wash    Bedell,    Thomas    Robertson,  John 


Haley,  James  B.  Reese,  IJaniel  (ientry,  Brady 
Preston.  Nelson  Clayton,  Wesley  Williams  and 
Felix  Hubbard.  Of  all  these  old  settlers  only 
four  are  now  liviiig. 

In  April,  1848,  the  little  village  was  connected 
with  the  outside  world,  by  the  construction  of  the 
Montgomery  &  West  Point  Railroad,  which  was 
shortly  afterward  extended  to  West  Point. 

In  185v,  the  Columbus  branch  was  built  to 
Columbus,  Ga.  Notwithstanding  the  presence  of 
these  roads,  the  growth  of  the  place  was  very 
slow,  and,  as  late  as  \SCtO.  could  not  poll  over  fifty 
votes,  tliough  it  was  then  incorporated,  with 
Beverly  Johnson  as  its  first  Mayor. 

Although  the  progress  of  the  town  was  imper- 
ceptible, the  surrounding  country  was  being  rap- 
idly peopled  with  a  fine,  patriotic  and  enlightened 
citizenship.  At  that  memorable  period  in  our 
country's  history,  the  "country  home"  was  the 
seat  of  intellectuality,  of  social  charn)  and  un- 
bounded hospitality.  The  men  and  women  who 
were  building  the  country  iiomes  in  Alabama  in 
18G0  were  splendid  types  of  the  race  that  fought 
at  Runnymede,  and  wrenched  from  kingly  pre- 
rogative the  glorious  charter  of  civil  liberty. 
Hence,  at  the  call  of  the  State  for  men  to  meet 
the  shock  of  the  war,  three  companies  were  soon 
organized,  and  on  the  tented  field,  from  Opelika 
and  the  adjacent  country. 

As  soon  as  the  cannon's  roar  was  liushed,  and 
this  people  awoke  to  the  desolation  and  destruc- 
tion that  had  overtaken  them,  they  beat  the  swords 
into  plowshares,  gathered  up  the  little  left  from 
rapine  and  pillage,  and  with  stout  heartsainl  will- 
ing hands  began  anew  the  battle  for  bread  in  the 
shadows  of  poverty.  Out  of  the  black  night  of  a 
four-years  bitter  war,  there  sprang  new  ideas,  new 
systems,  new  problems  of  civilization  that  de- 
manded solution.     In  the  efforts  of  the  people  for 


733 


734 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


material  iulvaiicement,  fortuitous  circunistiinces 
favored  Opelika.  It  was  tlie  natural  point  fortlie 
county  seat.  Already  railroads  ran  in  three  direc- 
tions. The  revival  of  Ihe  arts  of  peace  demanded 
the  construction  of  the  two  railroads,  now  known 
as  the  East  Alabama  IJailway  and  the  Columbus 
«&  Western  road,  which  were  chartered  several 
years  before. 

The  citizens  became  alive  to  the  advantages  of 
the  town  as  a  commercial  point,  and  a  wonderful 
activity  set  in.  Real  estate,  which  for  years  had 
been  of  small  value,  arose  to  city  prices,  and  in- 
deed became  so  high  that  the  growth  of  the 
place  was  checked.  This  check  became  a  full 
stop  during  the  financial  depression  in  IST^J. 

Since  the  panic  of  1S73,  candid  statement  com- 
pels the  assertion,  that  the  city  has  not  progressed 
in  material  prosperity  as  it  should  have  done. 
Real  estate  rapidly  decreased  in  value,  and  for  ten 
years  remained  almost  stagnant.  The  causes 
which  produced  such  an  unsatisfactory  state  of 
affairs  were  numerous,  not  the  least  of  which,  was 
unfortunate  difference  of  opinion  among  its  citi- 
zens on  public  questions. 

In  the  light  of  the  dawn  of  a  new  era,  filled  with 
the  promise  of  better  things,  there  is  no  benefit  to 
result  from  a  recital  of  the  details  of  antagonisms 
of  the  past.  We  would  rather  look  upon  them  as 
incidents  to  the  friction  of  ideas  struggling  for 
ascendancy,  and,  on  their  subsidence  build  struct- 
ures worthier  of  record  and  more  beneficial  to  hu- 
manity. 

The  city's  depression  was  not  due  entirely  to 
internal  troubles — indeed  this  was  not  the  main 
cause.  A  general  lack  of  prosperity  was  the  mis- 
fortune of  the  whole  State, and  of  the  whole  South, 
and  Opelika  shared  the  common  lot.  But  in  the 
last  year  or  two,  by  the  sheer  force  of  lier  natural 
advantages,  she  begins  to  revive  and  her  future  is 
more  assuring. 

It  is  not  permissible  in  this  article  to  speak  of 
her  men:  to  give  place  to  all  who  deserve  to  be 
mentioned  in  connection  with  her  majesty,  would 
expand  this  article  to  forbidden  length,  while  to 
mention  a  few  would  be  invidious  distinction. 
Not  even  all  the  points  of  her  excellence  can  be 
elaborated— only  those  of  prominence  and  beyond 
question  will  be  mentioned. 

Tiie  topography  of  the  city  is  all  that  could  be 
desired.  Sufliciently  level  for  building  and  beauty, 
the  location  is  high  and  rolling  enough  for  perfect 
drainage.     Sitting  on  the  highest  point  between 


Savannah,  Ga.,  and  Vicksburg,  Miss.,  she  is  far 
above  malaria,  and  epidemics  are  unknown.  When 
yellow  fever  scourged  other  cities  in  187:3,  Ope- 
lika cordially  invited  the  citizens  from  the  stricken 
cities  to  her  gates.  This  invitation  was  accepted, 
and  some  brought  the  fever  with  them,  but  not  a 
single  case  was  contracted  here.  In  the  eastern 
suburbs  of  the  city  a  spring  rises,  whose  waters 
flow  eastward  to  the  Chattahoochee,  while  one  in 
the  western  part  empties  its  waters  into  streams 
that  flow  into  the  Alabama.  Her  health  is  above 
dispute,  and  her  death  rate  will  compare  favor- 
ably with  any  city  in  the  Union.  The  altitude  of 
the  city  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  is  remarkable 
as  compared  with  other  points  in  the  State. 
From  sources,  pronounced  by  Mr.  D.  II.  Cram,  to 
be  both  official  and  reliable,  Opelika  is  812  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  a  point  two  and  a  half  miles 
from  Opelika  measures  847  feet.  Thi.-;  latter 
point  is  higher  than  any  other  station  on  the  rail- 
road from  Montgomery,  Ala.,  to  West  Point,  Ga., 
and  what  is  more  wonderful,  higher  than  any 
station  on  the  Louisville  &  Xashville  Railroad 
from  Montgomery  to  Louisville. 

Lest  the  reader  may  conclude  that  this  state- 
ment is  exaggerated,  the  tables  are  here  given  that 
may  be  verified  from  official  sources.  The  figures 
indicate  altitude  in  number  of  feet: 

Opelika,  812;  Summit  (2^  miles  north  of 
Opelika),  847;  Montgomery,  1G2;  Coosada,  17.5; 
Elmore,  199;  Fort  Decatur,  312;  Chenaw,  2.i2; 
West  Point,  41.5;  Deetsville,  300;  Mountain 
Creek,  .542;  Verbena,  450:  Cooper's,  458;  Clanton, 
59G;  Lomax,  625;  Jem'ison,  70(1;  Clear  Creek, 
540;  Calera,  .502;  Whiting,  555;  Siluria,  464: 
Pelham.  427;  Helena,  400;  Brock,  564;  Oxmoor, 
652:  Birmingham,  602;  Blount  Springs,  434: 
Cullman,  802:  Milner,  840;  Wilhite,  608:  Flint, 
568:  Decatur,  577;  Athens,  709:  Pulaski,  643: 
Columbia,  646:  Franklin,  619;  Nashville,  411; 
Gallatin,  498:  Franklin,  691;  Bowling  (ireen, 
469:  Cave  City,  613:  Munfordsville,  570;  Eliza- 
bethtown,  683;  Muldraughs,  757;  Colesburg,  425; 
Louisville,  432. 

The  business  of  the  city  is  almost  exclusively  of 
a  commercial  character.  In  this  line  her  mer- 
chants have  established  characters  for  solidity  and 
fair  dealing,  that  give  them  a  high  rating  in  the 
commercial  reports  of  the  country.  Some  of 
them  have  accumulated  fortunes,  and  have  ample 
capital  to  handle  all  the  goods  the  country  around 
will    justify.       Several     fires,    in    the  last    few 


NOR  THERN  ALABAMA. 


735 


years,  destroyed  many  stores,  which  have  been 
pronijitly  rebuilt,  and  many  new  ones  added, 
luitii  now  there  are  at  least  one  hundred  well 
arrangi'd  stureiiouses  and  offices  in  the  city,  and 
ail  ocotijiied.  An  interesting  fact  will  arrest  the 
attention  of  the  observer,  the  commercial  and  in- 
ihistrial  entorii rises  of  the  city  are  almost  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  young  men,  very  few  indeed,  hav- 
ing arrived  at  the  meridian  of  life.  The  charac- 
ter of  the  merchandise  is  of  every  sort  that  is  sold 
in  the  wholesale  markets.  'J'here  are  also  here 
wholesale  houses  whose  jobbing  trade  is  constantly 
increasing,  and  this  too  in  sjiite  of  the  discrimi- 
nation that  has  existed  in  transportation  facilities 
against  Opelika,  and  in  favor  of  Montgomery, 
Columbus,  and  other  cities.  Very  recently,  the 
promise  is,  this  discrimination  will  be  largely 
modified,  and  in  time  it  is  hoped,  will  cease  alto- 
gether. If  it  does,  an  impetus  will  be  given  to 
the  commercial  efforts  of  Opelika,  that  will 
largely  increase  her  importance  as  a  trading  mar- 
ket, and  give  her  a  commanding  position  in  the 
State. 

Unfortunately  for  the  agricultural  section  sur- 
rounding Opelika,  and  unfortunately  in  the  final 
event  for  any  city  so  situated,  the  necessities  of 
the  farmers  has  forced  them  to  have  "advances," 
and  the  merchants  have  therefore  done  a  heavy  "  ad- 
vancing" trade.  Rut  the  farmers  in  this  section 
are  industriousand  intelligent,  and  having  learned, 
by  experience,  that  crops  raised  by  "advances" 
are  barren  of  profits,  are  changing  their  methods, 
and  beginning  to  get  away  from  such  a  system. 
When  they  completely  change,  by  raising  farm 
supplies  at  home,  it  willbeof  incalculable  advant- 
age to  them  and  to  the  merchants  also. 

Krom  Opelika,  the  railways  radiate  in  five  direc- 
tions: One  through  Columbus  and  Macon  to 
Savannah;  one  through  -Vtlanta  to  the  North  and 
East;  one  viu  Montgomery  and  Mol)ile  to  New 
Orleans;  one  through  Birmingham  to  Memphis 
and  Kansas  City,  and  one  forty  miles  to  Uoanoke 
to  the  northeast,  destined  very  soon  to  go  to 
Anniston.  Hy  two  of  these  routes  Opelika  reaches 
water  transportation  at  a  distance  of  only  a  few 
miles.  Columbus,  Ca.,  thirty  miles  away,  is  at 
the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Chattahoochee,  and 
Montgomery,  sixty-six  miles  distant,  has  uninter- 
rupted mivigation  during  the  year.  Hut  this  mat- 
ter of  her  transportation  facilities  will  be  subse- 
quently noticed. 

In  addition  to  her  manv  storehouses  for  trading 


purposes,  there  are  located  in  this  city,  and  all  in 
successful  operation,  five  cotton  warehouses.  It 
maybe  possible  that  they  are  capacitated  to  handle 
more  cotton  than  they  get,  still  the  fact  remains  that 
they  each  get  enough  to  remunerate  their  owners. 
The  receipts  of  cotton  are  not  less  than  18.000 
bales,  and  will  be  more  another  season,  and  con- 
tinue to  increase,  since  better  rates  of  freight  have 
been  given  the  city  by  the  railroad,  and  would  be 
more  even  now,  but  for  the  fact  that  large  quanti- 
ties are  bought  at  the  railroad  stations  near  by, 
and  shipped  directly  to  the  spinners  in  New  Eng- 
land and  Europe.  Better  results  will  soon  come 
in  this  regard. 

As  a  market  for  commercial  fertilizers,  wagons 
and  muleSjOpclikais  unsurpassed.  Large  amounts 
of  the  one  and  numbers  of  the  others  are  annually 
sold. 

But  the  futnre  prosperity  of  the  city  will  not 
exclusively,  or  even  mainly,  depend  on  her  com- 
merce. That  which  is  destined  to  build  Opelika 
to  the  proportions  of  a  large  city,  are  her  unsur- 
passed advantages  for  manufacturing  enterprises. 
There  are  now  located  here,  a  soda-water  manu- 
factory, a  large  wagon  and  buggy  factory,  a  cot- 
ton-seed oil  mill,  merchant  mill,  a  fertilizer  fac- 
tory, an  iron  foundry,  a  spoke  and  handle  factory, 
and  a  sash  and  door  factory.  These  industries 
are  in  the  hands  of  intelligent,  active  and  stirring 
men,  who  are  having  all  they  can  do,  and  meeting 
with  unbounded  success.  Year  by  year  they  are 
enlarging  and  demonstrating,  by  practical  work, 
the  necessity  for  the  estaljlishment  of  enterprises 
to  supply  the  articles  which  enter  so  largely  into 
consumption  of  our  people.  Besides  these,  there 
are  here,  also,  a  chair  and  furniture  factory,  an 
extensive  manufacture  of  brick,  several  steam 
ginneries,  and  a  wholesale  candy  manufactory. 

Situated  only  a  short  distance  by  rail  from  the 
iron  and  coal  deposits  of  the  State,  with  two  rail- 
roads penetrating  these  inexhaustible  fields  of 
wealth,  with  building  sites  for  shops  and  houses 
verv  cheap,  removed  from  the  large  mass  of  discon- 
tented spirits  that  usually  gather  about  the  mines, 
with  health  assured,  a  mild,  salubrious  climate, 
with  ample  school  and  church  facilities,  and  with 
railroads  running  out  in  every  direction,  Opelika 
presents  splendid  advantages  for  the  establishment 
of  factories  for  the  making  of  many  articles  which 
will  always  be  in  large  demand.  For  reasons,  ob- 
vious to  the  thoughtful,  this  city  offers  induce- 
ments superior  to  cities  near  the  mines  for  manu- 


736 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


facturing  axes,  hoes,  bolts,  screws,  and,  indeed, 
all  the  lighter  articles  into  the  making  of  which 
iron  enters.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  the  finest 
and  most  expensive  fabrics  from  the  great  staples 
of  universal  use  are  rarely  made  in  proximity  to 
the  prodnction  of  the  raw  material. 

Tiie  educational  institutions  are  of  a  very  liigh 
order.  In  addition  to  the  public  school  there  are 
two  high-schools,  with  full  corps  of  competent 
teachers,  besides  several  private  schools.  These, 
together  with  the  benign  influences  of  the 
churches,  are  exciting  healthful,  intellectual  and 
moral  training,  which  is  observable  in  the  intelli- 
gence and  conservatism  of  lier  citizens.  Each 
Protestant  denomination  has,  among  the  whites,  a 
well-built,  commodious  chureli  building,  some  of 
which  are  quite  expensive  and  handsome, — wliile 
the  colored  people  have  several  churches,  which 
are  also  substantially  built  and  well  attended.  Asa 
people,the  citizens  are  quiet,  orderly,  sober,  upright 
and  conservative;  and  these  qualities  are  charac- 
teristic, not  alone  of  the  white  people,  but  of  the 
colored  population  as  Avell,  some  of  whom  are 
solid,  reliable  men,  who  are  gathering  sul)stance 
around  them  and  bravely  struggling  for  honest 
livelihood  and  honorable  reputation. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  article  we  said  that 
Opelika  is  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  country 
of  Alabama.  This  is  true,  and  north  and  east  of  her 
is  the  red  land  of  the  oak  and  hickory— the  land 
of  grain,  fine  horses  and  hospitality:  while  west 
and  south  are  pine  and  hummock  lands,  where 
cotton,  fruit  and  melons  grow  to  perfection,  and 
cheerful  homes  abound,  filled  with  a  race  of  men 
and  women  whose  virtues  are  many. 

Owing  to  many  untoward  circumstances  and 
weighty  causes,  agriculture  has  not  thriven  during 
the  past  few  years  as  it  might  have  done,  and  as 
its  patrons  deserved.  It  would  serve  no  practical 
purpose,  in  this  brief  historical  sketch,  to  set 
down  these  causes  or  to  discuss  the  reasons. 
Bright  hopes  of  better  systems  and  more  abun- 
dant results  are  animating  the  hearts  of  the  peo- 
ple and  nerving  them  for  renewed  efforts.  And 
why  should  they  not  bear,  in  this  favored  land, 
golden  crowns  for  the  labor  of  tiie  husbandman? 
Climate,  seasons  and  soil,  all  conspire  to  enrich 
the  intelligent  tiller  of  the  fields.  Corn,  oats, 
wheat,  rye,  barle}',  sorghum,  milomaize,  kaffir- 
corn,  ribboncane,  grass,  potatoes,  melons,  pea- 
nuts, peas,  cotton,  cabbage,  onions,  lettuce,  car- 
rots,, celery,    asparagus,    berries,    grapes,     figs, 


peaches,  apples,  pears,  plums,  quinces,  apricots, 
and  all  other  field  and  garden  products  of  the 
temperate  zone,  besides  different  kinds  of  nuts, 
grow  in  great  abundance,  "  with  half  a  chance"  ; 
while  the  delicious  scuppernong  is  literally  at 
home  on  every  hill  and  in  every  valley. 

When  we  say  these  things  grow  in  abundance, 
we  speak  only  the  literal  truth. 

Intelligent  experiments  have  demonstrated  that 
the  soil,  in  all  the  country  surrounding  OiJelika, 
is  susceptible  of  vast  improvement,  and,  when 
improved,  will  yield  enormous  crops.  Well  au- 
thenticated results  have  reached  two  and  three 
bales  of  lint  cotton  on  one  acre,  and  one  hundred 
bushels  of  corn  per  acre,  and  other  crops  in  pro- 
portion. Where  such  wonderful  yields  are  pos- 
sible, it  requires  no  prophet's  eye  to  see,  in  the 
near  future,  the  hills  and  valleys  of  Lee  County 
studded  with  the  cozy  homes  of  bright,  cheerful 
farmers,  surrounded  by  happy,  contented  wives 
and  children,  singing  the  cheerful  songs  of  life. 

In  addition  to  these  benefactions,  a  kind  Provi- 
dence has  given  this  favored  spot  a  genial  clime. 
For  eight  months  in  the  year  cattle  can  subsist  in 
open  fields.  During  all  that  time  the  tempera- 
ture is  from  40°  (Fahrenheit)  above  zero,  in  the 
early  spring  and  late  autumn,  to  GO'  and  80°  in  the 
summer,  rarel}'  reaching  9(1°,  while  the  other  four 
months  seldom  bring  many  days  that  prevent  out- 
door work  and  recreation.  With  these  condi- 
tions, cattle-raising  is  made  easy,  certain  and 
profitable — a  fact  which  some  farmers  are  now 
practically  demonstrating,  for  at  the  agricultural 
fair  held  at  Opelika,  in  the  fall  of  188^,  one 
farmer  exhibited  twenty-seven  colts,  and  several 
exhibited  fine  cattle  of  different  strains,  besides 
hogs,  sheep,  poultry,  etc.  The  fair-ground  is 
beautifully  arranged  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city, 
and  is  one  of  the  permanent  enterprises  of  the 
place.  The  first  exhibition  was  in  October,  1887, 
and  surpassed  the  most  sanguine  expectation. 

In  the  country  surrounding  the  city,  are  many 
indications  and  outcroppings  of  minerals, 
though  there  has  been  no  development  of  this 
source  of  wealth,  and  it  is  not  definitely  known 
that  minerals  exist  in  paying  quantities.  But  a 
few  miles  from  the  city,  there  is,  in  successful  op- 
eration, one  of  the  most  famous  lime  works  in  the 
South.  The  rock  is  of  the  finest  quality  and  in- 
exhaustible. Quarries  of  granite  are  being  opened 
in  different  places,  and  samples  of  marble  and 
paint,  from  different  points  near  by,  are  now  being 


yORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


rsr 


tested  to  determine  their  value,  while  a  few  miles 
to  the  northwest  gold  mines  are  "  ]iiinning  out  " 
ill  iiayiiig  (juantities. 

In  addition  to  tiie  sources  of  wealth  already 
alluded  to,  is  the  timber  of  the  adjacent  forests. 
\'ery  tine  lumber  is  being  sawed  in  large  quanti- 
ties by  numerous  sawmills,  which  find  ready  sale 
in  this,  and  other  markets  easily  reached  by  rail. 
Then  we  have  in  great  (juantities  the  several  vari- 
eties of  oak,  iiickory,  l>eech,  ash,  chestnut,  china, 
maple,  j)o[)lar,  some  black  walnut,  and  other  vari- 
eties of  hardwood — valuable  material  for  many 
articles  of  utility. 

It  would  be  a  difficult  matter  to  find  a  better 
watered  section  than  this.  Clear,  cool,  pure,  free, 
stone  springs  are  in  nearly  every  valley,  and  run 
on  forever.  The  branches  are,  therefore,  very 
numerous — indeed  so  nunierous,  that  it  isdouijtful 
if  a  spot  in  Lee  County  can  be  found  as  much  as 
one  mile  distant  from  a  never-failing,  running 
stream. 

With  all  those  points  of  excellence,  land  is  rpiite 
cheap  l)ut  will  not  rumain  so,  for  a  great  while. 

Seven  miles  from  Opelika,  at  Auburn,  is  located 
the  Agricultural  and  Jlechanical  College  of  the 
State,  an  institution  just  beginning  a  career  of 
usefulness  to  the  whole  State. 

A  history  of  Lee  County  would,  of  course,  be 
incomplete,  that  failed  to  mention  Loachapoka, 
Salem,  Browncville  and  other  important  points  in 
the  county.  Hut  this  is  only  a  brief  sketch  of 
Opelika,  and  the  remarks  on  the  surrounding 
country  are  incidental  to  her  environment. 

One  thing  that  has  contributed  largely  to  the 
depression  of  t)pelika  and  Lee  County  is  a  large 
bonded  indebtedness,  which  was  voted  in  aid  of 
railroads,  when  such  things  were  possible  in  Ala- 
l)ama,  twenty  years  ago.  The  county  indebted- 
ness has  been  nearly  adjusted  and  can  not  be  biir- 
densonie  in  the  future,  liy  judicious  legislation 
it  has  been  compromised,  and  tlie  State  assisted 
by  loaning  money  to  ^lay  the  compromise,  which 
loan  bears  no  interest,  and  is  to  be  repaid  in  easy 
installments.  Besides  this  the  county  has  no 
iKinded  debt.  The  city  debt  is  now  in  the  hands 
of  Commissioners,  and  will  doubtless  be  adjusted 
before  a  great  while.  The  creditors  are  offering 
to  compromise,  and  wiien  adjusted,  tlie  debt  can 
be  easily  managed.  The  rate  of  county  ta.xation 
is  ot)e-half  of  one  ])er  cent.,  and  the  rate  of  the 
city  is  the  same. 

The  learned  professions  are  ably  and   well    reji- 


resented  in  Opelika.     Some  of  her  physicians  and 
lawyers  have  attained  State  reputations. 

Her  ministry  has  for  years  been,  and  still  is,  of 
the  very  highest  order,  and  how  earnestly,  faith- 
fully and  conscientiously  these  devoted  men  of 
the  churches  have  performed  their  duty,  is  mani- 
fested by  the  large  congregations  of  Christian 
men  and  women  who  constantly  wait  u})on  their 
ministry. 

This  sketch  is  assuming  forbidden  length.  A 
recapitulation  of  some  of  Opelika's  points  of  excel- 
lence, and  her  present  status,  will  indicate  the 
possibilities  of  her  future.  In  tlie  absence  of  otti- 
cial  ascertainment,  the  statements  may  be  incor- 
rect in  some  slight  respects,  but  are  sufficiently 
accurate  for  practical  purposes  to  say  that  Opelika 
has  one  hundred  stores  and  offices  of  business:  five 
large  brick  and  rock  cotton  warehouses:  two  well 
managed  banks:  four  wiiolesale  establishments; 
three  hotels,  besides  restaurants:  a  wagon  and  fur- 
niture factory;  an  iron  foundry  and  several  steam 
gins;  an  extensive  variety  works:  a  cotton-seed  oil 
mill  and  fertilizer  factory;  a  merdiant  mill  and 
several  other  industries:  eight  churches:  several 
schools:  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and 
other  public  halls:  an  opera  house:  several  large 
livery  and  sale  stables:  a  large  brick  manufactory; 
the  court-house  and  other  public  buildings;  spoke, 
handle,  sash  and  door  factories;  four  thousand 
inhabitants:  railroads  radiating  in  five  directions; 
a  prosperous  newspaper:  a  good  country  around 
for  farms:  a  fine  climate,  good  health,  good  water, 
and  favorable  prospects. 

With  all  these  and  many  other  advantages,  Ope- 
lika, in  the  very  near  future  will  fulfill  the  prophe- 
cies, and  realize  the  hopes  of  her  most  sanguine 
friends. 

.    ..>  .;g^^H»^>- 

WILLIAM  J,  SAMFORD,  President  of  the  State 
Senate  of  Alabama,  and  a  ]>rominent  Attorney-at- 
law,  was  born  in  Meriwether  County,  (ia..  in 
September,  1844,  and  is  the  son  of  William  F. 
and  Susan  L.  (Dowdell)  Samford,  natives  of  that 
State, 

The  senior  Mr.  Samford  was  a  lawyer  of  high 
standing  in  Georgia,  and  had  a  rejtutation 
throughout  the  South  as  a  gentleman  of  fine 
scholarship  and  varied  attainments.  He  came  to 
Alabama  in  1840,  and  was  prominent  here  as  an 
attorney.  He  was  also  an  extensive  planter  and 
an  able  political  writer. 


738 


NORTHERN   ALABAMA. 


William  J.  Samford  studied  at  what  is  now 
the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  at 
Auburn,  Ala.,  and  at  the  State  University  of 
Georgia,  but  his  collegiate  career  was  cut  short  by 
the  war.  lie  was  seventeen  years  of  age  when  he 
enlisted  in  the  Confederate  Army,  as  a  private  in 
Company  G,  Forty-sixth  Alabama,  with  which 
command  he  was  in  the  Tennessee  and  Kentucky 
campaigns.  Being  transferred  to  Mississippi  he 
was  captured  in  front  of  ^'icksburg,  and  afterward 
imprisoned  on  Johnson's  Island  eighteen  months. 
When  his  exchange  was  effected,  he  at  once 
returned  to  the  army,  and  stayed  with  it  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  leaving  the  service  with  the  rank 
of  first  lieutenant. 

Mr.  Samford  gave  his  attention  to  farming  for 
several  years  after  the  war,  devoting  his  spare 
time  to  the  study  of  law.  lie  realized  the  truth 
of  the  saying  that  there  is  no  royal  road  to  great- 
ness, and  with  this  idea  before  him,  it  is  needless 
to  say  he  applied  himself  to  study  with  the  great- 
est assiduity. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1866,  and  began 
the  practice  in  1871,  at  Opelika,  where  he  has 
continued  ever  since,  and  where  he  has  risen  step 
by  step,  until  he  has  few  ecjuals  and  no  superiors, 
lie  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  young 
men  in  the  State. 

Before  reaching  thirty-one  years  of  age,  he  rep- 
resented his  Senatorial  District  in  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1875;  was  one  of  the  Greeley 
Electors  in  1872;  voted  for  Tildenin  the  Electoral 
College  of  1870;  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1878; 
to  the  lower  house  of  the  State  Legislature  in 
1882;  to  the  State  Senate  in  1884,  and  in  1886 
was  made  President  of  that  body. 

In  all  the  positions  to  which  he  has  been  called, 
Mr.  Samford  has  borne  himself  with  marked 
ability  and  dignity.  lie  was  married  in  October, 
1805,  to  Miss  Carrie  E.,  daughter  of  Dr.  John  H. 
and  Mary  (Williams)  Drake,  formerly  of  North 
Carolina,  and  has  had  born  to  him  eight  chil- 
dren: William  IL,  Thomas  1).,  William  J., 
Richard  L.,  Susan  G.,  Caroline  E.,  Crawford  A. 
and  Walter  H. 

Mr.  Samford  is  a  metnbor  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity, the  American  Legion  of  Honor,  and  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

He  is  the  author  of  the  chapter  in  this  volume 
on  Opelika,  and  for  careful  arrangement  and  suc- 
cinct presentation  of  fact,  the  publishers  take 
pleasure  in  recommending  it  to  their  readers. 


WILLIAM  E.  HUDMON,  of  the  firm  of  Hud- 
mon  Bros.  &  Co.,  Wholesale  and  Retail  Dealers  iu 
Dry-goods  and  Groceries,  Opelika,  was  born  in 
Chambers  County,  this  State,  December  30,  1843, 
and  is  a  son  of  Daniel  X.  and  Sarah  (Collins)  Ilud- 
mon.  His  father  was  a  native  of  Georgia,  and 
his  mother  of  Tennessee.  The  senior  Mr.  Iludmon 
was  a  planter  and  merchant,  and  died  in  188<i  at 
Opelika. 

Our  subject  received  his  education  at  Beulah 
Academy,  this  county,  and,  when  twenty-four 
years  of  age,  began  a  general  merchandise  business 
in  partnership  with  his  brother,  .J.  F.  Hudmon,  at 
the  town  of  Beulah.  This  arrangement  continued 
until  January  1,  1873.  He  then  purchased  his 
brother's  interest  and  continued  in  business  at 
Beulah  until  March,  1877,  when  he  moved  to 
Opelika,  and,  in  the  fall  of  1878,  formed  a 
partnership  with  G.  W.  Hopson.  This  firm,  under 
the  name  of  W.  E.  Iludmon  &  Co.,  continued  in 
general  mercantile  business  until  January,  188l(, 
at  which  time  its  members  succeeded  the  Messrs. 
Edwards  of  the  firm  of  Edwards,  Hudmon  &  Co., 
forming  the  new  firm  which  still  continues  as  the 
firm  of  Iludmon  Bros.  &  Co. 

Mr.  Hudmon  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company 
C,  First  Battalion  Ililliard's  Alabama  Legion, 
(afterward  the  Sixtieth  Alabama  Regiment),  in 
April,  1802  and  remained  in  active  service  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  During  his  term  of  service,  he 
was  wounded  at  Chickamauga,  taken  prisoner 
March  31,  1805,  near  Petersburg,  A'a.,  and  impris- 
oned at  Point  Lookout,  in  Maryland. 

After  the  war,  Mr.  Hudmon  returned  to  Beulah, 
and,  as  has  been  seen,  moved  to  Opelika  in  1S77. 
Associated  with  him  are  his  brothers,  P.  T. 
Iludmon,  D.  T.  Iludmon,  G.  X.  Hudmon  and 
G.  W.  Hopson,  the  latter  marrying  his  only  sister. 

Not  only  is  Mr.  Hudmon  a  leading  merchant  of 
Opelika,  but  he  is  one  of  her  progressive  and  pub- 
lic-spirited citizens,  and  he  has  received  proofs  of 
his  appreciation  by  the  people  of  that  city.  He 
has  served  the  city  as  Mayor,  and  been  repeatedly 
on  its  Board  of  Aldermen.  Both  as  Mayor  and  Al- 
derman he  has  always  given  the  highest  satisfaction. 

He  was  married  December  17,  1805,  to  Miss 
Mary  E.  Dickens,  of  Beulah.  To  their  union  one 
cl'.ild  was  born,  Dona  Belle,  now  the  wife  of  Ben- 
jamin A.  Cooper,  of  Opelika. 

Mrs.  Hudmon  died  in  January,  1887,  and  Mr. 
Iludmon  was  married  to  Mrs.  A.  E.  Milford,  nie 
Sutton,  in  February,  1888. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


739 


Our  subject  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church 
and  belongs  to  tlie  Kniglits  of  the  Golden  Rule 
and  to  the  JIasonic  fraternity.  In  church  work 
he  is  very  active.  He  was  cliairnutn  of  the  com- 
mittee which  built  the  handsome  brick  church  edi- 
fice whicli  now  stands  as  a  monument  to  its  pro- 
moters and  an  ornament  to  the  city  of  Opelika. 
Its  construction  was  begun  under  very  embarrass- 
ing circumstances,  and  that  it  was  built  is  due 
more  largely  to  Mr.  Iludmon's  elTort.s  than  to 
those  of  any  other  one  person. 

JESSE  G.  PALMER.  M.  D..  was  born  .lune  21, 
18C1,  in  Troup  County,  Ca.,  and  his  parents  are 
the  Rev.  Jesse  A.  and  Emily  (J.  (Cotton)  Palmer, 
natives  of  that  State.  U'he  former  is  a  local  min- 
ister of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  since  locating  in  Troup  County  has  been 
engaged  in  farming. 

