History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 31

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 31

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Note: All honorary degrees to 1902 were conferred by Southern University. From 1902 through 1918 (S. U.) indicates de- gree conferred by Southern University, and (B. C.) indicates degree conferred by Bir- mingham College.

1902

Andrews, Allen L., D. D. (S. U.), Fort Worth, Texas.

Glenn, Edgar Massillon, D. D. (B. C.), Bir- mingham.

Morris, Joseph T., D. D. (B. C.), Birming- ham.

McGehee, Oliver Clarke, D. D. (S. U.), Montgomery.

Peterson, John Albert, D. D. (S. U.), Ever- green.

Simpson, John Dixon, D. D. (B. C.), Bir- mingham.

Weber, John L., D. D. (S. U.), Memphis, Tenn.

Winton, George B., D. D. (S. U.), Nash- ville, Tenn.

1905

Coleman, A. A., LL. D. (S. U.), Jurist, Birmingham.

1906

Hobson, Richmond Pearson, LL. D. (S. U.), Lecturer, Greensboro.

Hurt, William Posey, D. D. (S. U.), · Eufaula. Isaacs, Walter G., D. D. (S. U.), Chaplain, U. S. Navy.

McCoy, James Henry, D. D. (S. U.), Bir- mingham; Bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

1908

Comer, Braxton Bragg, LL. D. (S. U.), Birmingham; United States Senator.

Dannelly, John Milton, D. D. (S. U.), Mo- bile.

Howard, Harry C., D. D. (S. U.), Atlanta, Ga .; Professor in Emory University.

McVey, Edgar C., D. D. (S. U.), Neosho, Mo.

1910

Atkinson, Charles Prescott, D. D. (S. U.),

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

Sampson; Professor in Southern University, 1904-18.

McNeill, Hannibal, D. D. (S. U.), Marianna, Fla.

Rush, Charles Andrew, D. D. (S. U.), Opelika.

1911

Chadwick, John Shelly, D. D. (B. C.), Bir- mingham; S. S. Field Secretary, North Ala. Conference.

Jenkins, Charles Rush, D. D. (B. C.), Ma- con, Ga.

McCoy, James Henry, LL. D. (B. C.), Bir- mingham; Bishop, Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Stowe, Joseph Joel, D. D. (B. C.), Pulaski, Tenn.

1912 Cox, William M., D. D. (S. U.), Montgom- ery.

Dannelly, Edward A., D. D. (S. U.), Dothan. Moore, Edward C., D. D. (S. U.), Mobile.

Williams, Robert L., LL. D. (S. U.), Okla- homa City; Judge United States Supreme Court, Okla.

1914

Dobbs, Hoyt M., D. D. (S. U.), Dallas, Texas; Dean, Theological Dept., S. Methodist Univ.

Griswald, J. Thomas, D. D. (S. U.), Sweet- water, Texas.

Johnson, James William, D. D. (B. C.), Birmingham.

Northcutt, John E., D. D. (S. U.), Mobile.

1915

Chadwick, John Shelby, D. D. (S. U.), Bir- mingham; Sunday School Field Secretary, North Ala. Conference.

Dempsey, Elam Franklin, D. D. (S. U.), Athens.

James, John Caller, D. D. (S. U.), Pratt- ville.

The following academic degrees were awarded by the Southern University to those who entered the Confederate Army directly from the student ranks of the University from 1861 to 1865, and were hindered from earning such degrees in due course:

Avery, Robert A. B., Soldier, Havana.

Christian, William Collier, A. B., Greens- boro; Probate Judge, Hale County.

Crews, Melancthon, A. B., Planter, Inwood, Ind.

Harris, Gideon D., A. B., Business, Colum- bus, Miss.

Hutchinson, Edward, A. B., Business, Greensboro.

Pickering, Richard A. B., Soldier, Dayton. Powell, Smith, A. B., Business, Waco, Texas.

Spivey, Reuben M., A. B., Business.

Walker, William A., A. B., Minister, Columbia.

