History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 76

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

USA > Alabama > History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II > Part 76

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

1888-9-J. M. Carter; A. B. Darby.

1890-1-W. H. Barnett; A. C. Townsend. 1892-3-W. F. Lary; A. C. Townsend.

1894-5-J. R. Curtiss; W. L. Fleming.

1896-7-W. B. Darby; A. C. Townsend.

1898-9-F. S. Andrews; John P. Hubbard.

1899 (Spec.)-F. S. Andrews; John P. Hubbard.

1900-1-W. J. Hilliard; B. A. Baker.

1903-James Hamilton Edwards; Arthur Borders Foster.

1907-H. W. Ballard; J. T. Sanders.

1907 (Spec.)-H. W. Ballard; J. T. San- ders.

1909 (Spec.)-H. W. Ballard; J. T. San- ders.

1911-T. H. Brown; A. C. Sanders.

1915-G. J. Hubbard; A. C. Sanders.

1919-M. N. Dodson; J. H. Edwards.

REFERENCES .- Toulmin, Digest (1823), index; Acts of Ala., Brewer, Alabama, p. 504; Berney, Handbook (1892), p. 323; Riley, Alabama as it is (1893), p. 229; Northern Alabama (1888), p. 241; Alabama, 1909 (Ala. Dept. of Ag. and Ind., Bulletin 27), p. 187; U. S. Soil Survey (1911), with map; Alabama land book (1916), p. 134; Ala. Official and Statistical Register, 1903-1915, 5 vols .; Ala. Anthropological Society, Handbook

(1910) ; Geol. Survey of Ala., Agricultural fea- tures of the State (1883) ; The Valley Regions of Alabama, parts 1 and 2 (1896, 1897), and Un- derground Water resources of Alabama (1907).

PINHOTI. An Upper Creek town on the right bank of a small tributary of Ipisoga or Sandy Creek in Tallapoosa County. It was evidently on the north fork of Sandy Creek, and a little southeast of Dudleyville, on the old trail from Niuyaxa to Coweta in Russell County. Of the town Hawkins says "the land is stiff and rich, and lies well; the timber is red-oak and hickory; the branches all have reed, and the land on them, above the settlement, has good black-oak, sapling and hickory. This and neighboring land, is fine for settlements; they have here three or four houses only, some peach trees and hogs, and their fields are fenced."

REFERENCES .- Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country (1848), p. 50; Gatschet, in Alabama History Commission, Report (1901), vol. 1, p. 407; Handbook of American Indians (1910), vol. 2, p. 256.

PLANK ROADS. Wagon roads surfaced with plank, thereby keeping open for traffic, during the entire year, roads which otherwise would be impassable during wet weather. Their use was one of the early developments of the present widespread interest in good roads.

The first plank roads in this country were built in the State of New York in 1846. This coincided with the culmination in Alabama of the state-wide agitation for cheap and con- venient channels of commercial intercourse, in a multitude of schemes and projects for canals, railroads, and wagon roads of various sorts-some of them practicable, but more of them altogether visionary. The sponsors for the plank road system emphasized their im- mediate availability, because of their com- parative cheapness and ease of construction. The people of the State felt that Alabama had lagged behind the rest of the country in such improvements and were in a receptive atti- tude toward any plan which promised quick attainment of the advantages of ready com- munication and interchange of products. It required little argument to convince many of the most influential men of the State that the construction of extensive systems of plank roads offered the readiest solution of the transportation problem in Alabama.

Gov. H. W. Collier was one of the early con- verts to this theory, and he placed himself on record in the following language: "The opinion prevails extensively that plank roads are quite as well adapted to our wants as any other mode of intercommunication, and be- ing less costly, may be made in those parts of the State where they are most needed by associations of individual enterprise, and cap- ital. In New York (and perhaps some other States), a general plank road law has been enacted. I respectfully recommend, with the view of encouraging such improvement, that a similar act be passed by the General As- sembly, prescribing the manner in which such

1131

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

corporations may be formed, their powers, &c., so as to render it unnecessary to apply to the Legislature for a specific charter. This enactment would prevent delay, by permitting individuals to associate and commence work whenever they were prepared for it."

