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 110
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
955
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ESCAMBIA COUNTY.
uel A. Johnson, of Arkansas; Nancy J., wife of Augustus 'Davis, resides at Bluff Springs, Fla .; Mrs. Louisa M. Dowson, deceased; Millard F., and Dora J., widow of W. J. Donaldson. Millard F. Brooks was born in Pike county, Ala., October 11, 1856, and at the age of twenty began the study of telegraphy, in which he in time became an expert. In the meantime he worked at intervals in a saw-mill, but in 1879 turned his entire attention to telegraphy, accepting a position that year with the L. & N. company as agent at William station, where he remained until 1886, at which time he took charge of the office of same company at Brewton. In August, 1886, he was elected on the democratic ticket cir- cuit clerk of Escambia county, and taking possession of the office the following November, has since discharged the duties of the same with credit to himself and satisfaction to the people, irrespective of party affiliations. In January, 1889, he was appointed register in chancery, and by special act of the legislature of 1888-9 was made ex-officio clerk of the county court, both of which positions he now fills in connection with his elective office. Mr. Brooks has been a potent factor in the local politics of Escambia county for some time, and is also mindful of his party's interest in state and national matters as well. He is present chair- man of the democratic county executive committee, and in fraternal circles is an active member of the orders of K. of H. and K. of P. Mr. Brooks' married life began on the 1st day of May, 1880, at which time Ella, daughter of William H. and Lucinda Anderson, became his wife. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Brooks has been brightened by the advent of three children, Millard M., Minnie I., and Leon G., aged nine, six and three years respectively.
TURNER W. CURRY, deputy United States marshal for the southern district of Alabama, is a native of Alabama, born in Talladega county, October 15, 1859. His father, Thomas W. Curry, was born in Georgia in 1840, served as captain of a cavalry company in the late war, and at this time resides a few miles east of Talladega. He is a man of fine scholas- tic attainments and a most reputable citizen of the county in which he has resided since 1865. He was married at Auburn, Lee county, Ala., in 1854, to Sophronia E. J. Turner, who died in 1976, the mother of the fol- lowing children: William T., Turner W., Walker, Artemisia E., wife of David Spence, and Mary J. William Curry, father of Thomas W., emi- grated to Talladega county in an early day from Georgia, and became the possessor of a large tract of real estate, which he afterward divided among his children, giving to each at marriage a valuable plantation. One of his sons, Hon. J. L. M. Curry, now general agent of the Peabody Educational fund, has been called the Horace Mann of the south. He is an ex-congressman, ex-minister to Spain, and one of the leading legisla- tors, statesmen, educators, authors and philanthropists of the south. Turner Curry grew to manhood in his native county, and at the age of nineteen accepted a clerkship in the mercantile establishment of R. Nich-
956
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
ols, in which capacity he continued one year and then engaged in farm- ing, and was thus occupied for a period of three years, meeting with gratifying success during that time. Relinquishing agricultural pursuits he went to Birmingham, Ala., where for two years he served as a mem- ber of the city police force, thence returned to the farm, where he resided until appointed deputy sheriff of Talladega county. He served in the lat- ter capacity four years, and in 1888 was appointed deputy United States marshal for the southern district of Alabama with headquarters at Brew- ton, and is the present incumbent of that office. It can be stated without any qualification whatever that a more popular, fearless and efficient public servant that Mr. Curry has never been connected with the mar- shal's office in southern Alabama. His official record is, indeed, a most creditable one, as is attested by the fact of his holding commissions from other districts, and such is his reputation for fearlessness and bravery that he is frequently called upon from, different parts of the state to make arrests in extreme cases where other officers have failed. A few years ago, in the county of Randolph, he arrested and carried away five desper-, ate "moonshiners," and that, too, in the face of a mob of enraged sympa- thizers, and recently he succeeded in breaking up a detachment of the notorious Simms gang, after killing two of the desperadoes. He is cool and collected on occasions of danger, does not hesitate to enforce the law at all hazards, and is said to be a "dead shot," but resorts to the use of arms only in the most extreme cases. Mr. Curry is a member of the Pythian fraternity and a communicant of the Methodist church. He mar- ried July 3, 1891, in Brewton, Annie C., daughter of C. B. Hunt, and is the father of one child, Benjamin Walker Curry.