1917

Glasgow, Benjamin B., D. D. (B. C.), Ath- ens; President Athens College.

1918

Calhoun, Otis V., D. D. (S. U.), Selma.

Cowan, E. E., D. D. (S. U.), Headland.

Daniel, Cullen Coleman, D. D. (S. U.), Birmingham; President, Birmingham South- ern College.

Moody, R. A., D. D. (S. U.), Dothan.

Presidents .- Rev. Zachariah A. Parker, Rev. Edgar M. Glenn, Rev. John S. Robert- son, Rev. John R. Turner, Rev. James Henry McCoy, Rev. John Dixon Simpson, Dr. Thorn- well Haynes, Rev. Edward A. Dannelly.

REFERENCES .- Christenberry, History of South- ern University; Catalogues, Birmingham Southern College.

BIRMINGHAM SOUTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY. Incorporated under the general laws of Alabama on March 3, 1899; mileage operated June 30, 1915-main track, 42.934, side tracks, 84.703, total, 127.637; capital stock authorized and outstanding-common, $600,000, preferred, $600,000, total, $1,200,- 000; shares $100, voting power, one vote for each share; no funded debt; and entire cap- ital stock owned by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co.

During 1899 the Southern Railway Co. (q. v.) and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., (q. v.) jointly purchased the Birming- ham Southern Railroad from its builders, the Tennessee Coal & Iron Co., but the road continued to be operated independently under separate management.

In July, 1906, the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co., successor to the Tennessee Coal & Iron Co., purchased the road from its joint owners, but that part of it between Wood- stock and Blocton was, by special agreement, conveyed to the Woodstock & Blocton Rail- way Co., (See Louisville & Nashville Rail- road Co.,) whose stock is owned jointly by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., and the Southern Railway Co. The Birmingham Southern Railway, under its present manage- ment, performs a general switching service for the industries in the Birmingham dis- trict.

REFERENCES .- Annual report of company to Public Service Commission of Ala., 1915; Rail- road Commission of Ala., Annual reports, 1900 et seq .; Poor's manual of railroads, 1899 et seq.

BIRMINGHAM WATER WORKS COM- PANY. A public utility corporation, incor- porated by the legislature, February 13, 1885, by M. T. Porter, Joseph F. Johnston, J. W. Sloss, A. T. Jones, E. W. Rucker, James E. Webb, and associates; capital stock outstand- ing, $1,500,000; shares, $100; funded debt, $4,827,000; property in Alabama-10 city lots and brick office building in Birmingham; and 5,773.69 acres of other real estate, 440 acres being coal lands, from which the com- pany obtains its coal supply. It has a reser- voir on the east branch of the Cahaba River storing 1,581,000,000 gallons, and one on the west branch storing 200,000,000 gallons; the Cahaba pumping station has a capacity of 28,000,000 gallons daily, and the filtration

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

plant 15,000,000 gallons, lately increased to 27,000,000; a pumping station and filtration plant in North Birmingham of 5,000,000 gal- lons daily capacity; and an additional water supply obtained from Five Mile Creek. It supplies water to the city of Birmingham and suburbs; and is controlled by the American Water Works & Electric Co., Inc., which owns the entire capital stock; offices: Birmingham and New York.

REFERENCE .- Poor's manual of public utilities, 1916, p. 2117.

BLACK. Post office and station on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, in the south- ern part of Geneva County, about 6 miles east of Geneva. Population: 1910-485. It was incorporated in 1905. It was named in honor of the Black family, its founders. In 1916, A. B. Black was mayor, and J. B. Black, Jr., chief of police.

BLACK BAND AND CLAY IRON STONE. A highly carbonaceous variety of the carbon- ate ore, a metal substance, occurring at a number of points in the Coal Measures. It has been mined or quarried near New Castle in Jefferson County to a limited extent. The clay iron stone occurs in regular seams and in rounded and flattened concretions in the strata of the Coal Measures, and in the lower Cretaceous and the Tertiary formations; but it is not yet of commercial importance. The weathering and disintegrating of this ore have in places formed very good deposits of limonite or brown ore.

