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 105
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tion at Chicago in 1888, on the occasion of seconding the nomination of Cleveland for president of the United States, and Judge W. W. Quarles, of Clarksville, Tenn., has won lasting renown as a judge and jurist. Senator Roger Quarles Mills, of Texas, is a scion of the family, and numerous others of prominence are scattered through the south. Gen. J. M. Quarles. of Milwaukee, a well known lawyer and ex-Federal general is doubtless a member of this family. William Washington Quarles, the gentleman whose name opens this sketch, was born at Pleasant Hill, Dallas county, Ala., May 24, 1865, two months after the death of his father. Was very successful as a boy farmer, and out of the proceeds of his farm products, subsequently gave himself a thorough academic, collegiate and professional education. In January, 1881, he entered Moore's Southern Business university, where, after a three months' course, May 2, 1881, he graduated with high honors. He then returned to Selma and read law under Capt. Joseph F. Johnston for two years, and under Col. S. W. John for one year. In 1884. he matriculated at the state uni- versity and entered the sophomore scientific class, readily and easily taking the lead. . At the next session he changed to the classical, finish- ing with honor, the whole Greek course in one scholastic year. He not only finished the classical course, but took the law course, beside, and received his diplomas in both courses, June, 1887, graduating with the three first honors in the academic course, being senior captain of the corps of cadets, and taking the Carnahan essay or ready-writer's prize, and the Trustee's medal for the best oration, best delivered, on his grad- uation, and receiving distinguished honors at the same time in the law class. He was, by appointment of the faculty, one of the three editors of the Alabama University Monthly, and one of two editors of an eight- column daily, the Commencement Daily, during the commencement of 1887. While at the university he was an ardent member of the Phi Delta Theta Greek letter fraternity, being sent by his chapter in 1886 a delegate to New York to attend the national convention of the fraternity. While there he was made province president of the fraternity over a dozen southern states. At their national convention in Bloomington, Ill., October, 1889, he was unanimously elected to the second official chair of the national Greek letter fraternity of the United States-historian, which position he held for two years. At its next national convention in Atlanta, in October, 1891, without being a candidate, he was elected president of this fraternity, over three popular candidates-being the first southerner to hold this high office. In 1887, in the fall, he was made principal of the Greenville public schools. His school opened with seven pupils and closed with 177. In the spring of 1888, though unanimously elected president of the South Alabama institute, the Methodist college at Green- ville, he declined the management of the school; received a license from the supreme court of Alabama, June 30, 1888, to practice in all the courts of the state, and returned to Selma, where he entered the practice of law
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as a junior member of the firm of John & Quarles. On the removal of Col. W. S. John, to Birmingham, in 1889, Mr. Quarles became the partner of Mr. H. S. D. Mallory, in the firm of Mallory & Quarles. In Septem- ber, 1890, this firm dissolved partnership, and Mr. Quarles became the senior member of the law firm of Quarles & McLeod. October 1, 1891, he and Mr. McLeod dissolved partnership, and Mr. Quarles is now practic- ing alone. In May, 1888, he was elected over three competitors, almost unanimously to the advisory position of city attorney of Selma, and one year later was re-elected to a second term. At the organization of the Third Alabama regiment. in 1885, he was appointed sergeant-major of this regiment. One year later he was made adjutant, with rank of captain, which position he held until July 11, 1888, when he was elected colonel over three able and distinguished competitors. In January, 1891, he was one of five delegates from Alabama, appointed by Gov. Thomas Seay, to the national guard convention, which assembled at Washington, D. C. He resigned the colonelcy, July 11, 1891, against the wishes of all the regiment. When he assumed command of the regiment it was composed of six companies only, heavily in debt, and was on the very verge of disintegration. By his tact at organization, and his popularity with the regiment-both officers and privates-he in one year brought the regiment to twelve infantry companies, one battery, and one cavalry com- pany, the full quota allowed by law. This regiment, under his command, became one of the best disciplined and most efficient military organiza- tions in the south, as was demonstrated in Montgomery on December 1, 1890, at Governor Jones' inauguration. Col. Quarles was, perhaps, at the time, the youngest officer in command of a regiment in the United States. On March 26, 1890, at the