Apparently it was not Gov. Collier's belief that plank roads would fill the place of rail- roads or even seriously compete with them. It was their feasibility under wretched local conditions that impressed him-their cheap- ness and facility of construction. The prev- alent idea was to adopt the readiest means at hand for connecting the plantations with the towns, and plank roads seemed to offer the means. Some enthusiastic engineers under- took to demonstrate by elaborate series of arguments and tables of figures, not only that plank roads could be more cheaply and expe- ditiously built than railroads or macadam- ized highways, but that they could be main- tained at much less expense, and, conse- quently, would be a more profitable invest- ment for capital. They asserted that freight could be hauled over them by wagons at the same price per ton that railroads would have to charge, and, by the use of relays of horses, almost as quickly. Another advantage, they claimed, was the fact that the road itself rep- resented the entire investment, an expensive equipment of motive power, rolling stock, de- pots, repair shops and machinery, and the requisite employees to operate and care for them, not being necessary as in the case of railroads, for the patrons of plank roads would furnish the motive power and rolling stock in the shape of their own wagons and teams. These and numerous other arguments persuaded many persons that plank roads represented a more real and immediate pub- lic need than railroads.

Early Plank Road Companies .- The first plank road company chartered was the "Cane Brake Plank Road Company," which pro- jected a road from Demopolis to Uniontown. and was incorporated by the legislature, . March 4, 1848. On February 12, 1850, a gen- eral act providing for the incorporation of companies to construct macadamized, graded, turnpike, wooden, rail roads, or plank roads was approved, and during the same session- 1849-50-24 separate companies were char- tered. During the session, 1851-52, 10 new companies were incorporated, and 5 or 6 acts authorizing existing companies to borrow money were passed. During the session of 1853-54 only 1 new charter was issued, mak- ing 35 in all during a period of slightly over 5 years.

There are no available records to show the exact number of miles constructed, but sev- eral such roads were either wholly or partly built and used as toll roads for varying lengths of time. Among those best known were the Montgomery South Plank Road, of which 17 miles, between Montgomery and Steep Creek in Lowndes County, were com- pleted; the Central Plank Road, projected be- tween Montgomery and Guntersville via We- tumpka and Talladega, of which about 60 miles north of Wetumpka were put in service;

the Tuscaloosa and Greensboro Plank Road, all or most of which was completed and used for several years. There were besides sev- eral shorter stretches of planked road con- structed in different localities over the State, aggregating, with the above mentioned, prob- ably 150 miles.

Decline in Popularity .- The enthusiasm for plank roads was comparatively short-lived, lasting only about five years. This was due partly to the overshadowing interest in rail- roads which arose among capitalists almost simultaneously, and partly to the great dis- parity between the estimated and the actual cost of their construction and maintenance. Where maximum estimates of the cost of construction made by engineers in 1849 had been $1,200 to $1,500 per mile, the actual average cost by 1852 had been found to vary from $2,000 to $4,000 per mile, and even more where there were long stretches to be built through marshy or swampy country, and the cost of maintenance in proportion. The plank roads that were thus built were used for a time, but soon became merely relics of one of the sporadic phases of the develop- ment of transportation in Alabama.

See Internal Improvements; Railroads; Roads and Highways.

REFERENCES .- Acts, 1848 to 1854, passim; Committee of Fifteen, on the establishment of a plank road from Tuskaloosa to Roup's Valley, Report, Sept. 24, 1849; Report on plank roads, made in the State of New York (n. d.); George Geddes, Observations upon plank roads, together with the general plank road law of the State of New York (1850) ; Memorial to the General Assembly of 1851-52, on the subject of plank roads as a system of internal improvements; A. A. Dexter, Report on preliminary survey for a plank road from Montgomery and Wetumpka to Talladega (1850) ; President's report to the stockholders of the Montgomery South Plank Road Company (n. d.); Gov. H. W. Collier, "Message," in Senate Journal, 1849-50, pp. 122- 134.

PLANT LIFE. Plants growing in Ala- bama without cultivation, number between 2500 and 3000. The list includes all the introduced adventive and fugitive forms. Fifty-nine species are spore-bearing plants, the rest seed-bearing. Of the Spermato- phyta-seed bearing, twelve species belong to the Gymnosperms, those with their ovules destitute of an inclosing ovary; the remaind- er to the Angiosperms, those having their seeds within an ovary. Of the Angiosperms, more than 700 distinct forms are Mono- cotyledons, and more than 1700 are Dicoty- ledons. The Compositae family is represent- ed by more than 300 species.

The plants of Alabama are practically identical with those of the adjoining sections of the country south of the Potomac River.

The number of plants endemic or native to the State is small, only three being re- corded, namely, Neviusia Alabamensis, Cro- ton Alabamensis, and Trichomanes petersii.

The distribution of plant life in the State cannot be strictly limited to the life zones,

1132

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

some few plants credited by Mohr and other writers to the upper Austral zone only, that is, above a line drawn from the northwest corner of the State through Childersburg to the lower line of Lee County, are now found many miles below this line. The azaleas are notable examples, but they are found below this zone only in hilly regions. As a general rule, the flora of the mineral belt differs materially from that of the southern section of the State.

