USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I > Part 101
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practice of law. He married Mary Foster, in Matthews county, Va., a lady related to the Stapletons and other prominent families of Virginia. She was born in 1811, and bore her husband three sons and five daughters. In 1850 Edward T. Fowlkes removed from North Carlolina to Marion, Ala., where he died in 1851 and his widow in 1875. The father was a lawyer of ability, and was born in Lunenburgh county, Va., in 1807. After his death the family began to separate; Mr. A. M. Fowlkes was about twelve years of age when his parents removed to Alabama. He was educated at the Howard college, then located at Marion, Ala., receiving a liberal edu- cation and leaving college in 1855. His chosen profession was that of civil engineer, and he became secretary of the Perry Insurance Trust company at Marion, Ala., and was holding that position when the war came on. Early in 1861 he joined the Confederate service, being made first lieutenant of company A, Twenty-eighth Alabama infantry. The captain of this company was soon made major, and without receiving a commission Lieut. Fowlkes acted as captain of the company for two years; but in 1863 was promoted to the rank of major on the staff of Gen. Joe. E. Johnston, and when Gen. Hood was put in Johnston's place Major Fowlkes was retained, and when Gen. Johnston once more re. sumed command Maj. Fowlkes still retained his place on the staff. Maj. Fowikes fought in many battles, among which may be mentioned Shiloh, Farmington, Perryville, Murfreesboro. Chattanooga, Chicka
mauga, Missionary Ridge, siege of Atlanta, and Bentonville. After the
war he engaged in farming. In 1868 he became treasurer of the Selma, Marion & Memphis railroad (now the C., S. & M. ), of which railroad com- pany he was made the receiver in 1874, holding control of the road till 1878, when it was sold under foreclosure. Maj. Fowlkes, however, con- tinued as superintendent and treasurer up to 1882. In 1883 he came to Selma and embarked in the wholesale and retail hardware business, in which he has since continued, building up a very large trade, until he now conducts one of the most important hardware establishments in Ala- bama. In October, 1886, he became one of the purchasers of the New Orleans & Selma railroad and since has been the general superintendent, secretary and treasurer of the road, which under the new corporation is known as the Birmingham, Selma & New Orleans railroad. He is presi- dent of the Selma Land company, director in the Hotel Albert company, and was president of the Selma Bridge company, in which capacity he superintended the construction of the bridge across the Alabama at Selma, and for one year thereafter was manager. He is also a director in the Improvement & Furnace company, and has been and is identified with other business enterprises. He is a thorough business man and has taken an active part in the several enterprises tending to upbuild Selma, in which city, as elsewhere, he is known and held in the highest esteem. He has been a warm friend of education, being for the past several years a trustee of the public schools of his city. He and his family are all
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members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has been stew- ard for years. In 1859, at Marion, Ala., he was united in marriage with Miss Bettie Jemison, and to the union have been born two daughters. As a business man Maj. Fowlkes is possessed of ample ability, and though after the war he began with no capital, has succeeded in amassing a good estate and has played no small part in the business world; as a railroad man he has displayed no usual ability, being eminently practical in the business management and, being himself a civil engineer by profession, he has proven well fitted for the railway positions he' has held. He is also engaged in farming. He has at his store, in Selma, a very large line of all kinds of hardware and agricultural implements, and to him defer- ence is paid by all.