REFERENCE .- Smith and McCalley, Index to mineral resources of Alabama (Geol. Survey of Ala., Bulletin 9, 1904), p. 18.

BLACK BELT. The popular name for an area in central Alabama, lying wholly within the Coastal Plain, and including 16 counties. The characteristic soil of the region is the Selma chalk, or "prairie lands." These soils are of a dark color, and to this characteristic is due the adoption of the name. They are peculiarly adapted to the culture of cotton, and as a result, the negro population of the State has been to a great extent concentrated on them. This incidental fact gives another, though a secondary, significance to the popu- lar name.

The area of the black belt proper is ap- proximately 4,365 square miles, or 2,793,600 acres. It includes all or parts of Macon, Montgomery, Dallas, Perry, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Sumter, Pickens, Lowndes, and Bul- lock Counties. The area is drained to the Gulf by the Alabama and Tombighee Rivers with their tributaries, and a large proportion of its lands are in the first, second, and third terraces of the river valleys. The location and the great fertility of the soils, particularly of the bottom and the true "prairie" lands, made the black belt especially attractive to the large planters of cotton who came to this State from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Ten- nessee during the three decades previous to the War, with their slaves and other property, in search of new and more fertile lands. As a

result, that section of the State contained many large plantations. From the first, cot- ton has been the principal crop, although considerable quantities of corn and other grains have been raised both before and since the War. During the War, the black belt of Alabama was the granary of the Confed- eracy, supplying the bulk of the grain needed for the subsistence of the Southern Army.

With the revolutionizing of labor condi- tions brought about by the result of the War, these large plantations were less profitably cultivated. This fact, together with the im- paired fertility of the lands, caused by the old system of obtaining the greatest produc- tion without any attempt at conservation or renewal of the soils, has brought about a gradual breaking up of the large plantations into smaller farms, and also the introduction of modern scientific methods of restoring and improving the productivity of the soils. The new methods include the extensive growing of livestock, with the accompanying increase in forage and pasturage acreage.

The black belt section contains several important cities and towns. Among the more populous and wealthy are Montgomery, Selma, Demopolis, Uniontown, Eutaw, Greensboro, Marion, Tuskegee, Livingston and Union Springs.

See Geology; Livestock; Agriculture; River and Drainage Systems; also the articles under the names of the counties mentioned above.

REFERENCES .- Geol. Survey of Ala., Report of agricultural features of the State (Mono- graph 1, 1884), pp. 268-272, 410 et seq .; Smith, Coastal Plain of Alabama (Geol. Survey of Ala., Special report 6, 1894), passim; Berney, Handbook (1892), pp. 423-448; Alabama's new era (Dept. of Immigration, Bulletin, vol. 2, 1912), pp. 91-93; Bailey, Cyclopedia of American agriculture (1909), vol. i, pp. 56-57; and Cyclo- pedia of American horticulture (1900), vol. i, pp. 39-40; Selma Morning Times, Aug. 1899.

BLACK BLUFF. A high point on the west side of the Tombigbee River, 2 miles below the influx of Sukinatcha. This point was the great war crossing used by the Creeks, and Choctaws in their wars with each other. Here a part of Koassati (q. v.) lived for sev- eral years, 1764-1767. The Choctaw word for the locality is Saklilusa, meaning sakti, "bluff," and lusa, "black." Both French and English used the Choctaw word, although on English maps it is put down as Black Bluff, and the French Ecor Noir.

REFERENCE .- La Tourrette, Map of Alabama (1838).

BLACK BLUFF. See Sooktaloosa.

BLACK WARRIOR RIVER. See Warrior River.

BLACK WARRIOR TOWN. In October, 1813, Gen. John Coffee, shortly after the Ten- nessee troops had entered Alabama, was dis- patched to Black Warrior Town, located upon the Mulberry Fork of the Black War-

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rior River, opposite the confluence of the Sipsey Fork, in the northeastern part of the present Walker County. He found that it had been abandoned by the Indians, who had evidently gone to the towns lower down in the Indian country, in anticipation of the invasion of the whites. The town was burned, and Gen. Coffee returned without having seen a single Indian.