Jesse  (i.  Palmer  received  his  academic  edncation 
at  West  Point,  (ia.,  and,  after  leaving  that  school, 
entered  tlie  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
at  Baltimore.  Md.,  and  was  graduated  March 
4,  18.'<4,  as  il.  D.  He  began  practice  at  Oak 
Bowery,  Ala.,  and  remained  there  until  Feb- 
ruary, 1888,  when  he  came  to  Opelika  and  formed 
a  partnership  with  Dr.  Charles  B.  McCoy.  Here, 
as  elsewhere.  Dr.  Palmer  has  been  very  successful 
in  his  jiractice,  and  apart  from  this  is  looked  npon 
as  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  his  community. 

Prior  to  leaving  his  former  home,  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Censors  of  Chambers  County, 
and  since  coming  to  Opelika,  he  has  been  continu- 
ously identified  with  the  County  and  State  Medical 
Societies. 

Dr.  Palmer  was  married  in  December,  lS8.i.  to 
iliss  Mary  W.,  daughter  of  William  P.  and  iiary 
(Avery)  Spratling,  of  (Jold  Hill.  Ala.,  and  has 
one  child. 

— • — •■^•-.j^^^j*-.^.— • — 

LEDEN  W.  SHEPHERD.  M.  D.,  was  born  at 
Huntsville,  Ala.,  antl  is  a  son  of  Leden  W.  and 
Catherine  (Ebersole)  Shepherd,  natives  of  Vir- 
ginia. The  senior  Mr.  Shepherd  was  a  contractor 
and  builder  by  occupation.  He  came  to  North 
Alabama  in  1825,  and  settled  at  Huntsville, 
where  he  died  in  1S(;2. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  after  receiving  his 
literary  education,  became  a  student  in  the  Medi- 


cal Department  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  lie 
was  graduated  from  the  New  York  City  College  of 
Medicine  in  18.">'J.  He  began  the  practice  at  De- 
catur. Ala.,  the  same  year,  and  remained  there 
until  lS(;i,  when  he  entered  the  Confederate  ser- 
vice as  a  member  of  Company  I,  Fourth  .Mabama 
Infantry.  Subsequently  he  was  appointed  sur- 
geon at  Fort  Morgan,  near  Mobile:  was  transferred 
from  there  to  the  Eighteenth  Alabania  Regiment 
as  assistant  surgeon,  and  jiromoted  afterward  to 
surgeon. 

When  the  war  was  over,  Dr.  Shepherd  came  to 
Opelika,  and  since  1805  has  been  in  active  and 
successful  practice.  He  belongs  to  the  State 
Medical  Association  and  the  County  Medical 
Society,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Censors 
for  Lee  County. 

CHARLES  B.  McCOY.  M.  D.,  was  born  Janu- 
ary 21.  IS.V.i.  at  Salem,  this  State,  and  is  a  son  of 
Dr.  Amos  and  Frances  McCoy, natives,  respectively, 
of  Georgia  and  Kentucky.  The  senior  Doctor 
McCoy  is  well  known  in  Lee  County',  where  he 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  profession  and 
where  he  has  been  in  active  practice  for  forty 
years. 

Charles  B.  McCoy  received  his  academic  educa- 
tion at  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College, 
at  Auburn,  where  he  wasgraduated  in  1880.  From 
there  he  entered  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  and  received  his 
diploma  in  1882.  He  began  the  practice  at  Ope- 
lika, and  from  the  beginning  has  met  with  that 
measure  of  success  which  could  but  be  gratifying 

1   to  even  those  older  in  the  profession. 

Dr.  McCoy  is  a  member  of  the  Alabama  State 

•   Medical  Association,  of  the  Leo  County  Medical 
Society  (is  treasurer  of  the  latter),  and   has  filled 

j   the  office  of  County  Health  Officer  for  two  years. 
He  belongs  to  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  is  a 

■   member  of  the  Episcoi)al  Church. 

•    -O-'^St^^fr 

JOHN  W.  R.  WILLIAMS,  M.  D..  was  born  in 

Geoigia.  Feliniary  2.  l">:>."i.  anil  is  a  son  of  Whit- 
field and  Frances  E.  Williams,  natives,  resjjec- 
tively,  of  (Jeorgia  and  South  Carolina.  The  fam- 
ily located  early  in  Louisiana,  and  there  the  senior 
Mr.  Williams  died  in  1S.">'.>. 


740 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


John  W.  R.  Williams  received  his  primary  edu- 
cation near  liis  boyhood  home,  and  was  graduated 
from  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College,  at 
Auburn,  this  State.  He  studied  medicine  and 
surgery  at  the  Georgia  Eclectic  College  of  Medi- 
cine, and  received  the  degree  of  M.  D.  in  1858.  I 
He  began  practice  immediately  in  Louisiana,  and 
remained  there  fifteen  years.  In  187'-i,  he  came  to  j 
Opelika,  and  has  since  been  in  the  practice  here. 

Dr.  Williams  entered  the  Confederate  Army  as 
a  member  of  the  Twenty-seventh  Louisiana  In- 
fanti-y,  and  remained  in  active  service  until  the 
smoke  of  the  battle  had  cleared  away. 

In  1861,  he  was  married  to  ilary  W.,  daughter  of 
Daniel  and  Susan  (Mizell)  BuUard,  of  Lee  County, 
Ala.  They  have  had  five  children:  Francis, 
deceased;  Daniel  B.,  who  is  a  physician;  Wiley 
W. ;  Warren  S.,  deceased;  and  William  H.,  de- 
ceased. Mrs.  AVilliams  died  in  1810,  and  Dr. 
Williams  was  married  again  in  May,  1872,  to  Eliz- 
abeth, a  sister  of  his  first  wife.  To  this  union 
have  been  born  three  children:  Susan  M.,  Kinaldo 
(i.  and  John  W. 

The  Doctor  has  for  many  years  been  an  active 
official  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  is  one  of  its  most  prominent  members.  He 
is  highly  esteemed  by  all  who  know  him  as  a 
Christian  gentleman  and  a  first-class  physician. 

GEORGE  P.  HARRISON.  Jr.,  Attorney-at-law, 
was  born  Mareli  19.  1>11.  iiuar  Savannah,  6a.  His 
parents  are  Gen.  (ieorge  P.  and  Jlrs.  Addie  Har- 
rison, who  still  reside  in  Chatham  County,  Ga. 

The  senior  (Jeneral  Harrison  is  a  native  Geor- 
gian, and  Mrs.  Harrison  is  a  Soutii  Carolinian  by 
birth.  The  former  was  an  extensive  rice  planter 
and  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  politics  of  his 
earlier  days.  lie  repeatedly  represented  his  county 
in  both  branches  of  the  Georgia  Legislature,  and 
before  the  war  was  major-general  of  the  (leorgia 
State  Militia.  In  the  Confederate  Army  he  held 
the  rank  of  brigadier-general.  After  the  war  he 
was  a  member  of  the  First  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion for  the  State  of  (Jeorgia,  and  has  filled  many 
other  positions  of  honor  and  trust. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  after  the  prelim- 
inary school  training  which  most  boys  receive 
at  the  common  schools,  went  to  Effingham  Acad- 
emy, and  at  a  subsequent  period  entered  the  Geor- 
gia Military  Institute.    From  the  latter  institution 


he  was  graduated  as  captain  of  Company  A  and 
as  the  first-honor  man  of  the  class  of  18C1.  He 
at  once  entered  the  service  of  the  Confederacy  as  a 
second  lieutenant  in  the  First  Georgia  Regulars 
and  his  promotion  was  rapid  and  marvelous.  He 
was  successively  promoted  from  the  grade  of  lien- 
teiuiut  to  staff  officer,  colonel  of  the  Thirty-second 
Georgia,  and  brigadier-general,  with  the  command 
of  a  brigade.  He  was  a  colonel  before  he  was 
twenty  years  old,  and  a  brigadier-general  before 
he  had  reached  his  twenty-second  year.  He 
enjoyed  the  remarkable  distinction  of  being  the 
youngest  ofiieer  of  his  rank  in  the  Confederate 
Army,  and  maintained  this  honorable  connection 
with  the  army,  in  behalf  of  the  cause  he  espoused 
so  warmly,  until  the  war  closed. 

The  criticisms  of  his  seniors  in  the  service  were 
in  every  way  creditable  to  and  eulogistic  of  Gen- 
eral Harrison. 

General  Beauregard,  than  whom  there  was  no 
grander  military  spirit  on  either  side,  in  his  re- 
ports, where  he  refers  to  General  Harrison,  speaks 
of  him  as  "'an  officer  of  skill  and  courage,"  and 
in  Maj.-Gen.  Samuel  Jones'  reports,  after  the  war, 
we  find  equally  complimentary  notice  of  him. 

In  1804  General  Harrison  was  ordered  to  Flor- 
ence, S.  C,  to  take  charge  of  the  Federal  prison- 
ers. Here  his  kind  treatment  of  those  who  were 
his  enemies  in  war,  and  who  were  now  to  a  great 
extent  at  his  mercy,  was  as  lofty  and  noble  as  his 
previous  conduct  in  the  heat  of  battle  had  been 
daring  and  chivalrous.  Xor  was  this  manly  and 
humane  conduct  to  be  lost  sight  of.  The  memen- 
toes of  appreciation  emanating  from  those  who 
were  committed  to  his  charge  as  prisoners  are  the 
nicst  striking  and  the  most  genuine  asseverations 
of  his  noble  and  generous  bearing,  when,  had  it 
been  in  the  power  of  many  to  fill  a  similar  position, 
a  tale  as  black  as  night  itself  would  have  been  the 
only  record  loft  behind. 

When  the  fortunes  of  war  decreed  that  Savan- 
nah, the  native  city  of  our  subject,  should  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  when  the  fami- 
lies of  all  Confederate  officers  had  been  ordered  to 
leave  the  city,  the  War  Department  of  the  Federal 
(iovernment  at  Washington  issued  an  order  giving 
special  permits  to  the  immediate  family  of  General 
Harrison  to  remain  in  the  city,  and  placed  guards 
at  their  disposal  for  the  protection  of  their  home 
and  pro|)erty,  as  a  reward  and  evidence  of  appre- 
ciation of  his  previous  kind  treatment  of  the  Fed- 
eral prisoners  under  his  care. 


NORTHERN  ALA/IA.VA. 


741 


As  a  mark  specially  eulogistic  of  General  Harri- 
son's careeer  as  an  army  oflleer,  nothing  more 
graceful  and  appropriate  can  be  found  than  the 
vote  of  tiianks  jiassod  by  the  Legislature  of  South 
Carolina  for  his  gallant  defense  of  Battery  \\'ng- 
ner,  on  Morris'  Island,  during  the  siege  of 
Charleston. 

Prior  to  the  war  and  wliile  at  college,  he  had 
cursorily  studied  law,  and  afterward,  during  a 
four  years'  e.xperience  as  a  farmer,  he  gave  his 
leisure  hours  to  a  continuation  of  the  study.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bur  of  Lee  County  in  187ti, 
and  the  following  year  was  admitted  to  pr.'ictice 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Alabama.  In  1875 
he  was  elected  to  the  Constitutional  Convention, 
and  from  187fl  to  1880  served  as  a  member  of  the 
State  Senate.  Being  re-elected  in  188(1,  he  was 
made  President  of  that  body  in  188".2. 

In  1871  he  was  cho.sen  to  the  Chair  of  Civil 
and  -Military  Engineering  at  the  State  Agricultu- 
ral and  Mechanical  College  at  Auburn,  and  after 
remaining  there  one  year,  resumed  the  practice  of 
his  profession  at  Opelika.  In  1877,  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  brigadier-genei'al  of  the  Third  Alabama 
District  by  Governor  Houston,  and,  being  several 
times  re-appointed  to  the  same  position,  he  now 
holds  that  office. 

(ieneral  Harrison  has  won  distinction  as  a  law- 
yer, and  now  has  a  clientage  which  would  be 
regarded  as  satisfactory,  from  a  financial  stand- 
point, by  any  lawyer  in  the  State,  lie  is  the 
General  Counsel  for  the  Columbus  &  Western,  the 
Western  of  .\labama.  and  the  Cliarleston.  Savan- 
nah &  Mobile  Railroads,  all  of  which  are  among 
the  leading  roads  running  through  Alabama;  and 
liis  general  practice  is  of  a  most  satisfactory  kind, 
he  being  on  one  side  or  the  other  of  almost  every 
in)portant  ease  in  his  county. 

He  was  married,  in  I8fi;j,  to  Miss  Mary  F. . 
daughter  of  John  C.  and  Mary  A.  Drake,  of 
Georgia.  To  this  union  two  children  were  born; 
of  these,  only  one,  Miss  Mary  .\ddie.  who  is  a 
first-honor  grailuate  of  the  Wesleyan  Female 
College,  is  now  living. 

Mrs.  Harrison's  death  occurred  in  June, 
1884,  and  General  Harrison  was  married  the 
second  time,  in  issd,  to  Miss  .Mattie  C,  daugh- 
ter of  Ex-Lieutenant  Governor  Ligon,  of  Mont- 
gomery, f      " 

The  General  is  a  Knight  Templar  and  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South. 


JAMES  J.  ABERCROMBIE  was  born  in 
(ieorgia.  His  father.  Gen.  Anderson  Abercrom- 
bie,  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  M'ar  of  1812, 
and  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Kalebee.  The 
family  of  Abercrombie  belongs  to  the  best  jjcople 
of  the  South,  and  have  always  left  their  impress 
upon  the  times  in  which  they  have  lived.  Gen- 
eral Abercrombie  died  in  1807,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-two  years. 

James  J.  Abercrombie  received  his  education  at 
O.vford,  Ga.,  and  at  Cambridge  University,  Mas- 
sachusetts. He  studied  law  in  the  latter  institution 
after  finishing  his  literary  course,  and  was  admit- 
ted to  the  bar  at  Columbus,  Ga.,  in  18.")8.  This  city 
being  near  the  dividing  line  between  Georgia  and 
Alabama,  gave  Mr.  Abercrombie  an  opportunity  to 
practice  in  both  States,  and  we  find  that,  in  addi- 
tion to  a  lucrative  practice  in  the  courts  of  the 
former,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  he  also 
practiced  before  the  United  States  Courts  of  Ala- 
bama. In  1800,  he  was  elected  Judge  of  Musco- 
gee County,  Ga.,  and  filled  that  position  four 
years. 

Judge  Abercrombie,  like  most  Southern  men 
of  that  day  and  time,  is  not  without  his  war  rec- 
ord. He  entered  the  Confederate  service  in  Koss' 
Battalion,  as  a  member  of  Company  B. ;  was  made 
judge-advocate  of  the  battalion,  and  served  a 
short  time  on  the  staff  (if  General  Browne,  with 
the  rank  of  major. 

He  was  married  in  1856,  to  Miss  Parthenia, 
daughter  of  ilajor  Isaac  Ross,  of  Elmore  County, 
Ala.  To  them  have  been  born  four  children  : 
James  A.,  Isaac  R.,  John  C.  and  Wily. 

Judge  Abercrombie  is  a  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  has  for  many  years 
been  an  active  worker  in  the  Sunday-schook 

•    ■■>•  ■^^^••C"    '  - 

SAMUEL  0.  HOUSTON.  Attorney-at-law,  Ope- 
lika, was  born  February  "..',  1851.  in  Harris  County, 
Ga.,  and  is  a  son  of  (ieorge  W.  and  Nancy  (Wanl) 
Houston,  natives,  respectively,  of  North  Carolina 
and  Georgia.  His  father  was  a  farmer  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  March,  1880. 

Samuel  0.  Houston  attended  i)ast  Alabama  Col- 
lege (now  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege), at  Auburn,  for  some  time,  and  afterward 
comi>leled  his  literary  course  at  the  University  of 
Georgia,  graduating  in  1809.  He  engaged  in  agri- 


743 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


cultural  pursuits  until  I8T9,  when  he  began  the 
study  of  law.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Lee 
County  in  1881. 

As  a  practicing  lawyer  Mr.  Houston  has  been 
very  successful;  as  a  citizen,  he  is  public-spirited; 
and  as  a  gentleman,  he  is  refined  and  cultivated. 
In  1880  he  formed  a  partnership  in  the  law  prac- 
tice with  Judge  John  M.  Chilton.  This  associa- 
tion continued  one  year,  and  was  mutually  dis- 
solved. 

Mr.  Ilou.ston  is  one  of  those  wlio  lias  studiously 
let  politics  alone  and  devoted  himself  to  his 
profession;  as  a  consequence,  success  has  crowned 
his  etforts.  Thinking  it  a  good  way  to  help  the 
people  he  has  negotiated  loans  from  large  moneyed 
concerns  for  farmers,  in  order  tliat  their  lands 
might  be  improved  and  a  better  state  of  farming 
introduced  among  them.  At  present,  he  is  in 
correspondence  with  capitalists  at  the  North,  with 
a  view  to  bringing  additional  sums  of  money  into 
this  locality,  to  be  lent  to  the  farmers  upon  their 
lands  as  security. 

WILLIAM  B.  GIBSON,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Lee  County,  is  one  of  those  honest  citi- 
zens who  has  been  a  tiller  of  the  soil  all  his  life 
witii  the  exception  of  the  period  of  his  incum- 
bency in  the  present  office.  He  was  born  in  this 
county  in  February,  18.!)1,  and  is  a  son  of  Wily  J. 
and  Sarah  A.  (Bennett)  (iibson,  natives,  respect- 
ively, of  Georgia  and  North  Carolina.  The  former 
was  a  farmer  throughout  his  life,  and  died  in  1808. 

AV.  B.  Gibson  was  educated  primarily  at  the 
common  schools  near  his  home,  and  subsequently 
attendt^d  a  private  school  in  Montgomery.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  years  he  began  farming  and  kept  it 
up  till  the  year  1880,  when  he  was  elected  Circuit 
Clerk.  Prior  to  his  election  lie  liad  held  the  posi- 
tion of  Postmaster  at  Wacoochee,  Ala. ;  was  several 
years  a  Magistrate,  and  was  also  a  Notary-public. 

He  was  married  in  1871,  to  Miss  Mary  L., 
daughter  of  John  and  Martha  N.  (Finch)  Monk, 
of  Lee  County.  They  have  six  children:  Bertha, 
Jennie,  Oscar   T. ,  Katie,  William  B.  and  Smith. 


-.^ 


«4^> 


a  son  of  X.  P.  and  Nancy  (Rinehart)  Renfro. 
Tiie  senior  !Mr.  Kenfro  was  a  farmer  and  died  in 
Chambers  County  in  July,  185.5. 

Noah  P.  Kenfro  was  educated  at  Howard  Col- 
lege, Marion,  Ala.,  and,  when  twenty-two  years 
old,  engaged  in  tlie  grocery  business  at  Opelika  in 
partnership  with  his  brothers,  F.  and  F.  JI.  Kenfro. 
Tlie  firm  did  an  extensive  wholesale  grocery  busi- 
ness until  January,  1888,  when  they  closed  out 
and  entered  into  the  banking  and  warehouse  busi- 
ness exclusively. 

The  First  National  Bank  was  organized  in 
JIarch,  1880,  with  Noah  P.  Kenfro  as  Vice-Presi- 
dent. He  is  also  a  stockholder  in  the  Chewacla 
Lime  Works,  a  $100,00(>  concern,  situated  near 
Opelika. 

!Mr.  Kenfro,  though  yet  a  young  man,  has  at- 
tained a  place  in  the  business  world  which  tiiose 
of  much  greater  years  would  consider  an  ample  re- 
ward for  a  lifetime  of  toil.  He  has  always  been 
a  public-spirited  citizen  and  occupies  a  high  social 
position.  He  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  City 
Council  of  Opelika. 

In  1885  he  was  married  at  Greenville,  to  Miss 
Maggie,  daughter  of  T.  P.  and  Laura  (Williamson) 
McCall,  of  that  place.  They  have  one  child,  Ne- 
ville P. 

Mr.  Kenfro  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fratern- 
ity, of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and 
of  the  Knights  of  Pythias. 


NOAH  P.  RENFRO,  Vice-President  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Opelika,  was  born  in  Octo- 
ber, 1855,  in  Chambers  County,  tliis  State,  and  is 


MOSES  T.  TRAWICK,  Proprietor  of  the  Ope- 
lika oil  Mills  and  of  the  Lee  County  Fertilizer 
Manufactory,  was  born  in  May,  1847,  in  Kussell 
County,  Ala.,  and  is  a  son  of  Moses  T.  and  Anna 
(Lawson)  Trawick,  natives  of  Georgia.  His  father, 
a  farmer  by  occupation,  died  in  1848. 

^I.  T.  Trawick  received  his  education  at  the 
common  schools  in  his  native  county,  and,  at  the 
early  age  of  sixteen  years,  enlisted  in  the  Confed- 
erate Army,  where  he  remained  till  the  close  of 
the  war.  His  last  fighting  was  done  within  the 
limits  of  the  county  where  he  was  born,  and  very 
near  his  home. 

After  the  war,  he  devoted  himself  to  farming 
for  fifteen  years  in  Kussell  County.  He  came  to 
Opelika  and  established  the  Opelika  Oil  Mills  in 
1884.  In  1885  he  built  the  fertilizer  factory  of 
which  he  is  now  proprietor.  Both  of  these  institu- 
tions have  been  among  the  most  successful  ever 


XORTHERX  ALABAMA. 


743 


started  in  tlie  city  of  Opclika.  They  employ 
about  thirty  hands,  and  atTord  a  living  to  many 
besides  its  immediate  promoter.  To  liini,  there- 
fore, is  due  a  double  meeil  of  praise,  for,  in  addi- 
tion to  having  given  j)roof  of  his  enterprise,  thus 
stimulating  those  around  iiim  to  energy  and  effort, 
he  has  conferred  a  blessing  ujjou  his  locality,  by 
showing  what  the  country  is  capable  of. 

Mr.  Trawick  was  married  in  18U8  to  Miss  Annie, 
daughter  of  Kichard  and  Margaret  Buchanon,  of 
K'ussell  County.  To  this  union  four  children 
have  been  born:  Ilenrv.  Hirdie  K.,  Willie  D. 
and  L.  T. 

■     '>-;^{^-<- 

CHARLES  E.  STEVENS,  .Alanufacturer  of 
Sasii.  hoors.  Blinds,  t'otton-gins  etc.,  was  born  in 
].s.")4,  in  North  Branford,  Conn.,  and  is  a  son  of 
Amos  and  Laura  A.  (Maltrup)  Stevens,  natives  of 
that  State.  The  senior  Mr.  Stevens  is  a  mechanic, 
and  died  at  Opelika  in  1885. 


Charles  E.  Stevens  attended  school  at  Bristol, 
Conn.,  and  subserjuently,  at  the  grammar  school 
at  Hartford.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  years  he 
apprenticed  himself  to  the  carpenter  trade,  and 
was  afterward  made  superintendent  and  manager 
of  the  construction  of  buildings  of  importance,  in 
the  State  of  Connecticut.  He  remained  in 
that  occupation  until  1S8<I,  when  he  came  to 
Opelika. 

In  IKS."),  Mr.  Steven.s  formed  a  partnership  with 
Mr.  1).  W.  F'loyd,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  erect 
tlie  large  brick  building  in  which  he  subsequently 
placed  the  requisite  machinery  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  sash,  doors,  blinds,  and  gins.  The  busi- 
ness has  been  a  marked  success  from  the  begin- 
ning, and,  as  it  grows  older,  j)atronage  increases. 

Mr.  Stevens  was  married  in  ISTT  to  Miss  Olive, 
daughter  of  Madison  Treat,  of  Meriden,  Conn., 
and  has  had  born  to  him  si.x  children:  Jennie  A., 
Hattie  A.,  Frank  II..  Edwin  A..  Charles  E.  and 
Olive  E. 


.i=^ia\^i^^=L^ 


IX^^ 


^"^^lili^^ 


XX. 
BIRMINGHAM. 


Bv  John   Witherspoon    DuBose. 


Environments,  geographical,  topographical  and 
climatic,  wht-n  rightfully  appreciated,  relieve  the 
site  of  a  great  city  from  suspicion  of  accidental 
selection  to  give  to  it  the  importance  of  a  natural 
affinity.  The  maritime  influence  of  England  creates 
of  London  the  monetary  center  of  the  world's  com- 
merce. But  the  fact  of  this  influence  is  not  in- 
volved alone  in  the  sea-bound  attitude  of  England. 
It  is  further  explained  in  the  climate  which  ex- 
cites continual  physical  and  mental  effort,  and  in 
the  vicinity  of  other  enteri)rising  countries  main- 
taining separate  and  distinct  social  institutions 
promotive  of  diversity  in  the  objects  of  commerce. 
London  is  also  the  entrepot  of  the  great  British 
iron  and  coal  trade. 

The  hereditary  trading  instincts  of  the  Dutch, 
discerned  in  the  confluence  of  the  Hudson  River  and 
its  tributaries,  draining  valleys  of  the  interior  of 
great  agricultural  fertility,  and  affording  hundreds 
of  miles  of  navigation,  with  a  matchless  harbor 
upon  the  sea  side,  conditions  indicative  of  the  site 
of  a  great  commercial  emporium.  And  in  the 
correctness  of  this  prediction.  New  York  has  be- 
■come  the  entrepot  of  more  than  half  the  commer- 
cial wealth  of  the  world. 

Before  Atlanta  had  been  jirojected,  a  convention 
of  the  people  of  the  entire  Mississippi  Valley, 
assembled  at  Jlemjihis,  was  addressed  by  John  C. 
■Calhoun.  Referring  to  the  map,  and  pointing  out 
the  course  of  the  rivers  and  the  lay  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  the  richness  of  the  agricultural  lands, 
he  declared  that  the  spot  on  which  the  city  now 
rests  would  be  the  crossing  place  of  the  great 
trunk  lines  of  rail  transportation,  initiating  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  south  of  the  Ohio  and  reaching 
out  for  the  Atlantic  coast. 

The  selection  of  Jones'  Valley  as  the  centripe- 
tal influence  of  railroads,  projected  to  tap  theuni- 
Tersally    distributed    mineral   wealth  of    several 


counties,  was  a  j'ractical  observance  of  the  course 
taken  by  wagon  roads  and  mail  routes  for  half  a 
century.  Elyton,  a  small  village  toward  the 
center  of  the  valley,  had  been  the  objective  point 
of  immigration  coming  from  the  older  States  to 
this  region  of  Alabama,  whence  it  spread  itself 
into  the  farming  lands  of  the  county.  The  vil- 
lage was  a  resting  place  for  travelers  by  pub- 
lic stage  or  private  carriage,  passing  between  the 
southern  and  northern  counties,  long  before  the 
wonders  of  Red  Mountain  or  the  Warrior  Coal  Fields 
were  suspected.  Through  Elyton  passed  the  cele- 
brated mail  stage  coach  line  of  Jemison,  Powell, 
Ficklen&Co.,  en  ?-07(^e  from  Huntsville  and  Deca- 
tur, on  the  Tennessee,  to  Montgomery  and  Selma, 
on  the  Alabama,  onAvard  to  Mobile.  Elyton  was  the 
stage  of  recuperation  and  rallying  point  of  the  great 
droves  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  mules  bound 
to  the  Southern  towns  for  distribution  on  the  cot- 
ton plantations  of  the  twelve  prairie  counties, 
reaching  from  the  Tom  Beckbee  to  the  Chatta- 
hoochee. Through  Elyton  passed  all  the  travel 
from  the  South  to  the  celebrated  Blount  Springs. 
At  Elyton  was  assembled,  in  1854,  the  first  jiopu- 
lar  convention  ever  called  to  attempt  an  organized 
movement  to  build  a  railroad  to  the  top  of  Red 
Mountain,  the  result  of  which  was  the  chartering 
of  the  Northeast  &  Southwest  Road,  now  the  Ala- 
bama Great  Southern,  a  section  of  the  Queen  and 
Crescent  system.  There,  too,  John  T.  Milner 
directed  the  line  of  the  South  &  North  Road, 
now  a  section  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  sys- 
tem. The  crossing  of  these  two  roads  determined 
the  site  of  Birmingham,  and  the  variation  of  two 
miles  in  the  selection  of  the  site  from  Elyton,  in- 
dicates only  a  speculative  advantage  thought  to 
have  been  attained  by  the  original  founders  of  the 
city. 
The  mineral  region  of  Alabama  is  the  base  of  a 


744 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


745 


pyramidal  form  of  mineral  deposits,  whose  apex 
reaches  into  Canada.  Birmingham  is  the  center 
of  tluit  base.  IMtnminous  coals,  red  and  brown 
hematite  ore.s,  kaolin,  marble  of  extraordinary 
variety  and  excellence,  limestone,  building  stone 
and  lire-clay  are  in  easy  reach  of  the  city,  and 
practically  in  inexhaustible  snpply,  inexpensive 
to  mine;  situated  in  a  climate  where  no  extreme 
either  of  heat  or  cohl  delays  labor  for  an  hour  of 
the  year;  where  laborers  are  compelled  to  undergo 
no  heavy  expense  for  clothing  or  fuel  to  ward  off 
the  frosts;  where  State,  county  and  municipal 
government  is  free,  stable  and  enlightened;  where 
taxes  are  singularly  low,  schools  absolutely  free, 
and  churches  abounding  of  all  creeds  and  denomi- 
nations. Transportation  lines  from  every  quarter 
insure  for  Birmingham  an  unlimited  supplj'  of 
articles  of  diet  from  every  zone.  Kansas  City 
breadstuffs,  Chicago  meats,  Virginia  tobacco, 
fruits  from  the  tropics,  apples  from  New  York, 
meet  here.  Capital  is  abundant  to  provide  tlie 
most  active  competition  among  family  and  staple 
grocers,  dry-goods  and  clothing  merchants  and 
venders  of  all  tilings  that  arererpiired  to  meet  the 
laborer's  wants.  Every  article  of  family  consump- 
tion is  in  abundant  supply,  and  can  be  purchased 
at  prices  and  on  terms  of  unsurpassed  liberality 
by  the  comparative  test  of  any  market  in  any  part 
of  the  Union. 

The  physical  constitulion,  so  to  speak,  of  Bir- 
mingham is,  by  the  blessing  of  nature,  most  vig- 
orous and  robust  in  her  infancy.  The  mental 
tone  is  hopeful,  resolute  and  conservative.  Xew 
churches,  new  schools,  new  club  and  society  halls 
are  being  constantly  built,  and  all  the  old  ones  are 
inadequate  to  accommodate  the  demand  on  their 
space. 

The  foundation  and  growth  of  the  city  is  the 
fruit  of  Southern  energy,  striving  amidst  unpar- 
alleled social  and  j)olitical  revolution  to  cultivate 
new  fields.  The  origin  of  the  city,  nevertheless, 
is  not  a  conception  of  the  new  era  of  Southern 
industrial  life.  In  the  happiest  realizations  and 
amidst  the  most  confident  anticipations  of  the 
slave  times,  the  result  liad  been  foretold  by  many 
an  argument  of  the  canvassers,  who  went  about 
among  the  planters  soliciting  subscriptions  in 
money  or  in  lai)or  of  their  slaves,  to  build  the  pro- 
jected railroads.  The  profits  of  cotton  crops  had 
long  accumulated  and  re-investment  in  cotton  pro- 
duction was  steadily  reaching  limits  beyond 
which  it  could  not  go. 


Cotton  agriculture,  in  the  nature  of  a  great 
enterprise  employing  capital,  was  limited  to  Afri- 
can slave  labor,  and  the  foreign  supply  of  this 
labor  was  proliibited  by  the  Federal  laws.  The 
problem  with  those  who  held  money  in  increasing 
annual  deposits  in  the  banks,  was  to  find  invest- 
ment for  it.  Even  the  distribution  of  slave  labor 
native  to  the  country  had  become  greatly  impeded 
by  the  high  price  of  slaves.  Only  those  who 
owned  already  large  numbers  were  able  to  increase 
their  possessions  in  this  species  of  property.  The 
rich  only  could  grow  richer  in  slaves;  at  the  same 
time,  the  Federal  census  proved  that  with  every 
decade,  the  natural  increase  of  slaves  diminished. 
It  is  highly  interesting  to  note  that,  while  the  in- 
crease of  farm  acreage  in  the  Slave  States  from  1850 
to  1800  had  been  only  three  per  cent.,  the  increase 
of  railroad  mileage  in  the  same  States  had  been 
three  hundred  per  cent.,  and  that  manufactures 
had  more  than  doubled,  and  bank  deposits  in  the 
(iulf  States,  the  center  of  the  cotton  production, 
had  nearly  quadrupled.  It  was  evident  that  the 
surplus  profits  of  the  cotton  plantations  were 
seeking  investment  in  diversified  industries.  The 
Elyton  Railroad  Convention  of  1854,  was  a  meet- 
ing composed  almost  wholly  of  slave  owners,  and 
cotton  planters  living  in  all  parts  of  Alabama. 
It  was  the  most  hopeful  effort  thus  far  organized 
to  discover  profitable  employment  for  the  bank  de- 
posits of  Alabama;  and  not  only  so,  but  to  open 
diversified  employment  for  slave  labor.  Many 
planters,  in  response  to  the  action  of  that  Conven- 
tion, took  contracts  with  the  railroad  authorities 
to  build  a  specified  amount  of  roadbed  by  the  labor 
of  their  negro  men  and  their  plantation  teams,  in 
seasons  when  the  agricultural  operations  would 
most  conveniently  permit.  This  was  a  substantial 
reform  in  the  application  of  labor  and  capital. 

