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 116

Author: Taylor, Hannis, 1851-1922; Wheeler, Joseph, 1836-1906; Clark, Willis G; Clark, Thomas Harvey; Herbert, Hilary Abner, 1834-1919; Cochran, Jerome, 1831-1896; Screws, William Wallace; Brant & Fuller
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Madison, Wis., Brant & Fuller
Number of Pages: 1164

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 116

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hundred acres. He enjoys a large practice. Politically he is a peoples' party man, a royal arch Mason, and a member of the Methodist Episco- pal church.

W. B. BEESON, a farmer of Keener, Etowah county, Ala., was born in Jackson county, Ala., October 2d, 1929. The Beeson family came from England to North Carolina before the Revolutionary war. W. B. Beeson's father was in the war of 1812, and after the war settled in Blount county, Ala. He was twice married, and brought up a family of eight children by the first wife, and four by the second. He was a rep- resentative man of his day, a magistrate, and a democrat in his politics. W. B. Beeson had no educational advantages in early life, his parents dying when he was quite young, but after he was twenty years of age earned the money with which to educate himself. He was married December 2d, 1857, to Mary Sibert, daughter of a wealthy farmer, and one of the first settlers of the state, and had eleven children, as follows: David M., deceased, a lawyer and mayor of Gadsden; Julia E., wife of S. A. Conger; Naomi J., wife of Dr. H. P. McWhorter; John N., presi- dent of the Marengo Female college; Jasper L., student at Johns Hopkins university, who will be entitled to the degree of Ph.D. in a few months; Fannie C., teacher; Martha A., a student of her brother's school at Demopolis, Ala .; William J., student of Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical college, Auburn, Elmore county; Elenor C., student at her brother's school at Demopolis; Malcolm A., at home; Mary Summers, deceased. Mr. Beeson went into the Confederate service as a first lieu- tenant, and was promoted to captain and served from December, 1861, to the surrender. He fought at Shiloh, Port Hudson, and was wounded there in the left arm and captured and sent to Johnson's Island. After his exchange he took part in all the fighting around Atlanta; was at the battles of Kinston and Bentonville, and surrendered at Greensboro, N. C. He has farmed since the war, but never sought office until he was brought out by the alliance party for congress in 1892. He is a master Mason, and is a steward in the Methodist Episcopal church, south. He has a farm of 360 acres. He has given much attention to fine stock, and has a herd of beautiful Jerseys. He is one of the most prominent farmers of the state, and was very prominent in the alliance party poli- tics. He lives in Big Wills valley, about fourteen miles north of Gadsden, where he has a typical southern home.

DR. J. BEVANS, one of the oldest and most reputable citizens of Gads- den, Etowah county, Ala., was born September 20, 1817, near Lexington, Ky., the son of Elias and Margaret (Oakes) Bevans. The Bevanses are of Welsh extraction, and the founder of the house in America settled in Maryland in colonial times. The grandfather Bevans settled in one of the Carolinas, and was a Revolutionary soldier. The father of Dr. Bevans was brought up and married in South Carolina, but removed to Madison county, and then to Illinois, where he died in 1834, and his wife some

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time in the fifties. There were of his family six children: Dr. J .; Jonas, deceased; Jason, deceased; Elias, deceased; Matilda, deceased; Martha J., and Mary. Dr. Bevans spent his life in Missouri until he reached man- hood. He came to Alabama in 1839 and studied medicine with Dr. Mckenzie, and was licensed and began the practice of medicine in Sum- mit, Blount county, in 1850. In 1852 he settled in Gadsden, his present home. He served in the late war with the Thirty-first Alabama, as assist- ant surgeon and surgeon, and resigned in 1865. He was married July 19, 1842, to Miss Temperance Grandy, and six children have been born to them, as follows: Mary, wife of Dr. R. L. Wright, of Gadsden; John W., of Somerville, Ala .; James M., physician, of Warrior, Jefferson county, Ala .; Jane, wife of E. A. Hughes, of Attalla, Ala .; Idella, wife of A. Young, of Montgomery, and Edward G., physician, of Gadsden, Ala. The mother of these children died in 1870, and the doctor again married in Gadsden, Mrs. Petty; a widow, becoming his wife. She still survives. Politically, the doctor is a democrat, a royal arch Mason, and a member of the Baptist church.

