History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 14

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756

USA > Alabama > History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I > Part 14

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Among the distinguished men of Ashville are Oran M. Roberts, a native of the town and one of the first graduates of the Univer- sity of Alabama, who later moved to Texas, becoming chief justice and, later, governor; Rufus W. Cobb, governor of Alabama; Judge Burwell T. Pope; and Col. John W. Inzer.

REFERENCES .- Toulmin, Digest, 1823, p. 846; Brewer, Alabama (1872), p. 522; Alabama Offi- cial and Statistical Register, 1915; Polk's Ala. bama gazetteer, 1888-9; Northern Alabama (1888), p. 1564; St. Clair County News, 1914; Southern Aegis, 1897.

ASPHALTUM, MALTHA AND PETRO- LEUM. Nonmetal substances usually found in the lower Carboniferous rocks, particu- larly in Russellville and Moulton Valley and on the southern slopes of Little Mountain.

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

They occur in the highly fossiliferous crinoi- dal limestone and the coarse-grained sand- stones of this formation, which are often so saturated with them as to ignite when thrown into the fire. Sometimes petroleum may be seen in yellow drops on the surfaces of these rocks, but more often they are black from the maltha or tar, which on exposure hardens and oxidizes into asphaltum. Petroleum can be obtained from the same bituminous sand- stones and limestones, and also from the black shale of the Devonian formation. Natural gas is quite common in many parts of the State, usually being found along with salt water. Sometimes petroleum in small quantities also accompanies it. Tar and asphaltum have been extracted in considerable quantities from the black bituminous sandstone from the top of the Little Mountain. They have also been extracted by boiling from the crinoidal limestones.

Petroleum Wells .- In the effort to obtain petroleum many wells, some of them quite deep, have been bored in different parts of the State, but the oil has not been obtained in commercial quantities. Many of these borings were made in Clarke, Washington, and Mobile Counties, where there are numerous salt wells and seeps, but petroleum in paying quantities has not been found, though salt water and natural gas have been obtained from many of them. A well in the Moulton Valley, known as Goyer Well No. 1, which was bored to a depth of 2,120 feet, is said to have had at one time a yield of 20,000 cubic feet of gas and 25 barrels of oil a day. However, the oil flow was lost and never recovered. At Cullom Springs, in Choctaw County, a deep well bored about 1886 yielded a considerable quantity of natural gas. Many of the borings in the salt region made during the War yielded, along with brine, large quantities of gas. In places the gas and salt water rise to the surface in natural seeps.

Perhaps the most abundant supply of nat- ural gas along with salt water comes from the wells near the Bascomb race track at Mobile. The yield of each well at one time was 35,000 cubic feet per day.

See Oil and Natural Gas; and Salt Springs, Salt Lands and Salt Works.

REFERENCES .- Smith and McCalley, Inder to mineral resources of Alabama (Geol. Survey of Ala., Bulletin 9, 1904), pp. 70-72; U. S. Geol. Survey, Mineral resources of the United States, 1914, pt. 2, pp. 347-362, with bibliography.

ASSESSMENT OF RAILROAD PROP- ERTY, STATE BOARD OF. An ex officio executive board; established February 9, 1877; and abolished September 14, 1915. It was made up of the governor, as presi- dent, the secretary of state, the auditor and treasurer, a majority of whom were a quorum, and which was required to meet at the office of the auditor annually, on the first Wednes- day in February. The attorney general was required to be present at every meeting of the board to represent the interests of the State, and to assist with his advice, or other- wise, and where the members were equally

divided upon any question, he cast the decid- ing vote.