JOHN P. FURNISS, M. D .- Among the most active and successful medical practitioners of Selma, Ala., may be placed John P. Furniss, M. D. He is a native of Mississippi, having been born at Columbus, that state, on the 24th day of September, 1841. His scholastic training was received at Prof. Tutwiler's Green Spring school, and at the university of Mississippi, from which he was graduated in 1860. Predilection lead him to the study of medicine, and upon leaving the university of Mis- sissippi, he entered the New Orleans school of medicine. His father was . a learned and skillful physician, and this, perhaps, had no little influence with the son in the selection of medicine for his profession. The father, + also named John P. Furniss, was a native of Maryland, but, in 1835, he removed to Louisiana, and died at the age of thirty-five years. Though educated for the profession of medicine, he practiced only gratuitously, as planting was the vocation to which his attention was chiefly directed. When the war between the states came on, the younger Dr. Furniss was not quite twenty years of age and was in attendance at the New Orleans school of medicine. With patriotism for his native state, he enlisted early in the conflict, becoming a private in company K, of the Fourteenth Mississippi regiment. Less than a year subsequent he was transferred to the medical department of the Confederates States army as assistant surgeon, and at the reorganization of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army, was promoted to the rank of surgeon, in 1865. of the Fourteenth and Forty- third Confederates, Mississippi. He was but twenty-one years of age, and with remarkable skill, courage and faithfulness he performed his duty as surgeon to the close of hostilities. For one year after the war he remained in Mississippi, and then ( 1866 ) located at Selma, Ala., and engaged in the practice of his chosen profession. He soon gained an extensive clientage and has there since remained; his practice has increased with remarkable rapidity, and his skill and learning as a physician have won for him an enviable reputation. In the history and progress of the medical profession in the state of his adoption he has played an important part. He has long been a member both of the State and Dallas county Medical societies, becoming grand senior counselor of
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the former. Dr. Furniss has not been unmindful of the course of public opinion, but has kept pace with current events and the progress of his people; he is progressive as a citizen, but has never turned aside from the duties of his profession to seek public or political honors. He has, however, become interested in both manufactures and agriculture, and thus has materially aided the industrial progress and growth of his home. He is unassuming and unostentatious, and these traits, together with his polite bearing, and modesty of character. render him popular with all who know him. His learning and skill as a physician well merit that deference yielded by his professional brethren. A happy marriage, con- summated in December of 1876, with Miss E. M. Dawson, an accomplished lady and a daughter of Hon. N. H. R. Dawson of Selma, has given issue to two surviving sons and has rendered Dr. Furniss' domestic relations the most pleasant. In religion he is a Presbyterian. The doctor was appointed, in 1889, state referee of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance company of Newark, N. J., which position he still holds.
EDWARD PEGRAM GALT, one of the leading druggists of Alabama, was born in Norfolk, Va., October 5, 1847. His parents were Alexander and Mary (Raincock) Galt, both of whom were born in Virginia, the former in Williamsburg and the latter in Norfolk. They both were descended from early and distinguished families of Virginia, the members of the Galt, Raincock and Pegram families playing important parts in their state in both the business and professional worlds. The Galt family is of Scotch origin, and the Raincock family of English. The descendants of these two families are numerous throughout the country. The father of E. P. Galt was a druggist, and was in business for many years at Norfolk, Va. He died there of yellow fever, in 1855, at the age of sixty-three. Our subject's parents were married in Virginia, and they became the parents of three children, of whom, our subject is the only survivor. The father was married twice, our subject being a son of the second wife. His first wife was a Miss Jeffery, by whom he had three sons and two daughters. One of these sons, Alexander Galt, became distinguished as a sculptor; but his promising career was cut short at the early age of thirty-two, in the year 1863, his statue of Jefferson, at the university of Virginia, being one of his masterpieces. He is still remembered as a man of genius, and he left an enviable reputation. Another son by the first marriage, William R. Galt, is a distinguished educator of Virginia. Dr. James D. Galt, who died in 1888, was one of the most eminent physicians in Norfolk. E. P. Galt was educated at Norfolk until the commencement of the war, which turned the current of his life. He entered the Confed- erate army at the age of seventeen, in 1864. He was in the Harris Home hospital at Charlottesville, Va., as an apothecary, serving there until the close of the war. After the close of the war, he resumed the drug busi- ness at Norfolk, Va., remained there until September, 1866, when he came to Selma, Ala., and clerked in a drug store until 1878, when he established .
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-DALLAS COUNTY. 873
himself in business, in which he has continued up to the present time with success. For five years he has been on the state board of pharmacy of Alabama, and has been recently appointed for a third term of three years. He has been secretary of the board all the time he has been a member. He was married, in 1871, to Annie F. Riggs, daughter of Joel Riggs, and brother of J. M. Riggs, of Montgomery, and first cousin of Dr. Benjamin Riggs, of Selma, now deceased. To this marriage of our sub- ject with Miss Riggs there have been born three sons and three daughters. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, to which also his family belongs, and he has been secretary of the vestry for the past fifteen years. In 1868, his mother joined him at Selma, and made her home with him until her death in 1887, at the age of seventy-one. Mr. Galt is one of the most highly respected of the citizens of Selma.