JOSEPH G. BLOUNT, son of Thomas and Mary (Ricketts) Blount, was born in Jones county, Ga., January 12, 1833. Thomas Blount, the father, was a native of Virginia, who came to Georgia when a young man. He married a daughter of ex-Gov. David Emmanuel, one of the early gov- ernors of Georgia. He was married the second time, in 1830, to the mother of J. G. Blount. He died in 1840 and his wife in 1845. There were three boys and two girls by the last marriage, two boys and a girl are now living, namely: Joseph G., the eldest; James H., who repre- sented the Sixth Georgia district in congress for the last twenty years, and Virginia, wife of Maj. John B. Rudolph, of Lowndes county, Ala. The father was a planter and left a large estate. He took great interest in politics, and was a man of fine standing and influence. J. G. Blount was brought up in Jones county, Ga., and was educated at the university of Georgia, graduating therefrom in 1852. He removed to Alabama at the age of twenty-one, where he lived till 1868, and then five years at Gads- den, and sometime in Atlanta, in the cotton business, and in 1885 moved to Gadsden again. He was married in 1856, in Gordon county, Ga., to Maria L. Freeman, and three children were born to them-Anne T., James H., Jr., and Joseph Augustus, a rising young lawyer of Gadsden, who was born April 19, 1867, at the old homestead, and was educated at Kirkwood Military institute at Atlanta, and at Mt. St. Mary's college, a Catholic institution at Emmitsburg, Md., where he graduated in 1886, and took up the study of law with Judge James Aiken, of Gadsden, in 1888, and was admitted to the bar in 1890. In politics he is a democrat, and by religious predilection is a devout Catholic. Joseph G. Blount is a democrat also, and a member of the church. Has a fine plantation of 1,200 acres, and owns considerable realty in Atlanta, Ga.

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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ETOWAH COUNTY.

H. M. CORNELIUS, a popular and prosperous merchant of Walnut Grove, Ala., is the son of Harvey and Elizabeth (Fite) Cornelius. The family came to Virginia in colonial times. The grandfather, William . Cornelius, located in a later year in Blount county, Ala. He was a man of large family and much property. The father of H. M. Cornelius was married in Tennessee and settled in his father's place at Walnut Grove. He was a man of deep religious conviction, a Missionary Baptist in his faith, and a great worker in the church. A physical difficulty in his hip, which caused him to limp, prevented his service in the army, but he was always ready with his means or influence to aid the cause of the Confederacy, and the hospitality of his home was always open to the soldier. So enthusiastic was he for the success of the cause that he had espoused, that he was marked by deserters from the army as a man to be disposed of, and an attempt was accordingly made upon his life. The night for the terrible deed was set (March 3, 1865) and the visit made, but the father being absent from home, their fiendish plans were frustrated. His home and store, however, were burned to the ground, and several of his neighbors were murdered. He died in 1876. He reared a family of twelve children, the following eight of whom survive: Emily H., wife of J. E. Murphree; Delia, wife of John Randal; Montgomery; Marcellus; Dayton; Grace, wife of John Sproul; Bethel and Maude. The mother of these children died in 1890. She belonged to one of the first families of Tennessee, one of her brothers being a general in the Union army. H. M. Cornelius was reared in Walnut Grove, Ala. He was educated principally by a private tutor, and taught school four or five years. He bought a part of the old homestead and embarked in the mercantile business, which he has carried on for three years with great success. He was married December 29, 1881, to Mary D. Garlington, daughter of Dr. H. S. Garling- ton. The union has been blessed with the birth of three children, named as follows: Verna, Reginald and Paul. Mr. Cornelius is a democrat, a deacon in the Missionary Baptist church, and has taught the same Sunday- school class for twelve years.