It was made the duty of the board "to ex- amine the returns made by railroad com- panies, and the reports of the State auditor, when no such returns have been made, and determine the valuation of the different items of property required to be returned to the State auditor, and to assess such property for taxation; and in case no return has been made by or on behalf of any such railroad companies, the board may add to the assess- ment which it may make against such com- pany, a penalty of not exceeding fifty per cent thereon." The jurisdiction of the board, however, extends only to the road and roll- ing stock of railroad companies, all of their other property, returns of which were not required to be made to the State auditor, being assessed in the county in which it is taxable. The law also imposed upon the board the duty of assessing the valuation for taxation of long distance telephone and tele- graph companies.

Railroads were at first assessed as any other corporate property. However, it early became apparent, because of conflicts and inequalities as to assessments by county offi- cials, that some central authority should be provided. Therefore, the duty of regulating such assessments was placed upon the comp- troller of public accounts, later the State auditor. By act of March 6, 1876, he was relieved of this duty, and a board of equaliza- tion of railroad companies was created, to consist of the auditor, the treasurer, and the secretary of state. The next session of the legislature, February 9, 1877, still further changed the system by providing that the governor, as president, the secretary of state, the auditor and the treasurer should con- stitute a board "for the assessment of prop- erty of railroad companies." This board remained in effect until abolished in 1915, as noted herein.

Very soon after the creation of the board, that portion of the law which prescribed the method to be pursued in determining the valuation of railroads was declared uncon- stitutional, the supreme court holding "that the general assembly cannot declare an arti- ficial value of property." To meet the objec- tions, in 1885 the phraseology of the law was so altered as to conform to the decision of the court.

With the creation of the railroad commis- sion in 1881, it was made a part of its duty, on notice by the' governor, to attend the meetings of the board of assessment, and if required, to give all the information it could in making railroad assessments. In 1885 an amendment of the law increased the jurisdic- tion of the board so as to include telegraph, sleeping car and express companies, and later on long distance telephones were included.

In 1915, a State board of equalization was created, and it took over all the duties prev- iously performed by the board of assessment and the State tax commission, both of which were at the same time abolished.

See Equalization Board; Public Service

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

Commission; Railroads; Taxation and 'Rev- enues.

REFERENCES .- Codes, 1876, sec. 383; 1886, sec. 502; 1896, sec. 3967; 1907, secs. 2133-2145; Acts, 1875-76, p. 53; 1876-77, p. 6; 1884-85, p. 21; 1890- 91, p. 493; 1900-01, p. 219; General Acts, 1907, p. 349; State Board of Assessment v. Alabama Central R. R. Co., 59 Ala., p. 551; State Auditor v. Jackson County, 65 Ala., p. 143, and Perry County v. Selma, Marion & Memphis R. R. Co., p. 391; Purifoy v. Lomar, 112 Ala., p. 123; N. & D. R. R. Co. v. State, 129 Ala., p. 142.

ASSILANAPI. An Upper Creek town, probably located on Yellow Leaf Creek in Shelby County. This creek flows into the Coosa River from the west, eight miles below the mouth of Talladega Creek. The name means "yellow, or green leaf tree," "lani," meaning both yellow and green at the same time. There is a township in the Creek Na- tion, Okla., known as Green Leaf Town. Dr. John R. Swanton says that he has been told that the "assi" used in this name really re- fers to the holly used in making the black drink. The town is supposed to have been built up by persons who had settled there because it was easy to secure these leaves for the black drink.

REFERENCES .- Gatschet, in Alabama History Commission, Report (1901), p. 393; Handbook of American Indians (1907), vol. 1, p. 103.

ASSOCIATION OF ALABAMA COLLEGES. A professional organization, formed "to en- courage the growth of high schools by rais- ing college entrance requirements and fear- lessly enforcing them, to elevate college standards, and to bring about a unity of edu- cational endeavor among the colleges them- selves." The association was organized at Montgomery, April 13, 1908, "by the presi- dents of ten of the degree-granting institu-

tions of the State." Its constitution was adopted at a called meeting, June 24, 1908. At its third annual meeting, 1910, a body of standards and definitions was agreed upon, and a list of accredited schools prepared. Later a schedule of entrance requirements was adopted.