JAMES M. DAVISON .-- Among the names conspicuous in the annals of the legal profession in southern Alabama, but few are connected with more honorable fame than that of James M. Davison, a leading member of the Brewton bar. Mr. Davison is a son of William and Mary J. (McMil- lan) Davison, the father of Irish descent, and a native of South Carolina, born in the city of Camden, on the 14th day February, 1809. William Davison moved with his parents to Alabama, when nine years of age, and settled in Monroe county, where he engaged in the pursuit of agriculture, which he carried on all his life. The McMillan family is of Scotch origin, and settled in Monroe county, Ala., about the year 1818. The father of Mrs. Davison was a Presbyterian minister, as were also two of his brothers, all three of whom became prominent in the ecclesiastical history of the Presbyterian denomination, and one of them earned more than a state reputation as a successful preacher, and eloquent pulpit orator. William Davison and Mary J. McMillan were married in January, 1842, and to their union were born six children, as follows: James M .; Mary C., wife of Robert B. Dennis, a farmer of Monroe county; Neal Edward, merchant at Belle Landing; William H., a farmer, residing near Kempville, Ala .; John W .. newspaper correspondent at Washington, D. C.,
957
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ESCAMBIA COUNTY.
and Sarah J., wife of W. D. Nettles, a farmer of Kempville The mother of these children died in April, 1861, and in 1864, Mr. Davison married a second wife, Josephine Jackson, who bore him one child, Lillie E., wife of Samuel Simmons, of Argyle, this state. William Davison departed this life in February, 1867, and his widow afterward married Joseph Dunn, at this time a resident of Monroe county. James M. Davison was . born December 14, 1844, in Monroe county, Ala., and spent his youthful years on his father's farm, with the rugged duties of which he early became familiar. He received his elementary education in such schools . as the county afforded, and at the age of sixteen, when the war cloud spread its somber folds over the country, he responded to the call of his state and. entered the service of the Confederacy, enlisting in company H, Seventeenth Alabama regiment, commanded by Col. Thomas H. Watts, afterward distinguished as President Davis' attorney general and Ala- bama's war governor, with which he served until the cessation of hostili- ties in 1865. During his period of service he was with his command in the bloody battle of Shiloh, and all the fighting of the Atlanta campaign from Resaca to Franklin, and received a painful wound in the leg while in the intrenchments before Atlanta. At Franklin be was also wounded in the same leg, and with a number of others of his company fell into the enemy's hands. After a brief imprisonment he succeeded in effecting his escape, but before reaching the Confederate lines, was recaptured and held a prisoner until the close of the war. He was released at Point Lookout, Md., June 20, 1865, and at once returned home, and after recov- ering from a severe spell of sickness, contracted while in the Federal prison, embarked in the mercantile trade in Monroe county, which he carried on for only a limited period, From his boyhood, Mr. Davison was ambitions of acquiring knowledge, and actuated by this laudable desire, he abandoned merchandising and entered the Stonewall institute, Dallas, Ala., where he pursued his studies assiduously for two years, and at the end of that time became a student in the university of Virginia, from which famous institution he graduated, completing the full course in several of its schools in three years. His literary education being finished, he turned his attention to the law, which he had previously decided to adopt as a profession, and took a year's course in the different branches of law taught in that institution, thus equipping himself thoroughly for the practice. In 1872 Mr. Davison opened an office in Monroeville, Ala., and after practicing there very successfully for two years, removed to Brewton, where his eminent legal attainments soon won him a conspic- uous place among the leading lawyers of the southern part of the state, and brought him an extensive business in Escambia and other counties, both in Alabama and Florida. As a lawyer, Mr. Davison is conscientious and painstaking, a close student in his profession-not a brilliant advo- cate, but a forcible speaker before a jury, always distinguished for prompt attention to every duty and absolutely honorable in practice. He is a
.