GEORGE F. GAITHER, one of the leading representatives of the alli- ance party, was born March 6, 1854, in Tishomingo county, Miss., the son of Richard and Matilda (Thompson) Gaither. His mother died there when he was sixteen years of age, and his father removed to Etowah county, Ala. He was educated in his native state and commenced life as a teacher, and taught for fifteen years. He has been identified with the alliance movement in Alabama since its inception. In 1888, he was elected secretary and treasurer of the alliance exchange, and a year later was re- elected to that office. In 1890, he was made general manager and served a year in that position, declining re-election to this office, and is now a director. He was the only man in Alabama who responded to the call for a national people's party convention in May, 1891, at Cincinnati, and was elected as a member of the national executive committee and attended the

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St. Louis convention, in February, 1892, and the Omaha convention in July following. He has been elected chairman of the state executive com- · mittee of the party in Alabama, and as such called to order the Birming- ham convention of September, 1892. He was one of the electors on the Weaver ticket, and stumped the state. He was married on the 7th of December, 1872, to Sarah E. Thompson, by whom he has five children: Italia, wife of L. D. Cole, Jr., Nora Agnes; George F., Jr., Rex S. and Quinton Orestes. He is an Odd Fellow and a Mason, in both of which organizations he has held office, and a member of the Methodist Episco- pal church. He engages in farming, and has a plantation of about 623 acres. In 1886, he was elected county superintendent of Etowah county, but declined re-election in 1890.

THOMAS C. GALLOWAY, son of G. W. and Elizabeth (Jordan) Gallo- way, was born in Henderson county, N. C., November 22, 1837. The . family is of Irish descent, its earliest progenitors coming to Richmond, Va., in the colonial days, and some of them taking part in the Revolution- ary war. The grandfather, William Galloway, removed in early times to North Carolina, where he brought up a large family, and the father of Thomas C. spent his life there, where he married in 1828, and brought up a family of eight children, as follows: John F., B. D., Thomas C., Lucy A., deceased; Joseph A., Mary A., Cora C., and Queen V. The father of these children died in 1878, and the mother in 1862. Thomas C. Galloway enlisted in the service of the Confederate States in 1861, in company E, Twenty-fifth North Carolina infantry, and served till 1864, when he was wounded and promoted to a captaincy and commanded a company of cavalry. He took part in the severe battles of Harper's Ferry, first battle of Seven days' fight, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Gum Swamp, Newbern, Little Washington, Plymouth, Buell's Gap, and many skirmishes of less importance, and was badly wounded at, Plymouth, in the shoulder. He removed, in 1870, to his present home, in Little Wills valley, Ala. In 1872, he was married to Ida Ramey, and to the marriage the seven follow- ing children were born: Charles V., Eugene R., R. E., Ida, T. C., Jr., William and Thomas. Politically, he is a democrat. He is an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Baptist church. He owns 1,000 acres of fine land.

M. L. MCDANIEL, son of John and Ellen (Johnston) McDaniel, was born May 20, 1833, in Talbot county, Ga. The McDaniels are of Scotch descent, and came to America in colonial times and settled in Chester district. S. C. Mr. McDaniel's grandfather, John McDaniel, was born in 1746, and was a Revolutionary soldier. He had a large family, and died in 1812. The father of Mr. McDaniel was born in 1789, and was a soldier of the war of 1812, and also of the Florida Indian war, and was a promi- nent figure in his county, being a magistrate for forty years and a demo- crat. He was a Union man in his sentiments, and always opposed seces- sion. The family consisted of seven children, of whom two are living.

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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ETOWAH COUNTY.

An older brother of M. L. McDaniel went to the Mexican war and was never heard of again, and another brother, Thomas S., who was a captain in the Confederate army. He has one sister, Sarah, wife of Jerry J. Jones, of Somerville, Ala. Mr. McDaniel came to Etowah county, when a lad of fifteen years, and when the war came on he enlisted in company E, Fifty-first Alabama regiment, and served in the army of the Tennessee, and was in the following battles: Luverne, Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Chickamauga, Atlanta, followed Sherman to the sea, and was at the battle of Bentonville. Paroled at Greensboro, N. C., he has been a farmer since that time, and owns a farm of 511 acres. He was married on the 14th of September, 1865, to Buena Vista, daughter of Maj. A. H. Colvin, and nine children have blessed the union, as follows: Parrie, wife of S. J. Riddle; Lura, wife of Thomas Gilchrist; Sumter C., William L., John A., Earl Houston, Thomas A., Mattie L., and Joe C. Mr. McDaniel is a democrat.

