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 102
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parents coming from Scotland to this country. He was educated at the university of North Carolina, graduating with first honors, and serving for one year immediately thereafter as professor in the college. He pre- pared for the practice of law, and removed to Tennessee, where he became distinguished both as a jurist and as an advocate. After serving eight years as chancellor of the western district of Tennessee, he retired from the bench and devoted himself exclusively and actively to the practice of the law, until 1887, when his career was cut short by the hand of death. His son, A. W. Jones, was educated at the west Tennessee college at Jackson. Upon leaving college, he took up the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. A. J. Peebles, of Somerville. In the spring of 1861, he graduated in medicine from the university of Pennsylvania, and early in this year he enlisted in the Dixie Rifles, Thirteenth Tennessee infantry, state troops. The regiment was sent to Missouri. where Dr. Jones was transferred to the medical department. Still later, the regiment was mustered into the Confederate service, and Dr. Jones, passing a success- ful examination, was made an assistant surgeon in the Confederate army. In 1863, he was commissioned first surgeon, and in November of this year, at the request of Gen. Forrest, he was transferred to that general's com- mand. Dr. Jones bore his part in the great drama of the Civil war with courage, fitness and faithfulness, serving on Gen. Forrest's staff after his transfer, up to the time of his surrender at Gainesville, Ala., May 5, 1865. In every battle fought by Gen. Forrest, Surgeon Jones took active part, bearing the usual arms of a staff officer, and waiving the usual protection thrown around the medical department. During one of his campaigns in Alabama, Surgeon Jones formed the acquaintance of Miss Augusta Car- lisle, daughter of the late E. K. Carlisle, of Marion, Ala., and they were married at Marion, Ala., January 30, 1866. She has borne him eight children, four sons and four daughters. Until 1870, Dr. Jones resided in Tennessee. In that year he removed to Selma, Ala., which city has since been his home. Upon coming to Selma, he formed a. co-partnership with his father-in-law, under the name of Carlisle & Jones, in a commission business, and a large and successful business was thus inaugurated. In 1872, E. K. Carlisle, Jr., was admitted to partnership, and the name of the firm was changed to Carlisle, Jones & Co. In Janu- ary, 1873, E. K. Carlisle, Sr., died, but the business was continued under the same firm name by Dr. Jones and the younger Carlisle, down to 1884. The commercial importance of this firm was felt throughout the state, and its financial standing was second to none. On August 12, 1878, Dr. Jones and others purchased, at public sale, the Selma. Marion & Memphis railroad and its franchises. The road then extended from Greensboro to Marion, was in bad condition, and was incomplete. A new corporation was immediately formed, and Dr. Jones was elected president, and through his successful management the road and its rolling stock were brought. into fine condition, and eight miles of new road built without one dollar
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being called for from the stockholders. By the construction of these eight miles of new road, a junction was formed with the New Orleans & Selma railroad. A favorable lease was then secured, under which the Selma & Greensboro road was permitted to run its cars into Selma, effecting a saving of $30,000 per year. By this means the Selma & Greensboro railroad became at once self-sustaining, and was placed upon a sound basis. In 1882, the road was sold, much to the interest of the stockholders, who, by the sale, received considerable profits . upon their investment. This road is now known as the Cincinnati, Selma & Mobile railroad. The New Orleans & Selma railroad, then incomplete, running out of Selma in a direct line toward New Orleans, was sold in the fall of 1886, Dr. Jones and others becoming the purchasers. A new corporation was at once formed under the name of the Birmingham, Selma & New Orleans railroad company, and Dr. Jones was elected president. This new company has improved and extended its road until now it is well equipped and profitably managed. Dr. Jones has an enviable reputation as a successful railroad man, and his duties as president of this road, as a director in the City National bank, of Selma, and in other interests and enterprises cause him to lead a very active life. Dr. Jones has always avoided politics, but has contributed largely to the material advancement of his section of the state. He is unassuming, unostentatious and courte- ous in bearing. His sincerity and integrity, and his superior business qualifications, confer upon him a dignity and importance in the social and commercial worlds that are alike enviable and honorable.