primary election in Dallas county, he was nominated by popular vote to the general assembly of Alabama. In the appointment of committees he was given prominence on the judiciary and revision of laws committees, and was made chairman of the committee on military- unusual honors for a member's first term-and made a state-wide reputa- tion for ability, and fearless advocacy of right. Free from demagoguery, ruggedly honest, of stern simplicity, a true and sincere friend, of clear and positive ideas, he is a man of strong convictions and has the courage to maintain and express his convictions, though of cool judgment and conservative views. In 1892, he declined re-election to the legislature, though urged by friends to accept a second time. The Montgomery Journal, February 12, 1891, has this to say in compliment of the colonel's personality and ability : "Col. W. W. Quarles, of Dallas, is a fine repre- sentative of the young democracy of Alabama. He is only about twenty- seven years of age, and yet by his ability, suavity and gallantry he has won a high place as a legislator, not only with his fellow-members of the present general assembly of Alabama, but throughout the state. A ready debater, an excellent lawyer, a fine belles-lettres scholar, a christian
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gentleman of the highest type-a man, in short, possessed of a vigorous and cultivated mind, a heart of courtesy and kindness, and a genial manner; it is hard to say what position may be beyond reach of his aspir- ations should his health and strength be spared him." February 24, 1892, he married Miss Ida B. Smith, the daughter of Washington M. Smith, deceased, one of the most intellectual, beautiful and accomplished daughters of the south. November 21, 1892, he was elected, by the state legislature of Alabama, solicitor of the fourth judicial circuit, comprising Dallas, Hale, Lowndes, Perry and Wilcox counties-five of the wealthiest and most populous agricultural counties in the state-over four of the most prominent young lawyers in the circuit and most popular competi- tors, receiving fourteen more votes in the democratic caucus than all his competitors. Immediately he entered upon the discharge of the import- ant duties of this responsible office, and has already established the reputation of being an able, impartial, just and fearless prosecuting officer, earning and receiving the fullest measure of approval from bench, bar and people.
JOHN COLEMAN REID, attorney at law, Selma, Ala., was born in Tus- caloosa county, Ala., December 6, 1824. His parents were Thomas and Mary (Coleman) Reid, the former of whom was born in 1795 in North Carolina, and came to Alabama in 1818; they intermarried in Bibb county ; lived in Tuscaloosa county several years, removed to Memphis, Tenn., in 1830, where he died in 1836, his wife having died before him, in 1833. The Reids were of Irish ancestry, and the branch of the Coleman family to which Mrs. Reid belonged, was of German extraction. John Coleman Reid completed his education at Memphis, Tenn. In 1843 he began the study of the law and was admitted to the bar at Jackson, Madison county, Tenn., the same year. He established himself in the practice of his chosen profession at Purdy, McNairy county, Tenn., but afterward moved to Kingston, Autauga county, Ala., living in this latter place from 1845 to 1851. He then removed to Prattville, and in 1854 to Marion, where he remained until 1871, except as his residence here was inter- rupted by his services in the war. In 1856, at the head of twenty-eight men, he started out on a volunteer expedition to explore the Gadsden Purchase, that portion of Arizona and New Mexico lying south of the river Gila, purchased from Mexico for the United States by Gen. James Gadsden by the convention of December 30, 1835, and which caused the banishment of Santa Anna as a traitor. This expedition of Mr. Reid lasted ten months, and a graphic account of it was published in 1858 under the title of Reid's Tramp. Mr. Reid had then been in politics for some years. He had been a know-nothing, and elected as such to the state legislature. He had been a Fillmore elector, and his tramp was undertaken in order to enable him to escape from politics. And he has not been in politics since, though in the presidential campaign of 1860 he supported Bell and Everett and opposed the secession of his state from
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the Union; but after the election of Abraham Lincoln he then yielded to the south his entire sympathy and support. In April. 