A rule was adopted in 1911 that "for full affiliation a high school must have a four- year course of study based on seven years of elementary work, with at least three teachers giving all their time to high school in- struction, with recitation periods forty min- utes each; for partial affiliation three years of high school work based on seven years of elementary work, with at least two teachers giving all their time to high school in- struction, with recitation periods forty min- utes each."

In 1912 it was ordered that a bulletin be printed annually, giving the names, addresses and entrance units of students admitted to the various colleges belonging to the associa- tion. Institutions members of the association are Athens College; Birmingham College; Howard College; Judson College; Southern University; University of Alabama: (1) Col- lege of arts and sciences, (2) College of en-

gineering, (3) School of law; Woman's Col- lege of Alabama.

PUBLICATIONS .- Bulletins, 1911-1916, 5 vols. REFERENCES .- Bulletins, supra.

ATAGI. An Indian town on west side of Alabama River in Autauga County, also writ- ten At-tau-gee, Autaugee, Autobi. Col. Haw- kins gives the following description of the town and vicinity in 1798: "A small village four miles below Pau-woc-te, spread out for two miles on the right bank of the river; they have fields on both sides, but their chief de- pendence is on the left side; the land on the left side is rich; on the right side the pine forest extends down to At-tau-gee Creek; below this creek the land is rich.

"These people have very little intercourse with white people; although they are hospit- able, and offer freely anything they have, to those who visit them. They have this singu- lar custom, as soon as any white person has eaten of any dish and left it, the remains are thrown away, and every thing used by the guest immediately washed. They have some hogs, horses and cattle, in a very fine range, perhaps the best on the river; the land to the east as far as Ko-e-ne-cuh, and except the plains ( Hi-yuc-pul-gee), is well watered, with much canebrake, a very desirable country. On the west or right side, the good land extends about five miles, and on all the creeks below At-tau-gee, it is good; some of the trees are large poplar, red oak and hickory, walnut on the margins of the creeks, and pea-vine in the valleys." Schoolcraft states that it con- tained 54 families in 1832. Gen. Thomas S. Woodward calls it "Dumplin town."

See Alibamu.

REFERENCES .- Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country (1848), pp. 36, 37.

ATASI, OR AUTOSSEE. An ancient Up- per Creek town in Macon County, about 20 miles above the mouth of the Coosa River, on the south side of Tallapoosa River, below and adjoining Calibee Creek. It lies in sec. 21, T. 17 S., R. 21, E. The site was low and unhealthy. The name is derived from the Creek a'tassa, a 'war club.' A town, Atasi, perpetuates the name in the Creek Nation, Okla. De Crenay's map of 1733 con- tains the earliest notice of Atasi, but is spelled Atoches. It has the approximate loca- tion of later times. Some Creek towns were once situated far to the east and southeast, whence by successive removals they were at last established where they are first known to the whites. Atasi presents a case in point, for on Belen's map of 1744 there are three towns of the name. One of these is on the right bank of the Tallapoosa River. Prof. Henry S. Halbert was of the belief that these represented successive removals of the town, the first removal being to its historic site. A French census of 1760 gives the town 80 warriors, and locates it 7 French leagues from old Fort Toulouse. Atasi, with 50 hunters, Talasi and Tukabatchi, by the trade regula- tions of July 3, 1761, were assigned to the traders, James McQueen and T. Perriman.

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

Bartram spent the last week of the year 1777 in Atasi. Here he attended an Indian council, "where were assembled the greatest number of ancient venerable chiefs and warriors that I had ever beheld." Hawkins is authority for the statement that in 1766 the town had 43 gun men, and that about 1798, the number was estimated at about 80. Hawkins pays a fine tribute to an Indian woman of this town, Mrs. Richard Baily, mother of Captain Dixon Baily, whose family is still represented in Alabama and Florida. Hawkins calls the town "a poor, miserable looking place," but by 1813 it had probably improved. It was one of the red stick towns, and assisted in the destruction of Fort Mims. On November 29, 1813, the town was attacked and totally destroyed by Gen. John Floyd in the battle of Autossee (q. v.). Its discomfitted people sought refuge elsewhere, and never attempted to rebuild.