EDWARD SAMUEL GATCHELL, a young, popular and successful business man of Selma, was born in this city, December 27, 1863. His father, Henry, well known as "Harry" Gatchell, was born in Ireland and died at Selma, in 1869, in the prime of life. He was of a family of two sons and five daughters, and was the only one of the family who immigrated to the United States or ever married. Soon after coming to Alabama he mar- ried Miss Susan J. King, a native of Alabama. She yet survives, and lives with her son, Edward S. There were three sons, all of whom are living. Of these, Harry Gatchell was a mechanic by trade; during the war he was master mechanic for the Alabama & Tennessee River rail- road at Selma, but at the time of his death he had been, for several years, city clerk of Selma, where he is yet remembered as a popular, cultured and highly esteemed gentleman. He was a Mason of high standing. Edward S. Gatchell was reared in Selma, and by reason of the early death of his father, and the moderate circumstances in which the family was left at his death, found it necessary to divide his time between labor for a livelihood and attending school, the former receiving by far the larger portion of his time. Notwithstanding this. he secured a fair literary education, and attended the Dallas academy. For three years he remained in the office of J. C. Graham & Co., cotton merchants, and then attended school for a brief season. He then took a position as clerk in the drug store of Cawthon & Coleman, of Selma, with which firm he remained two years. During the winter of 1879-80 he attended Prof. Callaway's school at Selma, and in July, 1880, he went into the store of Brooks & Wilkins, druggists, at Selma, with whom he remained until 1883, becoming, in the meantime, a licensed druggist. In 1883 he became an express inessenger with the Southern Express company, remaining with that company until 1885, enjoying the entire confidence of the company. From 1885 to 1887 he was a clerk in the wholesale grocery store of H. C. Keeble & Co., at Selma, and in 1887 he became the Baltimore & Ohio Express company's first agent at Selina, holding
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MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
the position until September, 1897, when, on account of having become associated with Walter S. Butler in the book and stationery business in 1886, he found it necessary to devote his whole time to this business, and now. as a member of the firm of Butler & Gatchell, book dealers and stationers. he exhibits unusual tact and business capacity as business manager for one of his age. On March 6, 1888, Mr. Gatchell married Miss Minnie S. Taylor, of Montgomery, Ala. He is a Knight Templar Mason, has been grand royal arch captain of the grand chapter of royal arch Masonry of the state of Alabama; he is high priest of St. John chapter, No. 28, and senior warden of Selma Fraternal lodge, No 27. He is also an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He is an elder in the church and represented his presbytery as a delegate to the general assembly held at Hot Springs, Ark., in 1892, an honor that seldom comes to so young a man.
SAMUEL G. GAY, M. D., was born in Dallas county. December 11, 1864. He is a son of John A. and Alvira (Colley) Gay, the former of whom came from Georgia when a small boy with his parents. His mother died in the state of Alabama, and his father subsequently went to Texas, and on his return was lost at sea. John A. Gay grew to manhood in Alabama, and chose farming as his occupation, continuing thus engaged until his death, which occurred when he was forty-five years old. His wife still lives at the age of seventy, in Dallas county. She was born in the county. Her father was John A. Colley, and he came to Alabama from Kentucky at an early date. He was among the first settlers of the county, and was a large planter and slave holder. The mother of Dr. Gay had twelve children, he being the youngest. There are but three now living. Dr. Gay was raised on the farm. and received a good com- mon school education, supplemented by persistent self-application. At the age of nineteen he began the study of medicine at the Alabama Medical college at Mobile. He entered this college in 1884, and graduated in April, 1887. He then located at Selma in May, 1887, established him- self in the practice of his profession, and has continued here ever since. He is president of the Dallas county Medical society, and is a member of the State Medical association. He is inclined to obstetrics and gynecology. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and also of the Baptist church. He was married in 1890 to Miss Corinne M. Turner, of Mobile. He is one of the promising young physicians of Dallas county, and stands de- servedly high in the community.