JAMES M. MORAGNE, the present able probate judge of Etowah county, was born in Gadsden, Ala., October 18, 1843. the son of John S. and Mary E. ( Whorton ) Moragne. As the name implies the family is of French extraction, and came in the early times to South Carolina. The grandsire of James M Moragne came to Alabama about 1830 and settled near the present site of Gadsden on the Coosa river, where the father of James Moragne lived and married about 1834, and had five children, James M., however, being the only survivor. The first wife died about 1847, and the father was married a second time, Sarah J. Revels becom- ing his wife. To this union were born six children, all living in Etowah county, as follows: Mary E., wife of J. W. Duncan; John B .; Frank L .; Joseph H. ; Walter E., and Samuel A. The father of James M. was a strong Federal democrat prior to the war, and after become a republican, and represented Cherokee ( before the formation of Etowah county ) in the state legislature, and at the breaking out of the war he raised a company, went as its captain to the field, but was compelled to retire on account of sickness. He was one of the first men to pay any attention to the great mineral wealth which underlies all that section of Alabama, having, in 1850, discovered a vein of valuable ore close to Gadsden, and after the war, opened mines there, and realized well from the profits developed, and his heirs still collect handsome royalties on the output He took great interest in the subject, and once was awarded a medal at a state fair for the finest specimens of valuable minerals presented. He was one of the pioneers of Gadsden, and died in 1880. James M. Moragne enlisted in the Confederate army in 1861, in company G, of the Tenth Alabama infantry, and served in the first fight at Dranesville, where he was severely wounded in the right shoulder and was out of active service ninety days. He afterward fought at Seven Pines, Seven days' fight, Second Manassas, Harpers Ferry, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chan- cellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and

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in the trenches at Petersburg, and his regiment made the last gallant charge on the enemy at the Crater. He returned to his home after the war, studied law, was admitted to the bar, practiced one year, and at the age of twenty-five, was appointed probate judge of the county, by Gov. William Smith. He served a term of six years as judge, and since that time has been engaged in farming and real estate transactions. Mr. Moragne has always been an independent thinker in politics, never allowing him- self to be guided by partisan views. He has recently been re-elected to the office of probate judge as an independent. He was married in 1870 to Mary E. Hughes, of Gadsden, by whom he had seven children, of whom five survive as follows: Joseph S .; Fannie S .; Mary E .; Jennie and Nena. Those deceased are James F., who died at age of ssventeen, and Kate, who died at age of four. The wife of Judge Moragne is a member of the Presbyterian church.

BENJAMIN F. POPE, solicitor of the city court of Gadsden, is the son of Burwell T. and Johanna T. (Lester) Pope. The family is of English descent. The father, who was himself a lawyer and a circuit judge, moved to Wetumpka in 1838, where Benjamin F. was born March 9, 1840. His father was elected a member of congress in 1865. but refused the iron-clad oath and died May 8, 1868, from a disease brought on by excitement over his arrest for not permitting negroes to be called for jurors in his court. Of the father's family there were eight children, only three of whom are living, viz .: Benjamin F. and his sisters, Sarah, M. E., widow of Richmond Hammond, Attalla, Ala., and Lula R. Pope, Birmingham, Ala. The mother of these children died in 1870. Ben- jamin F. Pope was educated at Ashville and studied law with his father, but had taught school several years previously, in the Ashville academy, He was admitted to practice in 1859, and went into partnership with his father. He removed to Gadsden in 1861, and was married that year to Sarah E. Germany, and the union was blessed with ten children, seven of whom are now living: William B., traveling man for a wholesale house of Atlanta; James W., president of Enterprise Lumber company; Joseph Walter, secretary and treasurer of Gress Lumber company, Atlanta, Ga .; John O., student in dentistry; Ada O .; Louis Wyeth and Wesley M. Mr. Pope has made one of the foremost citizens and reli- able business men of Gadsden. He is now solicitor of the city court. In his political opinions he is a democrat. He has taken nine degrees in Masonry, has held various offices in the grand and subordinate bodies of Masonry in his state and was grand master of the grand council in 1888.