REFERENCES .- Pickett, History of Alabama (Owen's ed., 1900), p. 552; LaTourrette, Mop of Alabama (1838); Bureau of American Ethnology, Eighteenth Report, part 2, map.

BLADON SPRINGS. Post office and in- terior town, in the southern edge of Choctaw County, about 3 miles west of Tombigbee River, about 9 miles west of Coffeeville, and 85 miles north of Mobile. Population: 1880 -300; 1910-440. The town was named for the original patentee of the land, upon which the, mineral springs were discovered. By 1838 the curative properties of these springs had become well known, and they were opened to the public. In 1845, Prof. Richard T. Brumby, state geologist, analyzed and re- ported on the water. When the report was published, wealthy planters, who formerly had visited Saratoga and other northern re- sorts, flocked here by hundreds. It was a most fashionable resort, when the War be- tween the States began. Since that time its popularity has at times declined somewhat, but it is still frequented by considerable num- bers of people.

REFERENCES .- Berney, Handbook (1892), p. 277; Northern Alabama (1888), p. 182; Polk's Alabama gazetteer, 1888-9, p. 225.

BLAKELEY RIVER. See Mobile River.

BLOCKADE-RUNNING. Private shipping engaged in contraband trade during the War of Secession, 1861-1865. In 1860, the South was exporting $150,000,000 worth of cotton, and Mobile was the second cotton port in America. The proclamation of President Lincoln, April, 1861, declared a blockade of all ports of the Southern States. In the fall of 1861, the Alabama Legislature incor- porated two "Direct Trading Companies" empowered to own and sail merchant vessels between Mobile and foreign ports. The out- bound vessels carried principally cotton, and brought back munitions of war, and cloth- ing, boots, shoes, coffee, sugar, drugs and medicines. At first only one vessel was used to blockade Mobile, but later a fleet of fast vessels patroled the Gulf, and captured many of the blockade-runners. The latter avoided the regular ship channel, and used shallower channels that led out into Mississippi Sound. A typical blockade-runner was specially de- signed to meet these conditions. They were usually low, slender, sidewheel steamers of 400 to 600 tons, about nine times as long as broad, with powerful engines, and "feather- ing paddles." Their funnels were short, and could be lowered to the deck; their masts, short and stout. They were painted a dull gray, and could not readily be observed at a

distance of 200 yards. The expense of one trip was about $80,000; the profits nearly $175,000. They sailed mostly to Cuban and British West Indian ports. The machinery for the arsenals and foundries at Selma and Mt. Vernon was secured in this way. In August, 1864, Farragut established a more effective blockade of Mobile, and cut off the operations of the blockade-runners.

REFERENCE .- Fleming, Civil War and Re- construction in Alabama (1905).

BLOCTON. Post office and mining town, in the northeast corner of Bibb County, on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and Southern Railway, and about 20 miles north- east of Centerville. Population: 1888- 1,000; 1890, Blocton precinct-2,709; 1900, same-3,823; 1910, same-3,315; 1913, town proper-2,500. The town was founded by the Cahaba Coal Mining Co., about 1883, for the development of its coal properties. In 1892 the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co. ac- quired its holdings.

REFERENCE .- Armes, Story of coal and iron in Alabama (1910), pp. 295-298.

BLOUNT COUNTY. Created by the Terri- torial Legislature, February 7, 1818. Its original territory was of vast extent, and in- cluded the present county of Jefferson, and that part of Walker east of the Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior. It was almost wholly in the Creek Indian cession of August 9, 1814. It was reduced to its present limits by the acts of December 13, 1819, creating Jefferson county, and of December 20, 1824, creating Walker county. Its area is 649 square miles, or 415,360 acres.

It was named for Governor Willie G. Blount of Tennessee. He was governor of that State during the Creek Indian War, 1813-14, and his sympathetic response to the appeal of the settlers of Alabama, then the Mississippi Ter- ritory, prompted this honor.