SIMON GAY was born in Sussex county, Va., April 21, 1821. In his vouth he had poor educational advantages. His parents were Wilton and Lucy (Nelmes) Gay, both natives of Virginia. The former was of English ancestry and the latter of Irish. At the age of nineteen years Simon Gay went to Richmond, Va., to learn his trade, and entered the employ of the Tredegar Iron Works, where gained his first experience as a machinist. After being in the employ of the Tredegar Iron Works about
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seven years, he was for a short time in the employ of Samson & Peas at Richmond. He had now learned the art of gun and cannon making, and at the age of thirty-three years was engaged as superintendent of the Bolona arsenal cannon foundry, in Chesterfield county, Va., an estab- lishment owned by Junius L. Archer, then a very large government con- tractor for the manufacture .of heavy ordnance. Mr. Gay remained superintendent of the Bolona Iron works for a period of five years, and he was then again employed at Richmond. In 1862, he removed to Selma, Ala., accepted a position with McRay & Spear in their foundry, and con- tinued with them until they sold their foundry to the government of the Confederate States. This was in 1863, and immediately the foundry was converted into a manufactory of arms and equipments for both army and navy. Later the works became known as the Selma Naval works. Mr. Gay was retained in the employ of the Confederate States government because of his skill in gun making. He was made superintendent of furnaces, of boring and finishing guns and cannons, and held this position until the close of the war. His skill in mechanics and in gun making was so well known that the United States government offered him special in- ducements to enter its service, but his sentiments and hopes were with the south and its people, and all such offers were declined. As a , mechanic Mr. Gay is a man of wide and practical knowledge. He has original ideas in both general machinery and gunnery, which have proved of great utility. He was associated with Mr. George Peacock, the founder, and others, in the introduction at the Selma Naval Cannon foundry, in the melting of iron with pine knots, mentioned at length in the sketch of Mr. Peacock, elsewhere in this work. Mr. Gay claims to have been superintendent of furnaces of boring and of finishing guns and cannon at that time, and from this it may be inferred that he had much to do with the introduction of heating with pine knots, though he is far from claim- ing all the honor to himself. For seventeen years after the war Mr. Gay remained in the employ of the Alabama Central Railroad company, first as a machinist in the shops at Selma, and from. 1878 to 1881 he was master mechanic. In the latter year he entered the employ of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad company as master mechanic, remaining in such position until 1886, in which year he became foreman of the round house for the same company at Selma, which position he still holds. Mr. Gay is a highly respected citizen for his integrity of purpose and sincerity, and now at the age of seventy-one he can look back over a life well spent with a satisfaction that could not otherwise be felt. In 1845 he was married to Miss Mary Andrew, of Chesterfield county, Va., by whom he had seven sons and four daughters, of whom five sons and two daughters still survive.
WILLIAM BARNEY GILL, who for many years was a successful busi- ness man of Selma, Ala., was born at Baltimore, Md., June 6, 1825, and died at Selma, August 4, 1890. When he was but a small boy his parents
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removed to Louisville, Ky., and there he grew to manhood. He received a liberal literary and business education at Louisville, where he also learned his trade, that of a carriage and wagon maker. Early in life he left Louisville and went to Nashville, Tenn., where he worked at his trade for a short time. He then removed to Auburn, Ala., where he established himself in the manufacture of carriages and wagons. While there in business he married Miss Annie Maria Evans, a native of Con- necticut, but reared in New York city up to the time of her marriage with Mr. Gill. During this same year, 1849, Mr. Gill's place of business was burned down, and soon afterward he removed to Montgomery, remaining there nearly a year, and then removing to Selma in 1851. Here he was employed by a Mr. Hodgkiss, dealer in wagons and buggies, and soon became a partner in the firm, purchasing a half interest in the business. Subsequently he purchased the remaining half interest and thus became sole proprietor. He continued in this business as sole pro- prietor until the time of his death. He was a prosperous business man, made so by his superior business qualities and his integrity. He attained to wealth and an enviable reputation as an honest and upright citizen. He took a great deal of interest in the progress of Selma, and was honored by its citizens by being elected mayor twice, and to the office of councilman many years. With a few others he secured the organization of the Young Men's Christian association, and also the erection of the magnificent building of the association at Selma. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, and was for several years an elder. He was a. highly respected citizen, a faithful friend and a devoted husband and father. He died leaving a widow and but one child, a son, whose name is William Memory Gill. This son succeeded to his father's business, which he is now conducting with sagacity and success.