1861, he enlisted in company A, Eighth Alabama infantry, and was at once made first lieutenant. In the following October he was commissioned to raise a regiment of infantry, which regiment was known as the Twenty-eighth Alabama infantry, and Lieut. Reid was lieutenant- colonel of this regiment until just previous to the battle of Mur- freesboro, when he was promoted to the rank of colonel. In the fall of 1864, and from that time on to the close of the war, he had command of a portion of a brigade in northern Alabama. Murfreesboro and Chick- amauga may be mentioned as some of the many hard-fought battles in which he participated. At the final surrender he was in Alabama, sent there by Gen. Beauregard. After the war he resumed the practice of the law at Marion, Ala., remaining there until 1871, when he removed to Selma. He was married at Robinson Springs, in 1850, to Mrs. Alice Coughlin, who lived after her marriage only about eighteen months. He then married Miss Adelaide O. Reid, who died October 22, 1883. In February, 1886, he married Miss Mary Frances Erwin, a daughter of the late Francis Erwin, of Dallas county. Col. Reid is a man of true courage and genuine sympathy for his fellow-man. These qualities of human nature almost invariably co-exist, and they are found in a marked degree in Col. Reid. None would more cheerfully concede this fact than his late comrades in arms. In battle he appeared to be utterly uncon- scious of fear. The battle of Murfreesboro was fought December 30 and 31, 1862, and January 1, 1863, and in the evening of the last day, while- sitting on his horse, he received a severe wound in the thigh, but no movement was made by him, and there was perceptible on his face only a convulsive twitching of the muscles. He sat still on his horse, not tak- ing time even to examine his wound, until the fighting for the day was all over. He always was thus collected and cool in battle, and was. always affectionate and tender to his men in the camp or on the march; and it was his courage and his kindness that have made an impression on the hearts of his soldiers which can never be effaced, so long, at least, as any of them remain alive. He has been for more than twenty years a consistent member of the Roman Catholic church, is well preserved and doing a leading practice in his profession, with the high confidence of his professional brothers and of those who know him.
CLEMENT RITTER, M. D., a young and promising medical practitioner at Selma, Ala., was born in Carthage, Moore county, N. C., in 1867. His father, Thomas Wesley Ritter, now deceased, was a prominent citizen and politician in North Carolina, in which state he was born. He was descended from an old and highly respected North Carolina family, which was probably of German origin. The mother of Dr. Ritter was Julia Ann (Caddell) Ritter, who also was a native of North Carolina, and of an
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ancient North Carolina family. The doctor is one of a family of three children, two sons and one daughter. He was reared in his native county, and received his literary education at Wake Forest college, N. C. He left college at the age of twenty years, and began the study of medicine at High Point, N. C., under Dr. J. R. Brown. He entered the Louisville Medical college, in 1888, where he took one course of lectures, and then entered Jefferson Medical college at Philadelphia, graduating in 1890. He then spent a short time in North Carolina. From May 1 to October, 1890, he practiced his profession at Fort Payne, Ala., and in October, 1890, located at Selma, where he has since remained. He has, in a com- paratively short time, secured a large and profitable practice, which is steadily increasing, and his reputation as a successful physician and sur- geon is rapidly extending. He is a member of the Alabama State Medical association, of the Dallas county Medical society, and of the latter is a vice-president. He is also an Odd Fellow and Knight of Pythias, and a reputable citizen.
RIVERS A. RUSH, D. D. S., a young and skillful practitioner of dental surgery of Selma, Ala., was born at Tuskegee, Macon county, Ala., in 1868. His parents are Benjamin Andrew and Lucy Ellen (Rivers) Rush. Benjamin A. Rush has followed farming as a vocation all his life. He resided at Marion, Ala., for many years, but a few years ago he moved to northwest Texas, where he is now engaged in wheat culture. Dr. Rush was reared at Marion, and received while there an academical edu- cation in Howard college. In 1885 he began the study of dental surgery under his uncle, T. J. Krouse, D. D. S., of Baltimore, Md., who was then in the practice of his profession at Barnett, Miss. Dr. Rush remained at Barnett thus engaged in study for eighteen months, and then began the practice of his profession at Evergreen, Ala. He remained at Ever- green about one year. Then taking a course in dental surgery at the Vanderbilt university at Nashville, Tenn., he afterward formed a co-part- nership with his uncle at Barnett, and practiced with him about one year. He then again entered the dental department of the Vanderbilt university and graduated therefrom in February, 1891. He immediately located in Selma, Ala., soon secured a good practice, and remains at that city to the present time. He took rank among the leading dentists of the state. Was elected junior vice-president of the Alabama Dental associa- tion, at its last meeting in Montgomery, and is now an influential mem- ber of that body. Although his practice is general, he is especially skill- ful in gold crown and bridge work, in which he has a large practice. He is pleasant, affable, modest and unassuming in manner, and these qualities, taken in connection with his professional ability and skill, render him a popular and highly respected member of society.
