History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 68

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: 724

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REFERENCE .- Poor's manual of public utilities, 1916, p. 481.

NORTHERN ALABAMA RAILWAY COM- PANY. See Southern Railway Company.

NORTHPORT. Post office and incorpor- ated city, on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, in the central part of Tuscaloosa County, and on the western bank of the Warrior River, about 2 miles west of Tuscaloosa. It is con- nected with the latter city by a concrete bridge. Altitude: 126 feet. Population: 1870-604; 1880-900; 1890-413; 1900- 424; 1910-500. The Northport Bank (State) is located there.

REFERENCES .- Brewer, Alabama (1872), p. 551; Polk's Alabama gazetteer, 1888-9, p. 626.

NOXUBEE RIVER. A river of east Mis- sissippi, which flows southeasterly through the northern part of Sumter County, and empties into the Tombigbee, just north of Gainesville. A few miles below the influx it receives Bodka Creek from the north. The name is spelled in various ways. Romans calls it Noxshubby. On some old maps the word Oka, "water" is prefixed, that is, Oka nakshobi, meaning "stinking water." There is no exact English equivalent for the Choc- taw word, Nakshobi. Its meaning refers to the strong offensive odor that arises from an overflowed river or creek in the summer time, caused by the smell of decayed fish. Persons living near Noxubee are familiar with this

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odor during a summer freshet. The ety- mology given by Claiborne is untenable.

The aboriginal or alternative name of the Noxubee River is Hatchaoose. The word is so spelled by Romans in the text, while on his map the spelling is Hatche Oose. In correct form it is Hachcha usi, "Little River," that is, Hachcha, "river," usi or osi, "little," the diminutive suffix. It was so used to dis- tinguish the Noxubee from the Tombigbee River, which is known as Hachcha, "The River."

REFERENCES. - Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, (1910), p. 190; La Tourette, Map of Alabama (1838); Claiborne, Mississippi (1880), p. 485.

NUNLEY RIDGE COAL CO. See Pratt Consolidated Coal Co.

NURSERIES. Establishments in which trees, vines, flowering plants, and vegetables are grown commercially for transplanting.

Nurseries in Alabama include those grow- ing tree stocks, vines, ornamental shrubs, and flowering plants, one or all. There are none growing vegetables only. In 1918, com- mercial plantings of nursery stock showed more than twenty-four million trees alone.

In 1872, the Huntsville Nurseries was or- ganized by H. W. Heikes. In 1889 The Ala- bama Nursery Co., was organized near Hunts- ville by Lewis and Ethan Chase, of Roches- ter, N. Y. This concern is now the largest nursery company in the Southern States. Nurseries at Fruithurst, Thorsby, Cullman, and several in Baldwin and Mobile counties, have since been developed. The Rosemont Gardens, established in Montgomery in 1890, by W. B. Paterson is the south's largest floral establishment.

The early nurseries doing business in the State were The Peachwood Nurseries, State Line, Miss., operated by George S. Gaines; The Downing Hill Nurseries, Atlanta, by An- drew J. Downing; Peters Harden and Co .; Fruitland Nurseries, Augusta, Ga., by D. Red- mond and P. J. Berckmans; H. A. Swasey & Co., Canton, Miss., later of Yazoo City, by Dr. Swasey.

Brown and Weissinger of Montgomery and Charles A. Peabody of Columbus, Ga., but whose farm was in Russell County, Ala., appear to have owned the only local nurseries as early as 1856. William Brassfield and Co., of Montgomery, were, however, awarded a prize at the Alabama State Agricultural Society's Fair of 1856, for ornamental plants. From advertisements appearing in the local circulating farm papers, nursery agents were located at several points in the State and several florists were taking commercial orders at that early date.

Charles A. Peabody originated and de- veloped, on his Russell County plantation, sev- eral agricultural products and some peach and apple trees, and was perhaps the most extensive of the early horticulturists.

The Alabama State Agricultural Society's Fair, held in Montgomery in 1855, was the first statewide display of this character, at which offerings of premiums for trees and

plants and fruit products was encouraged. Judging from subsequent commercial adver- tisements, the Fair was productive of a num- ber of efforts.

REFERENCES .- The Southern Cultivator, Au- gusta, Ga. (1844), and years following, passim. History of Fruit Growing in Alabama, Berck- mans, P. J., in proceedings Fifth Annual Meet- ing of Horticulture Society, 1908, pp. 103-107. Soil of the South, Montgomery, passim.