958
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
safe adviser, eminently fair in his treatment of opposing counsel, and occupies a most enviable position among his professional brethren throughout the southern part of Alabama. His course, while at the col- lege, was distinguished- by diligent application to liis studies, and while a student at Virginia university, out of a class of a hundred mature young men, of ripe scholarship, many of whom were A. M.s of other colleges and state universities, he won the Dr. McGuffey prize for the best logical analysis. Politically, Mr. Davison is a democrat, and as such was hon- ored, in 1884, by an election as representative of the twenty-first district in the state senate. His career as a member of that body was highly honorable and eminently satisfactory to his constituency, as he was instrumental in having passed a large number of bills affecting the state and his own district. An inspection of the journals of the sessions of 1884-5 and 1886-7 speaks well for his industrious attention to duty, and his influence in the senate, only three other senators, representing the principal cities in the state, being accredited with a larger number of bills. In April, 1878, at Pollard, Ala., Mr. Davison was united in mar- riage with Sarah C., daughter of Malcolm and Mary McMillan, a union blessed with the birth of five children, whose names are as follows: Mary A., William M., Catherine E., Sarah J., and James M. Mr. Davison is a master Mason, of lodge No. 301, and also belongs to the K. of H. and K. of P. fraternities. The Presbyterian church, of which he and wife are consistent members and in which he holds the office of ruling elder, embodies his religious creed.
ELISHA DOWNING, one of the successful lumber men of southern Ala- bama, is a native of this state, born in what is now Escambia county, then Conecuh, on the 29th day of November, 1837. At the age of twenty- one he left home and hired to a brother, John R. Downing, and for some time thereafter was engaged as a farm laborer at $13 per month. He next found employment in a saw-mill in Escambia county, Fla., and after contin- uing there some time returned to Conecuh county, Ala., and engaged with his brother in the timber business, chopping and hewing, at which he was more successful financially, his earnings amounting to from $2 to $3 per day, which he husbanded with the greatest care, for the purpose of going into business for himself. About this time, December, 1859, he met and married Esther M. Ellis, daughter of William Ellis, of Escambia county, and shortly thereafter began clearing a farm on Burnt Corn creek, where he lived for only a limited period. Not meeting with very encouraging success as an agriculturist, he gave up the farm, and in the spring of 1862 moved to where his mill is now located, and in May of the same year enlisted in company H, First Florida regiment, with which he served in the army of Gen. Bragg until taken prisoner at Glasgow, Ky., where he lay sick at the time of the capture. After being paroled he returned home, but subsequently re-entered the army at Tullahoma. Tenn., where for some time he lay prostrated with a severe illness,
4
1 !
.
· E. DOWNING.
961
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ESCAMBIA COUNTY.
which necessitated a long confinement in the hospital. He was again captured by the Federals at Jackson, Miss., and sent to Camp Morton, Indianapolis, Ind., where he remained a prisoner for twenty-two months, or until after the surrender of Gen. Lee's army at Appomattox. During his prison experience he was a great sufferer from various ailments, but at the close of the war he was in much better health than when he first entered the service. Returning home after his release, he engaged in getting out timber for railroad purposes, and later was employed, for some time in hewing timber for the European markets. In 1878 he invested his savings in a saw-mill on Cedar creek, about five miles north- east of Brewton, which he operated very successfully for nine years, and in 1887 the Cedar Creek Mill company was organized, Mr. Downing, his eldest son, Wiley W., and S. Maddox, being equally interested in the enterprise. This company still does business under the original name and is one of the leading timber firms in Escambia county, owning 18,000 acres of timber land, drained by twenty miles of canal, and a large mill sup- · plied with the latest improved machinery for the sawing of timber, it being strictly a timber-mill. Mr. Downing also owns a mill at Kirkland, Escambia county, and another at Castleberry, both of which are operated to a limited extent, manufacturing lumber for both home and foreign markets. In addition to his timber and lumber business, he is at this time dealing quite extensively in real estate, at different points; is also interested in the Brewton bank, and in all of his enterprises his success has been most gratifying. He owns a pleasant home at the town of Castleberry, where he resides, surrounded by a very interesting family, in the enjoyment of a competence acquired by a life of close application to his business enterprises. Mr. and Mrs. Downing are the parents of the following children: Wiley W., interested with his father in the tim- ber business at Brewton; Julia P., wife of T. M. McCall; Alice M., wife of W. A. Hill; Minnie B .; Elisha; Ella P. ; Easter M .; John R., deceased, and Ethel C. Mr. and Mrs. Downing and all their children are members of the Methodist church. Mr. Downing is, in every respect, a first-class citizen, a superior business man, and a notable type of the true christian gentleman. He is liberal in his donations for religious purposes, takes an active interest in matters educational, and for years has been a pillar of the Methodist church in his home town. The parents of Mr. Downing were Wiley C. and Sarah (Mason) Downing, the father a native of Cook county, N. C., born in the year 1789. He was a planter, served in the Seminole war, and, as an old line whig, bitterly opposed the late war between the states. Wiley and Sarah Downing were married in Conecuh county, Ala., in 1825, and became the parents of the following children: George W., John R., W. T., Aaron T., Millie, wife of Edward Millsted, Elizabeth, Elisha, Bryant, Wiley C., and an infant, who died unnamed. The family was raised in Conecuh county, where the father and mother died in the years. 1866 and 1858, respectively. The Downings are of Scotch descent.