REV. WILLIAM HALL RICHARDSON, at present a well-known local divine of the Presbyterian church, at Gadsden, Ala., was born in Kentucky, April 6, 1849, the son of Dr. Samuel B. and Eliza J. (Price) Richardson. The family is an English one, but of long residence in America, the American founders of the family having settled in Maryland, Virginia and one of the Carolinas. The father of Rev. William H. Richardson was

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PERSONAL MEMOIRS-ETOWAH COUNTY.

one of the most eminent surgeons of his day. He was born in Warren county, Va., the son of Samuel and Catherine (Hall) Richardson, Octo- ber 11, 1803. He received a fine literary education in the Old Dominion and in Lexington, Ky., and began the study of medicine with an elder brother, and afterward attended the Transylvania university of Lexing- ton, Ky., graduating in 1826. The following year he took the medical degree at Philadelphia. He went to Paris, shortly after, and spent a. year there, completing lis medical education. His practice was all in the cities of Lexington and Louisville, Ky., where he was known as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of his day. He died August 18, 1864. His family consisted of seven children, as follows: Kate, Ed- mund T., John B., a physician of Louisville, Ky .; Bainbridge, Samuel, William H., Juliet E., wire of Luke Malone of Chicago, Ill. The mother of these children survived the father several years. Rev. William H. Richardson was educated at the university of Virginia and at the univer- sity of Berlin, and at Saxe-Weimar, Germany, at a private school. He was thoroughly classical in his education, so far as his studies were con- cerned. He abandoned the idea of practicing law, and entered the cele- brated theological seminary at Hampden-Sidney, Va., where he spent two years and then entered actively on the ministry. He shortly after came to Alabama and was ordained a minister of the Southern Presby- terian church, at Selma, in the fall of 1876. Since that time he has been a pastor at Mobile, Uniontown and Marion. He had the distinguished honor of being a delegate of the southern general assembly at the Pan- Presbyterian alliance in 1884, which met at Belfast, Ireland. In perfect- . ing himself in his education he has traveled much, has been three times to Europe and twice to Canada, once to Cuba, and has traveled exten- sively in Africa. Mr. Richardson has been twice married, first in Shelby- ville, Ky., in 1872, to Maggie B., daughter of Rev. D. T. Stewart, a promi- nent educator and Presbyterian divine. By this marriage he has two daughters, Ada and Olivia, both living. The first wife died in 1887, and he was married on July 30, 1889. at Marion, Ala., to May, daughter of Charles Lovelace. The family of Lovelace was an old and aristocratic

one of Virginia. Two children were born to this union, Estelle and William H., Jr. Mr. Richardson is a democrat in politics, and took a course of law at the university of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Dr. Samuel B. Richardson, the father of William H., was one of the best surgeons in this country. It was for the purpose of perfecting himself in that branch of his profession that he went to Paris, and while there his op- portunities were most excellent. Some of the greatest surgeons of all times were his preceptors, Velpeau, Amusat, Dubois, Ricord, of Paris, and Sir Astley Cooper, of London. "With such advantages, and with the knowledge he had acquired on this side of the Atlantic, conjoined with superb native talent, illimitable ambition, ample pecuniary means, untir- ing energy and application to study, and an insatiate passion for the

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profession of his choice, what wonder that Dr. Samuel B. Richardson had few equals and no professional superiors in the land of his birth."