American Cotton Planter, Montgomery 1854, and following, passim.

NURSES EXAMINERS, BOARD OF. A State executive board, created August 6, 1915, and whose duties are to have annual and special meetings, to hold examinations for the registration of nurses, to issue certifi- cates, and to revoke certificates of registra- tion for "incompetency, dishonesty, intemper- ance, immorality or unprofessional conduct." It consists of five members, appointed by the governor, of whom three are graduate nurses and two are physicians. The appointees are selected by the governor from a list submit- ted by the Alabama State Association of Grad- uate Nurses, including only the names of licensed physicians of good standing, and of nurses who are graduates of a training school connected with a general or private hospital requiring not less than two years training and who shall have been engaged in nursing for not less than five years after graduation.

Certificates are issued on satisfactory proof that the applicant is 21 years of age, of good moral character, of a grammar school edu- cation or its equivalent, and a graduate from "a training school connected with a general hospital or sanitarium, where not less than three years consecutive training with a sys- tematic course of instruction is given in the hospital or sanitarium, or has graduated from a training school in connection with a hos- pital of good standing, supplying a systematic three years training corresponding with the above standards, which training may be ob- tained in one or two affiliated hospitals," and after the examination of the applicant "in elementary anatomy, physiology, bacteriol- ogy, and materia medica, in medical, surgi- cal, obstetrical and practical nursing, in die- tetics and hygiene." An examination fee of $5 is required of all applicants, with the ex- ception of those noted in the paragraph be- low.

Registered nurses from other states may be accepted without examination, upon satisfac- tory evidence to the board that they possess the qualifications required by the law. Ex- aminations are not required of certain nurses who are graduates of training schools, and who are engaged in professional nursing at the date of the act, or who have been en- gaged in nursing five years after graduation prior to the act, and those in training at the time of the passage of the act, and those grad- uating before October 1, 1917. The excepted class is also exempt from the payment of registration fee. A permanent exception is made in favor of all graduates of the Bryce Hospital Training School for Nurses, who are

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entitled to registration upon furnishing sat- isfactory proof of their graduation from that school.

A nurse who has received her certificate according to the provisions of the law is styled and known as "Registered Nurse," with a right to the use of the initial letter of these two words as an official designation, and no other person shall assume such title. It was made unlawful after October 1, 1916, "for any person to practice professional nurs- ing as a registered nurse without a certificate in this State." The law expressly provides that it shall not apply "to gratuitous nursing of the sick by friends or members of the fam- ily, nor shall it apply to any person nursing the sick for hire, but who does not in any way assume the title of "Registered Nurse," or "R. N." A penalty of not less than ten nor more than five hundred dollars is im- posed on any one making false representations in applying for a certificate.

REFERENCES .- General Acts, 1915, pp. 271- 274.

See Nurses, Alabama State Association of Graduate.

OAKCHINAWA CREEK INDIAN VIL- LAGE. An old Creek Indian town, lying on both sides of Oakchinawa or Salt Creek, near its influx with Big Shoal Creek, and in Tal- ladega County.

REFERENCES .- Manuscript references in Ala- bama Department Archives and History.

OAKFUSKU'DSHI. A small Upper Creek village, 4 miles above Niuyaka, and 24 above Oakfuski, in Tallapoosa County. It was prob- ubly settled from Chihlakonini, a former Lower Creek town on the upper waters of the Chattahoochee, and seemingly located in the present Harris County, Georgia. About 1799 some of its people had settled in the town of Oakfusku'dshi. The latter was de- stroyed by Gen. White in 1813.

REFERENCES .- Gatschet, in Alabama History Commission, Report (1901), vol. 1, pp. 394, 405; Pickett, History of Alabama (Owen's ed., 1900), pp. 520, 557; Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country (1848), p. 51; Hamilton, Colo- nial Mobile (1910), p. 190; Mississippi, Provin- cial Archives, vol. 1, p. 95.

OAKMAN. Post office and incorporated city, in the southwestern part of Walker County, secs. 28 and 29, T. 15, R. 8 W., on the Southern Railway, 12 miles south of Jas- per, 12 miles west of Cordova, and 25 miles east of Fayette. Altitude: 150 feet. Popula- tion: 1888- -400; 1890-421; 1900-503; 1910-1,065. It was incorporated by the legislature, February 18, 1895, and the char- ter amended December 10, 1898. The corpo- rate limits describe a circle, with a radius of 1 mile from the old public well as a center. It has a city hall, 1 mile of concrete sidewalks, and school buildings. Its tax rate is 5 mills, and its bonded indebtedness $5,000, for schools. The Bank of Oakman (State) is its Vol. II-24

only banking institution. Its industries are 3 cotton ginneries, 2 gristmills, a shingle mill, a sawmill, a planing mill, a cotton ware- house, and 2 coal mines.