A prehistoric mound, which still survives, stood, according to Bartram, in the limits of the town. He also found in the square a forty foot pillar. No one could tell him any- thing of its history. Dr. John R. Swanton hazards the conjecture that it "was un- doubtedly put up for the women's ball game." Bartram is authority further for the state- ment that the Atasis were "of the snake fam- ily or tribe," but Dr. Swanton observes that the things Bartram saw indicated that the snake was the town mark, and that they did not refer to the Snake clan.

See Autossee, Battle of.

REFERENCES .- Bartram, Travels (1791), pp. 450-457; Gatschet, in Alabama History Commis- sion, Report (1901), p. 393; Pickett, Alabama (Owen's ed., 1900), pp. 558-559; Handbook of American Indians (1907), vol. 1, p. 107; Haw- kins, Sketch of the Creek country (1848), p. 31; Shea, Charlevoix's New France, vol. 6, p. 11; American gazetteer, 1762, vol. 1; Georgia, Colonial records, vol. 8, p. 52; Mississippi pro- vincial archives, vol. 1, p. 9.

ATCHINA-ALGI. A small Upper Creek town, on one of the numerous tributaries of the Tallapoosa River from the west, near the Hillabee-Etowah trail, 40 miles above Niuy- axa, and probably in Randolph County. "This settlement is the farthest north of all the Creek; the land is very broken in the neigh- borhood."-Hawkins. It was settled from Lutchapoga (q. v.). The name signifies "cedar grove people"-atchina, cedar, and algi, people; and is sometimes spelled "Genalga." This town and Little Okfuski were destroyed, November 13, 1813, by Gen. James White in command of Tennessee troops.

REFERENCES .- Gatschet, in Alabama History Commission, Report (1901), p. 393; Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country (1848), p. 47; Pickett, Alabama (Owen's ed., 1900), p. 557; and Handbook of the American Indians (1907), vol. 1, p. 107.

ATCHINA-HATCHI. A small Upper Creek village, settled from Kailaidshi (Kialige) town and dependent upon or tributary to the

latter. It is situated on the headwaters of Cedar Creek, and its site was east of Central. The name signifies "cedar creek"-atchina, cedar, and hatchi, creek.

See Kailaidshi.

REFERENCES .- Gatschet, in Alabama History Commission, Report (1901), vol. 1, p. 394; Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek country (1848), p. 49; and Handbook of the American Indians (1907), vol. 1, p. 107.

ATHAHATCHEE. An Indian town in Perry County, located in T. 20, R. 8, sec. 26, 5/8 mile from the bridge crossing Cahaba River, on the highway from Marion to the eastern sec- tion of the county. It is two miles from Sprott, and on the old Ford plantation. The first reference to the site is found in the Chronicles of DeSoto, 1540, as the place where Tuskalusa received the expedition. It was one of the homes of this chief, although not the head town. It was tributary to Mauvilla. No town of historic times can be associated with this village, but Cahaba Old Town, shown on old maps, at a point about three miles to the north, may be in a sense its successor. The site covers nearly a mile square, and is some distance from the river. It is out of the over- flow district. A small clear stream flows southeastward by the town, and into the river a half mile below. On the western side of the locality, over which aboriginal evidences are yet to be found, is a flat top mound, more than fifty feet in diameter, and originally about ten feet high. It has been nearly leveled by cultivation. East of the site is a lake. On the south is a large spring. Num- bers of stone objects have been picked up, and large earthen vessels have been plowed up from graves in the aboriginal cemetery, which borders the lake on the east.

