History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 93

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

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The board annually elects from its own members a president and a secretary-treas- urer, the latter giving bond for the faithful performance of his duties. It has a common seal, makes its own rules, by-laws and regula- tions when not inconsistent with the laws of the State, and may employ counsel to assist in their enforcement. It must keep a record of its proceedings and a register of all per- sons to whom certificates have been issued. Annual meetings are required to be held for the examination of applicants and for the transaction of other business, and additional meetings may be called by the president. It is empowered to investigate both the theoreti- cal and practical qualifications, as well as the moral fitness, of applicants for certifi- cates, and for each examination assesses a fee of $20 and $5 for each license issued. From the proceeds of these fees, the secre- tary-treasurer is paid a salary, fixed by the board, and his expenses while engaged in the duties of his office. The members of the board receive $5 and their expenses for each day actually employed in the discharge of their official duties.

The secretary-treasurer is required to make an annual report to the Alabama Dental Asso- clation, and to file all examination papers, with the names of the persons examined, in the department of archives and history, where they are open to public inspection. The board has full authority to deal with all aspects of the practice of dentistry in Ala- bama, including the initiation of prosecu- tions for violation of the laws regulating the profession.

The first legislation on the subject of dentistry was an act of December 31, 1841, "regulating the practice of dental surgery." After the first of December, 1842, it was made the duty of the medical boards of the State "to examine and license applicants to practice dental surgery, under the same rules and regulations, and subject to the same re-

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

strictions as those who apply for licenses to practice medicine; and in order more fully to carry this act into effect, it shall be the duty of each of the medical boards, where the same is practicable, to add to their body, by election, a professional dentist, having the requisite qualifications, which dentist so added shall constitute a part of the board." It was further provided that no person "styling himself as dentist, or other person, shall engage in the practice of dental sur- gery as a professional business," after the date refered to, without a license, under a penalty of $50, one-half to the informer and the other half to the county where the suit was brought.

As a further penalty, bonds, notes, or promissory obligations, the consideration of which was "services rendered as a profes- sional dentist or in the line of professional dentistry shall be utterly void and of no effect," where the service is rendered by a person without a license. An exception is made in favor of such dental surgeons as have a "license to practice surgery and medi- cine," from either of the medical boards of the State, or a diploma from a medical insti- tution. The same act makes it the duty of practising physicians, surgeons, and dentists to have their licenses recorded in the office of the clerk of the county in which they reside.

This law was poorly observed, even if at all in many localities. In 1869 the Alabama Dental Association was organized, and senti- ment soon took shape demanding separate regulation, wholly apart from the medical profession. The legislature, therefore, Feb- ruary 11, 1881, passed an act which was devoted exclusively to the regulation of dentistry.

It established a State board of dental exam- iners with powers and qualifications for office very similar to those it now exercises, but its members served for only two years. The first board consisted of the then existing executive committee of the Alabama Dental Association who served until the next annual meeting of the association, when their suc- cessors were elected. It was empowered to hold examinations and issue licenses to satis- factory applicants, for which a fee of $5 was charged, but the law made no provision for compensation of the members. An act of February 28, 1887, changed the term of office to five years. On March 4, 1901, the examina- tion fee was increased to $10, and the board was authorized to hold special meetings upon the call of three members, giving all prac- ticing dentists of the State 30 days notice by mail. In 1911, March 21, the entire regulative machinery for the profession of dentistry was reorganized by legislative act, but as the act of 1915, first above mentioned, superseded and repealed all conflicting laws on the sub- ject, it is not necessary to discuss that act. On September 25, 1915, an exception was made in favor of elderly dentists who were not required to pass examinations under the new law.

See Dental Association, The Alabama.

REFERENCES .- Acts, 1840-41, pp. 23-24; 1880- 81, pp. 82-84; 1886-87, pp. 97-98; 1900-01, p. 180; 1911, pp. 122-127; 1915, pp. 326-336, 923.

DEPENDENTS. See Child Welfare; Con- federate Pensioners; Insane Hospitals; Pen- sioners, U. S .; Poor Relief.