SAMUEL KIRKPATRICK, M. D., a young practicing physician at Selma, Ala., was born at Cahaba, Dallas county, Ala., August 19, 1865. His father is a prominent and wealthy planter residing at Cahaba, Samuel M. Kirkpatrick. He was born in Lowndes county, Ala. At the time of the breaking out of the war he owned a prosperous manufactory of cotton gins, but the war broke up that enterprise and since its close he has engaged in farming, in which occupation he has been unusually success- ful. He is a man of great respectability and influence, but he has never sought political preferment or honors. He married Sarah West, who was born in Autauga county. She has borne her husband several children, but only three of them are now living. Dr. Kirkpatrick was reared on the plantation and received a liberal education at Greensboro and Auburn, Ala. He selected medicine as his profession, and entered Vanderbilt university, completed a two years' course in medicine, and graduated in 1888. Immediately after his graduation, Dr. Kirkpatrick located at Selma, and soon secured a fine practice, which has steadily increased, until now it is a lucrative as well as a large one. His ability and his skill will undoubtedly enable him to rise high in his profession, one of the most arduous as well as one of the most useful to mankind. He is a member of the Dallas county Medical society, of which he is secretary. He is also a member of the State Medical association, and of the Dallas
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county board of censors. Taken altogether, it would certainly appear as though Dr. Kirkpatrick has before him as bright a future as could be desired.
SOLOMON KOHN, one of the leading business men of Selma, was born in Germany, in 1842. He was well educated in his native land and emigrated to the United States in 1859. Here he learned to read and write English. When the war broke out, he was at La Fayette, Chambers county, Ga., and he became a member of the La Fayette guards, company A, and enlisted for twelve months. . At the expiration of that time of service the regiment was disbanded, and soon afterward Mr. Kohn went to Burlington, Iowa, where he established himself in business; but in 1869 he sold his interest to his partner and removed to Selma, Ala., entering into a co-partnership with Louis Greil, under the firm name of Greil & Kohn, which immediately began a general merchandise business at Selma, which they have continued to the present day as wholesale and retail dealers in dry goods, clothing, hats, caps, boots and shoes, etc .. etc. From a small capital and a small beginning they have increased their business and their capital, and at the present day they are one of the leading firms in the city. Mr. Kohn is highly respected, is of a progress- ive spirit and has been active in the improvement of his chosen city. That he is held in high esteem is shown by the fact that he has been nine times elected treasurer of the city of Selma, holding the office eighteen years. In connection with Dr. Cawthorn and others, he was instrumental in the establishment of the city infirmary, of which the city is justly proud. He was also prominent in organizing the Hotel Albert company, of which he is a director, and he and Dr. Cawthorn built the Summerfield Grove road a few years ago. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Congregation Mishkan Israel, and also of the Jewish Fraternal society. He is a master Mason and a member of the A. O. U. W. In 1883, he married Miss Clara Meyer, by whom he has one son.
JAMES LAUDERDALE. local agent for the Western Railroad of Ala- bama at Selma, was born in Rhea county, Tenn., in March, 1836. His father, James Lauderdale, was a native of Tennessee. and his father, also named James Lauderdale, was of Scotch descent and among the early inhabitants of east Tennessee. The early progenitor of the Lauderdale family in the United States, although his christian name cannot now be ascertained, was among the colonists who settled Virginia, and his descendants have become numerous and scattered throughout nearly all the states of the Union, contributing largely to the prosperity of the country. The name "Lauderdale" originated in Scotland, and was applied to the families owning the dale adjacent to the river Lauder, hence Lauderdale. The name is well known both in Scotland and in the United States, being applied to many towns and counties. The name applied to several counties in southern states was given in honor of James Lauder-