War  and  its  enormous  revulsions  in  every  ele- 
ment of  civil  life  greatly  hindered  and  delayed 
the  avowed  intent  of  the  Elyton  Convention. 
Bank  deposits  had  totally  disappeared.  Three 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  assets  in  slave  prop- 
erty, gained  under  the  protection  of  the  laws  by 
many  generations  of  toilers,  had  been  extinguished 
in  Alabama  alone  by  the  stroke  of  the  pen.  Lands 
and  houses  alone  were  left  standing  in  the  track 
of  war,  and  while  the  impairment  of  farm  values 
was  estimated  only  at  1125,000,000,  the  market 
for  farm  lands  was  practically  destroyed  in  the 
whole  State. 

Four  years  after  the  Elyton  Convention,  the 


746 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Governor  ordered  the  survey  of  the  line  afterward 
adopted  by  tlie  South  &  North  Road.  The  Legis- 
lature heard  tlie  report  thereon,  and,  becoming 
thoroughly  convinced  of  the  policy  of  building 
the  line,  was  only  turned  aside  from  its  speedy 
construction  by  the  early  necessity  of  devoting 
the  entire  energies  of  tlie  State  to  the  pursuit  of 
an  exhaustive  and  protracted  war. 

J.  C.  Stanton  came  to  Alabama  soon  after  the 
disbandment  of  tlie  armies.  The  Northeast  & 
Southwest  Road  was  in  a  partially  constructed 
state.  By  much  tact  he  obtained  a  controlling 
direction  of  it,  and,  having  secured  liberal  aid 
from  the  State,  proceeded  most  industriously  to 
push  it  toward  completion.  Rivers  were  to  be 
bridged,  long  gaps  of  roadbed  to  be  filled,  equip- 
ment to  be  furnislicd  througliout  a  long  line,  upon 
which  very  little  local  business  awaited  to  be  devel- 
oped. A  valuable  feature  of  Stanton's  scheme 
was  to  determine  for  himself  and  in  his  own  inter- 
est the  point  of  crossing  of  the  two  roads,  both 
reaching  toward  Red  Mountain.  While  he  pushed 
toward  completion  the  Northeast  &  Southwest,  or 
Alabama  &  Chattanooga,  as  he  termed  it,  other 
active  spirits  labored  with  no  less  zeal  to  force 
onward  from  Montgomery  the  South  &  North 
Road. 

The  location  of  Birniingliam  being  dependent 
on  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  two  roads,  R. 
C.  McCalla,  chief  engineer  of  the  Alabama  & 
Oliattanooga,  and  representative  of  the  managers, 
and  John  T.  Milner,  chief  engineer  and  General 
Superintendent  of  the  South  &  North  Road,  en- 
tered into  a  written  iigreement  between  them- 
selves to  buy  optiolis  on  the  seven  thousand  acres 
of  land  at  the  crossing,  wherever  that  might  be 
found,  for  the  joint  benefit  of  their  respective 
companies.  The  crossing  had  been  located  by  the 
engineers  about  seven  miles  soutliwest  of  the 
present  site  of  the  city  in  Village  Creek  Valley, 
where  springs  of  pure  water  were  abundant,  and 
drainage  easy.  The  "options"  had  been  bought 
and  the  engineers  were  highly  elated  with  their 
success  in  having  taken  successfully,  tlie  first  step 
toward  building  a  city.  Milner  and  ]\IcCalla  had 
even  been  at  work  completing  the  lines  of  the 
streets  and  avenues  into  which  the  city  was  to  be 
laid  off.  At  an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  Bay- 
lis  E.  Grace,  a  farmer  near  by,  rode  up  to  their 
tent  door  before  the  engineers  had  breakfasted. 
He  related  the  startling  news  that  Stanton  had 
purchased  "  options  "  on  4,000  acres,  a  few  miles 


higher  up  the  valley,  yet  not  lying  upon  the 
creek,  and  that  the  managers  of  the  Alabama  & 
Chattanooga  Road  had  determined  to  renounce 
McC'alla's  agreement  with  Milner,  and  to  require 
him  to  change  his  location  of  their  line  so  as  to 
pass  through  this  latter  purchase.  The  South 
&  North  Company  was  by  this  trick  to  be  deprived 
of  joint  ownership  in  the  site  of  the  new  city. 
Now  Stanton's  "option"  on  the  new  purchase 
ran  sixty  days.  At  the  expiration  of  this  time  the 
attorney  of  the  vendors,  Alburto  Martin,  ajqjcar- 
ed  at  the  banking  house  of  Josiah  Morris  &  Co., 
in  Montgomery,  to  receive  the  full  payment  due 
from  Stanton.  No  cash  had  been  deposited  to 
take  up  the  titles.  The  law  allowed  three  days 
of  grace.  Punctually  upon  the  expiration  of  the 
days  of  grace  Josiah  Jforris,  on  his  own  account, 
paid  Mr.  Martin  the  full  value  of  the  lands  of 
his  clients  and  took  the  titles  in  his  own  name. 
The  Boston  men  were  thus  completely  out-gen- 
eraled  and  lost  all  in  their  elfort  to  grasp  an 
undue  advantage. 

Josiah  Morris  then  proceeded  to  organize  the 
Elyton  Land  Company,  on  a  capital  wholly  in 
land,  represented  by  $100,000  purchase  money. 
Some  of  the  vendors  preferred  part  stock  to  all 
cash  jiayments  for  their  farms,  transferred  to  the 
possession  of  the  company  and  received  it.  James 
R.  Powell  was  elected  president,  and  began  at 
once  with  great  energv,  wisdom  and  enthusiasm 
to  build  a  city.  The  name  for  both  the  Land 
Company  and  its  city  was  chosen  by  ilr.  Morris. 
Major  Barker,  civil  engineer,  laid  off  1,160  acres 
in  wide  streets  and  wider  avenues.  A  sale  day  for 
lots  was  advertised.  The  railroads  had  not  yet 
crossed  on  the  site  of  the  prospective  city.  The 
South  &  North  were  several  score  of  miles  away 
with  either  termini.  Travel  on  the  Alabama  & 
Chattanooga  was  jjerilous,  and  on  no  schedule 
time,  even  days  going  without  a  train  of  cars  roll- 
ing into  the  city  station.  Nevertheless,  Colonel 
Powell  had  attracted  wide  attention  to  the  sale, 
and  many  men  and  some  women  came  by  stage, 
by  private  and  public  conveyance,  and  even  on 
foot,  to  attend.  The  first  lot  sold  for  $150,  on 
the  corner  of  First  avenue  and  Nineteenth  street. 

December,  1S71,  the  city  received  its  charter 
from  the  Legislature.  The  Governor  appointed 
Robert  II.  Henley,  a  young  lawyer,  and  a  native  of 
Deniopolis,  to  the  office  of  Mayor.  Henley  at  that 
time  conducted  a  weekly  newspaper,  established 
in  one  end  of  the  railroad  freight  depot,  for  want 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


:47 


of  more  convenient  quarters.  He  exerted  his 
autiiority  under  the  law  to  the  utmost  to  main- 
tain discipline;  even  anticipating,  in  the  decrees 
of  his  daily  courts,  the  laws  which  prudence  must, 
at  a  future  time,  require,  but  which  were  not  yet 
written;  and  oftentimes  proceeded,  in  the  assumed 
(•:il)acity  of  policeman,  hiriiself,  to  execute  his  own 
judgments.  lU-healtli  forced  his  resignation  after 
a  year's  occupancy  of  the  office,  in  which  time  at 
least  one  public  meeting  had  been  summoned,  by 
the  turbulent  element  of  the  population,  to  refpiest 
Ills  removal  and  that  authority  l>e  vested  in  the 
people  to  choose  his  successor. 

Colonel  Powell  was  chosen  second  Mayor  of  the 
city  afteran  exciting  contest  at  tlie  jiolls.  llewas 
in  the  prime  of  physical  and  intellectual  vigor, 
and  had  been  ever  distinguished  for  masterly  tact 
and  indomitable  energy,  lie  liad  surrendered  to 
the  management  of  overseers  one  of  the  finest 
cottoi>  jilantations  on  the  Yazoo,  and  neglected 
other  large  interests,  to  come  to  take  up  his  life- 
work  in  the  building  of  Birmingham.  Among 
the  tir.<t  of  the  many  effective  steps  taken  by  him 
to  this  end  was  the  enlistment  of  the  sympathies 
of  the  newspaper  press  of  the  United  States  and 
of  England.  Analyses  of  the  ores  of  Red  Moun- 
tain and  geological  reports  confirming  their  ex- 
haustless  supply  were  sent  out  to  the  great  dailies 
in  every  direction.  It  was  arranged  that  the  Ala- 
bama Press  Association  should  convene  at  the 
voung  town  at  its  annual  meeting  in  the  spring  of 
l!ST"i.  A  two-story  wooden  liotel,  called  the  Helay 
House,  had  been  erected,  and  the  novelty  of 
assembling  at  a  "  city  in  the  woods."  of  less  than 
six  months'  chartered  life,  attracted  a  good  at- 
tendance of  the  members.  The  indefatigable 
.Mayor  and  corporation  president  intimated  a 
desire  to  become,  himself,  an  honorary  member  of 
the  Press  Association.  With  alacrity  his  name 
was  enrolled.  lie  then  moved  that  the  Association 
select  Birmingham  as  the  place  for  its  nextannual 
couvetition,  and  overcame  all  citation  of  prece- 
dents which  opposed  the  eligibility  of  the  same 
town  to  two  successive  visitations  of  such  an 
honor,  by  declaring  that  in  a  year  the  town  to 
which  the  members  would  come  would  be  created, 
new  from  the  foundation.  This  point  adroitly 
•arried,  he  inove<l  that  the  Association  invite  the 
Press  Association  of  New  York  to  meet  with 
them  at  Birmingham  in  the  spring  of  1873.  No 
map  of  the  State  could  be  found  to  indicate  to  the 
invited    guests    the    locality    of    the   appointed 


rendezvous.  Birmingham  had  no  place  in  geog- 
raphy. The  New  Yorkers  greatly  relished  the 
audacity  of  the  invitation,  and  their  principal  news- 
papers were  represented  by  competent  correspond- 
ents. The  wonders  of  l{ed  Jlountain  were  ex- 
plored by  them.  The  great  boulders  of  hematites, 
red  and  brown,  weighing  two  or  three  thousand 
tons,  lying  loose  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the 
very  wagon  roads  for  miles  being  a  bed  of  pulver- 
ized ore;  lumps  of  coal  gathered  on  the  farm 
and  carted  to  the  city  consumers;  the  lime  rock  in 
juxtaposition  to  the  ores  and  the  coal,  the  pro- 
ductive valleys,  the  abundance  of  forest,  and  tlie 
clearest  perennial  streams,  the  incomparable 
climate  and  the  profound  peace  of  the  country, 
were  themes  which  the  appreciative  gentlemen  of 
the  distant  jiress  discussed  in  surprise  only  eqimlled 
by  the  enthusiasm  and  eloquence  of  the  narratives 
they  sent  home  to  be  repeated  over  the  world. 

The  fame  of  Birmingham  had  this  newspaper 
origin.  The  press  of  foreign  countries  repeated 
the  wonderful  discovery.  The  London  Times  de- 
clared: "  Birmingham,  Ala.,  is  destined  to  be 
America's  greatest  metallic-workers'  city." 

For  years  military  rule  dominated  the  State  and 
the  problem  of  race  co-occupancy  had  not  been 
adequately  tested.  Debt,  public  and  private, 
weighed  down  the  peoide  and  embarrassed  all  cal- 
culations for  the  future.  The  dismal  cloud  of 
the  "  Reconstruction  "  era  in  Alabama  liad  this 
silver  lining,  and  only  this  :  it  urged  individuals  of 
hope  and  courage  to  seek  in  the  mining  and  man- 
ufacturing resources,  lying  in  such  untold  prodi- 
gality at  their  hands,  a  diversity  of  industry  which 
would  secure  commercial  connections,  and  tlius 
operate  to  work  a  reform  in  the  public  spirit,  to 
the  ultimate  liberation  of  the  energies  of  the 
whole  people.  Labor  was  no  longer  capital  and 
tlie  release  of  labor  from  the  status  of  capital  had 
swept  out  of  existence  |i3.50,(iOO.OOO,  as  we  have 
said,  of  assets  in  Alabama,  only  on  that  single 
item  of  account  of  losses  of  the  revolution.  The 
statesmanshi])  of  the  day  was  to  create  capital 
afresh  from  the  ground,  as  the  basis  of  reorgan- 
ized society.  Thomas  Peters,  the  explorer,  Sloss 
and  De  Hardeleben,  the  designers,  Jlorris  and 
Powell,  the  hammer  bearers,  must  take  rank  as 
statesmen  who  lead  their  people  out  from  confu- 
sion and  fear  to  the  promise  of  a  most  enduring 
prosperity.  Thomas  Peters  took  no  money  in  his 
purse,  nor  two  coats  for  his  journey,  but,  laying 
aside  his  good  Confederate  sword,  proceeded  afoot 


748 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


to  find  out  the  hidden  wealth  of  Jefferson  County 
and  to  publish  it  to  cupitiil. 

By  the  beginning  of  the  summer  season  of  1873 
the  white  planters  of  the  valley  of  the  Tennessee 
and  the  prairie  region,  and  their  black  laborers,  i 
had  congregated  in  Birmingham  to  the  number  of 
2,500.  A  handsome  bank  and  a  few  two-story 
brick  business  houses,  and  three  or  four  hundred 
cheap  wooden  structures  had  been  built,  includ- 
ing, often  under  the  same  roof,  shops  for  mer- 
chandise storage  and  rooms  for  residences.  Sew- 
erage, or  even  scavenger  carts,  were  unknown. 
The  water  received  from  wells  was  uncertain  in 
supply  and  unfit  in  quality,  and  its  supply  at  once 
became  the  paramount  problem  to  be  solved.  The 
anti-clinal  formation  of  the  territory  on  which  the 
city  was  founded  was  proven  to  be  unfavorable  to 
a  natural  water  supply  adequate  to  the  needs  of 
even  a  small  urban  population.  The  wells  would 
not  hold  water.  Cholera  prevailed  in  some  parts 
of  the  United  States  at  this  date,  and  was  im- 
ported to  Birmingham.  Many  weeks  of  the  sum- 
mer of  1873,  the  second  summer  of  the  life  of  the 
city,  witnessed  the  prevalence  of  this  scourge. 
Hundreds  of  the  more  substantial  part  of  the  com- 
munity moved  away  permanently,  or  for  many 
months.  Numerous  deaths  occurred.  The  Mayor 
devoted  himself  assiduously  to  nursing  the  sick 
and  to  the  enforcement  of  the  best  improvised 
sanitary  arrangements.  A  beautiful  devotion  was 
displayed,  by  those  who  remained,  to  each  other  in 
the  season  of  trial.  Even  the  outcasts  and  de- 
spised became  good  Samaritans. 

Hardly  had  the  fearful  scourge  subsided  when 
the  financial  revulsion,  beginning  with  "Black 
Friday  "  in  Wall  street,  i)i  September,  18T3,  pros- 
trated every  interest  in  the  Union.  Birmingham 
felt  the  shock,  ceased  to  grow,  and  practically  dis- 
appeared from  all  calculation  and  all  influence. 
Colonel  Powell,  of  the  Elyton  Land  Company, 
resigned  the  presidency,  abandoned  his  interests 
in  the  city,  and  retired  to  his  plantation  on  the 
Yazoo.  The  Company  owed  then  fiiO.OOO,  and, 
being  unable  to  meet  the  debt — a  debt  for  per- 
manent improvements — its  founder,  Mr.  Morris, 
who  owned  a  majority  of  its  stock,  offered  to  ex- 
change the  whole  of  his  share  for  a  release  from 
this  liability. 

Unlighted,  undrained,  and  almost  moribund, 
the  young  bantling  of  the  Alabama  forest  drifted 
along  until  the  opening  of  the  Pratt  Coal  Mines  of 
the  Warrior  fields,  six  miles  distant,  and  the  erec- 


tion of  the  single  stack  of  the  Alice  Furnace  in 
the  suburbs.  These  decisive  enterprises  had  been 
inaugurated  by  November,  18T9.  By  1883  the 
Sloss  Furnace  Company  had  erected  two  stacks, 
the  .Mary  Pratt  Furnace  Company  one,  and  the 
Alice  Company  had  added  one  to  its  first. 

In  1881  the  first  daily  newspaper.  The  Age, 
was  established  in  the  city,  and  at  once  began  to 
publish  full  and  accurate  reports  of  the  progress 
of  industries  and  the  growth  of  the  poj)ulation, 
and  the  appreciation  of  values,  and  these  attracted 
wide  attention  in  every  part  of  the  Union. 

In  188"^  the  city  passed  into  a  competent  and 
energetic  municipal  administration.  Street  im- 
provements, sewerage  and  public  supervision  at 
once  began. 

In  18T1  the  first  bank  of  discount  was  organ- 
ized, with  a  capital  stock  of  $50,000.  The  next 
came  nine  years  later,  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$100,000.  Four  years  passed  with  no  increase  of 
banks  or  banking  capital.  From  1884  to  April  of 
1888,  the  banking  capital  was  increased  from 
$150,000  in  the  former  period  to  12,350,000  in 
the  latter.  The  percentage  of  increase  of  banking 
capital  and  the  percentage  of  increase  of  bank  de- 
posits in  four  years,  last  past,  has  exceeded  the  per- 
centage of  increase  of  real  estate  values  in  the  busi- 
ness part  of  the  city  in  the  same  time.  The  per- 
centage of  increase  of  manufacturing  capital  and 
general  business  capital  has  exceeded  the  in- 
creased value  of  the  real  estate  upon  which  the 
enterprises  have  been  erected.  The  growth  of  the 
city  is  thus  proven  to  partake  of  that  substantial 
character  which  distinguishes  the  commercial 
value  of  its  chief  commodities.  Excitement  has 
been  generally  wholesome,  partaking  rather  of  the 
exuberance  of  youthful  vigor  than  the  over-stimu- 
lation of  maturer  greed. 

The  commerce  initiating  in  Birmingham  and 
the  suburbs  consists  in  iron  ores,  coal,  coke,  lime- 
stone, the  product  of  blast-furnaces,  rolling-mills 
(including  sheet-iron),  engines  and  boilers,  fur- 
nace machinery,  stoves,  fine  tools,  tacks,  pins  and 
nails,  iron  bridges,  bolts,  chains;  the  product  of 
foundries,  such  as  pipes,  iron  fencing,  etc.;  flour 
and  meal,  gins,  agricultural  tools,  cotton  bales, 
woodwork  of  various  kinds,  common  brick  and 
fire-brick.  The  departing  and  arriving  freights 
occupy  at  least  fifty  thousand  cars  per  month,  and 
the  quarterly  exhibits  of  all  the  railroads  for  one 
year  is  in  excess  of  the  corresponding  period  of 
the  year  preceding. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


749 


Business  for  the  past  year  may  be  stated  as  fol- 
lows: Iron,  tl2,')0(),()00:  coal  anil  manufactures, 
*rv','i0(),00O;  wholesale  and  retail  general  mer- 
chandise, *v't;.OO0,0()0;  railroad  business,  *3,(j00,- 
<»(10;  milking  a  grand  total  of  *54,(;00,()00:  Not 
a  dollar  of  this  business  represents  any  imjiairment 
of  previously  existing  enteri)rises  in  the  State. 

'Die  linancial  exhibit  of  the  city  is  as  follows: 
Hanking  capital,  ^'.i, 350, 000;  various  land  compa- 
nies, S'2"),000,000;  iron  and  steel  companies,  ^\,- 
000.000;  furnaces,  15,000,000;  general  manufact- 
ures, *o, 000. 000:  mercantile  capital,  *:5, 000,000; 
&  grand  total  of  |i4(l,:350,OO0. 

The  development  of  Jefferson  County  has  been 
profitable  to  the  agriculture  of  the  State,  in  caus- 
ing new  railroads  to  bisect  the  agricultural  region, 
and  which,  but  for  that  development,  would  not 
have  been  built— at  least  in  the  nineteenth  century; 
and  the  profits  arising  to  farmers  from  invest- 
ments in  the  county  have  been  largely  serviceable 
in  their  agriculture. 

In  lS(j(»,  Jefferson  County  drew  from  the  State 
Treasury  more  money  than  it  contributed  thereto. 
In  1887,  the  county  paid  into  the  Treasury  more 
than  any  other  two  counties  combined. 

Choice  business  lots  in  the  city,  loO  feet  deep, 
connnand  t^lOO  to  t700  the  front  foot.  Choice 
lots  in  the  residence  part  of  the  city  sell  for  f^to 
to  $150  the  front  foot.  Kents  of  all  sorts  of  build- 
ings are  enormously  high.  Water  rent  is  moder- 
ate and  the  supply,  received  from  springs  in  the 
mountains  away  from  all  possible  contamination, 
is  abundant.  The  city  government  iias  contracted 
for  ample  gas  and  electric  lighting  for  the  entire 
corjjorate  limits,  and  is  gradually  laying  Belgian 
block  for  pavement. 

Enlarged  explorations,  followed  by  fresh  dis- 
coveries of  natural  resources  of  the  most  secure 
and  profitable  branches  of  manufactures  and  com- 
merce, make  memorable  the  annual  history  of 
Hirmingham.  The  greeting  which  met  tlie  first 
trains  of  pig-iron  sent  into  the  great  markets  of 
the  North  was  only  an  outburst  of  derision.  This 
proved  to  be  the  slur  of  mean  jealousy  only,  for, 
as  furnaces  have  multiplied,  every  one,  from  the 
day  it  goes  into  blast,  is  employed  by  rule,  and  not 
by  accident,  to  filling  advance  orders.  There  are 
10,000  tons  in  a  single  yard  often  awaiting  transit. 
Kvery  stockyard  is  well-filled  with  the  product, 
nuirked  for  shipment,  and  waiting  only  for  de- 
layed transportation.  .\  steel  and  iron  company 
recently  made  two  experimental  shipments  of  pig 


— one  to  Texas,  and  the  other  to  New  England. 
The  report  from  each  manufacturer  at  these  ex- 
treme jioints,  was  in  the  highest  degree  compli- 
mentary to  the  product.  Large  shipments  go 
from  Birmingham  furnaces  to  Pittsburgh,  anil  the 
metal  is  converted  there  by  the  Bessemer  process. 

Birmingham  ores  are  known  to  be  heavily 
charged  with  phosphorus,  and  the  monopoly  of 
the  patents  hitherto  in  use  for  producing  steel 
from  that  class  of  ores  has  been  safely  lodged 
with  Northern  manufacturers.  But  Southern- 
bred  men  residing  in  Birmingham  took  up  a  neg- 
lected patent,  introduced  originally  at  the  North, 
moved  the  machinery  from  Boston,  where  it  had 
been  set  up,  put  it  in  operation  under  their  own 
supervision  at  their  home,  and  to-day  Birming- 
ham ores  of  the  lowest  grade,  under  the  Hender- 
son process,  are  converted  into  all  kinds  of  steel 
tools  and  implements,  from  the  cold  chisel  to  the 
concave  razor,  with  a  rank  second  to  none  known 
to  commerce. 

No  railroad  running  to  Birmingham  was  built 
with  any  other  original  design  save  to  draw  life 
from  the  foundations  of  the  strength  and  glory  of 
Birmingham.  The  State  built  not  one  of  the 
whole  number  as  a  public  convenience.  To  reach 
Red  Mountain  and  the  Warrior  Coal  Field  the 
first  and  the  latest  line  was  projected.  The  cry 
continually  goes  up  from  the  public  at  large  for 
more  cars  on  every  line,  and  for  new  lines  to  every 
point  of  the  compass.  When  John  T.  Milner  and 
Robert  E.  Rodes,  in  the  old  era,  were  at  work, 
locating  surveys  and  building  roadbeds  for  the 
two  pioneer  lines,  the  entire  pig-iron  product  of 
the  United  States  was  850,000  tons  i)er  year.  In 
less  then  ten  years  from  the  completion  of  the 
pioneer  Birmingham  furnace,  the  pig-iron  product 
of  Jefferson  County  alone,  from  furnaces  which 
will  be  ready  to  go  into  blast  within  ninety  days, 
or  are  now  in  blast,  will  be  G50,000  tons  per  year. 

The  percentage  of  increase  since  1884,  in  these 
several  elements  of  city  prosperity — viz.  the  price 
of  real  estate,  the  amount  of  banking  capital,  the 
outgoing  and  increasing  commerce,  the  manufac- 
turing capital  and  population — have  been  surpris- 
ingly even,  as  we  shall  demonstrate  by  figures  and 
facts,  as  our  narrative  proceeds. 

The  streets  and  avenues  of  Birmingham  are 
from  80  to  loo  feet  wide,  and  an  alley  twenty  feet 
wide  bisects  every  block  running  parallel  with 
the  avenue  on  either  side. 

The  sidewalks   are   twelve  feet  wide.     .V  rail- 


750 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


road  avenue  divides  the  corporation  limits  into 
two  equal  parts,  designated  as  liirniingham  North 
and  Birmingham  South.  This  reservation  is  200 
feet  wide,  running  from  east  to  west.  A  bridge 
1,100  feet  long  spans  the  railroad  avenue  on 
Twentj'-second  street,  affording  a  safe  crossing 
for  street  railway  cars,  vehicles  and  pedestrians, 
all  at  once. 

A  Belt  Line  railroad  encircles  the  city,  tak- 
ing loaded  cars  from  all  the  trunk  lines,  to 
leave  them,  for  unloading,  at  warehouses  at  vari- 
ous points  on  the  line  convenient  to  consignees, 
and  at  the  manufactories  and  at  its  own  sidings. 
Shippers  of  heavy  freight  may  order  one  car,  or  any 
number  of  cars,  left  at  their  own  platforms,  where 
they  are  loaded,  and  when  ready  are  taken  in 
charge  by  the  Belt  engines  to  be  transferred  to 
the  trunk  lines.  A  dummy  passenger  line  en- 
ters the  southern  highlands,  enabling  business 
men  and  laborers  to  have  comfortable  homes  for 
their  families  in  easy  reach  and  above  the  smoke 
and  noises  of  the  streets.  A  mile  and  a  half  from 
the  center  of  the  city,  on  the  wooded  mountain 
side,  is  a  jDublic  park  of  forty  acres,  provided  with 
an  artificial  lake,  boats,  rustic  seats,  drives, 
walks,  flowers,  a  pavilion,  club  house,  etc.,  en- 
tirely free  to  the  public.  There,  too,  is  a  commo- 
dious modern  hotel,  open  summer  and  winter  to 
the  public. 

CITY   GOVERNMENT. 

The  government  consists  of  a  JIayor  and  a  Board 
of    Aldermen,  elected   biennially  by  the  people. 
The  flavor  and   Board  of   Aldermen   select    the  ' 
policemen  of    all  ranks,  the  liremen,  the   Clerk, 
Auditor  and  Treasurer,  the  City  Physician,  City 
Engineer,  the  Street  Commissioner,  ilarket  Clerk 
and  all  subordinate  oflicers  in  any  way  connected   i 
with  the  administration.     The  Mayor  holds  court 
daily  and  all  offenders  against  the  city  code  are  by 
his  judgments  tried  and   punished.     The  Mayor's 
office  has  been  a  very  responsible  and  important 
one,  under  the  circumstances,  where  every  street 
was  new  and  the  population  increasing  at  the  rate   j 
of  100  per  centum  per  annum.     The  following  j 
persons   have  occupied  the    Mayoralty:      Robert 
H.  Henley,  one  year;  James  K.  Powell,  two  years;   j 
W.  II.  Morris,  about  two  years;  H.  M.  Caldwell,  a   ' 
few  months,  by  special  appointment  to  fill   Mor- 
ris'unexpired  term;  Thomas  Jeffers,  four  years; 
A.  0.  Lane,  six  years. 

The  city  debt  is,  in  round  numbers,  $305,000, 


which  is  much  less  than  one  per  cent,  of  its  assessed 
values  for  188?.  Its  bonds  always  command  a 
premium.  The  financial  condition  of  the  city  is- 
as  follows  :  Assets — Market  Houses,  $flO,000  ; 
Parks,  $80,000;  School  buildings  and  furniture, 
$100,000;  Fire  Department  property,  $t20,000,. 
making  a  grand  total  of  $-200,000. 

The  city  officers  consist  of  a  Mayor,  Clerk, 
Treasurer,  six  Aldermen,  Civil  Engineer,  Phy- 
sician, Chief  of  Police,  Chief  of  Fire  Department, 
Street  Commissioner  and  Sanitary  Inspector. 

RAILRO-VDS. 

Fifteen  railroads,  either  now  in  operation  or 
in  course  of  immediate  construction,  meet  at 
Birmingham.  The  inexhaustible  natural  re- 
sources of  the  territory  through  which  these  roads 
pass,  and  the  great  variety  of  the  same,  must  be 
appreciated  before  the  just  influence  of  the  roads- 
on  a  given  center  of  iiccumulation  and  distribu- 
tion can  be  anticipated.  From  Birmingham,  as 
a  central  point,  iron  in  all  its  commercial  forms, 
grate  and  steam  coal,  building  stone,  brick,  bread- 
stuffs,  provisions,  and  general  merchandise  can 
be,  under  the  ordinary  laws  of  trade,  as  clieaply 
concentrated  and  distributed  as  at  any  other  point 
in  the  Southwest.  The  cars  that  take  off  iron^ 
coal  and  cotton  go  hence  to  the  cities  manu- 
facturing all  textile  goods,  shoes,  etc.,  and  to  Kan- 
sas City,  Chicago,  and  Cincinnati,  in  which  cities 
the  greatest  cold-storage  houses  for  all  meats  are 
to  be  found,  also  furniture  and  breadstuffs  and 
other  heavy  and  bulky  commodities.  The  iron 
manufacturing  and  coal  mining  population  is  the 
highest  paid  wage  class,  and  therefore  the  cars 
which  take  the  outgoing  freights  from  Birming- 
ham will  return  laden  with  merchandise  adapted 
to  cash  sales  among  a  pcojole  generally  enjoying  a 
high  degree  of  prosperity.  The  outgoing  freights 
insure  a  high  degree  of  solvency  of  the  resident 
merchants  and  the  local  banks  at  the  initial  point. 
Thus  firmness  of  prices  and  uniformity  of  supply 
must  distinguish  the  Birmingham  market  iTi  tlie 
jobbing  trade.  The  roads  run  through  an  agri- 
cultural country,  every  acre  of  which  is  productive 
and  all  townships  of  which  are  blessed  with  tim- 
ber, water  and  equable  climate.  Every  acre  of 
land  in  Alabama,  generally  speaking,  in  reach  of 
any  one  of  the  fifteen  railroads,  is  productive  of 
cotton,  all  cereals,  grapes,  many  varieties  of  fruit, 
all  varieties  of  garden  vegetables,  and  perennial 
grasses  of  both  winter  and  summer  classes. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


751 


AVhen  tlie  line  of  the  Soiitli  &  North  Road  was 
hiid,  there  was  not  a  single  village  or  o])en  farm 
along  its  entire  length,  from  Decatur  to  Alahama 
Iiiver,  "JOO  miles.  The  territory  which  incliules 
C'ullinan  County  paid  into  the  State  Treasury  less 
than  *i'>00  in  taxes  before  the  organization  of  the 
county.  The  county  paid,  in  1880,  |i."i,n99.63 
into  the  State  Treasury. 

The  Hirniingham  &  Jlobile  Railroad  grade 
adapts  itself  to  the  naturally  gentle  decline  of  the 
surface  of  the  earth  to  the  south.  It  is  constructed 
on  a  grade  to  the  sea  which  will  allow  the  carriage 
of  heavy  freights  with  lighter  engines  than  usual 
in  that  direction.  The  agricultural  country 
intersected  is  the  most  famous  for  fertility  in  the 
State.  The  timber  lands  traversed  are  of  incal- 
culable wealth  in  that  product. 

The  Birmingham  &  Savannah  .Vir-line  Rail- 
road will  offer  an  independent  outlet  to  the 
Atlantic,  as  short  as  can  be  made. 

The  Louisville  &  Nashville  .Mineral  Road 
runs  from  Tuscaloosa,  via  Birmingham,  to 
Iluntsville  through  the  celebrated  iluri)hree's 
Valley  where  the  most  abundant  untouched  sup- 
])lies  of  iron  ores,  coal,  limestone  and  building- 
stone  are  to  be  found,  in  the  midst  of  extraor- 
iiuary  fertility  of  the  soil. 

