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 108
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131
W. P. GADDIS, a prominent lawyer of Wetumpka, Elmore county, Ala., was born in Coosa county, December 27, 1841, and was educated in the schools of the county. His parents, John Gaddis and his wife, Eliz- abeth (Lloyd) Gaddis, were natives of Georgia, and are both now deceased. Leaving school in 1861, W. P. Gaddis, in the early part of the year, enlisted in company B, Twelfth Alabama infantry, in the Confed- erate army; was made a sergeant, and served until the fall, when he was discharged on account of ill-health. In the spring of 1862 he entered the Second Alabama cavalry as second lieutenant, a year later was promoted to be first lieutenant, and in June, 1863, was retired.
-- 17
937
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ELMORE COUNTY.
on account of wounds received at Mud Creek, Miss. In 1865, at the close of the war, he was engaged in teaching school, which occupied his attention until 1869, when he removed to Wetumpka and entered the law office of Col. Tom Williams to study law, and in 1870 was admitted to the bar, where his proficiency has won him distinction. In 1871 he was appointed register in chancery, and satisfactorily performed the functions of the office until 1880. In December, 1877. he wedded Miss Ella Bass, daughter of Col. John Bass, at that time warden of the Alabama state prison, the happy union being now blessed with eight children, named as follows: Bessie, Zula, William P., Eleanor, John B., Charles B., Stella and Lloyd. Mr. Gaddis is very popular socially, as well as profession- ally, and is a Knight of Pythias and a Knight of Honor. He has been for several years president of the Wetumpka Bridge company, and at the election in February, 1893, was elected mayor of the city of Wetumpka.
JAMES L. GOREE, lumberman and farmer of Deatsville, Elmore county, Ala., was born in that county in 1853, the son of Hon. Langston F. Goree, born in Montgomery county, in 1821, who was the son of Ephraim and Celia Goree, natives of Newberry district, S. C. They came to Alabama in 1816 and settled in Montgomery county, afterward removing to what is now Elmore county. He died in the latter county in 1836, aged about fifty-two years, and his wife died in 1872. He was of French origin, a self-made man and devoted all his life to agriculture. They had eleven children, only three of whom lived to maturity and only one now survives. Langston F. Goree was a man of limited education. He was reared as a farmer. He was married in March, 1844, to Mary Barrow of North Caro- lina, who came with her parents, James and Pemilia Barrow, to Autauga, now Elmore, county and later they removed to Arkansas, where they died. Since his marriage, Mr. Goree has lived in Elmore county. where he has at times engaged in the saw mill business, but his general and more proper occupation has been that of a planter. He served in the Twenty- fourth Alabama battalion as an orderly sergeant and was with the army of the Tennessee from 1863 until the close of hostilities. He served through the Georgia and Atlanta campaigns and on to the sea. In South Carolina he was promoted to the captaincy, and wounded. He served six years as county commissioner from 1873. In 1880 he was elected to the legislature, and served on the committee on corporations. He is a member of the F. & A. M., Deatsville lodge, No. 475, and affiliates with the Meth- odist Protestant church. Mrs. Goree died October 7, 1885. She was a member of the Methodist Protestant church for many years. They were the parents of one son and four daughters, namely: Fannie, wife of T. W. Graves; Amanda. wife of O. M. Norris; Zada, wife of W. E. Hagood, of Montgomery; James L. and Mollie, wife of P. J. Rogers, of Birmingham. James L. Goree was reared on a farm and had but a limited education. Nearly all his life was spent at work in the saw mills, and at his majority his father gave him his
6
938
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
present mill and about 120 acres of land. He has had two good mills destroyed by fire. He has built and operated a number of good mills in the county, and disposed of them by sale, He owns about 1,400 acres of land; cuts in his mill, from 5,000 to 7,000 feet of lumber per day and employs from ten to fifteen men; he has three miles of tram railway and runs a large planer. At the age of twenty-two years he married Rhoda Thornhill, who died about nine months after the marriage. She was a native of Elmore county and the daughter of W. H. Thornhill. He was married twelve months after to Martha, sister of his first wife. He has two children, one by the first, and one by the second, wife.