Perennial plants are largely in excess of the annuals and biennials, comprising five- sixths of the total flora. The evergreens constitute an important group, and are rep- resented by thirty-one arboreal species and a much larger number of shrubs. The un- dergrowth of the State is largely evergreen.

About 230 species of hydraphytes, that is, water and swamp plants, are found. Nine of these are free floating in water.

There are 150 species of naturalized plants, more than one-fifth of them being grasses. One-half of these originally had their home in central and western Europe; one-seventh in the Mediterranean region; one-sixth in the tropical region of the Old World, and about the same proportion in tropical America, with a few species from the section of the United States west of the Mis- sissippi.

More than forty species of adventive plants are found, that is, those which have gained a firm foothold on cultivated lands, but which lack the power to hold their own in the struggle with the indigenous plants for the possession of the soil.

One hundred and fifty-seven species of fu- gitive plants are growing on the shores of Mobile Bay. These have been introduced from the Mediterranean and tropical regions of the Old World, Mexico, West Indies, and parts of South America. These plants are not firmly established and are liable to suc- cumb to the vicissitudes of climate and acci- dental changes in the locality of their growth.

The earliest writer on the plant life of this region was William Bartram, who traveled through the southern states from 1773 to 1778. He spent about eight months of 1777 in what is now Alabama, and his observa- tions on the flora form are interesting con- tributions to the literature of the subject.

To Dr. Charles T. Mohr, late of Mobile must be given the distinction of having more fully and carefully explored, identified and described the flora of Alabama than has been done by any one student for any like area.

REFERENCES .- William Bartram, Travels, (1791, 1792) ; Dr. A. W. Chapman, Flora of the Southern United States (1860, 1883) ; Mohr, Plant Life of Alabama (1901); Miss E. F. Andrews, Botany all the year around (1903) ; Harper, Economic botany of Alabama (Geol. Survey of Ala., Monograph 8, 1913) ; Ibid, "A few more pioneer plants found in the meta- morphic region of Alabama and Georgia," in Torreya, Oct., 1910, vol. 10, and "The aquatic vegetation of Squaw shoals, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama," in Ibid, Sept., 1914, vol. 14; Ibid, "Notes on the distribution of some Alabama

plants," Bulletin, Torreya botanical club, 1906, vol. 33, pp. 523-536; Ibid, "The 'pocosin' of Pike County, Alabama, and its bearing on certain problems of succession," in Ibid, vol. 41, pp. 209-220.

PLEASANT HILL ACADEMY .- A private co-educational country school, located in Jefferson County, several miles from Besse- mer. Prof. I. W. McAdory was the first principal and taught at that place from Jan- uary 10, 1868, to 1888, twenty years. The school house was built at the expense of Thomas H. Owen, I. W. Sadler, W. L. Wil- son, and Thomas L. Williams, who employed Professor McAdory to teach their families, consisting of 15 children. The school ran for ten months each year, and was open to all who wanted to attend. There were primary, intermediate and high school classes and the books were so indicated. Pupils were prepared for sophomore classes at the Uni- versity of Alabama. After the first year's work Prof. McAdory assumed the responsibili- ties of the school as a personal affair. The terms began in the fall and closed the last of July the year following.

In 1828 a school house was built about a quarter of a mile from where Pleasant Hill Academy was later erected, and three month schools were taught for the benefit of pioneer families, Hugh Morrow being the first teacher. That school continued in use until 1865. Among the teachers were O. W. Sad- ler, Thomas McAdory, Elisha Philips, Josh Draker, William McCloud, Ben Hubbard, Miss Nettie Chappell, and Miss Nannie Sadler.

A school was taught about 212 miles north of Pleasant Hill, prior to 1828, in the Salem Hills, by a Mr. Cox, who advertised his school as the "thrashing machine." Among his pupils was Mrs. I. W. Sadler, nee Martha Prude, who was born in 1818, one of the two first white children born in Jefferson County, the other being Dr. Joseph Smith.

REFERENCE .- Personal recollections of the au- thor who was prepared in Pleasant Hill Acad- emy for the University; and a letter from Prof. I. W. McAdory, in the Alabama State Department of Archives and History.

PLUMS AND PRUNES. See Fruits.

POLITICAL DIVISION OF THE STATE. Sixty-seven counties, thirty-five senatorial districts and ten congressional districts.

See Congressional representation; Coun- ties; Legislature.