T. A. HALL, boot and shoe dealer of Selma, Ala., was born in Nash- ville, Tenn., June 18, 1833. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Williams) Hall, the former of whom was born in Scotland, and was brought by his parents to the United States, they settling in Pennsyl- vania, where he grew to manhood. Mrs. Elizabeth Hall was of Scotch and English descent. After their marriage the parents of Mr. T. A. Hall removed to St. Louis, where he received a good common school education and also a commercial one. After the death of his parents he came to Selma in 1850, where he served as a clerk to a mercantile firm, and in 1858 embarked in business for himself. Up to the beginning of late war he was a wholesale grocer in Selma. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate service, but was soon afterward detailed to the rail- road department in the government employ, in which he continued to the close of the war. He then resumed business in Selma as a cotton factor; but in 1869 he established himself in the boot and shoe business and has since engaged therein with gratifying success. He has the oldest established boot and shoe house in Selma. In 1861 Mr. Hall mar-
DAMAme
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ried Miss Hattie Colman, daughter of a prominent planter of Dallas county, Ala. She died in January, 1887. Mr. Hall is a royal arch Mason, a member of the Presbyterian church, and is recognized by all as a most excellent citizen.
EDWARD H. HOBBS, jeweler at Selma, Ala., was born at Gloucester, Maine, June 28, 1840. His parents were Josiah and Miranda (Merrill) Hobbs, both natives of Maine. Josiah Hobbs was a farmer by occupation, and was the father of ten sons and one daughter. He moved with his family to Illinois in 1856, where Mrs. Hobbs died in 1872, at the age of seventy- four. Mr. Hobbs died at the home of Edward H. in Selma, in 1876, at the age of eighty-four. He was a son of Josiah Hobbs, who was born in Maine and was of English descent, his ancestors, however, having been in Maine for several generations. He was a farmer by occupation, was a colonel of a militia in his day, and served as a sergeant in the Revolu- tionary war. Edward H. Hobbs was sixteen years old when his parents removed to Illinois. In 1856 they had lived at Lawrence, Mass., and he attended the public schools at that place, and when they removed to Illi- nois he attended public school there, in Kendall county.
£ In 1862 he enlisted in company H, Eighty-ninth Illinois volunteer infantry, as a pri- vate soldier, and was honorably discharged at Nashville, Tenn., June 10, 1865, as corporal of his company. The principal engagements in which he participated were Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, the series of battles from Dalton to Atlanta; and after the fall of Atlanta he was on detached duty at Nashville the rest of the war. On December 9, 1865, he reached Selma, where he has ever since made his home. His brother, Samuel F. Hobbs, had before the war come to Selma, and, being a jeweler and silversmith by trade, was in business there at the close of the war, and was then joined by the subject of our sketch. He, together with Captain Haralson, organized the Matthews Cotton Mill company, became president of the company, held this position until 1883, when he went to .Illinois and there organized the Aurora Cotton Mill company, and built the cotton mill there. Three years later he returned to Alabama. He had conducted a jewelry business up to 1883, when Edward H., who had been since 1865, continuously in his employ, purchased the business, and has since then conducted it himself. In 1868 he married Miss Cornelia Lathrop, of Illinois, who became the mother of four children, and died in 1885. He then married in September, 1891, the widow of his brother, Samuel F. Hobbs. She was a Miss John, and a daughter of Chancellor J. R. John, of Selma. Mr. Hobbs is a member of the Presbyterian church, has been a member for about twenty years. He is one of the substantial citizens of Selma, and is highly respected by all.
ALEXANDER WILLIAMSON JONES was born at . Somerville, Fayette county, Tenn., November 3, 1840. His parents, Hon. Calvin and Mildred (Williamson) Jones, were born and reared in North Carolina. His father was of English descent, while his mother was of Scotch ancestry, her
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