WILLIAM P. HANNON, one of Elmore county's citizens, was born in Montgomery county, Ala., in 1824, son of Thomas and Jane Taylor Han- non, natives of South and North Carolina, respectively, who removed to Montgomery county in 1818, and in 1836 removed to Coosa county, where they died, he in 1870, and she in 1886. He was a well-to-do planter, was many years justice of the peace and deputy sheriff of Montgomery county, and was in the war of 1812 under Gen. Jackson. He was one of a large family, but only he and his brother, Prof. Edwin Hannon, who died in Montgomery, came to Alabama. Their father, William Hannon, was born in South Carolina, and was of Irish descent. The maternal grandfather, John Taylor, was a colonel in the Revolutionary war. He was a native of North Carolina, and his wife was Margaret Bludworth. They came to Montgomery county in 1818, and spent most of their lives there. They died about 1830, she one month before him. They were stanch Presby- terians. He was of Scotch, and she of Irish, descent. William P. Hannon was educated in Montgomery and Coosa county. He was married in 1850 to Mary, daughter of W. K. and Caroline Oliver, natives of South Caro- lina, where they lived till about 1835, when they removed to Alabama, and settled near Wetumpka, where they died. Mrs. Hannon is a native of South Carolina. She was born in 1829, and is the mother of two sons-Thomas W., a wholesale merchant of Montgomery, and Arthur Templeton, a manufacturer of Montgomery. Mr. Hannon was a teacher for twenty-five years of his early life. During the war he was detailed to furnish supplies to the army, and did not carry arms. He was county superintendent of education for seven years. He is an excellent teacher and a shrewd business man, and has accumulated a good fortune by his energy and industry. He has never sought office, or taken any further interest in politics than that of a good citizen, He and wife are Methodists. He had the following brothers and sisters: John E., deceased, lieutenant in the late war; Thomas J., deceased, a farmer; George W., killed after fighting gallantly at Seven Pines; Joseph B., of Elmore county, shot through the body with minie balls at Gettysburg; Margaret, widow of J. M. Collins and Mariah, widow of J. D. Edwards.
939
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ELMORE COUNTY.
DR. GEORGE B. JUDKINS, the capable physician and surgeon in charge of the penitentiary at Wetumpka, was born in Montgomery (now Elmore) county, Ala., in 1837, the son of Hon. John C. and Jane E. (Young) Jud- kins, born in Virginia and Georgia, respectively. Both came to what is now Elmore county with their parents, where they were married and where they spent the greater part of their lives. They both died in 1871. He was a wealthy farmer of limited education, but a most successful busi- ness man, and left a large estate. He represented Macon county in the legislature in 1866. He was a whig formerly, and opposed secession, but went with his state as a matter of patriotism. He was the son of George Judkins, a Virginian by birth, but came at a very early day to Alabama, and died in Montgomery county. He was of Scotch descent, and a man of great industry. Bernard Young, the maternal grandfather of Mr. Judkins, was born in Georgia, and came to what is now Elmore county at an early day. Mr. Judkins belongs to a family of six sons and six daughters, four of whom beside himself served with distinction in the late war, namely: James H., adjutant of a regiment in Clanton's brigade; John C., an officer of Clanton's staff, who died in 1870; William T .. also on Clanton's and Rosseau's staffs, and was killed in 1864. Dr. Judkins was reared on a farm, and his early education was obtained among the common schools of his home, but he graduated from the university of Virginia in 1854. Afterward he read medicine with Dr. T. B. Ligon, of Macon county, and then took another course at the Jefferson Medical col- lege, of Philadelphia, graduating there in 1859, and practiced his profes- sion in Montgomery county until 1861, when he joined Clanton's cavalry, where he saw hard service at Pensacola, Montgomery and in northern Alabama, and in 1863 he was made assistant surgeon of a regiment in Clanton's brigade. He did duty in the same capacity in several brigades, but with Clanton's brigade at the close of the war. In all his perilous military career lie was never wounded nor captured. After the war he returned to his old home in Macon county, where he practiced medicine until 1888, when he was made physician in charge of the penitentiary at Wetumpka, which position he still holds. He was married in March, 1864, to Sarah, daughter of Conrad and Eliza J. Webb, natives of Vir- ginia and South Carolina, respectively. The union was blessed with two daughters-Sarah, wife of Lamar Smith, and Mary Virginia. Dr. Jud- kins is a master Mason, and a censor of the county medical society. He is neither a politician nor an aspirant for office. His wife is a devout Methodist.