The Act creating the county provided that its courts "shall be holden at the house of Maj. Kelly, in Jones' Valley." This point was within two miles of the present court- house in Birmingham, Jefferson County. County officers were appointed by William Bibb, governor of Alabama Territory. On the same date of the formation of Jefferson county, December 13, 1819, John Gilbraith, William Rino, Stephen Box, Moses Burleson and Henry McPherson were appointed com- missioners, "to fix on a suitable place for the seat of justice." The commissioners were required to fix a temporary seat for holding the courts until the permanent seat be fixed on. On December 18, 1820, the permanent county seat was located at Blountsville, and John Fowler, Richard Yeelding, Lewis John- son, Joseph H. Mead and John Gilbraith were appointed commissioners to superintend the erection of the county buildings. However, on December 4, 1822, an act was passed pro- viding for an election to be held in March, 1823, for the election of five commissioners, who were to have full power to fix the county site and to erect necessary county

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buildings. Details concerning the election are not preserved, but Blountsville continued as the county seat until 1889. On February 25th of that year an act was pasesd by the legislature providing for an election in August following, to ascertain whether a majority of the legal voters in the county were in favor of the removal of the county seat from Blountsville. The election was held and "re- moval" won. Under the same act another election was held, September, 1889, in which Nectar, Anderson (Cleveland), W. T. Wood's Store, Brooksville, Blountsville, Blount Springs, Bangor, Chepultepic (Allgood) and Oneonta were voted upon for the permanent county site. The last named, Oneonta, a comparatively new town, and in an entirely different section of the county, was successful. The site for the court house and other public buildings was then selected by George D. Shelton, Henry Taylor, W. B. Allgood, Elijah Cowden and Elias R. Bynum, commissioners appointed by the act.

After the removal of the county seat to Oneonta, the legislature, February 13, 1891, provided for terms of courts in what was known as the western division of the county. In August, 1891, an election was held for the place of holding the courts in the new divi- sion, and Bangor was chosen over Blount Springs.

The first election precincts were fixed at the house of John Gilbraith, and at the old store-house of Andrew Greer, November 21, 1818; three additional precincts were named, December 16, 1819-one at Captain Roberts's muster ground, in Brister's Cove, one at the muster ground of Captain M'Daniels', and one at Captain M'Pherson's muster ground on Mulberry Fork; and on December 26, 1822, the precinct at Captain Roberts's muster ground was changed to the house of Jesse Watson in the muster ground of Captain Brinlie (sic), the precinct at Captain Mc- Daniel's muster ground was changed to the house of James Anderson, sr., and two addi- tional election precincts were named-one at the house of James Doyle, and the other at the house of Thomas A. Williams.

Location and Physical Description .- It lies in the northeastern section of the state, gen- erally known as the mineral region. It is irregular in outline, and is hounded north by Cullman and Marshall, east by Etowah and St. Clair, south hy Jefferson and west by Walker and Cullman countles. The city of Birmingham is about 40 miles distant from the centre of this county. The surface of the county is hilly and broken, consisting mainly of parallel valleys, ridges and moun- tains with northeast-southwest trend, cut by minor transverse valleys or gaps. The ridges and mountains vary in elevation from 600 to 1400 feet above sea level, but the valleys lie 50 to 4050 feet lower. The mountain tops so called vary in width from 4 to 12 miles, the surface sometimes flat and at others con- sisting of gently rolling slopes. The county is drained by Locust and Mulberry Forks of the Black Warrior River, and there are sev- eral branches, the head waters of this drain-

age system lying largely in this county. The drainage direction is southeast. The northern part of the county is drained by Brown and Big Spring creeks flowing into the Tennessee River. The rock strata of the county con- sists of limestone, sandstone, shale and chert, all belonging to the Cambrian, Lower Silu- rian, Devonian, or Carboniferous periods, during which the area intermittently formed the floor of an interior sea that covered most of the Mississippi Valley. At the close of the Carboniferous period the area was perma- nently elevated, and by folding and subse- quent erosion assumed the main features of its present topography. The constituent