DEPOSITORIES OF COUNTY FUNDS. Banks, or other agencies, chosen by courts of county commissioners, or boards or reve- nue, for the care and custody of county funds. The office of county treasurer was abolished by act of September 15, 1915. The act sub- stituted for this office a system requiring the courts of county commissioners or boards of review, to designate depositories for county funds in which all money heretofore by law to be paid the county treasurers, shall be kept. The methods of accounting and the character of the funds in which the deposits are to be kept by the depository are pre- scribed by the court or board.

In selecting depositories the courts of com- missioners are required to call for sealed bids, which are to be opened on the first Monday in December of each year, and to select the incorporated state or national bank "which offers the highest rate of interest to the county on daily balances of bank deposits." The funds are placed in the depository for the following calendar year. A bond in the sum of $50,000, or such other sum as the court may direct, is required to secure the safety of the deposit. The depository banks do not receive "any compensation or com- mission or other allowance for services as county depository." Such of the duties of the treasurer as were provided by law, and which are not performed by the depository banks, are imposed upon the judge of pro- bate.

Should the court or board of revenue be unable to secure a depository for the funds of their county, "by reason of their inability to secure from any bank within its limits terms for the handling of the county funds as provided in this act, satisfactory to such boards of revenue or courts of county com- missioners, then such boards may designate some individual who may act as treasurer of such county under such terms and conditions as may be fixed by such board of county com- missioners or board of revenue."

All of the duties required by law to be per- formed by the county treasurer, except the receipt and disbursement of funds, the present law imposes upon the presidents of the courts of county commissioners, or boards of reve- nue. The act became effective on the first Monday after the second Tuesday in January, 1917. It contains a proviso, however, which exempts from its provisions, counties having a population of more than 50,000 according to the last or any subsequent Federal census. The same legislature created the office of county treasurer for Perry County by act of September 15, 1915. Therefore, the counties of Jefferson and Mobile, each with over 50,000

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

population, and Perry County, are not affected by the act. The general laws governing the duties of county treasurer apply to county depositories, which are also subject to the same liability for the safe keeping and pay- ing out of funds.

See Treasurers, County.

REFERENCES .- General Acts, 1915, p. 348; Lo- cal Acts, 1915, p. 444; Code, 1907, sec. 208 et seq. and authorities there cited.

DESHLER FEMALE INSTITUTE. An educational institution, incorporated as de- clared in its charter, "for the sole purpose of the education of the females of the white race." It was founded by Maj. David Deshler, one of the most publlc-spirited citizens of Colbert County. It is a memorial to his son, Brig. Gen. James Deshler, who fell at the head of his troops in the battle of Chicka- mauga. The will of Maj. Deshler provided that the square in the town of Tuscumbia, upon which his residence was built, together with all the bulldings thereon should be "dedicated to the erection of an undenomi- national college for the educaton of white females, upon the contribution of $10,000 of bona fide stock by citizens of Tuscumbia." Maj. Deshler died December 6, 1871. How- ever, the trustees, on May 31, 1870, had come together and organized. The secretary of state issued a charter under the general laws, September 20, 1870.

The main administration building was com- pleted n 1874, and work of instruction was begun in September of that year, under P. M. Custer as principal. Within two months after the opening, a terrific tornado destroyed the school property, which interrupted the work for a time. The school was temporarily carried on in the Baptist church. The officers and faculty, aided by the citizens and Masons of the community, erected another building, and everything was put in thorough repair. In the control and management of the school the Masonic fraternity and the city of Tus- cumbia exercise the largest control.

The alm of the Institution is "to send forth into the world of activity, refined, cultivated, useful women, equipped for life." It has con- tinued its work to the present, with more or less success, but without as large support as it has merited.

REFERENCES .- Catalogues and Announcements, 1886, 1904, 1906; Acts. 1876-77, p. 289; Brewer, Alabama (1872), p. 191; and manuscript data in the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

DE SOTO, ROUTE OF. This sketch em- bodies the two papers on this subject pre- sented before the Alabama Anthropological Society and published in the American An- thropologist, Vol. 19, No. 1, January-March, 1917, and Arrow Points, Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan- uary, 1921, prepared by Major D. M. An- drews, under the title, "DeSoto's Route from Cofitachequi in Georgia to Cosa in Alabama," and by Peter A. Brannon, under the title, "Route of DeSoto from Cosa to Mauvilla."

Both papers are here given in their entirety, reference being made from time to time to the accompanying maps and tables.