REFERENCES .- Code of Alabama, 1907, secs. 99, 121, 900, 901; Acts of Ala., 1915, p. 875.

POLLARD. Post office and station on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, in the south- ern part of Escambia County, about 10 miles southwest of Brewton, ahout 7 miles north- east of Flomaton, 72 miles northeast of Mo- bile, and 114 miles southwest of Montgomery. Altitude: 73 feet. Population: 1870-300; 1890-389; 1900-267; 1910-599. It was the first county seat, and so continued until

1133

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

the seat of justice was moved to Brewton. It has the Bank of Pollard (State). It was a military post during the War, being the de- pot and headquarters for the Confederate troops detailed to watch Pensacola, before Florida had seceded. In January, 1865, a sharp conflict between Gen. J. H. Clanton and a body of Federal raiders occurred at Pol- lard, and later the town was burned.

REFERENCES .- Brewer, Alabama (1872), p. 247; Northern Alabama (1888), p. 235; Polk's Alabama gazetteer, 1888-9, p. 659; Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1915.

POLLOCK-STEPHENS INSTITUTE. Pri- vate school for the education of white girls and women, located at Birmingham. This Institution was founded in September, 1890, and incorporated by act of February 10, 1893. O. S. Pollock, C. W. Stephens and J. C. Mor- ris were the incorporators. The school build- ing, a handsome and commodious three story structure, was located on West Twentieth street, opposite Capitol park. The first graduates (1892-93) were Ada Johnston, Helen M. Johnston, Kate Morrow, and Eula C. Thomas. Academic, collegiate, normal and special courses were offered.

The school possessed a good library of books and pamphlets. Conservatories of music and art were conducted in connection with the Institute.

Presidents: Mrs. E. L. Taliaferro, Cath- erine Deschamps Elrod.

REFERENCES .- Circular letters, programs, cir- culars, etc.

POPULATION. The population of Ala- bama in 1910 was 2,138,093, 1,228,832 white, 908,282 negro, and 979 Indians, Chi- nese, Japanese and other Asiatics. The white population constituted 57.46 per cent, and the negro, 42.49 per cent of the whole. Of the total population of the State, 99.1 per cent were natives of the United States and 0.9 per cent, foreign born. Persons born in this State composed 87.7 per cent of the native population, and those born in other States, 12.3 per cent. Of the native white inhabi- tants 84.1 per cent were born in this State, and 15.9 per cent in other States. The per- centage of negroes native to other States was 7.5. Of the total population, 1,074,209 were males, and 1,063,884 females, a ratio of 101 males to 100 females. In the white popula- tion the ratio was 103.8 males to 100 females; in the negro, 97.2 to 100. The urban popu- lation was 370,431, and the rural, 1,767,662. Of the urban, 213,756 were whites; 156,603, negroes; and 72 Indians, Chinese, and Jap- anese. Of the rural population, 1,015,076 were white persons; 751,679, negroes; and 907, Indians, Chinese, Japanese and all others.

There were three cities in the State whose population exceeded 25,000: Birmingham, with 132,685, 67,268 male, 65,417 female; Mobile, with 51,521, 24,317 male, 27,204 fe- male; Montgomery, with 38,134, 17,805 male, 20,331 female. The population of the city of Birmingham was composed of 66,312

native white of native parentage, 8,357 native white of foreign or mixed parentage, 5,700 foreign-born white, 52,305 negro, and 11 Chi- nese and Japanese. Moblle's population con- sisted of 20,944 native white of native par- entage, 5,585 native white of foreign or mixed parentage, 2,208 foreign-born white, 22,763 negro, 21 Indian and Chinese. The population of Montgomery being less than 50,000, is not analyzed in the census reports.

Sources of Population .- The early popula. tion of the State was much the same in char- acter and origin as that of the Southern Col- onies. Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and other States contrib- uted their share, and no preponderance of im- migrants from any one of them can be traced. The people who came directly from Virginia and the Carolinas were, as a rule, of a higher state of civilization and culture than the others. This was due to the fact that those from the other States had grown up amid pioneer conditions, where they had not en- joyed the opportunities for education and cultivation which existed in the seaboard Colonies. Generally speaking, the more ar- duous work of clearing the land and estab- lishing settlements was done by the hardy frontiersmen from the States immediately ad- jacent to Alabama. It was they who fought the battles with the Indian occupants of the land and prepared the way for the multitude of well-to-do farmers and planters who, with their families, possessions and slaves, came . from Virginia and the Carolinas in search of cheaper and more fertile lands.