The  Birmingham  it  Sheffield  Railroad  con- 
nects the  city  with  the  Tennessee  River  at  the  foot 
of  Mussel  Shoals,  and  affords  cheap  transportation 
to  the  valley  of  the  Ohio. 

The  Stheet  Railway  mileage  of  Birming- 
ham is  wonderfully  extensive.  It  aggregates  sev- 
enty-seven miles — twenty-five  miles  of  horse-car 
lines  and  fifty-two  miles  of  steam-dummy  lines. 
Over  tweniy  thousaml  people  ride  on  these  lines 
on  Sundays  and  holidays,  to  reach  the  numerous 
parks,  the  base  ball  grounds,  or  race  course.  It 
is  the  remark  of  strangers  that  the  teams  and  cars 
are  better  kejit  upon  them  than  in  any  ."southern 
city. 

The  unequaled  wealth  of  Alabama  in  all  soil 
jiroducts — minerals,  textile  staples  and  cereals,  is 
the  i>roposition.  The  energy  of  her  people  in  their 
development  is  the  corollary.  Of  transportation 
there  is  certain  to  be  an  abundance.  Water  lines  so 
numerous  and  so  universally  cros-^ed  by  railroads 
will  rectify  any  disposition  to  abuse  of  op|)or- 
t  unity  or  extravagant  charges  by  the  latter.  The 
ireneral  wealth  of  the  .State  can  find  no  more  stable 
center  of  trade  and  distribution  than  Birmingham. 
The  period  of  disasters  of  the  iron  interest  in  the 


United  States  has  witnessed  the  phenomenal 
growths  of  the  furnaces  of  Birmingham.  Ten 
years  ago  not  exceeding  ".JOO  tons  of  that  product 
was  the  daily  output.  Within  this  year  it  will 
n-acli  -^'.ddO. 

LABOH. 

The  relations  of  labor  to  capital  in  Birming- 
ham have  thus  far  maintained  perfect  harmony. 
Xo  general  or  damaging  disagreement  has  appeared. 
The  peculiar  economic  conditions  encourage  the 
belief  that  none  is  near.  The  mechanic  who 
earns  %ii)  a  week  can  buy,  with  the  wages  of  three 
months,  a  farm  of  twenty  acres,  within  two  hours' 
ride  of  the  city,  and  upon  that  support  his  family 
on  the  profits  of  the  city  markets.  Invitation  in 
the  climate  and  in  the  resources  of  the  earth  to 
infinite  diversity  of  occupation  must  tend  to  the 
e(|uitableadjustment  of  the  rights  of  labor  in  oper- 
ating capital. 

The  manifest  result  of  the  ajjpearance  of  the 
white  and  black  labor  in  the  same  Held  is  the 
elevation  of  the  white  in  the  scale  of  wages  and 
the  approximate  equalization  of  all  whites  on  a 
race  basis  of  social  organization.  Because  the 
negro  is  already  in  easy  reach,  he  comes  to  the 
city  to  engage  in  whatever  calling  may  be  open  to 
him  for  weekly  wages  paid  in  cash.  He  enters  an 
open  field  of  competition.  His  muscle  is  strong. 
He  finds  his  industrial  and  social  level  with  unerr- 
ing certainty.  As  the  continent  of  Africa  ranks 
among  continents,  so  do  its  children  rank  among 
the  sons  of  men  wherever  their  lot  be  cast.  The 
negro  race  of  Birmingham  now  occupies  about 
forty  per  cent,  of  the  class  of  day  laborers.  The 
relative  classification  of  laborers  in  the  various 
pursuits  inevitably  relegates  the  negro  to  a  low 
grade.  The  places  in  the  low  grade,  therefore, 
are  filled  by  the  inferior  race.  The  appreciable 
consequence  is,  that  perhap;  in  no  town  in  the 
United  States  are  the  white  wage  class  so  intelli- 
gent and  orderly  as  in  Birmingham.  The  social 
line  between  the  races  is  .so  certainly  instinctive 
that  no  jeali'usy  of  any  kind  prevails  between  the 
white  men  and  the  black  men  at  work,  day  after 
day,  on  the  same  building.  The  black  man  is  sure 
to  be  hod  carrier  to  the  white  brick  mason,  dray 
driver  to  the  white  merchant,  servant  of  servants 
everywhere,  and  when  night  comes  the  two  sep- 
arate to  enter  different  lodging-houses,  different 
social  halls  or  different  churches.  Their  children 
attend  different  schools,  and,  in  all  respects  and 


7oJl 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


circumstances,  the  natural  law  of  the  survival  of 
the  fittest  asserts  itself  in  quiet  and  common 
contentment. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  negro  only  enters  a 
manufacturing  community  after  the  white  man's 
capital  and  the  skill  of  white  labor  iiave  introduced 
the  machinery  whose  operation  demands  cheap 
manual  labor,  he  will  remain  and  when  called  an- 
swer many  good  purposes.  llis  relative  social 
progress  is  yet  an  open  question.  The  cotton  and 
tobacco  agriculture  of  the  slave  era  did  not 
admit  the  use  of  machinery,  except  to  a  limited 
extent.  Manual  labor,  quite  dexterous  and  abso- 
lutely faithful,  was  the  requirement.  Certainly 
no  community  of  four  millions  of  laboring  people, 
covering  an  area  equal  to  the  Southern  States, 
have  ever  been  found  in  any  country  more  uni- 
formly excellent  in  the  use  of  tlie  plow,  the  hoe, 
and  the  spade,  than  the  old-time  plantation 
negroes.  The  plantation  discii)liue  of  the  slave 
era,  apparently  necessary  to  excite  tlie  mental  and 
moral  nature  of  the  negro,  did,  in  truth,  develop 
a  man  of  mental  and  moral  force.  His  labor  was 
of  the  first  quality  and  his  fidelity  was  not  only 
absolute,  but  was  cheerfully  rendered.  To  what 
degree  the  hard  law  of  competition  in  a  manufac- 
turing community  is  destined  to  bring  out  his 
dormant  manhood,  is  yet  an  unsolved  problem. 
That  dormaiit  manhood  is  resident  in  his  nature, 
slavery  proved.  In  Birmingham,  a  considerable 
number  of  negroes  own  the  lots  and  iiouses 
they  occupy,  but  the  proportion  of  negro  property 
holders  to  the  white  is  small,  and  is  not  increasing, 
as  the  grade  of  white  labor  improves  by  the  intro- 
duction of  new  industries  requiring  skill  in  the 
operation.  Negroes  never  serve  as  apprentices  to 
learn  trades.  Full  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  labor 
of  the  furnaces  is  of  the  negro  race.  Negroes  are 
employed  at  the  rolling  mills,  but  in  those  iron 
manufactories  which  reduce  the  pig  iron  and  the 
mereJiantable  bars  to  stoves,  edge  tools,  or  tacks, 
nails,  etc.,  the  race  is  notably  absent. 

A  great  majority  of  the  city  criminals  are  ne- 
groes, and  tiie  mortality  of  negroes  is  double  tiiat 
of  whites;  but  when  we  appeal  to  sanitary  and 
moral  statistics  to  demonstrate  their  relative  race 
status,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  class  of 
whites  in  other  cities  which  fills  the  negro's  so- 
cial position  here  is  notably  more  liable  there  to 
criminal  prosecution  and  less  observant  of  sani- 
tary rules  which  secure  health  than  the  employer 
class. 


SANITARY. 

Birmingham  is  situated  in  a  valley  open  at  the 
eastern  and  western  ends,  and  bounded  by  moun- 
tainous ranges  at  the  north  i-nd  south.     The  site 


of  the  city  is  of  greater  elevation  above  the  sea  tlian 
the  territory  forty  to  fifty  miles  around  it.  Drain- 
age is,  therefore,  practicable,  and  the  Cahaba  River 
will  probably  be  the  receptacle,  ultimately,  of  the 
city  sewage.  The  celebrated  engineer  Waring 
was  employed  by  the  authorities  to  visit  the  city 
seven  years  ago.  and  by  his  advice  the  "Waring 
Sj'stem"  of  sewerage  was  successfully  introduced. 
The  drainage  from  the  pipes  is  now  forced  by 
means  of  a  flush  tank  situated  below  the  ground, 
,  and  automatically  emptied.  The  contents  are  thus 
carried  into  Valley  Creek,  two  miles  off.  The  storm 
water  sewers  are  large  brick  conduits  sufficiently 
large  to  answer  the  purpose,  and  coTistructid  at 
a  heavy  cost.  The  general  healthfulness  of  the 
city  is  proven  by  the  official  records.  The  death 
rate  has  not  varied  from  fifteen  to  seventeen  in 
the  thousand  of  population  of  both  races  for 
five  years.  Eobert  P.  Porter,  of  the  United  States 
Census  Bureau,  gives  the  following  mortuary 
statistics  in  foreign  manufacturing  cities:  Death 
rate  in  Manchester,  England,  'i7  in  1,000  of  popu- 
lation; in  Sheffield,  ".'l ;  in  Iluddersfield,  23.  The 
official  authorities  give  19  deaths  to  1,000  popula- 
tion in  San  Francisco;  'ii  in  New  Orleans;  1!)  in 
Atlanta. 

There  are  no  malaria-producing  causes  in  or 
near  Birmingham.  The  city  and  suburbs  are 
already  health  resorts  in  summer,  and  will  be- 
come so  in  winter  as  soon  as  the  excellent  hotel 
accommodations,  now  being  erected,  are  com- 
pleted. Sunstroke  is  unknown,  and  after  the  sun 
is  set  on  the  warmest  days  of  summer,  a  de- 
lightful breeze  regularly  cools  the  air  and  refresh- 
ing sleep  is  made  sure.  There  is  a  marked  differ- 
ence between  the  temperature  of  Northern  nights 
and  nights  in  Alabama,  in  favor  of  Alabama. 

THE  BANKS. 

The  banking  busine.'^s  of  Birmingham  is  one 
of  the  most  decisive  evidences  of  the  forcing 
power  of  railroads  in  organizing  the  business  fac- 
tors of  society.  The  varied  and  powerful  resources 
of  the  surrounding  counti-y  have  naturally  sought 
a  monetary  center  and  the  railroads  have  e.-tpb- 
lished  it  with  unerring  certainty.  It  is  probable 
that  Birmingham   banks  will  conduct  a  continu- 


NORTH ERX   ALABAMA. 


753 


ally  increasing  business  with  the  agricultural  re- 
gions of  all  parts  of  the  Stiite,  as  the  result  of  <lirect 
rail  connection  witlj  Kansas  City  and  Chicago 
pork  packing  houses  ami  grain  elevators.  'I'he 
losses  of  the  banks  on  account  of  over-drafts,  bad 
paper  or  other  causes,  have  been  thus  far  insigni- 
cant.  They  jiay  regular  and  high  dividends,  and 
their  business  is  largely  with  local  merchants  and 
manufacturers.  The  presidents  are  all  Southern- 
born  men,  save  one,  who  is  a  German  by  birth. 
They  are  all  married  men.  living  in  the  city,  and 
thoroughly  identified  with  it  in  other  ways  than 
by  banking.  The  banks  are  furnished  in  costly 
style  and  in  beautiful  taste.  The  city  business 
does  not  comprise  the  whole  volume  of  the  bank 
■discounts  or  deposits.  The  villages  along  the 
railroads  for  many  miles  are  important  cnstom- 
«rs;  80  are  the  coal  operators  and  railroads  in 
course  of  construction.  The  First  National  is 
the  oldest  bank.  It  was  built  in  1872-3,  long 
before  any  house  of  corresjionding  architectural 
importance  had  sprung  into  existence,  and  was 
known  as  "  Linn's  Folly,"  having  been  erected 
by  Charles  Linn,  a  wealtliy  merchant  of  the  young 
town.     The  original  capital  stock  was  *50,(»0o. 

In  1880  the  City  Bank  was  organized  with  a 
capital  of  |!100,000. 

The  banks  as  they  now  e.xist  are:  First  Na- 
tional, capitiil  stock,  |!;?00,0U0;  State  National, 
capital  stock,  |!.")00,iiOO;  The  Herney  National, 
capital  stock,  *:{00,(iOO;  The  Birmingham  Na- 
tional, capital  stock,  Is^.'iOjOOO;  The  American 
National,  capital  stock  |!2.">0,000;  The  Jefferson 
Savings  Bank,  capital  stock  *1.50,0(iO;  The  Bir- 
mingham Trust  and  Savings  Company,  capital 
stock  *."iOo,Oii(»;  The  People's  Savings  Bank, 
capital  stock  f!.5ti,0<iO;  the  private  bank  of  J.  W. 
Adams,  capital  stock  *oO,000. 

SUBURBS. 

No  manufacturing  city  has  given  more  attention 
to,  or  been  more  fortunate  in,  suburban  develop- 
ment than  Birmingham.  The  natural  invitations 
to  enterprise  are  unsurpassed.  Wooded  hills 
surround  the  city  in  all  directions.  Abundant 
mountain  s|)rings — some  mineral,  some  free-stone 
— supply  the  best  of  water.  Lovely  spots  suited 
to  private  residences,  in  a  few  minutes'  drive  or 
travel  by  steam-propelled  street  cars,  abound  at 
every  point  of  the  com])ass.  An  Arcadian  quiet 
may  be  obtained  for  the  night's  repose  in  easy  reach 
of   the  duties  of  the   day.     The  scenery  is  varied 


and  pleasing,  the  atmosphere  pure,  and  the  breezes 
constant. 

AvoKi).\LE  is  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  cen- 
ter of  the  city,  and  is  reached  by  street-car  lines 
operated  by  steam.  The  village  is  incorporated, 
has  a  government  of  its  own,  and  contains,  per- 
haps, three  thousand  souls.  There  is  a  public 
park,  heavily  wooded,  in  which  is  found  a  bold 
spring  of  cool  water,  a  natural  cave  of  consider- 
able dimensions,  a  pavilion  supplied  with  a  plat- 
form for  dancing,  and  numerous  rustic  seats, 
swings  and  other  attractions.  There  is  a  theatre, 
schools  and  churches.  A  number  of  manufac- 
tories have  been  established,  among  them,  gin 
works, which  do  a  large  business  in  several  Cotton 
States,  a  stove  foundry,  wood  works,  ice  factory, 
and  others.  Dense  shade  i)rotects  the  mountain's 
sides  of  the  public  park,  and  there,  on  Sundays 
and  holidays,  the  people  assemble, well  dressed  and 
well  behaved,  to  enjoy  the  cool  air  and  the  scenery. 
Picnics  and  moonlight  dancing  parties  are  fre- 
quent in  summer. 

Lake  View,  the  second  suburban  resort,  in 
order  of  creation,  is  situated  two  miles  from 
the  city.  There  is  a  pavilion  containing  a  dance- 
liall  and  skating-rink,  natatorium  and  other  bath- 
ing conveniences.  There  are  a  dozen  or  more 
cottages  to  let,  and  a  large,  elaborately  fitted  up, 
and  thoroughly  lighted  and  heated  hotel,  kept  in 
best  of  style.  In  the  center  is  a  lake  of  fresh 
water,  on  whicli  are  rowboats  for  the  public 
amusement.  From  the  several  elevations  on  the 
grounds  a  full  view  of  tlie  city  below  is  had. 
Along  the  dummy  street-railway  line  which 
reaches  the  park,  many  of  the  wealthier  business 
men  of  the  city  live.  Thou.sands  of  workingmen 
and  their  families  repair  to  the  park  on  Sundays, 
to  drink  the  mineral  waters  which  abound  there 
and  to  repose  in  the  shade  of  the  hillsides. 

Ea.st  Bikmingham  is  situated  one  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  city.  It  is  connected  with  the  city 
by  dummy  street  railway.  The  present  effort,  in 
pursuance  of  the  original  intent  of  the  Company 
controlling  it,  is  to  create  a  manufacturing  town. 
Cedar  Run  and  Village  Creek,  two  never-failing 
mountain  streams,  border  two  sides  of  the  area. 

Already  they  have  established  thereon  a  machine 
and  foundry  works,  an  iron  roofing  and  corrugat- 
ing company,  sad-iron  works  and  fine  wood  and 
variety  works.  Numerous  cottages  for  laborers 
have  been  erected. 


J'54 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


East  Lake. — This  suburb  is  exclusively  de- 
voted to  residences  and  to  such  commercial  liouses 
as  supply  family  wants.  It  is  expected  that  no  ma- 
chine smokestack  will  rear  its  obno.xious  propor- 
tions in  the  entire  "i, 000  acres  comprising  its  area. 
The  location  is  at  the  liead  of  the  Ruhama  Valley, 
and  at  the  headwaters  of  Village  Creek,  five  miles  in 
a  northwardly  direction  from  the  city.  The  land 
consists  of  a  succession  of  low  hills  and  narrow 
intervening  valleys,  through  which  the  purest  and 
coolest  spring  waters  How.  It  is  connected  with 
the  city  by  a  dummy  railway  line,  on  which  the 
fare  is  five  cents.  A  free  ticket  for  a  year  is  given 
to  every  purchaser  of  a  lot  on  which  the  owner 
builds  a  house  for  his  family.  It  has  an  artificial 
lake  of  irregular  contour  and  pleasing  effect,  cov- 
ering thirty-one  acres  and  surrounded  by  a  car- 
riage drive  bordering  the  waters.  The  springs 
from  the  overhanging  mountains  (ill  this  reservoir. 
Upon  its  surface  floats  a  steam  yacht  and  numer- 
ous rowboats  for  the  public  amusement. 

At  East  Lake,  is  Howard  College,  a  Baptist 
denominational  institution,  well  supported.  A 
female  high  school  is  projected. 

XoRTii  BiRMiX(iHAM. — The  name  implies  the 
section  of  this  suburb,  1,IIOO  acres  of  Village 
Creek  Valley  lands,  two  miles  from  the  city,  laid 
off  in  streets,  whereon  many  houses  have  been 
built.  The  reservoir  and  pumps  of  the  city  water 
works  are  hard  by. 

Two  blast-furnaces  have  been  erected  at  this 
place,  equipped  with  the  latest  and  most  costly 
machinery. 

North  Birmingliiim  will  ever  be  known  as  the 
seat  of  the  first  steel  manufactory  ever  erected  in 
Alabama — the  industry  which  overtops  all  others 
hitherto  introduced  in  substantial  iinjiortance — 
the  Henderson  steel  process  I 

ExsLEY  City  is  the  incorporated  name  of  the 
Pratt  Jliiies  village,  and  was  called  for  Enoch 
Ensley,  once  president  of  the  mining  corporation. 
Four  blast  furnaces,  among  the  largest*  in  the 
world,  and  of  the  best  ai)pointments,  have  been 
erected  there.  The  first  put  in  blast  turned  out 
on  Sunday,  April  8,  1S,S8,  one  hundred  and  eighty 
five  tons  of  pig.  A  new.spaper,  several  trading 
shops  and  many  cottages,  together  with  the  costly 
buildings,  railroads,  etc.,  of  the  corporation,  com- 
prise tlie  principal  features  of  the  village.  It  is 
connected  with  the  city,  si.x  miles  distant,  by  a 
railroad  for  the  tran.sportation   of  the  output  of 


the  mines  and  product  of  the  furnaces,  and  by  a 
dummy  line  for  passengers. 

Bessemer  is  an  incorporated  city,  which  in  the 
first  year  received  a  population  of  3,000.  It  is 
situated  in  Jones'  Valley,  twelve  miles  south  of 
Birmingham.  Two  blast  furnaces,  efpial  to  any 
in  the  State,  and  a  rolling  mill  plant,  comprise  the 
principal  manufactories. 

There  are  various  other  surburban  corporations 
within  one  to  six  miles  of  Birmingham.  Only 
one  of  the  whole  number  has  proven  to  be  with- 
out substantial  footing.  Therefore,  only  one  of 
the  many  involving  millions  of  dollars  and  thou- 
sands of  acres,  appears  in  the  history  of  the  rapid 
and  extensive  growth  of  the  city,  a  purely  sjiecu- 
lative  adventure. 

The  following  list  presents  evidence  of  the  vari- 
ety and  proportions  of  the  manufacturing  indus- 
tries in,  and  immediately  around  Birmingham. 
Only  those  are  mentioned  whose  standing  with 
Dun  &  Co.'s  Commercial  Agency  is  authenti- 
cated : 

Artificial  Stone  Company,  capital.  §2.5.000; 
(Coiinellsville)  Coal  and  Coke  Company.  I^.JOO,- 
000;  Gas  Fuel  and  Manufacturing  Compauj', 
130,000;  Granite  Company.  f!200,000;  Ice  and 
Cold  Storage  Company,  ^80,000:  Iron  Works 
Company,  ^20,000;  Alabama  Kolling  Mills  Com- 
pany, ?!2.5(i,000:  Elyton  Laud  Company  Rolling 
Mills,  *!2."}0,000;  Birmingham  Rolling  Mills  Com- 
pany, $.i00,000;  (Gate  City)  Anglo-Birmingham 
Pottery  Company,  $3.50,000;  (Avondale)  Ice  Fac- 
tory, |iL50,000:  Birmingham  Ice  Factory,  *;85,- 
000;  (Avondale)  Lumber  and  Milling  Company, 
1150,000;  (Avondale)  Stove  and  Foundry  Com- 
pany, 150,000;  Baxter  Stove  and  Manufacturing 
Company,  §200,000;  Birmingham  Clothing  and 
Manufacturing  Company,  §10,000;  Construction 
Company,  §.50,000;  Compress  and  Warelwuse 
Company,  §100,000:  Corrugating  Company, §100,- 
000;  (p]ast  Birmingham)  Sad  Iron  Manufacturing 
Company,  §2.5,000:  (East  Birmingham)  Iron  Roof- 
ing and  Corrugating  Company,  §25,000;  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company,  §75,000;  Ellen 
Ross  Works,  §20,000:  Enterprise  Manufacturing 
Company,  §100,000;  ((iate  City)  Lumber  and 
Improvement  Company,  §20,000;  (Gate  City) 
Pottery  Works  Company,  §20,000;  Hughes'  Lum- 
ber and  ilanufacturing  Company,  §100,000:  Pea- 
cock Iron  and  Improvement  Company,  §200,000; 
Birmingham    Fire    Brick   Works,    §.50,000:    Gas 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


ami  Electric  Light  Company.  *150,000:  Iron 
Works,  |!lO().nno:  Tanning  and  .Manufacturing 
(.'omjiany,  *>'.>0,000;  Machine  ami  Foundry  Com- 
pany, $1(10,(100;  Mining  and  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, $100,000:  Naturald'iis  and  I'uel  Company, 
flOO.OOO:  Paint.  Class  and  Wall  Paper  Comjiany, 
$10,000;  Safe  and  Lock  Manufacturing  Company, 
$50,000:  Tool  and  Implement  Works.  $:5,o00  ; 
Warehouse  and  Klevator  Company,  $'2.iO,0O0: 
Hotel  Company,  *l-^o,ooo;  (Coaldale)  Hrick  and 
Mining  Company,  *i|()0,(i00;  Pioneer  (ihiss  Com- 
pany. *-,'oO,oOO;  Hcd  Mountain  Mining  and  Man- 
ufacturing Company.  4!30O,0O0;  (iin  Manufactur- 
ing Com])any.  $100,000;  Soutliern  Foundry  and 
^lanufacturing  Company.  $.").000;  Southern  Min- 
ing and  Manufacturing  Comjiany,  $<!O0.00O; 
Thompson  Hrick  Comjiany.  $'20.000:  Wharton 
Flouring  Mill.  $."iO.(iOO:  Mineral  Water  Manufac- 
tory, $',',oOO;  Kreble  Engine  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, $-^."),00;  Cigar  Manufactory,  $1,000;  Iron 
Bridge  and  Forge  Company.  $250,000;  Brewery, 
$100,000;  Cliain  Works,  $;5o,000;  Sash.  Door  and 
Blind  Factory.  $5o,o00;  Agricultural  Implements 
Works.  $50.00(1;  Pin,  Tack  and  Nail  AVorks.  $50,- 
000;  Car  Manufactory,  $100,000;  Pioneer  >[ining 
and  Manufacturing  Company,  $1,000,000;  Sloss 
Iron  and  Steel  Company.  $4,000,000;  Tennessee 
Coal,  Iron  and  Baihoad  Company,  Pratt  Mines 
Division,  $1,500,000;  De  Bardeleben  Coal  and 
Iron  Company,  $4,o00.000;  Birmingham  Furnace 
and  Manufacturing  Company.  $1,500,000;  AVill- 
iamson  Iron  Company,  $150,000;  Mary  Pratt 
Furnace  Company.  $350,000;  Eureka  P'urnace 
Company,  $1,000,000;  Mabel  Mining  Company, 
$50,000;  Milner  Coal  and  Railroad  Company, 
$200,000;  Pierce  Warrior  Coal  Company,  $10o,- 
000;  Home  Coal  and  Iron  Company,  $100,000; 
Henry  Ellen  Coal  Company.  $50o,O00:  New  Cas- 
tle Coal  Company.  $100,0()0. 

There  are  various  minor  manufactories  of  clolli- 
ing,  trunks,  harness,  shoes,  wood  work.  etc..  etc. 
The  Queen  and  Crescent  and  the  Louisville  &  Nash- 
ville Railroad  systems  have  extensive  car  works  in 
the  city,  and  the  (Jeorgia  Central  will  erect  simi- 
lar works  here  at  an  early  day. 

STEEL  MANUFACTURE. 

Hitherto  the  only  debatable  fjuestion  as  to  Ala- 
bama's leading  the  world  in  the  product  of  iron 
and  steel  has  been,  as  to  whether  the  native  ores 
could  be  sufliciently  depl)os]>horizcd  to  make  a 
good  quality  of  tiie  latter.     Scientists  have  said 


not.  Bessemer  and  Reese  ]>roces8es  have  both  been 
making  good  steel  from  Alal)ama  ores,  but  owing 
to  the  monopoly  of  the  patents  covering  those 
processes  they  have  been  unavailable  to  others. 

In  1887,  James  Henderson,  of  Belleville.  N.  .7., 
succeeded,  aftei'nuich  discouragement,  in  organiz- 
ing a  company  at  Birmingham  for  the  purpose  of 
testing  his  claim  that  he  could  make  the  best  of 
steel  from  Alabama  ores. 

The  test  was  made,  and  the  proces*  was  found 
to  be  a  grand  success. 

The  question  as  to  the  feasibility  of  making 
from  the  poorest  ores  of  Alabama  the  finest  qual- 
ity of  steel  is  no  longer  debatable. 

The  small  experimental  furnace  is  now  giving 
way  to  a  permanent  structure  of  a  lOO  tons  capac- 
ity' 

MEDICAL  IIISTOHY. 

It  has  been  observed  that  while  Jefferson 
County  and  the  surrounding  country  was  the 
favorite  hunting  ground  of  the  Creek.  Choctaw 
and  Cherokee  Indians,  no  tiadition  of  a  "  medi- 
cine man"  among  their  number  remains.  In 
further  illustration  of  the  simple  methods  of  the 
healing  art,  adajjted  to  the  climate,  it  is  related 
that  the  first  practitioner  who  settled  in  the 
county  was  Win.  Janies  Keller,  by  courtesy  called 
Doctor.  He  had  studied  medicine  one  term  at 
Lexington,  Ky.,  but  had  no  diploma;  neverthe- 
less, for  twenty  years  he  maintained  a  large 
and  successful  practice.  Samuel  Earle,  Doctor 
also  by  courtesy,  and  Daniel  Davis,  of  like 
claim  to  professional  title,  were  distinguished  by 
long  and  successful  medical  practice  in  Jefferson. 
"  Dr."  Ilarle  was  a  gentleman  of  much  culture 
and  of  excellent  discernment.  "l>r."  Davis  was 
not  behind  him  in  the  latter  qualification,  and  was 
a  most  generous  and  patriolic  citizen. 

Among  the  early  educated  physi<'ians  none 
ranked  higher  than  Dr.  Joseph  R.  Smith.  He 
was  one  of  the  four  first-born  whites  of  the  county. 
.\lways  industrious,  practical  and  saving,  he  ac- 
quired 4arge  landed  property,  which  was  culti- 
vated in  limited  area  by  slaves.  His  old  jilantation 
is  partly  incorporated  in  Smithfield  suburb,  an<l 
he  is  probably  the  largest  individual  real  estate 
holder  in  the  city  and  suburbs. 

The  Birmingham  medical  profession  has  gath- 
ered from  all  parts  of  .\labama.  and  from  some 
otlier  .States,  not  a  few  eminent  practitioners. 
The  president  of  the  .State  .Medical  Association, 
Dr.  E.  H.  Sholl.    is  a  .•..<!, )..nt  .,f  tl,..  .itv    ,.rl,'in- 


756 


NORTHERN  AL4BAMA. 


ally  from  Pennsylvania,  but  long  removed  to  Ala- 
bama. A  flattering  esprit  du  corps  prevails,  and 
the  impetus  of  society  generally  iias  possessed  the 
profession.  The  Alabama  Gyna'eologieal  Asso- 
ciation was  organized  in  the  city  in  December, 
1886,  and  its  official  journal  established  here. 
The  Jefferson  County  iledical  Society  has  its 
headquarters  in  the  city,  and  is  an  aggressive  and 
well-organized  body. 

CIVIL  OOUKTS. 

Justice  was  first  dispensed  in  Jefferson  County 
very  near  the  present  site  of  Birmingham.  A 
log  hut  of  a  single  room  served  the  purposes  of  a 
court-house.  After  one  or  two  changes  Elyton, 
two  miles  from  the  court-house  of  Birmingham, 
was  chosen  the  county  capital.  A  government 
land  surveyor  from  New  England,  named  Ely, 
donated  to  the  county  160  acres  of  land,  upon 
which  to  erect  county  buildings.  A  brick  build- 
ing was  then  erected  for  a  court-house,  and  the 
village  was  named,  in  honor  of  the  donor  of  the 
site,  Elyton.  The  county  courts  were  presided 
over  each  by  its  own  judge,  and  these  dispensers 
of  justice  in  Jefferson  were  generally,  as  the  early 
doctors  were,  self-made  men,  relying  upon  a  native 
sense  of  right — not  mob  law,  but  "  Lynch"  law — 
to  determine  the  causes  at  bar.  Peter  Walker, 
"  Red  "  John  Brown,  AValker  K.  Baylor,  Moses 
Kelley  and  W.  L.  Wilson,  held  the  county  justice- 
ship in  succession.  E.  W.  Peck,  afterward  Chief- 
Justice  of  the  State,  was  a  New  Yorker,  who  set- 
tled in  Elyton  as  a  young  lawyer  in  1824.  AV.  S. 
^ludd  came  to  Jefferson  County,  in  his  infancy, 
from  Kentucky,  and  was  twenty-seven  years 
Circuit  Judge. 

In  1873  the  county  seat  of  Jefferson  was  trans- 
ferred from  Elyton  to  Birmingham.  The  court- 
house erected  to  receive  the  records  and  accom- 
modate the  business  was  soon  found  inadequate 
in  proportions,  and  another  was  ordered  built  of 
stone,  brick  and  iron,  and,  from  basement  to  roof, 
absolutely  fire-proof,  to  cost  ^240,000,  not  esti- 
mating the  value  of  the  site. 

The  courts  now  held  in  Jefferson  County  are 
the  Chancery  Court,  Circuit  Court,  Probate  and 
County  Court,  City  Court,  having  jurisdiction  of 
all  cases  of  law  and  equity  arising  in  the  county. 
Criminal  Court,  and  courts  of  Justices  of  the 
Peace. 

The  presiding  officers  of  the  courts  in  1888  are 
Thomas  Cobbs.  Cliiiiiccllor;  Leroy  F.  Box,  Circuit 


Judge;  Henry  A.  Sharpe,  City  Court  Judge;  Sam- 
uel E.  Greene,  Criminal  Court  Judge;  Mitchel 
T.  Porter,  Probate  Judge;  and  two  '"Justices." 
The  lawyer  of  greatest  age  at  the  Jefferson  bar 
is  AVilliam  M.  Brooks,  a  native  of  South  Carolina. 
Jqhn  T.  Heflin,  a  native  of  Georgia,  ranks  next. 

POLITICAL  HISTORY. 