DE SOTO'S ROUTE FROM COFITACHEQUI, IN GEORGIA, TO COSA, IN ALABAMA.

By Daniel Marshall Andrews.

This investigation embraces that part of DeSoto's wanderings, from the town of Cofi- tachequi to Cosa. The sites of these two places have been fairly well established: Cofitachequi on the east, at Silver Bluff, on the Savannah river, twenty-five miles by river below Augusta, Georgia; Cosa on the west, near the mouth of Talladega creek on the Coosa river, about two miles above Childersburg, Talladega county, Alabama. An effort has been made to locate the route traveled and the various town sites mentioned in the DeSoto narratives.

· The writer believes he has approximately located Xuala; that he has definitely located Gausili, Chiaha, Coste, Tali, Connasauga and Tasqui. He has brought to his aid in the investigation the geological and topographical knowledge of the country traversed, and his own intimate, personal familiarity with the region.

He began this study believing that the site of Chiaha was on the Tennessee river, be- cause Professor Halbert had so located it, and he laid great store by Professor Hal- bert's opinion. It was only by the severest process of elimination that he finally aban- doned this location, and it can not, there- fore, be presumed that he began the investi- gation with any bias in favor of the Coosa river.

That part of DeSoto's route with which we are concerned can be generalized as fol- lows: From Cofitachequi to Chalaque (in the latter we recognize the modern word Chero- kee) he marched through the coastal plain; from Chalaque to Xuala, through the Pied- mont plateau; from Xuala to Gausili, through the Appalachian mountains; and from Gausili to Cosa, through or rather down, the great Paleozoic valley, lying west of the great Car- tersville fault. The descriptions of all the chroniclers confirm this generalization; and thus the scope of our investigation is nar- rowed to a study of this geological region in Georgia and Alabama. Referring to the geo- logical map of that part of the state of Geor- gia with which we are concerned, it will be seen that the northern boundary of the coastal plain extends from Columbus on the west, through Macon and Milledgeville, to Augusta on the east. The Piedmont plateau extends from the northern limit of the coastal plain to a line drawn, roughly, northeast and southwest through Franklin county, approxi- mately parallel with the Cartersville fault. The Appalachian mountains lie, approxi- mately, between this line and the Carters- ville fault, which is a great horizontal earth movement, extending, roughly, from the cor- ner of Georgia and the Carolinas to Esom hill, in Alabama; and ten to twenty miles

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west of the fault lies the great Paleozoic valley.

Again referring to the geological map: there are indicated thereon the coastal plain, the great metamorphic or crystalline region comprising the Piedmont plateau and the mountain section, and the great Paleozoic valley. Within these limits lay the route of DeSoto, in Georgia.

DeSoto's route, as given by the chroniclers, is represented in the accompanying table. Ranjel is the only safe guide for distances traveled in days, because he is the only one of the chroniclers who always gives the actual number of days of travel and the days lost at each town, village or camp. The others frequently give distances in days that include stops at towns of which no mention is made; therefore, in computing the rate of travel in miles per day, Ranjel's narrative has been used exclusively. Ranjel's account of the ex- pedition has been in print only during the last ten or fifteen years; the older investi- gators, following the narratives of the other chroniclers, have been misled into reading too great distances into the narratives. Ran- jel's spelling of place-names has also been followed throughout, except in quotations. La Vega's account of the expedition is not used, except where his statements are ob- viously correct, or where corroborated by one or more of the chroniclers.

As will be shown further on, forced marches were made, because of the scarcity of food, from Cofitachequi to Chalaque, from Chalaque to Xuala, and from Xuala to Gau- sili. An inspection of the table of distances shows that eighten miles was a day's travel over this part of the route, except between Graves mountain and Xuala, where the travel was fifteen miles per day. From Gausili to Connasauga food was plentiful, and a day's travel was ten miles. From Connasauga to Chiaha part of the way was mountainous- "through a desert"-therefore more than

twelve miles a day were traveled. From Chiaha to Cosa the journey was through a populous country, where food was plentiful, and a day's travel was as follows: From Chiaha to Coste, eight miles; from Coste to Tali, three miles; from Tali to Tasqui, seven miles; from Tasqui to Cosa, nine miles; and, though the rate of travel may not be abso- lute, it is relative, and the writer considers it strong corroborative evidence of his thesis.