strata of the county are found conveniently placed almost side by side, iron ore, coal, and limestone, combinations necessary for the cheap and successful production of iron. The Warrior coal field is in part in this county. Shales and clays suitable for making portland cement are found, and extensive quarries of mountain limestone exist. There are a number of mineral springs in the county, Blount Springs being the most notable, and long famous as a local watering place. The soils are derived from the weathering of con- solidated rocks, which themselves are of sedi- mentary origin. Of these there are eight distinct types. They are more or less clayey, and except in the rough and mountainous districts, are fairly productive. They may be generally described as fine sandy loam, sandy loam, upland loam, stony class and stream- bottom lands. Detailed statistics of products are hereinafter noted. Forest growth com- prises longleaf and shortleaf pine, hickory, the various oaks, walnut, poplar, gum, beech, cherry, cedar and mulherry. The average temperature is 62º F. Winter temperature averages 43º F., ranging from 5° to 70° F. The summer average is 78º F., ranging from 55° to 105° F. The climatic conditions admit of a wide latitude in the growing of summer crops, while certain so-called winter crops, suitable for range, are to be relied upon.

Aboriginal History .- Several mounds and small village sites have been found in the county, though none of them can be positively identified. Chipped implements are found in many sections. A burial cave, known as "Crump's Cave," fifteen miles south of Blountsville, in which skeletons, wooden trough, bark matting, copper articles, etc., were found, furnishes one of the few in- stances of this character in the State. Mounds are found in the following localities: Murphree's Valley; in the trough of the Locust Fork of the Warrior River; in Blounts- ville Valley; in Brown's Valley; and north- west of the Mulberry Fork. Near the junc- tion of the Little Warrior and Locust Fork is an old earthwork. A cache of 17 fine chipped implements was found in a cultivated field, near Blountsville, in 1882. Near Village Springs in the extreme southern part of the county is a cave in which, more than fifty years ago, were found skeletons, pottery, etc. Thirteen different points are represented in all.

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

Settlement and Later History .- The county was first opened to settlement by the Creek War of 1813-14, when Tennessee troops opened a wagon road to Baird's Bluff, which is near the Blount county line. Gen. John Coffee's mounted troops marched through Brown's Valley and Blountsville Valley in their campaign against Black Warrior Town. In this way a great number of Tennesseans became familiar with the country, and sought homes here after the close of the war.

The first settlers with their wagons, came in the fall of 1816. They were "Devil" John Jones and his brother-in-law, Caleb Friley, of Madison County. The first founded Jones- boro, in what is now Jefferson County; the latter settled at the present Blountsville. Other settlers came in rapidly. The emi- grants from Madison and Middle Tennessee traveled over the Old Indian trail that led from Ditto's Landing to Mud Town ou the Cahaba, and in 1817, every suitable place on or near this trail was settled. The East Tennesseeans came down the Tennessee River in flatboats, carrying their provisions, house- hold effects, wagons and live stock. After landing at Deposit, or Gunter's landing, they stored their provisions, then drove their wagons up Gunter's Creek to Brooksville, thence turning to the left, they entered Murphree's valley and continued their course until they intersected the old Indian trail at

Agricultural Statistics .- From U. S. Cen- sus 1910:

what later became Village Springs. This route was also thickly settled in 1817. The route traveled by Gen. Coffee was also thickly settled the same year, mostly by Tennes- seeans. In 1818 and 1819 South Carolina families settled in the country in such great numbers that they became a predominate element of the population. They have left a permanent impress upon the history of the county. These emigrants crossed the Chat- tahoochee at the Upper Shallow Ford, passed through Rome, crossed Will's Creek at Ben- nettsville, and leaving the Raccoon Mountains to the right, entered Jones' Valley, where they struck the Tennessee road. From 1816 to 1820 every old Indian trail running through the county was used as a thorough- fare by families seeking homes on the new- lands.

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 31

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