DR. J. C. SLACK, one of the leading citizens and a prominent physi- cian of Gadsden, Ala., was born in Meriwether county, Ga., October 19, 1850, the son of J. W. and Susan E. (Edwards) Slack. His father was a native of Georgia, where he lived until 1854, when he removed to Gads- den, making that his home until his death, which occurred in 1885. He was an able lawyer, and was adınitted to the Georgia bar at about twenty-one years of age. In after years he was known as a thorough educator, and taught school at Gadsden many years prior to the war. He was a representative man of the community, a democrat in politics, but never held office. He was a member of Gen. Forrest's cavalry during the war, but was not long in the service on account of failing health. He had a family of eleven children: two of the daughters married and died in a few years, each leaving one daughter, namely: Fannie B. and E. Dannie Hodges. The eldest brother, Eugene, volunteered at the out- break of the war, and though but sixteen years, distinguished himself as a brave and gallant soldier. He died of fever shortly after the battle of Fort Donelson, and several of the children died in the great diphtheria scourge of 1872. Only two of the children are now living, Dr. J. C. Slack and his brother, Ed Slack, of Gadsden, a man of untiring energy and marked business capacity. The last named has five daughters and one son, Charles H. The mother (Mrs. S. E. Slack) for many years was one of the leading teachers of Gadsden, and now lives at the old homestead in quiet retirement. Dr. Slack received his preparatory education at Gadsden, and studied medicine in 1868 with Dr. W. H. Howell. and in 1871-2 he attended the Louisville medical college, and again in 1879-80, graduating in the spring of 1880, and has practiced continually since. He was married in the fall of 1873 to Miss Mary Hodges, of Ashville, Ala., and they have become the parents of five children, namely: John R., Eugene Burton, Walter Willard, E. Paul and Guy Alfred. The mother died in the spring of 1886, and the doctor married, in 1889, Miss Laura O. Freeman, of Cherokee county, and they have one child, Estelle. The doctor is a member of the firm of Day & Slack, proprietors of the Parlor drug store, in Gadsden. He owns a large farm in Cherokee county. Is a democrat in politics, a Knight Templar, and is a consistent member of the Baptist church.

C. E. SNEAD, a successful lawyer and farmer of Walnut Grove, Ala., was born February 20, 1859, the son of Logan and Dicy (Beeson) Snead. The family is of Irish descent, and settled in Virginia in very early times. The grandfather of C. E. Snead, Henderson Snead, married and raised his family there, and later in life, in 1845, moved to Alabama. He lived until 1891, when he died at the advanced age of ninety-three years. Mr. C. E. Snead's father was born at Walnut Grove, where he grew up and

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married and became the father of eight children, five of whom are living, as follows: America, wife of T. J. Chadwick; John H., C. E .; Mary, wife James Baker, Snead, Ala .; William E., and Nancy. The mother of this family died in 1888. Mr. Snead is a successful farmer and merchant. C. E. Snead was reared to manhood in Etowah county, and edu- cated in the ordinary schools of the neighborhood. He began life as a farmer and carried farming on extensively until 1888, when he went into the mercantile business in connection with farming, in the firm of C. E. Snead & Bro., at Walnut Grove. He is a prosperous merchant, and owns over 1,400 acres of land. In February, 1880, he was married to Mary, daughter of Levi Murphree, and four children blessed the union: Nancy Idonia, Dicy Ann Leonia, Mary Magdalena and Logan. In politics Mr. Snead belongs to the republican party.

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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 116

Author: Taylor, Hannis, 1851-1922; Wheeler, Joseph, 1836-1906; Clark, Willis G; Clark, Thomas Harvey; Herbert, Hilary Abner, 1834-1919; Cochran, Jerome, 1831-1896; Screws, William Wallace; Brant & Fuller Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Madison, Wis., Brant & Fuller Number of Pages: 1164

Author: Taylor, Hannis, 1851-1922; Wheeler, Joseph, 1836-1906; Clark, Willis G; Clark, Thomas Harvey; Herbert, Hilary Abner, 1834-1919; Cochran, Jerome, 1831-1896; Screws, William Wallace; Brant & Fuller
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Madison, Wis., Brant & Fuller
Number of Pages: 1164