REFERENCE .- Narratives of DeSoto. (Trail makers series, 1904), vol. 2, p. 120.

ATHENS. County seat of Limestone County, located near the center of the county, about 10 miles north of the Ten- nessee River, 1 mile west of Swan or Big Creek, and on the main line of the Louis- ville & Nashville Railroad, 12 miles north of Decatur. 18 miles northwest of Huntsville, and 14 miles south of the Tennessee State line. Its incorporated area includes the NE. 14 of sec. 8, T. 3, R. 4, W. Altitude: 695 feet. Population: 1870-887; 1880-1,500; 1890-940; 1900-1,010; 1910-1,715. It was incorporated by act of the Territorial Legislature, December 19, 1818. Its first

It has corporate limits included 160 acres. electric lights, waterworks, and modern fire department. Its financial institutions are the First National Bank, Citizens Bank (State), and the Farmers & Merchants Bank (State). The Alabama Courier, established in 1880, and the Limestone Democrat, established in 1891, Democratic weeklies, and the Athens Hustler, a semimonthly newspaper of inde- pendent politics, established in 1914, are published in Athens. It also has a gristmill, sawmill, cotton ginneries, compress, and warehouses, woodworking factory, planing

Building in which La Fayette was entertained in Montgomery during his visit to Alabama, 1825, now demolished

ON THIS SITE STOOD, UNTIL DECEMBER 1899, THE HOUSE IN WHICH MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE WAS GIVEN A PUBLIC RECEPTION AND BALL, APRIL 4, 1825, WHILE ON HIS LAST TOUR THROUGH THE UNITED STATES.

THIS TABLET IS PLACED BY THE SOCIETY OF THE SONS OF THE REVOLUTION IN THE STATE OF ALABAMA IN LASTING MEMORY OF THIS ILLUSTRIOUS PATRIOT AND SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION, THE FRIEND OF WASHINGTON AND THE YOUTHFUL CHAMPION OF LIBERTY.

SONSOF

OF THE

APRIL 4, 1825 - APRIL 4, 1905

Tablet placed by Sons of the Revolution on the modern business house erected on former site of La Fayette house

"LA FAYETTE HOUSE" AND TABLET

Vol. 1-5

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

mill, brick kiln, and general stores. Its edu- cational institutions consist of the city public schools, including a high school; Athens Col- lege, maintained by the North Alabama Con- ference; and the Eighth District Agricultural School. There are church organizations and buildings of the Baptist, organized 1820; Methodist Episcopal, South, 1836; Cumber- land Presbyterian, 1850; Episcopal, 1887. There is also a Masonic Hall whose corner- stone was laid in 1826.

The first settler on the lands now com- prised within the town was John Craig, who established his home near the Big Spring, but was later driven away by the Indians. In 1808, Samuel Robertson brought his family and built three cabins on or near the present site of the town. He traded with the Indians until dispossessed by order of Col. Meigs, United States Indian Agent, who appointed William Wilder as sutler and storekeeper for the troops at Fort Hampton, and established him in Robertson's stead. Joseph Bell and William J. Gamble, with their families, arrived in 1817 and settled near Wilder. Soon afterward the settlers opened a trail to the Tennessee River.

In 1818, John Coffee, Robert Beatty, John D. Carroll and John Read bought, at public sale at Huntsville, for $60 an acre, the 160 acres of land on which Athens was founded.

In 1819, Athens was chosen the county seat, and R. Tillman, Thomas Redus, J. Tucker, R. Pollock and Samuel Hundley were appointed a committee to superintend the construction of public buildings for the county. Four acres of land was set aside on which to erect "Court House, jail, stocks and pillory." The buildings were constructed of hewn logs, and finished in 1820. A brick courthouse was built in 1825, which became unsafe and was taken down in 1831. It was replaced by another, the walls of which were retained when it was again rebuilt in 1865. During the War it had been burned, together with the city buildings and other buildings in the center of the town. The county and city records were destroyed. In the court- house there is a clock, made about 1824 by Samuel Crenshaw, who had a bell foundry at the mouth of Big Creek, on Tennessee River.