DR. JAMES I. LAMAR, physician and general merchant of Deatsville, Ala., was born in Dallas county, Ala., in 1830, the son of John and Mary (Dubose) Lamar, both natives of Georgia, who came to Alabama in 1824. They located first in Dallas county, but removed to Autauga county, where they spent their lives. He died in 1857 and she about a year later. They were Missionary Baptists, and were both people of modern education. He
940
1
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA
was well-to-do, and served in the Indian war of 1836. His father, James Lamar. was a distinguished man of Georgia, who belonged to the illus- trious family of which Justice L. Q. C. Lamar belongs, and was of French origin. He was a cousin of Gen. Mirabeau B. Lamar, who distinguished himself in the Texan war of 1836, and was president of the Texan republic. His wife came to Alabama, but returned to Georgia and died. She was the mother of four sons and three daughters- Zachariah, died in Georgia; Mrs. Fannie Smith, died in Georgia; Mrs. Mary McGinty, died in Louis- iana; Mrs. Sarah Dubose, died in Texas; Dent, died in Alabama, and Obediah, died in Arkansas. Isaac Dubose, the maternal grandfather of Dr. Lamar, was born in Georgia, but came to Dallas county, Ala., at an early day, where he died before the doctor was born. He was a farmer and a man of large family. Dr. Lamar is the second of two sons and three daughters, namely: Sarah, deceased wife of James Nunna, a wealthy citizen of Autaugaville; Dr. James L .; Mary, deceased wife of Dr. W. Wilkes, a Baptist minister; Martha, of Sylacauga: John Dent, now of Texas, who served all through the late war and was several times wounded. Dr. James Lamar received a good education in the schools of his home, at Selma and at Howard college, and in 1851 graduated from the Medical college of Georgia, at Augusta, and practiced at Autaugaville till after the war. He was also in the army, but being exempt, served but a short time. Soon after the war he located near Prattville, where he was also engaged in farming until 1879, and since that time has lived in Deatsville. He has a large practice and also is a general merchant. He is a member of the State Medical association and of the County Medi- cal society. He was married in 1856 to Martha, daughter of Lewis G. and Mary (Whetstone) Robinson, natives of South Carolina, but early settlers in Autauga county. She died in 1869 and he in 1879. Dr. Lamar has three children: Ida, wife of Rev. S. O. Townsend, a Methodist Protest- ant minister, of Troy, Ala. ; John, deceased; and James Dubose, a mer- chant of Deatsville. Dr. Lamar is a member of Deatsville lodge No. 475, F. & A. M., and is a Missionary Baptist. His wife died in 1892. She was. a Methodist Protestant and a devout christian.
Ex-JUDGE JOHN A. LANCASTER. of the firm of Lancaster & Co., gen- eral merchants, and one of the most extensive planters of Elmore county, was born in Troup county, Ga., December 5, 1840, son of William and Martha A. (Goss) Lancaster, the father being a native of South Caro- lina and the mother of Georgia. In 1845 William L. came to what is now Elmore county, where he spent the rest of his life, and died in 1864 a wealthy farmer. He was justice of the peace, a Mason and a Method- ist. He was in the army for a while in 1864, and during that short. service he contracted disease which caused his death. His wife died in 1886. Judge Lancaster is the eldest of eight children, three of whom served in the late war-Jesse, died at Memphis, Tenn., in the service in 1862; William, enlisted when a boy of fifteen and served three years;
.
941
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ELMORE COUNTY.
Judge Lancaster was brought up on a farm and educated in Troup county, Ga., finishing his studies at La Grange, Ga. Later he taught school two years, and in the summer of 1861 joined company I, Seven- teenth Alabama infantry, as a private, but rose rapidly to the rank of lieutenant, and took part in the bombardment at Pensacola. In the spring of 1862 he joined the army of the Tennessee, and fought gallantly at Shiloh, the Tupelo, Rome, Mission Ridge, Georgia campaigns, and back with Hood to Franklin, Tenn., where he was' severely wounded. After the war he taught school for two years and engaged in farming till 1871, when he was elected sheriff, and in 1874 was elected probate judge and served fifteen years, at the expiration of which time he resigned. Since that time Judge Lancaster has given all his time to his large agricultural and mercantile interests, owning over 7,000 acres of land in Elmore, as well as large tracts in other counties. He was mar- ried in 1866 to Miss F. A. Lett, a daughter of R. Pinckney Lett, of Elmore county, also a native of Georgia, and they are the parents of six children-William E., Eulala, Jessie, John A., Minnie and Effie. Judge Lancaster is a Mason and a Knight of Honor, and his wife is a Methodist.