On Wednesday, May 13, 1540, the expedi- tion left Cofitachequi. Ranjel says:" . . . and in two days came to the territory of Chalaque . . and they bivouacked in a pine wood.

The great pine forest that then covered the coastal plain extended fifteen to twenty miles north of the fault line at Augusta, along the Piedmont escarpment, and it was probably in this forest, near Augusta, that the camp was located. On Monday, May 17, the expedition left Chalaque and, according to Ranjel, "spent the night at a mountain." This camp we can locate definitely at Graves mountain, in Lincoln county, because it is the only moun- tain in that whole section, and is a prominent feature of the landscape for miles around. The older investigators, as has been shown, did not have Ranjel's narrative to guide them and, therefore, missed this well-defined land- mark.

To have made the distance from Cofita- chequi to Graves mountain in three days, the Spaniards were forced to march between sev- enteen and eighteen miles a day. We learn, trom the narratives, that food along this part of the route was scarce, and they were com- pelled to make forced marches between points of supply, which were Cofitachequi, Chalaque, Xuala, and Gausili. Then, too, they were not encumbered with a large drove of hogs, as many had been killed and eaten before thelr arrival at Cofitachequi, to save the expedition from starvation.

After four days' march from Graves moun-

TABLE

Ranjel

Name of Town

Location

Distance Miles per Days Mi. Day

Biedma Name of Town

Elvas Name of Town

La Vega Name of Town

Cofitachequi .... Silver Bluff

Chalaque

.. Near Augusta.

At mountain ... Graves Mt ....

1 18

Xuala

N. and S. fork

4 60

Xuala

Xualla

Chovala

Gausili

Carters, on

Coosa wattee.

5 90

Gausili

Gausule

Gauchoula

Connasauga

Near junction

1 10

Canasauga

Chiaha

. McCoy's island

121/2

Chiaha

Iciaha

Coste

Woods island.

Costehe

Coste

Acosta

Tali

Mouth of Tal- lasahatchee.

Tasqui

Near mouth of

3 20

Cosa

Near mouth of

Talladega Cr.

9 Cosa

Cosa

Cotifachiqui

Cutifachiqui

Cofaciqui Chalaques

Broad river.

Chalaque

Coosawattee.

Tali

Choccolocco.

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

tain they reached Xuala. La Vega says that the expedition marched four to five leagues each day. The Spanish league being 2.63 of our statute miles, they therefore marched each day ten and a half to thirteen statute miles. La Vega's statement is probably near the truth, except as to forced marches. On account of the scarcity of food, they undoubt- edly marched rapidly to Xuala, where food was plentiful. Four days' travel from Graves mountain to Xuala, at fifteen miles per day, would have brought them either to the junc- tion of the north and south forks of the Broad river, in Georgia, or to the junction of the Broad and Hudson rivers, both locations be- ing near together. Ranjel says Xuala "is a village in a plain between two rivers." La Vega says: "Chovala . . . situated between a town and a very rapid little river."

Tuesday, May 25, they left Xuala and went over a high range, and the next day they camped in a plain where they suffered from the cold, although it was the 26th of May. Elvas says: "From Cutifa to Xualla (is) mountainous country (more correctly, from Chalaque to Xualla); thence to Gauxule the way is over very rough and lofty ridges." From Chalaque to Xuala the route was through the Piedmont plateau. The hilly, broken topography of this region Elvas calls mountainous; and, compared with the flat coastal plain through which they had been marching, it could well have appeared moun- tainous to him, particularly that section in the vicinity of Graves mountain over which they had passed. "The very rough and lofty ridges" from Xuala to Gausili are the Ap- palachian mountains.

La Vega says: "As soon as they left Cho- vala (Xuala) they struck straight for the coast and turned in the form of a curve, to arrive at the port of Achussi." An inspection of the route, as laid down on the accompany- ing map of Georgia and Alabama, will show that this statement by La Vega is correct.

The march of five days could have brought them to any point on the arc of a circle shown on the map of Georgia, drawn with Xuala as a center. Had they reached the northern point, indicated by a cross, on the headwaters of the Connasauga river, they would still have been in the mountains; though, in marching towards the Tennessee river, they would have crossed the Connasauga, which crossing would have tallied with the description of the chronicles. But the insuperable objection to any part of the route being along the Ten- nessee is that Cosa could not have been reached from Tali in five days, and it would have been necessary to cross Sand mountain; while the accounts of all the chroniclers show plainly that Chiaha, Coste, Tali, and Cosa were all on the same stream, and no mention is made of a mountainous or broken country.