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dale of Tennessee, who was well known to and intimately associated with Gen. Jackson in the war of 1812, and who was killed at the battle of New Orleans. When the present Mr. Lauderdale was a mere child his father removed from Rhea county to Bradley county, Tenn., and aided in remov- ing the Indians from that portion of the state, and there aided in organiz- ing Bradley county, of which he was elected sheriff. He subsequently represented that county in the lower house of the Tennessee legislature for several years. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1852, when he was fifty-one years of age, he was engaged in farming. He married Jane Johnson, a native of Tennessee, who died about a year before him. She bore her husband six sons and three daughters. Each of the sons participated in the Civil war as Confederate soldiers, the youngest enlist- ing at the age of fifteen. When his father died Mr. Lauderdale was just thirteen years old, and for the next succeeding two years made his home with an elder brother, and then he made his home with his uncle for about two years. He received what would at the present day be called a common school education, and at the age of seventeen returned to Bradley county and accepted a position as clerk in a store owned by. Reynolds & Hughes at Cleveland. This position he held two years, and then became local agent at Cleveland for the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia rail- road, and held the position eighteen months. He then resigned to enter into co-partnership with Reynolds & Hughes at Cleveland, in the dry goods business, the name of the new firm being J. Lauderdale & Co. This firm continued until the breaking out of the war, and in 1861 Mr. Lauder- dale became a private in an artillery company, known as Lookout artil- lery, R. L. Barry, captain. Soon after the organization, Mr. Lauderdale was chosen first lieutenant. This command was active in the field in the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida, and participated in the Georgia campaign from Dalton to Jonesboro, where it fought its last battle. For a brief period after the war, Mr. Lauderdale held a clerkship with the Southern Express company at Macon, Ga. He was then appointed to a position under John M. Bridges, agent at Atlanta for the State railroad of Georgia, holding this position for eight months. He next secured the appointment as a southern passenger agent for the Atlanta & Washington Railroad company, for two years, but at the end of this time the republican party secured control, and he was removed. He was next made agent for the Selma & Meridian railway at Meridian, Miss., remaining one ycar. Soon afterward he was offered the agency of the Southern Express company at Jackson, Miss., whither he went: but on reaching that city, decided not to accept the position. A few months later he returned to Selma, Ala., and accepted at that place the agency of the Western railroad of Alabama, holding the position from 1871 to 1880, when the management of the road changed him to Columbus, Ga., where he remained one year. He then was made agent of the East Ten- nessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad company, and of the Memphis & Chat-
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tanooga railroad company at Chattanooga, Tenn., where he remained till February, 1885. He then resigned to accept the agency of the Western railroad of Alabama at Selma, which position he holds at the present time. Mr. Lauderdale is a thorough railroad man, of much executive ability, and a faithful employee. He is an honest and highly respected citizen, a master Mason, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He has never sought notoriety, but has held several positions of trust and responsibility with credit to himself, and he has never asked for promo- tion. In 1875 he married Miss Florence Howard of Dallas county, Ala., by whom he has one son and two daughters. He has been a resident. of Selma for the last twenty years, with the intermission of four years, and he and his family enjoy the respect and esteem of all who know them.
RABBI EDWARD S. LEVY was born in Philadelphia, Penn., February 6, 1851. He attended the public schools of that city and afterward graduated from the high school. He then attended the Hebrew Educational school at Philadelphia, where he completed his classical education and pursued a course of theology. He became a teacher in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York city, the most important institution of the »kind in the United States, holding this position four years. In the mean- time he continued his study of theology in preparation for the pulpit. At the close of his four years spent in the Hebrew asylum he was called to the pulpit of the Augusta, Ga., congregation, the second most impor- tant Hebrew congregation in the south. This was in September, 1877, and he remained there until August, 1887, when he was called to Selma, Ala., to the Mishkan Israel temple, and he is now the popular and learned rabbi of that congregation. While at Augusta, Dr. Levy married Miss Frances Goldsmith, daughter of Moses Goldsmith, who is of a distinguished Hebrew family of Charleston, which has for three generations been indentified with the growth and developement of that city. Dr. Levy is one of the most learned men of the south in the classics and sciences, and is a ready, pleasant and fluent speaker, logical, profound and interesting. He is a conservative and fair-minded thinker, and he is one of the most popular citizens of Selma. He has given considerable attention to literature, and his work extends beyond his pulpit, in that he occasionally furnishes able articles to different periodicals.