This point was first known as "Day's Gap," for the first settler, W. B. Day, who came in 1862 and settled at the lowest point in the mountainous ridges that surround the town, and through which the railroad runs. When the post office was established in 1884, it was first called York, but the Post Office Depart- ment in 1890 changed the name to Oakman, in honor of W. G. Oakman, one of the direc- tors of the Sloss-Sheffield Iron & Steel Co. It is located on the road between Jasper and Tuscaloosa. It has one artesian well of Chaly- beate water, and one of sulphur. The Dixie Spring of magnesia water is about 11/2 miles away; and Wolf and Cane Creeks are nearby. In the surrounding ridges there are rich de- posits of minerals, principally coal.

REFERENCES .- Armes, Story of coal and iron in Alabama (1910), pp. 52-55, 489; Northern Alabama (1888), p. 172; Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1915.

OCHRE. A durable red paint manufac- tured in large quantities from the soft, greasy ore, free from grit, which occurs in the soft, leached ore beds of the Silurian, or Red Moun- tain, formation. Much of it is used in the Birmingham Paint Works, and probably more than 2,000 tons a year are shipped from At- talla to Chattanooga, Tenn. Good yellow and red ochres are found in some of the argilla- ceous shales of the limonite banks, particu- larly in the vicinity of Talladega. Numerous deposits of both yellow and red ochres occur in the great clay formation of the State-the Tuscaloosa of the Lower Cretaceous. Mining and marketing of yellow ochre have been done in Autauga and Elmore Counties, and a deposit of fine red ochre of the same geologic formation exists near Pearce's Mill, in Marion County. The foregoing are merely typical cases of such deposits, and there are hundreds of others of equal or nearly equal importance. Tests have discovered beds of good yellow ochre overlying the St. Stephens limestone of the Tertiary, in Clarke County; also in the Grand Gulf formation of south Alabama.

REFERENCE .- Smith and McCalley, Index to mineral resources of Alabama (Geol. Survey of Ala., Bulletin 9, 1904), p. 62.

ODD FELLOWS, INDEPENDENT ORDER. A fraternal and benefit society, organized in Baltimore, April 26, 1819, the first lodge being "Washington Lodge No. 1." The order was instituted by Thomas Wildey and his associates, John Welch, Richard Rushworth, John Duncan and John Cheathan. The first lodge instituted in Alabama was at Mobile, and is known as "Alabama Lodge No. 1," organized April 23, 1837. Grand Lodge of the State was instituted at Mobile, December 13, 1841, and was chartered by the legislature January 13, 1846. Value of property of the Alabama Grand Lodge was $200,000.00 in 1916.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is

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the largest fraternal order in the world, though only ninety-seven years have elapsed since the founding of the Order. It was the first fraternal order to establish a home to care for its orphans and the aged and indi- gent members of the Order. It was the first fraternal order to provide a degree for the women belonging to the households of its mem- bers, the Rebekah Lodge. The Order in Ala- bama dispenses for relief such as death, sick- ness, etc., other than the sums hereinbefore mentioned an additional amount of approxi- mately $50,000.00 per year. The amount dispensed for relief by the Order in the United States is approximately $7,000,000 per annum, and the invested fund for the Order in the United States is approximately $75,000,000.00.

Sisters of Rebekah .- Woman auxiliary of. Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

REFERENCES .- Letters from H. C. Pollard, Grand Secretary, I. O. O. F., Huntsville, and Mrs. May D. Brunson, Secretary, Rebekah State Assembly, Mobile, in the Department of Ar- chives and History.

ODSHIAPOFA. An Upper Creek town in Elmore County situated in a level country on the left or east bank of the Coosa River, about 2 miles above Fort Toulouse. It was so located in 1799, when visited by Hawkins. It is thus described by him:

"O-che-au-po-fau; from Oche-ub, a hickory tree, and po-fau, in, or among, called by the traders, hickory ground. It is on the left bank of the Coosau, two miles above the fork of the river, and one mile below the falls, on a flat of poor land, just below a small stream; the fields are on the right side of the river, on rich flat land; and this flat extends back for two miles, with oak and hickory, then pine forest; the range out in this forest is fine for cattle; reed is abun- dant in all the branches.