·
962
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
Elisha Downing's maternal grandfather was Peter Mason, who moved to Alabama in an early day, and settled on the Sepulgah river, in Conecuh county.
WILEY W. DOWNING, eldest son of Elisha and Esther M. Downing, was born November 15, 1860, in Conecuh county, Ala. After obtaining an elementary education in the common schools, he entered, at the age of sixteen, the Richardson Cadet school at Mobile, which he attended two years and then became a student in the Southern university at Greens- boro, Ala., where he pursued his studies for a period of three years. Later, he attended college at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he grad- uated in December, 1882, after which he returned home and accepted a position as custom-house clerk with Bares & Downing, in whose employ he continued about nine months. He then engaged with his father at Brewton, and some months later went to Texas, where he spent the greater part of a year, returning at the end of his tour to Escambia county, thence removing to Ellsville, Miss., where for some time he was engaged in the lumber business. His next venture was in the mercantile business at Orange Home, Fla., where he conducted a very satisfactory trade for a few months, and then, returning to Brewton, accepted a position with the Cedar Creek milling company, in which he subsequently purchased a third interest, which he still owns. Mr. Downing is a cultured gentle- man of pleasant address, has a large circle of friends in Escambia county, and is one of Brewton's most intelligent and progressive citizens. In 1887, December 27, he wedded Miss Annie M. Ferara, the beautiful and highly accomplished daughter of S. Ferara, of Pensacola, Fla. Mr. and Mrs. Downing have two interesting children, Wiley W. and Annie M. Politically, Mr. Downing is a democrat; fraternally, a member of the Masonic order, and in religion, a Methodist. Mrs. Downing belongs to the Catholic church.
JOHN F. DRURY, a successful merchant of Flomaton, is the son of Henry and Susan Drury. The father was born in England, in the year 1803, and, coming to the United States when young, located in Jackson, La. He was, by occupation, a wheelright. and in after years acted as superintendent of a large manufacturing company. He was a man of liberal education and many accomplishments, and is remembered as a most exemplary citizen. In 1843, he married Mrs. Susan (Hunt) Townsend, who bore him four children: John F., Sarah, widow of Robert Reagan; Henry, deceased, and one which died in infancy. By a previous marriage, Mrs. Drury had one child, William Townsend, and after Mr. Drury's death, which occurred in 1854, she married J. D. Van Horn, by whom she had a daughter, Nora, who resides at Flomaton, Escambia county John F. Drury was born in Jackson, La., January 10, 1846, and when quite young, was taken by his parents to New Orleans, thence to Santa Rosa county, Fla., where the family resided some years. At the age of fifteen he responded to the call
-
.
PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ESCAMBIA COUNTY. 963
of the Confederacy for troops, and entered the service as cavalryman in Capt. Amos's company, which was recruiting at Milton, Fla., for the Fifteenth regiment. With the command Mr. Drury served throughout the war, mostly along the coast from Florida to the Mississippi river. He was made a prisoner in 1863, at Oak Field, and taken to Ft. Pickens, where he remained until his exchange, six months later, when he rejoined his company and continued in the field until the cessation of hostilities. On leaving the army, he accepted a position as bridge carpenter with the Louisville & Nashville railroad company, in which capacity he continued about five years, at the end of which time he became foreman of bridge construction on a certain division of that system, and held the place until 1880. In that year he accepted a position as briage foreman on the Hous- ton & Texas Central railroad, with which company he remained one year, and then began contracting for the construction of bridges in an extension of the same line from Cisco to Albany, Tex. After finishing contracts, he took another from Garrett to a point in Hunt county, and, after completing the work, returned to Florida in 1882, and contracted for the construction of railroad lines, which he followed for only six months. Later, he took a contract to construct bridges on the Mississippi Valley road, from Ethel to the state line, and after fulfilling the same, gave up bridge building, and in partnership with his half-brother, William Towns- end, under the firm name of Townsend & Drury, opened, in the spring of 1884, a general mercantile house at Flomaton, Ala. After carrying on a very thriving trade for two years, the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Drury continuing the business at the old stand until December, 1891, at which time he moved into his present commodious quarters, where he has since taken rank as one of the leading merchants of Escambia county. He carries a stock representing a capital of $5,000, and does a yearly business of from $14,000 to $16,000. Mr. Drury was married February 1867, to Miss Selina A., daughter of William H. Sizer, of Richmond, Va. Mrs. Drury was descended from a long line of English ancestors, and the family history is directly traceable to some of the oldest families of the English nobility. She died, the mother of the following children: Susan E., deceased; John H., Emma; Willie L., deceased; Roberdean, Anna and Ella.
JOHN D. EMMONS, the leading merchant of Williams' Stations, and a. representative citizen of Escambia county, is a native of Alabama, born in the county of Conecuh, June 30, 1853. His grandfather was William Emmons, a native of Philadelphia, Penn., and an early resident of Georgia, to which state he emigrated when a young man, thence later changed his residence to Escambia county, where his death occurred. Jesse Emmons, father of John D., was born in Sumter county, Ga., August 26, 1817. He was a farmer and stock raiser, served in the Creek war, and, as a union democrat, opposed secession, and refused to counte- nance the institution of slavery. In the month of August, 1847, he mar-
964
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
ried Ellen C. Stanton, who bore him three children: Caroline E., wife of H. H. Brown; Clarissa A., wife of N. W. Nicholson, and John D. Em- mons. The first-named of these children died of yellow fever at Floma- ton in the year 1873. The father moved to Escambia county, Fla., in 1856, and lived there until February. 1887, when he moved to Williams' Station, Escambia county, Ala., where he died the following December. John D. Emmons grew to manhood in Escambia county, Fla., attended the country schools at intervals while attaining his majority, and then, in partnership with his father, became interested in the stock business. He did not leave home until his twenty-eighth year, at which time he was married in Powellton, Fla., February 2, 1881, to Margaret E. Henderson, and three years after followed the stock business by himself until 1886. In that year he changed his residence to Williams' Station and embarked in the mercantile trade, which he has since successfully carried on, own- ing, at this time, the largest store in the place, his stock representing a value of over $3,000. Mr. Emmons was honored in 1884 by being chosen representative from Escambia county, Fla., to the general assembly, and while a member of that body made a creditable record as an efficient and judicious legislator. He was elected as a democrat when the county was strongly republican, and such was his popularity that he ran far ahead of his ticket, receiving ten more votes than the successful candidate for governor, and over 100 above the ticket in the previous presidential con- test. Mr. Emmons is an intelligent and progressive citizen, a competent business man, and stands high in the estimation of the people of his com- munity and throughout the entire county. He is a prominent factor in the farmers' alliance movement in the southern part of Alabama, and holds an official position in the Methodist church, with which he has been connected for a number of years. Mr. Emmons's first wife died about one year after marriage, and on the 26th day of February, 1885, in Butler county, Ala., he wedded Miss Mattie J. Huggins, who has borne him three children: Grover Cleveland, Jesse Eugene and John Jefferson. Mrs. Emmons is the daughter of Rev. Jefferson B. Huggins, a native of South Carolina, and for many years a minister of the Methodist church. He died in 1872. His father was William Huggins, who came to the United States from Ireland and settled in South Carolina.
WILLIAM A. FINLAY, merchant of Pollard, son of David H. and Rebecca Finlay, was born September 7, 1850, in Pike county, Ala. His grandfather, Archibald Finlay, was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and an early settler of Alabama, moving to the state a number of years ago, while it was under territorial government. David H. Finlay was born in Sumter district, S. C., in 1819, came to Alabama with his parents, when a boy, and located in Pike county, now Crenshaw, where he still resides. · He was a soldier in the late war, and was at one time tax collector of Pike county, beside filling with distinction other positions, and for a number of years, has been a prominent and public-spirited citizen of
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.