SIMON MAAS, one of the prominent business men of Selma, was born in Bavaria, Germany, August 26, 1843. His parents were Leopold and Eva (Simon) Maas, both of whom were natives of Bavaria. The family came to the United States in 1853, landing in New Orleans January 1, that year. They settled at Claiborne, Ala., where the father of our sub- ject established himself in business, and remained there until 1862, when he removed to Mobile. Afterward he moved to Canton, Miss., and after being in business there a few years, died, the death of his wife having occurred in 1856, at Claiborne. Leopold Maas, at the same time that he was a merchant, was also a rabbi for the Jewish congregation at Clai-
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borne, which city was then about the third most important place in the state. Among the inhabitants there were a large number of Israelites, whose rabbi Mr. Maas was for several years. He was a man of learning, and was highly esteemed for his high moral character. The subject of this sketch is of a family of four sons and one daughter. He secured but a limited education, which, however, has been well supplemented by business experience, and by extensive reading since. His first mercan- tile experience was under his father, and at the age of twenty-one he began in life for himself by establishing a mercantile business at Pleas- ant Hill, Dallas county, where he remained for eight years. In 1875 he removed to Selma and opened a wholesale grocery store, at first in com- pany with a partner for two years. He then conducted his business alone for fifteen years. In 1887 he formed a partnership with Isaac Schwarz, under the firm name of Maas & Schwarz, cotton commission merchants, which continues to the present time. The commission busi- ness is separate and distinct from the grocery business. In 1887 and 1888 he was mayor of the city of Selma. He is a member of the congre- gation Mishkan Israel, of which he is president. He is a member of the Jewish order, I. O. B. B. He was married in 1871 to Miss Esther Bloch, a native of Alabama, by whom he has one son, Leo, and four daughters, Eva, Settie, Belle and Lillian. Mr. Maas was instrumental in securing the construction of the bridge across the Alabama river, being one of the organizers of the Selma Bridge company, besides other public enter- prises in which he has taken an active part.
AARON MAAS was born in Bavaria, Germany, July 23, 1848. When. he was about five years old his parents, Leopold and Eva (Simon) Maas; of whom mention is made in the sketch of Simon Maas, brought him to the United States. At Claiborne, Ala., Mr. Maas gained a fair education. His early business life was spent as a clerk in a mercantile establishment. For brief periods he clerked at Enterprise, Miss., at Toledo, Ohio, at Mobile, Ala., at Claiborne, Ala., at Oxford, Miss., and afterward at Pleasant Hill in the employ of his brother, S. Mass, whose partner he subsequently became, continuing as such for three years after he came to Selma, in 1883. In 1886 he began business for himself, and has since continued thus engaged, following different. lines of business at different times. At the present time he is engaged in the cotton commission business and is very successful. Mr. Maas began business with a very limited capital-what he had saved out of his earnings-and by virtue and by close attention to business, by following. economic methods and by making judicious investments he has amassed comfortable property, which he could not have done unless he had pos sessed business qualifications. He has, always taken an interest in the progress of Selma. He is a member of and treasurer of the congrega- tion Mishkan Israel, is a master Mason and member of the Knights of Honor. He has been twice married, the first time to Miss Regina Levi,
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in 1877, who died leaving him two children; the second time in 1890, to Miss Hattie Karpe, who has borne him one child, and who still survives.