Jefferson  County  was  originally  a  part  of 
Blount.  Its  separate  organization  was  among  the 
early  acts  of  the  State  Government  in  1819.  One 
of  the  first  grist-mills  erected  was  put  up  on 
A'illage  Creek,  and  the  stones  were  the  native 
rock,  cut  from  the  bank  of  the  creek.  In  the 
lower  part  of  the  county,  iron  to  supply  the  early 
settlers  with  wagon  wheel  tires  and  horse  shoes, 
was  made  from  Red  Mountain  ores,  melted  in  an 
open  oven,  used  for  domestic  purposes,  and  beaten 
into  bars  by  a  hammer  turned  by  the  water  of  a 
creek.  The  total  jiopulation  in  1860  was  less  than 
twelve  thousand,  about  one-fifth  of  whom  were 
slaves.  The  slaveholders  were  not  wealthy,  as  com- 
pared with  those  of  the  prairie  region  of  the  Stateor 
the  Valley  of  the  Tennessee.  The  slaves  were  not  as 
profitable  in  Jefferson  as  in  the  distinctively  cot- 
ton region.  The  non-slaveholders  were  a  remark- 
ably honest  class,  and  no  more  virtuous  people  are 
known  to  history.  Every  head  of  a  family  owned 
as  nuich  land  as  he  could  inclose  and  cultivate, 
while  the  vast  wooded  commons  furnished  free 
range  for  his  live  stock.  The  farms  of  the  people 
were  self-supporting.  The  soil  produced  abun- 
dantly of  wheat  and  rye.  Corn  was  raised  to  feed 
the  work  animals  and  to  fatten  the  pork.  Cotton 
sufficient  to  supply  the  home  spinning  wheel  and 
the  home  loom,  upon  which  all  textile  goods 
needed  for  the  family  was  produced,  and  very  little 
to  sell.  The  neighborhood  smithy  built  and  kept 
in  repair  the  plows  and  wagons;  the  neighborhood 
cobbler  shod  the  population.  The  pork,  beef  and 
mutton,  poultry  and  vegetables,  the  plow  animals, 
whether  horses,  mules  or  oxen,  were  raised  at 
home 

Children  were  born  and  grew  to  maturity  be- 
fore they  had  ever  seen  a  railroad  car,  or  a  steam- 
boat, or  heard  the  steam  whistle.  Many  young 
men  volunteered  to  join  the  Confederate  armies, 
who,  until  mustered  into  the  service,  had  never 
taken  mumps  or  measles,  nor  a  dose  of  medicine, 
had  never  seen  a  town  of  200  inhabitants,  nor 
been  compelled  to  rise  up  or  lie  down  by  the 
order  of     a  superior.      The  non-slaveholders    of 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


'757 


JeflFerson,  volunteered  promptly  to  fight  the  bat- 
tles of  the  Confederacy.  They  had  never  been 
sought  out  by  capital  to  receive  its  wages.  They 
were  free  men  among  the  freest,  'i'hey  had  nat- 
ural intelligence  to  understatid  the  peril  to  tlieir 
own  social  standing  in  tlie  issue  of  a  war  profess- 
edly waged  to  enfranchise  the  negro  race  as  an 
adjunct  to  the  political  jiower  of  capital  employ- 
ing a  wage  class. 

The  Tenth  Alabama  Infantry,  eoninianded  by 
W.  II.  Korney,  afterward  major-general,  and  the 
Nineteenth  Alabama  Infantry,  commanded  by 
Joseph  Wheeler,  afterward  lieutenant-general, 
contained  many  .lefferson  County  non-slave- 
holders. 

Peck  and  Mudd  are  famous  names  in  the  history 
of  the  bench  and  bar  of  Alabama,  and  these  were 
men  of  Elyton.  G.  W.  Hewitt,  a  native  of  Jeffer- 
son, represented  the  district  of  which  the  county 
forms  a  part,  for  eight  years  in  the  lower  house  of 
the  Federal  Congress. 

Those  who  have  held  prominent  political  offices 
now  resident  in  liirmingham,  are  AVilliam  A. 
Handley,  G.  W.  Hewitt,  and  John  M.  Martin,  ex- 
members  of  Congress.  William  M.  Brooks  lias 
been  Circuit  Judge,  and  was  President  of  the 
Convention  of  the  State  which  passed  the  ordi- 
nance known  as  the  Ordinance  of  Secession.  John 
T.  liertin  was  a  member  of  tlie  State  Legislature 
and  of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  present 
State  Constitution,  and  was  Circuit  Judge. 

The  present  members  of  the  Legislature  from 
Jefferson  County  are  Robert  II.  Sterrett,  Senator, 
and  G.  W.  Hewitt  and  Chambers  McAdory,  Rep- 
resentatives. Senator  Sterrett  is  a  native  of  Shelby 
County,  adjoining  Jefferson,  and  both  Represent- 
atives are  natives  of  Jefferson.  All  were  Confed- 
erate soldiers. 

PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

The  city  schools  are  absolutely  free.  The  city 
school  fund  is  supplemented  by  the  State  appro- 
priation. The  superintendent's  office  is  an  elective 
one,  and  all  the  teachers  areexaniined  for  election. 
The  salary  of  the  superintendent  is  ♦1,800  per 
annum.  The  teachers  receive  from  ll"-i.")  per 
month  down  to  ^30.  The  value  of  the  school 
property  in  houses,  lots,  furniture,  etc.,  is  proba- 
bly $l<)0,00ii.  The  races  are  supplied  with  separ- 
ate buildings,  with  teachers  of  their  own  blood,  and 
with  separate  but  equal  facilities. 

The  public-school  system  is  not  an  adjunct  to 


the  city  government,  but  is,  by  law,  placed  under 
the  control  of  a  Board  of  Education,  of  which  the 
Mayor  is  ex-ojficio  chairman,  and  the  City  Clerk 
ex-iifficio  clerk.  The  number  of  school  children 
of  all  ages  enumerated  August  1,  188T,  was  3,"-i'Jl. 
The  school  i)uildingsof  hite  years  constructed  are 
after  the  most  apjjroved  styles  of  architecture 
adapted  to  tlie  purpose,  and  all  their  appoint- 
ments, furniture,  etc.,  are  of  the  most  convenient 
models.  The  buildings  are  named  in  honor  of 
eminent  men  in  the  history  of  the  city  and  coun- 
try. The  names  of  the  three  Mayors,  Henley, 
Powell  and  Lane,  have  been  each  commemorated 
in  the  naming  of  a  school,  and  also  the  Southern 
poet,  Paul  Hamilton  Ilayne. 

The  Superintendent  of  Schools  is  Prof.  J.  II. 
Phillips,  a  native  of  Kenuicky,  with  e.^:perience  in 
practical  school  management  acquired  in  Indiana. 
He  is  the  executive  officer  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion. To  his  zeal,  intelligence  and  administrative 
faculty,  the  very  admirable  system  in  use  is 
largely  due  in  conception  as  well  as  in  its  opera- 
tion. He  was  elected  in  September,  1883,  and  is 
annually  re-elected  without  opposition. 

The  peojile  of  the  city,  irrespective  of  wealth  or 
condition,  patronize  the  public  schools,  and  thus 
the  parents,  themselves  educated,  become  the 
guardians  of  the  schools  of  the  children  of  all 
classes. 

There  exist,  nevertheless,  many  private  schools 
in  the  city,  conducted  by  teachers  of  distinguished 
ability. 

CHURCHES. 

Xothing  more  surely  attests  the  homogeneity 
and  the  Southein  origin  of  the  people  of  Birming- 
ham, than  their  reverence  of  character  and  the 
regularity  of  their  religious  observances.  New 
churches  are  constantly  going  up  in  the  city,  and 
the  first  built  are  often  enlarged.  Yet  every  Sun- 
day their  seating  capacity  is  taxed  to  the  utmost. 
All  leading  denominations  of  Christians  are  rep- 
resented in  the  religious  organization,  and  there  is 
a  Jewish  synagogue.  Both  races  have  liouses  of 
worship  regularly  open.  All  of  the  clergy  of  the 
white  race  are  .Southern-born,  or  nearly  all,  and 
most  of  these  were  in  the  Southern  Army  as 
private  soldiers  or  chaplains.  The  leading  men 
in  the  industrial  enterprises  are  members  of  some 
Church.  All  Christian  denominations  are  repre- 
sented here,  and  most  of  them  are  established  in 
magnificent  church  edifices.     There  are  also  here. 


758 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


and  in  flourishing  condition,  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  and  the  Society  of  United 
Charities. 

THE  PRESS. 

The  oldest  and  best  equipped  dailj'  journal  in 
tlie  city  is  tiie  Birmingham  Age,  founded  in  1881. 
It  is  published  by  a  corporation,  with  J.  L.  Wat- 
kins  editor,  and  A.  B.  Bethea  business  manager. 
It  occupies  a  three-story  brick  house  with  glass 
and  iron  front,  its  rooms  are  neatly  furnished,  and 
the  telegraph  and  telephone  apparatus  needed  by 
tlie  paper  are  under  its  own  roof.  It  has  elegant 
press  and  stereotype  facilities,  being  able  to  turn 
out  10,000  copies  of  an  eight-page  paper  an  hour. 
It  is  Indeiien(lent-r)emocratic  in  politics.  The 
WeeMy  Age  has  a  large  circulation. 

T/ie  Eveninfi  Chronicle  is  an  eight-column 
folio,  taking  Associated  Press  dispatches.  It  is 
Independent-Democratic  in  politics,  and  is  chiefly 
devoted  to  local  matters,  wherein  its  influence  is 
marked  for  good.  It  has  a  wide  city  and  suburban 
patronage,  both  in  subscriptions  and  advertise- 
ments. George  M.  Cruikshank  is  editor,  and  D. 
B.  Grace  business  manager.  These  two  gentle- 
men own  the  paper  and  conduct  it  in  a  fearless 
spirit.  The  Evening  Chronicle  was  founded  in 
1S8.3.  The  WeeMy  Chronicle  is  also  a  valuable 
and  popular  publication. 

The  Morning  Herald  is  an  eight-page  paper, 
taking  Associated  Press  dispatches,  Democratic 
in  politics,  and,  although  less  than  a  year  old,  has 
acquired  a  large  business  and  influence.  It  is 
exceedingly  neat  in  appearance,  and  maintains  a 
large  corps  of  correspondents.  The  Herald  was 
founded  mainly  through  the  personal  influence  of 
Rufus  >>.  Ivliodes,  a  young  Tennesseean.  It  is 
owned  by  a  corporation.  The  editor  is  K.  H. 
Yancey,  a  young  gentleman  also  from  Tennessee. 

7'he  Evening  News. — This,  the  latest  of  tlie 
four  dailies,  was  founded  also  by  IJufus  X.  Rhodes, 
upon  his  retirement  from  the  management  and 
editorship  of  tlie  Morning  Herald.  It  is  edited 
by  Col.  Louis  .J.  DuPre,  late  United  States  Consul 
to  San  Salvador,  and  formerly  editor  and  associate 
editor  of  several  leading  Southern  dailies,  among 
them  the  Memphis  Aj>/>eal  und  Birmingham  Age. 
It  is  the  oidy  ten-cents-perweck  daily  in  the  city. 
It  is  a  subscriber  to  special  telegraphic  news,  and 
in  all  respects  is  a  vigorous  and  aggressive  Demo- 
cratic newsi)aper.    Mr.  Rhodes  is  general  manager. 

TJie  Alabama  Sentinel  is  tlie  ofticial  Labor 
U'nion  paper,  and  is  edited  with  zeal  and  tact. 


Tlie  New  South  is  an  industrial  paper,  edited 
by  the  Messrs.  Worthington,  and  is  sent  into  all 
paits  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  The 
typography  is  beautiful  and  the  illustrations  well 
executed.  It  abounds  in  articles  explanatory  of 
the  natural  resources  of  Alabama  in  timber,  agri- 
culture and   minerals. 

T7ie  Alabama  Christian  Advocate  is  the  ofticial 
organ  in  the  State  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  South.  It  is  a  handsome  paper  of 
eight  pages,  published  weekly,  and  edited  with  ex- 
traordinary zeal  and  ability  by  Rev.  Mr.  McCoy. 

Several  other  advertising  sheets  ap2)ear  weekly. 
The  American  Newspaper  Union  has  an  ofiice 
here,  with  presses,  from  which  the  "outsides"  of 
a  number  of  country  pajjersure  issued. 

PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  BUILDINGS. 

The  CofXTY  Coirt  House,  now  well  advanced 

toward  completion,  will  cost  $240,000.    It  is  situ- 

I  ated  on  a  hill  in  the  central  part  of  the  city,  and 

'   the  architecture  will  be  worthy  of  the  prominent 

site  and  well  adapted  to  the  uses  of  the  building. 

The  Fei)ER.\l  Building. — An  appropriation 
of  $300,000  has  been  made  lately  by  Congress  to 
erect  this  structure. 

The  Morris  Building,  seven  stories  high,  is 
to  be  one  of  the  handsomest  business  houses  in 
the  South,  built  of  stone,  iron  and  brick.  Manj' 
of  the  business  houses  are  three-  and  four-story 
bricks,  well  ventilated  and  j)roTided  with  eleva- 
tors. 

The  private  residences  have  not,  thus  far,  kept 
pace  with  the  architectural  importance  of  tlie 
business  houses.  They  are  almost  wholly  of 
wood,  but  spacious  and  surrounded  wfth  well- 
kept  yards  in  many  cases. 

The  Theatre  is  elegantly  fitted  up  with  all 
modern  improvements,  and  Booth,  Barrett,  Jeffer- 
son, Langtry  and  other  prominent  actors  have 
ajipcarcd  on  its  boards. 

E.  T.  TALIAFERRO.  Prominent  among  the 
noted  lawyer.*  of  this  State  stands  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  who  is  a  descendant  of  some  of  the  oldest 
families  of  A'irginia.  His  ancestors  are  traced  in 
the  history  of  that  colony  as  far  back  as  177-t. 
They  were  patriots,  and  particijiated  in  the  strug- 
gle for  independence,  and  subsequently  some  of 
them  Avere  engaged  in  the  AVar  of  1812, 


/7y 


iXOH  THERX  A  LAB  A  MA. 


r59 


Ilia  parents,  Dr.  Edwin  T.,  born  in  King  Will- 
iam County,  Va.,  and  Jane  B.  (Pope)  Taliiiferro, 
born  in  Henry  County,  Tenn.,  residctl  iit  the  time 
of  his  birtii  at  Paris,  'i'enn.,  wliorc,  for  over 
twenty-five  years,  his  father  practiced  his  profes- 
sion. In  I8G0,  he  removed  with  Ids  family  to 
Madison  County,  Ala.,  where  he  continued  in 
practice.  He  is  an  esteemed  physician  and 
citizen,  and  represented  that  county  in  the  State 
Legislature  during  the  session  of  l!S84-S5.  The 
mother  of  our  subject  died  in  18 < 3.  tSiie  was  the 
mother  of  five  children,  three  of  whom  are  now 
living,  all  residents  of  Alabama. 

Colonel  Taliaferro  was  born  in  Paris,  Henry 
County,  Tenn.,  in  1849,  and  received  a  common- 
school  education,  supplemented  by  a  course  of 
study  for  two  years  at  JIanchester  College,  Ten- 
nessee. He  began  the  study  of  law  in  1808,  in  the 
office  of  John  C.  Brown,  of  Pulaski,  Tenn.,  who 
was  twice  Governor  of  that  State,  remaining  under 
his  tutelage  for  two  years,  teaching  school  in  the 
meantime,  which  occupation  he  followed  for  over 
a  year  after  leaving  the  office  of  his  precejjtor. 
He  was  admitted  to  tlie  bar, at  Pulaski,  in  January, 
1871,  and  immediately  began  practice  there,  con- 
tinuing until  January,  188:?,  during  which  period 
lie  was  associated  with  Maj.  B.  F.  Jlatthews,  and 
again  with  Jolin  T.  Allen,  both  natives  of  Ten- 
nessee. 

Colonel  Taliaferro  rose  ra])i(lly  in  his  profes- 
sion, and  was  a  prominent  factor  in  the  i)olitical 
affairs  of  the  State.  He  was  elected  to  the  State 
Legislature  in  1870,  by  the  largest  Democratic 
majority  ever  cast  in  his  county,  and  was  elected 
Speaker  of  the  House,  being  one  of  the  youngest 
members  of  that  body.  He  made  great  reputation 
as  a  presiding  officer,  as  will  be  readily  attested 
by  all  Tennesseeans.  During  his  term  of  office 
there  was  a  regular  and  three  e.xtra  sessions  of  the 
Legislature,  and  excitement  ran  high  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  .State's  indebtednesss:  and,  although 
he  was  with  the  minority  in  the  Hou.se,  yet,  in  all 
four  of  the  sessions,  never  for  a  single  time  were 
his  rulings  overruled,  and  seldom  appealed  from, 
by  the  House. 

In  1878  he  was  elected  permanent  President  of 
of  the  .Judicial  (.'onvention  called  to  nominate 
five  Supreme  Court  Judges,  (Jen.  William  A. 
Quarles.  of  Clarksville,  being  temporary  chair- 
man. This  was  the  largest  and  perhaps  the  aldest 
Convention  ever  assembled  in  that  State,  being 
composed    entirely    of    attorneys.      During    his 


term  in  the  Legislature  the  question  of  the  State 
debt  of  Tennessee  was  first  agitated.  Colonel 
Taliaferro  took  strong  grounds  for  State  credit, 
which  he  warmly  nniintained,  with  the  approval 
of  his  constituents. 

Hi  1880  he  was  an  Elector  on  the  Hancock 
and  Knglish  Presidential  ticket,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  campaign  abandoned  political  life,  to  de- 
vote his  entire  attention  to  his  profession.  In 
1881,  he  was  employed,  as  one  of  the  twelve  lead- 
ing lawyers  from  dilTerent  sections  of  the  State, 
to  file  a  bill  in  the  Chancery  Court  of  Nashville  to 
have  declared  unconstitutional  a  bill  i)as6ed  by 
the  Legislature  to  settle  the  debt  of  the  State  with 
three  per  cent,  bonds,  the  debt  amounting  to  ^"^'7,- 
5(10, Odd  at  the  time.  Upon  appeal  to  the  .Su- 
preme Court,  Colonel  Taliaferro  was  chosen  as  one 
of  the  counsel  to  argue  the  case,  orally  and  by  print- 
ed brief,  and  they  carried  the  appeal  to  victory. 

In  January,  1883,  he  sought  a  larger  field  for 
the  practice  of  law.  and  removed  to  Fort  Smith, 
Ark.,  where  he  was  in  the  practice  two  years,  all 
of  that  jjcriod  in  connection  with  B.  II.  Tabor. 
In  Arkansas,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  he  took  fore- 
most rank  among  lawyers,  and  was  engaged  in 
nearly  every  important  case  at  Fort  Smith,  while 
living  there. 

In  1884  Birmiiigliam  commenced  to  attract 
and  command  the  attention  of  the  entire  United 
States  as  a  mining,  manufacturing,  railroad 
and  corporate  center.  Colonel  Taliaferro  fore- 
saw the  great  future  of  the  city,  and  the 
advantages  it  offered  in  the  practice  of  law. 
Having  a  strong  desire  to  practice  more  sjie- 
cially  that  branch  of  his  profession  relating  to 
corporations,  he  came  to  liirmingham  in  .Sejjtem- 
ber,  1883,  prospecting,  and  at  once  saw  the  im- 
mense resources  of  Birniingiiam  and  vicinity,  and 
its  e.xtraordinary  inducements  in  his  profession, 
and  determined  at  once  to  make  it  his  home. 

Colonel  Taliaferro  became  a  citizen  of  Birming- 
ham in  January,  188.i,  and  has  from  that  date 
been  a  power  in  what  is  now  termed  the  most 
able  and  brilliant  bar  in  Alabama.  Ih  December, 
188.i,  he  was  employed  to  return  to  his  old  home 
in  Tennessee  as  leading  counsel  in  one  of  the  most 
important  and  exciting  cases  ever  tried  in  that 
section,  the  celebrated  "Jones  Case."  Of  his 
efforts  in  that  case  we  copy  a  single  e.Ntract  from 
the  Pulaski  Ci/izen,  of  date  December  3,  1885: 

"  Hon.  E.  T.  Taliaferro's  speech  yesterday  in 
the  Jones  case  was  a  great  and   brilliant  effort  of 


760 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


an  able  man.  The  court-room  was  crowded  to 
suffocation.  The  interest  with  which  it  was 
awaited  and  listened  to,  and  the  high  opinions 
expressed  of  it  since  its  delivery,  must  be  pecu- 
liarly gratifying  to  him.  His  first  appearance  for 
several  years  before  his  old  clients,  constituents 
and  friends  was  an  ovation,  and  an  expression  of 
regard  and  trust  that  should  urge  him  to  even 
nobler  efforts  and  purposes  in  his  profession." 

Colonel  Taliaferro  in  person  presents  a  strikinrr 
figure.  Over  six  feet  tall,  erect  as  an  Indian,  and 
with  a  high,  intellectual  cast  of  features,  he  com- 
mands attention  at  a  glance.  Ilis  legal  attain- 
ments are  of  an  excellent  order.  Added  to  them 
are  great  oratorical  powers  and  superior  mental 
attributes.  He  is  ever  dignified,  but,  withal,  one 
of  the  most  gentlemanly  and  genial  of  men:  is  ever 
generous  to  assist  the  needy,  and  ever  ready  to  do 
wliat  is  in  his  power  to  advance  progressive  civiliza- 
tion. He  is  the  attorney  for  the  Alabama  National 
Bank,  the  Sloss  Furnace  Company,  the  Birming- 
ham Iron-Works,  and  other  great  corporations, 
and  has  large  real  estate  interests. 

Colonel  Taliaferro  has  been  connected,  as  coun- 
sel, with  some  of  the  most  important  cases  in  Jef- 
ferson County.  His  first  legal  experience  in  the 
State  was  in  1877-78,  in  the  Federal  Court  at 
Huntsville,  when  he  defended  some  prominent 
citizens  of  Tennessee  upon  a  charge  of  counter- 
feiting, and,  after  two  trials  of  five  weeks  each, 
succeeded  in  securing  an  acquittal.  Associated 
with  him  were  John  B.  Walker,  ex-Gov.  David 
P.  Lewis,  ex-Gov.  John  C.  Brown,  Gen.  Joseph 
Wheeler,  William  M.  Lowe,  ex-United  States  Sen- 
ator Luke  Pryor,  Hon.  David  E.  Shelby,  Gov.  E. 
A.  O'Neal  and  others.  Four  of  them  were  allowed 
to  argue  the  defense,  and  Colonel  Taliaferro  was 
one  of  tlie  number. 

Colonel  Taliaferro  is  a  Knight  Templar. 

He  was  united  in  marriage  October  13,  1874, 
with  Miss  Eva,  daughter  of  Col.  J.  AV.  Sloss,  of 
Birmingham.  Four  children  have  been  born  to 
them,  two  of  whom  are  living:  Edwin  T.  and 
Mary. 

■    ■'>-^^^-<*-    • 

WILLIAM  McLINN  BROOKS  was  born  in  1815, 
in  Sumter  District.  S.  (',  He  came  of  Virginia 
stock,  who  had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  colonies 
in  the  War  for  American  Independence.  The 
parents,  William  ]Middleton  and  Elizabeth  Brooks 
(«t'e  Watson),  both  natives  of  Virginia,  migrated 


from  that  State  to  South  Carolina,  and  then  to 
Alabama,  in  1833,  and  settled  in  the  rich  county 
of  Marengo,  long  one  of  the  four  richest  coun- 
ties in  the  State.  The  father  soon  died,  after 
reaching  the  Alabama  home.  William  M.  was 
recalled  from  the  South  Carolina  College  at  Co- 
lumbia, then  the  most  aristocratic  educational 
institution  in  the  Cotton  States,  to  return  to  Ala- 
bama to  assume  charge  of  his  deceased  father's 
estate,  and  to  care  for  a  large  family,  the  widowed 
mother  and  seven  daughters.  The  youth  proved 
equal  to  the  emergency  of  his  strange  situation. 
He  found  time  to  continue  his  literary  studies  and 
to  read  law  as  well.  In  1838  he  was  licensed  to 
practice,  being  then  in  his  twenty-third  year.  He 
opened  a  law  office  in  Linden,  the  Marengo  county 
seat,  and  became  associated  in  practice  with 
William  Robinson,  a  wealthy  cotton  planter  of 
the  vicinity,  who  had  lately  moved  to  ilarengo 
from  Charleston,  S.  C.  Two  years  after  entering 
the  practice  Mr.  Brooks  was  elected  District  Solic- 
itor. In  this  office  he  acquired  high  reputation. 
Some  eases  of  extraordinary  importance  were 
prosecuted  by  him,  in  which  he  encountered  such 
lawyers  as  Murphy,  John  Erwin,  Henley,  F.  S. 
Lyon,  Manning  and  others,  whose  names  adorn 
the  record  of  the  bench  and  bar  of  Alabama.  So- 
licitor Brooks  prosecuted  Gaines,  a  young  man, 
for  the  murder  of  his  stepfather,  Curry,  on  the 
streets  of  Linden.  The  ablest  criminal  lawyer 
then  in  the  circuit.  Murphy,  of  Eutaw,  was  called 
in  to  oppose  the  Solicitor.  It  was  in  this  case  that 
^lurphy,  in  the  course  of  his  address,  became  so 
impassioned  and  aroused  by  his  theme  that,  stoop- 
ing to  the  floor,  with  his  ear  down,  he  listened  to 
hear  the  mutterings  of  Curry's  soul  in  Hades,  and 
told  the  jury  what  he  had  lieardi 

After  six  years  of  distinguished  success  as  State 
prosecutor  in  the  circuit,  .Mr.  Brooks  resigned  his 
office,  and  at  once  entered  upon  a  general  practice 
which  has  never  been  surpassed  and  seldom  equaled 
in  this  State,  in  the  constituents  of  great  causes 
stoutly  fought,  great  principles  incorporated  in 
the  common  law,  and  rich  pecuniary  rewards  to 
the  practitioner. 

In  person,  Judge  Brooks  is  of  medium  height, 
well  proportioned,  with  elastic  and  easy  carriage. 
A  massive  chin,  clear  steel  gray  eyes,  broad  brow, 
always  cleanly  shaven  face,  and  attire  scrupulously 
neat,  make  the  tout  ensemble  one  of  the  most 
striking  personnels  among  all  the  lawyers  at  any 
of  the  courts  of  the  State. 


J^t^^^^ii^, 


NOR  TIIERN  ALA  BAM  A. 


761 


During  tlie  W!ir  .Iiulge  Hrooks  was  cliiiiriniiii  of 
a  ooininitti'o  to  provide siisteiiaiu'e  for  the  sujiport 
oftlie  families  of  Confederate  soldiers,  non-slave- 
holders of  the  hill  country  in  the  vicinity  of  Bir- 
inghain.  'I'oward  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  ap- 
pointed colonel  of  a  regiment  of  reserve  troops. 

In  18()(i.  he  moved  to  Selma  and  at  once  became 
al)sorl)ed  in  a  very  heavy  and  lucrative  practice, 
l-'rom  Selma  he  came  to  Birmingham  in  188{i,  and 
here  as  the  senior  of  the  law  firm  of  Brooks,  Bush 
&  Vary,  he  stands  unrivaled  at  the  head  of  the 
bar. 

DEMETRIUS  FRANKLIN  MYERS.  Attorney- 
at-law,  lliniiingliiiiii,  son  cif  ilriiry  and  Samueline 
(lleydenfeldt)  flyers,  was  born  in  Hamburg,  S. 
C,  December  2,  18.")(i.  lie  was  reared  at  Augusta, 
(la.,  and  was  graduated  in  classical  course  at  the 
University  of  (Jeorgia  in  187:5.  lie  read  law  in  the 
office  of  Frank  II.  Miller,  of  Augusta,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  when  but  eighteen  years  of 
age.  lie  practiced  law  in  Augusta  until  1879, 
when  he  went  to  Washington  City  as  private  sec- 
retary to  Senator  Joseph  E.  Brown,  of  Georgia, 
and  afterward  became  connected  with  the  Treas- 
ury Department  of  the  United  States.  In  188.3 
he  was  sent  to  Europe  on  an  important  secret 
mission  for  the  Government,  and  I'emained  there 
eighteen  months,  sjjending  most  of  his  time  in 
London,  before  completing  the  object  of  his  com- 
mission, lie  then  returned  to  Washington  City 
and  renewed  liis  practice  before  the  Dejiartments. 
and  continued  there  until  188'!,  when  he  located 
in  liirmingham,  wliere  he  lias  practiced  his  pro- 
fession with  much  success  until  the  present  time. 

.Mr.  Myers  has  just  begun  to  take  an  active  in- 
terest in  politics,  and  has  been  very  energetic  in 
the  recent  campaigns.  He  is  a  liberal  contributor 
to  all  philanthropic  enterprises  which  have  been 
organized  here,  and  is  a  member  of  most  of  the 
various  local  organizations. 

Henry  Myers  is  of  German  origin.  He  located 
in  Augusta,  (ia.,  in  18:j(i,  became  a  wholesale 
ilry-goods  merchant,  and  retired  in  1870.  He  Wiis 
a  member  of  the  "  Silver  Greys  "  during  the  war, 
and  has  held  many  positions  of  public  trust.  He 
is  a  capitalist,  and  is  enjoying  his  " olium  cum 
digiiHali."  He  was  married  to  Mrs.  Samueline 
Hush,  a  lady  of  French-Irish  origin,  who  has  a  '< 
brother,  a  millionaire  of  San  Francisco,  who  went  i 


there  from  Alabama  in  1840,  and  who  has  occu- 
pied the  i)osition  of  Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  California  for  a  number  of  years. 

WILLIAM  A.  WALKER,  Jr.,  was  born  in 
1846,  in  the  vicinage  of  Elyton,  Ala.,  and 
was  sent,  in  the  season  of  boyliood,  to  the 
neighborhood  schools,  the  best  nurseries  of  human 
nature  which  our  educational  methods  have 
thus  far  devised.  He  slept  under  his  father's 
roof,  and  spent  liis  hours  awake  in  continual  con- 
tact with  the  tempers,  intellects,  courage,  and 
idiosyncrasies  guided  by  the  motives  of  boyhood. 
Directed  by  tlie  motives  of  manhood,  he  now  daily 
encounters  tlie  same  human  nature,  and,  thus 
early  made  familiar  with  its  scope  and  meaning, 
has  been  able  to  take,  in  its  affairs,  acommanding 
position,  commensurate  with  his  natural  instincts 
and  high  cajiacity. 

He  entered  the  University  of  Alabama,  ,it  Tus- 
caloosa, in  his  si.xteenth  year,  and  was  a  student 
(or  cadet,  the  institution  being  under  military  ad- 
ministration) and  in  the  senior  class,  when,  in 
September.  1863,  he  enlisted  in  a  company  formed 
from  the  University  corps,  and  commanded  by 
Captain  C.  P.  Storrs,  a  fellow  cadet,  to  join  the 
Seventh  Alabama  Cavalry,  C'onfederate  States 
Army.  He  continued  in  the  service  until  the  final 
surrender  and  disbandment  of  the  military  forces 
of  the  Confederacy.  He  had  been  promoted 
sergeant,  and  had  some  unpleasant  e.xperiences  as 
a  prisoner  of  war  in  the  period  of  active  hostili- 
ties. 

Returning  to  Elyton,  young  Walker  engaged  at 
once  as  a  school  teacher  in  the  community  of  his 
friends  and  neighbors.  After,  perhaps,  eight 
months'  service  in  this  field,  he  entered  upon  the 
study  of  the  law.  In  1867  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  Entering  immediately  upon  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  he  was  so  fortunate,  as  an 
e.xample  of  the  usual  good  fortune  of  his  life,  to 
be  taken  into  copartnership  with  Burwell  Boykin 
Lewis,  a  gentleman  of  scholarly  attainments,  great 
energy,  and  of  the  highest  moral  character.  Mr. 
Lewis  became  a  leader  of  the  new  era.  He  was 
elected  to  Congress,  and  resigned  to  take  the 
Presidency  of  the  State  University,  where  he  died 
in  the  prime  of  a  highly  useful  and  honorable 
career,  regretted  by  the  whole  State. 


762 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Mr.  Walker  became  the  junior  member  of  the 
law  firm  of  Cobb,  Lewis  &  Walker.  The  senior 
afterward  served  two  terms  as  Governor  of  Ala- 
bama. 

In  1870,  he  formed  a  copartnership  with  IIon.(i. 
W.  Hewitt,  for  eight  years  a  member  of  Congress. 

August  23,  1870,  in  his  tweiitj'- fourth  year,  Mr. 
AValker  was  married  to  Miss  Virginia  1'.,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  eminent  jurist,  W.  S.  .Mudd,  and 
has  six  children,  two  daughters  and  four  sons. 

Mr.  Walker  held  the  responsible  and  laborious 
office  of  County  Solicitor  from  ISilS  to  1.ST6,  and 
distinguished  himself  as  an  honorable  and  success- 
ful prosecutor. 

He  is  a  large  stockholder  in,  and  a  director  of, 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Birmingham.  He  was 
elected,  in  1885,  president  of  that  prosperous  in- 
stitution, but  after  ten  months'  service  he  discov- 
ered the  irreconcilable  nature  of  the  office  with 
his  practice  before  the  courts,  and  voluntarily  re- 
signed it. 

The  firm,  Hewitt,  Walker  &  Porter,  commands 
a  very  large  and  profitable  clientele.  Corporation 
practice  engages  its  labors  largely.  As  a  lawyer 
Mr.  Walker  is  esteemed  for  the  accuracy  of  his 
opinions  and  the  absolute  devotion  he  brings  to 
his  cause.  His  investigations  of  authorities,  and 
his  energy  in  pursuit  of  evidence  to  sustain  his 
case  are  so  marked  by  intelligence  and  natural  ap- 
titude to  assimilate  that  which  is  of  value  to  him, 
that  he  seldom  loses  a  client  capable  of  appreciat- 
ing these  elements  in  a  lawyer's  mind.  His  ora- 
tory, by  which  the  law  and  evidence  must  be  ar- 
gued and  explained  to  court  and  jury,  is  earnest  in 
manner  and  fluent  in  diction;  dignified,  as  the 
speaker  always  is,  and  effective,  he  sustains  the 
reputation  of  a  successful  pleader  and  advocate. 