·
A. J. MILSTEAD, superintendent of the Tallassee Falls manufacturing company of Elmore county, was born in Prince William's county, Va., in 1831, the son of William and Mary (Hammill) Milstead, who were natives of the same county, but who afterward removed to Maryland, and spent the rest of their lives there. He was an industrious, energetic and public-spirited citizen, who' devoted all his life to agriculture. He was the son of Isaac Milstead, also a Virginian by birth, of English descent. John Hammill, the maternal grandfather, was also a Virginian, and a soldier of the war of 1812. His wife was a Miss McIntosh, and they had a large family. A. J. Milstead is the eldest of eleven children, ten of whom are living. He received a good education in Virginia and Mary- land, and remained at home till his majority, when he apprenticed himself to a cotton factory and thoroughly learned all the details of the fabrica tion of cotton goods. When he acquired this valuable knowledge, he superintended a factory in Alexandria, Va .. which he operated till 1876, when he came to Tallassee, Ala., where he found the mills he now super- intends in the hands of a receiver and in a most deplorable condition. He was made superintendent of these mills, where his thorough knowl- edge of the business and his practical common sense soon became appar- ent to the company, who had implicit confidence in him and placed almost unlimited power in his hands, and as a result, the mills are now the most complete and profitable in the south. Since his incumbency the property of the company has been largely augmented in the erection of many new buildings, offices, warehouses, etc. They manufacture on a large scale a superior quality of osnaburg shirting, sheeting, rope whang and canvas. The capacity of the mills is 20,000 spindles, 370 looms
1
942
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
and about 700 operatives, with a pay roll of $10,000 per month, and they consume about 10,000 bales of cotton annually. They also have in connec- tion, a saw, planing and grist mill, carpenter and machine shops, foundry and blacksmith shops and some 10,000 or 12,000 acres of land with a val- uation of $500.000. The mills are supplied with all the modern improve- ments and equipments. The factory first began operations nearly fifty years ago, by William Marks and Thomas Barnett, and the present main building was erected in 1834. Mr. Milstead is regarded as one of the best and most practical manufacturers in the south. His good business methods and manly qualities have endeared him to all classes. He was married in 1856, to Elizabeth, daughter of John Davis, a native of Maryland. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the Red Men.
DR. I. R. NIx, physician and surgeon and general merchant of Deats- ville, was born in Wetumpka, Elmore county, in 1841, the son of J. M. B. and Mary E. Young Nix, who were born in Ogelthorpe county, Ga., in 1818 and 1832 respectively. John M. B. Nix came to Alabama with his parents, when a young man, and settled in what is now Elmore county, and when Dr. Nix was a little boy his father removed to Tallassee, Ala., and later to Birmingham, where he engaged in the business of a marble dealer and speculator. He was a master Mason, and a notary public for many years. He was the son of Joseph Nix, a native of Georgia, from which state he came to what is now Elmore county, where he died. His wife died in Coosa county. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, was a planter all his life and had a large family. The mother of Dr. Nix is now living with her children at the advanced age of sixty years. Dr. Nix is the third of five sons, three of whom were in the late war, one of them was a lieutenant and all of them excellent soldiers. He received a good education principally at Marion and the state university. In 1862 he enlisted in company B, Thirty-first Alabama infantry, and fought gal- lantly through the Georgia campaigns, and at Jonesboro he was severely wounded, which incapacitated him for further duty, during which time he was at home. He rejoined his command after six months and remained with it until the close of the war. After the close of hostilities, he took a commercial course at New Orleans, and then read medicine with Dr. D. C. Keller, in Talladega county, and in 1872 graduated from the South Carolina medical college. He practiced in Coosa county a short time and then removed to Birmingham as contract doctor for a number of the mines there. At Birmingham'he was also timekeeper for the Alabama Great Southern railroad. In 1888 he located at Deatsville, where he has an extensive practice, and also runs a general store. He is a member of the County Medical society, master of the exchequer of the K. P.'s, No. 105, and a member of Deatsville lodge, No. 475, F. & A. M. In 1874 he was married to Carrie E., daughter of Adam and Mary L. Whetstone, natives respectively of North and South Carolina, but were early settlers of Autauga county, where Mrs. Nix was born.
.
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ELMORE COUNTY. 943
Mr. and Mrs. Whetstone now reside in Deatsville. Mr. Whetstone has been a farmer and served all through the late war. Dr. Nix and wife are Missionary Baptists.