ALBERT GALLATIN MABRY, M. D .- To write the history of a good man, who is dead, imposes upon us two duties -- a duty to him in order to testify our appreciation of the good qualities exhibited by him in his successful career; and a duty we owe to the living whom he has left be- hind him, to make use of his example, to point to them how to follow in his footsteps to a like pinnacle of conspicuous eminence among their fel- low-men. Who more deserving of honor than the dead physician? Think of the heroism his life portrays. Where is true bravery, self-reliance, coolness in dangerous emergencies, and all manly traits of character more necessary than in the career of the physician who maintains his practice, and his professional and social influence and standing through a long life time? To such a character this brief memoir is devoted. Albert Gallatin Mabry was born near the town of Jerusalem, in Southampton county, Va., on the 7th day of September, 1810. His father was a farmer of high standing in the community in which he lived, but died while Dr. Mabry was a small boy. He was the only child of his father's second marriage. His mother married a second time, but her second husband did not prosper in worldly matters, so that the boy was taught at an early age those habits of enterprise and self-reliance that bore sub- quently such admirable fruit. At the age of sixteen years he went to the town of Jerusalem and engaged in business, but soon became dissatisfied with this and engaged in the study of medicine, under the direction of Dr. William Sharp, who rendered him valuable assistance. In later years this early benefactor, wasted by age and infirmity, spent the closing days of his life in Dr. Mabry's elegant residence, in Selma. Dr. Mabry grad- uated in the medical department of the university of Pennsylvania in 1837, and began practice in Whitesville, Ga. In 1843 he moved to Selma, Ala., where soon after his arrival he formed a partnership with Dr. Drewry Fair, now deceased, a native of Columbia, S. C. They remained together in active practice for many years, until Dr. Fair moved away from Selma. Dr. Mabry soon became a member of what was then known as the Ala- bama Medical society, but which is now known as the Dallas county Medical society; was elected secretary of it in 1844, and president in 1850. While he was secretary the records of the society were accur- ately kept, and the medical discusssions were reported with considerable detail and thoroughness. In 1845, Dr. Mabry was married to Mrs. Martha Riggs Tartt, widow of Thomas E. Tartt, formerly head of the firm of Tartt, Stewart & Co., commission merchants, Mobile. Mrs. Tartt had by her first marriage one child, a daughter, who married Capt. Catesby ap Roger Jones. of the Confederate navy. Mr. Tartt was pecun- iarily very well off. Six children were the offspring of her marriage with Dr. Mabry, five sons and one daughter. Two of the sons are dead. In 1845, Dr. Mabry was awarded a silver cup, as a prize, by the Selma
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medical society, for the best essay on congestive fever. In this essay he announced two doctrines which were new at that time and which he tena- ciously advocated until his death. One was that malaria acted primarily on the nervous system. The other was that quinine properly adminis- tered was a specific remedy for all malarial fevers. In 1847, a resolution was passed by the society requesting the secretary, Dr. Mabry, to make inquiries respecting the fitness of the old state house, at Tuscaloosa, for a lunatic asylum, and the probable amount it would cost to fit it up for that purpose. This was the beginning of the movement that resulted in the establishment of the Alabama insane hospital. In 1853, Dr. Mabry had to confront the great yellow fever epidemic of that year, and contributed an account of it to the famous report made by Dr. Barton to the New Orleans city council. As was the fashion in those days, Dr. Mabry believed it to be of indigenous origin, and due probably to the excavations made on Water and Broad streets, and the spreading of the excavated earth broadcast of adjacent streets. About 1857 he retired from practice, and served for ten consecutive years, up to 1867, as a member of the Ala- bama legislature. In politics he was a states' rights democrat. After the surrender of the Confederate armies, Dr. Mabry, bereft of his ample for- tune, turned his attention again to the practice of medicine. But a prac- tice once lost is hard to regain, and his practice never again became very large. He was one of the prime movers in the organization, in 1847, of the Alabama state Medical association. In this year he was made vice- president of the association, and presided at the Wetumpha session of 1849, and also at the Selma session in 1852. He was also active in the re-organization of the association after the war and was president over the sessions of 1868 and 1869. Amongst the papers contributed by him to the proceedings of the association are the following: Report on the diseases of Selma and vicinity, 1852; The Medical profession-Presidential address, 1859; miasmatic fever, 1869; observations on. the medical prop- erties of the sulphate of quinine, 1870; a case of hemorrhagic malarial fever; reply to Dr. Osborn's criticisms of his paper on quinine, 1872. He died in Selma, on the 23d day of February, 1874, of pneumonia. He was a man of medium size, about five feet eight inches in height, and probably never exceeded 140 pounds in weight. His health was never robust. He was one of those small, wiry, dark haired men, so often met with, who are hardly ever quite well, and hardly ever seriously sick, always careful of the laws of health, and who seem to live by sheer force of will. In his habits he was necessarily somewhat of a valetudinarian. He never used tobacco. In his latter days it was his custom to have wine on his table at dinner, but he was abstemious in the use of it. He took an active interest in everything promising to promote the prosperity of Selma; at one time he was vice-president of the Selma, Rome & Dalton railroad; and was director in the Selma & Meridian railroad. He was a consistent and prominent member of the Protestant Episcopal church,
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