In  1878,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  but 
has  not  since  sought  political  preferment. 

Plis  perfect  health,  elastic  constitution,  sound 
judgment,  and  great  industry  bid  fair  to  preserve 
him  as  a  rising  influence  in  this,  the  pivotal  fac- 
tor of  Alabama's  revived  civilization.  He  isalready 
a  rich  man.  lie  is  a  member  of  tlie  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South. 

WILLIAM  ROBERT  HOUGHTON,  of  Ferguson 
&  Houghton.  .Vttomoys-at-law,  Birmingham,  was 
born  in  Heard  County,  Ga.,  May  22,  1842,  and  is 
ft  son  of  William  Henry  i^nd  Eliza  A.  (Bennett) 


Houghton.  He  spent  his  early  days  in  what  is  now 
Lee  County,  and,  after  attaining  the  age  of  fifteen 
years,  taught  school  and  attended  an  academy 
alternately  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war.  He 
joined  the  Columbus  Guards  (Second  Georgia 
Regiment),  and  served  with  McGruder,  Hood  and 
Longstreet  in  the  campaigns  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia and  at  Chickamauga  and  Knoxville.  During 
the  last  year  of  the  war,  he  served  as  a  scout, 
besides  being  with  his  regiment  in  every  battle, 
and  was  at  Appomattox  at  the  time  of  the  surren- 
der.    He  was  slightly  wounded  seven  times. 

In  18(!6  Mr.  Houghton  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Dale  County,  and  has  been  successfully  practicing 
law  since  that  time.  He  came  from  Lowndes 
County  to  Birmingham  in  November,  1887,  and 
formed  a  partnership  with  F.  S.  Furguson. 

Mr.  Houghton  was  married  December  21,  1875, 
to  iliss  Annie  JI.  Streety,  daughter  of  .John  P. 
Streety,  a  prominent  merchant  and  an  old  resident 
of  llayneville,  Lowndes  County.  Mrs.  Houghton 
died  in  November,  1882,  leaving  one  child,  Harry 
Streety  Houghton. 

Mr.  Houghton's  father  was  born  in  Greene 
County,  Ga.,  in  1809.  He  was  a  lawyer,  and  Sec- 
retary of  the  Senate  one  term  at  Tuscaloosa.  He 
died  in  1878. 

JAMES  HIBBLER  LITTLE,  Attomey-at-law, 
Birmingham,  was  born  in  Sumter  County,  this 
State,  February  27,  1862.  He  obtained  an  ele- 
mentary education  at  Livingston  Academy,  and 
afterward  attended  the  University  of  Alabama, 
where  he  took  the  degrees  of  A.  B.  (1879),  A.  M. 
(1880),  and  LL.  B.  (1882).  He  also  took  a  short 
course  in  law  at  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1882, 
and  began  the  practice  at  Living.ston  during  the 
succeeding  winter. 

Mr.  Little  settled  in  Birmingham  in  the  practice 
of  law  in  the  fall  of  1887.  Being  but  a  young 
man,  his  career  is,  of  course,  before  him,  but  that 
it  will  be  a  good  one  we  are  assured.  In  sj)eaking 
of  him,  the  Livingston  Join- iial  says:  "Although 
young,  Mr.  l^ittle  has  taken  high  rank  as  a  lawyer 
and  is  well  known  throughout  the  State.  He 
possesses  all  the  attainments  which  go  to  make  up 
a  first-class  attorney,  and  we  predict  for  liim  in 
the  near  future  a  position  in  the  legal  profession 
which  shall  be  second  to  none." 

Mr.  Little  comes  of  good  stock.  He  is  a  son  of 
the  late  William  G.  and  Laura  (Hibbler)  LUtle, 


^yl■'7^7''^■i,-'i^^~ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


7«3 


nis  fiitlier'a  ancestors  on  both  sides  were  promi- 
nent in  the  history  of  Nortli  Carolina  (luring  and 
siiii'o  tiio  IJevoIutionarv  War;  and  liis  niotlier  is 
doscurded  from  tlic  Speights,  wlio  have  been  for 
many  years  a  leading  family  in  North  Carolina, 
and  sevci'al  of  whom  have  served  in  the  United 
States  Congress  and  the  State  Legislature.  She  is 
the  daughter  of  tiie  late  James  L.  Hibbler,  who 
was  a  prominent  and  extensive  planter  in  Missis- 
sippi. She  was  married  to  William  G.  Little, 
December  10,  lS.")r. 

William  (i.  Little  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in 
\&l.  He  was  brought  to  West  Alabama  by  his 
parents  when  but  three  years  of  age,  and  there 
grew  to  be  a  leading  lawyer.  He  became  promi- 
nent in  politics  at  the  time  wlien  Alabama  was 
being  redeemed  from  black  Republican  rule.  He 
was  President  of  the  Senate  at  the  time  of  his 
ileath.  in  1870,  after  which,  many  papers  through- 
out the  State  published  sketches  of  him  and  his 
lareer.  and  it  was  generally  conceded  by  them  that 
if  his  life  had  been  sjiared,  his  name  would  have 
been  enrolled  in  the  list  of  Governors  of  the  State. 
He  was  of  the  highest  type  of  manhood,  and  his 
untimely  death  was  lamented  throughout  the 
State.  His  wife  still  lives  on  the  family  home- 
stead near  Livingston.  Ala.  They  reared  three 
children,  of  whom  J.  11.  Little  is  the  eldest  son. 

W.  J.  CAMERON,  President  of  the  First  Xa- 
(ionul  Itiink.  ;ind  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
among  Southern  financiers,  is  a  native  of  the 
State,  and  was  born  in  Montgomery  in  1851.  His 
progenitors  came  from  Scotland,  where  the  name 
is  familiar  to  all  who  read  the  history  of  that  noted 
race.  They  were  emigrants  from  the  North  of 
Ireland,  where  his  parents  were  born.  His  father, 
Andrew  Cameron,  came  to  America  about  18.'J8, 
and  in  1840  became  a  resident  of  Montgomery, 
where  he  was  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  is  still  in  business 
life  near  Montgomery.  He  married,  in  18.50,  ^fiss 
Eliza  Crozier,  of  Philadel])hia,  and  has  four  chil- 
dren living.  William  .1.  is  the  oldest  child  and 
only  son. 

Mr.  Cameron  received  the  benefits  of  the  best 
schools  in  Montgomery,  and  also  one  year'scourse 
at  the  Norristown  (Pa.)  Academy.  He  began  his 
business  career  in  the  banking  house  of  .losiah 
.Morris,   of    Montgomery,    now    one  of    the   most 


noted  financiers  of  the  South,  and  rapidly  rose 
from  the  position  of  runner,  until,  in  1880,  lie 
was  ajipointed  cashier  of  the  City  Bank  of  Bir- 
mingham, through  the  influence  of  Mr,  Jforris, 
who  had  tested  him  in  all  ])ositions  and  knew  his 
sterling  attributes.  In  1884,  he  was  appointed 
cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  upon  its  organ- 
ization, and  in  January,  188(;,  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  that  institution. 

Mr.  Cameron  has  been  a  resident  of  the  city 
since  that  period,  and  is  now  at  the  head  of  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  stalwart  banks  of  Ala- 
bama. He  is  also  president  of  the  Southern 
Bridge  Company,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the 
Birmingham  Ice  Company,  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  the  Alabama  Construction  Company,  and  of  the 
Building  and  Loan  Association,  and  a  director  of 
the  Gas  and  Illuminating  Company.  He  was  one 
of  the  incorporators  of  the  East  Birmingham  Land 
Company,  and  was  elected  treasurer  of  that  cor- 
poration. He  is  one  of  the  most  progressive, 
genial,  and  popular  citizens  of  Birmingham,  and 
has  attained  his  high  position  among  some  of  the 
leading  moneyed  and  industrial  enterprises  through 
sterling  merit  and  superior  executive  ability. 
While  living  in  Montgotnery  Mr.  Cameron  was 
orderly  sergeant  of  the  famous  Montgomery  Greys, 
and  upon  the  reorganization  of  the  State  troops 
was  made  major  of  the  Second  Infantry,  which 
regiment  was  in  service  in  the  famous  Posey  riot 
in  Birmingham,  in  1883. 

Mr.  Cameron  has  been  twice  married:  his  first 
wife  was  Miss  Mary  E.  Smith,  of  Montgomery. 
They  were  married  in  187v,  and  her  death  oc- 
curred in  1881,  leaving  four  children — Wm, 
Smith,  Pauline.  Andrew  C.  and  William  J.,  Jr, 
In  1883,  he  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Mary 
B. ,  daughter  of  George  R.  Ward,  of  Birmingham. 
Mr.  Cameron  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  his  wife  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

•  •'>-;^^-'<'-  • 

JOHN  FINLEY  GILLESPIE,  .\ttorney-at-law, 
Birmingham,  was  Ijorn  in  Blount  County, 
Tenn.,  December  \'l,  185!i.  He  was  educated  at 
the  Somerville  Academy  and  the  Hartsell  Col- 
lege, and  afterward  attended  the  I'niversity  of 
Alabama  in  1881  and  188-i,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated as  LL.  B.  He  entered  the  ]>ractice  of  law 
at     once   at    Somerville,    in    copartnership    with 


764 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Charles  L.  Price.  In  October,  1886,  he  became  a 
partner  of  the  firm  of  Dickey  &  Gillespie  of  Bir- 
mingham, and  they  have  succeeded  in  buililing  up 
a  lucrative  practice  in  this  city. 

Mr.  (rillespie  is  a  son  of  Campbell  M.  and  Xora 
Lorin<la  (Clarke)  Gillespie,  both  of  Tennessee.  C. 
M.  Gillespie  was  a  planter  and  extensive  land  holder 
before  the  war,  and  a  member  of  the  Gillespie 
family,  prominent  in  the  early  history  of  Tennes- 
see. 

— — «•- s^sj^:"^— ^- 

FREDERICK    SUMMERFIELD     FERGUSON, 

Attorney-at-law,  Birmingham,  was  born  in  lluuts- 
ville,  Ala.,  May  2,  1841,  and  is  a  son  of  the  Rev. 
r.  G.  and  Lucinda  (Halo)  Ferguson. 

F.  S.  Ferguson  was  graduated  from  the  Florence 
AVesleyau  University  in  1859,  with  the  lions.  Wm. 
Richardson  and  Wm.  M.  Lowe,  in  the  classical 
course.  He  taught  school,  and,  under  Judge 
Clopton,  at  Tallassee,  studied  law  until  January 
9,  1861.  He  entered  the  Southern  Army  in  the 
latter  year  and  was  assigned  to  the  staff  of  (ieneral 
Lomax.at  Pensacola,with  the  troops  that  took  Pen- 
sacolaNan'-yard,  Fort  Barancas  and  Fort  McRae. 
Upon  the  organization  of  the  Confederacy,  he  was 
appointed  second  lieutenant  in  the  First  Artillery 
by  President  Davis,  and  served  with  that  regiment, 
or  on  staff  duty,  during  the  entire  war.  He  was 
wounded  and  captured  at  Fort  Morgan  in  1864, 
and  imprisoned  in  J'ort  Lafayette,  New  York,  and 
in  Fort  Warren.  Boston,  until  the  end  of  the 
war.  In  February,  1864,  he  was  promoted  to 
a  captaincy  upon  the  recommendation  of  his  com- 
mander, for  meritorious  conduct  at  the  siege  of 
Fort  Powell,  where  he  commanded  the  artillery. 
He  was  with  his  command  in  every  battle  in  which 
it  was  engaged. 

Captain  Ferguson  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
Tuskegee,  Ala.,  in  September,  1865,  and  during 
the  fall  following  was  elected  to  the  Legislature, 
where  he  served  until  ousted  by  the  Reconstruc- 
tion crowd  in  1868.  He  was  in  the  National 
Democratic  Convention  in  New  York  that  j'ear, 
and  voted  for  Salmon  P.  Chase  for  President.  In 
1870,  he  removed  to  Montgomery,  and  in  1875  was 
elected  Solicitor  for  the  Second  Judicial  Circuit. 
He  was  re-elected  in  1880,  and  retired  from  the 
office  in  the  fall  of  1886. 

Captain  Ferguson  came  to  Birmingham  in  Sep- 
tember, 1887,  and  formed  a  partnership  with  Wm. 


R.  Houghton,  the  two  making  one.  of  the  strong 
law  firms  of  this  city. 

The  Captain  was  married  October  18,  1871,  to 
Miss  Laura  Burr,  daughter  of  Rev.  Wra.  Burr,  of 
Franklin,  Tenn.,  and  has  two  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter living,  viz.:  Burr,  Hill  and  Laura. 

Frederick  J.  G.  Ferguson,  Captain  Ferguson's 
father,  died  in  1863,  and  was  at  that  time  one  of 
the  oldest  ministers  of  the  ilethodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  Alabama.  He  was  a  missionary  to  the 
Indians,  at  and  about  Missionary  Ridge,  and  Avas 
well  known  throughout  the  country.  Our  sub- 
ject's two  grandfathers,  James  Ferguson  and 
William  Hale,  were  together  in  the  Indian  Wars 
and  in  the  War  of  1812. 

Messrs.  Hale  and  Hunt  settled  Iluntsville,  and 
drev.'  straws  to  see  who  should  name  the  town. 
Mr.  HuTit  pulled  the  longest  straw  and  named  the 
place  Huntsville,  for  himself. 

The  Fergusons  are  of  Scotch  blood.  The  Cap- 
tain and  his  wife  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  is  a  Royal  Arch 
Mason,  a  Knight  of  Honor  and  a  Knight  of 
Pythias. 

—    •♦>  ''^^ 


LEONIDAS  C.  DICKEY,  Attorney-at-law,  Bir- 
mingham, is  a  native  of  Alabama,  and  a  son  of 
W.  W.  Dickey,  Esq.,  an  Alabama  planter,  and  a 
grandson  of  Samuel  Dickey,  who  moved  from 
Georgia  to  Alabama  in  1830,  and  settled  near 
Orion,  Pike  County, 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  reared  at  Raif 
Branch,  in  the  connty  of  Montgomery.  His 
mother,  Nancy  L.  Dickey,  nee  Burgess,  was  a 
daughter  of  Richard  Burgess,  Esq.,  originally 
of  East  Tennessee,  but  for  many  years  previous 
to  his  death  a  citizen  of  Shelby  County,  Ala. 

Mr.  Dickey  isof  Scotch-Irish  and  English  an- 
cestry, and  is  now  thirty  years  of  age.  He  spent 
his  youth  on  the  farm  and  prepared  for  college  in 
the  schools  near  his  father's  home,  and  at  the  Ag- 
ricultural and  Jlechanical  College  at  Auburn.  He 
entered  Iliwassee  College.  East  Tennessee,  sessibn 
of  1875-6,  and  was  graduated  as  A.  B.  from  that 
institution  in  1877,  and  as  A,  M.  in  1878. 

During  1879  and  1880,  he  was  president  of  the 
Central  Collegiate  Institute,  Culloden,  Ga.,  and  in 
the  fall  of  the  latter  year  became  a  post-graduate 
student  at  Vanderbilt  University,  Nashville,  Tenn. 


^/T/^////    Z^'^J^^^ 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


765 


In  18K1,  lio  bpciinie  a  student  in  tlie  f.aw  Depiirt- 
muiit  (if  tlie  University  of  Alubania,  from  wliicli 
iiistitutidii  he  was  graduated,  receiving  tiie  degree 
of  |{ai;helor  of  Laws  in  July,  188"-i. 

In  l!S8"^  and  18!S."{,  he  was  ])rosidentof  the  Cor- 
inth Female  College  and  Male  Classical  Institute, 
Corinth,  Miss.  In  June,  1883,  having  resigned 
the  last-named  position,  he  removed  to  Montgom- 
erv,  Ala.,  ami  entered  \\\)o\\  tiie  practice  of  law. 
In  October  following  he  was  offered  and  accepted 
tiio  professorship  of  History  and  Englisli  Litera- 
ture in  the  Soutliern  L'niversity,  fJi'eensboro,  Ala. 
This  position  he  resigned  at  the  close  of  the  Uni- 
versity year,  and  immediately  thereafter  (July, 
1884)  removed  to  Birmingham,  where  he  opened 
a  law  office,  lie  at  first  practiced  his  profession 
alone,  but,  later,  formed  a  partnershij)  with  Wm. 
11.  Polk,  nephew  of  President  James  K.  Polk, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Dickey  &  Polk.  This 
])artnership  having,  one  year  thereafter,  been  dis- 
solved, he  formed  a  copartnership  October  1, 
1886,  with  John  F.  (Jillespie.  under  the  now  well- 
known  firm  name  of  Dickey  &  Gillespie. 

Mr.  Dickey  is  known  as  a  prudent  counselor 
and  an  able  advocate. 

•    ••>•  ■^^?^-<'-    •  ■ 

WILLIAM  BERNEY,  President  of  the  Berney 
National  Bank',  is  a  striking  character  among  the 
young  financiers  of  the  South,  lie  was  born  May 
27.  1846,  in  Montgomery,  Ala.,  and  is  a  son  of  Dr. 
James  and  Jane  E.  (Satfold)  Berney.  His  father, 
a  native  of  Charleston,  8.  C,  was  a  prominent 
physician  of  Montgomery  for  more  than  forty 
years,  where  he  resided  until  his  death,  in  July, 
1880.  His  mother  was  a  native  of  Dallas  County, 
Ala.,  and  died  in   Montgomery  in  October,  1874. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  fourth  of  a 
family  of  eleven  children,  six  of  whom  are  now 
living,  all  residents  of  the  South.  He  was  reared 
in  .Montgomery, where  he  received  his  preliminary 
education,  which  was  supplemented  by  a  course  of 
study  at  Baltimore,  .Md.,  and  continued  subse- 
quently in  Montgomery.  In  the  spring  of  1864, 
when  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  entered  the 
army  of  the  Confederate  States  at  Dalton,  Ga.,in 
Hallonquist's  Reserve  Hegiment  of  Artillery,  and 
served  as  ordnance  sergeant  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  His  regiment  was  in  the  active  service  of  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee,,  and  |)articipated  in  the 
severe  battles  of  Dalton.   Kesaca,  .Vtlanta,  Jnnes- 


boro,  and  the    many    other   engagements   of  the 
great    retreat    of     Gen.    Joseph     E.     Johnson. 
After  the  close  of   the  war  he  was  appointed  dep- 
uty collector  of  Ititernal    Revenue  of  the  Second 
District  of  Alaljaina,  and  before  twenty-one  years 
of  age  had  handled  over  two  millions  of  dollars  in 
Government  funds.     He  was  ne.\t  appointed  cash- 
ier for  the  large  cotton  commission  house  of  Leh- 
man, Durr  &  Co.,  which  situation  he  held  for  a 
short  period,  when  he  removed  to   Birmingham, 
in  1871,  as  the  agent  of  the  South  &  North  Ala- 
bama   Railroad,    and  after   one  year's  service  re- 
signed.    For  one  year  he  was  engaged  in  farming, 
and  was  subsequently  appointed  book-keeper  of  the 
National  Bank  of  Birmingham,  wdiich  position  he 
ably  filled  until  1875,  when  he  became   cashier  of 
that  institution.  Upon  the  death  of  Charles  Linn 
he  was  elected  president  of  the  bank,  and  contin- 
I   ued  until  the  consolidation   with    the  City  Bank, 
forming  the  First  National  Bank,  of  which  he  was 
,   also  elected    president.     This  important    position 
;   he  ably  filled  until    February,  188.5,  when   he  re- 
signed and  organized  the   Central    Bank  of  Bir- 
mingham, with  which  he  was  connected  as  the 
I   master  spirit  until  in  February,  1886,  when  it  was 
reorganized  and  named    in   honor  of  its  founder, 
!   the  Berney  National  Bank,  with  William   Berney 
I   as   president,    its  capital  stock  being    ^100,000, 
i  which  was  subsequently   increased   to  ^300,000. 
I   This  institution  is  a  model  of  its  kind,  and  ranks 
I  among   the  leading  moneyed  corporations  of  the 
'   South. 

In  all  of  the  responsible  jiositions  which  he  has 
I   occupied,  Mr.  Berney  has  displayed  wise  and   ju- 
dicious managemont,  and  proven  himself   worthy 
of  any  trust.     With  the  reputation  of  a  safe  finan- 
'   cier,  of  honest  integrity  and  sterling  merit,  he  is 
!   destined  to  play  an  important   part   in   the  com-- 
mercial  life  of  Alabama. 

Mr.  Berney  is  a  stockholder  in  the  Iron  and 
Oak  and  the  Royal  Insurance  Companies  of  Bir- 
mingham, and  in  all  enterprises  tending  to  pro- 
mote the  healthy  growth  of  Alabama,  takes  great 
interest.  A  Christian  gentlenum,  his  hand  is  ever 
ready  to  promote  the  cause  of  religion;  he  is  also 
j  a  firm  believer  in  the  public  schools,  and  keeps 
well  abreast  with  the  advancement  of  the  age. 

April  'I'.y,  1868,  Mr.  Berney  wa.s  united  in 
marriage  with  .Miss  Lizzie  Taylor,  of  Montgomery, 
a  daughter  of  Dr.  W.  P.  Taylor,  of  that  city. 
Mr.  antl  Mrs.  Berney  are  consistent  members  of 
the  First  Presbvterian  Church  nf  Birmingham. 


•^66 


NORTBERJSr  ALABAMA. 


ELISHA  J.  ROBINSON,  Attorney-at-law,  Bir- 
mingham, was  boiii  ill  this  county,,  near  the  vil- 
hige  of  Trussville,  September  IC,  184G,  and,  at  the 
eoinmon-scliools  acquired  tlie  elements  of  an  ed- 
ucation. In  June,  18G3,  he  joined  Company  E, 
Fifty-third  Alabama  Kegiment,  and  took  part  in 
tl>e  battle  at  Big  Shanty  the  same  day  he  was 
mustered  into  service.  From  that  time  on  to  tlie 
close,  his  regiment  was  almost  continuously 
engaged  with  the  enemy,  and  of  its  many  gallant 
members  none  of  them  saw  more  active  service 
than  did  he.  December  13,1804,  the  accidental 
discharge  of  a  torpedo  carried  away  his  right  foot, 
and  ill  March  following  he  was  discharged. 

Returning  immediately  home  Mr.  Robinson  re- 
sumed his  studies,  attending  school  at  Ashville 
and  Trussville,  and  subsequently  beginning  the 
study  of  law.  In  the  spring  of  18T0  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  at  Ashville  and  atjonce  entered 
upon  the  practice.  In  February,  1871,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Probate  .Judge  by  the  (Joveruor,  to  fill 
out  an  unexpired  term,  and  in  1874  he  was  regu- 
larly elected  to  that  office.  In  1880  he  was  re- 
elected, and  since  1886  he  has  devoted  his  time  to 
the  practice.  He  located  in  Birmingham  in  1887, 
and  in  1888,  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  J.  B. 
Embry  making  now  one  of  the  strongest  legal 
firms  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Robinson  was  married  in  February,  1872, 
to  Miss  Sue  Vandegrift,  the  accomplished  daugh- 
ter of  John  Vandegrift,  Esq.,  and  the  children 
born  to  this  union  are  named,  respectively,  Delia, 
Boston  and  Ilarrold. 

Mrs.  Robinson,  a  devoted  Christian  wife  and 
mother,  died  in  February,  1887.  She  was  a  de- 
vout member  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  was  noted  for  her  benevolence,  purity 
and  womanly  traits  of  character. 

(leorge  Robinson,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  born  in  Greenville,  S.  C.  He 
located  at  Ely  ton,  this  county,  in  1836,  and  re- 
moved from  there  to  St.  Clair  County  in  18.57. 

•    •♦>•  •S:^^"»>— — 

JOHN  E.  MILES.  Attorney-at-law,  Birming- 
ham, was  born  at  Hamilton,  Ga.,  September  12, 
1 8:i9,and  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  that  vicini- 
ty. He  located  at  ^lontgomery,  this  State,  in  1858, 
and  in  May  1861,  entered  the  Southern  Army  as  a 
member  of  J.  H.  Clantou's  Company,  the  first 
(;ompany  to   fire  a  gun  at  Pensacola.     Returning 


from  Florida  at  the  end  of  that  expedition,  he 
joined  Clantou's  regiment  and  was  in  the  service 
until  January  22,  186.5.  He  took  part  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Shiloh,  and  in  Bragg's  Kentucky  campaign, 
performing,  in  the  meantime,  much  special  and  de- 
tached duty.  At  or  near  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  he  was 
wounded  in  the  leg  and  disabled  for  further  ser- 
vice for  about  eighteen  months. 

April  6th  following  his  discharge  from  the  army, 
Mr.  Miles  was  married  to  Miss  Emma  Youngblood, 
of  Pike  County,  this  State,  and  soon  afterward 
engaged  in  farming.  At  the  end  of  about  two 
years  he  embarked  in  mercantile  business  at  Pine 
Level  and  from  there  moved  to  Montgomery.  In 
May,  1872,  he  gave  up  merchandising  and  removed 
to  Texas,  whence  he  came  to  Birmingham  in  1887. 

While  in  Texas  (1885),  Mr.  Miles  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  and  upon  coming  to  this  city  he 
entered  regularly  into  the  practice. 

Mr.  Miles  is  an  active  member  of  the  Baptist 
church  and  of  the  Masonic  fraternity. 

Thomas  J.  Miles,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  born  in  Jasper  County,  Ga. ,  and 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  years  entered  the  ministry 
of  the  Baptist  Church.  In  1859  he  came  to  Ala- 
bama, and  settled  at  Pine  Level,  Montgomery 
County,  where  he  continued  to  preach  for  many 
years.  He  is  now  traveling  in  the  interest  of  the 
Church,  and  is  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 
His  wife  died  in  1855.  She  was  a  Miss  Embry,  of 
one  of  the  old  and  most  respectable  families 
of  Georgia.  She  died  in  1860.  He  reared  a 
family  of  six  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  four  of 
his  sons  were  soldiers  in  the  Southern  Army  dur- 
ing the  late  war.  William  was  captured  at  Look- 
out Mountain,  and  died  in  military  prison,  at 
Rock  Island:  George  died  from  sickness  at  Dan- 
ville, Ky.  They  were  both  members  of  the  Eigh- 
teenth Alabama  Infantry,  and  John,  another  son, 
was  a  member  of  the  Fifty-third  Alabama.  The 
other  sons  are  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  Joseph 
and  Thomas. 

•   ■  '>■  -S^i^^^— ^- 

JAMES  JONES  BANKS,  Attorney-at-law,  Bir- 
mingham, is  a  native  of  Bullock  Count}',  this 
State,  and  was  born  April  27,  1861.  From  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county  he  entered 
the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  at  Au- 
burn, and  was  graduated  therefrom  with  the  degree 
of  A.  B.,  class  of  1882.  At  once,  after  leaving 
college,  he  began  the  study  of  law,  and  in   1885 


/S  /^/Uo^^ 


r 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


767 


w!is  graduated  from  the  Alabama  State  University   | 
as  Hatlielor  of  Laws.      Mr.   ]  Jan  its  came  to  Bir-  | 
niingham  in  the,  fall  of   1SS5,  and    immediately   . 
entered  upon  a  successful  practice.     lie  isnotahly   | 
a  close  student,  and  is  much  devoted   to  his  pro- 
fession.      His   plain,   courteous   manner   renders 
him  univcr.sally  popular  with  tliose  with  whom  he 
comes  in  contact,  either  professionally  or  socially, 
and  it    is   perfectly  safe   to   say  of   him,  in    this 
work,  that    his  future  is   altogether   bright    and 
promising. 

Mr.  Hanks  was  married  December  7,  1887,  to 
Miss  Lee  Frazer.  the  accomplished  and  popular 
daughter  of  Judge  Sidney  T.  Frazer,  of  Bullock 
County. 


C.  P.  WILLIAMSON  was  Imrn  in  New  Rich- 
mond. Ohio,  .January  11,  lf<-t:i.  His  father,  Hen- 
ry Williamson,  came  to  Ohio  from  Pennsylvania, 
ami  settled  at  New  Kichmond.  His  mother, 
.Inlia  Hough,  came  from  Loudoun  County,  Va. 
The  former  was  of  Welsh  and  the  latter  of  Eng- 
lish descent.  His  father  was  a  river  engineer  for 
many  years,  and  ran  on  different  steamers  in  that 
capacity,  and  for  a  large  portion  of  the  time  from 
Cincinnati  to  New  Orleans,  and  tiicn  from  Louis- 
ville to  New  Orleans.  He  continued  in  this 
trade  until  sustaining  personal  injuries  in  the 
burning  of  a  steamboat.  He  then  left  the  river, 
and  in  1844  moved  his  family  to  New  Albany, 
Ind. 

The  educational  advantages  of  the  son  were 
obtained  at  the  public  schools  in  New  Albany,  and, 
when  not  going  to  school  he  clerked  in  a  book 
store.  He  continued  thus  engaged  until  fifteen 
years  old,  and  then  went  to  work  in  the  Louis- 
ville, New  Albany  &  Chicago  Railroad  Company's 
Shops,  and  remained  in  them  until  l^til,  when  he 
was  elected  second  lieutenant  of  Company  C,  of 
the  Sixteenth  Indiana  Regiment.  His  colonel 
was  P.  A.  Hackelman.  Young  Williamson  served 
in  the  Army  of  the  I'otomac  thirteen  months, 
until  the  winter  of  IS*!',',  when  he  returned  home 
to  work  in  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad 
Shops  in  Louisville.  He  worked  one  year,  and 
was  then  assigned  to  the  pattern  shops  of  the 
Louisville,  New  Albany  &  Chicago  Railroad,  and 
filled  the  responsible  position  of  foreman  there  for 
six  months.  At  the  end  of  this  time  he  returned 
to  Ijouisville  and  worked  in  a  similar  capacity  for 
Davies  &  Co.,  engine  builders.      After  five  yeans' 


connection  with  this  firm,  he  took  charge  of  the 
shops  of  Sneed,  Sayre  &  O'Bryan,  who  were  archi- 
tectual  iron  workers.  He  was,  for  the  first  year, 
foreman  of  the  pattern  shop,  anii  was  then  pro- 
moted to  the  position  of  su])erintendent.  He 
continued  to  work  here,  with  great  satisfaction  to 
his  employers,  until  the  latter  part  of  1H74,  when 
he  came  to  Birmingham  to  do  the  iron  work  on 
the  First  National  Bank. 

Going  back  a  little,  it  is  necessary  to  state  that 
it  was  in  the  winter  of  1871-7'^  Mr.  William- 
son first  came  to  Birmingham  for  the  purpose 
above  stated,  but  he  had  not  then  determined  to 
live  here.  During  the  progress  of  the  work 
already  mentioned,  Mr.  Charles  Linn  made  a 
proposition  which  culminated  in  his  removal  to 
the  young  town  in  .January.  1875.  He  was,  at 
the  first,  part  owner  and  superintendent  of  the 
Birmingham  Foundry  and  Car  Manufacturing 
Company,  now  known  as  the  Linn  Iron  Works. 
He  continued  in  this  position  until  March,  1879, 
and  then  retired  from  this  establishment  to  build 
the  .Jefferson  Foundry,  of  which  he  was  sole  pro- 
prietor. These  latter  works  were  put  in  operation 
on  the  first  of  May  of  that  year.  The  shop  was 
then  small  and  worked  only  about  ten  men.  It 
has,  however,  had  a  prosperous  career,  and  from 
a  small  beginning  has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  most 
important  enterprises  in  Birmingham,  and  has 
worked  up  to  its  full  capacity  almost  from  the 
start.  Of  late  years  its  capacity  has  been  taxed 
to  its  utmost,  which  is  the  best  evidence  of  the 
superior  character  of  the  work  done.  The  pay- 
roll, carrying  ten  men  to  begin  on,  now  has  one 
hundred  and  fifty. 

In  July,  1885,  Mr.  Williamson  was  the  prime 
mover  in  the  organization  of  the  now  Williamson 
Iron  Company.  The  building  of  their  furnace 
was  the  beginning  of  the  present  "  boom  "  in  fur- 
nace-building now  going  on  in  the  Birmingham 
district.  The  new  company  was  known  as  the 
Williamson  Iron  Company,  and  the  Jefferson 
Foundry  was  merged  into  the  new  enterprise.  The 
furniice  thus  far  has  had  a  similar  experience  to 
the  foundry,  and,  with  its  capable  management, 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  other  fate 
than  prosperity  will  befall  it.  Thus  it  isseen  that 
Mr.  Williamson  has  thoroughly  established  him- 
self as  one  of  the  essentially  representative  men  of 
this  progressive  city. 