"The falls can be easily passed in canoes, either up or down; the rock is very different from that of Tallapoosa; here it is ragged and very coarse granite; the land bordering on the left side of the falls, is broken or waving, gravelly, not rich. At the termina- tion of the falls there is a fine little stream, large enough for a small mill, called from the clearness of the water, We-hemt-le, good water. Three and a half miles above the town are ten apple trees, planted by the late General McGillivray; half a mile further up are the remains of Old Tal-e-see, formerly the residence of Lochlan McGillivray and his son, the general. Here are ten apple trees planted by the father, and a stone chimney, the remains of a house built by the son, and these are all the improvements left by the father and son."

The first historic reference to this town was as Little Talisi on De Crenay's map, 1733, where it is spelled Telechys. The town is there placed on the west bank of Coosa River, about midway between Kusa and Pakan talahassi. De Crenay's location would place the town in Shelby County, but if accurate, which is doubted, the exact site has not been

identified. Later the village is found about 5 or 6 miles above the falls at Wetumpka on the left or east bank of the river, where the site long remained. It is often referred to as Old Talisi, although it is not the historic town of that designation. Its location was evidently at this point in 1760, when the . French census was taken, when the town had 40 men, and was located 3 leagues distant from Fort Toulouse. In that census the town name is erroneously noted as Petu- statetchis, which is no other than Petit talet- chis, that is, Little Talisi. By the trade regulations of 1761 this town, including Hatchi tchapa, situated a few miles northeast on the head waters of Chubbehatchee Creek, with 20 hunters, was assigned to the trader, William Struthers.

Here resided the Indian trader Lachlan McGillivray, and here his son Alexander Mc- Gillivray, was born. Here his other children were also born, and here several of them married, including Sophie, who became the wife of Benjamin Durant, and Jennet, who married Le Clerc Milfort. Alexander Mc- Gillivray resided here during the most inter- esting period of his life, and many of his letters, which have been preserved, are dated at Little Talisi. Indian remains, as well as the remains of old chimneys and other evi- dences of old houses survive. In American times the old town site was included in the plantation and extensive land holdings of Howell Rose of Wetumpka.

Some time prior to 1799 the town site was shifted from Little Talisi to Odshi apofa, and the name changed. The name means hickory ground, that is, odshi, "hickory," api, "tree, stem, trunk," ofa, "within," the last being a suffix denoting locality. At the time of Hawkins' visit the town. had 40 warriors. Milfort refers to the place as "Le petit Tallasy ou village des noyers." The custom ob- tained in later Creek history of the installa- tion of the principal Creek chief by the chief of Odshi apofa.

In the American state papers is a state- ment that Ifa hadsho, while head chief of the Creeks, gave in July or August, 1802, his home to Hopoyi miko, transferring the na- tional council place from Tukabatchi to Odshi apofa where Hopoyi lived. On the site of this town about 1816 was laid out an American town known as Jackson, but it was short lived. The settlers moved down to Montgom- ery, to Alabama town, and to New Philadel- phia, later to become Montgomery, in 1819.

REFERENCES .- Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country (1848), p. 39; Handbook of American Indians (1910), vol. 2, p. 106; Pickett, History of Alabama (Owen's ed., 1900), index under "Hickory Ground" and "Little Tallassee;" Gatschet, in Alabama History Commission, Re- port (1901), vol. 1, p. 404; Mississippi, Provin- cial Archives (1911), vol. 1, p. 95; Georgia, Colo- nial Records (1907), vol. 8, p. 522; Hamilton, Colonial Mobile (1910), p. 190; American state papers, vol. 4, pp. 620, 681, and 854; Dreisbach, Maj. J. D., in Alabama Historical Reports, vol. 2, No. 3, Feb., 1884.

STATE CAPITOL, NORTH END, SHOWING CONFEDERATE MONUMENT

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OFFICES AND OFFICERS. An office is a public position or employment, to which an Individual has been elected or appointed, and technically known or designated as an officer or official.

Offices are state, county, and municipal. There are also district offices, or offices pro- vided for local areas, as commissioners dis- tricts of counties, election beats or precincts, school districts, or other restricted areas des- ignated as districts. As understood in this title, the term includes only positions or em- ployments filled by election of the people, or by appointment hy some executive or other official, or department, commission, or board, to exercise powers and to perform duties of a public nature.