An inspection of the map shows that the arc of the circle drawn with Xuala as a cen- ter cuts the Etowah river, near Cartersville, Georgia. The location of Gausili on this stream must be rejected, because its location there and the subsequent route to Chiaha

does not fit the description of the chroniclers at all. Had the route down the Etowah been followed, the site of Chiaha must have been at the present town of Rome, Georgia, and to have reached it by the route described by the chroniclers, the crossing at Connasauga must have been on the Etowah; the route, then, led over the ridge separating the val- leys of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers, thence down the Oostanaula to Chiaha; but the expedition would have entered Chiaha without crossing any stream; whereas, the chroniclers mention the crossing to the town. All the chroniclers say that Chiaha was on an island. The expedition remained at the town for about a month; the members, un- doubtedly, explored the country in every direction in search of booty and pleasure; and they could not have mistaken for an island, the peninsula on which Rome is situ- ated. Five days, the time consumed in travel from Chiaha to Coste, as located herein, was too short for the journey, when we consider the populous character of the country along the Coosa, and the abundance of food. We must, therefore, look for another route that fits all the facts as given by the chroniclers.

Let us go back to the 26th of May, when they camped in a plain in the mountains. Ranjel says: "There they crossed the river, wading up to their shins, by which later they were to depart in the brigantines they had made." This stream is either the Cartecay or the Ellijay, probably the former, both tributaries of the Coosawattee river, though Ranjel evidently mistakes it for one of the tributaries of the Mississippi. They remained one day at this place, and the next day, the 28th, they passed the night in an oak grove, and the day following along a large stream, which they crossed many times. The large stream was the Coosawattee, which they had now reached, and which they followed to Gau- sili. Further evidence that this stream is the Coosawattee is contained in Ranjel's words, "which they crossed many times." The Coosawattee, until it reaches Carters, the site of Gausili, flows through a gorge in the moun- tains; at numerous places, on such a stream, the way is barred, on one side or the other, by projecting bluffs and cliffs, and, in order to pass these obstructions, the expedition had to cross the stream "many times."

The site of Gausili is at or near Carters, in Murray county, Georgia, where the Coosa- wattee emerges from the mountains, and is indicated on the map. The writer has stood on the deck of a steamboat, at Carters, and watched the river come tumbling down out of the mountains within a few hundred yards of where he was standing.

Elvas says: "He left Gausili and, after two days' travel, arrived at Connasauga. . . . Leaving Connasauga, he marched five days through a desert." Desert, as used by the chroniclers, means absence of villages where food could be procured. From Carters (Gausili) to the crossing of the Connasauga, the remains of village sites are plentiful, and it will be observed that this part of the route

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

is not called a desert; but the route from the Connasauga to Rome, down the Oostan- aula, is also marked by the sites of many villages, and had the expedition taken this route, there would have been no mention of a desert. Ranjel says: " and, since all the way from Xuala (to Chiaha) had been mountainous, and the horses were tired and thin, and the Christians were also themselves worn out, it seemed best to tarry there (at Chiaha ) and rest themselves." Now, had they marched down the Coosawattee and Oostan- aula rivers, from Carters (Gausili) to Rome, the route could not have been called moun- tainous, because these rivers flow through a beautiful valley. Ranjel says, further: "The next day, Thursday, they went along a large stream, near the river which they had crossed in the plain where the woman chief went off. It was now very large." Now, if we turn to the route from Connasauga to the Chattooga river, and down that stream to Chiaha, the mystery is cleared and the route fits the description exactly. Ranjel says: "Monday, which was the last day of May, the Governor left Gausili and came with his army to an oak wood along the river, and the next day they crossed by Connasauga, and at night they slept in the open country." It will be seen that DeSoto "came with his army to an oak wood along the river," not along a river; therefore they followed the Coosawattee to Connasauga and there left the river; because, the night following, "they slept in the open country," which means that there was no village at which they could camp; had they followed the river, villages would have been plentiful.

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 93

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