Pickett, the leading historian of Alabama, declares:

"The Creeks had at length determined to leave the Americans in quiet possession of the lands, which were surrendered with such reluctance at Fort Jackson. The flood-gates of Virginia, the two Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia were now hoisted, and mighty streams of emigration poured through them, spreading over the whole territory of Alabama. The axe resounded from side to side and from corner to corner. The stately and magnificent forests fell. Log cabins sprang, as if by magic, into sight. Never be- fore or since has a country been so rapidly peopled."

A Half Century of Progress .- The first enumeration of the population of the State of Alabama was made by the United States Government in 1820. The total population of the area now embraced in the State, and then a part of Mississippi Territory, in 1800 was 1,250, and in 1810, 9,046. There are no fig- ures available to show the relative propor- tions of white and black, native and foreign, male and female.

In 1820, the total population of the State, admitted to the Union during the previous year, was 144,317, an increase of 1,495.39 per cent in 10 years. The enumeration in- cluded 96,245 whites, 633 free negroes, and 47,439 slaves, making the total negro population 48,072. The white population constituted 66.62 per cent of the whole, in- cluding 51,750 males and 44,495 females.

1134

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

Included in the foregoing were 195 aliens. The relative rank of Alabama among the other States with respect to various classes of population was: total population, nine- teenth; white population, eighteenth; total negro population, ninth; slave population, ninth.

The population of the State in 1830 had increased to 309,527, or 114.48 per cent, dur- ing the previous 10 years. It was made up of 190,406 white, 1,572 free negro, 117,549 slave, making the total negro population 119,121; proportion of white to total popu- lation, 61.52 per cent. The white population increased from 1820 to 1830 by 122.82 per cent; the slave population, 180.68 per cent. The white population was composed of 100,- 846 males and 89,560 females.

The number of aliens was 65, a decrease, as compared with the year 1820, of 130, but whether by departure from the State or by naturalization, does not appear.

The population of the State in 1840 was 590,756, an increase of 90.86 per cent during 10 years. Of these, 335,185 were white, 2,039 free negro, 253,532 slave; total negro, 255,571. The white population formed 56.74 per cent of the whole, having increased dur- ing the decade 76.03 per cent. The percent- age of increase of slave population during the same period was 115.68. Of the white pop- ulation, 176,692 were males and 158,493, fe- males.

Alabama's total population in 1850 was 771,623, 426,514 white, 2,265 free negro, 342,844 slave; total negro, 345,109; percent- age of increase over 1840, 30.62. White per- sons formed 55.27 per cent of the total, hav- ing increased during 10 years 27.24 per cent, while the slave population during the same period had increased 35.22 per cent. Of the white population, 219,483 were males, and 207,031 females. The census of 1850 was the first to indicate the nativity of the white population of the State. There were 234,691 natives of this State, 55.03 per cent; 183,324 natives of other States, 42.98 per cent; 7,498 natives of foreign countries, 1.76 per cent; and 1,001 whose nativity was unknown, 0.23 per cent.

In 1860, the State had a total population of 964,201, 526,271 white, 2,690 free negro, 435,080 slave; total negro, 437,770; Indian, 160. The percentage of increase during the previous 10 years was 24.96; of the white population, 23.39; of the slave, 27.18. The white population constituted 54.58 per cent of the total, and consisted of 270,190 males and 256,081 females. Of the white popula- tion, 320,026, 60.49 per cent, were natives of the State; 196,089, 37.06 per cent, natives of other States; 12,352, 2.33 per cent, natives of foreign countries; 645, 0.12 per cent, of unknown nativity.

Post Bellum Growth .- As a result of the War, in 1870, the classification of the negro population was changed, there being no slaves. The total population was 996,992; of which 521,384 were white; 475,510, negro; and 98, Indian. The increase during the pre- vious 10 years was 3.4 per cent. The white

population decreased 0.009 per cent, but the negro population increased 8.62 per cent. Of the white population, 511,718 were native and 9,666 foreign; 255,023, male and 266,361, female.

The total population of the State in 1880 was 1,262,505; of which 662,185 were white; 600,103, negro; 4, Chinese; and 213, civilized Indian. Of the white inhabitants, 327,517 were males and 334,668, females; 652,664, natives of the United States and 9,521, per- sons of foreign birth. The principal towns of the State, in the order of their population, were Mobile, with 29,132, 16,885 white, 12,- 240 negro, 4 Chinese and Japanese, 3 Indian; Montgomery, with 16,713, 6,782 white, 9,931 negro; Selma, with 7,529, 3,345 white, 4,184 negro; Huntsville, with 4,977, 2,369 white, 2,608 negro.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 76

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