ISAAC SCHWARZ was born in Bavaria, Germany, November 6, 1851. Before leaving his native country he received a good education in the public schools, and from the age of thirteen to that of sixteen served an
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apprenticeship in business. He then at that age immigrated to the United States, and going to Selma, secured a position as clerk in a store, which he held for two years. In 1869 he accepted a position as salesman and bookkeeper in Montgomery, where he remained until 1876, in which year he removed to Snow Hill, Wilcox county, and entered upon the general merchandise business upon his own account, with the limited capital saved up out of his earnings during his clerkship. Succeeding in business at this place. he amassed capital sufficient . to carry a more extensive business than could be carried on at Snow Hill; he therefore sought a larger field of operation and chose Selma, that being a considerably larger place than Snow Hill. In January, 1886, he formed a co-partnership with Mr. S. Maas, a prominent wholesale grocer, and has since been located in Selma, conducting business with Mr. Maas under the firm name of Maas & Schwarz. Messrs. Maas & Schwarz are cotton factors, commission dealers, and dealers in high grade fertilizers, and conduct a very successful business. Mr. Maas being still engaged in the wholesale grocery business, the firm's affairs are managed by Mr. Schwarz. This firm has gained important commercial relations, and maintains an excellent financial standing and reputation. Mr. Schwarz, though coming to this country with no capital, has gained by his supe- rior business qualifications an enviable reputation as a man of business and also a handsome competency for future use. If the past is any criterion for the future, he is destined to be a rich man. While when he came to this country he had no knowledge of English, he now. has a fine command of our language, and is really a fluent speaker and writer. When a resi- dent of Wilcox county, he took a great interest in politics, but has never sought political preferment; on the other hand, he has often refused honors of this kind. He was at one time urgently solicited by his friends to become candidate for probate judge of Wilcox county; but he could not be induced to accept. That he is a man of no mean ability as a speaker he has proven on several occasions. Since 1873 he has been an active master Mason, and for more than ten years he has been a promi- nent member of the order of Knights of Pythias, and has been grand prelate of the grand lodge of Alabama, grand vice-chancellor commander, and he might have been grand chancellor had he been willing to accept the position. He is a member of the Knights of Honor and of the B'nai B'rith. Mr. Schwarz is fond of literature, and has not only delivered several addresses before the public, and before conventions of the sev- eral fraternities to which he belongs, but in 1885 he prepared for the Knights of Pythias committee on foreign correspondence the first report of the order in the state of Alabama, a report characterized by its full- ness, its information and scholarly preparation. In 1887 Mr. Schwarz married Miss Carrie Freidman, of St. Louis, Mo., and to them have been born 'two sons. Mrs. Schwarz is a lady of grace, beauty, intelligence and_accomplishments, and, as does her husband, sustains high social rela-
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tions. In bearing Mr. Schwarz is modest and unassuming, and this, together with his warmth of soul toward his fellow men, his courteous. manner and progressive spirit, his integrity and superior business quali- fications, render him an exceedingly popular and highly esteemed citizen of Dallas county.