Offices may be again subdivided as legis- lative, executive, and judicial. There are also offices of state institutions. United States senators, members of Congress, and delegates to constitutional conventions are officers in a general sense, as performing public service, and they differ from the more restricted use of the word where applied to positions carry- ing executive, or administrative responsibility.

An office exists, or is created, for the accom- plishment of a definite object, purpose, or se- ries of objects and purposes, and may be temporary or continuing in nature and opera- tion. They are created by constitutional pro- vision, details and regulations being left to the legislature, and within the limits and inhi- bitions of the constitution, the legislature has absolute control in the creation and abolish- ment of public offices, the enlargement or diminution of the duties such officers are re- quired to discharge, and the compensation they are to receive. Where the constitution - prescribes a public office, fixing its functions and duties and the mode of appointment, yet it is not within the power of the legislature to create another office to discharge the same duties, the effect of which is to nullify the constitutional office .- Ex parte Lambert, 52 Ala. 79; State v. Brewer, 59 Ala. 130.

Where a person has heen elected or ap- pointed in accordance with law to an office, he has an interest in and a right to it, complying with the conditions prescribed by statute. In that sense, he has a property in the office, hut in the larger sense, offices "are the prop- erty of the people of the State." They are merely occupied by persons who are in the employment of the State as its officials. A public office is therefore a personal public trust, created for public benefit and not for the benefit of the individual who may happen to be its incumbent, and they are therefore unlike offices at common law, which were regarded as incorporeal hereditaments. and were alienahle or inheritable .- 52 Ala. 66, 79.

The courts of the State take judicial no- tice of the various commissioned officers of the State, and they are presumed to know the extent of their authority, their official signa- tures, and their respective terms of office, that is, when such terms commence and when they expire .- 76 Ala. 78, 403.

Constitutional Provisions .- The constitu- tional provisions governing offices and officers, 1901, are here summarized:

Certain of the laws and regulations gov- erning offices and officers are common to all alike. These are the general requirements as to eligibility, method of election, oaths of office, official honds, the regulations as to office, books, papers, and property, the gen- eral rules as to tenure, that is, the beginning and expiration of terms, and vacation of office, and salaries.

As required by the constitution, all officers before entering upon their respective duties are required to take an oath of office:

"All members of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, before they enter upon the execution of the duties of thelr respective offices, shall take the following oath or affirmation:

"I, solemly swear (or affirm, as the case may be), that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of Alabama, so long as I continue a citizen thereof; and that I will faithfully and honestly discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, to the hest of my ability. So help me God.'

The oath may he administered by the pre- siding officer of either house of the legisla- ture, or hy any officer authorized by law to administer an oath .- Sec. 279, article XVI.

They are also required to take what is known as the dueling oath, in which they must swear that they have not "directly or in- directly, given, accepted, or knowingly car- ried a challenge, in writing or otherwise, to any person, to fight with deadly weapons, in or out of this State, or aided or abetted in the same since he has been a citizen thereof; and that he will not, directly or indirectly, give, accept, or knowingly carry a challenge to any person, to fight with deadly weapons, either in or out of this State; or in any manner aid or abet same during his con- tinuance in office." The oath must be sub- scribed to and filed with the official pre- scribed by statute .- Code, 1907, secs. 1475- 1482.

Certain public officials are required to give bond, payable to the State, with such sureties as the approving officer is satisfied have the qualifications required by law, conditioned to faithfully discharge the duties of their offices. Surety or guarantee companies may become sureties on official bonds, and if accepted, are subject to all the liabilities of sureties. The statute prescribes the officers with whom offi- cial honds must he filed .- Code, 1907, Chap. 33, articles 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Terms of Office .- Terms of office are reg- ulated by the constitution and statutes. They vary greatly. The constitution of 1819 gave a life tenure to the judges. This regulation, however, was changed by constitutional amendment of 1830, and now there is no officer in the State that serves with an in- definite tenure, with the exception, probably, of the superintendent of the Insane Hospi-

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tals. All

constitutional executive officers

have 4-year terms. Justices of the supreme court, judges of the court of appeals, super- numerary judge, circuit judges, judges of prohate courts, clerks of circuit courts, and judges of inferior courts (not otherwise pro- vided for by law) have 6-year terms. Circuit solicitors, sheriffs, coroners, county commis- sioners, members of boards of revenue, county superintendents of education, justices of the peace, and constables have 4-year terms.

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 68

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: 724

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: 724