The first taverns in the town were kept by W. Wilder and C. Wilbourne. The first bricks were made in 1818 by Richard Hale: the first cabinet shop opened in the same year by R. Langham; the first saddle factory in 1819 by J. and R. McDaniel; the first wagon shop in 1820 by McGowan & Somers; the first jeweler's shop in 1821 by D. H. Friend. J. W. Exum was the first postmaster. The first newspaper was the Alabama Republican, established in 1819. The first school was built in 1821, on a lot donated by John Mc- Kinley. Rev. D. P. Bestor was the first teacher. Other early settlers were Capt. Nicholas Davis, Judge Daniel Coleman, Joshua L. Martin, Luke Pryor, Judge English, Thomas Mcclellan, Richard Brickell, the Houston, Tanner, Vasser, Sanders, Sloss,

Jones, Hobbs, Richardson, Keyes, and Walker families.

Athens has been the residence of many dis- tinguished men, among them, Gov. Joshua L. Martin; Gov. George S. Houston; Judge W. H. English, chief justice of Arkansas; Chief Justice R. C. Brickell; Chief Justice Thomas N. Mcclellan and nephew, Associate Justice Thomas C. Mcclellan; Judge Daniel Coleman; President C. C. Thach of the Alabama Poly- technic Institute; James W. Sloss, organizer of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Co .; Luke Pryor, lawyer and statesman; Judge Benton Sanders; Dr. Theophilus Westmoreland, philanthropist; Thomas H. Hobbs, one of the most prominent promoters of the old South & North Railroad.

REFERENCES .- Acts, 1818, 2d sess., p. 12; Ber- ney, Hondbook (1892), p. 307; Brewer, Ala- bama (1872), p. 317; Northern Alabama (1888), pp. 71-72; Polk's Alabama gazetteer, 1888-9, p. 96; Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1915.

ATHENS COLLEGE FOR YOUNG WOMEN. An educational institution for the training of girls and young women, located at Athens, and owned and controlled by the North Alabama Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, South. "The aim of Athens College is to give broad general culture. She seeks to develop her students into strong, broad- minded Christian women that they may be capable of serving humanity in all fields now open to women. She aims to train both mind and soul. It is her ambitlon to make this training so thorough that every young woman who leaves the college will be imbued with a high and noble purpose in life."-Cata- logue, 1916-17.

The grounds contain a campus of about 20 acres. The buildings include founders' hall, Florence Brown memorial dormitory, Music hall, and central heating plant. To founders' hall, erected in 1843, has been added three wings. The style of architecture is Ionic. Its library is building a special room, is classed by the Dewey system, and is catalogued. A gynasium, tennis courts, basket ball equip- ment, and swimming pool are provided. Courses are offered in philosophy and social science in the Bible, religious education and missions, in English, Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, mathematics, history, biology, physics, chemistry, geology and astronomy, and home economics; and departments of music and art are open to students. Chapters of the Epworth League and of the Young Women's Christian Association are organized. There are two literary societies-The George Elliot, and the Jane Hamilton Childs. Twenty-three scholarships are awarded an- nually. Various medals stimulate effort. An infirmary in charge of a graduate nurse is maintained. The alumnae are organized, and a chapter exists in Birmingham. This chapter has established the Annie (Bradley) McCoy scholarship, valued at $250, as a me- morial to the wife of Bishop James H. Mc- Coy. The college ranks as an "A" grade in- stitution. To accommodate students not pre-

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

pared for college work, a separate school is provided, known as Athens College Academy. The report of the college to the State super- intendent of education, September 30, 1917, shows buildings and site, valued at $225,000; a library of 6,000 volumes; 21 teachers; 163 pupils; and a total support of $35,248.

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 14

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 756

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756