In  1804,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Bligh,  of 
Louisville,  Ky,     IU>  hiw  four  children— Harry, 


768 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


Emma,  Julia,  and  Mary.  Harry  is  assistant  super- 
intendent of  the  Williamson  Iron  Company.  Miss 
Emma  was  married  to  Mr.  W.  L.  Woodruff,  man- 
ager of  the  Birmingham  Telephone  Exchange  in 
1880,  and  now  resides  with  her  husband  in  the 
city.  All  of  the  rest  of  the  family  also  live  here. 
He  had  two  brothers,  Braden  and  William.  The 
former  is   dead,  and  the  latter  is  farming  in    Illi- 


nois.    His  father  and  mother   both    died  a   few 
years  since  in  New  Albany. 

Mr.  Williamson  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  and  of  Mineral  City  Lodge  of 
Odd  Fellows,  of  Birmingham;  he  has  taken  most  of 
the  degrees  in  the  order  and  has  filled  many  of  the 
offices.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor. 


.u^^^^^.^.^^ 

"^^^^^^^*^ 


XXI. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 


ISki'tclios  uniler  this  lirinl  raili-.l,  I  niiu  viirloiis  cmisfs,  to  i-eacli 
the  imlillshurs  In  thiii-  to  iipi«-ur  with  the  i-itii-s  to  which  they 
rt-spi'i'tlvely  l«lonif.     Kii.  1 

IRA  R.  FOSTER,  lute  of  Gadsden,  Ala.,  was 
l)oiii  ill  Spartiuihuij;  District,  S.  t".,  January  18, 
lsi:t.  llis])arentsbeingin  humble  circumstances, 
lie,  at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  hired  his  time  from 
his  father  and  entered  a  grammar  school  at  his 
native  ))lace.  Hy  diligent  application  to  study  he 
was  soon  able  to  teach  a  snnill  school,  the  proceeds 
whereof  he  applied  to  incidental  cxjjenses  and  to 
the  purchase  of  such  books  as  he  required  for  the 
initial  step  in  the  study  of  medicine.  He  was  yet 
a  young  man  when  he  migrated  from  South  Caro- 
lina to  Forsyth  County,  Ga.,  and  he  was  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  the  latter  place  at  the  out- 
ineak  of  the  Florida  War.  lie  took  an  active  and 
conspicuous  part  in  that  war.  (ioing  out  as  the 
captain  of  a  company,  he  was  very  shortly  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  colonel,  and  he  led  his  regi- 
ment successfully  through  several  bloody  fights 
with  the  Indians.  After  the  war  he  returned  to 
(ieorgia,  and  resumed  the  practice  of  medicine, 
from  which  he  soon  afterward  turned  his  attention 
to  the  study  of  law.  In  the  legal  profession  he 
rose  rapidly  to  promiTience.  Finding  that  the 
clinntte  of  the  place  where  he  was  living  was 
deleterious  to  the  health  of  hiniself  and  family,  he 
moved  to  Atlanta,  where  he  was  living  at  the  out- 
break of  the  late  war.  He  was  an  original  and 
uncompromising  secessionist;  therefore,  so  soon  as 
Georgia  declared  her  withdrawal  from  the  Federal 
I'nion,  he  placed  himself  at  the  service  of  the 
Confederacy  and  was  immediately  appointed 
Quarternnister-General  by  (iovernor  Brown.  He 
entered  at  once  upon  the  duties  of  the  office,  and 
from  tlie  beginning  to  tlie  close  no  man  was  more 
devoted,  constant  or  active  in  the  cause  of  the 
South. 

After  the  war.  (ieneral  Foster  returned  to 
Atlanta,  and  from  there  he  moved  to  Dodge 
Com  tv.    Ga..    where    he    was    for    several    vears 


actively  engagoil  in  the  practice  of  law.  Again 
finding  the  climate  disagreeable  he  decided  to  re- 
move to  Alabama,  where,  prior  to  the  war,  he  had 
made  extensive  investments  in  land.  He  there- 
upon came  at  once  to  Gadsden,  and  here  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life.  In  1884  he  was  elected  to  tlie 
State  Senate,  and  was  a  member  of  that  body  at 
the  time  of  his  death. 

To  a  native  intellect,  capable  of  grappling  with 
intricate  questions.  General  Foster  brought  to  the 
service  of  his  adopted  State  a  long,  rich  and  varied 
experience,  gathered  from  a  life  distinguished  for 
the  uniformity  of  its  successes.  'With  an  incor- 
ruptible integrity,  he  combined  a  transparent  can- 
dor and  simplicity  that  won  the  confidence  of  all 
men.  His  moral  character  had  borne  the  stress  of 
a  somewhat  long  and  eventful  life,  and  in  it  envy 
itself  can  not  find  a  flaw. 

After  coming  to  Alabama,  his  wife,  to  whom  he 
was  married  in  Georgia  soon  after  the  Florida 
AVar,  was  called  to  the  better  world.  She  was  a 
noble  woman,  a  kind  and  devoted  wife  and  a  gen- 
tle and  loving  mother. 

General  Foster  was  possessed  of  a  great  and 
good  heart  and  of  much  strength  of  character. 
He  was  many  years  a  consistent  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  devoted  a  great  deal  of  his 
time  to  religious  work.  His  second  wife  was  Miss 
Cora  W.  Rogers,  the  estinuible  and  accomjilished 
daughter  of  George  C.  Rogers,  of  Marion,  Ala. 


-■<•-•  ■♦.♦^►> 


STEPHEN  F.  NUNNELEE,  of  Tuscaloosa,  was 
born  near  Portland,  Dallas  County,  Ala.,  in  the 
year  1825.  He  is  of  Welsh  and  Scotch  descent, 
his  parents  moving  from  (Jeorgia  to  .\labama,  in 
1818.  Young  Nunnelee  lost  his  father  by  drown- 
ing when  he  was  but  two  years  old,  and  grew  up 
without  any  educational  advantages.  In  1842  he 
left  his  family  and  entered  the  printing  ofiice  of 
the  Eutaw    \y/ii(/,  then  owned    by    Houston  and 


770 


Davis.  Being  deficient  in  the  elements  of  a  eom- 
mon  education,  lie  went  to  school  four  months  and 
returned  to  tlie  printing  office  under  a  promise  of 
three  years'  apprenticeship.  The  Mexican  War 
coming  on,  with  the  consent  of  his  employer,  he 
volunteered  in  Captain  Syd  .Moore's  Company,  and 
served  twelve  months.  He  was  one  of  the  jolliest 
soldiers  in  the  regiment,  never  missing  a  roll-call, 
and  with  one  or  two  others  was  the  very  life  of  the 
command.  lie  was  physically  strong  and  almost 
fearless  in  the  presence  of  danger.  His  soldierly 
bearing  once  or  twice  received  complimentary 
recognition  from  General  Quitman. 

Returning  to  Eutaw,  he  re-entered  the  printing 
office,  buying  an  interest  in  it.  He  finally  sold 
out  and  went  to  clerking  in  a  dry  goods  store, 
where  he  continued  until  185.3,  when  he  married 
the  daugliter  of  Mr.  James  Murphy,  a  prosperous 
and  respectable  farmer.  In  1855,  he  established 
the  Independent  Observer,  and  warmly  espoused 
the  cause  of  secession. 

When  the  war  came  on  he  commanded  the  first 
company  that  went  from  his  county  under  the  call 
of  the  Governor.  Upon  a  proposition  to  transfer 
its  service  to  the  Confederate  States,  the  company 
returned  home,and  upon  reorganizing  he  got  only  a 
lieutenant's  place,  and  with  the  Eleventli  Alabama 
(Col.  Syd  iloore)  went  to  Virginia.  The  regiment 
was  within  hearing,  but  was  not  in,  the  battle  of 
Hull  Run;  it  was  guarding  a  gap  in  the  moun- 
tains. Resigning  he  came  home  in  1862,  and  was 
elected  captain  of  a  ninety-day  company  under  the 
call  of  the  Governor. 

In  the  spring  of  186,*5,  he  joined  the  cavalry 
regiment  of  General  J.  D.  Webb,  and  in  June 
was  wounded  and  captured  at  Shelbyville,  Tenn., 
ami  was  for  fifteen  months  a  prisoner,  at  Camp 
Chase  and  Ft.  Delaware:  at  the  former,  for  demand- 
ing his  rights  as  a  jirigoner,  with  five  others,  he  was 
balled  and  chained  and  handcuffed.  Being  the 
oldest  looking  man  in  prison  he  had  great  influ- 
ence over  his  fellow  prisoners,  and  often  appealed 
to  the  officers  in  charge  for  less  rigorous  treatment. 
If  he  could  not  speak  he  would  write  to  them,  de- 
manding treatment  due  to  prisoners  of  war. 

lie  was  released  in  October,  18G4,  and  getting 
to  Richmond,  wrote  to  Secretary  of  State,  J.  P. 
Benjamin,  suggesting  certain  reliefs,  which  were 
finally  agreed  to  by  the  two  Governments.  Get- 
ting home  a  mere  skeleton  of  his  former  self,  he 
never  again  entered  active  service.  ^Vfterthe  sur- 
render he  remained  on  the  farm  takincr  the  "fore 


NO Ji  THERM  ALABAMA. 


row,'"  and  making  aver.agc  crops  with  liis  neigh- 
bors. 

In  ISTT,  he  bought  tlie  Tuscaloosa  Gazette, 
which  he  and  his  sons  afterward  published  and 
edited,  making  it  one  of  the  leading  weeklies  in 
the  State.  In  April  last  they  began  the  publica- 
tion of  a  small  daily,  which  is  a  credit  to  them 
and  the  city  of  Tuscaloosa. 

Captain  Xunnelee  is  a  man  of  marked  charac- 
teristics. An  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
he  is  somewhat  of  a  ''  Blue  Stocking"  both  in  re- 
ligion and  politics.  He  is  perfectly  uncompro- 
mising for  what  he  conceives  to  be  right,  and 
with  him  right  has  but  one  side  to  it.  He  is  a 
bold  and  ready  writer  for  a  man  of  his  acquire- 
ments, and  has  perhaps  done  more  to  arouse  the 
people  to  united  efforts  to  develop  the  many 
natural  advantages  of  Tuscaloosa  than  any  of  her 
citizens.  He  composes  altogether  at  the  case; 
rarely  if  ever  using  pen  or  pencil.  Could  he 
devote  more  time  and  care  to  composition  he  would 
equal  in  force  and  directness  of  argument  most  of 
the  manv  able  editors  in  Alabama. 


WILLIS  WINSTON  GARTH,  of  Iluntsville. 
This  son  of  General  Jesse  W.  Garth  and  his  wife, 
^liss  Dandridge,  was  born  in  ^lorgan  County, 
Ala. 

His  father,  of  sturdy  Welsh  stock  and  a  native 
of  Albemarle  County.  Vu.,  was  physically,  men- 
tally and  morally  a  fine  specimen  of  the  manhood 
of  "The  Old  Dominion"  —  six  feet  four  inches 
tall,  and  erect.  He  was  educated  at  the  famous 
school  of  Dr.  AVaddel,  in  Ilillsboro,  N.  C.  Enter- 
ing the  bar  at  Charlottesville,  Va.,  he  served 
in  the  War  of  1812,  represented  Albemarle 
County  in  the  Legislature  of  1815,  and  moved 
to  North  Alabama  in  1817.  In  youth  he  saw 
much  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  sage  of  Mon- 
ticello,  which  was  near  the  home  of  his  nativity, 
now  owned  by  Colonel  S.  II.  Buck,  of  Iluntsville, 
Ala.  And  he  was  a  contemporary  and  friend  of 
Gen.  Wm.  F.  Gordon,  Wm.  C.  Rives,  V.  South- 
hall  and  John  Tyler.  In  manner  General  Garth 
was  quiet  and  retiring,  and,  while  self-reliant  and 
decided  in  opinion,  he  was  careful  and  wise  in  ac- 
tion. He  took  a  self-interest  in  public  affairs  and 
spent  his  time  and  invested  his  money  freely  in 
matters  of  public  benefit.  As  an  example,  he  took 
*60,000  of  stock  in   the  project  of  the  Memphis 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 

&  Charleston    Railroad  in  its  inception.     Hyju-  | 
ilicious  investments,  chiefly  in  lands,  and  by  suc- 


t\i 


lessful  and  economic  planting,  he  accumnlated  a 
large  fortune  ;  and,  having  led  an  active,  useful, 
pure  and  patriotic  life,  he  died  in  18CT,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-nine,  at  the  house  of  his  son  in  Ilunts- 
ville.  Even  after  the  losses  and  disasters  and  de- 
preciation of  the  sectional  war,  he  left  his  two 
sons  and  four  daughters  rich  for  people  of  the 
South.  Miss  Unity  Spotswood  ])andridge,  the 
wife  of  (ieneral  (Jarth  and  niotherof  W.  W.  Garth, 
was  a  member  of  the  old  Virginia  family  of  which 
Martha  Washington  was  one  and  the  wife  of  Pat- 
rick Henry  another. 

Willis  W.  (iarth  was  educated  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia  and  studied  law.  Previous  to  the 
war  he  practiced  his  j)rofession  in  Morgan  County, 
and  during  the  political  excitement  preceding  the 
war,  he  canvassed  and  spoke  on  the  issues  so 
vital  to  the  Southern  people  with  power  and  ef- 
fect. He  marrieil  ^Hss  Maria  Fearn,  a  daughter 
of  Dr.  Thomas  Fearn,  of  Huntsville.  During  the 
war  he  was  an  ardent  Confederate.  .-Vfter  the 
war  he  moved  to  Huntsville  and  occupied  the  old 
Fearn  homestead,  where  he  still  resides.  At  the 
Convention  of  the  Democratic  party,  held  at  De- 
catur in  187(3,  he  was  nominated  for  Congress  from 
the  Eighth  J)istrict,  was  elected  and  served  most 
acceptably,  making  an  unexceptionable  record. 
In  1878,  however,  although  the  nominee  of  the 
jiarty.  he  was  defeated  by  Col.  Wm.  M.  Lowe,  In- 
dependent (ireenback  Labor  Democrat,  sup- 
ported by  the  Republicans  of  the  District. 

Colonel  (iarth  has  been  a  student  of  history,  and 
is  deei)ly  versed  in  the  fundamental  principles 
upon  which  have  hinged  the  politics  of  the  country, 
no  less  than  in  the  careers  of  its  leading  men  from 
the  formation  of  the  Federal  (iovernment.  Thus 
accurately  informed,  with  argumentative  ability, 
and  natura'  gifts  of  oratory,  he  is  one  of  the 
strongest  and  most  effective  public  speakers  in 
Alabama.  And  his  rigid  adherence  to  principle 
renders  his  views  a  stamlard  of  true  Democracy. 

Colonel  (iarth,  as  executor  of  his  father's  large 
istatc  and  trustee  of  the  portions  of  his  sisters, 
has  had  his  hands  full  of  inisine^s  since  IKU?;  and 
he  is  recognized  by  the  courts  of  equity  and  by 
all  who  have  dealings  with  him,  as  u  thorough 
man  of  business,  scrupulous  ami  just,  and,  so  far 
as  he  is  concerned,  generous  and  free  from  greed — 
a  man  of  judgment,  sagacious,  safe  an<I  wholly 
reliable.     A  believer  in  loiintry  life  and   farming. 


he  has  never  been  a  speculator  in  cotton,  railroad 
stocks  or  lands,  although  he  has  dealt  largely  in 
each  and  was  long  a  director  of  the  .Memphis  & 
Charleston  Railroad. 

Colonel  Garth  has  a  son  and  two  grandchildren, 
to  whom  he  is  devoted.  He  and  his  family  are 
members  of  the  Protestant  Episcojia!  church. 

WILLIAM  C.  DATES,  [iresent  member  of  the 
I'niteil  Slates  Congress  from  Third  District  and 
one  of  the  most  prominent  and  inlluential  men  of 
that  body,  was  born  in  Pike  County  (now  Bul- 
lock), this  State,  November  30,  lb3:i. 

Principally  self-taught,  he  studied  law;  and  in 
18.58,  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  In  July,  1801,  as 
captain  of  Company  G,  F^ifteenth  Alabama  In- 
fantry, he  entered  the  Confederate  Army.  May, 
1SG.'$,  "  for  valor  and  skill  displayed  on  the  field," 
he  was  appointed  colonel  and  assigned  to  the  com- 
mand of  his  old  regiment.  He  was  four  times 
seriously  wounded,  losing  his  right  arm  in  front 
of  Richmond. 

He  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Democratic 
Convention  of  18<)8;  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  Alabama  in  1870-1  and  1871-2; 
a  candidate  for  Governor  in  18T2;  a  member  of 
the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1875;  elected  to 
the  Forty-seventh  Congress,  and,  by  re-election, 
has  continued  in  that  body  to  the  present  time. 

HILARY  A.  HERBERT,  of  .Montgomery,  rep- 
resents the  Second  District  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States.  He  was  born  in  Laurensville, 
S.  C,  March  Vi.,  1834.  and  came  to  .\labama  in 
184G.  He  was  educateil  at  l^e  Universities  of  the 
States  of  .Vlabama  and  Virginia,  studied  law  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  entered  tlieConfeder- 
ate  Army  as  captain,  was  promoted  to  colonel  anil 
assigned  to  the  command  of  the  F2ighth  .Mabanni 
Volunteers.  He  was  wounded  in  the  "  Wilder- 
ness" Jlay  1),  18114,  returned  home,  and  subse- 
quently i)racticed  law  at  (ireenville  until  IST"^. 
Fronj  (ireenville *he  removed  to  Montgomery, 
where  ho  continued  in  the  practice.  He  was 
ele<;te<l  to  the  Forty-fifth,  Forty-sixth.  Forty- 
seventh,  Forty-eighth,  Forty-ninth  and  Fiftieth 
Congre.s.ses,  almost,  if  not  entirely,  without 
opposition. 


NORTHERN  ALABAMA. 


JOHN  H.  BANKHEAD,  of  Fayette  Court 
House,  represents  the  iSixth  District  in  the 
I'liited  States  Congress.  He  was  born  in  Clarion  \ 
(now  Lamar)  County,  this  State,  Sept.  i:i,  184:i. 
He  is  a  self-educated  man,  a  farmer  by  occupation, 
served  four  years  in  the  Confederate  Army,  and 
was  wounded  three  times.  He  represented  ilarion 
County  in  tiie  General  Assembly,  sessions  of  IS'IS- 
'j-T;  was  in  the  State  Senate  in  187<)-7,  and  House 
of  Representatives  1880-1.  From  1881  to  1885  he 
was  Warden  of  the  Alabama  Penitentiary,  and  he 
was  elected  to  the  Fiftieth  Congress  as  a  Democrat. 

JAMES  L.  PUGH,  of  Kufaula,  United  States 
Senator,  was  born  in  Burke  County,  (ia.,  Decem- 
ber 12,  18"20,  and  has  lived  in  Alabama  since  he 
was  four  years  of  age.  He  received  an  academic 
education,  studied  law,  and,  in  1841,  was  admit- 
ted to  the  bar.  He  was  a  Taylor  Elector  in  1848, 
a  Buchanan  Elector  in  1856,  and  a  Tilden  Elector 
from  the  State-at-large  in  1876.  In  18.5!)  he  was 
elected  to  Congress  without  opposition,  and  with- 
drew when  Alabama  passed  tlie  ordinance  of  seces- 
sion. He  joined  the  Eufaula  Rifles  as  a  private, 
and  ill  1861  was  elected  to  the  Confederate  C!on- 
gress,  and  was  re-elected  tliereto  in  186.3. 

After  the  war  Mr.  Pugh  resumed  the  practice 
of  law.  He  was  President  of  the  State  Conven- 
tion in  1874,  and  a  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1875.  He  succeeded  the  Hon. 
I^uke  Pryor  in  the  Senate,  taking  his  seat  in  1880, 
and  was  re-elected  in  1884.  His  term  expires  ilarch 
:?,  1801. 

JAMES  TAYLOR  JONES,  of  Demopolis,  mem- 
ber of  the  United  States  Congress  from  the 
First  District,  was  born  in  Richmond,  Va.,  in 
1832,  and  has  lived  in  Alabama  since  he  was 
two  years  old.  He  was  graduated  from  Prince- 
ton (N.  J.)  College  in  1852,  and  from  the  Law 
School  of  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1855. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1856,  and,  e.\- 
ecpting  his  four  years'  service  in  the  Southern 
Army,  has  practiced  law  ever  since.  He  was 
a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  in 
1865,  a  State  Senator  in  1872-3,  and  elected  to 
the  Forty-fifth  Congress  in  1876.  He  was  re- 
turned to  the  Forty-eighth,  Forty-ninth  and  Fif- 
tieth Congresses,  receiving  in  the  last  election  tlie 
entire  vote  of  his  district. 


JAMES  E.  COBB,  of  Tuskegee,  represents  the 
Fifth  Di.strict  in  tlie  United  States  Congress  as  a 
Democrat.  He  was  born  in  Upson  County,  Ga., 
October  5,  1835,  and  graduated  from  Emory  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  that  State,  in  June,  1856.  He 
studied  law,  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  in  1857 
moved  to  Texas.  He  entered  the  Confederate 
Army  in  1861  as  a  lieutenant  in  Company  Y, 
Fifth  Te.xas  Regiment,  and  served  in  the  Northern 
Virginian  Army  until  his  capture  at  Gettysburg. 
At  the  close  of  the  war,  he  located  at  Tuskegee  in 
the  practice  of  law.  In  1874  he  was  elected  Judge 
of  the  Circuit  Court  ;  was  re-elected  in  1880,  and 
again  in  1886.  Before  qualifying  under  the  last 
election,  he  was  elected  to  the  Fiftieth  Congress. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  FORNEY,  present  member 
of  Congress  from  the  Seventh  District,  is  a  citi- 
zen of  Jacksonville,  Calhoun  County.  He  was 
born  at  Lincolnton,  X.  C,  November  9, 1823,  and 
was  graduated  from  the  Alabama  University  in 
1844.  He  was  a  first  lieutenant  in  the  First  Regi- 
ment Alabama  Volunteers  in  the  Mexican 
War:  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1848,  and  has  practiced  ever  since.  He  was  one 
of  the  trustees  of  the  State  University  from  1851 
to  1860,  and  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  session 
of  185'.i-60.  He  entered  the  Confederate  Army 
in  1861  as  captain,  and  was  successively  promoted 
to  major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel  and  brigadier- 
general.  He  surrendered  at Ajipomattox,  returned 
to  Alabama,  and,  beginning  with  the  session  of 
186.5-6,  he  was  in  the  Legislature  until  ousted  by 
Reconstruction.  He  was  elected  to  the  Forty- 
fourth,  Forty-fifth,  Forty-sixth,  Forty-seventh, 
Forty-eighth,  Forty-ninth  and  l-"iftieth  Congresses 
as  a  Democrat. 

A.  C.  DAVIDSON,  of  Uniontown.  now  repre- 
senting the  Fourth  District  in  the  United  States 
Congress,  was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County, 
N.  C.,  December  26,  1826.  He  was  graduated 
from  the  Alabama  University  in  1848,  and  studied 
law  in  ilobile,  but  never  practiced.  He  is  an  ex- 
tensive cotton  planter  in  Dallas,  which  county  he 
represented  in  the  lower  house  of  the  State 
Legislature,  session  of  1880-81,  and  in  the  Sen- 
ate from  1882  to  1885.  He  was  elected  to  the 
Forty-ninth  Congress  and  re-elected  to  the  Fif- 
tieth, as  a  Democr.at. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


A 

■  ■AIIK. 

Ahorcromliu',  Jnmc«  .1.    741 
AlM-nmfhy,  Dr.  Hobt.T.    Vit 

.\<lHm«,  John  T 4«B 

Aikon,  Jniiitti :ir>9 

Ala.  Polylochniu  Inst..       144 

-MIX'S.  C.  H. :t4» 

Alf.\nnilcr,  Willlnm  J.  .     118 

Allen,  Wm.  Wilt 621 

Allen,  Rev.  W.  T 220 

Alien,  Liu-ius  L 117 

Allen,  Thomius  II Ki9 

Almoii,  Eilwtinl  n 436 

Alston.  ,lo9t'i.li  J X» 

An<lrew<i.A.S..n.D.LL.D.  667 

Annlston 470 

Arantz,  (Jeortrc  ,'M3 

Arnislronif.  Kcv.  Thomns  ST 

Arnistninit.  .lames 04 

A  rmsl  ronir.  Wni.  P fti7 

Ainett,  (".A 811 

AinoM,  L.  W.,  M.  D 310 

Ari'inKlon.  Thus.  .Mnnn  .  627 

Atalla 500 

Athens 7S 

Auhiirn 143 

.Vutauira  County isn 

Avonilale  7,1;) 

15 

llalley,  R  II.  ('.,  M.  D     .     192 

linker.  Wm.  .M       406 

Maker.  .Vnilretv  .1 404 

Itaker.  Hohl.  I» :l?4 

llaker.  (ieo.  it gjJO 

llaker,  .\lpheiis  E 088 

llalilHilire.  Win.  F ;M7 

lliil.lwiii.  BenJ.  J.,  M.  n...  itW 
'  llalilriilire,  M.  C.  M.  D....  271 

llalilwin  I'oniity 230 

Hanks,  .lohn  T .'Vl."i 

Hanks.  Dr.  Win.  H :C» 

lliinisler,  Uev.  .1.  .M..D.D.  272 

Itankheail.  John  H 772 

Hanks.  James  J 7«6 

Hartlete.  .><.  Henry B2W 

llarlier.  Kobt 628 

llarlNinrroiinly   182 

llarron.  Joseph  D 619 

Harron.  Wm.  J.,  D.D  S      271 

Harry.  Thomas  II 115 

HarnH'ell.  Itev     lti>bt.  W.  «ni 

IhLss.  John  11.,  .M.  D l.W 

Ha>  U-s.*.  Wm.  W ,)I9 

11.11.  Unlit.  N «ll 

Itillvniter,  Wm.  r    ;t7,') 

ll<'ns<ni.  Knstaee  <' :»» 

IkMiiiKh.  Jaini-s     HO 

Ih-nners,  .Vuitiistiis ,v>l 

Herifi-r.  Siim'l  W .    ;t7« 

It'-rney,  Wm. 7(tt 

'(•••^•nier 7.-.4 

H<-thanl,  A.  O :»49 

H<'\  ens,  .loscph,  M.  !» .HH 

Hil>l>,  H. .« liMi 

Hibb,  Peyton  II        .  IkiO 


PAOK. 

nilili  County  100 

llirmin^hnm 744 

niHir,  Dr.  Hu)rh  W 419 

niukey,  Dnvld  T        604 

Uliiek,  Wm.  n.,  M.  n 330 

nie<l8(>c,  Nathaniel  M.  ...  186 

mount  County 108 

nine.  Jno.  Hownri),  M.D..  6.36 

Boanlraan,  Volney 572 

Ilolanil,  Hev.  J.  M.,  A.M..  218 

Hone,  Jnme.s  11   280 

Booker,  E<lmnnrl  W 625 

Booker,  Parham  N 627 

Iloriiers,  Samuel  K 117 

Boswell,  Harry  H.,  M.  n..  458 

Bowles.  Kilmiind  1) 70(1 

Iloynton,  Wm.  N . .   4<W 

Boykin.  Frank,  Jr 677 

Braillield,  John,  M.  D...  211 
Brandon.  John  D  .     ..     .21)3 

Ill-ewer,  .Samuel  B 483 

Brooks,  Wm.  M 780 

Brooks,  W.  T 697 

Brothers,  Samuel  D.  O..  492 

Brown,  Jesse  E     97 

Brown,  Hev.  Milton  P....    W 

Browne,  Ceeil 456 

Brown,  Wilson  K 422 

Bi-owne,  NewlK-rn  H.    . ,    .Wi 

Brown,  Jeremiah  H 219 

Brown,  Piiirh  II.,  M.  D ...  729 
Ilroun,  W.  I,.,A.M.,LI,.D.  130 

Bmwne.  William  II 163 

Brown,  Wm.  Ci 717 

Ilriu-e,  John  822 

Ilryee,  Dr.  Peter ,532 

Buck,  Samuel  H 265 

Hulonl,  James  MrL .338 

Bullunl.  A.  F..  M.  D 117 

Biilloek  County 184 

Biireh.  .Mariiis  l^hampc  . .  334 

Burleson.  Dahney  .\ 65 

Burke,  Julius  I ..    399 

lliirke,  .Maleolm  C 617 

Burr.  William  H 461 

Biirtwell,  James 318 

Biirtwell.  John  l< 318 

Ilniler  County 225 

c. 

Callahan,  William  T 200 

Calhoun  County. lU 

Calhoun,  John  C ,544 

Cahlwi'li,  John  II 403 

Caldwell,  John  .M 480 

Caldwell,  Ci'o.  B     98 

Ciimeron.  W.  J     763 

Campliell,  William  P  ..  .  312 
CninpU'll.  An-hllaild..   ..  284 

Canlleld,  C.  H 484 

Cnrmiehel.  John  r 2^ 

Carr.  llinton  E 174 

Cartriirhl.  n.  B.,  M.D...    :t29 

Cartwrlirht,  M.  T :<44 

Castlenian.  .lames  W 542 


PAGE. 

Cawthon,  Alex.  W 695 

Centre 129 

Cereal  Belt 58-107 

Cliumlx^rs  County 178 

Chambers,  Georsrc  W 486 

Chambers,  Wm.  Lea 645 

ChH|iman.  Keulicn 220 

Chapman.  Heubcn..... 252 

Cherokee  County 128 

Child,  Dr.  DulT 603 

Chisholm,  Dr.  Edmund  S.  X» 
Chilton.Wm.  P.,(leceased,  «.» 

Chilton,  Wm.  Parish 603 

Chilton  County 125 

Choetaw  County 182 

Chureh,  Stewart 332 

Clark,  Courtney  J.,  M.  D.  (Wl 

Clarke  County 231 

Clark,  Thos.  H 612 

Clayton.  Henry  de  Iji  Mar  519 

Clay  County 127 

CIcbu  rne  Cou  nty 134 

Clements,  M.   K 504 

Clopton,  David 613 

Cloud,  Robert 436 

Cobb,  Uufus  W .  166 

Cobb,  .lames  E .  772 

Coehranc.  Dr.  Wm.  A . . .  .">.33 
Cochran,  Jerome,  M.  D..  634 
Corhnuie,  William  G...  539 

Cocke.  Jolin  B 713 

Coffee,  .lohn  298 

Coffee  County 231 

Coffe.v,  John  R     98  ' 

Colbert  County 103 

Coleman,  Phares .t65 

Coleman  .Vug-ustus  A 562 

Coleman,  Daniel.. 87 

Coleman.  Frank 288 

Coleman.  Thos.  W 196 

Coleman  Wiley 197 

Collins.  Daniel  M 188 

Collier  Buekner  K 609 

Columbiana 162 

Comer.  Ilra.tton  B 485 

Compton  Jourdan  C 671 

Conecuh  County 232 

Conner.  Jos.  C.  D.  D.  S.  Si's 
Constitution  .\dopted..  43 
Const'l  Conv.,  del.  to....     42 

Coop<T.  J.ydal  B 4.T9 

Cooiwr.  Sam'l  J.,  M.   D.  4;B 

Coo|>er,  Willlnm 432 

Coosa  County 123 

Corcoran,  (!eo    .M.,  M.  D.  211 

Cotton  Bolt 180  224 

CoviiiKton  County 2:51 

Cowan,  James  H 98 

Cox,  EdwanI  W 504 

Craiir,  lU-nJ.  II 677 

CraiK,  (ieo.  II 678 

Crenshaw  County 23:1 

Criblw,  Daniel  541 

Cribl's,  Harvey  II 541 

Crow.  Janu-s  M   .316 

CnHik.  John  .M..  M.  I)  194 


Crook.  James,  Jr 495 

Crook.  Eminett  F 498 

Cross.  John  M 280 

Cross  Plains 119 

Cross,  Dr.  Wm.  C .5*1 

Cross,  Thos.  J.,  8r 488 

Cullman .378 

Cullman  County 133 

Cullmann.  John  G 383 

Currcy,  Willis  W 401 

Curry,  Burwell  J 282 

Curtis,  Kobt.  M 311 

I) 

Dailey,  Jacob  F 119 

Dale  County 234 

Dallas  County 189 

David.son,  A.  C 772 

Davis.  Nicholas 278 

Davis,  tjiwrence  H 82 

Dawson,  X.H.R 86:1 

Doy,  I..  W 264 

Dean,  Wra.H 498 

Decatur 321 

De  Forrest,  Henrj-  S 4.'i7 

DeKalbCounty 135 

De  Loach,  Wm.  R 219 

Dement.  John  J., M.D. . .  288 

Demopolis 1»1 

Denson.  Wm.  H 3.'>7 

Dickey.  Leonidos  C 784 

Dill.  Joseph  M 728 

Dimniick.  Josei>li  W 622 

Di.s<iue.  John  H :») 

Dodson.  Jno.  L 113 

Downs,  Daniel  L :tl9 

Du  Hose.  John  W.,  A.  M.,  Wl 
DuBose,  Kcv.  Kolwrt  JI.  478 
DuBose,  Wildes  S.,  M.  D.  163 

Diima-s.  JereT 46.i 

Duncan.  John  W 366 

Duncan.  William  T 285 

Duncan.  Robert  H .MM 

Dunklin.  Daniel  G ^."9 

Dun  lap,  Robert  A.  D  . .     ;I80 

E 

East  Birmlnifham  ...         7.">3 

East  IJikc 7.%4 

Ethols.  Wm.  H 281 

Echols.  James  L 334 

Edmundson.  Wallace  B      •'>44 

Edwanls.  Will.  H 482 

Edwanls.  J    A 4m 

Klliotl.  James  M.,Jr  :»»• 

Elliott.  Amos  Merrill  ....  liU 

Ellis,  Gidetui  C 49S 

Ellis,  Dr.  Rot>erl  A !M 

Elliott.  William  M  1:12 

KlmoreCouniy 194 

Ensley 751 

Brskine.  AilK'rt  K..  M    D.  27\l 

Erwin.  John .W3 

Es<'«mbia  County 'SVi 

Etowah  Coiinlv  l:s; 


774 


/XDEX. 