JOHN H. PARKER, attorney at law of Wetumpka, Ala., is a son of E. S. C. and Lucy (Lee) Parker, and was born September 6, 1853, in Coosa county, Ala. E. S. C. Parker is a son of John and Fannie (East) Parker. The Parker family was originally from England, and was of a tall, raw boned, blue-eyed, blonde stock of great longevity. John Parker married and settled in Clarke county, Ga., and lived there a long time. He moved from that county to Chambers county, Ala., and settled near the Randolph county line. This was in 1834, where the family remained until his death and that of his wife. Of their children but six are still living: Berry, of Chilton county, Ala. ; Ephriam, who lives near Notasulga, Ala .; Louisa, deceased wife of Dr. A. B. Stroud, Macon county ; E. S. C .; John N., living near Texarkana, Tex .; Mary A, wife of Levi Longshore, Columbiana, Shelby county, Ala. E. S. C. Parker was born in Clarke county, Ga., July 20, 1823, near Wilkinsville, and lived there until 1834, when his father's family removed to Chambers county, Ala. Here he arrived at maturity, and acquired a fair literary education. His eldest brother. Bryant was a physician, and he began with his brother the study of medicine about 1845. He did not, however, take medical lectures, but went before the state board of medical exam- iners, was licensed and settled down to the practice of medicine with his. brother in Monroe county, and after a year had expired, removed to Nixburgh, Coosa county, where he has since resided. He practiced medi- cine until 1870, when he began gradually to withdraw from the practice and is now entirely retired. He was an old line whig in politics, and rep- resented the county in the legislature during the war. He was married September 30, 1847, at Nixburgh, to Lucy Lee, daughter of Henry Lee, by whom he had the following children: Julia, deceased; John H., of Rockford; Susan: Fannie and Sydney, all three deceased; F. Leslie, at home; Walton, of Smith county, Texas. Politically, Dr. Parker is a democrat. He is a prosperous man, and owns a plantation of 800 acres. John H. Parker was born September 6, 1853, in Coosa county. He received his early education first at the common schools, and afterward attended Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, Va., leaving there, however, during his senior year. He then taught school several years and read law with Oliver & Garrett in Dadeville. He was admit- ted to the bar in 1877. In 1878 he located at Rockford as a member of the law firm of Darby & Parker, his partner being Stephen J. Darby. In the same year he started the Rockford Enterprise, which proved to be the first successful newspaper enterprise in . the county. After it had been published several years it was sold to parties who moved it to Good Water. When Mr. Darby was elected solicitor for the circuit the part- nership existing between them was dissolved. In 1882 he was nominated
1
..
944
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
for the legislature by the democratic party, but was defeated by an inde- pendent candidate by a small majority. The same year he was elected chairman of the congressional executive committee of the fifth district, and served two years. In 1880 he was an alternate elector on the Han- cock ticket. He held the office of register in chancery from 1878 to 1888. In 1888 he was nominated for the state senate from the fifteenth sena- torial district, composed of Coosa, Elmore and Chilton counties, and, being elected. served four years. He was a member of the judiciary committee, the committee on revision of laws and on the committee on penitentiary. He is now a member of the democratic state executive committee. He was married December 28, 1880, at Nixburgh, to Miss Alice H. Smith, daughter of Alexander and Jane Smith. To this mar- riage there have been born three children: Jean Paul, Alexander McKay and John H., Jr. The mother of these children died August 11, 1890. Mr. Parker is a democrat, as has been seen, and he is a master Mason and' Knight of Pythias. In October, 1892, he moved to the city of Wetumpka, where he is now engaged in the practice of law.
WILLIAM S. PENICK, ex-circuit clerk of Elmore county, Ala., and an attorney at law at Wetumpka, having practiced his profession both before and after the Civil war of '61 and '65, was born twelve miles from York- ville, in York district, S. C., October 7, 1826. He is the son of William C. and Elizabeth (Byers) Penick, natives of Cumberland county, Va., and York district, S. C, respectively. William C. Penick was educated at Hampden-Sidney college, Va, and graduated in medicine at Transylvania college, at Lexington, Ky., about 1824. He came from Virginia to South Carolina in 1825, and settled in York district. He soon after married, and continued the practice of medicine there until 1835, when he moved to Alabama and settled at Wetumpka, where he was engaged in merchandising until about 1839, when he resumed the practice of medicine, and continued in the practice with great success until the fall of 1846, when he bought a considerable farm near Wetumpka, and continued in the business of agriculture until his death, which took place on the 16th day of October, 1872. He was a public-spirited and promi- nent man in his day. He was a strong unionist in 1833, and an ardent secessionist in 1861. He was a delegate to the Baltimore convention in 1860 from Alabama, and assisted in nominating John C. Breckinridge for president. Prior to his death he had acquired a large property in slaves and lands. His father, Nathaniel Penick, was a well to do planter of Cumberland county, Va., living on the Appomattox river, four miles from Farmville. He was sheriff of his county for some years. He was a strict member of the Presbyterian church. He and his wife, Zillah (Allen) Penick, died in said county of Cumberland. David Byers and Mary Byers (née Gordon) were both born and both died in York district, S. C. They well to do people, and both lived to quite an old age. Eliza- beth N. Penick, the mother of William S. Penick, was born in York district,
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.