J. L. SCHWEIZER, practical watchmaker and jeweler, at Selma, Ala., was born in Switzerland, August 10, 1845. He received a liberal educa- tion in his native land, and, after serving an apprenticeship at the watch- maker's and jeweler's trade, under the most skillful masters, traveled through Switzerland as a journeyman. In 1866, he went to Paris, France, and remained there during that and the next year. In 1868, he landed in New York city, and going almost directly to St. Louis, worked in that. city at his trade for one year. In the fall of 1869, he landed in Selma, Ala., where for two years he worked as a journeyman, and in the fall of 1871, with but a limited capital, he established a business of his own. By means of his practical business qualifications and skilled workmanship, he has succeeded finely in his business, and his store, at No. 1005 Broad street, Selma, may be found a model jewelry establishment, perfect in its arrangements, and stocked with a full line of watches, clocks, silverware, diamonds, etc., unsurpassed in value, fullness and design, by any other establishment in the state. Mr. Schweizer has accumulated considerable property, and has thought it advisable to deal extensively in real estate, buying and improving several valuable pieces of property. While he has never aspired to political honors, or office, yet he had been elected to the city council, holding the position a few months and then resigning. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Odd Fellows, of the Odd Fellows' encampment, of the Masonic fraternity, being a chapter Mason; of the Legion of Honor, of the American Union, and of the order of Elks. In the fall of 1872, he married Miss Helen Keipp, who died in 1889, leaving him four children. Mr. Schweizer is one of the substantial business men and highly esteemed citizens of Selma, and has done much to advance the material interests of the place.
S. B. SHIVERS, of the firm of S. B. Shivers & Co., mill and ginnery, meal, corn, and feed business, at the corner of Water and Sylvan streets, Selma, Ala., was born in Warren county, Ga., September 19, 1833. His parents were James and Elizabeth (Wood) Shivers, the former of whom was born and raised in Warren county, Ga. James was a son of Jonas. Shivers, who was from England, and who came here with two brothers some time before the Revolutionary war, in which he and one of his brothers were soldiers, the other brother having died shortly after reaching this country. Jonas Shivers married and settled in South Caro- lina, but some time afterward removed to Warren county, Ga., where he lived and died. He bought the Ogeechee shoals, and there built and operated a grist and flouring-mill, to which he afterward added a cotton- mill, and became a wealthy and influential man. The mother of S. B.
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Shivers was born near Macon, Ga., her ancestors, it is said, being of French origin. She became the mother of two sons and one daughter. She was the second wife of James Shivers. He had by his first wife three sons and two daughters, and by his third wife one daughter. He was throughout his life a farmer and miller, succeeding his father in his business at his death. In 1833 he removed to Columbus, Ga .. and there continued in the same business until his death. S. B. Shivers was reared at Columbus, and received a common school education. He learned milling under his father, who died in 1858. When the war came on he enlisted, in 1861, as a private soldier in Croft's battery, at Colum- bus, Ga., in which he served throughout the war. He participated in many of the most important battles of the war, as in the siege of Vicks- burg, at Holly Springs, Miss., in all the battles in Johnston's great retreat; with Hood into Tennessee to Nashville, and after Nashville, covered Hood's retreat, and then with Jackson's division was paroled. After the war Mr. Shivers returned to Columbus, Ga., and followed farming for one year, near Union Springs; then engaged in the livery business for one year, and in 1867 he went to Mobile, where he engaged in the milling business two years for Turner & Oates. He remained in Mobile in all thirteen years, being with Ober & Anderson eleven years. In 1879 he settled in Selma, where he has since remained, and all the time engaged in the milling business. He at first built for a stock com- pany, at Selma, a flouring mill, which he operated up to 1881, when, with partners, he operated a mill on the corner of Water and Sylvan streets up to 1883, and this mill he now operates under the firm name of S. B. Shivers & Co., which is the only firm in the business at Selma. In 1870 he married, at Mobile, Miss Cornelia E. Hooks, born and raised in Sumter county, Ala. They have but one son, Samuel J. Shivers, two other children having died. This son is associated with his father in the milling business. Mr. Shivers is a member of the Presbyterian church, while his wife and son are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. Mr. Shivers is a Knight of Honor, and is an excellent citizen.
SAMUEL STERNE was born in Hesse, Germany, February 15, 1844, and was educated in his native country. At the age of fifteen he emigrated to the United States. landing in New York city, and receiving a position as cash boy in a store, at $2.50 per week. A few months later he left New York city and came south, locating first at Columbus, Ga., where he held a position as clerk, when the war broke out. He then went to Eufaula, Ala., in the spring of 1861, where he enlisted in the Eufaula light artil- lery company, under Capt. Oliver, with which company he fought through the war until the battle of Franklin. Here he was taken prisoner, and sent to Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio, and held four months or until the surrender of Lee. After the war he returned to Alabama, locating at Selma, in 1865. For the first eight or nine years he held a position as
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