VAOB. 

Eiitaw 196 

Ewinir,  Whitley  T.,  M.D.  382 

F. 

Falk.LouisM 345 

Falkner,  Jefferson  M 596 

Farmer,  John  T.     .....  318 

Fayetti-  County 140 

P'erpr uson,  Frederick  S. . .  764 

Fennell,  Dr.  J.  W 393* 

Fisher,  John  H 441 

Florence 288 

Klynn,  P.  H  337 

Flynn  John 373 

Korcst,  Dr.  Wm.  E 328 

Forney,  Wm .  H     772 

Foster,  Ira  II 76!) 

Foster,  Henry  Bacon. ...    543 

Foster,  Dr.  David  L 529 

Foster,  Sumner  B 526 

I'oster,  Feli.x  W 477 

Foster,  Dr.  Shep  \V 330 

Fowikes,  A.  M 689 

Franklin,  Clias.  H.,  M.  D.  188 

Frankle,  A 288 

Francis,  Wm.  H.,  Jr 79 

Franklin  County 102 

Fnizier,  J.  A.,  D.  D.  S....  717 
Frazier,  John  E.,  D.D.S...  717 

Freeman,  H.  S 343 

Fiey,  Andrew  C SM 

Friedman,  Bernhai-d M7 

Fiiei-soii,  Kev.  MarUn  L  .  315 

Fuller.  S.  1 380 

Furniss,  John  P.,  M.  D.  .  ti»4 

G. 


•  ^Hlioiiry,  .losopli  .\  ..   .. 

Gadsden 

fiailsdcn  Ijtnd  &  Imp.  Co. 

(ianililc,  Franklin  A 

GardtiiT.  John  D 

(iarlli,  Willis  W 

fiary.  Dr.  Thomas  P 1 

liaston,  Thomas  B.,  M.  D.  i 

(iiiston,  Zell ; 

(iay,  .Simon .^ 1 

Gayle,  John 

Geneva  County ; 

Gil>son,  Carleton  B  

Gihson,  William  B 

(iilbrealh,  .MontKoniery..  ; 

(Jilbreath.  Emmett : 

(iillireath,  John : 

Gill,  Wm.  (;.,  M.  D ; 

Gill,Wm.  B 

<;illes|iie.  John  F 

Gisl.  Paul,  M.  D 

Godbey.  Edtrar  W ; 

Goldthwaite,  John  K ' 

<;overnors.  List  of 

Gniham,  Hamilton  C I 

Graham,  James  H ' 

(iraham,  Edward  A. I 

Grunt,  I«onidu8  W 

(ireene  County     

(ireene,  James  T 

(ireenslioro ■ 

Gririiville ; 

Gretf.iiv,  Edward  G  ( 

Grote.  (  iiarlps  A.,  A.M...  i 
Grulil.s.  Dr.  L.  Hensly..    : 


PAGE. 

Gruber,  Samuel  H 340 

Gunnels,  Dnnicl  P 115 

Gunters\ille 391 

Guttery,  George  H 177 

H 

Hag-ler,  WUey  A 539 

Hale  County 20S 

Hale.  Ellis 131 

Hames,  Wm.  M 492 

Hammond,  John  D 491 

Hamner,  Daniel  T 502 

Hancock,  James 317 

Hanna,  Sarah 320 

Hannah,  A.  J.  W 320 

Hanilson,  Jonathan 672 

Haraway,  Wm.  E.,  M.  D.  310 

Hardie,  Joseph 694 

Hardaway ,  h  obt.  A  525 

Hargrove,  .Andrew  C 531 

Harris,  D  T .342 

Harris,  John  R  100 

Harris,  James  P 101 

Harris,  Dr.  Geo.  M 287 

Harris,  Joseph  W 120 

Harris,  John  G 623 

Harris,  Christopher  C. . . .  331 
Harris  i- Wat  kins  H.  Co.  342 

Harrison,  Geo.  P.,  Jr 74u 

Harrison,  Dr.  Wm 393 

Harvey,  John  C...  568 

Hayes,  Robert  H.,  M.  D.  187 

Hays,  As!i  U 385 

Hedges,  W.  W 337 

Helena 164 

Henilei'son,  Charles       .    727 

Henry,  .\lbert  G 394 

Henry.  Patrick 404 

Henry,  Samuel  372 

Henry  County 236 

Herlrert,  H.  A 771 

Herndon,  Harry  T 198 

Herrin,  Samuel  H 388 

Herzherg,  Herman 376 

Hicks,  Marcus  L 364 

Hicks.    David  W 437 

Higgins,  William  F 118 

Hindman,  Samuel 438 

Hine,  William  ,\  88 

Hines,  Jos?ph  M :Wi 

Hill,  Dr.  Luther  L  643 

Hill,  Alonzo 527 

Hobbs.  Thomas  H Sj 

Hobson,  James  M .583 

Hoffman,  J.  K.,  M.D....    8:) 
Hogan,  Samuel  M.,  M.  D.  186 

Hogan,  William 372 

Hogiie,  Wm.  F 715 

Hogue,  Cyrus  D 711 

Hollingsworth,  Wm.  P..  356 
Hooper,  Hev.  T.  W.,  D.D.  678 

Hooper,  Mallett  C 334 

Holt.  Wm.  J.,  M.  D tl33 

Holt.  Samuel  D 692 

Holt,  Edward  R 629 

Holt/.claw,  James  T 805 

Hopkins,  Devereux 222 

Horton,  James  E     80 

Houghton,  Wm.  R 702 

Houston,  John  H   212 

Houston,  George  Smith. .     72 

Houston,  Samuel  0 711 

Hubbard,  John  P 72)1 


PACE. 

Hudmon,  Wm.  E 738 

Hudson,  Thomas 713 

H  uey,  Ben j.  M 713 

Hughes,  Joseph  R  370 

Hughes,  Robert  F 122 

Humes,  Milton 281 

Hundley,  Oscar  R 2<i2 

Hunt,  Ben  P 275 

Hunt,GeorgeW 286 

Huntsville 243 

Hunt.  R.  C 99 

Hunter.  Quincy  C 431 

Hutchens,  James  M 279 

Hutilieson,  Wm.  G tV») 

I 

Inge,  Richard,  M.   D....  587 

Insane  Hospital 516 

Inzer,  John  W I.'iS 

Isbell,  Thomas  L 467 

Isbell,  Robert  H 460 

1sIh-II,  Jhiim's  ..  4.V, 

.1 

Jaik.s..n.  James  M.,  Ml)    4U;i 

Jackson,  James  K 6.35 

Jackson,  Wm.  M 309 

Jacksonville. .  488 

Jackson  County 92 

Jackson,  .Tames 435 

Jas|>er 17;) 

Jeffei-son  County 141 

Jem'son,  William  C 540 

Jervis,  J.  D  332 

John,  Joseph  R 675 

John.Sam'lW 673 

Johnson,  Jos.  H..  M.  D. ..  458 

Johnson.  William  P 366 

Johnson.  John  .\  385 

Johnson.  Dr.  William  R..  434 

Johnston,  Wm.  F 4W 

Joiner,  George  A 467 

Jones,  George  W  4)10 

Jones,  Wm.  R    :M7 

Jones,  Thomas  G BOO 

Jones,  Rev.  Amos  B.,  A. 
M.,  D    D.,  LL.  D  ....  273 

Jones.  Henry  C 295 

Jones,  George  P 298 

Jones.  Ale.\ .  W 679 

Jones,  .lames  T 772 

Jones,  US 710 

Jones,  Robert  T 710 

Jordan,  David  C 407 

Jordan,  Wm.  C 625 

.loseph,  C.  W 345 

Joseph,  Edwin  B 645 

Joseph,  Wm.  F 649 

Judge*  DeGniffenreid..  198 

K. 

Karler,  Ji.bn  H 388 

Keenan, .lames  E  t:5H 

Keller,  Arthur  H 43:1 

Kenan,  .lohn  R 693 

Ki'iHiedv,  John  1< iVW 

Ketchura,  Dr.  George  A.  S38 

Kei'tis,  George  P 420 

King,  Frank  R 105 

King.  R.  R..  .M.  D 105 

Kiinr,  F.ilnunid  Rush .542 

King,  Porter  TU8 

King.  Ooldshy,  M.  D 685 


PAGE. 

Kirk,  James  T 439 

Kirkman,  Samuel 313 

Kirksey.  Foster  M 201 

Kittreli,  RoUrtN.,M.  D.,  362 

Knight,  Wm.  Newton 570 

Kno.x,  James  C,  M.D...  462 

Kno.v.Alex.  B 483 

Knox.SamuelL 463 

Kno.x,JohnB 464 

Knox,  John  B 7A\ 

Kolb,  Reuben  F  620 

Kumpie,  Dr.  Geo.  E 106 

Kyle,  Robert  B 354 

Kyle,  Osceola,  Jr 333 

Kyle.JamesA 96 

T>. 

Lair.1.  Dr.  Orville  D 122 

Lake  View 75:1 

t  amar  County 14* 

Lane,  James  H 153 

Lane,  Charles  P 364 

Ijine,  Rev.  M.  H..  D.D...  490 

Landman,  George  P 286 

Langilon.  Chas.  C 615 

Larned,  Wm.  S 483 

I.auderdale  County 90 

Law,  Franklin 188 

Lawrence  County 66 

Lay,  Wm    P 374 

Lee.  Wm.  D 571 

Lee  County 143 

Leach,  Sewal  I  Jones 538 

LcG rand,  Milton  Paul..   .644 
LcGrand,  John  C,  M.  D  .  487 

I>eeper,  James  Theo 162 

Lewis.  Rev.  J..  Jr..  D.D..  559 

Liddell,  Daniel 364 

Limestone  County 71 

Lindsay,  Rolx'rt  B 431 

Little,  Benjamin  F 442 

Little,  James  H 762 

Littlejohn,  Wm.  W 331 

Livingston  216 

Lofton,  Rev.  G.  A.,  D.D.  453 

Lollar,  .lohn  B 177 

Lomax.  Tennent    . . ' 631 

Lomax,  Tennent,  Jr 60S 

London,  Alex  T 609 

Lowndes  County 202 

Lowry,  Samuel  H.,  M.  D.  289 

Lovett,  Prof.  J.  A.  B 272 

Ludike,  Wm.  P 319 

Ludwig.  Bernard  F 277 

Lueddemann,  Guide 440 

Lupton,  N.  T.,  A.M.,M.D., 

LL.D 150 

Lusk,  Uirenzi  I)..  M.  D...  402 

Lusk,  John  A 298 

Lyon,  (ico.  Gaines 192 

M. 

.Mcliridc.  J.  E  :ti8 

McCarty,  .M  .  F  . . 4W 

McCartey,  Charles  C 4.S2 

.Mel  oy,  Charles  B.,  M.  D.  7:» 

McClclU-n,  Elisha  D I2X 

McClellan,  Robt.  A '•'■< 

MeOlellan.Th.w.  N 618 

MeCullough,  .A.  W 273 

.McCorvey,  Thos.  C .'i28 

McCoiinell,  W.  K 4)W 

.MacDoiiuld.  (iorilon 4KI 


INDEX 


l-AOK. 

Mi'Knlitv  nrolhrrs Wli 

MiKlilriiy.  \\\\»\\  L 4ill 

McKlilorrv.  Marcus 467 

MiKiilirc.  Hiii-i(s(in  1*...  ;ino 
MiKntin'.  Il4>iinrtt  P.   . .    ;««> 

MiKiilirc,  U'ltoy 3H0 

MoKnlin'.  MillurO »00 

MoF«rlniul,  HolK-rt 2B« 

Mc(!rfKi>i-,  AllHTt  0 84 

Mi'(in'itor,  (icMi.  T 422 

MiKleroy,  John  N 4ni 

McKlniion.J.  A..  M.  D...  ISW 

M.'Minii,  .lumi'8  A 38T 

M.-I'licrsDii.  .liiliiiJ. 4M 

Migiiivn.  .Iiwcph  P 1«8 

Mi'Siuiiiilcn,  Siiiiiiirl  K.  .  129 
MoWilliiiniii,  .loliii  A..   .    441 

Mabry,  Uov.  Wlllium Kit 

Miilny,  AllKTt  Ci.,  M.  U      «« 

MiK'oii  County 205 

MHilison  County 58 

Mrt^tH',  Williuni  V. MT 

Milllnry.  HuKliS,  1) «I8 

Miiloiii-,  John  N 77 

Mnrt-nKo  County 207 

Mrtrion 701 

Marlon  County IM 

Mnmhall  County W 

Martin.  C.  W «1 

Martin,  James 3S0 

Mason,  John  It 86 

Maslin,  P^lmunil  1 280 

Matthews.  Joel  i:arly....  GTiO 

May,  Washinifton  T SIM 

Means.  T.  A  ,  A.M.,  M.  D.  vm 
Meok,  n.  K.,  A..M..  M,.I)..  .124 
Mi-eks,  William  Marion  :W.i 
Mell,P.U.,Jr.,M.K..Ph.D.  l.il 

Merrill,  Orlando 442 

Michel,  KichM  F.,M.  D...  «*< 

Miles.  John  E 7B6 

Miller,  (ieo.  Knox 4fiO 

Mineral  Belt  10l»-17!t 

Miscellaneous. 7119 

Mitchell,  John  J SDS 

Mohile  238 

Mobile  County 238 

Mobley,.l^reene  P 201 

Mohr,Paiil 389 

Monk,  llw.  Alon7.o,  DD..  478 

Monroe  County  St7 

.MonriK-.  William  <) 200 

.Monttromery.  IjiwrenceH  IWS 
Moiiijroniery,  Henry  K...  497 
.Montifoniery.  C.  H.,  M.I).  4m 

Monlifomery  County 206 

.Montgomery 574 

.Moody,  WiLshlnirton 883 

M.MKly,  .Martin  T 120 

M"M.ney  War     587 

Moore,  John  709 

Moon*,  Jamcfl  A 712 

.MiKire,  Dr.  .Vndn'w.  ...3ro 
Moore,  Joshua  Burns  ..     431 

Moore,  l>r.   David     aHB 

Moore,  II.  McVay 319 

Monwne.  John  II .'i«5 

Monran.  John  T UIO 

Moriran  County     62 

Morrlssi'lt,  Fjlmunil  P..  .  597 

Moses,  Alfred  li 417 

Moses,  .Miram  1 422 

Mosley,  Koli't  A,  Jr 408 

.Mun>hy,  Wm.  .M 554 

Murphree,  James  K  T31 


PAQR. 
Miiriihrec,  Jix-l  11.,  ,»<r      .  724 

Murray,  AIIktI  F !M0 

.Murray,  .M.  K 282 

.Murray  ,V  Smith 2W 

Mu.>iirrote.  Dr.  Philip  M..  :I87 
Myers,  Dcmelrlus  F    7«1 

X 

Nathan.  J.  o.H 419 

.\e«>ly,  Kdwin  O      401 

Nelson,  .1 .  Monroe. 338 

Nelson,  Owen  O  (M« 

Nelson,  Wm.  K 688 

Nelson,  Richard  M 686 

Newmiin.  Prof.  Ja«.  S...  152 
Newman,  Uev.  John  W..  274 

Nickajack.  State  of 47 

Nickles,  Otis 461 

Nunnally,    Uev.    Ct.    A., 

U.D 477 

Hunnelec,  Stephen  F....  769 

Norman.  Jus.  T 187 

Noith  llirmlnirham 754 

Norris,  Frank...' 662 

Norris,  Wm.  J tfiilt 

Norton,  John  M 317 

NorwoiHl,  John  H 96 

Nowlin,  ^lunes  H 371 

0 

Oates,  Wm.  C 771 

O'Connell,  John  C 648 

Oden,  Edward  J 63 

Oliver,  Isaac 543 

Oliver,  Wm.  C 197 

01m.stead,  Edwin  D 337 

O'Neal,  Kmmet  297 

O'Neal,  Edward  \ 292 

opelika  733 

o'Shauiihnessey,  Ja-s.  F.  2.56 
<  )'Shauifhnes.sey,  M.  J.. . .  2.t5 
O'Shauifhncssey,  M.  .1.  & 

J.F 251 

Otts.John  Martin  P.,D.D.  4.54 
Oxford 112 

P 

Puden,  John  S 361 

Palmer,  Solomon 014 

Palmer,  Jesse  G.,  M.  D.. .  7;» 
Parke,  ClilTord  D.,  M.  D.  <>84 

Parker,  (ieo.  H 386 

Parks,  Wm.  II 728 

Patrick,  Wiley  A 4Kt 

Patterson,  James  A 437 

Patton,  John 262 

Pntton,  Charles  H 312 

Patt<m.  Oliver  B 270 

Patton,  Koliert  M 306 

Peacher,  John.  Jr 338 

Peac<K-k.  GfMirtre 6»7 

Peai-son.  Dr.  BenJ.  H 04:1 

Pwk,  Elijah  W 522 

Petrues,  .losiah  J 5:<5 

Perry  County 208 

Peterson,  F.  M.,  M.  D..  565 
Petenwin,  F.  M.,  Jr.,A..M.. 

B.  D. ."Wi 

Petlus,  Francis  F.  «7il 

PettuH,  l->lniund  W. nn 

Phceuister,  Dr.  o.  .M :»3 

Pickens  County 213 

Pickens,  Henry  W 501 


PAllR. 

Pickens,  Israel .     tM 

Pickett,  Itlchard  O 2»4 

PIkeCounty 241 

PInckard,  James S 1106 

Plowman,  Thonins  P  ...  468 

Povue,  John  I, :)B8 

Foley,  Bert  E 346 

Pollak,  lirnatius 647 

Pollock.  Josi-ph  099 

Powers,  .lanu'S  K.,  A.  .M.  315 
Prater,  Wm.  W..  M.  D... .  420 

Pratt,  A.  M.,  .M.  D  131 

Price,  \V.  M.,  A.  M.,  M.  D.  310 

Pride,  James  E 316 

Pi  In/.,  Gottfried  A 385 

Prude,  James  Oscar. .     . .  537 

Pryor,  Luke.  75 

PuKh,  James  I. 772 

\\. 

Hand,  Edward  P.,  .M.  D.  .  443 

Hand,  Parker  X.  G 106 

Uandiilph,  KnincisC 028 

Itiuidolph  County 1.51 

Kandall.  Hodolphtis  O. .    370 

Itiunfall 188 

Italsler,  Charles  W 88 

Bawls,  Kot)ert  M «i 

Itayburn,  Siuuuel  K  405 

Beed,  John  S 337 

Ueese,  Carlos 718 

Beeves,  .lames  A 130 

Reld,  JohnC 869 

Benfro,  Noah  P 743 

Hhett  R.  Barnwell 256 

Rhodes,  Wm.  J 4«i5 

Rice,  Samuel  F 595 

BicbanI,  William 388 

Richanl.son,  Julius C 225 

Richanlson.  W .  C 52« 

BiglTS,  Benj.  H.,  M.  D  ...  081 
Riley,  Bev.  B.  F..  D.  D...  217 

Bison,  John  Ix-wis 284 

Robbins,  Gaston  A 676 

Bobbins,  Jo8<'ph  H 692 

Bobcrtson,  John  R 191 

Robinsim,  C.  T 336 

Boltinson,  Ernest 264 

Robinson,  Elisha  J 766 

BoKers,  I).  W , 459 

Roirers,  D.  Mortnui 402 

Boper,  Henry  Bcntly  . . .  285 

Roquemore,  .lohn  D 325 

Borex,  Jas.  K.  P.,  M.  I)..  ItW 

Boss,  Bichard  L 435 

Ros-s  Boliert  C 96 

Rosamond,  Wm.  C 176 

Roulliac.  Th<KS.  R .563 

Rowan,  Peyton 497 

Roy.T.  B 675 

Ruflin.  James  F..  M.  D...   lie 

Ru.ssf'll  County 214 

Russell,  William  B «8 

Russell.  Rev    tii'orire  B..  121 

s 


.. I.  .Milton,  M.  D.    211 
I,  William  J         .737 


Sudill 
.Sam  ft 

Sampson,  J.  N 

Siuiders,  Bt'uton  .. 
Saunders,  Jami*  E 
Savage.  Boliert  R 
Sawyer,  UcnJ.  F 


Scott,  Wm.  W 344 

Scott.  John  F  344 

Seovel,  Georifc  Jordan     .  333 

Screws,  Wm.  W  021 

ScruKtrs,  L.  II .'Mi 

Scruicirs.  Thomiis  M 341 

.Seawell,  Cha.s.  H 712 

Sent  of  Gov'iuent  (State).  581 

Searcy,  <!eorK<"  A   .539 

.''earcy,  Reuben .548 

.Searcy.  Robt.  T.,  M.  D.      :I87 

Seay,  Thos  612 

Secession,  Onlinunce  of, 

adopted    40 

Si-ed,  Chas.  C 545 

.Seelye,  Dr.  Sam'l  D 041 

Seiliold,  W'cndolyn 407 

SelU-l,  Emmet 626 

Selma 052 

Seniple,  Henry  C 699 

Sessions,  I-ewe,  M.  D.  186 

Shahan,  Wm.  P ."OI 

Sharp,  Claiborne  A VH 

Shaver,  L.  A 003 

Sheats,  Chas.  C :fc'7 

Sheffield.  James  L 618 

■ihefficlil 409 

Shelby  County 160 

Shelby.  A,  B.,  M.  D 271 

Shelley,  Chas.  M 868 

Shepherd,  L.  W.,  -M.  D    . .  739 

Sherrod,  Wm.  C 308 

ShiehLs,  John  B  175 

Shivers,  Jesse  B 707 

Shorter.  Henry  R. 616 

Sibert,  Wm.  J :»» 

.Simpson,  Rol)ert  T 297 

SimiKnon,  Wm.  H 65 

Simpson,  James  H 440 

.Simpson,  T.  F 4^12 

SkeifKS,  Wra.  E »1 

Skevirs,  Henry  .\.,  Sr  . . .  348 

Sloss,  Joseph  H 287 

Smith, .s.F 282 

Smith,  Rev.  I..  H.,  D.D..  539 

Smlth.Paul  W 42:1 

Smith,  John  F 118 

Smith,  Rev. Stephen  V ...  201 
Smith,  Rev.  Henry  H  , . . .  274 

Smith.  I.^'ster  C 610 

Smith,  Fivderick  H 020 

Snedecor.  V.  Gayle .571 

SnodjfriLss,  .Alex  91t 

Snow,  Clarke 116 

Snow,  E<lward  N   C 546 

Snow,  John 5441 

Somerville,  H.  M.,  LL.D..  521 

Southern  Cniversity .W 

Speake,  Daniel  W 95 

Speiike.  Henry  C 259 

St.  Clair  County 156 

StalllnKS,  JcsiU'  F 227 

.standifcr,  Wm.  II  .374 

Stanley,  Janii'S  B 227 

State  Normal  School     .    .  721 
Steele,  John  Anthony  ..    44;t 

Steiner.  John  T 2» 

.stelner,  Jost'ph  M £» 

Steiner,  Samuel  J.,  M.  II.  228 

Steiner,  Hobt.  E SS 

Sttvens,  Charles  E  713 

Stevens^tn,  HukI>        •         ♦'^ 
Stevens,  .lumes  II.  284 

Stewart,  James  H  .711 

Stewart,  James  S.  503 


776 


INDEX. 


PAOE. 

PAGE. 

PAGE. 

PAOE. 

Stone,  O.W 

613 

Timberlakc,  John  P 

101 

Walker  County  

171 

Wiley.-iriosto  A 

607 

Stillwell,  Joseph  W.     .. 

8!I3 

Tipton,  I^ujamin  W 

405 

Walker  County  Biuik ... 

174 

Wiley  ."Oliver  C 

730 

Stntt,  Thomas  A 

<(I0 

Toda,  R.  I, 

349 

Walker,  Wm.  H 

79 

Wiley,  iHeury  C 

726 

Striiitrti-,  Chiis.  W    

4t» 

Tompkins,  Henry  C 

60B 

Walker,  Wm.  R 

80 

Wilkerson,  W.  M.,  M.  D. 

641 

StrintrlVllow,  Horuce,  Jr. 

611 

Topofrraphy,Geolo(ry  and 

Walker,  Wm.  A.,  Jr 

761 

Wilkerson,  Wm.  W.,  M.D 

715 

StrinK-fellow.  Kev.  Jas.  H 

W7 

Natural  Resources.. 

7-35 

Walker,  Thos.  A 

489 

Willett,Jose-ph  J 

480 

Stuart,  J .  U 

:S25 

Tra wick,  Moses  T 

742 

Waller,  Chas.  E 

564 

WUIiams,Jos.   M.,  M.D 

640 

Stui-iiivant.  J.  F.,  A.  M . . 

5«t 

Troy 

718 

Waller,  R.  B 

.'154 

Williams,  Abner 

116 

Su(nii-s,  Joseph  S 

346 

Troy,  Daniel  Shipman... 

59it 

Waller,  Nathaniel 

691 

Williams,  Marcus  G 

83 

Sullivan,  J.  U 

421 

Troy,  Alex 

C06 

Ward,  (Ibadiah 

368 

Williams.  Wm.  H 

485 

Sunimaiy  of  the  State's 

Turner,  J.  M 

422 

Ward,  Thos.  U.,  M.  D.  .. 

567 

Williams,  Wm.  Howard. 

6.50 

History 36-.'>7 

Turpin.  Thos.  J.,  M.  1). 

41« 

Washinjfton  County 

342 

Williamson,  C.  P 

767 

Sumter  County 

^l.'i 

Turrentine,  Geo.  K 

ati 

Watkiiis,  Thos.  .\ 

505 

Williams,  J .  W.  R.,  M.  D 

7J9 

Swan,  Isaiu*  L 

4it6 

Turrentine,  Daniel  C  — 

:«! 

Watkins,  L.  K 

342 

Wilson,  William  A 

119 

Turrentine,  John  J 

77 

Watson,  Henry 

5.M 

Wilson,  Benj.  F 

468 

T. 

Turrentine,  John 

87 

Watt.s.  Thomas  Hill..  .. 

593 

Wilson,  Henry 

163 

Tuscaloosa  County 

IGS 

Watts,  Thomas  Henrv. 

606 

Winne,  Wm.  B  

367 

44.i 

.■iOU 

314 

Winston,  John  G.,  Jr... . 

awt 

'rallaUeifli  Count}' 

Tallapoosa  County 

170 

:g9 

Tutwiler    Henry,  A.    M. 

Weatherly,  JobS.,  M.  D 

641 

Winter,  John  Gindrat. . . 

610 

Talliuan,  James  A 

358 

LL.  1) 

572 

Weaver,  John  P 

496 

Wise.G.  W.  and  J.  A.... 

61 

Tally,  John  Burton 

»4    , 

Tyler,  Chas.  C 

69H 

Weaver,  Wm.  M 

659 

Wisei-  Co 

278 

Taliaferro,  K.  T 

758 

Weaver,  PhUip  J 

658 

Wood,  Pleasant  G 

673 

;6» 

81 

IT 

Webb,  James  D 

Welch,  John  C 

554 
210 

Wo<)d,S.  A.  M 

Wood,  James  H.,  M.  D. 

5t!i) 

Tanner,  John  T 

.502 

Tartt,  Thos.  Morrison... 

S.':! 

I'nion  Spring 

186 

Wells.  William  C 

277 

Wooil,  Henry  C 

313 

Tatuns,  .lohn  W 

i:b 

I'niontown    

210 

West,  Rev.  Samuel  P.. 

479 

Wood,  Wm.   Basil.       ... 

311 

Taylor,  John  D 

4116 

University  of  Alabama. 

514 

Westmoi-elanil,  T.,  M.  D 

83 

Woodliir,  .Vugustin  L... 

;tr3 

Tayloi-.  Cleorjre  W  

1»1 

Weston,  Washington  R. 

418 

Woodruff  Noadiah 

690 

Taylor,  Thomas  J  

260 

\' 

Wheeler,  Joseph 

67 

Woodson,  Charles  D... 

418 

Taylor,  William,  M.D... 

«7 

White,  Joseph  M 

611 

Woolsy,  Abraham  M 

682 

Temperature 

i:i8 

Vandegrift,  George  W. 

SW 

WbiU',   Addison 

274 

Wright,  James  W.  A 

•m 

Tennille.A.St.CM.D... 

?i9 

Vandiver,  John  H.,  M.  D 

45« 

White,  .lames  It 

278 

Wright,  .Milton  R.,M.  D 

SfH 

Territory,  Division  of... 

41 

Van  Syekel,  X.  Dur.liam 

481 

White,  Thomas    W 

279 

Wj'eth,  Louis  W.. 

■sx, 

Thateh,  Charles  C,  B.  E. 

1.52 

Vasscr,  Wm.  Edward 

84 

White,  W.  S 

420 

Wyly,  John  MoGeliee.. 

(VMS 

Thomason.  Wm.  L.,  M.  D 

403 

Vasser,  Richard  W 

84 

White,  John  F 

674 

114 

a58 

Verner,  Wm.  H 

527 

White,  John  

670 
610 

Y 

Thompson,  Rev.  John  A 

Whitfield,  John  F  

Thompson.  Krwin  W 

649 

W 

Whiteside,  Wm.  W 

114 

Yerby,  Wm.  E.  W 

xuA 

Thompson,  E.  P.,  M.  O. 

717 

Whitman,  James  P.... 

398 

York,  A  ndrew  J 

389 

Thorintrton,  Wm.  S 

60.S 

Wade,  James  !>.,  A.M.. 

710 

Whitson,  Charles  C 

460 

Young,  John  H 

313 

Wilco.\  County 

WUds,  William  H 

223 

Young,  Elisha 

Young,  Elisha,  M.  D 

Timlicr  Belt 23." 

242 

Walden,  John  B 

132 

547 

566 

INDEX   TO    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAOE. 

Al-ston,  J.J .-),■» 

Andrews,    A.  S.,    D.  D., 

LL.D .567 

Berney,  William  765 

Cameron,  W.  J 763 

Cloud,  Robert 436 

Coffee,  John  298 

Coleman,  A.  A  .562 

Crook,  James,  Jr 495 

Cullmann,  J.  G 38:) 

Daw.son,  N.  H.  R  663 

Den-son,  Wm.  H .'i.57 

Klynn,  P.  H   3:J7 

KiTcst,  Dr.  W.  E 328 

t're.v,  A.C 834 


PAOE. 

Gordon,  E.  C 321 

Harris,  Dr.  G.  M 267 

Harris,J.G 623 

Harrison,  Geo.  P.,  Jr.. . .  740 

Henry,A.  G  3M 

Henderson,  Clias 727 

Houston,  Geo.  S 73 

Huey.B.M 713 

John.S.  W 673 

Jones.  Thos.  G 600 

Jones.  A.  W 679 

Keller.  A.  H 433 

Ketehum,  Dr.  Geo.  H...  238 

Knight.  Wm.N 570 

I      Kolb.  Reulwn  T 620 


Kyle.  Robert  B 354 

LeGrand.  M.  P 644 

Lusk.  Dr.  I,  D  402 

MeCalley.  Henry 7 

Meeks.  Wm.  M 365 

Murphree.  Joel  D.,  Sr.. .  724 

Murray.  Albert  K 340 

Newman. J.  S    152 

O'Neal.E.A 292 

Paden.JohnS ...  361 

Peters<m.  Dr  F.  M 565 

Pry  or.  Luke 75 

Rhett,R.  B  256 

Richardson.  J.  C 225 

Rogers,  D.  Morgan '.  462 


PAGE. 

Rogers,  D.W 459 

Scay,  Thos 612 

Shivers,  J.  B TUT 

Shorter,  H,  R  618 

Taliaferro,  E.  T 758 

Tompkins,  H.  C 603 

Tutwiler,  Henry .572 

Walker,  W.  A.,  Jr 761 

Walker,  Thos.  A 489 

Watts,  Thos.  H 593 

Weaver,  P.J 668 

Wiley,A.A 607 

Wiley,  O.  C 730 

Williamson,  C.  P 767 

Woodson,  CD 418 


>J